#but as soon as we're apart again my head just goes. 'oh it's not going to last anyways. Better to break up sooner than later...'

[zwiebelii]

I have literally never ever fucking had trust issues. That is not something I have ever struggled with. I have never had problems with jealousy or with not seeing my partner for a while. That is just not something I naturally struggle with

But

We were fully set on moving in together after my exchange semester. At the start of the exchange he told me that he was having doubts, and that he thinks we should wait a few months before doing anything too hasty after I come back to Germany. At the same time he refused to give me clear reasons as to why he had a change of heart.

I came back from the exchange at the end of January, and for the first few months, whenever I'd bring that topic up, he would just?? Slip away??? And talk himself out of it, while still not really giving me a definite answer on what he wanted and why he wanted it. It took me continuously pressuring him as well as three (3!!!!) relationship fights for him to clearly tell me his deal, and that he felt it was too early, and that he doesn't want to give up his current living arrangement since it works out perfectly for him.

And like. That's fine. On a purely rational level, I get why all of this went the way it did, and I simply see it as a wrong place wrong time situation. I do not think that this is something our relationship cannot recover from in the long term. If I "wait" for him until his Master's is over, we'll be able to move in together and it'll be fine.

But after this whole fiasco??? I have genuine difficulties trusting this man. Whenever he does something nice or says something about how the relationship IS that important to him, my brain just goes "Oh he's talking without thinking again" or "Oh he's just saying that to make me happy, he doesn't actually mean that" or "Oh I have manipulated him into thinking he wants this but when the time comes he'll realize that it's not what he actually wants". And so my brain is basically constantly on fire from this. Every single thing he says - I am second-guessing it. I just genuinely don't believe him anymore.

When I picture my future I just don't see him in there anymore, and it's not because I don't love him or anything, or because we don't work out for practical reasons - it's simply that I no longer trust him to ACTUALLY tell me what he thinks/feels. And I really don't know how to get out of that

[agustdakasuga]

Every Moment With You

Genre: Romance, Fluff

Pairing: Yoongi x Reader

Characters: Normal!Reader, IdolBoyfriend!Yoongi, Idol!Namjoon, Idol!Seokjin, Idol!Hoseok, Idol!Jimin, Idol!Taehyung, Idol!Jungkook

Summary: Finally, the boys are able to take a break without any cameras and fans. And since they will be a private compound on their own, of course Yoongi invited you. And now that you're able to comfortably spend time with him, you want to make full use of it before he goes back to work.

Word count: 7,395

When Yoongi unlocked the door to the apartment, he was greeted to by the sight of you blasting 'Haegeum' and throwing hand signs around, jumping on the spot like you were at one of his AGUST D D-Day concerts.

"이 노래는 해금" You tried your best to rap, still not noticing your boyfriend leaning against the wall, watching you with an amused smile on his face.

"Ayy!" You couldn't catch up with all the lyrics of his rap so you kept throwing 'ayy's around.

"어쩌면 이 또한 또 다른 해금, yeah" You finished and Yoongi pushed himself off the wall, clapping to finally make his presence known.

"What the-" You jumped and let out a yelp.

"H-How long have you been there?" You screeched, pointing an accusatory finger at him. Yoongi continued clapping and laughing at how surprised you looked to see him.

"Halfway through the chorus. Although I wish I was here to see the entire performance." He chuckled.

"Damn right, you know I'm way better than Agust D. But sorry, there are no encores around here." You scoffed.

"Yeah, we don't know who Agust D thinks he is." Yoongi smiled and shuffled over to you, wrapping an arm around your waist. You threw your arms over his neck, tip toeing slightly to hug him properly. You tightened your hold around him as he turned his head just enough to press a kiss to your cheek.

"How was the studio session?" You asked.

"It went better than I expected. I should be able to record guide vocals with Jungkook soon." He replied, one hand moving to stroke your lower back affectionately.

"That's great." You giggled, pulling back to give him a peck. You helped him remove his jacket and hung it up on the coat rack.

"Oh, right. I wanted to tell you, the boys wanna head up to the Soop estate to stay for a few days." He informed.

"Ah, I see. Go ahead, I think it's a great idea. You all should take the chance to get away for a bit before promotions really kick off again." You said, going to the kitchen.

"You should come too." He followed you into the kitchen, grabbing a cold coffee from the fridge.

"Yoongi, I would love to but... you remember the last time... it was hard for everyone to hide me from the cameras..." You sighed.

"I know, aegi. But the management said there will be no cameras, no content filming, no fans, nothing. We'll have the whole place to ourselves with security in case of trespassers. So if you would like to go, I would love to have you there." He held your hand.

"Oh, sure. If the boys are okay with it." You smiled, rubbing the back of his hand with your thumb.

"Please, of course they are okay with it. They didn't even care about whether I was going, all they wanted to know was if you were going." He rolled his eyes.

"Alright. I have some vacation days my boss has been asking me to take anyway so the timing is perfect." You said.

"It's settled then. Go get packed, we're leaving tomorrow morning at 5 am." Yoongi patted your hip.

"We'll have our own room, bathroom and small seating area. And of course, the camper van is ours too. You've seen it on the show, it's like the one Jungkook stayed in with Bam." Yoongi informed.

"I mean, if the other members need more privacy, I don't mind sharing a bathroom or living room space." You shrugged.

"No, no, no. Don't say that. For me, we need our own space." Yoongi was quick to interject, shaking his head.

"Sure~" You laughed.

During In The Soop 1, Yoongi spoke to management about you tagging along with them and they agreed since Yoongi would be using the camper on his own. But even so, it was hard for you to stay hidden. You would have to duck out of the way, wake up earlier to leave the bed and make sure your stuff was hidden.

On top of that, the editing team had to do multiple rounds of checks to make sure that any footage of you or your belongings being captured was removed.

"Go shower, I'll start packing." You waved him off. He hummed and came over to kiss your temple before going to the bathroom.

"Shirts, pants, underwear..." You took out a few sets and laid them on the bed.

"Hoodies... Dresses..." Leaving Yoongi's clothes on the bed for him to check first, you packed your stuff into the suitcase. Then you packed make up and some travel toiletries.

"They have toiletries there, aegi. Unless you need something specific." Yoongi said, re-entering the room.

"Oh, okay. Saves me the space then. Can you check if that's enough clothes for you?" You asked.

"I think I'll take a few more shirts. Last time, I ended up being pushed into the pool by a drunk Namjoon. It was edited out since most of them were drunk and removing their clothes." He let out a sigh.

"I'm sure the fans would have liked to watch that." You raised your eyebrows. Yoongi helped you with the packing, stuffing his things into his own suitcase. He put your skincare along with his own in his travel pouch and packed that.

"I can finish up here if you want to nap." You told him, knowing he was working in the studio the whole of last night.

"It's alright, we're almost done." Yoongi patted your head. He took the clothes that you both decided not to bring and put them back into the drawers or hung them back up in the closet.

"Aegi, should I add your skirt to this hanger with the rest or would you prefer me to use a new one?" He asked.

"A new one would be great. The other one looks too full." You said.

"Good idea." He went to the laundry area to get a spare hanger and came back, neatly hanging your skirts before putting it back into your side of the closet.

"Okay, we're done! Time for us to sleep." He declared.

"Yoongi, it's 1pm. I'm not sleepy! You go to sleep." You said between your giggles.

"No, you know I can't sleep without you." He grumbled in a low voice, not sure if it was meant for you to hear of not. But without another word, Yoongi laid on his side of the bed, scrolling on his phone.

"Aren't you tired?" You tilted your head.

"I am... I'm just waiting for you." He let out a big yawn, stretching his arms and legs like a cat. You let out a sigh of defeat and moved the packed bags aside, crawling into bed with him. Yoongi used to sleep on the left but after his surgery, he changed to the right so he wouldn't sleep on his left.

"That's better." He cleared his throat, pulling you close and letting you sleep on his right arm, his left casually slung over your hip. You felt him kiss the top of your head.

"Ugh." You tried to sleep but you had just woken up not too long ago. On the other hand, Yoongi fell asleep so quickly.

"You always work so hard." You whispered, reaching up to stroke his cheek as he slept.

"I love you." You were glad he was done with military. Yes, as a social service officer, you saw Yoongi everyday but he always looked so tired and frustrated that he didn't have time to work on music.

You slipped out of Yoongi's hold and left the bedroom, closing the door behind you.

"Clean up, do laundry, make snacks, pack drinks." You made a list.

Since you and Yoongi were not going to be around, you wanted to clean the house and do as many chores as you could so you wouldn't have to do them when you get back.

"Aegi?" Yoongi lifted his head to find himself along in bed. His hand touched your side of the bed, feeling how cold the sheets were. He groaned as he sat up and yawned. Slipping on his house slippers, Yoongi left the bedroom.

"Aegiiii..." His sleep riddled voice called out for you.

"In the kitchen!" You replied. Yoongi blinked in confusion and went over to the kitchen. He watched with a small frown as you were wrapping the rice ball in cling wrap.

"W-What are you doing?" Yoongi came closer, leaning closer and squinting to figure out what you were doing.

"Make snacks for us and the others to eat on the bus ride." You laughed, pulling him back.

"It's just snacks, babe. We might get hungry or the others might get hungry too." You said, putting all the rice balls aside, next to the wrapped sandwiches.

"Thank you for doing this." He smiled.

"I'm always happy to feed you and the boys." You put all the items into the fridge, intending to bring them in a cooler bag later.

"You made Japanese potato salad?" His eyes widened when he saw you put two containers in too.

"Mhmm. I know you like it. Plus, I ran out of bread and since I was boiling eggs anyway, I took some for potato salad. This second one container has no cucumbers, its for Taehyung." You explained, going to grab some disposable cutlery that you and Yoongi collect from all your food deliveries.

"You spoil them too much." He clicked his tongue, stealing a boiled egg to eat. Yoongi always says you give in too much to the younger ones but it's always hard to tell them no.

"You spoil them too! Jungkook's whole 'Yoongi hyung never scolds me' thing." You put your hands on your hips.

"T-That's different." He looked away, his ears turning red.

"Sure, it is. You keep telling yourself that. And I don't just spoil them, I spoil you too, Yoonie~" You cooed at him, pinching his cheek. He scoffed and slapped your hands away.

"You know I hate all your nicknames... And you're meant to spoil me, you're dating me, not them." He glared.

"Don't worry, I didn't forget that." You hugged his waist, leaning your head on his chest.

"You better not." His clean hand came to stroke the back of your head. As you cleaned up the kitchen counter, Yoongi heated up the leftovers for you have dinner.

"Aegi, dinner time. Stop working." Yoongi called you like a mother calls her child, putting the plates of food on the dining table. You closed your laptop and went over to help him, grabbing the side dishes from the fridge and the cutlery.

"I managed to file for my leave. I shot my boss a text and he told me to go ahead, he'll approve it tomorrow morning." You informed.

"That's great, aegi. So, you can take the time to just relax and immerse yourself in nature with me." He smiled. You nodded with a hum and sat down.

"Thank you for the food, Yoongi." You picked up your chopsticks.

"You're very welcome. Eat up, aegi." He removed the bone from the galbi and placed the meat on your rice.

After dinner, you did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen while Yoongi did his own packing. He never went anywhere without his music and sound recording equipment.

"You know, usually partners would get nagged at for bringing work things on vacation." Yoongi joked.

"Why would I nag you on something that brings you happiness? If by chance, that's work. So be it." You shrugged.

"You're something else, aegi." He chuckled and shook his head, carefully packing his expensive equipment into their foam cases and zipping up his guitar. Then he grabbed his computer bag to pack his laptop and all the wires. It was satisfying to watch him pack, he was so neat and meticulous.

"Would you prefer me to nag...?" You teased. He shook his head, the smile never leaving his face. Once he was done, you placed all your things by the door.

"Okay, we have a few hours to sleep then we have to go." He reached out to hold your hand.

"I'm excited! I haven't seen this new estate." You clapped your hands happily.

"Oh, that's right! I forgot you haven't seen the estate before... And I event went again for song camp when producing D-Day." Yoongi slapped his forehead in realisation and you nodded.

"Of course I wouldn't go for song camp." You said. You knew you wouldn't value add and just be a distraction if you went."

"I think you'll like it, there's a lot more space than the first Soop location they rented." He squeezed toothpaste onto your toothbrush.

"But the company actually owns this place, right? Like the whole area. The first estate was a rental." You asked. He hummed and began to brush his teeth, so did you.

"I'll set an alarm. Goodnight, aegi." Yoongi mumbled, eyes on his phone, playing his basketball game.

"Goodnight, Yoon." You wished back, tucking yourself against his side. As he used his phone, his other hand absentmindedly stroked your head, which lulled you to sleep really quickly. Left with only 3 hours to sleep, he put his phone away to join you in dreamland.

--

"Everything is packed." You zipped up the cooler bag with all the food that you prepared last night. Yoongi insisted on handling most of the bags, loading them into the car.

"So I'll leave the car at HYBE while we're at the estate. The others should be making their way there, the bus leaves at 6." He said.

"Mmm..." You hummed, still tired.

"Aigoo, my precious girl. You can sleep on the bus." Yoongi leaned over to cup your cheeks. You pouted at him, making him chuckle as he started the car to drive.

"(y/n)!" Your name was yelled across the carpark as you and Yoongi unloaded the bags.

"Shhh! Taehyung ah, you're too loud." Jimin chided.

"Hi." You waved, trying to hide your yawn as you helped Yoongi with the bags. Of course, the boys took over the bags, sharing the load especially with Yoongi's music and recording equipment. You all took the lift up to the back of HYBE, where the bus was waiting and the other boys were boarding.

"Good morning." You bowed to the others and Yoongi sent them a lazy wave, passing the bags to the bus captain who was loading them into storage.

"Glad you could join us." Namjoon smiled.

"Thank you for having me." You giggled, adjusting the scarf Yoongi bundled around your neck.

"Oh my, Jungkook's bringing Bam? Hello, Bamie~" You cooed as Jungkookg walked over with the doberman. Bam jumped excitedly, standing on his hind legs to sniff you and lick you.

"I've missed you too, big baby. Yes, good boy." You rubbed your ears. When Yoongi was done, he grabbed your hand.

"Let's get out of the cold." He said softly and led you to the bus, helping you up the steps.

"(y/n) packed food for everyone." Yoongi announced to the other boys who were settling in their seats, and Jungkook was trying to settle Bam down.

"Thank you, (y/n)! You're a life saver." The boys all threw thanks their way. Jin volunteered to have the cooler bag of food beside him since he had a spare seat beside him and he could help hand it out to the boys for you.

"Yes, she is." Yoongi mumbled under his breath with a chuckle but you heard him.

"You don't have to stay awake, aegi. Go to sleep." He put his arm around you. With such a big bus, everyone took alternate rows to be able to recline their seats comfortably.

"The rice balls are good, (y/n)!" Jungkook said, his words muffled by the food he stuffed in his mouth.

"Yah. You're getting rice everywhere." Hoseok chided.

"Thank you." You replied with a giggle before leaning back in your seat. You didn't know when you fell asleep but Yoongi opened the small lap blanket he brought and draped it over you.

"Can we dim the lights a little?" Yoongi requested. The manager asked the bus driver to lower the lights.

"So hyung, how happy are you to have her here?" Jimin asked from across the aisle, watching Yoongi draw the curtains and adjust the overhead airconditioning vent so it wasn't blowing in your face. Yoongi turned around to glare at the younger before checking on you, making sure you didn't hear Jimin.

"Thankfully she had enough vacation days to come with us. She deserves a nice break too." Yoongi replied, not answering Jimin's question directly.

"You're always afraid to gush about her, around her. You do it silently, behind her back." Taehyung pointed out with a laugh.

"I don't gush about her. I just appreciate her and what she does for me." Yoongi rolled his eyes.

"Sure, hyung. You don't gush... keep telling yourself that." Namjoon chuckled, eyes still trained on his kindle. Luckily the bus was dark that they couldn't see the light blush on Yoongi's cheeks.

"I don't gush." Yoongi looked back at your sleeping face, not sure who he was trying to convince at this point.

When you woke up, you felt Yoongi's head on your shoulder and tried your best not to move.

"Jimin, can you hand me my phone there?" You whispered to the male who was playing his nintendo switch. He nodded and reached over to get your phone from the seat pocket.

"Thank you." You smiled softly. Like all younger brothers do, Jimin retrieved his own phone and snapped a picture of sleeping Yoongi on your shoulder before retreating back to his seat to continue his game. You chuckled and shook your head.

"He's going to kill you if he knows." You told him.

"Then don't tell him." Jimin snickered. You spent the remainder of hte bus ride on your phone, not wanting to move to disturb Yoongi.

"We're here, everyone. Wake up!" Namjoon stood up. You gently patted Yoongi's thigh to wake him. His eyes fluttered open and he looked around.

"Good morning, Yoongi." You giggled.

"Good morning, aegi." He yawned and stretched his arms. As everyone was busy gathering their stuff, you gave him a peck.

"Come on, let's get off this bus." He helped you pack and held your hand as you got off the bus. Standing in the mansion estate, it was so much bigger than what the television showed.

"Let's go, Bam!' Jungkook let Bam off his leash and started running towards his room with his bags in tow.

"He has so much energy." Jin clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"All he did was sleep and eat on the bus." Hoseok laughed. You were unsure of where to go so you just followed Yoongi. He slid open one of the sliding doors to a room in one of the villas. Like Yoongi said, it was exactly like Jungkook and Bam's room in the show, practically like a studio apartment without a kitchen.

"Wow, I can't believe this is just one section of the villa." You said, pushing the suitcases to the corner.

"Yeah, each room has a small living space and bathroom. Then the kitchen and big living room is in the main mansion." Yoongi said, closing the door behind him.

"I do watch In The Soop, you know?" You teased. He scoffed and went into the room.

"Ah. This is comfy." He laid on the bed.

"It's so nice and tranquil here." You said, moving to lay on him, resting your head on his chest. Yoongi lazily threw an arm over your shoulders to hold you.

"As much as I would like to continue sleeping in an actual bed, we need lunch. Everyone ate your food but you." Yoongi said.

"But I'm not hungry." You yawned, burying your face into his chest. Yoongi kissed the top of your head.

"Lovebirds! Are we doing lunch or what?" You heard Jin's voice from your door. You yelled out an acknowledgement to the oldest and immediately got up, making Yoongi let out an annoyed groan from behind you.

"We'll wash up and be right there!" You smiled to Jin. He nodded, giving you a thumbs up before leaving to head to the mansion. You went to wash your face.

"Aegiiii..." Yoongi drowned out and leaned his body against yours, his hands holding your waist from behind.

"I'm trying to wash my face!" You squealed, feeling his fringe tickle the back of your neck.

After you and Yoongi washed up, you convinced him to at least have lunch. Hand in hand, you strolled to the mansion. Yoongi looked around the place, ruffling his hair with his free hand.

"What are you craving for?" Yoongi asked, the both of you removing your shoes before entering the mansion.

"I'll have what the others are having. You know I'm not picky." You shrugged.

"I know but I'd much rather cook something you want to eat and not something the younger ones want." He chuckled. The two of you saw the others playing games in the living room.

"Woah, be careful, aegi." He grasped your waist to move you out of the way before Taehyung could accidentally hit you while challenging Jin and Jungkook.. You followed him to the kitchen to help him cook. Yoongi opened the fridge to look at what the managers had stocked up for your stay here.

"What about cheesy dakgalbi?" He turned to you, smiling when he saw your eyes light up with excitement and happiness. You nodded your head.

"I'll cut the vegetables, you can handle the meat." You told him.

"You should rest. Let me cook." Yoongi crossed his arms as you took out the cabbage, carrots, onions and potatoes.

"I am resting. Doing this with you is rest." You said, retrieving a cutting board and knife. Yoongi shot you a flat look but didn't argue, preparing the chicken and marinade.

"What are we cooking?" Hoseok came into the house with Jimin. The shorter male joined the others in the living room, playing games.

"Dakgalbi." Yoongi replied.

"Anything I can help with? Make some coffee?" Hoseok suggested. You and Yoongi immediately nodded.

"Coffee would be amazing, Seok. Thank you." You giggled, chopping the cabbage and putting all the vegetables into a bowl for Yoongi to cook with later.

"Oooh, this smart stove is really cool." You watched Yoongi put two big pans over the stove. With 8 people, he probably thought it would be easier to eat out of two pans rather than everyone trying to get into one pan.

"I'll make some gyeranmari and dumplings to eat on the side." You said, cooking on the stove at the back. After giving you both your coffees, Hoseok helped you with cooking the sides.

"Lunch! Call whoever is not here!" Yoongi yelled.

"Coming!" Those in the living room came out. Taehyung called Namjoon over while Jungkook grabbed cutlery.

You all sat together to eat, some of the boys sharing the microwave rice packs, knowing they will probably use the leftovers to make fried rice to share later.

"Thank you for cooking!" The boys chimed before digging in.

"Mmm." You nodded happily. Yoongi placed some chicken on your plate, his free arm resting on the back of your chair the entire time.

"This is just what I needed! We should bring you on vacations more often, (y/n)." Taehyung exclaimed happily, making a wrap with the chicken and eating it in one mouthful.

"She's not your personal chef." Yoongi sent Taehyung a look but you knew they were just joking.

After lunch was done, those that didn't cook were on clean up duty. Yoongi took the opportunity to get you out of there. He grasped your wrist and practically dragged you back your shared room at the villa, making it clear he didn't really want to stay and socialise with the other members anymore.

"You're being anti social. Maybe the boys want to spend more time with you." You slapped his arm.

"We can do that another time. Now is me and you time." He huffed, removing his hoodie so he was just in his undershirt.

"I need to use the bathroom." You went to the bathroom, also getting out of your uncomfortable clothes. You changed into something comfier, aka Yoongi's shirt.

"We're going to stay in bed until we are called for dinner." Yoongi said when you entered the room.

"I like that plan." You giggled and fell on top of him. He wrapped his arms around you to turn you around so you were on your sides.

"I'm just happy to spend time with you." You reached out to cup his cheeks, caressing the skin with your thumbs. Yoongi gave you a gummy smile and lifted your hands to kiss your fingertips.

