#by the shock and disappointment of apparently exploding cookies

[noblest-roman-of-them-all]

Not to sound like Patton or anything, but I literally just had the worst cookie experience of my life and now my night is ruined.

[hxseok-honee]

atlas heart || part 49

a/n : "the incantation comes from latin 'protego', 'i protect', and 'diabolica', a declension of 'diabolicus', meaning 'diabolic, relating to the devil'. it is unclear if the translation is meant to suggest 'protection from the devil' or 'the devil protects.'..."

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“Jungkook, will you stop eating all the cookies please--”

“How come Jin gets to eat everything in sight, but I can’t--”

“Because Jin is an insatiable mountain troll with no human manners and six stomachs--”

“Aw, Yoongi, you’re so loving with your words!”

“Shut up, Jin.”

“Kim Seokjin, stop eating the fucking food!” Jimin watches with thinly veiled exasperation as chaos unfolds in Yoongi and Hoseok’s countryside cottage. They’d arrived a few days prior, spending the week together before dispersing for Christmas Day, just in time for the full moon. It had been a chaotic week at best -- verbal altercations were had over stupid things like gift-wrapping techniques, and several small fires had already occurred in the kitchen, mostly due to Taehyung’s ice cream maker.

But somehow, they’d made it to Christmas Eve. And, so far, this Christmas Eve had been spent watching Jin eat all the food as it’s being made and consequently be kicked out of the kitchen entirely by Hoseok. Jimin’s seated in the living room with a perfect view of the chaos happening at the dining table. Y/n’s next to him, reading quietly with her head on Jimin’s shoulder. She’s especially tired today, the full moon just over 24 hours away, so Jimin’s staying close to her.

Namjoon and Taehyung are seated in front of the fireplace, engaged in an intense game of wizard’s chess. Namjoon is beating Taehyung by a landslide, but Taehyung just will not give up, something that makes Jimin smile fondly.

There’s a bang from the kitchen, catching everyone’s attention. Hoseok turns slowly from where he stands at the oven, smiling sheepishly at them.

“I may have put the pie in for too long.” The room is a collection of groans and exasperated laughter, Jin’s complaints overpowering the rest.

“How the fuck do you make a pie explode?! It’s a pie!” Hoseok looks to Yoongi for help, but the boy only shrugs.

“The man’s right, babe -- pie’s not that hard.” Hoseok lets out an affronted scoff, moving to open the window over the sink to let some of the smoke from the oven out. Jimin feels Y/n snicker softly beside him, and when he looks down at her, she’s peering over the top of her book at the scene in the kitchen. She looks so peaceful and happy, even with eyes full of exhaustion. He adores her entirely, and he knows it’s obvious to everyone but her.

Her eyes flick up to meet his then, and, over the cries of outrage from the kitchen about not having dessert, he hears her whisper to him.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Jimin purses his lips, smothering the smile that’s rising to the surface. He only shakes his head, his expression judgmental.

“Not everything’s about you, Y/n, geez.” He laughs when she gives him a hard nudge with her elbow, and he moves to wrap his arms around her and trap her in his hold. She lets it happen, only grumbling noncommittally about being unable to read like this. He presses his lips to her temple stubbornly in response. “You have a lifetime to read -- let me hug you.”

“Alright, it looks like we’re having deconstructed pie for dessert, so everyone come eat!” Apparently, the argument about the oven disaster has ended, as Hoseok’s setting a pie on the table, a giant hole in the middle where it had imploded. Taehyung jumps up from his tragedy of a chess game and runs for the kitchen, socked feet sliding to a stop in front of the refrigerator. Plucking a big bowl of homemade ice cream -- its flavor to be determined -- from inside, he makes his way to the table and spoons a giant scoop into the pie’s battle wound. He gestures dramatically at it when he’s done.

“Problem solved!” Hoseok mimics him, gesturing just as dramatically at his disappointed boyfriend.

“The man’s right, babe -- problem solved!” The group laughs, everyone slowly making their way to the table to eat. Y/n sets her book on the couch, moving to stand, but Jimin stops her. From within his pocket he pulls a vial and shakes it, eyeing her knowingly when she groans.

“Ten seconds of pain, and then you can drown the taste out with some ambiguously flavored ice cream. If it makes tomorrow night more bearable for you, then ten seconds is nothing.” She smiles, taking the vial and uncorking it.

“Did you just admit to being someone who eats dessert before dinner?” She downs the potion in one go, eyes squeezed shut. She doesn’t see Jimin gazing at her lovingly, only to lower his eyes when she’s done. She hands him the vial and takes his hand, pulling him to his feet and toward the table.

“You promised me only ten seconds of pain before ice cream, so move faster, Park Jimin.” They take their seats in the chairs nearest them, Jungkook setting his plate down on Y/n’s other side and moving to join them. Tae, Yoongi, and Hoseok sit across from them, Jin and Namjoon taking the end seats. Namjoon leaves his seat after a moment, moving to pass out silverware and swap the ladle in Jin’s hand for a normal spoon. Jin refuses to give up his spoon of choice, glaring at the boy standing over him.

“Dude, I will fight you on Christmas Eve -- I have no qualms about fucking up the holiday spirit or whatever--”

“Stop.” It comes from Jungkook, spoken with a quiet urgency that halts all activity in the room. He’s standing just behind the seat he’d been about to take, his hand resting on the back of the chair. He ignores their questioning glances, his eyes locked on nothing in particular as he focuses his hearing on the open window. When he finds what he’s looking for, he meets Yoongi’s eyes, alarmed.

“I thought you said you put a barrier around your house.” Yoongi and Hoseok glance at one another, shaking their heads simultaneously as Yoongi looks back to the Gryffindor.

“We never got around to it…” But Jungkook’s stopped listening. And, for all the years of jokes, remarks, and complaints Jung Hoseok had ever made about the boy’s heightened senses, he can say with complete confidence later that Jeon Jungkook is the only reason he’s still alive. Because the only person in the room that’s ready for the unforgivable curse that’s shot though the open window, aimed squarely at Hoseok’s chest, is the boy who’d heard the call for death fall from its caster’s lips.

Suddenly, Jungkook’s across the room, launching his body at Hoseok’s over the dinner table and twisting in mid-air to throw his hand out toward the window. He’d never in his life attempted nonverbal magic -- not necessarily the most advanced of students -- but it’s said that wizards can create even miracles if they’re desperate enough. And this is nothing like the World Cup, when Hoseok had protected him from a nasty stunning curse -- the beam of light headed Jungkook’s way right now, in this moment of literal life and death, has been shot to kill. So desperation is exactly what produces the shield charm that emits from his entire body, exploding outwards and shattering all the windows in the house as it goes. The force of it blows them all back, throwing them to the floor and against walls with cries of shock.

And, while a shield is normally null against a curse so powerful, it seems Jungkook’s done more than just perform nonverbal magic for the first time. He’s produced a physical barrier -- an invisible pane of pure energy separating his enemies from his family. It takes out half of the kitchen as it goes, destroying the far wall completely and opening the house out to the cold night around them.

In the confusion of chaos and rubble, Y/n lifts her head from the kitchen floor, catching a glimpse of the group of people outside the house, all equally disarmed from the display of sheer strength they’d just witnessed. She counts 6 bodies, all donned in dark robes, and she knows immediately that this is a Death Eater attack.

Groaning, she drags herself to her feet, grabbing anyone she can get her hands on and pulling them with her, staying low to the ground. Jimin’s the first to follow, holding onto Y/n for dear life, but he can’t help the way he hesitates when he looks past the overturned dining table, the wood splintered and cracked amidst all the wasted food.

Because there in front of him, right where the initial wave of power had surged out from and disoriented them all, is something that is very much not human. When it rises to its feet, it stands to full height, and Jimin knows that it’s easily as tall as he is. Black fur as far as the eye can see, the end of its ears and tail painted grey -- its body practically ripples with strength as it moves, and it’s from behind a set of sharpened teeth and a massive jaw, so powerful it could probably break Jimin clean in half, that a low growl starts to rumble.

It becomes a terrifying snarl in a matter of seconds, those piercing teeth shining in the moonlight with deadly intent. Jimin can feel that he’s still moving -- that all of this is happening in slow motion as he runs for safety and that no time at all has actually passed -- but he feels his whole world stop, drowned out by the sound of his heart pounding in his ears, when the beast shifts. Preparing to attack, it turns its head at the last moment to meet his eyes, and Jimin sees then that he knows these eyes. He knows the way they look him over with guarded concern and the way they turn away from him as soon as they know he’s unharmed, silently telling him to find his own way out -- after all, Jeon Jungkook’s always made it clear he has better things to do than look after Park Jimin.

Jungkook presses all his weight into his back legs, crouching low for a moment so suspended in time that Jimin doesn’t even see him leave. But then he’s gone, wind rushing past Jimin’s face and blowing debris everywhere as the wolf takes off. After another hard tug from Y/n that pulls Jimin’s focus back to the matter at hand, he only hears when Jungkook finds his first target, the ripping of cloth and the hellish cry of pain ringing in Jimin’s ears like a nightmare.

Tripping over pieces of the ceiling and walls -- the back half of the house essentially crumbling in on itself -- Jimin finds the faces of each of his friends. They’re all there with the exception of Jungkook, who seems almost feral, if the shrieks of death behind them are anything to go by. The group stumbles from the side of the house through a door that’s comically useless at this point, and when they circle around to the back, it becomes clear that there are far more than 6 Death Eaters.

The group that had led the attack has all but been taken out now, Jungkook nowhere to be seen -- but he’s certainly left evidence of his presence there. Jimin can’t tell if these people are dead or still dying, but he doesn’t have time to sort through the discarded bodies to check. Behind the cottage is a field of tall wheat that's surrounded by forest-- a massive expanse of land -- and when they look into this field to the top of a hill not too far away, there’s another wave of Death Eaters lined up, these faces rather familiar to just two of his friends. Jimin hears swearing behind him, and then Hoseok’s pushing past him roughly, only stopped by Namjoon’s hand clamping down around his wrist.

“Don’t, Hoseok! We can’t do this -- there’s too many of them. We have to run--”

“They just tried to kill me, Namjoon! In my own home!” Hoseok whirls around and gets in his face, eyes wild. Jin tenses next to Y/n, one of his hands hovering over his pocket where his wand is. When she follows his eyes, she sees that the line of Death Eaters has started to approach.

They move slowly, as if they have all the time in the world. As if they have nothing to fear, organized and protected against this mismatched group of ambushed friends. She watches as they approach like predators waiting for the kill, and she knows that this is no simple Death Eater attack -- it’s a massacre.

And then, just as silently as he’d disappeared, Jungkook’s returned. Their attackers are given no warning, only registering that the wheat around them is rustling when one of them is violently pulled down into it. He’s gone in an instant, his screams echoing in the night as he’s dragged through the dirt toward the house.

The moment Jungkook emerges at the edge of the field, the Death Eater is flying through the air and crashing into the remains of the house, slung from Jungkook’s jaws like nothing more than a ragdoll. He lands not a few feet away from them, and Yoongi’s jaw clenches when he recognizes the bloodied face of a fellow Slytherin. Turning to lock his gaze onto the line of his old classmates, he pushes past the group and summons his wand from within the rubble of his home with nothing more than the flick of his wrist. It flies from deep within the ruins into its master’s hand with ease, and Yoongi spins it between his fingers casually once he has it.

“I really hope you guys all know how to cast shields as powerful as Jungkook’s -- otherwise, we’re fucked.” The wolf in question falls into line with Yoongi, his whole body shaking from the warning growl forming deep within his chest. The rest of the group follows, facing their enemies head-on.

From Jungkook’s other side, he feels a warm hand press into the top of his head, and he knows it instinctively. He can also feel the cold length of a wand, hidden easily in the darkness of his fur and beneath her flattened hand. Y/n keeps him there for only a moment -- knowing they only have a moment -- and presses her fingertips against his skull as if to hold him back. As if to stall him just long enough to tell him to be careful. And then the moment is gone and she’s wrapping her fingers neatly around her wand, releasing him with a whisper.

“Go.”

--

None of them can say how long they’ve been there -- every second that passes is another that they could lose their lives, so it feels like they’re there a lifetime. They’ve huddled into a small circle, surrounded completely. Jungkook is mobile, weaving in and out of their enemies at too fast a speed to ever be hit by a curse. He’s taking them out slowly, dragging them back into the darkness one by one while the rest work just to stay alive. Unlike at the World Cup, where every enemy shot fired was red, these beams of lights are all hauntingly green, glowing in the night sky -- a sign that things are different now, death standing only a few feet away in the form of old friends.

Every killing curse fired is met with an equally powerful shield, a wall that shatters the moment it meets its mark. They’re cancelling each other out, evenly matched in a battle that won’t end until someone gets tired -- until someone makes a mistake. The only sounds come from incantations, spoken by those of their group that cannot cast silently.

Hoseok and Yoongi fight much like their opponents, masks of guarded silence -- a reminder that while they’re on opposite sides of the war, they were once very much the same. The difference, of course, is that their old housemates are now murderers without remorse. But that’s not their only problem.

Y/n suddenly stumbles next to Jimin, and he can’t even tear his eyes away from the Death Eater before him to check on her. He can only reach for her with his free hand, gripping her wrist in panic, which she rips from his hold with a groan. She only barely manages to raise her wand in time to block the killing curse headed right for her head. The force of her shield colliding with the curse so close to her knocks her back, and she falls into the circle with gritted teeth.

Jimin steps in front of her, closing the gap in their circle and allowing her a moment to recover inside their circle. But she never returns to her spot, only curling in on herself and gripping at her head with a cry of pain -- she knows this feeling. The feeling of her skull splitting, her body rejecting itself as it turns into something unnatural -- something unhuman.

But this can’t be happening. The full moon is not tonight, something she confirms simply by rolling over in the dirt and looking up at the sky, in excruciating pain. She can see clearly that this cannot be her reality, yet the popping of her spine as it dislocates itself is very much real. Reaching out blindly, she latches on to the first person she can find, her hand clamping down around Hoseok’s ankle and squeezing with all her might. He hisses above her and manages to glance down long enough to see an expression of pain he’d long become accustomed to.

“What the fuck?!” It’s the first time he’s spoken in ages, his attention back on his opponent as he works out in his mind how this is possible. There’s no time to reason through what he knows, however, because Y/n’s teeth are clenching so hard she’s afraid they might crack, her grip on his ankle tightening painfully. Hoseok makes a snap decision then, calling out into the night.

“Jimin, listen to me.” The boy’s on his left, so focused on the shield he’s casting that he responds only once he’s successfully blocked the deadly beam of green light.

“What is it, Hoseok--”

“You have to take her into the forest. Now.” His instructions are muffled by the sounds of a curse crashing into Namjoon’s shield, unheard by their enemies, but Jimin hears him clearly. He also hears the urgency in Hoseok’s voice, telling him there’s no time for questions. “It has to be you, Jimin.”

He knows then what Hoseok’s saying, what he hasn’t had the chance to confirm himself. Y/n’s transforming on a night other than the full moon, and they’re out of time. He calls for Y/n then, reaching back for her.

“Y/n -- baby, listen to me. We gotta go.” There’s a moment of nothingness, only her groans of pain, but then he feels her hand slamming down into his and gripping hard. And then his body is working faster than his brain.

Stepping forward out of the circle and straight for the man that’s been trying to end his life all night, Jimin swings his arm out, bringing a new shield up with him as he goes. It hits the Death Eater from the side, catapulting him through the air. Just as he’s in the downward arc of his fall, he’s caught suddenly, torso trapped in Jungkook’s jaws as the wolf leaps into the air to capture his next target. They crash to the ground not far away, hidden away in the wheat.

Jimin pulls Y/n to her feet, pointing his wand out into the field as he runs for the treeline.

“Fumos!” The effect is immediate, smoke pouring out of his wand and swirling around him in a dense fog. It keeps them hidden as they make a beeline for the trees, allowing them safe passage. Jimin chances a look over his shoulder and sees that the smoke hasn’t passed over his circle of friends, ensuring that they’ll still be able to see clearly and protect themselves.

Y/n stumbles again as they run, but Jimin’s hold on her keeps her going, and she registers that he’ll be there for her transformation. Panic seeps in through the pain, and she calls out desperately for him to stop, her vision leaving her. Jimin can feel her struggling against him, but he tightens his grip and forces her to follow. They’re close to the treeline by now, but it won’t be enough until they’re completely hidden. And, although he can’t see where the wolf has gone with his old enemy, Jimin steps in something wet and everything suddenly reeks of blood, so he knows Jungkook is near. Apparently, Y/n can smell it, too, because she’s struggling harder now.

“Jungkoo-- Jungkook, stop him!” Jimin grits his teeth and stops, turning to face his girlfriend and pulling her forward. She crashes right into him, the force of his sudden movement propelling her straight into his arms. Her eyes are wide open but her vision’s completely blacked out, which Jimin can see in the fact that she won’t look at him. But he doesn’t need her to.

Ducking low, he wraps an arm around her waist and throws her over his shoulder, ignoring her cries of outrage as he races for the forest just ahead. She pounds her fists against his back, practically roaring with fury as she fights him. He only pushes on, telling himself he’ll let her be as mad as she wants later, if they’re still alive.

Once they make it into the forest, Jimin runs only far enough that he feels unseen before setting her on her feet. She’s immediately falling to the ground, crawling blindly away from him and clawing at the dirt in pain.

“Go away! Just go away!” Disappearing behind a tree, she swears at him loudly, looking for any outlet for her pain. Jimin only turns to the treeline, letting her curse him as he surveys the land around him for Death Eaters. All he sees is Jungkook in the distance, turning in circles in the field as if lost.

Jimin watches as the wolf races for their friends, sliding to an urgent stop and turning back again in confusion when he doesn’t find what he’s looking for. He sees when Jungkook’s ears perk up at someone’s call, and his head is turning in Hoseok’s direction. Hoseok’s lips move, giving instructions Jimin can’t hear, but he knows exactly what’s been said when Jungkook’s whipping around to look at the trees.

Interestingly, the wolf hesitates, moving forward before stopping to looking over his shoulder. It’s only a moment, but it’s enough for Hoseok to point out at the forest urgently as he blocks another curse. Jimin can read Hoseok’s lips clearly then as the older boy calls out to Jungkook.

Jimin will die if you don’t go.

