#anyway yeah cringe is dead but I’m going to go on a little 4 week hiatus

[seagull-scribbles]

*Aggressively throws this at your head*

[whiteqnn]

Pairing: Corpse Husband x Fem! Reader

Summary: Sean invites one of his good friends - Y/N - to play with him and the group. She has a lot of fun with them, but at the same time is too oblivious, too nice, and too pure to notice that one particular Among Us player has taken a liking to her the moment he heard her voice...

Notes: Hello everyone! This is the very first time I’m publishing something bigger in here, I’m honestly still figuring out how Tumblr works, even though I’ve had this account for quite some time now 😅. That being said, please don’t expect anything super impressive. I tried my best though just so you know. 🥺

A/N- It didn’t turn out as I expected, but I really hope at least some of you find it enjoyable :(

Y/C/N - your channel name

part 2

part 3 

part 4 

part 5 

PURE [1]

“Did you guys find anybody?” Felix asked, as the number of players still showed just 7 of them. They could just start now, but the game would be way more fun with a full lobby. 

“Yeah, Lily’s joining. I just texted her the code, so she should be here at any moment.” Sykkuno replied after receiving a text message from the said girl. “Oh, and Corpse also said he’d be joining soon.” 

“Great. Anyone else?”

 “I think Jack was also bringing someone, right?” Dave asked.

“Huh? Oh yeah, I have one coming, she’ll join us in a few” the asked man replied at the same moment Lily’s character appeared in the lobby. 

“Who you’re bringing Jack?” 

“Y/N” he said, causing Felix to gasp in shock and yell into his mic:

“How the fuck did you manage to convince her? I’ve been bugging her about this game for the past week and she always had some excuse!” 

“What can I say, my charm is irresistible” Jack replied nonchalantly, causing everyone in the lobby to laugh at his fake deep voice.

The number of participants changed to 9, as a little black astronaut with horns on his helmet appeared in the lobby. 

“Corpse, you’re here!” Rae’s character ran up to the man, circling him excitedly. 

“Hey man!”

“What’s up, Corpse?”

“Hello everyone” his deep voice sounded out “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“All good man, we’re still waiting for one person.” Felix reassured him “Sean, why is she not here yet? Are you sure you’ve sent her the right code?”

“Of course I am!” he all but shouted at Felix “And about that, she just texted me to give her a few more minutes and that we should start without her.”

“We can just wait, right?” Lily offered, earning a few hums of approval from the others.

“I think it might take a little longer than a few minutes, she has some problems with her microphone.”

“Who are you guys talking about?” Corpse asked, completely unaware of who Jack was referring to.

“Wait, Jack, you mean Y/N from Y/C/N?” Sykkuno asked suddenly, only then realizing why this name sounded familiar

“Yeah, the one and only” Jack replied, a smile evident in his voice.

“Oh my god, I love her videos!” Rae exclaimed at that “She’s so funny and sweet!”

“Yeah! Her new video is so freaking cute, I wish she’d upload more often.” Poki agreed. 

“Right?” Jack said, clearly very proud of his friend. “But don’t let that sweet demeanor fool you guys cause she’s one of the best players I’ve encountered in this game.”

“That’s true, she’s a secret big brain genius” Toast confirmed, making Pewdiepie gasp once again. 

“wHAT??YOU TWO PLAYED WITH HER?!” Felix’s offended voice boomed through everyone’s headphones “HOW DARE YOU. HOW COULD YOU NOT INVITE ME?!” 

“That’s for not inviting me to your latest Cringe episode!” Jack was quick to respond, making others in the lobby laugh at their mini fight. 

“Oh, so that’s where I recognized her from!” Sykkuno nearly shouted when he finally put two and two together. “I can’t wait to meet her, she seems like a really nice person.”

“She is! When she got impostor for the first time she refused to kill me” Toast explained, earning himself a couple of Aww’s from his friends. “So we just ran around the emergency button until I called the meeting and voted her off.”

“Yeah, only to be her first victim in the next game.” Jack all but giggled, clearly very amused at the memory of Y/N going into a full berserk mode. No one except for him and Toast knew how good she really was at this game... 

“She’s basically the wolf in sheep’s skin” Felix concluded with a chuckle “Very soft wolf, however.”

“She’s like the complete opposite of Corpse, both in voice and personality” Jack suddenly said, making Felix laugh wholeheartedly at something only two of them understood at the moment. 

“I don’t know how should I take that” Corpse admitted with a chuckle. He remained silent for most of the conversation since he didn’t really know who the guys were talking about. But he would lie if he said he wasn’t intrigued by this girl at least in the slightest. Although he heard about her channel, he hasn’t seen any of her videos, so he didn’t really know what to expect. But hearing what gamers like Sean and Felix said about her, he knew he’s not gonna be disappointed once the girl joins them in the game. 

“Imagine Corpse and Y/N talking.” Felix said suddenly with a seemingly very amused voice.

“Imagine Corpse and Y/N both being Impostors” Toast said, which resulted in many of them shouting over each other at how crazy that would be. 

“Alright, now that you mention this I start fearing the moment two of them meet” Jack confessed with loud laughter following the sentence. Corpse chuckled deeply under his breath, at the same time glancing at the questions his audience was asking him in his stream. He could hardly read any, as there were quite a lot of people asking, so all he saw was just a bunch of comments moving at the speed of light in his chat. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he was slightly nervous, seeing the growing number of people watching his stream. It was still a rather new thing to him, and he feared he'd say something inappropriate, or just make a complete idiot out of himself. 

"At least no one can see me..." he mumbled under his breath after muting his microphone. 

"Oh! Y/N just texted me! She's joining the call right now!" 

"Fuck yeah!" Felix shouted excitedly "Just so you know Jack, I won't forget that you two played without me."

"Uh-oh. Is that a threat? Are you threatening me now?" 

"It's a warning" Felix replied, receiving a series of gasps from other players. "If I get impostor, you're the first one on my list."

"Okay, everyone heard that! You know who to vote off when I'm dead!" 

"It's so cool to play with someone new, I wonder if she's as good as you guys depict her" Sykkuno spoke up, but before anyone could answer his question, a new character popped up in the lobby.

*** 

"Hi everyone! I’m sorry I left you just like that, but this stream would be completely useless without me being able to answer your questions. Fortunately it wasn’t anything serious, I just had to readjust my mic and go through the settings to find what was wrong. Took some time, but here I am now!” Y/N chirped into her microphone, smiling apologetically at her webcam. At the moments like this, she really appreciated how supportive her audience was. No one was hating on her when she had to get off the stream for a couple of minutes, and everyone was just so understanding that it made her heart melt. Perhaps her audience wasn’t very big, but it felt almost like a second family to her. 

“Anyway, as you already know from my twitter, today I’ll be playing Among Us with my friends and their friends! I can’t wait if I’m being honest, last time I played this game was so much fun, and there was only a few of us.” she admitted with a genuine smile on her face. “Let’s just text Sean now so we can get into the lobby...”

Y/N: Ready to play with you guys ^^

Jackaboy: Great! You got that mic fixed already? 

Y/N: Yes, everything is fine. I’m sorry you had to wait so long.

Jackaboy: It’s all good kiddo, no worries. I’ll call you and send you the code in a sec. 

Y/N: Perfect, thank you Sean :)

Jackaboy: Btw, everyone can’t wait to meet you ;-)Y/N stared at the screen for a moment, only now, seconds before joining the group, realizing how nervous she felt. From Sean’s tweets she saw earlier, she figured that the lobby was right now full of many famous streamers, those she wouldn’t even compare herself to. It’s not that she thought of herself very low, but... being among such youtube celebrities like them made her panic a little bit. She didn’t want to look like a complete fool amongst them. 

Playing or recording with Sean and Felix was something else because she knew those guys for years (and yet still sometimes found herself thinking how lucky she got to be able to call them her friends). She felt good in their company, not worrying about choosing the right words. But amongst the rest of the players, she knew only Toast and talked with Rae maybe once in her life... 

What if the rest won’t like her? 

Y/N cleared her throat, realizing that she was still staring at her phone like hypnotized and her audience was already asking her what’s going on. She quickly typed in the code Sean had texted her and readjusted her headphones, before joining the discord chat.

“THERE SHE IS” screamed Sean, making her grin from ear to ear, hearing how excited he was “Little wonderchild!”

“I think you meant little TRAITOR” Felix corrected him with a scoff. A silence settled in the lobby as everyone was waiting for Y/N to speak up.

“Um... hello everyone..” she said softly, almost inaudibly, a sudden wave of shyness taking over her. “I’m Y/N” 

“Oh, you were right about that Corpse thing!” replied another, also very soft and very sweet voice, and Y/N saw the image of someone named Lily pop up. “It’s like the exact opposite!” 

“See? Told ya. Everyone, meet Y/N/N, the little angel from Y/C/N.” 

“Hey Y/N!”

“Hi there!”

“Hey, what’s up?”

“H-Hi, so great to meet you, Y/N!” a very friendly sounding voice said, and a little lime astronaut with the name Sykkuno above it started running around her. “Can’t wait to play with you!”

“That’s so nice, thank you” she replied with a wide smile on her face, moving around his character as well. “I can’t wait to play with you too, actually with all you guys. It’s so great to be here with you.”

“Jack I swear she’s the cutest little thing I’ve ever heard. Where the hell did you find her?!” Poki all but yelled at the man, making Y/N giggle to herself and in-process loosen up a little bit. They all seemed like someone she’d happily be friends with. 

“Or rather, where do you get one?” someone else commented, making them all burst into laughter, Y/N included. 

“Guys, what did I say about that sweet demeanor...” Jack said after calming down from his fit “Don’t put your guard down just because she sounds like that!”

“Wait- what did you tell them about me?” Y/N asked confused, the tone of her voice making him laugh even more “Jack!”

“Don’t worry, only the good stuff” a very deep, low voice spoke up, leaving her taken aback for a moment. Her eyes widened slightly and she glanced at the name of that person, reading out CORPSE. Now that’s something she didn’t expect... 

“Corpse, mind your manners! You didn’t even introduce yourself!” 

“Oh, shit- yeah, sorry. Um, I’m Corpse, it’s very nice to meet you Y/N” he replied right after, making her lip corners curl up into a smile. 

“Nice to meet you too Corpse, you have a really pleasant voice.” she spoke sweetly, completely unaware of the chaos that was taking place in her stream chat. She didn’t even think of it the way her audience did, she just simply spoke up her mind, and being an incredibly nice person - turned it into a compliment.

“Oh- wow. I mean, thank you so much. I love your voice too, it’s really sweet” he replied, nervously chuckling at the end, before muting his mic. It was, however, enough for Felix and Sean to start teasing him, as the two immediately screamed:

“SIIIMP!!!”

“It’s the voice Felix, I told you he’d fall into her trap!” 

“Wait- he was just being nice, guys! Stop making fun of him” Y/N immediately defended the man, trying to speak up over the hysterical laughter of the other players. 

“Oh my god, but what if they both get impostors and they both pull the voice cards on us?!” Rae managed to yell through all the noise, making Y/N even more confused.

“Wait, what? What do you mean? I don’t understand.” 

“Don’t worry Y/N, that’s how I feel all the time around them.” Sykkuno seemed to be the only one who heard her question, as the rest continued their gabbing without giving her as much as a glance. 

“Alright, let’s start the game maybe. I might have a few old scores to settle” Toast cleared his throat theatrically, his astronaut coming face to face with Y/N’s. 

“Oh, you mean me? I thought I already apologized!” she replied frantically. “You gave me no choice Toast, I didn’t even want to kill you in the first place...”

“BUT YOU DID. IN THE VERY FIRST ROUND” 

“I’m sorry!” 

“Alright, enough! Toast, just don’t kill her right away, okay? Let her run around the map, fearing for her life for a moment.” Y/N gasped upon hearing Jack’s words, clearly sensing the smirk behind his voice. 

“Wha- Jack?! Since when are you against me?!” 

“Don’t worry Y/N, I won’t let them hurt you. You haven’t played with us yet, I’ll protect you.” 

“Oh, thank you so much Sykkuno! I’ll protect you too!” 

“Great. Another one simping...” was Felix’s last words, before the game began. 

Y/N sighed in relief upon seeing the word crewmate forming on her screen, but at the same time feared Toast’s inevitable revenge. She thought they'd already buried the hatchet, but it seemed that he was desperate to make her pay for the last time they played together. 

“Aw, Sykkuno was serious” she mumbled with a smile, when his lime astronaut started circling her white one, so she would follow him. “Okay, let’s do some tasks.”

They both made their way towards the medbay, Sykkuno patiently waiting nearby as she did the scan, then Y/N waiting for him to do the same. The moment his little character stepped towards her, a meeting was called by none other than Felix.

“What happened?” Rae asked.

“I called the meeting because I’m afraid of Jack” he responded, causing everyone to laugh. “Seriously though! Dude’s been following me around the whole time.”

“I was just making sure nobody kills you.”

“Yeah don’t go all Sykkuno on me!” Felix screamed, making the call erupt into even more laughter. 

“Alright, are we skipping?” 

“Yeah.”

“Guys, my life is in danger!” Felix wouldn’t give up. “Come on, show some support! Y/N? You played with him, you know his techniques!” 

“Sorry Felix” Y/N giggled, clicking the skip button. 

When the next round began, Sykkuno was quick to join Y/N on her way towards admin, where they both found Poki doing the upload. They did the card swipe and left her there, when the lights suddenly went off.

“Uh-oh. Let’s head the opposite direction, Sykkuno” the girl murmured, dancing around his character and heading towards Comms instead of going to Electrical. It was the easiest way to die, after all. 

Once they entered the room and waited for someone to fix the lights, Y/N could see another figure appear in the same location. She couldn’t recognize whose character it was, but upon seeing the horns on the helmet she smiled to herself.

“Hey there, Corpse” she said, walking up to the black astronaut, who was standing still in the same place as if he was just watching her and Sykkuno run around Comms instead of doing their tasks. 

They stood like that for a couple of seconds until Corpse turned around and ran away, and that’s when the first body was reported. 

“Oh no, Jack!” 

“Poor guy. He’s gonna haunt us now.”

“Where’s the body?” 

“Navigation” replied Rae, who was the one to find Sean’s green astronauts’ body “Didn’t see anyone around, but I’m pretty sure someone just vented right in front of my eyes...”

“Any suspicions?” Toast asked.

“Um, not really sure, it was the exact same moment the lights went off. I was doing tasks with Jack and then he just died. I only saw the vent close, nothing or no one else.”

“Okay, where are you guys right now?” 

“I’m in admin with Dave, we only passed Poki when we got there.” Lily’s voice sounded out, quickly being joined by Poki’s explanation.

“Yeah, I was finishing the upload when you guys came in, Y/N and Sykkuno saw it”

“Did you see her?” Toast asked, addressing his question towards the white and lime astronauts. 

“Yes, we were doing the card swipe before going to Comms. Corpse joined us for a moment and then left.”

“Yeah, I was on my way to fix the lights when I stumbled upon them in Comms, the body was reported the exact moment I left.”

“Can someone confirm this? I mean, did someone see you besides the two of them?” Toast continued his questioning. 

“I think I only saw Felix in Medbay.”

“Hmm, so no one really knows where you were this whole time. You could easily lure Jack into Navigation and kill him there. Is that what you did, Corpse?”

“Woah, that’s some serious accusation” Corpse replied in his usual, low and calm voice. “Where were you Toast? You seem the only one who still doesn’t have an alibi”

“Neither does Felix.” Y/N spoke innocently, and the mentioned man quickly started his explanation.

“Okay, I was with Jack at the beginning but he clearly can’t confirm this since someone snapped his fucking neck. We’ve split up in O2 after doing our tasks and then he must’ve gone with Rae. I just wandered around the map, escaping from the death.”

“Hmm, so not only were you one of the last people to see him alive, but you also admit to not doing your tasks” Y/N said, trying her best to keep her voice steady and stop herself from laughing. She was sure Sykkuno was doing the same thing, they both refused to do any tasks after the lights went off, after all.

“Yeah, but does that already makes me an Imposter? I’m just scared for my life, that’s all.”

“Y/N has some good logic, but I’m not really sure it’s Pewds. I mean, I saw him in Medbay and he really seemed to be just jogging around.” Corpse said, his voice almost immediately doing its magic, as people more or less willingly agreed to skip this round as well. 

“I think it’s Felix. I mean, I haven’t played with him yet, but I have this feeling that he’s just acting.” Y/N said to her chat after muting herself. She went towards Weapons to do another task, seeing Sykkuno’s little character follow her once again, but the doors were suddenly locked and his lime astronaut remained in Cafeteria. “Oh no, Sykkuno” she sighed with a pout on her face, deciding against waiting for him and risking getting her neck snapped. She finished her task in Weapons and moved towards another location, when suddenly Corpse appeared in front of her, coming right out of nowhere. 

“Oh- Corpse, you scared me to death” Y/N breathed a laugh, watching as his character stood still for a couple of seconds, before circling around her white astronaut. Y/N nodded her head with a smile, even though he couldn’t see her, and followed him in Shields, where they found Poki’s dead body. 

“The body is in Shields” Y/N replied right after reporting the body, only to gasp in shock when she realized more than one person was killed. Red crosses decorated not only Poki’s name but were also visible next to Dave and Lily. 

“What the hell?!” Felix all but yelled into his mic, obviously shocked just like everyone else who was still alive. 

“Now that’s... a lot of bodies” Sykkuno mumbled under his breath. 

“Alright, who’s in Shields? Y/N, you said you found the body there, which one?”

“Poki’s, Corpse was there with me” her reply was followed by his short and low hum. 

“Sykkuno, where are you? I didn’t see you anywhere since the last round.” Felix asked, clearly accusing the lime astronaut of being a murderer. 

“I was... doing the wires in electrical, Toast was there for a moment as well.”

“Yeah but I was only searching for the body, so I saw you maybe for a second” Toast replied, building even more suspicions around Sykkuno.

“But- guys, you know I wouldn’t kill two people in one round, let alone four of them.”

“No one says you did that, I only mentioned that you were nowhere to be seen. You could’ve been sabotaging the map for the other Impostor” Felix said nonchalantly.

“Guys, I-”

“It’s him! It must be him!” Rae shouted through her mic. 

“Sykkuno is 100% innocent, I can vouch for him” Y/N’s voice sounded out in everyone’s headphones “We were together since the start of the game and he didn’t kill me, even though he had quite a number of chances to do so.”

“Weren’t you with Corpse this time?” Felix asked suspiciously.

“I was! But at the beginning, I was with Sykkuno, until someone locked him in Cafeteria. That’s when we split up.”

“And you haven’t seen him ever since?”

“Well, no, but-”

“Then I can assure you it was only a matter of time before he’d stab you in the back” Toast concluded, making Sykkuno gasp in confusion.

“Wha- No, I would never do that! Y/N is our guest, I was just making sure she was okay!”

“Sykkuno, simping won’t save your life right now” 

“Wha- I- Guys!” he tried to stutter out some logical explanation “Y/N, don’t believe them!”

“I don’t, I know you’re innocent! C’mon guys, he wouldn’t do it!” 

“Yeah yeah, let’s kick him out. Corpse, who are you voting?” Toast asked, and Y/N could see the I voted sign next to his character. 

“I kinda feel like Felix tries to shift the blame onto Sykkuno. He didn’t even tell his location, and was already throwing accusations on someone else.” Corpse replied after a moment, making the smile widen on Y/N’s face. Someone was finally on her side! 

“That’s because he can’t even explain himself!” Felix exclaimed, voting as well. 

“Besides, I’m pretty sure if it wasn’t for whoever locked that door, Y/N would be dead as well!” 

“No, I told you I-!”

“Guys, we have ten seconds to vote. Rae?” 

“I think it’s him as well. He was acting suspiciously since we started this round. I vote Sykkuno”

“But..!” 

“No, Sykkuno...” Y/N whispered with a pout on her lips, when she saw the number of people who voted for her lime friend. 

Sykkuno was ejected. 

“Alright, I’m pretty sure it’s Felix. I saw Rae multiple times and she didn’t kill me, Toast also doesn’t act very Impostor like, but maybe that’s just one of his strategies... Corpse is with me again, I don’t think that’s him, I mean, he followed me around last round, but still didn’t do anything, and even vouched for me and Sykkuno when we were both clearly chilling in comms. It can’t be him... right?” 

 Dead body reported.

 “I just saw Corpse kill Toast, then vent!” Rae’s voice blared through Y/N’s headphones, as she looked in shock at the red cross next to Toast’s name. If not him, then..?

“What?” the accused man asked calmly “That’s a self-report, she’s trying to frame me. You guys can’t possibly believe her.”

“I believe her. I saw you enter the Electrical with Toast, then he’s suddenly dead” Felix said. 

“That’s because she vented in there and killed him.”

“No! I swear, Y/N/N you have to believe me!” she directed her words towards the girl who remained silent during their discussion, processing her accusations over and over in her head. “I was fixing the wires, Toast was doing another task, and then boom! I see Corpse snapping his neck!”

“How could you see that if the lights were off?” Y/N suddenly asked, making Rae cut her own sentence off “No one went to fix them, they were off the entire round.”

Silence. 

“It’s Rae, it must be her” Corpse couldn’t help but laugh wholeheartedly at how small was the mistake which completely blew Rae’s cover. “We’re voting Rae, right Y/N?”

“No! Guys, I mean, let me explain, I-!”

Rae was ejected. 

“Now that was something I didn’t expect. I would’ve never thought it was her, I even suspected that Sykkuno might really have been the other Impostor, but now... It’s just me, Corpse, and Felix. I’m clear, clearly, so it must be one of them. And since Corpse protected me for the past few rounds, there’s no other option than...”

Her eyes suddenly widened when the realization hit her, and she quickly turned around to speed towards the emergency button. Fortunately, no one was around to stop her from calling the meeting.

“Felix.” Y/N started, trying to contain her excitement and sound seriously “Where were you when Sean was killed?”

Neither Corpse of Felix said a word, as it was probably the last question they expected her to ask. Felix cleared his throat, however, and finally replied:

“Y/N, that was literally the beginning of a game. How am I supposed to remember what I did then?”

“Well” she said nonchalantly “I, for example, clearly remember the things you said even when we were in the lobby.”

“What are you implying?” 

“Wasn’t it you, who told everyone that Sean was your number one if you get Impostor?” she asked with a wicked smile on her face. Felix was dumbfounded, he obviously didn’t expect her to pull that card on him, hell, he didn’t even know how she knew about it since she wasn’t even in the call at the time. 

“FELIX” Corpse suddenly broke the silence, simultaneously breaking the said man from his train of thoughts. 

“Okay, first of all- YOU WEREN’T EVEN IN THE CALL WHEN I SAID THAT” he yelled through his mic, making both Y/N and Corpse laugh, as it only confirmed their suspicions. 

“See? You only proved my point.” 

“Oh, fuck’s sake- I was just joking okay?!” he tried to defend himself, but hearing how he couldn’t even contain his own laughter anymore, it was clear he already accepted the defeat. “It wasn’t serious, god damn it!” 

“You know what to do, Y/N” Corpse’s voice asked through her headphones, and surely, she knew exactly what to do.

“C’mon Y/N, that’s not fair! At least let me explain myself!” 

“Bye Felix” she said in an overly dramatic tone before Corpse voted as well. 

Soon enough, the sign VICTORY could be seen on her screen, which made her squeak and joy. This game was really fun, even though she was so scared of being killed first. 

“I knew it! I knew you would figure out it’s him! That son of a bitch who murdered me!” Jack basically yelled out, clearly very happy about the result. 

“Y/N, seriously now, how did you know I’ve said that?” Felix asked without even hiding his surprised tone.

“Let’s just say I might’ve stolen some of your viewers, Felix” she admitted, winking at her webcam, a new wave of comments landing on her chat. “Thanks guys!” 

“Okay, that is rude and not fair!” 

“It helped me win, so I’ve got nothing else to say” Y/N grinned from ear to ear, before muting herself for a moment to finally answer some of the questions from her chat, while the rest took a quick break to eat something or go to the bathroom.

She was halfway through telling the story of how she met Sean when she noticed she got a message from a private discord chat. 

CORPSE: That was really impressive :)

Y/N smiled to herself upon seeing his text and quickly typed out the answer. 

Y/N: Thanks!! I wouldn’t have done that without you though, you stood up for me and Sykkuno and all

Y/N: Also, thanks for protecting me from being murdered ^^

CORPSE: No problem, I knew you were innocent right away. 

CORPSE: Anyway, good game, Sean was right saying that you’re one of the best players

She couldn’t help the blush that arose on her cheeks, it was very sweet of him to say that, even though she didn’t actually do much except for exposing Felix. 

Y/N: I wasn’t an Impostor though, so you didn’t really see much :)

She watched the three dots beside his name, that signaled he was still texting. The chat was completely forgotten, but people seemed to quickly notice that small, shy smile on her lips, and the pink tint decoring her cheeks.

CORPSE: Okay, now I’m intrigued... 

Y/N: Maybe we’ll both be Impostors one day ^^

CORPSE: Can’t wait for that to happen.

Soon enough, they returned to the lobby to begin another game. Y/N glanced at her chat for a second, and the moment she returned her eyes to the game, her jaw basically dropped. 

IMPOSTOR was written in bold letters in the middle of the red screen, right above her name.

Corpse’s little character was standing beside her. 

[honey-milk-depresso]

Meanie (Azul Ashengrotto x Reader)

SORRY TWST COMMUNTITY TRYING TO GET AS MANY DRAFT ELIMINATED AS POSSIBLE SORRY FOR BLASTING SHIT IN YOUR FACE BUT LIKE HOPE YOU ENJOY PLEASE DON’T KILL ME-

Based on a manga I think you know when you read it-

I suck I know-

Warning: Slight under aged drinking but it’s purely fluff, nothing serious.

Part 1

part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8 (END)

“Sevens, y/n. What do you want?”

“A hang out! At the VIP room!”

“You know how much that’s going to cost you right? You don’t have much on you.”

“Yeah, yeah I know but, I spend it on my friend!”

“You’re paying me.”

“Exactly!”

Azul sighed in irritation. He can never get enough of you, can he?

“Fine.”

“YES!! I’ll bring some things along!”

=====================================================

“You got to be kidding me..”

Lying on the table, there were an assortment of chips, soft drinks, sweet snacks and to top it all off, a bottle of plum wine.

“Y/n, you shouldn’t be drinking. You’re under aged.”

You laughed heartily. “Don’t worry! It’s only once in a while! Besides, I really like plum wine! I’m not drinking it for the sake of looking cool! Ahehehe~!”

He sighed, putting his hat and jacket suit by the table and plopping himself on the couch, leaving him with his white collared shirt with his sleeves rolled up and pants.

He cringed slightly as all the snacks were unhealthy.

“Couldn’t you have bring snacks of healthier options?”

“Azul, you should treat yourself every once in a while. Being healthy is good, but you can eat junk just once! Besides, it’s a happy occasion!”

“You do this at least twice a week.”

“Not at night or with snacks.”

“True..”

He saw you stuff chips in your mouth in one goal, like a rapid animal.

“Geez, y/n eat slowly. You might choke.”

“Awww, does Azul care for me~?”

“I don’t want a dead body filled with chips in the VIP lounge.”

“So mean!!”

He smiled a little. Your outgoing and cheerful attitude annoyed him at times, but he still couldn’t help but smile at how endearing you could be.

“Geez, you eat like it’s the end of your world.”

Ah.

You took out a pack of poker cards and slam it on the table.

“LET’S PLAY!”

“SEVENS, Y/N! JUST PUT IT DOWN LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN AND NOT TREAT YOUR CARDS LIKE A HAMMER-”

“Well geez, sorry.”

You took the cards out and began shuffling them, clearing the snacks to one side and spreading the cards in a circle.

“Alright, the rules are simple: You can’t quit in the middle!”

“Well, obviously.”

You had always bring about weird games to play. Like the time you played with 2 chess boards for no reason. One to play chess and one to play checkers, then if you get to take one chess or checker piece away, you had to do math question on your assignment, both of which you lost, and had to do the homework yourself. So this isn’t new to him. Maybe you’ll pull out your magic history homework.

“Alright just pick a card!”

“I got the twelve of spades.”

“HAH! QUEEN OF HEARTS!!”

“You don’t have to yell.”

“Now, since I have the larger number, I’ll ask you truth or dare!”

“So, truth or dare??”

“Truth.”

“So~ Do you think Idia or Jade is more handsome to you?~”

He nearly spit out the canned grape juice he was drinking.

“W-what type of question is that?!”

“Those are the rules! If you don’t want to answer a question you pick “dare”! And with “dare”, I’ll make you do something and you can’t quit or complain!”

This is the game of the devil, he thought. What is worse? Answering your ridiculous question or doing you ridiculous “dare”?

Screw it. Better answer than do it, right?

“I’ll stick with truth...”

“Okay! So.. Idia or Jade is handsome to you??”

“......Idia..?”

“Oooh, really ? I thought Jade was pretty handsome himself though. Ah well!”

For some reason, he felt a little irritated when you said Jade was handsome.

“Moving along!”

You two pick your cards.

“Hmm~ five of diamonds? I got twelve of clovers!~~”

“Oh goodness..”

How is he having this much of bad luck today? He’s thinking you shuffled the cards in your favor.

A little flustered due to the plum wine, you slurred a little with the next question.

“Truth or dare??”

“Truth.”

“If Idia was a girl, and she’d be the prettiest girl in NRC, and everyone else are girls, where would I be ranked in looks?”

“What?”

“ANSWER MEEEE~”

“Second.”

“H-heh???” Now you were very flustered.

“So I am pretty to you??? Aww you’re so sweet, Azul!!”

“That’s because I can never imagine NRC being a girls’ school.”

“I-”

=====================================================

“Huh??? Aw man I got two of spades!”

“Twelve of hearts.”

“Oh no..”

Well looks like the tables have finally turned. 

After answering your many ridiculous dares, it’s finally his turn. By now he can tell you’re very drunk. You weren’t think straight and you were slurring and getting flustered a lot.

“Truth or dare.”

“TRUTH!”

He paused to think for a while on what he wanted to ask you.

“Have you ever had a first kiss?”

“HuH?? WHAT? ”

“Silence fool.”

“MEANIE!!”

“But... No I haven’t. Wonder who would wanna kiss me~~?”

“Your lips would reek plum wine, I don’t think anyone would.”

“HEY AZULLL I THOUGHT WE WERE FREINDSSS!!!”

He smiled.

“I’m just joking.”

=============================================================

“Hehehehe~ Truth or dare??~~”

“...dare.”

He said hesitantly. It’s been what? 9 to 11 rounds already and you only had truths, while you complained all his questions were like job interview questions.

“Ohohoho~ Well then,” you spread your arms open, “carry meee to beddd~~”

He blanked. His face was unreadable.

“Hey! Carry-”

Suddenly, you felt your entire body being lifted from the couch. Azul was carrying you bridal style close to his chest. You felt his steady heartbeat and you couldn’t help but blush at the sudden contact.

He went over to the secret guest bedroom and plopped you down on the bed.

“I’ll make sure you’ll go back to Ramshackle tomorrow. It’s a weekend anyways.”

You buried your face in your hands as you squirmed, giggling.

“Ehehehehe~~ That really surprised me! Thank you, Azul!~~”

“Okay, Azul! Pick a card for me.”

“It’s getting very late.”

“But like what you said tomorrow is the weekend!!!!”

“Still. You should be sleeping.”

“Okay! One last dare! I promise!”

He sighed. “Fine.”

He picked a card.

“What did I get??”

“King of Spades.”

“Oooh~ What did you get???”

He picked a card. “Three clovers.”

“Hmmm~ My turn then! This one would be truth only!”

You paused and he heard the blankets being ruffled as you shifted to a different position.

“If I said.. I was really scared of dying, what would you do?”

He swerved his head to look at you, his eyes scanning you.

You were completely calm that it scared him.

“Nonsense, you aren’t going to die.”

Right?

“Aheheheh~ Well I’m super tired! You should go to sleep too!”

He off the lights, the only light shining now was the lamp beside your bed on the night stand.

“Call me when you wake up. I’ll be in my room.”

“Got it~!”

And he closed the door.

To be continued..

=========================

HEYA FOLKS WANT ME TO DO PART 2??? Just reblog or request I don’t know I-

I died.

[mndvx]

please enlighten me as to how much this episode sucked 🤭 bc from what i'm reading, it was even worse than last week

Turns out we finally found which episode of Titans is the worst!! (So far, at least.)

I have a feeling that the finale will be the most absolute insane pile of dog shit this show has ever had. And it's had a lot lately!! They really baited us into thinking there was a slight chance of it being good with the first four episode. I'm so mad.

Last week was a filler episode. And it was bad. But they really outdid themselves with this one, it's... yeah it's the worst episode of Titans, so far.

The GCPD is incompetent, that we already knew. So it's not really surprising when Random Nameless Cop #4 ends up being easily bought by Jason/Crane after we saw him have a little feely chat with Barbs about someone he knew dying from the fear induced riots or whatever

but before that, Crane sends all of gotham a little fanvid he made in his garage using footage from episode 1, not in any way shot differently, it's just episode 1 intro fight against Gizmo Guys copy pasted with a few flashing random buzz words, like "thief" "con-man" or whatever and him narrating about how the titans are bad guys and the reason why gotham's water is poisoned and says he put a bounty of 500K on the titans dead or alive. We get a little montage of every main character seeing the vid. With Conner and Komand'r spooning together in the living room d'aww and Gar reading up on Lazarus Pits then having a little DCney Prince moment with the bats in the cave before Kory comes in to tell him about the video.

So with that, what does Dick do? First he tells Barbara he's gonna fix this(tm) then he goes back to the batcave (off screen) and i guess tells the rest of the team (off screen) to get into a parking lot or something?? where they get surrounded by dozens of people and like... Fight four of them before Dick tells them to come back??? Also, at some point during this Dick is like "Me staying here, it's a mistake I should be with you guys" and Kory tells him "No! You got a bounty on your head, it's safer" so why is Gar not staying in the cave with him, he's not invincible either!!

Meanwhile, Donna is taking a taxi to get back to Gotham, because I guess she can't teleport anymore, that must've been some of that Purgatory juice that sent her from Themyscira to that other Wayne Manor to save Bruce (who we hear NOTHING about. I mean good, we're not here for him, but she literally just stopped him from kiling himself in another country and now she's on the way to Gotham all alone... That's weird

Same thing about Tim, we saw him come back from the dead last week, but he's nonexistent in this episode. No one, not a single person all titans included, even speaks about him or even vaguely mentions him being shot or asks if he's okay or anything.

and then that random Lydia amazon shows up saying she's been following Donna "for 10 minutes" which is really weird, because Donna definitely was moving for longer than ten minutes, i mean she was IN ANOTHER COUNTRY, so how the fuck did you show up specifically on that road to Gotham just ten minutes ago, CAN YOU TELEPORT LYDIA??? I guess she can because then she slams Donna down and she wakes up in some random woods she calls "The Training Grounds" like it means something. blablabla this is the B Plot i guess? It's dumb, it's pointless. It's Lydia fighting Donna for way too long, some random shit about Lydia's daughter Angela dying and how she's sad or whatever who cares, then telling Donna she has to rise, she was born to lead people etc etc (can you tell how hard they're trying to make a spin off happen?) before Donna can finally go back to going to Gotham (no she doesn't get reunited with the team.)

Dick and Babs meet in a bar for some reason, random pointless and annoying reminiscing about their past before Dick tells her he's gonna turn himself in as Nightwing, pay bail then vanish from Gotham so the people can supposedly keep faith in the GCPD and not turn against them?? idk, if Nightwing vanished like that right after being caught by them, I wouldn't trust them to protect me but that's just me!

