#for those who don’t know who boss is. he is the oc of throw-letter-away

[jessamine-rose]

Since your name is jessamine, rather than calling you jess, can i call you mine? 😋

(What is this joke-ish rizzing i just said lmaoo /silly)

First Boss, now me….….I can’t tell if I should feel amused or baffled. Thanks, I guess?? xD

But my answer is no.

[ijustwant2write]

A Little Secret-Alfie Solomons x Reader (Part 3/?)

(GIF credit to @fockingshelby​)

Masterlist

Part 1 / Part 2

Tags: @haphazardhufflepuff​ @mollybegger-blog​ @broitsriah​ @maryan028​ @peakascum​ @captivatedbycillianmurphy​ @jenepleurepasbaby​ @amirahiddleston​ @bloodorangemoonlight​ @mzcrazy2​ @br0ck-eddie​

Summary: After Alfie’s outburst, he has been avoiding Izzy, not wanting to face up to his disappointment. However, Izzy thinks the exact opposite, but of course, she doesn’t do anything to amend the situation. She too keeps out of his way, thinking she’ll only make him more angry, until they both receive a letter.

Characters: Alfie Solomons x OC!Reader, Ollie x OC!Reader

Warnings: Swearing, mention of death, arguing, shouting, crying, trauma, low self esteem issues

                                   *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Izzy heard something be pushed through the letterbox as she buttered her toast, wiping her buttery hand on a tea towel before going to retrieve it. She hardly got post, all of the time it would be bills, but today was different. It was in a crisp, white envelope with fancy handwriting, it even had a seal on the back. She inspected the wax, trying to figure out who it was from. Izzy had no friends, no family, which meant that this made her heart race in fear rather than anticipation. It opened without ripping and she took out the neatly folded letter. Her eyebrows scrunched together as she read it.

Dear Isabelle,

You are cordially invited to the opening of ‘The Blue Note’.

We have recently taken ownership before refurbishing, giving the club a completely new look and fresh feel. The evening will commence at 7.00PM where music and beverages will be provided. 

Please RSVP to the return address labelled on the envelope. We await for your reply with anticipation.

Kind regards,

Thomas Shelby

Shelby Company Limited

Izzy had no clue who Thomas Shelby was, or why he had invited her to a club opening. If her name hadn’t been addressed at the top, she would think it was just a businessman’s idea to bring in customers. This couldn’t be a coincidence, not after everything that was happening that week. She read it again as she finished her toast, noticing that it was almost time for her to go once she finished eating.

The morning at work went by as usual, time moving swiftly as Izzy completed her tasks alongside everybody else. It had been three days since the incident of her being locked up, and Alfie had avoided her like the plague. Although Izzy had wanted to speak with him, explain that she wasn’t upset with his actions, she knew she would never have the confidence to do so. Like always, she let life pass her by and decide her fate, rather than take control of it herself.

“Izzy,” Ollie got her attention, shoving a pile of letters into her hands,“need you to take these to Alfie, now.”

“I can’t!” Izzy protested, hating that Ollie was already walking away.“He doesn’t want to speak to me.”

“Then don’t speak, just drop off the letters.”

Ollie disappeared around the corner, causing Izzy to tense up, clutching onto the letters. Taking a deep breath, she turned around to look at Alfie’s office door, seeming more daunting than usual. Wanting to get it over with, she picked up the pace, finding herself in front of the door quicker than she expected. Knocking swiftly, Izzy could feel her heart rate increase as she was called in.

Of course Alfie knew it was her by the sound of the knock. He still wanted to keep away from Izzy, not wanting to risk upsetting her more than he already had. When she had cried out his name and ran after him after he punched that fucker, he had hated how that chipped away at him. She was his weakness, and no one else could see that. Noticing how she kept her head down, quickly placing the letters on his desk before turning around.

“Izzy.” he grumbled. 

She froze, glancing over her shoulder.

“I don’t have enough fucking time to sort through this. Do you mind reading them for me?”

She fully turned around, nodding before taking a seat. The first two letters weren’t of any importance to Alfie, he dismissed them after the starting sentence. But the next letter Izzy picked up was familiar to her, and Alfie noticed this.

“You like the look of that one?” he asked in a monotone voice.

“It’s just...” she mumbled.“I’m sure this is the same as the one I received this morning.”

That perked Alfie up.“What?”

She began opening it, recognising the wax seal.“Yeah, it is. It’s an invitation.”

Alfie held out his hand to take it, holding his glasses with his other hand as he read it. He looked confused at first, until he saw the signed name at the bottom, fury filling his body at the thought of Thomas Shelby knowing everything about Izzy.

“You’re not going.” he stated, carelessly throwing the paper on the desk.

“You know I’m not a big fan of clubs anyway.”

“You don’t reply to him, you don’t open anymore letters from him, and you go no where near that club!”

“Mr Solomons, I wasn’t going to-”

“He shouldn’t know about you.”

“Who? Who is Thomas Shelby?”

“He’s the business associate that visited, when that man got shot.”

“How does he know where I live?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you...do you think he wants to hurt me?”

Alfie said nothing, abruptly standing from his chair and storming to his office door. Leaning out of it, he yelled out Ollie’s name, harshly slamming the door again which caused Izzy to flinch. She shouldn’t have mentioned the letter, she was in trouble now, it wasn’t like she was going to go to the club anyway. 

Ollie knocked before entering, sensing the tension in the room as he glanced between his boss and friend. Alfie shoved the letter into Ollie’s hands, his eyes widening as he read it. What was Thomas Shelby’s plan here? He knew Alfie’s temper was short, and he knew that Izzy meant a lot more to than man than he wanted to let on. This wasn’t good, Izzy shouldn’t even be near this place, she never should have been in the first place. Alfie whispered in Ollie’s ear, it was so quiet to ensure that Izzy wouldn’t catch one word of it. 

“Mr Solomons?” Izzy piped up as Ollie left. She tried to make eye contact, but he left swiftly.

“You’re going home now, collecting as many of your things as possible, and letting the lads take you somewhere to stay.” he demanded.

“I’m sorry?”

“Ollie and a few lads are going to drive you home. If you need extra cases, I can get ya’ some-”

“Why am I packing my belongings?”

“Cause you’re staying in an old place of mine, somewhere where no one will find you.”

“W-why? Mr Solomons, what’s going on?”

“I’ll explain once you’re safe.”

“Please Mr Solomons,” Izzy stood, catching his attention and stopping him from pacing,“I need to understand what’s happening. You can’t just cart me about and kick me out of my home!”

She was scared, it was evident all over her face. Alfie didn’t want to tell her. He wanted to hide her away from it all until it was all over, keep her safe until he had shot all those bastards dead. 

Ollie popped his head through the door.“Cars ready Alfie.”

“Please Alfie.” Izzy hardly used his first name.

“Go.”

Izzy’s mind was screaming at her to defend herself, keep begging for an answer. Something dangerous was going on here, and she was near, if not in, the centre of it all. Why couldn’t she just be like any other normal person? They would at least have the decency to raise their voice. But she was weak. She always had been, it would never change. Quickly turning away from Alfie, she hunched up as she brushed past Ollie. There wasn’t anything she could do to go against him.

Staying silent in the car, Izzy had her hands clasped together, squished between two burly men Alfie had entrusted her safety in. Ollie was driving with another man in the passenger seat. No one was in the mood for conversation, not that Izzy would ever be able to hold one with any of them; Ollie was the only one she had ever spoken to for more than two minutes. 

“Be quick as you can Izzy, we need to get you to the safe house.” Ollie advised as they entered her home, two men staying beside the car as the other two checked around the back of her house.“You need me to grab anything for you down here?”

“Um...” it was incredibly hard to think of all your possessions off the top of your head.“No, thank you, Ollie. I...I think everything I need is upstairs.”

Izzy had emptied all of her drawers and wardrobe into the cases she had, though she didn’t own that many clothes anyway. There weren’t any valuable items laying about, though there was one thing she had to save. Kneeling on the floor, Izzy reached underneath her bed, feeling around for the chipped floorboard. Once found, she silently lifted it, reaching inside for the last letters her mother wrote her, as well as the necklace she’d had since she moved there...it had been gifted by a certain someone. 

“Where are we going Ollie? Where’s this safe house? I don’t mind walking to work, I just want to know how far away it is.” Izzy asked as she struggled to carry her cases downstairs.

He quickly took them off her, though hid how heavy they were.“Um, Alfie will explain once we’re there.”

“Mr Solomons will be there?”

“Please Izzy, just do what he’s told you so neither of us get in trouble.”

He didn’t mean to snap, but Izzy knew by now not to question everything. Sometimes her staying silent was the best option. Ollie handed over her cases to the men to load into the car, waiting for her to lock up. She took out her keys, looking up at the tiny, terraced house she had lived in for so many years. It seemed dramatic, but being away from the only place she felt comfort, the only place she could control the look of, it made her uneasy, especially because she didn’t know how long she would be away from it.

The car ride indicated that this safe house was certainly further away than Izzy would have liked. Ollie was secretly glad that the other men were here, it stopped her from asking questions. He didn’t actually know the full story, he didn’t know why Alfie was taking such big precautions; and he was being made to drive through the slums into the countryside, the city slowly being left behind. Firstly the houses started to get bigger and further away from each other, they went from blocks of flats, terraced, before becoming semi-detached. The streets started to look cleaner, as did the people walking them. Instead of homeless men and prostitutes lining the streets, women out for afternoon strolls with their babies in prams chatted away to each other, and old couples enjoyed their retirement together. Izzy held back a smile as she peeked out of the window, having only imagined places like this when she read her books.

Unfortunately, the awkwardness remained in the car for another twenty minutes, all of them secretly relieved when they pulled up at another house. It wasn’t a place that homed people full of riches, though they certainly weren’t poor. Driving down a back alley, they parked outside a small, semi-detached house. The other house beside it had a boarded up door and windows, with overgrown ivy all over it.

“This belongs to Mr Solomons?” Izzy asked as they all exited the car.

“Apparently so. I was as shocked as you are.” Ollie said before instructing the others to take her cases inside.

As they stepped inside, they saw that it was minimally decorated, though that didn’t surprise them. There were a few cobwebs about the place, as well a dust that had settled on top of surfaces. But with a quick clean up, it could look homely. It hadn’t been lived in for a while, the floorboards creaked from the new weight (that was something Izzy was both thankful and upset about, she could hear if anyone was in the house, but then again, that would mean someone was in the house). 

“Izzy?” Ollie called to her as she explored the kitchen. Her head showed up in the doorway.“They’ve put your things upstairs.”

“Thank you.” she meekly said, going back into the kitchen until she saw Ollie leaving.“You’re leaving?”

“Yeah, the men will stay though, to guard you.”

She scurried down the hallway to him, standing in the doorway as he continued walking.“What am I meant to do?”

“Settle in. Alfie will be here soon, maybe you could clean up the house?” he was joking, but that didn’t resonate with Izzy.

“Do you know what’s going on? With any of this?”

He sighed, approaching her so the others wouldn’t hear.“I’m sorry Izzy, I don’t know anything. If I did, I promise I would tell you. Alfie has instructed me to bring you here, and said he’ll be coming to see you today.”

“Oh...right.”

“Izzy, you’ll be absolutely safe here, we’re prepared for anything...I didn’t mean...not that anything will happen. I’m going to go before I say anything else.”

After Ollie left, she locked the door with the keys left for her, wishing there were more locks. She was in a small state of shock. Her life was being controlled, all because of something that she had no idea about. The only thing she could do now was as Ollie said, settle in. She was disturbed by the dust everywhere, heading into the kitchen to find a duster and other cleaning supplies. Her own belongings could wait. Covering her mouth with a handkerchief, Izzy still coughed and sneezed, her eyes watering. The house was modest for what rooms it held. It had a front room, a kitchen, a bathroom, two bedrooms and a small garden. It was more than what Izzy had ever had, and it was properly furnished. But you knew no one had been living here.

“Izzy?” Alfie’s voice made her jump. She had just finished dusting in the bedroom her cases were.“Izzy, where are you?”

Removing the handkerchief from her mouth, she brushed off the dust that had fallen onto her dress as she made her way down the stairs. Alfie was stood at the bottom, watching her. In that moment, he couldn’t help but think...no, he shouldn’t be thinking things like that, they would never come true.

“What you think then?” Alfie sniffed.

“It’s a lovely house, Mr Solomons.”

“Won it in a bet didn’t I? Didn’t know it would come in handy one day. Tea?”

She followed him into the kitchen, starting to boil the water as he sat down at the table big enough for four people. He glanced around the place, trying to distract himself from how Izzy looked like the perfect housewife in that moment. No one spoke as the tea brewed. Izzy wanted to ask questions, but she knew she had to be grateful for whatever Mr Solomons was protecting her from. And Alfie didn’t want to say anything stupid, he thought she was still angry with him. Once the tea was ready, Izzy focused on keeping a steady hand as poured it into two cups. The tension was building more and more by the second, she didn’t want to make matters worse by pouring boiling water onto your boss’ crotch.

“You’re probably confused.” Alfie said, taking a sip of the drink.

Izzy sat beside him, leaving her cup.“Yes, I am.”

“I’m just being over cautious Iz, can’t risk anything.” 

“About what?”

He rubbed his eyes with one hand, sighing loudly.“That letter you received, it’s from Thomas Shelby.Do you know who he is?”

Izzy shook her head.

“I hoped you wouldn’t. But I’ve got to tell you in order for all of this to make sense. He’s the leader of this gang, right, this gang from Birmingham. They call themselves the Peaky Blinders, due to the razors they sew into their caps. It’s, it’s barbaric if you ask me.”

“And, this gang, they want to hurt me?”

��Nah, nah, not that I know of. But he’s becoming a powerful man. He’s proven that by finding out who you are and where you live.”

“You don’t think they had anything to do with the man who harassed me in the street?”

“Nah, but he’s up to something.”

“So...so what do we do now?”

“You’re going to stay here, until that’s figured out.”

“But how am I supposed to get to work? I mean, it’s no problem for me to walk, I just know it’s further away-”

“You’re not going to walk to work, because you’re not going to work Izzy.”

“But, how am I supposed to earn money? What am I going to do here?”

“I’ll still pay you. Think of it as holiday pay. A holiday where you can’t leave the house.”

“What?”

“No one knows you round here Izzy, but you can’t let anyone see you here. That’s why it’s good that the house is tucked away with no neighbours.”

“But I could be stuck here for ages.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, you, you like being alone.”

Izzy raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah, you keep to yourself, you don’t have any friends, what’s wrong with staying in here?”

“Because I’m trapped!”

Alfie hadn’t expected her to protest.“You’re not fucking trapped! You’re safe!”

“Safe from what? You won’t tell me!”

“What’s got into you? You’re never like this.”

“Because...because maybe I’m scared! You’re not telling me anything Mr Solomons-”

Alfie stood from his chair, coming off more demeaning as he towered over her.“Why do you always call me that? We’ve known each other since we were children! You never say my name!”

Izzy shrunk into her seat, hands gripping the side of the chair in fear.“I-I...You’re my boss, I-”

“That makes no difference! Oh for fucks sake, Izzy, we’re practically the same age!”

Izzy ducked her head, too scared to look at him.“I’m sorry, Mr Sol-Al-Alfie!”

Alfie realised how he looked to her, but his stubbornness got in the way. Instead of apologising like she should have, and wanted to, he kept going, somehow thinking that scaring her more would make her want to stay.

“Just do as you’re told. It’s not like anyone is going to notice you’re gone. I’m doing this for you, some fucking gratitude would be nice.”

But as soon as he saw the tears in her eyes, he hated himself. How was he supposed to know how to talk to women? Let alone comfort them! Izzy meant a dear amount to him, which is why he hated himself right now. He knew this woman for most of his life, why couldn’t he read her? Not knowing what else to say, Alfie left the shocked woman behind, heading out and past the men he put in place. They pretended they hadn’t heard any of their shouting.

Izzy didn’t move for another few minutes, scared that something else might happen. Alfie slamming the door didn’t help, causing her to flinch, a small yelp escaping her mouth. Once she was certain he was gone, the tears fell freely and silently, not wanting to make any noise, with only one thought circling her mind.

Why am I so weak?

[official-weasley]

Meant to Be (Charlie Weasley x OC)

What happens when Bill brings home a girl and Charlie is completely awestruck by her?

WARNINGS: Mentions of sex and alcohol.

CHAPTER 2

Charlie

“How come you are always the last one to leave?” I chuckled at Peter’s remark.

“I’m in no hurry, I still have to feed the Chinese Fireball and you know she’s stubborn.” I turned to him, brushing the hair off my face.

“I can do it, you know I’m staying here for the holidays and you’re…” He stepped closer and snatched the bag with food in front of me. “…going to miss your portkey.”

“Are you sure?” I narrowed my eyes at him, taking off my gloves.

“Charlie, when was the last time you saw your family?” He sighed.

“About six months ago.” I actually had to think about it.

“See!” He stretched out his hand, making me give my gloves to him. “The dragons will survive without you for a few days.” He winked at me.

Perhaps he was right. I don’t know how to take a day off. If it wasn’t for Peter and my team, I would be working all the time. They are the ones who stop me here and there and get me drunk.

“I still have to pack!” I remembered.

I woke up at 5 this morning and went to feed the dragons straight away, completely forgetting I am leaving for the Burrow afterward.

“Damn it, Charlie! You always do this to me.” Peter shook his head. “I’ll fire you.”

“What for?” I chortled. “For working too hard?”

“Yes!” He laughed. “You have 30 minutes before the portkey closes. You better go now!”

“Alright, alright. I’m going.” I rolled my eyes.

“Don’t you miss your family?” He asked, concern on his face.

“Of course, I do!” I really did but I am not going to tell my boss how much. “Don’t you miss yours?”

“I do but I see them once per month, sometimes even twice. You don’t know how to take that much time off, remember?” He smirked at me.

“That’s right, keep rubbing it in my face.” I bumped his shoulder with my fist and waved at him, starting down the path towards my hut.

Did he say 30 minutes to pack and catch the portkey? He’s mental, that’s not enough time! I picked up the pace, my keys ready. I ran straight to my dresser when I entered my home and started throwing clothes on my bed.

A pair of jeans, a hat, scarf, two t-shirts. I think that’s enough for a 4-day stay! Oh, shit! I can’t go without one of mum’s jumpers. I stuck my head back in the dresser, my eyes tracking the burgundy jumper with a green dragon in it.

Where are you?

I would say that I have to reorganize my closet but I know I would never end up doing it anyway. I wear mostly the same clothes to work every day and the only time I try a bit harder to look presentable is when I go home. It’s a waste of time otherwise. Why spend the time picking an outfit when you can spend it with dragons?

There it is!

I knew I was probably going to get a new one as a Christmas present but I loved this one the most. Mum’s jumpers were the only thing I didn’t like about my job. I couldn’t wear them without completely ruining them, I loved them too much to do that so they were being untouched in my closet.

Now to get my toothbrush and that should be all. How much time I have left until my portkey closes and Peter kills me?

I leaned my head to check the clock on the kitchen wall. 10 minutes. I can make that if I run!

I was walking towards the front gate, still zipping my bag.

“Going home for the holidays, Charlie?”

Oh, no. Not now!

“Yes.” I turned around and forced a smile. “How about you, April?”

“Oh, I’m staying. Don’t really have anywhere to be.” If she is indicating that I should take her with me, she has got to be joking.

John was right, should’ve never slept with her.

“Well, a lot of our mates are staying, I’m sure you’ll be fine.” I didn’t want to be rude, but I am not bringing her home.

My mum would faint, me having a girlfriend after all these years and she really wasn’t a girl I imagined myself in a relationship with. She was too needy and wanted to be with me all the time.

First of all, I don’t have time for that and second of all, sex wasn’t that great either and we have nothing in common and…

“I just wanted to say goodbye.” She took a step toward me and I took one backward.

Please, don’t hug me!

“Bye!” I waved my hand, turned around, and ran for it.

The second I touch the portkey, I’m free!

I have to start being better at picking women. This one stalks my every move, the one before that still sends me letters and my friends are doing nothing but laughing in my face for it. Perhaps I should get better at picking friends too!

I finally reached the portkey and without turning around to see if April followed me, I touched the bottle and landed flat on my face in the forest near my family home. I dusted myself off and started towards the house.

I stopped walking about 20 meters from it. I just had to take it all in. I missed it. I missed my home, my parents, and all my siblings. I really hope Bill will be able to get time off and come too, I miss him the most even though I saw him 2 months ago when he came to visit me.

I knocked on the door and slowly opened it.

“Charlie!” Before I could put my bag down, Ginny’s hands were already around my waist. I hugged her back.

She grew so much and got stronger too.

“I missed you too, Gin.” I chuckled.

“You’re going to help me later.” She grinned and ran away before I could ask her what she needs help with.

“Charlie, dear. Welcome home!” My mum crushed me with her hug but I didn’t mind.

I might be 21 but I still loved to hug my mum as I did when I was a kid. Mum pulled away and started looking around behind me.

“I didn’t bring anyone with me, mum.” I rolled my eyes.

“Oh, Charles. Don’t tell me there aren’t any pretty girls in that Sanctuary of yours.” She scolded me.

“Mum, beauty isn’t everything. I want someone I can connect with.” She was the only one who got me to admit things like this out loud.

I know she only wants me to be happy but I’m still too young to think about settling down.

“What about that April girl. I was really hoping to meet her.” She sighed.

April? How did she know about April?

“How do you know about her?” I asked rather frightened.

I was afraid of her answer.

“She wrote to me a few months ago, telling me what a wonderful son I’ve raised. She seemed nice, did you break up with her already?” She narrowed her eyes, her hands on her hips.

She wrote to my mum?! She’s mental!

“We were never together we only slep…” I bit my tongue. My mum really didn’t have to know about my sex life. “You know what, it’s complicated.” I raised my hands in defeat.

That’s the sentence that usually keeps people from asking further questions, right?

Mum didn’t get a chance to say anything else as Fred and George came down the stairs.

“Hi, Charlie!” Fred said and ran past me and straight through the front door.

“Might want to duck!” George stopped next to me for a second before following his twin.

I quickly turned my head towards the stairs where a whistling sound was coming from. I ducked as fireworks started to go off all around the living room, kitchen, and hallway. If mum wasn’t shouting, storming past me to find the twins, I would be laughing right now.

“I see they still haven’t changed.” I said and sat next to Ron on the sofa.

“You’re lucky you were at Hogwarts with them in their early years.” Ron rolled his eyes. “They are driving mum mad. She sends them a Howler per week if not more.”

“Should I talk to them?” I chuckled.

I know I shouldn’t find this amusing but I couldn’t help it. They were the only ones of us kids that didn’t fear mum and I know a Howler is not going to stop them from wreaking havoc.

“I don’t think it’s going to help, mate. Nothing can help those two.” Ron gulped. “Nice to have you home, though.” He patted my shoulder.

Ron was always a bit awkward when it came to social interactions.

“How is school? You doing good?” I cleared my voice, pretending to be strict.

I never gave hard time to my younger siblings. It was always Bill’s job and I just helped the house from setting on fire. He was the one who kept track of the homework and even did some homeschooling when mum was too busy. I was the one who chased them around and made sure they didn’t hurt themselves.

“School’s fine, I guess.” Ron shrugged. “How’s Norbert?” He swallowed hard.

I know he thinks he can’t ask about the dragon we helped rescue in his first year. I miss Hagrid, I really do.

“Fine. Healthy and big.” I laughed. I rolled up the sleeve of my right arm and showed him a deep scar all across my forearm. “He did this.”

“Charles Weasley, what is that!” Mum seeing a new scar while being mad at the twins was a bad combination.

“Mum, it’s already healed. Don’t make a big deal out of it!” I quickly rolled my sleeve back down.

“You better tell me that this is the only new one you have!” She barked at me.

Where were Fred and George now so she could shout at them?

“Yes.” I lied.

Thank Merlin I don’t have to take off my shirt because I have a much bigger scar stretching all across my back and I know she would lose her head if she saw that one.

She eyed me suspiciously, not really believing my lie but she knew she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. The second I got the job in the Sanctuary she flipped out. She was hoping until the last minute that I would somehow change my mind even though all I could talk about were dragons since I can remember.

I’m pretty sure dragon was the first word that came out of my mouth. At first, I cared that she was so against it but after a while I let it go. I knew she would never understand.

Nobody ever did. Not even Bill and he is my best friend. He loves his job but he wasn’t obsessing over Curse Breaking until his fourth year at Hogwarts and even then he wasn’t so into it as I was about becoming a Dragonologist.

“So Charlie are you going to help me?” Ginny squeezed between me and Ron, making him almost fall off the sofa.

“What do you need help with, Gin?” I smiled at her.

I forgot how my siblings always occupied me. I am not going to deny it, it felt great.

“I need you to help me with my Transfiguration essay.” She said, staring at the notes in her hands.

“Transfiguration?” I blinked at her. “How am I supposed to help you with that?”

I sucked at Transfiguration. Charms, okay. Astronomy, maybe. Even Defence Against the Dark Arts. But Care of Magical Creatures was the only subject I was confident I could help with.

“Have you forgotten what I do for a living?” I poked her shoulder.

“I’m joking!” She laughed. She loved messing with me. “I need to write an essay about newly hatched dragons for Care of Magical Creatures and who better to ask.” She scrambled her notes across the coffee table and gave one of the papers to me.

“What do they eat, how they behave, when can they leave their mother, how dangerous they are and how to defend yourself if you encounter one.” I read out loud.

“Easy!” I exclaimed. “Do you have your quill and paper ready?”

I clapped my hands and she stood up, grinning. She came back only seconds later with her writing equipment and sat back down.

If Peter ever fires me for working too hard perhaps I can help Hagrid with Care of Magical Creatures.

I couldn’t believe how much fun I was having helping Ginny with her essay. Answering all those questions was a piece of cake for me and I could tell that Ginny was enjoying my company.

“Mum, need any help in the kitchen?” I asked when something started to smell good.

I missed her cooking. We had good food in the Sanctuary but nothing compares to home cooking.

“Don’t you worry about it, Charlie. You help Ginny with her homework, I will ask Ron and Percy to help.” She grinned at me, thankful for the offer.

I turned back to Ginny as she was just finishing the answer to the second question when I heard a pop outside. I looked at the family clock and watched the hand with Bill’s name move to Home. Before either Ginny or I could announce it to mum, the door opened and Bill stepped inside.

“Hi, everyone. I’m home!” He sang. He wasn’t alone though. I heard someone chuckling behind him. “I brought a guest, I hope that’s alright.” He said, turned more to mum than to us.

I could see he was nervous and a second later, I found out why.

He brought home a girl. Damn, she was beautiful. Perhaps I should reconsider my career choice. None of the girls in the Sanctuary looked like that. No offense to them.

I blinked twice to be sure I wasn’t overreacting. I have never seen someone as lovely as she was. She wasn’t the most beautiful girl in the world but there was something about her, something shining through that made her absolutely stunning.

I shook my head, what was I doing! She’s Bill’s girlfriend.

“Oh, my.” Mum whispered into her hand.

I could see her eyes sparkle as she slowly made her way towards Bill and his guest.

“Everybody this is Rhylee. Rhylee, this is my mum, my brother Charlie and my sister Ginny.” Bill pointed his finger at us on the sofa. “And that’s Ron and Percy.” He pointed at them at the kitchen table and they both waved with a knife, as they were cutting vegetables. “And I guess you’ll meet the twins later.” Bill’s eyes were searching for them.

“Where’s dad?” Bill asked, taking off his coat.

“He’s stuck at work but will be joining us soon.” Mum beamed, her eyes still on Rhylee.

She grabbed her hand and practically dragged her into the kitchen. Bill rolled his eyes and quickly followed them. I think he was afraid mum would bombard Rhylee with questions.

“She’s really pretty.” Ginny said, her eyes on Bill’s girlfriend. I couldn’t take my eyes off her either.

“Yeah.” I blurted out. I shook my head. “Ginny, come on. Focus on your homework.” I tapped my finger on Ginny’s parchment.

She snapped back and took her quill out of the ink bottle.

“On it.” She started scribbling again.

“The sooner you finish, the sooner we can play Quidditch.” I whispered to her.

She started writing faster and I giggled. That always got her. If you could bribe my sister with anything it was Quidditch.

My eyes quickly wandered back to the kitchen. To Rhylee. She was so interesting and I have never wanted to know more about anyone as I did about her right now. She seemed mysterious as if you would need a lot of time to figure her out.

