#frontside air

[pedrofrio]

[bvidzsoo]

Above the world

Author: bvidzsoo

Pairing: Jeong Yunho x female reader

🕸️Warning: cursing, mentions of murder and robbery, wounds, slightly suggestive 🕸️Word count: 25.6k 🕸️Rating: nc-17 🕸️Genre: Spiderman!AU, Marvel & DC references, superheroes!AU, strangers to lovers!AU, highschool!AU 🕸️Summary: Moving to a new city due to your mother's psychotic ex-fiancé, you thought the past wouldn't catch up with you, but it does. You're an outcast at your new highschool until a tall and dorky guy approaches you and decides to be your friend. Oh, and did I mention there's also this weird superhero kinda guy in the city who calls himself Spiderman? And why does he kind of remind you of your new friend?

A/N: Lovelies, it's finally here!! I've been planning to write this story for at least two months now, I just didn't have the time for it, but it's here at last! Few things I'd like to quickly point out: 1. I hope the humor I used isn't a miss as once again I wanted to explore something new and used a different writing style, 2. they are in highschool but it's not cringe, I promise (I haven't written a highschool setting in ages lol), 3. I used some terms that are skateboard related and so, I'll leave a little glossary of what those mean below! ^^ (I hope I managed to describe these well) (I hate the fact that I didn't incorporate the famous "hold on tight spider-monkey" line, but it is what it is lol) Sorry if there are any mistakes, I do proofread but it's super late rn and my brain might not pick up on all the mistakes! :') Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy this little (not so little) story, and your feedback is always super welcome, they inspire me to write even more lol! divider

⎊ (I have an Iron Man!Mingi oneshot, if you're interested! ^^)

🕸️360: a complete skateboard and body rotation performed either frontside or backside 🕸️180: a half skateboard and body rotation performed either frontside or backside 🕸️alley-oop: an aerial transition trick in which the skater moves his body sideways in the opposite direction of the rotating movement 🕸️backside: a trick or turn executed with the skater's back facing the ramp coping or the obstacle 🕸️alley-oop backside 50-50 grind 🕸️540 backside 🕸️airwalk: an aerial trick in which the skater grabs the nose of the board, kicks the feet out while in the air, and then quickly back on when he's about to land it 🕸️ollie: a trick in which the skater uses his or her feet to pull the skateboard up into the air 🕸️backside nose slip 🕸️frontside boneless 🕸️Casper Flip: a trick in which the skater performs a half-flip and then uses the back foot to grab the tail and whip it

            Despite the unfamiliarity of the dimly lit street, there was something very comforting and—quite familiar—about this new place. Perhaps I couldn’t call it home just yet—given that it���s barely my second day here—but there was something cozy about the wet ground shimmering underneath the glimmering streetlamps that did little to nothing to light up all corners of the—otherwise—dark street. Not many are out at this hour, and it’s not because it’s too late, it’s the fact that my mother and I managed to find ourselves—barely— a modest little house, in probably one of the dodgiest parts of this, new, promising, and quite huge city. I wouldn’t call it the slums—I’ve seen worse places compared to this one—but the eerily empty street could make anyone run back inside their house upon nightfall. And, well, I get it—if it weren’t for my favourite music blasting through my wired—probably from the Stone Age—earphones, I probably would’ve found myself scurrying back home as well. But for once, I didn’t mind the cool breeze of air that’s settled upon the city after the rain that came out of nowhere. It was autumn, but the leaves haven’t started falling down just yet. It was the perfect timing for me to join my new high-school, not that there was ever a good timing, per se, I always thought a newcomer would remain just that—a newcomer. And while I didn’t have had to move towns in quite a while now, I still remembered what kind of treatment would be waiting for me tomorrow.

The new girl in school. Everyone would be eager tomorrow to get to know me, to talk to me, to try and befriend me. And me—well, I had nothing against all that—but deep down I just really wished to remain unseen, and most importantly, unbothered. I have never considered myself a very sociable person, and later than sooner, people would realize that and they would finally leave me alone. I don’t have many friends for this exact reason, and the one I do have moved to Spain a long time ago, our phones now the only way to keep in touch—my mother finally saw the important of me being on my phone so often. But it was fine, I didn’t mind the distance, however, there were days when I wished we could hang out, go on small trips, enjoy each other’s company. Nayoung had promised to visit soon, but we both knew she was too busy with her life over in Spain for that to happen anytime soon, and I didn’t have it in myself to pester her about the promise she made.

The neighbourhood my mother and I had moved to wasn’t too far from the heart of the city—and while one would expect it to be lively and bright, it was anything but that—even during the daytime. People seemed to avoid making eye contact and they hung their heads low around here, barely muttering even as much as a greeting if you crossed paths with them down the wide street, even if they were your neighbours. The houses, too, seemed to be silent at all times, no little children screaming and laughing or playing outside, no rowdy teenagers blasting music and getting yelled at for not doing their homework. It was odd, but it was only temporal—well, that is if my mother manages to land herself a better paying job so that we can move away from here. These houses were closely pressed up against each other, back gardens rather—inexistent. Our house just so happened to be neighbouring a huge building—offices, someone had told us—but for what business, we didn’t know. And probably wouldn’t want to know.

I’ve seen some roughed-up people come and go from the beaten-up building. The narrow alleyway just so happened to be a dead-end between our house and this building, and my mother had been debating whether she should place bars outside on my window as it just so happened to be facing this small alleyway. It wasn’t as dark as one would expect it to be, but a barely lit-up streetlamp did a shitty job at fully illuminating it.

I bobbed my head to the music, humming—hopefully—quietly to myself as I skipped down the road, almost splashing myself in the process as I failed to notice a rather deep looking puddle. I chuckled as I narrowly missed it and threw the plastic bag over my right shoulder—completely forgetting I had eggs in there. With an alarmed expression, I scrambled to hold the plastic bag normally and peeked inside, letting out a sigh in relief upon seeing that the eggs were completely fine, not one cracked. I knew my mother would make me walk back to the small convenience store—which was probably about to close up—and I really just wanted to watch my anime—the one I had seen about five hundred times, but who cares?! Some people tend to cling to that what brings them the most comfort, and this anime was like that for me. However, just as the chorus of the song blasted through my earphones, I cleared my throat, ready to mouth the lyrics as I remained alone on the street, when I felt a harsh tug on my right arm. And when I didn’t react to it straight away, I was pushed forward, stumbling through a puddle and splashing my new white Vans.

“Oh, come on, man!” I snapped, frowning down at my, now, dirty shoes, “I just got these yesterday!”

As I turned and went to pull out the earphone from my left ear, I was met with a sight that I wasn’t exactly expecting. Well, to be fair, I thought a kid or an asshole had run into me on purpose, but—having a metal gun almost pressing into my forehead certainly wasn’t what I was expecting—what a way to greet your new neighbour on their second day of living here!

“Empty your pockets!” The tall man, dressed in all black—typical—hissed as I managed to pull out both of my earphones while moving slowly, “And give me everything that’s pricey.”

Well, jokes on him, I didn’t have anything pricey on myself���well, except for my phone, “I don’t really have that many pockets, man.”

I pulled my cardigan’s pockets out, showing the robber that I really had nothing inside, “Look, man, if you think you are broke?! Just look at me! You are really out here trying to rob a broke high-school student—”

“Shut up!” The man snapped, and I froze as the barrel of his gun was now forcefully pressing against my forehead. Uh, yeah, if there’s one thing I totally suck at—well, it’s shutting the hell up when needed, “Give me your rings! Now!”

My eyebrows furrowed and I looked down at my hands, scowling as I realized I was wearing all of my favourite rings. Like hell was I giving them to this dude!

“Honestly, I got these from some antique shop for the cheapest price ever,” I huffed, raising the plastic bag between us and trying to ignore the way my heartbeat picked up when the man’s eyes narrowed, gun pressing just a little bit harder against my cold skin—okay, I have started sweating, “But you can totally take this bag! Like, man, it’s all yours, really! I’m not even hungry anymore! My mom’s hot dogs can wait for another day, you can have it, man.”

“What the fuc—” But before the man could even finish his sentence, he was gone. Like—gone. Whisked away, or some shit. I stood there, dumbfounded, mouth gaping and blinking at nothing. I swear, the man was in front of me a second ago and now he’s—not anymore? I gulped, squeezing the plastic bag to my chest—disregarding the fact that I could crack the eggs—and slowly looked around, now finally acknowledging the fact that I was really panicking. What do you mean I was being threatened a second ago at gunpoint and now that motherfucker disappeared into thin air?! Did I inhale something sketchy when I passed those two dudes in front of the convenience store? Was I hallucinating now? Has the trauma induced by my mother’s ex finally caught up to me, ready to torment me? Am I going to—the soft thump in front of me made me freeze as I slowly moved my eyes from the sky towards where I heard the sound come from and—yeah, I screamed.

“Hey, hey, wait!” Whatever that thing was called out, making my eyes widen as I accidentally stumbled back, certainly about to fall into a puddle, but—a web shot out towards me from that thing’s wrist and caught me mid-air, gently stabilizing me, “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m not here to hurt you! I just—saved you, actually.”

The sound—well, voice—coming from underneath that thing’s—man’s—mask was boyish and a little bit distorted, but I could hear its—his—tone very well, still. It was soft and sounded rather concerned. Having realized that I was still gaping towards this—something—with my heart practically in my throat, I closed my mouth and blinked furiously, trying to clear my head as I shook my body in case this was a dream—it seemed like the perfect moment to wake up, before it could turn even weirder.

“Okay,” The masked thing—man, guy, whatever—mused, clearly sounding amused now, “I’ve never seen anyone react like that to Spiderman, actually.”

“A spider what?” I asked confused, eyebrows furrowing as I held onto the bag even tighter. For a moment, there was complete—awkward—silence.

“Spiderman?” The person sounded unsure as they scratched their nape, its mask blinking. I jumped, allowing my eyes to fully take in this—creature?! Why did it look like a real man if they called themselves a Spiderman?! As if all that wasn’t enough, the person was tall enough to loom over my form in its red and blue glory, the costume moulding against their lean and—softly—muscular body, looking like a second skin, almost. The design was intricate, and I could swear it looked like it had some actual web sewed into it. All in all, the outlook was quite cool, it’s just that it was confusing to look at…him? I mean, the person did look like a man, alright—a fine one, on top of that—and they did call themselves a man, so.

“Are you going to—morph into a spider or some shit?” I found myself asking, sounding less mortified than I felt on the inside. That was good, no? I mean…this creature still hadn’t attacked me or killed me, so we were getting somewhere, right?

“Morph into a spider—” And then the creature—man—was laughing hard and loudly, doubling over as its body shook, hitting its knees with its hands, making me narrow my eyes at them. Nothing about what I had asked was funny. I was genuinely confused. Was this some kind of prank? Would I end up going viral all over the internet? Where were the cameras?

“I’m not Antman.”

“Antman doesn’t turn into an ant.” I deadpanned, the stranger in front of me raising up to their full height again, quieting down. I swear to God, I could just about slightly see their lips pursed, but the mask did a good job at concealing every feature of the stranger’s.

“Yeah, you’re actually right.” The stranger seemed to agree with me, and if I had to take a guess, he was probably smiling underneath his mask, “So, if Antman doesn’t turn into an actual ant, do you think Spiderman will turn into an actual spider?”

“Where are we? At school?” I deadpanned sarcastically, eyebrows furrowing as I just realized the web this creature had shot towards me to stop me from falling into the puddle was still clinging to my forearm. Ew.

“Right, I’m—oh.” The stranger cut themselves off as something on their left arm started buzzing, quiet beeping catching my attention as I looked towards his wrist, at which the weirdo was blinking down at now—well, their mask was, “Sorry, duty calls, them bad boys are asking for it again. Are you far from home?”

“No, I live right down the street.” I found myself answering whatsoever, the fear of getting murdered miraculously gone despite this weird encounter.

“Cool, then hurry home before it gets later and more dangerous.” The stranger’s voice was friendly, and I watched as they bent their knees a few times, looking like they were about to launch themselves away.

“Wait—” I quickly said, biting my lower lip when the masked man turned his head towards me, “where’s the guy that was threatening me?”

The stranger just shrugged his shoulders once, and I could hear the smile in his voice, “Don’t worry about him, he won’t bother you again anytime soon.”

“Oh, okay.” I whispered, eyes widened once the stranger shot another web from their wrist, this one quite long as it latched onto the side of an abandoned factory. Wow, just how was that possible? Wouldn’t it break? No, wait, it was able to hold me without breaking, so it certainly wouldn’t break under this man’s weight—isn’t that impressive?!

“Hey,” Snapped out of my thoughts, I was surprised to find the man crouched down, funnily resembling a frog, “I’m glad I found you at the right time, but try to be more careful next time, I’m afraid I won’t be always around to save you.”

I gulped and nodded, feeling my cheeks tinge red a little, “Thanks…Spiderman?”

The person chuckled, soft and a little deep, somehow the voice modulator unable to properly mask the sound, and then—as quickly as he had appeared in front of my eyes out of thin air—he was gone just like that too. I whipped my head up with my mouth falling open, watching in awe as the man swung around from building to building, making it seem like nothing. He had some mad trust in those webs of his, I could never. My fear of heights simply would make me too terrified to frail around like that, so high up in the sky. One misstep and—well, you’re dead.

The loud barks of a dog coming from a house down the street made me jump, and I realized I should’ve long made my way home. Couldn’t have my mother worrying about me so soon, and so, heeding the advice of this…Spiderman, I hurried the rest of the way back home, reminding myself to look up this mystery—hero?

            Well, school turned out to be the complete opposite of my expectations. The ambush I was waiting for as I walked through the large front doors—well, it never happened. People swarming towards me, desperate to meet and greet the new girl—that, also didn’t happen. Perhaps I misjudged the situation at first, after all, not all people were so eager to make new friends, but to not have at least one single person approach me was—simply put, odd. Well, it was odd until I found out the reason as to why everyone seemed to steer clear from my path, avert their eyes—or even going to the length of staring at the ground while they walked past me—or why I heard whispers behind my back everywhere I went. They’ve heard what my ‘step-father’ had done. By now, everyone knew why my mother and I had to move to a new city, yet nobody bothered enough to hear the full story—or at least wait before judging me. He wasn’t even my step-father, actually, my mother never got to marry him with how he’s now locked up in federal prison, rotting away in a cell.

“Did you hear her father stabbed the man one hundred times?”

“Do you think she’s also a psychopath?”

“She does look like one, if you ask me.”

“Who even allowed her to enrol in our school?!”

“Wait, what if she carries a knife on her like her father did?!”

“Do you think her father brought her out with himself to hunt for his prey together?”

Were some of the absurd whispers I managed to catch during the four hours that I’ve been at my new school, and these questions just kept getting more hilarious and deranged each time I heard them.

“Yes, and he made sure to teach me how to smell a weakling, too.” I had smirked, just barely turning my head, to look at the blonde girl in line behind me as we were waiting for our turn to pick up our food, “Usually blondies like you are easy to lure in, sweetheart. Less yapping and paying more attention to your surroundings might save you next time from saying something embarrassing about said person standing right next to you.”

The blonde’s eyes had almost bulged out of her eye sockets just as it was our turn to pick up our food for the day, and then I was off to find a table that was still empty as I knew no one would want to sit next to me. Thankfully, the canteen of the high-school was spacious enough.

And after that, not much happened other than people unabashedly staring my way and whispering, the teachers being either very nice or acting uncaring towards me. And by the middle of the day, I was finally ready to head home, but I had yet to power through two more classes. And if that didn’t sound excruciating enough, the loud laughter suddenly dying down as a group of girls passed by me, certainly brought a sour taste into my mouth. I couldn’t help myself as I played into the rumours and hissed at the girls, making them scramble off in a frenzy. I chuckled, and quite quickly almost choked on my own spit as someone had started to chuckle behind me, scaring the living daylights out of me. I had—foolishly—assumed I was alone in the hallway, wanting to pick up a few books from my locker before I would head to my next class. I had zero intentions to pay attention in my last two classes, reading some manga will do for the time being.

“You’re not helping yourself by feeding into these people’s delusions.” The same voice that had chuckled spoke up as I whirled around, totally not expecting to see the loomingly tall guy from my classes, leaned against the lockers, a dashing smile on his face. Fuck. Did he have to be so handsome?

“Speaking to the ‘daughter’ of a criminal? How daring,” I whispered, faking a deranged smile as I grabbed something out of my pocket, “Aren’t you afraid you might be my next victim? Considering the fact that these stupid kids at school seem to think I’ve killed—fifteen people already?!”

And to that morbid ‘joke’, I certainly didn’t expect my cute—and handsome—classmate to burst out laughing. His puffy cheeks had a natural rosiness to them and I couldn’t fight the smile on my lips as I noticed the tips of his ears had turned slightly red as well. He laughed with his whole mouth, hand shielding it and oh—his fingers were nice. Long. Well—my classmate looked down at my hand, still laughing, as I held a plastic fork oh so menacingly and threateningly, pointed towards his chest.

“Why do you have a plastic fork in your jacket?” My classmate asked amused, narrowing his eyes teasingly, “Were you waiting all day long just to do that?”

“No!” I exclaimed mortified, hiding the plastic fork behind my back. God, this is now really embarrassing, “I just—I was wearing this jacket when my mom and I were moving in. I bought some food and this fork, apparently, and then completely forgot about it and left it in my pocket.”

I could swear I heard my classmate mutter a ‘cute’ before he straightened up, dusting his seemingly completely spotless jeans. Oh, God, okay, he’s tall tall. I gulped as I slightly had to look up at him, feeling so completely little despite having a quite decent height for a girl—not that there’s anything wrong with any type of heights.

“I meant to greet you during our lunch break, but my friends wouldn’t let me leave,” My classmate spoke up while scratching the back of his head, looking sheepish. I had to force my eyes to move up to his face from his hands, only to have my stomach doing weird flips. Oh, hell no, I was not about to have a crush on someone—let alone my classmate—the very first day I get to my new high-school. But the guy wore washed out blue jeans, looking a little baggy, and he had a white, probably, t-shirt peeking out from underneath his green long-sleeved blouse, a jersey with our school’s logo thrown over it. And the blue and white bandana around his greyish-greenish—and blueish in certain lightning—hair certainly pulled his outfit together, making him look really good. And despite considering myself someone who is almost always well dressed, I felt quite plain looking right now. Absentmindedly, I started playing with one of my many rings that I was wearing, “My name is Jeong Yunho, by the way.”

Right, Jeong Yunho. I’ve caught his name from the teachers and a few classmates already. I smiled, nodding a little, “Yeah, I’ve heard your name a few times this morning. I’m Kang Y/N.”

“It’s nice to officially meet you, then, Y/N.” I chuckled and shook his extended hand, totally trying not to gape at how big it was and how awfully well it enveloped around mine. Plus, his hand was way too hot, almost to the point it was burning my freezing hand.

“You too.” I found myself answering, but not quite present as I tried to pull my hand out of Yunho’s before I would start gushing about his fingers. God, when have I turned into this person? Yeah, I had a thing for hands, fingers, and rings, sue me—but never have I had it this badly for someone I just met.

“So,” Yunho said cheerily, clapping his hands together as I pushed mine inside my jacket’s pockets, “Do you want me to show you around school? I know a few good hiding spots for when you’re in the mood to skip classes.”

“Aren’t we supposed to be in class right now, though?” I asked confused, looking down the empty hallway. The bell had rung a good ten minutes ago, but I had figured the teacher’s would be lenient with me today as I was new and—didn’t actually know my way around school just yet.

“Nah,” Yunho chuckled, his features really boyish and—cute—damn it, “I spoke to the teacher, it was his idea to ask me to show you around, actually. You’ll find Mr. Kim a rather odd man, but he’s cool and really smart.”

“Oh, okay,” I muttered, pursing my lips as I opened my locker to put away my books as I didn’t need them anymore, “but for the record, that guy everyone is talking about, isn’t my father. We’re not related, not even a little bit. He’s a psycho and I’m glad he’s locked up for life.”

I didn’t mean to sound so—rough, but I hated the fact that everybody so quickly assumed things about me that weren’t even true. Yeah, I didn’t exactly want to be bothered and make new friends, but one or two people would’ve been still nice if they did approach me.

“Yeah, I don’t exactly care,” Yunho said with a casual shrug, giving me a small smile that made his cheeks puff out a little bit, “call it a spidey sense, but I think you’re a really nice person.”

My eyes narrowed as I huffed quietly, crossing my arms in front of my chest as Yunho grinned, looking ready to finally show me around, “Speaking of spiders, who the fuck is this Spiderman?”

            If there was one thing in the world that I would find no matter where I was—that was a skatepark. No matter how much I love watching anime and reading mangas, skateboarding just so happens to be a little higher up on the scarce list of my likes and dislikes. And after having cruised around my neighbourhood, narrowly avoiding the masses as I refused to step down off my skateboard, I finally found a skatepark. It wasn’t too packed, which was really awesome—I never actually liked it when it was full of rowdy kids wanting to show off—and it was in walking—or riding—distance from the neighbourhood I live in. At least the people around here look a little bit friendlier than the ones back on my street, my mother would finally have something to be happy about. She hates our new place—understandably so—and is restlessly looking for a new job, to the point that I had to shut her laptop off last night for her and send her to bed. Who is being the responsible adult now, huh, mom?

Today was my third day at school and—well, it could have been worse, to be fair. My peers still looked at me like I had two heads—or was carrying a knife on me—they still whispered made up shit about me—of course, they did, it was barely my third day—but somehow having Yunho around slightly helped? Yeah, Yunho—well, he is quite adamant on being my friend despite me very obviously ruining his perfect reputation. It wasn’t hard to notice just how popular this dude actually is at school. Everyone greets him in the hallways, people flock to him every few minutes, and he’s always smiling and making small talk with everyone. He does have his closer-knit friend group—who very obviously are not fond of me—yet he still somehow makes it seem like he’s friends with absolutely everyone. I wounder if he’s ever had an enemy in his life before—less likely, to be fair. With a face and personality like his, I don’t think anyone would have the guts to hate that guy.

But putting thoughts of Yunho aside and sending a quick text to my mother to inform her about my whereabouts, I placed my phone back in the back pocket of my jeans, and took off towards the slope. My skateboard glided smoothly along the ground as I passed by a few other skaters, the sky darkening soon as evening was slowly approaching. A group of guys were huddled together and watching something on their phones as I did a 360, grinning as they cast glances my way after the little trick I pulled. I wasn’t a big trick master, never too bothered to actually learn the ones that were more dangerous, however the few tricks I did know were pretty cool and nicely executed. Arriving to the slope, I stepped my left foot off the skateboard and looked down, watching a few skaters glide down and do tricks. The slope wasn’t too high nor too big, I had no problem going down it. So, stepping back onto my skateboard, I kicked off and grinned as my heart started pumping faster, the familiar rush of adrenaline coursing through my bloodstream. I had tied my hair in a low ponytail, not keen of having it whipped in my face by the wind.

I grinned as my path was clear, making it possible for me to do a kickflip, my skateboard lifting and turning as I raised my knees high up, letting out a quiet huff as the moment was soon over and my feet were planted on my skateboard again, the speed and force enough to help me glide up on the other end of the slope. A guy and girl were at the top, both clapping casually as I grinned, doing a 180 turn before stepping off my skateboard.

“Nice one.” The girl praised and I bowed my head slightly, grinning.

“Thanks, you’re pretty cool yourself too.” I complimented her, having seen her do an ‘alley-oop backside 50-50 grind’. The girl grinned and did a mock salute before she was off the slope, in no time doing a 540 backside, making the guys—and myself—cheer for her. She had some nice skills; I had to give it to her. The girl grinned as she came to a stop at the top of the other end of the slope, shooting thumbs up towards us. I chuckled and walked to the side, taking a seat as my legs dangled off the slope. I had been riding around for more than half an hour, I could use a break right now. Besides, taking in my ‘competitors’ was always a smart move. And I mean, maybe I could make some friends too here? That girl seems pretty cool and the tricks she knows are awesome. I watched her do an ‘airwalk’, then ‘ollied’ off the side of the slope as she was headed towards a ledge grind, where she went for a ‘backside nose slip’. I placed my hands underneath my thighs as another guy went barrelling down the other end of the slope, doing a 50-50 grind as he came up on the side I was sitting at, before heading for a smaller ramp, nailing a ‘frontside boneless’. I pursed my lips and nodded, appreciating his technique as the bigger crowd of boys now kicked off too, weaving through the smaller ramps, doing tricks as one of them was headed for the slope. He grinned as he kicked off his skateboard, picking up speed as he went from one side to the other, winking at me as he did a 50-50 grind, making me snort. But he wasn’t done trying to impress the people who were watching him, and he daringly went ahead and did a ‘Casper Flip’, my eyes widening at how smoothly he nailed it. That was a trick I have tried to learn one too many times, but in the end my legs just got jumbled together—and not having enough patience—I just gave up on it.

The guy did another kickflip and then he was off towards his friends, who were loudly cheering him on, patting his back. I chuckled and looked around, noticing it was golden hour. It was beautiful, the sun coated everything in orange, reflecting off the windows of the tall buildings surrounding the park. I smiled and grabbed my phone, snapping a few pictures off it before I realized it was getting really late now and I still had to finish my Geography homework. So, just as I stood up, suddenly loud cheers erupted all around me, making me look around curiously. But there wasn’t anyone performing any cool or hard tricks, so I looked on confused, up until I saw someone pointing upwards. And as I looked up too, squinting as the golden hue of the sunlight was harsh to the bare eyes, I noticed something swinging from building to building. Red and blue and webs. Ah, Spiderman. I chuckled as I glanced at the kids in the park again, noticing the awe and excitement as they waved and pointed at the—hero?

“Spiderman!” A younger looking girl cried out, waving so hard her arm threatened to fall off any minute now, her phone in her hand, no doubt recording Spiderman. But the guy was too high-up to hear anyone call out for him. I grabbed my skateboard and placed my phone back in my pocket before I was off the slope, doing a few ollies and kickflips in the process, skirting around the mini-ramps, opting to just casually stroll out of the park. I pushed my hands in my pockets and allowed the skateboard to roll at an acceptable speed, smiling at the cool girl when she waved at me, noticing that I was on my way out. However, as my attention was on her, I failed to notice a guy rolling towards me rather quickly, in the midst of doing an airwalk, completely oblivious to me as he grinned at the camera his friend had pointed towards him. And when I finally turned my head to look ahead, it was too late as the guy and my skateboards crashed together, making me cry out in surprise. In no time was I tumbling towards the cold ground, bracing myself for the impact, thinking I would end up with scrapped elbows—if nothing anything worse.

But the impact never came and I stood frozen, hearing whispers around me and the other guy’s moans of pain. My eyebrows furrowed as I slowly opened one eye, mouth falling completely open as Yunho stood leaning over me, one strong arm holding me up around my middle, my body inches away from the ground. His eyes searched my face for a second before a huge smile stretched onto his lips, chuckling at my befuddlement as my heart continued to race. Since when was Yunho at the skatepark? And how did I fail to notice him? And why was I blushing so hard as he helped me stand up straight?

“Oh—uh—hi.” I muttered, feeling flustered as Yunho didn’t release me despite me being back on my two feet, “Thanks, that’s—impressive. Uh—since when were you at the park?”

Yunho chuckled and averted his eyes, his ears reddening suspiciously as he released me at last, “Just now—I mean, I was around. At the back, uh, I—I was passing by when I saw someone I knew in here and—are you okay?”

“It’s not me you have to be worried about.” I said with a grimace, pointing at the other guy that was now sitting on the ground, clutching his elbow to his chest.

“Hey, are you okay?” Yunho sounded worried as he walked over, crouching down.

“Yeah, I don’t think it’s broken.” The guy said and Yunho pursed his lips, looking alright with his answer, however, he still went and helped him off the ground, muttering something to the guy as he nodded and grabbed his skateboard before going off.

“What’d you say to him?” I asked curiously, looking up at Yunho with my eyebrows raised. He cleared his throat and ran his long fingers through his hair, the redness from his ears spreading to his neck now.

“That he should go to the doctor, it might not be broken but you know…a smaller rupture or something might still have happened.” Yunho explained and I hummed, looking around as I didn’t know what to say or do. The kids were slowly going home, the skatepark emptying, streetlamps illuminating the streets as the sun was gone now. It was time for me to head home.

“I have to—”

“Would you like to—”

Yunho and I looked at each other with our eyes wide, both a little embarrassed for speaking over the other. I could feel my face heat up and I looked down at the ground, stepping on the heel of my skateboard in order to hold it up, to have something to distract myself with.

“Sorry, you go first.” Yunho said, voice quiet as a car honked loudly as it narrowly avoided another one that just stopped without putting the hazard lights on.

“Oh,” I licked my lips before looking up at Yunho, for a second captured by his chocolate brown eyes. His silver-greenish-bluish hair was out of his eyes today, swept back a little messily with a middle part at his forehead, strands wavier than yesterday or the day before. It softened his features in a sweet way, “No, uhm, were you going to ask me something?”

“Yeah, I—” Yunho took his bottom lip between his teeth, hesitating for a second, “Would you like to grab something from the convenience store? Soda or anything else…”

I pursed my lips, calculating in my head whether I had enough money on me to go spend it at the convenience store, however, Yunho mistook my silence as a refusal, his cheeks instantly inflaming hot pink, “You don’t have to! I’m sorry, that was too much, I—I know we just met a few days ago, but—”

“I’d like to go, Yunho.” I cut his panicked ramble off, smiling at him amused. Yunho gaped for a second longer at me, but then he shut his mouth and chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. Why did he have to look so cute whenever he did that?

“Oh, cool, there’s a store right across the street.” Yunho pointed behind me, making me look back. Huh, I haven’t even noticed the convenience store before, but perhaps that’s because the windows were dusted up and there were no signs indicating that it was still in function, “Oh, it looks dodgy from the outside but they even have arcade games inside! I really like that place.”

“Sure, let’s go then.” I shrugged and offered Yunho a wide smile, taking off towards the exit of the park, “But I can’t stay for long, my mother will be worried about me no matter how many texts I send that I’m fine.”

Yunho’s chuckle mirrored mine behind me, and I pushed the gate open, stepping aside and holding the door open for Yunho. He thanked me and walked ahead, waiting for me at the crossroad. It took me a second to notice his cardigan, which was blue and super fluffy, and its hood had ears. It looked cute—why was everything cute about this guy? I quickly averted my eyes off Yunho when he turned to check that I was still keeping up with him—walking behind him, since his legs are too long and I can’t keep up with him—slowing down a little when he noticed I was struggling to hold my skateboard and also keep up his pace.