Jason and Crane have a weird and cringey chat (again. they had one before as he prepared his fanvid, talking about... Breakfast?? Jason was annoyed and didn't get the point of it, same) and he goes on this rant about how Jason needs to believe in himself and all that, makes him go "Red Hood!! Say it with me! Red Hood!" for like... what felt like at least a whole minute before he suits back up and goes back to being the murderous little shit he CHOSE to be, Molly calls him and asks him to stop he says no i have to </3 (you don't dumbass)

Dick tells everyone his plan, they all eventually agree because that's totally not gonna go wrong 🙄🙄 so they suit up and go to the GCPD to make a little show of their surrender. The cop that was bought out apparently has a lot of friends bc most of the cops present during the thing start acting up and one of them pushes Komand'r first (geoff johns, i'm in your walls with a knife) which is only so Conner can go "HEY BACK OFF 😠😠" before they then start attacking everyone. You already saw Kom gets shot, so yeah... That happens. Con stopped one bullet and stood there just 🖐🏻😠 while another was shot and hit Komand'r in the stomach or something, the most boring fight scene ensues (gar gets shirtless yay! sorry.) Barbara kills the cop who had his gun drawn on Dick and she's later on arrested by Vee for it, which... what the fuck??

so everyone left after the whole boring fight, separating and hiding. Kory and Kom go to a church where Kory decides to use her powers to try and heal the bullet wound that is KILLING her sister, and Komand'r somehow (unconsciously) absorbs all of Kory's powers, which makes Kory mad and go on a whole thing wondering if this was her plan all along, making Kory care for her so she could betray her or something. Komand'r says it's not the case and asks what will it cost for Kory to trust her etc. (honestly this whole episode is badly written, but 🥺🥺 Kory admitted she cared about Kom). then they have another argument, because Kory wants to return to the Titans and help them, but Komand'r tells her they should leave and go somewhere alone the two of them, and that Kory is a queen and was never meant to be fighting a war that's not hers and they then separate because Kory is not going anywhere. Komand'r then leaves, Kory asks where she's going and Kom tells her she's not "the only one with unfinished business" which... what? So yeah, now Komand'r has Kory's full set of powers and Kory is COMPLETELY depowered. 

And then we have a little montage of the city going to shit and full chaos, with Barbara being arrested for killing that other cop. Donna beats up a soldier who wouldn't let her come in Gotham. Because of course she comes back when everything's gone to shit, how convenient.

Gar is all alone in an empty warehouse type of place, after having been shot with a tranquilizer dart while the whole fight in the GCPD happened, (which was like half a day ago, idk how animal tranquilizer work but that must be strong stuff because he's still a little knocked out from it) he sees a raven that then turns into our beloved little Rachel!!! She tells him she found him because she felt his energy, and they have a quick recap chat where he tells her Jason and Crane turned the city into chaos she doesn't react in any particular way, so i guess she knows Jason is evil? whatever. the good thing about this scene is Rachel using her powers!! (and Ryan Potter's abs)

Then we see Dick and Conner on their own, with Conner insisting they need to go out there and help people but Dick being the dumbfuck he is tells Conner they can't, that they need to stay hidden and not be caught, so going back to Wayne Manor is also out of the question. But CONNER IS INVINCIBLE!!!!! FOR FUCK'S SAKE GRAYSON!!!!

And for our last scenes, Jason and Crane are in Wayne Manor. He makes Jason destroy a painting of Bruce and his parents because of course you have redecorate the place now that it's yours, Jason has quick flashbacks of his conversation with Bruce in Crime Alley in the shitty episode all about Jay and angrily stabs the painting like 20 times?? And Crane actually says "Welcome to Crane Manor", it wasn't just the synopsis being cringe!

ANYWAY. TERRIBLE FUCKING BAD EPISODE.

[maaaaaatryoshka0325]

Love the way you hate me - Bang Chan enemies to lovers College AU

Warnings: Smut, angst, fluff, reader is a virgin, multiple smut scenes, slight triggerish themes

I started writing this while I was hammered, so if there’s any spelling errors, I’m sorry LMAO

You’ve always hated him. His hair, his face, his sexy jawline, his cute dimple, all of it. But most of all, you hated the butterflies that would erupt in your stomach everytime he was near you.

You both had a very obvious dislike for each other, and you both made that clear. He would always tease you, and you would always shoot back a sly remark. He knew you were a virgin, he could tell by the way you acted around guys. At first he thought you were gay, but the way you seemed around men made it too obvious.

“If you ever need help, maybe I can do it.” He’d tease with a smirk. “Maybe I’d make you fall in love with me.”

Fall in love? Yeah, right. But maybe him being your first wasn’t a bad idea. I mean yeah you hated him, but no strings would be attached, right? You already hated each other, so catching feelings was already out of the picture. But how do you ask the swim captain to take your virginity? Would he even accept it?

“Maybe you should try getting some dick.” Your best friend, Minho, advised. “Maybe then you’d stop having an attitude problem.”

“By who Minho? I’m not interested in anyone.” You pointed out, taking a fry from his tray and eating it.

“I don’t know, and personally I really don’t care. Just try and get some dick. Or at least some coochie.” He muttered, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t have an attitude problem.” You argued.

“Really? Because anytime I say something to you snap,” He said, snapping his fingers. “Right the fuck back. Either you need some dick or a whole new attitude adjustment.”

“Whatever.” You muttered, dismissing his rant.

Your eyes fell on Chan as he walked in the room, his group of friends around him. He was laughing and talking to another member of the swim team, Hyunjin. His eyes scanned the room until they landed on yours, making a smirk stretch across his face as he noticed you were looking at him. You rolled your eyes and looked away, catching Minho’s eye.

“What about him?” He asked.

“Bang Chan?” You scoffed, rolling your eyes yet again. “And why would I do that to myself?”

“I mean I don’t know... He’s hot, popular, an amazing athlete, and by what I can tell by the gray sweats he wears... He’s got it all.” Minho pointed out.

“Ew! Minho!” You gasped, smacking his arm. “I didn’t know you had a thing for Chan!”

“Yah! I don’t like Chan. You know I’m a ladies man.” He said with a smirk. “But when girls constantly point it out... You tend to notice.”

You scrunched your nose up in disgust, taking a sip of your coke that you had in front of you. Minho kept looking at you before taking a bite of his burger, losing the thought of the conversation as he ate. You looked at Minho for a moment, taking in his features.

If Minho wasn’t your closest friend, you would’ve asked him to take your virginity. He came off as a cold asshole, but he was quite the opposite. He had become friends with you after you both had a group project, and you two were inseparable ever since. You always helped him out with his girl problems, which led him to complaining you never went to him about your guys problems, not that you had any.

But maybe, just maybe, he was right. You and Chan weren’t close, and you definitely didn’t like each other. He would more than likely keep it on the down low if you tried, as he seemed to treasure his reputation. He wouldn’t want to taint it by anyone finding out he had slept with you.

You stood outside of exit after you had finished your after school duties; tidying up the library and helping prep for a few classes. You knew Chan was done swim practice soon, as it ended at 4 PM every week day. You watched the doors to the gym open, and out walked Chan, his hair damp and curly from practicing in the water.

You swallowed hard and slowly approached him as he unlocked the door to his car, his eyes focused on the task.

“Chan?” You asked.

He lifted his head and turned towards you, a smirk stretching across his lips when he saw you.

“Y/N? This is quite the surprise.” He laughed, his dimple poking through as he looked at you.

“Yeah yeah, surprise.” You muttered.

“What’s up? What brings you to this side of campus?” He asked.

“I have a proposition for you.” You said, looking at him seriously.

“Oh?” He asked, leaning back against his car. “And what would that be?”

“I need you to help me with that little problem you pointed out.” You said lowly.

He arched a brow at you and tilted his head.

“What little problem?” He asked.

“Ya know... About me being a... um...” You trailed off, swallowing hard as you looked at him. “A virgin.”

His jaw dropped as he stared at you, shock in his eyes.

“Woah... Um... Wow...” He began scratching the back of his neck. “So you uh... Want me to be your first?”

You nodded, biting your lip anxiously.

“Y/N, I don’t know what kind of guy you take me for, but I don’t go around taking virginities...” He said, trailing off. “Why me anyways?”

“Because I want to lose it to someone I won’t get attached too.” You pointed out.

“Shouldn’t you want to get attached to your first time? I mean, be in love with that person?” He asked, shock still edging his voice.

“I’ve never been in love before.” You said.

He fell silent as he seemed to be thinking, taking his plump lower lip into his mouth.

“Please Chan? You and I don’t exactly like each other, and I’d rather not do it with someone I can get attached too. I’m in college and I’ve never had sex before...” You said, looking at him anxiously. “I mean if you don’t want too that’s okay, I can always find someone else.”

Chan looked at you for a moment, his eyes scanning your face for a sign of amusement, to see if it was a joke. His arms were crossed as he seemed to be thinking, before he stood up straight and looked down at you.

“Are you sure?” He asked.

You looked him in the eyes and nodded confidently. He ran his fingers through his curly hair before taking a deep breath.

“Fine, I’ll do it.” He declared, looking at you. “But if you change your mind in any way I want you to back out.”

“I will.” You said with a smile.

“Good.” He said, leaning against his car and looking at you. “So where and when do you want to do this?”

“Is it possible to do it at your dorm? Maybe a day you don’t have practice so you’re not too tired.” You suggested.

He seemed to think for a moment, his eyes on the ground before he shrugged.

“My dorm works.” He said.

“Do you have a roommate?” You asked.

“Yeah, but he’s never home.” He informed you, his eyes still scanning your face to see if you were being serious.

“When are you free?” You pressed.

“I don’t have practice tomorrow.” He said, his eyes on yours. “Is that too soon for you?”

“Tomorrow works.” You accepted with a small smile. “What time works for you?”

“Come over after your finished with your after school stuff. Changbin should be gone until 9 or 10, so we’ll have plenty of time.” He said.

“Okay.” You said with a nod. “So 4:30 tomorrow?”

“That works.” He said, standing up straight, a small smirk on his lips. “We’re going to have some fun, babygirl.”

Your cheeks flared up and you glared at him, pushing past him.

“You’re such a weirdo!”

“Wait, so you ACTUALLY took my advice?” Minho asked, his eyes wide.

“I mean yeah, it’s my best bet.” You informed him, sipping on an almost completely dry box of Yoo-hoo.

“Okay Y/N, you sucked it bone dry.” Minho said with a sly smirk. “Like what you’ll do to Chan.”

You choked and coughed, shaking your head at him.

“You’re so gross Minho!” You rasped through your coughs.

“Gross or telling the truth?” He asked, a smile on his face.

“Yeah, whatever.” You mumbled.

“Speaking of the devil.” Minho pointed out, pointing with his chin.

You turned around and saw Chan walking into the cafeteria, surrounded by friends again. This time however, he had a disgustingly familiar female with him, Kim Yenna. She was disgustingly stuck up, with her dead over bleached hair, gross looking nails (who even gets them that color anymore anyways?) and over drawn on eyebrows, and her obnoxiously fake, overly high pitched voice. And if you couldn’t tell already, she was a total bitch.

She followed Chan around like a lost puppy, always gawking at him and hanging all over his shoulder. He seemed to either not mind or not notice, but with him you really couldn’t tell. She ran a little clique of his ‘fans’ who never stopped screeching during swim tournaments. I mean you had to admit, Chan looked killer in the swim shorts and tight swim shirt he wore, but it was nothing to rip your vocal cords up over.

“I wonder if Yenna has ever tried with Chan, she’s always stuck up his ass.” Minho pointed out, sticking a spoonful of pudding into his mouth.

“I dunno, maybe.” You said, taking a bite of his pudding.

“I don’t see how he can stand her, her voice itself makes me cringe.” Minho said, shuddering from just the thought of her screeching in his ear.

“Maybe he’s attracted to that type of girl.” You suggested, shrugging.

“Definitely not. I mean, he’s attracted to you, and you’re not like that.” Minho pointed out.

“Woah, Chan is NOT attracted to me.” You argued, looking at him.

“Oh yeah, he just agreed to take your virginity.” Minho said sarcastically, rolling his dark eyes.

“That’s different.” You tried.

“How? You have to have SOME type of attraction to someone to sleep with them.” He pointed out, arching a brow at you.

“Whatever.” You muttered.

You raised your eyes to where Chan was standing and made eye contact with Yenna, who gave you a bitchy smirk and clung to Chan again. Oh yeah, she was also a bitch to you. You didn’t know why, or how it happened, but she was.

“If I could get away with slapping a woman silly it’d be her.” Minho pointed out, looking at her. “Without hesitation, I’d knock that bitch out.”

“Minho!” You laughed.

“What?” He asked, laughing.

“That’s not nice.” You giggled.

“Yeah well, neither is she.” He mumbled. “Stuck up bitch.”

You bit your lip and withdrew your hand for a third time, pulling it back to your side and pacing again. You had been standing in front of Chan’s dorm for the past 5 minutes, debating whether or not to actually knock.

You didn’t have his number, so texting him was out of the question, and you were too nervous to knock. You sighed and threw your head in your hands, a groan leaving your lips.

Maybe I was too stupid for doing this.

Just as you were about to give up and walk away, Chan opened the door, giving you a shocked look.

“Oh, hey. How long have you been out here?” He asked.

“Er... Not long.” You lied.

“Well, come in.” He said, stepping aside and holding the door for you.

You slowly stepped into his dorm, the comforting smell of warm vanilla hitting your senses. You noticed a wax burner on the counter in the kitchen, a soft pink wax slowly melting inside of it.

“My rooms down this way.” Chan said, beckoning you to follow.

You followed him into the room the in the back, your eyes taking in everything in front of you.

First of all, you never realized how much black he wore until you saw all the shirts in his closet. They were all black, not a single other color in sight. Another thing you noticed is the California king bed in the center of the room, along with a computer and speakers. You knew Chan was a music production major, but his set up was incredible.

“Like it?” He asked.

You laughed and nodded, looking at his keyboard. He smiled at you and you shook your head, remembering who he was and why you were there. You sat on his bed, biting your lip as you thought of a way to start this. You’ve never done this before, and you never imagined doing it with a guy like Chan. Chan, the one you had a serious disliking for. Chan, the one who teased you all the time and would laugh at you when you got flustered. Chan, the one that-

Your thoughts were caught off as he slowly lifted your chin and pressed his plump lips to your own, making your body tense. He pulled away and looked at you, a questionable look in his eyes.

“Are you sure about this? You don’t seem comfortable.” He pointed out.

“Y-Yeah, I’m sure. I’m just nervous...” You pointed out awkwardly.

“It’s okay, just let me do the work, yeah? I’ll teach you.” He said softly.

You nodded as he leaned in again and pressed his pillowy lips back on to yours. Your eyes fluttered closed as you melted into his kiss, sparks erupting in your lower belly. Chan felt your body relax and decided to take it to the next step, swiping your bottom lip with his tongue to ask for entry.

You allowed him entry as his tongue began to poke at your own. Your hands grabbed at his shirt in shock at the feeling of your tongues intertwining with each other, his plump lips still soft against your own. You felt his chest push against yours until you fell back on his bed, your mouths still connected as he hovered over you. His tongue could’ve easily dominated yours, very easily. But he kept the kiss gentle, knowing not to scare you.

Your hands clutched his biceps, almost shocked at how muscular they felt. He pulled away from your lips, a short string of saliva still attaching the both of you. He kissed your lips again before slowly kissing lower, his lips peppering kisses along your neck and jaw. You let out a tiny moan when he kissed the junction between your neck and shoulder, a smirk stretching across his face.

“Hm? A weak spot?” He asked, lightly sucking on it.

“Ahh, Chan.” You moaned out very softly, your fingers clutching his shirt.

“Chris. Call me Chris.” He said, lifting himself up and smirking at you. “Or daddy.”

“Yeah, in your dreams.” You hissed at him.

His eyes narrowed as he pinned your arms to either side of you, leaning down and sucking on your weak spot again. You let out a tiny whimper and he chuckled, pulling away from your neck with a small pop.

“Oh, so that’s it, huh?” He asked, arching a brow. “You’re a brat?”

“W-What?” You asked, your cheeks turning red.

“That’s exactly it, Y/N. You act all hard and have a sharp tongue, but the moment I touch this sweet little spot,” He cooed, lightly licking the spot he had sucked on. “You’re like puty in my hands.”

You whined at his words, knowing it was true. You were, indeed, a brat. He smirked down at you as he kissed along your jaw again, before coming to the neck line of your shirt. He slowly raised himself up and lifted his shirt over his head, your eyes gawking at his body.

He was completely ripped, his toned and built body in full view, along with his well defined pecks. He smirked and arched a brow at you, letting out a small laugh through his nose.

“Like what you see babygirl?” He asked.

You blushed at his words and covered your face, making him chuckle. He gently moved your hands aside and grabbed the hem of your shirt, looking at you. You nodded as he lifted your shirt over your head, his eyes scanning your body. You blushed again and went to cover up, but his hands stopped your own.

“Don’t cover yourself up Y/N.” He said softly, leaning foreword and pressing a soft kiss on the top of your right boob.

You watched him slowly unhook your bra and pull it off, your nipples standing at attention. He pressed a soft kiss to your nipple, before slowly sucking it into his mouth. You let out a soft moan, your fingers tangling in his hair as he lightly sucked on your soft mount. His hand massaged your other boob, his fingers gently tweaking your other nipple. Bliss filled your body, making a warm heat pool between your thighs. His thumb twirled your opposite nipple around, his mouth still latched to the other as you let out small whines. He finally pulled away with a small pop, his eyes shining as he saw you were already a mess.

“You’re so sensitive Y/N. It’s cute.” He purred.

Cute?

You didn’t have time to question it as he slowly slid your pants down your thighs, pulling them off of your legs. His eyes ate up the laced underwear you wore, a pretty shade of dark red with black topped lace.

“Those are beautiful.” He rasped, gently rubbing your thighs.

You blushed at his words, about to cover your face. You squealed as he wrapped his arms under your thighs and pulled your heat close to him, dropping his face to level with it. He glanced at you again and you, again, gave him the go ahead. He smirked at you as he licked up your covered heat, making a whine leave your lips.

“That was a cute sound, Y/N.” He chuckled.

“Shut u-oh!” You went to tell him to shut up, but his mouth attaching to your covered clit cut you off as you let out a moan.

He licked up your covered slit again before pulling your panties off, his eyes gluing to your dripping heat. His eyes beamed as he knew he had done this to you, and he was the only one who has. He dipped his head down and blew on your dripping slit, making you hiss at the feeling. He smirked as he licked a bold strip up your soaked folds, making you whimper.

“I love how vocal you are.” He rasped as he attached his lips to your clit.

You closed your eyes in bliss as he sucked on your sensitive nub, your fingers grabbing at his soft locks. Soft slurping sounds filled the room along with your moans, his tongue working magic on you. You felt one of his fingers poking your entrance, his eyes meeting your again.

“I’m gonna put a finger in to get you prepped, okay?” He asked.

You nodded and bit your lip as he slipped a finger into your heat, making you whimper at the foreign feeling. He pumped it soft and slow, curling it just right. His lips reattached to your clit as he gently worked your begging hole, your pussy happily sucking in his finger. You let out a loud whine when he slipped a second in, making him pull away from your clit and press wet kisses to the insides of your thighs.

“I know babygirl, but you don’t want it to hurt.” He rasped softly.

His fingers pumped slowly into, curling just the right way as his tongue rolled your clit expertly, making you close your eyes tight as your legs began to shake, your thighs closing around his head.

“Ch-Chan, something’s happening.” You whimpered.

“You’re gonna orgasm babygirl, it’s okay. You can cum.” He purred, slurping on your clit.

You let out a high pitched whimper as you came on his fingers and tongue, a small chuckle coming from his lips as your thighs tightened around his head, your eyes shut tight. He helped you through your high, lightly pumping his fingers and detaching his lips from your clit, careful not to over work you yet. He pressed wet kisses from the top of your heat, up your stomach and chest, and finally to your lips. Your eyes fluttered open as he looked down at you, his eyes soft.

“You okay?” He asked, wiping his mouth.

“Y-Yeah... That felt amazing.” You panted.

“Good.... Do you want to continue?” He asked, tilting his head.

“I-If you’re okay with that.” You said shyly.

He smiled down at you and pressed a comforting peck to your lips, his hand rubbing your hip.

“Of course I’m okay with it, I just wanted to make sure you were.” He said gently.

He stood up and pulled his pants down, his hard length pressed painfully against his boxers. Your eyes popped out of your head when he pulled his boxers down, the sound of his very girthy length hitting his stomach filling the room. He giggled at your expression, his cheeks a soft shade of pink.

“W-Will that fit?” You asked.

“Yeah babygirl, don’t worry.” He said gently, hovering over you again. “I’ll go slow.”

You nodded and he leaned over and reached into his nightstand, cursing as he rummaged around.

“What is it?” You asked.

“I... Don’t have any condoms. Fuck, I’m sorry. I haven’t done this in awhile and I figured I had some.” He sighed.

“Wait you haven’t.. Done anything in awhile?” You asked.

“I told you before Y/N, I’m really not like that.” He said with a small smile.

You bit your lip for a moment and thought, your eyes meeting his.

“Is your pull out game strong?” You asked.

He nearly choked when you asked, an amused laugh leaving his mouth.

“Oh my god. Yes, it’s good, clearly. I don’t have kids.” He laughed.

“Yeah yeah, shut up. Just pull out.” You instructed.

“If that’s what you want.” He giggled.

He hovered over you again, using one of his hands to bring your own to his shoulders.

“Grip me if it hurts.” He said softly.

You nodded as you felt his tip poking your entrance. He looked down at you as he slowly slipped the tip in, his eyes searching your face. Your jaw fell slack as he pushed in a little more, a whimper leaving your lips as tears brimmed your eyes. He stopped his hips and pressed soft kisses to your jaw. He pulled away and rubbed your hair, his eyes soft.

“Are you okay? Can you take it?” He asked.

You nodded, your nails digging into his biceps. He kissed your lips as he pushed in some more, a choked whine leaving your lips as a tear slipped past your eye. He kissed it away and clutched you tightly, halting his hips again.

“You’re doing so well babygirl, I promise. The pain will go away soon.” He whispered gentle praises in your ear, making you relax as he slipped the final inch inside of you, his hips meeting yours.

He allowed you to stay like that, pressing soft kisses to your jaw as he waited for your signal to move. You whined and he gave you a soft smile as he slowly dragged himself from your aching walls, gently pushing back in.

“Fuck.” He rasped, his hips rolling deeply into yours. “You’re so tight.”

You whimpered at his words, tangling your fingers in his soft locks as he began to pick up the pace. He slipped his hand between the two of you, rubbing figure eights on your clit as his length slid in and out of your heat. You let out a high pitched whimper as he fluidly rolled his hips into yours, rubbing your gspot and circling your clit. You tugged at his locks as pleasure blinded you, your toes curling every time his length slid into your walls.

“I’m gonna cum again Chan.” You whimpered, fingers clutching his hair.

“It’s okay babygirl, cum for me.” He rasped, rolling his hips deeply into yours.

You came with a soft whimper of his name falling from your lips, your body trembling as he rode out your high before pulling out and cumming on your stomach with a deep groan. Hot spurts on your skin made you glance down, seeing the small mess on your belly, but the look on his face was well worth it. His eyes were closed, head thrown back, plump lips parted as he stroked his length, getting every last drop out. Your eyes wandered to his length, your eyes widening when you noticed blood on it. You looked down and noticed blood on the sheets as well, panic filling you.

“U-Um, Chan? Why is there blood?” You asked, panic lacing your tone.

Chan snapped out of his post sex trance and looked at you, then down to his bloody length, then to the sheets, then your bleeding entrance, before chuckling.

“It’s normal silly.” He giggled.

“I-It is?” You asked.

He nodded and got up, looking around for a towel.

“I should clean us up.” He said.

“I can just... Go.” You said awkwardly.

He turned to you and lifted a brow.

“Why?” He asked.

“I mean... Shouldn’t I?” You asked.

“Why would you think that? I told you before, I’m not that type of guy. And there’s no way I’m gonna kick you out right after I took your virginity, and you’re bleeding on top of it.” He pointed out.

“Sorry...” You apologized shyly.

He sighed and gave you a small smile before wetting a rag and wiping his length off. He slowly rested between your legs and wiped the blood off of your entrance and thighs, cleaning you up completely before plopping down next to you. You both stared at the ceiling, lost in thought. You turned your head to look at him, his eyes glued to the ceiling fan.

“What was your first time like?” You asked.

He looked at you in shock for a moment, his eyes meeting yours. He let out a small laugh and rubbed his forehead, his eyes closed.

“It was with my first girlfriend back when I was in high school.” He said.

“Oh... Was she a virgin too?” You asked.

“Yeah, she was.” He said, turning his head away. “God, I wish I could take it back.”

“Why’s that?” You asked, your eyes sad.

“She was the first girl I ever loved, and god did I love her so much. I tried to give her everything I could. I spoiled her, I gave her time, I gave her love, and she went ahead and cheated on me.” He said softly.

Your eyes softened at his words, your heart oddly hurting for him. His eyes looked so sad, so confused.

“It’s been years but I still don’t know why.” He said, looking at you. “I guess it was just me.”

“Chan, it definitely wasn’t you. If you did all that for her, then it was her.” You pointed out.

He shrugged and stared off into space, his eyes wandering around.

“I’m serious Chan, you didn’t deserve that.” You said.

He gave a small laugh and looked at you, propping himself up on his elbow.

“Don’t you hate me? Aren’t you supposed to say I deserve it? Don’t you think I’m a shitty person?” He asked.

“I think you’re annoying, not a shitty person.” You pointed out.

Chan laughed and rolled his eyes, turning towards you.

“I’ll take that over being shitty.” He laughed. “But thanks, you’re too sweet.”

You rolled your eyes and turned the opposite way as him, facing the wall. Your eyes felt heavy as they began to close, and you fell asleep to the sound of Chan snoring softly beside you.

Your eyes fluttered open as light poured into the room. You opened your eyes and turned over, shock and horror filling you as you realized you were laying directly next to Chan. His eyes were closed, lips slightly parted as he slept. You went to move away, accidentally bumping him. His brows furrowed and he slowly opened his eyes, a small smirk stretching across his face.

“Staring at me while I sleep now babygirl?” He asked.

“I wasn’t!” You gasped, turning away.

He chuckled and moved closer, making goosebumps form on your skin as he leaned close, whispering against the skin on your shoulder.

“You can stare at me as much as you like babygirl. I know you like what you see.” 

You squealed and went to push him away, making him laugh as he grabbed your arms, his face just a mere inch from yours.

“You get so flustered so easily.” He chuckled.

“Yeah, whatever.” You mumbled.

He chuckled and held your arms, a smirk on his face.

“So? Do you want this to be a thing? Like a friends with benefits type of thing?” He asked.

“We aren’t friends.” You pointed out.

“Yeah yeah, ‘enemies’ with benefits or whatever.” He said, his eyes on yours.

“Should we?” You asked, wanting his confirmation before saying yes.

“I mean, I don’t see why not. You’re not hooking up or with anyone, clearly.” He pointed out. “And neither am I. It’ll benefit us both.” 

You thought about it for a moment, biting your lip before nodding.

“Cool.” He said with a smile. “Should I get condoms? Or are you comfortable starting birth control?”

“I can start birth control, I don’t see a problem with it.” You said with a nod.

“Cool.” He said, getting up. “We should probably keep this on the down low, yeah?”

You nodded as you watched him get up and throw a pair of his black boxers on. You weren’t surprised to say the least, already knowing he would’ve asked you to do so to protect his image. You sat up and covered yourself with the blanket as you looked around for your clothes, which were conveniently scattered across the room. You cursed as you looked around for you thongs, when you heard him clear his throat. You lifted your head and saw the laced topped underwear dangling from his pointer finger, a smirk on his face.

“Give them to me.” You demanded, storming over to him with the blanket wrapped around you.

“Hmmm... Maybe if you give me a kiss.” He said with a smirk, dropping his face down to your level.

“In your dreams, morning breath.” You growled, reaching for your panties.

He smirked and lifted them higher, his dimple poking through his cheek. You glared at him and went to snatch them again, when he pecked your lips and then ran out of the room with them, making your face turn red from being flustered, and from anger.

“Bang Chan you are so annoying!”

You sat with Minho after school in the indoor swimming pool area, watching the swim team. You were always helping after school, and that included sport activities. You had help set up the gym for the tournament, and now it was full of people from both teams, and their classmates. Your eyes wandered to Chan, who was clad in black swim shorts and a tight black swim shirt, a bright blue streak running along the sides of both the shirt and shorts. He looked absolutely ethereal like that, his hair soaked and curled, his swim shirt glued to his chest from the water.

His eyes were on Hyunjin as he came up, just coming before the boy from the other team did. Chan smiled at Hyunjin and helped him out of the water, patting his back and praising him. You watched the two of them, when you felt a pair of eyes on you. You turned your head and made eye contact with Yenna, who was giving you a dirty look.

“Do you always have to eye rape him?” Yenna asked, folding her arms and pursing her lips. “It’s pathetic.”

You were just about to say a snarky remark when Minho whipped his head around and looked at her, his eyes narrowed. You had to admit, when Minho was pissed, he was VERY intimidating.

“So if watching the swim captain when we’re at a, I don’t know, swim tournament is eye rape, then what do you call all of the annoying clinging and hanging all of him when he clearly isn’t interested? Molestation? Because you sure as fuck do that a lot.” Minho pointed out, eyes narrowed.

The girls in Yenna’s “clique” gasped at his words, making Yenna’s face and ears turn bright red. She grit her teeth and walked off the bleachers, irritation in her eyes. You smiled at Minho who bumped you with his shoulder, a smile on his face.

“Don’t look now, but hot swim captain is definitely looking at you.” Minho said lowly.

You slowly turned your head and made eye contact with Chan, who gave you a side smile before turning back to the water. Your cheeks turned red and Minho giggled, shaking his head.

“You let him take your virginity, now you’re shy when he looks at you?” He asked, chuckling.

“Shhh!” You hushed him, looking around.

“What? I didn’t say it loud.” Minho giggled.

“You said it loud enough!” You whisper yelled.

He chuckled and shook his head, looking at you.

“Did you get on birth control yet?” He asked.

“I go to pick up my prescription today.” You informed him.

“Good, you don’t need no Channie babies running around.” He giggled.

You smack his arm and he let out a yelp, rubbing the spot you hit.

“Ow!” He groaned. “You’re real spicy again. How long has it been since you last hooked up? You definitely need some dick.”

“We only hooked up that one time so far.” You admitted with a blush.

“Wait, it’s been a week and you guys haven’t done anything again?” He asked, arching a brow.

“Minho he’s the captain of the swim team, he doesn’t have all of the time in the world. Besides, he isn’t obligated to give me time. We’re only screwing around.” You pointed out. 

“Whatever.” Minho grumbled, still rubbing his arm.

After the tournament, you got up and walked down the bleachers, stepping into the walk way. You felt someone slightly bump you, and you turned to see an attractive boy from the other swim team. He gave you a kind smile and gave you a small bow.

“Sorry, I don’t pay attention.” He said with a sweet smile.

“It’s okay, no worries.” You said, bowing back politely.

“I’m surprised your so friendly, since I’m from the rival school and all.” He laughed.

“It doesn’t matter to me, I’m just here because I set up.” You giggled.

“Really? It looks great. Maybe you should get in the water some time.” He said with a huge smile.

“I can’t swim, but thank you.” You thanked him as you headed out, catching up with Minho.

But not before you caught Chan’s eye. He was looking at you, almost watching you.

Weirdo.

You thanked the woman at the pharmacy as you picked up your birth control prescription, slipping it into your bag as you walked out. As you were walking out, you bumped in to someone else.

“Sorry Mister.” You apologized, before realizing who it was.

Chan was looking down at you, a smile on his face.

“Y/N? What are you doing here?” He asked.

“I was um... Grabbing the birth control.” You said lowly and awkwardly.

He smiled at you and nodded, beckoning for you to follow him back in.

“What are you doing here?” You asked.

“I get my protein powder here. It’s the only place that sells the brand I like.” He informed you, grabbing a thing of it and paying. “Wanna go get some coffee?” “Why?” You asked, tilting your head.

“I mean, every time I talk to you isn’t going to be to get my dick wet babygirl.” He said with a smirk as he led you out of the pharmacy and to the cafe.

“Ya know, for someone who wants to keep what we’re doing on the down low, you call me that quite a lot.” You pointed out.

He chuckled and ordered your drinks, paying for yours. You looked at him and frowned, making him laugh.

“I mean, you just had to pay for birth control. I’m pretty sure I can at least grab you a coffee.” He said.

You shrugged and sipped your drink, following him as he walked out of the cafe. He led you to his car and beckoned for you to get in, and you followed him in. You opened the birth control and checked the time, wanting to take it at the same time every day (You’re supposed too). Chan watched you pop it down your throat, making him swallow hard.

“What?” You asked.

“Nothing.” He said, starting his car and driving off.

“No Chan really, what is it? It looks like you’ve just seen a ghost.” You said.

“You really aren’t helping my case.” He said lowly.

“What do you mean?” You asked.

“You just... Took the birth control that you got specifically because of me right in front of my face after I told you I’m not always trying to get my dick wet.” He grumbled, eyes focusing on the road.

A good and bad idea popped into your head. Minho always talked about rough sex, saying the women he’s messed around with purposely would get him worked up/pissed off just for him to ruin them and honestly, you were curious about it. Yeah it would only be your second time, but you were curious if Chan would get so worked up and ruin you. You gave him a sweet smile then rested your hand on his thigh, softly rubbing it.

“It’s okay Channie.” You said with a smile.

His breath hitched and his hand grabbed yours and squeezed, his eyes narrowing as he glanced at you.

“You’re playing a dangerous game babygirl.” He growled.

“Am I, Channie?” You asked. “How dangerous?”

As soon as you were in Chan’s dorm, his lips were all over yours. His hands were on your waist, his fingers digging into your skin as he backed you into his room. His lips were hungry against yours as he pushed you on the bed, detaching his lips from yours, a string of saliva still connecting your lips. He rubbed his thumb along your bottom lip, spreading the saliva on it. You closed your mouth on the tip of his thumb and he smirked at you, lifting his shirt over his head.

“On your hands and knees babygirl.” He commanded.

You flipped yourself onto your hands and knees, making him chuckle.

“What?” You asked, looking back at him.

“I’m going to teach you how to arch, alright?” He asked.

You nodded as you felt his right hand rub your right asscheek, gently massaging it. You closed your eyes and allowed yourself to get lost in the feeling of his hands roaming your ass. You felt his hand slide up your back, as he began to put pressure in the middle.

“Lower your front upper half.” He instructed.

You did as he told you, pressing your chest flat against the bed, your cheek against the mattress as the only thing up in the air was your ass. 

“Perfect.” He purred, gripping your asscheek and rubbing it.

You felt his hands move your shirt up, unclasping your bra as he slid your shirt and bra off, lifting you just enough to get them off of you. He pressed soft kisses to your bare shoulder and back as he began to kiss his way down your body, until he got to the waist band of your pants. He slid your pants down and off your legs, his eyes staring at your ass and covered core. He placed both hands on both of your asscheeks, rubbing them in firm motions.

“Your ass is so perfect.” He rasped.

You blushed at his praise, then inhaled sharply as he moved your panties to the side, the cool air hitting your dripping heat. He chuckled as he ran a finger on your slit, spreading your arousal.

“You get so wet babygirl, I love it.” He groaned. 

You felt a finger slip into your entrance, making you moan softly as he began to pump it in and out of you. His eyes watched the way your pussy swallowed around his finger, hugging it tightly. He smirked as you let out tiny moans, slightly pushing your hips back against his finger for more friction.

“What’s wrong babygirl?” He asked with his smirk still plastered across his face. “What do you want?”

You whimpered at his words, knowing he knew damn well what you wanted. You wiggled your ass a bit and he chuckled, pulling his fingers from your soaked heat. You let out a loud whine and he smirked down at you.

“You have to use your words babygirl.” He purred.

“I-I want you to fuck me, Chris.” You whined, using his birth name to finally get what you want.

His eyes darkened as you finally heard the sound of his belt hitting the floor, feeling the blunt, thick head of his length against your entrance. You felt him gently slide it on your folds, slicking it up. You whimpered in annoyance, earning a chuckle from him.

“What’s wrong babygirl?” He asked with a small chuckle.

“Please, please stop teasing me Chris.” You whimpered.

He leaned foreword and pressed a soft kiss to the back of your shoulder, a soft smile on his face as he slowly began to slip into you. You grit your teeth as his length once again stretched your heat. It wasn’t as painful as the first time, but it still hurt pretty bad. When he was up to the hilt inside of you, he kissed up your bare back, rubbing your hips soothingly.

“You okay?” He asked.

You nodded and pressed your cheek into the bedding, looking back at him.

“I’m okay, you can move. Please, move.” You whimpered.

He slowly drew his hips back, then pushed them foreword slowly until his hips met the flesh of your ass. You keened as his length pushed deep into you, making you let out a choked moan. His thrusts were shallow and slow, making you whine out.

