#anyways. i finally voted. meant to do it earlier. but i was having trouble deciding for awhile there honestly. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

btsxmalereaders · 4 years ago

Text

♡ Meant To Be

Pairing: Hwang Hyunjin x male reader

Fluff ♡ | Requested

Word Count: 2,8k

Masterlist

Don't forget to vote on whosfan and stream

"Aren't you even a little curious about it?"

You've heard this question thousands of times already; yet, the answer for it has never changed.

"No, not really." You shrug while your friend stares at you in disbelief. "Why do you ask knowing my answer?"

"I just had the hope that you changed your mind," Jeonghan says. "You know, out of everyone in our group of friends, you're the only one who hasn't found their soulmate."

You take one last sip of your tea and sigh, "And you're telling me this to make me feel bad?"

"No! It's just... I thought that would make you feel at least curious of the person whose name is written on your wrist ever since forever."

Your eyes immediately go to your wrist, and your other hand covers the name with your sleeve.

"And I still don't get your habit of covering it, as if you don't want us to know." He laughs. "Are you trying to ignore it and expect to find them like people picture it on dramas?"

Inevitably, you roll your eyes, "I don't know what to tell you. I just think that if we're really meant to meet, then it's gonna happen... someday. I'm in no rush."

Jeonghan nods in understanding, "I guess you're right."

"I am always right." You chuckle. "Now keep telling me about Injae, how is it going with her?"

That's exactly the way you would always dissociated yourself from the topic every time you were asked about it. It wasn't something you really cared about, unlike to your friends. You were happy with the way things are right now.

"... we are taking things slow, and it's all going great. I am really happy about it." He puts on a goofy smile and his ears and cheeks quickly covers in a tinted pink.

"Aw, my little Jeonghan is in love, who would've thought?"

"Shut up, who said anything about love?" He tries to act cool, but he's still smiling and feeling nervous.

"Please," You scoff. "That smile tells me you're head over heels about her. And the way your eyes shine whenever you talk about her? Seems like love to me."

"Ha, ha, ha, you really like to make fun of me, don't you?" He sarcastically blurts. "I am dying to see how you're gonna be once you meet your soulmate. "

"Mmh, we'll see about that..."

Just when you're about to continue reading your textbook, your phone buzzes over the table. You already got distracted by talking to Jeonghan when you both were supposed to be studying for the upcoming exams, but you decide to read the messages you received.

"What's better, keep studying or going out to grab lunch with Sihwan?" You throw the question in the air, to which your friend hums.

"Your friend that works at JYP entertainment?" You nod. "I mean, anything is better than studying for socials, so if I were you, I would go."

"You say that because you want to bump into an idol, don't you?"

"If you meet Twice, could you ask them to autograph something for me?" He says with a pout, making you laugh.

"I am not that lucky." You say and quickly start gathering your belongings to put them on your backpack. "You're meeting Injae later, right? I'll catch you up at the dorm?"

"Sure, I'll see you later."

With that being said, you start walking to the building. Even when your friend has invited you a couple of times already, you couldn't help but feel nervous. That weird feeling in your stomach and the tingling in your skin, like chills. Trying to ignore it, you pass by a nearby restaurant and order Sihwan's favorite food, carrying the bags carefully until you reach the entrance of the building.

After a few messages letting him know you're already there and a few more minutes of waiting, your friend greets you with a smile and a pat on your back, helping you with the bags in your hands and guiding you to the elevator. Unusual, but you don't say anything about it.

"I have more work than usual today, I hope you don't mind eating in my studio."

"You won't get in trouble?" You ask, feeling concerned, but he only denies with his head as he presses a button.

"Don't worry, it's fine."

You silently follow him, trying to not look at anyone in the eyes when you walk through the hall, all the way to the studio. Anyway, no one seems to be aware that you are a regular college student. Lots of people work in there and it's hard to keep track of everyone in there.

"Come in, seriously, it's okay." He chuckles by seeing how you look around and slowly walk inside. "I've been working on the melody and guide for a new group these past hours."

The door is closed and Sihwan sits on the office chair and signals the sofa behind it for you to do the same.

"You brought food from that new restaurant down the street? Sweet." He says and opens the bag, placing the food containers on the wooden table between you two. "I've been starving."

"Working for a new group, you said?" You ask with interest, grabbing what you ordered for yourself and start eating as well.

Sihwan nods, "A girl group, they've been working hard and will debut soon, I hope you can listen to them."

"I am kinda old school, but for you I can do it, I guess..."

You two continue having a conversation about music and how you've been doing at college while sharing food. The last time you met with him was a couple of months ago, so the conversation keeps going for a while until he decides it's time to go back to work.

"Well, in that case I'll leave you. I've got to go back to study too." You say as you stand up and clean the desk.

"Mmh, okay. Thanks for this, how about we go have dinner next week? It's gonna be on me."

"Sounds great to me. Text me the details later?"

"Sure thing." He promises and smiles. "You know how to get back, right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. See you!"

As soon as you step out of the studio, you look around to make sure no one is walking in the hall, so you almost run to the elevator, not expecting that someone would bump into you as they exit one of the offices.

You fall to the ground and start apologizing immediately, feeling embarrassed.

"I am so sorry, I didn't see you." You hear them saying.

"No, I am sorry, I shouldn't have ran here." You say, and as you try to stand up, they're extending their hand to you to help you up.

You take the help and do a reverence as a thank you and clean the invisible dust on your clothing, and as you're about to walk to the elevator, their voice stops you.

"Y/N L/N?"

You stop on your tracks and finally have the courage to stare at them in the eye and realize that it's a guy, and a very handsome one, you must add. Your legs tremble at the sight, clearly stunned by seeing someone so good-looking. Your immediate thought is that he's an idol or trainee.

"Uh, do we know each ot-?"

Your question is interrupted as he shows you his wrist, and that's when you see it clearly. Your name tattoed on his skin.

"I am Hwang Hyunjin... your soulmate."

You're at the loss of words. The only thing you can do is get lost in his eyes staring back at you, looking for whatever to say, but the situation feels unreal. It's like your body is frozen.

"Hey, Hyunjin, is everything okay out there?" A third voice coming from the office brings you back down to earth.

"I am sorry, I gotta go." You quickly say the second he is distracted, running as fast as your legs allow it and get in the elevator, pressing the bottons and seeing him run in the hall one last time before the doors finally close.

You exit the building and walk to the bus stop, looking back from time to time only to realise that Hyunjin has not followed you. With your heart beating like crazy and your hands shaking you get to text Jeonghan to let him know you were on your way back to the apartment and that you had big news. He was definitely not going to believe it.

"Ow! What was that for?" You groan as Jeonghan grabbed a pillow and threw it to you.

"You just ran away?!"

"I panicked, okay? You can't put the blame on me for that!"

"With all due respect, you're an idiot." He sighs. "You met your soulmate and just ran, oh god... What are you going to do?"

"Uhh... nothing?"

Jeonghan grabs the pillow again just to throw it at you, but your hands stop him.

"Okay, okay, I'll do something about it. I'll go see him again!"

"That's a big lie, you say that as if I don't know you." He rolls his eyes.

"Yes, I am a coward. I don't know what should I do, help me." You say with a pout.

"Your friend? He may know him, don't you think?" He states as if it's so obvious.

"Ooh, you're right! I am going to have dinner with him next week, I can ask him..."

"See? It's like the universe is conspiring for you to meet again... Properly meet, I mean."

You stop listening to him as he starts complaining and making fun of the way you reacted earlier. Your mind is now finding a good way to reach out to him.

"...And I could finally finish that song." Sihwan says with a grin and takes a sip of his beverage. "I was practically isolated and had no proper human contact for a while, so thanks to our talk and delicious food I could finish in no time after that."

You giggle, "Really? Then I am happy I could be helpful, don't forget to add me on the credits."

He laughs at the joke and continues talking, "You didn't get caught on your way out, right?"

"Well... about that."

"Wait, are you serious? Did you get in trouble?" He asks, concerned.

"No, no! It's just that... Do- do you know Hwang Hyunjin?"

It's now or never.

Sihwan seems to think about it for a second, feeling confused. "Yeah, I mean, our team is not working with them, but I've talked to him and his group a couple of times. Why? You ran into him?"

"Yeah, but also..." You lift the sleeve of your shirt, letting him see the name written on your skin.

"No way! Really?" He says with a big smile. "Hell, congratulations! How- wait, why don't you look happy about it?"

"Because I panicked and ran away before I could say something to him." You say and hide your face behind your hands out of frustration. "I need your help, hyung."

"Okay," He chuckles. "Of course, what can I do to help?"

You sigh and take out a folded paper from the pocket of your ripped jeans, looking at it for a second before handling it to your friend. "Could you give this to him?"

Sihwan takes it and nods. "Of course, I'll give it to him as soon as I can."

Now all you have to do is wait.

You plop down in the sofa and stare at the screen of your phone for the millionth time today, feeling hopeless at this point. It has been one week since you asked Sihwan to give that letter to Hyunjin, and ever since, you couldn't help but wait for a message from him, or even a call, despite you don't knowing what would you even say.

"Hmm, you haven't heard anything from him?" Jeonghan asks and sits next to you. You deny with your head and sigh. "Maybe he's busy. I heard his group is going to do a comeback soon."

"A what, now?" You ask, and your friends looks as you in disbelief.

"Don't tell me you haven't looked up for him on internet. I mean, he was in JYPE for a reason."

"Uhh..."

"Oh my god, I swear you are..." He doesn't finish his premise. Instead, he takes the phone from your hands and looks up for his name on the web. "Stray Kids, you didn't look up for him? I can't believe this, are you even on social media?"

"Shut up, let me see this."

You quickly read their information, going directly to the names and pictures of the members, quickly finding Hyunjin and realizing your friend is right. How come you didn't think of it?

"Oh yeah, here says they're releasing an album in a few days..."

"Told you." He murmurs. "Are you still going to wait for him to text you?"

"Do I have another option? I don't think I can go around the building just looking for him, even if I am with Sihwan."

"Hmm, you're right. I hope you can talk soon, though. Imagine this: you and Hyunjin together, we become friends and he gives me a tour in JYPE to meet Twice."

You roll your eyes and stand up, "You're being delusional. I'll go to sleep now, goodnight!"

"That's rude!" He groans and sees you walk away. "I hope you panick and run away again next time you see him!"

The next morning when you wake up, the first thing you do is check your phone, and your heart almost stops when you see a new message from an unknown number.

You go clean your face and take a deep breath to gather the courage you needed to finally read the long-awaited message.

With trembling hands you unlock your phone and click on the notification.

It was no surprise to see how easy was to talk with him. You two started talking on regular basis, when he was free from his schedule and when you weren't studying, which happened really late at nights.

Soon, those thousands of messages became frequent phone calls and videocalls that lasted hours, and to say that you both trusted each other with your lives was an understatement. You were still getting used to the idea that your soulmate was an idol; and it was weird to see him constantly on the internet, as of course you started following every other fan account you found on social media. Hyunjin, on the other hand, was trying to be very supportive of your studies and kept sending you messages of encouragement as well as listening to your ramblings about your career and complaints about your professors.

"So you've caught feelings for him, right? It was about time, Y/N" Jeonghan says with a shrug. "I know some soulmates only work as friends and all that, but it was pretty obvious to me that you'd end up in a romantic relationship."

"Really?"

He nods and smiles. "Of course! Are you going to ask him out?"

"I was planning to, but what if he doesn't feel the same? What if he just sees me as the friend type?"

Jeonghan hums. "Well, I think it's gonna be okay. You're soulmates for a reason, don't you think?"

You hesitate to grab your phone and open the message bar, typing a question and hoping things will go well after pressing the send button.

"Hyun, is it okay if I ask you out?

Like, on a date?"

A few minutes later you receive an answer, needless to say, you didn't expect him to reply now, so you feel as if your heart is about to make a hole on your chest right now.

Hyun ♡

God, I was really hoping I wasn't the only one feeling this way.

Of course it's okay

I would love to go out on a date with you, Y/N ♡

You now feel at ease, the butterflies flying in your stomach and your body feeling so light as if you were floating. Is that how being in love feels like?

"He said he'd love to go on a date with me." You announce with a smile.

"See? There you go, my plan of meeting Twice soon is going awesome." He says and you give him a deathly glare. "I am kidding! But I have to say, who's smiling and blushing like a dumb right now?"

"Jeonghan!" You groan and grab a pillow to throw it at him, but he's quicker to stand up and walk away, still laughing.

Hyun ♡

Now you're not being shy, eh?

You won't run away from me when we meet?

You're the worst, you text back.

Hyun ♡

I may be

But I am your soulmate, so pretty much you can't get rid of me

He was right, but you were not intending to do that.

Because, now more than ever, you were sure things were meant to be this way. Right next to him forever.

#kpop x male reader #stray kids x male reader #stray kids x m!reader #skz x male reader #stray kids x reader #stray kids male reader #kpop x reader #kpop imagines #requested #hyunjin x male reader #hwang hyunjin #hwang hyunjin x reader #hwang hyunjin x male reader #soulmate au

404 notes · View notes

elizabeethan · 4 years ago

Text

Spaces Between Us Chapter 11: Strong

The hardships of real life separated them six years ago, and Emma has been struggling to put that fact behind her ever since. But then, only after she’s convinced herself that she’s moved on and that her new life is enough, Killian Jones comes back.

A Captain Swan Modern AU

A/N: Oh no my hand slipped and I posted early again

This chapter was hard to write, and it might be hard to read. Some heavy stuff happens so please take care of yourself and read the warnings! As always, if you need more information, please please message me.

***This chapter includes a scene containing descriptions of domestic violence. Please message me for more details if you need to***

Thank you, as usual, to my beta and friend @the-darkdragonfly, and to @donteattheappleshook and @xhookswenchx for listening to my ramblings and helping me figure out the plot to this <3

Read the Rest

Read on Ao3

Read my Other Stuff

~~~~

If there’s one thing Killian was not expecting when he woke up this morning, it was this. In fact, this has been the furthest thought from his mind for months. When Emma assured him that Henry is not his son, he believed her and forced himself to drop it.

He would gladly raise her child as his own, if she would allow him to do so. He would help them to escape her abusive husband, getting them out of the state entirely if he could, and he would act as a father figure to her boy.

But when she walks towards him in the hospital that afternoon, her eyes bloodshot and her face red and swollen as she cries some more, he hears the last thing he’d ever expected to hear.

��They want to do DNA testing,” she tells him softly, her voice croaking and rough in the aftermath of her violent sobs. “A… a paternity test.”

“Emma…” he tries, but nothing else will come out.

“I’m sorry. The pulmonologist says there's no way this is from him being premature. It’s really bad, and he says it’s got to be genetic.”

“I know, love, but… I just thought…”

She's silent for a moment, and it’s as if she doesn’t even want to try and speak. Finally, she inhales deeply and forces out her explanation.

“The weeks before you left, we were fighting all the time. And then we would have sex to numb how much it hurt, and the whole time, I mean… I was bad about taking my pill. And once you left I was still bad about it, but… if I got the date of conception wrong…”

He nods, though he’s having trouble understanding her as the world feels blurry still. Despite his confusion, though, he runs his hands up and down along the length of her arms. “He’s still so small, though.”

“He was five pounds, eight ounces when he was born. Which is tiny, but Dr. Whale said that a stressful pregnancy can impact birthweight. And… I mean, I spent my pregnancy with Walsh. I lost you.”

Taking her hands in his, he squeezes and begs her to look into his eyes before he pulls her bottom lip from between her teeth and wipes away the tiny trace of blood left behind. “Love, are you sure about this?”

He watches as she begins to break again, the tears immediate and her breathing quickening until he pulls her in for a tight hug. “If this is true-- if you’re his dad-- that means I put him through this for no reason. What kind of a mother does that make me?”

Although he’s overcome with confusion and a difficulty accepting what seems more and more likely to be the truth, he’s also overcome with the need to comfort her. So he shushes her gently, kissing her head, and whispers, “you're the best mother in the world to him, my love. You did everything you could to protect him. If this is true, we can leave, and I'll be the best father I can to him. Together, we’ll make up for what he’s been through, I promise.”

“I don't want to do this to you,” she cries, and although she grips him tightly, he can feel her pulling away. “I don’t want to put you through this.”

“There’s nothing I want more than to be a family with you and Henry. Even if he isn’t my son, I'm going to get you out of Storybrooke and I'm going to treat him like he is.”

She holds onto him for a while, letting her breathing even out and probably deciding whether he’s telling the truth, and he considers the weight of their situation. He never thought he would be a father. Once things ended with Emma, he thought it was over for him and that he would never move on and be happy enough to start a family with anyone else. Then, when he found her again and with a child of her own, he thought he would at least be happy enough raising someone else’s son if it meant being with her. When she so firmly and believably insisted that he did not father her son, he believed her and tried his best to move on.

Now that the possibility is dangled in front of him once more, he isn't sure he can survive the heartbreak of being proven wrong once again.

But when he thinks about the lad who has Killian’s mother’s eyes and Emma’s round cheeks and an attitude that couldn’t possibly be inherited from such a horrible man, his heart clenches in his chest and he can’t bear to not know. He can’t go through life without knowing whether this child is his. He wants him to be his so very badly. And even if he isn’t… he may as well be.

“What do we need to do, love?” he finally asks, giving her assurance that he’s in this with her no matter what they find out.

She sniffles, looking up at him with glassy red eyes and asks, “are you sure?” and he nods with firm resolve and a soft smile. She returns it and explains, “they can do a paternity test right now. I can pay for rapid results and find out in a few hours.”

Brushing the hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear, he nods again and leans down to kiss her despite the fact that they're in public. They're hidden in a quiet hallway, but the possibility that anyone can walk in on them in each other’s arms is real. “I’ll pay.”

“Killian, no--”

He cuts her off with another kiss, this one more heated, and then says, “I’ll pay. However the results come back, I want to be here for the lad. I’ve missed five years already, let me start making that up now.”

She sighs and kisses him now, holding him as close to her as she can as she cradles the back of his head in her hands. “Should we talk about what this means?” she asks softly, voice barely above a whisper in the quiet hall.

“All it means is that a part of me may have been with you all along. I can take comfort in that. It means I have a reason for being so fond of your son, other than him being your son. It means there’s hardly any reason for us to be apart ever again.”

“Aside from my potential murder,” she jests, although it feels heavier than any joke should.

“Hush,” he quiets. “I told you I'm not letting anything happen to you and I meant it. We’re going to get this sorted out now, alright?” She nods, her nose running along his cheek. “Now, are they going to stab me with a needle, or can they simply swab my cheek?”

With a snort, she asks, “what, you can handle a bunch of tattoos, but a bit of blood work is too much for you?”

“Oy,” he argues, tickling her playfully until she giggles and buries her face in his neck. “I’ll do anything for that lad, I swear. Just… a cheek swab is a bit less uncomfortable.”

“I’m sure a cheek swab would’ve been less uncomfortable than 39 hours of labor, too.”

“Alright,” he concedes. “Come, now. Let’s find out the level of torture I’m about to endure.”

~~~~

It’s hours of sitting behind the desk, torturously staring at the clock and willing it to turn to 8 pm so she can leave. Tink doesn’t deserve this shift; it’s a complete waste of a day, and hardly anything exciting has happened. One would think that the emergency department at a hospital would be more busy, but Storybrooke is a small and sleepy town. The only thing that’s happened today is a little boy getting checked in for his asthma, and if nothing transpires with what was discovered after he was admitted, it’ll feel like a wasted shift.

As if his ears were burning, the elevator opens to reveal something very exciting indeed: the mayor. He hurries towards her, leaning over the desk with a sense of urgency that Tink suspects is purely for attention and votes. “I’m looking for Henry Oswald,” he insists.

She blinks at him and cocks her head, turning to her computer for show, although she already knows what’s about to happen. “Do you have ID?” she asks when she sees the kid’s chart, concealing her smirk.

The mayor grumbles something about her not knowing who he is and the slightly sadistic side of her cackles. The cackling gets louder when she takes his ID and shakes her head, giving him a falsely apologetic look. “I’m sorry, sir, I can only allow family into his room.”

His face is nearly unreadable, but she sees the way his eyes widen threateningly when he asks, “excuse me?” in a deceptively calm tone.

Not falling for his playacting, she repeats, “only family is allowed in the room at this time.”

“I’m his father,” he insists.

Tink shakes her head. “Not according to his chart, sir. The name on your ID does not match the name listed here.”

“Let me see that.”

“I can’t, sir, it’s a confidential medical record. Only his parents are allowed to see his information.”

He slams his hands against the desk and shouts, “I’m his father! What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Honestly, Tink should work on her tendencies to rile people up. But when she heard about the drama with the mayor’s son not actually being the mayor’s son, she was sort of hoping this would happen. She didn’t vote for him, anyway. “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to lower your voice and take a step back.”

“I’m not lowering anything until you let me see the kid!”

“Sir, I’ll have to have you escorted out by security,” she insists, pressing the button under her desk discretely and watching the security guards rush into the waiting area.

The mayor shouts in anger as he’s hauled away, threatening to sue the hospital and insisting that Tink is infringing on his rights as a father. She smiles softly at the image she saw earlier, of a small boy sleeping away in his big bed and his father diligently guarding him from his firm, uncomfortable chair.

~~~~

Killian wanted to go for her after finding out the truth about Henry-- the fact that Walsh isn’t his father and Killian is-- but she was terrified of leaving him alone for even a second without the protection of the sheriff, so she insisted on going. He didn’t take that lying down and made her promise to stay in the hospital where it’s safe, so when he fell asleep in the hard folding chair, she kissed his forehead and snuck out of the room and down to his car.

It’s strange how easily she’s been able to accept the events of the day. It started with her having a mental breakdown over her husband’s maltreatment of both herself and her son, and has evolved into her feeling a sense of completion. Things are starting to feel right. Her life is falling into place.

Killian is Henry’s father.

She can continue to stress over the fact that she was too consumed by the pain of losing him to even consider the possibility later, but for now, she focuses on getting as many of Henry’s things as she can and stashing them in Killian’s squad car before she goes back to the hospital to be with her son. Killian can bring all of his stuff to his apartment later, so that she doesn’t waste any more time being away from him or being in this damn house.

She smiles as she grabs his favorite stuffed animal, Mr. Quackie, and pushes it into his small backpack before reaching for his nebulizer and placing that inside as well. She grabs Goodnight Moon and his favorite copy of Henry and Mudge, and just as she’s reaching for the rest of his clothes that she has laid out on his bed, she hears the front door slam.

In a panic, she shoves his clothes into the duffle bag as quickly as she can and zips it up, but she isn’t sure how she’ll be able to leave the house without him knowing. The squad car is parked outside, and while she was initially worried about taking it for fear of Killian getting into trouble, she’s glad she has it now. Maybe if he thinks the Sheriff is here, he won’t do anything. Maybe she can climb out the window without being seen, sneaking back in the front to grab the keys from the kitchen and making a break for it. She doesn’t need any of her own things, just the contents of the small backpack slung over her shoulder.

Just as she makes the rash decision to head out the window, hoping that the roof below the second story will be enough to ease her to the ground, she feels a hand on her shoulder yanking her back inside until she’s on her back and looking up. She’s never seen him look so angry-- she’s never seen anyone look so angry. He glares down at her through fury and rage and she fears what’s to come.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asks simply, seething through his teeth as she gulps and attempts to stand. He stops her by pressing the toe of his boot, still wet from the snow outside, to her forehead. “I said what the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Um--”

“I just left the hospital. The school called, and when I got there, they said only Henry’s family can go into his room.”

She tries not to dwell on the fact that the school called him because she knows that they were required to do so. She also tries to ignore the fact that he waited almost eight hours before going to the hospital to look for Henry, able to put the thoughts of anger out of her mind and replace them with relief at him not being the father of her child. All she can do now is gulp and stare up at him in anticipation for what he might do to her.

He removes his boot and lets her stand, and just when he steps to the side and she’s tricked into thinking that he may let her leave, he throws her onto the small bed and screams, “his family?! How convenient is it that the hospital thinks someone else is Henry’s father?”

“Walsh,” she tries, but he’s on her before she can go on, pressing his forearm to her throat to silence her with just enough force for it to hurt.

“And now you're here, in the sheriff’s car,” he hisses, spit spewing across her face as he berates her. “If you tell me he isn’t mine-- if you stuck me with this life for six miserable years for absolutely no reason-- I will fucking kill you right here.”

She lets out a sound that should indicate the damage he’s doing as he increases the pressure of his hold, and he lets go only long enough to replace his arm with two hands. He squeezes hard until she starts to see stars, clinging her hands to his wrists in an attempt to claw him away from her and open up her airways again. Instead of letting go, he lifts her by the neck and throws her back down against the bed with more force than she knew was possible. He screams some more, but her world is going dark and she can’t make out a word he says to her.

Her lips start to feel numb at the pressure he applies. Her eyes feel like they’re going to pop out of her skull. Her desperate movements at his hands weaken, and she truly believes that he means to kill her. He means to end her life as punishment for falsely saddling him with fatherhood. She has the realization that she’s about to pass out and probably die, and then sees her son’s face flashing before her eyes and is reminded of why she’s here. Not just why she’s in his room gathering his things, but why she’s here on this earth. What purpose she serves as a person.

She’s a mother.

No one can take that from her.

No one.

She lifts her hands from his, finding one last grain of strength, just enough to plunge her pointer fingers into his eyes and make him scream in painful anguish as he finally releases his hold on her. She takes the deepest breath she ever has and ever will again, and feels more sympathy for Henry than she ever has before because nothing has ever been scarier than wanting to inhale and being incapable of doing so.

Walsh cries out, swearing at her and calling her names before he throws her onto the floor, causing her to lose the wind in her lungs once more. But she’s committed to fighting back now, and she won’t let him win, so she kicks him hard between his legs so that he falls beside her and then moves to stand herself.

Grabbing the small backpack, the one that at least has his nebulizer in it, she feels Walsh's hands grabbing for her ankles as she starts to run. She makes it down the stairs and grabs the keys off of the counter, wishing she had just kept them with her, when he cuts her off. He raises the stakes, too, because he’s standing three feet from her with a gun she had no idea he owned and a wild, murderous glint in his eyes.

“Are you gonna shoot me?” she asks, her throat and neck burning as she speaks.

“I really, really want to.”

“What about your reelection?” she taunts.

“Fuck you.”

She glances around the room as she stares down the barrel of his gun, and realizes she isn’t scared. It’s the icing on the cake, the fact that he’s had a gun in the house that her five-year-old lives in the entire time and never bothered to tell her. She’s furious.

So she picks up the crystal vase on the counter and he laughs, asking what she’s going to do with it when he’s standing there with a gun to her head, and she tosses it at him. It’s his grandmother’s, and he wouldn’t dare let a family heirloom shatter, so he drops the gun and catches the vase. She grabs his golf club as she runs by the bag he’d left by the entrance of the kitchen, holding it like a bat as he turns to face her again.

“You’re not his dad,” she confirms finally, her strength giving way to the cocky attitude that she’s been wanting to give him for months. Years. “The sheriff is. And I’ve been fucking him for months.”

He growls in the back of his throat, grumbling something about her being a bitch, and rushes her foolishly. She swings the golf club with all of the force that she possesses and knocks him and the crystal vase to the ground, taking a deep grounding breath when he remains still, and then hurrying towards the door.

