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satorusugurugurl · 3 months ago

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Til’ the Day that I Die

Summary: You’re a popstar in need of a bodyguard when you find yourself with a stalker. That’s how you meet Fushiguro Toji, you’re insanely hot bodyguard. Who knows how to push your buttons, and get you feeling flustered. Just how far is he willing to go to protect you? And how far would you go to protect him?

Pairing: Fushiguro Toji x AFAB!Reader

Warnings: (PLEASE READ) mentions of anxiety, serious stalking, panic attacks, language, mentions of knives, some upsetting mentions of unauthorized photographs

Word Count: 4,457

A/N: Here’s the long awaited part two!! Oof this wrote itself!! 😈

Part One Part Three Part Four

“So yeah, that whole conversation you listen to with me telling my manager to tag the hospital in my video because that hospital inspired this song! It was a public service announcement, a reminder to help those who can’t help themselves!” You were fuming with anger at this bodyguard making some cold assumptions about you. One thing you wanted to do was use your stance in the public eye for good. God, you couldn’t stand assholes like him! Dicks who presumed they know everything and anything about you! “And another thing—!”

The next words didn’t have a chance to leave your mouth as the doors to the elevator opened to your apartment. The automatic lights you were so accustomed to being on were now off, which sent shivers down your spine, your sixth sense alerting you that something was wrong. Toji, the one facing forward, could see into your apartment, and he moved it before you even had a chance to look inside. When you asked him what was wrong, he remained silent, only shaking his head as the elevator doors shot and began ascending down.

That had been thirty minutes ago, and the once silent lobby was now bustling with police cars and passersby. They all stopped to take in the scene that was unfolding. Their peering eyes and camera flashes didn’t bother you in the slightest; that was something you were used to. It was not knowing what had happened in your apartment that set your anxiety off.

Toji's sighed and kept his eyes focused solely on you as a sleek black car pulled up to the police line. He recognized your managers hurrying out of the car and rushing towards you. Geto was the first to reach you, grabbing your shoulders, his eyes scanning you for injuries. Gojo was only a few feet behind his husband, sitting on the curb next to you, his arm draping over your shoulders as you visibly relaxed at their presence. Toji had unfortunately been in this line of work for a fairly long time and had seen his fair amount of lowlife managers, but with your manager's empathetic actions, your bodyguard knew you had lucked out with a great team.

So maybe he shouldn’t have judged you so quickly.

“What happened? Are you okay?!”

“We would’ve been here sooner, but traffic was a bitch.”

You took a deep breath, reaching up to touch Suguru's hand, which rested on one of your shoulders. “I’m okay; I don’t know if I could say the same about my apartment, though.” your friends shared a look that clearly communicated words without speaking.

“But you’re not physically hurt?” Satoru asked in a smooth, almost relaxed tone.

“No, I'm okay.”

“Oh, thank fuck, we thought it was worse.”

Something inside Toi’s chest snapped as he whirled around. “Worse?” he questioned, a black brow twitching. “This is one of the worst-case scenarios!” he stomped his suit, straining against his broad muscles as he pointed back toward the apartment building. “This bastard got into her apartment building undetected and was in her personal space for who knows how long.” You watched as Satoru removed his arm from around you, holding his hands up in front of him.

“I-I just thought it was good because she wasn’t hurt!”

“You’re lucky she wasn’t hurt! If she had been in the apartment when this asshole was there, you might not be looking at a fucked up breaking and something. How did you put it? Worse!”

Toji’s actions from the instant he saw your apartment to when you both were calling the police had gone from cocky, lazy full of attitude bodyguard to full-on protective mode. His eyes were constantly roaming around. If anyone approached you, he stood in front of you, making sure he listened to any questions they asked, or if they tried to hand you something, he looked at it first before deeming it safe for you to look at. This man standing before you had made a complete change, and you would be lying to yourself if you said you didn’t feel safe. This was the first time since the appearance of your stalker that you felt like you might be okay.

“Fucked up break-in?” Your dark-haired manager questioned his dark eyes, glancing in your direction, drawing you out of the thoughts that you had been distracting yourself with. “Just how bad was it?”

You swallowed at your slightly dry throat. “I-I don’t know.” you could feel the weight of their gaze crushing you.

“You don't know?”

“I wouldn’t allow her to see it,” Toji added in for you, sensing the growing stress in your chest. “ I refuse to let her see what’s inside.”

You fought against the rise of nausea that washed over you as Satoru and Suguru gave you concerned deluxe. You weren’t sure what thoughts were whirling around inside their hands, and you weren’t sure if you wanted to know. Even though you were certain those thoughts revolved around what could have happened inside your apartment.

You didn’t want to know what he had seen that had him in such an alert state. The fact that he had covered your eyes, refusing to allow you to see what he had, didn’t leave you curious or eager to discover what happened, but you knew God. You knew it was going to be something you would have to see. Because you were out of your anxiety medication, and there were a few things in your apartment you wanted to retrieve, and there were certain things you didn’t want anyone else looking for.

“I-I’m going to see; I need to see it.” Your voice was barely audible, but whether it was because of his height and skills as a bodyguard or the fact that he was an earshot, you weren’t sure, but around, staring down at you as if you had just verbally insulted him, his mother, and his ancestors. “Please don’t look at me like that.”

“There’s no way you just said that,” Toji swore before crouching in front of you as Suguru stood up, giving you space. “Please tell me my ears are still ringing from your concert, and I didn’t hear you say you need to see the state of your apartment. There is no way you just told me that; you can’t be that stupid.”

“Okay, for starters, I’m not stupid.” you snapped, eyes narrowing at the larger man before you. “I have to grab a few things that are in there.”

“I’ll grab them for you.” Toji barked back, glaring daggers into your eyes.

“I don't want you digging through my stuff.”

Through his head back with a laugh, his eyebrows furrowing together before he leaned closer towards you, closing the distance. “Sweetheart, I hate to break this, but somebody already has gone through all of your stuff.” his words struck you like hail in a raging storm with the terrifying reminder that someone had been in your home going through your things. But you didn’t appreciate the attitude he had behind his tone.

“Fuck you.” the words that left your mouth were like venom, but they seemed not to affect him. “I need to get some stuff. I don’t care what the state of my apartments is in.”

“Oh, trust me, you won’t like it. So no, you’re not going up there.”

“Yes, I am.”

“No—”

“She needs to grab more of her medication.” Suguru finally snapped in, putting a stop to the bickering. “That’s why she needs to go up there.” the look you gave your friend didn’t phase him. “My girls give me nastier than that, so keep it up. It doesn’t bother me. I want to get you out of here as soon as possible, but bickering isn’t moving along.”

So you took medication for the anxiety you Toji could see etched into your features earlier. His navy blue eyes glance down at your hands, watching your index and middle fingers twitch. You were fighting off one, and if it was this bad, you were most definitely going to need your medication. That still didn’t mean Toji was so keen on taking you upstairs.

“I can grab it for you. He said in a much softer tone that he would often use with Megumi. “Can you tell me where they are?”

“It’s upstairs in my closet.” Before Toji could even question why you would keep it there, you sighed. “Inside my safe—” You ignored the look he gave you, and you stood up instead. “I have people coming in all the time, and I don’t need anyone telling the paparazzi I have terrible anxiety. People do about anything and everything to have five minutes of fame.”

Toji shook his head, standing with you. “And I’m going to assume you’re not gonna tell me the code?” You just gave him the sweetest smile you could muster, one that was often reserved for the paparazzi.

“Seeing that you need my thumb to open it, I would rather keep it attached to my hand. I’m going to have to go with you.”

Toji did not like this. He didn’t want you to see the horrors that awaited you on the third floor of the building. He also knew that he was limited to options at this point. You were stubborn, stubborn as he was, and there was no point in fighting with you—not when you needed to go upstairs to open your safe. With a reluctant sigh, Toji motioned back towards the building.

“Let's fucking go; Geto’s right. We need to think about getting you out of here as soon as possible.”

You tried to keep a calm face, especially since you were already on the verge of a panic attack, and the flashing from the cameras didn’t help. The last thing you needed for this story to go public. You could see the headlines already! ‘New Rising Popstar Has a Stalker?!’ Or ‘New Popular Popstar Home Vandaliszed!’ Plus, if you were to slip up and let your mask slip, revealing the anxiety-ridden girl underneath, that would give anyone who knew you an opportunity to run to the press with information regarding your performance anxiety. Anyone would rush at the chance to spill the beans about how you put on a persona, and you weren’t the person that everyone believed you to be.

That sounded about as entertaining as this whole fiasco has been. So it was better for you to keep a straight face and head to your apartment. Suguru and Toji, the sooner you leave, the better.

Your managers had insisted on coming with you both up to your floor; that way, they could help you pack some bags and collect the things you may miss in the state of panic. You would most likely find yourself when you look inside the apartment. You would have to make a mental note to get an extra prescription to keep with your managers or keep your child home or somewhere else that wasn’t in a safe in your apartment that was supposed to be guarded around the clock but had somehow broken into. Unfortunately, you would have to consider doing this; it was like adding another cog to the clock, which was your busy life.

As you rode the elevator up to your apartment, thoughts of what to do and how to do it, plotting, planning, and preparing, were at the forefront of your mind. Thinking of stupid, mundane things to add to your already busy life had been the perfect distraction you needed. Otherwise, your mind would’ve been reeling with different scenarios or visions of how you pictured your apartment.

Was it trashed, spray painted on the walls, or did they go through your underwear drawer and throw them all over the place after doing terrible things with them? Were your beta fish still alive? Had your stalker destroyed all the books you had collected over the years? There were countless possibilities of what had occurred within those walls, and each time you came up with the scenario, you thought back to Toji’s reaction. You weren’t sure if the things you were thinking about were enough to start a man of his physique and demeanor.

The only thing you were sure of was that whatever awaited you was enough to make you never want to return.

The dinging from the elevator sounded as you reached your floor. You took a deep breath, lifting your head, only to come face-to-face with your bodyguard's chest. Your eyes roamed up the tight button shirt to his face, where he looked down at you with a weary look.

“It’s not a pretty sight. I’ve never seen anything like this before. So if it gets too much for you to handle or if you can’t handle it, you tell me, I’ll cover your eyes, and we’ll head straight to your closet, okay?”

“It’s that bad?” You asked, not knowing if you wanted the answer.

“Yes.”

You had made it a point that you needed to come up here and see what this had done to your home. If you were to turn around and decide you didn’t need the meds that would keep you calm and your mind clear, you most likely would’ve already turned around and begged to be brought back to the lobby. But as hard as you wished and dreamed that would be the case, you were close to losing it. You could feel the anxiety creeping up, wrapping its tendril fingers into your chest, constricting your airway. If you didn’t take your meds fast, you were going to break down, and that wasn’t going to speed up the process of getting you away from the apartment any faster.

‘They’re the best.’

Nanako had assured you just hours before. You needed to have faith in the bodyguard your managers, some of your closest friends, had picked out for you. Inhaling deeply through your nose, you shut your eyes tight before nodding your head once; you needed to go through with this, and if it became too much to handle or if you found yourselves spiraling down the drain oven anxiety attack, you could tell Toji. Assuring you he would be there for you gave you the strength to look into his eyes.

“I understand; if it becomes too much for me to handle, I’ll tell you, I promise.”

There was a glint in your eyes, one full of determination that Toji wasn’t expecting to see. But behind that determination, he could still see your finger shaking despite you doing your absolute best to try and conceal it. While he didn’t know much about you, you were pretty easy to read, and he couldn’t have been more about you with his first assumption. And he was glad about that. Because you would have to be strong to live with the sight you were about to see.

With a deep breath, Toji stepped to the side, allowing you to see your apartment for the first time in days. But it hardly looked like your apartment. Your hand shot up to cover your mouth as you stepped back further into the elevator.

How was this the same place you called home?

Thousands of pictures hung from the fifteen-foot ceiling on fluorescent red strings. From the back of the elevator, you could see that the pictures hanging from the strings were all photos of you. Pictures of you at your shows, sipping coffee at a café, shopping with your face mask on, covering your mouth and nose. There were photos of you and your family eating at a restaurant together—pictures of you at the gym working out, grocery shopping, stepping into your shower, naked.

But the pictures weren’t even the worst part. Your couch had been overturned and looked as though someone had a hunting knife to the cushions, carving in the initial of your first name, followed by a large X and an M. Red hearts had been scribbled all over your walls and floor, coffee table, couch, recliner. You could only hope that it was paint and not blood. But the piece of resistance was the mannequin facing the elevator entrance, dressed in one of your lacey undergarment sets—a wig sat on top of the mannequin head that resembled your hair type and color to the tea. But the mannequin didn’t have a face. Instead, a camera with a crevice where the face would usually be. And around its neck hung a piece of paper, with ��I See You!” Written in the same red substance that covered your walls.

“Holy fuck.” Satoru whispered, overlooking the state of your once beautiful apartment. “I-I don’t even know what to say.”

“Is that still recording?” Suguru asked, glaring at the dummy. “Why haven’t the polic—”

“We’re working on dusting for fingerprints at the current moment.” A calm, soothing voice announced from further inside. Somehow, you had harnessed the strength to step inside the apartment, not wanting to be held down by the chains of disbelief and shock. “Please make sure not to touch anything if you can.”

You saw a man in a finely tailored suit approaching your group when you looked up. He wore white gloves on his hands and held a notebook. The detective was handsome, with well-trimmed blonde hair and a tie fastened perfectly. The man standing before you took care of himself, and from his body language, you could tell that he took his job very seriously.

“Hey, Nanami.” Toji greeted.

“Zen’in, good to see—”

“Nah, I go by Fushiguro. Took my wife's last name.”

“Ah, apologies, I hadn't realized.”

A certain amusement seemed to swell in your chest as you glanced between the two men. You didn't realize your bodyguard was married. He didn't have a wedding band on, and from his harsh tongue, you weren't sure if he had much experience talking to someone, but it seemed like you were wrong.

While you were trying to imagine what Toji’s wife looked like, honey-brown eyes clashed with your far-off gaze, snapping you back to reality. “And what can I help you with? We’re still investigating and looking through the security footage. So, as of right now, I sadly have no information for you.” As quickly as those words left Nanami, Toji jumped in.

“We just wanted to grab some things from her safe and some clothes. Then we’ll be out of your hair.”

Nanami pulled his phone out to make sure his fellow officers and detectives were done with your room. Waiting for a response felt like sinking into water, and the photos that hung around you were like the current pulling you further under the surface. Seeing yourself in those pictures doing mundane tasks felt so dirty and wrong. You felt violated in ways that your heart had your heart squeezing.

“Fuckin’, is that our office building at the entrance to our house?” Satoru‘s disbelief pulled you back to the surface.

“Yeah, it is,” Suguru confirmed, looking at the photo his husband was motioning to.

Thoughts of their girls flashed through your mind, and it wasn’t just them. Your concern for all your friends and family twisted your stomach into knots of dread. Your stalker had been everywhere you usually went, from the photos hanging around you. Your schedule, habits, and favorite places to go had been documented and hung from your ceiling. In a way, it conveys what the mannequin just outside the elevator said. ‘I See You.’

This person has been watching you for God knows how long, and since they know pretty much everything you do to everyone you talk to, he leaves you feeling dirty and clean. You want to do nothing more than jump into the shower and scrub your skin raw to rid yourself of the film you felt wrapping around your body. You want to clean yourself of the fear, pain, and harsh reality that you had inadvertently put the people you loved in danger.

If your stalker went to such extreme lengths when it came to vandalizing your apartment, just how far would they go if your loved ones were to try to prevent him from drawing closer to you? Would they take further actions to harm you and everyone you loved? Dealing with a stalker was something you hadn’t anticipated happening—something you didn’t want to happen. Yet here you were, stuck with the unknown reality of what would fall upon you and the people you cared for.

“Hey.” the warmth of a hand gently grabbed your wrist and made a soft gesture. “Did you hear that?”

No, you haven’t heard anything but your thoughts. They had been buzzing so loudly, like an agitated hive of hornets. “Uhm, no, I’m sorry I didn’t.” Instead of annoyance or irritation, Toji gave you a gentle smile.

“Nanami said we can grab a few of your things.” Knowing that you would be able to get a hold of your medication relieved the tension in your spine. That brief relief allowed you to hurry up the stairs, fighting against the harsh, crushing reality you had found yourself in.

The second story of your apartment was in the same status as the first floor. Red hearts covered the walls and floor. Books from your office have been thrown around, but thankfully, they were still intact, and more photos hung from the ceiling. Your bedroom was a total mess. Clothes have been thrown around. The bed had been messed up. It seems the stalker had taken the same hunting next to your mattress. So you’ll have to buy a new one and sheets, fearing what might have happened to your once clean bed. Seeing the state your room was left in, your stomach was doing flips.

Unlike the main living area and office, your bedroom and bathroom are more intimate. Knowing someone was inside made your skin crawl with fear. It was wrong on so many levels, leaving you feeling claustrophobic. But you didn’t have time to process the loaded motions fully.

You rushed to the closet, opened the safe, and collected your medication while Suguru and Satoru packed a bag for you with some seemingly untouched clothes. Toji kept his guard up, not faulty, even though detectives and officers surrounded you. Seeing him so alert still left you feeling safe, even if this was one of the worst nights of your entire life.

But thankfully, the four of you were fast, and before you knew it, you were heading back down to the main lobby. The prospect of escaping the nightmare had you relax as you followed your managers to their car. You were so happy you were finally getting out of there. The crowd of spectators had grown, and it would only be a matter of time before someone took a photo of you by accident.

“Alright, let's get you back to the house.” Suguru opened the door to the backseat for you, and you were about to crawl in when Toji reached out, preventing you from moving. “Fushiguro, we need to get going—”

“She can't go there.”

“Uhm, yes, she can,” Satoru added, walking to the driver's side. “And if we don't get her out of her, there's a risk she could get recognized, and this isn't the publicity she needs.”

Toji seemed to ignore the words leaving your PR manager's mouth. “She was photographed at your office and home, right?” Silence grows between the four of you; the only sound is the growing crowd. “If she's not here, he can check for her at the gym or her parents’ house.” Toji shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. “Any place that was photographed is compromised. She's not safe at any of those places.” The truth of his words crushed you, leaving you feeling weak in the legs as you tried to think of anywhere you could stay.

“So what? We book her a hotel?”

“No, it's too risky, not secure enough.”

“This is ridiculous. I have a security system. She’ll be fine at our house.”

“As her bodyguard, I highly disagree.”

“As her friend, I assure you she’ll be safe with us.” Invisible streaks of lightning flashed between Satoru and Toji, the tension and testosterone growing between them.

You tightened your grip on your bag, gnawing at your bottom lip. “He’s right. I can't stay with you guys.” Suguru frowned, shaking his head as he gently grabbed your free hand. His lips parted to speak, but you quickly shook your head. “I can't put you and the girls at risk.” Satoru looked as though he was seconds away from throwing you into the car himself as you took a step back. “I-I can't put any of you at risk. You saw my couch and my bed; this person is dangerous.” The silence was nearly palpable, meaning they knew you were right.

“Okay—? So what the fuck are you going to do? It's not like you have a lot of choices! You can't stay here or in a hotel.”

“She’ll stay with me,” Toji announced, taking your bag from you.

You blinked once, your jaw dropping open before you shut it. “Huh?” You had misheard him; there was no way he said that.

“I said you can stay with me.”

Forever Tag List:

@darkstarlight82 @pandoness @nealeart @simp-plague @sugurubabe @chilichopsticks @reap3erslov3 @wil10wthetree @luvsymai

Til’ the Day Tag List: (AGE MUST BE IN BIO MDNI)

@justagirl-with-aphone @flowerpot113 @elitesanjisimp @fandomtrash5092

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m1ckeyb3rry · 4 months ago

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Synopsis: You find yourself developing a crush on mischievous soccer player Eita Otoya. The only problem? Eita and relationships don’t exactly go hand in hand — which is something you’re only all too aware of, considering he just so happens to be your best friend’s older brother.

BLLK Masterlist | Karasu Version

Pairing: Otoya x Reader

Chapter Word Count: 12.9k

Content Warnings: crack fic, otoya is a red flag let’s not lie to ourselves, he’s lowkey ooc at the end, reader says ‘i can NOT fix him’ but then accidentally manages to anyways, otoya plays video games but sucks at them, otoya’s younger sister is given a name (look at that word count LMAO i’m not calling her ‘otoya’s younger sister’ the entire time), std jokes, your honor eita otoya IS a loser

A/N: yes this is based off the song “best friend’s brother” from victorious. yes this is probably the dumbest otoya fic you will ever read (i promise i’ve written him better before). yes this is four times longer than it was supposed to be. idk what to say either i just get carried away LMAO

On the first day of your first year of middle school, you were told by your teacher to sit next to an entirely disagreeable looking girl. Her round face was adorned with a scowl, and there was a scrape on the bridge of her nose. She had silvery hair cut in a choppy bob, and blunt bangs streaked with green covered her forehead. When she noticed you staring at her in surprise, she made a face at you.

“What do you want?” she said.

“I’m supposed to sit here,” you said. “Teacher said so.”

“Whatever,” she said with a scoff. You gave her an uneasy look as you set your things down beside her, sliding into your chair and watching her out of the corner of your eye. If she noticed, she did not care, gripping her pencil in her hand so hard it was a miracle it did not snap in half, her scowl deepening as she looked over the introduction sheet you all had been given to fill out.

“I’m Y/N L/N,” you offered meekly, not wanting to accidentally offend her. She seemed like the kind of girl you really shouldn’t mess with, not if you wanted to keep your life and limbs intact.

She glanced at you. “Seiko Otoya.”

“Nice to meet you, Otoya,” you said.

“Seiko,” she said firmly. “Nobody calls me Otoya ‘cause I have two older siblings and it’s confusing.”

“Ah, but neither of your siblings are here, so it wouldn’t be confusing,” you pointed out before you could stop yourself. Seiko gave you an annoyed look.

“So what? Everyone’s been calling me Seiko since I can remember, so if you try to get my attention by saying Otoya I won’t realize,” she said. “What’s your problem with it?”

“I don’t have a problem,” you said, pulling out a pencil of your own and filling out your introduction sheet. Your handwriting was ten times nicer than Seiko’s, you noticed — she had a messy scrawl that was barely legible, especially when compared to your neat print.

“That’s great to hear, L/N,” she said, shoving her arm over her paper so you couldn’t look at it any longer. “Quit copying me.”

“Of all the assignments to copy on, do you really think I’d pick this one? It wouldn’t even make sense, since all of the information is about ourselves. See, this one asks about our families,” you said, tapping your eraser against the question you were referring to. “It’s not like I would write that I have two older siblings, because I don’t, even though you do.”

Seiko scoffed, puffing her cheeks out and turning back to her work with a pout. “Fine.”

You had been hoping that you’d befriend your desk partner, considering you didn’t know anyone at the middle school. All of your friends from primary school lived across town from you, so they were attending another middle school, which had the unfortunate effect of leaving you by yourself. Unfortunately, it seemed like you were out of luck when it came to making friends with the girl beside you, because Seiko was surly at best and downright hostile at worst.

When the bell rang to signify the end of the first half of the day as well as the beginning of the lunch break, you all but leapt out of your seat, speed-walking towards the cafeteria as fast as you could, eager to avoid another stiff conversation with Seiko. For her part, she rolled her eyes, taking her own time to gather her things and push in her chair, ignoring you completely all the while.

In your haste, you didn’t watch where you were going, and because of your shyly-ducked head, you ran straight into the back of a tall, heavy-set boy.

“What is wrong with you?” he snapped, spinning around to face you. He had close-cropped hair and thick brows, a narrow mouth pressed into a taut line, and a pinched, ruddy face.

“I’m sorry,” you said immediately.

“You made me drop my chocolate milk,” he said. “Apologize again, and give me money to pay for more!”

“Your chocolate milk is still in your hand,” you said quietly. He glared at you, and then, before you could react, he was unscrewing the cap and pouring its contents all over you.

“Like I said,” he said. “You made me drop it.”

“What — why would you do that?” you sputtered. You had thought that middle school would be much the same as elementary had been, only with different people, but this never would’ve happened, even just last year. You looked around wildly for a teacher, but there were none; though you were surrounded by laughing peers, you realized that you were alone in this hallway, completely and utterly alone. Everyone was laughing at you and milk was dripping down your once-white shirt and you were alone and things could not get worse.

The boy held out his hand. Things got worse. “Gimme your lunch money, freak.”

You stared at him blankly, tears welling in your eyes but refusing to fall. He tapped his foot, and slowly, when you understood that you had no choice, you reached into your pocket, fumbling around for the bit of change you had brought with you.

