#felt cringe for using my oc to tell it

[tabieeee]

What if large units were once regular ones? What if it was a choice to be rebuilt into a weapon at the cost of your old life?

What if that choice was made for you?

[matchaelette]

when jungkook is leaving and none of you know what to do with yourselves

summary: idol!jk and oc!ash (her name is ash, cz I couldn't think of anything else & Y/N makes me physically cringe), established relationship, jungkook is leaving for military enlistment and they are just spending the last moments together, jimin cameo ;)

genre: fluff, bit angsty, idol au

warnings: again, jungkook going through the whole enlistment procedure, suggestive, oc cries a lott but hey, everyone of us is crying

words: 3.5k

note: it had to be done. I needed to write about this. I'm not functioning straight and I wrote this in a mood where I felt very drained and emotionless so it might show up in the writing....? also, this is concerning-ly unedited. anyways enjoy, feedback is always appreciated <3

you've lost count of how many times you've cried this whole month.

ever since you could walk, talk, and form conscious thoughts, you've noticed that every feeling you've had and tried to express comes out as tears. yes, you're angry, oh my god mom, I wanna shake your shoulders and tell you to believe your daughter for once and not somebody else, but you're silent and you're crying; you've been memorizing every single thing for this presentation and you swear by your future first newborn baby that every word is engraved in your brain, just say the words, people don't care what you fucking say you just need to say something, but you're silent, your legs are shaking on the stage and you think you're crying; you love him, you love this human being staring at you from between your legs with all the love in this whole fucking universe, kind and whole and happy and real, jeon jungkook, you love him so fucking say it, but all you can do is caress his face and let the silent tears cascade down yours.

yes, ever since the beginning of time, all your emotions and feelings have been coming out as tears.

sometimes you think that spending all your teen years bottling up everything because of a mean father and an angry mother messed you up for good. all your life you've hated yourself for crying so easily, especially when in front of other people, feeling so weak and broken all the time. but you didn't think much anymore, at least not as much as you used to overthink when you were younger, scared of fellow high-schoolers, scared of what people think about you. after you've met jungkook, your sweet jungkook, he has shown you that crying doesn't necessarily mean you're weak. maybe you were just sensitive and that was alright, because you've always cried when you felt too much, made you more of a genuine human than everyone else. his words, not yours.

but it did feel good to hear and you didn't know what you've done to deserve it.

you also remember that every time you've hated yourself for crying, you always found solace in the fact that maybe someday it would all run out and you'd be perpetually free from all of it, the childish thoughts of a child.

however, even though you laughed at those thoughts every time you remembered them, you were now convinced of how wrong you were to think that maybe the tears would run out someday if you cried too much. because you've been crying continuously this month, more than you've cried your entire life, and by god, not only have the tears not dried out but also, it just keeps coming more and more if possible.

you choke out once again as you bury your face in jungkook's shoulder, clutching the front of his shirt as he tightens his grip around your waist. he looks at you helplessly, not knowing what to do anymore, because no amount of words or actions could stop you from crying. he knows he has tried it all.

you force yourself to get a grip, rubbing your face on jungkook's already wet shirt to dry your wet cheeks, and look up at the blurry distance in front of you, resting your cheeks against the place you've been hiding. jungkook stands there, one arm wrapped around you and one arm around his mother, with a little smile that keeps blooming at the sight in front of him seeing his jimin hyung hug and bid goodbye to his family, despite all the heartbreak in the air.

he tightens his grip around you and leans down to kiss his mother's head, who is in a state identical to you but still more graceful and elegant than you could ever be. "it's gonna be okay, you two", he whispers, causing his mother to gently smile and take your hands as you let out yet another sniff at his words. as sad and worried as she was at her son's departure, she couldn't help but feel worried for you too, her motherly nature reaching out towards you in a way you never felt from your own mother.

"I will be okay", she smiles at you in a teasing manner, despite her glassy eyes, "but the question is, will your girlfriend be okay?"

"h-hey!", your voice shook as an unintentional smile replaced the frown, "stop teasing me, maa", you whine.

"I am not teasing you, dear. honestly, come live with me for a few days. come to busan. I'll take care of you"

"if you keep saying that, I'll really turn into a parasite and stay in your house forever, maa"

jungkook giggles at your conversation, happy that the most important two women in his life got along so well. and you did, ever since the day you've met his mother. she loved you as her own daughter, as did his father, and made you feel so loved and comfortable that even your antisocial ass loved to spend time with them, making you visit them frequently, with and without jungkook by your side.

jungkook's mother lets go of her son and glides into her husband's arm, who looks at jungkook with pride. after all who wouldn't be proud of this talented, lovely, hardworking boy? jungkook was your boyfriend, and your best friend before your relationship upgraded into something more, and a lot of words came to your mind when you thought of him. but the first word has to be proud. proud that he became the man he is now, proud of who he was and every single version of him, how humble and kind and caring he is, always making everyone around him feel loved and respected. proud of how your friendship managed to stay so strong after all this time, proud how he is trying his best to get through these 18 months without any toll in your relationship.

jungkook hasn't shed a single tear yet, holding you through nights when you decided to be a mood killer, couldn't help thinking that soon he wouldn't be able to hold you like this. you were so far rooted in the future of the enlistment process that you forgot to live the present. you were a mess, shaking and sobbing ever so often, frustrated at hybe, frustrated at the whole lot of bts for taking a decision like this, frustrated at the south korean government, frustrated at jungkook for not being frustrated at how hysterical you've been acting.

jungkook, instead, has been a constant pillar of support. he has been constantly kissing your tears away, pushing his fears away of how you guys might not last through this calamity, reassuring you more than him that it will be alright. and as much as you wish he would express his own feelings instead of tending yours, you were glad that the boy didn't cry because it was all that was holding you back from getting onto your knees and begging him not to go. you couldn't do that to him, couldn’t do that to his happiness because you knew he would've obliged to your wishes, somehow, and break his own heart. he would do anything for you. he has been continuously proving that, after all.

"how is ash holding up?", jimin asks jungkook as he takes a sip of his soju, not feeling drunk enough despite the few bottles of alcohol he has drank. the point of the night was to spend time with each other, jungkook, him, and taehyung, getting wasted and having fun like old days. namjoon was supposed to join them as well, but he was overseas on schedule. taehyung, on the other hand, was already passed out on the couch, but it might have to do less with his low alcohol tolerance and more with his tiredness after landing in seoul from france just a few hours ago, after quite a hectic fashion week. so, it was jimin and jungkook now, them and their alcoholic asses against the whole world. after all, no one could hold their liquor like them in the whole group.

"she is, well, I honestly don’t know", jungkook frowned, a drop of soju ran down his lips to his black sweatshirt but he didn’t seem to notice, "she is totally ignoring that I have to leave and acting completely normal."

"sounds like her. isn't running from her problems her best coping mechanism?". you were close with all the members in the group, and the rest of them considered you as their little sister as well (even though taehyung jokingly called you noona sometimes) but if there was one member who knew the best, it had to be park jimin. he was your best friend after jungkook and the time you spent together, whether be it gossiping or shopping, was always something both of you found therapeutic and cherished from the bottom of your hearts.

a silent pain erupts in jungkook's heart as he finally voices out the thought he has been continuously having for the last few days, "hyung, should I break up with her?"

"yah jeon jungkook", jimin smacks the back of the younger boy's head, looking at him with shock, "are you that drunk already?"

"I don’t-", jungkook chokes out the next few words incoherently, and jimin had to physically shift closer to the boy to make sense of his words, "I don’t know what to do. I-I don’t know how to live without her. I want her all to myself and I selfishly want to ask her to wait for me. but how can I do that when she could have a much better life without me?"

"jungkookie-"

"she could fall in love with someone better than me. fuck, saying it out loud infuriates me but I know that she could be happier, way happier than I can ever make her. you see what I am doing? I am leaving the girl I love to protect my career, to make sure nobody has anything else left to guilt trap us with. I am doing all of this for myself. how selfish does that make me?"

"you keep forgetting that you don't have a choice, jungkookie."

"then why does it all feel like my fault?"

"what are we going to do?"

the words escape your lips without meaning to. they hang like a whisper in the air as your bodies slowly recover from the high they have been through, limbs tangled and eyes closed, forehead resting against each other.

"are we gonna be alright?"

yes, jungkook wants to say, yes because if you decide to stay, I will make it all work, I will make it all okay, I promise. but how can I ask you to stay when it will only hurt you?

"do you want to… maybe… break up?", his vacant voice makes your eyes fly open in bewilderment, not being able to believe that he actually said the words that he said. all this time both of you have been ignoring the pink elephant in the room, only almost two months left before jungkook left for the military enlistment along with namjoon, jimin, and taehyung. you’ve been trying to enjoy what little time both of you had despite your busy schedules, especially jungkook, who has been working tirelessly to make his fans feel a little less lonely when he won't be present anymore. something to hold on to while I am gone, I hope you can stay within this magic shop we've build together, memories of me would console you like the gentlest breeze of a fall evening, I will yet again patch something I haven’t broken.

but one of you had to be strong enough to address it, this overwhelming dread and the constant need to be with each other, ignoring sleep and every other basic need because you knew your time was coming to an end. you needed to address it and needed to be assured that both of you can get through this, your love was way stronger than these 18 months.

but that's the first thing he wants to say?

the way he looks at you breaks your heart. he has a small smile on his face and you can tell that it is genuine, that he is taking one last moment to cherish all of you if you decided to say yes. but there is almost an unbearing sadness behind his eyes, pained and tortured, begging you to say no.

your voice is almost comical when you actually find it, "jeon jungkook, do you want me to fucking kill you?"

and his immediate reaction is almost laughable. you could see his shoulders drop with relief. he buries his face in your neck and drops all of his weight on top of you, holding you in a way that immediately blocks out all the bad things and forces you to focus on him and him only.

you laugh, "you're quite heavy, babyboy"

"deal with it", comes out his muffled reply, as he forces you down on the soft mattress with his bare body, almost an attempt to bury you, and you choke out yet another laugh at his antics, tightening your legs around his waist and running your hands through his fluffy hair. I refuse to believe that it will all be gone soon.

"you haven't said anything. anything at all", he says quietly.

its sad that you know what he is talking about.

"I didn’t know what to say", you reply softly, careful that your voice doesn't shake. he doesn't need to see how you break every time you remember that he is going to leave, which you've been remembering an awful lot these days. no, you need to be strong, for him and for you. after all, you have already survived months away from each other, during tours and comebacks, thanks to both of your careers.

"we have survived before. it's not something new for us. we can do it again", you whisper against his jaw, gulping down the tears threatening to break free. only this time, it's 18 fucking months, and the unspoken words hang into the air.

"you didn't even shed a single tear", jungkook lifts his face and looks at you accusingly, knowing very well that you're a crybaby, "it keeps feeling like you don’t care."

your eyes widen at his words and it feels like a punch to your gut but you can’t say you're surprised. you have been acting indifferent to put up a strong front, and now that you look back, you may have overdone it from time to time. you were never a good actor.

you never understood why it always felt like this, every time you hide your problems from someone to not bother them, and always feel like a shipwreck when they actually fail to notice.

"jungkook, love", you trace his cheeks with your fingertips, his cute chubby cheeks, his lips, moving to his eyelids the moment he closes his eyes under your touch. you drag your fingertips through his scalp, waterfalls of his hair cascading down when you reach his nape, softly pulling his face closer to kiss the tip of his nose. jungkook, my love, how do I tell you that you mean the world to me and that I am not worried that our relationship isn't as strong enough to fight the course of time but I am sad and I am selfish and I don't know how to survive without feeling your presence for even a single day? how do I tell you that you never have to worry about me leaving but worry about me staying forever and suffocating you? I love you and I don't know what to do with myself, I love you and I don't know who I am without that love. what can I say to make it all better?

"babe, are you crying?"

no, you're not crying. you're sobbing.

"wait wait, I didn't actually ask you to cry—", you can see the panic in his eyes as he pulls both of your bodies up into a sitting position just using one of his hands while the other wipes your cheek off, you on his lap, your thighs straddling his waist, bare torsos flushed against each other. you feel him pulling you into a hug as if your bodies could get any closer than they already are. but instead of being comforted, you sob even louder.

"ash, sweetheart, please don't cry", jungkook wanted to punch himself, regretting the words he spoke earlier. what the hell was he thinking, saying that you didn't cry? he wanted to go back and kick his own ass at the stupidity. why the hell would he want you to cry of all things?

you on the other hand could do nothing except bury your face in your boyfriend's neck, and feel the entirety of him, his body, his scent, his hold on you, his voice so clear in your head, nothing but him until the time runs out. you have been so strong till now, haven't you?

"but you're leaving", he could see now, how much of an idiot he had been thinking that you didn’t care enough just because all you were doing was trying to be tough and get through without this exact moment happening. he could hear the desperation in your choked sobs, he could feel the sadness at his own dam threatening to break. he almost felt angry that after all this time, he was still stupid enough to not see through you.

"and I will be back sweetheart, you know I will be. and then there would be nothing standing between us anymore. nothing. for the rest of our lives", he promises as he lifts your tear-soaked face to look at his own. he looked pained, trying his best to be strong when you were falling apart right in his arms, but you could still see the hope behind his eyes because his promise was real and you knew it.

but once the waterworks begin, it just cannot stop.

there is nothing left to say now. it is time, you realize. the chilly breeze washes over you, and you realize that nothing can make you feel as cold as you will when jungkook gets in that car with jimin. your eyes find each other, mouths desperately looking for words to say, promises, comfort, but what can you say that hasn't already been said?

"I love you", you whisper.

"stay out of trouble, okay?", jungkook kisses your forehead and even with the unstoppable tears leaking out from your eyes, you can't help but shoot him a mischievous glance. you, the god of getting into trouble, staying out of trouble?

jungkook sighs, knowing you a bit too well. after spending years together, he knew well enough that you could never be forced to do something you didn't want to do. you were like a storm, passing through in a way that was your own, wrecking everything in the process. while he loved your bravery and carefree nature, he realized it comes with its consequences. for him, it was constantly worrying about you and never wrongfully so. so, he returns to his last resort to make sure that you will be okay, "do it for me."

"okay that is pure emotional blackma—"

you cannot finish your words because his lips are on yours in a second, abruptly plunging you down a rabbit hole because, god, after all this time you're still not used to it. he smells like fresh laundry and mint, moving carefully because he isn't sure that you will allow him to kiss you like this in front of half the people from his company, his parents, and god knows who else is in the base. but who are you push him away?

you drop all courtesy and kiss him back in a manner that is sure yet gentle, tongue brushing softly against his lips. jungkook obliges and parts his lips, breathe mingling and tongue dancing in harmony as you kiss him with all your might, letting all of him overwhelm all of you one last time.

you let go of each other, breathless yet eyes glued. you trace his face, from his eyes to his cheeks and nose, his shaved head, still as soft as silk under your touch. he kisses your fingers when they reach his lips, smiling gently to remind you that yes, he will be gone, and that will hurt as hell but then again, he will be back.

"go, jimin's waiting", you force out a smile, "and please, for the love of god, choose something normal to do, something that doesn't involve jumping out of an aircraft or—"

"I love you."

".....I know."

[romanoffsbish]

Don’t Worry, I’ve Got You

GN!OC (Rio) x F!R

Natasha Romanoff x F!R

Request | Natasha had planned to sweep you off your feet when she returned from her mission. But it seemed someone else had beat her to the punch… | WC: 5,144

Warning: Domestic Violence - Abusive OC | Mentions of Sexual Coercion | Petrified R | Violence - Blood - Gory OC Death | Happy Ending 😀

Smut: Somno (Consented)-Oral (R) | Tribbing | Overstimulation | Sweet/Soft | Mommy (N)

When Natasha exited the Quinjet she was in a state of disbelief to find Yelena stood there. It'd been a year since she'd been home, and it wasn't the compound she looked to, it was you. Not only was it strange that you were missing, but Yelena being there was truly worrisome.

The sisters loved each other endlessly, but they never wanted to seem vulnerable enough to the others by showing their concern outwardly. For you and Kate though, they'd always be there, and in turn the two of you'd always show too.

"Where's Y/N?" Natasha couldn't hide the fear in her voice, but her face remained neutral.

——

Yelena cringed at the mention of you, it didn't take a rocket science to know what happened.

The blonde wanted to help you the first time she saw you with a busted lip, and a bloodshot eye that wasn't simply from crying. Then you flashed her a nervous smile, and she knew that she would only make it worse. You were oddly attached to this asshole—she understood.

Not to say she didn't help in her own ways, she was fond of you, not the same way as her sister, but enough to want to protect you. There was a very specific reason Rio was sent on an influx of lengthy missions this year by his CO, Yelena, (and it wasn't the hopeful rank bumping).

As a former widow she knew that being under another's control is something you become conditioned to respect over time. Sometimes you're even to the point of defending your abuser, for her they doubled as her captors, she reasons it's the same for you in this case, but regardless the reaction all worked the same.

You wouldn't leave unless you felt safe, and you wouldn't feel that way until Natasha returned.

Which is why Yelena is here now. "Natasha, we need to talk yesterday, fuck the reports." The blonde knew the walls had eyes and ears so she pulled her confused sister off to her bike, then drove her fifty miles out to a quaint diner just far enough from the city that Natasha wouldn't sprint back to immediately avenge you.

It was the right thing to do, she didn't want you to see just how scary Natasha could be. The last thing you needed was to be startled into seeing any part of them inside of your Natasha.

"I'm going to kill them!" Yelena smirked over her stolen coffee mug as they'd moved to the dead fields just to the left of the rest top. The circumstances weren't amusing, but seeing that her sister shared her sentiments elated her.

"This is funny to you?" Natasha questioned, her fist shot out at the blonde with the quick reflexes, landing in her open hand. "Why didn't you help her Yelena? Sh-she was my..."

"Lyubov'," Yelena quietly finished for her, she dropped her fist and wrapped her arms around her trembling body. "I never got to tell her what it meant, she always asked, but just as I was about to tell her I had to go. I never..."

"No!" Yelena reprimanded her, "You are not to blame here Natalia. Neither am I. If I helped her alone it would have been worse. Doveryat'."

(Trust)

Natasha nodded, and for a few minutes they stood there, Yelena thinking over what weapon she will use on Rio, and Natasha mourning through sobs the loss of your perfect start.

Everything in both of your lives had been deeply rooted in pain, and now this would be too. Natasha dreamed of more, she wanted the silly first date where she fumbled over her words, that came with the reward of a kiss.

She wanted to enter into a relationship with that period where you dressed up for each other to go out on the town that slowly faded into lazy nights in wearing matching pajamas.

Natasha adored you wholly, and wanted to make every little thing as special as she could. Up until she left she had already been doing so, but still she feels like she failed you. Maybe if she had just staked her claim more outwardly then Rio would've never taken you as theirs.

They would have never been able to hurt you...

Deep down she knew all was not lost, and she could make it right with you. Natasha also knew Yelena was right, it wasn't her fault, but that didn't mean she didn't carry the burden.

All she ever wanted was to keep you safe, and this failed instance will forever haunt her.

"Go pay the bill, I need to make a call." Natasha handed over her card, and as Yelena walked away she dialed in a favor, "Afternoon Hill."

With an urgent need for reaching you the redhead had swiped her sister's keys, and drove them back with a practiced elegance in her every illegal swerve. Yelena grumbled about the likely wear and tear, but there was no genuine anger with her concern, and the redhead couldn't hear her over the racing of her nervous heart, or the harsh wind anyways.

Every second counted, she couldn't risk letting Rio do anything further to you, and she worried that her return might've sparked something in the devious agents voided chest.

"Meet me at the underground cells in an hour," she coldly said to her sister as she tossed her the keys to her bike before she sprinted off. The rooms were spinning when she ran through the compound doors, and it continued to do so until she finally managed to spot you.

You were sitting with your back to the entrance of the communal kitchen, your frame hunched over and your body was lightly shaking. It was clear as day to her that you were sobbing, even if you tried to muffle the sound with your hand.

Natasha wasted no time approaching you, and in her hurry she failed to announce herself. It broke her heart when you jumped away from her touch and skidded across the kitchen.

"I-I'm sorry, I promise I will never mention her again, but please don't —," you cut your shaky pleas off the moment you looked up to see it was a frowning Natasha and not a seething Rio.

Natasha saw the exhaustion in your cloudy eyes, and the rest was painted on your face. Your worry lines were more prominent from when she last saw you, and you looked small. You were once a strong, well built agent at the top of her game, with a ranking higher than her own, but now you looked like a weak prisoner.

There was a scabbed over gash of sorts on the apple of your right cheek, and scratches and bruises all over your upper arms that you tried to conceal with your sleeves but she saw them. The eyes of a spy were a curse just as much as they were a skill to the woman. Because seeing your skin marred broke down her resolve.

"D-don't cry Natty," you yourself said over a sniffle, she smiled sadly as she approached to give you the comfort you were trying to offer.

You whimpered as her strong arms wrapped around your tense shoulders, but your entire body couldn't help but to relax as you smelled the familiar floral scents of her cologne. It was like the world returned to normal for just a moment. All you needed was her touch and suddenly the tears were flowing unendingly.

"It's okay moya lyubov'," she coo'd, and you whimpered once more hearing the familiar words that always brought you comfort. You held onto her shirt beneath her leather jacket for dear life, and she gently swayed your form as you freely sobbed. "You're safe now."

Natasha grinned over your shoulder as her eyes met those of your sleazy partners. Rio's fists were clenched as they stood outside the room, their gaze held contempt as they scowled. They hadn't a chance to interrupt your moment as Maria stopped them in their tracks, and swept them away—if only they'd known of their fate...

"I am here," she whispered, "They are not."

It didn't matter that you knew what her words meant, the meaning was clear; Rio was gone, and you were nothing short of relieved.

Natasha watched as you removed the ring on your finger and dropped it onto the counter in a hurry as if touching the metal harmed you. It was self motivated, but it still left her hopeful to see you denounce them before her own eyes.

The redhead wordlessly pulled you out of the kitchen and you ignored the smell of Rio's musty cologne as Natasha took you straight to her bedroom, a place where you always found yourself sneaking off to when they were out.

While you sat on her bed silently pondering the fact that you were free from this last years terror she ran you a soothing bubble bath. It helped to ease the remaining tension in your body, the warmth of the lavender water helped to soothe the marks atop of your battered body.