~~~~

She parks outside of the sheriff’s station, unsure of what to do next. She knows he can’t do anything to her here, and she doesn’t want to go to the hospital where Henry could see her. She also doesn’t want to let Killian see her like this, because he was right all along.

She always thought that a part of Walsh must've loved her, just a bit. She thought that he would never hurt her, because she’s his wife, and that’s just not how things are done. Killian was right, and she should have known better.

She remembers hearing a statistic in college, back when she wanted to be a social worker, about how battered women are in the most danger when they try to leave their abuser. She never for a second saw herself becoming a statistic.

~~~~

The sheriff’s car had been parked outside for twenty minutes before Deputy Ruby Lucas decided to take a peek and investigate why he wasn’t coming inside. When she finally does look, she sees something she would never have expected.

Of course, she figured out they were having an affair pretty easily. It’s not like they were being discreet about it, after all. But Ruby never suspected that the sheriff would lend his town-appointed vehicle to his mistress.

She likes the mayor’s wife well enough, even more so upon finding out how little she regards her husband. The man’s an absolute terror and she’s never liked him, and always struggled with how someone could possibly have found enough good in that man to marry him. Of course, finding out that Emma doesn’t actually like her husband very much was a bit of a pleasant surprise.

She taps on the window on the drivers side and the woman inside jumps, staring up at Ruby with wide eyes filled with terror. “Are you alright?” Ruby asks her through the glass, and she watches as Emma grimaces as she turns her head to face forward again. Suddenly and with great clarity, Ruby’s astute deputy skills kick into gear as she notices a deeper-than-normal shadow on the woman’s neck and realizes what’s happening. “Where’s the sheriff?” she asks.

Emma says, “the hospital,” although her voice is rough and sounds strained.

Ruby wants to turn on her flashlight and take a better look at the woman before her, but thinks better of it so as to not spook her. She leans down so that she’s more on her level and says, “can you come inside with me? We can call him.”

She watches as the frightened woman reaches her hand up to her neck and cringes away from her own touch before undoing her seatbelt and exiting the car, her eyes wide and fearful as she looks around the empty parking lot.

Ruby has never seen someone look so terrified in all her years as deputy.

~~~~

If you want me to add you to or remove you from my tag list please let me know!

Tagging: @courtorderedcake @kmomof4 @stahlop @klynn-stormz @laschatzi @emelizabeth88 @lfh1226-linda @kday426 @elisethewritingbeast @timeless-love-story @captain-emmajones @gingerpolyglot @ebcaver @ilovemesomekillianjones @teamhook @superchocovian @itsfabianadocarmo @tiganasummertree @gingerchangeling @jrob64 @onceratheart18 @xhookswenchx @winterbaby89 @swampmedusa @ultraluckycatnd @dancingnancyy @love-with-you-i-have-everything @shireness-says @snowbellewells @hollyethecurious @ouatpost @daxx04 @the-darkdragonfly @donteattheappleshook @therooksshiningknight @eeteeaytay @xsajx @itsfridaysomewhere @alexa-fangirl-forever @jonesfandomfanatic @wefoundloveunderthelight @qualitycoffeethings @rapunzelsghosts @spaceconveyor

#captain swan #captain swan fanfic #cs ff #spaces between us #spaces ff #cs ff au #captain swan au #modern au #tw domestic violence #tw dv #tw #cs angst

48 notes · View notes

winryofresembool · 4 years ago

Text

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 32

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: At Waystation (again) and a bit elsewhere too

A/N: We're (finally) getting closer to the end of the 'Waystation arc'. I don't think I have that much to say about this chapter, but I'd like to dedicate it to Cecid as a late birthday present, because she has really kicked my butt to continue this story!

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!! It's super important (<- Lizzie Bennet Diaries reference)

(Ps. Fellow Europeans, vote for Finland in ESC!!!)

Words: 2950

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / AO3

...

The silence that fell into the room after Leo stormed out got more and more overwhelming until finally, Calypso couldn’t take it anymore. She could feel the two women and their daughter stare at her, but they were too astounded to say anything.

“I… I don’t understand what I did wrong,” Calypso mumbled eventually. “They were just matches. I didn’t mean that he should use them immediately; it was just my way of trying to tell him that I believe he can get over his fear one day.”

The women exchanged dark looks.

“Georgie, could you play with Festus outside for a moment? He looked like he needed to burn some energy,” Emmie suggested, wanting to get the girl out of the hearing distance.

“Ugh, fine,” Georgie pouted because she would have preferred admiring her gifts, but left anyway.

Once she was gone, Jo sighed. “About what just happened… you did nothing wrong, Calypso. It’s just…” She stopped to contemplate her next words. “Christmas is always a hard time for Leo. He tries his best to participate and make his jokes and all that, but his eyes betray him. He’s just… not there.”

“I want to understand…” Calypso stepped closer to Leo’s mothers. “Did something happen to him on some Christmas?”

“Yes, you could say that,” Emmie replied sadly. “Leo’s mother died on Christmas day several years ago.”

Calypso’s eyes widened as she understood what Emmie was trying to say.

“Oh gods… And she died in a fire, right? He did mention it once… No wonder he didn’t want to touch the matches, especially today.”

“Yes,” Emmie confirmed. “She did die in a fire. But there’s more to it. Leo probably wouldn’t want me to tell you this but in this situation it might be better that you know: he blames himself for the fire.”

“I probably shouldn’t ask, but… why?” Calypso asked, feeling more sickened every moment as she pictured a young boy mourning his mother and his home. “What happened?”

“We have only gotten some bits and pieces from here and there, but it seems the fire most likely started from some papers he had left near a fireplace. Accidentally, of course, but he doesn’t see it that way,” Jo sniffed. Suddenly Calypso realized that Leo’s pain must have hurt his family more than he probably even realized. They really cared about him a lot… She couldn’t help but feel just a tiny bit jealous because at least Leo had people supporting him. But she quickly pushed that unnecessary thought aside.

“That’s awful… I guess he’s afraid that he might accidentally make something like that happen again and that’s why he doesn’t want fire near him.” Calypso knew the fear of hurting someone she cared about and the guilt all too well. She would never forget the flashing lights and the loud crash that followed. Her nightmares made sure of that.

“Yes, it’s likely he feels that way. Since he moved here, he’s been seeing a therapist every once in a while but it’s clear he’s still a work in progress. He doesn’t talk about his mother a lot to us either. Just when we ask something general, and even then the answers are usually quite short.”

Bitterly, Calypso thought that was how she acted when someone brought up her family.

“I realize now that the matches were a big mistake,” she finally said. “I wish there was something I could do… I hate just watching helplessly when someone I… um...” She stopped mid sentence when she realized what she was about to reveal too much.

“Just be there for him,” Emmie suggested, luckily ignoring Calypso’s stuttering. “Despite everything, I think he’s still shown good progress the past few months. Sometimes time and patience and care can do amazing things.”

“Yeah. I think you are right there.” Calypso agreed. She herself had asked her friends, including Leo, to be patient with her as well. It was only fair she’d do the same with him.

“And Calypso?” Emmie eyed her worriedly. “Remember to take care of yourself as well.”

Calypso didn’t understand how the woman had seen through her that well. There was no way she could know what was going on in her mind because she hadn’t told even Leo everything. And Emmie and she had only known each other for a couple of days so far.

“I… sure. I will try my best!” she promised, instead of questioning Emmie’s comment.

“Good. I can’t say I know you all that well yet but know that people who are important to Leo are important to us.”

For a moment Calypso imagined what it would be like to have a mother like that. For some reason the thought made her emotional. “Thank you. You are so kind.”

“No, just doing what’s necessary. Now, I suggest you go and get dressed for the day and do what else you need to do; we might need some help with lunch soon. Besides, Georgie might need some supervision because she gets hyper when she eats too much chocolate. Funny how she and Leo are not biologically related but they still have a lot in common,” Emmie ended with a slightly amused remark.

Calypso did notice that she didn’t say anything about trying to find Leo, but she understood. He probably wanted to be on his own for a moment, and she’d respect that. Hopefully she’d get to talk to him eventually, but until then it was better to try to do something helpful rather than spend the whole day worrying. But even while she was doing her morning chores, she could still see Leo’s angry eyes when he saw her gift in her mind.

…

Leo didn’t know where he should go so he just followed his instinct. He didn’t want to hide inside; the pictures from his nightmare were still too fresh in his mind and he needed to be somewhere where he could breathe fresh air. As he was crossing the yard, Festus tried to follow him, and he wagged his tail cheerfully to make his favorite human happier, but this one time Leo didn’t want his company. He apologized to the dog and told him that he’d take him for a walk after getting his thoughts cleared.

He kept walking until finally, he reached a certain park where he and Jason used to jog often. Seeing a log bench on the side, he decided to sit down for a moment. Someone had made a campfire nearby earlier and Leo glared at the remaining ashes like they were the reason for all his troubles. He could feel the panic rise up his throat as he was reminded of the fire again, but he challenged himself to stay there for at least a moment. Finally, he sighed.

He knew he had totally overreacted to Calypso’s gift. Surely she had meant good but she didn’t know why fire and Christmas were not a good combination when it came to Leo. If he had just ignored the matches, nothing would have happened. Now he’d have to explain to her why he had freaked out like that and that wouldn’t be easy.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been staring into nothing when he suddenly felt a knock on his shoulder. Having not heard anyone arrive, he startled at the touch, but quickly recovered when he recognized the newcomer.

“Pipes! What brings you here?” he exclaimed, briefly noticing that her brown hair was now shorter than it had used to be and somehow her whole demeanor seemed a bit different. He attempted to put on a smile for her but he knew he was probably failing.

“Funny, I was gonna ask you the same question,” Piper noted, sitting down next to Leo. “I thought you would be at Waystation with your family. It’s Christmas day, after all.”

“Oh, yeah, I was there.” Piper raised her eyebrow so he quickly added: “You know me; this holiday and I don’t exactly walk hand in hand so I needed to get out for a moment.” Leo hoped that would be a sufficient explanation. She did know what had happened to his mother, even if not to the full extent.

“But Calypso was there with you. I thought that would cheer you up,” Piper pointed out.

“Funny you should say that,” Leo chuckled, although there was nothing amusing about the situation. “If you wanna know the truth, I’m kind of trying to escape from her right now.”

“You’re trying to escape…” Piper repeated with confusion. “Why? What happened? I thought things were going fine between you two. Especially after what happened after the party…”

“Not everything is how it looks to outsiders, Pipes,” Leo stopped her. “Things haven’t been amazing lately. I mean, in many ways. Yeah, I like her and somehow she also likes me, apparently. Yeah, I know, pretty unbelievable.”

Piper gave him her best ‘wow, you’re really breaking the news there, Leo’ look. He didn’t get disheartened, though, instead continuing: “But we have, um, decided that we shouldn’t get together for various reasons so we’ve been trying to find some kind of a golden mean where we can still continue being friends but it hasn’t been working out that well. One sec we are at each other's' throats for whatever stupid reason, and the next we’re acting all flirty and ignoring the rules we set. I was hoping that this Waystation visit would give us a chance to get to know each other better in an environment where we have others around us… And I think it was actually working for a while. I feel more comfortable there, and I think she was feeling more comfortable too… But today I went and messed things up again.”

“What did you do?” Piper sighed disapprovingly.

“I may or may not have gotten mad about her Christmas present,” Leo confessed finally, cringing because he realized how bad it sounded.

“Oh, Leo…” Piper shook her head. “Why would you get mad about something like that? You’re not usually someone who’d get mad that easily.”

“Yeah… I know I’m not, but… I had a pretty rough day to begin with. Not that that’s anything new to me, but…”

“But what?” Piper inquired.

“I saw a nightmare about my mom’s death right before I woke up. I was still kinda on the edge when we were opening the presents so when I saw the matches…”

“She gave you matches?” Piper tilted her head slightly as she was trying to figure out what Leo was saying.

“Yeah,” Leo shrugged. “To be clear, though, they were only a part of the present. She had made me a real nice tool belt, probably way better than any of those that they sell in some stores. The matches were in one of the pockets. And now I can see you’re gonna say: ‘well, maybe she just wanted you to try to get over your fear’, and maybe you’re right, but the timing…”

“You have not told her about the anniversary,” Piper concluded. “I’m sure you have figured out by now that you can’t blame her for something she didn’t know about. That’s not fair.”

“I know that!” Leo exclaimed. “I’m not really blaming her; I just overreacted! But how will I explain that to her? ‘Sorry I yelled at you; I just happened to burn my entire house 11 years ago today so I’m not exactly fond of fire right now?’”

“You know what I’m thinking?” Piper interrupted Leo’s unhealthy thought process. He didn’t answer. “I think you two have some serious communication issues. I know that Calypso isn’t good at opening about her past, and she has also admitted to me she has a tendency to push people back if she’s afraid they’re getting too close to her. But guess what, Leo? You’re the same. I’ve noticed that even though you’re kind of loud sometimes and you like to tell bad jokes…”

“Hey!” Leo protested.

“Shh, let me finish. My point is, you don’t often tell us what you’re really thinking. When you’re having one of your rougher periods, you withdraw into your workshop for days. All I’m trying to say here is that please talk to us. Specifically, talk to her. When she notices that you trust her enough to talk about something that personal, she might open up to you more as well. If she really likes you, she’ll understand.”

“Beauty Queen, I hate it when you see through me that well,” Leo muttered. “I dunno. I guess I’ll have to talk to her when I go back. If my moms don’t murder me first.”

“Nah. They wouldn’t. I mean, you may not get any presents next Christmas but that’s a small price to pay when you stormed out like that,” Piper teased him.

“You sure know how to make a man regret his bad deeds.” Leo rolled his eyes. “Anyway, we’ve established why I’m here right now but what about you? Shouldn’t you be with Jason or something?” Suddenly Piper didn’t seem as determined to scold Leo anymore.

“I… Jason and I are having a break.”

“A break? As in…?” Leo asked with confusion.

“As in a break,” Piper repeated more firmly. “What part of it you don’t understand? He and I are seeing if we are happier apart.”

Leo spent a moment taking the information in. “But I don’t get it. You guys have always been the most stable couple I’ve known. Why this kind of a decision all of a sudden?” He couldn’t say that he was entirely surprised by this piece of news after his talk with Jason before Christmas, but it still felt different to hear it from Piper. More final.

“I don’t think it’s all of a sudden. It’s been coming for a while now,” Piper confessed.

“Really? And you’re telling me only now?” Leo raised his eyebrow.

“It was something I needed to figure out on my own. Now, please don’t think I’ve just been playing with him, or something. I do love Jason. He’s my best friend. But… I’m starting to feel we’ve progressed too fast. That there’s a whole world out there for me to see that I missed because I was so busy getting together with Jason. I want to get to know who I am and where I really belong.”

“But… you have a house and everything together…” Leo said, suddenly feeling like a child whose parents were telling him they were breaking up, forgetting his own problems for a moment. “How are you gonna deal with that?”

“The plan is for now that we both keep living in our house until we make our final decision. I don’t want to go back to my dad and Jason would want to live with his dad even less. Of course it’s possible that we decide to continue our relationship, but if not, then we’re going to sell the house. But we are not rushing that. For now, we’re just trying to be friends, and not… exclusive.”

Leo was slightly relieved to hear that at least his best friends were still on speaking terms.

“Alright… if that’s what both of you want, then I’ll support it,” he said. “It’d suck to lose touch with either of you because of this.”

“Don’t worry,” Piper reassured him. “You won’t.” She ruffled his hair a little as if he was her little brother. “Everyone needs a Super-sized McShizzle in their lives, don’t they? It’d be pretty empty otherwise.”

Leo gave her a lopsided smile. “Glad you admitted that.”

“Anyway, enough about my boring relationship issues!” Piper decided to change the topic. “So, you told me Cal got you a tool belt and matches, but what did you give to her? It’s important, Leo.”

“You really think I’m gonna reveal it to you, Beauty Queen? I’m smarter than that,” Leo pointed out.

“I know what you did at our uni’s freshman party and I’m not afraid to tell it to Cal if I need to.” Piper winked at him in response.

Leo rolled his eyes. “Pshhh, that was freshman year. That excuses everything.”

“Alright, don’t tell me then.” Piper turned to leave.

“If you really must know,” Leo said before Piper got too far, “it was a jewelry box. With a bracelet in it. But it was not new so it wasn’t a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?” Piper asked with amusement. “You know things get serious when you give a girl a piece of jewelry.”

“Wait, what? For real?” Leo was shocked for a moment until he noticed Piper had a hard time not bursting into laughter. She was just messing with him. “OK, remind me to never tell you anything serious ever again.”

“You know you can’t resist my charm,” Piper chuckled. “Once you have forgotten what you just said, please tell me what really has happened at Waystation recently.”

Leo couldn’t help but shake his head at Piper’s enthusiasm but eventually started to tell her the whole story. He noticed that it helped him to forget about the negative thoughts for a moment so he didn’t really mind even though Piper had a tendency to be a bit pushy when it came to his feelings towards Calypso. And he assumed that Piper welcomed the distraction happily as well, because she must have felt conflicted about the whole Jason situation. When did things get so complicated, he wondered briefly before chuckling at his thoughts ironically. His life had never been simple. But even so, he would keep fighting. Because that’s what his mom would want, and that's what his family and friends would want.

#caleo #leo valdez #calypso #heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the olympians #trials of apollo #my fics #caleo uni au

16 notes · View notes

saiilorstars · 5 years ago

Text

Dare To Forget Me

Ch. 11: Rivalries

/ Story Masterlist /

Fandom: Law & Order SVU

Pairing: Rafael Barba x Original female character

Warnings: Due to the nature of the series’ plots, I do have to rate this as ‘mature’ for constant mentions of rape.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ` 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: Montserrat's and Rafael's childhoods come for them both in different ways.

'With only 12 days left until New York's mayoral election, the latest polls show state senator Alejandro Munoz still holding on to his lead. The time has come to fix our broken schools. The time has come to provide affordable housing for the hard-working people of the city. The time has come!'

"Ouch - Kara that hurt!" Montserrat scrunched her face after one particular strong hair pull from Kara's hands. "Are you even paying attention to what you're doing to my hair or are you watching TV?"

Kara pulled her hands from Montserrat's fiery orange hair and cheekily smiled behind Montserrat's chair. The two were in Kara's salon, before opening, and while Kara was attempting to try a new hair style using Montserrat, a lot of her attention seemed to be going towards the television up on the wall.

"I swear to God," Montserrat muttered as she decided to end this impromptu hair modeling gig by pulling out the bobby pins in her hair.

"Sorry, it's just elections are coming up and I wanna stay informed," the blonde hair stylist replied with, not even bothering to help Montserrat undo a knot on her hair. "My vote's going to Muñoz for sure. What about you?"

"Don't know, don't - OW!" Montserrat angrily glared at her reflection after feeling like she'd pulled skin off during the unknotting process.

Kara remained unfazed. "You don't know who you want for mayor?"

"Hasn't been on my radar yet but I've heard things about all parties. Can I go now?" Montserrat dropped the last bobby pin onto the salon table and turned to find Kara engulfed in her cellphone. "Nice to see the attention you give me."

Kara sarcastically rolled her eyes. "It's Damian. We were gonna get lunch but he's at your cousin's right now."

"What? Casey?"

"With Gael too," Kara put her phone in her back pocket. "Something about a client gone wrong? Issue? Not sure."

"Hm, I guess they're still having trouble. Maybe I can stop by," Montserrat said as she got up from her chair.

"What are you going to do? You're a cop not a lawyer!"

"Thanks, really. I haven't talked to Gael in weeks and I was meant to babysit his girls last week but he cancelled in a very short text," Montserrat turned to the mirror to fix her hair as best as possible. "I'll say hi to Damian for you."

"And while you're at it, remind him that he owes his little sister $20," Kara pointed in a serious, mocking, manner.

Montserrat playfully rolled her eyes. "Hair model is gone!" she announced as she swiped her purse off the table.

"But coming back!" Kara reminded because she certainly had more styles to try out and as it turned out, Montserrat had very smooth hair.

~0~

On her way towards the D.A's office, Montserrat heard the distinct voice of her partner calling her name. Montserrat paused and looked back to see Sonny speeding to catch up with her, with, due to his long legs, was done in a quick stride.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Montserrat asked him.

"Warrant," Sonny said the magic word that could answer almost everything.

"Case of Jamil?"

"We got him this time," Sonny promised then motioned Montserrat to walk ahead.

"I sure hope so cos I'd love to see the smirk get wiped off his face already," Montserrat thanked him for opening the door for her but as she was about to step in, she bumped into a man. "Sorry," she apologized dutifully.

"Oh don't worry about it, bonita," a familiar man responded with.

Montserrat stepped back, accidentally bumping into Sonny at the same time. "I know you," the redhead said within the second. "My roommate was talking about you earlier. Alex Muñoz, you want to be our mayor."

The man in question smiled the same charming smile Montserrat saw on the television. "Sounds like I got her vote. What about you?"

"I... don't know yet," Montserrat shrugged then looked up at Sonny behind her.

"Don't know either," he admitted.

"Psh, you'll vote for whoever Kara will," Montserrat waved him off, missing Sonny's face of offence when she looked back to Alex. "But I have to say I'm surprised a candidate for mayor is here…?"

"Just visiting an old friend," Alex left it brief.

"K, well, promise I'll do my research," Montserrat politely reached for the door again.

"If you need any help deciding, you can always call me," and the man surprised her with a small card. "Always happy to help a citizen, especially cuando toca ser una linda mujer."

Montserrat slowly took the card from him, eyes glued to Alex's returning smile. It was cocky no doubt even when he walked off.

"Okay, I skipped Spanish class a lot in highschool but I'm not that bad to miss the fact he just made a pass at me," Montserrat turned to face Sonny with a wide grin, close to laughing.

"You're so not voting for him," Sonny ushered her inside, instigating her full laughter.

"What? Why not? You're not actually thinking that being overprotective of your crush's roommate will score you some good grade points?" Montserrat leveled an amused glance his way, one that made him roll his eyes.

"I'm gonna go get that warrant," Sonny decided to avoid another teasing round which, thanks to Montserrat, the squad now partook in.

"Sure, sure," Montserrat waved him off and headed for Casey's office. She was only a couple feet away when the office door opened. Damian was the first to emerge, letting Montserrat notice his face expression. Whatever problem they were having didn't seem to be getting any better.

"Hey," Montserrat walked towards them, but the closer she got the better she could see Gael's grim face. "Woah, what problem have you two got?"

"None of your business," Gael snapped at the same time Damian had answered "It's just business".

Montserrat raised her eyebrows in confusion. "What the hell's your problem, Gael?"

"Seriously?" the older brother snapped again which only confused Montserrat even more. "You're asking me what's my problem after what you said about Dad?"

"Wait, you're actually mad about that?" Montserrat didn't know whether to laugh or not. It was plainly absurd. Though now she supposed it made sense why Gael cancelled her babysitting day.

"You said Dad was a bad parent-"

"-I did not say that!" Montserrat couldn't believe they were actually going to have this argument.

"Yes, you did!"

"No, I didn't!"

Damian looked back and forth between the siblings as their argument got louder and louder. He tried to cut in but it didn't work. It rarely did. And it just seemed to attract more people out from the offices.