The chill that runs down Jimin’s spine at that moment, an omen playing a cruel joke on him, only worsens when he realizes that he’s stopped being able to hear Y/n’s pained gasps. A low whine rings out behind him, and it’s with bated breath that Jimin’s turning slowly on his heels.

Towering over him with an icy gaze locked on him is Y/n -- rather, it’s the part of Y/n that has no idea who he is in that moment. The eyes that see him only see through him, completely empty of anything that isn’t primal. Where Jungkook’s eyes are still his own even in a wolf’s body, these eyes don’t recognize him, and Jimin knows that fact alone will haunt him forever.

Yet, he isn’t afraid of her. He’s only afraid for her -- for the way she’s still curled in on herself, still in pain. He’s afraid for the way she blinks, thoughts muddled and lost, struggling to find herself in the darkness of her mind. He’s especially afraid for the way she finally gives in, losing her will to fight for herself. Her pupils shrink and grow until she’s focusing in on him, and Jimin knows by the way she tilts her head curiously at him that he’s got her attention -- and that’s never good.

When she takes a step toward him, he mirrors it with a step back, and that alone seems to set her off. She moves suddenly, closing the distance between them easily. She leans down until her snout is pushed close to his nose, snarling at him as he stays frozen where he stands. When she raises one clawed hand, he barely has time for a final thought before she’s swinging down at him.

Well, shit.

Suddenly, Jimin’s flying through the air and crashing to the ground a few feet away, rolling to a stop at the base of a tree with a groan -- but he’s in one piece. Lifting his head, he finds that he hadn’t been sliced to pieces by his own girlfriend. He’d been shoved out of the way by a wolf twice his size, the wolf in question now standing where he had just been.

Jungkook’s got his teeth latched around Y/n’s wrist, growling loudly to keep her attention on him. They stand there a few moments, eyes locked in a tense stare-down of dominance. Y/n eventually raises her other hand, claws gleaming in the moonlight, but Jungkook only growls again, a warning. It stops her, as if recognizing this moment, and, although she seems enraged by the display, she lowers her hand anyway.

Ripping her other, trapped, wrist from Jungkook’s jaws, she lets out her own snarl and steps toward him, and Jimin thinks these two might really tear each other apart. But Jungkook’s been here countless times, and he’s still of clear mind, so he knows exactly what to do.

Crouching quickly, he snaps his teeth at her ankles, sending her backwards. She roars angrily, but he persists, snapping at her feet again and again until she’s finally scurrying off into the forest with a cry of outrage. Jungkook watches her go before rushing to Jimin, startling the boy out of his shock.

The wolf sniffs at the air around Jimin, knocking him around with his massive head as he pushes his snout into Jimin’s torso, checking for injuries. Jimin’s lost for a moment, wondering exactly why Jungkook’s expressing so much concern when Y/n should be his priority, but then he remembers exactly what it would mean if he had been caught by one of Y/n’s claws.

Once Jungkook’s done checking that Jimin won’t be turning into a werewolf anytime soon, he’s gone, disappearing after his sister. Jimin only sits there, bruised and battered but alive all the same. Then he hears someone yelling Taehyung’s name in the distance, and he’s on his feet.

Rushing out to the field, he stops at the top of the hill, his breath catching in his throat when he sees the scene down below. His friends are still surrounded, and, although the number of Death Eaters has been severely reduced thanks to the merciless animagus running around, there’s still too many of them. But before he can rush to help, something happens, all too fast to process -- and Jimin has the displeasure of witnessing everything from that hill.

Down in the circle, the rest of the group is fighting for their lives. Many of the boys have sustained injuries simply from their own shields exploding too close to them -- pieces of the ground and debris from the house are thrown around, catching on their bodies in surface wounds they won’t even notice until the next morning.

There’s a special kind of desperation spilling off of Namjoon and Taehyung -- the only muggleborns in that circle -- and it’s making one of them reckless. Namjoon’s keeping his cool, as he’s been in the Order for months now and has had the battle training, but Jin’s having to compensate for small mistakes Taehyung is making out of fear. The Gryffindor’s only a boy, a boy targeted simply for being born. This is the first time he’s ever been faced with his own reality, and he’s terrified.

So when he slips on a piece of rubble at his feet, the only thing that keeps him alive is the fact that he’d moved his head a quarter of an inch to the left just in time. The killing curse flies past him and through the circle, passing Yoongi on the right and hitting a mark just past him -- that mark is the Death Eater that Yoongi had been battling all night.

The boy crumples instantly, the light in his eyes gone. Yoongi watches as he goes, his mind blank as the body crashes to the ground. And then he’s turning on his heel, everything slowed and muffled around him. The Death Eaters have all stopped, equally shocked from what’s just occurred -- after all, they’re just boys, too.

Yoongi hears Jin yelling Taehyung’s name, and he sees Hoseok rushing for him. He watches as Namjoon starts to run to Tae and then stop, raising his wand and choosing to keep guard instead, realizing that their fight isn’t over. Yoongi watches all of it with wide eyes, thinking then that this scene would be very different had the curse hit Taehyung as intended. He spins, staring down at the dead body below him, thinking that this is what Taehyung would have been. This lifeless, empty corpse. And that’s just too much for someone like Yoongi to deal with.

In that moment, the strength of the silent marksman is broken, shattered from within as he fights no longer to protect his own life but those of his friends. In that moment, he proves to be much more worthy than he’d ever thought himself before, breaking through that perpetual tendency to hide himself away — but it comes at a price. Because it’s in that moment that Min Yoongi, for all that he’d tried to free himself of that cursed name, finally gives in to the bloodline he’d spent his whole life denying.

“Protego diabolica!” The spell is cast like the roar of a dragon awakened, enraged -- the first time he’s spoken an incantation in years. It’s ripped from his lungs against his will, uttered with nothing but the urge to destroy, the need to bring pain down on his enemies so that they may never hurt his family again. That dark magic — so forbidden, so evil — follows the command of his left arm, quite literally brought to life by the malice in his eyes and the sweeping of his hand in an arc around himself. And for the first time in the 7 years Jimin had known the shy, self-loathing Slytherin — so guarded from the vulnerabilities of life — he watches from that hill as Yoongi loses control.

The fire that flows out of his hand like water -- icy and unforgiving -- spreads out around Yoongi like a wall of pitch black rage. It passes right over his friends -- they flinch at the foreign magic and its caster, who seems equally foreign to them now. They watch with awe as Yoongi commands the fire, forming a protective circle around them with ease. It almost seems to feed off of his rage, growing with every breath he takes and shrinking with the fall of his chest. He is a snake no more -- a dragon birthed of fire and blood stands in his place.

Jimin watches in pained silence as one of his closest friends loses himself to the war -- but even now, he can still see that Yoongi’s still there. And it’s Yoongi that will have to deal with consequences later, but right now he’s doing whatever it takes to save them. And that includes exploding with anger the moment he spots Jimin still up on that hill.

“Get your ass in here!” The ring of fire seems to swell with his outrage, and Jimin is in no place to refuse. The Death Eaters are still shocked and disoriented by the wall of fire they’re now faced with, and Jimin uses that to his advantage. Racing down the hill, he leaps into the circle, the cold flames licking at his ankles as they let him pass, recognizing him as a friend to their master.

Having seen Jimin’s success at passing through the ring, two of the Death Eaters rush at the wall, unaware of the nature of this dark magic. The moment they make contact with it, the fire senses their intentions, reacting accordingly. Jimin watches as they dissolve into nothing, shrieks of pain ringing out into the air as the fire consumes them. When he turns, he sees that Yoongi is shaken by this, his eyes conflicted as he watches two of his classmates cease to exist, remembering exactly what kind of magic he’s just brought into the world.

But when one of the last Death Eaters attempts to cast another killing curse into the circle, hoping to get through, the fire seems to act not on Yoongi’s command but on his instinct -- and his instinct is to block it. The flames explode outward, concentrating into a wall of protection and destroying the curse. And then they reach further, snaking out to overpower the boy who’d cast the spell, consuming him and his plea for mercy.

There’s only one Death Eater left, standing just outside the circle. Yoongi locks eyes with him, sees the trembling boy staring back at him with fear. They see each other, remembering simultaneously all the times they’d eaten together at mealtimes and suffered together during exam season. They’d grown up together. Just how they’d ended up here, neither of them can recall in that moment, and it destroys whatever innocence they’d had left.

Yoongi finally looks out to the field, his eyes flicking quickly before returning to the Death Eater. The boy hesitates, eventually stepping back. After another moment, he turns, running for his life and never looking back.

When he’s gone, the ring of fire fades, the wall tumbling down until all that’s left is a ring of earth around them that’s been burned to a crisp. Yoongi crumbles then, falling to his knees and staring at nothing. Jimin and Hoseok rush to him, eyes scanning him in concern. They all remain silent, words unable to express what any of them are feeling. Finally, Yoongi lifts his head, still unable to lock eyes with anyone.

“Is everyone okay?” They don’t answer his question, Jin only scoffing in shell-shocked disbelief.

“Are you okay?” Yoongi looks at his best friend, and he knows Jin can see right through him. They all can. He doesn’t respond, and they fall to silence again. Surrounded by bodies and destruction, unable to comprehend what’s happened. Unable to fathom how inexplicably broken they’ve become.

Just when they’re ready to face each other -- when they’re ready to face the aftermath of this night together -- a howl rings out from the forest, pained and haunting. They all lift their heads to stare in exhaustion at the treeline, outlined perfectly by the light of a moon that isn’t full. Yoongi chuckles darkly, shaking his head as he rises slowly to his feet and dusts off his pants before turning to look at what's left of his home with a long sigh.

“This family’s a fucking mess.”

[i-will-physically-fight-you]

Are you going to finish the Tiny Virgil AU? Cause the last chapter ended on a cliffhanger. If you don't feel like finishing the whole thing, you could maybe give us bullet points of what was supposed to happen?

Ahaha whoops, I kinda forgot that fic. at the rate I'm going, it'll take like ten years for that or any of my other fics to get finished. Tbh, I actually have a whole outline for that one? Acantha (@theeternalspace) and I brainstormed the rest ages ago and then I took our thoughts and bullet-outlined it out.

The thing is? Like, emotionally I want to hold onto my thoughts and finish it, but if I am to be completely honest, realistically it probably won't happen. Because I wanna prioritize Gibbous over it and all.

so tldr: I'd like to write more installments, but in the case I never finish it and/or you don't care about spoilers, check the read more for what happens.

warnings: hurt/comfort, crying, morally grey sides (all sides are present so beware idk its been awhile im not up to date with how the fandom handles this sorta thing)

Chapter 5

Anx cant believe he forgot about Thomas!

He was so caught up in Creativity wanting to play with him, he's forgotten about his whole purpose

He goes to the real world, worried about all the things that could've befallen his host without his guidance

Anx is confused to be faced with adult Morality and another...side?

"Thomas?"

Thomas is big, Anx is not

This can't be real, can it? How can he protect Thomas like this?

Roman shows up, but the damage is dealt (Ro and Pat converse a bit)

Virge starts panicking and panics even more when he sees Thomas affected by it

Ro & Pat try to comfort Virge but no use

It's Thomas who gets to him. Who is...helping? Why?

"Wh-why are you so nice? I'm bad, I hurt you--I do bad things."

Thomas looks sad at that. He tries to explaining that he doesnt think Virge is bad, he can be good

Virge doesnt really understand but at the same time...Thomas loves him??

Thomas offers him a hug and he accepts it. Still so confused but at least his host loves him.

Chapter 6

Virgil ends up tuckered up in Thomas' arms

"Crying is exhausting, don't like it" He complains to Roman.

"I know. You've been very brave, little prince."

It's not that late but Thomas seems nervous. "I should go to bed." (Basically feels like if he doesnt adhere to his childhood bedtime, he'll get in trouble aka lil Virgil's influence)

Patton asks if he'd like for him to accompany him and Thomas nods

Roman and Virgil end up back in the mindscape with Patton promising to follow soon after

Roman tucks him into bed

Patton comes back, looking tired, and both Roman and Patton agree to talk with Logan in the morning about things

in the morning with Virgil still asleep, Lo, Pat and Ro talk briefly

Logan shares some theories (Age regression maybe?)

Patton tells them what's up with Thomas

Roman decides to bother the Dark Sides. "If this happened before in the past, they would know, wouldn't they? And if they're behind it this time then I can get them to stop it"

They decide to have Patton look out for Thomas again and for Logan to watch over Virgil while Roman ventures out to the Dark Sides

Chapter 7

Logan mulls over what is happening

Grateful that Thomas is going to bed early at least

He is not worried, he is Logic

Tries focusing hard on his book

Virgil wakes up, disappointed to see Logan and not Roman

Roman ventures through the dark mindscape

infodump detail on how it differs vs. the regular mindscape, quiet, silence nobody is around

"HELLO" Roman screams as his brother pops up

"What do I owe brother dear for this visit?"

Virgil is worried about Roman, but Logan placates him a bit

The two end up doing a puzzle

During which Virgil randomly hugs Logan

When Logan asks why, Virgil explains "You're scared. Hugs make me feel less scared"

Logan thanks him for the sentiment but insists he is not scared

"You're scared, I can feel it. It's okay, I get scared lots of times so you don't have to." Virgil says

And then Logan's fear dissipates

He stares at Virgil, shocked, because did tiny virge take his fear away??

And if so, if tiny virge knows how to do this, has adult Virgil been doing it without them knowing??

Chapter 8

"I know you did it" Roman growls. It makes sense really. Remus did random things for sh*t and giggles

Remus blinked "Oh! You found out about ____, didn't you?"

"What no!" Roman says, disgusted. "I'm talking about Virgil."

"Wait, you think I did it with Virgil? Mr. Emo?"

"NO!" Roman snaps. "Stop playing dumb!"

The two have a scuffle, ending up with Remus having a sword at Ro's throat (who is stuck in green goop)

"I really don't know what you mean." Remus says, "What is it exactly do you think I did again?"

Logic must hate him, Anx thinks, otherwise why would he be looking strangely at him?

but its okay, even if it really really really hurts, Anx has done it before and would do it again to keep from any of them feeling pain

He asks if Anx took his fear away and he nods

surely this must be a happy thing but Logic seems even more upset

the fear grappling tiny virge is foreign. It's so different than fears he's taken before. He finds himself drowning in it. he doesnt quite understand most of it. But there's fears about himself, Logic being scared for him, not of him. (basically oh boy adult fears are much harder to process for a child Anxiety)

Logic grips his hand and asks for his fears back

"I can't" Tiny Virge says, shaking like a leaf

Logan asks it again. Virge shakes his head "I can't, I--I don't know how!"

He really doesnt know how. Usually he just holds it all in until it explodes.

Logic echoes some of what the fear is telling him, that Logic cares for him. And weirdly, it means a lot for him to hear that Logic actually cares.

But noooo he must only care because of Thomas, right?

Anyways this is resolved somehow idk lmao and then Logan is called to help with Thomas

Virgil promises Lo he'll be okay, not wanting to stop him from being able to help their host

Logan promises he'll back momentarily

Virgil squeezes Zola and tries his best to stay calm

Previously on Rem and Ro

Roman spills the beans on whats up

Deadbeat silence

Remus then babbles about how he has no clue what Roman is talking about, but is super intrigued and wants to check this out for himself

He sinks out as Roman grabs onto his ankle, but isn't enough to stop him from sinking out.

Chapter 9

"Hiya!"

Little Anx squeaks, shadows gathering at his feet, ready to strike at....

A Green-Dressed Creativity? He dresses fancily like him.

"Princey?"

Green laughs. "No, I'm The Duke! Princey's my brother!"

And Lil Virge is kinda confused but rolls with it because Creativity pretending to be someone else/splitting himself into two is a very Creativity thing to do and isn't too worried about it.

Roman shows up, fuming

However, because of Virgil, he has to play nice

They end up having a pretend tea party

Roman finds himself shocked that Remus is decent with kids? Or at least a Kid Anxiety??

He still says outrageous things but Virge giggles at them (Basically kids really have no baseline for moral right-or-wrong, they find talk of murder funny)

Roman feels a bit guilty/regretful realizing he never played much with Remus growing up

Eventually, Logan pops up slightly frazzled

He's relieved to see the twins there looking after Virgil

Explains the situation w/ Thomas to Roman while Remus and Virgil play

Patton pops up, looking slightly weary, leading Roman and Logan to insist he take a day off from watching Thomas

Upon seeing Logan & Patton, Virgil runs up to hug Logan, but shies away from Patton

Patton tries to hide his disappointment about this

Remus tries to leave upon seeing Lo and Pat are here

but Virge clings to him, insisting he stays

The Others agree, and Remus perks up a bit.

Somewhere, there's a discussion about Virge again, late at night?

Logan reveals Virgil taking fears from him

At some point it's decided to leave Janus out of it as it's unknown how little Virge would react to him and the fact that Janus most likely knows what's up and has chosen to stay out of it

It's decided that Remus and Roman will traverse the Imagination to see if there's a solution there

Logan will be with Thomas

Meanwhile Patton will look after Virgil

Chapter 10

Patton's POV

Little Virge is upset about both Remus and Roman leaving

they try to placate him but it does little. (Telling him how they'll stay safe and they don't want him going because they want to keep him safe)

Patton's heart breaks but he has to holds back Virge.

Eventually the two have heart-to-heart

Apparently the two had a classic childhood spat, that means a lot to Virge even tho poor Pat doesnt remember the spat at all.

Pat tells them they're the best of friends now, even shows him evidence

Virge feels a little better

Sees a snake stuffy in Pat's room, asks about Dee

Patton deflects

The two end up making cookies together

The Imagination is a bust, although the twins return squabbling in a good mood

And Remus has a "present" for Virgil, who delights in it.

They chat, when suddenly Virgil screams

Chapter 11

Virgil's POV

He's been trying his best to stay calm, to hold back the anxiety gained from Logan and also the other fears swelling inside of him

But it's too much, and push comes to shove. A burning sensation occurs

And it explodes

He has a panic attack and realizes it extends into the real world

Overwhelmed and upset, he runs off.

He runs off to his hideaway and sits there

Getting bombarded with fears

He's there for what feels like hours when--

"Oh my dear Anxiety" A crooning, unfamiliar yet familiar voice says

Virgil looks, surprised, to see Deceit!! There's a lot more scales and he's wearing a funny outfit but it's him

He is happy to see him albeit sobbing into his capelet because of what happened.