“Do you want me to carry that for you?” He asked with a smile, pointing at the skateboard.

“Ah, no, I got this.” I grinned, giving him a thumps-up, making Yunho chuckle as he quickly turned his head, muttering something to himself. As we arrived in front of the store, Yunho pushed the door open for me this time and stepped aside, ushering me inside. The place was actually well lit and there was a nice vanilla scent wafting through the air. I smiled as the clerk greeted us, beckoning us further inside. The walls were a neon yellow and fridge after fridge lined up against it, a few tables stern across in the middle of the space. It wasn’t a huge store, just enough for about ten people to fit inside. But the arcade Yunho talked about was nowhere to be seen.

“So, where’s that arcade at, huh?” I teased as I followed Yunho to a fridge, his grin so wide it stretched across his whole face. He sneaked a glance my way before turning towards a door I assumed were the toilets, and pointed one long finger at it.

“Beyond that door.” He answered and the opened the fridge, grabbing one strawberry milk for himself. I hummed and pursed my lips as I looked through the window of the fridges, trying to decide what I was craving. And chocolate milk was the winner as I grinned while grabbing it out of the fridge. The music wasn’t too loud inside the store, just the right volume if you wanted to have a conversation without bothering others or getting overheard. Yunho stood by the front desk, apparently conversing with the clerk, the two huddled close together. I narrowed my eyes at the two as I approached, propping my skateboard up against the sturdy wood of the front desk. The clerk cleared his throat upon noticing me and pulled back, plastering a generic smile on his face. His sharp eyes weren’t the friendliest, but he didn’t seem malicious.

“What’d you get?” Yunho asked as he looked down at me, still leaning against the front desk, arms crossed and resting on the wooden table. I placed my chocolate milk next to his strawberry one and smiled.

“Chocolate milk, haven’t had it in a really long time.” Well—does one consider three days ago a long time ago? Because I do, certainly. Yunho hummed and then faced the clerk again, nudging his head in the direction of our items.

“Think you can put them on my tab, Joong?” Yunho’s grin held mischief as he snickered in the clerk’s direction, who’s eyes narrowed.

“This isn’t a bar, Yunho, no, I can’t put it on your tab.” The clerk’s voice held exasperation as he heaved a long sigh, “You still haven’t paid for your last purchase—”

“Hey! I thought we had an agreement about that one!” Yunho exclaimed, looking offended as the clerk just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Fine, but next time you are paying for every item you have bought from me and haven’t paid for yet this month.” Yunho giggled—actually giggled and something in my stomach coiled at the warm and cute sound of it—as he grabbed our strawberry and chocolate milks, winking at the clerk.

“I won’t be coming around too soon, then, Joong.” The clerk just rolled his eyes again and grabbed for his phone from his hoodie’s pocket.

“We’ll see about that spider—I mean—spidey obsessed dude.” I laughed a little at the clerk’s words, however it quickly died down when I saw the way Yunho froze and the clerk’s eyes widened just a fraction. Sensing the sudden weird tension in the air, I cleared my throat and grabbed my chocolate milk out of Yunho’s hand.

“Thank you for your generosity—” I raised my eyebrows, not feeling it adequate to call the clerk by the nickname Yunho did.

“Hongjoong,” It was Yunho who answered though, the clerk seemed a little uncomfortable all of a sudden, “He’s a good friend of mine, so don’t worry about it.”

“Good friend of mine,” Hongjoong, the clerk, mocked with a grimace, “We’ve known each other since they day you were born, you idiot.”

“Hey, so what?!” Yunho stuck his tongue out, and before I could thank Hongjoong properly for letting me have a free strawberry milk, Yunho was gripping my arm and pulling me towards the table furthest from the front desk. In a haste, I grabbed my skateboard and grinned at Hongjoong, bowing my head a little as he blinked before offering me the smallest smile I’ve ever seen. Well, what a colourful personality this shorter guy had.

Yunho was seemingly eager to reach our table as he had plopped down into a seat just as we got to it, excitedly opening his strawberry milk, making me chuckle. I placed my own chocolate milk on the table, not noticing how close it was to the edge as I placed my skateboard on the floor, and then shrugged my jacket off. It was warm enough inside to get rid of it, and so, as I went to put my jacket on the back of my chair, I accidentally knocked my hand into my chocolate milk, sending it towards the ground. However, as I gasped and went to reach for it, Yunho’s hand was already extended, small carton held securely in his big hand. I blinked, staring at Yunho for a second before I placed the jacket on the back of the chair and took a seat opposite him.

“Thanks.” I muttered as he extended the chocolate milk towards me, only just now noticing that the nail on his left ring finger was painted a dark blue. I tried to fight the blush that threatened to bloom on my cheeks as our fingers touched, eyes trained onto the table and subsequently on Yunho’s hands as they were both resting on top of it. He wore a few black rings and his whole outfit was casual wear once again, yet it looked really well put together. As I fiddled with the lid of my chocolate milk, I tried to ignore how hot Yunho’s hand felt again, and blamed it on the fact that my hands were always cold, “You’ve got some really nice reflexes, Yunho.”

My eyebrows raised as Yunho choked on his strawberry milk, coughing a little as he hit his chest a few times, struggling to regulate his breaths again. Well—I suppose I must have said something wrong, then? However, I failed to understand what exactly that I said was—well, wrong or triggering.

“Yeah, sorry,” Yunho cleared his throat at last, chugging half of his strawberry milk down, “thank you, I—uh, I’ve always been, uh, fast?”

“Is that a question?” I asked with a chuckle, pushing the little straw inside the little bottle before I took a small sip.

“No! I—” Yunho smacked his lips together, ears red once again, “I do have good reflexes, you’re right. Not many people notice.”

“I mean,” I chuckled, smiling at him, “that’s weird since it’s so obvious.”

“It is?” Yunho asked confused, scratching the back of his head.

“A little bit.” I whispered, averting my eyes as I became shy under Yunho’s watchful gaze. He was a tiny bit intimidating, but overall, really nice—and cute, damn it.

“So,” Yunho cleared his throat, keen on changing the subject, “How do you like it here?”

I shrugged, placing my hands on the table as I started playing with my rings, “I haven’t even been here for a week yet, but—it’s fine? I suppose—I mean, it could be a lot worse.”

“Don’t like where you live?” When my eyebrows furrowed, Yunho seemed to choke a little on his strawberry milk again, “I mean—the neighbourhood! Or like—your neighbours or—something.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled, finding it a little endearing how easily flustered Yunho got. In school we couldn’t talk for long as his friends would always interrupt us, boisterous and loud for no reason, “You are quite spot on with that, what gave you the hint?”

“Oh, I,” Yunho gestured around, shrugging a little, “figured since you were at the skatepark. It’s not that big nor very equipped. Others would want to go the central one, close to the big mall.”

“There’s one there too?” I quirked up in interest, “I have missed riding around, so I wasn’t in a search for a skatepark necessarily, you see, I came across this one randomly. And I’m glad I did, because I saw some really cool tricks the others were doing.”

“How long have you been skating for?” Yunho asked in interest, leaning forward, chin resting on his intertwined hands.

“Uhm,” I hummed, looking up towards the ceiling as I tried to count the years, “Ten, maybe? But I only ever skated for fun.”

“It’s a pretty cool skill and hobby to have.” Yunho grinned, eyes falling onto my skateboard as I placed my right leg on top of it, smiling at his compliment, “And I’ve also noticed that you like reading?”

“Oh,” I flushed a little, biting the straw of my chocolate milk before I took a gulp, “yeah, I really like reading—mangas.”

“Really?!” Yunho exclaimed, shouting over the smooth melody playing from the radio. I sneaked a glance towards Hongjoong, and quite frankly, wasn’t surprised to see him watching Yunho with narrowed eyes, it almost made me chuckle at how oblivious—or uncaring—Yunho was towards Hongjoong’s apparent annoyance with him.

“Really.” I chuckled, raising my eyebrows, “Why are you so excited, you also like mangas?”

“Oh, well, not me—not that I have anything against them! They are like super cool and such!” Yunho rambled on, averting his eyes as I tried to fight my amused grin off my face, “Mangas are cool, is what I’m trying to say, however, it’s my best friend that really likes them.”

“Hongjoong?” I asked interested, happy to have something to talk about with Hongjoong since I would be returning to this store as it was straight across the skatepark.

“Mingi, actually.” Yunho muttered, slumping back in his seat, “You know, our classmate.”

“Oh, Song Mingi?” Meaning, the guy that’s been staring daggers at me anytime Yunho even as much as came in my vicinity? I figured this Mingi guy wasn’t a huge a fan of me, not that I could do anything about it, really. If some people wanted to believe the rumours, I couldn’t do anything about that.

“Him, yeah,” Yunho muttered, pursing his lips, “I promise he’s not a douche even if he acts like it at times—”

“All the time.” I added with a chuckle, making Yunho look away.

“He’ll warm up to you.” He tried to cheer me up, but I just shrugged.

“And if he doesn’t, it’s fine, Yunho.” I reassured him with another smile, “It’s not like we can like everyone.”

“True, but—now that you two have something in common he will give in to you, trust me.” Yunho looked quite convinced and I just chuckled as I nodded once, taking some more sips of my chocolate milk.

“So, if Mingi and I like reading mangas, what do you like, Yunho?” I raised my eyebrows, definitely ignoring the way my heartrate picked up when an abashed smile stretched onto Yunho’s lips and he looked up through his lashes at me.

“Video games, like, a lot.” There was an excited glint in Yunho’s eyes as he ran his fingers through his hair, “I eat and breathe video games.”

I giggled and nodded as Yunho went on a short rant about his favourite video games and which were best to play if you were a beginner—like me—and which were more challenging and not too nerve-wrecking as he apparently had a problem of controlling his rage when playing video games. Which seemed so unnatural of Yunho, who was always calm and sweet, nice, and helpful to everyone. Not that I had known him for long, but the more time I spent with him, the quicker I realized that he truly is the way he portrays himself to be. I laughed as Yunho retold a story of him being so mad at losing a game that he scared his dog, which then jumped off the bed and got tangled in the wires, and almost completely destroyed Yunho’s TV. Well, I suppose Yunho learned not to rage in front of his dog after that day—if he wanted to keep his TV intact.

We had both long finished our respective drinks and as I had glanced down at my phone, I realized it was late—my mother would whoop my ass for staying out for so long. Hongjoong didn’t look too happy either as Yunho and I got ready to leave, and I threw an apologetic smile at him as Yunho stayed back for a few minutes. I stood in front of the store, waiting for Yunho, just enjoying the chilly air as the wind blew through the streets of the city.

“Okay, let’s go.” Yunho said once he joined me outside, smiling.

“Where do you live?” I asked, pushing my hands in the pockets of my jacket.

“Around.” Yunho’s answer was short and then he motioned down the sidewalk, “Let’s go, I’ll walk you home.”

“You don’t have to!” I squeaked, growing embarrassed all of a sudden, “I don’t want to bother you. It’s already late, your parents must be worried.”

“They certainly aren’t,” Yunho chuckled, leaning down to be eye level with me, “they are out on a date tonight and they aren’t coming back until late into the night. So, let’s go.”

“Oh,” I muttered, biting my bottom lip and before I could grab my skateboard, it was already in Yunho’s hands as he skipped down the sidewalk happily. I chuckled and followed after him, having to jog to actually catch up with his long strides, “You know, Yunho, not everyone was blessed with long legs like yours.”

Yunho’s ears turned red again as he instantly slowed down, scratching his nape, “Right, sorry. Sometimes I forget I’m tall and like—super quick too.”

“You’re like the Flash or something.” I teased with a chuckle, however, Yunho’s eyebrows furrowed and he was suddenly pouting.

“The Flash?” He asked, sounding almost offended, “He’s not even that cool, Y/N.”

“Is he not?” I deadpanned, raising my eyebrows at Yunho.

“He really isn’t.” Yunho huffed, cheeks puffing out even more, making him look adorable despite him sulking.

“Well then, who do you think is cool, Yunho?” I asked, genuinely interested about his opinion.

“Spiderman, of course!” He exclaimed as if that were obvious, making me scoff.

“You don’t even know who the guy is.” I muttered, as we stopped at a red light.

“Do you know who the Flash is?” Yunho’s eyes narrowed as he stared down at me, and I huffed.

“Well, no, but—I don’t know, I’m new to the city. I don’t know anything about Spiderman, of course I’m biased towards someone else.” I ended up explaining my reasoning and Yunho just hummed as the red light turned green and we crossed the road.

“Well, let me help you out, then.” Yunho grinned and suddenly grabbed my jacket, steering me away from a lamppost. I chuckled in embarrassment and thanked him quietly before he could continue talking, “So, Spiderman is like—super cool, you know? He helps the city whenever something really bad happens. He like—you know—he makes order. Puts bad people in jail and saves innocent civilians. Also! He doesn’t just save people, he helps old people cross the road, rescues poor animals living on the streets, even feeds pigeons! And I’ve seen him once cleaning the windows of a really high building since everybody else refused to go up that high. And he takes pictures with children, you know? Shows up at the city’s fair and has never once turned down an invitation from the mayor to represent the good force of the city alongside with the cops, of course.”

As Yunho took a deep breath, having rushed all that out in one breath, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing, having to press a hand against my mouth to muffle the sounds. I’ve never seen Yunho as passionate about something—except for video games—before, and as hilarious he looked with his eyebrows furrowed and lips pouting every few seconds—fuck, he was just as cute—so cute in fact, that I nearly tripped over nothing, but he was too lost in his excitement to notice, thankfully. Having slightly calmed down my heart, I glanced at Yunho, amused to see him clutching my skateboard against his chest, giving me a small glare.

“I’m sorry,” I said with a chuckle, clearing my throat, “You just sound an awful lot like you have a crush on Spiderman.”

Yunho scoffed, but he couldn’t fight the smile off his lips anymore, “Everyone has a crush on Spiderman, don’t you too?”

“I don’t know him well enough to have a crush on him just yet.” Yunho’s eyes narrowed for a split second.

“Yet, you say?”

“Yet, I say.”

And then I watched as Yunho turned the corner, skipping a few steps ahead as he led the way down my street, headed towards my house. I don’t think I remember having told him about where I live?

            Yunho’s generosity seemed to be endless—and perhaps I was already starting to get used to, which, wasn’t exactly smart on my part. Yes, he was tall, handsome, boyish, and super cute with a personality of gold, but—was I sure my mother and I would actually settle down here? Was it really smart to start crushing on my classmate? Who I’m sure everyone in this damned high-school has a crush on, because he’s really just that nice and that sweet. Teachers love him, his peers admire him and want to be around him all the time, his friends are protective of him and—don’t like me, that’s now one hundred percent sure. Why? Well, because, I was just as baffled as they were this morning when upon entering the classroom, Yunho was out of his seat, completely abandoning the conversation he was having with San in order to approach me. I—of course, like a deer caught in headlights—froze in my spot, thus blocking the entrance to the classroom—making a guy almost run into me as he was on his phone, not paying attention to what was happening in front of him. But Yunho didn’t seem to mind my momentary shock as he grinned from ear to ear, his hair very fluffy as it was even wavier than yesterday, his outfit making me gulp before I managed to compose myself and force a smile onto my lips. He wore grey tech pants with a white shirt—top two butting undone—and a grey cardigan over it and—oh, he wore a fucking silver necklace at the base of his throat, that paired with his black rings for sure made me forget what planet Earth is for a second—or two—who knows, my brain wasn’t processing well at the moment.

And to render me even more speechless, Yunho draped an arm around my shoulders and completely nonchalantly veered me towards his friends. Choi San and Song Mingi. I saw the look on their faces—a mixture of surprise and well, disgust—but San was quick to mask it with a cordial smile, while Mingi—well, he didn’t, not that I expected him to do so. And then before either could say something, Yunho announced that he’d be sitting with me in our English literature class, making me stare at him in surprise—mirroring San and Mingi’s baffled expressions. Why did I have a feeling that right now I was their number one enemy? And then, to try and appease them, I bowed and muttered a quiet ‘sorry’, before Yunho was already walking us to my usual seat, making me lick my lips as I tried to ignore the sudden nerves engulfing my whole body. And what was worse, was the fact that I could feel Mingi’s glare boring into the back of my mind during the whole class, making me scared to look back when the teacher announced that we’d have to do a project with our seatmate. Which—to my delight, but poor overreactive heart—made Yunho so excited he almost knocked over my water bottle as he started animatedly explaining which book we should choose and why. Before the bell could even ring, Mingi was out the door with a loud scoff, and San was rolling his eyes as he slowly approached us, muttering something about Mingi overreacting—again.

Currently, however, we were in the canteen, trays in our hands full of food as Mingi lead the way, his form just as tall as Yunho’s, but shoulders a little broader than Yunho’s. Not that I have paid extra close attention to Yunho’s form or anything—you know. San and Yunho were having a heated debate whether the Yorkshire Terrier or Bull Terrier was cutest, making San whine about not wanting a puppy anymore because of Yunho—which was actually hilarious to hear as I saw zero to no similarities between the two breeds, except the fact that both were named Terriers.

“Just get a cat, oh, my God, San.” Mingi snapped loudly as he slammed his tray down against a table—smaller in size than the others and more at the back of the canteen—looking up with a small glare at San, “Can you two not argue for one second?”

“What’s got your panties in a twist today, Ming?” San chuckled, raising an eyebrow as I felt a little awkward while Yunho took a seat across from Mingi. San went to sit next to Yunho, and for a second, I considered excusing myself and just sitting by myself rather than having to sit next to Mingi knowing he’d rather die—or something—than sit next to me. But, to my rescue, Yunho cleared his throat and looked at San expectantly, who quickly got the memo and chuckled, “Right.”

Then he moved to sit next to Mingi and I gulped as I took my seat next to Yunho, feeling like I was intruding—which I probably was and as if Mingi had the same train of thought, he directed a quick glare at me.

“Didn’t know we’d have to mingle with others today, is all.” He answered San’s previous question and I gulped as I looked down, placing my hands in my lap.

“Okay, Mingi.” Yunho snapped, his tone harsh—and it was surprising, I’ve never heard him speak like that before, “We’re allowed to make new friends, are we not?”

Mingi scoffed and then stuffed his mouth with a spoonful of rice, “Yeah, with people who aren’t criminals.”

“Mingi, that’s enough.” It was San talking now, face hardened and eyebrows furrowed before he looked at me, expression softening, “We don’t even know her.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll just go.” I said with a sigh, about to grab my tray when suddenly Yunho’s hand grabbed mine, eyebrows furrowed as he looked down at me.

“You’re not going anywhere,” He said, sounding quite authoritative and determined to keep me there, “Let’s play a game where we ignore Mingi, how’s that sound?”

“I don’t—”

“Oh, I really like the sound of that.” San said with a mischievous chuckle as he nudged Mingi in the side, making him roll his eyes before he wordlessly dug into his meal, going completely silent, “And at the same time I don’t like the sound of silence, so—how do you like it here, Y/N?”

I struggled to not choke on the spoonful of soup I had just taken into my mouth, a little surprised that one of Yunho��s best friends’ was addressing me directly, “Oh, I, uhm—it’s fine. I mean…the kids are nice here. Sort of.” The last part I only added in a quiet mutter, but Mingi heard it and chuckled, giving me a smirk that felt a little bit malicious. However, his expression quickly changed as he yelped, jumping in his seat before fixating his glare onto Yunho, eyes narrowing, but Yunho just continued eating like nothing happened.

“Yeah, we…weren’t the nicest, sorry about that.” San’s cheeks tinged pink as he lowered his head a little, “I was raised to know better than to judge someone so easily, so, I’d like to apologise.”

My eyes widened when San raised his head, eyes shining with sincerity and regret. I suddenly felt awkward—well, my day certainly was taking a turn for the—better? I couldn’t tell just yet. I chuckled, shaking my head as I tried to play off San’s apology, it wasn’t that big of a deal, really, “Don’t worry about it, I get it. But for the record—I have zero DNA that ties me to that evil fucker, in fact, I played the biggest part in his case as I had been victim to his—abuse.”

A tense silence fell upon the table and suddenly I gulped, feeling terrible for trauma dumping so much on these three guys. Well, if they thought they could end up liking me up until a few seconds ago, the certainly wouldn’t think so anymore. What a way to ruin something going well for myself for once. I cleared my throat, and averted my eyes when Mingi raised his head, his eyebrows were furrowed, eyes taking me in intensely. Yunho’s body emitted a lot of warmth next to me all of a sudden, and he sighed loudly, shooting a very displeased look towards his two friends, “I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to force you to share anything you didn’t want—”

“I wanted you to know, though.” I found myself saying, biting my bottom lip nervously, “I don’t exactly care what the rumours say about me, but I feel angry when I hear people associate me with that monster. He’s a terrible man and he deserves to be locked up somewhere far away from society. He’s not my father and he would’ve never been, even if my mother did end up marrying him.”

“You’re really mature for someone our age.” San commented, lips stretched into a warm and friendly smile, “Not that we aren’t mature! Actually! I am the most mature one in our friend group, you know—”

“Like hell you are.” Mingi muttered before he averted his eyes, going back to eating his lunch.

“I am always the responsible one, looking out for these two idiots—” But San ignored Mingi and then pointed at the two tall best friends, “These two are always wreaking havoc, especially Yunho! He’s all sweet and so kind, but he’s really just hiding his mischievous side. One time, in eight grade, he broke our homeroom teacher car’s windshield and—”

“Okay, enough oversharing, San!” Yunho exclaimed alarmed, crossing his arms in front of his chest in an ‘X’ manner, making me laugh as I looked at him then back at San, who had his lips pursed and eyes narrowed.

“Remember Mingi, when he stole that manga for you from the corner bookstore?” San smirked, nudging Mingi lightly, who had a frighteningly similar smirk to San’s crossing his features as he looked up.

“Oh, I do. And remember when he absolutely destroyed Mrs. Kwan’s garden while riding his bike?”

“Enough, okay?!” Yunho exclaimed, his neck, ears, and cheeks flushed a deep red, eyebrows furrowed. I pressed a palm against my mouth, trying to muffle my bubbling laughter, but when San and Mingi simultaneously wiggled their eyebrows at Yunho, I couldn’t hold it back anymore. I burst out laughing, slowly San—and surprisingly—Mingi joined us too while Yunho sulked, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed in front of his chest.

“It’s not funny!” He exclaimed, grabbing a chicken wing with his hand and biting into it, staring off to the side.

“Oh, this guy was an absolute rascal when we were younger.” Mingi said, still laughing as he threw a pickle towards Yunho, who frowned at him and quickly ate it. I chuckled, amused by the three. Okay, if they weren’t glaring and sending me displeased looks, San and Mingi could be really cool guys.

“Now I see why you’re so obsessed with Spiderman.” I said with a chuckle, grinning at Yunho as I turned my head to look at him. His cheeks were still red and his lips jutting out, he looked so adorable it was hard to hold myself back from squishing his cheeks. San’s laughter, however, very slowly died down and Mingi—surprisingly—choked on the bite he just took of his meal, having to grab his water bottle and drink in order soothe his coughs, “He’s everything you weren’t. Having him as a role model might turn you into a better man.”

“Hey!” Yunho scoffed, playfully pushing my shoulder, sending a very non-threatening glare at me, “Spiderman is just simply cool, okay? I don’t have a crush on him or anything, I just—are you saying I’m not a good person?”

“What?!” I asked alarmed, completely oblivious to the amused glances San and Mingi were exchanging between each other as Yunho narrowed his eyes at me, “I never said that! You’re—cool.”

“Like Spiderman.” Yunho added with a wink and I scoffed, going back to eating my—now—cold soup.

“I see you are acquittanced with Spiderman, then.” San mused, finally eating his meal as well, it must’ve gone cold by now. I nodded as I finished eating my soup, sneaking glances at Yunho as his attention suddenly was on the TV mounted on the wall a few feet away. His eyebrows were furrowed and so, I looked to see what was bothering him, only to be met with a pretty bad looking bank robbery. A dozen of police cars were in front of the bank and—oh, no, an armed man held someone at gunpoint. The sound was muted, but I could guess that the armed man was holding an innocent by-passer. It brought a sour taste into my mouth as I averted my eyes, skin crawling a little at the memory of my mother’s ex doing something similar, yet so much worse. Mingi and San seemed to notice Yunho’s shift in mood and both turned to look at the TV, sighing when they saw what Yunho was looking at.

“I swear to God,” Mingi started muttering, turning his head away, “There’s always something fucked up happening every other day in this city…”

“I know,” San muttered, crestfallen, “I can’t count how many times my parents planned on moving away somewhere safer.”

I gulped, hoping my mother wouldn’t want to do the same. We’ve barely been here for five days, but—I started liking it here. There was something about this place that wasn’t as awful as I initially expected it to be. Did Yunho play a part in that to make me think so?

“Hey, I—I have to go to the washroom, don’t wait for me.” Yunho sounded nervous as he scrambled out of his seat, gulping as he paused for a second, “I’ll see you all in class.”

“Are you okay?” I found myself asking before Yunho could rush off.

“Yeah, don’t worry about me!” His smile seemed forced and my eyebrows furrowed as he hurried away, towards the exit of the canteen, sprinting out of sight. My eyes went back to the TV just in time to see everyone crouched down as the armed man, no doubt, fired some shots.

“Hey, you don’t have to look at that.” San offered, voice soft, “We can change seats, if you want.”

“Oh—no, thank you.” My cheeks turned red as I averted my eyes, offering San a small smile, “And uh—thanks for letting me sit with you guys, I know you don’t like me much.”

“Well, we’ve got all year to get to know each other, right, Mingi?” San threw a pointed look at his best friend and I was surprised to find him humming absentmindedly, pushing around his food.

“He always does this,” Mingi sighed, sounding worried, “disappears randomly whenever something bad is happening in the city.”

“Yunho?” I found myself asking in a whisper, but neither heard me.

“I told you so many times you’re reading too much into it, he just probably needs to take a dump or something—” San paused, cheeks flushing as he eyed me, but I acted like I didn’t hear what he had just said. Boys will be boys, I guess, “Anyways, break ends in fifteen, let’s finish up.”

So then, Yunho disappears often? Is that what Mingi was alluding to? But where to? And why only when something bad is happening in the city?

“Yeah, whatever.” Mingi muttered, pushing his tray of food away, knocking it into Yunho’s. He eyed his best friend’s tray and then sighed, leaning back in his chair as his eyes went back to the TV. And because I couldn’t help myself, I looked back too and—there he was, Spiderman. Saving the day, apparently. I guess he really is a hero.

“Hey, Y/N,” San spoke up again, mouth stuffed with food, cheeks puffed out, “I’ve seen you reading manga in class. Mingi likes it too, did you know?”

My eyes widened as I turned my head back towards the two boys sitting across me and chuckled, a little embarrassed, I wasn’t a good liar, “Oh, I, uh, nope. I didn’t know. Wow, that’s so…cool!”

Mingi’s eyebrows furrowed for a second, looking suspicious, “Yeah, cool.”

“Yup, cool.” I chuckled and then shut up because I didn’t want to further embarrass myself.

            And after we went to class, with Mingi sitting in the back with a rather gruff classmate of ours and San at the front with a guy I haven’t yet met, I got soon lost in my thoughts, eyes fixated on a vacant spot. Yunho’s usual spot. He hadn’t returned to class; half an hour had passed since he had gone to the washroom—that is if I actually believed he was at the washroom. It was less likely, but then again, why would he lie? And just as if my thoughts were synchronized with Yunho’s actions, the door was flung open and there he was, breathless, as he made his way inside.

“Sorry for being late!” He apologizes, plastering on a sheepish smile, “I—got caught up?”

The teacher narrowed her eyes for a second before muttering something and ushering Yunho towards his spot. I kept my eyes on him, taking him in as his clothes looked a little dishevelled and—was that a faint bruise on his cheek? But before I could dwell more about it, Yunho—probably having sensed my insistent stare—turned his head and smiled widely, his wavy hair falling in his chocolate brown eyes. My heart skipped a beat—stupid heart! And then, Yunho waved quickly and turned around before the teacher could chastise him for that too. God, why did he have to be so damn cute all the time?!

            The first week in the big, new, city was slightly unnerving and overall, a very new feeling, however, despite that, I found myself enjoying it once I got accustomed to my surroundings. Of course, my mom won’t let me out after six o’clock in the afternoon due to the unsafety of the neighbourhood we live in, but the skatepark just two blocks down certainly is a nice stress reliever. School wasn’t too bad by the second week either, less people paid attention to me and whispered about me when I passed them in the hallways, and—besides the fact that Yunho seems to never want to stay away from me for too long—which is freaking cute and certainly so very bad as I have the fattest crush on him—by now, even San and Mingi have started warming up to me. Of course, Mingi still remains his unimpressed and emotionless self—unless Yunho is there with us—but I did manage to make him crack a smile here and there—mostly when we are talking about our favourite mangas and such. San, on the other hand, is a completely different story. After Yunho left me with him and Mingi in the canteen—you know, when he mysteriously disappeared for half an hour while there was a bank robbery going on—ever since then, San has been very happy each time the boys would hang out with me. And what was even more surprising, is that he sought out my company when he was on his own—mostly bored—and so very eager to tell me every and each cool story he manages to remember about Yunho, or himself, sometimes even Mingi. San is actually quite good at diffusing the tension created by Mingi, and he is even better at talking for hours on end without realising that Yunho—and I—have gotten tired of hearing his voice so often. But do not misunderstand, Yunho absolutely adores San, and I also happen to quite like him. He’s sweet, but fierce and unapologetically honest. Much like Mingi, which makes me think they are Yunho’s closest friends because he is too nice for his own good and would get taken advantage of if it weren’t for the two hounding him like some sort of guardians or something.  

As I clutched my phone in my left hand, rolling a pencil around in my right one, I froze for a second as I heard footsteps outside of my room, down the hallway. My door was closed as I was studying—well, actually, it’s just an excuse to be able to be on my phone without my mother seeing me every time she passes by my room. However, I halted my movements as shuffling came from right outside my door, and I panickedly tried to hide my phone underneath the two textbooks and three notebooks I had laying on my desk, pretending to be super confused about the equation I had to solve, as I started pouting just as my mother opened my door.

“Hey,” She called with a smile, making me put on my best clueless act, “how’s studying going?”

