#but not because of me who was CLEARLY trying to hop on this stupid emotionally unavailable dick and NOT her husbands

[overworked-bookworm]

.

let me drop some drama on y’all — in the last year + 7 days, I:

reconnected with multiple friends from high school at a wedding I legally officiated for two old friends

realized in hindsight that I had liked one of our classmates when we were in school, who had attended the wedding and was now recently divorced

started talking to him very often and, by proxy, the husband I officiated the wedding for

started an on-off flirtation with the divorced friend — [clarification: HE started it, but I was very receptive when I realized what he was doing, it just took me a while]

became the “dump my mental health problems” friend for the husband^ who I’ve said is like a baby brother to me for *checks calendar* 12+ years

was accused by my friend’s wife AND the friend that I was flirting with that I was having an affair with the husband or at least harboring romantic feelings for him

she also accused me of behaving like her abusive mother, when I told her she was out of line for even thinking I would have an affair with (1) her husband (2) who I kept saying was like a baby brother to me

held an intervention for the husband about his ragingly out of control anxiety, where he proceeded to, like, beat the windows of the car and yell and be violent [not at me but around me and I was very triggered and scared] — after which he said he couldn’t trust me anymore because I was projecting my anxiety onto him, and he was fine

fell into an episode of psychosis because I was surrounded by people who didn’t trust me for reasons they’d all made up in their heads, and were all mad at me for ❤️

[while in psychosis] dealt with the guy I was flirting with talking about wanting to sleep with his coworker, and being very on/off + hot/cold with me — which I wrote off as post-divorce emotional problems I just needed to be patient through lmao

[while in psychosis] dealt with the husband’s mental breakdown about never wanting to get married in the first place, dragging my family and the family of the guy I was flirting with into the mess — we got the husband pink slipped and I stopped talking to him and his wife

was told by the friend that had been flirting with me that he’d been leading me on, as he proceeded to ditch me for another friend that I helped him reconnect with — but promised me that we were besties and nothing would change!! (how kind. also? he broke that promise immediately and called me difficult)

dealt with his new girlfriend lying to me about them not being together, because no!! hoes before bros, Alex, I would never date someone who hurt my friend!! but also you need to be personally accountable for feeling hurt!!

there’s more in the way they’ve both treated me since he decided he was done with me, but my therapist and I are still parsing through it

turns out I probably don’t need to be taking Ativan twice a day and sleeping after work + all night bc of the high dosage, I just needed to start cutting out bad friends! my anxiety has never been more managed now that I’ve decided to listen to every other friend that’s told me these ones were all no good for me! I do need the anti-psychotics, though. I heard voices for 2 months and it was NOT a good time.

I didn’t have this much drama in my life ten years ago when we were actual children — the next time I start posting about liking a man, someone remind me that it brings me absolute misery. None of this would have happened if I hadn’t wanted to hop on his dick 🙄🙄🙄

[rejaytionships]

21 and 84! ~ @sapphilleans

ty for the ask!!! :D

21: Double D (Ed Edd n Eddy) - familial

my baby daughter.......

ok so for context my s/i is linda duvall-kanker (she/her), mother of the three kanker sisters (lee, marie, may). i think she works at the school as a custodian primarily but eventually starts working as a substitute teacher because they're low on staff and she has the prerequisites to teach technically

double d is obviously a stellar student but i think it's equally obvious how anxious they are

idk how we get there but i feel like at some point after linda has told off her daughters for annoying the eds, double d comes to linda sometimes to chat about stuff since linda is very clearly protective despite being one who doesn't exactly like being around men or boys

which makes it a little funny when double d realizes she might not in fact be a boy after all! since double d's parents aren't really around, linda is the adult that she starts to confide gender stuff to, and linda tries her best to be helpful even if she's not super feminine in nature herself

i think her egg got cracked a little when linda started calling her "dee" and she eventually was like "actually can you call me that but like ♀️" and linda was like "sure whatever (said with pro-womanhood intent)"

as an aside i think the eds were 100% supportive of dee's identity (ed didn't really have many thoughts outside of his support, but eddy thought this opened up the door for more scams to try out now that they'd have a woman in the group)

i think dee ends up being more friendly with the kanker sisters mainly because they're STOKED to have another lady friend to talk to. marie also probably lowkey still has her crush on dee but that's another story for another day /lh

i think as dee grows up she still stays in touch with linda, and they'd chat over email while dee is off in college going to change the world or whatever. dee kind of becomes a fourth member of linda's family even if unofficially and so the kankers invite dee to big family events (dee does the same for the kankers)

84: Brahms Heelshire (The Boy) - romantic

AH YES the one f/o i was writing a selfshiptober fic for that i never finished. i can just explain the lore here instead bc let's be real that ficlet is never getting done ajdjskksks

ok so my s/i is celina kaminski (she/her), she moved away from the states to get away from her past (not unlike another previous heelshire mansion resident, greta) and ends up buying the heelshire mansion going for a stupidly low price given nobody else wants the weird creepy haunted place

at first brahms HATES that celina is here and fucks around with stuff in the house to try and get her to leave. he's still busy tantruming over greta being gone so celina in turn is starting to feel like maybe she shouldn't have purchased the haunted house after all

the only thing keeping her sane is this porcelain doll she eventually finds when cleaning around the place. she initially calls it something really stupid (jimmy-hop poppers mcgibbins iii) but once she starts using the name, a paper shows up near the doll not long after; it's an old ruleset for a brahms, so celina takes it as a sign from the house that the doll is named brahms

once brahms (man) sees how well celina treats the doll, he starts to ease up on her and even occasionally does nice things around the house for her to reward her for watching over his doll. this is when he latches himself onto celina emotionally

he still throws fits when celina leaves the house, but eventually gets it through his head that since he scared the previous delivery boy (malcolm) away, celina has to leave to go grocery shopping herself. he still does make a mess around the place though if he feels it's been too long to where she might have left him

brahms finally reveals he's a human person in the walls to celina when greta and malcolm try to convince her to leave as soon as possible. celina doesn't budge because she's convinced that this is some weird long-con for the doll and almost gives it away before brahms shows up, which scares off everyone except celina

sure, she's admittedly still horrified out of her mind, but sticks around because if he hasn't hurt her this whole time, she thinks she can maybe take her chances with him and survive

she does survive and in fact the two end up together because celina thinks brahms is kind of hot and brahms is very dependent on celina's presence to feel functional. far from a perfect relationship but they do end up together pretty solidly otherwise

celina does convince brahms to leave the walls and stay with her in the main house instead, which takes a while to adjust to, but he ADORES that he gets to have direct personal attention now that isn't just vicariously through some fucking doll

it does take a looong while for brahms to also give celina more than like six feet of space. bro would Not have survived the pandemic with his lack of social distancing

they don't ever have any kids but the doll suffices as celina's son. which is fine because she didn't really want any living breathing children to be responsible for. porcelain is a great alternative

[nyantry]

Dmitry averted his gaze sheepishly, blushing at Nova teasing him. He had an almost boyish expression about it. Somehow, Nova being Nico's mom had managed to pull that reaction from Dmitry, who otherwise would have been very blasé about it. He nodded though, smitten. "Koala, yeah. What can I say, he's cute."

He had started to notice she didn't seem to recall the night before, which made sense with the drugs she'd been on.

About the time Nova started talking about celestial motion, though, he felt understood. She'd know, then, that the layouts he was planning on painting were associated with specific times. It wouldn't necessarily be easy to guess exact dates, hours, because the stars are there even if the sun is shining too brightly for anything else to be visible, and as such, any snapshot of the sky could occur at any day at specific moments. But of course, it's generally impractical to care about stars during the day, so when he picked seasons, dates, he centered them around nighttime hours as is customary. In that, she was right — none would be the exact sky outside at any given moment. For that, they'd need a lot more house, a lot more sphere.

He understood what she was saying, though. These were landmarks, it seemed; landmarks to help mark spells and timeframes. He thought about that, and about the cartography for a bit before shooting Nico a text message requesting a few more supplies to aid in drawing the sigils. "Okay, that should be enough to start with."

Dmitry watched her carefully as she hopped from the table to a chair, realizing this was suddenly a lot more serious than he'd thought. She didn't seem angry, just... concerned? Confused? Yeah, that was fair. She asked him why he thought Murmur wouldn't hurt him, and he realized he suddenly had a lot to talk to her about. He sighed with a nod and sat on a chair too. He'd have sat against a wall, on the floor, but the nearest one was too far for that to be comfortable conversationally. No, he needed to be close to her. In fact, he was specifically missing Lisbeth suddenly, as a measure of comfort. She'd gone off with Nico, though, so that wasn't an option.

"There's a lot to catch you up on, so... I guess I'll start from the beginning? Though first, I don't know what exactly they had you on, I just saw what they sedated you with. If there's anything you need to wean off of, I can ask Nico to get it before he comes back. Like I said, I know it's not easy." This was sincere, not out of pity but out of real empathy for her in this situation. After her answer to that, he'd get on to explaining.

"So... I suppose the real beginning is when I died." He bit on his lip, shaking his head slightly. He clearly felt exposed talking about it, but on he went. "Look, it was stupid. The point is I guess I got a chance to return, and so I'm here. Nico thinks it's a curse, I don't see it that way. Maybe a little, but... I don't know. Not the point. I can't stay dead, basically, and Nico probably caught that the first time we met, and now we're together, so there's that. The real problem is we're both half-something, and I think it's unusual enough that people don't.... love that. Demons seem to think Nico's not the greatest, I'm especially an aberration to them. Angels... eh, they're more chill. Sammy— Samael, he's my friend. Kinda hard not to talk to the guy who keeps reaping you. That's not the point either, um..."

He suddenly seemed to remember the question he was actually trying to answer. "Murmur can't hurt me without hurting Nico. I don't mean just like... emotionally, though yeah Nico'd be fucked up if something happened to me. Not that... I mean, if I die, I'll just— What I'm trying to say is he's got a chunk of my soul and I have a chunk of his. I did a stupid thing, he did an impulsive thing, point is if he hurts me, he's hurting Nico too, and I... get the feeling that Nico might have worth to him as a tool of some kind? Not like loving father kinda shit, I don't think he's capable, but it's... It makes me uncomfortable and I think that's what it is, it's like he's trying to groom Nico into being some fucked up kind of useful to him. So, hurting me is counterproductive, as much as I'm pretty sure he would otherwise just end me if he could."

He shrugged, pulling up his knees to his chest. "I guess he could anyway, who knows what Murmur thinks like, but I just don't see it as being advantageous to him, really. I don't trust him, I just don't think he's my biggest problem either, necessarily."

If anything, not that she knew it yet, but at least after all these years, her son still took after her somehow. She was so worried he could have been corrupted by the system or who knows what.

She narrowed her eyes at him slightly, not in anger, just trying to read him. It was a compliment he said. She'd take it. She didn't know him either, which was her point on her spiel. She didn't even know her damn son at this point. She was only hoping she did if he stuck true to her teachings, but she also it'd been a damn long time. But, he showed up. He fucking showed up. That meant everything. It was a tell of it's own. Dmitry was still pushing his explanation for his need for autonomy without actually explaining it even after her pushing a loud reminder of the position she was in. Another tell. She did not ask more about it now. It didn't feel like the right timing, but she was noting it. It didn't mean she understood the story behind his life. But it did mean she understood something has happened to him to make him be that way. She'd spent too much time in all those group therapies with all those different patients to not catch onto the patterns. So for now, she left it at that.

Instead she was more focused on his declaration. She crossed her arms rather impressed.

"Oh. Oh really? It's like that? We're at love already? With my Nick Knack?" She was grinning too much, too amused at the passion behind his words. She was seeing what she was up against now. Not that they were on opposite side. The night before was a bit of a blur to her truth be told. She couldn't recall much of their introductions. The whole thing was fuzzy and kept being recalled in blips. The meds were so heavy. Hell, years of her life felt that way.

As for the accuracy, "The sigils and symbols are going to need to be the most correct. The stars are more for us to use for mapping. Stars move about 90 degrees every 3 months unless the constellations are cirumpolar so a stationary room is never going to be exact since the rotation is moving 15 degrees per hour in 24 hour day. So it's more like a person trying to use the gravitational pull, like the tides, or the energy of anything astrological is just for us to know where it's going to be in advance if we're ever setting up a ritual in the real world not just the room. So yeah, of course there's room for variations to some degree in stance on star positions. People control the energy aka do the magic from any placement all over the world. But some things can only be done at a certain time, biggest known example, werewolves with the full moon. Back to the point, errors matter most in protection sigils because it's like contract loopholes. That's how they'll find a way to slip in, bend and weaken the block."

Nova was full of ideas for all sorts of circumstances. She was all about having a plan a, b, c, d and so forth ready just in case.

Then she watched him draw freehand, "Oh yeah that's good. But yeah, we can get whatever we might need for cartography, right? We can improvise if not. We'll find a way.

Nicos not good at math. "Okay." She wasn't sure what to make of that. She just took that in and filed it away too. Every kid had their challenges. Another part of her motherness had a way of filing it under what to comb back over in her memories of what she could have done better in his childhood to help. It was how mothers' minds worked even when it might have had nothing to do with them.

Dmitry stated without uncertainty in his voice he did not like Murmur.

That's all it took for Nova to solidify Dmitry.

Until....

He didn't think Murmur would hurt him?

Yeah. She didn't want to talk about geometry anymore.

Before she could say anything he went on about another demon, his mother. It sounded like Dmitry had his own issues that weren't all too different than their own. Whatever the story was it sounded like the infernal had knocked and he never knew if it might knock again either. He also had a mother he was worried about in some manner.

"Hold the phone. No more math and magic. Just-just put on the brakes."

She jumped off the table, sat in a chair, and scooted it up real close. She wasn't mad. She was just trying to take all this in.

"No-no-no-no. I'll get back to your mother in a minute and this other guy. I mean yeah. It's harder to track an entity if you don't already know the equation. It's like finding X. It can be difficult but we can solve it if we can find all his tells. We can go over that later. Right now... just hold up. What in the world makes you think Murmur wouldn't hurt you?"

She missed years of Nico's life. She also had no idea he'd been in contact with him since her lock up. She couldn't be sure what was true from all the different intel she was getting from people or visions alike.

[silkling]

Hi Silkling, could you please write a TFP story where Sierra discovers the Autobot's secret and joins up with Team Prime? TFP never really did much with her, and I think that a shame. I think Smokescreen would make a good partner for her.

Absolutely! Great to see you again in my ask box! :D your last prompt was super fun to write to, so I’m looking forward to this one! Now, I admit, I never paid much attention to Sierra, and the show didn’t give us a lot to work with, so I’m going to have to come up with some of her characterization. And I agree. So I’m mashing her with Smokescreen. It’s gonna a be great. I love Smokescreen very much! I even have a whole AU of my own for him. He’s a tiny happy dumbass and since Sierra has basically no canon personality, I can make her be his long-suffering but still very fond best friend.

———————————————————————————————————

Sierra had been having a good day. Emphasis on the word had. It was the weekend. She had packed a small picnic, grabbed her favorite book, and hopped on her bike. She’d ridden out to the popular hiking trails, intending to take a short hike and finding a nice place to spend the afternoon with a her novel and her snacks. The sun was out, the weather was great, and she had nothing to do today. It was perfect. So, of course, the laws of the universe demanded that something go wrong.

‘Murphy is a cruel bastard and and I’m going to punch him in the face when I see him in the afterlife.’ She thought viciously, staring up at the hulking titan that had just crushed her lunch and bike under a single massive metal foot with a sense of numb disbelief. ‘At least I still have the book.’ She ignored how the thought echoed with a note of hysteria as she shoved said book into the messenger bag over her shoulder.

“Are you Sierra O’Niell?”

She was only slightly surprised when the massive robot spoke. Because why wouldn’t the giant robot that had just moments ago been a jet be able to speak? Honestly, what even was her life at this point. She was more concerned with the fact that the thing knew her name. Her initial instinct was the demand how it knew her name. But she’d seen the movies. She knew that would only confirm it’s suspicions.

“Who?” she forced herself to ask instead, surprising herself with how steady her voice was. It was the shock, she told herself. It had to be. It was making her emotionally numb. “What are you?”

The robot seemed startled, before it snarled something that was most definitely a curse. It started speaking, though not to her, and it took Sierra a moment to realize it must have been talking over some sort of built in communication system. “-wrong human, Soundwave! This pathetic fleshling you pointed out to me doesn’t even know who I am talking about.” It paused. “What do you mean it’s not the wrong human? I just told you-“ it cut itself off. “Ah. I see.” A sinister grin twisted at metallic features. “Thank you, Soundwave. I will return with my prize shortly.”

Oh, Sierra did not like the sound of that.

Sure enough, the robot turned to face her when it was done. “It seems you lied to me, little fleshling.” it sneered. “My associate tracked the signal of your personal communications device. You humans never go without it, I’ve been told.”

She blinked. “You hacked my phone?” she sputtered, and oops, she’d just confirmed her identity. ‘Stupid, Sierra.’

It’s face twisted into a cruel expression of glee. She did not like it. “Indeed.” It began bending down, and then a large hand was reaching towards her. “You shall be coming with me, human. Soundwave has seen how Jackson Darby is fond of you.” it purred. “You will make a lovely bargaining chip against that pathetic human runt and his Autobot protectors.”

And wait, this was because of Jack? How did he come into all this? If this thing was after her because of him, that had to mean he knew about it and it’s…friends. Did robots have friends? She didn’t know. And wait, Autobot?

She stiffened, scrabbling away from the large metallic hand, shunting those questions to the back of her mind to be answered later. Escape the terrifying metal monster now, murder Jack for pulling her into this later. Clearly though, the robot disliked her attempt to flee because it only growled and stepped towards her again.

That’s when she heard the roaring of a powerful engine. It made the robot pause too, and they both looked to where the sound came from. Then, over the crest of a hill, a white and blue sports car came flying in. It had red accents and bold 38s painted onto its doors. Sierra was impressed. She was no car person, but even she liked this one. Only, the car started breaking apart once it hit the ground, unfolding and growing into the form of, you guessed it, another robot.

Sierra despaired for her luck. ‘Murphy is going to die a second time for this. He’d better be prepared.’ She thought with vicious hysteria.

Except, to her great surprise, the new robot didn’t try to help capture her. No, instead it rammed full force into the tall jet robot that had tried to snatch her up. Said jet yelped before quickly getting back to its feet. Sierra heard the should of metal and gears shifting, and saw the newcomer’s large hand change to some sort of weapon, though not one she could recognize.

“Terrorizing humans now, Starscream?” it taunted. “Can’t say I’m surprised, you always were one to sink so low.”

The first robot, Starscream, apparently, snarled in outrage. “Pathetic Autobot!” it roared, and oh, so this newcomer was Autobot?

Except, from the two names she’d heard already, that didn’t sound like the type of name these robots seemed to have. She did notice the little face badges they wore, the white bot bearing a red one proudly on its shoulders while the jet robot wore a smaller, pointier face on its chest. So maybe those had something to do with the whole ‘Autobot’ thing? Hell if she knew. Sierra was clever, and she’d always been good at puzzles and mystery solving, but she didn’t have enough information for this whole…thing.

“I’m not the one who’s picking on defenseless humans, ‘Con!” the car robot barked, smirking at the skinnier jet.

The jet only snarled, lifting an arm that she was just noticing had a freaking missile attached to it, and the white robot stilled briefly, before shooting her a frantic look and oh, would you look at that, she seemed to be right in the blast radius of the missile, and oh god she was going to die-

Except, there was that shifting sound again, but much larger, and then car robot was leaping towards her. It hit the ground in car form, it’s driver door open as it slid sideways in her direction, and then she was swept up into it and the door slammed shut. Tires squealed, and then they were peeling away to the sound of a missile screaming and impacting where they had been a half second before. The jet roared in outrage, but the car robot was speeding straight towards civilization, and it seemed to want to avoid that because when she glanced at the rear view mirror she saw it leap into the sky and transform before flying away.

Sierra slowly sat up from her ungainly sprawl, pulling the seatbelt across her chest on reflex before sitting back against the driver’s seat and wheezing. Her heartbeat, which she only just noticed had been thundering wildly in her chest, started to slowly calm, and she had to force herself to take deep, even breaths to keep herself from hyperventilating.

Now, Sierra wasn’t an irrational girl. She was among the top students of all her classes, she was smart, she knew a lot about various topics, and she had a good understanding of how people worked. She was clever, she knew she had a good head on her shoulders. She kept some of her interests closer to her chest, and she played the good, polite, quiet girl for the adults, because she wasn’t without manners, thank you very much. All that meant, though, was that she wasn’t prone to screaming in terror and running like a madman when she was freaked out by something. She would prefer to understand something rather than be irrationally terrified of it.

This, though? This was a bit much, even for her. As her heartbeat calmed, a sense of nausea built in her throat. “Excuse me, robot?” she squeaked. She wasn’t even sure if she could communicate with it while it was in car mode, but it was worth a shot.

“It’s Smokescreen.”

What?

“What?”

“My name is Smokescreen. Not “robot”.”

It sounded miffed. Which, okay. That was fair. If someone called her just “human” she’d probably be upset too. Hell, she had been upset when that other one, Starscream, had called her a “fleshling”. Smokescreen’s voice also sounded very male, and she paused before asking.

“And you’re not an “it” either, then?”

“No, I’m a mech.” A pause. “Uh, a male, by your definitions.”

“Okay. Smokescreen. Well, I’m Sierra, and as grateful as I am for your rescue you should really, really stop and let me out. Humans don’t handle extreme stress very well and I’m about to be sick.”

“Sick?”

Oh god, did robots even get sick?

“I’m about to vomit. Which means I am very close to expelling internal body waste, and it will be right in your seats if you don’t let me out so I can barf behind some rocks.” she informed him tightly, fighting down a gag.

There was a brief moment if silence as Smokescreen seemed to process her words, before he turned off the side of the road, drove behind some rocks, and popped open the door. “Please don’t be sick in me.” Oh, now he sounded sick. Sierra felt a little bad.

She didn’t say anything to that, instead stumbling out of the car and out of sight, before promptly bending over and tossing her breakfast. She gagged on bile, and after a moment of pause to make sure there was nothing left in her stomach, she stood and made her way back to where Smokescreen was waiting. She pulled her water bottle from her bag, taking a sip and washing out her mouth with it before spitting it to the side, and then she proceeded to drink everything left in the bottle. She tucked it away, turning to her impromptu ride, and opened her mouth to speak, when-.

“Oh slag.” He beat her to the punch.

She was confused, recognizing that as a curse of some sort, and then she heard the beeping from his radio.

“Um, hold on for a minute, alright? I gotta take this.” He sounded anxious, and didn’t give her a chance to answer before there was a click as he did just that.

She heard muffled noises over the radio, though she couldn’t make out the words being said.

“Um, yeah. There was a ‘Con signal. I was close so I checked it out.”

More radio noises, angry sounding ones.

“I know, I know! But I was closest and no one would pick up their comm. so I thought I should st least check it out! It was a good thing too, Starscream was there and he was about to snatch up a human!”

A pause, and then an explosion of garbled noise from the radio. Sierra got the feeling that Smokescreen was wincing.

“Well what was I supposed to do? Let her be taken? Plus she’d already seen him so it wasn’t like seeing me was going to do much damage!”

A growling noise, followed by a hiss of static.

“Yes, Ratchet. I know. And I am sorry, alright! I know I went against code again but if I had waited a human would’ve been in Deception hands and as new as I am to this planet, even I know that’s bad!”

Wait, planet? Was this giant ass robot an actual alien? That…honestly made sense. With that day she’d had, she wasn’t even surprised. Smokescreen was still having his discussion with…whoever was on the other end.

“Yes, I’ll bring her back to base. I’m not going to apologize for saving her, though.”

More angry static.

“Yeah yeah. I get it.”

He sounded tired, defeated. Sierra felt bad, and wondered what was being said to make him sound like that when he’d been so bright before.

“No, you don’t need to send a ground bridge. I’m close to the base anyway. I’ll be there soon.”

There was a click as Smokescreen disconnected from whoever called him, and then she could tell he was talking to her when he spoke next. “Mind hopping in? I gotta bring you back to base. The boss can explain everything. I promise you won’t be hurt or anything.”

Sierra hesitated for a moment, then sighed. She knew she probably shouldn’t, but at this point what was the harm? Besides, her gut instinct was telling her that, based on what that Starscream character had said about Jack, she wouldn’t have to worry about being hurt. Not if Darby spent all his free time around these weird alien robots and came back fine. Mind decided, she slipped into the car’s open door. It shut on its own, and she buckled herself in once more.

“Thanks.” He sounded grateful. And then he was driving off.

He wasn’t saying anything, and neither was Sierra, and she let herself be alone with her thoughts. They drove for a while, and Sierra let herself enjoy the landscape that passed by Smokescreen’s window. He really was a nice ride, she mused. Sleek and fast, and his engine purred quietly as he drove along the highway. She didn’t know much about cars, but she knew his car mode was a good one.

Soon enough, they were coming towards a large mesa. Smokescreen drove right toward its side, not even slowing as he approached, Sierra tensed, about to protest, when a previously invisible door opened in the rock face. She shut her mouth, her eyes blowing wide. Oh. That explained that. Their base was hidden in plain sight. Which…she supposed was fitting, for alien robots who disguised themselves as cars and jets. Smokescreen took them through a tunnel, and then they were coming into a large central chamber. Sierra peeked out if the window to see two other robots there. One, stocky and painted in red and white. The other…was absolutely massive. He towered above the red and white bot, and she had a feeling he’d tower over Smokescreen too. He was broad as he was tall, with wide shoulders and a heavy looking chest, his metal armor painted in red and blue. Sierra didn’t know how she knew, but she just knew that this large one was a he, a mech, as Smokescreen had said.

The door at her side popped open, and after brief hesitation she unbuckled herself and stood up. There was that sound of transformation behind her, and she glanced back to see Smokescreen rising to his feet in his robot mode. Then a voice spoke and she snapped her head around to see the large bot speaking.

“Greetings, young one. My name is Optimus Prime. My companion is Ratchet, and you have already met Smokescreen.”

Ratchet. That’s who Smokescreen had been talking to earlier. “I’m Sierra.” she said after a moment. “Sierra O’Niell.”

Optimus tilted his head downwards in her direction. “May I inquire why Starscream was attempting to abduct you, if you know?”

“You’re very polite.” she remarked dryly. “He said something about wanting to use me to get to Jack Darby, so that he could in turn use Jack to get to the “Autobots”. I’m guessing that’s you guys?”

Optimus shared a look with Ratchet, then looked back at her. “Indeed. Myself and my team are Autobots. Starscream is a Decepticon. Our factions are enemies, I am afraid.” he explained. “We are not from your world, Sierra O’Niell. We hail from a planet called Cybertron. Our two factions were at War on our home, and that War destroyed our world. The Deceptions came here, searching for energon, and we have followed them to keep them from destroying your planet and it’s people in their quest for it.”

Sierra turned that over. She’d guessed they weren’t from Earth, so that wasn’t a surprise. The rest of the information was new, though. And appreciated. “What’s energon? And how does Jack fit into all this?”

Optimus sighed. “Energon is an energy source, and the very lifeblood of every Cybertronian.” he explained. “It is a natural resource that was once common on our home, and somehow Earth too produces it in great abundance.” he explained. “Jackson, Miko, and Raphael became involved with us by accident. They were seen with my Autobots when they mistakenly were pulled into a battle with the Decepticons, and the Decepticons assumed they were our allies. In order to protect them, we took them under our watch and guard to ensure they could not be harmed.”

So, Esquivel and Nakadai were part of this too. She shouldn’t be surprised. She’d seen the cars that picked those two up, now that she thought of it. Speaking of which….

“Jack’s motorcycle is an Autobot, isn’t it? And Miko and Raphael’s cars?”

Optimus hummed. “Indeed. Arcee, Bumblee, and Bulkhead were the ones to initially partner with and save the children in that first encounter. After they were brought into the fold, it made only sense to assign them as their Autobot guardians.”

Sierra nodded as she took that all in. Then she frowned. “I’m involved now too, aren’t I? I would have been involved regardless, if the Decepticons were really after me, but Smokescreen saving me just means my involvement is going to be more pleasant than it otherwise would have been.”

Optimus and Ratchet shared yet another look, before casting their gazes to Smokescreen. The white bot fidgeted under their combined stares, head ducking and looking uncomfortable. “While we are not pleased that the youngling acted on impulse and charged into battle against protocol, we are pleased that he saved your life, young Sierra.” Optimus said after a moment.

Sierra blinked. “Youngling.” she repeated in confusion. Then she narrowed her eyes. “You’re not getting him into trouble for saving me, are you?” she asked heatedly. The very idea insulted her.