Dee holds onto him going, “Shhhh everything’s alright. Shhh it’s not your fault. It’s my fault, I’m sorry—“ and Virgil interrupts shrieking it can’t be his fault, because in his mind Dee would never do anything bad and it hurts Dee to know that young Virge has so much faith in him.

"You'll hate me" But Little Virge refuses to accept that. "You're lying, you don't mean that"

"Okay, you caught me. "We stay best friends forever" OR something along those lines

Dee convinces him to bring back to the others, that they don't hate him

When they return, the others "freaking out" is a mild understatement.

Dee slowly produces tiny Virge out of his capelet.

Hisses at them to keep their distance because crowding Virge will only freak him out

Apologies and misunderstandings are made clear

Thomas summons all of them and they all have a sleepover

Virgil falls asleep snuggled between Remus and Dee

Chapter 12

Maybe Roman's POV?

Along with Thomas, they have a discussion

Dee waits a bit, before revealing that he's behind the reason for Virge's current state.

As his role Deceit, he has access to both truth and lies. One lie is that Virgil believes his kid self died and is no longer a part of him--attempting to actively repress those memories

He then points out the childish aspects of each side's function. (Maybe Logan input something about growing up and stuff)

P: "But why would Virgil think this?" J: "oh gee, I wonder why. It isn't like he was made to feel like an outcast from a very young age or anything"

Instant Guilt for all

Anyways Dee explains some mishap occurred, thus reverting Virgil back to this state

You get the sense Janus isn't telling the whole truth.

Janus says he has a way to fix things, and that's when there's a noise

"Anx?"

Virge is there, standing incredibly still, slightly heavy breathing

"Anx, it's okay, we're not upset"

Little Virge heard everything and is upset but he understands

He knows Thomas needs big him, and the others reassure him that they'll be there for him, each having a small moment with him

Then he starts glowing brightly, causing them all to be alarmed, Janus included

Chapter 13

Virgil is back and boiiiiiii is he freaked the heck out

The Others including Thomas are all there, F*CK how can he ever recover after they saw him like that?

He's both embarrassed and mortified

Not to mention it hurts to have two sets of childhood memories rattling inside his head. One that was lonely and painful, and the other that was happy but fake

He snaps at Janus and ends up fleeing in his room

He doesn't duck out

He cant do that

He just doesnt....go out. He doesn't want to hear the jokes start. He doesnt want the babying or the pitying to start.

He does his job and that is that.

(inwardly he knew this would happen, but not like this)

They try summoning him (Thomas included) but he wont come out. His door is locked.

Patton slips a note under the door but Virge refuses to look at it.

Blares MCR

Somehow Zola appears in his room, and he'd like to tear it apart or something, but he can't help but squeeze the stuffed bat tight and cry for the childhood that never was.

A week passes, and there's a very sad prince at his door

Virgil ends up letting him in because look, he's not a monster

it's very...awkward at first

but they eventually have a heart-to-heart and some snarky banter

and Virgil is very confused when Princey feels the need to apologize to him

They also discuss Janus and Virgil very reluctantly agrees to talk to him

Virgil ends up talking with Janus over tea

Janus doesn't really look at him, staring at his teacup as he explains himself

and dammit, Janus has hurt him (but then again so has Virgil hurt Janus)

But a part of him really misses him. A part of him that has always missed him.

Janus explains he just wanted to know where he went wrong in their friendship, that he went the round-about way because knew Virgil wouldn't talk to him but messed with things he shouldnt and accidentally caused Virgil to revert to the age before their friendship started fraying by accident.

He admits that he almost wanted to leave Virgil that age, to take advantage of it as a way to start again, but ultimately couldnt let himself take advantage of virgil in that way

He also apologizes, telling Virgil "Showing weakness isn't bad. I told you once that you had to stay strong and not let anyone see it, but I was wrong" and that he understands if Virgil doesnt accept his apology right away or if ever

And Virgil doesnt completely accept, not yet, but he's willing to try

It ends happily with them going down to dinner with the others. (possibly Virgil having moments with the others??)

the end

BONUS, Written Scene from Chapter 11 w/ Virge's and Janus's reunion because I was self-indulgent and wrote ahead

“Oh my dear Anxiety,” A silky voice croons, so achingly familiar.

He sniffles, raising his head to meet eyes with the much older face of his best friend; Deceit. It has to be, there is no other side whose left side of face is reptilian in nature. He’s crouching beside Virgil, only one set of arms present at the moment. He’s wearing a funny outfit, but then Deceit has always dressed funny, just like Creativity. Neither of them have ever been worried about standing out.

“Dee!” Anxiety cries out, all but flinging himself onto the older side. The velocity of it flattens the two onto the ground, with Deceit letting a small grunt from the impact. He’d be more worried about possibly hurting Deceit if he wasn’t too busy bawling his eyes out into the strange cape Deceit is wearing.

Deceit strokes his hair, so soft and gentle. Then two sets of arms hoist Anxiety upwards, settling him onto Deceit’s lap. Deceit hugs Anxiety, cocooning him in a warm embrace. For a moment, everything feels normal again. As if they’re all kids still and Anxiety had sought Deceit for comfort after a bad nightmare.

Then Deceit speaks, saying words meant to be comforting. They are comforting at first, until Deceit says things that don’t make sense. And Anxiety knows Deceit is a liar, that he says things that aren’t true. But he knows when Deceit isn’t lying. They’re best friends after all.

“Shhh, it’ll be alright. Shhh, it’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s not your fault. It’s mine. I hurt you and I’m--”

“No!”

“No?” Deceit repeats.

“No, it--it--you didn’t do anything bad, you wouldn’t!” Anxiety says, nearly shrieking, “You’d never, ever, hurt me. We’re best friends and best friends don’t do that.”

A strange, choking noise erupts from Deceit. Anxiety looks to see Deceit’s human eye glistening. His best friend’s lips quiver, like Anxiety gets when he gets too scared to speak. Except Deceit is never scared. He always knows what to say in a situation, confident in ways Anxiety could never be.

“Oh, I’ve forgotten what you were like at this age,” Deceit whispers, so low that Anxiety thinks he wasn’t meant to hear it. Then Deceit shakes his head, a weird laugh escaping him. “You’re going to hate me, Anx. Or rather, you’re going to hate me more after this is all over.”

“You’re lying,” Anxiety accuses, his fingers tightening around the fabric of Deceit’s cloak, “You don’t mean that. I love you, Dee, you’re my best friend and--and...Big Me is still best friends with you, right?!”

Deceit inhales sharply, as if there’s something stuck in his throat. Before Anxiety can even grow concerned for his well being, he breaths out a long dramatic sigh.

He rolls his eyes, smirking, “Alright, you caught me.”

“I did?”

“Yes. I was only lying to scare you out of crying,” Deceit assures him, “I didn’t mean to scare you into thinking we weren’t best friends still. Of course we are.”

“G-good,” Anxiety huffs, “don’t scare me like that, Dee, I don’t like it!”

“I won’t do it again, I promise,” Deceit says, his smirk fading a bit as he takes on a somber expression, “it still isn’t your fault for what happened, Virg--Anxiety. Neither I or any of the others think it is. They certainly despise you for it.”

“Despise?” Anxiety’s heart jumps a bit, “Oh! You mean...you’re saying...they don’t despise me?”

“I don’t know,” Deceit raises an eyebrow, “Why don’t you try reaching out? See what their fears tell you.”

Anxiety closes his eyes, sticking his tongue out in concentration. If he thinks super hard, he can envision everyone's fears like spider webs, branching all over the mindscape, interconnected in some ways and in others, completely disconnected in each side's little corner.

And he is the itsy bitsy spider, that scuttles about and maintains the webs to some degree. Because a little bit of fear is good, it helps keep Thomas alive. So he traces the webs and searching for what Dee suggested. There is one thread present, in every nook and cranny of the web, he searches, even in the splinter-offs. One fear that repeats and loops through the whole network that he has never seen before.

"Oh." Anxiety breathes, eyes widening. They're not afraid of him. They're afraid for him, worried about his safety and wellbeing. Anxiety doesn't know what to think of that.

[adaodinson]

Would she?

Here´s the second part of Would she? I´ve had some free time and got the inspiration to write it. And one thing, I mention a movie called “Wolfwalkers” during the story, I highly recommend it, it´s a beautiful and artistic but deep animated movie.

Again, I´ll leave the translations to the Spanish words and phrases at the end of each phrase.

Relationship: Marcus Moreno x Fem Mexican reader (it is in English and most of the dialogues are too, her being Mexican is more about the story)

Summary: You are having dinner with the Morenos for the first time and a feeling of both nervousness and excitement covers both yours and Marcus´ body.

Warnings: Age gap, reader is Mexican, some swearing.

Part 2

Part 3

You woke up at the feeling of a small certain creature jumping to your stomach and purring softly. You blinked many times trying to get used to the light of the day and spotted your cat Wolfie staring at you. You turned around to see the time and as you saw your clock, you basically jumped out of bed scaring the living crap out of your cat. You weren´t used to the way your furniture was arranged in your new apartment, so it took a few more seconds than usual for you to find the bathroom.

-Shit, shit, shit- you said acknowledging it was 2 in the afternoon and realizing you wouldn´t have time to do everything you had planned to do. You had bumped into Missy for the second time yesterday and she had quickly told you dinner would be at 7 the next day, since earlier she hadn´t told you at what time you would be expected.

You had offered to bring dessert and you had planned making your famous chocolate chip cookies (famous between your family and friends, obviously) but you were waking up insanely late and still had to go out and buy all the ingredients. You hurried to the store and the second you got back home you started with the dough. While the cookies were in the oven, you went to your room to decide what you would wear. It was a simple dinner, you had no reason to be this nervous but you were. You cursed at the feeling that strange man caused on you and wondered how you would be able to make it through the whole dinner without imploding in your seat in front of the nice girl and handsome guy.

A pair of jeans, black boots, a white blouse with long sleeves and no shoulders and your favorite leather jacket. Simple but perfect. You looked in the mirror with satisfaction. Sure you had some insecurities about your body and face, but you were working very hard on loving yourself as you were, and with all honesty, you liked how you looked on that outfit. You got the cookies out of the oven and took a shower. Once you finished, you put on a light makeup and got dressed. It was 6o´clock and you only had to put the cookies in a plate and wait till it was time to go.

Marcus had woken up pretty early, he was a nerve rack not only because he would get to talk to you that same day, but because he had to make dinner himself and had no idea how he would pull that off without setting his house on fire or ending up ordering food and plating it to make it seem he had made it.

He decided he would try to make something simple so that he could put more effort into it: a pasta and some salad. How hard could it be? He had been stuck in his mind for so long he didn´t realize it was almost 3 and he still had to buy what he needed, so he asked Missy if she was decent enough to go to the supermarket and got ready to go.

She joked around reminding him all the things he had done in the kitchen that deserved their own TV show for how unique and disastrous they were.

-That time when you broke the whole carton of eggs in the sink instead of the bowl, or when you were making pasta but forgot the water so it got caught on fire. Oh or when instead of vinegar for the dressing you used vanilla- She said not being able to hold back the tears from how hard she was laughing-

-Ha ha ha ha you´re very funny. But really, I need your help, I don´t want to mess this up- He said as he pushed the car through the fruit aisle.

-I will help you, remember I like her too, I don´t want her to have to move again because her crazy neighbor made some pasta sauce explode on her- They both laughed all the way back to the car after buying everything. Rushing back to the house they started preparing everything.

They took turns so that one could be cooking and the other getting changed and ready. Things looked pretty good, nothing smelled weird, the kitchen was still standing, no vanilla and vinegar had been mixed up. Everything seemed perfect, almost too good to be true.

It was time, finally. You hugged your cat and asked him to wish you luck. He just lovingly stared at you and you took that as a good thing.

You were carrying the cookie plate and your bag while you locked the door behind you. You looked at both sides of the street before crossing and in a matter of seconds you were in front of the Moreno´s house. You took a deep breath and knocked on the door before your fear could stop you.

A shorter head peeked through the door as the owner of it opened it. Missy received you with a bright smile.

-Hi! Welcome- she said as she moved from the door to let you in.

-Hi Missy, how are you?- you said as you walked inside. It was a beautiful house, not too big but with enough room for two to three people. It was simply decorated but with a clear style and it smelled amazing.

-I´m good, thanks. This is my dad- She said as she pointed at the tall man standing next to you that for some reason you hadn´t seen. You looked at him and you swear you had to swallow a freaking moan from how gorgeous he was.

-Hello, I´m Marcus- he said as he extended his hand for you to shake.

-Hi Marcus- you said and then told him your name as you reached out for his hand.

-Welcome to the neighborhood and to our house- he said with a small chuckle. God, he swore you were glowing. You seemed so perfect, with your bright eyes and precious smile. He though your name suited you perfectly and he just couldn’t take his eyes off of you.

-Thank you so much for everything, it has been pretty hard for me to settle with the small amount of time I´ve lived here, but it´s amazing to know already I have such nice neighbors- you had no idea where that came form but you thanked your brain for coming up with it and your mouth for being able to say it so well.

Both looked at you with the same smile shining in their lips. They were so alike in certain ways.

They showed you around the first floor and then guided you to the dining room where the food was resting ready to be eaten. It all looked amazing.

-This smells amazing- you said happily.

-I hope you like it- Marcus said with a hint of fear in his tone.

-Be glad if you do- Missy said with a smirk and Marcus hit her playfully in the shoulder.

The three of you sat down and Marcus served all of you a generous portion of red pasta and salad. You stared down at your plate and smiled for yourself. You all started talking about your day as you tried the salad. Missy shared some stories of how Marcus had failed in the kitchen before and you shared crazy stories about your family. Like that one time when you got stuck at a parking place because your uncle that happened to be about ten blocks away had kept the car keys and the place was about to close; or that time when your parents were still dating (you weren´t born) and your mom drove you dad´s car into a pool by accident. As you told that last story Marcus laughed so hard some of his drink came out from his nose just like Violet in the Incredibles 2. Missy and you laughed so hard your stomaches ached.

It was time to try the pasta. Carefully, you used your fork to grab some of it and put it in your mouth. You had expected it to be an only tomato pasta, apparently it had peppers too, but since you were Mexican you were used to spicy and you loved it. You thought for a second you hadn´t told Missy where you came from, so you guessed they liked spicy too.

-JESUS NOOOOO WHAAAT- you jumped so high you almost saw the lamp that hanged from the celling in front of you. You looked at Missy who stood up from her seat and basically ran screaming through the kitchen looking for water.

Marcus´ face was covered in red and he looked at you with a strange look.

-You want milk for spicy sweetie! I´m so so so sorry, how are you not dying?- he asked looking at you. Okay now you were quite confused.

-What?- you said.

-Well the pasta, I mixed up some of the tomatoes with peppers and it´s spicy as hell. I´m used to spicy because of my mom but Missy isn´t- he stared down at you with a disappointed look in his face, but also a puzzled one. Why didn´t you react like Missy? Why didn’t you spit out the disgusting thing he had made?

-Marcus- you said with a soft chuckle- I´m Mexican, I adore spicy food and I´m used to eating it too, I loved the flavor of your pasta, it´s amazing. I didn’t tell Missy where I come from, so I assumed you guys liked spicy too and that had been why you made it like this. I honestly love this pasta.

Marcus looked at you and he swore he would never let you go, even if it was just as a friend, he wanted you around.

Without thinking and letting his arms move on their own, Marcus reached out for you and trapped you in a hug. He was as shocked as you were, but even more when you locked your arms on his shoulders hugging him back.

-¿Hablas en serio?- (Are you serious?) He asked softly wanting to know if what you were saying was true.

-Claro que hablo en serio- (Of course I´m serious) You answered quietly with a perfect Spanish pronunciation and a hint of laughter in your voice. You both stayed like that for what seemed forever until Missy came back and coughed softly.

-Are you done you fools? Or do you have another plan for almost killing me and then celebrating with a hug?- She asked with a serious look at first, but breaking into laughter at the middle of the sentence. The two of you split not daring to look at the other one because of the embarrassment.

-I´m gonna go get changed because I spilled half of the water I used before SOMEONE decided to tell me milk was better for spicy- she said as she walked upstairs.

You took another bite of your pasta and smiled at the memory it gave you about Mexico.

-So- you said swallowing what you were eating- Missy told me your job keeps you away from her a lot, what do you do?- you asked.

Marcus hadn’t thought about whether or not he would tell you about his job. He now knew you didn´t know anything about the Heroics because you weren´t from around, but he also knew you would eventually find out and, honestly, he preferred to be the one to answer all the questions you could have rather that you looking it up.

-I´m what we call a Heroic, I basically fight to defend people when needed- You did not see that one coming. Some people had mentioned the Heroics and you had seen things about them in the TV, but Marcus being one of them… it was AMAZING.

-WHAAAT YOU´RE A HEROIC?- that came out way louder than what you had planned. He smiled and nodded.

-So you´ve heard about us?-

-Well of course, but you´re one of them?!- that was too much for you, this man was perfect- So you have like a superpower or what?- You said expecting him to laugh and saying you were ridiculous.

-Yep, I can control metal, basically- he said amused at your reaction.

-WHAAAAT you mean like Magneto?!-

He laughed out loud at your comparison and with a gaze he invited you to lift your unused spoon for a demonstration. You did as he asked and with all the surprise of the world, you saw the utensil leave your hand and land on Marcus´.

-NOOOOOO THAT´S SO COOL- you said, and without thinking you stood from your seat, ran towards him and grabbed his hand to examine it. You both felt an electric current run through your fingers as you touched, but trying to ignore that, you carefully looked at each one of his fingers and traced them in a gentle way that made him melt.

He sat quietly and let you examine his hands. He was dying on the inside though. He was so amazed by your reaction and he even let himself run his eyes through you now that you were busy. He saw your hair falling at your side, it looked so soft he felt the need to touch it but held back. He ran his eyes through your back and landed his gaze on your ass for a few seconds but he scolded himself and looked away. He turned his gaze back at your head and to your face. You were looking at him as if he was the most amazing piece of art you had ever seen, and his heart sunk at the sight. He traced your nose and your rosy cheeks, then your lips and subconsciously he licked his.

Missy had been observing you two for about five minutes and was between amused and consumed by a tender feeling. You were going to have an amazing long-lasting friendship, or if life smiled at the three of you, a beautiful and romantic relationship that she had already decided she completely supported.