“I can take more Chris, you don’t have to be so gentle.” You rasped.

“Are you sure?” He asked.

“Yes, please Chris. I need more.” You whimpered.

With that, his pace began to pick up. His grip on your hips tightened as he began to thrust fluidly into your dripping heat, making you see stars as he began to rub your Gspot. Your hands clutched the blankets on his bed, loud moans and whimpers leaving your lips as he snapped his hips into yours. Your toes curled and you buried your face into his bedding as the pleasure began to blind you. 

“Who was that guy you were talking too?” He asked with a deep roll of his hips.

“Fuck- what guy?” You asked, trying to cling to the last bit of sanity you had.

“The one that was in the swimming tournament.” He growled, snapping his hips roughly into yours, slapping sounds filling the room every time his hips met the flesh of your ass.

“I-I don’t know him. He just- oh, God... He just bumped into me.” You rasped, clinging harshly to the blankets as your whines and moans became more high pitched and desperate.

You came hard with his name rolling off of your tongue, like it was your favorite verse of a song. His hips stuttered as he fought to contain himself long enough to ride out your high before pulling out and cumming on your back and ass with a deep groan. You both panted as you allowed your lower half to fall flat along with the upper half of your body, when you felt him plop on top of you, being careful not to crush you. You turned your head as it rested on the bed as you looked at him. His wavy hair was damp with sweat and sticking to his forehead, his eyes were closed, his plump lips parted as he panted, and his chest and shoulders glistened with sweat.

He rested his chin on your shoulder, panting as he slowly peeled himself back off of you before placing a kiss on your shoulder and grabbing a towel. He made his way back over to you and wiped you up, his eyes going to yours.

“Are you okay?” He asked, his voice soft. “You bled again.”

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just need a minute to breathe.” You rasped.

He nodded and plopped down beside you on his back, his breathing still ragged.

“This is your fault you know, I didn’t even plan for us to do this today.” Chan said, looking at you.

“Mhmm, sure.” You muttered.

“Maybe I corrupted you.” He giggled.

You smacked his chest and he yelped, glaring at you as you glared at him.

“Perv.” You muttered.

“You’re the pervert. You’re the one who seduced me when I was just minding my own business. I really have corrupted you already.” 

SMACK.

“OW!”

You finished setting up the banner to the pool room, pridefully looking at it. You had hand made it and spent hours on it, excited to finally hang it up. Chan had also helped with it, staying after his swim meets and practices to help you. You both had been spending more time together recently, more time than you even noticed. He was just always there, even though he annoyed the hell out of you.

“Y/N!” You heard one of the swimmers, Hyunjin, call, beckoning you over to the pool.

You, being curious, decided to go see what was up. You walked over and he pointed to the water.

“Can you check that thermostat real quick?” He asked.

You being slightly naive didn’t think that hey, he was a swimmer, he could just get right up in there and check it. Instead, you leaned foreword and looked down, squinting your eyes at it. You were about to read it when two arms grabbed you and dragged you into the water, making you yelp. Your body went under and you desperately searched for the floor, anxiety making your breath knocked out of you as you tried to break to the surface.

You couldn’t swim, and you had almost drowned at one point, making water one of your biggest fears. And now you were stuck in that position again, your lungs screaming for air as you tried to kick your legs. You felt strong arms grab you and lift you out of the water. You coughed and sputtered water as Chan lifted you out of the pool, shock and worry on his face.

“Can you not swim?” He asked in disbelief.

“No.” You choked, coughing out water as tears streamed down your cheeks. 

You shoved him away from you, anger and fear searing through you, as he had been the one that dragged you under.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” He said, his eyes still wide.

You pushed past him and grabbed your stuff, hurrying out and rushing back to your dorms. You locked yourself in your dorm, sobs shaking your body as you were still fighting off the anxiety and embarrassment. You curled into yourself, still soaked, as your phone rang, and you saw Chan’s caller ID. But you didn’t pick up, you didn’t answer his text. You just cried by yourself, wishing you could just disappear.

You didn’t like parties. scratch that, you hated them. They were always over crowded, smelled like alcohol, cigarettes, and teen pregnancies, and no one ever had a good intention there. You haven’t been to many college parties, always straying away from them.

But tonight was different, to say the least. Minho had dragged you to a frat party, since he was friends with the host, who turned out to be Hyunjin. You were standing with Minho, a solo cup in your hand as you had decided to drink for once. You sipped on your drink as Minho talked to the other guys, just zoning in and out of the conversation. You were also distracted, as Chan was there, Yenna clinging to his arm as usual. He was talking with his roommate, Changbin, not paying her any attention. You didn’t know if it was the alcohol talking, but seeing her all over him kind of pissed you off.

You and Chan have hooked up a total of 13 times in the past month and a half, but ever since the incident, neither of you have spoken. He never talks about Yenna, but with the way he lets her cling to him has you questioning if he’s sleeping with her too. But why should you care? It’s not like you two were dating, and you hated him. At least, you were supposed too. You kept your eyes on Minho for the most part, but they also tended to wander to Chan. He never once glanced at you, that you’ve noticed. 

Yenna leaned a little too close to his face and you finally decided to distract yourself. You put your cup down and excused yourself to the bathroom, slowly making your way through the crowd of people who were either dry humping each other or making out. You half stumbled through them to make it to the bathroom, about to reach for the knob when the door opened. Your eyes widened when you recognized the guy you had almost bumped into while leaving the swim tournament. He gave you a friendly smile, and you looked at him in confusion.

“What are you doing here?” You asked.

“We love us some parties, and we got invited. We don’t like to pass up generous offers.” He said with a smile.

“Ah, I see.” You said awkwardly.

“Do you wanna drink a bit? You’re like, the only nice one here.” He pouted.

“Sure.” You said with a shrug

.He led you to the kitchen, the both of you taking jello shots and talking. He kept pushing drinks on you, making you very drunk. You never get like this, so the feeling is new as you’re nearly wasted. He keeps trying to hand you even more drinks, but you start declining them. You knew you fucked up after the last shot, and now you felt sick. You went to excuse yourself, when he grabbed your arm.

“Too drunk?” He asked.

You nodded and he led you outside into the cool night air, and you felt grateful for him doing so. That is, until you realized his intentions. He slammed his lips into yours, and you quickly pushed him away, backing away from him. That kiss was nothing like Chan’s, not one bit. Chan’s was always full of passion, while this guys was full of pure lust and hunger. You backed away from him and his expression became angry.

“You led me on.” He snarled angrily, stepping up to you. 

You backed into the wall, tears filling your eyes as you began to cower away from him. You didn’t understand what he was talking about, you had only been nice.

“You’re just a whore, aren’t you? You must sleep around with a bunch of guys, since you seem to flirt with every guy in sight.” He spit at you, making your stomach churn.

He smirked as he realized you were trapped between the outside of the house and him, his eyes dangerous.

“I’ll treat you like a whore then.” He snarled, his lips almost crashing against yours again.

You closed your eyes and tried to push him away, when suddenly he grunted and staggered back, clutching his jaw. You looked up and saw Chan standing in front of you, his eyes dark as his jaw was clenched and tight. The kid stepped up to Chan and Chan swung again, catching his face and tossing him on the ground. 

You trembled as you felt someone grab you and pull you away, and you recognized Changbin. Minho instantly came out of the house, checking you over and sighing with relief. 

“Hyunjin distracted everyone else.” He informed Changbin.

“Good. This kid needs to get his ass out of here, him and his goon friends.” Changbin said.

“Y/N?”

You lifted your head and saw Chan approaching you quickly, grabbing your face and looking you over.

“Are you okay, are you hurt?” He asked, his voice shaking with anger.

“I-I’m okay.” You stuttered out.

He sighed in relief and pulled you into his chest, his arms around you tight. You leaned into him, half for comfort, half because you were so trashed you couldn’t hold yourself up. His hand stroked your hair as he rested his cheek on your head before looking at Minho.

“I’m gonna take her back to my dorm.” He informed him.

Minho nodded and looked back at the kids friends who were looking for him.

“Go, we’ll take care of this.” Minho said as Changbin smiled at him.

Chan lifted you into his arms and brought you to his car, buckling you in before heading back to his dorms. You kept dozing off, your head feeling heavy as you leaned it against the window. Chan didn’t say a single word until you got back to his dorm. You immediately headed for the toilet, throwing up your stomach content. You felt his hands gently pull your hair back into a make shift pony tail, holding your hair out of your face. Tears streamed down your cheeks as you finished, sitting down on the floor.

“Do you ever drink this much?” He asked.

You shook your head and he sighed, going to his dresser and bringing an over sized T-shirt. You went to move but almost fell over, so he helped you rid of all of your clothes besides your panties. He slipped the T-shirt over your head and handed you his bottle of mouth wash. You rinsed your mouth as he went to get the bed set up. When he came back, you were leaning against the door frame, tears spilling down your cheeks.

“Do you feel sick again?” He asked, walking over and grabbing you by your elbows.

You shook your head and stepped into his arms, burying your face into his chest. You felt his one hand stroke your hair, his other arm wrapping around your waist as he held you tightly.

“I was so scared.” You whimpered into his strong chest. “I didn’t think you were going to come for me. I didn’t think anyone was.”

His arm tightened around you, his hand cradling your head into him. His breathing was ragged as he got mad again, his cheek resting on your head.

“His kisses, th-they weren’t like yours. They were gross and made me feel gross.” You said with a small sob.

“I know baby, I know. It’s all okay now, he can’t touch you. I’m here, I won’t let anyone hurt you.” He said softly.

He brought you to his bed, sliding in with you and pulling you into his arms. His one arm was tucked under your head, the other pushing your hair out of your face. Your hand found his as you looked at the open wounds on his knuckle, your eyes lifting to his.

“It’s okay.” He said softly as he wiped a tear that slipped out of your one eye.

“I’m sorry.” You whispered.

“Hey, it’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong, that was his fault.” Chan said, trying to soothe you.

“Not just that, but for being so mean to you after you didn’t know I couldn’t swim. I’m so sorry, you didn’t deserve that.” You sobbed.

“Shhh, it’s okay babygirl. Let’s get some sleep, you’ll feel better in the morning.” He said softly.

You nodded and slid closer into his arms, burying your face into his chest. You fell asleep to him stroking your hair, and to his steady heartbeat.

You winced as you held your pounding head, groaning. Chan looked over at you, his back against the pillows as he had been up for a bit. He reached across his table and handed you two painkillers and a bottle of water.

“Take these.” He said.

You took the medication and laid back down, your eyes on his busted knuckle. He noticed you looking at it and slid down to your level, turning on his side to look at you. You looked back at him as he stretched his hand out, pushing your hair out of your face. You moved closer into his touch, and he instinctively did too. Your lips met in a soft kiss, his hand on your jaw softly. When you pulled away you both looked at each other, your eyes scanning each others.

“His kisses really weren’t like yours.” You whispered.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t of kissed you after that happened.” He sighed, about to get up.

You slipped your hand on his cheek, shaking your head.

“I like your kisses, Chan.” You admitted with a blush.

He smiled at you and leaned in, his lips meeting yours sweetly. You closed your eyes and melted into his kiss, the kisses you liked. Your fingers slid over his cheek, his hand on your waist a he brought you close to him. His tongue swiped over your bottom lip, and you gave him the entry he was craving for. You tangled your fingers in his wavy locks as your tongues danced, his quickly putting yours back in it’s place. He pulled away and started to kiss your jaw, when you stopped him.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, worry in his tone.

“You always please me, I think it’s time for me to learn to please you.” You said.

“You don’t have too, Y/N.” He said with a small blush.

“I want too, I want to learn.” You pressed, your innocent eyes determined.

“Fine.” He agreed, sitting up.

You got between his legs and rubbed his hardening legnth through his boxers, making him hiss.

“Don’t even try to tease babygirl, I’ll put you right back in your place.” He informed you with a smirk.

You pouted but obeyed, slipping his thick length from his boxers. You gave him a questionable look and he chuckled.

“Start with the head, you can even just spit on your hand to slick it up so you can rub it a bit.” He said.

You nodded and spit on your hand before rubbing it up and down his length, making him bite his lip. You pumped his length, rubbing the slit with your thumb.

“Okay, now start with the head, use your tongue first.” He instructed.

You nodded and gave his tip a light kiss before swirling your tongue around the head, making him inhale sharply. You licked up the side of his shaft, making him close his eyes in bliss. You slowly sucked his tip into your mouth, making him let out a small moan.

“You’re doing good babygirl, now take some of me down your throat.” He ordered.

You looked at him as you slid his length down your throat, his girth making your jaw tense. You pushed the thought to the back of your head as you began to slowly bob your head up and down. Chan let out a hiss and grabbed your hair, pulling your head up.

“A little less teeth, hollow out your cheeks like this.” He instructed, showing you how to hollow them out.

You went back down on him and did what he said, hollowing out your cheeks as you took him down your throat. His head rolled back and leaned on the wall, a soft groan leaving his lips as his tip began to hit the back of your throat. His fingers dug into your hair, holding it out of your face as you swirled your tongue every time you came to the tip. He let out a small grunt and pulled you away from his length, his eyes hooded as he pushed you onto your back.

“Was it bad?” You asked, worried that’s why he pulled you away.

“It was perfect, but I think you deserve a reward for doing so well.” He purred.

He slipped between your legs and pressed his tip to your entrance before slowly slipping inside of you with little resistance. You both let out sighs of relief as he slipped up to the hilt inside of you. He pressed a soft kiss to your lips as he rolled his hips into yours lazily.

“You’re so soaked babygirl, did making me feel good turn you on that much?” He asked with a groan.

“I love making you feel good Chris.” You moaned as his hips rolled deeply into yours, making your toes curl every time he entered you.

The early morning sun casted a beautiful glow on his honey skin as he thrusted into you slow, but deep. He pressed soft kisses on your jaw line as hips snapped into yours, your fingers digging into his back. His hips slightly picked up the pace as he panted.

“I’m not gonna last long babygirl.” He rasped.

“Me either C-Chris, I’m gonna cum.” You whimpered.

All it took was his fingers to rub lazy figure eights onto your clit for you to see stars, a soft moan of his name leaving your lips. He rode out your high before pulling out and cumming on your stomach, the hot spurts shooting up to your boobs.

“Shit, sorry.” He rasped.

“Its okay.” You said tiredly, the both of you looking at each other with blissed out faces.

He grabbed his shirt and wiped you clean before wrapping an arm around your waist, his head on your chest as he yawned. 

“I could use a nap.” He murmured.

You smiled as you played with his hair until his breathing became softer, indicating he was asleep. You closed your eyes and drifted off, a smile on your face.

You took down the banner as the tournaments were over for the next few months. You felt relieved though, now Chan could finally rest and stop over working himself. As you took down the tournament posters and other things, you thought about everything with Chan. You had hated him, everything about him, and now? You didn’t know what it was, but you knew you it wasn’t hate. Was it love? 

But how could it be? You promised yourself and made the deal with Chan to not fall in love. Had you broken your most sacred rule to yourself?

The sound of the heavy doors opening and shutting made you jump, ripping you from your thoughts. You turned to see Yenna and her two friends approaching you. When they got in front of you, Yenna folded her arms and looked you up and down.

“Can I help you?” You asked.

“Actually you can, by staying away from Chan.” She said bitterly.

“I’m sorry, what?” You asked, slightly amused.

“You heard me. Stay away from Chan. He could never like a bitch like you anyways.” 

“Then what are you so worried for?” You asked, arching a brow.

“Oh trust me, I’m not worried. It’s just annoying and pathetic when the ugly duckling tries to get in the way.”

“Well, this ugly duckling is just minding her damn business, and so should you.” You said firmly.

“What was that?” She asked, irritation in her voice.

“You heard me, mind your damn business. It’s none of your business who I’m with, or who Chan’s with.” You said.

She stared at you for a moment before scoffing, a smirk on her face.

“I hate to do this to you, but it’s a shame I know your little secret.” She said.

“What?” You asked.

Your eyes widened when you felt her push you, your body plummeting into the deepest end of the pool. You instantly began to thrash around, your lungs screaming as you sunk straight to the bottom. You tried to move your arms, but your body was frozen with fear and anxiety.

I’m sorry Chris.

You closed your eyes and decided it was best to let fate take you, when you felt a pair of familiar strong arms grab you and lift you from the water. You felt yourself being laid on the cold floor as you coughed and gagged, whimpers leaving your lips as you fought for air. You felt hands on your cheeks and saw Chan’s face, his voice ringing in and out of your ears.

‘Y/N? Are you okay?” He asked.

You blinked at him and nodded, earning a sigh of relief from him as he pulled you into his arms. You noticed he was soaked and realized he had jumped in to save you. You buried your face into his shoulder, tears streaking down your face as you still fought to breathe. Chan lifted you into his arms and began to walk out of the pool room when Yenna stepped in front of him.

“Chan we were just-”

He whipped his head around to face her, his eyes holding daggers in them. He looked as if he wanted to kill the bitch on the spot.

“If you ever come near us again I’ll break your fucking arms you fucking psycho bitch.” He growled.

Yenna backed away and Chan carried you out the doors and to his car, flying to his dorm.

When you got back, he quickly put you in his large shirt that just came out of the dryer before pulling you in between his legs and into his arms.

“I’m so sorry Y/N.” He whispered.

“It’s okay Chris.” You said, stroking his cheek. “It’s not your fault.”

“But it is. She must’ve seen us together at some point. I’m so sorry, I should’ve done a better job at keeping it on the down low.” He said, his voice shaking.

“Wait, that’s why you wanted to keep it a secret?” You asked.

“Yeah, why else would I want too?” He asked.

“I-I thought it was so I wouldn’t ruin your reputation. I thought if someone found out you’d be embarrassed for sleeping with someone like me.” You said.

‘Someone like you? Y/N, there’s nothing wrong with you.” He said firmly.

You blushed and looked at him as he rubbed his face, his eyes bloodshot and glassy.

“Chris-”

“I’m sorry. This is my fault.” He said, tears beginning to form at the corner of his eyes.

Tears filled your own eyes as you rubbed his cheek, looking at his lost expression.

“If it’s your fault it’s mine too.” You said softly.

“How?” He asked.

“I broke the number one rule Chris. I fell in love with you like an idiot. I fell in love knowing we can’t, but I did.” You said, tears streaming down your eyes. 

He looked at you in shock as you cried, wiping your tears with your arms. 

“I’m sorry Chris.” You sobbed softly, trying to hide your face.

You felt his hands grab your face as he pressed his lips to yours in a soft kiss, making your heart hammer against your chest.

“Idiot... I love you too.” He whispered against your lips.

“You do?” You asked, looking at him in shock.

“I do, Y/N. So, so much.” He whispered. “And I always have, even before we started hooking up. I loved the way you acted like you hated me. I loved how you could reject and stand up to me. I loved you from the start.”

You both smiled at each other as your lips melted together in a passionate kiss. You tangled your fingers in his damp hair as he lifted you up and pushed you onto his bed, a soft look in his eye.

“I’ll show you how much I love you.” He rasped as he kissed all along your neck.

You purred as he rubbed your clit through your panties, his other hand lifting his over sized shirt. He lifted it over your head and kissed every piece of exposed skin he could find. 

“You’re so beautiful.” He whispered between kisses.

You threaded your fingers through his hair as he left love bites and kisses all over your skin. He looked at you with so much passion, so much love. He kissed your lips as he worked his pants down his legs, pulling his length out. He rubbed it on your slit before looking into your eyes as he sunk into you, your pussy hugging his dick like a vice. He pressed his forehead against your own as he began to rock his hips into yours, his pace starting off fast.

“I love you.” You whimpered against his lips as you kissed him again.

“I love you too babygirl.”  He rasped, his lips melting into yours.

Loud slapping sounds filled your ears as he pounded you into the bed, soft grunts and your moans making into the most beautiful song. He lifted your legs over his shoulders and pounded into you, making you cry out at the deep angle.

“Y-You’re so fucking deep Chris.” You whimpered, your hands squeezing the pillows behind your head for dear life.

“Does it feel good baby?” He asked in between pants as his hips slapped off of yours.

“So, so good Chris.” You moaned, eyes rolling back as your back arched. “So fucking thick.”

“You’re so- fuck- tight.” He groaned.

“Ch-Chris, cum inside me, please.” You whimpered as his length fucked you dumb.

“You want to be my little- shit - cum slut before my girlfriend huh?” He teased.

“Please Chris, I want it.” You whimpered shamelessly.

His eyes darkened as he lifted you both up, sitting on his knees as he bounced you up and down his thick length as he pounded into you. Your cries and moans filled the room, the sound of skin slapping accompanying it with his grunts and groans. He buried his face into your chest as you began to clench around him.

“I’m gonna cum Chris, fuck I’m gonna cum.” You whimpered.

“Cum babygirl, cum for me.” He rasped.

You came with a scream of his name, your body tensing and your back arching. Your nails dug into his back, blood dripping down the little crescent shapes you made. You felt his body shudder and warmth splash against your walls as he came with a groan, his arms tightening around you.

You both panted as he slowly laid you both down on your sides, his dick still buried deep inside of you. He rubbed your hip and kissed your forehead as you came down from your high. When you calmed down, he caught your lips in a kiss, a smile on his face.

“Will you officially be mine Y/N?” He asked.

You stroked his cheek and nodded, burying your face into his chest. He hummed as he stroked your hair, content now.

“I’m happy I asked you when I did, I’m so happy it was you. I’m so happy it is you.” You confessed.

He smiled down at you and kissed your head, stroking your cheek.

“I’m happy too. I love you, so much.”

“I love you too Chris. So, so much.” You whispered, nuzzling into his chest.

That night, you fell asleep in Chan’s arms, as close as you two could get. You were finally with your first, and hopefully your last, love.

[glassartpeasants]

Crying In The Club .5

Overhaul x F!Reader

Warnings: Angst, a bit of happiness for once?, mentions of past abuse, 

*Part 1* *Part 2* *Part 3* *Part 4* *Part 5*

A/N: HE HO everybody. Like i promised, they would both be out today. Am I tired? Yes. Am i rushing through his chapter since my dumbass thought it would be cool to procrastinate? Yes. But none of that shit matters now. Its out and we are all good.

Edit: Did I fall asleep while writing this and never finished it? Yes. Was my laptop almost dead when I woke? Yes. Am I sorry for not keeping the promise? Yes. I is big sorry U^U

Taglist

@winchester-wifey @hello-lucky-luka

~~~

You haven’t left the safety of your bathroom in about a week. I mean what was the point of even going out there if all your gonna remember on how horribly you wanted to get out of this shit show. You felt like nothing mattered anymore. Why should it? You were dragged away from all of your friends and family. You had no one except Overhaul. Which practically left yourself friendless except for the voice in your head.

When was the last time you even ate? You remember eating the afternoon you escaped. Soo about a week then? You hold your tummy as painful growls rumble from it. Causing you to groan in pain. Your eyes were squeezed shut as you sighed.

When was the last time you moved from your little spot behind the door? To long...

Kai-Overhaul hasn’t even tried to talk to you. Not even once. Good. You didn’t want to see his disgusting face anyways. It was the same face that gave you nightmares when you slept at night. God even thinking about that prick has your stomach turning as you resist the urge to vomit. Insignificant selfish bastard-

“Miss (Y/N)?” You sigh. It was Hari, Kai’s right hand man. You wanted to hate him but you realized that would be childish. The man never did anything to harm you, he was only trying to follow orders.

“Yes?” You reply softly, Your voice was dry from not talking in awhile. You lick your lips in order to just have some mostiure.

“You can leave the base.” Your eyes shot open so wide you thought they would pop out of your skull. Scrambling to get on your feet you pull open the door. Eyes wide open hoping he wasn’t lying to get you to open the door.

“What?! Are you serious?!”

“Yes Overhaul told me to tell you that. saying how he found someone better for the job.”

A smile etched it’s way into your face. Tears of joy fell down your face as you hug Hari. You pulled him in a bone crushing hug as you thanked him over and over again. You let him go before you ran out the door faster then you have ever ran before. You wanted to leave before Kai changed his mind.

Your feet hit the cement as the tears of joy slowly slid down your cheeks. You ran so fast that your legs felt as if they could fall off your own body. But that pain was welcomed. You would take this pain over staying with Overhaul any day.

Your feet stopped when you had bumped into someone. Your momentum of running knocked down the man and you stumbling back, trying not to fall on your ass.

“Oh my god i’m so sorry!” You profusely as you lend a hand to the fallen man so he could get up. The man took your hand and you couldn’t help but smile and nervously laugh as you enjoyed how soft the mans hands were.

“No it’s okay, I should have looked at where I was going.” You both laugh a little before you rub the back of your neck.

“Hey since you knocked me over how about you let me take you to the cafe nearby. Me falling on my ass has made me thirsty.” You laugh as you let your hand fall to your side.

Looking at the man there was no lying that he was some good ass eye candy. But you were still a little shaken up and weary about what happened not to long ago. But then again you haven’t eaten in about a week...

“You know what? I’d love too.”

~~~

Kai walked down the hallways of the Shie Hassakai on his way to Pops to tell him about his ‘break up’ with you. Finally he got rid of you. No more fighting, no more complaining, no more escape attempts,

and no more of the feeling of your soft lips against his own.

Kai shook his head at the last thought. Why do you plague his mind? How dare you distract him from his work? His goal is on the line here! He can’t have some annoying pest bothering him.

“Finally I’m free of that pest.”

“Kai just the man I’m looking for. Hows your girlfriend?”

“We broke up.”

“Oh, i’m sorry to here that my boy. Don’t worry stuff like that happens!” Pops patted Kai’s back.

“Yeah.” Kai laughed. Trying not to give the secret away.

‘I just met someone new, that’s all.” Kai lied, well kinda. He had met someone new who would do the work for money.

‘You know (y/n) didn’t do it for the money.’

“Oh well that’s too bad. I hope you let her down easy.”

“I did.”

“Well I must be off, see you later my boy.” With that Pops walked off. Leaving Kai to take a long sigh. Stopping in his tracks as he rubbed his temples.

Now thinking about it, you never even asked for anything in return, not money, not jewelry. Nothing. You just...did it. Even after everything he put you through you never asked for anything. Why? Why didn’t you ask for something? What was your plan?

‘Maybe she was afraid?’ Thoughts ran wild in his mind before his phone rang, making his pants pocket vibrate.

Opening the phone he noticed it was the new girl. Picking it up before moving it away from his ear. immediately regretting his decision.

Ugh he couldn’t stand her voice. So insufferable. Sounded like a drying dog. At least your voice was smooth like honey. Yours so calming and sweet-

“No stop it!” Kai yelled at himself. You need to get out of his mind. You were plaguing it like the disease you were. How dare you? How could you make him so confused on what he feels about you. He should hate you! 

Kai swore if he thought about you one more time, he would go insane.

~~~

You couldn’t help but giggle. The man was just a charmer! Not to mention he has a great sense of humor! You just couldn’t get enough of him and his jokes. Man it felt amazing to be laughing again, this time knowing you weren’t going to get killed for it.

“So why were you running earlier?” His question caught you off guard but it was fair. You were running like your life depended on it. To you it felt like you were. But to him and looking through his eyes it was only reasonable.

“Ex-boyfriend troubles.” You laugh nervously before taking a sip of your tea. Might as well drink something cold before fall and winter roll around. The taste of the tea hitting your tongue gave you s little smile. You look at the tea before turning your attention back to the man in front of you.

“Well don’t worry, I’m here.” You both laugh as you put a strand of lose hair behind your ear. Man this felt nice to talk to someone who you weren’t afraid of.

“Good to know.”

~~~

‘Oh god can this woman shut up already?!’ Kai thought to himself as he tried to ignore the chattering that came from the woman next to him. Who kept pointing at useless stores that he wished would just disappear if he stared at them long enough.

Since he made the deal with the new girl, with her getting paid and everything, she demanded that they went to the mall together.

“Hey are you listening to me?!” The girl as she screamed at Kai.

“Yes (R/N).” God this woman was going to be the death of him. If he killed her right there would anyone tell on him?

“Okay good! The take me to bath and body works! They’ve got a sale going on!” Ugh he hated that store with a burning passion. All those unholy scents made him want to pass out.

Once they entered the store Kai cringed as all the scents that the store contained filled his nose. Making his nose hurt, causing him to crinkle his nose. He shook his head before staying at the front of the store trying his best to avoid all the horrific scent that this store held. He watched as all of these people in such a closed space pretty much bumping elbows. Disgusting.

“You too man?” Kai turned his head to see another male only a few feet away. By the looks of him, he was in the same exact situation.