Optimus twitched as if startled, then rumbled a soft chuckle. “Youngling, yes. It is a term used by Cybertronians to refer to those of us who are not yet fully grown. Smokescreen is the equivalent of a human teenager.” he explained. “And worry not. In this instance, we can overlook the breach in regulations. It would send a poor message to punish a bot for upholding the Autobot creed.”

Sierra relaxed at that, nodding. Then she narrowed her eyes. “I’m going to want to have a discussion with you later about why you’re letting teenagers fight in a war, but I know now isn’t the time.” she said threateningly.

Both older bots startled back and her tone and words, and Smokescreen squeaked from behind her. She turned and drew a harsh line across her mouth before he could say anything, and she watched as he stared, slack-jawed, before closing his mouth with an audible clack. That done, she returned her attention to the apparent leader. There was one more thing she wanted settled.

“You said the others got guardians, right?”

A nod.

“Well, if I’m going to need one, and something tells me I will, then I want this one.” she jerked her thumb over her shoulder at Smokescreen.

Optimus’s eyes narrowed in what she realized was a faint smile. “If Smokescreen agrees, then I have no issues with that.” he hummed. “All I ask is that you remain here until our liaison with the human government arrives. Agent Fowler will want to discuss some matters with you before you return home.”

Sierra blinked. So the government knew about all this. That was good to know. It meant she wouldn’t get in trouble for conspiring with aliens if it ever came to light. She could also understand why they kept this whole thing a secret, even if governments hiding things from the public wasn’t always a good thing. In this case, it was a good thing.

“As long as I’m home before my curfew.” she agreed.

Another bow of that great head, and then Optimus was turning to stride away. Presumably to make contact with this Fowler. That left her and Smokescreen with Ratchet.

The stocky bot glanced at them, then turned to that odd console she’d noticed earlier. “Smokescreen will show you around.” Was all he said, waving them away with a dismissive flip of his hand.

Sierra, taking that as her cue, turned to the youngest bot. She thrust out her hand. “What do you say? Partners?”

He seemed confused, before slowly crouching and extending his hand to tap a finger to her palm. “Yeah, sure.” he seemed a little awed that she’d want to partner with him.

She smiled. “Good. In that case, why don’t you give me a ride and show me around your base?”

Smokescreen seemed confused. “Ride?”

“On your shoulder. I’d like to see it from your perspective.”

He blinked, then shrugged and put his hand, palm up, on the floor. Sierra took that as her que to climb up, and he carefully transferred her to his shoulder. Cool. Very cool. She just wanted to ride on the giant alien robot, and now she got to. That was cool.

She saw him look at her out of the corner of his bright, shining blue eyes, and she smiled warmly. “Well? Show me around your home, big guy. I’d like to get to know you.”

Smokescreen perked up, the little protrusions on his back wiggling with his apparent joy, and Sierra grinned a little wider. Oh, he was cute. How a giant robot could be endearing, she didn’t know, but he did it. He was sort of like a puppy. A giant, metal, alien puppy. She held on as he started walking, and she listened with half an ear, processing and noting what he told her as the rest of her mind turned over the events of her day.

It had been stressful, and scary, but now that it was all done and she was fine…

‘Yeah.’ she thought, watching her new partner eagerly show her around the small, hidden base he called home. ‘I think I’m gonna like it here.’

———————————————————————————————————

And that was that! I hoped you like it! It was fun to write. The show didn’t give Sierra a last name or a real personality, so I had to kind of do that bit myself. And I was right! I did enjoy writing this. The prompt inspired me to write this faster than I thought I’d be able to. I do not expect to be able to fill a prompt this quickly again. Unfortunately. Also, Sierra is definitely going to be the straight man to Smokescreen. He’s going to need it. Badly.

Until next time, friends!

[starrybethany]

I’m Sure - Adam Boqvist Imagine Part 5

Word count: 4.0K

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Adam: You followed me

I stare at the three words, blinking with tired eyes. All I want to do is sleep, especially after the day I’ve had with Holden, but the baby decided kicking me was more important. So here I am at four o’clock in the morning checking my social media when I should be getting another three hours of sleep.

I rub my eyes, unsure of how to even respond to the message.

It’s just a statement. I feel flabbergasted by it- really, we haven’t talked in years- well, technically months, but the last time we saw each other we just fucked, and our child went to see him without my knowledge or consent. How the fuck am I supposed to respond to those three words?

Y/N: I think we need to talk.

I sigh, setting my phone down. Might as well get straight to the point. The sooner I tell him about the second baby and ask why he would see Holden without at least running it past me the better. I roll over, pulling the blanket tighter around me. Hopefully I can sleep at least a little bit longer. I’m going to need it to deal with the moody adolescent I’ll be seeing in the morning.

~

“I made some toast and bacon. Just let me just finish cutting up these strawberries and then breakfast will be ready,” I inform Holden as he hops down the stairs.

He picks up the filled plate waiting for him on the table, throwing the food into the trashcan and setting the plate on the counter, giving me an expectant look.

I stare blankly back at him. I know he’s waiting for a reaction. He wants me to blow up so then he feels okay yelling at me instead of starting the confrontation himself. Instead, I just say, “That’s wasteful.”

He rolls his eyes, grabbing his backpack from its usual spot by the door and making his way outside, letting it slam shut behind him. I release the breath that I’ve been holding in, popping a strawberry into my mouth.

I open my Instagram app to catch up on the posts that I’ve missed, freezing when I see that I’ve received a DM. I forgot that I sent a message to Adam last night. Well, technically this morning. After I sent the message, I passed out hard, and I thought the whole thing was a fever dream.

Adam: What about?

Adam: Here’s my number

My fingers tap the screen quietly as I add his phone number into my contacts, saving it and staring at it blankly.

Well. No time like the present.

Before I can even realize what I’m doing, before I can even think things through and decide what to say or whether this is a good idea or not, or hell, even what time it is in Chicago right now, I click on the phone icon.

I curse to myself, raising the phone to my ear. Absentmindedly, my hand raises to my mouth so I can chew on my fingernail. Nail-biting is a nervous habit that I gave up years ago, but I guess old habits die hard.

“Hello?” His groggy voice comes through the phone.

I can’t breathe.

The oxygen gets stuck in my lungs. All I can think about are his hands on my body, sliding down to grip my hips. The twinkle in his eyes as I would pull my shirt over my head.

And not to mention the last time I saw him. His hair is longer than he used to keep it, but it suits him. It looks good on him. And he bulked up since the last time I saw him, too- his abs definitely looked and felt like it, anyways.

“Hello?” He repeats, sounding more awake and borderline annoyed now.

“Adam,” I respond softly, suddenly feeling shy. Come on, where did my confidence go? I’ll need it to get through this conversation.

“Y/N,” he says, all sounds of annoyance out of his voice. “You actually called, I didn’t think that you would-“”Sorry for waking you up,” I blurt out, glancing at the clock and seeing that it’s seven in the morning here. Chicago is an hour behind Philadelphia- it’s what kept me from calling the boys on the team late at night for several years.

“Oh, no, no, don’t you ever worry about that,” he reassures me. It’s quiet. I know he’s waiting for me to speak, to let him know what I want to talk to him about, but I just can’t get the words out. I feel them stuck in my throat, clawing to escape. “So, how’s Holden?”

And there it is.

That question is what spurs me to speak, to dig into the man who hid a huge secret like that from me. But I guess I’m doing the same thing to him now.

“I don’t know, how is he, Adam?” I spit out.

He sighs. He sighs. I want to punch his perfect fucking face.

“If I had realized that you had such a problem with it-“”Such a problem with it?” I repeat, not believing my own ears. Suddenly I’m reminded of why I decided not to tell Adam about this baby and why he wasn’t ready to be in Holden’s life for thirteen years. Hell, it sounds like he’s still not ready.

“My son lied to me about his intentions of going to Chicago, traveled halfway across the country by himself, and saw someone who he’s never met before. Yes, I have a fucking problem with it,” I growl.

“Our son.”

“What?”

“He’s our son. You said my son.”

All I want to do right now is to reach through this tiny screen and hit him upside the head. Really, after I lay out all of my concerns, this is all he has to say to me?

“Whatever. When are you coming to Philadelphia next?” I question. I don’t want to air all of grievances and talk about the new baby over the phone. I’ve had enough communication classes to know that you need to see someone’s nonverbal behaviors instead just hearing what they have to say.

“Why? You want to see me?” Suggestion laces his tone.

No, asshole, you already got me pregnant again.

“Yes. We need to talk about Holden… and some other things,” my voice trails off at the end, not sure how to warn him about such big news.

“Some other things, eh? Well, I’ll be looking forward to that,” he responds, clearly thinking that it’s something regarding us and our relationship, well, our dislike or lust for one another or something, instead of picking up what I’m trying to hint at.

“Cool. So, can you take a trip to Philly sometime soon or are you going to wait until hockey season?” I inquire.

“I can take a trip there, just for you. And Holden, of course.”

I can’t help but let a small smile slip onto my face. That sentence shows me that he’d be a good dad if he just put in the effort. It infuriates me that he’s kept that from Holden for years just because he hasn’t felt like working towards a relationship with his son.

“Good. Let me know when you’re in town so we can meet up.”

“What? You’re not going to invite me to stay with you?”

“Goodbye, Adam.” I hang up before he can respond. All I can imagine the rest of the day is his reaction after that phone call. He would have that small, knowing smile on his face, pulling his phone out of his pocket every five minutes to check and see if he got a new text from me or to send the fifth one in a row to me- one that I still would not respond to.

And my heart skips a beat at the thought of that.

~

It’s been a week since the phone call and since Adam sent me a screenshot of his booked ticket to Philadelphia two weeks from then. For some reason, maybe it’s the stupid, hopeless romantic part in me, I had hoped that he would book his plane ticket and hotel room for that night or even the next day. But he told me he had some ‘lose ends’ to tie up in Chicago before leaving.

And it’s also been a week since Holden has said a word to me. I’ve tried talking to him. I’ve asked him about his day, his friends, cooked him his favorite meals all week, I even offered to take him to Target to get a new video game.

None of that has worked. And it hurts. It hurts knowing that after everything I’ve done for him and everything I’ve sacrificed for him, and how Adam has done none of that, he looks at Adam like a God and me like the scum on the bottom of his shoe.

I know it’s what I’m supposed to do as a mother, care for my son and make sure he’s happy, but it’s just- it’s just- ugh.

I start to feel my blood boil as my mom’s voice echoes in the back of my head. Life’s not fair.

It’s then that I realize that I’ve given him enough space and time to figure out his feelings and how he wants to proceed. I don’t want to give him too much space that he begins to resent me and feel like I don’t care about him.

I know that feeling all too well.

I knock on his bedroom door softly, waiting for him to open it before I just walk in. It creeks open slightly, and just as I expected, eyes matching my mom’s peek out to glare at me.

“Can I talk to you, Holden?”

He doesn’t respond, just stares at me.

“Please, you don’t even have to talk, just listen,” I beg.

Fortunately, he opens the door the rest of the way, watching as I walk into his room and sit gently on the edge of the bed. He sits down on his worn computer chair, laptop open to some video game I don’t recognize on his desk.

“I want to start by apologizing for yelling at you last week,” I begin, taking a deep breath. Apologizing isn’t something that comes easy to me- I grew up in a family where the words ‘I’m sorry’ were unheard of. My parents were always right, and I was always wrong.

“I realize it probably wasn’t easy for you to go to Chicago by yourself to meet your dad. Holden, I just want you to realize that I would do anything to protect you, and I love you with my whole heart so realizing that you were in such an emotionally taxing situation without talking to me about it first-“I pause to sniffle, starting to feel tears well up in my eyes. “I felt helpless. And I couldn’t stop wondering why you didn’t feel like you could share that with me and then I realized that it’s because I don’t share stuff with you either.”

He watches as I lift my sleeve, wiping the tears from under my eyes. His face is still blank, but his eyes look like they’ve softened. He’s understanding my words so far.

“So, yes, this baby is also Adam’s baby. And he did ask about you when I saw him back in February, but I let my pride get the best of me and I told him that he didn’t deserve to see you. I’m sorry for robbing you of meeting your father earlier,” I genuinely apologize, maintaining eye contact with my son.

He shifts in his seat, his hard exterior softening with every word. “Well, I’m sorry for calling you a shitty mother. And saying all of that other stuff. And, if it makes you feel better, I did go to the computer programming camp. I just saw Adam when we had a night off.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

He nods.

“What did he tell you? About not being involved in your life?” I ask carefully, curious as to what Adam told Holden to turn him against me like that.

“He just told me that he was working through some stuff,” he shrugs, acting like he doesn’t care but I know my son well enough to tell that he does. “And he wasn’t ready until recently to meet me.”

I bite my tongue to keep it from releasing an insult towards Adam. “And how does that make you feel?”

“Honestly?” I nod, probing him to go on. “Pretty awful. I don’t think I want a relationship with him, mom.”

A mix of emotions run through my body at his word. I feel anxious, because now I have to tell him that Adam’s coming next week and will want to see him, sadness, because my son now recognizes how his father did not want be involved in his life, and anger toward Adam for making him feel like this in the first place.

“Well,” I cough awkwardly. “He’s coming to Philadelphia next week. I’m going to meet him to tell him about the baby. If you don’t want to see him, you don’t have to. It’s all up to you, bud.”

I stand up slowly, rubbing my belly as the baby begins to kick. He always seems to do that whenever I move even just a little bit- he’s an active little guy.

“Oh,” I turn back around just as I’m about to close the door. “How did you even find out who your father is?”

“Please mom, I’m not stupid,” he grins slyly at me, sliding his headphones onto his neck. “You lived in Chicago when you got pregnant with me and worked for the Blackhawks. I figured, since you said you worked a lot, the only guys you really had a chance to be with were on the team. And when I asked you about my dad for that project for school you said he was Swedish, so I just went to the Blackhawks roster in 2020 and found the Swedish players, messaging them some really uncomfortable and intrusive messages on Instagram.”

I chuckle at that, shaking my head. It will never not blow my mind how clever and smart he is. As I close the door to his bedroom, I hear him say, “On the plus side, Alex Nylander is a really nice guy.”

~

The day is finally here. Being eighteen weeks pregnant makes it really hard to hide my baby bump, but I somehow manage to find a baggy sweatshirt that I’ve stolen from one of my ex-boyfriends to cover it up. I don’t want to walk into the restaurant we’re meeting at and have him immediately know.

Somehow my jeans still fit on my legs, but I have a feeling by the end of this lunch they’ll be unbuttoned. It’s just the way it goes sometimes.

I get to the restaurant before Adam, just like how I planned it. I wanted time to scope out my exits in case I need to bail halfway through this meal- knowing Adam, it’s a possibility. I haven’t thought through what I was going to say too much.

I know I need to talk to him about why he would keep Holden going to Chicago to see him a secret from me, and we need to talk about the baby.

But mostly I just want to hear him grovel. The secret, sadistic part of me wants to hear him beg for forgiveness for making me raise my child by myself for the past thirteen years. I want to hear him admit that he fucked up- I’ve never heard Adam Boqvist admit that he fucked up before.

He shows up two minutes late.

I know because my phone is sitting face up on the table and I click on it every five seconds to see what time it is. I tell myself that if it gets ten minutes past noon and he’s still not here, I’m going home and giving up on dealing with Adam ever again.

But then he’s standing in front of me, familiar toothy grin on his face, black beanie on his shaggy hair, and a bouquet of red roses in his hand.

“You’re late,” I state sternly, not letting any sign of emotion onto my face. I need to let him know I mean business. I need to let him know that I’m never getting into bed with him ever again.

“Yeah, sorry, there was a line at the grocery store,” his grin begins to slip, but as he holds the bouquet out towards me, it takes over his face once again. “I got you these.”

“Thanks.”

I don’t make any movement towards them. His smile falls once again and I begin to feel guilty- he did buy these flowers for me, but he also impregnated me and left me twice.

He slides into the chair across the table from me, setting the flowers on the table and coughing awkwardly. “So, have you ordered yet?”

“Just water,” I respond shortly.

“Do you want to split a bottle of wine?”

“I’m not really a day drinker,” I eye him over the top of my menu, then go back to skimming through the items. It’s a charade, though. I already know what I want.

“Are you two ready to order?” The peppy waitress appears at our side, notepad open in her hand.

“I’ll have the chicken alfredo,” I announce, folding my menu.

“I’ll take that too. And a bottle of your sweetest wine, please,” the blonde orders, passing his menu to the waitress. When she leaves, he turns back to me. “I know you like the sweet stuff.”

I take a deep breath, deciding to cut to the chase. I’d rather get through this meal as soon as possible. The sooner we get done talking about this stuff, the sooner I can get out of here.

“Adam, I’m pregnant.”

He chokes on the sip of water he’s just taken from his glass, water dripping down his chin and landing on the table in front of him. I can’t help but watch with a content smile as he coughs, trying to catch his breath.

“Excuse me?” He utters through coughs, wiping his chin with a napkin.

“I’m pregnant,” I repeat. “I’m due in November.”

“Well, uh, congratulations,” he says unsurely.

I roll my eyes, muttering, “You clearly haven’t gotten smarter since last time.”

He seems to catch on to the hidden meaning behind my comment, his eyes widening. “Oh is it- since we-“”It’s your baby,” I conclude bluntly.

A smirk begins to spread across his face. I can’t believe it. He’s smirking just after I told him that he got me pregnant accidentally for the second time.

“Why do you have that look?” I snap.

“My little swimmers work pretty well, don’t they?” He inquires confidently, sipping from his water and succeeding this time.

I lean across the table, turning it on him. “I don’t know, do they? Are there any half-siblings that I need to worry about?”

The smirk is replaced by a look of genuineness now. It startles me, the sudden change of emotions. “No, it’s you, Y/N. It’s always been you.”

I lean back in my seat, the sudden seriousness too much for me to bear. I fiddle with the napkin sitting next to my glass, avoiding eye contact with him. “Yeah, so it’s a boy.”

“Another boy,” he echoes my very thoughts the moment I found out the sex.

I grin at the thought of my second child. When he’s been kicking me at night and keeping me awake, I think about what he’s going to be like. Is he going to cry a lot or is he going to be a quiet baby like Holden was? Will I have to keep an eye on him every minute or will I be able to get some breaks?

And what about when he’s older. Will he like hockey like his dad? Would he like the Flyers because we live in Philadelphia, or would he like the Blackhawks because his dad plays for them?

“Speaking of boys, how is Holden doing? He hasn’t been responding to my texts lately.” Adam means for the question to sound casual, but I can hear the undertone of worry in his voice. Maybe he isn’t as much of a shitty father as I think he is.

“He doesn’t want to talk to you,” I confess.

He doesn’t bother to hide the hurt on his face. I don’t expect him to. I know how it feels to feel unwanted and unloved by your child- I felt it when Holden told me that I’m a shitty mother. And although Adam deserves the consequences to his actions, I can’t help but feel a small amount of pity for him.

“I deserve that,” he sighs.

“You do,” I agree, knowing that I’m shoving the knife deeper into his heart. “But just give him time to decide what he wants to do. It’s all so fresh to him.”

He gives me a small, vulnerable smile.

“Why didn’t you tell me that he was going to see you while he was in Chicago, Adam?” I ask him the question I’ve been dying to ask ever since I found out about the situation.

He shrugs, not saying a word.

“Yes, you do know,” I persist. “So just fucking tell me. Enough of the bullshit, we’re in our thirties now. It’s time to focus on the children, not your fucking pride.”

He looks baffled by my sudden outburst, but it inspires him to answer. “I was afraid that if you found out, you would stop him. Then I’d never get to meet my son.”

“I would have stopped him,” I agreed, causing him to open his mouth to begin arguing with me. I start to speak again before he can begin. “And reschedule the trip to a time that works better with my work schedule so that I could go with him. Yes, you’re his father, but you’ve never been in his life. You’re essentially a stranger to him.”

He narrows his eyes at me like my words are a challenge. “Not anymore.”

I narrow my eyes at him now. “Really? What’s his middle name? When is his birthday? What’s his favorite color?”

He doesn’t respond and I scoff, taking a sip of my water again. “That’s what I thought.”

We’re quiet as the waitress returns with our meals. I cut my noodles, taking a bite of my food.

“I don’t want it to be that way with this baby,” he says, quickly adding, “And Holden anymore. I want to be there for this baby from the start. Or from now, I guess. And I want to be there for Holden, if he ever wants me.”

Mixed feelings begin to flush through my body. This is what I wanted for my kids from the beginning, an active father figure. And Adam’s offering it now, but why am I still feeling so hesitant?

After years of expecting him to step up as a parent and him never doing it, I have reasonable doubts when it comes to Adam’s parenting ability.

“Well, you know it’s up to Holden. You can’t force him to like you,” I begin slowly, trying to phrase my words in the best way possible. “But with this second baby… we can try it. I have a doctor’s appointment in two days. I’ll text you the address and time.”

“But my flight leaves tomorrow,” he whines. “Can’t you just reschedule for today?”

“You have so much to learn, Adam,” I shake my head. “I just hope you realize that being a parent means that you’re selfless more than selfish. Tell you what, go back to Chicago if you want to. But if you go back to Chicago, the only time you’ll communicate with the boys is when they want to talk to you.”

[sonnetthebard]

a writing prompt maybe? A Lilo and Stitch AU where Hannah is Lilo, Lex is Nani, and Ethan is David and then Wiggly is Stitch and Hannah's trying to teach him to be good.

Ok, I feel where you're coming from and I love it! This is so cute! I'm gonna be a bit flexible with it though, stray a bit from the strict Lilo and Stitch story. It's gonna be similar, but differ a bit.

Genre: Fluff/ Comedy

Words: 1966

TL;DR: When Hannah said she wanted a pet, Lex thought she would end up with dog or a rabbit like a normal person... not an eldritch.

TW: Swearing, mention of sexual themes? I don't know how to label it but you'll know it when you see it.

______________________________________________________

"No, Wiggly!" Hannah chided. "Stop! You got to be good, otherwise Lexie isn't gonna let me keep you!"

If Lex knew half of what was going on, Wiggly would be back to the pound in before you could say "eldritch". She had told Ethan to take Hannah out to get her a dog at the shelter. Duke had said maybe giving her another friend at home would help her to be a bit less hostile towards the kids at her school. Not that she was physically aggressive, but... ever since their mom had been sent to prison, apparently she'd been a bit snippy and reserved. It concerned her teachers. While Lex was technically old enough to be her legal guardian, Hannah's teachers were concerned that maybe she wasn't emotionally ready for that kind of responsibility. They were about ready to file a case for Hannah to be put into the foster system.

So... this was a desperate last attempt on Lex's part. Because she was *not* losing her little sister. She'd been through so much shit to get her mom out of the house. So that they would be safe. She wasn't letting anyone take that away. So... even though she may not really have the money to support Hannah *and* a dog, she'd agreed to let Hannah get one. There were very few people that Lex would trust on these matters, but... Duke was one of them. He knew the system. Mostly because he was a part of it. But he also knew Lex, and he knew that she was the right person to be caring for Hannah. So... if he thought that this was going to help, she'd do it.

But... she probably should have gone with Hannah herself to get it. Because Ethan... was not the brightest, and he was prone to completely crumbling for Hannah. Which is precisely what had happened at the pet store that afternoon. He'd suggested a cute little chihuahua with a limp paw, or a sweet maltese, but... Hannah had gone right for the weird, green thing. Was it even a dog? Probably not. It had tentacles and it walked on two legs. Had the people at the shelter called it a dog anyways? Yes. Because what else were they supposed to call it? The only indication they'd gotten as to what he was was a small collar reading 'Wiggly'- which didn't help at all. Look, they'd just found it curled up behind Toy Zone one night, and it was their duty to care for him and then get him to a family.

Things had not been easy for Hannah so far. It seemed her little green friend had a thing for getting into trouble... and tastes for household furniture. He'd already eaten two of her books and one of her sock dolls. Right now, she was trying to get him to stop eating one of her pillows. He seemed to revel in tearing his prey apart before eating it. His eyes got all wild, and... he looked so happy that Hannah almost didn't want to stop him. But she had to, because if he destroyed anything noticeable he'd be gone. And Webby had told her that she needed to pick this little guy. He seemed to make 'hr' sound in disappointment. But what came next was far from anything Hannah would have expected him to do.

"But Banana... it's so yummy-wum!" A goofy, light and child-like singsong tenor voice protested.

"You talk." Hannah breathed, eyes widening.

"Only to you, Hannah Banana." Wiggly giggled. "You are the only person who can hear my voice."

"Is that why Webby told me to get you?" Hannah asked, curious. He seemed to scowl at the mention of her name.

"Stupid bitch... thinks I need to rehabilitate." Wiggly grumbled.

"What's rehabilitate?" Hannah asked.

"It means... I've been very naughty." Wiggly told her. Hannah cringed at that.

"Don't... Mom..." Hannah mumbled.

"I've been bad." Wiggly corrected himself. "So she sent me to you. She thinks you can make me good."

"Me?" Hannah blinked.

"She says we'll be good for each other." Wiggly mocked her, clearly not happy about it. "She wants me to be your fwendy-wend. Because we both need a fwendy-wend, according to her."

"I don't *need* any friends." Hannah shook her head, her mood dampened by that implication. "I got Lexie and E."

"That's not what the teachy-weachers think." Wiggly cooed, the tiniest hint of amusement in his tone.

"Yeah, well... they're dumb!" Hannah fumed, turning on her bed and putting a pillow over head in frustration. That was a sore subject for her.

Hannah knew what the teachers thought of her. She knew what everyone thought. She didn't care. She knew who she was, and... she knew what she needed. She knew that she shouldn't have to put up with the shit the kids at her school gave her. She knew that they chose her because she was the easy target. Because they could get away with blaming her for anything. She was that girl from the trailer at the edge of the Witchwood, whose mom had gone to jail. That was enough for them to paint her as the punk. But that wasn't who she was, and... she hated that it's what people thought. She didn't even do anything wrong. She never said the things they said she did. She took a few deep breaths under the pillows, trying to calm down.

"That pillow-willow isn't going to help, Banana." Wiggly sighed. "My voice is in your head. "Like Webby."

"Leave me alone!" Hannah snapped.

"Nuh uh..." Wiggly tutted. "Webby says I have to help you be happy again before I can go back to my homey-wome."

"Yeah? You're not doing a very good job!" Hannah huffed. "Don't wanna talk right now."

"But Webby says-" Wiggly started.

"Webby can be a stupid bitch!" Hannah cut him off, frustrated to the point of tears.

"Uh oh! That's not very nice!" Wiggly chided.

"Just... shut up!" Hannah groaned.

"Fine." Wiggly sighed.

He sat on the edge of her bed for a minute as Hannah remained unmoving, trying to cool off. He dangled his feet for a moment before hopping off and walking over to a bookshelf. He tipped it over, letting everything crash and giggling. He surveyed the ruins, grabbing a small clay structure. He started to nibble on it softly, satisfied with it's taste. At around that precise moment, Lex entered the room. She was immediately drawn to Hannah on the bed. Her brows furrowed, and she sat down on the edge of it, rubbing Hannah's back. She was more confused than anything. Ethan had said she was so happy after getting her dog.

"Hannah Banana... what's wrong?" Lex cooed.

"Nothing... just annoyed." Hannah sighed, pulling the pillow off her head and setting it on the bed. "Teachers think I'm bad 'cause of Mom, don't they?"

"Yeah... yeah, Mom kinda gave us a bad rep." Lex sighed. "We gotta fight hard to make people see we're not her."

"Yeah, but... I don't wanna fight." Hannah grumbled.

"I don't either." Lex admitted. "Soon... we won't need to. Soon we'll have California. We just gotta stick it out and make it through life here until I make enough money to get us out of here."

"Okay." Hannah nodded, biting her lip, staying put.

Lex sighed, looking down at her feet. Sometimes he just didn't know what to say to Hannah. It was then that she noticed Wiggly crunching on the little clay figurine, surrounded by the mess of everything Wiggly had broken. It was one of a dog that Hannah had made at a birthday party when she was younger. She'd named him Bruno. He wasn't so special to *Hannah* anymore, but... it was to Lex. Wiggly and Lex looked each other in the eye for a moment, and Wiggly seemed to freeze, already knowing he was in trouble. Lex's eyes widened both in fear and in shock.

"Hannah... what the fuck is that thing?" Lex tried to ask levelly, but her tone was shaky.

"Oh, that's Wiggly." Hannah shrugged, sitting up. "He's our new dog."

"Banana... that's not a dog." Lex chuckled nervously. "It has fucking tentacles..."

"He's cute!" Hannah giggled. And she genuinely believed that, even if it was a jab at Wiggly. She knew he wouldn't want to be seen as cute. He grumbled at that and she stuck her tongue out at him discreetly.

