#but the lack of witnesses makes me feel less guilty for whatever means i have to conduct to achieve my desired ends

[squeakadeeks]

it just occurred to me that bc i only posted these on my IG stories yall have no idea what i get up to in the kitchen when left unattended.

well. enjoy.

[secondhand-trash]

Friday I’m In Love

commissioned by @xaki

A/N: no, the fic has nothing to do with the song it just so happens that it fits in the most literal sense lmao much thanks to xaki who gave me my first commission and my friend for helping me out when my brain was going all sorts of illogical directions uwu

Pairing: Kuroo Tetsurou x f!reader

Description: You saw Kuroo Tetsurou once every week, where you tried your best to not let the fact that he was your high school crush distract you too much.

Warning: unprotected sex, spanking, dirty talk, slight degradation

Word count: 5052

-

You saw Kuroo Tetsurou once every week, during the single Wednesday morning lecture you shared.

You had allowed yourself the luxury of stealing a few glances his way during that one occasion, but never do more than just looking from afar.

Actually, it was ironic that you had gotten to the point of limiting yourself from even looking at him when there was a time you would see him nearly every day.

Getting into the same high school was a pure coincidence, but you had also noticed early on that no matter where he was, your gaze was following his figure before you even realised it. Who could blame you, really. Who wouldn’t want to spare even just a few more seconds looking at the boy who was taller than the rest of his peers even in his first year, only growing more and more breathtaking as he ditched the boyishness and slowly gained the edge on his face and the hint of maturity in his eyes.

You were far from being the only one that harboured a bit of a schoolgirl crush on the eventual volleyball club captain. In the few years where you shared the same class, you had witnessed him being called out of the classroom by blushing pupils more times than you could count. It always brought a bitter taste to your mouth but what could you do about it? At least they had the guts to confess. 

You liked to believe that it was not a cowardly move for you to hide your affections all throughout your high school years. It was just that as early as you had noticed your budding feelings, you also realised that you two belong with two seperate groups of people with very different interests, and the chances that he would opt for you was slimmer than slim. So you never did much to try and win him over, maintaining a friendly distance where you only interact in class and nothing outside of it. 

At least it could be a nice memory to look back on when you were way past the age to be conflicted over things like this.

You were just as shocked as any other person when you learned that he did not go the pro-athlete route everyone thought he would go, nearly as shocked when you walked into your first lecture of the semester to see him sitting right at the very front.

He seemed to have noticed you too, giving you a slight nod after his eyes widened. You returned the polite gesture, before heading straight to the very back of the lecture hall without a hint of hesitation.

You could deal with one more semester of friendly distance. Couldn’t be that hard, right?

-

It was Wednesday morning again, and you sinked into the seat at the very back of the lecture hall you tactfully occupied with a yawn.

It was from pure bad luck that you managed to register the one 8:30 lecture available in the course. Everywhere around you, people were either half asleep or laid down on the table at the very least. From the corner of your eye, you even spotted someone catching up on the latest episodes of the new tv series that just aired with subtitles on.

You sighed, leaning your jaw on your palm. You wanted to say that this was a bit too much even for a lecture but who were you to judge when your soul was starting to escape your body to somewhere more interesting than the lecture hall anyway.

The amount of people who were actually paying attention to the lecture could probably be counted with one hand, let along the ones that seemed to be genuinely enjoying it. You thought to yourself, your glances floating to the boy who blocked even more of your view with his roaster head on top of his existing height.

He was probably the only one who still had the strength to chuckle when the lecturer tried to liven up the dying atmosphere with unfunny gags.

“...for the upcoming event, students who volunteered as committee members would receive bonus marks based on their performance,” you perked up at the distant call of ‘bonus score’ from far away, “the form will be placed by the door, Please fill in your name before you leave if you are interested.”

Your mind was occupied by numbers and calculations of your gpa for the rest of your class, even as you lined up mindlessly behind your other classmates after the lecture was dismissed. Another thing about morning lessons was that the amount of effort you were willing to put in was also diminished by the limits on your mind and soul, meaning that any chance at a higher grade was worth trying. You had decided that free labour in exchange for that good grade was a decent enough bargain.

“Hey.”

You snapped out of your trance when it was your turn at the form only to feel your heart skipping a beat when you looked up to see the familiar handsome face you stared at as your recharge every morning.

You blinked, trying hard to maintain a calm front even though your mind went haywired at the rare direct interaction you had with Kuroo.

“Do you need the pen?” he asked, holding out the thin ball pen he was gripping in his hand to you.

“Oh,” your eyes widened, putting on a polite smile as you took it from him, “oh yes. Um, thank you.”

It was only a while later when you put down your name right below his that it finally hit you that you two had signed up for the same event. It took even longer for you to realise that the strange tingle you felt at the back of your hand was from his fingertips brushing past yours as he let go of the pen, but by then he was gone and it would be a few days later when you saw him again.

-

You now see Kuroo Tetsurou two times every week. Once during the dreadful morning lecture on Wednesday and on Friday evening where you were stuck in the committee meeting together.

But unlike the stolen glances on Wednesday, you were forced to acknowledge Kuroo as more than just a distant being you were merely acquaintances with in those few hours.

It was very inconvenient for you, considering how each time you felt smaller and smaller under his concentrated gaze as he listened to your input on whatever topic of discussion it was. In fact, you felt rather resentful that you couldn’t quite stand as firm as you did on your stance that you wanted to keep what was clear to be a admiration from being known under your own free will instead of a lack of self-assurance.

You had no choice but to be reminded that he was smart and brilliant on top of just being good-looking. He always knew what to say when the rest of the room was stuck, moving the agenda forward with each valuable input. He was easy to work with, reliable and always efficient.You found that you genuinely liked working with him, crush or not. He listened intently to what other people had to say and never said anything less than constructive.

Worst of all, you were starting to have the illusion that he had started paying more attention to you too. When you looked around the room as you were about to speak up each time, you would always lock your eyes with him at some point, even before you started talking like he already anticipated that you would have something to say.

Maybe it was a mistake, you thought to yourself as you stared outside the pitch black windows of the bus that was rocking steadily, feeling your mind drifting away after using up all your energy in the meeting, maybe those few bonus marks were not worth all this inner conflict.

“Hi, um,” you looked to the side, your mind going blank like you just got caught doing something guilty when you saw the exact person you were thinking about standing by. You cursed the uncontrollable heat that raised on your face, “can I sit here?”

It wasn’t like you could say no. “Sure,” you said as you picked up your bag to clear out the seat for him, flashing a cordial smile of someone who did not have a reason to be nervous when you could already feel the beating in your chest speeding up, “of course.”

“Thanks,” he said with a relieved sigh, throwing himself on the empty chair with a soft thump. You tried to pretend that you did not secretly really care about how close he was to you now, looking back out of the window again. Kuroo looked at you, pondering if he should say something first.

“So…”

“Hm?” you turned around to face him at the dragged out note of his voice.

“Have you gone back to Nekoma after graduation?”

You sighed and gave a light shake of your head, "No. Just surviving college is hard enough, who has time to think about going back?”

You tried to dismiss the knot in your stomach when he replied with a light chuckle and the corner of your lips curling up against your will when he leaned back. “Makes sense," he said, running his hand through his unruly hair before swiftly carrying on to ask you about what you were up to now.

It would have been easier if it was awkward or uncomfortable but sadly, Kuroo was also very easy to talk to and by the time you regained your senses, you were already at the door of your apartment with him walking you there the whole way after getting off the bus at the same stop.

Next Friday, he came up to you with a grinning face when you packed up your stuff after the meeting. “We go the same direction, right?” he had said, walking next to you casually as you headed out the meeting room. He started the conversation before you could say anything, and like last time, he walked you back to your apartment, claiming that he lived nearby anyways.

You saw him twice every week. Once during the morning lecture that was starting to feel less painful to endure and the Friday committee meeting, where he naturally walked you home without fail each week. At some point, he started saving you the seat next to him before each meeting and there was less and less of a reason for you to not take it when he was already leaving with you anyways. All of the above had reminded you once again why you were so hellbent on staying away from him in the first place.

He was far too easy to like, even more so now that you were somewhat friends by the end of the series of meetings.

-

The voice of your instructor was distant as you stared at the clock, the sound of Kuroo’s pencil tapping against the table keeping you in touch with what was going on. It was the last meeting you had to attend and quite frankly there was nothing interesting going on at this point. You glanced to the side, before pulling out your phone that has been buzzing in your pocket since the meeting started.

You tried to conceal the irritation rising in your chest as you looked at the glowing screen underneath the table. Your old friends had been bombing you with questions ever since they learnt that after years of looking on, you somehow had a leaping development with your crush on accident after graduation. It was a mistake on your part, given how the topic of their heated discussion was sitting right next to you. 

“(y/l/n)?”

The sudden mention of your name startled you, and you threw your phone down almost a bit too hard. “Yes?”

“Can you help hand these out?”

You let out a relieved sigh that you were not being called out for not paying attention as you stood up, pushing the conversation that was no doubt still ongoing in your group chat to the back of your head. “Of course.”

Kuroo watched as you got out, taking the stack of minutes from the instructor. After today, he would go back to only seeing you when you walked into the morning lecture hall. He felt the nerves building in his stomach, wondering if he should bear his teeth and threw his shot in changing that.

‘So you’re just going to do nothing?’

The screen of your phone that was laying on the table lit up as the speech bubble appeared. His curiosity got the better of him when the next message popped in before he could look away.

‘You have liked Kuroo for years and you’re just going to let this chance slip?’

He froze in place when he read his own name. You liked him? His eyes flicked to you, his heart in his throat at the realisation that he had just learnt something he was not supposed to know. 

But despite the slight guilt of overstepping his boundaries, it took all the fiber in his body to stop himself from grinning ear to ear when you returned to your seat next to him.

“What?” you asked with an amused quirk of your eyebrows at how stiffly he was sitting.

“Nothing,” Kuroo replied, feeling the muscle around his mouth going sore as he bit the inside of his cheeks, “nothing.”

The ride home felt so much longer with him next to you, knowing that this was to be the last. He did not say anything even as you got off, only walking in silence like he was deep in thought. You wondered what it was that made him so quiet today, he was usually the more chatty one out of you two.

Kuroo felt the tension building up in his head as you got closer and closer to your door. 

“Can I tell you something?”

You snapped around, your hand on the handle of your doorknob when he suddenly spoke up for the first time since you left the meeting that day. “Yeah?”

“My place is at the opposite side of the neighbourhood.”

“What?” your voice came out as a whisper. Your breath hitch at the back of your throat when he took one step closer to you before leaning down. His face was right in front of yours, his defined features dangerously close to you.

“I said,” you could feel his breath fanning on your face as he spoke and the pounding in your ear was thundering as you held your breath, “I’m only here because I want to be around you.”

Kuroo watched intently as your eyes widened, your jaw clenching as you gulped. His gaze flickered between your eyes and your lips, almost like he was waiting for you to show him any hint of rejection before he made the irreversible move. 

When your hand slowly crept onto his shoulder and stayed there, he latched onto you. You were taken back by his force, his tongue evading your mouth at your moment of lowered alert. His kiss was demanding, stealing away the oxygen in your lungs bit by bit as he held you close. 

You were panting when he pulled away after his initial outburst, your pupils dilated as your lips swollen up. You paused, before gathering the courage that had surged in your chest.

“Do you want to come in?”

Kuroo did not waste another second when the door clicked, his hand getting rougher now that you were within the privacy of your home. Your arms hung around his neck as you desperately held yourself up, your toes barely touching the floor as he demandingly kissed down the side of your neck. He lost patience at your struggling, lifting you up with his arm under your hips before pulling you down onto him with a stumbling step to the cramped couch.

“Help me strip.” He whispered in your ear, adjusting your position on his lap as he brought your hand to the opened collar of his shirt. You gulped when he gave an encouraging knead on your upper thigh, far too consumed by the want of seeing more of him to feel bashful by his bold request.

His gaze burned on your skin as he stared at you, not moving away even for a second while you tear apart the row of buttons to reveal more and more of his toned body. You felt like your fingers were not listening to your commands, a clumsy stiffness in your joints as he unhooked each button. The subconscious way you darted your tongue out to wet your lips at the rise and fall of his chest did not go unnoticed under his attentive stare, his much larger hands guiding you to palm his tend over the firm material of his jeans as your finger grazed past the cold metal of the zipper.

Kuroo’s stomach tensed up when you pulled down the fly, pushing your hips against his legs as you pushed away the heavy jeans. He held you down as he sat up, drinking in your soft moan with an open mouthed kiss. Your hand ran down from his shoulder to the firm pecs adoring his abdomen, each mound rippling under the tip of your fingers. His circled one arm around your waist while the other fumbled to pull his aching cock out of its refines. You felt the vibration of his chest as he groaned into your mouth when you allowed your hand to wander down his body, cupping his balls as he fisted his own length.

You let out a shaky sigh when he slid his palm down the elastic band of your panties, groping the soft flesh of your ass as he peeled off the thin piece of cotton with a push down the small of your back to have you arching for him.  He chuckled when he felt the wetness that was seeping through the fabric, earning a glare from you that looked more like a kitten pretending to be defensive out of embarrassment than truly threatening to him with your heated face and slightly swollen lips from his earlier nibbling when you pulled away. A thin strand of silver connected your lips, looking all the more erotic now that you were both half bare and exposed to each other’s hungry eyes.

Your finger dug into the muscle of his arms when he lifted you up from his lap with ease, much thanks to the firm grasp of your thighs in his warm palms. Your lips fell agape but no sound came out when you felt the hardness prodding at your entrance. He looked shamelessly at where your bodies met, not bothering to hide the grin on his face when he felt the pain of your nails against his arm as he brushed his tip along your slit. You whined at the friction that was barely there, not able to sink down with him holding you back but your legs were starting to go weak with each push of his length against your clit. He took his time, spreading the leaking pre-cum across your folds and watching the mixture of your arousal slowly coated his cock.

“Kuroo…” you called out for him, hoping that it would be enough for him to give you what you wanted.

“Aw... What’s with this formality?” his arm flexed under your touch as he tilted his head to the side, lowering you down just a little, “What should you call me when I’m about to fuck your brains out, hm?”

You bite onto the inside of your cheeks when you felt him barely dipping in, his tip just positioned at your pussy.

“Tetsurou-” 

his own name felt foreign as it rolled off the tip of your tongue and he let out an approving hum. “Good girl,” he purred, placing a chaste kiss on your trembling lips. 

His grip on your legs tightened as he leaned closer to you, pushing his cock just a little deeper. Your brows locked together as he stretched out your entrance, clawing at his arm for more. You thought he was finally going to show some mercy on you, but the beating in your heart skipped a beat when you felt his hot breath fanning across your lips instead.

“You’re in love with me, aren’t you?”

Your eyes snapped open, his handsome face right in front of yours. “Wha- mph!”

You yelped at the sudden drop of your hips onto his lap, your nails scratching down his arm as he hilted inside of you with one motion. Your head threw back at the waves of shocking pleasure that sparked down your spine, your juicings running down the base of your thighs as your walls tried to accustomed to his thickness and length.

“What is it? Did you just say yes?” his laugh was wolfish as he took in your expression, a mixture of infuriated and primal desire.

“You-” he did not give you the time to bite back, thrusting up with a lift of your hips and turning whatever you wanted to say into nothing but incoherent moans.

Your body did not feel like it was under your control as he guided you to grind on his cock, the slaps of your soft flesh against his thighs taking over your senses. Your toes curled at how deep he could reach inside you each time he pulled you up and bottomed out of you. His hands were fondling your ass roughly as he bounced you on his cock, reducing you to nothing but a panting mess laying weakly on his chest.

“How does it feel to have the man of your dreams stretching out your tight cunt, hm?” he emphasised each word with a thrust, grinning ear to ear when you made a frugal attempt at slapping his arm you were holding onto. You buried your face into his chest, your muffled moans coming out as hot breath on his skin. He looked down from above you, watching as your ass jiggled under each thrust and your spine arching from the pleasure. 

A loud smack echoed in the room and he groaned at the feeling of your walls clenching around him at the slap of his palm against your ass cheek. He gave the flesh a firm knead, rubbing at the area that had heated up from the spank before pulling his hand away to give the other side the same treatment. You felt the numbness on your skin as your skin burned, the pain making every hair on your back stood up. 

“You like it when I get rough with you? You are squeezing down on my cock so hard,” his voice came as gravel from his chest. Your mind was in a frenzy, not even thinking straight as you nodded feverishly. “You’re such a slut for me, it’s really inflating my ego,” his filthy words made your stomach tighten as he continued, “bet this is what you have been thinking about whenever you check me out.”

You felt your face burning up. He knew all along?

Your surprise came out in the form of a squeal when he stood up, still holding you up. Your panting got more rapid as your only leverage from falling was the frantic clawing at his arm, having nothing but his strength to trust as he bounced you on his cock while marching down the hallway.

He hissed at the sharp pain on his back when your hands scratched down, kicking the door open with a hasty shove at the door with his heel before throwing you down the mattress. He did not waste another second as he perched on top of you, hooking your legs around his waist before rolling his hips to completely take over the pace of his cock pistoning at the spongy spot that made your mind foggy with nothing but his name and the overwhelming feeling of being towered over in your head.

The squelching got louder and louder as he ruthlessly snapped against you. You felt the knot in your stomach tightened up as he leaned down, sucking on the sweet spot at the side of your neck. His hand roamed all over your body, kneading your tits that bounced under his force. 

He could not get over the fact that you were actually here, folded beneath him right now, and that it was his name you were moaning out. 

“I’m-” your legs clasped around him as every muscle on your limbs tensed up, “I’m close-”

“Yeah? Tell me what you want,” he growled in your ear, his thrusts starting to get sloppy as your walls spasmed around his cock, “what does my girl want?”

You had imagined what it would be like if Kuroo Tetsurou ever set his eyes on you, if he had wanted you the same way you had absentmindedly started wanting him despite your best efforts to convince yourself that you knew that would not happen. But nothing could stop the heat that exploded in your chest and spread all through your body at how natural it came out of his mouth.

His girl. You were his girl now.

You let out a choked mewl when he switched from erratic plowing to slowly dragging his cock along your walls. The sudden drop from your near high seeped into your senses, tingling down from your core all the way to the tip of your toes. 

“Tetsu-” your back arched off the mattress when he pulled out all the way only to halt in you with a sudden thrust, “want you to make me cum- ah!”

The shocks that sparked through your body when he set his sight on making you fall apart underneath him with his vigorous thrusts had your toe pointing stiffly and curling under the pleasure. The fist in the pit of your stomach curled and unfolded as he gripped your chin roughly, turning your head to look right into his eyes.

“Fuck, you wanna cum?” he hissed, feeling the shivers on his own back as he got closer and closer to his own high, “Then look at me, look at me as you cum on my cock-”

You felt your body shuddering as waves of pleasure crashed over you. His eyes were all you could focus on as you succumbed to the weakening of your limbs, the pounding in your ear gradually returned to a regular pace with Kuroo’s languish strokes allowing you to ride out your high. 

You were sure you could never forget how the defined arch of his brows knitted together as he pulled out of you, his head throwing back just a little with his lips slightly parted. A sinful moan leaking out as spurts of white painted across your lower stomach. 

Your vision was hazed over with a veil of fog as you blinked, collecting your breaths before focusing on the roof of your room that suddenly felt so unfamiliar. The claminess on your skin and the smell of sweat slowly took over. You felt the weight on your chest, breathing out a heavy exhale.

You really did just have sex with your crush, huh?

As if noticing your train of thought, Kuroo leaned over and placed a quick kiss on your jaw, his grin reaching his eyes as he stared at you. Much unlike his earlier dominance, the lazy curl of each syllable on his lips sounded more so like he was trying to play cute.

"Wait here,” he said, adding another peck on your lips, “I’ll grab you a towel.”

“The bathroom is the one right outside…” you muttered, feeling the dent on the mattress sprung back as he climbed off of you.

Your tensed muscles slowly relaxed as he moved you to lean against his broad chest, his hand gently caressing your skin as he dabbed the wet towel on you. His lips ghosted along your ear as he cleaned up the marks and trails left from your earlier passions, trying hard to conceal his satisfaction when you whined as he brushed past the bruises on your thighs.

“You should start getting used to it from now on, plenty more chances for us to- ouch, ouch.. ok, I’m sorry…”

The corner of your lips lifted up, burying your face into his chest as you tried to get comfortable, “I was right, you are way more attractive without opening your mouth.”

“Awe, don’t say that,” he pouted but the wolfish grin on his face told you he was not apologetic at all.

Kuroo watched as you slowly leaned onto him more and more, until your eyelids closed up with a flutter. If you had stayed awake for just a little longer, you would know that he could not be any more careful when he tucked you under the blanket before slipping in next to you. On this rare occasion where he would not get caught, he allowed himself to stare at your serene expression as he dozed off to sleep with a content smile on his face.

You did not need to know that his grade for the one course you shared was high enough already and he signed up for the committee purely because you were signing up too. He certainly would not let you know that he had always noticed your lingering gaze on him or that he secretly enjoyed it, even back when he saw you more than twice a week. That and the fact that he was overjoyed when he saw you appearing from the door of the lecture hall that Wednesday morning, followed by the ever growing frustration that he couldn’t find an excuse to talk to you when you were literally in the same class.

Whatever. Kuroo thought to himself as he gently threw his arm over your waist, burying his face into the crook of your neck as he inhaled your sweet scent. At least he didn’t have to go all the way from your apartment complex back to his place every Friday anymore.

[nobodyfamousposts]

Felix July - Growing Up (Felix Culpa alternative for Ladybug)

@felixmonth

Alya was planning to solve a mystery and prove her best friend’s innocence.

Felix was regretting his life choices and questioning if it was too late to transfer schools.

“Starting the investigation into ‘Who Framed Marinette.’” Alya announced into her recorder. “I am Alya Cesaire, the lead investigator. With me is my humble sidekick, Felix Argent.”

“Is this necessary?” Felix asked, already tired despite not having done anything as Alya had started searching over the locker room 

“Of course it is!” She snapped back. “We’re the only ones who can help Marinette get unexpelled. So we need to find the truth and discover the real culprit.”

“Which is Rossi.”

She ignored him.

“So we just need to check the clues and gather evidence to find out who did it.”

“Here’s a hint: it was Rossi.”

Still ignoring him. Honestly, he was no help.

“The first accusation was the answer sheet in her bag. It had to have been taken after the test, so Marinette couldn’t have had it then.” She reasoned. “That means that whoever took it had to have done so later and then put the test key in Marinette’s bag.”

“Maybe it was the ‘anonymous tipster’, who was the only person who apparently knew they were in there.” Felix suggested.

“But who could that have been?” Alya wondered.

“Wild guess: Rossi.”

Why did she recruit him again?

She shot a glare at him. “Could you try actually being helpful?”

Felix gave her a blank stare as he began to speak in what was clearly a sarcastic manner. “My, whoever could it possibly have been? Certainly not the only other person Bustier sent to the Principal’s office with Dupain-Cheng in the first place?”

Sigh, he really was holding onto his belief about Lila being responsible.

“Okay, now you’re being impossible. Lila had the lowest score on the test.” She pointed out.

“Yes,” he drawled sarcastically, “because it’s not like we just confirmed that the answer sheet was stolen after the test and thus of no use to anyone. Or that Rossi couldn’t have intentionally faked her grade on a test that didn’t matter anyway in order to make herself appear less suspicious.”

“We’re just going to ignore Snarky McKnow-it-all.” She muttered into the recording.

“That doesn’t make me not right.” He called out behind her.

“Then there’s the necklace in Marinette’s locker…” She moved to the locker in question and tested it. Sure enough, it opened right up, revealing the contents—or lack thereof since Marinette was forced to remove them all when she was expelled. Alya even tested the nearby lockers and got the same result. They were all easily opened by anyone.

“These lockers don’t have locks or any way to secure them.” Alya noted into the recorder. “Anyone could have gotten inside and planted the necklace.”

“You mean like the one person who KNEW the necklace would be in Marinette’s locker.” Felix chimed in. “Which was again, Rossi.”

“It had to have been a mistake.”

“She said she SAW Marinette put it in her locker. Why she didn’t get someone immediately and only brought it up AFTER everything else is likely because she was using it as a trump card.”

“Just going to discard my sidekick’s wild conspiracy theories.” Alya said into the recorder, smirking momentarily at Felix’s scoff from behind her. “It’s possible that Lila might have just seen someone who looked like Marinette taking grandmother’s necklace and putting it in her locker.”

“If it IS her grandmother’s necklace.” Felix commented dryly. “A little hard to believe that something from last year’s Gabriel line could have been around long enough to be considered an heirloom.”

She turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “Since when are you an expert on jewelry?”

He rolled his eyes. “Because it’s not like a model would know about the latest fashion lines.”

Alya shrugged and looked away.

“Feel free to not question it.” He muttered darkly. “It’s only potential evidence.”

A few more minutes of the two searching the room warranted little other insights or clues. The same was true of the now empty classroom as they investigated the area around Bustier’s desk and Marinette’s seat.

Well, Alya investigated. Felix simply stood nearby being his snarky and unhelpful self.

Like usual.

“It has to be someone who has it out for Marinette…” She reasoned.

“Like Rossi.”

She started to pace. “Someone who could have had the time and access to Marinette’s bag and her locker.”

“Such as Rossi.”

“Someone who could have disguised themselves, perhaps? Or knew everyone’s routines well enough to get in while no one else was around.”

“Maybe you should start by investigating Rossi?” Felix suggested dryly. “Since she was the only other person involved?”

She whirled on him, finally having enough. “Could you come up with someone BESIDES Lila?”

Honestly, what was his deal? He’d always been a jerk, but he’d had a particular distaste for Lila from day one. Alya personally questioned if it wasn’t due to a crush.

She may need to investigate further…

“What reasoning do you have that Rossi couldn’t have done this?” He questioned. “Besides your own fervent belief that ‘she wouldn’t do that’ or that she’s ’too nice’. Because as it stands, there is no reason NOT to consider her.”

“Well, where’s yours?” She shot back. “You’re the one so insistent that Lila had to have done it! What proof do YOU have?”

Felix sighed and raised his hand, counting with his fingers. “There are three accusations here. One, that Dupain-Cheng stole test answers. Two, that she pushed Rossi down the stairs. And three, that she stole Rossi’s ‘family heirloom’. All three of which, Rossi was both the accuser and the only witness for.”

He gave Alya a dry look.

“So why, exactly, is Rossi NOT a suspect?”

“Because Lila wouldn’t do something like that!” Alya, insisted.

Why would she? Lila was awesome and amazing. She would never steal anything. And she would certainly never try to get anyone in trouble.

Felix was far from impressed.

“We only have two ways this story can go. One, that Rossi was telling the truth, meaning that she indeed saw Dupain-Cheng take the test answers and cheat on the test, push Rossi down the stairs, and that steal Rossi’s necklace. Or two, that Dupain-Cheng was telling the truth and Rossi lied about those three things.

“In order for Rossi’s claims to be true, that would have to mean that Dupain-Cheng is guilty. In order for Dupain-Cheng to be innocent, that would have to mean that Rossi gave false testimony. You can’t have it both ways here.

“So tell me, Cesaire…what makes you so unwilling to consider that Rossi may be suspect? If you truly with to be an investigator, you must be impartial and accept the evidence as it is. On all sides. Everyone is a suspect.”

Alya was quiet.

Felix gave her a dark glare. “You want to be Sherlock Holmes here. Surely you know his stance that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains—however improbable, must be the truth.”

“But we haven’t eliminated every possibility yet!” Alya argued, growing increasingly agitated. Part of her was questioning her earlier decision to drag Felix along in her investigation. However, the guy was smart and at this point, he was also the only other person who openly voiced support of Marinette’s innocence. Surely if they had a similar goal, they could work together to find the truth.

The only problem was that they had completely different opinions on what the truth could be.

Or rather what they wanted it to be.

“It’s Rossi. It is very clearly Rossi. You have to be completely oblivious to NOT realize it’s Rossi.”

Alya spun around and glared back at the smug, arrogant jerk with a superiority complex.

“You’ve hated Lila since day one! You’re just looking for reasons to blame her! Here you are telling me I need to be impartial when you’re the one being biased!”

“Biased?” He laughed. “Do you even know what bias is, Cesaire? Bias is bringing in the parents of only one of the two arguing parties and forcing them to miss out on valuable work time to keep their small business going while the other guardian isn’t even notified. Bias is taking one person at her word of being attacked without doing anything to evaluate her or get her supposed ‘injuries’ checked out to confirm they exist. Bias is publicly humiliating a student first by accusing them in front of a class and then expelling them solely on the word of another and circumstantial evidence that could very well have been planted to frame them—all without so much as a hearing, which IS required by law!”

He glowered at her. “Rossi already has enough bias to protect her. She doesn’t need your bias as well, especially if truth is really what you seek here.”

“And where’s your proof?” Alya questioned, now on the defensive. Do you even have reason to suspect Lila or are you just wanting her to be responsible?”

“I’m at least looking at facts. You, on the other hand, are so biased in her favor that you’re discounting the clear evidence just because it implicates her.”