Natasha did her best to respect your privacy, giving you her room as she stood outside of the door until you came to collect her. The redhead beamed as you cracked the door and beckoned her inside, seeing you wearing her clothes filled her with a sense of pride, it made her want to remember the way you looked in this moment.

"What can I do to make you feel better?" You smiled softly, and silently nodded towards the bed, she nodded her understanding and laid down with her arms wide open for you to crawl into like you'd always done in the before times.

"I missed you," you croaked, and she pressed her chapped lips against your temple, leaving a firm kiss against the skin and for a moment the persistent ache in your head from the earlier scuffle with your spouse seemed to fade away under the soft affection of your desired lover.

"I missed you too Y/N/N," she sighed, her arms gently tightened around you in emphasis. "Every day I found it harder and harder to stay away. I'm so sorry I was gone for so long, and.."

You shook your head and kissed the side of her neck as your lips were rested there. "Don't."

The redhead sighed, and relented on pushing you beyond your limits. Even if she felt sorry, she still should keep that to herself. It's unfair to ask of your forgiveness, when you were the one who had to endure the cruelty of another. All she was meant to do now was hold you close, and never let this ever happen again.

Once you'd slipped into a state of unconscious that had you snoring the redhead cautiously shimmied out from beneath you. She hated taking the comfort of her embrace away from you, but she had somewhere to be in ten. So with a final kiss to your cheek she left the room, securely locking her door as she did.

"Sestra, welcome to the party!!!" Yelena greeted her sister, "You are just in time."

Natasha took the brass knuckles from her sister's extended hand with a smirk, but before using them she decided to punch Rio square in the nose with nothing but her bare hand. A reminder to the crooked agent that she didn't need anything more to harm them efficiently.

Blood gushed from the asshole's nose and the sisters rejoiced when the pitiful excuse for an agent began to cry. "Seriously? Already crying? What a joke." Natasha snorted at her little sisters taunting, then she turned her malicious attention back to your sobbing ex. "Too bad you're not the funny kind. Just the pathetic."

Rio knew better than to plead for their life. Maria escorted them here and handcuffed them to a chair. Yelena menacingly stood watch over them before Natasha entered. It was clear to the criminal of the hour that their fate was sealed the moment they took your hand in theirs and abused your loving nature.

"Snyat' s nikh naruchniki," Natasha dryly said as she slid the brass knuckles over her fingers.

(Uncuff them)

Yelena obliged her sister, and with unnecessary but warranted strength she shoved them from the chair. "Wh-what's happening? Can I go?"

Natasha chuckled darkly, "Oh please, you are simply being granted a chance to try and throw one of your little punches at me. Show me the inexcusable power you used against her."

Rio smirked, then lunged at the redhead with a confidence they were sure to lose in seconds. Natasha cackled as they punched her nose just as she did theirs with literally no damage done.

"God damnit you're fucking weak!" She cackled as they stumbled back in shock, looking at their fist in confusion as if it betrayed them. "You're going to regret ever laying a hand on her!!"

A taunting smile adorned their face as they challenged Natasha with a tilt of their head. If they were going to die anyways, they decided it would be best to torment her back. "Not only did I smack her around, but I gave her my —."

Natasha socked them in the jaw, cutting their disgusting words off at the source. Only cries of pain left them as the bronze over her knuckles had effectively broken their jaw into sections. Blood mixed with their drool and dripped down their chin along with a chunk of their tongue, and that made Natasha smile wickedly.

Yelena watched with a glint in her eyes as her sister tossed the buff excuse for a human being around as if they were a weightless rag doll.

"Pozvol' mne povernut'!" Yelena eventually whined, and Natasha scoffed, "Imet' eto."

(Let me have a turn / Have at it)

While the blonde tormented Rio with her sharpened knife Natasha chose to discard her weapon and stared at the blood on her hands. Observing as it dripped onto the cold cement of the cell floor, staining it red; her ledger gushed. 

"Natalia!" Natasha shook her head free of the distraction of her dark, self destructive thoughts, and looked up to see a bloodied Rio on their knees, body swaying as they fought to keep their loose grip on consciousness. It was time to deliver the final metaphorical blow.

"Y/N's mine," Natasha growled while holding their disfigured jaw in her hands, her nails dug into their raw skin and they hardly winced as the life force left within them was dwindling. "She was never going to be yours, because she loved me, and she was far too good for you."

"Fut yuh," they spat incoherently, and Natasha grimaced as their blood spluttered onto her face. "I'd bless you, but we both know you're not going to make it to heaven," she teased, smile mocking as her hand lowered to wrap around their neck. Her stony glare of the black widow was the last thing the abuser saw before their lights officially went out. Yelena looked at her, and Natasha smiled weakly at her sister.

"Ready for cleanup," she muttered tiredly into the speaker of her phone, then left the room as fast as she could. The weight of the situation had finally gotten to her, the realization that she could have lost you to that weak fool had her crying the whole way back to her room.

She heard shuffling, so she stood with her head pressed against her door until her breathing regulated, and the tears had come to a stop. Only then did she enter her room, and headed straight for the bathroom to take a shower.

You were flat on your back now, your midriff exposed as the shirt you wore rose up and the plush blanket she left was kicked off the bed. Natasha admired you fondly as she walked out with her towel wrapped around her nude form.

When you finally awoke she was drying her hair in front of her body length mirror, she now wore a pair of biker shorts, and a sports bra. The sight of her flexed abs, and swell of her perfect breasts through the mirror made your mouth even dryer than the amazing sleep had.

The redhead turned around with a soft smirk on her lips, the teasing gesture was however overwhelmed by the distant look in her eyes. She watched guiltily as your eyes filled with recognition when you saw her purple hands.

"Natty?" The redhead sighed softly, "Don't." You nodded in understanding, and patted the bed besides you, and she stalled briefly as she walked into the closet to grab her shirt, as well as her favorite leather jacket for extra layers.

She didn't want to seem like a temptation, even if she only had to exist before your eyes to be.

You honestly couldn't restrain yourself, seeing the physical proof that she'd used her assassin skills to defend you turned you on. It was odd, the way that her violence didn't turn you off. It was perfectly understandable though, knowing that she loved you enough to chose to defend you was the most attractive characteristic.

You were down bad, and Natasha gulped as she saw the way your eyes bloomed with swirls of palpable lust. It took all of her not to pounce on the moment that presented itself to her, but she stood no real chance at abstaining here. In a matter of seconds you were straddling her lap and lifting her bruised knuckles to your lips.

"Y/N," she gasped, a subtle warning in the way her hand trembled in yours, but you cupped her cheeks and smiled warmly before saying: "I want to feel your love Nat, please show me."

Both of your hearts beat out of rhythm, but the jumbled thumps were however in sync. She surveyed your eyes for a brief moment, then she kissed you breathless as she lifted you both up off the mattress. Setting you down on shaky legs she smiled at the way your eyes took time fluttering back open. Her hands settled on the hem of your shirt, "May I?" You nodded, a bit emotional as she sought your permission out.

Natasha was incredibly gentle as she disrobed you, a muffled sob left you as you cherished the unfamiliarly soft touch. It had been such a long time since someone regarded your body this way. Every partner you'd been with since you moved into adulthood had been callous; rough around all your edges and cruel to your curves.

Your parents were just the same, the redhead had given you hope for a brighter future. Then she was gone, no longer present to keep that shadowed figure from exposing themselves.

Rio was never someone you regarded as a threat until the day when they introduced themselves, cocky grin on their face as they asked you out on the date you'd be at later.

It was never a question, it was a veiled prison sentence that you would fall into the trap of.

You were naive enough to believe it friendly, everyone knew you were unspoken for, but the whispers echoed that you were Natasha's girl.

Which you were wholeheartedly aligned with.

Rio disregarded the claim, showing you the empty finger that they shoved a ring onto a month into your assigned arrangement. It devastated you being with anyone that wasn't her, they never physically forced you down, but they used their venomous words to coerce you.

"Moya lyubov, are you sure?" You felt this wave of warmth tingle beneath your skin, and felt as her calloused thumb wiped away your tears. "We don't have to do this yet detka, or ever if-."

"Natasha no," you whimpered, nails dug into the nape of her neck as you feared being left sexually frustrated. You needed her more than you ever thought humanly possible, "Please."

Natasha's arm wrapped around your bare waist, she guided you back towards the bed and kissed your lips the entire time she spent cautiously lowering you onto the mattress. It was like she was in a trance as she took her time kissing away the pain of your scars.

It was her intention to make this moment one full of love, her lips gently kissed over the skin of your stomach and she felt the way your entire body tensed in anticipation. Yet she didn't take the bait, she instead continued to lick the salty sweat from every bit of exposed skin she could, and her kisses continued to drop all over, like into the crook of your knees and elbows, and the apex of your thighs.

You whimpered in need for nearly an hour, but she never heard you as she was determined to feel every last bit of your skin beneath her now numbed lips. Soft snores finally pulled her from her trance, she gazed up at you, her lips stalled on the skin beneath your belly button.

She grinned against your pelvis as she caught a whiff of your abundance, her eyes closed as she felt her mouth salivate in an instant. Her body shuffled until she could eye your cunt, it oozed like a waterfall and seeped into the grey sheets.

With the tip of her nose she nudged your lips apart, then slid up to bump at your clit as her tongue followed the trail with a firm lick. Natasha groaned against your sensitive nub as she truly tasted you for the first time. Her face was absolutely coated in arousal in seconds as she ate your pussy like it was her last meal.

If she goes down for her crimes today she would actually request you as her final meal.

Muffled whimpers left through the part in your lips instantaneously, your hips shifted, then all of a sudden your upper torso arched off the bed and you moaned yourself into consciousness.

You were enthusiastic as your hand wove into her hair and you loudly vocalized her praise: "O-oh my god, don't stop—fuck, never stop!"

Natasha purred against your pulsating clit, a clear indication that she shared your thoughts. Dangerously so honestly, because she made you release on her swirling tongue alone four mind blowing times before she took a break.

While you grappled hazily with the functions of time and space the woman merely watched you in amusement. You were adorable as you came down from your repetitive sequence of highs, yawning obviously and smiling contentedly.

Moments later you finally stared down at the woman whose body was pressed into yours. Natasha smiled up at you lazily, with her slick cheek smushed into your thigh, you returned the gesture and her heart skipped a million beats. You took her breath away every time she saw you, but this time was different, it was even better than she dreamed. She finally had you in every sense of the word, before she left you were already hers in totality, but it was never the right time to take that leap together.

Or at least you'd both thought that you needed the time to be right, but now you knew to stake your claims and to never let each other go.

The redhead needed to be closer to you, so she left the oh so comforting heat radiating from between your thighs behind and began to kiss up the center of your body, a snail trail left in her lips wake with each sloppy press of them to your sweaty skin. She relished in the way you'd shiver as the breeze from the window solidified your essence and had your heated skin chilled.

She smirked once her lips pressed into your cheek as you tugged at her clothes and whined.

"What is it moya lyubov'?" She chuckled, then prohibited your response as she pecked away your pout. Her tongue licked at your bottom lip and you allowed her the moment of distraction. Savoring the taste of you on her tongue as she kissed you breathless, your body pushed back into a needy state as your arousal soaked into her shirt, and she was reminded of your prior whining as you had just tried to undress her.

Natasha shook her leather jacket off of her arm, keeping her body raised on the other like it took no strength at all. She never once broke the kiss, managing to suck your soul from you, she even kept her balance as she threw it off. For her remaining clothes she had to pull away, but you didn't feel her absence for long as she moved rather speedily, almost like a cheetah.

"What does it mean?" You shakily asked as she lowered her cunt atop of yours, a carnal groan then left you, "Fuck, Natasha you are so wet."

She hummed teasingly as she began to rub her aroused cunt against yours, her plump lips hovered your ear as she whispered her secret words: "My love." You felt the warmth of her sigh tickle the skin of your collarbones, and it spurred on a flurry of goosebumps across your body and burrowed deep into your heart. "I'm only ever wet because of you Y/N, every time you'd kiss my cheek goodnight I'd be drooling."

"Oh god," you moaned as her lewd confession was huskily spoken just as her clit brushed over yours, the stimulating touch caused Natasha's arms to nearly give out as she was overrun with pleasure, but her impressive strength won out.

"You've always been mine Y/N," she murmured the truth you both vehemently aligned with as she kept up a breathtaking pace with her hips, it wasn't rushed though which was new to you.

The painstakingly raw jut of her hips left you feeling dizzy, her teeth grazed across the skin of your jaw before her lips latched onto the bob of your throat as your body arched into hers.

It was made worse when she pulled away from your neck and hovered you once more, her lovesick gaze locked on your hazy one, and you were surely a goner as the words as sweet as honey left her saccharine lips: "I promise to cherish your body for a lifetime if you'll let me," her pace sped up just as fast as your heartbeat had, and your eyes brimmed with tears of pure joy as you came in sync with your soulmate.

Whispers of yes and please left your lips in between the moans of her name, and the world stopped when you hoarsely cried out mommy.

Natasha collapsed into you, her arms giving out as her warm arousal gushed from her already dripping cunt onto your thighs as she came again from she's sure your words alone.

"You did such a good job for mommy," she pecked your cheek then pressed her lips to yours and satisfied your needs to kiss her luscious lips as you basked in the aftershocks of your highs in a bubble of undeniable passion.

"Get some rest now detka," Natasha rolled off of you and pulled your limp body into hers. "You're safe with me Y/N, I promise you this."

"I know Natty," you mumbled over a yawn while burrowing your face in between her soft, rounded breasts. The redhead smiled and happily admired your relaxed face, she wore a proud grin as you drifted off, trusting her to keep you safe with the same hands she'd used to wring the neck of your spouse this evening.

You knew deep down that Natasha didn't let them go like you’d thought when she said they were not here. Apparently she was foreshadowing their looming demise. You didn't question her for a meaning when it came to the bruises on her hands, you just accepted it because she loved you enough to bloody her ledger. Though they surely deserved it, she still had to consciously take a life, and even though they were wretched, she still felt the loss.

Good or bad, her heart still cared too deeply.

The world was a safer place, you'd pointlessly reminded yourself of her humanity, as if she would ever lay a harsh hand on you. She who hummed softly, and ran a gentle hand up and down your back even after you'd slipped off into a middle ground. Your mind was still aware but your body was slumped into hers, but you heard her whisper clear as day as her lips faintly kissed your hairline. "I love you Y/N Romanoff, I promise I'll put a ring on your finger soon, I just have to unpack the little box from my suitcase and threaten a judge is all."

You involuntarily giggled softly and her hands teasingly tickled at yours sides, "You sneaky minx," you could hear the smirk in her voice, and you knew then she'd known all along that you were still conscious on some plane. "So, tell me Y/N, will you be my runaway bride?"

"It depends," you yawned out exaggeratedly, "Where will we be running off to Natty-kins?"

"Wherever you want sweet girl, I can make a home anywhere in the world if you're there."

"So romantic," you giggled, your lips brushed over her racing pulse and you left a tender kiss there to try and calm her, but it only made it beat out of sync as it sped up then slowed back down. "Of course I will marry you, just as soon as I can get this crock of fibbery annulled."

"Fibbery?" Natasha chuckled and you whined a little too honestly, "Don't make fun of me, I'm tired, and have a lingering minor concussion."

The redheads breath stalled, her body tensed but you tiredly lifted your head and kissed her chin before you whispered, "It's okay, I'm safe now in my favorite persons arms. Like you said, nothing can hurt me if you're around."

"Damn straight," she said as her grip on you tightened, and you sighed. Natasha's hold was expectantly possessive, which briefly felt too familiar to another's, but the way Natasha kissed the skin beneath your hairline, and continued her prior humming soothed you.

This wasn't the start she dreamed of, but she also couldn't prevent the smile that adorned her sleepy face as you nuzzled even further into her embrace, your clear trust in her meant the world to her and even eased some of her guilt.

You both knew it would be a long while before you were truly yourself again, and you knew from experience that her patience would never waver, and that alone would be enough. One thing was rather clear as you slipped off to sleep—you were safe, and loved just as you'd always deserved to be in your home's arms.

——

[seenoversundown]

Somewhere

Josh Kiszka x Harper (Gender Neutral OC)

Warnings: FLUFFFFFF & some gentle flirty bullying

Word Count: 1.6k

Author's Note: just a sweet little thing for our sweet little man 🥰

🩷 🩷 🩷

Harper POV 

Nothing about Valentine's Day sounded appealing this year. 

Josh and I have been together for a little over a year, but he ended up having to move for a job and now we only get to see each other every few weeks. Unfortunately for us both, this was not a weekend he could swing. 

Him being the way he is insisted we would make the best of it, promising to spend as much time as we could on Facetime so at minimum, we were looking at each other. 

“I know it isn’t as good as being in person,” he sighed. “But, at least it’s something?”

I have spent the past few days trying not to be bummed out but when our group of friends invited me to a local carnival that night, I knew I would be the only one without their partner. So, I graciously declined.. privately in a message to the girl who invited us. I don’t want the pity from the rest of our groupchat. 

It being the day before, I went about my typical routine; wake up, drink the biggest mug of coffee, mentally prepare myself for work, and then get dressed and leave. Generally speaking, Josh and I would text throughout the day and then call or facetime once we’re both finally home for the evening. 

Work felt endless— possibly because I knew what was to come when I got home. Or knowing I had the next day off, regardless of the fact I would just be at home. Alone. I’m not usually this bitter, especially over a Hallmark holiday, but it had been a couple weeks since I had seen Josh in person and it had definitely started to wear on me. 

At least I’ll be graced with his sweet smile all day tomorrow. 

Pulling into my driveway, I let out a deep sigh. Quickly grabbing all my things and making my way to the door. Wiggling my key into the doorknob, it’s unlocked? I stare at my door for a second, trying to decide if I forgot to lock it when I left or if I’m about to meet my maker. 

“Hello?” My voice shakes as I open my front door, creeping through it slowly. Not seeing anything or anyone, but noticing the light is on in my kitchen. 

My hallway has never felt longer than in this moment. 

As I’m about to come around the corner, a voice startles me. 

“Well hi there,” Josh’s voice rings through my empty house. Leant against the counter, a smug little smile on his lips. 

My jaw drops, and I look around for a moment but my attention falls back on him. 

“Wait-“ I start, setting my things down on the island. “How? Your car isn’t here?” Walking straight into him, wrapping my arms around him tightly. 

His chest shakes with a laugh, “I parked at Jake’s and he dropped me off.” 

“Oh my god,” I breathe out, leaning back and touching his face. “Hi.” 

“Hey,” he whispered, as his plump lips found mine. “I couldn’t go another week before coming back, so I moved some things around.” 

“I missed you,” I tell him, pecking his lips. “I’m so,” kiss, “glad,” kiss, “you could be here,” kiss, kiss, kiss. 

His laugh in between kisses made my heart flutter, managing to get out, “I missed you too.”

We spent the rest of the evening glued to each other. Cooking dinner practically holding hands and falling into the couch to put on whatever shitty movie we could find, because we weren’t going to watch it anyway. 

❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Waking up with Josh meant staying tangled up in the sheets for a while. Our visits were so few and far between, that we would soak up any chance we had to just be. 

“We should probably get up soon,” he mumbles, his voice still laced with sleep. “Need to make sure you're fed and caffeinated for later.” 

“What are we doing?” I ask, propping myself up on an elbow to look at him. 

His hand brushing my hair out of my face, “Well, we were invited to the carnival, no?” 

“I told Kira we wouldn’t make it,” I cringe as it leaves my mouth. 

He smiles even wider, “Good thing I let her know the moment I got my work stuff sorted out.” 

Falling dramatically into the pillow, I let out, “How are all of you so good at secrets?!” 

“Is it that we’re good at secrets or that you, my love, are not the most observant sometimes?” 

Gasping at his comment and smacking him with a rogue pillow, I just watch as he dies from laughter. Shaking my head when I say, “You’re lucky you’re pretty, Joshua.” 

Hours later, finally dressed, fed, and caffeinated, we head over to where the carnival is. Josh insisted on driving us since he technically agreed to the plans. And to be frank, I’ll never turn down the opportunity to watch his performance whenever we’re in the car. 

Approximately four show tunes later, including a dance number, we made it. 

“You know,” he says as we’re getting out of the car. “More people should get on the West Side Story train, is all I’m saying.” 

“Josh, honey, we all have enjoyed West Side Story..” my voice trailed off. “When we were in fourth grade..” 

He stops dead in his tracks, holding a hand out toward me, “Harper, I need you to put that back in your mouth.” 

Not the government name. Throwing my hands up, “My bad.” 

“That’s fucking right, you’re bad!” He barks out, a smirk on his face. Wrapping his arm around my shoulders as we walk towards the entrance, I listen to every single reason why West Side Story is a perfectly fine musical. 

All of our friends waited at the entrance for us so we could say hello, but nature's way will always take over, which means we all just paired off once we got inside. 

“Where to first?” He rasps, squeezing my hand gently. 

Gazing around at all the lights from the rides and food booths, the sounds of children laughing, the smell of fresh popcorn. 

“Whatever sounds fun to you,” I tell him, looking over. “I’m just happy you’re here.”

And it’s true— I would gladly follow Josh around all night doing whatever it is that he wants because it means I get to be with him. 

We wandered around for a while, hand in hand, just weighing out what our options were. Finding somewhere to grab a beer to share, neither one of us wanted to drink too much before Josh inevitably dragged me onto a ride. 

It’s not that I don’t like rides, but the fact these carnival rides can be put together in like an hour doesn’t sit well with me. He’s just lucky I love him enough to muscle through it. 

“You would pick the most terrifying option,” I let out under my breath. 

His hand squeezing mine, “Guess you’ll just have to sit close.” 

Looking up at the rickety ferris wheel, trying to not panic at the possibilities. He just tugs me along, still humming that one Officer Krupke song from the car. 

When it's finally our turn, Josh death grips my hand as I step into the middle of the pod-seat-thing, sitting as close to him as I could. If I could be in his skin, I would be.

“See it’s not that bad,” he says, his arm stretched out behind me. 

My body tense as can be, my head slowly turns to him as we slow to a complete halt at the very top of the wheel.

“Okay so I have bad timing,” he laughs. “Though while we’re trapped up here.” 

“Can you not say trapped while we’re a million feet in the air?” I ask, slightly panicked. 

He smiles and his hand creeps down onto my shoulder, “I have been withholding information.” 

My eyebrows shot up. The air is silent somehow, but only for a second when I bark out, “Continue?” 

“What if I told you that—“ he starts, pausing for the drama as usual. “I’ll be able to work remotely as of next month..” 