She decided it was time to interrupt though, she would offer you to watch a movie as you ate the cookies you had brought, and she did.

-Okay I´m sure there is a perfect explanation for why you guys are like that, but instead of giving me nervous unfinished sentences, let´s choose a movie to watch while we eat dessert- Marcus and you both stared into each other´s eyes for a few seconds with clear embarrassment and slowly walked away from each other. You were already missing the other´s touch.

You all finished eating dinner, and after washing the dishes you decided to watch a new movie that came out called “Wolfwalkers”.

-Oh my God, these are amazing- Marcus said with a pretty surprised look in his face as he tried one of your cookies.

-They really are, wow- Missy responded with the same surprise as her father.

-Thank you guys, I´m glad you liked them. I love making them so anytime you want some just call me-

-We don´t have your number- Missy said quickly before any of you changed the subject.

-Oh that´s right- you said as you took the piece of paper Missy was handing you and you wrote down your number. Missy gave a discreet wink to her father while you were focused on your task and he just smiled at his daughter.

The three of you sitting on the couch, eating cookies and crying over the beautiful movie after an afternoon of laughing and hugging. It was perfect. You were dying to know what your future with the Morenos would be like.

[ckret2]

The 18th Most Horrible X-Mas Ever

Hey have an Invader Zim fanfic, merry Christmas.

###

The warning sirens wailed first, followed shortly by the announcement broadcast to every corner of the city: “YOU BETTER WATCH OUT... YOU BETTER WATCH OUT... YOU BETTER WATCH OUT...”

Most buildings stood dark and streets lay empty. Almost everyone had already evacuated to the underground bunkers except for a few desperate last-minute holiday shoppers, packed into the few open malls and big box stores, snatching gifts off shelves in a haze of terror and frantic holiday cheer.

As the sirens cut through the store speakers’ Christmas pop songs, shoppers scrambled over each other to escape and terrified retail employees crouched behind their cash registers to avoid the customers’ wrath. The stragglers smuggled their gifts under their clothes and watched the skies fearfully as they ran to the nearest bunker entrances.

But it wasn’t until a jolly red light began flashing on the cold gray horizon that the hangars around the edge of the city began opening to unleash the mecha.

“I want you to know I hate y—mpgh!” Dib’s face got shoved into the side of the Krampus 3000 as Zim scrambled on Pak legs over him to get into the mecha’s access hatch first. Dib rubbed his jaw, then scrambled up the built-in ladder twice as fast. “I really, really hate you, Zim!”

“Yes, yes of course you do!” Zim’s voice echoed from somewhere deep inside the mecha’s head. He was probably already making his way to the gunner seat in the chest. “You only remind me EVERY YEAR.”

“And it gets MORE TRUE every year!” Dib slammed the hatch shut and dropped heavily into the pilot’s seat, flipping the switches to power up his station. By the time the hologram display popped up showing Zim in the gunner seat, he’d already removed his human disguise and was plugging himself into the heavily-customized weapon instrument panel via the cybernetic implants he’d added to his temples. Dib pointed accusatorially at hologram Zim, “We should have been booted up and ready to launch long before the sirens started! If you hadn’t delayed us because you wanted to finish whatever stupid pet project you’re working on now—!”

“The time for bickering is over, human!” Zim snapped. “Reports out of Japan said that the Santa is seventy percent larger than we anticipated this year, and he’ll have only gained mass as he swept west. We’ve got to prepare for a worst case scenario.”

Dib groaned, his forehead thunking down on the Krampus 3000′s pilot controls. “Dad promised we’d have exterminated Santa in five years. I’m almost thirty. Why am I still fighting Santa. Why is this my life.”

“Why are you asking me?!” Zim demanded. “It’s your planet’s stupid EvilSanta Loving Federation that sabotaged your paternal unit’s plan!”

“I hate the E.L.F.,” Dib mumbled into the controls. “But not as much as I hate you.”

“Head up, Dib-filth. I need you focused on not being too stupid a pilot for me to demonstrate Krampus 3000′s full potential with the weapons system.”

Dib raised his head, glowering at hologram Zim. “I’m a great pilot.”

“Hah! Sure you are.”

“I swear, Zim, if you weren’t the best gunner available...”

Smugly, Zim said, “If I wasn’t, Santa would have flattened your planet by now.”

Dib grumbled a reluctant acknowledgment.

The massive screens around Dib booted up, ran through a quick diagnostics, and then switched to showing the hangar around them and the opening doors. The red flashing on the horizon illuminated half the sky. The jingling of millions of sleigh bells crackled like thunder. Dib shivered in fear.

There was a beep as a second hologram opened up, a transmission from the ground commander to the mecha units. “All right, it’s T-minus two minutes until the vanguard of Santa’s troops is expected to hit the city. It’s gonna be bigger than we anticipated, but I’ve trained you for this. Remember your training! If any one of you acts like a newb out there and I’m forced to remotely assume control of your unit, you will be paying for your incompetence until next Christmas. Dib?!”

Dib flinched down in his seat. “Yes, commander?”

Gaz pointed directly at him. “Do. Not. Disappoint. Me.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Okay. Remember, troops! Santa might step on you, but I can make it hurt so much more personally. Make me proud! Gingerbread cookies when you get back.”

There were weak cheers from the other pilots and gunners. As the boot up sequence completed and Dib directed the Krampus 3000 to take the first lumbering steps out of the hangar, he heard Zim mutter, “Oh, Gir loves when I bring those thingies home.”

“Now go kick his jolly red butt!” Gaz’s transmission closed.

"Okay, what's out strategy?" Dib asked.

"Same as last year! Head for Rudolph!" Its massive antlers, a twisted bramble of steel girders, were just visible over the horizon. “I still want back that big red power core the E.L.F. stole from me.”

If they brought down Rudolph, they’d be the heroes of the year—and make up for last year’s devastating blunder. Dib punched the controls forward and the Krampus 3000 charge ahead of the others, heading for the source of the ominous red glow. “Okay, fine, but this time no severing the reins connecting Rudolph to the others! You remember what happened last year?”

Zim shuddered. “Hey, cutting the power cables from Rudolph’s power core to the other eight mecha-moose was a great strategy! How was I supposed to know it would make Rudolph nine times stronger?”

“They’re robo-reindeer, Zim. Reindeer.”

“Oh, whatever!”

Rudolph apparently recognized them. As soon as his mechanical, white, dead eyes locked on the Krampus 3000, he let out a ground-shaking bellow and charged forward, dragging the other eight reindeer along with him. Dib grabbed for his antlers to keep him from snapping at their mecha’s face while Zim unloaded a barrage of plasma missiles into Rudolph’s chest.

“Get the thing!” Zim shrieked.

“The what?!” Dib leaned back in his seat as Rudolph’s titanium teeth snapped seemingly inches from his face. No doubt he was just a few feet from Krampus’s nose.

“The thing! The thing! It’s right in front of you! The glowy!”

“Rudolph’s nose?!”

“YES!”

“If I let go of his antlers he’ll eat me!”

“So?! The Gaz can take control from you!”

“Do you really want her judging your shooting while she pilots?!”

“... Ehh...”

Dib managed to twist Rudolph’s head sideways hard enough to make him stumble off balance and got him in a headlock. “HA!” He grasped with his free arm at Rudolph’s nose as the robo-reindeer flailed in his grip.

“Hey! Dib! Pay attention! Comet and Dancer coming up on our... eh...” From the corner of his eye, Dib could see Zim pulling out the analogue clock he referred to when he had to give human directions. “Ten o’clock and two o’clock!”

“So shoot them!”

“I am!” The rumbling of constant laser fire echoed from up both sides of Krampus 3000′s torso. “They’ve upgraded their armor! It’s barely scratching their paint! We need to retreat!”

“Not... until... I...” With one more wild flail, Dib got Krampus’s mitt around the tip of Rudolph’s muzzle. With a hard twist, he ripped out the power core. “YES!”

“We got it?! HA! We got it! Zim reigns triumphant over—”

“I did all the work.”

“ZIM REIGNS TRIUMPHANT!” Dancer headbutted them over. “Oh, the other mecha-moose have independent power sources this year.”

Dib desperately tried to kicked out Dancer’s knees. “You don’t say!” A spray of fireworks from one of Krampus’s arm cannons was enough to blind Comet, who tripped over Dancer as the Krampus 3000 scrambled back and got to his feet again. Dib turned the mecha’s head as he scanned the battlefield, checking on how the other mecha were faring against the reindeer—and froze, jaw dropped in horror.

Santa dominated the horizon, his massive twisted white beard like the snowy peak of a mountain. “Oh, this is—This is so much worse than Japan warned us.”

“Where did he find so much Christmas cheer?” Zim asked, voice nearly soft with horror. “The E.L.F. couldn’t have dug out this many bunkers for him!”

“Maybe they’ve started manufacturing it,” Dib said grimly. “The rumors of the stronghold they’ve built at the North Pole—”

“Of course! Rrgh! I knew we should’ve investigated it back in October! You said the idea was stupid.”

“No, I said you’d have to be stupid to think I was going to let you seize control of a stronghold like—”

Rudolph bit Krampus’s wrist. Dib screamed in shock and started punching his face. “He’s going for his nose! He’s going for his nose!”

Zim fired off a missile twice the diameter of Rudolph’s eye, exploding his entire head.

Dib stumbled back, clutching the power core close to Krampus’s chest as the robo-reindeer paused to survey their fallen ruler. “Thanks! Wow! I didn’t know we had that thing!”

“I was hoping to save it send it through Santa’s stupid gelatinous heart!” Zim said. “But I don’t think it’s going to do any good now.”

"Probably not.” Dib stared up at the mountain. “Look at him. We might just have to hold him back while the city evacuates. Even if we take out the rest of the reindeer, I don’t think we’re going to stand a chance.”

“Oh ye of little faith in Zim.”

“Oh no.” Dib glanced over at the hologram. “You have a backup plan, don’t you.”

“Remember when you were complaining about my ‘delaying’ you?” Zim said, casually pulling some sort of controller out of his Pak. “Something about my ‘stupid pet project’?”

“Please tell me you don’t have a backup plan. Tell me you didn’t.”

Zim’s smirk said he did. “Why don’t you turn around?”

Dib realized most of the other mecha had already turned back to face the city. Slowly, he joined them.

A dozen hamsters twice as tall as the city’s highest skyscrapers were dragging themselves out of the ground like zombies out of their graves. Metal reindeer antlers were jammed into their skulls, the lights on the tips flashing red and green as they received the transmissions from Zim’s controller.

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes.” Zim chuckled wickedly. “I call them Mega Ultra Peepis. Or—for this battle—Krampus’s Little Helpers.”

“Ohhh no.”

Zim lifted up his controller. “Oh, Little Helpers?” he said. “It is time for you to fulfill the glorious purpose that ZIM has given you! Come! Join the battle against the Santa!”

With murderous hisses, the hamsters charged toward the battlefield, mouths open wide and yellow teeth gleaming.

Dib really, really hoped they were going for Santa instead of the mecha.

###

Fic crossposted to AO3, link to the fic in the source of this post and link to my AO3 in my blog description. If you’d like to drop me a tip, link’s also in my description. Merr crimmus.

[lunermagick-sims4]

Griselda’s Story Part 12

  Griselda has been training hard every day with Lilith. She finally has become a prime vampire, she does not get tired easily anymore when using her vampire powers and now only get about an hour of sleep.  This will make it easier for school and to be able to keep a job, until her side business make better profit. The other thing about being a prime vampire is the sun will no longer bother her, so she can enjoy sunny weather again.  Griselda was thinking she would have to take a trip to the jungle sometime, she is so excited that she can now explore places like that. Griselda was playing with Storm when she heard a knock at the door.  Storm stopped playing and went to the door with her.  She opened it and there was her friends, Emilie and Gemma. Today was Laghnasadh today or the other name Lammas.  It is one of the first of the three harvest festival for witches, the other two are Autumn Equinox and Samhain which is known as Halloween.  Laghnasadh is a huge feast with family and friends getting together.  We bake breads to show the importance of the harvest.  This is the last holiday of summer as well.  Griselda feels sad that summer is coming to an end but is happy to see autumn come as well.  Autumn leaves are beautiful  in colour along with the holidays that come with  fall,   Which brings excitement as well. “Hey guys come in” the girls come in and they were chatting away about their flight.  Emilie was talking about how her broom kept pushing power and she almost fell off a few times. Griselda knows the feeling, her broom has given her a hard time as well, seems no matter what level you are at.  Griselda cut in on their conversation. “Oh, Emilie mine likes to give me a hard time too! They do seem to have a mind of their own,” Gemma says.  “Yes! Brooms are named for a reason because they have personality.” All three girls laughed. They went over to the table to sit down.  It’s been a few days since she has been to Glimmerbrook, so it was nice they came to visit her on this holiday. “How have you guys been?” Gemma pipped up. “Amazing! I got a crush.” Griselda could tell she was just exploding to tell. “He is so dreamy.” Griselda smiled, she was happy for her friend until she heard the name. “Ren Ember is so dreamy.  He very kind too.” Griselda felt her stomach tighten. “Gemma I think it just a crush.  Ren is pretty quiet and to himself.” Emilie said.  Griselda stayed pretty quiet, she figured he would never go for Gemma because she is a teenager just like her. “Gemma, you will know if he the right one. With your brother and I, it felt like we were drawn to each other. There was no one else. Just him and I when we are together.”

Griselda remember feeling that way with Ren, the two of them could just talk and forget the world. Griselda wanted to be with him all the time but right now that was not going to happen. “Someday we will.  I have talked to him a bit. He seems interested.”Gemma said. Emilie smiled at her. “You will have to see” Emilie looked over to Griselda.  “Do you know Ren well? I think I saw a photo of the two of you!” She looked over at the computer deck. “Oh we are good friends he been helping me with my magic.” Gemma got all excited. “Wait you are close to Ren?” She sounded more excited then she should. “Oh Gemma. We do not talk now much.” Gemma looked at the photo then. “Why the photo?” Griselda shrugged. Emilie smiled at her. “You have any crushes?” Griselda mind raced, what should I say?  “Ah, well..” Griselda stumbled trying to think of something. “There is a couple I think are pretty cute. One, we are figuring things out but right now we are off..” Ren and her are not done talking so it is the truth. “But there is a guy here.” Griselda figured if she gave them more then the first guy they would not ask. “Caleb Vatore, he is a vampire that just lives down the road here. His sister is helping me train.” Gemma was the first to say something. “I am happy you are finding someone and that other guy does not know what he is losing. You are an amazing person and if he does not see it then it is his loss.” Griselda smiled.  If only you knew it was the same guy you are crushing on you would not be saying that to me. She would be going nuts if she knews he was living next door. Griselda fidgeted in her chair. “Let go watch a movie for a bit while some of the baking goods are cooking in the oven.” Both girls thought it would be a good idea. They watched a movie for a bit but they all just kept talking through it. “Did you know L.Faba had twins?” Emilie said to Griselda  while she was checking on the goods. She was making weed chocolate chip cookies.  She chuckled to herself, everyone will be in for a surprise. “No! I never knew she was pregnant!” Gemma piped up “again no one knows who the dad is. Her oldest is a cutie.  Mom and I had to go to her place so I got to met her oldest boy and saw the twins. She seems very happy.” Griselda was thinking what she may have for a child. She only wanted one. If she had a beautiful little girl she wanted her to have scarlet hair. If she had a boy she wanted him to look like the father. Once the cookies were done she called to them “come try them while they were hot and fresh out of the oven.” Everyone came over and took a cookie.  Griselda smiled and took a bite out of her cookie.  “Let the games begin,” She thought to herself. This will be the best holiday ever to see her friends just a little high. They all went back to the movie, then Emilie started laughing for no apparent reason. “What is so funny?” Gemma asked.  “I don’t know, I just felt like laughing.” Gemma laughed at her. “Just to let you guy know I put something special in the cookies.” Gemma looked at Griselda,  “like blood?” Griselda gave her a look. “No! Weed.”  Both girls looked at Griselda. “You did what?” Griselda smiled. “You’re welcome.” Both girls busted out laughing and Griselda joined them. All they did was laugh and talked about the boys they liked, all other concerns disappear for the time being.  Griselda enjoyed her holiday with the girlfriends.

Griselda went over to the Vatore’s place for training day and when she got there she was greeted by Caleb. “Hey Caleb, Where  is Lilith today? I am all ready for training lesson.” Caleb smiled,  “you have me today.  Lilith is a little under the weather so I am filling in for her today.” Griselda was surprised. “Oh I hope she feel better.  Umm.. you do not have to train me.  I can wait another day if your are to busy.” Caleb laughed.  “Oh no! I love to train with you today.  It will be fun.” He gave her a cunning smile.  “I promise.” He winked at her. They walked outside to the road. “I want you to dark meditate for a bit, it will increase your energy and help you build your power better.” While Griselda was meditating some girl came over to them. “Hello there!” The girl was eyeing Caleb like crazy. “Hello” they both said. The girl ignored Griselda.  Griselda felt she was almost done medicating so she starting working on a few other things while Caleb was talking to the girl. “My name is Julia”. What’s your name?” Caleb smiled and told her his name. She was blushing and completely all giddy over him. “I got to get back to teaching.  It was nice to met you.” He turned around and focused back on Griselda.  Julia walks off looking very disappointed.

Griselda was happy to get back on track. “You feel energized now?” Griselda nodded.   “Good now let spare.”  They did some sparing and Griselda lost very badly against Caleb. She could see Caleb is a strong master vampire.  “Great job. Your are getting stronger. I know with your witch powers you will not be able to gain much of the vampire powers other then flying like a bat.” Griselda looked confused. “How do you know this?” Caleb rubbed his neck. “Well I did some research. With you, you were trained in your witch powers first. I think if you would of gained your vampire powers first before you witch powers you could of levelled up faster and gained a lot of power. But that okay, because you are more powerful as a witch. That is amazing to because that is who you are suppose to be. And I would not be sad about it, you are amazing at both.” He smiled and his cheeks turned red. It was so sweet of him to say all that. She felt a boost of confidence and she thanked him. “Thank you! I think I needed that. I find it harder for my vampire side and being a witch came so naturally to me. It makes sense. But your right I am still a hybrid and I am who I am.” She was ready to head home but Caleb grabbed her arm. “Come with me for a moment.” The two went in side and upstairs. They came to one of the rooms Caleb opened the door and it must of been his bedroom. Griselda eyed the room it was fancy and well decorated, this whole house was. “Griselda, I think your beautiful and extraordinary. I thought you were beautiful the first day I met you on our porch.” Griselda was shocked she was lost for words. She was just about to say something but he stopped her by kissing her. Griselda was take back but his kiss. He was sweet and she felt a spark. She pushed him toward the bed. “Are you sure?” Caleb asked. Griselda nodded and she started taking off her clothes. Caleb looked at her body and he seem pleased, he started to kiss Griselda’s neck. Griselda started to take unbutton his pants. His shirt came off next. She kissed him and Caleb grabbed her and brought her onto the bed and starting making love to her. She shut her mind off and for that moment she forgot Ren.