"Okay... I think we may need to take Wiggly back to the pound." Lex tried to ease gently. "I... don't even fucking know where to begin taking care of him, and clearly you don't either because he's eating Bruno. I mean... look what he did, Banana! Look at your stuff!"

"Wiggly! I told you to stop eating stuff!" Hannah chided.

"Sorry, Banana! I'm just so hungry!" Wiggly whined. "I need to fill my belly-well!"

"Okay... the little noises are cute." Lex chuckled softly. Hannah blinked, confused, before remembering that Lex couldn't hear him. "You can't just tell an animal to do something. You gotta train it."

"Oh." Hannah blinked. "I think... think he's hungry."

"Yeah... we gotta get him some real food." Lex agreed. "Do you know what he eats?"

"Um..." Hannah bit her lip. She gave him a look. He shrugged. She turned to Lex, shrugging. "Clay?"

"This is yummy." Wiggly nodded.

"We can't feed him clay, banana... I don't think anyone can digest it right." Lex laughed. "This is why we should go get a dog! Let the people at the pound deal with this freak of nature!"

"Well that wasn't very friendly!" Wiggly pouted.

"Webby told me this one." Hannah insisted, ignoring Wiggly.

"Really?" Lex groaned, rolling her eyes.

"I dunno why! Said... said we gotta help him get good." Hannah shrugged. "But... Webby said it, so we gotta."

"Maybe... maybe Webby can find someone else to help him get good?" Lex sighed. "Banana, this isn't Disney. We're not Lilo and Stitch."

"Nani." Hannah corrected. "Lilo and Nani. And Ethan's David."

"No, banana. We're not." Lex sighed, shaking her head. "We're Lexie and Hannah and E. And Lexie is already having enough trouble with child services *without* that thing around. I don't know what it is, and I get the feeling that no one does. I don't think he's from around here, banana. We should leave him to be taken care of by someone who knows how to do it right."

"But Webby told me!" Hannah pouted. "Please! Just a week."

"Just a..." Lex muttered, sighing again. She bit her lip. She knew she would be insane to give in. But... she'd also be insane not to. Clearly Hannah was emotionally attached to this. And hey, at the end of the week, she could take the thing back. "Fine. Fine, we can keep him for a week and see how it goes. But if you can't train him to behave in a week, then he goes back to the pound. Deal?"

"Deal!" Hannah beamed. She smirked at Wiggly. "Welcome to the family!"

Wiggly rolled his eyes, putting on the most obviously fake 'smile' Hannah had ever seen on a pet. Clearly, he didn't think he was all that bad. But Webby had thought he needed the help, and Webby was usually right about these things. So whether he wanted to or not, it was now hannah's mission to make him good. She didn't know the half of what she was getting into, or what the week ahead would entail. But neither did Wiggly. Wiggly didn't know the half of what life on earth could do to you. And maybe, just maybe, that was a good thing. Because people can find the most beautiful things right where they least expect them to be.

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Soulmarks, Part 14

First part

Previous

~~~

They followed the butterfly for a pretty good amount of time.

It was a lot harder to do than they’d originally expected, it turns out butterflies are a lot faster than people give them credit for, but their suits kept them going.

Tim was beginning to wonder if the akuma was going to Hawkmoth at all. It could technically just be searching for another akuma victim, there was nothing stopping that from happening as far as he knew. Still, this was their best bet. When were they ever going to get another chance to follow an akuma?

And then it dove behind a wall. The two glanced at each other and then jumped up to perch on top of the stone.

The butterfly fluttered there patiently as the ground opened up to reveal a giant, stained glass butterfly motif. The akuma fluttered through an open window and the hatch closed behind it. The fake grass slowly lowered back down until it looked like just another rich person’s courtyard.

Marinette’s mouth fell open. “Nevermind the Batcave, I want one of those.”

Tim gave her a tired smile.

Her eyes traced over the area to memorize it and then her eyes widened in horror. “Oh shit I’ve been here before.”

He raised his eyebrows.

Marinette didn’t answer his questioning gaze, her hand fumbling to her belt for her yoyo. She flipped it open.

There was a few seconds before Adrien’s face appeared on the screen. He’d clearly just woken up, his blond hair a mess and his eyes squinty as he struggled to look at the bright light his baton must have been emanating.

“Hey, Chaton, come outside for a second. I know it’s your day off, I’m sorry, but… please? It’s serious.”

Adrien grumbled quietly and they heard the bed creak a bit before they lost connection.

Tim frowned and looked at his soulmate. “What do you mean ‘come outside’?” And then his eyes widened. “Is this his house?”

She nodded slightly, her lips drawn in a thin line. She hopped down into the grass and started shuffling around in it, looking for something.

A few minutes later, a window opened and Chat slowly stepped out and made his way over to Marinette.

Tim hesitated from his spot on the fence. He didn’t know Adrien nearly as well as Marinette did, didn’t know Gabriel Agreste at all, did he really have a right to be there when she broke the news?

He didn’t really know, but he figured he should at least go down and try to figure out the mechanism that opened up the ground.

He slowly walked along, scuffing his feet in the fake grass. There had to be a hinge or a crack somewhere...

“ -- t is it?”

Marinette started messing with her yoyo. She was nervous. Understandable, he’d probably be nervous, too, if he was telling a friend that their dad was a supervillain.

“... remember when I joked that your dad had Hawkmoth vibes?”

Adrien raised his eyebrows slightly. “Yeeeaaaah?”

“Well… itturnsouthe’sactuallyHawkmoth.”

He leaned against his baton. “Not funny, Nette.”

“But I’m not joking! Tim and I just saw the ground open up to show his lair! Tell him, Tim!”

Tim gave an awkward shrug. “We did see that, yes.”

“You have to understand how insane that sounds.”

“Yeah, it’s literally so stupid, but we just watched it happen! You have to believe me!”

“Why would I? You hate my dad, obviously you’d want an excuse to kill him. You said it yourself that you’d be fine framing him as Hawkmoth.”

Marinette groaned. “Yes, but that was -- mostly -- a joke! I swear, this actually happened!”

Adrien glared at her. “He’s not a great dad, but that doesn’t mean that he’s evil.”

The ground began to move underneath them and Tim quickly hopped to the side as it began opening up again.

And then his eyes found their way to Marinette and Adrien, who were too angry at each other to even notice the fact that the floor was splitting underneath them.

“I don’t lie! You know that!”

He scoffed. “I could count off millions of lies for this month alone.”

“To spare people’s feelings and keep my identity! That’s different! Why can’t people believe me for just once?!”

Tim cursed. He shouldn’t have used his portals earlier because they would have been really useful right now for getting them out of trouble.

He sprinted across the grass, his hand going to where his utility belt used to sit and raised his eyebrows as he pulled a horseshoe instead. A horseshoe? Really? Who decided on these weapons?

Still, he tossed it at them. It beaned Adrien, who whined as he brought a hand to his head. “The heck was that for?!”

“BECAUSE YOURE NOT PAYING ATTENTION AND THE GROUND IS OPENING UP!” He yelled back.

Tim blinked in shock as the horseshoe came back to him like a boomerang. He stopped cold to catch it, because missing would mean a hit to the face. Well that wasn’t how physics worked.

He probably shouldn’t be shocked about physics being a sham when there was currently a god possessing his glasses, but whatever.

Marinette and Adrien were running to safety, which was all well and good… except now Tim was in the middle and he doubted he could run to the other side in time. He balanced precariously on the lip of the hatch as it slowly swung open.

And then it came to a sudden halt.

He was pitched forward and he screamed as he braced himself to crash through the glass.

A yoyo wrapped around him and he felt his back crack in multiple places as the string was pulled almost suffocatingly tight, but at least he wasn’t falling into Hawkmoth’s lair anymore.

But now there was a new problem.

An akuma fluttered past him and then came to a stop right in front of Marinette and Adrien, who both looked a mixture of angry and terrified, which was perfect for an akuma. So perfect, apparently, that it was having trouble choosing which one of them to akumatize.

Adrien batted at the butterfly as much as he could, trying to buy Marinette time, but it wasn’t all that affected as it dodged every swing of his baton.

Tim’s eyes found Marinette’s.

Marinette needed to let him go to get rid of the impending akuma. Tim knew that. She definitely knew it, too. But she wouldn’t. Because letting him go would mean a fight against Hawkmoth when they were wholly unprepared and, even worse, emotionally vulnerable. They’d lose for sure.

But not letting go meant one of them was about to be akumatized. Which wasn’t a great thing, either.

He watched her eyes flick from him to the akuma to Adrien and then back to him again.

Tears spilled over the front of her mask and the butterfly finally decided, fluttering towards her.

She cursed and pulled him to land hastily.

And then the butterfly touched her earrings.

~~~

Next part

Taglist

@pawsitivelymiraculous @golden-promises @salty-fang @kitsunebell @sassakitty @octobitch @glastwime859 @miyla-lokidottir @onlyabatfan @ira-sairain @2confused-2doanything @ultimatetornshipper @ladybug-182 @laurcad123 @we-want-mini-mini @roguishredaxion @just-reblogs-by-h @futursworld @magic-miraculous @nathleigh @smolplantmum @vroomtaka  @emimar7 @toodaloo-kangaroo @charme-de-malchan @spicybelladonna @fusser90 @indecisive-mess-named-me @rosesgonerogue @celestialsiren @bluesimani @loysydark

[needs-to-stop-looking-at-yigas]

This blog <3 I go back to re-read everything when I need to smile! So... while re-reading the spanking one, I noticed Kohga says he's into being treated like a degenerate. Consider... Kohga ordering Sooga to reverse roles and just really *use* Kohga for a day. Tease him, rough him up, use him.... treat him like a degenerate, as Master Kohga likes!

Translation; make Sooga a fucking top and make Kohga take it. I gotchu, I gotchu

"Sooga! Get in here!"

Sooga entered the napping spot, as Kohga commanded. He was hesitant the second he saw what Kohga was reading. The rumor mill, written by some mad woman named Traysi. He’d never met her, and he’d like to keep it that way. She wrote nothing but gossip, horoscopes, and just stuff that numbs your brain. It was sad, how much Kohga LOVED her work. However, he tried not to sigh, knowing damn well what was coming.

“Yes, Master Kohga.”

“Traysi just printed out this new relationship couple advice column, and it’s SUCH a great idea, we’re gonna do it!”

“I’m scared to ask, but what is it we’re doing exactly?”

Kohga got off the bed, and held the page to Sooga, as if he was proud to show it off. Sooga glanced over the small column, and to some it up, it said ‘trade roles for the day. Trade chores, routines, and positions ;)’. Sooga cocked his head to the bit.

“So...you do all MY chores for a day? And I do yours?”

“Yep! For a whole day! Starting right now!”

Sooga stood there for a moment, before he damn near pouted.

“I already don’t like this.”

“Oh come on! Give it a shot, for me! Please, Sooga.”

“...if it’s for you. I suppose I can try.”

“Atta boy! So, what is it YOU do around this time?”

Sooga thought about it for a moment, counting them on his fingers as he listed them off.

“Right now? I train the foot soldiers, I make sure their rooms are clean, I re set the traps, I feed the keese, I check inventory, and of course I make notes for you to review. I was about to get started on all of that when you summoned me.”

Kohga clearly didn’t like the idea of all of that work, but didn’t say a thing as he just slowly nodded.

“Alright. That’s not THAT bad I guess-”

“That’s within the hour. But you’re Master Kohga, surely you can handle it. I’m more worried about MY tasks I’m supposed to do.”

Kohga put his hands on his hips, and motioned outside.

“Oh it’s terrible. You have to sit in the kitchen, eat a full meal, and take a LONG nap after you do an hour of training.”

“...I like one of those three things.”

“I like none of YOUR things. Except knowing we’re doing something new. So, let’s go.”

Kohga was about to walk out, when Sooga’s words suddenly halted him.

“Wait a moment. So...I essentially get to do what I want?”

“I mean...yeah, I guess? I mean don’t milk it but-”

“Let me hold your hand and call you precious.”

Kohga looked around, as if expecting a joke, but received no such thing. He sighed, putting his hand into his, and let Sooga look at him in absolute awe for a good second.

“Happy?”

“You are so precious, and I love you.”

“Holy shit you’re a sap. Can I go and get started? This shit is already a lot, and your food is getting cold.”

Sooga let him go, but already missed him. Oh well. He could power through the day. Right?

------------------------

“I. Fucking. Hate. Your. Life.”

“I didn’t want to be rude, but I do too.”

Kohga had done nothing but WORK. Filing reports, re setting traps, making sure everything was in line and in order, and THEN, and THEN, he had to write all this shit down. He plopped down right on top of Sooga, who looked like he was suffering just as much.

“How was training?”

“Awful. I never ate so much in one setting, and I’ve never made myself sleep so often in the day. SEVERAL times. I feel bloated, exhausted.”

“My body hurts with all this bullshit. I forgot how many traps we got around this bitch. I...kinda forget how much you do around here. AND with me bossing you around to boot.”

Sooga chuckled, lightly patting his back.

"You bossing me around is the best part of my day. If anything, my days would be longer without you."

Kohga chuckled, lightly thunking his forehead against his chest. It was exhausting, but in a way, he was happy they did it. He liked seeing just how much work Sooga went through on the daily. Not just for the clan, but for him. Kohga was about ready to take a nap, when Sooga cupped his face in his hand, lightly squishing it, just how HE would do.

“You know, as much as I’d hate to have to do your daily things...I think there is SOME merit to this activity. I have a new...perspective on something. A different thing that needs to be taken care of.”

Sooga strummed his finger up his chest, before lightly tapping his mask. Kohga sat there, confused for a moment, before he laughed.

“Sooga! You talkin’ what I think you’re talkin?”

“Quite. We’ve both had a long day. Besides, it’s your job to do what I want, isn’t it?”

“Ah, gettin’ smart with me! Alright, you lay on your-”

Sooga held his finger up, and Kohga was silenced, mostly because he was stunned. This fucker was doing HIS bit! The balls on this guy! Kohga folded his arms across his chest, trying not to pout, and forced himself to be silent. Sooga was letting the power get to his head, and Kohga...kinda liked it. Sooga tried not to be too giddy as he continued.

“I make the choices. Now, I do believe you’re supposed to be my big, strong bodyguard, act like it.”

Kohga was trying not to burst into tears, and Sooga was damn near trying the same. Kohga puffed up his chest, holding his arms to the side like a Lynel.

“Right, I’m stupid, thick, and so emotionally constipated because I have my head up my ass.”

Sooga scoffed, clearly not impressed with his impersonation. But it seemed as though two could play at this game. Sooga suddenly laid back, right across Kohga’s lap, leg up in the air, and the back of his palm against his forehead.

“Oh! I’m so great despite my commitment issues! Look at my GREAT legs!”

“Aw, you think I have nice legs?”

“Everyone thinks you have nice legs.”

Kohga cupped his cheek, and for a moment, Kohga felt himself swooning. It was so rare to see Sooga as NOT a stick in the mud for a chance. It was rare to see him...be a person. Kohga was about to call the whole thing off, get some cuddle time in as a reward, when suddenly Sooga had him on his stomach, head pushed against the pillow. His breath was husky against his ear, and Kohga swore it made everything in him tingle.

"You remember our safe word, right?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Good. Because I'm going to play with my fussy kitty till he's finally satisfied."

Sooga loomed over him, locking their legs together, as if Kohga would try to run from him. Sooga was still nervous, given the few seconds of hesitation in between his words and his actions, but Kohga wouldn’t discredit him for that, not when he was honestly trying his best, not when he was going way out of his comfort zone. Sooga kept his hand over his mouth, while his other hand dug deep into the flesh of his ass. Kohga moaned gratefully into his palm, already mentally ready to clock out. Sooga knew just how to touch his ass, and he loved it.

"Open."

Kohga obeyed, opening his mouth and accepting two of Sooga's fingers. He suckled on them, the same way he would for a cock, and it clearly made Sooga a bit nervous. Him being a top was usually instigated by jealousy, or high affection. When it was a pure swapping of roles...well, Sooga was doing his best to stay calm. Kohga peeled his lips away for a moment, kissing his palm, and letting him know it was okay. Sooga took a sigh of relief, before shoving them back in, a bit forcefully.

"Keep sucking, I didn’t say stop."

Kohga nodded, slurping and suckling, just how he knew best. It helped that Kohga was plenty hard now, given the way Sooga was playing with his ass. He tore his fingers away after a moment, watching his drool coated hand, before Kohga heard the tear of fabric. Sooga was so impatient sometimes, opting for destroying his clothes instead of just taking them off.

"God dammit Sooga, stop ripping-"

"Did I say you can FUCKING talk?"

Sooga delivered a harsh slap on his ass, making Kohga jump. He was still for a moment as pleasure rocketed up his spine. Oh that was a GOOD fucking slap. Sooga sputtered, thinking it had gone too far, when Kohga nodded.

"I'm sorry, I'll be good, I promise."

ANYTHING to get a nice, dominant slap to his ass like that again. Sooga sighed in relief, before slipping his wet fingers into his ass, massaging and stretching his asshole. It felt good, sure, but Kohga was so impatient. Though, Sooga knew that.

"Stop squirming."

"Come on Sooga, you know I don't need prep-"

"Who said this was for you?"

Sooga delivered another strike on his ass, this time making Kohga cry out like a wounded animal. Right on the same spot, oh so hard and oh so sensitive. Sooga's breath was right at his ear.

"This is for me. I like watching how your ass takes it. Now sit there, look pretty, and stop interrupting. Understand?"

Kohga nodded quickly, fingers gripped onto the pillow below him. He sat there, cock throbbing as Sooga massaged his asshole, occasionally delivering swift strikes to his ass. It was like hypnosis, each slap bringing Kohga's mind closer to that lust fueled daze he loved so much. One that made him take it, one that made his mind blank, and his mouth loud. By the time Sooga stopped to admire his work, Kohga was a shaking, horny, drooly mess. He'd take anything in him at this point, and it excited them both. Sooga pulled himself out of his uniform, and laid back on the bed. He patted his lap.

"Up here, kitten. Your turn to do some work."

Kohga shakily forced himself to move onto his lap. He was about to face him and hop on, when Sooga motioned him to turn around. Right, he liked reverse cowgirl, because he was a pervert who liked looking at his ass. He obeyed and turned, holding onto his legs as he slowly sat on his cock. Oh that hit just the spot. Kohga loved cock. He needed it. Needing knowing a big, handsome man was inside of him. And it was why Kohga didn’t move slowly. He moved fast, ass smacking against Sooga as he rode that cock, taking it as quickly and as deep as he could.

"Oh FUCK Sooga, that's the-SHIT!!"

He found himself trembling as Sooga smacked his ass again, nice and hard, with an open palm.

"Keep riding me. Because you don't get to cum until I do."

"B-but-"

"I. Said. Ride. My. Cock. NOW."

Another slap to his ass. Kohga knew he couldn't sit right for a week after this, and he didn't at all care. He still rode him, desperately trying to ignore not only his throbbing cock, but Sooga’s MANY strikes across his ass. Sooga was being so rough with him; striking his ass, occasionally digging his fingers inside his flesh. Then, he suddenly grinded it to a halt.

"Stop."

Kohga grumbled angrily, close to damn near kicking his legs in frustration.

"Dear god WHAT?"

"Move slow."

"B-but-"

"Move. Slow. I want to see it slow. Now, or NEITHER of us are cumming."

Kohga grumbled bitterly, before he forced himself to obey. He moved himself slowly on his cock, letting Sooga watch as his ass inhaled his cock. It was agony, not putting this gerth to proper use. He had no idea how long he was sitting here in agony, but it was enough to make Kohga whine. He wanted his pulsing cock in him, and he wanted it now. Then Sooga decided he had, after a long, LONG while of this slow show, that his Master finally deserved the good shit.

"I cum first. If you cum before me, I am going to be VERY. Angry."

Sooga grabbed the back of his head, and pushed. He was suddenly on top of him again, starting to slam into his ass with that hard, fast pace Kohga was oh so gratefully accepting. As if that wasn't enough. As if that cock pounding at his back door wasn't enough. Sooga wrapped his arm around his face, muffling his cries as his mouth and nose, with his armpit. His hot, sweaty, stinking armpit.

"You want to cum. Wait. I said, wait."

Oh it was so hard. He was leaking precum like a faucet, Sooga smelled just how a man should, SOUNDED like a man should, and FUCK like a man should. Kohga was damn near to tears, wanting to just cum right on Sooga’s cock. Then, in an act of mercy, finally came, pouring his seed into his ass. Oh the way he moaned in his ear. Without shame, without his usual politeness. It was demanding, it was DOMINANT. The second Sooga was done, Kohga swore he saw stars as he too, came. Oh how his cock throbbed as he stained the sheets below. They sat there, panting, sweating messes of men. Sooga chuckled, pecking his cheek.

"Are you...alright-"

"I love you. Holy SHIT I love you."

Sooga damn near snorted, shaking his head.

"I love you too. You wish to stay there for a bit longer?"

"...please."

"Of course, Kohga. You stay there as long as you wish."

Sooga would give Traysi one thing. She definitely helped their change of perspective.

[itsamejin]

leave me || part 4 || suga angst || finale

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3

Warning: angst, cheating, cursing

Summary: He’s cheating and you’re aware. You just don’t know what to do about it.

–

Yoongi sat in front of Jieun’s high-rise apartment complex on a bench, suffering from the cold but ultimately unfazed. The argument that occurred only hours before hurt more than this. The tears had dried by then and the only thing that was stopping him from making his way up to her penthouse suite was the terrible numbness in his heart. 

He felt so emotionally exhausted from what happened just a few hours earlier that he found himself in front of her apartment without much thought. It was like instinct to always come back here in the middle of the night. No matter if he was drunk or stressed, Jieun’s apartment would always be the place Yoongi found himself in. 

He always came after a late night of drinking or after a particularly heated argument with you. He felt safer with her, but now Yoongi wonders if he’ll ever get a chance to right his wrongs if he didn’t break up with Jieun- to expose his wrongdoings and have a clean break. Somehow the thought of letting her go too made his heart clench even more.

Yoongi made his way into the lobby and with several deep breaths, finally got in the elevator. He pressed the button to the highest floor where Jieun resided.

The doors opened and it was then he realized that there was no turning back. Jieun was in her own living room, back facing Yoongi, as she scrolled through her phone with a wine glass in hand. She jumped slightly at the sound of the elevator opening and smiled when she saw that it was Yoongi who came up.

“Yoongi! You should have called,” she said excitedly, turning off her phone.

“I wanted it to be a surprise,” he said, sorrow slightly hinted in his voice.

“Are you feeling better now, babe?” she asked as she walked up to him, wine glass still in hand. She pulled him into a short embrace and sighed into his shoulder.

“I’ve missed you,” she said quietly.

For a moment, Yoongi forgot about the argument that happened earlier. That all was right in the world and that he had both you and her by his side. He felt so selfish at that moment, but it was the truth. His feelings were so muddled he couldn’t choose between the two of you. Yoongi knew he loved you, he was sure of it. But it was something in the way Jieun carried herself that took Yoongi’s breath away just the same. He felt a lump in his throat form as he thought of it.

It should’ve been then when he confessed to Jieun of all his wrongdoings. It should have been then when he got down on his knees and begged for forgiveness- and yet the way she stared up at him without a hint of disgust or sadness had only reminded him that at least Jieun still loved him. Irrevocably and without question, Jieun was still in love with Yoongi.

Maybe that’s why instead of spilling his heart out to her, Yoongi took her wine glass and gulped it down for himself and sat it aside on a nearby table. Maybe that’s why instead of leaving the apartment with any semblance of pride left, he took Jieun by the waist and kissed her deeply. Maybe instead of leading Jieun back into the living room and pushing her down onto the couch, he could’ve told her that he had knowingly broken her heart.

But Yoongi knew what kind of person he was and so he didn’t utter a single word after. Instead, Yoongi undressed Jieun to distract himself from his own guilt.

–

Sitting at home with your chin tucked between your knees, you replayed the conversation with Yoongi from just a few hours ago. You should have at least apologized, you thought. He did deserve an explanation at the very least, but you were too caught up in your own heated emotions that you lashed out on him. How could you expect him to know what you were going through without telling him first?

No, you sighed. He deserved it.

You stood up from the comfort of your couch and raided your fridge for ice cream. It seemed to be your best friend for the past few weeks. Instead of immediately grabbing the large tub from the freezer, the sight of frozen crab sticks next to it almost brought you to tears. It reminded you so much of your first date with Yoongi all those years ago at a sushi place where you ended up paying because his check from his part-time job hadn’t come in yet. 

It was much simpler back then. He didn’t have to wear hats or masks to go out on dates. He didn’t have this facade that he was someone better than he truly was. Yoongi was just Yoongi and that’s all you could’ve asked from him.

The number of times he apologized for not being able to pay for such a cheap date brought a small smile to your face. Yoongi made it up to you later that day by taking you to a secret rooftop spot to watch the sunset together. The first time you ever felt his lips on yours, the first time you felt like love would actually last.

You banged your head against your fist to get rid of the sweet images of him in your mind.

“For the love of God, please forget about him,” you muttered to yourself repeatedly. Without even realizing, you shed tears as you gripped the freezer handle with a new purpose. You stood there crying and crying until your mother walked downstairs to see what all the commotion was in the middle of the night. She rushed over to you.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” she asked worriedly.

“I hate him,” you said, trying to convince yourself of something that wasn’t true. “I hate him so much.”

You hoped that he was alone in that stupid apartment, crying to himself and hurting just as much as you. That he regretted every single mistake he made and that his sins would live with him forever. You wished for him to hate himself as much as you hated him.

“Baby it’s alright,” she cooed. “Things will get better. They always do.”

God, you hope it will.

–

The morning came and the guilt came with it. Yoongi stroked Jieun’s hair, as they laid on the couch, nothing but a silk blanket between them. As he stared at the penthouse’s beautiful view of Seoul, he tried to ignore his clothes strewn across the floor. He shouldn’t have come in the first place if all he was going to do was hurt her even more. He tried to get up as silently as he could, but Jieun felt his warm presence leave and attempted to have him lay back down.

“Don’t go yet or I’ll miss you again,” she muttered cutely, her eyes closed and cheeks puffed. He chuckled sadly and pulled her up with him. He held onto her and smiled.

“I’m just gonna go to the restroom, okay?” he said softly, trying to move the stray hairs away from her face. Jieun nodded, but her eyes were still closed.

Yoongi stood up as she collapsed back onto the couch, the thin blanket covering her naked form. He sighed as he grabbed his boxers and gray sweatpants from the ground and put it on. Just a little while longer and then he’d tell her. He was sure that he would.

As Yoongi brushed his teeth and washed his face, he noticed how red his eyes were from the night before. No wonder Jieun had looked so concerned for him yesterday, he looked like a fucking mess. 

Yoongi took a deep breath as he studied his reflection once again. He was thankful that Jieun still took him in and comforted him without question, that she had that much loyalty towards him. Yoongi wished he could have reciprocated the amount of love either of you gave him.

Yoongi rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands. He didn’t want to lose her too. 

When Yoongi walked back into the living room, all semblance of contentment washed away because Jieun was there, clearly awake and somewhat dressed, holding a ring that he should not have brought with him in the first place. After you stormed off without it, he had put it in his pocket without thinking. He saw Jieun’s clenched jaw and angry pupils. There was no way he could avoid this situation.

“What are you doing?” he asked as kindly as he could.

“Why do you have this ring?” Jieun asked rigidly, looking back and forth between the ring and Yoongi. “It’s too small for you.”

Yoongi pursed his lips as he walked closer towards her.

“Listen, Jieun,” he started slowly, “I have to tell you something.”

Jieun knew where this was going. She had a feeling ever since Jin told her off that one night. Actually, she might have had a feeling even before then when he started his bar-hopping escapades and coming to her apartment drunker than usual. It was all leading to one thing and one thing only.

“What’s going on Yoongi?” she asked as she put down the ring on her coffee table. She stood up to meet eyes with him.

Yoongi took a deep breath. There was no real way of saying this without it hurting. He was prepared right then for her to slap him in the face.

“I had a girlfriend before you and I started dating,” he eased in, gauging her reaction that quickly turned sour. “And I never broke up with her... I just...”

It took every part of herself to not collapse onto the floor. The pain was unbearable. It seared into her as she looked into his cloudy eyes. Cheating was one thing. Being the second girl was another. In some sick way, Jieun felt dirty.

“I’ve been cheating on her with you,” he said shakily. “And I regret it so, so much.”

She stared at him, sadness and disgust laced in her gaze. Jieun couldn’t help but bite her lip to stop it from quivering. She felt trapped in her own home. As she looked up at Yoongi, he looked like a different person altogether. Not the caring and compassionate senior who showed her around his studio, not the silly boy who’d play with her pinky toe as they played a horror movie that both he and her were too afraid to watch. Before her eyes, she didn’t see the Yoongi who seemed invincible to the world’s judgment and prejudices. Instead, she saw a broken man with tired eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

“You regret being with me?” she asked, trying to appear strong but her shaky voice had given it away.