Suddenly, someone slapped your wrist lightly — in reprimand, and not hard enough that it hurt, but so that you were startled and ceased your actions immediately. Looking up, you saw it was Seiko Otoya, looking much the same as she had earlier, though her cheeks bloomed with a rose-colored flush as she jabbed a finger at the boy.

“Who do you think you’re messing with, huh?” she shouted, loudly enough that you were surprised no adults were alarmed. The boy’s eyes widened.

“Seiko?” he said. “I didn’t know you were—”

She let out a challenging war cry and then lunged at him. You gasped as she tackled him to the ground and socked him in the nose, looking entirely ridiculous all the while. It was like watching a chihuahua beat up a mastiff; Seiko was tiny compared to the boy, but vicious, not even giving him a moment to breathe as she rammed her fists into his face, over and over.

“Miss Otoya!” an authoritative voice said, cutting through the brawl. “What is the meaning of this?”

Your teacher stood before you, one of your classmates at her side. When Seiko did not move, she yanked her off of the boy, helping him stand and giving Seiko a stern look.

“He spilled milk on L/N and tried to take her lunch money, so I was just trying to give him a taste of his own medicine,” Seiko said with a shrug.

“You should’ve come to me, not taken matters into your own hands,” your teacher said, massaging her temples when she saw the state of your uniform. “Do you have anything to say to this young man?”

Seiko squinted at the boy, his bloody nose and shivering frame, and then she nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Go on, then,” your teacher said. Seiko placed her hands on her hips.

“I’m sorry—” she began. Your teacher nodded encouragingly. “—that I didn’t hit you harder. You could’ve gotten surgery and fixed that ugly nose of yours if I had actually managed to break it. I’ll do better next time, promise.”

The boy burst into tears. Seiko was sent to detention, giggling all the while. You were given a new uniform and the knowledge that there was at least this one person in the school who was on your side.

It was only natural that, after such an ordeal, you and Seiko ended up as fast friends. Her gruff exterior never softened any, but you found that she was kinder than she let on, and lonely in her own way.

“I learned that move from one of the wrestling matches my older brother likes to watch,” she explained to you a few days later. “I’ve been itching to try it out, so thanks for giving me the opportunity.”

“Itching to try it out?” you said in wonder, accepting the orange slice she handed you and biting into it.

“You know, I beat up 95% of the boys in my kindergarten,” she said thoughtfully. Despite the far-fetched number, you were inclined to believe her. “I’m kind of the opposite of my siblings in that sense. They’re both super popular, especially my brother Eita, but I’ve never been like that. I’m the sort of person that people generally stay far away from.”

“Well, I’m not staying far away from you,” you said.

“Right,” she said, cracking her knuckles with a smirk. “Who knows when that guy or his lackeys will come back to take revenge on you? You’ve gotta keep me around for a while, just in case.”

It was the best she could offer in terms of friendship, so you only smiled and said that you would.

You visited her house for the first time the following summer, during that part of the season when the days were long and faded into night so slowly that you could even fall asleep while it was still light out. She invited you in and then immediately tugged you after her, not bothering to offer an explanation, as was her way. You stumbled up the stairs, trying to keep pace as she whipped around a corner and knocked frantically on a shut door.

“What?” a muffled voice shouted from inside of the room.

“It’s Seiko, open up!” she shouted back. “I have to show you something!”

The door opened to reveal a boy. He was a year or so older than you and Seiko, with a delicate, handsome face and a slender, willowy build. His hair, which boasted the same strange coloring as Seiko’s, fell into low-lidded eyes that narrowed with irritation when they settled upon his younger sister.

“What is it?” he said. “I was in the middle of playing a game with my friends.”

“Look,” she said, placing her hands on your shoulders proudly. “You said you didn’t believe I had a friend, but I do, see? This is Y/N L/N, and she’s here to hang out with me!”

Her brother seemed unimpressed. “Did you have to rough her up a bit or something to get her to agree to it?”

“No!” Seiko said. “She actually likes me, right, Y/N?”

“Right,” you said, confused at what kind of argument you had accidentally found yourself in the middle of. “Um, Seiko’s my best friend at school, and she’s never beaten me up or anything, so…”

“Holy crap, you must be desperate,” he said.

“Hey!” Seiko said, kicking him in the shin. He winced and promptly slammed the door on your faces.

“You suck!” he said. “I have a soccer game tomorrow, so you’re lucky you didn’t permanently injure me!”

“I wish I had!” she said. “Come on, Y/N. He’s a jerk. Let’s go swimming. Did you bring a bathing suit? If not, you can borrow one of mine.”

“I have one,” you said. “Wait, so was that your older brother? The one who watches wrestling matches and all?”

“Yeah, that’s Eita. He’s in the grade ahead of us. I guess you could say we’re closer with each other than with our older sister, since she’s already finished high school, but to be honest, he’s dumb and mean, so we don’t get along very well,” she said.

“I picked up on that,” you said. “He seriously didn’t believe you had any friends?”

“No!” she said. “I told you back when we first met that he and our sister are super popular and I’m not, didn’t I? The thing is that he’s aware of that, too, and he always teases me for it, so when I told him I actually had made a friend, he acted like I was making it up. That’s why I took you to meet him, but he just had to go and be annoying about it! Ugh. I shouldn’t have expected anything else.”

“That’s the worst. Oh, and he plays soccer?” you said. She gave you a strange look.

“Mhm, why?” she said.

“Dunno,” you said. “Just wondering.”

Even you weren’t sure why you were curious about Eita Otoya. Your first interaction with him had hardly been memorable, and if anything you should really despise him for being rude to Seiko. But wasn’t it common for siblings to fight? That didn’t mean he was a bad person, did it?

Actually, it was irrelevant. You doubted you would see much of him, so no matter the quality of his character, he wasn’t someone you needed to be thinking of as anything more than your best friend’s brother. Resolving to push it aside, you spent the rest of the summer with Seiko by their pool, eating popsicles and playing mermaids and getting into splash fights and entirely ignoring whatever signs of her brother’s existence presented themselves.

In fact, until you and Seiko began high school, your path hardly crossed with Eita Otoya’s. He was always out with his friends whenever you came over, and the things he preferred to do had such little overlap with yours and Seiko’s interests that it was as if he did not even live in the Otoya household at all. Indeed, you saw more of their older sister, who was already in college, than you did him, and he became nothing but a vague thought in the back of your mind, only considered when you saw a random sock on their kitchen floor or a soccer jersey thrown across the back of the armchair in their living room.

All of this changed when you and Seiko became high schoolers and she joined the swim team. Her practice hours were long and irregular, which meant there were often times that you’d sit around her house, doing homework while you waited for her to come back. Some days she was only five minutes late; others, it was half an hour or more. It was frustrating, but it could not be helped, so you learned quickly that you should bring something to entertain yourself with if you dared to head to the Otoya household on a day she had swimming — which was every day, or so it seemed.

“Hey. You’re L/N, right? Seiko’s friend?”

You were pulled out of writing a history paper by someone speaking to you curiously. When you looked up, you saw that it was Eita Otoya, a brown paper bag in his hands and a friendly smile on his face. He set the bag on the counter and rummaged about in one of their cabinets, pulling out two plates while he gazed at you, waiting for an answer.

“Yes, I am,” you said, omitting the fact that you had been coming to his house for years, seeing no merit in bringing it up. “You’re her older brother.”

“Yup,” he said, emptying the contents of the bag onto one of the plates. “I can’t believe you’re doing homework at your best friend’s house.”

“She was supposed to be back half an hour ago, but I think one of her teammates pissed the coach off, so they all got held back again,” you said. “I figured I might as well be productive while I waited for her.”

“Smart,” he said. “Want some?”

He held up the plate filled with churros at you. You furrowed your brow, feeling entirely awkward — this was probably the longest conversation you had ever had with him, and certainly the only one you had had without Seiko present.

“Uh, sure,” you said.

“Good choice, these things are delicious,” he said, shaking his head as he heaped a generous portion onto the other plate. Pulling out the chair across from you, he handed you your plate and then sat down with a dreamy exhale. “I swear they put crack in them or something.”

“It’s possible,” you said, debating whether you should close your laptop before deciding you might as well. It wouldn’t do for your keyboard to get sticky with cinnamon sugar, and it would probably be rude of you to have it out while he was sitting with you.

You both were quiet for a while — you were too unsure of what to say to him, so you opted for silence, and he was distracted with eating his churros and texting someone on his phone. Maybe you should’ve kept your laptop open after all.

“Say, L/N,” he said. “If you were a girl—”

“I am a girl,” you interrupted him, somewhat put-out that he had forgotten that. He rolled his eyes and took another bite out of a churro, chewing and swallowing it before responding.

“Obviously,” he said. “You didn’t let me finish. If you were a girl who was dating someone, and they cheated on you, what would you do?”

“You could’ve just phrased it like ‘if you were dating someone, and they cheated on you, what would you do?’ You didn’t have to specify the ‘if you were a girl’ part,” you muttered. It was a childish thing to be hung up about, but for some reason it really irritated you to think that he thought of you as something other than you really were.

He cocked his head at you, like he was trying to discern whether you were really being serious or not. He must’ve decided that you were, for he chuckled. It was not quite condescending but bordering on it, and it did not improve your mood any.

“Alright, I’m sorry. That’s my bad. Well, if you were dating someone, and they cheated on you, what would you do?” he said.

“I’d be upset and break up with them immediately, duh,” you said.

“Why?” he said.

“What do you mean why?” you said incredulously. “Wouldn’t you do the same?”

“I’m not sure. No one’s ever cheated on me before,” he said with an impish grin, leaning over the table and snatching one of the churros off of your plate. “That’s why I wanted to know what you think.”

“No one’s ever cheated on me before, either. I’ve never even dated someone. That’s just the kind of thing where you already know what you’d do, though you hope it never happens,” you said.

“You’ve never dated someone? But you’re so pretty,” he said. You coughed, a bit of the churro that you had just swallowed sticking against your throat peculiarly at the compliment, which he had tossed out so casually it was as if he had just been commenting on the weather.

“Thanks,” you said. “Anyways, er, like I was saying — like I was saying, I wouldn’t stay with a cheater. Not ever.”

“That’s a shame,” he said, taking your empty plate, stacking it atop his own, and setting both in the sink. Running his hands under a stream of water so that there wasn’t any residue left on them, he shook his head. “It isn’t that big of a deal, you know. Like, it doesn’t mean anything.”

“Doesn’t mean anything?” you said. “Of course it means something. It means you don’t have any respect for the person you’re dating, and I wouldn’t want to be with someone who doesn’t respect me, so why would I stay with someone who cheated? Plus, I’m sure you’ve heard what they all say — once a cheater, always a cheater. If they did it before, they’ll do it again.”

“That’s not very conducive to a growth mindset,” he said, patting his hands dry on a red-striped dish towel.

“Maybe not,” you said. “But people who cheat can grow somewhere far away from me.”

“That sounds like my cue to leave,” he said with a two-fingered salute. “I used to wonder why you were friends with Seiko, but to be honest, I can see it now.”

Before you could ask him what he meant by that, he had left the kitchen, running up to his room, taking the steps two at a time. You were rendered absolutely bewildered, your sugary fingers and your unfinished essay and the two empty plates in the sink serving as the only proof that the conversation had even happened in the first place.

“Your brother’s really weird,” you said to Seiko when she got back, smelling faintly of chlorine, though you knew she had already showered at the pool. She cringed.

“Tell me about it. What did he do this time?” she said, pulling a large sweatshirt on, her hair sticking up every which way afterwards.

“He gave me churros and asked me what I’d do if someone cheated on me,” you said. She snorted.

“Sounds like him,” she said. “He’s kind of a serial dater, you see. He doesn’t tell me much, mostly because I’d be seriously grossed out by it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a cheater, too. Seriously, I don’t even know how we’re related. He’s the worst. I’d tell him to stop if I thought that he’d actually listen to me.”

“Oh,” you said.

“Don’t be so gloomy,” she said, elbowing you in the side affectionately. “It’s not like you’ll ever get with him, so why are you worried? I’d never let you date a cheater like that. Seriously, if you ever get a boyfriend—”

“If?” you said.

“You know what I mean. Anyways, like I was saying, I’ll beat him up if he cheats on you, whoever he might be!” she said, flexing her biceps, which were admittedly impressive, albeit hidden by the puffy sleeves of her sweatshirt.

“What if it’s your brother?” you said.

“Ew, why would it be him?” she said, pretending to gag. “Never date Eita. You deserve way better. He’s like a walking STD, probably. Just being in the same room with him is enough to give anyone herpes.”

“It was just a hypothetical question. And also, don’t you live with him? That’s nasty, do you have herpes, too?” you said. She ran her hands through her hair in a futile attempt to tame it; you reached into your backpack and pulled out a comb, tossing it at her.

“I’m immune because we’re related,” she said. “They only transfer if you have those kinds of intentions, so you’re safe for now, but I’m just saying, he’s a genuine health risk to be around. And to answer your question, yeah, I’d take any opportunity to punch him, so if he cheated on you I’d go at it doubly hard!”

“That makes it seem like I’m more of an excuse for you to mess with your brother than you actually wanting to defend my honor or anything,” you said.

“There’s a bit of both factoring into the decision,” she admitted. “Let’s stop thinking about it, though. I’m feeling itchy in places I should not be feeling itchy at just the prospect of you guys being together.”

“I didn’t need to know that,” you informed her. She stuck her tongue out at you, and the topic was, in turn, forgotten.

For some reason, though, you found yourself showing up at the Otoyas’ house earlier and earlier. Not enough to draw suspicion, but enough that you almost always had at least a couple of minutes there by yourself. Mr. and Mrs. Otoya had long ago grown accustomed to your presence and treated you more like another daughter than anything, so they didn’t find it strange, and Seiko’s older sister had recently moved into her own apartment nearer to her university, so she didn’t even realize that it was happening.

In fact, there was only one consequence to this newfound habit of yours: in the many moments before Seiko returned from her practices, you struck up a friendship with her brother, Eita.

Things were awkward at first, you couldn’t deny it. He didn’t have much interest in you, and in fact it seemed like he only entertained you because it would be even worse if he didn’t.

“Oh, you’re here again,” he’d say if he got back from soccer before Seiko came back from swimming. “No Seiko?”

“Not yet,” you’d say, a poster board or worksheet or laptop in front of you. “She should be back in a few minutes. We’re supposed to finish this project together.”

“I told her she should’ve picked soccer,” he’d say with a laugh. “We always finish on time.”

“Cool,” you’d say, because how else could you respond? He’d raise his eyebrows at you, and then, if he felt generous, he’d give you a churro. If not, he’d dart off to his room, mumbling some excuse about having to call one of his friends or something, which you never responded to, because it was mostly unimportant to you.

There wasn’t any huge reasoning behind it. Talking to Eita Otoya wasn’t particularly stimulating, and though you certainly found him good-looking, you wouldn’t go so far as to say you had a crush on him. Mostly, you found him to be a bit of an enigma, and if in figuring him out, you got a few churros out of it, then you supposed it was a fair enough deal, but it wasn’t like you were seeking out his company or anything.

Eventually, he seemed to warm to you a bit more, though you were still standoffish, Seiko’s warning ever-present in the back of your mind — the one regarding walking STDs and herpes and whatnot. You never brought it up with him, but that really was the cause of your shyness, not — not anything else. Definitely not anything else. Why would you be shy around him of all people?

“Hey, L/N,” he’d say nowadays, greeting you cheerfully and sitting next to you as you did your homework. “How’re things going?”

“They’re good, thank you,” you’d say, scooting away from him inconspicuously. Herpes. STDs. Genuine health risk. Oh, he smells really nice…

“I’m doing well myself,” he’d respond, despite the fact that you typically didn’t bother with asking. “Still no Seiko?”

“Nope,” you’d say with a sigh. “Still no Seiko.”

He’d wrinkle his nose. “Damn. Sorry to hear it.”

“It’s fine,” you’d say. “She’ll be here soon, and she’ll probably be full of complaints about her coach.”

“I’d stick around until then, but unfortunately, my PC is calling,” he’d say, or he’d give some other such goofy excuse that was obviously designed to pull a laugh out of you and usually did. “See you around, L/N.”

“Later,” you’d say. “Have fun with your PC.”

It was nice. You wouldn’t say you were close with him by any means — definitely not as close as you were with his sister — but the two of you got along. You didn’t know much about him, and you doubted he knew much about you, but you both could hold enough of a conversation that you began to actually look forward to spending time with him.

Only because he was oddly funny in his own way, and kind of sweet, too. It had nothing to do with how nice his laugh sounded or how bright his grin was or the way he spoke to you, gently but also mischievously. You didn’t even notice these things, not one bit.

“Y/N!” he said one Saturday, banging into the kitchen excitedly. At some point, you had indeed become Y/N to him, though you couldn’t quite place when that shift had occurred. “No Seiko?”

“She’s at a meet,” you said. “She told me she’d come back once she was done with her races, but she texted me a few minutes ago that her coach is making her stay for the entire thing, and she doesn’t know how long it’ll take. I thought about going home, but then I thought that, since I’m already here, I should just wait for her.”

“I’m surprised you’re not doing homework,” he said, hopping onto the counter, a box in his hands, ostensibly filled with churros.

“It’s Saturday,” you pointed out. “I did all of my weekend work yesterday so I could be free today and tomorrow. Seiko and I were supposed to have a movie marathon, so I didn’t want to be distracted.”

“Supposed to?” he said, wandering around his kitchen, taking out cutlery and plates with an uncharacteristically serious expression. “Why wouldn’t you be able to?”

“Who knows when she’ll get back? Hopefully, it’s soon, but I’m sure you’re aware of how random the meet schedules can be, so we might run out of time to have a marathon proper,” you said.

“It’s like I always say,” he said.

“She should’ve picked soccer,” you completed for him. “What makes you bring that up today?”

“Our matches are timed,” he said. “No uncertainty there. Look, forget about that for a moment. I walked past this bakery on my way back from soccer practice, and they were having a sale, so I stopped in. I asked Seiko, and she said you like these. Is that true? Because if she was lying, I’m gonna kill her.”

Instead of churros like you had expected, he was holding a plate of cupcakes, frosted in pastel shades, crystal sprinkles glittering under the ceiling lights. They were beautiful, like little flowers or jewels, and you beamed as he put them on the table and waited for you to speak.

“No way!” you said. “Are these from that place by the park? I’ve been wanting to go there for ages, but their stuff is so expensive that I could never justify it. I can’t believe they had a sale! Thank goodness you happened to walk past. I would’ve cried if I missed my chance to try their stuff.”

“So, as a girl, you’re impressed by this?” he said as you unwrapped one of the cupcakes and shoved it in your mouth. You gave him a surprised look, your chin covered in icing, sweet cake filling your cheeks. He suppressed a laugh, handing you a napkin as you rapidly chewed and swallowed.

“What d’you mean?” you said.

“I’m trying something new,” he explained. “Buying flowers is kinda lame nowadays; plus, if I get cupcakes instead, then I can also have some, so it’s a win-win.”

“I see,” you said, dabbing at your face with the napkin.

“I thought I’d ask for your feedback, since you’re the only girl I talk to regularly. Besides Seiko, obviously, but it’s not like I’m going to ask my little sister about this kind of stuff,” he said.

“I’d say I was pretty impressed,” you said. “However, I would also say you shouldn’t mention that you got them on sale.”

“Of course I wouldn’t mention that to a girl I was actually interested in,” he said. “I just told you because I knew you’d refuse to eat them otherwise.”

“That’s true,” you said. “Buying these at full price would’ve been stupid in any situation, but especially so because it’s not like you’re trying to be nice to me or anything.”

“You make me sound like a villain,” he complained. “I still got them for you, didn’t I? Why does it matter what my reasons were?”

“Your reasons are kind of villainous,” you said. “You got them for me so I could tell you whether your new strategy for picking up girls was a winner or not.”

“I compensated you for your services!” he said. “What kind of villain would do that? By the way, is it? A winner, I mean.”

“I think so, but everyone’s different. It could work with one person and not another,” you said.

“Good enough for me,” he said, patting you on the head. You paid him no mind — not true, even the lighthearted touch made you feel all squirmy and strange — and pulled out your phone, which had just vibrated with a text.

It was Seiko, and you sighed as you read the message. Eita peered over your shoulder and then hummed sympathetically.

“Ooh, is that Seiko? Yikes,” he said.

‘now the coach is making us all go to dinner as a team :/ we can have our movie marathon another time?? sorry i made you wait and then stood you up.’

A second later, your phone buzzed again.

‘i feel like eita LMAO omg pls don’t slap me like his last ex did. i’ll make it up to you another time PROMISE!!’

You would’ve laughed, but you felt so discouraged by her earlier text that you could only muster up a half-smile. Eita gasped in offense when he read the second message, drawing back and sticking his nose in the air, folding his arms over his chest.

“I can’t believe she’s airing my business out to you like that,” he said.

“I can’t believe you got slapped by your last ex,” you said, though the words lacked the teasing bite that they should’ve had. He frowned at you.

“Are you just going to go home now?” he said.

“Guess so, since Seiko won’t be back until tonight,” you said. “Oh, well. At least I got cupcakes. I’m sure the girl that you stood up wasn’t so lucky.”

“Ha, ha, very funny,” he said. “No, she wasn’t.”

“And you claimed you weren’t a villain,” you said, shaking your head in disappointment. “See you later. Thanks for the cupcakes.”

He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but then, just as abruptly, closed it again. You arched a brow at him, but he only smiled at you.

“See you,” he said, putting the cupcakes back in the box and handing it to you. “Take these.”

“Don’t you want them?” you said. He had never given you the extras of anything he had ever bought before, preferring to keep them so he could eat them later that night or for breakfast the next day.

“Nah, I got them for you, so you should keep them,” he said. “Thanks for your help.”

“Anytime,” you said, your fingertips brushing against his as he handed you the box. A burst of static electricity shocked you, and you bit back a hiss as you accepted it from him, not wanting to seem whiny when he hadn’t even reacted.

“Hold on,” he said as you made your way to the door. “Listen, if she stands you up again, I’ll watch the movies with you.”

“Really? They’re not your genre, so I’m sure you’ll be bored,” you said.

“You don’t even know what my genre is,” he said.

“Maybe not,” you said. “I’ll take you up on that, then, so I hope you meant it.”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t,” he said.

“You’re not half-bad, you know,” you said thoughtfully, tucking the box under your arm so you could unlock the front door. “Seiko always calls you mean, but you’re pretty nice.”

“If she was half as agreeable as you, I wouldn’t have to be mean!” he said. “It’s way easier to be nice to you than anyone else, Y/N.”

You weren’t sure what he meant by that. What even were you to him? Just his little sister’s best friend, or something different? Were the two of you genuinely friends, or were you just the girl he asked for help with his stupid relationships that never lasted for longer than a week? Did he like you? Did you like him? No, of course you didn’t. This was Eita Otoya. You could never like him, not if you valued your friendship with Seiko or the well-being of your heart. You didn’t like him. You didn’t, you didn’t, you didn’t.

“That’s good,” you said finally. “Thanks again.”

“Bye,” he said.

“Bye,” you said, and with a final look at him, you let the door swing shut and turned towards your home.

The next day, you got up early so that you could make it to the bakery before they ran out of their best wares. Eita hadn’t specified how long the sale lasted, and if there was even a chance that it was still ongoing, you wanted to take advantage of it.

Thanks to the odd hour, there wasn’t a line outside of the bakery, and you felt confident as you walked into the warm, dough-scented building. It was airy and bright, flowers and sweets in the windowsill, the display cases well-lit and stocked with a multitude of desserts. Plants hung from the ceiling, and the pale wallpaper was covered with floral motifs, small birds perching amongst the blooms. The bakery itself was so beautiful that you almost forgot what you were there for until one of the employees cleared her throat.

“Can I help you, miss?” she said.

“Hi!” you said. “A friend of mine mentioned that you were having a sale yesterday. Is that still happening?”

“A sale? We don’t do sales here, I’m afraid. Is it possible that they went somewhere else?” she said.

“No, he specifically said the place by the park,” you said, furrowing your brow. “Are you sure you didn’t happen to have a sale?”

“Positive,” she said. “I was working yesterday, too, so if you describe him, I can let you know if he came or not.”

“He’s about this tall,” you said, holding up your hand at approximately Eita’s height. “Plays soccer, silver hair with a green streak—”

“Yes! He came in right around lunchtime yesterday and bought cupcakes,” she said. “Um, is he single, by any chance?”

“As good as,” you said. You had no idea what the state of his romantic life was, but considering how quickly he jumped from girl to girl, there was almost no point in saying that he was taken. “If he ever comes back, feel free to make a move on him. He’d probably appreciate it. Moving on, do you mean to say that he got those at full price?”

“He would’ve had to,” she said. “Like I said, we don’t do sales. We’re not that kind of establishment.”

“I might faint when you answer this, so please be slow and careful when you do, but how much, exactly, is full price for what he bought?” you said. “Out of curiosity.”