"How could you be so insensitive towards Dad!?"

"How could you be so stupid!?" Montserrat mimicked her brother's tone without a care in the world. "This is why you didn't let me babysit the girls last week?"

"I was afraid you'd call me a bad father too," Gael promptly said, and it honestly became hard for Montserrat not to smack him right there.

"Would you quit being such a baby!? I didn't say anything about our father that wasn't true! But that doesn't mean I said he was a bad father!"

Casey flung open her office door and fixated an incredulous glare on her two cousins. "Would you two quiet it down?" her input only seemed to make things worse.

"No, I will not 'quiet it down'-" Gael mimicking Casey as well earned himself another glare from the woman, "-when my sister is being so ungrateful to our father!"

"I'M NOT!" Montserrat outright shouted, which then called forth her partner.

"Montse, what's going on?" Sonny emerged from Rafael's office, along with the ADA himself.

"The entire building can hear you," Rafael added.

Montserrat, frustrated, motioned them all to be quiet. "I'm not doing anything except defending myself from ridiculous accusations by my dear big brother!"

"You got a lot of nerve, Montserrat," Gael got face to face with his younger sister. "You want to call our father a bad parent when he worked his ass off to get both of us through? While Regina was out probably partying, he was there reading you stories and helping me with my homework-"

"-but I never said anything! And you know damn well that I know what Regina did."

"Well it doesn't seem like it-"

"-Gael-" Casey once again stepped in but the man went over her words anyways.

"-but of course you'd never understand. You're still thinking Mommy is coming back. You always thought that-"

"-screw you, Gael," Montserrat felt there was nothing left to say.

"Montserrat!" Casey hissed.

"Montse, why don't we head back to the station together?" Sonny made his own attempt as well.

"Yeah, go back to work and act like you didn't insult our father," Gael spat and finally moved around Montserrat to head for the exit.

"I'm so sorry," Damian felt like he needed to apologize to Casey at least for the siblings' brawl but it wasn't like Casey was new to it.

"We're good, go," Casey gave him the nod that it was alright for him to leave.

"No, we are not good!" Montserrat turned with the intention of catching up with her brother. "If he wants to talk about Regina then let's have it!" But of course she was stopped by both Sonny and Rafael. She fought the two for a bit before she finally backed off. "Taking his side?" she snapped at both of them.

"Easy there, Novak," Rafael pointed a finger at her to keep her from trying again. "You've got the whole building watching you."

"I don't care," she snapped. "If he wants to talk about Regina then I can do it."

"At another time," he snapped this time. "I'll find her myself if that'll shut both of you up."

That seemed to trigger her. "You know what, if you think you can find Regina Ramos then be my frikin guest because I haven't been able to find her in 25 years!" This particular spat startled Rafael due to the ferocity lacing her words. Even her expression had gone ballistic and he'd seen quite a lot of things in his line of work.

"Montserrat," Casey once again attempted to calm her cousin but Montserrat waved Casey off and took off in a storm.

"What the hell was that?" Sonny jerked a thumb over his shoulder, completely lost on the show they'd seen.

"What do you think? Another sister-brother brawl," Casey sighed. "How many siblings do you have again?"

Sonny playfully rolled his eyes. "My sisters and I have never argued like that."

"Who the hell is this Regina and why is she making such trouble?" asked Rafael. He'd certainly like to know why he'd garnered such a snap from Montserrat.

Casey knew what he was thinking and decided to answer only to clarify what Montserrat was dealing with. "Regina is Montserrat's and Gael's mother. She...sort of walked out on them when they were just kids." Casey sighed when she saw the sorrowful expressions on the men's faces. "And that's why Montse doesn't talk about that because she hated the pity faces she would get afterwards. She doesn't like talking about it, period. I mean, you guys got a firsthand look at what happens, and you-" she gestured at Rafael, "-got a firsthand taste."

"Wouldn't be the first time I accidentally probed where I shouldn't have," the ADA shrugged, though inside he was feeling a tad remorseful (which he didn't like one bit).

"I would just tread lightly," Casey parted with that warning and returned to her office.

"How the hell do we 'tread lightly' after that?" Rafael was left with an unanswered question.

"We take slow steps," Sonny decided it was as close to a proper answer as they could get to.

~0~

Montserrat practically stalked into her apartment that evening with a white paper bag in one hand, and a half eaten brownie in the other. Kara looked up from her dinner plate with a mouth full of spaghetti, one noodle in particular dangling below her chin.

"What's...wrong with...you?" Kara said while she swallowed the whole food in her mouth.

"My brother's an idiot," Montserrat spat and trudged into the living room to take her coat and shoes off. She stuffed her mouth with the remainder of her brownie. Kara watched her ginger roommate chuck the paper bag (aggressively one should add) to the couch before plonking down to take off her boots.

"Uh, my brother's an idiot too. All big brothers are. Didn't you get the memo?" Kara's light joke was met with a cold deadpanning look. "Okay. Um, I know I'm going to regret asking but shouldn't you be at work?"

"I asked Liv for a personal day. She's very understanding," Montserrat threw her boot across the living room, missing how Kara winced when the hell of one boot hit the television furniture piece. She then pulled her phone out of her back pocket and let it drop (not so gently) against the glass coffee table.

Kara feared for her furniture's safety. "Um, okay, so...would you like dinner…? I made spaghetti," she motioned to her plate which was half empty already.

"Since when?" Montserrat unceremoniously snorted. "You always complain how you never got that one."

"Sonny gave me a recipe," the blonde shrugged.

Montserrat shot her roommate a look. "You're trading recipes now?" but she decided in that second that she didn't even want to get into that potential romance that was sure to make her gag. "Never mind. No, I don't want dinner."

"Right, cos stuffing your face with brownies is the better way to go," Kara's sarcasm was once again responded with a cold glare. "What's going on, Montse?"

"You mean Damian didn't call? Not even Sonny?" Montserrat grabbed her paper bag and reached for another brownie.

"No...should I call one of them…?"

"Oh, right, like you need another reason to call Sonny - stop with that!" Montserrat pretended to shiver, making Kara roll her eyes, and took a bit of her new brownie. "Gael's still mad at me for what I said about our Dad leaving us alone sometimes. He thinks I actually called my father a bad parent."

"But I'm sure you didn't mean it like that-"

"-yeah, I know," Montserrat's sudden cut in sounded rude but Kara knew Montserrat needed to vent right now and this was how she did it. "He even went ahead and brought in Regina, like I don't know what she did to us."

Kara wouldn't even try to say anything about Regina Ramos. That topic had always been a delicate one that usually resulted in arguments between Gael and Montserrat. Their mother abandoning them as kids had left raw pain that hadn't really see any healing.

"Gael is an idiot. And more than that, he's…" Montserrat couldn't even finish without getting furious all over again. "We argued outside Casey's office and...we got loud."

"...how loud?" Kara raised an eyebrow, knowing well where this was headed.

"Pretty loud."

"Were there people?"

"...when we were finished…"

"Oh, Montse. How mad was Casey?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask her when I stormed out of there after threatening Sonny and Rafael."

"Oh Montse," Kara shook her head disapprovingly.

"Gael made me so mad!"

"That's not an excuse, that's just a sister-brother relationship," Kara dug her fork into her spaghetti. "Only now you're actually held responsible for your actions."

Montserrat hated when Kara was right. She just hated it. Thankfully, someone knocked on their door, preventing Kara from continuing with her lecture.

"It's probably the Andersons downstairs complaining about your stomping," Kara warned as Montserrat went up to answer the door.

"I've still got some colorful words left if you're interested," Montserrat said before opening the door. "Great, what are you doing here?" her initial whine made Kara lean to the side to try and see who was at the door. If it was Gael, she'd take cover for sure.

"Seriously, I don't get paid enough to be your partner," Sonny said with a straight face.

Montserrat deadpanned him but took his sarcasm to heart. He probably came around trying to see if she was okay, not for Kara nor for the sake of their work... but to be a friend. Those thoughts softened her expression and made her remember some politeness. "Come on in, Sonny."

"Careful, she bites when she's angry," Kara said while Montserrat shut the door.

"I come bearing gifts," Sonny raised his hand that held a white plastic bag.

"You didn't have to," Montserrat was now feeling exceptionally guilty for her behavior earlier in the day.

"After that kind of fight, yeah, I had to," Sonny held the bag for her to take.

"I heard plural which just makes me feel awful," Montserrat admitted as she rummaged through the bag. A smile came to her face when she caught whiff of the familiar peanut butter cannolis inside one box. "And I guess Kara gets to enjoy my guilty moment."

"Why?" asked the blonde in question. She scarfed down her spaghetti and looked in their direction.

"Peanut butter cannolis," was all Montserrat had to say for Kara to jump out of her seat.

"Sonny, you didn't!?" she zipped towards them and practically yanked the bag out of Montserrat's hands to see for herself. She squeaked when she confirmed the cannolis and suddenly planted a kiss on Sonny's cheek.

Montserrat nearly laughed when she saw how red Sonny had become in less than a minute. She honestly didn't think Kara even realized what she'd done.

"You better apologize to him right now," Kara wagged a finger at Montserrat.

Montserrat rolled her eyes but did know when it was time to give in. "I am sorry, Sonny. I got carried away and I...it was not the place."

"Look, I get it, siblings can be…" Sonny wouldn't even finish that sentence because they all knew what he meant. "I just hope you're feeling better about things. Casey told us about...your mom? She said few things-" he said quickly before Montserrat assumed the worst, "-and I want you to know that Barba and I understand you were in a...special type of moment."

"Very special moment…" Kara muttered under her breath.

"Shut up," Montserrat warned her. "Go eat your spaghetti already."

"You made spaghetti?" Sonny's attention was momentarily driven towards Kara. "Did you use the recipe I left you?"

"Of course," Kara smiled. "And it really was better than that frozen crap Montse buys."

"Hey," went the ginger with offence. Now it was Kara who motioned for silence. "I'm going to my room," Montserrat announced and snatched the cannolis from Kara's hands. "Thanks Sonny. And just so we're clear, Kara's not getting any."

"Rude," Kara frowned and watched her roommate go off into the hallway.

Sonny chuckled and offered to buy more another day. That perked Kara right up. Montserrat's phone started buzzing against the glass coffee table, cutting short Kara's beam.

"I really hope it's not Gael trying to continue the fight," Kara mumbled as she went to get the phone.

"Maybe he's calling to apologize?" Sonny offered another alternative but Kara shook her head.

"Looks like we're both wrong," she grabbed the phone off the table and waved the phone at Sonny, letting him see the caller ID on the screen. "Your friend's calling to check up on Montse, maybe?"

Sonny made a face that Kara found difficult not to laugh at. "Barba would never call to 'check up' on anyone."

"You came to check up on Montse, why can't Rafael do the same?"

"Because he just doesn't."

Kara's face clearly said that wasn't an answer.

"He doesn't do that sort of stuff, trust me," and that left Sonny wondering why Rafael would choose to do start doing it now.

"Hm, then Montse must be special enough to catch his attention," Kara made way for the hallway but the phone stopped buzzing. "But apparently I'm slow to help." She turned back with a disappointed expression.

"You might be right about the first thing," Sonny conceded as he thought back to the various moments of strange behaviors between Montserrat and Rafael. "But that could also be because she nearly had a kid in his courtroom."

Kara laughed. "One of Montse's finest moments. Whatever, if he meant to check up, he'll call again and this time I'll be ready." She bit her lip and looked back to the kitchen where her lonesome plate remained on the table. "I've made enough for two but it looks like Montserrat's already got dinner so...you want to stick around? Give me some feedback on the spaghetti."

"Okay," Sonny nodded. "But I doubt you got anything wrong. You're a good cook."

Kara chuckled. "I like to think that I am. C'mon, I'll get you a plate." She walked past Sonny and tucked Montserrat's phone in her back pocket to be on red alert in case Rafael were to call again. She probably should have given the phone to Montserrat but, truth be told, she was curious herself about her roommate and the ADA.

To her surprise (and Sonny's), Rafael did call again that night.

~ 0 ~

Montserrat gripped her coffee cup all the way to her desk. She saw Olivia and Nick heading out, probably to continue questioning their latest victim. She plonked down at her desk and went back to her paperwork which seemed to get bigger every time she paused to look.

"You sure you don't want to take a break?" Amanda stopped by her desk with Fin beside her. "Our comfy Chinese place is always open for a third guest."

Montserrat smiled at the two. "No, I'm good. I'll get lunch later."

"And I'll make sure she actually does," Sonny reassured since they learned fast that Montserrat tended to skip meals when she felt swamped by work.

"Your call," Fin nodded to Amanda towards the hallway.

"You are getting lunch, right?" Sonny asked after the other two were gone.

"Yes, at some point," Montserrat dug her nose into a particular file.

Sonny rolled his eyes and went back to work at his end. He paused, though, when he noticed Montserrat picking at her hair every minute or so. "What are you doing?"

Montserrat put her pen down and groaned. "Kara keeps using me as her hair model and today was apparently a big ole crown braid." Her ginger hair was picked up with a large-sized crown braid adorning her her head from ear to ear.

"It looks nice," Sonny's compliment was met with a loud scoff.

"You're only saying that because Kara made it."

"You know, not everything I do is dependent on Kara."

"Sure."

Sonny decided to just keep quiet from now on.

Fifteen minutes passed and Montserrat finished her coffee - or drowned it - so she got up for a refill.

"Sonny, you want one?"

"Nah, let's head out for lunch already," his suggestion flew over Montserrat's head as the ginger went to get more coffee.

Montserrat returned two minutes later, surprised that Sonny hadn't continued calling her name out. Of course when she saw him talking to Rafael she understood why.

"They went to go talk to her, I promise," Sonny insisted yet Rafael still looked rather doubtful. "We're doing what you asked, alright? You can call Liv right now to confirm if you want."

Montserrat awkwardly cleared her throat as she neared her desk, gaining both men's attention. "Are we finished…?"

"You're one to talk," Rafael scoffed, but Montserrat took that with a nod. She deserved it.

"C'mon councilor," Sonny gave a disapproving tilt of his head towards Rafael.

"No, it's totally fine, Sonny," Montserrat shrugged her shoulders, though her casualness seemed to end at her fingertips since she was once again gripping her coffee cup. "I was rude, so...you two get a free pass."

"It shouldn't be like that," Rafael was the one to say as he considered once more the circumstances of her outburst.

"I wasn't professional and I accept that," Montserrat nodded. "You were the one to tell me, after all. Leave my problems at home and any other thing related to my personal life. Work is a place for work only."

And as she said all that, Rafael felt that twinge of guilt knowing he was virtually doing the exact opposite of his words right now. Because of that, he felt obligated to let her episode go. More than that, it was the right thing to do.

"Montserrat it's fine." The usage of her first name made Montserrat smile - it was a sure sign he forgave her completely.

"Thanks," she whispered.

Rafael nodded at her in return. His eyes gazed at the pretty empty bullpen and figured no one would be returning anytime soon despite the cases going on. He watched as Montserrat pull her desk chair to sit back down. Even as she tried to get back to work, it was easy to tell the problems with her brother weren't letting her focus.

He honestly felt that.

And maybe it was because he felt they were in a similar place at the moment, or...maybe for another reason he didn't know of, but he spoke up with a request. "Montserrat do you want to get something to eat?"

Montserrat paused and looked up, momentarily surprised since they hadn't had a meal together in a while now. The fact Sonny's eyes were flickering from her to Rafael - not so discreetly - made it all a little more on the spot.

Was her face warm?

"I would…" Montserrat was in the middle of making her answer when she recalled Sonny's insistence to get lunch together already. She quickly looked at the lanky detective with wide eyes. "But I told you I'd get lunch with y-"

Sonny raised his hands to show it was fine. "No, no, I've still got work to do." A lie. He was starving. "You go ahead."

"O-okay," Montserrat reached for her bag tucked in one of her drawers then looked to Rafael with a growing smile. "My turn to pay?"

"No, it's on me," he smiled right back at her. He felt awkward with the staring eyes of Sonny so he hoped Montserrat would get a move on already.

"I'll see you later," Montserrat told Sonny as she got up to leave.

"Hey, when is Kara's lunch hour?" Sonny's question earned him a deadpanning look from the ginger woman. "Hey, if you get to go on a date, then I get to go on a date."

"It's not a date," went Montserrat and Rafael simultaneously, quickly exchanging glances with each other to make sure the other knew they didn't think it was a date.

"Fine," Sonny picked his battles carefully and decided Kara would probably have a much better idea on how to go about this. "But seriously, when is her lunch hour?"

"Carisi, leave her alone," Rafael motioned Montserrat to walk ahead, and the look he gave Sonny just made things even more suspicious for Sonny.

Oh, Kara was definitely going to have something to say about this.

~ 0 ~

Steak. Steak was unofficially declared as the favorite meal.

"How could you get barbecue on that?" Rafael crinkled his nose when Montserrat practically savored her barbecued drenched steak.

"The real question is how could you not put barbecue on it," Montserrat smiled widely after swallowing.

"Some of us have taste," Rafael's straight answer made her laugh.

"And some of us are just plain rude. Guess who's who?"

Rafael took that as a tie between them and took more of his plate. It was refreshing to have someone who could keep up with his 'sharp mouth' as Olivia often said he had. As he ate, he watched her cautiously like he was waiting for something. And it seemed like Montserrat knew just what he was waiting for.

"I'm not gonna shout at you again. Gael's not here," she reminded him and reached for her glass.

"But are you...are you doing better now?" he asked slowly, now fully taking Casey's warning to tread lightly on the subject.

Montserrat appreciated his concern. "I'm...better in that I don't feel like shouting at anyone. But Gael's still not speaking to me." And even as she tried to smile a little, it was easy to see how big of a struggle it was.

There were probably plenty ways to start, but for some reason Rafael couldn't think of the right way. "About...about your...your…"

"This is the first time I've seen you speechless, councilor," Montserrat's smile widened, becoming a genuine smile in the process. "Have to say, I like it. But don't do that in court."

Rafael rolled his eyes at her, though her small-time humor did make things easier sometimes for them. "I meant about...Regina?" he watched the sarcasm fade from her face all too fast.

"I have nothing to say about that woman," Montserrat grabbed her glass again, drinking as a form of retreat. It pretty much said the opposite of her words.

"Except it looks like you do." And that was the thing about Rafael, he was trained to be observant. "And the things Gael said…"

"Look," Montserrat tinkered with her glass on the table, "Gael hates our mother. He despises her because she walked out on us when we were kids. Now, h remembers more since he was older, so naturally he has more reason to hate her. He remembers the love and warmth Regina deprived him of...I don't." Her attempt at a careless shrug failed. "I was four. I can't remember her that well except she knitted me this little pink sweater that I used to wear everywhere. And I mean, mothers don't make things like that if they didn't love you, right?"

She knew it was an unfair question to make, putting Rafael on the spot like that (not that he wasn't used to it) but it was something that always nagged at her mind. If her mother went through the trouble of knitting that sweater then it had to mean she did it because she wanted to, because she loved her daughter. It was right... right?

"I shouldn't have asked that," she said once she'd gone through her thoughts twice and realized how out of line it was.

"Yeah, maybe you shouldn't have," Rafael's agreement elicited quite a look from Montserrat. "I mean, it's not like my answer is going to make a difference." He smirked when Montserrat understood his point. "Is it?"

"Sometimes I actually hate you," she muttered though he laughed it off.

"And yet you're still here. How's your lunch by the way?" His not-so-subtle reminder that he was paying for their lunch wasn't made for bad intentions but if not to remind her in general of their little agreements.

You didn't go out for meals with someone you actually hated.

"It's actually very good, thanks…" Montserrat debated whether or not to be very specific about what she was thanking him for since it borderlined a different line of their friendship. "Thank you," she ended up saying anyways, nervously fidgeting in her chair afterwards.

Rafael completely understood her and nodded. "Anytime."

Montserrat found herself smiling more than she should have and quickly looked to her half-eaten food on her plate. "Okay, we're done with the unprofessionalism for now I promise."

"Novak, you don't have to keep worrying about that. Trust me, I finally understand it's not that easy being so detached."

Now that pulled Montserrat's gaze off her food in a millisecond. "I'm sorry, are you saying you were wrong?"

Rafael deadpanned her but even that didn't stop her from looking so wide-eyed. "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about," he warned.

"But I'm not acting…"

Rafael searched her face for any indication that she knew of their recent case's problem, but there was nothing. "H-how...you do know about our case at the moment, right?"

"With the shoe model? Yeah, I've been following it like everyone else. Why?"

"Novak you're not kidding me, are you?"

"No, I am not. What did I miss?"

Rafael wondered how out of it Montserrat had to have been for her not to know what their case was doing to him and the squad. So, he began to tell her just how close he was to the suspect in their custody at the moment.

"Wait a minute, so you're friends with our mayor-to-be Alex Muñoz?" Montserrat chuckled at the irony. "Kara loves him. She has me and Sonny already lining up to vote for him."

"Well, Alex is a pretty good candidate," Rafael said as impartially as possible.

"Yeah, and a flirt," Montserrat's statement did not pass well with him.

"Excuse me?"

"I met him outside the DAs building just before meeting with Gael. I only talked to him for like two minutes and it was enough to confirm he is a flirt." Montserrat reached for her glass on the table. "He gave me his number and everything."

"He's married," Rafael said with a deep frown on his face, though the fact Montserrat nearly choked on her drink made him believe she didn't know that detail.

"What?" the poor woman reached for a napkin to dry her mouth. Her big wide eyes looked at him for some explanation.

"He's married and has three daughters. How did you not know that?"

"Because I work a ten hour shift?" Montserrat snapped and cleared her throat. "Hey, I did not flirt with him. You can ask Sonny - he was there. I didn't do anything."

"Maybe you misunderstood Alex's intentions," Rafael said alternatively, though there was something in the pit of his stomach that told him something else that was wrong was already brewing.

Montserrat would have argued that she most certainly did not misread his intentions but he already looked so...conflicted about the case. She didn't want to make things worse. "So, you grew up with these guys?"

Rafael slowly nodded his head. "Yeah…" but even then he still wasn't shifting away from the other topic.

Montserrat tried again and hoped for some luck. "Were you really close? Or was it like a hello-bye basis thing?"

"N-no, um…" Rafael shook his head and got back into the topic at hand. "We grew up together. The three of us. Los tres mosqueteros de Jerome Avenue. The three musketeers of Jerome Avenue."

Montserrat laughed. "Like the three musketeers, that's adorable. And I will be sure to remind you of that whenever you need it. Or when I feel like it."

A smile came to Rafael's face whether he had wanted it or not. "The joy."

"So you guys were like a close a team, then?"

"Mhm. Alex had the heart. I had the mouth, of course-"

"Of course," Montserrat smiled so widely it might have cracked her face in two.

"Eddie had the muscle to protect us when we got into trouble."

"And what kind of trouble did our young ADA get into?"

"Stop it."

"Impossible." Montserrat leveled his look until her lips curled into a smile, which was done in a pretty impressive time. Anyone else would have looked away out of sheer uncomfortableness. Eventually, she gave in but only because she wanted to get to something really important. "I hate to bring it up but please tell me you're not actually wanting us to...look the other way in this case because you happen to know the perp?"

The sheer 'perp' mention made Rafael uncomfortable. He never wanted to believe any of his friends could be capable of some atrocity. "I would never do that. I am only asking that you all get the facts before taking any action."

"...fair enough," Montserrat conceded with a small nod of her head. "But can I ask you something now?"

"Of course."

"How did you know the perp was a friend of yours? My understanding is you don't get involved until we call you and...I distinctly remember you being there when we first brought Eddie in."

"Alex came to talk to me," Rafael said, shrugging his shoulders and missing Montserrat's moment of pause.

"So...our mayor-to-be had time to do all this when he's near the elections?"

Rafael was about to take a drink but paused midway to give Montserrat a look. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm sorry to say but people in Alex's situation don't really have time to look for anyone's back but their own," Montserrat expected some type of reprimand for her words judging by the look on Rafael's face.

"Eddie's been volunteering for him. He's been driving him around during the campaign and since - like I said before - we are all childhood friends, it's natural we try to help each other out."

"Right," Montserrat was smart enough to know it was time to keep her mouth shut. She didn't know who these men were so she should probably leave that up to Rafael for when the case gets further made. Still, now that she knew more details about the case there were some conflicts she could see coming into play very soon.

Just as they were finishing up their lunch, Rafael heard his phone go off. Soon as he fished it out of his pocket, he saw Olivia's name on the screen. "It's Liv." His tone of voice radiated anxiety so Montserrat assured him she was all done with lunch.

The two returned to the precinct quickly and listened - just like the others - as Olivia and Nick relayed their latest visit to Lindsey. Apparently, she was taking everything back and even adding new details...ones that didn't fit really well.

"Lindsay told you Eddie came into the store with his wife?" Rafael raised an eyebrow at Nick. "No chance. He hasn't seen her in three years. She's partying in Miami…"

"Are you sure?" Nick had still decent suspicion towards their perp and wasn't going to be letting it go just because said perp happened to know their ADA. "Cause he still wears his ring."

"I'm sure. Eddie's... eh, he's just catolico, loyal."

"So Lindsay saw the ring, tried to make up a story," Olivia was on the boat of keeping peace amongst them. "Yeah, then she says that she'd be more comfortable just talking to Nick."