“Ugh, I hate maths.” I groaned and threw my pencil on the desk as I leaned back in my seat, “Can’t I just go to the skatepark? Please, mom.”

“Honey,” My mother chuckled, leaning against the doorway with an amused grin on her lips, “that skatepark isn’t going anywhere, however, if you fail your maths class…you might have to transfer to a new school—”

“No!” I didn’t mean to shout as I shoot up straight in my chair, blushing furiously as my mother raised her eyebrows at me. God dammit, this stupid crush I have on Yunho has me acting up—even though changing high-schools does sound awful. I’ve barely been at this one for two weeks, I can’t be changing schools so soon.

“Well, if you don’t want to fail, you know what to do.” My mother said with a chuckle as I tried to hide my blush. My eyes widened when my phone started buzzing underneath all the notebooks and textbooks. God, Yunho, texting back right now isn’t the smartest idea! But of course, he can’t know that my mother is standing in my doorway, under the impression that her daughter it studying her ass off, “Dinner’s ready in an hour.”

“Cool, I’ll join you once I’ve finished this exercise.” I shot my mom a quick smile, trying not to grimace as my phone buzzed again.

“Sure,” She snorted and pushed off the doorway, gripping the doorknob as she stepped out in the hallway, “giving me your phone would make you more productive, though.”

“What phone?” I forced on a grin that showed off all my teeth, making my mother shake her head at me as she left the room, closing my door behind her. I slumped in my chair and reached for my phone, clumsily pulling it out from underneath all of my things while creating a mess—nothing new—my room is always a mess, especially my desk. But as I went to check the messages Yunho had sent, there was a soft tapping against my window, and when I turned my head to look outside—I almost screamed.

I managed to just barely muffle it by pressing my hand against my gaping mouth as freaking Spiderman hung upside down outside my window, head tilted to the side. I took a second to digest the fact that the spider, but human like, creature was right there, waving at me and no doubt smiling as I saw the mask move underneath where his mouth is. I huffed and stood, patting my chest as my heart raced furiously against my ribcage, having been scared shitless by this Spiderman guy. I unlocked the window and pushed it upwards, opening it up for him. I watched as the web string he had hung on broke as he did a flip, landing on his two long feet. I froze a little as Spiderman leaned in, resting both elbows in the windowsill, placing his chin on his palm.

“Hi.” His voice was slightly altered again, and I cleared my throat, aware that I was wearing my worst possible clothes. I wasn’t expecting visitors—let alone Spiderman, “You look like you saw a ghost or something.”

“Well, yeah,” I scoffed, smoothing down my hair, “not a ghost, but a man that calls himself a spider. Ringing the front door next time would be less heart attack inducing, Mr. Spiderman.”

I didn’t expect the dude to laugh loudly, and my eyes widened as I reached forward, pressing my hand against his masked mouth to muffle the sounds he made—if my mother hears him, she’ll come to investigate, and I’m pretty sure she won’t be too happy to find a masked man in a full body costume outside my window, claiming to be some sort of hero of the city or something. My mother has never liked these superhero kind of things.

“Yeah, don’t call me Mr. Spiderman, please, it’s really cringey.” The spidey boy shivered and I chuckled, raising my eyebrows at him.

“Why? Aren’t you a man? Why would you call yourself Spiderman if you’re not a man?” The guy remained silent for a second before he started giggling, the voice modulator not doing a very good job at altering his voice. And for a second—but just for a second—I thought it sounded like Yunho’s giggles.

“I’m a man, well…almost a man.” Spiderman paused and I gave him a confused look, “I’m only eighteen, so not quite a man just yet.”

“You’re eighteen?!” I exclaimed, glancing back to make sure my mother wouldn’t come in like a bulldozer.

“Too old for you?” Spiderman asked with a chuckle, and I narrowed my eyes at him. I swear I can hear the smirk in his voice.

“You’re the same age as me, dipshit.” I scoffed, leaning away from the window.

“Well, that’s certainly a special way to express your gratitude to the man that’s saved you once.” I bit my bottom lip, averting my eyes from the guy that was standing outside my window.

“So, do you stalk every person you manage to save?” I instead asked, trying to dodge the fact that I should be apologising for the not so nice thing I called him.

“I’m not stalking you.” He chuckled, and then pushed himself away from the windowsill, “I’m just here to make sure you’re okay—and that you’re doing your maths homework—”

“Hey!” My eyes widened as I quickly glanced at my desk, “Were you eavesdropping too?”

“Maybe?” Spiderman sounded almost embarrassed as he scratched the back of his neck, and I narrowed my eyes at him as I scoffed.

“Well, spidey boy, as you can see, I am doing just fine.” I raised my arms and did a mocking twirl for him, then placed my hands on my hips as I gave him a deadpanned look, “Anything else that I can satisfy your creepy needs with?”

“I’m not creepy!” He exclaimed quickly, making me scoff, “Okay, fine, whatever. Coming to your window maybe wasn’t very smart, but I—uh, well, do you trust me?”

“No?” My eyebrows furrowed as I looked at him as if he were crazy. Spiderman heaved a loud and long sigh and then extended a hand towards me, through the open window. I crooked an eyebrow at him curiously.

“I want to show you something.” His voice was soft, the voice modulator failed to do its job again, and I found his voice to be—soothing, warm. I gulped, crossing my arms in front of my chest, “I promise you’re safe with me. I saved you once, and I’ll do it as many times I have to.”

“That very weirdly sounds like it could be a love confession, Spiderman.” I said mockingly, but found my legs carrying me closer towards him. I glanced down at my phone to check the clock, and was surprised to see that in half an hour it would be six, “My curfew is at six, though, because of the neighbourhood and my mother not trusting the people yadda-yadda-yadda, so, we have to be back before six.”

“Yeah, that’s totally cool!” Spiderman clapped his hands together, sounding very excited. I chuckled and threw my phone on my bed, chewing my on my bottom lip when I realized I still haven’t texted Yunho back. I shouldn’t make him wait— “Are you coming, then?”

I looked back at Spiderman and took a deep breath—I’m sure Yunho will understand why I didn’t text back right away, I mean, I’m literally about to be kidnapped by Spiderman or whatever—okay, I do hope it’s not actually a kidnapping.

“Where are we going?” I asked as I accepted his extended hand, finding his costume soft to the touch. The white stripes that created the illusion of web on his costume were rougher to the touch, and I tried not to stumble as I climbed through my window, closing it so it wouldn’t look like I had climbed through it. Not that it would matter, if my mother comes inside my room while I’m not here, she’ll call the police in milliseconds.

“It’s a surprise.” Spiderman said cheekily, and his weird black eye winked at me, making me give him a disgusted look, “What?”

“Your eyes are—freaky.” I muttered as I released his hand, patting my clothes down. I adjusted the flannel shirt around my shoulders as they threatened to slip down them.

“You’re full of surprises, Y/N—” Spiderman froze and I did too as we stood staring at each other in silence. Well, I have never told him my name before. Just like I hadn’t told Yunho where I lived when he walked me home the first time from the skatepark.

“It seems like you’re full of surprises too, Spiderman.” I pursed my lips and he cleared his throat, scratching his nape, no doubt feeling awkward.

“Anyways, let’s go.” He extended his hand once again and I chewed on my bottom lip as I weighted my options. To be fair, there’s only two outcomes to this if I leave with him right now. One, he shows me this super awesome surprise, and it’ll be a memory to hold onto. Two, he fucking murders me.

I took a tiny step forward and slipped my hand slowly in his, just now noticing how long and thin his fingers were as they were covered by the red fabric of his costume. I truly hope to God the second option I have in mind doesn’t come to fruition. I might be dead as fuck, but my mother will make sure to kill me twice!

“So, uhm, you, uh, have to hold onto me.” Spiderman was suddenly stammering all over himself, and I narrowed my eyes as I stepped a little closer, allowing this spider boy to sloth his fingers through mine, “Yeah, you have to come a lot closer, actually.”

“Does this usually work?” I asked, stepping in front of him, barely a few inches between us. Jesus Christ, this dude is super tall?! I have to crane my neck to look up at him; his height scarily reminds me of Yunho’s. Not that I have had the chance to stand this close to Yunho before, but his and Mingi’s heights can be quite intimidating at times—especially if Mingi is glaring at you, looking like he wishes your soul would perish right in front of his very eyes. Not cool, nor fun!

“What’s supposed to work?” Spiderman asked, sounding confused.

“Well, this is how you pick up girls, no?” I raised my eyebrows, and I swear to God, Spiderman sputtered for a second.

“No! I—I’ve never done this before!” A small pause, and then more stammering, “I mean—I have! Like, wait, not picking up girls—I’m not doing this to pick you up! However, the thing I’m about to do, yeah, I do it every time I have the suit on. It would be concerning if I didn’t, actually.”

“I’m confused.” I muttered, staring at Spiderman’s broad chest. Jesus, this guy is well doted, alright.

“Whatever, just—hold onto me, tightly.” My eyebrows furrowed as I looked up at Spiderman, only to find him already looking down at me. I sighed and took a second to figure out how to hold onto him while also keeping my distance, and so, I grabbed his shoulders with both hands, gripping it tightly. Spiderman didn’t move just yet, but then I felt his left arm around my middle, pulling me into his body. I tensed and tried to ignore the way my heart started beating fast, a little bit surprised by how warm spidey boy felt against my own body.

And then, without zero fucking preparation, Spiderman released—better said, shot—web from his right wrist—God, I really hope this dude doesn’t actually release these things from his body—and I followed with my eyes the trajectory of the web. And then, I gulped, mouth falling open quickly as Spiderman tested the durability of the web by tugging on it a few times, and then, he threw me a quick glance before he jumped. He jumped up and then—he never fucking made it back to the ground. We didn’t make it back to the ground! I gasped loudly as Spiderman’s arm tightened even more around my middle, our bodies swinging in the fucking air.

And to be fair, if spider boy loses his hearing, it’s not my fault. I didn’t even realize I had started shrieking as Spiderman shot another web from his wrist—ew—the one currently holding us snapping in two, falling to the ground. Consequently, we were free-falling in the air for a second, until our bodies were violently yanked forward again, Spiderman’s web finding the wall of another building. And I was still shrieking—right into his ear—to make matters better.

Spiderman’s hearing after our little escapade? Positively gone.

But hearing his quiet giggle somehow helped in making me shut up after another long minute of me screaming my ass off, heart hammering wildly against my chest. This was not fun! I wanted to go back home! I wanted to—oh, no. I instantly felt nauseous as I made the grave mistake of looking down past Spiderman’s shoulders, coming to the realization that we were up in the air—high up in the air! And I have Acrophobia! I squeaked like a helpless mouse as suddenly I started sweating profusely, fingers digging into Spiderman’s shoulders until I found my arms slipping further up, circling his neck as I clung onto him tightly, our bodies pressed together almost painfully tight. My hands shook as I forced my legs to raise and wrap around his waist, hooking them together behind his ass, squeezing the living shit out of his hips with my thighs. This wasn’t fun! I wasn’t enjoying this! I really really don’t like this surprise and I want to go home right now! On the ground! On my feet! Where it’s safe and I won’t be falling to my death—oh God, stop thinking about that right now!

“I have Acrophobia, you dipshit!” I found myself screaming over the wind blowing in our faces, the sounds of the city underneath us loud and making me squeeze my eyes shut as freaking birds started flying next to us. What the fuck!?

“Oh, fuck.” I heard Spiderman hiss to himself and I wanted to say, ‘yeah, oh fuck, you idiot!’, but I was frozen from fear, and couldn’t help but scream as the feeling of falling down returned, fingers—probably painfully—digging into the back of Spiderman’s head. I hope I yank on his baby hair strong enough to have him squirming in pain—wait, maybe that’s not so smart while we’re literally swinging around above the city and clinging onto some magic web or something! For a second, there was the feeling of free falling again, and then—nothing. The wind wasn’t blowing in our faces anymore, and we weren’t swinging left to right anymore either. Everything stood still around us, cars honking loudly underneath us, and rap music blasting from somewhere—we weren’t dead, right?!

I came to realize my breathing was ragged—now that we were stationary and I could actually think—and that my arms and hands were shaking uncontrollably, my whole body flushed against Spiderman’s as if I wished to become one with him. If that’s what keeps me alive while we swing above the city, we better morph into one person or something! I was too scared to open my eyes, and my muscles tensed even more when I felt two big hands run up and down my back.

“Hey, we’ve landed. You’re not in the air anymore, Y/N.” Spiderman spoke softly, and I felt him turn his head, but I only lowered mine and pressed it against his suited neck. I heard him release a small gasp as I gulped hard, trying to calm my nerves, and fight off a panic attack, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were scared of heights.”

“I need a second.” I found my voice as I croaked that out, trying to flex my fingers as they started cramping by how hard I was holding onto Spiderman.

“I can give you three more, if that’s what you need.” I felt Spiderman’s fingers tangle into my untamed hair as he tried to smooth down the wild strands, and I felt my cheeks flush. God, that’s embarrassing now.

“What I need—” I snapped, managing to detach myself from his neck finally, “is to kick your loser ass!”

And then I pried myself off his body and pulled my right fist back to swing it at his bicep. However, to my dismay, he didn’t even as much as flinch, only snorted, “I’ll break your nose if you laugh at me again! I literally have a phobia of heights and you go on and take me on a swing or whatever above the freaking city?! I’m going home—you’ve got to be kidding me.”

But finally taking a look around, realising the whereabouts of our location, I realized Spiderman landed us on a rooftop of a freaking tall building. I swung my fist at his chest this time, “Hey, hey, sorry, I didn’t know! Stop hitting me, Y/N, it tickles—”

“Tickles?!” I exclaimed and gave him a furious look as Spiderman awkwardly scrapped at his nape, angling his head downwards, “I just told you I almost died in your arms, and you tell me my punches tickle?!”

“No, no,” Spiderman suddenly rolled back his shoulders, clutching the bicep I’ve punched a minute ago, “your punches are so strong it could take down even Dr Octopus! I can’t feel my arm anymore.”

“Take down who?” My eyebrows furrowed as I stared at Spiderman, watching his fake act of being hurt as he clutched his arm as if it was about to fall off. Now he was just plainly mocking me.

“Nevermind—I’m sorry, I should have asked if you had a fear of heights first, before I took you here.” Spiderman mumbled as he scratched the back of his head, shuffling on his feet.

“Yeah, uhm, so, what are we doing here?” I asked as I circled my arms around my middle.

“Well, I wanted to show you the view but that’s not possible anymore.” He answered with a sigh, and he sounded quite defeated. I licked my lips and made sure to keep my eyes on the rooftop’s ground instead of looking around. I would pass out surely, and my hands are still trembling, my heart beating fast.

“Is this spot significant or something?” I mumbled as I kicked at nothing in particular.

“Yeah, when I’m stressed or worried, I come here to clear my mind.” Spiderman answered, walking to the edge of the rooftop. My heart did a somersault until I remembered literally nothing can happen to him, he sticks to things like a real spider—freaky.

“So, what’s got your stressed or worried right now?” I found myself asking as I crouched down, a little nauseated when Spiderman leaned over the edge, staring down at the bustling city underneath us. The people on the streets, the honking cars and music coming from down the street created a disturbing cacophony up here, but down there, it never sounded this messy.

“Nothing, I just wished to show you this place.”

“Why?” I asked as I looked up, finding him already looking at me. His eyes blinked, a feature of his mask I wished he didn’t have. It was weird, I didn’t like it.

“No particular reason.” Spiderman answered after he cleared his throat, however it didn’t sound sincere. He averted his eyes as he turned around and sat down on the ledge, swinging his legs over. I inhaled sharply, palms balling up into fists at his actions. I had to remind himself that he literally can’t die even if the wind pushes him over. Me—on the other hand—can and would one hundred percent die. And so, I found myself on my knees and hands as I slowly crawled towards him, trying to regulate my breaths as my heart started hammering in my chest again. As Spiderman heard movement, he tuned his head abruptly.

“What are you doing?” He sounded amused as he asked, looking down at me with his freaky blinking black mask eyes.

“I’m joining you without actually joining you.” I muttered as I reached the ledge, thankfully the brick wall reached up to one’s waist and I couldn’t see down as I sat down, turning my back to the ledge, and leaning against the cold structure. Spiderman’s eyes remained on me as I hugged my knees to my chest before I looked up at him, “Well, I’m sure the view is pretty.”

“Yeah, it is.” He whispered; eyes boring into mine. I gulped, something stirring in my stomach. I seriously am not about to develop a stupid crush on Spiderman too, right?! That would be freaking embarrassing. I already have a crush on Yunho and it’s more than enough—in fact, it’s fucking mortifying, because how am I supposed to act normal when I’m around him, and all I want to do is get lost in his beautiful chocolate brown eyes and listen to his soft voice all day long while demanding him to engulf me in his warm arms, swallow me up against his broad chest?! I have to stop thinking about Yunho right now—or whenever I feel my mind slipping into delusion land.

“So, Spiderman, what’s your story?” I raised my eyebrows at him, chuckling as Yunho came to mind again despite my efforts, “I have a friend who’s in love with you—”

“He’s not—” Spiderman cleared his throat, patting his chest, “Sorry, you were saying?”

“Right,” I narrowed my eyes at the guy and he swiftly turned his head away, looking down at the city, “so, I have this friend who really likes you—even has a Spiderman phone case—and I’m just curious to hear your story. You know, from someone who’s not a die-hard fan and sugarcoats things.”

“There’s no big story, to be honest.” Spiderman shrugged, fiddling with his fingers in his lap—Yunho often does that when he’s nervous, “I try to keep the order in the city and help the innocent, and those in need. It took the police some time until they started trusting me and liking me, but things aren’t as chaotic as they were before.”

“But, wait.” My eyebrows furrowed as I crossed my arms in front of my chest, “If you’re eighteen now, for how long have you been Spiderman? Assuming that you weren’t born like this…?”

“It’s almost scary how much you know about me.” Spiderman teased and I huffed, rolling my eyes, “I’ve been Spiderman ever since I turned sixteen.”

“Wow.” I muttered, looking back up at the guy. He’s been putting his life on the line for two years now, that’s really selfless. Perhaps I can see why Yunho admires him so much, “Are you ever scared? That you’ll get really hurt or something. Does anyone know your real identity?”

“Yes, I do get scared, and yes, the guy who I grew up with knows about my identity.” The guy answered, placing his hands on both sides of his thighs as he started swinging his legs, “I can’t tell many people though, and that was really hard at the beginning. I hate lying, can’t lie well either if I’m being honest, and it just feels wrong to keep secrets from the people closest to me. However, it ensures their safety, so, at the same time I don’t mind keeping it from them.”

“For an eighteen-year-old dude,” I chuckled, leaning my head back against the brick wall, “you are quite mature.”

“Well, when you chase and fight criminals daily, you are forced to mature early.”

“Did you want to become like this? Turn into Spiderman?”

“No, my high-school was visiting a lab and a spider that was genetically mutated bit me.” Spiderman’s voice was quiet, and he sighed loudly soon after, “In case you’re wondering, I don’t regret it. I love being Spiderman even if at times I have to bring sacrifices.”

“Yeah, that’s unpleasant.” I muttered, resting my chin on my knees. I knew what it meant to bring sacrifices for those you loved, and it almost always wasn’t by your choice, but something you just had to do. Ugh, not me suddenly turning bitter and nostalgic. Spiderman coughed shortly, and I felt fingers in my hair. I tensed for a second, but then his long fingers were out of my hair the following second.

“You had a bug in your hair.” Spiderman explained and I hummed, turning my head to rest my right cheek on my knees so that I could look up at him, “What about you, Y/N, what’s your story?”

I chuckled, averting my eyes as I pursed my lips, “It’s not as noble as yours, that’s for sure, spidey boy.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Well, there’s just my mom and I around, and we’ve moved to the city two weeks ago.” I sighed, closing my eyes as the evening breeze picked up, it wasn’t warm, but at least it wasn’t too cold just yet, “My father abandoned us a month before I was born, so my mom raised me up all alone with her mother’s help sometimes. She had her fair share of questionable partners, but they were never as evil as her last ex-fiancé.

“The guy was a criminal, he murdered three people and then tried to blame it on being so crazily in love with my mother that he wasn’t completely sane anymore. It was fucking comical; I hate that piece of shit. He’s threatened me numerous times and would throw me around the house when mom wasn’t around, saying how I’d end up six feet under if I didn’t keep my mouth shut about it.

“He never liked me for some reason, always claimed my mom focused more on me than on him—the fucking idiot. He has hit me a few times, and once my mother finally noticed, she tried to leave him, but he threatened to kill us. It was crazy, absolute madness, trying to get away from him—until the police came knocking on our door one night, claiming that they were there to arrest my mom’s ex for murder. The whole town was freaking shook, us included.”

Well, and that’s on trauma dumping, I guess. But he asked, after all, and I just told Mr. Spidey my story. It felt nice letting someone know about my past, however, it didn’t exactly feel right that I said all that to a stranger. I always thought Yunho would be the first person to find out about the whole story behind our recent move.

I gulped, feeling slightly guilty for having told all that to Spiderman, and I jumped when I felt fingers touching my cheek. I blinked my eyes open, finding Spiderman on his knees as he was leaned over, down towards me, fingers gently pressing against my cheek, “Nothing like that will ever again happen to you, Y/N, I promise. As long as I live, I promise to protect you.”

My eyebrows furrowed as I raised my head up from my knees, Spiderman’s warm hand cupping my face, “You don’t even know me, Spiderman.”

“I know enough.” He whispered and I gulped, heart beating fast as we gazed into each other’s eyes, his black mask unblinking for once. My lips parted and I shivered as the breeze turned stronger, Spiderman’s thumb gently rubbing my chin. It felt like I couldn’t look away, like the gap was slowly closing between us—until an alarm went off blaring, making both of us jump. Spiderman was up on his feet in a second, looking down at his wrist watch.

“Well, your curfew starts in ten minutes.” His voice was a little hoarse and he quickly cleared his throat, “We should head back if we don’t want your mom freaking out.”

“I’m not swinging around in your arms above the city again, Spidey!” I snapped, giving him a pointed glare as he jumped off the ledge, crouching down in front of me.

“The closest station is a five-minute walk away from here and the bus won’t come for another ten minutes. If I count correctly, that’s past your curfew, and there’s no direct bus to your neighbourhood from here.” Spiderman sounded smug as I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Where even are we?”

“The east end of the city—”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut. That’s a fourteen-minute ride by bus! My mom is so going to kill me tonight.

“Just hold on tight, and I promise not to drop you—”

“That’s not funny!” I snapped as I shakily stood, glaring at Spiderman. But he just chuckled, clearly amused.

“You were like a koala when we came here, it was cute.”

“Shut up.” I grumbled, trying to ignore the way my cheeks flushed when Spiderman opened his arms for me. This is the first and last time he carries me around the city like this.

            Spiderman didn’t show up again at my window to whisk me away for a—swing? —maybe he was just too embarrassed to show his face again. Well, masked face. Admittedly, there’s been only three days since I was visited by the superhero, randomly on a Tuesday afternoon, and trust for me to brag all about it to Yunho. Not that I was mocking him—maybe a little bit—about getting to meet his superhero in person before he did, it’s just that it was funny seeing his reactions as I retold everything to him. He seemed to be even more excited when he heard it in person, as I had called him the second I got home from the outing. Now, school was finally over and I could go home and sleep. The city was buzzing with life last night and the police raided our street around midnight, talk about a man having escaped form an asylum spread around fast. Apparently, the man had been hiding in the basement of one of my neighbour’s houses’. Creepy. Spiderman, surprisingly, didn’t show up, but I suppose it wasn’t necessarily an emergency as it wasn’t a very dangerous person. Besides, I think Spiderman also needs his beauty sleep—like us, mere mortals do.

I stretched as we walked through the gates of the high-school, greeting the groundkeeper as he shot us a look since San was cackling loudly as he watched a video on his phone, volume cranked up to the maximum. Mingi had his arm thrown around Yunho’s shoulders, lips pursed as he watched some younger girls run past them while giggling and shooting them stares.

“Do you think Bomi will finally ask me out?” Mingi mused quietly, turning his head to stare at the long-haired girl that had just passed by with her friends.

“Don’t know, have you finally spoken to each other?” Yunho raised his eyebrows at his best friend, expertly grabbing the strap of my backpack as he halted my steps, yanking me backwards and out of the way of a speeding bike.

“Jesus.” I hissed, clutching my skateboard to my chest, “What an idiot—”

“Hey, watch it, you!” San shouted after the guy, who was already at the end of the street, “You could run over someone!”

“Nice reflexes.” Mingi teased, and detached himself from his friend at last. I gulped and turned to thank Yunho; my cheeks flushed pink. Well, that was embarrassing, but it could’ve ended a lot worse.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.” Yunho’s smile was soft and warm, and I gulped, averting my eyes quickly. But fucking hell, Mingi and I made eye contact, and he narrowed his eyes at me. That dude is onto something and I don’t like how easily he can see right through me.

“We haven’t spoken to each other yet…” Mingi casually continued the conversation he was having with Yunho, deep voice trailing off.

San chuckled amused, finally stopping the video on his phone as he raised his head, “Well, then, what are you expecting? She won’t ask you out if you don’t talk to her—wait, why are you sure she’s into you? She could be into me, or even Yunho.”

I pursed my lips, totally not feeling jealous over the fact that other living people could have a crush on Yunho! And let’s be real, who the hell wouldn’t have a crush on freaking Yunho?! He’s basically—perfect!

“You underestimate my awesomeness, San.” Mingi huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest, “And she’s not into you, you’re too short.”

“Hey, I’m not short!” San exclaimed offended, then looked at me with round eyes, “I’m not short, right?!”

“Of course not.” I chuckled, smiling at him, “It’s Mingi who’s too tall.”

“Says the midget.” Mingi scoffed, throwing me a glare. Will this dude ever like me?

“Okay, let’s stop shaming each other for our heights—or anything else, actually.” Yunho, always the peacemaker, grinned as he squeezed Mingi’s shoulder once, and then draped his long arm around my own shoulders, making my heart somersault in my chest.

“We’ll talk about this more later,” San said, eyes narrowed, “I have to catch my bus now, see ya!”

And with a wave, he ran off, totally in the complete opposite of where his bus stop was. I watched on as he caught up with a guy from our class, I have finally learned his name—Jung Wooyoung—and the two hugged briefly as San grabbed the guy’s arm and started yanking him towards the metro station. Yeah, they certainly weren’t headed home.

“Are you coming over?” I focused back on the two tall best friends, Mingi’s voice quiet as he looked at Yunho. I knew the offer didn’t stand for me as well, Mingi would never invite me over to his place.

“Not today.” Yunho had an apologetic look on his face, and then he squeezed my shoulder, “I’ve got something else to do.”

“Asshole,” Mingi whispered with a pout as a black car pulled up next to us, “see you two tomorrow, then.”

“Stop being so dramatic, you know I love you.” Yunho managed to ruffle Mingi’s hair before he got in the car, making Mingi scoff as a smile blossomed on his face.

“Yeah, whatever, love you too.” And then he opened the door and sat inside, but he didn’t close the door until the threw me a look that made me gulp. What did I do to make this guy dislike me so much?! At this point, I have given up, there’s no point in trying to decipher the riddle that Song Mingi is.

Suddenly, super aware that Yunho and I were alone now as the black car drove off, I gulped and clutched my skateboard just a little tighter. I took a peek at Yunho, and he was already looking down at me with a small smile, “So, do you want to go home right away?”

“Depends, why?” I asked quietly, praying to God my face wouldn’t turn into a tomato as Yunho slightly leaned down, closer to my face.

“There’s a really nice park not even ten minutes away from here, wanna go?” Of course, I want to go, Jeong Yunho.

“Sure.” I nodded, smiling back at him, face burning. Great, only a blind man would be oblivious to the fat-ass crush I have on Yunho at this point! It’s so embarrassing, but I can’t help it when he looks so—cute!

“See that convenience store there?” He turned his head and pointed at the store, which was just down the road. I nodded, and looked at him with a questioning gaze, “Race you there!”

And before I could fully register what he said, Yunho released me and took off in a sprint towards the convenience store. My mouth opened in surprise and I blinked, finally somehow realizing we were competing to see who gets there first. But with Yunho having a head start, I grinned and dropped my skateboard onto the ground. I quickly pushed off and gained more speed as I manoeuvred between the people on the sidewalk, grinning from ear to ear as I started gaining on Yunho. He’s really fast, but it shouldn’t be so surprising as I have seen him in P.E. class already, and he’s one of the best athletes I know. He’s agile and super-fast, he has good reflexes, and is a total team player. The guys love picking him in their team when they are playing football. I giggled as I came up just behind Yunho, pushing harder as my foot hit the pavement, the wind whipping my hair in my face for a second as the store came into view. We were almost there. I did an ollie to jump over the top of a drain, managing to come up a little ahead of Yunho. I laughed as I rolled forward, just barely making it to the convenience store first. I did a small spin and then set my foot down, coming to a stop as Yunho reached me. He was breathing hard as he leaned over, placing his hands on his knees. I grinned at him, and gripped the foot of my skateboard, reaching out to ruffle his fluffy greyish-greenish-blueish hair. I have never done that before, and for a second, I panicked, but Yunho didn’t react badly to my action, he just smiled and shook his head.

“I didn’t think I’d lose.” He said with a laugh and then stood up straight, running his long fingers through his hair. He wore more rings today, and one looked suspiciously like a ring I have seen Mingi wear before.

“You can’t win at everything, Yunho.” I stuck my tongue out playfully before I turned to walk inside the convenience store, “I’ve never met a more competitive person than you are.”

“Sorry, I can’t help it,” Yunho chuckled as he followed closely behind me, looking at the shelves as we went down the snack aisle, “But you can’t say it wasn’t fun.”

“It was.” I looked over my shoulder with a grin as Yunho grabbed some potato chips off a high shelf, “But next time give me a warning, I only got lucky because I had my skateboard with me. You didn’t play fairly.”

Yunho chuckled and I grabbed some salty crackers, “Sometimes we need the element of surprise, Y/N, in order to excel.”

“Aha, so now you’re saying you knew I would win if you didn’t warn me first?” I raised an eyebrow at him, making Yunho chuckle as he grabbed my shoulder and veered me towards the fridges in the back.

“I knew you’d win.” He muttered and I tried not to blush—again—as I opened the fridge and grabbed some Sprite, while Yunho grabbed a larger bottle of water, leaning over me to retrieve it and—yeah, I tried not to pass out as I felt his breath hit the top of my head, his warmth radiating off him due to our closeness. However, the moment was over as quickly as it came.

