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romanticchemacademic · 3 years ago

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Dear future health professionals and stem professors,

We need a revolution of thought. Only through a renaissance of pure and genuine passion towards medicine and other sciences will we have competent doctors, nurses, other healthcare workers, and teachers. We live in a world where people pursue noble professions for the sake of social and economic advancement. However, we lack individuals who love the process of learning and their career.

I recollect quite a marvelous excerpt written by one of the world’s greatest scientific minds, Albert Einstein. In his book, The World As I see It he writes:

ACADEMIC CHAIRS ARE MANY, but wise and noble teachers are few; lecture rooms are numerous and large, but the number of young people who genuinely thirst for truth and justice is small. Nature scatters her common wares with a lavish hand, but the choice sort she produces but seldom.

We all know that, so why complain? Was it not ever thus and will it not ever thus remain? Certainly, and one must take what nature gives as one finds it. But there is also such a thing as a spirit of the times, an attitude of mind characteristic of a particular generation, which is passed on from individual to individual and gives a society its particular tone. Each of us has to do his little bit towards transforming this spirit of the times.

Compare the spirit which animated the youth in our universities a hundred years ago with that prevailing today. They had faith in the amelioration of human society, respect for every honest opinion, the tolerance for which our classics had lived and fought.

I believe that one of the faults lies within education institutions. Educators rely on testing, textbooks, and detached memorized lectures. Lectures lack passion and another essential factor: the real practice. The theory is important but the practice is necessary to understand the theory. But without passion, nobody will learn to love the material being taught. Ibn Sina is known for being one of the greatest physicians and teachers of Islamic medicine. I am not completely sure whether what I am about to mention is true. But I read that when he lectured theory to the medical students at the Madrassa (University) he would show them how it worked. Besides medical history and theory. He also taught physics, astronomy, philosophy, and mathematics. However, he is also famed for being an excellent teacher duly because he would take his students to test out the theories and practice what they have been taught. If they were learning medical theory, they were taken to the hospital to observe patients and their cases. If they were learning astronomy, they would all gather in the evening to look up at the heavens to look at the constellations. Lastly, his passion for his vocation was the final touch. Educators without the drive cannot teach. Learning is about understanding oneself, others, and the world. Learning evolves our minds and our spirits by making us get in harmony with the universe. I believe this ties in with Aristotle’s famous saying, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. Though my interpretation may be a wee bit off, I translate it as thus; we can gather all textbook knowledge as possible but if we do not put into practice the knowledge learned, what is the point? I yearn and I pine to experience all that I have learned. I want to see why the theory makes sense in reality. I want to conduct experiments. So much potential is being wasted. Biology is the study of life. However, when I took the course, it was so cold to a point that it did not even feel like I was studying the human body but something alien instead. There is also such a rush to memorize material within a couple of weeks because of exams that the material ceases to be interesting and becomes more of an arduous chore instead. Our sense of time-shifted completely after the industrial revolution. Perhaps this is a reason why we feel the need to rush through everything and not take our time to study profoundly.

We need another Scientific Revolution, curious minds thirsting for the acquisition of knowledge and unanswered questions. However, I believe that the leading force behind this is a necessity. I would like to mention an example to illustrate what I mean from a novel I read a while ago called, The Physician by Noah Gordon. A boy from Medieval Europe lost his mother from an unknown disease leaving him orphaned. He then grew up with the necessity to learn what the disease was and how to prevent other similar deaths, so that others do not suffer what he has suffered. He then worked with Barbers (people who performed medical procedures in Medieval Europe). But the medical knowledge these professionals had was not enough to answer his question. Thus, he traveled to Persia where there was a quite renowned and exclusive medical school. He did not have the economic means or previous schooling to attend but he impressed the headmaster with his passion and knowledge. Thus, the headmaster admitted him into the Madrassa. The European boy then invested all his time doing research, dissections and treating patients until he finally found out what ailment caused his mother’s death, side sickness (appendicitis). He figured out a way to treat this illness, removal of the appendix. From his initial necessity which was the driving force for him to pursue a medical career, he became a famous physician and felt that all his suffering and odyssey were worthwhile. The sense of necessity leads to the feeling of passion. It was his love for his mother that made him follow such a journey full of obstacles. I am beginning to apply that to my own life. I want to figure out my necessity which will be the driving force to power through university and medical school without ever feeling burnt out. I want to feel fulfilled. I believe this is what all pre-medical students and teachers should think about. What is your necessity? We are going to be dealing with human life, someone’s mother, father, friend, sister, uncle, lover, husband, or child...It is not something to be taken lightly. I know so many doctors lacking empathy because they went into the medical field with just the intention of being acknowledged as “Doctors” and getting rich. But I feel that even the most apathetic healthcare workers can become great empathetic professionals the moment they realize that something was triggered deep inside them, perhaps a loved one having an unknown disease. This would lead the apathetic doctor to do mass amounts of research to try to find a cure. This feeling becomes a necessity. A necessity to not lose the loved one. A necessity to save lives. Thus, finding passion, purpose, and becoming a better person. Though each person is different, we all share a selfish feeling. Most of the time we do not truly care about other peoples’ suffering until it happens to us. Once we are affected by something, we drive all our time and attention to find a solution or a way to deal with a problem. We become consumed and completely obsessed by it. I regard this as passion. I do not think passion subsides, it lingers on inside us. It is a fire that never burns out. I remember my high school teacher writing in my yearbook:

Remember a few things, BE PATIENT. You are eager and you will accomplish so much. But take your time, you are always rushing. Life is a journey, it is not about the destination. Be picky. You love everything with enthusiasm but enthusiasm can burn out. Find a fire inside yourself that burns for a long time.

-V

We cannot rush our personal legend. I believe it comes to us. It is Maktub (it’s written). But we also have to do something. Imagine you are on a stranded island but you have a machete, a fishing rod, coconuts, a cave for shelter, wood for a fire, an ocean full of fish. Everything required for survival is there, but you simply have to cut open the coconut with the machete, go fishing for food, fire to cook, and warmth. The fish isn’t going to swim right into your hands and the fire will not light itself. We must use our resources and do our bit. The Universe has a lot going on, we must help out a bit.

If you ever think about quitting, try to remember what made you start your odyssey in the first place. I do not know what my necessity is yet but that is okay. I believe it will come to me eventually. So for now, I simply love to romanticize academia. I like to imagine the: earthy tones of the universities archways, cobblestone paths, laboratories with clean Erlenmeyer flasks, beakers, pristine white lab coats, bunsen burner flames changing colors as different salts are added, Bromothymol Blue pen stains, elegant calculations inside a worn leather-bound notebook, formulas scrawled over the blackboard, forgotten cold Irish breakfast tea on the desk, academics discussing theories, applause from a successful experiment, gray rainy days spent inside the lab, Whitman, Hemingway, et Sir Arthur Conon Doyle being read during break, intellectual conversations with professors, chemistry reports being written, molecular models built, volumes of ancient words, fire slowly burning in the stone fireplace, trying to understand, looking at the constellations on a clear night in the astronomy tower, reciting poetry, Tchaikovsky playing whilst completing a long lab report on Lê Chatelier’s theory of Equilibrium, curious minds, sleepless evenings in the library, beautiful anatomical illustrations...Just imagining these things motivate and inspire me to continue my path. Though it may seem superficial, it awakens something inside me. I yearn and I pine to become a Chemistry Romantic.

I want to conclude this letter by saying that pupils and educators keep ideals alive and can change them accordingly as well. We have the power to become excellent professionals or simply exist and do nothing for the human race. But if you plan on becoming a physician or educator, you must find the trigger which brings your passion to life, your necessity. Once you find that, you are guaranteed greatness and fulfillment. However, do not rush. Perfection takes time. A couple of obstacles should not hinder you from persevering. Many will tell you to give up but do not. That is the Universe testing you. Do your best until you master the topic. Once you know better, you are then able to do better.

Regards,

Confessions from a Chemistry Academic

#stem dark academia #dark academia #academia #stem #philosophy #academic universitylife #unilife #chemistry #medicine

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harrysweasleys · 4 years ago

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best teacher // d.m

Request: if you take requests- i’ve always wanted to read a fic about a ravenclaw reader tutoring draco and she’s muggleborn and v intelligent and stubborn and proved that she belongs in the wizarding world and doesn’t let draco walk all over her but lowkey she’s insecure and wants people to like her. draco falls hard for her and it’s angsty but a super happy soft ending 🥺 would you be able to do something like that?? all my love 💕💕💕

Warnings: none

Word Count: 5.8k

A/N: so i know that cho is a year older than them, but just for the sake of the story, she’s in the same year. bear with me! xxx (gif isn’t mine)

—

The soft glow of sunlight peered through the large library windows, illuminating the thin layer of dust that sat on the window ledge and many of the books surrounding it. The warm autumn light was comforting, considering it was too chilly to stay outside for elongated periods of time.

Y/N was huddled at the back of the library, mindlessly flicking through the pages of The Standard Book of Spells: Chapter Four, making sure she was prepared for the upcoming test that Flitwick had spontaneously thrust upon them.

Not only that, but she was also waiting for the student she was about to tutor for History of Magic. The ghostly Professor Binns had told her that one of her fellow classmates, a Slytherin by the name of Draco Malfoy, needed assistance. And of course, with the highest grade and academics in the class, Y/N was put to the job.

It’s not like she necessarily hated Malfoy, but he did take any chance he could get to remind her that she was, in fact, a muggleborn witch. He had never gone so far as to call her a ‘mudblood’ — which he had called Hermione Granger in their second year — but he didn’t exactly make her life a walk in the park every time he was around her, either.

So, as she sat patiently in the back of the library (away from Madam Pince so they wouldn’t get shouted at) she prepared herself for what should be a rough few hours. When the familiar head of platinum blond hair made its way through the long aisles of books at sat across from her, she braced herself.

“Good afternoon, Draco,” she smiled politely, hoping that if she were kind to him then he would be an easy pupil to work with.

He scoffed, taking out a blank piece of parchment and a quill, “I prefer it when people call me Malfoy. Especially people I hardly know.”

Y/N frowned, but nodded her head, “Right, sorry,” she pulled out her large textbook, flipping to the page that Professor Binns had marked specifically for this tutoring session, “Well, I guess we’ll get right into it.”

She scanned over the page, “So, I hear you struggled on the quiz about the Wizarding Community in America, correct?” She looked up from the book, no judgement on her face, but Draco continued to glare at her.

“I don’t exactly care that I didn’t do well,” he spoke lowly, as if not wanting other students to overhear that he was struggling in school, “Besides, I don’t plan to have a career that involves History of Magic in the future.”

Y/N nodded, her face dropping, “I get that, neither do I, but you still need to pass this class if you want to continue on to your next level of education.”

Her fingers started playing with the corner of the page, her nerves slowly starting to overcome her calmness. She knew Draco Malfoy would be a hard student to work with, but she didn’t exactly know how to deal with him. He was making her nervously fidgety by just sitting here staring at her, his face void of all interest.

“Fine, let’s get this over with,” he placed his elbow on the table and rested his head in his hand, his features laced with obvious boredom. Y/N cleared her throat, turning back down to the page.

“Okay, well, should we do a quick quiz to see what you know or do you just want to go over everything?” she asked, avoiding his gaze and scanning over the page, the words already familiar to her.

“I don’t care.”

“Malfoy, I want to help,” she pleaded, finally facing him again, “you need to cooperate with me.”

He scowled at her, “I have to cooperate with you? I’m pureblooded. You’re muggleborn. If anything, I need to disassociate with you as much as possible.”

Y/N bit her cheek, trying to fight back the sting that settled into her chest. She blinked at him, a blank expression on her face.

“Thanks for reminding me I’m muggleborn, almost forgot,” the tone in her voice had changed from kind to hostile, her knuckles turning white from her tight grip on the book in front of her, “Now, what’s the equivalent to the Ministry of Magic in America?”

Draco roller his eyes, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, “If I knew, would I be here?”

“It’s the Magical Congress of the United States of America,” Y/N turned the book to face him and tapped the page, “Also known as MACUSA. Founded in 1693.”

Draco didn’t even look like he was listening as he gazed out the window. Y/N’s patience was starting to wear thin, and it had barely even been five minutes.

“Are you even listening? Take notes or something.”

Draco’s eyes snapped back to her, “I’m not taking orders from you.”

Slamming the book shut, she grit her teeth together, “If you’re not going to work with me, Malfoy, I don’t want to waste my time.” She hastily stood up, snatching her backpack off the ground, and started placing her books into it, ignoring how Draco was still seated.

“How is Professor Binns going to feel knowing the one student he can count on has let him down?” Draco leaned back in his chair with a smug smirk on his face, eyebrow raised. Y/N stopped packing, turning her head up to face him.

Damn it. The git was right.

“Fine,” she sat back down begrudgingly and pulled the book out of her bag once more, turning back to the page that they left off on, “Are you going to at least listen?”

He shrugged, twirling his quill between his fingers, “I’ll try.”

She sighed, nodding her head and taking his answer as an agreement of cooperation. She scanned over the page again, remembering what was said in class about certain topics so she could formulate a teaching strategy.

“What was the Theory of Uno Mass?” she asked, resting her head on her hand and gazing at the boy across from her, who seemed to be both deep in thought and bored out of his mind, his quill still spinning between his pale fingers.

He clearly fought the urge to roll his eyes, “You’re supposed to be teaching me, Y/L/N, not judging. Or quizzing.”

Y/N lifted her head and sat back in her chair, an amused expression on her face, “We learned this in second year, Malfoy.” When she still didn’t get an answer from him, she flipped the book in his direction once more, “The Theory of Uno Mass states the belief that all magic originated from one single wizard. Or witch. It’s translated from ancient Aramaic — it means The First Magi.”

Draco nodded, scribbling the words down messily on the piece of parchment. Y/N fought the urge to tell him he had spelled ‘Uno Mass’ wrong.

“You know,” she began, pointing the the shelves around them, “You should really read A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot. We even have it in the library.”

Draco shook his head, “You expect me to check out a book? Are you mental? I have more important things to do than reading, thanks.”

Y/N slouched back, rolling her eyes, “Just thought it would help.”

“I’m just trying to get through our lessons,” he mumbled, “This is torture enough.”

Y/N ignored the stinging sensation his words left behind. She wasn’t expecting him to be so warm and open to her in the first place, but if he kept treating her like this, her patience would start to wear thin incredibly quickly.

“I have better things to do too than sit here and tutor someone who voluntarily doesn’t pay attention in class,” she snapped back, missing the way Draco’s eyes widened at her change of tone. She had been speaking so quietly and kindly up until this point.

“Like what? You’re a Ravenclaw. All you do is sit and read all day, isn’t it? Aren’t books your only friends?” he squinted his eyes at her, knowing he was pushing his luck.

She bit her cheek. He was starting to get on her nerves and she didn’t know how much longer she was going to put up with it.

“Coming from the Slytherin. Aren’t you supposed to be in your common room worshipping the Dark Lord?” she pressed angrily, immediately regretting it as she watched Draco’s lips press into a thin line, his face becoming paler than before. If looks could kill, she’d be dead on the floor.

She tried apologizing, but her attempt was cut off by the loud squeak of his chair as he stood up forcefully, his face locked in a glare.

“You know nothing about me. Don’t you dare act like you know anything, and don’t you dare speak to me like that ever again,” he growled at her, crumpling his sheet of parchment and dropping it in the trash, storming out of the library while shoving a group of third year Hufflepuffs out of the way. Y/N sat back in her chair, letting out a defeated sigh, and stood up as well. If Draco had left, there was no point in her sitting around twiddling her thumbs.

Her blood was still boiling, but she did regret what she said to him. She knew that he didn’t come from the best family. Hell, everyone knew that. But she was sick of him acting like he was better than her. Really, it was about time someone knocked him off his high horse.

She packed her bag silently and sulked off to the Ravenclaw common room, taking the quickest way possible so she could just sit and relax, brushing off the strange events that had just prevailed. She wasn’t sure if she would end up tutoring him again — Draco had a certain power in this school, so despite how much Binns insisted she continued tutoring, if the Malfoy son didn’t want it, he’d get his way.

She entered the common room and took her regular seat by the window, slouching into the arm chair next to one of her closest friends, Cho Chang.

“Wow,” Cho held back a laugh, “You look like you’ve had quite the afternoon. Weren’t you supposed to be tutoring Malfoy until six? It’s not even three o’clock.”

Y/N nodded, “He has too much of an ego to sit still. So he took off.”

Cho closed the notebook she was writing in, “He left? Did you tell Professor Binns? Are you going to get into trouble?”

“I don’t think so,” Y/N shrugged, twirling a strand of her hair, “It was kind of my fault but also kind of not. He initiated it. I just... snapped back. Guess he’s not used to that.”

Cho nodded, sitting straighter and staring at her friend with an intense gaze, “You spoke back? Good on you. Don’t let him walk all over you. I’ve seen how he speaks to Harry.”

Cho was right. Y/N had also seen the way Draco Malfoy tormented Harry Potter and his friends. It was kind of horrible to watch. She felt bad every time. There was no way she was going to let him to the same to her, but somehow he always found a way to hit the perfect nerve to irritate and fluster the person he wanted to. It was incredible infuriating.

“Well, that’s if he choses to continue his lessons with me,” Y/N said calmly, already nervous about how Binns was going to react upon finding out what happened during their first lesson. Without a doubt, Draco would have told him something along the lines of ‘Y/N insulted me, my family, and my house’ and then Binns, who didn’t care much for confrontation, would just tell Y/N that he was disappointed in her and call the whole thing off. And that was the last thing she wanted to hear.

“Well, if he doesn’t, he’ll fail and it’ll be his fault,” Cho shrugged again, tossing her long black hair over her shoulder as she stood up, “I’m off to Quidditch practice but I’ll see you later!”

Y/N waved bye to her friend and watched her leave the room. She peered our the window, which looked down upon the Quidditch pitch, and regretted her decision not to return to the team this year.

She stood up off her chair and made her way towards her dorm room, where she flopped down on her bed and decided to write a letter home.

— —

Entering the Great Hall after a Quidditch match was always a bit of a hassle. Students rushed to congratulate teammates and talk about the moves they pulled during the matches. This afternoon, Ravenclaw had played Slytherin, who ended up beating them by a decent amount. Malfoy, much to Y/N’s dismay, caught the Snitch before Cho, leaving the Ravenclaw dinner table sulking while the Slytherin one was rowdy and chaotic.

Y/N was sat next to Cho, who was slouched over her empty plate with her bangs hanging in her face, ashamed of having missed the Snitch by inches.

“Stop pouting,” Y/N placed her hand on her friends’ shoulder, “The more you sulk the more they boast. You played well, we only lost by a hundred and sixty.”

Cho’s head shot up, “Only? That’s a big score difference. Could have won if I wasn’t distracted.”

Y/N pulled her friend closer, shaking her gently with a smile on her face, “Cho, seriously. Don’t beat yourself up over this, please. You’re a brilliant Seeker and one game won’t change that.”

Cho smiled lightly, nodding her head and silently thanking Y/N for her support. Y/N grinned and brought the plate of pork chops closer to them, starting to fill up her plate with food, Cho doing the same now that her mood had improved slightly.

“Y/L/N,” Y/N’a head snapped up at the sound of her name, and she came face to face with Draco, who was wearing a proud grin on his face as he gazed at a pissed off Cho before turning his attention back to the person he was here to speak to.

“Yes?” she asked, hoping he wasn’t about to retaliate the comment she made the other day.

“I spoke to Professor Binns about cancelling our lessons,” he spoke slowly, the smirk faltering from his face, “He said we couldn’t do that. So we’re meeting tomorrow at noon in the library.”

Y/N blinked rapidly, “We’re still holding lessons?” She was shocked, she didn’t think Draco, nor Binns, would let the lessons continue after the train wreck that happened in their first and only lesson.

“Apparently,” Draco replied, turning away and stalking off, not saying another word to her. She watched him walk away, confusion laced in her brain. Why did either of them allow the lessons to continue?

She brushed it off, already nervous for tomorrow. Was it going to be like last week? Should she be nicer? Would he be nicer? She almost laughed at the thought of someone forcing Draco to be nice so he could pass a class.

She dug into her food, mentally preparing for the following afternoon.

— —

“So Heka is what the Ancient Egyptians called the concept of magic,” Y/N explained, her quill resting in her hand, “They believed Heka was this magical force that created the universe and the gods.”

Draco nodded, continuing to scribble down the words quickly. Y/N was to lost in her explanation she had barely noticed how quickly she was speaking. But Draco, too busy trying to remember her words, didn’t bother telling her to slow down.

“Heka was also a strategy — a way of practicing magic. In order to perform it, though, one had to be considered ‘pure.’ It was very popular back then,” she rambled on, tapping her quill against her cheek as she studied the drawings in the book, still deeply fascinated by the beginning of magic.

“Slow down,” Draco finally said, wiggling his fingers as his hand was starting to cramp from the constant writing he was doing. Y/N apologized, taking a short break from talking while he noted down the rest of what she said.

They had been sitting here for about an hour. It wasn’t awkward, but it wasn’t exactly friendly. They greeted each other briefly, no one mentioning their last session, before Y/N dove into the topics they had studied so far this year to avoid any off-topic discussions.

“You speak really fast, you know,” Draco mumbled, placing his quill down and gazing at his red fingers, “I don’t think I’ve ever written this much.”

“Not even in class?” Y/N asked, hiding a smile. Although he probably didn’t mean it as one, she took it as a compliment.

“I’ve never written a note in class,” he shrugged, looking up to her, his face still slightly laced with boredom but more awake than it had been last time. Y/N grinned, hiding it by looking out the window. She prided herself on being a good speaker. She had tutored a young Hufflepuff in potions last year and even Snape was impressed by the kid’s improvement. That was possibly one of the proudest moments of her life.

“You played well yesterday,” she said suddenly, not sure why she decided to take the topic away from academics. Her eyes widened after she heard herself, turning back to Draco, who happened to now be wearing a grin, his quill and parchment forgotten.

“Even though we beat you?” he raised an eyebrow, taking his elbows off the table and crossing his arms. Y/N rolled her eyes, knowing she shouldn’t have said anything. His ego was clearly boosted. And they weren’t exactly friends, either.

“I didn’t say I was glad you did,” she spoke quickly, hating the fact that she could feel her cheeks warming up under his gaze, “I’m just saying you played well. That’s all.”

He chuckled. Y/N stopped what she was doing and stared at him. She was almost certain she had never heard him laugh before.

“What’s your friend Chang going to say when you tell her you thought I played well?” he grinned, somewhat too pleased with the turn in conversation.

“She isn’t as obsessed with her reputation as you are,” Y/N quipped back, wanting to change the topic, “Now, back to work.” She flipped to the next page of the book, hiding her gaze from the boy across from her. Draco, sensing that their break came to an end, picked up his quill once again and sighed.

“We also have the Clovis. Which were named by the Magihistorians, and the Clovis are the first people to have arrived in America,” Y/N tapped a page in the book, speaking slower this time so Draco could write without struggling, “The original term for them was Kaia-Vana. The name changed to Clovis in 1935 after a Wizarding conference in Vienna. They changed the name so both Muggles and Wizards could agree on one term.”

She was glad that the chapter on the Clovis was a long one, as it prevented another awkward conversation between her and Draco to occur again. He was scribbling away, so Y/N gave him a moment to catch up. As she did, she looked him over. His tongue was swiping across his lower lip in concentration, a strand of blond hair falling into his face, and his blue eyes darted between his quill and his parchment, taking note of every last word Y/N was saying in his messy yet readable handwriting.

He was, Y/N reluctantly admit, rather attractive. And she hated that.

“Y/L/N?” Draco asked, waving his hand in front of her face, causing her to blink and return to reality.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, fumbling with the page of the book in between her fingers, “Was distracted — thinking about the, uh Clovis — you know.”