“What was the spell again, Charlie?” Ginny’s voice made me look away for the third time.

I really need to stop staring at her or she will think Bill’s brother is a creep.

“Immobulus, Ginny.” I said, my voice distant. I was not having as much fun helping her anymore. I was more interested in Bill’s girl.

“What are you two up to?” Bill sat next to me on the sofa and peeked at what Ginny was writing. “Homework! Merlin, I’m glad I’m late.” He laughed and tapped my back.

“Congratulations, Bill.” I winked at him. “Mum seems to like her.” I nodded to the kitchen where Rhylee was talking to our mum.

She didn’t look uncomfortable at all even though I knew mum was asking her all sorts of questions that violated personal space.

“We’re not together.” Bill said quietly.

They’re not? What was he waiting for!

“And that’s my cue to leave.” Ginny closed her ink bottle.

Bill and I laughed.

Every time we talked about girls, Ginny got up and left. I know she was too young for these things and she was always uncomfortable talking about it even though Ron told me once in a letter that he finds it annoying how obsessed she is with Harry Potter.

“What about your essay?” I mocked her.

“I remember what you told me and I can finish it later.” She stuck her tongue at me. “Besides, mum needs me in the kitchen.”

That was a bold lie Ginerva and you know it!

She just wanted to properly meet Rhylee and ask her questions as mum did.

“What are you waiting for, Bill?” I turned to my brother now.

I couldn’t believe the girl he brought home wasn’t his girlfriend. What was he thinking?

“I don’t know, Charlie!” He sighed and melted into the sofa. “I feel so intimidated by her and we have been friends for 3 years and…”

“How many more excuses are you going to give me?” I raised my eyebrows at him.

He never had problems asking a girl out before. He wasn’t as big on one-night stands as I was but he wasn’t awkward with girls either. But even I have to admit that Rhylee did look a bit intimidating. However, I know that wouldn’t stop me. She was a mystery box waiting to be opened and I knew that if it was me I wouldn’t waste a minute.

“I know. I suck.” Bill pursed his lips and looked towards Rhylee. “I promise I’ll do it once we get back. No more excuses.”

“You swear?” I mocked him.

“Yes!” Bill rolled his eyes.

“What’s that thing Ginny does?” I scratched my head. “Something with fingers?”

“Pinky promise?” Bill laughed.

“Yes! Let’s do that!” I smirked.

“No way. I am not making a pinky promise with you!” Bill wanted to get up but I grabbed his hand and pushed him back down.

“Oh, yes you are!” I was having too much fun messing with him.

He might be two years older than me and might have a fang for an earring and might be dressed in leather and look all cool but I knew he was still a big loving teddy bear he has been before he decided to put dragonhide boots on his feet. I brought my pinky closer to his face and just as we were about to finalize the deal, Rhylee disturbed us.

“I think we haven’t been properly introduced yet.” She said, looking at me.

“Yeah, I guess so.” I cleared my throat and lowered my hand. I shook hers and Bill offered her to sit down next to him.

“You know, you two have a lot in common.” Bill said after a few seconds of awkward silence.

“How come?” I finally tore my eyes off hers and looked at my brother.

“Rhylee here is a Dragonologist like you.” He grinned.

I think my heart just skipped a beat. This was not happening. She wasn’t. She couldn’t be. This was so unfair! Bill gets this amazing girl and doesn’t even ask her out and I’m stuck with April who sends my mum letters without me knowing about it.

“I work at Gringotts.” She explained.

I gasped. Finally, someone who can tell me about the dragons that are guarding the vaults in the Bank!

“What breeds do you have down there?” I bit my tongue.

I suddenly remembered that I was not supposed to know that Gringotts had dragons.

It’s supposed to be a secret and Bill could lose his job by telling me that. Ministry wasn’t big on dragons and goblins would never admit that they have one of the most dangerous creatures so close to where people go. Bill let it slip one time I visited him in Egypt. He thought I would find it interesting, being obsessed with dragons and all.

“Oh, Charlie.” Bill laughed and Rhylee followed his lead.

If somebody asked me right now if she fancied my brother I don’t think I would be able to answer them.

“It’s okay. I won’t tell anyone that you know.” She turned to me with the biggest grin on her face.

Was she excited to talk about dragons?

“How many dragons do you keep down there?” I tried to sound as casual as possible even though I wanted to burst from excitement.

“Two and we are getting a third one after the holidays. We have an Ukranian Ironbelly and an albino Swedish Short-Snout and we’re getting…”

“You have an albino dragon down there?!” My voice was a tad too loud.

I had to sit up straight to steady my breathing. I have never seen one and thought they were a myth. I only read about them and made it my life’s goal to see it one day and here she was, saying they have an albino Swedish Short-Snout as if she was talking about rabbits.

“Yeah.” Rhylee chuckled. “You should see him. He’s so beautiful. He was already grown up when I got the job but one of my co-workers has worked with him since he was 6 months old and I’m still jealous of that. Imagine a small albino Snouty!” Her voice got just as high as mine was before.

This was unreal. I couldn’t believe she loved dragons so much. I work with more than 20 Dragonologists but I always felt like I am more obsessed with the creatures than anyone else and here she was. She looked about my age so she couldn’t attend Hogwarts otherwise I would remember her. Heck, I would probably want to be her best friend!

“I wish! You have to smuggle me in one day. I would love to see him!” I leaned on my arms.

“Perhaps that can be arranged.” She laughed.

“What do his scales look like? Are his eyes red, because I read once that it’s a fifty-fifty chance that they have normal eyes and…” I looked at Bill, sitting between us.

I sat back up straight and cleared my throat. This wasn’t right.

I know the expression on Bill’s face and I don’t like it. Out of all my siblings, I was always closest to Bill. We were the first to go to school and he always looked after me there. He was my big brother and I owed so much to him.

He was my best friend and he knows everything about me. He was there for me when I broke up with my girlfriend the Summer after I graduated from Hogwarts and we stuck together when mum was going on and on what dangerous career paths we both chose.

I knew him better than anyone and the look on his face was saying that he felt left out and I couldn’t blame him. It was enough that he had to listen to me talk about dragons non-stop until he became a Curse Breaker and moved to Egypt and even after that I didn’t stop with my obsession. And now he was sitting between me and the girl he really liked and he had nothing to add to the conversation.

It was wrong and it wasn’t fair to him. He brought this girl here to introduce her to his family and then ask her out and I was ruining it for him. It didn’t matter that I was completely awestruck by her or that she was beautiful or that I would love to get to know her better.

Nobody was worth losing my brother over. I never want to see that expression on his face again. He shouldn’t feel like this. He already stalled asking this girl out and I wasn’t helping.

“You know what…” I sucked in a breath. “Doesn’t matter. Let’s talk about something else.” I forced a smile.

As much as I would love to talk about dragons with Rhylee, Bill was more important to me even though I could see she felt the same and was loving all the questions I was asking her.

“How did you two meet?” I turned to Bill.

I wanted nothing more than for him to start speaking, to feel included.

“We can talk about that later.” Bill smiled. I know he appreciated that I tried changing the topic. “You two clearly have a lot of questions for each other and I haven’t seen the twins yet so I will go upstairs and see what they are up to and you two talk.” He stood up.

“You sure?” I tried stopping him.

I know he wasn’t okay with this and neither was I.

“Pinky promise.” He laughed and walked away.

“Pinky promise? Really?” I turned to Rhylee, her eyebrows raised.

“Long story.” I shook my head and chuckled.

“So…” She pressed her lips together and poked my knee. She was so playful. “Do you want to know more about the dragons I work with or do you want to know how Bill and I met?”

“What do you think?” I smirked at her and made her laugh.

This was not good. I was completely mesmerized by her.

“To answer your previous two questions…” She sat closer to me. “His scales are completely white except the ones on his tail. Those are washed-up red. It’s really interesting and I tried searching for the reason behind the reddish color in several books but I couldn’t find anything.” She sighed.

“And about your questions about the eyes. I asked Simon, the one I said before that worked with the albino before I got there, he said that his eyes changed when he was about 1 year old. They are black now but apparently, they were red before and I so wish I could see that. He had to look even more beautiful!” She squeaked.

“So according to him, that would mean that they do have red eyes but lose the color with age?” I thought out loud.

“Seems like it. He’s the only albino I encountered. I’m sorry I can’t tell you more about it.” She sighed.

“Anyways, as I said before. We have the two and we’re getting a Norwegian Ridgeback after the holidays. I can’t even begin to explain to you how excited I am for that!” She clapped her hands together.

She was basically me in a female form.

“Do you name them? We do in the Sanctuary. One of my co-workers has a 5-year-old daughter and a few months ago our rescue team brought a new Common Welsh Green and we let her name him and she called him Bunny.” I laughed.

“Oh, that is so sweet!” Rhylee laughed too. “The albino is Dash and our Ukrainian Ironbelly is Kyan. They were named before I got there so I didn’t have a chance to pick.” She said sadly. “But my team did say that I can name the one we’re getting now.” Her face brightened up immediately.

She has her own team? I had so many questions for her that I would need to prolong my stay to get the answers to all of them.

“Did you pick out the name yet?” I asked.

Even though I wanted to know more about her team and how is she handling being in charge. I was recently appointed to lead a team and I wasn’t good at bossing people around. One question at the time, Charlie.

“I was thinking of Nyx. It’s similar to Nox since the dragon is black. I don’t know yet.” She shrugged her shoulders, but I knew she had it all figured out.

She reminded me of myself when I had more to say but stopped because I thought the other party wouldn’t be interested in what I have to say.

“I like it.” I encouraged her. “We have a Norwegian Ridgeback. His name is Norbert.”

“Oh, that’s cute.” She cupped her face. I could see she was debating whether she picked the right name or not. “Maybe you can help me pick a name.” She bumped into my shoulder. “You know, in case I change my mind.”

“Sure.” I replied and sat a bit away from her. I don’t want her to be too friendly with me. I was already having too much fun with her.

“I’m sorry. Am I talking too much about dragons?” She sighed.

She must’ve noticed me moving away.

“Oh, no. Not at all!” I reassured her.

“It’s just…” She sucked in a breath. I knew she wasn’t sure if she should say what she’s about to say and at this point, neither was I. “Nobody ever shows such enthusiasm about dragons as you just did. All those questions you asked me. It’s nice to talk to someone who shares your passion.” She explained.

“Tell me about it.” I took a deep breath.

We should not talk about how much we are enjoying this or how much fun we are having. Just talking to her felt like I was doing something illegal. She came here with Bill, remember?

“I have a team of six including me and it’s hard to see that it’s just a job to most of them, you know. They don’t care as much as I do. If it was on me, I would be there all the time and I would do so much more for them but they always laugh at me and tell me I’m too obsessed or that I’m a workaholic. They do what they need to do and then go home and it’s hard working with people like that. It’s hard to trust them. There is this girl,” she licked her lips, “Lizzie, she’s the only one I can trust. She cares about the dragons. The rest of them, I don’t know. Perhaps I’m overreacting.” Her eyes moved from the coffee table to mine.

They were so full of emotion, so full of passion for her job.

Why did Bill bring her here!

“You’re not.” I placed my hand on her shoulder but quickly pulled away.

What was I doing?

“I’m the same. There are more than 20 people in the Sanctuary and I can’t relate to any of them.” I frowned. “They love dragons and they do care about them but after a long working day, they don’t want to talk about work which is understandable but it can get quite lonely when I want to discuss several occurrences that happened during the day and they all tell me that I should shut up and drink my beer and that we can talk about it in the morning. They just don’t understand that there is so much more to the creatures than just breathing fire and feeding them.” I couldn’t believe I was telling her this.

I never talked about this to anyone. I loved my job and I loved Romania and I love all the friends I’ve made there but nobody understood me as Rhylee did and I met her an hour ago. It was crazy.

This was crazy! I can’t believe I was talking to this incredible girl that was as obsessed with dragons as I was and wanted to talk about nothing else and I had to hold myself back because I felt guilty because of Bill.

“I can’t believe someone actually understands me.” She said more to herself than to me.

I looked at her and we stared at each other for solid five seconds before she looked away, clearing her throat.

“So…” She swallowed. “Your mates tell you to shut up and drink your beer?” She chuckled.

“Yeah.” I joined her. “We usually grab a beer or two on Fridays or during the weekend. There isn’t much to do for fun so we get drunk.” I said, a little embarrassed.

I didn’t know her well enough to know if she was okay with that. Not that it matters what her opinion of me is. Soon, I’ll be her brother-in-law.

“At least you can get drunk.” She laughed. “I have nobody to do that with. All my co-workers are so serious and go straight home after work so the only one I can really talk or have any fun with is my roommate Lyla.”

“That’s just sad.” I teased her.

“Tell me about it.” She guffawed. “Why don’t you tell me about one of your adventures, mister I-have-friends-who-want-to-drink-with-me.” She winked at me.

I know it was harmless and I was reading too much into this but it only made me feel worse.

I didn’t know how she was around Bill but she was great with me. I felt so relaxed around her and felt as if I could tell her anything and she wouldn’t judge. She emitted this calming energy that was just pulling me toward her and I was losing it.

“Well, this one time me and my two co-workers Andrew and Theo got drunk. We were walking to our huts when Theo got an idea that we should fly on a dragon.” Rhylee put her hand on her lips, trying hard not to laugh. “We didn’t go to the ones that are still young and therefore less dangerous, we went to the most vicious one we have in the reserve!” I exclaimed. “The Chinese Fireball that was also guarding her newly hatched babies.”

“You’re insane!” Rhylee gasped, her eyes widened.

“We were giggling like a bunch of schoolgirls, Andrew still with a beer bottle in his hand. We thought we were being quiet.” I continued.

“And you were not.” Rhylee chuckled.

“Of course, not! We were probably louder than her roar.” I laughed. “We were walking towards her and laughing so much that we didn’t notice she woke up. She stood up and when Theo saw it instead of running he started laughing his arse off! The Fireball roared her lungs out and woke up the entire village, while we ran back to the huts and tried to hide the fact that it was us.”

“Did you get away with it?” Rhylee was completely invested in the story.

“Nah! Almost got fired. If Peter wasn’t such an understanding boss we would probably all be out of jobs right now.” I finished my story.

Rhylee couldn’t stop laughing. She had one of those rare laughs. You could tell she only laughs when something is really funny and would never fake it just for the sake of it.

I really didn’t like how much she was starting to grow on me. Thank Merlin I was rarely home and was in Romania almost the whole year-round. I will have to find a way to avoid her when she comes to visit with Bill for the holidays.

Rhylee bit her lip after she stopped laughing and we stared at each other again. Why was she doing this to me! It looked as if she was reading my expression. Trying to figure out what I was thinking. I hope she wasn’t a Legimens, that would be really bad for me and for Bill. As long as I keep it inside my head I am not doing anyone any harm.

“Can you tell me where the bathroom is?” She said after the awkward silence.

“Upstairs, first door to the right.” I was glad she was going away.

Not that I wanted her to leave. I could see why Bill liked her so much. I am completely screwed. I have never felt such a connection to any girl before. Not even with the girl I had the only serious relationship with. This is not how I imagined my holidays to go.

I wanted to spend some quality time with my siblings and my parents and then bury myself in my work again. I did not plan to hate myself for feeling what I feel.

Which, by the way, I have no idea what it is. I have never felt something like this before. It wasn’t butterflies. No, it was stronger than that. She filled my chest with excitement and my head with questions and not just about dragons.

I wanted to get to know her better. I wanted to talk to her about her life and what she likes and about her family. I wanted to take her out on a date and I haven’t felt that way with anyone since I left Hogwarts.

I don’t have time for a relationship. Perhaps that’s an excuse because I didn’t find the right person yet. I am pretty good at reading people and if I see that it wouldn’t lead to anything or would fall apart sooner or later I just leave.

Or take them to bed.

I know it’s not exactly nice if the other party expects more but a meaningless fling or a one-night stand here and there is what I have been about for 3 years now. Well, to be honest, the last one was with April, 7 months ago, and staring at my older brother’s future girlfriend’s ass while she goes to the bathroom really wasn’t helping.

“Did you scare her away already?” Bill’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I have to stop doing this. I have to stop thinking about her, staring at her and I definitely have to stop talking to her.

I don’t know how I will be able to do it for the next 4 days but I have to try. I love Bill. He’s my brother. I have to put myself aside and I have to think about him. I would never do anything to hurt him and the thoughts I was having would do just that if he knew about them.

I asked her about dragons, she asked me the same. We had a few laughs and now she should spend the rest of the holidays with Bill. I have 5 other siblings, somebody ought to keep me occupied and then hopefully I won’t have to see her until their wedding and to be honest I could probably avoid her there too.

It doesn’t matter how she made me feel. It doesn’t matter that I felt understood and that we have so much in common. It doesn’t matter that she laughed at my dumb story or that she made me feel as if I could tell her anything in this world.

It doesn’t matter that I find her beyond beautiful and charming and it definitely doesn’t matter that I felt something between us that I have never felt before in my entire life.

Bill.

Bill is what matters.

[twoidiotwriters1]

Iron 1 (Peter Parker x F!Oc)

Summary: Tony Stark has a daughter and he has no idea what to do.

A/N:  I am very excited that this story finally see the light! Hope you like it too

 -Val

Words: 2,915

Masterlist

Chapter 2

2008

An ordinary day for billionaire Tony Stark is interrupted by the doorbell of his huge house. With a glass of whiskey in his hand, he reaches the door, opens it ready to kick out who has interrupted his time alone. He frowns when he sees no one.

“J.A.R.V.I.S?" He asks towards his smart system.

"Mr. Stark?"

“How long has the doorbell been unused?" He says while closing the door.

"Hey!" says a high-pitched voice. Confused, he opens the door again. He looks down to find a girl of at least six years old: black hair, brown eyes, white and covered with freckles. Next to her there’s a blue suitcase.

"I don't want your cookies, who let you in?" He says with a frown, he's supposed to pay thousands of dollars to have security and privacy in his home.

“I don't have cookies,” replies the little girl. "And the man dressed as a policeman let me in,” She points back.

The man grimaces.

"Then what do you want?" The girl searches through the pockets of her jeans and takes out a piece of paper. She walks over and hands it to him.

"My mother told me to give this to the taxi man to bring me, then she told me to give it to the owner of the house," she explains.

Tony takes the paper and begins to read it.

"This must be a joke…”

***

"Tony, you should calm down" says Rhodey from the other side of the call.

"How do you want me to calm down?" He screams. "There's a damn girl in my house and I can't get her out!” He says as he walks to the living room, where the little girl is.

“Okay, this has happened to you before, buddy. Any woman can say that her child is yours. It's nothing they haven't tried before.”

Tony analyzes the words of his friend and relaxes. He’s right, it’s not the first time it happens.

"Yes, yes, okay" He wipes the sweat from his forehead.

"What does the note say? " Tony reopens the paper the girl had given him and reads the writing.

“This girl is the most precious thing to me. But I can't take care of her, she needs the best in life. That’s why she needs her father. Anthony Edward Stark is her father.”

"And that's it?" asks Rhodes.

“Yes. There’s usually a huge letter telling me where we met, when we had sex and how the child looks like me. But not this time,” He explains as he looks at the girl. She looks around her as she rocks her legs back and forth on the chair.

"It's quite strange, I won't lie to you…”

"Why do you think I panicked?"

"My mom’s prettier than this woman," says the little girl, drawing Tony's attention.

"It's her? Is she still there?" Rhodes asks.

"I'll call you later,” He hangs and walks up to the girl.

"And this one’s ugly too, why is she only wearing underwear?" Tony quickly takes away the Playboy magazine.

"Don't touch anything," He said, tossing the magazine away.

"Where will I sleep?" asks the little girl as she grabs her backpack.

"Not here,” answered Tony, but the girl ignored him. The man clears his throat. "Let's try it again. Where's your mom?"

"I don’t know. Surely with the man with pretty eyes,” she shrugged. Tony grunts in response.

His awkward conversation is interrupted by the doorbell. Tony runs to the door without letting Jarvis announce the visit. He returns together with a tall, red-haired woman.

Pepper Potts, his secretary.

"What is the emergency, Mr. Stark?" She rushed into the room and stopped when saw the girl.

"I think you can see it perfectly, Miss Potts,” answers Tony pointing to the girl. Pepper is speechless for a few seconds without understanding.

"Is it a relative?" She asks unsure.

"No, it isn’t," Tony growls. "I have a big problem and I need your help.”

"To what specifically, Sir?"

"Get information, find her mother and get rid of her,” he orders coldly.

“Tony," the redhead clears her throat. "Sir, I don't think it's appropriate to get rid of a girl.”

"If it were up to me, I would be, but I know that both you and Rhodey would give me the lecture of my life, that's why I didn’t do it, now do your job,” The man walks away while dialing his phone.

Pepper turns her eyes to the girl. She smiles sweetly at and sits next to her.

“Hello," she greets tenderly.

“You're pretty and you don't need to be in your underwear,” informs the little girl. Pepper starts to get worried.

"Do you usually see women in their underwear?"

The girl laughs.

“No, the magazine that was here has a lot of pictures of women,” The redhead sighs and makes a mental note to throw away all those magazines.

“Good," she makes herself comfortable on the couch. "My name is Pepper Potts, could you tell me yours?"

"It's a weird name,” says the girl making Pepper laugh. "I'm Lily, like the flower,” She smiles.

"Do you know your last name?" Lily shakes her head. "Why are you here?"

"My mother said that I should be with my father, she gave me money and put all my clothes in a suitcase and my backpack, she also gave me a letter and a note for the taxi driver.”

"A letter? Can I read it?"

"I'm sorry, but my mom said I should give it to my dad once I live with him,” the girl looks everywhere making sure the tall man is not there. She beckons for Pepper to come closer. The woman obeys. "Do you think the tall man is my father?”

They both look to where Tony is talking on the phone.

"I don't know, darling,” She answers. The little girl winces: She brings her lips together and moves them to one side.

Pepper has seen that expression before.

In Tony.

***

The hours passed. Pepper and Lily talked to find more information.

"And well?" Tony asks when Pepper gets up from the couch.

The woman puts her hands together and looks nervous at her boss. She takes him by the shoulder and forces him to walk away from the girl.

"Do you want me to tell you what I think or be more realistic?" Tony analyzes his options.

"Realistic.”

She sighs.

“We can’t be sure it’s your daughter, we must get a DNA test. And from what I could get, her mother practically abandoned her.”

“Do you really think the test is necessary? It's not the first time you've interviewed a child, Pepper,” says Tony, ignoring the last part.

"That has to do a bit with what I think, Sir.”

“Okay, spit it out.”

“You're right, it's not the first time this has happened to us, but I think there may be a possibility. The other children knew what they had to say: ‘Tony Stark is my father, I swear’…”

"But not her,” continues Tony tensing.

"But not her," Pepper repeats, nodding, "Lily only knows that she must find her father, she doesn't know who Tony Stark is."

"Lily?" He asks raising an eyebrow.

"That's what her name is.”

Tony nods looking at the ground “Like a flower” he mumbles, shaking his head. Pepper nods remembering the same words from the girl. He growls again and hides his face in his hands.

"Sir, I think it’s necessary that you let the girl stay."

Tony removes his hands and sees the woman.

"No way, I don't have time to raise a girl."

All hope in Pepper is gone. She would be lying if she said that she did not imagine the happy girl in the arms of her boss. A silly image.

“You’re right, sir. But I think that for one night she can stay here, tomorrow morning I’ll come and we’ll solve it for real.”

He nods.

Pepper regains her posture and walks back to the living room, where little Lily rubs her eyes wearily. The girl sees the woman and smiles.

"I must go, Lily, but I'll be back early tomorrow."

"Bye, Pepper…” She says.

Walking towards the door, Tony stops her.

"Why doesn't she stay at your house?"

Pepper grits her teeth. She knows she can't insult his boss if she wants to keep his job.

“I'm sorry, sir, but I have too much work to do. I don't have time to take care of her,” She says, emphasizing her last words.

She doesn't let Tony answer, she closes the door on his face. He grunts and walks into the kitchen, it's late. This whole thing has exhausted him. He opens the cabinets, takes out a plate, then takes out what he needs to make his dinner.

"You know how to cook?" the voice frightens him, he turns to meet the girl. She looks at him curiously. The man ignores the question and goes about his business.

A squeak sounds and Tony knows it's one of the chairs in front of the kitchen table being dragged. He snorts and turns as he leaves his dinner heating up.

He raises his eyebrows at the sight of the girl finally sitting with her arms resting on the table. She notices that the man is looking at her and raises her thin eyebrows imitating him.

Tony walks over and leans on the table.

“What's your name?" the girl asks.

"You came to my house and you don't even know my name?" He scoffs.

“I've been here for several hours and you still haven't introduced yourself? That's not polite,” Tony’s surprised at the answer. Smart girl, he thinks.

Some of the kids put together tech things to prove they were their kids, several pretended, not really caring about doing something clever.

This girl doesn't even go out of her way to prove something to him.

“I'm Tony.”

“I'm Lily.”

The girl makes a face. "It smells weird,” she complains, making the adult react, remembering his dinner.

***

During the night, Tony takes the time to analyze the letter and all that it would entail. One thing was true: the girl's appearance reminds him of a woman he once knew and can identify the photo of her in the letter. He doesn't remember her name or how he met her, but he doesn't think that matters now. True fear haunts him, but he refuses to admit it. He replaces it with another problem that haunts his head: He knows that the woman has no intention of coming back for the girl.

The only thing that his clouded mind could think of as a momentary solution was to send the girl to sleep in the guest room.

The girl did not reply, the journey had been long and she just wanted to sleep. She took her things and followed the strange man's lead. She barely touched the soft pillow when she fell asleep.

The next day, Tony is the first to get up. He walks through his house, somewhat groggy from last night, completely forgetting about the new inhabitant of the house.

He comes to the kitchen and begins his usual routine. While he prepares his breakfast, the girl wakes up, she looks around her, remembering everything. She sighs not knowing what else to do. Only until the smell of bacon distracts her does her stomach growl. She gets out of bed, puts on her shoes and walks following the scent.

She expects to see the owner of the huge house, but she frowns when she does not find him. The girl looks for him, but once again, the scent distracts her.

Everything in that kitchen was out of reach, she can only see that the stove is already off. She makes a face thinking that the man had only done something for him.

She sighs and starts looking everywhere for simple food within reach.

The doorbell rings and Tony rises from the couch, leaving his finished breakfast on the table. He walks to the door without even noticing the girl rummaging in his refrigerator.

"Colonel Rhodey Rhodes, sir," announces J.A.R.V.I.S.

Tony frowns, but the memories of him come like a whirlwind. He groans, he rests his forehead on the door. He sighs, sits up and opens it

"Rhodey your punctuality always saves lives, buddy,” says Tony putting a hand on his chest.

"I can't miss this," He enters.

Tony guides Rhodes into the guest room, but hearing noises in the kitchen, they change course.

Rhodey smiles at the sight of a girl on top of a high chair, reaching toward the open kitchen cabinets for a box of cereal.

“She's skilled," Rhodes whispers.

"Dangerous, you mean dangerous,” says Tony entering the kitchen. "What do you think you're doing?"

She hadn't heard the two men enter. Tony's voice takes her by surprise just when she had managed to grab the box of cereal. Her body falters and she loses her balance. The box slips, the chair wobbles, and the girl falls.

Lily complains rubbing her back, she also feels pain in her butt and itching in her arms as she falls into the now-shattered cereal.

Rhodes quickly runs towards her to help her, but stops right in front of her. He winces at the sight of her brushing off the cereal pieces with tears running down her soft cheeks.

"She's clumsy too," says Tony, leaning on the door frame.

"Shut your mouth, Tony,” Rhodey gets on his knees and she moves away as far as she can. "Easy, I won't hurt you,” That doesn't seem to convince her.

The girl bites her lower lip, she looks up at Tony, waiting for some sign. She may not have been with him long, but she has been here long enough to at least ask him if the new man is trustworthy.

Stark scowls at her, sighs, rolls his eyes understanding her concern and nods. Rhodes watches the interaction and raises an eyebrow. He at least knows that his friend hasn't done anything stupid.

"My name is James Rhodes, but you can call me Rhodey,” He smiles. "I'm a friend of Tony.”

"Only I can call you that," says Tony.

"One child at a time, please,” he scolds causing Lily to laugh. Rhodey takes it as a good sign. “Okay, let's let Tony clean the kitchen. Come, I can heal you.”