She scoffed. “What evidence?”

What was there that actually implicated Lila? She was just a victim in all of this! Sure, the school wasn’t fair to Marinette, but that was why Alya was helping! That didn’t mean Lila was behind anything!

Felix frowned, stepping closer to her and holding up three fingers. “Cheating on a test, stealing, and pushing someone down the stairs. Any one could be considered an accident or a mistake. But three different accusations all claimed by one person and all in the span of a single day? Rossi was clearly and specifically targeting Marinette.”

“That’s not true!” Alya argued.

“What other reason could there be for this?” Felix demanded, clearly annoyed and frustrated and wanting to be done with this entire conversation.

“There has to be someone else behind it!”

“There IS no one besides Rossi!” Felix bit back. “Even if you argue that someone else could have planted the test answers and necklace, that doesn’t explain how she KNEW where they were or why she chose to openly and publicly implicate Marinette if there could be doubt to her being the one to do these things!”

Alya bit her lip.

“Furthermore,” Felix continued, “there is no other logical explanation for the stairs incident.”

“It could have been an accident.” Alya deduced. “Marinette is clumsy. She could have tripped and pushed Lila without meaning to.”

“Except Marinette denies she even touched Rossi. Is Marinette really the sort of person to push someone down the stairs and deny having done so it if it was an accident?”

Alya couldn’t deny that because Marinette wouldn’t. If Marinette DID hurt someone by accident, she would have immediately admitted to it and done everything she could to try and help the person.

“Maybe someone else pushed Lila—”

“Marinette and Rossi were the only two in the hallway. If there had been a third person, Marinette would have seen them and would have said as such. But she didn’t. She said Rossi walked down those stairs calmly, laid down at the bottom, and only then started screaming.”

“She could have been confused!” Alya rebutted. “She was stressed and overwhelmed given the first accusation. She could have been looking away when Lila fell.”

“She said she saw Rossi walk down the stairs before she suddenly started screaming and claiming to be injured. And speaking of evidence, what were Rossi’s injuries from the stairs?”

Alya frowned, thinking back. “She had a bandage on her leg...”

“A single bandage.” Felix deadpanned. “Over her pants covering the ‘injured’ knee. Was she taken to the hospital? Was she seen by the nurse? Was there any confirmation of her having injuries besides her claiming to be in pain in a single spot?” He sneered. “Because it is rather fortuitous that someone would fall down a flight of stairs and receive no bumps, bruises, scrapes, or other injuries aside from some knee pain. Unless you’re saying physics would allow that.”

Alya drew back, curling in on herself.

Felix glared. “You are no Sherlock. You aren’t even a Watson. You are just someone so blinded by a bias that you would rather neglect evidence than give it your all for the sake of your other friend.”

“That’s not true!” She shouted, hurt. “I just…I just don’t want to…”

Oh.

…oh.

He closed his eyes. Rested his hand against his forehead.

So it was like that. How could he have overlooked this?

Cesaire was friends with two girls who could not get along and were in direct conflict with each other. She didn’t accept Marinette’s claims that Rossi was a liar, but she wasn’t willing to believe that Marinette would do the things Rossi claimed, either. She was…

He opened his eyes.

Depending on the outcome, this could make or break her friendship with either. Even if it was the “right” thing to do or the “truth”, it still stood to reason that Cesaire would feel hurt by it and lose a friend because of it.

And she was desperately trying to find a way to be able to believe in both.

Understandable.

Commendable, even.

But ultimately foolish. And more harmful than simply accepting the truth and choosing a side now. Sooner or later, this situation would tear her apart and force her to choose. And when the time came, the circumstances would escalate to such a point that it would be all the more likely she would not only choose wrong, but also be dragged down by it.

Felix would know. He had been in that position before.

He sighed. “Cesaire, I understand that when you have two people you care about at odds, you want to be able to keep both. But there’s going to come a point where you will have to take a side.”

The way things were going, she wasn’t going to be able to remain friends with both, not without ultimately losing them both anyway.

“Neutrality is just a way of not making a decision.“

“You sound like you speak from experience.” She commented, seeming subdued.

He paused at that.

Memories came to mind. Of a cold man. Of a sad woman. Of being surrounded by people who poked and prodded and pushed and pulled and twisted until he was shaped as they pleased. He was dragged into a life and lifestyle he never wanted, forced into a role without his say. It was only once he finally spoke up and chose to assert himself that things had changed.

And he realized something…

Part of growing up meant having to make choices and take accountability for those choices. Even not making a choice was in itself a choice, if only one of indifference or unwillingness to act.

That was why…

“What ended up happening?” She asked him.

“I tried not to choose until the decision was made for me. And by then it was too late. That was a choice I never wanted and the cost was time I will never be able to get back.”

It would remain one of his regrets for the rest of his life.

“You have to face facts here.” He told her sternly. “Their stories directly contradict each other. They can’t both be telling the truth.”

“I know.” She quietly admitted.

He nodded. “You have two people making different claims about the other. Rossi says Marinette bullied her. Marinette says that Rossi is making it all up. Both of them can’t be right.“

“But both can be wrong.”

“Unlikely.” 

“But still possible!” She insisted, remaining stubborn. “Maybe Lila just saw someone she thought was Marinette? Or someone could have tried to frame Marinette by fooling Lila?“

“Except that Rossi is very clear that it was Marinette she saw. The test answers were found in Marinette’s bag. The necklace was found in Marinette’s locker. And there was no one else in the hallway to push Rossi down the stairs.”

He rubbed his forehead.

”It comes to the same problem. Either Rossi is lying about Marinette, or Marinette really did do those things.“

”It could have been an akuma.” She suggested.

But he nixed that as well. “There wouldn’t have been enough time. Even during the attack on Heroes Day, there was a good hour between the time we saw that fake fight between the heroes and the attack of the scarlet butterflies. But here, the scarlet butterflies attacked almost immediately. As if they knew this was going to happen.”

Alya gaped. “That just means this was part of Hawk Moth’s plan!“

He frowned, actually curious. “Indeed. But how did he know it would happen?”

She looked away, considering. “Either he made an akuma to set up Marinette…”

“Which wouldn’t account for the timing of all three accusations or Lila’s involvement in those accusations.” He cut in. “And it just doesn’t seem possible with the short length of time between when the last point the akuma could have been there to push Rossi down the stairs and for the scarlet moths to attack.”

“Or…” Alya took a breath. “Or it was planned with one of the two individuals involved.”

He nodded. “And between Marinette and Rossi, which of the two honestly seems to be the more likely culprit. Which of the two of them had more to gain from the events today? Or at least less to lose from it?”

Alya grimaced and slumped onto the bench.

She knew.

She already knew that answer.

“Cesaire…” Felix softly called.

Heh. Funny. He almost sounded like he cared.

“I don’t want to lose a friend.“ She quietly admitted.

Felix sat next to her on the bench. “But if she’s been lying to you all this time, is she really a friend?”

She chuckled bitterly. “Is that why you never liked her?”

He couldn’t help the smirk. “My first day here, Marinette was trying to convince me to give everyone in the class a chance while Rossi was trying to convince me she was some sort of celebrity who could offer me connections I already had.”

Alya snorted at that. “She didn’t!”

He adjusted his shirt cuffs blithely. “Needless to say, I was wary of anything she had to say after that. Though I will admit that I still would never have considered her working with Hawk Moth.”

She laughed. A little bit in humor. A little bit in disgust. Even a little bit in relief that she finally had an answer, even if it wasn’t one she liked.

Speaking of answers though…

“Hey! I just realized!” She exclaimed as she spun on Felix.

He leaned away in wariness. There was a gleam in her eyes he wasn’t sure he liked.

“You’ve been calling Marinette by her first name!”

“And? It is her name, is it not?”

“You don’t call anyone by their first names!”

“Dupain-Cheng is a mouthful.”

“It’s the same number of syllables as Marinette!”

He looked away in annoyance.

“She is tolerable.”

She leaned closer to him, looking particularly smug. Felix immediately stood and turned away. Alya was certain he was blushing and trying to hide it.

Alya smirked. Did he really have a crush after all?

“Don’t you have a case to be investigating and a friend’s innocence to prove?” He questioned, still refusing to face her.

Oh, she certainly did.

But once this was over and certain liars were dealt with…

She was going to make Felix’s heart her next investigation!

[icecreamsundayonajulyafternoon]

Alcina Dimitrescu/f reader

+some well meaning Chris

I also posted this on my ao3 account Homoeroticmicrowave as a part of my resident evil oneshots book the link to which is : https://archiveofourown.org/works/32351686/chapters/80202100

For context in this the reader works with Chris but got kidnapped by Alcina and ended up bonding with her

Anyway behold My dignified shit post:

Alcina tilted your head up by your chin with one of her claws with a gentle sort of care “I might just be enamoured by you my little maiden” her voice had a certain air to it as the power she carried held strong though the coldness it had been coddled by withered away.

“And I am just glad to have met someone as truly brilliant as you are you make my heart feel like it’s faltering” Alcina’s tensed muscles and rigid posture seemed to deflate as her claws retracted.

“My little human girl you truly are one of a kind you are too good for this world and it’s cruelty that it afflicts you with”

Her hands incased yours as she held them so lightly ”Stay with me” Alcina’s eyes steadily gazed into your own “I want you to stay with me in this castle forever with me. I want you to marry me and be mine and let me be yours”

You almost thought she was joking but Alcina Dimitrescu would never make such a joke and to claim that she had would be ludicrous it was simply not in her nature to be so brash with her humour. However, declarations received a treatment that was a far cry to how her delicate words of amusement were handled

“I can give you a life worthy of living for you. I’ll have you adorned in whatever clothes you would see fit to clad your body and express your beauty in all of its forms, I’ll have you living a luxurious life that would make a deity envious, your every desire would be fulfilled if you only ask and I promise you I will give you everything if only to see you relish the world you live in” there was a certain warmth to her tone that she never previously expressed to you.

”It’s a pitiful world full of devastation and tyranny and I will not have it harm you from hence forth”

You released one of your hands from her gentle grasp so that your hands could reach out

“You make me feel pink and small and like I’m fluttering like my feet could rise from the ground and I’d float in the air like some sort of silly, little cartoon character when they’re smitten by someone” you felt overheated and uncomfortable as you spoke but you continued

“I would stay with you whether or not you had riches to offer me. Castles and gowns and jewellery is all very lovely but it’s not what keeps me yearning. I want you Alcina, I want you and I want to spend every moment that I can with you” you smiled despite your inability to even glimpse her face. A coward you were and yet a lovesick fool you were all the same.

“I found a home with you Alcina.” Your eyes finally reunited with hers and as she looked at you, you had never felt more loved than in that moment. “Let me be your home too….let me marry you” the words caressed her heart and she moved your arms so that they fell around her neck and she lifted you up by your waist. “I treasure every moment I have with you my love” she whispered. “Let this world we’ll build last forever”

When you had a moment alone while getting ready you radioed into whatever members of your team were still alive and had their radios still working and on them “So I’m not gonna be able to go back with you guys but everything’s pretty good so uh yeah I don’t really know how to explain the predicament- no that’s too negative a word- situation- no, no this is not a situation that makes it sound like there’s some kind of situation- what I meant to say the events that preceded my current happenings can be perceived as a little odd however everything is fine, goodbye forever”

You threw your radio out of the window and into the snow and presumed it had broke. Chances were your teammates would not have heard your message but it was still polite to let them know you were alive and well and would simply just not be joining them on their way home or anything at all again ever because you were about to be married to a giant, homocidal lady. They could be angered by your supposed ‘disrespectful’ tone concerning how you address everyone and didn’t go over formalities but you were gifted with this thing known as manner which influenced your decision to inform them of your lack of presence on the return journey before hand.

You were just considerate like that.

You gushed over the dress you had been so graciously gifted. It truly was a work of art tailored just for you. Each detail of it was made with a passionate precision that had you gawking with glee as you admired every segment of material woven into the fabric.

It was a true marvel and you felt like a piece of artwork yourself that would be displayed with great care in an art museum. You looked like a glamorous painting that was created with such integral beauty that the expertise of the artist could not be measured by any title or prideful words.

A sense of pride ghosted your senses and you found your fingertips brushing the mirror with such a light touch that you couldn’t br sure your skin had made contact with the mirror at all. You were so subconsciously convinced what you were looking into was glazed with deceit and if you touched the mirror you would break the illusion of beauty and your true form of much lesser looks would be restored. But that didn’t happen and for a moment you could sympathise with narcissus as much like them you found yourself fawning over the being of beauty that you weren’t entirely sure was yourself.

You were truly a bride who’s beauty was beyond befitting of any title that could be bestowed upon you and you thought yourself to be belonging with angels of artwork, your place was dancing with the muses who were worth more than simple adoration and worship.

You weren’t a god but you were blessed by Aphrodite’s touch and you were sure simple folk could not help but be too mesmerised to experience jealousy at your envious appearance.

If it were a sin to be enraptured in revelling in your own appearance than you would relish the hellfire that rained down to scorch your flesh and soul. You’d paint such a pretty picture dancing in the misery of hell gifted by sins. Lucifer had treated you well and you thanked them for gracing you with what God couldn’t.

Alcina’s voice rang out like a dove from behind the door and lulled you away from the mirror your attention had been stolen by. “Perhaps you could be so gracious as to adorn me with your presence”

You turned to face the direction of her voice “of course anytime my love” you said earnestly.

“I won’t look at you now nor do I want you to see me just yet but I couldn’t help but to speak to you just for a moment beforehand…I want it to be special my dear and I won’t want for it to be any less special than either of us want for it to be because you deserve everything you want and yet lover I find myself needing to be selfish and needing to hear your voice”

”Alcina it’s okay” you couldn’t help but to let a giggle escape you “I can’t help but feel nervous to see you and yet I can’t wait to I love you and tonight is special because it’s our night it’s special because it marks the first day I get to be with you forever”

You head Alcina let out a small laugh tainted by an agitating anxiousness. “So do I”

You felt breathless as you stepped out into the night. Donna your apparent personal seamstress and now flower girl guided you to where it would take place.

Alcina stared as though she had witnessed something that couldn’t be explained by any science or rationality. While she herself was a sight to take in when she saw you she felt as though her childhood dreams were coming true as you seemed mythical.

When your eyes met her you felt like you were falling and you didn’t want to stop. Not for a moment. She was gorgeous. A wedding dress perfectly fit for her graced her elegant features. She looked ethereal and you wanted to reach out to touch her. Each step you took seemed so slow. Far too slow for your liking. You wanted to be in her arms and soon.

When you did finally meet her while tradition forbid you to kiss her just yet you at least reached out to hold her hands. Your eyes glistened with joy all of the love you had barely fit in your body as it threatened to burst out of you in bounds of laughter and tears. You felt so much and you wanted to feel like that forever. You wanted for this moment to last forever. You wanted to be held by her forever.

Your hair seemed so gorgeous and lustrous in the glowing moonlight. Fairy lights decorated the trees surrounding you and fireflies twirled in the breeze. To think you would see such beauty and wonder in what had once been a placed that had brought you such terror and havoc.

Alcina held you tenderly as though she couldn’t quite believe this was happening. She wouldn’t be isolated in that feeling as you were swarmed by disbelief, you didn’t shun all of the conflicting emotions you were feeling. Not for a moment. You welcomed them and you couldn’t help but tingle with the relief of any negative thoughts or surprise being overwhelmed with ecstatic delight. You had thought of marriage in the general sense before when considering where the events of your life might lead you and while it wasn’t conventional not anything close to what you could have ever expected you would gladly spend the rest of your days residing in Dimitrescu castle with Alcina. She really was one marvellous woman.

You had insisted on certain songs being played at your wedding from fun songs you had once joked about being played at your wedding to irresistibly romantic guilty pleasures that you would have been teased mercilessly for an infinite amount of times had you ever admitted you would want played. But that was in another lifetime and while Alcina may not always understand certain aspects of your interests she was always glad to watch you indulge in them.

You two danced, chests pounding with a romantic joy you had never thought existed in the way you felt it. As your arms wrapped around her neck as she lifted you up you couldn’t help but think how a much younger version of yourself would feel giddy at knowing how in love you were. Though knowing your child self the word ‘gross’ would also most likely make an appearance as the topic of love.

You admired every detail of her face and when you kissed her you thought about how you couldn’t wait to spend the rest of your life with her. However long you had would be amazing as long as it was spent by your side whether it be one day or one hundred years you wanted to spend it all with her. You had been bewitched by her and you couldn’t be happier.

Then your moment was interrupted by the sounds of gunfire. Violence and stubborn hatred truly had a way of ruining even the most kindest and beautiful of moments.

Alcina scooped you up and ran, throwing you over her shoulder and quickly moving so that you may escape the presence of aggression and be safe in the sanctuary she made for you.

Over her shoulder you saw Chris running, bullets blazing as he ran with a determined rage. You thought he would have been long gone by now. You had convinced Alcina to give up her part in aiding Miranda’s plan. Surely you could convince her to let these people leaves unscathed.

You moved in front of Alcina, attempting to quell her anger and bitter bloodlust with promises of trust and hope. You begged her to at least let you try to form some kind of truce so that you would not have to live knowing people you cared about destroyed each other. Hesitantly she let you go. Though her reluctance was apparent and she looked so eager to snatch you up and lock you far from those who put your life at risk.

You left the castle and approached the direction you were adamant Chris and probably his team would soon be.

Geez he really went to the effort to risk his life searching for your and stealing you back with him all so he could lecture you on your lack of formality and far too casual tone when you had radioed in as well as your blatant disrespect, poor execution of the mission and your inconsideration of the expense of the property you had been given. Sounds about right. It was a mistake to attempt some kind of means of communication really. And now look what happened your wedding was ruined.

You raised your hands up to show you meant no harm when Chris and found and approached you.

There was a moment between Chris properly processing you were there and him first catching sight of you where it felt like everything had been put on pause. He eyed you suspiciously as though you were some sort of distraction, a part of a malicious scheme Alcina had made in order to proficiently destroy any hope of Chris’s rescue attempt and mission succeeding.

”Hey” you waved awkwardly in a hopeless attempt to break through  the immense pressure and tension of the situation “nice to see you’re still alive and stuff that’s cool” your voice rang out through the silence. “I’m alive too which is fun looks like we have that in common”at that point you were just throwing dumb words at him in a blatant attempt to get him to respond in a way that wouldn’t suck.

Chris grabbed you and pulled you into a vice-like hug. You felt him lift you up “It’s good to see you….Where is that thing? What did that bitch do to you?” He seethed.

”Nothing she actually had a pretty good sense of hospitality-did you come here on your own without anyone-“

He had you back on the ground but his grasp never left you as he shifted his grip so that he now had a steady hold on your shoulders. “This isn’t the time to act like nothings wrong if you’re injured or you’ve been drugged with something you need to tell me” his hold on you was just as secure as it was when he hugged you even if he no longer had you squished against him.

“I’ve not been hurt really I’m not lying to you Chris” you looked him in the eyes and tried to communicate with your facial expressions that you were telling the truth.

Chris sighed slightly but nodded “good, we need to leave we can continue this conversation when we’re safe-“

You put a hand on his chest to put some distance between you both “look Chris I’m- I’m not leaving. I’m staying here” Chris looked a mixture of perplexed and horrified.

He stepped closer to you so he was practically leering over you “what are you talking about! We’re going. Now.”

“No Chris I’m not. I love Alcina and I’m not leaving her. I won’t. You can leave I’ll make sure she won’t come after you just as I made sure she no longer interfered with Ethan finding Rose but I won’t go with you”You stared defiantly at him as you stood as tall as you could despite him towering over you.

”Alcina? Is that what that bitch got you to call her!You think you love that thing! Jesus Christ what did she do to you!” Chris looked disgusted at your words.

“Hey man I don’t ruin your weddings do I the least you could do is let me go back to her-“ Chris held your arm tightly preventing you from leaving as he radioed into someone.

”I’ve acquired S/n. Clearly they’re under some kind of influence- they must have been brainwashed or put in some form of hypnotic state!” Chris hypothesised to the person on the other end of the radio upon your immediate reluctance to leave. The moment you suggested you had no interest in leaving he stopped talking directly to you. “We’ll meet you there soon we’ll need a medic and possibly some means of restraint for them” he tucked the radio back into his pocket and turned his attention back on you.

“I’m all here I’m just genuinely okay to stay here” you implored him to recognise that you were in fact all there.

Chris ignored your attempts to defend your sanity and slung you over you shoulder. “Fuck are you doing!” You yelped at his sudden action.

“I don’t know what that freak did to you but I won’t let you suffer! I won’t leave you in this hell hole! We can fix this I promise!” He seemed so genuinely concerned and you understood why but you just needed him to listen. You knew how ugly this was going to end up if he didn’t.

”Stop calling her that! You know nothing of her! There’s nothing to fix! She’s been nothing but kind to me! Please just put me down and leave!” Your pleads were wasted as he stopped responding to you.

Panicking you thrashed in his stone like grip even going so far as to try to bite and scratch him. He grunted in response to your little attack and repositioned you so that you couldn’t easily hurt him and if you did you wouldn’t do much damage.

Your fears were ignited when you heard Alcina’s voice rampaging through the wind. Chris cursed and you began begging you to put him down and leave you. Unfortunately, he interpreted your words as an attempt to sacrifice yourself for his sake, which he refused to go along with.

He didn’t let go of you as he began running and quickly grabbing a gun which he fired at Alcina with a precision you wish he lacked. You started screaming begging for them not to fight but your words crumbled as your weeping shouts were overpowered by the insatiable violence that inevitably occurred due to both parties refusal to attempt any form of reason.

While you understood the motivation both of them had and if you heard one perspective by itself you could easily side with it if the other one remained unknown to you.

Chris set you down by a tree after tying you to it. You blubbered through your messy tears that he needed to stop and listen to you for just a moment. You were desperate for them to stop before it was too late but just as always you were ignored as Chris left you to fight Alcina.

Your thoughts flurried as paranoia and fear truly sunk in and you were sure one or both of them would die. As you were sure you would lose everything to the cruelty of bloodshed. Time seemed to drag on and you struggled to release yourself from the rope that held you securely. You were so sure that one of them were dead as horrific sounds seeped into the cold night air.

Your fears proved true when you heard Alcina’s screams rattle throughout the air. Your breath hitched. What just happened-

Your head snapped at the sound of footsteps and your whole body felt like it was burning as you saw Chris’s weathered face.

He untied you and lifted you up into his arms that seemed to tremble ever so slightly. “What-what just” you could barely get the words out of your mouth. It couldn’t have possibly meant what-no there had to be some other explanation. Any other explanation.

”She won’t hurt you anymore” with those words you fell a part.

Chris remained silent as you sobbed. He just kept walking. He was sure you were just experiencing some kind of false mourning as the result of whatever Alcina had done to you. And yet guilt threatened to creep at the doubt that teased the back of his mind. He held back his thoughts and focused on getting you home.

[kiarcheo]

Clarrward Headcanons

@pikapals16 introduced me to Clarrward (Cleves x Howard x Parr) and I’m trying to get a feeling for the ship. So this is just me trying out some headcanons.

Anna and Cathy are aware they both like Kat but think the other has more chances.

Cathy thinks Anna has more chances because of their friendly past, a connection that she just can’t recreate.

Anna thinks Cathy has more chances because she never played a role into Kat’s marriage (no matter how many times Kat tells her she doesn’t blame her at all, because there is nothing to blame her for...Anna probably will always feel some degree of guilty for that) and they seem to have more interests in common.

Kat initially has no idea they both like her like that (we know she doesn’t always get the difference friendship/romantic interest).

It also takes a while for Kat to realise that Anna and Cathy never spend time together...and they never do anything all three together.

When Kat asks Cathy, Cathy brings up their first lives and tells her that Anna had never liked her so she doesn’t want to impose her presence on her.

Kat then asks Anna. Who tries to tell her she just doesn’t want to intrude on their time together. Unlike Kat and Cathy, Anna had never been musically trained/inclined. And while both she and Kat had a somehow lacking education in their first lives, Kat has a thirst for knowledge to make up for it that Anna doesn’t share. Not to say she thinks or feels like she is less intelligent than the others, she is just content in learning stuff as she goes instead of devouring books or going into deep dives into whatever random topic catches her attention. It’s much easier for Cathy to keep up with Kat’s curiosity.

Kat then asks her point blank if she doesn’t like Cathy. And Anna admits that she is jealous.

Kat starts to try to convince her that Cathy was not at fault, no more than Kat herself had been, and does that mean that Anna blames her too?

In a hurry to correct the misunderstanding, not wanting for one second Kat to think her jealousy is Henry-related or that she blames her, Anna blurts out that it’s Kat she jealous of. And that’s the same reason why Cathy doesn’t like her. They both think that Kat likes the other more.

‘I like you equally…just differently,’ Kat tells her.

‘Me as a friend and Cathy as more,’ Anna says, resigned.

‘I like you in the same way. Just for different things. Because you’re different people,’ Kat replies before seemingly realising what she said…and asking for some time to think about that…and about what she feels.

Cathy notices something is going on and when she doesn’t get an answer from Kat, she asks Anna.

‘She said she likes us equally but differently,’ Anna finishes retelling what happened.

Cathy nods sadly, ‘Me as a friend and you as more.’

It’s a turning point in their relationship, realising they are more similar than they thought.

They finally have a proper talk about the past too, clearing up Anna’s dislike of Cathy.

Then Kat approaches her, having thought about the situation and having noticed the change in their relationship.

Kat asks them if there was/is any other reason they didn’t get along.

They confirm that it’s not that they didn’t like each other, even before, but they just had no desire to see their object of affection with someone else, witnessing their falling for someone else.

Well, both of them wanting to date her was the problem….she might have a solution.

[runrundoyourstuff]

Seasons

(A Steven Universe Fic, 2632 words)

Written with love for a holiday exchange with the wonderful @mimik-u !

Prompt: Steven teaches one of the Diamonds about something beautifully mundane (a la Peridot learning about rain.)

--

It’s almost comical how the Dondai pales in size when compared to the Arm Ship—and the magnitude of the difference only grows as Steven descends the ridge. There are some items, both of human and Gem origin, that seemed larger when he was smaller—when he was younger—when everything mysterious in the world, every new thing he learned about himself, filled him with wonder. The Diamond ships, however, are not among these items. They’re as large now as they always seemed to him, if not quite as foreboding. As are the Diamonds themselves, and he is reminded of this, as Yellow disembarks from her spacecraft.

She doesn’t see him right away. Or if she does notice the car, she doesn’t have the frame of reference to recognize it as his, and even after he parks it beside the ship and gets out, it’s several moments before she turns around and acknowledges him standing there.

“Steven!”

“Hey, Yellow.”

“When I called, I hadn’t realized…” She sputters. “Your...your family returned my message to inform me that you were leaving on a conquest—”

“A conquest?”

“Yes, they said that you were going to travel—��

“Yeah, but not on a conquest!”

“Of course, of course, a scouting mission, then—”

“No! Nothing like that! Just a trip! I just...needed to hit the road for a while. Figure out what’s next.”

“I...right, of course. Your—I mean, the Pearl said that you would be taking a hiatus from your Diamond duties…”

At this, Steven chuckles. “Pearl wants me to.” But then he becomes serious. “I shouldn’t laugh. She’s trying to make sure that I take care of myself. She—all of them really, want to make sure I know that I don’t have to be involved in any Gem stuff if I don’t want to. That it’s my choice. And ya know, it’s true that I don’t want it to be my whole life, not like it was when I was a kid. And because there’s no hierarchy anymore, I do want to give other Gems a chance to manage things on Earth if they want to—to show them it doesn’t always have to be a Diamond, and I’m not a Diamond anyway—but I do want to be involved, ya know? Or at least know what’s going on! I put so much work into everything, and not all of it was bad. I was really proud of a lot of what we did, and the Gems are my family…” A pause. “Anyway, that’s all to say that I routed some of the messages from the Base to my phone.”

“I see. I…” She pauses. “I didn’t intend...You did not need to come. I merely called because I didn’t want to catch you off guard. Give your...our...Given my history, I thought if I showed up on your planet unannounced—”

“It’s not my planet.”

“No, of course not. I meant the planet on which you reside. I’ve already...I did not intend to make you feel that…that you needed to come fix—”

Steven raises a hand. “I know. I just happened to be in the area, so I thought I’d stop by. Say hi.”

“Ah. Alright.” The silence resounds. Yellow’s eyes flit away.

“So,” Steven says after a moment—looking for something, anything, to cut through the quiet. “Why Zona?”

“Is that what this place is called?” Yellow glances around. “I needed an area of the Earth where I would cause the least disruptions, where I could dig a sufficiently large hole such that I could access the Cluster. I initially planned on going to one of the Kindergartens, as we’d already irrevocably destroyed all hope of organic life thriving there—I thought I could minimize the destruction. But each already has a fairly extensive subterranean framework that makes it impossible for me to dig deep enough.” She sighs. “I realize this place isn’t perfect. My digging will certainly disrupt some of the plant life. But it appeared at least that there were few humans in the vicinity…”

“Mm.” Steven leads against the hood of his car. “I’m surprised you brought your ship out here and didn’t just Warp. We’re not that far from the Beta Kindergarten, and there’s a Warp there...”