[please-dont-hurt-me]

I’m still late but here’s the ao3 link to the first chapter of To quote Daft Punk's song 'Touch'; "Touch, touch/ I remember touch/ Where do I belong?" which uses the prompt of touch to explore lonliness and my bitterness.

In summary: its about how Jodie banner gets adopted and forgives Bruce for being sent into space.

15 seems a little too young for a mid-life crisis. But what is considered your mid-life if you don't know when you’re going to die or start to truly live. That's really dramatic but you can get that Jodie wasn't doing so great emotionally.

Bounce. Catch.

Jodie sat on the bed in the guest room of her foster parent’s house, throwing a ball at the wall. She was told by her case worker that it’s just temporary and they’ll find her a family soon. That’s a load of baloney if she’s ever heard any.

Bounce, catch.  

She was 15 years old and had given up being adopted. The only dude who wanted a black teenage girl with depression and abandonment issues had almost, almost adopted her but either fucked off or died two years ago.

Bounce, catch.

Honestly, she thought he just abandoned her the first time he left but three years later she got a call from him. He told her why he had run the last time he was in Philly and tried to adopt her. Apparently, the paperwork was halfway done when he fucking left.

Bounce, catch.

A tear fell down her cheek. She dropped the ball and wiped it away. No, it’s over. She’s over it. She’d never see him again. There’s no use crying about it. It doesn’t matter that she loved, that he had been a perfect dad, or that he almost got her out of the system. He’s gone and dead.

Bounce. Catch.  

There was a knock at the door.

She shifted her body to be upside down. “Come in.”

The tall man who was her foster dad opened the door. Don’t know his name, don’t care. He’ll get rid of her soon.  “Jodie, the agency has some people at the office who might adopt you. Come on.”

Jodie sighed and let herself fall from the bed to the floor. This was going to be a waste of time. Another disappointment. “I’ll get my shoes on.”

And she does. Doesn’t bother with anything else. She follows the foster dad to his Prius and climbed into the passenger seat. He started the car.  

The car was filled with the tail end of one of the tabloid networks. “-nner and Thor were spotted in west Philly-” and then foster dad turned on NPR and they drove with false chatter and actual silence.

Jodie’s kind of thankful that this one is so dull.

He stopped at what used to be the orphanage. She got out and nodded.

She approached the old building that was probably made in the 60’s. She pushed open the door and smelled the sterile air that was in the ‘office’ these days. The bell chimed and yelled that she was here in the lull of keyboard clicking and printers humming.

She walked in to the lobby and up to the receptionist, Matt. “Mr. Miller said someone wanted to see me?”

Matt smiled at her. “Yeah, he’s actually holding them off with sticks because he needs to talk to you first.”

Jodie blinked. “What.”

Matt looked at her, then over his shoulder, then turned back to her to grin like a cat that caught the pigeon. “Kid just hurry up. This is going to be ridiculous. I’m filming the shit out of this.”

She moved past Matt. That was weird, and Jodie has a sneaking suspicion that things aren't going to make much sense after she talks to Miller.  

She was halfway there before Miller, the social worker who was usually known as level headed at best and stoic at worst, practically ran to her. Yeah, hypothesis confirmed. Shit was gonna get stranger. “Jodie, Jodie, Jodie. You’re really not going to believe what just happened.”

“Thanos returned to earth and wants a bedazzled hot dog.” Jodie said blandly. “Look, let’s not do gossip. You don't do a good delivery and I really don’t care. Show me the people and then let me leave.”

She tried to move past him, but he put a hand over her shoulder. “Jodie, have you been keeping up with the news? Like the stuff to with heroes?”

Jodie frowned, this was going to be one of those dumb hero couples who heard about her knowing Bruce and were going to be looking for the spotlight. They were one of her least favorite group of attempted-adopters. “Not really. Just enough to know when the next alien induced apocalypse is upon us.”

Miller sighed. God here comes the lecture.

“Well you know that the Asgardians landed a couple of weeks ago.” He said.

Jodie raised an eyebrow. “Why would they do that? Don’t they have a golden palace in a universe far, far away or something like that.”

Miller blinked at her before sighing. "I know that you have an aversion to hero's but Christ. So, the planet Asgard got exploded and they are here now as citizens of earth.”

Jodie blinked before shrugging. That’s fucking weird and she’s probably going to see xenophobic shit about Asgardians in the near future. That’s just peachy. “So what does all of that have to do with us, here in Philly. ”

“They brought back Bruce banner.”

Jodie was silent before whispering, “And?”

“He’s here. In my office with King Thor.” Miller said and pointed his thumb at said office. “Come with me?”

Surprise, surprise, Bruce not actually dead. But he’s not going to adopt her right? He’s going to say goodbye in some tragic fashion and run away again. Or get her hopes up and then disappear again.

“Fine, but no promises.” She says and presses past Miller. She pushes the door to his office open and is met with Bruce. Again.

Bruce banner didn’t look as sad and haggard as when she first met him five years ago. He didn’t look better, groomed, but stressed like she had seen him 2 years ago. He was ... happy looking.  

He was wearing what some would call business causal, he had longer hair with small braids, he was holding the hand of the man standing next to him (who Jodie is just going to assume is Thor), and he looked like he had gone through a reality show makeover.

He looked up from Thor’s (probably) hand when she had come through the door and smiled when he saw her. “Jodie.”

Just like that? He left her for two years and now he’s back calling her ‘Jodie’? Like none of that shit never happened? Like he left after promising not to? That he left like everyone else and he knew it? Why the hell is he back?

She’s angry. Of course, she was. She got her hopes up about getting out of the system and then everything falls to pieces and he’s gone. She knew about the hulk and all that bullshit, why did he leave? Why is he back?

She clenched her fist. “Why are you back.”

Bruce smiled at her. It was an expression that was a killer combination of happy, fond, parently (was that a word), honest, sad, and regretful. “I’m sorry I left, I really didn’t plan on getting shot into space and stranded on an alien planet.”

She looked at him and then at the chair. “The sentiment is appreciated. Didn’t answer my question though.”

“I wanted to see you again.”

Why did you come back? Why come back now? Why not wait another three years? You seem to have a pattern going there, I’d hate to break it.

She laughed bitterly, “I’ll believe that, but why not wait another year. I mean it fits the pattern.”

He made a sigh and looked at her with the same puppy dog eyes as when she was 10. “I really don’t want a pattern. I just want my daughter back.”

She was speechless for a second. He continued speaking

“I want to adopt you and I don’t want to leave you alone again. But whether or not that happens is entirely up to you” Bruce looks at her. The combination of long hair, beard, and care bear stare is killing her.

Time to deflect emotions.

Jodie turned to Thor. “Where do you fit into this?”

Thor smiled at her and Jodie realized that Thor was going to be indefinitely sappier and more emotional than Bruce. She realized her mistake as he opened his mouth.

“Bruce told me about you.” He squeezed his hand that was melded with Bruce’s. God that was sappy. “How much he loved you, how proud of you he was, and how much he missed you. Part of my culture’s courting ritual is that we spend time with our intended family in preparation for become a part of our own. I haven't been able to do this step completely because Bruce has little family to speak of. But if you wish to be adopted, you shall have that wish granted, and I’ll spend time with you for when you become my daughter as Bruce becomes my husband. You will not only have Bruce’s small family but mine as well.”

Jodie like she had been struck by lightning.

How often had she fantasized a family taking her away? How often was it Bruce taking her and caring for her. Never leaving. Hugging her and comforting her.

How often did she wish on stars that someone would looks at her with so much love and potential love in their eyes as the pair of heroes in front of her?

She was still angry but... she almost couldn't feel it over the shock.

Jodie gulped.  “I’ll think about it.”

Bruce smiles at her, “I know. Give us a call when have an answer. Or tell Miller.”

They say their goodbyes and then leave. Well, not before Thor gives her a cookie he made. He smiles as she tries to refuse. He tells her that, “If you do call us, tell me how it turned out. I figured out how to bake a couple days ago and Loki keeps telling me it’s awful, so I have no idea what it’s like.”

Jodie headed back to the Prius with foster dad. As he drove away from the office, she reflected on her life and how it might change. For better, or for worse.

[hijoonie]

Home Is Wherever You Are

Pairing: Kim Seokjin x Reader (mostly Jin’s POV) Rating: Mature Genre: Military!au, angst & fluff Warnings: Minor character death, mentions of blood & violence Word count: 3,600 

Summary: Kim Seokjin believes he can face any and all things with dignity and strength - prides himself in his resilience and armoured heart. He is a brave man, through and through. The only fear he has is the inability to find his way back into your arms, which in turn would mean he has lost his way home. 

Because home is wherever you are.  

A/N: For @dontcallmemarge who has waited ever so patiently for me to finally write her a Jin scenario. 🙈

“… Sergeant…”

The high pitched ringing is so loud in his ears that it makes him want to scream.

“-geant… Kim...”

When he opens his eyes, everything is bright; all blurry and muddled shapes.

He closes his eyes again.

“Sergeant Kim!”  

Your voice is faint to him. At least he thinks it’s your voice.

“Seokjin, stay with me. Keep your eyes open baby, please.”

Ah, yes. It was you. Only you would dare to call him baby while out in the battlefield. Or at all, for that matter.

“Baby, can you hear me? I need you to talk to me.”

You’re trying to stay calm, but you’re panicking. He can hear it so clearly in the distant sound of your voice. You have to stay calm. He needs to tell you to calm down, not to lose yourself. You need to have a clear mind.

His lips part and he tries to speak, yet his throat is raw and the taste of iron coats his tongue. He doesn’t like it. Seokjin wants to spit it out. He can’t though, he’s too tired. Can’t be bothered.

Seokjin opens his eyes again. This time he blinks away the brightness and the blur. Blinks and blinks until the smudged edges of your face grow sharp and he can find familiar eyes.

Until he can find home.

He sees it there; in the way you look at him. The familiarity of comfort and safety; love and sincerity.

Seokjin sees the queen sized bed draped in your favourite bedding; the one he thinks is ugly but keeps that opinion himself. The lazy nights spent on the couch with your head in his lap and the TV flickering in the darkness of the room. The mess of the kitchen when you spend the entire day baking, only to burn the cookies that Seokjin will happily eat anyways.

He sees these memories in your eyes, even through the swelling tears. They bring him a sense of happiness; ease the burning pain in his side, in his skull and everywhere in between.

“Seokjin, talk to me. Stay with me.”

You’re pleading with him now and he feels guilty. He wants to do as you say, but it’s so damn hard. It feels like a tank has run him over and he probably looks just as bad as he feels.

There’s shrapnel lodged in his right side. He can feel it and is desperate to pull it out. He knows he can’t or else he’ll more than likely bleed out more than he already is, but it hurts like a son of a bitch.

“I-it… hurts.”

Seokjin is shocked by his own voice. By how foreign it sounds.

He doesn’t know why these are the first words he says to you. Perhaps it’s because the pain is the most apparent feeling he has in this moment.

What he should be saying is ‘I love you’. But he knows these words aren’t needed to be said. You already know. It’s written so clearly across his face in the way that he looks at you.

You sob when he speaks and somehow Jin finds the energy to lift his arm just enough to rest his hand against yours. You’re cradling him in your lap, holding him close but not tight. Not tight enough to lodge anything deeper into his body.

The ringing in his ears has quieted down and Jin can finally hear better now. He can hear the waver in your voice every time you tell him ‘It’ll be okay.’

“Th-the others?” He asks, concerned about his unit. Less so about himself, just like always.

You sniff hard, rubbing your nose on your sleeve, “Jungkook and Namjoon are severely injured. Jimin, Yoongi and Taehyung are okay for the most part and…”

“And?”

Seokjin doesn’t really need you to answer. He knows what you’ll say, but he wants to hear it said out loud. Needs to know it’s reality.

“Hoseok didn’t make it.” The pain in your voice transfers to Seokjin where it aches his heart and stings his eyes.

The unit is his family.

Today, he’s lost a brother.

“A-and you? Are you ... alright?”

He takes his time to speak, finding it hard to be vocal and even harder to breathe. Each intake of air leaves his lungs burning and searching for more.

There’s never enough.

“I-I’m okay. I’m okay. Just a few cuts and bruises here and there, but I’m good.” You brush your thumb against his cheek and Seokjin makes the smallest movement to press into it, “It’s all thanks to you.”

He takes his time to think that statement over. Had he not shoved you to the side, you’d be the one lying in the dirt instead of him.

It was one of the best decisions he’d ever made.

Seokjin had seen it last minute.

The bomb was homemade; strapped to the edge of a water well in the centre of the courtyard. Amateurs work – poorly made, yet deadly nonetheless.

Hoseok, Jungkook and Namjoon were directly behind him as he led the way. You and Taehyung mid section while Jimin and Yoongi took the back. It was a simple operation of security patrol; something everyone has done countless times. A quick ‘scope the area and get the fuck out without being shot’.

Everyone was careful in their movements – precise and covered. He guided them around the quiet village with sharp eyes and calm commands. The place was not known to be a target, yet they could never underestimate the enemy.

Seokjin had been a tad bit weary by the lack of people around – grew wearier when civilians slammed their doors as they passed by.

By the time he could piece it all together, it was too late.

His first instinct was to cry out a warning to his team. The second was to grab both you and Taehyung by the tactical vest and shove you as far away as he possibly could before it exploded.

The rest is a little fuzzy for him. He recalls the head rattling, ear deafening sound of the explosion and the way his body went flying. Seokjin can even remember how it felt to have the hot shrapnel embed itself into his body in more places than he cares to know. The way the sand tasted in his mouth as it slid against his face.

His thoughts grow distant and Seokjin is fading again. His eyelids are like lead and he struggles to keep them up. He kind of wants to curl up and take a nap under the sun, even though it’s making him cold. Wants you to run your fingers through his hair; believes it’ll take his mind off the way his blood stains his uniform and trickles into the sand.

“Seokjin, keep your eyes open, okay?”

“Ca…an’t.”

“Do you remember our first date?” It grows harder to choke back your tears. You need to keep him awake. Keep him alert.

Seokjin does his best to nod.

He remembers. He remembers it well.  

“No. Fucking. way.”

“You’re my blind date?” You scoff, folding your arms against your chest and glaring at him from across the table.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m a catch! If anyone should be disappointed it should be me,” Jin grumbles, throwing himself into his chair with a huff.

Of all the people his friends could set him up with, it had to be you? God, he was going to kill Namjoon and Jimin.

Both you and Seokjin attend the same military training camp and right from the get go neither of you got along. The two of you constantly butt heads and get on each other’s nerves.

Everything is a competition between the both of you, and if one of you loses? You better believe the loser will be scheduling a time and place for a rematch.

Seokjin should have known something was up when his two friends came to him and told him about the blind date they’d set him up on. He should have known from the way Namjoon snickered in the back and how much Jimin persisted he go, even when Seokjin whined about not wanting to do it.

It was all too fishy, yet he was too stupid to refuse.

And you? You had also been set up by your shitty friends – Taehyung and Hoseok.

The four of them were convinced that both Seokjin and you were secretly into one another and that the whole ‘I hate your guts’ thing was all an act. Little did they know that was most definitely not the case.

You’d rather be shot in the leg than date that jerk.

So, that brings us back to the here and now – You sitting in a noisy pub in a town just outside the base, toying with the idea of putting Seokjin in a chokehold and stomping back home. While Seokjin, on the other hand, plots his revenge on his so-called friends.

Seokjin can’t believe he dressed up for this.

“Alright, listen. Since we’re both already here, let’s have a little fun in the best way we know how.” Seokjin points to an empty pool table, “A game of pool. Winner buys the drinks.”

You eye the table with a smirk “Fine. Ready to get your ass kicked like usual, Private Kim? I hope you brought your credit card with you.” Your chair screeches against the shitty wannabe-wood floor boards when you push yourself out of it, already wandering off to the pool table with your head held high.

“Ha-ha! I’m pretty sure I was the one who kicked your ass in hand-to-hand combat just the other day!” Seokjin calls after you and looks around the room to make sure no one catches him sneaking a look at your backside. If anyone were to call him out on it, he’d deny it all the way to his grave.

Seokjin does the whole ‘Ladies first.’ thing and you do the unoriginal ‘Well go ahead then, I’m waiting.’ in which Seokjin actually hates himself for forgetting that you’re everything but a lady.

So, he goes first and the game begins.

Time passes and Seokjin can’t help but finally open his trap, leaned up against the table and checking out his fingernails.

“Not doing so well, are we?” He’s smug, watching you line up the pool cue with the ball, just waiting for you to miss. Again.

He’s two balls away from sinking the 8 ball. Or, in other words – destroying your ass.

You’re so tempted to tell him to fuck off but it’ll break your focus. Instead, you try and tune out all the noise and zero in on your ball. You sink it into the pocket with ease, move on and do the same with the next three. You’re on fire now and Jin’s a stuttering fool standing off to the side.

“Looks like the tables have turned,” You practically sing the words, slinking up to Jin’s side and whispering into his ear, “Your turn, tough guy.”

It was so easy to ruffle his feathers.

Seokjin scowls from the way his body shivers at your close proximity and honeyed voice. Nuh-uh. Nope, no way. None of that shit.

He rolls his shoulders and walks around the table to where the cue ball sits. He’s oozing confidence and you want to laugh at the way concentration furrows his brows and wrinkles his nose. It’s cute… almost.

Seokjin pulls back and hits the ball. He holds his breath and watches as his solid coloured ball completely surpasses the pocket and knocks against the side, then collides with the 8 ball which-

“No! No, no!”