He shook his head frantically, kneeling beside her.

“No, not that. Never that,” he said, trying to take her hand but having it pushed away. “I shouldn’t have hurt either of you. That’s what I regret.”

“How long,” she asked quietly and continued on when he looked confused. “How long were you with her before you met me?”

It seemed like a pointless question. He cheated point black period. There would be no silver lining to this, she thought. She just wanted to know how long she was ruining another girl’s life.

“I was with her before I even became a trainee,” he said in a whisper. “I was with her for six years.”

It was then she heard the sound of her own heart breaking. Any semblance of hope had drained from her eyes. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“How could you?” she whimpered as she pushed him even further away, getting up from the couch. “Yoongi, how could you do that to her? How could you do that to me?”

He closed his eyes to compose himself. His throat was dry. All he wanted was a glass of water, but he had to keep talking. He needed to fix things.

"We should break up,” he said, although every part of his body screamed to stop talking. “You deserve so much better.”

She nodded in agreement, but a small part of her wanted him to stay. To crawl onto his knees and tell her that he chose her.... that he loved her more.

“I think you should go,” she said, turning her back towards him.

“I should,” he agreed. He stood up and grabbed his coat from the floor. Yoongi walked towards her slowly. It took every part of himself not to completely collapse on her body and ask for a second chance, but Yoongi knew that he didn’t deserve it. Jieun was too good for him and you were too. 

As a last goodbye, Yoongi embraced her from behind and kissed the back of her head. She didn’t have the energy to push him off. Even if she was disgusted with Yoongi, she missed this. Jieun missed thinking that she was the only girl in Yoongi’s world. As she stood there, with her eyes closed, it felt like just a few minutes ago when they weren’t fighting.

Yoongi cried into her shoulder.

“I know it’s selfish that I’m saying this all right now, but I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry. Nothing about what I did was your fault.”

He gulped as he heard her let out a sob.

“I love you, Jieun. I loved you so much when I shouldn’t have.”

The two stood there, clutching each other as if their life depended on it. There was something she couldn’t quite shake off and she needed to know.

“What’s her name?” Jieun asked.

He pulled away sadly and tried to look into her eyes but she avoided contact.

“Why?”

“Just tell me, Yoongi.”

He sighed and let her go hesitantly.

“[Y/N].”

It was the sound of your name that had made Jieun ball up her fists in anger. She collapsed to the floor hugging her knees as she cried into them. There really was no going back was there?

“You told me she was your sister,” she sobbed.

Yoongi crouched next to her and cried onto her back.

“I’m sorry,” he would say repeatedly until the words no longer held any meaning to her.

–

It didn't get easier as the days passed. You thought the blunt piercing in your chest would eventually fade, but three weeks after that conversation and it was still hard to get out of bed in the morning. Just a week before, Big Hit had announced Yoongi and Jieun breaking up from “busy schedules” and “bad timing.” You knew better, though... you just hoped Jieun was the one to break it off, not him.

You sighed deeply to yourself as you picked out clothes to wear later that day. You were finally heading back to work after weeks of paid sick leave, unable to come to work as you recovered from the illness that was Min Yoongi. You desperately needed a cup of coffee, but your parents refused to carry anymore around because they didn’t like the smell of it. I’ll just have to go to a cafe, you thought to yourself. 

After getting dressed, you called a cab to the nearest cafe that was within walking distance from your workplace. The eye-bags that haunted your face was still visible, but the taxi driver was kind enough to not point them out.

You ordered your usual and watched as yet another couple sat down at a table, drooling over themselves as they fed each other cute cakes and tiny sandwiches. You scoffed at the lovely pairs that surrounded you. Call it pessimism or bitterness, but you couldn’t stand the sight of couples that resembled your past relationship so much.

“Number 53, number 53,” the worker at the counter called. You made your way to grab your drink until a hand that reached out first got a hold of it before you. The fingers looked familiar and the scent of the person was just too distinct to ignore. You looked up and was met with a masked figure wearing sunglasses.

Jieun.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry I thought he said 64,” she said as she pulled her hand away. She hadn’t quite looked at you yet, but when she did, you swore hell froze over. She stared at you blankly and you couldn’t quite decipher what was going on in her mind. The glasses were tinted so black that you couldn’t even see her eyes underneath.

“You’re [Y/N] right?” she asked cautiously, tucking a strand of her hair back.

You nodded as you finally grabbed the drink from the counter. You took a sip from it. Bitter.

“I’m Jieun,” she said softly. “But I think you already know that.”

You could see in her eyes that she wanted to reach out and shake your hand, but it already felt a little too late to do that.

“Yeah,” you replied back curtly not knowing how to continue the conversation.

“Actually, I’m glad I bumped into you,” she said, apprehension laced in her voice. “I wanted to talk... about Yoongi.”

You sighed and checked the time on your watch. It wouldn’t be another hour until your shift started and you felt like you needed to hear what Jieun wanted to say anyways.

“I’m free for a bit.”

She smiled sadly towards you and took off her sunglasses to reveal tired eyes.

Jieun led you a table in the corner of the cafe, hidden by various plants. It was then that she took off her face mask. She looked exhausted, resembling you quite a bit just a few weeks before. She looked at you, searching for a way to start the much-needed conversation.

“[Y/N],” she said hesitantly. “I found out the day after I bumped into you. Yoongi told me everything after I found your ring on him.”

You stared up at her, unable to take a sip out of your coffee. “And?” you asked, more curious than infuriated.

You could tell she was about ready to cry. You wanted to comfort her, truly you did, but maybe it was the bitterness that stopped you from reaching out to her.

“I’m sorry, [Y/N]. I can’t help but feel like it’s my fault.”

You shook your head in understanding.

“I thought it was my fault too, but it’s not. Yoongi dug his own grave, Jieun,” you replied reassuringly. 

She chuckled slightly.

“But you know what the crazy thing is?” she asked hesitantly.

“What?”

Jieun took a moment to herself as she stared down at her fingers, fiddling with them nervously.

“I miss him, [Y/N] and I feel like I’m going crazy,” she said shakily. “Every time I see him in real life I can’t help but feel like I need him back in my life. I just... I don’t think I can live without him.”

It seemed that Jieun had grown codependent on Yoongi throughout the months they were together. It was unfortunate, but you could definitely relate to her. You were once like that at one point in your life, choosing to still be with him even though he had another woman.

“You don’t need him as much as you think you do Jieun,” you said, taking her hand from across the table into yours. “Trust me.”

You don’t really know who you were trying to convince. You weren’t even fully over Yoongi yet and here you were, offering advice to the other girl that contributed to your broken heart.

She sighed shakily and shook her head.

“I know it’s stupid. I know I shouldn’t forgive him, but I love him so much,” she said, clenching your hand into hers. 

You took out a handkerchief and gave it to Jieun, wiping away her tears with it. Her eye makeup slightly getting smudged. 

“You’re a strong girl Jieun,” you said sternly. “And you’ll be so much better off without him.”

She stared up into your eyes and chuckled slightly.

“I hope so. You seem to be doing fine,” she replied.

If she only knew.

–

Four years later... 

Your small conversation with Jieun had stuck with you throughout the years, never really escaping your mind. The two of you never saw each other again and to your dismay, Jieun did end up getting back together with Yoongi two years after the incident. They created waves in the Korean media, for weeks their love story was plastered everywhere The first celebrities to admit a reconciliation! The headlines alone made you want to gag.

It was another two years later since your least favorite couple got back together when they announced their happy engagement. You shouldn’t have been angry. In fact, it made you upset that you were even getting worked up over something that happened four years ago. It was still fresh in your memory. The nights Yoongi spent with her, the tears you cried, the youth you had given up for him. 

It was hard to admit that deep down inside, you never truly got over Min Yoongi. He’d send you flowers every year on your anniversary date with cards that said “I’m sorry” but he never contacted you at all other than that. He followed through with your wishes to never see him again and you were thankful for that. 

Sometimes, when the loneliness was too unbearable, you’d wish he was hurting just as bad as you. You hoped that Jieun was just a distraction and that she never fully replaced the amount of love and acceptance you gave him. 

It made your blood boil at the thought of Yoongi enjoying his life on a beautiful penthouse with a gorgeous and naive girlfriend at his side and praise from all of his fans. No one knew about you and no one will ever know. You could never truly forgive Yoongi for what he had taken away from you, but you still propped the flowers up near your window every time he sent them.

You tried to get over him several times and date other people, but the trust issues you carried from your previous relationship were never really resolved. You were never one for one night stands and long term relationships were a hassle too. You were stuck in this in-between area in your life where nothing really felt right and no one ever filled the void that Yoongi left in you.

You were starting to worry that no one ever would.

–

You walked down the streets of Seoul, coming back to visit from Daegu for a college reunion. Everyone was married and couldn’t stop talking about it. You got an old colleague’s phone number that you didn’t plan on calling and everyone asked you about your mysterious ex-boyfriend they never got to meet. Needless to say, you were craving to find a place that served the strongest alcohol. 

You found one, neatly tucked away in one of the various city alleyways, playing loud pop music and reruns of old sitcoms on the television. Alone at a table for two, pouring yourself soju until your heart stopped hurting as much as it did and the exhaustion had numbed.

It wasn’t like you hated your life. You traveled frequently with your high-paying job and you lived comfortably by yourself in Daegu. Your friends often told you that you smiled brighter than you did before and your parents stopped worrying about you just as much. 

It was just the idea of Jieun wearing a ring that could have been yours... it made you sick to your stomach. It just wasn’t fair. Were you supposed to forgive him? Were you supposed to live the rest of your life never truly trusting him? 

No. You were sure you made the right decision then. It’s just, during nights like these, you wondered if the hollow feeling in your heart was from you still loving him or the bitterness that came with leaving such a long term relationship.

“[Y/N]?”

You heard your name in the sea of people around you and it came from someone that you no longer recognized.

“Yoongi,” you slurred, staring directly at the man who walked towards you. Just like Jieun on that day, he had on sunglasses and a face mask. His voice was still the same, but it sounded foreign to you.

“Crazy I ran into you here,” he said awkwardly.

“Yeah.”

It looked like he had something to say and it made you antsy.

“I actually wanted to see you,” he said softly, taking the seat across from you. “I was gonna visit home and drop by your parent’s place.”

“I don’t live there anymore,” you said, grabbing your shot glass and pouring another drink.

“I know. Your friends told me,” he said shyly. “You get the flowers fine, right?”

You stared up at him. Despite his disguise, you could tell he was happy and not the kind that was temporary or disingenuous. He legitimately looked like life had dealt him a lucky hand and that made you chug down the soju much more quickly.

“What did you want to see me for?” you said, signaling to one of the servers to give you another bottle. Third one for the night. 

“I wanted to give you this,” he said pulling out a small card from the inside of his coat pocket. It didn’t take a genius to know what it was. 

A wedding invitation.

You scoffed quietly and took it in your hand, opening it carefully as to not stain it with alcohol. The colors were minty and showcased a lovely photo of Yoongi and Jieun in front of a tall forest, looking into each other’s eyes longingly. It hurt to admit, but they were in love. You missed when Yoongi looked at you like that.

“I don’t have any ill intentions giving you this,” he started, realizing the sour look on your face. “I want you to come because you were my best friend before you were my girlfriend. You were with me through thick and thin and I’ll forever be grateful for that.”

You couldn’t see his eyes through the sunglasses, but you could tell he was being truthful. It warmed your heart, just a little, but it also made you want to cry. Whenever you imagined a wedding, you had always seen Yoongi and you walking down that aisle together. That it would be your dad that led you to him and that his cute nephew would hand you two the rings. That you would be the one he’d recite his vows to. It’s crazy how this was where you two were now, in a shady pub talking as if you were strangers.

You set the invitation down and pushed the shot glass away from you.

“Yoongi, I don’t want to go,” you said as calmly as you could. It was better to be honest in these situations than regret it later on.

He only nodded back in response, knowing that you’d refuse his offer.

“That’s okay,” he said sadly. “I don’t want to force you. Just know that you’re welcome to come. I want you there and Jieun does too.”

You sighed. Yoongi felt like a different person. Whether it was a character development or him being overly polite, you didn’t like the idea of him being civil.

“Is that all you wanted to talk about?”

He shook his head.

“No,” he replied. “I actually wanted to thank you instead of apologizing this time.”

You tilted your head out of curiosity.

“Thank me? For what?”

If he was going to say thank you for tolerating his unfaithfulness so that he could eventually get married to his mistress, you swore you’d have punched him in the mouth. But he didn’t say that. Because like it or not, Yoongi did change. 

“I wanted to thank you for being supportive of me, even when I had nothing,” he said. “And thank you for not forgiving me.”

“Why would you thank me for that?” you asked, slightly tense.

He smiled a bit.

“I needed to be single for a while to figure out what was wrong with me,” he chuckled slightly. “Jieun and I only got back together after I started attending AA meetings. I learned a lot there.”

You nodded your head in understanding, swigging around the soju bottle and wondering why the server had not come back with a new one yet. You had only tolerated him up to that point because you were tipsy, but now that you were sobering up, all you wanted to do was pour a drink over him.

“I’m really sorry for everything,” Yoongi said solemnly.

You glanced at him. It would be okay to lie just a little, right?

“You don’t need to apologize anymore Yoongi,” you said, rolling your eyes slightly. “I got over it pretty quickly.”

You enjoyed the slight look of pain that Yoongi had on him, even through the face mask. 

“That’s good [Y/N],” he said. “You deserve way more than what I gave to you.”

You were just about to reply when his phone went off from a call notification. He looked at you apologetically and stood up. 

“I have to leave, [Y/N], but call me if you ever need anything.”

Before answering the call, he waited a bit and sighed.

“It’s the least I could do for you,” he said quietly.

Even if you were to ask him to come back, beg to him on the spot that you’d give anything to be with him again, you knew that he’d kindly reject because you knew that Yoongi’s love was long gone by now and even when he was cheating you felt it wane a bit. You scoffed at your own heart breaking as you stared at his walking silhouette.

When Yoongi left, the new soju bottle you requested for finally came. And somehow, as you popped the lid open, you started to cry. The tears in your eyes were enough to fill the shot glass in your hand.

You wished that you could hate him, but your heart wouldn’t let you.... because he was still Yoongi and you were still you. 

At one point in your life, that used to be enough.

–

A/N:  Finally done! I hope y'all are okay with this ending. I knew that I didn’t want it to be the stereotypical “I’m better without him” because sometimes that’s just not realistic.

I don’t really know what to do after this so please send requests in my ask box I’m dying to write angst. Thank you all for the numerous support, I read all of your comments in the ask box and they always bring a smile to my face! I appreciate it very much <3

Tags:  @jaiuneamesolitaiire @milady-mira @somewhereinthestarss @yunkibts @cuteipat @xanny91 @mllelise

[dirt-cup-draco]

Sirius x Reader- Everyone But Me

Can u please do young!sirius x reader in which the reader is friends with Lily and the marauders. And in an attempt to try and see if Lily has any feelings for James, u flirt with James. And James being James goes along with it, also bc he knows Sirius likes u and he thinks it’s funny. Which does in fact not only make Lily jealous but also Sirius. Could the reader also be mega bffs with Rem please? I’m just a slut for jealous Sirius. I’m glad ur feeling better, I love you pumpkin

“I can’t believe you!” You giggled, head resting in the crook of Remus’ neck as you lost your composure. The marauders were devilish on and off the quidditch pitch and you weren’t going to tell anyone that peter had been muttering curses underneath his breath to throw off the Slytherin seeker while James worked on winning the game. 

“It was harmless, really, we would’ve won the game regardless,” Sirius chimed in, tossing his arm around you and pulling you from Remus’ side into his own as he fought back the small twang of jealousy he felt. He knew that Remus had his eye on that McKinnon girl that Lily was so fond of but he couldn’t help it. He loved that you were close with everybody he cared about. Sirius couldn’t ever fall for someone who wouldn’t give his friends a chance, but he also felt fear.

Fear that he wasn’t good enough in comparison to them. Remus was kindhearted and intelligent, possessing a calm and intelligence that Sirius thought he’d never have. Peter was in his head but he had good intentions and was cute, Sirius didn’t pull off cute well- in his own opinion that was. And then there was James Potter. James, his best friend and the golden boy of gryffindor. 

Which brought him to the whomping willow, hours later, back pressed against the dusty planks within the tree. When it wasn’t being used as a safe haven for Remus during the full moon it was a nice place for them to meet up and spend hours getting up to no good and enjoying their youth. You were all sat in a circle, you sitting directly between Remus and James, Sirius across from you. 

It was a miracle you hadn’t noticed that his eyes had been trained on you since the second you had arrived with a smug smile and firewhisky tucked behind your back to share. 

It was a miracle that Sirius didn’t notice the sly look you sent Lily’s way. You had a gleam in your eye and you finished off the cup of firewhisky you had in your hand, just enjoying the pleasant warmth that had spread through you. It was late and the whomping willow wasn’t the warmest of places as October reached its midpoint. 

“So James, brilliant play today,” You cooed, changing the subject so the focus was on James and James alone. Sirius felt sick but watched in curiosity. 

“Course it was,” James laughed but smiled back, sending a long look to Sirius, assessing him. Sirius was too stuck in his own mind to realize that he was being studied, he didn’t realize that to James the jealousy was clear. 

You watched Lily similarly, finding the way that her expression soured as she watched you, her own jealousy beaming through. Remus watched in amusement. Sirius and Lily were quite possibly the two most emotionally constipated people he had ever met in his life. 

James looked to you for a moment and your lips split into a wide grin, you winked, you actually bloody winked! Sirius felt disturbed but mainly disheartened. He didn’t like watching you express interest in James, he wanted it to be him regardless what James might feel towards you. Which seemed to be similar to your own feelings as he winked back. 

“I did it of course, for you dear Y/N,” James nearly laughed at the painful flirt that made it way past his lips. It was like trying to flirt with his sister, awkard and unnatural. You two had been stuck on a bet of sorts recently. James was adamant that Sirius was head over heels for you and you were certain Lily was begging the universe for James to make the first move, just so she didn’t have to lose her Evans pride by asking him first. 

You set your hand on James’ thigh as you talked, both egging on the other teens in the room that you fancied. It seemed to be too much for Sirius though as he hopped up from his reclined and faux relaxed position. 

“I’ve got to go,” Was all he said before he was running out. Peter looked at you all with shame and Remus snorted, hand held open for James to drop nearly a galleon’s worth of sickles into his waiting palm. Lily raised her brow in question as Marlene sipped at the firewhisky, soaking up the drama. 

“On you go then,” James directed, head jerking towards the entrance. 

You chewed your lip pensively. “I still don’t think you’re right,” 

“Our plan went just like we thought it would so what are you waiting for?” James asked and Lily’s mouth opened to ask but Remus shot her a look that told her she would be finding out very soon. 

“If you’re wrong-” You argued, nervous that Sirius wouldn’t feel the same. What if he did but didn’t now that you had been cruel? Jealousy was a feeling that tied your stomach in knots and made your heart feel like a concrete weight in your chest. If Sirius was feeling anything like that then you didn’t doubt he would be cross with your little game. 

“He’s not,” Remus reassured, hand warm on your back as he sent you an encouraging smile. “Sirius is mad for you, so go to him already.” 

You finally nodded, brushing the dust from your jeans as you chased after the boy that you hadn’t had the guts to tell how you felt without playing childish games. You hoped he wasn’t too upset. 

--

“Hey,” Your voice drifted on the icy breeze, features distorted by the moon’s light being broken up through the clouds above and Sirius froze in his tracks that had been leading anywhere that wasn’t near the whomping willow. “You left pretty quick,” 

You stood a few feet behind him with a perfect smile on your face, concerned about him. He cracked his own smile but if felt cheap and brittle. “Just needed some air, drank too much probably,” 

“You didn’t touch the firewhisky all night,” You pointed out and Sirius watched you intently.

“Guess not,” He shrugged lamely, not offering any explanation as to why he was lying to you. You understood he was hurt, or at least feeling inadequate, and it was up to you to make the first step. 

“Want to talk about it?” You asked, not quite sure what to do now.

“Nothing to talk about,” He couldn’t help the bitter tone. Why tell you how he felt when you clearly fancied James? Why else would you be all over his friend? But... that begged another question. Why were you here and not with James when you had both seemed to be enjoying each other’s flirting? 

“Alright then,” You said, smile stiff but you didn’t seem deterred as you grabbed Sirius’ hand in yours. “If you don’t have something to say, then I do. I’m sorry,” You opened your mouth to say more but it seemed stuck in your throat. 

Sirius could feel your palm, sweaty against his own as you struggled for words. “You’re sorry?” He prompted, not sure why you were apologizing. Your cheeks were red but he chalked it up the buzz and the chill in the air that was pricking at his own skin and undoubtedly battling the sweater you wore and winning. You shivered. 

“I’m sorry for being an idiot, I didnt mean to make you jealous-” 

“I wasn’t jealous!” Sirius immediately squeaked, face hot. 

You laughed. Sirius winced. 

“Whatever you and James are it’s cool, I’m not jealous,” He defended again, shielding his own emotions from you. You were still laughing! Was this funny to you? Sirius tore his hand from yours, making his way back towards the school. 

“Siri!” You sighed, realizing you once again had shared too little. “James and I aren’t anything! It was a trick, a prank, really! I was trying to get Lily to admit she liked James and he was doing the same to you.... Both of us are idiots,” 

Sirius stood still once again but he was almost too nervous to face you as you caught back up to him. “What’s the point? Why make a mockery of us?” 

“I-it wasn’t supposed to be that... I don’t want to mock you, I want you to know I like you, a lot,” 

Sirius scoffed. “Funny way of showing it,” Yet, his defenses had fallen with that one blow. Y/N liked him? Surely she couldn’t mean it. 

“I know,” You sighed, fingers intertwining with his once more as you tugged him to face you, his eyes darting around as he refused to make eye contact. He was trying to keep from looking hopeful in case this was still just one big joke. 

“Why?” He asked.

“I told you silly, because I like you and I’m an idiot and-” 

“No,” Sirius cut you off. “I mean, why me? Why not James? He’s- well he’s just better... Honestly, anyone would be better than me. I like you, oh merlin, I like you, Y/N-”

“But?” You encouraged.

“But you deserve better and anyone else would be a better match...” Sirius continued, trying to keep the hurt out of his tone. “I thought for a while you liked Remus and now James and I- Well I thought you liked everyone but me.” 

To anyone that wasn’t you or the marauders, Sirius would sound indifferent as he admitted his own low self esteem. To you, however, you realized just how stupid it was to make Sirius sit in his self doubt to try and get him to say he liked you instead of just admitting it yourself. 

“James is like my brother,” You wrinkled your nose in mock disgust. “I couldn’t ever feel that way about him! It’s always been you Sirius, I don’t care about anyone else the way I care about you. Remus is my best friend and James and Peter are like my annoying siblings, but that is all. You mean far more to me,” 

Sirius blinked slowly. “But I’m-” 

“Perfect,” You smiled. “In every way,” 

Sirius felt like he’d been punched. 

“So,” You blushed. “All that being said, would you do me the honor of letting me make up for my mistake and take you on a date?” 

Sirius beamed, kissing your knuckles as he squeezed your hand in response. “How could I deny you the honor of going on a date with all this?” He motioned to himself, his false confidence blurring with real confidence as he tried to process that you actually liked him! 

“Can I ask one thing though?” He chimed in after a moment of charged silence. 

“Of course,” You let go of the breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding. 

“Please, never do that again,” Sirius laughed weakly.

You agreed and pulled him into a tight hug, only pulling away when the rest of your friends found you some odd minutes later, stuck in a cozy embrace.

That weekend, you and Sirius, as well as James and Lily, had a lovely double date. The kiss you’d given him after had told Sirius all he need to know. It was him and only him and had been for quite some time. All was well.  

[notnctu]

both sides - k.jw

shyboy!jungwoo x fuckgirl!y.n warnings: mentions of alcohol, hooking up and swearing summary: relationship (n) - the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected. In this video, two people in some sort of relationship take turns answering questions about their relationship while the other person cannot hear any of their answers.

a.n: hi i am author xuxi ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ and this is like a small script scenario that was inspired by @mistymark​‘s the one with the ex boyfriend series and by jubilee’s youtube series called both sides. i rlly hope you enjoy reading this as much as i did writing it :)

[In the frame, there were two empty chairs. In between them was a small coffee table with one set of large earphones and earplugs. The only thing that could be heard in the first few seconds of the video is the creaking of a large metal door and light footsteps.]  

-

[Y.n opens the door and holds it for Jungwoo to follow behind her. As they weave through the cameras and lights to get to the set, y.n suddenly gets shoved in front of the camera, a small ‘oof’ heard behind her. When she turns around, she erupts into laughter as Jungwoo starts hopping into the frame, wires tangled around one of his ankles. The scene then cuts to her sitting in the chair, laughing so hard she’s holding her stomach as one of the set employees unwraps the wires from a blushing Jungwoo]

Introduction

Y.n, confidently: Hi, I’m y.n and I’ve been dating this clumsy man for a little over two years now

Jungwoo nervously rubs his hands on his thighs: Hi I am clumsy man Jungwoo who has been dating this amazing and beautiful y.n for about 118 weeks.

Y.n, teasing him: I didn’t know that converting the years into weeks was part of your engineering degree.

Jungwoo: See guys, you gotta do that math in the relationship, helps make her think that you’re good at math and will be rich in the future so she’ll never leave you.

[Y.n starts laughing again and Jungwoo only stares in awe at his girlfriend, he could never stop himself from admiring her beautiful laugh.]

-

[Jungwoo hands the headphones and earplugs to her immediately, she nods in a pleasure shock]

Y.n: Wow, never in my life did I think that you would volunteer to say something first.

Jungwoo with his little silly side smirk: Maybe I’m feeling extra brave today, the effect that the y.n has on me.

[She laughs again, as if every little thing Jungwoo does makes her the happiest person in the world, it’s one of the only things that Jungwoo takes pride in as seen when the camera zooms into his small smile while he watches her slip the headphones on]

Y.n, loudly: Do I look ugly with this on?

[Jungwoo leans forward and pulls out small strands of her hair that were stuck behind the band of the headphones. He then pulls her longer strands from behind her shoulders to rest in front of her chest.]

Jungwoo: Not anymore, you looked a little bald at first.

Y.n, her lips falling to a frown: Did you just call me bald?

Jungwoo: Yea Caillou. Bald.

How did you two meet?

His side

Jungwoo, laughing: I mean, the very first time I saw her was at a frat party, and she still does not know anything about this. In fact, I haven’t really told anyone about this except Lucas, but basically it was at his party and she was totally blacking out. Oh, and I already knew who she was too.

[He pauses, lips pursued,  finding the best words to describe the situation]

Jungwoo: Let’s just say - she’s a social butterfly, quite popular. But basically, she had been shoved and I just happened to catch her. I shit you not, she looked me dead in the eyes and said ‘you better not kiss me’ with the most drunk yet devious smile I’ve ever seen.

[He laughs at the memory nostalgically. Never in his life did he think that one of his fondest memories would be at a frat party. Y.n is obviously confused.]

Jungwoo, his gaze soaks all of her in, completely smitten by her: Looking back at it, I totally shouldn’t have saved her ass, she probably deserved to eat shit.

Y.n, eyes still clearly lost: What are you talking about?

Jungwoo, though blushing, was still able to say in a high pitched mocking tone: None of your beeswax!

Her side

[Y.n hands him the headset and earplugs, she starts rubbing her ears]

Jungwoo: It’s loud isn’t it?

Y.n: Yea, but nothing will ever be as loud as your high pitched screams when you get scared.

[He rolls his eyes as she flashes her small mischievous grin, putting the earphones over his ears.]

Y.n: Uhm, honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if we met at one of our mutual’s countless frat parties. But if we did meet there, there’s no way I’d remember.

Y.n, smiling fondly: But the very first time that I really met him face to face, and sober might I add, was when I bumped into him and Lucas on campus. Lucas invited him to his party, of course, that night and said something like ‘Jungwoo is gonna be there! You gotta go cause he never goes to my parties!” so I really had to directly look at him and I was thinking like ‘wow, they’re complete opposites’ because at the time, I had never seen him before.

Both sides

[Jungwoo places the two accessories onto the table, his eyes wide with curiosity.]

Jungwoo: Tell me what you said, I wanna know what you think our first meeting was.

Y.n, raising a brow: Think? So we totally met at a party once huh?

[Jungwoo just slyly smirks at her, remembering how sharp y.n always was. He nods his head, motioning her to continue.]