"Because she thinks she has a better chance of working the male partner," Amanda made a face of disapproval, shared by the rest.

"So she's lied to you, tried to manipulate you…" Rafael almost started listing off with his fingers when Nick cut in.

"So did Eddie."

"I know Eddie's story," Rafael said all too quick, warning a mini-glare from Nick. "What's hers? Find out. Now." He gave all of them a sharp look before heading out.

"Great going, I had him relaxed twenty minutes ago," Montserrat made it as a joke but some of them took it to heart.

"Yeah, we heard about your impromptu date from Sonny," Fin said with a tiny of a smirk on his lips.

"It was not a - wait, where's Sonny?" Montserrat looked around for the lanky detective.

"He's with that roommate of yours," Amanda answered her and almost laughed at the wide-eyed look Montserrat did.

"I'll kill him." She huffed and went for her desk to get started on their work.

"Not until after 10 you won't," Olivia said a she passed Montserrat. "I need everyone working on this right now."

Montserrat huffed but obeyed. Of course it didn't help one bit when Sonny returned fifteen minutes later wearing a big smile on his face. Clearly he had a good time. And when she got home that night, Kara would be up and ready to tell Montserrat how much of a good time she had too.

"He just, like... surprised me! He finally brought me to that place he goes to when he brings cannolis! Let me just tell you that they are better fresh at the store - Montse?" Kara paused when she saw the ginger rubbing her temples. Montserrat had a laptop set in front of her but it appeared whatever she'd been looking at was no longer her interest.

"Kara, this is not a good idea," Montserrat dropped her hands to the kitchen table.

"What isn't?"

"You, Sonny...whatever that even is - it's not a good idea."

Kara's eyebrows knitted together. "Why not?"

"Because of it doesn't work out, guess who's gonna be the one that'll be stuck in the middle?" Montserrat swirled her index finger before pointing at herself with it. "Me."

"That's kind of selfish, don't you think?" Kara plopped down at chair next to her.

"No, just being mindful of a potential future."

Kara playfully rolled her eyes. "Well, thank you for your concern but as far as I'm concerned, things are going just fine. It is, after all, my life." Montserrat sighed not so quietly but did concede with Kara on that point. "Besides, if anyone should be mindful of who they go out with, it should be you."

It was Montserrat's turn to be thoroughly confused. "Me? What for?"

A smirk tugged at Kara's lips as she answered the question. "Sonny mentioned that you basically dumped him at lunch today for the ADA."

"I'm seriously going to kill him," Montserrat shook her head. "We won't have to worry about things not working out because he'll be found dead tomorrow morning."

Kara laughed at her roommate's dramatics. "Oh c'mon, he did you a solid. Anyone else would've been on your ass for leaving them right before lunch."

Knowing exactly where Kara was headed at, Montserrat decided to beat her to it and explain the famous lunch she has today. "I still needed to apologize and Rafael suggested we go to lunch-"

"-suggested or asked because Sonny mentioned it was more of an ask-"

"-stop! I'll kill him!"

Kara laughed again. Montserrat slammed her laptop lid shut and moved to get up, prompting Kara to sober quickly. "Okay, okay, I'll stop!" she put one hand over Montserrat's arm. "I honestly thought it was kind of sweet he asked you, even when you've been avoiding him for days. Anyone else would've...well...avoided you too."

Montserrat sighed realizing Kara was right. She let herself fall back into her chair. "Yeah, it was. Rafael has his moments."

"A lot with you," Kara muttered not so quietly. Montserrat practically growled and got up from her chair. She made a beeline for her room. "I'm sorry!" Kara laughing didn't exactly help Montserrat believe her.

"You're a child!" Montserrat shouted before slamming her bedroom door shut.

#rafael barba #svu #rafael barba imagines #ocapp #ocappreciation #svu imagines #rafael barba x oc #svu fanfics #Law & Order SVU #law and order imagine #law & order svu fanfic #oc: Montserrat Novak #oc: Kara Mackie #fic: dare to forget me #Olivia Benson #Sonny Carisi #amanda rollins #fin tutuola

40 notes · View notes

peacefulwriter88 · 5 years ago

Text

Silent Orders - Part 1

Teacher!Steve Rogers x Reader

Warnings: None for part one minus sweet fluff

A/N: @gifsbysimplysonia requested this a while back and my imagination was able to cluster together this cute little two parter - hope you all enjoy

Also mood board created by me so tag me if you reblog/share _______

The spring bake sale had been pushed up earlier, much to many parents dismay. The spring soccer teams were in dire need of new uniforms for every grade so the principal had suggested to use the popular small town event as a fundraiser in which every parent was encouraged to participate in.

And in a small town like Green Oaks, that meant of course that everyone participated.

It was what had led Steve walking down the narrow Green Oaks Elementary hallway, a small chubby hand encased in his own as the pair of them slowly strolled down the narrow passage. Dismissal had been an hour ago but the school was still vibrant with life, surprisingly for a Friday in March, the air drifting with laughter and the sweet smell of baked goods and other wares.

“Is my mommy going to do be down this hallway?”

Adrians voice is tiny, barely audible above the chatter and Steve looks down at him with a large smile, giving him a squeeze.

“I think so buddy. Remember, this morning she said she was going to be a little late because she had to run home and grab all of the yummy goodies you helped her bake for the fundraiser?”

Adrian nods but his small, round eyes still don’t stop from roaming from the endless array of tables. Steve gives him a squeeze, resisting the urge to lift the small boy and sing him one of the many songs that he knew would yank a grin out of him.

Biasedly, Steve adored the inquisitive five year old and he knew that half of it was because the boy had the kind of intelligence and compassion most kids didn’t find until there were far older, and the other half was because he was an extension of you.

When you had dropped Adrian off this morning, you had that worried glint in your eye that he had become accustomed to seeing.

“My father can’t pick Adrian after the bake sale,” you had sighed as you watched Adrian run around on the playground with his peers.

“I have to rush home to pick up all the things I baked which would mean an hour of Adrian being unintended for, and I’m not comfortable enough to ask any of the new moms. I know they mean well but….sometimes they just come off judgy, you know?”

Steve knew. That mixed with your pride kept you biting down on your lips, eyes trained on your son. The solution was easy to him,

“If you don’t mind,” you had flickered your eyes to him, “ I can happily watch Adrian during that time. Dawkins likes for the staff to linger for these things, say hi before we head out so I’ll be around anyways. And I don’t mind watching Adrian.”

The smile that had erupted across your lips had been all he needed, happy for his decision as you squeezed his arm in quick thanks, before waving at your son and currying away.

You were exactly the kind of trouble he was enjoying getting lost in.

“Steve I didn’t think you’d stay for this thing.”

The familiar low tone of his good friend draws his attention away from Adrian and he stops them both, turning and watching as Natasha makes her way through the crowd, oblivious to the many dads who give her a second look as she progresses toward him, a bag in hand.

Natasha was probably one of the most attractive people Steve has ever met in his life, point blank. Fiery red hair and a personality to match, supple lips that matched her hips and wide blue eyes. The only thing stopping her from breaking Green Oaks male population was the fact that her fiance and his best friend from childhood, James “Bucky” Barnes, was a respected police officer in the community.

That and she shut down most men before they could get a word out.

Regardless, she was far softer with the fifth graders she taught and Steve was grateful that he had someone else in this building he could have normal conversations with. He wasn’t oblivious to the looks he received from most of the women he worked with, the lingering touches despite if they were married or not. It was a far different experience from how he used to be treated in high school - his former scrawny self an afterthought after puberty hit him in college.

“Well I had some motivation.” Steve pulls Adrian into view who smiles widely at the redhead, beaming,

“Hi Ms. Roman….Roman….Romaneff.” the young boy furrows his eyebrows trying to get her name out and Natasha laughs as she ruffles his head,

“You can just call me Ms. R,” she shifts her eyes to Steve. “I’m going to be so happy to be Mrs. Barnes for so many reasons. Mainly so kids can finally say my last bloody name but don’t let Bucky know that’s the top reason.”

Steve laughs as he directs Adrian back in the direction of the cafeteria and Natasha nudges him, following his pace,

“He’s stinking adorable but why are you on teacher duty? Bell rang nearly an hour ago.”

Steve stops with Adrian at a table, watching as the young boy eyes travel to the soap dinosaur bombs with mild curiosity before flickering his eyes back to Steve. Steve knows that he shouldn’t buy it for the boy - you would hate that - but there’s something about those large bold eyes that has him tugging in his back pocket for his wallet, telling Adrian he can have one if he liked.

“And one for my mommy?” Adrian asks shyly and Steve chuckles and nods. You were going to be livid with him.

“Sure bud - that way this nice lady doesn’t have to break my ten.” he winks at the elderly woman behind the table who laughs though she blushes, shaking her head as she temporarily asks Adrian which dinosaur he’d be interested in.

Natasha raises an eyebrow as Steve turns to her and says,

“I told Y/N that I’d watch him while she prepped for this thing. Her dad couldn’t pick him up today and she was in a bind so…”

“So you just thought to play babysitter to the hot new mom in town.” Natasha kids and Steve rolls his eyes though he smiles. He notices the woman flicker her eyes between the both of them but he waves it aside.

Everyone knew about you - it was hard not to in a small town like this, a distant suburb of Boston. You had moved here two years ago with just Adrian and had been an immediate hot topic. Single mom who bought the only art gallery in town and curated some pieces for the few museum in the local area - why wouldn’t you be a gossip?

Really it was the women who gossiped and really, Natasha had pointed out the one summer evening she had dragged him and Bucky to a show you were hosting, it was because you were...different. The women were intimidated by you. You were an outsider from the city, this curvy one woman show that was also the daughter of Green Oaks former mayor.

Your dad had bee a scandal - a known Green Oaks native winning their votes despite his Brooklyn upbringing. The fact that he had always talked about you but never dragged you out - the tongues that wagged though he was voted for term until he couldn’t any more.

Then you, his daughter. Single mom with no husband fresh from the big city opening a posh art gallery in town. Obviously you were scandalous.

Except, of course, like most things time shifted the tide.

You used your space on Saturdays to host free art classes that you facilitated. Adrian participated in every class, club and sport you could sign him for and you were a proud member of the local book club and an active member in Green Oaks PTA. You volunteered at parades and organized charity runs and was a proud chair member of the city council.

Through time, people discovered how Adrian’s father ran out on you when he found out you were pregnant. That you had studied in Versailles and was a distinguished artist before you had gotten pregnant. That you moved to Green Oaks where your parents decided to retire so you could get help with raising him, not wanting Adrian to get lost in the city that was New York.

Steve had known you long before Adrian was in his class, from afar, when he would go to art nights with his friends and sometimes drop in for classes. Had enough pleasant enough conversations with you but could never break down your wall.

But then he started teaching Adrian and things had changed.

“She’s not new anymore Natasha.” Steve chuckles as Adrian runs to him with the bright Stegosaurus and T-Rex bombs he had selected. Steve helps him place the bombs in his backpack before Adrian grabs his hand and they resume their journey down the hall.

“I know,” Natasha nudges him, “I’m just curious as to why? You normally shut that down with moms month one. Playing the babysitter.”

Steve keeps the smile to himself as they turn a corner and it's obvious that this is a particularly popular hall, the noise level increasingly louder with families jammed together. The baked goods hall. Adrian tightens his hand around Steve, his hold around the plush dinosaur that he favored being bought to his chest as he looks around amused.

“This hall is busy.” Adrian finally comments and Steve agrees, nodding.

“I agree bud - this hall is busy.”

“Why?” the young man asks, the curls on his head falling back with him as he looks up at Steve with large, curious eyes.

“Hmmmm, I’d guess there’s a really popular table with a lot of yummy goodies.”

“I bet it's mommy’s table.” Adrian doesn’t miss a beat, smiling deeply as he starts to pull the large man down toward the hectiness and Natasha gives an approving nod.

“He actually is right about that.”

It only takes a few strides before they find the source of the long line and, like Adrian and Natasha pointed out, your table is the source. You’re oblivious to their presence as you talk to parents, jumping from English and Spanish depending on the individual as you exchange your baked delicacies for cash or credit card. You’re hair has been thrown into a haphazard ponytail, the bodycon professional dress fully exposed as you throw your blazer on the chair behind you exposing your bosom.

He feels the air escaping his lungs, tries not to let it show as Adrian pulls toward you more strongly, though he feels Natasha’s eyes on him as Adrian screams out,

“Mommy!”

Your head automatically snaps to his direction, eyes falling on your son before they blink up to Steve. There’s satisfaction in seeing the way you exhale a large breath, teeth tugging on your bottom lip before you shake your head, moving from behind the tight space of the table to bend down and extend your arms out for your son. Adrian moves with ease in the crowd, despite the awkward weight of his large backpack and he jumps in your arms as you lift him, placing kisses all over his face.

“Oh little man I’ve missed you.” you say as Steve and Natasha near and you flicker your eyes to the group,

“Natasha you back for more?”

The red head laughs and shakes her head,

“No way. I’ve bought enough chocolate to ruin my wedding dress size for the next few weeks. No, I figured I’d lead Steve in the right direction since he’s been looking for you.”

You smile over at Steve as Adrian burrows himself in your neck, wraps around more as you say,

“Mr. Rogers thanks so much for looking after Adrian. I really appreciate it and am sure the last thing you wanted to do was watch a five year old for one hour longer on a Friday.”

Steve sticks his hands in his pockets, bashful grin planted on his face,

“It was no problem at all, it was fun hanging out with Adrian. And please Y/N, you can call me Steve. Especially after work hours.”

He feels silly when he’s in your presence, hard to grasp on his thoughts but he is grateful as he sees you fall into yourself, a similar shy smile on your face before you clear your throat and turn with your son in your hands.

“Well everyone bought up a lot of my cupcakes and truffles-”

“You should have an in house bakery in your gallery. Those truffles are sin.” Natasha cuts you off and you laugh as you turn back to them.

“Not sure about that Natasha but I did save these for you Mr. Roge….I mean Steve. To thank you for hanging out with Adrian...it really does mean a lot.”

You hand over the container that held four cupcakes and you shift Adrian on your hip as you say,

“They’re the dark chocolate ones you like. The ones with the salted caramel frosting. I remembered you telling me how much you enjoyed them when I made them for your class last fall so...figured you deserve the small batch I whipped up this morning.”

“Oh come on...those are Bucky’s favorite and she wouldn’t let anyone buy them! I even offered to pay 50 dollars for them. Aren’t you lucky Steve.” Natasha pretends offense though she laughs at the way Steve smiles cheekily at you, a slight blush tinging his cheeks. He doesn’t mean for the thank you he shoots your way to come off as timid as it does as you stare him back down but he also was still trying to figure out how to navigate interacting with you in public spaces.

You clear the air, promising Natasha you’d bake her and Bucky a special batch as you sit Adrian down, handing him a book as you start to clean up the little material you had on your table. Steve notices that you have nothing left, not compared to everyone else around you and doesn’t hesitate to volunteer himself and Natasha to help clean up.

“We were headed out anyways.” he notes when you protest and though Natasha throws him questioning eyes she doesn’t challenge him, happily helps fold the black tablecloth you’ve bought, pile the left over plastic containers into your travel cart.

“I’m happy I sold out early, means I can head home and start my weekend early.” you say as the four of you head out of the school, Adrian unwilling to leave the embrace of your arms as you carry him and your work bag. Steve is carrying the four tubs of plastic ware and Natasha has the rolling bin that held your tablecloth - the table decorations. You stop temporarily to speak with the principal about your contribution, handing him your moneybox before you proceed with the group back to the parking lot.

“Tell me about it. I don’t know why we planned for a late spring wedding. School is out and then a wedding? I’m an idiot - I have so much to plan for and have little motivation to want to get it all done.” Natasha mumbles and you click your Nissan Rogue open as you say,

“If you want, I could come over this weekend. I took Saturday off and I’ve been in a wedding or two...I’d happily help out if you need it.”

“Oh my god would you? Bucky would be eternally grateful….would even forgive you for giving his best friend all of his cupcakes.”

You laugh as you place Adrian in the back seat, buckling him in and nodding.

“Let me give you my number. Text me when I can come over...as long as you don’t mind Adrian tagging along. We were going to go to the zoo but if the weather is going to be bad like predicted he’d happily watch some movies while we plan and drink wine.”

Steve places the containers in the trunk, and the bin before closing it and checking on Adrian who is playing with the bath bombs like action figures.

“You have a good evening little man. Don’t give your mom too much of a hard time.”

“I won’t Mr. Rogers. I’m gonna tell her about the dinosawr bones we found!” the young boys face is enthusiastic and Steve ruffles his head before coming to the other side, waiting on you patiently as you and Natasha see each other off, Natasha waving goodbye to Steve before heading to her car.

“Natasha’s kind of had a girl crush on you for months...you don’t know how much that means to her.” he says when you turn to him and you laugh as you cross your arms, tightening your hands around your body as you try to block it from the early spring chilly air.

“I doubt that. Natasha is too cool of a girl to want to hang out with a dork like me.”

Your voice is teasing and he laughs as he shuts the door at Adrian’s side, waving at Adrian through the tinted glass as you turn on your heels, moving toward the drivers side. He’s not too far behind you.

“Well it was a pleasure getting to spend time with you, Ms. Y/L/N,” you stop at your door, leaning on it as he stands in front of you, mirroring your movement, “You really know how to brighten up a man’s day.”

You blush as you play with your keys, shaking your head before looking back up at him and smiling,

“Well you’re the one who saved my ass earlier today Mr. Rog….I mean Steve,” a gust of wind hits and you tighten your hold around you. “Thanks for watching Adrian. I really appreciate it.”

There was so many words going unsaid as he watched you in the twilight, your eyes twinkling as they looked back at him, hair getting tugged out of your ponytail and whipping against your face. He loved that when you smiled your dimples dug into your cheeks, loved the faint smell of perfume that wafted to his nose. If he could, he’d lean over and kiss your lips, succulent and teasing - whisper how much he loved you and how he was looking forward to seeing you later. But you weren’t ready for that, not yet. You wanted to make sure that it was okay with your son, knows it would be a big step for him to have someone like Steve in his life.

Instead he digs in his pockets, finds the scrap of paper he’s written out to you earlier and grabs your fumbling hands, rubs the soft skin that's gone cold from the wind before giving it a quick squeeze.

“Anytime,” he places the small note in your hands before raising them to his lips, giving it a quick peck and saying, “See you around.”

He opens your car door, waits until you’re in before he closes it, giving you a wink that you return before waving to Adrian one last time. Waits until you’ve safely left the parking lot before he walks to his own car, getting in and waiting for it to warm up. Barely puts his car into drive before Natasha is calling him and he doesn’t get a chance to say hello as Natasha barrels out,

“Holy shit how long have you and her been dating and how the fuck has this town not known and put it on the front page of our herald!?”

He’s on Bluetooth and looks around the parking lot, sighing as he sees her car still in its parking space,

“Did you really stay back in your car to spy on us?”

A snort,

“Uh yes. Bucky and I have been trying to hook you and her up for months now! You always chicken out when we go to the gallery nights. Apparently we should have just brought her to your world, she’s into the whole naughty teacher act.”

He laughs as he pulls out of the parking lot,

“That's not….that's not how that happened at all. I was surprised same as you when I saw Adrian on my roster. But it all gave me some one on one time and we started chatting more casually. And a little before Halloween I finally got the nerve to ask her out and she said yes. That's all.”

“Why haven’t you told your two best friends!?” Natasha counters and Steve shrugs though he knows it falls on silent eyes.

“We wanted to keep it quiet for a bit because everyone in this town is always gossiping about something. And...she wants to make sure Adrian is ready for a new person in his life. It's not just her I’m dating - she wants to be considerate of her son.”

Natasha wait's a beat before saying,

“That’s fair. I get that, I guess, you’d think I’d gossip to the harlots of this town -”

“You’d completely tell at least Sam and Wanda and Wanda actually works for the herald - Sam is a government official…..we all know the minute they know everyone does. So yes, gossiping to the harlots indeed.”

“Whatever,” Natasha continues, “How did you both manage to date for five months without anyone else knowing? Seriously, you sneeze in this town and everyone’s texting about it.”

“We drive to Boston or stay at my place.” he says simply and Natasha laughs,

“Well then you both deserve this secret romance. Well played. Next question - can I ask her about you tomorrow?”

“I’m hanging up now.” he deadpans and Natasha laughs

“I mean I was going to regardless, you kept giving each other fuck me eyes. God you should have seen Alison Johnson - she has such a hard on for you and got so sour when you didn’t even acknowledge her waving at you and instead was drooling over hot mom. She’s definitely going to be gossiping about it….”

“Good night Natasha. Tell Bucky I said hello.”

He hangs up on his friend, laughing in good nature. Natasha was probably right and that was something he could talk to you about later. In the meantime, he needed to make a minor adjustment to dinner plans and he knew exactly where to begin.

________

Tag List:

@Sad-af1121, @whichwayisthebeach-Sebass, @theplumbclub79, @4theluvofall, @tatathekissypatato, @baezen, @lostinthoughtsandfeelings-blog, @plumbfondler, @pegasusdragontiger, @prettybubblesintheair, @docharleythegeekqueen, @brieannakeogh, @palaiasaurus64, @emotchalla, @thejenniferincident, @shayla-markele, @jalapenobarnes @toastmaster94, @brandybucky, @papi-chulo-seb, @jaamesbbarnes, @paulxrudd, @badassbaker, @letsalltakeanap @papi-chulo-bucky, @moonbeambucky, @jaceyfade, @samingtonwilson, @violentlybarnes, @wehaveathor, @buckfics, @frostbitebakery, @killmongerdreams, @plussizeappreciationfics, @softlybarnes, @prettyyoungtragedy, @angryschnauzer, @221bshrlocked, @yslbucky @zohoffman @ssweet-empowerment @capsofwinchesters @tacohead13@harleycativy @pietrotheavenger @francezka10 @papichulosebastian@obsessionsofmynerdheart @melaninmarvel @avengedqueen26 @nasteaxluvgal@winterbuttmunch @nys30@buckyslongasshair @ohlumi @wellthirsted@geminimoonbeamx @jetaimeamore @gifsbysimplysonia @harleycativy @microgirl8225 @mississippifangirl @younghades

#steve rogers #steve rogers au #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x poc #chris evans #captain america

119 notes · View notes

ruinedthatfriendship · 5 years ago

Text

Miscommunicating

A/N: Super brief ED / self harm mention because Simon is an idiot sandwich. Also, this is really long.

Not in love with this, but I did commit to sharing these so here we go...

Simon cut through the backstage chaos easily. There were, after all, benefits to being Simon Cowell--Demi could say what she liked about his being humble and down-to-earth, people still tended to get out of his way.

It had been a surprisingly good audition day for the X Factor so far, and they’d found plenty of young talent to send through to boot camp. He was feeling cautiously optimistic for the season, especially now that he’d just finished convincing the producers to put Demi back in her rightful seat next to him on the panel.

He smiled to himself, turning the corner toward her dressing room. Her laugh was infectious, she was witty and beautiful and somehow made everything around her brighter. In fifty four years, he’d never felt this way about anyone before, and he tried to pretend that didn’t scare him a little bit.

Simon raised his hand to knock on her door, but paused. The door was ajar, and he could hear Kelly’s voice floating from inside. Probably there to bother Demi about the two of them, he surmised. They’d had to tell her about their relationship after she’d proven herself just a bit too observant, and Kelly’s new favorite pastime was sticking her nose in it.

He heard Demi’s sigh, and then a rustle of fabric that signaled his brat flopping down onto a couch. “I don’t know, Kelly.” He could picture her nose wrinkling up. “I don’t know what to tell him.”

Simon hesitated, lowering his hand fully and rocking back onto his heels. He had a bad feeling suddenly that this wasn’t a conversation he should be hearing, or wanted to hear, but he couldn’t tear himself away.

“Just tell him the truth,” Kelly suggested, prompting a sarcastic groan from Demi.

“Oh, right. ‘Hey, sorry, just kidding, not actually into you ‘cause this other guy totally puts you to shame, please don’t say anything or my career could blow up.’ That would go over well.”

Kelly giggled. “You are so smitten.”

The heart that Simon definitely did have felt heavy in his chest, and he swallowed. Oh. He shouldn’t have been all that surprised. She wasn’t like the other girls he’d picked up in the past; she was too good for him, and he too old for her. He should have known she’d come to her senses sooner rather than later. Walk away now, Simey.

He wasn’t entirely sure when his internal thoughts had adopted her voice, but a flash of anger ran through him, an instinctive reaction to the hurt. Demi had integrated herself so completely into his life, initially without his permission, and he clearly meant so little to her. And apparently she’d made him a glutton for punishment, too, because he couldn’t walk away if he tried.

“I thought we could be friends,” Demi was saying. “Keeping everything a secret with Simon just complicated things, and I didn't say anything, and he’s got the wrong idea. He thinks I’m still going to fall in love with him, or something, and now it's getting out of hand...” She trailed off.

So she didn’t think he was worth the trouble. Simon’s mouth twisted into a grimace, his earlier good mood entirely evaporated. He cursed himself for rearranging the seating already. How in the bloody hell was he going to sit so close to her all season, knowing this?