"Are you sleepy?" He asked.

"No, I think I slept enough in the bus." You said, betrayed by your yawn.

"Yeah, we'll see about that." He stroked the back of your head. You scoffed and pulled away, sitting up to lean against the headboard with an intention to read. Yoongi shifted himself so his head could rest in your lap.

"You should sleep more." You patted his head, knowing that he probably didn't sleep well on the bus.

It felt so peaceful and normal to spend time with Yoongi like this. With you, he wasn't an idol, he was just your boyfriend and the two of you were spending some time off together.

"Feeling sleepy yet?" He murmured sleepily, hugging your legs like a bolster.

"No, I'm not. Now, stop interrupting my reading." You said. It didn't take long for Yoongi to fall asleep.

"(y/n)? Are you here?" You looked up from your book to find Taehyung, Jimin and Jungkook at your doorway. Luckily Yoongi pulled the blanket to hide your bare legs.

"Shh..." You hushed them, pointing to the sleeping Yoongi who was hugging your legs.

"Come play." They waved you over.

"But..." You gestured to the sleeping Yoongi. No one ever dares to wake Yoongi up, maybe except Taehyung with kindergarten music playing in the background. The 3 couldn't help you now since you were pantless and you were pretty sure Yoongi might have an aneurysm if he knew that they saw you.

"Go, I'll come out in a bit." You told them. They gave you thumbs ups and closed the bedroom door. Looking down at Yoongi, you carefully shifted away, replacing your legs with a pillow quickly.

"Sorry." You stroked his head in case he woke up. It was hard when he had almost all his weight on your legs.

"I'll be back." You leaned down to kiss his cheek. Yoongi didn't seem bothered by you moving him.

Looking around, you grabbed a pair of sweats and put it on before going out, where the 3 boys were waiting for you in the tiny living room area.

"Let's go!" Taehyung held your hand and pulled you out.

"Where did she gooooo?" Yoongi groaned, feeling the pillow against his cheek instead of you. He sat up, seeing the sun starting to set.

"Aegi?" He called out from bed but there was no reply. Ruffling his hair and yawning, he got out of bed and noticed that his sweats were missing from the floor.

"Nooooo!" Yoongi heard your squeal and grabbed a new pair of pants, going out to see where you were.

There you were, playing in the rain with Hoseok, Jimin, Taehyung and Jungkook. Jungkook was chasing after you and Jimin with an evil smile. Yoongi grabbed an umbrella and exited the room, he stood there quietly, watching all of you play.

"Oh! Yoongi!" You spotted your cat-like boyfriend, standing there with his black umbrella, and waved at him. Yoongi smiled back at you. Since you were distracted, Jungkook suddenly grabbed you.

"Ah!" You yelped in shock as he lifted you up.

"Yah! Be careful with her!" Yoongi barked, coming over to where you all were playing.

"I'm fine, Yoongi. Don't worry." You grinned, drenched from head to toe. Yoongi sighed and reached out to move gently your wet hair away from your face.

"I'm going to get started on dinner. You guys should go dry up so we can eat." Yoongi said.

"Aww!" Everyone jeered but Yoongi was not budging, he was really worried about you catching a cold.

Despite you already being damp, Yoongi still sheltered you with his umbrella all the way back to your share room. He entered first to put a towel on the flower so you wouldn't slip coming in.

"Leave your clothes in that bathroom when you're done. I'll put them in the dryer later." Yoongi told you. You nodded and leaned forward to give him a grateful peck on the cheek but you were careful not to let your wet hair drip onto his clothes. After that, he left you to shower and warm yourself up.

"(y/n), are you heading to the main house?" You caught Namjoon coming down from the room upstairs.

"Yeah. But I think the spare umbrellas are there and Yoongi took the only one that was here." You said, holding your wet clothes in your hands after you wrung out all the water.

"Come, I'll take you." He smiled.

"Thank you!" You ducked under the umbrella with him and walked towards the main house.

"So, I saw you guys playing out in the rain from my window earlier. Can't believe the younger ones managed to rope you into their antics." Namjoon chuckled.

"It was all fun, you should have joined us. We're just kids at heart, playing in the rain and puddle stomping." You giggled.

"Maybe next time." He slid open the door for you to enter.

"Definitely. Hey, Yoon. Don't worry, I got my clothes." You greeted your boyfriend, who was cooking in the kitchen with Jin. He nodded in acknowledgement and you brought your damp clothes to the laundry area, throwing your clothes into the wash.

"Thanks for walking her over, Namjoon ah." Yoongi nodded over to the leader. Namjoon smiled and headed to the living room.

"I could have brought it in for you to be washed, aegi." Yoongi came into the laundry room.

"It's fine, it's just a few pieces of laundry. You're already busy with dinner." You laughed, starting the machine. The two of you walked out, hand in hand.

"Look at you two being inseparable." Jin teased, clicking the tongs in his hands. Yoongi rolled his eyes but didn't let you go.

When you first started dating and being more open around the other members, you and Yoongi would have separated if one of the members teased you. But now, Yoongi wouldn't part from you.

"I'll cook the rice and ramyeon." You tied your hair up.

"You should sit. You already cooked lunch." Yoongi said to you, patting your hip.

"You cooked lunch too. Plus you and Jin already did most of the work. It's just rice and ramyeon." You smiled. Yoongi nodded and helped you tuck your stray hairs behind your ears so they wouldn't bother you. You washed your hands and went to scoop the rice into the rice cooker.

"Wow, it's smelling good!" Jimin said as he came in, running his hands over his damp hair.

"Can you get the side dishes out from the fridge?" Jin requested. Jimin saluted and went to do that. While waiting for the rice to cook, you got the cutlery and plates to set the table.

"What are you doing now?" Taehyung shuffled over to you. You pointed to the ramyeon stack.

"Can I help?" He asked.

"Sure. I just need to open all these before the water boils." You giggled. Jungkook might be the youngest but Taehyung was everyone's baby brother.

"Once that's all done, we can eat. Get your drinks and rice." Yoongi announced to everyone.

"Yes, hyung!" Everyone went to line up with their rice bowls while you continued to cook the ramyeon.

"I got your rice, aegi." Yoongi told you.

"Thanks, Yoon. It's almost done." You said to everyone. Once the noodles were done, Jungkook came to help you carry the pot to the table. You took your seat beside Yoongi and he cracked open your can of soda for you.

"Thank you for cooking~" Everyone dug into the food hungrily. As always, the dinner conversation was spent chatting and laughing, as well as reminiscing old memories.

And as the others cleared up after dinner, you sat with Yoongi in the living room. He nestled a glass of whiskey in his hand.

"Come." He called you to him. You leaned your head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around you.

"Are you sleepy? I bet you didn't nap earlier since the younger ones dragged you out to play." He asked. You shook your head but was betrayed by your yawn.

"You're such a liar." Yoongi snorted.

"Am not." You scoffed, pinching his side. When clean up was done, the others invited you to play some games.

"Refill?" Namjoon asked Yoongi, refilling his own whiskey glass after coming down from the mini reading corner upstairs. The two of them always enjoyed reading with a glass of whiskey.

"I'm good. Thanks." Yoongi placed his empty glass down.

"Yoongi! I won! Did you see that?! I am the champion!" You turned to your boyfriend and pointed to the screen, squealing in excitement. Yoongi leaned his head on his hand with an endearing smile and nodded his head, giving you a thumbs up, he was like a parent watching his child play and win for the first time.

"Rematch!" The boys protested.

"No way! I'm going to bed." You stuck your tongue out at them, causing them to jeer at you. Hearing what you said, Yoongi put his glass down on the table and stood up.

"You don't have to go with me, you know? You can stay with them if you're not tired." You giggled.

"No, I'm tired too." Yoongi said.

"Goodnight. See you tomorrow." You all wished each other. After he placed his whiskey glass in the sink, Yoongi and you walked hand in hand back to your shared room.

"I'm not going with you because I have to, it's because I want to. So don't feel like you're making me do anything." Yoongi suddenly said.

"I know. But it's your vacation too. I don't want you to feel like you have to stick with me constantly." You shrugged.

"I'll gladly stick with you 24/7, that's my ideal vacation." He smiled softly. You lightly punched his arm for being so cheesy. Yoongi would only act this way around you privately and you liked that.

"You can set up your music stuff here if you prefer the space here over the camper. I don't mind it, really." You told him as you squeezed toothpaste onto both your toothbrushes. Honestly, you were so used to Yoongi and his music equipment, it didn't bother you.

"This is our space and since I'm working with some of the members, I don't want them coming in and out." He explained.

"I don't mind it if it makes things more convenient for you." You smiled.

"I mind. I prefer our privacy. The camper's just there so it's not a far walk but thank you for offering, aegi." He rubbed your back. The two of you brushed your teeth and washed your faces.

"Alright, you can change your mind any time." You said as you wiped your face with a clean towel.

"Thank you." He kissed your temple and left you to do your skincare.

"Surprisingly, there are still people sending me messages, congratulating me on finishing my military service." Yoongi noted, sitting at the table with his iPad.

"Maybe they didn't know you finished and saw a news article so they congratulated you now." You giggled.

"Yeah, Halsey asked when we are going back to America to visit her and her family." He said.

"Sure, if your schedule allows it. I can't wait to see Ender again. Children change a lot in 2 years." You said. Yoongi nodded in agreement with a small hum. Of course, you followed him to America on holiday and Yoongi insisted he meet the celebrities that he was close with.

What fans didn't know was that your home wallpaper on your phone was the full, actual picture of Yoongi snuggling up to Ender when you both visited him as a baby.

"Maybe this time he won't give me stares when I say hi to him." Yoongi scoffed.

"Please, he loved you! You were just an awkward uncle at the start." You giggled, walking over to him.

"I still am an awkward uncle. I was never one that was great with children. Taehyung and Jimin are great with kids, even clumsy Namjoon is." He said, hands resting on your waist.

"You're great at a lot of other things, so what if you're not comfotable with children." You ran your fingers through his hair.

"Thanks, aegi." He laughed, pressing his forehead against your middle.

After Yoongi finished replying to some emails, the two of you changed and headed to bed but you both didn't sleep just yet. One thing you and Yoongi liked to do was just lay on your bed and use your phones, scrolling on social media.

"Look, it's you." You showed him a video of a white kitten that was sleeping on the couch like a human. Yoongi rolled his eyes and turned back to look at his own phone.

"How was your first day here?" Yoongi asked you.

"Good. It's nice to get away and spend some time with the others." You giggled and Yoongi hummed.

"Besides, isn't this technically the first holiday you guys are taking as 7? It's nice to just have a break for yourselves." You said. Yoongi nodded his head.

"Yeah, no cameras before the next comeback." Yoongi put his phone to charge and turned back to look at you.

"I can't wait for the new Run BTS episodes." You teased, charging your own phone.

"The fans will realise that military didn't change us. We're still the same competitive people that will fight over a cup of ramyeon." Yoongi chuckled as you scooted closer to him.

"And I love that about all of you. You never let anything change you." You reached up to cup his cheek.

"I love you." He held your hand and kissed your fingertips. You smiled softly and leaned in to give him a peck before burying your face against his chest. You felt Yoongi move slightly so he could pull the blanket up to cover the both of you, making sure you were well tucked in and warm.

"Goodnight." You wished. Yoongi grunted and threw his leg over you to hold you even clsoer to him. Even if you usually started cuddling, you and Yoongi would usually break apart at night.

"Are you cold? I can adjust the aircon." Yoongi asked, his hand stroking the exposed skin of your hip.

"I'm okay. The blanket is warm enough." You snuggled against him.

"Shall I wake you up for breakfast tomorrow or do you want to wait until you wake up on your own?" He checked. You hummed, knowing Yoongi was quite an early riser.

"I'll wake up a little later. Maybe 10? In case you wake up at like... 7 am." You groaned.

"I don't wake up THAT early. With you around, I tend to wake up late and stay in bed longer." Yoongi chuckled, pinching your cheek.

You slept comfortably with Yoongi, feeling relaxed and tranquil. Usually Yoongi didn't sleep well in a bed that wasn't his own but with you, he could sleep anywhere.

"Yoongi hyung?" Yoongi woke up when he heard someone call him. Even if it was another member, he sat up and instinctively moved to shield your body with his own, since you didn't wear pants to sleep. Taehyung stood at your doorway.

"I completely forgot (y/n) was here. I'm sorry!" Taehyung's eyes widened when he realised.

"Go out. I'll come out." Yoongi said, voice riddled with sleep. Taehyung obediently went to the living room area. With a soft sigh, Yoongi turned to check on you.

"Who was it...?" You mumbled.

"Taehyung. I'll be back, go back to sleep." He kissed your temple and went out.

"Sorry! I really forgot (y/n) was here, we usually just go to each other's rooms to wake each other up..." Taehyung looked so distraught Yoongi didn't have to heart to say anything.

"It's fine, Taehyung. Just tell me, what do you need?" Yoongi yawned, running his fingers through his hair.

"Jin hyung's making noodles for breakfast and he wanted to ask if you and (y/n) want some." He relayed. Yoongi looked at the clock.

"Oh, it's 9 already... No, it's okay, thanks for coming to ask. I think we'll just wait for lunch." Yoongi said. Taehyung nodded with a salute and left. Yoongi went back to the room, making sure to close and lock the door this time. He fell back into bed with a long exhale and got under the blanket with you.

"Who was it..." You breathed out, turning to face Yoongi.

"Boys asking if we want breakfast. But I told them we'll stay in bed and just have lunch later." He said, his arm going around your shoulders to hold you to his chest.

"Good idea. I'm not ready to leave the bed." You yawned and buried your face against him.

"Mmm, sleep more." He patted your head. Although Yoongi didn't want to sleep more, he didn't want to move from the bed too.

"We came all the way here just to sleep." You chuckled, voice slightly muffled but of course, Yoongi understood you. Under your cheek, his chest shook as he laughed.

"Isn't that the best holiday?" He asked, stroking your back. This was the ideal holiday to him.

"I guess... We won't have time to sleep in and spend time like this once you guys start having comebacks again." You said.

"That's true." He hummed.

"What time do you have to get up to record?" You asked, obviously you were not going back to sleep too. But it felt nice to be as close to Yoongi as possible.

"Not sure, don't worry about it. We'll always find time. Anyway, we're here to relax, not work. I'll just find Jungkook later to do the guide vocals, I'm sure he is also going to sleep in." He snorted. You nodded in agreement.

"But working on music is a form of relaxation to you." You teased. Yoongi rolled his eyes.

"There you go again, spreading those sort of rumours like Jin hyung. I'm not a workaholic, you know? I'm not always working on music, I have a life outside of work." He scoffed.

"Mmm, sure."

"My life outside of work is you. If I didn't have a life outside of music, I wouldn't have you." He stated.

"You're so cheesy, stop it." You reached up to cover his mouth with your hand. Yoongi chuckled and took your hand, planting a light kiss against your palm.

"Soon, I'll be back to watching you backstage or from the wings. And more late night visits to your studio." You sighed.

"Do you miss it?" He asked.

"I thought I wouldn't when you were in the military but I think I do miss it, just a little. But I realised that I'll always miss you when I'm not with you. It's going to take me a while to adjust." You said.

"Now who is being the cheesy one?" Yoongi poked your side, making you squirm. You lifted your head, moving your body up slightly to hug Yoongi properly, winding your arms around his neck. You could feel him plant a kiss to the top of your head, resting his cheek there as his hands rubbed your back lovingly.

"I love you." He said.

"I love you too." You replied without any hesitation. You knew you were going to miss having Yoongi around so much.

Even without saying it, you both shared the same thought, you wanted to spend as much time together as possible before Yoongi's schedules kept him busy.

--

Main masterlist

[reverie-starlight]

this is my contribution to @tetzoro 's summer olympics collab! this is so late >.< but I can't wait to go look through all the other fics people have written for the collab!!

fem!reader, no physical descriptions. fluff fluff fluff (of course). suna and aran can't stand atsumu's antics, but what else is new? atsumu misses you and he makes it everyone else's problem.

atsumu has been staring at his phone for twenty minutes.

suna makes note of this from where he's seated in the tiny living area of their shared olympic village apartment. it irritates suna, actually, because for someone who made a such big deal of their room assignments and got a bit weepy over how it reminded him of their high school days, atsumu couldn't seem to care less about his roommates right now.

aran (the third occupant of their dorm) appears in the doorway and glances between his two juniors. "is he still on that thing?" he asks, seemingly surprised by this.

suna shrugs and snaps a picture of the blonde when he smiles at his phone, quickly sending it to osamu with a message of how much of a dork his twin is.

leave him be

he replies, making suna's eyebrow raise. osamu coming to his defence? that's new.

he's got separation issues when it comes to her, I swear. he's like a puppy.

there it is. he snorts and puts his phone away, throwing a pillow at atsumu. the setter just uses it as an arm rest and continues to ignore them.

"hey, loverboy," aran calls and finally gets his attention. "we're heading down to get some lunch, ya coming?"

atsumu's eyes widen a bit. "it's that late already? yeah, I'll be down in a minute, save me a spot."

the other two look at each other knowingly and shut the door behind them.

now normally atsumu wouldn't be so glued to his screen on the first day of the olympics, but then again- last time around they were in tokyo and his girlfriend was no more than a couple hours away at any given time.

this year, he's in paris and about a 13 hour flight away with a 7 hour time difference from his fiancée. it would still be manageable for him, of course- he's not as clingy as you or his brother make him out to be, he swears- if not for the fact that your boss denied your time off and you wouldn't be in attendance at any of his games.

as soon as he's alone, he's facetiming you and the ache of not being near you is lessened by the bright smile you pop up on his screen with.

"hi 'tsum, how's it going over there?" you're cuddled up on the couch with a blanket.

he shrugs. "there's no AC. the beds are cardboard again. but I'm rooming with rin and aran, so that's nice."

"not sakusa and meian? I thought the plan was to keep the ones who played on the same league team pre-olympics in the same room?"

he shakes his head. "we got to make room requests this time. he's rooming with ushijima this time around."

you giggle and his mind goes a little fuzzy. "I'm sure after what happened in tokyo, he'd be more than happy to be rooming with anyone other than you."

atsumu rolls his eyes. "he made it seem worse than it was. we didn't even get into that much trouble, I mean, what's a little scolding from our managers?"

you raise an eyebrow. "you almost caused the entire village to evacuate."

"anyway," he transitions to another topic before he can be reminded of that night. "what are your plans for the rest the night?"

you hum thoughtfully. "I dunno, maybe I'll watch a movie... maybe I'll rewatch that clip of you almost tripping during the opening ceremonies..." your lips stretch into a playful grin as you tease him for his blunder.

"HEY, barely anyone noticed!"

you snort. "if by barely anyone, you mean everyone watching then sure, baby. oh, what time is it for you?"

he lets your comment slide for now and addresses your question instead. "just after noon, why?"

"have you eaten yet?"

"was just about to," he shrugs.

you narrow your eyes. “miya atsumu, you’d better not be skipping lunch just to talk to me.”

he’s unable keep the guilty expression off his face when you hit him with that tone. “I wasn’t-”

“don’t even think about lying to me. as soon as I hang up you’re going to go meet your teammates for lunch and make some new friends.”

he pouts, but his heart warms at the idea that you still want to take care of him all the way across the world. although he is a little offended you think he needs to make friends. “ya sound like my ma.”

“for good reason! go eat, baby, you need to stay strong and healthy for your games. plus I’d feel so guilty if you missed out on all the fun stuff with your teammates because of me.”

he sighs, finally letting himself give into his hunger and agreeing with you. you say your goodbyes and he makes his way down to the cafeteria.

the days pass and while he’s not glued to his phone at all hours of the day anymore (thanks to practices starting up again on the olympic courts), his teammates often catch him snapping as many pictures as he can, no doubt to share them with you.

they don’t know how many texts you’ve received about how amazing the chocolate muffins are, but if it’s anywhere near the number of times they’ve had to hear him mention it in a day, they feel sorry for you.

and as the day of their first game grows closer, suna and aran can tell atsumu is more on edge than usual. he’s acting like he did in high school again, and they know it’s because he’s antsy about not having his fiancée in the stands for the first time in a while.

they’ve seen him double, triple and quadruple check the time zones to make sure he didn’t misread it. “she’ll probably be asleep…” he said when aran asked him about it one night.

they were getting a bit worried. obviously they know him well enough to understand that he’ll pull himself together in time for the game- he’d never let his feelings compromise his plays- but they’d much rather play alongside him in a good mood than a bad one.

but the problem seems to fix itself when he lights up along with his phone screen just before the game begins. suna looks over the setter’s shoulder to see a picture of you, cuddled up on the couch with your dog. your cheek has a small japanese flag painted on, and you’re wearing his MSBY jersey. it must be extremely late for you, but you’re smiling wide and holding up half a heart with your hand.

underneath the picture you sent a message wishing him luck and telling him how proud you are of him, telling him to play his absolute best.

and suna misses what your next message says, but he gets a pretty good idea based on how red atsumu’s ears get. he looks over at aran with a nod and the former inarizaki players silently thank you for your actions.

atsumu definitely wouldn’t be stepping onto the court in a bad mood now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I feel like this could’ve been better, and it definitely didn’t turn out how I originally wanted, but I’m still happy with how it turned out :3 hope u enjoyed !!

ty again to aims for hosting this collab and allowing me to join!!!

[screaminglygay]

third time is a charm, right? (part six)

pairing: natasha romanoff x fem!reader, wanda maximoff x fem!reader, natasha romanoff x wanda maximoff, carol danvers x fem!reader (platonic), past carol danvers x natasha romanoff

summary: you feel like there is something more to your relationship with wanda and natasha, but in reality? there is not.

warnings: swearing, nat being mean, kinda toxic!nat, alcohol consumption, ankle injury, crying, just some angst!

word count: 4k

an: this one is a bit angsty, just cause i felt like it:P

(italica = your thoughts)

Wanda and Natasha have kept their promise, showing up at your workplace a next day. They sit in a small corner of the café, their presence commanding attention despite their casual demeanor. Wanda is sipping a coffee, her fingers wrapped around the cup, while Natasha leans back in her chair, looking around the room.

