#he's very capable of being Dr. Delicate Touch in a moments notice

[thescribblings]

here's Kiko!! aka my future Mikey

this is a first draft of his design but i'm relatively happy with it so far! and don't mind the gnarly scar, definitely isn't part of his lore, nope

that is all, have nice day

[djarrex]

Countermeasures || 3

Anomaly

Fives x ofc!reader

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Rating: 18+ only

Word Count: 5.7k

chapter summary: Agreeing to help Fives proves to be both good and bad.

warnings: canon character death, a sprinkle of fluff (Fives can be soft but we all know he’s quite the opposite in the right contexts 😉), a dash of sexual tension, a dollop of groping, tons of inappropriate thoughts - lordy lord get some cold water splashed on them

note: I broke away from including Fives’ POV in this chapter. It may come back in the future, idk yet. This is the first real series I’ve written and I’m extremely grateful for the pals I’ve met on here who reblog and like my work <3 Tbh I’m having a ton of fun writing this because not only does it give me an excuse to watch the conspiracy arc a bunch of times for the details but I also get to write about Renna and Fives and I love them both and I just want them to fuck already.

***

This was crazy. How did you of all people end up in a situation such as this.

By “this”, you were referring to the strong embrace you were trapped in - the ARC trooper you’re shamefully crushing on being the captor.

No, you definitely were not complaining. 

After agreeing to help him, Fives you pulled into his body, his strong arms finding their way around your back holding you steady. Large palms nearly covered the expanse of your back, the heat from his skin burning holes right through your outer layers and into your flesh. Your face was practically smushed into his broad chest, your arms dangling awkwardly at your sides. The weight of Fives’ chin was pressing into your scalp. So many thoughts were swimming in your head as Fives held you as tight as he could without hurting you. 

He was... hugging you. To be completely honest, you thought the two of you would fuck - or at least do something along those lines - before he hugged you. It was the energy he possessed that led you to that conclusion, but you were proven wrong. 

You didn’t fight it - you knew how much it meant to him. These clones - these soldiers - were covered in plastoid from head to toe all day every day throughout their unfortunately short lives, and you figured they must be at least somewhat touch-starved. The way Fives held you was different than you thought he was capable of. You weren’t naïve; you knew the clones took off their armor at certain points, and hey, you knew that they even would have sex in their short spurts of time off. You read reports on clones who had contracted STD’s from their adventurous endeavors and were sent here to be treated. Even though they were created in a lab for the sole purpose of fighting in this ridiculous war, they were still men.

You wanted to keep up some at least some semblance of professionalism - to not touch Fives back, because quite honestly your body wanted more - but your heart started aching, and your body acted against your brain as your arms returned the embrace. 

Fives was thick. The clones as a whole aren’t huge men; they aren’t fed nearly enough - that much you knew - and are relatively slim with a very low percentage of body fat compared to all the muscle they were designed to have. They’re not that much taller than you, either. However, you’ve never held a clone before. Fives’ back was like a bag of ropes; hard, thick, and you felt every single muscle so beautifully poking out of his skin even through the tunic. You allowed your hands to splay out over his back - to really feel him. You were completely lost in this moment, but you heard it - barely noticeable, but you heard it - Fives inhaled quietly through his nose, taking in your hair’s scent. You knew deep down that he didn’t mean for you to notice him smelling your hair, so you didn’t mention it. Butterflies flapped around in your stomach - then the butterflies quickly floated away and that feeling was exchanged with pure lust; the fire in your belly burning hot with desire. 

You don’t know how long you held each other, but you needed to break away from him and get back to the matters at hand. You agreed to help him, and that’s what you’ll do. Maybe he’ll be so thankful for your help he’ll “hug” you again later.

“You do you have a plan, right, mister ARC trooper?” Breaking away from his embrace, you tried to shake your mind clear of any thoughts that didn’t include Tup.

“Of course I have a plan!” Fives’ tone suggested he was attempting to play off what had just happened, and it was cute. He walked over to the darkened window and kept his back turned to you. Perhaps he was trying to clear his thoughts as well. You wouldn’t know, but Fives was barely breathing in through his nose so that your scent lingered in his nostrils for as long as possible.

“Care to share?” You called to him, and Fives paused for a few moments before responding.

“Are you able to access all the equipment without the supervision of the long-necks?” He finally turned around, his brows raised. You blinked at him, just a little dumbfounded and slightly offended.

“Yes, Fives. Maker, I know how to work the kriffing equipment. I don’t need a babysitter.” You rolled your eyes then squinted them at him, crossing your arms to your chest with a huff.