She cursed herself for getting distracted by Draco Malfoy’s stupid looks.

“Right,” he nodded, not fully believing her, “Well, its about the end of this session. So, I’ve got to get going. Got other plans.”

Y/N hadn’t even noticed it was almost two thirty. Time had slipped right by her.

She nodded her head, closing her book after marking the page, “Sorry, didn’t even notice the time.”

Draco shrugged, “I’m keeping track. Want to get out of here as fast as I can.”

“Right,” she smiled softly, putting her book away and glancing out the window. The rain was heavily pouring down and the rumbling of thunder was growing louder by the second.

“When should we have the next lesson?” Draco asked, turning back to face her before making his way out of the library. She snapped her eyes back to him, shrugging.

“We can do same time next week?”

Draco nodded before leaving, the strand of hair still dangling in his face. Y/N watched him go, this time not out of shock, but because she had rather enjoyed today and wondered why he had still wanted to rush out of here. They hadn’t argued, and he had even been tolerable. Which was saying something, considering she expected him to be ruder than ever after what she said to him last time.

Her eyes looked out the window once more, the heavy drops rolling down the stained glass, dark skies looming overhead and the crack of lightning causing a few students throughout the library to jump.

Y/N chuckled, her mind swirling with how she was feeling. Something about her was regretting only offering a session next week. Why not sooner? She brushed off her eagerness as the fact that she was glad to be helping Professor Binns, but a part of her knew that despite this only being her second time tutoring Draco, she was looking forward to the next lesson.

— —

“This is stupid,” Cho groaned during their walk to Transfigurations a few days later, “I can’t believe Quidditch practice is cancelled because of rain. So what? We’ve played in worse weather before.”

“Sorry, Cho,” Y/N grinned, amused at how riled up her friend was getting, “Guess the rain is just really bad.”

Cho glanced over, “You seem way too cheerful. Thanks for reeling in my sadness, Y/N.”

“Oh, come on,” Y/N poked her side lightly, “Cancelled practice means that you and I can hang out! And you can tell me everything that’s going on between you and Potter. And don’t deny anything!”

Cho’s cheeks went pink, “Shush! Don’t announce it to the whole school!”

Y/N tilted her head back in laughter, strolling into the Transfigurations class and taking her usual seat. They shared this class with the Slytherins, and although Y/N never cared much before, she found her eyes absentmindedly wandering over to wear Draco was seated next to a girl she recognized as Pansy Parkinson. Y/N had hated her since first year. Pansy had it out for Y/N — probably because she was muggleborn — but Y/N didn’t understand why her. However, Y/N also knew Pansy had a thing for Draco. Half the school knew, she wasn’t exactly inconspicuous.

“Are you — oh my god,” Cho whispered loudly, slapping Y/N lightly across the shoulder and startling her out of her daze, “You’re staring at him! Don’t tell me—”

“It’s nothing,” Y/N shushed her, eyes wide, “I’m glaring at Pansy. She’s such a little pig. Do you see her stupid face?”

“No, you’re staring at Malfoy,” Cho smirked, pointing a finger at her friend, “Remember though, you used to call him a git.”

“Yeah, that was when he called me a stupid muggleborn in second year, he was just a kid,” Y/N found herself defending her feelings for some unknown reason, “Look, we got along last lesson and it was easy. I just want to keep it up.”

Cho was about to retaliate, but Professor McGonagall made her entrance and began the class, silencing any whispering and talking that might have been going on. Cho gave her friend a look that said ‘this isn’t over’ before beginning to take down what McGonagall was saying.

Y/N groaned, dreading the conversation already.

— —

Saturday was the day that Y/N had been annoyingly anticipating. Her lesson with Draco was at noon, and so she made her way down with Cho for an early breakfast, the two ladies laughing as they entered the hall. Cho was giddy as ever now that the clear sky and cool breeze meant perfect practice conditions, but also because Ravenclaw shared the Quidditch pitch with Gryffindor today, which meant Harry would be there.

Y/N, however, abruptly stopped laughing as she collided into a body. Steadying herself and mumbling apologies, she came face to face with a glaring Pansy Parkinson, who looked ready to rip her apart.

“Sorry, Parkinson,” Y/N said rapidly, brushing off her robes even though they weren’t dirty, “I didn’t see you.”

“Are you blind?” Pansy screeched, unfortunately catching the attention of quite a few students, “Watch where you’re going, mudblood!”

Without another word, Pansy stormed past her and out of the Great Hall, leaving Y/N standing there both traumatized and humiliated. The students who were watching turned their heads quickly, whispering to their friends and trying to act casual. Y/N was rooted to the spot. She had never been called a mudblood before. Ever. It was the worst feeling she could have possibly experienced.

“I’ll — I’ve got to go,” Y/N turned to Cho, who was glaring daggers at Pansy’s retreating figure, and took off down the hall. Her heart felt heavy and the scratchy feeling in her throat was irritating. She didn’t want to cry. But as she thought of her parents and how they were living their normal lives while she was here, being called out because of something she couldn’t control, she felt her heart sunk further and further down.

She took off down the halls and finally reached an opening, where she marched down towards a large rock next to the still water of the Black Lake. She climbed onto it and sat silently for a long time, thinking up ways she could get back at Pansy Parkinson for the way she had treated her. Y/N couldn’t remember the last time somebody’s words had affected her so much. It wasn’t a good feeling.

She kept her eyes glued to the lake, watching the giant squid swim around in all her glory. The scenery really was peaceful at this time of the morning, and luckily for Y/N, the only person out at this time was Hagrid — who was too busy caring for his chaotic Blast-Ended Skrewts to notice her.

After what felt like an hour, maybe even longer, Y/N decided she’d trek back into the castle and make her way to the library. She did still have a lesson, after all. But she found she was no longer excited about it.

Making her way back into the castle and avoiding her fellow Ravenclaws — who had no doubt heard about what happened between her and Pansy — she headed straight for the library. Upon entering, she walked straight towards the table at the back where she usually sat with Draco, but nearly stopped in her tracks when she noticed he was already sitting there.

“You’re late,” he gazed up at her, eyes following her every move as she sat down across from him, “And you don’t have your backpack.”

Y/N was so bothered by what happened this morning that she didn’t even bother to bring her book. She wanted to slap herself over the forehead for how stupid she was being.

“It’s okay, I brought my own book, actually,” Draco grinned sheepishly, leaning down into his own bag and pulling out his own personal copy of A History of Magic by Bathila Bagshot.

“You have your own,” Y/N grinned slightly, proud of the fact that she had influenced him, “Which is good, I didn’t bring mine.”

Draco frowned, placing the book down on the desk between them, “Why is that? You’re usually so organized.”

Y/N felt defensive, “Sorry, Malfoy. Guess I’m just being stupid.” She wasn’t sure why she snapped at him, but her emotions from this morning were still boiling right beneath the surface, ready to explode.

“What? Why would you say that?” Draco asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he leaned closer to her over the table, “Wait, is this about what Parkinson said this morning?”

Y/N flushed, looking up at him, “You heard about that? Did she go around bragging about calling me a mudblood? Wouldn’t be surprised.”

Draco shook his head, “I, er, was actually in the room when it happened. I saw it all.”

If she wasn’t already humiliated, hearing him say that made her feel even worse. She blinked, trying to hold back tears, and gazed out the window to the familiar view. Of course he saw it all.

“I’m sorry she said that,” he said softly. So softly, in fact, that she barely even heard him.

She peered back around at him, “Why are you sorry?”

“You didn’t deserve that,” he gazed down at the table where he was twiddling with his thumbs, “She was out of line. But she’s seen me do it so many times that I guess she just... caught on.”

“You shouldn’t do it either, you know,” Y/N’a voice was soft, thinking back to when she saw Draco shouting at Hermione in second year, calling her the same foul name Pansy had just called her, “Just because you’re pureblooded doesn’t instantly make you better than everyone else, you know—”

Draco nodded, cutting her off, “I know.” He looked apologetic, and she took it as a sign that he was indeed sorry.

They sat in silence for a little while, neither of them knowing what to say next, before Y/N leaned over and opened Draco’s copy of the book, continuing on from where they left off last week. She didn’t want to sit here and sulk, but Draco seemed distracted this lesson, paying more attention to her than to writing everything down like he had the last two times.

Y/N wasn’t complaining, but her curiously was piqued. Was he just zoned out, or was he paying attention to her on purpose?

She wasn’t sure, but she also wasn’t complaining.

— —

Their next few lessons went quiet smoothly. They had been getting along more and more, to the point where they had even shared a few conversations outside of class. They chatted about things other than History of Magic, and he even came to greet her at her table during dinner one day, not even caring that his Slytherin friends looked disgusted by him breaking a house barrier.

However, as he started improving, Y/N knew their lessons were coming to an end. He was a surprisingly quick learner, making Y/N wonder why he had struggled so much in the first place.

As they entered their History of Magic class for their mid-term quiz — which they had studied for together all weekend — he strolled in with confidence, thanking her for being such a great teacher.

The quiz was easy for Y/N, so she kept gazing over to Draco, who had a smile on his face. He seemed to know the answers, and she prided herself on being the reason for that.

As they left the class, Professor Binns called them both up to the front. Draco gave her a thumbs up, muttering a quiet ‘thanks’ for helping him pass, and they listened to what their professor had to say.

“Well, Miss Y/L/N, you did a great job,” Professor Binns’ voice sounded dreamy, “Mister Malfoy gained a perfect score on the test, thanks to you.”

“I did?” Draco’s face broke out into a grin, and so did Y/N’s, “Thank you, Professor.”

Y/N patted Draco on the back, “I told you you had it in you!” He grinned back at her, and that’s when she noticed how close to each other they were standing. Her breath caught in her throat and she pulled away, luckily Professor Binns was too distracted by the air around him to notice.

“I think we can end tutoring lessons,” Professor Binns spoke loudly, floating up above them, “So thank you both for your hard work.” Without saying bye, he floated up through the ceiling and disappeared, leaving Y/N and Draco standing there in awkward silence.

“I guess I knew lessons would have to come to an end soon, but this is sooner than I thought,” Draco turned to face her, his face soft, “You really did help me. And I’m very thankful.”

“You’re welcome, Malfoy,” she smiled sadly, ignoring the strange feeling in her chest now that the private lessons between them were over, “You were a surprisingly good student.”

“Only ‘cause I had a great teacher,” he retaliated without missing a beat, causing both of them to flush slightly, “And you — you can call me Draco, you know.”

She beamed up at him, “And you can call me Y/N. Not that you will, I know you’re more of a last name kind of—,”

He cut her off by pressing his lips on hers. Y/N stayed frozen, eyes wide, she processed what just happened.

Draco pulled away after realizing her shock, “I’m sorry — I don’t know why I did that.”

Y/N shook her head, blinking rapidly, her heart going crazy inside her rib cage. She looked up at him, the blue in his eyes seemed warmer than they ever had before, and so she knew he really did feel something for her and it wasn’t just a ‘heat of the moment’ kiss. So, she did what any girl would do.

She grabbed his tie and pulled his lips down to hers once more. Butterflies erupted in her chest as his hands wrapped around her wrist, pulling her closer and keeping their lips moulded together. He was a really good kisser.

She reached her hands around his neck, tugging lightly at his hair. She felt him shiver lightly, pulling her closer and continuing to press his lips against hers as if his entire world depended on it.

After a good moment, the two of them pulled away to catch their breath. Their lips were swollen, but they both wore grins.

“Well,” Draco smirked, “I should have done this before kissing you, but would you like to accompany me to Hogsmeade next weekend? Now that we don’t have to study together, that is.”

Y/N grinned, her breathing still heavy and her heart still soaring out of her chest.

“I’d love to.”

#draco malfoy #draco malfoy imagine #draco malfoy imagines #draco malfoy one shot #draco malfoy one shots #draco malfoy fanfic #draco malfoy fanfics #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy reader insert

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hairringtonsteve · 4 years ago

Text

v. ashes to ashes. [quixotic]

[steve harrington x reader (female)]

series summary: everyone that knew the truth about hawkins lab thought it was over, that it was all over. they thought that the fighting was over, the bad men were gone. the portal was closed. people were safe. you, however, you knew the truth. things were far from over. and they were coming fast.

word count: 5,913 words

a/n: ... hi. it’s been over a year. life is hard, guys, but i’m back. and i’m writing, albeit slowly. was it a good idea to be determined to finish this while also starting a master’s? probably not. but i’d rather write about this than study media theory, so we’ll use it. also please come say hi? i’ve missed you guys.

tw: language, gore, minor ptsd.

master list | chapter list

*****

You were twelve years old when Doctor Arayed brought some snotty five-year-old into the lab. She’d been crying so hard her face was red and her breathing was raspy, her eyes darting around the lab as she tried to take everything in.

“This is number Eighteen,” Doctor Arayed said, calling your attention from where you were hooked up to an IV drip. Your gaze lingered on the kid before looking back at her with a raised brow. “She’ll be joining your block.”

You had nodded, remaining silent. They’d been bringing more and more kids into the lab, but no one would tell anyone why. All you knew was that they weren’t bringing just babies in anymore, but older kids too, heads freshly shaved and thick, black numbers behind their ears. The kid looked to the right and you could see it.

018.

“Watch her while I have to step out, please.” You nodded once more, waiting until she left the room to say anything.

“Don’t touch anything. They don’t like it when you touch shit.” The corner of your mouth curled up at the word. Alex had taught it to you the other day when you’d both been stuck waiting in the hallway to go through some tests. He’d whispered it to you, grinning at you conspiratorially as he’d warned you not to use it in front of the doctors.

Eighteen didn’t say anything, instead opting to bring her thumb up to her mouth to suck on it. You watched her, that small kid standing in the middle of all of the medical equipment, and something in your chest had twitched. She needed someone to look after her, just like Alex had looked after you.

It had hurt when she decided to not go with you, Tee, and Seb after everyone had escaped the lab. But she had been right, saying that the older ones needed to split up to look after the younger ones — even if she was only twelve.

It hurt more when your eyes had honed in on the blood-splattered 018 amidst the bodies.

They were everywhere. You’d been in shock, staring at the amount. Teeth marks littered them, the familiar rows upon rows upon rows of sharp teeth. You could almost hear the snarling and the growling of the monsters, just like that night in the lab. But this was worse. This was so much worse. You didn’t know what to do. Your gaze flickered over them, unable to stop. You couldn’t recognize them, but you knew. You knew what happened.

The next was a blur of stumbling down the steps, feeling the blood stick to your skin and clothes. You had just enough good sense to look around as you hit the ground floor. You couldn’t go outside, couldn’t let them see. The kids couldn’t know. Your head jerked around, finally settling on another door opposite the one you’d come in through. You darted over to it, ignoring how your right food skidded from the pool of blood — there were bodies in the corner you couldn’t look at them — and slammed your shoulder into the door to shove it open.

The sun was too bright. You looked down to avert your eyes and the blood was too red on your clothes, your skin. You could feel the vomit rising up within you. You leaned over, heaving the half-digested diner food onto the ground.

“El?” You heard Steve call. You’d forgotten to try to keep yourself quiet while puking. Great. “El, you good?”

You opened your mouth to respond, but a sob slipped out. You clapped your hand over your mouth only to belatedly remember that it was covered in blood.

You puked again.

A few seconds later you could hear footsteps in the gravel around the side of the warehouse. You hoped beyond all hopes that it wasn’t Tee or Seb. They couldn’t see you like this.

“El? Jesus, holy shit.” You looked up to see Steve staring at you as he’d rounded the corner, wide-eyed and panicky. He opened his mouth to yell but you gave a sharp jerk of your head.

“Don’t,” you croaked out. Another sob ripped its way from your thought. Steve took a step closer.

“I told Tee to watch over Seb. They won’t come over.”

Distantly, you appreciated that. Tee wouldn’t risk Seb witnessing stuff just to satisfy her own curiosity. She was good that way.

You stared at Steve. The blood was dripping from your clothes to the ground. Steve took another step closer. And then another. And another until he was within arm’s reach of you. He stared at you silently before he started tugging off his sweater.

“What are you—”

“You need out of those clothes. I’ve got a t-shirt on under this.” He pulled it over his head and used his free hand to cover his eyes. “At least switch shirts, okay?” His voice was soft like he was talking to a wounded animal. You swallowed and started to shake your head. “El, you need to change your shirt. You’ll freak out the kids if you keep it on.”

With a shaky breath, you nodded. He stood there, hand clapped over his eyes while you tugged your shirt over your head. You held your breath to keep the metallic stink of the blood out of your nose. Your eyes were squeezed shut so you wouldn’t get anything in them. The warm, muggy air hit your bare skin. You were bare, exposed despite the fact that you still had a bra on. You reached for his sweater, your fingers brushing his as you grasped the dark green fabric. You put it on, your hands shaking hard enough that it took you a little longer than normal.

Dead. They were all dead.

The realization slammed into you as you pulled the sweater over your head. The second it was situated on your body, you let out a choked whimper. Steve’s hand dropped from his face and he stepped forward, his arms wrapping around you. Instinctively you shoved him away, the sheer discomfort of being restrained briefly overriding your need to be soothed. He let his arms drop, but didn’t step away. You were trembling as you clapped a hand over your mouth so Tee and Seb wouldn’t hear.

“It’s okay to cry, El.” The words fell out of Steve’s mouth so soft that you almost didn’t catch them. But you did, and when they registered, you sat on the ground and drew your knees to your chest. You pressed your face between your knees and started to sob violently. Steve sat down beside you, leaving a good six inches between you. It was hard to tell how long it had been before you quietly heard him ask if he could touch you.

Eventually, you nodded.

He was slow in his movements as he scooted towards you. His side was pressed against yours, warm and solid, almost grounding in a way. He draped his arm around your shoulders, tugging you into him light enough that you could resist if you wanted. But you didn’t. You leaned into him a little as you cried and cried and cried. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair. They were all dead and you were left alone to keep Tee and Seb alive. You couldn’t do this.

Time didn’t exist while you were crying. But it wasn’t until your cries had lessened just a touch when you heard footsteps pounding against the gravel. Both you and Steve jumped to your feet as you braced yourself for a threat. Instead, it was Tee who came around the corner, eyes wide.

“There are two SUVs coming down the road, they’re —” Her voice cut off as she eyed you up. While there wasn’t blood on Steve’s shirt, it was everywhere else. Your hands, your face, your jeans, your sneakers. “What happened?”

You were shaking your head before she even started asking the question. “We need to get Seb. Now.”

The three of you started towards the corner. You reached it first and forced yourself to a stop when you saw two looming bodies at the far end of the building. Jerking out your arm, you kept Tee from being seen as she was clotheslined. “Back, back, back.” You hissed.

The three of you backtracked. You glanced around, trying to find a place to hide. Surrounding the warehouse was nothing but sparse weeds. Your stomach roiled at the thought of going back in there, but you didn’t have a choice. You nodded your head through the door you’d forced open earlier. The other two nodded, Steve motioning for you to lead the way.

It was hard for your eyes to adjust to the darkness as you stepped inside, keeping low and pressed against the wall. As far as you could tell, no one had made it inside yet. After your eyes had adjust, you looked around and saw some weird looking machinery a few feet away. You pressed two fingers together and motioned them towards the machinery.

Thankfully, the blood splatters weren’t as bad on that side of the building.

The three of you made it to the machines. The smell was vile. There were four bodies — all adult men, from the looks of what was left — torn to shreds. Blood was pooled everywhere, as were various organs. Behind you, you could hear Steve gag.

From across the warehouse, you heard the squeaking of the door, the one you’d first entered. Your eyes went wide as more and more light filtered into the warehouse. Panic filled your veins. A tap on your shoulder got you to turn towards Tee, who was motioning towards one of the machines. It was up a little higher than the others, space just enough to crawl underneath.

“You two hide under there,” Steve hissed. “I’ll find someplace else.”

Without waiting, Tee slid under the machine first. You followed her, trying to ignore the feeling of blood sliding down the back of your body. The two of you got situated and then you asked, “Where’s Seb?”

“I don’t know, I told him to go hide.”

“Tee,” you hissed.

“I needed to go get you,” she whispered, her voice hard. “He’s smart. He’s a good hider.”

You opened your mouth to respond when another voice chimed in from across the warehouse. Your blood ran cold.

“The car outside, who does that belong to?”

You could feel Tee stiffen beside you.

“According to our files, Doctor Brenner, it looks as though it belongs to a resident of Hawkins, Indiana, sir.”

You shut your eyes as you tried to hold back the bile that was rising in your throat. He wasn’t there, he couldn’t be there, couldn’t be that close. Not again. Not again. Images from your time at the lab flickered through your imagination. Memories of being strapped down to tables, being injected with things that made your body hurt and made you scream until your throat was raw. Of straining your abilities until the blood was dripping down your face. Of the isolated horror that shot through your very core as you repeated the words that Brenner had told you to tell the man while using your powers. Of the man in question taking the knife and plunging it into his stomach, repeatedly. Of the sleepless nights while you were helpless to stop those images from racing across the backs of your eyes.

“Was there confirmed contact between the escapees and the Hawkins sheriff?”

There was a pause. “Yes, sir.”

“Send a team out to Hawkins to handle the situation. Have the rest sweep the area.” All that you could hear were the footsteps of what sounded to be a few people leaving the warehouse. You let your eyes drift shut as you reached out with your awareness, trying to pick up on anything. A little bit of blood trickled out of your nose as you pushed yourself just enough. There was still someone in the warehouse. Maybe you could slip behind them, convince them to leave, just long enough for the three of you to find better hiding spots. You turned your head slightly towards Tee so you could whisper to her what you were going to say when you heard it.

A scream.

You knew that scream.

Without thinking, you used your feet to scoot yourself from underneath the machine. Distantly, you could hear Tee doing the same. There was blood dripping from you as you stood up, but you didn’t care. You didn’t even register the stink of death at that point. You started to run, your feet pounding on the concrete floor as fast as they could go while the screaming continued and got more hysterical. There was someone near the door, blocking your route to a terrified and screaming Seb. You spotted a shard of glass near the man’s feet. As you grew closer, he turned around. You stopped running. Your eyes locked with his. Blood poured out of your nose. For a split second, you hated yourself for what you were about to do. You pushed out with your mind as you spoke, pouring all of your focus into what you were saying.

“Take that piece of glass and slit your throat.”

There was a pause — you imagined it like a fog drifting over a person’s brain as the order took hold — and then his movements grew stiff. He bent down, picked up the piece of glass, and dragged it across the skin of his neck. Blood trickled out as he began to stagger back, just enough space for you to get by him. You darted past him into the bright sunlight. It was so bright it hurt.

“Let me GO!” The shriek came from your left. You turned to see two men trying to drag Seb along the ground, the dust flying up as the kid kicked his legs. Another two men came from around the back of the building, followed by a third with white hair. The sight of Brenner made you freeze. Hearing him was one thing, but seeing him was entirely different. He looked older, even from a distance. Instead of the imposing figure that he’d been in the lab back in Montauk, he looked weary. His eyes widened at the sight of you. You could still hear his voice from that first meeting years ago, imploring you to call him Papa. The same feeling of fear and disgust that had turned your stomach sour back then was rising up once more.

From behind you, you heard another scream. But this time, it wasn’t the terrified scream of a child being dragged away from his family. No, this was worse. It was anguished, a kind of howling reserved for deep, incomprehensible amounts of pain. A long shriek of ‘NO’ came from the warehouse.

Tee.

You knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she’d found them. The bodies. Your family. The kids that had been your brothers and sisters. You watched as the agents and Seb came to a standstill, staring at something behind you. You turned around and watched as Tee stood in the doorway. Her eyes were wide and wild as she lifted up a hand. Her hand was red, the blood dripping onto the gravel. A small line of red trickled from her nose as she started to scream.