Y.n: I talked about when Lucas and you bumped into me on campus, and he invited me to one of his parties.

Jungwoo jumps a little in his chair, excited that he remembered that moment: Oh my god yea! That was our first time meeting sober.

Y.n: Yea, and I was thinking like, oh my gosh, they’re complete opposites.

Jungwoo sighs: I get it, I’m not as tall, as buff, as handsome or as cool as Lucas Wong. He’s only friends with me because we were roommates back in first year.

Y.n: Not even, Lucas loves you, he follows you like a lost puppy all the time. Also you don’t want to be Lucas, he’s kind of a, ya know-

Jungwoo: A douche.

[They snicker, but then suddenly, y.n stops and look directly at Jungwoo]

Y.n: Wait, what happened at the party when we first met?

Jungwoo: I mean, I just talked about how you were making out wi-

Y.n sighs into her hands, cringing: Oh my gosh, don’t bring up my past. 

[Jungwoo turn to the camera, a hand blocking the sight of his devilish grin from his girlfriend, and mouths to the camera with the subtitles assisting the watchers at the bottom of screen]

Jungwoo, his mouth exaggerating each word: She used to be a fuck girl

[Jungwoo never says his real answer, he’s always been too shy to admit that he was drawn to her since that very first night and that Lucas bumping into her that random day was staged.]

How was your first kiss?

Her side

[She immediately groans into her hands, her legs dramatically stretch out as she slips down the back of her chair, clearly disliking the memory. Jungwoo’s eyebrow’s furrow in animated confusion. What could’ve possibly made her this embarrassed again? Her pink ears make release a baffled laugh, shocked by her sudden outburst.]

Y.n, still hiding behind her hands: It was so strange. I never felt nervous to kiss someone before, nor did I ever kiss someone without it leading to a hook up. It was also in the trunk of his hatchback, we were watching the stars at a look out point. Even the literal setting was something I wasn’t used to. 

[She looks at Jungwoo’s very concerned, confused, and focused face. She can tell that he is trying so hard to decipher what is making her so annoyed. She rolls her eyes, but a small smile peaks through as she looks at his very lost face.]

Y.n avoiding his eye contact: It was romantic. It was the first time I really felt like a kiss had some sort of meaning or feeling behind it.

His side

[Jungwoo bursts into laughter, knowing exactly why she reacted the way she did. He nervously rubs the back of his neck but the joy never left his eyes. She glares very intentionally at him with the look of ‘you better not say anything stupid or I’ll kill you’ being extremely prominent.]

Jungwoo:  For her, I’m sure it was a surprise, or a little bit weird, especially because it was me of all people in the world. Some dorky loser that wasn’t even one of her countless hot frat boys. I had never seen her so shy and hesitant, probably because the setting of the kiss was very different for her.

[He stares at her, as if waiting for her reaction, thinking that she might kill him once she hears his answer.]

Jungwoo: For me though, it was dreamy, almost like it came out of a movie, perfect.

Both sides

[Y.n buries her face into her sleeves as she takes off the headset and he laughs, remembering her first reaction. Needless to say, he is very amused by her distaste for the question.]

Jungwoo: I know, I really swept you off your feet that night.

Y.n: Shut up, it was only okay.

[Jungwoo is about to interject, but sees her stubbornly looking away with her pink cheeks and just happily sighs. He is satisfied that she’s still so embarrassed about it even two years after it happened,]

What have you learned from them?

[Jungwoo swings his legs from the chair as he calmly listens to the music. His eyes intently yet curiously looking at y.n as she clears her throat. Normally, she was good at hiding her feelings but anyone could see that she was a little overwhelmed by his gaze and the question.]

Her side

Y.n, her stare so affectionately bores into all of Jungwoo: So much. I don’t think this man knows how much he’s taught me in so many ways too, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and in math.

[She laughs, making Jungwoo release a slightly confused laugh. It was always one of his habits, laughing because everyone else did, even if his laugh came out due to awkwardness.]

Y.n: But I think one of the biggest things is that I don’t have to always be this bad bitch that is strong and independent.

[She pauses, maybe to stop the tears from slipping from her eyes as she still struggles to really comfortably talk about her emotions.]

Y.n, after taking a deep breath: He is probably one of the only people that’s ever really seen me cry. He made me realize that I don’t always have to push people away that care for me, that the walls I have do more hurt then protect.

Y.n: Whenever I push people away, or feel scared of people leaving me, he always tells me now that he’ll be my forever wall and I’m really thankful for that.

[She lets out a few sniffles in between her light airy giggles as she motions for Jungwoo to switch roles. He grabs her hand as she takes the set from him and squeeze her fingertips.]

Jungwoo: I would kiss your sniffles away, but you’re kinda far.

[She laughs her wholehearted laugh again and Jungwoo swears that the studio lights get brighter.]

His side

Jungwoo: Ah, this is easy. She always taught me to be more confident in myself. I mean for the longest time, actually, I still think this sometimes, I just always thought that she was out of my league. Just look at her, she’s hot, social, funny, daredevil, risk taker, intelligent, extremely thoughtful. She’s basically everything I’m not. I’m more shy, reserved and kind of weird.   

[He glances at her again and she suddenly sticks her tongue at him. He is surprised by the abrupt face and looks visibly offended and taken aback, causing her to laugh, which then follows with his laugh, still in a little disbelief by her surprise attack]

Jungwoo: See? This bitch is, fucking weird and amazing in all the best way possible. But she reminds me everyday, that I actually am kinda cool? She really brought me out of my shell and built my self confidence.

[He laughs again, mainly because he can’t take himself seriously. Y.n rolls her eyes]

Y.n to the camera: He’s being insecure again isn’t he? He is such a beautiful human being, can someone please tell him that for me?

Jungwoo huffs his bangs out of his eyes, jokingly pretending he’s annoyed but he’s definitely turning a little pink: She doesn’t care what anyone thinks. She just says it. As much as I don’t want to admit it, she has been a good influence, only in that sense.

[He sighs, thinking about her more bad ideas such as skipping class, drinking the nights away, running in the middle of the street. When he looks back up at her, she has the sweetest doe eyes that were only focused on him, as if she wanted to hear more of what he was saying, even though she couldn’t even hear him.]

Jungwoo, looking away: But yea, I guess what it all boils down to is that she really made me feel comfortable in my own skin. Plus she finds me genuinely funny, so now I guess I’m less afraid to make jokes and laugh with people rather than trying to stop myself from saying anything and looking around to check if anyone is looking at me weirdly.

Both sides

[After she removes the music, there is a brief silence. They both just look at each other with such warmth, that the people on set feel like they’re suddenly intruding.]

Y.n, hesitantly: I know that you were talking about how you think I’m out of your league.

Jungwoo crosses his arms: Maybe, don’t get cocky.

Y.n sighs heavily, annoyed: There are no such things as leagues, I like you, and only you because everything you do is what makes you, you. Therefore, I like every single thing, imperfections, perfections, giggles, jokes, faces - everything.

Jungwoo reaches over to grab her hand: Hey, thanks.

Y.n, confused: hm?

Jungwoo: Just, thanks for always being my number one supporter.

Y.n smiles: Always. Thank you for being mine too.

Jungwoo reflectng hers: Always.

[They stare for a small moment, their fingertips just barely grasping each other. Their eyes reflect the same glossy daze. The just immerse in all the feelings, words, and emotions floating in the air. They barely even reflected and discussed each other’s answers, but they just know, the love is there.]

That was the last question. Thank you so much for coming in today.

[They both get up from the chair. He brushes her cheeks and squishes them quickly as he leads them out of the frame.]

Jungwoo sighs: Man, I really thought I was gonna embarrass you more, but I guess I didn’t really have the chance.

Y.n, her voice distant: More? What did you already say?

Jungwoo, their steps clicking in sync: Oh, ya know that you were that hot bitch and that everyone wanted to get into your pants and somehow I got the honor to cuff you.

[A loud gasp is heard and a quick smack. The last thing heard is a small yelp and a light laugh as the camera is fading to black.]

[captainshazamerica]

If this Bruce doesn't adopt Tim I will! But I'm kinda scared for Tim I mean he's either gonna end up with Buce or the titans at some point, im afraid that something terrible is gonna happen his family and then titans/bruce takes him in? That boy loves batman and robin so much like even his family seeing the news knew how much it would upset him although I will say that for the brain that kid has he makes some pretty stupid decisions, hes driving around GOTHAM plastered in the bat-symbol that's not a good idea! the amount of lunatics that roam free in Gotham (and possibly have escaped from arkham) and hate the bat and hes driving around with the bat symbol on him KID be careful!

Some kind of Anti-fear toxin does seem more accurate cuz he's clearly taking something to not be afraid. Maybe it's something he found in Gotham and decided to try it and got addicted so he's using that lab place to try recreate it? and maybe he can't recreate it perfectly cuz in the crowbarring scene he seemed kinda anxious about his surroundings and he'd just taken that inhaler thing to overcome fear so I dunno?? Or maybe he went to arkham to see Crane for some reason and Crane has orchestrated the whole thing and told him about the drug but then wouldn't Crane have to know everyone's identity then? Dude I dunno I need more episodes even tho the low quality glitchyness is painful lol

There's probably an abundance of rooms to choose from at Wayne manor yet Jason takes Dicks old room and keeps the flying graysons posters up! I like to think that he does view dick as an older brother and just took his room to kind of have a connection to him and that he admires him hence the graysons posters being left up, yooo dick calling him his brother! I really want a nice family reunion with dick jason and bruce 💕

Babs was too mean to bruce when she went off like I get where she's coming from but yo lady his son just died dial it down like a notch yikes but also babs being like 'i wonder how long it'll take for bruce to replace jason and dick is all 'what no the last thing bruce is gonna do is rope another kid into this mess'. Cut to scene of Bruces potential robin folder 😅 but I also like that dick was trying to be considerate and compose himself for bruce but once he found out that bruce is idiot enough to pull another kid into this, that that's when he got mad and bruce so brokenly begging dick to come back and be robin 😢😢😢

I know the show is constantly trying to push bruce out/sideline him cuz it's a titans show not a bruce wayne show and I know they're going for a different portrayal of bruce which I'm not complaining about I do like this version of bruce (more than I thought actually) and this universe but I feel like they could have gave more cracks you know, I like that they showed him trying to avoid the reality of jasons death and just not stopping not even for a second and just immediately jump into another case and that breakdown verge where he's begging dick to be robin and then when he finally I guess let's the weight of jasons loss sit on him to the point where he whacks in jokers head with a crowbar just like he killed jason (he could have killed joker so many other ways like a less violent bullet to the head but oh no brucey crowbars him to death!!)

There's a lot of character stuff that i do like but that scene where he's in the cave on his knees scrubbing his sons blood out of the suit he died in, the suit that he only ever wore because of batman. 😢 I feel like they could have had him crack there and let out a gut wrenching scream and then just continue on doing what he was doing as if nothing happened and dick walking in on that should have had more of a reaction!? like he could have stopped in his tracks at the sight of his brothers blood all over his father and bruce screaming, dick could have like took a step back almost like he's gonna run but forces himself to stay there, because who wouldn't want to run from that and no matter how much horrible things you've dealt with before sometimes your brain does just take over against your will and makes you react, the rest of the scene just could have played out the way it did. Literally one ounce more emotion is all I wanted.

No one really emotionally cracked at jasons death. I get that it just happened and that people put walls up and denial can be such a prominent thing when a loved one dies but it couldn't have been that difficult to put in little mannerisms now and again to show that everyone is deeply hurt but holding it in. Honestly gar seemed more hurt to me than dick did. But I do like that dick reacted in detective mode and started trying to figure things out from jasons side so at least there's that.

This redhood is defo not an anti hero he has well and truly landslided into villian territory and I dunno how that's gonna be reconciled? they better not kill him off! and they better not just straight up keep redhood/jason as a full on villian! but if they do get through to jason and bring him back a little how the heck is that little man gonna deal with what he did to Hank?? I feel like they had a bond you know and for all Hanks talk about putting Jason down I really don't think that Hank would actually have killed him even if it came down to Hanks life vs Jasons I think Hank would rather die than kill Jason (but that's heavily biased cuz in my mind jason is my son and I freaking love hank sooo) but Hank to me puts on a hard front like 'yeah I'll get in your face I'll come at you b*tch' but internally he's like 'yeah I'll come at you to help you' 😅 like internally he defo has a lot of soft spots though that's not to say he'd be like this for someone like the joker or scarecrow or whatever guys like that he'd be like no screw you you die or go to arkham like byeee

Nevermind how jason is gonna come back from this though HOW IN THE ACTUAL SH*T is dawn gonna come back from this!!?!!

Random side note here but imagine Jasons first time in the batcave he would be so excited and trying to mess with everything and being like ohh what's that do and pressing random buttons and bruce having a hernia trying to get jason to stop before he accidentally blows the cave up 😅 also he has probably been caught several times trying to 'borrow' the batmobile, I can just picture him trying to sneak down the halls of the manor without the floor creaking and making it all the way into the cave and doing a victory dance cuz he didn't get caught and he hops on into the batmobile in his pj's and let's out a scream cuz alfred is sitting in the freakin passenger seat waiting for him and then they just hang out in the batmobile alfred had the good foresight to bring a flask of tea books and a blanket for jason

Speaking of Alfred I think it would have been more angsty and hurtful if Alfred died shortly after Jason and after a few days Jason claws his way out his grave and the first thing he sees is Alfreds headstone and that's how he finds out Alfred died : (((

This is so long girl I'm sorry I know it doesn't seem like it but I did restrain myself 😅 one more thing before I go maybe this Dick is the absolute worst mf and the reason babs feels betrayed by him and is so upset with him could be that he left her (or cheated on her) with Dawn cuz of that weird flashback thingy in the other season where dick dawn was a thing I dunno I hope not though that would be ughhh

Oh crap, you right about probably something bad will happen to Tim for Bruce or Titans to take him in, I was gonna say he could just demand to be in their lives to save Bruce/Dick like in the comics but he also has kinda shitty parents normally and these people seem cool so really it could go either direction, but like it’s Titans so it doesn’t look good lol. Also, I wonder if it’s gonna be Dick who is basically gonna adopt him this time since we already had a huge track record in just 2 seasons lmao. But I know right, true I like how his parents knew immediately how much the news would effect him 😭 I hope he goes down the making himself robin and forcing himself in Dick and Bruce’s life xD I love that route. Lmao, the kid is all book smart, very little street smart when it doesn’t have to do with outsmarting someone XD

I was also rewatching and that gas he takes def has to be some anti fear toxin cause he mentions fear so many times and flash backed to his near death fall, which he felt was probably holding him and back and thus had to prove himself and adds to whatever is influencing him. But ohhh he did seem pretty dang anxious at the carnival grounds, that’s a really interesting theory but recreating something he found hmm, I can see that.

Apparently according to a YouTube who got to see the first 5 episodes, we find out what his deal is a lot more in episode 5, so one more week hopefully

Brooo trueee, I couldn’t believe jason took dick’s room and like didn’t even change anything. Like Jason looks or at least use to look up to Dick SO much, like in his first episode in the first season, he went on quite a lot about how much he had always wanted to meet him and how much he looked up to him, which is probably also fueling his red hood rage, being hurt by your idol and brother like he did in S2 must have really just killed the boy. But yes omg, there freaking better be a dang family reunion scene like, after so much angst we deserve that 😭

And yesss, I loved seeing how mature Dick is getting and just how much he is growing as a character, the fact he was so calm and considerate with Bruce at first really shows that compared to s1 Dick, only breaking when Bruce tried to get more kids involved. That scene by Brenton was sooo well acted omg, the way he yelled that he doesn’t want to robin again, heartbreaking man. And Bruce begging like that omg

Yeah, this version of Bruce is def so different than any Bruce we have seen on screen before, like def the most emotionally constipated, and that’s saying something xD But I like how they are taking a risk, it also helps Dick’s character more and give him more of an arc, as he seems to be taking on Bruce’s normal role with Jason and red hood. Bro, you are so right omg, like the fact Bruce could have killed the joker in any way and he does it with the dang crowbar. It really shows how broken he really was and why the man shouldn’t depressing any and every damn feeling and emotion lol.

Omg, I love how you have the exact details of what you wanted to happen in that one Bruce and Dick scene 😂👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 bro if you dont already you should totally write fanfics cause that was so detailed, I love it

Yeah, I do wish someone cracked (other than Bruce lmao) a bit more, but I do think each character reacted in character though, like it is very Dick(at least this version of Dick, other versions may break down tbh) to put everything into solving the case and figuring out what was up, that’s more this version’s way of caring than just breaking down, like he rarely ever has broken down completely. I think dawn could have been a little more emotional about the death (tho she has enough coming for her lmao). Connor didn’t know Jason that well so it makes sense he would just be sad. Gar seemed pretty sad and in character about it, maybe could have had a bit more, same with Kori, tho she showed it by being almost angry and fiercely protective of everyone else, so I think that makes sense for her. It would have been interesting to see how Rachel and Rose would have reacted though (where did rose go btw?! She would so have a reaction to Jason’s death). But yeah, i wish there was more resolution and break downs for Jason, but also it may have just not felt real since they weren’t there? But I agree

You think? Idk, I think they could def still make him an anti hero towards the end, especially if it’s crane behind the whole thing. Cause if they don’t they are gonna have to go down the gosh awful overused villain gets redeemed while he dies/only to die right freaking after , and I will be so freaking livid if they do that omg. Like they better freaking not. But true, he would be broken by what he did to Hank, oh yikes. But I can see him then that leading to the anti hero path, like he would never go back to be on the titans cause he would feel too guilty, thus giving more of a reason for the anti hero life. But I know, I loved Jason and Hank’s love hate relationship 😭😭😭😭 You know Hank secretly loved the kid and probably saw himself in him.

Yikes poor dawn, you right. Like I have no idea how she is gonna be now like wow.

OMG GIRL, You are on a hc angst train today!!!! That scenario of Alfred dying right after jason and Jason climbing out to see Alfred’s?! Heartbreaking!

But I can’t believe they killed Alfred off so casually tho😭

Omg I swear if they freaking show Dick having cheated on Babs I will be so freaking pissed omg, he better have not! Im hoping they had a more high school romance thing/grew up together then got together type of thing

And omg don’t apologize I LOVED IT and reading your asks!!! I feel ya too!

[magpiemorality]

Seeking: Family, Foster Twins 8

You Only Have To Ask

Warnings: implied/referenced child abuse throughout this story. Lashing out, conflict, cursing for this chapter.

It's November in America, which can mean only one thing. Unfortunately the whole traditionally family holiday thing could end up being a tricky subject for two teenagers in foster care...

First | Previous | AO3

***

It felt like no time at all before it was Thanksgiving and the boys were off for break. Not the best timing to have such a family orientated holiday, but Patton was determined to make the best of it.

Making the best of it here meant; handling the whole thing as delicately and sensitively as possible, and mentally and emotionally preparing for the inevitable slip ups to come. They'd had a similar issue with Thomas all those years ago (who had called to say he was going to work over Thanksgiving at his college and come back for Christmas instead), and Patton winced when he thought back on it. At least this time he had Emile on standby if things took a real turn for the worse, a whole heap more experience, and a better understanding of what the actual underlying issues were for both twins.

But the best weapon he had at his disposal was the two boys themselves. It would be harder to misstep if they'd chosen the route, after all.

"Hey, so Thanksgiving is in a few days, and I wanted to know your guys' thoughts on things. Can we have a house meeting?" He asked them, finding them both hanging out in front of Netflix that rainy afternoon.

"Sure," Remus agreed easily, hopping up from the cushion. "Here or somewhere else?"

"Here is fine," the adult smiled, ruffling Remus's hair. "Sit yourself back down kiddo, no harm in being comfortable."

Roman seemed less convinced, as always, but now that Remus was asserting himself more and more he seemed to have lost a lot of his momentum in his instinctive fight against Patton. He didn't move, but did tap the remote to pause the show they had on and turned his head vaguely towards the other couch that Patton fell onto. Little victories…

Options. "Right! So I did things a certain way before you guys got here, but I'm not stuck on tradition or anything, if there's a better way you want to celebrate. If you even feel like celebrating at all?"

In the quiet Remus shifted, thinking hard if the frown on his face was anything to go by. Roman inspected his fingernails and turned his phone round a few times, glancing at his brother first. It was interesting, if a little worrying, to see the reversal of roles from how they'd been when he'd first met them both. Something to mention to Emile perhaps, when they broached the family therapy session subject.

Eventually Remus cleared his throat. "Um, can we take some time to think about it? I have a lot of thoughts and I want to make sure they're all sorted out first."

"Why don't you just say you want a nice happy family Thanksgiving?" Roman mumbled. "We all know you do."

"Maybe I don't, you don't know that!"

"I think I do."

"Well you're wrong! I want- I don't know what I want yet. And that's okay too, isn't it Patton?"

Hurdle number one. Okay, take on this obstacle without overthinking it, Patton, c'mon. "That's right. It's better to take some time than to react instinctively and regret saying something later. Sometimes you need to but-"

"Oh stop with the fucking psycho-babble!" Roman hissed, jumping up and running off. His feet thundered up the stairs and his door banged loudly when he got to his room, and Patton took a moment to re-examine the hurdle. Maybe it was a little more like an iceberg in a water obstacle, mostly hidden below the surface…

"He's always so mad!" Remus whispered, looking at the door his brother had vanished from with big eyes and a scrunched nose. "I don't know why but I think- do you think he hates me now?" He asked, and Patton just had to slide down to the cushion on the floor and offer his arms so the teenager could hide his sniffles in a hug.

"No, kiddo," Patton soothed him gently. "I think there's a lot going on and he's finding the easiest way to let it out. Mostly we do that when we're scared, and I don't know for sure, but there's a lot Roman could be scared of right now, don't you think?"

Remus shrugged.

"Whatever it is it's not something you've done, alright? You keep thinking about your ideas for now and I should go talk to Roman. I think maybe he might need a hug too and I'd like to offer."

"But shouldn't I be the one to do that?"

Patton cupped the back of his curly head, full to the brim with tender fondness. "Oh kiddo, that's real good of you. You're all kindness inside aren't you? But let me look after Roman for a bit now, and maybe you can offer him a hug too, in a little bit? I bet he'd appreciate you thinking of him."

"Okay," Remus agrees, letting go and sitting in Roman's spot on the couch.

"Okay."

The knocking went unanswered for a while. Patton tried a couple of times before he resorted to talking through the door, much as he disliked having to. Boundaries were one thing, but just allowing Roman to feel like he had all of the control in the situation could be as damaging as the opposite. And really it wasn't so much that he needed to be controlled as parented. Structure and guidance at Roman's age was invaluable, and now he'd decided to stop his sports as well there would be a loss of sorely needed routine that Patton was just hoping would transfer over to his performance club instead.

"Roman?" He called at last, softly. "I'm going to come inside so we can talk, alright?"

After giving Roman a moment to gather himself Patton pushed the door open and walked in, closing it again behind himself. "Hey Roman," he greeted the boy sat on the bed. He had his knees hugged up tight to his chest and he was glaring at the bedspread. "So. That was kind of a lot you put out downstairs. You wanna-"

"Oh cut the crap, Patton, I was being a brat. Why can't you just come out and say it?" Roman snapped.

"Because that's not helpful wording. And you're a teenager with trauma, Roman, I'm not gonna lie and say everything is okay, you could certainly hold the cursing a bit, but some outbursts are kinda inevitable."

"I said mean things."

"Yes. And why did you do that?" Patton wondered, sitting at the desk chair in the room. "Was it because you wanted something to happen?"

"No I-" the teenager faltered, before renewing his scowl. "It's none of your business."

"Well, that's sort of not true. I'm your foster parent now, Roman. You are my business, and when you're hurting it's my job to try and help you out."

"Well, I'm so sorry you got stuck with that."

Patton sighed. "Can I come sit with you for a sec, kiddo?" He asked, rubbing his hands over his knees. Roman rolled his eyes and shrugged in the same movement, shifting over very slightly and curling up even tighter somehow, looking as small as Patton had ever seen him.

"Dunno why you're even asking. It's your house," he muttered, and the adult took a moment to regroup.

"So, I think we've got a little mixed up somewhere," Patton began after a moment, perching on the edge of the bed beside Roman. "Because I'm not 'stuck' with you. I chose to take you and your brother because I wanted to help, and I wanted to help you boys. And that goes for both of you. I know we don't necessarily have the same friendship that Remus and I do, but that's okay. I'm not judging you differently for it, alright? I'm really not, but-"

"Kinda feels like you are."

"... Do you really feel that way?" Patton asked softly, a little horrified that the thought had even crossed Roman's mind.

"Well, yeah! I mean, you never try and hug me, or ask me to help in the kitchen, or touch my hair, or like, call me kiddo or have stupid midnight chats with me. You're just all over Remus and his stupid need to please! You're probably fucking him up even more, you know?! He won't even talk to me anymore, he just worships you, and that's not fair! You can't steal him! It's not fair!"

"Oh Roman, gosh. We'll," he cleared his throat quickly. "We'll go through some of that in a moment but right now I do want to hug you, real bad. Can I?"

Roman just nodded, and folded like a house of cards when Patton wrapped his arms around him, toppling over into his lap. He was clearly crying but Patton tried to allow him the dignity of not fussing too much. Except maybe, that's where he'd been going wrong so far?

"There, it's okay, you cry it out baby, alright?" He murmured, stroking Roman's hair slowly. It only made him sob all the heavier, and Patton closed his eyes and prayed it was cathartic and not traumatic. He waited until the boy in his lap had mellowed to sniffles and lying limp, before helping him sit up again, and reached for the box of tissues on the nightstand to start helping him clean his face up. "Oh sweetheart. Everything that I do with Remus, that's on the cards for you too, okay? Anything we have, it's not that he's earned it or I like him more, he just asks. All you gotta do is ask, and I'm so sorry you didn't know that before. I'm really sorry I didn't make it clear and you felt like you were being treated different.

I know you've got boundaries and I wanna respect them, because that's important too, so you gotta communicate with me if you want something to change, alright baby? I won't judge, I won't be upset or annoyed or disappointed if you want to change that, and I won't take a yes to a hug today to mean you'll want one tomorrow, you understand? These are your boundaries. I won't cross them, but you can step over and back whenever you like. That's what they're there for."

Roman gazed at him with his cheeks all blotchy and Patton fought not to well up in empathy. "I think it's best if we all start seeing Dr P. for some group stuff sooner rather than later, don't you? Help give you guys some of the words or tools you can use for times like these?" Patton suggested, brushing away a stray eyelash dislodged onto Roman's cheek by the tears. "Cause there's a few things you just said that I really want to make sure I don't do. Like taking Remus from you, that's not my goal, y'hear? But I also won't deny him what he needs when he asks for it, and you guys will have to figure that part out between yourselves. Can you try and do that?"

The head in his hands nodded slowly, and when he moved to pull away Roman stopped him, shyly giving him a blink and holding onto his wrists. Patton waited, silently willing Roman to find the words, cheering him on with a little encouraging smile until the teenager managed to croak out a quiet request for him not to go just yet.

"Of course, Roman. You want a hug again, or something else?"

"Can you just, sit here and keep doing this?" Roman asked, and oh boy could Patton oblige. The swelling of his heart in his chest powered every muscle in his body with pride and joy, and it was all he could do to just nod and keep gently brushing his thumbs over Roman's cheeks as the boy breathed and closed his eyes, giving in to the need for comfort.

They would come back to the Thanksgiving question later on, and decide that maybe choosing a movie or video game and having a fun night in could work for all three of them, picking their favourite snacks. They ended up playing hours of a hard-fought Smash Bros tournament that Patton spectacularly lost but thoroughly enjoyed, especially when Roman outlandishly cheated by leaning across him to sabotage Remus's controller, turning a slightly shy grin his way when the adult just laughed at the audacity. The twins camped out in the living room together that night too, and when Patton finished in the bathroom later on and made the walk back to his bedroom, he could hear soft whispers and giggles from down the stairs, and smiled in relief.

A better Thanksgiving he couldn't have asked for, as the first of many to come.

--

Next

[neo-culture-taste]

Abeilles au Printemps - Ch 8

Alternate Title: Bees in Spring  

Genre: AU, romance, drama, comedy, smut, who’s the daddy

Pairing: NCT x Y/N (fem)

Rating: Mostly mature themes/ language. Smutty chapters will be labeled 🐝.

Word Count: 13000+ :D

For other chapters, see the masterlist.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Here’s a super late chapter as your present from us! We believe it was well worth the wait~ 💘

You heard your companion's long and heavy sigh as he shifted his car into park in front of your destination. Having yet to let go of the gearshift, he squeezed it in his palm before looking over to you in the passenger seat with a disconcerting feel to his stare--even though his eyes weren't clearly visible through the lenses of his sunglasses. “You know you don’t have to go through with this, right?” 