“Like full time?” 

He nods, “I may have to go in every so often, but I’d have clear warning.. which means..” 

If I could jump up from this seat, I’d be in the stars. 

“Oh my god,” I let out, my hands coming up to cover my mouth. “You can live here?” 

He grabs my hands, littering kisses across my knuckles. “That’s right, baby. I’ll be able to pester you all the time.” 

My heart feels like it could explode. We both knew that when Josh took the job, that he would be traveling a lot, but neither of us really knew what to expect when it came to managing our relationship alongside it. Endless FaceTime calls and a constant stream of texts, but it’ll all be over in a mere few weeks. 

“Move in with me,” I blurt out. 

And for the first time in our relationship, I think he was speechless. 

“Seriously?” 

I hesitate, but the smile creeps onto my face, “Dead serious.” 

His hands hold the sides of my face as he plants the sweetest kiss against my lips. A feeling that will never get old. Mumbling, “Okay, let’s do it then.” 

The wheel starts to slow down with us near the top, yet again. But we’re too busy to notice. 

“I love you,” I laugh out against him. 

He pulls back, looking at me, “I love you, too.” 

Settling back into the seat, we stared off into the distance since we were “trapped” again. Enjoying the quiet as I tuck myself under his arm, until his pipes up after a few minutes. 

“And you thought today would be terrible.” 

I’ve never been happier to be wrong. 

❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Masterlist

Taglist:

@gvfsstardust @myleftsock @imleavingyoufornewyork @dont-go-home-without-me

@literal-dead-leaf @mackalah @edgingthedarkness

@writingcold @i-love-gvf @takenbythemadness

@earthgrlsreasy @peaceloveunitygvf @gretavanfan

@jazzyfigz @demonrat444 @josh-iamyour-mama @wrldabomination

@gvf-luna @lilbitx @gvfstuddedmajesty @katuschka @sanguinebats

@lightmy-love @myownparadise96 @cheersdannyx2

@lallisonl @fleetingjake @musicislove3389

[novemberdrift]

'𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩'| colby brock x male oc

a/n: enjoy ;) summary: sam, colby, corey and jake plan to go to the witches forest, little do they know, they’ll meet a friend of jennifers. he’s a lonely medium studying witchcraft, what happens when colby starts to feel a pull towards him? his feelings confuse him, and make him question himself. 

words: 8.8k (TOO FUCKING MANY, i got lost in the sauce🫠)

sam sat on his couch, dialing the number of the woman him and colby met at the stanley hotel. the latter began to film as she picked up. 

“hello?”

“hi is this jennifer?” they shared a look towards eachother, acknowledging the awkwardness.

“yes, this is she.” 

“sweet uh.. about that forest, was that a legit offer? colby and i have been talking over the past few weeks and maybe.. are you in la now?” he asked, curiously.

“yeah i am”

“cool so maybe tomorrow or later this week we could meet up, and we’d probably be filming it so if that’s cool with you, you could tell us more like about what the forest is and then maybe like find time to schedule to go out there or something?”

“yeah we can meet up.” jennifer said ominously. 

“okay cool, maybe tomorrow we’ll schedule a time then.” sam started to laugh from the awkwardness, and immediately after the phone call was over he threw the phone onto the table and freaked out. “why is it so awkward?” he cringed.

“everytime we talk to her.” colby chuckles.

they both start talking to the camera about their plans with the witches forest, and planning a whereabouts for the meetup. 

a day had past, and sam, colby and jake were in the car, driving to the area where they were supposed to meet up with jennifer. colby had parked very close to another car in attempts to not be in the way of someones driveway. “can’t park in this driveway brother, gonna get a ticket.”

“can’t go to jail again.” sam laughs.

“we’re in a neighborhood, it’s not that sketchy.” sam commented, as they all start talking about how creepy this whole situation was, joking about getting murdered. 

they walk into the park, and they look around until they see two people sitting at a park bench. “hey!” sam calls out, as he sees them. “nice to see you again!” he goes in for a hug with jennifer. 

“how was the shoot and everything?” he asked.

“it was good.” she responded, nodding her head, before looking over to her friend, the guy next to her. jennifer didn’t really care about meeting up with strangers but elias, found it sketchy, so he decided to come along as some sort of backup.

“hey, i’m elias, good to meet you.” he shook hands with the person closest to him, colby. 

“nice to meet you too.” colby smiled, curious about the guy infront of him. he looked pretty cool, his sense in fashion was definitely something out of a vintage movie. his hair was dark brown, about medium length. he had brown circle glasses pushed towards his nose, contrasting his freckled face. 

from what he was wearing, you could see a few tattoos under his sleeves, along with a few different ear piercings. ‘damn this guy is cool’ he felt like some kind of fangirl.

as sam talked to jennifer, colby starting asking questions to the other. “are you also into the paranormal?”

“yeah. i grew up around it my entire life, and now it just seeks me out i guess.” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “how’d you get into it?”

“that’s the same as one of my friends, corey.” he acknowledges. “honestly it’s not that exciting, me and my buddy sam would explore like abandoned places and stuff then it became haunted areas and now we think we’re haunted.”

“that’s cool.” suddenly jake climbs onto the picnic table, creating a thud sound. “jesus jake.” colby laughed.

“so do you guys chill at the park often?” jake tries to make conversation with the two.

“yeah.” they answer at the same time. the camera is held facing jennifer as she begins to explain why the cabin is haunted, and why it’s called the witches forest. 

“you really have to figure it out yourself.” elias commented, chuckling. 

“so you’ve been there too?” sam interrogates him. 

“you could say that, i also own a cabin about a mile out.”

“would you say it’s haunted?”

“oh definitely, in 1946 a couple moved into the cabin and after a few years they started like experiencing financial issues, and it caused a lot of stress between them and eventually the husband started drinking, and one night he killed his pregnant wife before shooting himself in the head.” elias smirked, watching their jaws drop. “let’s just say i’m not legally able to rent it out anymore because of what happened to the last guests we had.”

“holy shit.” sam looked to the guys, with wide eyes. 

“that’s actually insane.” colby said, rubbing his eye. “so do you live there or just use it as a vacation spot?”

“bit of both honestly, the spirits don’t bother me much. i was just there a few days ago and i stayed about three months, left with tons of scratches and stuff.” elias explained.

“do you still have visible marks?” 

“yeah, the longest one is on my leg, i can show you if you like.” the guys nodded, so he stands up and props his leg on the park bench, before rolling up his black pants. quickly a red shiny scratch is visible. it starts at his ankle and goes underneath his thigh. “it’s one of the weirder marks i’ve gotten. it’s shiny and feels almost like a burn, like blistered over and stuff.”

“holy shit, that’s crazy.” jake muttered.

“i don’t know if we should do this anymore.” colby laughs, jokingly crying.

“so on a scale of one to ten, how is this a good idea or are we going to die.” sam wondered.

“let’s just say it’s scarier then the stanley hotel.” jennifer answered.

“is that the key?” jake zooms into colby holding the key to the cabin. colby pauses for a second, having an idea. “would you let us see your cabin?” he asks to elias.

“uhh, i don’t know, i would have to be there to supervise.” “not just because i don’t know you, but also for you’re protection. the spirits know me well, even the negative ones, they don’t like other people.”

“jesus.” colby mumbles. “is that why you can’t rent it out anymore.” he nods slowly.

“we have a friend out there that we met from the summer camp thing. a few of them are still there. elias can probably get in contact with one of them to help you out. since they’re both wiccans.”

“so you’re friend is a... wait you’re a wiccan?” sam asks towards elias, pointing the camera in his direction, receiving a half nod. 

“after i became a medium it slowly transitioned into exploring witchcraft, i wouldn’t like 100% consider myself a wiccan but i do partake in that stuff.” he holds up his pagan necklace. 

“wow, so does your friend live around the cabin?” 

“yeah.” 

“now i see why it’s called witches forest.” sam laughed hesitantly. 

“so a lot of people there are wiccans i’m assuming?” colby asks, before receiving a nod. “witches forest, wiccans.” he does a weird voice to express how crazy this situation is.

“this is awesome, thank you so much for this, we would probably just of done another hotel video.” sam thanked her. “should we call corey?” he asks to the guys.

everyone begins to say goodbye, colby hugging jennifer and elias. “we’ll let you know how it goes.”

“but uh, i just wanted to say, i haven’t been there in awhile so be careful.” jennifer calls out to them.

jennifer and elias start walking back to their apartment. he glances towards the group they had just encountered. “they seem cool, colby’s pretty nice.”

“yeah i guess. i’m surprised you didn’t give them the key.”

“first, they’re strangers, second, they seem like novices, i don’t want their deaths to be on my hands.” elias joked.

“you could’ve gone with them.” she shrugs. elias pauses for a moment, thinking about it. maybe he should. they are trying to find the most haunted areas.. 

“i’ll think about it.”

it was early morning of the next day, and elias had been messaging with colby since he woke up talking about whether or not he should go up with them. colby has been trying to persuade him, borderline begging him to come. they think it would be awesome for the video and their paranormal experience. 

and secretly colby just wants to get to know him as well.

the four boys were in their car, on the way to the first house, to talk to a wiccan who is offering a reading, and more information on the witches forest.

“i was thinking about what the physic said a lot last night, about how corey and i are in danger, and i think they could be right. i hope we have service because we’ve never been in this forest, who knows, like what if we get lost right? that’s why i think bringing elias, who knows the area could be helpful.”

“honestly yeah, and he seems like a cool dude so.” jake shrugs, agreeing with the idea. corey then calls and agrees to come, making everyone so much more relieved. 

“let’s just act like we’re going to a cabin in the woods.” corey says, trying to lighten the mood as he gets into the car.  

they keep on driving, about twenty minutes out, pulling over only to get jake some food because he kept complaining about being hungry. they pull into a burger king, and grab some food. colby suggests sitting at a table so he can fill both corey and the viewers in about elias and the other wiccan.

“just to catch everyone up, we got some food and we are ten minutes away from the forest!” sam starts it off.

“i’ve been texting with both this wiccan and elias, who agreed on meeting us, but they want to meet us at her house. she was just like ‘yeah swing by, and i’ll show you my tarot cards and stuff.’” 

“well, let’s hope we don’t die.”

they walk out to the parking lot, and talk a bit more, explaining to corey. “me, colby, and jake met up with jennifer and this new guy, elias, so the reason why he’s texting to this random wiccan is because they’re friends, them two would meet up with her at summer camp, and she’s going to tell us about the area.” sam said.

as they start driving, they encounter the fog of the mountains, and they struggle to see out the window.

“yeah, elias is going to be with the wiccan, so atleast it’s not like we’re by ourselves with a complete stranger.” colby mentioned.

“well we don’t really know him either.”

“better then completely alone though.” he shrugged, continuing to drive until google maps said he was at the correct address.

“so what have they told you?” sam asked. 

“nothing really, just gave us the address and said see you then.” colby explained, shutting the car door. they walked up to the door, not even having to knock before someone opened the door. “hey colby!” elias said, arm on the door. 

“yoo hey.” colby gave a hug before smiling. “thanks for taking up our offer on this, having you here and talk about some of the stuff is super great for the video.” 

colby felt nervous, seeing elias stand confidentially at the door, he looked more relaxed today, grey sweatpants, black hoodie and his usual brown glasses. you can tell he wasn’t planning on coming. 

in the light, it was much easier to see his face. he also realized elias’ hair was slightly curly. 

“yeah it’s no problem.” elias said as the other wiccan presented herself. “good to see you again.” 

“hey, how are you guys?” she asked. “wanna come in? if you don’t mind i’ll have to sage you though.”

“yeah it’s no problem.”

after the boys were saged, they sat around the table and began to talk about the witches forest. “so why is it called witches forest?” sam asked, getting down to business. 

“there’s a lot of rituals that go on in this area, it used to be a spot with mobsters, there’s a lot of satanic rituals, which aren’t as bad or evil as you would think.” elias nods along, agreeing with her. 

“so you guys would consider yourselves wiccans in the way that you both study witchcraft. 

“yes, i identify as a wiccan, but i feel like it has a different perception of what you would think.”

“okay so can you explain that to us.” sam asked.

“i like to live my life by the moon cycles, so full moon would be a time of like creativity and energy, where as new moon is more introspective and..” she trails off as the door opens for the second time. 

“we’re trying to spend the night here, in the forest. do you think that’s a good idea or bad idea?”

elias grimances, shaking his head. 

“what’s that supposed to mean?!” corey fake cries.

“a lot of people have died up there.. not recently so i don’t think you’ll die.” she says positively. “if you want we can do a little tarot reading.” she suggests, waving over elias to help her with it.

“tarot reading?” colby repeats asking for clarification. 

“tarot cards really tell you what you’re feeling subconsciously, and they help give insight into the past, your future, or the present. and basically however you relate to the card, it tells you what’s going on with your inner-self or stuff you may be doing.” he explains, before sageing the cards.

“this basically helps to detach anything thats holding onto the cards, so for example, the past readings she’s done, it’s possible that those readings could effect yours. so when i sage the cards, it clears anything on them.” he hands over the cards to colby, who passes them to sam, to jake and then to corey, to get their presence onto the cards.

she takes the cards and sets them onto the table. a few gasps come from the guys after seeing the death card, “none of these are bad, so don’t be afraid.”

“the tower is an iffy card in my opinion, so it means danger and destruction, it’s basically like a very sudden unforeseen change, which means you have to rebuild. it can lead to the next chapter of your life. so it starts out negative and eventually it leads to rebuilding which is positive.” elias explains.

“yeah and chaos isn’t always a bad thing, which relates to the death card.” she taps onto it. 

“the next chapter of my life is death?” sam asked.

“no.” elias answered shortly. “the death card will almost never mean death or represent anything like that. it’s typically more like the end of an era, so it implies new beginnings. it also is commonly known as the card that describes self awareness.” he was briefly interrupted by a bang upstairs.

“this card is all about fear and anxiety.” she points out. “but not a real fear, more like you’re worrying about something too much. like it’s in your head, like when you can’t sleep and you’re terrified but it’s not something that you should be worrying about. it’s more like you’re imagining something, like making up a problem.”

“like making conspiracy theories about yourself.” jake adds in, earning weird looks from colby and sam.

“just being scared of something that isn’t that big of a deal, like you’re more afraid then you need to be.” elias adds.

“that’s basically our group.” sam comments.

they talked more about the different chapters of their life, corey refusing to do more tarot. she gave more advice on how to keep the guys safe at their campsite, like taking the sage, having a ring of salt and holding hands.

elias watches as they huddle into the corner of the room and talk about some of their plans together. “honestly guys, i don’t know if i can do this.” corey admits. “this shit is crazy, we don’t need more spirits trapped with us.”

“i think we just have to hurry up because it’s a few hours from sundown, and we don’t know the area too well, i don’t want us to get lost.” sam comments.

“do you think we should invite elias?” colby asked.

“brother, now why would we do that.” corey said, shaking his head.

“he knows the area, and i think he would be awesome for content, he can tell us more stories, we can get to know him and maybe do more ghost stuff with him in the future.” 

“i’m down.” jake shrugs.

“we don’t know him very well, but i do think he’d be beneficial for this.” sam doesn’t seem to care that much.

“okay well i won’t invite him if you guy’s arent sure.” they all to look corey. 

“fine, but i swear to god if he murders us, i’m going to murder you again.”

“okay awesome!” colby walks away from the guys and up to elias. “i was wondering if you wanted to come with us, like to our campsite.”

“oh. uhh, i mean i guess i could hang for a bit, but it would probably be weird to stay the night with you guys. my cabin isn’t too far away in the forest so i’ll go back there once you guys are settled in.”

“we’d be chill if you wanted to stay the night in a tent beside us or something, but it’s cool if not.”

“i’ll figure it out later.” he shrugs, and follows the guys to the car. elias sits in the passenger seat, sam giving it up to sit in the back, so he didn’t have to sit squished next to strangers.

they began to drive in the direction of witches forest, taking a right turn onto a gravel road. 

“so where do you suggest us staying the night exactly?” 

“well i would say definitely be near one of the main roads, so you’re near your car, but as in area, if you keep going down here, there’s some pretty flat ground with trees surrounding it.” elias points in the right direction.

they pull into a blank area, and start gathering their stuff. “just down this way.” he leads, while helping carrying one of their bags. 

“awesome, thank you.” sam thanks him, actually kind of surprised how much this stranger was helping them.

“do you need help setting up your tent, or?” he wondered.

“uhh..” jake mumbled, knowing he’s never put up a tent in his life. 

“that is a possibility.” sam chuckles. ”so like, did you group up in california or elsewhere?” he took what colby said earlier, about getting to know him, and ran with it.

“oh uh, no i grew up in a small town out of seattle, but i moved to la when i was 17.” elias answered, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

“oh cool. why’d you leave seattle?” jake asked.

“just bad memories i guess.” he took a deep breath. “the house i grew up in.. my brother he died there when i was 6. his death brought me into the paranormal world.”

“oh, i’m sorry for your loss.” colby commented, beginning to build the tent.

“don’t be.” elias laughed it off. “it was a pretty natural death, he was born with heart complications, honestly a miracle he lived till 14. he was very positive and i’m sure he wouldn’t want people mourning, so i choose not to i guess.”

“that’s a good way to look at it.” colby smiled at the other. colby took a liking to him, he wasn’t sure why though but it felt like something was pushing him to get to know him.

“so you said you’re a medium?” corey asked, helping colby with the tent.

“yeah, the thing with my brother, it guided me to other spirits and i just kind of fell into it all. i feel things more the most people, i hear more, i sense more.” he paused. “i don’t feel any presences here but i feel sadness and regret.”

“that’s honestly really cool, so to become a medium does it need to be something that happens to you or can you like learn and study to become one?” colby asked, setting up the camera on a camping chair, pointed to elias.

“in my opinion it has to come to you, you can’t work for it. if you are gifted with the ability you can learn and study to enhance it but you can’t force it.”

“the tent’s looking good.” corey nodded towards it. “but i swear to god i don’t want to sleep here.” he begs, making everyone laugh.

once everything was set up, and looking good, elias decided to leave. “i’ll probably head up to the cabin.” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

“yo, you sure?” jake asks, actually wanting him to stay. in the past few hours they’ve all been vibing pretty hard.

“yeah no pressure to leave.” colby said, giving him a smile. 

“i don’t wanna intrude too much on your video or anything, but feel free to come to the cabin if you have any problems or something crazy happens. can’t promise staying at the cabin will be any better but still. i have wifi, hot water, beds, all that stuff so don’t be shy.” elias smiled back.

“alright, thank you.” sam nodded. 

“make sure to say goodbye before you leave though!” elias called out, as he walked away. 

“bye!” colby shouted.

“cya!” jake yelled.

“dude, you’re staring.” corey pointed out, laughing at his friend. colby turned to look at him, before rolling his eyes.

“shut up, i just think he’s cool.”

corey winked to sam and jake, them chuckling to eachother.

it was hours later, maybe 3 or 4, and elias was in his cabin, drinking a glass of wine, while reading one of the books from the old bookshelf. his days here were simple. he’d tend to the plants, garden, read some books and drink wine. he wish he had a more extroverted life, and would sometimes regret missing out on opportunities. such as hanging out with the guys back at the campsite. 

he wondered why he didn’t just stay, when they were clearly okay with him there, but he was still unfortunately a stranger. they were okay with him there, but they didn’t want him there. 

‘god i need friends’, he thought. he’s been so lonely, his only friend being jennifer, and they weren’t all that close anymore since he’s started studying witchcraft. elias has only had a few friends in his lifetime, people thinking he’s weird or abnormal for his interests and gifts, and he’s only been in one relationship which ended around 6 months. 

he honestly hasn’t felt that interested in people, elias finds them too generic, but he did take interest in the group. no matter how goofy they all seemed, they were cool. especially colby, he seemed to care the most. and he was kinda cute so that’s a plus. but he was probably straight.

he paused, hearing a bang upstairs, before sighing. his only friends are the spirits of the forest. he took his glasses off and gave them a rub, as they got a bit foggy. 

‘maybe a bath will ease my mind’ as he began to run a bath he heard a scream for help. his eyes widened at the voice, that was definitely colby. 

“help!” it was a gut-retching scream. elias turned off the bath, and as he was running to the front door, he turned the outside lights on, immediately lighting up the area. 

“colby?!” he called out, opening the door. 

“elias?!” suddenly, he came into view. “holy fuck, thank god.” he sighed, relieved. he rushed to the door. 

“what the hell happened out there? where is everyone?”

“i-i i got lost, i don’t know where i am, i was chasing after a shadow and i thought sam and jake were after me but i went in circles and i walked for so long it’s been like 15 minutes and i don’t know where they are.”

“woah, colby are you hurt?” elias reaches out to the others side, seeing a few smaller scratches. he gently touches them, earning a hiss out of colby.

“ouch.” he chuckles. “anyways, i really need help finding them, i don’t know what the fuck happened.”

“you said you saw a shadow figure? was it just a shadow or were there any visible descriptions?”

“just a shadow.” he shrugs, shivering a bit. 

“theres been a few people spotting shadows around here, a lot of people think one of the main shadows, it’s of a larger male and it’s predicted that it’s the spirit of the husband i told you guys about earlier, and that he’s stuck in this forest as punishment.”

“jesus.” colby exhales. 

“here, come in for a second, i’ll get you a heavier jacket and i’ll get a bandage for your side.”

“oh, thank you so much.” colby rubs his neck, awkwardly standing in the others home. “this cabin is actually beautiful.” he said, not expecting it.

“haha yeah, i take pride in it. nobody ever is here to see how gorgeous the wood and plants are.”

“oh why’s that?”

“i just don’t have many friends.” elias said, while grabbing a few items. “gets lonely up here.”

“hey well, you can consider us friends, i think you’re cool as hell.” colby smiles, taking the jacket, and putting it over his shoulder. “it would be awesome to have you come with us to other haunted places.”

“i-” elias was about to decline, before he thought for a minute. he knew he would regret declining. “sure, why not.” he gestured for colby to move his arm so he could wrap his side. 

“that should do it.” he gave him a pat on the shoulder. “now, we really have to get you back to your friends, they’re probably freaking out.”

“yeah.” colby agreed, rubbing his side. 

“do you mind if i spend the night with you guys? i have a feeling.. like i can feel something bad in your future, and i don’t think it’s safe for you guys alone.”