“I fucking hate people.”

~~~

“Wow this is so much fun!” You laugh as the man showed you his favorite places in all of the city.

“This....this is nice.” You smile genuinely at the man.

“It was, can I walk you home?” You were about to say sure but then you remembered that your ass was pretty much homeless now. Well shit. Kai had you in that room for so many months that you knew your lease with your landlord would have been broken. Pretty much gone.

“I-uh...I use to live with my boyfriend and then he kicked me out hehe...” Great now he was going to think you were some sort of -

“That’s too bad. I know a place where you could live. It’s a place where you can live there and stay until you get back onto your feet again.” The man smiled at you and you couldn’t help the tears of joy slide down your face. You hug him in desperation hoping it all wasn’t just some sick nightmare.

“This is the nicest thing someone has ever done for me.” Tears drenched your face as you sniffle at bit.

“Hey I’m just doing what my father did to my mom.” The man chuckled. You couldn’t help the giggle that crept out of you as well.

[drawlfoy]

The Wonders of Ohio P.5

masterlist (check here for parts 1-4!) request guidelines

pairing: draco x reader

request: from 14 year old me babey

warnings: cringe, mentions of drug use, mentions of sex, language, and just bad writing

summary: y/n is in her senior year of high school when she is asked to take on an exchange student from britain that’s a little...different. this is NOT a nonmagic AU. draco is still a wizard and this will become and integral part of the story shortly.

a/n: heyyyy everyone. i graduated from high school this week and i’m posting this as my happy-one-year-to-me. as some of you may know, i posted my very first fic on this day a year ago. i’m really happy to see how i’ve grown since and i’m so lucky to have shared this with all of you. anyways, nittygritty--

this part is really the last slow exposition chapter. chapters 6 on will be a whole whirlwind beginning with homecoming and i hope that you guys are willing to stick around. i promise itll be worth the wait. y/n is going to get the story arc of a lifetime and also please do not hate heather she is just going through it ok 

anywayssssssss

tags tags tags  @gruffle1 @missmulti @cleopatera @hahaboop @accio-rogers @geeksareunique @eltanin-malfoy @war-sword @cams-lynn @itsivyberry @ayo-cowbelly @nerd-domland @erisdogwood @loveissupernatural

word count: 4.6k (;))

song recs: 

strawberry blonde -- mitski 

in your neighbors garden -- mimi bay

wishes -- beach house

ode to artifice -- samia 

pink in the night -- mitski

enjoy <3

The seatbelt buckle scorched the side of Y/N’s exposed neck as she turned to face the disheveled blonde in the passenger seat.

“Do I need to teach you to set an alarm?” 

Draco let out a huff. “Stop. Do you have a….a comb, or a brush, or something here?” His hands looked abnormally fidgety. Their actions were shaky, varying from patting his pockets to running through his hair. He seemed more and more frustrated each time his hands left his pockets empty. 

How curious Y/N thought as she racked her brain for any remembrance of putting a brush in her car. It was always a mess, and she honestly couldn’t blame Draco for assuming that anything could be in there.

“I don’t think there’s one here,” said Y/N, trying to sound at least a little sympathetic despite the fact that his tardiness had them 10 minutes late. “You can look around if you want, king.”

“What’d you call me?” His voice was suddenly sharp and awake.

Y/N rolled her eyes so hard that she thought they’d get stuck in the back of her head. “You don’t--ok. It’s a joke. You can call guys here that.”

“And it means that I’m…?”

“It means I’m acknowledging that you exist, I guess. It’s not like it has a strict negative or positive connotation. Like, I can say ‘Ok king’ to any man telling me something and it can either be sarcastic, or it can be because I don’t know what else to say and just want to let him know I heard him.”

Draco’s eyes looked a tad glazed over when Y/N dared a glance in his direction.

“I know it’s confusing. I’m sorry. I’ll try and ease you into the world of American slang.” 

He granted her a little “uh-huh” before opening up the glovebox with great difficulty and rummaging through the mess. Y/N would’ve felt more embarrassed about the tampon that fell on the ground in the process if he seemed like he actually knew what it was. 

Her attention turned back to the road as Draco continued to sift through things. Y/N couldn’t help but wonder if there was anything embarrassing hidden away in the corners of her car--after all, it hadn’t been organized since the beginning of summer--and decided that it was better to pretend it wasn’t happening.

It wasn’t the eerie silence that eventually prompted her to turn to look his direction--no, it was the weird energy in the car, like the feeling right before a thunderstorm. All the hair raised on her arms, and she shivered...but it was stifling hot in the car.

“Oh, did you find a brush?” she asked. His hair laid as perfectly as always, but his hands were lying shaking in his lap, palms to the sky. No hairbrush was in sight.

“Er... “ He was paler than usual, which was quite the feat for someone who looked like a ream of paper. “No. Just remembered a trick my father taught me.”

She tensed at the mention of his father--the very first time Draco had done so. “Oh. Okay. Glad you got it figured out, king.”

Her voice lightened on the last word, hoping she could coax a little smile out of him. 

“Don’t call me that.”

“Ok.”

oOo

 There were many things Y/N thought she understood, but Draco Malfoy being in her Physics C class was not one of them. She took pity and sat next to him as he fumbled his way through the first lecture. His notes, while neat, were littered with crossed out portions and question marks. 

You do know there’s an eraser on your pencil, right? she jotted on a note that she sent his way. His brow furrowed and he seemed to tap at the end of the eraser for just a few moments before deciding otherwise and xing out another practice problem he’d done incorrectly. Symbols that she’d never seen before were scattered all throughout his notes. 

Maybe the UK kids just learn stuff differently.

By the time that Physics came to an end, Y/N was eager to get away from the storm cloud that was brewing over Draco’s perfectly smoothed and infuriatingly pretty moonbeam colored hair. The amount of attention he was getting from all the other girls made Y/N want to jump off a cliff--suddenly everyone was her “best friend” “just wanting to check up on what happened over summer”. She was grateful to see the face of Lizzy, grinning and looking mischievous during their break period.

“You must be Draco,” said the redhead, a glint in her eyes. He looked a little scared.

“Er...yeah.”

“Mind giving us some privacy? Y/N and I have some urgent matters to discuss,” she continued, looking him up and down. Y/N attempted to ignore the twist in her gut as she watched him swallow and nod, turning away to go brood elsewhere. Once he was out of sight, Lizzy grabbed her arm and yanked her into the girl’s bathroom.

“It’s so funny how he’s following you around like a lost puppy,” Lizzy said. “Also, he’s gorgeous. If you don’t at least try to get some of that, then I’m never trusting your judgement again.”

“But, Li-”

“The boy’s a fucking walking Wattpad story cover. Dark, tragic past, unbelievably sharp jawline, rich parents, exotic accent....honestly, Y/N, I don’t know what else you could want.” 

“Mom literally called him my host brother,” said Y/N. The bathroom was starting to smell suspiciously like cotton candy. “That’s wrong. On so many levels.” 

“But you’re not related!”

“But it’s gross! And predatory! The kid doesn’t even know how to do basic algebra! I’m all he has!” 

Lizzy’s eyebrow found its new home in the middle of her forehead. “You’ve gone absolutely batty if you think that every girl cursed with attraction to men in Cincinnati wouldn’t jump his skin at the chance. Use your head, queenie. He’s not alone. Shoot your shot.”

Y/N opened her mouth to serve back a retort--that was definitely there, thank you very much--but decided against it once she realized that the bathroom had become dead silent. “Um...maybe we can go over this later.” She flickered her eyes over to the line behind them that was now intently hanging on their every word. “I forgot I had to talk to the counselor.”

Lizzy was smirking as they exited the bathroom and began the search for Draco. It didn’t take long--the circle comprised of Heather and her friends was more than enough of a giveaway that he was about. 

“Draco, sorry to make you wait,” Y/N called out. It took all her effort to abstain from cringing as her voice rang out across the group. Heather turned to send her a big smile.

“Hey Y/N! You didn’t tell me that Draco was from London!” 

“He’s not,” she responded. “He’s from Wiltshire.” 

“Wiltshire. Of course. That’s what I meant.”

Draco’s smile was tense as he looked down at Heather--who stood roughly 4 inches below him--but he was smiling, and that wasn’t something that Y/N was on the receiving end of frequently. She didn’t know whether to be offended or relieved.

“I’m sure. Break’s almost over, Draco. I can show you where the English department is before the time is up.” 

 He paused, looking down at the blonde grinning up at him. “Er, actually, Heather already offered to show me around for the rest of the day.”

“Yeah, for sure. I’ll see you in French.”

Y/N was shocked at the sheer amount of jealousy that rose up in her throat as she turned away and made her way to Art History---the only class Y/N and Draco didn’t share. The walk was strange. Being in solitude after having a gloomy British boy attached to her hip was understandably eerie. Because that’s all it was. Adjustment. Nothing else.

She settled in at a table full of her friends, namely Sylvia. The tall girl was always a bit whimsical, but Y/N found that she was a breath of fresh air compared to everyone else. It made sense that Sylvia would take Art History--her dark academic inspired aura and the perpetually hot mug of black coffee just screamed history nut. 

“How’s your new brother?” she asked after the teacher had taken attendance. “I say that because I haven’t heard his name yet.”

“Ick, it’s gross to think of him as my brother,” Y/N responded. “And I know! We need to catch up. I’m sorry about not talking to you for a bit. The time difference was a bit weird during your trip.”

“It’s ok, I get it. I was away on family business, anyways. I didn’t expect you to spend your days staying up until the wee hours of the night to tell me all about your exchange student. Anyways. His name?”

“You’re gonna scream when you hear it, Vie,” she said. “Draco Malfoy. It’s so posh. You have no idea. It definitely suits him, though. He’s very...You good?” 

Sylvia’s olive toned face looked a bit paler than usual. “Yeah. Yeah, I just remembered that I forgot to take the trash out this morning. I’ll have to text my mom about it.” She adjusted the wool cardigan that hung around her shoulders and came up looking composed. “Draco, huh? His parents must hate him.”

“At the very least! He’s so rude. And uptight. I can’t tell if it’s just a Brit thing or if it’s because he’s an asshole.” 

Sylvia laughed. “I mean, when I was there over the summer, it was a different culture for sure. We’re by far louder. But I didn’t meet many mean ones. You must’ve just got a bad apple, then.”

“I guess so. He is pret--”

“Ladies, is there something you’d like to share with the rest of the class?”

“No, Mrs. Jensen,” Sylvia and Y/N said in unison. 

oOo

“Thoughts, king?” 

“I told you not to call me that.” Draco glared at her as he tried to open the passenger side door to find that it was locked tight. “Unlock? Please?”

“And I told you not to get cozy with ASB kids, yet here we are,” said Y/N as she slotted the key into the lock and turned. 

“What’s it to you?”

“Nothing. I’m just looking out for you.” She slammed the door shut and threw her bag in the bag. The line of traffic to get out of the school was long and stuffy, and she was eager to just get it over with.

The wait was so hot that Draco peeled off his stupid formalish jacket that was on thin ice of being called a blazer and probably worth more than her car. Y/N tried to look away as his hair became slightly ruffled, but she couldn’t pry her eyes away. It was endearing, almost, how someone who could look so posh and serious could have ruffly hair--and hair that naturally light, too. She had asked him one night if it was dyed, and he scowled at her and told her the grammatically correct term was dead, and that his hair was alive, just like the rest of him, thank you very much. She dropped it. 

Y/N finally rolled down her window after the AC simply refused to satisfy her, and the wind was a nice reminder to keep in her own lane. Draco was beautiful. There was no other way to put it. He had a feel of power to him, like he was capable of anything but just held it back. But he was just as inaccessible as he was pretty, and there was nothing she could do about that.

“Y/N?” He asked after a few moments of sitting in silence. “What’s Homecoming?” 

“Who told you about that?” 

“Heather. She asked if I had a date. Is that like a ball here?”

“She asked you if you had a date on the first day?”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck. ASB kids never do sleep, huh.” 

“What?”

“Homecoming isn’t a ball. It’s like a...an…” Y/N paused as she saw Draco raise his eyebrows. “It’s, like, uh….Well I guess it is like a ball. An American one, though. Way less extravagant. It’s an excuse to get dressed up and run around the city. There technically is a dance, and all the ASB kids have to go, but literally no one else does but the underclassmen. Normally I go out with my friends and a date to somewhere fun and take pictures. And then get trashed afterwards.”

“Classy,” said Draco. “I think you can go now.”

A honk behind her emphasized his point as the space in between her and the car in front widened substantially. 

“Thanks. Anyways, it’s not really a big deal. I’d suggest not going with Heather so you can skip out on the dance portion. Or if you want to go with her, get her to come with us into Cincinnati because I am not going to spend my last homecoming watching a grind circle.” 

“A...what circle? And I don’t want to go with her.”

The relief Y/N felt was embarrassing. “Um...better if you don’t worry about it. You have a long time to figure it out anyways.”

He seemed satisfied with that answer, propping his elbow up on the center console. The pristine button up he was wearing had ridden up, exposing the pale skin and the bottom of the tattoo she had seen a hint of earlier. “Do you have a date?”

“Um. No, not yet. I don’t think anyone except for couples do yet. We have until the end of this month to figure it out, so I’m not too worried about it.”

He nodded as Y/N’s car finally left the school parking lot and began picking up speed. 

“I’m assuming you had balls? At your posh boarding school?” 

“Er…” Draco ran his hand through his hair, ruffling it further. “We only had one. It was when I was 14. We called it the Yule Ball.”

“Why only one?”

“It was for a special occasion. We had two other schools join us as well. It was quite a good time.”

“So every student only has one ball in their lifetime?”

“Of course not. Some of us--the ones from old families--have events like that regularly.”

“I’m sorry if this is overstepping my bounds,” began Y/N, noticing how he tensed up, “So you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But, I’m just wondering, what is your family like?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like are they nice?”

“Oh.” The line in his forehead relaxed. “No. They wouldn’t like you.”

“Glad to hear it,” she said. “Do you like them?”

She heard the breath hitch in his throat. “I don’t know anymore.”

“I’m sure it’s hard to think about it when you feel like they’ve just shipped you off without anyone,” she added. “I’m really sorry, Draco. I know I’ve been a bit mean to you. I know that I’ll never be able to understand what you’re going through right now.”

The slight smile that spread across his face would’ve knocked her to her knees if she wasn’t already sitting down. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

The silence that awaited them for the rest of the journey was comfortable.

oOo

School began to pick up the pace after the first few days. Y/N got into the swing of homework and her extracurricular workload. Draco was having a bit more difficulty, she presumed, but he’d never admit to it. She took pity one evening and gave him her laptop opened to a Khan Academy tab for Physics and was pleased to see that he showed up to class the next day with completed homework. He asked to borrow her laptop on a much more frequent basis after that. 

The routine they settled into had her heart leaping into her chest almost constantly--they’d eat breakfast together at the table, Y/N would try to ignore how pretty he looked across the table as they shared a pot of black tea (earl grey, which Y/N was thrilled to learn was his favorite as well), they’d get in the car, she’d write him notes in physics to help him (even though he never asked, he always smile and give a little shake of his head before unfolding them and intently staring at her writing), they’d drive home together and bitch about their French teacher, he’d retire to his room and do whatever pretty blonde Brits do in the afternoon, they’d meet unexpectedly at the same time in the late evening to have a final cup of tea, and then they’d go to bed and do it all over again. 

It was difficult for her to admit, but Y/N was falling very quickly for Draco. It was gross, and wrong, and manipulative, and completely against the code of conduct for exchange families, but she couldn’t help but spend her days fantasizing about how his gold-spun hair would feel as she ran her fingers through it or how gently she’d trace her fingers around the tattoo on the soft flesh of his forearm…

But Y/N knew those thoughts weren’t right. And they would go away. Eventually. 

“How’s it going?” Sylvia asked, effectively snapping her out of her thoughts. The Art History sub told them to go into independent study, whatever that meant. Y/N was not very good at either of those words.

“Pretty good. I can’t believe it’s been 3 weeks already,” she said. “It’s gonna be Halloween before we know it.”

“I can’t fucking waitttt,” said Sylvia. “I’m gonna be Wednesday Addams.”

“Again?”

“What else would I be? I get a new high collared black dress every year. It’d be a shame if it were going to go to waste. What are you gonna be?”

“One of the thousands of students finishing their UChicago ED app hours before the deadline.”

“You’re kidding. Can’t you just finish it the day before?”

“Where’s the fun in that? And, plus, I don’t have an idea as cool as Wednesday.”

Sylvia smirked as she opened up her planner and began to jot down something. “How’s Draco doing? I haven’t seen much of him lately. It seems like he never hangs out with us at break anymore.”

“Yeah, I ended up getting him connected with the Physics teacher. He’s getting tutored now. He thinks it’s all bullshit, but I don’t want to be the reason he doesn’t get into a good school.”

“Is that all you care about?” She smiled at Y/N. “Lizzy was telling me that you’re interested in him.”

“First of all, keep your voice down. Second of all, I’m not supposed to be, so I’m not.” Y/N hoped that the edge in her voice was convincing enough.

Her friend raised her eyebrows so dramatically that her glasses nearly slipped off her nose. “Y/N, who’s gonna hear about it. You guys are both going away at the end of the year anyways, and I’m sure he’s not going to be writing to his dear mum about his love life. If it’s consensual, there’s nothing wrong with it. I think it’d be good for both of you.”

“I see that, but let’s put me in his shoes right now.” Y/N shuffled in her seat and clasped her hands. “I’m rich. I’m British. I’m very hot. My parents throw extravagant balls for me and I kiss pretty girls that say water like ‘wota’. I’ve spent my life in silk and I only drink the finest teas. My family is so important that I had to be shipped off halfway across the world just to be safe. And now my incredibly expensive life has reached a peak because I’m sleeping with a random girl in Ohio that has run approximately 4 stop signs since I’ve met her.”

“You’re sleeping with Draco?” 

Y/N turned to see Lauren, a wide-eyed, obnoxious, but well meaning girl staring at her. She heard Sylvia stifle a laugh behind her. “No. I was kidding.” The smile that she followed with was awkward and showed way too many teeth. 

“Oh, okay,” said Lauren. “Do you know if he likes anyone?”

Sylvia’s smirk widened.

“No, actually, he’s a pretty private guy.” Y/N sent her another tense smile, and Lauren finally turned away.

“Jealous, huh?”

“Shut up, Vie. You know I wouldn’t go for him. Even if I had the chance.”

She just raised an eyebrow and smiled. 

The afternoon brought its own set of struggles. Their French teacher had blown up at another student who had been caught cheating on their last test, and it was all Y/N could do but hold back her snickers until they were out in the parking lot.

“I can’t believe they still managed to conjugate their cheat sheet wrong.” Y/N was gasping for breath as she unlocked the car door and threw her stuff inside. Draco was watching from the passenger seat, his lips in a soft upturn. “Can you imagine? Oh my god.”

He just shook his head and turned to look out the window, but she could see the smile slowly stretching across his face. “Ridiculous. You could totally tell Monsieur enjoyed it, too. I bet he gets off on making kids like Joey cry.”

“I had a teacher like that,” he started. “He was a Poti-a chemistry teacher.”

“Oh? Did he ever attack you?”

“No. He liked me. Family friends and all.”

“Ah. I almost forgot that your family was rich and influential. Thanks for the reminder.” She reached across and lightly punched his shoulder. His smile, though still remaining, seemed to shrink. “Hey, what’s that in your bag?” 

Y/N motioned to the cardstock peeking out of his nondescript black backpack that always seemed to fit more than it was meant to. She could make out a few words written in what looked like a bright red sharpie--something that did not exactly scream Draco Malfoy aesthetic.

He froze up. “Er. It’s from Heather. I think she called it a Homecoming ask?”

Y/N’s throat dried up to the point that no words would willingly make the climb from her diaphragm to her tongue; instead, she settled for giving him a little nod and what she hoped was a convincing smile.

“I told her I’d think about it,” he continued. “I remember you saying that the school dances sucked. So I let her know that I wasn’t sure yet.”

She nodded again. “Super cool. You can do whatever you want, though. You can come with my group if you’d like, but you’re welcome to go with Heather’s.”

“What? So you aren’t coming with me if I go with Heather?”

“Fuck no, dude. I don’t hate her, but I would way prefer to spend a night with my friends than some girl from my French class that only talks to me because she thinks you’re hot.” 

The expression Draco made reminded Y/N that he would never get comfortable with American girls calling him hot. “Ok. Have you found a date yet?”

“Chad from Econ asked me yesterday.”

“Is that why my seat was covered in glitter?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you going with him?” Draco’s hand was clenched tight in a fist in his lap.

“I think so,” said Y/N, steeling herself and deciding to just go for it. “But, of course, if you asked me I would say no to Chad. Just out of principle. I am supposed to be your tour guide, after all.”

The only parts of him moving were the few stray wisps of his hair being pushed around by the AC going. 

“But that’d be weird. I’d only expect you to take that up if you really didn’t want to go to the dance itself.” She swallowed and pulled out onto the main street, putting distance between them and the school. He was silent for a few moments. The quiet, normally comfortable between them, was stifling and strange. She pretended to ignore the way he was fiddling with his cuffs. 

“Yeah, it could be,” was all he said before slumping against the window and closing his eyes.

Mrs. Y/L/N was sitting at the head of the coffee table when the two arrived home, carding between a stack of letters in front of her. The mug of something--probably that new decaf blend she hadn’t stopped raving about--was sitting lopsided on a coaster, just barely about to topple off the edge. She looked like she hadn’t moved for hours, the novel she had been previously reading sat face down to preserve the spot next to her no doubt lukewarm drink.

“Hey Mom,” Y/N said as she set her keys down. “Anything good?”

She looked up, her expression morphing from startled to happy. “Other than the college brochures? Nothing, except...hm, what’s this?”

Her well manicured hand pulled at a crimson envelope, with sloping writing that seemed to shimmer in the light. 

To the Y/L/N Family, it read. The loopiness of the writing looked like it wiggled at the ends, but that had to be a trick of the light. It was dim in the kitchen during afternoons, after all. 

“It looks cool, open it u--”

“No!”

Draco’s voice had never sounded so loud as it did then as he lunged across the kitchen, snatching it out of her mother’s hand and clutching it to his chest. “Er, it’s for me. I recognize the handwriting.”

 “Cool, see you later,” said Y/N. She was up the stairs and slamming her door before either of her housemates could say another word. After the horrible embarrassment that was technically Draco’s rejection, she needed to be alone. 

Even burying her face into her pillow and squeezing her eyes shut didn’t keep the scenes from their car ride at bay. She had been so stupid, so stupid. Why did she even think he wanted that? He was her brother, after all. Oh god, does he think we’re all from Alabama or something?

She wallowed for a few more mournful minutes before deciding that she had to pick herself up and handle it like an adult. After all, she was going to be 18 in just a few months. There was no excuse for her to act like a child anymore. And, plus, it wasn’t like she couldn’t just play this off as a pity invite. Yes,that’s what she’d frame this as if he ever asked her about it again. She felt bad for him was all it was. 

Once satisfied with her internal dialogue, she rolled out of bed and made for the foyer where her bag was still on the table. She’d first walk on Legos barefoot before she had to let a stupid boy--especially one that didn’t know how to turn on their shower and had to ask for her help every time--come between her and her 4.0. Never.

Her thoughts were cut short, however, when she heard a new sound from his side of the hallway. She froze, listening closely. 

Draco was crying.

[howtowhumpyourhiccup]

Winter Whumperland Day 8: Lucky

Summary: Written for Winter Whumperland Day 8. Set in a Modern AU, follows up on Day 7 'Delirium'. There was the chance meeting in that coffee shop, but it is one late evening in early June that Hiccup's life takes a sudden turn for the worse.

Rating: Mature

Characters: Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Toothless, Ryker, Viggo

Pairing: Vigcup, past-Hiccstrid

Words: 4 464

Fandom: How to Train Your Dragon

Prompt: “Obsessive whumper”

Whumpee: Hiccup (and Toothless in a way)

Author’s Notes: This was supposed to be up already, but I got very distracted by Attack on Titan. I finished my rewatch and I had 3 episodes of season 4 that I needed to catch up on and then I got very distracted by the reactors I follow that I know watch this show, too.

Constructive criticism is appreciated! Including on the tags!

Enjoy!

Ao3

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

There was the chance meeting in that coffee shop, but it is one late evening in early June that Hiccup's life takes a sudden turn for the worse.

It's late when he returns home from work. He's completely drained after being on his feet all day and when he steps in through the front door, what he longs for most is to kick off his shoes and prosthetic and crash onto the couch.

Someone has other ideas, as he can tell by the stomping footsteps coming up from behind him as he closes the front door.

They halt, one slipper tapping impatiently on the carpeted floor, and Hiccup knows he's in trouble. He slowly turns to see one furious Astrid Hofferson.

She'd come the second she heard the door open and she'd jumped off the couch to catch him and block his way to the living room. Her blonde hair is undone and lays comfortably on her shoulder.

"Uh, good evening? Milady?" He greets her hesitantly, deciding that a polite approach is probably a better idea than a sassy one.

"What took you so long? You were supposed to clock out two hours ago!" Astrid crosses her arms, a hip out, and awaits a good excuse. He hasn't even called her to let her know that he would be later or anything!

Hiccup puffs out a nervous breath as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other, unsure what to tell her. Upon seeing this, Astrid lets out an agitated sigh, reeling with her boyfriend's thoughtless decision-making.

"Viggo again?" She asks with a hard tone and he knows there is no denying it. Besides, she'd know if he was lying. So he nods honestly instead and she's already throwing her hands up.

"He came by at the coffee shop for a game of chess and I thought I'd entertain him for a little while!" Hiccup hurriedly replies, already imagining Astrid's disappointment in him.

"For two whole hours?!" Her voice raises, she's not too impressed.

"Ugh, yeah..."

"Hiccup, I can't believe you!" She expresses her disbelief before turning on her heels to return to the living room.

"He's obviously a lonely man, Astrid! He just wants some company and a listening ear once in a while!" He tries to reason with her as he follows her to the other room, where Snotlout is sitting on the couch.

Viggo just comes across as a lonely man to him. No partner, no kids, no friends outside of business, and a brother he rarely sees eye to eye with. It makes him want to take at least a few minutes out of his time to spend on him.

"Once in a while, he comes by almost every day, Hiccup! Today, he swallowed up two hours of your time! And after work, too!" Halting before the television, Astrid spins on her heels again to face Hiccup. "Hiccup Haddock, I know you're not a pushover, but somehow this guy gets you to let him walk all over you."

Snotlout should be annoyed that he can no longer watch the tv, the bickering couple interrupting his watch, but that matters little to him

"Heh, Viggo again, Hiccup?" He asks, finding amusement in that fact.

"You know, Hiccup, if you'd rather spend time with some lonely middle-aged dude then your own girlfriend, maybe you should go hook up with him. We'll question your kinks and tastes, though." He adds with a chuckle.

"Not funny, Snot." The couple tells him and Hiccup sighs afterward, awkwardly moving from one foot to another once more. He's tired and his leg hurts and he doesn't like fighting with Astrid. And to make matters worse, he has some news, too. It's not bad news, but he wonders if it'll be received well after Astrid's reaction.

She stands there, fuming, and she probably has plenty of reason to be. His not calling her to let her know where he's at, spending his after work hours with someone who is a virtual stranger to her, who is a creep in her eyes, pushing his own needs aside for someone who clearly has no eye out for his, ... Yup, plenty of reasons. And he might just be about to make it worse.

"Also... I won't be able to sleep here tonight." But it's better to just come out and sat it, so he tells her, his arms crossing.

"And why is that?" Astrid asks, not too pleased. It's Friday evening, she'd hoped to spend at least a little bit of time with him. You know, the time Viggo hasn't selfishly taken for himself yet.

"Well, Toothless came to find me again. I saw him sitting on the rooftop when I got back and... Well, see for yourself." Hiccup gestures towards a rather large window on one side of the room and Snotlout and Astrid look over to find the Night Fury there, watching them through the glass. He's sitting on the fire escape and looks very much like a cat expecting to be let in.

Finally seen, he yowls, wondering what's taking them so long. Hiccup has known all along that he's there, why is he making him wait?

"Oh, the neighbors are going to love this." Astrid groans, cringing at the sound. Snotlout covers his ears.

"Oh, I'm sure they will, which is why I'm dropping off my uniform and going back downstairs to meet him. I'll fly him back to the sanctuary and spent the night at my mom's because I'm-"

"Dead tired from all the work you've done? With a prosthetic?" Astrid cuts him off as she finishes his sentence for him. It's not like she thinks he can't do the same work someone else can, but Hiccup's reality is that standing on his feet all day will make him more exhausted than it would make an abled person. Astrid is aware of this, she just wishes Hiccup would be a little more self-aware from time to time.

Mouth still open, Hiccup stares at her for a moment.

"Uh, yeah, that. But anyway, I'll let you know in the morning if I'll be back tomorrow or Sunday evening." He lets her and Snotlout know before heading over to the bedroom he shares with Astrid.

He's been holding the uniform in his hands. It consists of a dark brown apron and a little hat that feels like paper, though they're all pretty sure it's not made out of paper. He hangs them both up on the coatrack hanging from their bedroom door.

When he comes back into the living room, Astrid is standing before him again.

"Okay, but I doubt he brought a saddle, so will you at least be careful?" She asks of him, still exasperated, but him spending time with Toothless is far better than the alternative, which is the middle-aged man seemingly clinging to a young adult. A young adult who isn't quite 20 yet, no less.

"Of course, Milady, when am I not?" Hiccup asks her with a smile, feeling like they are on slightly better terms now. He'll make it up to her somehow, he doesn't want her feeling like she comes second to some guy he's only known for a few weeks.

Sighing deeply, Astrid comes over and plants her lips on his for a kiss. They don't have any space in their home for a dragon as big as a Night Fury. So, unfortunately, she has no other choice but to let him go. Hiccup returns it wholeheartedly, heart skipping a beat in joy. When does she not make him happy?

When they pull away, Astrid pulls on his hoodie, straightening it out.

"Are you sure that's warm enough for the trip?" She asks him, knowing he gets cold easily. He's about the only person she knows who can still wear long sleeves in the summer. The amount of layers this man needs to get through the colder months is insane.

"I think I'll manage."

"That's not a good answer, Haddock, and you know that."

Snotlout groans in the background at seeing the affection, head rolling back, but they mostly ignore him. So he groans louder on purpose.

"How can I stand living with you two?" He questions when they look over, neither too happy with his interruption.

Toothless yowls again outside and someone shouts at "the big cat" to be quiet.

"Geez, impatient much?" Hiccup mutters under his breath and gestures to his dragon to get down from the fire escape. He should get going before Toothless gets them all kicked out of here.

"Again, be careful. And oh, don't forget to call when you arrive and tell your mom we said "hi"." Astrid quickly says as Hiccup heads for the door.

"I will! I'll see you guys later, Snotlout, Milady." At that last one, he shoots Astrid a quick smile.

Snotlout lets his head roll back again and-

"If you groan one more time, it's off to bed with you."

It takes a quick ride on the elevator down, but Hiccup is outside soon enough. It's summer and that means the air is cooler then it is during the day, but not quite cool enough. Even so, Hiccup pulls on his hoodie to cover as much of his collarbone and neck as it can before he looks up towards the top of the building.

"Bud?!" He calls out excitedly, expecting to be tackled by a dragon much bigger and much heavier than him in the next few seconds. He's bracing himself, it could come from any direction...

But instead, there is no response.

Strange.

"Bud!" Hiccup calls out again, didn't he hear him the first time? Dragons of his kind usually have a good hearing. Or he ignoring his calls? Making him wait because it's been so long since he's come by for a visit? He hates admitting it, but work has been kicking his ass. It's hard to do anything on most days and even during most weekends he finds himself in need of the mere two days of rest he can get.

"It's because you haven't worked a day in your life, son, you'll get used to it." Hiccup can hear his father say in his head and he can still feel the need to roll his eyes. He's worked! At the sanctuary and only what he was allowed to do, but he's done stuff before!

"Toothless?!" Moving from the sidewalk to between two parked cars to hopefully get a better view of the roof, Hiccup tries again, but gets no answer this time either. He was hoping to at least see some earfins pop up by now.

"Really, Toothless? Is this the time to play hide and seek?" Hiccup mutters to himself. He knows his dragon misses him terribly when they're not together, he misses him, too, but now's not the time. He's tired and he would like to fly back to the sanctuary already.

Checking the road behind him and finding the street empty for the moment, Hiccup cautiously takes another step or two back. In this part of the city, people usually don't drive as fast as they can in the busier parts. And at this hour, not too many cars come by either.

"Toothless, seriously?!" He calls up again, keeping a careful eye and ear out on either side of him. Don't tell him he's stuck on the fire escape again.

"Are you stuck?! Do I need to come get you?!" Hiccup asks, never losing sight of the street he's on. It's still quiet so far, no approaching lights, no roaring engines.

Finally, Toothless calls back to him and the call sounds far, so he must still be in the fire escape after all. Sighing, Hiccup figures he may as well look.

It's at that moment, probably by pure dumb luck, that a dark car with no plates and tinted windows comes speeding from around the corner.

Driving at speeds way, way above the limit, the car can't possibly be avoided. Hiccup sees it coming, has only seconds to stare into the blinding headlights as they come too fast, and there's nothing he can do but get hit.

The front of the vehicle hits his right side with full force first and he ends up on the hood for a brief moment. It all happens so fast, before long he rolls onto the pavement and is left to lie there on the ground. The collision broke some of his ribs, hurt his hip, dislocated his bad knee, bruised his wrists, scraped him all over, and he'll be a lucky man if that is all a hit from such speeds leaves him with.

Body hurting and unable to move, all Hiccup can do is groan. He can't get up like this. Who and why would just run him over like this? His head hurts, he must've knocked it on the ground.

After the hit, the car screeches to a halt and a man steps out. When he comes over, Hiccup can't see who it is, can barely turn his head to the approaching footsteps. When he tries, another pained groan leaves him. He can taste the metallic tang of blood on his tongue.

Everything is too much for his aching head, too much to process. He's on the verge of passing out, it's becoming black before his eyes.

The man who mowed him down stands over him. Hiccup can't see his face, but if he could, he'd see the satisfied look of another job well done. He's grabbed by his arms and pulled towards the car. Hiccup cringes at the unnecessary additional abuse his body must endure.

"W-wait... What're you... Why?" He can't struggle against him, can't keep the man from dragging him towards the car, it's taking him everything not to pass out.

When they reach the car, the trunk is opened and Hiccup is picked up and unceremoniously dropped inside. His body is in agony and he would've shouted if his ribs allowed it, but his apparent kidnapper doesn't seem to care much. If anything, he huffs and the trunk closes, bathing Hiccup in darkness.

What just happened to him? For whatever reason, whether it be the shock or the pain, he still can't move.

While this is happening, Toothless is, indeed, stuck. A fire escape isn't meant for dragons, let alone a dragon his size, nothing in a city is. This is a place for humans, which is why he thought to drag Hiccup back home himself. He wasn't coming of his own volition, so Toothless had to come and see what was taking him so long. But when he gets up to meet with his friend, he finds his tail to be stuck in the railing.

It's a hindrance and it's more annoying than a real problem. He can solve this without needing Hiccup's help, he just needs to be careful not to damage the replacement tailfin he so carefully crafted for him.

Murring impatiently as he tries to find the right angle to do this from, Astrid and Snotlout are watching him from the window, both concerned. From the corner of his eyes, he can see Astrid mouth something and she's gesturing in a way that's supposed to be helping him, but he doesn't quite get it. He's only half-looking, too.

On the other side of the building, Hiccup is calling for him and Toothless calls back once to tell him he's still coming. He just needs to be a little more patient and then he'll be there.

But then he hears a screeching that sounds like a noise one of those large metal contraptions the humans ride on would make. It's an awful sound to his ears, but not as alarming as the noise of a heavy thing hitting something not even a quarter of that thing's weight. And all of that is followed by a noise of pain Toothless is all too familiar with.

Was that Hiccup? Is someone hurting him?

Toothless knows that he needs to see what's happening and he all but tears himself free, the carefully refined leather hooking onto something metal sticking out and ripping. He hurries up the rest of the fire escape up on the roof, climbing the outside expertly like only a cat of his size and strength can, he'll be able to see more from there.

A disability has only affected his speed and agility so much, Hiccup can largely be thanked for that. As someone who is missing a leg, he knows a thing or two about loss. He reaches the roof quickly and he thinks to check the front of the building first, where the noises came from. What he sees confuses him, however.

There's a human male taking his friend and putting him in the back of that metal deathtrap.

His knowledge of humans and their strange behaviors only goes so far and he doesn't know what the intention here is, just that he doesn't like it. This screams "bad" to him and he growls in anger, claws scraping on the bricked walls. Someone is taking his rider away.

The male then gets into the "car", as they're called, and he can hear it revving to life. That's when Toothless knows it's now or never.

He's a Night Fury, leaping off tall things isn't anything new to him, so he takes a chance. He doesn't yet realize that his prosthetic tailfin is torn and that it will hinder him greatly in his pursuit. He wants to land on the vehicle itself, scare the driver, rip him out, and then get Hiccup out. His mate and that small friend of his are in their communal den. If he's loud enough, he can get them to come down and see. In the meantime, he can make sure the bigger male can't touch the car again and that he's too incapacitated to get away, too.

That's the plan, thought up in a matter of a second or two and he commits to it, he takes the leap. Except with a rip in his tailfin and the car moving away at the same time, all Toothless manages to do is scratch up the back and take the rear bumper right off.

Inside the trunk, Hiccup is almost startled to full alertness with his dragon's claws scraping above him and taking a part of the vehicle with him. There's a man's muffled cursing and what a mouth he has on him.

It takes Toothless a second too long to realize that he's holding just a piece of the car instead of the whole thing.

Did he just fail? A Night Fury isn't supposed to fail, if anything, they're supposed to be the pride of dragons! And he just failed his human?

He looks behind him, sees the tear in the cloth Hiccup made for him. He's lost his advantage and now he can't fly after the car either! He wished he'd jumped on time instead of too late, wished he'd thought to jump in front of it, too! If he'd just aimed right, he would've landed on the car instead of just snatching the rear bumper.