You pulled down the overhead visor then opened the mirror to apply a light coat of lipstick to your lips--a subtle mauve/rouge you put on before every court case. You would say that it was your lucky color. “He sent over legal court documents trying to sue me,” you replied before smoothing the color onto your bottom lip. "I must comply."

“This is so stupid," he spat, now notably agitated. You knew he was going to try to talk you out of it before he even began speaking. Whenever the subject came up in previous conversation between the two of you, he would become reserved and slightly on edge, but never reveal what was running through his mind. He no longer had the time to beat around the bush--especially since he waited until after he drove you to the courthouse to try and stop you. "He's only trying to sue you because he failed at being the man of your dreams.”

“Jaehyun, my love, please calm down.” You finished putting the lipstick onto both your lips then puckered them together a few times in the mirror. "You’re getting worked up over nothing.”

“I don’t think you should go. Don’t give him anymore attention. What if he tries to spin another web of lies?”

“Then let him. I know the truth. My personal truth.” You closed the visor then bent down to pick up Jaehyun's snapback from off the car floor, before turning in your seat and slapping the cap onto his head. “And I never lose,” you said then cradled Jaehyun’s face in your hands.

Choosing that it was best not to complain anymore, Jaehyun kissed you on your forehead and followed through by kissing your freshly painted lips. He then exited the vehicle and made his way to your side to open the door. He walked you to the front of the court house and kissed you one last time before watching you go through the security scanners. He wanted to go in with you, but he only had the small amount of time it took to pick you up and take you there before his busy schedule for the day began. And as much as you would have liked to have his support during the trial, his presence would only complicate the matter further.

You checked in with your favorite clerk of court, who informed you that the other parties had already arrived. You thanked her then made your way to the small claims court on the other side of the building. Upon entering the doors, you saw Kun already standing behind the podium. He was wearing his white dental coat as if status would work in his favor during all of this. He was foolish to think he would get any sort of favor while he was trying to fight in your territory. 

“And there’s the woman of the hour!” he said loudly announcing your arrival.

You rolled your eyes as you set your belongings on one of several empty benches. The whole court was empty except for the two of you and Winwin, who would be acting as a witness. You had so many emotions bottled inside that you wanted to unleash onto your ex. However, you stayed tight lipped and ignored his welcome. You weren’t going to risk a settlement on your emotions. On cue, as the seconds hand on the clock ticked to the number eight, the court officer and court reporter appeared and began the introductions for the judge. Fortunately, the judge presiding was one of your favorite judges, so you knew that the case would be a cinch. Plus, it appeared as though Kun’s lawyer actually did decide to skip out on his case, making it easier for you. It was a tad bit surprising, since the rabbit never missed a chance to hop on anything that involved making you look bad. But it made sense for him to be a no-show, especially since the particular set of events that brought you here in the first place involved Doyoung himself. He wouldn't want to make himself look bad, oh, no.

“Ms. Y/L/N, I never thought I would ever see you behind the podium as a defendant. This is quite a surprise," said the judge after taking his seat. "Shall we begin?” 

Kun held up a hand to the judge. “Hold on, your honor. My lawyer, Kim Doyoung, is running a bit late."

The judge stared blankly at Kun briefly before speaking. "This is small claims court. You don't need a lawyer," he said and Kun's eyes looked like they would fall out of his head. You wanted to laugh so badly. 

"I don't think I can proceed without him. Are we able to reschedule--”

“No, no. No rescheduling,” you snapped, cutting him off. “You can represent yourself.” You had already dragged this case out long enough. It was time to get it done and get rid of him for good.

Kun stuck up his nose and crossed his arms. “So you can ruthlessly use your lawyer tactics against me?”

“I was going to do that anyway.” What you wanted to say was, 'No shit. We're in court,' but you didn't for obvious reasons.

“Order, order in the court.” The judge shook his head and banged his gavel silencing the both of you. He could already tell by your and Kun's dynamic how this trial was going to play out. “Let’s get this over with," he said and repositioned his body in his seat. “Plaintiff, state your case."

"Gladly, your honor," said Kun and you rolled your eyes for the second time--and so hard that you swore you felt your baby do it, too. "I am suing Ms. Y/L/N for $20,000 on the basis of scarring me both emotionally and mentally during the two year relationship we shared. I am also seeking to be compensated for the time she stayed at my residence due to her own home being renovated.”

“I see," said the judge. "Can you describe to me the actions taken by the defendant that caused you to become emotionally and mentally scarred?”

“She cheated on me with five different men while I was away at a conference overseas. But prior to that, she was staying at my home without taking part in any of the living expenses.”

Oh, hell no.

“I object!” you spat out as your blood boiled hot in your veins. He was not about to claim such a bullshit lie on you.

“Overruled," said the judge before turning to address you. "Ms. Y/L/N, that is actually a warning for you. Neither of you have any actual legal representation today, so no more lawyer speak from you." Seriously? That just pissed you off even more! Now you were definitely rethinking him as being one of your least favorite judges. "Dr. Qian, are you able to present any evidence for your first claim?" he continued.

"She's pregnant, your honor," he stated and pointed to your large and obvious baby bump. "And we never had sex." He let down his hand and a smug smirk appeared on his face. "Also, she has no idea who the father is." Gosh, you wanted to punch him more than ever right now. There was absolutely no reason for him to add that last tidbit of information. 

The judge glanced at you briefly before speaking. Just great. He definitely wouldn't be able to look at you the same way ever again. "Alright, then. Has a doctor diagnosed you with a mental disorder, for example PTSD, depression, anxiety or such?”

Kun visibly hesitated. “No, your honor…" Doyoung was supposed to do all the talking for him. He didn't know how to properly answer with a response in his favor.

“So you weren't officially diagnosed as having emotional or mental trauma nor are you on any medication or seeking therapy?”

“No...well no...but she--,“ Kun floundered in his speech. 

“So you’re suing because your feelings were hurt? Is that it?” Okay. He was still one of your favorite judges after all.

“I don’t want to speak until my lawyer gets here!” Kun half whined to the judge.

"Dr. Qian, the trial has already begun, now let's move on." He directed his attention to you. "Ms. Y/L/N, your defense, please."

You smiled to yourself knowing you had this whole thing in the bag. There was no point in getting angry over this idiot and his dumb trial. There was no way he could win. “Your honor, although it is true that I stepped out on him a few times during our relationship, my home was being renovated and I was invited to stay at his residence without having to take part in any of the expenses. It was a mutual agreement and the idea came from my boyfriend who claimed that he loved me and had plans to marry me.”

"I-I object!" Kun interjected in a full on panic. There was no way he could twist himself out of this without the rabbit.

"You can't object. You're not a lawyer," said the judge quickly dismissing Kun. "We have a witness here, right? Mr. Dong, is it? Would you please take the stand." Winwin nodded and stood up to walk and stand between you and Kun. "Since you're the witness for both parties, please state your relationship to each one.”

"I am a close friend to both Dr. Qian and Ms. Y/L/N."

"But we've known each other for more than ten years compared to the mere two they've hardly spent together," added Kun snarkily.

"No comments, please," the judge told Kun without even looking at him. "Mr. Dong, can you testify for either of the parties."

"Yes, sir, your honor," Winwin began. "While it is true that Ms. Y/L/N stepped out on their relationship, Dr. Qian did, however, invite her into his home as her boyfriend, and he promised to take care of her without requesting any financial assistance." When he finished, Kun rolled his eyes and neck dramatically, annoyed by the fact that his own best friend was testifying against him. Even though you only spent a little time with him because of Kun and Ten, Winwin had still become a close friend by your strict terms. You knew he wouldn't stand there and be unfair to you.

"Anything else you would like to add?" asked the judge.

Winwin looked over at you with sad eyes before looking at the floor and letting out a heavy sigh. "There is one more thing, your honor..." One more thing? Was he about to tell the judge about what Kun did overseas? You had come prepared to reveal that information yourself, having brought the photos Doyoung had given you to present as evidence. But it would save you the breath if Winwin was going to do it for you. 

The judge's left brow raised slightly. "Well, what is it--"

"Hold it your honor." 

All eyes turned to the back of the courtroom as the doors swung open to signal the sudden entrance of your one true rival. A wave of relief washed over Kun as Doyoung made his way to stand between you and Winwin in front of the judge, and he was holding a similar yellow envelope to the one he gave you underneath his arm. Heat radiated from your body at his close proximity to you. You remembered him explicitly telling you that he wouldn't be representing Kun anymore, but deep down you had a feeling that he would in fact show up just to spite you for what you said to him on that day, and because of what he did to you at your baby shower. 

"Ah, Mr. Kim. How nice of you to finally join us twenty minutes later," the judge stated amusedly. Today was nothing short of surprises from the people he had come to know to be highly professional. 

"I apologize for my tardiness. I had a crisis of conscience on whether or not I could represent my client today." A crisis of conscience? You scoffed at his words. His only crisis was choosing whether or not he wanted to besmirch his own name in the process of tarnishing yours.

Kun's body immediately stiffened up again with fear and confusion. "What the actual hell?! Why?!"

"I can longer represent you in this case because…" Doyoung briefly paused to look over at you. Your subdued angry expression caused him to groan inwardly in irritation before looking back at Kun and continuing his statement. "It has recently come to my attention that I am directly involved with the defendant by being a potential father of her unborn child." So he decided to drag his own reputation after all? You still weren't impressed. 

Kun's face morphed into one of absolute betrayal and disgust and the judge's mouth fell open slightly before he quickly regained his composure and cleared his throat. Jaehyun was right. You shouldn't have gone through with this to save you from the absolute embarrassment. You began fanning yourself with your case notes as your body temperature steadily increased. You could feel little beads of sweat starting to form at your hairline.

"You were one of the five guys she cheated on me with?!" Kun all but screeched.

"Actually, I was the sixth one to be notified." Okay. You were really tired of all your personal business being put on blast in this courtroom. 

"Why you fucking ass--" you began to say in your rage but the loud banging of the judges gavel halted you.

"Order! No swearing in the court, Ms. Y/L/N! You know that!"

"I'm sorry," you said through gritted teeth and purposely left off the honorific.

"And I would also like to present a piece of evidence to the court," said Doyoung as he held up the envelope. What could he possibly have had on you now?!

"Baliff, please retrieve the evidence from Mr. Kim." The officer did as he was told and retrieved the envelope from Doyoung and handed it to the judge. "Hmm," he sounded after opening it and pulling out its contents. "These appear to be photos of you Dr. Qian." Of course the rabbit's efficient bushy-tailed behind made copies of the pictures. He couldn't even let you make the big reveal yourself!

"Of me?" Kun was very perplexed, having no knowledge of the pictures being taken. However, next to him Winwin visibly stiffened as the color began draining from his face. 

"Yes, and you're canoodling with a woman who is not Ms. Y/L/N. But the interesting part is that the timestamps of these photos coincide with the alleged date of your conference overseas."

Kun was rendered speechless. He had assumed no one other than Winwin knew about what he actually did during his trip overseas, who still then was spared most of the scandalous details. With his mouth agape, he looked over to his friend for some sort of clarification, and received just that when Winwin refused to look in his direction. It was all over for him now. 

"Although your feelings were hurt," the judge continued, "it seems as though you are doing all of this out of guilt because you yourself cheated on Ms. Y/L/N as well. You also refuse to admit the both of you are cut from the same cloth. It's a shame the two of you aren't still together." Tch.

Now glaring at his so-called best friend, Kun addressed the judge. "Your honor, I have a right to know where these photos came from and why my ex lawyer has them."

The judge held back from rolling his eyes again. Did it really matter at this point? Kun was caught red handed. "Yes. Mr. Kim, do you care to answer?"

"I gave them to him," cut in Winwin.

Everyone was taken aback by this sudden revelation. You looked over to Doyoung and though his expression was neutral, you noticed he was clenching his jaw tightly, a clear indication that he had no idea where the photos originally came from or how Winwin tied into any of this at all.

"What?!” Now your roles were reversed. Kun was now fuming and you were very confused. “Did you follow me on my trip?! You're the one who sent me on the trip!'

But you quickly switched back to being livid. "He sent you?" Winwin flinched at your tone and did his best to avoid eye contact with everyone in the room.

"Order, order!” The judge banged his gavel once again. “Mr. Dong please explain the statement Dr. Qian just made."

Winwin took a deep breath and turned to face you. When he picked up his head to look at you, his guilt filled eyes locked with yours and you suddenly found it slightly difficult to breathe. "Well your honor I am a travel agent,” he began without breaking your gaze. “But I noticed for a long time that there was a disharmony in their relationship, and I figured a bit of separation would do them some good.” Winwin had noticed? You had thought you were doing so well to conceal how unhappy you were in your relationship with Kun. You had even convinced yourself that it would work out and Kun showed no signs of his discontent either. How could Winwin have seen through the both of you so easily?

“I gifted Kun with an all expenses paid vacation and conspired with him to lie about it being a conference trip, but I didn't encourage him to cheat. Kun did instruct me to keep an eye out on Y/N, but of course I'm not going to babysit a grown woman.” Winwin paused for a moment, letting everything sink in before hitting you with the rest of his shocking testimony. “But I...I hired someone to keep an eye on Kun because I knew he would go over there and do something dumb like this, and also in hopes of catching him in the act to help break the two of them up, since neither unhappy party could do it themselves.” 

"But you're my friend!” Kun exclaimed angrily. “You barely know her!"

Winwin winced but never broke eye contact with you. "The two years I've known her was enough to create a solid relationship. And just because the two of you broke up doesn't mean I have to end our friendship as well. I know it was selfish on my part but it needed to be done." He paused in an attempt to swallow the lump forming in his throat. "I truly care for Y/N. Because she's a very important woman in my life. And I hated to see her in such an unhealthy and forced relationship whether she wanted to admit it or not. I hope she can find it in her heart to forgive me. And if she doesn't, then that's something for us to sort out later in private."

You forcefully broke eye contact with him, no longer able to look at the painful sadness deep within them. This whole situation was beginning to make your head hurt. Your heart was pounding in your ears and you placed your hand on your heaving chest as you tried to come to terms with the possibility of Dong Sicheng being secretly in love with you. Where was this coming from all of a sudden? How long had he felt this way towards you? Why was it so hard to fucking breathe?!

Kun’s eyes narrowed in contempt at the back of Winwin’s head. "Did you sleep with her, too?"

"Your honor!" you half screeched with enough force to cause you to lose your balance. Doyoung was quick to catch your arm and stabilize you, but you quickly took your arm back from him, not wanting to be touched in such a distressed state. Doyoung also took notice of your flushed cheeks, his brows knitting together in concern at your labored breathing, but the banging of the judges gavel and the barking of his name ripped his attention away from you.

"Order, I say! Mr. Kim! Is it true that Mr. Dong gave you these photos?"

You saw Doyoung take a deep breath and honed in on the way his Adam’s Apple bobbed up and down in a double swallow, a tell that only you knew he did when he was about to tell a lie. "Yes, your honor."

"Very well then. It seems as though you do not have a case here, Dr. Qian. Not only are you not actually emotionally affected by Ms. Y/L/N’s actions, it has been revealed that both of you were actively disloyal in your relationship. Since this was merely a pointing fingers case, I have no choice but to rule in the favor of the defendant.” The judge banged his gavel for the last time. “Court adjourned,” he said and began rising from his seat but stopped his action midway. “Oh, and Mr. Dong. You need to be more honest with your friends.'' With that the judge continued with making his exit.

Kun stepped away from his podium to confront Winwin about what he had done, the latter trying his best to escape the courtroom. You yourself needed more clarification on the matter and wanted to speak with him as well, but as soon as you took one step away from your podium a wave of dizziness hit you and you found yourself falling forward. 

“Y/N!” Doyoung called your name urgently as he caught you once again, and as soon as your forehead fell against his chest, he felt how sweaty you were through the fabric of his dress shirt. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at you and each of their faces flashed with worry once they laid eyes on the scene. “Are you feeling okay?” asked Doyoung as he tried to right your stance. But you didn’t have the strength to hold yourself up and continued to grip onto Doyoung’s suit jacket for support. “Y/N, can you breathe?”

You shook your head in dismissal. You wanted to tell him you were just a bit worked up and the feeling would pass, but your baby was kicking up a storm inside your belly. So with your fuzzy mind focusing on that sensation, the only statement that escape or lips was a breathy, “My baby…”

“Is everything alright?” called the judge.

“No. I believe Ms. Y/L/N needs to be taken to a hospital,” said Doyoung imperatively.

“No..I don’t..” you pleaded with a whisper but you were convincing no one with the way you still clung to the other attorney.

“I’ll call an ambulance,” said the court officer and he readied to take his phone from his belt.

“No, I’ll take her. It’ll be faster,” said Doyoung. “Is there a wheelchair available?”

“I’m fine,” you said sternly after managing to pick your head up. While holding onto him you were able to catch your breath and stabilize your breathing. Your baby was still doing a dance inside you, but the pounding inside your head was also beginning to subside. "Whatever it was passed." You released your grip on his jacket and started to move away from him, but you misstepped and stumbled a ways backwards. And Doyoung was right there to catch you once more, this time by the wrist.

"No, you're not and it didn't," he said authoritatively. "I'm taking you to an emergency clinic."

Ugh, no. Not again. "Doyoung, I don't-"

His eyes narrowed slightly. "You may feel fine, but think about the baby, Y/N." He kept his hold on your wrist as the two of you had a stare down in the middle of the courtroom. You knew you should go. You just didn't like the fact that it was Doyoung telling you to do it.

"Ms. Y/L/N, please let Mr. Kim take you to the emergency clinic," ordered the judge. "Or I'll fine you in contempt of court."

You rolled your eyes at the judge and let your arm go limp in Doyoung's hand. "Okay. Take me. But I can walk."

The ride on the way to the emergency clinic was mostly silent. He wasn't sure where he stood with you at the moment. Yes, he was taking you there, but any decent person would do that for a pregnant woman in distress. Even if he did provide you with the evidence to win against Kun, he was pretty sure that you still hated him, especially with the way he had originally given you said evidence. It wasn't exactly one of his most thought out decisions, but he rarely thought anything completely through when it came to you (unless it had to do with work). He did it with semi-good intentions. And he wanted to ask you if you had taken any more steps in finding out who the license plate number he wrote down belonged to. But that didn't matter anymore. Winwin had already confessed to orchestrating the photos. Besides, he didn't want to add on to your already high levels of stress. 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw you fan yourself with your hand, then mentally kicked himself for not automatically blasting the AC for you. "I'm sorry," he said, breaking the silence. Slightly startled by his sudden apology, you turned your head to see him moving his hand towards his control panel and lower the temperature on the passenger side of the car. "You should have said it was too warm."

"Ah, no. I'm fine," you said and waved a hand dismissively. "It was just another mini hot flash. It'll pass soon." 

"Oh, okay," he responded without looking at you and continued to focus on where he was going. 

Oof, it was so awkward. Like Doyoung, you also didn't know where the two of you stood anymore. You still hated him, but you hated him a lot less? Or maybe you didn't care to hate him as much anymore? You didn't care about anything anymore at this point. You were just done with everything that was going on in your life and only wanted to focus on having your baby and taking care of her with your new fiancé. 

You looked down at your belly and smiled to yourself at the thought of being engaged to quite possibly the man of your dreams. Not even Doyoung, Kun, or Winwin could ruin how happy you were with your life right now. Placing your left hand on your stomach, you rubbed it up and down against it, liking the way the ring looked on your finger in contrast to the color of your dress. 

As you were lost in your thoughts, Doyoung heard you sigh in contentment and quickly glanced over to see you rubbing your belly. His shoulders relaxed at knowing you had come completely down from being so worked up in the courtroom earlier, but then he immediately tensed back up again when your hand moved through a patch of sunlight and your ring glimmered as it passed through the rays. With clenched teeth, his hands gripped the steering wheel as he tried to quietly even out his breath. He didn't have to do much thinking as to who gave it to you. He could tell by the extravagance of the ring that only one person could afford it. Besides, it was obvious who you were going to choose from the start--anyone but him. And it was entirely his fault.

Doyoung pulled into a parking spot in front of the emergency clinic, then quickly got out of the car to open your door for you and helped you out. Once you were steady on your feet, he kept his grip on your hand, closed the door to his car and led you to the entrance of the clinic. "Watch your step," he prompted you when you made it to the door and opened it. 

"Thank you, Doyoung. But I can take it from here." This time he let you pull your hand away from him, but not without some noticeable hesitation. 

"Are you sure?" he asked you knowing full well that you could handle everything on your own. But he was coming to terms with his loss, and wanted to hold on for just a little bit longer. 

You tried to gauge whether or not he was truly concerned about you and your baby, but you couldn't get a clear read on his facial expression. "Yes. I'm fine."

Doyoung sighed before placing his hand in the middle of your back and started pushing you the rest of the way through the door. "If you were fine, then we wouldn't be here."

"No, really," you pleaded as he guided you the rest of the way to the check-in counter. "You don't have to stay."

Once at the counter, Doyoung quickly told the woman at the desk about what happened to you earlier, listed your symptoms, and told her that you were not fine no matter how many times you told him that you were. You were half-surprised about how much he knew about possible pregnancy complications, but this was Mr. Walking Textbook after all. The woman agreed with him of course and you rolled your eyes at them both before she handed you a clipboard with your information already filled out for you to review. This was your third visit to this particular emergency clinic in the past year. Maybe they would give you a lollipop prize this time. 

Doyoung sat across from you in the lobby as you waited for a nurse to retrieve you. He was trying his best to occupy himself with one of the magazines provided, but you knew he wasn't actually absorbing anything he was looking at. You knew he was just being his annoyingly thorough self and wanted to make sure you and the baby were absolutely fine. But the whole situation was weird, and at some point you truly just wanted him to leave. The awkwardness of it all was beginning to get under your skin.

You pulled out your phone to distract yourself by texting Mark about what happened, but decided against it since you had been worrying him sick already for the past six months. You texted Jaehyun instead. Soon he would be legally obligated to worry about you and you needed to get out of the habit of relying on your little brother for everything ASAP. You reluctantly texted Ten as well, not really wanting to get chewed out by him but knew it was necessary. He would find out sooner or later from the clinic you were in, anyway. You knew he wasn’t going to answer you until a few hours later, and when he finally did he told you he was going to personally tie you up himself and lock you in your bedroom until your due date.

Jaehyun texted you back fairly quickly despite his busy schedule. He told you he was on his way despite you telling him that you were okay and that he didn’t have to drop everything to be with you. Why were all the men in your life so annoying and/or overprotective of you? However, you did have a feeling once the baby was born, they would all stop caring about you and devote all their attention to her. Maybe then you’d finally have a break.

“Ms. Y/L/N,” the nurse called you to go into an examination room. 

Upon hearing your name, you stood up from your seat with a little bit of difficulty, but was steadied on your feet by Doyoung, who you hadn’t even seen stand up. “Make sure you tell them everything,” he advised you before letting go of your arm. 

You rolled your eyes again. “Yes, mother,” you said sarcastically under your breath, causing a very faint smile to appear on Doyoung’s face.

The nurse studied your interaction with each other then her eyes scanned down to the ring on your finger, and you saw them flicker with misunderstanding. “Remember, you can go with her to the examination room if you want—” she tried to assure him, but you cut her off when you saw where her gaze remained.

“That won’t be necessary,” you said and began walking yourself through the hallway. “I’ve already notified someone else to accompany me.”

“Oh, um. Okay.” Before leading you, the nurse gave one last wary glance at Doyoung, whose face was once more devoid of emotion while his eyes told another story.

In the examination room the nurse performed the routine of asking for your medical history, taking your blood pressure and checking your vitals, then the doctor came in shortly thereafter. “Well if it isn’t you again,” the doctor said cheerily as he walked through the door. He must have been having a good day. There weren't many people waiting in the lobby, so you figured he was happy about his light workload. “Oh, my. You’re about ready to pop, aren't you?” You recognized him as the young Dr. Huang Renjun who first diagnosed your pregnancy six months ago. At least you didn't have to deal with anyone new that day. 

“In a few weeks, yes,” you answered him concisely, not really in the mood for small talk and just wanted to go home and take a nap.

“That’s wonderful,” he said genuinely then put his pen behind his ear. “But what isn’t wonderful is you stressing yourself out and developing high blood pressure, ma’am.” His expression turned serious and you could hear the disapproval in his voice. “I’m sure you’re aware of the complications hypertension could cause for both you and your child, hm?”

You sighed. “Yes.”

“I know you were probably hoping that nothing major had happened to you today and you would just be told to rest at home, but unfortunately we will have to run more tests on you and conduct an ultrasound to check on your baby.” He turned to the nurse and told her what tests to prepare for and she nodded and left the room.

You groaned to yourself and combed your hair away from your face with your left hand. You were so sick of ultrasounds. You were so sick of hospitals. But everything happening to you was your fault, so you really didn’t have a right to complain. 

Dr. Renjun caught the twinkle of the giant rock on your finger when you moved and his cheerful demeanor returned after he was done gawking at the size of your diamond. “I see you have gotten engaged since we last met. Congratulations!”

A bit taken aback, you smiled somewhat shyly and covered the ring with your other hand. You weren’t used to being engaged, having only been so for little over a week. And since no one else knew about it, it was a little shocking when strangers noticed. “Thank you.”

“Would you like for us to inform your companion about the next steps, or for him to come in here with you?” he asked you.

“That won’t be necessary,” you repeated the words you told the nurse earlier. You didn’t expect Doyoung to still be waiting in the lobby anyway. 

Dr. Renjun’s lips pursed in thought. “Hmm. He didn’t come in with you last time either. Is he not your fiancé? If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

Wait what? Last time? Dr. Renjun had an incredible memory to know such a random detail about a patient he had only seen once over half a year ago. However, your memory from the last visit to the emergency clinic was hazy since you were passed out for most of it, and the announcement of your life changing news kind of overpowered everything else. You vividly remembered Kun fainting, but you had no idea who had taken you to the clinic in the first place. Doyoung wasn’t the first person on your list of possibilities.

“No, he isn’t,” you answered him still somewhat in a shocked state.

Seeing the surprise evident on your face, the young doctor couldn’t help himself but to know more. “Then can I assume it was your boyfriend? The man that fainted when I broke the news? Have the two of you worked things out?”

You visibly winced at the mention of Kun, causing the doctor to tense up. “No, we didn’t. He’s actually the reason I’m here.” He relaxed a bit when you continued to speak, grateful he hadn’t overstepped, but his interest was piqued higher now, and also with a bit of concern. “He tried to sue me. I came here from the trial.”

“Yeesh,” the doctor efficiently articulated how you were sure everyone looking in from the outside felt about your situation.

“Tell me about it,” you said chuckling to yourself. “And the guy that brought me here could be my baby's father.” Dr. Renjun raised an eyebrow, but didn’t respond as you continued speaking. “As well as my fiancé...and some other guys.” You weren’t sure why you were telling him all of this, especially since you were a very private person. Perhaps you simply needed a new outlet and an unbiased take on the matter.

Dr. Renjun nodded and you half expected him to say ‘yeesh’ again, but instead he continued to be upbeat. “Well it seems everything has worked out for you in the end,” he said with a smile. “But they won’t stay that way if you don’t start taking better care of yourself,” he scolded you as he went back into doctor mode. “We haven’t conducted the tests yet, but I’m telling you now I’m prescribing that you go on bed rest for the duration of this pregnancy. I'm sure your OBGYN will say the same thing. And speaking of tests…” The doctor looked around the examination room in confusion before looking back at you on the bed. “Where is my nurse? She never came back!”

The young doctor pulled back the curtain to search for his nurse and saw her as well as a few other nurses dilly dallying in the hallway and gawking at something going on by the front desk. But soon the object of everyone’s infatuation almost knocked Dr. Renjun to the floor in its haste to see the very pregnant lady he had just been speaking to about her boy problems.

“Y/N! Are you okay? What did the doctor say? Where are they?” Jaehyun cupped your face in his hands and gazed worriedly into your eyes. 

“I’m fine. I’m fine. I told you I was fine,” you reassured him and removed his hands from your face. “And the doctor was the man you almost trampled when you ran in here.” You gestured towards Dr. Renjun who was staring at Jaehyun like he was a ghost. The young doctor knew exactly why Kun had tried to sue you now.

“Y-You’re…” Dr. Renjun had barely managed to form words when Jaehyun turned to face him. His wide eyes slid over to look at you and you gave him a smile and a shrug as confirmation to his silent question. He cleared his throat and adjusted the clipboard in his hands. “You must be the fiancé. I’m Dr. Renjun. Pleased to meet you.”

Jaehyun first looked at you confused as to why this stranger knew your secret, then he looked back to the young doctor, a bit skeptical of his age and the legitimacy of his credentials. “And you as well. What’s going on now, doctor?”