“oh god..” colby sighed, not ready for whatever he’s talking about. elias grabbed a few more things, and shoved it into a backpack. “it would be appreciated if you stayed with us.” he laughed it off, pretending he didn’t care too much, but he actually felt pretty nervous about the idea. 

he’s never really found guys that attractive or anything but something about elias, it wasn’t even his looks, something about his personality or dare he say ‘spirit’ was alluring. colby just needed to know more, needed to get close to him.

“okay, let’s go.” he said, turning off the house lights, and turning on his flashlight. 

they walked through the forest, trying to avoid all of the unnerving noises they heard. “thank you.” elias said quietly.

“what? why?”

“because, today has been the most social interaction i’ve had in awhile.” he chuckled. they continued to walk in peaceful silence, colby instinctively walking closer to elias. they smiled to eachother, elias having to look away and blush out of sight. ‘jesus, what is happening to me.’

they walked a bit more, and finally began to see bright lantern lights, similar to colby’s. “guys!” he shouted.

“no way, colby!” corey shouted, running straight to him out of relief.

“guys!”

“holy shit it’s colby!” 

“colby!”

“what the fuck happened to you.” sam shook his head. they all looked closer and saw another person. as they got closer they realized it was elias.

“holy shit.” corey exclaimed.

“are you okay bro?” jake asked.

“the shadow person, i kept chasing it, i saw it again. it ran so i ran after it, i ended up going in circles and i got lost so i started screaming for help and i saw a cabin, thank god it was elias’.

“did you hear the scream? it was like a female scream.” sam explained. 

colby went to sit in a chair, his side aching. “no i didn’t, i scratched my side though.” he lifted his shirt to show the bandage. 

“dude, me and jake saw like a baby or something small hung.” sam said.

“bro, i looked at it, and my first thought was that it was a baby hanging, it was swaying and everything.”

“wait.. you said you saw a baby hanging?” elias looked at them in pure shock. “holy fuck.. you saw her.” he mumbled.

“what?” sam asked, eyes wide.

“what the fuck is going on.” corey shouted.

“the.. the story i told you guys, about the husband killing his pregnant wife. a few people i rented the cabin out to, they would see shadows of a hanging dead baby outside the windows.”

“holy fuck!” corey screamed, jumping before walking a few steps away.

“that is fucking crazy.” jake exclaimed, holding onto his head.

“i can’t believe this.” sam held the camera, beginning to shake. “okay, a rule, we can’t separate again.”

they began to talk about what the shadow could’ve been, talking about the biker kids they had seen earlier in the day.

“it definitely was not a biker, you would’ve heard it a mile away, and nobody just goes for a walk in the middle of the night.” elias shakes his head in disbelief at the situation. 

“i’m not staying out here any longer.” jake says, running into the tent. everyone else begins to pack away their stuff, making sure that if they got scared again, they could leave without having to worry about their scattered belongings. 

sam pulls out the camera once everything is put away, and gives the viewers a quick update. “just a little update guys, we did clean up our entire campsite, and now we’re going to chill in here for a little bit, because we don’t know what’s out here.” he gestures inside the tent.

“is it alright if i stay here? i don’t feel like walking back to the cabin.” he asks.

“oh yeah of course.” sam practically invites him in. “you’ll just have to deal with our gross selves.”

“i think i’ll be fine, i was a babysitter for 3 years of my life.” he joked, earning laughs from everyone.

a small fight ensues about sleeping bags with the guys, and elias sits off to the side of the tent, not wanting to get too close and make anyone uncomfortable. he watches as colby pokes around at corey’s pocket. 

“brotherrrr, scared the fuck outta me.” corey cries out. “it’s either colby hitting on me again or a ghost.” elias laughed at that.

“i like to use shrek’s belly as a pillow.” jake mumbles, away from the drama.

a few minutes go by, and bugs in the tent frighten elias, while sam and colby start swatting at them before jake and corey talk about the white people face. elias, guilty of making that face more then once tonight.

the rest of the night was filled with fivesome jokes, jake playing with shrek into the camera, dance parties, sam touching more spiders in the tent, and colby trying to rest his eyes.

he originally laid near corey, between him and elias. he was resting on the end of his sleeping bag, feeling exhausted with the night so far. after another bug was squashed, they placed the camera back in the center of everyone.

elias was the closest to the camera, slightly out of frame, colby close by, corey leaning to the front, jake beside him, and sam on the other side also out of frame. “who keeps farting?” colby asked jokingly annoyed.

“yo what is that smell bro.” colby started cringing, holding his nose, causing everyone to laugh, corey the most.

“who farted dude?” jake commented about the smell looking towards sam.

“i don’t smell anything.” he shrugged carelessly, elias agreeing with him.

“yeah cause it was you!” 

“someone ripped ass, and it was me two minutes ago.” corey revealed, laughing like a madman. 

“my face was right by your asshole!” colby shouted, making a disgusted face to the camera before slowly shuffling away from the guy, and closer to elias. he dramatically collapsed onto elias’ leg and begged him not to do the same.

colby found his leg oddly comfortable, holding onto it like a pillow. he didn’t want to get too over the top and make elias uncomfortable, so tried to stay away from the boys lap.

then, it was back to jake putting shrek up to the camera, pretending to ring an imaginary doorbell. 

“look guys, stop recording if we’re actually going to fuck.” corey pulled his sleeping bag over his face.

“yeah i don’t wanna be on camera.” elias said, holding his hands up, making everyone snicker. it was kind of awesome how they could go from complete strangers, thinking eachother was creepy, to then making jokes like this.

speaking of jokes, everyone made comments about colby and how he was sleeping all cuddly on the other, and god was it unbearable. 

it was awkward, and uncomfortable but oddly enough, the friendly teasing felt better then being alone, so he dealt with it, and listened to corey’s little story about the boys and the shadowman. 

suddenly, noises started getting louder. exhales, footsteps, bangings. corey felt uncomfortable, and kept demanding to leave the tent. everyone paused, trying to listen to the surrounding sounds, sam hearing a car, and elias hearing thuds. 

“yo, should we just try to go to sleep?” colby asked, genuinely really tired.

“uh, no.” corey answered like it was obvious

elias felt the need to interrupt. “listen, the noises are obviously scary and whatever, but you need to understand that you guys are overthinking. think back to the tarot cards. you are scaring yourselves.” he tried to explain, as a way to calm them down.

it definitely didn’t work, corey hearing another exhale, and telling everyone to get out of the tent as a safety precaution. 

eventually everyone began to rush out of the tent, into darkness, sam screaming for someone to get a light. elias put on his glasses, and grabbed a flashlight, pointing it around the camp.

he heard rustling coming from a near bush and started walking up to it, he peeked around trying to find what the noise could’ve been. “elias, hurry up!” sam called, as everyone began running to the car. 

he caught up to them, not caring anymore and jumping in the back with jake and corey. “holy fuck.” he exhaled. “where are we going?”

“jennifer’s cabin.” corey replied, nodding at the idea.

sam’s phone started to ring as colby was driving on a tight road. “yo, yo, look!” he answered the call, everyone hearing absolute gibberish. it was random noises, deep exhales and other strange noises.

“that sounds like someone fucking with us.” colby stated, as sam talked about telling all his friends he was coming here.

“holy shit, i don’t think it’s someone pranking you guys.” elias stared, wide eyed at his phone before holding it up so everyone could see. 

“fuck.” jake muttered. “answer! answer!”

elias answered the call, putting it on speaker phone. the sounds coming from his call was much different from sam’s. these, sounded like chants, as if a huge group of people were shouting into the phone, cursing the boy. “guys, what the fuck is this.” he had experienced everything, but never has he gotten no caller id calls, with scary ass chants. “are you fucking with me right now?” he asked the group, tears welling in his eyes.

“no! no! of course not!” colby assured him. “we don’t do shit like that.”

he pulled into the driveway of jennifer’s cabin, immediately opening the doors and seeing the pouring rain. at the door, jake started shaking the water off of him, complaining about being wet.

quickly, elias could see sam was struggling. he was digging through his bag trying to find the key. he was beginning to panic, and everyone was starting to realize. 

“wait you don’t have the key?” corey questioned, getting nervous. “sam.” he sighed.

“was it in your pockets or the backpack?” colby asked.

“when do you remember last having it?” jake watched as sam patted his pockets.

“n-no i had it today, i showed the girl that jennifer gave me the key.” he defended. “here, just check the car, i swear, i have it.” 

“really try to remember, did you put it in your bag or your pockets?” colby kept pushing.

sam frantically looked around the car as the others judged him, complaining and blaming him for losing the key. “hey honestly sam, don’t worry about it, it’s just a mistake.” elias tried to reassure him everything was fine, only for corey to say something.

“i thought.. it’s either here or in the backpack.. unless is it in our bags? should we check the trunk?” everyone was freaking out, and elias stood there awkwardly watching. he felt bad for sam.. he could feel the sadness and guilt dripping off of him.

“we need this key. we can’t get in. dude jennifer trusted us with this key, you can’t-”

“is this the only key?” “sam, are you fucking serious, dude. i’m not trying to be rude, but first you lowkey lost colby, and now you don’t have the key. i’m just saying, this is why i don’t like doing this type of shit.” corey raised his voice. 

jake and corey agreed they didn’t want to go back to the tent, as colby kept filming. elias took a breath before saying excuse me and pulling sam to the side. 

sam looked confused, but his guilt was overtaking it. “what?” he looked at the other, wondering why he dragged him a few feet away. 

“dude, don’t listen to them, losing the key, like i said is a simple mistake, any of them could have done it, they’re not upset at you, they’re just upset at the cirumstances. but you’re forgetting i have a place just a few minutes away.” elias tried calming him down, seeing tears well in his eyes. he could tell sam wasn’t one that could deal with being yelled at.

“it’s not anything big, it’s a two bedroom with a pull out couch.” elias shrugged. “please just accept my offer, alright?” sam nodded, wiping any sort of water away from his eyes.

“thank you elias, really.” sam suddenly grabbed onto him, giving him a side hug. 

“no worries.” he smiled, leading him back to the car, before they explained the plan to the others. everyone could see the disappointment in sam’s eyes, as he sat quiet in the passenger seat. 

jake whispered to elias, about what happened out there, him shaking it off as to say it was private. he guides colby down the different roads, and in a few minutes they were outside his cabin. 

“here we are!” he welcomes them inside, turning all the lights on.

“shit this is nice.” corey nodded, jumping onto the couch. 

“woah woah, take your dirty ass boots off.” elias joked, watching as he threw them off in the direction of the door.

“thank you so much for having us here.” sam smiled, setting his bag down. 

“really, don’t worry about it, i’m glad you’re here and not outside.” elias took their stuff and organized it by the doors. “okay so, there’s two bedrooms, you guys can take those if you want, i don’t mind sleeping on the couch.”

“hell no.” colby laughed, refusing to have him give up his own room in his own house.

“mkay whatever, someone can sleep in my room with me i guess, because trust me the couch is very uncomfortable to sleep on. plus the rooms are much safer. the living room is the scariest, you’ll hear the most shit out here.” he chuckled. “you guys can look around if you want, also feel free to eat anything you find, and use the wifi, passwords on the fridge.” he yawned. “i’m going the fuck to bed.” 

the guys chuckled, taking him up on that offer. 

for over half an hour, they decided to eat some of the snacks in his fridge, and taking crackers from the pantry. “god i was so hungry.” jake moaned into the leftover burger he was eating.

“okay guys, take it easy, we aren’t trying to raid their food.” colby snickered, watching as his friends ate like hungry rats. 

“yeah good point.” sam took a handful of crackers and put the box back. “should we talk about sleeping arrangements?”

“there’s no fucking way i’m sleeping on the couch or anywhere in the living room after what he said.” corey stated, heading into the direction of the guest bedroom. 

“yeahh, me neither.” jake followed after him.

“so.” colby shrugged. “do you care where you’re sleeping tonight?”

“not really, i’ve gotten to know elias pretty well so it doesn’t really matter to me.” the brunette squints at him. 

“what did you guy’s talk about?” he questions. 

“honestly, when he pulled me aside i was shocked. he like saw how overstimulated i was with the whole situation and he completely calmed me down, comforted me and everything.” he threw his arms as he was talking.

“yeah, i’m sorry about that, we were all just frustrated about the key.”

“don’t worry about it.” sam smiled. “are you and elias getting close? you were like all over him, sleeping back at the tent.” he was genuinely curious, considering he hasn’t seen his friend like this in awhile.

colby paused, thinking about everything that’s happened tonight. “honestly... i don’t know, it’s been really weird for me. i’m so confused with what im feeling.” he shook his head, so unsure.

“hm, i’ll go sleep with corey and jake.” they both nodded to that. “goodnight colby!” sam called out, walking in the same direction as the others did.

colby slowly approached elias’ room, pushing open the door gently. both bedside table lights were on, followed by a few candles around the room. he could see that the other boy was still awake. “oh hey.” he put down his book.

“hey elias. thought you were going to bed?”

“i was, heard some loud munchers in my kitchen though.” he giggled, as colby apologized. “no, honestly it’s okay, i was actually surprised how fast you guys decided to come to bed.”

elias yawned once more, stretching his arms out on the bed. “i can either sleep on the floor, make a little bed and shit, or if you’re cool i’ll just stay on the right of the bed.”

“literally don’t worry about it, not the first time i’m sleeping with a dude-” he paused, cutting himself off. “god that sounded bad.” he laughed, blushing with embarrassment. 

“wouldn’t be my first time either.” elias smirked, blowing a fake kiss before wheezing at their dumb jokes. 

colby moved closer, setting his personal backpack down and folding his jacket on the table. he shuffled towards the bed, and sat ontop of it. “i have no idea if i’m going to sleep tonight.” he sighed.

“that’s fair. it’s crazy out here. if you want we can just stay up and talk for awhile?”

“actually.. that would be nice.” colby rubbed the back of his neck. in was silent for a few seconds, him getting comfortable under the covers. “so..”

“how did you like the witches forest? scary enough for you guys?” the other asked, trying to start a good conversation.

“oh definitely one of the scariest places we’ve been to, like with the history of it and everything.”

“what other places have you been to?”

“uhh the stanley hotel, the biltmore, queen mary, cobb estate, griffin park, and we’ve explored so many creepy places, like morgues and abandoned hospitals.” colby explained.

“geez, no wonder you guys are haunted.” he laughs. 

“do you think we are? we joke about it but im genuinely curious if we are.”

elias thinks for a minute. “i don’t think you’re haunted. however, i can sense something with you. with you and corey. whatever is following you, is completely different then what is attached to corey. notice the different in words.” he points out. “i think you have gotten yourself into many negative situations, not just paranormal.” “would you consider yourself lonely, or sad?”

colby exhaled shakily. “yes, sometimes.”

“spirits love following people that are lonely, they find them to be like easy prey, vulnerable.” he emphasizes the last word. elias closes his eyes, really focusing on colby’s presence. “i think the spirit that is with you is also lonely. they are following along with you, because you are feeding into it, giving it attention. and that’s fine, but if you don’t want it with you, you have to make it clear.”

“is it friendly?” he asked.

“yes. it’s friendly. i can’t tell you where you picked this spirit up, but it’s positive, and enjoys your company. it will not hurt you-” he stops, feeling something float by him. “it will not hurt you, it doesn’t want to, that’s not it’s intent. infact, it wants to protect you. noises you might hear, when you go to a haunted area, it very well could be this spirit trying to assert dominance with other ones.”

“holy.” colby tried to calm his breathing. “this is crazy. as long as it’s friendly, then i welcome it.” “so, do you think corey’s ghost is like bad?”

“i wouldn’t say bad, but when i was sitting near him earlier, it isn’t as friendly as yours. it likes the fear that comes with scaring him, i’d even go as far as, it wants to scare him more, it wants to up it. and with that spirit challenging him, i am nervous for his health both physically and mentally.”

“jesus, i have to tell him that in the morning, he’ll probably freak.” he sighed. “it’s so cool how you can like sense this stuff, does it ever get overwhelming?”

“allll the time.” elias chuckles. “sometimes i can just be in a library back in la, and i’ll feel like some version of spirits and like all these weird emotions, and i have to leave.”

“wow i’m sorry that comes with such an amazing gift.”

“it’s okay, i feel at peace with it now. i think my brothers with me, helping me deal with it all. i think he realizes how alone i am, and has decided to follow me.” he laughs at himself. “sorry, sorry, let’s talk about something more fun.”

colby laughed along. “so do you have a girlfriend?” he wondered, making elias pause and blush lightly.

“no, i’m single.” “goes along with the loneliness, if you feel me.” he chuckled. “you?”

“same, it’s hard to date now that sam and i’s channel has blown up. a lot of people have tried to use me for like clout and stuff.” the other frowned at that, apologizing for his past experiences. “no, no it’s okay, i just hope i’ll find someone soon, i do feel you, it gets so lonely.” he fake cries.

elias sips his glass of wine, offering some to colby. “i’m a vodka and rum kinda guy.” 

and soon enough, the boys were drinking, gossiping to each other about absolutely everything. colby was a very talkative drunk it seemed. he was blabbing about his friends, girls, ghosts, anything. “so like, are you gay?” he asked.

elias spat out his wine back into the glass before turning to colby. “uh wow..” he rubbed the back of his neck. “where did that come from?”

“i-i don’t know.” colby admitted, trying to hide himself with the blanket. he really didn’t know why he asked, his weird confused feelings mixed with being drunk just made him ask, he was so curious.

“i’m bisexual.. how’d you know i was into men?” 

“i.. i didn’t.” colby mumbled into the blanket. he felt himself shaking, so nervous and anxious. he took a deep breath and exhaled aggressively before jolting up and looking right at elias. “i didn’t know you liked men but i think i do.” he rushed it out. 

“i’ve never felt anything for a guy before so i’m pretty freaked out right now and-d confused but i think i like you.” he rubs his eyes, embarrassed and uh pretty drunk.

“wait really?” he paused for a moment. ‘holy shit’ he thought. he never would have expected this, he just thought colby loved being physical with his friends from all the touches earlier in the night.

seeing that his confusing feelings were being reciprocated, it made elias the happiest he’s been in awhile. “dude, i feel the same way.”

colby stopped, completely still. both boys were completely shocked at each others confessions. 

“like i feel like i’ve known you for awhile.” elias commented.

“same.” he tried to think of what to say next, where to go from here. 

“hey.” the other touched his arm. “don’t get too nervous about this whole situation, we have plenty of time to get to know eachother, plenty of time for you to figure out everything you’re going through.” “don’t feel pressured into anything.”

colby thought for a few minutes. “thank you, i appreciate it.” “it’s.. it’s so weird feeling like this. ever since i was younger i’ve been so convinced that i’m straight, and now i’m getting all these feelings for you and it’s honestly making me scared. what if i do like you? does that mean i have to come out? tell my friends, family and viewers? what if i don’t and this is just a mistake?”

“you can.. or we can figure it out one step at a time.” elias smiled. “and by the way, never feel pressured to come out, it’s a personal and heavy thing to do.”

he shivered, tears threatening to spill. it was such a vulnerable moment for him. elias reached out to the boy, offering a hug. 

they shared a tight hug, elias rubbing his back out of comfort. 

their moment was interrupted by an incredibly loud bang, and three loud screams from the guys in the other room. “colby!” one of them shouted.

they pulled apart from their hug, just as the three barged into their room. “did you fucking hear that, bro?!” sam questioned, before looking at the people in front of him. he acknowledged how close they were, the slight tears in colby’s eyes,how intimate the room lighting was, the wine, the white rum.. 

oh fuck, they just interrupted a moment. 

the other two didn’t notice, too scared of the noises they’ve been hearing all night. “that was the loudest one yet!” jake announced. 

“i’m not going back in there.” corey whined.

“we’ve been hearing shit over there, what about you?” sam asked, before mouthing a sorry to the two sitting in bed. elias smiled at the gesture, before trying to wipe off his smirk.

“nope.” colby shook his head, his eyes less red then a few minutes ago.

“it’s safer in here.” corey stated, setting down the pillow he brought from the other room, and curling into a ball onto the floor, making elias laugh.

“are we having a sleepover?” he asked.

“oh, fucking totally.” jake snickered, running back to the other room and grabbing every blanket and pillow he could.

sam made a gesture with his finger, calling over colby. he noticed and walked to the bathroom with him. 

“uh, hey, sorry about that, we didn’t mean to interrupt you guys.”

“interrupt? you uh didn’t interrupt anything we were just talking.”

sam made a face, before nodding. it was his business, so when he wanted to tell him, he would, so he left it alone. “alright.. you ready for this sleepover?” he smiled.

“fuckkk yeahh.”

it had been over an hour, everyone was dead asleep, corey snoring. elias was the only one awake, he was too in thought to sleep. he watched over colby, who was laying right infront of him on the floor with the rest of the guys. they were each laying on both bed mattresses, covered in blankets, basically in a line.

he had been debating to put an arm around colby, but.. if they woke up like that he could expose colby to the rest of his friends, or atleast cause him to get teased. 

after a bit, he decided to shuffle his left arm under colby, so it was less noticeable. he held the boy, smiling, before finally falling asleep.

he didn’t know this, but colby was awake the entire time, smiling, wondering what the frick he was gonna do about this goofy medium he found himself possibly falling in love with...

[aohisworld]

MAGNETIC PULSE! 01

ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝ Aohi is signed into a CO-ED contract and meets her future members alongside another female member, but she’s not necessarily welcome..

ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝ eventual poly!ot7 x added member!oc. (ri-ki centric). content warnings: bickering, a bit of cursing? a little cringe writing.

| : ̗̀➛ MINTIE’s NOTES: Enhypen was considered a boy group prior to this chapter. Aohi was tied to girl group, XG before Enhypen. (ft. members of XG, other idols.)

| : ̗̀➛ WARNING! How I write ENHYPEN is not meant to portray the idols irl, this is my au and I write this for fun. contains angst and a little bit of bickering/awkward tension.

✧. ┊   AOHI wasn't one to be a leader, and she knew that from a very young age. She loved to follow the crowd, keep up with trends and go along with any flow her friends set.

Aohi also knew she was one to set things in stone once planned, she was always ready to do things, anything her friends asked of her or plans they wanted to do, she followed orders, that was her whole thing but..

When Aohi had to face the decision of basically being kicked out of her group, being singled out by the company for reasons she didn't know yet, all she had to work with was her manager's soft and sympathetic gaze on her, and that wasn't much.