You steal glances at them whenever you have a free moment, feeling a mix of excitement and nerves fluttering in your chest. The sight of them together, so effortlessly confident and undeniably alluring, fills you with a warmth that spreads from your heart to your fingertips. It feels like you never made a coffee in your life, how nervouss you are around them.

Finally, after a rush hour you have a small break, you make your way over to their table. Natasha spots you first, a slow, appreciative smile spreading across her face. Wanda's eyes light up as she looks up from her coffee, her lips curving into a welcoming smile.

"Hey," you greet them, your voice tinged with both shyness and exitement.

"Hey yourself," Natasha replies, her tone playful. "How's your day going?"

You shrug, feeling more at ease in their presence. "Busy, but seeing you two here makes it a lot better."

Wanda's smile deepens, and she reaches out to touch your hand briefly. "We're glad to hear that. We've been looking forward to seeing you in your element."

Natasha nods, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "And we have to admit, we were curious about where you spend your days."

As you chat with them, the conversation flows easily, filled with light banter and genuine interest. You feel a sense of belonging, as if these two extraordinary women have carved out a special place for you in their lives. Their attention is unwavering, making you feel seen and appreciated in a way that goes beyond words.

But you can´t hide the little voice in your head, that is once again overthinking… they wouldn´t be so nice if it would be just sex to them… right?

After a while, you reluctantly mention needing to get back to work. Natasha glances at her watch and then back at you. "We don't want to keep you from your duties, but we were wondering if you'd like to join us for dinner after your shift?"

Your heart skips a beat at the invitation. "I'd love that."

"Great," Wanda says, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "We'll be waiting."

With a final smile, you head back to the counter, the prospect of dinner with Wanda and Natasha adding an extra spring to your step.

Oh my god- oh my god! (Y/N) calm down, it´s just a dinner. Friendly dinner. Or is it?

...

The dinner goes well, filled with laughter, playful banter, and an undeniable chemistry that crackles in the air between you. As the evening progresses, the conversation becomes more intimate, and the touches more lingering. Natasha’s hand grazes your thigh while Wanda’s fingers trace delicate patterns on your arm, sending shivers down your spine.

The moment soon turns more heated. Natasha leans in, capturing your lips in a searing kiss, her lips soft yet demanding. Wanda’s hands slide up your back, pulling you closer into the warmth of their embrace. It’s a cycle of kisses and touches, pure lust taking over as the three of you explore each other with an insatiable hunger.

...

Weeks pass in a blissful haze. You find yourself spending more time at their luxurious apartment, each visit is shared with pleasure. The bond between you three deepens with each kiss, each tender touch.

During one of your visits, as you lie entwined on their couch, Wanda’s voice breaks the serene silence. She speaks about a heavy business case they have tomorrow, her tone tinged with worry. Something about the Danvers company taking their customers and main sponsors, especially at glorious gala nights, that are arranged every month for companies like theirs. You can sense the underlying tension, you have never seen them this… worried about something. And you´re glad you could make them forget about it for a little while, but your heart wants to help them more.

...

The next day, driven by a desire to support them, you decide to go to their office. Finding your way to the sleek, imposing building, you eventually spot Natasha, her demeanor taut with stress.

“What are you doing here?” she asks, her voice edged with irritation.

“I came to support. Wanda said it is really important for you, so I came to support the two of you.” You smile.

Natasha’s eyes narrow, frustration evident. “Yeah, it is important, but I don’t have a clue why you are here. I didn’t ask you to come.”

“You didn’t, no, but I just… thought that maybe it would be nice.”

“You thought wrong. We are not together! You can’t just show up here.” Natasha scoff and your heart sinks.

Wanda arrives, sensing the tension, and looks at you with concern. “Nat, she was just trying to do a nice thing.”

Natasha's frustration spills over. “No, Wanda. She feels like we are together, but we’re not! Jesus, what will people think? We have her just for sex, god dammit! She can’t just show up in here and act like our girlfriend.”

Your heart feels like it’s being torn in two. “You did show up to my work too.”

Wanda’s voice is gentle but firm. “That was different.”

Natasha’s voice is sharp. “It was a coffee shop, (Y/N). This is my company! Important place.”

“So I’m not important?”

Wanda reaches out, trying to calm the situation. “(Y/N)-”

Natasha cuts in, her voice cold. “No!”

Feelings clash and collide within you, leaving you messy, hurt, and heartbroken. The realization hits hard— you were never more than a convenience, a thrill for them.

“It would be better if you’d leave, (Y/N),” Wanda says softly, her eyes filled with regret.

“Right… okay, I- I’m sorry, I didn’t know it is embarrassing to be seen with me.”

The walk back to your apartment is a blur. Anger, sadness, and a deep sense of betrayal swirl within you. You feel used, discarded like a mere object. What you thought was a connection was nothing more than a facade, a cruel illusion.

In the quiet of your room, you let the tears fall, each one a testament to your broken heart. The sting of their words echoes in your mind, making you question everything. You hate yourself for being so naive, for believing that you could mean something more to them.

After a few hours of crying in your own bed, you decided to go for a drink or two. Sitting in a bar nursing your drink and drowning in a sea of regret, sounded like a better activity than just cry in your apartment. The sting of Natasha’s words still burns in your mind. The bar is dimly lit, a perfect reflection of your current mood. Your thoughts are a chaotic mess, replaying the harshness of Natasha’s dismissal and Wanda’s helpless gaze. The alcohol numbs the pain slightly, but not enough to stop the tears from silently streaming down your face.

In a moment of reckless impulse, you decide to send a text to Natasha and Wanda, something along the lines of, "Thanks for making things clear," but you delete it before hitting send, knowing it would only make things worse. You drain your glass and stumble out of the bar, the night air hitting your face like a slap. The streets are blurry, and your mind is foggy, filled with anger and sadness. As you make your way from the bar, you miss your next step, causing your ankle to bend in 90°C.

Not sure if it´s the alcohol or the heartbreak, but you don´t feel any pain at all. Just a set of hands that are supporting you right now.

"Careful!" A tall blonde lady caught you, she look a bit familiar to you.

"I´m all good-" you clear your throat.

She chekcs you up and down, "oh! You're with Maximoff and Romanoff, huh?" Her hands still on you.

"No," you say sternly, trying to steady yourself as you eventually sit down on the curb on the sidewalk.

"Oh… um, my apologies. Do you need any help with that?" she asks, her eyes filled with concern.

You take a moment to process her words, finding her beauty distracting. "NO! I- sorry, no… I don't think- I'm fine, I'm okay."

She looks down at you. "You're crying, obviously drunk. I saw you in the bar, you looked like shit. You still do, by the way. Let me drive you home."

"No." You quickly mumble as you wipe your tears.

"Okay, then I can call you an Uber?"

"No."

"Taxi? Or anything else you´d prefer?"

"No."

She sighs, clearly slightly irritated. "Can you say something else other than 'no'?"

"Yes."

"Okay, cool." She sits down next to you, and you wince as you realize your ankle is starting to hurt slightly. She notices too and frowns.

"What are you doing?" You ask, your eyes meeting hers.

"Staying… I'm not leaving you alone in this state. No buts… I don't want you to get more hurt."

"Why?" you ask, genuinely puzzled.

"Because," she replies simply, not offering more but somehow making you feel a bit safer.

You nod, accepting her presence, and for a moment, there is a peaceful silence between you. Her calm demeanor is oddly comforting.

After a while, she breaks the silence. "I have to ask… did the big CEOs make you feel like shit?"

"What?" you respond, confused by the question.

"Natasha and Wanda."

"I don´t know what you´re talking about," you look away from her, but can´t really concentrate on anything since you´re vision is still pretty blurry.

"I´m Carol, used to be their friend and I'd hate to burst your bubble, but you're not the first one." She states, still looking at you.

You look at her skeptically. "W-what do you mean? Y-you too?"

She smiles and shakes her head. "I wasn’t in their relationship, no. But I am an ex of Natasha’s."

It finally hits you, "Ohhh, Carol Danvers?"

She nods with a small smile, "you heard about me?"

"A little bit, Natasha was mentioning you, while she was talking about some gala night."

"Small world, huh?" she says with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah…," you reply, still processing the revelation.

And another moment of silence was set, your world was still spinning like crazy, but at least you coudln´t fall from your position.

"She's not much of a romantic person… Natasha." Carol speak up again.

"No, not really," you admit, the bitterness creeping back into your voice.

"I'm sorry about that." Carol looks at your ankle.

"It´s okay…" You mumble.

"I meant the ankle, but uh… about them too."

"Oh right… did Natasha broke up with you because of Wanda?" You are curious, is the redhead acting in a normal relationship like this too?

Carol shakes her head. "No. I broke up with her, because she just wanted more and more of me. And then she wanted someone else, someone I'm not willing to turn into, just because I was deeply in love with her."

"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that," you say, feeling a pang of empathy.

"Eh, don't be. It was a few years ago. And it looks like she hasn´t change a bit." The blonde shrugs.

"I wish I was straight," you blurt out, feeling the weight of your emotions pressing down on you.

Carol chuckles at your words. "Oh really? So in another universe, you wouldn’t cry because of Natasha, but because of Nathaniel. What is the difference?"

You can’t help but laugh a little at her response, despite the pain in your heart. The simplicity of her words brings a momentary clarity, a reminder that love and heartbreak are universal, regardless of the specifics.

As you sit there with Carol, you find yourself growing more curious about her history with Natasha and how she managed to move on. "How did you manage to get past her?" you ask, your voice tinged with curiosity.

Carol takes a deep breath, looking thoughtful. "It wasn't easy," she begins. "Natasha is… intoxicating. She's strong, confident, and when she focuses on you, it's like the world fades away. But I had to remind myself that it wasn't healthy. She didn't want me as an equal partner; she wanted me as an accessory to her life, someone she could control and use when it suited her."

You nod, absorbing her words, feeling a connection to her struggle. Just as you open your mouth to ask another question, your phone buzzes. You glance at the screen and see a text from Wanda: "I’m sorry about what happened, can we talk?"

A bitter chuckle escapes your lips as you read the message. Carol raises an eyebrow, curiosity piqued. "What is it?" she asks.

You show her the text, and she sighs knowingly. "Let me guess," she says, leaning back slightly. "They’re going to apologize, make you feel needed, convince you that you’re special to them."

You frown, feeling a mix of hope and skepticism. "And then what?" you ask, needing to hear her perspective.

Carol looks at you with a mixture of sympathy and firmness. "Then, they’ll draw you back in. You’ll enjoy their company, feel like you belong with them. Natasha will apologize because she sees you as something she needs. Something she owns. She’ll make it seem like she can’t function without you, and for a while, you’ll feel important. But it’s a cycle. She craves control, and as long as you’re under her influence, she’ll keep you on that emotional rollercoaster."

You feel a pang of recognition at her words. "So, what should I do?" you ask, feeling lost.

Carol reaches out, placing a reassuring hand on your shoulder. "You need to decide what’s best for you. If you can handle the ups and downs, if that’s what you want, then maybe you can find a way to make it work. But if you’re looking for something real, something where you’re valued for who you are and not just what you can provide, then you need to think hard about whether this is the right situation for you."

You nod, feeling more sober now, but your emotions are still messy.

"You deserve to be with someone who sees you as an equal, not just as an accessory." Carol adds.

You chuckle, "you don´t even know me."

Carol smiles gently. "I don’t have to know everything about you to see your worth. It’s clear you have a big heart and that you care deeply. But don’t let that heart be trampled on by people who don’t appreciate it."

You nod, feeling the sincerity in her words. "Thanks, Carol. I guess I just got caught up in the idea of being with them, you know? They seemed so perfect."

"They’re magnetic, for sure," Carol agrees. "But perfection is often an illusion. What really matters is how people treat you, especially when things get tough."

Your phone buzzes again, another message from Wanda: "Please, (Y/N)?"

Carol notices your hesitation and sighs. "Look, if you feel you need closure or even just one last conversation, that’s okay. But go in with your eyes open. Know what you want out of it and don’t settle for less."

Taking a deep breath, you nod. "You’re right. I think I need to hear what they have to say."

Carol smiles approvingly. "Just maybe drink some water, get an ice for your ankle and take some bubblegum."

You chuckle, "oh… yeah, I need that, yeah."

With that, you send a brief reply to Wanda: "Okay, let’s meet. When and where?"

As you wait for her response, you agree and ride with Carol into the nearest shop for some cold water and bubblegum for you. During your not so long drive you share stories about life, work, some old memories from drunk parties. Carol seems like a super nice woman, who stands her ground, something you have trouble to do so.

A few minutes later, your phone buzzes again: "How about our place in 30 minutes?"

You look at Carol, who gives you a reassuring nod. "You’ve got this," she says. "Just remember what we talked about."

"I don´t want to go inside," you shake your head.

"You don´t have to." Carol and you get out of her car as she goes to buy you the stuff that you need to freshen up.

You hum and quickly type an answer to Wanda: "Okay, but we will talk outside."

Carol gives you an ice pack on your leg, "better?" You can just nod.

After 30 minutes Carol drops you near their apartment complex, your nerves are killing you once again. You feel less drunk and more scared. To be fair you feel the same way you look, horrible. Your ankle is now swollen and your makeup is just messy.

As you´re zooned out, you don´t notice them walking towards your secured spot on one of the benches.

"Hey," Wanda says softly, bringing you from your thoughts.

You look up to see both Natasha and Wanda standing before you. Natasha’s eyes immediately fall to your swollen ankle, her concern evident. "What happened to your ankle?" she asks, her voice laced with worry.

You brush it off, trying to appear composed. "What do you want to talk about?" you say, straightening up and attempting to steady yourself, even though you’re still feeling the remnants of your earlier drinking.

Wanda kneels down beside you, her gentle hands examining your ankle with care. "We should get you some ice for this," she says, looking up at Natasha, who nods in agreement.

Ignoring their concern, you persist, "I´m okay, what do you want to talk about?"

Natasha sits beside you, her eyes searching yours. "We want to talk about what happened earlier, and about us," she begins, her tone sincere. "But first, let us help you. You’re hurt."

You sigh, knowing they won’t let it go and in your state… no one can blame you for nodding. "Fine," you concede, allowing Wanda to help you to your feet. Natasha wraps an arm around you, supporting you as you hobble towards their apartment.

Once inside, they guide you to the couch and prop your foot up with some cushions. Wanda disappears into the kitchen, returning shortly with a bag of ice wrapped in a towel. She gently places it on your ankle, her touch tender and caring.

Natasha sits next to you, her eyes never leaving your face. "We’re sorry," she starts. "For everything. For how we made you feel and for giving you a mixed signals."

Wanda sits on the other side of you, her hand resting lightly on your shoulder. "We’ve been thinking a lot about what happened and how we can make it right," she adds.

You take a deep breath, feeling the weight of their words. "It hurt," you admit, your voice trembling slightly. "I thought I meant more to you."

Natasha’s expression softens. "You do mean more to us," she says. "But we’ve been selfish, we´re sorry. I am sorry."

No. I won´t fall for this. I can´t...

Wanda nods in agreement. "We want to make things right, but we also understand if you need time or if you decide that this isn’t what you want anymore."

You take a moment to process their words, the sincerity in their voices and the care they’re showing you. "I need to think about it," you finally say. "I need to take care of myself first."

Natasha nods, her eyes understanding. "Take all the time you need," she says. "We’ll be here." Natasha´s hand fall on your knee, squeezing it slightly. Oh how you missed her hand on you, but… does it mean more to you than your of sanity?

"I uh… I should get going." You stand up while Natasha´s grip on your knee tightens.

"You´re not going anywhere, you´re hurt." She speaks firmly.

"I´m going home." It was your time to stand for yourself, which shocks you a bit, but today was the worst rollercoaster of your life, you just need your bed.

"Can we drive you at least?" Wanda´s soft voice warm your heart.

"No, I´ll uh.. take an Uber." Shockingly they agreed.

Natasha and Wanda help you to the door of their apartment complex, your swollen ankle still giving you trouble. As you reach the entrance, you pull out your phone. "I’ll call an Uber," you say, trying to sound nonchalant.

Just then, you notice a familiar car parked nearby. To your surprise, Carol is still there, waiting for you. Natasha and Wanda exchange glances.

"Is that your Uber?" Natasha asks, a hint of skepticism in her voice.

"Yeah, it is," you reply quickly, not wanting to explain the full situation.

Wanda looks at the car, then back at you. "That was fast."

You manage a weak smile, hobbling toward the car. As you get in, Carol chuckles, a playful smirk on her face. "I have admit, I was invested."

You chuckle, feeling a mix of relief and gratitude. "Thanks, Carol. I didn’t expect you to wait."

Carol shrugs, "I figured you might need a ride. Plus, I wanted to make sure you were okay."

You carefully shift yourself into the seat, wincing slightly as you adjust your ankle. Carol glances at you with a playful grin, then back at the door, where Wanda and Natasha dissapear. "Oh, you didn’t want to get inside their apartment, huh?"

You roll your eyes, laughing despite yourself. "Shut up."

As Carol starts the car, you feel a sense of comfort knowing she’s there for you, even though you met her like two hours ago. But you can´t shake the safe feeling you have with her. It might be the alcohol, the situation or just your nature to trust a beatifuly looking woman. "Thanks for being here," you say softly.

"No problem." Carol smirks.

You look at her, "what?"

"First of all, I don´t know where you live, second of all… I´m waiting for some storytime of a verdict or something." She chuckles.

"Oh right, sorry." You shake your head a bit, "Just drive to the Library and then I´ll tell you from there." Carol nods as she starts to drive. "And… um I told them I´ll think about it."

"They were sorry, hm? I mean I don´t blame them, the past ladies before you- well let´s say they weren´t the most kindest souls."

"What do you mean?" You look at Carol.

"Two biggest CEO´s, lots of money, lots of power…" Carol glance at you quickly.

"Oh… I never really thought about it that much." You shrug.

"And that´s why they´re so sorry. And that´s why I would be more careful." Carol honestly states.

The rest of the car ride is peaceful, the city lights blurring past as you reflect on the evening’s events. Carol’s presence is a steadying force, and you feel a little more grounded with each passing moment.

Once you arrive back at your place, Carol helps you inside, making sure you’re settled comfortably. "You sure you’re going to be okay?" she asks, her concern evident.

You nod, managing a small smile. "Yeah, I think so. Thanks again, Carol. For everything."

She gives you a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "Get some rest. And if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call." She gives you her bussiness card.

As she leaves, you feel a strange mix of emotions—hurt, confusion, but also a glimmer of hope. You have a lot to think about, but for now, you’re grateful for the support you’ve found in an unexpected place, but you will definetly think about it more tomorrow, when you´ll be sober. You glance at the card that Carol gave you.

Ceo Carol Danvers.

Turns out you might have a type.

Thank you for reading! How do you think it will continue?

taglist: @arualdcg, @beholdagaywriter, @snowdrop1026, @itsdoni, @newawakening9​, @aliherreraaa, @zzswiftyzz, @lesbiantothemoonandback, @maggieromanov,

[ericshoney]

Party girl ~ Matt Sturniolo

Summary: Matt goes to one of Tara's party with Nick and Chris, only to find interest in the quiet girl in the kitchen.

Warnings: probably swearing, fluff, alcohol mentioned

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Matt didn't want to go to Tara's party, he wasn't in the mood. However, like most times, Chris and Nick persuaded him to go, and here he was, driving to her place.

"Can't I just go home and pick you both up later?" He suggested.

"No Matt!" Chris shouted.

"Come on, let's go." Nick said.

Matt sighed as he followed his brothers towards the loud and lively house. Music was blasting out and many people were already drinking and dancing.

The trio walked into the house, greeting a few people as they walked and soon found the host in the kitchen, drinking a bottle of beer. She smiled once she saw the identical three.

"Hey guys! I'm so glad you all could make it!" She exclaimed, emphasising the all, thinking Matt wasn't going to show.

"We're all happy to be here." Chris said, throwing his brother a cheeky smile.

"Yeah, fucking ecstatic." Matt grumbled, earning a slap from Nick, who was the only one who heard.

"Well there's soda in the fridge, help yourselves!" Tara cheered, rushing off to greet some more guests who had arrived.

Nick went over to the fridge and grabbed three sodas, passing them to Chris and Matt. The three quietly watched the party go on before heading to mingle. Matt followed behind Nick, throwing the odd word in here and there with a conversation.

But as Nick was chatting away to Larray, Matt glanced around, his focus soon being drawn to the kitchen where a girl sat on the kitchen counter and Tara next to her.

Matt's feet worked quicker than his brain and he drifted from Nick and headed to the kitchen. Tara noticed his presence first and smiled.

"Hey Matt, I have the female equivalent of you here." She said with a small laugh.

Matt looked at the girl who was still sat on the counter, a can of coke in her hand, a blank expression on her face.

"Fuck off." She grumbled.

"Matt this is Y/n, Y/n meet Matt, he's not really a party fan either." Tara introduced.

"Nice to meet you." Matt said, offering a hand to the quiet girl.

She silently shook his hand, a small smile making a way to her face.

"I'll be right back....Jake get the fuck down your way to drunk!" Tara shouted, running off to her friend.

Matt chuckled slightly and lent against the counter next to Y/n. The girl quietly sipped her drink, swaying her feet softly.

"So....not much of a talker?" Matt asked carefully.

"Not really....sorry." She answered.

"No it's okay. I'm the same really, only talking around my brothers." He replied.

"Too loud as well." She admitted.

Matt looked around and saw the backyard was fairly empty. He nodded his head that way, looking at the girl.

"Want to get some air?" He suggested.

Y/n nodded and hopped off the counter, following the slightly taller male towards the outdoor space. Both sitting on the sofa, relaxing slightly.

"Is that better?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, thank you." She replied.

"So, how do you know Tara?" Matt questioned, trying to break the ice.

"We've been friends for years, I just moved back to LA a week ago." She answered.

"Oh that's cool, did you move in with Tara then?" He responded.

"No, I got my own apartment down the street, but I'm here most of the time." She replied with a small giggle.