“She presented with high blood pressure, and we were about to run more tests. Please wait a moment while I retrieve the nurse.” Dr. Renjun said then all but ran out of the examination room.

“What are you doing?” You yanked him by his sleeve closer to you so you wouldn’t have to talk too loudly.

“I told you I was coming.”

“No, I meant what are you doing without wearing a disguise?" 

"I didn't have time to think about all of that."

"Did you at least have sunglasses on before you barged in here?"

"That's not important right now."

"We can't be seen leaving here together. Are you out of your mind?"

"Chill, Y/N. He literally just said you have high blood pressure. Calm down. They have a back door we can use." But his dumbass still walked through the front! 

"Did anyone in the lobby recognize you? Was--" You were about to ask him if Doyoung was still there waiting, but decided not to at the last second. You didn't want to complicate things any more than they already were. "You're sure everything is fine?"

"No, everything isn't fine. You're sitting in a hospital bed instead of safe and sound in mine." 

You cringed and had butterflies at the same time. "Ew, please stop talking. And I want to go home after all of this. I'll be the most comfortable there."

Jaehyun sighed as he played with your fingers. He knew you didn't plan on officially moving in with him until after the baby was born, but it didn't stop him from trying to persuade  you whenever he could. "Fine. If that's what you want."

Dr. Renjun came back with the nurse and they managed to properly administer the tests whilst being starstruck in your fiancé's presence.  Nothing out of the ordinary could be seen during the ultrasound and your baby was doing just fine. However, you were still prescribed bed rest and told to take it easy.

Once you were back at home, Jaehyun couldn't stay like he wanted to and was only able to walk you to the door. His assistant was blowing up his phone and he couldn't ignore him or the rest of his responsibilities any longer, so he said his goodbyes and ripped himself away from you. You stayed in bed like you were told and fell asleep while watching an afternoon game show until your bladder woke you up a few hours later. 

After you did your business in the bathroom, you began your waddle back to your bed, but as soon as you placed your hand to pull back the covers, your doorbell rang. You huffed then called out for your brother to answer the door, but received no response. Then you remembered he had a date planned with his girlfriend and probably left home while you were asleep a long time ago. The doorbell rang again and you begrudgingly waddled your way to the intercom, only to see Yuta standing on the other side of the camera. 

”Yuta? What are you doing here?” you asked him after you cracked the door open just enough to reveal your face. 

“A little birdie told me that you went to the emergency room today. So I thought I’d come by and bring you some food to eat." He held up two plastic bags filled with to-go containers in each hand. "Get your spirits up," he said and tried to push the rest of your door open with his foot, but you blocked his way from entering your apartment. The only people that knew you went to the clinic were Doyoung, Jaehyun, and Ten, none of which were anywhere near being pals with Yuta. So him finding out any other way was very concerning. 

You narrowed your eyes at him. “A little birdie?” 

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you know. Tweet tweet,” he said flatly with no change in his voice. It was the manliest bird sound you had ever heard.

“Yuta.” You pushed the door on his foot between it and the door frame. You weren't letting him in without a proper explanation. 

“Ugh, okay! My kid and I were walking into the pediatric emergency room on the other side of the building and I saw you and Jaehyun walking out the back entrance from across the way," he said and wiggled his foot out of capture. "He’s really trying to be your first choice, yeah?”

Alarmed by what just so casually came out of his mouth (and completely ignoring his second statement), you let Yuta slide past you into your home with his bags of comfort food. “Oh my gosh! What happened? Is he okay?”

“Yeah, yeah he’s fine. He got into a scuffle at the soccer game. He was already missing his top two front teeth, but now he's missing the two on the sides of those." He ripped open the bag of food and began arranging the to-go boxes on your kitchen counter. "And he has a concussion thanks to my client’s son--who I’m beginning to suspect is not the age everyone thinks he is. That kid is huge! Are you interested in a new client? Because I’m about to drop this douchebag.”

“Oh no, Yuta! I’m sure it was an accident," you said doing your best to situate yourself on one of your bar stools. "And no, I don’t need another client. I'll be up to my neck in work once I come back from being on maternity leave. Wait a minute...why are you here and not at home with your son?!”

Yuta began opening the second bag. “Relax, relax. He’s with my parents. I had to go to the office and grab some files really quick since I have to work from home for a few days now to stay with him. I grabbed food right after and thought I’d swing by and bring some for you, too. Because I'm the best person ever."

“Our work never ceases, does it? I appreciate you thinking about me.” You opened one of the containers  and was delighted to see an assortment of your favorite buffet foods. All those lunch dates with Yuta had paid off. He knew exactly what to pile up into the cartons. “Yuta, you really are the best. Thank you!”

“No problem, baby cakes" He picked one of the plastic forks and began stuffing his face whilst still standing next to you. "So, the rabbit sent you to the ER for the second time, huh? What the hell is he doing to people in the courtroom?"

You sighed and you pierced multiple pieces of food onto your fork. "It wasn't him. There was a lot more information that was revealed about the case and I guess...my heart couldn't take it in the literal sense."

Yuta almost choked on his food, not having expected you to say something as drastic as that. "Are you serious? What happened? Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine now, It was just that everything that happened today was the final straw in making my blood pressure go up. Now I'm on lock down.”

"Damn. That sucks," he said between mouthfuls. "It sounds like it was a real mess."

"Hm, yes. It was a sight to see." You took a bite of your food. "Until, you know, my heart started beating out of sync and I couldn't really breathe." You took a moment to chew your food and swallow. "All of you guys are driving me nuts."

"Hey, you just said I'm your favorite." You definitely hadn't said that, but you didn't want to stop him from bringing you food again, so you let him believe whatever he wanted. "And since I'm the favorite, I have something I want to ask of you.”

“Anything for my favorite food delivery man.”

Yuta licked some sauce off his fork. “I’m thinking about asking your friend on a date." 

You ungracefully dropped the food you had scooped onto your fork. "Huh?"

"The pretty one that was the hostess at your baby shower. Y’know, Y/BFF/N. Can you give me her number please? I also wanted to get your input on what restaurant I should take her to. She’s a pâtissière so I don’t want to insult her palette.” You weren't expecting him to ask you this of all things! You thought he was going to ask you to babysit his son, not be his wingwoman!

“My best friend? Yuta, sweetie, please.” He couldn't be serious. And did he not think about how incredibly awkward it would be if your daughter turned out to be his? You laughed at the thought and absentmindedly popped a spring roll into your mouth with your left hand, unaware that you just flashed him your shiny secret.

Immediately, Yuta's eyes narrowed slightly when he noticed the ring, but pretended not to see it as something clicked inside his head. “Please what? Is there something wrong with her?”

“No! Of course not," you quickly corrected. "She’s fine."

“Why can’t I see her then?” He placed his hands on his hips and you couldn't overlook the rigid state of his body. 

“It’s not...that you can’t see her. I just know you, Yuta. And...I don’t want her to get hurt.” You knew how it must have sounded to him, but you didn't know how else to explain it. 

Of course he took offense, and now he was ticked off. “Why would I hurt her?”

You took a deep breath, not really wanting to have to spell it out for him. “You’re a player. A womanizer. She's not the type you can mess around with. She needs someone who's serious and you don’t know how to settle down.”

Yuta scoffed. “I don’t know how to settle--I’m divorced remember.”

“Yeah, but--“

“But what, Y/N? You think I was the reason it didn't work out, right?"

"That's not--"

"You think I went into my marriage without any feelings? You think I was just playing around and chose to get my heart broken? Do you honestly think I would voluntarily go through that shit again with somebody else?" 

You sat there speechless, stunned by such a visceral reaction you never expected to come from your coworker. The two of you used to talk about how he messed around all the time and how it would be a while until he would want to be in a real relationship again, but it never elicited this kind of reaction from him. Was he actually serious about dating your best friend? Or was it something else you said that had set him off? 

"I tried to make it work," Yuta continued. "Not just for me, but for my son, too. I stayed in that loveless marriage as long as I did all for my son’s sake. But it got to the point where I was tired of being emotionally manipulated. It was so bad I had to seek professional help. You didn’t know that, did you?"

“No…,” you said guiltily and casted your gaze to the floor. 

“And you never thought to ask either. You never once asked how the divorce affected me or how I was feeling. You just assumed I was a terrible excuse for a man." Your head popped back up and you vigorously shook your head to let him know that wasn't true, but he continued talking and didn't give you a chance to speak. "Yes, I sleep around, but according to my therapist I’m trying to fill a void. I was treated so badly by my ex-wife I seek out different people to sleep with to feel something, anything." He looked directly into your eyes and for the first time you had seen the ostensible melancholy he had tried so hard to mask behind his carefree exterior. "I was numb, Y/N. I was seeking purpose."

"Yuta, I...I'm sorry," you apologized. "I didn't mean to upset you."

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “Yeah, I know. It's just…after watching you go through all this shit with your baby, I realized I needed to change my ways. Not only in the event that she's mine, but to be a better example to my son, too. I'm serious about this, Y/N. I'm willing to commit to the baby. To you. To us. In whatever capacity that may be. Whether that be a co-parent or a friend. However you choose to use me.”

Now it was your turn for your eyes to narrow. Everything Yuta had said was reassuring to you until his last sentence. You didn't like the idea of what he was insinuating. “What do you mean by 'use you?'”

Yuta smirked now that he was the one to get under your skin. “I’m not stupid, Y/N. I know I’m not your top choice in being your child's father. And I damn sure know I’m not in the running to be entrusted with your heart.”

“Yuta, that’s not true."

“Don’t lie. I see the way you look at the other guys. Jaehyun specifically. Everyone else never had a chance. And what fucking sucks is that you continue to keep all of us on a string. If we stray away, then you can pull us right back in. And you absolutely thrive on that shit.”

“No I don’t!” You rolled your flannel sleeve down your arm in attempts to hide your engagement ring, but your efforts were in vain. He had already seen it. 

“But you do! Look at what you're doing right now! I'm not fucking blind!" He gestured his hand towards what you were doing with your sleeve causing you to freeze like a guilty deer in headlights. "You love this attention. That’s why you slept with all of us in a span of two weeks. Because you weren't getting enough attention from that poor guy you cheated on. But the really messed up thing about you is that once you're done with being scared of finding out who the father is and you read the results, if it's someone you don't want, or if it doesn't work out with your first guy of choice, then you have the rest of us on standby to maybe fall back on. And that's also the reason why you don’t want me to go after your friend. Speaking of which I don’t need your permission to do so, by the way because I already have her number. I just thought it would be polite to ask you first. But everything I said before that is why I hate you giving me shit for being a player when you’re absolutely doing the exact same thing.”

“Yuta…It's not like that…" No. Everything he had said was the truth. You didn't want to believe him. You didn't want it to be true. 

“It is. And if I didn’t truly care about you, then I wouldn’t be telling you about yourself right now." He braced his arms against the counter and let his head hang down between them. "That’s what a friend is supposed to do.”

You covered your face with your hands and slowly dragged them downwards as you tried to steady your breathing. You couldn't risk taking another trip to the hospital, but fortunately you had a pamphlet to aid you in this situation. How did a nice gesture of hand delivering food turn into an emotional rollercoaster of repressed feelings and self-realization. How did you always end up hurting the men you were involved with? 

“You can’t have all of us, Y/N," Yuta said as he lifted his head back up to look at you. "You can only have one.”

You remained silent. You often forget how smart Yuta was with the way he usually presented himself. He was very perceptive and his assumptions about you were spot on. He laid it out ever so clearly that it was time for you to self-reflect and do something about your actions. But you had already made your choice. You chose to spend the rest of your life with Jaehyun before even looking at the results of the paternity test. You didn't need to hold on to any of the other guys anymore. So why couldn't you let them go already? 

“I'm sorry I upset you in your current condition,"  Yuta said, cutting the silence. "I’ll make my exit.”

He pushed himself off of the counter and made his way to the door. But as you watched his retreating figure something inside you tugged hard on your heart strings. “Yuta, wait." He stopped walking to listen, but didn't turn around to face you. "You are up there. I’d give you my heart if it came down to it.”

Yuta let out a sardonic laugh. “If it came down to it? Listen to yourself. This is exactly what I was talking about.”

You had to bite your tongue. Maybe you should have left it alone and not said anything else. But you did love him, strictly speaking. He was always a good friend to you and you valued his honesty. Under different circumstances, maybe the two of you could have become something more. That's why you didn't want to let go. He was absolutely right after all. You didn't want to let go of any future possibilities. 

“What’s going on here?” asked Mark cutting through the heavy air between you and Yuta. You hadn’t even noticed his arrival into your apartment.

“Nothing. I‘m letting myself out.” Yuta patted Mark on his back before making the rest of his way to the door.

After the soft clicks of your automatic lock, Mark sat down next to you at the counter without saying a word, helping himself to the unfinished food in the containers abandoned by you and Yuta. After what felt like several moments you put your elbow onto the counter and rested your head in your hand. “You’re not going to ask what happened?” you went ahead and asked him. 

Mark fidgeted in his seat. “No... I mean I heard most of it outside.”

“Great," you said sarcastically. At least you didn't have to fill him in on what was said now. 

“And I agree with Yuta. You can’t have them all. You only have two options, really.”

“Only two options?” You turned your head, a puzzled expression on your face. You had yet to share your news with Mark or the rest of your family. Both you and Jaehyun had mutually decided to hold off on telling anyone so the two of you could experience it before everyone bombarded you with questions about the when and where of your wedding. It wouldn't be for you and Jaehyun to enjoy anymore. So like you did with Yuta, you decided to just listen to what your brother had to say. That was also another reason why you waited to share the news. Everyone was going to have something to say. 

“Yeah. Option one is choosing none of them, which I believe you forget you even have that option of doing.” You rolled your eyes while straightening up in your seat. “And option two is to pick only one of your fellows regardless if they share the same DNA with my niece or not.”

“Well, baby brother. Since I’m oh-so struggling to choose, whose team are you on?“

“I’m actually team none of them. They all suck. Move on and let them all go.” That was unexpected.

“Woah, that’s how you’re feeling now?”

“Think about it. You already put Taeyong in his place at the shower. Johnny had already put himself in a place since he's still with his girlfriend. Taeil is having mad mood swings. And Yuta may have just put you in the friend zone.”

You visibly frowned at his last statement. “And the others?” 

“I think Doyoung has learned his lesson and turned a new leaf, but you wouldn’t know because you keep dodging him.”

“And for good reason. You do remember what he put me through, right?"

"Yeah, I still don't like him." 

You rolled your eyes. "But you like Jaehyun. You’ve been rooting for us this whole time.”

Mark hesitated and focused all of his attention on picking up another piece of food. “I’m allowed to change my opinion.”

“Yes, you are…" Something wasn't right about the way your brother was acting. "Mark, what's wrong?” He took a deep breath and fidgeted in his seat some more before absentmindedly pulling your arm to hold your hand. Unfortunately, it was the one with the giant rock on it. “Speak!”

“I was arrested tonight,” he blurted.

You blinked slowly as you processed the words that came out of your brother's mouth. You could feel your pulse quickening in your veins. “What? Why? Why didn’t you call me?! Mark, what the hell?!”

“Y/N, calm down and let me explain. I was in Taeil's car and I was pulled over by two cops because I didn’t have the headlights on.”

“A lack of headlights shouldn’t cause you to get arrested! Who were the officers? I’m going to give the police station a very stern phone call!” 

“Y/N, wait. The headlights not being on was just the icing on the cake to a car that had been reported stolen.”

With your increasing confusion, your entire face morphed into an expression that was almost cartoonish. “Reported stolen? That doesn’t make any sense. Why would his car be reported stolen if he let you borrow it?”

Mark hesitated once again, still attempting to tip toe through this entire conversation. “Because the car technically doesn’t belong to him...It belongs to Jaehyun.” 

You were rendered speechless. 

“And from the looks of things, you belong to him now, too.” You followed Mark’s gaze to the ring on your finger then pulled your hand away from him. 

”I don’t belong to anyone,” you said slightly offended. 

Mark stood up and began to pace in the space in front of you. “How much do you really even know about Jaehyun, Y/N? Sure, he’s your client and all but did you actually get to know him personally to see what type of person he was before you let him stick it--“

“Mark!” You couldn’t believe your ears.

“Sorry! I just...My head is so messed up right now. Why is Taeil’s car in Jaehyun’s name? Why was the car reported stolen? And why did that guy come to my rescue and not Jaehyun?”

“Guy? What guy?”

“This guy that looked about my age with pushed back black hair, rectangular glasses, and when he smiled his eyes turned into crescents. He was really friendly and all that, but I was so frazzled from being arrested I didn’t catch his name when he introduced himself to me.”

You mulled over the description and could only think of one person in relation to Jaehyun. “Jeno? If so, that’s Jaehyun’s assistant.”

“I must have missed that part, too.”

“Jaehyun tends to send Jeno a lot of places on his behalf. That’s not unusual, Mark.”

“Okay. But he could have at least come to save his future brother-in-law in person.”

“Don’t take it personally. I was with him earlier. He was very busy today, hence why Jeno was probably sent. You’re thinking too hard.“

“And you’re not thinking hard enough! You mean to tell me Jaehyun didn’t know his own cousin had his car this whole time, let alone let me borrow it constantly? Make it make sense, Y/N!

“Mark--“

“And why did Jeno, IF that is his real name, know to bring me here? Has he been to your condo before?”

“Not physically, no. Jeno knows—“

“Everything, clearly!”

You hobbled off of the bar stool to go strangle your brother into calming down. “Mark, let's be grateful the situation didn’t escalate into something worse. Jaehyun cleared it up with the police and Jeno brought you home to me in one piece. I’ll call Jaehyun and we can have all this sorted out so both you and I can have peace of mind.”

“But, Y/N--“

“Mark, please. My key is on the table by the door. Take them and go back on your date. I'm sure your girlfriend is worried about you.”

“How the hell do you expect me to just go on like all of this didn't just happen?” Your brother protested. 

"Don't worry yourself with my problems. Go live your life," you begged him and started pushing him towards the door. 

"Alright, alright! I'll go. Let me go take a leak first." Mark reached into his pockets then pulled out his wallet and phone. He tossed them onto the counter, but before the items landed, pieces of paper folded together flew out and slid underneath the refrigerator. 

“Hey, Mark, wait. You dropped something. It went under the fridge,” you told him and pointed in that direction.

He went to retrieve the pieces of paper thinking they were receipts that fell out of his wallet, but once he picked them up and felt the thickness of the parchments he knew otherwise. Curious, he unfolded them, and immediately frowned upon seeing what was printed on them. 

"What now?" you asked him, not in the mood for anymore surprises for the day. 

“They're photos," he said and began looking at them one by one. 

“Of what?”

“One of Yuta," he started, but paused to look up at you. "In the same outfit he had on a minute ago."

"What?"

He looked back down at the pictures in his hands. "And one of Hendery your doorman. And one of...you and Doyoung at the ER? You went to the ER today?!”

“Let me see those.”

You walked over to him and took the photos from his hands. You fully took in the picture of Doyoung dressed in his lucky suit walking you into the emergency clinic, the fuzzy image of Yuta in his son’s soccer team branded T-shirt getting out of his car at the same clinic, and sure enough, the third picture was your character of a doorman walking your handbag to the elevator. But rather than the blatant and disturbing breech of your privacy, what stood out to you the most was the watermark located at the very bottom of the photo next to the timestamp.

Y!Y.

“Go into my bedroom and pull out the yellow envelope from under my mattress,” you instructed your brother.

Although perturbed, Mark acted without hesitation and did as he was told. When he returned, you dumped the contents of the envelope onto the counter. “What’s all this?” he asked and picked up one of the new pictures. 

“Doyoung’s baby shower gift.” You decided to leave out the part about Winwin having them taken. You didn’t want to override your brother's brain with anymore new shocking information. “Take a look at these photos and tell me what you see in common?”

“Woah, Kun moved on fast!”

“That was taken when he was sosay on his conference trip. I confronted him about that today during the trial.”

“Kun's trial was today?!”

“Mark, focus!”

“Okay, okay. Yeah. The watermark symbol is the same. Are they letters or numbers? Looks like two Y's, maybe? Or an inverted tree?”

“Where did you get these from?”

Mark gawked at you in offense. “I’ve never seen these before! Why would I have secret photos of you and the men you’ve slept with?”

Something in that last sentence lit a light bulb inside your mind. “Say that again.”

“I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that," he frantically tried to apologize. 

"No, but you're right. These are all men I've had relations with."

Your brother's eyes almost fell out of his head. "You slept with Hendery, too?!

"Fuck no! He just talks to me often and probably got snapped because we're friendly towards one another." You looked back at the array of photos, switching into work mode as you tried to piece together the evidence. “Do you think these were in Taeil’s car?" you asked him. "Maybe you pulled them out from the glove compartment by accident when searching for the registration?”

“No. I’m in that car more than Taeil and I make sure it’s nice and tidy before I return it. I’ve cleaned that car multiple times to know those photos were not there. And remember it’s Jaehyun’s car.”

You rolled your eyes, but continued searching through various scenarios inside your head. Were these pictures planted on your brother? When would he have come into contact with anyone who could possibly have taken them? He'd only been to the police station since he had left your home. And how did this connect to what Winwin had said at the trial? Did he pay the same person to follow all of the other men you’d slept with? Just then, his guilty and sorrow filled eyes flashed across your mind. The look on his face when he stated his testimony, it was almost as if it pained him to say it. Like he was being forced to say it...

 “Okay, then. What happened on the way from the police station? You got into Jeno’s car and then what?”

“I was still kind of freaking out so I don’t really remember.”

“Mark, I'm going to need you to tap into that short-term memory of yours. Try to remember.”

“Alright, umm. Well, I got into his black car, spacious interior, tan leather seats--“

“I know what the car looks like! Were there other things inside that you noticed? Was Jeno a little off or anything to you?”

“No, nothing really happened. I sat in the car and he just started driving me here. We didn’t talk much during the trip except the part where he said not to mention this to you right away because it might upset you and the baby.“

“He said that?”

“Yeah, but I guess that makes sense. Jaehyun probably told him about your ER visit. You know. The one you didn't even tell your own brother about!" 

"I would have told you eventually."

"Yeah, right." Mark waved his hand dismissively. "But obviously I didn’t listen. Because you’re my sister and I don’t like keeping stuff from you, because I know if I did you’d kick my ass once you’d find out, and I--“

“Shut up. What else happened? What happened when you got here?”

Mark crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side as he shifted his weight on his feet. “Some asshole pulled out the gate right in front of us and Jeno slammed on the brakes." His head snapped up straight and grim realization washed over his face. "And you know I keep your gate key in my wallet? So when we jerked forward, my phone and wallet flew off my lap and landed on a bunch of papers he had thrown around on the floor of the car. I must have gotten the photos from his car when I picked up my stuff!”

So the pictures weren't planted on your brother, but did that mean they were planted on Jeno? Or was Jeno the person they belonged to? It made more sense for them to be planted considering who he was the assistant for. Jaehyun was likely to have more than a few paparazzi on his trail at any given moment, and you had been spending a lot of time in public with him recently. You were always paranoid about this happening with you and him one day. If Winwin originally hired this person to follow and take pictures of all the men in your life, and your secret relationship with Jaehyun was found out, was Y!Y now trying to use the photos as blackmail against Jaehyun? But that didn't explain why Jeno also had the pictures of Yuta and his son at the ER. And there was still the matter of Taeil's car being reported stolen.

Mark gripped his forearms and looked at you with scared eyes. "Y/N, I don't have a good feeling about any of this."

You didn't answer him and continued to stare at the watermark on one of the photos, still trying to recall where you may have seen it before. Sometimes your clients' cases require the use of private investigators, and you were sure you had never worked with this individual before. So if you hadn't seen the logo in one of your own cases, then it must have been in someone else's. 

You picked up your phone off the counter and navigated to your contacts with lightning speed. As you tapped the name on the screen and put the phone to your ear, Mark restarted pacing in front of you. 

The call was answered on the third ring. “—that her calling you?" asked a female voice in the background of the call. 

"No, babe. It’s Yuta. He said he was gonna call me later about a case. I'll just be a minute.” You heard some ruffling and and a jingle of a bell before the sound of a door being closed. “Hi," he addressed you finally. "Thanks for saving me from picking out flowers. I didn’t expect to hear from you today. Everything cool? What’s up?”

Normally you would have commented on everything you just heard transpire on the line, but you were too focused on the task at hand to care about him lying to his girlfriend about who was calling him. “Hey, Johnny. A lot of your clients come to you with PI services already in motion or you hire them yourself. Does someone who uses two Y's with an exclamation point in the middle ring any bells? I feel like I’ve seen their work with some of your cases specifically.”

He went silent on the line as he tried to visualize the logo in his mind. “Oh, yeah! That’s Yangyang. He takes photos of all types of dirt these celebrities do just about anywhere on the planet. He’s multilingual, too, so he can get work almost anywhere. Why? Do you need him to spy on Jaehyun for you?" Johnny laughed after his joke, but you didn't find it funny in your current situation. "He won’t spy on any of us non-celebrity folks. There’s no money in that. Unless you're ready to spend the big bucks.”

His last statement made your skin crawl and you grabbed onto your brother's arm and pulled him towards you to use him as support and to make him stop moving. “No, I just came across his watermark in one of my clients' files and I got curious.”

“Yeah, that's him. He doesn’t do honest work, but he’s harmless.” 

"John! Get back in here!" You heard the sound of the bell jingling and the door reopening before his girlfriend called him back into what you assumed was a flower shop. 

“I gotta go," he said and hung up the phone before you could give him your thanks or tell him goodbye. 

You slowly put down your phone then continued to stare into nothing as you sat in deep thought about the worst possible scenario you could think of. 

"Sis?" Mark tried to get your attention. You had started squeezing his arm and your silence really worried him. "What did Johnny--"

“Mark," you said his name authoritatively, snapping your head to face him. "I need you to go poop or whatever it is you need to do, go on your date, and forget any of this happened.”

“Are you serious?" he asked and jerked his arm away from you. "How am I supposed to focus on my date, now? I got arrested for no reason tonight and you have someone fucking watching you, Y/N!” Your brother was at wits end and you felt so sorry for all the shit you were putting him through. This was the exact reason why you wanted him to just ignore everything. 

“Look. Let me handle this. I don't want to get you involved anymore.”

“Your due date is around the corner and this could be dangerous! What can you possibly do now?”

“I can do whatever it is I need to do! Now please. Go be bothered with taking care of your girlfriend and making sure she's safe and happy or something.”

“Ugh, I can't believe this." Mark threw his arms in the air then turned to walk down the hallway towards the guest bedroom where he had been staying for the past few weeks. You heard the door slam behind him, then a muffled, angry, apology from him stating that he didn't mean to close it that hard. 

You took a deep breath and picked up your phone again to dial another number. As it rang, you rested your elbows against the counter and closed your eyes while you took several more breaths waiting for the person who was taking forever to pick up. 

“What," he answered curtly. He probably didn't want to answer you at all, but lost the battle with his conscience.

“Yuta," you tirelessly exhaled his name. "How far away are you?”

"...why?" He hesitated before asking because of the way you sounded, but he still had an edge to his voice. 

“I know we parted ways on bad terms, but I really need your help right now.”

"What happened?" A majority of his animosity was replaced with concern. "You okay? Are you going into labor right now?"

"No, it's not that. I…I need you to come get me and take me to Jaehyun’s house."

“What the fuck?" You knew he'd react that way. Maybe it would have been better to lead in with your reasoning first. 

"Yuta--"

"Are you really fucking asking me to--"

"No, listen! If you help me, I'll help woo my friend--"

"Oh, so I can date her only if I help you with some bullshit--"

"No! You can do whatever you want! You can date her and even marry for all I care," you pleaded with him. "Please, Yuta. This is really, really important.”

“Woah, now hold on." He wasn't expecting you to take it that far. And the fact that you did made him even more concerned. "You said the 'marry' word. This really is serious. What’s wrong?”

"I found out some things and I need some clarification. But I will fill you in on everything while you take me there. Please come back."

"Alright, but can’t pretty boy come get you himself? I refuse to be a personal chauffeur for a booty call. Plus, won’t that hurt the baby?”

You smiled to yourself and shook your head, glad to hear the he was back to his normal, silly self. But your smile quickly faded. “No, I’m trying to show up announced. I think...I think someone might be up to something.”

“Ooh, shit. Okay. I'm turning around now. I’ll be there in fifteen.”

Upon ending the call, you heard Mark flush the toilet before he returned to the kitchen. Without looking at you, he angrily grabbed his wallet and phone off the counter and then walked to the small table by the front door to grab your car key. But before he walked out the door, he addressed you. "You better call me if something  happens. Anything." And with that, your brother opened the door and begrudgingly left you and your mayhem to try and salvage the rest of his date night. 