She told you. You did not faint, but it was such an exorbitant number that, for a moment, you really thought you might.

The next Saturday evening, you went to the Otoyas’ with a wad of cash in your hand. Seiko and her parents were away the entire weekend for an invitational meet, but for once, she was not the one you had gone to visit, so this was of little consequence to you.

You rang the doorbell and waited with crossed arms, the humid air oppressive against your skin. According to your weather app, it was going to rain soon, and you pursed your lips at the thought that Eita might not be home and you’d get caught in the downpour with nothing to show for it.

Luckily, the door opened, revealing him standing there in a pair of shorts, his hair still damp and a towel around his neck. You focused very hard on pretending like he was wearing a shirt, even though he was not, and it worked well enough that you could just barely greet him properly.

“Y/N? Hey, I’m sorry you walked all this way, but Seiko’s not home. Did she forget to tell you she’s gone for the weekend?” he said.

“No, I’m here for you,” you said.

“Huh?” he said.

“Not like that! I mean, I went to that bakery, and the girl working there told me they never have sales, which means you paid full price for those cupcakes. That’s insane! I can’t accept that,” you said.

“So, what, are you gonna vomit them out at my feet or something? That sounds gross, please don’t,” he said.

“I’m paying you back,” you said, extending your hand and offering him the money. “Don’t even think about refusing. I already feel horrible.”

“No way,” he said. “It was a present. You don’t pay people back for presents, that’s like a faux pas or something. I think. Er, I’d have to look it up to be certain, but I’m pretty sure it’s frowned upon.”

“I didn’t even do anything present-worthy, so why would you give me one?” you said.

“Yeah, you did. You helped me out, remember? Gave me advice and all,” he said.

“That was hardly worth all of this!” you said. “Seriously, at least take a little bit.”

“Nah,” he said. “You should come inside.”

“For what?” you said. “Seiko’s not here.”

“True, but I feel bad that you walked for nothing, so it’s the least I can do,” he said.

“It wasn’t for nothing. It was to pay you back, which I will do, and after that I’ll go home,” you said.

“Doubt it,” he said. “Come on, it’s going to rain soon. If you get sick and blame me for it, my sister will kill me.”

Reluctantly, you followed him into the kitchen, hyper aware that you both were alone. It had never been like this before; always, someone else had been in the house, whether his mother or father or one of his sisters. You shouldn’t have cared that it was just the two of you, but you found that you did. It was as uncomfortable and strange as the turbulent skies and muggy atmosphere, but also pleasant in a way, like the sweet smell of yeast in a bakery or flower petals dusting against the crackled tops of sugar cookies in a windowsill.

“Do you like Super Smash Bros.?” he said, taking the towel and rubbing his head vigorously, giving him the frazzled appearance of a hedgehog, or perhaps an electrocuted cat of the cartoonish variety.

“It’s fun, but I’m not that good. Seiko usually beats me,” you said.

“We can play, if you want,” he said.

“Okay?” you said. “Why?”

“I’m just trying to think of things that we can do, since you’re here and all,” he said.

“What were you planning on doing if I didn’t come?” you said.

“I was going to go on a date,” he said.

“Oh! Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you actually had plans! I should leave so you can get to that,” you said. He waved you off dismissively, already turning the console on and connecting the controllers.

“It’s fine, I already canceled on her. Hopefully she gets the hint. If I have to spell it out to her that I’m not interested anymore, it’ll be annoying,” he said.

The TV flashed with the starting screen, the music blaring as you sat on opposite ends of the couch, remotes in hand. Outside, thunder rumbled ominously, and you thought that you should probably send your location to your parents so that they didn’t get worried. While Eita messed with the settings, you did that, receiving affirmative responses from both of them in turn — which made sense, as neither of them knew that Mr. and Mrs. Otoya, along with Seiko, weren’t home.

“Do you care what map we use?” he said.

“Seiko and I usually just go random,” you said. “So whatever you want is fine.”

“Random is the best,” he said. “Especially when you get the interactive maps that actively try to kill you. It’s way more exciting that way.”

“Exactly,” you said. Half of yours and Seiko’s matches were decided based on who could adjust to the map faster; sadly for you, this was frequently your best friend, and only very rarely you.

“What character do you play? I know Seiko likes Palutena, so probably not her, right?” he said.

“I only ever play as girl characters, but my favorite is Zero Suit Samus,” you said, clicking on her and changing her outfit so that it was the burgundy version.

“You only play as girl characters? Why?” he said.

“It’s the best way to bond with your avatar. If you can’t connect with your character, then how can you hope to win?” you said.

“Are you for real?” he said. You maintained a straight face for as long as you could before breaking into laughter.

“Obviously not. I just like playing as characters I think are pretty, since I don’t have much of a chance at winning either way,” you said.

“That makes sense,” he said. “I play as Sheik. He’s based off of a ninja, so it makes sense.”

It was your turn to give him a strange look. “What?”

“Because we’re descended from ninjas and all, so I have to stick with the theme. It’s like the Otoya brand,” he explained.

“I got that part,” you said. “What do you mean by he, though? Sheik is a girl.”

He paused right before clicking on Sheik, his eyes wide. “No way. He’s obviously a guy.”

“Not so,” you said. “I looked up a list of all female characters in Smash when I was trying to pick a main, and Sheik was on it. She’s Princess Zelda’s alter-ego, apparently.”

“Are you messing with me again?” he said.

“No, not this time,” you said. He mulled this over before shrugging and clicking on the character’s icon anyways.

“Whatever,” he said. “I’m used to her, so there’s no point in changing. Besides, it doesn’t really matter if she’s a girl.”

“Very true,” you said. “Alright, I’m ready whenever you are.”

“Be prepared,” he warned you as he pressed the start button and the screen switched to a countdown. “I’m not going to go easy on you.”

“Wasn’t expecting you to,” you said. “Considering how frequently I’m pummeled by your sister, I’m used to losing.”

“Good. Get used to it more,” he said, immediately starting off before you could even orient yourself on the map. “Bang! Gotcha! You really are bad at this.”

“Just as an aside, the TV makes sound effects, so you don’t need to add more of your own,” you said, wrinkling your nose and dodging out of his next attack.

“It makes it more fun,” he said. “You should try it. Really helps you get in the zone.”

“Hm,” you said. “I’ll leave it to you.”

Somehow, you and Eita were actually evenly matched, and during the final round, you knocked his character off of the edge, guarding it until he couldn’t hope to recover and fell to his defeat.

“Yay!” you said as the victory screen showed your character posing. “I haven’t won in ages! This is awesome.”

“Rematch! You only won because you’re one of those dirty edge guarders!” he said, already setting up the next game.

“‘Dirty edge guarders?’ That’s how the game is played,” you said.

“Nuh-uh, it’s against the rules,” he said. “Isn’t it?”

“No? There aren’t really rules in Smash. How do you not know this? Also, you should really stop saying things when you don’t even know if they’re true,” you said.

“My older sister would always tell me it was against the rules when we used to play,” he said. You waited for it to dawn on him; when it did, he groaned and facepalmed. “She was full of shit?”

“I’m afraid you were, in fact, duped,” you said.

“No wonder she always beat me,” he grumbled. “Whenever I was close to winning, she’d say whatever I was doing was against the rules.”

“That would do it,” you said. “I don’t mind playing again, though.”

“This time I’ll beat you for sure,” he said. “Now that I don’t have to abide by any bullshit guidelines.”

The two of you got wrapped up in a series of matches, eventually turning on the random character selector as well as the random map selector, refusing to read the tutorials so you were really going into things blind and figuring it out as you went. You had way more fun than you had expected you would, and as the evening went on, any thoughts of feeling self-conscious vanished from your mind. It was just Eita Otoya, after all. He was only your best friend’s older brother, the one who brought you treats and played soccer and sucked at Smash and had a childish sense of humor. There was no reason to feel shy. Well, besides the fact that he had never opted to put a shirt on, but that was a non-issue when your attention was focused solely on the screen.

You weren’t sure how many rounds you had gotten through when his phone rang, so shrilly and insistently that he was forced to pause the game and take the call. He didn’t leave his spot on the couch, though, which meant you were able to observe him as the girl on the other end began to scream.

“How could you cancel on me at the last minute?” she said, loud enough that you could hear her, though his phone wasn’t on speakerphone.

“It wasn’t that hard,” he said. “I just texted you and said I’m not going.”

“You’re such a piece of shit. I thought — I thought everyone was wrong about you, but they weren’t. They weren’t at all,” she said, her voice cracking.

“I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that they were,” he said. “Listen, I’m kind of in the middle of something right now, so could you hurry up and say what you want to say?”

“Did you ever even like me?” she said.

“Yeah, at first,” he said.

“Not anymore, though,” she said.

“Guess not,” he said. “Sorry.”

“Is that it? You’re ending things just like that? Didn’t it mean anything to you? I bragged to all of my friends about you! You were so sweet, and you even got me cookies…was it all just a game?” she said.

“It wasn’t a game,” he said. “As I said, I liked you back then. I wouldn’t have done all of that if I didn’t.”

“Because that’s supposed to make me feel all better,” she said.

“I’m just explaining myself,” he said.

“You’re the worst. You’re — just, you’re the worst, ugh!” she said before hanging up. Eita made a face at the phone and then put it facedown on the table beside him, unpausing the game without a wasted moment.

“They were from the grocery store,” he said after a bit.

“What?” you said.

“The cookies I got her. Grocery store variety,” he said.

“Oh. That’s kinda shitty,” you said.

“She seemed pretty happy about them regardless,” he said. “I wasn’t about to waste my money when I knew it wouldn’t last.”

“You wasted your money on me,” you pointed out. The corners of his mouth quirked up.

“You’re Seiko’s best friend. I’m pretty sure you’re not going anywhere, so it’s not a big deal. Consider it a peace offering for not believing you were real at first,” he said, landing a combo attack on your character.

“That was ages ago,” you said.

“It’s downright traumatizing for a person when others don’t think they’re real. Fucks up their psyche and whatnot. Acknowledging my mistake was the least I could do,” he said.

“Another fact you just made up?” you said.

“Maybe,” he said. “Was it plausible?”

“Not in the slightest,” you said.

“I tried,” he said. “Woah, nice one, Y/N.”

You had just hit his character in a series of successive blows, entirely by accident but to devastating effect. He lost his first life, respawning in and jumping back to the offensive.

“Why do you even do it?” you said, finally vocalizing the question that had been bothering you for almost the entire time that you had known him.

“Do what?” he said.

“Date people, when you know you’re going to break up with them so quickly,” you said. “What’s the point?”

“I’m not sure,” he said, the glare of the screen reflecting in his fern-colored irises. “It’s always fun at first. I meet a pretty girl, and I talk her into giving me her number. We go on a date or two, and I think it might actually be different this time, but it never is. By the third or fourth date, I’m bored beyond belief and dreading going on another. Then we break up and I do it all again.”

“That sounds exhausting,” you said.

“Near the end, it is,” he said. “But it’s pretty amusing in the beginning, so I don’t see a reason to stop.”

“Do you cheat on your girlfriends?” you said. You knew for sure what he would say, but still, you wanted to hear it from him.

“What is this, interview-Eita-day? Yeah, I have in the past, but only a couple of times,” he said. “Both of them were when the relationships were on their last legs and I couldn’t be bothered to care anymore.”

“That’s callous,” you said. “You should’ve just broken up with them.”

“Dumping girls is the worst. They get all upset and start crying, and I know I should feel bad because I’m the reason, but by that point, I just want to go home,” he said. “Do you think I’m a bad person?”

“A little bit,” you said. “For the most part, though, I just don’t understand. Why do you keep going for people you know you’re going to get tired of?”

“It’s not like I can look in the future and see that I’m going to end up bored,” he said. “It just happens. We run out of things to talk about and sit there in silence. It sucks. I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“How does that even happen?” you said. “You talk all the time with me. I didn’t think you were capable of running out of things to say.”

“That’s different,” he said. “I’m not worried about impressing you — no offense — and you’re funny, plus you like some of the same things as me, so it’s easy to have a conversation with you. It’s not the case when you’re going out with someone. You’ll understand when you decide to date yourself.”

“Don’t the girls you go out with like the same things as you?” you said.

“Not really,” he said. “They think video games are for losers, and they’re too scared to go on the rides at amusement parks. Some of them understand soccer, but not to the point that it’s something they’d want to talk about frequently.”

“Maybe that’s the problem,” you said. “You’re only going out with people who you have zero shared interests with. It’s normal that you’d get bored of them, and that they’d get bored in return.”

“You’re thinking too much about it,” he said. “It’s not that deep.”

“That’s how it works,” you said. “Quite fundamentally, actually. It’s impossible to build a relationship with someone when you both have nothing in common. In fact, it’s unfair to all involved parties.”

“Are you trying to give me advice?” he said.

“Depends. Will you take it seriously if I do?” you said.

“Not sure. It’s kind of ridiculous for me to be listening to my little sister’s friend about this kind of thing,” he said.

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” you said.

“True,” he said. “Go ahead, then.”

“What do you even look for when you’re thinking of dating a girl?” you said.

“How hot she is,” he said. You waited for him to elaborate. He did not.

“That’s it?” you said.

“Pretty much,” he said.

“Why?” you said.

“Why not? Isn’t physical attraction important?” he said.

“To a certain extent, yes, but after a while, less and less so,” you said. “Haven’t you ever watched any romance movies? ‘It’s what’s on the inside that counts.’ Physical attraction alone isn’t enough in the long term.”

“Okay,” he said slowly. “So what do you suggest?”

“Are there any girls you genuinely enjoy spending time with? Not romantically, just because you like talking to them, even if they’re not the prettiest or whatever,” you said.

“I don’t really spend time with girls unless I’m trying to date them. It never works out. They always end up liking me, and besides, it makes my girlfriends mad if I’m friends with other girls,” he said.

“You seriously have zero female friends,” you deadpanned.

“And just how many male friends do you have?” he shot back.

“None,” you said. “Okay, fair enough.”

“Wait, no, I guess we’re friends,” he said. “Yeah, you’re cool, Y/N. I mean, you’re pretty as well, but I don’t really think about that part much because you’re friends with Seiko.”

“Thanks,” you said. “You’re cool, too.”

“Now what? You’re a girl, and I like talking to you. Where do I go from there?” he said.

“I was going to say you should try dating one of those girls instead, but obviously that’s not applicable here,” you said.

“Ah,” he said. “Okay.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not like I’m all that unique,” you said, taking advantage of his distraction to win another match. “It won’t be that hard for you to find someone else that you like hanging out with, and then you can just date them. Hopefully, you won’t get bored with a relationship like that.”

Eita didn’t respond. You doubted he knew how to and you were glad for his silence, because you yourself felt embarrassed that you had tried so hard to help him. Since when had you been the kind of girl who wanted so badly to give people guidance? He had his problems, no one could deny that, but why did you care about them? Why did it matter to you if he was happy, or if he grew out of whatever phase he was currently in?

Maybe it was because you knew he could be better. The caricature of him that you heard about, from Seiko and from the rumors around your high school, contrasted so harshly with the Eita Otoya you knew. People loved him because they wanted to be him, to have that effortless and selfish attitude towards life, but you didn’t think that very many of them took the time to understand him.

You doubted anyone at school knew that he was horrible at Super Smash Bros., or that he was entirely gullible and liked to make other people laugh. How many of them would find him admirable if they knew of his addiction to churros and diet sodas? He wasn’t cool or charming or suave the way he pretended to be. At the end of the day, he was nothing but a dumb boy blessed with a handsome enough mien that had fallen into a crowd which demanded more of him than he honestly should’ve had to give.

Putting this protectiveness down as a symptom of your friendship with Seiko — of course you cared for her older brother, he was a part of her family and you cared about her, it only made sense — you noticed that there was a lull in the storm. Bidding Eita farewell and shoving the money into his phone case when he was preoccupied with turning the game off, you ran home before it could begin to rain again, blaming your queasiness on the fact that you had not yet eaten dinner and nothing more.

“Eita’s been talking about you a lot,” Seiko said to you at lunch one day, a couple of weeks after the evening you had spent with her brother. Both you and he had mutually agreed not to bring it up, and Seiko was none the wiser, or at least so you had thought.

“What do you mean?” you said. She took a sip out of her juice box.

“Nothing bad. He just asks me how you’re doing and stuff,” she said.

“That’s not that weird. Why’d you bring it up?” you said. For a moment, you had thought she meant that he was asking about you for a different reason, but this just sounded like a typical and general concern.

“It’s a little weird. He doesn’t typically care about how other people are doing. The other day, he asked me when you’re coming over again, since according to him it’s ‘been a while.’ Like he’s keeping track or something!” she said.

“He’s not wrong. It has been a bit,” you said.

“I know, I know,” she said. “Season’s almost over, and then I’m all yours.”

“You don’t have off-season workouts?” you said.

“Fuck off-season workouts,” she said. “I’ll skip on the days we plan to hang out. My coach won’t say anything. I’m the star of the team, so he has to live with it.”

“You’re the best,” you said.

“And you’re trying to change the subject!” she said. “Are the two of you buddy-buddy now or something?”

“Or something,” you said. “We’ve just spoken a few times while I was waiting for you to come back home from practices.”

She narrowed her eyes at you before nodding slowly. “Look, just so you know, I don’t mind if you’re friends with him or anything.”

“That’s good. I’ll keep it in mind,” you said.

“He’s my brother, after all. I like knowing that my best friend is getting along with my family,” she continued.

“I get along with your family so well that I’m surprised they haven’t started calling me Y/N Otoya yet,” you said.

“But I want you to be aware of what kind of person he is,” she said with a note of finality. “He might do something that hurts your feelings.”

“You’ve told me. Many times, actually,” you said.

“And I don’t want you to stop being friends with me if he does,” she said. “Okay?”

“I wouldn’t do that,” you said. “You’re my best friend in the entire world.”

“You promise?” she said, in a rare show of vulnerability.

“Promise,” you said. She punched you in the arm, returning back to being the Seiko you knew.

“Good. Then do what you want with him,” she said.

“What?” you said.

“Just saying! You deserve better, obviously, but I won’t turn down a chance to have you as my sister-in-law,” she said. “Besides, he knows that if he messes with you, I’ll take your side, so that might be an incentive for him to stay on the straight and narrow.”

“Seiko! It’s not like that!” you said. “I don’t have feelings for him. He’s your brother.”

“Whatever you say,” she said in a sing-song voice, taking another sip of her juice box, obviously done with the discussion.

She knew you better than you knew yourself. That was what happened when a person was best friends with another for years upon years, and that was why she understood even before you did what it was that was brewing between you and her brother, what had been brewing since long before that evening where you had finally noticed a palpable shift in your dynamic.

Exam season began shortly afterwards, so you didn’t have the time to go to the Otoyas’ when you were so wrapped up in studying. Then, once exams were finished, Seiko was finally freed from her grueling practice schedule, leaving her to be, as she had said earlier, all yours. This meant that even when you did go to their house, you were solely there to be with her, and so you saw little of Eita, barely speaking to him beyond exchanging pleasantries.

Sometimes you wondered how he was doing. Had he found a girl he actually liked and ended up dating her? How was that relationship going, if so? Or was he still continuing as he had been, chasing whoever he found the most attractive and then running away from them when things inevitably didn’t work out? You hoped that that wasn’t the case, though you didn’t find the former option all that appealing, either. You should’ve, because it would’ve meant that he had taken your words to heart, but you didn’t. The thought of him dating anyone was wrong and weird and you didn’t like it, but because you weren’t quite sure why that was, you decided to avoid both the feeling and its cause alike.

Halfway through summer break, on a day when your parents were on a business trip and Seiko was visiting one of her cousins in the city, Eita Otoya showed up on your front porch, knocking on the door furiously until you opened it. He was just about the last person you had expected to be standing there, red in the face and panting for breath, wearing a sweat-soaked jersey, hair sticking to his forehead and a white box in his hands.

“You look horrible,” you said.

“I ran all of the way here,” he said. “After my soccer game.”

“What for?” you said.

“I haven’t seen you in ages,” he said.

“I was just at your house the other day,” you said. “Jeez, you look like you’re about to pass out. Let me get you some water. You really could’ve walked, you know…”

He had never been to your house, so he trailed after you dutifully, sitting at the dining table and gulping down the glass of water you offered him within seconds. Taking it back, you refilled it and gave it to him again.

“You were there for Seiko, not me,” he said.

“She’s my best friend,” you said. “Obviously I was there for her.”

“And what am I?” he said.

“Not that,” you said.

“I should be upset, but for some reason, I’m kind of glad that you said that,” he said. “I don’t want to be your friend.”

“Rude much?” you said, his words stinging. “Is that all you came here to tell me? If you don’t want to be friends, that’s fine, but was there really a need for you to come to my house and announce it? How’d you even get my address?”

“Seiko told me,” he said.

“In hindsight, I should’ve seen that coming,” you said.

“I haven’t dated anyone,” he said, all in a rush, the sentences tumbling out of his mouth like he was not sure if he’d ever get the chance to say them again. “Not since that night that we played video games together.”

“Seriously? If I ask Seiko, will she confirm that?” you said.

“Of course! I’m a lot of things, I know that, but I’m not a liar. I’ve never tried to hide who I am, especially not from you,” he said.

“Well,” you said. “That’s good, then. I’m proud of you.”

“I’ve tried finding the kind of person you described,” he said. “Someone like you. You said it would be easy, but it’s not. It’s really fucking difficult.”

“Maybe you should look harder, then,” you said, rolling your eyes and placing his empty cup in the dishwasher before you forgot about it. “There’s no way I’m the only girl in the entire city that you can bring yourself to genuinely like.”

“You’re the only one I want to like,” he said. You froze in the middle of putting dish detergent in the dispenser, giving him an incredulous look.

“I’m what?” you said.

“I get that you probably don’t feel the same way. To be honest, I didn’t even realize that I did until Seiko yelled at me about it, because it’s not like it usually is. I want to spend time with you, as much as possible, even if we’re not doing anything but eating snacks or playing games. I want to listen to you talk, even if it’s about something that I think is boring. I want to buy things that’ll make you happy — the nice versions, not the kinds from the grocery store, because I don’t want to imagine that it won’t last. I want it to last,” he said.

You stared at him, slack-jawed and wide-eyed. Of all the things he could’ve said, that was the most unlikely. What was it about you that made you so different, that the ever-fickle and brutally honest Eita Otoya was driven to such a confession? You knew he wasn’t making it up, because he was right — he never did. Not once had he ever tried to mislead a girl about who he was, and you sensed that this was much the same. The problem wasn’t that you didn’t believe him. It was that you simply couldn’t understand.

“I don’t get it,” you said.

“What do you mean? What else am I supposed to say?” he said. “I like you. I think I have for a while now. At first, I thought it was just because you were my sister’s friend, but according to her, you normally don’t feel this way for the friends of your siblings.”

“You’ve been talking to Seiko about me?” you said. Suddenly, the side comments she had been making recently made a lot more sense.

“Who else would I go to? It was humiliating, asking her for help, but you guys have known each other for forever, so I figured it was the best option,” he said.

“That’s true,” you said, starting the dishwasher and pushing it shut. “Wow. I don’t know what to say to that.”

“If you’re going to reject me, don’t worry about it. I didn’t tell you all of that because I was expecting you to say yes. I just wanted you to know that — that I did take what you said into consideration,” he said.

“I’m glad you did,” you said. “It must’ve been weird, following the advice of your younger sister’s best friend.”

“You’re more than that,” he said. “You’re more than just Seiko’s friend to me. You’ve been more than that for a long time now.”

“Why me?” you said. “Why is it me, and not one of the hundreds of other girls that would jump at the chance to fix you, to be the one who finally got Eita Otoya to settle down for good?”

“It’s that bratty little sister of mine’s fault,” he said. “Because of her, you kept showing up, and by the time I noticed, it was way too late. At that point, I was already asking her what your favorite desserts were, just so I could get them for you.”

“I see,” you said.

“Besides, being with someone who wants to fix another person sounds awful. Do you want to fix me?” he said.

“If you expect me to, then you should probably just leave,” you said. “I don’t mind helping when I can, but the only person that can fix you is you.”

“Exactly,” he said. “You mentioned once that cheaters can grow somewhere far away from you.”

“Hm? Oh, I did say something along those lines, didn’t I? That was over a year ago, though,” you said, thinking back to that random conversation, unsure of why he even remembered it.

“I’ve done it,” he said. “It was hard, but I’ve done it anyways. For you, but also for myself. I’m not so sure that the highs are worth the lows anymore, and besides, I hate doing things I don’t like, and dating around is becoming one of those things.”

“Is that so?” you said. “I’m glad you realized that.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Me, too. Uh, I should probably go now, so…here. For last time. You shouldn’t have paid me back. Don’t even think about pulling something like that again.”