She nods and gets up. After a few steps, the girl complains of pain and Rhodes stops.

"Can I carry you?" She accepts, her pain was worse when she walks.

He picks up the girl, walks into the bathroom and sits her on the cabinet next to the sink.

"Why do I clean? She was the one who threw it all away!” shouts Tony from the kitchen. Rhodes rolls his eyes as he searches for the medicine cabinet.

"She was doing an excellent job, you scared her, so it's your fault," Rhodes replies bluntly.

He closes the bathroom door and prepares everything to heal the girl.

“What's your name?" Rhodes asks.

“Lily," She answers softly. "Like the flower.”

Rhodey can't help but smile.

"It's a pretty name.”

"Thank you.”

"Well, this will hurt a bit," He puts a liquid on a cotton ball.

“It's not true. It only burns for a few seconds,” explains Lily.

"Have you been cured before?"

“Yes, I get hurt very often. Mom says it's because I'm so restless,” She shrugs as Rhodey runs the cotton over her wounds.

"Have you gotten into trouble?"

"Sometimes, but I can't help it,” Rhodey smiles again remembering a certain person with that same ability. "My mom also uses that to for the burns," She informs. Rhodes raises his eyebrows.

"Burns? Where does that come from?" The girl shrugs.

“I don't know, sometimes she just touches my arm kills it quickly. She then heals me. She’s never told me why does that happen.”

***

"Do you like pancakes, Lily?" says Rhodes entering the kitchen, now clean. Lily walks beside him and smiles.

"Yes!" Tony grunts. He rests his arms on the counter.

"Pancakes for the lady.”

The girl sits in a high chair next to Tony. She watches him as she plays with her hands.

"Sorry about the cereal, Tony," She whispers.

"Yes, whatever," He answers and returns his gaze to his friend. Rhodes shakes his head at the answer.

Rhodey makes breakfast for the little girl, and when everything’s ready, the three of them gather in comfortable silence. Rhodes sits across from her while he drinks coffee.

Both adults couldn't take their eyes off the girl.

"Do I have something on my face?" Lily asks.

"When will your mom come for you?" Tony blurts out.

“Dunno,” She shrugs.

"Do you think she's coming for you?"

She shrugs again.

“Dunno."

"Is there something you do know?"

“You're a mean man,” She answers. Rhodes doesn't bother to hide his booming laugh.

Tony’s ready to reply, but before he can say anything, the bell rings again. J.A.R.V.I.S announces it, scaring the little girl. While Rhodes explains how it works, Tony greets her assistant and guides her into the kitchen.

"Hello, Pepper!” greets Lily with a smile, which is reciprocated by the redhead.

"Hi, did you sleep well?"

"As a baby, I never had such a soft mattress,” reports the girl.

"Can we get rid of her now?" Tony complains.

Taglist:

@stardusthigh​​

[daggerfall]

Why people hate meridia? Really i don't know what happened about her and Daurien Gautier, i would be glad if you could explain to me :)

I have a paranoid suspicion this is bait but whatever, fine, you can have it.

There’s like two general reasons, the first being her in the lore and the second being her actions in eso.

In the lore, going all the way back to the time of the Ayleids, Meridia was the one who backed them in their fight against the humans they were enslaving. Particularly, she backed Umaril the Unfeathered (who you may remember from the Oblivion DLC) in his fight against Pelinal Whitestrake. Pelinal also sucked, but he was fighting alongside Alessia the Slave Queen to free her people. The Ayleids sucked and were an incredibly cruel people, so Meridia helping them is not great.

In the lore as well, Meridia is known to “purify” her servants, making them immortal but also taking away their free will. She also does this as a punishment to those who break their vows to her, and just in general. We see this in the dungeon “Depths of Malatar”, where she enslaves the Imperials who went to loot it, as well as keeping her Ayleid worshippers “alive” for thousands of years in service protecting half of the Wrathstone for some unknown reason. I believe it is implied she wished to use it someday, but dont quote me on that.

And in the lore again, Meridia has been known to “collect” people, being called the Daedric Prince of Greed in the Illiac Bay. We can arguably see this again with the Purified Imperials in DoM.

And finally in the lore, Meridia’s feud with Molag Bal has resulted in her sacrificing the lives of her own worshippers on the regular just to spite him. When Molag Bal’s forces were attacking a city of her worshippers (the Hollow City), she used the portals they were coming in from to move her city into Coldharbour. Molag Bal could not touch the city, but she moved/displaced all of her loyal followers into another princes realm just to stick it to her enemy. Every single inhabitant of that city either died from being placed outside the protection of the city, or eventually left the city due to being sick and tired of being trapped in there/Oblivion and eventually died. The only survivor was the last Ayleid king, who had been being held and tortured the entire time before his rescue via the Vestige. So a few thousand years.

Now in the games, particularly ESO, it is a popular belief that Meridia was the one who originally led the Vestige to the Worm Cult where they were killed, and is the kickstarter for the events of you being the Hero. The Hooded Figure looks shockingly like the Groundskeeper, has the same voice, and has a vested interest in getting someone powerful to have a deep hatred of Molag Bal and the Worm Cult and be on her side. A lot of people don’t take kindly to being led to their torture and death. Though this is a theory, not confirmed canon, but fandom interpretation is powerful.

Meridia also did not tell the Vestige she was Meridia until just before the fight against Molag Bal, playing with the Vestige like a chess piece in her own fight against her enemy. A lot of people don’t take kindly to being manipulated and used, even if it was against a common enemy. 

As for Darien, Meridia created Darien to be her champion on Nirn. She let him believe he was just a normal Breton his entire life during ESO. At the end of the main quest, Meridia does not return Darien to the rest of the group, and instead takes him to her realm and keeps him there. A lot of us players, as well as NPCs, cared greatly for Darien, and very much dislike Meridia for that. 

Darien writes from the Colored Rooms that he wanted to come home, a letter we can show to his friend Gabrielle (who it is strongly hinted he loved and who loved him back).

We don’t see Darien again until Summerset, when Meridia sends him there to help stop the daedric triad. Meridia did tell him the truth about who and what he was, to some degree, but not everything. When Meridia first talks about Darien, she expressed distaste for how he had changed having met the player. He had a singular purpose, but now he... cares. Meridia does not like her servants having their own freewill and thoughts. 

Darien has to sacrifice himself at the climax of the main story. Once that quest is over, you can find a letter again from him, warning us not to trust Meridia. Just one tiny bit from “Words of the Fallen” “I need to tell you something about Meridia. She's a deceiver. She promised that if I served her faithfully, I'd earn my freedom. She never told me that freedom was just another word for the void. Don't trust her. Don't trust any of the Daedric Princes. Not ever.” I highly recommend reading all of Words of the Fallen btw. 

So! Meridia promises freedom to her most loyal champion, and then takes it away after he does his job. Those who like Darien once again very much dislike Meridia for this.

In Dragonhold, there is a sidequest where you find someone dead next to what looks like Meridia’s Beacon. A letter on him implies that Meridia is looking for a new champion, one who will not betray her, implying that Meridia thinks Darien betrayed her. We know from Words of the Fallen that Darien sacrificed himself for the player, not Meridia. Meridia does not like that Darien cares about the player. 

You can bring the letter to the dead khajiit’s wife, who says she is going to throw the stone in the lake. But if you talk to her again, she says that she thinks she’s going to hold onto it now, implying that she thinks she will be able to hear those same voices as him, and that she might take up the champion mantle.

The world boss quest giver in Southern Elsweyr talks about his own issues with Meridia, being a people collector and possibly having some past trauma with her/her cult.

And in Greymoor, Meridia's temple (mount kilkreath) is attacked by the Icereach Coven's harrowstorm, which steals the life energy of people and either kills them, turns them into mindless passive zombies, or feral vampires known as harrowfiends. It was mostly her priests and pilgrims that were attacked. Meridia did nothing to protect her followers or purge this corruption from even the inside of her temple. Many followers lost their faith that day.

All of this together, and the sneaking suspicion that she is not done with yet in ESO, makes a lot of us not only dislike her, but not trust her at all. Zenimax brought up Darien for Valentines Day, keeps bringing him and Meridia up in DLC, has her featured greatly in the main quest and a major chapter DLC...

It’s less an outright hatred of her. Believe me, I hate Molag Bal significantly more than I “hate” Meridia. I tend to take on my OCs beliefs and feelings as I play them, and my own main character was in a relationship with Darien and hates all daedra. Also she gets brought up more in recent DLC and thus is more of a relevant topic than Molag Bal. So I tend to post a lot about Meridia in less than positive lights. It’s more than I take issue with her being so connected to slavery and manipulation of mortals, yet being painted in a benevolent or even good light by a lot of the lore. I take issue with people who ignore the fact she is featured very prominently in recent games and accuse anyone who talks about disliking her of misogyny for not being equally or more loud about their dislike of other, worse daedric princes, regardless of if they do or do not. I take issue with people who romanticize her slavery or call her a “feminist icon” solely because they don’t like Darien (or me. That’s another reason). But that’s more of a specific tesblr community issue rather than “legit reasons in game or lore to not like Meridia”.

Overall, Meridia is a daedric prince. They’re not good or bad by mortal standards because they don’t ascribe to mortal defined morals. They do what they do because they must. It is their realm, their sphere of influence. Meridia started out as the Daedric Prince of Greed in early games, a collector of people, and her hatred of undead and Molag Bal are extreme. The fact that she is more present in ESO, a game I play on the regular and that gets updated multiple times a gear, means that people will talk about her more. When I was deeply into Skyrim, I talked about my dislike of Hermaeus Mora a lot. When I was deeply into Oblivion (for a short while), I talked about my dislike of Mehrunes Dagon. And when I am thinking about Morrowind, I end up talking about my dislike of Azura and the Tribunal. She isn't necessarily better or worse than other Princes, just more of a hot topic in the ESO side of the fandom than other Princes.

If this was sent in good faith then I apologize for saying it felt like bait. If it is bait, then here. Take it and start raving about what an awful misogynist I am. I await my callout post. 

[myheartrevealedocs]

Untouchable- Ch 2: The Offer

Summary: A Spencer Reid x OC fanfic that retells select episodes, starting in season 1, from the point of view of Lydia Ambers, a forensic scientist.

Warnings: swearing, discussion about death and illegal activity (but like, at half the normal Criminal Minds level)

Ch 1 | Ch 3 | About Lydia

~ ~ ~

“You got it all sorted out?” Gideon asked Hotch as he walked into his office. It had been a month since their case in Santa Cruz and Gideon had been on Hotch’s ass about this since they got back.

“It’s… not a job…” Hotch started. “I talked to Strauss and she said that there was no proof that a forensic scientist would be of any benefit to the team. Police departments provide them and local forensic scientists have access to scenes sooner.”

“Police departments can also have media liaisons and tech analysts, but we bring in our own,” he argued. “I spoke to some of Lydia’s old professors and they said that she’s not only a good crime scene investigator, but her major was chemistry and she’s fit to get a job in DNA analysis or toxicology.”

“Gideon, what did I say about not getting involved? Strauss needs proof that she is an asset to the team before paying her a salary. So, I got her to agree to let Lydia work here as an intern under your supervision.”

“Done,” Gideon said. “By the end of the month, she’ll have proven worthy of a spot on this team.”

“No, there’s more,” Hotch told him, frustrated. “She only gets to work jobs that we clearly need her on and she gets no more than two cases every 50 days.”

“Fine, fine,” Gideon replied, which did nothing to ease Hotch’s worry. He, too, had been impressed by Lydia during the Jonathan Carrey case, but there were parameters on hiring people into the FBI and Gideon acted like those meant nothing.

He’d been the same way about Reid after he first spoke to him, but Reid was cut out to be a profiler from day one and they had an opening for him. Gideon wanted Hotch to simply create a brand new job title and salary for Lydia and he couldn’t do that.

“Should I call her and tell her to pack up her things and move to DC?”

Hotch blinked. “You haven’t already told her about the possibility of a job, have you?”

“No,” Gideon laughed. “I can’t promise her a job when I don't have the jurisdiction to hire anybody.”

That was a relief, but Hotch was still afraid Gideon had let on too much. He had just admitted to calling her professors to learn more about her abilities. So, he replied, “You can tell her that we have an internship position that she might be interested in and ask her about her ability to leave California. That is all.”

~ ~ ~

“Agent Hotchner. Agent Gideon,” Lydia greeted as she entered the BAU. It was crazy enough to be in Virginia, seeing as she’d never left California, but FBI headquarters?

She shuffled around nervously and adjusted her glasses numerous times despite the fact they were already as far up her nose as they could go.

“Lydia,” Gideon greeted, warmly. “How was your flight?”

“It was alright. Exciting. I’ve never been on an airplane before.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. No one should have to go through airport security for their first time alone,” Hotch said. “Why don’t we step into my office?”

He and Gideon led the way into the bullpen and around to his office. Lydia’s eyes darted around, seeing Morgan, Elle, and Reid at their desks, engrossed in their work. She wondered if any of them would even recognize her if she caught their eye. She was surprised enough when Gideon called.

“I assume you’ve been considering my offer?” Gideon asked, closing the door behind her.

“Considering, yes. But it would be… difficult, to say the least. I’d love to hear it from your mouths… the offer, that is.”

Hotch sat down at his desk and gestured for her to do the same.

“Agent Gideon and I would like to offer you an internship here at the BAU as a forensic science technician. When we took you on as a consultant in Santa Cruz, you proved to have inspiring potential. You would only be called out for occasional cases, once every month or so. Agent Gideon would be your supervisor.”

“And this would mean moving to DC?”

“Eventually, yes. We can’t exactly fly you out to every new scene from California. It would be easier to have you here, getting briefed with us, taking the jet, etcetera. You’ll also need to go through a training period here and likely will be asked to work in the office, even when you aren’t on a case. How big of a problem would that be? Do you have a lot of family there?”

“No, not family. I mean, it’s just me and my sister and she’s been doing just fine on her own while I’ve been at college, so we’ll manage the distance. The issue is I’m set to start a masters program next semester. I’m just… unsure how I feel about dropping out of school. I know this is a crazy opportunity, but it’s not a full-time job. And if I don’t do well and you guys decide not to keep me, I’m poor and stuck in DC.”

Gideon, who’d been hovering in the back of the room stepped forward. “If we fire you for some reason, I promise to personally pay for your flight back to California.” It was a joke, but in all seriousness, a flight wasn’t even half of it.

“You wouldn’t have to drop out,” Hotch added. “Many schools nearby would be happy to have you and the Bureau rarely has problems with schools refusing to work around our interns schedules. And even if that’s too difficult, this experience will likely open up many opportunities in the future. I’d be happy to write you a million letters of recommendation should you decide to find work elsewhere.”

“I, uh-”

“Hey Hotch?” A familiar voice called, knocking on the door.

He apologized to her momentarily, before saying, “Come in, Reid.”

The door swung open and the boy looked right over Lydia’s head to his boss. “JJ wanted me to tell you that she…”

He trailed off as he felt more pairs of eyes on him. He glanced at Gideon before finally landing on Lydia.

She decided to make the first move, seeing as he was stunned into silence. “Dr. Reid, how nice to see you again.” She stood up to greet him, a smile gracing her features.

“Lydia, I uh… Sorry, to interrupt I really had no- Oh! And it’s nice to see you, too,” he fumbled. “I’ll… I can talk to Hotch later. Sorry, again for interrupting.” And with that he shut the door and was gone.

“Sorry about that. I figured it might have been important, that’s why I invited him in. What were you going to say?”

Lydia froze, her mind drifting elsewhere. “Does the team know? That you are offering an internship into the team?”

Hotch shook his head. “We aren’t offering an internship into the team. We’re offering you an internship into the team. We were waiting to see if you agreed to it.”

“Well, I don’t want to force them to work with someone super under experienced. They aren’t paid to be teachers.”

“The only one who’s going to be teaching you anything is me,” Gideon reassured her. “You are more than capable of holding your own with them. I trust you.”

Lydia felt her throat close up. It was all set up. A job she couldn’t even dream of and here they were, offering it up on a silver platter. “So, this is all… serious. I move to DC and just… work for the FBI all of a sudden?”

“If that’s what you want, then yes. That’s our offer.”

Lydia looked Hotch over, as if trying to profile whether or not he was lying. And finally, she said, “I would like that. Thank you.”

~ ~ ~

“You’ll need to fill out some legal release forms, medical history forms, and I’ll get to work on setting you up for your training period and psychological assessment,” a charming girl named Penelope Garcia explained. Gideon had introduced her as the BAU’s technical analyst.

Her office was brightly decorated and she handed Lydia all the information she needed with a huge smile.

“I’m going to be asked to do a thorough background check on you, as well. But that information goes straight to Hotch and Gideon, no one else.”

Lydia chuckled slightly. “I don’t think I have any secrets, but thanks for the warning.”

“Of course!” she replied.

“No secrets?” Gideon asked. “If I remember correctly, you refused to explain anything about yourself that didn’t pertain to the case when I first met you.”

Lydia hesitated slightly. “Well, what do you want to know?”

“What were you trying to hide?” he countered. “If you’re such an open book, you can tell me.”

“I was just angry!” she argued. “It isn’t about hiding, it’s just that after my mom died, I really believed that I was explosive and so I avoid any topics that bring out my stronger emotions. And you were trying to push all my buttons. I was stressed!”

She wasn't sure if Gideon was just an attentive listener or if he was simply interested in her background, but his eyes longed for her to go on. “Explosive?”

“That’s how I got this limp.”

Normally, nothing anyone could say would prompt her to give away more information than necessary. She always tried to excuse it as ‘no one asked’ rather than blatantly avoiding certain topics, but it was pretty obvious to just about anyone she’d met that Lydia was not proud of her past. So whatever it was about Gideon that convinced her to add that comment was something pretty special.

“How?” It was Garcia this time.

The young girl laughed. “When I was 16, I was having some issues and one day I was trying to calm myself down… I often did this by physically getting my energy out so I was punching pillows and throwing things and I kicked something that was heavier than I expected and broke my foot.” She nodded, like she was remembering it fondly, but the other two could tell that it was a cover for her uncomfort. “And then, I was mad because I hadn’t solved my problem and I’d rendered myself useless, so I started walking on it before it was healed. I did dumb shit. I felt like I deserved the pain for being so uncontained and brash. And then the arch of my foot healed wrong and I had to live with a more… permanent reminder of my attitude.”

“Sixteen,” Gideon mumbled. “Is that when your father died?”

Garcia looked shocked that her superior would even say such a thing but Lydia was just intrigued, “What makes you say that?”

He shrugged. “You said that your only family is your sister. So, I figure both your parents are far out of the picture. You said your mom died when you were little, which triggered your outbursts. So, I figured that perhaps you lost your dad as well and if you were having major anger issues at 16, could be due to the loss of your second parent. Brings up old scars.”

She paused, a somewhat sad smirk gracing her face. “My dad’s not dead, but you’re pretty close. When I was 16, my father was sent to prison.”

Garcia and Gideon’s faces read with immediate regret. So, Lydia played it off quickly.

“Don’t stress about it. He’s not a murderer or anything and it’s not… important.”

She hesitated to explain what he did. She figured they were bound to find out soon enough and she really would rather not say it outloud, so she changed the subject.

“Hey Garcia? Do you think you could help me work on transferring schools? Agent Gideon suggested that I apply for online courses rather than continuing to learn on campus and I’m still not sure if I can reapply for everything so late. And I know your job isn’t navigating college websites or anything, but you are good at tech and I’d love some help.”

She brightened almost immediately. “Sure, sweetheart!”

[queen-rogah]

Hold Me Close Before I Go (Roger Taylor x Reader)

Summary: In 1982, you are invited to his wedding. He was the love of your life before, but now you're just watching him showing his love with another woman, that is supposed to be you. You can't stop but to remember the things that had happened between the both of you that really struck your heart...

Warnings: THIS IS SOME PURE ANGST HERE, mild fluff, language

Word Count: 6.6k+ words

Note: I have rewatched Enchanted last night and I heard the song again,"So Close" by John McLaughlin and it really touched my angsty heart again with those freaking lyrics! So, I was inspired to make this angsty fic. Enjoy reading and try not to cry.

Ps. Btw, the other woman will be an OC :) aaaand there will be lots of flashbacks

A normal day. The sun is high and bright. Today is going to be one of the best days, you guessed...

Until the mailman stepped foot in your small porch, shouting you have mail as he put the letters and other envelopes in your mailbox and walk away to do his work to the other houses here. You have been living in this small house for almost 5 years, after your sudden breakup with Roger. You and him are sharing a wonderful apartment before, but when everything was a tragedy. You can't help but to do the right thing and leave the house and leave all the memories. He left the apartment behind too and that place have imprinted the memorable things you both did.

Now, you heard he bought a large mansion together with his new girl.

A better one. Better than you. A model slash actress.

You saw them in several paparazzi pictures together and in the newspaper. Ever since those pictures came out, you never set your eyes on the news page of a newspaper. Even on the television, when you hear their names, you immediately shut it off. It's so ridiculous to feel that it's been years and it's obvious he moved on about you, but you...there's still a part of your heart that really belongs to him.

And you still wear the golden heart necklace he gave to you in your first anniversary before. This is the only piece of memento left with you that holds a lot of memories.

You finished your cup of coffee and stepped outside your house, breathing in the summer breeze of London. You took all your mail from the box and put it on your coffee table. Some are letters from your parents, some are flyers from restaurants with coupons, some are letters from your boss at work and a gold envelope.

Wait, a gold envelope?

You set aside the other letters and hold the golden envelope and look at the back view of it with your full name in a beautiful handwriting. Your brows are furrowed, still staring at this paper in confusion.

Now, you snapped out of your confusion and opened the envelope wherein you smell a very nostalgic scent. And that made you stop and remember what that smell is...

You heard the front door opened to see him walking inside with a tired look of his face. He finally came back on tour and he went straight home to you, just like he promised.

"Hi love." He rasps, smiling at you as he sets his thing down the floor and open his arms for you to enter in.

Enjoying his warm welcome embrace and indulging his scent you truly love so much.

"God, I miss you so much Roger. I always love your perfume..." You grin at him as he caressed your hair. Then he suddenly hoist you up, carrying you by your thighs and you immediately wrapped your legs around his torso.

"I miss you too my love." He smiles and pulls you in a passionate kiss, now walking his way in your bedroom to continue his action.

You're gripping the necklace as the flashback ended in your mind. The scent coming from this envelope is helping you remember him, after all those years that you want to forget him, but with just this simple scent. It goes right back to you.

You soon pull out the letter inside the envelope, reading the contents and slammed it on the table. Your hands covered your face as you try to forget that you read that.

You're just thinking of him. You're just remembering your good times with him.

And now you just read the letter coming from the golden envelope saying, You are cordially invited to the wedding of Roger Meddows Taylor and Loreleigh Charlotte Jameson...

They will also held the wedding at Southwark Cathedral, where Roger promised you where he will marry you. And the reception will be at The Decorium. A very well-known reception venue.

After all the years of no contact from him, no calls, letters, whatsoever and now he have the nerve to invite you in his upcoming wedding--that is happening next saturday already.

But you're going to do this, for him and his bride. And after that, you will officially move on about him and even plan to give back the necklace to him. Your hands again held the necklace as a single tear fell down to your cheeks.

You're going to give back the necklace to finally forget him.

...

"He invited me ma," Your words came out as a whisper through the phone with your mother listening to you. She's been the only person that you share everything with and she knows how much you loved Roger since the beginning of your relationship with him. She's the first one who knew that you liked him, she's the first one who knew that he finally became your boyfriend, she's the first one who knew that you're moving in with him and she's the first one who knew that he broke your heart into a million pieces.

"Y/N, if he invited you, he wanted to see you there, maybe wants a support that that is his choice, to marry that woman..." Your mother replied and the word support coming out of her mouth made your choke in your tears.

"I don't think he'll receive get a single support from me ma, but he'll receive a proper goodbye from me," You responded, wiping away your tears. "I actually think he'll be the one for me, that we will also get married someday, turns out everything was just a joke to him. He just...he threw away my love and that love I gave was one of my best...and he just wasted it..."

He won't answer your calls. The phone was just ringing...constantly.

You gave up as you put down the phone, leaving this telephone booth and finally stepped inside the bus to go back home. You came from your parent's house for almost a whole month to spend time with them. Roger was left busy with all those interviews and different invites of television shows to perform on, but he's been telling you that he misses you always and it's sad that you're not with him in the house.

He's lonely without you.

After an hour from Canterbury to London, you took the cab back home to him. The cab came to a halt as it reached your destination. You handed him the fare and took your things, walking towards the front door of your shared apartment. You took your keys out and unlocked the door, seeing that no one is around.

That's why the phone is just constantly ringing to you earlier.

And it's already 8 in the evening, he's not home.

The scent of Roger circulates around the bedroom as you throw yourself on the mattress. Blankly staring at the ceiling. Your bags are still in the living room, you still have your winter clothes on.

He didn't say to you that he's going out, maybe with the other boys or some friends.

You took off your jacket and your scarf, soon standing up from the bed and made your way towards the kitchen to get a glass of water or something to drink. Then you found a beer inside the fridge as you opened and drink it.

Then suddenly you heard the door creak open from the living room as a smile appeared on your lips. You set the beer down on the counter and step out of the kitchen, only to be greeted by Roger, holding another woman--maybe a drunk woman--in his arms where you saw those marks around his neck, even though it's so dark in this room.

You saw it.

And your heart breaks.

"Y/N...I--"

"Fucking save it Roger, I don't want your excuses." You shut him off and turn your heel away as you march your way back to the bedroom to take your jacket and your scarf on the bed.

Roger followed you behind, leaving the dumbfounded young girl in the living room. You heard his footsteps approaching towards the door to see him out of breath.

"Y/N, I thought you'll come home by next week, I--"

"--Yeah Roger, you thought! You didn't answer my calls today because you're not home, and if you just answer my calls, you could know that I'm coming home early to you. Or if you answered my calls and knowing that I will come home early, maybe I'll just ruin your plans with that girl in our living room." You argued and walk by past him, but he caught your wrists, "What--Roger, let go of me!."

"Y/N, please...I'll make it up to you, just...don't go. You're the love of my life..." He cried and you hate seeing him cry.

"I gave all myself to you Roger. All my love and my life, but you just throw it all away in just one night."

Then you left him.

"I understand dear, it's just...give that man another chance, only for one day. If he wants to see you there, let him see you, and if he wants to talk to you, let him talk to you. Only for that day dear, his special day." She said and that made you fell into a silence.

"Okay ma. And by the way, can I borrow a dress from you? I don't have a proper dress for the ceremony." You dryly chuckled.

"Sure dear. What time will you come over?." She asked. You look over to the clock hanging on your wall to see it's already 2 in the afternoon.

"I'll come over right now." You said, hanging up on her as you jog your way up to your room to change your clothes. You took your car and house keys and finally left the house, driving towards your parent's house.

...

Your mother handed you the sixth dress from her closet to try on if it's decent for the ceremony. The others are just boring, too revealing and too overdressed to look but this dress that you're now trying on feels like it's the one you'll be wearing now. Your father was also watching you both from the door frame of the room, him reminiscing like it's your homecoming night before when you're in highschool back in the days.

"I like this one! This is the one!." You said inside the bathroom as you stepped out and show them the dress.

"You look perfect my dear, you can pair that with silver heels and diamond earrings," she said while smoothing out the dress on you, like she always do when you're wearing a dress and suddenly stare down on the golden heart necklace, "That can be the perfect necklace for the dress." She slightly smiled.

You sighed and looked down on the ground, "I plan on giving it back to him on the day of his wedding. I don't deserve this thing anymore, and...he should give it to her, maybe she'll look beautiful with it." You painfully smiled at the thought. Hearing his voice and imagining him giving this necklace to her and complimenting her looking so beautiful, like he did when he gave it to you before.

By the time you heard his car pulled up by your place, because you invited him to stay the night with you and just watch movies and cuddle with him, your giddy self jump up from the couch and opened the door, seeing him walking up to your door. You welcomed him with an embrace and a sweet kiss, your hands came to his long blonde hair as you pull away from each other, inviting him in.

"I'm sorry I'm late, me and the boys just had this emergency meeting with John Reid, about the upcoming third album. We'll have a meeting too with the EMI producer by the last week of this month too. Everything is just going insane love..." He sighs and you cupped his face, looking into his tired eyes.

"Then you should rest my love, I promise I'll make you breakfast next morning, I have to give everything back from what you did last week to me." You grin at him as he wrap his hands around you.