“That’s not what I meant,” Fives chuckled as he approached you once again and placed a hand on your shoulder. “I meant, are you going to get in trouble if you’re working alone in there?” His gaze bore into you, making you feel slightly uneasy. Yeah, you knew how to work everything, of course. But this was all new territory for you; working - unauthorized – on a patient who wasn’t yours, performing an atomic brain scan unsupervised, breaking protocol…

“I- I’m not actually sure. I’ve never been explicitly told to not touch anything without them being there? I think it will be okay. It’s just that- that Dr. Nala Se said no to the scan. I don’t think she’ll like that I went behind her back and did it anyway. Although… I want to try everything in my power to save your friend.”

“Right. Then let’s get to it.”

“I’m sorry - let’s? You’re coming too? That doesn’t seem like a good-”

“It’ll be fine,” Fives quickly interjected. His confident tone faded with the next part: “Please. I want to be there - be there for Tup.” There they were again, those puppy dog eyes that get you every time. You doubt Fives even knows he’s doing it, but he had to catch on by now because you basically have never said no to him in the few short days you’ve known him. Your attraction to him made you break over and over again; this time was no different.

“Okay, fine. But you need to stay hidden.”

“I’m ‘Mr. ARC Trooper’, remember? I’ve been trained in the arts of being sneaky.” Wiggling his fingers and brows at you with a cheeky grin, you laughed and punched him in the shoulder. His grin only grew.

“Yeah whatever. Just follow me.”

You were the first to exit Fives’ room, peeking your head just outside the door to get a feel of the surrounding area. No guards in sight at the moment, so now was the perfect time to go.

“Quickly,” you stepped outside the room, motioning with your hand for Fives to follow. It didn’t take long to get next door, of course.

You pressed the controls on the panel and the door whisked opened; you shooed Fives in first. As soon as he entered, two guards came around the corner. You obviously didn’t want to look like you were doing something you weren’t supposed to, so you put on your best smile and nodded to the oncoming troopers. They nodded back and turned at the next corridor that led away from Tup’s room.

You stood there for a moment, just outside the room - thinking. You were obviously crazy, no doubt about that. You were breaking protocol, and basically risking your internship and everything you had worked for up to this point for Fives (and Tup). It was the right thing to do, right? Your insane crush on the ARC trooper aside, you were going through with all of this because it was the right thing to do. It definitely wasn’t right that the Kaminoans wanted to kill Tup off without entertaining more options and trying other procedures. It all seemed very… weird. As doctors, wouldn’t they want to try every possible way to find a solution without skipping over it all and just killing him? Although, why waste more time and resources when the “obvious” solution was to terminate him and find the answers through an autopsy? Maybe you should give it more time – Shaak Ti could be back soon with the Jedi Council’s backing. Maybe it wasn’t too late to back out – to turn around and coax Fives back into his room before you were both caught.

The moment was over when Fives’ hand reached out to grab your wrist, unceremoniously pulling you into the room. You nearly tripped as he yanked you inside, a murmured “hey!” subconsciously rolled off your tongue at the rough pull.

“Sorry, Renna.” He shut the door behind you, giving you an apologetic smile. “Did- did I hurt you? Sometimes I forget my own strength... I’m not used to manhandling pretty and delicate things.” Okay, let’s push that comment aside and table it for later on when you’re alone in your quarters.

Fives reached out to examine your wrist but you flapped your hands at him, “Really, I’m okay. Seriously.” You weren’t lying - it didn’t hurt. If you told him the absolute truth, you would tell him how you wished he’d manhandle you in other ways.

“Alright. Let’s get to work.”

Knowing how quickly you had to work for this entire plan to play out smoothly, you immediately made your way over to the controls and started tapping away. You turned your head to check on Fives – to see how he was planning on participating – and he was just frozen in place standing over Tup’s cot. Tup was still unconscious; his chest rising and falling rapidly in his comatose, shut eyelids flickering back and forth.

“Fives, push him over there.” You pointed at the scanner on the other side of the room with your back still turned as you tapped away at the screens, prepping the equipment. With one last tap of the screen, the scanner descended from the ceiling and Fives pushed Tup’s cot into it.

Tup’s chest rose and fell at an alarming rate, compelling you to consider - again - about turning back and aborting this plan altogether.

Fives came around the other side of the scanner where you watched the infrared picture of Tup’s brain from display screen, snapping you out of the thought.

“The scan’s almost complete.”

Fives moved in front of you and leaned closer to the screen, you shuffled to the side to give him to space. Your eyes unglued from the screen for just a moment to watch Fives; he was desperate. The look in his eyes told you that much, and his stance wasn’t as strong and sure as it always seemed to default to.