He opened the box, revealing an assortment of cookies, all the different kinds you liked. You didn’t need to ask him to know where he had gotten them from, and you admired them as he stood and pushed in his chair.

“Thanks for hearing me out, Y/N,” he said. “And don’t worry, I won’t make things uncomfortable, so feel free to visit Seiko whenever. I’ll stay out of your way when you come over. She doesn’t have any other friends, so don’t ditch her just because of me.”

“You’re pretty self-important, aren’t you?” you teased. “Did you think I’d give her up just because of you? Not likely. Anyways, why would things be uncomfortable?”

“Usually it’s pretty unpleasant to have to be around someone when you know they have unreciprocated feelings for you,” he said.

“I don’t think they’re unreciprocated,” you said. He quite literally paused in his tracks, foot still raised in the air as he spun to face you.

“What? You should’ve said so earlier!” he said. “Do you mean I was acting all angsty and emotional for nothing?”

“I wanted to make you suffer a bit,” you said. “I mean this gently, but you deserve it.”

He hung his head. “You’re not wrong.”

“I’ve liked you for a while as well, though like you said, I hardly understood it myself, and I didn’t have the benefit of Seiko drumming it into my mind — mostly because that’s not the kind of conversation you really want to have with your best friend about her brother,” you said. “I also knew about your reputation, and no matter how wonderful I found you, I was a little wary, so I never gave it much thought.”

“But now?” he said.

“I mean, it’s kind of hard to reject a guy who runs to your house with cookies and a dramatic speech about how much he likes you,” you said.

“When you put it like that, I sound like a loser,” he said.

“I want you to consider that you play Super Smash Bros. in your free time, and that you are obsessed with anything ninja or Naruto related, and then I would like for you to repeat that statement with the same indignation you just said it with,” you said. He huffed in defeat.

“That’s fair enough,” he said.

“Like I said, I do like you, but I’m not in the business of fixing people. The second you start getting bored or wanting to cheat on me, break up with me, and be an adult about it. Don’t run away. Just be honest, and for my part, I’ll hold back my tears until you’ve left, alright? If you can swear you’ll do that, then I don’t mind trying,” you said.

“You’re way too nice to me,” he said.

“I can add in more demands, if you’d like,” you said.

“Now, I didn’t say you had to do that,” he said. You chuckled.

“I thought you were really serious about me, though?” you said. “Since you mentioned it, I do have one more condition. Say yes, and I’ll be your girlfriend. Say no, and…you better get back to searching.”

“What is it?” he said eagerly, grabbing your hands and holding them in between his own. “I’ll do anything.”

“You have to be the one to tell Seiko,” you said. He paled.

“You wouldn’t,” he said.

“Just did,” you said. He scrunched up his face in thought, obviously imagining his sister’s reaction. Though she had given both of you her blessings in her own way, there was no doubt in your mind that she’d give the two of you a hard time — especially him, considering the fact that she already did that without even having a reason to.

“I’ll do it, but you have to come along,” he bargained. “Someone has to nurse me back to health once she’s through with me. It might as well be you.”

“You’re in no place to be asking for things,” you said.

“Please?” he said. “She’s scary as hell, and I’m saying this as someone who regularly plays against guys big enough to become pro wrestlers.”

“Alright, alright,” you said. “I’ll come with you, and I’ll put bandages on all your bruises.”

He grinned at you. “Deal.”

“Deal,” you said.

“Then I guess you’re my girlfriend now,” he said.

“I guess I am,” you said.

“Nice,” he said. “Wanna play Mario Kart?”

You snorted. “Why not?”

So you sat down on the sofa — next to each other this time, not on opposite sides, your head leaning on his shoulder and his thigh pressed against your own — and you did just that.

“So let me get this straight,” Seiko said. Eita, who had just delivered the news, was attempting to hide behind you, which was a largely ineffective method of disguise. “You two are officially dating.”

“Pretty much,” you said, when it became obvious that Eita was too petrified to respond. It was funny — he talked such a big game when it was just words, and he was the first to make fun of Seiko, but as soon as the prospect of a fight came up, he cowered away, as any smart man would.

“Interesting,” she said. “Eita, come here. I just want to say something.”

He shuffled out towards Seiko, head bowed and hands clasped together. “Yes?”

“If you ever hurt even a cell in the bodies of the mites that live on her eyelashes—”

“What the fuck?” you said. “That’s disgusting. Thanks, Seiko, now I’m going to be scrubbing my eyelashes for the next week.”

“Don’t worry about it, everyone has them. They’re normal,” Seiko said. “Like I was saying, Eita, if you mess with her, I’ll kill you. Forget about sibling loyalty; it all goes out the door on that day, you hear me?”

“Loud and clear,” he said.

“Good,” she said, nodding in satisfaction. He looked around like he was searching for a camera, obviously in disbelief that she had let him off so easily.

“Is that it?” he said.

“For now,” she said. “Ask me again in a few months and the answer might change.”

“I’ll take it,” he said. “Well, see you later. Let’s go upstairs, Y/N.”

“What? Y/N and I have plans to bake together tonight!” Seiko said.

“No way, we’re watching TV together! I’m going to make her watch all of Naruto!” he argued. In unison, they both turned to you, waiting for your response, waves of hostility rolling off of them.

“Oh, boy,” you said, already feeling a headache coming on. “This is going to be a lot more annoying than I anticipated.”

#otoya x reader #otoya x y/n #otoya x you #otoya eita #bllk x reader #bllk #blue lock #reader insert #best friend’s brother au #best friend’s brother fic #m1ckeyb3rry writes

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hurts2think · 4 months ago

Note

Hello!! I read your Red x Reader one-shot and LOVED IT, she's such a distinct character and you did such a good job writing her <3

Would you be able to do Red x tall!fem reader? I'm 5'11", much taller than a 5'5" Kylie Cantrall LOL, and I think the short and angry x tall and calm dynamic is so fun. Thanks so much!

♥️Red Hearts x Reader♥️

Reader pronouns: She/her

Pairing: Red Hearts x Tall!Fem!Reader

Plot: You're the daughter of Rapunzel and you took interest in the new girl. But all of your friendly advances just anger her... But maybe she'll warm up to you during a friendly game of ball.

Word Count: 2k

Extra: Thank you so much, that's genuinely one of the sweetest compliments I've ever gotten🫶 I combined this with another request. I had a really hard day today so I'm sorry if it's rushed and not as well chatacterized. Please enjoy <3

Extra pt2: I never ever specify race or features in this, but the reader is described with very long hair. Interpret it as you will but I'm sorry to all of my friends with afros :(

Despite being a royal, you never were a 'typical princess'. Your parents always accepted you no matter what you were interested in or how princess-y you acted because they were the same as you.

When your mother, Rapunzel, returned to her kingdom for the first time, she could never fit into the royal ways. And of course your father, Eugene Fitzherbert (Aka the infamous Flynn Rider) was a criminal before meeting your mother. So you never had very royal influences growing up.

Because of this, when you started going to Auradon Prep you tended to be drawn more towards the VKs who weren't confined by the royal standard. You began to really go full force into the idea of parkour, sword fighting, and adventuring in general. It was much more thrilling for you than any etiquette class your kingdom forces you to take.

So running around, jumping off walls, and friendly fighting was how you spent any afternoon with your friends. And recently you've met someone new. She just transferred from Wonderland which immediately intrigued you. Her name was Red and she was the daughter of the Queen of Hearts. Naturally, you had hundreds of questions and filled with excitment but she would always give a snarky reply before walking away from you.

Though she seemed to not like you very much the two of you had many of the same interests, so you'd end up seeing her and running into her multiple times a day. You never gave up on trying to be her friend but she was as stubborn as a mule. And unfortunately for her, so were you.

"Ya know, Red, you're really good at all this parkour stuff. Where'd you learn it? Are you self taught?" You asked her with a smile.

The two of you were in chemistry class and you were really just trying to start up casual conversation, but she didn't seem too amused with it.

"Wonderland was ruled by a tyrant, kinda had no choice but to bounce off walls and slip through the cracks. Otherwise it's 'off with your head'." She replied with the same sassy attitude she always had.

"Oh... Well. It's still cool how good you are at it. Especially considering..." You trailed off, suddenly shutting up because you didn't want to offend her.

Red looked back at you with a skeptical look, "Considering what?"

An awkward giggle escaped your lips, "Well, you're not very... Uhm... Tall?" You finally coughed out, desperately not trying to come off as offensive.

Though it was in vain. Red gave you a dirty look, suddenly standing up straight and crossing her arms, "What does that have to do with anything?"

You lucked out when it came to the height department, unlike your older sister. Your mom was short but your dad was super tall, and you somehow came out looking more like him anyway. So at almost six feet, Red definitely seemed far shorter. "Nothing! Just uh, ya know, I imagine it's not very easy getting up high walls and stuff." You involuntarily giggle.

"And you're freakishly tall. Don't you ever trip over your own feet while doing anything?" She rolled her eyes, her expression never changing.

"Uhm, no..."

"Then no. See? Your assumption was stupid." Red declared, looking away from you as if just looking at your face was making her angry.

You went silent, slowly going back to working on your weird chemistry project before clearing your throat, "It's not a bad thing. People love snarky short girls, it's totally a desired trait now-a-days." You meant for it to be a compliment but really you were just digging a deeper hole for yourself.

"So what? Are you hitting on me or something?"

The bluntness almost made you drop the flask of chemicals in your hand, "Wh—?! No! No... That's not what I meant." Your face heats up a little and your eyes trail away from her, "I just... I didn't mean anything rude about you being short."

Red let out a long breath, "Mention something as unimportant as height one more time and I swear I'll strangle you." She threatened calmly.

This made you pause and stiffle a snicker, "Would you even be able to reach?"

The look Red gave you almost felt like it could've shot you dead on the spot. "Sorry, sorry! I was just kidding... Just joking. I'm done now."

You finally decided to just shut up and work on your project in silence. She really might try and strangle you if you kept talking.

------

It was nearing closer to the end of the day and you really started feeling bad for making Red upset like that. What if it was an insecurity? You didn't mean to hurt her feelings! So you decided to make it up to her. Just invite her to a casual one on one game of basketball, all friendly! No harm done or anything.

"Oh so you invited me to play basketball as another jab at my height? You think I would lose because you're like a giant?"

How did this girl manage to take every single thing you said and did the wrong way? "N, No... Of course not. I just wanted to try and—"

"You know what? I'll show you what I'm capable of. Maybe it'll teach you a thing or two, princess." Red declared, snatching the basketball from your hands.

Great. This was going wrong in every way! She took your invite as an insult and now it's a not-so-friendly match.

But nonetheless, it was official. The two of you played a one on one, and she was unsurprisingly amazing at it. She really was great at everything she did. And after a long time of dribbling, throwing, and blocking, it seemed like Red was finally going for the winning shot.

Just as she jumped, you stumbled after her to try and prevent the shot. The stumble was less than graceful, and while she technically made the shot and won, you still fell over and dragged her down with you.

"Ow—!" You heard the girl beneath you groan in pain after the hard thud against the ground.

After regaining yourself in a moment, you quickly shot up and got off of her, "Oh my gosh! Red, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" You worriedly ask, reaching to try and help her up.

Red slowly sits up, swatting your hand away, "Yeah... I'm fine." She grunted. She tried stepping up to her feet before immediately recoiling back down from the pain in her ankle.

"Oh no no. You're hurt. I hurt you, I'm so sorry. Here, look, I'll make it better! Don't worry!" Without another word you scooped Red into your arms without much of a warning.

"Hey!" She yelled in protest.

You hurried her over to the bench and sat her down in it to which she immediately scooted away from you.

"I'm so sorry, Red. Let me heal it for you."

Red's expression suddenly shifted to one of confusion, "Heal?" She figured that was a weird word to use.

"Yeah..." You pulled the hair tie from your hair and let down your hair that was much longer than it looked when it was tied up. You crouched down but before you could hold your hair to the injury, Red scooted away again.

"Woah woah. What're you doing??" She asked, clearly still very confused.

You were mostly used to everyone knowing the qualities that you received from your mother, of course the girl from Wonderland had no idea about it. But you didn't quite piece that together, "Healing you..." You repeated, now confused by her confusion.

"Right... With your hair?" Her brows furrowed in confusion and judgment.

"Oh!" You then understood why she was confused, "Basically when my grandma was pregnant with my mom she was going to die, so they found a magic flower to heal her but then the magic flower gave my mom healing abilities, I also got those abilities when I was born. So now I have magic hair that glows and heals when I sing." You explained with a goofy grin, almost as if you were bragging.

Though Red didn't seem impressed. Actually, she looked at you like you were insane.

"Just... Trust me."

Finally she let you get closer. Your wrapped your hair around her sprained ankle and began to sing the healing incantation that your mother taught you. Slowly your hair begin to softly glow and Red stared in astonishment.

After you finished you unwrapped your hair and her ankle was fully healed.

"What the—" Red stuck her leg out and moved her ankle around as if to test if it was really okay, "How did you—?"

"Told you. Magic flower." You grinned up at her before standing back up.

"Woah..." She said in disbelief, staring at her magically healed ankle before her eyes darted towards you, "Will I get super strength in my ankle now or something?"

You chuckled and shook your head, "No... I don't think so."

"Man..." She muttered in disappointment.

Your smile slowly faded to a frown. You suddenly felt guilty again for hurting her physically and possibly her feelings, "I'm sorry again... I guess I should get going now..." You force a laugh, tying your hair back up.

Red went pretty silent for a moment before speaking again, "I just don't understand."

"Me either, honestly. The flower thing is kind of confusing. It's suppose to be a drop of the sun or something and—" You started to explain before the red headed girl interrupted you.

"No. That's not what I meant." She rolled her eyes, "I meant, why are you suddenly being so genuinely nice?" She asked with clear suspicion on her face.

Your own expression turned puzzled, "What do you mean suddenly? I've been trying to be your friend since we met."

Has she seriously not caught on this whole time? You always talk to her and try to be nice, how could she not have known? It's all you've been trying to do for the past month or so.

"Really?" She seemed unconvinced, "You? Miss princess trying to be friends with the girl no one likes from Wonderland? I always hear your friends whispering about me. You're just one of those kids who thinks she's being funny by trying to befriend the 'weird kid'." Red said with a little bit of a snarl. She seemed pretty convinced there was no way you were ever genuine before.

Your eyes widened slightly at the bold assumption. Your friends whisper about her? Your friends know you think she's cool... They've never said anything bad about her before... "Red, I was always genuine. You're the exact person I want to be friends with! You're cool, smart, talented, insanely gorgeous." You listed off on your fingers, that last descriptor slipping out on accident, making your face suddenly burn in embarrassment. "Forget that last part..." You mutter.

Red laughs. That was probably the first time you actually heard her genuinely laugh. It wasn't mocking or mean, it was genuine. Man, you could get addicted to a laugh like that.

"Well. I guess I was a little harsh to you... You're pretty cool too, I guess." She smirked, nudging you with her elbow, "And pretty cute."

"Shut up." Your face only heated up more and you buried it in your hands, making Red's smirk grow. "So... We're cool now?" You ask, peaking from behind the hands covering your face.

Red hummed in thought, tapping her chin, "Mayyybe... If you can beat me in another one on one without spraining my ankle, I'll consider it." She winked.

You chuckled. Who could deny that? "It's a deal. Don't get too excited when I win." You teased with a grin.

After all this time, you were finally able to get along with the beautiful VK from Wonderland. Her sassy attitude, bad girl look, and insane skill only made you fall on your face for her. You couldn't help but fluster just at the thought of her... This was a crush you had a feeling would go away so easily.

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http-paprika · 2 months ago

Text

There Was Something Here Once but a new day hides that haze

alternative universe / call of duty x female reader / taglist open / wc 2623 / warnings light swearing / no use of y/n / ship not yet decided / no beta, my grammarly hates me

a word from the author- i started classes in August, so I'm not on top of my writing but I started this the other day and wanting to share it with ya'll because it's too good. And for the pairing, I'm between two characters so you'll just have to see how it goes.

Dew clings to the windshield, a heavy fog leaving the morning hazy and gray. Autumn would soon have a firm hold on the small, quiet town of Aberdeen, making the weather impossible to bear if one did not have a good flannel or coat. Which was a new addition to her wardrobe when she made plans to leave the city and hide away. The one postcard sent from her college friend, the one responsible for getting her this new job, boasted a quaint downtown, heavy snows, and an eerie ambiance she couldn’t shake no matter how hard she tried. It was Twin Peaks personified, just lacking David Duchovny and a young Kyle MacLachlan.

The engine of her Ford Bronco sputters and creaks. The old vehicle had spent the whole drive up protesting the hills and winding roads that left her constantly breaking. Now, it seemed her ancient car, that she had served her faithfully through college and early adult years, had decided to kick her in the ass.

“No, no, no.” She groans, hitting her head against the hard steering wheel and instantly regretting it. There’d be a bruise later in the day with her luck. “Not today, baby. I’ve only been at this job a week, I can’t be late already.”

It would be just her bad luck that the car would give out, her luck that the cell service was questionable so she couldn’t even call. But what wouldn’t be her normal bout of unfortunate events was the man who lived just down the road that she’d seen tinkering with an old sports car. She pops up her head, remembering his existence and hurries out into the morning chill.

With her fingers crossed together that the stranger would not be a creep, she walks in a fast pace down the cracked asphalt to the little arts and crafts home that sat at the bottom of the hill. There was a blooming garden out front, despite the change in seasons, vegetable, herbs and a few flowers bursting to life and ready for harvest. The two rocking chairs on the front porch made her a little less nervous. Whoever the home belonged to, they seem charming enough in their landscape and aesthetic.

Hands trembling, she knocks against the screen door, wondering if she should open it and knock directly on the faded blue front door. But after a few knocks, the sound of muffled footsteps reached her ears and soon enough the door was unlocked and opened. Except, the man standing in the doorway was not who she’d seen tinkering with the car, instead, he struck her as a cowboy. Someone who would’ve starred in the western movies her father watched when she was a kid.

“Can I help you?” He asks, a dull but still visible southern twang visible in his voice. Maybe he was a cowboy, his checkered shirt and worn down boots said as much.

“Oh, um–” She pauses, trying to collect herself so as to not sound like a fool. The anxiety of being late and belittled by her unruly coworkers was pressing deep into her skin. “I’m sorry for disturbing you so early in the morning. But I just moved into the house up the road last week and my car doesn't want to run today and I’m going to be late for work. I had noticed in passing before that there’s someone in this household who works on cars and was wondering if he’d be willing to take a look at the engine for me? I’m helpless with mechanics.”

The man nods, understanding her plea for help. “That’s right, John spends all his free time on that hunk of shit.”

“Are you talking bad about my car again, Phillip?” A booming voice asked from inside the house, it caused her to stand at attention being vividly alert. Suddenly, the man she’d seen while driving by is standing over Phillip’s shoulder, hands resting on Phillip’s hips and a tilt to his head. “Hello there, not often we get new people in these parts.”

“She just moved into the Riley’s house, her car is acting up, John.” Phillip tells the newcomer in the conversation. Together, the men made quite a fitting pair, rugged and worn at the edges, with various lengths of facial hair and two sets of blue eyes. Without them having to say it out loud, she could feel the warmth of their shared intimacy, a love she could only envy and never grasp.

“Really? Never thought anyone would be willing to buy it— Ow!” John grumbles, rubbing his side where Phillip had jutted his elbow. “Right, your car. Let me get my things.”

She frowns at the statement the man had begun but been unable to finish. What had John meant by that? Sure, the house wasn't the nicest, there were cobwebs in corners, cracks on some of the window panes, and a musty smell from sitting empty for a while, but it was a nice enough house. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a cozy kitchen that looked out into the woods. It was a quaint cottage that was a dream come true compared to the studio apartment she’d left behind.

John disappears back into the house, leaving her with an awkward look on her face as Phillip stands there. She wants to ask what John meant by it, the curiosity or rather fear of the truth taps insistently against her skull. But she imagined her neighbor would just shut her down like he’d done with his partner.

“If it can be fixed, John can fix it, ma’am. He owns and runs the little auto shop in town, you’ve probably seen it. It’s the only one in this hellhole.” Phillip tells her, breaking up the static silence that had overcome them.

“You don’t like it here?” She raises a brow, surprised to hear it. The few coworkers she had at her new job only sang the praises of Abedreen, telling her it was the greatest little town to live in. But it was clear in Phillip’s tone that he didn’t share the sentiment.

“I like John, that’s enough to take me anywhere.”

There was a faithfulness in his voice she didn’t think she’d ever heard outside of television and novels. Her parents were divorced when she was a girl, all her friends in college seemed to have constant relationship problems and doubts, but there wasn’t a doubt in his words.

“Alright, lead the way.” John reappears behind his partner with a fat toolbox in hand, seemingly unaware of what Phillip had said. But she had a suspicion he knew, because as subtle as it was, she noticed John loop his finger quickly through the belt loop of Phillip’s jeans and tug slightly. And as she turned away to walk off the porch, the smile on Phillip’s face was as visible as the mist that hung in front of her.

The crunching of John’s boots on top of the gravel kept her company as they walked back to the road. There was a clear impression that the man was the less talkative of the couple, using few words to get his point across. Normally, she wouldn’t mind, but his big hulking figure following her like a shadow kept her nervous. While Phillip had reminded her of the movies her father used to watch, John reminded her of her father. Broad shoulders, dark hair covering his jaw, lack of conversation, and intimidating stature. She couldn’t even remember where her father had been born. Somewhere out west, or so she thought.

“So how come you moved to Aberdeen?” He finally speaks up once they’re on the road, headed back up the hill to her new home. “Got family in the area?”

“No.”

“Okay. You don’t exactly strike me as the logging or mining type–”

“An old college friend was from here, and I happened to come across a job position at the library and remember her telling me about the town.” She shrugs, not knowing what else to say without spiraling into the life events that left her desperate enough to start anew in the middle of nowhere, in a town no one seemed to know about.

“Ah.” John responds. She turned to look quickly down at the asphalt, his thoughtful gaze told her more than enough. He knew there was more to the story, and either he didn’t care or he was polite enough not to ask. “Who’s the friend?”

“What?”

“Your old college friend from here? Who are they? I’d probably know them, lived my entire life in the area.” He says, coming to a slow pace as they reached the top of the hill, her Bronco sitting and waiting to be inspected. She could only pray he could tell her it was fixable.

“Um, Beau Ridley. Well, now Beau Mayfield since she’s married.” She rambles off, stopping quickly in fear that she’s being too much. A habit she’d developed quickly in college.

“Yeah, I know Beau– pop the hood for me?” John sets down his tool box and she scurries to follow his orders like a kid finding the right wrench for their dad. Despite owning the car for ages, she struggles to remember where she had to look to open the boot. Finally, the boot clicked open and her view out the windshield was obscured with the metal. From this view, she could see just how badly the paint had begun to fade, and that there was dried bird poop that hadn’t been there the night before.

“Sorry.” She apologizes as she climbs back out of her car, fiddling with the sleeve of her shirt.

“What for?” He doesn’t even bother looking up from the engine of the car as he pokes around. Blinking at him, she realizes he doesn’t care that it took her a bit too long to pop the trunk or that she disturbed his morning. Realizing that makes her shift from one foot to another and drop her gaze down to the dirt of her driveway.

“Do me a favor and try to turn on the engine, would ya?” John asks and she quickly hurries to fulfill that task too. She hated meeting new people and new beginnings simply because it meant she had to work hard to make a good impression, the people here weren’t disappointed in her and expected failure like those she knew before. It was a feeling she hated, seeking approval. Yet she did it anyway.

Propping herself up in the driver’s seat, she fumbles with her keys– the cat keychain she had kept getting in the way– before finally turning the key in the ignition. The rough sound of her car sputtering and struggling, failing to do it’s most basic task of running, causes her to wince. And when she pokes her head out to see John’s expression as she continues to try to make it turn on, she realizes her car is screwed.

“So?”

“Need to get in the shop,” He informs her. John takes his time explaining what he believed to be the problem and it went all over her head, so she simply nodded. She knew how to change a tire, replace the blinker fluid, and even knew where to refill the car’s coolant, but anything more was outside her realm of knowledge. “You didn’t understand a thing I said, did ya?”

“No sir.”

John nods his head in sympathy, probably used to clueless customers in his auto shop. Reaching into the back pocket of his jeans, John pulls out his cracked phone and types up a number. “I’ll call my tow-guy to come up and take it down to the shop, free of charge.”

“How am I going to get to work?” She suddenly responds, remembering why she’d even gone to John’s house in the first place. There’d always been a struggle for her to focus on what comes after something, stuck in the present unable to look forward to the future. Even if the future is only an hour away.

“Where do you work?” He asks her, putting the phone up to his ear to make the call.