"Thank you Y/N, you're the best." He smiles and pull you in a kiss again.

But you pull away from him, "By the way, do you know what today is?." You put your hands around his neck as he think about it for a couple of minutes.

And it's making you feel sad.

He forgot it.

"Is it already September...?." He said with doubt as you huff out the air from your lungs and took a step back from him.

"Yes, you're right it's already September but...do you know what happened this day?." You gave him a hint again as he furrowed his brows at you. "Seriously Roger? You've forgotten it?."

You gave up and made your way inside the kitchen to take out your disappointment, but then you heard his footsteps closer to you and stood before you, looking at his hand now holding something.

"I'm just playing with you love, of course I remember everything this day. I remember you in that pub, wearing that beautiful red dress and your favorite fur coat. It's our third date and we go to the same pub where I first saw you. I complimented you in your dress, you teased me throughout the dinner and you ended up in my bed, like you always do after every of our dates," he said and you blushed when he mentions about you sleeping with him every after the dates with him, which is true, "And then I asked you to be mine while we're both in bed after sharing that intimate time with you. Of course I remember our anniversary and it's the most memorable day of my life."

You didn't said anything and just pull him in a passionate kiss again, "Just don't do that again Roger. It almost made me hate you." You pout your lips.

"I promise." He chuckles and soon showed you the red box in his hands as you gazed on it.

"What is it Roger?." You excitedly asked.

"Well open it."

You slowly open it and reveal a beautiful golden heart necklace before you.

"It's beautiful Roger." You beam, getting the necklace out of it's box and look at the heart. It's simple but it's so beautiful.

"Just remember that it's my heart that you stole it from me," he smiles.

"You cheeky bastard." You laughed.

He laughs with you too, "Well, it'll look more beautiful when you wear it." He said.

"Will you...?." You gave him the necklace, asking to put it on you.

"...Of course love." He mumbles as you turn your back on him, letting him wear the necklace on you. Locking it and also kissing your neck before you turn around for him.

"So? How do I look?." You grinned.

"Beautiful..." He replied.

The flashback made your heart even hurt you more. So you made your way back inside the bathroom and change up to your ordinary clothes earlier. You fold the dress and put it in a bag as you stayed with your parents until dinner and drive home safely with doubts in your head.

Asking yourself while looking at the dress inside it's bag, Am I really going to face him after all those years? Am I ready to talk to him again?

Those words are in your head until you fell asleep in your bed.

Alone.

...

The day of the wedding came. The day was perfect. The sun is up and bright. The sky clear.

You lastly put on the diamond earrings before looking at yourself in the mirror. Wearing this powder blue dress of your mother's to go to your ex-boyfriend's wedding. You took a deep breathe before plastering a smile, practicing on what you'll look like if you'll see him later. But the smile really shows something, it's not genuine happiness.

It's genuine sadness.

That's why you lost that smile again and look away from the mirror. You took your bag with your car keys, house key, and your wallet inside as you took your favorite fur coat, that Roger knows, and finally stepped out of the house. The drive to the cathedral wasn't bad at all and there was no heavy traffic. When you arrived there, you saw different people coming out from their cars and going inside the cathedral while wearing those fashionable dresses and suits. You awkwardly followed the other people inside the cathedral and saw the venue.

The pews are decorated with white roses, the red carpet on the aisle has little petals of white roses too and the altar was also decorated with white roses, scented candles and other beautiful flowers you can't really name. You are surprisingly early as you sat on the pew far behind so that nobody would ever see you or talk to you. You just have to watch.

But you failed until, "Y/N?." A voice came from behind you.

You turn around to see John Deacon standing before with his own family. His facial expression changed into pure happiness when he finally saw you again in the flesh and waste no time hugging you tightly. You hugged him back as you missed this person who's been your friend since college. You can't believe you abandoned him for years too, just because of the breakup.

"Bloody hell, I can't believe it's you Y/N...you're here...in Roger's wedding." His voice lowered down when he said those words as you just gave him a small smile.

"Gotta show him my support." You murmured, saying a complete lie to him.

"If you say so. The boys are coming too and I heard Roger is finally on his way. Freddie is his best man though..." He chuckles.

"Yeah, I knew..." Your voice cracked a bit, hoping he didn't noticed that.

"By the way, come join us with Brian up front. You're too far back Y/N..." Deacy held out his hand to you but you shake your head.

"No thank you Deacy, I can handle myself here. I'm still going to see you again in the reception." You put up a smile, the same smile you saw on your face through the mirror and he nod in reply.

"Okay Y/N, see you there." He said, coming close again as he pulls you in a hug again, planting a soft kiss on your temple before making his way to the front pew with his family and Brian.

You took a deep breath, trying not to break down and cry here. You felt his sympathy and it really bores you. Everyone does that. Even to yourself.

You saw the pity in his eyes. And you hated it.

The guests came in one by one until the cathedral is fully packed. You hide yourself in this pew with the other guests you didn't know, maybe they are the bride's family or friends and you're drowning in their different stories of the bride and Roger being perfect with each other. You also heard rumors about them only doing this to feed the media, but you didn't listen to those things. Roger would never do any of this effort with just a fake one. You knew he loves that woman.

And why would they gossip those things in their wedding day? And in a goddamn cathedral?

Two-faced people.

Their obnoxious sounds stopped when you heard the soft melodic sound of the organ played in the background. The people stood up, you also followed suit as you finally saw him. His arms around his mother while they walk down the aisle. He's wearing that white suit and white pants, and he have a white rose attached on his suit. This is the first time you ever saw his newly cut hair in person, since the last time you saw him is he still have a long blonde hair that you loved you twirl and pull.

Your stare at him lasted for a couple of minutes until he was now in front of the altar. They closed the doors once again as you ready yourself to see his bride. Closing your eyes to compose and try to calm down.

But then you suddenly imagined yourself, standing behind those closed doors. Your bridesmaids fixing the train of your wedding gown as they also fixed your hair. You can feel your heartbeat getting a little bit faster in so much excitement and a bit of fear. You watch the bridesmaids march inside the cathedral with their flowers and your maid of honor. And then you're left behind here, breathing in and out. You heard the bridal march music played as the doors finally opened for you, seeing him by the distance, enjoying himself seeing you walking down the aisle, steps away in becoming his girl, forever.

Then you open your eyes.

The imagination stops.

The doors are opened and you saw her walking down the aisle with that beautiful dress and a beautiful bouquet of flowers. You gaze at her, almost thinking like she's an angel. That's why Roger picked her. She's really beautiful.

She's really beautiful

...

The reception looked also familiar like in the cathedral. Multiple tables are around the place as you found your table with some new faces again, thankful that you're not sharing the table with those people in the cathedral earlier. The newly wed couple entered the place as you see her wearing a different kind of dress, a white body con dress that really hugged her curves so well and Roger also wore a different looking white suit and his shirt underneath has it's few buttons undone.

The people clapped for them.

You did it too.

"Um hi," the woman across you wants your attention as you looked at her, giving her a questioning look, "You know, I almost know everyone in this room except for you, whom are you here for...?."

You mentally rolled your eyes at her nonsense question. This is why you hated in sharing tables with someone you barely even know.

And Roger kept the relationship private before. Only the boys and your families knew you're both dating.

You didn't want the spotlight always following you as the legendary Roger Taylor's girlfriend before.

"Groom." You replied to her then shoots her a small smile before looking away again while drinking on your wine silently.

"Cousin? Friend? Ex-girlfriend?." She still goes on. A smirk appeared on her lips after mentioning about the ex-girlfriend thing.

Now you're officially uncomfortable.

"Just a friend," You replied back as you finished your drink before standing up from your chair, "Would you excuse me, I will go to the bathrooms." You pose a fake smile and walk away from the table.

You didn't actually go to the bathrooms, you just stood by the corner and lean against the wall while watching the people enjoy the whole evening. You took a champagne flute again from a roaming waiter and consume the drink in just one gulp. You heard the host saying that the speeches for the newly wed couple will be up next after all these dancing. You sighed deeply and immediately regretted that you came here, after that nosey woman in your table and now you have to listen to their speeches. Your heart's been so broken ever since their vows earlier.

You think it's finally the end of your night here.

You turn your heel around, ready to go, until you bump on someone that came from the direction of the bathrooms. You quickly apologized and looked up at the person as your eyes widened in surprise.

"Y/N?." He eyed you from head to toe with a huge smile on his face.

"Hi...Freddie." You responds as he lets out a chuckle before hugging you tightly in his arms. You have missed his embrace everytime that he'll see you before. Now years have passed, you are still enjoying his hugs.

"Oh darling, where have you been? I fucking missed you!." He happily exclaims while still keeping you in his arms.

You pull away from him to see him in the eyes, "I still live here in London, and I will never ever abandon this city. How about you? I heard you're now called as a rock legend." You smirked at him.

"Oh that's nothing dear, I know everyone calls Freddie Mercury a goddamn rock legend." His confidence went up again as you chuckled in his remark, "By the way, Roger...really invited you? Are you and him are already in good terms?." He asked.

You took an intake of breath, "Honestly, I don't know if we're actually good or not...but yeah, he invited me. He send the invitation to my mailbox Fred, so that means he also knows where I live right now." You replied to him.

"Roger has it's own ways, especially a way to you." Freddie answered you back and his words froze you.

"It's been 5 whole years Freddie, why would he still be thinking about me? And he have that beautiful woman already..." You look over to them having fun in front.

"Leigh is beautiful, we know that, but for me you're still the best Y/N. You're far more better than Leigh." Freddie said. His words sent you to the state of either happiness or sadness because your tears are building up again as you silently cried to him, letting out your weight off your shoulders.

Freddie comforted you until you've come down. He asked if you want to sit with them in the front table, which you don't want you happen, but he still wants to push you with him. So you did go with him.

Sitting just in front of them.

You're on full view just for him.

Freddie hold your hand tightly while walking towards their table. You see Brian and his wife, Deacy and his family, and other people who's close to Roger in the table. You're shy to come close, but Freddie surely doesn't notice you wanting to back out.

"I'm back darlings, and look who I found." Freddie announced in their table as they all looked at you, seeing their reactions.

Deacy already saw you in the cathedral, that's why he's just smiling widely at you now exposing yourself tonight. And Brian, he quickly stood up and pull you in his arms. You and Brian were friends ever since college and because of him you've met Roger.

"Where have you been Y/N? It's been years..." Brian whispered in my ear as you pull away from his hug.

"I'm always here in London Bri, I just...I just have to lay-low for all those years, after what happened..." You mumbled. They soon gave you a vacant seat before asking more questions about you and your life without Roger. It's sincere that they haven't brought out about your sadness without him, they just looked and asked you on the bright side.

Your chatters died down when the speeches are now starting. You gulped and just looked on your hands resting on your lap, not wanting to look in front.

You always heard the same words from each of their family and friends.

Congratulations to the both of you!

You both are going to have a wonderful time together!

You will have such beautiful babies!

After those people speaking through the microphone, they called up on Freddie who's sitting beside you as they all looked at him. That's the time you lift up your head and saw him looking directly at you in this very table. His look towards you was full of relief and a hint of genuine happiness. He finally saw you. Roger finally saw you.

You tear your eyes away from him and looked at Freddie who's now holding the mic to give out his speech, "Roger has been my friend ever since my college years. He's born to be a rockstar, the best drummer and has the best falsetto..."

The people laughed.

You also laughed.

Roger saw that. His heart swells.

"...but underneath that wild blonde hair and personality on stage, like me, I knew Roger as a very loving person. A compassionate and caring person, and I can see that to every person he truly loves," Freddie said as he turn his look to you, referring about his love to you instead of his love to his bride.

And that made you inhale deeply and looked down on your hands again, stopping your tears to fall down.

"And I can already really see it right in front of me, see?." Freddie saves himself as he chuckles. You looked up again to see her leaning on his shoulder and suddenly pull him in a soft kiss.

They look very in love. Like you both did before.

"Anyways, I am now to congratulate to this couple, don't forget to get me as your children's godfather because I'm going to spoil the bloody hell out of them. Roger and Leigh, I love you both, wishing you all the very best." Freddie smiles at them and finally gave back the microphone before going back to his seat beside you.

You felt Freddie's hand intertwined to your hand as you pressed your lips in a hard line and lean your head on his shoulder. You really missed him being your listener and your comforter.

"Y/N?." Freddie spoke amidst of your silence.

"Yeah?."

He looked at you, "You deserve anything and you deserve a proper love someday."

...

After all those messages, the dancing continues. A disco song was playing in the speakers and see the people having fun and dancing to the rhythm of the music. Roger and his bride were also dancing along, remembering Roger couldn't dance, so he's just holding her while she's letting herself loose in the music. You looked at the time and see it's already approaching to midnight.

You really want to go home and sleep and eat yogurt already.

But, "Y/N, will you dance with me?." Brian asks and he stood up from his chair and offers his hand to you.

"I'm not in the proper mood Bri..." You apologized to him as you showed him a tired smile.

But he didn't listen to your excuse.

"I'll set up the mood for you. Maybe this will be our last meeting and you'll be gone again..." He pouts his lips as you groaned, giving in for him.

You held his hand as he lead you in the dancefloor, just in time a slow song played as he showed you a small smile before pulling you close to him. Your hand resting on his shoulder, his hand on your waist as he slowly sway you around the slow beat of the music.

"Is Chrissy totally okay with this...position?." You awkwardly asked him as he lets out a dry chuckle.

"Chrissy trusts you too. She knows you're one of my closest friends." Brian explains.

"Okay," You smiled and looked up on him, "I really appreciate you all tonight, of how you welcomed me in your group again, of how you welcomed me in your arms and your comforts. I know it's been years after that incident and knowing that you guys panicked about me going missing for days..."

"It's been a week Brian! No one ever saw her anywhere! Even her own bloody mother doesn't know where she is!." Roger shouts at the guitarist who's as concern as him. He slammed the phone back to it's box after just speaking to your mother wherein she's also panicking over her daughter's vanishing.

"If it wasn't for what you did to her, she won't be running away and be missing for a couple of days!." Brian argued back to him. Freddie and Deacy are only sitting on the couch. Silent.

Roger fell in silent after what Brian just said.

"I can't apologize for what you did to her Roger. She's one of the most important people for me and I trusted you to take care of her heart before when I brought you two together. I thought you changed for her, turns out you actually didn't..." Brian hissed at the drummer before walking out of the room.

You disappeared for a week and three days without anyone knowing where you are. You didn't informed them that you went to Munich and stayed there to have a silent life but after those days, you went back home to your mother and eventually found a house in London. Only your mother knew you have the house.

You stopped in front of the house you bought with all your savings and some of your mother's help. You have your things inside the car and brought them in one-by-one, the furnitures will come by shortly too. You stood inside and fell into a deep silence, your eyes looking around.

"I deserve this fresh start..."

"...and I'm sorry that I let you guys worry so much about me. I ran away to bring out the sorrow in me and for what he did to me." You finished your sentence as you felt his heartbeat became a bit erratic.

He sighed, "Enough with this dramatic thing, I saw you laugh earlier and I'm going to keep that smile on your face...by doing this..." Brian said as he suddenly spins you around and did some simple waltz with him.

Until you heard someone cleared their throat and you both stopped dancing around to see Roger, finally standing before you with his hands behind him. He does that when he's nervous.

"Hey Rog, can we help you with something?." Brian asked, still has his hands around you. You're just quiet in front of him, not knowing how to greet him or else.

"Can I...dance with Y/N?." He politely asked and that your heart skipped a beat as Brian slowly let go of his touch to you and looked down on you.

"Y/N? Is it oka--"

"--yes Bri, it's okay. I'll let Roger dance with me." You cut him off as he nod his head before walking away from him and you. You can't look into his eyes as you just waited for his next move. The next song finally came in and it's still a slow one. (imagine "So Close" playing) You're breathless, shaking, nervous as your eyes look around the room, looking for the bride.

"She knows." Roger said.

"Knows...what?." Your eyes slightly widened.

That you have history with him?

"That I'm dancing with you," He soon took your hand on your side and put it on his shoulder as he slowly pull you close. The nostalgic scent of his hit you the wave of reminiscence and longing. After almost 5 whole years, this is the first time you'll stand so close to him again. You tried to stop your tears but some already fell down but you automatically wipe it away.

"Did she know?..." You asked him.

"No, she doesn't." Roger replied to you.

You didn't replied to anything but just continue swaying you around in this dancefloor. When the music suddenly reached to it's instrumental part, you saw his smile that you missed so much as he twirls you around. You let out small giggles here and there that's why he have the biggest smile right now.

"I miss that laugh. I miss that smile. I miss all of you..." Roger whispered in your ear as he continues swaying you with him in the music.

You really want to tell him that you missed him so much too but what if someone will hear you both. That will surely ruin his wedding day.

"You are one of the people who completes my life but when you betrayed me, a part of me really have a hole. A hole that you left me after what you did. I didn't take a revenge on you and did some horrible things because you don't deserve that," You muttered and you finally reached on the nape of your neck to unlock your necklace then slide it off you.

"Y/N, what are you--"

"--give me your hand Roger." You said. He was hesitant at first, but he knows that you're serious already.

He showed out his palm as you lay the golden heart necklace on it, "This is what you deserved. I'll let you remember what you did to me when you gave me this necklace and do the same thing for her. Give the necklace to her...for me." Tears soon ran down your cheeks as you wipe it away again.

"But this is your's Y/N. I gave this for you and only for you." He said while trying to give back the necklace to you, but you're stopping him.

"I don't deserve that necklace anymore. No one will ever say that the necklace will look beautiful on me anymore, at least if you give that to her, you'll compliment her everyday with that beautiful necklace." You replied, your hand playing along the thin chains of the necklace laying on his hand. Then your fingers ran through his palm, so calloused and rough from all the years of drumming for Queen.

"Now hold me close before I go." You whispered in his ear as he held you again, swaying with the music. You have your head resting upon his chest to hear his heartbeat.

"I love you always Y/N." He whispers to you. You remember those words making you happy and contented, but when you heard it right now, you just felt your heart break and feel that pain that never goes away.

You lift your head to him and look into his eyes that is dried from his tears, "I love you too always Roger," You choked on your tears and took a step back from him.

"...and goodbye." You mumbled before you walk away from him. Away from the crowd and away of this venue. You didn't said your goodbyes to the others, you just walk past straight the people who's also dancing and out in the parking lot. You got inside your car and turn the ignition on before you drive away from this place, crying and still hoping if everything will be okay for you.

Hoping you'll be okay.

Hoping your heart to be stitched up into whole again.

_____________________________ this is the reader's dress in the wedding:

This fic turned out to be a long one and a very very angsty one because I only planned the fic to only have the scenes in the wedding ceremony and the reception area.

Hope you liked this fic!

[zi-i-think]

Hey everyone! I’m so sad to say that my chapter isn’t even close to done. I’ve been swamped with homework, studying, etc. Maybe enjoy this chapter of an old Mavel fanfic that I started but never continued. After Her Sun His Moon I might pick the idea back up, but only time will tell. Love you all lots! And hang loose, amigos 🤙🏼

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Cleo (OC)