All that's left for him now is to chase. He's still plenty fast on the ground, he can leap, he'll find some other way to stop the damn thing. A plasma blast will land him in serious trouble, but that's not even high on the number of things he's willing to do to get Hiccup back.

They're not far, he can still see them.

But then another car comes from around the corner. They aren't driving particularly fast, but finding a dragon in your path is a startling thing and Toothless is startled in return. They almost block his path, nearly driving into the car parked nearby. Then a second comes and a third and they all screech to a halt, honking and yelling in surprise. They do nothing but hinder him in a city that's already too loud and unwelcoming and chaotic for a dragon.

Toothless has to evade them, doing whatever he can to just not get accidentally hit as he chases after his friend. He jumps onto a parked car, trying to spot the one that took Hiccup.

It's nowhere to be found.

Hiccup can hear it as he slips away, the miserable cries of a dragon in distress with cars honking in the distance, both deafeningly loud.

"I'm here, Bud, I'm... I'm here..." His words of reassurance fade as he falls unconscious, losing the fight to stay awake.

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

Pain. That's what Hiccup wakes up to hours later. An immeasurable amount of pain and the inability to breathe properly as his ribs are keeping him from it.

He groans miserably, feeling awful after someone came speeding down a relatively calm street to run him over. His head is a little slow in catching up on the events that landed him in this situation, but his body has a great memory. He hurts so much, there isn't a part of him that isn't in agony.

There are voices and an unfamiliar hand lays itself on his forehead. Is he in the hospital? Is there are a doctor or a nurse checking up on him? Oh, can they please give him something for the pain? He woke up only moments ago and he wants so desperately for it to end.

"You wanted him, now here he is." One of the voices breaks through the haze in his mind, the first words he's managing to register so far. Why does his head pound? Why is everything pounding?

He remembers headlights.

"And you felt like you had to run him over, did you?" Run over who? Can either of these two give him something to kill the pain? Or an explanation would be nice, too.

He groans louder, hoping to ask for help, but no coherent words leave him. That hand is in his hair now. Care is nice and all, but it would be much nicer if they could pick up on what he's trying to beg for here.

"You could've killed him on the spot! He might even still succumb to his injuries." No wait, that voice is familiar to him. The other one he doesn't recognize, but this one rings a vague bell. Hiccup has to open his eyes and take a look.

"Don't get my hopes up."

There are two men that he can see through a blurred vision and a dim light that's still a nightmare on his headache. He can't recognize one of them.

The other one, however...

"V...Vi... ggo?" Hiccup asks, voice hoarse. It's the first word that he manages to croak out. What's he doing in the hospital with him? Now that he thinks of it, where is Astrid? Snotlout? He can't remember if Fishlegs and the twins were home.

An image of Toothless flashes before his mind. He was there, wasn't he? Where is he now?

"you're awake, good, I was starting to worry," Viggo tells him, looking down at him with a look that isn't quite as caring as those words would suggest.

Hiccup blinks slowly in surprise.

"Where... What are you doing here? Where am I? Toothless is... What happened?" The questions are slow to leave him, but he's starting to catch up a little. He's not quite as awake as he needs to be yet. Why is this room so dim? Aren't hospital lights usually so annoyingly bright?

He wants to sit up or readjust somehow, feeling too uncomfortable with everything his body is going through. But though he tries, he only ends up worsening the pain in his right side tremendously. Whatever little progress he may have made is undone when he's forced to lie down again. His left knee hurts, did he dislocate it again?

This bed is so uncomfortable and lumpy, is this mattress even from this century anymore?

But the pain wakes him up at least and he can grasp the sort of troubling situation he's suddenly in a little more now.

This isn't the hospital.

He doesn't know what room he's in, but he can see that the little light bulb on the ceiling is bare and the only light source in this place, that the walls are brick, and the floor is made of concrete. If it weren't for the lack of storage space, he'd think that this is a basement, but that couldn't be it, right? He can't just be in someone's basement! He notices there's a ridiculously tiny bathroom off to the side, which at least looks clean.

What Hiccup's lying on is, indeed, a bed and his painful wrists are cuffed to the sides. If he wants to pull at them, he can try once or twice, but after that, they won't allow any more attempts.

Realization comes and panic sets in.

He's been kidnapped.

"Wh-what... What?!" He can't comprehend it, his thoughts and heart racing and struggling to keep up. Hyperventilating and very quickly unable to breathe at all, the rapid pace cannot mix with his broken ribs.

Did Viggo do this to him? Why would he do something like this?! Why would he hit him with a car and take him from his home?!

"Hiccup, calm yourself!" Viggo takes his shoulders and, honestly, how can he expect Hiccup not to freak out when he's been kidnapped?!

Oh Gods, Astrid was right. She was right, Viggo was bad from the start. And he's the idiot who walked right into another trap. Why does he keep getting himself into trouble like this?

Oh no, and what of his Bud? He definitely remembers his dragon being there when he was taken, what happened to him? What could've possibly happened to him?

"No... No! T-Tooth... Tooth?!" He doesn't have the air to ask, his lungs and his ribs in a fierce battle for whose needs need to be met first. They both burn.

"Hiccup, I implore you to calm!" Despite Viggo's best attempts, Hiccup doesn't listen to him, too much in a panic. If this goes on, he'll lose him before he can even start molding him to his perfect partner.

"That's never going to work, Viggo. You know there's only one solution to this." The other man, the stranger, states as he pushes him aside. A soaked cloth is pressed to Hiccup's nose and mouth, the sedative wetting it is breathed in immediately with his fast breathing and it takes its hold just as fast.

A different kind of haze settles in his mind, he's feeling woozy. It works quicker than he can realize he's being knocked out. He's going under, his breathing evening out, and his last thoughts wonders about his friends.

[diavolodigitale]

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Andromeda Galaxy - pt.4 Voeld

And, finally, this is the last existing part of this pathetic piece of writing. It is even more awkward than the previous ones since here you can witness attempts at “plot”. Anyway, there is no continuation to this and never will be unless someone manages to convince me otherwise (I don’t think it’s possible though). 

Genres: comedy, romance (vaguely), friendship maybe.

Pairing: m!Ryder/Evfra

Characters: Ryder, Evfra, Jaal, others occasionally 

Rating: PG

Warnings: cringe alert!

Size: this atrocity is around 17 PAGES LONG so, yeah, keep that in mind

All chapters: Pt.1 - Pt.2 - Pt.3 - Pt.4 ----- All chapters in PDF

“Pathfinder, you have a new email,” rang out SAM’s lifeless voice on the bridge.

“Thanks, SAM,” replied Ryder even though he didn’t really have to.

He approached the terminal, wondering who the email might be from.

“I bet it’s Peebee,” presumed Kalo when Ryder approached the terminal, “you know how she likes sending emails instead of just coming up to you and communicating directly.”

“I can hear you!” yelled Peebee from the escape pod and loudly dropped something on the floor.

 Urgent Matter

To: Ryder

From: Evfra

I received information according to which colonists from Taerve Uni attacked the Resistance Base. I do not know any details yet. The shuttle of the colonists is now being examined by my specialists.

I advise you not to spread the word on the Nexus. Come to Voeld as soon as possible. I will meet you at the Base.

 “Shit,” mumbled Ryder, dismayed by the news. “Kalo, we’re changing the course. The new destination point is Voeld.”

On their way James was sweating profusely. He felt flustered and didn’t know what to expect from the situation. He was afraid that the moment they stepped onto the icy surface of Voeld, the Resistance soldiers would raise their weapons and no negotiations would be held. Ever.

“You okay?” Vetra closed the door to the airlock section where he was sitting and approached him.

“Could be better,” he answered without even raising his head.

“Who else knows?” she asked, taking a seat beside him.

“Jaal, obviously.”

“Yeah, not telling him would be stupid. If things go south, he’s the only one who can help us out.”

“I just hope everything isn’t how we think it is,” said Ryder quietly and sighed. “We cannot allow any mistakes. With angara, there are no second chances.”

“Don’t think about it yet, we’ll draw a conclusion when we see everything with our own eyes.”

“Thank you,” James exhaled loudly as if their conversation helped him to calm down a bit and looked at Vetra. “I mean it,” he said and forced himself to smile a bit.

“Stop it. I’m so used to your dumb jokes that seeing you being sincere seems freaky.”

“I knew my sense of humor isn’t that bad,” said Ryder more gaily and lightly bumped Vetra’s shoulder with his fist. “You should appreciate it while I’m here with you all, ‘cause something tells me Evfra is going to beat the crap outta me. Then I won’t be able to come up with such ingenious jokes anymore.”

“You’re overexaggerating. I think you’ll still be able to talk, hon,” retorted Vetra and returned him the whack.

“Well, that’s a relief.”

They set together until the Tempest landed. Following Evfra’s advice, Ryder decided not to tell anybody on the Nexus or aboard the ship about the reason for their coming to Voeld. He didn’t want to make the crew agitated before confirming or disproving the information he got. This didn’t include Vetra because he knew he could trust her with such matters: she was the pillar of strength in every difficult situation, always able to think clearly in spite of unfavorable circumstances. Jaal was the second one to be let in on this secret since keeping him in the dark when it came to his people was simply mean. He was the member of the Resistance after all.

“Are you going to tell us what’s all the fuss about?” asked Suvi when Ryder was hastily leaving the ship. The tension aboard the Tempest was practically palpable at this point.

“Nope,” he answered without hesitation.

“All the emails are supposedly checked by the Nexus, so if something’s up, we’ll know sooner or later,” stated Kalo, remotely closing the lock after the Pathfinder left.

“Should’ve known that…” hissed Peebee in her escape pod, rummaging in her observer.

“Wait, Kalo, open the lock!” Vetra rushed onto the bridge in full gear. Jaal followed her swiftly.

“Guys, could you have made up your minds sooner?” asked Kalo irritably.

“Hurry up and open the lock or he’ll leave without us!” Vetra was clearly pissed and couldn’t see any reason for Kalo’s incompliance.

“If you exploit mechanical parts of the ship too much, they break faster and—”

“Kalo!”

“There is really no need to be so rude…” Kalo felt like complaining, but still did what he was asked to.

Using her jump-jet, Vetra made it to James in a couple long jumps.

“Hey, Ryder! What about us?” She caught up with him and stopped on his way.

“I think it’s best if you stay on the Tempest. I’ll deal with it on my own, nobody has to get in trouble. I’m the Pathfinder and it’s my responsibility,” he said dejectedly.

Vetra clicked her tongue and crossed her arms.

“Ryder, let me come with you,” almost pleaded Jaal in a hoarse voice; he was obviously anxious. “I may be able to change Evfra’s mind. I have known him for a long time now, you won’t handle him alone.”

James had already decided to go into the beast’s lair on his own so now he was just thinking over the plausible excuses to make everybody stay aboard the ship.

Vetra knocked on his helmet with her index finger.

“Hello? Anybody in there?”

Pathfinder loudly coughed and, trying to calm himself down a bit, started his impromptu speech.

“You know, I am really grateful to you all, but there are moments in life when you just have to accept some things and be ready to sacrifice…”

“Boy oh boy, he really thinks this nonsense will work,” said Vetra in a monotonous voice.

It seemed to Ryder that she even rolled her eyes under her helmet.

“Just take Jaal and go. But I want a full report after,” she conceded, “since you’ve decided that I should know about all this. See you later, I guess.”

Ryder and Jaal exchanged quick glances as she returned to the ship.

“Fair enough.” Pathfinder wiped the screen of his helmet with his left hand. The snow was clogging it, making it impossible to see.

The Tempest had landed right near the Resistance Base. Ryder didn’t want to go to the human colony until he saw what really happened and decided what to think of it.

Evfra was waiting for him inside the construction hunched over the reports lying on the table. It was dead cold, as always, but, because James was so uneasy, he felt as if he was on Elaaden with its scorching sun and torrid sands.

“Pathfinder,” sharply said Evfra, still towering over the pile of datapads on the table. That startled Ryder who was at the moment thinking of how to initialize the conversation.

“Evfra… I already forgot how cold it is on Voeld on days like this…” James was nervously rubbing the holster of a pistol attached to his leg. Jaal tried to encourage him with a light pat on the back, letting him know that he was still there.

“I’ve inspected everything. No casualties from our side. A few angara are mildly injured, but nothing serious,” went on Evfra. Surprisingly to Ryder, he did not even sound particularly mad.

“Meaning… you are not going to beat me?” asked the Pathfinder cautiously.

“I was thinking about that,”—Evfra finally turned around and faced Ryder—“but no. Not today, at least.” He nodded to Jaal, recognizing his presence.

“What about those who attempted an attack?” asked Jaal who obviously had more control of himself than Ryder.

“Little is known for sure. They were wearing colonists’ outfits. The shuttle also belonged to the colony. Nobody survived the attack, so we couldn’t interrogate them. At the moment we have a crashed shuttle and five unidentified bodies,” emotionlessly reported Evfra.

Jaal addressed Ryder, who looked like he was awaiting further intelligence still.

“Ryder, we should take a look at the shuttle.”

“Yes, of course. Let’s go,” agreed the Pathfinder almost immediately.

Evfra led Ryder and Jaal to the crash site. A few angaran soldiers were guarding it.

“Quite far from the Base itself,” noticed Jaal.

“Yes, and only one shuttle. It doesn’t look like a well-planned intrusion to me.” Evfra dismissed the soldiers and invited the Pathfinder to examine the site.

With estranged look and blank mind, Ryder began scanning. Even though Evfra didn’t seem mad and the other angara weren’t hostile towards him, the situations worried him. He couldn’t understand why somebody would do something like this. The colony on Voeld symbolized the union of two races and served the needs of both. People who agreed to live there knew what they signed up for when they came to the planet shared with the angara.

“Pathfinder, I cannot identify these people. They are not on the list of Voeld inhabitants,” reported SAM using public channel.

“What about the Nexus?” asked Ryder, confused. “We are the only people who came to Andromeda. There is no way they are not from the Nexus.”

“At the moment I have no access to full census. You can request that the next time you’re on the station,” responded SAM.

Ryder continued to scan, desperate to find at least some useful clues, while Evfra and Jaal were examining the bodies and the equipment of the intruders.

“The clothes as well as some of their supplies indeed come from Taerve Uni. They were listed as missing a week ago,” continued SAM after Ryder scanned the leftovers of a few containers.

“Why didn’t we receive any reports about that?” he asked. It seemed as quite an important piece of information to not share with the leadership of the Nexus.

“Perhaps, the governor of the colony considered it to be too insignificant to inform the Pathfinder,” assumed Jaal.

“What about their weapons?” asked Ryder the AI, agitated.

“The colonists do not use these models. They come from elsewhere.”

Evfra was looking through the possession of one of the attackers when he found an almost undamaged datapad. He shook the snow and ashes off of it and held it out to the Pathfinder.

“Ryder, take a look at this.”

“Is it… kett?” Ryder scanned the datapad just to be sure, although he could already recognize those scribbles. “It’s encrypted. SAM, can you decode it?”

“Yes, Pathfinder. I would need a few minutes to do that.”

Ryder’s worries grew bigger and bigger starting from the minute he read Evfra’s email on his terminal on the Tempest. Worse than human colonists attacking the Resistance Base could be only human colonists affiliated with the kett.

“Hey, human,” Evfra addressed James after watching him struggling with himself for a minute or so, “do not lose hope yet. The attempt was too disorganized. I don’t think your people are planning a conspiracy against angara. Although, if we presumed that you were the one responsible for it, then all the sloppiness would be justified, and we should lock you up.”

Jaal chuckled softly. For somebody whose people have recently been attacked, both Jaal and Evfra seemed a little bit too carefree.

Soon SAM’s voice distracted Ryder from his thoughts and brought back to the real world.

“Pathfinder, I have decrypted the data. This datapad appears to hold the plans regarding the attack. It also includes the navpoints as well as the layouts of the angaran Resistance Base on Voeld as well as for the human colony Taerve Uni.”

The details SAM discovered didn’t quite fit into the picture in general, so Jaal said aloud what, perhaps, most of those who gathered there were concerned about.

“I do not understand why the colonists would need the navpoints for these locations. If they live on Voeld, they should know where the Base is situated since they cooperate tightly with the Resistance.”

Ryder was barely listening. He couldn’t apprehend that somebody on his side would commit such a treachery so he decided to get to know the truth, whatever the cost. He used his omni-tool to get in touch with the Tempest.

“Suvi, contact Priya Blake and ask her about the missing clothes and supplies. I want to know everything. Also check where one can find these weapons. I’m sending the scans.”

“Will do,” calmly answered Suvi without asking any additional questions.  

“Let’s get back inside. I’ve heard humans don’t perform very well in the cold,” rather stated than offered Evfra and headed back into the building.

James silently agreed and followed. On their way inside, Jaal approached him, worried about his reaction to the events.

“Evfra is right. You should not lose hope, Ryder. Anything is possible, especially if the kett are involved. And you shouldn’t forget that he also will not abandon attempts to establish beneficial cooperation between our species that easily. Even though he tries to pretend that he will.”

Ryder simply nodded in response.

“Do all humans value our alliance as much as you do, Pathfinder?” asked Evfra inside the hideout, already nestling beside a specially constructed heater. His voice gave in his genuine interest.

“Frankly speaking, I have no idea. I just try to believe they do,” answered Ryder. He had not given it much thought previously.

“So, at the moment everything holds only on your initiative? In that case, I would really like to know about your motivation. Besides survival of the species.”

Ryder took some time to reflect on his own viewpoint. There weren’t any other species in the Andromeda galaxy with which his people could build an alliance, but it seemed to him that something made him feel a special kind of sympathy towards angara.

“You know, while on Aya, I met your chief astronomer, Maariko,” he said, confusing everybody as to how it related to Evfra’s questions. “He asked me to find several missing anagaran satellites. To cut the long story short, we found out that they were scavenged and taken to pieces by exiles from Kadara, and the team he sent to locate those satellites was vanquished. I wasn’t responsible for that, exiles aren’t part of the Nexus anymore, but still… When I told him what happened, he was so… disappointed. He was so enthusiastic about our people working together, but this news made him change so drastically. Seeing him like that made me feel the worst I have ever felt in my life,” he summed up. He sounded tired and upset having to recall this story.

Evfra wistfully hemmed. He took a seat on the chair at his desk and turned to face Ryder and Jaal.

“Is regret your driving force then? Do you do this only because you’re ashamed and want to prove that humans aren’t that bad?”

“I—”

“Evfra,” almost exclaimed Jaal, interrupting James with no remorse. “Ryder must not feel ashamed of what other humans do, the same way we are not ashamed of the deeds of Akksul and his kind. Every individual is responsible only for his own actions.”

“I see you two grew to understand each other quite well…” said Evfra and nodded to himself. “But it doesn’t matter. Your worries are groundless. I am not trying to offend the Pathfinder, Jaal. I just wanted to know what he thinks of the situation we’re in.”

Jaal’s courage and support inspired Ryder to be more confident and not to yield to Evfra’s provocations. No matter the obstacles he had to overcome, his purpose was true and he would stick to it till the end, even if everybody doubted him.

“I think that this newly established bond between our species is beneficial for everybody. It is not perfect, we still have lots of stuff to work on, sure. And this is why I will do my best. If we really are the ones to blame in this incident, I’ll pay the price and earn your forgiveness. That’s what I think,” he said, somehow making it sound as though he prepared this speech long ago.

“I can respect such an answer,” said Evfra approvingly.

Ryder’s omni-tool made a beeping sound letting him know that somebody was on the line.

“It’s Suvi,” stated James to inform everybody else in the room before turning on the public channel.

“Ryder, the supplies from Taerve Uni appear to have been stolen. The security footage shows a group of people entering the warehouse and taking some of the stuff. Presumably at that time one shuttle was stolen as well. Priya Blake says one of the colonists had to be helping the intruders since they weren’t able to find any other clues and all other footage appears to be corrupted.”

“Got it. What about the rifles?”

“They seem to implement some of non-Initiative technologies. Our best bet would be to say that they come from Kadara.”

“Exiles then,” said Jaal quietly to himself.

“Thanks for your help, Suvi,” said Ryder and turned off the communication device, not letting Suvi ask any questions about what was happening.

“I suggest we go to Kadara right away. We shouldn’t waste any time,” said Jaal.

“Yeah, I would also like to get things sorted out as soon as possible,” agreed James.

He tried to take this incident in all its seriousness. Even if it meant running from one planet to another in search of any bits of useful data. Besides, the possibility of exiles being responsible for the offense gave him courage. Believing that the colonists had barely anything to do with the incident was all that kept him going.

“There is no need to do that. I will reach out to my agents in the port immediately and let you know once they discover anything important,” suggested Evfra.

His proposal looked like a real gesture of goodwill. Even though it was a little suspicious of him to make the life of the Pathfinder easier instead of complicating it, Ryder didn’t feel like refusing.

“That would be really convenient. We will stay on the Voeld’s orbit for now then. Are you going to come back to Aya?”

“No, not now. I’ll stay here until we clarify everything. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something else. Do you have a minute?” asked Evfra mysteriously. Ryder could not even imagine what else he would want to discuss after the matter with the colonists was settled for the time being.

“I’ll return to the Tempest, you can take your time. Goodbye, Evfra,” said Jaal, retreating before he was asked to. He felt that he shouldn’t stay. Since Evfra wasn’t really mad, his job there was done, so he decided to return to the ship and give them some privacy.

After Jaal disappeared out of their sight, Evfra offered Ryder a seat. The surface of a chair was quite cold to the touch.

“As a matter of fact, I wanted to talk about Jaal,” began Evfra. “I’m glad he left without me having to ask him to do so.”

“Is something bothering you?”

“Not bothering, no. I am wondering how he’s doing on the Tempest.”

Evfra was not the type that would talk much and especially not the type that would uncover that he worried about someone. Seeing him being open about what he cared about made Ryder feel more at ease in his presence.

“Jaal has become a valuable member of our team. He always provides us with helpful insights in situations otherwise obscure to us as newcomers. And he’s a skillful fighter, what more could I ask for,” he replied happily. There really couldn’t be too much praise for Jaal after what he did to help them.

“Good. I want to make sure he doesn’t feel left out. After our experience with kett, it was very risky to let him go with an outsider.”

The moment James met Jaal, he immediately understood that this angara is one of the most adventurous and decisive aliens he had ever seen. Nonetheless, only weeks after did he realize how big of a step had his new teammate made in terms of changing angaran foreign policy. The kett were the only aliens they had met before and that contact certainly didn’t have any positive outcome.

“You don’t have to worry,” said Ryder, waving his hand nonchalantly. “I mean, cultural clashes are unavoidable, but nothing we cannot handle so far. The Tempest crew is as diverse as it can be, so he fits like a puzzle piece.”

“Keep it that way. Or I will be forced to retrieve him. He is still an important agent of the Resistance,” said Evfra in a serious tone, although not threatening. He admired Jaal as one of the best assets in his movement and, understandably, didn’t want to lose him.

“I don’t think you will be able to do that. He seems to enjoy being on the Tempest. And, at this point, I won’t let him go,” said the Pathfinder laughingly.

“Do you like him that much?” asked Evfra. From the tone of his voice or the look on his face it was difficult to determine if it was a serious question or not.

“Well, he is a great interlocutor,” began Ryder, not really knowing what exactly Evfra expected to hear. “Considering the fact that he doesn’t know much about our customs and habits, he holds himself pretty well. Also, the female part of the crew seems to be fond of him. Especially the female part. And Liam. For some reason.”

The expression on Evfra’s face was one of confusion and incomprehension mixed together. Hearing this was definitely not something he anticipated.

“Are you saying that they are attracted to him?” he inquired in an attempt to define what Ryder meant.

“Kind of. Nothing serious, I’m sure, but he knows what to say and not say. Albeit I start doubting that when he opens a discussion about how asari reproduce. That is uncomfortable.”  Ryder bit his lip looking blankly at the snowy floor beneath him and thinking of how to continue the conversation. “Anywa-a-ay,” he began in a sing-song voice, seemingly having come up with something else worth noting, “coming back to his positive sides, he smells really nice. You also smell nice, by the way. I mean… not that I’m sniffing,”—he rubbed his neck like he usually did when he was nervous—“probably, it’s because of the lotion. Or something else. Jaal told that angara use lots of different self-care thingies, a-and I probably should stop talking about that already, shouldn’t I..?”

Evfra did his best not to bury his face in his palms because of how uncomfortable he was. There was always this moment during his conversations with Ryder when he just didn’t know how to react. He thought that if all humans were so perplexing and held so little control over their emotions, communicating with them on a daily basis must have been a real pain.

“You say your crewmates are discussing ways of reproduction,”—he tried to skip the embarrassing bits of the conversation and get to what really interested him—“I recon Milky Way settlers don’t know much about angara. We are not used to affairs with other species. Isn’t it too early to talk about such matters?”

“Humans discovered the intergalactic community less than 30 years ago and… well, plus 600 years we spent to get here, but let’s disregard that for now. All I’m saying is it didn’t take us long to fully adapt. Even though previously we too thought we were alone in the world. And, dare I add, our first contact with an alien race developed into a 3-month war. At least you’re not willing to fight us just ‘cause you don’t like us,” said Ryder without giving it much thought. Evfra was quite surprised at how confident the Pathfinder was in his words, almost as if he had previously considered this problem.

“Then that is your standpoint. I see,” replied Evfra and crossed his legs. For James it looked a bit weird considering angaran anatomy, but he tried not to stare. It was already awkward enough.

“Back at the Milky Way there were some species not compatible with human physiology at all,” began Ryder again. “Having all kinds of strange tentacles and rows of sharp teeth. And the batarians… Just imagine something staring at you with four eyes”—James twitched sharply—“I still have chills. So, yeah, angara don’t seem as such a bad option to me.”

“But isn’t survival of your race a priority now? There is no future for you if you don’t create great families and develop a new community,” objected Evfra. However persuasive the Pathfinder was, some of his opinions just did not sound practical to Evfra.

“I look at how angara cherish every member of their huge families and I aspire for us to live that way. But you just cannot force yourself if you strive for something else. Or somebody else,” said James without prevaricating.

Evfra narrowed his eyes and started drumming his fingers on the desk.

“That’s an interesting thought to hear from a person holding a position like yours. I don’t think your superiors would like it.”

“Well, I’m my own person.” Ryder leaned on the back of his chair. It didn’t seem so cold anymore. “And I still don’t get paid for the job so the least they could do is letting me date who I want to.”

“Be careful, Ryder. Now you make it sound as if it never was about the choice of others but rather about your own decision regarding this issue,” warned him Evfra. Despite his serious tone, he had no intention of revealing what Ryder told him to anybody else.

“Even if it is, what’s then?”—James tilted his head to the left a little—“unions between separate individuals of our species would have a great influence on our affiliation in general. If we can feel sympathy towards each other, then we are not so different after all. Sometimes you have to sacrifice something to have something else instead.” He sighed and slightly disappointedly added, “and my genes aren’t special or anything, so the humanity won’t lose much.”

Evfra checked the time on the terminal on his desk. He then stood up, implicating that it was probably time to wrap up the talks.

“It’s already quite late so I won’t hold you here any longer, Pathfinder. Your crew has waited more than enough.”

“Guess you’re right.”

Ryder stood up as well and quickly adjusted weapons hanging on his leg and back.

“I’ll accompany you to the Tempest if you don’t mind,” said Evfra.

“Not at all. Sometimes I get lost in your caves here so it’s always nice to have somebody show me the way around.”

They exited the room and set off into the network of icy caves, filled with equipment and appliances belonging to Resistance as well as a great number of soldiers and researchers occupied with their individual tasks.

“When we first came to Voeld,” said Evfra, observing his people at work, “we didn’t bring much resources. It was difficult to operate here, so we thought using these caverns would be a good start. Later we were able to equip everything with necessary facilities and make life here more comfortable. It indeed goes to show how far the ability to use surroundings to your own benefit can bring you.”

“I think you did a really good job surviving here. Can’t imagine how difficult it had been before we activated the vault,” commented Ryder, sincerely amazed by the job that the Resistance did on Voeld.

“It was extremely cold. We couldn’t make ten steps from the heaters unless we had special equipment. But, perhaps, even worse than that was what the planet looked like. Deserted and dead-white. The kett were there somewhere, we knew it, but through blizzards and snowstorms it was impossible to see anything. Lots of soldiers couldn’t handle such desolation for long.”

Evfra looked thoughtful for a few moments. The topic of colonization of Voeld brought back some memories about how it used to be. One look at his scarred face was enough to understand that it was anything but simple.

“The cold here is still unbearable, but… I don’t think it looks that bad. The beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,” mused Ryder.

“Is that another human saying?” asked Evfra curiously.

“Yes.” They’ve finally reached the exit from the cave. Ryder dreamily stared at the white sky almost melting together with white mountains and slopes. “It means that nothing is really objectively beautiful or hideous, it depends on your perspective. You just need to learn to see good in everything. Even if there isn’t much of it.”

“My dislike for Voeld mostly came from the fact that it was so different from my home. But now it is better. Now that you are here,” said Evfra casually.

Ryder abruptly turned his head, shifting his gaze from the sky to Evfra’s rigid face. He felt that he was blushing under his helmet because of how astonished he was. The words sounded dubious, not like something Evfra would say.

“I mean the human colony,” added Evfra calmly. “We are not alone on this planet anymore.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” nodded Ryder and coughed awkwardly.

Barely noticeable notes of discontent in Ryder’s voice didn’t escape Evfra’s ears. It was strange to hear that, but he tried not to overthink. After all, it was impossible to know what humans had on their mind.

After a moment of puzzlement Ryder went on, “I’m also glad we’re not alone on Voeld. It would be a hell to maintain an outpost on such a secluded planet.”

“Yes, it would.”

They walked the trail to the landing area in silence. Frozen snow was creaking under their feet and dim lights that defined the way flickered through blizzard, hardly noticeable. Guards were on their duty, constantly checking the perimeter for potential intruders. Even though it wasn’t so cold anymore, they tried to keep close to the heaters and stayed mostly in pairs.

Approaching the Tempest, Ryder made the last attempt to heat up the conversation. He hated to leave things the way they were.

“So-o-o, do you want to know a strange fact about humans?” he asked, pretending like it was a perfectly normal thing to ask after not talking for five minutes.

“Why would I want to know that?” Evfra turned around and faced Ryder, baffled by the question.

“Jaal once asked Liam and I thought… It’s okay if you don’t, really.”

“Go ahead then,” said the angara. At the moment he did not really care much about knowing more about humans, but rather wished to hear what Ryder wanted to tell him so eagerly.

“When humans are on the last stages of freezing, they get naked.”

This time Evfra couldn’t keep himself from closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead for a few seconds, feeling weary and jaded. Communication with humans really did make him think harder than usually. His brain just couldn’t handle such pressure every time he tried to analyze what was really going on in their heads. Particularly it applied to Ryder.

“Well, anyway, I’m looking forward to hearing from you,” said the Pathfinder and got aboard the Tempest. Evfra stood outside for some time, thinking, before returning to the Base.

Surprisingly enough, nobody aboard the Tempest was mad at Ryder for not sharing the reason for their come. Kalo tried to complain about the Pathfinder not trusting his team, but it didn’t take long for him to accept the fact that Ryder just didn’t want them to worry about the whole case. They stayed on the orbit of Voeld in order to be able to get back to the planet as soon as possible in case the situation needed them to.

James talked to Vetra and Jaal, convincing them that Evfra really didn’t say anything offensive and really didn’t threaten him. Hardly did they believe him when Ryder said, that the leader of the Resistance just inquired about the whole air aboard his ship. Realizing he would probably not say much else, they left Ryder alone.

The day went on with nothing noteworthy. Drowning in different reports from colonies and the Nexus, Ryder didn’t pay attention to the passing of time and soon found himself the only one staying awake. He was exhausted because of all the anxiety and jitters he had to experience today, so calling it a day didn’t seem to be a bad option. Although it took him some time to fall asleep because of all his spinning and turning in bed, he slept quite calmly and didn’t see any dreams.

He was woken up by SAM early in the morning.

“Pathfinder, you have new emails at your terminal.”

“Are they from Evfra?” asked Ryder, yawning.

“One of them,” answered SAM without getting into details.

James used to the terminal in his quarters to check the emails.

 Some info for the captain

To: Ryder

From: Reyes Vidal

Yesterday I got a task from Evfra (don’t worry, it’s not classified, I wouldn’t write you otherwise). As soon as I heard the details, I immediately knew it had something to do with you, so now you’re reading this.

It happened so, that a friend of mine wanted to take part in a shady venture. I, being a kindly person I am, told him not to. Some of his other friends weren’t as smart as him and didn’t listen to my advice, so they ended up dead in a stolen shuttle near the Resistance Base on Voeld. Do you follow me? I hope so, because it seems like if it hadn’t been for me, more exiles would have attacked the angara pretending to be your people. And we all know where that could lead.

Now I hope you’ll acknowledge my assistance in this matter and pay me back for being this good of a friend and taking care of your image so professionally.

Let me know when you have a free minute to chat.

Reyes

 Ryder blinked a few times. His eyes hurt from starring at the terminal screen right after waking up.

“I think I’m now more confused than I was before if that makes sense,” he said rather to himself than to SAM. “Okay, let’s see what the second one has for us.”

 Update on Urgent Matter

To: Ryder

From: Evfra

I have some intel we were looking for. I recon Reyes is now writing an email to you as well. I couldn’t deny him the pleasure of doing that, but you can never be sure of what he is going to tell and what he isn’t, so I’m writing as promised.  

People who attacked our Base were indeed exiles from the Kadara port. They managed to get in contact with kett who saw a great opportunity to use them and had promised them power and resources in return for undertaking this offense. My assumption is that they wanted to disrupt the alliance between humans and angara by making it look like your people attacked mine. However, I think their commandos didn’t know about this plan. It looks too irresponsible and lacks elaboration.

Someone in Taerve Uni helped exiles get in and steal what they needed. Reyes mentioned one of them having a relative in the colony, so it’s best if you investigated this further.

Angara do not blame you for what happened. Some of them feel for you and send their support.

In case you need me, I’ll be on Aya. I am flying back today.

I am glad there is no reason for us to be at war.

 “Somehow, imagining his face while he writes it makes it sound even better,” mumbled Ryder to himself and closed the email. He was too sleepy to be able to answer it properly right now.

[popculturebuffet]

The Legend of the Three Caballeros: Mt. Fuji Whiz and Thanks a Camelot Reviews: Thank God, No Daisy (Comissioned by WeirdKev27)

Saludos amgios and welcome to the final sprint of THE RIDE OF THE THREE CABLLEROS. If your wondering if this is a bit soon.. that’s because it is. While I planned to do the episodes as is before.. this bottom half of the series so far has been so good I couldn’t bare waiting days to get to the next episode just as things are getting really good, especially after the last episode’s cliffhanger. So today, I intend to FINISH the series, with an epilogue next week for my look at the cabs as a whole via a top 12 moments list. Plus i’m already excited for the next retrospective, so there’s that. And yeah Kev’s funding ANOTHER one and you can too.. serioulsy just shoot me an ask for any solo episode or arc you wan’t covered. But now’s not the time for shameless plugs, it’s the time for adventure and to sew up a cliffhanger! So come with me after the cut for some ghouls, ghosts and arthur won’t you?

PREVIOUSLY ON LEGEND OF THE THREE CABLLEROS:

And now the conclusion...

Mt. Fuji Whiz:

First off... let’s talk about the episode titles for the series since I don't think I have yet. 

It has bothered me for the ENTIRE run of the series how terrible most of them are. There all a pun of some kind on something involved with the episode.. but out of 13 episode titles the only ones I like are World-Tree Caballeros, No Man is an Easter Island, Stonehenge Your Bets, Nazca Racing and Thanks a Camelot. And most of them fit the theme of the episode with the exception of Stonehenge: World Tree is a clever pun they couldn’t NOT use, no man fits the theme of the episode as bad as that episode is, Nazca Racing is just another good pun and fits the race at the end, and thanks a Camelot while a very simple one, fits the story of that episode, i.e. everyone's dissatisfaction with Arthur’s training. More on that later. Point is the rest are just.. really cringe inducing puns. And I do LOVE a good pun.. but that’s a GOOD pun, not obvious ones about a “pyramid life-crisis” or a play on gee whiz in 2018 for god’s sake. And the finale title is just.. really awful as they gave up entirely and named it after square dancing for HOPEFULLY no adequate reason. And look the series is a comedy first with the action second, pun titles would be fine.. their just so bad it sucks all the pun out of them. See what I did there? THAT’S a pun. And not even a great one, but it’s still better than this. It feels like the titles were an afterthought and it’s obnoxious. and frustrates me every time I have to type them out. And with only four episodes left I had to get it out sometime. 