Your focus made way back to the screen. “Everything… appears to be normal.” Just as you said that the screen starting beeping; a red dot was blinking, pinpointing an anomaly in Tup’s brain.

“W- wait a second.” You softly pushed Fives out of the way and read the results displayed on the screen.

“What? What is it, Ren?” Your heart skipped a beat at the sound of his little nickname for you, but there were more important things currently at hand. You can freak out about the way he says your name like that later.

“It looks like Tup has developed a tumor.” Your fingers started tapping away yet again. You’ve never seen a tumor in clones before. To be fair, you had never worked with clones like this before, but you’ve seen more than enough of their files to know that a tumor wasn’t exactly something that could just appear in a clone.

“A tumor? Is that even possible?”

“I’ve never seen anything like this in clones. Not in any of the files.” You ceased tapping, turning around to face Fives. His hand raked through his hair, a pure look of confusion and worry on his face.

“Then… what is it?”

“I honestly don’t know. I’ll need to do a biopsy to be sure.” With a nod, you offered a reassuring smile. “It’ll be okay, Fives. We’ll get this straightened out, and you and Tup will be off this stormy planet and back to your brothers in no time.” You weren’t sure you even believed your words.

“You’re gonna take it out of him?” Before you could answer, Fives whacked the tools all over the ground with one graceless hand movement. Your eyes widened as he bent down to grab at the mess. “Do you, uh, think anyone heard that?”

You raised your brow at him, and with a sarcastic tone, “The probability is high, yes.” You sighed. “You need to hide.”

Smacking his hands away as he continued to pick up the mess, you hissed, “Fives, hide.”

“I think it came from this room.” You both shot up; you ran over and pushed Tup out of the tube and started to power it down at the controls as Fives took cover under Tup’s floating cot. Interesting that an ARC Trooper chose that as a hiding place.

The door whisked opened. Nala Se stood at the entrance, looking around. Her bug-eyes landed right on you, then glanced over to Tup.

“Hello, Doctor.” Your tone was astonishingly calm despite the absolute terror currently running through your system.

“What do you think you’re doing?” She entered through the threshold and made her way over to Tup, assessing his condition with a scowl.

“I was only trying to save the patient,” You informed her, keeping your tone calm and professional. You were ignored, however. Apparently, Fives was not so great at cleaning up his messes, because one leftover syringe sat on the ground right below the Kaminoan’s heels. She reached down to grab it, and your heart started racing. You blurted out, “Doctor, I found something unusual in the scan. It appears to be a tumor… I think you should take a look-”

“You performed a second scan without my authorization?” Nala Se stood upright; the forgotten syringe grasped in her three slender fingers. How did she not see Fives down there? Uh oh… where did he go?

Your heart rate slowed. “Apologies, Doctor. I was only trying to-”

“Perhaps I made the mistake in assuming you’d be ready to work with the clones.” Nala Se turned around to shut off the remaining equipment; machines began powering off as they whirled back in place and Tup’s cot moved back to where it was before you started. One of the larger machines floated away, leaving Fives completely exposed. Ah, so that’s where he went. Your eyes widened as you looked between Fives’ shocked expression and Nala Se, who was still turned around and tapping at the controls. As much as you dreaded pressing further on, you needed to buy Fives enough time to make an escape back to his own room.

“But- but the tumor, Doctor. It seems to be blocking neuro-impulses from communicating with the brain. I think we should scan the rest of the clones to see if this is a problem with their base genetic model or a mutation with the current models.” The machines were all now back in place; you scanned the room with your eyes, hoping to not catch a glimpse of Fives.

“There is no tumor. Your scan is incorrect.” Nala Se departed the control panel, ambling over to the other side of the room. You really hope Fives had fled by now. Might as well keep on pressing, though. It did interest you that the Kaminoan doctor was so avidly trying to disregard what you were saying about a tumor. That was a thread you figured you should follow.

“But-”

“This clone clearly has a virus that remains undetected, but I will find the cause once he’s terminated.” You followed Nala Se until she reached Tup’s cot, her back turned to the exit. “Now leave. I’ll figure out what to do with you later.”

“Yes, Doctor.” You turned on your heels and walked out the already open door. You turned your head to watch Nala Se; she was still standing over Tup, but you were unsure of what she was doing. Something really didn’t seem right with this. You nearly crashed into Fives in the hall as you departed Tup’s room.

“I can’t believe they’re going to kill Tup!” Fives shouted in disbelief after you both had made your way back into his room and shut the door. Fives shoved the empty cot to the other side of the room, clearly frustrated.