The rest of the meeting went through one ear of hers and out the other, I mean, why wouldn't it? Why wouldn't it when the group you trained so hard to join was finally gaining recognition, and only now, did management think you weren't right for the concept and kicked you out?

"I'm really sorry, Aohi. You'll do great things, just... not with us." Yuzi spoke softly, Aohi knew her as one of the higher-ups, her manager's boss.

"But...I worked so hard.." Aohi could only blurt out, standing up from her seat. "It's not that you'll be sent back, Aohi," Yuzi did what she could to cool any emotion down before they could leave Aohi's lips.

"You're just, not the concept we want, not.. now." Yuzi chose her words deliberately as to not spark any unwanted feelings inside of Aohi, Yuzi wasn't a bad person, nor was she heartless, hell, she even treated the entirety of XG as her daughters, so Aohi couldn't be mad.

"What do you want me to do then? Where will I go?"

"You'll be moved into a co-ed project, the higher ups, and Hybe, wanted to create something new, and they picked you, Aohi." Yuzi spilled, reaching over to hold a motherly hand over the young girl's shaking fingers.

"So I'll just be put into a new group? That's it for me?" Aohi asked after a slight pause, her head was in a ramble trying to process the information given to her.

"You'll be put into Enhypen." Yuzi confirmed, Aohi paused for a bit, she was versed in various k-pop groups, being the sole reason on why she was an idol now.

"But isn't that a boy group? Why would they want to turn it into a co-ed project last minute?-" Aohi's eyebrows furrowed as her personal manager finally made a move, placing a hand on Aohi's shoulder as if to tell her to calm down. she had been sitting in the corner for a while, listening in on the conversation.

"Aohi, calm down, okay?" Her personal manager softly whispered, her hand squeezing at Aohi's shoulders, trying to ease the girl into a calmer mindset.

"I don't know-" Yuzi couldn't even continue before Aohi is being sat down by her own manager.

"How could you not know?" She challenged back, her hand retracting from under Yuzi's hold and combing itself through her hair.

"I just don't, Aohi!" Yuzi was starting to get frustrated quickly.

Aohi's questions and irritated feelings was starting to frustrate her as she couldn't explain why, why BE:LIFT decided to pick Aohi, why she had to let her go—

"Listen, you don't have to do it, but it is a choice." Yuzi spoke in a tone that felt finalized, in other words, she was telling Aohi to make a choice.

"I've seen your progress, and I don't want a talented person like you to go back to Fukuoka without a chance." Yuzi continued.

Aohi could only stare back at her, she could feel the shock buzz in her body, her jaw threatening to slack open.

"Aohi, please take this offer, I promise you, it'll be worth it, you won't get far with us, with staying in our company." Yuzi had surrended to begging Aohi.

As a motherly figure, she didn't want Aohi to give up because she wasn't in XG— this whole decision to let her go so that HYBE could bring her up for their co-ed project, was better than any offer they could've gotten for Aohi.

Silence filled the room for a few moments, but to Aohi it felt like forever.

She didn't want to give up easily, XG was her group, she basically grew up with the members like they were her older sisters.

Aohi knew they wouldn't want to see her retreat back to Japan, not when she worked so hard to train to be an idol.

"Well?" Yuzi asked after a moment of silence from Aohi. "Aohi, you have the choice, but you need to make it now."

Aohi's throat felt dry as she wondered, if she returned back to Japan, would her family be disappointed, seeing her come back, not even a year after debuting?—

"Okay, I'll accept the offer."

— It felt unreal, Aohi staring at her old dorm bed, which was hers for not even a year, sitting down on the bare bed, running her hand through it. God, she really didn't want to go— nobody did.

Hinata just watched Aohi silently sit in their bedroom for a while with a heavy heart. If she could just keep Aohi here, with them, she would've.

"Ready to go, batsy?" Hinata's voice broke Aohi out of her thoughts, making the girl look up at one of her sister figures. "Nata-nee, won't you miss me?" Aohi sadly mumbled, looking back down at the bed, still unsure of her decision.

"Aish, just because I'm not crying doesn't mean I'm not sad that you're leaving." Hinata sighed, forcing Aohi to scoot over her bed as she sat beside her.

"You don't know how upset I was when I heard of your termination from XG." She spoke, rubbing gently at the younger girl's shoulder.

"We adore you so much, batsy. You don't even know." Hinata squeezed Aohi's shoulder, feeling her eyes sting at the threat of tears.

"Sometimes, things go this way, and just because we won't be idols together, doesn't mean that's it for you." Aohi looked up at Hinata, sadness evident in her brown orbs.

"What if Yuzi was wrong? What if I'm not well received?" Aohi asked, she felt like she had regressed back to her childish self, asking her older sister things she wasn't supposed to be worrying about.

"Well, then you have us, we'll always be here for you to fall into. We'll be your safety net." Hinata smiled, pinching at Aohi's nose, trying to cheer the younger up.

"Let's go, we've wallowed long enough, it's time, Aohi." Hinata slowly stood up, holding Aohi's hand like a sister would to her younger sibling, squeezing tight in reassurance.

Aohi left the old dorm room, an ache of emotions beating in her chest.

"Aohi, take care of yourself out there, okay?" Harvey approached the young girl.

There was barely any sunshine outside, it was as if the world knew how upset Aohi was, her emotions controlling the weather.

"I don't want you to go, I really don't." Juria said in hushed whispers beside her, hooking her arm around Aohi's tightly, hoping her grip could possibly make Aohi stay.

Juria whispered her words to Aohi because she felt like she would be reprimanded if anyone even heard her loud enough.

"I don't want to, either, Juria." Aohi rubbed her hand in the tired girl's head, trying to comfort her however she could.

Aohi sighed, the girl barely keeping her composure before dropping her grip from her luggage and pulling Juria into her arms, holding each other tightly.

"Be strong, batsy." Harvey approached the two as she placed her arms over their embrace, hugging Aohi and Juria tightly.

It was ironic though, being told to stay strong when Harvey's morning skincare was easily ruined by the salty tears that ran down her face.

"They better treat you well at be-lift." Cocona punched Aohi's exposed shoulder, laughing through her own tears.

The rest of XG joined along, trying to turn the sad moment into a memorable one. They wanted to remember their batsy in good spirits.

It felt like time had fastened for Aohi, because their manager couldn't be any faster when she had entered the girls' shared dorms. Aohi could hear her name being called, a shaky sigh leaving her lips.

Aohi picked up her luggage, trying to pull it out of the dormitory. Their manager offered her help with the bags that didn't fit in the suitcase, throwing it over her shoulder.

As Aohi walked further and further away from the girls, she dreaded leaving the dorms even more, because she knew— she knew that if she steps out, she won't be considered a part of XG anymore.

She'll be leaving her sisters behind. She—

As if her thoughts was easily read by the girls, Jurin called after Aohi one last time. Her sisters called her name. "Aohi!" She swore the world stopped for a moment, just for them.

"You have a home here, with us. If everything gets too much, you can always run to us." Jurin left her with words of reassuring.

Even as Aohi was leaving Jurin's duty to lead, to care for her members— to be a pillar of stability for her sisters, shows.

Aohi let out a breathy laugh, shaking her head. "Always such a leader, Jurin-nee."

AT HYBE HEADQUARTERS, TUESDAY, 9:32 AM—

✧. ┊    The meeting room could be considered empty the way it was silent, The current members of ENHYPEN had woken earlier than they should be to meet up; per their management's request, to meet the potentially new members of ENHYPEN.

"Are they here yet?" Heeseung grumbled from his seat. A tired Ri-ki was on his shoulder, using his hyung as a pillow to try and catch the hours of sleep he's missing by being at the meeting.

Sunghoon was busy spacing out by his seat, while Sunoo was trying not to doze off in his own chair.

"Just be patient a little longer, boys." Their manager tried to soothe the boys' tired annoyance.

"Sorry, sorry!" An unfamiliar staff member entered into the room, two masked girls entering after them. Heeseung looked up, slightly curious.

He assumed from the way they seem to stick to the staff member, and how their own manager lit up at the sight of them, they must've been the reason for the meeting.

"Took you while enough." The manager glanced at the staff member in charge of the girls. Heeseung wasn't sure what to think of the two girls who huddled together.

Aohi already felt close to her member, well, even if they only met a few minutes ago, it was a few minutes longer than the boys of ENHYPEN. Aohi had gotten to know her unnie’s name, Xiulin.

Xiulin was in a similar situation as Aohi, picked off from a group to join Aohi in the co-ed project, 'How considerate.' Aohi thought at the time, at least she didn't feel like she was alone.

Of course, Aohi felt awful that Xiulin had gone through the same thing, especially when she had heard that her unnie was the leader of her own group.

Aohi could only imagine how Xiulin felt.

"Boys, this is Aohi and Xiulin. They'll be the new additions to Enhypen." The staff's gaze turned from the boys to the girls, Ri-ki and Sunoo were now at full attention, glancing at the girls with an awkward look.

Although, the silence must've been unbearable since after just a minute had passed, the staff ushered any one of the boys to say something.

"Yang Jungwon, it's nice to meet you two.." Jungwon took the first move for the group, bowing professionally before reaching his hands over. A handshake, Jungwon was waiting for a handshake.

Aohi hesitated for a bit, looking anxiously at Jungwon's hand, but before she could even decide to shake his hand, Xiulin reached over and took his hand for her.

"It's nice to meet you, Aohi and I look forward to working with you, please take care of us." Xiulin spoke gently, bowing as she held Jungwon's hand. Aohi could only look in awe and admiration at Xiulin.

Xiulin reminded her so much of Jurin.

Aohi quickly snapped out of her awed gaze before turning towards Jungwon and shaking his hand as well, bowing politely, showing her respect to him.

In Jungwon's head, he kind of thought of Aohi as peculiar, Xiulin had a mature personality and was willing to take over for her members, shaking his hand for Aohi was already proof of that.

Aohi has not spoken a single word since they had seen her, only opting to follow after her unnie, sitting down alongside her.

"So, let's get the gist down for what will be Enhypen's schedule now that Xiulin and Aohi are here—" The manager sat middle of the members.

"Enhypen, was always planned to be a co-ed group. We wondered adding female contestants into I-land, but there was never a right time to introduce them." The manager seemed to open a folder of sorts, Aohi and Xiulin listening intently to her words.

"I'd like to think we were doing well on our own, as a boy-group.." Sunoo softly spoke, looking slightly apologetic to Aohi and Xiulin for his opinion.

To an extent, Aohi understood why Sunoo thought so and his hesitance to the addition of girls into the group.

Aohi knew that if she were on the other side of the meeting table, she would be confused, and even frustrated if XG made member additions, much less of the opposite gender when they were told it was strictly a girl group.

The teenage girl looked around the room, observing the other members of ENHYPEN.

As an idol, it would be embarrassing if she didn't know her future members and their names, so she made the courtesy of at least learning their names and faces.

Aohi's gaze landed on Jake, at least she hoped it was Jake? His features was somewhat displaying a perplexed look, spinning in his chair as he seemed deep in thought.

"Well, yes but— see, the co-ed plan was set before Enhypen was even formed as an idea." The manager replied to Sunoo, making the boy deflate as he leaned back to his seat.

It wasn't a secret that their stay in I-land or anything relating, was exactly fun. It was something the members were unsure to explain.

The boys struggled a lot with trying to debut, their journey was turned into a source of entertainment. It was called a survival show for a reason.

Heeseung seemed to struggle at wrapping his mind around the fact that these girls were just being added, firstly it felt unnecessary, and the girls would just not understand.

Jungwon was more frustrated at the fact that this means the girls would have to debut at a later album and it'll complicate what the group was already working on.

"Do they have to join our group? Wouldn't it be better to place them with a group that'll debut together?" Jake bluntly asked, Aohi couldn't lie and say she wasn't offended, because she was.

Aohi was taken aback by Jake's sudden question, so shocked in fact that she could just feel her jaw slacking before it even attempted to open physically.

"What Jake-hyung meant was that, the girls will struggle with our concept- as well as our fans might not receive them well and—" Sunghoon tried to save face for his hyung in front of the staff members and the girls.

Xiulin stared at Jake offended while Aohi only looked appalled.

"What can you do? I mean, these girls have nowhere else to go but be here." The manager's fingers pointed down at the table, emphasizing her seriousness with the taps to the table.

"Their companies have already terminated their contracts, their idol dreams end here if they don't debut with you boys."

The manager no longer felt lenient with the boys, at first, their manager wanted to be understanding, knowing it was an incredibly big change for both sides.

"We've already debuted a while ago, they'll struggle to keep up." Jay wanted to defend his brother, sitting up in his chair.

"If you think we can't handle it, I assure you Xiulin-unnie and I can keep up." Aohi replied, speaking for the first time after she entered the room. She frankly felt offended that this group, was so against them debuting with ENHYPEN.

"You don't know that." Jungwon retaliated, "You don't know us either." Xiulin countered.

"We both left our groups so we could debut with you, I went through that so I could be here," Aohi sighed, "I understand why you're upset, but I've sacrificed more than what I was willing to give to be an idol and I'm sure Xiulin-unnie had to as well."

Aohi had a determined look in her eyes, it was clear that the girl wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"So I'm going to debut, whether you guys like it or not."

"Fine. If you want to debut, don't expect us to help," heeseung replied after a few moments of silence. "Show us you're worth adding into our group."

"Heeseung! That's not—" Their manager scolded the eldest, Heeseung only glancing at her with a blank look, his gaze returning to Aohi.

Heeseung and Aohi was somewhat stuck in a staring contest, as if trying to test each other's patience.

Aohi could feel her jaw clench at this, just what was this group's problem?!

"We will, just see."

— ENHYPEN APARTMENTS, GIRLS DORMS, 11:18 am—

✧. ┊ AOHI just met her new bandmates, and they already dislike her. Well, the seven of them, at least. Xiulin seems to like her! She hopes…

Silence filled the new dorms as Xiulin and Aohi unpacked, both girls focused on returning a sense of familiarity in an unfamiliar space.

Aohi tried her best to replicate her old room, using trinkets given by Harvey and Jurin to give her comfort. Aohi sat down on her bed, it was too soft for her liking. She could feel her lips start to tremble when the situation sinked in.

Thankfully, Xiulin noticed before she could say anything.

"Looks good." Xiulin spoke from the other side of the room. Aohi sniffled, looking up as if wondering what she meant.

"Your part of the room. It looks nice." Xiulin repeated.

Aohi stared at her unnie for a second before returning her gaze to her hands, responding. "Thanks."

"Worried?" Xiulin continued, taking her response as a green light that Aohi was up to talking. Xiulin folded her clothes as she spoke, placing it on the side in a neat pile to store for later.

Aohi scoffs at her short question— as if it wasn't obvious. "Is it that obvious?"

"If this is about this morning, I'd rather either of us not worry about it."

Xiulin stood up from her spot, bringing her clothes into the dorm's closet, disappearing for a few minutes.

"Didn't you hear them though? We're on our own, and the first album we release with them will be a disaster." It was Xiulin's turn to scoff, Aohi looking back up at the sound of that. "Don't tell me you believe his bluff."

"How would you know it's bluff?" Xiulin sighs, she knew it like it was the most common thing in the world. "They can't leave us to fend for ourselves, how we perform affects them too."

"If you make a single mistake, or cause a rumour, it'll ruin all of us, not just you."

Aohi furrowed her eyebrows, looking down at her fingers. "Maybe, I'm not cut out for this—" Xiulin laughs, catching the younger girl off guard. "C'mon, don't let those boys scare you, we worked just as hard to get here."

"We got this, don't you worry."

BE:LIFT PRACTICE ROOM, THREE WEEKS LATER, 6:43 PM—

— Aohi loved dancing, sure, she wasn't a prodigy or anything, but her dance style was one to lure you into the performance.

Any concept and she's got you, hook, line and sinker.

For some reason though, Aohi felt like her ability was sucked out of her, the way she couldn't even keep up with the practice Ri-ki and Jake gave her and Xiulin.

"It's not that difficult! Switch your feet and you got it." Jake groans. Xiulin and Aohi have been bickering with Jake for the whole practice. The girls could only feel bad for the maknae, who stared at his hyung with an embarrassed look.

Honestly, it felt like Jake was only ever talking to prod at the two girls.

"We're not even used to the steps yet! Give us time!" Xiulin huffed out, glaring at Jake through the foggy mirror of the room.

"Seriously! We're trying, yelling at us won't magically make us do better!" Aohi followed after Xiulin's words. A small silence washed the room, Jake looking at the two girls with a tired and annoyed expression.

After a bit, Jake just turns away, he runs his hand in his hair, walking away. Ri-ki looked up at Jake, wondering what he was doing.

"They really are trying, hyung.." Ni-ki spoke softly enough for Jake to hear. The youngest was obviously trying to soothe the tension between the new members and his hyung.

"Well, obviously not hard enough." Jake replied, taking one last glance at the girls, who looked appalled at his words. Before either girls could retaliate, Jake leaves the practice room, slamming the door behind him.

Ri-ki could only hope that Jake would return after a breather.

"Gosh! The nerve of that guy!— Whatever, I'm going to steam off!" Xiulin grumbled, standing from her spot on the floor and walking off, slipping out of the dance room.

Only and Aohi and Ri-ki were left alone in the practice room, the tension being replaced with awkwardness. This was the first time Aohi was left alone with her male bandmates without staff.

Aohi only ever spoke to her members when it was necessary. Aohi has never freely chatted with any of the boys, not even the youngest.

Aohi positioned herself from the middle of the practice room, to the sides, sitting down to wait for Xiulin to return. She tried her best to keep her distance from Ri-ki, since she already assumed he wouldn't want to talk to her.

Ri-ki, unsure of what to do, sits beside her, a reasonable feet apart. It was quiet, the hum-buzz of the air conditioning was the only sound accompanying the two.

"I'm sorry about Jake-hyung." Ri-ki softly mumbled towards her, picking at the skin on his nails.

"Why're you apologizing? Unnie and I want to hear it from him." Aohi replied curtly.

Ri-ki sighed at this response. Ri-ki was a very understanding person, he knew why his hyung was so easily frustrated by anything. He also knew that frustration wasn't an excuse to take it out on Aohi or Xiulin.

"Jake-hyung's just upset, he's trying to adjust." Ri-ki felt like he needed to defend Jake first, despite feeling guilty about the way the boys and the girls bickered all of the time.

"And what makes you think we aren't as well?" Aohi poked. "We're already trying our best trying to follow his instructions,"

"It only makes us even more exhausted that he keeps prodding at the little thing we do wrong." Ri-ki listened, turning to Aohi, "And to think we left our groups for this.."

Ri-ki felt like a dim lightbulb went off of his head— ah, he remembers, their first meeting. Ri-ki would've thought that the girls were picked exclusively.

"Which group?" The younger boy softly spoke, trying to change the subject subtly, trying to keep the neutrality of the two people going.

"XG, my sisters. I left XG to be here, so I could debut with you guys." Aohi nodded along with her words, her fingers fiddling with each other in her lap.

"Did you grow up with them?" It was Aohi's turn to look at Ri-ki, the way he looked at her curiously made a ghost of a smile appear on her lips.

"Eung.." Aohi confirmed, "I didn't join XG until I was about sixteen, then I started to train with them." She shrugged, thinking about her earlier years. "I'm sorry you had to leave." Ri-ki expressed, making the girl shrug.

Aohi didn't really expect Ri-ki to apologize, especially when he was one of the only members who didn't argue with her and Xiulin at every chance.

"You don't have to apologize, at least you're nicer than your hyungs, hm?" Aohi mumbled, giving Ri-ki a lopsided smile before tilting her head back, hitting the wall with a thud.

Ri-ki followed suit, turning away and staring straight in front of him.

"Aohi-noona?" She hummed a response, expecting a question. "Yeah?"

"Where did you grow up, you know, with your group?" Ri-ki spoke back, scooting closer to his noona, feeling a bit more comfortable around her.

"Fukuoka, Japan."

"Ah— you're from Japan too?!" RI-ki's face turned from relaxed to shock, almost gaining whiplash at the way his face whipped to look at Aohi.

"I thought you knew, Ri-ki-san." Aohi used an honorific to tease the boy, who just smiled brightly. Ri-ki was happy that he could have someone to talk to, not just in korean.

"I didn't! Now, I really am glad." Ri-ki laughed, "What?— Why?" Aohi laughed back, finding Ri-ki's starstruck eyes pointed at her amusing.

"I just, miss it there. I mean, Jay-hyung speaks Japanese but, it barely lessens the loneliness.." Ri-ki replied, his wide smile morphing to that of melancholy, Aohi could obviously tell that the younger boy was reminiscing in his head.

"I get it." Aohi spoke in a soft tone, one that gave made Ri-ki feel a little less homesick. Aohi approached the boy, before hesitantly wrapping her hand around Ri-ki and gently patting his shoulder.

"I miss my hometown a lot as well, not just in Japan, but in the Philippines as well."

Aohi felt Ri-ki relax in her hold, allowing her to continue. "I had the girls in XG help me with that homesickness, but you—.." Aohi leaned into him, making him move slightly to the side.

Ri-ki just stared beside him, looking at Aohi with a soft look, wondering what the girl could possibly follow up with. "The point is, I don't think I'll be kicked off anytime soon.." Aohi sighed, removing her hand from off of his shoulders.

Ri-ki felt a little sad, slightly missing the warmth her hold had, but it was the less of his worries.

Aohi didn't really know what she was trying to say after that sentence, she wondered if it was better just shutting up.

"I'm saying, I'm here now, so if you feel homesick, at least we can be homesick together.." The girl gently punched at Ri-ki's shoulder, trying to cheer the boy up.

Ri-ki just stared at Aohi in awe, they've only seriously talked, like one other time, and it wasn't even as personal as this, who was this noona to just declare that for him?

He was astonished at the way Aohi just seems to wear her heart on her sleeve.

"You mean that?" Ri-ki hesitantly asked, "Look, we might not know each other much, but I'm serious, especially about that." Aohi replied, in reality, it just really slipped her lips, but she also knew it came from her heart.

Aohi was weak to those who's got similar experiences, and she was always one to mediate and make people feel better.

Ri-ki looked back down at his lap, a shy smile on his lips at the thought of Aohi staying true to her words, someone to talk to when you feel homesick? It gave a Ri-ki a small warmth in his chest, spreading happily throughout his body.

"Hey.." Aohi caught Ri-ki's attention, making him look up. The girl gently offered her closed fist, a truce of some sorts, a fist bump.

Ri-ki happily took the offer, raising his own fist and bump it against hers, their rings clanking against each other, a dull 'clink!' being heard.