“Those Warps weren’t built for us. We’re much too large.”

“I guess that’s true, but you could always shapeshift.”

“Hmm. I suppose. But there was also the equipment to bring.”

“Equipment?”

“Yes, I...There are...billions of shards in the Cluster. I figured...if I am going to dismantle it and reconstruct each of the Gems whose shards it conatiend, it would likely be easier for me to do it on Earth, rather than bringing all the Shards back to Homeworld. I don’t want to risk losing any of them or damaging any of them even further in transit…And while I may need to ultimately to transport some of them back to Homeworld to locate all the pieces, and though it may be disconcerting for the other Gems to reform on Earth...I…” She leaves the syllable hanging in the air, turns her head away. Steven can just barely make out her tense jaw as though she is gritting her teeth. Sparks radiate from her skin.

“Yellow? Are you...okay?”

“I’m fine!” But then she bows her head, inhales and releases, murmurs: “I apologize, Steven. I am not angry with you. I simply…It has been difficult enough for me to face each of the Gems I have reconstructed on Homeworld. Once they recover from the shock and the terror, they have each looked at me with such disdain. And those Fusion experiments, while they were certainly terrible, pale in comparison to the Cluster. I can only imagine what each of the Gem’s contained within it will feel. And I will deserve it. I hurt so many Gems in the service of the Empire.”

Steven opens his mouth to respond, but before he can, Yellow continues, speaking ever rapidly, ever louder, as though desperate to expel the words. “Do not try to assuage my guilty conscience! That...is not your responsibility. I shouldn’t have just put you in a position to think that it was.”

Another tentative backpedaling, Steven thinks. A walking on eggshells moment, like he’s witnessed with the Gems and Dad over the past several months. And difficult though it is for him to sometimes believe, it’s not as though Yellow is wrong, at least not if he trusts his therapist. But there is a distant look in her eye, a panicked tension in her cheeks, which, when coupled with the fact that this is the first time he’s seen her since his breakdown, makes Steven wonder if she is remembering that day on the beach.

His own memories of it are fuzzy-to-nonexistant; he remembers the pain, and the panic, and the anger he’d held despite knowing that he shouldn't. Then, he has a vague impression of multiple embraces, of Connie kissing his forehead, of crying hot, cathartic tears...And then he’d woken up in the Cluster’s hand, with the eyes of most of the people he loved and almost everyone he’d ever fought all on him.

Despite his own lack of recollection, however, Connie assures him that she’d given everyone—the Diamonds included—something of a blunt talking to that day, a rallying speech, but she won’t elaborate on the specifics of what exactly she’d said. Might that—whatever its contents— be behind Yellow’s hasty assurances now?

“Okay,” Steven responds finally. “I won’t try to make you feel less guilty. But can I show you something?”

Yellow furrows her eyebrows. “Very well.”

“It’s just on the top of the canyon.”

They deliberate for a few moments on the details. Yellow offers to carry him, but even if she’s not White, Steven declines being held in a Diamond’s hand, and while she could shapeshift to fit in the passenger seat of the Dondai, she ultimately elects to simply follow behind the car as Steven slowly drives it up the cliff.

They reach the plateau just as the sun begins to dip in the horizon, casting a golden glow over the grass, over the Autumn leaves, just starting to paint themselves with the vibrant shades that return year after year.

Steven opens the door and steps out. “You never spent much time on Earth, did you?”

Yellow considers. “No.”

“Do you know what I think my mom fell in love with about this planet?”

“Organic life, of course. Humans.” She gestures to Steven. “Obviously.”

“Well, yeah, but not just them. Us. I think it was this stuff too.”

Yellow squints. “These weeds?! These...dying outgrowths?!”

“With things that change. Things that grow. There’s so much of it here.”

“Hm.”

Steven paces over to the grass, then sinks down onto it so that it brushes against his bare calves. It’s mostly soft on his skin but there are dryer patches too, scratchier places on the ground as some of the longer areas start to dry out for the season. The sun dips lower in the sky, and it leaks hues of pink and orange onto the daytime canvas of darkening blue. Yellow looms behind him.

“Feel this.” He pats the ground next to him, and tries not to wince as Yellow’s gargantuan hand settles down on the grass. “You might not be able to tell, but it’s growing. Even right now. By the time the snow—frozen water that falls from the sky—starts to cover it in a few months, it’ll probably be a few inches taller than it is right now. And then it’ll take a break for a while, but when Spring comes next year—when the weather gets warmer again—it’ll start again.

“The trees too. Look out there—they grow taller every year, and every year the leaves change into those beautiful colors you can see. And the shades are similar every year, but never exactly the same. Then the leaves fall off, and then bud again and come back. And the trees keep getting taller. And every time the leaves return, the whole tree is a little bit different too.”

Yellow hesitates. “These are familiar to me. Someone, I believe a Peridot—your Peridot—”

“She’s not my Peridot, but I know who you mean.”

“Yes...Well, she brought some of these...trees...from Earth to Homeworld, and determined how best to make them grow there. I’ve been gazing at them through the windows of the palace ever since, but I hadn’t realized how elaborate, how ever-present, their growth cycles were…”

“I’ve lived on Earth my whole life, and I only just started thinking about it recently. It’s easy to take for granted, but it’s really incredible when you stop to think about it.” He angles his head upward. “And it’s not just the plants. Look at the sky. It changes like this every day.” A pause. “Well, it’s really not the sky that’s changing—Connie told me that it’s an effect of how the planet moves around our sun. But from down here on Earth, it looks like it’s always changing. In a different way every day. I don’t think it’s like that on Homeworld.”

Yellow settles next to him at last, squatting, and then kneeling. “It isn’t. Things are constructed on Homeworld—not grown. We have a sun, but our sky does not transform like this.”

“Exactly. And I think that’s why my mom fell in love with the Earth so much. She was so in awe of how everything naturally grew and changed here.” Steven sighs, clenches him gemstone beneath his hand. “I’m still angry at her a lot of the time, but, like, I get it. She saw herself as this monster.” Here Steven pauses, glances away for a moment before finally letting the words return. “And she didn’t think that she was capable of growth or change. All she thought she could do was pretend to be someone else. And then she found herself on this planet where all anything did was grow for real, and she wanted to be a part of that even in some small way, so she made me.”

“Steven…”

“But the point is, she was wrong. She could have grown as herself. I think she did, even if she couldn’t see it. And she and I aren't the only Gems that grew. All of my friends and family have. None of us is the same as we were when I was a kid. Maybe it just took coming to Earth to see that, ya know? Gems can grow and change, just like the trees can, and the grass, and the sky.

“So yeah,” Steven continues. “White hurt you, and you hurt Mom, and Mom hurt Pearl and Garnet and Amethyst and Spinel and you, and everyone she hurt hurt me, and I hurt Jasper and Dad and a lot of people and could have hurt a lot more, and you hurt all the Gems who were corrupted, and who became the Fusion experiments and the Cluster...and that’s all true, and we all have to deal with that and make the things we did wrong right the best that we can. And it’s hard, and it sucks. But the ways we’ve been hurt and hurt other people aren’t all we are. We can grow and change too. As ourselves. I think the Earth is just one big reminder of that.”

Yellow’s brows are once again furrowed, her jaw agape. “I…”

“So, yeah, it’s going to be hard to face all the Gems in the Cluster as you put them all back together. But it’s the right thing to do. And if it ever becomes too much, you can always come up here, and watch the world change and grow to remind yourself that you’re growing too. You’re better than you were, and if you keep working at it, you’ll keep getting better.”

Then, without waiting for Yellow to respond, Steven stands, walks back over to the Dondai. “Now, I gotta hit the road. I want to get to Vegas by tomorrow. It was nice to see you, Yellow.”

“You as well, Steven.” Yellow rises to her feet.

“Good luck,” he calls out the window as he pulls away, and glancing in the rearview mirror, he sees Yellow’s arm raised in farewell, something like a small, apprehensive smile on her lips.

Six months later, after a sojourn up and down the West Coast, Steven returns to the ridge en route back to Beach City for a visit. He pulls up just as the sun is rising over the canyon, glinting off Yellow’s arm ship, and off of the chest and arms and backs of the little gaggle of Gems gathered next to the ship and the adjacent hole. Yellow is not among them, though. She stands on the crest of the cliff, gazing at the trees, at the little buds beginning to spring into being on each branch.

“Steven.” She turns to him in greeting as he gets out of the car.

“You’ve been busy!”

“Yes, we’re progressing nicely.”

“We?”

Yellow nods. “Some of the Gems I reconstructed from the Cluster decided to remain here to help. Then others in Little Homeworld—and even a few on Homeworld itself—learned about what we were doing, and traveled here to volunteer.” She pauses. “They’re here for the sake of the Gems inside the Cluster, not for me. Still, it is nice not to be alone.”

���Mm.”

Yellow turns from the trees to the canyon, in the direction of the rising sun. The growing orange light catches her Gemstone too, and it glimmers in it. “It’s a beautiful morning.”

“Yeah,” Steven says. “It is.”

[ao3]

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS I CHAPTER 13

first time readers click here 💖

TWs/Summary: In this house, we ship Reader/Tony's Rolls-Royce. Reader and Tony being dorks on a date. That's it that's the chapter. Lots of sass and Tony being Tony.

A question for my readers: Are you still invested? How's the slow burn? Is everything realistic? 👉🏻👈🏻🥺

As usual, my beta is @miscmarvelwritings . I love her.

"Nice digs, Cupcake."

"Nice ride, Tin Man."

The sass fell from my lips, warm and familiar, paving the way for our upcoming debut like the old, soft living room rug. Any awkwardness I had expected there to be left the moment I saw Tony pull up to my front gate in his Royce: the man was just that extra. The size of my estate, the five-figure outfit of mine - it paled in comparison to his own clout. 

In a world where my choices were usually distributed between stuck-up rich boys or insecure middle-class men, Tony was a fresh drink of water with his absolute indifference towards my and his own net worth.

I wasn't afraid to admire said ride, either. Being a huge petrolhead was what got me interested in engineering, physics and computer sciences in the first place. The desire for speed grew into thirst for knowledge: how to get more horsepower, how to tune, how to mod. No mechanic took an eighteen year old rich-girl seriously even when I had all the lingo right, I had to be a step ahead, at all times, if I wanted my ride to be the best. And I never settled for less than that.

"No driver?" I inquired for the reason behind the unusual behaviour. After all, a Rolls' wasn't the kind of car you drive personally. All the amenities it had, it had in the back.

"Gave Happy a day off," Tony remarked absently. I noticed the small quirk of his eyebrow, however. He was intrigued.

I decided to give it a shot. "So what, this thing packs, what, about five-fifty horses?" I mused, watching Tony nearly swerve into the opposite lane. "At two and a half tons, it's still gotta be pretty quick with that V12-turbo. How fast it go?" The satisfaction was immeasurable, as pleasant to my soul as sitting in a heated leather chair with the smell of a new car, engine quietly rumbling in front of me. And by quietly I mean, it was focus-or-you'll-miss-it kind of quiet.

"Well aren't you full of surprises, baby girl," Tony grinned; a happy, excited grin even. It made his face lose ten years of age just like that. "Zero to sixty in five and a half seconds," He said after a moment. 

"Not bad," I said, sounding impressed. I already knew that but I wasn't planning on robbing Tony out of well deserved praise for his choice in vehicles. 

"Got a ride of your own?" He asked with a smile, like he didn't know it already. No background check would have skipped my three speeding tickets, but I concur. This game was fun.

"I do, actually. It's a 2008 Range Rover. Supercharged," I added in the end, just to emphasise.

"A big car for such a little girl," Tony whistled playfully.

"I'm compensating," I deadpanned. "I'm a little slow on the uptake, y'know, so my Rangie with five hundred horses makes up for it. Gotta keep it balanced."

Tony chewed on his lip. "Five hundred? Haven't heard about that, it comes with three-ninety-five in stock," His eyebrow wiggled. "Tuned it?" He cast me a contemplative glance.

"Yup," I exclaimed happily. As far as the date, I would have been utterly ecstatic to talk about cars all evening. Screw the boring "where do you see yourself in five years" questions, talk to me about your favourite engine swaps. Concept cars, give me those. Monster trucks? Yes, please. Vintage low-riders? Couldn't wait to get my grubby little hands on one. Gimmee!

Tony kept his silence and kept his press smile starting the moment we set foot on getting out of the car. The place he'd taken me to was ridiculously upscale and fancy; the valet hesitated only for a second before catching the keys Tony so carelessly tossed in his direction. There was almost no fear in his body language when the boy approached the massive, expensive vehicle.

The hostess smiled big at Tony and gave me the world's biggest stink-eye when he looked the other way but what else is new? As soon as she left us in the privacy of our booth, I didn't hesitate to stick my tongue at her retreating back. A brief lapse in maturity, if you will.

Tony cackled, growing suddenly serious. "Did she bother you? I can get her fired. I should get her fired."

"Nah," I shrugged. "Don't really care, just wanted to showcase my amazing sense of humour." Snorting, I gave Tony a wink and a secretive grin.

"You really don't give a fuck, do you," His eyebrows twitched again, a sign of mild interest that I noted during our routine sciencing time together. Tony was incredibly expressive if one took the time to observe.

"I could suck your dick under the table right now," I answered honestly. "It's just that when God gave out things like dignity and shame, I wasn't home. Too many fun things to do, y'know," I spoke as casually as I could even though I was dying of laughter inside.

Eyes bulging, jaw hanging mid-way to the floor. Tony was serving Looks™ and I didn't mean just the white tee and purple blazer combo. "Princess, you're going to be the fucking death of me!" He took a sip from his water glass, smirking.

Finally releasing my mirth, I gathered my hands in a lock in front of me. His own, warm and calloused, reached over - I allowed the brief intimacy, clasping them, fiddling with the leather band of his watch. For a moment, it was just us, sitting in the dim light, discovering each other anew to Robert Johnson singing the blues and NYC bustling with life just behind the wall. 

The waiter took our orders - and if I totally butchered the Italian, Tony was gentleman enough not to make any remarks. 

"Somehow, every time I am with you, you both manage to meet my expectations to a T and surprise me at the same time," I wasn't able to completely ignore my nerves. My hand was still loosely in his and he didn't mind at all, me messing with his watch.

"How so?"

"I'm going to loosely quote someone, bear with me." Mr Davies's words popped into my mind just as I was wondering how to best articulate my feelings. "You're eccentric and interesting because it's, well, it's you, because it would be much weirder if we'd be sitting here and making boring small-talk and asking each other the genetic get-to-know-you questions," I briefly paused to sip my Dom Peringon and stare at our hands. Gathering my wits. "That would be why I don't do dates. It sounds so tedious on paper, just sorting through people until a person that's not absolutely mind-numbing comes around."

Tony was silent for a moment, the sheen of his eyes, the faraway look; he was lost in memories. Probably remembering all the girls he had charmed before. I didn't doubt it was easy for him: his smile was distracting and people usually were attracted to shiny things. He shone plenty. Also, most people were stupid, they never cared to look past the golden wrapper. I was convinced there was a diamond under it. But then again, I was biased.

"I've never thought about it that way, but I guess you're right," He finally said, serious. "With Pepper, at least, it was. Come to think of it, we never had that much in common, besides Stark Industries and her willingness to put up with my shit." It was painful for him to talk about her, that much was obvious. His laugh was forced and sardonic.

I, on the other hand, never understood why they got together in the first place. Or maybe I did - but the cold, composed Pepper and the chaotic, energetic Tony reminded me too much of my own parents. All four people in this fucked up equation could have been much happier if they choose... What? Being alone? That was terrifying, too.

I kept quiet, giving his hands a gentle squeeze.

"You know, this is so bizarre. Even an eighteen year old kid has got it figured out," He suddenly said, his tone bitter like the coffee that he loved.

"Woah, slow down," I put up a hand. "I never said I know what to do. I just said I know what NOT to do." The 'kid' remark would have made me eye-roll so hard my skull would crack any day. In this context, however, it was pretty spot on.

Tony snorted. "And how did you come by that information, pray tell, Baby?"

I huffed. "Have you met my parents?" We simultaneously cringed and I hurried to erase that mental image. "I make fun of myself for being into old dudes all the time," I made air quotes around the phrase that made Tony scoff, "But, honestly speaking, I've never even been on a date. Like a real one. Usually it's twenty minutes and I'm falling asleep mid-conversation. People can't seem to keep up with me or something," I felt genuinely dejected. "So many meaningless questions, so many downright idiotic comments. From men," I pointed out the obvious. "My mother used to tell me she thought I was gay because I didn't act like a girl... Whatever that means."

"That sounds pretty shitty," Tony was studying me like one would have been looking at an exotic animal in a zoo. "That said, I agree."

"That I don't act like a girl?" I teased him, the left corner of my mouth tilting upward. "Fuck that noise. I want to drive fast cars, drink straight liquor and have orgasms. If that makes me a dude... I look pretty good for a dude in a dress."

We laughed in unison, tension evaporating under the shared, mutual understanding. With Tony, it was easy. The waiter brought our selected dishes. Blink-and-he's-gone. Top notch service.

"A dude in a dress, can't say I'm surprised 'bout your lack of dates," He remarked conversationally, happily digging into his food. The noises he made were intriguing, to say the least, and I followed suit on my own food, finding it absolutely delicious. A delicious meal with a delicious man at my side. I refused to feel guilty about my thoughts.

"I guess I have exactly one (1) date on my ledger now," I raised my argument.

The fork clattered as Tony once again, came to a sudden realization. "Holy shit, you weren't kidding."

"No shit," I gave into the urge to roll my eyes. "But on the upside, my first date was with the most gorgeous, intelligent and witty bachelor of the city. I'd say I don't have it all that bad," I quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Aw, you're making me blush," Tony recovered quickly, grinning. "And don't be shy. The most desired bachelor of the country, if not the world."

I shook my head. "No, the world's most delectable bachelor is one of the Saudi princes. What's-his-name, the one who posts goat and horse pics on Insta," I snapped my fingers a couple of times, trying to remember the name as Tony looked at me all offended. "Anyways, you get my point. I could have a go at him, don't you think?" Cocking my shoulder, coyly twirling the strap of my dress, I gave Tony my best come-hither look and was rewarded with an appreciative once-over. His eyes were growing hungry again. 

"You're a million dollar baby," He finally said, voice low. "And the extent of people I would be willing to share you with is very small."

That got me interested, sudden heat prickling underneath my skin. The conversation took a turn I didn't expect it to; and there lied the delight of being around Tony. He was always ready to surprise, in the best way. "Tell me," I requested politely.

"That's a conversation for another time," He was enjoying the chit-chat, desire beginning to creep into his features.

"Mmm, you think?" I allowed the strap of my dress to slip down my shoulder, exposing a collarbone, showing him just how far I was willing to go to satisfy my curiosity.

He swallowed audibly. "I think... You're smart enough to figure it out," He finally gritted his teeth, finishing off his dinner and immediately calling for the check. 

I wasn't done yet, however. The possibility of riling him up, taunting him into a lustful frenzy - I was in heaven. Karma had favoured me that evening, it had given me a chance to get Tony back for all the times he unknowingly made my mouth water and my brain go blip. "Must be Steve then," I bit my lip in thought. 

Honestly? I was as clueless as the couple next table over. Steve it wasn't, that much I knew for sure, he and Tony had their little love/hate dramatic connection that always ended in a massive ego standoff. Tony would be on the frontline fighting against Steve if the blonde dared to show anything even remotely resembling romantic interest towards someone Tony himself had his eyes on.

"Princess," Tony growled, sarcastically raising an eyebrow.

"Not Steve," I replied, cracking a smile. Success! "You know, I'm really bad at guessing who's into me. Unless someone is balls deep in me," My face was mere inches away as we quickly shrugged on our coats. "And even then, I can't be sure."

My giggling was accompanied by Tony shaking his head in exasperated fashion; he took my hand nonetheless and I happily swayed it between us, poster child for "not a care in the world". He allowed it, maintaining the same exasperated air about him, and I let him. Fondness and happiness seeped through that anyways.

"Brat," His voice was kind. And his kiss tingled where he left it on the corner of my mouth, sweet and short. "Here, have a go," Before I could react, the keys to his Rolls Royce were placed in my palm and he was making his way around the car to the passenger's side.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings  @vozit ​ @littlegasps ​ @pilloclock ​ @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads ​ @hermione-grangers-wife ​ @individualistfem ​ @sleep-i-ness @capbrie @lillsxd @agustdowney @dee-vn @justanotherblonde23 @fanngirl19 @persephonehemingway (it finally let me tag you)! @softie-socks @schemefrenzy

[betawithablog]

Headcanons for the greek gods as omegas?

(I assume you mean as Omegaverse and not for them all to be Omegas cus there’s no way Ares is Omega lol)

This is gonna be the 12(.5) Olympians and the royal couple of the underworld

Zeus: Alpha, a very obvious Alpha. Leader of the Olympian pack. If we're going with the personality he has in the myths then he's the kind of douchebag Alpha who thinks it's his right to go around knotting whoever he fancies; I imagine his pheromones are pretty powerful too. Like, send-you-into-an-surprise-heat kind of powerful. If we're going with how the ancient Greeks actually saw Zeus though he's the absolute best provider. Big dad vibes towards everyone who's even a little bit younger than him (which... y’know, given that he's a god is almost everyone).

Hera: Omega. The kind of Omega that has a dominant, leader's streak; the kind born to be the leader's mate. She has that Omega's need for love and attention (which Zeus really needs to work on giving her smh) and likes to pamper her body (see: pool that she bathes in every night that somehow magically makes her not a virgin anymore... yeah idk either, blame the ancient Greeks). She does, however, lack a natural maternal instinct (see: yeeting baby Hephaestus off of mt. Olympus), so I feel like she could potentially also be a Beta.

Poseidon: Alpha. Originally he was actually the leader of the Olympian pack (no that's not a headcanon - the Macedonians actually considered Poseidon to be the head of the Olympians). I imagine him to be a kind of rugged-looking Alpha - like an strong old fisherman with rough palms and speckled grey hair - with an air of calm and control that can switch to chaotic and aggressive in an instant's notice - like the ocean itself.

Hestia: Omega. Absolutely 100% Omega. The kind of Omega who's very presence makes you feel soothed, her hugs are warm and soft (not just because she always wears fluffy cardigans), her nest is absolute perfection - beautiful, calming to be in, and cosy - and she's always got something divine (if you'll excuse the pun) in the oven. Always purring kin the kitchen. Absolute biggest mama vibes. She smells like a bakery; chocolate and pastry. Holy shit I love Hestia.

Demeter: Alpha. Considered her, perhaps, as an Omega on account of her being a fertility agriculture goddess but she just doesn't strike me as the placating, gentle type. Quite the opposite. She fought stubbornly for her daughter to remain at her side, and she's the goddess of law too - she's not the rolling-over-showing-her-neck type at all. I picture her as an absolute Unit; muscles for days from all the years harvesting crops. The no-nonsense kind of Alpha.

Aphrodite: Omega. The hypersexual kind of Omega. I believe I've seen them called 'Pack Omegas' - the type that do best when they're in a relationship with lots of people, practically (or literally) a whole pack. Also the beauty-obsessed kind of Omega. Takes ten hours to get her clothes, hair, and makeup done yet somehow she turns the whole process into a mesmerising dance. She turns everything into a mesmerising dance. Another I imagine with knock-out strong pheromones that have Alphas falling to their knees for her. She smells like roses.

Athena: Alpha. Another leader-type Alpha - literally has Athens named after her, and she's very proud of her people... despite some of the absolute nonsense she's had to witness from them throughout the ancient years. A very adept and skilled fighter and strategist - likes to know everything about a situation before rushing in. She's an incredibly supportive and wise lead Alpha, the kind that the pack feels they can go to with whatever problem they might have. I feel like she could also easily be a Beta, but she's got such a strong sense of being dominant and in charge it's hard to see her as anything but an Alpha.

Ares: Alpha. Less of a leader-type Alpha, lbr, more of a team player. The kind of Alpha that runs into things without thinking, relying on instinct and, on the battlefield, pure rage. Your average Aggressive Type Alpha who's ready to kill for anyone in his pack. Can come across as a bit of a meat head... and can be a bit of a meat head at times... Yet I imagine him as a really loving, doting mate, which initially surprises a lot of people; seeing this big burly 6ft< Alpha who smells like fire and blood smiling dopily as picks out the perfect dainty jewellery for Aphrodite.

Hephaestus: Beta. My poor poor bastard boy. Very crafty and creative (see: trapping his mother in a beautiful trick throne he built as revenge for yeeting him off the mountain as a baby). Likes to think his creations through and plan genius contraptions. He could very easily also be an Alpha, what with the fact he's a blacksmith, which is a rather Alpha job. But I guess I lean towards Beta because, even though he's a bit of a social outcast on account of his leg and general appearance, he's clearly desperate to be more socially involved with the pack and doesn't want to be a lone wolf.

Artemis: Alpha. Surprisingly nonsexual for an Alpha. Very much a lone wolf. Loves spending her days out in the forest. You wouldn't think she's an Alpha to look at her, but she'd surprise you with how strong she is. Also very good at using her opponent's strength against them. Because of her build, she's considered the protector of Omegas; most Omegas would feel very safe in her presence. She's got this mysterious edge to her that just uncontrollably draws you in... like the moon.

Apollo: Omega. Ah, sweet darling disaster bisexual... I just imagine him being very soft and sensitive (not that he can't kick ass on a battlefield, see: his involvement in the battles of the Iliad). He has an artist's soul and an angel's voice. His serenades are totally his courting gifts. I imagine him revelling in being doted on, and always eager for fuss and attention. He has a beautiful Omegan frame, and he loves decorating himself in luxurious garb and crowns of flowers and leaves. He smells like laurel and somehow also sunshine. No one knows how this is possible but he does.

Hermes: Beta. And nooo I'm not just saying that because he's my favourite and that's the dynamic I best identify with (>_>) He really is such a Beta though. I've a headcanon that Beta's love travelling and exploring and he's literally the God of that so y'know. He's also so quick thinking and witty: represented himself in a what was basically a godly court case where he was guilty of thievery and won when he was literally a baby. He's hardly ever submissive to anyone but he hardly ever uses aggression or physical force to get his way/get out of trouble. He smells like ripe strawberries and the metallic tinge of coins.

Dionysus: Beta. The eccentric, outgoing, party type Beta; wants to be surrounded by friends having a good time all the time. He smells like booze; in the morning it's a little off-putting, but in the evening its literally intoxicating. I imagine his mortal Maenads needing only his scent to drive them into a frenzy. Not the kind of Beta you'd expect to also have the Supportive Beta streak, but he absolutely does; he lives to support his friends and gives the kind of advice you don't realise is advice at first and later hits you like an epiphany, and it was exactly what you needed to hear.

Persephone: Beta. Difficult one, but I had to go with Beta because she strikes me as a very gentle, delicate goddess of spring that could easily have her classified as Omega, but in winter she's the no-nonsense, dominant queen of the underworld that could have her classified as an Alpha. Overall, I think this shows her adaptability, which is a very Beta trait. Also, she's not really as needy and dependent as an Omega traditionally is. Things might have happened to her beyond her control, but she very much took back control and has both Hades and Demeter wrapped around her little finger. Of course, she smells like pomegranates, and spring blossom.

Hades: Omega. I have such a soft spot for soft!Hades. But he's kind of the reverse of Artemis in that you would not think to look at him that he's an Omega, you'd assume he's an Alpha, especially considering his position as ruler of the underworld. But he's a softy at heart, and adores material possessions (which I consider a bit of an Omegan trait). He mopes all the way through spring and summer at the lack of Persephone's presence, cooped up in his nest the whole time until autumn rolls around and she comes back into his life. He has a very earthy scent.

bonus:

Hermaphrodite: All three! Thought I'd include Hermaphrodite because they flashed through my mind and I wondered what might be classified as intersex in a/b/o. Of course, that depends on how you hc biology for the dynamics but I thought what would perhaps make Hermaphrodite an outcast/outlier could be their body, scent, and instincts being a mix of all three dynamics.

thanks for the ask 💞

[ieattaperecorders]

Something’s Different About You Lately - Chapter 2

The three archival assistants engage in some highly unprofessional office gossip, showing a lack of respect for the esteemed academic institution that employs them.

Read on Ao3

“He’s going to fire me, I just know it.”

Martin sat miserably at his desk - head down, hands at his temples, trying in vain to banish the tension headache forming behind his eyes. Tim leaned over him, casually tossing one of Martin’s little desk toys from hand to hand. It was a stress ball shaped like a Snorlax, and had done very little to reduce Martin’s stress of late.

“Don’t really think that adds up,” Tim said, “why start being friendly if he’s planning to fire you? And wouldn’t he have, y’know, done it by now?”

“Elias, then. He’s going to fire me and Jon knows about it, so he’s acting nice to soften the blow.” Martin pulled at his hair, dragging a few messy curls down over his face. “Or - - or else he’s just happy I’ll be gone soon. Either way.”