You stood there alone in your kitchen for the remainder of time until Yuta texted you of his arrival. You were confused, sad, and angry. But most of all you were afraid. You were afraid that your brief period of happiness was about to become tremendously harder to enjoy or worse--taken away from you all together. Absentmindedly, you nervously spun your engagement ring around your finger as you ran through all the possible scenarios in your mind for the umpteenth time. There was only one way to confirm any of the suspicions you now had. You just hoped that the one you feared the most wasn't the one to happen to be true. 

For other chapters, see the masterlist.

Oof. Oop. 🤷🏽‍♀️

We know this is a lot to process, but we would love to have any feedback, comments, insights, whatever, We feel like y’all are gonna want to talk about this, lol.

- C&D

[creaturecosmo]

A/N: yeah i have no excuse, i just need embrace the new ship hell i’ve been introduced to

Word Count: 1090

Summary: Iwa and Kags are just trying to have a soft morning, but Oikawa shows up and bamboozling occurs

Pairings: Iwaizumi / Kageyama, (referenced) Oikawa / Sugawara

Kageyama stared at his boyfriend from the island counter. His boyfriend who was currently being warmed by morning sunshine and a hot stove. His boyfriend who was currently wearing Kageyama’s V. League hoodie. His boyfriend who was currently drowning in Kageyama’s V. League hoodie. His very handsome boyfriend who was 7 centimeters (3 inches) shorter than Kageyama.

“I know, I’m shorter than you. Quit rubbin’ it in.”

Kageyama huffed a laugh, hopping down from his seat. Despite Iwaizumi’s earlier insistence that he keep his culinary incompetence out of the kitchen, Kageyama managed to worm his way in with promises of amazing coffee and a certain V. League hoodie. This allowed perfect opportunities to wrap his arms around his tiny boyfriend-

“I’m not small.”

“Quit reading my mind,” Kageyama mumbled into soft black bedhead.

Iwaizumi chuckled and flipped the eggs rolled in the pan. Chopsticks were set aside in favor of turning in Kageyama’s arms. Sleepy eyes and 4-day-old scruff warmed something in his chest that brought a fleeting moment of panic. A small kiss to the corner of his lips and bulky arms resting on his shoulders shooed off the feeling and replaced it with a smile.

Just as Kageyama was about to give his sleepy boyfriend a real kiss, there was a loud knock at the front door. Iwaizumi glanced at the clock on the far wall with a frown. Frowns never looked that attractive on the man. Not like the face-splitting grins at Kageyama’s lame attempts at jokes, or the cheeky-yet-soft smile he’d got when Iwaizumi tried to drag him out of bed far too early-

“Will you get that? I’ll finish the eggs. It’s probably just a package or Ms. Fujioka from next door.”

Kageyama huffed, but relented with a nod and pried himself away. He took a brief moment on the way to the door to make sure he had a shirt on and his sweatpants were properly tied just in case it was the woman from next door. You only answer the door shirtless and give a poor woman a heart attack once before you learn your lesson and double check.

However, it was not Ms. Fujioka preparing to knock again when Kageyama pulled open the door.

No, he was greeted with tall fluffy hair, a brief dazzling grin that melted to a startled scrunched up frown, and two fresh iced coffees.

Kageyama assumed his own reaction was no better when Oikawa went from startled to scrunched up bafflement.

There was no telling how long the pair just stood there staring at each other as if they were both the hardest puzzle known to man. The spell was only broken when Iwaizumi’s voice floated through the apartment.

“Bubs? Everything alright?”

And what was Kageyama supposed to say? ’Yeah everything’s fine, it’s just that my ex-rival and your best friend just showed up at the door and you didn’t bother to tell me he was coming over and now we’re going to have to explain what the hell I’m doing in your apartment at 10:23 in the morning when I’ve clearly slept over last night.’

So, he did what any rational, still-mildly-emotionally-inept guy would do.

He turned his ass around and silently stalked back into the apartment.

He made it into the kitchen before he heard the door close and rustling in the genkan. One side of him knew this was likely an irrational reaction, to be so upset that he was considering just grabbing his bag and bolting just because of an unexpected visitor that happened to be Iwaizumi’s best friend who knew nothing about why he would be opening the front door at 10:23 in the morning clearly having slept over the-

Calloused hands covered his cheeks, startling him back to present. There was just enough clarity to bat away the instinct to shove at whatever was touching him. Dark brown eyes were staring into his own, brow furrowed in obvious concern.

“Tobio, breathe.” There was a pause until Kageyama was able to take in 3 deep breaths. There was still some rustling, likely in the living room, now. “Can you tell me who was at the door?”

“Um-” The voice in the kitchen entryway was already ramping up that burn of anxiety and frustration in his chest again. “That would be me.”

There was no fight to Iwaizumi gently maneuvering Kageyama behind him. Thankfully, the eggs had been plated before Kageyama came storming in.

“Oikawa, what the hell? I’ve told you over and over-”

“‘Stop showing up unannounced.’ I know, I know. But I brought coffee. I’ll accept payment in any form of explanation possible.”

It struck Kageyama as odd that Oikawa didn’t sound irritated in the slightest, just a little surprised and plenty confused. It must’ve seemed weird to Iwaizumi as well since there was a skeptical pause before he turned his head to look at Kageyama. An arched eyebrow got a hesitant nod before Kageyama turned to refill his own coffee mug.

Iwaizumi sighed and there was quiet shuffling, ice swishing in plastic cups. “Look, before you start picking fights or whatever it is going on in your freaky head-”

There was a snort, then muffled chuckles. Kageyama turned back to see Oikawa hiding a smile with the back of his hand. A spike of irritation and offense was soothed somewhat by the relaxed grin that was revealed a second later.

“Iwa-chan, I mean this from the bottom of my heart: I don’t care that you’re dating Tobio-chan.” The grin morphed into something just this side of cheeky. “Afterall, that would be pretty hypocritical seeing as I’ve been with Suga-chan for 4 months now.”

It was Iwaizumi’s turn to be absolutely bamboozled, and Kageyama choked on a sip of scalding coffee.

After a moment of sputtering, Iwaizumi finally forced out, “What the actual- Why didn’t you tell me?!”

The unimpressed eyebrow raise nearly went over Kageyama’s head as he attempted to process the news. In retrospect, it shouldn’t have been all that surprising; Oikawa was definitely Sugawara’s type from all of the thirst tweets on Kageyama’s timeline.

“Are you really pulling that card?”

“I just… Actually, I really should’ve seen this coming…” A moment passed before Iwaizumi’s palm slapped down on the island counter. “Wait! Is this why you’ve been absolutely gay as hell on twitter lately?”

Oikawa’s grin said it all.

The next hour had been filled with questioning, with a side of breakfast and a call to Sugawara just to confirm Oikawa wasn’t pulling some stupid prank.

[letsbenditlikebennett]

The Trail Begins || Ariana, Matty, & Simon

TIMING: After this (x) and this (x) PARTIES: @likeamattoutofhell @inconvenientsimonstrocity @letsbenditlikebennett SUMMARY: Simon find Ariana at Winn’s house when he goes to check up on him. They follow his trail to the cemetery to find a drunken Matty. 

Normally, Simon didn’t think too much whenever someone he was acquainted with suddenly deactivated their social media - it happened all the time; people got bored, wanted to start with a clean slate, this that or the other, but something about this one seemed… fishy to Simon as he drove out to Winn’s house. They had been talking recently and the tone through the conversation along with what he’d been able to piece together regarding Winn’s displayed personality suggested that he wasn’t the type to do this unless something bad happened. He didn’t know, maybe he was just being paranoid. Maybe he was already too attached to Winn though they met once and Winn didn’t leave the best impression on loyalty to him. He shook his head and pulled into the driveway where he noted that Winn’s car - or at least the one he thought was Winn’s - was missing. He turned towards the house and his olfactory senses were filled with Winn’s scent that he managed to recognise. Tilting his head slightly and with a swipe at his nose… already, he knocked on the door loudly. “Winn?” He called, his voice coming across clearly but not loudly.

After Blanche left, Ariana went into Winn’s house to discover the front door was totally unlocked and the place looked like it had been absolutely ransacked. Yeah, maybe fighting with Blanche in wolf form was a dumbass decision, but it wasn’t enough to warrant running off like this. She frowned, seeing that even Denny was gone. She was looking under a floorboard that had been pulled up when she could vaguely hear the sound of footsteps and a familiar voice calling. She jumped up and ran to the door. “Simon, is that you,” she asked before swinging the door open anyway. She knew the answer. With a puzzled look, she said, “Wait, what are you doing here? Okay, I guess you could be asking me the same thing, huh. Winn’s not here. Was going to try and sniff out where he went if you’d like to come along.”

To his… mild surprise, it wasn’t Winn that answered the door but Ariana and Simon glanced down at her, the look on his face suggesting as such. “Winn’s not here?” He asked, realising as they spoke that he was glad that he didn’t text Ariana - last time he wanted to investigate, he effectively got told that it was none of his business and that riled up something inside of him so he decided this time that he was just going to take action, unusual as that felt. BUT she was here and so was he. He peered over her at the interior of the house, already seeing the general disarray of it. “What happened? Where is he--” She just said he wasn’t here and that she was going to try to find him. Speaking of sniffing, he did and rubbed his nose again. “Yeah. Yeah, of course I’ll come,” He offered. At least he was being invited this time. “Got any leads?”

Even though Ariana didn’t believe there was any immediate danger, she still felt better having Simon come along with her. This whole thing left her head reeling and Simon was good at calming her down. She was pretty pissed at Winn for this stupid idea to begin with and every part of her wanted to give him a good smack for being an idiot. Simon could probably neutralize that side of her. He was pretty good about that. Stepping aside so he could come in, Ariana began to explain, “Well, he had the genius idea of sparring with our human friend… who is like, my size, as a fucking wolf. She was trying to get him to back down, but he didn’t, so she yeeted him into a tree and he lost control. And has now apparently run off because clearly that’s a great idea.” She shrugged at the mention of leads as she continued looking around the house, “My main instinct was to follow my nose.”

Simon listened intently as she ran the situation by him, feeling his brow furrow at the mention of getting into a spar with someone as small as Ariana. Arranged fights were fine, as a concept - few things trained better than a controlled fight such as wrestling or swordplay - but he couldn’t help but wonder what the goal was when someone who was Winn’s size as a human and possibly even bigger as a wolf got into a spar with a girl that size. He assumed SHE wasn’t a wolf, so the question of ‘why’ burned into him. The interior of the house was a mess, almost as though it had been looted, he observed as he walked around methodically and felt his old forensic mind taking the reins for just a few minutes, at least. What was he hiding under the floorboards that this scenario would prompt him to tear up? Something precious, he assumed, but no less secret. He had a feeling that whatever happened between Ariana’s friend and Winn had triggered some part of him into believing that here wasn’t good for him anymore - him or others. It happened often with children who ran away from home - sometimes rebelling, but almost always as a means to escape, to feel in control.

“Well, we know why he isn’t getting messages anymore,” Simon crouched on the ground and picked up the ruined phone. He didn’t want to be found or tracked? Why smash it other than in an aggressive action? “That’s probably our best bet,” Placing the phone back down and straightening up, Simon acknowledged Ariana’s suggestion, keeping his tone calm as he noted that Ariana seemed fired up about this; he fully understood why considering how emotionally invested she got when it came to the safety of her friends. “I’ll let you lead--” He cut himself off and turned to sneeze thrice into his elbow. “Sorry. The way,” He sniffled and pulled out a packet of tissues; the swirl of Ariana and Winn’s scents and Denny’s dander about the house (combined with Beans who now hopped up on all his furniture at home) must’ve caught up to him, he thought. “Your nose probably works better than mine, at the moment.” He said rather lightly, hoping to lift the mood at least a little - it was easier to think clearly when the aura wasn’t so dour.

Of all the people that could have showed up, Ariana was glad it was Simon. He was always so good at maintaining a level-head about things even though he could be a little spazzy. She loved him for it though. She watched as he looked around Winn’s home. Simon was able to pick up on more of the nuances than she had been. Part of her had still been so pissed off that he did something so reckless and then ran from it. What happened to being sure to reach out to him if she needed anything at all? She knew he was probably feeling out of sorts, guilty, or some other crazy combination of emotions, but this wasn’t the answer. The whole place paired with Simon’s word made it pretty clear he was running off which only served to make her more pissed off. “Clearly he took the time to deactivate his shit before smashing his phone. Because running off is such a great idea,” she huffed.

Ariana shook her head. There was no use in stewing in anger right now. Winn needed them and the longer they waited, the less likely it was that they’d find him. She let out a big sigh and said, “I know, I know. He’s going through a lot of his feelings right now. Doesn’t change the fact I’m mad at him.” She took in one last sniff of his scent before turning to Simon and directing, “Let’s go. The sooner we find him the better.” With her eyes closed, she walked ahead trying to pick up on the faint traces of himself he left behind. Her nose was leading the way and her feet were quick to follow.

“It’s okay to be mad and frustrated,” Simon remarked mildly, noting the younger girl’s emotions that were running high. He was being truthful; it was frustrating for him too, especially after having that conversation about sticking together and being honest with one another to Winn a couple days after the ‘pack meeting’ - he would wonder if that was a ‘Bitten’ issue but Lucas apparently did the same thing... Martyring himself because ‘no one would understand, no one can help’. “You’re doing well so far; just try to follow your anger with - here’s that word again - patience,” He gave a gentle, if watery smile to Ariana as the latter picked up the trail and motioned the way they were going as he tended to his face with a tissue. Being outside provided immediate relief - he was still learning about the double-edged sword that was the wolf’s immunity -  but he was still thankful that Ariana had the double-benefit of being a Born wolf and being unhindered by-- He sneezed again. Aaand again. Though he wanted to, he decided not to apologise for his body’s uncontrollable spasms, painful as that decision felt. Ariana was moving fast - that was good, that meant she was maintaining a trail and he kept up with her easily enough, taking advantage of her leading the way to look around each area they paused in as if to pick up some other clues of his own. Nothing so far… disappointing. At least they had a trail.

Ariana appreciated that Simon always had a knack for validating her emotions. It had a relaxing effect, just being there and understanding what she was feeling. “Thanks, I’ll try to remember the whole patience part.” It was easier said than done, but she could try at least. She didn’t believe Winn had acted maliciously, but damn was his string of poor decisions really frustrating. She could give him shit for this is all once they found him. The trail of scent kept her attention. It was faint, but if she kept sniffing she could follow it. The sound of sneezing registered behind her and she called out, “Bless you.” It seemed like he was sneezing more than usual today, but maybe, he’d forgotten to take his allergy meds. She fumbled around briefly with her backpack, still sniffing her way toward Winn, and pulled out some Claritin and a small bottle of water. She turned to him and held them out, “Here, hope these help.” Her focus shifted back to the trail that seemed to be leading straight toward Candleton Cemetery. Why would he come here of all places? Winn really did have a flair for the dramatics.

There was something about Ariana, something that made a small part of Simon think that all his talk and advice and unwarranted preaching was worth something. Ariana listened, which he learned a long time ago was all that most people wanted. He wondered if Winn felt that fractured communication as the duo made their way; that no one would listen or possibly even that there wasn’t anything he could say. Speaking of listening, he felt a small rush embarrassment as Ariana turned to give him the bottle of medication paired with the water, both of which he took gratefully with a smile. Clever Ariana, ready on all fronts. If there was one good thing to have come out of her being raised on the road, it was that she was probably prepared for anything, including when he himself was being an actual liability instead of the one he usually called himself when he was being self-critical. “Thank you, my dear,” He replied thickly but with no less gentleness, continuing to follow her as he looked down to study the dosage he’d need. Double? By the time he looked back up after taking… he didn’t know, like seven and downing half the bottle of water, they seemed to have found themselves in a cemetery… or at least outside of one. “What an unusual detour,” He said out loud, quirking an eyebrow. Had he paid a visit to a lost loved one? That just added more complications in Simon’s mind but he kept his thoughts to himself for now.

Ariana hoped the meds helped Simon feel a bit better. The being allergic to yourself thing had to be rough. Plus, he was with her and Winn’s house was also home to a dog. She thought of it in present tense still even though he insisted on running off. It angered her still, but right now, she was focused on finding him. “Yeah, this definitely wouldn’t be my first stop, but clearly he’s being a little dramatic. Maybe there’s someone he knows buried here though,” Ariana mused curiously. She picked up her pace, trying to find him. She could still vaguely smell him, but she couldn’t see him or Denny anywhere. Where the hell was he? She found her fists curling into balls, ready to hit the next tree she saw, but she’d refrain. Trees broke your hands and she didn’t need a cast to clash with her prom dress. His scent was fading and she desperately looked around the cemetery with Simon close behind her before she happened upon a man. She approached him slowly, not wanting to invade, and did her best to calmly say, “I’m sorry to bother you. I was looking for a friend of mine.”

Honestly, Matty was pretty sure this was the most trashed he’d been since, fuck, 1985, maybe. He’d managed to scrape himself out of that broken-down crypt, once night fell again - but not much further. Wasn’t like he had anywhere to be, though. Conveniently. So he’d settled in, still drifting on the far edge of all that tequila. And just, just starting to feel the ash burn out, into the usual fever. Shit, man. That’s where he’d been at, sitting back against some mossy, smashed up masonry, eyes screwed shut, shirt barely buttoned, when someone started talking. Out of the swirl of the comedown. Matty jerked, full-body about it, staring around at... a girl, and a guy. That’s it? Pretty regular looking. No stakes. Or swords. Solid. He sniffed, his skin itching. She was asking something. A friend of hers. “Sure, no, uh… no bother, that’s…” Oh. Oh, fuck. Their smell. Kinda musky? Fresh, though, layered over what was left of that werewolf, from earlier. Winn. Great. This - this was the pack, huh? Throwing a weak wave at the dude hovering close by, Matty rubbed a hand across his face, his nose, and shrugged. “I don’t know, I mean, I’ve been kinda… checked out…” He licked his lips, dry, nervous. “What’s your friend like?”

The older wolf stayed relatively close to Ariana, managing to quiet himself down as they looked around the old graveyard. Simon hadn’t been to a graveyard since arriving in White Crest but he figured they didn’t often smell like… alcohol? The scent managed to trickle through what was left of his breathing passages and he turned his head just before Ariana found the apparent source. It wasn’t often he happened upon someone who looked almost as homeless as him but here they were. He stayed quiet as Ariana initiated the conversation, feeling himself tense up like he was readying to attack. But why? There didn’t seem to be anything particularly notable about this guy other than the convenience of Winn’s trail indiscriminately leading them to him. He was clearly not expecting to be awoken either and Simon noted the movements of his hands, the way his arms and body adjusted. Hungover? Perhaps dehydrated. Drug use? Maybe given the attention he was giving to his face, but too soon to tell. Simon forced himself to loosen up and he took a more casual stance next to Ariana, folding up the tissue he’d been using and putting his thumbs in his pockets. “He’s a bigger guy, well-shaped and at least part-Asian,” He started lightly, his tone warm, if still congested. “Facial hair, boisterous personality. Very, ah... “ He fell quiet-- well, quieter. “Very rambunctious. He appreciates attention.” He smiled slightly despite why they were there. With that description, he lifted the tissue once more as if it acted as a method to mute him, allowing Ariana to take the lead once more - this was technically her mission, after all.

Ariana had been so hyper-focused on locking in on Winn’s scent that she hadn’t immediately smelled the alcohol in the air around the man. Getting drunk in the graveyard… now that was a mood. Not her mood, but still a mood. She pulled her phone out of her backpack and pulled up a selfie she had snapped of her and Winn. She turned her phone around and extended it so the man could see. “He’s the one that doesn’t look like me,” she explained, “Have you seen him around here at all?” His scent was fading and she turned back to the man, focusing on his heartbeat to detect any sign of lying. Only she hadn’t heard one. Well then, that explained the whole hanging out drunk in a cemetery. “His trail ends here and we’re trying to find him. We think he may be in trouble.”

The nodding was a bit kneejerk, at this point, but. Matty listened along, looked close. Blinked, bloodshot and too warm, enough to at least tip his stomach, if not turn it all the way. Fuck. Definitely Winn. “Right,” he stammered, brushing some of that loose, tangling hair out of his face. Looking closer. Not that he had to, obviously, just... buying time. Winn hadn’t talked about trouble, exactly. Not the outside kind. There’d been the guy, the asshole, he’d mentioned. Dude in the back didn’t strike him as the type, though. But. Matty didn’t know these people. Couldn’t say how legit the whole “friend” thing was, between them. (Sounded pretty real. Didn’t it?) If Winn had wanted to have the… family, or whatever, to know where he was - wouldn’t he have called, or something? People did that, now. Cellphones, and shit. “Uh…” Matty sat back, with a wince. Just had to make a call. Come on - him and Winn, they’d finished a magnum between the headstones. Done some pretty fuckin’ serious talking, even, you know, as strangers. If the dude wanted some time to himself, or whatever, that wasn’t for Matty to screw with. Not like he sold people out for kicks. He shook his head, decisively. “Nope. Never seen him.” Except, if he could smell Winn, still - they sure as shit could. “I was pretty out of it last night, though, like… I’m the last motherfucker in this place you should be asking, honestly.” That, with a thin laugh, swallowed quick. Fuck, man. Had to hope this wasn’t the wrong call. The kind that ended in a gruesome mauling...  

He was having trouble thinking of this venture as “exciting” considering the incredibly foolish spontaneity Winn displayed that led to this fine comedy of errors but something almost felt familiar to Simon as the duo asked the graveyard rockstar regarding the whereabouts of their… friend. Pack member. Both. Both? Yes, Winn was still in the pack in his mind, despite some valid protests from other party members. He listened and took to wandering off as Matty stuttered out an answer-- or… what he probably considered the equivalent of one, keeping one of his hands in his pockets as the other absently messed with his own face, hovering between that and scratching at his neck. Part of him didn’t buy it; he trusted Ariana’s tracking ability more than this guy’s “witness testimony”. Another part of him was hoping there’d be some clue they could glean that didn’t depend on the rockstar’s word; some newly-disturbed earth, another trail, tangible evidence, something. He glanced over at the guy slouched on the ground, his brow furrowed slightly and his expression rather sharp though his reddened eyes betrayed him somewhat. Nah, he was slick. This guy was, too and though he wasn’t hearing a lying heartbeat (perhaps because he didn’t hear a heartbeat at all), he allowed himself to be led by his intuition… since his nose obviously wasn’t doing it for him. He wanted to give his two cents but he kept the comment to himself and his body, for some reason, decided to fill the silence with another sneeze. “It’s your call, Ariana,” He replied, sniffling. “What do you want to do?” He asked, hoping she knew that he’d follow her down whatever path she took at that moment; yeah, she was young but he trusted her lead and would be there to temper her more extreme decisions if it came to that.

Ariana wasn’t sure just how much she believed Matty, but with the shape he was in, she didn’t feel like there was too much point in pushing it. Still, she arched an eyebrow at him. “You’re sure you haven’t seen him. Because it smells like he was right here,” she pushed, trying to determine if he really was just drunk and clueless. It was unlikely Winn told him where he was going, but a direction would have at least been helpful. He did look pretty disheveled and it was possible they were wasting time. Her boot tapped against the ground, anxious to move again. To get to Winn before he made any rash decisions. Although running off and deactivating any form of contacting you already was. Ugh. Why did the wolves insist on cutting themselves off from others? That’s not what they were supposed to do. Maybe she hadn’t grown up with a pack, but she knew they had to look out for each other. She felt herself getting exceedingly frustrated again and tried to remember Simon’s words of remembering to throw patience into the mix. Okay, okay. Whatever was going on wasn’t the fault of some drunk, probably vampire, in the cemetery. “Right, yeah, sorry didn’t mean to get a little intense there. But really, if you’ve seen him, something happened and his phone is broken. I just want to make sure he’s okay.”

Oh, no, no no. Matty didn’t like the looks he was catching, here. Werewolves, man - even this way, human-looking, they were pretty fuckin’ amped up. That much, he knew. Had seen it himself, at the Ring. And even before then, in the wild. Well, some warehouse in Chicago. Close enough. Pulling his legs in a little closer, Matty was eyeing between the two of them, honestly not sure which might be the bigger problem, if he tried to make a break for it. Sniffly dude. Tiny girl. Hammered vampire. Be a riot of a chase, huh? He cleared his throat and shrugged again, as the kid kept going. “Told you. I - I don’t know him. Didn’t see anybody.” Really didn’t owe Winn losing an arm to some pissed off packmates. No, sir. But. They hadn’t pounced yet. She was prickling, though. Until she wasn’t. “No problem, yeah,” Matty brushed it off, earnestly. Sure, werewolf-grade intensity. Not a big deal. Not fuckin’ terrifying. “We’re good. We’re cool.” Definitely shouldn’t have finished the tequila. Maybe shouldn’t have lied. “I hope you find him, seriously. Like, best of luck.” Somewhere else. Far away, preferably.

As the two talked, Simon was inclined to agree with the mindset he was sure Ariana was taking; something was fishy about this guy. He blew his nose which, coupled with the medicine Ariana gave him earlier, helped clear out his sinuses where the sour bite of alcohol mixed with Winn’s faint scent was much more prevalent. Did this guy break out of a brewery? He frowned though he wanted to give Ariana a pat on the shoulder for her being calm… even if it was evident the rockstar’s dismissive, unhelpful attitude was weighing on her nerves. He popped his neck, not necessarily in an aggressive gesture though the noise crackled through the tension that was filling the air. “Hmm…” He hummed absently, giving the hungover individual another, rather gentle look. He sighed. “Do you remember any of where you were or what happened recently?” He found himself asking, his tone still calm. A small part of him was frustrated himself, sure; Winn was missing and SOMETHING had to have happened between this guy and Winn to cover him. He wondered if the stale smell of alcohol had to do with it. He paced as they talked, trying to find a ‘hot spot’ for Winn’s scent for the trail… maybe mixed with booze? Was that too obtuse of a thought?

Wasn’t that a sound right out of high school. The pop-snap of a neck thicker than his, attached to somebody who’d probably be happy to deliver a bit of over the counter amateur chiropractic. Matty slid up against the crypt he’d been propped against, so suddenly it surprised him; his legs didn’t hold out, though, and he took a lean, rather than, you know. Standing. Even standing, fuck. What kinda question was that, anyway? Like it was any of his business, Jesus. “Yeah, no. Had a rough fuckin’ day, alright?” He cracked, a little. God, it’d only been - not long, since he heard. About her. Bennie. Why he was here, dealing with this. Matty pressed back against the lichen-y stones, trying to stay as still as he possibly could, while the ground kept rolling under him. “I’ve been here. Inside,” he jerked a thumb over his shoulder, back towards the mausoleum he’d spent the daylight hours in. “Pissed faceless. For a while. I didn’t see your pal, I swear to Christ, I didn’t...” If he could still do that. Swear to anything. No lightning yet, so. Solid.  

Ariana found herself annoyed with the man even though he was minding his own business getting drunk in a cemetery. Was this a normal undead thing or was he just messy? It wasn’t any of her business anyway. She let out an exasperated sigh and said, “Okay, you don’t know shit. Maybe try to like… get it together for your own sake though.” She turned back to Simon, ready to refocus back on the task at hand. Winn’s scent was starting to fade and they needed to move fast. Her head was still shaking as she turned back to Simon. “Let’s go. His scent is fading, if we’re going to find him we need to keep moving.” She gave a wave to the drunk vampire and tried to follow Winn’s smell. They made it through more of the cemetery, but it seemed to be completely lost. “Shit,” she grumbled to Simon, “I don’t think we can find him, at least not using our noses. Scent is too faded for me to track him.”

Getting nowhere fast. Patience aside, Simon straightened up and exchanged glances with Ariana, giving a small nod to indicate that he was ready when she was; he could argue he was ready even before that given the uselessness of the drunken rockstar. “I’m sorry you had a rough night,” He remarked honestly to the guy before going back over to Ariana’s side and giving her a gentle smile even though their hunt hadn’t yielded any results, at least not useful ones. They knew he fled, then came to the cemetery, then… the rest was between him and the hungover individual. “You did the best you could,” He said to her, opting to give her a pat on the shoulder this time. “And you kept calm. That’s perfect for a hunter like yourself.” He exhaled. “Sorry that guy back there wasn’t… cooperative but you did good.” He motioned with his head to go back to Winn’s house. “C’mon, lemme get you some food or something.” He hid the worry in his head with his casual tone, hoping not to give the impression that he didn’t care but that was’t further from the truth. He just didn’t see the point in being so openly concerned when there wasn’t anything they could do at that specific moment in time. “I’m sure you’ll come up with something else. You’re clever like that.”