Looking around, panic filled your chest as you dove to the left, scrambling to get behind Steve’s car. Gravel dug into the palms of your hands as you tried to keep your balance. A blast of heat and power erupted from Tee’s general direction. While you were saved from the brunt of it, it still lifted you up from your feet and propelled you forward. Pain ricocheted through your body as it slammed into the ground. You laid there, wincing. And then the screams started.

It took all that you had within you to shove yourself to standing. You swayed as you whipped your head to where the agents had been holding Seb. The movement made your vision a little blurry. Even with your vision skewed, you could make out the flaming bodies of the agents thrashing around on the ground. Their screams were desperate. The sounds of grown men begging for their lives, begging for the pain to stop almost distracted you from looking for Seb. You’d have nightmares about this for years, you thought to yourself. You started to turn your head to the warehouse when you finally saw him.

Your breath caught in your throat when your gaze landed on a smaller body lying motionless near one of the vehicles. It was surrounded by two much larger bodies, both on fire. Neither were moving. There was no rational thought as you ran forward, just the same mantra screaming over and over in your head. He couldn’t be dead he couldn’t be dead he couldn’t be dead he couldn’t be

Unconscious. The word registered faintly in your mind as you saw the slightest movement in his chest. He was breathing, but barely. Flames licked at your legs as you crouched down beside him. It wasn’t the smartest move, but you had to move him. You had to get him out of there. Muscles ached as you lifted him up as gently as you could. It took everything you had within you, but step by painful step, you got him to Steve’s car. You set him down on the gravel, eyes raking across his form as you tried to gauge how bad it was. He chest was barely moving as he breathed. He reminded you of a frail bird that had fallen from its nest.

Footsteps crunched the gravel behind you. You turned around, eyes wide as Brenner stood a few feet away from you. There were smaller cuts on his face, but he’d missed the worst of the blast. He looked at you, unreadable.

“He’s not going to make it without my help.”

“Just stop.” Your voice cracked as you spoke.

“Moving him to the car made him worse. He needs medical help.”

You could tell him what to do. You could tell him to kill himself, just like the agent from earlier. You could tell him to keep walking and never stop. You could end things right then and there. You risked a glance back to Seb. His breathing was getting more shallow by the second.

“He’s going to die and it’s going to be your fault.”

Your fault. Just like everyone else’s deaths at the lab were your fault. Just like Vee’s death was your fault. You were the oldest. You were in charge.

Keep them safe, Alex had told you. You stared at Seb’s body. The burns looked painful.

You turned your gaze back to Brenner, eyes narrowing as he continued on. “Come now — what is it they called you in Hawkins? Elise? We both know that he’s going to die if you leave him like this.”

“He’s not—”

“He is. He’ll be dead unless I get him the help he requires. We have a facility nearby. We can save him.”

What was better, Seb being locked up again and alive or dying at five years old?

“He — he can’t — he—”

“He’ll live. We will take good care of him.” Brenner paused. “You and Fifteen could go free. We won’t go after you.”

“You’re lying.” Of course he was lying. He’d take Seb and then he’d take the both of you and then everything was for naught. They all would have died for nothing.

“What use would I have of lying? You’ve wasted my time and resources with all of this running. There’s a trail of bodies that’s growing longer with every day that you’re running. Let me save him, and I’ll let you be.”

Your heart was in your throat as you turned to look back at Seb. You’d put him through enough. He needed help. He needed help that you couldn’t give him.

“You’ll save him?” You asked, not bothering to look at Brenner. You already knew his answer.

“Of course.”

You swallowed, trying to ignore the growing lump in your throat. Seb would be safe. Seb would live. Seb wouldn’t die because of you.

“Fine. Just save him, please.” You looked up just in time to see Brenner raise his hand in the air, motioning to an agent that looked mostly unscathed. Upon his approach, however, you could see where the flames had burned through the sleeve of his jacket. Bright red skin, raw and tight, peeked through the fabric. But he picked up Seb’s limp body without a word. With every step that he took towards the SUV, the more you wanted to scream. You managed to rip your gaze away long enough to look back to Brenner. “When he wakes up, tell him I love him?”

Brenner regarded you with a look that was almost pitying. He didn’t respond, however. Instead, he just turned on his heel and headed towards the vehicle. As you watched him walk away, your mouth opened but no sounds came out. You just tried to push out the pain and anger and helplessness as much as you could. The overwhelming feeling of failure filled you as they placed Seb in the backseat. You stared at the back door, not taking your eyes off it as they started up the car and pulled away, dust blowing up behind them.

“El?” Steve called, sounding desperate. You shoved yourself up and started to limp towards Steve. He was crouching over Tee’s body, looking between the two of you frantically. “Where’s Seb?” He asked as you got close.

You ignored him, instead crouching down to press a hand against Tee’s forehead. She was burning up, which wasn’t surprising. “I think she’s fine. She just used up too much power and knocked herself out.”

“El, where’d they take Seb?” Steve asked. This time, his voice was quieter. He laid a hand against your shoulder. You wanted to knock it away, but you didn’t. You couldn’t muster up the energy to get annoyed. So instead you leaned into his touch a little. It wasn’t comforting, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world either.

“I don’t know.” You looked over to him, meeting his gaze with a frown. “He was going to die if he didn’t go with them.”

“What are we going to do?”

You took in a deep breath through your nose, letting it out through your mouth as you looked back down to Tee. You tried to shove away the feelings of failure, of anger and pain and loss, in an effort to focus.

“We’re going after him.”

• • •

Steve waited until the two of you had managed to get Tee into the backseat of his car before informing you that Hopper was waiting at a motel two towns over. You scowled. He ignored it.

“Look, he figured that we’d need backup or a place to stay. And it looks like he was right on both accounts.” You slammed his car door harder than what was needed as you got in. He turned around in his seat and frowned.

“Anything else you’d like to tell me about?”

Steve shrugged. “Not that I can think of. But I’ll keep you updated if anything comes to mind.”

The rest of the ride was quiet. Tee started to wake up around fifteen minutes after the three of you had gotten on the road. When you’d heard her rustling around, you twisted in your seat to look at her. The two of you locked eyes, but she didn’t say anything. Seb wasn’t there.

She automatically knew what that meant.

When Steve turned into the parking lot of the motel, it wasn’t difficult to spot Hopper. The light of his lit cigarette flickered out from where he was leaning against the back of his car. He took it out of his mouth as Steve pulled the car into the spot next to his.

“You kids look like hell,” he said as you opened the door. You blinked, and then glanced down. You’d forgotten that you were covered in blood. “Come on in. Joyce made me grab some soap and shampoo, sent some food along too.”

“I’m not hungry,” Tee mumbled as she climbed out of the back. Hopper shrugged.

“Doesn’t matter. You need to eat something. Joyce’ll be on my ass if she found out I didn’t feed you.” He fished around in the pocket of his jacket before pulling out two room keys. He held them out to Tee, who took one and handed you the other. “You two get showered and fed. Harrington and I need to talk.”

Steve balked.

As you and Tee headed towards the room number that matched the key, you could already hear Hopper and Steve arguing.

“What the hell were you thinking?”

“That they—”

“�� needed help, huh, is that it? You can’t just leave, Steve. You were putting yourself and those three in danger. And look where the hell it got you…” Tee knocked her elbow into your arm, jerking you out of eavesdropping. You blinked, noticing that the door was open.

“Let your boyfriend get yelled at. You need a shower.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” you said automatically. There wasn’t any heat behind it. Then again, there wasn’t really anything behind it. The two of you were going through the motions, ignoring the Seb-shaped elephant in the room. You grabbed the shampoo and soap that Hopper had on the table and started towards the door. You got three steps in before turning to Tee. She was staring at her shoes, snapping her fingers to create little flickers of flames. “What’re you thinking?”

She looked up to you, expressionless. “Let’s just get clean.”

You waited for a few seconds to see if she was going to crack. But she didn’t. She just grabbed the other bottle of shampoo and the bar of soap and headed towards the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

Right. Okay then. You headed outside and into the room next to Hopper’s. Panic started to well within your chest, but you ignored it. You needed to shower. Eat something to get Hopper off your back, then come up with a plan to get Seb. There wasn’t any time to panic. You had to focus.

“Okay, shower first,” you mumbled to yourself as you kicked your shoes off. You padded to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door after you flipped the light switch. You set the soap and shampoo near the edge of the shower. You took a deep breath in. Then out. In, then out.

It was hard to get the clothes off. The blood made the fabric stick to your skin enough that you had to peel it all off. The water was freezing when you turned it on, but you didn’t care. The water would warm up eventually. The cold blast hit your back. You stood there, mind blank. The water started to turn pink and then red as it came off. It took awhile, but it started to feel like your skin could breathe again. You stuck an arm around the shower curtain to blindly reach for the shampoo. Your fingers eventually found the plastic bottle. You popped the top off and squirted some in your hand. It was thick, you noted.

Like blood.

You had to hop out of the shower fast to make it to the toilet to start dry heaving. You couldn’t turn the images in your head off. Bodies and blood and fire and Seb and Brenner and the car driving off and the agent slitting his throat. It was hard to tell how long you were leaning against the toilet, the only thing knocking you out of your reverie was a knock at the door.

“Elise?” Steve’s voice came through the door. You blinked and looked down at your naked body. There was still blood. You hadn’t even washed your hair yet.

“I’ll be out in a minute!” You yelled. You stood up and got back in the shower.

You didn’t look when you squeezed the shampoo into your hands once more.

By the time you’d scrubbed your body clean and gotten dressed into some clothes that Hopper had conveniently left on the bed, Steve had left a note on the table to head to Hopper’s room. You tried the door that connected the two rooms, but it was locked. Forgoing shoes, you headed out of your room and walked the five steps to Hopper’s in your bare feet. You knocked twice. Steve answered and stood in the middle of the doorway making sure that there was no way around him.

“Can you move?”

“Are you okay?” His voice was low enough that Hopper and Tee wouldn’t hear.

Were you okay? You wanted to snap, to respond that no, Steve, you weren’t fucking okay. But the longer you watched him, the more the concerned look on his face wore you down. “No,” you murmured. “I’m not.”

He hummed a little, still watching you intently. He went to open his mouth when Hopper spoke from across the room.

“Would you let her in? You’re letting all the cold air out.”

With that, Steve rolled his eyes and stepped aside. Immediately, you honed in on the plate of food that was across from Tee at the table. Waffles. You spared Hopper a glance. He raised a brow. “Eat up. You need it after the day that you’ve had.”

“Did they fill you in?” You asked as you headed to the table.

“Yeah, but I want to hear it from you.”

You nodded as you took a seat. Tee wasn’t making eye contact with you. She just stared at her food, picking at it with a fork. You grabbed one of your own and speared an entire waffle. You lifted it up to your mouth and took a bite. It tasted like ash. Your stomach churned. You sat back in your seat as you set the waffle down and fixed Hopper with a look.

“Where do you want me to begin?”

• • •

“Kid, it’s a trap.”

It took everything within you to not roll your eyes. He’d sat silent the whole time you’d recounted everything, just to state the obvious? “No shit it’s a trap. But Seb needed help. We’ll get him back.”

“We don’t know where they took him.”

“I’ll figure it out.”

Hopper ran a hand over his face and sighed. “You can’t just run off without a plan. That’s not how this works.”

“Look, I’m getting him back.” You looked over to Tee. “We’re going to get him back,” you said. You turned back to Hopper and crossed your arms. “You can either help us or leave.”

“Christ, kid. I’m not saying we’re going to abandon him. But we need a plan. We need to figure out where they went, figure out how to get in, how to get him out. There’s shit we need to talk about so we don’t get killed.”

“Like I said, I’ll figure it out.”

Hopper sighed. “How the hell I managed to find someone more stubborn than you, Harrington, is a miracle.”

“I don’t know, I think Dustin has the both of us beat,” Steve said. It took you a second, but then you remembered the curly-haired kid. Hopped scoffed and muttered something that sounded like goddamn kids. “How about we just head to bed for the night and figure things out, okay? We all need some sleep.” Steve turned his gaze towards you and something flipped in your stomach.

Hopper nodded towards the door that connected his room and yours. “Try to get some rest, you two.”

You glanced at Tee, who nodded and started towards the door. The night was cool as you headed outside, and you took a second to relish it. Hopper’s room had been getting stuffy, although it was hard to tell if it was from the air conditioning not working or, well, everything else.

“Did you see Vee’s body?”

Your heart stopped. “What?”

“Did you see… did you see her body?”

You gave a brief jerk of your head. Stepping towards the door, it took you three tries to get the key into the doorknob. Your hands kept shaking. Tee didn’t notice.

“That means that she’s still alive. She’s still… we could leave her a note at the warehouse? To let her know that we’re still here and that we can go get her.” The hope in her voice was clear. Your heart twisted in your chest as you twisted the doorknob. “We’ll rescue Seb, wait for her, and then we can leave. We can finally be safe.”

The words weren’t coming out. You opened the door and stepped inside, staring at the two beds in front of you. Tee was still talking.

“... be together. We’ll be—”

“Vee’s dead, Tee.” The words left your mouth without meaning to. The secret that you’d been keeping for all that time finally out in the air. Your chest was going to rip in two. The door closed quietly behind you.

“Just because she didn’t get to the warehouse yet doesn’t mean she’s dead. Don’t be so fucking pessimistic.” Her voice was quiet, controlled.

“I’m not being pessimistic, Tee.” You turned to face her. Your voice was soft, almost like Steve’s was when he’d found you out behind the warehouse. Despite it having just been a few hours ago, it felt like days had passed. “I know she’s dead.”

“You don’t know shit.”

“She died back in the lab.” Your voice cracked as your throat got thick. Tears welled in your eyes. Tee’s jaw clenched. “I saw it.”

“You told me she went with the others.”

You took in a deep breath. “I lied.”

“No, you’re lying now. You didn’t see shit.”

“I lied in the lab so we could leave. If you knew about Vee, you wouldn’t have gone with us.”

“You’re so fucking full of it. She’s alive.” You stood there, shaking your head as Tee started shaking. “How’d she die, then, huh?”

“Tee, you don’t need to know. I’m so sorry I lied, but please don’t —”

“Just tell me.”

You took a deep breath in, ignoring the sick feeling in your stomach. “She was shot in the head point blank by one of the guards at the lab.”

Tee stared at you silently. Her eyes were glassy. Her lips parted as she opened her mouth before promptly shutting it. Without a word she turned and reached for the doorknob.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Tee stopped, keeping her hand on the doorknob as she stared at you. It was difficult to ignore the tracks of tears that slipped down her cheeks, past her nose, and then dripped off her jaw.

“Away from you.”

“Tee, come on. Going out there isn’t —”

“Safe? You want to talk about safe? Seb’s gone. Everyone else is dead. Vee is…�� She pressed her lips together as she shook her head. “I’m out of here. You’re on your own, El.”

The door slammed behind her. You stared at the dark wood, focusing on the nicks and scratches that marred it. You didn’t really notice as you sunk down onto the ground. You stared blankly ahead. Numb.

Alone.

• • •

please reblog/like/comment/send me an ask with your thoughts!

• • •

taglist: @dacrethehalls @strangerstuffandthingsimagines @anna-phora @nugturally @nightowlelias @jodibullock1 @hufflepuffsbadger

#steve harrington x reader #stranger things x reader #stranger things #steve harrington

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mistymark · 5 years ago

Text

nct dream x hogwarts

nct dream as hogwarts students // 2.3k words // masterlist // send requests here

r e n j u n

the only slytherin in the gang

probably muggle-born but also top of most of his classes

what can he say hes amazed by this shit

really good at theory-based subjects especially

history of magic is his bitch lets be real

sketches in his books and stuff

says he likes sketching with quills the most because theyre more aesthetic

donghyuck says its because hes pretentious

but the whole group pitched in to get him some really nice canvases and paints and other tools

one of his paintings is hanging in the school somewhere, and the little girl in it smiles and greets all the students as they walk past

somehow she always tries to spit on people who had been annoying him recently - and them only

sometimes she spits on Donghyuck for no reason

jeno laughs and says its because she has a crush on him

uses magic for the dumbest things just because he can

he mastered the wingardium leviosa spell within a week because he couldn't be bothered getting up to get things

when he gets close to graduation, hes pretty much practicing simple wandless magic

once freaked out the first years because jaemin charmed a storm cloud to hang around him for an entire day

it flashed lightning when he got particularly annoyed, which was a lot because that cloud was annoying as shit

has a really old owl that literally looks evil but has called it something like “snuggles”

laughs when he unintentionally swoops too low and skims other students’ heads on mail day

buys all his friends gifts during the holidays and comes back with bags filled with fun shit

pretends he never buys gifts for chenle and jisung

always ends up giving them more

cause hes soft like that

but he headlocks them after to show his dominance

has a habit of throwing his cases in the general direction of the dorm when he comes back from holidays and accidentally hitting other students

plays quidditch in his free time

debates strategies with Jeno during their free periods

gets called a traitor by his own captain

couldnt really give a shit about his own team, he prefers to support his friends

wears his school uniform properly and is the only one in the group who does so

j e n o

a Gryffindor

probably quidditch captain

and dubbed the best player on the team

super humble about it too

always commends his team for doing their best when they lose and every member loves him a lot

the captain that's always saying stuff like “it doesn't matter how this game ends... as long as we try our hardest and play as a team”

the entire team rolls their eyes at his cheesiness but the lack of pressure keeps them at ease

and majority of the time they play really well

though its clear his focus is on quidditch, he still does really well in his classes

cant cook but is somehow rlly good at potions??

likes all the really tiny creatures in care of magical creatures

and they like him too

has a slightly damaged snitch that he carries around with him at all times

one of the wings broke during his first ever game of quidditch and he never got rid of it

he keeps it in the pocket of his robes and fiddles with it when he's anxious about something

has a really good poker face when he's stressed and you'd never know until you hear the soft clicking of his hand playing with it in his pocket while he studies

has a terrible poker face when something confuses him though

during class its so obvious when he doesnt get something

renjun once charmed question marks to hang around his head and everyone in the class died laughing

even jeno

overall great sense of humour

he brought a cat

of course

and its always getting him into trouble for wandering into the off-limits areas of the castle or into the restricted section of the library

once jaemin joked that the cat was actually an animagus that was purposely trying to get him in trouble

and jeno was spooked for like a week

wouldn't let the cat sleep on his bed and almost had a heart attack when he saw it wandering the halls between classes

but there was nothing wrong with the cat

shes just a curious girl

had a major glow-up between 6th and 7th year and everyone fell in love with him lmao

like everyone knew he was fit from quidditch but they didnt know he was that fit you know

heartthrob

d o n g h y u c k

an annoying brat

at least when he first arrived at Hogwarts in first year

has really good intentions though

everyone thought he would get sorted into Slytherin

like the second he stepped on the train and found his way into mark lee’s compartment everyone was like this kid has GOT to be a Slytherin

but no! hufflepuff

true fullsun

used to be a beater on the quidditch team but he was forced to quit until he got his grades up

but he ended up commentating because he couldnt play

and who can actually talk that fast other than the lee donghyuck

and actually found that he enjoyed that more

so even when his grades were t h r i v i n g

he stayed as a commentator

absolutely hilarious and everyone loves him for it

is Not afraid to call out foul plays

mutters quick apologies to the professors when they scold him but does it again later anyway

tbh is actually really popular

known for being dared to stand on the Slytherin table and sing at the top of his lungs

and actually doing it

he got two weeks detention

“worth it” - donghyuck, circa. 2019

has a talent for defence against the dark arts

acts like the smartest person in the room during that class

hes lowkey right tho

(don't tell him)

wears his tie way too loose and constantly gets told off about it

promises professors he’ll fix it then walks away and just,,, doesnt

his Hufflepuff scarf hangs off his bed frame back home

had a toad for his first few years of hogwarts but the toad ended up passing away so now he has a really troublesome owl

the owl itself is a good boy, flies fast and efficiently, but has a nasty habit of pecking donghyuck when hes hungry

“but hes hungry all the time” he whines when jaemin explains the bird’s just hungry. meanwhile, jaemin’s owl is sitting softly beside him, her eyes closed as he pets her

every first day back from holidays hyuck has red lines on his hands, arms and ears from the owl

chenle says its for giving the poor bastard a terrible name

donghyuck never actually refers to his owl by his proper name, always things like “bastard” and “dipshit”

theres a conspiracy theory about the owl’s real name and no one in their group will spill the secret

complains that the animals in care of magical creatures like him more than his own pet

“lol tru” - Chenle

j a e m i n

ravenclaw’s biggest flirt and most popular student

probably didnt even want to run for house captain but still got the position

theres a rumour that he was offered head boy but he turned it down

was the first one to find the kitchens and claimed it as the unofficial hang out spot for their group

if you’re ever missing jaemin, he’s probably in the kitchens chatting up the elves and stealing food every now and then

carries snacks with him everywhere for when he needs to comfort one of his babies house members

literally all the younger year levels feel so comfortable coming to him with their problems

has no issue with staying up in the common room to talk through things with someone

is known to walk people to their classes and then bolt to his own classrooms so hes not late

50% of the school is already in love with him

he was given the angel reputation back in first year and it hasn't let him down

is kind of a troublemaker tho

teases his classmates and even some professors that he has a good relationship with

really really loves transfiguration

probably wants to become an animagus

also wants to be an auror

absolutely loves defence of the dark arts

his owl is white and regal

like genuinely beautiful

she always looks like shes happy to see you

just like her owner uwu

he named her something sweet and meaningful

when Renjuns owl isnt able to fly, jaemin’s owl is eager to take Renjuns mail back to his family for him

wears his jumper all year round

its a good look though,, no ones complaining

was on the quidditch team up until his final year

he dropped it to focus on his studies and also being house captain

it takes him forever to go anywhere because he stops to talk to everyone

somehow knows everyone in school

even the third years in other houses??

runs errands for teachers with a smile

offers to buy food when the group goes out

c h e n l e

another muggleborn

but fits in so well

like the boy is just a natural at magic

unfortunately it doesnt always transfer into his grades

he has such a great interest in everything,,, just not on what hes learning

learnt fourth year history of magic in his first year but still almost failed his exam at the end of year

also hes the best other hufflepuff in the group

didnt understand quidditch for at least a year

ended up in the team in second year and is actually really good

probably the goalie

has the loudest laugh in school

the older professors claim they can hear him from the other side of the castle

somehow gets his hands on all the coolest magic stuff

has the marauders map no doubt

bought himself an invisibility cloak to mess with his friends

makes his professors laugh a lot

fist bumps everyone in school istg

like chenle w h y

really good at muggle studies too

made sure to select it as a subject the entire time he was at hogwarts as a slack class

doesnt really study and then feels threatened when someone gets a mark close to his

studies his butt off for the next test to maintain his status as top rank

definitely had a rat first year because he thought they were cool

and also because he knows rats can be pets like ??? wyd with owls you guys ??? shouldn't they be out in the wild or smth??

was super depressed when he found out how short the lifespans of rats were

ended up having to buy an owl in third year because rip nugget 2k15 :((

his owl is Small

thought it would be funny to call it renjun

but then renjun wouldnt talk to him for almost a week

visits the owlery at least once a week during his free periods to check on his owl

collects his thoughts up there

also rlly likes feeding the owls

sometimes steals Jeno’s cat

catch him in his dorm studying on his bed with Jeno’s cat sleeping in his lap

chenle claims its because the cats like the warm greenhouse vibe the Hufflepuff dorm has going on

but the real reason he bribed the cat into loving him when he first met it

probably was the one to lead the cat to the off-limits areas of the castle

j i s u n g

Gryffindors best seeker to date

kinda shy but is rlly admired by everyone

likes to piss jeno off by missing practice every two practices to study

but low-key hes so good he doesnt really have to go at all

doesnt want a career in quidditch but is constantly reminded he could have one if he wanted it

easily the most popular boy in his year

got asked out a few times this year and awkwardly rejected them all in the nicest way possible

he has a cat thats just as long and skinny as he is

jeno likes to call it sungie and it now responds to that name

enjoys care of magical creatures but very hesitant towards the creatures

but because of his care and precaution, the animals all really love him lmao

gets really soft around them now

seriously oblivious to his admirers tho

chenle once said if the triwizard tournament was to be brought back jisung would be the one to be chosen

has lived in fear ever since

okay jokes

boy could totally win

the only one in the group who has attempted and can successfully perform wordless magic

he knows way too many jinxes and charms off the top of his head that he can easily jinx you without even uttering a word

once was studying in the great hall when one of his friends teased him about rejecting someone and without looking up from his book he just lifted his wand and waved it, jinxing the apple in his friend’s hand to bite him

got detention but honestly the professor was so pleased with his progress it was only a one hour session

has a lot of sass

evidently

never Fully awake at breakfast

always looks really good in the evenings tho

he comes down to breakfast with his tie half undone and the top button of his shirt open

undoes the top buttons when he’s stressed too

professors love having him as a student

especially because they know he hangs out with jaemin

but the fact that he was in renjun and Donghyuck and Chenle’s group was enough for them to be wary

but hes the perfect blend of fun and focused in lessons

likes studying outside in summer

enjoys walking around school grounds during the holidays

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joonsneptune · 5 years ago

Text

Philosophical Thoughts ✧ KTH

(Taehyung x Reader)

Tags: philosophy discussion, college au, v x reader, genderless Word Count: 2k

Masterlist

A bladder discomfort was what woke you up, forcing you out of the comfort of your bed at 3:43 in the morning. You knew that finishing a bottle of water before bed would not be a good idea, even if it was at the perfect temperature, and it was a good excuse for you to get away from studies for the ethics exam that would happen in a few hours.