“At the library.” She responds quickly, John registers her words with a nod before turning away to speak to his tow-driver. He barks at the unfortunate driver, seemingly annoyed by his antics until the call finally ends and he turns on his boot heel to look back at her.

“Johnny’s gonna be here in about twenty minutes, he’ll drop you off at the library. If that’s alright with you?” John says, making sure that she was comfortable with the situation. “Otherwise, I could drive you down later once I’m done with my breakfast and coffee.”

“No, no, that’s more than enough.” Her mind keeps going back to his statement, free of charge. How many times had she gotten something in life free? Rarely, if she could remember correctly. “Thank you, John.”

“You’re in Aberdeen. We take care of our neighbors here.” He turns to close his tool box, picking up the metal container with ease. “You fine with waiting on your own–”

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s fine.” The thought of inconveniencing John further after he’d already taken time out of his day to help her was too much to ask. Even if she didn’t like the idea of waiting for a stranger to come get her car and take her to work, she’d handle it.

“You sure?”

“Yes, thank you. Again.” John nods, turning to leave with a hum in his throat low in sound but enough for her to hear in the morning. The fog is beginning to dissipate, letting the autumn sun climb through the tall spindly pine trees, the crisp air clings to your lungs like swallowing ice water. Up here, she finds that she can take a moment to breathe. Away from the bustling traffic of the city, the bog that coated the air. The only noise here was birdsong and wind. A bliss that eclipsed her senses before her phone decides to ring– her manager’s number on the caller ID.

Her manager forgives the lateness, and even tried to ask if they could do anything to help her but she declines. Sitting on the front step of her house, the hum of a truck overtakes the sounds of nature. And when the tow truck slows to a stop in front of the cottage, she finds herself biting the inside of her cheek. The sudden realization that there’s a stranger here to get her car and take her to work makes her queasy. If she were still in the city, she would’ve considered taking the spotty public transport over this. But it was too far and difficult of a trek to make with her heavy work tote slung over her shoulders and her loafers sinking into the mud from last night’s rain. She wouldn’t make it walking.

The door of the tow truck opens and the driver climbs out, his back stays turned to her as he reaches back in to grab something. The navy coveralls compliment his tanned arms well, and when he turns to look at her, she realizes they match his eyes as well. Even with his odd mohawk-like hair she finds herself coughing on nothing at the sight of his face.

“You alright, ma’am?” He asks, knitting his brows together in his concern. There’s a golden look in his face,

“Yeah, yeah. You’re Johnny?” She wheezes, struggling to clear her throat.

“That’s right. I’ll have your car hooked up and you to work in no time.” He promises her with a grin, and she fully believes it. Maybe Aberdeen wasn’t the worst little town to exist?

Chapter II

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yuriisclumsy · 2 months ago

Text

𝖯𝗋𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗎𝖾, 𝙰𝚌𝚝 𝙸𝙸: Honorary Knights

Last Chapter | Next Chapter(𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏)

𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗈𝖿𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽 𝖻𝗒 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗌 𝗍𝗋𝗎𝗅𝗒. 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝:2430

Authors note: Sup, how's everyone's day? Amazing as usual I presume? Anywho- I've been trying out this new style of drawing as mine solidifies. Also, I've realized that if I make less drawings with colors these chapters go a lot faster because I can't continue writing if I have an idea for a scene. I NEED to finish the drawing then go back to writing (It's rare if I continue writing after an idea).

A week has passed since I discovered I was in a game.

Sirius helped clear the final temple, returning Mondstadt's elemental flow back to normal after a week straight of work. Paimon and he were on their way to Acting Grand Master Jean to report the good news.

Unfortunately for me, I happen to be walking in the same direction to renew the book I borrowed from librarian Lisa, lest she comes looking for me if I don’t inform her I need more time with it.

Talk about bad luck.

“So, [Name], what’s new? Do you have something interesting to tell us?” Paimon questioned me.

“Nope. Got nothing new,” I did not look at her when I said that.

She stumps her little foot in the air. “What? What about that book you’ve been reading?! Have you not learned anything new after a week of reading it!?”

“Well, it’s nothing new for you. But it’s new for me. Lost memories, remember?”

“...What is the book about anyway?” She asked instead of responding to me.

“Teyvat’s history. I finished reading it, and I’m getting another one. This one was a very old edition.”

“Is Teyvat’s history that interesting to you?”

“Yes, very,” I nod. “What about you two? Anything else besides reporting back to Master Jean?”

“I wanted to ask them about the teardrop we found in the forest,” Aether responded. “It was left behind by Stormterror, so maybe they know what it is.”

“Good thinking! It could also help us deal with stormterror easier.”

Reaching the Knight's Headquarters, we saw Master Jean who appeared to be talking with someone.

“Look, it’s Jean!” Paimon pointed at her. “Who is she talking to?”

She seems to be talking to a woman. She had a black outfit with purple here and there; her hair a burned-blonde, bangs that rested right above her eyebrows; her face hidden behind a gray mask.

She spelled trouble through-and-through.

“Don’t know. But I have a gut feeling that she’s no good,” I said, eyeing her with distrust.

“Let’s wait for her to finish,” Sirius said. “We can wait on the side over here. I don’t want to be in the middle of the street.”

As we waited, we saw the frustration from both ends of the party. Jean looked adamant about her position, while the masked woman seemed to be irritated; she looked like she was trying hard to convince Jean to whatever she wanted from her.

I remember this part of the story. Jean gets pressured by a Fatui agent –a Snezhnayan diplomat– Anastasia, to kill Dvalin. Amalia warned me about them:

“Never. Ever. Trust the Fatui.”

The scary part about that was how she looked dead serious. Before then, I had never seen that side of her. The fact she changed so quickly too… I got nightmares for a month straight; Amalia would come in and tell me how I was a bad friend.

Ahg, I get shivers just thinking about it… I looked back at two political figures. I’ll trust Amalia and my gut feeling about the Fatui. Note to self: “Don’t talk to the Fatui.”

“Looks like she’s done talking to that person!” Paimon announced. “Let’s go talk to her.”

Jean’s gaze followed the masked woman, face laced with worry. Her eyes then darted towards us as we got in her peripheral view.

“Oh, Traveler, you're back,” she noticed I was with him, “and company… Is she the one you and Amber were talking about?”

“Yup!” Paimon confirmed. “This is [Name], our traveler buddy and official cook!” Her eyes sparkled at the mention of cooking.

I sighed, turning my attention to Jean. I smiled, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Master Jean.”

“Likewise,” she reciprocated the smile.

“Now that everyone is acquainted, Paimon has to ask. Who was that just now?”

“First, I would like to thank you,” she looked at Sirius, “Lisa informed me that the elemental flow is finally stable because of your help, and skill. For that, you have Mondstadt’s gratitude.”

Sirius scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed for getting compliments.

“Is someone getting shy now?~” Paimon teased.

“Leave him alone Paimon. He actually did something, unlike someone.”

“I told you, Paimon is moral support, moral support!”

“Anyway–” Jean intervened before she had to break up a fight, “the aftermath of Stormterror’s last attack is finally settled for the moment. But not the pressure from the delegation, in fact, it has become too big to ignore.”

“Delegation? From Liyue, or Inazuma City?” Paimon asked.

“Snezhnaya,” she paused and then continued, “they choose to follow the god of Cryo. Their envoys go by a particular name: The Fatiu. Heard of them?”

“Are you kidding? They are famous! Wait, infamous is more of the word.”

“Let me guess, the Fatui wants to take Stormterror down, right?” I said fully knowing the answer to the question.

“Correct. I don’t think killing Stormterro will do anyone any good, nor do I think it’s the right action to take. The Cryo god’s Fatui have always coveted the Anemo god’s power.” She had the same worried face I saw when the Fatui woman left, “I don’t believe they have Mondstatd’s best interest at heart.” I nod in agreement.

“Speaking of power…” Sirius began.

“What is it?”

“I have something I need to show the Knights,” he finished.

“Oh? Then let us go inside the Headquarter. We shouldn't discuss important matters…” she looked around, “out in the open.”

Jean led us inside. Before I stepped foot inside her office I stopped. Jean noticed and turned to see if everything was fine.

“Sorry guys, I need to return this book to Lisa,” I said from just outside the office.

“I see,” she understood and said nothing else about it, she knew how Lisa could be when a book was missing. “Before you go, could you do me a favor?”

“Yes. What is the favor?”

“Once you’re done, tell Lisa to come to my office please. We might need her.”

“Okay, I’ll tell her,” Jean closed the door dismissing me. I skipped a few steps to reach the other side of the building faster.

I opened the door to the library and went in. I looked at the front desk only to find it empty.

Lisa’s not there… Maybe she’s over here. I walked through the first floor, but no Lisa in sight.

Not here either… Going downstairs, I ran through the whole floor as there wasn’t anyone in the room, yet she wasn’t there either.

Where is she!? I yelled internally. So, she can miss a day, but we can’t? Talk about unfairness.

“Hi, darling.”

“AHHHHH!” I turned around but managed to slip due to a paper on the floor. “Ouf–! Awo! That hurt…!” rubbing my butt, the voice reached out their hand to help me up. I looked up and saw, the one-and-only, Lisa!

“Oh, dear, are you alright?” I took her hand and responded.

“Yeah, I’m fine…” I lied. My butt still hurts.

“You keep on getting scared whenever I greet you. I’m not that scary to you, am I?” She sounded hurt asking that.

I rolled my eyes. You look harmless, but you’re a rose with pesky thorns… That’s what Amalia has said anyway.

“Of course not, miss Lisa,” I dismissed her. I faked an innocent smile and said, “You look average to me.”

It looked like an arrow had hit her bullseye in the heart. She was mumbling how cruel youngsters are nowadays, and how, begin quote, ‘her beauty is fading because of her age,’ end quote.

I didn’t mean my comment obviously. I only said that to get back at her for the two times she’s given me a heart attack. She looks young for her age, that’s for sure.

“What are you back here for, returning the book I presume?” She asked me, leaving behind the commentary I made like I never said it in the first place.

“Yes, you see, the one I have is outdated–a century outdated to be precise–of the history of Teyvat,” I explained.

She hummed, “yes, I remember. I found it quite odd that you wanted to read such an old book. Now I know why.” She turned and waved her hand in a follow-me motion, “Come, I know exactly where the newer version is.”

We moved to the section that Amber showed me when I came here last time. Looking at it now, the history section was much bigger than I remembered.

“Here it is!” Lisa handed me a book. “This is the newest version, it came out a year ago.”

“Thank you again, miss Lisa,” I thanked her as I eyed the book.

I wonder what they added.

“Please, this is nothing compared to the work I had to do the past week,” she rubbed her shoulders. “Taking care of the Temples of the Four Winds was more of a hassle than I had imagined.”

We walked up the stairs and stood by the front desk.

“You’re being too modest. Thanks to you and the others, Mondsatdt has one less thing to worry about.”

“Thank you again, sweet-pie,” she smiled. “I checked out the book already, so you’re as free as a bird.”

“Thank you,” I lightly vowed and walked toward the door.

I almost forgot!

“Oh! Miss Lisa?”

“Yes?”

“Master Jean asked for you, she is in her office.”

“Ah, thank you for informing me. Now shoo, off you go,” she pushed me out of the library as she herself went out, locking it with a key after she made sure there was no one else inside.

“[Name], if you ever find yourself unable to find a quiet place to read, go to windrise. It was nice weather, and if you’re lucky, you’ll hear the soft strumming of a lyre.”

“Thank you for the advice,” I thanked her for the third time today. I walked out of the Headquarters and made my way to find a place to sit and read.

I can go to Windrise like Lisa suggested, I looked up to the blue, and the sky is clear. Oh! There is a Statue of the Seven there! I can try and obtain powers similar to how the MC did in the game— well, better said how Sirius did. Plus, there is a big space to test out the System.

The air near the sea is the best… I breached in the air.

I basked in the atmosphere underneath the massive oak tree, the symbol of Mondstadt’s hero – Vannessa.

The trail from Mondstadt City to Windrise was perfect. Not a single monster interfered, with a few slimes that minded their own business when I passed by. It was a bit strange, since I remembered they attacked on sight. But, this is the world of Genshin, some things are bound to change.

“All right, time to get to work. System!”

“I’m sorry, I can’t make a proper analysis at the moment,” Lisa said.

“Huh? But Paimon thought you were able to see some impurities.”

“Correct. But it’s not enough for me to come to a conclusion,” she turned to Jean and Sirius, “give me some time. I’ll take a look through the library's restricted section.”

Jean nods. “I’ll leave all the research to you then, Lisa,” she looks at the outlanders.

“I’ll notify you all if I make any progress,” she went closer to the crystal, “thought I wouldn’t go getting your hopes up. They are incredibly ancient texts, not to mention—Ouch!” Lisa retracted her hand from the object as the force of the impurities hurt her. “Gosh, that hurt!”

“Are you okay?” Jean worriedly asked, checking her friend from any injuries. The other two were just as concerned.

“Now, now, you three are looking at me like I’m half-dead. I’m fine. The impurities in the crystal…” she looked at it before continuing, “it hurts when I get close…” She hummed in thought. “It appears to react to Visions, repealing it even.”

“What? How can that happen?” Paimon asked.

“I’m not going over the details, if not we'll be here for days-on-end. All you need to know is that the impurities and the elemental energy we embody repel each other.”

“Really?” She looked at Sirius, “then why is he able to hold it?”

“That is a good question, and a question I don’t have the answer to, unfortunately.”

“...” Sirius stayed silent through the whole interaction. What could be in his mind?

“Anyway, the crystal would be better left in the hands of my cutie,” Sirius places the crystal back in his bag. “It will be a pain if left with – both literally and metaphorically.”

“Okay. I will keep it.”

“Fascinating… Do you know anything about what makes you special?” Jean asks Sirius in wonder. He nods in solidarity.

“Well, that's the end of that,” Paimon said.

“Traveler…” Jean called, “the knights of Favonius have another favor to ask of you. Please accept the title of honorary Knight and the gratitude of the Acting grand Master.”

“Honorary Knight…of Favonius?!” Paimon gave Sirius a smirk, “look at you go. You just arrived in Mondstadt and already have a super cool title! Paimon is impressed.” Sirius puffed his chest with pride.

“We gotta tell [Name] once we see her. Oouu, she’s going to make that angry face again, Paimon can just tell!” she says excitedly with a small fire in her eyes when she thinks of your face.

“Then this is a meeting concluded,” Jean dismissed then. “We’ll meet back here if you find anything.”

“Okey-Dokey! Let’s go!” Paimon and Sirius walk out of the office leaving Lisa and Master Jean alone.

“What peculiar little creatures they all are…”

“What are you mumbling about?” Jean inquired after hearing Lisa mumble.

“Oh, nothing. Just complaining about how I haven’t had a proper nap since the incident with stormterror started,” she lied.

“Don’t worry. Soon, we can all rest properly,” Jean reassured.

A little far from the Knight’s Headquarter…

“Okay, we’re far from the knights to hear us,” Paimon stands–floats–in front of Sirius, making him stop. “There’s something you didn't tell them. The boy. The one that communicated with the dragon, kinda hard to miss.”

“I know, Paimon. But I’d like to investigate on my own first,” Sirius explained to her. “And I don’t think he’s a bad guy.”

“So you do remember him,” a boy in green caught her eyes, “he looked just like the guy down there!” Sirius looked at the guy Paimon pointed at.

“The exact same shade of green, what a coincidence. Seems like green is a popular color.”

“See? See? Wait… Hold on a minute… that… that's the same guy!”

“Hmm… looks like him,” he said nonchalantly.

“Stop joking around and let’s go after him!”

𝚃𝚊𝚐𝚜: @udretlnea, @taurus-caeli, @humongousoperatorhairdoopera, @aesir1, @creationmage, @savedpostsnotmain, @melanistium, @dontlookatmepreetyplease. Re-blog or Comment if you want to get added into the Tag section for The Divine City: Story. Back to The Divine City: Story Master-List.

Go to Arcs, a related series.

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#genshin impact x fanfic #sagau genshin #sagau #genshin sagau #genshin impact sagau #reader input #genshin isekai #genshin impact isekai #reader insert #the divine city #blond traveler #paimon #aether #dvalin #stormterror #lisa #jean gunnhildr #Anastasia Fatui

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tmwcs · 8 months ago

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T̴̶̨̨̢̛͇̱̙̭̳͚̼͍̪̮͔̯͍͎͔͔̽̿͊ͥͨ͗ͬͧ͑̓̌̓ͫ͋̇̂̈́̀͘͠͞͠ḩ̵̶̧͈̜͇͖̮͚̟͉̝̤̘̹̬̎̍͊͑̋͌͂̏͒̾̇̌ͩ́͂͛͊̾̂ͩ̀͆̓ͮ̚̚͢͢͠ë͍́̾ͭ O̶̼͚͐̌́ͦ́͆͋̌͡t̷̴̴̩͓͍͔̣͖̟͈͕̰̱ͨ́͛̾̎͐̽͐͑͒̏ͮ̃̀͂ͧ̔̾̚͘͘͢͠͝͡͡ͅh̥͉͂ę̜̮̱͕̟̘ͧ̄̃ͣ̋ŗ̢͔̖͎̪͚͇͕̩͖̹͒ͮͬ̎̃̽͆ͫ̏ͩ̀͆̇ͬͣ̃̄̚͟s̸̴̶̨͇̣͈̪͕̯̺̮͇ͦ̏̓ͤ͛ͥ͑̆̋̏ͦ̀̊̃͢_̢̛͍̖̩̞̬ͨj͇͓͚̝͑̇̊̒͐ͥ́̚͞ḍ̵̵̸̡̨̧̢̛͉̣̜̗̦̫̮̪̰͂̌̃̌̽̀̌́͑̏̑̂̊ͯͩ̀̊͌͆ͬ͛ͧ̑ͦ̉̕͟͝͝ẽ̸̸̢̖͕͙̦̄ͭͪ̈̊̈͐̂͝

CHAPTER SIX

Warnings: Mentions/hints of murderous rituals, hints of cannibalism, grave digging, cults, mentions of death, cursing. This chapter isn’t really for the light hearted and it’s going to get a bit gory from here on out so please don’t read if you’re uncomfortable. I also need to update the TO Masterlist. Also none of the chapters will be proofread since I don’t have the time to do so. 😭

Taglist: @nshmrarki , @lprww , @baekxo07 , @m7omo@nikstrange@heeshees@moonmoongi@heesitation@heeseung-min @nctsslut @heeseung-min @addictedtohobi @strxwbloody

“Y/N! Hey! Wait up!”

You turn your head around and take in the sight of your co-worker, Jessica. She always seemed to be so friendly, despite hardly knowing you. Since you both were part-time workers, she would constantly take the opportunity to ask about hanging out after your shift ends. Unfortunately time never permitted you to have that luxury since school and homework was taking up the majority of your free time. But what luck! Since you were on Spring Break, you finally had the chance to secure that bond and make a new friend.

“Y/n, let’s hang out today, yeah? Some friends and I are going to this get together at a very cool spot, come with us! It will be fun!”

You initially shook your head; the idea of you joining a random group of people whom you’ve never met didn’t sound so appetizing, yet Jessica was so eager to get your approval, you could almost see the tears forming in her eyes.

“Okay, I’ll go just for tonight.” You caved in. She jumps jovially as she claps your hands within hers. “It will be so much fun girl! I’ll text you on what to wear.”

“What to wear?” The perturbed sense in your voice sets her off to quickly justify her reasoning. “Well yeah, we gotta look good because there will be some cute guys.” She winks. You hardly could care about boys. Between work and school, there really wasn’t much time for anything else. Honestly, having a puppy would be much easier than having a boyfriend.

As the evening progressed, you met up with Jessica and sure enough, she brought you to a house party where a group of her close and personal friends greeted you. They all seemed very friendly but it was odd that they all wore black, as did Jessica. What was even more strange was that she had texted you to wear white, preferably a dress. Upon questioning her about it, she laughed softly as she informed you that you looked splendid in white, and that it complimented your skin tone the best. She also added that the likelihood of her and the group wearing all black was just a matter of coincidence. You felt a little strange about her response but her hand holding on to yours gave reassurance.

“Hey, it’s a nice night. Let’s take this party outside and have a nice bonfire.” A male voice speaks from the center of the crowd and everyone chimed in with a tone of approval. You didn’t want to ostracize yourself, so you followed suit. It was only for an hour or two before you would head back home anyhow. Jessica even stated that she would drive you back.

Walking through the woods, you questioned the whereabouts of where you all ventured into. “It’s all land that belongs to my grandfather. He’s got over a hundred and twenty acres.”

One of the guys spoke out as he overheard your question to Jessica. The latter looked back and flashed a smile over to him as she continued to hold onto your hand. “It’s really pretty here. Maybe we’ll come back during the daytime so you can see it.”

You nodded seldomly as she swings your hand and skips along. The group was split into two, sandwiching you and Jessica in between.

“Ah, we’re here.”

Your eyebrows frowned together as you squinted to view under the dark conditions of the current atmosphere. Once you fully configured what it was that you were seeing, you stuttered out as you pull Jessica’s hand to your side. “Is that a…tomb?”

“Hm? Oh yeah—well, before the land was bought by his grandfather, there were several acres that were dedicated as graveyards—“

Her voice is gently interrupted as the same young male chimes in. “It was the whole reason why he bought this land in the first place. These tombs honor the lineage of my ancestors.

You didn’t bother acknowledging his words. The entire venue was too uneasy and you huffed under your news that you wanted to leave, to which Jessica simply stared wide eyed in response.

You stared right back with an expectant look, raising a brow in annoyance at her silence. “Jessica, I’m not kidding. Let’s go back, now.”

“Unfortunately you can’t leave, y/n.”

The man’s voice peers from behind as you turn back and issue a nervous but steadfast glare. You should have known this was all too shady, from the choice of attire to the location of the gathering, it was enough to leave a nasty taste in your mouth.

In a blink of an eye, you felt your arms pinned to your back as four random group members restrained you, Jessica disappears into the crowd; her stoic countenance allows her to fully blend in with the other members, signifying that she completed her part in getting you out, which seemed to be the main mission behind whatever intentions the group had.

They dragged you over to a man made altar, one that was made of concrete and steel, spiral rods. It was rustic and industrial in appearance, with a pair of chains in various sizes hooked onto the sides. You whimper out, saving your breath as you try your best to shrug and fight off your captors. Screaming seemed to be pointless as you configured that you were so deep into the woods, completely evident that no one would be nearby to hear you. You did your best to save all your energy but alas, it was all useless as you felt the clasp of the chained cuffs locking onto your wrists and over your waist.

“You see y/n, my family has been participants of a long lived ritual, one of Pagan originals. We believe that in order to honor the recently deceased, blood and organs are a necessity for them to feast as they become reborn.”

Your eyes grow glossy as you shake your entire figure trying to break free. “What the fuck are you on!? What fucking cult is this!? You all are delusional!”

You screamed out as you witnessed the group members digging up various farming blades. To your dismay and utter sense of betrayal, you watch as Jessica arms herself with a farming hook, while the others take on various types of scythes. A feeling of hopelessness overwhelms you and you nearly feel it is too late to do anything. What could you do?

Fear swarms and takes over as you feel your heartbeat escalate. How could this happen? In a blink of an eye, your whole night is becoming murderous as you begin to sob. They can’t do this to you. They have no right.

“The blood of one such as you, with the glowing complexion of the Seeded Goddess. Hair as deep as a raven's feather, and lips the color of peach blossoms.”

The man’s words spoke as he edged his blade against your skin, barely pressing as the flat part dragged along your chest. The tip is tucked under your chin tightly, you refrained from swallowing as you feared the traveling lump would slide against the sharpened edge, piercing your skin in the process.

“You might wanna close your eyes, unless you want to watch as you scream.” The man chuckles condescendingly. The others stood around, encircling the altar as they preach out their animalistic chants. Four torches at each corner of the stone bed were lit up, allowing for you to witness the faces of your murderers. Unable to handle what was about to transpire, you squint your eyes when someone from the far back speaks rather timidly.

“H-hey…who's that?”

The nervousness in the young man’s voice catches the attention of the leader as he remains standing above you, but turns to face the direction the group member pointed to. “What is that? W-what the FUCK is that?”

A member flashes the light, and a slight bit of hope mixed with curiosity causes you to open your eyes, but the position forced on you prohibits your sight from gaining full access to see what it was everyone was looking at.

“Hey…hey! This is private property!” The leader shouts out. You can see the flaring of his nostrils and the frustration built up from the interruption. “Hey man! I’m talking to you!”

The leader breaches the shorthand distance of whoever it was that ignored his warning. The group all followed closely with Jessica standing behind and guarding you from escaping.