Thankfully, I still had the money my mother gave me last week, otherwise it’d be really embarrassing to have Yunho buy something for me again. Well, technically, last time neither one of us paid for it at Hongjoong’s store, but still. I didn’t want him paying for my things, I’d feel like I owe it to him now.

We approached the front desk and the clerk looked very bored and done with us as he gave us a glare—similar to Mingi’s, and it made snort quietly—as he scanned our items. I had pulled the money out of the front pocket of my backpack as the clerk told us our total, and I was totally handing him the amount I had to pay for, when Yunho pushed my wrist to the side and placed the whole sum on the counter. I opened my mouth to clearly argue with him, but he grabbed our items and grinned so widely I feared it would be the reason why I’d go blind—and not from the fact that I’ve been trying to look into the sun for ages now without squinting my eyes, not too smart, but I never claimed to be smart. I muttered a goodbye to the clerk as Yunho pushed the door open for me and stepped outside to make enough space for me to pass through the narrow doorway.

“Let me carry my things.” I said as the door closed behind us, but Yunho just shook his head.

“You have to carry your skateboard, don’t fret about it.” My eyebrows furrowed as he took off towards the park he had mention, I could see it from here. It was just a little up ahead of us, to the right, between three buildings.

“I’ll give you my part of the sum when we have sat down.” I said as I tried to keep up with his long strides—damn his long legs, God has favourites, and as much as Yunho is one of his favourites, I certainly am not.

“Nah, you don’t have to.” Yunho grinned, and I noticed a gummy worm hanging out from the corner of his mouth.

“Yes, I do.” I huffed, walking towards the gate of the park, “And where’d you get that gummy from?”

“From here.” And he pointed at the pocket of his suit jacket—who the hell wears a suit jacket to school, good lord it’s so hot when Yunho wears it, I seriously had trouble focusing all day long because of it. I reached my hand out and stole a gummy worm from his pocket, giggling as I made disgusting slurping noises as I put it in my mouth, and sucked it in in one go. Yunho’s eyebrows raised before he burst out into deep giggles, throwing his head back a little—and I choked, almost. I coughed as the gummy worm almost managed to slip down my throat, but I saved it somehow last minute. Eating gummy worms around Jeong Yunho is dangerous, noted.

“Why was that kind of cute?” Yunho asked with a chuckle as he chose a spot to sit, underneath a tall tree, offering us enough shade from the, now, not so hot sun. I placed my skateboard down, and followed Yunho as he plopped down, the sound of his butt colliding with the grass making me snort. He looked up at me with a pout and then grabbed my arm and pulled me down, almost making me fall into his freaking lap. It didn’t even take a second for my cheeks to turn pink, and I threw Yunho a small glare as I regained my balance and sat down next to him, mirroring his position. Our backs were leaning against the tree, legs splayed out long in front of us as I took my crackers and Sprite from Yunho.

“What was cute?” I asked as I opened the bag of crackers, desperate to wash away the extra sweet taste that remained in my mouth due to the gummy worm.

“You,” Yunho muttered, opening his water bottle, “and the sound you made. You’re funny.”

“I didn’t think you’d find me acting like an Ogre cute, but thank you, I guess.” My comment made Yunho laugh hard again as he threw his head back, prompting me to giggle along. His laughter was contagious, and I realized my stomach was coiling tightly—and not due to the sweets and unhealthy food I have digested so far today. It was because of Yunho, and because all I want to do right now is to lean up and press a kiss against his cheek. God dammit.

“You’d make a cute Ogre.” Yunho mused once he had calmed down, then took a sip of his water.

“Please,” I playfully rolled my eyes, popping another salty cracker into my mouth, “you’d be totally into the green swamp monster I’d turn into. Fiona’s got nothing on me.”

“Not the way I thought you’d find this out about me, but—” Yunho paused for dramatic effect, and I raised my eyebrows at him, “I’m totally into Fiona, have been since I was little.”

“Oh, my God!” I cackled, shielding my mouth with my hand as I still haven’t chewed all the crackers, “Yunho! That’s just—you have to explain yourself now!”

“Why, don’t tell me you never had a crush on a fictional character!?” Yunho exclaimed, sounding exasperated as he bumped his shoulder against mine. I licked my lips and tried not to burst out laughing at the memory of who I’ve always had a crush on when I was younger.

“Okay…” I took a deep breath and turned my head to face Yunho, “Have you ever heard about the cartoon ‘W.I.T.C.H.’?”

“Yeah, Hongjoong really liked it while we were growing up,” Yunho said with a chuckle, “He’d make us watch it every evening when they played it on the TV, I think he was into Cornelia.”

“Well, Cornelia is a good, and hot, choice to have a crush on, indeed.” I pursed my lips and offered my bag of crackers to Yunho, who took one with a small grin, “I mean, I was totally into Caleb, but—”

“Really? Caleb?” Yunho asked surprised, narrowing his eyes, “I thought you’re more of a Matt girl.”

“Well, I’m actual neither a Caleb nor Matt girl, Yunho.” I giggled, leaning in closer as if I was telling a secret, “You see, I always found myself blushing a little bit too hard when Lord Cedric was on the screen—”

“No way!” Yunho exclaimed, eyes turning round as he looked shocked, “The snake guy?!”

“Well, don’t look at me like that after admitting you’re into Fiona!” I exclaimed back with a laugh, making Yunho look at me like I was crazy.

“Fiona was a princess who decided to turn into an Ogre to stay with the love of her life, meanwhile, Lord Cedric was obsessed with his king, he could into a snake, and he once ate someone, Y/N!” I bit my bottom lip, trying not to laugh at how passionate Yunho was all of a sudden.

“Each to its own, I guess.” I said nonchalantly with a shrug, making Yunho’s initial shock turn into amusement as he started laughing once again. I’ve never heard him laugh so much before, and I found myself smiling at him as his ears turned slightly rosy, eyes screwed shut as his shoulders shook from laughter. He looked completely and absolutely beautiful, and my heart was hammering against my ribcage, threating to fall out of my ass at any given moment. Oh, God, I’m so screwed.

“I swear to God, you and Mingi are cut from the same cloth. He’s also into weird humanlike creatures or something.” Yunho said once he had calmed down, and I quickly turned my head away when he looked at me, feeling like he caught me staring and admiring him.

“Not you shaming both Mingi and I for having silly childhood crushes.” I said with a pout, throwing a cracker into my mouth.

“Mingi still crushes on characters like those, though.” I chuckled, glancing at Yunho from the corner of my eyes, finding him looking at me with a small smile on his lips, cheeks flushed. God, he’s not blushing, right?! Why would he blush, it must be the sun. Yup, certainly the sun!

“I’ll tell him you made fun of him behind his back.” I teased as Yunho grabbed a cracker, leaning his head back against the tree.

“I fear it won’t phase him; San makes fun of him daily for it.” Yunho said, sounding amused. I chuckled and copied Yunho as I leaned my head back against the tree too, suddenly becoming aware of how close we were sitting next to each other. Our shoulders and thighs were pressed together, and Yunho’s elbow was softly poking into my stomach. I bit my lower lip and allowed the comfortable silence to settle upon us, watching the people that passed by the park. The traffic wasn’t so bad here, and there was a bus stop straight across the park. A sports car, with a super loud engine drove past, the sound making me wince for a second. And as I watched a mother with her two children open the gate of the park, I felt a hand in my hair, fingers twirling a longer strand. My heart stilled for a second, knowing well that it was Yunho, and I took a peek at him.

“Oh,” He suddenly retracted his hand, looking away embarrassed, “sorry, there was uh—something in your hair. A bug.”

Funny, Spiderman did that too.

“Thanks.” I offered him a small smile and watched as he scratched the back of his head awkwardly, funny how that now reminded me of Spiderman too, “I hate bugs.”

“I’m not afraid of them.” Yunho said as he finally looked me in the eyes, his ears, however, still slightly red.

“Aren’t you a cool guy, Jeong Yunho?” I winked playfully and Yunho chuckled before we became silent again. I popped another cracker into my mouth and then offered the bag to Yunho, who took some more, and funnily stuffed his mouth full of them. I chuckled and proceeded to eat some more too, placing my left hand on my thigh as I tried to enjoy this peaceful moment. I’ve never had this back in my hometown. I didn’t have many people to hang out with, and the ones I did hang out with were always the bad type of kids, kids who wanted to break the rules and bother others. It was nice to finally embrace the tranquillity, and just simply exist without ruining others fun. Many people didn’t like me back in my hometown due to me associating myself with those rascals.

Lost in my thoughts, I failed to notice that something was softly poking my hand, the feeling just barely there, like the ghost of a touch. I watched the two children play around, climb into the smaller trees and wave at their mother as they laughed. When the light touch became more insistent, I flipped my hand around, thinking it was just an ant or something that I could flick away, but instead, I felt warm fingertips just barely trace the lines of my palm. I gulped and tried not to tense up as I looked down, eyes falling on Yunho’s hand as his long fingers pushed a little more decisively against my palm. I blinked and looked up at Yunho, but he was looking down at our hands, lips parted as if he was in a trance. I was curious—I had to know—so without thinking much, I gently intertwined our fingers, and waited. For something to happen, anything. But other than a tiny smile appearing on Yunho’s lips and his grip turning slightly firmer, nothing happened. Well, nothing besides the frightening feeling of my heart exploding out of my chest, and my cheeks burning so much you could probably fry a steak on it or something. I didn’t know where to put this exactly, what to think of it, but the seemingly trance Yunho was in, was broken the second loud sirens rung and police cars were suddenly wheezing down the street, the loud noise disturbing the tranquil atmosphere that had settled around us. Yunho became instantly tense as his head snapped up, eyes focused up ahead as he untangled his hand from mine, grabbing his backpack. I watched him curiously as he took his phone and opened it up, eyebrows furrowing deeply.

“I—I, uh, I have to go.” My eyebrows furrowed as I watched Yunho scramble up, leaving his water and potato chips on the ground, “My mom just texted me; something came up—I have to go.”

“Is everything alright?” I asked worried, watching Yunho bounce on his feet as he looked one second away from sprinting off.

“Yeah, it’s—everything’s okay, I just really have to go right now.” He finally looked at me, chewing on his bottom lip, looking like he was hesitating, “Don’t wait for me, your bus will come in ten minutes. Get home safely, text me when you do.”

“Oh, okay, uhm, you take care too.” But Yunho ran off before I could even finish my sentence, and I watched impressed as he jumped over the fence—which wasn’t very tall, but I wouldn’t have been able to do that surely—and then he was sprinting down the sidewalk, apologising to people as he had to push them out of his way.

Huh, that was weird and another interesting coincidence. I couldn’t help but think back to Mingi mentioning Yunho’s disappearances whenever something major and bad was happening in the city. Certainly, they were mere coincidences.

            But Yunho never quite texted back yesterday, and it would be a lie if I say I didn’t worry about him. His departure from the park was sudden, and his absence conjured up all sorts of thoughts in my mind. It was strange and very unlike Yunho. When I was on the bus, headed to school and completely sleepy and almost out of it, I was scrolling through Tik Tok, trying to awaken myself a little bit after I have texted San to inquire information about Yunho. He reassured me that there were days when Yunho would go low on contact, but he was completely fine, and that usually he spent his time with family when he wouldn’t text back. I could understand that, but it still worried me. Just as I was about to exit the app, I came across a crappy video on my for your page that depicted many police cars and even more officers as they had someone surrounded. And then, the superhero, the one that always saves the day around here, Spiderman swooped in and all you could see was his web flying around, and a man getting strapped to a pole until a gunshot rang out followed by a loud cry of pain, and then the video cut off. My eyebrows furrowed as I let it replay again, chewing on my bottom lip nervously. Who got hurt? You couldn’t see it in the video, and I couldn’t help but think that it was Spiderman. Without thinking much, I sent the video to San and asked if he knew anything. The reply, unsurprisingly, came fast, and he said that Spiderman got injured yesterday as one of the criminal’s managed to escape. He got shot in his left leg. I cringed at the thought, and then put my phone away having arrived to the high-school. I certainly wasn’t in the mood nor headspace to attend any of my classes today, but at least I’d get to see Yunho, and make sure that he’s okay.

Except that, very uncharacteristically to Yunho, he showed up a little late to our first class, and he even looked quite dishevelled with dark bags under his eyes. He looked like he didn’t have a good night’s sleep and—I almost failed to notice the slight limp he had in his left leg. Huh, I wonder if anything happened, or have I started seeing things now? However, I didn’t get many chances to ask Yunho about it as he seemed to be always busy talking to our teachers, or to everyone else in the hallways, barely paying attention to San, Mingi, or even me. It was strange, but San said it was completely normal behaviour coming from Yunho, and that he’d do this from time to time when he felt pressured. Apparently, Yunho rarely opens up to his best friends as he hates bothering others with his issues. But I wanted to know what was bothering him. He wouldn’t be a bother to me. But I couldn’t do that as he only sat for us for five minutes in the canteen during our lunch break, and then rushed off saying he had something to take care of. But after that, he never returned to classes. My texts also went unanswered, and by the evening, I was positively nervous and stressed out of my mind by the fact that I didn’t know what was wrong. I even debated on asking San for Yunho’s home address to pay him a quick visit in order to make sure that he was indeed okay. Even my mom noticed how absentminded and worried I was during dinner, but didn’t pester me much when I lied that the teachers were stressing me out with upcoming tests—which maybe wasn’t too smart as she told me I should study even more. Ugh.

Currently, we have finished having dinner and I have tied the trash bag together to take the trash out. I slipped on my outdoor shoes swiftly and unlocked the front door, my mom’s series playing loudly in the living room as she giggled at whatever was said. The air was chilly outside and the single long-sleeved blouse and joggers I was wearing did an awful job at keeping me warm, so, I quickly skipped down the stairs and went to the small alley between our house and the building. That’s where the big trash bins were, by the tall fence. It was dark outside, so I tried to be quick as I dragged the trash bag after me, shivering due to the cold. I huffed loudly, smog leaving my mouth, as I rounded the corner and gave the short alleyway a quick check that it was empty before I hurried down, opening the big trash bin. I threw the bag inside and let it shut loudly afterwards. I rubbed my arms up and down as I turned around and walked back down the alleyway, gasping loudly as a silhouette appeared right around the corner. It was hunched over slightly and breathing loudly, groaning too. God, I fucking hate this neighbourhood, why do I always have to encounter random drunk people or even worse—criminals!? But I really had to head back inside the house—climbing through my window wasn’t an option as it was locked—and I willed myself to just run past them and back inside the safety of my house. However, just as I made it under the streetlamp, I paused. The red and blue suit was torn at the chest, and Spiderman seemed to be struggling to stand up straight.

“Oh, my God!” I whispered, approaching him, “What happened to you?!”

“Oh, Y/N.” He muttered, groaning again as he tried to stand up tall.

“Stop that,” I hissed, eyebrows furrowing as I tried to inspect his wound, but it wasn’t visible through the gash on the suit, “Come on.”

Spiderman only resisted for a second as I placed his arm around my shoulders, offering him support as he leaned against my much smaller frame. He was heavy, but I was determined, and the front porch was barely a few steps away, “What are you doing?”

“Taking you inside my house, think you can keep quiet until we reach my room?” I looked up at Spiderman, who gulped as we reached the front steps.

“Yeah.” He whispered and I let out a small sigh, taking one step at a time as we ascended the stairs. I pushed the door open carefully and walked us inside, pausing in the hallway to make sure my mother was still in the living room, watching her series. I looked at Spiderman and signalled to him to remain quiet as I lead us down the hallway, headed for my room. I opened the door and helped him towards my bed, on which he fell down quite unceremoniously, groaning loudly.

“Okay, you still have to keep quiet.” I said with a frown, glancing behind me, “I’ll be back in a second with a medical kit.”

Spiderman nodded and I swiftly left my room, pulling the door shut until it was only slightly ajar, and sneaked back down the hallway. I opened the front door again and closed it louder, locking it up, “Mom, I’m going to bed now! I’m really sleepy.”

“Alright, sweet dreams, honey.” She threw a flying kiss my way as she glanced back and I smiled, catching it playfully before I was off, headed for the bathroom. I took the medical kit from underneath the small cupboard we had in there, and then I was back inside my room, closing and locking the door after myself.

“Alright,” I whispered, looking at Spiderman and trying not to panic as I noticed blood seeping through his suit, “how do we do this?”

“Uh,” He groaned again, sitting up lightly, “you can patch me up through the costume.”

“I can?” I muttered confused as I walked closer, placing the kit down by the bed as I crouched down. I leaned closer to his chest and carefully touched the costume, not too surprised to find it not peeling off his body, “I can’t, Spiderman, the costume literally clings to your body.”

“Oh, that’s not good.” He mused, scratching his nape, “I have to take it off, then.”

“Oh—like—the whole costume?” My voice was squeaky all of a sudden, and I averted my eyes as I felt myself blush lightly.

“Uh, yeah.” Spiderman whispered and I gulped, trying not to freak out. Yeah, this is cool and totally okay, nothing too sensational. I’m just helping a wounded guy, no biggie, it’s not like I’m going to see him naked! He must have underwear on, right?!

“I think I accidentally took some of my mom’s exe’s clothes with me when I was packing, let me check.” And I stood up and hurried over to my closet, finding the sweatpants and t-shirt that I had in mind.

“Great.” Spiderman grumbled and I rolled my eyes.

“Hey, you don’t get to be picky when you’re about to bleed out on my bed!” I hissed, trying to control my tone and not raise my voice out of fear of alerting my mom.

“Right, sorry.” Spiderman muttered and I approached him again.

“How do we take the suit off?” I asked, eyebrows furrowed. I’ve never seen something like this before, so I have no idea what superheroes do in this case.

“There’s a zipper on the back.” He explained and I nodded, going to the side of the bed to be able to see Spiderman’s back.

“Will—will the mask come off too?” I asked in a whisper as I hesitated to touch the zipper.

“No, don’t worry.” Spiderman answered and I huffed, gripping the zipper and carefully undoing it. It went all the way down to his lower back, and I blinked a few times as I tried to ignore the smooth skin underneath the suit.

“Uh, right, I assume you can undress yourself the rest of the way?” I asked as I stepped back, averting my eyes as my cheeks were burning.

“Yeah, one second.” Spiderman huffed and he carefully stood, groaning quietly. I closed my eyes and shrivelled around, not too keen of staring at him while he changes out of his costume. I might see something I don’t want to, and that’s not cool. I listened closely as he shuffled around, groaned a few times, and then plopped back down on the bed, “Okay, I have changed.”

“Great—” I gasped as my eyes fell on his exposed torso, eyes widening at the big gash running across his chest, “Shouldn’t you be in the hospital right now?!”

Spiderman chuckled, and my eyebrows furrowed more as I went back to my previous position in front of him. I kneeled and took the medical kit, opening it up.

“If we clean the wound, it’ll take around two to three hours to heal by itself.” He said, tone reassuring as I grabbed some gauze and rubbing alcohol, “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

“So, then, did you get shot yesterday?” I asked, pouring rubbing alcohol on the gauze before I looked up, “I saw the videos.”

The sight of having Spiderman in nothing but sweatpants and his mask, sitting on my is bed certainly—a sight to behold. Perhaps if he wasn’t hurt at the moment, I’d be gaping at his well-defined physique, his lean muscles, the faint abs on his stomach, his wide shoulder and broad chest—focus, woman!

“Yeah, I did get shot.” Spiderman said, and I hoped he’d ignore the way I tried not to thirst over his body. I’m such a horrible person right now, kill me.

“This will hurt, I assume.” I warned as I leaned up and gently pressed the gauze against the edge of the gash, making Spiderman hiss, “Sorry, I did warn you though.”

“I know, don’t worry.” He chuckled and I noticed his hands balling up the blanket as he gulped loudly the lower my hand slipped on the gash, trying to clean the wound as carefully but thoroughly as possible.

“Is your leg fine, then?” I asked, trying to avert his attention from the pain. Spiderman hummed, low in his chest, almost rumbling under my touch. I gulped and tried to focus—this is so not the moment to even think to fantasize about this superhero dude!

“It’s a bit still sore, the bullet went in deep, but it healed up by noon.” He explained and I hummed, for some reason finding it weird that Yunho seemed to be limping this morning, and that he disappeared around noon. Certainly, I was playing along to Mingi’s delusions and suspicions about Yunho at this point, and I don’t even spend that much time with Mingi. It’s ridiculous. How could Yunho be Spiderman? But then again…is it really that unbelievable? It could be anyone, for God’s sake, even me! Well, obviously not me, but you know what I mean!

“I’m glad that’s healed.” I muttered, getting to the other end of the gash finally, “Are you sure this one doesn’t need stitches, it looks to be deep, Mr. Spidey.”

Spiderman chuckled, and I felt his hand wrap around my wrist as I dabbed the gauze against the wound again. I froze, eyes widening a little at the familiarity of the touch. Yunho’s hands are always warm and quite big, his fingers long. I bit my bottom lip as I looked down at Spiderman’s hand, noticing the marks that looked like they were left by rings. Yunho would also have marks left by rings on his fingers on days he didn’t feel like wearing them. I gulped and then looked up; Spiderman’s freaky black masked eyes unblinking as he looked down at me.

“It won’t need stitches, Y/N.” He whispered, and a tingle ran down my spine, making me gulp down nothing in particular, having to clear my throat as I averted my eyes, gently pulling my hand back. Spiderman released his grip on me instantly and followed me with his eyes as I threw the bloody gauze back inside the medical kit until I’d throw it away. I then stood, rubbing my hands together as I didn’t know what to do next.

“I, uh—is that enough?” I asked, motioning towards the clean gash now, averting my eyes from his torso when they threatened to run all over it again.

“Yes, thank you.” Spiderman muttered, and I could hear the smile in his voice, “You’re an angel.”

Oh, fuck. My cheeks flushed instantly and I pulled my hair behind my ears as I cleared my throat again, looking past Spiderman, at my poster covered wall, “Right, yeah, uh—do you need anything else?”

“A little time to recover would be nice if I’m not bothering you too much.” Spiderman said, voice sounding hopeful.

“It’s fine, my mom won’t bother us as she thinks I’ve gone to bed.” I explained, placing my hands behind my back awkwardly, “Uhm, you said it takes two to three hours to heal, do you think this one will heal that fast if the wound made by the gun didn’t?”

Spiderman shrugged, and I watched as he finally took the white t-shirt I have given him in his hands, “It’ll certainly take longer than that, sometime around the early morning hours I should be fine.”

“Then stay.” I blurted out before I could actually think about what I was proposing. Spiderman froze for a second as he was about to wear the t-shirt, “I mean, you’re hurt and it’s dangerous outside, even Spiderman deserves to rest and be safe, no?”

He poked his masked head through the t-shirt, “Well, yes, but—”

“Then sleep here.” I motioned at the bed he was sitting on, “I will go to my mom and tell her I had a really bad nightmare, and that I wish to sleep next to her.”

“I don’t want to bother you, though.”

“Hey, Spidey, it’s totally cool.” I chuckled, showing him my thumbs up, “I’ll have so much fun retelling all this to Yunho, you know, my friend who’s obsessed with you. He’ll be dying that I got to patch you up and house you for a night.”

I giggled as I went to collect my phone from my desk, slipping it in my pocket. I should probably take some pyjamas with me and the medical kit as well. I walked to my closet as Spiderman watched me, and I opened the door to pick out my most favourite pyjamas to sleep in tonight. I closed the door and turned, smiling to myself…until I looked up. Until I found Spiderman gone and Yunho standing in his place. Red mask with the freaky black blinking eyes was clutched in his left hand, and his greyish-greenish-bluish hair was all messed up and dishevelled. My mouth dropped open as my pyjamas fell from my hands, and I found myself leaning back against my closet door.

“Yun—Yunho?!” I snapped; eyes wide open. This certainly must be a trick of the light or something, “There’s no fucking way you’re fucking Spiderman, Jeong Yunho!”

“But I actually am.” I watched Spiderman—no—Yunho scratch the back of his head awkwardly, averting his eyes, “This is not how I wanted to tell you.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I huffed, eyebrows furrowing as I pushed myself off the closet, “It was you all along?!”

“Yeah, there’s just one Spiderman—”

“Yunho!” I hissed and walked up to him hurriedly, eyebrows furrowing, “Are you crazy?! You could’ve been so much more badly hurt! And your—your leg, you got shot yesterday, oh my God, I’m not crazy! I—I kept noticing similarities between you and Spiderman—like the constant head scratching and like—your physiques were similar—and I saw you limping this morning! I can’t believe you’re actually him, what?! And you have everyone fooled too, like—do you know Mingi is suspicious of you? I thought I was crazy for thinking you are similar to Spiderman after hanging out with Mingi, but, oh, my god, if he finds out he’ll be so mad, Yunho! And—the childhood friend—it’s Hongjoong you were talking about, isn’t it?! Oh, my God, I also told you everything about the reason why I moved here, and meanwhile I’m glad I won’t have to tell you again, I felt shitty for dumping all that on Spiderman, and it turns out it’s you—”

My eyes widened as my words got muffled, stolen away, as Yunho’s extra warm lips were pressing against mine. I froze, my whole body locking up as he leaned down even more, slotting his lips perfectly against mine. Oh, my fucking God, Yunho is kissing me?! My ultimate crush is absolutely kissing me right now?! And he also happens to be Spiderman?! What in the—I closed my eyes and pushed up on my tip toes, circling my arms around Yunho’s neck as I pulled him down closer, still careful of his wounded chest. Yunho was eager as he gently, experimentally, pressed his lips firmer against mine, his hands settling on my hips as he pulled me a little bit closer. I allowed his lips to slip between mine, gently sucking on his upper lip as I felt Yunho’s left-hand slip to the middle of my back, embracing me as he flushed me against himself. The position was a little bit uncomfortable as I had to crane my neck up and back, trying to keep my balance on my tip toes too, but it was worth it as I felt Yunho’s embrace completely engulf me, pull me into himself, wrap me up in a warm and safe cocoon. I didn’t dare breathe as our lips found a gentle and soft rhythm, Yunho, always the careful sweetheart that he is, didn’t want to hurry the kiss as he gently sucked on my lower lip, making the breath hitch in the back of my throat. I was slowly getting lightheaded, but I didn’t want to pull back just yet. Yunho, however, did slightly pull back, only to press thousands of little kisses against my lips, making me giggle quietly as his lips pulled into the widest smile I have ever seen on him.

“You’re so beautiful and cute.” I found myself whispering against his lips, eyes fluttering open. Yunho’s neck and ears were red, and I finally didn’t have to control myself as I cupped his cheeks and gently squeezed them, making him chuckle adorably, “God, I could squish your cheeks all day long. You’re so adorable.”

“You’re stealing all my lines, angel.” Well, now it was my turn to blush like crazy as I released Yunho’s cheeks and pressed my face into his neck, chuckling, “For the record, before you accuse me of it, I’m not narcissistic.”

I giggled against the hot skin of his neck, and pressed a swift kiss against the flushed flesh, he smelled like honey, “It’s quite important to be your own biggest fan, Spiderman.”

“You’ll forever tease me about it, won’t you?” Yunho asked with a chuckle as he pressed a kiss against the top of my head.

“Definitely.” I pulled back to look up at him with a grin, “But I promise to keep your secret. I’m sure Hongjoong would be more pissed than you if I said anything to anyone.”

“Oh, he definitely would be.” Yunho chuckled, and brushed a strand of hair off my forehead.

“Mingi will be really mad too once he finds out, you know.” I said with a pout, “He’s already very suspicious.”

“I know, I have noticed.” Yunho sighed as my arms slipped from his shoulders to his middle, “I plan on telling him soon, but the timing needs to be perfect.”

“Like with me?” I teased as I wriggled my eyebrows at him, and he chuckled. He draped his arms around my shoulders, and leaned down again.

“Well, I quite like the outcome of it, so I can’t complain.”

“Huh, have you been waiting long to kiss me?” It was only meant to be teasing, but the way Yunho flushed again, I knew I was right. And it made me blush too as I shook my head at him, “Well, same here, if I’m being frank. I think I’ve had a crush on you since the first day we met…”

“Well,” Yunho took a deep breath and leaned so close his warm breath hit my lips, “I know I fell in love with you the very day you moved to the city, angel. I was passing through the neighbourhood as Spiderman and saw you bringing the boxes inside while you were belting out those high notes of the song you were listening to.”

“That’s so embarrassing!” I grimaced, shaking my head at Yunho.

“No, it’s actually really adorable. You can’t fathom how often you gave me cute aggression, but I had to hold myself back.” I looked down flustered, knowing the feeling way too well.

“Well, Spiderman, it’s a pleasure to officially meet you.” I winked as I looked in Yunho’s warm chocolate brown eyes, grinning from ear to ear.

“Y/N, would you like to be Spiderman and Yunho’s girlfriend?” I chuckled, pressing a quick kiss against Yunho’s lips.

“Don’t refer to yourself in third person, it’s cringey.” I whispered, feeling just a little bit shy as I bit my bottom lip, “But yes, I would really like to be Spiderman and Yunho’s girlfriend.”

“Great, because Spiderman and Yunho also really want to be your boyfriend.” Yunho whispered back, engulfing me in a bear hug, making me feel safe, like nobody else ever has.

Bro, I can’t believe I just bagged both Spiderman and my crush in one go.

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[python333]

glass half-full, or half-empty? — python333

— — — —

synopsis you're trapped in a coffin, then you're not, then you're questioning your whole life- basically, buried alive trope meets found family and meets age regression and they all have a super messed up baby that has the occasional good quality.

relationships caretaker! price, caretaker! gaz & little! reader (gender-neutral).

characters cap. price, gaz, others briefly mentioned.

word count 8.0k

warnings reader was buried alive, implied drugging, implied panic attack, sooo much disorientation in the first section it's crazy, british slang that only kind of makes sense, second person pov [you/yours/yourself], usage of both c/n [code name/call sign] and y/n [your name], wayyyy too long.

note hey!! sorry for disappearing!!! please accept this offering as an apology!!! I've finally gotten back the motivation for writing what i actually wanna write, so now i'm back to writing fics!! enjoy this new and improved interpretation of age regression!

Someone’s ribs are encasing your own. 

Well, not really, but it feels that way. Though your torso is clothed, as is the rest of your body, the defined bones of the skeleton beneath you poke and dig into your skin the same way it would if you were naked. The rotted wood around you creaks and sand falls onto your frontside from above, where the lid of your coffin is kept together solely by hopes and dreams. 