With your eyes more closed than open, the path to your shared bathroom seemed to be twice as long as normal, almost a marathon until you sat on the cold toilet in the dark bathroom. Obviously the light had not been turned on, your almost bursting bladder was more important at the moment. Sleep and the late hours forced you to be silent, moving your arms in slow motion, since no one should be awake at this time and you didn't want that to change. The bathroom door is only closed so that the tap noise does not reach the rooms.

With clean hands and empty bladder, your toes prepare for the marathon back to the comfort of your bed, but the open door of Taehyung, one of the boys you shared the apartment with, kept you from making any move, standing there holding your breath so he wouldn't notice you. And suddenly you were more awake than ever, admiring the beauty of the boy who stirred your heart.

Taehyung - or as he begged you to call him, Tae - was also a philosophy student, only a few classes ahead you, and had a brilliant mind, always getting high grades and receiving compliments from the teachers. Constantly you found yourself asking for help on subjects you already knew just to see his bright, enthusiastic eyes as he talked about the most varied philosophical subjects. You also cannot deny that because of it, your grades were above average.

His body sitting on the windowsill was in his pyjamas and bare feet, the strands of dark hair fell over his dimly lit face, and because his head was tilted to the sky, his eyes shone. A book was laying on his legs, there were many notes coming out of the pages and it was already at the end, with very few pages left to finish. You could film as his chest slowly rose and fell, his eyes blinking after a long time, demonstrating that he was focused on what was going on in his head. Or take a picture of that moment to put in a frame on your bedside table next to your bed. He looked like a work of art.

Taehyung sighs heavily, causing your body to tremble in a fright, and his legs come up off the window, his toe touching the floor. "My favorite time of day is at dawn." His words sound low and his face turns toward you. At the same time, you can feel your face burn, pointing it to the ground with shame. How long should he be waiting for you to go back to your room and leave him alone? "Especially in summer, when it's hot and dark, and you can relax or focus on your studies effortlessly. How about you?"

The words escape from your mind, all running away with the shame you felt at that moment. He must think you were crazy, a psycho starring at him in the dark. His mouth opens but still nothing comes out, your hands begin to sweat and then, the worst. You remember you were wearing the most ridiculous pyjamas in the world, blue bears covering your body, not to mention that you didn't have the same body from eight years ago. The pyjamas your grandmother gave you badly covered your body, the shorts just above the thighs covering only your parts, and the shirt was tighter than the ones the girls wore at frat parties. Your luck was that it was dark, because your face looked so red, just like a tomato.

Receiving no response from you, Taehyung pats the empty space beside him, calling you to sit there. Maybe he was already used to your weird personality. Reluctantly, you enter his room with slow steps, holding back not to look around. The decor there was beautiful, and you were obsessed with his bookshelf, which occupied an entire wall. Trying to hide as much of your body as you could with your both arms, you sit next to him, seeing how starry the sky was today. It was really a privilege to study and live far from the big city.

“What kept you up till this hour?” His eyes travel from the sky to your, which were down, toward the book he held. Modern philosophy, your favorite subject.

“I have an exam today.” It wasn't a lie, but to say that you wanted to pee it would be very embarrassing. With a lot of effort, you raise your gaze to him. “It's the last ethics exam of the semester.” Taehyung's head shakes, he'd already been through it, and he knew the feeling.

“And what is it about? It was my turn about Adam Smith's theory of moral feelings.” You agree with him, yours exams would be the same. “I almost didn't pass this exam, it was very difficult. Mr. Brown was very critical of the correction.” Although his words sounded true, you doubted very much what he said. No one was as smart as Taehyung. "But I'm sure you'll make it." A small smile breaks out on his lips, making you smile along. “Want help somewhere? I don't remember everything, but I sure know the basics.”

"I don't know… The only part that is making me nervous is the third." Without realizing it, you pinch the edge of your lips between your teeth as you relay the information from the seven parts of the book into your mind. “The difference between love and praise. Mr. Brown was very clear that he wanted their own vision, not the book's.”

"Ah, what's the matter with that?" Taehyung's face frowns. Being able to demonstrate your opinion and view of things around you was what every student of philosophy wanted most. So would you, if it wasn't about love.

In your head, you were sure that as soon as the next sentence came out of your mouth, the boy in front of you would laugh so loudly that it would wake everyone living in the building. All the courage that existed within your body needs to be gathered. "I don't believe love exists." However, he doesn't laugh. His hands meet his chin and his gaze rises back to the sky behind you, and then he takes a long moment to blink. He was reflecting. Your cheeks burn right away, courage has evaporated from your mere existence, and once again, you face the ground near your feet.

“Elaborate it.” The inside of your body rolls, as if you were on a roller coaster, along with a strange chill. Despite the high grades you got when he helped you, you hated it when he asked it you to. He did not accept a weak elaboration, it had to be a long essay with logical reflections. Maybe that was why he was the best student in his class.

Since his eyes were still on the sky, you take a few seconds for yourself, trying to organize your thoughts in a coherent line of reasoning. The words you had used in the debate earlier appear in your mind, at least at that time people had agreed with you, maybe Taehyung would agree too. Looking smart in front of him would not be a bad idea.

“When you love, do you love the person or the feelings it brings you?” It wasn't a question directed at him, so you continue to explain yourself, still not taking your eyes to him. “Loving a person concerns everything that is involved with her. From the mistakes she makes to the points where you disagree with and go against. And if you love only part of the person, you don't love her, right?” Taehyung shakes his head, causing his dark brown strands to sway along. Your shoulders relax, he had agreed, so what you were talking about wasn't that crazy. You can't help but notice how your heart was beating faster now that your eyes were connected with the boy. “And if we are unable to love, love does not exist. You can't believe something that is unreachable.”

"And how would you explain a child's love for his parents, for example?" You didn't expect him to ask a question, not now. Would that be a good sign?

“As Smith says, there is a difference between love and praise. Love-” now that you have already declared love to be nonexistent, your fingers soar to quote the word, correcting yourself. A smile spread across his lips as Taehyung lets out a low laugh, laughing the way you had corrected yourself. “A son's love for his parents would be praise.”

It was a funny situation, both of you in your pyjamas laughing about the nonexistence of love in the middle of the night, sitting at the window with a whole sky behind you. It's like in a movie, in your head, you two end this discussion with a kiss and a declaration of love. Oh, if he only knew how much you wanted that moment to never end. He would give you a chance out of pity.

“And society has a role in that too!” Your mouth could tear at any moment, with every laugh Tae let out.

“Damn capitalist society.” It's your turn to laugh, which you soon try to stifle with your hands. “But I understand what you mean. Children grow up with a vision that one must love their parents, which has always been imposed by society.” His fingers go up to the air in quick quotes. “The child loves parents because of the feelings they bring to them. Affection, attention…” He counts on his fingers, giving an answer to the question he had asked minutes ago.

"Exactly. Just as society dictates how we should dress, for example, it also dictates what we should feel. It's sad to think so, but we don't love our parents for simply loving, we love because we have this view that one should love them forever no matter what happens.” Your words complement Tae's thinking, which he listens to very carefully, leaving your eyes locked on yours.

"Can you two stop flirting and go to sleep?" Your cheeks soon warm at the boy's words. The voice of Namjoon, the boy who studied sociology, sounds loud, scaring you and Taehyung. Your laughs probably woke him up. "I have a test today.” You both mutter apologies, your voices low, and the blond boy returns to his room.

"He is right. You also have a test today and need to rest.” Taehyung gets up, throwing the book that was once on his lap onto the bed. Your heart breaks into several pieces, realizing that your moment was over. “How about I pick you up after your exam so we can finish this conversation? We can have some coffee together.” His hand extends toward yours, offering help to get up.

All the pieces of your heart come together, beating hard again in your chest. He was calling you on a date. The love of your life was calling you to a date where you would discuss about philosophy. Together for a coffee. That was a date, right? Of course, your cheeks turned hot and red. And of course, it felt like a dream. But fortunately, it was real. And Tae's hand in the air, waiting for yours, was just a confirmation. Of course, you join your hand with his.

“I'd love to.” At least your voice comes out soft as his fingers touch yours. Because your legs tremble when you force yourself to make your way out to your room. “I'll send you a message when it's over.” His smile was as big as yours when he said good night, watching you leave the room, his hands hidden in his pants pocket. His hands were sweating as much as yours were.

You might not realize it, but he was just as excited as you to hear you speak of the philosophy of love with glowing eyes, full of enthusiasm.

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hunterguyveriv · 5 years ago

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Swamp Thing Season 1, episode 7 thoughts:

Today’s episode was just simply beautiful and sad between Alec and Abby in a way you could only expect it to end the way it did. It had so many lying implications between the 2, then one can realize besides the whole “Protagonist not wanting to lose the one he loves.”

Don’t get me wrong I’ve wanted a Swamp Thing & Abby Arcane live action done right since I saw “The Return of Swamp Thing” in 1989/1990. But I just love the whole dynamic being stretched nearly to a near-fatal breaking point.

Accepting Alec - My thoughts on this is just a jumbled mess; it hurts: Accepting Alec played a massive part in this episode. Unlike the Abby Arcanes of the past - The Alan Moore Saga, The Return of Swamp Thing, or the New-52, or even the cartoon mini-series - it has taken her longer to accept Alec as Swamp Thing. Even after she learned from Susie, it was Alec the only time they really touched was briefly when she was suffering from the Darkness-Hallucinogens, and when he showed her what happened to Shawna. It wasn’t until after he tried saving her the Alec Holland-Way failed and had to save her the Swamp Thing-Way that she finally seemed to accept him for what he was now, even though she still wants to find a way to revert him back to human.

I think the whole hallucination-power was a way to see what they truly wanted. He wanted to remain Alec for her and tried to give up the Swamp Thing persona, but came to the conclusion that if he did things the Alec Holland-Way, he was helpless. Abby also showed that she genuinely wanted Alec back to the way he was, but I am starting to think that was working against them. Think about it, in the previous he said he worried that accepting his new situation would take him further away from her, but they remained at least 10 feet apart from each other.

Except for the few instances of him touching her, they always seem to have had some distance between them. Even weary on letting the other touch each other. But yet after the pollen made him look like Alec to her, it seemed like they were more willing to be close to one another even touch each other. More so after he fought The Rot off in her body. Up until this time, part of their relationship seemed very superficial on Abby’s part, but one can also argue that it was also superficial on Alec’s side, to want to be seen as “The Charming Man she knew.”

Ugh… I gotta get off this bit, or I am going to keep going turning this into an essay and want to bash my head in trying to wrap my mind around these thoughts.

Abby’s Purpose: In all of Swamp Thing, except for the cartoon mini-series and the 90s Live Action series which I can't remember if she was in it or not, Abby Arcane has always been his heart - his humanity if you will. She was the only one in the Alan Moore saga to keep reminding him of his humanity. That it didn’t matter if he was a sentient plant being with Alec Holland’s consciousness, in her eyes, he WAS Alec Holland. In the New-52 even after he became Swamp Thing and she became sensitive to “The Rot” and showed that she had Rot-Powers, she still reminded him of his humanity.

When he has been at the lowest or darkest point in his life, she would always be there to help him.

So far even though it is a mere fraction of what she has done compared to her comic book counterparts, she does seem genuinely vested to be that support he so desperately needs. She like her comic counterparts, even though she had trouble seeing him as Alec up until last weeks episode - she has always reminded him that he is Alec Holland. (which for the most part to us the viewers we don’t know if he IS STILL Alec Holland like the New-52 Alec who was dying from his wounds in which the Green turned him into the Warrior-King Swamp Thing or a Sentient Entity of the Green with his consciousness). But even if we do learn what continuity they decide to use, she NEEDS to be there for him, regardless of him not wanting her in the swamps of Marais. I just hope with the series being unfortunately canceled (and not being picked up elsewhere by the looks of it so far) it is done in a proper manner that doesn’t make it campy or they kill Abby off. I do want to see her in grievous danger, in which Swampy and possibly Daniel come to her aid.

A little off topic I do hope to see that they go the Alan Moore route, one that scene is just so powerful in the comics. This because after Woodrue mind-fucks him at Sunderland’s corporation building and deals with Woodrue, he searches for the body and buries it cutting ties to “the person who was once Alec” and was so resistant against Abby calling him Alec for the longest time - till he said she could. But that being said there is another reason why I hope they go this route and explore whether Swamp Thing is Alec Holland or not. I am a Guyver fan, in which death is no big deal to Guyvers because they regenerate newer bodies after their control medals have been ripped out of their heads. They very haphazardly explored the whole “If a the Guyver regenerates a newer body, is the person that same person or a shell of that person with their memories?”

Living as Alec & Alec’s Helplessness?: I kind of liked the idea that even though he was still Swamp Thing, and appeared to Abby as Alec, I liked how they did it. After a recent second viewing of yesterday’s episode, I think they (producers and writers) meant it to be like a test to not just Abby (in seeing if she could genuinely accept Alec the way he is) but a test for Alec. Earlier I mentioned the Alec Holland-Way, I think even as Swamp Thing he really wanted to live life as Alec would have. He also tries to desperately save Abby as Alec would have against the Rot, until realizing it wasn’t going to work out.

Now some of you may be saying, “whoa there, that doesn’t mean he is helpless!” But in doing things, the Alec-Way also contributed to Abby getting attacked by that tendril. As Swamp Thing, he would have possibly been able to stop that thing from punching her in the first place. Which even though I say that, I kind of like the idea of Alec struggling with the tendril, because in the New-52 continuity. For those wondering it was established that he begins to lose his power in areas profoundly affected by the Rot. Trying to live as Alec would have possibly weakened his power even more, because as Avatar of the Green, even in Rot Infested areas he should have been able to get it off of her and rip it to shreds.

A return to The Return of Swamp Thing?: I have to admit I loved Alec and Abby in the swamp together walking through it like a couple in love (Someone PLEASE do a video of Swamp Thing/Alec and Abby to this song when the series is over- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFmisnHehtg. It would make us Swamp Thing/Abby Old-Timers with no music video making knowledge happy). It was very reminiscent of Dick Durock’s and Heather Locklear’s wandering the swamp to me, even heard their original theme in my head during their scenes.

Abby’s Darkness?: When Alec was desperately trying to save her, what if he merely prolonged something else in her? What if the Tendril was attempting to turn her into an Avatar of the Rot like she was in the New-52 saga? She mentioned “the darkness” in the euphoria of pain, and her skin tone and body started to appear like her new-52 counterpart. Now that being said, what if Alec using the green merely suppressed it? Because it is a possibility, he got a glimpse of the darkness of her own past when he took hallucinogenic-darkness away from her in episode 4. A crack theory I know, but I feel like that scene was supposed to mean something besides Abby getting attack and Swamp Thing dropping the Alec persona to save her.

These are all the thoughts that have been running through my head and have plagued me for the last 15 hours @.@ I’m tired, and I don’t want to hurt my brain anymore tonight.

That being said other great highlights of were Maria stealing the Sunderland Company from Avery. Wasn’t overly excited over Lucilia and Matt’s scenes, if anything they have earned what’s coming to them. I still like the dynamic of James Woodrue and Caroline, you can genuinely see that James is so flat out determined to save his wife which kind of mirrors Abby being so committed to saving Alec.

I do like the scene with Liz and Matt, however, mainly because, that in the Alan Moore Saga (which is like the holy grail of Swamp Thing lore) only 4 people knew of Alec being Swamp Thing before he was captured. Matt Cable, Abby Arcane-Cable, Liz Treymayne, and her husband. Thus far, it seems like the series is genuinely doing all of Swamp Thing (movies, comics, cartoons, series) true justice while forging itself as a new identity for the Avatar of the Green.

With Abby going back to Atlanta, I can't wait to see scenes of her with Adrienne Barbeux’s Doctor Palomar and Abby together in a scene. Will they make her first name Alice (as in Alice Cable from the 1982 movie) Will Adrienne get a scene with both Swampy and Abby as if to pass the torch on to this new generation of Swamp Thing stars? Will she give Abby some guidance on what to do with particular Swamp creatures (lol)?

But I still have questions!

Where is that Good Boy Garou?

What happened to Susie?

What happened to Margaux?

Anyway, I am finally done with this post. I am off to go listen to some Godzilla movies as I drift off to sleepy land.

#swamp thing #abby arcane #alec holland #season 1 episode 07

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feel199x · 6 years ago

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street racer!lee minho, gods of olympus! au

⚡ chapters: I II III IV V VI masterlist

⚡ a/n: there’s like. So Much Sexual Tension that i didn’t intend and its not gonna go anywhere,,, im sorry but Minho’s hoe spirit possessed me while i wrote this chapter

⚡ warnings: sexual tension?? does that count??

⚡ song rec: angel of small death & the codeine scene

Minho hadn’t called you on the bus ride home, nor did he show up at your apartment the night. He didn’t call you the following nights either. He was, however making your life a fuck ton harder. For three full days, it had been pouring. The first day you had made the mistake of riding in the rain, figuring it would’ve cleared up by the afternoon. But it hadn’t. You had to get to an afternoon class, but you had no spare money to afford riding the bus every day to work. Being a broke college student was difficult, but not everyone could make their weight in money with illicit activities. You didn’t really mind the rain as long as you were inside. The pattering of raindrops against your window was comforting, and it helped calm your nerves as you studied, even if the person causing it was an asshole. You hadn’t blocked Minho’s number, not yet anyway, but figured that he had probably ghosted you anyway- so it didn’t matter.

Besides, you never paid much attention to boys, anyway. Your studies were more important to you, and you literally could not afford to lose the scholarships you busted your ass in high school to get. You knew college would be hard, but you had no idea it would be this difficult. None of these questions made sense- but you needed to study. You never struggled this much with Criminology concepts, but you found yourself rereading the same parts over and over, it wasn’t clicking. It was two am now, and you had a class at eight, ten, noon, and then a shift at the bakery- where you were filling in for a co-worker who had gotten sick. You weren’t even planning on falling asleep, but you woke up from your alarm, wiping drool from your lip as you got up.

This was just your life, it could be worse. You could be in a lot more debt, and your mental health could plummet- but it hadn’t, not yet. You knew if you kept pushing yourself like this than he would eventually crash and burn, but whatever. At least you would go out in a burning glory. You shook your head at the thought, mentally scolding yourself. Recovery didn’t work if you weren’t constantly checking yourself- as annoying as it was, it worked. You promised yourself and made a reminder on your phone to take a day off this week. You needed to relax, or next thing you know you would find yourself attached to your bed, glued to it with tears and a sweaty sadness.

You walked into the lecture hall, being the first one as you always were because you made it a point to actually ask for help. But the professor and his regular t.a wasn’t there.

“Are you lost?” He smiled and laughed as if you had said something funny. You grew anxious and insecure, it wouldn’t be the first time people had teased you like that. “No, not at all,” he said, “I’m the new teacher’s assistant.” You eyed him suspiciously, “What happened to the last one?” He pulled up his sleeves, and you felt embarrassed as he revealed his veiny arms. He twirled his pen and smiled again at you.

“He’s under a new teacher, now.”

“Who?”

“Mr. Park.”

“That’s a convenient answer.”

“It’s the convenient truth.”

“What’s your name?”

“Chan, darl-”

“Oh, fuck off.”

He crossed his arms, slightly surprised at your boldness. “Pardon?” You groaned, gripping your school supplies. “You’re one of those high and mighty gods, right? You and Minho can fuck right off.” He eased into the desk chair, chuckling to himself. “He’s already messed up, huh? I promised I wouldn’t interfere, but-”

“You also could’ve lied about your name.”

“Slip of the tongue. I doubt you wouldn’t figure it out, anyway.”

“What do you want?”

“To help.”

“With what? I’m done with Minho.”

“But you like him.”

“So? Doesn’t mean he’s not an asshole. I’m not here to teach him how to love, what kind of outdated shit is that? I don’t care that you’re a god, and I don’t care that he’s a god. Means fuck all to me.”

“Ah, you’re smart. Athena took well in creating you. But, it is fated. You’ll teach him one way or another.”

“Chan?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t give a shit.”

You probably could’ve reviewed the material with Chan, and maybe he was a nice guy- but you didn’t want to deal with anyone that was even slightly supernatural. You weren’t even going to look at your horoscope. You just wanted to graduated and take the bar exam, hell, maybe even try for a spot at a place with higher level cases. But one thing you were not about to do was about to do is let yourself slip into a game of cat and mouse, you were here to study. If you needed to take a break, you would- but “taking a break” didn’t mean worrying about a boy. If you wanted to worry, you would take the practice bar exam again.

You found the professor calling on you an absurd amount of times, and you shot Chan a death glare. He winked at you, a stupid smirk on his face and shrugged. You heard peers murmur, but Chan just looked amused, even winking at some of them. Were all gods like this? If Chan, the leader of the gods was this chaotic, how would you deal? Being the one you thought you’d like the most, you were severely disappointed. You flew out of your seat as the class ended, but found yourself caught in a sea of eager college students- you were so close to making your way out of the lecture hall doors when your professor called you.

“____, I’m sorry about being late this morning, but I had an incident with my car. I still have to solve the issue, but Chan can stay after. He said you were struggling with theory? I’ve provided a practice exam for you to Chan. Please don’t leave until you’ve got a passing grade.” He left unceremoniously, bidding a polite goodbye as he walked the both of you to a college library.

“I’m not struggling with theory.”

“You’ll start to. You have a bad habit of not knowing your limits.”

“Thanks, Sherlock.”

You sat a table in the back, a room reserved for group studies. “I have another class soon.”

“It’s taken care of, love. I’m going to get some coffee, please don’t go.”

You sighed, you had to finish the practice test after Chan explained the material, and it was unrealistic to think you’d be able to get to your second class. You could use a break anyway, it’s not like missing one creative writing class would kill you. Not physically anyway.

“Here you go,” he plopped a cup on the table, along with a pastry bag, “you should eat.”

“Are you actually going to help me study?”