“Look man, if you don’t fucking leave I’m going to cut you in half. Get out no-“

You hear his words cut short, though a vibing sense tells you that it was by his own halt. “What in the fuck…”

The group members all stand in shock and semi-disgust as they witness a young man, shadowed in the heavy badness of black coveralls and hat. He paid no mind to the forewarning cult and continued with his overt butchering.

“D-dude…is he…” the voices stutter, shaking in fear and disbelief as they piece together what the intruder has done. “Did he dig up your sister and…cut her to pieces?”

The leader's eyes stretch in anger as he watches the young man cut the deceased’s body into quads. The passing of his elder sister was already too much to bear for him; seeing her body being switched up as if she was cattle was infuriating. The nudeness of her flesh, or whatever was left of it, displayed the numerous marks sketched on the skin, outlining the amount of souls that had been taken under her hand. It was all a part of the ritual, and being that she was an active participant of the sickness that infested this family line and its followers, she was just as delusional as the rest. The car accident was a blessing for the world, but for the cult members, it was a tragedy.

“W-what have you done?! Get your hands off my sister!”

The leader screams in anguish. Another chop and out went a piece of the torso, then a thigh, and the arms. The head was the first thing he had packaged, sealing the identity of the lifeless body. He ignored the screams as he made haste, the body was still fresh, but barely. Normally he would have had the meat harvested and freezed within a twenty four hour period, yet the autopsy provided delay by an added day. There was still time, but none of it could be shared with the blubbering idiots who were screaming obscenities his way.

“Mother-fucker!” The leader lunges forward and prepares his scythe to strike. He was so sure that he was going to lop off the head of this invasive intruder that desecrated his sisters gravesite, but a sudden movement on the intruder's part is followed by a painful sting to the chest. The cult stands confused and shocked upon seeing the display of violence happening before them. With a lighter blade, the stranger managed to slash through the man’s chest before he could even swing the heavy scythe. Quick with his movements, it almost seemed as if the stranger committed the deadly deed motionless as he stood unfazed and calm. With the young man choking on blood and groaning in pain, the victor stands aiming his vision at the other members. With two machete blades in his grip, he narrows the tip point of a blade upwards against the bill of his cap. With it, he flicks the cover off, completely removing it and revealing the beauty of his noble face. Blonde locks gracefully frame his Asiatic features and compliments the ivory pale complexion he inherited. Stabbing the ground, he stabilizes one of his blades to free a hand. Raising it delicately, two elongated fingers gently hook his plump lips, stretching it to a forced smirk. There, the members all witness a shuttering image of the beautiful man showing his deadly warning through the display of sharp canines. Flaring a sense of vampirism, goth, and gore, the man eloquently releases a soft chuckle right as he oozes his words.

“Run along kids. Never get in between a dog and his bone.”

#sunghoon hard thoughts #sunghoon hard hours #sunghoon enhypen #enhypen sunghoon #park sunghoon x reader #sunghoon x reader #park sunghoon smut #sunghoon imagines #sunghoon smut #park sunghoon #sunghoon fanfic #sunghoon scenarios #enha x reader #enha imagines #enha smut #enha scenarios

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mvltixcc · 9 months ago

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Girls Like Girls - Robin Buckley X Cheerleader!Reader

Summary: Robin has a crush on the new girl in town. Y/N is also a new member of the cheer squad, which means Robin sees her all the time at games and other school events. Unfortunately, Robin is put in a tough situation. She's scared to talk to her because the cheerleaders have a reputation of being mean girls and she fears that Y/N may not feel the same. Little does Robin know that Y/N does not appear as she seems. Y/N becomes best friends with Eddie, which seems unlikely at the surface due to different social circles. This leads to rumors of course and word spreads like wildfire here at Hawkins, which then makes Robin's feelings even more confusing. After hanging out with Steve and the gang, Robin starts to see a different side to Y/N. Will they end up together or will they just remain friends?

Word Count: 1.3k

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Chapter 1

Chapter 2

“You know what Buckley, if you’re gonna criticize the way I do my job why don’t you just do it yourself.” Steve said jokingly, handing Robin a vhs tape and headed back to the counter.

“It’s not my fault you don’t know anything about movies.” She chuckled as she put the movies away.

“Well you have fun with that, I’m gonna go man the register.” Steve said as he continued to walk away from his friend. Robin continued to put away the tapes, a few people came in here and there but it was mostly dead on this particular Friday night. Which was odd, all things considered. It was around 8 o'clock when a group of people had walked in.

“Welcome to Family Video, let me know if you need help finding any-, oh great here we go.” Steve said as the group walked in. “What?” Robin asked, as she was restocking the candy display. She stopped in her tracks for a moment, looking up from her spot. “Oh uh hey there.” Robin stammered.

“Hi Robin!” Y/N said excitedly. Robin had a hard time putting words together. You usually came here at the same time every Friday to pick out a movie. Robin almost thought you weren't coming because it had gotten so late. But there you were, standing in front of her in your cheer uniform. 'Practice must have gone late." Robin thought to herself. She stood from her spot to get a better look at you. ‘God she looks so pretty.’ She thought. A few people walked in the store, causing a slight breeze to head in your direction. She caught a scent of your perfume. She closed her eyes for a moment as she took in the smell, it was sweet and gentle. It smelled of vanilla. “Are you gonna pick a movie or what Y/N?” Eddie interrupted, bringing Robin out of her thoughts.

“Yeah yeah yeah, just give me a minute you goose.” Y/N turned to her friend and said jokingly. She walked over to the movies and went section by section to find the right one.

“Okay let's not destroy the display guys.” Steve said dreadfully as he walked over to the rest of the Hellfire club trying to clean up the mess of his hard work he had done earlier.

“Boooo, you’re no fun Harrington.” Gareth had mocked. Steve picked up the last item, sarcastically laughing back the comment. “I’m fun, I’m Steve Harrington for god sakes.” He muttered under his breath as he walked back behind the counter.

Robin watched you as you pondered for the right film. You had gone aisle by aisle with no luck. Then suddenly you had picked up a movie and scrunched your nose as you had inspected it. Robin felt a smile creep upon her face, she couldn't help but look down in hopes you or anyone else could see her.

“Now why are you making that face?” Eddie questioned as you held up the movie to show him why you had said expression written upon your face. It was a copy of My Bloody Valentine.

“What about it?” Eddie continued to question.

“Do you see what section we’re in!?” Y/N proclaimed, pointing to the sign that had said ‘romance’.

“Oh god are you gonna make us watch a girly flick? Sam made us watch one of those last week, okay we don't need a repeat of that!” Eddie groaned.

"I can hear you, you know!" Sam stated from across the store.

“No you goose, this movie is in the wrong section.” She laughed walking over to the counter to check out the film.

“Did you guys find everything alright?” Robin asked as she scanned your items. “Yeah we found everything okay.” Y/N said getting her money out of her wallet. “That's not true, this was in the wrong section.” Eddie stated pointing to the movie.

Robin groaned, “Damn you Harrington.”

“What is this pick on Steve day?!?” Steve had proclaimed.

Robin finished checking you out, she couldn't help but admire how beautiful you looked under the light. She was soon interrupted from pondering as you had said your goodbye’s, waving and flashing a small smile to Robin. She had waved back and gave the same smile in return, but that soon faded as she saw Eddie put his arm around your waist as your group walked out of the store. Robin let out a sigh and hunched over the counter, letting her head fall into her hands.

“You okay?” Steve asked his friend, giving her a small nudge.

“Yeah I’m fine.” Robin said, picking her head up and brushing the hair out of her face. “Yeah that’s a load of bullshit and you know it.” Steve said, sitting up on the counter. “You like her don’t you?” He questioned.

“Does it really matter? She’s with Eddie, she’s not interested in girls.” Robin stated, messing with the string coming off of her sweater. Steve couldn’t help but feel sad for his friend. He couldn't imagine how hard it is for her to try and find someone during times like this. I mean this is the 80’s and a small town in Indiana for crying out loud. “Have you even asked her?” He questioned.

“Oh yeah let me just go up to the most beautiful woman ever and just say ‘wow nice weather we’re having here, oh hey by the way do you like to kiss girls?’ Do you know how stupid that sounds?!” Robin got nervous just thinking about it and when she got nervous, she rambled.

“Well don’t talk about the weather with her for starters.” Steve chuckled.

“You know what I mean dingus!” Robin said, giving her friend a slight shove.

“Look, you won't know unless you ask, who knows maybe she likes you back? You thought that she was mean and scary because of her being a cheerleader, you were wrong about that weren’t you?” Steve stated, he tried to remain hopeful for Robin. He wanted his friend to be happy. She shrugged, Robin’s hopes in finding a girlfriend became low after everything that had happened with Vickie. She was happy that the two could remain friends, but it still stung nonetheless.

“Next time you see her, you should ask her to hang out. It’s a start to get to know her and to know for sure right?” Steve asked, now facing her.

“I guess, I just don’t wanna go through that kind of heartache again.” Robin said, looking down at her feet.

“Well no matter what, I’ve got your back.” Steve said, bumping into Robin. This caused her to chuckle.

“Alright alright, let's get back to work so we can get out of here. You owe me a bite to eat after this for making me clean up your mess of your so-called organization.” Robin laughed as she went to organize the returned tapes.

“You’re never gonna let that go are you?” Steve asked.

“Nope.” Robin yelled from the back.

Next chapter

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fandomworld9728 · 6 months ago

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The Life of the Morningstars - Chapter 18:

Oh, how lucky Alastor was! Lucifer had grabbed his hand before Charlie could, not wanting to undermine her decision but did not want her to shoulder this burden. With that, the deal was sealed. The King of Hell owing him a favor! However, one question was constantly on Alastor's mind. Why didn't the King just demand the answer?

Alastor would get his answer later. Right now, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. They had more important matters to see to.

"Any luck, dad?"

"Not yet. I'm still trying but I'm this close to just ripping up the treaty."

The people drinking and enjoying their last few hours before the battle stopped and looked over at the king. He knew what they were going to ask. It was the same as everyone else. Why did he allow the Exterminations in the first place?

"Okay, look. I've gotten a lot of shit for this in the past so listen up. Lilith was trying to create an uprising against Heaven. I didn't want that. Heaven used to be my home... my family was there. Along with all those innocent souls. That's the only reason they wanted some form of treaty and I only agreed to the Exterminations because I had to protect Charlie. I was backed into a corner. But... now she's all grown up and has all of you. I think it's time for this treaty to end."

"Yes! Way to go dad! Don't let them use anything or anyone against you."

"Yeah, short king. Stick it to the man!"

"I knew that night out with us would do ya some good."

Popping up in the middle of the group, Sir Pentious raised his glass to lead a toast. "Here's to being alive today and not dying tomorrow."

Taking the drink offered to him, Lucifer joined in the fun with a small smile. He loved his new, little family. This moment was so... perfect. He should have come here the first time Charlie had asked him to. Maybe then things would have gone differently, and he wouldn't be at risk of losing more people he cared about.

Watching the group from a small balcony with Niffty, Alastor couldn't keep the soft, fond smile off his face. "The celebratory night before a courageous last stand. It's been a surprising thrill to witness these wayward souls find connection. Almost makes one sentimental, eh, Niffty?"

"I really like them, Alastor. They let me put on roach puppet shows without booing."

"Ah, an enjoyable collective to be around. I admit, one could get accustomed." Especially to a certain father daughter pair. Did he use his knowledge to his advantage against them? Yes. But that's what he did with everyone. They could hardly hold it against him. Even if he wasn't fond of alpha fathers, watching Lucifer over the past few days had unfortunately started changing Alastor's view on the small man.

What really set that change in motion had been the way the fallen angel had protected Angel Dust and Niffty. Not only that, but the way he allowed her to climb him and treated her with care even with how uneasy he had been around her at first. It had the radio demon rethinking all of their encounters since they first met. What an odd little man that had captured Alastor's interest.

Feeling something in his hair, Alastor looked up to see a crown of twigs and dead roaches on his head. Courtesy of the small cyclops woman now on his shoulder. "I dub thee, King Roach."

"Oh, to understand your twisted little mind."

Watching the two laugh, Lucifer couldn't help the fond smile on his face. Sure, Alastor was a creepy, manipulative asshole, but he wasn't the worst person he had ever met. Though, he could be biased. No. He definitely was biased. Lucifer wasn't going to think too much or too hard on it. He could come back to those thoughts on a different day.

Right now, the king had to help his snake friend with his love life. Pushing the sinner forward, he gave the guy an encouraging smile and thumbs up. Poor Pentious needed this win.

"Uh... Miss. Bomb? Cherri?"

"Yeah?"

"I want to you tell you that I... I love..."

That's it! You got this! Just one more word and you got your confession out there!

"I'd love to wish you good luck in the battle ahead!"

Dammit Pentious! You almost had it! No. He could still save this attempt. Plus, Lucifer and Angel would still wingman for him after he left.

"You are- h-have always been a worthy opponent. With the most brilliant explosive contraptions I've ever seen."

"Uh... thanks?" Look at that smile! He had her!

"Anyway, I guess please don't die tomorrow! Okay, bye!"

Fuck! He ran away! So close... Sighing, Lucifer stood on either side of the punk girl with Angel.

"You know, you could totally tap that."

"Stop being gross."

"Cause, y'know, i hear he's got two dicks."

"I know he has two dicks." Lucifer's face fell as soon as that comment left his mouth. Flushing gold, he didn't look at the two sinners. He was never going to hear the end of this. "Before you say anything! It was just two friends helping each other out!"

Alastor wasn't too thrilled about what he overheard. Lucifer? With that idiotic, pathic snake? Another thing he couldn't wrap his mind around. However, that wasn't what was important at the moment. Stopping the king on his way back to his room, he was going to get some answers. "Majesty."

"Oh. Hey Alastor. What's up?"

"...Huh... I figured you'd be more upset about being tricked into a deal."

A few beats of silence passed between them before the King of Hell had dissolved in a fit of laughter. "Y-You think- ha! You think that you tricked me into a deal? Oh, that's just fucking priceless."

His smile turned tight and painful on his face. "Care to explain what you mean by that?"

"You may have backed Charlie into a corner, but I knew your game from the very beginning."

"Then why didn't you just demand the answer from me?"

"Would you have given me the information if I did?" Alastor's silence was all the fallen angel needed. "Probably not without a fight and we didn't have time for that. Not to mention, it's Charlie's call on the matter. There's also the fact that even after that manipulation stunt you pulled, she still trusts you and cares about you. But I didn't properly teach her about this stuff with how things ended up. So, the least I could do was take the deal in her place."

Lucifer... was a good dad. And Alastor was a fool to ever think otherwise.

"Oh, and I figured out why you don't like me. You thought I was some sort of shitty alpha father, right?"

"That is correct. Why?"

The amused look on the king's face surprised the sinner, but not as much as what came out of his mouth next. "I'm an omega."

"...You're a what now?"

< Previous

Next >

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel fanfiction #alpha/beta/omega au #radioapple #hazbin hotel alastor #lucifer morningstar #charlie morningstar #cherri bomb hazbin hotel #angel dust hazbin hotel #niffty hazbin hotel #sir pentious hazbin hotel #the life of the morningstars

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jingyuanswallet · 8 months ago

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satosugu breakup

Satoru: “huh?”

Yaga: “Don’t make me repeat myself..Suguru killed everyone in the village, and..”

Satoru: “I heard you the first time. That’s why I said huh to what you said.”

Yaga: “Suguru’s old home was already an empty husk as well..though, from the blood stains and residuals he most likely killed his parents.”

Satoru: “Like hell he did!”

Yaga: “Satoru..calm down, i don’t understand what's going on either.”

To Shoko and Suguru.

Shoko was looking for a lighter for her cigarette.

Suguru: “Hey, need a light?”

Suguru: “Hi.”

Shoko: “If it isn’t the criminal. Trolling girls who smoke?”

Suguru: “Just testing my luck i guess..”

Shoko: “Mhmm, well I'll go ahead and ask. Any chance the charges are fake?”

Suguru: “Nope, unfortunately not.”

Shoko: “Then I’ll ask another question. Why?”

Suguru: “To create a world of only jujutsu sorcerers”

Shoko laughed.

Shoko: “Don’t joke around, please.”

Suguru: “I’m actually not joking, i’m not holding out hope everyone will understand what i’m trying to do.”

Shoko pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Satoru.

Shoko: “You’re sulking over the idea that no one will understand you? That sounds pretty childish to me.”

Satoru had answered.

Shoko: “Hey, Gojo? I found Geto.”

Satoru had said something, She agreed.

Shoko: “Yeah. Shinjuku.”

Once more Satoru had said something to her.

Shoko: “No way, I don't wanna get killed.”

Now Satoru has found Suguru, confronting him.

Satoru: “Suguru. Explain yourself.”

Suguru had stopped walking and replied to what Satoru had asked.

Suguru: “You already heard it from Shoko, that’s all there is to it, Satoru.”

Satoru: “So you’re just going to kill every non sorcerer, and your parents?!”

Suguru: “I can’t allow my parents to be a special exception. Besides, I don't consider those people my family anymore.

Satoru: “That’s not what I was asking you. I thought we weren’t allowed to kill if there was no point to it!”

Suguru: “There is a point and a cause, and significance too.”

Satoru: “No there’s not! You’re really going to kill all non jujutsu sorcerers now?! You know that's impossible! There’s no point in chipping away at something you can’t possibly achieve!”

Suguru: “You’re so arrogant.”

Satoru: “Huh?!”

Suguru: “You can do it yourself Satoru, couldn’t you? Yet you would try to convince someone else that it’s impossible to do something, which is possible for you.”

Suguru fully turned around and faced Satoru.

Suguru: “Do you think you’re the strongest because you’re Satoru Gojo, or are you Satoru Gojo because you’re the strongest?”

Satoru: “Just what are you trying to say?”

Suguru: “If i were able to become you for a moment, this foolish idea would become a lot more grounded and real, don’t you think? I’ve made my decision, now It's just the matter of doing the best I can to achieve it.

Satoru had put his hand up for an attack, only to realize he would never be able to kill his best friend.

Suguru: “If you want to kill me then kill me, there would be a point to that.”

Forward to Yaga and Satoru.

Yaga: “Why didn’t you pursue him?”

Satoru: “Are you actually asking me that?”

Yaga: “No, it’s fine. It was a stupid question.”

Satoru: “Yaga, you think that I'm strong?”

Yaga: “Yeah, brazenly so.”

Satoru: “Yeah, but. Apparently being strong isn’t enough. The only ones that I can save are those already waiting to be saved by someone.”

Fast forward all the way to the time Satoru had said his final words to Suguru before killing him.

Suguru: “You’re late again as usual. Satoru to think you’d be the one here at my end, are you going to make sure my family is safe?”

Satoru: “Every last one of them managed to escape to safety. The ones in Kyoto, they were under your command?”

Suguru: “Yes, they all were. I’m a kind person, unlike you Satoru. You sent those two assuming that i’d defeat them didn’t you? To set Okkotsu off.”

Satoru: “I trusted you’d be yourself, trusted that a man as principled as you wouldn’t kill off young sorcerers without a reason.”

Suguru: “Tch, you wanna talk about trust?”

Flash backs had started coming back to them.

Suguru: “I didn’t think i had any of that left in me, after everything i’ve been through. Return this for me will you?”

Suguru had thrown Yuta’s student ID to Satoru.

Satoru: “Was the elementary school your doing too?”

Suguru: “It was.”

Satoru: “I can’t believe you.”

He paused for a few seconds

Satoru: “Tell me. Do you have any last words?”

Suguru: “No matter what anyone tells you. I hate those monkeys, but I never held any hatred for those in jujutsu highschool. I just couldn’t hold a heartfelt smile while living in this world.”

Satoru: “Suguru..”

Satoru had walked over to Suguru and sat down, looking at him. He muttered something, which couldn’t be heard by the audience.

Suguru: “The least you could do is hit me with some curses.”

Fast forward to when Satoru gave Yuta his student ID back.

Satoru: “It’s a bit late to tell you, but you weren’t at fault for the incident with Geto. He would’ve attacked Jujutsu Highschool whether you were here or not.”

Yuta: “You think so?”

Satoru had grabbed the ID out of his pocket and handed it towards Yuta

Satoru: “I believe this is yours.”

Yuta: “Oh, my student ID, thanks for finding it for me Gojo!”

Satoru: “No, it wasn’t me. My best friend found it, my only friend really.”

#gojo satoru #satosugu #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #scriptwriting #writing #geto suguru #jjk geto #jjk gojo #jujutsu gojo #jujutsu geto #gojo x geto #geto x gojo #satoru x suguru #suguru x satoru #google docs #angst #sad quotes

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countrymusiclover · 4 months ago

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58 - Family Certainty Does Change

Part 59

Family is More than Blood

@melvia-ito @vavafaure1994 @kmc1989 @tallrock35

“Are we going somewhere?” Klaus came inside our bedroom inside the mansion seeing me close a suitcase with some clothes for about a week. I decided the school was currently safe and that gave me time to think through what had happened between me and my twin brother.

Shaking my head I picked up my phone showing him the screen with an airplane ticket to New Orleans appearing on it. “I’m going to Orleans to face my brother and apologize.”

“You’re brother who cussed you out because he had to fall in love with a hybrid werewolf then thought he could face someone more powerful than an Original once he became a heretic. In the end somehow pissed at you because that bloke can't have children anymore. Forgive me for asking but why would you try to make up with him?”

Putting a hand on my hip I sent him a slight glare. “Remind me again what you did when you had a fight with one of your siblings. Oh right you dagger them. Unfortunately I can't do that so an actual apology is the way to go for me.”

“Rae, that's not what I meant. My point was "are you sure he'll want to see you?”

My hybrid husband had a point in his question. For 5 years my brother hadn’t talked to me. For 5 years his daughter had ran back here so she could attend school with her friends which I knew had to only make him more angry with me, but he hasn't returned to force Andrea back home either. “My mother used to say never to go to sleep angry. I have to try and make things right between me and my brother. I don't want an entire century to pass by and we're still not

speaking to each other.”

“I'll call Caroline and tell her we're taking a little trip. Our kids are getting old enough now that they should be able to handle things here for a few days.” Klaus took out his phone going to the vampire blonde leaving me to finish the packing I needed to do.

The trip from the airport and into a rented car making the drive into the city to visit Cami first before I went to go comfort my brother and possibly see my second daughter who takes care of my grandchild that I haven’t seen for a while. Walking into the bar the familiar blonde was running around taking different orders from people seeing us rushing around the bar island to greet us. “Raelyn! Klaus! I didn’t know you two were coming into town.”

“Yeah I felt it was time to travel back to Orleans for a little bit. And this time it’s under somewhat happier circumstances.” I hugged the vampire blonde who belonged to my former sire line.

She wrapped her arms around me in a warm embrace. “I saw your brother walking in the Quarter a few days ago. I tried to talk with him but he just walked the other way. Has something happened between you two?”

“We had a fight five years ago that kinda broke us apart for some time. I’m here to hopefully fix that between us.”

Klaus picked a glass of whiskey that a different bartender had brought him where the three of us sat down at a nearby table to continue our current conversation. “If this was a fight between me and my siblings I would have daggered them for cussing me out the way Jacob did to my wife.”

“I guess he should be thankful that they only work on an Original.” Cami nervously chuckles.

Bringing my glass of bourbon to my lips I took a long drink. “Anyway the fight was about him not being able to have more kids like Nik and I magically can. When I had black magic in my grasp he asked me to use it on him but I refused. Next thing I knew he left Virginia and came here with Alina and her family.”

“Well I hope everything goes good for you.” She smiled before we saw more people entering the bar wanting drinks.

Raising myself to my feet I slipped her a twenty dollar bill leaving her with my husband vamping away once I wasn’t around too many people who would see me use my supernatural powers. “Thanks for the luck, Cami. I’ll see you two later. I’m going to find my brother - J! Jacob! Jacob - gah!” I called out into the area standing outside their old hunting cabin that they still owned living in the bayou rather than in the busy city. I kept calling his name until pain shot through my head causing me to drop to one knee.

“What the hell are you doing here, Rae?” My twin brother's voice came out of the front door of the cabin with his left hand raised in the air where I knew he was using magic.

Holding the side of my head I struggled to get my words out too focused on the massive headache. “Jacob, I’m here to talk - not to fight you. Ahh! Ventuce.” Moving my hand from my head I launched a spell at my brother knocking him onto his back giving me the chance to scramble to my feet. Jacob vamped behind me and wrapped one arm around my neck holding my back against his front about to snap my neck until I used another spell doing a flip causing him to get thrown onto his back and my freehand pressing down on his chest. “Demeter. Do you give up yet, J. I’m better at defense magic than you are.”

He bared his teeth at me kicking me in the leg launching me onto my back like I had done to him. “Metar - I’ve been practicing, sister.”

“Uhh! Jacob , I am not going to fight you. I came here to apologize for not trying to find a way to help you have more children.”