"You're not so bad." Aohi amusingly spoke, a soft smile on her face. "And you're really pretty, noona." Ri-ki replied, mirroring Aohi's smile with his own lips.

It was the way Aohi almost choked on her own spit had she not caught herself. "Yah! Ri-ki-san!" Aohi jokingly scoffed, slapping his shoulder, a form of expressing amusement.

"What was that for?"

"I thought I should just let you know, it was a compliment!" Ri-ki giggled, his smile turning from mirroring Aohi's to one of mischief.

"You don't just tell girls they're pretty, Ki-ah." Aohi smoothly used a nickname she made for the younger boy at the spot, making Ri-ki buzz at the new nickname.

"They'll think you're in love with them and then they'll fall in love with you!" Aohi jokingly scolded the younger boy, Ri-ki's cheeks flushing as he realized.

Aohi's cheeks weren't any different though, despite being a rising idol, she still wasn't used to the compliments anyone gave her.

"Well, are you?" Ri-ki asked, his mischevious grin turning to that of a soft happy one. Ri-ki felt relieved to smile like that for a bit, epseically with his hyungs being down in the dumps with the girls.

Aohi snorted, unsure of his seriousness deep inside and deciding to laugh it off.

Suddenly, the easy atmosphere of the practice room was sucked out, when Jake returned, a weird look on his face. Aohi and Ri-ki instantly jumped away from each other, just now noticing their close proximity.

"Manager wants us up." Jake spoke slowly, still suspicious of the two and what he had possibly walked in on.

"Well, that's us," Aohi replied, standing up and dusting off the imaginary dust on her pants.

"C'mon, Ki-ah."

"Ki-ah?" Jake mumbled, his eyebrows furrowed as he stared at Ri-ki and Aohi, just what happened while he was gone that the two were all buddy-buddy?

Ri-ki just nods, standing up as well, using the wall as a support. Aohi looked on with a slight smile on her face, she was satisfied that she didn't have to fight with one of the boys today. (except Jake, of course.)

It meant, to her, that she was making progress, and she was happy with that.

Aohi hopes that Ri-ki's friendliness wouldn't last just for that day, because she intends to keep her promise to Ri-ki, and it can't happen if they're going back to being awkward.

She walks towards the door, bag in hand as Ri-ki tailed after he like a puppy. Ri-ki and Aohi left that room giggling with each other like the teens they were.

Jake just looked at the pair, tilting his head like a confused dog.

For once, Aohi thinks, that maybe, just maybe, the boys could learn to accept her.

[moonlight-hwa]

FI, TYMI ~ C.S | Chapter 6

Synopsis: Wherein Mikyung does a fake dating agreement with her co-worker, in order to escape the constant pursuits of her ex-boyfriend.

Pairings: lawyer!san x female!lawyer!OC (ft. bff!wooyoung)

Genre: fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, fake dating turned real dating, kinda she falls first, he falls harder

Warnings: none

Word Count: 1,782

A/N: Definitely feeling a lot better, still a little congested and still have a cough, so enjoy this little filler chapter (aka my excuse to introduce a new character). I promise next chapter will be more San and Mikyung focused💗

It was still the early hours of the morning when Mikyung had walked through the doors of the firm. A wide, glowing smile painted her features as she greeted everyone with enthusiastic good mornings.  

  When she opened the door to the office, Mikyung greeted Eunha and Hyunseok with that same enthusiasm and as she did, so her gaze landed on a bouquet of white roses.

  Her brows furrowed, a confused expression taking over her features as she pointed in the direction of her desk “What are those?” She questioned.

  Eunha just shrugged “Don’t know. They were there when I got here.” She answered.

  Mikyung nodded in response as she took closer steps to her desk, all the while she hoped they weren’t from Chanwoo somehow.

  Once she was standing in front of her desk, her gaze caught sight of a cream-colored note amongst the white flowers. She breathed out a soft sigh as she grabbed the note from the flowers and written on the note were the initials C.S.

  Mikyung chuckled softly, feeling her heart flutter slightly. “Well, who are they from?” Eunha asked curiously, one of her eyebrows quirked up.

  She pressed her lips tightly together, stopping the growing smile. “Oh, you know…they’re from a friend.” Eunha hummed half-heartedly, obviously not believing her words.

   “Okay…then what’s going on between you and San? I feel like you two have been a lot more friendly with each other.” Eunha pointed out.

  Mikyung felt her face grow warm as she sat down at her desk. “Ummm…nothing is going on between San and I.” She replied, causing her to cringe inwardly at how unconvincing her tone was.

  “Ah huh…then how do you explain him bringing you coffee or him calling you darling?” Mikyung opened her mouth to protest, but Eunha stopped her from doing so, saying “And don’t even try to deny it, I know what I heard.”

  Mikyung then breathed out a defeated sigh “Okay, you got me there. There might be a little something going on between us.” She finally admitted.

  A wide smile gradually formed on Eunha’s features “Ah ha! I knew it!” She exclaimed, causing Hyunseok to sigh exasperatedly.

  She chuckled softly at that, before continuing “But, before you get overly excited…its nothing super serious, we’re just trying to see if we work together.”

  Enhua hummed “Yeah, of course. That makes sense.” She replied with a smile of understanding.

  “Also, can you not go around telling people about us?” She then said.

  Eunha nodded “I won’t tell anyone; you have my word.” Mikyung smiled, muttering a soft ‘thank you’ before turning she turned to her computer.

  As Mikyung worked, her gaze would occasionally leave the screen of her computer, to look at the bouquet of flowers and every time she did so, she felt her heart leap in her chest.

  Maybe…just maybe asking her office crush to help with something such as this wasn’t the brightest idea, because this was not helping with her feelings for him.

  Before she knew it the sun was setting and Mikyung was still sitting at her desk, alone in the office as both Eunha and Hyunseok had left a few hours ago.

  Her mouth opened in a wide yawn as she stretched her limbs. Her phone then buzzed with a text message, her eyes immediately fell to the illuminated screen and was met with a text from Wooyoung.

  ‘Hey, are you home yet? I’m gonna crash at your place tonight.’

  Not even a moment later another text buzzed through. ‘Well, I guess if you’re not I’ll just let myself in. But I just wanted to let you know that I’d be there, so you wouldn’t get freaked out.’

  The third and final text was sent. ‘I’ll see you soon, Mimi. Love you.’ With the usual large quantity of heart emoji’s.

  Something between a scoff and a chuckle left from Mikyung’s lips, before her eyes traveled to the bottom right corner of the computer screen, where the time was located, which read eight-thirty.

  Mikyung heaved out a tired sigh, while she powered down the computer and began gathering all her things, but when she grabbed the bouquet of roses, she was suddenly reminded of San and wondered if he was still in his office.

  When she finally exited her office, instead of going left toward the entrance, she went in the opposite direction where San’s office was located. Mikyung turned the corner, and her gaze immediately locked onto San’s figure; he was sitting at his desk, eyes trained to the illuminated screen and glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.

   A smile curled at her lips as she knocked lightly on the door. At the sound San’s gaze moved from the screen and locked with Mikyung’s, a dimpled smile painting his features.

  “Come in.” He called out and Mikyung finally opened the door.

  “So...is there a reason why you’re here so late?” San asked, while she shut the door behind herself.

  Mikyung chuckled softly, shrugging her shoulders “Just lost track of time.” She replied, sitting down in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

  “Mhmm…of course.” He said softly, light laughter coming from him. 

  “Then why are you here so late?” She asked back

  San shrugged “Lost track of time.” He retorted.

  “Oh…I wanted to thank you for the flowers. I don’t know how you knew white roses were one of my favorites.” She said after a few moments of silence.

  San’s eyes widened slightly “Really?” Mikyung hummed, nodding in response.

  “Well, then I guessed correctly.” He said, smile remaining.

  Mikyung chuckled softly “Indeed you did.” She replied.

  He cleared his throat “Mind me asking what other flowers you like.”

  “Oh ummm…I also really love tiger lilies and pink gladiolus.” Mikyung answered, a soft smile gracing her lips.

  San nodded in response, smiling as well “I’ll keep that in mind for the future.” He spoke with a wink and Mikyung felt her heart skip a beat at the action.

  “Do you want to walk out together?” He then asked her, while he powered down the computer, standing up from the rollie chair.

  “Yeah, sure.” She answered, following his lead, all the while she finally took in his appearance; his black tie was loosened, the button of his white dress shirt undone and his hair was slightly disheveled, as if he had run his hands through it.

  “Mikyung?” San spoke, causing her to snap out of her dazed state and warmth to settle on the apples of her cheeks, because she had just been caught staring.

  She hummed in acknowledgement “You coming?” He asked, stepping closer to the door of his office.

  Mikyung cleared her throat “Yeah, I’m coming.” She responded, following San out of his office and through the rest of the building.

  It was completely silent as they walked, until they were finally outside. “Do want…Do want to grab some dinner with me?” San asked, cutting through the silence that had settled around them.

  Mikyung’s heart fluttered at his offer, and she almost agreed to it, until she remembered that Wooyoung was at her apartment. “I would really love to…but my best friend is waiting for me at my apartment.” She replied.

  San hummed “Well…we’ll have to plan something in advance.” He suggested a smile tugging at his lips.

  She found herself returning the smile “Yeah, I’d like that.” She spoke.

  He nodded in confirmation “Okay, I’ll text you what day. I’ll see you tomorrow, Mikyung.”

  She hummed in acknowledgement “Yep, see you tomorrow, San.” She said, before they went their separate ways.

  When Mikyung finally stepped through the door of her apartment, her eyes immediately landed on a duffle bag atop the island countertop, then on Wooyoung, who was laying on the couch, wrapped up in a fluffy blanket and eyes focused on the tv.

  “What happened, Woo?” She asked softly, stepping closer to where he lay on the couch.

  Wooyoung heaved out a long sigh “Something stupid.” He simply replied, as Mikyung crouched in front of him.

  “Hmm…then what stupid thing did my best friend do?” She questioned, moving strands of his hair from his eyes.

  Wooyoung gnawed on his lower lip, feeling the familiar prick of tears behind his eyes, as he relayed what events had taken place back at his apartment not even an hour ago. “Chaeyeon came home tonight.” He finally said.

  Which caused Mikyung to look at him questioningly “Is that a bad thing?”

  He shook his head “No…its great, amazing even. I absolutely love that she’s home.”

  Mikyung hummed, an eyebrow quirking upward “I’m sensing there’s a but.” She said, before Wooyoung continued speaking.

  “But instead of doing what any other couple would do, when your significant other has been away for five months…we ended up fighting.”

  Mikyung knew that Wooyoung and Chaeyeon weren’t a couple to just fight or argue, so when he said that she felt her heart lurch inside her chest.

  “God,” He muttered, turning to lay on his back as his hands went up to cover his face “I raised my voice at her and…and she visibly flinched.”

  He then removed his hands from his face, to look at Mikyung and a frown curled down at her lips, taking notice of his glossy eyes.

  “I yelled at her, Mikyung…I hurt her, and I couldn’t bear to say there, so I left.” He sniffled softly, a few tears falling from his eyes.

  “I regret raising my voice at her so much…I never should have done that.” He rambled, voice thick with unshed tears and Mikyung felt her chest tighten painfully.

  She cleared her throat softly “Is this about her traveling a lot for work?” She asked and Wooyoung nodded in response. “I thought you two had talked about this, and that you were okay with her traveling.”

  Wooyoung swallowed thickly “Yeah, we did and I’m completely on broad with her doing so. I know how much she loves her job, and I would never want to hold her back from doing what she loves.”

  He breathed out a sigh “Can I be honest with you?” Mikyung hummed, a small smile curling at her lips “Of course.”

  “I miss Chaeyeon so much when she’s away and the apartment is so empty without her…it drives me crazy some days.” Mikyung nodded, listening intently to his words.

  “I just…” He exhaled softly “I just want more time with her, but I also don’t want to jeopardize her job.”

  Mikyung cleared her throat, before saying “How about you talk to her tomorrow and tell her how you’re feeling. I know you two will work something out. Okay?”

  Wooyoung nodded in response, muttering a soft ‘okay’.

prev | m.list | next

[dragonflame32]

Bad Sansuary day 10: careful (feat. Horror)

I am using a little OC of mine for this, since I think she really fits the Bad Sanses (ahem she's crazy ahem). We're in a scenario where she's been with the gang for a while now. There is no romanticism in this, I think it'll mainly be her interacting with the gang following the prompts. It's also a weird mix of canon, fanon and headcanon. I tried my best, but beware of the cringe >_<

For this one I asked for help, like in a few other cases where I asked to different people, and my friend wanted it to be mentioned so that's why I'm telling this. Credits for the original idea (that I modified a bit) go to @rain0099

Every character belongs to its respective owner

Ashes belongs to me

Bad Sansuary belongs to @owl-bones

Horror wasn't angry. He wasn't furious, nor irritated. He wasn't annoyed.

He was straight up pissed.

He had been able to keep the anger in for a while, not reacting to anything Ashes did or said no matter the lengths she'd apparently go just to piss him off. He had been able to ignore everything, quietly holding his grudge instead of hurting Ashes in return. Meanwhile she kept pushing all his buttons, as if she wanted to see him snap, and purposely went out of her way just to see him suffer.

At first, it was only "innocent" things. Moving around some things in his room (he still had no idea how she managed to get in), stealing some things and hiding them around the castle or taking random small animals like birds or frogs and trapping them in his drawers or somewhere else in his room. Then, bored, she shifted her focus to the kitchen, doing the exact same things on the food and observing him as he searched around the castle just to see his face.

She was quick to notice how playing around with food took a much bigger reaction out of Horror than messing with his room, so she took it to the next level a few days after noticing that. She started to not only steal food just to retrieve it to the kitchen days later when it was rotten and mold had grown on it, but also to ruin perfectly good food by throwing toxic things in it while it was cooking, leaving him extremely distressed.

But she had reached the breaking point when she set fire to the kitchen, and as Horror was staring at the flames crackling in front of him, he felt a rage very similar to the one that brought him to destroy the Core back in his AU. He didn't care what would happen, or if there would be consequences to what he'd do. Now that Ashes had crossed the line, he made it his personal goal to make her regret ever doing that to him.

It took a few days to gather enough food to replace what had been lost, and a few more to prepare all the traps. Then he made sure that whatever Ashes did she wouldn't be able to escape the little game he prepared. He waited patiently for the right moment until everything was perfectly in place, hiding what he was doing to everyone else including the Boss and Dust and Killer. They didn't need to know, and he wouldn't want to get in trouble with the Boss.

Then, after he was done, he waited until Ashes' guard was low and he could take her out without anyone noticing. It wasn't easy to do but he still managed, knocking her out and dragging her into the area of the woods outside the castle he had filled with his traps. He knew Ashes was somewhat immortal, he had seen fatal attacks stab through her and her take them out like they were nothing, but she was still somewhat affected by the pain, seemingly becoming more broken and crazy every time she went through intense amount of it.

He waited until she woke up, observing her from the shadows as she slowly examined her situation like this was all some kind of game. It didn't take long for her to fall into the first trap, a rope snapping around her neck and dragging her into the air, suffocating her as she hanged and tried to get down with no success. He watched as she got free after a few minutes of slowly suffocating after the rope apparently snapped. He was a little disappointed it hadn't held very long, but he was immediately satisfied again as Ashes fell into a bear trap that snapped around the lower half of her body, barely getting free before an axe stabbed through her after flying off of a tree and she was actually showing some signs of difficulty.

She forced her torn body to move forward, probably searching for an exit but only managing to fall through more and more traps as Horror could basically see whatever sanity she had left dwindle down with each and every painful trap she fell into, getting cut and stabbed and burned alive and drowned, and sometimes Horror himself would carry out the executions by taking advantage of her fragility and ambushing her directly, "killing" her with great sadism.

After a very long while of basically torturing Ashes, he left her alone there and got back to the castle, pretending like nothing happened. Odds were that the freak wouldn't remember a thing, and he'd be able to get his revenge without getting into trouble for it. He knew Ashes probably wouldn't suddenly be nice to him, but he knew that she wouldn't mess with him ever again, and he still got his revenge so as far as it concerned him, if she didn't do anything else against him they were even now.

She would learn to be very careful around him from now on

[c-u-c-koo-4-40k]

What do I Know about You - Part 3

Next in the collaboration with @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan! Thanks so much for the help and the lending of OCs!

Previous Chapter Here!

Next Chapter Here!

The madness that started it all! HERE!

Also much thanks to @kit-williams for use of her oc Anrir

Tags: @sleepyfan-blog @bleedingichorhearts @passionofthesith @egrets-not-regrets @bispecsual @felinisnoctis

Summary: The other shoe drops. And now Lullaby and Khopesh have an entirely new issue to work around, and just when things were starting to get better.

Will this bond abnormality drive the two lovebirds to fly separate ways? Unlikely but at least one of them has to be confined to a cage for study, the other is Not happy with this outcome.

Warning: Negative Self Talk, Depression, Lashing out in anger and a trilogy becoming something that is slowly spiraling out longer and longer (but we are going to present this monster in more manageable chunks). Emperor Save Us.

You lay on your side, here…in a type of room you Hoped to never have to set foot in again. 

“There is something we need to tell you, both of you…”

You'd returned to the base with Khopesh as Anrir requested. You'd even let Khopesh carry you on his shoulders as you took your short walk back. Both of you were feeling playful and You felt lighter than you had in ages. 

Ironic with how you now wished to just Sink into this hospital bed like a rock now

As you'd strode in you'd seen the ancient Nightlord again in the lobby, perhaps you'd been a bit too chipper to notice the mood was different.

“Well I said I'd be back soon, so here I am!” You joked, stepping down with Khopesh's help. “Does this have something to do with Claude or Jophiel? I was hoping to get a chance to be slightly less awkward around them.”

Anrir had shaken his head. “Not exactly,” His voice had a pensive and almost solemn air to it. That's when you picked up on something not being right. “Apothecary Hura and I will explain all we can. But in private. My office is this way.”

“Anrir?” Khopesh asked, bringing a hand up to your shoulder.

The older Nightlord nodded. “This concerns you as well Khopesh.”

You both did as you were told. And indeed Apothecary Hura was waiting for you in said office. 

The dread of uncertainty had begun gnawing in your gut. But you used Khopesh's hand and presence as a comfort and reassurance. You're going to face this Together, it will all be alright. 

But it wasn't. 

“What?” You flinched remembering your reaction. “What do you Mean my bond is mutated?”

“It has taken on a form that has yet to be recorded previously.” Hura explained. “Rather than resembling a floral structure…it resembles something else…more akin to a…fungus.”

Anrir picked up the conversation. “The ‘zap’ you felt when touching Claude, was not merely static electricity. Claude's psychery activated upon touching you, leading Cedric to call his brother Jophiel over to examine you with his warp sight.”

“He described your bond and it is unlike anything we have seen previously.” Anrir continued. “In full truth it…unsettled him quite a bit.”

You cringed again, but you didn't blame Jophiel. How would you react if you walked into your garden only to find your Petunias had turned into Death Caps? Not well you assumed. 

“But I'm not Bonded! You of all people know that Doc.” You'd protested. 

“Yes…which makes your apparent mutation all the more fascinating and bizarre.” Hura had replied. “It's like the half of the bond that remained after…the incident, took on this whole new form on its own without anyone noticing the changes, until now of course.” 

“The zap also implies you May have some nascent or yet to be tapped psychic potential.” Anrir stated. “We needed to tell you this so you could be aware and prevent, say…a less friendly reaction to a zap occurring in the future.”

That part had still been overwhelming and wild but…up to that point the things they were saying weren't truly Bad, aside from scaring Jophiel. No…it was really more the next part that made your stomach twist and your eyes scrunch up in that Awful way. 

“We also believe, with the way your bond has mutated… It may not be possible for you to form a permanent bond again.”

A harsh sob ripped through your tightly locked lips and you turned your leaking eyes into your I pillow. 

“I…I can't ever…bond…again?”

“We are not certain but…as the bonds structure and function are so radically different…”

“Different function how?” You interrupted. 

Anrir paused, he seemed to be debating telling you. 

“Different in function How, Doc?” You demanded, which would have been laughable to Anrir if the situation wasn't so…heartbreaking. 

“…When Jophiel shook your hand…your bond began siphoning his power away.” Anrir finally stated quietly. “A regular bond produces a single, stable connection of warp energy. Even if we assume that energy depletes and renews it…. Dissipates when the bond is severed, leaving it to erode away gradually.”

“Yours is alive…and is actively seeking warp energy without your conscious thought…”

Draining...Unworthy...

B...r...o...k...e...n...

“It's like a Parasite…”

Another sob wracked your frame and you pulled the hospital blankets close around you. The difference in texture grated on you but you were also too tired and upset to care. 

“I'm like a Parasite!” You felt like screaming, you felt like crying. You felt your hands coming up around your head. 

“Lullaby…” Khopesh reached for you. 

A million alarms went off at once “No!” You shrieked, jumping back and putting your hands up. 

“Easy there young one.” Hura calls out soothingly.

Anrir states, in his own sort of calming way, “We know this is a lot to take in…”

“Lullaby?!…please…why are you pulling away from me…” Khopesh reached for you.

You'd crammed yourself deeper into the office's corner. “What if my bond is hurting you?? What if it's messing with your head?!” Another even worse thought came. “What if that Thing has been sapping at Your bond with Gary and Nancy?!”

Khopesh paused, he…he hadn't thought about that…

“And what happens if this…this Thing eats up the whole bond!?” You cried, terrified and frantic. “I can't! I can't put anyone else through that I won't-” 

“Please little one, breathe.” Hura calmed you, or tried. 

You took gulping breaths trying to soothe your panic and in that moment you suddenly let out a humorless laugh. “Of course…of Course the night I Finally feel like I can move on This happens…”

“But maybe part of me deserves this?” Another fit of pained giggles bubbled up. 

“Lullaby do not Say that…!” Khopesh protested.

“No, because even though I didn't like thinking about it…part of me…part of me still Did!” You insisted. “About how I'd probably outlive both Gary and Nancy and then maybe…if I was lucky…the universe would let us have a chance to be bonded…”

Khopesh didn't know how to respond at that moment. 

“But not Only do I learn my bond looks weird!? But that I probably can't Ever bond again! Oh And! And! My bond apparently Also Sucks the Life out of whoever it Touches!?” You put your face in your hands, slumping against the wall. “I'm not just Broken…I'm a Leech…a parasite…” You mumble through the tears starting to form. 