“And it’s not even like we’re together anymore. I just...haven’t totally, officially clarified that we aren’t. But I love him so much, Kelly,” her voice was muffled, as if she had covered her face in her hands. “Nothing’s happened, obviously...but it just feels like I’m cheating on him, now. It’s gross. I don’t like it.”

That was the final gut punch for Simon. He spun away from her door and made his way into his own dressing room, still reeling and trying not to show it. Her words echoed in his head. Not together...love him so much…

Of course he’d always been aware of how much Wilmer meant to Demi. And that he was handsome and younger and didn’t have to be hidden. He shouldn’t have been surprised. But it wasn’t like his Demi not to be direct about it. His Demi. Not anymore, he thought grimly.

And clearly she was too scared to talk to him about it.

Don’t worry, sweetheart, he thought sarcastically. I’ll make it easier for you.

~ Demi’s POV ~

She hadn’t had a chance to see Simon over their lunch break at all, using it instead to hash out the awkwardly-persistent-Wilmer situation with Kelly’s input while he met with the producers. They still weren’t sitting together on the panel, either, and she’d thoroughly missed her grumpy old British man.

Smiling, she let herself into his still-empty dressing room after the auditions had finished for the day, sitting herself down on his couch to take off her heels. He’d be along shortly, and her presence would hopefully make for a nice surprise.

She was still working on the strap of one platform shoe when the door swung open, revealing a rather haggard looking Simon. Granted, the afternoon’s auditions weren’t nearly as stellar as the mornings, and he had looked a bit sick after his lunch meeting, but she wasn’t sure what had warranted this particular expression. He looked like someone had kicked Squiddly and Diddly.

“Hey,” she said softly, still bent over her shoe but looking up at him.

She watched him glance toward her, and then his eyes shuttered as the I’m-Simon-Cowell mask fell firmly into place. Demi knew it well, but not with her, not with the door closed.

“You okay?”

He strode to his makeup chair and sat down without really looking at her, pulling out his phone. “Fine, thank you,” he said briskly. “If you don’t mind, I do have some calls to make.”

Finally succeeding in wrestling her shoe off of her foot, Demi just shrugged, lying back on the couch. She refused to let him get to her, even though she wasn’t quite sure why he was using a tone like she was a tone-deaf auditionee getting brushed off. “Sure, I’ll just wait. Kelly and Paulina have gone off somewhere, I was thinking we could get dinner before we head back to the hotel.”

“Not interested.” He cut her off crisply. “And I do need to get some work taken care of, Demi, thank you.” A short dismissal, garnished with British manners.

At that, she sat up fully. “Okay, I know I call you a grumpy old man, but wow. What the hell, Simon? Need some coffee?”

Simon scowled and finally turned to face her. “Is there anything you need to say to me, Demi?”

Possibly the longest stretch of conversation they’d ever had without him calling her ‘brat’, or something else teasing, or trying to touch her. Demi sighed. This wasn’t her Simon; this was the man that made contestants cry.

“N-no,” she hesitated. “Not particularly, I guess.” Just wanted to see you…

“Well that’s fine then.” He paused, the kicked-puppy expression intensifying, and warring with his sharp words. “I don’t have time for you right now, Demi, I’ll see you on the panel tomorrow.”

Trying to pretend his words weren’t a knife through her heart, Demi picked up her shoes and stood, still leaning over habitually to reach for him. His shoulder tensed under her hand, and she drew back, feeling the sting of his unexplained rejection. “See you later, then. I love you,” she added after a pause, before opening the door and walking slowly into the hallway. It didn’t escape her notice that he didn’t say it back.

By the time she made it to the audition site the next morning, she was trying so hard to convince herself that it wasn’t her body Simon had suddenly decided to take issue with. She still felt too fat sometimes, still wondered how he found her beautiful, only this time, he wasn’t there to contradict her darker thoughts. She was subdued through her makeup prep, trying to resist the urge to check her phone. She already knew Simon hadn’t responded to any of her texts, she’d been listening almost obsessively for the buzz of a notification.

Part of her wanted to provoke him in full annoying-Demi fashion: @SimonCowell, stop ignoring me! or something similar. But although they’d certainly had their fights before, it was easy to shout back when he was shouting. She could keep up with him in a yelling match, hold her own in teasing banter, but she was used to diffusing his ice-cold comments on other people, not herself.

Whatever was going on with him was beyond her understanding for the moment, and she just had to keep convincing herself that it wasn’t her. Or trying to, anyway.

For once, she almost wished to be taking a seat on the opposite side of the panel from Simon. Usually she’d be elated to be back in her seat beside him, but Demi didn’t really feel up to dealing with their shit on camera. She shook her hair back from her face, smiled at Kelly, and did her best to focus all of her attention on the audition happening in front of her.

“I really liked that,” she smiled at a young, hopeful teen girl. She had a bright, popstar sound and a lot of promise. “I think your take on that song was really original, and I was impressed with your vocal range.”

She’d barely gotten those words out when Simon cut in. “I completely disagree. There was absolutely nothing special whatsoever about your performance. I’m not going to remember it in ten minutes. And Demi clearly needs to raise her standards.”

The girl was still voted in with three yes’s to Simon’s single no, but the exchange left Demi feeling wrong-footed. She bit her lip and took a sip of her water, doubts creeping in from the corner of her mind.

Simon took every opportunity in the next three hours to go after Demi. He made a point of contradicting her opinions, voting against her, and managing to throw in cutting comments that had even Kelly and Paulina raising their eyebrows.

The lights were dimmed, focusing on the contestant singing in front of them, and she took the opportunity to lean over and smack his bicep. “What is your problem?”

Simon arched an eyebrow at her. “Problem?”

“I don’t know what is going on with you, but stop taking it out on them! And me,” she added, rolling her eyes. “She was talented!” Demi was referring to the last girl he’d chased off in tears.

“She sounded like Madonna on helium. Is that really a risk you want to take? You did lose all of yours first last year.”

Demi grit her teeth, trying to push down the lingering sense of failure she always felt whenever that was brought up. Simon knew that, he knew how devastated she’d been. Hell, she’d cried on his shoulder. “That was low,” she glared. “Look, Si, why won’t you just tell me whatever is on your mind?”

“Lot of that going around at the moment,” he returned dryly.

“Simon? Demi?” Kelly was prompting, snapping Demi back toward the stage. The young man was awkwardly holding his microphone, shifting from foot to foot and waiting for feedback. While she frantically tried to organize her thoughts about a performance she hadn’t listened to, Simon dove right in.

“Completely ridiculous,” he was saying. “Which I suppose puts you right up Demi’s alley. I thought the song choice was horrendous, your attempt to make it interesting has completely backfired, and you’ve managed to give me a headache. Though that could also be from this one’s inability--” he turned in his seat to glare at her, “to differentiate between real talent and below-average nonsense.”

Kelly opened her mouth angrily, but Demi cut her off by standing up suddenly and walking away from the table. In her haste, her heel caught and she stumbled, her hand coming down on the edge of the desk to steady herself. Paulina reached out toward her, but Demi pulled her hand back. “I’m fine!” she snapped sharply, mostly trying to make herself believe it.

Somehow the fact that Simon, who was always in a losing battle to keep his clumsy brat upright, had said nothing at all made it worse. Her eyes stung, and she pushed her way to her dressing room with her head held high and a sob caught in her throat that she refused to let out. She knew that once she did, she wouldn’t be able to stop crying.

Her thoughts were a chaotic jumble as she leaned weakly against the wall, her breath catching. What is so wrong with me? What did I do? Is he trying to get rid of me? Is he ashamed of me? I’m not pretty enough for him. I shouldn’t have eaten breakfast. Her eyes flitted to her makeup table, and she clenched her hands into fists. She would not go looking for an eyeliner sharpener. She was doing so well. She would not let Simon fucking Cowell take that away from her.

Three short knocks on her door. Speak of the devil…

Rolling her eyes and swiping underneath them wearily, Demi pushed herself off the wall and wrenched the door open. “What?”

Simon walked in past her without her invitation, leaving her to pull a face and shut the door behind him. “Come in,” Demi said sarcastically, cursing herself for the hitch in her voice. She turned to face him, tears glistening on her cheeks, and watched his mouth twitch slightly. Without a word, he turned and picked up a box of tissues, pushing it toward her like a habit he couldn’t quite break.

I don’t want Kleenex, I want a hug. I want you to snap out of it and tell me everything’s okay. She took the box anyway. “What did I do, Simon?” she whispered wearily, trying her best to wipe her eyes without smudging her makeup. She didn’t have the energy to fight him anymore. “That’s not you, that’s not banter for the ratings, you’re just being mean and I don’t know why.”

When he didn’t reply, she went on. “Look, if I’m not good enough for you, you can just say so. I know I’m not skinny like Kelly is.” Demi looked down at her shoes briefly. “I’m--”

“Demi, stop.”

When she finally met Simon’s eyes again, he was back to looking like a kicked puppy. “Darling, believe me when I say you’re beautiful.” Again with the contradiction. Like Jekyll and Hyde or something, and she wanted to believe the side she’d fallen in love with was the real Simon, but doubts kept creeping in. Reflexively reacting to her pain, but still going on causing it.

Demi let her head fall back against the wall with a dull thump. “Then why--”

“Just stop it, Demi.” Simon interrupted again. “Stop pretending. I didn’t take you for the kind of girl to string a man along, you know. I heard you.”

She wrinkled her forehead, sniffling. “Heard what?”

Simon’s eyes rolled and he made a face that would have been comical in some other situation. “With Kelly, I heard your conversation.”

“What conversation?” Demi pushed, wracking her brains. What could he have heard? What the hell could she have said recently? All she felt like she’d done lately was talk Kelly’s ear off about how amazing he was, poor woman.

“I know how you feel, you don’t have to pretend--”

“Simon?”

“--I know Wilmer’s--”

“Simon!” she shouted. When he finally stopped rambling and looked at her, Demi threw her hands up. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“ ‘Hey, sorry, just kidding, not actually into you ‘cause this other guy totally puts you to shame, please don’t say anything or my career could blow up.’” he quoted perfectly, voice measured and his face closed off once more. Daring her to do something else to hurt him.

Demi’s heart stuttered in her chest in sudden panic, and she covered her face with her hands. Oh my god.

“So,” Simon said briskly, clearing his throat. “I--”

“Oh my God, Simon, no!” Demi blurted, pushing off the wall in a rush and almost tripping in her haste to cross the dressing room. “No!” she repeated almost frantically, desperately trying to stop him from getting the wrong idea any more than he already had.

Simon looked vaguely alarmed by her reaction, but started automatically toward her when her high heeled foot wobbled again, and they met in the middle, Demi crashing into his chest. She was crying again, tears sliding once more down her cheeks even though this time she didn’t even know why. Simon was an idiot, but he was her idiot and she could fix this. She could fix this.

She brought her hands up to his cheeks, tilting his head to look at her, her eyes flicking rapidly over his face. Under the base makeup they always put on anyone going under the cameras and lighting, he really did look awful, with bloodshot eyes to match hers. My fault.

“Simon,” she whispered sadly, resting her forehead against his.

His hands came up automatically to hold her waist, but she could still feel how tense he was. “I don’t--” he started roughly.

“Wilmer won’t stop texting me,” Demi blurted out in a panicked rush. “He wants to get back together and I don’t know what to tell him without telling him about you, and I want to be able to trust him to keep the secret but I know he’d probably flip and--and I don’t know what I’m supposed to say, and…” she trailed off, taking a shaky breath and then repeating for emphasis, “I wasn’t talking about you, I was talking about him. I love you, okay? I love you.”

Simon exhaled in a rush, his hands tightening on the fabric of her print dress, and Demi suddenly doubted both of their abilities to stay upright. She carefully steered them backward toward the couch, kicking her shoes off to tuck her feet beneath her.

“Why didn’t you say something?” she murmured into the fabric of his sweater, curling against him. “You could have just asked me, you know.”

Simon pulled her the rest of the way onto his lap until she was securely tucked in his arms, but said nothing. Instead, he dropped his head to her shoulder silently, inhaling the scent of her hair and pressing a soft kiss to the skin just beneath her cap sleeves.

It was the slight quiver she could feel in his lips that cued her in to the fact that the mighty Simon Cowell might actually be crying. His unnatural silence was followed by a ragged, uneven breath, and Demi’s heart broke.

She shifted carefully against him until she could wrap her arms around him, fresh tears pooling in her own eyes. “Simon,” she whispered desperately. “It’s okay, I’m sorry, I’m here, I love you.” Everything she needed to say to him in that moment.

Simon’s arms circled around her back, hugging her against him. “I’m sorry. I was an ass, I--” he whispered thickly, still collecting himself in the waterfall of her currently blonde hair.

Demi laughed weakly, finally pulling back to look at him. “You’re an idiot.” she told him flatly. “But I love you. And I’m not leaving you. I mean, God, the only thing I ever tell Kelly anymore anyway is how much I love you. Not Wilmer. You.”

At that, he captured her lips in a messy kiss that tasted of mints and lipstick and tears, one hand coming up to tangle in her hair and hold her closer. And Demi would have loved to stay there for the indefinite future, but, finally, she tore herself away, catching her breath.

“They’re going to want us back out there.”

Simon pulled a face, smoothing a stray tear from her cheek with his thumb. “No,”

Demi laughed, the weight off her chest, as she tried to pull him upright. “Come on! We can’t just leave them with two judges.”

He made an exaggerated show of reluctance, finally standing while she slipped back into her heels and did her best to put her makeup back together.

Demi reached for the door, only to be stopped one final time by his voice.

“One more thing, brat,”

She turned, rolling her eyes at him with mock annoyance. “Yes?”

“I love you,” Simon said simply, leaning down to kiss her once more. Demi blinked up at him, momentarily amazed by the depth of emotion he could make her feel. And the chaos. And somehow, it was all worth it.

She reached up to wipe a bit of her lipstick off of him with her thumb, her hand lingering teasingly against his mouth for a heartbeat. “We’re continuing this later,” she promised with a smirk, making her way back into the hallway before he had time for a reply.

#dimon #demi lovato #simon cowell #fanfiction #here we go again!#brief ed mention #ugggh #i'm sorry for this one

13 notes · View notes

kewltie · 6 years ago

Text

Kasumi's Saturday is unusually quiet and void of Papa this week. It's an incredibly rare thing for her especially when she is used to spending her Saturday's night with Papa, cuddling up to him in front of their TV as they flip between nature shows for Kasumi and the evening news for Papa so he can get a glimpse of Daddy again.

Now though, Papa doesn't have to look for Daddy on their TV or in the news anymore because Daddy won't leave them alone. Ugh. He would visit their apartment two to three times a week, sometimes five times even, like he doesn't have an entire country to run and other people to harass. But, she grits her teeth, thinking how Papa looks much brighter and happier these days because Daddy's here and is part of their life now even if Kasumi had never given him any permission for it in the first place.

He even had the nerve to want to take Papa out on dates! Kasumi initially rejected the idea, because like she’s going to let Daddy spend any time with her Papa, but Papa had looked so hopeful that she reluctantly agreed to it, letting them go on dates under her careful watchful eyes.

Technically, tonight will be their fifth date so far but it's their first real date they'll have all to themselves because this time Kasumi won't be their third wheel.

Papa was hesitance at first about it but Kasumi had waved his worries off because she's old enough to be left alone without him for one night. And also, because Daddy, trying to curry favor with Kasumi had given her twenty thousand yen to order any fancy takeout dinner that she could ever want. Kasumi may be stubborn but she knows an opportunity when she sees it. She is definitely not going to use all of the money just for dinner because that's dumb and wasteful but maybe an upper limit a thousand yen for her favorite food and the rest she'll put in her piggy bank, the savings would eventually go toward Papa's Christmas present.

And Taro, one of Daddy's people, has the special privilege to be her babysitter for the night but she's not stupid to think he's the only one. Since Daddy had first forced his way into their peaceful life, there are always more than two people watching over Kasumi closely at any time like they're afraid she's going to be kidnapped or something if they’re not looking. Well, she isn't the boss of the lower grades at her school just for show and her pretty face!

But she humors the adults anyway and pretends she doesn't know of the group of people from the palace standing guard outside her apartment, while she slowly grinds Taro's professionalism down and quickly have him bribe her with food so he can finally watch his dumb dance competition show. Kasumi forgoes her animal shows for the night in lieu of the snacks and treats that Taro had bought for her from the convenient store down the block. She didn't even have to use Daddy's money for it so now she can save even more for Papa's gift later and Papa may be mad that's she spoiling her dinner with junk foods tonight but sometimes a little indulgence is okay, right? Kasumi deserves it after all for putting up with Daddy’s horrible attempt at trying to woo her and Papa.

So with a pile of snacks on the table in front of her and her TV tunes into the most mediocre dance competition there ever was, where the audience's votes had already narrowed the contestants down to the top 10 spots and Kasumi, who put more effort into watching the mating habits of frogs honestly, tries not to look too bored.

"Papa used to dance like that," Kasumi says idly, her hand rummaging around the bag of chips in her lap. The girl on her TV screen bends and twists to the beat of the music in a way that is eerily familiar to her, reminding her of Papa's past employment as the girl tries to wow the judge’s panel.

Taro makes a vague noise of acknowledgment next to her even as his eyes are glued on the screen the entire time.

"—but on a pole and for money," she finishes, and pops a chip into her mouth.

"What?!" Taro makes a choked up noise and his eyes finally break free from the TV to stares at her with abject horror. "Um, Kasumi-chan, I don't think that's something you should easily share with people like that." His eyes dart around the apartment like he's afraid someone else is listening in on them.

Kasumi abruptly casts her chip to the side and pushes up on the couch, feet planted on the seat cushion so it gives her height as she glares down at Taro with the full force of her rage. "And why is that?" she demands, hands on her hips and lips thinning out in one unhappy line. Taro should be careful of his next few words because she's about to demote him from the second favorite to her least favorite guard very soon.

Taro’s face goes red and he looks down at his hands like it's suddenly the most interesting in the world. "It's not a, well, a kind of job you want to brag to people," he carefully explains like she’s dumb and wouldn’t get it, "and-and if the media ever caught wind of his, uh, past employment then Midoriya-san will never survive the public execution since he's dating the emperor."

Her eyes narrow her eyes and the ugly feelings that always stirred in defense of her Papa claw its way into Kasumi's chest, digging its nails into her heart. "So what if Papa used danced on a pole for money. He’d worked very hard for it and never complains about it once," she yells, unable to contain her voice anymore. She hates how screechy her voice gets when she is so riled up like this but the thought of anyone dare to put down her Papa’s hard work inflames her like nothing else. "And he did it for me, he did it all for me so I can have a roof over my head, food on my table, and pretty dresses to wear! Papa did his very best to keep us from starving so why is that wrong?!”

Taro’s eyes go hauntingly wide as he scoots away from Kasumi like he’s afraid she’s going to snap off his head at any second and she probably would have too.

Unfortunately, this isn't Kasumi's first fight about this or will it be likely her last. She remembers the time when the other parents had found out what Papa did nightly while Kasumi slept on and how they had looked at her with pitiful eyes and warned their children about her. Kasumi hadn't cared about it one bit because they had meant nothing to her anyway but when Papa had learned how the other kids had avoided her and her one too many fights that landed her in the principal’s office was started because of him, he quitted his job.

Papa had gently held her hands as he apologized profusely to Kasumi for troubling her with his job and for making her life’s harder. He was embarrassed for her sake as though the pole dancing hadn’t allow him to put only four nights per week and still earned him enough money to spend more time with her was something to be ashamed of, which made Kasumi very angry because his current job made far less despite working six days a week but it was better than his old one because it was 'respectable', whatever that even means. She doesn’t care if people whisper behind her back, talking about how she’s such a daddy’s little girl and is so creepily obsessed with her Papa when she knows all the things he’d ever done was for her and how Kasumi has never, not even once, felt lacking in wealth or love. So she’ll fight for Papa even if Papa doesn’t even need it because Papa has always put Kasumi first so this time it’s Kasumi turn.

Kasumi always tries her best to be more like Papa, kind in heart and strong in willpower, but it’s time like this she realizes how much she's like Daddy after all. Because like him, she fiercely fights for what she believes in, not caring for the consequences around her and the way her temper flares up is all his as she rises up to every fight like it's a battle she can't afford lose. After all only cowards give up on the things they love and Kasumi is no coward.

Taro’s lower his head and clasps both hands together in a desperate plead. “I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Kasumi-chan! Forgive me, please, I was just being a dumbassss-as," he quickly tries to recover from that slip-up as she rolls her eyes, "uh, donkey. I shouldn’t have said that about Midoriya-san at all so could you please, pretty please, not stand on the couch because if you fall and break a pinkie or something under my watch, His Majesty is going to throw me in the compactor.”

Kasumi cocks her head thoughtfully, trying to decide if Taro’s hide is worth saving from Daddy’s wrath as the earlier anger slowly recedes. Taro does appear to be sincere and apologetic about it and Papa always said forgiveness takes strength and Kasumi got a whole lot of strength if nothing else. Plus, she does like him enough to let it go even if he can be quite dumb at times.

She plops back down onto her seat and plasters on a smile that she had perfected over the years. “So, who do you think it’s going to win?” Kasumi asks a touch too sweet, but Taro looks so relieved with the change of subject that he might as well be crying in joy.

See? Kasumi can be nice too. Maybe not in the way of Papa yet but, hey, she’s trying.

#bakudeku #fic teaser #fic: papa said to knock you out #series: kasumi vs the world #kasumi is the def of 'im trying to be a good girl here but y'all are making it v v v v hard'

78 notes · View notes

ts-crossroads · 7 years ago

Text

Episode Three - “The World’s Smallest Violin, Playing Just For You” - Rebecka

Hey so....guess who we just got out? EMILY. It’s wild because she was so confident and strategic and that made for the perfect blindside. I feel like she was doing well until she thought she had solidified Johnny’s vote, that was a little messy. I hope she isn’t right about us losing challenges now. I think we can do well and hopefully pull through, if anything me and John are pretty solid on either side with Haley or with Johnny/Ryan. Now that Rhone is gone and I literally only know John I’m trying to cling to him a bit just because I feel like he has a stronger social standing. But we shall see!

I cannot believe someone called out Emily for liking our tribe better. I mean I don’t blame her, impala is great. But their tribe was safe last round literally bc they worked with us. Also I’m nervous about this switching tribe thing bc I love my tribe and I really don’t want to lose them hahaha. At least I don’t have to worry about Emily and Bryan later down the road. But Emily did seem like someone I wanted to work with :/ oh well Ok everyone I talk to on this tribe loves it and ned even took it as far as saying he wants all of us at final 6. I’m sorry but like, no Hahahaha. When we merge, I will rely on some of these relationships (ned, Chris and Dane) but I will work with others, I can’t just stick with my start up tribe hahaha

Fatum's tribal went a lot better than expected. Now that Emily's out of the picture, I'm not as concerned about Bryan flipping. What I AM concerned about is the possibility of Fauna and Onion teaming up against us, because if the questions from the last tribal are any indication, it sounds like people aren't too happy about our winning streak. As Storymaster, Chris chose to let everyone decide if they want to mutiny. I think everyone on our tribe is staying, but I imagined a horrible scenario where the entire Onion tribe mutinied to Fauna and the tribes were suddenly 10-6. Please no.

Wow. Tribal went fantastic. I had my formal last night and was completely blackout during tribal council, so I didn't fully wrap my head around what was happening until right now, and THANK GOD IT HAPPENED!! Emily was playing too hard, and not only that, but the five of us were very together on what was happening, which is good for team cohesion. I am going HAM on the next immunity challenge because I do not wanna go back to tribal council, but I know it's bound to happen again. I definitely think the next vote is going to be between Nicole and Haley, in terms of the names being thrown out there, but without a doubt, I am not voting out Haley. I need to bring her rookie-try hard ass to the merge, because I think I've officially found someone who is going to be a bigger target come merge than I would ever be, because I somehow always seem to be that target, and to be quite honest here, I'm fairly confident in making merge now that I've made it through one tribal. I have this very serious goal this round to have an edgic of MOR2. I need to not be under the radar, because obviously a winner is never under the radar, but I really need to be low-key this round. I didn't take any heat in particular last round, but Ryan was a bit confused as to why I was agreeing to vote for him, and the good part is that he was saying he was scared because he didn't wanna expose our relationship, so he can just be saying that, or he can actually mean it. I need to just lay low and really hope we don't go to tribal, and I don't get selected to go a tribal council. I want to quietly look for the idol, by myself, and hope to make progress, while not being super communicative in hopes for the best. I'm playing in a risky reward challenge, and I think I'm not gonna try too hard in the challenge, since it's all about knocking people out of the challenge, unless I get later in the challenge and it's advantageous for me. I don't want to make those moves against anyone, so we'll see what happens since that's an auto target on my back if I play that challenge a bit poorly. We'll see what happens.

A bitch has a confessional, socially im flopping. Which is bad. Because my alliance of me, Brandon and Jake is fucked bc Rebecka or Bran has an idol. But they both hate eachother omg. Rebecka SNAPPED on his ass!