He chuckled and smiled, nodding at her reply. The two feel quiet for a bit before Y/n spoke up again.

"If your not a party guy, what made you come here?" She asked.

"My brothers, Chris and Nick. I've avoided many parties but they persuaded me to come. Now I'm here I'm actually happy." He answered.

"How come?" She questioned, tilting her head slightly.

"Cause I got to meet you." He replied, smiling at the girl.

Y/n smiled as the two continued getting to know each other. Both were smiling and laughing, coming out of their shells, not realising what the time was. Soon Chris and Nick came out, seeing their brother chatting and smiling with the unknown girl.

"Hey Matt, you ready to go home?" Nick asked, drawing his attention away.

"Oh uh yeah. Text me?" Matt replied, turning his attention back to Y/n.

She smiled and nodded as Matt left with his brothers, the three getting back in the car and driving home quietly.

"So...who's the girl?" Chris asked as they arrived home.

"Y/n, a friend of Tara's. She's really cool and sweet." Matt replied, smiling happily.

Nick and Chris both shared a look, smiling at each other.

"So, happy we dragged you to the party?" Nick asked.

"Very happy." Matt nodded.

At the start of the night, Matt was unhappy to go to Tara's party, now after meeting Y/n, he was much happier to make a new friend and maybe something more in the future.

[schvmacher47]

venus | oscar piastri

oscar piastri x fem oc

chapter 1 | quick pause in conversation word count: 4044

<– preview. –> next part.

let me know in the comments, if you want to be tagged in future parts :)

» [canyon moon - harry styles] « 1:54 ────〇──3:09 ⇄ ◃◃ ⅠⅠ ▹▹ ↻

   »The egg challenge?« Oscar asked, raising an eyebrow as he eyed the kitchen as if he was preparing for his personal downfall. He didn't look too impressed, if anything, he probably wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. As always. If there was one thing about Oscar I learned immediately, it was the fact that he wasn't too keen on any media activities. Truth or dare? He's gonna shoot you death glares all the time. Wet head? He's gonna complain about not knowing anything about his teammate. The only challenge he showed proper interest in, was the food challenge... Only because he didn't have to try the food himself and was the one enjoying all the chaos.

   »Yes, the egg challenge!«, I said enthusiastically. It was one of my many mastermind ideas, letting two young men, who most definitely were one of the worst cooks in the world, compete in a cooking challenge.    »You know I can't cook... It's gonna be embarrassing.«, he whined.    »Everyone knows you can't cook, especially after your tweets. Knowing you use your oven as a dryer just proves that point even more.«, I grinned as I set up the camera. This was going to be great. I was sure I was gonna be entertained.    »How? It was an emergency! You can't possibly bring that up all the time...«, Oscar protested. I knew it was an emergency, he made sure everyone knew that. But teasing him and getting on his nerves was simply too easy and fun to not do it.    »That's what they all say...«

   »Yeah that's what they all say, Oscar.«, Robert grinned, putting on his apron.    »Oh shut up mate.«, Oscar grumbled. »As if you're that good of a cook.«    »Definitely better than you!«    »This is not a competition, you know?«, I chuckled. »How about you also gear up, hm?«, I handed Oscar the remaining apron and chef hat. He just grumbled something unintelligible, still not too keen on my idea.    »Can you just for once be more motivated when I come up with such a genius idea? Pretty please?«, I sighed. This was definitely not what I signed up for when I applied for this job. I definitely underestimated working with teenagers and young adults and I definitely didn't imagine the young adults to be more stubborn and childish than the teenagers.    »What do I get in return?«    »A kiss!«, Robert exclaimed, but was soon silenced by both my and Oscar's death glares. Somehow everyone at Prema had made it their mission to tease Oscar and me all the time. For no reason. Arthur was the one who started it, claiming there was some sort of 'tension' and everyone just picked up on it.    »Whoa I was just joking, no need to stare me down like that.«    »You can have a cheat day and choose what we'll get, apart from Pizza Hawaii.«, I argued, bribing him into appreciating my idea.    »That's actually a great idea, but can we get this over with now?«    »Sure, ready when you are.«

   »We were told this is not a competition, but it definitely is a competition.«, Oscar said, glaring into the camera. »We have a bunch of eggs and three different ways to prepare them. A soft boiled egg, fried eggs, but over easy and a poached egg.«, he continued.    »We're both terrible at cooking, so let's see how it goes.«, Robert said, clapping his hands. »But, if I win this challenge, then I don't have to drive Oscar to the airport later today.«    »So you're saying that I have to drive when you win?«, I asked, raising an eyebrow, but Robert just grinned mischievously and nodded. I knew he was doing it on purpose.    »Exactly!«    »Deal! But you better win this Oscar, I still have to go grocery shopping, my fridge is the definition of empty and I definitely don't have the time to drive to the airport and back again.«    »I'll try... You shouldn't have too high hopes tho.«

   »You never showed us a video.«, Oscar grumbled as he put his pot on the hob.    »Why should I? You should know how to boil an egg...«, I shook my head in disbelief, he surely must've boiled an egg before.    »I've never boiled an egg...«, Oscar mumbled, a dumbfounded expression resting on his face. »But surely you wait until the water is boiling... It's a boiled egg, not a lukewarm egg that then boils.«    »You genius..«, I grinned. Robert and I exchanged glances, as we waited for the water to boil. I was just waiting for the disaster to unfold, waiting for my personal entertainment which was honestly the best part of my job. Apart from getting to travel the world and watch fast cars all weekend long of course.

   »My water is boiling, so...«, Oscar said, jokingly giving his egg a featherlight kiss for good luck, before not so gently putting it into the boiling water. Robert eyed him sceptically, before following and also putting an egg into his pot with boiling water.    »That's a very aggressive boil..«, Oscar mumbled, eyeing his pot and immediately turning the temperature down.

   »I think I cracked it.« A sigh escaped Robert's lips as he inspected the broken egg shell, before both he and Oscar started to chuckle.    »You did!«, Oscar laughed out loud. »So I win the boil challenge by default.«    »No you don't, I can try again!«, Robert argued, immediately putting another egg into the boiling water. Oscar just shook his head, but was soon also stressing, when he had another look into his pot.    »Oh no, mine's cracked too!«    »Yes!! The competition is back on!«, Robert happily exclaimed, both of them yet again erupting in a fit of laughter. »Oh shit, I didn't turn my timer back on.«, Oscar nearly dropped the second egg at Robert's words, not able to hold back his laughter. This time, he used a spoon to gently drop the egg into the water.    »Masterchef – Oh shit my timer!«, he exclaimed, rushing to set his timer for exactly three minutes. I grinned watching them both behind the camera, as I enjoyed the chaos unfolding in front of me.

   »Well let's go for a visual inspection first, Robert's is cracked, mine's not.«, Oscar said, pointing to the visible crack in Robert's egg. He managed to crack both of his attempts, but was still sure of victory.    »But that's not what you eat, it's important what's on the inside, not on the outside... Never judge a book by its cover!«, Robert exclaimed. »That's the philosophy of Robert Shwartzman.«    »Yeah, right«, Oscar grinned and shook his head as he started cracking his soft boiled egg. »Yeah nah, it's not looking good«, he stated after a first inspection. Robert's attempt didn't look too promising either, but it was the tiniest bit more solid.

   »And that is a win for me!«, Robert exclaimed, satisfied with his winning soft boiled egg.    »Well, if you want a half raw egg, I'm the man to call... Turns out these timers suck.«    »You have never ever sounded that Australian before«, Robert grinned. »Turns out these timers suck«, he mocked Oscar.    »Of course I sound Australian. I am Australian, you idiot!« Oscar rolled his eyes, as he cleaned up his workspace for the next challenge.    »Yeah I know, you just never sound that Australian«, Robert said, following Oscar's lead and also starting to clean up.    »If I would speak in an Aussie accent, there's no way that I would be getting my points across, because you lot wouldn't understand me!«    »Uh-uh, don't you dare speak for me, I'm pretty sure I could still understand you.« I actually wouldn't mind it if he spoke in his Aussie accent more often. But that was just my personal opinion.    »Sure, multilingual queen«, Oscar grinned, making fun of me and my list of many talents. I just rolled my eyes in response and refrained from making further comments on Oscar's lack of foreign language skills.    »Whatever you say, but let's get back to business...«, I mumbled, subtly reminding Robert and Oscar what their actual task was.

   »Well, guess who won the first round?«, Robert grinned, as he reminded Oscar of his first loss of the day. »This egg was broken, it was ugly, no one believed in it, but in the end it was the best!«, he added, making both Oscar and me erupt into a fit of laughter. I quickly wiped away the tears that were forming in my eyes, as Oscar composed himself again and cleared his throat.    »Okay, next up, we have the poached egg. This is probably my best bet of winning anything here today, so let's see how this goes...«, Oscar said, introducing the next part of the challenge. I didn't believe a single word that just left his mouth. The poached egg as his best bet? He couldn't be serious right now. Not after failing to boil a soft boiled egg.

   »I think it's a bit too hot, who put it on 9?«, Robert asked, as he put a tablespoon of vinegar into his pot filled with water.    »I did!«, Oscar said, minding his own business as he cracked open his egg.    »Cheating bastard. He's cheating!«, Robert exclaimed, probably hoping for me to disqualify Oscar from the competition, which technically wasn't even a competition. But he wasn't getting any sort of reaction from me, so he just started swirling his water and carefully letting his egg slip into the swirl.

   »Alright... I don't think that was too bad«, he said, after inspecting his first attempt for a while.    »Like you said, it was ugly before and turned out good... This one's... Ugly now, but probably going to turn out good.«, Oscar said, grinning as he had a look in Robert's pot.    »No wait, I wanna take it out and try again!«, Robert exclaimed and immediately grabbed a spoon and took out the egg.    »Wow, wow, wow, what happened to the hope, huh? Always have hope!«    »Yeah of course, I have hope! I am doing another one that's going to be even better!«    »If you say so...«, Oscar mumbled sceptically, but then also started with his first attempt. »So, no swirling, no vinegar, no salt, no nothing. Let's just hope and pray for the best«, Oscar said as he gently let the raw egg slip into the hot water. He proceeded to lean over the hob, his eyes never leaving the pot, to inspect his attempted poached egg. Emphasis on attempted.

   »Yeah, it's not going great...«, he mumbled, which also brought Robert's attention to Oscar's side of the kitchenette. »It's not the prettiest poached egg I've ever made, it's quite similar to Robert's to be honest, but...«, he added quietly.    »What the fuck!«, Robert said, a shocked expression taking over his face as he had a look into Oscar's pot.    »Aye, we're family friendly!«, I chuckled, taking a mental note to beep Robert's bad word later on.    »Have hope, Robert. Have hope!«    »It's up to you, man. But that doesn't look edible.« A disgusted expression was resting on Robert's face as he was eyeing the mishap. He just shook his head in mere disbelief.

   »And here I was thinking I was gonna get some lunch out of this...«, I interjected and earned a laugh from Robert. He just gave me a look that I interpreted as 'That's most definitely not going to happen'.    »No no, it's fine... This was my practice round, so no need to worry at all«, Oscar said and still seemed to be very hopeful as he took out the egg and prepared the second one.    »Maybe it wasn't boiling enough... Maybe I just have no talent... I think this might be the biggest issue here«, Oscar mumbled. His body language was very much giving signs of early defeat, as if he'd already accepted his fate, when Robert went and whispered something into his ear. I couldn't quite make out what Robert said, but I was pretty sure it was something along the lines of 'You're so doing this on purpose, I know you're not that bad...'.    »There's microphones on!«, Oscar exclaimed and looked straight into the camera, or more like behind the camera, to see if anyone of us heard what was being said.    »They're not listening«, Robert reassured him and grinned knowingly. Sure, nobody was listening...

   »So let's try this again«, Oscar said. »I'm sticking to the 'no swirling' technique«, he added and immediately put the second raw egg into the boiling water.    »This one's even worse!« He sounded very disappointed, especially as he watched Robert attempt and then succeed the challenge with his second try.    »That one's actually pretty good!«, Oscar exclaimed, as he inspected Robert's attempt. Robert started celebrating, being very sure of his second victory in a row. »He actually did a good job on that...«

   »Did I split the yolk? Maybe... Is that a problem? No...«, Oscar mumbled with a wry grin on his lips, as he took out his mishap of a poached egg. Both he and Robert erupted into a fit of a full body laughter, as they inspected the poached egg. »And to think this was my best bet–«, Oscar laughed, as he presented his rock solid poached egg to the camera. I chuckled, innerly thanking God for choosing to make Oscar a racing driver and not a cook.    »I bet Kaia is very impressed by your cooking skills!«, Robert said, laughing.    »Oh I sure am!«, I grinned and also started laughing. Their laughter was simply too infectious to not join in.

   Robert's egg was the definition of a perfect poached egg, the yolk was still runny, when he cut the egg open. Both he and Oscar went to try the poached egg and were visibly impressed by how good it was.    »You seriously have to try it!«, Robert said and waved me over to the kitchenette.    »Are you sure you don't want to poison me?«, I joked, but still got up and left my spot behind the camera, to take the fork loaded with bits of the egg, which Oscar held out to me.    »Poison you? I don't think we're that bad...«    »That's why your egg is rock solid... but sure, you're not that bad«, I grinned, as I finally took the fork from Oscar, our fingers brushing as he passed it to me. I inspected the egg one last time, for safety reasons, before I got over myself and gave it a try.    »Yeah, Robert definitely wins this round... Without a doubt, which also means I get the honour of driving you to the airport...«, I grumbled, giving Oscar my best death glare, to which he only raised his hands in surrender, as if he were rejecting all blame. »Just to warn you now, I get to choose the songs we're going to listen to. Capito? My car, my rules«, I playfully said.    »Yeah, whatever, as long as I'm getting to the airport, that's fine with me...«

   Oscar did end up winning the fried egg, but over easy challenge, but it didn't change a thing about Robert's overall win. As soon as the cameras were off, Robert put on that mischievous grin again.    »Well, I guess you'll be having the honour of driving Mr. I don't get rental cars to the airport. Please do my car rides justice and don't be too nice«, he said, a big grin playing on his lips.    »I'll make sure he'll still get the Robert experience,« I chuckled, as I started packing up the camera equipment.    »I know that's not gonna happen because you're most definitely not as reckless of a driver as Robert. So that's a relief for me because I for once won't be carsick.«, Oscar said, getting rid of his apron and chef hat.    »On the expense of my dinner, thank you very much«, I joked.    »Now you're making me feel bad...«, he mumbled as he helped me clean up the kitchen.    »If I remember correctly you're the one who lost the challenge, so I think that's deserved.«    »Evil!«

***

   »Do you have everything?«, I asked Oscar as I grabbed my bag and car keys.    »Yes!«    »Are you sure?, I asked again, making sure we wouldn't have to turn around. I remembered all the countless times Robert had to turn around because Oscar forgot something. At this point, the only important thing he didn't manage to leave behind was his phone. I hoped I didn't just jinx it... If his head wasn't permanently attached to his body, there would've been a great chance of him losing it somewhere around the world.    »Yes«, he confirmed as he pushed his suitcase to the main entrance. I quickly grabbed a water bottle from the mini fridge before I followed him to the main hall. Oscar had already brought his luggage outside and was waiting for me to unlock the car.

   As I stepped outside, the crisp evening air sent shivers down my spine. The sky was painted in beautiful hues of oranges and pinks, as the sun began its descent. I unlocked the car and opened the trunk for Oscar to put his, multiple weeks worth, of luggage into it.    »Buckle up, you're in for the ride of your life!«, I told him as I got into the driver's seat. I connected my phone to the car's bluetooth and chose a playlist as Oscar also got into the car. The first notes of 'Red' by Taylor Swift sounded softly from the sound system as I pulled out of the car park. Loving him was like driving a new maserati down a dead-end street.    »As long as we don't end up in a dead-end street, that's fine with me«, Oscar said, a knowing smile resting on his lips as he made himself comfortable. It took a minute for my brain to process the ambiguity of his words. He for sure knew how to use his words, how to send my brain cells into a frenzy. Still waters could run deep. Very deep.    »Are you questioning my abilities right now?«,    »I would never!«    »You better not, since you're relying on my abilities right now...«, I said, grinning as I drove onto the carriageway.    »I promise I won't complain«, he said. »This is definitely an upgrade, came here thinking I was going to have to deal with Robert's horrendous driving, but got an unexpected upgrade to first class.«    »As if you didn't lose on purpose to get this upgrade, let's be honest.«, I stated, quickly glancing over to him. He shook his head, but had a knowing grin on his lips. He of course did it on purpose.    »I would never!«, he repeated his statement from before.    »Yeah, as if I'd believe you... Just say it, you enjoy my company.«    »I thought that was obvious...«    »No shit Sherlock, it was obvious from the moment where you all of the sudden forgot how to boil an egg to get me to drive you to the airport«, I joked.    »So where's the problem?«    »I don't know, you tell me?«, I asked, grinning.

   There was a quick pause in conversation, we fell into a comfortable silence, as I focused on the traffic ahead and Oscar was doing God knows what. Probably just staring out of the window for most of the time.    At some point, I turned the music up. I felt the need to fill the void with some background noise. A few songs in, which I classified as my 'warm up', I started humming along to One Direction's 'No Control'. Out of the corner of my eye I caught Oscar glancing over at me. A grin spread across my lips. Oh, he had no idea of what he was going to witness. I wiggled in my seat, as I started to sing along to the last lines of the first verse. The One Direction carpool karaoke video was my roman empire, the choreography to No Control was engraved into every single one of my brain cells and every time that song popped up in my playlist, I couldn't help but dance along.    Oscar chuckled softly next to me, shaking his head in amusement as I belted out the lyrics. Once the chorus hit, the last bit of self-control left my body and my hands left the steering wheel to do the choreo justice. I was challenging my inner Harry Styles. I literally had no control.

   »First of all, I would very much appreciate it, if you would keep your hands on the steering wheel and focus on the street ahead...«, Oscar mumbled, a terrified expression resting on his facial features as he watched my impromptu performance. »Secondly, I sometimes wonder if your mother tongue really is English or you're just fucking with me...«    »Why?«, I asked, once the chorus was over.    »The way you sing these songs with so much confidence really has me questioning if you know what you're singing about«, Oscar chuckled. I raised an eyebrow. He thought this was bad? I made a mental note to introduce him to Zara Larsson's music in the future.    »This isn't even the worst one...«, I said, grinning as I continued to bob my head to the beat.    »There's worse?« I just nodded in amusement and watched him shake his head.

   »Could you take the next exit please?«, Oscar asked, when we were halfway through our journey to the airport.    »Why, do you need to use the toilet?«    »Just do it, okay?«, he practically begged me as we approached the exit he was talking about. It was a service station area that even accommodated smaller versions of supermarkets. I sighed and moved over into the exit lane, slowing down as I reached the parking lot.    »I'll be quick«, Oscar said, as he got out of the car. He rushed over to one of the service points, but then disappeared behind a passing truck. As I waited for Oscar to come back, I decided to also open my door and stretch my legs out of the car. I reached for the water bottle that I'd placed behind my seat, and opened it to take a few refreshing sips.

   A few minutes later, I saw Oscar coming back. He was carrying a brown paper bag, seemingly from one of those supermarkets. I raised an eyebrow when he opened the door and flopped down on the passenger's seat.    »Why are you looking at me like that?«, he asked and fastened his seatbelt again.    »I thought you had to use the bathroom?«, I asked, tilting my head in confusion.    »I lied, my bladder is not that weak –«    »Funny coming from you, when you have to go to the toilet every time right before getting in your race car, but sure, go on«, I chuckled, earning a death glare from Oscar.    »If you'd let me finish, you'd know the reason why I lied«, he stated. »I felt bad, when you said you still had to go grocery shopping and since I am basically the reason for you not having a proper dinner tonight, I got you something...«, he mumbled and pointed to the brown paper bag. I blinked in surprise, caught off guard by his thoughtfulness.    »You did what?« Oscar didn't even acknowledge my question, instead he put the bag on his lap and reached into it.    »I got you dinner.«, he said, pulling out what looked like a big salad bowl, bread and a bar of chocolate. »Consider it a thank you for driving me to the airport.« I couldn't help but stare at him in disbelief.    »You didn't have to do that«, I mumbled. I was at a loss for words. »Thank you...«, I managed to say, my voice barely above a whisper. »I really appreciate it.«

***

author's note:

hiya everyone, i hope you enjoyed reading! this is just the beginning, and there's more chaos to explore in the next chapters. i'd love to hear about your thoughts and would like some feedback, so i could integrate some stuff into the upcoming chapters :D don't forget to vote and comment, your support is very much appreciated! lots of love xx

next up:  »2 | it feels like a perfect night« get ready for some birthday shenanigans!

read venus on wattpad:

[mikobeautifulheart]

4 Depression - Nanami

TW: Mentions of death, depression, suicide, starvation, attempted suicide and over dose. ('lill bitta angst)

Nanami sat silently in the empty train cart, head hung low and hands clasped tightly together. Today was another tough overtime mission. He wanted nothing more then to go home and see you, just hold you for hours on end.

The only thing left on his mind was how distant you had become. Last night you had fallen asleep, nothing in the fridge, nothing on the stove. It was like an empty apartment. He was going to talk to you about it but he had to leave early that morning so he resorted to talking to you that night.

The train stops and he walks out into the empty station. It was strange how everything was deserted. An oddly quiet day.

He continued to walk home exhausted and finaly turned the door knob into your apartment.

He breathed a sigh of relief until he noticed you on the dinning room floor, chest shallowly moving.

He rushes over to your side, propping you up on his knee. He gently pushes you hair out of your face before looking at your eyes with worry.

"Y/n what happened? What did you do?" He said

You slowly and shakily put your arm up, pointing to the empty yellow bottle of anti-depressants on the table.

"I want to wake up Kento, this dream is to lonely now." Your hand dropped to the ground causing a thud.

"Y/n, this isn't isn't dream! You need help." He reaches into his pocket to get his phone and call the emergency number.

"I want to die Ken, save me." You whispered as your eyelids got heavier.