He glared at me shaking his head no. “You’re just saying what I want to hear. Tenebris lapsus.”

“Enough of this - imperium monstrum, immobilus!” He had managed to pop both my knees where I bent them back into place. Until he tried to vamp away but I froze him in a boundary spell trapping him.

He struggles to move watching me slowly walk up to the edge of the force field. “Rae, go away. I don’t want to see you.”

“What if I told you I might have a way to give you and Hayley another child?”

My brother made a confused face reminding me that I used to be a witch who only used light magic until I met my husband and faced his mother. “You said the only way was through dark magic. You’re telling me you’d go through that risk for me.”

“You’re my brother. I can’t not have you in my life, especially now that we are both immortal and stuck with each other forever. So do you want to hear my reckless plan or not?” I snapped back at him until I heard footsteps coming out onto the wooden porch causing me to turn my head in that direction.

The figure that stepped out onto the porch was Alina, holding another baby boy in her arms. The infant

had dark black hair like Jackson but my daughter Alina’s eyes. “Mom, what are you doing here?” She simply stood there with Xavier standing behind her leg.

“Momma, who is she?” Xavier asked and my heart nearly broke realizing she hadn’t talked about me to her firstborn son. Maybe I should have just stayed back at the Salvatore School.

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cataztrophi · 1 year ago

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TAZ November Celebration 6: Truth

Just a short, kind of silly one for this @taznovembercelebration ficlet! My card was "truth," so here's one about Magnus trying to lie, to the despair of actual professional liar Taako.

Taako was a champion liar. It was a skill he'd honed through years of practice and one that had saved his ass more times than he could count. He could lie unabashedly, about anything, to anyone, and he'd do it while looking them straight in the eye. He had once convinced Barold that he was both SCUBA and forklift certified.

This deception-based superpower of his had only one weakness, and that was one of his dumbass friends opening their big mouth before he could spin his web of lies. Unfortunately, this was precisely the situation he now found himself in.

He had been helping Magnus pick out an engagement ring, and doing–in his opinion anyway–an excellent job at keeping him somewhat sane. No, Julia wouldn't care if the stone was lab-grown. Yes, the whole ‘three-month salary' thing was made up by diamond sellers. No, Julia wasn't one of those penguins that courted each other by exchanging rocks, and she would probably say yes even if he proposed with something from Dollar Tree.

Everything had been going rather well, all things considered, until the shop bell rang and in walked Julia herself. Her face lit up when she saw them.

“Julia!” Magnus exclaimed, completely failing to look unsuspicious. “What are you doing here?”

“I'm picking up my dad's watch for him, he sent it here to get the band fixed. What are you doing here, hon?”

Taako opened his mouth to deliver one of his trademark bulletproof cover stories, but before he could get a word out Magnus charged ahead with his own panic-fueled explanation.

“I'm helping Taako!” he said. Not a bad start. “Pick out a gift!” Plausible, even if Magnus wasn’t too high on the list of people Taako sought jewelry advice from. “For his boyfriend!”

Ah, fuck, there it was. Rule one of crafting a believable lie: don't invent something that will invite a lot of follow-up questions. And that was exactly what Magnus had just done, as evidenced by Julia's face lighting up like a neon sign.

“You didn't tell me you were seeing anyone!” she exclaimed.

Taako jerked his head noncommittally. “Eh, you know me, I tend to keep it pretty chill.”

“But you like this one?”

“Yeah, he's pretty great.” Well, he wasn't going to have a shitty imaginary boyfriend.

Julia shifted her canvas grocery bag to a more comfortable position, signaling that she was prepared to discuss this for a while. “Well, what's his name?”

“Kravitz.” Hmm. He just sort of had that one ready to go, huh? That would warrant a little pondering later. Then, because he knew Julia wasn't going to be satisfied with just that, he added, “He's a cellist.”

“Wow, that's awesome! You'll have to introduce us sometime. In fact,” she laid a hand on Magnus’ arm. “We're having a little get-together on Saturday, just a few of us. I don’t want to push, I know meeting the friends can be weird, but I’d love it if you and Kravitz could come!”

“For sure,” Taako said, his control of this lie slipping with every second. “I mean, I'll have to check in with him about his work schedule, he's pretty busy right now.”

Julia nodded. “Well, I hope you can make it! Good luck with your gift shopping.” She gave Taako a smile and Magnus a peck on the cheek before walking over to the store clerk. As soon as her back was turned Taako glared at Magnus.

“What?” Magnus mouthed with a shrug. Taako rolled his eyes and pretended to peruse the men's rings until Julia left the shop.

“So,” Magnus said once the coast was clear, a broad grin spreading across his face. “Tell me about this Kravitz guy.”

Right, Kravitz. Taako’s hot goth neighbor Kravitz. Kravitz, who really was a professional cellist, with strong hands that Taako could imagine doing all sorts of things. Kravitz, who he saw at the farmer's market sometimes, who always asked him what mushrooms to buy or which wine went best with whatever he was making. The guy he had completely normal, neighborly feelings about.

Taako rolled his eyes. “There’s nothing to tell, my man. I had to tell her something to cover up your shitty lie.”

Magnus had the audacity to look hurt. “What was wrong with it?”

“Well, for starters, you’re making me fabricate an entire relationship in four days.”

“I mean, you could just tell her you’re busy.”

He waved this suggestion away. “No, no, I can make it work, you’re just gonna owe me for it.”

Magnus’ shit-eating grin returned, undeterred. “Okay, but you gotta let me be the best man at yours and Kravitz’s wedding.”

Taako glared at him. “That’s gonna be real hard to do from six feet under, Burnsides.”

Little though Taako felt he deserved it, he helped Magnus through the rest of the ring-choosing process. He settled on a reasonably-priced sapphire with a silver band molded into the shape of a flowering vine, and he left the store with the box clutched in one hand like he never intended to put it down. Once they climbed into his truck he stopped for a moment and turned to Taako with an uncharacteristically serious look on his face.

“Hey, I really do appreciate you doing this,” he said. “It means a lot.”

Taako shrugged. “Don’t mention it, my dude. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to find out if I’m going to have to move to a new building next month.”

He took out his phone and pulled up Kravitz’s contact information, which he had spent two weeks figuring out how to get. He had been planning to use it for a leisurely flirtation that would eventually end with him figuring out that Taako was the hottest thing since Pompeii. Instead, he pulled up their chat and prepared to send a message that would either get him blocked or into a stellar fictional relationship.

hey, so whats ur general opinion on schemes, plots, and shenanigans?

#taz november celebration #taako #magnus burnsides #julia burnsides #kravitz #taz balance

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colderdrafts · 2 years ago

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14: A new opportunity

The Great Assembly, gender neutral reader x monster (male naga). Sfw. Previous Next

It's a cold night in December the day you finally get the message of a new opportunity, and you take it gladly. Unfortunately for you, someone nearby isn't too happy with that decision.

So you've been running for about twenty minutes through the streets in the middle of the night. Glancing over your shoulder you see the unmistakable silhouette of someone you thought you could trust giving chase, red eyes shining with contempt at your 'betrayal'. You just have to reach the police station. Just a little further. Almost there.

You crash through the door just as something sharp barely scrapes by the back of your neck, and you slip from their grasp.

Safe.

Someone rushes to your side, and worrying questions pass by your ears, voices blurry and muffled as the blood rushes through your body, shaking.

Are you alright? What happened? Deep breaths, we've got you.

Someone gently helps you up.

You look outside, and just see the glaring red following you retreat back into the darkness and vanish.

You stare at the small piece of greenery in your hand. The enchantment coating the clover warms your palm, and you can almost sense its anticipation, waiting to be unleashed.

"Where did you come from..?" you ponder quietly, turning it over.

No one finished the race, the whole thing was canceled. Why would you be in possession of one of the prices?

Unless..

You think back on Mrs. Hansen’s hand in yours when you met at the hospital, and the tingling sensation. Did she somehow do this?

You realize the amount of power you're suddenly holding, and what that means. Extreme luck in any endeavor? Anything you want to do should be within reach now. You just have to ask for it.

Is it the right thing to do? Is it yours to use?

But if Mrs. Hansen didn't want you to have it, why is it in your backpack? Right now, you don’t particularly care about rights of usage because you have a particular endeavor in mind you could use some help with. The clover shines in the dark, as if it knows.

The choice is clear.

You gently hold the golden clover close to your face and whisper to it.

"I wish for luck to save my friend."

The clover hums, gently, and you feel a warmth spreading from the stem and into your hands as the enchantment takes effect. It glows brighter for a second, and you hold your breath.

The color drains from the stem into the leaves, and gently flows into the air in small golden particles, shimmering with delight. They gently float around you, glinting in an intricate dance and brightening up the dark room, and you almost swear you sense someone grinning as the magic flows.

The particles float up into the air, and shortly after the light starts to fade. One by one they vanish, leaving behind the clover that slightly curls in on itself, wilting as the enchantment has finally been released from its vessel and it must give in to the natural flow of time once again.

Once they've gone, you're sitting alone in a dark room, holding a withered clover and not quite sure what just happened. You wait for a beat, but it seems that was it.

Nothing has changed.

You hand goes cold as disappointment takes hold.

That's it? A little light show?

Wasn't this was supposed to be the answer? Maybe you just don't understand magic, but you don't exactly see how pretty fairy lights will help you find your friend.

Feeling frustrated and a little silly for putting your faith in something you know nothing off, you huff, and go to throw the withered clover in the bin - but something about it stops you. You look at the pitiful thing, suddenly looking so small and fragile in your hands where once you had foolishly assumed it would instantly fix everything.

You heave a sigh, and carefully place it on a bookshelf instead. You'll deal with that another time.

From your new vantage point, you spot your charger hanging from a socket in the wall and remember what spurred you on to dumping the contents of your bag in the first place.

With renewed stubborn determination, since the clover didn't do much, you grab Irwin's phone and unplug the charger from the wall to bring with you to the kitchen.

You sneak through the dark of the house, heading downstairs. You enter the kitchen, and fiddle around for the lights when a soft thump behind you makes you jump and whip around.

You suppress the urge to use Irwin's phone as a projectile weapon when you spot two familiar golden orbs watching you in the dark.

"Christ, you gave me a heart attack!" you hiss at Amren, and finally flicker on the lights.

He winces at the sudden brightness, rubbing his eyes. He squints at you, bleary. "You should be sleeping."

"And you should stop sneaking up on me."

"And you should not mess around with that phone."

You sit down at the kitchen table and plug the charger into the wall and start charging it regardless in defiance. He rolls his eyes.

"You know it's just a constant reminder of the bad things," he says, moving a chair to settle on his coils across from you.

"Sometimes you have to confront the bad stuff, you know," you retort, staring at the loading screen of Irwin's phone booting up.

After a beat, you look up. "You want some tea?"

He nods.

A few minutes later you both sit with a cup of tea. You observe him, calmly sitting across from you nipping the hot beverage, and you wonder if you should tell him what you just did. That you found one of the clovers and released its enchantment, and that it didn't work.

But then again. What would you gain from telling him? An eye-roll and a lecture on how to properly use them? A reprimanding for your wastefulness?

Maybe for now you're better off focusing on the task at hand.

So you're trying to guess the password of Irwin's phone. There's a lot of missed calls and unread text messages, you cannot however read them without unlocking it first. So far you've tried his birthday, the ever reliable 1234, and a small collection of meme numbers including but not limited to 6969, though none have worked.

Amren stays quiet as he watches you work, but you find yourself somewhat grateful he's keeping you company with this fruitless endeavor in the middle of the night. It helps ground you so you don't fly off the wall in frustration.

"Dammit," you mutter when you've exceeded the amounts of tries, and have to wait a few minutes to try again.

"Had enough?" Amren asks, settling his elbows on the table, holding the tea mug hovering in front of his mouth.

"In general? Probably, yes. Giving up? No," you reply. You lean back and sip your own tea, courtesy of Elise's own special blend. It's warm and calming. "Thanks, by the way."

"For what?"

"It's 3am, and yet you choose to stay up while I'm on a ludicrous quest."

"It IS amusing watching you struggle," he shrugs, earning a glare from you, "though, I must admit I'm a tad worried."

You give him a questioning look, prompting an elaboration.

He looks up over the edge of his cup, focusing on you. "I hear you awake at night, mulling about. You busy yourself roaming around the garden despite your injuries, and you obsess over that phone as if it holds all the answers you're looking for. You're grieving a loss, and you're not doing it in a good way."

Surprise must have been painted on your face at this as he stays quiet, giving you a few seconds to think of a reply.

You can't think of one, and you're not about to defend your justified actions. "Loss? He's not gone!"

"He's most likely not dead - but you friend has vanished, and there's little we can do to help him now. If you keep obsessing on these 'what if's' you'll never recover from this. You're not abandoning him if you take care of yourself."

A moral lesson in self-care is not what you exactly expected tonight, and especially not from him of all people. "Then what would you have me do? Just give up?"

He stares at you blankly. "Yes."

Incredible. What do you even say to that? He looks like he's waiting for a reply again, but you don't dignify him with one this time, opting for stubbornly turning your attention back to the phone in you hands. The cartoon character on the lock screen stares back at you with a devious smile.

What four numbers would he use? What things do he care about? Is it a date, is it a random combination? You feel like you would have a shot of knowing Irwin well enough to guess, but apparently not as well as you thought.

There's a clink of Amren putting his cup on the table. He's about to open his mouth to speak, but is immediately quieted as Irwin's phone suddenly starts ringing.

You almost drop the thing in surprise, fumbling to catch it before it slips out of your hands. You stare at it dumbfounded for a few seconds. It's an unknown caller.

Irwin's obnoxious ringtone rumbles through the air for a bit, the happy tunes almost attempting to lower the pressure, but the contrasts of the tense situation just puts you more on edge. You slowly move your thumb to swipe to pick up.

"Tiny, don't-" Amren hisses, but too late.

You swipe to accept the call, and put the phone to your ear with bated breath. You don't dare speak.

"Nice of you to finally pick up the phone!" Mira's voice sounds through the speakers and your breath hitches in your throat.

She must have known you would pick up Irwin's phone and bring it with you. Did she drop it in the forest on purpose after you and Amren fought her off?

You sense movement, and feel Amren hurriedly sliding over to you, putting his head over your shoulder close to the phone to better listen in.

"You're sure up late, though. Can't sleep? And not even a 'hi'? Look, I'm sorry things ended the way they did. I never meant to scare you, honest. But it's okay, you can stay quiet. Just listen to what I say, okay?"

She's putting on her soft and reassuring voice again, and you grit your teeth. You want to blurt out profanities, yell at her, demand to know what she’s done with your friend. But somehow, your voice is tied in a knot, and your vocal cords are not responding.

"You little buddy is just fine, by the way. He's with me, and is settling in so well, aren't you?"

There's quiet for a moment, and you hear some unintelligible muffled words, but you instantly recognize Irwin's voice calling out. You put your hand over your mouth in shock. You can't quite make it out, but he frantically yells your name and something about starting a company? Even just hearing he's alive and still in incredible danger sends a shuddering wave of emotions through your body you don't quite know how to process.

"Aw, he's babbling again, poor thing. Of course, there's still some adjustments to be made, but we'll figure it out in due time. Now, I have a proposition. I just want to meet up. And apologize! You didn't deserve all that fright that night. You must be beyond yourself with exhaustion. Wherever you are, I hope it's nice and cozy. But let's meet up, talk things through, and we can figure all of this out. I'll take you to Irwin if you want as well, just say the word!"

"Where is he?" you finally mange to croak through gritted teeth, clenching the phone so tight your knuckles go white. Amren must have sensed your tension, as you feel a cool hand on your back, steadying you. You put your free hand on his arm for something to hold onto.

You can hear the smile in her voice as she replies. "Oh, it is wonderful to hear you talking. As I said, he's here, with me, and I can take you to him. How about this? The small green cafe next to the harbor, Sunday at 9am. Let's figure this whole mess out, hm?"

You pause. You want to agree - if there's any chance of figuring out what the hell is going on with all of this - a step closer to find your friend - the gnawing guilt doesn't allow you to decline.

But the lingering fear, the knowledge that this is an obvious trap, a setup to drive you out of your hiding place and into the open - what should you do? Put your own life on the line in the hopes of saving another’s? For answers?

Mira speaks up again. "I'll take you silence as a yes. And no going to authorities now - we wouldn't want to have to hide Irwin somewhere where even I can't find him, do we? Sunday 9am. I can't wait to see you!"

Mira signs off like she's exited to see a childhood friend, and hangs up the phone.

The dull dial tone snaps you into reality, and you very slowly put the phone down on the table with shaking hands.

Now it's officially up to you to solve this horrible situation.

The phone remains locked.

“..what do I do?” you whisper to no one in particular, staring blankly ahead.

“You should sleep before you do anything,” Amren offers in a quiet voice, hand still on the small of your back and his head hovering over your shoulder. You wonder if he’s this close because he’s trying to be comforting, or if he simply stays put in fear you’ll tip over if he were to let you go.

You look at his face and find him frowning somewhat, bags under his eyes and the golden sheen somewhat dull in the pale kitchen light. You look down and find your hand is harshly clenched around the spotty scaled flesh on his arm, yet he hasn’t moved from the spot.

“Sorry,” you say, quickly releasing him.

“That’s alright,” he replies.

It’s a bit odd just standing close to each other like this, briefly touching like there’s an unspoken rule the prohibits either a full embrace or moving away.

“Are you alright?” he asks after a beat, voice still low and careful, like he’s calculating the best course of action. It dawns on you that Amren might be waiting for you to take initiative in this situation. He hasn’t moved because he doesn’t know what to do.

“No,” you huff through your nose, voice strained with lament. You break the stasis, finally, and turn into him, wrapping your arms around his torso.

He stiffens, briefly, but quickly disregards it as he leans down to hold you better. He secures his arms around you as well, his hold slightly awkward but firm in a way that promises you nothing will get to you here.

You let out a sigh, and try to relax, feeling grounded by having someone else nearby. Amren rests his chin on the top of your head, patiently waiting for you to work through it.

You gather yourself somewhat with his quiet support, and around a minute later you pull away again.

“Thanks,” you pat his arm where you last gripped it.

He just nods, scanning your face like he’s looking if there are any other damages to address. He has that same look on his face, a mixture of worry and determination, bordering on angry - though not directed at you.

“You know, you aren’t doing anything wrong here,” you note after a bit.

He shrugs, face returning to normal. “Some people prefer not to be touched when in distress. I figured you would let me know what you needed. And you did.”

“You even calculate trying to comfort someone?” you manage a small teasing smile.

“I don’t do it on a regular basis, so pardon me for trying to do it right,” he grunts. He folds his arms dismissively and nods towards the staircase. “You should get back to bed, Tiny. We will deal with this in the morning.”

And there he is. There’s a heart in there. Somewhere.

You don't have the energy to argue, so you turn to head upstairs, but pause at the staircase. You really don't want to be by yourself right now after that horrifying conversation, dreading the darkness in your room just eagerly waiting for you to be alone with your thoughts again. Since he's close by anyway - you'd lie if you said sharing your space with Amren again wouldn't help you sleep, like it did the last time.

But since you got to Elise's house, you've both been pretending it didn't happen, or at least vehemently avoiding talking about it. Since then, you haven't offered, and he hasn’t asked.

But as much as you hate to admit it, it feels safer having him close by.

So you swallow your pride, and turn over to look at him.

"Do you want to join?" you ask, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Oh, it's not cold here. Don't worry, Tiny," he replies reassuringly. "Go on ahead."

"That's not -" you backpedal faster than a horse in a race. "Never mind."

He looks at you puzzled and you shake your head at him, hurrying up the stairs.

#colderwriting #monster romance #gender neutral reader #x reader #monster lover #naga #monster x reader #monster boyfriend #naga x reader #exophilia

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jamespotterthefirst · 2 years ago

Text

Secret Santa (Ethan x MC)

Book: Open Heart, Year 1 Pairing: Dr. Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Dr. Lilac Allende) Word count: 1.5k Rating/ Warning: None

Premise: Lilac gets the unknowable Dr. Ramsey for Edenbrook’s Secret Santa. The problem is: what could an intern possibly get for a world renowned doctor who has everything he wants?

"Moment of truth!” Sienna all but sang, shaking the sparkling Santa hat. She lifted it up to Lilac's nose level. “Hoping for anyone in particular?”

Lilac rolled her eyes at the knowing smile her friend sent her. Luckily, it appeared that everyone in the break room missed it.

“Bryce,” Lilac said with a shrug. “I'm terrible at shopping for gifts and he seems easy.”

“He's definitely easy,” Jackie returned without missing a beat.

“Hey!”

Bryce did a convincing job looking indignant. He even threw a balled up paper towel Jackie's way. The latter dodged it without even looking up from her textbook.

“You're out of luck,” Sienna informed her. “I know for a fact that Bryce already has a Secret Santa.” The brunette lifted the hat even more, so that it was only inches away from Lilac's face. “Now, pick.”

With some mild trepidation and a suspicious look at her simpering friend, Lilac reached into the hat. She withdrew the small, folded up piece of paper, acutely aware of the break room full of interns watching with interest. By the time she opened it, her stomach was a coil of anxiety.

“Who did you get?” Bryce asked after a brief pause.

Lilac merely stared at her paper, convinced there had to have been a mistake.

“She obviously can't say, meathead. It's a Secret Santa,” Jackie supplied.

Bryce replied with an impressive comeback that earned him a middle finger. Elijah laughed and her friends dissolved into teasing banter. Lilac, meanwhile, barely heard anything, her attention on the two words on her paper.

Dr. Ramsey.

“Is there a reason you're staring at me, Dr. Allende?” Dr. Ramsey asked dryly without glancing up from his clipboard.

Lilac gave a little start, slightly embarrassed at being caught. Though by now, she should have known better. The man was so astute and aware of his surroundings. Nothing could escape his notice.

“Did you enter that Secret Santa that Dr. Delarosa organized for the staff?”

The question gave him pause. He glanced up from the file, striking her with an azure gaze. It made her stomach somersault.

“Not by choice.”

“What do you mean?”

He sighed as though exasperated by the mere memory.

“I always opt out, finding the whole thing a frivolous waste of our valuable time.”

“That checks out.”

“However, Dr. Delarosa was in charge of the whole affair this year. She must have been far too optimistic about my desire to participate, because she asked me. The unfortunate part is that she did so in front of Teresa Martinez.”

Lilac laughed, understanding.

“Did Mrs. Martinez peer pressure you?”

“She did.”

Lilac's laughter continued. Ethan, meanwhile, threw her an unamused look. He closed the patient chart in his hand with a sense of finality.

“It doesn't matter, either way.”

“Why?”

“Whoever ends up with me will be wasting their time. There is nothing I need or want.”

“Just tell me who it is!” Sienna exclaimed, watching Lilac pace the expanse of her bedroom for the hundredth time. “If it's stressing you out this much, then fuck secrecy!”

Despite the nervous energy pumping through her limbs, Lilac threw the petite doctor an impressed little look.

“I can't help you if you don't tell me,” her friend argued, eyes pleading.

With a defeated sigh, Lilac slumped on her bed right next to her friend.

“I got Doctor Ramsey.”

“Oh. I can't help you,” Sienna returned almost at once. Upon seeing the look of utter shock and indignation on Lilac's face, however, she laughed. The fit turned almost hysterical when Lilac smacked her with one of her pillows. “Sorry, sorry! I was just kidding. Well—kind of… Doctor Ramsey is an enigma. Shopping for him will be a nightmare.”

“You're telling me,” Lilac said, falling back on her mattress. “I have no idea what to get that man. I've been searching everywhere for ideas. He even caught me staring today when I was trying to figure something out.”

“You were staring more than usual?”

“Be serious,” she admonished, failing to look indignant at the true statement. “He told me he doesn't want or need anything, which makes sense because he's Ethan Freaking Ramsey and he has everything he could possibly want in the world.”

“There has to be something,” Sienna said thoughtfully. “You guys talk a lot. What are some things he likes?”

“We do not talk a lot.”

“Please. He barely even glances at the rest of us. One time, he told me to move out of the way. It's the most he's spoken to me in weeks.”

The blush on Lilac's cheeks burned painfully now. When she said nothing out of sheer mortification, Sienna continued.

“Let's see… He likes coffee?” she glanced at Lilac for confirmation.

“Yes, but he already has a ridiculously expensive coffee machine in his office.”

“Wow. He's my hero. How about candy? Or baked goods?”

“He's picky with that,” Lilac countered. “I know he likes the chocolate bars from the vending machine but that's a terrible gift.”

They went on like that for half an hour— Sienna thinking of fantastic gift ideas and Lilac listing five reasons why the unknowable Ethan Ramsey would hate the gift. In the end, both exhausted doctors gave up for the night. They decided to stick a pin in it and try again in the morning.