Only an hour ago, you blacked out. Fighting enemy soldiers whose fighting techniques you aren’t familiar with is hard enough, especially when they happen to keep bleach and rubbing alcohol in the same place they’re fighting you in. The two mixed together, poured and soaked into a rag that was later pressed to your face, created a substance that knocked you out. You know the name of it. You know it. But you can’t think of it, because remembering is too hard, and the wood surrounding you is too suffocating. 

Your limited air is becoming more and more apparent. There’s no light, no noise—well, unless you count the subtle static playing in your broken earpiece—basically, it’s sensory deprivation hell and you’ve committed one too many sins according to those enemy soldiers. 

Your whole body is sore. You don’t know if those soldiers messed with you after you passed out, or if this is just the result of fighting them for a few consecutive minutes, but whatever happened caused a strange weakness to invade and overtake your body. The oligarchy in your body created by this soreness left you unable to move properly, save for the occasional twitch of your skin or the ability to move your fingers freely. 

But fingers are useless when your wrists are bound. Maybe they aren’t physically bound to the floor of the coffin, but the invisible ropes made of the misuse of cleaning materials seemed to be enough to keep them down. It was irritating, and the mental ropeburn created pins and needles from your wrist to your elbow that only made you even more uncomfortable. 

The static continues. It’s cold. Cold, quiet, and God, how did I even get here? What time is it? What day is it? Your uniform isn’t enough to keep you warm. The tactical gear only makes your body heavier, not in the comfortable way that it feels when you’re heavy with sleep and ready to rest, but in the out-of-body way that makes you feel both like you’re floating and being pulled down like an anchor at the same time. You recall vaguely algor mortis, the stage of death where your body begins a gradual decline into an inhumanly cold state. 

Why you’re recalling it, you don’t— actually, no, you do know. The cold. That’s why. You’re cold. You’re cold. Don’t forget it. It seems hard to forget feelings, to forget the present, but you’ll find that it’s like breathing; inhale, you know that you’re cold, exhale, wait… you’re cold? How do you know? How can you feel? Inhale, you can feel things because you’re human, because you’re alive, exhale, you’re alive? 

Are you alive? Have you made it this far? What have you done? Not much, honestly. Or, not much that you can remember. Though there’s an overwhelming amount of hopelessness clouding your mind, you can still make out a few moments that play like a shitty wedding slideshow at your distant relative’s wedding who you didn’t know existed until a few hours before the event. The time that you told Ghost a joke that made him laugh. That other time that you told Ghost a joke that made him laugh. Or, no, wait, was that Price? 

That time that you chased after Soap while he had your unlocked phone, which, by the way, was a very normal response to that and was very valid. Yes, it was necessary for you to tackle him, even Gaz agreed with you on that. Ghost just enjoyed seeing Soap get tackled, for some very dark very strange reason that you would rather not think about too hard—assuming that you can even think any harder than a brick right now. Price, of course, disapprovingly shook his head and seemed to mentally weigh what the effect of a leash on the three of you would grant. 

Static-static-static-stat— “H—o?” 

You almost sit up, but your head bumps on the top of the coffin, and you groan. Oops. Thought a little bit too much there. 

You’re immediately dizzy and it feels like all the blood has rushed out of your head, but you still manage to stay conscious and try to figure out how to respond to whoever’s talking. 

“H—lo?” They ask again. You tilt your head ever-so-slightly so that the button on your earpiece can get pressed, and you almost start crying when you hear the small click and beep emit from the earpiece, signaling that it’s now on. 

“Hello?” Your voice is hoarse and it hurts to talk but you couldn’t care less. You have an opportunity to get out. You’re desperate to get out—or, at least, you should be. 

For the strangest reason, despite the claustrophobic environment you’ve been forced into, despite the sores that you know are forming along your stiffened spine from the rough wood you’re lying on, you feel comfortable in the most uncomfortable way. The fact that your memory is fuzzy and your movements are limited to twitching and stretching makes you uneasy, but at the same time, the absence of your typical nonstop stream of incomprehensible thoughts and feelings strangely lets you… relax. The lack of thinking, only lying down and staring up, puts you in a mindset that you don’t think is so bad. 

The situation is awful, but for whatever reason, the results of it are— are… oh God, what’s the word? It’s on the tip of your tongue, you swear, and now you’re thinking, well, shit, maybe this isn’t the best mindset. The void that grows in your head was nice maybe a minute ago, but now you’re forgetting words and yeah, no, I don’t like this, but at least you aren’t constantly second-guessing yourself. You aren’t contradicting every other thought you have, there aren’t mental wars waging in your mind that keep you unfocused and almost lightheaded, you aren’t arguing with yourself on how you truly feel. You just feel. And hell, you fuckin’ forget what you were even feeling just a few seconds ago. Thoughts come and go, nothing more than fleeting, and a part of you wishes that there was something for them to latch onto because being absent-minded feels a little too empty but your usual mind feels too full. 

You wish your mind was like that— that problem, with the glass, the… the glass… the one where everyone argues on something about it. Something about it. What do they argue about? What glass? There’s a glass, a drinking glass, that everyone argues about, and whatever side you’re on dictates how you think— what the fuck? What is that problem? God, if only you had a working phone right now to look it up. 

Oh, shit, yeah, the earpiece. There’s someone talking. Only just now have you actually acknowledged their words. They sound muffled and far-away, not at all like there’s a small microphone shoved into your ear that plays directly into it. 

“Private?” It’s crackly and still full of static, the sound is drowning in it, “Pr— a— —u there?” 

“... Huh?” You question dumbly, sounding more confused than you ever have before. There’s a ringing building up in your ears, and the person on the other end—who is talking?―is talking again. 

“Ar— —ou ther—?” They ask again, sounding… worried? Concerned? Wait, shit, those are the same thing. Damn you and your lack of a mental thesaurus. Wait, no, if you… if you use the same meaning in two different words… would that not— whatever. You don’t even care anymore. This ‘mindset’ doesn’t feel very nice anymore. You’ve been conscious for too long, you’ve started questioning yourself again, but in the worst way possible; usually, you can actually think properly when you question yourself. Now, you’re questioning your own knowledge without actually thinking about your questions first, so instead of the usual hellish loop of what does this mean? Why did I say this? What else could I have said?, you’re now stuck in the purgatory of, what was that word? What can I say? What did I just think? What? Huh? 

“Yeah… genius…” You manage to scoff, despite the heaviness of your tongue and the cotton in your mouth and mind, “Where else… would I be?” 

“Oh m— God,” The person on the other end breathes out, “Do y— kno— who you’re t—king to?” 

You shrug—well, you move your shoulders the tiniest bit up and back down—even though they can’t see you.

“Priva—?” They ask again, like a broken record, making you groan without you even realizing it, “G—z. Sergea—t Ga—ck? Y’remember?” 

“G’z,” You mutter, trying to sound out the syllables, “Giz… G— oh, shoot… Gaz? Sarge?”

“Yeah,” Gaz laughs, a little clearer now,  “Sarge, sure. Y— doin— —kay?” 

“Uh-huh,” You exhale, a little relieved that it’s just Gaz, “Hi.” 

“Hi,” Gaz sounds like he’s smiling, it’s audible in his voice, “Y’wanna t—l me where y—u ar—?”

“Uhh…” You look around the coffin with limited head movements, “I dunno, probably… probably a, uh… one a’ those grave things. Coff— coffin. In one of those. In a grave thing. Maybe. Wha’ are those called? The things?”

You sound dazed even to yourself, and mentally chastise yourself for the usage of grave things, even though you had no better words to describe it. You swear, you know the word. It starts with an “s”, you think, there’s a whole movie with it in the title by some guy named Steve-something. It has graves, coffins, the other thing that’s a coffin but not, graves, dead stuff, all that… hm. All that swing? All that… all that jazz, right, all that jazz. Wow, go ahead and clap yourself on the back for that one— oh, that’s right, you can’t, because you’re stuck in a fucking coffin. 

What a day.

“You’re in a cof—n?” Gaz asks, shocked. 

“Uh-huh.”

“Underg—nd?”

“Where else?” You deadpan, even though, for whatever reason, your instincts scream at you to be a little bit nicer. For that reason only, you tack on, “Respec— …respectfully.” 

“Jesus,” Gaz lets out a shaky breath, his voice growing a little more faint, as are you, “Wh—e do y— rem—ber being last?” 

“I don’t…” You mumble, eyelids growing heavy, threatening to droop down and meet the waterline of your eyes. 

“Don’t… what?” Gaz asks, sounding almost… scared? 

“Rember— rem’m… remember,” You reply, “Woof. That was… a toughie.” 

“Oh my God, th—’re lo—ng it,” Gaz whispers to himself, or maybe to someone else, “Private. Do y— know at all w— you m—ght be?” 

“Uhh…” 

“D—” This time, you know this is Gaz cutting himself off, because he gasps right after he begins talking and starts a whole new statement, “Is your tr—ker on?” 

“My wha’?” 

“Tracker, the— the th—ng, it’s a—ched to y—r earp—ce,” Jesus, how much can this thing cut out? 

“I don’t… what the— what are you tryna say to me?” You ask, for some reason… censoring yourself? What? Why… huh? You don’t censor yourself, you’re not five. Well, at least, you don’t think you are, not right now. Wait, when are you five? What are you saying? Or, thinking— what are you thinking? 

“The— Captain,” Gaz calls out to someone else, “The t—!” 

“Tra’ker,” You mumble to yourself, “Huh. I have one a’those?” 

“[c/n],” Gaz says into his earpiece, the sound suddenly louder than before, making you jump and almost hit your head on the ceiling of the coffin, “Are you h—rt?”

“I don’ think so,” You respond, looking down at the shadows casted over your body, “Can’t tell.” 

Gaz lets out some kind of pained noise and you feel your eyelids growing heavier. Your lungs hurt. Your lungs hurt? Oh, shoot, your lungs hurt. Gaz should probably know that. 

“Actu’ly,” You take back, sounding almost intoxicated, feeling like you’re breathing through a straw, “My chest hurts.” 

Close enough. 

“Your chest?” Gaz questions, the static slowly but surely clearing up, “Your lu—gs?” 

“Uh-huh,” You confirm. Your breathing was already a little shallow, but now its turning labored, and it feels like there’s rocks in your lungs, more and more appearing from God knows where, weighing down and taking up so much space in your lungs that the oxygen you breathe in must search for refuge within the cracks and crevices in between the stones. 

Exhale, and the carbon dioxide that leaves you seems to find a way to invite more rocks into your lungs. Inhale, and there’s less and less room, exhale, there should be more room, but instead the room— inhale, there’s no room, try to inhale again, you can’t— inhale, breathe, breathe, gasp, hold your breath, don’t exhale-don’t exhaledon’texhale— 

“[c/n]!” Gaz shouting your name startles you and forces you to exhale, a low whine coming out with it, making Gaz shut up. There’s a warm liquid dripping in trails down your cheeks, reaching your jaw and chin, the feeling of it sending waves of discomfort through your body and straight to your brain. 

You desperately try to breathe in, try to inhale anything, even if it’s the sand falling from the ceiling or the carbon dioxide that you’ve tried so hard to keep inside. 

“[c/n],” Gaz repeats your name, in a different tone this time, something more soft, something that resonates and echoes in your empty yet full mind, “We’re close, we— almo—t there, you s—l with me?” 

You continue to struggle with your breathing. Exhale, exhale, inh— exhale, inhale, ex— ex— exhale, in— in— Jesus fucking Christ, just inha— in— in— 

“I can hear you,” Gaz says, uncannily clear, he must be at least… at least something klicks within the radius of… of me… of me? Where am I? “You’re gonna be okay, okay? You’re gonna be fine. I need you to stop panicking, okay? I know that— th—t sounds easy to me, because I’m not in a coffin, but if you keep breathing like that, you’re gonna make it worse for yourself.” 

You finally inhale, but it feels so wrong, like hearing crunches while chewing what should be soft food. You gasp. You’re choking? What’s that other word for choking? Starts with a “c”, right? Wait, no, that’s choking. Dang it. 

Gaz is yelling in your ears, and it almost sounds like he’s actually there, but the wooden walls encasing you and this stupid, very smelly skeleton underneath you tell a different story. You cough. You cough again. And again. And now you’re just forcing the bad air out of your lungs, which is great and all, but now there’s no air in your lungs, which you would like to argue is far worse but you can’t argue because you can’t think and you can’t think because you’re in some coffin with a stupid— what did you even want to argue, again? 

There’s yelling. There’s commanding. There’s footsteps, heavy ones, ones that come from combat boots and men in tactical gear, the same gear that weighs you down like an anchor, that keeps you glued to this skeleton, who’s ribs encase your own. 

Or, at least, it feels like they are. Even though you’re wearing tactical gear, it still feels the same way it would if you were naked. The annoyingly present bones of the skeleton dig and poke into your skin, and there’s sand falling from between the planks of rotten wood above you, where the ceiling of the coffin is held together solely by hopes and dreams. 

An hour or two or three ago, you blacked out. You think you did, at least. You think you might black out again. Fighting enemy soldiers who fight with techniques you aren’t familiar with is hard enough, but fighting the invisible forces that prevent you from breathing in good air is even harder, because they don’t fight with guns or knives or fists; they fight with rocks that they shove into your lungs and vines that they tie around your already-tight throat. 

There’s no light, but there’s sound. Sounds that would be useful if you could think. You don’t remember thinking. You don’t remember remembering. 

But you’ll always remember this skeleton beneath you, who’s ribs encase your own. 

Or, at least, it feels like they are. The tactical gear you’re wearing does you no good, serving as the only barrier—the most useless barrier ever—between you and this skeleton and this coffin and the sand that's begun pooling around you. The skeleton, who’s ribs are— why are you repeating yourself? 

Gaz is yelling in your ear. Someone else is— someone else is there? Someone else is there. Talking, yelling, screaming, commanding, running, searching, above you— above you? Above you. While you exhale, gasp, exhale, choke, gasp, gasp, try to breath, fail, exhale, exhale, there’s men above you digging, digging and lifting weight off of you, you think. There’s more sand coming through. The loss of pressure must be making it looser.

Are you thinking? Are you feeling? Can you remember? What is there to remember? There’s an incomprehensible jumble of thoughts in your mind, and you think, trying to control your thoughts, I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. 

It’s getting easier and harder to breathe. You can’t. You can… wait, no, you can’t. 

You can keep your eyes open— you can keep them open, you can k— 

“—eep your eyes open, Private,” Gaz begs you, pleads for you, his voice far but close, loud yet quiet, “C’mon, keep ‘em open, stay awak—” 

—e, stay awake, stay awake, no, no, no, no— 

— 

You wake up to a stark white ceiling and some kind of electric beeping. Your head is clearer, fortunately, but still not clear enough to immediately remember what exactly happened. You remember a coffin, a skeleton, suffocating, talking to Gaz, and that’s about it. You shiver. A skeleton. You can still feel the phantom feeling of its ribs hugging your body, something you think your captors might’ve done to make you feel even more uncomfortable. 

While you’re thinking about the skeleton, you don’t notice the sliding of a curtain and the footsteps that grow exponentially louder and closer to you. 

“G’morning,” Gaz says, making you jump up and sit up instinctively, before you promptly lie right back down. Gaz snickers at you, and you turn your surprisingly sore neck to glare at him. 

“Y—” You cough, furrowing your eyebrows as you bring an unstable and floppy hand to slap around your face, finding an oxygen mask nestled right on your nose and mouth. You take a few breaths, the task uncannily easy now, “You can knock that off. No laughing at the injured.” 

“Oh, I’m not laughing at the injured,” Gaz clarifies, sitting down at a plastic chair he’s pulled up beside your bed, “I’m getting ready to yell at the injured soldier who gave me a heart attack about five hours ago after suffocating in a coffin buried six feet under in some cemetery in Derbyshire.” 

“Derbyshire…” You muse, “What’s that? Or, where’s that?”

“‘bout forty klicks from Sheffield,” Gaz hums, before seeing your blank stare, and sighing tiredly, “The one with the cute houses and the pudding.” 

“Ohhh,” You nod, now understanding, before joking, “At least I got buried there instead of, like, the bluejay one.” 

“The bluejay one?” Gaz asks, confused, before pausing and asking you incredulously, “Jaywick?” 

“Yeah, that one,” You hum. Gaz blinks at you, before groaning.

“Is this how you felt when I thought Las Vegas was in California?”

“Probably,” You grin at him, “It might be closer to when you thought NYC was the capital of New York.” 

“If it’s not the capital, then why is it named after the city?” Gaz asks, exasperated. You shrug.

“Doesn’t change the fact that the capital’s Albany.” The room is silent for a little bit. The beeping, which you’ve now identified as a heart monitor, is loud. Your heart’s beating is fast and feels like it’s going to beat out of your chest. Gaz looks down at his chest, fidgeting with his hands, wringing them.

“I, uh,” You start, making Gaz look at you again, “When I was in the coffin…” The mere mention of it makes Gaz’s gaze sharpen and his hands still.

“It was hard to breathe, and also really hard to think,” Gaz nods along, “But I was still thinking, I guess, and I wasn’t thinking too hard. Like, jellyfish type shit, y’know? Like no thoughts, but also thoughts, but like…” 

Gaz raises an eyebrow at you, and you try to explain it better, “Do you remember back in like, ele— when you were five or six and you like, just got a conscious and you’re thinking but also not?” 

Gaz’s face relaxes and he nods wordlessly. You continue, “That’s how I felt.” 

“I’m sorry,” Gaz frowns, putting a gentle hand on the metal bar on the bed you lie on, “That must’ve been… weird.”

“No, no, I liked it,” Gaz’s face goes right back to confusion, “It was nice. Which is weird. But I didn’t feel weird. I felt, like, really calm in that sense, for the few minutes that I wasn’t panicking.” 

“You… liked it?” Gaz asks skeptically. You nod. 

“Yeah.” 

“How?”

“It was just…” You try to find the words to describe it, “I don’t know. I didn’t have control over it, which really bothered me. I felt, like, small, for some reason— like my mind is shrinking but my body is still the same, y’know? So it was really…” 

After a few moments of you trying to find the word you needed, Gaz offers, “Disproportionate?” 

“Yeah, that,” You nod quickly, “It was disproportionate and sucked, and it was obviously really scary, but I wasn’t processing stuff like I usually do. Which was great.” 

“That sounds…” Gaz wrinkles up his nose, “... awful, but okay.”

“I think a lot,” When Gaz raises an eyebrow at you, you weakly slap at his knee and continue, “And earlier, when I was in that coffin, I wasn’t thinking. Everything was just going in and out just like that. It would’ve been nice to keep some of those thoughts, yeah, but when I can properly think like I am now, I keep too many thoughts and it’s like— it clutters up, and it just lingers for way too long.” 

A small flash of understanding crosses Gaz’s expression. “So, you liked not thinking too much, because you already overthink too much, and being in the coffin and high on something happened to both help and not help with that?” 

“Yeah, basically,” You hum, before realizing, “That’s way simpler than what I said. Huh.” 

“That’s that overthinking,” Gaz muses, to which you respond with a frown. 

“I’m not saying I wanna be all claustrophobic like that again,” You clarify, because you still see doubt on Gaz’s face, “But I liked thinking like that. The non-thinking-thinking. I think it would help with my stress and stuff.” 

Another flash of understanding crosses Gaz’s expression, except this time, there’s a hint of something else in there. Realization? Curiosity? You’re none the wiser to it, getting a little more confused yourself. 

“Oh.” Gaz’s slight frown disappears, the upturning of the corners of his lips now visible, “Okay. I get that. I actually think I know what’s happening.” 

“You do?” You ask, confused. 

“I gotta confirm it with the captain, though,” You’re more confused. It’s visible, you guess, because Gaz laughs at your expression.

“Don’t worry, it’s not bad,” He clarifies, still grinning, “I just have some suspicions. Y’mind if I let Price know what y’said?” 

“... Sure?” You hesitantly say, to which Gaz responds by standing up and starting to speed-walk away from your bed, making you snort. 

“I’ll be back in a bit!” Gaz calls out over his shoulder. You sigh and turn so that your whole back is on the mattress of the bed. 

You were being honest, but at the cost of Gaz apparently “knowing what’s happening”, which is… disturbing, coming from Gaz, who you’ve affectionately titled a “D1 bird-brain”.

But whatever. It’s true, anyway, how you felt. It was uncomfortable, but it was somehow so much better than how you usually are. Or, well, not so much better, but at times when you’re overthinking or overwhelmed, you wish you could just turn off your brain, or something. Okay, maybe not turn it off, but turn off certain parts. You like thinking, and you do it all the time, but doing it all the time for you is like a full-time job on top of your already full-time job of being a part of the 141. 

You don’t even make sense to yourself, but that’s okay. You make sense to Gaz, apparently, and possibly Price as well. 

Speaking of— 

“Hey,” Price greets you, his usual quokka-smile gracing his lips, Gaz following in right after him with the most smug look you’ve ever seen. What a bastard. 

“What did you do?” You immediately ask Gaz, who only shakes his head and looks away, amused, making you a little annoyed. Price seems to know what you’re talking about as well, judging by the way his smile grows a tiny bit. I hate inside jokes. Only I’m allowed to have those with people.

“He told me what you told him,” Price hums, before sitting down into the chair previously occupied by Gaz, “And I have an idea you might like.” 

“... Okay,” You look at him suspiciously. 

“When I was still in the SAS—”

“Oh, so around the same time as the Trojan War?”

“Shut it, you.”

“Sure, Captain.”

Price sighs, exasperated, while Gaz snickers at his unamused look. Price, ever-so determined to explain this to you, proceeds, “Back when I was in the SAS, there was this other lieutenant who happened to be a good few years younger than me. Too young, in my opinion—” 

“Look at yourself,” Gaz interrupts him. 

“Bugger off,” Price sneers, “I’m tellin’ a story.”

Gaz puts his hands up in a surrendering gesture, “Keep your hair on, Captain, jus’ pointin’ out that you were younger than them when you first joined the army.” 

You blink at the two. “I think that’s the first time that I’ve heard British slang that I can actually understand.”

Price takes a deep breath, “However, it wasn’t up to me to decide if or when they joined. So, I got to know them a little better, and found out that the stress they got after assignments was so bad that they had this coping mechanism that they had thought to be fairly strange. I asked them what it was, and because we’d known each other for ‘round a year now, and I was to be moved to a different unit, they told me that they didn’t really know the name of it exactly but what they did was they would sit down in their jammies, ones that reminded them of their childhood, watch some cartoons, all that and some more. And I asked them how that helped them, because back then, I was a dense little shit who couldn’t think for more than two seconds, and they said that it let them think the same way that they did when they were a kid.”

You blink at him. “So the idea is… ?” 

“Maybe you two are related,” Gaz muses, “And the denseness is hereditary.” 

Price groans, “Put a fuckin’ sock in it, Kyle.” 

You gasp scandalously, before comically whispering, “First name after telling him to shut up? You’re just gonna let that slide, Gaz?” 

“I’ll shove a sock up your—” 

“My idea,” Price interrupts the two of you, preventing what could’ve been a fifteen-minute long spat, “is that you do that. You throw on your jammies—” 

“Jammies,” You repeat incredulously.

“―you watch some cartoons, play with stuffies—”

“We have stuffies?” You interrupt Price again, who pauses this time.

“We should, yeah,” He nods, “There’s a bin of ‘em around here somewhere, for emergencies.”

You furrow your eyebrows, “Emergencies?”

He looks at you pointedly, “Emergencies.” 

You blink at him. Blink, bl— “Oh, fuck off, I don’t need stuffies. I don’t think any of this would help me. I’m not five.” 

“Yeah, but you wanna be, don’t you?” Gaz questions you, voice a little less joking, though it still has a little humor in it— a safety blanket, basically, in case you take his words the wrong way. 

You stay silent. Price speaks up, “Tell you what; we’ll come back tomorrow, just me ‘nd Gaz, and you can let us know what you think of the idea. If y’like it, I’ll get you whatever you need to help you out. If you still don’t like it, you don’t like it, and we’ll figure somethin’ else out, alright?”

You sigh, “Alright.” 

Price smiles at you and gets up to clap you on the shoulder, “Get some rest, soldier, up the wooden hill and off to Bedfordshire with you.” 

“What the hell?” You immediately question, looking at Price like he’s gone mad, “Up the—”

“Don’t listen to him, he’s bad British representation,” Gaz hurriedly says, getting up and pushing Price lightly out of the room, talking to him in a theatrical whisper-yell, “You’re introducing them to sayings they’re not yet prepared for! Nobody says that to anyone above the age of twelve, Captain!” 

Price simply laughs and lets Gaz push him away from your bed, not bothering to push aside the curtains obscuring the view of you as he pushes him out of the medbay entirely. 

You blink at the swaying curtains.

“English people,” You mumble to yourself, turning over onto your side, “God damn English people. I’m never grouping Soap in with them ever again.”

— 

True to his word, Price walks in with Gaz the next morning.

Price sits down next to you.

“G’morning,” He greets you softly, chuckling at the disgruntled look on your face, “Woke up on the wrong side of the bed?”

“Woke up and thought I was six feet under for a second,” You mutter, making the smile on Price’s face falter. 

“Sorry,” Price apologizes, reaching out a slow hand—so that you can move at any second—to grasp your own hand and squeeze it gently, “Y’good now?” 

“Mhm,” You hum, nodding, your gaze shifting to Gaz, who looks as disgruntled as yourself. You snort and ask him, “Are you good?” 

“Someone,” Gaz snarks, glaring daggers at Price, “Woke me up two hours before my alarm so that he could force me to search for supplies with him.” 

“I wonder who that could’ve been,” Price hums, ignoring the way Gaz shakes his head disapprovingly, “Anywho, have you given any thought to the idea?” 

“The idea?” You question, before quickly realizing, “Oh, right, yeah, the idea.” 

Price looks at you both expectantly and patiently, while Gaz forces himself to pull his glare away from Price and put his gaze on you, observing your expressions and response. 

“Uhh…” You look at Price with hesitation, and he looks back at you without a trace of pressure in his eyes, making you sigh, “I’ll try it, but no guarantees that it’s gonna work.”

“Thank fuck,” Gaz groans, “My hard work hasn’t gone to was— ow!”

Gaz takes hurried steps back after Price stomped down hard on his foot, and the latter simply smiles at you at your response. 

“Great,” He gets up, dusting off his army-green shirt and pushing his chair back, “D’you reckon you’re good to get out of bed now?” 

“Probably,” You shrug, testing the waters by pushing yourself up into a sitting position. You wince at your still-sore back and your stiff legs, but otherwise feel okay, okay enough to feel confident in your ability to actually stand—though, you suspect you may need to grab onto something for extra support. 

Oh well. You’re sick of this bed already, and if you can stand, you’re gonna stand. 

Price sees this, however, and is quick to hold his arm out for you to grab onto as you swing your legs over the bed railing and hop off the mattress way too fast, making yourself dizzy in the process. You feel his concerned eyes burning holes into the top of your head as you try and succeed in regaining your footing, keeping a firm grip on his forearm in the process. Thank God for Captain Price and his too-muscly arms. 

“You alright?” Price asks, to which you respond with an affirmative nod. 

“Fine,” You hum, taking a deep breath before tentatively letting go of Price’s arm. He frowns, but doesn’t protest. Gaz looks at him questioningly, and Price shakes his head, nonverbally communicating to the sergeant that it’s nothing to get worried over.

Gaz decides to lead all of you out of the medbay, with you following after him and Price right behind you. You occasionally lose your footing, slipping on nothing, but you never fall, and even if you were about you, Price would catch you. You know he would. He’s been watching you like a hawk, hands twitching every time your footing is lost. But instead of begging for you to just take his arm, for fuck’s sake, he walks up so that he’s right next to you and starts talking. 

“So…” He starts, making you look over at him, “Y’want me to go over the plan?”

“The plan?” You ask, raising an eyebrow, “Sure.” 

“You get changed into your pajamas, we get on the bed, cuddle a lil’, you get a stuffie, we see what happens and then see what to do from there,” Price explains simply, “Any problems with that?”

“No, sounds good,” You hum. It sounds fucking fantastic, you think, but he doesn’t need to know that. 

“Good,” Price smiles down at you, before saying, “You remind me of them.” You tilt your head to the side a bit, “The lieutenant?”

Price nods, “Yeah. Really sweet person. Had a whole collection of stuffies and blankets.”

You smile, “Sounds nice. They just keep all those in their quarters?”

“Yeah.” You both fall into silence again, comfortable silence, and soon enough, the three of you reach your sleeping quarters.

You all walk in. Well, except for Gaz, who is stopped by Price at the door. You turn around to question them, but Price stops you before you can even open your mouth.

“You just go get dressed,” He says, nodding over to the drawers in the corner of your room, “We’ll be outside. Just knock when you’re done.” 

Skeptically, you look between the two, before you nod and close the door, leaving you inside your room alone. You try not to give too much thought to it, trying yet failing to ignore every thought that crosses your mind, busying yourself by choosing pajamas. 

Soon enough, you’re dressed in your favorite pajamas—fluffy pants and a loose t-shirt, as well as just-as-fluffy slippers to replace your boots—and knocking at the door to signal to Price that you’re done. He opens the door, and Gaz is nowhere in sight, but you choose not to ask about it. Instead, you step to the side so that Price can walk in and sit on your bed, closing the door behind him.

On the bed already is a fluffy blanket—it must’ve been set up earlier, considering that Gaz was apparently woken up at around four in the morning to get everything ready. 

You sit down on the bed next to your Captain, your fluffy pajama pants and loose t-shirt already making you feel relaxed, as well as your fuzzy slippers. You don’t really wear this outside of going to sleep, but after wearing a medical gown for the past twenty-four hours, you’re more than happy to make one small change in your routine. Price smiles down at you, one arm hovering around your back questioningly, before you nod and let him fully wrap it around you and pull you into his side. You’re already pretty tired, despite the fact that you got a full night’s worth of sleep, so the pajamas are honestly pretty fitting.

You sigh, turning your head slightly so that your cheek is pressed to his chest. Gaz walks in just seconds later, your gaze immediately moving to him as he sits down on the bed right next to you, sandwiching you in between him and Price. In any other situation, this would make you feel claustrophobic, but it feels oddly… comfortable right now. You notice the stuffed animal in Gaz’s hands—a small, round, fluffy cow with a black and white coloring pattern—and look at him questioningly. 