So moving onto the actual episode we pick up with the ending of last episode: Death killing the Cabs and Team Sheldgoose. And as we see shortly. he wasn’t bluffing. We pick up with them in the underworld in a dmv line. My god.. it’s even worse of a beaurcrcy than Beetlejuice. Feldrake informs the cabs where they are and Donald, being Donald, dosen’t have the patience to wait in line with the bilions of souls down there, especially since the take a number thing gave them a number that needed to be printed on both sides.. and their at 4. Good gag though. So Donald storms out the moment he sees and exit and our boys head into the city of the Damned. Sheldgoose meanwhile decides to do his best Karen and demands ot speak with the manager.. whose another Sheldgoose it turns out. Uh-Oh.  After the credits our boys explore the city and hoping not to get hit with more ghost cards, find shelter in a little tavern owned by none other than Clinton Coot, Donald’s Great-Grandpa and father of his grandmother Elvira Coot. Clinton initally mistakes the boys for their ancestors, and is disapionted in meeting donald, but once he learns their the ones that inehreted his Cabana, he’s exastic to meet and learn about them. We also learn he had a collection of fragile frontiersman figurines.. which cleverly, are all various versions of Scrooge from life and times. His second cowboy outfit from the side story “The Vigilante of Pizen Bluff”, his prospector outfit from “Terror of the Tranysval”, his klondike prospecter outfit and him finding the goose egg nugget from “King of The Klondike” and him bitterly hauling a sack of his loot into town from the same story. Also some palet swaps of all but the last one because animation is expensive. Panchito.. destroys them all while putting down his pIzza. “NOTHINGS BROKEN”. Clinton then invites the boys to have a sip of his memories, literally he drains some out and despite their relcutance the cabs take a chug.  They reveal prettty much.. every nagging question about the cabana. Clinton, after finding out about his ancestor Duego Duck, the original cabs version of donald, Clinton traveled the world and the 7 seas, everybody’s looking for something.. and he was looking for every trace of the cabs, and their mysterious ally, who we know as Xandra. He gathered all of it, hence the massive collection of books and magical treasures in the cabana, eventually finding their hidden lair and building his cabana on top of it, founding New Quackmore with Sheldgoose’s own great grandmother.. who betrayed him and took the institute from him. His consolation prize was finding Ari and the atlas but he couldn’t open it like the boys and is curious what they found. I absolutely love this and while I feel Clinton’s history would’ve worked better as an overaching mystery, there were seeds for all of this planeted throughout the season, with Sheldgoose being in charge despite the name and Clinton being involved, Shelgoose’s mention a sheldgoose has always been president, and the tease last episode. Still would’ve liked MORE exploration and build up to this , but what we got was facenating upgrading Clinton from a footnote on the duck family tree, to a throughly loveable character: A guy who was so fascenated by his ancestor’s adventures he became an adventurer himself and who lovingly catalogued eveyrthing the guy and his friends ever did.. and had some heartrending reasons why we’ll get to. 

 As Jose leads in with not what but WHO, and likely tells clint about their adventures, a clever way to get that exposition out off screen, we cut back to the world of the living. Xandra is beating herself up, if not literally over things, and while the girls just suggest going to the underworld via zoom point, Xandra points out that won’t work. There’s only one way in: Charon, the greek ferryman of the dead.. and she realizes that’s exactly how, while the girls try a seance.  I’ll just cover the séance stuff now. The girls hold a séance to summon the boys, finding some unfinished business (A piece of said pizza) and having ari dress like a fortune teller because eh why not. There’s some good gags and stuff, but it’s mostly plot irrelvant, only hurting Panchito’s brain at first, then summoning him just as their about to fight a Tengu, with humphrey eating the pizza finsihing the buisness. Not a bad plot at all and certainly refreshing after all the Daisy nonsense last episode, but nothing really important.  Meanwhile let’s also get to Xandra’s subplot, which is both mroe relevant and funnier and again i’ll be covering all at once for convience. Xandra finds that the horn to summon Charon... is now a sax.  Huh so THAT’S what pamela anderson’s character CJ was doing when she was introduced on baywatch. 

Anyways turns out Charon’s reinvented the old boat and since Xandra’s an immortal he offers her a free ride. It’s now a cruise ship with him as the captain, voiced by voice acting legend Jim Cummings who does a fantastic job. The reasonings also brilliant: he wasn’t getting many WILLING souls with his creepy old setup, so he reinvinted things and now has a packed house, plenty of coins and a nonstop party. He even gives us an add for the buisness... this whole thing is fucking amazing and deserves to be praised and is the series at it’s best: taking something mythic and giving it some wacky but still clever tweaks. Xandra eventually gets annoyed as he isn’t going into the city so she can’t look for the cabs and takes the wheel, cursing her to be the captain now, but she just uses that to get in and finds clinton who agrees to guide her to the boys... we’ll get to where he guided them in a moment. 

And that moment is now, Clinton tells the boys there is a way out, but it involves fighting the Tengu, which is misdentified as a falcon despite, even as someone with only a surface knowledge of yokai, I knew it’s modled after a crow, or at least some versions are as it turns out.. and so is the one here so how did they screw that one up?

Point is they need to get past it, and are on a timer as when the Creepy combination of jack skeltington and that moon from Majora’s mask that’s in the sky sets and night ends, their stuck. But first they run into a guard who says they have to fill out paperwork.. and his superior is intend on that, his superior being unsuprisingly sheldgoose, who got the gig since his family runs the afterlife. Oh goodie the rich also somehow run death....

But Donald decides FUCK PAPERWORK, throws it in the air and they run for it with Sheldgoose sicing the tengu on them, which looks awesome by the way. Panchito disappears as mentioned before just as they get a plan but returns in time to free his friends and they triumph.. only for Sheldgoose to not take this lying down and summon his entire family to kick their assses. So both sides power up: having learned the trick from clinton earlier, the cabs inflate.. part of their bodies while sheldgoose forms a voltron style fusion made up of his ancestor’s heads.. with the caveman as the crotch. 

So a fight insues that’s fluid and beautifully animated, and Xandra even arrives to provide backup, with Charon relieving her because he’ could loose his five star rating. I hear you man I struggled just to get my island up to a four. So it becomes a gorgeously animated and awesome fight with Clinton joining inn, finally able to be one of his heroes. He also reitarates something he told donald, that it’s not the journey.. it’s who you take it with and part of his love of the cabs was never having companions like that. Donald takes it to heart and our heroes take their leave, Clinton finally having achieved his lifes’ work. They decide to see japan because why not. Maybe they’ll run into hannibal there. 

And to tie things off, Shelgoose and Feldrake, whose spent the etnire epsidoe still in the staff depsite being dead and...

And find.. a demonic version of Donald in a devil costume, from that short with the devil and angel Donald's.. okay I have some questions. 

He sends them back and we’re out

Final Thoughts for Mt. Fuji Whiz: One of the series best. It’s well paced, has an amazing concept and both sideplots have some form of relevance while being utterly hilarious, especially the charon one. Seriously best bit character of the series calling it now. Already headcanon him as part of the ducktales universe. Along with a lot of this actually. IT’s good stuff and despite the series falts episodes like this prove why it really needed, and still needs, a second season. 

Thanks a Camelot:

Our heroes return to the land of the living with Xandra and to the Cabana, and while Donald wants to relax a bit, Xandra being an ass shoots that down. Though her reasons are valid: Feldrake has been stepping up his game with every scheme.. which is true. HIs last two schemes, not counting his post mortem one, only BARELY didn’t kill them and actually did kill them, and him too but that wasn’t on purpose. They need some good old fashioned hero training so Xandra’s taking the to king arthur and camelot, which of course are still around, to get it and since his training involves leaving everything behind, they leave htier weapons and other stuff behind including their amulets.. which haven’t come up since but are now since their important to the finale i’m guessing and they’ve been wearing the whole time. The girls are tagging along too as they want to document things because the plot says so but their entertaining so fine and leaving Ari and the Bear to guard. And the barrier.. more the barrier.  So with our heroes off Feldrake decides they need to strike and Sheldgoose has a plan to get around the barrier to get Humphrey’s spark: hide inside a cake and have humphrey so overcome by his desire for cake he comes to them. Feldrake is unimpressed but it works.. and even better as he drags them in.. but apparently while Feldrake’s protections are keyed to our heroes bloodline.. coot’s only extneded to feldrake. Which makes sense: he was friends with a Sheldgoose and probably didn’t consider her an enemy till he’d already set the spells, and cleverly, and i’d forgotten this till writing this review: Sheldgoose has already BEEN on the Cabana grounds once and to the doorstep, in the first episode when he visited the yardsale and in the finale of the second when he showed up to give Donald his check. So the show even showed it.. we just didn’t think about it or assumed having the ring meant he couldn’t now. But nope Sheldgoose is inside and Humphrey’s knocked out. 

Back in merry old Camelot, I apolgoize for having a deficit of spamalot and Monty Python refrences, our heroes meet King Arthur, voiced by former star of said spamelot John O’ Hurley, who I was going to give a good treatment and go into his career.. then I found out he’s VERY conservative, pro trump even post riot and generally kind of an ass in how he conducts himself soooo instead a hearty

Does a good job here, still a weasel fiesta. So King Arthur trains our heroes.. via motivational statments, trust falls and what not with his knights who get the same traning, one of which is Gallhad, a frog voiced by the same guy who viced Kermit on muppet babies. Yayyyyy. The girls wonder off, finding Merlin, whose busy with spells and such and clarfying which one is which. They give him june’s phone as Merlin has a video game addiction but Arthur forbids it because well. he has a problem why wouldn’t he.  Ruined Todd Chavez’s life it did. I mean it’s exceptional now but it took a bit of living on a drunken horse with serious issues couch. 

Anyways, Donald soon gets fed up because.. hes Donald. And because.. Tony kinda leans on the more classic constantly angry donald in this one, since he DID help write the lines. It’s not BAD mind you.. but I prefer the melding of his comics and shorts self other works did, the smug ego and everyman desperation to be noticed and liked from the comics mixed with the ego but also tons of rage of the shorts. Kinda like how Daffy had his own egotistical smartguy version merged with his screwball version for the Looney Tunes Show.. which i’ve been rewatching lately. Even better than I remember, highly underated. 

My point is this Donald, as we approach the end .. isn’t for me. He’s just not as intresting as the cloudcuckoolander panchito or the smootha nd wise jose. He ballances them well, being the more direct angry one to panchito’s unpredicablity and Jose’s smooth compemplation. He’s not BAD, and i get why some would prefer this one over Ducktales, as he’s more in line with his classic characterzation.. but I just prefer a more nuanced Donald and this one isn’t it. He spends most of the series either complaning, pissed off, or pining for an ungreatful she demon. There’s not a lot of notes compared to Jose or Panchito, as Jose isn’t just a ladies man or a charmer but a fairly smart guy who has pretty damn good plans and Panchito isn’t just spacey but, kind brave and with his own moral code. They just got more fleshing out as things went and Donald didn’t and it’s disappointing. 

So Donald gets fed up with the training, and calls out it’s only motivatoinal, with the other cabs agreeing, if more tactfully, and the knights.. also agreeing, pointing out King Arthur dosen’t even do his own goofy self motivational exercises and abandon him.. at the worst possible time as the girls conjur up a super powerful magical dragon. So the knights leave him to it and Arthur is too cowardly to face it. So the Cabs do what he won’t and charge in to defend the holy grail, called the grail of immortality here for ..r easons, and fight the dragon.. and Arthur joins them, inspired to finally get his groove back and gives the knights a rousing speech and even reconclies with donald. So our heroes fight the dragon and nearly die, before the rest of the round table pitches in, and the girls find the dragons scroll and impulsively burn it.. which destorys it. So the day’s saved, and Arthur apologizes to everyone and decides to give the boys proper combat training as thanks. Also we get a really funny bit with Merlin, who throws the phone into the fire.. and much like the dragon, apparenlty it was tied to the employee who activated it because he suddenly and horrifcly burns up. PFFT. Dark but beautfiul

But of course what about the Sheldgoose subplot. Well I saved that for now to cover it all at once SO: Sheldgoose pokes around, being annoyed by a dart board of his face and what not and tries to find something to fish the spark out with... but Ari finds him and proves to be entirely useful, beating Sheldgoose down into the treasure chamber and getting inot a fight with him. Sheldgoose holds pace.. until Humphrey wakes up and with the odds against him they throw him out. Meanwhile Feldrake zaps a dog that was going to get peed on him but when sheldgoose is ejegted is surronded by dogs and clearly didn’t escape as he dosne’t want to taklk about why he smells to sheldgosoe. He is ABOUT to berate him for failure again.. but Sheldgoose points out he swiped something more important: The amulets. 

Proving once again Sheldgoose is the real power in the team. 

Final Thoughts on Thanks a Camelot:  This was a fun one. While finding out about John O Hurley was... unfortunte.. he does a decent job and the episodes a fun take on camelot with, as usual , really excellent gags, pacing and a hell of a fight scene with a dragon. Good stuff as usual

NEXT TIME; It all ends! It’s a visit to some yeti’s before one final dance betwen good and evil and one last set of episodes for this retropsective! Be ready! 

[forkanna]

[AO3] [WATTPAD]

WARNING: A little NSFW.

NOTE: Welcome to July! I went nearly a week with no internet, but I have returned and I intend to start jamming this fic through to the end. We're essentially entering the last "arc" of the story now and I hope you're all ready for it. Thank you for the reviews and continued readership, I appreciate that so much - especially when I'm taking forever to get this finished.

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

"Aww, c'mon, why am I the only one excited about this?"

The rest of the gang sort of shrugged noncommittally. None of them seemed to want to say aloud that the reason they couldn't summon the same level of anticipation as Yosuke was that they were still missing Narukami. Chie was staring down into her usual bowl of meat, stirring it distractedly.

"Not even you, Satonaka?!"

"Why me?!" she protested grumpily. "Like, single somebody else out, you jerk!"

Wilting in defeat, Yosuke leaned back against the railing around the school roof. "Ugh… you're all impossible."

"It's just Golden Week," Yukiko protested with a slight squirm. She wanted to be kind, to resist the temptation to pop Yosuke's little bubble of joy. But she also wanted to be realistic. "I agree, it would be wonderful to have a little vacation, but if we can't agree on where to go, and aren't that excited as a group…"

"Come on, we shouldn't have to give up that easy." Rise shrugged and hopped up from her seat. "Why don't we just do Okinawa? It's far enough that it's a vacation without being so crazy that all our time would be taken up by travel. I mean, unless we have to go all the way to Hawaii or something to have a good time."

The floppy-haired boy looked at her like she was the coming Messiah, drifting down from upon high to bless him with her presence. "Bless you. Absolutely bless you for saving me! I could kiss you!"

When he started to approach, she held up a hand palm out. "Try it and I will be wearing your teeth as a necklace." As he deflated, she turned the charm back on and pressed her hands together on one side of her face, smiling a dazzling smile. "Okinawa it is! We just need an adult to accompany us, or we're gonna get hassled a lot."

"Hmm, good point," Naoto said. Then the group as one looked toward the unsuspecting Kanji.

"Huh? Wha- I'm younger than most of you guys!"

"Yeah, but you look older," Chie pointed out with a thoughtful expression, tapping her chin with her index finger. "Do you think we could pull it off?"

While the taller boy was very clearly fuming that they thought of him as an old man, Yosuke put his fists firmly on his hips. "Yeah! I'm liking this! Next stop, the island of Okinawa!"

                                                        ~ o ~

Of course, even though at that time Rise was overjoyed, there would be complications. And one of these was pointed out to her by Ebihara after school, when they were stopping off at the Shiroku store just to take a poke around.

"Why didn't you suggest everybody go see Narukami?"

Rise stopped dead with her hand halfway reaching toward a candy bar. "Oh… I… wow, that is a really good point."

"As if I make any other kind," Ai scoffed with a half-smirk. "But yeah… probably a little late now, since you have everybody amped up to go to Okinawa. But hey, there's always summer vacation."

"Yeah, that's true… but I feel incredibly stupid. Seriously, why didn't I think of him first? We all miss him… me most of all, since he's my boyfriend."

The taller girl rolled her eyes as she picked up a bottle of green tea. "Are we going back to that? You can't do anything about it publicly right now, anyway — since the entire world is convinced you're having a 'Class S fling' before you grow up."

The words hit her so hard she had to brace against the wall to keep from pitching over. "You saw that one, huh?"

"All over every tabloid. They really like that outdated way of thinking; like girls can't legitimately want to be with girls for their whole lives. To be honest, I'm a little shocked you aren't being hounded by paparazzi at this exact second. We don't exactly have a lot of LGBT idols."

"Yes, well… there aren't any pictures, so technically, it's just a bunch of gossip from teenage girls. Only had a handful of phone calls about it, and saying 'no comment' to all those seemed to actually stop them. Pretty weird."

"That's because you're all washed up, Kujikawa," she sighed, smirking hard at her. "Yesterday's news. Retired before your time."

"Stooop! Why are you so mean to me?!" She slapped her a few times on the arm, and Ai laughed and held it up to shield herself a little better.

"Kidding! God, take a joke, bitch. But for real… maybe the word isn't out about your comeback yet, so they don't think you're worth being headline news. It will get a lot bigger when you get a lot bigger again."

At least that was a less bleak spin on the situation. Rise smiled over at her as they paid for their odds and ends and headed out. "Fine. I just don't know what difference it makes to you where we go."

"Hey, maybe I want to see Okinawa just as bad as you. Why are you the one that gets to decide everything without my input?"

"Oh, don't be such a…" Then it caught up to her, and she turned with raised eyebrows to look at her girlfriend. "What?"

"You're the one who can't finish her thought. What what?"

"I didn't think you would want to come with us."

Ai scowled as they came to a stop in the middle of the main street, hands on her hips. "You really think you're going on a big Golden Week vacation and I won't want to go with my supposed romantic partner?"

"No, not… I didn't think you would want to go with them. After what happened."

"Mm. I mean, clearly they are complete morons. But… being with you trumps having to put up with their idiotic antics. Besides… you gotta."

Jutting out her chin, she said, "Hey! I don't 'gotta' do anything but stay cute and talented!" Ai only laughed, so she stamped her foot. "Don't you laugh at me!"

"Why not? You're adorable. And anyway, I meant because I'm your giiirlfriend, so how would it look if you showed up there without me? Or if the town spotted me wandering around this week while you're out there living it up. Face it, you really painted yourself into a corner this time, Kujikawa."

Still pouting, she muttered, "Fine, senpai. I guess you know best."

"I do," she replied, mussing her hair up. Rise slapped at her hands and she laughed, and eventually Rise couldn't help laughing as well. "Sorry, I know that's a pain in the ass to fix. But you're just too cute!"

"I am," she admitted with a sigh. "And you're right; I did this whole 'public relationship' thing to get you to listen to me, and it was a dirty trick. This is my punishment. I must accept it diligently."

"Who the hell are you supposed to be now? Wait, you know what? Don't tell me. Let me just believe you lost your goddamn mind." That one earned her a lot more smackings.

                                                        ~ o ~

Everything bumped along easily enough through to the following Saturday. The minute their classes let out, the whole gang was racing home to their already-packed bags, ditching their uniforms, and hopping the train to a bus, to the airport. It was a mess of changeovers and stress, but Naoto had mapped the perfect route that would limit their time spent travelling without costing them extra. Without her, they would have been sunk.

The trip itself took the entire rest of the day. By the time they dragged themselves into their rooms in the rustic inn, they were all ready to fall immediately into bed and be dead to the world for several hours so that the next day they could enjoy themselves. The problem was…

"Wait, where are our beds?!"

Yosuke wasn't wrong. The traditional-looking room most certainly didn't have beds at all. The boy pouted as he dropped his duffel bag and clutched at his hair, scanning every nook and cranny as if one would jump out at him from the shadows.

"This does seem to be very traditional," Yukiko pointed out, scanning the room again. She immediately crossed to the closet and yanked open one of the sliding doors. "Ah! Futon."

"Futon?! Aww, I thought they'd have Western beds! We're on vacation, for cryin' out loud!"

"Don't be such a baby," Chie sighed, stretching her limbs. "Feel more sorry for those of us who don't like sleeping with a bunch of nosy jerks so close to each other. Like you."

While he was pouting and grumbling, Rise glanced between her and the dutiful Yukiko, who was already laying out the futons for everyone without prompting. Falling into her usual job. Chie probably meant that she was upset she wouldn't get much "alone time" with her girlfriend while they were all lying on top of each other. That really was too bad; even if she had barely tasted true love with Narukami, and seen hints of it in a certain affluent team manager, she knew that being kept away from it would likely be as agonising as it sounded.

And speak of the devil…

"Sucks to be you guys."

They all turned at once, and Rise cringed when she noticed everybody else froze. So she tried to be quick about announcing, "Hey, Ebi-chan! You made it!"

"Thank you, Welcoming Committee Of One," she snorted as she glanced around at the rest of them. "And you guys, too. Really doing a great job of making me feel like this trip was worth it."

"You don't have to be here," Chie muttered.

"What's that? It almost sounded like you had something to say, Bowl Cut."

Said bowl cut almost seemed to bristle as Chie rolled up the sleeve of her green jacket and started to stomp over toward her. But Kanji grabbed her by the neckline to hold her back. "Can't you guys save it till tomorrow?" he yawned. "I'm beat."

"Please?" Rise insisted. The tomboy looked like she wanted to protest, but she dropped back to fold her arms over her chest sulkily.

"Beautiful," Ai snorted. "I've just come to collect my property and then I'll head back to my room."

"What property is that?" Rise asked. When Ai pointed at her, she gulped and whispered, "Oh."

"I don't think that's very nice," Yukiko remarked with a slight frown.

Summoning a smile wasn't exactly easy when she was dealing with all those butterflies in her stomach, but Rise managed. "She's kidding, Yuki-chan. Thanks, though."

"Who says I was kidding? If you want me to keep playing along with this media circus, you're my bitch. Get used to it." Then she smirked at the others. "I promise to return her in good condition. Slightly used."

As they headed out, Rise bowing slightly and apologising, she overheard Chie muttering "The nerve of that guy" before the door shut behind them. Great.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yep."

"I'm really sorry. I tried to explain ab-"

"I don't give a shit what Bowl Cut thinks about me. They can all think I'm some drag queen if they want; there are worse things in the world. Like bigots."

"Y-yeah," she laughed nervously. "But I'm kinda hoping… we can all get along during this trip. Maybe they can even be better than-"

"Don't hold your breath."

"I will," she told her, a little frustrated with being cut off so many times. "I'll hold my breath until Golden Week is over if I want to, you aren't the boss of me. No matter what you just told them."

Finally, Ai turned to smirk at her as they walked along toward the other hotel room. She had flown ahead, given that she had access to more swift modes of transportation than the plebs; Rise could have done the same, but she wanted to hang with the group. "Oh, we'll see about that, bitch. But not tonight. Everybody's exhausted."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." However, she changed her tune quick when Rise turned on her heel and started walking back the way they came. "Wha- hey!" She jogged a couple of steps to catch up. "Where are you going?"

"Back to crowd into that shitty little room. It's better than being called your bitch every five seconds."

"Hey, whose fault is that? And do you really wanna have a public fight where the paparazzi can see us?"

"I don't even care. Maybe that would be for the best; then it's a public end to the public thing, and you can be an asshole to… to whoever you want, on your own time! So just leave me alone and go… to…"

The hand clamped onto her own gave her pause. The touch was firm but not rough; just enough to keep her from storming any further toward where her friends were getting ready for bed. When Rise didn't try pulling away, she caught up enough to place her other hand on Rise's shoulder.

"I'm sorry."

"For?"

"Wow, you really are a jerk." Ai swallowed hard before continuing, "I'm sorry… for being so… ugh. This is a pain in the ass."

"Then I guess I'm not worth it to you."

"Wow, loaded statement much?" No response, so she pressed ahead, "I'm trying. Okay? I'm just a bitch by default, you know that — and you did some fucked shit to me. Let me work through it if you want to get anywhere."

Rise turned and buried her face in Ai's chest, nuzzling against the side of her neck. The taller girl's breath caught and held fast. "Just be nice to me. Try?"

"Rise…" After a second, her hand drifted up to press into her back, holding her there. "Come on. Let's go get some sleep."

"Yeah." They parted, turned to head for Ai's room… but weren't walking nearly as far apart this time. That was marked progress.

                                                        ~ o ~

The next morning was a lot more interesting than that evening. They were so dead tired that they only got about half their clothes off before crawling into the futons Ai had set up — right next to each other. Her rationale was that if anyone checked the suite, it would support their claim that they were a hot-and-heavy couple. Rise found it hard to argue with that.

However, waking up with a decent-sized boner digging into her hip was a fine hello.

'Oh GOD,' she squealed internally. 'This can't be happening! Ai is all horny and too asleep for me to be able to ask her to cut that out!' In fact, she had tried to dig her elbow into her side, just enough to rouse her; no luck. If she did more than that she was afraid of robbing her of her sleep, or waking her up in a bad mood that might persist for the remainder of the day. Or worse: waking her up and embarrassing her, which she didn't want to do, either.

Then again… she couldn't pretend some part of the reason she didn't wake her was interest. What was it like to touch her directly? Not just petting along it with one finger for half a second — or through underwear and a long t-shirt; she already knew what that felt like, given that she had been dealing with the sensation for about fifteen minutes by now.

The worst part was how her own body was reacting. At first, she was just nervous and maybe a little creeped out, even though her curiosity was always there. But by now… she felt her heart pounding, throat dry, and tingles in places she had rarely felt tingles before. All thanks to a rigid little monster hiding in her girlfriend's panties.

"Wakey-wakey, Ebi-chaaaan," she whispered to the figure slumbering against her side. She really did look so sweet there. So pretty… she wanted to kiss her again. But that wasn't okay! She was asleep. Even though she knew it was a relatively harmless thing to do, she still didn't feel quite right about it.

Maybe she should try to slide out from under her. Yes, that sounded like a much safer idea. Nobody would feel like they had been violated this way. So little by little, she began to inch away from her, keeping her eyes on Ai's flawless features…

"Nnnhh…"

"Hey!" Rise squeaked when the sleeping girl redoubled her grip on her. Shit! She bit her lip, trying to ignore how much closer to a certain area that firm presence was now. Could she find no relief from this personal hell?!

This was supposed to be Narukami. Oh, she had dreamed many times about waking up beside him, letting him see a glimpse of a sexy shoulder before she pulled her kimono on and went to get breakfast. Sometimes, he dragged her back to bed, began to ravage her with kisses. And sometimes…

Well, no, she didn't really imagine sex. That part wasn't as integral to her fantasies; she just wanted to enjoy the physical and emotional intimacy. The act itself might be fun but she wasn't as concerned with that. But from time to time, she did imagine Yu kissing all over her neck, or-

OH NO. Now she was even more tingly and right up against the thing that had instigated these tingles in the first place. This was getting bad! Ai was groaning a little from all the movement but not quite rousing from her slumber. So she was still stuck fast.

"Ebihara, please," she hissed, pushing at her shoulders slightly. The noises got louder. "Hey! Are you in there, somewhere?!"

"Mhhh?" she asked as her hips began to grind a little — and Rise could swear she was seeing stars. This was awakening her body for the first time and she was just starting to wish that this wouldn't stop. "Who… wha?"

When Ai's eyes slit open and she saw Rise was beneath her, she blinked a few times. Rise gulped and grimaced. Then the teen queen began to frown down at her pop star girlfriend as she struggled to come up with a proper greeting.

"Oh. I uh… good… morning?"

                                                                To Be Continued…

[yeahhiyellow]

First Lines Meme

List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

Thank you so much @emiliaf25 for tagging me!!! I've seen a lot of fun writing tag games going around, but I haven't been tagged in any before now. This is probably due to the fact that while I write a lot, I don't publish most of my stories so like no one knows lol. I tried to put these in chronological order from newest to oldest, but they're not perfect, as I do not keep accurate time of when I write things (and probably should). Anyway, here are mine:

1. Blasting heavy metal so I can't think

"Heavy Metal": Detroit: Become Human (This one is in the form of a poem, so that's why it's a bit weird.)

2. Markus's head popped out of the last bedroom.

"Family": Detroit: Become Human (I still have to finish this one and publish it so I can't provide a link... yet)

3. I know I'm not enough.

"Enough": Detroit: Become Human (listen this is one of the angsty ones I never published so uhhhh)

4. CHRIS: Hank! Connor! What are you two doing here?

Unnamed: Detroit: Become Human (This one is formatted as a script soooo... yeah. It's also another one I am working on and have not and probably won't publish)

5. Crowley stood by the side of the road, his arms tightly coiled around his waist.

"Alone": Good Omens (aaaaand another really angsty one I never published, I have problems)

6. "What's wrong, angel?"

"It Started in 1957": Good Omens (currently not finished and has not been worked on for over half a year... probably should get on that at some point)

7. Every dystopian novel ever has some random teenage girl save the world. Unfortunately for the world, I don't think I can do that.

This was just an original story I started back in January that I wrote like a page of and never finished because I had way too many wips. Figured I'd put it in here anyway though

8. Finally, after 17 years of work, I had made it to the most prestigious school humanity had ever created.

This is another original story, however one that I have actually worked on for more than a page lol

9. RENATA: Oh, shit. This can't be good.

Function (Free Will): original. I have been working on this story for nearly 2 years now, and I'm still nowhere even close to done. It's formatted like a script and also has the same type of rpg choice-based storytelling as Detroit: Become Human. Add to that the fact that this story is meant to critique our current political and social society, systems, and structure and touches on a variety of incredibly heavy topics, and you have the recipe for writing a story that feels like it just. Never. Ends.

10. Demons aren't supposed to feel love.

"I Love You Too": Good Omens (I wrote this one a whiiiillleeee ago, as to why it's down here on the list. I only published it a few days ago, though, a little after I first saw you tagged me in this. So thanks for finally motivating me to do it lol)

11. "You obey or he's dead."

"Exit": Detroit: Become Human

12. "Come closer. Don't be scared."

"First Kiss - The Traci's - DBH Rare Pairs Week": Detroit: Become Human

13. If I broke that shotglass, I bet it could hurt me.

"Help": Detroit: Become Human (Essentially, I published this one on Tumblr and then proceeded to take it down later the same day. It was another angsty one.)

14. "Shut up, dipshit."

"Expectations: Shut Up, Dipshit": Detroit: Become Human (This one was actually from a zine I took part in that fell apart before anything could really happen. I never finished it, so I probably won't publish it, but I guess if I finished it I could. Will that happen, however? I doubt it.)

15. "You're back."

"Hannor Week: Living Deviant Prologue Compilation": Detroit: Become Human (*sighs* Now we're getting into the old stuff. Hang on, for I have no idea what atrocities lie ahead. Or behind?)

16. System Instability. Deviancy Detected. Contact Cyberlife for a inexpensive replacement, only $2000 with your warranty!

"Living Deviant": Detroit: Become Human (I wrote this story years ago and as a result it is so cringeworthy and has so many grammar mistakes I hate to even link it so I'm not going to lol)

17. "I'm just so glad we're alive, personally."

"Who I Thought I Was": Detroit: Become Human (Surprisingly, this one isn't actually too bad. I mean, it's definitely not good, but I don't facepalm and curl up into a ball when reading it, so that has to be a good sign.)

18. I heard a gunshot from around the corner.

"Dbh Revolution Week ~ November 13 ~ Connor, Hank, and Sumo": Detroit: Become Human

19. RK900 visibly shook as he looked into the mirror.

"Scarred": Detroit: Become Human (Another one that I never published, surprise, surprise. Given how old this one is and subsequently how bad and also utterly angsty it is, I don't think I'll be publishing it unless I, like, rewrite the whole thing, so.)

20. LAUREN: 8:51, hmm? I've already been here for 11 minutes, and no one else has shown up.

"Choices": a horrible original romantic comedy I wrote as a script 5 years ago. Tbh the idea wasn't even that bad, it was the execution of it that just... really sucked. So it's a good thing we're stopping here, as if I went any farther back in my writing history, I think I might just cringe myself to death.

---

Woo, thank god we're done with that! XD In all seriousness though, this was quite a bit of fun and got me to revisit pieces I hadn't seen in years. Thank you again for the tag!!! :DDDD

Now for which one is my favorite... there are some that are definitely good, and others that are definitely bad. I like numbers 2 (cute opening line for a fluffy fic), 5 (wordplay with "coiled" and Crowley being a snake), 7 (twisting of an expected trope), 8 (brings in scifi element and introduces the character's personality while hooking the reader in), 9 (set up for the tone of the rest of the chapter and immediately introduces tension), 11 (same as previous), and 12 (also attention-grabbing), so we'll just let those make up for whatever atrocities 16 (horrible imitation of corporate writing), 20 (just plain boring), and the attempt of 18 (I had the right idea of it being a hook, the execution however was horrific) were. I start a lot of my pieces with dialogue, or at least I used to. I became aware of that within the past year and tried to work on introducing stories in other ways, which I think I've done a pretty good job on. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd probably go with 7. I just really like the subversion of expectations that you get right away from it. It announces the trope loud and clear, but plays with it instead of following it.

While I'd love to tag lots of other writers, I unfortunately don't know many at all (listen I would love to read more fics but also tiiimmmeee). I'll just tag @konami-code-ao3 for now. However, if you see this and want to hop in, feel free!

[eldritchteaparty]

Chapters: 4/? Fandom: The Magnus Archives (Podcast) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist Characters: Martin Blackwood, Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Tim Stoker (The Magnus Archives), Sasha James, Rosie Zampano, Oliver Banks Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Fix-It, Post-Canon Fix-It, Scars, Eventual Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, I'll add characters and tags as they come up, Reference to injuries and blood, Character Death In Dream, Nudity (not sexual or graphic), Nightmares

General summary: Following the events of MAG 200, Jon and Martin find themselves in a dimension very much like the one they came from--with second chances and more time.

Chapter summary:  Jon and Martin head back to the Magnus Institute, where Martin goes on an interview outing with Tim and Jon starts to catch up with Sasha’s “statements.”

Chapter 4 of my post-canon fix-it is up! Read above at AO3 or here below.

Tumblr master post with links to earlier chapters

***

Shortly after Martin’s phone flickered to life, he found a lot of messages waiting for him—and they were almost all from the same person.

     Are you ok?

     Message soon please.

     Do you need anything?

     Answer when you can.

     Still worried…

He glanced at Jon, sitting on the other side of the bed and looking through his own phone.

“Sasha been messaging you too?” Martin asked him.

“Yes. And I’ve got one from Tim.”

Martin had that one also. “Telling you to answer Sasha?”

“Yes—and calling me something I won’t repeat.”

Ok, so he didn’t have exactly that one.

“All right,” Martin said a few minutes later. “Let’s do this, then. I’ll message Sasha back.”

“Wait—what are we doing? What’s the plan?”

He typed out a simple message to Sasha telling her they were ok and he was sorry for not answering sooner. “We lie to them.”

“Hm.” Jon seemed uneasy.

“Did you… want to tell them the truth?”

“Well…” Jon thought. “Obviously, we can’t. I’m just concerned that—”

“Exactly. And even if we did tell it to them, they wouldn’t believe it.”

Jon still looked doubtful. “Martin, I’m not sure if I—”

“Look, sometimes there are good reasons to lie. We just need to keep it simple, make sure it doesn’t get out of hand.” He read the message one more time and hit send. “Anyway, don’t act like you don’t know how. You’re actually quite good at it when you want to be.”

He didn’t mean to add that last part; it just came out, and it came out bitter. He looked at Jon again and regretted it immediately. He had come to realize he much preferred Jon’s anger to his sadness, especially when he was the cause. He opened his mouth to apologize, but as he did his phone began to buzz. They stared at each other.

“Jon, I didn’t mean that. I’m—I’m sorry—forget it, ok? I have to—hang on.”

He answered Sasha’s call on speaker, turning away to concentrate.

“Hey, Sasha.”

“Martin? Are you all right?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t answer you sooner. It’s been—”

“How is Jon, do you know?”

“Yes, he’s—he’s with me. We’re both ok.”

“Oh, thank god.” Her relief was clear, even over the speaker, and Martin felt a pang of something in his gut. He hadn’t had a moment to consider how much he’d missed Sasha, how unfair it had all been, and how much it felt like she’d somehow come back. It would have been so easy to think that way—except their Sasha was still dead, and he may very well have been responsible for the death of the person she thought she was talking to.

“You do sound better,” she continued. “Look, I really didn’t want to tell you what to do, but—tell me you went to a doctor or something?”

Martin cleared his throat, aware Jon was listening to the conversation. “We did, actually. We did end up going to the hospital. I think we were maybe in a bit of shock after all.”

“No kidding. What happened? What did they say?”

“Physically, we’re—we’re all right.” He thought about all the blood again, and decided he should add a little more. “I mean, we were very dehydrated. They put us on a drip for a bit. And—and antibiotics, just in case. But they said we’re healing well, I guess?”

“That—that’s good. What else? What about—not physically?”

“Well, they did a lot of tests. The kind where they asked a bunch of questions. They didn’t want to call it amnesia, exactly, but we’ve—we’ve got some memory loss.” Experience told him the less specific the lie, the better. “Neither of us really remembers what happened. And it’s possible… we might have forgotten some stuff from before, too. We don’t really know how bad it is yet.”

“Oh. That’s terrible.”

Martin looked over his shoulder at Jon, who had crept closer to hear better. He nodded, and Martin turned back.

“It’s not great, but the good news is they don’t think there are any deeper issues. I mean, they’ve got us signed up for all kinds of therapy, but they don’t think there’s any—how did they say it—no lasting cognitive impairment.” Cognitive impairment was a phrase that maybe came to him too easily after caring for his mother; he felt like he was maybe pushing it a little.

“Well, that part’s good. How are you feeling, though?” Sasha asked.

“A lot better.”

“Did they feed you? Do you need anything? Can I bring you something?”

“No, that’s all right. We’re—actually, Sasha, we were wondering if we could… maybe come back. To work.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end, and Martin cringed and held his breath through it; he didn’t look at Jon. He might have gone for it too soon.

“You want to come back? Already?”

He exhaled quietly, away from the phone so Sasha couldn’t hear it. “They said the more we could normalize things, it might—help? I mean, I know there might be some issues rehiring us—but maybe if Elias hasn’t replaced us yet—"

“No, I mean—you know Elias, he hasn’t even taken you off payroll. It just seems… fast. Are you sure you want to?”

“Well, if you’re worried, we don’t have to come back right away.” Jon grabbed his arm and Martin frowned at him, shrugging him off. Wait, he mouthed. “I know we might not be up to our usual workload, and we’re going to have to take some time off for therapy and all… I’m really only bringing it up because they thought it would help, but it’s completely fair if you don’t want to take—”