“I know. I’m sorry, Fives.” All you could offer was a sincere apology. It didn’t seem like a great idea at present to bring up how you thought the entire ordeal with Nala Se seemed fishy.

“We were not created to be disposed of this way!” He slammed his fists on the cot, an action that seemed to be fueled by rage, but his eyes told a different story.

“Just- just think of it this way… Tup is sacrificing himself so that other clones like him can survive. Isn’t that something you said he’d want?” You went to reach for him - to offer a gentle reassuring touch - but he backed away.

“There aren’t others like him!” His raised voice prompted you to take a few steps back. You weren’t scared of him, but you understood they he may need some space right now. Maybe it would be best if you retreated to your quarters and called it a day. After all, Nala Se basically sealed your fate by undoubtedly reassigning you to the archives. It probably wasn’t appropriate that you been seen in Fives’ room anymore. Your own selfishness kept you there, though.

“I’m sorry, Ren. I don’t mean to take this out on you, I just-” You allowed yourself to take a few steps towards him. “Tup doesn’t have to die - you found a tumor. I’m sure that’s the cause of all this. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“But… how can we proceed? Dr. Nala Se basically reassigned me to the archives. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be here with you anymore. I could get dismissed, sure, but I have no idea what would happen to you.”

“Do the biopsy. I’m sure what you find will prove Tup doesn’t have to die. Your findings would bump you up in the ‘ranks’ I’m sure, and they would have no reason to send you back to filing paperwork.” A beat. “As for me… I’ll be fine.” You both knew that was a lie. You’ve seen what the Kaminoans have done to “defective” clones. It’s all in the files. It’s inhumane. There was no way you’d let that happen to Fives.

“I’m not so sure…. Dr. Nala Se doesn’t believe-”

“We’re not going to Nala Se with whatever you find. We’ll go to General Shaak Ti. She helped me once as a cadet and I know she values the life of a clone.” Now that, that was the truth.

“Fives… I’d be disobeying direct orders.” At this point, you didn’t care what happened to you if you were to go through with this. Fives was who you were concerned with. Not because of a hopeless crush, but because of his status of patient and you sincerely cared about him.

“Yep, and for the second time today,” He jested. Not funny. You scoffed. “Ren…” There they are, yet again - the puppy dog eyes. Those, paired with how he said your name. You’d break for sure. “Will you help me? Please.”

***

“Hurry!” Fives was hunched over the control panel with you, basically micromanaging you even though he had no idea what it was you were doing.

“Fives, you’re going to have to not rush me. I’m not a droid. Give me a kriffing minute.” Your fingers tapped frantically at the screen, hitting button after button until -

“Intruder alert. Intruder alert. All nonessential personnel report to a safe room for lockdown.”

You stood up straight and grinned over at Fives, who looked a little shocked.

“What did you do?” The alert played over again on the intercom.

“I made it so that the security scanners picked up an intruder in section C-6. We need to hurry, though. I doubt it’ll take them long before they realize it’s a false alarm.”

“They taught you how to hack a security mainframe at the fancy medical academy you attended on Coruscant?”

You rolled your eyes at him, hands on your hips. “Is that really important right now?” Fives chuckled and shook his head. Grabbing his wrist, you stretched your head to look outside the door. “They have guards stationed just outside. How are we going to get over there?” You turned towards Fives, who was pulling away from you and looking up at the ceiling. You followed his gaze, and you knew exactly what he was thinking. “The vents?” You sounded a little shocked, but it really was the only safe way out of there. He tilted his head down to look at you, a smile on his face. You snorted.

“Here, I’ll climb up first and then pull you up.” Your looked over at the door again, making sure you weren’t about to get absolutely busted, and grabbed his dangling hands.

You shook your head with a smirk. “You know, I’m starting to wish I had stayed in the archives,” you jested, as Fives hoisted you up and into the vent with him.

You never realized just how creepy it was up in these vents. To be fair, there wasn’t one moment that you would’ve pictured yourself crawling through them, but here you were. It was dark, every movement you made echoed, and it was freezing cold. You – for some reason – were leading the way, crawling through the cold durasteel tunnel. Fives was silent; he wasn’t making any comments, not cracking any jokes, not even expressing his concern for Tup. It dawned on you: he was totally checking out your ass. You had shed your long lab coat before he pulled you up, knowing that it would be harder to crawl with it tugging under your knees. Fives hadn’t yet seen you without it on… and you knew how good your ass looked in the leggings you wore. With a slight chuckle to yourself, you stopped crawling for a moment and looked over your shoulder to glance at him to the best of your ability.