Sinks.

“Shit!”

Seokjin loses and you howl with laughter.

You send the sulking soldier off to retrieve the drinks and when he returns, you sip happily on your cold victory beer. “Let’s up the stakes. Loser buys drinks and takes a shot of tequila,” Seokjin suggest, sipping through the foam in his mug.

You just shrug “Fine by me, I’m not the one who’s going to be trashed by the end of the night.”

“Careful princess, don’t wanna act too tough just in case I wipe the floor with you.”

“As if.” You had it in the bag, you knew it.

Or at least you thought you did.

You both end up losing quite a few rounds of pool, more so you than him. But you’re both equally hammered and sloppy by now; barely even capable of hitting the balls without almost falling over.

At some point you swing the pool cue and Jin ends up with blue chalk on his face. You don’t tell him and instead quietly snicker about it for the rest of the night. Meanwhile, Jin doesn’t tell you about the straws he’s been sneakily sticking into your hair.

Six shots and seven drinks deep you find yourself dancing freely to the music; completely off beat but enjoying yourself nonetheless. Somehow you manage to drag Seokjin into your dance, forgetting altogether that he’s your enemy and the first rule of the enemy handbook is: never ever dance with them.

The second rule is: never ever engage in any sort of skinship with them.

Oops.

You fucked that one up when you backed your ass into him and didn’t bother to move away when you took your shot in the next round of pool. Why was he even behind you in the first place? Was he trying to be close to you?

Seokjin was actually just trying to fuck up your shot, but this was nice too.

The two of you are cut off from drinking anymore when Seokjin accidentally breaks the overhead lamp with his pool cue, which he promises to pay for while profusely apologizing to the server.

The man bargains with Seokjin instead, making him promise that if you both left the pub he wouldn’t need to pay, all the while you’re giggling in the chair and tossing back the remainder of your beer.

“Another round of shots!” You holler.

“No!” Everyone else in the pub yells back.

You sulk and Jin laughs.

Which then leads up to both you and Seokjin to break rule number three in the handbook. The utmost important rule of them all: Never sleep with the enemy.

The two of you stagger out of the pub after paying your bills, which neither of you bothers to look over. Seokjin is dreading looking at his account in the morning but knows that somehow… in some fucked up way, it was all going to be worth it.

In your drunken stupor and lack of directional sense, you both end up at the back of the building rather than the front where a taxi should be waiting.

It’s all a bit hazy, but at some point Seokjin manages to press you up against the trunk of… someone’s car, his teeth nipping at your lips and his hands gripping at your waist. You know you’re going to hate yourself for this later and probably drown in humiliation, but right now you don’t want him to stop. Want to feel his lips on every part of your body and his hands in your hair.

You need more.

“I-Is this okay?” He asks between the kisses he presses to your lips, hands now playing with the hem of your skirt.

You nod eagerly “It’s okay. Keep going.” Your words are slurred but thankfully he understands.

Seokjin does as he’s told. He grips you by the backs of your thighs and coaxes you up and onto the trunk of the car, sighing into your mouth when you wrap your legs around him and pull him in close by the collar of his shirt.

Heat licks up his spine as he nips and sucks a bruise into your throat, rolling his hips up and firm against the space between your thighs, relishing in the way you shudder in his arms.

“Seokjin,” You whine against his ear and that’s when he loses himself completely. Succumbing to the feelings that have been burning inside of him all night.

And the rest? Well, the rest is a foggy memory for the both of you. But you both agree it was probably a mess.

It was so long ago now. Four years, to be exact.

You laugh for the both of you, tears dripping from your eyes and down onto his cheek. He wants to kiss them away.

Somehow he had managed to mumble out the story aloud, with your help filling in the blanks.

He finds it humorous to think back on such memories now. About how much you both despised one another before one drunken, crazy night tore all that negativity down.

Now, Seokjin can’t imagine his life without you. All the previous bitter feelings turned to ones of love and compassion for you.

Seokjin struggles to breathe in. The intake of air comes as a strangled wheeze, only to be coughed up and splattered on his cheek.

It scares him. He doesn’t want you to watch him die, yet at the same time he can’t imagine a better image to leave with – the sight of your beautiful face, all caked in sweat and sand. Completely natural and in your element.

He just wishes you weren’t crying. Your smile is what he wants to see, but he can’t ask you to do that for him right now. He knows it.

It would be cruel to smile while your lover bleeds out in your arms.

“I-it’s not fair,” You sniff hard, running your dusty fingers along his neck and trying hard not to think of how cold his skin feels.

“W-what?” Seokjin whispers. He gives your wrist a small squeeze and it’s so feather light that you barely even notice.

“You promised you’d marry me, hmm. You promised. You can’t go back on your promise, Seokjin. It’s not fair. I already bought the dress so if you go back on your word, what will I do with it?”

Seokjin’s lips twitch with a smile. You’re right, how can he do that to you?

The sound of tires skidding against the ground makes his heart jump a little and his mind wander. He hears no gunfire, so they must be safe. He feels a sense of relief wash over him.

You’re not looking at him anymore and in this moment Seokjin thinks it’s finally okay to close his eyes again. You’re not watching. No longer trying to heal him with your eyes and silent pleas.

So he floats.

It feels like it takes him forever to completely remove himself from reality and into his subconscious where Seokjin is greeted by the feeling of being trapped inside a tube.

On one end he can hear hollow voices shouting things he can’t quite decipher. The other end feels and looks… empty. There’s not a sound, not a light, not anything. But the empty side is closest to reach, whereas the opposite end seems to be more of a challenge.

He can’t decide which way he wants to go.

“Sergeant Kim Seokjin! You better stay alive!”

The words wrap around him tightly. He can’t tell which direction it comes from, but Seokjin thinks he has an idea.

Your voice has never been empty. It’s always been full of life and emotion. It’s been his comfort on his saddest days, his motivation when he staggers and his lifeline in his time of need.

Seokjin knows where to go now.

Kim Seokjin is a brave man.

He can handle a live grenade, walk into the line of fire and put his life on the line to protect his men and his country without a secondary thought.

Seokjin has witnessed many gruesome sights and faced difficult choices.

He’s lost a mother, he’s lost a brother and he’s almost lost his love.

Kim Seokjin believes he can face any and all things with dignity and strength – prides himself in his resilience and armoured heart.

Yet, when he sees you there with a gentle smile, dressed in ivory and lace… he can feel all that strength drain away until his veins at filled with nerves and adrenaline. He can’t control the shaking in his hands nor the uneven beat of his heart. His lower lip wobbles and his eyes water the closer you get to him.

He struggles to catch his breath.

Because you’re just that breathtaking.

When you’re handed over to him, your soft hands against his calloused ones, Seokjin can feel that everything is right. This is where he needs to be and this is what he fought so hard for.

He chased your voice all those months back while he lied in your arms, dying. He chased it far and wide, refusing to give up until he found you. He couldn’t leave you, not like that. There were so many experiences he had to have with you. So many pieces of himself he needed to share to the world – with his friends and family.

That had not been his end, nor would it be anytime soon.

But this… this was his beginning.

The starting line is the vow to love you from now until always. To give every single piece of himself to you. Puts his faith in you to cherish and support him, just as Jin will do the same in return.  

“I do.”

Two simple words that reassure him that the hardest fight of his life was well worth the pain and exhaustion.

“You may kiss your bride.”

Kim Seokjin has never felt more alive in all his life.

[dontcallmebugaboo]

Lingering

Ahhh!!!! My first ever Voltron fic! My first fic in years!!! Heads up, it’s Shidge. As in Shiro/Pidge-Katie Holt. Don’t like, you don’t need to read. 

Shock.

A deep, near-numbness ran through Pidge Gunderson’s body as she fought to remain standing, her hands holding the bar running along the length of the front of the operations deck in an iron grip. Her eyes stared at nothing as her normally astute brain sluggishly processed the words Allura had uttered not twenty seconds ago.

“Now, as to the reason why I called you two up here separately from the other Paladins,” the princess began gently as if she had foreseen her words having a rather…interesting effect on the green paladin. “You two are our recon team and you will be completing your part of the mission undercover. The role you will be playing is that of a newly married couple.”

Newly married couple…

Married couple…

Couple…

Pidge… and Shiro…

Heat exploded at the base of her neck and ran down her spine. The nineteen year old could only hope that her face wasn’t glowing as brightly as Rudolph’s nose as well because if that wasn’t a sign with the intensity of Las Vegas lights that this was both overwhelming and a version of a dream come true for her, then she wasn’t sure what was.

Her captain snapped her out of her reverie. “Pidge?” Shiro asked in a gentle, concerned voice. His hand came to rest on her shoulder. “If this is too much for you…if you’re not comfortable with—”

“I’m fine!” Pidge interjected, though with her high-pitched tone and shoulders near her ears suggested otherwise. She cleared her throat and forced herself to relax, taking a slow breath and dropping her shoulders. She grinned, light mischief coming into her amber eyes as she added, “I’m peachy. Good with being your fake missus.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow, leaning closer to Shiro, drawling, “Are you comfortable with being my fake mister?”

Shiro laughed and nodded. “Yeah, I’m good with it.”

The green paladin echoed his nod. “Okay.” She looked to Allura, waiting for further instructions from the princess.

Allura smiled at the pair before addressing Pidge directly. “Actually, Pidge, I would like to borrow Shiro here for a moment to go over his part of the backstory.” She tilted her head, illustrating her intrigue at the notion as she continued, “according to both Hunk and Lance, there are times in interrogation when the teams brought in for questioning failed to get their stories straight. Now I know I should be going over this with both of you together right now, but” there was a twinkle in Allura’s eyes. “I am curious as to how you two will do separately and then we’ll piece together the full story afterward.”

 Both paladins laughed. “Okay,” Pidge acquiesced with a nod. “I’ll go.” She straightened her posture and stretched, then turned toward her mission partner. “Try not to make our story too sappy.”

 “I make no such promises,” Shiro replied with a wink, having no idea of the double time Pidge’s heart was sent into when he did such things. She managed to roll her eyes and pulled a face which made Shiro laugh and encouraged herself to make a quick getaway as she wasn’t sure if she could handle much more.

 She had planned on going to the kitchen to grab a water pack and scrounge around the fridge in the hopes of finding something leftover from Hunk’s display of his fantastic culinary skills from the night before; but that plan was put on pause when she nearly ran into Lance not too far from the door to the Operations Deck.

 “Hi Pidgey!” Lance greeted her. “Everything okay in there? Hunk, Keith and I thought you guys were taking too long.”

 Pidge scoffed lightly. “Lance, it’s barely been two dobeshes. Don’t worry, everything’s fine.”

 “You sure?” The blue paladin pressed.

 “I’m sure.”

 Lance slipped his hands into his pockets and rocked back on heels in an attempted picture of nonchalance. Much as she loved her teammate like another brother, Pidge knew better. A tick later and she wasn’t disappointed. “So, why exactly is Allura having you and Shiro be the Daphne and Fred of our group?”

 Pidge jolted in surprise at the archaic reference, heat lighting her face. “Wh-what? Fred and Daph…I don’t know, Scooby-Doo, why do you and the others care so much?”

 Lance laughed off Pidge’s jab. “Just curious, Pidgey,” he replied. “You and Shiro are usually the pair who go off together on missions after all.”

 “You know what they say about cats and curiosity, Lance,” the green paladin deadpanned.

 “Might want to run that by Keith, actually.”

 “Oh my stars,” Pidge sighed tiredly. “Can I please just get to the kitchen? I really want some water.”

 “Sure!” Lance agreed cheerily as he fell into step with his friend. “But seriously though, Pidge. Can you talk to me or the others about your part of this recon mission or is it classified?”

 Pidge shrugged, running a hand through her short hair carelessly. “I guess so, I mean, it’s not like Allura demanded our silence on this,” she cut Lance a wry look. “And since I know you won’t stop pestering me, at least, until Shiro becomes available, then I guess I can tell you.”

 Mentally patting herself on the back for not rolling her eyes at her friend’s eager expression, Pidge explained, “Shiro and I are to go undercover in order to get close to the magistrate of Alecca; you remember when Coran brought up the rumors that he’s going to try something against the royal family, right?”

 Lance nodded. “Yeah, and it falls to Keith, Hunk and myself to keep an eye on things in and near the castle just in case this magistrate acts prematurely.”

 Pidge nodded, “right. How Shiro and I come in is that we’re pretending to be a newlywed couple—Allura’s idea, not mine—because even though this guy is notorious for his miser-like treatment of the people, he’s surprisingly soft…” she trailed off when she finally registered Lance’s giggling. “What?”

 “I-I-I’m sorry, P-Pidge,” he managed to get out. “I-it’s just…you and Shiro…pretending to be newly married?” He slapped a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from dissolving into further laughter.

 She blushed and looked away, shifting slightly on the spot. “Yeah? So?”

 Lance managed a sober expression. “Pidge?” His voice was full of true concern. “You know, you don’t have to do this if you’re not…” he silenced himself when his friend held up a hand.

 “Thanks, but I know,” Pidge looked at him with a small, soft smile. “Shiro told me the same thing. I said earlier that I’m fine with this mission and I wasn’t lying. Now. Why the giggling?”

 “Sorry,” Lance began with the sheepish tone of a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “It’s just…a little hard…picturing you as the lovey-dovey type. I’m more used to you being straightforward and concise with your words and actions.” His expression turned sly as he winked, “unless we’re talking about technology of course.”

 “Of course,” Pidge parroted without mockery. Her friends knew her well after all. “But I don’t think that there’s anything really to worry about. It’s not like Shiro and I need to be disgusting with one another.”

 “Depends on someone’s definition of ‘disgusting’,” Lance pointed out. “Now do you really think you can act like you’re openly romantic with Shiro and not like it’s a terrible read aloud from some script?”

 “Yes, Lance,” Pidge huffed and rolled her eyes. “Pretty certain I can handle it.”

 “You’re absolutely sure?”

 Pidge glared at him, not knowing that she was potentially falling into a trap. “If Nikola Tesla can handle sitting in his laboratory with two of his coils on at full power and not even flinch, I think I can act like a wife in love.”

 Trust Pidge to compare love to science experiments with all the detached observation of a…scientist. Thankfully Lance was too mischievous and stubborn to back down easily. A slow, shit-eating grin plastered itself across Lance’s face. “If you wanna keep this charade up, Pidgey-kins, you’re gonna need all the practice you can get.” He nodded toward Shiro. “I dare you to go over to your ‘husband’ right now and kiss him.”

 Inwardly Pidge was a combination of rage and shoujo schoolgirl embarrassment with a hint glee because someone was telling her to kiss Shiro. Now yes, it was merely to show that she knew how to give a worthy performance which would allow her to fulfil her undercover role as part of this mission, but she couldn’t help what she was feeling. She was nineteen for quiznak’s sake! It’s not her fault her body was singing with fiery and passionate hormones that drove her crazy every now and then! Hell, she was totally blaming her hormones for considering giving into Lance’s dare instead of merely dismissing the sharp shooter.

 Miraculously, Pidge managed to keep her face perfectly schooled into a mask that had some semblance of calm despite her pounding heart. Pidge slowly turned back toward the still open door of the Ops Room (she, Hunk and Coran were all guilty of not getting that glitch handled sooner) where she could see that Shiro was now sitting next to Allura, further strategizing for this upcoming mission. His entire demeanor was serious, focused…though apparently not too focused as his gaze soon flickered in her direction and he spared her a quick wink and a grin. We’ve got this, he silently told her.

Pidge took a deep, slow breath as she tried to will her heart down from its double time pace. Quiznak, why does he have to be so…so…frustratingly cute? The desire to kiss him was there and it was strong. It was the courage department Pidge was seriously lacking in at the moment however, her pesky hormones insisting otherwise.

Lance decided to give her a proverbial shove as he taunted, “What’s the matter, Pidgeykins? Your ‘husband’ too scary to kiss? Or is it because he’s not alone?” Laughter filled the blue paladin’s voice. “Want me to call him over?”

Pivoting slowly toward her “friend”; her posture stiff and glasses gleaming, Pidge replied in as lofty a voice as she could muster, “Don’t bother Lance, I’ve got this. Kiss Shiro? Piece of cake.”

Summoning whatever dredges of bravado she could, Pidge managed to turn and strut toward her leader and friend as though he were seated at the end of a catwalk. Seating herself near him, but so close as to obstruct his attention from Allura, not just yet, Pidge picked up his prosthetic hand with the gentlest of pressure.

The motion just enough to grab his attention, Shiro turns toward Pidge who locks eyes with him as she slowly and deliberately places a lingering kiss on the back of the hand she delicately held. Shiro’s eyes widen, his face flushing a beautiful shade of scarlet as his breath hitches. Pidge swears that she’s not merely hearing her own roaring heartbeat. For a moment, it feels as if they are the only two in the galaxy.

Shiro tries saying something, “Pi-Ka-I…uh…” Isn’t quite successful.

Pidge smirks against his hand, her own eyes glinting in mirth as Shiro squeaked. She also notes that his eyes fall to half-mast and she nearly lets go of his hand when she catches a flicker of…was that desire in his deep, dark depths?

Oh my stars…

The spell is shattered by Lance’s howls of laughter and when Allura leans around the frozen black paladin, her own teasing grin on her face. “My my, Pidge,” the princess giggled. “This is quite bold for you.”

Finally lowering her mission partner’s hand from her lips, Pidge maintains her smirk as she replied, “I was just telling my ‘husband’ here hello.”

“H-h-hi,” Shiro managed to choke out, face still sporting that handsome blush.

Her smirk smoothing into a full grin, Pidge gently squeezed his hand. “Hi there.” She glances back at Lance who is still cracking up. “You doing okay there, ‘Lancey-kins’?”

Lance snorted and gazed at the trio on the couch through half-lidded eyes as he leaned against the wall. “Doing great, Pidgey. Interesting kiss, there…”

Pidge held up a hand to halt any further teasing. “You merely said I had to kiss Shiro, Lance. You never specified on the lips.” The choked sound Shiro makes from behind her coupled with the sudden slackening of his grip on her hand tells her that probably would’ve been too much for the young man in any case.

Deigning to be merciful, Allura stepped in; “Alright. Alright, you two. Enough fun at Shiro’s expense.” Despite her words, the princess’s tone still shook with laughter as a grin danced around her lips. “You can save that for later,” she winked.