Except, they were both busy the next morning, rushing to get to work on time.

By the time Lilac thought of the Secret Santa exchange again, it was only two days before it was supposed to take place. Panicked, she decided to go for a homemade gift. Lilac wasn't particularly talented with those, but it was too late to turn back.

As her project came together, she regretted the decision more and more. But since there was virtually no time left, she decided to finish the monstrosity. Besides, it's not like Ethan could fire her for an ugly gift.

“You're not going to fire me, are you?” Lilac asked the very next day as a stony-faced Ethan opened her gift. He had been briefly surprised that Lilac had been his Secret Santa.

“Fire you?”

He held the midnight blue scarf, peering at it as though it was something alien. Now that Lilac looked at it, it didn't look half bad. Calling her sister at midnight and forcing her to assist had paid off.

His prolonged silence, however, made her second guess her choice.

“You hate it.”

“What makes you think that?”

“You haven't said anything in minutes.”

“I'm just surprised.”

He did not look it. In fact, his expression was as unreadable as ever.

“I made it,” Lilac supplied into the silence of his office.

“I know.”

For some reason, the monotonous and dry way he delivered the words made her snort with laughter. It bubbled up into something close to hysterical. The handsome doctor raised an eyebrow at her.

“What's so funny?”

“Sorry,” she managed when she composed herself. “I spent days trying to decide what to get you and I came up with an ugly scarf I knit myself. You must have hundreds of much nicer scarves.”

“Not quite,” he corrected. “I own two or three. To be frank, I rarely wear them.”

“I know,” she returned. “You always walk in here with no scarf and no hat even though it's freezing. I don't know how you do it. I thought of that when thinking of what to get you. You told me the other day there's nothing you want or need but I think you definitely need a scarf.”

His blue eyes remained on her, watching her quietly. Lilac's pulse tripled, noting a flicker of something cross his expression. It was gone before she had time to analyze it.

“Thank you,” he said.

Lilac could not get a single word out so she merely nodded.

“I picked blue since I think it'd suit you well,” she said before she could stop herself. “I realized I didn't know your favorite color.”

“Black.”

Lilac snorted.

“Very on-brand, Doctor.”

Ethan said nothing, instead holding her gaze so steadily, she froze in place. The smile slowly vanished from her face, her throat dry. Every one of her limbs felt like liquid and her poor heart threatened to beat out of her chest.

Then, in that low baritone that made her knees quiver, he said, “Though I'm also partial to green.”

That surprised her.

“Huh,” she said thoughtfully. “I never would've guessed that.”

He had no reply. Instead, he averted his gaze down to his laptop screen.

“Well, too late to change the color of the scarf now. I'll make you a green one if I get you next year.”

“I won't be entering next year,” he deadpanned, now typing away at impressive speed.

“We'll see,” she taunted in sing-song.

Note: Spoiler- He does enter next year lol. If creativity, time, and health allow, maybe I’ll write a follow-up!

I’m ambitious this holiday season with fic ideas. Wish me luck!

#open heart #ethan ramsey #ethan x mc #playchoices

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chaotic-super · 1 year ago

Text

Live With Me - Chapter 17

Read it on AO3 here!

Nia is not having a fun time.

She’s been keeping the public updated as much as she can since Kara, Lena and Ms Grant got taken away to go and meet the President as per Ms Grant’s orders but keeping up with the influx of questions and comments is a task that she needs help keeping up with.

Franklin has been trying to help her, but since he’s been taking her direction on it, having him do anything leads to her being asked a million questions and then she’s too busy answering those to get any proper work done herself. She has to give it to the poor guy, in any case. He really is trying.

The phones have been ringing off the hook and she’s had to enlist a whole bunch of interns to answer them to try and deter people from calling over and over, specifically other media stations. They barely have the story of what’s going on with the group taken to The White House as it is. They don’t have enough information to clarify anything to anyone else properly. If anything, they would love to have someone to call to explain the details to them.

On top of handling that, when she went to HR to tell them that she and Franklin were taking over this project and that they needed to set up someone else to run the company temporarily, they wholly misunderstood and assumed that she was telling them that Ms Grant put her in charge of the company so now she’s scrambling to do precisely that.

She has the support of pretty much everyone in the office, but it’s clear that they are only helping because they pity her and are tired of watching her run around like a chicken with its head cut off. A lot of her day is spent running around trying to figure out how to get everything organized and the two people who know the best way to run this place are both gone.

Franklin knocks on the glass door to Ms Grant’s office to announce to Nia that he’s there. She’s been camping in there for a little while now to try and get some peace and quiet, working at the glass coffee table and eyeing up the desk nervously. She knows she could sit there if she wants to, but it feels wrong and she has the distinct feeling that Ms Grant will know if she does.

“Hey, Franklin.” She greets him with a tired smile that doesn’t get anywhere close to reaching her eyes.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I have a list of all the messages taken from the interns working on the phones. I flicked through, and it looks like most are just people wanting to know what’s going on, but there’s some from investors and some from suppliers, so I feel like those should be looked over.” Franklin grimaces as he explains. “I know that’s not what you want to hear.”

“Not at all.” Nia agrees. “I have no idea what I’m doing, Franklin. Can you try and find someone who can deal with that? Someone with more power than me?”

He shakes his head sadly. “You’re the person around here with the power. There’s nobody here more capable than you.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“I know.”

Her eyes brighten and a devilish smile makes its way onto her face as she’s stuck with a moment of realization. “You’re right, Franklin. I’m the one around here with all the power, and as that person, I will insist that you take care of that, and I also apologize. Just stall the investors. Ms Grant will handle that when she gets back. As for suppliers, do whatever it takes to keep them with the company. We can’t print anything if our ink or paper suppliers back out. Threaten to sue them if you have to; channel your inner Cat Grant.”

“Nia, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Franklin attempts to argue. He sets the list down on the table before rubbing his sweaty palms down his pant legs and trying to back off.

“I do. I’m the most senior member here as of this moment and I have a lot of faith in you, my dear friend. Good luck.” She smiles widely, her eyes twinkling and her hand grabbing the list to thrust it in his direction somewhat aggressively.

“I…” He hesitates but takes the papers. “I’ll try my best.”

Nia’s gaze softens. “Thank you, Franklin. I couldn’t do any of this without you. I have no idea how to handle any of this stuff, so I’m glad to have you in my corner.”

Franklin smiles at her, tight-lipped but genuine. “I’m happy to do it for you, Nia.”

“Thank you.”

Both Nia and Franklin’s heads turn to the door as someone barges in. It’s one of the security guards and he’s severely out of breath; he just ran from somewhere. He pants for a second, not enough about him to form actual words. “Sorry.”

“What’s wrong?” Nia questions, immediately on edge and shooting up to her feet.

“Government agents are attempting to gain entry to the building. They are in the lobby, and they have warrants. The other guys are escorting them up as we speak.” He warns her before ducking back out of the room before she can ask any more questions.

Nia and Franklin share an alarmed look.

“Franklin, we have less than two minutes to get all our evidence against the government and hide it before they get up here. Go!” She pushes his shoulder to jump-start him into a gallop as she passes, running faster than she has in a while. As she races through the bullpen, she yells out. “Someone get legal up here, stat! I don’t care who, just do it!”

The primary evidence that isn’t the critical stuff that Ms Grant already locked away is in Kara’s office. She knows she can get there, but she has no idea what she’s going to do with it after that because she won’t have time to make it anywhere she can hide it and she doesn’t have the code to Ms Grant’s hidden safe so she can’t put it in there.

All of it is already in a file on the desk, so she only has to grab it. Most of it is information they have already released to the public, but if there is anything they’ve missed that they can use later, she doesn’t want them to have it.

There’s no point in her staying in the office. This will be one of the first places they check so nothing is safe here. It’s a shame because they are probably going to wreck this office right after Kara has only just done it up. At least she has a mega-rich girlfriend that will undoubtedly pay for any damages if she’s overly upset about it.

Nia heads for the door and skids to a stop right outside when she hears a commotion coming from the direction of the elevators. They’re here.

She looks around, her options are limited, and she has to think fast. There’s an old records room a few doors down. That’ll do.

She ducks inside and lets her eyes wander over the vast number of filing cabinets crammed into the space. They are literally stacked on top of each other, and others are pushed in front of the older ones to make more space. They should probably be using a second room at this point because this can’t be safety compliant. The cabinets look like they could fall at any second.

Nia drops the file onto the floor momentarily before grabbing one of the cabinets and pulling it with all her might. It scoots forward just a few inches, but that’s all she needs. She might have a few droplets of sweat racing down the side of her face, but she’s being a boss ass bitch so she can overlook how gross it is for now.

Picking up the file, Nia lifts herself up so she can lean over the cabinet and proceeds to reach down for the bottom drawer of the cabinet that was seated behind it. It opens just enough to expose the first seven or so files. She flicks a random one open with the tip of her finger before jamming the evidence file into the space.

Wasting no time, she slams the drawer shut, jumps down and presses her back to the cabinet in front, using her legs to shove it back into position. It works a lot easier than when she was trying to pull it out, that’s for sure.

She takes a second to breathe a sigh of relief and, in doing so, remembers that she’s supposed to be in charge and should go and try to calm all of the ruckus out by the elevators.

Nia races her way over to the bullpen but purposely takes an extra second to compose herself and ensure she’s looking as presentable as possible before turning the last corner. She’s got to channel her inner Cat Grant now.

Marching out there, she clears her throat and fights to keep her face emotionless in the face of about twenty government agents that are all fighting with the CatCo staff. They’re all yelling at each other, the team blocking their way into the office but giving in the second they take so much as the tiniest push because they don’t want to get hurt.

“What is going on here?” Nia asks, her voice raised as much as one single eyebrow is, a trick she’s learned from Lena.

Barely anyone pays her any mind, but she does catch the attention of someone from the Legal Department. She’s glad to know someone listened to her. “Hey, do you know what’s happening?” Nia asks the frazzled-looking woman.

“They supposedly have a warrant, but they are refusing to show it to anyone other than the person in charge.”

Nia rolls her eyes at that. Of course, the government think they can bully their way inside without showing off this supposed warrant to anyone. “Ok, I’ll go and get it. Can you get someone to start streaming this? I want this entire interaction live-streamed. This is something the world needs to see.”

The woman nods but doesn’t look certain. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Is it legal?”

“Well, yes.”

“Then it’s a good idea. Do it.”

Following that interaction, Nia marches right up to the agents and stands in front of them, arms folder and a deadly stare in place. “What can I do for you?”

The agent closest to her glances at her briefly. “We have a warrant; access is to be freely granted; otherwise, we have the legal right to force entry.”

“Show me the warrant,” Nia demands.

“We can only show it to the person in charge, and we know that the person in charge is in Washington DC.” He smirks but drops it quickly when he notices a guy pointing a camera at him. Nia glances at him over her shoulder. “Thank you, Tom. Keep streaming.”

“You got it, boss.” He replies.

Nia raises her eyebrow at the agent again. “Hear that? I’m the boss. I’m in charge of CatCo in Ms Grant’s absence, which makes me the person you should show me that warrant.”

His demeanour shifts instantly, and he completely disengages from her, moving away to whom Nia can only assume is his boss. Nia tracks his movements and tilts her head, intrigued when the boss’ spine straightens and a discomfort sits upon his shoulders.

They dive into a hushed conversation that Nia doesn’t stand a chance of hearing, so instead of watching, she turns to Tom and speaks to the camera. “This is Nia Nal, temporary CEO of CatCo and one of the reporters working behind the scenes with Cat Grant and Kara Danvers on the articles you’re all probably aware of.

“We’re here at CatCo and have government agents attempting to force entry. They claim they have a warrant but refuse to show it to anyone here, including myself. Agents have already pushed past a lot of the staff and have started going through offices looking for what I can only assume is the information we have about the articles.”

Nia gestures to have Tom pan the camera around to show the agents going through desks and pushing people out of the way while refusing to answer any questions about what they want or are attempting to do.

Tom then points the camera back at Nia as she starts talking. “Let’s go and make another attempt at getting that warrant.”

Stalking off to the agent and his boss, Tom follows her diligently, the camera still focused on her. She clears her throat once she’s right behind the two men and plants her hands on her hips. “Excuse me. I need to see that warrant. If you refuse, you must leave immediately as you’re trespassing. You’re illegally seizing CatCo property, damaging our building and traumatizing the staff.”

The guy the first agent ran to clasps his hands behind his back and juts his chin into the air, clearly feeling an air of superiority. “I only have clearance to show that warrant to one Ms Catherine Grant as the CEO of CatCo.”

“No, you have the authority to show it to the person in charge, which is me. I’m currently running CatCo; you need to leave if you don’t show me that warrant. Now.”

“No can do. I’m just following orders.”

“Whose orders are those?”

“That’s confidential.”

Nia turns away from him, the camera following her every move. “That’s it. I’m getting security to get these guys out of here.”

Nia searches for the nearest security guard and sees that he’s arguing with an agent that is completely ignoring him. “Hey, get him out of here, they have no legal right, and they’re trespassing.”

Like a switch has been flipped, the guard mumbles into his radio to let the other security guards know the score. Then he’s grappling with the agent. He rips the files out of his hands that he’s collected from who knows where, and he forces his hands behind his back before shoving his towards the elevators.

The next thing any of them know, the ruckus has turned into a brawl. Agents and guards alike are wrestling with each other, reporters and staff grabbing back the property that the thieving government agents were trying to take with them. Nia stares at the scene in disbelief. This is not what she imagined running CatCo would be like. Ms Grant is going to kill her.

She turns to look for the boss agent again to see if they can resolve this peacefully but walks face-first into the camera, a red line forming on her forehead where the top lip thwacked her. “Ow.” She complains but looks around. “This isn’t good.”

With the brawl in the background, she has an idea. Facing the lens again, she starts talking to the people. “This is what we’re dealing with as a company. The government is attempting to silence us by bullying us into submission without caring about what rights they are taking from us. They would do the same to any person that gets in their way. We will be fine here at CatCo though, we have the safety of numbers.

“Kara Danvers, Lena Luthor and Catherine Grant don’t have that protection. They were taken by the government yesterday to meet The President allegedly. We have seen no proof of this, and their presence was not requested but demanded. Nobody has heard from them since and I worry greatly for their safety, so I implore you all to speak up and not let your voices be silenced the way they are attempting to silence ours.”

From behind, someone grabs her shoulder. She whips around and pushes their hand off her violently, only to regret it when she sees Franklin’s sheepish face. “Sorry, Nia.”

“What is it?”

“There are police here.”

“Dear lord, this place is being overrun with people who like to think with their fists because they don’t have brains. Where are they?”

“On their way up,” Franklin replies sheepishly.

“Of course they are.” Nia scrapes a hand down her face, so done with this entire day, scratch that, this whole week. Her hand catches her forehead and she winces. “Get the staff to stop fighting. I don’t want anyone arrested because the cops can’t differentiate between assault and self-defence when their buddies are involved.”

Franklin scurries away with a nod, and then Nia moves to do the same thing, finding groups of staff and deploying them across the floor to make them stop fighting and instead peacefully block the way of any agent trying to take something that doesn’t belong to them.

The police draw their guns into the bullpen, commanding everyone to get on the ground. Still, it’s evident that by ‘everyone’, they are only talking about the staff and security guards and not the government agents that are the ones actually committing crimes.

Nia keeps standing as everyone drops to the floor, not fighting with loaded guns. She instead lifts her hands into the air and very calmly explains. “I’m Nia Nal, I’m in charge here at CatCo, and I would very much appreciate it if you could tell these brutes that they cannot force their way into a building without a warrant, and if they do have one, they have to show it before they begin helping themselves to CatCo property.”

“Get on the ground!” She’s ordered again.

“I will get on the ground once you’ve confirmed whether or not they have a warrant and make them get on the ground. I assume you’re not treating them with the same disrespect because you both work for the government, but I will not tolerate it, nor will the thousands of people currently watching this interaction live.” She gestures to the camera that Tom is still pointing at her.

The police look at each other briefly before closing in, the guns getting closer to her. “Get on the ground now!”

Nia doesn’t have to be told again. She doesn’t want any bullet holes in her good blouse. It’s an expensive one she ‘borrowed’ from Lena’s closet at a game night a few months ago, and it is designer. She thought it was perfect for her first official day as acting CEO, and now she’s wondering if Lena let her take it because it’s a bad omen or something. She wouldn’t be above that; she is a Luthor.

“Fine, fine, just check the damn warrant.” She yells from the ground.

To their credit, the cops round up the government agents into a corner and make them put down all the stuff they’ve picked up onto a nearby desk before asking for the warrant. One that the one in charge finally takes out of his pocket to show to the police.

The police officer in charge, a woman who looks ready to kick the asses of everyone here, reads it over quickly before sighing. “This says you have the right to a few specific files, and only if you’re not given them can you force access. You have completely disregarded the system and trodden on the rights of everyone here, especially by refusing to show the warrant in the first place. This could have all been avoided if you had done your jobs properly.”

Nia actually claps at the words and the scolded look across the agents’ faces but stops when she finds herself on the receiving end of a glare.

“Nia Nal, did I get that correctly?” The officer asks.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Can you find these files for the agents so they can leave?”

She nods quickly. “Yes, can you have them wait either in the lobby or outside? I don’t know how long it will take to find them since they’ve made quite the mess in here and they are making my staff nervous.”

The officer nods. “Here is the warrant; ensure you give them everything they want.” She then directs the officers to wrangle them towards the elevators.

As soon as they are all gone, the staff burst into cheers and Nia looks to the camera. “Well, that wasn’t exactly a party, was it? I wasn’t going to show it, but I will release the footage from the lobby when Kara, Lena and Cat’s presence was demanded in Washington. I think we need to be more worried about them than we have been.”

Tom captured the entire thing on the camera and he keeps filming until Nia has found the documents they have requested, all of them the ones on the case against Lord and the government, as expected, and only shits it off after he gets a good shot of them all leaving.

Now, the world knows to worry. Now they see what they are up against.

“Oh god.”

Kara’s head snaps up from where she’s had it hanging forward with her eyes closed in an attempt to get some rest when she’s still bound to this stupid chair. She’s been woozy ever since she took that last punch to her face, so she’s been resisting the urge to puke all over herself.

Ms Grant is pushed into the room, her hands clasped behind her back too, but unlike herself, Kara notes that there is no sign of injury to her anywhere.

“Are you ok?” Kara asks as Cat is arranged onto a chair opposite her, her arms thrown over the back of it and her legs zip tied to the legs before they are left to the quiet of the room.

“Am I ok? Kara, your face is swollen, and there is blood covering at least half of it.”

Kara looks up at Cat with the one eye that isn’t swollen shut. “Oh yeah, they hit me.”

“I gathered. Are you in pain?”

Kara shrugs the best she can, wishing she had a hand free to unstick her hair from her face where it’s gotten stuck in her slowly drying blood. It’s really uncomfortable. “A little. I’ll be ok. Do you know where Lena is?”

Cat shakes her head, unable to take her eyes off Kara’s bloody face. “Last I saw of her was in the hotel room they had us in for a while. I take it you got to meet our lovely president too?”

“I did. He wasn’t best impressed when I told him I wouldn’t give him what he wants.”

“That would be why he was so grouchy by the time I arrived.”

Kara grimaces. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. You did the right thing. We have to get out of here though because I’m not liking our chances of exposing their shitty behaviour the longer we’re here. If we wait too long, I’m guessing we won’t be alive much longer.”

“That’s pessimistic.” Kara sighs, her shoulders straining awkwardly from the angle she’s trapped in. They ache like crazy, but it’s nothing compared to her blood-deprived feet or the stinging in her face.

“It’s realistic.” Cat counters. “Let’s figure this out.”

Lena props her feet up on the table of the hotel conference room. She can see the silhouettes of the guards outside the door preventing her escape and she’s not stupid enough to believe that she could break her way out of here right now. She wouldn’t even if she could; she doesn’t know where Kara is yet. That’s her first priority.

She clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth in a steady beat to pass the time and to try and prove to whoever might be watching that she’s not afraid or nervous. She’s actually pretty terrified, not for herself but for Kara. She can handle herself, she’s been doing it for years, but Kara is too good for this world and she’s too keen to see the best in people. Lena will hunt down anyone that poses a threat to her because Kara is the one thing in her life she can’t live without. Not now that she knows what it is to love and be loved by her. She’d rather die than be deprived of her.

Her gaze is set on her heels, her mind whizzing at a hundred miles per hour and her hands folded tightly across her body, her only protection.

The silhouettes shift and it catches her attention. The door opens and a large man with grey hair enters. He’s holding a clipboard and he’s in full military gear. “Ms Luthor.” He greets her.

“General Lane.” She replies in a clipped tone.

“I see there is no need for introductions then.” He drags out the chair opposite her with a noisy scrape that makes Lena grimace.

“Obviously. What can I do for you, General Lane?”

A sly smile crosses his face. “Quite the contrary, Ms Luthor. This meeting is about what I can do for you.”

Lena’s head tilts, her confusion just barely recognizable. “I don’t see how unless you’re about to tell me where you have taken Ms Danvers and Ms Grant.”

General Lane scoots his chair over so he’s no longer facing the bottom of Lena’s shoes, obviously annoyed that she’s not put her feet down as he was expecting her to. “In good time, Ms Luthor. There are more pressing matters for us to discuss first and foremost.”

“I disagree. My people are more important than whatever imbecile offer you’re about to make me is.”

“I can assure you, the offer I’m about to make you is anything but imbecile. It’s one that will make you more money than you could ever possibly imagine.”

“Are you forgetting that, unlike your pet Maxwell Lord, I’m a Luthor with access to billions of dollars already? I don’t need any illegal schemes to better myself.” She swings her legs down, stands up and leans over the desk, her arms holding up her weight. “I’m already the best.”

General Lane leans back in her chair. His lips are puckered in anger, and a lightning bolt-like crease has formed between his eyes, fire brewing there. “Fine, I was being nice, but since you don’t want to go about it that way, how about we do it the hard way? Does that sound good to you?”

“I didn’t know a man as old as you could get hard anymore.”

His fist slams down on the table as he resorts to yelling at the top of his lungs for a moment of irrational fury before he calms himself down enough to realize that he shouldn’t be shouting in case anyone hears. “You are walking a fine line, Ms Luthor. You have two options. You can work with us and take up the contract we had with Lord Industries to build those prisons and do those experiments, or we can forcefully seize your company, put someone more willing in charge and still get what we want. You can sit down and make money, or you can be removed. It’s up to you.”

“What a shame. I have a million different safeguards in place to stop you from doing exactly that.” Lena tuts. She’s scared now but determined to keep a hold of the upper hand. “Tell me though, General, why are you so keen on getting those experiments done? What are they exactly and how does it benefit you?”

His eyes are blazing but Lena can see the reality of the situation. His brain might as well be soup because he’s not quick enough to handle her in a verbal sparring match. He can’t outshout her, not here.

“That’s confidential.”

“You want me in on your schemes, then you must tell me what they are. That’s how this works.”

His head turns robotically to one side, his face turning away as he attempts to regain some of his composure. He takes a deep breath before facing her again. “Our military services always need new weaponry and advancements; however, we don’t have the manpower to willingly put the lives of honest men and women at risk for experimental weaponry.”

“So you want to use prisoners.” Lena fills in the gaps. “What kind of weaponry will you be having them use.”

A sick smile slithers its way onto General Lane’s face. “They are the weapons.”

Lena’s heart sinks and bile rises in her throat—time for a new plan. There’s no working with someone as deranged as this. “I don’t agree with what you’re doing, but I think we’re both aware of my weaknesses.”

“Your pretty little girlfriend.” General Lena sneers. “She’s been quite the pain in the backside.”

“I can imagine, she’s quite the force to be reckoned with when she wants to be.”

“We can’t have her putting our operations at risk.”

Lena nods seriously. “Of course not, but that won’t be a problem going forward.”

“What makes you so sure of that?”

“Kara is a powerful woman, but I’m stronger, and she will never go against me if I’m working with you. You get me my girlfriend and her boss, release them, and I will work with you. In the meantime, get me the details of what you need for the project. If I’m doing this, I’m going to be well-informed. Sound good to you?”

He rolls his shoulders back, not liking that Lena is calling the shots but very much appreciating that she’s willing to negotiate. His desperate need for control is taking over though. “You get the ladies once we’ve signed the contract.”

“I sign the contract once I have them. Do you really want to make all that work for yourself by trying to take over my company just because you won’t budge on one tiny detail?”

“After.” He spits.

“I get to see them to prove they are ok, and then you can take them up the hotel room and keep them there until after the contract is signed. How about that?”

“I would be amendable.”

“Excellent.” Lena smiles. “Bring them to me and we can discuss matters further. In the meantime, I will look at the experiments’ details. Good?”

He nods. “I’ll send someone out to fetch them.”

“You do that.”

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