“Sure, but I think we should talk about Minho first.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

He shut your textbook gently and pulled it away from you. “There’s a lot to talk about. I know Minho can be the worst, but there’s a lot more to him. I know it’s hard, but you’re going to have to trust me.” You wrapped your hands around the coffee cup, the warmth spreading to your hands. The rain was still pouring if it continued the town would flood. You didn’t understand why Minho was being so intense, maybe you shouldn’t have snapped but it wasn’t like he was a saint either.

“Why should I trust you?”

“I’m the one who sent him down here- well, with some pressure from the fates but still. I promise I’m the sanest up there, well second to Woojin.”

“Then why isn’t Woojin here?”

“He’s solving some other matters.”

“Like?”

“Ah, I can’t tell you that. But we’re moving away from the point. Just talk to Minho, honestly, once.”

“Already tried.”

“I know, but hopefully, I can help.”

“W-?”

Chan snapped his fingers, shooting you a somewhat apologetic look but turned to Minho looking smug. “What do you want?” You laughed, crossing your arms and leaning back into the cushioned seat. “Do you have something you want to say?” he snapped, “Oh wait, you already had your tantrum in the most expensive restaurant in town.” You knew better than to provoke Minho in this state, he knew what words that to use to hurt- and if he got any angrier, he would lose control. You weren’t laughing at him in the first place rather than yourself for getting into this situation. But whatever, Minho took it personally and even though you were tired of always being the bigger person- someone had to be. You didn’t even glare at him, you uncrossed your arms let them lay on top of your legs.

“Minho, be respectful.”

“Why are you even here? Fuck off.”

“I’m still your leader Minho, watch your tone. If you didn’t want to be found, you should’ve made an effort.”

Minho pulled away, sinking into the seat and tapped his fingers on the wooden table, settling to glare at you instead. “I thought you were letting me go back to Olympus.” You pulled your books into your lap, knuckles turning white from your grip. “I should go,” you nodded at Chan, “it was nice to meet you, Chan.” He shook his head, and as you tried to open the door, you found that it was just conveniently jammed. “Look, I don’t wanna do this but you guys need to talk it out,” he started, “And the sexual tension is killing me, Jesus.” You turned, taking your hand off of the knob. You let your bag fall to the side and slid back down to the seat, watching as the campus paths filled with large puddles of water. “Look, Minho, I’m sorry if I embarrassed you. But you were flirting with a waiter, and not to mention you let me get arrested.”

“Is that seriously what this is about? What are you, five?”

“You’re not exactly known for being loyal, Minho.”

“You’re supposed to be a mediator!”

“I’m mediating you being a bitch boy.”

“I am not! That’s bold coming from someone-”

“Can I leave?” you didn’t mean to interrupt, okay you did- whatever Minho was about to say was probably something personal, “I have a class and I need to get there early.” Minho scoffed at you and you sighed.

“Okay, what? What’s your fucking problem?”

“I took you to the best restaurant in town, and you threw a tantrum.”

You laughed in disbelief, leaning over the table and looked at him.”The sexual tension is like, literally suffocating me,” Chan said loudly, “I’m still here, you know, I’m asphyxiating.” Both of you ignored him, breaths hitched with the attention fixated on each other, suddenly infatuated with the tension in the room. “You flirt because you’re insecure. You thought I’d get bored, so you tried to prove that you’re available, bitch boy.” You weren’t sure it came from, the compulsion that came over you. A ripple of surprise washed over, but he quickly retaliated. Minho’s face as he leaned forward, pushing you back. “You’re just scared you can’t handle me. True, you don’t wanna fix me- but you’re scared that you’re not as exciting as my past lovers.” You were staring at each other now, both of you hauntingly relaxed but maintaining an aura of intimidation around one another. “I don’t need to be exciting, you’re just obsessed with me because I put you in your well-deserved place. You’ve been kept in a bubble all this time. It just gives you the hots when someone doesn’t worship the ground you walk on.” He licked his lips and smiled, “Actually, I think you’re the one who needs to be put in place. You’re too arrogant. You need to learn that I’m god from Olympus, babe- I deserve to be worshipped.” You leaned closer, your breath hot on his face as he watched, lips millimeters away from his but you brushed your lips against his ear instead, whispering lowly as the hair on his neck rose, “Over my dead body, babe.”

He spoke again as you moved back to leave, his finger ran across your lip and you refused to give him the satisfaction of moving away. “If you think you’re so high and mighty then race me,” he tilted his head and brought his lips close to yours, “I mean, if you’re not scared, babe.” You placed your thumb on his chin, tilting it up. This wasn’t like you, but you’d be damned if he was going to win this little show-off. Your nose and forehead were pressed against his as you spoke lowly, “You’re the one who should be scared, babe.”

#stray kids #stray kids fanfic #stray kids imagines #stray kids fic #stray kids imagine #skz imagines #skz fic #skz fluff #skz angst #lee #skz lee know #skz lee minho #lee minho #lee minho imagines #lee minho imagine #lee minho fic

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tere706 · 6 years ago

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Love is Blind - Chpt 16

(Oh boy, this is a monster chapter in so many ways. It's the longest chapter I've ever written (almost 5k!) and the angst is just dripping from this.

So. I'm sorry in advance. Also: WARNING FOR BURNS

There is for sure one more chapter left in this story. I may come back and do a sequel of sorts for it, but I'll probably take a break before tackling that. I'd need to plan out some characters and plot points.

Tagging: @inumorph, @dark-night-sky-99, @liadreyar-dragneel, @lunalustrix, @thirstyforvenom, @mltcp )

Eddie raked a hand through his hair, eyes flicking back and forth across the page. They’d gone back to their apartment so he could read through the information in peace. And so that he’d have easy access to the internet. He felt like shit, sweaty and exhausted from exertion and lack of sleep. But between the adrenaline and several cups of coffee he was still wired and awake. Eddie didn’t want to sleep. Sleeping would be time wasted finding Liz. Besides, he was afraid of what he would end up dreaming between his and Venom’s worry.

The papers started dry and clinical. It was mostly police and CPS reports for Aaron’s childhood. Eddie scanned through them to confirm that the teen hadn’t been in contact with his mother since he’d entered foster care. It also seemed unlikely that he would have gone back to any of his former foster homes, since he regularly ran away from them. Venom insisted that they check the current foster home once he was done with his research. Aaron probably hadn’t taken Liz to his current foster family, or she would have already contacted Eddie or returned home. That was if he’d even been responsible… but it was the only lead Eddie had right now. He and Venom had to stay focused on something. If nothing else, the teen might have information about Liz.

Even though Eddie hadn’t read any of Liz’s work, it wasn’t hard to guess who had written the psychological reports that began two years ago. She had mentioned using some kind of voice to text program for her writing, but he couldn’t remember what it was called. Didn’t matter now. Based on her reports, Aaron had started off an angry and introverted young teen. He had slowly come to trust Liz, perhaps because she didn’t represent a threat to him. Eddie could easily imagine someone finding her non-threatening with her lack of sight and warm personality. Liz’s later writing indicated her belief that Aaron was well on his way to a successful life. He wanted to go to college after high school and get a degree in welding. His grades in school had improved now that he was in a stable foster home and no longer running away to cause mischief with a street gang.

So why start a fire in the police station? And how? They had seen that fire, it hadn’t been a small trashcan fire. Half the station had been burned down. Eddie closed his eyes as he felt the fear and tension from Venom cause his guts to clench. Candles made Venom flinch, fire like that was just fucking terrifying. Eddie saw flashbacks to the rocket explosion, to the belief that Venom had sacrificed himself for Eddie.

EDDIE. FOCUS. WE ARE HERE AND WE ARE SAFE.

With a quick shake of his head, Eddie refocused on the papers. Liz didn’t have much information about the street gang Aaron had once belonged to. If the teen was still on the run from the police, possibly with a hostage now, it was possible he was using the former gang for help. They would have to track down some of their members after checking the foster home.

Eddie leaned back in his chair and glanced at the window. Sunlight was streaking into the apartment, giving it a cheerful golden glow that clashed with his current state of mind. It was still fairly early in the morning, well before noon. “Alright, V, plan of attack. We grab some food first and then make a few… house calls.”

GOOD. TIRED OF WAITING. LET’S GO FIND OUR LITTLE BIRD.

Eddie stood up and grabbed his jacket before pausing at the front door. “Shit. We left my bike at Calvin’s place.” He started reaching for his phone, thinking to call a cab. It wouldn’t be as fast, but it was better than walking. Would using public transportation actually be faster?

NO TIME, EDDIE. WE WILL GO.

He knew right away what Venom meant by that. “What?! In the middle of the day? You don’t exactly blend in, V!”

WE MUST HURRY. THIS IS FASTEST. BESIDES, MOST HUMANS DON’T LOOK UP.

Liz was pulled from her quiet misery by the sound of footsteps coming near. She didn’t bother calling out for help, she recognized the sound of these steps. But she did push herself up and turned to face Aaron as he approached. She really had no way to discern how long he’d been gone. Liz had carefully finished off the rest of the water in the water bottle and managed to move herself further away from where she’d thrown up upon first waking. She’d been considering trying to find her way around this place and escape on her own, but trying to stand made her head swim and it felt like she would be sick again. Besides, she had no idea when Aaron would be back.

“Sorry I was gone so long. I… needed to cool off.” Aaron murmured, setting down a plastic bag near Liz. “Um, since your stomach is upset, I got you some crackers. And a bottle of aspirin. Oh, and more water of course. Are you… feeling any better? You look a bit better.” He tried, he really did, to sound encouraging.

Liz took a slow breath, the thought of eating solid food made her queasy and she didn’t know if it was safe to take aspirin when suffering from a concussion. But the pain was bad enough that she decided to take the risk. She reached out and pulled the plastic bag closer, reaching in for the items.

“I’m feeling more awake, at least. But I’m not well, Aaron. I’m hurt.” She kept her tone as calm and gentle as possible. Riling Aaron up could prove deadly if he really had such poor control on his ability. “Thank you for getting these for me. You didn’t steal them, did you?”

Aaron huffed and stood back up. “No! I have some money. Cash. I don’t want to be tracked. Not much left, though.”

Liz nibbled on one of the crackers, she did know that taking aspirin on an empty stomach would only make her feel worse. So, that was probably why he hadn’t tried to skip town. Not enough money to make a clean getaway. Alright, that might have been a bit cynical of her to think. Aaron didn’t have anyone else to turn to, aside from his foster family, and they wouldn’t have been supportive of him running from the police either. There was an easy way to test that theory.

“Aaron, if I can get to a bank I could pull some money for you. Let you escape from the city and try to go into hiding.” Not that she had any intention of actually doing that. Liz had no desire to get in trouble for aiding his escape.

There was a long pause, probably Aaron thinking through the offer. “No. I don’t know how to go into hiding from the government. And I doubt I could get out of the country. We have to think of something else.”

“Like what? I don’t know what you want from this.” Liz pulled out another bottle of water from the bag, carefully unscrewing the lid and taking a sip. Her throat was still sore too, like she’d eaten too hot soup.

That made Aaron start his anxious pacing again. He never could stand still when he felt pressured and scared. “I don’t know! I want everything to go back to how it was before! I never asked to be like this. And I never meant to hurt anyone. I can’t really control it. I try, I really do.”

“You can’t turn back time.” Liz spoke gently, doing her best ‘calm and rational adult voice’. “Whether you like it or not, you have to face what you’ve done and what you can do. No one can make this go away, not even me.”

“No!” He was quick to snap. “I know it won’t, but I want to make it better. You’re friends with some of the cops. You can talk to them for me, make them help me!”

“I don’t know if you killed them in the fire or not.” Liz knew it was cruel, knew it would hurt him. But he wasn’t thinking rationally. Aaron had created a delusion for himself where everything would be put to rights because he willed it so. The world just didn’t work that way.

Aaron had stopped pacing at her words. The silence stretched between them, broken only dimly by the sound of distant cars and the choking cries of seagulls. Liz let it stand for almost a full minute before continuing.

“Yes. People died. I don’t know if they were prisoners or officers. As I understand, some of the bodies are proving difficult to identify because of how badly they were burned.”

“Stop it.” Aaron’s voice came out closer to a croak.

“Do you know how hot a fire has to be to distort and warp bones? I’ve no idea if teeth can be used. I’ve never studied something like that.” Liz didn’t back down, but she kept her tone distant and calm. There was no anger or malice in her voice.

“Stop it, please.”

“It was hot enough that they weren’t even sure if they had all the remains. It’s why the people were listed as missing instead of deceased in the news reports.”

“STOP TALKING!” The wash of heat, both in his voice and the air, hurt Liz. She flinched back, ducking her head down defensively. Aaron’s breath came in ragged pants as he tried to control himself. It was dangerous, pushing him to the point where he would snap like that. Liz knew what to use against him, but it was almost a betrayal of the trust she’d given him for the last two years.

Liz tilted her face back up when the heat passed, turning her face in his direction again. “You are a danger to yourself and others right now, Aaron. And there is nothing left for me to offer you. I can’t help you with the law. I can’t help you with your ability.”

“You said you’d help me!” Aaron shouted it at her, his voice almost cracking as he struggled between anger and pain.

“I will stand by you. I will support you. But I can’t do anything more to help you.” Liz spread her hands simply. “You’ve taken away all my options.”

Aaron didn’t answer her. He turned and ran from the building, footsteps echoing in the large space.

Liz waited until she couldn’t hear any trace of him. Good. Hopefully, he would stay away for a few hours. She planned to be gone by then. Liz grabbed the bottle of aspirin from the bag and quickly removed the plastic wrapping and cap so she could swallow three of the pills. She laid back down on her side, nibbling crackers and sipping water while she waited for them to start kicking in. Once she could stand and walk, she would find her way out of this place and get help.

She’d meant what she said to Aaron, as much as the words had pained her. Liz cared a great deal for the teen. His trust had been hard earned and he’d been doing so much to better his life. But Liz wanted to live more than she wanted to placate Aaron. If it came down to one of them, she was going to pick herself.

Liz just hoped she wouldn’t have to make that choice.

Judging by the number and frequency of the screams, Eddie believed he had sufficient evidence that people did look up to publish a paper. But Venom was right, it was faster to let him take over and swing them through the city. Traffic was a bitch, even on his motorcycle. And really, it would have been so much worse if Venom had had a meltdown in the back of a cab.

Thankfully, they hadn’t needed to question Aaron’s foster family. Venom had been able to tell from the scents in the air around the small home that the teen hadn’t been by. Eddie questioned Venom’s conclusions. They had no idea what Aaron smelled like, how had he known? Venom was already moving away from the area while answering.

“NONE OF THE SCENTS WERE OF A TEEN MALE. FEMALE YOUNG, FEMALE ADULT, MALE ADULT.” Venom had taken them to a rougher part of town, where the police reports indicated Aaron had been picked up from his street gang. He crouched on a roof, opalescent eyes narrowed as his tongue lashed the air.

You can’t just grab random people off the street and start interrogating them, V.

“AND WHY NOT?”

Maybe because it’s wrong? Even Eddie sounded tired, though. Too tired to really argue.

“WE WILL BE CAREFUL WITH WHO WE GRAB.”

By ‘careful with who we grab’, Venom obviously meant grab anyone that looked the least bit suspicious and then scream at them until they either passed out or wet themselves. Thankfully for all involved, Venom managed to catch his prize on the third try. The young man, Eddie refused to think of him as a child despite his apparent age, was only too happy to tell them anything they wanted in exchange for his life. He babbled off locations that the little gang liked to frequent and Eddie managed to prod Venom into demanding the name of the ringleader too. If nothing else, he would make sure that some justice was delivered to the person leading these kids into crime.

Venom was less interested in that. He was singularly focused on locating his little bird. After dropping off the kid, he was moving again. Eddie helped him with finding the locations that they had been given. Each failure only made Venom angrier and more desperate. They had no more leads if this didn’t work. Neither of them would be content with waiting for the police to look for Liz.

They were down to two locations when Venom landed on the roof of the warehouse. He crawled down the side of the building to peer into one of the windows. They were dusty and opaque with age. The space within was blocked by tall stacks of crates that turned the large warehouse into a maze of corridors. The lights within appeared to be off, but some light was filtering in from the windows. In the center of all those stacks it might be hard to see, but the edges were fairly well lit.

The place looked unoccupied, trash was littering some of the corners, but no recent evidence within his line of vision. Still, there was plenty of the inside he couldn’t see. Eddie nudged Venom to hurry up and do a sweep on the interior. They needed to move on to the next location if this was another bust. Venom quickly growled before smacking the window. It shattered under his blow, quite satisfyingly to be honest. He needed something to take his anger and worry out on.

Venom pulled himself into the warehouse from the broken window and froze. His eyes widened as his tongue lashed the air. Here. She was here. There was no mistaking the scent of his little bird. Relief slammed through them both as Venom dropped to the ground and ran toward the source, to the voice calling out.

“Hello? What was that?” Ah, she would have heard the window break when he made his entrance. Hearing her voice made giddy joy flood him, she was alright enough to be awake and aware of her surroundings. Everything was going to be okay, they would keep her safe.

Venom leapt around the corner of a wall of crates and stopped for a moment, chest heaving. Liz was standing, one hand against the wall of crates for guidance. She’d stopped when she heard his approach, body tense. Her clothes were rumpled and her face had a red tint like a sunburn. Venom and Eddie didn’t care.

“LITTLE BIRD…”

Liz’s hand dropped away from the wall of crates and she nearly sagged in relief. “Ven!”

He rushed to her, lifting one hand to gently cradle her face. His other hand wrapped around her waist to draw her closer. “YOU ARE HURT.”

Venom could feel her nod, face pressed into the warmth of his hand. “Yeah. I think I have a concussion. I don’t know how bad it is, but I really want to get to a hospital just to be sure.” She had reached up, wrapping a hand around his wrist and holding tight. Liz was quivering, breath coming in quick jerks.

“WE WILL TAKE YOU AWAY. IT IS OKAY.” His words were a soft rumble, almost a purr.

“No. It’ll make my head pound to start sobbing. I can keep-“

“What the fuck is that?!” Aaron’s voice, high pitched in shock and sudden terror, cut through Liz’s words.

Venom whirled in place, keeping Liz behind his bulk so he could face the source of the voice. The teen standing at the end of the crate wall behind Venom was almost six feet tall, but hadn’t filled out his frame. He still held himself awkwardly, too thin. The layers of baggy clothes helped to hide some of it, but even those were in poor repair. He’d likely had to steal what he could after escaping the fire at the police station.

“YOU.” Venom slowly grinned, eyes narrowed and teeth prominently on display. Here was the source of their pain and terror. This boy had hurt his little bird and taken her away.

The teen stumbled back a step at that single word, but his eyes widened and flicked behind Venom for a moment. “Elizabeth?! Go, get away!” He shouted as he straightened. It looked like he wanted to stand up to Venom. A very foolish thing to do.

“Aaron, it’s okay! Ven is- No, don’t do this!”

Venom ignored her words, and the hand that reached out toward him, as he leapt forward. No, he wouldn’t kill the stupid boy. But he needed to learn a lesson about the consequences of his actions. Venom and Eddie would be happy to teach him.

Aaron yelped and tried to scramble back as Venom leapt at him. He fell back, catching himself with his left hand and raising his right. Heat blossomed in front of the teen briefly, then flames washed out in an arc from hand. More of the flames twined their way up his arm to his shoulder. Neither his clothes nor his body appeared harmed by the fire.

There was no way to avoid all the flames when he was still in the air, but the moment his foot touched the ground Venom sprang to the side and rolled. He snarled in rage and pain, feeling the sections of his being that had bubbled up and burned away from the touch of those flames.

Well, that explains the fires. Eddie remarked. Keep circling around until he’s facing away from Liz. We can’t risk her getting caught in a blast like that.

Now that was a good point. Venom started running to the side, slowly closing the space between him and the fire starter. Aaron had managed to regain his feet in those moments. He was panting hard, but turned to face Venom as he moved. The teen looked angry and scared, a potent mixture.

Aaron swung his arm in a half circle before himself, spreading down a wide swath of fire. Several of the crates on the far side caught fire as well. Venom cringed back from the flames, eyes narrowed.

EDDIE, WE MUST CLOSE THE DISTANCE WITH HIM.

Yeah, I noticed. Let’s try going up over and coming down right on top of him.

Venom backed up several steps. Smoke was starting to fill the air; the human wouldn’t be able to see him as clearly in the uncertain lighting. He ran forward and took a running leap to clear over the wall of flames.

They had an excellent view of Aaron backing up with both arms raised, flames curling up past his shoulders. A small spark crackled to life between his upraised hands. Then a torrent of flames was coating his body. Venom shrieked as his form bubbled and nearly boiled away from Eddie’s body. He retreated within his host, trying to protect the last of himself. Eddie landed on the concrete in a roll, gasping in pain. He’d been tucked into a ball by the time Venom retreated. His leather jacket took the worst of the flames from his arms, but his pants hadn’t faired as well. His roll had put the flames out, but he could feel the biting pain of fresh burns.

Eddie lifted his head, face twisted in a grimace of pain and rage. He needed to see the next attack so he could dodge out of the way, regardless of the pain. Eddie’s eyes widened in horror and he tried to throw himself forward, toward Aaron. Toward Liz.

“Liz, no!”

Liz struggled not to cry as she leaned her face into the warmth of Venom’s hand. Finally, she could start to feel safe again. Sure, she’d been working on escaping by herself, but knowing that she wasn’t by herself was like a weight from her shoulders. Venom and Eddie could get her the medical help she needed. And Eddie would be able to help her with Aaron.

“No. It’ll make my head pound to start sobbing. I can keep-“

She tensed when she heard Aaron’s voice behind Venom. He had turned away from her at the same time, so she reached out a hand to touch his back. Oh gods, this was not a good situation. Did… did Aaron think she was in danger?! Of course, he must see Venom as a monster.

“Aaron, it’s okay! Ven is- No, don’t do this!”

There was nothing Liz could do to hold Venom back. He leapt away before she could react. Besides, she didn’t think grabbing onto his waist would have slowed him much. She hadn’t even had a chance to warn Venom and Eddie about Aaron. Liz remembered the first time she’d met Eddie, passed out in her bed after Venom had healed them from burns. Fire was one of his weaknesses.

The wash of heat that came a moment later nearly staggered her. Liz stumbled aside and grabbed ahold of the wall of crates again. Fire crackled and roared ahead of her. Venom was snarling. Aaron was panting. But Liz was frozen in place. She had no idea where exactly the flames were ahead of her. And trying to walk away could just put her into the line of fire. Everything was happening too fast for her to be able to clearly hear where everyone was.

It felt like an hour had passed since Aaron confronted Venom, but it couldn’t have been more than a minute or two in real time. Then the sound she’d fear the most came to her ears. Venom was shrieking in pain after another blast of intense heat. Liz heard Aaron walking backwards toward her. She heard the sound of a body hitting the floor and rolling, even over the growing crackle of the fires.

Aaron was going to kill Eddie and Venom. Liz was going to lose them both in one moment. And the teen would destroy any chance of this working out in his favor. The deaths at the police station were an accident, probably. But this would be murder. Aaron was choosing to kill a man on the ground.

She couldn’t let that happen.

Liz pushed away from the crates, half stumbling as she lunged in the direction of Aaron’s footsteps with her arms outstretched. Her left hand contacted an arm and closed tight around it before she could think. Her right arm hit Aaron’s shoulder and the rest of her body slammed against him, knocking them both over. Liz thought she’d heard a shout, but her mind was preoccupied by pain.

The heat washed over her arms and she had tucked her head down enough that it was only mildly unpleasant there. But her hands, her arms… Liz knew she screamed as she held tightly to Aaron and the flames clawed into her flesh. It felt like she held to him for an eternity. The pain clawed its way up her arms and Liz had a manic thought that it would have hurt less to just cut them off.