Pidge bit her lip as she gently squeezed Shiro’s hand while checking on him. She hoped she hadn’t pushed the young man too far. He was still staring at her with wide, unguarded eyes. He kept their gaze locked until he glanced down at her hand clasping his prosthetic, his blush deepening at the realization. At the back of her mind, Pidge couldn’t help but wonder if he even felt her lips on his hand or if the blush was a reaction from the visual aspect of the action.

The green paladin also wondered if that flash she had seen in his eyes was truly desire or just some wish of her imagination’s.

“Are you okay?” She finally asked him. “Sorry, I probably should’ve asked you that sooner.”

“I’m fine!” Shiro squeaked. Then he winced and cleared his throat. “I’m good. I’m fine.” He gave a shaky laugh, still honestly overwhelmed that Pidge out of the blue kissed his hand and for so long and on his Galra crafted hand… “I’m peachy.”

Pidge laughed at that, “I’m glad to hear it.”

Shiro cocked his head in a show of curiosity, “by the way…why did Lance tell you to kiss me?”

“Oh!” A blush lit Pidge’s face and Shiro couldn’t help but think once again, just how more adorable it made her. Not that he’d tell her that of course. She’d happily chuck him out of an airlock most likely.

Pidge laughed sheepishly. “Lance…might’ve questioned on whether or not I could really do my part of this mission…be emotionally invested, y’know?” She glanced away from him. “And I guess you could say I let my ego get the best of me.”

Her eyes widened as if something clicked for her, “n-not that I wasn’t sincere, I-I just thought that a kiss on the hand was a bit more intimate? And it’s less shocking than a sudden kiss on the lips.” She hesitated before asking, “do…you think we’ll need t-to-to on the lips? In order to be convincing I mean?”

Though a small part of Shiro would have loved to say ‘possibly’ at the least, his voice was still firm and truthful when he said, “not if it makes you uncomfortable, Pidge. We’ll find other ways of selling this.”

Pidge smiled at that, “okay.” Her smile then turned sly. “Besides, I’d have to say it’d be really out of character for you to suddenly plant one on me with no warning. There better be dinner first.”

Shiro spluttered loudly at that, “P-Pidge! Just…just who do you take me for?!”

She laughed, “You are too easy to fluster, Shiro, too easy.” The pout on his face made her want to coo, he was adorable and she wondered if he knew it.

Pidge missed his sudden look of a challenge being thrown as he leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her cheek; lingering, just as she had done when she kissed his hand.

Smirking at the sudden heat he felt beneath his lips, Shiro pulled away and said, “Well, this is out of order, but shall I pick you up at seven?” It took a bit of willpower to not laugh at his friend’s sudden squeak.

Once again, Shiro and Pidge were made to remember that they weren’t the only occupants in the room. “Well! As charming and entertaining as all of this is,” Allura began. “I really do need to work with Pidge on her side of the story, so for now Shiro, off you go.”

Shiro chuckled and stood. “Don’t make our story too sappy,” he teased, mirroring her words from earlier.

Pidge found that she couldn’t even look at him, face too red and her heart beating too quickly. She just nodded. As Shiro moved to lead Lance away from the room as well, she mustered enough sass to call out, “going to have dinner under the stars, are we?” Well, she wasn’t wrong, they were in space, not due to land at their destination for another day; there weren’t exactly many places for a date.

“I thought the hangar was more suitable,” he shot back.

A saccharine grin stretched her lips as she leaned back to catch Shiro’s eye, hands placed over her heart as she batted her eyes. “You know me so well, a real Prince Charming.”

Her words had more of an effect on him than her silly actions did as he nearly tripped, face warming and suddenly his lips were burning with the sensation of having had her skin beneath them. “Yep,” he managed to get out, wincing as his voice came out strangled once more. He barely heard Lance’s awe as the blue paladin commented on how smooth he had been with Pidge a few ticks ago.

Meanwhile as Pidge sat with the Altean princess, she couldn’t help but place a hand on the cheek Shiro had kissed. It was a movie cliché move and she knew it, but there was some small part of her that wanted to dash about checking the vents and the pipes, making sure there was nothing that could have caused her to hallucinate that moment.

“You were certainly a lot more open than you thought you’d be,” Allura noted brightly. “Are you becoming more comfortable with this mission?”

“Y-yeah…” Comfortable, that was it. She was comfortable with Shiro, finding it suddenly easy to talk and banter with him once she was able to start it. Comfortable with flirting with Shiro. She wanted to bury her face in her hands; oh, Quiznak, she had been flirting with Shiro!

And…she suddenly realized, he had been flirting back.

[lunalockser]

Picnics in the Sunshine

Link to FF.net version

Link to AO3

Summary: When a date doesn’t go as planned, Gray has to find a way to cheer up his girlfriend

Note: Hey Puddins, a sweet Gruvia story that I am not sure where it came to me. Gajevy also makes an appearance, as a tribute to my sister hinalover281 on FF.net Please Review and Favorite!Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

“Gray-sama, tomorrow let’s have a picnic,” the rain woman was currently trying to plan a date for her and her boyfriend. It had been a few months since they had begun dating, and she couldn’t have been happier.

“Sure, some peace and quiet might be a good break from dealing with Flamebrain all day,” the ice mage responded, chuckling at her excitement in planning the details.

“Juvia will make lots of yummy treats for the date, ooh she is so excited! All Gray-sama has to do is bring a blanket,” she started talking so fast in her happiness that Gray was afraid she’d faint. Since they had started dating, she had, for the most part, stopped getting frantic around him, she had him now so there was no need to get worked up trying to impress him. But there were moments that she would get so happy Gray thought she would explode.

Gray smirked at his blue-haired girlfriend, planting a kiss to her head to calm her down. She stopped her ranting and smiled up at him.  He wasn’t a very touchy-feely person, but he was learning to open up to her. She understood his struggle and appreciated his little successes.

A few hours later Juvia wanted to head home and start preparing everything for their date tomorrow. She knew that making everything she wanted to would take a while. As she said her goodbyes to her iron-loving friend and his hazel-eyed beloved, Gray escaped from his fight with the pink haired dragon slayer.

Gray looked over at his girlfriend on the walk to Fairy Hills, and instantly her smile was contagious. It always shocked him how easy it was to keep her happy. Not to say she was easy, but it has always fascinated how simply holding her hand made her eyes shine. He couldn’t help feel guilty, she was always so open with her affections, but he just couldn’t be. Whenever he tried his voice would catch and he would end up looking like a fool. She never seemed to notice, and his goofs always seemed to make her happier than if he would succeed.

Pulling his arm around her, the two kept walking in their silence. Gray was grateful she was so understanding about his strife. He was trying, and he was grateful she had stayed by him. He knew it wasn’t easy for her before they started dating. But she kept loving him anyway, and Gray loved her back.

When they arrived at the dorm, she gave him a chaste kiss to the lips before turning around to head upstairs. She called out to him not to forget the blanket and ran inside. As he turned back towards his apartment, he remembered her smile. She was always self-conscious about being gloomy, but Gray could only see her as sunshine.

———————————————————————————————–

Juvia woke up the next morning buzzing with excitement. She couldn’t wait to spend her day relaxing with Gray. She got up and walked to the window, expecting to see bright sunlight. She hadn’t been prepared for the dark clouds and rain.

“No, no,” she whispered to herself. This couldn’t be right, yesterday had been so beautiful. It shouldn’t have been raining, she hadn’t even been feeling upset last night. It was the exact opposite, she had been so happy.

Her heart broke when she saw the ground, everything was soaked, and it was too muddy to have a picnic. The rain had ruined her plans, again. She felt defeated, she had ruined everything again.

She let the tears run down her face as she turned away from the window. When she saw the picnic basket sitting on her kitchen table, she sobbed harder. She had worked on everything so hard.

Juvia no longer felt like going out. She didn’t want to go to the guild and see Gray disappointed. She couldn’t face the fact that she had messed today up for them. All she wanted to do was be alone and not make anyone else sad.

Grabbing her basket, she walked outside her door barefoot and went up to the first girl she saw.

“Oh hey Juvia, on your way to the guildhall?” the script mage smiled.

“Hello Levy, Juvia is not feeling well today. She is just going to stay inside today,” she tried her best to smile, but the other bluenette clearly didn’t believe it.

“No one is gonna blame you for this rain if that’s what you’re worried about,” Levy assured her, “Besides, just because you two can’t go out doesn’t mean Gray doesn’t want to see you, you should at least go talk to him.” The smaller girl smiled her friend.

“Thank you Levy, but Juvia just doesn’t feel up to it today, but can you bring these to Gray-sama? It seems a waste if they aren’t eaten today,” The water mage sighed, lifting the basket up.

“Sure, I’ll do my best not to let Erza get to them before I get there, but are you sure you’ll be fine alone, I can come back over and maybe we could have a girl day?” Juvia smiled to, who she hoped would be her future sister in law, and insisted she was fine. Levy didn’t seem too sure but didn’t push any further.

Juvia sighed as she went back into her room, she crawled under her covers and just prayed the rain would go away soon.

Gray was getting anxious, he had been waiting for 15 minutes since it was time for his girlfriend to meet him at the guild. She was never late, she made it a point to always be on time, if not early. Immediately after waking up and seeing the rain, he got a bad feeling in his stomach. He knew that Juvia was still insecure about her rain, and he was worried. He had a feeling this wasn’t her rain though, which was confirmed by the iron dragon slayer, but Juvia would often feel guilty even if it wasn’t her rain.

Right when he was about to panic, Levy caught his attention. Walking up to her, he ignored the slight glare coming to him from Gajeel’s direction, he apparently was leaving in a few for a job and didn’t appreciate being interrupted with Levy.

“Stripper, clothes,” was all the man grunted. He looked down to find he was missing his shirt, he brushed it off, as long as he had pants.

“Hey, have you seen Juvia around today?” he asked, trying to keep his calm demeanor.

“Yeah she said she wasn’t up to going out today, but she wanted me to give you this,” Gray took the basket from her and opened it up. He shouldn’t have been shocked to see it so full. It looked like she had spent hours getting everything ready, he could see plenty of brownies, cookies, and several types of sandwiches, each was wrapped so carefully.

“She said she didn’t want them to go to waste, the rain is really getting to her today,” he heard his childhood friend explain. He just stood staring at the basket in his hands. A plan was forming in his mind.

“I need your help.”

“With what?”

He quickly described his plan to her, stopping only so she could say goodbye to her boyfriend. When he was finished she agreed to help him, he just needed to run back to his apartment to grab a few items and meet back with her at Fairy Hills.

When he reached his apartment, he grabbed another shirt and a few movie lacrima. He tucked them into the bag that already had the blanket. That’s when he saw it, a doll he had picked up during a job a few weeks back. He hadn’t known what drew him to it, and he had to buy it in secret to avoid the hell Natsu and Happy would give him. Looking at it again, he realized it reminded him of Juvia, not like those teru-teru dolls she used to make, but something else. It was stitched together, but somehow its eyes looked like glass. They were blue, and so was its dress. He didn’t know why, but he thought Juvia would like it, so he threw it in the bag.

Grabbing the bag and basket, he headed back to Fairy Hills. He hoped Levy had a good way of getting him in, his plan was shot if Erza caught him and killed him. He knew Levy wouldn’t even get in trouble, that girl knew Erza had a soft spot for her, hell everyone did.

When he arrived, the petite girl quickly grabbed him and pulled him to the back. She led him to the back of the building, to a closed off staircase.

“This used to be an old fire escape,” she explained, “Normally when they open, an alarm is supposed to sound, but I put a SILENT on so it doesn’t work.”

“And if there is a fire?”

“Lucy doesn’t have a dorm here so we don’t sneak in Natsu, plus Juvia has the sprinklers pumped with enough water to put out anything,” Levy laughed, “Besides, these are old, if there ever was a fire we would use the ones closer to the rooms.”

“And whose idea was it to use these to sneak in boys?”

“Juvia’s actually, she helps me sneak in Gajeel all the time, this is repayment.”

Gray couldn’t respond to that. It was almost funny thinking about the giant dragon slayer trying to sneak around. And his fear every time he would turn a corner hoping not to see another girl. Though he did not want to think about what could be going on in the dorm. Gray didn’t have too much time to his thoughts before he found himself on the top of the stairs. Levy lead him through the halls, him trying not fall too behind. His life flashed before his eyes when he found out they had to pass Erza’s room. He died when he found out it was rooms instead. What the hell? Five rooms, he had to try to pass five rooms in five seconds. Mavis help him.

“Alright, this is her door,” The book lover directed him.

“Thanks, I owe you,” As she went down the hall, he heard something about a new book. Gray knocked twice before he heard a response. Feet shuffled then a click, and next thing he knew he was looking at his girlfriend.

Her hair was messily pulled back, and she was wearing an oversized shirt with sleeves that went past her hands. He noticed she wasn’t wearing pants, and the shirt left her guild mark visible. If it wasn’t for the obvious tear stains on her cheeks or the way her blue eyes were red and puffy, he would have lost himself in how hot she looked. But for her sake, he kept his hormones in check.

“Gray-sama, what are you doing here?” the water mage asked quickly, realizing her boyfriend was in the girls’ dorm. She rushed him inside and locked the door behind her.

“How did Gray-sama get inside the dorm?” she asked, wiping her tears with the sleeve of her shirt, she didn’t want him to know how much she’d been crying.

“Same way Gajeel apparently gets in.”

“Oh,” Juvia shifted awkwardly, she wasn’t expecting her love to show up. She smiled her hardest to try and show him that she was fine. His concerned gaze told her she wasn’t being very convincing.

“I thought that since its too wet outside for a standard picnic in the park, we could have an indoor one instead,” the ice mage smiled, holding up the basket, “I figured it would be nice to kick back and watch a few movies.”

Juvia teared as she looked at her boyfriend holding the bags. It wasn’t a big thing, but she couldn’t help the emotions. Gray had just risked his neck breaking into the dorm, all so he could cheer her up. He really did know her, and really did care.

Gray held her as she let out the rest of her tears, keeping her close and telling her it was fine. He whispered his love, telling her he wasn’t going anywhere. When she was finished, and her breathing evened out, he gave her one last hug and went to set up the movie while she pulled out plates and set out the snacks from the picnic.

When they were done setting things up, Gray sat on her bed and motioned for her to lay next to him. He didn’t object when she cuddled up into him, and they both began absentmindedly eating their sandwiches as the movie began to play.

Hours later, the couple had seen The Wizard of Oz(Juvia’s favorite movie, she loved the colors and the songs), Rise of the Guardians(Gray commenting how his ice magic was better and how Jack wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight), 50 First Dates(Gray almost fell off the bed laughing and Juvia enjoyed the love story), and had eaten the entire basket.

It was getting late, and he could feel Juvia drifting off. Suddenly he remembered the doll sitting in the bag.

“Oh, I’ve got something for you,” he moved out of bed quickly, and Juvia groaned at the disruption. While he got up she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

“Here,” he handed her the doll. She gasped as she grabbed it, gently running her fingers over its China blue eyes and sewn blue hair. She smiled and pressed it to her chest.

“Thank you, Juvia loves it,” she whispered quietly as she kissed him on the cheek.

“Your welcome,” he whispered, pulling her back to him as the two tucked in for the night. In the morning, he would have to sneak out of the dorm. But he could deal with that later, for now, he was just happy that his girlfriend had sunshine back in her eyes.

[theglitteringhopeless]

Promises Broken - Chapter 2 (Bughead)

After her conversation with Archie, Betty no longer feels in a partying mood. 

She manages to sneak off to the guest room where, after removing the light make-up she’d worn specially, she falls into a restless sleep.

The next morning starts with a bang. Literally. Veronica throws open the door dramatically, making it batter against the wall, startling Betty awake.

“Rise and shine! We don’t want to be late for school.”

Betty glances at her wrist watch and realises she’s slept in. This is odd as she’s usually such a morning person. It’s surprising to her that Veronica apparently is, too.

“Earth to Betty! You’ve missed breakfast. Get a move on or we’ll be late!”

Veronica’s incessant nagging finally motivates Betty to get up.

After the quickest shower of her life, she frantically dries herself off. She ponders borrowing something from Veronica before sighing and throwing on her rumpled dress and shoes from last night. They’ll have to do. She barely has time to run a brush through her hair and shrug on a cardigan before Veronica grabs her arm and tows her out to the waiting car.

“For God’s sake, Betty. What’s gotten into you? We still need to stop for my morning latte.”

She chooses not to answer, instead staring out the window for most of the drive, only tearing her eyes away momentarily to request a tea alongside Veronica’s latte. Veronica herself is too distracted on her phone to notice Betty’s sombre mood.

By the time they arrive at school it’s too late for Betty to head to the Blue and Gold like she usually does before class. She’s not sure if this is a good or a bad thing; she’s not usually one to avoid her problems.

After running to her chemistry class, she throws her teacher an apologetic smile before sitting down, panting and five minutes late.

From there it just snowballs.

She has that feeling where you’re late and unprepared and throughout the day it just feels like you never really catch up.

Chemistry passes by in a blur. Betty forgot to do the homework. Her teacher lets her off with a warning since this is her first offence.

English, she has a pop quiz. Betty forgot to study. She’s lucky that To Kill A Mockingbird, the subject of the quiz, is one of her favourite books.

Finally, salvation – In the form of lunch – Rolls around. Betty, armed with a Tupperware container filled with cookies, goes on a hunt for Jughead.

(It’s not much of a hunt. She finds him in the Blue and Gold, working away on something.)

She walks in, not looking at him. She’s worried if she does she’ll explode. Although she’s angry, she doesn’t want to yell at him.

“Where were you this morning? Ethel came by to give you an interview. She was disappointed you weren’t here.”

Betty runs a hand through her, most likely, messy blonde curls, still not looking at him as she speaks.

“I slept in. I’ll talk to Ethel after school.”

Ethel is helping her with a piece on teen bullying, with a focus on social media. It’s supposed to be the front page article for the upcoming issue.

There’s a pause, forcing Betty to look at Jughead. He’s staring at her intently, almost as if trying to figure her out.

“What? Am I not allowed to be late?” She snaps, feeling the pressure of the day weighing down on her.

Jughead raises his hands. “Woah! Down, girl.”

It’s a phrase often used by Veronica. Betty feels her eye twitch at being patronised by Jug, someone she thought was her friend.