"Hello? Hello? Why is no one picking up!?" He frustratedly throws the phone to the ground as you grasp onto his shirt collar.

"Kento I want to see you again." You finally mumble.

"Then you need to live Y/N I'll drive you to the hospital just hold on-"

"no" You whispered, breath slipping out your lips.

"No don't do this y/n, I need you, you can't leave me."

"I'll see you soon. After all i'm sure you've been waiting for me." You said before gasping at a sudden sharpness in your chest.

"Y/N! WHAT DO YOU MEAN? WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?" He said trying to wipe his tears with his shirt sleve.

"Kento you left me. You left me in Shibuya alone. Did you mean it?"

"Y/n what are you talking about, wha-" He looks at his right hand, the skin is red and peeled. Burnt.

He goes to run his hand through his hair, none on the right side. What?

Oh. That's right. The last thing he saw was Yuji, standing there helplessly. He could remember feeling everything at once, not even blinking twice.

"Itadori, tell my wife I'll wait for her and...you got it from here."

Then the sounds of the train going over the rails. It was strange now, he dosen't remember his last mission, how he got on the train, how he left the house this morning.

"Can you- see me right now" he paused and looked down at you.

You weren't responding anymore.

He felt sick to his stomach, what had he done. He buried his face in your neck overwhelmed with...sadness.

"Don't cry anynore Kento, we're finally together again!" You said.

He felt hands gently press on his shoulders urging him to look behind him. But he didn't.

"I-i killed you y/n. Your dead because of me...I'm sorry" He let out a shakey breath.

"Why would you kill yourself because of me? What about every one you leave behind?" He said still holding your corpse.

"You didn't kill me Ken, I was all the time without you. As for everyone else, there's a few letters on the table explaining my death, will and wishes. All I want is to be here with you" you said wrapping your arms around the back of his neck, loke you didn't just kill yourself.

"No."

"No?" You said confused and the sudden change in deminour.

"Yoh don't die here, not yet. Listen to me y/n no matter how lonley you are or how bad you feel you cant do this...not to yourself or anyone." He sighed hugging your body closer to his.

"What are you talking about Ken, whats done is done. I told you at your funeral I'll never love again. My world has ended, this is the happiness I was looking for."

"I love you y/n, now live to the fullest teach those kids something and...don't die yet."

You woke up on the floor again. Tears filling your eyes. God damn it, you were so close.

"I miss you Kento." You slung your arm over your face.

"I miss you to, but until then." He said before walking off on the beach shore sighing in relife.

THANK YOU FOR READING ♡

AUTHOURS NOTE: This is appart of my 5 stages of greife series, part 4 obvi. Only one more part to go (acceptance with Yuji) and then this will all be over. Thanks for reading and have a good whatever time.

(Edit: If you wanted a happier ending you should have read this fic)

[pitufitaispunk]

Velvet Ring

Chapter Five: Curiosity

Pairing: Riff x Latina!Reader (West Side Story 2021)

Velvet Ring Masterlist

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The walk home was quiet. Anita rubbed Nardo's back comfortingly, whispering something to him that I couldn't quite make out as I trailed behind them.

As soon as we got to the apartment, Bernardo stormed off to his bedroom, Anita following closely after him. I sigh softly and peel off my flats before going into my own room, closing the door behind me. I sit on my bed, listening in on Anita and Bernardo's barely audible murmurs through the thin walls of our apartments.

Nardo's voice was firm and tense as he spoke to Anita, especially as he practically spat out Riff's name, sending a chill down my spine.

I couldn't help but feel guilty. This whole time I've been entertaining this flirtation with Riff. But, to be completely fair, I didn't know he was the leader of the Jets! Sure, I knew he was a Jet and that's just as bad, but... I thought he'd be different, I guess.

I'm suddenly snapped out of my thoughts as Anita walks into my room, a small smile on her face, "How are you, nena? That didn't scare you at the market, did it?" She asks as she sits next to me on the bed, pulling me into her side.

I snort, shaking my head, "Claro que no. I'm not scared of a couple of gringos."

Anita huffs, "Sure, you're not. You looked all wide eyed when you saw them, you were definitely scared."

I purse my lips, "I was just... stunned."

Anita quirks a brow at me in suspicion, "Stunned? By what?"

My eyes widen slightly, "Oh, you know, I've never seen the Jets that close before. They're tall."

Anita narrows her eyes at me before standing from my bed and walking over to the door, "Bueno, I'm going out with Rosalía again, considering our shopping time was cut short. Then afterwards I'm going to the dress shop for a bit to finish that dress I've been working on. ¿Quieres venir con nosotras?"

I shake my head, "I'll stay here, take care of Nardo."

Anita tsks, leaning against my doorframe, "He left a few minutes ago."

"To the gym?" I ask. She nods in response, making me sigh.

Whenever Nardo gets upset, he almost always goes to the gym. He says boxing helps him to blow off steam.

"Well, I'll just stay home anyway. Tal vez limpiaré mi cuarto..." I say softly— more to myself than to Anita— as I glance around my slightly cluttered room.

Anita laughs, "Good, it's been needing una buena limpieza."

I scoff, "It's not that messy."

Anita shrugs, grinning teasingly, "Whatever you say, Y/N. I'll be home in a few hours, ok?" She pats the wall before leaving my room to grab her purse.

I climb off my bed, hearing Anita close the front door as she leaves the apartment.

As much as I love having some time alone, I hate how eerily quiet it gets when I'm home alone.

I open up my bedroom window, listening to the romantic melody coming from one of our neighbor's rooms as I look out at the setting sun. The sky was a deep blue with streaks of golden orange and soft pink, stars beginning to lightly shine.

I grunt softly as I carefully climb out onto the fire escape to get a better view. I stand at the edge and hold onto the railing with a smile. I'm completely lost in the beauty of the sunset when I suddenly hear a whistle from down below.

"Ay, bendito..." I look down and feel my cheeks heat up, "What are you doing here?!" I whisper sharply.

Riff stood there, grinning up at me, "I was just passing through the neighborhood. I'm a curious guy, you know."

I scoff, crossing my arms over my chest, "Well, curiosity gets people into trouble. There's that saying..." I trail off, unable to remember how it goes.

Riff chuckles, "What, you mean that 'curiosity killed the cat' thing?"

I nod, "Sí, that's the one."

He smirks up at me, "Don't worry about me, doll. I've already lived longer than I thought I would, we're all good." He suddenly tilts his head, almost as if he was trying to read me, "Come down."

"I'm not doing that." I huff, "I don't want to talk to you. I can't talk to you."

Riff shrugs, "Then I'm coming up."

My eyes widen as Riff grabs onto the railing of the fire escape and begins pulling himself up, climbing closer and closer to my level, "You're crazy! Someone could see!"

Riff chuckles as he finally gets to me, hopping over the rusted rail that keeps us separated and finally stands before me, "Relax. No one will see if you quit all that screaming."

We stare at each other in silence, the distant laughter of children and the music from my neighbor being the only ambience we have.

He suddenly reaches out, holding the skirt of my dress between his pointer and middle fingers. He traces the lace along the hem gently, making my cheeks warm up, "This is pretty." He murmurs.

I look up at him with furrowed brows, "What are you trying to do?"

He smiles, letting go of my dress, "What do you think I'm doin'? No guy's ever flirted with you before or what?"

I step closer to him without thinking, "No Jet has ever flirted with me before." I say, my words coming out like an insult.

Riff gives me a sly grin as we're now standing chest to chest, "Yeah, yeah. So, what's your name? You still haven't told me."

I quickly step back again, leaning back on the railing of the fire escape, "You don't get to know my name!" I say defensively, making Riff quirk a brow at me in amusement.

"Oh, yeah? Why not?" He asks, as if the answer isn't obvious.

"Because you're a Jet." I huff, "Why else?"

He hums softly, quirking his head to the side, "Yeah, but you knew I was a Jet since the beginning, doll."

He had a point there. Honestly, I'm not even sure what my argument is at this point, but I know I can't keep this weird 'relationship' going.

I cross my arms stubbornly, trying to think of a solid argument, "Well... you're the leader! That makes you worse than the others." I quip, smirking triumphantly.

"I'd actually argue that being the leader makes me a little better. I'm the only one who can keep 'em all under control." Riff says, taking a small step towards me.

I laugh dryly, "Oh, so earlier at the market, when your dogs nearly jumped my brother and his friend, that's what you would consider keeping them under control?"

His brows pinch, "Come on, that's not fair. I mean, we're a gang, it's expected for us to get territorial over our turf."

"Since when is our neighborhood your turf?" I huff as I push away from the railing to sit on the steps of the fire escape.

He turns his body as I walk past him, his eyes following my every move, "It's kinda complicated..."

I quirk a brow at him, "Is it?" He gives me a slight shrug, making me roll my eyes, "Creo que todos son pendejos." I murmur.

He smirks at me, leaning down slightly so we're face to face, "Ouch. That sounded rough. What's it mean?"

I purse my lips, "It means I think you're all idiots."

Riff chuckles, "I agree with ya."

I stare at him in complete bewilderment. How could he, the leader of the Jets, think that all this fighting was stupid? Isn't he the one who organizes their schemes and tricks?

Riff seems to read my mind as a grin breaks out on his face, "I'm not as bad as I might seem, girly girl."

I laugh softly, "Girly girl? What does that mean?"

His cheeks flush slightly, "Uh, I don't know... it's just a term of endearment, ya know?" He explains, his voice almost a whisper.

I smile, "It's lacking a bit of creativity."

He grins, leaning in closer to me, "You know, you're a real interesting girl."

I snort at this, my brows raised in disbelief, "No, I'm not."

He tucks a strand of my hair back behind my ear, "Nah, you definitely are..."

My eyes widen as he leans in even more, our noses touching and our breath mingling. Riff places his hands on my thighs tenderly as he tilts his head slightly, our lips lightly brushing against each other.

Knock, knock, knock!

Riff and I pull away instinctively at the loud knocking on the apartment door. My heart stops. Could Anita or Bernardo be home already? No, it couldn't be them. They both have keys, so they wouldn't knock.

I push Riff's hands off of my thighs, although I didn't really want to stop just yet, "You have to go." I whisper to him before standing up, "Just climb back down the fire escape and go, ok?"

He nods, a hint of a smile playing at his lips, "Whatever you say... hey, could you tell me your name now?"

Knock, knock, knock!

My eyes widen, "Riff, just go! Quickly please!"

He laughs at my distress, his hands raised in surrender as he stands up straight, "Alright, alright. I'll get out of your hair." He says casually. I watch wistfully as he begins climbing down. He looks up at me again, smiling softly, "Can I see you again?"

My jaw twitches. This is wrong. I couldn't possibly see him again. Just the other day, I watched him and his friends say awful things to Nardo and Sebas. I can't see him again.

"Yes." The word leaves my mouth before I can even think.

Riff grins triumphantly, "Alright... See you later, girly girl." He quickly hops down from the fire escape and backs away from my building with a smile, his eyes locked on me the entire time.

Knock, knock, knock!

I climb back into my bedroom, surprised that whoever it was hadn't left yet.

"¿Hola? ¡Y/N! ¿Alguien está en casa?" I hear Manuel's voice call.

I groan softly and walk over to the door, adjusting my dress slightly before opening it, "Hola, Manuel. ¿Necesitas algo?" I ask, trying to sound polite.

Manuel walks past me and sits himself at the dining table, his posture slumped, "No… ¿Donde están Anita y Bernardo?"

I close the door and lock it before walking over to him, "Anita está con Rosalía and Nardo went to the gym. Why? Did you need them for something?" I ask, taking a seat next to him.

Manuel shakes his head, "No, this is actually perfect. Just you and me."

I give him a tight lipped smile, an awkward silence settling over the apartment.

I felt guilty and a little paranoid as Manuel smiled up at me. I began to wonder if he could've heard Riff and I from outside the apartment. If he had, would he tell Anita and Bernardo? Or would he use it against me?

"Oye, traje unas Mallorcas." Manuel says suddenly, catching my attention. He sits up straight in his chair and pulls out a white paper bag from his jacket pocket, handing it to me gently.

I smile softly as I take the bag from him, "Gracias, Manuel. You didn't have to, I was going to come tomorrow anyway for our usual order."

Manuel shrugs, "Lo sé, pero when I saw that we had some extra mallorcas left over, I thought of you guys. Plus, they're free of charge." He says, nudging me playfully.

I laugh softly, "Well, I can't refuse free. Thank you again, Manuel. Nardo will be very happy."

He nods curtly. I purse my lips before speaking again, "So... how is your family?"

Manuel smiles at my question. Every time I go to the panadería, I watch Manuel with his family and how happy they are. They run their business peacefully and I can tell just how much they all care for each other. "Están bien. They're all busy these days so there's lots of chatter when we're working." He explains. Manuel is the second oldest of five; he has two younger brothers— Andrés and Javier, a younger sister— Catalina, and an older sister— Marcela. He leans back in his seat as he continues catching me up on recitals and projects his younger siblings have been doing in school, and also giving me details on Marcela's wedding planning while I make us some coffee. Marcela had gotten engaged just last month to a man named Marcos, who has also been working at La Noria with Manuel and his family. "I've really grown to like him. Her other boyfriends were always immature." Manuel tells me before taking a sip of his coffee.

Manuel and I look up as we hear keys jingling outside the apartment. Bernardo and Anita walk in, both smiling despite looking absolutely exhausted from work. I stand, taking Anita's purse for her and hang it up on the hook by the door, "¿Cómo estuvo el trabajo?" I ask Anita, remembering she said she would go in for a while after her outing with Rosalía.

She sighs as she kicks off her heels, "Same as always. I finally finished that yellow dress today and then they gave me four new dress orders and I only have three weeks to finish all of them."

My brows pinch sympathetically, "Déjame ayudarte con los vestidos, querida. Eso es demasiado trabajo para ti solita."

Bernardo nods, "Let her help you, mi amor. I don't want you going to bed sore every night."

Anita smirks softly, but I ignore it, "Manuel brought us Mallorcas." I say, changing the subject.

Bernardo quickly sits at the table next to Manuel and begins devouring a Mallorca, powdered sugar coating his lips.

Anita giggles and sits herself in his lap, cleaning his face with a napkin, "You're going to choke if you don't slow down and eat like a normal person." She teases.

"No, I won't." Bernardo huffs, his mouth full of bread. I throw a napkin at his face, making everyone laugh.

Manuel clears his throat, "Y/N, tengo algo que preguntarte." He announces, catching all of our attention.

I quirk a brow at him, "¿Sí?"

I watch as he licks his lips nervously, straightening his posture. I figured he was going to ask me on a date, seeing as we haven't officially gone out yet. So far, we've only had our nearly daily walks to and from the florería and the dance was still a week away, so it only makes sense that we should go on a date before then.

He smiles sheepishly, "I was thinking we could go to that diner on Bakers Street together tomorrow night. Would you like to?"

I look over at Anita and Bernardo, both of them were grinning back at me like idiots. I hum softly, a meek smile on my face, "Claro que sí. I'd love to go." I respond.

Bernardo claps Manuel on the back approvingly as Anita squeals in jubilation, "Your first date! How exciting! I'll have to help you pick out what to wear and with your hair!" She laughs, shaking me by my shoulders.

I give her a tight lipped smile, nodding my head slowly, "Can't wait."

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Next Chapter

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

The One I've Been Waiting For {Part 01 of 13}

Billy Hargrove X Older!Reader

Word count: 2 K

Summary: Billy Hargrove is just one of the many students you're supposed to help. The last thing you expect from your interaction is that he'll start flirting with you... Much less than Billy would stir up feelings you'd rather keep hidden. Despite the mutual sentiments that soon enough start to grow, there are a lot of reasons for whatever it is to be left alone, and one of them is your age...

Next part (02) ->

{Stranger Things Masterlist}

A/N: In this story, the reader is 5 years older than Billy, who's 18.

The Exact Opposite

 The wind is cold against your skin as you move against the sea of students. It has a weird feeling to be in a High School again, even though you left it not so long ago. But still, it feels like a whole different world now.

 “This school is tiny,” Tanya says, walking beside you. “Mine had three buildings and the parking lot was twice the size of this one.”

 “Mine was big too.” There are a lot of eyes on both of you, but you got used to it. It's a small town, and you're both newcomers, walking inside the school while everyone is walking out. They must be curious.

 “Sometimes I wonder if transferring here was a good idea.”

 “Why?”

 “I'm from New York, the city that never sleeps. This town is... Way too slow for me.” You break apart to let a couple holding hands pass before going to the side again. “Indianapolis was bad already. Hawkins...” She sighs, shaking her head.

 “You can always transfer back. I'll miss you, but don't let that stop you.” Linking arms with her, you smile.

 “You better do.”

 Giggling, you push the school officer's door, feeling the cold air-conditioning air. You and Tanya make your way to the receptionist, an old lady who immediately looks up at you. “Good afternoon. We're here for the tutoring.”

 “Good afternoon, my dears.” She greets and smiles, searching for something on her table. A couple of seconds later, she finds it. “Who's Tanya and who's (Y/N)?”

 “I'm (Y/N).” You say, taking the paper she gives you.

 “On these files, you have information about the students you'll be helping. Those set for today must be arriving anytime now, the classes just ended.” She smiles again. “If you need anything, I'm Mrs. Duford and I'll be here to help.”

 “Thanks, Mrs. Duford,” Tanya says and you nod at her, moving to sit on the chairs placed by the wall. “You know I'm only doing this for the trip, right? Dealing with teenagers and kids isn't my thing.”

 “Oh, you got some from the elementary school too?”

 “Yes. But I'm rethinking it. Teenagers are bad enough and-” Someone opens the door and gets your attention. The blonde girl speaks to Mrs. Duford, who gestures at you. “Guess that's my cue?” She asks, glancing at your paper.

 “Yup. I got a boy.”

 Sighing, she stands up. “Wish me luck.”

 “Good luck.” You mutter and she smiles. She's not really into it, but she's smart, and the kids will benefit from her teaching.

 So, left alone, you wait for your student. Ten minutes pass by, and ten more. Maybe he didn't come today or forgot the whole thing. But since you don't have anything to do today, you decide to wait a while longer.

 “My dear.” Mrs. Duford calls and you look up at her. “If the student isn't here you're free to go. I will write a report that he didn't show and-” She's cut off by a guy pushing the door open. He goes straight to her desk and you look down, getting a glimpse of his jeans jacket.

 “Guess I'm off then.” You tell yourself, taking your bag from the chair beside you and folding the papers in half.

 “Are you my tutor?” A strong voice asks, quite rudely, as you get to your feet. Looking up, you find a man staring down at you. Did he just say something about a tutor? Is this man a student here? You were expecting a teenager, not... This.

 “Yes?” It sounds like a question, and you quickly unfold the paper, reading the name. “Are you William Hargrove?”

 When you look at him again, you see his expression change. It's fast, and it happens suddenly. It shifts from anger and annoyance to what seems like surprise, right before going back to annoyance.

 “Just Billy.” He says, awkwardly glancing at Mrs. Duford before turning his attention back to you. “Are you really my tutor?”

 “Yes, why?” Furrowing your eyebrows, you shrug your shoulders and look away. You've been staring at his eyes, light blue eyes, for a little too long.

 “Nothing.” He steps back, clearing his throat. “What now?”

 “They have a classroom set for us.”

 Billy nods, gesturing at the door and smiling. “Lead the way, teacher.”

---

 Billy had to drive like crazy, leave his dipshit sister home and drive back to school. He failed one single test. It's not like he couldn't recover from an F. He did it before, but now the school has this partnership with Indianapolis University, and he has put in it, with a lot of other students.

The truth is that Billy can't stand school anymore. When he turned 18 last year, he thought he'd take his car and go back to California. Go back home. But adult life needs a freaking High School diploma, so he had to stay.

Pushing the car door close, he walks fast inside, cursing himself, the teachers, and everyone else he can name. He can't wait for this to be over, to leave Neil behind, leave that hell of a house behind. Billy wants a life for himself, away from all these stupid, shitty people. High School is just a tiny thing compared to what he wants. Billy wants more. He wants to <be> more. But for that, he needs to graduate.

 “I'm here for some tutor they assigned me.” He spits at the old woman behind the desk, the door banging loudly behind him.

 “She's over there, Mr. Hargrove.” The woman says, and he follows her gesture, finding a girl on the set of chairs near the wall.

 Rolling his eyes and sighing, he walks over to her. “Are you my tutor?” He spits the words, impatient, watching as she stands up, fixing the strap of the bag on her shoulder. The girl looks up, and Billy is taken aback. Of course, he was expecting some ugly nerd with a messed-up face. But this? This girl is a sight for sore eyes, and Billy Hargrove is sore from everything.

 “Yes?” She asks her voice as soft as silk. She also seems a little shocked, opening her papers before raising her eyes to meet his again. “William Hargrove?”

 Ugh, not Willian. He should be mad about it, but for some reason, he feels compelled to forgive her for calling him like that. “Just Billy. Are you really my tutor?” He has to be sure, just in case this is some stupid joke on him.

 “Yes. Why?”

 “Nothing.” Moving away a little, Billy clears his throat. At least he'll have a pretty face to look at while he endures this. And what a face she has. Prettier than all the girls of Hawkings. “What now?”

 “They have a classroom set for us.”

 Just for the two of them?

 The thought crosses his mind like a lightning bolt, making him hold back a smile. Maybe he could try something with her, why not? Even though she doesn't give him the feeling that she'd be down for that. The least he could do is try. So he gestures at the door, offering her a smile. “Lead the way, teacher.”

---

 You enter the classroom first, quickly acknowledging the other three pairs. There's a free table in the back, far enough from the others not to bother them. “Is that table alright?” You ask him, and when he nods, you make your way there, take a seat, waiting for him to do the same.

 “What's your name?” He asks just as he takes his place across from you, cupping his hands over the table and leaning forward.

 “(Y/N). Nice to meet you, Will... Billy.” Correcting yourself, you smile. “Can we start?”

 “Sure.”

 “Do you want to go through the test you failed? Or focus on what's coming next?”

 “The past is in the past. Let's move on.”

 “Alright.” Checking the papers, you read the class planner. “Immune System.” You say. “What exactly do you know about it?”