“That s’posed t’be for me?” You ask, strangely drawn to the small stuffie. Gaz seems to see your fascination with the stuffed animal and smiles softly at you, a weird sight, considering that the two of you are having kerfuffles every three seconds at the very least. 

“Uh-huh,” Gaz nods, offering it to you, smiling even wider when you gingerly grab it, “Y’like it?”

“It’s cute,” You mumble, looking it over in your hands, rubbing your thumb against its soft fur and black beady eyes. You know what you want to do with it. You want to hug it close to your chest, like you used to oh-so many years ago, back before you had to force yourself to stop sleeping with stuffed animals out of fear that you would need them in order to sleep forever. It only partially worked; you never slept with another stuffie again, but instead found yourself waking up with a bunched up part of your blanket or your pillow in your arms, pulling tight to your chest. 

You really wanna hug it. You missed stuffed animals. You miss stuffed animals, present tense. You miss their soft fur and the baby pink of their ears, the polyester trapped safely inside the confines of the felt and fluff, the sweetness and child-like wonder that you lost with them. 

Both Price and Gaz sense the conflict in your mind. 

“Hey,” Price softly rubs your arm with his thumb, with gentle circles and too many yet just enough callouses, “You’re thinking a lil’ bit too much there. You wanna hug the stuffie, go ahead and hug it.” 

It’s easy, you think, so easy to just… think, but let go of my thoughts when I have him to ground me.

You hug the stuffed animal, pulling it close to your chest and wrapping your arms around it, your limbs too long for what you’re trying to do but doubt and stress in your mind slowly growing small enough to compensate for the lack of a smaller body. It’s frustrating, yes, but Price’s arm around your body and Gaz’s hand that cautiously rests on your shoulder makes your body feel the tiniest bit smaller, and it makes your mind the tiniest bit cloudier. 

“There y’go,” Gaz coos, his voice a type of soft you didn’t even know was possible from him. Price only chuckles, and you should feel annoyed because they sound like they’re teasing you, like they’re a part of an inside joke that you’re not, but they’re not. They’re here right now, Price’s arm is around you and Gaz’s hand is on your shoulder and they’re speaking so softly and— and you’re letting your thoughts go. 

They’re coming and going, some staying longer than others, but they never pile up, never clutter up like a messy desk or a disorganized folder. They’re neat and held up by mental thumbtacks, pinned to the corkboard of your cerebral cortex, sometimes melting into the beige board and other times staying, but never getting to the point where the thoughts are stacking on top of each other or where there’s no more room for anymore thumbtacks. 

It’s something you never thought you’d be able to experience, but here you are, experiencing it, breathing it in like oxygen. Like an open field, bright and clear, with your Captain’s or your Sergeant’s arms—wrapped in blood and flesh, not stripped down to the bone, not poking and prodding at you—around you and keeping you grounded. Your very own anchorage; the perfectly crafted bumps and dips in their arms that fit around you like puzzle pieces when they pull you towards either one of them, as if your Creator knew that you would find refuge in them, as if They knew that you would know how perfect it is.

Because it is. It’s perfect, in the way that a salmon knowing its birthplace despite swimming so many miles away is. In the way that homeostasis works; your body finding equilibrium, that perfect balance between your internal systems and outside forces. In the way that the stuffed cow in your arms seems to seep through your chest and go straight to your heart and soul. 

You don’t realize that you’ve zoned out until Price lightly shakes you. 

“Y’alright, darling?” He asks, concerned, his gruff voice more gravelly than usual. You blink and look over at him, and you’re sweet again. Sweet and loved, and loving to love. Or, at least, you think you’re loved. You might be a tad bit delusional, but there’s something in Price’s eyes, some kind of light that reflects pink and green hues, some kind of nurturing-feeling that doesn’t go away when he blinks. 

“Uh-huh,” You nod, the way your head moves up and down almost like a bobblehead figure, “All… sunshine ‘nd rainbows over here.” 

Price breathes out a small laugh and Gaz raises an eyebrow at you. 

“Yeah? All sunshine and rainbows?” Gaz teases you, “Are you sure there’s anythin’ happenin’ up in your noggin?” 

You pout and lightly swing your leg at him to kick his calf, and although you’re only wearing slippers and are kicking about as hard as a pillow, Gaz makes a show of pretending to get seriously injured by it. He gasps dramatically and brings his knee up to his chest, hugging his calf to his torso and rubbing at the spot you kicked. He pouts right back at you, immature and theatrical, and you giggle—fucking giggle—at his antics. Gaz can’t help but let up the act, grinning as soon as your laugh sounds out, the noise music to his ears. 

“You havin’ a laugh while I’ve gotten hurt?” He antagonizes you, voice light and fluffy, “Brat.” 

“Noo,” You deny, voice growing just slightly higher-pitched, your movements a little less controlled by yourself, “I’m never a brat.” 

“You sure?” Gaz raises an eyebrow at you, letting his leg down, “I think you’re lying, duckie.” 

“Nuh-uh.” 

“Yuh-huh.” 

“Nuh-uh.” 

“I cannot believe you’re both still annoying, even when they’re bein’ little,” Price sighs exasperatedly, making both you and Gaz laugh, your laughter more bubbly and light while his is knowing and proud. 

“Lil’ kids aren’t an exception to my teasing, Captain,” Gaz snickers, reaching over to ruffle your hair while you squeal quietly and lean back into Price to hide away from your attacker’s hand. Price snorts and pulls you a little closer to him.

“All little ones, or just this one?” Price nods down at you. Gaz hums, thinking.

“Ah, just this one,” Gaz grins, making Price sigh. The latter brings his other arm around and turns so that he can pull you to him with both arms, while Gaz suddenly frowns. 

“You’re hoarding them,” Gaz whines, while Price only raises an eyebrow at him. You feel oddly joyful at the thought of Gaz also wanting a share of your attention, or at least some of your physical affection.

“Shoulda gotten here faster than me, mate,” Price simply hums. He sounds so smug, voice full of smarm and expression knowing, because he’s more than aware of the fact that Gaz quite literally could not possibly get here faster than Price had.

“You made me get the supplies!” Gaz argues, though softer than he usually does, being more mindful of your newfound mindset, you assume. 

“Ehh, you could’ve refused it.” Price says, blatantly lying as he does, watching in amusement as Gaz gapes at him.

“What?”

You like the attention, but what you like even more is the conversation Price and Gaz start up afterwards. They don’t take their attention off of you, no, not one bit, but they aren’t talking directly towards you, you’re just existing and it’s amazing. 

Price begins asking Gaz about something, probably his reports, and Gaz responds positively, you presume. Price is talking calmly and slowly and Gaz is nodding along, his hand making its way to your own, his fingers interlocking with yours and squeezing your hand every now and then. Your pajamas feel awfully comfortable now. What did Price call them yesterday? Jammies? Usually, you’re an avid hater of English slang, but you can’t help but feel a little warmer just thinking about the word jammies. 

You can feel your eyes going half-lidded, and you can hear someone chuckling. Probably Gaz. He likes laughing at you, but it’s never in a mean way. Maybe that’s why you feel so comfortable with the laughter. It reminds you of an older sibling, someone who’s basically programmed to tease and make fun of you, but still likes you. Or, at least, is expected to still like you. You enjoy the idea of a chosen older sibling more than a biological one, funnily enough, because the expectation of liking someone is so different from actually developing a liking to someone. With the expectation, there’s almost no choice; there’s still a chance of them not liking you, but it’s expected of them to like you, so they’re gonna try anyway, and it makes it feel less authentic, less real—but with choosing, they choose you to have that bond with them, they choose to treat you the way they do, not because it’s expected of them from birth, but because they see something in you that draws them to you. 

Gaz is that person. That older brother that chose you to tease, to play fight with, to argue with, to laugh with, to hold hands with—he chose you. And because of that, his laughter is acceptable, and his teasing is never taken to heart. 

Your eyelids get a little heavier, and someone’s gently tilting your head so that it’s resting more comfortably against their chest. Probably Price. He likes physical touch, unsurprisingly, and shows it as much as you allow him to. He particularly likes to loosely wrap a hand around one of your wrists with his thumb resting over your veins, gently pressing inward to feel the beating of your heart. Why he does it, you don’t know. Maybe he likes the reassurance of your living. Maybe he likes how it grounds him, how it reminds him that you’re a tangible being with a beating heart and a working mind. how it might let him know that you’re real and here with him. 

Or maybe it’s something deeper, maybe it goes back to that other lieutenant, maybe it goes back even further to when he was sixteen and had just joined the British military. Whatever it is, you accept it wholeheartedly, because when he does it, it reminds you as well that he’s alive and searching for proof of you being alive as well. Because you believe that living people will always search for other living beings, or at least you know that you always will, because the feeling of brittle bones and the sight of dead bodies haunts you in ways that you never thought possible. 

Your eyelids droop down completely. 

“I feel like I should say good night, but it’s barely no—” You think that’s Gaz.

“Shut it and let them sleep, for Christ’s sake.” That’s probably Price.

“I’m just saying—” Definitely Gaz.

“I’ll staple your mouth shut so y’stop sayin’ anything, how about that, y’muppet?” Definitely Price.

[heartfullofleeches]

Clown Reader and the monster yan scientist introduced to their show to teach it about the world -

You enter the dimly lit patted cell with your hands against the wall as the metal door slams shut behind you. The stale air is pungent - acidic. Your nails chip at wearing paint as they scrape along the crevices in the walls as you stumble through the dark, tripping over your own signed merch and what you will yourself to believe are plastic dolls. The sole source of light in the room emits from a television in its far right corner. Matted hair and skeletal fingers obscure the familiar vibrant set on display - your own, chipper voice reverberating throughout the hollow prison.

"Now, I want you to close your eyes, wrap your arms around your chest, and give a biiiig squeeze. That's me, hugging you! - until next time. See you soon!"

The hands peel away from the tv with a wet sliick! as the arms attached fall around its shadowed frame. A tiny doll rests nestled in the crook of its elbow as the shadow rasps and coos in delight - lengthy, slime drenched ashen tongue patting the toy's rosy cheek. The teeth embedded into the muscle flattened againat the doll's face as it drags across - retracting into the grey flesh and leaving the plush exterior unscathed. You step back; beady, sunken eyes darting in your direction as your foot lands on the voicebox stitched into the stomach of one of your dolls.

"Cuddle me!"

The shadow drops to all four, cradling the arm with your doll to its chest. You soon realize it's number of limbs was double by three as five hands find perch on parts of your body. A growl rumbles in its throat and through your teeth, but as its jaws draw towards your neck it stops to sniff your skin. The creature looks between you and the doll in its hand, chittering softly as its eyes switch between the mini you and the real thing. You crack a smile, blinking tears from your eyes.

"H-hey, big guy! My friends out there tell me you're a fan, and from the looks of you, you might be the biggest! What's your name?"

The creatures hisses return with vengeance at the mention of others, but break into gentle purrs at the acknowledgment of being your greatest fan. It lets you go, searching around and plucking something off the breast pocket of one of those dolls you saw earlier. It licks the rectangle clean of the viscous fluid staining its frontside. It shoves the nametag in your face, tapping its claws against the plastic.

"Kevin? Your name is Kevin?"

The creature coos again, nodding its head before dipping in to sweep its tongue cross your cheek. Your smile becomes a little more genuine as you wipe your face on your sleeve. You extend your arms as it drops the doll and holds out theirs. "It's nice to meet you, Kevin."

Crackposts because yes:

Clown Reader, pointing at the scientists hiding behind thick glass: Kevin, can you tell me who this is?

Kevin, growling: Sinclair....

Clown Reader: Right! [Points at themselves] Who am I?

Kevin: Spouse.

Clown Reader: It's Y/n, actually

Kevin: Mine.

Clown Reader: Y/n

Kevin: Love.

-

Clown Reader: Ok, gang! Hope you're all ready to meet the new member to our crew.

Clown Reader, walks back stage and pulls a paper mask over Kevin's head: Alright, Kev! This is your first show. If you be good, we can do all tons of stuff together. Remember our number one rule?

Kevin: No biting. No scratching. No eating. Smile and wave

Clown Reader: Wonderful! Well, we can't keep them waiting any longer

[Clown Reader leads Kevin outside who immediately side eyes a literal puppet, pointing at its sockets before pointing down at it. The puppet silently sinks below the table.]

[yourfatherlucifer]

MDNI - WooSanSang

for @yunho-mp3 bc of our outburst last night.

afab!reader | PWOP

WC: 713

Imagine just doing your own thing and WooSanSang just corner you. Lets say your facing a cabinet or something. Two of them flank each side and one pins you two the counter from your backside.

I'd like to imagine its San behind you, caging your frontside to the counter. Yeosang and Wooyoung kissing along your neck and shoulders, San whispering filthy things into your ear, pressing his hard dick onto your ass.

San would be watching Yeosang hesitate but he would encourage him to continue. Knowing Yeosang had to be coerced into doing this. Wooyoung would practically be humping against your leg, moaning into your ear from the friction to his dick. San would flip you around, sitting you on the countertop, sliding in between your legs.

His lips would find yours in a fevered makeout, his lips colliding with yours. His desire for you was outstanding. Wooyoung hops on to the counter on your left side, Yeosang on your right.

Both men pull out their hardened cocks and guide your hands to each one. San was busy running his hands along your waist as his tongue invaded your mouth. As you pumped Wooyoung and Yeosang's cock, they both threw their heads back, nearly colliding with the cabinets.

San's hand trailed up to your breast, slipping his hand up your shirt, "No, bra? How filthy, were you expecting us to ruin you?" His voice went down octave as he smirked against your ear.

Wooyoung chuckled, "She always wants us." He panted into the air.

Yeosang was a near sobbing mess with the way you were twisting your hand on his red and weeping cock. His shoulders were shaking and his breathing was uneven.

San saw his friend becoming fucked out so he pulled away from you, "Lets take this to the bedroom, hm?"

The second all three of you reached the bedroom, he had Yeosang sit against the bedrest.

"I want you to bounce on Yeo's cock, pretty."

Wooyoung whined, "Why can't she fuck me instead?"

San grabbed the back of his younger friend's neck, "Because, I wanna watch her on Yeosang."

Yeosang was too busy trying to focus his breathing to notice you climbing up his legs and sitting in his lap, "Yeo? My love?" You rested your hand on his face, bringing his attention to you.

"Yes?"

"Focus on me, I'm right here." You ground yourself on his clothed cock, his whimpers filling the room.

San and Wooyoung stood off to the side, watching the event go down, with cocks sitting in their pants, waiting to be released.

Yeosang couldn't contain his cries, the friction being far too much for him to handle, "Please! Need more! Need to be inside of you."

San smirked from behind, "Yeah, Y/N, give him what he wants, he's a good boy, is he not?" Yeosang's dick twitched underneath you from San's words.

Definitely wanted to be your boy.

You nodded and lifted your hips, pulling down yours and his underwear, hovering over his dick.

Finally you made contact with him and pushed him inside. He cried out, finally able to feel your warmth.

Yeosang's arm flew to his cover his eyes, but you pulled it away, "None of that, baby. Want you to see me."

His lower lip trembled and a tear slid down his cheek, "Just please, fuck me already." You chuckled and rubbed your hand up and down his chest, "Sure."

When you gave him what he wanted, when you finally bounced up and down his cock, he was full on sobbing, his arms flying to your waist, not wanting you to slow down. His cock felt so overstimulated yet barely anything was happening.

Wooyoung and San sat on either side of you two, stroking your back as you bounced and twisted and moaned. The two men encouraging you and Yeosang.

"Y/n! I can't! I'm gonna cum!" Yeosang's grip tightened on your hips, the only made you move faster on him, your arms falling to either side of his head, "Me too, come on, lets do it together, pretty boy."

Yeosang came with a super loud and whiny moan, his back arching off the bed, his seed filling your insides.

San smiled when you fell on top Yeosang all spent out, "Who's next?"

[bey0nd-1he-stars]

Anchor - Nikolai Lantsov

Masterlist

Pairing: Nikolai Lantsov x reader

Wordcount: 1247

Warnings: crying, mentions of wounds

Summary: You try to find Nikolai after the fight is over to make sure he is okay (based heavily on the Netflix show but I can't say that it's spoiling something)

The sun shined like never before. After being drowning in the darkness of the Fold, the sun seemed too bright. You’d made it through the battle with just a few scratches and some torn clothes, but overall you were alright. You’d been with Tamar at the start, but when the Fold had expanded and the volcra had made its way to the fort, you’d had no other choice than to split up if survival were to be left on the map. It'd been a game of hide and seek and fortunately, you’d won. The breath you’d let out when the sun broke through and the light came back, signaling that Alina had done it, it may be the most relief you’d felt in a long time. Until you saw what the volcra had left after their brief visit and you couldn’t find any of the others. 

Nikolai wasn’t bearing any of his own weight, leaning on Tamar and Tolya as they made it out of the room and out to the frontside of the fort. Barrels and crates still stood there, a bit messier than before but otherwise it was alright. A few soldiers from the first army had started to gather those who’d been lost in the battle, they were lined up on the grass just outside the gate. Tamar and Tolya carefully sat him down on top of a pair of crates of some sort and let out a huff. Nikolai ran a hand through his blond mop of hair and started to look around for familiar faces. That’s when it hit him. Where were you? Had you survived all this chaos? You had to. In his frantic state of mind he made an attempt to get up but lost his balance until Tolya caught him. He gave him a nod in thank you and started to limp away to try and find you. 

“Nikolai? what are you- where are you going?” Tamar asked and ran up to him. She placed an arm around his waist to help stabilize him. Nikolai came to a halt and threw an arm around her shoulders and propped himself up a bit. 

“I have to find Y/N.” Tamar nodded and pulled at him, leading him into the fort again, “come along then.” 

You were almost running through the corridors, throwing every door open, shouting names into the air. Your heels made clicking sounds against the stone floor that echoed in the hallways, your kefta was torn a few places and the buttons had come undone and it flew behind you like a cloak. The tears that had gathered in your eyes got closer and closer to falling with every door you threw open. Every door led to yet another empty room where chaos had passed and left everything in a mess. Here and there you were met by a few offers from the first army, a few grisha here and there, but no sign of Nikolai, Tolya, Tamar or any of the crows. When you’d almost given up, walking out of the latest room with tears running down your face and your breath caught in your throat, gasping for air, that’s when Nikolai rounded the corner in the far end of the corridor. At the shout of your name you whipped around and the sight of Nikolai and Tamar had you almost fainting with relief. 

“Y/N!” Nikolai shouted. It echoed in the corridor and bounced off of the stone walls around you. The sun lit up the corridor and you could see him clearly. Nikolai let go of Tamar and propped himself up against the wall instead. And you ran. You ran straight into his arms, throwing yourself in his embrace and wrapping your arms around his neck, burying your face against his neck. He caught you and pressed you into him, wanting all of you as close to him as possible. He wanted to feel your warmth, your breathing and the beating of your heart. His leg was throbbing and he sunk down on the floor with you still in his arms. 

“I thought I lost you, all of you. I couldn’t find any of you,” you whispered, breathing in the scent of him and fisting the fabric of his uniform in your hands. You looked up to see if Tamar was still there but she’d left, probably to tend to Nadia. Nikolai, equally relieved as you, pressed a hasty kiss to the side of your head and placed a hand in your hair, threading through it gently. 

“Are you alright?” He asked gently and pulled away slightly to let his eyes roam your body in search of any injuries, but let out a relieved sigh when you nodded and the only wounds he found on you were not very drastic. He made a move to stand up and you pulled away from the hug but grabbed ahold of his hand instead. Nikolai almost fell against the wall when he put pressure on his wounded leg. 

“Oh Saints, Nikolai!” You gasped and wrapped an arm around his waist and you let him throw an arm around your shoulders. He grimaced and dragged a sharp breath as you stared walking back outside to where Nikolai said the others would be. 

“I’m okay,” he insisted and looked down at you. 

“You don’t look very okay,” you said softly and stopped for a moment. You placed yourself in front of him instead and he rested his arms on your shoulders. His blond hair was messy and dirty, he had a bloody wound on the side of his head, a bleeding hole in his shoulder, the same place where he’d taken his first bullet, and his leg was bloodied and wrapped hastily in a white fabric. He definitely didn’t look okay. 

“It could be worse,” he tried and his famous smirk made its way to his lips. You chuckled, still the same old humour. He didn’t seem to have hit his head at least. You softly shook your head at him and cupped his cheek in your hand, careful to avoid the wound. 

“Just because it could be worse doesn’t mean that you’re okay.” Nikolai smiled at that, you were always so caring and comforting. Something he admired greatly with you. He settled for a simple nod and you placed yourself at his side again to help him walk. When the two of you came out into the sun in the courtyard Nikolai stopped again. You assumed he wanted to rest his leg but when you looked up at him he came crashing his lips down on yours. He held your face gently in his hands, yours came to rest on his chest. The kiss was soft and gentle and Nikolai savored every second like it was his last. You could feel the thumping of his heart through the uniform. The world had stopped and you let yourself enjoy the short moment. The two of you had survived the war, it was at least worth a kiss in celebration. 

When you broke apart Nikolai had tears running down his face. His eyes were glossed over and he slightly trembled under your hands. You didn’t say anything, you just wrapped your arms around him and held him, holding him up and pressing soft kisses to his blond mop of curls. You let each other just bask in the moment. You held each other, grounding each other like anchors to the world. 

[yunggoblin]

Hello!! I just read "A Not So Silent Night" and omg so hot. I love jealous Hunter and cocky Crosshair. If you're interested, could we get a little Hunter/Reader/Crosshair sandwich with some competitive vibes?

(and if you like, maybe some Hunter/Crosshair sprinkled in too? Reader's gotta make sure they aren't *actually* fighting, after all.)

Double Affection - Hunter and Crosshair (18+)

Pairing: Hunter x Female!Reader x Crosshair // Hunter x Crosshair

Summary: It's not easy sharing two dominate brothers but you somehow manage.

Warnings: 18+, Smut, Cussing, Shower!Sex, Anal, Clonecest, PiV, Minors DNI

Word Count: 2,823K

Note: I did reach out to this anon and they requested it to be Fem!Reader.

The lukewarm water sprayed down your achy back as you leaned forward, your forehead pressed against the cool shower wall. Your hair was soaked, sticking to your damp skin as the water continued to run down your tense muscles sliding down your spine.

Today was anything but easy. The Marauder decided to act up in the worst possible time, making you and the clones stranded on some Maker awful back waters planet, stranded. While Tech and Echo fixed the ship Hunter did rations check while Wrecker and Omega goofed off in a nearby field. You wanted to join them and relax but Crosshair had different plans for you.

Target practice.

You’d groan not liking the idea but knowing you needed the practice and Crosshair was an excellent teacher. Sometimes too excellent. One shot after another you’d improve only to slowly get tired as the recoil of the blaster made your shoulder ache. The blaster having a bit of a kick fire, digging into your soft flesh, you haven’t built up a callus which caused you to whine and whimper after each shot.

“Again.” Crosshair’s voice spoke and you compiled, anything to make him proud.

Leaning away from the wall the water ran down your frontside making you hiss loudly as the slightest pressure of water hit the large bruise forming on your shoulder. Looking down at it your eyes gazed over your discoloration skin, turning into a dark bluish purple from the butt of the blaster.

“Kriff.” You sighed.

Hunter wasn’t going to like this.

Just like that there was a soft knock on the door, whooshing open and close bringing a cool air rolling into the steamy fresher. “Mesh’la?” Hunter's voice rang out softly, calling for you.

Kriff.

Your tongue swiped over your wet lips before you answered. “What’s up?”

“Are you okay?” You could hear him take a step closer to the shower. “When you came back after shooting practice you seemed… quite and bit distanced.” Hunter trailed off. “Did he do something?”

You couldn’t help but to let out a soft laugh at Hunter’s overprotectiveness towards you, but you knew he wasn’t going to be happy at the new and large bruise you had. “No Hunter, Crosshair didn’t do anything to me. You should know he wouldn’t.”

“I know, I just had to make sure.” No words were spoken for a few seconds, the only sound was the water falling on the floor and down the drain as you kept soaking your body under the waterfall.

“So, you’re okay?” Hunter asked once more to reassure.

“Just a little sore.” You spoke truthfully, you weren’t lying but you didn’t want him to worry.

“Would you like me to join you and give you a massage?” You could hear Hunter shuffling his feet in a shy manner.

“I’d love a massage.” You broke out into a smile hearing Hunter quickly fumble over his clothes, getting naked. You knew he was going to see the bruise sometime so might as well have him see it now before it got even worse.

Feeling the cool breeze along your skin made you break out into goosebumps as he pulled back the curtain and stepped inside. He immediately knew something was wrong while your back was still turned to him, not greeting him once he fully stepped in. “Mesh’la?” Hunter’s voice was back to its soft tone, full of curiosity and concern. His hand placed upon your shoulder where the bruise was, his long slender fingers were on top of it as you let out a soft wince. Hunter quickly pulled back his touch and moved his hands upon your waist, forcing you to spin around to look at him. A loud gasp escaped his lips at the sight of the new marking.

“Karking hells, Y/N.” A hard frown settled upon his mouth as he looked at the painful bruise. He raised his hand up, fingers just barely brushing over it making you whine out in pain just by the soft touch. Hunter’s eyebrows knitted together, angry at Crosshair. “Next time I see him, I’m gonna-“

“Gonna what?” A smooth voice behind the curtain question. You didn’t even notice that the door contracted and Crosshair entered.

“Crosshair.” Hunter snarled. “You pushed her too far during practice.” Hunter grabbed the curtain, harshly pulling it back and exposed your naked body to him. Your nipples become stiff as the cool air danced along your chest.

Crosshair’s gaze lingered over your bare chest, admiring your breasts before he got to look at the bruise. “It’s training, how else is she going to learn that the blaster has a bit of a kick to it.” He shrugged nonchalantly as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Doing it a few times is fine, not for two hours straight.” Hunter snarled, he kept track of how long you two were gone for earlier today.

“Would you prefer her to find out about the recoil on the battlefield or during practice?” Crosshair sneered at his brother. The two brothers stared down at each other, glaring and on edge.

“Okay, enough of this you two.” You placed your hand upon Hunter’s wet chest. “I’m fine, Hunter, really I am.” You promised. “Crosshair is just trying to make me better.” Hunter’s shoulder sagged, becoming less tense as you confronted him. “But you.” It was now Crosshair’s turn to be scolded. “You know Hunter is protective of me Cross, don’t be mad at him.”

Crosshair frowned, his eyes softening as he looked over at the large bruise painted on your shoulder and slightly going into your inner armpit where the butt of the blaster was snugged in. “If it hurt so much why didn’t you tell me?” Crosshair sounded sad, hurt that you didn’t inform him about your condition.

“Come here, Cross.” You tilted your head towards the shower, inviting him in. Crosshair didn’t hesitate, stripping himself from his blacks that he put on earlier he tossed them into a small pile and stepped inside, wedging himself behind you and his back against facing the shower head, shielding your body from the water. “M’sorry I didn’t say anything before.” You leaned into Crosshair’s touch, your back pressed up against his chest, lulling your head back over his shoulder you nuzzle your face into his neck. “I just wanted to impress you.”

“You always impress me, cyare.” Crosshair placed his hands upon your waist, pulling you back against him, wanting to feel you closer. His cock nudging against your ass cheeks makes him already hard. “Can I make it up to you?” Crosshair turned his head, facing you as you stared up at him with a smile.

“I think I can think of a few ways.” You giggled, eyes sliding towards Hunter as he watched. “Maybe Hunter here can help too?” You hummed.

Crosshair’s brown eyes looked at Hunter with a bit of a dominate glare and mumbled; “I suppose he can help.”

“Good boy.” You whispered to Crosshair about being a team player.

“What do you have in mind, Mesh’la?” Hunter’s hands came up, cupping your breasts as he massaged them gently.

You arch your back off of Crosshair’s chest, pushing your chest more towards Hunter with a soft hum. “I want you both, at the same time.”

“Are you sure you can handle both of us, love?” Hunter's sweet voice hit your ears while Crosshair growled out his words.

“Of course she can.” Crosshair’s fingers dug into your waist, pushing his hips against yours, grinding his cock into you. “Let’s get you prepared for our cocks first.” Crosshair hummed, his hand dipping in between your legs as he traced his fingertips over your heated sex. “Already wet for me.”

“For us.” Hunter corrected Crosshair with a snarl.

Crosshair rolled his eyes with a huff as he slowly dipped a finger side of your pussy. “Kriff,” you sighed out softly. “Play nice, boys.” You reminded them.

“He started it.” Hunter mumbled, leaning forward as he took one of your nipples into his mouth, lightly lapping his tongue over the sensitive nub, his other hand caressed and cupped the other breast, pinching and tweeting the other nipple.

“Play nice or I’ll just kick you both out of the shower and finish this myself.”

Crosshair pushed another finger inside, pulling out and pumping back in as your moans left your lips and hips meeting his thrusts. “We’ll play fair.” Crosshair nudged his face into your neck, leaving soft kisses up and down your nape and slightly sinking his teeth into you. Your cunt clamped tightly around his fingers as you arched your back once again. “Kriff!” You squealed out at the harsh bite. Your hands flew up into Hunter’s hair gripping and tugging it forcing a groan to escape Hunter throat.

Hunter pulled off your breast with a soft pop. “Easy Crosshair.”

Crosshair pulled his mouth away from your neck, his teeth marks indented into your skin as he smirked at his work of art. “She’s a big girl, she can handle it. Right, sweetheart?” Crosshair’s fingers kept pumping in and out of your soaking pussy, making your walls flutter around his digits, nearly bringing you to your climax.

“I- I can handle it!” You cried out, wanting to prove to your Sargeant you can handle his brother's roughness.

“Told you.” Crosshair smirked, his fingers pulled out of your quivering pussy. “Let's get this ass ready for my cock.” Using the same fingers that were in your cunt, now dripping with your arousal, he pressed them against your tight muscle and slowly pushed inside. You tossed your head back into Crosshair’s shoulder, pushing your hips back against his touch, trying to take all of his fingers at once. “Easy, Y/N.” Crosshair whispered. “Take your time.”

“I want you, I want you both.” You breathlessly moaned, watching Hunter jerk himself off through your half lidded eyes.

“In time love.” Crosshair scissored his fingers in your ass, pushing and pulling his thick digits out of your tight channel. “Few more pumps.” He murmured, once he was satisfied with how stretched you were he slowly pulled his fingers from your ass. “Here we go, love.” You could hear Crosshair jerking himself off from behind you.