“Or, here’s a thought - -” Tim reached over and set the stress ball down on the desk, about an inch from Martin’s nose. “He’s just decided to be nice. Something nice is actually happening to Martin Blackwood but he can’t accept it, because he’s got worms in his brain.”

Martin glared tiredly up through his hands. “I did ask you to stop with the worm jokes, Tim.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Tim put his hands up. “But that’s a thought, right? He probably just feels bad that you, y’know. . . got attacked by a stalker and her army of flesh eating parasites?”

There was some sense in that, Martin had to admit. It hadn’t been long after his encounter with Prentiss that he’d begun to notice changes in the things Jon said and did. Some of them were nice enough - he snapped a lot less, for one thing. He didn’t grumble and complain over little things Martin did or forgot to do, at least not where Martin could hear it. But other things were just baffling. He seemed to ask after Martin a whole lot more. He’d make strange comments and look at Martin like he expected him to laugh. And more than once, Martin had turned around to catch Jon staring at him with an expression that he couldn’t make heads or tails of. It left him feeling scrutinized. As if it was just a matter of time before he slipped up somehow, made some mistake that would upend his life even more.

Oh yes, and then there was the incident two weeks ago when he’d nearly smashed Jon’s head in with a wrench, and he’d said it was fine and they shouldn’t worry about it. Martin almost had a heart attack with that one. And then, then Jon said to call him if he thought he heard something at night? What did that even mean? Was he concerned that his employee would be making frivolous 999 calls from the institute every time he heard the floor creak if he didn’t keep him from it?

If so, well . . . he probably wasn’t far from right, to be honest. Martin had been doing his best to keep it to himself, but he'd been pretty badly wound up lately. Especially at night, when everyone else was gone and it was just him and a thousand files filled with spooky stories to keep him company. And there was always that sensation of eyes on the back of his neck, no matter how many times he told himself that no one else was there.

To say nothing of the creepy noises. It was an old building, and everything creaked at night. The pipes were especially bad, the uncanny susurration of rushing water that through the walls at night. He tried to ignore it, even block it out with music. But as the long, empty nights wore on, it always crept back into his mind. His sleep-deprived brain making it sound like muffled, unintelligible voices. As if there was something just beyond the walls whispering or singing to him. It made him feel sick inside.

He really needed to get better sleep.

Still. If Jon just felt sorry for Martin after everything that had happened, it would at least explain why he was grumbling less and hovering more. Really, Martin should be enjoying the better treatment while it lasted, because he doubted it would stay for long. Jon probably wasn’t going to ever actually like him. But if Martin could gain some ground with his new boss out of pity, well. That was something, wasn’t it? Better than being hated. And despite everything, he still really needed this job.

Tim’s eyes suddenly widened. He gripped Martin’s arm and smiled brightly, looking over his shoulder to the door.

“Hiya boss,” he called, “how’s decoding Gertrude’s filing system going?”

Martin turned to see Jon enter, a rueful smile on his face.

“It’s a challenge,” he said. “I’m afraid it will be some time before we can expect any progress.”

“We really should come up with a name for it,” Tim replied. “Creepy Card Catalog? Dewey Decimal of the Damned? Oh! How about Old Lady Robinson’s Disaster-o-pedia?”

“‘Disaster’ is certainly appropriate.” Jon's tone was neutral, but he didn't hide his smile. He turned to Martin, setting a mug in front of him. “I ah, I’ve noticed you’re always making tea for the rest of us, Martin. I thought it might be nice if someone else brought you a cup.”

It was the mug that Tim had bought Martin as a gag gift shortly after they’d started working in the archive. The one with a black and white pattern that looked like a Jersey cow, with a pink three-dimension udder sticking out of the side. Martin looked at it, then back at Jon who was smiling expectantly.

“Oh. . . thanks?” Martin smiled back, a little awkwardly. “That’s nice of you.”

Jon’s smile widened. It widened a lot, actually. His whole practically face lit up and it was way too much, and it was weird. Maybe Jon didn’t hear people call him nice very often?

"Least I can do. Given, ah - -" Jon hesitated, as if trying to remember what he was supposed to be grateful for. "Well. Given how hard you've been working, I suppose."

“What, nothing for me?” Tim teased.

“Ah . . . I didn’t think to--” Jon frowned, an expression of mild distress on his face. “But I could? I’ll just be a moment.”

Jon turned back towards the break room, and it was clear that even Tim was startled by that reaction. He’d obviously been joking, setting Jon up for a retort or an excuse to complain. It’s what he'd have normally responded with.

“See?” Martin gestured to where Jon had been standing. “That’s weird, right? That’s not just being friendly, it’s . . . I don’t know what it is. It’s an entire personality change.”

“Hmm. Yeah.” Tim blinked at the doorway. “He’s definitely planning to kill you.”

“Don’t joke about that either.” Martin groaned, rubbing his brow. The stress headache had not left, and he doubted it was going to any time soon.

“It starts with tea.” Tim continued, feigning a solemn tone. “Then, bit by bit, he’ll begin slipping you teeny tiny amounts of poison. Once you’re too weak to fight back or run, bam. Briefcase full of snakes.” He shook his head. “The perfect crime.”

"Come on."

"Snakes can't talk, Martin. That means no witnesses."

Martin sighed and reached for the mug. Whatever was going on, he supposed he was at least getting tea that he didn’t have to make. As he took a sip, a familiar flavor bloomed on his tongue and he choked in surprise.

“Yikes.” Tim looked at him with concern. “Is his tea that bad?”

“No . . . no it’s - -” Martin set the mug down, coughing a little, and wiped his mouth. “There’s jam in it. Strawberry jam.”

“Seriously?” Tim wrinkled his nose. “Who puts jam in tea?”

“I do! Sometimes . . . .”

“And you have the nerve to call anybody else weird?”

“I like it! It’s sweet and - - and anyway that’s not the point.” Martin frowned. “How does he know that? I know I never mentioned it.”

“Eh. He remembers strange things sometimes.” Tim shrugged. “He’ll forget that you had to show him how to use the copier, but he’ll rattle off a thousand details about how it works. He’s probably got an encyclopedic knowledge of how everyone in the institute likes their tea.”

At that moment, Jon’s head appeared back in the doorway. “Tim. I forgot to ask. Do you take sugar or milk?”

“Oh, you know it’s both.” Tim grinned, pointing in Jon’s direction.

Jon nodded and ducked back out. Martin looked at Tim, who shrugged.

“Listen,” he said. “I’ve known Jon a lot longer than you. And one thing I can say about him is this - he’s a prick, but he’s not an asshole.”

“What does that even mean?” Martin sighed, picking up the mug again.

“It means . . . he’s just sort of like that,” Tim gestured vaguely towards the door. “He’s insensitive, and kind of snobby, and when he’s in a bad mood he makes it everyone else’s problem. But he’s not mean-spirited. Most of the time I don’t think he even realizes he’s doing it, honestly.”

“Realize it or not,” Martin muttered into his tea - - which damn it, was delicious and he was going to enjoy it regardless. “It’s not very nice being on the other end of it.”

“Oh, absolutely.” Tim smirked. “Like I said, he’s a total prick. But I don’t think he wants to be mean. And he doesn’t like thinking he’s hurt someone. You want to know my guess?”

“. . . Sure.”

“The whole worm thing made him take a look at how he’s been acting, especially with you,” Tim said. “And now he feels guilty. Covertly figuring out your awful, deviant tea preferences is probably his way of trying to make amends.”

“Mmm.”

Martin tapped Tim’s arm and looked at the door, which he’d been watching more closely ever since the first interruption. Jon appeared with a second cup of tea, this one in a mug that read “Over Sixty and Still Sexy!” in pink bubble letters.

“Here we are,” he handed it to Tim, looking pleased with himself.

“Thanks, chief.” Tim snapped his fingers. “Oh, hey! Almost forgot, I followed up on Statement 0162102. The woman in Sussex who saw a manifestation in her backyard? You know. The one with the uncanny, owl-like features?”

“Oh.” Jon raised an eyebrow. “What did you find?”

“Well. I looked up her address and as it turns out she lives half a mile from an owl sanctuary.”

“Ah.”

“Went to investigate like you said. Really nice old lady. He scones were a little dry, but she had all sorts of interesting knickknacks that she wanted to show me.”

“Sounds profoundly fascinating.”

“Anyway, I managed to tear myself away long enough to check out the yard. Shockingly enough, found some owl pellets there. So, stop me if you’ve heard this one, but--” he clicked his tongue loudly. “Think maybe she saw an owl?”

Jon smirked. “Another one for the discredited section.”

“That thing’s filling up fast.” Tim observed.

“Quite unsurprising, all thing considered.” Jon sighed, feigning disappointment, badly disguising how smug he was about it. Given his attitude towards the paranormal, Martin expected he believed that every statement should go straight into that pile. “Still. Progress is progress, and elimination is a form of progress on its own. I’ll let you know when I have something new for you.”

“Sure thing. Still waiting for my chance to unmask the creepy old mill owner trying to scare those meddling kids off his property.”

Jon laughed, sharp and loud, before catching himself and putting a hand over his mouth. There was something in his expression when he looked at Tim that Martin couldn’t quite place, and he found himself wondering if Jon had any interest in men. If so, it would make sense for him to be interested in Tim. Everyone was interested in Tim.

“Yes, well. I’d best be going,” he added hastily, nodding at Tim and then Martin. “Work to do. Good afternoon.”

Off he went again, ducking through the door and heading back towards his office. Tim turned to Martin once Jon was out of earshot.

“See?” he said, sipping his tea. “Deep down, the man’s a teddy bear.”

“Hmnn.” Martin fiddled with the handle on his mug. “Well. You and Sasha have known him for longer.”

“We were a duo of infamous murderers in a past life,” Tim said, “and now we’re being punished for it.”

“I suppose if you guys think this is normal for him - -”

He was interrupted by the loud thunk as Sasha appeared beside them, setting a box full of files down on the desk next to his. She looked at them both and smiled brightly.

“Oh, are we talking about how weird Jon’s been lately?” she asked. “Because he’s acting super weird, don’t let this guy over here tell you differently.”

“Right? Thank you!” Martin exhaled, relieved.

Tim gave Sasha an annoyed look. “Thanks, Sash.”

“Welcome, Tim!”

“It’s tough for me to say this," Tim leaned back, shaking his head, "but I’m honestly not sure that we can trust him anymore.” 

“Jon?” Sasha asked.

“No, Martin,” he made a show of putting a hand over his mouth, loudly whispering. “I found out he’s got this weird jam thing going on. Highly suspicious.”

“It’s not even that unusual!” Martin gesturing towards Tim. “See, he thinks Jon just feels guilty because I almost got murdered by worms.”

“Well, sure. I could believe that was it if he was just being less of a grouch. But there’s other things.” Sasha leaned in, lowering her voice. “I was talking to Cora today about some of the things in artifact storage? Jon overheard as he was walking by and he got . . . oddly upset. Went off on a whole rant about how there was nothing good down there and it would be better for everyone to keep their distance.”

“Well, I sort of get that.” Martin had been at the institute long enough to notice the high turnover rate in artifact storage. He’d heard stories. “That place is really creepy.”

“Sure. I don’t like going down there anyway.” Sasha shrugged. “But he was so intense about it. Like he’s trying to keep something shut up there . . . not sure what, though. Kind of thinking of taking a look around, just to see if anything came in recently.”

She reached over towards Tim and grabbed the mug out of his hand, taking a sip from it. He glared at her in mock annoyance.

“And you know when I hurt my shoulder just a few days ago?” she continued. “I asked if he’d let me record a statement about what happened, since some of it was a little bit odd --”

“What did happen anyway?” Tim asked, “you keep dodging me on the details.”

“Why stop now?” Sasha grinned, taking another sip of Tim’s tea. “At any rate, he wouldn’t let me just tell him about it. Handed me a form and said that I should write it down and he would read it afterwards. Was insistent about it, too, even though Elias says we should be committing as many statements to audio as possible.” Her eyes lit up. “Oh, and there’s something going on there. Have you noticed the way he looks at Elias now?”

Martin blinked. “Not really.”

“Hate.” Sasha said. “Not his usual - ‘ah, how dare you have the temerity to exist in my immediate area while I’m working’ thing. I mean real, proper hatred.”

She paused dramatically to let that sink in. Martin frowned. He wasn’t entirely sure what it meant if she was right, but he didn’t like the thought of it. Elias was an okay boss, as far as he could tell - not that he had much experience. But there’d always been this edge to him, something in his eyes that made Martin never want to be on his bad side.

“At first I thought it was an ego thing, you know?” Sasha continued. “That Jon had some new ideas about how things should be done around here, that Elias pushed back on them, and now they were having a pissing contest.”

“Thank you for that horrible image.” Tim said.

“But aside from the recording, he’s not doing anything differently. There’s just this tension between them all of a sudden. Feels like something happened.” Sasha continued, taking another sip of tea. “Not that I have a clue what it is. Yet.”

“Okay Poirot.” Tim reached to grab the now mostly-empty mug back from her. “As long as you’re solving mysteries around here, how about you catch the villain that keeps stealing snacks from my desk? Sometimes in front of me, while I watch her do it?”

“Oooh. Dunno, Tim.” Sasha smiled. “Got to deal with one thing at a time, don’t I? Don’t want to overwork myself on an empty stomach.”

“Speaking of . . . I should probably get back to work.” Martin said, glancing at the pad of notes he’d been ignoring since Tim sat down and started chatting with him. “Got a lot to get through.”

Work had been piling up since he moved into the archive. He wasn’t getting the best sleep, and during the day he was distracted too often. Occasionally he’d spot what looked like one of Jane’s worms and have to drop everything to lift up boxes and move furniture, make certain there was nothing there. Not the best circumstances for productivity. Jon hadn’t commented on it yet, but he was sure to notice if he hadn’t already, and Martin didn’t want to spoil whatever tentative good will he’d gained too quickly.

“I can take some of it off your hands.” Tim said. “I’ve got nothing to do anyway.”

“Oh, uh --” Martin hesitated, looking at the small stack of folders beside him. “Are you sure? I mean, if you don’t mind. . . .”

“Sure. Archival assistants gotta stick together, right?” Tim smiled and gave Martin’s shoulder a gentle shove. Martin smiled back, something soft and grateful rising in him at the gesture.

“Well . . . take your pick, then- -” he held up the two folders containing statements he hadn’t started on yet. “We’ve got, let’s see . . . a guy who thinks his car is haunted because it’s been making funny noises and, uh . . . someone who claims her parrot is the reincarnation of her late husband.”

“Thrilling stuff.” Sasha muttered.

“I’ll take the parrot one.” Tim said, holding out a hand for the file. “I’m good with birds.”

Sasha shook her head and sighed. “Is it just me, or have all the cases we’ve been working on been really, really dull lately?”

“Hey, I’m developing a real appreciation for dull.” Martin held up a hand. “The last interesting case I looked into got me locked in my apartment for a week. I’m pretty happy to have something where the follow-up’s probably going to involve recommending a mechanic.”

“Hmm.” Sasha sighed, glancing with disinterest at the files she’d brought in. “Well, I’ll leave you to it. Got some follow-up of my own to do.”

Martin saw Sasha grab her coat off a chair and walk back out the door, leaving the files untouched. He turned his attention back to his own work.

[sombreboy]

Love Maze »13

Previous  » Next Series Masterlist ▎ 18+ ▎ pairing: Taehyung x Jungkook ▎ genre: School AU, crack humor, smut, angst, ETL, slow burn, fluff. ▎ word count: 3.8k ▎ ch.warnings: cursing, just two boys that are dumb for and to each other, fluffy fluff, jealousy, light angst, DUMB ARGUMENTS CMON BOYS GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER.

Co-writer: @velvetwicebang​​ ♡♡♡

“Kook.. it’s too early.” Tae grumpily groaned, the ringing sound of the alarm hitting his still muffled ears.

After a few minutes of blankly staring off into the wall across from him, he pushed the covers to the side, joining his boyfriend in a morning shower.

God, he couldn’t wait till after school. That was the only thought running through his head, the warm shower helping awake every fibre from within him.

''Good morning!'' Kook chirped, as usual his way too energetic and happy morning mood was a huge contrast to Taehyung's sluggish, sleepy demeanor.

The younger didn't hesitate to grab his boyfriend to pull him closer, giving him more space underneath the stream of hot water, 

''I thought you'd sleep in a little longer, but I'm glad you decided to join~'' He smiled, reaching for the soap as he handed it to Tae.

Call Jungkook picky, but he did enjoy it when the elder smelled like his soap.. It was a mild scent, the younger's favourite as it did not cover one's natural scent, merely enhanced it with an unperfumed, soapy smell. His nose was rather sensitive.

Taehyung slowly slathered his body with the bar of soap, the fatigue making him slothful.

Tae’s eyelids threatened to fall shut nearly every other second, but he simply guided his puffy face under the shower, allowing the stream of water to wash away any remaining trace of drowsiness. Surprisingly, a nice, warm shower in the mornings sure did the trick. 

He might have to join his boyfriend more often.

“Kook, come ooon!” Taehyung called out from his spot on the floor, double-knotting the laces of his shoes while he waited for Jungkook to meet him by the door, getting up on his feet to carelessly throw his backpack over his shoulder.

He couldn't wait/ to get practice done and over with, it’ll give Tae an excuse to ignore his lectures and daydream about his upcoming date with Jungkook.

~~~

They managed to arrive to practice on schedule, giving them plenty of time to get dressed and chatter amongst themselves.

“Jungkookie, someone had fun last night, hmm~?” 

Jimin teasingly wiggled his brows, pointing at the hickeys on the younger’s neck.

“Damn, Tae.. you did that?! Are you a vacuum?”

Taehyung hastily shushed Jin’s loud mouth, pressing his index finger against his hyung’s lips.

“Don’t be so loud! But.. yeah. I did that.” He rolled his eyes, finally withdrawing his finger.

With one look at his boyfriend’s direction, a proud smirk crept up on his lips. 

It felt good— that their friends knew who Jungkook belonged to.

“Woah, Joon.. are you even Joon?”

The Captain waltzed in looking like a hot mess; his usually slick hair was far from neat, and the clear lack of sleep showed in the form of his prominent eye bags.

Namjoon glared at Hoseok, plopping down onto the nearby bench with a hoarse groan, not uttering a word.

“Hyung, were you that drunk last night?” Taehyung questioned, the sight being completely new to him.

“Drunk? Joon was drunk? Why was he drunk? He never drinks.” Yoongi shot one question after the other, mirroring the look of puzzlement that everyone else seemed to have in common.

“He asked a girl out.” Tae playfully shook Namjoon by the shoulders, a proud ‘bro’ smile adorning his face.

“And that’s why he’s drunk? I don’t get it—“

“Don’t ruin the moment, Yoongi! This is a big step for Joon, he’s never even spoken to a girl before.” Jin poked fun while at the same time meaning each and every word, suddenly curious about who this ‘girl’ was.

Jungkook had a flustered smile on his face from the comments about his hickeys. Shit, he had even forgotten they were there, adorning his neck all the way down to his chest... He loved them, though. He loved what they represented. And the fact that Taehyung admitted to it with a rather cheeky grin, it was the icing on the cake. Tae really had grown so much to become more comfortable with himself and his relationship with the younger.

However, his attention, just like the rest of the groups, shifted to Namjoon as soon as he entered, looking like he had a rather eventful night.

Honestly, he looked like shit.

Kim Namjoon, the most put together man there is (despite the fact that he's a total klutz and a dork), looked like he had attended a frat party of his own.

Namjoon combed his fingers through his mess of a hairstyle, somewhat managing to calm down the einstein-inspired hairstyle he was rocking, groaning when jin shook his body, 

''Stooop, don't shake me...'' He was still incredibly sluggish, incredibly tired. Last night was probably the most nerve wrecking nights of his life, and  he only remembers half of it. 

Fuck, what was even her reaction to his confession?

“Dude, what even happened?” Taehyung was the first one who dared to ask the question on everybody’s mind. He eyed Namjoon with clear uncertainty, his playful demeanor wearing off the longer the silence dragged itself. Did Jisoo reject him? Is that why Joon looked so poorly?

“I fucked up,” was all Namjoon offered as an answer, rubbing at his tired eyes to give himself an excuse to not meet his teammates’ very own alert ones.

“Go on.” Hoseok ushered, suddenly more intrigued than before.

Namjoon wearily looked up at Taehyung, occasionally glancing towards Jungkook as if he was scared to get a scolding from the younger. Jisoo and Kook were friends, and that terrified him. With the exhale of a soft sigh, Joon went out with it.

“After I helped Jisoo noona move in her stuff, we celebrated by having a couple of drinks in her apartment—“

“The drunk texting,” Tae noted, urging Namjoon to continue.

“Yeah.. the drunk texting. Anyways.. uh, after I confessed.. since we were both a little tipsy, it kind of just happened?” Joon stated, although it sounded more like a question. He didn’t bother on specifying what ‘it’ was, having confidence in his friends’ ability to pick up on cues.

“First of all— I’m against partaking in any sexual acts before the third date, just to make myself clear. But.. alcohol happened.” The boy gently tugged at his messy hair, dreading having to say what came next, “Long story short, but in the middle of it I told her how I was surprised at how.. how tight she was.” Fuck, Namjoon was a tomato by this point.

“And shit I feel like the biggest dick out there but.. I told her that I was taken aback because usually women who give birth are— you know, loose or whatever? I officially hate myself.”

All were wide eyed, and Taehyung felt like knocking some common sense into his hyung.

That was fucked up.

“Wait.. she has a baby?!” Jimin barged into the conversation, having trouble processing everything he’d just been fed.

Jungkook clenched his jaw, unfortunately letting his body speak for him when he strode up to pull Namjoon in by his collar, eyebrows drawn together.

''What the fuck is wrong with you!?''

Kook's temper wasn't the best as of late, and he really cared about his noona. She had told him about her hardships with past men, and even if Joon was drunk, even if he truly is capable of being such a sweetheart.... He did her so wrong!

It made Jungkook feel guilty on his behalf.

''Whoa, Jungkookie, chill!'' Hoseok ran up to grab the younger, but Kook was always too strong, keeping a steadfast hold onto his captain, his eyes stern.

''Kook, let go!''

''You need to apologise to her!'' Jungkook continued, his nostrils flaring with frustration.

''Ah, Kook..'' Joon held his hands up, not at all in the mood to get into a fight. Even though he probably deserved a punch in the face. Even he knew that. ''I-I was drunk, I..I know it was dumb! I will..''

Jungkook sighed before he roughly let go of Namjoon in the form of a shove, causing the elder to stumble back on his legs, caught by Hoseok and Yoongi.

Kook was so caught up in his own anger that he didn't even notice the both startled and confused looks from his hyungs-- some even understanding. But why did he get that upset?

Noona was just... very important to him. She deserved the best and nothing less.

Taehyung was startled by his boyfriend’s sharp reaction, one hand discretely grasping onto Jungkook’s waist while the younger put Namjoon in his place; Tae didn’t want the situation to escalate, and at this rate, the chance of that happening was up there.

He didn’t have to know Jisoo well enough to realize that what Joon said was fucked up. But apparently, it stirred a bigger explosion from Jungkook.

The elder could see how much of a bond they’d created during those dreadful days spent away from Kook. Kook was hurting— because of him.

If anything, Taehyung owed Jisoo a ‘thank you’ for taking care of him.

He was glad that his boyfriend had someone else to confide in. Tae was aware of himself; the elder knew he was bound to fuck up more times than not.

“Kook, think about our date, alright?” He quietly uttered to his boyfriend during their stretches, noticing how Jungkook’s anger had yet to subside.

Taehyung leaned in closer to his boyfriend’s ear, hoping to be the one who pulls him out of it.

“I bought you something..” He looked into his eyes, smiling in mischief.

“Well, I still have to buy it but.. same thing. I heard you say how much you like them!”

Jungkook's tightly knit eyebrows slowly came loose at Taehyung's words, stretching his back as their eyes met.

''Something for me?'' He pursed his lips, a small smiley pout growing on them. He pondered about what it could be that Tae remembers him saying that he likes so much. He couldn't even remember himself.... He likes a lot of things.

''I'm excited...'' He easily felt better, his mood eased up-- even though his worry for Jisoo was ingrained in the back of his mind. He really had to check on her when he was able to... But today was too important, he was going on a date with his boyfriend-- Their first real date.

Sorry, Jisoo... He promised to himself that he would bring her something homecooked to make up for his own guilt. Hopefully she will be okay.

''I can't wait to see what it could be, Tae~hyung~ie'' He winked before he started to walk towards the court to begin practice, shooting a glare Namjoon's way, causing the elder to swallow tightly in guilt.

At the sound of his nickname coming from Jungkook’s mouth, Tae bit down on his lip to prevent a cheeky grin from appearing, amused as he followed Kook’s figure with focused eyes— gaze shamelessly lingering on his boyfriend’s ass, noting how good it looked in those basketball shorts. God, that boy was going to be the death of him one day..

The school day got done slower than he would’ve liked, most likely because Taehyung was nearly bouncing on his seat at every one of his classes, counting down the seconds until he could see Jungkook again. Thankfully, it didn’t drag on forever, as he was settled in the familiar, stuffy common room; peeking his head over the students’ heads to catch a glimpse of Kook.

As if it was the most common routine by now, Jungkook jogged through the hallways as soon as class ended to make his way towards the common area, eyes as always searching for the familiar face. As soon as he spots Taehyung rocking back and forth on his feet on the exact same spot as always, Jungkook's jog turns into a sprint, his toothy grin growing, causing some heads to turn wondering what the hell he was so happy for.

Honestly, Kook was just really happy that he was able to express that he was, in fact happy to see his boyfriend-- able to run up to him with a smile and looping his arm around Tae's, tugging at him to get the fuck out of school, ''Let's go, go go!''

After wiping the huge smile off his face, Tae began to list out the day’s plans in detail.

“I’m gonna drop you off at your place, then I’ll go to mine and attempt to look even more handsome for you,” he chuckled at that, “pick up your gift.. and then we’ll get going to our first destination.” The elder unlocked the doors of his car, getting situated in his seat.

“does around seven sound good?” Truthfully, Taehyung thought he was a damn good date planner. The Kim Taehyung of yesterday would’ve never seen this coming, but here he was, praising himself for his character development.

Jungkook nodded with every instruction, a smile growing wider and wider-- as if that was even possible.

''Okay!'' He chirped, hopping into the car like a child who's finally gonna go get Mcdonalds-- which in all honesty, he wouldn't mind either.

''Ahh, would it really be possible for you to get more handsome than this? I will need an inhaler.'' Jungkook jokes, but there was truth in his words. Taehyung had gotten more handsome lately, and Kook was sure it was because of his personal development. Tae really had grown so much since the very day they started to explore each other. It was insane, honestly, and it made the younger so proud. He wonders if he also grew just as much-- but he doubted it. Taehyung had changed the most-- yet not.

After Taehyung came to a gradual stop in front of Jungkook’s apartment building, Taehyung bid the boy a sweet farewell.

He tried not to speed as he drove off to his house. However, his foot found itself pressing down a little harder on the accelerator, too eager to see him once again. 

For the first time, Tae was actually looking forward to stepping foot in that place. 

His father was still at work, and it meant that he would be able to get ready without the fear of the unpredictable. Taehyung could breathe.

The elder settled for taking a warm shower, cleansing away all of his worries with a mild-scented soap, even opting for reaching towards the forgotten face wash.

‘Innisfree’.

As he massaged gentle circles onto his sun-kissed skin, Tae chuckled to himself. Here he was, actually washing his face— and for what?

To impress Jungkook, of course.

The elder hummed a quiet melody under his breath, studying his reflection through the mirror which was fogged up from the shower, drying himself with a spare towel before slipping on some clean briefs. He ruffled his black hair, a few damp strands falling down to his brown eyes.

Taehyung walked over to his room, rummaging through his closet in hopes of finding something somewhat decent, perhaps not one of his typical sweatshirts and sweatpants.

He decided on a rolled-cuff black tee, the thin fabric sitting nicely on top of his broad chest, doing more than a nice job of accentuating the toned muscles in his upper arms.

To go with it, Tae aimed for a pair of tight fitting jeans; black, of course. One that hugged around his thighs like a dream. And to top it all of, he clasped a slick, black belt around the hoops of his jeans— after he smacked the palm of his hand with it a couple times, just for the hell of it..

He took one last, hard look into the mirror, seeming content with his appearance as he smoothed his fingers over his tousled hair, finding it fitting for the look he was aiming for. Which was.. black. Just black.

Taehyung reached for his keys, shutting the door behind him and jogging towards his car.

‘Almost there..’ He reminded, his impatience peeking through the cracks.

When he finally had Jungkook’s gift in his hand, that’s when everything began to sink in.

They were going on their first date. The one thing he was preparing for was just minutes away!

Without him even knowing, Tae’s lips morphed into a giddy smile.

“Shit.. okay. You can do it, Taehyung.” The boy talked himself through it outside of Kook’s door, not even knowing why he was so nervous. 

After a soft inhale, his knuckles drummed against the wooden surface, feeling like a thirteen-year-old girl as he waited to see Jungkook’s face.

When he did.. Tae’s mouth jaw went slack.

 A low “Fuck, you look so pretty,” slipped past his lips, eyes taking their time skimming down his boyfriend’s figure.

He’d almost forgotten about his gift--almost.

“Oh, uh, yeah.. I uhm, I got you this.” 

The hand that was previously hidden behind his back extended itself out to Jungkook, holding on to a bouquet of all different kinds of flowers.

“I didn’t know which one you’d like best, so I picked out the prettiest ones in my opinion..”

The further Taehyung spoke, the more embarrassed he became.

“Also, I know your nose is sensitive and all, so.. these shouldn’t smell too strong?”

The elder nervously scratched at his nape, turning into a flustered mess.

Jungkook had anxiously prepared as well, not sure exactly what he was supposed to wear.

But, feeling like he would know Taehyung fairly well, put together yet casual would be enough.

So, he opted for a black long sleeve, just tight enough to show off his muscular torso, matched with a pair of blue ripped jeans, snugly hugging his ass-- that he knows Tae will love staring at throughout the night, adorned with a belt nicely hugging his smaller waist, shirt tucked into his pants to make him look even more delicious.

Maybe it was a bit intentional, he wanted the elder to gasp.

As he heard the knock, he quickly opened the door with a smile--and as he anticipated, Taehyung was in awe, if the whispered praise was anything to go by.

Now, Jungkook was just as in awe, his mouth hanging open at how gorgeous Taehyung was.

He's never dressed up this way before, at least not with the younger around-- normally it was sweatpants, but this? Taehyung looked incredible.... Kook would lie if he said his mouth wasn't watering at the mere sight.

Another gasp allowed itself to leave Jungkook's lips when his boyfriend handed him a beautiful bouquet, colourful and in an odd mix-- but it was so, so sweet...So Taehyung.

''Ah, for real?'' Jungkook felt so emotional it was almost pitiful, reaching out to grasp the flowers into his own hands, pressing them to his nose to smell them. It was a mild scent-- he liked it. Taehyung remembered such a small detail about him, it had the younger giddy and emotional at the same time, a deep blush creeping on his cheeks as he looked up at his boyfriend,

''Thank you...ah, I love this.. Hold on, let me put them in water before we go!'' He took Taehyung's hand as he led them inside before practically jumping towards the kitchen to find a vase to put the flowers in by the kitchen counter. He took a moment to admire them, his first time receiving flowers.

Just as Jungkook imagined, Taehyung was infatuated with the youngers round ass. 

Suddenly, those pairs of blue jeans became his favorite piece of clothing that his boyfriend owned. What he’d do to see Kook flaunt them around more often..

Giving his butt a playful smack, Taehyung closed the distance between them. He snuck up behind Jungkook, craning his neck slightly to look at the side of Kook’s face from over the younger’s shoulder.

“Yah. You’re not gonna cry, are you?” Tae deadpanned, nevertheless delighted that Kook adored the flowers. They varied in colors, and some of them seemed a bit out of place next to one another, but.. each one was beautiful on its own.

“Guess what,” Taehyung perked up, “I washed my face today. For you.”

He didn’t know what the reason was for admitting that, but he did.

The elder felt comfortable enough around his boyfriend to tell him useless things.

“Although my skin feels kinda itchy.”

Jungkook turned on his spot, back leaned against the counter as his hands found the bold courage to settle on Taehyung's hips.

"I might cry, you bring me flowers, AND you washed your face?" Jungkook shakes his head with a smile, his hands squeezing taes sides as he takes a good look at the elders appearance. He looked too good to be true.

"You're gonna go out like this? I'll have to fend off horny girls every second, huh.." 

it was a lighthearted joke, but a part of him did feel jealous of whoever got to see him like this that wasn't him. But, then again, it would be fun to show him off-- now that they don't have to hide their relationship.

Jungkook leaned in closer to smell Taehyung's face, humming in approval before giving his cheek a kiss, "I like it, you smell really nice....shall we go?"

Taehyung clasped his boyfriend’s smaller hand in his, guiding him towards the door, in a hurry to officially commence their date.

“Those horny girls aren’t you, Kook.” He nudged Jungkook’s shoulder with his, hurrying to open up the door to the passenger seat like a true gentleman, extending out his arm in an over-dramatic fashion.

It was safe to say, he cringed at his own actions, but Tae pushed them to the back burner as he started the car, lastly glancing at Jungkook’s direction before driving off towards the destination of their night.