As if you’re so innocent. You broke your promise. You’re the reason I’m so angry.

But in the blink of an eye, her anger deflates and turns to exhaustion. She’s exhausted walking around angry. It’s not who she is. And it was silly of her to think that she could suddenly change that.

“Sorry, I’ve had a stressful day.”

And just like that, she’s crying. Like an idiot. Infront of Jughead. She’s mortified, but at the same time it’s so cathartic to let it all out. All the stress and anger of her altogether awful day so far.

Instantly, Jug is by her side, awkwardly patting her shoulder.

“Hey, it’s ok. Calm down.”

She sobs helplessly, cringing at how uncomfortable he is with this entire situation. Archie would at least offer her a hug. Either that didn’t occur to him, or he didn’t want to hug her. She isn’t surprised, she’s probably a sight for sore eyes in her rumpled sundress with messy hair.

As if reading her mind, Jughead hesitantly wraps his arms around her. The shock from this action alone is enough to make her tears stop, but she gratefully returns his hug, all the same.

All too soon, Jug is pulling away and shuffling back to his desk, pretending nothing has happened.

“So, I know we’re doing the bullying piece for the front page, but I was thinking we could do a bit about Josie and the Pussycats getting a new member for page two.”

But Betty isn’t even listening. How can he go from comforting her to talking about work? Why is he always so cold towards everyone? The longer she’s forced to sit in this office, pretending that everything is fine, the more likely she is to go completely mad. With that in mind, she pulls the box of cookies out her bag, walks over to his desk, and places them infront of him.

“I baked these for you.”

She watches his face fall, feeling ever so slightly pleased that he’s finally realised he did something wrong. Finally dropped that uninterested and uncaring mask he constantly wears.

With that, she takes her leave. It’s a nice day, maybe she’ll go and sit with Veronica.

After school she stays to interview Ethel. They talk for a while after, and Ethel’s dark humour and dry wit reminds her so much of Jughead. It’s both comforting and sad at the same time.

She doesn’t have time to dwell as there’s a football game tonight. She’s recently become a member of the River Vixens with Veronica, so will be required to cheer on the sidelines. Rushing to the changing rooms, she quickly throws on her uniform and pulls her hair back with the mandatory blue ribbon.

During this process, it occurs to her that Jug will probably be there to cover it for the paper. She’d assigned him all sports related articles, knowing she’d be too busy cheering at all of them to carry out interviews or take pictures. Despite everything, she gets butterflies in her stomach at the mere thought of seeing him. She’s in deep.

Out on the pitch, a light drizzle has begun. But Cheryl Blossom is dictator-like in the way she runs her squad, and still demands they carry out the routines they’ve practiced flawlessly. Betty is too busy concentrating on not slipping or sliding during stunts and lifts that she barely even notices Jughead skulking about. Barely.

Despite the poor weather conditions, the bleachers are filled with people coming to watch the game. A cheer goes up as the Riverdale Bulldogs run out with Archie leading. Betty can’t help the small, proud smile that graces her face at the sight of her red-headed friend.

The game kicks off. Betty tries to look interested, but she really has no love for football. Half time comes and Betty prays that Cheryl will skip their halftime routine and let everyone go try to dry off a little. No such luck.

“If you think this weather is an excuse to slack off, then you’re sadly mistaken,” she hisses at them all.

Betty resists the urge to roll her eyes, not wanting to be at the receiving end of a Cheryl Blossom tirade. Instead, she forces a smile to her face. Cheerleaders are supposed to be perky, right?

The smile falters when she sees Jughead. He’s standing to her left, camera out to suggest he’s been photographing the game, staring at her. He has that same intense expression on his face, as if he’s trying to figure her out. Like she’s a puzzle he has to solve.

“Betty! Are you paying attention?” Cheryl has noticed Betty’s straying gaze, and doesn’t care for it one bit.

“Yes, Cheryl.”

“Then get into position. NOW!”

Betty doesn’t need to be told twice.

This routine is their newest one. It involves a lot of lifts, and Betty is a little nervous about it all. The rain hasn’t let up, making visibility low, and Betty wonders if anyone will even see their routine let alone care about it.

All the same, she throws herself into it, forcing a smile throughout. They’re about halfway through, Betty has just been thrown into the air. She’s supposed to be caught by her partner.

Supposed to be.

Unbeknownst to her, after throwing her into the air, her partner has slipped and fallen. Leaving Betty to land, hard, on the muddy pitch. She feels her wrist give slightly, and then pain.

There’s a crowd around her immediately, Veronica at the head of it.

“Oh my god, B, are you ok?”

Betty stares at her wrist. It’s bent at an unnatural angle.

“I-I’m fine,” she tries to hide how close she is to tears.

Before Veronica can say anything, Jughead is there. And then he’s all she can see.

“Betty? Are you okay?”

His face is pale, devoid of his usual mask of indifference. Jughead looks worried. About her.

Despite the pain, Betty’s face lights up.

“Did she hit her head?” Jug shouts over his shoulder, looking confused at her misplaced enthusiasm.

“I’m fine, Juggie. I think I hurt my wrist.” She pouts.

Jughead gives her an odd look, before glancing at her wrist.

“You need to get this looked at. I’ll take you.”

Then, to Betty’s shock, he gently puts an arm round her waist and helps her to her feet. She obediently stands and walks over to the bleachers. Nothing else seems damaged, just some grazed knees.

Jug produces a first aid kit from somewhere. Now it’s Betty’s turn to look confused.

“No offense, Jug, but I think this wrist needs attention from an actual trained medic.”

He rolls his eyes at her. “It’s for your knees.”

Before she can even process it, Jug is kneeling infront of her, grasping one of her legs.

She’d be lying if she said that she didn’t feel tingles at his touch on her bare skin.

He cleans her wounds, wiping the dirt and gravel off of them more gently than she could’ve imagined.

“You’re a natural,” she comments.

“I used to do this for Jellybean a lot,” he laughs quietly.

Betty feels sad for him, suddenly. She knows about his mom leaving and taking his little sister with her.

He stands up, back to his usual collected self.

“I’ll drive you to the hospital.”

She doesn’t argue.

After a long night at accident and emergency, Betty is given a wrist splint and told not to do anymore cheerleading for the time being. They also give her some pretty strong painkillers.

When she gets out of the examination room, Jughead is waiting with her coat and bag. Her parents are nowhere in sight. Both of them are probably too busy working to even check their phone.

She’s so overwhelmed by how kind and gentle he’s been with her that, before she can stop herself, she wraps her good arm around him in a hug.

He tenses slightly, surprised by her touch, before returning it awkwardly.

“Thanks, Jug. You didn’t have to do all this,” she cuddles into his chest, still feeling a little dazed.

He’s so warm and she’s so cold from her wet cheer uniform clinging to her. She allows a small moment of indulgence at his expense.

“It was the least I could do,” he mumbles down to her, where she’s still squeezing the life out of him.

She pulls away and looks up, brow furrowed in confusion. The painkillers have kicked in, making her a little hazy and less sharp than usual.

“I’m sorry I didn’t go to Veronica’s party,” he rubs his neck awkwardly, averting eye contact.

“You promised,” she’s pouting again, like a scolded child.

“I-I know,” he gives her a frustrated look. “But I just couldn’t face going and spending a night with all those losers from the football team.”

Betty looks at him sadly, she knows Reggie and his friends haven’t been the nicest to Jughead in the past. And can she really judge him? She didn’t want to spend time with them either.

“I get it.”

Although she does get it, a part of her still feels sad that he didn’t even come just for her. Just because he knew she wanted him there.

[lunalockser]

Rating: G

Warnings: none

Fandom: fairy tail

Ships: Gruvia, mentioned:gajevy

Characters: Gray, Juvia

Link to FF.net version

Summary: When a date doesn't go as planned, Gray has to find a way to cheer up his girlfriend

Note: Hey Puddins, a sweet Gruvia story that I am not sure where it came to me. Gajevy also makes an appearance, as a tribute to my sister hinalover281 on FF.net Please Review and Favorite!Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.

“Gray-sama, tomorrow let's have a picnic,” the rain woman was currently trying to plan a date for her and her boyfriend. It had been a few months since they had begun dating, and she couldn’t have been happier.

“Sure, some peace and quiet might be a good break from dealing with Flamebrain all day,” the ice mage responded, chuckling at her excitement in planning the details.

“Juvia will make lots of yummy treats for the date, ooh she is so excited! All Gray-sama has to do is bring a blanket,” she started talking so fast in her happiness that Gray was afraid she’d faint. Since they had started dating, she had, for the most part, stopped getting frantic around him, she had him now so there was no need to get worked up trying to impress him. But there were moments that she would get so happy Gray thought she would explode.

Gray smirked at his blue-haired girlfriend, planting a kiss to her head to calm her down. She stopped her ranting and smiled up at him.  He wasn't a very touchy-feely person, but he was learning to open up to her. She understood his struggle and appreciated his little successes.

A few hours later Juvia wanted to head home and start preparing everything for their date tomorrow. She knew that making everything she wanted to would take a while. As she said her goodbyes to her iron-loving friend and his hazel-eyed beloved, Gray escaped from his fight with the pink haired dragon slayer.

Gray looked over at his girlfriend on the walk to Fairy Hills, and instantly her smile was contagious. It always shocked him how easy it was to keep her happy. Not to say she was easy, but it has always fascinated how simply holding her hand made her eyes shine. He couldn’t help feel guilty, she was always so open with her affections, but he just couldn’t be. Whenever he tried his voice would catch and he would end up looking like a fool. She never seemed to notice, and his goofs always seemed to make her happier than if he would succeed.

Pulling his arm around her, the two kept walking in their silence. Gray was grateful she was so understanding about his strife. He was trying, and he was grateful she had stayed by him. He knew it wasn’t easy for her before they started dating. But she kept loving him anyway, and Gray loved her back.

When they arrived at the dorm, she gave him a chaste kiss to the lips before turning around to head upstairs. She called out to him not to forget the blanket and ran inside. As he turned back towards his apartment, he remembered her smile. She was always self-conscious about being gloomy, but Gray could only see her as sunshine.

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Juvia woke up the next morning buzzing with excitement. She couldn’t wait to spend her day relaxing with Gray. She got up and walked to the window, expecting to see bright sunlight. She hadn’t been prepared for the dark clouds and rain.

“No, no,” she whispered to herself. This couldn’t be right, yesterday had been so beautiful. It shouldn’t have been raining, she hadn’t even been feeling upset last night. It was the exact opposite, she had been so happy.

Her heart broke when she saw the ground, everything was soaked, and it was too muddy to have a picnic. The rain had ruined her plans, again. She felt defeated, she had ruined everything again.

She let the tears run down her face as she turned away from the window. When she saw the picnic basket sitting on her kitchen table, she sobbed harder. She had worked on everything so hard.

Juvia no longer felt like going out. She didn't want to go to the guild and see Gray disappointed. She couldn’t face the fact that she had messed today up for them. All she wanted to do was be alone and not make anyone else sad.

Grabbing her basket, she walked outside her door barefoot and went up to the first girl she saw.

“Oh hey Juvia, on your way to the guildhall?” the script mage smiled.

“Hello Levy, Juvia is not feeling well today. She is just going to stay inside today,” she tried her best to smile, but the other bluenette clearly didn't believe it.

“No one is gonna blame you for this rain if that's what you're worried about,” Levy assured her, “Besides, just because you two can’t go out doesn’t mean Gray doesn’t want to see you, you should at least go talk to him.” The smaller girl smiled her friend.

“Thank you Levy, but Juvia just doesn't feel up to it today, but can you bring these to Gray-sama? It seems a waste if they aren’t eaten today,” The water mage sighed, lifting the basket up.

“Sure, I’ll do my best not to let Erza get to them before I get there, but are you sure you’ll be fine alone, I can come back over and maybe we could have a girl day?” Juvia smiled to, who she hoped would be her future sister in law, and insisted she was fine. Levy didn’t seem too sure but didn’t push any further.

Juvia sighed as she went back into her room, she crawled under her covers and just prayed the rain would go away soon.

Gray was getting anxious, he had been waiting for 15 minutes since it was time for his girlfriend to meet him at the guild. She was never late, she made it a point to always be on time, if not early. Immediately after waking up and seeing the rain, he got a bad feeling in his stomach. He knew that Juvia was still insecure about her rain, and he was worried. He had a feeling this wasn't her rain though, which was confirmed by the iron dragon slayer, but Juvia would often feel guilty even if it wasn't her rain.

Right when he was about to panic, Levy caught his attention. Walking up to her, he ignored the slight glare coming to him from Gajeel’s direction, he apparently was leaving in a few for a job and didn’t appreciate being interrupted with Levy.

“Stripper, clothes,” was all the man grunted. He looked down to find he was missing his shirt, he brushed it off, as long as he had pants.

“Hey, have you seen Juvia around today?” he asked, trying to keep his calm demeanor.

“Yeah she said she wasn’t up to going out today, but she wanted me to give you this,” Gray took the basket from her and opened it up. He shouldn't have been shocked to see it so full. It looked like she had spent hours getting everything ready, he could see plenty of brownies, cookies, and several types of sandwiches, each was wrapped so carefully.

“She said she didn’t want them to go to waste, the rain is really getting to her today,” he heard his childhood friend explain. He just stood staring at the basket in his hands. A plan was forming in his mind.

“I need your help.”

“With what?”

He quickly described his plan to her, stopping only so she could say goodbye to her boyfriend. When he was finished she agreed to help him, he just needed to run back to his apartment to grab a few items and meet back with her at Fairy Hills.

When he reached his apartment, he grabbed another shirt and a few movie lacrima. He tucked them into the bag that already had the blanket. That's when he saw it, a doll he had picked up during a job a few weeks back. He hadn’t known what drew him to it, and he had to buy it in secret to avoid the hell Natsu and Happy would give him. Looking at it again, he realized it reminded him of Juvia, not like those teru-teru dolls she used to make, but something else. It was stitched together, but somehow its eyes looked like glass. They were blue, and so was its dress. He didn’t know why, but he thought Juvia would like it, so he threw it in the bag.

Grabbing the bag and basket, he headed back to Fairy Hills. He hoped Levy had a good way of getting him in, his plan was shot if Erza caught him and killed him. He knew Levy wouldn’t even get in trouble, that girl knew Erza had a soft spot for her, hell everyone did.

When he arrived, the petite girl quickly grabbed him and pulled him to the back. She led him to the back of the building, to a closed off staircase.

“This used to be an old fire escape,” she explained, “Normally when they open, an alarm is supposed to sound, but I put a SILENT on so it doesn’t work.”

“And if there is a fire?”

“Lucy doesn’t have a dorm here so we don’t sneak in Natsu, plus Juvia has the sprinklers pumped with enough water to put out anything,” Levy laughed, “Besides, these are old, if there ever was a fire we would use the ones closer to the rooms.”

“And whose idea was it to use these to sneak in boys?”

“Juvia’s actually, she helps me sneak in Gajeel all the time, this is repayment.”

Gray couldn’t respond to that. It was almost funny thinking about the giant dragon slayer trying to sneak around. And his fear every time he would turn a corner hoping not to see another girl. Though he did not want to think about what could be going on in the dorm. Gray didn’t have too much time to his thoughts before he found himself on the top of the stairs. Levy lead him through the halls, him trying not fall too behind. His life flashed before his eyes when he found out they had to pass Erza’s room. He died when he found out it was rooms instead. What the hell? Five rooms, he had to try to pass five rooms in five seconds. Mavis help him.

“Alright, this is her door,” The book lover directed him.

“Thanks, I owe you,” As she went down the hall, he heard something about a new book. Gray knocked twice before he heard a response. Feet shuffled then a click, and next thing he knew he was looking at his girlfriend.

Her hair was messily pulled back, and she was wearing an oversized shirt with sleeves that went past her hands. He noticed she wasn’t wearing pants, and the shirt left her guild mark visible. If it wasn’t for the obvious tear stains on her cheeks or the way her blue eyes were red and puffy, he would have lost himself in how hot she looked. But for her sake, he kept his hormones in check.

“Gray-sama, what are you doing here?” the water mage asked quickly, realizing her boyfriend was in the girls’ dorm. She rushed him inside and locked the door behind her.

“How did Gray-sama get inside the dorm?” she asked, wiping her tears with the sleeve of her shirt, she didn't want him to know how much she’d been crying.

“Same way Gajeel apparently gets in.”

“Oh,” Juvia shifted awkwardly, she wasn’t expecting her love to show up. She smiled her hardest to try and show him that she was fine. His concerned gaze told her she wasn’t being very convincing.

“I thought that since its too wet outside for a standard picnic in the park, we could have an indoor one instead,” the ice mage smiled, holding up the basket, “I figured it would be nice to kick back and watch a few movies.”

Juvia teared as she looked at her boyfriend holding the bags. It wasn’t a big thing, but she couldn’t help the emotions. Gray had just risked his neck breaking into the dorm, all so he could cheer her up. He really did know her, and really did care.

Gray held her as she let out the rest of her tears, keeping her close and telling her it was fine. He whispered his love, telling her he wasn’t going anywhere. When she was finished, and her breathing evened out, he gave her one last hug and went to set up the movie while she pulled out plates and set out the snacks from the picnic.

When they were done setting things up, Gray sat on her bed and motioned for her to lay next to him. He didn’t object when she cuddled up into him, and they both began absentmindedly eating their sandwiches as the movie began to play.

Hours later, the couple had seen The Wizard of Oz(Juvia’s favorite movie, she loved the colors and the songs), Rise of the Guardians(Gray commenting how his ice magic was better and how Jack wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight), 50 First Dates(Gray almost fell off the bed laughing and Juvia enjoyed the love story), and had eaten the entire basket.

It was getting late, and he could feel Juvia drifting off. Suddenly he remembered the doll sitting in the bag.

“Oh, I’ve got something for you,” he moved out of bed quickly, and Juvia groaned at the disruption. While he got up she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

“Here,” he handed her the doll. She gasped as she grabbed it, gently running her fingers over its China blue eyes and sewn blue hair. She smiled and pressed it to her chest.

“Thank you, Juvia loves it,” she whispered quietly as she kissed him on the cheek.

“Your welcome,” he whispered, pulling her back to him as the two tucked in for the night. In the morning, he would have to sneak out of the dorm. But he could deal with that later, for now, he was just happy that his girlfriend had sunshine back in her eyes.