“No! No, I don’t mind.” She sounded upset, and he felt bad. “That’s not it at all. And we could use your help, honestly, but I really don’t want to put pressure on you while you’re recovering. Do you promise you’ll let me know if it’s too much?”

“Yes,” Martin answered. “Yes, of course. Jon too.”

“Well…” said Sasha, “When are you thinking about coming in?”

Um… hang on.” He muted himself and turned to Jon.

“What do you think?” Then, before Jon answered, he added, “And do not say today. It’s already after 2 pm and that would just be weird.”

“Fine. Tomorrow, then.” Of course. He sighed.

“Sasha?” He said, unmuting the phone. “Jon says—Jon says tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Really?”

“Yeah. Yeah, actually. If you’re all right with it.”

There was more silence.

“And I mean Sasha, I wouldn’t—I wouldn’t mind being around people. It would be nice.” That wasn’t even a lie.

“Ok. Sure, Martin.” It had done the trick. “Take your time getting in though, ok? And get some sleep tonight.”

“Will do. Thanks, Sasha.” He hung up, and turned his head slightly in Jon’s direction. “Happy?”

“Thank you,” Jon answered, putting an arm around Martin to press his mouth briefly to his cheek. Martin couldn’t help but smile.

“Yeah, all right. Just don’t exhaust yourself. Remember, you’ve got to eat real food and sleep real sleep now.”

“Mm.” Jon was already headed out to the sitting room where his desk was.

“What did I say, Jon?” he shouted.

“Eat and sleep,” Jon shouted back.

Martin grumbled to himself.

The rest of the day was spent washing the one set of clothes that he had, and going through the phone to learn what he could about his current situation. His passwords and fingerprints opened all the apps, but that didn’t faze him anymore. He was able to figure out from email and voicemails that the apartment building where this world’s Martin had been living had indeed kicked him out, but thankfully his belongings were being held in storage. He could pay two months of back rent and a late fee if he wanted to reclaim them, although it wouldn’t be until the following week.

Fortunately, Sasha had been correct that they hadn’t been taken off payroll—not only had they not been taken off, but Martin had been paid his full salary for the last two months. If he hadn’t already been convinced that Jonah Magnus was not running the institute, that certainly did it.

***

Although he didn’t successfully get Jon off the computer for it, he did manage to get him to eat most of a meal that evening at his desk. And while Jon didn’t get in bed at the same time he did, Martin was still up to hear him come in.

“Hey.”

“Sorry,” Jon said softly. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

“No, that’s all right. You didn’t. I actually—something’s been bothering me. I wanted to apologize for what I said right before Sasha called today. About… you. Lying. I mean, we need to talk about it—what happened—but not like that.”

“Martin…” Jon shifted under the covers. “I want to talk about it. I do. You deserve that. I’m just…”

“You’re not ready yet.”

“Not yet.”

“I’ll—I’ll try not to push,” Martin answered, closing his eyes again. “I want to do this right. Or at least better than we’ve been doing things. Just… you try too, ok?”

There was a moment of quiet before Jon answered. “Ok.”

***

Going back to the Magnus Institute in the morning already felt much easier than it had the first time. It didn’t hold the same sense of discontinuity—it felt less like déjà vu and more like returning to a place he had genuinely spent a lot of time. Rosie was away from her desk when they arrived; Sasha and Tim were in Sasha’s office with the door closed, and they could hear muffled conversation through the door. Jon sat at his desk, but Martin decided he’d wait for Sasha before he even pretended to do something, and sat on the sofa instead.

“So,” he asked Jon, “how are you feeling, now that you’re here?”

“Good, I suppose,” he answered. “Well, not bad, anyway. I’ll feel better once I can start looking through some of Sasha’s statements.”

“They’re not statements, Jon. I expect you’re going to be disappointed if—”

“I just meant that I’ll feel better once I have some understanding of…” He trailed off. “Why do I need a pin?”

“Hm?”

“My laptop. I need a pin.”

“Wait, didn’t you have one before?”

“No. Sasha kept telling me to set one, but…” Jon sighed. “This would be a lot easier if we could remember things about this place when we wanted to.”

A thought occurred to Martin, something they hadn’t talked about yet. “Are you going to be all right, Jon? With Sasha being the archivist here?”

“She’s not the Archivist. There is no Archivist here. Not even me, right now.” Martin could hear him typing, trying different combinations of numbers, and could also hear his frustration growing.

“Hang on, let me try a couple things before you go getting all worked up.” He got up and went to join Jon at his desk. “And no, you’re right, of course—I just meant, are you ok with her being the head archivist here? At the Institute?”

“I don’t care.” Jon leaned back from his desk so Martin could reach the number keys. “Wait—is that the sofa that Tim brought in when—”

“Yes, it is. And it was a good idea.” The pin would have to be something Jon would easily remember, and knowing Jon, probably also too easy for someone else to guess. He tried Jon’s birthday; it didn’t work. He tried the street number of Jon’s flat, and that didn’t work either. “Hmm…”

“Well, I suppose professionalism isn’t as important when your entire area of research is—”

“Jon, hush.” Last four of Jon’s phone number?... Nope. He stared down at the keys and a wild thought entered his head. No reason he couldn’t try it, though. He typed the four-digit combination and was surprised to find that it worked.

“Oh.” Jon leaned forward. “What did you type?”

“I don’t know,” Martin lied. “I was just trying things. I don’t remember what I did.”

“Well, how am I supposed to get back in next time?”

“You’re going to have to change it.”

“I don’t want to change it.”

“Sasha’s going to make you change it.”

“How is Sasha going to know that—”

“Because I just saw Martin type it in for you,” Sasha said from the door of her office, smiling.

“Hey, Sasha.” Martin let himself smile in return—it was easy, if he forgot the last four years of his life. “Thanks again for letting us come in today.”

“Honestly, I’m already wondering if it was a mistake. I told you to take your time and really, it’s first thing in the morning.”

“Well, Jon just couldn’t wait to get back,” he said, reflexively rubbing the back of his neck. “He—hang on.”

He snatched the mouse away from Jon and clicked through to the screen where he could change his pin, while Jon did his best to appear extremely inconvenienced. “Oh, stop. Type the new one, I’m not looking.”

Jon grudgingly did as Martin instructed.

“So why were you so eager to come back, Jon?” Sasha asked.

“Oh.” Jon cleared his throat. “I, um…”

Martin interceded. “He’s actually been very concerned about—about the things you said have been happening here since we were gone.”

“I wondered if that was it. I’ve been thinking about that myself,” Sasha said. “I know you don’t remember anything, but the timing was just so… Jon, I know you’ve always been a skeptic—”

“And I still am. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for everything.” Martin thought maybe Jon would catch on after all. “But it would be quite the coincidence if it were unrelated. I was actually wondering if I might review some of the notes you took during your—interviews.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Sasha replied. “To be honest, I haven’t the slightest idea what to do with them. They aren’t exactly typical archive material. Maybe you can help me—”

“Morning, everyone.” Tim cheerfully disrupted the conversation as he slipped into the room behind Sasha. “How are we all feeling?”

“All right,” Martin answered, when no one else did.

“Great. Especially coming from you, Martin, because we are going on an adventure today.” Tim made his way to his desk and picked through a few papers.

“Oh?” Martin looked at Sasha.

“What Tim means is that if you are up for it, there were a few people who contacted us but couldn’t come in, and we haven’t had a chance to get back to them. I haven’t felt comfortable sending Tim to interview people alone, and well—it’s not really our job, and I’ve got more than enough actual work to take care of since—well, we’ve gotten a bit backed up.”

“What do you think, Martin?” Tim asked, waving the papers toward him. “Up for it?”

“Oh, well, I—I guess I could, yeah.” He glanced at Jon, who was suddenly sitting up very straight in his chair.

“Martin, I—are you sure?”

“I think so,” Martin replied.

“I’m just thinking that if something were to happen…”

“What—what sort of thing?”

“Yeah Jon, what sort of thing?” Tim echoed. They both turned to look at him and found him with a curious look on his face. “Oh look, if you two need to consult about this, please go ahead. Don’t mind me.”

“Yes, thank you, Tim.” Jon spoke through gritted teeth, indicating the sarcasm hadn’t escaped him. “Martin, just—come talk to me.” He stood up and took Martin by the arm, leading him out into the reception area and closing the door—but not before Martin saw Tim bite back a grin.

“Jon, what—”

“Martin, we have no idea what’s going on, or who or what could be out there, or—”

“Do you want Tim to go by himself?”

“Well—no, but—”

“Look.” He took Jon by the arm now. “I know we haven’t been apart since—well, not for a long time. And I know every time we have been apart, it’s been bad. But things are different now. This is different. You’ll be all right here with Sasha, and I’ll be with Tim and—”

“And with anything else that’s shown up since we got here. And if something happened, I—” Jon stopped and looked toward the floor. “I wouldn’t know about it.”

“Yeah, well, welcome back to being a normal person.” He squeezed Jon’s arm. “Look, if you’re really worried, I’ll come up with some excuse. But Jon, we’ve got to—we’ve got to try and be functional here. Plus, if you really want to figure out where things are—if you’re here going through the interviews, doesn’t it help for me to be out there? Talking to people? You know—like I used to do for you by myself all the time?”

Jon pressed a hand to his own mouth, thinking.

“Jon, I’ve got my phone.”

“Technically you had your phone when you went to look for Jane Prentiss.”

“Ok, I see why that’s not that reassuring, but do you realize how long it took for Jane Prentiss to—become what she was? And I will be with Tim, and—”

“Yes, you’ll be with Tim. Great.”

“Jon.” Martin sighed. “He’s just concerned. Ok, what if I—what if I look through the contact forms before I leave? Make sure I don’t recognize any names on them? Like—no bad names?”

“We don’t even know if it works like that.” Jon thought for another minute, but Martin could see his resistance starting to come down. “Look, I don’t want to… maybe I am being overprotective.”

“You think?” It didn’t really bother him to hear Jon say it; in fact, he got a bit soft knowing Jon felt that way, but it wasn’t going to help the situation to admit it.

Jon finally gave in. “All right. Do look at the names though—and if anything happens—”

“I’ll let you know right away. I won’t do anything dumb.”

“I know. Martin, I—” Jon looked up at him again. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He leaned down for a quick kiss, which Jon returned. “I’ll be fine, ok?”

Jon nodded, reluctant.

***

Despite another look from Tim, Martin did check the names as promised; there were only three for that day, and he didn’t recognize any of them. By the time they left, the thought of spending time alone with Tim made him more nervous than their actual task. He imagined that as soon as they were out the door, Tim would start peppering him with questions about where he and Jon had been, what had happened between them, or both.

As it turned out, though, their time together was quite enjoyable. Martin had forgotten how easy it was to be around Tim—that he had that thing he could do that just made everyone comfortable when he wanted to. They took the tube out to a suburb, and on the way, they talked about the weather a little bit. They talked about a new café that had moved in down the street a few weeks ago; Tim said it was all right for an occasional something different, but nothing special. They talked about what Tim had been up to in his free time. As it turned out, his brother Danny was getting married soon to a girl Tim absolutely adored. Martin suddenly remembered when Danny had come into town and visited Tim at work one day a few years ago, and he’d been amazed by how similar the two of them had been when they stood side by side.

I’ve met Danny Stoker. The urge to smile hitting alongside that awful catch in his throat was becoming a strangely familiar feeling.

Their first interview was with an older woman in her home. She had gotten in touch with the Institute after receiving their information through a friend of a friend, who’d heard a story from yet another friend. Martin really thought there wasn’t anything to it. Well, he supposed it was possible there was a ghost living in her television set that just happened to have moved in after her daughter had tried to help her set up a new voice assistant—but in all fairness, it seemed unlikely. The second interview was equally unimpressive.

Once they finished up, Tim made a phone call to their third interview subject, and announced they were headed back to central London. The man didn’t want to meet at home, but he was willing to meet them somewhere public; Tim arranged to meet him at a deli not far from the Institute. The ride back was pleasant enough, if a bit quieter.

“It’s getting late,” Tim said, after glancing at his phone. “We have time to eat first, if you’re up for it.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Martin was pretty hungry again by the time they sat down with their food. He supposed he’d missed being able to enjoy food, but having to eat multiple times a day was sort of annoying when it came down to it. He was just wondering if he should send Jon a reminder to eat, when he realized Tim was staring at him; he hadn’t touched his sandwich yet.

“Everything ok?” he asked.

“What happened?” Tim asked. “To you and Jon.”

“Oh, I—” Martin swallowed the bite in his mouth. “I assumed Sasha told you. We don’t—”

“Don’t remember.” Tim cut him off. “Really, though? Like—nothing?”

Well, here goes. “Really. Nothing.”

Tim regarded him thoughtfully. “We looked for you. Me and Sasha, we looked everywhere, for weeks. Well, everywhere we could think of.”

“Tim, I’m—I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” That was the truth. In fact, he was sorrier than he was going to be able to explain.

“Sasha took it really hard, you know?” Tim said. “I mean, you were at work when it happened. She felt responsible. Like it was her fault.”

That sounded familiar.

“It wasn’t,” Martin replied. “It wasn’t her fault. It had nothing to do with her.”

“I told her that. Every day. I don’t think it made any difference, though. And I’m sure it hasn’t really sunk in yet that you’re back.” Tim picked a small piece of crust from his sandwich bread and chewed it carefully before swallowing. “I mean, it almost seems impossible, doesn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were gone for two months, you left no sign of what had happened or where you were—and then you just show up again one day, making out on the landscape, covered in your own blood.”

“We were not making out,” Martin snapped.

“You were too,” Tim answered. “What’s that about, anyway?”

Martin didn’t answer him.

“Look, I have no idea what happened, but… I’ll admit, I’ve always wondered if you maybe had a thing for him. I mean, the man’s always been a bit of a wreck, and I’ve watched you defend him and try to take care of him ever since we all started working together. And it’s not like you got along that well, but I know you and it just seems like the kind of thing you’d go for. But I never thought—”

“You really don’t like Jon, do you?”

“What? No, I like him just fine. You know that. But I like him for who he is, and this just seems like… it seems like a lot after two months.”

“Tim, it’s complicated, and I don’t know how to explain it. You don’t—you don’t know what we’ve been through. What he’s been through, or what he’s—”

“I thought you didn’t either.”

Martin’s heart skipped, and then beat double to make up for it. “I just meant—look, I don’t know what happened, but I—I feel things I can’t explain. And I can say that it feels like it’s been a lot longer than two months since—since we disappeared.”

“Is that so?” Tim asked. “Just tell me. Do you not remember, or do you actually not remember?”

“I—I really don’t remember.”

“Why did it sound like there were quotes around that?”

“There weren’t.”

“Right.” Tim said. “Well in that case, I ‘believe you’”—he paused to make large air quotes— “and I ‘definitely won’t keep asking.’”

“Tim—”

“It’s fine,” Tim said as he finally took a large bite of his sandwich, then continued with his mouth full. “Whatever happened, I am glad you’re back—and whenever you’re ready to talk about it, I’m here.”

As hungry as he was when he’d sat down, Martin couldn’t touch the rest of his sandwich. He kind of resented the way Tim was able to keep eating. Tim had always been that way though, hadn’t he? Able to say what he thought without worrying about the consequences. It had taken on a different flavor after he’d found himself trapped at the Institute, of course, but even then, he’d stood up to Elias without any fear of what might happen. Even when he’d died, he’d gone out the way he’d wanted too—no regrets.

Martin wanted so badly to tell him the truth in that moment. Instead, he sat in silence and watched him eat.

A short time later, Tim grabbed a napkin to wipe his mouth. “I think that’s him. Our interview. Yellow shirt, black jacket.” He raised a hand toward someone coming through the door behind Martin.

“What was the name again?” Martin asked as he turned around.

“Hang on—” Tim pulled out one of the contact forms. “Here we go. Antonio Blake.”

Wait. Wait, there was something familiar about that name—shit. He’d thought about it too quickly that morning. He’d completely forgotten about the alias.

Jon is going to lose it when I have to tell him this.

“You’re—you’re Oliver Banks,” he said to the man now standing directly in front of him.

Oliver looked suspiciously from him to Tim and back again. “I didn’t—how did you know that?”

“I—don’t know. It just came to me.” Given what Oliver had to be going through, maybe there was half a chance he would find that plausible.

Tim gave him a look. “You know him?”

“Not—not really. Please, sit.”

Oliver continued to hesitate. “I’m not sure I want to.”

“Look—I am sorry, I didn’t mean to—I’m Martin Blackwood, from the Magnus Institute. This is Tim Stoker.”

Tim stood up and offered his hand in that easy, open manner he had, and Oliver tenuously accepted it.

“Please,” Martin said. “Whatever you have to say—we’d like to hear it. It might be important. Maybe we could… help.”

He didn’t feel great about himself for adding that last part.

Oliver slowly pulled out the third chair at the table and sat down. Martin didn’t know what he’d expected him to be like, but somehow this wasn’t it. He felt sad for this man. He looked so tired, but at the same time so ready to run. He reminded Martin a bit of Jon, actually, during the year after Jane Prentiss had come to the institute and before they’d realized that Sasha had been murdered. He supposed that made a lot of sense, the more he thought about it.

Tim spoke again. “You didn’t leave a lot of detail in your message, so—do you want to just walk us through what happened to you?”

“Well…” Oliver looked from one to the other of them again. “I’m really not sure you’ll believe me. To tell the truth, I’m not sure anymore that I’m not going crazy. I’ve—I’ve not been sleeping much, and it’s…” he trailed off.

“You don’t want to sleep because you’re afraid you’ll dream again.”

Oliver re-focused on Martin. “How do you keep—”

“It’s all right.” Martin said. “I just want you to know that I’ll believe you. If you want to tell us.”

They sat in silence for several minutes. Martin didn’t want to say anything that might send Oliver back out the door, and Tim followed his lead. Finally, Oliver spoke, quietly enough that it took some effort to hear him.

“It was a dream. Or it started with a dream. The first time, I dreamed that I was walking near Canary Wharf—I used to have a job there years ago, and—well, I don’t need to get into that, do I… The point is, I know the area. There were people around me, people I don’t actually know, like happens in a dream, but they all had these—I don’t know—tendrils.” He paused and made a motion with his hands, like he was holding something heavy. “I don’t really have another word for it. Like snakes, almost, but not alive like snakes. Just tendrils, everywhere, and they went through these people—like their hearts, or their heads, or around them somewhere. I really didn’t like it, you know, but also I think I knew I was dreaming. Everything was sort of pulsing and—and I was trying to ignore all of it, but when I headed home in the dream… Well, it was my landlady. She had lots of them, like black veins, running into her chest, or her lungs, really, somehow I knew it was her lungs. I woke up not long after that.”

Martin tried to keep his expression neutral. This was so much like the statement Oliver had made years ago in their world, to Gertrude, but it was also so different. Most obviously, it wasn’t a statement at all, it was just Oliver talking. That made sense. There was no Archivist here, either with them or in general, which Jon had so intently pointed out that morning. The words weren’t just pulled out like Martin was used to, thank god. And certainly, the people Oliver had first dreamed of in their world would have passed years earlier. The basic story, though, was the same.

“OK.” Tim nodded, scratching down some notes. “But I assume there’s more?”

“Well, the thing is—not even two weeks later, she—she died. Lung cancer. It was sudden. Undiagnosed. I’d almost forgotten about the dream, to be honest, but that… it shook me.”

“Understandable.” Tim nodded again. “So you think your dream was a—a warning?”

“Well, I mean—of course I was sort of struck by it, that day, but after a little time, it didn’t seem like such a big thing. She smoked her whole life. I know sometimes people know things they aren’t really conscious of, and maybe I just—knew she was sick. But then… it happened again. A man at the bakery near the shop where I work now. I barely knew him. It was his heart. And I—I dreamed it again. The whole thing. A week before it happened. And I just started wondering if—if every person I see in that dream…”

Tim frowned and looked toward Martin, which prompted Oliver to do the same.

“What do I do?” Oliver asked, and Martin swore a shiver ran through him—maybe it was from nerves or too much coffee or not enough sleep, or maybe all three. “I thought maybe you would—know something about this. Maybe you’ve heard of it before. Do you think—do you think I could help them? If I found them, if I talked to them—”

“No,” Martin answered. “I mean, I have heard of it before, and… no. You can’t help them. I’m—I’m sorry.”

Oliver worried at his lip. “I’m not—I’m not causing it somehow, am I? I was thinking that maybe—if I keep trying to stay awake—”

“No.” Martin shook his head. “No, you’re not causing it.  You—you should know it’s not your fault. And if you sleep, or if you don’t sleep—they’ll still… they’ll still die.”

Oliver nodded his head, digesting the information. “So I can’t do anything. I just get to know they’re going to die, and I can’t do anything about it.”

“I’m sorry.” Martin wondered what he would have said if he’d had time to think about it. Would it have been any different? Would he have thought of something better to say, something that didn’t fall so flat the moment it left his mouth, something that could have actually helped?

Would Jon have said something better?

“All right,” Oliver replied softly, bringing Martin back from his thoughts as he stood up from his chair. “Thank you for listening. I—I think I’m going to go.”

“If you need anything—if we can help—you know where to find us.”

Martin wasn’t sure if Oliver even heard him.

“What the hell was that?” Tim asked loudly, once Oliver was out of sight.

“Nothing,” Martin answered.

“That wasn’t nothing. You knew that man. You knew what he was going to say.” Tim pointed at the door, waving his finger for emphasis. “And then you…”

“Tim, I can’t explain it right now.”

He turned his finger on Martin. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t like this.”

“I’m sorry. I wish—” His phone, which he had set on the table, buzzed at him. It was a message from Jon, asking if everything was ok. “Let’s go back now, all right?”

Tim shook his head in disbelief. They didn’t speak on the walk back.

***

Jon jerked up from his desk when they walked in, which was now covered in numerous hand-written notes and manilla folders. Martin suspected he’d maybe been taking an unintentional nap. “How did it go?”

“Fine,” Martin answered. “Did you eat?”

“Not—not yet.”

“Here,” Martin said, tossing the rest of his sandwich onto Jon’s desk. “I didn’t finish it.”

“Oh.” Jon peeked under the wrapper. “You barely ate this at all. Are you sure you don’t—”

“Yes.”

“All right, well—thank you.” Jon took a quick bite and set it aside as he resumed reading.

“Well?” Tim said.

Martin ignored him.

“Are you going to tell him about your friend?”

“What friend?” Jon asked, eyes still on the paper in front of him.

“I didn’t catch his name, actually,” Tim replied. “But I do know it wasn’t”—he pulled out the now-crumpled contact form— “Antonio Blake.”

“What?” Jon immediately stopped what he was doing.

“Jon—”

“You saw Oliver Banks.”

“Oliver Banks.” Tim deliberately overpronounced the name. “That’s right. Thank you, Jon.”

“Tim—”

“How could you miss that?” Jon stood up.

“It was fine! Nothing happened. I would have—”

Jon didn’t even need to speak to cut him off; the look in his eyes was enough. “We need to talk.”

“Please,” Tim cut in. “One of you talk, at least.”

“In private. Come on,” Jon said, once again taking Martin by the arm. Rosie was back at her desk now, but Sasha had temporarily stepped out, and they spoke in her office with hushed voices, without bothering to turn the light on.

“Jon, it really was fine, I—”

“Stop.” Jon reached up to take Martin’s face in his hands. “It’s ok. I just want to know what happened.”

“Nothing, really. He—he’s had a couple dreams, that’s all. He wanted to talk about it. He wanted to know if there was anything he could do to—to help them. I told him he couldn’t. I felt bad for him.”

Jon closed his eyes and breathed out, then opened them to look at Martin again.

“Jon, I don’t see what the big deal is. I mean, what does he even do? He sees people’s deaths, and wakes up other people’s”—he paused— “Archivists.”

“It’s not funny. Or that simple.” Jon let go and turned to face the wall. “Martin what if—what if he had seen your death?”

“Well then—at least I’d know? I guess?”

“Or what if he’d seen Tim’s? Or—or mine?”

Martin could sort of see Jon’s point then—but only sort of. “Ok, but—I still think we weren’t really in any danger. Yes, I messed up, and I should have caught that, but—”

“It’s too dangerous,” Jon interrupted. “You can’t do this again without me. And—and neither can Tim.”

“Oh really,” Martin responded. “And why do you—”

“It’s not just Oliver,” Jon broke in again. “I found some things in the—in the interviews Sasha did. Do you remember the thing we called the Anglerfish?”

“Yes?”

“And do you remember Laura Popham?”

“Um—”

“She went caving with her sister and—”

“Oh, right. Lost John’s Cave.”

“They’ve… they were in there, in the interviews. Already. In just two months.”

Martin was starting to understand Jon’s reaction.

“And I was hoping it was just those sorts of things,” Jon continued, “and no… avatars, but if Oliver Banks is already connected to the End—”

“I see.” Martin stepped closer to Jon to put an arm over his shoulder. “All right, I get it. Things are happening fast.”

“Well… most things.” Jon sounded a little offput.

“Wait.” Martin almost laughed, but not because he found it funny. “Wait, are you upset because you aren’t connected to the Eye yet?”

“Upset isn’t the right—”

“Now who’s jealous of Oliver Banks?”

“Technically that would be envy, not jealousy—”

“Technically yes, but that isn’t the—”

“—and I’m not,” Jon finished. “I just—I feel like I know it’s coming, and I’d like to get it over with.”

“Right.” Martin rolled his eyes, but only because Jon couldn’t see it in the dim office. “So what do we do now?”

“First, if there are more interviews to be done, they could be important, but… we do them together. You and me.”

“There are. And… if Sasha is ok with it.”

“And then I keep going through Sasha’s notes. And then I go back before that, just to—”

“Jon, you’re going to exhaust yourself.”

“Then I do.”

“No. It doesn’t do anyone any good if you—”

They were interrupted by Sasha’s voice.

“Jon? Martin?”

“Yes,” Jon answered. “Sorry, I needed to speak with Martin, so we borrowed your office.”

“That’s fine, but you didn’t need to do it in the dark,” she said, switching on the light. “So I was just talking to Tim, and it sounds like today was… eventful?”

“That’s not exactly what I said, but I suppose that’s the polite version.” Tim followed her into the office.

“Well, I have something to report, too.” Sasha sat down behind her desk. “I know I said I was going to get back on regular archive things today, but… well, let’s just say I got curious, and may have found a back door on the web to access certain matters of official police business.”

“Really?” Tim’s grin was back. “That almost sounds like someone’s misbehaving.”

“I’d feel bad about it, but let’s also say I wasn’t too pleased with the way a certain missing persons case was handled.”

“Good for you.”

“Thank you, Tim.” Sasha did seem very pleased with herself. “But that brings me to my next point. Tim, I know you have some… contacts at some of the local police stations who might be able to—supplement the information I’m getting? I could use your help with that.”

“Sure, boss,” Tim said. “And that should work perfectly, actually, because I believe Jon was just getting ready to forbid Martin from going on any more interviews with me.”

“That is not—” Jon started over. “I would like to go with Martin on any further interviews, if that’s agreeable.”

“I mean—that’s fine, and I certainly don’t want anyone going out alone,” Sasha answered, “but what about catching up with everything here? It seemed like you felt that was pretty important.”

“I’d like to keep doing that too. I might need to put in a few extra hours.”

Sasha sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that. Maybe? Let’s see how you’re doing next week.”

“Sasha, I’m—”

“—already worn out, and a very bad judge of your own health.” Martin nodded in agreement, and shrugged without sympathy when Jon glared at him. “For the rest of this week, if you come in, you’ll both stay here. Jon, you can keep going through my notes, and Martin—would you mind helping me catch up on some of the filing and patron requests? I don’t even want to think about how far behind we are. Those other interviews have waited this long, they’ll wait a few more days. Especially if Tim is able to help follow up with the police angle.”

“Of course,” Martin answered. Even if Jon didn’t think he needed to take it a little bit easy, Martin was more than willing to acknowledge his own limitations—and sometimes Jon’s, even if it wasn’t appreciated. “Oh, and Sasha—we’ve got therapy tomorrow morning, so we’ll probably be a little bit late.”

“Good,” Sasha replied. “And for now, don’t take any of those notes home, Jon.”

Jon stared daggers at Martin, but he didn’t regret it—especially not after Jon fell asleep on him on the couch during dinner a few hours later.

[bouwrites]

Maribat March 2020 Prompt: Coffee Shop

Week 4, Day 3.

Maribat March 2020 Calendar.

Day 1: Sweetheart’s Dance, Day 2: Soulmate, Day 4: Roommates.

Ao3.

2185 words. Story under read-more.

Jon is not having a good day. It’s one thing when he’s woken up at 2am by Damian dragging him out the window to whatever godforsaken mission they have to handle at that particular moment. He’s used to that. It’s another thing when the mission runs well into the morning and he has a math test just a few hours later that very day. Jon is, again and unfortunately, used to it.

But it’s another thing entirely when that happens three days in a row and someone still insists on survival training. As if this entire week hasn’t been an exercise in survival. Well if I’m going to survive one more minute, Jon thinks, grumpily, I need coffee.

Naturally, in the moment he needs it most, there’s a line. A long one. That’s just his luck.

Regardless, as he stands in line at the little coffee shop, Jon does his best to tune out the rest of the world. He’s saved it enough the past three days. Now is coffee time. The world can wait.

That said, as he slowly approaches the counter, he does perk up a bit. Maybe it’s spending some quiet time with nothing to drag his attention away, or maybe it’s just proximity to his next few hours of energy, but he feels a little less dead, and pays a little more attention.

“Espresso.” The lady in front of him says. Her voice is accented, French, he thinks, but that’s not why Jon almost cringes at the sound of it. That is a lady having a bad day. “But, like, a full cup of it.”

Oh, mood. This lady should never meet Tim, though. Jon thinks idly, as the cashier hesitates just a moment before asking her what size cup. When she points to the one she wants, what’s happening suddenly catches up to Jon. Wait, that’s a lot of espresso. Is that safe? Is that legal?

Lady, are you okay?

Jon is trying to maintain his composure has the lady walks away and he quickly orders his own drink. He watches her out of the corner of his eye, sees her collapse in a seat in the corner.

She’s cute, for what it’s worth. Small and undeniably pretty, despite the clear exhaustion on her frame. Decked out in light pastel colors, she gives the impression of a bright, friendly girl. Except… she looks miserable.

Jon frowns, watching her. He can’t help but wonder what could possibly have happened to her to land her in this state. He wants to know what the problem is, because he wants to help, because she looks like she needs help, but… they’re just customers at a coffee shop. What’s he supposed to do? Besides, in addition to misery, she also has a very distinct “leave me alone or else” aura about her that makes Jon doubt the safety of approaching her. Is it more heroic to save her from… this, or to know when to tap out and let things happen?

Right, right. Good people get involved. But in coffee?

You know this is more than coffee. Maybe you can just… lend an ear? If she doesn’t bite it off.

Jon sighs, cursing his own nature and the parents who raised him to be this way. Too damn helpful for my own good. Okay, here we go. He does wait until he and the lady both have their coffee before he bothers her, but once he retrieves his cup he makes his way over to her corner table.

“Uh, hey there. Sorry to bother, I just… are you alright?”

The lady looks up at him, unimpressed, with dead eyes. They focus in on him slowly, but once they do, they hold an unquestionable intelligence that only makes Jon further doubt this decision. “M’fine.” She mutters.

Jon bites his lip. The dismissal is pretty clear, but still… “If you say so. Your, uh, drink says otherwise, though.”

The lady moves her eyes slowly to the coffee on the table, then back to him. “Busy week.” She says.

Jon chuckles. “I hear that. I’ve been running ragged this week. Something tells me mine,” he gestures to his own cup of coffee, and then to hers, “isn’t quite so bad as yours, though.”

The lady huffs a small laugh. “Maybe.” As she examines him more closely, Jon smiles for her. After a moment, she lets out an amused hum. “Do you often talk to strangers at a coffee shop?”

Jon pretend to think for a moment. “No offense, but you looked miserable. Like you might need some company. And honestly? I could, too.” He says seriously. Then, he adds, gesturing again to her drink, “Plus, I have to at least ask the story behind that.”

The lady hums again, and then sighs heavily. “I suppose you’re not wrong. Go ahead and sit. I won’t bite if you don’t.”

“Thanks. I’m Jon, by the way.”

“Marinette.”

“Marinette.” Jon echoes. “That’s such a pretty name! Definitely isn’t the kind of name I’d think would order that monstrosity.”

Marinette scoffs playfully. “Keep teasing and you can drink your coffee on your own.”

Jon laughs. “Alright, I hear you. No teasing. Coffee is very serious business. Especially when we’re trying to overdose on caffeine.”

“That’s still teasing, Jon.” Marinette sticks her tongue out at him. “Keep pushing your luck.”

Giggling, Jon does his best to regain control of himself. Despite how friendly she is being and how easily they slip into banter, they’re still strangers. Jon doesn’t want to overstep. That’s enough teasing for now. “So, bad week?”

Marinette groans. “You could say that. You?”

Jon nods. “Just been one thing after another. My friend, best friend, really, I love him, you know? But sometimes he’s just…” He sighs. “He can be hard to deal with. He means well, but it’s tiring being dragged unprepared into all the wacky situations he gets us in.”

Marinette pinches the bridge of her nose. “Oh, tell me about it. My best friend is the exact same way.” Jon grins at her, at the thing they have in common, but notices quickly how her expression darkens. “She was, anyway.”

“Oh.” Jon blinks, taken aback. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

Marinette shakes her head. Idly twirling a pigtail, she says, “Not like that. I’m probably overreacting, but sometimes it feels like we’re… drifting apart, I guess. It’s not a big deal.”

“Drifting apart? Why’s that?”

Marinette narrows her eyes at him, as if trying to find something in him. Eventually she shakes her head again. “I suppose it can’t hurt… This girl we both know; she tells a lot of stories. Lies to make herself look good, that kind of thing. She just does it for attention, I think, but if someone calls her out, she gets malicious. My best friend, she considers this liar a friend. I… don’t. To say the least. It’s been… straining. Even without the liar trying to spread nasty rumors about me.”

“Ooh, yikes.” Jon says, grimacing. “I’ve met people like that. They suck.”

That brings the smile back to Marinette’s face. “Yeah, they really, really do. So far, my best friend hasn’t believed any of the bad stuff the liar says about me – she’s still a good friend to me and all that, I just… worry, I guess.”

“Understandably. Sounds like she believes her on the lesser stuff, so…”

Marinette nods solemnly. “Yeah. No matter what I say, she just seems to refuse to believe this liar is lying to her. It’s almost like she can do no wrong and that’s just…”

“That’s frustrating.” Jon says, earning her agreement. “It does sound like your friend could use some, uh… better judgement? But, I don’t think trusting in people is a bad mistake to make. If you’ll let a stranger give you advice, I think you probably just need to arrange some best friend time. Spend more time together without that liar, then you won’t feel like you’re losing her, because you’ll be spending more time together, but also you’ll be keeping her closer to your chest where the liar can’t reach her.”

Marinette quirks her brow at him. “That’s… borderline devious.”

Jon shrugs, smugly sipping his coffee. Damian isn’t his best friend for no reason, after all. If he didn’t have the head for at least basic plans before, Damian has drilled that out of him long ago. “Of course, I don’t know how often you hang out now or how much free time you have, but that’s what I think.”

Marinette purses her lips. “It almost sounds like you think I should try to beat her at her own game.”

Jon raises his brow, watching her. “Well, is her game lying, or taking your friends away from you?”

“Both.” Marinette says simply.

“And she’s doing that on purpose?”

“Definitely. She threatened me when I first called her out, said she’d take my friends and leave me all alone.”

Jon puts his cup back on the table. Hearing that cuts into him strangely deep, and he can feel anger on Marinette’s behalf begin bubbling. From the way she talks about this liar, Jon assumes the other girl is being malicious, but to actively threaten and try to isolate someone? That kind of bullying pisses him off. All bullying does, but Marinette seems like such sweet girl he just can’t stand the thought of that happening to her. “I see.” Jon says. Marinette sits a bit straighter, looking alarmed. Jon knows his voice is a bit colder than it should be. “Then definitely beat her at her own game. Don’t lie, of course, and don’t wear yourself out – I’m honestly not sure if it’s safe to drink that thing even once – but if you can, you got to do what you got to do, you know?”

Marinette frowns. “You really think so?”

“Sure. And worst comes to worst, you take the liar behind the bleachers and send her the way of Ol’ Yeller.” Jon says it jokingly, but a small part of him is legitimately protective of this girl he just met.

“Jon!” Marinette exclaims. “No!”

He laughs, which starts her laughing, and the atmosphere is suddenly so much lighter again. “Aw, I didn’t mean it. But you’re seriously, like, such a cool girl! I’ve only known you for ten minutes and even I can tell you’re awesome. I really don’t think you have much to worry about. If your friends have any brains, they’ll never let someone like you go.”

Marinette’s cheeks flush pink as she ducks her head. “You really… think that?” She asks quietly.

“Of course, I do! You’re funny, so darn easy to talk to – I mean come on, we met ten minutes ago – you’re smart, cute… if you survive that thing you might be immune to caffeine, too, so that’s pretty cool. No one in their right mind would leave you behind for anything.”

Marinette giggles, though her face only grows redder. “You cannot tell that by just ten minutes of conversation.” She says.

“Sure, I can!” Jon protests. “You’re awesome! And don’t let anyone, not even yourself, tell you otherwise!”

“Ahaha, you’re weird, you know that?” Marinette says. “Honestly, I don’t even know why I told you all that.”

Jon shrugs. “My dad always tells me that good people get involved. You looked like you were having a bad day, so I thought maybe I could help. That’s all. I promise I don’t normally talk to strangers when I’m getting my coffee.”

Marinette giggles. “Well, I’m glad you talked to me. I was having a bad day, but… I think today’s going to be good after all.”

“That’s the spirit!”

They laugh and talk until Marinette’s phone chimes and she sighs. “I’m sorry,” She says, “I’ve got to go.”

“No worries.” Jon says. “I hope you keep having good days.”

Marinette smiles at him for a moment and then, biting her lip, she ducks her head cutely. “Hey, uh, before I go… this might be weird, but could I have your number? I… actually really had a lot of fun. Maybe we can meet up again sometime?” Gaining more confidence, she jokes, “And you can complain to me instead, this time.”

Jon grins. “Sure thing. I’d love to see you again!” He quickly enters his number in her phone and hands it back to her. “Message me any time. Oh! And keep me updated on the liar.”

Marinette giggles. “I will. Thanks, Jon. I… I needed this. I’ll see you later.”

Watching her walk away, Jon sighs. “See you.” He says softly.

It’s been a strange morning, that’s for sure, but that girl is totally worth it all. Jon can’t be sure she’ll actually follow up with him – though it was her idea – but even so, she’s something special. Jon is glad to have even this short morning with her, and he hopes the rest of her life is as beautiful as she deserves.

And has just a little less caffeine. I cannot believe she drank that whole thing. I will never let her meet Tim.

[wafflewarriors]

A Rewrite of History

Chapter 5—Phantom Traveler (Part 1)

Pads.

Castiel, or some other jerk with wings, had put a box of pads… in your car.

Yeah. That’s how this is starting. Not what you expected, huh? Not when there was a doomed plane or your quarrel with the Winchesters. This was completely unexpected and random.

It was a surprise to you, as well.

So, what, angels could predict periods now? Was that a thing? Or was there a puzzle piece you weren’t getting here?

Not that you weren’t… a little grateful for the gift. You weren’t going to pretend periods didn’t exist. Hell, you weren’t even sure why they were so taboo. This certainly was helpful when you were tight on money, but…