Then she was being pulled away and something was hitting her arms, which just made them hurt more, not that she could do much to stop it. Liz tried to curl up, to protect her injuries. It just felt like too much effort to move. At least the pain was fading from her hands. That… probably wasn’t a good sign. She struggled to get her brain to focus. When burns stopped hurting it… it meant they were bad.

“Stay with me! Liz!”

Stay? But her head hurt, and the upper parts of her arms still hurt terribly, almost like the flames were still chewing at her flesh. It would be very rude if they’d left part of her burning, but she couldn’t muster the energy to do anything about it. Liz just wanted the pain to go away, why did she have to stay?

“Liz!”

And then it was quiet, and the pain was gone.

Aaron was shocked when something slammed into him from the side. He fell heavily to the ground, trying to twist around and kick the person away- Elizabeth! No! He gasped and pulled the flames back into his own body. There was a painful backlash in his head, making his vision swim. Or maybe that was the tears. Oh god, her arms were on fire! Aaron screamed and peeled her left hand off his arm.

The other man was there suddenly, pulling Elizabeth away from him. He had taken his coat off and used it to smother the last of the flames. Aaron just knelt there, staring at what he’d done. Elizabeth’s left hand was covered in white and cherry red patches, the fingers still curled. The burns swept up her arm to just below her elbow, changing from those white and red patches to reddened and blistered skin. Her right hand was reddened and blistered, but it was her arm that had touched his shoulder and the flames. The worst of the burns started on her forearm and spread up higher, half way to her shoulder along with her hand.

He felt sick as he watched the man touch Elizabeth’s cheek, trying to talk to her. She wasn’t responding, not even crying out in pain anymore. He’d done this. How many times had he promised not to hurt her? That he wasn’t dangerous? Aaron looked down at his hands, unharmed despite the flames. If he’d listened… could he have avoided this?

“Hey!”

The sharp tone made Aaron’s head snap back up, staring at the man with wide eyes.

“You have a phone?! Use it! Call an ambulance! And get those fires under control!” The stranger pointed toward the crates that were still happily burning away from the earlier fight.

“I… I don’t know if I can…”

“Then just call 911!” He turned away from Aaron again, talking softly as he crouched over Elizabeth’s body.

Aaron grabbed at his cell with shaking hands. The least he could do was not make things worse.

SHE’S DYING!

Eddie gritted his teeth at the weak protest from Venom. He was too weak to take control and get Liz to a hospital. They were trapped here until an ambulance came.

“Come on, Liz. Stay with me. Wake up, please.” He needed her to wake up. Eddie could barely look at the burns on her arms, they made him nauseous. Why had she done that?! To protect them, of course. Eddie was going to be very angry with Liz soon. And she’d have to listen to a lecture about stupidly heroic acts once she was better. Because she was going to be better.

Eddie felt for the pulse in Liz’s throat. It was weak and fast. Her skin was becoming cool to the touch. She was going into shock and who knew how bad the trauma from her concussion was on top of the burns.

Help her, V! Help me save her!

And to think, at one point he’d felt jealous that Venom might have preferred Liz as a host. Eddie regretted all of that now.

CAN’T He sounded miserable. WOULD HURT HER. SHE IS NOT A SUITABLE HOST.

Eddie cupped Liz’s face in his hands, bent over her. Helpless. The wail of sirens was growing closer.

“Hang on, Liz. Please. Don’t leave us yet. Please.” Tears fell to splash against Liz’s face.

#love is blind #burns #venom x liz #eddie brock x liz #venom x eddie brock x liz #venom x oc #eddie brock x oc #venom x eddie brock x oc

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plannersexdating40 · 3 years ago

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nolifepoints · 7 years ago

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“May all your marshmallows burn.” You choose the ship!

I know this has been in my ask box since December. Sorry for the wait! I got… a little carried away. I sort of wanted to contribute to Pridecember even though I’d never written pride before, but I also wanted to add another ship Cupcake likes, and… my brain chose puff. Which I’d also never written before. Lol.

So, please, enjoy this silly fic about Jounouchi inviting everyone to a campout after Atem returns in a secret bid to get to know him better and promptly getting mad that Atem and Kaiba are “ignoring” him. :v

Post-canon, returned Atem AU, established pride, unestablished puff, 1.8k words.

Excerpt:

“Thought you hated‘em,” said Jounouchi, leering at him.

Kaiba shrugged. “No,I just don’t find them very exciting.” Nonetheless, he extendedhis stick and allowed the marshmallow to ignite. Atem did the same,taking the opportunity to brush shoulders with Kaiba.

“That’s it?Just… ‘not very exciting’?” Jounouchi squinted at Kaiba. “Youfeeling okay?”

Another shrug. Thelittle glance at Atem told Jounouchi everything he needed to know,and the encouraging smile Atem returned? Damning.

Atem crouched by thebonfire. As it flickered, the firelight drew out the shifting,alchemical hue of his eyes, a color Jounouchi had never been able toput a name to. So like Yuugi’s. But the face was different now –familiar, in the abstract, a song he could recall only in fragments.As Jounouchi watched, Atem inched closer to the fire.

“Just, uh… becareful,” said Jounouchi, wringing his hands. He knew,realistically, that Atem understood the boundaries of his physicalform – even before he remembered himself, he’d piloted Yuugi’sbody, after all. But part of him still worried, especially now thatAtem was mortal again – as far as any of them could tell. Jounouchiwasn’t eager to test it.

“It’s alright,Jounouchi. I can handle myself around fire.” A smile played onAtem’s lips.

“Right.”Jounouchi flushed. Atem had probably been around a lot more firesthan Jounouchi ever had, now that he could remember them. “So, youwant to-” He paused as Atem moved back and settled beside Kaiba.Several quilts were spread around the makeshift campsite (which wasreally just a secluded corner of the Kaiba estate), but of courseKaiba had taken up residence on the one furthest from Jounouchi. Ofcourse Atem had to join him.

“To what?” Atemblinked up at him, still smiling. At least he looked eager enough.

“Maybe… roastsome marshmallows?” Jounouchi indicated the bag at his feet,alongside several clean sticks he had gathered earlier in the day.

Atem rubbed hishands together. “Sure! That’s definitely something I’ve neverdone before. I’ve never had a marshmallow at all.”

“They’re hardlyremarkable.” Kaiba scooted a little closer to Atem. “Just sugar.”

“You’re hardlyremarkable!” snapped Jounouchi, waving a stick in Kaiba’sdirection. “Don’t listen to him. Marshmallows are great,especially over a fire.”

“Can’t wait,”Atem said, letting his leg touch Kaiba’s. Kaiba said nothing at all– only glanced at Atem, who met his gaze and smiled. This touch wasnot accidental.

Jounouchi sighed andbegan spearing the fluffy confections. Even if he had invitedeveryone, in his heart, he had done this for Atem. He didn’t needto know him to love him. He already did, just as much as he lovedYuugi. Yet, their entire relationship passed in the shadow of oneworld-rending crisis after another. They would always have DuelMonsters, but what else was there? When had there been time foranything else?

It was just… beingalone with him was a little intimidating. What if they reallydidn’t have anything to talk about but Duel Monsters? What if…

He just had to workaround it, that was all. Ease in. Get everyone together. Theimportant thing was that Atem was here again. If it lasted forever –great. But they didn’t know that, and Jounouchi wasn’t going totake any chances this time around. The problem was Kaiba.

(Wasn’t italways?)

He didn’t protestKaiba’s presence here, in theory. Aside from the fact that he letthem use his yard for their faux camping trip, Kaiba could use anyreprieve you lured him into. Jounouchi suspected that, if not forAtem, he wouldn’t be caught dead here.

It wasn’t likeJounouchi begrudged them their happiness, either. Atem was happy– Jounouchi couldn’t deny it. It was even kind of nice to seeKaiba smiling to himself when he thought you weren’t looking. Hecould pretend he didn’t have feelings all he liked, but it wasobvious to anyone who spent five minutes with him that he was one ofthe most emotional people on the planet. They just weren’t usuallypleasant emotions. It was a change of pace, anyway.

But did they have toalways do this? Right in front of him? Leaving him completely out ofthe loop? To make matters worse, it would be a while before anyoneelse arrived. He was the one who organized this, so he came early.Kaiba lived here. And Atem… probably had been here already.

When he handed themtheir sticks, something else troubled him: Kaiba didn’t complain.He didn’t snipe. He just… accepted his.

“Thought you hated‘em,” said Jounouchi, leering at him.

“That’s it?Just… ‘not very exciting’?” Jounouchi squinted at Kaiba. “Youfeeling okay?”

Another shrug. Thelittle glance at Atem told Jounouchi everything he needed to know,and the encouraging smile Atem returned? Damning.

“Well,” saidJounouchi, “how nice to see the great Kaiba lowering his standardsenough to eat marshmallows with a peasant like me.”

“It’s… not sobad.”

Jounouchi paled. Notonly was Atem flaking out on him, now Kaiba was, too. Not thatJounouchi really wanted to get into it with Kaiba tonight, but theyhad – a certain relationship. It was just how they were. Somethinghe could depend on.

Apparently, though,Kaiba had more important things to concentrate on right now. Likesneaking his gloved hand over Atem’s beneath their coat sleeves. Ifthey thought they were being subtle, Jounouchi would hate to seeobvious. “May all your marshmallows burn,” he whispered.

“What?” askedAtem, head swiveling in Jounouchi’s direction.

“Oh, nothing…nothing at all.” He tried to grin, though it was more of a grimace.There was nothing like witnessing a flirt fest to remind you that youdidn’t have a date for Christmas Eve. Or Valentine’s Day. Or theforeseeable future. Not a single romantic prospect to speak of.

Well. Maybe one. Butthat was – no. Just a little gaming here and there, and even thathad probably only happened because Shizuka had to drop out of thecampaign for a while. If he’d made a habit of staying aftereveryone else left, laughing into the night, enjoying the company ofthe dungeon master… that wasn’t so abnormal, was it?

A rustle drewJounouchi’s attention. Atem sat up now, drawing his hand away fromKaiba, and started forward. “Oh!” With satisfaction, Jounouchinoted that both of their marshmallows had burned… as had hisown.

“Oh, come on…”Jounouchi yanked it out of the fire and blew furiously, feelinganother pang of satisfaction as Atem observed him and did the same,and his heart softened as Atem stared at his charred marshmallow witha furrowed brow. “Aww, don’t worry about it,” he said. “Somepeople even like ‘em burnt. You have to try it at least once,right?”

That did the trick.Atem brightened, and, before Jounouchi could stop him, popped theentire marshmallow into his mouth. His eyes widened, and his handsshot up, hovering in front of his face. “Hot-!”

“You gotta let itcool more than that!” He started to say something else, but Kaibaclutched Atem’s arm in concern, and nobody was looking at Jounouchianymore. Again.

“I’m fine,”said Atem, murmuring thickly around molten sweetness, though therewere tears in his eyes. He swallowed hard and stuck out his tongue,sighing as the cool air washed over it.

“Do you needanything?” asked Kaiba, grabbing Atem’s hand. “A drink?”

If Jounouchi had towatch another minuteof this…

“Hello, everyone!”

There he was. Anangel, here to rescue Jounouchi from this unfolding disaster – tosave him from his loneliness. And also from himself.

“I’m not late,am I?” asked Bakura. His eyes swept over the deserted campsite, andthen – over Atem and Kaiba, hands still entwined. “Ah.” Heflopped down directly beside Jounouchi, who could almost cry. Atleast someone was nice enough to sit with him. Very close, infact. As close as Atem was to Kaiba.

“Not at all,”said Jounouchi, peering down at him. It wasn’t the first time he’ddone this, of late – sitting a little closer to Jounouchi thancircumstance strictly necessitated. Until now, Jounouchi had chosento interpret this innocently: Bakura simply failed to register hisintrusion on Jounouchi’s personal bubble. He was, after all, soeasily distracted. Now, though… with their shoulders nearlytouching… Jounouchi swallowed. “You cold?”

But that wasn’treally the question Jounouchi was asking. Of course he was cold. Itwas cold. He wondered if someone as… self-absorbed as Bakurawould even pick up on it, but the look in his eyes when he noddedbanished all doubts. Steeling himself, Jounouchi draped an arm overBakura’s shoulder, and when Bakura relaxed against him, he relaxed,too. “No one’s really here,” he continued Casting a sharpglance at the others, he added, “We’re hardly even talking.”

“Sorry, I- got alittle distracted,” said Atem, scooching away from Kaiba. “Let’s-”

“No, no, don’ttrouble yourself about me now,” said Jounouchi, frowning.

Atem and Kaibastared at each other, blinking. “Are you… not having a good time,Jounouchi?” Atem asked, genuinely confused. “I just thought-since you and Kaiba don’t get along so well, we were trying to-”

How could Atem be sodense? Jounouchi’s free hand balled into a fist. “Me and Kaibaget along just fine when he’s not ignoring me!”

“Ignoring you?”Kaiba was just as bewildered now. “I thought I was…” Hewrinkled his nose. “’Behaving myself.’” Obviously not hisphrasing. Jounouchi had one guess for whose it was.

“It doesn’treally matter now. You can keep ignoring me. Whatever.” He squeezedBakura’s shoulder. “I have Bakura now.”

Bakura laughed andgave Jounouchi’s arm a mock slap. “Be nice. They’re justenjoying each other’s company.” Atem couldn’t help but smile.Kaiba set his jaw, but he didn’t deny it.

“I guess,”Jounouchi said, narrowing his eyes at them. He couldn’t keep thesulk out of his voice. “It’s just-”

“Shh.” Bakurasnagged a marshmallow out of the bag and shoved it into Jounouchi’smouth.

“Mmph!” Herelaxed and swallowed the marshmallow, flushing deeper as Bakura’sfingers brushed his lips on their way back to the bag. Satisfied,Bakura offered him another, gentler this time. He took it, wide-eyed.

“There,” saidBakura. “That’s better.” Leaning close, he whispered, “Thisweek was awful, and I didn’t sleep at all last night. If you wantto show them up, take advantage of my temporary lack of shame anddesire for companionship.”

“Um,” saidJounouchi, swallowing his marshmallow.

“Even if it’sjust to spite them, you know, I really don’t-”

“No!” saidJounouchi, managing to startle all three of the others, tearingKaiba and Atem from their own whispered conversation. Now thateveryone was looking at him, Jounouchi wasn’t so sure hewanted it anymore. “What’re you waiting for?” he said, wavingdismissively at Atem and Kaiba. “He’s right. Enjoy each other.”

They gave up andscooched back together. Atem’s hand found its way to Kaiba’s– perhaps emboldened by the current state of Jounouchi and Bakura. It wasn’t the end of the world. Jounouchi would have other chances

Bakura, on the otherhand, peered at Jounouchi, head tilted. “No?”

Jounouchi sighed,whispering back. “I mean, it’s not- it’s more than-” Heexhaled, gratefully accepting the marshmallow Bakura extended, givinghim a moment to think. “Are… you doing anything on Christmas?”

#prideshipping #puffshipping #Jounouchi Katsuya #Kaiba Seto #Atem #Bakura Ryou #YuGiOh #nlp fic #mywaywardcupcake #prideship #puffship

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tonystarktogo · 7 years ago

Text

Tiny Tony Overlord Part 7

Betaed by the amazing @folklejend. All remaining mistakes are my own.

Summary: In which Natasha has a plan (and no, getting suspended wasn't part of it), HYDRA is as uncreative and predictable as always, and Tony meets someone who is either completely crazy or very dangerous. Or both.

.Somewhere in New York.

Watching Dead-Eyes cut a tracking device out of his left shoulder without so much as a twitch in his blank expression makes Tony feel sick. It’s for the man’s own good, technically. They can’t be found now, it wouldn’t end well for either of them. But commanding another man to cut himself open—and having said command followed without a moment’s hesitation—is a disturbing experience.

There’s a rush to it too, Tony can’t quite deny that. There lies a heady power in that kind of unquestioning obedience. But it’s a power that corrupts, no, stains your soul, to the point where Tony wants to throw up just to get the crawling sensation out of his system.

Dead-Eyes is in no position to consent to such a measure. He’s in no position to save himself either. Until that changes—and Tony will have to look into that as soon as he finds the time, seriously, something about that blankness is just wrong—Tony will have to make the choices for them both.

Hopefully that will be enough.

Twenty minutes later, after both Dead-Eyes and Tony have been properly stitched up—and in Tony’s case, have their bandages exchanged for clean ones that were most definitely lifted from a convenience store down the street—Tony turns towards his companion with a fake-cheerful smile. “Let’s get those papers and get the hell out of here.”

And that’s exactly what they do.

[continues under the cut]

.On the helicarrier.

Reading through the missing Agent Bianca White’s file leaves Natasha with an uncomfortable sense of déjà-vu. The picture of a fairly attractive woman in her mid-twenties with bleach-blonde hair and hazel eyes looks back at her, a hint of a smile on her lips that makes her look approachable but not eager.

Flipping through the pictures, logs, mission reports, and notes of superiors only intensifies the sinking sensation in Natasha’s gut. White wears little makeup and well-cut clothes, enough to accentuate but not enough to be memorable. Passes tests and exams satisfactorily, but never excels. Finishes her missions successfully, but never above expectations. Shows up at work neither too early nor too late. White appears to be, for all intents and purposes, a perfectly average employee.

Except for how people are rarely that fundamentally average in every aspect of their life. Natasha has seen files like this before, more often than she cares to count. She’s been files like these. It’s the standard profile of any sleeper agent—because nobody gets overlooked like an average agent.

Natasha doesn’t know why it catches her by surprise. SHIELD is a high-ranking government organisation; of course there are moles. No organisation is made of fully devout members. If you find the right hook, almost everyone can be turned. Natasha should know.

“You think it’s a coincidence her entire team ended up dead today?” Barton asks sarcastically, eyes fixed on a picture of a traffic cam that proves White has been leaving the three-mile blackout radius the day Iron Man disappeared.

“There is no such thing as coincidences,” Natasha shoots back.

“Alright, let’s say White is a mole,” Hill states. “Could this woman really kill her entire team without sustaining any injuries serious enough to keep her down until the police arrived? Eleven against one aren’t odds you bet your life on lightly.”

Natasha turns towards Fury’s second, her expression frozen over with the arctic cold of a Russian winter. She still remembers little girls with pretty bows in their hair, thin elbows as sharp as the knives they wielded. “You’d be surprised what some women are capable of,” she states, words heavy with the unsaid, what some children are capable of.

Thankfully, Barton’s pointed interruption keeps her thoughts from walking down a dangerous path they rarely come back from. “We think there were at least two of them,” he explains. “There was a sniper on the rooftop of the gas station across the street. The location was a solid choice; he knew exactly where the STRIKE team would be. Of course, with an inside source, that would have been easy to anticipate—and if White is as good as we suspect, the whole confrontation was over in minutes.

“Of course, that’s all guesswork on our part right now.” Barton shrugs, a small grin on his lips that makes him look like a school boy who knows he’s just gotten away with a prank. “But I’m confident ballistics will support our theory.”

“Not complete guesswork,” Hill disagrees. Her frown has deepened with every word of Barton’s report, and in the shadows of the warm afternoon light, she looks decades older than she really is.

It’s the job, Natasha supposes. The job, and the people who choose it.

“I just got the report from one of the agents who questioned the owner, didn’t think it would be of much importance until now. Apparently, besides two families and a couple of backpacking tourists, he’s only rented out one room—to a man he described as ‘shady’ but refused to explain why.” Hill’s scowl says very clearly what she thinks of that. “He swears the guy was alone but rented a double. The agent checked the room but it was clean. And by clean, I mean completely clean. No sign that anyone ever stayed there.”

Which meant professionals. Unsurprising—you don’t send grunts after an elite strike force if you mean to put them down for real—but always good to have it confirmed.

“Alright.” Hill rubs her temples with a sign. A gesture Natasha recognises as a useless attempt to stave off an oncoming migraine. She sympathises. Sleep deprivation, dead agents, moles, and a mysteriously vanished Iron Man is not a combination anyone enjoys. Especially not Stark once she’s through with him for pulling a fucking disappearance act on her.

But as fast as Hill seems to sink into herself, she pulls herself together again. “Rhyston, Cole, get me everything on White. And I mean everything, not this little press file we’ve got here. If she’s dirty, I want to know it and I want to know it yesterday! Summer, the intel on the STRIKE team! Barton, drop the fucking smirk before I drop you! Fury wants to kill you in person, I wouldn’t let him wait much longer. That goes for you too, Romanov!”

That at least gets rid of Barton’s smirk. Only for it to be replaced by a pout. “Me?” he exclaims dramatically, “what did I do?”

Hill raises an unimpressed eyebrow. “Besides running off with Romanov without having been cleared for active duty or been assigned a mission to investigate the slaughter of a STRIKE team?”

Barton waves the clear accusation off like he always does. It’s… comfortable. This banter between them, the easy with which Barton pisses off everyone around him. Ever since Loki—Well. Suffice to say, it’s taken a while for Natasha to see this side of him again. She’s missed it.

Still, even Barton has enough sense not to leave Fury waiting for long.

Right as they’ve reached the door of the conference room, Hill stops them one last time. And by the gleeful smirk on her lips, Natasha knows exactly what she’s going to say.

“By the way,” if possible, the smirk on Hill’s lips widens, “you’re both off active duty until the psych department clears you, what with your emotional investment and all. Don’t forget to hand in your badges and your weapons before you leave. And I mean weapons, not just the guns, Romanov!”

Slamming the door into her face would be immature, so Natasha lets Barton do it for her.

* * * * *

.Very high up in the air.

Flying an airplane with an emotionless killing machine playing your father is an experience alright, Tony concludes forty-five minutes into the flight. How they made it through security, he’ll never know. Well, he knows how he did it, Tony just doesn’t know how Dead-Eyes accomplished the same. One minute he was by Tony’s side, the next he was on the other side of the security lane.

Tony wisely chose not to question it—better than being taken into custody for a freaking metal arm, that’s for sure.

Really, the whole plan hinges on nobody paying them any attention whatsoever, because from what Tony has seen of Dead-Eye’s acting skills, he doubts they could fool a first grader. As it turns out though, his worry is unfounded.

Sure, Dead-Eyes looks like he’s been cut out of an ice block, but he’s still handsome—maybe even more so for it—and that helps a lot. Tony mentally pats himself on the back for having decided the guy needed a shave. Then pats himself literally on the back because he’s a kid, nobody’s gonna care. Except the nice lady next to him, who appears a little frightened by Dead-Eyes—clearly she’s got good instincts—and keeps asking him if everything is alright. But all it takes is a teary-eyed explanation about how his mom just died and how daddy is just sad but trying not to be, and that’s taken care of too.

It also gets him chocolate from the soft-hearted flight assistant. Being a child is awesome.

* * * * *

.Secret Research Facility.

For the first time since the mission to take down Stark went off the rails, the commander is silent. It’s a deadly, all-encompassing silence nobody around him is suicidal enough to break. The agents present are hyper-aware of the fact that someone is about to die. And in his current mood, the commander is unlikely to care about silly particularities like friendly fire.

On the screen, five dots blink steadily as they move further and further away—from their own location and each other. Which, considering four of them are supposed to be in the same body, isn’t very reassuring.

The commander takes a deep breath, causing the minions closest to him to wince in anticipation. But he doesn’t yell. His voice, when he speaks, is low and hoarse. “Get a team to each place but have them prepared for a trap. Recapturing the Asset has utmost priority, do you hear what I’m saying?”

“Yes, sir,” the minions chorus obediently.

“Er-,” under the force of the commander’s glare, the inexperienced minion who’s dared to speak up falls silent immediately.

“What?” the commander snarls.