 “Mmm...” Billy mumbles, and it's clear that he's not very interested in this. But you don't blame him. You weren't very excited about High School yourself, and you didn't care much about the subjects you didn't like. You're sure he'd rather be hanging out with his friends, and honestly, so would you. “Something about protecting the body from infections or sickness.”

 “You're right. Do you have any books with you?” You know he doesn't since he didn't bring any bags, but you decide to ask.

 “In my locker.” He jerks his head to the door. “Want me to get it for you?”

 “That would be good.” Nodding, you watch as he smirks again and stands up.

 “I'll be right back.”

 “You better be.” It comes out more in a joking tone and in a warning one. If Billy uses this as an excuse to leave, you don't mind. It's his future, so this is completely up to him.

 But he comes back a couple of minutes later.

 On the next day though, he shows up late again. And on the next one, you find him on your way out, more than thirty minutes late. Now, you have only two other meetings with him, he'll have a quiz, and if he goes well, you'll be assigned to someone else. But you think he'll do just fine because it seems like he's paying attention...

 Until you noticed he wasn't. Billy was just staring, glaring at you... And you were keeping cool, ignoring it as long as he answered the questions, but today, at the last meeting, you decided to ask, mostly out of curiosity, and because you think he'll do well enough on the quiz, even if just to be free from your tutoring.

 “Why are you looking at me like that?” You inquire, tapping the table with your pen.

 Billy chuckles, pushing his notebook away. “Because I like looking at pretty girls.”

 What the hell? You regret asking when you feel your cheeks heating up. You surely weren't expecting that. But now you know his strategy. Billy is the town's bad boy, you've heard a lot about him. And you won't fall for his games. “Is that what you usually say to make girls go out with you?”

 He giggles, eyes still fixed on you. “No. I only have to ask. The answer is always yes. No need to sugarcoat it with compliments.” He sounds serious this time, leaning closer. “So when I compliment a girl, I mean it.”

 “Mhmm.” You mutter, raising an eyebrow and leaning back on your chair. “I'm not your type of girl, Billy. You like them easy and pretty.”

 “And you're the exact opposite.” He bursts out, closing his notebook at the same moment you close the book. Today's class is over.

 “Make up your mind, Billy. You can't compliment me and then take it back.” Pushing the book over to him, you shrug your shoulders. “Say what you mean and stick to it.”

 “You didn't get me.” Billy laughs, taking both the book and notebook with a hand. That's when you notice how big his hands are... But why are you even noticing that? You've seen handsome guys before... No big deal.

 “Oh, really?”

 “Really.” You both stand up, and you start walking to the door as he follows you from up close. “I meant you're not easy to get like those sluts and...” He makes a pause when you cross the door, long enough to make you look at him, waiting for further explanation. Is that also part of his strategy? “And, no, you're not pretty. It didn't take more than a second to get to the conclusion that pretty isn't enough to describe you.”

 “Dear God.” You exclaim, laughing. “Are you seriously doing that?” Walking side by side with him, you reach the parking lot. The setting sun casts a beautiful, warm light, that makes you wish you had a Polaroid camera with you.

 “Doing what?”

 “Correct me if I'm wrong, but are you hitting on me, Billy Hargrove?” You stop by your car, turning to look at him.

 “What if I am?” He gives you that smirk again, the ice-melting one. “Would you have a problem with that?”

 “I'm older than you, in case you haven't noticed.” With a bright smile on your face, you state the obvious, because you know it'll send him off. Wipe this stupid idea off his head.

 “How old are you? Thirty?” The sarcasm is mixed with an eye-roll, and the way he keeps staring down at you makes you feel a little anxious.

 “I may be.” Stepping back you glance at your car. You just want to drive home and forget this embarrassing conversation.

 “You look my age, Princess. People here thought you were a new student.” Billy chuckles, and your face starts to burn at the pet name. He probably calls everyone that, so it's plain stupid to let it sink. “But tell me, how old are you?”

 “I'll be twenty-four in a couple of months.” Your voice sounds weaker now because you don't feel so triumphant anymore. But you still hope the five years it'll be enough.

 “So? I'm eighteen. We're both adults.” He shrugs his shoulders, and you sigh. “If it makes you feel better, I'm closer to nineteen than I am to seventeen so...”

 Taking a deep breath, you step back again, wondering what you could possibly say in a situation like this. “Look, Billy, I gotta go. I hope I helped you somehow and that you'll do better from now on.” Walking backwards, you wave at him. “Good luck and remember everything we studied.” Turning around, you get into your car, thanking God for being away from Billy.

 Through the review mirror, you watch as he gets inside his car, a dark blue Camaro. You wait for a while, but he doesn't even start the car. Rolling your eyes, you decide not to think about it. Turning the ignition, you leave the parking lot and hit the streets, relieved that this is all over.

Taglist: @multific

[twoidiotwriters1]

Almighty (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: Got sick again, world is falling apart, anyway have some fic -Danny Words: 1,900 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

XLIII: Hey, Pookie... What?

"You're lost."

"Am not!"

Ara raises her voice so they hear her from the back. "There is no shame in getting confused, G-Man, even I can't see the way around here..."

Grover stops at a bifurcation. "Well?" Meg demands, causing him to give a start and step away from her. Satyrs tend to be that way with children and gods of the wild, they put them on pedestals and fear them over everything else.

"I—I'm pretty sure Palm Springs is that way."

"Pretty sure?" Meg presses. "Like last time, when we walked into a bathroom and surprised a Cyclops on the toilet?"

"That wasn't my fault! Besides, this direction smells right. Like... cacti."

Meg turns up her nose and flares her nostrils. "I don't smell cacti."

"Meg, the satyr is supposed to be our guide. We don't have much choice but to trust him," Lester says resignedly.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Grover scoffs. "Your daily reminder: I didn't ask to be magically summoned halfway across the country and wake up in a rooftop tomato patch in Indianapolis!"

"And we appreciate you being here!" Ara says from the back.

"I just didn't think we'd be wandering around down here for two days," Meg huffs. "The new moon is in—"

"Three more days, we know," Lester laments. "We have to assume Leo and the Romans can handle whatever's coming in the north. We have our own task."

"And plenty of our own fires," Grover mumbles.

"Meaning what?" Meg questions.

"Best not to talk about it here."

Ara sighs. "I hope Leo's doing fine..."

"Hasn't called, then?" Lester looks at her over his shoulder, a hint of some strange eagerness in his voice.

The girl shakes her head. "I don't know, as soon as we entered the labyrinth, it stopped. It might be that this place keeps all my blessings dormant, which would explain Grover's trouble finding our way—Could be that the buzzing goes away when I'm not using my blessings."

Lester ponders. "I wonder what triggers you..."

"Let's not find out down here," Ara glares at him. "Let me stay perfectly average until we're out."

"I'll try to get us there fast, guys," Grover says. "But the Labyrinth has a mind of its own. Last time we were here, with Percy..."

"We know you're doing your best," Lester comforts him. He's getting better after Ara's harsh scolding when he attempted to comfort her. "Let's keep going. And, while you're sniffing for cacti, if you could keep your nostrils open for breakfast—perhaps coffee and lemon-maple cronuts—that would be great."

"We haven't gone that long without food, don't pressure him," Ara says.

"We haven't eaten since yesterday," he sighs, remembering she no longer remembers the human needs he's gotten used to. "It's been too long for us."

"Oh," she frowns. "Well, I'm sure we're close anyway." 

Ara is well aware she's forgetting things, but she doesn't know that Lester is also forgetting how it felt to be a god, his commodities as a deity, and the places in Olympus. He's trying to ignore it, but every time Ara acts too godly, he gets a bitter reminder.

"Back!" Grover tackles them.

A wave of heat pulls the oxygen out of their lungs, Ara feels a brief discomfort before it all ends, and they disentangle from each other. "Wh-what was that?" Lester pants.

"That means we're getting close. We need to hurry," Grover says anxiously.

"Like I've been saying," Meg complains. "Now get off."

Ara scowls at the hallway, the gust of wind felt almost alive and she's pretty sure that it was talking, carrying emotions that she perceived for a half second just before it went away. Something is hiding in the labyrinth.

"We'll have to go left," Grover announces.

"Um, left is the direction from which the fire came." Lester points out.

"It's also the quickest way."

"How about backwards?" Meg nudges Ara reluctantly.

"Guys, we're close, I can feel it! But we've wandered into his part of the maze. If we don't hurry—"

Screee! SCREEE! 

Ara draws out Almighty. "Listen to the satyr."

The group hurries down the pathway listening to the feral noises coming from behind. Ara gets a hundred reminders of all the creatures that could be chasing them, and she feels her skin tingle with power. She clears her mind, fearing her own energy and not wanting to make use of it if she can help it.

"There!" Grover reaches a circular chamber and points at the ramp ahead. "We gotta move up!"

"Then move up!" Ara urges him.

SCREEE!

"No, we won't make it," Lester looks back with terror. "We need to block this corridor."

"But—"

"Magic plant stuff! Hurry!" He instructs Meg. "Ara, if those things get any closer we won't be able to fight them!"

She hesitates. "What are they?"

Lester hits his forehead. "I can't remember! Some kind of birds—but they're bad, like, worse than ostriches."

Grover and Meg get the seeds growing, creating sturdy and thick tomato plants. The hall is almost entirely closed up, but one of the creatures manages to fly through and elevates above their heads screeching in anger. Lester hisses and touches his cheek, drops of blood staining his fingers.

The bird lands high and watches them as if waiting for their next move. Ara doesn't like it when creatures have sentient behaviours, and birds tend to be quite vicious either way. Lester crumbles suddenly, eyes losing focus and paling at an alarming speed.

"What the—" Ara catches him. "Lester!"

"Strix," he mumbles. "That thing is a Strix."

"How do we kill it?" Meg demands.

"Well, killing it could be a problem..."

Ara growls. "Is every monster protected under federal law nowadays?"

"Guys, we've got six or seven more trying to get in. These tomatoes aren't going to hold them!" Grover squeaks.

"K-killing the bird will curse you..."

Ara lets out a string of swear words in ancient Greek and then some more in Italian, just to finish up with a single Spanish bad word that sounded quite ugly when Leo used it. "I'm already cursed!"

"And if we don't kill it?" Meg asks.

"Oh, then it will d-disembowel you, drink your blood and eat your flesh—Also, don't let a Strix scratch you. It'll paralyse you!"

Ara grumbles, keeping him upright. "Why the Hades are you laughing?"

"Shock, most likely," Lester says, right before his head falls forward and he stops being able to speak.

Ara glows red, carrying Lester over her shoulder. "Up! Both of you!"

Meg looks at the single Strix above them. "What about that one?"

"Stop!" Grover talks to it. "We come in peace!"

The bird flies down sharply and Grover yelps, ducking just in time.  

"SCREE!"

"What do you mean 'you need to kill us'?"

"You can talk to it?" Meg huffs.

"Well, yes, it's an animal."

"Why didn't you tell us what it was saying before now?"

"Because it was just yelling scree! Now it's saying scree as in, it needs to kill us."

"If you can speed up the conversation I would appreciate it, Lester is pulling none of his weight—though that's nothing new," Ara pants, to which Lester replies with a throaty groan.

"Scree!" Grover says.

Ara's buzzing increases in the back of her mind and she struggles to ignore it, if she faints or heats up, they'll be left with two bodies to carry. "Meg, Octo—now," she turns so the girl can open her plushie bag.

Meg rummages swiftly. "Ambrosia, nectar, gauzes, band-aids—water bombs, sonic bombs, snack bombs—"

"The Strix says he's been sent to drink our blood, eat our flesh and disembowel us, not necessarily in that order. He says he's sorry, but it's a direct command from the emperor."

"Stupid emperors," Meg mutters, voicing Ara's exact thoughts. "Which one?"

"I don't know—The strix just calls him Scree."

"You can translate disembowel, but you can't translate the emperor's name?"

"It's the last one, it has to be," Ara balances Lester on her shoulder. "The western creep."

The Strix flies directly at Meg and she dodges it tackling Ara, causing the bird to crash against the brick wall and creating a gold dust explosion. "Meg!" Lester says hoarsely, the venom dissipating a little bit. "I told you not to kill it! You'll get cursed!"

"I didn't kill it. It committed suicide against that wall."

"I don't think the Fates will see it that way."

"They will if we do," Ara decides. "Now move!" She carries Lester once more, though he's gaining feeling in his arms now, so she hands him Almighty. "If you drop her I'll drop you."

"Fair enough."

"But what do we do with the ones coming?" Grover says as they hurry up the ramp.

"My snack bombs!" Ara pipes in. "Meg, they're corn!"

"Got it!" The girl pulls out one from the plushie bag.

Ara picks the bomb apart and holds one side, pouring the seeds into Grover and Meg's hands. "Let's make a maze within the maze!"

"They might not grow much," Meg warns her. "Only so much we can do without soil and sunlight."

Grover looks at Ara with a sort of helpless grimace. "We're nearly home. If we can just get to the top before the strixes get through—"

"We won't be fast enough," Ara says, stopping and dropping Lester beside her. "The plants will grow how we need them to. Drop them."

"But—"

"Now!" She demands when the beaks and talons start to rip through the tomatoes.

Meg and Grover toss the seeds, then Ara glows golden and clutches the satyr's shoulder, feeling her stomach tighten as she opens her mouth and together they scream, sending a wave of panic down the tunnel and causing the seeds to light up and burst into tall corn plants with Meg's help.

The young girl covers her ears, curling up against Lester, who presses his back against the wall and looks at the duo wide-eyed and terrified. The noises stop, and the birds start to sound further and further, as if retreating. "Guys," Lester says shakily. "Did you just summon Panic?"

"I didn't mean to," Grover glances at Ara in shock. "Haven't done that in years. You had never done that."

"P-panic?" Meg asks. "What do you mean?"

"The cry of the lost god Pan," Lester explains in disbelief, "I've never heard anyone but Pan use that power... How?"

Grover looks at her, waiting for an explanation. Ara gives it ruefully. "When we first visited the labyrinth, we found Pan. He gave me the lost chapter of Lily's book, the Children of Olympus one. When Georgie said I had..." She stops, her voice failing. 

Grover connects the dots. "He blessed all of us that day... that means you..."

"He was my first blessing," she confesses with a shaky voice, "and no one knew about it. I myself forgot I had it. When I became a daughter of Olympus, we miscounted my blessings."

Meg stares at her blankly. "So? It's good that you have another blessing, right? You have an advantage in nature like me."

"Meg, Hercules got too dangerous at eight blessings, Achilles died at five and he was a killing machine," Lester explains, looking at the older girl as if suddenly everything is making sense. "Ara has ten."

"Hephaestus gave me pantodýnamos," she says numbly, "so Pan could identify me, hand out the chapter, and implant the idea in my head..."

"That's crazy," Grover says, though he seems more shocked that Pan would participate in the schemes of the Olympians than of Ara's account. "So it wasn't just Apollo, all of them did their part to turn you into... this?"

Ara makes a face. "Zeus didn't know about Pan, or he would've mentioned it so I kept it in mind when asking for blessings... Pan said 'You have been waiting for me' as if he were serving me..."

The buzzing increases, and Ara presses her hands over her ears struggling to keep her eyes open and not slip out of consciousness... or slip into a higher state of it. 

The screeching comes back and Lester shakily gets to his feet, nudging them forward. "We have to get out of here—Sunlight," he says, remembering more about the Stixes, "they can't stand it."

Ara picks up Almighty and looks at it with less love than usual, putting it away in compass mode.

Next Chapter –>

Taglist.

@siriuslysirius1107 @ask-giggles1303 @im-planning-something-look @bandshirts-andbooks @coolninjapaper @thewaterlily @whenisthefall @1randomcomic @you-bloody-shank @sunflowergraves @owlalex44 @taylordaughter @typicalsolangelolover @writingmia @espressopatronum454 @slytherinnqueen @orbitingpolaris @obxstiles @ellipsisspelled @thepixiechicksh @ebony-reine-vibes

[sugolara]

Secrets you'll soon share

ft. K.B x S.T x I.M x fem! reader

Synopsis: After a deadly virus leaks all over the world, every country is forced to close down it's borders and airports to prevent anyone from coming in and out. Though, it's to late for some people. The dead has rose and is looking for revenge. Cw: gore, quirkless! au, apocalypse! au, zombie! au, weapons, death, angst, lots and lots of blood, cannibalism, suicidal thoughts, slow burn

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The squelch of a rotter's organ being impaled had Shoto's skin crawl. Months into the new world and he'll never get used to the sounds. Most of it was partly due to Dabi playing with them, but other than that was the fact they were still humans and as Shoto glanced at his elder brother, it didn't help that he displayed the rotters after killing it rather unmercifully.

Rolling his mismatched eyes, he went back to his dirty notebook on his lap. He twirled his pencil between the pads of his fingers as he wanted for Dabi to clear the passage. While he was supposed to be on lookout, he figured his brother would be fine as a mere rotter was nothing to him. Instead of having his back he continued to write in his notebook that seen better days.

"Instead of writing love letters like a highschool girl you can put yourself to work." The older brother said, placing his knife back on its sheath while eyeing his brother sitting in the passenger seat and paying no mind to him, "Shoto."

The younger one rolled his eyes, looking at him, "I did help and it's not love letters."

"No?" Dabi eyed the notebook. He could see words and walking up to him, he nstached the notebook out of his hands, ignoring his little brother who tried to get it back. Dabi skimmed through the pages, a grin on his face as he made up a sentence, "To my love, I miss you so much and not a day goes by where I don't think of you. When I'm alone in bed, I have these thoughts that I can't control and all the blood rushed to my–"

"Enough!" Shoto yanked his notebook, accidentally nipping a page while he gave Dabi a glare who  laughed, "Maybe instead of sticking your nose in my business, stick it in yours!"

"Oh!" The older male exclaimed with a laugh, "Feisty, aren't we?"

Again, Shoto rolled his eyes as he slammed his door close, "We're supposed to be somewhere, aren't we? If so, hurry it up."

"Yeah, yeah." He entered the driver's seat where he turned on the engine. Placing an arm on the window he drummed his fingers on the interior of the door, "You think love letters are going to get you anywhere? Have you forgotten where you are?"

"Why do you care?" Shoto said, looking out the window.

"If you're going to waste your time having your head up someone else's head, don't." He looked at the mirror, "I gave you a task to do, so do it."

A quiet huff left him, "Like make friends with the people at camp?"

"I didn't say to be friends, just have them get the impression you are." Seeing a rotter limping on the road, the raven-haired swerved around it, "What did Crusty say when you saw him yesterday?"

There wasn't much for Shoto to say. Being with Tomura was intimidating, "Not much. He just had me by his side while we watched an...execution."

As expected. A loud exaggerated sigh came from him as they exited the highway. He took a quick peek at him. Shoto's right side did look like their father and if Dabi hadn't dyed his hair, there was no doubt in telling him and their father apart. Unfortunately, their deep blue eyes were something neither of them could change. While their father died protecting them, they couldn't excuse the years of torment he had put them through.

They soon entered a neighborhood. Finding a building covered overgrown vines, Dabi parked in between them and the both began to hide the vehicle. When all that was done, they strolled through the unkept streets. Both of them keeping an out for the dead and living.

With his pistol in hand, Dabi glanced at the abandoned stores they passed by, "How long have you been with that group?"

"I'm not sure." Shoto kept his hand on top of his gun that rested in its holster, "I know it was after we got separated, but I haven't kept track of the days."

"Yeah, me neither." The raven-haired male pulled out a granola bar and munched on it, "You ever think about going to Musutafu?"

"No, not really." He mumbled, feeling unsure as to why his brother would mention home, considering he loathed being there.  It was nothing but bad memories, "Even if we do go, what's there to do? I'm sure everythings gone now..."

The older male shrugged before letting out a short laugh, "I still have a bunch of porno's under my bed."

"Seriously?" Shoto disgustingly looked at him, "Is that a concern?"

"Nah..." Dabi said, looking where a rotter slowly headed for them, "I've been thinking, since that bastard was important, don't you think they would have more places to keep people like him safe? There were a lot of them and yet only he was the  only one there. Tsk, it's just been bothering me this entire time."

Now that he had mentioned it, Shoto began to think about it. It would be off for the government—since that was where their father worked—to only have one area that would be safe. Enji, along with everyone he's worked with were of high status. They weren't commoners, they had more opportunities like telling him there was more than just one place that was highly secure.

It was then when Shoto stopped walking and widely looked at his brother, "You know something, don't you?''

He grinned slyly, "Do i?"

As his older brother continued forward, Shoto quickly caught up to him, "If you do know something then tell me! This could be a good thing. Imagine how many people could be safe—a lot!"

"I don't know what you're blabbering about." Dabi said, approaching a gun store.

"If you know something then say it!" Glaring, Shoto irritatedly called out to him once more, "Touya!"

A glare was sent to the mismatched boy. While the name did bother him, he didn't expect for Shoto to continue the conversation. To be so fixated, He mentioned it, just to see if Shoto knew anything about it since he was so close to their father, "I know a lot of shit that I can't tell you. If Tomura knew about this, could you imagine the shit storm that could happen!?"

"Do you not trust me?" He could feel a sense of hurt chasing down in him, but like the old days it was a used feeling. Trust was never in the picture, but with only having themselves, he would have expected or things to be different, for them to be siblings.

"That's got nothing to do with this." Dabi then entered the weapon store. Even with the process being very slow, Shoto will soon see it as just a form of Dabi helping, "With too many ears on me, I'll tell you when the time's right. That's why I told you to play nice with Crusty."

"So I can get intel, right?" When his older brother looked at him, Shoto scoffed as he entered past him, making his way to the back.

In truth, Dabi had no reason to help Shoto. A lot of resentment was still in the air. For looking special, that was all it took to get their fathers attention and leave the rest in the shadows. He could have outed what he knew, but just like Enji he was too selfish in doing so. Well, it's how he perceived himself.

"Watch the back, Shoto." Dabi called out while he checked the shelfs in in the. Nothing but empty ammo boxes.