No, just, what the hell? Were you just PMSing that bad and you hadn’t noticed? Like, you did have a breakdown the other day. It also might explain your food cravings and unsteady moods.

But that was all completely justified. In fact, you were doing pretty good for having been thrown unexpectedly into a very unfriendly universe with nothing but what was provided—which wasn't much anyway. It almost felt wrong to blame it on period hormones.

Regardless, now you had... pads.

You got in the car and started the engine to drive to Pennsylvania, ignoring the nagging feeling in the back of your head that something was off about all this.

///

Nazareth, Pennsylvania had a brisk, winter breeze on the day you got there. You primarily stayed in the warmth of your car for a few days, napping and resting, but you were forced to get out and stop in a store bathroom once and awhile.

At some point in that week, you bought the newspaper, too. The days were starting to blue together, and you needed to keep your bearings if you were going to try and follow the Supernatural timeline.

December 4th, 2005.

Damn. That meant Thanksgiving had already passed. Not that you had much to be thankful for.

Tomorrow was the first time the Winchesters saw a demon, which was just bizarre, considering that their future was full of demons. That is, if you couldn't stop it.

You counted the days in your head. November 2nd, Jess died. A week later, you took on the Wendigo. Then you took on the water-ghost about two weeks after that, hitting around November 27th. It took a good few days and then some to recover to wind up in Pennsylvania, so, yeah. This made sense.

There was nothing you could do but wait for the Winchesters, because you were getting on the same flight as them anyway.

No pun intended, days were flying fast. At the same time, the hours seemed to stretch forever. Maybe that was because all your extra time was put into recovering and sleeping, so the hours that were spent awake felt long, but most of your day had already been spent, if that made sense.

Yeah.

When you got back in your car, you noticed a little flappy object in the passenger seat. One that was becoming annoyingly familiar to you.

Another damn note.

How many notes am I going to get? Why can't they just talk in person?

You paused.

...probably because they gave me an angel blade, and they don't want me having leverage.

You shrugged, turning the slightly crumpled note and flattening it.

Check your trunk.

"Hello to you too," you muttered, throwing down the note and marching over to the truck. You sighed, "God give me strength," before propping it open.

There was a large suitcase for traveling on the right, and beside it was chaos. It looked like someone went all-day mall shopping and crammed it all in without any care for decency. Nothing was even folded. There was clothing everywhere.

You could identify a variety of pants and several blouses. There were plenty of shoes, eerily all your size.

You saw a lumpy article of clothing in the back, so you grabbed it, letting it unravel to reveal a dark, navy-blue trench coat. You cringed a little. "Are you trying to make me look like Castiel and the TARDIS had kids?" Upon further inspection, however, it wasn't all that bad. You could probably make it work.

You put your hands on your hips, looking down at the mess. You sighed. "Great. Now I really look homeless."

There was no point in driving yet when you had this mess to deal with. So you set the trenchcoat down, almost too calmly, and turned away for a minute. Those freaking angels were always making crap for you to fix. As if you didn't have enough to handle already.

Okay. Just breathe. There's no use getting angry when you have no one to punch.

You have to think for yourself. You have no one to turn to, so you have to ask your own questions. Why did they give you this? They’re not giving you this stuff to be nice, so what's the point? What exactly are they doing all this for?

It got you thinking. And being alone gave you a lot of time to think.

You stepped back watching the clothes as if they'd suddenly tell you all the answers.

The first too-obvious answer would be that more clothes will make your job easier. Keep you more comfortable. But… you've been doing relatively fine on that spectrum lately, regardless of how much money you now had. This was, in those terms, unnecessary.

Then that's what the angels want you to think. They want you to be naive.

Assuming it's not just Castiel that set you up here, and even if he did…  the angels don't care about you. You're even less important than the Winchesters, who are seen as nothing more than maggots. So what's the point of doing this?

You closed your eyes, trying to focus.

Other than giving me things, what has their interaction with you been? Threats. Warnings. Nothing face to face.

What's their goal? To control me. To keep me isolated. Keep me quiet.

What would these clothes do to benefit that goal? They're... making me dependent. If I go against them, they can just snatch all they've given to me. Take it all away until I beg for their help again. They're not being nice. They're making me their bitch.

Shivers ran up and down your spine, and you recoiled from the trunk.  You felt sick. You stared at the trunk in disgust, knowing that you had no choice but to accept the help, because you needed it.

Then, something caught your eye. A shiny strand of something peeking out behind a pair of pants. It looked like hair. Apprehensively, you reached for it, tugging until it revealed a wig.

You knew what they wanted now.

///

You sat brooding in your car for a very long time.

You refused to put the trenchcoat on, even though it was just going to get colder and colder. The wig sat in the passenger seat, taunting you. The rebellious part of you had a violent urge to whip out your hairspray and lighter and just ignite it until it was a burnt crisp.

You were at the point of shivering when a flap of wings sent you jumping a foot out of your seat. Your heart thrummed, and you slammed a hand against your chest. “Holy sh—!”

“I don’t believe there is anything holy about human feces.”

You turned, staring at Castiel, who had replaced the wig in your passenger seat.

So that was it. They had finally sent someone. This proved the angel theory, if your dreams hadn’t already. And of course they sent the only angel you didn't want to stab in the face.

"Castiel?" you breathed.

"I hear you are reluctant to wear your given disguise," he said. His expression was unreadable and stoic. Not an ounce of give.

You supposed that empathy was reserved for the Winchesters alone in Season 4.

"I know what you're doing, you know. I don't want to be any part of it," you spat.

He looked out the windshield, peering out at the city. "I'm sorry you feel that way," he said, not sorry. "You understand we have your companion?" And if there was any warmth in his eyes, you did not see it. You just saw cold, icy blue. "I can assure you that she is well, but not safe if you do not comply with our orders."

Now this was personal. "Orders?! You mean these?" You snatched the note from the cup holder, making sure to crumple it some when you grabbed it. "This garbage is what you call an order?!"

Castiel didn't flinch.

You stared him dead in the eyes. "No. No, this is ridiculous. I want your 'orders', person to perss…" You paused. "Angel. Person to angel. You know what I mean."

"I'm not sure we can do that for you."

You shot him an incredulous look. "And why not? You're doing it right now!"

"It is not time for angels to visit the Earth yet. You know this."

"And I'm an exception?"

"You're a nuisance," he said, finally turning to stare into your soul. Probably literally. "Do as we say or things will get much more difficult for you." And then he was gone.

Now you understood Dean's frustration. "Freaking angels!" you screamed, punching your steering wheel.

What the hell am I going to do.

///

You were uneasy that night, sprawled in the backseat with your eyes shut but not asleep. There was no way to feel safe. Before, the car had perhaps felt like a barrier between the monsters and you. Now, it felt penetrable. You felt weak. The angels were watching, and they didn't need to sleep.

You thought about your best friend. Wondered if she was cold like you were. Wondered if she was scared.

You got a few hours in before you woke up. It was five in the morning when you first checked the radio clock, which was ironic, considering that's around when the Winchesters get the phone call. You know that you have a lot of time before you have to get on that flight. The Winchesters waste most of their day talking to the survivors and breaking into the plane wreckage as fake Homeland Security.

You smile to yourself a little, remembering their innocence.

"That's pretty illegal, even for us." "Demons? I mean, this is big, Sam!"

Too bad it probably would never be directed at you.

You liked the Winchesters. You did. You just wished things were different right now. You had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, an unfortunate chain of events that distanced you from the Winchesters. Coincidence.

Wait, coincidence? When is anything ever coincidence in Supernatural? You pinched your eyebrows together and relayed the events. That's a lot of coincidence, don't you think? What if all your failings and misunderstandings were manipulated? What if none of this was your fault?

You wouldn't put it past the angels.

Well, this made everything much more complicated. Because not only did you know what they were doing, they knew what you were doing, and they would do anything to keep you from gaining the trust of the Winchesters.

Your best bet was doing what they told you. Even if you hated it.

///

You looked like a different person. Which, you guessed, was the point.

You stood in front of the gas station mirror, adjusting your dark sunglasses and combing your hair. The blue trenchcoat… wasn't horrible. It wasn’t your typical style, but you made it work. You wore it with a black blouse and pants.

When you made it back to the car, there was something else in the seat. A makeup bag. Begrudgingly, you opened it. Trying to push down the guilt that was weighing on your chest as you got more and more. They probably stole all of this crap.

You did your makeup dark and heavy, trying to reshape your features enough to make you look not-like-you.

Now to get to the airport.

///

You bought your ticket at the airport. You were sweating profusely, terrified the entire time, thinking about the very near future. You'd never flown before, and you definitely wished your first experience wouldn't have to be a doomed one, but that was the job. There would be more firsts in your future, and you would have to accept that. Hunters weren't whiny babies.

Thirty minutes later, you boarded the plane. You had spent far too much time rationalizing this risk. These were real people, and this plane would definitely plummet in forty minutes.

Sucking in a breath, you decided to focus on step one: finding your seat. Your ticket said 20E. Which was somewhere in the middle of the plane.

You scanned the row. 20C, 20D… 20E. That was you. You took your seat, feeling yourself get panicky. You couldn't let that happen, now could you? It would be counterproductive if you got possessed.

You looked at the seats. They were smaller than you would've liked, but they weren't uncomfortable. The seats were a plush purple with little pinkish designs. You traced them with your finger over the fabric, hoping to find some distraction in the small action. It didn't offer you much.

You looked up, watching as people boarded. You stiffened as you saw two familiar faces enter and sit to your left. The Winchesters.

You were sitting right by the Winchesters.

///

Tag: @rosaren2498​ , @pillowjj​ , @busy-bee-angel-misska​ , @elle-r​ , @dagnylokisdottir​ , @omg-we-really-doo​

[baepop]

PRIVATE // 5

You find out about a secret that Jennie and Jungkook had been sharing.

Word Count: 6k

Pairing: Jungkook x You x Jennie

Genre: Angst, Light Fluff

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12

“Jungkook...nngh…Jungkook!” The boy who was making marks on your collar bones stopped to look up at you. His lips, tongue, and teeth had been working their way down from your ear lobe, kissing and biting at the sensitive skin, getting you all kinds of flustered. It was hard to get him to stop, you definitely didn’t want him to, but you had been trying to get your point across all afternoon. Thankfully, your tone of voice told Jungkook that you were serious and that you weren’t just moaning his name. He looked up at you questioningly, and you smiled once your eyes had met, “I was being serious! This has to stop.”

Jungkook grinned back at you as he plopped himself on the grass beside you. “Why? I thought it was fun for the both of us.” He took one of your curls between his fingers and began pulling it just to let it spring free in the way he loved so much. You had grown quite used to his company over the last few weeks, becoming more and more comfortable to just be yourself around him.

“Don’t get me wrong, this is definitely fun…” You took his finger and playfully bit the tip to show him exactly what you meant, instantly reverting his attention back to your lips. “But midterms are over, and we really should try to keep our hookups indoors, and NOT while I’m getting paid to tutor.”

“But it’s more fun this way, you’re like my little on-call escort.” Jungkook laughed as you pushed him so hard that he toppled over.

“I hate you. Stop requesting tutoring sessions!” No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t keep the playful undertone out of your voice nor the edge of your lips from curving upwards.

Jungkook stopped laughing and sat upright again. “But then how will I get you to meet me? You’re the worst texter ever.” The brunette pouted which instantly made you bite your lip and roll your eyes.

“I promise to answer your texts,” you placed your hand over your heart as if taking an oath, “…when I’m not busy.”

“You’re always busy!”

“Yeah, it’s called being a working senior! But anyway, now that spring break is here, I’ll have way more free time, especially since Jennie seems to be preoccupied these days…” You tongued the inside of your cheek, becoming visibly upset. Jungkook quickly changed the subject.

“I want you to do something for me,” he said as he cupped your chin and brought your eyes to his. You stared at him questioningly. “Come see me play tomorrow. Our team is finally done scrims and we have our first home game this Saturday. I want to see your cute ass cheering for me on the bleachers.”

You couldn’t help but blush. It all felt much like a high school romance, which would normally make you cringe, if it wasn’t for your huge crush on Jeon Jungkook. You had all but forgotten he was on a sports team. If you were being honest, you hadn’t bothered to learn much about him, yet he was always asking you about your favorite things, places, and people. The realization made you feel a little guilty, so you immediately agreed to go, especially since you happened to be off work.

You and Jungkook had decided to meet on the campus quad that afternoon since the weather was nice. Not to mention, it was a ghost town with everyone going on vacation or visiting home for the week. Since Jungkook’s family lived close to campus, it wasn’t an inconvenient trip for him to come to you. You lived in your own apartment, so you had the option to stay put. It was nice, only having to worry about going to work for a week. And it’s not like things were all too different. Instead of Jennie occupying your time, it was Jungkook. Although you two had agreed to date and keep your options open, things quickly headed into relationship territory. You thought the constant hanging out, PDA, and romantic gestures would annoy you, but it never did. It was all so natural with Jungkook that you found yourself not shying away from the idea of being his girlfriend. You practically already were.

“You think I’m cute now? Just wait until you see me in one of your jersey’s.” You scrunched your nose playfully.

“Who said I was giving you one of my jersey’s?” Jungkook tried to take a bite out of his sandwich but failed as you pushed him for the second time. This time, you didn’t hold back your laughter.

As you rode the shuttle to work later that evening, you scrolled through your text messages. Jungkook had texted you but you hadn’t yet opened it yet, choosing instead to linger in Jennie’s messages. The last time you had heard from her was during midterms week. You two had texted back and forth a few times trying to find a time to hang out that fit in each other’s schedule but ultimately letting the plans die. Jennie had never been this out of your reach before, much less this busy, that you knew of. It irritated you that you seemed to no longer be on her radar, despite everything that happened between you two. You doubted that she was avoiding you, since she never struck you as the type to be a coward. She seemed genuinely busy these days, you just weren’t sure with what. You pondered whether to try and nail down some plans or just let things be. You missed her, and you wanted answers, but you didn’t want to risk losing her completely if the conversation went south. You sighed and put your phone away, letting your head rest on the back of your seat. If it was anyone else, you’d have confronted them long ago, maybe even blocked their number and moved on with your life. But you couldn’t be like that with Jennie, anyone but her.

Before your stop, you decided to throw caution to the wind and ask Jennie to meet you for drinks Saturday night via text message.

The next day you slept in later than normal and awoke to messages from Jungkook asking you where you were. The last one was sent 20 minutes prior. His game was going to start soon, and you weren’t even there. You jumped out of bed with a start and immediately began brushing your teeth while putting clothes on simultaneously. Your hair was knotted from tossing and turning all night, so you settled on putting it in a ponytail. You threw Jungkook’s jersey on over a pair of light blue jeans and converses before snatching your phone, keys, and wallet from your nightstand and bolting out of the door. Luckily, the field was within walking distance of your apartment, so you jogged the whole way there, hoping you didn’t miss too much. As the field came into view, you could see people filing into the bleachers and the players lounging in their respective dugouts.

Only a few spots were empty on the bleachers now, so you scanned them to see where would be best to sit. You immediately noticed a familiar face in the crowd. You were never one to forget a face, much less the one of someone you thoroughly disliked. Your facial expression soured as you recognized Jisoo sitting in the middle of the bleachers wearing one of Jungkook’s jersey’s too. Just as you noticed what she was wearing, the girl’s head snapped in your direction as if feeling your eyes burning holes on her side. She immediately recognized you, grimacing at the realization that Jungkook had invited you too. You gave her the sweetest smile you could muster before making your way to her, determined not to let her stop you from enjoying Jungkook’s game. Jisoo rolled her eyes and scooted over so you could have a place to sit.

“Did the game start yet?” You asked her as you took a seat next to her.

Jisoo rolled her eyes and flipped her hair, looking straight ahead instead of at you. “Obviously not.”

You immediately regretted your decision to sit next to her but knew you couldn’t leave now. With a deep breath, you turned to her and said, “Look, I don’t like you and you don’t like me, for whatever reason. But we’re both here for Jungkook, so let’s just support him in silence. Cool?”

Jisoo stared at her manicured fingernails instead of addressing you, so you took that as your answer. Soon, the players filed out into the field. The opposing team was batting first, so you searched the different positions on the field for Jungkook. You immediately noticed his shiny brown hair bobbing up and down as he jogged to the pitcher’s mound. As he kicked the sand off the stand, he looked out into the crowd and searched for a familiar face. You immediately jumped up and began flailing your arms in a silly dance to get his attention. He noticed you at once and looked back down at his cleats, a crooked smile forming on his face that could be seen even from where you stood.

Jisoo sucked her teeth and pulled you back down to your seat. “Stop distracting him.”

The game started at once, with everyone on your side of the field dead silent as Jungkook prepared to pitch for the first batter. He leaned forward, letting the ball rest inside his worn-out mitt behind his back. He then gracefully turned to the side, hoisted his leg up in the air and thrusted his body forward as the ball zoomed out of his grasp at 90mph. The ball hit the center of his catcher’s glove, prompting the umpire to raise his right arm and signal the first strike of the game. Everyone simultaneously let out the breaths they were holding, as the competing fans on the other side of the field straightened in their seats.

Jungkook was an amazing pitcher, but you couldn’t say you were surprised. The more you got to know him, the more you realized just how good he was at everything he did. Everything seemed to come natural to him. Sometimes it made you jealous, but it mostly had you in awe of the boy, much like you were at that very moment. The second batter was nearly on strike three and still no one had reached a base. Some of Jungkook’s teammates were yawning or looking away from the batter, having full trust that Jungkook would pitch a perfect round. At the pitch of the last ball, the batter swung prematurely and sent the ball clean between first and second base. The right and center fielders sprinted toward the ball that had touched ground yards past the sand but unfortunately, the batter was able to sprint through first base before the first baseman got hold of the ball.

You hadn’t realized how into the game you were until you unclenched your fists and noticed the crescents your nails had dug into your palms. You looked over at Jisoo and noticed she was equally as engrossed in the game as you were.

Jungkook was able to strike out the next two batters in a row, not letting any of the opposing players reach home base by the end of the top inning. As Jungkook’s team shuffled off the field and into the dugout to begin batting, you jumped up in your seat once more and began hollering and dancing to get Jungkook’s attention again. He immediately looked towards you and began laughing and bowing at your praise. Everyone on the bleachers knew you were with him by then, throwing side looks at your antics, but you didn’t care because you were so proud of your not-boyfriend.

“Why did you sit next to me if you were going to be this obnoxious?” Jisoo complained after you sat back down.

“Why did you come if you were going to be this dry?” You retorted which garnered yet another eye roll from the boy’s cousin. However, you had to admit that your getting under her skin like this was quite amusing. She was never a pleasant person around you, so you saw no point in trying to make her comfortable with your presence.

As you sat back down, you decided to peak at the time on your phone and noticed Jennie had texted you back. You immediately swiped to open her text.

12:26 pm – I’ll have time for drinks after 7’o cock. Meet me downtown, Bailey’s?

You typed a quick message before putting your phone away.

1:41 pm – OK

After sitting through the bottom of the first inning, you were disheartened to realize Jungkook would not be batting at all. They had a pinch hitter bat for him instead, no doubt to preserve his arm for the rest of the game. You weren’t too bored though since you could feel the butterflies in your stomach at finally having a talk with Jennie tonight.

Before you knew it, the game was over and Jungkook’s team had won by a landslide. As the players took turns high fiving the losing team, you and Jisoo climbed down from the bleachers and began walking toward the dugout. Jungkook came out a few minutes later with his duffle bag in tow. You ran toward him and caught him off guard as you pounced on him, wrapping your arms around his neck. He immediately embraced your figure and planted a firm kiss on your lips.

“Hey you.” He looked at you and smiled.

“Hey.” You nuzzled into his neck. After he placed you back on the ground you asked, “When did we become this gross?”

Jungkook laughed and responded, “I don’t know, but I love it.” He took your hand in his and began walking toward his cousin, who was busying herself on her phone instead of observing your PDA.

“Ready?” Jungkook looked to Jisoo whom only stared back at him as if trying to tell him something without speaking.

You looked between them before cutting the silence. “What are we doing?”

“We,” Jisoo pointed in between the three of you, “are not doing anything. Jungkook and I are getting lunch.”

Jungkook let out an exasperated sigh, “Jay, please don’t be like this.”

“No, look it’s totally fine! I don’t want to be anywhere that I’m not wanted anyway.” You gave Jungkook a smile and injected a sweetness into your tone that said everything really is fine, but deep down you just didn’t know how much more of his cousin’s rudeness you could tolerate.

“No y/n, it’s not fine. You’re important to me just like she is to me and if you guys can’t even be in the same room together then it’s going to keep driving me mad. Please come? My treat.” Jungkook gave your hand and affectionate squeeze, urging you to accept his invitation, and you did, earning an exasperated sigh from the ice queen herself.

As the three of you walked towards the parking lot, Jungkook shoulder bumped Jisoo and asked, “Can I borrow some money so I can pay for this lunch now?” You and Jungkook laughed obnoxiously by yourselves.

As you made your way to Bailey’s, you felt your stomach doing flips. You hated the way meeting Jennie suddenly became anxiety-inducing, but you couldn’t help the way the situation made you feel. Something that was once so effortless was now causing you strain. Not knowing what your future held nor what to expect was what bothered you the most. After your rejection, it seemed Jennie held all the cards in her hand, leaving your friendship in a weird place.

You frowned as you realized it took all this happening for you to realize just how much she meant to you. You’d definitely try to be a better friend, if she was still interested in being friends that was.

Your uber turned onto the bar’s street and you immediately noticed Jennie’s ride stalling out front. She must have just gotten here too. You had your driver park behind the blacked-out vehicle before exiting and thanking him for the ride. As you approached the passenger side of the car, the first thing you noticed was Jennie’s hair covering her face as she stared at her phone distractedly. You smiled and rolled your eyes, deciding to surprise her with a text.

7:05 pm – I can see you in there, get out here you bum!!

You couldn’t see much through the tinted window but received a text back seconds later.

7:05 pm – ??? What are you talking about?

It seemed she still didn’t realize you were outside the car, so you decided to knock on the window. As it lowered, you realized Jennie wasn’t in there after all. You had come face to face with an older woman with jet black hair similar to hers.

“Oh…sorry! I think I have the…” You backed away to analyze the car, wondering if you had mistaken it for Jennie’s, “…the wrong car?”

The woman smiled to herself as if enjoying a private joke then looked at you for a moment before finally responding, “You’re Jennie’s friend. y/n, is it?” You simply stared at her in utter confusion. Suddenly you heard the doors unlocking before she continued, “I’m Jennie’s mother. Please, join me. We have much to discuss.”

You circled the back of the car to enter through the other side. You had no idea why Jennie’s mom was meeting you instead. Hell, Jennie had never even spoken about the woman during your entire time as friends. As you silenced Jennie’s incoming calls and texts, you quickly surmised that she had no idea her mother had come to meet you, nor that you two even had plans in the first place. Whatever she needed to discuss with you, however, must have been important if she was willing to hijack your rendezvous.

Your hands grew clammy as you sat adjacent to the older woman, waiting for her to initiate conversation. She busied herself with the contents of her purse as the silence grew pregnant with all the questions you needed answered. At least now you were getting an idea of what your best friend had been so busy with for the past week. Suddenly, Jennie’s mom produced a small photographed wrapped in clear plastic from her purse and handed it to you. You looked at her as you received it, waiting to get some sort of explanation, but she only sat there waiting for you to analyze the picture.

“Um,” you began to speak, but all of your words died in your throat as you realized who was in the photograph. You’d recognize the faint scar on that cheek and those big bright eyes anywhere. He was wearing the tailored suit you had picked out for him, smiling big for the camera. You cleared your throat, determined to find out what the heck was going on. “Why do you have a picture of Jungkook in your bag?”

Once more, the older woman stared at you for a beat too long with pity in her gaze before responding, “Jennie’s getting married to him. She told me you and Jungkook are…close. I was hoping we could have a chat and hopefully come to an understanding.”

You weren’t sure how it was possible for someone to speak so many words and still not make any sense. It was as if her sentences entered through one ear and exited as encrypted text through the other. You couldn’t help the hysterical laugh that bubbled up inside you.

“I’m sorry, what?” You chuckled, but she found no humor in what she had said.

“Look, we’re both here for the same purpose. We both care about Jennie. But right now, she has certain obligations to fulfill for her family, and it’s proving to be a challenge for her. Since you two are best friends, I was hoping you could help make this easier for her.”

Your fingers instinctively tightened around the photograph and your voice shook despite how hard tried to keep it leveled. “How would I make this easier exactly?”

Her mother sensed the tension in your voice and offered a reassuring smile. “I know you two are having a bit of a spat right now, but I was hoping you could nudge Jennie in the right direction. I know how much she values your opinion.” She tried her best to sound sweet, but you didn’t miss how her face soured towards the end of her sentence.

“I don’t think it’s my place to suggest someone make such an important decision, and to be quite honest, it’s not yours either.” You expected your blunt response to make her angry, but her eye contact hadn’t faltered in the slightest.

“I don’t expect you to understand the kind of sacrifices one has to make for their family, given your upbringing.” You winced at her words, realizing she knew more about you than you had initially thought. “But it appears you misunderstand. Jennie has already agreed to it and so has the young man in the photograph. I was simply hoping you could give them your blessing, to make the transition as seamless as possible. After all, you are very important to them.”

You felt tears springing at the corners of your eyes but before you could rebuttal, she reached over and unlocked the door for you, effectively ending your conversation. You swallowed thickly and exited the vehicle. Once the door closed abruptly, Jennie’s driver sped off down the street leaving you at the front of Bailey’s, sniffling and clutching a picture of your not-boyfriend. You rubbed your eyes furiously and looked around to see if anyone had spotted you, fully realizing how weird the scene had probably looked. You stared at the transparent doors of the bar, observing the rowdy social scene that took place just beyond, unable to make sense of what just happened.

The feeling of numbness gave way to immense pain, and you started to cry. You squatted on the sidewalk with your head between your legs as you sobbed uncontrollably for a while, letting yourself feel the full extent of your emotions. All you could think about was how Jungkook and Jennie were suddenly getting married and you were expected to give them your blessing. The mere thought shattered your heart in pieces. You were so worried about losing either of them that you hadn’t thought about the possibility of having none of them, and to be betrayed like this was something you’d never in a million years expect from either of them.

You suddenly felt a hand on your shoulder, causing your head to snap up amidst tears and hiccups. Through watery eyes you were able to make out Yoongi’s concerned face staring down at you.

“C’mon, get up. Let’s go home.” Yoongi grabbed your elbow and hoisted you off the ground, not wanting anyone to see you in such a mess.

You wiped your nose and nodded as you both set off towards the shuttle stop. Yoongi hadn’t said a word the entire time, choosing simply to rub circles into your back and let your head rest in the crook of his neck to shield your face from perturbed onlookers. By the time you two were on the shuttle, you had thought you were done crying, but a fresh wave of pain washed over you at the realization of why exactly Jennie had been avoiding you, and your small sniffles turned into full-on sobs. Your fingers weakly clutched at Yoongi’s white t-shirt, causing wrinkles, but he didn’t mind.

The shuttle had reached his house in a handful of stops, so he hugged you tightly to his chest and helped you off the seat and off the bus. You immediately recognized the outside of his house once your feet hit the pavement, so you bolted through the front doors and b-lined it towards Yoongi’s bedroom. However, before you could reach his bedroom door, you heard a familiar voice coming from the kitchen.

“Yoongi? It’s about goddamn time! You were taking so long to get home I had to come in here and make myself a sandwich! You want one?”

You slapped your hands over your nose and mouth, unwilling to make a sound and let Jungkook know you were there. You definitely weren’t ready to see him yet. Knowing he was just on the other side of that wall ushered in a fresh wave of tears. You looked back and watched as Yoongi came in through the door behind you, so you sprinted the rest of the way to his room and shut the door.

“Yoongi? I said do you want a sandwich.” Jungkook peeked his head around the wall to see what all the commotion was about. Yoongi stared back at him and then at his closing door, realizing Jungkook was probably the reason why you were so upset. Why am I always in the middle of these things!?

Yoongi pinched the bridge of his nose before responding, “Uh…yeah, sure. What are you doing here?” He headed into the kitchen to distract the boy from going into his room.

Jungkook busied himself with spreading mayonnaise over a couple slices of bread at the counter. Yoongi folded his arms and observed his friend from the doorway who seemed oddly nervous and frantic.

“…I couldn’t tell her. I’m such a pussy dude.” Jungkook stacked the final slice over the folded deli meats then took a big bite before continuing as he chewed, “We spent all afternoon together and I couldn’t bring myself to say it. I even had Jisoo there for backup and still, nothing. I mean, how does someone say that aloud to the person they care about? Hey Y/N, I really enjoy spending time together, and by the way, I’m getting engaged to your best friend!” Jungkook groaned and sank against the counter swallowing his food. Yoongi pursed his lips, wondering if he should stop him from spilling the beans but figured you might kill him if he stopped Jungkook from talking.

From the other side of the wall, you could hear everything that was going on. You sat on the hardwood floor, hugging your knees to your chest and drawing ragged breaths. It was true. It was all true and everyone knew but you. You shut your eyes and tried to cry as quietly as possible, feeling like the stupidest person in the world.

Yoongi entered the kitchen and took his sandwich off the counter, biting into it and chewing thoughtfully. “Have you spoken to Jennie?”

“Nah, that’s the weirdest part about all of this. I haven’t said two words to the girl after fighting at your party, but now we’re expected to act all sweet to each other at some proposal dinner. Just thinking about being friendly with that girl let alone romantic with her enrages me. I still hate her for pulling that stunt.”

Yoongi nodded, listening to the situation before proposing, “Why don’t you reach out to her anyway? Just so you’re both on the same page that is. I get that you guys don’t want to be problematic to your parents, but you’re not actually going through with it right? I mean…that would be crazy, right?”

Jungkook nodded solemnly. “Yeah. I really should…but our parents are calling all the shots here. I tried to tell them that Jennie’s crazy and that I already like someone else, but that didn’t go so well. My hands are seriously tied…I just don’t want Y/N to hate me.”

“So don’t give her a reason to hate you then. Transparency is the number one rule of relationships.” Yoongi gave Jungkook a stern look, to which the boy replied with a scoff.

“Don’t tell me you’re reading those self-help books again?” Jungkook chuckled as he finished his sandwich.

“Don’t knock my books man, they really do help! Anyway, you should probably get going.” Jungkook observed his friend who seemed oddly anxious and in a hurry for him to go. He stood straight up and crossed his arms over his chest with a quirk in his eyebrow.

“Why? I was hoping we could get a few rounds of Smash Bros in.”

“Just…cause.” Yoongi mentally kicked himself as he struggled to come up with a lie to get Jungkook out of his house. The taller boy eyed the blonde suspiciously then looked around. As silence filled the house, Yoongi’s floorboards slightly creaking in his bedroom could be heard from the kitchen. The boys’ eyes immediately met. Jungkook’s eyebrows shot up and his mouth gaped in a half-surprised, half-amused expression while Yoongi’s nostrils flared with nervousness.

“Yoongi, you dog! Look man, that’s all you had to say! I’ll be out of your hair.” Jungkook laughed as he zipped up his jacket and wiggled his eyebrows at the blushing boy.

“Yeah, yeah. Just shut up and consider what I said.”

Jungkook nodded and ruffled his older friend’s head which he knew he hated, before heading to the front door. Jungkook looked back towards Yoongi’s room with curiosity and noticed the slightly ajar door close just as his eyes briefly met with Yoongi’s guest. Hm, must be shy. As Jungkook reached the front door, Yoongi immediately let out a breath of relief. However, the relief was short-lived, since just as Jungkook reached for the doorknob, it wiggled then the door burst open into the living space nearly knocking the brunette back. Jennie made her way into Yoongi’s house barely acknowledging Jungkook at the entrance who was nursing his bruised nose.

“Yoongi! Yoongi where are you? We have a problem!” Jennie called out around the house searching for her friend. Your breathing stopped completely as you recognized Jennie’s voice. As she made a 360 around the room looking for Yoongi, her eyes landed on Jungkook. “Oh, it’s you.” She sneered.

“Well, that’s no way to speak to your fiancé is it?” Jungkook remarked dryly to which Jennie made a sound of disgust and rolled her eyes. Meanwhile, Yoongi bumped his head against the wall three times before making his way to his friends, realizing what a shit show they were causing without even knowing it.

Jennie continued calling out for Yoongi as she headed towards his bedroom. Just as her hand tightened around the doorknob, Yoongi appeared from the kitchen and addressed his newest guest, “Hey Jen, what’s up?” Your heartbeat pounded loudly in your ears as you prepared yourself to see her come into the room, but she never did.

“There you are! I said we have a problem! I think she knows.”

Jungkook’s eyes bulged out yet Yoongi couldn’t help but roll his own. “You don’t say...”

Jungkook snapped out of it, “What do you mean she knows? There’s no way she knows, I just saw her this afternoon.”

Jennie barely turned over her shoulder to address Jungkook, “Yeah well, I think my mom may have spilled the beans tonight,” she turned back to Yoongi with desperation in her eyes. “Have you seen her at all? She’s not picking up her phone and she’s not at her apartment. I’m freaking out right now!”

Yoongi swallowed thickly as he observed Jungkook grasping at the hair on his head and Jennie chewing on her bottom lip. He figured you could hear everything from where you were, and if you didn’t come out then he’d know you didn’t want to see them.

“Well? Have you?” Jennie rushed the blonde into spitting it out.

“Uh…no I haven’t…seen her lately. Are you sure she’s not at the café?”

Jennie sighed heavily, “The café closes early on weekends! Ugh, you’re absolutely no help,” she turned toward Jungkook who seemed to be too in shock to speak and sucked her teeth, “don’t be late tomorrow! And if you hear from Y/N, let me know. She should hear about this properly from her best friend.” Jennie shoved past Jungkook and exited Yoongi’s home, leaving the two men staring at each other.

Jungkook finally let out the breath he was holding in, “Fuuuuuck. She’s gonna kill me dude.”

“Yeah, she probably will. But at least then you won’t have to marry Jennie!” Yoongi offered Jungkook some humor but his friend was already too busy dialing your number.

“I gotta go find her man. I’ll see you later.” Jungkook left through the front door with the phone to his ear but would only listen to endless ringing since you had already silenced your phone.

Yoongi hunched over with his hands on his knees and let out a deep breath. Sheesh. After locking the door, he decided to check up on you in his room.

He quickly noticed you sitting on his bed biting your nails. Your cheeks were still wet, but at least you weren’t crying anymore. You hadn’t acknowledged Yoongi’s presence in the room, so he closed the door behind him and took his jacket off, hanging it on the safety hook on the door.

“So, you knew the entire time?” Yoongi heard your voice calm and small behind him, but his blood instantly ran cold. Fuck.

Yoongi slowly turned around and his tired but worried eyes met your puffy dull ones. You appeared calm, but he knew what you looked like when you were furious, and this was it. “I was hoping we didn’t have to dwell on that just yet.��� Yoongi hadn’t finished his sentence before objects from his room began flying at his face. “Y/N! Stop! Please! Can we just talk about this?!”

“You had plenty of time to talk. Now I’m fucking mad!” You yelled at your friend as your hands reached for anything they could grab around you. First his pillows flew towards him, then his entire pop figure collection, then his favorite speaker. Yoongi caught the speaker but then tossed it aside as he watched you reach for his autographed baseball.

“Y/N! Stop!” Yoongi grabbed your arm before you could throw the ball at him and pinned you down on the bed. You struggled against his might, but when you realized you couldn’t overpower him, your eyes became glassy and you began sniffling again.

Yoongi sighed and sat back, feeling defeated. “Oh not again. Please stop crying Y/N. It’s weirding me out. You never cry.” His words made you cry harder, so he released your hands so you could cry into them. Yoongi continued, “I know this looks really bad right now. I mean…it is pretty bad, but I didn’t know the whole time, believe me. Jungkook told me after as his parents broke the news to him. Jennie told me earlier today, and they both wanted to be the ones to tell you, so I couldn’t say anything either way. Before you go asking me, I don’t know very many details, I swear. With all that being said, you have every right to be pissed.” Yoongi reached down and removed your hands from your face. Your eyelashes were dewy and your nose was bright red. It broke his heart to see you this upset. “I’m really sorry Y/N.”

Yoongi climbed off of you and you turned on your side toward the wall. He decided to just let you be as he readied himself to take a shower and get into comfier clothes. When he came back into his room while toweling his wet hair, you had already cried yourself to sleep. He pulled the covers over your still body then decided he’d better sleep on the couch tonight. However, as Yoongi grabbed an extra pillow, your tired voice stopped him in his tracks, “Where’s the proposal dinner taking place?”

“Y/N…”

“I’ve already made up my mind Yoongi, I’m going.”