~~~

“Here we are, heaven on earth!” The elder exclaimed once they stopped in front of the brightly lit arcade, his inner gamer oozing to the surface.

If there was one thing his boyfriend and him shared in common, it was their love for video games.

Taehyung deemed this a perfect spot! Also, he really wanted to get back at Kook for that time the latter beat him at a game— when they shared their first kiss.

Jungkook pressed his nose against the window, big doe eyes sparkling as they reflect the neon sign outside of the bright arcade, instantly recognizing the place.

A part of him felt the odd memory of being brought here by Ash trying to creep up on him, but he quickly stomped it to the back of his head--- one place simply can't be ruined because of one person.

He was here with Taehyung, and Kook loves this place.

And adores Taehyung.

Jungkook smiles so wide he swears his cheeks were hurting before throwing himself over at his boyfriend in a hug, and they haven't even gotten out of the car yet,

''I'm so excited!!!'' He withdraws, basically vibrating in his seat, ''I will beat you in every single game in there, and--- you will owe me a kiss.'' he pouts with a smile, a reference to their first video game battle, resulting in, as previously mentioned, their first kiss.

Taehyung shoves the car keys into his pockets, walking alongside his overexcited boyfriend before pushing on the door to the arcade.

They were greeted by busy chatter, booming noises coming from the different kinds of games, a kid bawling because he didn’t have enough tickets to buy a set of silly cards— Tae forgot how busy this place was.

Yet somehow, he felt as if they were the only ones.

The elder turned to look at Jungkook, smirking at his initial confusion.

“You will beat me in every single game, my ass.” Taehyung quoted, having overflowing confidence in his skills.

“Come on, let’s go get some tokens.”

Taehyung found himself subconsciously leaning into his boyfriend’s face, wanting to press a gentle kiss to the boy’s lips when a group of guys walked past them, causing Taehyung to pull back in a state of panic. He didn’t think he made it too obvious, but there were too many unfamiliar faces surrounding them.

For now, he’d stick to: ‘a light brush of their shoulders’.

Tae inserted someone else’s cash into the machine— his father’s.

He’d previously found it laying somewhere around the house, thinking the man wouldn’t notice since he didn’t seem to be sober most of the time.

It wasn’t that much anyways.. just enough to ensure Taehyung a good time.

He was going to replace it one day.. but for now, he was focused on spending a fun night with his boyfriend.

What Tae might've missed, was that Jungkook did notice the way Tae had leaned in for a kiss, but just as quickly had pulled back, and it was a lie if the younger said it wasn't a little... annoying?

But he shrugged it off, it was nothing. He didn't want to cause any unnecessary drama over nothing, tonight was all about having fun together.

As they finally made it to the first game that Jungkook had chosen, a zombie game with plastic toy guns, he handed one over to Taehyung with a shit eating grin,

''Whoever kills the most zombies gets to choose the next game.''

He knew his skills were unmatched on this game, the top high score blaring on the screen had been 'JK' for the longest time, ready to beat it this time around.

“Oh yeah?” Taehyung challenged with a quirk of his brow, aware he had some competition but it was nothing he couldn’t handle.

Soon that ‘JK’ would turn into a ‘KTH’, mark his words.

“Get ready to shoot some baskets, then.”

The elder winked, already knowing what game they were going to play next.

Tae got a feel of the plastic toy gun in his hands, inserting a token into the machine and stepping back in a put stance.

After the countdown had finished— brain-lusting zombies rushing towards them through the screen, Taehyung cheekily pinched at his boyfriend’s side.

His infectious laughter chimed in amusement, and Tae immediately took advantage of the short but valuable seconds that Jungkook spent scolding him.

“Fuck yeah! I’m ahead of you so far!” The elder victoriously announced, unaware of the glaring mother covering her kid’s ears from behind, silently cursing out ‘teenagers and their foul language.’

Maybe he could get a little way too intrigued in these games..

“Shit— there’s a lot of them.”

"Hey! Not.. fair!" Jungkook grinned, not actually upset as he tried is damned best to catch up-- his smile growing even further at the profanities leaving his boyfriend's mouth. It was definitely a good sign that he was finally loosening up, having fun without restricting himself. So, he'd rather take a happy taehyung with an angry mother lingering in the back than a quiet Taehyung any day.

As the game finally came to an end, Jungkook had claimed his victory as the ultimate zombie slayer, forever unbeatable-- even by Taehyung.

Well, at least in this game.

"Not even a headstart helped you," kook teased as he pointed the toy gun towards tae, poking him in the stomach, "but I'll let you pick the next game anyway, because--" he didn't finish his sentence, but merely gestured a small finger heart his way, a pouty smile to top it off.

“Whatever..” Much like a sore loser, the runner-up huffed in defeat.

Taehyung sat the toy gun back in its place, planning on sulking some more when his eyes landed on his boyfriend’s finger heart.

Naturally, his frown ceased to exist for a second longer.

“Don’t try to bribe me with your aegyo.. because you’re damn succeeding.”

Tae carefully studied their surroundings, gently pushing Jungkook’s gun away from his stomach before inclining towards the younger.

Taehyung wanted to kiss him, but there was something holding him back. He mirrored a bobble head, leaning in but backing out just as quick.

Taehyung really wanted to kiss him.

Suddenly, his set gaze fell on a photo-booth facing Kook’s back. And with a bold smile, his set gaze focused back on his boyfriend.

“Let’s take a couple pictures.”

He discreetly grabbed Jungkook by the hand, pulling the curtain of the booth aside and stepping in, making room for Kook in the tight space.

Almost instantly, the elder cupped the other boy’s face, making his lips jut out like a fish before breaking the small distance between them.

He was gentle, steadying his pace as he kissed his boyfriend, their noses brushing against one another.

Jungkook joyfully followed along, letting himself be guided into the small space of the photobooth. It was narrow, but-- not that he'd mind being pressed up against his boyfriend.

''What are yo--pff'' His cheeks were squished together by Taehyung, eyebrows drawn together in an attempt to look angry, but with his lips pouting like a fish, it looked nothing but adorable.

Kook relaxed in the elders hold when their lips met, his own hands reaching up to hold Tae's wrists, just letting them sit there until they withdrew from their kiss. He gently pulled Taehyung's hands away from his squished to free himself from the fate of looking like a total dork, before leaning in once more to kiss his boyfriend on the nose,

''You sure you wanted to take photos?'' he was ever the teaser, but if he didn't-- would he even be Jeon Jungkook?

''Let's take some, we can keep a few each...'' Jungkook smiled, scrambling in his pockets for leftover change. So far, Taehyung had paid for everything-- even if it was just for games, and this for some cheap photos, he just wasn't the type to let himself be too spoiled.

And he already was incredibly spoiled by Taehyung today.

 Tae nodded his head, swinging an arm around Jungkook’s shoulders to pull him closer.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” He rolled his eyes, aware of his boyfriend’s teasing intentions. Outside or inside of the bedroom, the elder was used to it.

Once Kook inserted some loose change into the machine, Taehyung squinted his eyes, staring at the abundant amount of options for filters.

It was a bit overwhelming, but he settled for one with hearts.

Saying, “this is so cheesy, let’s do it,” to play it off as a joke, but even Tae knew he sucked at being sneaky.

Jungkook's toothy grin grew, Taehyung's attempt at sneakily picking a cheesy filter was too adorable. But he said nothing, because he too kind of wanted something cheesy-- he is weak for cuteness.

As the counter went down, they ended up with a variety of photos; from silly faces, to one where Kook pulls at Taehyung's cheeks to make him smile wider, earning a small eye roll from the elder. Even a somewhat normal one where they simply held each other close, both smiling at the camera.

But, Jungkook's favourite one would be the last one, where he nuzzled himself close to his boyfriend, cheeks pressed together. Kook's scrunchy smile was genuine, and he felt warm all over, this was definitely going to be one of his most unforgettable moments with the man.

And, luckily, it was all caught on picture.

Jungkook jumped as the photos printed out, tugging it out of the machine to inspect them.

‘'Cute! Look at youuu!''

Taehyung got a hold of the second copy, looking over it closely with a soft blush.

Ah, he felt mushy.

He was pictured smiling in all of them, but on the last shot was where he looked the most carefree.

The boy’s boxy grin was wide, peeking at his boyfriend from the corner of his eyes as their cheeks were practically squished together.

Tae was going to treasure this candid feeling, along with the other shots.

“You look cuter.” The elder sheepishly praised, folding the strip in half and putting it in the clear compartment of his wallet, making sure that last picture was the center of attention.

“Come on, let’s play some more games!”

As the night continued, Kook beat his ass at almost every game.

Taehyung wished he could have acted surprised but.. he admitted it. Jungkook was the better gamer. Of course, he didn’t say that out loud, but internally counts.

“Kook, let’s go eat. Then we can come back. I promise you’ll have more competition when I get some food in my system.”

Tae was starving, and the food they served at the arcade didn’t seem appetizing at all.

There was only one place with better food, and that was McDonald’s.

Jungkook beamed with pride at the fact that he was superior in most of the games, relishing in the fact that Taehyung didn't complain /too/ much about it. Maybe he was becoming a tad bit less of a sore loser, or he was just accepting the fact that Kook was the better gamer.

At the mention of food, Jungkook felt his stomach grumble in agreement, and he replied with a sharp nod, ''Please, I'm starving!''

He hadn't even thought of food until Taehyung brought it up, and together they headed towards the elders familiar car, Kook plopping down in the passenger seat that basically had his assprint permanently engrained on the seat by now, ''What should we eat?''

“You’ll see~” Taehyung turned to look at him with a knowing smirk, aware of where the closest and most meaningful McDonald’s was at.

Truth be told it wasn’t anything fancy, but.. that was them. They didn’t need to spend a lot of money to go to extravagant places.

Taehyung felt as if he’d be able to have a bash nonetheless, plus he’s been craving one of their strawberry milkshakes for a hot minute.

“Here we are..” The elder said once they’d pulled up to the place, parking in the same spot as before.

He glanced over at Jungkook, hoping he was just as thrilled as he was. Taehyung wasn’t excited about the food, per se. He was more so excited about reliving their memories..

Which now that he thought about it— it sounded stupid.

“This was where you asked me to be your boyfriend, so..” Tae shyly reminded, scratching at his nape.

“If you don’t like it, we can go somewhere else? I know there’s a more ‘first date’ appropriate place down the road.” 

Jungkook sat silent for a long moment when he realized where they were, and the meaning of this place. Truthfully, he hadn't been here since that night-- and sitting in this exact same spot, with the same boy-- but how different things were back then. Fuck, it wasnt even that long ago, but it felt like it!

He promised himself not to be a crybaby today, but after hearing Taehyung say 'this was where you asked me to be your boyfriend'', Kook just couldn't control the wave of emotions that hurled over him, his eyes glazed over with a layer of tears. He smiled, though, tightly biting down on his lower lip to prevent it from trembling.

Flowers, Taehyung washed his face and got pretty for him, games, and now this-- even as it was such a small thing, Taehyung remembered all those small things. It made the younger feel so lucky.

''I don't like it....''' Jungkook whispered, not daring to speak too loud in case his voice would break and embarrass him, ''I love it.''

'I love you' Jungkook whispered in his mind, hoping the words could telepathically transfer to Taehyung.

Tae knew he offered his boyfriend someplace else to go, but hearing Kook admit he didn’t like it stung more than he would’ve thought.

“Oh.. well—“ His eyes widened when Jungkook added on to his words, letting out a breath of relief he didn’t know he’d been keeping in.

“Yah.. don’t do that.” The elder whined, playfully hitting him on his shoulder.

“You’re so emotional, baby.” He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, leaning in to press a soft kiss on each one of Jungkook’s eyelids, face cradled in his warm hands.

With a small smile, Taehyung rested his forehead against the younger’s.

“I’m glad you love it,” he whispered ever so gently, thumbs caressing along the cheekbones of his boyfriend’s face.

They stayed in that position for a few seconds, Tae wanting to make sure Jungkook didn’t cry.

Ruining the sweet moment, the elder’s stomach growled.

“I’ll cuddle you as much as you want later, but.. now I’m kinda hungry.”

He giggled, withdrawing his hold on Kook’s face.

“C’mon, let’s eat! I want a burger.”

''I could eat two, seriously...'' Jungkook added, his entire soul vibrating with the affection he felt for his boyfriend. Who kisses the tears away before they even come? Taehyung did.

''Can I have... one of those chocolate milkshakes...'' Jungkook asked coyly, his doe eyes finally coming to good use to maybe get something he really, really wanted. Just this once.

“You can have whatever you want, Kook.” The elder assured, not needing to look into Jungkook’s puppy eyes to give his boyfriend what he wanted. Just the sound of his voice was enough, but of course.. his doe eyes only added to his charm. “I’m treating you tonight.”

Once they ordered what their stomachs were craving for, Taehyung waited for their food whilst staring out of the window.

The sky was unbelievably gorgeous tonight, and Tae found it fitting if they gazed at the cluster of stars.

It was as if the whole universe was on their side, making sure this night compared to the first.

“Thanks.” Tae stuffed the wallet in his back pocket, thanking the worker behind the counter and grabbing both of the bags that contained their food, balancing the two milkshakes in his other hand.

With a low groan, Taehyung freely situated himself in his usual seat, closing the door before handing Jungkook his drink, already sipping on his own.

“Fuck, they make the /best/ strawberry milkshakes.” He hummed in content, digging in his bag for his cheeseburger.

“How’s your high-class dinner?”

Taehyung joked, chuckling through a mouthful.

Jungkook was already a mouthful into his burger as well, an enthusiastic nod serving as a reply as he smiled, cheeks puffed up with his dinner. He swallowed it down with his chocolate milkshake-- odd taste combination to most, but kook was also quite the oddball.

"Nothing beats a greasy burger and a milkshake, honestly-- it's the best." He groaned before taking another bite, his Burger long gone within the next minute, sucking his fingertips clean from the sauce.

The younger glances over at Taehyung's milkshake, leaning in with his mouth open,"Can I taste it?"

“Hm.” Tae guides the straw to Jungkook’s lips, popping a handful of salty fries into his mouth.

“Good, right.” The elder asked, but it sounded more like a statement.

He absolutely loved anything with strawberries— always had.

Taehyung went in for another drink of his milkshake, eyes nearly rolling to the back of his head from how tasty it was.

Maybe he was biased, but this was the best shake in the world.

With a hearty sigh, Tae comfortably leaned back in his seat, staring out of the window to a sea of bright stars.

“I’m having fun.. with you.” The boy turned his head towards his boyfriend, reaching over to squeeze the younger’s thigh.

“Are you having fun..? With me?”

Jungkook hummed in agreement, the strawberry milkshake was indeed amazing. However, he knew that was Taehyung's favourite, and Kook always preferred chocolate. But, the more he learned about his boyfriend, the better. it was cute, and now there was no chance of them ever fighting over who gets what milkshake. Just the thought made the younger smile a bit.

The sigh pushing through Taehyung's lips drew the younger's attention towards him, eyes fluttering at the sensation of Tae's large fingers pressing against his thigh. Kook leaned back further in his seat as well, head resting against the seat as his doe eyes admired the view that was his boyfriend,

''I'm having a lot of fun..'' A soft sigh of contentment left him, ''I love being with you.''

That was one way to get the word out, one way or the other. He swore he was going to explode if he didn't say it more often... And he wondered if Taehyung would ever say it back.

Taehyung couldn’t not smile at that.

“You’re not that terrible to be around with, either..” He said through a beaming grin, leaning over from his seat to place a chaste kiss on the other’s lips.

Tae popped in another fry into his mouth, offering the last few to his boyfriend before subconsciously wiping his greasy fingertips on the fabric of his jeans.

God, he so wasn’t used to this. At least it was black.

“You ready to go back? I’m ready to redeem myself.” He winked, challenging Jungkook to another game-duel.

Secretly, Taehyung didn’t really mind if he won or not— even he found that surprising.

What mattered was that they received tickets nonetheless, and the elder was saving them up to get Kook whatever he wanted from the gift shop.

It was childish, but he wanted Jungkook to remember this night.

Jungkook internally sighed a bit at the 'not terrible to be around', but he didn't say anything about it. It was Tae, he did his best-- and this entire night spoke louder than any words.. even if he really, really wished for them.

Shrugging his negative thoughts off, he pats his stomach with a growing smile, this one mischievous, "You bet I am." He turns to his boyfriend, reaching out to swipe his thumb across Taehyung's lower lip that had a little stain from the milkshake, "I'm excited to see you try."

He spoke about the games, but he was sure that his words had an underlying meaning to them.

“Oh, I’ll try.” Taehyung took one last sip of his milkshake, staining his lips yet again and setting it down in the cup holder.

“And I’ll succeed.”

He reached for his seatbelt, buckling himself in before leaving the McDonald’s parking lot, on his way to make new memories.

“Do you see something you like?” The elder asked Kook after they’d played for a longer while, a bit down that he remained the runner-up; but happy nonetheless.

He leaned over the glass counter, holding tightly onto the receipt with the number of tickets, unaware of the teenage girl’s lustful eyes.

The number was in the thousands, and Taehyung felt confident he would be able to get his boyfriend whatever he wanted.

Jungkooks eyes roamed the prizes hanging around, his expression that of a child asked to choose between their favorite toys. Eventually, his attention kept falling back on a large polar bear plushie,

"I want that one." Kook gestured with his chin towards the plushies direction, a slight blush on his cheeks. He really wanted it.

Taehyung’s eyes followed his boyfriend’s set gaze, a faint smile on his face when he saw the large, fluffy plushie. It was nearly as big as Jungkook, but Tae thought the bigger; the better.

“Then I’ll get it for you.”

The elder said without a doubt, waving at the girl behind the counter, trying to get her attention.

“Y-yes?” She walked up to him with a stutter, a hue of pink flushing along her cheeks.

The unfamiliar woman tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, flirtatiously batting her long eyelashes at Taehyung.

Meanwhile, he paid no mind to her obvious attempts at flirting, feeling uncomfortable with his /boyfriend/ right next to him.

Tae cleared his throat, pointing at the polar bear plushie that was hung up on the wall, “how much is that?”

As if she had the amount engraved in her brain, the girl answered Taehyung without any hesitation.

“2,000 tickets~”

Taehyung glanced down at the amount on paper.

‘1,876’.

Fuck.

“Shit, okay give me a sec.” The elder pulled out his wallet, rummaging around for some extra cash but was disappointed to find out all got spent.

He didn’t have any additional tokens, either.

With his brows furrowed, he tried to think of a way they could leave the arcade with that stuffed animal, and with a smile on Jungkook’s face.

Perhaps that was the most important..

He wasn’t planning on giving up.

“Hey..” Taehyung leaned further on the counter, biting down on his lips. He chuckled, not believing that this what was he settled for.

Kook would understand, this meant nothing. It was just.. simple flirting!

“You’re very pretty, you know that?” His voice was exceptionally deep, and the sound itself was enough to increase the intensity of her blush, the tip of her ears a shade of red.

“Thank you..” The woman giggled, twirling a strand of her hair in between her fingers.

“What does a beautiful girl like you want from me? We’re only a few tickets short, but I really want that plushie.”

She smiled at his sweet words, seeming to think about it for a while.

After the girl made up her mind, she stared intensely into Tae’s eyes, a hint of mischievousness swirling within them.

“Uhm.. you can give me your number?” Her fingers brushed along the elder’s, who did nothing to stop her.

Jungkook was about to open his mouth to tell his boyfriend that it was okay, it was fine, they didn't need the plushie. They could easily save it for next time. But, as his lips fell apart, they just as quickly slammed shut when Taehyung leaned forward to flirt with the girl. The obvious tone in his boyfriend's voice, the deep, irresistible rumble that Jungkook loves to hear... If it was directed towards him. Now, it was complimenting a stranger, who was extremely responsive to the flirting.

What the fuck are you doing, Tae?

That's what Kook wanted to say, but he froze, he couldn't believe what he was witnessing literally in front of him. He stared at them, folding his arms over his chest as a defense mechanism, to feel somewhat grounded as he watched this shit continue, eyes piercing at the way the girl was touching his hand.

Pull away.

He didn't.

Jungkook felt his bad temper flare up, his jaw flexing and unflexing furiously underneath his skin.

The younger had told himself all day to enjoy the moment, to never try to find a reason to be upset with his boyfriend for small things. But this didn't count as small to Kook. No fucking teddybear was worth this.

Taehyung— who was oblivious to Jungkook’s sudden drop in mood— continued to shamelessly flirt with the unfamiliar woman, smirking at her harmless proposition.

“You want my number?” He licked over his lips, a sign that he’d given in.

It wasn’t like he was going to answer.. it was all part of an act.

“Yeah, I really want your number~” She giggled, teasingly mocking Tae’s silly longing for the stuffed animal.

The woman made sure she leaned in close enough, her cleavage peeking from under Taehyung’s traveling eyes.

Still holding eye-contact with the latter, she unclipped the pen that was provocatively hanging on the low collar of her shirt, bottom lip clasped in between her teeth as she slid the pen across the shiny counter.

“Write it down on my palm?”

Tae was a bit taken aback by her request, but he complied nonetheless.

Once again, it was an act.

With a cheeky smile, his slender fingers wrapped around her wrist, pulling her arm closer to him.

“You’re a very daring girl.” He raised a brow, scribbling down a series of numbers on her soft skin.

Taehyung added a, ‘don’t be shy to call me ;)’ as a cherry on top.

She was visibly affected by his message, and after some time, the wanted plushie was in the elder’s hands.

Fucking finally.

“Expect my call..” The girl said, giving him a wink before turning around to help the next customers.

“Yeah.. not gonna happen.” Tae mumbled under his breath, but still winked back at her.

He nudged at his boyfriend’s shoulder, extending the stuffed animal out to him.

“Here you go,” the boy wore the brightest smile, happy that the night ended like he planned.

“Shit.. that is huge.”

Jungkook's piercing glare fell on the teddy bear for a mere second, the sight of it became nothing more than an association of how Taehyung had gotten it. He hated it now.

''I don't want it anymore.'' He hissed out his words, arms still tightly crossed over his chest as he headed towards the exit, not sparing the elder a glance.

As he went outside, heavy steps towards the car before he halted by the door of it, eyes staring at the vehicle. He really wished that his temper wasn't this bad, but it was. He was boiling at this point, his heartbeat so rough in his chest that it almost hurt as he was constantly replaying the scene that went on inside.

He didn't care if it was an act, or if it was truthful, he himself would never do such a thing-- because it's straight up rude, and incredibly hurtful.

Why did he ever think Taehyung would stop doing this?

First Mila, now this stranger. Jungkook's mind swirled, his breath speeding up with every thought, his anxiety mixing into the fury.

He just wanted to go home.

The beaming smile on Taehyung’s face quickly morphed into a deep-rooted frown, lowering his arms in defeat.

The stuffed animal hung sadly at his side, first-handedly experiencing the boy’s deadly grasp as he charged after Jungkook.

“Kook!” He called out, sighing out loud when it was clear that it was no use. His boyfriend was pissed.

“Jungkook, come on..” Taehyung walked around to the passenger side, reaching for the boy’s smaller hand.

“I didn’t mean any of it— uhm..”

He silently cursed himself out for his lazy excuse, remembering the words Jungkook spat at him the last time they fought.

“It was just harmless flirting. I just wanted to get you the stuffed animal you wanted,” Tae reasoned, the night’s gloom making it difficult for him to make out the expression on the younger’s face.

Taehyung anxiously ruffled at his hair, momentarily setting the big plushie on the ground.

“Look at me..” His bigger hands clasped around Kook’s waist, not thinking it was a big deal.

Jungkook's body felt like it weighed a ton at this point, his muscles tensed up and refusing to melt into Taehyung's grasp, arms still tightly holding himself.

''You didn't mean it...'' Kook repeated with a low mumble, rolling the tongue on the inside of his cheek once, twice, three times before he finally looked up at his boyfriend, the younger glare nothing but pissed.

''Do you know how fucking dumb I felt watching that? She was practically eyefucking you, touching you, and you did nothing but indulge in it. For a fucking teddy bear.'' Kook's eyebrows were drawn together, his teeth gritting together at the fresh memory, ''How is it so easy for you to.... do that to a stranger, around all these people, but you can't even...'' he interrupted himself with a sigh, again letting his eyes move away to stare at the street, the temptation of just walking home growing. He was growing sick of feeling like he had to constantly explain to Taehyung that he feels like their relationship isn't taken seriously.

“Yeah, a fucking teddy bear that you wanted, Jungkook!”

Taehyung felt himself begin to grow impatient, hands no longer attached to the other’s waist, now holding onto nothing with whitened knuckles.

He had to remind himself to take it easy..

It was his fault for trying to do something nice. At least that’s how it seemed.

“I’m fucking sorry, okay? I know that shit means nothing to you, but I am.”

Jungkook was so.. emotional, for the lack of a better word.

Why couldn’t the younger look at the good side of things?