Chris thinking he is slick but then accidentally messaging Bryan about me and Bryan and then deleting it immediately. I see how it is, you’re done :)

Ok me and Bryan are working together without Chris. I don’t know if Chris knows I know. I’m sure he does bc Bryan confronted him (not sure if that was the smartest) but Bryan didn’t specify if he told Chris or if Chris would assume a relationship between me and Bryan. I really thought I could trust Chris but that’s shady that he messaged Bryan (obvs meaning to send it elsewhere) about how he told me and Bryan to not do 13. It makes me want to try 13 anyway. I am hoping he meant it for his confessional chat rather than another castaway. I would hate to feel like the entire tribe is working against me

Also going back to earlier, I’m pissed bran won. He used a movie poster and like 4 edits on photoshop whereas I made my flag from scratch and I only lost by 5 points. I came so close compared to the other submissions and I just worked so hard on it

Ok so I smoothed things over with Chris and with Bryan and I think I can now work with both of them in this idol hunt. I just really want to find it bc I find idols so rarely :( I think since we haven’t been in trouble yet, paranoia is just taking over some of this tribe. I want to believe that Chris was just telling his confessional chat and that he lied to Bryan about working with me to maximize his chances of finding the idol. It’s a great plan, I don’t blame him for it. But a small part of me worries he is working with someone else on the tribe against me and Bryan. I know it wouldn’t be ned. The more we talk, the more we have in common. I really see us going far together. I haven’t spoken to autumn since day 1 in one world so it could very well likely be her or even Dane. Just bc he’s on so infrequently and he doesn’t say much when he is online. But a majority part of me is saying that Chris meant to make it a confessional.

this game is lame, i trust no one on my tribe, i trust no one on the other tribes.

Bran can't submit even 1 item for the scavenger hunt but can somehow show up to win the reward challenge AS WELL AS argue with me that they should be team captain? oh im so sorry that i dont want you to be the captain. in fact, here's the world's smallest violin, playing JUST for you, bran. Sometimes i think I should've mutiny-ed but I dont think i'd be any better off. I don't fully trust brandon after the whole let's blindside rhone and make him first boot like what the actual fuck who thought that was a good idea our tribe sucks but at least brandon will talk to me even if its not game related? idk everything is lame im lame i give up bye !!!!

Alright so a lot has happened. Ned found half of an idol so I HOPE we’re able to find this other half after immunity results. Autumn, Ned, Dane, and myself have officially formed our 4some. I fucked up by making Bryan something NOT meant for him. I basically said I was using Sam and Bryan. I think I recovered with Sam but Bryan definitely doesn’t trust me. Regardless we can split votes 2-2-2 if needed. My tribe volunteered me to compete in the challenge... That was NOT the plan. I do not want to be the guy everyone looks to for challenges because then I become Joe Anglim. And I don’t want to be Joe Anglim. But I beat Johnny so I’m safe. I hope I beat BDC cause if so, Johnny is taking me to his tribe to vote with him at tribal. This’ll be my Opportunity to gain some trust with them for the inevitable swap.

I'm so broken apart by what happened this round. I honestly love playing, since it's going to be the most survivor-like experience I can possibly get, and I love getting to know people and play the game and be a power player, but I can't do that if I'm getting voted out third. So to start why I'm so upset, let's rewind to last night. I decided to volunteer to compete in the immunity challenge for my tribe. I know I'm a pretty decent competitor, and I really really thought I had a chance at winning immunity this round, but that clearly isn't what happened. I am fairly confident in my challenge skills, but once I'm ready to compete, Owen tells me that we'll be competing in a logic puzzle..................... For anyone who doesn't know, logic puzzles are absolutely the worst thing to ever happen to me ever, I literally take nine hours to do the simple ones, so this was just death. I actually really honed in on the challenge, but couldn't come out with a W. I was prepared for me, as the losing captain, to choose someone from the winning tribe to win to bring to tribal with me, and I was going to pick Jake, but OF COURSE the twists keep changing every round, which is getting more and more annoying to deal with, but I'm rolling with it. The decision was this: On 12/18/17, at 6:47 PM, Owen (Crossroads Host) wrote: > This round, your tribe is going back to tribal. However, only three of the five of you will be eligible to WALK THE PLANK. Because you failed as a captain, you are automatically one of the three eligible. The winning captain has selected Ryan to join you. Between John, Haley, and Nicole you must select the third person to face elimination with you. Only the three of you will be able to get votes. It will not be revealed which person the winner picked and which person you chose. It is your own decision as a captain. SOOOOOOOOOOO Now Ryan and I are forced to be the two votes, and i'm basically forced to single handedly choose, before everyone else finds out, who I'm voting for this round, because I'm clearly not voting for Ryan this round since i trust him. My thought process was that I was either going to have to choose between the "stoners" (john haley ryan me) or the vets on our tribe, which is Nicole Ryan Haley me, and I basically chose the stoners to side with since I don't have an alliance chat with the vets, and I didn't want shit blowing up if I chose Haley. The biggest reason John was off the table was because the names going around last round were everyone except him and I, so I just wanted as many people to potentially get voted for to be up for eviction with me.

As for what I'm thinking for this vote.... i'm tripping out a little bit now that it's been announced. I told Nicole that I am the reason she's up to be voted out, because i wanted to be transparent. I figured lying about it doesn't really help the situation this round. When it comes down to who I'm voting for. I'm locking in Nicole because i can't vote for Ryan. I know that Ryan and Haley are never going to vote for me, and I'm hoping John wouldn't vote for me, but now I'm hearing a few other things that are making me a bit disappointed with him, where John wants to keep Nicole, but says he won't vote for Ryan or I. This is all according to Haley. I think I'm going to have a knot in my stomach until tribal council happens, and I'm tip toeing on the idea of telling Haley I have a half of an idol, but I'm thinking that I'll probably find another half very soon, so I'm just trying to hold onto the fact that I can have a completely secret idol, while consistently telling people where to search, and me knowing that I can't possibly have found something, when in all reality, I've got a half an idol and I'm being very cautious about it. What some people AREN'T being cautious about is how much they tell Haley. I trust that Haley wants to work with me very well, I'm not questioning that, but I am questioning how smart that girl is. She seems very eager, which is good, but she told me that SHE and NICOLE both have halves of idols to where I'm like WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK OWEN WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU GIVING AWAY THIS MANY HALVES!?!!?? The good thing is that I know where three of them are, and that's because Haley told me. Once Haley knows something, everyone knows. I'm being good at keeping my mouth shut this time around :)

Ok I’m glad we won the challenge. But how imperium stands right now I think if we do go to a vote it will be a 3 to 3 vote with me, Sam and Ned against Chris, autumn, and Dane or 4 to 2 with me, Sam, Ned, and Dane against Chris and autumn.

Okay so I am about to single handedly make a blindside happen at tribal, alongside the help of Haley. I went on call with Haley, and told her I had a half an idol, which wasn't my first choice of things I wanted to do, due to my traumatic idol PTSD from past games, but I took a different route by telling Haley, and I made a pretty ingenious plan to get me into the best position on this tribe as possible. Step 1: Get Haley to give me her other half of the idol. (DONE) Step 2: Tell Haley that it's okay to vote for me at tribal, and that it's going to be 3 votes for me, 2 votes for Nicole (DONE) Step 3: Watch the blindside unfold. Step 4: Do damage control with John. Let Ryan be mad at John and Haley for voting for me, let John have to apologize for voting for me, and me play victim and try to really rebuild the strength of our relationships. And then after that, make sure that John and Ryan are the ones at odds with each other, while me getting John back on my side, and putting me back in the driver's seat. I know that this is going to put an insane target on my back when it gets to later in the game, and I'm going to be the guy who had a good idol play in the third round, and I'm going to be the guy that's like "he found the idol once, he can probably find one again" so I'm going to have to be real tricky with getting to merge, because I think the target is going to be on my back a lot more now than it would have ever been this early in the game, but I'll just have to throw caution to the wind and really come up with some shit and hope for the best. I did not want to have to play this hard this early, but it's happening :/ I need a swap soon. I would LOVE for us to go to tribal one more time before we swapped, to vote out John, and then Haley, Ryan and I all make it to a swap, to where I need to build some super strong relationships with some people. Haley ratted out John so much to me in the midst of this whole thing, and that Nicole and John are trying to vote for me this round, and John is going to say some snarky shit like "There's only room for one John." I'm torn on when I'm going to use the "throw haley under the bus" card, but I'm not quite there yet. I know it's going to come eventually, because that girl is playing very well very hard and very early in this game, so it'll be too tough to tell. I don't like that this is how this round is happening, but I'm ready for that OTTP5 edgic this round..... Me when I wanted a MOR3 NFVNVKSLDNFJKLVNLJKSDF

So more information coming your way live from Johnny's bed :) So Haley also tells me that Nicole is negotiating Haley's vote for the half of an idol that Nicole has, so now the plan is for Nicole to give Haley the half an idol before tribal, and then I'm going to be idoling out Nicole at tribal, while Haley has the half an idol in her pocket, which means we're back to Haley having a half, and all we have to do is find one more half, and we're golden. This is a very productive round for my game. If only this was a merge tribal council this was happening at, I'd be making a winning move here, but it's cool. I'll just hope for Owen to continue to throw twists my way that can hopefully get me out of these snake holes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So it's been a lot more calm now that we won the last two challenge which is nice although there was some drama picking team captain, I thought Rebecka was getting close with Bran but them fighting over Bran being captain or not showed that Rebecka isn't with him.

And I'm kinda worried about her cus I know Julia and her have some kind of connection now, I also think she's doing anything she can to get back into good graces. Like when I said I was doing my final project yesterday she PMd me saying that I could do it and she believed in me and shit which is nice and myabe that's her being genuine but she wasn't that talkative until she realized she was on the bottom so hmmm I feel like she might just be trying to get me to trust her now. But hunny I don't buy it, you're a threat. I don't trust you and if we ever swapped tribes and it was just you and me on a new tribe I already know you'd try to get my ass out. So i'ma strike first. Idk if we're gonna tribe swap next round or not but if we don't and we lose the challenge I am pushing hard for Rebecka to go. She is a threat to me and her torch needs to be snuffed.

Things are finally getting wild. I brought together my two alliances to form the Kids Next Door, an alliance consisting of Chris, Autumn, Dane, and myself. I've also been forming better relationships with Sam and Bryan, because it's looking pretty likely that we'll end up swapping soon- and I genuinely like them both. Like, if we ended up as the final 6, I'd be incredibly happy. Chris also screwed up and sent Bryan a message that was meant for Autumn and me, and Bryan went and told me about it- so I'm hoping he trusts me enough to give me information in case we ever lose. The only person I haven't talked strategy with is Sam, so it feels like we're both walking on thin ice trying to avoid mentioning the elephant in the room: that she betrayed me once, and we'd LIKE to work together, but we don't know if it's possible to completely trust one another given our history. Also, my pockets are overflowing with little knickknacks that I can't really do anything with. https://78.media.tumblr.com/ea49454532a394d02c4f61d90a7c7362/tumblr_nhrjgwdRhp1u4mldxo1_400.gif So far, in the Storybook, I've found a challenge advantage, half a Hidden Immunity Idol, and a coin that might possibly one day do something if I'm lucky. I'm hoping I get to stick around to see all these things pay off. In the meantime, only Johnny, Ryan, and Nicole are eligible to be voted off, and I'm really hoping Nicole goes home. If Johnny goes home I might cry.

BDC is a real asshole to pick me over Haley and John. I know he doesn’t like me , I wish he wasn’t so fucking fake

Our tribe has alliances within alliance and it's starting to unfold. Our tribe is a mess and very sloppy you never know where people heads are at you get told one thing one minute and next it's a whole new thing. Hopefully the people who I trust which is Ryan, john and Johnny all stick with the original plan tonight and vote Nicole .

Ok so there's officially two alliances within Imperium- one with Dane and one without him lol. Ned, Chris, and I are the closest so we're Mystery Inc since I said our tribe feels a lot like Scooby Doo. We believe the three of us are Fred, Shaggy, and Daphne while Dane, Sam, and Bryan are Scooby, Velma, and Scrappy. Honestly I can't unsee it and that alliance could highkey go all the way because no one really picks up on it. The one with Dane is Kids Next Door based off of Codename Kids Next Door haha; Ned is No. 1, Dane is No. 3, Chris is No. 4, and I'm No. 5 (we've given Owen No. 2 lmao). Both alliances are solid and I feel really good about that so no complaints! Imperium talks all day every day so I really don't even want us to go to tribal. We're very 60's and all about peace, love, and good vibes. Yes we have a suballiance and I know Vietnam is coming but so far we don't really have any major problems or issues to work out. I think Sam and Bryan are too dangerous to make merge but we're lowkey a family now so I'm slightly torn. THERE BETTER NOT BE A TRIBE SWAP OR ELSE ILL FIGHT KNOW THAT

So like this tribe is so sketchy. Like bitch if you are gonna be so sketchy get a sketchbook smh. Anyways, so like I only trust Brandon on this tribe. Fuck the rest of these hoes. I can sniff out the BS. So Brandon and I are pretty positive that Bran got an Idol. And we are also pretty posititve Bran is throwing the challenges because he has an idol, and wants to play it. Which puts anyone at risk in this tribe. Like shit! I ain't got time 4 it. And ALSO Rebecka and Jake. Don't even get me started. I used to make alliances and close friendships of mine very obvious on accident, and they are no different. Like bitch OBVIOUSLY you are messing around. And that is VERY DANGEROUS. Because it outs the Brandon /Jake/Julia allaince, and makes Jake safe, and screws Brandon and I. UgHHH. I am really hoping for a goddamn swap ngl.

https://youtu.be/Nf6Gt2hLBHI

I'm so annoyed, but if this works, it may be one of the biggest early moves I've ever made. First off.... the confessional from earlier. It was a genius idea, but of course our tribe's village idiot fucks it up yet again (dull) So OF COURSE (surprise surprise) Haley tells Ryan about the idol, which means that our cover is blown, Ryan is mad I didn't tell him, and now Haley is "telling" me she is 100% voting for Nicole. I don't trust Haley for shit, so I run to John because I've just gotta get him 100% on my side to make sure that he is going to be voting to keep me, and he knows that he can use me in the future, and that even though he loves Nicole, he's gotta trust me. I tell John that Haley gave me her half of the idol, and that I've got the whole thing. I told John that if he doesn't tell anyone that he knows about my idol, it gives us a lot of wiggle room and we can figure out how Haley is going to use her knowing about my idol to her advantage, and we can just out her more as a snake than she has been for the first three rounds of this game. John also told me that Nicole gave her half of the idol to John, since she is so confident she is being voted out, so now Haley has nothing (thank the lord), i've got a full one, and John has a half, which can turn into a whole very very soon since apparently these things are dumb easy to find. (Note: I told John that if I found another half, I'd give it to him, but there's no way in fucking hell I'm giving up a half an idol, are you fucking kidding me? The only way I'd give it to him is if I had to do something dumb, publicly, to obtain the idol... Then I'd give it to John *eyeroll*) Nicole and John both promised me I'm not being fucked with, and that I'm a good guy and this isn't some master blindside, and if they're correct, then we're going to have four stoners here after tribal council, and our alliance of four is what is going to remain. Here is where I stand right now: 1. I don't trust Haley for shit 2. I need to work on John's trust, and I kinda expect him to tell Ryan about my whole idol, but he knows that Ryan knows and that may get back to me, so he may not tell Ryan 3. Ryan needs to know that I still have utmost trust in him, and that him and I are probably at the center of this tribe right now, because next tribal will probably be between John and Haley going home. 4. Nicole is a saint, does not deserve this if she's getting voted out, but if she has an idol of some kind, and i'm being fucked with, rip Ryan. I'm praying this tribal goes in my favor.

https://youtu.be/NhG5oWDSHpw https://youtu.be/6NYH_XsYX8c

#tscrossroads #episode three #confessionals

1 note · View note

bangtan-insfired · 7 years ago

Text

Snake Eyes | BTS Mafia AU (5)

Pairing: reader x jimin | Mafia/Gang AU

Genre: angst x some occasional fluff

Summary: You were assigned to protect, watch over, and defend him. Falling in love with him was just an inevitable side effect.

Word Count: 4,188

A/N: Just to be clear I freaking adore Wonho but his name was the first to pop into my head when writing this and he ended up being a jerk...lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always, feel free to send me asks with your thoughts <333

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

“It’s so good to see you, son.”

You turned around in your seat at the new voice, eyes landing on two men. The one who had spoken was much older than all of you and you knew him as Park Seunghyun, Jimin’s uncle. Aside from working in the company, he also owned his own hospital and rumor has it that he’s power greedy as he had been pushing to be Mr.Park’s successor. You couldn’t help but feel wary around him.

The other man was taller than Seunghyun but younger and you recognized him as Wonho. He often featured in a lot of magazines known for his playboy ways and as you took him in, you now understood why he was such a heartbreaker, especially with that bright blonde hair. His eyes raked over your form curiously as well, a smirk tugging at his lips as his gaze met yours. His face rang a bell in your head as a sense of familiarity came over you but you couldn’t pinpoint why, other than the fact that he’s a well-known public figure.

“Long time no see, cuz. Sorry about your father.” Wonho addressed Jimin, pulling him into a brief hug. Neither looked pleased by their proximity, so when Wonho pulled away, he wasted no time in walking up to you, grasping your hand in his and pulling it up for a kiss. “And you are…?”

Jimin frowned, pulling your hand away from Wonho and standing in front of you. “She’s my girlfriend.”

Wonho’s smirk widened as he kept his gaze glued onto you. You scoffed, crossing your arms against your chest. Wonho is insanely handsome, you’d admit, and although you were into trouble, he’s the kind of trouble you liked to stay away from.

“Well if you ever get bored of Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes, you can always call me for a good time.”

You couldn’t say you were surprised to see that he was indifferent to the death of his own uncle or to the suffering of his older cousin. As tight knit as the Park family all appeared to be on camera, they were pretty distant with each other behind the scenes. Even the way Seunghyun addressed Jimin was a bit awkward but you sensed that beneath it all, his sympathy was genuine. Family is still family, after all.

“Son, now is not the time.” Seunghyun cut in sharply, displeased by his son’s behavior. He looked at you in an apologetic manner, stretching his hand out to shake yours. “I’m sorry about him. But it’s nice to meet you. Jimin rarely introduces his girlfriends to us.”

“So I’ve heard,” you laughed with ease, smiling courteously at the older man as you shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you as well, Mr. Park. I’m [Y/N].”

“Please, call me Seunghyun.” He replied and you nodded in acknowledgment. With a smile, he turned back to Jimin. “I was hoping you two would like to join us for some coffee. We have some things to catch up on.”

“Yeah, that’d be great.” Jimin nodded in agreement with a sense of relief in his tone, making you glance suspiciously between him and Seunghyun.

“So,” Wonho started, resting his elbows on the café table so he could lean in closer to you. Jimin insisted that he would join his uncle in ordering the coffee because you were picky and he wanted to get you your coffee just the way you liked it. He was bluffing, of course.

To anyone, it sounded like a sweet gesture because knowing how someone likes their coffee was a sign of intimacy. A part of you was amused to see what he’d bring you, but for the most part, you were concerned. You knew too well that this was an excuse just so he could speak to his uncle alone and you had to give him credit for it. How could you say no to your loving “boyfriend” in front of his family without sounding like an a-hole?

You kept your gazed fixed on them, trying to decipher their expressions and the way their lips moved. They stood in line, a good distance away from your table. When Jimin felt your gaze on him, he simply smiled at you and moved forward, conveniently hiding behind a huge plant while his uncle remained in your line of view.

You wondered if Jimin had lied to you earlier about not knowing anything and decided to seek his uncle’s help instead. If that’s the case, then he sure had you fooled and he was much cleverer than you thought he was. You doubted his uncle would be away to give him the help he needed, anyway.

Wonho frowned, waving a hand at your face to get your attention. You reluctantly tore your gaze away from the two men as you saw them just about to order, knowing that there was no chance of you being able to eavesdrop on their conversation anymore. Wonho was already finding your behavior suspicious.

Seeing that he now had your attention, Wonho’s frown morphed into a smile. “What’s your play?”

“What do you mean?” You asked as you leaned back into your chair.

“Is he forcing you?”

“What?”

“Are you pregnant?”

Your face scrunched up in distaste.

“Is he paying you?”

“No!”

“I don’t get it. What is a woman like you doing with a man like him?” Wonho asked, his eyebrows knitting together as he stared at you in disbelief. “You can do so much better.”

Should you feel flattered at his subtle compliment or slightly offended? You went with the latter when you reminded yourself of his true intentions. Was he always like this with Jimin’s girlfriends? This is probably why Jimin rarely introduced his girlfriends, you theorized. Suddenly, you felt protective over Jimin and a bit angry on his behalf. Poor boy.

“If by better you mean you, then you really need to reevaluate your pick-up lines. I believe when trying to ‘woo’ someone you’re meant to sound promising and I hate to break it to you”- your eyes raked his form with slight aversion because you knew that would hurt his ego-“but you don’t.”

His smug expression turned into a glare and you were glad that Jimin and his uncle showed up at just that time. You smiled lovingly at Jimin, sitting up straight in your seat. Jimin returned your smile—an awkward one but a smile nonetheless.

“I got you your iced, sugar-free, vanilla latte with soy milk.” He told you as he handed you an iced-coffee.

You grimaced at the contents of the order—you preferred your coffee black and with a lot of sugar—but quickly masked it with happiness, leaning in to kiss his cheek just to irk the man sitting across from you. “My favorite. Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.” Jimin replied in a bashful manner, his cheeks tinting with blush.

Seunghyun smiled warmly at your interaction while Wonho sulked in his seat.

“Ah, young love.”

For the rest of his break, Seunghyun asked you questions such as how you met, how long the two of you had been dating and if you two were serious. Wonho sat back but you knew he was just as interested in your answers as his father. You and Jimin took turns in answering the questions and he was surprisingly good at improvising. The two of you killed it and had captivated Seunghyun’s attention with your quirky love story.

He also reminded Jimin that there’d be an important meeting soon, where all the lead departments would discuss and vote on who the new CEO should be. He assured Jimin that the position would fall onto him as his father would’ve wanted, which you found odd considering the amount of articles that had been written about him the past months. Either they were just rumors or Seunghyun had something up his sleeve. According to him, the meeting was just a means of making it “fair” and official.

When Seunghyun and Wonho finally left, you dropped your act and turned to Jimin. He motioned for you to follow him so you did, matching his pace. “Your family sure is…nice.”

Jimin rolled his eyes at your tone. He knew who you were referring to. “You should meet my mother. You’ll sure get a kick out of her.”

“It’s a bit too soon for me to meet your mother, don’t you think?” You teased, bumping your shoulder with his.

Jimin glared, rubbing his shoulder. You doubted you shoved him hard enough for it to hurt and the quiver of his lips finally gave in to a smile, giving him away. “Well, we’ve been dating for two months…”

“Hmm,” You paused thoughtfully, tapping your chin as you leaned against the elevator’s wall. It was just the two of you inside so you could freely continue on with your little game. “Since we’ve been dating for a while now, I’d like to think we are beyond the stage of ‘keeping secrets’ so if there’s anything you’d like to disclose to me, I’m all ears.”

Jimin stared at you for a moment.

“Perhaps, something to do with your family...” You added.

When the words processed in his mind and he finally registered what you were trying to do, he chuckled. “You have your secrets so I can have mine.”

Where did he get that confidence from? A few reasons came to mind and you sighed, trying to keep your cool. He could be bluffing.

“I’m allowed to keep secrets. You’re not.” You reminded, pointing a finger at him. The elevator dinged, signaling that it was stopping at a floor and opening soon.

Jimin grasped your finger, engulfing your hand in his as the doors opened behind him. A young woman entered and she spared you two a glance, bowing in respect to Jimin and sending you a small smile. A light blush colored her cheeks as she saw you two holding hands and she murmured an apology for interrupting you two, moving to the opposite side of the elevator.

Jimin didn’t recognize her but as he looked at the badge around her neck, he realized that she must be new to the company. This was definitely not the first impression he wanted to make on his new employee.

You wiggled your hand out of his grip and leaned against the wall once more, relieved to see that the next stop was the sixth floor. You decided not to press him any further about it as you now had an audience. Albeit, it was just one person but one person was more than enough to get an unnecessary rumor started.

Blood oozed out of his thigh and with a groan, he used his arm to apply pressure to the wound. He didn’t have the energy to tear a piece of his clothing to wrap around his leg. It could be worse, he thought. He staggered to the front door, becoming wearier with each step he took as he leaned against Hoseok for support.

“We’re almost there.” Hoseok said as a way to encourage Taehyung.

Hoseok was just as beat up as Taehyung, except he hadn’t been hit by a bullet like the younger man. They had underestimated their mission and in return, were ambushed by not only the men they thought to be their allies but by Jaebum’s men as well. Their car had broken down a few miles before they reached the house so mustering up all the strength and energy he had left, Hoseok had to half carry, half drag Taehyung. They would’ve requested back up, if their phones hadn’t been destroyed in the process. It wasn’t skill that saved them tonight. It was luck.

The front door to the house opened and Taehyung smiled, his eyes beginning to close in on him. Despite the pain, he felt so sleepy…

“What the fuck happened to you two?” Yoongi greeted the younger males, his face scrunching up in concern as he took in their states.

“Hey, hyung.” Taehyung lazily purred.

“Jaebum’s men.” Hoseok replied as they entered the house.