Rating: M

Word count: 2200+

~~~

       Boom!

       "I'm too young to die!"

       Bang!

       "What did I do to deserve this?... don't answer that."

       Bang! Bang! Bang!

       "Cleo, shut up and keep shooting!"

       "We're running out of ammo and there's no way we can get past all those guys!"

       There's nothing worse than getting shot at, by the people you once called family and shooting back at them with an odd band of people who tried to arrest you not too long ago. Might as well crawl back to the pits of hell and play poker with satan.

       "Damn it!" I grumble. I then proceed to throw my machine gun on the floor and slide further down the cover of the flipped taxi. "Out of bullets," I tell my partner who stands to my left and shooting from a gun of his own. I feel bad for the guy. No one forced us to be partners, let alone be willing to die for one another. Just a couple of months ago we hated each other's guts. Yet here we are. Firing bullets like rain falls from the sky in order to not let the other get shot.

       He furrows his eyebrow with a confused look, kneeling closer to me. "We're gonna get out of this, Cleo. I promise you." He assures me.

       I give him a sad smile as I place my hand behind his neck before pulling him down to kiss him. I don't know when or if I'd even see this man ever again. But, I really hope I do. It was a hungry and passionate kiss, but too short, even shorter than those damn hobbits. I pull away but he keeps his face no more than an inch from mine. "I love you."

       I don't give him a chance to react to the very sudden and magical words before slipping out of his grasp and emerge from behind the taxi. I create my triangular forcefield to prevent the bullets, not fast enough, though, since one skimmed my arm. I don't even realize it due to the adrenaline but-

       Too far into the story, my bad. In order for you to really know what all this is about, we need to start from the beginning of the weirdest time in my life. It started at McDonald's, actually.

       "Order for John Mulaney." The soulless employee announces in monotone. The name makes one head turn in the empty area, only for them to sigh in disappointment when John Mulaney did not come to this McDonald's. It was just me. A shit-hole of a person, having a normal night of eating fries and nuggets after an assassination job.

       I wanted the Happy Meal, but they refused to let me order that because I'm "too old". I'm not a motherfucking senior citizen like that Captain America, who looks good enough to, in fact, fuck the mothers of America.

       "Ugh." I gag, spitting my half-chewed nugget back into the box. Jesus, what do they put in this? Semen? I reach for my Frappuccino, the caramel one, of course, and take a sip in order to get rid of the not-even-close-to-chicken taste out of my mouth. And while setting the drink back on the table, the napkin that I used before now has black writing on it.

       I look around the barren restaurant, looking for a suspicious person. Only, I'm the only person here, other than a group of drunk college girls in the corner. It's only 11 pm, what are they doing back from whatever party they went to? That's pathetic. Looking back at the napkin, I pick it up to read it better.

(718)-334-7876

11:20 pm sharp.

       Probably someone looking to hire. But, why contact me with a napkin. A pigeon would be more practical. Alas, it's on a napkin. I've had people contact me discretely in many ways. A brick, calling through a phone, letters, notes on my motorcycle, but never on a napkin. I also don't understand why this person couldn't just come up and talk to me. The place is empty after all... Like my soul.

       My left-hand digs into my back pocket for my phone. Setting my hand lazily of the table with the phone resting in it, it lights up to read 11:18 over my black lock-screen with the words "Fuck off" in bold, white letters in the middle. He did say 11:20 sharp. Should I wait the extra two minutes? No, I'm too impatient and also don't give any fucks.

       My fingers dial the number as written and press the call button. Tapping my fingers on the table rhythmically as the phone rings. I hope it's a politician job. Better yet, one who doesn't believe in climate change! Putting a bullet through one of their thick heads can be fun and stress-relieving.

       "You called too early." A raspy and familiar voice on the other side appears.

       "It's 11:20 somewhere in the world." I quip, plopping a fry in my mouth. "Now, what's the point of this call, Frank?"

       "My name isn't Frank." He gruffs.

       "Luke?" I guess again.

       "Cl-"

       "I know what your name is." I interrupt him, leaning back in my chair with a cocky smirk. "It's Gandalf, right?"

       The other line is silent while I lightly snicker to myself. I know I can be a little... much. But what's a little pestering, right? I was never that good at socializing, though. I have what you call "people-problems". Simply put, I don't like people too much and they don't like me in return. Which is why I make such a great business partner.

       "Cleo, we have a job for you." Right we're back to that.

       "How was your brief vacation, Frank?" Silence. Again. The fact that I am still alive despite getting everyone to hate me is astonishing. Really, I have made so many enemies just by talking. Whether it be by calling them a nasty word or confusing their gender, I can always offend someone. Even with the simplicity of calling this man Frank.

       "Can you be professional for once?" He lets out a breathy plead. "It wouldn't kill ya."

       "No, it wouldn't kill me." I sigh in agreement. "but it does take the joy out of things, such as killing others. Which is why you called."

       "Come to the house and you'll be given all the information."

       "Woah Woah Woah Woah." I raise my eyebrows as I interrupt my little acquaintance for this millionth time during this one phone call. "Woah. You think I'm actually going to take this job?"

       "Come on, Cleo." I roll my eyes already as I reach for my frappuccino for another long sip. "It's been over a year now and-"

       "Ahhh." I hiss, my left hand find their way for my forehead and shut my eyes up tightly. This pain. One of the worst a person can get, no later how trained and pain tolerant I get, I can always feel this pain.

       "Cleo?" Not-Frank's raspy voice is sounded through the phone. "Cleo, are you alright?" Worry? Coming from not-Frank? The last time that's been a thing was a couple of years ago when I almost threw him off a building. If your wondering about that, well long story short, there was a lot of suspicion between the families and not-Frank got caught in the middle of a lot of things.

       "Yep," I grunt, finally removing my hands from my forehead. "Damn. Been shot multiple times and a brain-freeze will always be one of the worst pain I will ever experience. Now, what were we discussing? Oh right. The fact that I am 100 percent done with you guys."

       "You know, you're lucky to be alive. The Boss never lets anyone leave and you were somehow able to waltz right out the door. Tell me, Cleo. How did you really get out." His voice was beginning to sound like a snake. It was low and airy, just the right amount of that lovely threatening tone that people get so scared of.

       "Well I didn't really 'waltz' out of the door, I'm not much of a dancer. It was more of a strut, really."

       "Dio mio." He mutters under his breath. I presume he is also burying his face in his hand at the moment.

       "You don't believe in God, Frank." I playfully scold him. "Oh, while I have you on the phone I need to ask you something. So, if you ran a night club and you were about to be assassinated by a quite gorgeous female. Would you prefer to be killed with a jagged or smooth knife?"

       "Cleo–"

       "Cause the smooth ones are a bit faster, but for some reason, they spray more blood and I was planning on wearing a new coat I bought. And the–"

       "Just shut up and listen to me!" He snapped, the sound of his fist banging on the table clear, even through the phone. My mouth still hangs open as a sort of offended look becomes present on my face. Most people know better than to raise their voice at me since I've been known to be a little violent to those who disrespect me. Though, this instance was different because of one: if you haven't noticed, not-Frank and I aren't even in the same room. And two: I know that the boss is probably waiting for not-Frank to return to his office and let him know that I'll be one my way. And when the boss requests you to do something, there's a lot of pressure to get it done fast.

       Both sides of the phone are dead silent as I wait for the man to start talking again. Maybe ten seconds after the outburst, I hear a low murmur from not-Frank. "So she can be quiet." I bite down on my tongue, hard, to stop myself from making a snarky comment. "Don Caruso is hoping that you can come over to the house."

       I scoff. Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. Don't get me wrong. I want to say no. After all, when I left, I was hoping to leave behind the whole mafia sha-bang, too. But I know a few things. Like the fact that I will be getting paid pretty nicely for this. And also the fact that business has been a bit slow lately and being able to tell clients that the New York crime boss practically begged to hire me will boost my independent business.

       "Give me a couple of hours to get there," I tell him. "And make sure that statue in the front yard is covered up with a sheet or something. The horse's eyes freak me out." Hanging up the phone, my jewelry barren hand grabs the yellow tray with all the greasy food as I stand and throw it all away in the trash.

       I take a couple of steps out the door and stop. My senses heighten and my head turns to look to my left. The light from inside the restaurant is what allows me to get a somewhat good look at the homeless man walking on the sidewalk with a slight limb from his left leg. The man's dark beard is disheveled and I can only assume that his hair is pulled back but with the gray hood over I'm not completely sure. Something about him felt off. And when you're in my kind of business, you learn that your intuitions are usually right.

       The man wears old blue jeans, a grey hoodie with another red jacket over it, and black tennis shoes, which isn't out of the ordinary when it comes to homeless people. What is out of the ordinary is that his nails are pretty clean and his clothes, while they were old, were in the okay condition. Meaning there aren't any holes, rips, dirt or stains. It was like it was just bought at a thrift store.

       I begin walking with purpose in his direction, pretending not to notice him until I bump into him roughly. He loses his balance and falls on his knees as I turn in 'shock.' "Oh my goodness," I gasp. "I am so sorry." I reach down, my right-hand grabs his right arm as I help him off the ground. Discretely while doing this, I slide his sleeve up, getting a glimpse of a high tech watch. "You know, impersonating the homeless is really disrespectful."

       Not a second after that sentence falls from my lips, a gun is pulled out from the man's hoodie and he points it straight at me. Where from his hoodie? I don't fucking know. What I do know is that I was tracked by none other than the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.

       S.H.I.E.L.D.

       I was tracked by S.H.I.E.L.D.

[lowkeyaesthvtic]

Evil Karma - Chapter 3

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

Word Count: 1,475

Summary: After the uproar at the Chip Shoppe, Sofi encounters a homely view and some unfamiliar, yet fun, feelings.

Pairings: Uma x OC, slight Huma and Harry x OC if you squint at the end

Rating: PG (don’t worry, probably the last PG chapter)

Warnings: major. sexual. tension. seriously. Like no smut but it gets spicy.

Tags: @amityravenclawelf @descendantofthesparrow @harper-hook @kirbiejayhook and anyone else who loves the sea three!

Not too long after the hoo-rah in the Chip Shoppe, Uma had sent me to the ship to keep an eye on the prisoner until the sun set and we would throw her to the sharks. Surprisingly, she was a relatively easy prisoner to work with. Gil had already tied her tight to the mainmast, all I had to do was make sure she didn’t move. I had never been on Uma’s ship before. The first three months in Uma’s crew were mainly spent running robbery errands with Harry and bussing tables at the Chip Shoppe every once in a while. The view from the ship was likely the prettiest thing I had ever seen since arriving on the Isle. The sky was a light blue that had been slightly speckled with grey clouds that hid some of the sun’s rays while other stripes of light peeked through like an excited child behind a tree. The sound of the waves crashing against the ship rendered me nostalgic of the night ocean crashing against Neverland’s sandy shores. I could feel myself start to zone out of my surroundings, paying attention only to the homey sounds of the ocean when I heard footsteps coming closer and closer to me. I quickly stood up, ready to brandish a weapon if needed.

“Easy there, Sofi. It’s just me.” Uma seemed relatively unbothered by my rush to stand guard, it must be something she’s used to seeing. “Harry needs some help closing up the Chip Shoppe tonight. I’ll take care of the prisoner.” As the word prisoner left her lips, a conniving smile spread across her face. I could tell that something had changed in her. She finally reminded her crew who was really in charge and something told me it’d be near impossible for them to forget again. I gave a quick nod and started to depart the ship when I felt a grip on my arm.

“Is there something else I need to do, Captain?” I asked as our eyes met. There were a few seconds of silence, her brown eyes peering into mine. I was about to repeat my question when she let go of my arm and motioned me to sit down next to her.

“You can answer this...why did you stick up for me like that? You’ve only been in this crew for a couple months. And considering your smart-alecky attitude, I would’ve thought you’d have gone against me as well.” Truthfully, I felt a bit betrayed that she’d think I would do such a thing. At the same time, I understand where she’s coming from. Maybe I didn’t grow up on the Isle, but I’ve been here long enough by now to realize that it’s a rare thing for people to stay loyal to each other.

“Whether I’m a smart-aleck or not, Uma, you’re still the Captain. Being a part of a crew is about being loyal to your Captain almost more than it is about taking orders from the Captain. Besides, you showed those boys who was boss way more than I would have.” I took a quick look at her, noticing that she was zoning out into the ocean just as I was before she had arrived. Something about her began to remind me of Neverland itself, but my mind kept itself from figuring out what it was. Then, I remembered. “Was that your first time doing that?”

“Doing what? Tying a prisoner to the mainmast?” Only then did I notice that Daughter Gothel wasn’t too far from us. She hadn’t stopped glaring in my direction since I took over for Gil. I shot her a quick smirk before looking back to Uma.

“No...the whole ‘what’s my name’ thing. You know, reminding your crew who’s in charge? You should do it more often. It seems like that was the thing that got in their heads the most.”

“Really? Why do you say that, Island Girl?” My eyebrows piqued at the nickname. It was the first time Uma had addressed me by anything other than ‘Sofi’ or ‘Daughter of Pan.’ Honestly, I didn’t hate it. But I couldn’t focus too much on it. It was likely some one time joke considering the ‘Island Princess’ nickname given by Daughter Gothel earlier that day. I shook off the name and turned to face her.

“You see...my father was a vicious, power hungry, son of a Croc. But he taught me a lot. He taught me how to master archery, fighting with knives and daggers, hand to hand combat...you know, all the things you need when living on an island with a bunch of rampant young boys. But the best thing he ever taught me, in my opinion, was the power of someone’s name. Everybody’s name carries this certain...energy. You can use that energy to tell what kind of person they are.” Uma remained silent, her face practically screaming confusion. “Okay, think about it like this. My father named me Sofia because he thought I’d be his little girl. He thought I’d be some kind of benevolent princess that’d grow up to be smart but nowhere near powerful and nowhere near a leader. As I got older, he started to call me Sofi because despite the two names being a letter apart from each other, their energies were completely different.”

“How? The only difference is there’s an ‘a’ at the end.”

“I’m fully aware of that, my Captain. The difference is that the name ‘Sofi’ carries energy that’s similar to a cobra. It entices the prey, lures them in and makes them feel safe. Then, just when the prey is most vulnerable...the cobra unhinges its jaw and suffocates them.” Uma tilted her head in interest, subtly nodding her head in agreement. “What do you think of when you hear the name ‘Harry?’ Besides the first mate himself, of course.”

“Um...loyalty? Insanity? Pure, unpredictable chaos? Flirts with anything that walks?”

“You see, Uma, you took the words right out of my mouth. Now take everything you’ve heard, and see what you think of when you hear your name.” Neither of us had previously realized it, but we had somehow gotten a lot closer to each other, our thighs touching each other but our hands remaining on our laps.

“I...I can’t think of anything.”

“I think of power, leadership, the definition of domination summed up into three simple letters. Your crew realized that today when you asked them to say your name. The more you remind them of who’s in charge, Uma, the more they realize that you’re the best person to lead us to victory. So, Captain...if you don’t mind me asking, what’s your name?”

“Uma..” She inched closer to me, what was happening? Neither of us knew, neither of us cared.

“Louder.”

The conniving smirk returns, this time with a hint of flirtatiousness that I had never really seen before. “Uma.”

“I’m so sorry, I don’t think I heard you, Captain, one more time?” By now, our faces were only an inch apart. She smelled of sea salt, chocolate, and a whole new home. We started to get closer when -

“UMA!” A thick accent rang through the air. Thank you, Harry. Thank you so much for ruining our fun. Uma nonchalantly stood up. I soon followed suit, fiddling with my fingers as I stepped further away from Uma. “AM I GETTING HELP IN THE CHIP SHOPPE OR NOT?”

“Chill, Harry! I’m coming!” I looked over to Uma and shrugged, beginning to walk away when yet another grip had stopped me. This time, the grip was on my hand. “Yes, Uma?” I asked, not knowing whether to tease or forget it had happened.

Uma wanted to tease. She gripped my hand tighter and once again pulled me closer, our lips practically brushing against each other. “How’d you like to be my first mate?” She spoke low yet somehow light. It was music to my ears.

“What about Harry? Isn’t he your first mate?”

“My crew, Sofi, my rules. My crew can have two first mates if I want it to. Don’t worry, Harry won’t mind it. Now go, you’ve got cleaning to do.” She let go of my hand and nudged me towards the deck where Harry had been standing. As I turn to walk off the ship, I see her shoot Harry a quick wink and shout “Be good with her, Harry! She’s new at this!”

“Oh don’t worry Uma!” Harry shouts towards her before looking down at me, his normal yet flirtatious smirk growing larger by the second. “I will..”

[fatbottombucky]

A Stark Is Born *Prequel to That’s Stark’s Boy*

Summary: Peter listens to the story about how your parents met and the story of why you stopped contact with Tony. 

Grace Hart is an up and coming Agent to the FBI, although mostly on desk duty due to not following instructions, she’s on a mission to protect the most sort after man. Tony Stark, recently taking over his dad’s company, Stark makes it difficult for Grace to keep him safe. A story about how true love, but how loving each other is easier when they aren’t together. 

Pairings: Tony Stark x Grace Hart (Miss Congeniality OC!) & Peter Parker x Male!Reader & Tony Stark x Pepper Potts

Warnings: Swear words, violence and drinking. It’s Angst, but fluff too. Sex is mentioned, obviously. But I’m not writing smut for this. 

Word Count: 2236

Authors Note: Sandra Bullock is in no way how YOU should picture the mom. She’s simply an OC I created, the mom is a mixture of a bunch of Sandra Bullock characters, and I’m using the actress as INSPIRATION. You do NOT have to picture her as Sandy B, but she is an OC and therefore I will be using the name Grace for her, you’re free to place another name for the mother. It’s the same with all my fics, I leave it open to interpretation. I only use gifs as inspo and decoration, they’re not meant to depict how the reader/ the mother should look like. 

Next chapter will be posted Thursday17th 8pm GMT - come to this blog as I won’t be able to link for future chapters / I’ll be creating a masterlist for the prequel also, so don’t worry, you’ll be able to find every chapter on my masterlist

Chapter One/ Six

“Agent Hart,” Jack Traven voice calls through the office, “Chief wants you.”

He pats the young female’s shoulder as he passes, giving her a sympathetic smile as he sits at his own desk. Grace heaves a sigh, pushing herself up from her own desk and pursing her lips as she walks towards the chief’s office. This wasn’t the first time she’d been called, nor would it be the last either. She had a thing for not following the rule book, sometimes tossing it out and struggled to follow orders; it’s why she’s never led a case.

She knocks a few times, hearing the faint gruff of her superior’s voice to come in. A few seconds of pep-talk before she opens the door, she’s met with a few faces, only one that she recognises- and that’s her boss.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” Grace asked and stood with her hands clasped behind her back, hair pulled back into a low ponytail but she still managed to miss a few pieces that framed her face.

“I know I’ve put you on desk duty because of your last… instruction issue,” McDonald explains, “but I have an assignment, a very important one. It requires one of the best and since Matthews is on holiday, you’ll be on this one.” Grace nods once, “a very important male has been receiving disturbing letters these past few months, I’ve got the Intelligence team downstairs looking them over, they seem to be getting progressively more violent.”

Grace raises an eyebrow, “So a celebrity has a stalker, how is this an FBI issue?”

“It’s a top-secret operation,” McDonald's informs Hart, who instantly perks up. “We have suspicion to believe that whoever is sending these letter is planning on killing the victim, we’ve been informed that one of his helicopters suddenly lost engine power… then exploded.”

Grace nods, “And you want me to take point on this? Find out who’s behind the letter-”

“Nope,” he shakes his head, “you’re going to be protecting the victim, that’s all you’ll do. I have a team put together to figure out who this is, we just need someone to be with them at all times. Keep them alive and safe,” McDonald nods to the two other men, Hart only now acknowledges them. “Happy Hogan and James Rhodes have requested FBI officials.”

Grace instantly deflates, babysitting duty, great. Not. No one wants to follow some suit around and make sure he’s well and truly safe, they have money to get those types of people without using government-funded officials.  

“Who is it?”

“It’s Anthony Stark,” Grace already starts to shake her head. “After the unexpected death of his parents, he has reason to be jumpy. His dad had a lot of enemies too, a lot of people trying to claim the Stark Industries from under the young heir of Howard. This could be serious, he needs protection and you’re not doing anything important around here.”

“No way,” Grace scoffs and crosses her arms. “I’ve seen Stark, he’s an egotistical, playboy asshole and he has enough money to hire bodyguards.”

“Actually,” one of the men piped up, “We can’t trust anyone but the FBI. We recently found out someone we hired was in on the operation to take Stark down, we believe it’s a man that posed as Tim Robbins. This is our last resort, so to speak.”

Grace looked at her boss and sighed, “I have no say in this, do I?” he shakes his head, “when do I start?”

**

“He won’t accept any hired help,” Rhodes explained to Grace, who nodded as the car drove them to wherever Stark would be. “His usual help, Miss Potts-”

Grace snorted, “What is he the prince from Beauty and the Beast?” she carried on snorting loudly, laughing at her own joke till she calmed herself down.

“Okay,” James mutters, “Anyway, she’s on paid leave. Visiting some family, he needs a stand-in. A personal assistant, you’ll have access to his whole timetable and with him at all times. We’ve just gotta make sure he’ll hire you.”

“Great, so not only do I have to babysit this adult. He refuses to accept any actual help, so I’ve also got to run his errands for him as I potentially stop him from getting assassinated?” Grace asked James with a raised eyebrow.

Happy Hogan, who is head security detail for Stark and used to be his personal driver, let’s out a small chuckle from the driver's seat. He looks in the mirror, to Grace, and only nods his head with a sympathetic smile.

“Do you own any dresses?” Happy calls from the front of the car.

“No,” Grace scoffs and raises her eyebrows at them, “Why do I need a dress?”

“You’ll need to look the part, Miss Hart.” Happy tells her and then focuses back on the road ahead.

Grace groans and slouches in her seat, gnawing on her bottom lip as she hopelessly sits in the back of the SUV. Wondering why and how she got into this mess, she should’ve handed her badge and gun over, could’ve taken the offered vacation. Yet, you’re a workaholic and did this to yourself, Grace.

“Okay, you know what? Drop me off home, send me a text of Tony’s favourite coffee and his DD tomorrow,” Happy frowns, “Designated Destination.” Grace rolls her eyes slightly like he should’ve known that anyway.

Happy and James drop her off, telling her Tony’s morning schedule for tomorrow. Leaving the young woman to go into her apartment and do the only she can; tape her hands and start venting her frustration out on her punching bag.

The corny RnB song plays loudly through the stereo as she works up a sweat, the sweat drips down her face and stings her eyes. By now she expected to be top of her game, yet she’s hardly playing with the team now, always on the bench because she can’t follow simple instructions. Her parents always told her to throw out the rule book, to live a little, but it seemed that always got her in trouble.

She turned the stereo off and picked up the phone, dialling the number of the only person she knew could help her, that would listen to her and tell her what she needed to hear.

“Hi, Mr Wong, it’s Grace Hart. I need one No. 13, two No. 7’s and I need three No. 8’s, no garlic.” She pauses for a moment, “yes, for one. Always for one. Can you throw in a No. 23, thank you. See you in 15 minutes,” she slapped the phone back on the receiver and sighed heavily.

Tomorrow she’d have to start her job, well her two jobs; saving and protecting Tony Stark and being his personal assistant till he is safe.

*Next Day*

Grace ran through the crowded New York street, almost spilling and tripping up several times. The long maxi, rather flowy, skirt kept causing her to stumble and tumble into people and buildings. The shoes weren’t a big help either, the flat sandals kept skidding and slipping, yet they are fashionable- by Grace’s standards.

Grace caught sight of Tony and Happy exiting the building where Stark Industries meetings are held, both in deep conversation and surrounded by a few journalists. Grace waved frantically to Happy, who raised his eyebrows at the poorly dressed woman, chuckling when she starts to yell at a cab that almost hit her.

“Mr Stark,” Grace pushes past Happy and stumbles up to the billionaire, handing him his coffee and shoving some papers into the other hand. “I’m Grace Hart, a pleasure to meet you. Miss Potts told me your schedule and what coffee you like,” she steps quickly to keep up with his fast pace.

Watching as he takes a small sip and nodding in appreciation, he glances over the papers in his hands. Her resume that she bullshitted early hours of the morning and frantically printed at the library, a cover letter that wrote up that had a forged signature of a George Wade- who she has never met and hopes Tony doesn't know.

Despite the headband pushing her hair back, it still manages to get into her face as she follows both men. “She recommended me, hoped you’d take me on whilst she’s away. I’ve looked over your schedule and I’m willing to work, to start right now.”

Tony stops at the car, pulling the glasses that cover his face off and eyeing her up and down. Grace frowns for a moment before he shrugs at Happy, stepping into the car, Happy nods for her to follow and she quickly dives in with a heaved sigh.

It’s silent, so Grace quickly fills it. “I live on the lower east side, so it’ll take me a while to get to your place in the morning. That’s if… I’ve got the job?”

Tony smiles, “Yes, you have the job. But I want something else from you.”

Grace chortles incredulously, “Oh, no. I am fully aware of your reputation and there’s no way you’re getting… that. No.”

Tony raises an eyebrow, not looking offended but rather amused, “Getting what?”

“You know what.” Grace concludes, muttering, “Sex,” Tony only chuckles, “there’s no way you’re getting that. I don’t care what past PA’s have done for the job, I will not.”

“Well, that would be nice. But what I really need is for someone to attend my meeting  on Wednesday, I’ve got a party at the Playboy mansion, won’t be able to attend.”

Grace just nods and sighs, already knowing this is going to be difficult. The car is mostly silent, Tony on his phone and talking occasionally to Happy about something random. 

The house they pull up to is… breathtaking. Clearly costs more than anything Grace will ever own, it’s beautiful and modern, clearly a mansion too. It must have around six bedrooms, at least. How can one man need all this space? 

“You live here?” Grace asked and Tony nods, “alone?”

Tony chuckles, “I’m hardly ever alone, Pepper usually stays with me and I’m hardly single, I mean, you know my reputation.”

“Don’t you ever feel lonely in a place like this?” Grace asked and looked at Tony, his eyebrows are knitted together and he’s looking at her for a long moment before turning back to Happy, telling him to park the car in the garage around back.

Grace follows Tony up the drive, where he types in a code to enter the luxurious house. The lights all come on, the sound of a brewing coffee pot could be heard distantly, Grace raises an eyebrow at everything. Then from nowhere a distinct British accent is heard… from above?

“Welcome back, Mr Stark.”

“Who said that?” Grace asked looking around for the source of the voice, yet coming up empty.

Tony shrugs off his jacket and passes it to Grace, pointing to a closet near her, “That’s JARVIS, he used to be just an interface computer system, but I’m upgrading him to an Artificial Intelligence. It’s going rather well,” Tony smiles and Grace can only nod her head, “JARVIS, this is Grace Hart, she’s taking over Miss Potts duties for a few weeks. Get her prints for the doors and add her to the security logs.”

“Right away, Sir.”

Grace remains by the door, utterly floored by the technology in this house. Tony is making an AI? She knew he was a genius, like his father before him, but she didn’t know that he just makes AI’s in his spare time. Isn’t he meant to be running some kind of business? Oh, right. No, you are Grace, you’re attending the meeting for him on Wednesday.

It wasn’t till past eleven at night that Grace finally returned home. She had to go over Pepper’s timetable, all involving picking up his dry-cleaning, answering his own emails and arranging all of his meals- alongside his own head chef. She also had to consult with JARVIS, an Artificial Intelligence, talking to something with no face was… weird.

“Sir,” Grace sighed as she finally got through to her boss, “I really don’t think I can do this job.”

“Agent Hart, it’s just a security detail.”

Grace scoffs, “I wish. It’s not just a security detail, Mr Stark doesn’t want to be looked after. No, I have to pretend to be a personal assistant just to keep him safe,” she paced outside of her apartment building. “I have do everything, it’s like looking after a child. It’s been one day and I can’t do it. He has a frigging robot as a friend, Sir.”

“Hart, you can and will do this job. No matter what you keep Stark alive and safe, got it?” It sounded more of a command than a question.

“Sir, I think this individual might actually be mentally unstable,” Grace affirms but knows better than to argue. “Can you at least have the team look into an Obadiah Stane? He works alongside Stark, I got this… vibe from him.”

There was a moment of silence, “I’ll have them look into it. But Stane is one of the people that was also concerned for Stark’s safety. I’ll update you in a few days of the progress.”

Grace let out a long groan before ending the call before entering her apartment. It’s only for a few days, it can’t be that hard to look after and keep him safe. It’s not like he’s constantly putting himself in danger.

(so, like, yeah. I don’t know. If you want to read That’s Stark’s Boy, simply click the masterlist link in my bio OR type in TSBmasterlist in the search bar on my blog. I had no idea if JARVIS was a computer or an AI in 1999, so I had to blag it. I’m having to bullshit a lot for this prequel lol. Hope you enjoy this, there are only six chapters, so I guess this short thing!- Rosalie)

[moyochu]

my euphoria | jjk

summary: when jeongguk forgets it’s mother’s day and your flower shop is the only one nearby that has his mom’s favorite flower, but oh shit it’s 4:45 and your shop closes at 5:00 and there’s rush hour traffic and so many dumb obstacles and now he’s in panting in front of your store at 5:02 while hopping on one foot and oh shit oh shit he didn’t expect an angel to step out

[fake dating au ; ceo jjk x florist oc]

pairing: jeongguk + female reader

word count: 7.6k 

genre: fluff, fluff, fluff

“Shit, shit, shit!”  

How can I let myself forget today’s Mother’s day? Jeongguk curses at himself, anxiously wondering as he paces the corridor back and forth, trying to make calls to all nearby florists. Yet with each unpromising call, Jeongguk starts losing hope-- none of them hold the flower that makes his mother the happiest.  

But his assistant, Jimin, has yet to stray from his determined traits. That’s the main reason Jeongguk hired him: Jimin is dedicated and willing to go to any and all necessary lengths in order to accomplish his goals. In fact, here he is, practically working overtime--which Jeongguk always pays an overwhelming amount in gratitude-- just to help his boss find some flowers. Said assistant is also currently searching, typing rapidly on his laptop, tongue sticking out ever so slightly. But after the millionth disappointing call, Jeongguk claps his hand on Jimin’s shoulder, about to dejectedly call it a day and tell Jimin to go home when Jimin interrupts his negative train of thought. He shouts excitedly, “Wait, Mr. Jeon! I think I found a place!”  

Jeongguk feels hope surge through him, maybe he can get the flowers after all! He squints at Jimin’s screen, eyes scanning the name Zahra. He knows it isn’t a word of any of the six languages he knows, so he assumes maybe it’s the name of the store owner. As he continues reading with Jimin, Jimin reads out loud, “It’s a nine minute drive from here... and it closes at five on Sunday’s.”