In the back rooms Shoto let out a sigh. He wiped his eyes as he could feel himself growing tired. Earlier, Tomura had sent them to grab a few resources and since Dabi was his right hand man, he was allowed to take Shoto. The younger male just hoped they were back in time to go to Sorston, but he wasn't sure if he'd be allowed to go.

Hearing a loud crash, Shoto rushed to the front with his gun in hand. When reaching he let out an annoyed sigh, his arm flailing back to his side, "What the hell are you doing!?"

"Winter cleaning." Dabi grinned, swinging the bat against the glass counter.

"You'll draw the dead towards us." Shoto bitterly said.

"Of course." Dabi slammed the bat, the glass of shards flying in the air and having Shoto shield his face, "How could I forget? You have a girlfriend waiting for you. You probably want to get back to her without any scratches and give her a real surprised if you know what I me–"

"Stop talking." Shoto rolled his eyes, leaving his brother to laugh and it did not help the faint blush on his cheeks. And speaking of F/n, he wondered what she was up to.

F;ashinlight in hand, F/n rummaged through a room. With night falling, they decided to park and rest. In the van were Izuku and Katsuki, most likely sleeping or arguing. Ochaco was in the vehicle as well, but she decided to keep watch and after much reluctance, she allowed F/n to scavenge the nearby homes.

She shined the light underneath a bed. Reaching for a shoe box, she opened it to see nothing valuable. Returning back under the bed, her eyes caught onto something. She pulled it out, her hands coming into contact with a soft material. Once in front of her, the dusty yellow bag reminded her of when Izuku had one when they first met. It was almost identical, except it was missing a pouch zipper.

Smlining, she rolled it up and placed it in her bag just as she heard Ochaoco softly call out to her, "In here."

The brown-haired girl entered, the only light being dimmed, "I was wondering when you'd rest. It won't be long until we reach Eijiro."

"A few hours will do." F/n stood up, throwing her bag over her shoulders.

"Right." A defeated sigh left her lips. While feeling awkward, she tried her best, "Did you find anything good?"

"No." F/n then reached into her pocket, fishing out a knife she found earlier. She handed it to the girl before walking out, "Keep it, your blades dull."

Gracefully holding it, a small smile reached her lips. She heard F/n's voice again, the light growing fainter. "Ochaco, I'll take watch. Get some rest."

[misfit0789]

Rule 12 | Abby Scuito

Y/n's POV

"Tony, how's my little niece?" I ask my brother over the phone. He and Tali had just left Washington to travel after Ziva died. He changed for the better once he found out about Tali.

"She's fine Y/n/n, she misses you," he says, I sigh.

"I miss her too, I'll try and visit you guys soon," I say walking back to my living room in my apartment. Tony asked if I wanted to stay in his old one but after finding out about the people dying there I wasn't for it.

"Sounds good, I got to go. I'll call you later sis," He says hanging up before I got the chance to reply. I pull the phone away from my ear and roll my eyes.

"Idiot," I shake my head and sit on the couch turning Netflix on. One thing is my brother and I are both big movie people, we would always watch them when we were younger and just enjoy ourselves. We were basically all each other had.

Just as I'm about to put on Spider-Man 3 someone starts banging on my door. "Y/n open up!" I groan and get up walking to the door. I open it and glare at whose standing there.

"Can I help you Ellie? It's 11 o'Clock at night," I groan leaning on the door frame. She gives me a sheepish smile before holding up a fast food bag. I sigh and step aside letting her in. She laughs and walks past me handing me the bag as she goes to sit on the couch.

"Is it so wrong for me to want to see my best friend?" She asks, I roll my eyes eating a fry out of the bag, "No, but when it's 11 o'clock at night and you know I spend my Friday nights watching movies and hate being interrupted," I pause and pretend to think," yes," I say sitting next to her and pressing play on the movie and grabbing my burger out of the bag, taking a bite.

"Oh stop it, you can survive one night not watching a movie, besides I need your help," she says going quiet. I swallow the piece of my burger and look at her confused. "El, what's going on? Is Jake still bugging you? Because I will happily beat his ass for you...again," I say mumbling the last part but she still heard me as she shoves me to the side. "What? I had to do something. The asshole thought it was okay to cheat and expected you to take him back. Bitch no! You cheated you pay the consequences." I say getting pissed as I think about that bastard.

"No, it's not Jake, but thank you for being so protective. It's actually case related..." She trails off. I haven't been to the office since Tony left. It just didn't feel right to me to be there with my brother not there. Ellie is the only one I've kept in contact with since he left 3 months ago. She's kept me updated on everyone. McGee is gonna propose to Delilah, there's this new guy named Torres, and Gibbs is well Gibbs.

"Bishop you know I don't feel comfortable being there since Tony left. I fell like everyone judges me," I say setting my burger down on the bag on my coffee table in front of us. "You'll be fine, besides, Abby needs you," She says the last part in a slow teasing manner causing me to snap my head up and glare at her. "El stop, I told you, that was a one time thing," I get off the couch and grab what's left of my food bringing it to the kitchen. She gets up and follows after me.

"Please Y/n/n? It's the firewall on the victims computer, none of us can crack it and you're our only other option, please?" she pouts, I groan walking away knowing I'll crack.

"No"

"Please"

"No"

"Please"

"No"

"Please"

"No"

"Please"

"Ughh okay fine I'll help, now leave me alone so I can watch Toby McGuire in peace." I say falling back on my couch and lay across it giving Ellie no where to sit. "Thank you, I'm sure Abby will be pleased to see you," she smirks pushing my head up and sitting down causing my head to fall on her lap. I groan but don't respond continuing to watch the movie.

Time Skip

"Dude chill," Ellie says. We're in the elevator on the way to the squad room but I can't stop shaking my leg. "I'm sorry El, I don't even know why I'm so nervous. I guess it'll just be weird being here without Tony." I say, she rubs my arm in a comforting manner, "It'll be okay, I'll be with you the whole way," She says, I smile and give her a nod thanking her, she smiles and gives me a nod in return. The elevators ding and we walk off the elevator towards her desk.

Ellie sits at her desk while I stand behind her wall divider and lean on it, watching as Tim and some other guy talk to each other facing the monitor. "So where is this firewall THE Timothy McGee can't crack?" I ask making my presence known to them. They both turn around confused before Tim's face lights up, as he begins to walk towards me.

"Is that Y/n DiNozzo I see?" I laugh, pushing myself off the wall and meet him in the middle pulling him into a hug, "Hey Tim," I say, "How are you? How's Delilah?" I ask. He smiles, "We're both doing great, Thank you, She's actually in Dubai right now but she should be back soon. You'll have to come over for dinner soon." He says, I nod agreeing. We pull back when someone clears their throat. I look and see the guy Tim was talking too standing there with a big smile on his face.

"Hola, beautiful. I'm Special Agent Nick Torres," he says reaching for my hand, taking it in his and kissing the back of it. I look at him in disgust causing Bishop and McGee to laugh leaving Torres confused. "What?" he asks offended, letting my hand go.

"She's gay Torres," Bishop says in between laughter. He blushes in embarrassment and walks back to his desk. I join the other two in laughter. I immediately stop when I see Gibbs come in with a cup of coffee in his hand, while the others continue, I try to stop them but it doesn't work.

"Something funny McGee?" He asks, Tim immediately stops along with Bishop. "No Boss, just talking to Y/n," he says. Gibbs turns and looks at me, I smile and wave shyly. "Y/n," He smiles pulling me in for a hug, I slowly hug him back surprised at his actions. Gibbs and I never really talked when I'd visit Tony at the office so this is a big surprise.

"Uhh hey Gibbs, I just came by because Ellie mentioned some trouble with a firewall..." I trail off, he pulls back and nods. "Yea, Abby has been in the lab all night trying to crack it. Some new fresh eyes may be helpful. Do you still remember where the lab is?" He asks, I nod and give him a smile. "Yea, I should be able to make it there. I'll see you guys later." I wave to them, Bishop gives me an encouraging look. I nod and smile in thanks before turning and walking towards the elevator. I press the down button and wait for the doors to open. Looking down and noticing my shoes untied I kneel down and tie it.

As I'm tying them I hear the doors open followed by a gasp. I look up a bit and see shoes I know all to well. I slowly stand up and come face to face Abby Sciuto. "Oh uh hey," she says avoiding eye contact. "Hey," I say, "I was just on my way down, Bishop had mentioned something about a firewall." I say slowly standing up, almost eye level with her, as I'm a few inches taller even when she's wearing her boots.

"Oh, yeah, um I was just coming up to get Bishop but I guess you'll do," She says, turning back around and walking into the elevator. I stand there in a daze, "You coming or what?" She asks, I shake my head snapping out of it and follow her into the elevator. She presses the button for the floor of her lab and we are left in awkward silence.

The doors open and I let her go out first before following behind her into her lab. I stop at the door and look around smiling at the memories we shared in here when I would visit Tony.

"Y/n?" I snap out of it and look to see Abby looking at me confused, "You okay? You keep zoning out," She asks worried, I nod and give her a fake smile, which if she notices she doesn't mention. "Sorry, just got caught up in my head," I apologize, she nods and turns back to her computers.

"So, the petty officer was big into security software and ended up creating his own firewall for his computer and none of us can seem to figure out how to crack it. Bishop suggested you might be able to help." Abby explains, I nod and look at the code on the screen and smirk.

"None of you could crack this? I did this my freshman year in college. This is easy, may I?" I ask motioning to the keyboard, she nods and steps to the side letting me go ahead. I nod in thanks and step closer to her and start decoding the firewall. I get into decoding it I don't notice how close Abby and I are, nor that she is staring at me.

"Done," I say with a smile as the petty officers home screen appears. I turn to Abby and gasp at our closeness, I look down slightly and glance from her eyes to her lips as she does the same to me. Just as I'm about to lean in Gibbs comes in the room with two Caf-Pows and Bishop and McGee behind him, I jump away from Abby and clear my throat. Gibbs pays no mind while McGee and Bishop share a look and smirk at us causing me to glare slightly at them.

"Whatcha got Y/n/n and Abs?" Gibbs asks handing us both our Caf-Pows. "I was able to crack the firewall and get into his laptop but we haven't had a chance to-" Abby cuts me off before I can finish.

"Got something" I look at her surprised. "Turns out our dead petty officer had a thing for military blueprints," She pulls up the different blueprints that were on his computer.

"Never mind then," I mumble under my breath as Abby continues on talking to Gibbs. "You alright?" Bishop comes up to me and puts a comforting hand on my shoulder. I nod and take a sip of my Caf-Pow. "I will be," I sigh, she gives me another comforting squeeze.

"Bishop, McGee lets go, Abby got a lead on where the petty officer was getting the blueprints from." Gibbs says, giving Abby a kiss on the cheek and walking out with Bishop and McGee not far behind leaving Abby and I in her lab...alone.

"So... about earlier before Gibbs interrupted us..." She trails off. "Oh yeah, um we can just forget that ever happened." I say rubbing the back of my neck nervously. "But what if I don't want to," she says stepping closer to me leaving little space between us. I gasp causing her to smirk. She steps even closer and wraps her arms around my neck.

"Nervous?" She asks leaning up, with a sudden burst of confidence I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her even closer to me so our bodies are pressed up against each other. This time she gasps. "No, are you?" I ask leaning down slightly, she slowly shakes her head. Tired of all this teasing I lean down fully and pull her into a kiss, she gasps but kisses back, tightening her grip on my neck.

We both get lost in the kiss, having missed the feeling of being close to each other. We pull back since breathing is still a thing. "Whoa," I whisper, after we pull away. "Yeah," she whispers back looking up into my eyes. I see something I've never seen in them before but before anything else can be said my phone goes off. I look at Abby apologetically but she waves me off and lets go making me, I sigh at the loss of contact but answer my phone anyways.

"DiNozzo" I sigh, watching Abby move around so effortlessly. "Hey sis, did I interrupt something?" Tony asks, "No, just working in the lab with Abby, the team needed my help on a case," I explain to my older brother. "Ohhh, just working?" He asks, I can hear the smirk. "Stop it, what do you want?" I ask annoyed now.

"Just checking up on you, you know how I can get when I don't hear from you." He explains, a smile appearing on my face. "I know Tony, thank you and sorry, I've been with the team all day."

"Don't sweat it, just making sure you're good. Besides Tali wanted to say hi," He says, I hear shuffling and soon I hear the little voice of my niece speaking through the phone. "Aunt Y/n/n!!" she yells. "My little Tali! How are you?" I say back just as enthusiastically a her.

"Good, when will I see you again? I miss playing tea party with you," She asks, most likely pouting. "Awww I'm sorry sweetie, hopefully soon. I miss my little princess Tali," I say, she cheers. I'm assuming she gave Tony back the phone since he's who I hear next.

"She really does miss you Y/n/n," He sighs, I sigh too, "I know and I'm sorry Tony but it's hard for me to just drop everything and leave. My supervisor has been an ass lately and takes credit for all my work resulting in our boss pushing me harder. I got lucky to even have today off." I say walking and sitting on the chair at Abby's desk.

"I'm sorry sis, look I got to go, I'll call you later. Love you," He says. "Love you too Tony," I hang up, placing my phone on the desk and putting my head down.

"Everything okay?" Abby asks, walking over to me. I sigh and shake my head, "Not really my supervisor is an ass and keeps taking credit for everything I'm doing which makes our boss push on me even harder while my supervisor just sits there and does nothing leaving me with twice the work. It's not fun," I say leaning back in the chair throwing my arms over my eyes.

"Hey, I'm sure it'll all turn out alright. You're one of the smartest people I know. I mean aside from Bishop, McGee, Ducky, Gibbs and-"

"I get it Abs, thank you," I say laughing a bit. We sit in silence for a few before I decide to break it. "So I think we should talk about before," She sighs and nods.

"Yeah... look I like you Y/n and I have ever since we...you know. It's just I don't know. I'm scared." She says looking down.

Hey, it's okay," I reach out for her hands and pull her closer to me so she's standing in between my legs, while I'm still sitting. "I'm scared too, but I like you and I can feel something between us. Besides we don't work together all the time so there's no going against Gibbs rules." I try and joke causing her to let out a small laugh, "But if you don't want to be anything I understand," I say slowly letting her hands go.

"Y/n... I like you too, and I do want us to be something" She says taking hold of my hands again. I look up at her with a smile on my face which she returns. "Really?"

"Of course you dork," She laughs moving to sit on my lap and wrap her arms around my neck pulling me into a kiss. I pause before wrapping my arms around her waist holding her close.

"So does this mean you're my girlfriend?" I whisper as we pull away, she nods and gives me a quick kiss. I smile and give her a quick kiss.

Time Skip

Abby and I have been sitting in her lab talking for the past few hours, when Gibbs comes in the lab. "Y/n I need to speak to you," he says, I gulp but nod and stand up, walking over to him.

"Yes?" I ask. "I know how things at your job now are and after your help today I think we could use you." He says with a smile.

"What are you trying to say?" I ask him confused. "Welcome to the team Y/n," he says with a smile before walking out. I turn and look at Abby shocked.

"So much for not breaking his rules," I sigh.

[stayarmytinyzenmoa-l]

WHAT I'M GOING TO NEED A PART TWO OF THE YANGYANG ONE AS WELL

Again, why not?

Mischief Managed [Pt. 2]

TW: Language, Ghosts, dead bodies, gun use, break-in-and-enter Genre: Comedy Pairing: Liu Yangyang x Reader YN Pronouns: Not specified Word Count: 0.6K Prompt: “Who says I can’t be a sexy ghost?”

[NCT Masterlist] | [NCT Spooky Season Masterlist] | [Part 1]

Notes: I just really like Yangyang Disclaimer: Please remember that this is an AU and a work of fiction, obviously the idols mentioned/written about in this story would never partake in these actions. The idols mentioned in this work are meant to be seen more as face claims rather than the actual idols themselves.

Feedback is greatly appreciated!! Thank you for reading!

Needless to say, your jaw was on the floor. Quite literally, you'd landed face-first when Yangyang shoved you over before getting killed himself, but that's beside the point. You stood next to Dejun with your mouth open in shock and Yangyang literally matched your expression. You both looked at each other, at Dejun, at your dead bodies, then back to each other again, what the hell did he just say?!

Now Dejun was pacing around your apartment, muttering incoherent things to himself while you and Yangyang regrouped behind him.

"Dude... I thought he was your friend!" You half whispered/half yelled, and Yangyang shook his head.

"Shit, so did I," Yangyang grimaces.

"What did you do?"

"What do you mean 'what did you do?!' How am I supposed to know?!" Yangyang throws his hands toward Dejun.

"Oh my god... oh my god," you pull at your hair, "okay, okay, what are we going to do?"

"What do you mean 'what are we going to do?'"

"What are we going to do?! We just found out Dejun wanted to kill you! That's murder, right?"

"Sure?"

"It is! First-degree murder!"

"Okay, lawyer, what can we do? We're dead! Not to mention we can't leave either!"

"No, we can't, but since we got shot I'm pretty sure the police will be here soon, we can find a way to communicate with them!"

And so, the police came, and so you and Yangyang put your ghostly heads together to get Dejun imprisoned.

"I got this, ghosts always did this in the movies," you cracked your knuckles and grabbed your lipstick first, writing on the mirror that Xiao Dejun was behind the deaths, but instead the police just took pictures of it and hummed. "Oh my god, they're just like the movies too!"

"I got this, (Y/N)," Yangyang floats back to his body and dips its hand into the bullet wound.

"Ewwww," you cringed.

"Shh!" Yangyang traces out Dejun's name on the floor.

"Yangyang."

"Wait, almost done."

"Yang, you spelled Dejun's name wrong."

"I did?" Yangyang stands up and looks at his work. Dejan. "Shit."

"Oh my god..." You buried your face in your hands and you floated over to where Dejun was being questioned by the cops. You slipped his wallet out of his bag and pulled his ID out before slipping it into your dead body's hand. "This should be more than enough." You watched the police loom over your body.

"Look! This one's holding the ID card! This must be the killer!" The police pulls the ID out. "Oh, Dejun, man, you dropped your ID card."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Your shout sent a red hue through your ghostly form and Yangyang's turned blue for a second before your color returned. "These people are hopeless!"

"Maybe I can possess one of them!" Yangyang floats behind a policeman with a rather weak constitution. "Whelp, here goes!" He dives into the policeman and you watch him freeze for a second, getting used to the body before shaking his head, he turns to you with a thumbs up and a wide smile.

"It was him! He has to be the killer!" Yangyang announces, pointing to Dejun.

"Mark! Pipe down! You're an unpaid intern getting college credit!" The larger policeman says.

"Yes, sir, sorry, sir," Yangyang separated himself from the body and you groaned.

"What the hell was that?!"

"I got scared!"

"Oh my god... we're never getting justice."

General Tag List: @stopeatread @bat-shark-repellant @raeincitizen @umbralhelwolf @yangsrose @kazooms @sadcoffeecritic 

NCT Tag List: @cherrylovr @minjiville 

If you want to be added to either tag list or removed just send me a reply to this post, and ask, or a DM and I’ll add you as soon as possible!

[jinlizz-dragondrama]

Chapter 2

A Hero is Born

18 years later

The sun shines through the purple curtains, groaning. I turn over and smother my face into my pillow, smiling to myself and slowly falling back to sleep. The peace and tranquility were disturbed by a loud alarm ringing in my ear. Lazily grabbing the phone, I look at it, and its bright bold rainbow-colored words it ready. "Birthday Time."

"Wait, what?" My eyes shoot open, and just in case I look over at my calendar and see a very boldly circled birthday date.

Quickly hopping into the shower, and jumping out to brush my teeth, I slide into my room with my wet feet, finding my clothes that I neatly pulled out last night for this occasion which include my signature pink crop top hoodie and purple workout pants, tying on my white sneakers. I brush my unruly curly hair, taming it as best as I can, I grab a little accessory, which is a small backpack purse with the Monkey King logo on it that I stitched

"Oh yeah, looking good," admiring myself in the mirror snapping a quick selfie and sending it to Mei.

Running out of my apartment door and sliding down the stairs railing, I run into a chaotic scene of Pigsy throwing a wooden spoon at MK for giving my dad free noodles. I found out pretty early on that Tang isn't my dad but that he loves me no matter what. MK and I were pretty much raised by both Pigsy and Tang. Once Mei joined, we became the three amigos. I moved into the spare apartment above Pigsy's restaurant since Tang's place was pretty small, and the rest is pretty much history.

"Ugh, Tang, not again. You're gonna get MK in trouble," I sigh as I stretch, I promised Pigsy that I'd do a quick shift with MK to get a little extra birthday money. Pigsy insisted that I didn't have to, but he gave up when I gave him my puppy dog eyes.

Grabbing MK and dragging him out the door with a handful of orders. Jumping into the tuk-tuk, MK starts the directions, and we're off. Each time he makes a stop we go in opposite directions to deliver, which makes it faster and a lot more fun as we time each other to see who delivers the fastest and gets back to the tuk-tuk.

We get to a stop at a construction site, and we go down several floors til we are at the ground level deep underground. I hear a woman's voice, which causes me to stop in my tracks, and MK bumps into me. Quickly grabbing MK we hide behind some rocks and look on there is a woman and young man staring pretty menacingly at a tree with beautiful orange leaves, surrounded by green grass and a staff of some sort impeded into the earth.

"Finally, after all this time, we have the means to lift Monkey King's legendary staff," the woman says

"Monkie King's Staff," we both say, shocked and look at each other in awe

A flashback goes through my head of Monkey King smiling at me while holding it, but as quickly as it came, it disappeared. I shake my head to clear my head, and when I've regained myself, I see MK climbing onto the ceiling and holding onto the pipes above. I freak out quietly to myself. He hangs from a pipe and prays that he doesn't fall. A bull-looking robot walks to the staff and tries to pull it out with no success, and its reward for attempting is losing its arms.

The man with flaming red hair mocks the poor robot and reveals that he has something more powerful to release the staff from its grassy prison. The man I now know called Red Son walks up to the staff and once he makes contact with it a great amount of energy is released pushing me back a bit but I hold firmly to the rock wall I'm hiding behind. It takes the man great effort to release the staff, his hair and eyes explode into flames, and screams out as he pulls. The woman watches on in delight, the vine that wrapped around the staff dies, and soon the staff is pulled from the ground.