“And worst of all I don't even know how to make it stop…” You mumble the same words you had before. Now quietly into the pillow. 

Hence why you are Here now. You can't actively stop whatever this Thing inside you is, so you're going to stay where you can't ...hurt anyone else. 

Khopesh hadn't been happy with that option. “Over my rancid corpse! You are Not taking them from me and sticking them in some Tiny bright room Alone!”

Anrir set his gaze into a stern determined glower. “It will be over your Sedated living body if you do not Stand Down, Scout.” Anrir hissed, “We must take all necessary precautions for both Them and the other individuals residing here.”

Khopesh didn't respond verbally aside from the guttural growling he was mustering up. And in that moment he Loathed, absolutely and totally L O A T H E D Anrir for trying to use his authority in this way. Feeling betrayed, and Angry and wanting so Badly just to grab you up and steal you away to his nest and Hold You until this nightmare would somehow pass and you could both go back to how things had been Before this fucking Horseshit!

“Khopesh…please...”

His snarling rage was broken in an instant. He turned his attention back to you. 

Still so far from him, even only a few feet away but withholding your touch. Not for any meanness but because you Desperately didn't want to hurt him anymore than you already might have. 

“Please…don't fight them on this.” You ask solemnly. 

Khopesh tenses up and relaxes, his hands clenching and unclenching, he is reminded of the conversation they had earlier and his shoulders slump, “For you, I won’t fight them on this… For now.”

Khopesh watches as you walk away, from the way his shoulders shift and the slight forward motion of his body, he longs to follow after you, but he doesn’t. He glares at Hura and Anrir a little bit, “Why did you or the other Apothecaries tending to Lullaby not find out about this … issue… sooner?”

“The last time Lullaby had been checked over at their last visit- such a mutation in their Bond hadn’t been noted in their file,” Hura says as he reviews some of their papers, “The Astartes run facility that they go to is local, near to the farming community that they live and work with. That clinic doesn’t always have a Psyker-Apothecary present at all times. Librarians, Sorcerers, and Dark Apostles are uncommon on Ancient Terra- and their services are… quite highly needed in a number of ways all across Ancient Terra. It’s possible this was a Sudden Development, or something that might have slipped under the radar due to a lack of resources until it reached this point, this is very much an unknown phenomenon. This is a new form of Bond- as spoken of before, is unknown, as this is the first recorded incident of it, as far as I know.”

You stay in that isolation medical cell and sit on the bed. Curling up on your side as you try not to cry again. Thinking over the information that they had been given by Hura and Anrir. Parasite. Something in your mind hissed angrily. You didn’t ever want to intentionally hurt anyone, especially Khopesh, and you worry that you might do so because of the wrongness of your bond.

You're pulled from your thoughts when someone knocks on the door and Hura comes into the room, he takes off his helmet- and your mind twinges a little when you look at his face. You look away from him.

“Do you want to call anyone?” Hura asks them. “We would prefer you not go into detail, but you have permission to inform your emergency contacts and anyone who will be affected by your absence of course.”

You think for a moment. “Yes- there are a few people I want to call,” You reply.

You pull out your phone and the first person you call is your dad, “hey dad, I was out having dinner with Khope- I mean, a friend. And I uh- happened to run into Apothecary Hura- do you remember him?”

“Oh- Apothecary Hura? That older space-man who helped you after that… nasty business with your fall,” Your father says, “... Are you alright?”

He can tell from the way your voice is hitching that you are… hiding something, worried about something. Your father shifts a little and you can hear the movement over the phone, “Bearbear, are you wanting to have some lasagna?”

“Are you wanting some lasagna?” is the code phrase that you and your parents had developed, for situations where asking for help, or if they were feeling unsafe, but couldn’t say as much.

“No, thanks for asking, dad,” You reply, a rush of fondness welling up in your heart.

“Is there anything else you want to tell me?” Your father asks. 

“Not at the moment,” You say in reply, part of you wanted to blurt out what Hura and Anrir had told you, but the warning that the pair of Apothecaries had given you about it stayed in your tongue. Worried about something happening to him if you did say something.

Besides, it's not like your dad could do anything about the issue that they are having anyways. You chat about a couple of random things with your dad before hanging up the phone and taking a deep breath. Time to call mom.

“Hello Lullybird!” Your mother says happily, “How are you doing today- well tonight?”

“Oh- I had a lot of fun with Kho- with a friend,” You reply, shuffling a little on the bed of the isolation room.

“That’s wonderful!” Your mother says enthused. She’d always wanted you to at least try your hand at dating and getting out more, “how’s it going?”

“It went great,” You reply with a smile, before it fades as Hura shifts a little in place, “So uh- Funny story, I happened to run into Apothecary Hura- and he wanted to check over a couple of things, so I’m staying overnight at the Space Marine run Hospital in Gannett Point. Uh- I have a big favor to ask of you…”

“I hope it’s nothing serious,” Your mother says fussingly, “Certainly! What can I do to help?” 

“I need an emergency feeder for the farm set up while I’m… away.” You reply.

“Of course I’ll get that set up,” Your mother says, “... How long do you think your going to stay at the hospital?”

“Uh… I'm not sure, it depends on what all Apothecary Hura thinks is best.” You respond honestly.

“... Alright,” Your mother says, “... If you need or want anything else, you can call me your or your father.”

“Yes mom,” You replied with a fond smile.

“I love you, Lullybird,” Your mother says.

“I love you too, mom,” You respond. “I’ve got to go- doctor’s tests and what not.”

“Oh- of course. I’m driving back to the farm now, is your Dad home?” Your mother asks.

“Thanks Mom,” You reply, grateful for your parent’s help. “And yeah, Dad's home, should be there when you get home.”

You place your phone back into your bag, before turning to Hura and looking up at him, “I was wondering if you could ask Khopesh to bring me some stuff from my house? Just some comfort items to help me feel a little less…out of place.”

“Of course,” Hura says with a nod, “What sort of comfort items do you want him to get?”

“My stuffed rabbit, the pillow off my bed, and my childhood blanket.” You explain. “Thank you Hura- and thank Khopesh for me,” 

“Of course, but also Please let your father know that one of the local Night Lords is coming by to do you a favor, so as to not… startle him.” Hura says.

“Good call.” You nod and send a text message to dad with that information, to warn him so that Khopesh doesn’t unintentionally scare him. You quirk your lips in a half smile, it wouldn't be out of form for Khopesh to jump at an opportunity to be his usual incorrigible prankster self.

Your smile fell. But…given what you'd both just learned, and how he'd seemed when you left him…you doubted he'd be his usual self for a while. You hated seeing him look so lost and angry. 

Hura leaves the room to go find Khopesh- checking in with Anrir for a moment, who warns him of the mood one of his gremlins- er- sons is in. Hura thanks him and he heads off to find Khopesh.

He hears the sound of flesh hitting something soft and looks in to see an enraged Khopesh attacking several Astartes grade punching bags. Some of them are already busted- and watches as the younger space marine pounces on the one he's using currently; punching, clawing, and biting it as it swings and groans at his added weight. He Rips and Tears out fistfulls and mouthfuls of stuffing as if they were the entrails of an enemy, growling and snarling angrily.

Angry, Khopesh is angry, unbelievably pissed that his own Father ‘betrayed’ him by taking his Lullaby away. His head snaps up when he hears someone coming into the area he’s in. He had noticed, but had ignored it when the other people who had been in this sparring/work out room had slowly left after watching the way he had attacked the punching bags. Cowards. Something in his mind sneered as he continued to fight, trying to get his rage and aggression out on the bags, which are far more easily replaceable than something, or someone else.

As he pants a little something in him that sounded an awful lot like logic murmurs in his mind Anrir and Hura aren’t stealing Lullaby from you. He shakes his head and growls another thought coming to mind they sure as fuck are stealing Lullaby from me!

“Khopesh,” Hura calls out- making sure to not be within easy lunging range as he waits for Khopesh to decide on if he wants to acknowledge him or not. Younger brothers could be quite temperamental (not that the older ones aren’t, but the younger ones could get… rash with their actions if not allowed to process their emotions).

“What do you want?” Khopesh spits at Hura glowering at him.

“I have a request,” Hura starts.

“Like hell I’m doing anything for you,” Khopesh says with a growl- about to say something else.

“Lullaby, wants your help with something,” Hura continues to say, as if he hadn’t been interrupted.

Khopesh snapped to attention, “What can I do to help Lullaby?”

“They want some comfort items from their house, to help them handle this situation,” Hura says.

“What do they need or want?” Khopesh asks, insistence pushing his anger aside. 

“They have requested their stuffed rabbit, their bed pillow, and their childhood blanket.” Hura replies, a hand reaching out with the list of items they had requested.

Khopesh nods, he’s determined to see this task through- to help Lullaby and get these items for them. At least this way, I’ll be able to see Lullaby, once I get these items. He thinks hopefully.

He brushes past Hura without much else said other than a quick, and begrudging “Thanks,” As he exits the sparring area, who should he come across but Claude.

In truth…he knew the Primaris had also been watching him from the doorway, drawn by the sounds of his snarls and vitriol. But in his anger he hadn't cared much. He saw you lose yourself, what a Fine big brother you are after all. Khopesh pushes the thought from his mind. 

“Claude, I need you to listen carefully.” He says, grabbing the younger marine by the shoulders with a barely contained urgency. 

“Of course brother,” Claude replied, seeing Khopesh's stress. If you hadn't zapped Lullaby this wouldn't be happening. Your brother and his special one would be safe and Happy if it wasn't for you and your Curse! One of the voices hissed, he forced himself to focus on his brother's words not the ones in his head.

“Please, keep yourself aware of Lullaby, watch over them while I cannot.” Khopesh pleads, gripping more tightly as he emphasizes his next words. “Karlsor is too wrapped up in this with Anrir, I cannot ask him and he'd likely just cuss me out and tell me to be patient.”

“I must go retrieve some items for Lullaby, for the time being, keep your eyes and ears open and report anything major to me as it happens. I-” Khopesh licked his lips nervously. “I can't bear the thought of them being hurt while I cannot do anything.”

Claude seemed taken aback. “Do you really think Anrir will hurt them?”

Khopesh paused, and that once annoying voice of logic came back in his mind telling him to Not be an idiot, Of Course Anrir isn't going to hurt them! They're an innocent Baseline And he wants to study them why would he harm…

“No…or rather, not intentionally.” Khopesh clarified, finally pulling back. “I just…I need a line of communication open, so I can know their status. And if something does go wrong…” Fuck he did Not like the idea at all. “I can know I need to rush back, Please Claude.”

The Primaris marine nodded solemnly, he still felt partially responsible for this happening at all. He would help get Khopesh and Lullaby through this. “I will! I Promise.” He swore.

Khopesh nodded gratefully. “Thank you little brother. I will be back as soon as I am able.” 

“You’re welcome,” Claude says with a determined look on his face. 

He watches Khopesh head off and takes in a deep breath or two, centering himself and then heading off to where Lullaby has been hidden away and monitored by some Old Chaos Apothecaries. 

Part of him shudders at that, he knows that Hura and Anrir are trustworthy- have proven themselves to be able to not be… disgusting treacherous many-faced, forked tongued liars waiting to kill or twist them into horrific evil. Besides.. The… teal… Ultramarine also knows and is monitoring Lullaby, Anrir and Hura….

Hm… Part of him wants to call Cedric- who already knows some of what is going to help out, but that is not something he can decide on. He’s not an apothecary, and just a battle brother, a Librarian in training, yes. But still something prickles at the edge of his vision. 

Ah fuck. He focuses and grasps the feeling-sense-emotion that is a-vision-is-coming and puts it in a ceramite clad box and shoves it deep, deep in his mind. While it’ll make the symptoms and recovery Worse, after he does have the Vision, at least it’ll be after he’s spoken with Lullaby and helped guard them per Khopesh’s request.

He opens his eyes and heads to their isolation cell, he knocks and is let in. Hura seems pleased to see him- and Anrir explains that one of the tests that they want to do is see if Claude and/or Lullaby shock each other again. 

Karlsor is in the room with his arms folded over his chest as he leans against the room- the older Night Lord Librarian is going to use Warp Sight to see what happens, if anything does happen or if things go… strange.

Things that could be going… Strange can happen when Warp Nonsense happens, especially Odd, Unusual, or Unknown things happen. Claude looks around the room and at Lullaby, “... Are you alright with this test being preformed?”

“I want to know what’s going on,” You say, “I hope that this can help.”

“Alright,” Claude says, as he steps closer and reaches out a hand to you. You also a reach out a hand to Claude and brace yourself for the zap of pain to happen.

You feel no pain- and the Zap that had happened before had been noticeable in the way it felt- and others had noticed that Something had happened the first time that you and Claude had shaken hands.

Karlsor does notice- that the little feelers- the mycelium tendrils start to curl and start to siphon off of Claude. Claude does inform them when he starts to feel a bit of energy drain. Hura and Anrir are writing something down and one of the Apothecaries request that they stop holding hands.

Hura asks, “How do you feel?”

You look at him incredulously. “How do I feel?” You have to stifle a disbelieving laugh. “I feel like shit!” You say, ‘broken, useless, a disgusting parasite.’ Your mind hisses at you venomously. “I am a Fuck damned parasite.”

Hura doesn't respond for a moment, and you feel shame creeping in.

“I was actually asking if you felt any Physical difference from the energy transfer.” He clarified.

Yep…full barrel of shame pouring Right over your head and into your gut. He didn't deserve to catch strays off your fuckin pissy attitude. “Sorry…I just…I dont feel…I can't- I don't have the words right now.” You amend quietly, rubbing your fingers over your eyes tiredly. 

Physically, at least, You feel better- more refreshed and recharged, but you won’t be able to realize that now. Not with the self-hatred you feel and the downward spiral starting to make you feel worse.

Claude looks away, understanding how they feel- it’s hard being a Psyker, even if one can’t really access their powers- they are marked out as Other, as Different, as Wrong. Dangerous. A Liability, more than an asset.

“I don’t believe you are a parasite,” Hura says as he comes over, offering you one of his massive hands, “I wonder… can you siphon off the energy of non-psykers as well.”

As a Death Guard Apothecary who… survived through the Heresy and out into The Storm that was first meeting The Grandfather and the… fall into his embrace and the Becoming. Hura has met many different kinds of entities, including some forms of sentient parasites- and from what he knows with his vast amount of Knowledge, he doesn’t think Lullaby is one of them. Then again, further testing is needed.

You hesitate, but eventually move your hand over Huras, the mossy rusty texture on his palms is slightly off putting, but you brush that aside. 

“Karlsor…are you able to monitor?” Hura asks the shade wearing Night Lord.

“Yeah yeah fuckin give me a minute. Shits not exactly Easy.” He groused, rolling his joints and shoulders. 

Maybe it was a trick of your own eyes, but you thought you saw Karlsors pupils…shine, just for a moment. But you figure it was a trick of the light. You'd never seen any visual difference when being warp examined before. 

“Well, fuckin hell…” Karlsor muses as he looks at the two of you. 

“What do you see?” You ask before the present Apothecaries can.

“The little feeler things aren't Just moving over Hura's hand…” He explains. And its true. “With Claude they kinda went everywhere but with Hura…its looks like they're attracted to the ‘vines’ of his bond.”

You yanked your hand away immediately. Followed by hoping up and putting more physical distance between the two of you.

“Fuck! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-”

“Young one please,” Hura held up his hand, trying to stave off your panic. “Did the tendrils have any noticeable effect on my bond?” He asked Karlsor, who had turned off his warp sight.

Hura had also being trying to feel or sense any changes as Lullaby touched his hand- he’s no psyker or dark apostle, but being a Grandson of Nurgle… changes you in ways that are more than just physical.

He doesn’t feel any different from before they had touched him, and even after they had snatched their hand back, he still felt normal. He lightly touches his bond, it feels the same- just as strong. With a bond full of vines, flowers and thorns.

“I don't fuckin Think so…” He groaned, clearly having some kinda of headache from his psychery usage. “When they touched Claude the tendrils kinda started glowing,” He explained. “And Claude felt the energy getting pulled, but since your bond can't Talk there's no way to know how much energy got pulled just now.”

“The tendrils lit up again…but the bond didn't seem to Change at all. At least not visually.” Karlsor finished. “Now I need a fuckin break my head feels like somebody tried to Crack it open with a hammer.”

Anrir nodded. “Very well, we'll take a break, and if you're not recovered by then, we'll have Claude examine instead.” He then turned his attention to you. “Do you require a break as well?”

You took pause at that. A little surprised by the concern you were being shown. “I'm…fine for now, physically at least.” You replied, honestly at this point…you really felt just…Just far more Numb than anything. 

Anrir took notice. “Come now, this could be quite good news. Hura's bond wasn't harmed by you touching him. It's unlikely Khopesh's would suffer either.”

That was a fair point. “But I only touched him for a Moment. There's no guarantee a bond will hold up if I'm in close prolonged contact with someone…”

Anxiety twisted in your stomach at the thought of all the physical contact you'd had with Khopesh before the reveal that this…this Thing was a factor. It made you sick to think you'd been hurting him and his bond this whole time. 

Anrir shrugged. “That is a possibility…but I suppose we won't find out unless we do more tests. And either way…”

“Do you really think Khopesh would simply give up? Throw in the towel and let you slip from his grasp because of this?”

The phrasing was a bit odd. But you couldn't deny Anrir had a point. “He'd probably fight like hell to find a way around it.” You agreed. “But…this isn't exactly a problem you can brute force.” 

“You underestimate my son's tenacity.” Anrir half laughed and scoffed. “He does not falter in the things he pursues. And neither do I.” Before you could protest the old Nightlord placed a cold yet…comforting hand on your shoulder. 

“Let us continue. I believe we may yet find a positive path forward for you and your power. After all…the most important aspect of Any ability is How it is used.”

You couldn't disagree, but you did hesitate. “A positive slant to this situation feels very far off.” You replied. 

Anrir shrugged. “Then we best get moving.” 

[loveapologist]

We have had this conversation many times before, but I think it's worth repeating and stressing out:

Cringe culture is dead, embrace what you love making and do it unapologetically.

Speaking as an artist, I've found myself assaulted many times by the dichotomy of making art that is acceptable vs the art I want to make. By acceptable I don't mean void of controversy (art is all about sharing your own voice and sometimes that is controversial!) but art that I know it's gonna be well received by the internet.

Take fanart for example; it's not only that fanart is gonna be more popular and well received than original art (duh) but also fanart from certain media will garner more attention. A fanart from a different media will have less tracking and that is all well and understood; I'm not taking about popularity here, I'm talking about guilt.

Guilt about making something from a fandom and have people construct an idea about you, guilt about putting work and time into something that is not gonna interest the people that follow you and may drive them away. We have to get rid of that; how many stories are not being told due to guilt? How many niche fandoms are missing out on amazing artists?

I've found myself unsure about posting art of different stuff and even creating it. Getting stuck into this X fandom I may like and it's popular and well received and not being brave enough to share other things that are dear to my heart, due to this guilt. No one will care, they will think I'm this way or that, I will be an annoyance on people's feeds.

And that is so fucked up.

For example, at the start of the year I took the hard decision to stop being a freelance artist and change careers (for several reasons, I won't go into it now). It was incredibly painful and I could not bring myself to pick up a pencil again and create for months. I got into Harry Potter rolplaying in a very private environment and I didn't share it with anyone because I felt guilt for liking that fandom too- I've tried to move forward, grow out of it, but I just can't. I'm gonna be thirty soon and I've come to realize it's my special interest, it fills me in ways that other things can't. It's comfort, it's home.

The thing that got me out of a very toxic moment with art? Drawing my Harry Potter OC I use for rolplay. I love him so much, it's very dear to me and I would love to share the rich history I've built around him but again- even after all this time, I found myself feeling guilty. About liking Harry Potter, about having a cringey rp OC, about not posting art for the other fandoms I've been into.

And you know what? I'm tired of it. This fills me with a creative passion I hadn't felt in years, it makes me want to draw again even if no one really cares. I'm tired of feeling guilty and I won't let myself be reigned by it no longer.

Who cares if it's a rp oc, if it's a self insert in some ways, if it's cringe or overdone. I do have a creative voice, stories to tell, things that I love and it's that love I want to share.

Life is too short to stop yourself from creating and sharing something you love. Create the thing, share the thing. At the end of the day there is no one else but yourself to be accountable for the things you have or haven't done.

[shiestys0rcerer]

Hiraeth- S.G

﹒⋆ homesickness for a home to which you cannot return ﹒⋆

✧ Suguru Geto x Oc, eventual Satoru Gojo x Reader

✧ warnings : harassment?, cringe maybe, a work in progress

✧ Hireath Series: Chapter One

✧ Authors Note: Posted this on Wattpad but wanted to try it on tumblr, lmk what yall think :3 My first time writing so this might be a little ass but trust I have a vision 🙌, also this is kinda like a flashback? It’s just how they started dating tbh. NOT REVISED!!

✧ Summary: She wasn't exactly sure what made her realize she was in love with him. It could've been the fact that her heart raced when his eyes lingered on her a second longer than usual, or maybe it was the mere fact she constantly daydreamed about doing things with him that crossed the line of friendship.

︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿

2005

The three teens walked through the park together. The beautiful scenery around them began to show as the sun started to set, creating a beautiful gold overcast that filled the sky. The occasional gentle breeze of wind offered a cool contrast to the warm weather.

"I must admit I enjoy moments like these. It's nice not having any work to do." Suguru spoke.

"Exactly! No cursed spirits, no teachers, no higher ups, just putting an end to the day by being at the park with my best friends.” Gojo sighed as he walked with his hands behind his head.

"Please don't jinx us, the moment you say anything positive we'll end up having to deal with some stupid cursed spirit." Sayori groaned as she walked behind the two.

"C'mon lighten up. It's not often we get a chance to be off duty all at the same time." Gojo said as he turned to look at her.

"Oh believe me I'm beyond ecstatic about this, I just don't want our peace ruined by getting a random assigned mission before we even get there." Sayori explained.

The three continued talking as they strolled down the walking trail for another ten minutes before they arrived at an open area. There were people scattered all over the place. Families were sat on blankets, having picnics. Children ran around in groups playing. Even the occasional couple on their romantic evening walked by. Overall it was a nice change of scenery for the young sorcerers.

They instantly made their way to the first empty spot they saw. They spread out their blanket on the floor and began setting up their picnic. Once all the food was laid out they grabbed a plate and began loading it up with food.