“Sorry for flirting with her. It wasn’t like I was gonna act up on it, I thought you’d know that.”

Taehyung’s nostrils flared, the cool breeze brushing the fringe away from his eyes.

“Fuck me for trying to be nice, right?” He scoffed, his temper just as thin as Jungkook’s.

The elder grabbed the stuffed animal from the ground, opening the door to the backseats before carelessly throwing it in.

“I just..” A sigh, “let’s go.”

Just like Jungkook's mood, the sky darkened even further, clouds covering the stars-- and slowly, rain started to trickle down.

His eyes follow Taehyung, letting his hands instead fall to bury them in his pockets.

''How fucking dumb--You don't get it, do you!?'' Kook tried so hard to calm down, but he knew he was already fighting a losing battle with his own emotions at this point, ''What if I started eyefucking some girl right under your nose, huh? Because I wanted something from her? Would you feel good about that?'' Jungkook scoffed, looking up at the sky, taking note that the stars were gone. And instead, replaced by the rain that started to pour down, covering the tears that were threatening to build up in Kook's eyes,

He'd let so many things slide past him regarding Taehyung, all because of his love for him.

Love.

Jungkook screwed his eyes shut, still refusing to get into the car, ''Taehyung, do you even love me?'' He kept his eyes shut, not daring to see Tae's reaction, He meekly whispered out his next words, barely audible for anybody but himself, ''Just tell me you love me, and I'll go with you.''

It shouldn't be that hard, right? Taehyung loves him, right?

“What? I wasn’t eyefucking—“ Taehyung flinched upon feeling a droplet of fresh rain fall on his skin, looking up at the sky whilst one hand shielded his eyes.

Where had all the stars gone..?

A soft scoff slipped past his lips. Maybe the universe was really on their side.

“Whatever,” Taehyung spat, wanting to part ways with Jungkook sooner than later.

Shit, the younger really knew how to push his buttons at times..

He walked around the car, roughly yanking on the door to the driver’s seat.

“Let’s go, it’s raining.” The boy deadpanned, about to shield himself from the never-ending droplets when Jungkook’s abrupt question caused him to freeze in his spot.

With the rain pouring down on them harder than ever, Taehyung didn’t move a muscle, continuing to stare at Kook as if he’d seen a ghost.

“What?” He questioned back, at a loss for any other word.

However, the elder stood his ground.

His jaw tightened, chest heaving with every breath he inhaled.

“I’m not ready to tell you that,”

Jungkook's eyes fluttered open, flinching at the heavy rain that covered up the fact that his tears were finally forcing themselves down his cheeks.

A long sigh followed, muffled by the sound of the rain smattering against the pavement.

Would Taehyung ever be ready?

How long would he need? A month? A year? Never?

Jungkooks chest trembled with his next breath, eyes falling back to Tae. Maybe that was it. He'd never hear it. At least that's what the younger believed.

"You won't ever have to then."

Jungkook was tired. So tired of always wearing his heart on his sleeve for this man, and with everything they've been through-- the elder still didn't love him.

Then what was the point?

"What's the point?" Jungkook voiced out his thoughts, already feeling his feet move on their own to head towards the sidewalk, "I'm over it! I'm over this." He wasn't.

‘You won’t ever have to then.’

Those words struck Taehyung like lightning, hazy mind automatically thinking of the worst.

Was.. was Jungkook on the verge of ending things? No, that couldn’t be.

By now his clothing was damp from the heavy rain, but the itching thoughts completely overruled the elder’s senses.

“A-are you brea—“ Another heavy slap from Kook’s words.

Taehyung didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to say to make this— whatever the hell it was between them work.

They’d been going back and forth recently.. it worried him, as it fed Jungkook even more valid excuses to end their confusing relationship.

Harshly shutting the door, Taehyung followed after his distressed boyfriend.

He grabbed him by the shoulder, swiftly turning Kook around to face him.

“What— are you fucking ending things?! What the hell does, ‘I’m over this’ mean? Jungkook, I thought you would be more patient with me!” The elder yelled over the loud sprinkling, practically shaking with every word he threw out into the night. “We’ve only been going out for— I don’t fucking know, not long at all! Why are you so desperate for me to tell you that I love you? Aren’t my actions enough?!”

Jungkook's eyes widened as he was suddenly turned to face Taehyung again, and the distress and temper between the two of them did nothing to help with their situation.

No, kook didn't want things to end. He just needed to get the fuck home for the night. This was too much.

This entire evening was great until Tae flirted with that girl-- that's what he needed space from. Before his temper got the best of him.

"So you want me to judge this by your actions?!" Kook yells back, the attempt at calming down down the drain as his anger flares right back up at the sound of Tae yelling. He takes a step closer, pushing his finger into the elders chest-- a deja vu from their last fight,

"Your actions are either hot and cold, I cant fucking tell! Do you not want me to love you?! Am I that much of an idiot for wanting that? You tell me..." he hisses, "That I'm not patient with you?" He digs his finger deeper into Taes chest before withdrawing, placing his arms around himself to shield from the cold. The familiar ritual of his tongue prodding his cheek comes back, annoyed by everything right now. "I'm too tired for this."

“I never said I didn’t want you to love me,” Taehyung breathed out, voice monotone— no longer passionate compared to a few seconds ago.

Maybe he’s finally gotten it through his thick skull. He was one hell of a disappointment.

“Would you stop putting fucking words in my mouth?” Tae tiredly mumbled, growing weaker the longer they spent fighting.

Truth be told, Tae didn’t want to have to deal with this for the night.

What happens after he sleeps it off? He doesn’t know.

For now, Taehyung just hoped the damage wasn’t permanent.

“Are you walking? Jungkook, just get in the goddamn car..” He pinched at the bridge of his nose, frustrated but worried. It was dark out, not to mention pouring— there was no way he’d let his boyfriend walk home on his own.

Jungkook frowned, about to protest to say he's simply gonna walk home when he was abruptly interrupted by a bright lightning striking in the air, the following rumble that Jungkook absolutely hates causing him to physically shrink in on himself.

Maybe he would take that ride home anyway.

He didn't say anything, but started to walk back towards the car, his feet squishing in his wet sneakers as he did so.

Fucking thunder... it made him want to curl up in Taehyungs arms.

He opened the door as soon as he was able to, slouching in the seat as he slammed the door shut, finally feeling even a tad bit warmer-- and safer from the thunder.

Taehyung watched Jungkook stomp back to the safety of his car, partly glad— partly defeated. Mostly glad. He would’ve never allowed his boyfriend to walk alone at this time of day, no matter how rocky things were between them. To say he didn’t need to use any force on a stubborn Kook was a blessing.

With one last sigh from his lips, Tae walked around to the driver’s side, situating himself in his usual spot without a sound.

Nothing else came to mind. Hell, if he even so opened his mouth, Jungkook would probably go off on him for it. The younger was so sensitive at times, he reminded Taehyung of the girls he’s been with when they were on their period..

Not sparing him another glance, Tae started the car, mindlessly staring at the way the windshield wipers moved while he indulged himself in complete silence.

He didn’t know what he could do to fix this. Also, what the fuck was he going to do with the big ass stuffed animal in the back of his car? Thinking about his troubles only worsened the situation, so Taehyung opted for inhaling a deep breath, and driving away.

Once he stopped at Jungkook’s apartment building, Tae kept his sharp gaze glued ahead of him.

His jaw locked in place, hands not once budging from the steering wheel.

The elder simply sat there in uncomfortable silence, waiting for his boyfriend to get out of the car.

He needed time to himself— time to think, and Jungkook’s presence was too loud.

The drive was just as uncomfortable for Jungkook, who sat with his entire body turned away from the elder, eyes as fixated on the outside as possible. The rain was really heavy, and he was quietly grateful that he didn't walk home. He definitely would've been sick.

As soon as the car stops by his place, Jungkook's muscle memory wants him to lean in for a kiss-- but he stopped himself less than halfway there, and clicks the door open. He steps out without a word, closing the door with a slam before he walks towards his door with unmotivated steps.

He didn't look back a single time before he headed inside of the apartment complex, clothes soaked and eyes puffy from the tears of frustration no longer hiding beneath a veil of rain.

He needed somebody-- and that somebody was, of course, Jisoo.