Yoongi clenched his jaw in understanding as he shut the door behind him. He turned to the staircase. “JUNGKOOK-AH!”

In an instant, Jungkook was at Yoongi’s side. His eyes widened when he saw the two men. Taehyung was covered in all sorts of bruises and blood, and judging by the way Taehyung pressed his hand against his thigh, he knew it was his own blood and not anyone else’s. Meanwhile, Hoseok sported a black eye and bruises of his own, clutching his stomach in pain.

Jungkook stepped forward, wrapping an arm around Taehyung, taking in all his weight in support. Yoongi motioned for him to take him to the living room while he went to go get their first aid kit. Jungkook cautiously eased Taehyung onto the couch, rushing to their mini-bar to retrieve the whiskey as Hoseok threw himself on the love-seat across from them.

He poured some whiskey into a cup for Hoseok and gave the rest of the bottle to Taehyung, knowing he’d need it more, if they were going to take to the bullet that was currently lodged into his leg out.

“Drink up.”

Taehyung wasted no time, chugging the whiskey as if it were water. When Yoongi returned, Namjoon was by his side, taking in his member’s states with worry.

Yoongi’s fingers pressed against Taehyung’s wrist to check his pulse and let out a breath in relief. He began to cut around the material of his pants to clean the wound properly, not caring if his blood was staining the couch. They could always buy a new one.

“They’re not messing around.” Taehyung let out a breathy laugh. Although he had been tired, he was fully alert now.

“What do they want?” Namjoon asked, sitting beside Hoseok.

“Everything.” Hoseok answered, remembering vividly the threat Jaebum had made. His group didn’t just want to expand their own territory. They wanted Bangtan’s allies, money and power. They wanted to be them.

“Seokjin was there, too.” Taehyung added, causing the atmosphere to darken. “He’s the one who shot me.”

“That bastard.” Yoongi hissed.

“Be gentle.” Taehyung winced at Yoongi’s carelessness with a pout, opening his eyes to see Yoongi struggling with the bullet. “[Y/N] wouldn’t treat me like this.”

“Well, [Y/N] isn’t here.” Yoongi snapped instead of apologizing.

You were always the one to treat their wounds since you had much more patience and were much gentler with them. Yoongi couldn’t help but miss you. In situations like this, you were the one who knew exactly how to make one feel better. Even when Hoseok would be in one of his rare bad moods, you always knew what to do or what to say to make him smile again. They desperately needed you right now.

“That’s because she’s playing housewife with Rich Boy.” Jungkook replied, rolling his eyes as he handed Hoseok some ointment for his bruises. “Remind me again how that was a good idea?”

“We need to keep her distracted right now.” Namjoon answered curtly. He then ran a hand down his face. He hated this as much as Jungkook did but as a leader, he had to think about what was best for his family as a whole, rather than just you.

“By making it easier for them? Jaebum wants Jimin and Seokjin wants [Y/N].” Jungkook retorted as he glared at his leader.

“Watch your mouth, kid.” Yoongi warned, not liking Jungkook’s attitude. He knew where Jungkook was coming from but that didn’t give him the right to question Namjoon. Had he forgotten who had brought them all back up after Hitman Bang’s death?

“Once we deal with Seokjin, [Y/N] will be back with us.”

“You mean once we kill him.” Taehyung laughed once again but there was no humor to it.

Everyone in the room tensed up as they all glanced at each other. The idea of killing someone they once regarded as their own kin was unsettling. It felt so wrong, even when it was the right thing of them to do. Seokjin knew too much. The quicker they dealt with him, the less risk they all would be in.

They knew how you’d take the news, which is why Namjoon thought it best that they sent you off to protect Jimin to keep you occupied and away from the house. Unbeknownst to you, Hoseok and Jungkook were watching you closely in fear that Seokjin would approach you. They’ve already lost a lot. They couldn’t afford to lose you, too.

“It’s just not right to do this behind her back.” Jungkook sighed in defeat as he brought his hands to his face.

“It’s not.” Hoseok agreed with a sullen pout. “But it’s what’s best for everyone.”

After Jimin’s shift was over, you texted Namjoon to let him know that you would not be returning home. Jimin had asked if the two of you could visit his father’s house and you had surprisingly agreed, despite the dangers it could bring. You were itching to know what Jimin had told his uncle so you decided that the best way to get him to tell you was to get on his good side.

As you pulled up into the long, spacious driveway, you gawked at the mansion. It was much bigger than your family home and that was saying a lot since your house was also huge. You couldn’t help but wonder why someone who lived alone would want to live in such a big house. Sometimes, you felt pretty lonely in your house and it was inhabited by six other people.

Jimin hopped off the car and you followed after him, your gaze wandering around the area. His father’s house was in a quiet neighborhood that looked peaceful. Too peaceful. Hitching up your skirt, you secured the gun from the glove department into your thigh holster. You probably wouldn’t even need your weapons but you didn’t want to take any chances.

Once it was adjusted and you made sure your knife was also there, you smiled at an annoyed Jimin as you fixed your pleated skirt. You followed after him, going up the porch steps to reach the front door. When Jimin punched in the code to unlock the door, you were glad you had made sure to bring your gun and knife along with you.

Every piece of furniture in the entrance living room was flipped over. Broken glass littered the floor along with papers, plants and house décor. The family portrait that consisted of just Jimin and his father was slanted, barely hanging on top of the fireplace. It looked like a tornado had hit and as the two of you walked further into the house, you noticed that every single room was in a similar state.

You kept a small amount of distance between you and Jimin as you walked, all of your senses on full alert mode. Jimin suddenly froze, turning his head to his right, causing you to crash into his back. It was then that you heard what had made him stop. It was a muffled sound—like muffled screaming.

Before you could stop him, Jimin was running toward the noise. You slipped the gun out of your holster, clicking the safety off as you ran after him. You felt your heartbeat ring in your ears at the thought of something bad happening to him when he was so close to you.

The noise was coming from the kitchen and as you turned the corner, you saw Jimin kneeling before an old woman who was tied up to a chair. Her mouth was shut with duct tape, her hair disheveled. Her cheek was tainted with a dark, purple bruise.

“It’s okay Mrs. Shin, I’m here.” Jimin whispered to her, reaching out to wipe her tears.

You scoped out the area, making sure that no one else was around before approaching them. It was only then that you allowed yourself to breathe.

Jimin pulled the duct tape off of her in one fast motion. Mrs. Shin let out a cry. She was quick to speak as her mouth was no longer restrained and the one word she uttered out, had Jimin blanching.

“Leave.”

“Leave? Are you kidding me? Who did this to you? Are the others okay? I’m going to get you out of this.” Jimin nervously ranted on as he rushed behind her chair to untie her hands. You kept your eyes on the old woman as she cried for Jimin to leave in a desperate manner.

“We should listen to her, Jimin.”

Jimin shot you an incredulous look, his eyes glistening with tears. “I’m not leaving her like this!”

You took a deep breath. You hadn’t meant to just leave her like that. You weren’t that cruel and you thought you had been obvious about it.

Seeing that his hands were shaking and he was struggling with the ropes that were fastened tightly around her wrists, you moved forward to kneel beside them. You set your gun aside and slipped your knife out, cutting through the rope that had bound her hands and then the one that had bound her legs together.

“Who did this to you?” You asked the older woman in a calm manner as you could sense that Jimin’s current state was only adding more onto her distress. Her breathing was erratic and eyes wide. She was trying her best to calm down for the male’s sake but was failing terribly.

Whatever she saw or experienced had gave her a grave scare. Jimin wrapped his arms around her small, frail body. He rubbed her back in a soothing manner as Mrs. Shin slowly got her breathing back to normal.

“I-I don’t know.” She cried, rubbing the sore spots of her wrist. “They just…they just came and demanded to enter…enter Mr. Park’s office. They rummaged through all his stuff…Minseok wasn’t here today but Shinwoo...but Shinwoo was here and he...he tried to stop them and...and…”

Jimin pulled her in tighter, tears escaping his own eyes at the terrible news. She didn’t have to finish her sentence for both of you to figure out what had happened. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not safe for you here, Jimin-ssi.” Mrs. Shin whispered as she leaned back, bringing both of her hands to his face. Her thumb caressed his cheek the way a mother would his child. The two of them stared at each other, tears streaming down their faces. “You have to leave. What if they come back?”

“M’am,” You called to her softly. “Is there any place we can take you, where you’ll be safe?”

“I’ll send you back to your hometown.” Jimin’s eyes remained on Mrs. Shin as he answered. “I already lost my father. I can’t risk losing you.”

“No.” The old woman began to shake her head with a frown. “What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me.” Jimin smiled in reassurance as he placed a loose strand of her gray hair behind her ear. “It’s my turn to take care of you now.”

“I’m going to go check out the rest of the house and then we can head out.” You informed Jimin, leaving your gun with him just in case.

You felt like you were intruding in such a precious moment and it started to make you feel uncomfortable. It reminded you of just how naïve and pure Jimin was to this new world he was living in. He was beginning to learn the hard way that any association with people like you opened the door to his loved ones getting hurt. Too bad, he had no choice as he was thrown into this cruel world against his own will.

You approached every room with caution, gripping your knife. The house was so huge that you were sure half an hour had already passed and you had only covered the downstairs area. Fortunately for you, you hadn’t encountered another living soul. You say living, because as you approached the upstairs hall, you almost stumbled upon a dead body.

It was of an old man. Blood pooled around him and as your eyes raked over his lifeless form, you spotted two bullet holes. One in his chest and one in his head. You knew then exactly who had been in this house. You recognized Mark’s, one of Jaebum’s men, signature all too well.

His body didn’t reek terribly yet. It was in the early stages of decomposing. You estimated that this had happened recently, perhaps earlier today even. Poor Mrs.Shin had probably been stuck to that chair for hours.

With a sigh, you stepped over him and continued on into the house, making note to call one of your police friends to deal with the dead body. You’d dispose of it yourself. However, you sensed he must’ve meant a great deal to Jimin-- assuming he was Shinwoo-- and knew that Jimin would want him to have a proper burial.

When you finally came across Mr. Park’s room, you were disappointed. You had been hoping to find some kind of clue or lead but found nothing. Whatever it was that Mark and his men had come in looking for, they either must’ve found it or found nothing.

The mattress was hanging off of the bed frame, curtains ripped and every single drawer of his bureau were thrown open, some of them laying on the floor in broken pieces. Piles of clothes littered the floor along with some papers. All you could see were contracts related to his company but of no relevance to you or anyone important and some old mail. Your eyes were skimming the last of the mail when you heard it. The sound rang in your ears loud and clear.

It was a gun shot. The blood drained from your face as you scurried down the hallway, pace quickening as you heard another gunshot followed by a scream.

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

#bts mafia au #bts imagines #bts scenarios #jimin imagines #jimin scenarios #bts angst #snake eyes

159 notes · View notes

survivorhephaestus · 6 years ago

Text

EPISODE 05: WAIT YOU TOOK ME AWAY FROM MY DOG

After Space Council, the teams were given a new and exciting twist: a mysterious spaceship appeared on the horizon, only to crash in for a long-awaited Team Swap. Inside the star, the voted-off castaways got to have a hand in deciding who went on which team, and the resulting three teams were as follows:

Minkowski - Richie, Karter, Josh, Carson

Lovelace - Drew, Patrick, Owen, Lydia

Kepler - Katie, Renee, Jakey, Logan

The new teams were given a music video challenge to break the ice, and after varying degrees of effort, Minkowski and Kepler emerged victorious. Before the vote, each team was given a chance to elect an MVP from the challenge who would be given a special power. Lovelace chose Patrick, Kepler chose Katie, and Minkowski all voted for different people so they didn’t get an MVP :( Katie and Pat, however, each got a fifteen-minute satellite call to a person of their choice from another team. Pat used his to call Logan, and Katie called Lydia shortly after, allowing the four of them to enact a secret plan to influence the next vote.

When Lovelace arrived at Space Council, they found out they had been infected by a virus from another team’s laboratory, which meant an extra fifth vote would be cast at their Council. Because of this, Owen was voted off 3 - 2 and sent into the star.

KARTER

I FOUGHT A FUCKING MONSTER AND NOW I AM ON ANOTHER FUCKING SHIP

AND THE OTHER TEAM WAS SO SHADY AND NOW I AM WITH THEM. I MISS MY TEAM. I AM ANTI-MEANIES. THESE ARE CLEARLY MEANIES

I CANT BELIEVE THE OTHER TEAM GETS TO CHEAT

I don't want these new friends :( I miss Logan and Lydia. Fuck this. Lovelace #1 is a gift and I miss all of them.

I hate this new crew and I am so fucking mad the Kepler ship gets this NEW SHIP SHIT but I still love my pals from the original team on that ship so I am torn.

I FOUGHT A FUCKING MONSTER. KICK ME OFF I HATE THIS GAME WITHOUT MY PALS. Can someone send me out the airlock? Zo?

Just kidding I miss my team my pals m y c r e w

Oh no we are talking about vines now maybe they are okay

WAIT YOU TOOK ME AWAY FROM MY DOG. ARI IS THE WORST

DID I MENTION I FOUGHT A FUCKING PLANT MONSTER?

LYDIA

youtube

JOSH

http://prntscr.com/mr5pkf

PATRICK

First: losing Stevie was no fun. I didn't want to vote him, and I told him as much at the end of the round where Jay left. But between a complete lack of traction from anyone else and a lack of time to put in the legwork myself, it didn't make sense for my game to keep him around. :( Sorry, Stevie. You deserved better. And for that matter, Karen, you too.

Onward and upward, anyway. Fweeeeeee, team swap! Love it. In an ideal world it would've come one round earlier or with another person from my OG tribe. Being the lone Minkowski on a tribe of Lovelaces is concerning. But I like this group. All people I'm familiar with to some degree, and two of whom have been pretty good allies in past games! Owen's the one I'm least familiar with, and even he and I have SOME history. Not extensive, but some.

Realistically, if we go to council, I know I'm in trouble. So I'm going to be doing everything I can to avoid that. In the meantime, this seems like it'll be a fun team! I'm excited to have a good time with Lydia, Drew and Owen. Hopefully we can kick some butt and take some names.

It all starts with this music video. I love editing video, although I haven't done so in a while. I think for this, we'll need a few things to go right: we need a good, catchy song; we need a concept (all the best music videos in ORGs have them, not just raw lip syncing); and above all, we need good-quality video from everyone. Good video can survive bad editing, but the opposite is not true.

And, of course, we need to make a video so objectively good that even a panel of subjective judges can't shut it down. Basically, I want to capture the magic we had in Heroes vs Villains 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S64ck2mPXs), though so much of that will be dependent on our teamwork.

Also, lowkey I wish Logan was on this team? One, I miss them terribly. Two, they've been in two of the three videos I've ever edited in a game. It feels wrong not to have them in here too. Oh well. I'm sure we'll meet up at merge. Whether we work together is up for debate, but I just miss their peppy upbeat vibe.

I hope Josh and Jakey stay alive, too. If you know my game, you know I like to keep my options as open as possible. And putting aside my own game, I'd like to see those two get far. I think both stand DECENT chances because of the tribe's splits. But we shall see!

KARTER

I just miss my friends. We worked so well together. Lovelace #1 forever.

I kinda hope they vote me out this round.

PATRICK

Well, this is frustrating. I tried pushing things along yesterday, strongly hinting at needing today to do anything. And nobody really helped much, causing today to mostly come and go. Lydia finally ended up taking the reins — bless her soul — and she picked the one song I voiced objection to. Beautiful. But, whatever, it's too late to be switching songs.

It's also too late to lock in any concept like I'd hoped, so it'll be your garden-variety lipsync. I'm probably canceling my plans tomorrow to get this done, which has me VERY unhappy, so if I'm sacrificing my day I may as well try and have fun with it. I have a few ideas to inject humour, at least, if not interest.

But... ugh. I'm just frustrated. If/when we lose, I don't know where I stand. I'd hope Lydia would force the tie and give me a chance. But I think I'd get two votes if we went today. I hope I don't go out because of this. I feel like I was doing my part to steer conversation and just kept getting met with radio silence.

Whatever. Sleep, quick turnaround, then I'm on this video grind. If we lose it sure as hell won't be because I didn't do my best under the circumstances.

LOGAN

me when people criticize how in sync my video was when my teammates sent stuff in an hour before the deadline: just be glad we have a video!!!

it was hard work making that happen. i can't believe i single-handedly won my team immunity, Kepler is now the Logan Team. i feel like i'll be the tragic boot right before the merge, but at least i'll have this win to my name.

LYDIA

youtube

PATRICK

First off — Logan and Kepler at large, ily. You're the best kind of best.

NOW THEN. A few things I want to cover off, so bear with me.

PAT, YOU WON THE MVP AWARD. WHY DID YOU NOT REACH OUT TO ONE OF YOUR ALLIES FROM MINKOWSKI? A few reasons. First, I saw this reward as one hell of an opportunity to expand my options even more going into a merge. It's a rare way to forge trust with someone who's never been to council with you. Second, I mentioned this in my last confessional... I just missed Logan. And third, I think both Josh and Jakey are secure enough in our respective alliances that, even if it does leak out to my OG team (which it would already have had to leak to at least Jakey and Renee,) they would know it was to build ourselves a foothold, not to throw them aside.

PAT, WHY DID YOU KEEP DREW OUT OF THE LOOP ON THE VOTE? An excellent question! Drew came to me this morning and said "I talked to owen about voting for lydia". He then went on to clarify that he'd messaged us both around the same time. But immediately, I went on full alert. Like... why are decisions being made without my input? And obviously, I'm not turning on Lydia... but Drew didn't know that. At the same time, after that message, it told me those two were a bit too close for my liking. So I knew I couldn't tell Drew I wanted to vote Owen. So I went along with it in private, but then did my own thing.

PAT, DO YOU THINK DREW WOULD HAVE FLIPPED ON A RE-VOTE, OR WERE YOU PREPARED TO GO TO ROCKS? I'd have gone to rocks in a heartbeat. But I also know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Drew would have flipped. That's why the vote went on Owen and not Drew.

#survivorhephaestus

0 notes

trishnawrites · 8 years ago

Text

Chapter 1: Drop Dead Gorgeous - Trial

The final part of chapter1! I’m really glad I decided to make the trial a separate part, because... geez, this one is also rather long. And yes, I used this oppurtinity to let characters talk that were pretty silent up until now. Just like all the other times: Thanks to @xagrofiction and @labyrinth-of-headcanons, my awesome beta readers!

Nervously, I glanced at the faces of the others. Most of them looked tense; after all, nobody knew exactly what would await us. Itsuki was conscious again, but he still looked rather pale and was leaning on Umi for support. The only people who at least seemed unfazed were Arata, who still looked very disgruntled; Wakuri, who was trying to exude the calming air of a teacher - but the first cracks in that facade showed - her eyes restlessly scanning the atrium over and over again; and Sena, whose expression was best described as „utterly pissed“. We all flinched when Monokuma‘s voice could be heard. „A-hem! I apologize for the wait, but I wanted to make you feel what I've had to bear all these past days!“ A collective groan followed. Sena looked like she was just about to start cursing again when the bear cut her off. „Anyway, to get to the courtroom, please step on the platform that will rise from the ground. Then you just have to hang on tight and – tadaaa! - you‘re already there!“ Just as he finished talking, the floor really did open and a platform emerged. It was rather small, so it was crammed and some had to hold on tight to the railings that also emerged from below so that we wouldn't fall off - even more so when that thing started to move downwards.

The ride itself was quiet. Nobody dared to speak – not that we would have known what to talk about. This entire situation was so weird, so strange, it had my mind reeling. The others probably felt similar. After what may have been just a few minutes - but definetely felt more like an hour - the platform stopped and a door opened before us. What lay behind it actually had some similarity with a courtroom. But really just 'some'. There was a throne-like chair, probably replacing the bench. The fact that Monokuma used that seat was concerning, but at this point admittedly not surprising anymore. He had talked about 'his' trials earlier, after all. What that meant for the trial ahead though, I didn‘t want to imagine. In the middle of the room were 16 courtroom stands arranged in a perfect circle. As we came closer, we could see that each was labeled with a name… with one exception. Two seats to my left was a big, monochrome picture of Hibiki‘s face, but it was crossed out in bright pink. That seat, I realized, would have been his and if we were have to return here – and I back then certainly hoped we would never have to – there would be reminders of the people we lost to the madness of this mansion. It took a while until everyone found their respective seat. Some of Monokuma choices were passable if not actually good ideas. I mean, I really didn‘t want to praise that twisted thing, but it had indeed placed Iroha and Shizuka opposite of each other; that way Iroha would have the least amount of trouble seeing and understanding his signing. Other choices, I found questionable, though. Personally, I didn‘t think it was a smart idea to place Arata and Takumi next to each other, but oh well. The person on my left was Sena, while Barano was on my right, so I couldn‘t really complain too much. Sure, Sena still was intimidating, but I knew that deep down, she could be nice and that reassured me.

„Alright, everybody‘s here, so let‘s get this show started! First, let me explain the rules of this trial: You'll be given no time limit to find out 'the blackened', so feel free to discuss as long as you want! Once you think you have found the killer, I will let you vote. The one chosen by majority vote is who you as a collective propose as 'the blackened'. If you‘re right, I will go ahead and punish the killer! If you‘re wrong, however, I will let the perpetrator go free and everybody else will get punished. Do you understand?“ The chorus of our subdued voices answered him. „Then I declare this trial is now in session!“ And with that, it began. A trial of life and death, where hope and despair would meet.

„Let‘s start by going over the facts laid out in the Monokuma File, then we can talk about how we proceeded and start off from there.“ Wakuri said sternly while pushing back her glasses. „Poor Hibiki was the victim...“ Barano started, her voice laced with sorrow. „And he was killed at some point during last night in the theatre room.“ Takumi continued. At least he let his feud with Arata rest at a time like this. „I think… the file said he had been strangled by hanging...“ Mayuho contributed, the airy voice we knew sounding muted. She tended to stare off into space, but unlike the other times, her gaze was now fixed to a point at the ground. As strange as she was sometimes, she was just as sad as us… the puppeteer just showed it differently. „The people who found his corpse were Arata, Shizuka and Yuuna“ Umi said. Arata nodded. „But I left the room soon after that again to bring you all to the theatre room. It was Yuuna and Shizuka who examined the body as well as the rest of the room.“ We both nodded and before I could say anything, Shizuka started to sign and Iroha promptly translated for us. „Most of what we found was confirmed by the file. Hibiki‘s body was stiff, so he had to have entered...“ Iroha stopped shortly, giving Shizuka a questioning look. He started to sign again, more slowly this time. I faintly recongnized the first sign from the time he introduced himself, so I guess he was spelling something again. Feeling that I had to say something as well, I interrupted them. „I… I think he meant that Hibiki had already entered rigor mortis.“ The courage that had made me speak up in the first place vanished as soon as I started talking, though, and I got quieter and quieter at the end. When the others stared at me, I blushed furiously and stared at the floor. „Entered what?“ Takara said finally. „Rigor mortis, also known as postmortem rigidity. After death, the chemical processes in your body come to a halt which leads to various things. One is rigor mortis, a state where all muscles in the body go stiff. Using that you, can trace back the timeframe in which the person had been killed.“ At least Kyou knew what I meant. „Anyway,“ Iroha continued „they then started to scrutinize the body. They found marks around the throat which matches him being hanged. But they didn‘t find any… rope… burns? Or any ropes for that matter. In fact, they didn‘t find the murder weapon at all.“ „Now that you mention it again: There was nothing about the murder weapon in the file either.“ Kenshin noticed. Right, now that he mentioned it, there really wasn‘t.

„Wha-wha-what does that mean?“ Poor Itsuki. Not only did his whole body tremble, he was almost crying as well. „Easy. The killer just hid it very well.“ Katsuo's tone sounded like he thought that was the obvious answer. I wanted to comment on that, but Arata was faster than me. „Nonsense! Why do you think I searched all the rooms?“ He sounded like he was close to getting angry again. Understandable, he really had done his best, after all. „All the rooms? As far as I recall, yours and Kenshin's were still left,“ Takara said, wearing a smug smile. „Do you have anything to hide?“ „No“, Kenshin responded calmly. „Why would I?“ Arata asked back. Was it my imagination or did his voice falter just a tiny bit at that statement? Before Takara could come up with any kind of flippant answer, I chimed in. „Th-there's another possibility. What... what if... the killer still has the murder weapon with them?“

The room fell silent for a moment. Then, a high-pitched squeak that sounded like „Please no!“ came from Itsuki's direction. I could understand him. I didn't like the thought either, but still... it was possible. And if my hunch really was correct, that was exactly why we hadn't found anything. After their moment of silence, everybody started to discuss loudly. It took a loud whistle from Kyou to get them all focused again. „I don't think we'll get any further on that end right now, so why don't we talk about something else now?“ He suggested. „Maybe... we should talk about the 'how'? You know... how Hibiki was killed?“ Mayuho proposed. „He was hanged. It's simple, why would we talk about how it was done?“ Takara almost complained. „It may seem that way, but we have to keep in mind that there's only one person among us who is even taller than Hibiki“ Kenshin explained. We all looked at Kyou. He gulped, then, while sweating nervously, he said: „Don't look at me like that! It wasn't me!“ „As if...“ I heard Takara whisper, her voice filled with spite. „Besides, if it had been me, then why would I even ask about the way it was done?“ He had a point there. „Weren't there hooks behind the curtain, though?“ Iroha asked. Shizuka nodded. „Ah, so you could easily use one of the hooks, either as some sort of a hoist or just to tie a second noose around it. That's what you're getting at, right?“ Umi put forward. She sounded pretty sure of herself. „But doesn't that mean... everybody of us could have done it?“ Sena wondered. Exactly. The culprit had used one of the hooks to hang the singer. A feat each and every one could have accomplished. „So... we're back to square one since we don't have the murder weapon.“ Barano sighed. I glanced sideways to see her, and she looked just as defeated as she sounded.