Shivering at the feeling of Crosshair’s cock head nudging in between your cheeks, you moaned loudly at the feeling of him splitting you open as he sunk his girth inside of you. “Hmm fuck, so sweet.” Crosshair let out an animalistic growl. Holding you by your waist he slowly pulled you back against him, his cock sinking further inside of you. Once settled in your tightness, Crosshair lets you adjust to his size. His hands ran down your waist to the back of your knees, bending over you slightly.

“C- Cross?” You questioned only to cry out softly as he picked you up, holding you by the back of your knees, his cock angling in a different way than before as he held you up, exposing your pussy to Hunter.

“Well, are you just going to stand there and watch or are you going to fuck her?” Crosshair snapped from the new position.

Hunter smirked to see how flustered both of his partners were, stepping forward he placed himself in between your legs, rubbing his dick up and down your slit. “Such a pretty little thing.” Wasting no time, Hunter pushed the tip of his dick past your folds. You sobbed loudly as Hunter stretched you wide while his brother was deep in you from behind.

“Feel full princess?” Crosshair hummed, kissing the back of your head.

“Y- Yes! Please- Please move! I want to come, I need to come!” You didn’t know how it was possible but you were already near your peak just by being full from their cocks deep inside of you and no friction. While Crosshair’s grip was still on the back of your knees, Hunter grabbed ahold of your waist, keeping his balance while you leaned back against Crosshair’s chest.

Both brothers pulled their hips away from you, leaving their tips inside each hold and pushing forward, driving their cocks deep inside of you. “KRIFF!” You screamed. Hunter’s hand flew up and covered your mouth, muffling any sobs, screams and moans from your throat.

“Take it baby, you’re taking us so well.” Hunter cooed, looking down he watched his cock plunge into you, a few moans slipping past his lips.

“Feels good to be stuffed this full, hmm?” Crosshair teased from behind, matching his brother's pace, but he soon decided that his older brother’s thrusts were a bit too slow for his liking. Crosshair soon started to pick up the pace, the loud echoing of skin against skin started to pick up and become louder.

“Easy Crosshair, she’s still sore from your training.” Hunter grunted as his cock pushed inside of you in a caring manner where Crosshair’s cock was already pumping in and out of your tight hole from behind.

“She’s not fragile, Hunter.” Crosshair sneered, teeth gritted as he snapped his hips forward, harshly. “You would know this if you were rough with her and didn’t baby her all the time.” Crosshair groaned as the skin on skin contact erupted throughout the refresher shower.

“Someone has to treat her like a princess and we both know it’s not going to be you.” Hunter snarled right back to his snarky brother. The tip of Hunter’s cock nudged and brushed against your cervix making you sob out a moan.

“Yeah? Well look at how she moans for me fucking this tight ass.” Crosshair hissed, his hand colliding with your cheek making you yelp.

“I’m looking at someone who moans the same way when their ass gets licked.” Hunter didn’t break eye contact with Crosshair who was glaring at Hunter with a shade of red tinted on his cheeks at the confession his brother spoke.

“E- Enough!” You moaned against Hunter’s hand, grabbing his wrist and pushing it away from your mouth. “Stop fighting, please.” You begged. “I’m so close to coming but I can’t focus when you two keep bickering!”

The thrusts didn’t stop and neither did their death glares, their cocks pushing inside of you deeply, pulling out and pushing back inside. “You two need to make up before we come.” You demanded, your breasts bouncing from the force of their thrusts.

Hunter was the first to break the gaze between the two, his eyes softening when looking at you. “M’sorry, baby.” Hunter apologized first.

“If- If you’re really sorry.” You panted, your eyes dropping down to where Hunter was thrusting in and out of you only to look back up at him. “Kiss and make up.” You could feel your orgasm building up, you forced yourself to hold back.

Hunter furrowed his eyebrows, glaring at his brother. “But mesh’la, he started-” Hunter was cut off by Crosshair grabbing his long locks and pulling him closer, sandwiching you between both clones. Crosshair smashed his lips against Hunter’s moaning softly at the harshness.

“Shut up, I want to come.” You heard Crosshair in between the hot kiss they shared. Their thrusts never let up, only snapping their hips harshly against you. You watched as the brothers shared a heated kiss only to have your jaw drop slightly as Crosshair slipped his tongue into Hunter’s mouth, giving him open kisses and fighting for dominance. That slight broke the dam within you. Your walls and muscles clenched around their cocks as you cried out their names.

“I’m coming!” You gripped at Hunter’s shoulders, nails digging into his flesh as he moaned into Crosshair’s mouth.

It was Hunter’s turn to climax next, his hot seed burying deep inside of you as he pulled away from the shared kiss with a groan, eyes squeezed shut. Crosshair’s thrusts didn’t let up as his Hunter’s cock was stilled inside of you. “Tell me you want it.” Crosshair growled in your ear.

“I want it, please give it to me giveittome!” You begged, your left hand reaching down to Crosshair’s waist, gripping him and pulling him closer. The contact made Crosshair groan, bottoming out his hips into you as ropes of come filled your ass.

Both clones moaned and panted, trying to catch their breath as they held you tight against them. The shower still going, the water now slightly cold but the refresher was still steaming from your actions. Hunter was the first one to slip his cock from you then Crosshair. “Lets get you cleaned up.” Hunter placed a soft kiss upon your forehead which made you smile. Your jelly like legs nearly gave out on you but Crosshair was quick to hold you up.

A loud knock banged against the door. “You know there are other people on this ship that want to shower too!” Tech’s voice called out.

“Let’s go, I believe I was promised a massage.” You smiled up at Hunter.

Crosshair’s Masterlist

Hunter's Masterlist

[yesterdays-xkcd]

Bad idea #271: Dropping into the half-pipe on a Segway.

Tony Hawk [Explained]

Transcript

My Hobby: Doing skateboard tricks in Tony Hawk while also doing them in real life.

[Cueball moves towards a quarter pipe on his skateboard while manipulating his PSP.] Beep Click Beep

[Cueball is in mid air having performed a Frontside 360°, both literally and on the PSP.] ♪ Frontside 360°! ♫Frontside 360°!

[howlingday]

Jaune's Shampoo

Sea Feilong

"DAMMIT, NORA!" Jaune opened his shower door. As he exited, he noticed his body had drastically changed. Using a mixture of his shampoo and experimental goo found at the fiendish Dr. Merlot's laboratory, Nora had unwittingly created a mutagen just to prank her team leader.

Jaune opened the door to his shower and almost immediately fell over. Crossing his arms, he braced for impact with the bathroom floor. Everything felt hot and wet around him, and for some reason he was enjoying this feeling.

Looking back to his legs, he noticed they were not only gone, but completely replaced a long, black, scaley tail, ending with red fins. Towards his lower back, just above his, uh, "cushion" were a pair of red, bat-like wings that, when spread out, were as long as his chest.

With a groan, he crawled his way to the bathroom door, only to find himself unable to stand. He never realized how much he took his legs for granted until now. For now, he would have to hope Nora was standing close by to see her prank. Time to bite the bullet and take whatever mockery she had in store for him.

"Nora?" He called. "Are you out there?"

"Nobody but me, Vomit Boy."

Oh no. Anyone but her.

"Uh, you stuck in there, dude?" Yang asked.

"Uh... Kinda?" He sighed. "Listen, my scroll is next to my bed. It has a Team Leader override in the event of emergencies that-"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Yang called back. "Ruby uses it twice a week for her own kinds of..." Yang's voiced faded for a moment before returning. "Before I unlock the door, are you decent?

"Uh..." Jaune looked to his tail. "Kinda?"

"Do you have a towel on?"

Sweat built on Jaune's brow. "No."

"Can you get to one?"

Jaune gulped "No."

"Alright, just..." Yang sighed. "Just don't make this weird."

"I can't promise that."

With a click, the door unlocked and came open. Jaune pushed himself away to give Yang room, and stared into her eyes as they bulged from her sockets. Her hand came up to her mouth.

"Oh my god..." She said. "I thought there was something FISHY going on here."

"Damn it, Yang." Jaune sighed. "Can you help me up?"

"Shore thing, Jaune." Jaune groaned as she lifted him up. "Oof! Looks like I caught a fish this... Huh."

"What?"

"Nothing, you just..." Her nose twitched. "You smell pretty good for a fish-man."

"Uh, what do I smell like?"

"What did the bottle say it was?"

"It was that black bottle with no label." Jaune pointed to the shower.

"You used a bottle of shampoo without looking at the label?"

"Yeah." Jaune answered. "Is that bad?" Yang looked him up and down. Jaune looked to his tail, which twitched as naturally as flexing his toes. "Ah. Right. Point taken."

"So, where should I drop ya?"

"On my bed." Jaune said. "But, uh, could you tell me what I smell like?"

"Well..." Yang game him a cautious sniff. "Kinda like sandalwood, and..." Jaune felt his heart beat a little faster as she got closer. "...vanilla~."

"Uh, Yang? You're getting kinda CLOH-!" Jaune felt the bed rush to meet his backside, but had little time to adjust as something else that was soft pressed his frontside.

"Oh, I can get a lot closer, Lady Killer~." Yang purred as she hovered over him. He gave a pained face and she pulled away. "Uh, you okay?"

"Yeah, just my wings." Yang pulled away and let Jaune roll over. His wings fully extended high into the air, their maroon webbing cast a shade on the wall.

"Dude..." Yang admired with awe, before she snickered. "Did you just pop a wing boner?"

"N-No!" Jaune exclaimed, not looking her in the face.

"Yes, you did!" She laughed. "That is so cute!" Jaune covered his blushing face, feeling so embarrassed by what just happened. "Hey." Jaune peered through his fingers and found Yang giving him a saucy smile in front of him. "What else can you make pop up~?"

Jaune gulped.

Peering through a crack in the door, teal eyes watched with excitement. "See, Ren?! I told you it would work!"

[sodaabaa]

stolen tires, chapter four

jason returns to gotham after the world believed him to be dead. heavily inspired by the film, under the red hood.

tw: mentions of death, angst, self loathing, grief, abuse

Bruce was obsessing over finding this new vigilante. He wore a red bat symbol on his chest and fought as if Bruce himself had trained him. This new vigilante was an interesting sight. He was dressed almost casually except for the red helmet he wore. The red bat symbol tormented Bruce. He wondered why this man wore Batman's insignia. The vigilante was well trained as well, he swung from rooftop to rooftop with ease, killed over ten well guarded drug lords within two hours and got Black Mask's men to join his side. All in a day. Who was he? Leaning back to look at the large computer screen in front of him, Bruce's butler, Alfred, walked in. 

"Master Wayne, there was something at the front door for you, a box sir." He said with his posh British accent. 

"Leave it here please Alfred, thank you." He said back, smiling at his kind butler. Alfred was definitely more than just a butler to Bruce. He was his confidant and almost like a father to Bruce after his parents died. 

Bruce turned away from the computer and glanced at the box. It was a plain, long, rectangular, red box. He walked towards the box and opened the lid to see a newspaper facing down. Bruce picked the newspaper up and flipped it over to the frontside. In the middle of the front page, in red ink and bold letters it said:

YOU LET YOUR FAMILY DIE.

He was taken aback. Shocked at the statement he tried to regather his thoughts. A red box, red letters, an ominous message and a new vigilante who wore red embellishments. This was surely him. The new vigilante was after Bruce for some reason. Who was he referring to when he said "family?" His parents? Jason? It was true, his parents and Jason all died because Bruce was too weak or too slow to save them but why did the vigilante care about Bruce's family? 

Bruce looked at the time, it was three in the afternoon and he had yet to leave the bat cave. Sitting and thinking who could possibly care about how his family died. Who was this vigilante. From what he knew, the vigilante wore a bat symbol, was well trained and cared about the dead members of Bruce's family. It couldn't be Dick, the vigilante's body composition was much bulkier and heavy. It couldn't be Tim either, he was far too young, too short and again the vigilante was bulky and tall much like Bruce. That left Jason. But Jason was dead. Frustrated he left the cave and walked to his room. 

As he was getting dressed he thought about where he wanted to go. The Iceberg Lounge. A club located in the wealthier region of Gotham, the Iceberg Lounge was run by Oswald Cobblepot otherwise known as the Penguin. Bruce occasionally went to the Lounge when he needed a break or if needed some information. All types of people could be found there so it was easy to gather information, especially since Bruce could offer some encouragement to those who wouldn't talk with a few hundred dollars. He went downstairs and walked towards the foyer when he heard Alfred. 

"Would you like me to drive you sir?" He asked.

"No thank you Alfred, I'm just going for a breath of fresh air into the city." Bruce smiled back and made his way out. 

Bruce pulled up to the valet and gave the worker his keys and walked towards the entrance to the club. He could hear the faint beat of the music from the outside. Once he was inside he noticed that today was a busy day. From the corner of his eye he saw a tall, tan woman. He turned to see who this woman was that stood out from the rest of the crowd. Immediately he recognized her. It was Koriand'r, Dick's new girlfriend. Next to Koriand'r was Roy Harper, Oliver Queen's former sidekick. It was funny seeing them here, it didn't seem like their scene. Along with the pair of young crimefighters was another man, unfamiliar to Bruce but somehow seemed like he knew this man. Maybe they knew something about the new vigilante. He walked towards them putting on a mask of charm and charisma. 

"Roy Harper and Koriand'r. Nice seeing you two here, how's Dick Kori?" He asked, all smiles. 

"Bruce Wayne." Roy exclaimed, smiling brightly back. Albeit a bit too brightly. 

"Hello Bruce, Dick's fine, how've you been?" Koriand'r asked politely in her sweet, melodious voice.

"Fine as always, and you are?" He said, looking at the new face.

Roy and the man shared a look between each other contemplating what they were going to say.

"Andrew Baker, Mr.Wayne, glad to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you." The man, Andrew, said back in a cool and collected tone. 

Bruce nodded and smiled back. Something was off about this man. For one he could tell that his name was certainly not Andrew Baker. It sounded like something he had just come up with. Leaving his suspicions aside for now he asked, 

"So I was wondering if you lot knew anything about this new vigilante that's been stirring up trouble?" 

Roy opened up his mouth to respond when Andrew butt in before he could say anything.

"The Red Hood? Yeah I hear he has some crazy vendetta against the Batman. He's a maniac that one." He smirked as though telling a joke that no one else seemed to understand. 

"Is that so, anything else you might know about this 'maniac'?" Bruce asked. 

It was quiet for a moment before Roy spoke up. "I hear he's gonna be going after a shipment at the docks later tonight." 

Immediately after saying that sentence Andrew's icy blue eyes seemed to be shooting daggers at Roy. Bruce noted this and said, "thank you for the information guys, I'll be seeing you around soon." 

He said his goodbyes to the three and left to grab a drink from the bar. So the "Red Hood" was going to show up at the docks tonight. Kord Industries had a shipment that was supposed to arrive tonight, was there a connection?

[the-forests-blessing]

Chapter 10

Tiny orange leaves scatter all over the forest floor. Slim white trunks with black stripes of all shapes and sizes belong to the trees from which these leaves fall. Lukas can recognize the birch leaves easily, but he’s not in the mood to get excited about their presence, not when he’s just been brought to the attention of what horrific atrocities the hunters back in BeaconTown have done to this ancient woodland. 

     His anger, which had once boiled red hot, has now settled into a low simmer, his upset expression aimed in the direction of the forest floor he walks upon. He walks fast and focused, meanwhile the heavy and slow steps of the shadow that thrives here somehow manages to keep up with him. 

     “I can’t believe this,” Lukas groans again, reaching a hand up to hold his forehead as he continues to envision the scene. “I.. can’t believe this.” He knew those hunters were up to no good just from looks and suspicious behavior alone, but this is… “This is unbelievable!” He finally stops, turning on the Admin. The deity stops as well, keeping a comfortable distance between himself and the distraught blond. 

     “How? How can they be so careless?” Lukas asks the silent god, knowing he’s not going to get a response. “To destroy such a large space of forest. Do they have no idea how much damage they’ve caused!?” He crosses his arms over his muddy frontside, then scoffs as he looks away. “Trying to reach you? Could it be..” The ecologist stiffens, his expression souring at a horrid thought. “Are they trying to push you out so they can deforest? Use the land for resources?” Lukas goes silent again, taking a moment to think about it, then begins to pace whilst his mind runs rampant with ideas. 

     “Wait no.. No that wouldn’t make any sense. Why would they burn down those parts of the forest if they could just cut down the trees and replant them if they were in need of resources?” He sighs, holding himself with his arms. “I don’t understand..” 

     The Admin simply watches him, silent and unmoving. Lukas glances up at him, then away, biting the inside of his cheek as an idea takes form.. One he takes a moment to consider before taking his chances. “Okay, I–” he reaches into his satchel and grabs his journal and quill, then closes it up and begins to make an approach towards the deity, too distracted opening his journal to notice the Admin putting his guard up. “I need your help understanding this, so I was thinking maybe we could try this again? You know, the writing thing. You could just write down what hap-!”

     A sudden chill overwhelms him and his moving feet are planted firmly into the ground, rooting him to his spot. “-ened…” He looks up from his feet, watching the Admin’s tired expression strengthen into his tempered scowl, the god glaring him down as he himself chooses to close the distance and, to Lukas’ shock, yank the journal and quill from his hands. 

     The Admin retreats a few blocks back, then relents. Lukas releases a soft gasp as he becomes mobile once more, taking in a deep gulp of air after realizing he’d been holding his breath. Before he could even think to move, the deity holds out one large blue hand, gesturing ‘stop’, so Lukas does just that. He’s deeply enthralled as he watches the Admin turn his attention back and assess the journal with his own hands, even opening it and flipping through pages. Lukas’ heart hammers in his chest like an out of control piston, watching the man stop to examine freshly written passages, then finally come to a full stop and lift his quill. 

     Admin examines the quill as well and immediately Lukas feels like a fool for not offering him his inkwell. He’s about to open his mouth to let him know he’ll retrieve it for him, but the quill descending upon one of the journal's pages and the sound of its tapping assists in Lukas shutting his mouth once again. He watches the deity’s face.. How focused and stern he looks as he scowls into the book's pages. Lukas’ heart snags in his chest when the Admin snaps his gaze to him without moving, making the blond tense and look away.

    He takes to looking at the new surroundings. Taking in all the slim birch trees and how scrawny they look in comparison to the evergreens that tower over them, yet their bright orange and yellows look heavenly over the backdrop of dark greens and blues. Lukas watches a shivering leaf pluck itself from one of the birch's thin limbs, signaling the nearing of summer's end. The scribbling draws on for a bit longer than he expected, feeling antsy until the sound of the journal snapping shut just about makes Lukas shudder in anticipation for what’s been written. 

     …Only to find that pressure once again keeping his feet pinned to the ground as the deity approaches. The book is then promptly shoved back into Lukas’ hands, causing the blond to emit a soft sound of surprise and look up. His breath catches as he makes eye contact this close with the Admin. Just like back in the field, his own teal eyes gaze deep into glowing turquoise, finding the tiny white pupils boring into him. 

     The deity stares back for only a moment before his scarred nose scrunches up and his frown deepens in a look of disgust, then he continues walking past Lukas… Keeping the author pinned down like a tack in the earth until he’s a good distance away. Then he relents. 

     Lukas doesn’t wait a second. He practically throws his journal open and starts flipping the pages hurriedly, all until he finds one near the middle with ink spots that he most definitely did not create. He holds the journal open and with his held breath, reads:

      NO.

     “Wha-?” Lukas’ jaw drops, his expression a mix of disbelief and annoyance… then skepticism. The handwriting is… horrendous for what is only two single letters. The lines are disconnected and sloppy, even the O looks wobbly and deformed. He's at a momentary loss for words, looking almost offended at the response given. Not much of a writer, he assumes. He quickly picks himself up and hurries back towards the deity, making quite the ruckus almost tripping over some twisted tree roots on the way. 

     “W-wait! Admin, please!” Lukas pleads, catching up with the god, getting only a few feet away from the man’s mossy pelt before a heavy stomp and the deity turns on him. Lukas freezes in place as the Admin turns only his torso and lowers just a bit to emit a deep, guttural, and distorted growl. Like the ill-fated growl of an infuriated Ender Dragon. His dark nose scrunching up and his scarred lip curling slightly. The intimidating, downright creepy noise goes straight through the author’s core, causing what feels like ice to prick at his skin.  

     They hold eye contact and a charged silence comes between; the Admin asserting his displeasure for Lukas’ insistent disregard for more information and Lukas… His teal eyes widened, the sound made every hair on his body stand on end with chills.  He’s completely speechless while he watches the Admin slowly straighten his broad posture and his massive form expanding as he draws in a deep breath, then expels a long, heavy sigh. He then turns, leaving Lukas stunned and.. Intrigued. 

     “S-so you do have some kind of voice,” Lukas draws out in an almost winded, yet quiet tone. The author’s heart pounds in his chest after that moment. He quickly perks up and once again begins following the deity. Again, coming a bit too close and the Admin stamps a heavy foot down and turns sharply, dragging Lukas back away a couple feet. The author is stunned into silence watching the leaves and dirt get disturbed as he’s pulled along by an invisible force grabbing at the back of his adventure gear. Once again, he’s dropped about a seven blocks distance away. Awfully generous unbeknownst to Lukas. 

     The Admin straightens up again with a harrowing scowl, and with a deep huff, turns and begins walking away. Lukas doesn’t move immediately this time around, instead he draws in a soft breath and sighs, watching him go. Okay.. he’s not a fan of close contact. Got it. Lukas rubs his arm nervously, then picks his feet up to follow, allowing the distance between them both to increase, giving the bad-tempered god his space. But didn’t he put his hand on my shoulder? Lukas recalls the action, remembering how… large the palm of the Admin felt upon his shoulder.

      Maybe it’s a control thing… Lukas ponders, taking the actions into thoughtful regard. So far, the Admin always seems tense and wary of him whenever it's Lukas that’s moving, especially when he steps closer, at least from what he’s noticed. His demeanor seems calmer whenever Lukas is being held down by his powers, or even when he was being held up in that net trap. Must not be a fan of letting people close, the author concludes. Lukas can both understand and respect that. 

      From now on, I’ll keep my distance… And stop prying for information. If that’s what will help him trust me more.

     “Hmm..” Lukas hums, thinking of that with a glance down at his watch. The sundial is descending now with the shadow of nightfall ticking closer. “A-Admin?” Lukas calls out, stopping where he stands. The Admin, quite a distance ahead, stops and turns just his head slightly. From this distance, the most of what Lukas can see among the mix of birch and conifers is the deity’s shadowy build, as well as the glow of his eye looking back at him. “I was wondering if you could please teleport me home? And Dewey too, please. I’m worried about him..” 

     The Admin’s glare narrows on him, and before the inevitable happens, the blond continues with a stutter. “A-and I promise I won’t say anything about this to anyone. I respect your wishes and.. You can trust me.” Lukas speaks with his heart on his sleeve full of honesty. Whether the Admin believes him or not, he isn’t sure. A deafening silence fills the air and, before he knows it, he’s witnessing a single short nod from the man, then his vision turns white.

      In the blink of an eye, Lukas is standing out at the entrance of the forest and in front of him, only a field away, lies BeaconTown in all its unholy glory. He stands though.. no stumble or fall to recover from. It seems the Admin teleported him with that in mind this time, Lukas can only hope. 

     Teleportation.. That's so amazing, our author turns and gazes back into the tree line, wondering how on earth he does it. A flash of white brightens next to him, catching the human off guard and poof! 

      “Dewey!” Lukas exclaims with a relieved tone. The ocelot whips his head around, completely owl-eyed and covered in dried mud.. The writer leans down, grabbing his companion and pulling him into an affectionate hug. “Aw geez..” Lukas eases his hug, looking down at the jungle cat's filthy pelt. “Let’s get you home and cleaned up, buddy..” He continues to hold Dewey while he stands, exiting the shadow of the tree line and entering the sunlit field. 

     Dewey, still stunned at what just happened, stays ruffled and alert all the way back to the BeacInn. Once there, Lukas changes out of his dirty adventure clothes and into something more casual, his turtleneck and dark jeans. Dewey on the other hand has collapsed with exhaustion on the bed. After Lukas gave him a warm bath in the tub, he can hardly keep his eyes open long enough to feel Lukas pet his head and announce he's going out for a while. The ocelot merely groans, flicking the tip of his tail with defeat before descending into slumber.

     Exiting the BeacInn, Lukas is greeted with streets dimly lit by the setting sun. Golden hour, as some would call it. The man turns his head towards the clouds, noticing the faint stars of twilight beginning to twinkle their way into the sky. 

      I wonder what he's doing right now… Lukas’ mind returns to the Admin and everything that happened today. From that energetic chase following Dewey and the Allay, all the way to getting caught in that net trap. Lukas felt he was being watched. 

     The blond sighs out, tired and more than ready for bed, but he's got just one thing he wants to do. He enters Beacon’s streets walking casually, all while keeping an eye out for any of those damned hunters. Especially with that snake, Aiden, skulking around . Lukas scowls at the thought of that pathetic pale face and those green eyes full of hate. He’s never met someone so hostile in his life, and Lukas has had his fair share of run-ins with some nasty folk while he traveled. 

      Knock knock knock

      Lukas shoves his hands into his pockets and looks around while he waits. Thankfully the town seemed just as desolate as usual, so there was nothing to keep Lukas from getting to his destination on time. 

     The sound of steps coming to the door alerts Lukas to straighten up and look towards the door. When the door opens, he finds on the other side of it is a disheveled looking Radar, dressed in a yellow cardigan sweater and some dark pants. Radar looks taken aback by Lukas’ appearance on the other side, the scholar gawking with surprise, then smiling wide. “Lukas!” He greets cheerfully.

     “Uhh.. Hi,” a small awkward wave and suddenly the door is being held wide open in invitation. 

     “I’m so glad you’re here! Come on in!” Radar chirps and beckons the author with a waving hand. 

     “Oh.. Wait, you're glad?” Lukas steps in, once again taking in his surroundings, looking anywhere but at Radar as he eases out of the awkwardness. 

     “Yeah! I was hoping to see you again soon,” Radar closes the door softly, then hurries over to the couch where Nell sits criss-crossed holding what looks to be a slimeball. 

     “Sup, Lukas?” Nell asks. “What brings you into casa de Nelldar.” She squints, looking up at the ceiling as if confused by her own words. “Or would it be Radell?” 

     “Uhh.. Well to answer your ‘sup’ ,” Lukas clasps his hands together and points at the two friends sitting side by side on the couch. “I came over because.. well… I have more questions.” That made Radar and Nell both glance at each other with uncertain looks. Lukas quickly gestures for them to calm whatever comes to mind. “Okay hold on, I know what you’re thinking and no, it’s not Admin related.” Radar sighs audibly with relief while Nell just quirks a curious brow. “It’s about the New Order..” 

     Immediately Radar sucks in another sharp breath and Lukas has to restrain the urge to roll his eyes. “Don’t tell me it’s another ‘classified information’ kind of deal.” 

     “Well..” Nell starts, squeezing her slimeball and tossing it to her other hand. “It’s not classified , but it’s not something we BeaconTowner’s really talk about anymore either.” 

     “Is that so..?” Lukas draws out with a lower, skeptical tone. “Mind if I sit?” 

     “No.. go ahead,” Radar says, gesturing to the chair on the other side of the coffee table. 

     “Because I was told the Order basically fell apart. Is that true?” Lukas asks as he settles down into his seat.

     “Where did you hear that from?” Radar asks in return.

     “Petra told me, but she didn’t tell me why. The girl at the BeacInn told me it was because a team member died?” The author sits forward a little, eyeing two with attentive focus. 

     “P-Petra?” Radar stutters, looking rather shocked at the mention of her name. Lukas squints at the reaction but nods. “She actually said that to you?” 

     “Yeah, the other day. I had a run in with that Aiden guy,” that name seems to draw out a reaction from the two as well, both wincing at the mention of the aggressive hunter. “He saw me coming back from the forest and told me he was going to go tell the mayor. Next thing I know, morning comes and there’s these two hunters banging on my door. They escorted me up to that.. Tower thingy.. And brought me into her office. The whole interaction felt kind of weird, but she gave me permission to enter the forest from now on, as well as–” 

     “Woahwoahwoahwoah–” Radar motions with his hands for Lukas to stop. He then looks back at the blond, looking and sounding offended. “She gave you permission to go out there? That’s.. That’s unheard of!” Radar scoffs, crossing his arms. “What else did she say?”

     “Uhm, that if I were to travel too far in, I basically wouldn’t make it out alive. That, and she kind of said if I were to trespass deeper into that part of the woods, that she’d have to take a course of action she really doesn’t want to have to do.. Whatever that means.” Lukas shrugs. 

     “I don’t believe it..” Radar looks distraught where he sits, at quite the loss with this newfound information.

     “Yeah well, anyways, I asked why there weren't any history books here in town- no answer, but then I also asked what happened to the heroes that used to live here. I mean seriously, the town was built off of the foundation of the Witherstorm’s destruction. And that’s another thing, how are there heroes who supposedly saved the world, yet no books on them? It’s all just rumors. Sounds pretty suspicious if you ask me.” 

     Nell keeps her mouth shut during this conversation. She seems to be spacing out while she squeezes the slimeball, looking off into the direction of elsewhere within the small home. Radar uncrosses his arms by now and is leaned forward, keeping his cheek held in one hand while he gazes down at the floor and listens. When Lukas finishes speaking, it’s Radar’s turn to sigh.

     “They aren’t rumors , I swear it. It’s just that he could never find– we – could never find a person fit to tell the tales of the New Order. Everyone in BeaconTown was a builder, fighter, miner, or some other kind of creative. We never found any writers who could put enough passion from.. From his mouth onto the pages of paper, so nothing was ever published.” Radar shakes his head. “We really tried.”

     Lukas quirks a brow. “ We?” He repeats… “Who’s we and… who’s he?”  

     The unmistakable tap of rain hits the wooden roof, making each individual look up from where they sit. The tapping gets faster and harder as the seconds pass. Radar drops his gaze, lacing his fingers together. He looks focused in thought, then nods a few times before he finally stands and crosses his arms, looking elsewhere but the blond eyeing him. 

     “The New Order leader..” Radar says, then takes a deep breath and sighs heavily. “I was his intern.” 

     “You?” Lukas utters out, genuinely surprised to hear it. 

     “Yeah..” Radar nods. “A long time ago.” 

     “Huh.. Honestly, I wasn't expecting that one.” Lukas admits. 