Kook took a deep breath, he hoped she wouldn't mind him coming by this late... he mused out his anxieties, but gently tapped his knuckles against the door either way.

~~~

Jisoo gave herself a pat on the shoulder when she sat Yuna down in her crib; the little one’s eyes were fluttered shut, and her small mouth hung agape as she drifted off to dreamland.

The minutes upon minutes of mindlessly pacing around the apartment, rubbing her daughter’s back in an effort to stop her from crying her little lungs out had finally paid off. Jisoo desperately needed some shut-eye of her own.

“I love you, night~” The woman tiredly smiled down at the small baby, gently brushing the girl’s raven hair away from her peaceful face to press one last, soft kiss to her daughter’s forehead.

After quietly closing the door behind her, a loud yawn made itself known.

Jisoo rubbed at her eyes, trying to stay awake as she sluggishly dragged her feet into the dimmed kitchen, running the tap water (eyelids threatening to fall whilst she waited for it to cool) before thirstily tilting the glass up to her dry lips.

She left the cup in the sink, claiming it as tomorrow’s issue when her fingers ran through her shoulder-length hair, about to drowsily plop down on her bed when a series of knocks stopped her from doing so.

With furrowed eyes, Jisoo tiptoed to peek through the peephole.

Jungkook..? What was he doing here?

© sombreboy 2020. Do not edit, repost or translate.

[amaryllisblackthorn]

part 3

so. it’s been a while. i had this pretty much written up months ago but i petered out near the end which is why it took so long to post it. 

so this covers my thoughts&observations on ep37+38 regarding takeru+ken post-kaiser. i’ll be posting another post later summing up my overall thoughts.

part 1 | part 2

[ep37]

ken tends to have a lot of anger in his voice when talking to archnemon, which makes sense. it's personal. and just like yamato said; ken and takeru share similar feelings.

daisuke: we worked so hard :D (looking back and forth between friends) takeru: you're right C: daisuke: right? right?

ken and iori aren’t looking at daisuke until daisuke goes 'right right'. ken looks down and iori looks at daisuke. daisuke notices something's up with ken. 'what’s wrong ichijouji? what? if you have something to say, say it'. further example of how jogress partners tend to notice when something's bothering them.

ken reflects his thoughts that if the darkness isn’t completely destroyed immediately it will continue to absorb its surroundings and produce more 'sad lives' like bwg; hikari's thoughts are that ken is also referring to himself and how he created Kimeramon. this is something that daisuke and miyako are implied to be aware of as well; the way takeru and iori are looking at ken when he talks also suggests they're aware of it as well.

it's kind of fitting, then, that takeru speaks up. after all, he's the one who kind of inadvertently brought this to ken's mind back in ep 34.

takeru first says ‘i don't think so/I think differently’ in response to ken, directly to him, which has ken react in surprise and turn his head to face takeru.

takeru goes on to say that 'sure, darkness is terrible, and we'd feel peace of mind if we were able to get rid of it completely, but I'm sure that's impossible’. ken repeats "impossible?" takeru then looks slightly away, as though he's deep in thought/thinking of how to say what he’s thinking, and says how where there is light, there is darkness, which has hikari respond with 'the brighter the light, the darker the shadow, right?' which has takeru turn his head back to the group (and ken) as he responds 'yes', adding 'that's why it's important not to lose sight of the light inside you'. focus on ken as he repeats 'not losing sight of the light inside of you'.

now what does this mean? what is its importance? bc it's definitely significant. but how?

I think this is the first time since ep28, where takeru told ken to not act cool, that I think takeru has directly talked specifically to ken post-kaiser stuff.

up until now, Takeru's stance regarding Ken was externally vague at best, as he was the only one who hadn't made his position clear to Ken. Ken generally knows where Daisuke, Miyako, and Hikari side, and where Iori sides -- or at least where Iori sided, and he doesn’t really have any reason to think he’s changed his mind. He doesn’t really have any idea where takeru sides, as takeru hasn't made it clear to him.

Takeru's willing to work with him, sure. he's civil enough. but to be fair iori has also been working with ken and being civil for the most part too, esp post ep28. this doesn't necessarily reflect their personal feelings towards him.

what Ken knows is Takeru told him he was way over his head regarding the power of darkness in ep19 and physically assaulted him with a significant anger present, warned him that playing around with the power of darkness would have grave consequences if he didn't stop (and it did), told him they'd settle their 'match' (which was really just takeru beating up ken) next time, and lectured him on digimon being alive like the rest of them, before wormmon died. (and said ‘he’s dead’ after wormmon died).

what ken knows is, after wormmon died, takeru told him, somewhat upset, not to act cool in response to his offer to kill archnemon so the other kids wouldn't have to, and then suggesting a (temporary) nonlethal alternative. even more, ken knows that takeru has repeated the sentiment that using the power of darkness to create 'unhappy life' and destruction is 'unforgivable' with a similar intensity that was present in the ep19 encounter--which is something ken did. ken also knows that takeru declined to attend the meeting at daisuke's house in a suspicious manner, followed by iori.

it's not a stretch to imagine that ken figures that while takeru is willing to work with him and be civil, takeru finds what ken did to be unforgivable and personally does not like ken.

and I don't think that's Takeru's intention. the fact that takeru seemed to express possible/potential concern over ken's guilt motivating him, I don't think Takeru means for Ken to beat himself up when he says those things. and in this scene we have Ken feeling guilty, which is presumably understood by everyone, and disheartened. and takeru kind of reaching out, in a way.

there are several ways that what takeru said could be taken I feel.

for one, it's a hopeful (heh) thing. when ken expresses his thought that as long as there is darkness, the cycle will continue. takeru expresses that darkness winning is not an inevitability as long as you don't lose the light inside you.

it works on a personal level, too. it's okay if ken continues to struggle with the darkness -- it's unfortunate and not fun, but that doesn't make him a bad person -- as long as he holds onto the light inside of him, and there is light inside of him.

there's also something about the way qinglongmon said some stuff. earlier he claimed that "in order to bring the one swallowed by darkness back, it was necessary to temporarily create the digimental of miracles with the crest of kindness engulfed by darkness." he then later reiterates/rephrases Takeru's feelings when expressing what hope means -- "and hope means not to lose the light even when engulfed by darkness."

ken lost sight of the light inside of his heart for a while (his kindness, you could say), but he found it again after wormmon's sacrifice, as a result of a 'miracle' (tech found it in ep23). and it was a miracle that ken was saved before it was too late! the important thing for ken to do now is not to lose sight of it again.

and aside from the physical destruction the power of darkness can be used to create, takeru also knows about falling victim to the darkness from emotional vulnerability, for lack of better explanation. I can't recall exactly what he knew about Yamato's experience or what he picked up when witnessing Sora's, but Takeru more or less knows how people can fall prey to it. Yamato was engulfed by darkness, falling further and further into it; he was lost and ended up doing some misguided things as a result -- seriously fighting Taichi (in front of his little brother!) and when it really wasn't the time, for one. thanks to Gabumon, though, Yamato was able to find his way back. which is why I don't think Takeru would really hold it against Ken once Takeru had felt Ken had changed from before, and furthermore, Takeru knows that you can come back from it.

whatever Takeru's intent is, his meaning is -- naturally -- one of hope, and it's directed towards Ken.

and Takeru's words, particularly about not losing sight of the light inside you, seem to... impact? reach? ken, for lack of a better word, in some way, to an extent. 

upon further thinking, it actually kind of reminds me of ep23 at the village of beginnings. when the baby digimon tell Ken “What is done cannot be undone. What you did was something unforgivable.” and “You can’t erase the past. Everything is part of you: the good and the bad are both part of you.”

while what ken did was unforgivable [kimeramon], he has to accept the good and the bad are both part of him. and ken tends to focus on accepting the bad as part of him, but he also has to accept the good part of him, too, in the sense that he acknowledges that there is good -- that he’s not solely a bad person. and maybe the good that’s a part of him is sort of analogous to the light inside him -- that despite being engulfed in darkness and all he’s done, there is light inside him, and the important thing is to not lose sight of it (again). 

it also kind of reminds me of a line in ‘beat hit’, the jogress song. ‘There is light and shadow in both the heart and in the world. That’s testing you, the never ending battle.’ [Hikari to kage ga aru kokoro ni mo sekai ni mo / Sore wa kimi wo tameshite iru kesshite owaru koto no nai tatakai]

i don’t have too much to say here at this point about this other than encouraging others to throw their two cents in about what they think, bc this is definitely a significant moment. but in what way? 

not really related to takeru+ken but later, when qinglongmon talks about the crests of hope and light, hikari turns to takeru and smiles saying 'our crests!' and tho Takeru's lookin back at her, I think, he's not smiling. which I find interesting. In ep34 it was shown that takeru can go from serious&intense to ^.^ pretty quickly and smoothly. I don't know what if anything it signifies but I found it interesting. idk

later, at the restaurant.

miyako and daisuke are fighting over the Chinese bun daisuke took; takeru holds out a bun to ken and says 'ichijouji-kun. they're delicious. will you eat with us?' and while ken was initially surprised by Takeru's action, he gives a small (cute!) smile which grows a little more as he says "thanks! :D" and accepts Takeru's offering. takeru is smiling at ken in the background as ken opens/splits the the bun and gives half to leafmon. leafmon says 'ken-chan, eating with friends is great, isn't it?' and ken replies 'it is'! and after this exchange takeru is still seen smiling at ken as he watches on.

so not only has ken accepted being nakama, he's accepted being friends, too! good for him! and takeru seems happy about that, too, which is swell.

also an interesting thing I noticed is that throughout this episode after qinglonmon appears, takeru, iori, and ken are often showed/grouped together in the same frame/shot. 

takeru, iori, and ken are shown in frame when takeru goes 'is this what bwg was waiting for?' when qinglongmon appears. takeru, iori, and ken are once again shown in the same frame when ken goes "then, I..." after daisuke goes 'the dark towers seal his powers?' 

then takeru and ken are in same frame, to the side, when archnemon and mummymon walk back in with the two other digimon subdued, archnemon saying 'oh well you found out' re: her/their goal ('building as many dark towers as possible and destroying this world's balance'). this shot is repeated after archnemon says 'but then you got the wrong idea, joined the chosen children, and started to destroy them'. 

then takeru, iori, and ken are shown in the same frame again when takeru says 'so that's why they can only reach perfect level at certain times'. iori turns to look at takeru when he talks. iori says 'that's what koushirou-san explained to us a while back right?' and takeru and ken turn to look at him. iori turns back to qinglongmon 'he was talking about qinglongmon and the others' ken and then takeru turn back to face qinglongmon.

daisuke, hikari, and miyako are together in the same frame when daisuke and miyako say 'that must be us' & 'yeah. daisuke, me, and...'. the next shot is of iori with parts of ken and takeru shown in frame when iori goes 'myself'. 

after bwg screams and goes off into the sky, there's a shot of daisuke+hikari+miyako, and then a shot of takeru+iori+ken. daisuke+hikari+miyako are again shown when daisuke says that 'now you can recover your lost power, right?', to which qinglongmon replies that not right away but he'll plant seeds of light in the meantime where the holy stones once were, and takeru+iori+ken are shown in the shot when ken echoes ‘seeds of light?'

then, daisuke+hikari+miyako and ken with most of his head cut off are in the same shot after ken talks about how unless all darkness is destroyed, it'll absorb its surroundings etc. then there's the focus on hikari thinking that ken was also referring to himself, and then there's a shot of takeru+iori+ken+daisuke, with the focus zooming on ken until takeru speaks up. even in the group shot when qinglongmon says ‘however, it does not mean that all threats have been eliminated', there’s a bit of a gap between Ken and Daisuke, dividing the kids into three and three (Takeru, Iori, Ken & Daisuke, Hikari, Miyako).

it’s interesting, especially considering the relevance these three have had during Takeru&Iori’s (pre)jogress arc.  

[ep38]

ken is standing apart from the other kids. wormmon basically encourages him to give his invitations to the kids, but ken asks 'but will they accept?' and his hand is shaking. he's so nervous! even though his relationships with the other kids have improved. which is understandable. I suffer from social anxiety I get it.

it's reasonable to expect daisuke, miyako, and hikari to accept it, especially the former two. it's reasonable to expect iori /not/ to accept it (from kens pov). takeru has the most room for doubt, since he did make the offering of friendship more or less the prior episode, but is still a rather mysterious dude.

wormmon tells him it'll be fine. daisuke, in daisuke fashion, noticed something's up with ken and runs up to him. 'what are you doing? what do you have there? c'mon what is it?' ken, super nervous (aah!!), tells them that his mother said he should invite all of his friends to a Christmas party at their place. he lifts the invitations slowly, hand trembling. and the kids (minus iori) are excited and run over.

ken's hand with the invitations is still shaking and starts to retreat/withdraw, as if he's expecting a rejection, when he asks if they'd like to come. it makes me really feel for him honestly he's so nervous :( but when ken, uncertainly, asks if they would like to come, takeru immediately asserts "of course! [Mochiron yo]" and ken goes " :o ". takeru has his hand already out, directly in front of him, smiling, and ken lifts up the invitations and goes ' thanks !”', blushing, to which takeru says 'same to you. i'm happy you invited us.' and goes ^.^

the fact that takeru is the one to first accept ken’s invitation is intentional from the show. they emphasize ken's shaking hand with the invitation retreating. ken has doubts. and takeru clears up those doubts with his confident 'of course!' and 'I'm happy you invited us'.

and this is also takeru clearing up his own position, which has been relatively unclear until the last episode. takeru goes a step further from last episode by making it clear that of course he wants to come and he's happy they invited him.

and taking in Takeru's 'I'm happy you invited us' as well as his smiling at ken at the end of last episode, it seems that Takeru's happy that ken seems to be ... healing? in a way, for lack of a better word, which kind of ties into his apparent concern over kens motivations re: guilt earlier on. this kind of is also related to the end of the episode when sora looks at hikari and takeru and says that kens 'really changed, hasn't he?' bc it's not that he changed from kaiser to ken, it's that he's also changed in that he's happier. and everyone's glad about it too. also shown by the kids’ reaction when ken laughs at the party.

also takeru goes to ken’s party instead of supporting his brother at his concert. not that yamato probably minds or anything but i thought that was neat. i do like that koushirou and jou came to yamato’s concert too though that’s sweet heh

[narniagiftexchange]

                                      THE WINTER NARNIAN GIFT EXCHANGE.

                                   for @kadmeread  by  @tarragonthedragon .

LACKING.

Edmund had always considered himself more similar to Susan than to Peter or Lucy. This had been the cause of some contention between the two of them– from Susan, who even at seven had liked to think herself much more grown up and sensible than her baby sister or her two brothers, and from Edmund, who hadn’t realised until he was at least twelve that Susan thought herself to be the only one with any brains at all almost as often as he did. It was, perhaps unfairly on either, a relief to both of them when the siblings, in Narnia or in England, found themselves split into older-and-younger, or brothers-and-sisters, since it meant that even if they didn’t happen to be correct on this particular occasion, then at least the other wasn’t there to be correct instead. Peter had been a wise king, and even when they were young again usually explained why he didn’t agree with them. And he was both of their older brother, which always made it sting a little less when he made the decisions. And Lucy, while rather more prone to gleeful I-told-you-so’s than any of her siblings, was eminently tolerable once they had been old enough once over to realise that she wouldn’t have been half as delighted to be right if she didn’t consider them both rather intelligent to begin with. Susan and Edmund left alone together, even well into middle age, were almost guaranteed to solve any problem that relied on wits or cleverness, but only once one or both of them had been in tears. Lucy and Peter, by contrast, had been the best of friends since she was just a baby, climbing his trousers and running to him in tears whenever Edmund, competitive even at five, had knocked his fellow toddler over.

Standing on the prow of the Dawn Treader, looking out at the empty water, Edmund wished Peter were here to talk to Lucy, to say just the right things and make it look like it was easy. Or Susan, who would probably just know somehow what had been bothering her since the Duffers’ island, and he could be angry at her for acting like it was obvious, instead of furious with himself for not knowing. But Lucy wouldn’t be standing here staring at the skyline if it was him who was hurt. Lucy, who always seemed certain of what she was going to do next, even if it wasn’t the cleverest or kindest thing, because it was almost always the best she could do. Lucy was the one who pushed, and let the others hold her back or be dragged along as they wished, because they hadn’t let her push on ahead since they had first come through the wardrobe together.

But it was just Edmund. Or, well, Edmund and Eustace, who was a loss less of an ass but still as much of a know-it-all as ever, and who was perched on a beam with Reepicheep again anyway. It would be like talking to Susan, except if Susan really was as stupid as he sometimes acted like she was in uncharitable moments.

This was probably an uncharitable moment. It would be even more uncharitable to assume that Peter and Susan and Lucy didn’t have those. Even if it did always seem unfairly easy for them to be kind, and nice, and good. Edmund only ever seemed to have a decent handle on good.

“You’re moping,” Eustace said, from right next to him. Edmund did not jump.

“I’m watching the horizon,” he replied, which had the benefit of being factually true if not much else.

“Is it because of whatever’s bothering Lucy?” Eustace asked. Clearly he had learnt a little more about being a decent chap, though Edmund rather sourly considered that if he had learnt any more he might not have come over to bother him.

Uncharitable again. This, frankly, was why Lucy didn’t usually let him alone for more than a day or so. If he forgot how annoying his siblings were, he started to remember how much more annoying he found everyone else.

“That’s a yes, then,” Eustace carried on. The area around them was suspiciously free of sailors, because Reepicheep was a little traitor. “Well, it’s not like I know anything about younger sisters–”

“No, you don’t.”

“But when I was brooding, you sent Reepicheep to hit me with a sword, and if you don’t talk to her I’m going to just assume the same tactic will work again.”

“You can’t–” Edmund broke off, scowling at Eustace’s gleefully smug face. “The difference is, I actually like Lucy when she’s herself.”

“I probably deserve that,” Eustace admitted. “But I promised Caspian I wouldn’t be an ass if he let me do this talk, so really I should be commended for the work I’m putting in.”

If Peter had said that, Edmund would have been certain it was a joke. With this new, rather less annoying and slightly less incompetent version of his cousin, it was very much a guess either way. He was spared having to respond by a shout of land, and rushed to his station.

Of course, because this was a magical voyage in Narnia, the shout of land led them to a lost lord and an island of thick mist and even before they saw anything Edmund could hear her, hear it, hear his nightmares looming down on them.

He was not much good at comforting his siblings. He was becoming worryingly good at resisting the call of the White Witch.

Lucy, because of course, was already making quick work of the horrors coming down upon them whilst he was transfixed. Lucy, who got angry instead of scared, leaped down to the deck in front of her brother with a kind of barely-human snarl the second Jadis was vanished, arrows flying and dagger flashing, not missing a step when he reclaimed himself enough to join the battle. And of course the sea serpent didn’t scare her, or if it did it didn’t stop her firing an arrow clean into the creature’s head.

He had never had a head for archery. Fighting was a lot easier, in Edmund’s book, when you had a sword and ‘at something’ was a good enough direction to swing it in a pinch. Clearly Eustace agreed with him, since he had managed to break one on scales like stone. Maybe it was a particular madness of the Pevensie sisters, because Susan didn’t get scared either, always channelling it into doing something useful.

Lucy sat down next to him behind a lashed-together row of barrels. “You’re thinking too much.”

“You don’t think enough,” he said, on fourteen-to-fifty years of fraternal instinct more than conscious thought.

“Well one of us has to be impulsive. You’d never get anything done if we sat around waiting for you three to decide what to do next.”

“Usually, we’re sitting around arguing about whose turn it is to hold onto you by the collar, actually.”

She huffed indignantly through her nose. “It’s not like I’m ever leading you wrong. I remember quite a lot of I-told-you-sos, when we were here the first time. And the second time, for that matter.”

“Not this time?”

“This time, we’ve got Eustace instead of Peter and Susan. There’s no fun in it with you two, you just mope and he ignores me.”

“I don’t mope,” he protested, biting back the urge to cry hypocrisy. “I ponder.”

“Maybe when you were a grown-up you’re pondered. You’re a teenager again, and you’ve been moping an awful lot.”

Edmund laughed. “He’s getting a lot better,” he said, making the most of the lack of uncharitable urges while it lasted. This turned out to be only a few seconds. “Aunt Alberta will be furious.”

Lucy hummed in agreement, and then paused, flopping over onto him. “I still wish we had them instead. I was just thinking, before– before the island. I was thinking that Peter would know exactly how to handle Eustace. And how to talk to him now that he’s not such a terror. And Eustace would probably listen to him.”

“People do,” he agreed. For a moment they made equally crinkled-nose expressions of frustration in silence, both thinking of being a king and queen grown. “I was thinking that if Susan were here, she’d have an answer for everything.”

Lucy went quiet. “I’ve been having rather uncharitable thoughts about Susan lately,” she admitted after some time.

Edmund bit back his initial response, which would not have been helpful. Lucy didn’t sound like she expected him to have much of a good response, but it wasn’t like anyone else on the ship would have a better one. “Would it shock you at all to know that I have uncharitable thoughts about Susan almost every time I talk to her? Sometimes even just hearing Caspian mention her is enough to set me off.”

“Edmund!”

“Just yesterday we went past a rock that looked a bit like her and I thought, she’d be awfully smug if I told her I thought that.”

“I saw that rock!” Lucy exclaimed before she could catch herself, and then bit down on her grin. “And anyway, I don’t mean..”

When it seemed like she wasn’t going to find the right words, Edmund sighed. “I always rather imagine that Susan has as many uncharitable thoughts about me as I do about her. It’s the ones about Peter I feel guilty about.”

“He can be quite annoying when he thinks he’s right.”

“He always thinks he’s right. And in charge. Somehow it’s less irritating when you do it.”

“I do not!” She pushed herself off his shoulder, glaring. “You always think you’re right, too!”

“So does Susan,” he commented. “And Eustace. Clearly there’s an awful lot of pride in the blood on that side.”

“Maybe that’s what’s needed in Narnia. Noone here seems to think like that.”

“It can’t be too bad, then, can it?”

Lucy bit her lip again, looking all of nine. “Or we’re supposed to learn better.”

“We did learn better,” he pointed out. “At least, I did. Eustace has. And you grew up an awful lot, the first time.”

“We all did. But then…”

There was nothing to be said for being young again, but at least she looked pensive rather than upset.

“Come on,” Edmund said, pulling himself up. “I’m going to borrow you a sword. Eustace doesn’t look nearly as scared of you as he should be, after that shot. We’ll have a spar on the starboard deck.”

Lucy grinned, thwacking his arm as he pulled her after him, but didn’t argue.

[tysonrunningfox]

Toothless: Return to the Black Pony of Second Chances: Part 4

No one cares if fanfictions have equal length chapters (that’s my mantra) no one cares if fanfictions have equal length chapters (it’s still 3300 words) 

Ao3

The first time I saw Stormfly, she had a blue bow around her neck and was eating my mother’s marigolds.  Half the planter box was mowed flat in the time it took my Uncle Finn to come inside and get me, but I didn’t stay to hear the resulting argument.  I was up in the shiny new saddle and down the driveway before the ‘thank you, Uncle Finn, I love you so much” was done echoing off of the covered porch roof. 

And yes, Stormfly was a little rough around the edges.  She still is, these days, spending so much time checking fences and begging treats off of people, but she’d never…oh, I don’t know, break down a fence at someone’s horse farm and lure their prize herd out the morning the bank was coming to appraise assets. 

“What’s wrong with its leg?”  Hiccup asks, pressing his face to the stall bars, stupid ripped jeans covered in driveway gravel dust. 

“It’s infected,” I answer, taking a step closer to the stall to gesture at the obvious swelling on the horse’s back, left haunch, but pausing when he starts to rear again, staggering sideways against the wall. 

Hiccup glares at me.  Something resembling fierce for a second instead of the petulant expression I hate that I’ve almost gotten used to in the last couple of hours.  I also hate that he thinks he’s some kind of protector to this dangerous horse just because it liked him for a fluke second, and I cross my arms, daring him to keep up the expression, but Mr. Haddock enters the barn and I take a step back. 

“The vet’s almost here,” Mr. Haddock says comfortingly, rolling his eyes when the little black horse tosses his head, red-rimmed eyes wild, spit frothing from his lips. 

“Is the vet going to help it?”  Hiccup asks, a little too eager, boyish under all that sarcasm and I can’t help but wonder how Ruffnut sees him as the same age as we are. 

Then again, Ruffnut seems young too, her farm’s loss rolling off her back instead of sticking like mine has. 

“Hiccup,” Mr. Haddock’s gentle tone is lost on his son, who’s angry again, a flippant, disrespectful kind of angry that I don’t know how to tolerate.  “He didn’t sell at auction, he won’t let anyone near him, he’s a danger to the other horses and now, to people.” 

I know that Snotlout ate shit chasing the horse and scraped up his elbow, and usually I wouldn’t consider that human harm, but anytime that a horse gets out it’s dangerous.  Especially a horse who won’t be caught.  Especially a horse who’s torn down fences in the past. 

“So what?  You’re just going to get rid of it?  Of him?”  Hiccup swallows, gawky Adam’s apple bobbing, and I should go bring the groceries in.  I should let them yell without an audience, no matter how much I want to tell Hiccup how inappropriate it is to yell at his father. 

Of course, he wouldn’t understand.  Maybe he was born here, but he’s obviously a city boy now.  Sometimes, animals die.  It’s hard, it’s always hard.  It’s hard enough at the right season, loading a herd into a trailer and knowing where they’re going, and it’s worse when it’s an injury or an illness. 

But it happens.  And it’s one of a rancher’s most important jobs to face the problem head on, with empathy and dignity in mind. 

“What’s my choice here, son?”  Mr. Haddock’s frustration shows in his posture even as his voice stays even.  “The animal is in pain, he’s not going to get any better without medical care.  It’s been a month now and he’s only getting worse—”

“Because no one’s been taking care of him.”  Hiccup raises his voice but the little black horse doesn’t react with any of its usual anger, instead taking him in with wide eyes, sweaty chest heaving a little more evenly. 

“He won’t let anyone near him,” I try to hold my hand out towards the stall door and the horse tosses his head again, pawing at the ground with a clumsy front hoof. 

“I caught him just fine,” Hiccup snaps at the world at large and a horse down the stall row stomps and stirs at the loud interruption. 

“The way I see it, son, and I’ve been around horses longer than you’ve been alive—”

“You’re old, ok, what does that have to do with this horse right now?”  Hiccup points into the stall, rude and belligerent and stupid, if he doesn’t know the answer to that question. 

I don’t think that’s true, I think he wants his dad to say it out loud so that he has a reason to shame him, and the thought makes me sick.  After everything Mr. Haddock has done for all of us, to make him feel guilty about not being able to save the little reject mustang that no one wants is…I almost turn and leave, but it feels like part of my responsibility to witness. 

“It’s a kindness, Hiccup.”  Mr. Haddock has more patience than I ever will, “to do this quickly, inside where he can be comfortable—”

“Instead of trying to help him?”  Hiccup’s voice cracks. 

“Look at that wound, Hiccup.  He’ll probably be lame—”

“Oh.  So, it’s not worth doing then.  Ok,” he barks back flatly, sarcasm a veil over the words, “I get it.” 

“That’s not—”  Mr. Haddock sighs, and I’ve never heard him think about backtracking before so it takes me a second to recognize the pause for what it is, especially as it’s interrupted by tires on the gravel driveway.  The vet, surely, we aren’t expecting anyone else.  “Your mother and I thought coming here would help you learn some responsibility—”

“By watching horses die because a leg injury means there’s something irreparably wrong with them,” Hiccup rolls his eyes, flippant anger simmering under the words, “are you getting parenting advice from Old Yeller again?” 

“If the horse means so much to you,” Mr. Haddock’s vast store of patience runs out and his booming voice quiets all of the stalls but one, where the little black horse stomps and snorts, “then you take care of it.  Talk to the vet, find the money for what he needs, and nurse him back to health.” 

“I don’t know anything about horses—”

“You should have considered that before you started this argument, young man.” 

I wish I’d left.  Really, I do.  I wish I were cleaning the chicken coop or checking the cows or hell, watching Snotlout talk ad nauseum about proper bull riding technique, because any of those things would be better than standing here watching this. 

“I don’t have any money,” Hiccup continues in a small voice, hands in his hoodie pockets, “can I get a loan.” 

“Loans get paid back, son.  With interest.” 

“I’ll do that,” he insists, “and if it doesn’t work—just let me try, Dad.”  The title comes out in a different tone, an earnest one, and I take the chance to leave, striding out of the barn and greeting Dr. Goethi on the way back to the house. 

Snotlout is sitting on the patio railing, nursing his scraped-up elbow, “has anyone dealt with that thing yet?” 

“Your lack of balance and inability to chase something without tripping over your own feet?”  I quip back without thinking, trying to think about dinner as I open the screen door and slip inside.

“Lack of balance?”  Snotlout follows, “come on, Astrid, usually when you’re mean you don’t stoop to being stupid—”

“What’s going on?”  Ruffnut looks up from the potatoes she’s been lackadaisically peeling, “how’d it go?” 

“The vet’s with them now,” I let myself sit, probably for the first time since the sun came up, unless I was driving, and it makes me even more tired.  “I should go get the groceries out of the truck.” 

“I’ll help,” Ruffnut offers, selfless like she only is when she needs something, and as soon as we’re back outside, she’s peppering me with questions, “what did you guys talk about?  Did he remember you pulling his hair?” 

“What are you talking about?”  I’d hand the box to her but I’m half-sure she’d drop it, so I prop it on my hip to shut the back door of the truck.  Someone parked it properly during the commotion of getting the runaway horse into the barn, and I double check for the keys before locking it and starting back towards the house. 

“You and Hiccup having a long car ride together—”

“Hiccup?”  I stop short, irritation and curiosity and irritation at that curiosity all prickle the back of my neck as I try not to glance towards the barn.  The horse isn’t shrieking.  That probably means it’s almost over.  He said it himself, he doesn’t know how to take care of a horse, much less a sick, violent one who doesn’t want to be here.  “You’re asking about Hiccup right now?” 

“No, I care about the stupid horse that got out and chores or whatever,” Ruffnut rolls her eyes, “of course I’m asking about Hiccup.  He’s new and he’s going to be here all summer and you were alone with him for the first time since the fated second grade hair-pulling incident—”

“He says he’s going to take care of the mustang,” I cut her off, stomping back up towards the house.  “We’ll see if he survives the summer.” 

“It did seem to like him,” Ruffnut misses my tone entirely, craning her neck to see through the open barn door instead of getting the door into the house for me.

00000

By the time the Haddocks are done with the vet, Gobber has arrived to save us all from whatever Ruffnut was going to call dinner, and everyone has returned from their last afternoon chores to help set the table.  Ruffnut won’t stop looking at me like she thinks I’m keeping a secret and I do my best to ignore her, quizzing Fishlegs about the back pasture and looking anywhere but at the door. 

When it opens, Mr. Haddock walks in first, followed by Hiccup, who’s dragging muddy feet and clutching a bottle of some kind of medicine in his hand.  He tucks it into his pocket before anyone can comment and I look away, back at the table, waiting to see if he’s going to take my usual seat on Mr. Haddock’s right. 

Gobber surprises me by sitting there before Hiccup can, and Hiccup stares at the table for a second before sitting next to Gobber, apparently choosing somewhere neutral.  I take Mr. Haddock’s left, daring anyone to mention it and hating that I’m a bit relieved when Snotlout and Tuffnut start up an under their breath conversation about the best way to get the money to enter some rodeo next month. 

“How’s your first day back in town, lad?”  Gobber starts the dinner conversation as food is handed around and Hiccup shrugs.  Rude. Again.  I don’t know what I was expecting.  “Anything interesting so far?” 

“Interesting,” Hiccup chuckles under his breath at an inside joke he’s decided not to share.  Probably for the best, I haven’t liked any of his other ones.  “I don’t know if that’s the word for anything.” 

“Hiccup has decided to take care of that horse,” Mr. Haddock nudges Gobber’s knee under the table, “the little black stowaway from the Hofferson herd.” 

“Not part of the herd,” I interject and Hiccup’s gaze flicks at me out of the corner of his eyes.  It makes him look even younger than he was acting earlier when he tries to be sneaky, like a kid hiding behind the curtain with feet fully exposed, and I look back at my plate. 

“A horse, huh?  That’s a pretty big commitment for day one.” 

“First of many,” Mr. Haddock encourages, and I can’t help but wonder how Hiccup would be acting if his dad weren’t being so gentle with him.  If I talked to anyone the way Hiccup has talked to his father today, I wouldn’t be seeing Stormfly for a week, let alone getting a new horse to take care of. 

Not that I’d want the black mustang anyway. 

I look at Hiccup again, the growing nagging question in the back of my mind searching for some clue as to what made that horse stop instead of plowing him down like a crooked fencepost.  His sweatshirt sleeve falls down over his skinny wrist as he limply pushes a pile of green beans around his plate, not hungry enough to ignore the taste and eat what he can get. 

“Well, I had an exciting day,” Gobber forces the table-wide conversation along even as Fishlegs and the twins try to start a separate whispered argument, “first theft at the general store in a decade.” 

“Oh?”  Hiccup shoves a forkful of green beans in his mouth and proceeds to talk with his mouth open, big city manners on full display, “guess we should call the governor and rewrite the century’s crime statistics.” 

“What happened?”  Mr. Haddock asks seriously, hand on Gobber’s knee under the table, “is everyone ok?” 

“Everyone’s fine,” Gobber shrugs and looks directly at Hiccup, “Mr. Wrigley’s still unaccounted for, but I’m working on it.” 

“Mr. Wrigley?”  Mr. Haddock looks at me like I might know who Gobber is talking about and I shrug. 

“Hiccup,” Gobber raises an eyebrow, “do you know anything about the pack of gum you stole from my store earlier?  I thought I’d start my sleuthing at the source.” 

“What?”  Hiccup chokes on a green bean and Snotlout makes no move to thump him on the back, instead cradling his elbow and shaking his head. 

“The pack of gum you took from my store when you didn’t think I was watching,” Gobber strokes his moustache. “Any news on its whereabouts?” 

“I don’t—”  He clears his throat, green eyes looking wild around the room, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.  Gum?  What gum?”

“Empty your pockets.”  Mr. Haddock leaves no room for argument, but Hiccup tries anyway. 

“The warden searched me at the gate, I swear, you can ask her.”  He looks at me like I have something to do with this and I try to ignore the sick feeling in my stomach when I realize that he used me as a ride to steal.  From Gobber. 

“Empty your pockets.  Now.”  Mr. Haddock stands up and the room is silent except for Gobber happily snacking on a dinner roll and waiting for the drama to play out. 

The horse meds come out first, a brand-new orange bottle.  Then a thin wallet patched with duct tape. 

Then a nearly new pack of gum that Hiccup opens to demonstrate the one missing piece. 

“You see, I actually got this at the airport.  In New York, actually, because my ears always struggle to pop on the plane and don’t you just hate that—”

Mr. Haddock flips the pack of gum over to reveal the “General Store 0.99” orange sticker on the back and Hiccup’s mouth flaps a few useless times. 

“Not even a day and you’re stealing?”  The whole room flinches at Mr. Haddock’s yelling this time, except Hiccup, who just sinks down further in his chair, arms crossed, expression petulant. 

I wish that stupid horse would let me near it, just for an excuse to grab those pills and leave, to not have to see another Haddock family tussle today. 

“I didn’t think anyone was watching,” Hiccup mumbles, “I’ll pay for the gum—”

“How am I supposed to trust you?  I just loaned you money for antibiotics for that damn animal—”

“Oh, so since I stole a pack of gum you’re just going to go shoot the horse out back?  Great, that’ll teach me, really proportionate response,” Hiccup gripes as his dad takes the bottle of pills, sarcasm flat and eyes trained on the table. 

That is until his dad plops the bottle down next to my unused spoon. 

Then Hiccup’s eyes go wide.  Probably about as wide as mine. 

“I was going to try and trust you with that beast, but obviously, you aren’t responsible enough.”  Mr. Haddock stands up, plate in hand, face as red as the shag carpet downstairs, “and I’m too furious to deal with you myself, so I’m giving these to my foreman—”

“Foreman?”  The word sounds foreign in my mouth, the promotion that could convince my parents to let me stay through the year suddenly thrown into the rest of this gigantic mess. 

“My Foreman Astrid,” Mr. Haddock continues, “you do what she asks of you and when she thinks you’ve earned it, she’ll give you what the horse needs.” 

“Dad!”  Hiccup acts like he still has room to argue, even with the evidence of his illegal activity staring up at him from the center of the table. 

“It’s about time that you learn some things need to be earned.  And if you can’t earn Astrid’s trust, how are you going to re-earn mine?  Or Gobber’s?”  He exits with that, stomping into his bedroom to eat and slamming the door behind him. 

Everyone stares. 

Gobber claims the pack of gum from the center of the table and tucks it into the breast pocket of his shirt before resuming his dinner. 

“If it makes it any better, laddie, I didn’t trust you to begin with, that’s why I was watching.”  He waves his hook around by his temple, “living with all those lights on all the time does things to a person.” 

“So, it’s the lights fault?”  Hiccup asks flatly, avoiding my eyes like he apparently avoids all concept of responsibility, “can I use that?” 

“No, you can’t,” Gobber coughs, “in this case, this is entirely your fault, and if you want to help that horse, you best start asking Astrid what you can help her with.” 

I’m used to being the bad guy.  Really.  I’m the bad guy when Stormfly wants treats or when Ruffnut wants to sleep in or when Snotlout is trying to sneak out the night before we need him.  I’m the bad guy when I remind my parents that their ranch used to mean something, that Hofferson used to mean something. 

It’s second nature to stand up and pocket the pills, glancing at Hiccup’s untouched green beans before speaking. 

“After you’ve cleaned your plate, follow me out to the barn, you can help me feed.” 

“Not hungry,” he gripes, pushing the food away from him, oblivious to the way Snotlout eyes it like he’s weighing how gross it is to eat Hiccup’s food. 

“I meant at the sink.”  I look towards the kitchen then back at him. 

“Dishes?”  He raises a challenging eyebrow, “you’re not going to give me my horse’s medicine if I don’t do dishes?” 

“Among other things, I’m sure,” Gobber chirps, grinning at me even as the pill bottle feels like an anvil in my pocket. 

“I’m going to ask you to pull your own weight around here.”  I put on my best bad guy voice and Snotlout sighs, whispering behind his hand to Tuffnut. 

“Finally, she has someone else to bitch at.” 

I hate that I recognize the flash of realization across Hiccup’s face as he encounters everyone’s favorite corner.  When there are two options and one of them involves agreeing with Snotlout, there’s really only one option. 

“Fine,” he stands up, slouching to the kitchen and scraping his food into the trash before making a production over double scrubbing his plate before dropping it loudly into the drying rack. 

“You’ve got this, lassie,” Gobber tells me, unnecessarily, “a few days under your thumb will whip him right into shape.” 

“What shape?”  Snotlout snorts, flexing his bicep at Hiccup as he stalks back outside, and if weren’t directed at Snotlout, I’d call him out on the middle finger he doesn’t quite hide against his leg. 

[xxsanshinexx]

The Chaotic Gryffindor

Happy birthday @soulofatiny! Here’s your present, a hogwarts san au cause I know you love hogwarts and san, so why not put them together? I hope you have a good birthday lovely <3

Characters: Gryffindor! San x Ravenclaw! reader

Words: 4173

Genre: Fluff (this should just be expected at this point lol)

~

Choi San = the most chaotic Gryffindor 

He was proud, he was brave and most importantly knew how to prank

It’s what earned him the title of the most chaotic gryffindor, by both students and professors. 

Its not that he didn’t have other redeemable qualities, San was plenty smart and scored very high on tests (being one of the most proficient students at Defense of the Dark Arts and Charms)

He was even a renown beater for the quidditch team, one of the best the school had seen in several years

It’s just that he was so adept at pranking

and his pranks did not discriminate between professors, students, or houses.

His favorite targets were hufflepuff and slytherin

Hufflepuff because Yunho and Mingi gave the best reaction when jinxed snakes slithered on the floor of their common room

and Slytherin because they often blamed one another before turning heads towards the infamous Gryffindor. San just loved the turmoil he could so easily cause by setting off a few fireworks at Yeosang’s feet from a distance.

No one even knows how he has all the passwords to the common rooms, he just managed to get his hands on it one day and ever since then no one’s been safe

but his favorite pranks came during class, when it was an entire free for all

And that’s where you come in. 

Charms was one of the few classes the Ravenclaw shared with the rowdy Gryffindors. It wasn’t bad, they did their work and were relatively relaxed about it most of the time.

Except when Choi San decided to make his presence known

And today was unluckily one of those days.

“Today, class, we will be reviewing rictuhsempra!” Flitwick announced as he lifted himself up to stand on his platform, “Does anyone remember what it does?”

Your hand was up in an instant, though none of the other students paid it any mind they were used to you answering everything about your preferred subject, “It’s the tickling charm, professor.”

“Very good, L/n.” Flitwick gave you an approving nod before he turned to the rest of the class, “As Y/n said, we will be learning about the tickling charm today. Last class we merely discussed it’s usage and how it would work in theory-”