Both men’s eyes shoot towards the bottom right corner, eyes bulging at the time. Jimin shuts his computer hastily and shouts, “It’s 4:45! Go, Mr. Jeon! I’ll bring your stuff over to your apartment! Go!”

In a series of quick motions, Jeongguk shoots his assistant a grateful look before dashing out of the building. Hopping into his car and swiftly reversing out of his reserved parking spot, Jeongguk is ready to speed his way to this flower shop.  

What he doesn’t expect, happens: traffic right before he can turn into the parking lot of the store. Jeongguk swears he doesn’t have road rage, but he suddenly hits his head on the steering wheel, letting it honk a few times, before groaning when he sees the time: 4:58. There’s no way he’s going to make it on time. The cars ahead of him are slowly moving forward, but he knows there’s no point.

As Jeongguk lifts his head away from the steerwheel, his eyes catch sight of an empty spot on the side of the road with just the right amount of space for his car. Acting like he doesn’t notice the sign that obviously spells out in big black letters, “NO PARKING,” he parallel parks into the spot. Within seconds, Jeongguk is out the door, sprinting in his black suit and tie, probably looking like a complete wacko to everyone who can see his hair flopping past them. His legs sting, but he can’t let that get to him. He sees your store, quaint and cute as it is, he cannot allow himself to admire it as he rushes to the front door, I made it-- I can’t believe I made it.

And then Jeongguk tries opening the door.  

Locked.

He checks his watch only to see the numbers 5:02 laughing at him. Overwhelmingly upset, Jeongguk, CEO of the biggest bank in the entire country, kicks the ground in petty anger.  

He did not see the red brick waiting for him to stupidly make contact with it.

“Fuck!” Jeongguk whimpers as he hops on one foot, the other in his hands. He groans, muttering a series of profanity over and over again. But he can’t pay attention to his hurt foot for long, because suddenly the front door of the shop opens, the sound of the creaking door flowing through Jeongguk’s ears like doves singing the way to Heaven.

He didn’t expect an angel to step out.

You hummed a tune that’s been stuck in your head all day, not having noticed the suit-clad man holding his foot in his hands, until you look up as you, eyes widening slightly as you take in the situation. You pull the trash bag out of your store, staring curiously. Jeongguk opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out as you continue to stare at him, waiting for any type of a explanation. But he stays speechless-- lost in thought. He’s never seen someone look so soft. Every movement you make has Jeongguk pulled in, his foot momentarily forgotten. His heart especially quickens when you move a piece of hair behind your ear and give a polite smile before putting the trash bag you were carrying next to the door. You were about to walk back in the shop when Jeongguk finally gets himself to talk, “Wait!”  

Pausing, you raise an eyebrow. You wait for him to continue as Jeongguk stutters, “I-I know you’re closed, but you’re the only store I could find that sold my mother’s favorite flower. I’m supposed to meet her today, and it completely ran over my head that today is Mother’s Day, and now I don’t have anything to give her. But those flowers would make her the happiest. Would you please open the store for just ten more minutes? I-I’ll play extra!”

Jeongguk finally finishes his rambling, suddenly self-conscious in front of your wide eyes. Your look of surprise morphs into amusement as you chuckle about God knows what. As Jeongguk waits for you to respond, he scratches the back of his head nervously, concluding maybe you thought he was dumb and starts plotting how to slowly crawl into a hole and never see the light of day ever again.

After what seems like hours later, you respond with an even softer smile than before, and Jeongguk’s shoulders slowly drop as your presence simply makes him melt for some reason. Flashing your pearls, you open your door slightly before saying, “You know all you had to do was knock on the door, and I would have opened it. It’s only--” Jeongguk feels heat rush to his face as you look at the watch on your wrist before continuing, “Three minutes after closing.”

Assuming you embarrassed the man, you don’t wait for him to give a response. You hold the door open, signalling for him to come in and Jeongguk quickly follows, the smell of all the different flowers instantly hitting him. As he looks around, he sees that every type of flower is sectioned off by color, the organization leaving customers with a feeling of satisfaction.  

In between admiring the interior, he follows your back, attentive to the way your hair curls against your ears. You turn around abruptly, making Jeongguk pay attention to the matter at hand, his insides feeling tingly when you throw a smirk his way. “So what is this flower you are dying to get your hands on?”

Clearing his throat, Jeongguk says, “A chocolate cosmo.”  

You nod slightly, turning around to walk towards the deep reds, “Your mother has good taste. Do you want just the chocolate cosmos or would you like to pair it with other flowers?”  

Jeongguk didn’t think that far ahead, the chocolate cosmo being the main task at hand. So he shrugs, “What do you think I should do?”

Walking towards the whites, you look at Jeongguk and suggest, “Customers usually pair cosmos with white roses. It’s not really a stand-alone type flower.”

But before you grab some white roses, Jeongguk interrupts you. “But what do you think I should pair it with?”

Surprise passes through your face as you chuckle, the sound instantly making Jeongguk give an iconic bunny smile. You make your way around the counter, Jeongguk following. “Well, tell me what your mother is like, and I’ll tell you what I’d pick.”

And tell you is what Jeongguk does. His eyes light up as his words seem to run off his mouth so effortlessly, “She’s a strong, but gentle woman. She likes living her life without a care about how she looks. Like, she’ll often dress for spring with fall clothes! Even if they make her hot because fall is her favorite season. Her love trumps everything else. Therefore, she practically lives in fall colors and attire. She’s always positive no matter what....she’s never afraid to be bold and adventure outside of her comfort zone.” Jeongguk takes in a shaky breath, “She’s amazing.”

Your heart swells at the amount of love Jeongguk appears to have for his mother, the smile that appears on your face being an exact result of that. While Jeongguk went on his spiel, you had been picking flowers that went with his characterization of his mother, gathering them at the counter Jeongguk stood at, fist holding his chin up with a gentle smile.

While you get your supplies out, you explain your plan for the bouquet and motives for it, “So while hearing you talk about your mother, I picked up on a few vibes; I chose a couple of different flowers we can mix around.” You look up from your actions to gauge his reaction. Jeongguk nodded silently, lost in thought as he continues to stare at you. You take that as a sign to continue, grabbing your scissors. “In addition to the cosmos, I grabbed orange roses, because they come with the meaning of an energetic fascination, which are vibes I totally get from your mother. Plus, orange roses are tragically underrated.” You smirk when you hear a chuckle from Jeongguk. “I also picked up sunflowers for loyalty and longevity…” You say as you start fixing them together.  

You don’t notice Jeongguk staring at your lips as you go on, “...dahlia’s for symbol of a commitment and bond that lasts forever, calla lilies for faithfulness, apricot roses for enthusiasm, and finally, billy balls for good health.” Jeongguk’s smile falters at the last bit of your words, but you do not notice, busy wrapping the flowers up.  

When you look up, he’s grinning again while staring at you, more so than the flowers, and confidently declares, “This is one of the most beautiful bouquets I’ve ever seen. Thank you.”  

You lower your head bashfully as you softly state the price, ringing him up. With a wave of your hand, you deny Jeongguk’s statement, “Nah. It’s just because it was chosen based on your mother’s personality. It feels more special that way.” 

Jeongguk wants to argue back, but you don’t leave room for retaliation. “I really hope she likes them,” you say while handing him the flowers. You wipe your hands on your apron before pulling it off. Your eyes twinkle as you hang up your apron, “She’s lucky to have a son like you.”  

Biting his lip to hide the grin that was about to surface, Jeongguk decided to opt out of responding to that comment. Instead, he says, “I’ll let you know how she likes them.”  

Your eyebrows raise at that. You thought it would be the last time you’d see him. Crossing your arms against your chest you question, “Oh? You’re telling me I’m going to see you again?”  

Chuckling, Jeongguk makes his way to the door, “You’re my favorite florist now. Plus, it’s a bonus that you’re really cute.” You didn’t expect that last bit, and honestly neither did Jeongguk. He tries to play it casually, while you become flustered, attempting not the blush, but your rosy cheeks were most definitely apparent. It didn’t help Jeongguk’s lowkey-beginning-of-a-crush case that your cheeks especially popped in front of the pinks and purple behind you.  

Breathtaking, was the only word Jeongguk could think of as he watched you shake your head before picking up your bag. He falters in his steps, looking as if he doesn’t want the conversation to end. You raise your eyebrow as to say, “What now?” and he responds, “You told me the meaning behind every flower, except for the chocolate cosmos.”

He catches you taking a deep breath before answering the question he wants to ask, “Well, it was once said to mean, ‘I love you more than anyone can.’” You watch Jeongguk’s reaction and you thought your eyes must have been deceiving you when you saw Jeongguk blushing, so you concluded it had to be just the abundant of flowers surrounding the two of you. Jeongguk doesn’t comprehend what is going on with himself either, so he concludes he must be getting high on the overpowering smell of flowers.

Yeah, that’s the reason.

You finally bid him adieu, letting him toss you a cheeky smile and a wave. You finally take a moment to check the time, and when your stare at the numbers, it’s only then you remember your plans. Damn! I forgot about my date! You quickly grab your belongings, getting ready to lock up when you see a card turned over on the counter Jeongguk had been standing at. You picked it up, the corners of your mouth twitching as you read the contents of the card. When did he even write this?

Thank you for keeping your store open for me. It meant a lot. Call me if you ever need anything. I’m at your disposal. :,) -- Jeongguk

You muttered the name softly as you brushed over it, wondering if he took notice of your name attached to your shirt. Shaking your head, you told yourself to stop lingering too long. You send a text to your date, apologizing for being late and that you were on your way.

“Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!” Jeongguk giddly calls out as he shuts the door with this foot. The bright white always glares back and he hates it, hates it all, but keeps positive for his mother.

“Jeongguk? Is that you, my love?” Jeongguk watches the back of his mother as she finishes up painting the last bit, before setting her materials aside. She turns around to see her beloved son holding the most beautiful bouquet she has ever seen, and are those chocolate cosmos?

His mother coos, covering her mouth with her hands, looking as if she wants to get up from her seat to greet him, but Jeongguk quickly makes his way over, “I’ll come to you, Mom.”

She accepts them graciously, her eyes automatically closing as she takes in the scent of the flowers. “These are so beautiful, Jeongguk. Especially the cosmos. Thank you.”

Jeongguk nods, eyes twinkling, as he brushes his mother’s hair out of her eyes. He notices the dark circles underneath them, causing him to frown. “You haven’t been sleeping have you?” And before his mother can interject, he is already calling out for a doctor, “We should tell the doctors, nur--!”

With a touch of her hand, Jeongguk’s mother shakes her head at him, “No, Jeongguk. I’m fine and my sleeping is normal. Trust me. I know what I can handle.”

Battling stage four leukemia, Jeongguk’s mother knows which wars are worth it and which are a waste of time and effort. She only bites what she can chew and she always does it with a grin. “Tell me about your day, honey. You are better than any medicine.”

The concerned expression on Jeongguk’s face softens at that-- he should be there more for his mother. She pats the seat next to him, motioning for him to sit down. She waits for him to start and so he does, “Well, I met a woman today.”

His mother’s eyebrows raise at that, “Oh? Finally?”

Jeongguk almost swats his mother’s hands that were trying to pinch his cheeks, but it makes her laugh, so he lets her pinch them, even though it makes him feel like a little kid. Scratching the back of his neck, he absentmindedly stares at the flowers in his mother’s hand. “Yeah… she’s the owner of the flower shop I went to for your flowers.”

Sitting criss cross on the hospital bed, his mother places her hand underneath her chin, urging him to continue. Pink sprouts on Jeongguk’s cheeks as he thinks about you, and it definitely doesn’t pass by his mother. “Mom… I’m going to be honest here. Don’t get mad at me, okay?”

She shrugs and Jeongguk takes it as a sign to continue. “When I was younger, I remember when dad used to say you were the most beautiful woman in the world, and... I thought surely he did not think that. There’s always someone who is going to be smarter, funnier, prettier than you, you know?”

Nodding his mother agrees, “True. What about it?”

“Well...mom, I think I just met the most beautiful woman in the world.”

“Are you pregnant?”  

Your date chokes on his salad at your question, coughing as he grabs his water. He takes a sip, looking at you like you were crazy. You simply chuckle as he asks, in the midst of hacking, “W-What?”

Shoving a piece of steak in your mouth, you stare at him innocently. “It’s Mother’s Day and you asked me out on a date. I sure as hell ain’t pregnant nor am I a mother, so I’m assuming you are?”

Dabbing his mouth with a napkin, he presses his mouth in a tight line, “Right.”

You wanted to inwardly groan at response. The only reason why you said something as unrealistic and stupid like that was to bring some humor to this dull date. Since you’ve sat down, he’s been nothing but serious. To start, he judged you for getting steak, because apparently he was one of those vegetarians, which to begin with, you didn’t even know that fact about him until he outwardly glared at you when you recited your order to the waiter.

And now you just wanted to joke around, but he takes all of them too seriously. Sure, what you said may have been surprising and ridiculous, but does laughing-- even an awkward one-- really hurt him? Immediate turn off.

The lengthy night finally ends as you two say your goodbyes with zero intentions of meeting each other ever again. Once you make your way home, you take your heels off, the feeling of your feet finally coming back to you. You decide at that moment, you were never purchasing heels from Forever 21 ever again.

You brush your hair with your fingers, wandering into the kitchen for a drink. Your cell phone starts ringing and you groan for what seems like the fifteenth time today. You run to your bag you had thrown on the floor, struggling to get it out of your purse before it stops ringing. When your hands finally grab it, you answer it without checking the name, “Hello?”

“What? No happy Mother’s Day for your mother?”  

Another groan. You should have checked who was calling before accepting the call. You sarcastically reply, “Oh! Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! My apologies. I forgot to send a gift over after you made fun of me the year before for my choice!”  

You can see your stepmom’s eyes rolling as she talks through clenched teeth, “Watch your tone, young lady. Or else I’ll tell your father.”

Scoffing, you are ready to end the call, “How old do you think I am, Soomin? You make me have second-hand embarrassment for you. What do you want from me? Unless you simply called me to mock me?”

You’ve made it back to the kitchen, always needing to chug down some drink whenever you have conversations with your stepmother. You tap on your counter as you wait for her to tell you the reason she felt the need to ruin your night even more, “Well? I’m waiting.”

“Honey,” your eyebrows furrowed at the name. You hear a door close, which leads you to assume she walked away from your dad, before spitting out, “Your father wants to see you at the family dinner next Saturday. He’s worried about you. I mean? Can you blame him? Dumb job, small apartment, no husband...let alone a boyfriend. You really can’t hold a man for the life of you, huh?”

You usually don’t let your Soomin’s words affect you, but that last one one stung, allowing hot, white fury to blur your eyes. She knows of your past experience with relationships and she knows how much you hate talking about it. You clenched your teeth, trying not to let her hear it affecting you.  

“What? Have nothing to say?” You can feel her smirk through the phone and you hate it, hate it all.

You are about to just angrily end the call, but you don’t want her to win. That’s when an idea pops into your head.

“Actually, I have a boyfriend,” you blurt out without thinking it as thoroughly as you should have.

But for a moment, you are glad you did as your stepmom pauses. “W-Wait, what? No you don’t.”

You nod vigorously, as if she can see you. “Yup. I do! His name is Jeongguk and he’ll be there with me on Saturday. See you then.”

Ending the call, you throw your phone on the counter, not caring if it breaks. You slide down, letting your back hit the refrigerator as you hold your head in your hands. Fuck.  

After hitting your head a couple of times for doing something so impulsive just to prove yourself, you pace your kitchen with your phone and Jeongguk’s business card in your hand. As you try to think of what to say, you shakily insert the phone number on the card that read BANK OF JEON. Your eyebrows scrunch up at that, does he work at a bank or something?

Deciding to just press call and wing it, you anxiously bite your lips as you let it ring. You’re about to end the call, your nervousness clouding your judgment when you hear a, “Hello?”

“J-Jeongguk!” You exclaim, before clearing your throat. “It’s me, Y/N. The owner of Zahra?”

Jeongguk almost dropped his phone when he heard your nervous voice flows through his ears. You were the last person he expected to be calling him, or even at all. “Y/N! I didn’t expect you to call so fast.”

You chuckle nervously, brushing your hair behind your ear, “Yeah...I’m sorry about that. I didn’t expect so either.”

The anxiousness was strong in your tone, and it confused Jeongguk. That was not the front you showcased earlier that afternoon when he came running towards your shop. And so before he could stop the words from toppling out of his mouth, he blurts, “No! Don’t apologize. I’m glad you did.”

There is an awkward pause, neither of you saying anything, and all Jeongguk wants to do is bang his head against a wall. Why did he say that? Your voice picks up again ever so lightly, Jeongguk wouldn’t have heard it if he wasn’t sucking in a breath in panic. “I wanted to cash in that favor you wrote about on your business card.”

Jeongguk’s lips curved upwards as he chuckled, “Oh? This soon? What do you need?”

You squeeze your eyes tight before rapidly shooting out, “I need you to be my boyfriend.”

What sounded like water spurting out of a mouth was all you could hear from your phone speaker as you quickly clarified, “Fake boyfriend! I need you to be my fake boyfriend!”

“Y/N?” you hear Jeongguk ask in a concerned, but seemingly giddy voice. Seemingly.

You’ve resorted to biting your nails as you chant in your head, stupid, stupid, stupid. “Yes?”

“Can you explain what’s going on? I’m just a tad bit confused.” In this moment, you thanked God you were miles away from each other and not face to face. You don’t know how you would cope if he was in front of you.  

Inhaling, you give out a shaky chuckle, “Yeah! I’m sorry for saying it like that. Honestly, I’ve been freaking myself out about calling you.”

A couple of miles away, in the penthouse suite of one of the fanciest apartment complexes in town, Jeongguk is in his silk pajamas, kicking the pillow in front of him giddly, as he contorts his body in excitement. He can just imagine the rosy flush of your cheeks and those dainty fingers brushing your curls behind your ear. You’re so cute, and Jeongguk just can’t help feeling the butterflies swarming around the bouquets you made in his stomach. The tingly feeling embracing him gently, one he simply cannot remember last when felt this excited for something so new and adorable.  

He eventually composes himself, realizing he shouldn’t take a liking in you so quickly. He, quite frankly, barely knows who you are. Yet, here you are asking for him to be your fake boyfriend, and he’s having a parade day about it. Now he can’t help but feel so bubbly-- like a little kid-- at this new forming...companionship? Clearing his throat, he bites his lip to stop another smile from spreading his face, “Why are you nervous? What’s this boyfriend thing about?”

And you ramble on, similar to how Jeongguk bombarded you at your shop, “My family basically thinks I’m a low-life with nothing promising to offer. Which I get, I live a pretty bland life, I guess. And so my stepmom kept pushing my buttons, saying some nasty things about...my lack of a romantic life, and I, hurt and wanting to prove myself, ended up somehow blurting out that you were my boyfriend! And I know I don’t need a man to prove myself, but it’s more than that. I just want my stepmom to lose for once. Funny right? So here I am, interrupting your night, asking you to be my fake boyfriend for a night on Saturday, even though I don’t even know if you’re free that day, and this is abs--!”

“Y/N?”  

You cough, your throat feeling dry. The heat from your cheeks staying put since your conversation with your stepmom. Anger and embarrassment: you chronically wear those two emotions very well. Finally, you squeak out, “Yes, Jeongguk?”  

“I would love to be your fake boyfriend. And no offence, but your stepmom sounds like a bitch.”

All the weight slides off your shoulders, as you gratefully smile at that, “Yeah she is. But really? You would do that for me?”  

Jeongguk jokingly scoffs, “Do you not take me to be a man of my words, Y/N?”  

You wildly shake your head no, before realizing he cannot see you. You stutter out, “N-No! I definitely think you are. It’s just a ridiculous favor; we barely know each other. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you called me crazy and blocked my number. So thank you. I don’t think you know how much this means to me.”

The feeling in Jeongguk’s chest never ceases. He feels like he’s on a high for simply being able to make you happy. “No problem, Y/N. Get some rest. It’s getting late. I’ll text or call you tomorrow and you can run me through everything. Trust me, I’ll be an amazing boyfriend, babe.”

The laugh that comes out is free and genuine, no longer laced with nerves. “I don’t doubt it.”

Right before you can say your farewell, Jeongguk continues, “Oh and Y/N? I don’t think you’re a low-life. In just the brief moments I’ve known you, I can tell you are amazing, strong woman. You deserve respect.”

The call ends as you stare at your phone in shock. The soft smile on your face was the cause of the fact that that was one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to you, and now, all you needed to do was gain confidence in yourself.  

You put your phone down, staring at the card once more, your heart skips a beat.

“How long have we been dating?”

“Five months.”

“How did we meet?”

“Blind date set up by our mutual friends.”

“What’s my favorite food?”

“Pizza. Cold and hot. It doesn’t matter-- pizza is pizza.”

“Who loves corny jokes?”

“You.”

You pause at that, smacking Jeongguk’s arm as he snickers, “My aunt, Jeongguk!”

“I prefer babe,” Jeongguk emphasis with the wiggling of his eyebrows. You scoff, but there’s a smile threatening to break out as you stare out the window, but the nerves in your mind overcloud the mushy feeling in your stomach.

As you psych yourself out, you feel Jeongguk’s hand slowly interlock with yours, squeezing it ever so lightly. You look up to see Jeongguk with eyes on the road, but with the slightest smile. He doesn’t like driving with only one hand, but he knew you needed reassurance.  

Plus, he might have really wanted to hold your hand.  

The scenery passing by reminds you of how quickly time passed between the two of you. It’s already Saturday night and you and Jeongguk are on your way to meet your family. In the span of a week, you and Jeongguk met up three times, not including the many texts and memes you two shared. First, at a cafe as you explained to him the history of your family and why exactly you were doing this-- he only interjected with uplifting curses when you ranted about certain people in your stories and paid his full attention on you no matter how dramatic you thought someone would think you were sounding. He made you feel special. The second time you guys met, you plotted out the details of your relationship, emphasizing the fact that this was all fake, even though you started becoming comfortable. That made you feel uneasy. The third time you met… it wasn’t necessary. Jeongguk had called you and asked you to go out for karaoke with him; his reasoning was so you two can be comfortable around each other, “or our relationship won’t be seem real!” With a roll of your eyes, you joined him. It was a evening full of serenading, longing, and unwanted crushing.  

Needless to say, it was one of the best nights of your life. And to wrap the night up, Jeongguk left you with a soft kiss on your forehead and a tingly feeling in your stomach.

This was dangerous and you knew it. You don’t know if you can handle another relationship. These were all just emotions-- romantic desires, if you will. You haven’t had some action in a while and you knew it was a taking more of a toll on you than you had wished. You wished for someone to hold your hand, to take the left side of your bed-- someone who’d be there for you no matter what. But you’ve never truly experienced that type of fantasy, so you most definitely don’t want to go searching for it in Jeongguk.

The car stills and you know you’ve arrived, but you just want Jeongguk to turn this car back around and whisk you away into the sunset.

Sadly, this was reality, not some fantasy.

You inhale, ready to push open the door, when you realize your hand was still intertwined with Jeongguk’s. He smirks before bringing your hand up to his lips, placing a kiss on your knuckles, his gaze never leaving yours. You’re gaping, you know you are, but you can’t help but do so. But you quickly revert back to your normal expression as Jeongguk squeezes your hand once more before letting it go. “You can do this, Y/N.”

“That’s baby to you,” you say with a smirk, before opening the door and stepping out. This time, Jeongguk is gaping, before he quickly composes himself, stepping out of the car.

Two can play at this game.  

You’re walking ahead of Jeongguk, but he quickly catches up, interlacing your fingers once more. He just loves the feeling of your hand flush against his.

The pink dusting on your cheek is a plus.

Jeongguk rings the door for you, knowing your nerves are probably getting the best of you right now. Plus, you’re squeezing his hand unintentionally tight, so he can take a stab at how you’re feeling.

You paint a smile on your face as the door opens...only to see your father’s frowning face. Your smile slowly falls as you stare at your dad’s stoic face. “I see you finally decided to show up. We already had dinner, Y/N.”

Confused, you check your watch, “But It’s 8:15.”  

Your dad doesn’t move away from the entrance of the house to let you two in, leaving you and Jeongguk to stand awkwardly, “Yeah, and dinner was at 5:30. Everyone already left.”

When you give a more perplexed look, Jeongguk lets go of your hand to touch your back with the palm of his hand, his actions and expression taking on the “boyfriend role” quite well as he looks at you, slightly concerned, almost as if he already knows what’s going on. “Didn’t your stepmom tell you dinner’s at 8:30?’ 

And suddenly it all clicked in your mind, your stepmom was setting you up once again. You turn to your dad, his expression unchanging. “Dad, I’m sorry, but Soomin--”

“Mom.”

Your words falter before you internally roll your eyes and continued, “--told me dinner was at 8:30. So here I am.”

Shaking his head, your dad finally moves to the side for you and Jeongguk to enter, but he doesn’t stop talking. “No, she didn’t. Plus, she was kind enough to call you three times to ask where you were, young lady. And you didn’t respond to any of them.”

The man you’ve known as your father tsks while shaking his head, taking your stepmom’s side yet once again. Said stepmom walks into the living room with a smirk and you want to retaliate and justify your actions so badly, but the hand rubbing your back stops you. You glance up at Jeongguk to see him throwing another one of his show-stopping smiles at your dad. “We’re so sorry, sir. Whether we got the time wrong or not, I was busy at work until now, either way.” Jeongguk reaches his hand out for a handshake. “I’m Jeongguk.”

The smirk on your stepmom’s face wavers when she moves to the side to see the man on your side, as if she didn’t expect you to actually bring someone. And by the look of her face, it doesn’t look like she expected anyone as handsome as Jeongguk, either.

Your dad gives Jeongguk a firm shake, before ushering you two to the living room where your stepmom smiles sickly sweet at your dad. Wanting to cringe, you look away from the kiss that is exchanged between the two of them, Jeongguk giving you a look of amusement.

Noticing the silence, your dad turns back to you and Jeongguk with a blank face.  

It’s times like this when you wonder when your dad lost himself.

Clearing his throat, your dad calls out Jeongguk’s name, making Jeongguk straighten up and respond, “Yes, sir?”

“Where do you work that you can’t make it to a dinner?” your dad asks and you inwardly groan. It looks like he isn’t letting go of that one soon, even though it’s Soomin’s fault and that she’s a total bitch and a gold digger and a complete waste of--

Jeongguk interlocks his hand with yours, rubbing the back of your hand with his thumb, somehow always sensing when you are feeling like running someone over. “Have you heard of Bank of Jeon?”

Your dad nods while your stepmom obnoxiously exclaims, almost as if she’s ridiculing Jeongguk for even asking, “Duh! It’s the biggest bank in all of Korea!”

“Ah, I’m glad to hear that,” Jeongguk humbly responds. “I’m the CEO and founder of Bank of Jeon.”

All three sets of eyes bulge, including yours. “What?!” your stepmom yells in shock, stopping you from giving yourself away. You quickly compose yourself as you notice even your dad seemed surprise and impressed.

You nudge Jeongguk’s thigh as to say, “What the fuck, dude?” and Jeongguk simply laughs, kissing your knuckles like he did in the car. You feel your heart flutter as you look away, not wanting to give away the blush that coats your cheeks.

Unfortunately, your stepmom notices your reaction, and states before she can stop herself, “There’s no way Y/N got that lucky. All she does is sit in that dumb flower shop all day.”

Neither do you believe it, but you can’t let your parents know that. Instead, you smirk at the disbelief on Soomin’s face. There’s so much you want to say and call her out on, but before you can, Jeongguk beats you to the bush, giving you a fond smile as he does so, “With all do respect, ma’am, I think I’m the lucky one. And I happen to think her shop is beautiful.”

Underneath Jeongguk’s soft gaze, you instantly turn into a pile of mush as you tune out your stepmom’s scoff. Your cheeks dimpled gratefully as Jeongguk slightly shakes his head and scrunches his nose up cutely to you before turning back to your parents. “I’m not joking. When I entered her shop, I didn’t expect to start falling for the amazing woman who lives amongst flowers that strive to match her beauty.” Thump, thump. There goes your heart. Jeongguk gives you an almost longing look, but you ignore the feeling that bubbles in your chest, “But I’m glad I did. And if it wasn’t for you, sir, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to ever meet her. So I want to thank you. You’ve raised a beautiful daughter.”

Is it getting hot in here?

And when you turn back to look at your dad, you notice his expression has changed-- as if something awakened inside of him. He stares at Soomin in-- is that disgust?-- as she practically bad mouths you, letting go of her hand. He makes eye contact with you and you barely hear him, but he softly states, while interrupting your stepmom, “Yes, she is amazing. Isn’t she?”

Somehow the night ends up with your stepmom in her room, probably pouting while plotting on how to find another rich man, while your dad shows baby pictures of you to Jeongguk. Right now they are laughing at a picture of you with your two front teeth missing as you roll your eyes at them. You have absolutely no idea how the mood of the room shifted from tense to amusing, but you have a sneaking suspicion Jeongguk’s presence influenced that matter.  

“And this was the first day Y/N had to wear braces! She was livid that she had to get them; I had to practically drag her to the dentist!” Jeongguk laughs loudly before cooing at you when he sees your unamused look. “Aw, Y/N, you look like Darla from Finding Nemo.”  

You gasp while smacking his arm, and shout, “That’s so mean!”  which only causes him to laugh louder as he snaps as a picture of it, keeping it for a later you two never talked about having.

Without warning, the mood was muted down. You look over to see your dad staring at a photo of your real mom in her young adult years. And as if you weren’t in the room, your dad motions to your mom in the photo to Jeongguk, “Y/N looks exactly like her, doesn’t she?” Jeongguk looks at the picture and then at you. The resemblance is uncanny, that’s for sure. But no one says anything as your father admires the photograph. No words needed to be said. You felt uneasy, so you get up, ready to call it a night as Jeongguk follows your movements, but your dad stops you two.

“Son,” he says staring at you in what looks to be regret before looking back to Jeongguk. “Thank you for giving my daughter the love she always deserved.”

Guilt nestled at the bottom of your stomach as Jeongguk smiles at your father. Even through everything you’ve been through because of your family, you still felt bad. At the end of the day, your dad is still your dad and you love him. You knew your mother’s death still haunts him. You witnessed his personality change. So in your heart, you knew it wasn’t right, and you weren’t a liar.

“Dad,” you squeeze your eyes tight before opening them and continuing, Jeongguk staring at you in curiosity. She wouldn’t, Jeongguk thinks to himself. Why would she? “I lied to you. Jeongguk’s not my--”

“Y/N!” Jeongguk interrupts, afraid. He doesn’t want it to end so soon. He gives you a look of panicked confusion.

You smile sadly at Jeongguk. He’s helped out so much, and you feel indebted to him as if he didn’t owe you in the first place. “Jeongguk’s not my boyfriend. I-I asked him to be my fake boyfriend for a night, because I always felt so inadequate. But I realize a guy suddenly being in my life as a front, may fool outsiders, but I know the truth. And I don’t want to depend on anyone else but myself. I’m sorry. I honestly don’t have any real excuses.”