“I-I was just—wondering about White, sir,” the terrified minion stutters.

The commander blinks, surprised. Then, slowly, a grin spreads over his face. “Dispatch a team for her too. I want her body spread all over whatever hole the useless rat’s trying to hide in.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

* * * * *

.On a small island.

Despite his being a recognised genius, Tony hadn’t actually thought their grand escape plan through. If he had—instead of, say, point at the next flight possible and demand tickets—he might not have chosen the Bahamas.

Amidst all the tourists in their t-shirts and shorts, Dead-Eyes and Tony in their black, long-sleeved clothes stick out like two sore thumbs. Besides, the Bahamas are—well. Objectively speaking, they’re nice, probably. Tony mostly sees sun, a bright blue sky, and sand, which, yay. Not like he hasn’t stared at the same fucking sand for nine eternal years. Granted, the air hurt to breathe and the sky looked a lot less natural. It’s not really the same at all, rationally Tony knows that. Too bad rationality has little to do with it.

It’s the feeling of the light breeze against his skin, the way tiny corns of sand dance in it, the heavy warmth that makes his clothes stick to his skin, how Dead-Eyes lingers by his side, slightly towards the left—because the right is reserved, a place that may not be currently filled but has always been, will always be, taken—it’s familiar, so much so the weight of it settles into his bones, builds up the pressure on each and every one of them.

“The position is not secure,” Dead-Eyes hisses, the first words he’s spoken since they got on the plane.

His warning, though helpful, comes too late. By the time Tony makes out a thin, elderly woman who is watching them with narrowed eyes, they are too close to make a clean getaway without arousing suspicion. Especially considering the airport is really just landing field with one small building next to it.

“We’re gonna have to steal a boat,” Tony thinks hysterically as the woman approaches them with small but determined steps. Her gaze doesn’t waver once, and, frankly, it’s starting to creep him out.

She doesn’t pull a machine gun on them at least, but then Tony might have preferred that. Instead she smiles, slow and easy, like a mother welcoming her son after years of absence. Her teeth are a brilliant white, and when she hugs Tony— hugs him, what the hell?!—she smells of the sea and wet wood and something spicy he can’t identify.

“You have been missed,” the woman says when she finally pulls back. Though she still refuses to let go of his shoulders. “You are missed.”

There’s a gleam in her eyes that reminds Tony of the adoration on the faces of little kids when they got to meet Iron Man, for a time. It’s tempered by shrewdness and wisdom that only comes with experience, but the core, the core remains the same.

“I-“ For once in his life Tony has absolutely no idea what to say. He doesn’t know this woman, doesn’t have any memory of her. Yet he doesn’t remember SHIELD trying to kill him either, does he? And what about that thought is bothering him so much?

“Do not worry, young warrior, I shall keep my silence.” The woman’s smile twists, just a little, an edge of cunning that sharpens her appearance into something beautiful. “Your search shall soon find its end.”

Perfect. Just perfect. Ominous warnings from a strange woman playing oracle. Just what Tony needs to make this bloody mess any more complicated.

“Thank you?” he tries to say, though it comes out more as a question.

“Oh, I wouldn’t dare to place a depth on you!” the woman exclaims, startled. “Your sacrifice cannot be repaid nor will it be forgotten. We will ensure as much; it is the least we can do.”

Tony smiles awkwardly, a shallow imitation of what used to be his press smile. Like a jacket he’s grown out of—hasn’t grown into yet. “I appreciate the gesture,” is what he settles on—instead of the What the freaking hell are you talking about? he desperately wants to ask. But he can’t. Not if this strange lady actually knows—no. The thought alone sends shivers of dread down Tony’s spine. It’s not possible. Whoever she is, whatever she is, she can’t know what Tony’s done. It’s impossible. You can’t know a future that never happened.

Can you?

The woman takes one of his small hands between hers. Tony has to give it to her; she’s got a stronger grip than he would have expected. And she’s still looking at him like that. “Don’t worry, you will find the answers you seek on the grounds of the bloodless children,” she says gently, like that’s supposed to calm Tony down.

“O-kay,” he accentuates. Maybe for once this doesn’t mean anything at all. Maybe this woman is just—a nutcase. Or a very talented grifter. If only he could be so lucky. “I’ll just, err, go there then, I guess.”

Tony carefully but decisively detangles himself from the woman’s grip. Screw suspicions, he’s gonna run the second he gets her off him, Dead-Eyes in tow. They’re gonna steal a boat, hide on one of the islands and figure out a new plan, far, far away from this creepy woman and her damn knowing eyes.

Just as he’s finally freed himself and given the woman one last nod of acknowledgement, she reaches out lightening fast and grasps his forearm. “Do not let the darkness destroy you again,” the woman warns, her voice deeper now, and all the more damning for it. “There will be no other chance.”

Tony swallows, caught in the woman’s bottomless gaze. Suddenly he is uncomfortably aware that she hasn’t spared Dead-Eyes a glance, not even once looked into his direction. Has been pointedly ignoring him. You wouldn’t be the first one I killed myself, he remembers, the echo of a man he used to know.

“I won’t,” Tony agrees and wishes he’d know what exactly it is he’s promising.

It seems to be enough to convince the woman at least, because finally she lets him go, and with one last glance towards her, Tony gestures for Dead-Eyes to follow him and high-tails it as far away from the woman as he can manage. With any luck, he’ll be able to lose her in the crowd around the bus stops. Tony doesn’t look back, but he feels the weight of her eyes on him for a long time afterwards.

* * * * *

.New York.

Natasha can tell Barton wants to say something, but he keeps his silence until they’ve exited the rental car and walk towards the entrance of Avengers Tower.

“You’re not as furious about the suspension as I thought you’d be.” He doesn’t turn his head towards her and his lips are barely moving. Both are habits designed to make her feel more comfortable, less put on the spot. It still still strikes her out of nowhere sometimes, the knowledge how well Barton knows her.

Natasha looks straight ahead as she responds, eyes focusing on the guards and hidden cameras Stark has once pointed out to her—and she is sure there are more than she’s aware of; she’s already found four of them. “You know me,” Natasha retorts with a lightness she doesn’t feel. “I know how to keep myself busy. Without driving my teammates insane.”

Barton rolls his eyes at the half-hearted dig.

“Besides,” she continues after only a brief moment of hesitation, “Fury can handle dead agents. I don’t need to get caught up in the bloodshed.”

At that, Barton whistles. “There’s a first for everything.”

It earns him a punch against his upper arm, hard enough to almost make him lose his balance.

“I checked the agents’ reports from the B&B,” Natasha mutters, quieter now. It’s unlikely they have any eyes or ears on them, SHIELD is overworked as it is, but she hasn’t survived as long as she has by taking unnecessary chances. “There’s no way Stark was kept there; they lack the equipment to keep him down. Only way he was in that building is if he’s already dead, and why drag a body across the city?”

“So you’re saying an Avenger gets kidnapped and a STRIKE team is taken out within the same twenty-four hours, and those incidents are entirely unrelated?” Barton doesn’t even try to keep the disbelief out of his voice.

They cross the lobby and enter one of the private elevators before Natasha turns towards him with a scowl. “Of course not. There’s no such thing as coincidences. All I’m saying is Stark wasn’t held there. Now, there might be a connection or there might not be, but we don’t have time to play the guessing game. Whoever has him, we need to find him fast, and chasing a traitor isn’t gonna cut it.”

Barton nods, like they’ve been on the same page all along. Maybe they have. “In other words, let Fury worry about White while we use our newly acquired free time to save Tony’s ass before he has the chance to blow everything up. I like it.”

Natasha snorts. “You just like the thought of getting to blow things up yourself.”

Barton smirks and tellingly makes no move to deny it. But then, she didn’t expect him to.

“Welcome at Avengers’ Tower, Miss Romanov, Agent Barton,” the cool voice of JARVIS interrupts them. He still hasn’t forgiven Natasha for her subterfuge whilst she played Pott’s assistant. “Captain Rogers is expecting you in the common room.”

“Let’s go find our wayward genius!” Barton cheers and takes off as soon as the elevator doors open. “Last one in the common room doesn’t get any laser guns!”

Natasha watches him run off with a blank expression. “One day, I’m going to kill that man.”

I'm honestly in awe of the response I've been getting for this story. Thank you all for reading, commenting and leaving me kudos - you're support helps me continue this project! There was a little less Tony and Bucky in this chapter, but I hope you enjoyed SHIELD's perspective in things - and I promise, the next chapter will have a lot of Tony :)

Also, while a lot of this story is about Tony and Bucky running around, they will have allies, some of whom will soon-ish (within the next 10 chapters) join the regular chast. Now some roles have already been cast, but there are still slots I haven't filled, and I'd like to hear your opinion on them :)

Who would you like to see as one of Tony's (possibly reluctant) allies? -Brock Rumlow -Wanda Maximoff -Pietro Maximoff -Loki -Tiberius Stone -Someone else (tell me in a comment!)

Alright, that's enough babbling from me for now. I hope you liked this chapter, and feel free to leave your thoughts and feedback as a comment or in my ask box! Thank you for being awesome readers :)

#Tiny Tony Overlord #ReRe writes #fic #Marvel #MCU #Tony Stark #Bucky Barnes #Natasha Romanov #clint barton #nick fury #Maria Hill #tiny Tony #deaged Tony #winter soldier bucky #Tony is on the run #SHIELD has a theory #Bix the HYDRA goon #HYDRA makes their next move #Tony has way too much fun playing a child

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flyingsassysaddles · 7 years ago

Text

The Holy Order’s Redemption

Notes: And fuck I did it again, sorry I did this last minute ;;v;; exams are a bitch. This is my @aphsecretsanta rare pair exchange for @aph--china! They requested Prussia/Switzerland with a theme of Redemption for one of their themes, so here it is! The demon is, of course, Prussia, and the angel is Switzerland if you don’t know his name! Lilli is Lichtenstein, and Ludwig/Germany is referred to as Prussia’s brother. And...I think that’s it! This was really fun to make, and I’m glad I could write something for this pairing!

Summary: Vash, as is his duty as the guard of the Holy Prisons, is walking the infamous soul eater demon down the halls to be judged by the Holy Supreme Court of Heaven. Being close to his sister’s killer is starting to draw out the worst in the former guardian angel, and the albino demon quickly tests his limits.

Happy Reading!

____

Vash gripped his sword tighter, tensing his wings against his back and snarling at the demon before him. “I strongly advise you to be silent, you fallen mother-”

“Alright, alright, I get it,” the albino rolled his eyes, red slits dancing with fire and the smell of burnt flesh following the prisoner as he was rushed along the passageway to the Supreme Heavenly Court. “You don’t like me, you don’t have to be so rude about it, yeesh.”

“Yes, I don’t ‘like’ you,” the guardian spat, sword a hair from being drawn and slaughtering the chained prisoner, “You killed my Protected. You should be lucky I don’t kill you where you stand, demon bastard.” With a flick of his fingers, the demon was thrown further down the hallway by the drones in front of him, his blond hair shining the stale light from the ceiling onto the mindless bodies that waited for their next order. Although a dark voice whispered to kill the murderer in front of him, his Inner Light, the damned voice in his head that kept his behavior in strict ordinance with Holy Order, lit a path that prevented him from snapping his neck in the most blessed halls of Heaven. Afterall, killing your enemies was demon behavior.

The insolent bastard, with his jagged, lone pair of wings and his ivory claws, started to tap out a tune as the drones become more rough with him, reacting to the slow-burning aura emanating from his halo and perceiving that as orders to shove and trip the unnatural entity. Vash didn’t stop them.

“You know where we’re going?” the demon asked, bleached tail swishing through the air, somehow escaping the normal mutilation that happened in confession rooms. Shackles rattling on his wrists, he leaned closer to the former guardian angel and said, “Am I going to the execution area already?”

“I suppose it’s fitting no one told you,” Vash snorted, dagger dangling from his wrist and green eyes glistening with the opportunity to tear the demon apart, if just with words. There were times before when his Inner Light would have clamped his jaw shut and order him to remain neutral like all guardians, but now that his title had been stripped away and he had been demoted to a simple prison guard, it was mostly silent to the loathing that had churned in him. With a mute conscience, he said, “You’re going to the Supreme Heavenly Court, where they’ll hold a mock trial and sentence you to any number of grisly deaths for eating blessed souls. Perhaps a gladiator battle,” Vash proposed, watching the pale demon’s face for any signs of guilt or horror, “Maybe you’ll finally be able to eat a demon’s lifesource. I hear they kept Ivan the Grim alive for the express purpose of watching him tear demons apart. If you get lucky, he might go easy on you.”

“No way that’s real,” the demon laughed, but there was something fearful in his eyes, Vash noted with a malicious glee. “Angels don’t just, just KILL people. You’re supposed to be the goodie two shoes of the Realms, like all peaceful and shit.”

“Not to demons like you,” Vash said, and prodded him further to his doom.

“You’re trying to make me scared so I’ll confess to the court,” he proclaimed, blood eyes dashing to the side and hands fidgeting slightly with his white prisoner’s garb.

“Interesting theory. Too bad they already have all the evidence they need, snow bastard.”

“First of all, I’m not a snow demon, and second, how the fuck do you know that?”

“Because I have ears and don’t live under a rock in the most gossiping city this side of Saint Paul. Also,” the blond hissed, pressing his sword into the demons back until it drew blood, smiling grimly at the yelp the demon gave, “I have a special interest in your case.”

The demon whipped around, for the first sign showing flares of aggression and spitting, “What the fuck is your fucking-”

“Language,” Vash warned, and the drones besides him crushed the albino’s shoulders, eyes glowing in sync with the Holy Orbs on the walls. “No offensive language is permitted in the Heavenly Court Building.” The Inner Light moved his mouth to speak, and ever the faithful follower, he added, “Any unholy acts, orders, or speech that is not sanctified by the Court is prohibited. Please remain orderly and reasonable in all manners while in the presence of the Holy-”

“Oh save it, Vash.” A flick of satisfaction appeared on the pale demon’s face as Vash tried to keep his own face blank at the revelation that he knew his name, and knowing that he was failing when the demon laughed. “Yeah, I know your name, Vash.”

The second utterance shook his Inner Light as the name commanded him like the judges or the higher angels. Such power came with names, something whispered, we must get rid of him. Of course, we can’t get rid of him, his Inner Light bounced back. He’s a prisoner, he must face justice. But after. No, never. Yes, let us consume the demon who ate our Protected, strike him down in vengeance!

He gritted his teeth, shoving the seething hostility below the Inner Light and motioning the drones ahead of him as he collected himself.

“Don’t you want to know why I know your name?” the demon teased, now back in a position of power with guard’s name in his grasps. “It has to do with your beloved Protected-”

“Don’t you dare speak of Lili!” Vash screamed, sword fully drawn and aimed at the grinning demon's throat, and even though the guardian had the prisoner pressed against the wall, the drones fell back. “It’s your fault she’s dead,” the dark said, green eyes swirling with red, his six wings stretched out their full length, “And I should skin you alive for taking away my purpose!”

“Wow,” the demon blinked. “She wasn’t kidding when she said you were violent.” He caught his head to the side, acting in control despite being centimeters from death. “She mentioned you when she cried out for help, you know. She said, ‘Vash, why won’t you save me!’” He mimicked her high voice, eyes filled with mockery and abandon, wanting one last strike at this robotic creature before his trial, before his wings were mutilated and his body dent out to be devoured by Heaven’s pet monsters. The rumors were true, and like fuck he was going to step foot in that courtroom.

“You bastard!” Vash howled, a moment away from slicing the waiting demon’s throat before the Holy Orbs erupted in light and shoved him backward, forcing him away from the startled prisoner and onto the floor.

“No offensive language is permitted in the Heavenly Court Building,” the drones repeated, staring at the angel with empty eyes and spread their arms in front of the demon as if to protect him. “This is a prisoner. He is not to be harmed until his trial. This is a prisoner. He is not to be harmed before his trial. This is a-”

“I understand, and I apologize for my behavior in the holy building,” his Inner Light responded, shoving the corrupted energy back to its abode and bowing to the holy minds ingrained into the walls. Gritting his teeth, he said robotically, “I accept my punishment, and I accept the Holy One’s will forevermore.”

The drones nodded, their human-like bodies glowing gold, and picked the demon up again. They were back to being the mindless beings they were before, waiting for orders as he gave a sigh of relief. Back in control, really in control, that dark spirit sealed away from his mind, his Inner Light said, “Demon, proceed. Please refrain from that conduct again. Attempted suicide is not sanctioned by the Holy Order, and you must wait for your trial before receiving an agreed death.”

“Oh Lucifer,” the demon breathed, eyes wide and taking a step back to the wall, “They really control you. Every single one of you. I saw you, I really saw you, I swear!” The demon narrowed his eyes at the blank angel in front of him. “But you’re just a robot, huh. The only thing you can really think about is Lilli.”

He clenched his fists, gritting his teeth and feeling the hideous emotions rise over him again, begging him to defend his Protected, his sweet baby sister he guarded with his life, to murder her killer and forget about whatever redemption or punishment the trial might give him. ‘What about Lili?’ it whispered.

“Refrain from attempting to provoke the guards,” Vash spoke, Inner Light glowing in sync to the lights on the walls, clenching his heart and burying those traitorous thoughts under the sheet of the Holy Order. “Lilli Zwingli is a Former-Protected, and she has the utmost respect and caused great sorrow to the Holy Order of Angels,” Vash stated, eyes as blank as the drones that now pushed the demons further down the hall.

The demon seemed to be deeply shook, tail limp and eyes locked on the humming walls and the presence of the Holy Order all around the group. Vash glossed over this, following his light guided path, stopping in front of the doors of the Supreme Courtroom. With a push on the door and a respectful step back, he looked his sister’s murderer in his red slitted eyes, and smiled, letting an inkling of satisfaction come from the heartless being’s death.

With one glance into the tense, cloudy room for the worst offenders, the soul eaters, the cannibals, the traitors, the demons, he gave one last response to the brother of the High Judge, the infamous Gilbert Beilschmidt, and not even his Inner Light could drown out hate dripped, sanctioned words.

“May you face your trial with courage,” he repeated for the millionth time, the final goodbye to the lost prisoners of the Angels, “and may you find redemption.”

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tobeornottotc · 7 years ago

Text

Demian Analysis BTS and Love your self

Demian Analysis BTS

This is a brain dump this means that there is a lot of just spurred notes here and there analysing the BTS theories, I will be doing more brain dumps like these to get to the root of the story before Love yourself the film airs next year

Extracts describing Demian in bold are from Sparknotes

Let me know your own theories and how you think the storyline began and ended, because the timeline is what’s throwing me off a lot.

Thanks R.

Cain and Abel- Jealousy, Betrayal, Brotherhood, Youth

The first episode occurs when Sinclair is ten years old. Sinclair invents a story about stealing some apples and is then blackmailed by an eleven year old thug, Franz Kromer. Not having enough money to pay off Kromer, Sinclair begins to steal and is otherwise subjected to tormenting humiliation by Kromer. A slightly older, but amazingly mature boy, Max Demian, soon enters Sinclair's school. He approaches Sinclair one day after class and presents him with an inventive interpretation of the story of Cain and Abel. This interpretation contradicts the standard Christian story Sinclair has been fed and the new idea excites Sinclair. Seemingly knowing everything, and with unbounded capability, Demian convinces Kromer to stop tormenting Sinclair. Freed from the source of his tensions, Sinclair abandons Demian and attempts to become a more model child.

Apples- Jimin is the start of everything linked to Jin as well - Apples are a huge sign of tortured child hood, linked to Adam and Eve and temptation, sin etc… Jimin’ story whatever it is gonna deal with all these feelings and I think that the Cain and Abel storyline might also be linked to him and Jhope’s storyline.

Demian- Each character in Bts HYYH has their own duo for Demian apart from Jin who I believe is meant to be Abraxas

Suga is Demian to Jung kook

R.M is Demian to V

J Hope and Jimin are connected as well

But what is maturity though?

Focus of this Brain dump is Jung Kook and Suga – Growth and Independence

In HYYH the boys delve into many situations linked to their “Demian figure” Suga is always by Jung kook’s side and always like a calming influence but then suddenly it changes and Suga breaks down beating up Kook and also burning down everything after we see him in the hospital waiting room waiting for someone who we now know from love your self is Jung kook. The reason Kook got in the hospital is because he got into a car accident and pre accident Kook is seen to be beat up again. Kook definitely is young Sinclair in awe of his Demian. He paints pictures of Suga and shakes his head in fear and pain screaming Hyung, his solo song for Wings Era is a song praising friendships between boys and how relationships can help someone grow.

He approaches Sinclair one day after class and presents him with an inventive interpretation of the story of Cain and Abel. This interpretation contradicts the standard Christian story Sinclair has been fed and the new idea excites Sinclair. Seemingly knowing everything, and with unbounded capability, Demian convinces Kromer to stop tormenting Sinclair. Freed from the source of his tensions, Sinclair abandons Demian and attempts to become a more model child.

So is this one of the reasons why Suga and Kook fall out, because as Kook sings in Begin, he’s like a young baby bird (which is why the image at the end of his video reel is the birds nest circle thing) who just started to grow because of his friends and Suga especially. You notice when he paints in his video Kook sees a piano in flames and that’s what causes him to start actively screaming in pain Hyung. But also the weird thing about the image he’s painting Is that it also looks very similar to Rap Monster who I can’t help link for Kook’s p.o.v as Alfons who would be discussed later, in Demian. Rap Monster’s influence is heavily subtle yet seen as we watch I need you and the videos from HYYH, and I feel like he is one of those influences that causes Junkook to also start to spiral. In Blood sweat and tears you see Kook putting his finger to his lips in what looks to be like the green absinthe drink that Rap Monster was drinking and then you see him well, hanging from the ceiling etc… Etc.

We get to know Max Demian only through the eyes of Emil Sinclair. Since Sinclair sees Demian as almost divine, Sinclair would not be one to critique Demian, to offer deep insights into his personality, to see how Demian grows and changes. Thus, in Demian, Demian remains a fairly static character. This is just as well—Demian's function in the novel is to help Sinclair break free of his upbringing. Demian is Sinclair's guide through life. He watches out for him when he is being blackmailed by Kromer and offers him intellectual excitement. Demian teaches Sinclair to think differently, to discover himself and his desires. Demian is there for Sinclair during the final period of time when he is becoming independent. Finally, when Sinclair has broken free, become an independent being, Demian leaves him. Demian's purpose is to make sure Sinclair develops. Once Sinclair is equipped to handle the world on his own, to act in accord with his desires, Demian's purpose is fulfilled, his mission accomplished. He has no more use in Sinclair's life—he must leave Sinclair alone.

I do think that reading from this description of Demian that yes Suga is Kook’s Demian figure and his own storyline in the ‘arc’ heavily influences the reason for why he does breakdown and abandon Kook at the end.

Sinclair enters boarding school, confused and unsure of what he thinks and believes. One day he is approached by an older boy, Alfons Beck, who invites him to a bar. They go off together, drink wine, and chat. This marks the beginning of a rebellious streak and a new group of friends for young Sinclair. He often goes out late into the night, drinking and carousing. However, he refrains from one of the activities popular among his friends: he refuses to go with them when they visit women because Sinclair has a yearning for love, not sex. One day in the park, Sinclair sees a girl who is, for him, the paradigm of beauty. She has some male features, but is surrounded by an incredibly alluring air. Though he never speaks to her, he names her Beatrice, and she becomes a symbol for him, an ideal for whom he acts. Immediately he reforms his behaviour and ceases his activities with his friends. Also, he begins to take up painting and paints a picture of this girl. Days later he realizes that the picture is also a picture of Demian.