His words bleeded into background noise as you made eye contact with the grinning lion across the room. San always caught your eye in this class, mainly due to the fact that he sat directly across from you, and tended to make you loose focus on Flitwick’s words. It didn’t hinder you much though as you practiced Charms enough in solitude that you barely needed his lengthy instructions.

San raised his eye brows at you, with his lips quirking up further, as the two of you made eye contact. You just rolled your eyes with a light smile and went back to focusing on the way Flitwick was waving his wand about. 

It was decided from day one of charms that you and San were the most proficient. You both needed little instruction to do things that would take others a week to learn. 

Your proficiency at charms though didn’t mean you two were good friends however, you knew to stay away from the gryffindor who caused more trouble than what he was good for. San and you barely spoke, and when you did it was mainly about charms.

San enjoyed the fact that you didn’t fawn over him like the rest of the houses did, that you weren’t swindled by the trouble he loved to cause.

“Now this movement is very precise! I’m sure the vast majority of you forgot how to cast it since your second year-” Guilty eyes avoided Flitwicks gaze, “And nonetheless, there are some better revisions to the spells motions. Now please follow along with me.”

You sighed as you ran through the motions robotically. You were one of the few students who retained the information regarding charms since your early years at Hogwarts.

It was no surprise either that San was moving through the movements rather skillfully as well, except there was a twinkle in his eyes. That was never a good thing. 

He noticed your gaze and turned his head to glance at you, a sly smile gracing his lips. Your eyes narrowed as that slyness reached his eyes while he waved his wand from side to side provoking way, eyes scanning the room before coming back to met your own.

“Watch this,” He mouthed and your eyes grew wide in shock.

“Don’t you dare,” You mouthed back but it did nothing but make him grin wider from across the classroom. 

The unfortunate subject of whatever San was going to do was Lee Chan, a quiet, quick witted Ravenclaw that you knew didn’t deserve anything but goodness. San casted you another infamous smirk before casting a quiet, almost inaudible and unrecognizable spell at the unsuspecting Ravenclaw. 

Lee Chan quickly bursted out in uncontrollable laughter as his body began to contort like someone was actually touching him. The class entirely stopped at his uproar and Flitwick’s face became panicked as he assisted Chan.

All while San casted you a wink from across the room, to which you gave him a rather obscure gesture in response.

“Which one of you casted the spell!” Flitwick cried, scanning the room for any guilty faces, but San was just as stone faced as you.

“Well I know I didn’t cast the spell so it had to be one of you.” Flitwick’s eyes landed on you with a slight glare before they landed in the opposite direction, piercing San’s stony features. 

“There’s only two people in this classroom who can cast that spell without me immediately knowing. Now Choi or L/n, would one of you like to come clean about the situation.”

“It was San-”

“It was Y/n-”

You and San both gave one another a glare while Flitwick shook his head in exasperation, “If one of you does not come clean in the next five seconds I am giving the both of you detention for a week!”

You thought that was fairly lenient for what San had done, “Professor, I promise you it was San. Why would I try and hex my own house?”

“You were bored and Chan stole your homework last week,” He shrugged, an aura of persuasiveness coming off of him and you wondered why he wasn’t placed in Slytherin for it, “You got that look in your eye like you did it.”

“I look nothing like you, Choi,” You huffed and snarled, while San just gave you an amused grin. 

Flitwick sighed at the impasse and how hostile the air had become, “Well, since the both of you are so adamant about your innocence, detention for both of you for a week-”

“Wait what!?”

“And twenty house points taken from both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Class dismissed besides those two, I have some desks that need polishing.” 

Both you and San slumped into your seats as the mob of students rushed for the door. It was apparent he thought he could get away with his pranking once again, and he might have, if it weren’t you he had been thrown against.

Flitwick followed out the door, stopping only to give the two of you instructions, “I want these desks polished and all my books in order in the next hour. I am severely disappointed in the two of you.”

The door slammed shut and their was the faint click of a lock following it

and then it was just you, a highly disgruntled ravenclaw, trapped with the one and only nuisance, Choi San. 

“I really hope Merlin curses you, Choi.”

“I figured you would have started off with something a little more extreme, L/n.” He laughed but quickly quieted down to a cough as you raised your head and threw him a deadly glare.

“We wouldn’t be in this mess if you didn’t decide to hex someone.”

“I didn’t even hex him, it was a tickling curse.” He huffed and stood up from his chair, opting to sit on the desktop and let his feet dangle, “if I wanted to hex him it be a lot more dangerous than laughter.”

“And humiliating I suppose.”

“Well, what kind of hex do you have in mind?”

“For you, Choi? Specifically the instant scalping hex or even the hurling hex for your next game.”

San snorted and jumped off the counter top, walking over so he could lean against the counter in front of you. Immediately there was a sense of warmth that flowed off of him, like he was nothing more than a furnace, and it invaded your senses. You hated how tingly it all made you feel. His hair dangled in front of his cat like eyes, and they held an amusement that was unlike the type you usually saw, “I didn’t realize I pissed you off that bad.”

“I’ve never gotten a detention and I have never gotten house points taken away.”

“Prissy pants.”

“Go clean the floor you piece of hippogriff dung.”

“Oddly specific insult, L/n.” He grinned and pushed himself away from the counter and a part of you was a little saddened by the lack of warmth, “But i’ll get the floor as long as you get the tables.”

“Organize the books too.”

“So demanding,” He chuckled as you threw a crumpled piece of parchment at him, “I’m not getting that one.”

“Oh shut up, Choi.”

You were pleasantly surprised when San actually complied with your conditions. It was known he didn’t listen to much of anyone, much less during detention; where many said he either charmed his way out of doing the work or used magic to be done in five seconds.

You never understood why so many people fell for his blatant lies and schemes, especially when he barely even covered his tracks. He could sign his name at the scene of one of his pranks and the professors would think it was Yunho. 

“I’ve already finished all the book cases and you’re still working on the same three desks?”

Indeed, San had organized Flitwicks bookshelves by alphabet and you were still polishing the front row of desks until they shined. The professors would except nothing less.

“Sorry I took the hard job.” You huffed as you finished off the corner of the desk, it polished so heavily that you could nearly see your reflection. All your hard work would probably be gone by the time you reached class tomorrow; the second years would probably mess it up by the next hour.

San just chuckled a little as he took a rag from the cleaning supplies Flitwick laid out for you, “It’s not that hard if you use magic.”

You scoffed as you re-dipped your cloth in polish, starting on the next section of desks, “Magic can’t solve everything.”

“Says the one who’s the top fifth year.” San came to stand next to you, mirroring your actions learned from years of housework. 

It was odd for him, so well versed in magic and its splendors, to be cleaning something by hand once again. He barley remembered a time where magic wasn’t used for everything he did. Growing up a pureblood, magic was what did everything for him from before the time he could walk. 

You gave him a side glance as you picked at a chip in the wood, “I did it through hardwork, not magic. Most of the tests are written, you know... Or do you cheat on those too?”

San sighed at the remark, “I’m not a bad person, L/n, and i’m certainly not a cheater.”

“Just a liar than?”

He through you a small glare, but their was a hint of a smile at his lips, “I just cause a little trouble, nothing harmful. Tell me one instance where my mischief has caused harm.”

“Yeosang literally fought a sixth year last week because you set off firecrackers at his feet.”

“That was bad judgement by Yeosang, not my fault.”

“You’re too much, Choi,” You huffed with a shake of your head, but San was quick to notice the small smile gracing your lips. It was one of the only times he had seen you smile; and it was the first time he had made one appear on your lips. Something in him decided he wanted to see it again.

He moved to stand besides you, so close that your elbows brushed, and raised an eyebrow at you, “Can you please use my name?”

“What, don’t like your last name?” You questioned doing your best to keep your voice from wavering. Once again there was that warmth San exuded, consuming you wholly, and you had to fight whatever feelings wanted to surface. 

“I just think San is a little better, don’t you think Y/n.”

You licked your lips at his words and tried to block out how close he was to you- his robes swishing against your own with every movement, “We always use last names whenever we speak.”

“Well I want to change that,” He said dropping the small rag and turning to you fully, but you didn’t move, “I think I like your actual name better.”

San knew exactly what he was doing, trying his best to get some reaction other than anger from you, but he couldn’t figure out why. Why he so badly wanted you to smile because of him again, why he just wanted you to look at him in the way you always did; a way wholly different from everyone else.

San got his wish as you glanced up to him, eyes shining with uncertainty as you gave him a once over. The ravenclaws often told him how cautious you were of things; people, places- hell even the teachers. So when you gave a little head tilt to signify that you had made up your mind he became a anxious, even more so as you turned and avoided his eyes once again. 

You wished Rowena Ravenclaw herself were here in this moment; because as soon as your eyes met San’s your mind drew a blank. His brown orbs, usually sly and charismatic, had this new look of contrasting hopefulness and worry. It made you have to look away before you said anything stupid. 

Okay than San,” You said, his name rolling off your tongue like you had said it a thousand times prior, “Go... go finish the floors or something.”

The words were enough to put an abnormally large grin on his face but his playful tone was still in his voice, “Whatever you say, Y/n.”

You had to fight a smile at the way he said your name. Who knew the boy you thought was always a nuisance could have you blushing like a school girl. 

“How fast do you think I can finish this, Y/n?” He already loved saying your name, without the sense of false contempt the two of you usually had towards each other, “Think I’ll be done by the time you finish that row?”

“I don’t really care as long as it’s good enough to pass by Flitwick.”

Your mundane response made him roll his eyes as he dipped the mop in the soapy water, opting to follow your method of doing things the “hard way” rather than short cutting it with magic. 

And he found it all awfully boring. The way he had to push and pull the mop across the floor, how he had to cross the room to get more soap once he ran out; he found it all so tedious and realized he could never understand how muggles did this without crying.

But the tedious task gave him time to watch you work in silence; his groaning from actual labor not affecting you in your thoughtful state. Your lips were pursed in thought as you work, diligently scrubbing away at any marks on the wooden surface. San thought you looked much too tense for a task that could be simple, much too anxious for something that could be fun. 

And fun San would make it. 

“Y/n,” Your name was the first thing spoken in ten minutes and you almost jumped when you remembered when San was in the room with you. 

“What San?”

“Can’t you look at me?” You couldn’t see the impish look in Sans eyes with your back turned.

You rolled your eyes and turned around, expecting to see San in front of an entirely cleaned floor. 

Instead you got a ball of water to the face.

The shriek that came out of you was high pitched as ice cold water seeped through your thick robes and splattered against your cheeks. 

“Choi San I swear to Albus Dumbledore himself i am going to kill you!”

The laughter that came from him was sweet and joyful, and if not for the liquid soaking you to the bone you might have joined in with him. 

“That’s a bold declaration,” You wasted no time in retaliating, flicking your wand so that San would soon mirror you. And due to his laughing, he didn’t realize the giant bubble of water materializing above him. 

With a flick of you wrist, the giant bubble burst and cold water engulfed him. The scream he let out was louder than yours, San clearly not expecting any form of retaliation, and he jumped high in the air at the icy contact. You could only laugh at his reaction, head tilting backwards as you chuckled out a muffled, “Oops.”

It was that moment San felt a lot more for you than just the pure interest he typically did. The way you looked so carefree for once, with a light shining in your eyes and a radiance about you that was never there in class. He would never be able to forget this image of you, the look of such utter etheralness, and he would always remember the way his heart swelled with a feeling akin to fondness.

“Seriously y/n?” He chuckled along with you as you stepped down from the rows of desks and onto the soapy floor. 

“What I can’t prank you back?”

A smile formed on his lips at the twinkle in your eye, “I guess I’m just surprised.”

“You really thought I was just gonna let you get away with drenching me in cleaning water?” You huffed and poked your toe at the floor, layered with an inch of sickly smelling soap.

“I don’t know what I expected, I just wanted you to stop pouting the entire time.” He laughed as you kicked water his way, splashing the ends of his slacks, “Is that how you want to play?”

“Come on we’re already soaked to the bone, San.”

He just kicked a puddle of water up at you in response, droplets reaching up to your exposed hands. Thus, ensuing a full blown water war. 

The two of you both wasted no time in kicking water, scooping up handfuls or even resorting to using magic to try to drench the other. Not that it mattered anyways, you both already looked as though you had taken a dive in the lake. 

Water clung to both of your faces, soap littered your uniforms that had molded against your bodies, but neither of you seemed bothered. In reality, both San and you were having the time of your life.

All San could think of was your smile, the laughter bubbling from you and the pure euphoric feeling that the both of you were emitting. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so happy.

And you were the exact same, the feeling of pure childlike happiness not even leaving as San got close enough to throw a handful of water straight to your face. 

“That was uncalled for!” You giggled, brushing away the small bits of soap that were in it, opening your eyes to be met with San’s face right in front of yours. 

He smiled at you, bits of water sliding down his face with bubbles of soap stuck in his hair. You couldn’t help but be captivated. You had never been so close to San before, had never seen his brown eyes up close, had never been able to make out his scent of cedar and cinnamon, and you certainly hadn’t noticed the his little dimples before as well. Your heart began to beat erratically as your mind came to the conclusion that San was overall very charming. 

“I guess I can agree that one was a bit excessive.”

“A bit?” You gave a breathy laugh, trying to steady your voice as San seemed to lean even more towards you, “There’s soap in my eyebrows.”

“It’s not even that bad,” He reached out with gentle touch, thumb brushing ever so softly against your brows to get rid of the bubbles there. You froze against his ghostly touch that emitted a warmth like an autumn sun, warming your skin without having to do much. His hands lingered against your skin as he spoke, the both of you seemingly thinking the same thing, “It’s... its not that much anyways.”

“Luckily for you it didn’t get in my eyes,” Your voice was soft as you hesitantly met his eyes that were already focused on you. It felt to unreal to be in front of him, a tender look circling through his features as you both just stared at one another for what seemed like eternity. 

Who knew the prankster could get your heart beating so fast.

“I’ll consider myself blessed.” His thumb rubbed lightly against your cheekbone, a trail of pure sensations following it. You decided you enjoyed the blissful feeling he erupted in you.

Taking a breath, you leaned into his touch ever so slightly but by the way his eyes widened he noticed it, “You’re not as bad as I thought, San.”

His wide eyes turned into crescent moons as a soft laugh rumbled through him, “You’re not as stuck up as I thought, Y/n.”

The two of you stared, taking in each others physical appearances at close range without the slightest movement. San’s hand still lingered against your skin with that gentle heat emitting from him calming the raging of your heartbeat. San could only focus on the way you looked so content, the gentleness of your features as you stared at him, the sole proprietor of your attention.

It caused the two of you to lean in ever so slightly, just enough so that San’s bangs brushed against your forehead.

San trailed his thumb over your skin one more time before gulping, his breath fanning over you as he spoke, “Would... would you be mad if i kissed you?”

A blush spread across your cheeks as well as a shy smile, “I wouldn’t be opp-”

“What in Salazar Slytherin’s name happened in here!” Flitwick screamed as he barged through the door, making the pair of you stare at him like deer in the headlights. “Oh... well I-uh....I see.”

You both jumped away from one another in embarrassment, hands rising to rub your necks and cover your blushing faces.

“We’re sorry professor, we’ll- uh we’ll clean it up right-” Flitwick just waved his hand in dismissal at your words.

“No need Y/n.... just you and Mr. Choi get out of my sight and cleaned up,” He sighed and you San wasted no time in bolting out the door, it swinging shut behind you. Once outside, you both looked at each other, faced red and still drenched with water, and couldn’t contain the laughter anymore. 

“That was...” San tried to speak but he could only shake his head with laughter.

“Embarrassing?”

“A mess?” He added and you both nodded in agreement, before meeting eyes once again the feeling from back in the room still present. 

“Date,” You said, a sudden urge of confidence flowing through you, and San cocked his head to the side, “I want a date first before you try to kiss me.”

He gave a gleeful giggle in reply, stepping close enough to where you could feel that raging fire underneath his skin once again, “The astronomy tower? Tonight?”

“Steal me some food from the kitchen and then maybe?”

His eyes softened and he nodded, lips twitched up into a smile, “All the cookies and snacks you want, y/n.”

“Merlin,” You blushed and looked away from his fond gaze, an embarrassed laugh bubbling from your throat, “You’re turning me into a trouble maker too.”

He just shook his head and stepped forward, close enough so you could feel his breath against your skin this time. “I don’t think so,” He leaned forward, his lips brushing against your forehead with complete gentleness before he pulled back, a childlike grin on his face. “Just my future love.”

The wink he sent your way as he turned and bounced off made you eager for it to become nightfall.

[unabashedrebel]

RP Snippits

{Below is a piece written alongside @dae-shadowvale ft. @simplysoriya . Sometimes i like to torture my characters a little too much. So yeah, uh, this happened. It’s pretty long, you’ve been warned.}

A soft smile graced his lips as she saved him from himself, and that fear of saying something dumb just when things were getting emotional. "I've been doing some side work. But basically until I decide to go to therapy I'm off active duty. They've been taking it sort of easy on me since I was a POW." Though before Kirollis could expand on just how much he hated therapy, the fishing line began to stir. It started at the tip at first, gentle jerks and pulls that went unnoticed. But in the midst of their conversation the thin piece of wood bent completely into a curve as something snagged on the line. 

 "Oh shit! I think I got something!" He exclaimed.

Dae felt her chest involuntarily tighten at the mention of Kiro’s imprisonment, and while she did what she could to keep that mental flinch from broadcasting itself through her expression, there was likely a lingering flash of sadness in her gaze as she listened to his response. Yes, there was the obvious reminder of the toll that time had taken on herself - all the hopeful glances toward the cafe door every time she heard that bell ring, only to feel her heart sink over and over again - all the nights of falling asleep with her comm in her hand, hopeful that she would hear his voice break through the radio silence, and terrified to hear someone else’s - the emotional torture she put herself through in those weaker moments, wondering if he’d just... left. Now? Thinking back to that period of time, knowing what he had gone through, it made her feel guilty. The fact that he’d waited so long to at least let her know he was alive was still a very sore spot for her, and there was still a lot of emotional ruin to wade through, but there would always be space in her heart for the snarky rogue and his daughter. She wanted to ask him how things had been going with therapy, if he felt like it was helping, if he’d be returning to active duty when he was able, but as fate would have it, none of those questions would make the journey from her thoughts to his ears. 

Her eyes widened at his exclamation and she glanced quickly to the place where his fishing line disappeared beneath the water’s surface in a seamless shift into excitement. “What are you waiting for?!” She took one final pull from her bottle, emptying its contents, and leaned forward to peer down into the water. “Reel it in!”

Kirollis gripped tightly on the fishing rod as tremors rocked through the thin wooden frame. Whatever was on the other end of the line was big, and angry, at the rogues resistance. Not entirely lacking in the physical department, either, Kirollis looked like he was struggling to keep up. His feet planted with their heels dug in, only to find nowhere to get a good footing on the wooden and worn planks of the Booty Bay docks.  His knuckles creeping into a feint white coloring as he vigorously pulled with both hands on the handle. It was as if he was completely oblivious to the dancers advice. Sufficiently stunned by the monster that lurked under the docks, snared by his hook. But eventually he did turn to her adding a sarcastic, "Ooooooooh." With a smirk. "By all means, you're more then welcome to help." The rogues voice strained and rough, coming in a guttural tone from the throat. But once he was situated, and the fish offered a brief repose, Kirollis took the opportunity to just that. Carefully leaving the tension of the rod to one hand as the other didn't stray too far to the metal reel line. Painstakingly cranking the lever in a vain attempt to land his prize. All it managed to do was tick every other second as the rod looked increasingly stressed by the rogues efforts. By this point Kirollis had slowly been dragged, unnoticeable by how small the increments, until the tips of his toes hung off the edge of the dock. Curling and clinging to the planks, even if it was likely more for personal comfort then actual strategy.

"It's all in the hips!" A voice echoed from the far beach as Soriya seemed to have taken an active role in watching it all unfold. While she was too far away for expressions to be read, it was a fair assumption to either of them that she wore a shit eating grin at her fathers troubles with a fish. 

"Okaythisisn'tworking." Kirollis grunted out quickly to himself. Though determination still sat strong on his features. One finally jerk from the rod was all it took to deflate every ounce of confidence he had. Unceremoniously loosing his balance, one leg jutted out awkwardly as if to purchase some. Though even that proved to do little as another shift from the rod tipped him right over the edge and sent him plummeting to the waters below.

The whole scene unfolded in slow motion for Daelynn, which only served to enhance the hilarity of its outcome. One second, Kiro was beside her on the dock, heels dug in firmly as he strained against the pull on his line. The next, he'd disappeared in a woooosh of air, tumbling head-first into the water, and leaving her somewhat perplexed for a second or two. At first, the dancer rose to her feet - an instinctive reflex of concern for the rogue's well-being - but that reflex was fleeting, at best, and she was quickly overcome with laughter. It poured out of her with the ease of water rushing over the falls; unbridled, jovial, breath-catching laughter that had her clutching her stomach as she sunk to her knees, tears collecting at the outer corners of her vision. There was nothing malicious about her reaction, even as she struggled to find her voice amidst each strained gasp of air, and though the simple fact that watching someone take such an impromptu swim was funny in its own right, there was one glaringly comedic addition to this situation in particular; something that clearly hadn't gone unnoticed by the brunette he'd left behind on the dock. 

Kirollis Duskhaven - slayer of men, master of blades, expert of sneak - bested by a fish. 

It was true that Kirollis was a lot of things. That he had a long history of being the capable sort. From assassinating Generals without so much as an alarm, to running smuggling rings that spanned across the Eastern Kingdoms and beyond, to a competent spy, and so many other accomplishments. Not a single one of them mattered as Kirollis plunged face forward from the docks down into the crystal clear water below. What would have normally been easy to see was obscured by the milky froth and unsettled water as bubbles raced to the surface following his decent beneath the waves. Angry flailing and churning from beneath that was so violent one could swear they heard curses bubbling up to the surface. 

As was above, was to below. While Soriya was busy lounging on her surfboard with her face down. Soaking in the sun and enjoying the day. While she always made it look graceful and effortless, the ocean and the tide had a way of tiring out the body more then most would expect. That amount of control and poise, and maintained at such a level? She was wiped out, and made no efforts to hide it.That was until she heard the telltale sign of weight crashing into water with a bassy PLOOOOP. Instantly her head periscoped, flicking her attention toward the sound. While her facial expression would be near impossible to tell from a distance, the look of confusion sat on her features. Swiftly she tried to make sense of it all as she looked over the disturbed water. Then up to the rapturous sounds of laughter. Tilting her gaze up to find Daelynn, and only Daelynn   standing on the stilted docks, leaning over the side as the music of her uncontainable laughter said it all. 

It took only a moment for Soriya to understand what happened. And even less time for her to join in to the chorus of cracking up, so loud that it could be heard in tandem with Dae's own on the dock. Uncontrollable and consistent, those jovial expressions tumbled out of her as if she had little choice in the matter. Gripping on the sides of her board tightly as the young monk doubled over, laying her face down flat on the board as she continued. Before long Soriya rolled right off and into the water- Though unlike her father, she at least seemed to do it intentionally. As if the scene before her was too much for her to take, and she relented to immerse herself beneath the waves in a vain attempt to save her father a little face. 

Before long, Kirollis himself surfaced. Lacking the fishing rod that had proven to be his bane, lost and gone to the tides- and the one creature that did manage to best him-.... a fish. Sputtering out water with aggressive and loud raspberries from his mouth, both hands would come up to clear his eyes. Tipping his head up to look at the dancer, who was Still laughing at his pain. Of course he had to say something. "Yeah, sure. Laugh it up. Real nice. What if I couldn't swim? Would you have jumped in after me?" He teased in mock aggravation.... and perhaps a little embarrassment. 

“Ohhhh c’mon!” Daelynn retorted, still unable to keep the grin from her face... and still struggling to regain her breath from the sudden, and powerful, outburst of laughter. “You would be laughing just as hard if I was the one taking a dunk and you were standing up here, nice and dry,” she lifted a hand to wipe a stray tear on its way down her cheek with the back of a knuckle, “And you know it.” Kneeling down at the edge of the dock, Dae lowered her voice some, speaking in earnest while the corners of her mouth continued to curl themselves upwards. “If it makes you feel any better, I promise to keep this little incident to myself- outside of teasing you about it for the foreseeable future, of course. Though, I can’t speak for all witnesses...” Her gaze lifted from the sputtering rogue as he continued to tread water, focusing briefly on the mostly-submerged brunette floating out in the distance, and lifted her hand to wave - an acknowledgment of their shared laughter, and also to notify the woman that her father wasn’t in any immediate danger. She returned her attention to Kirollis himself, smirking as she braced herself against the dock with one hand, and extended the opposite arm as far as she could. “Let’s get you out of there before you melt, or something,” she teased, tossing a wink down to him.

"I mean I-.." Kirollis held up a finger in protest. Yet after a moment all it did was curl down, deflated, much like the rogue himself as his jaw hung agape. The logic bomb Daelynn had dropped on him critically hitting, and it showed. In a brief and resilient rebuttal he managed to mutter out, "Well, but I would have at least tried to hide it." Breaking into a chuckle soon after. If there was anything he knew how to do, and do well, it was laugh at himself. The gesture dispelling any notion of hard feelings over the hilarious happenings on the Booty Bay docks. 

"Ohhhh no." Dae shook her head, vehemently. "Nonono. How many times have you sprung from the shadows with the sole purpose of scaring me half to death?" She didn't give him even a second to respond before jumping right back into it. "AND out of all those times, how often did you ever attempt to hide your amusement?" Again, she left no room for a rebuttal. "I'll tell you how many."  She held up a hand, fingertips curling around to meet the end of her thumb, forming an obvious 'O'. "None. Exactly zero. So enough of this 'woe is me' act... you big baby." The tone she used was teasing in nature, peppered here and there with a chuckle, but there was no denying the accuracy of her response, and the look on her face was irrefutable proof that she knew she had him at a stalemate on the matter.

By the time a pause marred the pairs playful jabs Soriya had made her way over to make it a trio. Of course she had to laugh at her fathers pain as well chiming in the midst of her paddle, "Dad! Come on, we went over this, you can't just jump in and try and stab them." The monk chirped out with a voice full of giggles. Repositioning to sit up on her board near where her father recovered from his plunge, letting her legs lazily dangle off the flanks and into the water.

"Oh come on." Kirollis protested to the unforgiving crowd, his arms outstretched in an expression that matched his words. Knowing full well that he had, on several occasions, taken great joy in scaring both women- much to their respective disdain. She had him, he knew it, his daughter knew it, and most importantly Daelynn knew it. Turning to Soriya in a bid for some relief, he found no such thing.

Instead the brunette scrunched her youthful features toward their center. Casually shrugging to her fathers desperate plea. With small and rapid nods of her head, the look she gave him in reply all but said You're on your own. Reaffirming the floating mistweaver added, "I'm pretty sure you laugh all the time. You think your slick. But we see it, clearly." Soriya motioned between herself and the dock bound Daelynn.

It didn't take long for Soriya to snap her attention over to Daelynn, happily raising up her hand in a wave before excitedly shouting up, "Hey Dae!" in greeting. "Literally the two of us here and he still gets himself into trouble. Did we really even want him back?" She joked. Blissfully unaware of how her words might hit the dancer. Too caught up in the joy of the moment and the fact that this was one of the rare times the three of them were all together. Not to mention the overwhelming fact that her dad had just been bested by what she could only imagine was a tuna.Shifting to her father once more Soriya asked, "You okay, pop?" She asked with concern. 

Kirollis for his part had done his best to roll with the punches. But as always he was dramatic about it, sporting an overly animated pout as his arms crossed over his chest. A sarcastic chuckle escaping him after it was all said and done, "Yeah, sure, you know just my ego is a little bruised. But sure. I'm okay." Of course he wasn't angry, but far be it from him to not ham it up. "You two gonna gang up on me now? Is this like a thing?" He lamented as a hand unfurled from its counterpart and motioned between the two women.  A tired sigh escaped him as he shook his head. Defeated and deflated. "Alright. I relent to my watery fate." He resigned to a surrender, with his hands hoisted near his ears in a carefree manner. Though he did chuckle a little at his own expense when it was all said and done.

"It's good to see you, Sori," Dae turned her attention to the monk, flashing a vibrant smile before her expression shifted into one of feigned grief, "though, it's a shame it had to be under such tragic circumstances..." An exaggerated frown followed, aimed at the drowned rogue, and while Sori's off-the-cuff remark did strike a little close to the chest, Dae managed to keep that pang of emotional discomfort from rising to the surface. "You should stop by the cafe before you leave the Cape - I'll send you off with a box of goodies for the kids."

"I could go for some lunch." Soriya chimed in a little too quickly after Dae had offered. Showing a little more excitement that two of her favorite people were in the same location. Not a thought given to over imposing on the kindness. "Why don't we meet you there in a little bit?" 

Thirty minutes later...

Soriya walked through the door first. A mess of jovial giggles and her cheeks bright red. That smile she loved to wear pulled to its limits, even showing a rare display of dimples in the process. Her hair still wet from the ocean and attire that suggested she was going right back out, only having put a t-shirt and flip flops from the previous bikini. Though once those teal eyes found Daelynn in the Cafe, her arms came to the front door as to present, "So dad totally bought my silence."

In walked an exhausted, yet dry, Kirollis. But quite noticeably the rogue wore a bright pink t-shirt that looked just a tad too tight- 'Badazzled' written across the front in an arc in rhinestones.  Of course it was. Complete with a pair of shorts and a damp burlap bag in hand. "Dear diary; worst day ever."

[revlyncox]

Collective Responsibility

Unitarian Universalists can learn from the Jewish observance of Yom Kippur and its emphasis on collective responsibility. This sermon was delivered on October 6, 2019. 

We are all Jonah sometimes. (Yes, that Jonah.) There are moments when we make choices that we know are not guided by truth or love or whatever leads us to act as our best selves. The experience of having insight into moral clarity and wandering in the opposite direction anyway is very common. That’s a human thing. Maybe we have a fish-belly experience to help us turn it around, maybe we make a change on our own, maybe a trusted friend tells us the truth. For as long as we live, there are opportunities to notice we’re going in the wrong direction and to turn around. 

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I’m Jonah at the end of the book. Sometimes, in the less compassionate part of my heart, I hope to witness negative consequences for people I disagree with. Sometimes the universe offers more forgiveness than I would offer if it were up to me. I’m not talking about situations where someone in a marginalized group is pressured to show forgiveness to someone in a privileged group, that is a whole other sermon. I’m talking mostly about petty disagreements that could be reconciled if the willingness were there. When I’m not my best self, I am sometimes like Jonah, and I pout when punishment is not forthcoming. This happens fairly regularly when I see people driving on the highway in an inconsiderate manner. Luckily, the eventual reconciliation of all beings with mercy, holiness, and love is not something I am in charge of, even though I have faith that it may be so at the end of time. 

Letting go of grudges is something I struggle with, and I’m still working on it. For some people, letting go is a more complex process, and it’s not healthy or justice-oriented to rush, especially when it involves trauma or repeated and prolonged harm. Within in the realm of everyday forgiveness and reconciliation, I still struggle, I keep returning to the work, and I hope I’m going in the right direction. Meanwhile, the Book of Jonah reminds me that the universe contains more potential for growth, for change, for making amends, and for forgiveness than I am able to contain within myself at any one time. So the High Holidays gives me signs and reminders that every so often I need to turn around, to turn toward life. 

There is a way in which the Book of Jonah is about the redemption of the Ninevites, and there is a way in which it is about the redemption of Jonah, the lesson that sometimes things are not all about him. It’s not about any one of us. The world isn’t about me, even though the ways I am privileged might lead me to think otherwise. Spiritual community is about our shared mission and shared strength, which means people don’t always get what they want. The demonstration about the plant that provided shade over Jonah’s head for one day was to put compassion in a larger context; the earth is so much larger than any one person can experience. There are sources of grace, and reasons for limits, that are beyond our knowing. 

On the other hand, sometimes we are the Ninevites. Sometimes we’ve been participating in a society, going ahead with business as usual, not really conscious that the collective impact of our way of life could lead to disastrous consequences, not just for ourselves, but for our entire sphere of existence. For ancient people, large scale consequences may have been understood as Divine response. I don’t know if the story happened exactly that way, but I believe it’s true that we bear collective responsibility for some of the negative consequences have befallen our communities, our nation, and our world. 

For me, this is a key point of resonance between the High Holidays prayers and Unitarian Universalism: the interdependent web. We know that what happens on any part of the web affects the rest. We know that we are connected to each other in proximity, to neighbors around the world, to the earth we share. We know that we are made of stardust, and that the whole universe of which we are a part moves together in a dance of gravity and matter and energy. Knowing that cause and effect are a complex network of responses, we as Unitarian Universalists have many opportunities to contemplate our call to community, our call to build coalitions, and our call to face the consequences of societal structures as one body. 

This stark understanding that all of us are in this together, that the consequences of our societal choices will affect all of us, is part of the sentiment in the Aveinu Malkeinu, which we’ll hear after the sermon. Aveinu Malkeinu is a prayer of acknowledgement of collective responsibility, and most of all a prayer that disaster will be averted and we will have time to demonstrate a new way of being. It matters that people gather together in community for this prayer. High Holidays services are opportunities to acknowledge widespread harm, to anticipate shared consequences, and to pledge collective action to change. The prayer is addressed to a Higher Power, but all over the liturgy of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, it’s clear that humans have responsibilities for creating and repairing the better world that we pray for. We face consequences together, we commit to change together. Maybe that’s a flavor of what the Ninevites did when presented with Jonah’s prophecy. 

Aveinu Malkeinu isn’t the only prayer of collective responsibility in the Jewish liturgy. There are many. For instance, in the Ashmanu, the community recites a list of different transgressions, one for each letter of the alphabet. If you’re using an interpretive translation, the community might say we have Acted out of malice for the letter A, we have Backbitten for the letter B, on up to Z, we have lacked Zeal to struggle for our convictions. All of the examples are in the plural, things we have done. Even if I personally didn’t commit letter V for violence, I am part of a system that allows violence to occur, and I am here to support my neighbor who wants to turn aside from violence. No single person has committed every sin on the list, but we have all co-created a community structured such that these sins happen. 

There is a quote from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who was a twentieth century theologian and civil rights activist, about this ethic of collective responsibility. He said, “…morally speaking, there is no limit to the concern one must feel for the suffering of human beings, that indifference to evil is worse than evil itself, that in a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.” (End quote)

Heschel had the Holocaust partially in mind when he said this. He was born in Poland in 1907. His mother was murdered by Nazis, and two of his sisters died in concentration camps. In Heschel’s understanding, some were guilty for the atrocities of the Second World War, but all were responsible for allowing the growth of the ideology that led to them, and for letting atrocities go on as far and as long as they did. The bystanders were also responsible. 

Heschel is well known for applying the same ethic of social responsibility to the moral crises in America that he applied to the moral crises of Europe. He marched for African American civil rights, calling it praying with his feet. In a 1963 speech to a conference on Religion and Race, Heschel said:

“Race as a normative legal or political concept is capable of expanding to formidable dimensions. A mere thought, it extends to become a way of thinking, a highway of insolence, as well as a standard of values, overriding truth, justice, beauty. As a standard of values and behavior, race operates as a comprehensive doctrine, as racism. And racism is worse than idolatry. Racism is satanism, unmitigated evil.” (End quote)

Heschel’s point that, while some are guilty, all are responsible, explicitly included collective responsibility of white people for a culture of racism. Today we might frame the discussion in terms of white supremacy culture, of the systems of inequality that are baked into our legal codes, our public policies, our expectations of etiquette, and our economy. Some are guilty of knowingly creating terror and exploitation for people who are marginalized while creating advantages for people with privilege. All of us are responsible for dismantling that system. 

This is just one example of our shared call to repair; the same goes for ecological repair, for justice for Transgender and gender non-conforming folks, for our health care system, for economic justice. Some are guilty, all are responsible. On Yom Kippur, I will be thinking not only of my personal confessions, but also about how we as communities and a society are collectively responsible for creating change, as the people of Nineveh took responsibility to create change together. 

It’s not usually that easy for a truth-teller to come along and energize an entire population toward making amends and changing behavior to bring about justice and wholeness. We change on a smaller scale, convincing one congregation at a time, one legislator at a time, one movement at a time. We are constantly called to the work of repair. We know that the consequences we face are bigger than any one of us can change alone. We know that how we bind ourselves together in ethical, spiritual, and economic ways affects other beings on a larger scale than we can grasp. So repair, reconciliation, making amends, learning from our mistakes … these are ongoing projects. We hope to be guided in that continuous repair by the spirit of love. 

Kindness, compassion, mercy are aspects of strength, and it is an ongoing project of renovation and rebuilding to infuse that strength into all our ways of being together. That’s one of the interpretations of Psalm 89, verse 3: Olam chesed yibaneh. You could translate that as, “the strength of kindness has been and shall be in the continuous process of being rebuilt.” In other words, a world shall be built from love. 

There is a song based on Psalm 89:3, composed by Menachem Creditor. You might have heard it at a Jewish spiritual gathering or at a social justice protest. The “we” is a key word in this song. We build this world from love.

Olam chesed yibaneh, tai dai dai, tai dai dai, tai dai dai (x4)

I will build this world from love, tai dai dai, tai dai dai, tai dai dai

And you must build this world from love, tai dai dai, tai dai dai, tai dai dai

And if we build this world from love, tai dai dai, tai dai dai, tai dai dai

Then God will build this world from love, tai dai dai, tai dai dai, tai dai dai

Maybe there is a Higher Power who suffers with us and strengthens us and urges us toward justice and compassion. Maybe all of the Divinity that is currently in the world comes from human beings being their best selves. In either case, that which is sacred waits for us as humans to collectively take responsibility, to acknowledge our interdependence, to face up to brokenness, and to commit to repairs. May we do so with love, in love, and empowered by the spirit of love. So be it, blessed be, amen.