But nothing happens, I look up at MK holding on for dear life as he looks down at the unknown people. 

"Mother, are you sure this is the right mountain?" Red Son asks

"No, maybe it was the other mountain with a magical staff sealing away my husband!" She says, annoyed

"Mother? Husband? Then that means..."

The ground starts to rumble and shake, and out from the earth emerges the Demon Bull King. My jaw drops so low that it is probably dislocated.

"Holy Bull..." I start to sweat profusely, and I look up to see a very cheeky bird peck at MK's hands. I move from side to side to try to catch him as he falls, but I miss entirely, and he lands on the daddy/mommy issues man.

"MK!" I stupidly yell, alarming the demon bulk king family of my presence.

"Do you know what you just did? You ruined my moment, " Red Son yells as his hair turns to flames as he throws MK

"Oh boy...." I awkwardly say

"Little eavesdroppers have fallen into our midst it seems a waste to crush something so insignificant as my first act as ruler of this new world. But so be it, " DBK says as he moves his large foot over us with the thought of crushing us like bugs. Thankfully, Red Boy decided to interrupt his father's squashing path.

"Uh, wait...father, waste not your energy on these PEASANTS. Please allow me to show you how powerful I have become in your absence, " He says triumphantly

"Peasants?" I repeat as my eye twitches

"Uh, Nuwa...." MK says while walking over to me

"Peasants!" I repeat as I roll my sleeves up and start marching towards him, but MK holds me back.

"Let me go, MK. I'll show him who the peasant is. He's got the right one on the right day today!" I shout, trying my hardest to reach the red-headed jerk.

"As you wish," DBK says

MK starts to pull me away and try to escape. We see the staff, and both grab it together and use it to block Red Son's punch successfully.

"No way!" We look at each other in awe, but the moment is short-lived when the Bull Bots start to attack us. But with a mighty swing, we send them flying back.

"That stuff doesn't belong to you, children. Hand it over, " PIF says

"Yeah, well, it doesn't belong to you, either." I challenged

The staff started to move, and it catapults us towards to exit. We get thrown into a construction elevator, and the staff punctures through the bottom of it and shoots us up to the surface. When we reach the top, we scramble to get into the tuk-tuk and speed off. Red Son is following closely behind.

"Hand it over, Noodle boy...and accomplice," he shouts

We throw noodles at him and crash through a poor soul's apartment. Crashing into the street, the tuk-tuk breaks down, so we take off on foot. I'm hoping to take a hoverboard we take from a kid while I toss some money at the guy. Red Son is on our tail, but we lose him in a tight alleyway, but that doesn't stop him for long as he deploys a motorcycle.

We zoom down the freeway, and Red Son catches up to us and destroys the hoverboard. We head toward an unfinished part of the freeway, and we scream as we fall off. Thankfully, Mei comes to the rescue, grabs MK, and tosses me my compact motorcycle I deploy into riding mode, we zoom past Red Son, and I stick my tongue out as we continue our escape.

"So long, Red Boy," I shout, taunting him

Once we finally stop and recover from our adrenaline high. Mei and I take a quick selfie after she transforms from her riding outfit.

"Nailed it," Mei says

"Mei!" MK says excitedly

"That was an intense game of tag. You guys looked like you were having so much fun! I wanted to join in, too!" Mei says giddy

"Actually, we almost died back there," MK says

"But you didn't, so let's celebrate with a round of Monkey Mech! You should invite your new edgy friend too" Mei counters

"Yeah, he was trying to kill us," MK says hesitantly

"Well, in that case, where does he live?" Mei says, going slightly psycho as she pulls out her phone with a destroy button on the ready

"Love the enthusiasm girl, but none of that on my birthday, please," I say while slowly pushing her phone down

"Oh yeah, Happy 23rd Birthday! Here's your present, but you can't open it yet," Mei says while handing me a box.

"Aw man," I say while pouting

Pigsy comes out and starts yelling at us about someone leaving a 0-star review. But MK grabs me and pulls me into the restaurant to look for Tang. After we explained what happened, we showed everyone the staff, which they didn't believe at first until we both touched it, and it extended itself and broke a table.

"Monkey King's Staff! I knew it all along. The legendary weapon that only he could wield to seal away evil. Wait a minute. WHT do you two have it? Tang says after realizing we have the real deal.

"All right, I'll bite. If the staff is here, then where is the demon punk now?" Pigsy says, still not believing us

"He's at the shoe store," Mei says

And sure enough, there are posts all over social media with DBK at a shoe store. We watch a video of them flexing to the camera while wearing the very expensive and limited edition shoes. Soon, DBK is rampaging through the city, destroying everything in his path. But we are driving in the Pigsy Food Truck trying to figure out how we're gonna get to Flower Fruit Mountain, and we come across a huge boat. We meet the infamous Sandy, who turns out to be a total teddy bear that loves tea.

I laugh my head off after hearing all the stories of how ruthless Sandy was but not being able to see it. But our puppy eyes work pretty effectively to persuade him to sail us to the mountain. We set sail and we just hung out on the deck while MK fooled around with the staff we stopped at a lava-filled volcanic path but our path was blocked by PIF, MK went in for the attack but PIF used her son's gauntlet she grabbed the staff as I run to try to help him. But she flings him away and he knocks himself into me and we get thrown far off course. Pigsy rushes with Mei back to safety. When they return everyone mourns our loss and thinks of a plan to get revenge on the DBK family.

I wake up feeling sand under my body, I groan as I sit up turning around to see Flower Fruit Mountain. Gasping loudly I shake MK to wake him up.

"Wake up, wake up MK!" I shout successfully waking him up.

"We made it, pinch me," MK says excitedly, i punch Jim in the shoulder

"I said pinch not punch," He says annoyed

"Eh minor details, let's go MK!" I shout while taking off into the brush and he follows after me.

As we made our way up the mountain I saw little monkeys along the way and couldn't resist I had to give them cuddles and neck scratches. We reach a beautiful waterfall, stepping close to it both of us reaching out to touch it a golden seal unlocks and reveals a pathway through a cave.

"This day just gets better and better!" We walk through and follow the pathway

Stopping at a very worn-down mural, we stare at it and all of a sudden everything turns golden and flashes of Monkey King's life. A projection of money king runs towards another opening in the cave which MK follows. I start to follow him but something catches my eye on the mural, I dust off some dirt and see a woman that has horns and her skin is red. Hearing MK call out for Monkey King I rush to see what's going on.

I see a small cozy hut on a hill, looking around for any sign of the Monkey King but to no avail. I put my hand on his shoulder and sighed. Sitting on the ground together a butterfly lands on MK and I look at its interesting wing design but before I can fully process the design it speaks.

"Sup?"

We freak out slightly and I point at it with my finger quivering.

"T-That butterfly just spoke!"

"Yes, yes it is I Monkey...." The butterfly starts to talk but MK steps on it.

"Is it dead?" We both say while I peek over MK's shoulder.

The butterfly transforms into several creatures until it is revealed that it is THE MONKEY KING.

"Mo-Monkey King?" MK asks and I pass out.

"The one and only, so where's my staff?" monkey King asks and I quickly recover as we start crying about how we lost the staff. We find out that he's been keeping a very very close eye on us. Which makes my rye twitch just a bit.

He chuckles and says "Ha! The looks on your guy's face! You're perfect" he points at MK with a bamboo stick

"Uh perfect for what?" MK asks

"To be...my successor," Monkey King says

"Eh?" I look at MK then back at Monkey King

"Look kid not everyone can fight demons, survive, and lift my staff," He says nonchalantly

"Yeah barely survived" I whisper to myself as I scratch the back of my head awkwardly.

While MK and Monkey King gave a pep talk, I looked around, leaned against some vines, and fell through rolling down a hill I hit something that stopped my descent.

"Well, that was fun," I say while dusting myself off. Looking at what I rolled onto it was a small shrine of sorts that was very well taken care of. Some candles and incense were burning, and a folded worn piece of paper was placed in the center of it. Vines and flowers have grown around it which gives it a beautiful ambiance. Being the nosey person I am I opened it up and it was a painting of the same beautiful woman.

"Wow! Who is this person?"

"Nuwa, come on let's go save the world!" MK shouts

I jump a bit, quickly putting back the picture and rushing out of the cave with MK.

"All right now how do we get out of here?" I say while looking at the volcano that surrounds the island.

Some monkeys are jumping on a metal crate which causes it to open and reveal some sort of flying motorbike. We hop in MK starts up the engine and we're off.

"You better not let me die on my birthday MK!" I shout

We barrel straight into the city and crash into Red Son. Falling out onto the ground and wiping the sweat off my forehead I look at the limp body of Red Son and poke him with my foot.

"Oh good, he's not dead," I say sarcastically

Mk took off on a motorbike to fight DBK and was able to retrieve the staff. I summon my bike and drive to MK to help.

"Let's do this together!" I smile at him

"Right" He smiles back

He creates a Monkey Mech and I turn my bike into a small version of my own. We nod at each other and come at DBK from both sides. I dig underground get some momentum from my thrusters and shoot upwards and MK flies down from the heavens with his staff pointed towards DBK.

We shout together, "Here comes Monkie Kid!" And we punch DBK leaving a big dent in the ground

Red Son appears from the rubble next to me and I look at him surprised that he's able to stand. But after having a little tantrum he limply falls into the hole we created and passes out once more. Before we can do anything PIF takes her family and retreats for now.

I transform my Mech back into my bike and sit on it. High-five everyone and head back to Pigsy's noodle shop.

"Well, this was an interesting birthday!" I say while stuffing my face with a steaming bowl of noodles.

"Definitely one for the books" Mei replies while typing on her phone.

We party all night, MK, Mei and I go to the arcade and I beat some serious butt. Once we're done and exhausted MK carries all my prizes to my apartment which is right above his. Deciding to have a sleepover Mei and I get ready and hop into our PJs. I pop some popcorn, grab some snacks and pop, and get the movies ready for a marathon. Mei grabs the blankets and pillows for our fort. I set up the food on a table, MK returns to my apartment in his pjs, we fist bump and I start the movie. While the previews play I decide to put my hair in a ponytail so I go looking for a hair tie in my room. While putting my hair up there is a knock on my French door window, I push it open and see no one but there is a small wrapped box on the porch. I take it, close the door, and start to open it. A small silver comb is in the box, I gently take it out and examine it. It was beautifully made Definitely by someone very skilled.

There is a note inside and it simply read "Happy Birthday from Monkey King"

"No way, he didn't have to get me something" I smile to myself and gently place the comb into my hair. Looking at myself in the mirror admiring what I saw. A quick flashback goes through my mind of someone handing the same comb to me. But it disappeared quickly. Shrugging it off, I return to my friends and start watching the movie.

Little did I know that Monkey King was watching and smiling down at my apartment.

"You've finally returned to me my peach," He says quietly and transforms into a bird and flies off into the now purple and blue night sky.

[blackjackkent]

House of Grief Boss Battle Report!

Initial state of play: THERE ARE SO MANY OF THEM OH MY GOD

Yikes on bikes.

As pictured, Viconia immediately starts out by turning several of her followers into wolves, which is really pretty mean because Shadowheart has a crippling fear of them due to the memory that was implanted in her head.

Intriguingly, the source of this is a series of connected abilities she has:

Wild. I'm assuming that if we came down here without Shadowheart and Hector had gone through the Mapping of the Heart himself, this attack would be keyed to him and to something he said during the conversation.

Shadowheart is NOT HAVING ANY OF THIS BULLSHIT:

Atta girl.

>:(

Looking at Viconia's other features:

That's going to make Shadowheart's abilities as a damage dealer pretty much moot unfortunately.

Holy tankiness batman.

I'm not entirely sure if she's meant to be a paladin or a cleric here.

She has 124 hit points, which compared to some of the bosses we've fought is really not much; this is very much a mob battle rather than a single target battle. The various other Sharrans around the room range from 30 at the low end to 150 at the max. Including her, we're looking at 20 enemies.

Hector and Karlach are such battering rams that I'm not overly worried about this, but let's see how it goes.

Round 1:

Given the debuff Shadowheart has against Viconia, getting the two of them apart as soon as possible seems like it should be a top priority. With this in mind, Hector comes in with Flurry of Blows for two pushes in a row.

Given the massive number of enemies on the field, I think Jaheira's conjuring abilities are (tragically) more relevant for this fight than her owlbear form is. Conjure Woodland Being puts a dryad on the field who can themselves summon a wood woad which puts two new ally combatants on our side for the price of one. I don't expect them to last very long but they are not intended to. XD

Of course, once again, despite the two extra fighters we just brought on the field and all the other more threatening members of our party, everyone goes STRAIGHT FOR JAHEIRA and starts beating up on her.

STOP BEATING UP ON THAT OLD WOMAN, DAMN IT.

Shadowheart lands a clutch Hold Person to take one of the Justiciars out of the fight temporarily and gets her spiritual weapon on the field for another ally.

It's really disheartening watching the like ten enemies in a row go in the middle of the initiative order.

And of course Jaheira goes down again before I can do literally anything about it. Maybe I should have owlbeared her after all. (Legitimately I don't know why this keeps happening. Normally I would blame my bad combat skills but I hadn't even done anything yet.)

Speaking of bad combat skills, I decide to send the wood woad over to try and draw enemies away from her, and forget it's next to a bunch of enemies already, which all AOO and obliterate it immediately.

This is not off to a good start. None of these enemies are strong in and of themselves but they're making a lot of progress through sheer numbers. Top priority instantly becomes getting the squishy enemies out of the fight immediately.

Round 2:

Hector puts this new plan into action immediately by one-shotting two of the squishies because he is a fucking wrecking ball of a man now.

Jaheira has biffed two death saving throws in a row.

Karlach wrecks one of the wolves; turns out it's a polymorph variant and reveals the person underneath when the wolf form runs out of health. Karlach wrecks that too. XD

Shadowheart is also in VERY rough shape due to Viconia focus firing her and auto-critting everything. I have her disengage and back away from combat and then cast Mass Healing Word. Tragically, everyone is bone chilled and apparently that persists through downstate, so literally nothing happens. Fuck.

This is actually going quite badly. The Sharrans spend their turns casting Darkness on a large portion of the battlefield (which they are immune to) and surrounding Hector in a big deathball. Between Bone Chill, Darkness, and the fact that our party is almost completely optimized for single target damage (except for Jaheira, who is unconscious), things are really not looking good.

Round 3:

Jaheira dies. Shadowheart gets downed on another crit from Viconia. I reload and reconsider the situation.

Attempt 2. I have Jaheira drop all her healing spells for now since we have Shadowheart. Instead, I have her load up everything she can do that does AOE damage or CC, and cast Stoneskin on herself before the fight.

It's called fashion, look it up.

This time we're going to do our best to keep her and Shadowheart to the BACK line and just topping up Hector and Karlach as much as possible and casting AOEs. I've also loaded her up with Daylight again in the hope that it might counteract the Darkness spells.

Let's see if this goes better.

Round 1:

We kick off with Jaheira dropping an ice storm on half the field and then running back towards the door. Only one of the bad guys eats shit on the ice, but it does considerable opening damage to a number of the squishies at once.

I also have her drop a grasping vine in the very center of the arena where hopefully it can mess up Viconia's day. It's a real Dr. Seuss ass lookin' thing.

Hector one-shots one of the squishies on the opposite side of the map and makes a good start on a second.

Viconia spends her whole action obliterating the grasping vine in one go, which is much better than her obliterating Jaheira so I'll take it.

Shadowheart flamestrikes two more enemies almost off the field entirely.

While Hector runs around the arena, this time we keep Karlach on squishy defense duty for now, beating up the Justiciar who is trying to get at Jaheira and Shadowheart.

The long string of enemy turns is still disheartening but not quite as disheartening as it was last time, so that's promising. Darkness on the field again. Two of the enemies eat shit in the ice field at last. Several of them get distracted by how shiny Shadowheart's spiritual weapon is.

Round 2:

Bone chill is really quite a problem but we made it through the first round without anyone taking a dreadful amount of damage.

Jaheira casts Daylight and it does indeed remove the darkness effect!

Hector kills THREE separate people on his turn.

Viconia goes after Shadowheart again at once but this unfortunately moves her into Karlaching range.

At this point I realize two critical things: Shadowheart's Spirit Guardians can do necrotic as well as radiant damage, and (to my surprise) the Sharrans aren't resistant to necrotic damage.

Let's fucking go.

During the enemy turns Jaheira's health starts getting dire again. We also discover that Daylight only removes EXISTING darkness and doens't prevent new ones from being cast, which is annoying.

Round 3:

Hector kills Viconia and one of the Justiciars. The quest completes, but the additional bad guys definitely did not get the memo.

I had a brilliant idea about sending Shadowheart to grab Jaheira and teleport them both out of danger with Dimension Door. This fails for several reasons - Jaheira is in the midst of darkness and thus Shadowheart can't target her for the spell, and Jaheira raised a wall of Entangling Vines which do damage to Shadowheart on the way in. So they're both kind of just standing in the midst of a lot of enemies while very injured and Jaheira is bonechilled. Rawr. Shadowheart just sighs and casts Cure Wounds on herself instead. Her spirit guardians still do mega work though.

We're starting to gain the upper hand, though. Karlach manages to knock several more enemies out on her turn. This has not been a clean or professional fight but we're getting it done. XD

In a moment of unusual generosity, the enemies decide not to go after Shadowheart and Karlach, both of whom they could easily kill, and instead take potshots at Hector and Karlach who are almost full health.

LOL jk [sigh]

Shadowheart mysteriously obtains a second bonus action from somewhere and I'm legitimately not sure where.

????

Oh, it's from her helmet - she gets an extra bonus action when below 50% health. Nice!

Down to three enemies remaining, which is feeling rather more manageable, even if Jaheira dies. (*spongebob arms outstretched meme* TEMPORARILY)

VICTORY! And we didn't quite lose Jaheira. XD

I'm so good at this.

[practically-an-x-man]

What are some specific quotes and/or lyrics you associate with your OCs?

Hm... I can't say I hold onto a lot of quotes like that, but I have a couple song lyrics that always remind me of particular OCs

(also this is a little sporadic, I really just went with whatever came to mind since there's a TON of songs and lyrics I associate with my OCs and it would take forever to gather them all)

Jasper and Quinn both have representative song lyrics incorporated into their actual fics, and since I don't have the spoons to copy those over I'll just snag the playlist links. The main other song I associate with Jasper that's not on the playlist yet is Hozier's Abstract (Psychopomp), and I plan to write a fic based on it in the future.

I also did a full playlist analysis for my OC Prometheus a while ago now, that's in three parts here: (1), (2), (3)

____

Madison:

"I'm swimming to the surface/ I'm coming up for air/ Cause you're making me feel nervous/ I need to clear my head" - The Currents (Bastille)

____

Gia:

"Far from Skid Row/ I dream we'll go/ Somewhere that's green" - Somewhere That's Green (Little Shop of Horrors)

"See I let the light in the darkest place/ Let the sunshine, pain goes away/ Nothing is permanent for me, yeah/ Flowers they bloom and fade away/ The beauty it happened inside me/ Even if it's a memory, yeah" - Courage (P!nk) [thanks for the rec!!]

____

Ophelia:

"Picture a grave/ Picture six feet freshly dug/ The sharp temporary walls/ At the long-term cliff edge of the world/ Light and air find some new deepness there/ And usher down the sky where/ One stands by and tries to make sense of it" - Through Me (The Flood) (Hozier)

And of course, all the lyrics to Ophelia by the Lumineers, since it's a big piece of her fic too

____

Kestrel:

"I know who I am when I'm alone/ I'm something else when I see you/ You don't understand, you should never know/ How easy you are to need/ Don't let me in with no intention to keep me/ Jesus Christ, don't be kind to me/ Honey, don't feed me, I will come back" - It Will Come Back (Hozier)

"I wouldn't mind if I can't find, I can't find/ Anything to save our kind/ All the pieces of my body's gone/ Look at me now/ I'm falling apart in daylight/ All the pieces that I lost, I have loved" - Soulless Creatures (AURORA)

____

Jimmy: "And if death is the last appointment then we're all just sitting in the waiting room" - Church (Fall Out Boy)

"Leave me to myself/ Don't fall away/ Leave love bleeding in my hands, in my hands again" - Hemorrhage in My Hands (Fuel)

"When the heart would cease/ Ours never knew peace/ What good would it be on the far side of things?/ It was too soon" - Francesca (Hozier) [and really ALL the lyrics of Francesca fit but I'm isolating that one in particular just for the sake of the ask]

____

Eris:

"Hello, my love/ We made the most of this life/ Now I hold a fear of what comes after it all/ And I won't let go, no/ Beautiful to the bitter end" - In the Night (Des Rocs)

"I see red/ My blood is boiling and it shows/ When all you are is a weapon/ You shoot 'em down 'til you end up alone/ I seem fine/ But I can't take the highs and the lows/ All I am is a weapon" - Weapon (Against the Current) [planning a fic with this one rn...]

"Darling, we sacrificed/ We gave our time to something undefined/ This phantom life/ Sharpens like an image/ But it sharpens like a knife" - Who We Are (Hozier)

"I’m not the person that I thought I was/ I’m trying to come to terms with what you’ve done/ In the fumes of your anguish, oh, my blistering pride/ I’m still burning like a tire fire deep down inside/ Oh, I’m burning like a tire fire and I don’t know why" - Scars (The Crane Wives)

____

Nikoletta:

"Darling, I've been having dark dreams/ They come home to haunt me/ I can't seem to let them go" - Bad Dreams (Stripped) (Faouzia)

"And all this time you knew/ That I would put you through/ The darkness at the heart of my love/ For you" - Darkness at the Heart of My Love (Ghost)

"Sabotage the things you love the most/ Camouflage so you can feed the lie that you're composed/ This is the voice in your head that says "You do not want this"/ This is the ache that says "You do not want him"" - Whispers (Halsey)

____

I'm leaving this here for now, obviously it's not all of my OCs and there are a lot more songs I could put together, but I've run out of spoons for tracking down all these lyrics lol