"Damn leave some food for the rest of us." Sayori said as she looked at Gojo's plate.

"What? I'm hungry." He argued.

"You're always hungry." Suguru deadpanned as he grabbed a napkin.

"I am not!" He bickered as he placed his hand over his chest in an offended manner.

"No, no he's right, you were literally eating the dessert we packed in my bag on the way here." Sayori laughed.

The trio continued talking and eating for awhile before Satoru's phone rang. He checked the caller ID and instantly picked up. Silence fell over the other two as they watched his face drop with the quick conversation.

"Yaga called. Said he needed me to come in because the higher ups want to talk to me." Satoru groaned as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Do you want us to go back with you?" Suguru asked as he watched Satoru get up.

"Nah, it's fine. You guys enjoy the rest of your day, I'll see you two later." He said waving his hand as he walked off.

Silence once again fell over the two. It wasn't often Sayori got the chance to hang out with Suguru alone. Though she was excited she'd finally be able to talk to him without Gojo interfering every two seconds. If anything this worked out perfectly. They had the rest of the day free, maybe she could find the time and courage to tell him how she felt.

"Well at least it wasn't us." She broke the silence as she pulled her knees up to her chest.

"Yeah thankfully.” Suguru replied, before he stood up and began stretching. He closed his eyes as he pulled his arms behind his head, his shirt lifting up a little, revealing his torso.

Sayori very quickly took notice of his skin and shamelessly kept watching as he stretched. Though her trance was broken when the wind picked up and almost blew away the empty plastic wrappers laying on the blanket. As soon as she went to grab them he stopped stretching.

"Stupid trash ruining the moment." She mumbled quietly as she crumbled the wrapper. After being broken from her trance she decided to clean up and collect all the trash in the bag they brought the food in.

As Sayori began to walk over to the trash bin she noticed a man standing by a tree. She accidentally locked eyes with him, but she just looked away and carried on. When she looked back up she noticed he started walking towards the trash bin as well. Though she still shrugged it off and continued on. However he reached the bins and just stood there.

"Oh god please don't let him start talking to me. Just let me do this one thing in peace." She prayed as she reached the bin.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing out here alone?" The man whistled. He didn't look homeless but he reeked of alcohol.

"Why the hell do I even bother." Sayori groaned mentally as the emptied the bag in the trash.

"Come home with me baby, I can give you some company and show you a good time." The man continued, a smirk growing on his face.

"Ew.." the only thought that ran through her mind.

"Ah! No thank you!." She declined as she waved him off and turned around.

"It's not like you have a boyfriend anyways so just come home with me." He snapped.

"Oh so he's just an asshole, got it!" She remarked mentally rolling her eyes.

At the moment she could've just knocked him out. Even without her cursed technique she could easily overpower him in a second. Though something in his statement struck a cord and left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"What makes you think I wouldn't have a boyfriend?”Sayori asked.

"Because you're alone, and even if you did have a boyfriend, what kind of idiot lets his woman walk off alone. A real man like me wouldn't treat you that way." He slurred.

"A real man wouldn't harass a girl at the park either but okay." She thought to herself.

"He doesn't control my every move. I left to throw away the trash from our date. That I was very much enjoying until you came along." She lied as she looked him up and down.

"Hm, not buying the excuse, sorry sweetheart." The man said with a smug look on his face. Sayori was one step away from punching him, but she was set on proving him wrong

"Hey, Suguru! Can you please come here!" She called.

"Man, I hope this doesn't make things weird between us, hopefully he'll understand.."

Suguru was better than this man in every way possibly. Suguru was tall, caring, sweet, and attractive. The drunk on the other hand lacked in every category a woman could have for her standard in men.

Once he heard her calling he immediately walked over. Taking notice of the man, and Sayori's happy face he couldn't help but feel confused. He walked up  to the side of her, and she immediately snaked her hand around his waist, taking him by surprise.

"Well you wanted to see my boyfriend so.. here he is." Sayori smiled.

Suguru, now understanding his role in the situation, smirks as he relaxes his shoulders. He rested his hand on the small of Sayori's back, causing her to freeze for a second.

"I'm sorry, baby is this drunk bothering you?" Suguru cooed as he played along.

Sayori’s mind quite literally exploded in that moment. The nickname itself made her face heat up. Though for the sake of her act..and selfishly her self, she continued to play along.

The mans eyes just widened in shock. Which honestly was enough of a reaction for Sayori but she wanted to see how far she could push it.

"Yup, and get this, said you were an idiot for letting me out of your sight." Sayori added.

"Maybe I am for letting my you walk around while's there jobless drunks patrolling the area. C'mon my love we're leaving. Suguru said locking eyes with the man, who still was wide eyed. Though Sayori was almost matching his expression. She was in complete shock of his response to this situation.

"Keep it together, you look just as shocked as the drunk." Sayori thought as she regained her composure.

Suguru turned to walk away, still intertwined with Sayori, though as much as she wanted to stay that way, she let go and ran back to the drunk.

"Too late sweetheart you missed your chance.” The man smirked. 

Though it didn't last long because as soon as Sayori was a foot away from him her fist make quick contact with his face. Knocking him out cold. She immediately ran back to Suguru and grabbed his hand and ran with him to a different spot.

They made their way to a tree a good distance from the drunk man, and stood under it. It was closer to the pond and had an overall nicer view than where they were before. However it was far from others, and in a more secluded area. 

"I can't believe you just punched him like that." Suguru said almost astonished.

"Hopefully he'll wake up and realize that harassing girls in the park is a dick move. Or maybe the police will pick him up and take him in for being passed out drunk in public. Either way it's a win-win. He learns a a valuable lesson and I get the satisfaction of seeing the shock on his face when you came in." She said with a sense of justice in her voice.

Sayori looked at Suguru before turning to the view. The sun had begun to set, casting a beautiful mix of purple in the sky. The moon had been just starting to rise and peaked out through the purple sky. Below it was the pond, which still had a few people in the little swan boats pedaling around.

"The view is beautiful isn't it?" Sayori asked as she sat down and looked out at the pond.

"It is." Suguru simply replied smiling as he looked at her.

She could still feel his gaze on her. This felt like a dream. Almost everything she has wished for has come true today in one form or another. Without giving it another thought she opened her mouth.

"Hey Suguru… I'm in love with you." She admitted, her gaze still focused on the pond as her heart beat picked up.

He laughed quietly, before he spoke. “I‘ve waited so long to hear those words.”

[thana-topsy]

Ok I gotta come out and say it. I envy you. Like, to a painful extent. The amount of people you get interested in your characters, how you're incredibly skilled in both visual art AND writing, how readers your fics have. I absolutely adore your work, but seeing it fills me with so much envy it's honestly ridiculous.

Did you deal with similar feelings towards other creators when you started writing fic by any chance? If so, how did you deal with those feelings? I feel genuinely stuck feeling worthless about my fics. I'm not as verbose with my language despite over 10 years of writing under my belt and it seems as though my plots don't interest people as much either. So I feel like there's just nothing of worth about any of my work.

I know that this is a lot to dump on you, but I felt like I would burst keeping this all in. Much love to you and I hope you have a wonderful New Year!

Hey there my friend, I've been sitting with this all day trying to decide how I want to answer you. I genuinely appreciate your honesty, because I know this is a familiar feeling for a lot of people, myself included.

I remember when I first rejoined Tumblr in early 2019, desperately trying to find anyone to talk to about TES, I would look at all these blogs gettings asks about their OCs like they were little celebrities and feel envy and longing. Now, when these feelings start to bubble up, I force myself to take a break from sharing my work, be it art or writing, if only to remind myself why I'm creating it and who I'm creating it for: myself. I know it sounds cheesy, and I probably sound like a broken record, but genuinely I just do this because it's bursting out of my skull. But I won't lie and say the engagement and the support doesn't have a big impact on my motivation. I love sharing with people and getting an enthusiastic response.

I think something people might not realize, or maybe they just forget, is that I used to write a lot of smut. Like...a lot of smut. (I still do). Hahaha and it doesn't get a lot of comments or engagement, but it does draw a lot of eyes. Once my smut stories started taking on heavier plotlines, a comment I'd get a lot was "came for the porn, stayed for the plot." And I wasn't writing smut because I thought it would get me an audience, I was just horny LMAO. But it encouraged me to branch out and experiment with the types of stories I was telling.

Anyways, art is another big part of it, yes. But that also didn't get a lot of engagement in the beginning, and my skills were rusty as hell. I was getting maybe 15 notes on here, 30 likes on instagram. But that didn't really matter to me, I was just insane with inspiration. I'd reach out to people and ask to do art trades, got ghosted a lot, made some good friends, (some people who are still my good friends to this day!). But it took a lot of risks, and I made a lot of accidental enemies and learned a lot of hard lessons. But having visuals to go with the stories I'm writing is like advertisement in its own way. I'm just lucky enough to hyperfixate on this shit like it's my lifeblood. I've always obsessively drawn my favorite characters, ever since I was a wee bab. Long before social media was a factor or the words "content creator" even existed.

And I think that's what it all comes back to. Above all else, do what you do with unbridled joy. If someone else finds joy alongside you, all the better! Even if it's just one person. Take risks, make friends, make enemies, draw that blorbo unapologetically and with wild abandon. Love what you create, even when it's bad. Even when it makes you cringe years later, don't delete it. Even when people try to find every reason to hate what you do and who you are. Don't stop.

Every act of creation is bringing something into the world that didn't exist before you made it. And that alone gives it worth.

Happy New Year!

[ketherite]

Hello! First post on hit site Tumblr!! I offer you an extremely rushed Cypher x Reader! I'm so sorry if he's a bit OOC here. Do note that I originally made this with an OC in mind! Comments will be greatly appreciated. Enjoy :)

(C/N) - Code Name

(Y/N) - Your Name

(C/N) looked at the man right across from them, a mug of tea in hand. His eyes, never peeling away from them— at least that’s what they thought. They couldn’t read much from Cypher’s face because of his pesky little mask covering every identifiable inch of him. The blue lenses only provided them small insight with how frequent his shutters— or eyelids blink. Despite that, they still feel his eyes on them, as if they have his undivided attention.

“So, Cypher, what did you call me here for?” (C/N) asks as they look down into their mug, gently swirling it around to gather the loose leaves in the middle while awaiting his answer.

“What? Is it not normal to want to have a cup of tea with a friend?” He teased as he giggled, holding up his white mug of tea to them. He then lifted his mask up ever-so-slightly to take a sip of his still-hot tea, making (C/N) turn away for the sake of courtesy.

“You gotta warn me before you do that. I don’t wanna accidentally see your face, Amir.” Their voice had a hint of annoyance in it. Cypher was a man of mystery— the man kept his entire identity; from appearance to past a secret for Christ sake! Despite that, it seemed like he had no issue with (C/N) seeing a bit of his face, but he hasn’t told them that yet, which prompts silly situations like this.

“I know, dear. But it’s alright, I know you aren’t telling anyone about what you saw.” He pulled his mask down to hide his smirk. “You and I aren’t so different. We practically think the same! Minus the hidden identity, of course.”

(C/N) sighs at his antics and rolls their eyes. “I suppose we are.”

A moment of silence falls between the two. It doesn’t feel awkward, but it feels like something’s hung up in the air. Like a question that needs an answer.

“(Y/N), there is something I need to tell you.” The once goofy air suddenly turned serious. It wasn’t everyday people called (C/N) by their real name instead of their code name. Whenever their real name is used, they know the topic is gonna be something rather important. They tilted their head to the side, as if questioning the sudden shift in tone.

Silence once again, but this time Cypher’s nervously fidgeting with his mug, looking down into its contents. A sigh escapes him as he looks back up to meet their gaze. Oh their gaze; so piercing. It was as if they were staring into the deepest depths of his soul, digging through the dark matter that lies within to see even a glimpse of his thoughts.

“I thought about it for a while. My past, Nora— everything really. It’s all been so dark, so dreary ever since it all crumbled for me. But you— when you joined, it felt like a breath of fresh air. Everyday, I look forward to seeing you. Our little hangouts have been the highlight of my days recently. Whenever you’re around, I feel like a sailor lost in the raging sea finally seeing the light from the lighthouse. A beacon of hope, if you will—” He cuts himself off with a cough, slightly tilting his hat to hide his embarrassment.

“I may be too old for this word, but I think I might have a crush on you.” He visibly cringes at the word. “Truth be told, I haven’t felt this way since I first met Nora. It’s strange to feel that flutter in my chest once again. Just thought I had to get my feelings out there. Didn’t want them brewing in me for too long.”

Cypher now refused to look at them, opting to look to the side and focus on any piece of furniture or clutter instead of them. (C/N), on the other hand, only gave him a sigh before standing up. ‘Maybe it was a bad idea…’ He thought, thinking they were just gonna leave him with no response— a rejection.

He was so lost in thought he didn’t notice that (C/N) was now standing at his side, opposite from where he was looking. One could imagine the surprise he felt when they grabbed his chin to face them, raised his mask just right above his nose, and kissed him.

They kissed him.

…

They kissed him.

It lasted only a second, but to him it felt like eternity. A kiss he so desperately wanted for so long, finally given to him. They only tasted faintly of cardamom and honey, but it tasted like sweet, sweet nectar to him; sweet, addictive, and intoxicating.

They pulled his mask back down and scoffed. “Despite being a genius, you’re a stupid man, Amir. I already knew from the get-go. I just wanted to hear you say it.”

“So, was that a yes?” He said as he looked up at them. If he wasn’t wearing the mask, (C/N) swore he’d have some puppy-eyed look on his face right now.

They crossed their arms over their chest and stuck their tongue out at him, a rare display of immaturity from them. It was cute. “I don’t know, was it?”

Cypher chuckled at their sarcasm. He then stood up and pulled up his mask halfway to give them a kiss, one they gladly returned.

“Eww, gross! can you guys get a room? I’m about to cook lunch here and you guys are literally making out.” A voice from behind the two interrupted them. It was Jett, and it seemed like she had brought Phoenix and Neon with her. Cypher immediately broke the kiss to quickly pull his mask over followed by (C/N) hiding their blushing face from the group.

Knowing the group, they’ll probably never hear the end of it. They’ll most likely spread it around the Protocol, but for the first time, it didn’t even matter to Cypher. He’s just happy they feel the same, happy that he finally has what he’s wanted for so long.

[okeydokeylackey]

👻 Who ya got hidin 👀

Okay, so, I haven't drawn her adult design so I can't talk about it and frankly her overall design is kinda boring but 💀

Morticia Bloodmoon (not canon to Heir of Sapphirius/The Sacredverse)

(pose by mellon_soup on Patreon)

Biologically, she's Voldemort's clone, having been created accidentally around 1960 when he attempted an ancient ritual that he'd mistranslated to think was about eternal life but was rather creating life. The girl took Morgana's last name and the besties coparent.

Because Tisha's biologically her dad's clone, she also looks like him -- aside from having browner eyes than red since Tom's aren't naturally scarlett, or at least they didn't start out that way. I did give her more pronounced dimples than I've ever given Voldy cause idk it just felt right.

As devious-looking as I've drawn her, she is surprisingly pretty well-behaved for the most part. She takes after her mum, really liking animals and especially snakes, obviously. Yes she knows a shit ton of hexes and jinxes and curses but she just likes nerding out with Snape about the magical theory behind them... at least until the Marauders decide to be a bunch of a-holes and then she unleashes the fury of the Dark Lord's daughter on them which is frankly super valid of her.

So imma be honest, her hair was just the first Sims CC I could find that fit the vibe in my head. But I feel like the headband helps a lot. Her uniform is the one that I designed for general Hogwarts students use, done up to somewhat resemble like medieval robes with the scapular being a really easy way for teachers to tell houses from a distance.

Now her wand had a slight bit more thought. The handle is shaped like a Queen in chess because it felt right for the vague ideas I had.

Idk I just wanted to make a "cringe" OC that I didn't have to hold up to super high standards in my brain and have fun so that's, her, design, yeah

[starsofarda]

So I have a very hyperspecific picture that I need to write down, therefore here you go. The Maglor/Molinde second installment.

WE BALL. FUCK IT WE BALL. I AM HAVING FUN. I am cringe but I am free.

Also, I am starting to introduce @astral-aromance 's new OC, Siryawe Telpea! Go check her out!

Blessed be Vaire and her threads, constantly weaving and tangling and untangling people and history and lore. Blessed be Irmo the Lord of Dreams too, softening memories and brightening small insignificant moments, elevating them to happiness.

Blessed be them both, granting nostalgia for things past, once regret starts washing over.

When Maglor finally started feeling a little bit better, and had properly taken his place in Elrond's halls, now that no Oath would be binding him, he started reflecting a bit better on himself.

And the next thing after regret is slowly washing away is nostalgia, which is always accompanied by uncertain feelings.

That happened to Maglor, who adamantly refused the title of Lord, just to be there in a corner with himself, slowly healing.

And with nostalgia resurfaced memories he thought he had forgotten.

He saw them again, his wife, his best friend since childhood. Her dances, her grace, her sweet smile. He sighed now thinking that all had been lost, that even if he went back she probably would not want to see him. At all.

Sweet Siryawe and their pearls and their blond hair were gone.

They would not accept him back, he thought, not with everything he had said and done.

And yet, he still felt the gentleness Molinde had used when placing that cape on him, when she found him, another sweet smile and gentle voice.

The one who looked at him and was accepting regardless. He loved his wife still. He loved Siryawe so much it hurt.

And it was so that it was not fair on Molinde, constantly following and constantly hoping and only getting a mourning veil.

His wife and Molinde now sort of dancing on two polar opposites, one full of despair, the other shining with hope.

And he let out a deep sigh, unable to find good council. He suspended the judgement, waiting for a sign, or something that would be telling him what to do next.

However, life went on and suddenly Molinde found herself a visitor in Maglor, going to her to just talk. Understandably. By the Third Age there was hardly anyone who was still living since the First Age, safe maybe the Elves living in Lothlorien, but Maglor knew that he would not put foot there.

And Molinde was pleased to finally have someone to talk to who would understand what she went through.

Therefore the two started spending their afternoons in Molinde's small dwelling, one sewing, the other playing gentle songs.

And talking.

It was during one of these afternoons that Maglor opened up a little on his own dilemma.

"Molinde." She raised her head from her embroidery hoop.

"What is it, Maglor?"

"I miss my wife."

Molinde sighed softly. Yes, she was aware that Maglor Feanorion was married - it kind of came with being a prince, back in Aman. She recalled a lovely Elf with blond hair and pearls in their hair.

"You should sail back to Aman and reconcile with your wife, then."

Maglor shook his head. "And yet I am to be here."

"For whom?"

"For the one who saved me from my own Doom and brought me here."

"I do not deserve praise. Anyone would have done that. You do not need to be bound to me."

"And yet I am holding onto your same thread of hope."

Silence fell between the two. Only the soft purring of Molinde's cat in Maglor's lap could be heard. Maglor spoke again. "I am selfish, Molinde. I am not good."

She shook her head. "You are allowed to feel what you feel. It does not mean you were never good."

On the windowsill there was a precious statue of Nienna - Maglor looked at it for a moment. "Surely the Lady of Consolation has shaped your soul."

"We can only try."

Maglor gave her a sad smile. "You do accept everyone so easily."

Molinde replid in kind. "We are flawed beings, Doomed, if you will. We can only do what we can. Accepting everyone's flaws is a step."

"A step to what?"

"To not feeling alone and lonely."

And Maglor looked carefully at Molinde. And Molinde gazed at Maglor back, both trying to find words to convey that particular moment that had been created.

And they both faltered. "I still miss my wife. I still owe you my life. My wife will not want me back."

"Maybe not. Maybe she will."

"I have caused her too much grief, Molinde."

The seamstress nodded. "Then we both will await for your decision."

That was the first time Maglor had ever opened up since Maedhros' death. It had been a lot to share, and even though the pain was there, talking had given him a sort of peace.

He was still undecided on what to do, but his mind felt a little less garbled. He stood up and went back to his dwelling. Maybe the answer was there, but he still did not see it.

[divergent-paths]

(Same anon before regarding their previous school) ok just one more question and I’ll shut up for now:

So do all of individuals sport teams of Aurora academy have their own teams? Like Pangoro for Rugby, Manectric for soccer, Dodrio for track & field, etc.? Or do they all use Amaura and Aurorus as their mascot?

(And side question: did you get your inspiration of the captions from this game turned anime called Inazuma Eleven?)

nooononononnooo don't shut yourself up, like any artist out there i loooovvveeee talking about my ocs and if it weren't for all the story spoilers you'd never get me to shut up lmao -- at the very least, i can defo talk for AAAGGES about designs and such if that's genuinely up your alley, so we have lotsa' waffling below the cut today~ :D

with aurora, i imagine them to be quite pretentious, to the point there's not any mascot shenanigans going on because they're Too Good For That Peasant Nonsense. the school emblem is their representing mark, and while all the teams have differing uniform designs, they keep to the same colour palette of soft blues with black and white. since aurora is a Rich Kids school, they (or rather the rich parents) can afford different uniforms for most sports teams, and some even have separate junior uniforms as well. i looked to real-world examples of sports uniforms and made my own patterns based on what felt modern and stylish to me.

of course, that's not necessarily easy to tell from the greyscale/tones i use, so here's two of the sports bros in colour to help illustrate the point, plus inspiration mons for the ocs themselves:

i always enjoy including elements of random pkmn into the designs of ocs like this, it adds an element of fun and uniqueness into their looks that your generic-bg-chara-no.-thirty-two just doesn't have. funnily enough, i started doing that after i noticed that the pkmn anime does it on the regular, and it's really helpful in making designs i don't cringe at and hate weeks/months/years later.

as for the anime side question, i only actually know of inazuma eleven by name, i've never interacted with the series in any way. the only sports anime i've ever watched were Yuri on Ice!!! and Cheer Boys lmao instead, the inspirations for the sports bros comes from a mix of my own high school experiences (from what i've seen, it's not exactly rare for high schools to prioritise sports over everything else), the roles they're built to play in the story, with a dash of expectation subversion. are they a bully, a bystander, a victim, a hero? it's hard to tell when they all look like main characters, and don't all have resting 'evil' faces.

while a story like mine is going to have some clearer villains down the line, i don't want them to just be obvious one-note baddies but instead feel like real people with nuance and flaws like all the others they're mixed in with. something that you can take the time to form your own opinions on and relate to (or not, as the case may be~!).