Avoiding Jeongguk’s gaze, you start heading towards the door when you hear a chuckle. You turn back around in confusion as you stare at your dad. He claps Jeongguk’s back, patting it a few times. “Y/N, you’re still my daughter. I knew he’s wasn’t really your boyfriend. But I still stand by what I said.”

Shocked and full of emotions ready to burst, you hesitantly glance over to Jeongguk as he shakes your father’s hand. He doesn’t look at you as he instead decides to grin at your father.

You quickly walk over to the door, trying to block out all the thoughts circulating through your head. Your dad opens the door, waving goodbye as you and Jeongguk step out.  

You hear the door close, still avoiding Jeongguk’s gaze as you haistly make your way around the car. Looking at the car in disbelief, you start thinking to yourself, How did I not know he was rich! It’s a fricking range--

The rambling thoughts in your mind cease to exist as a hand suddenly spins you around. You stare at Jeongguk in shock and confusion as he gently pushes you towards the car, your back hitting the hood of the car. Jeongguk focuses on you with that same longing look, the tension between you thick. All you hear is your heartbeat wildly jumping up and down, as if your insides were a bed to play on. The closer Jeongguk gets, you start wondering: were Jeongguk’s eyes always so sparkly? Did his hair always look so fluffy and touchable? You reach a hand to his chest, as if to push him away before swallowing, stammering as you try to decipher what was happening, “J-Jeongguk, what are you--!”

Jeongguk caught your hand before you touched him, he whispers, voice a few octaves lower, “Don’t avoid me.” He startles you as you caught the intense look in his eyes. But before you could properly react, Jeongguk yanks you towards him, his lips colliding with yours. You’re stationary at first, trying to process his actions, but your mind screams, fuck it! And you respond to the kiss just as feverishly, if not more. Jeongguk softly grunts, making you smirk into the kiss as your fingers slide up to play with his smooth locks, pulling them slightly before curling them around your finger. He gently tugs on your bottom lip, not beating around the bush. You want to play around and annoy him, but you are way too impatient at the moment, so you open your mouth, delving deeper in the kiss.  

Your lips feel like pillows and clouds and everything soft and Jeongguk just can’t believe he’s kissing you, but suddenly you are pulling away way too fast and--  

“Wow,” Jeongguk mutters as he pulls away and rests his forehead against yours. You bite your lip, before giggling as you play with the hairs at the back of his neck. You look up only to see Jeongguk already staring at you. He demands with that damn bunny smile of his, “Do that again.”

“Do what?” You ask innocently.

“Giggle like that again.”

You look at Jeongguk in dubity while stating obviously, “I can’t laugh on command!”

A pause. A raised eyebrow mocks you.

Giggles start tumbling out of your mouth before you can stop them, causing Jeongguk to beam, eyes twinkling in the utmost happiness he’s felt all week. He nuzzles his nose against yours, “That’s my girl.”

He’s so smitten, so damn smitten. 

You back away, causing Jeongguk to pout. Shaking your head, you whisper what he said to your earlier against his lips, “I prefer babe.”

Giving you a incredulous look, Jeongguk chuckles, “Okay, babe. Does this mean I can be your boyfriend now? Like foreal? Because I’ve been dying to kiss you like that since I first met you.”  

“No.”

“What?!”  

“You have to take me on a real date first! Then ask.”

“Oh, of course, where are my manners? First date starts now. Let’s go get McDonalds-- I know you’re hungry.”

“Shit, babe, that turns me on.”

And as you and Jeongguk bond over $1.29 cheeseburgers and salty french fries, laughter flows between you two as easily as air flowing. You don’t realize how empty you felt without the euphoria he brings you, until you acquire an abundance of it and fear losing it. Jeongguk was just that. He was an out-of-breath-in-a-damn-suit-over-flowers-for-his-mother type of interruption in your life, but you just knew he was the wind that was meant to breeze into your life.

[thedevillord-writes]

Kissed By The Baddest Bidder: Rewritten - Chapter Ten

Eisuke x OC

Belong: be the property of.

It was yet another empty morning, waking without Haruka's gentle 'Good morning, Mr. Ichinomiya'. Forcing himself out of bed, Eisuke got ready for the day and headed down to the living room where the rest of the sponsors were already gathering. Seeing their faces first thing in the morning, however, was irritating to Eisuke. Especially since it had been three days starting his day without a good cup of coffee. As he seated himself on the sofa, however, a cup of coffee was presented to him by Baba.

"What's this?"

"Coffee," Baba grinned.

"What in that pea brain of yours made you think I would drink coffee made by you?"

His words were harsh but Baba was used to it. "Huh, would you drink it if I told you Haruka taught me how to make it for you?" Eisuke raised an eyebrow, glancing over to Baba who annoyingly, had a smirk on his face because he knew. He knew, that he had Eisuke hooked just by mentioning her name. "Ah...what a waste of some good coffee. And to think Haruka spent three hours in a small kitchen, sitting right next to me so she could teach me. Her hair smelt so nice, by the way. And her hands are baby soft. She would be so disappointed to know that her beloved Mr. Ichinomiya did not want to drink her coffee."

The rest of the sponsors were having their own fun, watching as Eisuke was failing to resist the urge to have that coffee. It was made personally by Haruka but if Baba was taught by her, it could not differ much. ...Could it?

Lifting his hand to silence Baba, Eisuke finally picked up the cup. He took a sniff first, being cautious, though it smelt alright. Next, he took a small sip. It tasted similar to Haruka's coffee but it was not the same. His brows knitted together into a frown and he put the cup down. "It's disgusting," he stated. "Clearly you need a better teacher." Eisuke knew, however, no matter how many hours Haruka had to put up being in Baba's presence, she would never be able to teach him how to make a cup of coffee that would satisfy him. The reason was simple, because it still would not be coffee made by Haruka.

"Alright, so my coffee might not be up to your standard, but I am pretty sure you would be interested in this information."

Like before, Baba dangled his phone in front of Eisuke. He was sat in his office trying to work then, and even threw his phone in anger. Without a word, Eisuke took the phone from Baba. Instead of pictures, he was looking at a messaging app. Specifically, a conversation between Baba and Haruka. The whole conversation was full of nonsense, mostly just Baba teasing her. But it was the recent conversation they had that interested Eisuke, the one that Baba wanted to show him.

~

Sexiest_PA: Are you making coffee for him like I taught you?

Sexiest_Thief: Don't you worry about Boss, he can survive without your coffeeヾ(＾-＾)ノ

Sexiest_Thief: I'm more worried about you

Sexiest_Thief: Where are you going to work now? (╯︵╰)

Sexiest_PA:  Taka-san offered me a job

Sexiest_Thief: At the host club?

Sexiest_Thief: Are you sure about it? p(╬ Ò ‸ Ó)q

Sexiest_PA:  Work is work. Please make sure to take care of Mr. Ichinomiya. Make him eat and rest.

Sexiest_Thief:  Like I said, don't worry your pretty little head about him

~

"Where is this host club?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Baba smirked.

Standing in front of the club, Eisuke looked down at the address Baba gave him. The club in front of him was nothing like he had expected. What he had in mind was something more...flamboyant. He imagined huge neon lights of the club's name with loud music blasting from the inside and women dressed scandalously dancing outside to attract customers. Instead, there were no scandalous women, no loud music blasting, and definitely no neon lights. Just a simple hand carved wooden sign of the club's name hanging above a door with gentle lighting.

As he walked in, Eisuke looked around immediately for Haruka. The club was laid out in booths and in those booths were men and women sat together in pairs. There was a pathway leading to the back, possibly to private rooms. Waitresses and waiters were walking around, trays in their hands as they served drinks and food. And there she was, wearing a simple white blouse with a tight black skirt, empty glasses on her tray.

Eisuke's body moved on its own upon seeing Haruka but an arm stuck out in front of him, stopping him from going any further while Haruka disappeared into the kitchen. The arm belonged to a man about Eisuke's height, just an inch shorter than him perhaps. He was definitely a host here; Eisuke could tell from his looks. "We usually only get female customers but we welcome all," the man smiled. "Although, a man of your stature, are you really sure you want to be seen here?"

"I'm here for someone."

"I know." They both looked at the same time as the kitchen door swung open and out walked Haruka into the lounge, this time with a tray full of drinks. "I'm Akiyama Takashi. Please come with me, Ichinomiya Eisuke." The man led the way and Eisuke followed after. Although he hated the idea of following someone's order, something in his guts was telling him to follow Takashi. They walked into an empty room and the door was closed behind them. Takashi stood by the window, looking out to the lounge where everybody was. "What are you here for, Ichinomiya Eisuke? To get Haruka back after you dumped her in front of everyone?"

"I'm here to get what is mine. Haruka belongs to me."

"What do you know about Haruka?"

"What don't I know about Haruka?"

"Alright, what about her past? Her family? What she wants in life? Or what she likes to have for breakfast?" As much as Eisuke hated it, he had no answers for the man. He knew nothing of her past, he knew nothing about her family (apart from the two sisters he found out recently). It hurt him even more to admit that he had no idea what Haruka liked for breakfast either. "All Haruka ever wanted was to have a normal life. A normal life for herself and for her sisters. But her life is anything but normal.

"She started working after her mother's death at sixteen, at a maid café, to support herself and her sisters. As soon as she graduated from high school, she looked for a second job and was recommended this place. Most girls who worked here at eighteen are simply looking for a rich man to latch onto. Or hoping for a handsome host to fall in love with. Not Haruka. She took shifts whenever she could, working early in the morning until late at night. All for her sisters. Then she moved on, found a better job. One that would support herself and her sisters, working for you. You have no idea how happy she looked the day she came in to turn in her resignation letter. When I saw her again, I knew working for you was the job for her.

"You said Haruka belongs to you, but you only see her as an item. You never thought about her, try to get to know her. Did you know that she doesn't drink coffee at all? The caffeine gives her a headache. If you're here to get her back because you don't like your toys misplaced, I'd suggest you go home now. Haruka doesn't need someone can't understand what she wants or needs."

Every word that came out from his mouth, Eisuke hated it. So what if he knew nothing about Haruka's past? It was their present and the future that mattered. Haruka never spoke about these matters either, which could only mean that they were not important enough to know about. Not wanting to hear another word from Takashi, Eisuke walked around the host and left the room, walking straight up to Haruka and grabbed her by the elbow.

The woman was surprised, the cocktail glass on her tray toppling over when she pulled her elbow away, her eyes widening at the sight of Eisuke. "You're leaving with me," Eisuke stated, grabbing her hand but once again, Haruka pulled away.

"I'm not going with you," she said.

"What did you just say?"

"I'm not going with you. I'm working."

"You work for me."

"No I don't. Not anymore." She put her tray down, reaching into her pocket and pulled out a cheque to hand to him. "I've been meaning to return this to you. I appreciate the money but I don't need this much. Nor do I deserve it. Or want it."

Looking down at the cheque, anger started boiling in him. Not only did he waste a good ten minutes or so being lectured by a man he never met before, he was being rejected by Haruka and had a cheque he wrote out for her returned. He snatched the small piece of paper from her and ripped it up before throwing the pieces up into the air. "Fine. Don't take it. And keep working this mediocre job that you love so much. Mediocre suits you."

"I'm sorry, I know you probably don't want to be back here but this is probably the best place for drinking. Plus, I get an employee's discount."

With a cocktail in front of her, and Kuroba sat next to her, Haruka never thought that she would be sitting in Tres Spades' bar. Even when she was working with Eisuke, they never visited the bar for some reason. Although he could drink, Eisuke was not much of a drinker. Alcohol consumption was mainly for party purposes. But just like any other place in the hotel, Tres Spades' bar was a beautiful place. Haruka never associated bars with a calm feeling yet being in here, it was so relaxing that she almost forgot this place belonged to Eisuke.

"It's alright. I've never been in here before but it's actually really nice," Haruka smiled, brushing her hair behind her ear as she took another look around.

"So...you and Mr. Ichinomiya...is it really over between you?"

Haruka looked back to Kuroba at his sudden question, temporarily losing her processing skill. "We...it's over," she nodded. "Not his girlfriend, not his personal assistant." Even as she was admitting it herself, her words were like knives to her heart. Not his girlfriend, not his personal assistant. The reality was really settling in now; she was no longer relevant to Eisuke. She thought back to that night, when he came to the host club and told her to leave with him. She could have left that night with him, get back to the life she had been used to for the past three years. Something was stopping her, however. A simple question.

What was she going back as?

Was she to continue as his girlfriend? Or was Eisuke simply coming back to reinstate her position as his personal assistant? She did not know. All she knew was that she did not want to go with him. Not when she did not know what was on Eisuke's mind.

"Have you ever thought that perhaps Mr. Ichinomiya is not the man for you?" Kuroba asked. "That he's not the man who could make you happy." Lately, everyone had been asking if she really dated Eisuke, and if it was really over between them. They were all out of concern for her, Haruka knew, and she had given them all a standard answer. Kuroba, however, was asking something that Haruka was not expecting. "Did you ever think that perhaps...there's someone out there who could make you happy. Always."

"I..." Her voice trailed off as Haruka stared at someone just behind Kuroba. The concierge turned around to see what caught her tongue, surprised to see the owner of the hotel standing right behind him. "Mr. Ichi-" Before she even finished her greeting, Eisuke wrapped his arm around the waist of the woman he came in with, walking off without so much as another look at Haruka. It hurt a lot to be treated this way by Eisuke. She would be arrogant to ever say it out loud but for the three years she worked for him, she was the only one he would ever look at.

"You don't have to make your mind up now," Kuroba said, snapping Haruka back into reality. "I know it's a little impossible for you to instantly forget about a man like Ichinomiya Eisuke but whenever you're ready to move on and let someone else bring you happiness, I will be waiting."

Seeing Haruka with the concierge irked him.

The moment he slipped into the booth, Eisuke let go of the woman who had become too giddy for his liking. He found himself peeking out from the booth, glancing over to the bar where Haruka was sat with Kuroba. He heard everything the other man said, that Eisuke was not the man for her. That he could not make her happy. Who was that man to say those things? How dared he make assumptions about what Eisuke could or could not do for Haruka? What made that man think that he could ever give Haruka happiness?

Though, it clicked with Eisuke.

That man right there, sitting in the stool next to Haruka, he could give her the simple life she wanted. Both of them working a stable job, getting married in some mediocre hotel, have children, and live the rest of their lives not in extravagance but happy with what they have, happy with each other. That was something that Eisuke could never give her. Being with Eisuke would be the equivalent of living her life on the edge. She could get into dangerous situations, she would definitely be harassed by women (even men), and her life would never ever be normal again.

"What are you looking at, Eisuke?" the woman beside him cooed. She pressed her body right up against his, her breasts pushed up on his arm as she tried to take a look. "Why are you looking at that girl? She's got the boobs and maybe the looks but she's nothing special. You shouldn't be looking at another woman when you have me with you, Eisuke." The woman wrapped her arms around Eisuke's neck though he grabbed one of them before she could and pushed the woman away, a little too roughly. "Eisuke?"

"You are nothing special," he stated, getting up from the booth. "Get out of my sight. I don't want to see you ever again."

"All because of that woman? I'm a model, what the hell is she? She's with another man anyway, so why are you so caught up with her?"

The glare Eisuke gave her shut the woman up instantly. Eisuke stepped into the booth, backing the woman against the wall at the end and slammed his hand next to her head as he lowered himself until he was seeing her eye to eye. "You are nothing but a shallow gold digger who will probably end up marrying a man about fifty years older than you because only then would you have a chance of getting any kind of inheritance. That woman sitting over there? She is more than you could ever be in the next ten miserable lives of yours. If I hear another word from you badmouthing Haruka, I'll make sure that your modelling career ends right now and you can kiss goodbye to your chance at marrying rich. Do you understand?"

When she finally nodded, Eisuke pulled away and straightened himself. He looked over to the bar once more but where Haruka and Kuroba sat before, it was now empty. Eisuke took a quick scan of the bar though they were nowhere to be seen. He let out a curse under his breath and glared at the woman who was still glued to the wall, too afraid to move. His mood had been far too ruined for him to even enjoy a drink now so Eisuke decided to leave.

"Don't you think that was a little harsh of you, Boss?"

The bartender called out to him as he was leaving. "What are you doing here, Baba?" Eisuke asked, seeing right through the thief's disguise. He knew, however, the exact reason why Baba was there. For fun. Everything about this was just fun for Baba. It was fun for him to watch Eisuke getting agitated over Haruka. It was fun for him to watch as Eisuke, for the very first time, was losing out. "Have you been spying on me this whole time?"

"As much as I'd love to learn your womanising skills, I wasn't here for you, Boss," Baba smiled. "That was not exactly very gentlemanly of you either so I don't think I should be learning from that. I'm here for your dear Haruka. I heard somewhere that she was going on a date so I thought I should keep an eye on her for you."

"Did I tell you to?"

"No, but..." Baba smirked. "Don't you want Haruka back? Don't you miss her? Someone else is trying to get their hands on your toy. It isn't like you at all to not stop them, Boss."

"Haruka is not my toy."

"Hm? Then what is she?"

"She's...she's my woman."

[shinusual]

Lee Jihoon - When the Cherry Blossoms Fade

So this is a one-shot staring my favorite Lee Jihoon. I started out writing Woozi one-shots and I’ve just really missed it, but this is a little different from my typical Woozi fics. I like to draw inspiration from song titles or album titles, so this one comes from Jinyoung’s song for I.O.I, When the Cherry Blossoms Fade. The story doesn’t match the lyrics, but I hope you enjoy.

Genre: Fluff

Characters: Jihoon, Soojin (OC), Jeonghan, Junhui

Description: Jihoon owned the floristry that his parents started called Love & Letter Flower Shop. Home to the most beautiful flowers in Seoul, Jihoon knew it also held some of the best stories. Unfortunately, he'd never been one to be that great with customers. Until one day, when Soojin came in asking where the sunflowers were…

“Morning boss!”

Startled, Jihoon turned around to find a brown-haired boy nicely wrapped up in a tan coat walking down the sidewalk. He was so busy polishing the front door, he wasn’t expecting anyone to come by. But for some reason, it was impossible for Jihoon to ever be prepared for Jeonghan’s presence. “I told you, you really don’t have to call me that.”

With a flashy smile, Jeonghan joined him at the storefront. “Ahh, but it’s just so fun, boss,” he said playfully.

Jihoon rolled his eyes but managed to grin. “Morning to you too. Thanks for coming so early.”

“Are you kidding me?” Jeonghan said as he opened the door to go inside. A faint ding! went off as he walked in. “I love the morning shift. Happy things happen in the morning. It’s evenings that you start to get scared.”

Propping the door open with his foot, Jihoon lightly laughed. Standing there, he glanced around at all the flowers that didn’t know it was almost time to wake up. The world was still grey at 6am in the spring, but it was a nice grey. A damp grey that kept all the flowers fresh and bright, adding an appropriate hint of color. Jihoon smiled to himself before following Jeonghan inside. “Yeah, mornings are definitely the best.”

Lee Jihoon’s family was the proud owner of Love & Letter Flower Shop, located at 1331 Sebeuntin Lane. It had been Jihoon’s parents’ dream to open a floristry even before he was born, so they left Busan to find business in Seoul, somewhere they thought really needed more flowers. Jihoon grew up in Love & Letter, helping prune the carnations and trim the roses. The store was always bursting with lilies and chrysanthemums and tulips and hydrangeas and sunflowers and cherry blossoms. Jihoon had always loved being surrounded by such beautiful things, such beautiful smells and colors and shapes. As he got older, he learned more skills involved with the business, like creating arrangements or handling seed orders. Eventually, Jihoon knew everything there was to know about the store, and he loved it. For years, he and his parents shared such happy memories together in that store.

After some unexpected turns in life, Jihoon began to run the shop by himself. But one thing always stayed the same: he loved what he did.

Early on, Jihoon realized that being a florist wasn’t simply about bringing people flowers. Jihoon found that it meant creating a part of someone’s story. Everyone who ever walked into Love & Letter Flower Shop had a clear purpose: an anniversary, a graduation, a birthday. People came in to buy gifts and tokens of their appreciation, something beautiful that would represent how they felt towards the person they were giving the flowers to. Flowers were joyful and inviting; everybody knew that. But they weren’t just for the happy days. Jihoon always felt his heart crack a little when a family came in with a large order for standing wreath or spray arrangements, the flowers you get for funerals. He had so many customers who came frequently with tales of loved ones in the hospital. They would come by every few days for a new bouquet, but it was the saddest when they stopped coming altogether. Flowers marked graves and tried to offer peace for those who could still see them. They were a symbol of life that were always around death.

And Jihoon knew all of this. Every day he came to work, he wasn’t sure how many of each story would walk through his shop. Some nights he left smiling bigger than others. But what Jeonghan said was true: happier reasons to get flowers always came in the morning.

Jihoon spread his arms out on the counter as he watched Jeonghan put on his apron. Jihoon was already in uniform, a white button up with a green apron on top. He always liked to have the top few buttons undone and his sleeves rolled up past his elbows. “We got a fresh order of sunflowers in the back. Can you get those ready and bring them to the front?”

“Sure thing,” he replied. “Hey what time is Junhui getting in?”

“He’ll be here at opening.”

Jeonghan nodded as he headed for the backroom. “Cool, 9 o’clock. Gives me plenty of time to finish the arrangement I told him I’d make for his sister.”

Jihoon chuckled. “You still didn’t do that? You promised him weeks ago.”

“I know, I know!” Jeonghan shouted back. “But we’ve been low on petunias and those are her favorites.”

“She likes calla lilies!” Jihoon corrected.

Jeonghan snapped his fingers before disappearing through the backroom door. “Right!”

Laughing, Jihoon just shook his head. Jeonghan and Junhui were among his most charming employees. Well, that was a lie. They were all charming. Jihoon made sure to hire people with a certain charisma, the type of personality that was good with people and expressing the type of feelings that the customer needed. So basically Jihoon wouldn’t have hired himself.

For the next few hours, Jihoon and Jeonghan prepped the store. Jihoon went around and spritzed all the flowers, even the ones in the fridge cases. He always frowned when he had to collect the ones who didn’t survive the night. He had a whole pile of wilted flowers in the back. Typically, people would throw them away, but Jihoon couldn’t pull himself to do that. He had other plans.

Finally, 9am was close to rolling around when Junhui came through the front door. “Good morning guys!” he shouted to whoever was already there.

Jihoon shot his head up from behind the counter. He was straightening out the special wrapping paper they used for each bouquet. With a smile, he said, “Morning Jun.”

With a glowing grin, Junhui peeled off his jacket and let out a deep breath. He was already wearing his apron. “Ahhhh, isn’t it a beautiful day?”

Jihoon furrowed his eyebrows and just stared up at him. “What?”

“Look out there!” Junhui exclaimed, pointing out past the storefront’s clear window panes. “It’s gorgeous!”

Jihoon had to admit, it was quite picturesque. The sun had come out and the sky was a stunning blue. Not even the smog from the city could cover up the perfect elements of spring. Still, Junhui was being weird. “What’s gotten into you?” Jihoon nervously laughed.

He let out a pleasant sigh. “I don’t know, Jihoonie. I just have a really good feeling about today.”

Coming around to change the store’s sign to “open,” Jihoon said, “Please don’t call me that.”

Junhui opened his mouth to respond, but Jeonghan walked out from the back and interjected, “No boss. No Jihoonie. Man, you just really hate nicknames.”

Junhui chuckled as Jihoon looked over his shoulder at the two of them. “Just the ones you guys give me,” he replied.

“Ahh!” Jeonghan shouted, pretending to stab himself in the heart with an imaginary knife. “That cuts deep, Jihoonie!”

“I really need to fire you guys one day,” Jihoon said.

But the two had been working there long enough to know that was never going to happen. “We’re just lucky we have better people skills than you,” Junhui teased.

“I would argue,” Jihoon said, coming back to join them, “but that’s accurate.”

As much as Jihoon loved what he did and knew how much it meant to customers, he wasn’t so great at that middle part: talking. There was a certain emotional capacity required that he just didn’t have. He loved all of the stories that came through Love & Letter, but he preferred to hear them from one of the employees than the person buying the flowers. It’s not like he didn’t care; he just cared enough to know that he was no good at it. He came off as a bit cold, somewhat separated from others. He could ring up purchases. He could call the delivery people. He could point to where the roses were. But anything more, he’d rather let someone else do a better job of helping.

Jeonghan smiled as he re-tied his hair into a ponytail. “Do you think we’re gonna be busy today?”

Leaning on the counter, Jihoon pursed his lips and looked around the shop. Everything looked so alive. The colors were perfect. They were ready for a big crowd, but he knew…

“No, it’s supposed to be slow,” he replied. “I would’ve asked another one of you guys to come in if it was supposed to get busy.”

“Busy or not,” Junhui said with a knowing smile, “it’s gonna be a good one.”

Jihoon looked at him questioningly and just shook his head. “You are so strange.”

Junhui and Jeonghan laughed, but before either could say anything else…

Ding!

They all turned to the front door to see a little old woman with rosy cheeks come in. Jihoon quickly gave Jeonghan a glance. “This one’s all you,” he whispered.

Immediately, Jeonghan got a huge smile as he exclaimed, “Hi, welcome to Love & Letter!”

The woman smiled even bigger as she replied, “Hello!”

“What can I help you with today?” Jeonghan asked as he walked over, stopping to lead her through the shop.

Without even a thought, the old woman gladly took Jeonghan’s strong arm as she walked along. Pulling him down slightly because of her height, she giddily said, “Oh young man, I need your help! My husband and I are celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary!”

“Wah!” Jeonghan laughed, already amused by the woman’s lively personality. “Congratulations!”

“Thank you, thank you! Yes, we’ve been together since we were young. Actually, he used to be just as handsome as you…”

The two of them laughed together as they ventured into the store. Vaguely listening in on their conversation, Jihoon was thoroughly impressed. “I don’t know how you guys do it,” he commented to Junhui. “People just fall in love with you guys. It takes literally two seconds.”

Junhui smiled and came around the counter. He bent down to get a rag and a spray bottle. Standing back up he said, “I guess it’s just something about guys with names that start with J.”

Jihoon glared up at him. “My name starts with a J.”

Thinking it over, Junhui pointed at him. “Right.” Giving it another second, Junhui shrugged. “I guess it’s just our rugged good looks,” he teased.

“Oh, ha ha, very funny,” Jihoon flatly replied.

“You just get to know the customer a bit,” he explained with a laugh. “Ask their name, what they’re there for, what kinda flowers are they looking for, what color. Really easy stuff.”

“Easy for you,” Jihoon grumbled.

Junhui smiled and pat him on the shoulder before heading out to the front of the store. “Talking to people just comes a little more naturally to others. That’s why you have us. Just keep doing what you do best. Don’t worry, boss.”

Rolling his eyes as Junhui stepped out, Jihoon called after him, “I’m seriously gonna fire you guys!” But even if they weren’t listening to his request, he couldn’t help but giggle. He was glad to have employees who he’d become so close with. It reminded him of how warm the shop had been.

From inside, Jihoon watched as Junhui maintained the storefront. Not too long after he got out there, a man and a little boy, who appeared to be his son, walked up to him. They were both smiling, cheerfully talking about something Jihoon couldn’t hear from the other side of the glass. He assumed they were looking for something for the mother. Jihoon watched as Junhui eagerly bent down and gave the boy a high five, continuing the conversation at his eye level.

Shaking himself back into focus, Jihoon went over to the bouquets he’d marked earlier as needing to be re-cut. He took an arrangement of pink tulips, yellow daisies, and other gorgeously golden flowers over to the front counter to work on. That’s where he usually put together online orders and made arrangements throughout the day. He liked working there better than the back room because he had the perfect view of everything.

As Jihoon was cutting the bottom of each stem, a method to keep the flowers fresh longer as they were staying in water, he felt at ease. This was life for him, and it was beautiful. As Jihoon finished that one, then a soft blue bouquet, then a crisp white one, Jeonghan and Junhui were doing a great job of helping the customers, ringing up their purchase alongside Jihoon’s work so he could get a glimpse of their stories.

As the day went on, Jihoon saw the old woman buy a dozen deep red roses for her husband to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary, the father and son pick out a bouquet with pink stargazer lilies and blue irises and purple carnations for the mother’s birthday, a young couple choose a simple vase of orange tulips to congratulate their friends on their pregnancy, a gentleman in a suit purchase a display of white and yellow gerberas to impress his boss, and a handful of other happy stories. And as he stood at his work station listening in, Jihoon couldn’t help but think that maybe Junhui was right. It was going to be a good day.

With that thought in mind and a spray bottle in hand, Jihoon left his spot at the counter to put back a finished bouquet and look for any others that needed some help. While he was roaming his own store, taking in all the pleasant aromas, he heard the front door.

Ding!

Since Jihoon wasn’t too tall, he couldn’t see over the displays to see who had walked in. But that was just more for his curiosity; he knew Jeonghan or Junhui would handle the customer.

So he went to tending to the cherry blossoms in front of him. The store kept a decently sized tree in the back corner of the room. It pushed up against the ceiling and branched out over the other flowers. So many customers had asked if it was a fake display, but it was real. It made absolutely no sense why it grew so beautifully in that tiny little store, but Jihoon’s father had made it work and Jihoon always promised to keep it alive.

But as he was admiring all the little buds that had yet to blossom, he was startled by a gentle voice that said, “Excuse me?”

Jihoon turned around in a jolt. His surprise was written all over his face as he turned around to find a girl standing there. She had soft, dark brown eyes that sat just above her pleasant chubby cheeks. Her lips were pink and propped slightly open. It wasn’t until staring at her for about five seconds did Jihoon realize she looked just as surprised.

“I’m so sorry!” she quickly said, holding one hand out and the other to her heart. “I didn’t mean to scare you like that!”

Letting out a deep breath, Jihoon shook his head. “No, uh, don’t worry! That wasn’t your fault.” Quickly taking in her image, Jihoon could see that she was about his age. She was slightly shorter than him with silky brown hair flowing past her shoulders. She wore a red sweatshirt and distressed denim jeans. Jihoon didn’t have a thought in his head as he stood there.

With a nervous nod, she said, “Sorry again. Uhhh, I was just gonna ask you where I could find the sunflowers?”

Still a bit shaken, Jihoon was glad that that was a rather simple question. “Yeah,” he said, shifting his body to look where he knew they were. “If you go down that aisle on the right, you’ll see a bunch of bouquets with sunflowers. Or if you want them individually, we have them in the front of the store.”

Relieved, she smiled. “Thanks,” she said as she disappeared in that direction.