The others raised their voices again; another loud, unfocused discussion ensued. I started to fumble with my hair. This was the right opportunity to verbalize my suspicion, but I would never be heard with this much noise. I couldn't let this chance pass, but I couldn't muster the courage to speak up, either. Feeling crushed, I looked at the ground. „Hey y'all, quit yappin'! Yuuna has something to say and ya better listen!“ Sena's angry voice cut through the commotion. Had she been watching me? Judging from the way she now looked at me and encouraged me, as well it seemed that way. „I have no idea about this, but you have, right? Go for it, we need a good clue or maybe even more at this point!“ I swallowed hard and took a deep breath. Then I looked up, facing the others' expectant eyes. „I have an idea... But that idea would also make one of us the prime suspect... So...“ I was interrupted by Takumi: „Who cares? We're just running in circles otherwise.“ The remaining people agreed. „Okay, so... As I said earlier, I believe the killer still has the murder weapon with them. After all... you don't necessarily need to use a rope to hang somebody. A sturdy enough scarf or another long piece of fabric could do the job just as well.“ A racket started anew. And yet again, Sena who settled it with her... gentle words. „I know, I know... That leaves us with three suspects who we all know own a piece of clothing that could have been used..“ I had to stop for a moment and refocus. I really didn't want to do this. A mixture of fear, abhorrence and... probably guilt started to wash over my body. I almost didn't manage to open my mouth again. But I had to... and that thought gave me determination. „Katsuo, Iroha and Takara. You three are the prime suspects.“ Of course, the three in question started to defend themselves immediately. Katsuo calmly, as if the very thought of him being a killer was far-fetched. Iroha started to cry. She had never even thought about hurting one of the other captives, she said, because she had wanted to befriend us. And Takara... just glared at us all indignantly as if she was disappointed of us. „I take it you only propose this theory to us because you actually have noticed a clue as to who the killer is, right, Yuuna?“ Arata suddenly asked. His voice was smooth, his gaze calculating. „I, too, have an idea, but I'm afraid I'm missing the last piece to solving this case.“

Was I... really the only one? Nobody else had noticed? Meaning... nobody else had a concrete idea? If that was the case, then I really should just come out and tell them everything. But... what if I'm wrong? Could I really bear that responsibility? After all, if I now named the wrong person... I would get us all killed. The lives of all the others depended on me. It felt like I was being crushed. Or dragged down a deep, dark swamp. Maybe even both at the same time. Why? Why did I have to do this? Tears started to fill my vision. Suddenly I felt a reassuring grip on my left shoulder. I looked in that direction. It was Sena... and her face looked almost... tender? „Look, I told you, I have no clue at all. Most of us don't. We need you, Yuuna.“ „But-“ „And I trust you. No, we trust you. You can do this.“ What did I do to earn their trust? I couldn't understand. However, before I could start sinking into my sea of anxiety again, Sena gave me another reaffirming squeeze. I had to do this. Otherwise, this would never come to an end. I still trembled, tears were still flowing from my eyes and yet... I was filled with determination. „I think I know who Hibiki's killer is. It's...“ I took a deep breath and looked at her face. „...Takara. You... are the culprit, right?“

At first, there was a dead silence. Then... laughter. Takara's hysteric laughter. „Me? Meeee? You say I'm the killer? I'd say 'don't make me laugh', but you already did!“ I shuddered. But I didn't falter. I couldn't. „Yes, you. The biggest giveaway is a quality your shawl has that the other two fabrics don't. It has glitter.“ „So what, big deal! Glittering scarves are en vogue at the moment!“ „And glitter can also be used as forensic evidence. I found traces of glitter on one of the hooks... and also on the skin of Hibiki's throat.“ That took the wind out of her sails. The others looked... impressed, maybe. Wakuri looked up to Monokuma, who had followed the trial quietly up until now. „Monokuma. If the glitter really is the same, would you tell us?“ she asked, her tone stern, but also filled with hope. „Puhuhu! Maaaaybeee. It depends on how well you can present the whole case!“ Takara blinked at that as if she had a good idea. „Yeah, right, the whole case! Maybe someone else stole my shawl and used it! Can you prove it was me?! And even if you can, how do you suppose I would be able to do it!?“ She got louder and louder to the end. Her face was twisted into a grimace of anger and hatred. Under any other circumstance, I would have wavered. In this situation, though, I couldn't allow myself to hesitate. Calmly, I started describing how everything must have gone down.

„First you invited Hibiki to the theatre room after dinner. Or maybe he already was there, it doesn't matter really. You talked to him, probably suggesting a truce to your constant fighting. Seeing as Hibiki hated it from the beginning, he agreed. Then... you made him exhausted. Probably by proposing that you should pay attention to whatever the other needs the stage for. So you asked him to perform for you. Knowing Hibiki, he went all out. When he was done, you gave him a bottle of water. Little did he know that you laced it with one of your sleeping pills. Which, of course, took effect. As soon as Hibiki was out cold, you tied a noose around his neck, using your muffler. Then you let down one of the hooks and tied the other end around it. The rest is pretty easy. You used the control panel to let the hook rise up again and then waited until Hibiki was strangled. Yet again, you moved the hook down, untied your scarf, bring the hook back to its original position, done. Maybe you first wanted to move his corpse elsewhere, but you decided not to after a while. That's why we found him on the stage and not behind the curtain. Of course, nobody noticed anything; after all it was night, so we all were in our rooms, fast asleep.“

Takara's eyes pierced me. „And where...“ she began, her voice cold and without any emotion, „is the damn evidence?!“ She screamed at the end. „Everywhere“, I aswered calmly. „We should find the very same glitter that was on the hook and Hibiki's corpse all over you. And as long as we don't find it on anyone else in a significant amount, it's proof enough that you're the killer.“ … Again, she started laughing, the volume rising, while tears ran down her face. „Found out by miss no-presence!“ She gasped between laughing fits. And then, she suddenly grew silent as if shut down. As she started talking again, her voice was flat, yet again without emotion. ”My mother never cared for me. If it hadn't been for my good-for-nothing father, she wouldn't even have given birth to me. After my father died when I was five years old I had to learn to take care of myself. The only gifts my mother ever gave me for my birthdays were, as soon as I could read, cooking books and other manuals about chores. Other than that, she never paid me any real attention. The only times she came close to it was when I was accepted into high school. I mean, Akamine High School, a school were scouts from Hope's Peak are a regular occurrence. And of course, the moment I was actually scouted. I could have visited Hope's Peak! But alas, I was brought here instead... My real family were the people I worked with. My make-up artist and the rest of the crew. I loved modeling... There, I finally got the praise my mother always withheld from me. Finall,y people wanted me... Loved me. Of course I had to get back there. Monokuma's proposal of a career boost was just the last push I needed. I also decided on Hibiki as my victim relatively early. I really hated him. You could say it was hate at first glance. The crime took place exactly how you described it, Yuuna. I'm impressed.“

That was when it hit me. I... had been right! I actually had been right! I was so overwhelmed that at first I didn't understand why Sena next to me got angry. „Stop smilin' so smugly! Ya killed somebody, don'tcha have any regrets?!“ „The only regret I have is that I didn't work harder to hide it.“ For the last time that day, the room went silent. We all looked up at Monokuma. „Now then, after such a heated trial, please cast your votes!“ A small monitor integrated in the tiny table belonging to our stands sprung to life. On it, we could see a list with the names all people gathered here, though Hibiki's had been crossed out. My finger trembled and yet it unerringly found Takara. Suddenly a far larger monitor over Monokuma's chair, one that we hadn't noticed before, switched on. It showed a slot machine. All three spinning wheels stopped and showed Takara.

„Well, well, well. It seems my confirmation is unnecessary now! But if you really wanna know, then: Yes, the glitter found at the scene of crime and the one belonging to Takara's shawl are the same! Aaaand you all found out the blackened. Coooongratulations! Now, to my favorite part of all of this: Iiiit's punishment tiiime!“ While almost singing the last part, Monokuma first hit a goofy looking button with his judge's hammer, then grabbed Takara and dragged her away with more force than any of us would have expected. My feelings of joy quickly turned into revulsion. How could I have forgotten about that part? But now it was too late; the twisted bear had already dragged the former model out of the door. The image on the big screen changed. First it was black, with a red, pixelated Monokuma pulling away a sprite of the model. In big red letters, it said: „Game over

Takara has been found guilty.

Time for the punishment!“

Then the screen turned pure white with elegant golden writing.

Killer Looks

Takara looked around. She was on a catwalk surrounded by an audience of Monokumas. Yet, without hesitation, she started to walk, the way a professional model would. Still, when she finished her run and looked at the crowd expectantly she only saw angry Monokumas. Some of them even held up signs that said things like „Go away, ugly bitch!“ or „You call that modelling?“ Tears started to fall from Takara's eyes; she turned around and raced into her changing room and from there into the small closet. Due to her crying she didn't notice how the doors to the closet suddenly sported spikes and couldn't react in time when they suddenly closed.

After that I looked away. All strenght left me, I collapsed and lost consciousness.

#danganronpa #fanganronpa #fanfic #tw: death #tw: strangulation #fan danganronpa #Trishna writes #I toned down the gruesomeness of the executions #Because I don't think I could describe them in more detail #Without me having trouble doing so

1 note · View note

defendglobe · 8 years ago

Text

ANYWAY

this came up when i was chatting with Selena earlier so let me finally tell you all the story of how i caused a coup in fifth grade and why i can never go into politics

Once upon a time, instead of being an obnoxious twenty year old, I was an obnoxious eleven year old who had just moved to Edmonton. I was definitely pretty disoriented by the difference between Edmonton and the city I grew up in and was kinda having trouble ya know. Relating to these kids. I’d made a lot of acquaintances but hadn’t really made a real friend yet. So I was pretty goddamn desperate for people to like me and was willing to do just about anything to get there.

Meanwhile, we were learning about the different levels of government in Social Studies, which was actually kinda interesting for me because of me being used to the American political system and all. The teacher decided that to help us learn this shit in a more hands on way, we would do a class election. This was a grave mistake.

Anyway, we were imitating our city council so we were gonna elect a mayor and a few councillors. Somehow, I thought that politics would be a good way to get people to like me (Hey 11 year old me. Politics usually does the exact opposite, just saying) and decided to give it a shot. I figured mayor was too risky and competitive so I ran for councillor because I was more likely to get in.

My mom was my campaign manager. I typed up these shitty fucking flyers with my ideas for what to do for the class and my photo and a tacky fucking slogan (”A vote for me is a vote for you!”) and she helped me print them out on the most hideous neon green paper and I shoved them into all the other kids’s mailboxes.

Fast forward a week or so and I ended up getting elected. There wasn’t much competition at all but I was still pleased with myself. My co councillor was a boy whose brother was best buds with mine so I knew him well enough. The mayor was actually two mayors because they asked the teacher if they could run as a team and she said okay. More things that don’t fly in real politics.

“Emma, what in the hell do you even DO in a shitty fifth grade model government?”. The only thing I can recall us ever doing is planning events. We did a Christmas party and a pajama day type thing. Real fucking intense shit, I know.

We would have these meetings once a week at lunch where we were supposed to be planning our stuff. Our teacher made another big mistake here, which was after the first one she just flat out left us unattended. So of course the mayors got distracted and turned it into LOL LETS PLAY TRUTH OR DARE and inviting their friends to come hang out with them, even one who was in a totally different class. They also started acting kinda stuck up and obnoxious to everyone. Drunk on power apparently.

Now, I was not amused with this. I was kind of an overly serious kid and I didn’t like that they had just turned this into a joke. I ESPECIALLY didn’t like that it was getting cliquey and conceited. So what did I do? Bitched about it to my co-councillor. “WE should be the mayors!” I said. “We’re the ones doing all the work and taking this seriously!”. He agreed with me on that one and made a joke about how we should have a monarchy instead. I think that was meant to be a joke about how the two mayors thought they were such hot shit but I kinda took it in a different direction and was like “Oh you mean how kings always get overthrown and stuff?”. It was just me trying to figure out the meaning in what he said but it ended up giving us both an idea. The seeds of rebellion were planted.

We went and asked some other kids in our class (particularly these two dudes who had also run as a joint mayor duo) how they were feeling about how the mayors were doing. Some were still salty that the other tag team mayor group lost (they were friends or some shit), some were experiencing voter regret, and some felt pressured to vote for the people who won.

Violent revolution was clearly not an option so we decided to start a petition to have the mayors removed and replaced with the two dude runner up mayors and a good portion of the class signed it (including me). Our fifth grade version of a coup-d'état was kinda spearheaded by my co-councillor and the runner up mayor duo so I kinda stepped back into anonymity, which would soon prove to be a smart ass move.

Someone in that group FUCKED UP and accidentally left the petition out where the teacher could see it and she was like “what the fuck is this” and started chewing us out and giving us a lecture on cooperation and learning to get along and how we were being rude for not talking to the mayors directly and all that jazz.

Another thing about me as a kid. There was nothing that scared me more than being in trouble with the teacher. Course, I was a real obnoxious shitty kid so it happened a good bit. One time I had to stay inside and clean the stairs over recess because this one asshole boy kept chasing me around the halls yelling “HEROIN ALERT!!” and blocking the doors so I kicked him in the shins but that’s another story.

Anyway, after the rest of the kids had fucking left to go for lunch or some shit I stayed back and blubbered apologies to the teacher saying that I didn’t really want to be mean to the other girls I just saw everyone signing a piece of paper and wanted to practice my signature. A LIKELY FUCKING STORY but she believed me because she could tell it was more of the guys doing this shit than me and I had already shown myself to be a pretty naive little shit. I got a lecture on how I shouldn’t just sign stuff for the hell of it without realizing what I’m doing because that could get me into serious trouble. The Madoka Magica-esque lecture was embarrassing but not as bad as it would have been because I knew that I had gotten away with it and wasn’t in trouble.

I can’t remember if the other kids involved got in trouble or not but I do remember having a real “I got off easy!” feeling in relation to them so I feel like they did. That’s how you do shit. You come up with the idea and let other people do the dirty work and take the fall while you get off scot free.

The government was dissolved after that. It was just too much damn drama and was giving the teacher one hell of a headache.

Also plot twist: I ended up becoming good friends with the mayors that I disliked and accidentally started a coup against the next year. Life’s a hell of a ride.

So uh. That was my brush with political greatness. The moral of the story is that student model governments are never a fucking good idea and especially not in elementary school.

#blah blah blah

6 notes · View notes

myracingcareer · 8 years ago

Text

Interview to Petu

Q) Hi mate, Congratulations on taking on the Team Manager role at Williams in Season 21, it looks like you wasted no time in returning Williams back to their normal position of 4th after the disasters that occurred in Season 20. It looks like the team have made the right choice on their new leader. How did this come about? Was it a simple transition? A) Hey breNdzz! You start with a hard question. Well I can’t say that I even looked at one race in the season 20, before I stood up to take role in season 21, I was a nobody - quiet small shareowner of Williams. Sure I had passion for the F1 and I tried to ask the former team manager looni how could I do my part for the team. As I never got a proper answer, I became kind of sleeping manager with a goal for F1 with my personal driver. But then after sometime I was 90% sure I would retire the game and never come back. Then I heard team chatting about the team being in danger to end up on non-Finnish hands - it was my wake-up call. I noticed that during a time I hurt my hand seriously in real life and was more inactive our former manager looni had asked someone to take up his place and shares and no one done that so looni had placed the shares (about 42% or so) in the auctions and French and Russian were rumoured to be interested. I was so angry to looni, even as there was a lot of time to read those messages he posted, I missed them completely. Otherwise I would have expressed my interest and gotten the place on simple transition as you asked. Now we had the situation we had to find flaws in rules and try to find mistakes in the acts of the Russian to report of and be prepared to answer if they try to report us for any actions made. Then our team manager Botsi said he had enough of this and would step aside and give me the managers place, but we couldn’t do that because we weren’t sure if all Finnish would be active on voting period. It was very hard and painful process to become Williams team manager. Hats off to Somebodystopme and Miller for finding easier solution for both to buy Audi. But was it right choice to name me for Team manager then, it was the only choice anyone had, 1 shareowners vote not for me would have meant Williams would be Russian team now. Q) At the time of this interview Williams currently holds a 31 point advantage over Jordan for 3rd place in the F1 standings. Which should you hold this position until the end of the season will be Williams highest ever finish. Not only have you raised results, but also the budget is looking healthy and you guys have added over 45 fans in two seasons. What do you attribute to the quick turn around and gain in popularity and how much would this mean to the team and yourself if you can manage to finish in 3rd place? A) I think we should hold the position easily. The other thing is will we? The season so far has held so much bad luck for both Williams and Jordan, it’s impossible to say which one is better. I would say they have slight edge with their drivers, but our car is very capable. Both teams know how to pull out perfect tactics to boost their result. It won’t be easy but we do all we can to make sure this is our season. Williams was always a small team of Finnish managers - we never cared too much about the fans, image, popularity - until I started, I had a passion to turn this over, make Williams still small and compact, but dynamic fan-base, most active managers as shareholders and improve image, popularity, and all aspects in the team in correct order. Most of the new fans gained is because of my choice to hire BELIA's driver Arnaud Briand - BELIA was my friend before all of this happened and he once told me that he had no plans for F1 (I didn’t have a role in a team then). ... I decided to ask him anyway as I got the image Mihaylov was looking elsewhere for this season not to renew his contract. BELIA agreed to become our first ever French driver and man he brought some fans and voting points for the team. I am very happy to have my friend driving for us! This was always the season we aimed for - with the next one too - so I had huge expectations we would win a lot more races this season, so far, I am bit disappointed but to hold the 3rd place after the season would mean I had done something really right for the team, along with my friends, without them I am nobody. I will celebrate it with champagne for a day and then focus on getting the team to win championship. Even that will be possible with top speed car. Q) Since this interview had taken place, Williams have secured the above mentioned 3rd place in the Constructors Title, giving Williams their best finish to a season. Although they had a nice buffer leading into the final couple of races, no one could’ve predicted that going into the final race they would hold only a 1 point advantage over Jordan. Did you risk it for the biscuit or did you take a conservative approach? Talk us through your thoughts and approach to the final race, and also on how it feels to deliver Williams best ever finish in just your second season as Team Manager. A) Yes, I was no doubt a little nervous before the start of the last race. I think the one point was still a considerable advantage for the final race as neither of the teams were too perfect in this GP before, and my first thoughts exactly in words were that we must go little more conservative way through this race and let other teams make mistakes as there were lot on the line for many teams meaning they would most likely push so much harder. I thought Jordan would also drive with bigger risks and aggression but not sure if they intended to try bit more cautious tactics too, so I don’t speculate about that afterwards too much. It’s a relief that we finally could step up a level at least briefly this season, but the season left so much to improve in results of the drivers in some races. It was seldom that both drivers delivered because of errors in tactics and as a bigger factor there was lot of bad luck. I don’t take the credit for this achievement, drivers did most job and our former manager botsi was involved a bit building this car as I adopted his strategy to build car and only made some minor changes to that on budgets and time taken per each project. But I look to build for the future and I am so eager to show what kind of car I can build in the future for the team that I supported since day one of my personal managerial career! Q) Not surprisingly you guys have locked in the same driver line-up for Season 23, looks like you guys have found a gem in A. Briand taking Williams only win so far, this season. Although the team is sitting well in the standings, there has been some disappointment along the way this season with results not going the way they probably should've. Do Williams have higher expectations next season and are we going to see a more balanced Williams car in the future or is the plan to continue with the targeting of high speed circuits? A) Yes, we decided very early to build for the future, that also meant the driver selections. I consider both still rookies even if Allas had one season more than Briand. They are still rough diamonds, but hey they are diamonds anyway. What I mean is I expect them both to get out of the amateur mistakes in the first couple of seasons and be perfect then. Briand took the victory same like Allas did last season, by surprise, and that is fantastic. He is a team player so no big celebrations were after that before we moved on for the next race. For me our "trio" is very dynamic and open and we build strategies with constructive conversation, I give my thoughts to their aid and they decide the strategy freely themselves. As for my part, I have lot to learn about F1 tactics still. I have perfect advisor however, so I hope I learn very quickly like I did the team leaders part. It was no point in changing the focus out of top speed car, not yet anyway. There has not ever been perfect top-speed car, Williams too is just "first prototype" of what the potential is. Sure, no one outside of Williams probably don’t believe me in this but I believe we can make the car work quite well in 80% of circuits and get decent aero -parts even with top-speed focus. Still it’s not a secret that top speed tracks are our main focus. Q) You have established yourself as a very capable F1 team manager but lets discuss your personal career. Your current driver Voitto Ritari is currently 25 years old, placed 139th in the world and 9th in Finland. You've had some really good series finishes along the way, 3rd in F3 Arabic in S17 the most notable. You've then spent quite a few seasons in Indy with a best finish of 7th. For this season you've switched over to V8 Supercars and at the time of this interview you sit 6th in the championship. What does the near future hold for Ritari? A) Well, I never would've taken Arabic F3 series if I had the money to join Indy jr earlier. But I was still glad to end that season in top 3 but it was never too big of a challenge for me as a manager. My Indy seasons (I had four, two of the first in US series, and two of the last in the International series) were kind of two sided seasons in lot of ways. First season was difficult challenge for my very young driver but I managed to end top10 which was my goal then. 2nd season Ritari had better results (even few top3 results) but he also had lot of trouble, particularly in oval tracks that the US series mostly has. 3rd season in Indy jr. was the first in the International series so again I had zero setups to use for my advantage, but I managed to have better average results and lot less DNFs so I ended up 7th. The 2nd season was meant to be my breakthrough season to end the season with top3 finish - But boy I was wrong! In V8 series I did my homework and noticed that the endurance races are very important and would probably determine the difference between top5 drivers and top 10 ones. So, I practised my driver the whole season for them, based on the forecasts for endurances. Those went well for me and Ritari has a high chance still to finish within top5 - ending that certainly wouldn’t be bad for a rookie. So, I am pretty sure I will be satisfied on Ritaris season now and continue here in the next one too, probably won’t be looking elsewhere anytime soon. -Also I hope I get more A1 GP chances for Ritari along the way. Ritari's career highlight was top30 ending in A1 GP in season18 without being every week regular in Finnish setup. Ritari made his A1 GP debut in seniors in age of 24 finishing 12th and 9th in his first races against the likes of Grosjean jr, Berger, Zatacka, Kalinin and Villanova, so I am extremely happy to have enough trust to earn more chances from Finnish A1 GP team manager! Q) You currently sit 25th in the world in the ultra-competitive U25 age bracket, was increasing your rating a major factor in your switch from Indy to V8 Supercars? Or were you simply looking for a new challenge? A) Well, I was struggling the decision after disaster season in Indy jr International series where I think Ritari made new Indy jr. DNF record. I considered long time to go in lower series (like ETCS & F2) to boost my confidence with easy top3 finish, but I decided to take a bigger risk to leap in to V8 series, of which I didn’t know anything about in advance, but I tried to do my homework on the previous seasons quickly to make immediate impact in the series that I saw had more races than anywhere here so I was eager to take the risk and new challenge. Also, what affected in the decision was the gigantic drop in my rating because of that disastrous season in Indy jr, so yes, I wanted my rating up again. Q) Being an F1 team manager, do you have ambitions for Ritari and yourself to become an owner/driver outfit in F1? And if not, would you consider racing for another team if you feel the driver is ready? A) Yes, I am F1 team manager but I try my best to keep Ritaris career separate from that the best I can - I would love to see Ritari drive in F1 someday if he will be worthy. It’s not the biggest secret I plan to place Ritari in the Williams wheel one day but will I necessarily drive my whole F1 personal career in there? Answer is yes and no, no because I think any team will not offer Ritari a seat because I could potentially ruin their seasons. But If I would be given chance in any team I would be willing to negotiate contract with about anyone if I think it will benefit my personal career - and if I agreed to some team I would drive my best, even against my own team. Would be great to drive my first and/or last F1 season in different team. Q) If you had to interview yourself, what would be one question you would ask yourself? Is there a story to tell that no-one has touched on yet? A) Well, most of the readers don’t know my background at all so there would be so many questions. I would probably ask that were I ready to take team managers duty in Williams when the opportunity came without a warning. - And to answer that, I had a belief on myself but not a lot of knowledge about the job. Some could even say I had zero information about TM's duties and routines. I guess I could even said I used little white lies to convince people that I got this, but on my quest to stabilize things and continue development, it was halfway there to have nations trust on my support. Now I think everyone agrees with me when I say the team is going to the right direction, so at least I didn’t end up embarrassing myself. I am so grateful for my team mates of all they done for Williams and me.

0 notes