     “Man.. Yeah, I sure do miss that guy.” Nell speaks up from the couch where she still sits. She at some point stopped playing with the slimeball to sit back on the cushion of the couch, gazing straight up at the ceiling. 

     “Ooookay. And does this guy have a name?” Lukas darts his gaze between the two. Nell sits up a bit and looks at Radar, while Radar keeps his back turned to them in what Lukas can’t tell is a defensive demeanor or not. There’s another pause where the only sound breaking the deafening silence in the room is the rain pattering against the roof. 

     “His name was Jesse…” The squeaky voice of the scholar cracks with emotion. Radar takes in a deep, grounding breath as he then straightens up and turns back towards Nell and Lukas. “But he’s gone now, and.. And there’s no chance of him ever coming back, so if you’re looking for information on the New Order, you best start looking in either BoomTown or Redstonia. B-because that’s where the other two members are.” 

      Jesse… The name echoes in his mind. He’ll make sure to write that down later.

     As for the other… two? “What? Hold on a minute, what do you mean two? I thought there were three surviving members of the New Order?” 

     “Don’t bother looking for the third.” Radar’s usually soft and excited expression sours as he speaks. “What’s left of who she once was is gone. You won’t find anything but trouble there.” 

      Won’t find anything but trouble, huh? That reminds Lukas of something else, enticing a new question to take form. “Well I really appreciate you telling me that stuff Radar. I can tell it’s not easy for you.” Lukas notices the way the younger male seems to brighten up, offering a small smile and a short nod. “I was curious by the faces you two made earlier though. In regards to me mentioning Aiden? Ring a bell?” 

     “Aughh.. Not that guy..” Nell throws herself back into the couch. “He’s a major pain in our-” 

     “He sucks! I hate that guy!” Radar shouts and throws his hands up, taking Lukas by surprise. “He’s always coming over here, pounding on our door whenever a new problem rises up! Blames us for everything! He even made us move our entire home over here! Tucked in between these buildings, we hardly have any space to build anymore!”

     “Let alone walk, talk, or live without him breathing down our necks.” 

     “BeaconTown has only gone downhill since he came here with his.. His goons.”

     “Goons?” Lukas repeats, a little perplexed by the word.

     “Maya and Gill.” Nell offers in short.

     “Yeah! A bunch of no good griefers, that’s all they are!” Radar collapses back onto the couch, sinking into it with a sigh. “Okay, I’m done yelling now.” 

     “Wow… uhh… So you guys hate him too, huh?” 

     “Totally.” 

     “Roger that, Lukas-dude.” 

     Lukas takes a moment to think about this. 

     So, from this encounter alone, he’s learned that Radar used to be the New Order’s intern, Aiden is hated amongst other BeaconTowner’s and that… The deceased leader of the New Order’s name is… Jesse. 

      Jesse… I’ve definitely heard that name before… 

     The sound of the rain draws Lukas back to his senses, willing the author up and onto his feet. “Well, thank you both for enlightening me. I really do appreciate you taking time out of your day to help me have a better understanding of what’s going on around here. I do want to talk more about this, but it’s late and today was… rough.” 

      “W-wait, Lukas, before you go.” Radar stands up and steps forward, closing the distance between himself and the author. The blond smiles awkwardly as the scholar takes his hand into both his own, giving it an.. Almost professional shake. “Thank you for what you did the other day.” Lukas squints at him, a bit confused. “The postcard I mean. You were right,” Radar steps back now, releasing Lukas’ hand which the author quickly tucks into the safety of his pants pocket. “I did need some inspiration. He-... Jesse… Wouldn't want to see BeaconTown this way. So I’m going to do my best to bring back some of the colors it once had, in honor of him.” 

     Lukas blinks, surprised yet heart warmed by the words Radar speaks. He had no idea his gift of the postcard would mean so much to him, but now more than ever does Lukas feel like he made the right decision in giving it to him. 

     “And in honor of you too.” 

     Lukas tilts his head, slightly taken aback by that statement. “In honor of me?” 

     “Yeah!” Radar chirps in a peppy tone. “You helped not only me, but Nell too. You helped us both find that drive to once again push for building rights in BeaconTown again. If you wouldn’t mind, we’d also really like a bit of your insight on the build we’re planning to commemorate BeaconTown's slow recovery.”

     “Insight? That’s.. Awfully kind of you Radar, but I don’t know a thing about building.” Lukas confesses.

     “That’s okay! Jesse always did say there’s creativity in everybody, no matter how new or how experienced they are.” 

     “Shhyeah, Radar’s right. Jesse, like, inspired me to build my first house here in town. Gave me some building material and said let your heart do the rest… or uh.. Something like that.” Nell shrugs.

     Radar reaches out and grasps Lukas’ shoulder, giving it a light shake. “Give it some thought, will you?” 

     “Hmm.. Well..” Lukas thinks it over a bit, and while he doesn't have a clue as to which blocks would be ideal for building projects, he does have at least one idea in mind. “How about something blue?” Lukas isn't sure what he was expecting with that response, but it certainly wasn't for Radar to start sniffling and get teary eyed. Lukas leans back a little bit, looking at Nell for help. “Uh.. Not a fan-?” 

     “B-blue was his.. favorite color.” Radar sniffles a bit more, then straightens up with another deep breath. “You're right, Lukas. Blue it is! I'll keep you updated on what ideas we come up with.”

     Coming back to BeacInn, Lukas enters his room and practically collapses onto the bed. Dewey opens his eyes, emitting a chirp to greet his face down owner before tucking his nose back under his tail and drifting off to sleep. Lukas turns over on the comforter, sprawling out and staring up at the ceiling. 

     After his brief talk with Nell and Radar, he felt a little bit better knowing there’s more people here in town who dislike Aiden as much as he does. Quite the trouble maker he seems to be.

     It’s.. nice having people to talk to. People who are interested in talking to him too. It’s nice knowing Radar was looking forward to seeing him just to give that small update of his newfound inspiration. It feels really nice to be responsible for that kind of positive impact on someone, and Lukas can tell that the folks here in BeaconTown need it. Whatever Radar and Nell have planned, he hopes it brings the town's spirit of creativity back. 

     Lukas turns on the bed, gazing past his dark room and out towards the windows. The arrival of rain is beginning to become something Lukas expects as summer draws closer to an end. 

     …He wonders if the Admin is okay. If the rain makes him feel as lonely as Lukas does right now. He can’t help but hope that the man is somewhere warm and dry, and that the Allay is safe with him, snuggled up in the fluffy moss of the Admin’s cloak. Lukas smiles at the thought, thinking of how cute the little blue spirit is, and how… sweet it is that it finds its sanctuary with something as massive and intimidating as the Admin. 

     And what of that poor forest? Lukas has never seen such purposeful destruction to such a harrowing degree. All that, and he’s still forced to wonder why? With everyone being so secretive, there’s still so much hurt and confusion squeezing his heart.

     As the moon rises up above the dark clouds shedding rain upon the landscape, the pattern in Lukas’ mind persists. He falls asleep thinking of him, as well as what the next day could possibly bring.

     ~

     And just like that– he’s gone. 

     Arms crossed, glare unwavering as he lingers for a few passing moments. While Lukas has still proven himself to be part of an invasive species, the words he speaks plead with Admin’s everlasting skepticism toward him. There is no deeper meaning behind his most recent actions in allowing Lukas to tread within his forest, and the parts of it that have burned down.

     A scare tactic that had turned on himself, instead of scaring off the scholar, he turned around and threw his hands up with an incredulous speech. A threatening promise to take a piece of his mind all the way back to..

     Petra..

     The name echoes within his mind, being caught with an unplanned wave of dread. There is nothing left in that field the same way there is nothing left in BeaconTown. He’s left it all to grow and bloom on its own accord, both are no longer home. 

     Admin flashes within a bright light and disappears within the following dark shadow just as the Allay itself comes floating by. The Admin’s strange omnipotence being a guide for the creature as soon as he reaches his own destination chunks away.

     The rain begins with its light droplets until it turns into a downpour. The leaves above do not offer shelter, which he can only thank the clouds above for. For the moss floor flourishes with each rain, just as the shawl does that rests along his shoulders and protects his back.

     He casts his gaze upward, looking straight to the sky as his mind sparks with the image of the scholar and his pet, if they got home before being soaked to the bone. 

     Deep within the darkness, he spies across another clearing. Though this one is made of mossy mounds and rare uncanny trees. Their knotted limbs and uncomfortable looking twisted trunks are that of nightmares. The glowing veins within their cold, dark colored bark let the Admin know that within this depth of the Forest.. he is truly alone.

     He slowly trudges forward, leaving no trailing steps behind him. The moss is healthy and reforms as each heavy step lifts away from its damp surface. It takes quite a bit of time before he centers himself within the cold biome, finding the perfect area to seat himself in the comfort of the thick moss.

     I won’t tell anyone about this. You can trust me..

     Two sides to this man. One is overly confident and selfish, while the other pleads for access to his innermost woods and for him to.. communicate. What exactly is this author after? 

     Admin shakes his head. To give this human what he wants is to put his entire life at risk, doesn't he know that yet? The past is nothing compared to what could possibly come in the future for him.. For them both.

     Lukas. 

     His name is Lukas..

     Lukas protected, played with, and then freed the Allay before thinking of freeing himself. His survival instincts tell him only that he’s been sheltered, to care more for others than for himself. 

     It's a dangerous heart to have.

     With a deep sigh, Admin retrieves the sweet berries he took from Lukas. Popping the latch off one of his many belt pockets and scooping out the little bundle that holds the red sweets. He splayed the wrap open and the berries spread atop his gloved hand, only letting one fall before he reached and plucked it from the mossy ground.

     The Deity holds it eye level with himself, losing himself in uncomfortable feelings the day had brought him back down into.

     Lukas has left him no choice but to trust him, now that he’s returned to town that is.. Whatever he may do, Admin doesn't want the ocelot harmed, nor its arrogant owner.

     Admin tosses the berry into his mouth, its sweet juices reminding him of the Allay. How scared it was to be captured so suddenly.. They're all lucky the snare wasn't equipped with an alert system. 

     That's two traps in a few days.. The hunters must be on edge now that Lukas is coming back home without well.. being horrified by Admin himself, let alone the darkness he brings. 

     She must be on edge.. 

     He’ll be on the lookout for more traps after he finishes his little snack. The rain has never stopped him before and it wouldn't stop him now, the changing colors of the leaves only remind him that it will be getting colder soon. More winds and harsh weather.. The droves of hunters that come find only weakness the longer they stay out. For the sake of the creatures that live in depths of his forest will be kept safer the more he brings the rain and cold. For the sake of Lukas’s own safety, Admins mind wanders beyond snares and pitfalls.. for the blond male is a walking weakness in itself. 

    The berries are gone, and so he stands. It’s time to get back to work. Nightfall officially comes, the rain falls with it.

[slytherinshua]

SKATE INTO MY HEART

genre. fluff. skater au. meetcute kinda? warnings. kissing. reader falls off their skateboard once. i know nothing about skateboarding but i tried to do some research for this lmfao. pairing. changyun x reader. wc. 1.5k. a/n. guys im officially whipped asf for etion its not even funny anymore

Unlike most of your friends, you liked getting up early. Not just waking up early only to go back to sleep, but doing things in the early hours of the morning. 

You liked the cool chill of the morning air and the fresh crisp dewy smell of the wet grass. You liked the walk you took to the skatepark when the sky was still a dusky blue and the sun hadn’t even fully awoken yet.

But, most of all, you liked the welcome solitude of the skatepark in the early morning. You had been skeptical of skateboarding as a hobby when you were little. It looked boring and dangerous and even lame to you 12 year old brain. 

Your older brother had loved it, though, and in an attempt to spend more time with him, you picked it up too. Turns out, skateboarding wasn’t as lame as you thought. The adrenaline rush you felt as the breeze blew through your hair and you felt like you were going a mile a minute was addicting. The satisfaction of cleanly landing a hard trick was like no other. 

What had first been an attempt at finding an activity to do with your brother quickly turned into 15 long years of skating. And now, you still kept it as a side hobby to relax before a long work day.

It was one of those mornings where you felt like nothing could possibly go wrong. It was the perfect temperature— chilly, but comfortable with a hoodie on— and the light rain the day before left the outside world fresh and clean.

You got up at 5 AM and were already on your way to the skatepark at 5:20. You wore jeans and a simple hoodie to keep warm and comfortable, hair tied up so it wouldn’t get in your face. You had been working on a trick called the laser flip for a couple weeks now. It was technically challenging, and it had been nothing but failures so far. But you still worked on it, determined to master it eventually.

Nothing could possibly interrupt the idyllic morning. You were already planning it in your head. You would arrive at the skatepark and skate for an hour and blissful seclusion, then stop by a coffee shop on your way to work. You felt as if you could even handle your boss’s yelling today and not even flinch. You felt amazing.

Well, until the first part of your plan fell apart.

As the skatepark came into your view, it was immediately clear that there was already someone skating there. Really? At 5:30 in the morning!?

You sighed heavily at the sight and debated turning back around to go home. You hated conversing with other skaters or even sharing the space. You didn’t like to have to be cautious of other people using the same space. More often than not, it ended in ruined tricks and frustration.

Not to mention that most of the skaters you had encountered in your town were smoking and high all the time. It was just better if you didn’t mix with that crowd.

But you really wanted to be able to skate this morning, so you trudged along the path, setting your skateboard down when you were almost to the park and skating the rest of the way.

At first, you tried to ignore the other person there. You didn’t pay any attention to him or his rather impressive ollie 540, which he landed cleaner than you had ever seen. Okay, maybe you paid a little attention to him. You shook your head and focused back on your own skating, though. Just because he’s a good skater doesn’t mean that you wanted to converse with him.

You attempted your laser flip again, positioning your feet in the right place and executing a frontside shuvit and a heel-flip to lift yourself up in the air. You almost landed it, really. It was so close to being a perfect land.

But instead, that stupid guy from across the skatepark had made eye contact with you at just that moment, flashing a pretty smile at you, causing you to lose focus and trip over the board on your way down.

The guy halted abruptly when he saw you fall and hurried over. He knelt down to make sure you weren’t hurt anywhere and held out his hand for you to grab to help stand up.

You had always been petty and in the moment you felt like it was entirely his fault that you hadn’t landed the laser flip. You brushed his hand away and stood up on your own, brushing off your hands and jeans.

“That’s a shame. Your technique was pretty solid. You could’ve landed it smoothly.” He said, a small smile playing on his lips.

Up close, you could see every detail of his face. His high cheekbones and pointy chin. His smooth skin and piercing dark eyes. He must’ve caught you taking a glance at him because his lips curved upwards into a sweet smile. You could see how perfectly his smile lines appeared on his face and how his lips didn’t quite meet all the way when spread into the heart-fluttering gesture.

“I would’ve landed it if I hadn’t gotten distracted.” You muttered, feeling your ego bruise at embarrassing yourself in front of him, clearly the better skater of the two of you. 

He let out an amusement scoff, and got back on his board, calling out a clear, “Try it again!” as he skated a bit away.

You sighed when you realized that he had stopped once he got to the other end and was now sitting on his board, staring intently at you, waiting for you to make the move.

Your plan had originally been to go home after that embarrassing fall, but now that the handsome guy was waiting for you to try to laser flip again, you felt like you had no choice. You took a breath and got back on your board.

You felt nervous that someone was watching you. You had barely even taken skating lessons in your years of skating, learning mostly with your brother, through trial and error, and with YouTube. It certainly didn’t help that the person watching you was someone you found extremely attractive.

But as you bent your knees, and caught his smile from the corner of your eyes, you felt a surge of confidence. You jumped, feeling the adrenaline rush in the pit of your stomach, your skateboard flipped in the air, and you landed cleanly.

You beamed and your eyes immediately went in search of him. He was smiling too, his pearly teeth out on display and his eyes shining with an unmistakable message. He was proud of you. You skated over to him and sat down next to him.

“I’ve been struggling with that for weeks. I didn’t expect to suddenly get it today.” You said with a laugh.

“I guess I’m a good luck charm, then.” He said smoothly, “I’m Changyun by the way.”

“Y/n.”

“Y/n… Can I treat you to coffee?”

//

“When you tripped, I couldn’t help myself! You almost fell on your face!” You giggled.

Changyun looked offended, “So you would’ve just stood there and laughed at me even if I fell flat on my face?”

“It’s only ‘cause I adore you.” You said quickly, attempting to save yourself from the trap you had put yourself in. You cupped his cheeks with your hands, staring into his eyes until the hurt look in his eyes faded into love.

“Next time you fall off your board, I have the right to laugh, though.” He said quickly. Clearly there was still an ounce of hurt left in him, but you knew how to get rid of it.

“Okay, baby. Sure. Laugh all you want.” You moved one of your hands from his cheek to his shoulder, leaning in until your lips met his soft ones.

Changyun loved to kiss you and he easily melted into it, his lips moving against yours gently. His hands slipped to your waist, pulling you closer to him, and once you broke the kiss to catch your breath, he continued a trail of kissing by your lips and up your cheek until you were giggling from the ticklish feeling and pulling away. You rested your forehead against his, your heart racing in sync with his.

“I think your skateboard ran away from you.” You whispered, eyes glancing behind your boyfriend to where his black skateboard was, indeed, slowly rolling away.

Changyun smiled, on the verge of a laugh, “It always ruins the moment.” He gave one more short kiss to your lips before breaking the close embrace and jogging off to stop his board.

↳ onf taglist: @yeonjuns-redhair,, @edensgardenn

[missamyrisa2]

I love edging to your machine tickles 😵‍💫 the way you write is soo sensual 🙈

It flatterssss me to no end when someone edges themselves to my words ooh my gosssssh~

And you're just the sort of naughtyyyyy self teaser that is going to find themselves in a world of tingless when the Tauntress tosses you into her latest machine ~ this particularly snide factory operator lovess to watch and smirk as you struggle against the fuzzy claw apparatus, aided by a swarm of graspy hands which begin stripping away your clothes and poking n stroking at your exposed skin so that you'll wiggle over towards the waiting mechanical minion ~ the claw opens and closes threateningly, it's fuzz-lined extensions waiting to clamp down on your naked body ~ "Struggling is pointlessss~" she remarks, hands on her hips as she strolls around and casually activates more routines on this wicked tease engine. The claw surges forth and gently closes on your midsection, the soft fuzzies trembling as you're lifted like a prize high into the air and waved around proudly before the scanning pods zip out from their portals. The claw positions and repositions you, catching and tossing you so that the tingly scanning beams can coat over every part of your body from toes to knees to thighs and royal area over you belly up your chest and arms and face ~ then back down and across and criss-cross, all while displays far below pile up with data on your hot spots, sensitive spots, death spots, sour spots, and erogenous spots~

"Oooh my my my myyyy so many spots detected. How pray tell do you even get through the day without falling apart my gooodnessss~" she muses, studying your results and sending them into a handheld tablet as the crane whirls you over like a ragdoll to a conveyor belt. With a whoosh you are rushed into the next room as the Tauntress casually strides by, watching your progress through the glass down the hall as she passes her colleagues. Your body is processed thoroughly ~ mechanical hands lift your feet so orbital buffers can descend and spin along your soles and under your toes ~ dusting brushes drop from the sides to caress at your sides and over your belly ~ while gloved exam hands float over to probe and teasingly stroke your royal areas, stimulating you as you're tickled. The Tauntress gives you a big thumbs up through your gasping struggles when the machines light up and buzz for a new protocol, flipping you over and holding you taut to the moving belt ~ which goes from smooth to softly bumpy~ the material changing out for a feathery lined surface which begins gliding along your frontside. A soft clamp drops from above to catch you at your natural waist and lift you so that your frontside is continuously teased by the moving belt as it slowly drags you forward to the exit.

With your body thoroughly teased up by the conveyor, you are at last brought to the room for processed products and tossed onto a packaging table. Your body is snared at the wrists and ankles by the mechanical table ~ slowly restrained as the ratchets crank and hold you snug with click click clicks. The Tauntress studies her electronic chart and twirls the feathery tip of her digital pen over your tingly body. "Hmm hmm. Nice pinkening hereee. Ooh yes, and right here tooo on the belly and thighs. Our clients are going to be very satisfied with you~" She taps a button on the wall and steps back, grinning wickedly as slats from the table begin sliding away exposing various strips of your body's underside. "Be sure to giggle and gasp for me real good okay? I'm taking voice samples toooo~" she activates recording equipment for your product page and smiles as the machinery starts bringing out long strips of silky material. The wide strands first glide under your legs behind your knees, the entire length easily sixty feet as it spools from one side of the room to the other, every bit of the soft deep green material tickling and teasing at your skin. Another roll is tugged behind your back, then brought over your belly and pulled through the table, caressing in an endless sensation around your body. The next silk goes across your chest, kissing continuously at your royal buttons and upper ribs and outer armpits. Then the machine adds strips from the perpendicular direction, rolling over your underarms and up your soles. A very slowly growing meter on the wall for "packaging preparation" increases with each silky roll brought over your writhing helpless body while the machine whirls and buzzes. An array of microphones and lenses are trained on you as the machine works, capturing every sound and visual for the operator which she merrily posts for her clients ~ particularly as the central silk is now being draped and tugged over your royal area incessantly, uncaring at how aroused and edged you've become~

Should you ticklegasm, the gigglecum alert blares and the cleaning routine begins with buffer brushes and gentle jets of cleansing water whooshing from all corners of the table ~ and following the scans for cleanliness, you may be cleansed again should that treatment inspire more gigglycums~

As the preparation nears completion, the silks begin wrapping over your spots in layers. The tickly tingles bind over your knees, thighs, belly, chest, royal area, soles, neck, and underarms. You are decorated with the soft packaging and endlessly tingly~ with your product page fully completed by the Tauntress, you are whisked out into the display room, silken wrapped and standing in your clear case ~ all for the swarm of electric toothbrushes to begin buzzing and trilling over your body to keep you dancing and giggling for the excited bunch of clients who have just entered the building~

[heartfullofleeches]

Could we possibly be fed with more sea monster/creature reader? Mayhaps how we met Yan handler?

(I'll come back to the meet in another post cuz I had this cute idea I wanted to share first)

Sunlight pours into aquarium as the tank's latch is unlocked, rolling over your scales with a new shine. The tank was a glass box all around, but the bullet proof window above blocked out the harsher, nurturing rays. You turn over onto your back to give your frontside the same treatment.

It was heaven - just the right amount of comfort to drag you back into the depths of sleep if it hadn't been for the gentle knocking on the side of the tank. It's soft enough to not cause you discomfort, but loud enough that you can't fall back asleep.

So much for a lazy weekend.

Kicking yourself into an upright position, you swim to the top of the tank and pop your head out of the water. It's a Sunday, so the aquarium should be empty, but there was the unfortunate reality that the park's staff still existed. Before you can express your anger in the form of a snarl or gnashing teeth, a strip of fish meat bides your stalker another blissful second of your silence.

"Good morning to you too, Starfish. I'm glad there's something that keeps you from clawing my face off every morning. Not that I mind. Spit?"

You spit the fish bones into the human's hands. The freak gleefully pockets the remains, probably keeping them to add to the necklace around their neck. They wipe off their hand on their jeans and face the cart behind them.

"Are you ready for your walk?"

You circle around in your tank and slap at the wall with your webbed hands, splashing water all over them. Since you were forced to be awake, you'd take anything over the monotony of your spacious prison. Your handler just laughs at your response and shakes their head.

"I don't understand what that means, Y/n. Use your words."

Your tongue clicks against the rough of your mouth as you hiss. "Now...."

The handler wants to slap themself for not having their camera ready at all times. Thank God the security cameras can pick up the buzzing of a fly.

"I'll take that, for now. Time for some fresh air. They wheel the cart up to the tank and hold out their arms. "Your chariot, and servant await."

Making another lap around the walls, you leap over the side of the tank and into the cart with their assistance - sinking to its blue floor. The water is a little cooler than the tank, but it reminds you of the sea on a autumn day. Your tail hangs out of it as you get comfortable. Your handler bents down to whisper in your ear.

"Remember our deal. Keep your head down when others walk by, no trying to escape, and no biting or else you have to wear the muzzle."

You hated that thing. It's not like you could get far if you tried to flee anyway. You've already tried. Your handler takes your silence as an agreement, and closes the lid of your tank as they wheel you off into the park. Their boss was strict about uniform even on slow days, but their new haircut and other cosmetic touch ups made this feel like what it was in their mind rather than an assigned duty. A midmorning stroll with their fiesty, aquatic love.

You don't do much during the walk besides look around and hiss at the occasional seagull. It's mostly stuff you'd seen before, but it still feels brand new when you only experience it once a week. Halfway through the walk, your handler figures now would be the perfect opportunity to work on your speaking skills.

"Red."

"Blue."

"You're supposed to repeat after me, but it's good you're speaking at all. Please follow me this time."

Why should it matter? You're learning their language, and it doesn't seem to be required as during your performances you're never asked to speak.

"Goodmorning"

"Morning."

"Thank you"

"Thank..'

"I love you."

"...liar."

Should've known it wouldn't be easy to trick you like that. Still, your choice of wording makes their heart ache. Your situation was hard on you both. They wanted you home too. Your handler plays off the pain with another laugh.

"Has Marcy been hanging around your tank again? I swear, that's the only word she knows after we caught her stealing lunches again. Looks like we're here."

Your handler parks your cart at the cliffside overlooking the city. Your home was only a mile way, waves pocketed by the land foundation that streches farther than depth perception can tell. So close, yet so far. The rocks below made jumping impossible not to mention the roads and people in the way. Air bubbles float to the surface as you submerge yourself in the icy cold water. Your handler rests a hand over the glass.

"I know you're suffering right now, Starfish. I'm doing everything I can to make this better for you, but someday you'll be free again. You'll never have to see another human besides me and you'll finally be home."

From the look in their eyes and past declarations - you are well aware they don't mean the ocean.

[aromantisk-fagforening]

I would love to make polls about card games, but I don't know how universal any card game nor any English names for most of the ones I play

card games of course being the games that use the standard deck of cards, with spades, clover, hearts and diamond and Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 to 2.

I'm talking about multiplayer games, not solitaire games.

an attempt of a list of card games:

idioten (the idiot). (you have 3 + 3 + 3 cards and want to get rid of your cards as fast as possible, rules vary a lot different places & families)

spardame (queen of spades). (kinda like hearts?).

vri åtte (twist eight). (kinda like Uno, but you switch color with eight)

Cames (this one sounds English idk, it's a place right?). (team game, try to get four identical cards, signal to your teammate and if they identify it you get a point)

hopp i havet (literally: jump into the ocean, English equivalent: Go Fish). (big pile of cards, try to get four identical cards by asking for a card you have, the one who is asked has to give it to you, if they don't have it you get a card from the ocean (big pile), the one who does that the most wins, requires 3+ people)

presidenten (the president). (I'm pretty sure this is originally from elsewhere and pretty popular, especially concidering Norway never has had a president)

edit: grisen (the pig). (you try to get four identical cards, everyone has 4 cards and a fifth one gets passed around, you signal when you have four identical and the last player to signal gets a letter (g - r - i - s), when you have all the letters you're out, 3+ players. the signal is grabbing the table with only the thumb visible)

edit: boble (bubble). (the pig except the signal is different, you blow air into your cheeks to make them big.)

edit: krig (war). (each player has equal amounts of cards, no cards remain. you can't look at them, you just turn them mindlessly and the one with the higher number wins those cards. if you have the same card you put down three cards with the backsides up, and you put down a fourth one frontside up showing the value, highest wins like before and if you win you win all 9 or 15 cards (1x or 2x doubles).)

edit: lyveren/jugeren/løgneren (the liar). (you put down cards with the backsides up, and you say what they are, people can try to call you out when you're bluffing/lying, you try to get rid of your cards). I know this one exists elsewhere because I've seen it, I don't, however, know it's English name.

edit: a site with some rules (in Norwegian, but you have translation tools)

you can reply or reblog this or send asks if you wanna be anonymous or whatever and tell me (1) if you've heard of any of these (and if so which one(s)!), and (2) about any card games that fit my definition that you play

I might make a poll, but won't here since I want to be able to edit this lol.

[sunnysanae]

summertime escape | miya atsumu

syn. a moment where you realize your feelings for a young miya atsumu.

wc. 419 || cw/an. gender neutral reader.

running. treading across the nonchalant twigs whom littered the forest floor. hands swaying in the air, parting the budding blossom branches from your face. bare feet tangoing with the soft soil, interlinked with the pebbled platelets of stones. eyes, eyes on him. 

the wind brushed his dry blonde ends back. his coarse fingers intertwining with the growing black roots, smoothing his locks away from his plane of vision. you were trying to keep up, but you could feel your heart beating from your eardrums. each beat beginning to cloud your hearing of his words.

“name, you still there?”

“You’re going to miss it if you don’t catch up!” He taunted with a breathy giggle. His voice seemed to illuminate the path in front of your eyes, a voice so piercingly clear, almost echoing from the slender birch branches. “Miya, where are you even taking me?” You chastised. Each breath of gas escaping your lungs tore a pain in the center of your chest. Pools of sweat rolling down from your forehead, face tomato red. Regret filling you for the lack of exercise you participated in. 

The boy could hear your tiredness, only chuckling shortly in return. 

“You won’t regret it name.” Laughter generously spilling from the seeps between his words.

“It is so gonna be worth it!” Dragging the ‘so’ a little bit too long, making everything sound even more sarcastic.  Maybe your fatigue was beginning to cloud your instincts, or maybe you were just too comforted to his silly, absolutely unreasonable, adorable requests; but you chose to trust him, in whatever trait of credibility he seemed to showcase. 

A wind approached your limbs from the frontside. For a moment, you felt as if you could fly in the chilling wind on this summer’s day. A yellowish, warm light began to lay imprint the dirt ahead of you. Painting the thin hairs of grass and moss a bright chartreuse. The pounding steps of the energetic bundle of a man ahead of you began to slow.

Only then had you reconnected your stare to his eyes.  A speck of light tinting them with a drop of honey.  Too sweet for the unbearable hot summer weather.

Too warm for your already melting cheeks.

And for an everlasting second, under the now blaring sunshine: you were no longer sure if your shortness of breath, your accelerating heartbeat, your growing red hue, or your lumps of sweat were just symptoms of your lack of exercise. 

Maybe a product of something else. 

Maybe a lack of awareness for your liking of the blonde Miya. 

Faintly, Atsumu swore he heard you mutter something under your breath.

Something along the lines of,

“So worth it,” dragging the ‘so’ a little longer than usual.