Jihoon took a moment to make sure she was gone before letting out a sigh. His heart was racing. He knew he wasn’t good at talking to people, but sometimes he even forgot how bad he was. After a few seconds, he calmed himself down and realized that she might actually need some more help, so he made his way back to the front counter to find Jeonghan or Junhui.

But as he headed that way, he already saw Junhui with a woman carrying a baby. And once he got to the front, he found Jeonghan putting together an arrangement for a boy in a school uniform. All of a sudden, Jihoon felt his heart race again. This meant he was the only free employee. This meant…he had to help her.

Quickly Jihoon reasoned with himself that she probably didn’t need any help. She’d already asked for what she needed. She knew where the sunflowers were. But the manager inside of Jihoon knew he had to check to make sure.

Walking over to where he had directed her, Jihoon realized that this was his worst nightmare. She clearly had no idea what she was looking for. Jihoon watched her stare confusedly back and forth from about five different displays, while already holding a nice orange/yellow bouquet. He knew he had to at least try and help.

Timidly walking over, he tried not to scare her like she’d done to him. “Can I help you with anything?” he asked, clearly lacking any confidence.

But she couldn’t tell. Turning around, she smiled when she saw Jihoon standing beside her. “Thank you, but I think I’m okay.”

Relieved, Jihoon smiled back and quickly nodded. He turned to leave as fast as he could, but that clearly wasn’t fast enough. Before he could even step away, she asked, “Is it pathetic to buy flowers for yourself?”

Jihoon stopped. So surprised by that question, Jihoon wasn’t even nervous as he turned around to face her again. She had this look of anxious concern, almost embarrassed. But Jihoon was just a little confused. “What?” he softly asked.

With a chuckle, she awkwardly scratched her head. “I guess that’s not a very good question to ask.”

“No, no,” Jihoon said, trying to find the right way to describe it. “It’s just…not one you get often.”

She pursed her lips and nodded. Staring into the bouquet she was holding, she said under her breath, “Right.”

Jihoon blinked a few times as he watched her. Working in this shop, he’d seen his fair share of individuals come through. But no one was quite like her. Just based on the way she was acting, she seemed out of place. Most people came in with a purpose, a person or an occasion in mind. They often knew, to some degree, what they were there for. But she didn’t look like she knew that. And for some reason, that made Jihoon feel better, like he wasn’t alone in this situation that typically would make him hopelessly uncomfortable.

But as he just stood there, he suddenly remembered that she was a customer, which meant he had to continue to talk to her. He tried to think back to what Junhui said earlier.

“Well, um,” he stammered, getting her attention again. “I—I can still help you. I’m Jihoon.”

She gave a small smile. “I’m Soojin.” Gently twirling the bouquet, she said, “Guess you could tell I was a little lost here.”

“Yeah, that’s okay,” he said, smiling a bit himself. He stepped closer to take a look at the selection before her. “Did you say you were looking for something for yourself?”

“Kinda weird, right?”

It was. Flowers were often gifts for others, not something you would just buy for yourself because you wanted to. But Jihoon didn’t want to be rude about it.

“A little,” he admitted. “But I see nothing wrong with it.”

And hearing that, Soojin smiled a bit bigger. She put back the bouquet in her hand and took out a different one, one with two large sunflowers and a bunch of pink and yellow carnations. “I’ve just always walked past this store on my way back from work,” she said, taking in a good whiff. “I grow flowers in my tiny garden at my apartment but there’s something different about having them in a bouquet.”

Jihoon nodded. “I know what you mean. It’s something special.”

“Yeah,” she said through her breath.

Jihoon waited for her to say more, but she didn’t. As he glanced over at her, it wasn’t until now did he notice how soft her features were. “Well, do you remember what you’ve gotten before that made you feel special?” he asked, “Maybe we can get an idea of what you like.”

She chuckled, letting her chin come down to her chest. Shyly, she turned her eyes to Jihoon. “Yeahhhh, about that…” Jihoon blinked a few times as she stood up straight again. “No one’s ever gotten me flowers before.”

Jihoon paused, suddenly feeling guilty for having asked. “Oh, I—sorry I just—um—”

But Soojin just laughed. Batting the air, she replied, “No, it’s okay. I’ve just…never gotten them before.”

Jihoon took a second to gaze at Soojin. From their brief encounter already, she seemed perfectly charming. She spoke easily and made Jihoon feel more comfortable, something he didn’t think was possible for a customer to do. She was bright and…cute. He found it hard to believe that no one would gift her with something as nice as her.

“Really?” he asked, unable to control himself.

“I’ll save you the pitiful backstory,” she said jokingly, but with a subtle hint of truth, “but I’ve never really had big celebrations for people to bring flowers. When I graduated, my brother bought a cake, so that was fun. For birthdays, I’ll go out to dinner. The few times I’ve ever been in relationships, the guys I dated weren’t the type to do gifts. So yeah…” She shrugged. “No flowers.”

As she spoke, Jihoon watched her gently play with the flowers in front of her. Her fingers skimmed over the petals and didn’t pluck a single one. Jihoon was mesmerized not only by what she said, but how she spoke, so faintly but with such certainty. It reminded him of the sunflowers she was looking for, tall and strong but still delicate and whimsical.

Suddenly snapping back to reality, Soojin looked over at Jihoon. “Sorry!” she abruptly said, “I didn’t mean to drench you with so much sadness!”

Coming to as well, Jihoon quickly said, “What, no! Uh, no, that wasn’t…” He tried to find the words. He took a second to just look into her eyes before he smiled. “You’re fine. I get what you mean.”

Seeing his soft grin, Soojin appreciated Jihoon’s sympathy. She took a moment to really notice his gentle smile. It was subtle, which she liked. His eyes were small, but went up oh so slightly with the corners of his mouth. He had bleach blonde hair that oddly went well with his whole demeanor. He wasn’t too tall, but he seemed strong. Something about the way he stood there in his nice little apron was comforting.

She chuckled and gestured towards him. “Are you sure you do? Because I bet you get flowers all the time.”

Jihoon scoffed and turned back to play with the flower petals, not even realizing he was imitating Soojin’s movements. “Yeah,” he said under his breath, “when the cherry blossoms fade.”

She furrowed her eyebrows. “What?”

Realizing that he’d said that outloud, Jihoon looked at her and said, “Oh, that’s just something my dad would say.”

She tilted her head. “But I’m confused. Don’t they fade every year?”

Jihoon chuckled, understanding her confusion. He stepped back and twisted his body so she could see where he was pointing. “See that tree in the back?”

Obviously she had. It was the biggest thing in the whole store, and the most beautiful. “How could I not.”

Jihoon explained, “My dad brought that thing in here when he and my mom first opened this store. It gets nearly zero direct sunlight and surely does not have enough soil.” He dropped his arm and looked back at her. “But for some reason, it lives. And it never fades.”

“Really?” Soojin asked, amazed as she admired its soft pink blossoms.

He smiled. “So whenever my mom got sappy or something and she would say, ‘When are you gonna stop loving me?’ my dad would just reply…”

“When the cherry blossoms fade,” Soojin said, a pleased grin on her face.

“Yeah,” Jihoon chuckled, blushing at his own parents’ cheesiness.

But Soojin found it adorable. “That’s really sweet.”

With a nod, Jihon let out a sigh. “Yep. So it basically means never.”

Still bubbling over that cute memory he shared, Soojin slowly remembered what they were talking about to get there. “So, wait. You’re saying you don’t get flowers?”

Reaching for one up higher, Jihoon pulled down a purple arrangement. “I provide flowers. I don’t receive them.”

“Well isn’t that a sad irony,” Soojin teased.

“Ehh,” he replied with a shrug. “There’s nothing wrong with a bit of sadness.”

And something about how he so easily said that, as if he’d thought it plenty of times before they ever spoke, made Soojin smile. It was nice to know she wasn’t the only one to believe that. “I agree.”

There was a flow of silence that took over for a moment. It was strange how Jihoon could have a conversation seemingly so somber surrounded by the brightest flowers in the city. But at the same time, even if the topic was rather sad, the two of them spoke with simple ease. There was a certain warmth to it all. It was odd, and Jihoon had never spoken to someone like this before. But he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t enjoyable.

“So, flowers for yourself, huh?” Jihoon said, finally bringing it back to why she was even there.

Soojin nodded. “Yep. That’s right.”

He smiled. “So are you looking for something with sunflowers…”

“Yeah,” she said, gazing at all of them in front of her. “I really like sunflowers.”

“Then you’ve come to the right place.”

“All thanks to you,” she said, hinting back to when she asked him about where to find them earlier.

He smiled. “Any of these here stand out?”

Raising an eyebrow, she had to admit, “I don’t really know what I’m looking for. It’s for me, but I don’t even know what I want. They’re all so beautiful.”

Jihoon couldn’t argue with that. But he knew for a fact there had to be one that was perfect for her. “Well yeah, but for different reasons,” he explained. “Each one tells a different story.”

Soojin looked over at him questioningly. “Oh really?”

He smiled.

Almost taking that like a challenge, Soojin stepped back. Her finger to her chin, she examined across the tens of bouquets displayed before her. Squinting at the first one that caught her eye, she pointed to the one on the far right. “What story does that one tell?”

Jihoon stepped over to where she was pointing. Following her gaze, he reached out and grabbed a set with three sunflowers surrounded by purple-pinkish roses. Accented with light green hydrangeas, it was soft and elegant. He smiled and held them in front of her.

“This is one that a boyfriend would bring over to his girlfriend’s house the first time he was meeting her parents,” he explained. “It tells them that he cares enough to bring a gift and that he knows they appreciate a certain sophistication. They’ll place it in the center of the dinner table so everyone can admire it while they eat and get to know each other better. The girlfriend will look at it fondly as her boyfriend chats with her dad, so proud that he made the right first impression.”

Impressed by Jihoon’s story, Soojin almost forgot that he was making it up on the spot. Her mouth hung slightly open in amazement. She slowly looked up from the flowers to admire his gentle face, almost scared that a sudden move would break his imagination. Wanting to hear more, she nodded her head towards another. “What about that one?”

Jihoon turned around and found which one she meant. “That one…,” he said as he put back the boyfriend’s gifts and pulled out a bouquet that was far more vibrant. It also had four sunflowers, but was buried with hot pink tulips, red lilies, and green poms. It was obnoxiously gorgeous.

Jihoon chuckled as he held it out firmly in one hand. “This one would get picked out by a couple of kids,” he said cheerfully. “A brother and sister on their way home from school would realize it’s their mom’s birthday and they don’t have a present for her. They run in here looking for something they think she’ll like, so they go and get the loudest, brightest bouquet they can find. To an adult, it might be a bit too much, but to them it just screamed how much they loved their mom.” Describing everything with such fervor, Jihoon said, “They’d pull their money together and rush home to give it to her, nearly out of breath from their excitement. And the moment she saw it, she’d get this huge smile on her face, because she would know exactly why they chose this one.”

As Jihoon painted out these scenarios, Soojin couldn’t contain her own smile. He was so captivating. The stories were so detailed, so real. She had to hear more. “That one,” she said, eagerly pointing to another.

And Jihoon was just as eager. With a hop in his step, he reached up to pull down a bouquet with only plum and yellow flowers. Roses and dahlias bundled together with the sunflowers gave off a more romantic vibe. “Oooh, these,” Jihoon said, a giant grin on his face as he took in a huge whiff. “These are for a couple. One that’s been together for a while now. But it’s the girl who buys them, because she knows her boyfriend’s too embarrassed to admit that he loves flowers.” Doing what he narrated, Jihoon said, “She’d hide them behind her back as she walked up to him in front of the restaurant. Then, she’d jump out with them in front of her. He’d be so flustered by how cute she was being that he’d forget to be embarrassed about receiving them. They’d laugh and kiss and…” Getting a bit lost himself, he let out a dreamy sigh. “…and it would all be perfect.”

Enchanted by Jihoon’s storytelling, Soojin got lost with him. All of his details let each tale play out so vividly in her head. But as she looked at all of the flowers, she tilted her head and asked, “Are they all happy stories?”

Jihoon took a second and turned back around. He returned the romantic set as he skimmed the rows for the arrangement he already had in mind. His heart sunk a little when his eyes caught the bouquet with only sunflowers and white daisies. With a weak grin, he took it out and stepped back to stand beside Soojin.

“A son gets this one for his mom in the hospital,” he said, gently moving around the petals so she could see the flowers’ full beauty. “She’s been there for months now, but the hospital room is just so dinky. All the monitors constantly beeping don’t really help either. It needs some livening up, and she absolutely adores daisies. They’re her favorite. The sunflowers are her husband’s favorite, the son’s dad. But he passed away about a year before that.” His fingers crinkled the plastic holding them all together. “But the mom…still likes to think he would’ve enjoyed them. So the son brings them every week.” He raised his eyebrows slightly as he let out a breath and looked at Soojin. “Until she doesn’t need them anymore.”

Jihoon didn’t even realize he could tell these stories, but Soojin listened so well, he just let them flow out. So much of his heart and soul went into these flowers, it was nice to tell someone where he imagined they would end up. Or where he knew they went.

Soojin could feel her eyebrows furrow in sadness. The weight of Jihoon’s words was tugging at her heartstrings. There was something so real in Jihoon’s gaze that she almost wanted to hug him. But she had to remind herself that it was all pretend.

“You really have a strong grasp on who needs what flowers,” she complimented.

“And those are just the ones with sunflowers,” he replied.

Letting a smile creep out of her lips, she pulled her hands to hold them behind her back. Bouncing on the balls of her feet, she playfully asked, “Which one would go to a girl who doesn’t have anybody to buy them for her? A girl who just really needs something to brighten up her life right now, so much so that she’s willing to go buy that something for herself?”

Knowing exactly who she was talking about, Jihoon couldn’t help but smile. “Ahh,” he said, placing the sorrow-filled bouquet back where it came from. “That would be over here.”

He lead the way out of the aisle and through the rest of the store. It was impossible for Soojin not to watch Jihoon as she followed. His whole being was…she couldn’t quite find the words for it. Whatever it was about him, she was charmed. And she was really glad she’d finally come in the store.

As Jihoon held the door open for her to walk out with him, Junhui caught a glimpse of his boss actually interacting with a customer. Standing next to Jeonghan, he jabbed him in the ribs.

“Ow, what?” he immediately replied.

Junhui smiled and pointed out the storefront window. When Jeonghan saw what he was looking at, he smiled too.

Jihoon walked over to the bucket that held individual sunflowers, each one wrapped on their own. He reached in and pulled out the one he knew for a fact was the most beautiful. With a smile, he presented it to her. “This one is for…” He took a second to just gaze at Soojin’s cute expression before saying anything else. He couldn’t help but blush. His heart was beating so hard in his chest, but he felt like she deserved to hear what he believed her story was. “This one’s for a girl…who’s really easy to talk to. She speaks with ease and is pretty funny. A girl who isn’t pathetic for going out there and getting what she wants. A girl…who deserves to have her day brightened…” Moving it just a little closer to her, he said, “…before the cherry blossoms fade.”

Unable to keep Jihoon’s sweet gaze, Soojin looked down at the flower and shook her head as she laughed. “I guess that’s the one for me,” she said behind her grin.”

Jihoon couldn’t agree more. “Here,” he said, as she finally took it from him. “This one’s on me.”

“What?” she uttered, lifting her eyes to meet his. “I can’t just take this.”

“It’s okay,” Jihoon told her, putting his hands in his back pockets. Suddenly, Soojin made him all nervous. His palms were sweating. “I know you came for yourself, but…you can do that whenever.” He meekly smiled. “You can only receive flowers for the first time…once.”

Taking a second to just register what that meant, Soojin tried her best to contain herself. But it felt like her heart was going to leap out of her chest. Admiring her sunflower, she asked, “So this is a gift from you?”

Jihoon scoffed. “Do I have to spell it out for you?”

Soojin laughed and quickly nodded. “No, no I get it.”

With a chuckle, Jihoon licked his lips. As if he had used them all up earlier, he was out of words.

But that was okay, because Soojin stood there and said, “Well, thank you. It’s…it’s really special.”

Satisfied, Jihoon replied, “Then the next time you come looking for something for yourself, I can help you all over again.” He was so entranced with Soojin that he almost forgot she was a customer.

“Actually,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Maybe next time you can help me look for someone else.”

Jihoon tilted his head. “Do you have someone in mind?”

Soojin chuckled and used her flower to lightly poke Jihoon’s chest. “You.”

“Me?” he uttered, his eyes growing wide in shock.

Laughing a little louder, she blushed and replied, “Yes, you!”

“Why?” Jihoon asked through his own laughter.

“Like you just said,” she explained, “you can only receive flowers for the first time once.” Her eyes shined so brightly as she shrugged. “I want to return the favor before it’s too late.”

Hearing that made Jihoon’s heart race even faster.

For a moment, the two of the just stood there gazing into each other’s happy eyes. The sounds of the city filled the background as they enjoyed the other’s company and that of a million flowers. Neither of them felt any desire to leave this oddly comfortable moment in time, one that both were strangers to. Jihoon especially never knew such pleasantry existed. For a second, it made him rethink not being able to talk to customers. But then he realized that that wasn’t it. It was Soojin. She was special.

But finally, Soojin cracked into a faint laugh as she shook herself back to reality. “Uhh,” she said, blinking into the present. She flicked her eyes back up at Jihoon and pointed out at the street. “I should probably get going.”

Jolting to himself, Jihoon realized, with much regret, that she was right. “Oh, yeah, sure thing.”

But even though she said that, she couldn’t yet pull her feet up to leave. So instead, she stuck out her free hand and said, “It was nice to meet you, Jihoon.”

For a second, Jihoon just nervously looked down. “Yeah,” he said. Timidly, but trying not to show his anxiousness, he reached out and held hers. There was a brief moment where it felt like a rush of feelings just surged through his body. He wasn’t sure if Soojin felt it, but it made him smile even bigger. “You too, Soojin.”

Soojin bit her lower lip to stop herself from squealing. Jihoon was really becoming too good to be true. Slowly, she let go of his soft hand and finally stepped back. She nodded as she walked out of the storefront and onto the sidewalk. “Don’t worry,” she said, pointing at him with her flower. “You’ll be getting your flowers soon!”

“Yeah?” he smiled. “Are you sure you won’t forget me?”

Walking away backwards, she scoffed and called back, “When the cherry blossoms fade!”

Jihoon laughed so his head fell and his eyes scrunched closed, showing the crinkles on his face. And seeing that image made Soojin smile even bigger. She waited until he opened his eyes and waved before she waved back and finally turned around. As she walked away, she stared down at her single sunflower and grinned into its petals. The image of the sweet florist with the beautiful stories wouldn’t soon leave her mind. And she couldn’t be happier to have received her first flower.

Jihoon stood there for a little longer until Soojin was far enough down the sidewalk that he could no longer see her. Slowly bringing himself to, he tried as best he could to memorize her face. Thankfully, it wasn’t too hard. She was something special.

With a dopey little smile on his face, Jihoon spun on his heels and walked back into the store.

Junhui smugly watched Jihoon walk up to the counter. “Did you actually just talk to a customer, boss?” he smirked.

Still in a trance, Jihoon looked up at him. “No,” he chuckled. “She wasn’t a customer.”

Junhui furrowed his eyebrows as he watched Jihoon walk towards an aisle of the store. “What?” he called after him, confused.

“She wasn’t a customer,” he said again, loud enough so Junhui could hear. Already thinking back to their conversation, he stopped at the sunflower section. He chuckled. He was so glad he could be the first to give her flowers. Under his smile, Jihoon said, “She didn’t buy anything.”

[magnoliasandbeardedtooth]

you should talk about your ocs! please... tell me about them...

hooh boy you don’t know what you just started

rubs hands together

Oliver, Julian, and Lucus are part of a kind-of-real-life universe that my friend made up for his elsen oc’s (I made them specifically for that new universe, out I also rly rly love elsen so they have OFF versions too) These are my main ones, the ones I think about daily, the ones I will cherish forever

I had literal paragraphs for these guys but I cut them down cause it was a fuckin book

Oliver is my top #1 oc, I love him so much. He’s really fuckin tall, and is the softest nicest person ever. He’s that one guy that is terrifying when he’s angry because he rarely ever is. He wears nothing but sweater and will die of heatstroke before he takes one off. His favorite color is pink. He doesn’t get enough sleep and works 2 full time jobs, at a hardware store in the mornings and at an arcade evenings. When the fair comes around in summer, he works weekends there too. He’s bad at cooking cause he only has time for coffee, microwave diners, and his girlfriend (who is teaching him how to cook).In OFF, he’s a carnival worker in Zone 2, and is dead insideHe was created specifically for my friend’s oc, Eli, who is his girlfriend and they love each other so gosh dang much. He is also Lucus’s and Julian’s kind-of-father-figure (and used to be their cushion, until Eli told him she wasn’t comfortable with seeing them so physically intimate without her, and he respected her and asked them to stop, which they did)

Lucus is Loud Boy. He has severe ADHD and is Gay As Fuck. He is almost always smiling and laughing. He’s the one who always gets in trouble, but everyone loves him cause he’s super nice and rambunctious. He’s the one who goes to Pride almost naked. He’s even worse at cooking than Oliver. Like, most people who are bad at cooking get the reaction “Oh whatever, it’s a mess, but it’s mostly edible.” His is “God jesus please don’t let him touch anything in the kitchen, please lord.” He works as a mailman, but only the guy who takes the package and puts it next to the door, cause he can’t drive, even he knows it’s a bad idea for him to try. He also can’t remember if his name is actually Lucas or Lucus, but he’s been writing “Lucus” for as long as he could remember, and no one corrected him, so he just rode with it.In OFF, he’s one of the postal workers in Zone 1, and he opens letters, reads them, throws them out, and steals from his coworkers’ quotas.

Julian is Sour Boy. He’s quiet, anxious, depressed, bitter, and guarded. He’s not mean, but he’s very scared of people as has become bitter as a sort of defense for when people dislike him, which he thinks is often. He’s very quietly polite, though, and though he has a lot of trouble being close to someone, and once he does he’s very warm. He’s also very witty and has insane clap backs, like he’s the one that destroys people (Lucus fucking loves it). He rly loves hanging things like mobiles, and his ceiling is covered with them. He works at a butcher’s shop, but because of how cheap and terrible his boss is, he cuts himself on the bad equipment a lot, so his arms are covered in small scars (not from self harm though).In OFF, he works as one of those people who take the metal from the cow halves, which is where he cuts his hands. When he finds a piece he rly likes, he’ll take it and hang it up in his home.

Julian and Lucus are qpp, they’re so fucking tight. They met in college, and have been roommates ever since, but soon after they got an apartment, they started sleeping in the same bed. Lucus used to have a crazy crush on Julian, but Julian is ace aro, and Lucus respected his boundaries and values him too much to be away from him. In turn, Julian respects when Lucus rly needs sexual attention and goes to pick someone up. Julian supports Lucus, and Lucus encourages Julian, to the point where they save each other’s lives. I like to say that Julian keep Lucus from burning alive, and Lucus keep Julian from freezing to death.

I could write a WHOLE LOT MORE about them but that’d be nutsALRIGHT then there’s also Jamie and Annie, who are a couple that met online, and now either visit each other often, or have moved in together, I can’t rly decide which.

Jamie is a trans boy, and started transitioning back in middle school. He’s fully transitioned now, with top and bottom surgery, with strong support from his mother, who is dead now. He LOVES anything nautical, absolutely loves it. He sings sea shanties to himself, he has tattoos, he’s saving up for his own boat, the works. He especially loves pirates, and reads anything he can on them. He’s kind of condescending, especially at first glance, but he’s strongly supportive of Annie.

Annie is a very very shy girl, and super insecure. She rly doesn’t like herself, especially her body. Like at all. She only wears baggy clothing, and is constantly doubting if she’s worth Jamie. She’s also an amputee with one of her legs, though I don’t know to what extent, from the knee at the highest I think. Back when she was a kid, her father moved to alaska and brought her with, cause he was super into shit like alaskan reality TV and Call of the Wild and stuff. He prepared as much as he could, even lived with a local for a while to get the hang of it. But one time, when Annie was out hunting, a blizzard came in and trapped her way away from their home. She nearly died and ended up losing some of her leg. That’s what made her father decide that it wasn’t worth it, and moved them back.

Jamie super admired her courage, not only in that, but in her surviving day to day, and Annie really admires Jamie’s confidence and ambition. They also both greatly appreciate the love they give each other, since they both feel super alone.

Amour is a poly girl who just wants to find the loves of her life. Her name isn’t legally Amour, but that’s the one she likes using (I can’t remember which legal name I decided for her) She’s also socially anxious, kind of like Annie, but not because of self loathing. She’s more scared of outside opinion than herself. She’s also a sort of sex worker who caters especially to those with a “fat kink,” though she’s also a fan of doing lingerie and other stuff that I haven’t decided. She’s a very new oc, so there’s not much about her yet, but I know she runs an nsfw blog with at least a few other people, one of which being a girl she looks up to highly.

I also have a Starbound oc whose name I can’t quite remember. She’s a novakid and she’s awesome. She’s all cheery and silly until she kicks ass. She loves her crew and thinks they’re all awesome.

Whisper was created for my by a friend, he’s based on the will-o-the-wisps. He’s a teeny little being made out of like plasma, and he wears a hooded cloak and has a crescent moon shaped mask that covers all but one eye. He leads humans deep into the forest to feed… other things. He loves shiny things and LOVES soda, and can create minor illusions.

Whisper’s friend is the same species as him, but she hates humans hates being around them, hates hearing about them. They only thing they’re good for is feeding… other things. And also using certain body parts for spells n shit. She’s a very angry little witch. She has long spiky twigs coming out of her head, and she can make and control brambles. She wears a lil witchy cloak and a big hat, and a scrap of cloth covering one eye that’s snagged on some of her head twigs. I’ve been calling her Bramble Witch, but she still needs an actual name.

Rei’orin was created to rp with a friend of mine, but he’s kind of grown into a universe of his own. He was originally a djinn in the rp, but has since become a strong magical mass with highly destructive tendencies. His power can be compared to that of our sun, but beings who are more like the size of Rigel decided he was too much of an asshole and trapped him on earth, just when it was being formed. He was so pissed, he delayed the cooling of the crust and formation of the first cells by a fuckin while. When he calmed down, he participated in whatever life popped up, especially human civilization. Then humans discovered him and found out he was being held there against his will, and used it to develop trapping mechanisms of their own, which they used to trap other djinns/star beings on earth for their own purposes. When they thoroughly understood how to do it, they trapped him not just on earth, but a teeny little object that they could manipulate him with as well. Also he’s genderfluid!! As far as human identities go

Bois is a demon who’s job it is to corrupt souls and bring them to hell. Most demons have a different methods, and Bois’s is to pose as a potential victim of the person’s worst desires and have them take it out on him. Once they do, he’s able to take their newly corrupted souls to hell. He’s a very sassy boy, and doesn’t get along with one demon in particular, whose abilities I can’t quite remember.

I also used to have a mer oc named Ahti that lived in a mangrove forest, befriended a young pheonix girl, and traveled around with her after another, older, more powerful pheonix lady gave him legs and turned him into a wizard. He grows old and after the pheonix girl dies and is reborn, he continues to travel with her despite the loss of her memories, and kind of raises her. This happens multiple times, until he grows old and dies. I don’t rly rp with him anymore tho…

ALRIGHT AND THIS IS THE BIG DOOZYThese next ones are all for the universe I’ve been developing for a while. I can’t say much about them cause to do that I would need to explain the rest of the world along with them

FIRST is the cyclops lady (wth 6 arms), who is a seer and STILL after all this time, doesn’t have a name. She used to just be a regular old cyclops lady who got married to someone of another species (he was a big boy). Soon after they got married, however, one of the divine forces of their world bestowed her with an eye that could see the future. All was fine for a while and she was learning to deal with it with her husband’s support, until a few years later when they were caught in a fire. Something took over her, kind of like a divine instinct, and forced her to sacrifice half of her body and her husband to keep her eye undamaged. She completely lost the use of 3 of her arms, and partially on the other 3, and she can only really do stuff with her top right arm. She also keeps the femur bone of her husband as a keepsake, and uses it as a cane (it’s still a bit too big for her). Now she works as the seer for the royal council of the 5 other nations, as well as owning a magical items shop. She also sells potions (which are very dangerous and outlawed) on the black market

One of the Royal Council members is a queen called The Silenced. She is very very intimidating. She wears a mask and doesn’t speak a word. Before she became queen by herself, she used to rule with her husband, but bad shit happened and she ended up getting exposed to divine magic. Unlike the cyclops seer, she wasn’t given the ability to deal with it, and instead was severely wounded. Her face was disfigured and she mentally lost the ability to speak.

Another of the Royal council is the Bramble King, who is a partial floating skeleton with an animal skull, spiral horns, field grass growing out of his skull, and a big ol cloak. He looks intimidating but he is just the friendly grandpa.

Another of the Royal council is Loch Raven, who is a beast covered in feather, with a raven’s head and 6 arms, though she walks quadrupedal. Despite being a bird thing, she sends the vast majority of her time in the water, and is only comfortable in the swamp that is most of her kingdom. She is always wet, and never dry ever. Like you could try and dry her off and she would never be dry. Her kingdom’s leadership is based on a tournament style overtaking every few years or so. Someone who wants to be ruler challenges the current ruler and they fight to the death. Whoever wins gets to be ruler from then until someone challenges them. Loch Raven has the 2nd or 3rd longest lasting rule so far, lasting a could decades.

A recent addition to the royal council is a pair of twin magitech robots (kind-of object heads) Their kingdom was previously ruled by a dictator who would not be let into the council, and has recently gone through a civil war that has left most of their land a wasteland. Once the resistance won, the twins, who had been strong leaders in the war, took over and asked to be part of the council.

The last member is a friend’s oc, a big fuckin mantis whose kingdom is on the other side of nearly impenetrable mountains.

All the monarchs get to bring two advisors to the council, and no one else.

there was another old character that I included in this universe, that used to be the guardian of an unknown forest somewhere, without knowing who made them or why they were created, only that their purpose was to defend the forest. Since then, I’ve moved them to this universe, where they defend the forest that was where life first began on the planet. They’re this big thing, like at least 20 ft. They have a face made out of wood and long straight black hair, and two long feathers on their forehead, kind of like antenna that point backward. They don’t have a body, but a big sheet of moss, leaves, vines, etc swoop down like a cloak from where their shoulders should be.

WELL THAT’S ALL MY MAJOR CHARACTERS I THINK

gosh I love oc’s, they’re so rad

I rly rly appreciate you asking about them, thank you so much 💖💖💖