Yearning for Love, the new era we are in is called Love yourself, in the highlight Reel we see Kook see a girl figure and be dazzled by her. Like Omg she’s Beatrice, 100% and I think people seriously need to understand that she is not meant to be the reason for why she loves himself but she’s meant to be an ideal for him not being himself and she’s meant to also I think be a representation of his obsession of Suga who is his role model and inspiration etc…

Jin as Abraxas

In class one day, Sinclair finds a note that speaks about breaking free. Also, it mentions a god, Abraxas. Sinclair is certain that the note is from Demian. Only half paying attention to the day's lecture, Sinclair perks up when he hears his teacher mention Abraxas. The teacher says that Abraxas is an ancient God who contains both divine and satanic elements.

I mean it when I say I think Jin represents the idea of Abraxas for the theories. We see Jin sometimes struggle between being angelic figure, sees the future, is always kissing fallen angel statues, wanting to reach the sky, the butterfly, etc seeing paintings etc. But then you also see a dark element around him, the paintings he’s looking at are of chaos, his stares of in the darkness, his dark looks etc… His song awake is about wanting to break free and reach the sky limits but not being able to, the idea of a fallen angel in my opinion which is why the mirror image of the fallen angel in blood sweat and tears occur with the statue breaking and Jin’s face breaking too…

Strolling about town one day, Sinclair hears music emanating from a small, locked church. He is moved by it and sits outside to listen for a while. He does this many times and eventually decides to trail the organist as he leaves after playing on one occasion. Sinclair follows him to a bar and sits beside him. They begin to chat and Sinclair mentions Abraxas. At once, the organist, Pistorius, takes a great interest in Sinclair. This is the start of an intense relationship between the two men. Pistorius becomes a mentor to Sinclair, helping him to learn further things about himself and teaching him a bit about Abraxas.

Pistorius= Suga again I think this one is obvious though

Sinclair begins to see that Pistorius has limitations. He tells Pistorius that he is too "antiquarian." He brings Pistorius to recognize that he can only teach Sinclair about old gods and ideas of the past—he is not creative enough to invent new ones. Their relationship ends as Sinclair ends his time at preparatory school. Before entering university, Sinclair visits Demian's old house. There, the new owner shows him a picture of Demian's mother. Sinclair realizes that she looks exactly like the portraits he has been drawing, and he unsuccessfully searches for her.

MAMA and LIE

This is linked to J hope as it is shown in one of the music videos that he suffers from a syndrome:

Munchausen's syndrome

People with Munchausen's syndrome can behave in a number of different ways, including:

Pretending to have psychological symptoms – for example, claiming to hear voices or claiming to see things that aren't really there

Lying about symptoms – for example, choosing symptoms that are difficult to disprove, such as having a severe headache or pretending to have a seizure (fit) or to pass out – Which I think is why Jimin is linked in that hospital scene to Jhope.

Tampering with test results – for example, heating a thermometer to suggest a fever or adding blood to a urine sample

Self-infliction – for example, cutting or burning themselves, poisoning themselves with drugs, or eating food contaminated with bacteria

Aggravating pre-existing conditions – for example, rubbing faeces into wounds to cause an infection, or reopening previously healed wounds

Some people with Munchausen's syndrome may spend years travelling from hospital to hospital feigning a wide range of illnesses. When it's discovered they're lying, they may suddenly leave hospital and move to another area.

People with Munchausen's syndrome can be very manipulative and, in the most serious cases, may undergo painful and sometimes life-threatening surgery, even though they know it's unnecessary.

THE PILLS and JIMIN AND WATER / DROWNING - Signs of this syndrome occurring

Causes of this syndrome:

· Emotional trauma or illness during childhood – this often resulted in extensive medical attention- Jhope losing his mum that near that carousel

· A personality disorder – a mental health condition that causes patterns of abnormal thinking and behaviour

· A grudge against authority figures or healthcare professionals- I think this is why Jimin was smirking and acting weird in lie when he’s being interrogated and tested. The idea of HYYH is also the idea of the distance between modern youths and adults, which is why they are seen terrorising everywhere and going crazy and being rebellious.

Back to Kook/Suga

Sinclair soon becomes a regular in the Demian household. He is immensely happy to be spending his time with Demian, Demian's mother, and others of their type who pass through. There is, however, a note of darkness—both Demian and Sinclair have premonitions of evil to come. Talk about a war begins to brew. Sinclair spends that summer with the Demian family, further strengthening his bond with both Demian and Frau Eva. One day he summons his mental energy to telepathically call Frau Eva. She hears his call and sends Demian to him. Sinclair is ecstatic that it works.

War- War is written on the phone box that Rap monster is desperately trying to go into to get to V

A woman is involved- Yes people Eva is involved this relationship seems really paralleled not by jungkook and Suga but by jimin, jhope and the woman in their highlight reel.

War begins and Demian is called to serve as a lieutenant. Before Sinclair goes off to war, Eva tells him that he now knows how to call her and whenever he needs to, he can do so and she will send somebody like her to his side.

Sinclair is wounded in battle. He summons his energy and finds Demian by his side one night in the infirmary. Demian tells Sinclair that if he ever feels like he needs help, he no longer needs to call Demian. He simply needs to look inside himself and he will see that Demian is within him. With that, Demian gives him a light kiss on the lips—a kiss that he says is from Frau Eva—and vanishes into the night.

Wounded- The car accident

If he ever feels like he needs help, he no longer needs to call Demian. He simply needs to look inside himself and he will see that Demian is within him. – LOVE YOUR SELF THEME

Next I’ll try to analyse V and Rapmonster and what their deal is for this whole thing

Thanks R.

#bts #analysis #bts theories #wings #love yourself #hyyh #demian

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musicprincess655 · 7 years ago

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Youichi thought, all things considered, this week hadn’t gone as badly as it could have. He wasn’t dead, for one thing, and neither was Miyuki. For another thing, Jun seemed pretty optimistic about finding a solution quickly, so Youichi was trying to also be an optimist.

Ryou hadn’t been thrilled about having to wait for the weekend, but Jun was a grad student, and Youichi wasn’t exactly drowning in free time, and it wasn’t like they could drop everything and work on this problem exclusively. They’d still have to go back to their normal lives after all this was over.

Despite being annoyed with the entire situation, Ryou had seemed to find some resignation, and he wasn’t actively angry anymore, which was doing wonders for Youichi’s blood pressure. They’d found that the better they got along, the farther they could stretch the bond, until Ryou was free to sit in the lounge of the buildings where Youichi had classes if he didn’t want to sit in. He’d taken to poking at Miyuki to amuse himself at home, which had only been funny for the first day before Youichi started to worry they were going to end up killing each other. It wasn’t perfect, but it was getting better.

And hopefully, by the end of today, they’d have a real solution, or at least the workings of one. Youichi knocked on Jun’s door, here with Ryou and Miyuki for the How do we remove the bond meeting.

“There’s someone at the door,” he heard Jun call from inside.

“I got it,” he heard in reply, a voice he recognized as Jun’s boyfriend, Tetsu.

“The door.”

“I heard, I’m going.”

“DOOR!”

“I’VE GOT IT!”

Tetsu opened the door, face falling back to impassive.

“Hello, Kuramochi-kun, Miyuki-kun.”

Ryou looked taken aback. Youichi didn’t blame him. Tetsu and Jun took some getting used to.

“It’s a werewolf thing,” he explained. “Jun’s weird about the door. We just roll with it.”

“Like a dog?” Ryou asked.

“Yes, but don’t say that to his face.”

“And he’s going to fix this? I wasn’t aware that werewolves could use magic.”

“We can’t,” Jun said as they entered the living room. Masako and his first year flatmate were already there, which meant they weren’t waiting for anyone else. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t know how spells work. I’m not getting a master’s degree in spell design for nothing. I just have to throw Kuramochi a few free meals to test my theories out for me.”

Ryou gave Youichi a look that said really? Youichi shrugged. He was a simple man with simple needs, and free food was free food.

“So I see your werewolf seems to know what he’s talking about,” Ryou said silkily. “What I don’t understand is why we have so many people here.”

“Weeeellllll.” Youichi dragged the word out, looking around the crowded living area. “Miyuki’s here because he lives with us, and he kind of deserves to know what’s going on, even if he’s been nothing but a bitch about this whole thing.”

“I just want to know when I’ll stop having to share my space with a demon,” Miyuki said from where he was perched on a chair. “No offense meant.”

“Offense was definitely meant,” Ryou shot back. Miyuki shrugged.

“Anyways,” Youichi stepped in before an argument could start. “Masuko-san is here because he’s better at troubleshooting spells gone wrong than Jun-san is.”

“Uga.”

“…Right. Tetsu-san is here because he lives here, of course.” Tetsu nodded in their direction, busy with setting up a shogi board. Miyuki was inching away from him slowly. “And, frankly, I’m not sure why Sawamura is here.”

Sawamura was only a few feet from Ryou, staring at him unblinkingly.

“He was interested in seeing a demon, and I saw no harm in bringing him along,” Masuko offered.

“If he pokes me I’m taking the hand off,” Ryou threatened.

“Sawamura. For the love of fuck,” Youichi sighed. “Don’t poke the demon.”

“He’s a lot more useful as an ace with both hands attached,” Miyuki said, trying to fend off Tetsu’s shogi advances.

“You do care!” Sawamura broke eye contact with Ryou to beam at Miyuki.

“Well. You’re interesting,” Miyuki said. “I wouldn’t say you’re good, but I have Nori and Tanba-san for good aces. You’re the entertainment.”

“MIYUKI KAZUYA!”

At least Sawamura was too busy yelling at Miyuki to bother Ryou anymore.

“Tetsu’s only here because he lives here?” Ryou asked. “He’s not going to help?”

“I mean, he’ll probably hang out and keep Jun-san on track, but there’s not much he can do.”

“There’s not much a witch can do to help?”

“Oh. No. Tetsu-san’s not a witch.”

Ryou looked at where Tetsu was playing shogi with Sawamura, who Miyuki had very obviously used as a human shield. Poor kid was too dumb to get himself out of this.

“He’s not a witch? Is he fae?”

“No. Tetsu-san’s human.”

Ryou didn’t look convinced.

“He has such a presence, he has no magic blood?”

“Nope.”

“Inconceivable.”

Youichi shrugged, turning to Jun and Masuko. Tetsu seemed to be doing a good job keeping Sawamura and Miyuki occupied, which was probably for the best, because while Miyuki had a lot of power for a familiar, his specialty was combat, not spell theory. And Sawamura was only a first year. He wouldn’t have enough background theory training to be much help.

“So what are we…?” Youichi trailed off as Jun stalked to the window. He threw it open and leaned out.

“OI! ONE V ONE ME, ASSHOLE!” he shouted out. Youichi looked at Tetsu, lost for words.

“Mailman,” Tetsu said by way of explanation.

“Is this just a werewolf thing, or…?”

“I think it’s a combination of that and a grudge for that time the guy lost his subscription to Shoujo Comic,” Tetsu explained. “Babe, if the guy hasn’t fought you yet, he’s not going to.”

Jun slammed the window shut, muttering something that sounded like “paid a lot of money for that to be delivered” under his breath.

“Okay,” he said, sitting down and bringing everything back on task. “Here’s what I’m thinking. I know Rei-san thinks there’s a chance one or both of you could die with a simple unbinding spell, but I see no harm in trying it on a small scale.”

“Meaning…?”

“I got plants.”

Jun pointed out two small succulents on the table.

“I already bound them similarly to how you two are bound,” he said. “Adjusted because plants can’t cast the spell, of course.”

“Of course,” Ryou said. He looked intrigued, though. “Now what?”

“Now, we try to unbind them with a standard spell,” Jun said, moving the succulents into a pre-drawn circle. “Masuko, you taking notes?”

Masuko nodded, holding up his clipboard.

“Kuramochi, here’s the spell you’re using,” Jun said.

“Me?”

“You’re probably gonna have to be the one unbinding Ryou. We should control variables.”

Youichi nodded, taking the spell. It was simple enough, corresponding directly to the circle Jun had drawn. He read through the chant, looking up every so often to see if it was having any effect.

It was. Just not the effect he was hoping for.

By the time Youichi was done reading the chant, the two succulents had been reduced to nothingness. Masuko scribbled the results down furiously.

“Okay. So I guess that’s a no go,” Jun said. Understatement of the damn year.

“We could look into unwrapping the binding from their individual cells,” Masuko suggested.

“Nah, that’s too energy intensive, Kuramochi might kill himself trying that,” Jun countered. The two of them fell into a discussion that Youichi couldn’t really follow, using theories that were too abstract for his second year knowledge. He turned to go hang out with Tetsu, Miyuki, and Sawamura while they finished talking it out. He didn’t get far, though, because Sawamura was in the doorway, staring at the table with wide eyes. He must’ve seen the experiment.

“Is that what’s going to happen to you?” he asked.

“No,” Youichi assured him. The kid could be a little annoying, but his heart was in the right place. Even if he was always too loud about it. “We just have to figure something else out.”

“I won’t let that happen to you!” Sawamura promised. Youichi appreciated the sentiment, even if he didn’t think there was much he could do. “I, Sawamura Eijun, will find the solution!”

“Good luck with that,” Youichi grumbled. Way too loud. At least he wasn’t the constant focus of the kid’s attention like Miyuki was.

“You’re about ten years too early to make a claim like that,” Miyuki said, dropping his arm around Sawamura’s shoulders. Sawamura scowled, trying to shove Miyuki’s arm off, but Miyuki hung on like a limpet. Youichi couldn’t really blame him for taking out his frustrations on Sawamura. The kid snapped back so easily to the slightest bait, and Miyuki had had to deal with Ryou for a week. Sawamura was probably refreshing, if you were a shit like Miyuki that liked winding people up until they blew up in your face.

“I’ll show you, Miyuki Kazuya!” Sawamura snapped.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Miyuki replied, laughing. At least they both looked like they were having fun. Youichi kicked Sawamura in the backs of his legs.

“Not so loud,” he growled. “Use your inside voice.”

Honestly, after the week he’d had, he just wanted an hour of peace. He’d lose his damn mind if even one more thing went wrong.

It was at that moment that he noticed a dark smoke flowing into the apartment. It was a lot more concentrated than regular smoke, though. It reminded him a lot of when Ryou had first shown up in the summoning circle, before he’d solidified into his current form.

“Jun-san!” Youichi called. There was no way he was dealing with another demon alone. Jun came sprinting into the room, Masuko, Miyuki, and Sawamura hot on his heels. Jun took one look at the smoke and moved for Masuko. As a werewolf, he could deal with most creatures on earth, but he didn’t have the magic to fight a demon.

The smoke coalesced, but didn’t settle into a form. For some reason, Youichi felt like it was staring at them, assessing them. What did it want?

He felt Ryou stiffen beside him. He was about to ask what was wrong, but the other demon spoke before he had a chance.

“Aniki?” it asked.

“What are you doing here?” Ryou asked, his voice tight. “You’re supposed to be back in Hell.”

Youichi looked back and forth between the two.

“Aniki?”

Ryou sighed.

“Kuramochi, meet my little brother,” he said heavily, waving his hand in the other demon’s direction. The other demon finally shifted from its smoky form into the shape of a boy, about the same height as Ryou, with the same shade of pink hair. He had two cats with him, one cradled in his arms and one standing protectively in front of him.

Irrational as it was, Youichi felt nothing but the need to protect when he saw this demon. Ryou’s little brother didn’t share any of the sense of danger he felt from Ryou.

“What are you doing here?” Ryou asked again. “You know the rules.”

“You’ve been gone for a week,” the other demon protested. “You’ve never been gone that long without sending me a message. I was worried. And I brought the cats, and I was careful.”

“Because I definitely trust Yggdrasil to protect you,” Ryou replied sarcastically. “At least you brought Nyarlathotep too.”

“You named your cats after a Lovecraft monster and the Norse tree of life?” Sawamura asked. Youichi stared. How did Sawamura know that? Maybe the kid wasn’t as stupid as he’d thought at first.

“Technically, my brother named his cat after the Norse tree of life,” Ryou replied. “Everyone, this is Haruichi. Haruichi, these are the people trying to get me unbound from this idiot.”

He gestured at Youichi.

“You bound my brother?” Haruichi asked, looking about as threatening as a six week old kitten.

“Accidentally. And I’m working on fixing it,” Youichi said. “We’re looking for a solution.”

Haruichi considered them all, eyes invisible behind his bangs.

“I want to help,” he said finally.

“You will do no such thing,” Ryou said. “You’re going back to Hell where you belong.”

“No,” Haruichi said.

“Go home.”

“No.”

“It’s dangerous for you here.”

“I already managed to get a contract.”

“You did what?”

Of all people, Sawamura was the one that broke them up.

“Why don’t you come to the library with me on Monday?” he suggested. Everyone stared at him. “What? I have a two hour break between my classes on Mondays. You just said you needed to do research. I said I’d help.”

Youichi was going to have a tumor just like Jun.

“I don’t like this,” Ryou said.

“I know you don’t,” Haruichi said. “But I’m not leaving until you come home with me.”

Youichi was going to lose his mind.

#kuraryou #fydna #dailydaiya #daiya no a #ace of diamond #dna #my writing #elt #magic au

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kkaebsongstudies · 7 years ago

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Hi! I was wondering if you could give some tips on learning korean? I have learnt the alphabet but i don't really know how to continue now... Do you have any tips for this? (I know you say you're a beginner but let's be real you know more than i do) Thank you!

Hi anon~! Thank you for your question!

I assume there are more people who have this question, so this will be a long post. Please do keep in mind that I am not an expert in learning languages or Korean for that matter, and I learn languages as a hobby so these will just be my personal tips and recommentations!

Where to start?

So as you mentioned you already taught yourself Hangul, the Korean alphabet. To those just starting out I would recommend starting with Hangul as you did, because many have said it before me, but I will say it again: learning Korean through romanized text only is very difficult. You will sabotage your own progress by doing this, because romanization of Korean is very variable and confusing at times. Please take a couple of hours in your first week to fully master reading and writing the script before you continue learning. It will help you a lot!!

Together with this you’ll want to work on pronunciation. Don’t worry or feel bad when it doesn’t sound well the first few times. Just keep trying. I recommend listening (see a little further down for some resources): pausing after sentences and repeating them. Imitation after all is one of the most important ways in which a human learns!

When it comes to theory, I think it’s best to follow online courses or buy textbooks that fit to your way of learning. You can also learn from separate resources but generally books/websites have a set order in which you learn things - and these orders are there because you need to know certain things before you can understand other things, so I recommend you just follow a series of lessons.

Online Theory Resources

I personally use the website howtostudykorean.com. It is completely free (except for the PDF files and exercise books, which go for a couple dollars a piece - which is still cheap AF tbh) and I really like the way and extend in which concepts are explained. The concepts are explained in such a way that you always understand WHY a piece of grammar works in the way it does, which I think is one of its strong points. I strongly recommend this website for learning Korean and I personally feel like this site as pretty much everything you need to get a good theoretical grasp. It starts on complete beginner level and extends out to hanja lessons even, so 10/10 points to them.

I have also tried Talk To Me In Korean (TTMIK) which seems to be really popular amongst most Korean learners but personally, I think the concepts aren’t explained very thoroughly and the way they explain the material makes me feel like a small child. BUT I am really positive about their YouTube channel so make sure to check that out!

Talking about YouTube, there are loads of interesting channels that can help you out! Some of my personal favorites are the TTMIK channel and the ever-sweet and funny Korean Unnie!

I think these are the most popular websites for learning Korean and I am about 99,99% sure that you won't need any textbooks if you use these, really.

Tumblr is also a really nice source of vocabulary lists andpeer-teached grammar lessons, and there is also a nice amount ofcultural lessons if you search good enough. Do pay attention though,because these types of materials are more likely to contain mistakesor typos. Besides that Tumblr is a really nice community to come intocontact with lots of other (Korean) language learners!

So. Besides getting your share of theory you will need practice. Especially if you don't live amongst Koreans (which I assume you don't) you will need to fill that up. How do we do that?

Listening

For practicing listening there are a couple things you can do.

Listen to Korean radio and/or K-pop

Korean radio is a good source of naturally occuring speech. Make sure you put on a station that has a DJ that talks (some stations just play music). You get commentary, interviews, conversations and as a bonus you get to listen to Korean music.

Korean listening exercises

You can find plenty of listening exercises on YouTube. Maybe give these a try:

- Korean Class 101

- TTMIK Listening in Slow Korean series

- TTMIK IYAGI - Natural Conversations in 100% Korean

Korean videos/TV/dramas

The internet offers access to loads of Korean video material. You can check out Korean TV programs (Running Man is very popular) or dramas (try Viki.com). Another way I like to incorporate listening practice into my learning is by watching Korean youtubers. The more popular channels are likely to have both English and Korean subs so that might help you out.

Speaking

The best way to learn to speak Korean naturally, fast is of course to talk to Korean speakers. Finding someone to chat with if you have no Korean friends can be somewhat of a challenge. My university organizes monthly 'language cafe's' that bring together students who are learning another language. Try searching for something similar in your own neighborhood. If you really can come into contact with native speakers, I recommend trying apps such as HelloTalk. I personally really like this app and have already earned a new friends because of it. It allows users to come into contact with others who are learning another language, and are willing to teach their own language to others. It is chat based but if you want to, you can also send voice messages or call.

Reading

As someone who doesn't have English as a first language, I canconfirm that reading is one of the best ways to gain proficiency in alanguage. It provides you with lots of vocabulary and makes youfamiliar with sentence structure, grammatical rules and more. Trystarting with simple texts such as children's books and slowly try towork your way up to news articles, short texts and ultimately actual(simple) books. A simple google search quiry will get you to loads ofKorean news pages and downloadable kids' books.

Other tools I use

Website: Naver English Dictionary

Basically the holy grail for Korean language learners. Gives you excellent detailed definitions and translations for both korean-english and english-korean. It also provides you with tons of example sentences, common word combinations, and my personal favorite: V-LIVE subtitles that have the word you searched in them. This function is AMAZING because you get to see how a certain word is being used in real, actual conversations. You can even click a link to go to the original video so you can hear the pronunciation and the context (conversation) in which it was used. Actual gold.

App: Rieul Korean (Android)

My go-to dictionary app. Has a link to four different online dictionaries (DAUM English, Naver English, DAUM Korean and Naver Korean), a vocab lookup section with hanja testing function, a conjugation section, pronunciation section, numbers section and a section on Korean idioms.

App: K'way and Grammar Haja (Android)

Both apps that explain grammar theory. Not recommended for learning but very handy to have as a reference.

App: TOPIK ONE (android)

Lets you take a fake version of the TOPIK I exam. Gives simple feedback. Very handy to keep track of your progress and to practice for the TOPIK exam if you plan to take that.

App: 라디오 한국 FM (Radio Hanguk) (android)

Just a very simple app with a list of Korean radio stations. I like listening to NCT Night Night on SBS Power FM!

These printable handwriting sheets - for giving your handwriting a fancy boost

Tips & Tricks

I like to set devices and applications to Korean to get some more exposure to the language. You can set sites like Google to Korean. The nice thing about this is that you learn new words that are used mostly online such as “닫기” (close) and “구독” (subscribe).

Try keeping a language journal. It is a fun way to bring your knowledge in to practice. I am actually making a post on that right now so keep an eye on my blog if you want to read it!

Get a study buddy. Nothing motivates better than a healthy dose of mutual support and a slight dose of pressure, hehe.

Study regularly, daily if you can. Even if it’s just half an hour a day, try to keep your study sessions consistant. Adapt the amount of time you put into the language based on your schedule and the goals you want to achieve. Want to keep up a decent conversation within a year? Plan on at least 8 hours a week.

Posts by others

List of free Korean resources by @onestopkorean

Nice lil’ list of resources by @elkstudies

I probably forgot to mention a TON of stuff but I hope this will help you on your way~! Lots of success and happy studying! 열심히 공부 하자!

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