“Fives, are you staring at my ass?” You tried to not let your giddiness get in the way of your accusatory whispering, but you found yourself muffling laughter. He didn’t reply right away – probably trying to think up a comeback or a way to wiggle himself out of the subject.

“Fuck yeah I am,” he murmured back, sounding as cocky as ever. You bit your lip and shook your head, resuming the crawl towards the oncoming exit vent. “I don’t exactly have anything else to look at from back here, you know. I got quite a nice view, so, no complaints.” Your face heated up at his smug comment, resisting the urge to shake your ass for him – to really give him a good view. Now was not the time.

You crawled past the vent so Fives could hop down first; he plopped onto the floor, graceful and stealthy as ever, before standing directly under the vent with his arms held out.

“Common, I’ll catch you.” It really wasn’t a long way down; you’d land just fine, though probably not as gracefully as he did.

“Uh, okay…” You lowered your legs out from the ceiling, keeping your grip on the cool metal for a moment while you steadied yourself. “Fives, I think I got it. I can just hop down like th-” Your grip from the ceiling slipped, sending you down and nearly hitting the floor in the worst way possible, when strong arms found their way under your ass and back.

Fives just saved you from breaking a bone or two, and all you could do was blink up at him as his hand slightly squeezed the plushy part of your ass, the other hand gripped tightly on your waist. Maybe he thought you wouldn’t notice the way he was savoring holding you like that, but you did. And you liked it.

“Nice to look at and feels nice, too.” Fives grinned at you before setting you down on your feet. He definitely shouldn’t be talking about how your ass looks and feels right now with his friend lying nearly dead on the cot barely an arm’s length away - but, is he was open to making comments such as those during these unsure times, you’d reciprocate. A boost of confidence surged through you.

“Glad you like it, trooper. Maybe some time you can see and feel it without these in the way,” you pulled at your leggings, looking him straight in the eyes with a smirk. Seeing Fives’ expression was well worth making the comment.

“Don’t say things you can’t follow up on, Renna.” His shocked expression quickly flipped to dark, catching you completely off guard and making you gulp. Your entire body felt as if it was on fire as tiny fireworks danced in your gut. There was absolutely no way you’d be able to follow up on your innuendo-filled comment unless you found each other in another life under different circumstances. You needed to shake it out of your system.

Firing up the laser drill, you looked over at Fives and studied his worried expression. He looked so soft, so concerned – it tugged at your heart harder than you cared to admit. His focus remained on Tup until the sound of the drill made him look up.

Your hands were slightly shaking. You felt it, but it didn’t appear to be noticeable. You had never performed a biopsy on a real, living, breathing lifeform before. Everything you had done during your schooling was on the deceased or on medical dummies. You were nervous, but this wasn’t about you. You finally had the chance to save a life. You needed to pull it together.

“Renna, are you okay?” Fives’ voice nearly came out as a whisper. You looked up at his eyes; he was studying you, deeply.  

You took a deep breath and nodded with a slow exhale. You turned your attention back to the drill, grabbing Tup’s head and positioning it to where you needed.

“You might want to look away at this part.”

***

You did it. A successful biopsy. Feeling a bead of sweat threatening to fall from your hairline, you wiped it away with your arm and looked up at Fives who still had his eyes squeezed shut.

“Is it done?” The absent sound of the drill encouraged him to open his eyes. You held up the tumor, encased in a transparent casing. You handed it to Fives; he studied it closely, bringing it up to his face with a sigh. The moment was over when the door whisked open.

“What have you done?” Dr. Nala Se came into the room; Fives didn’t appear frightened, but you sure as fuck were.

“We saved my friend’s life.” Fives whipped around to face the “long-neck” - as he calls them - holding up the tumor in an accusing manner towards her, “This tumor is the cause of his illness.” She reached out and tried to grab the encased organic matter, but Fives maintained a hard grip as they fought for it.

“Give me that!” Nala Se looked angrier than you had ever seen her. You ran up to them, trying to stop something before it started.

“You can’t be trusted.” Fives reached down to Tup’s cot with his free hand, grabbing a mysterious syringe, and held it up in a threatening manner. You reached your hands up to stop him, but Shaak Ti’s sudden arrival did the job for you.

“Stand down, trooper.” She stood at the doorway with her hand outstretched. Jedi didn’t need to hold a weapon; you knew what they could do with just one outstretched hand in the blink of an eye. You’ve never seen it in action, but you’ve heard stories.

Fives dropped the hand holding the syringe but kept hold of the tumor with his other. “I have evidence. It’s right here!” He sounded desperate. This looked way too bad. You were caught right in the middle of it all, too.

“I’m free…” A weak voice croaked from the cot, making all the heads in the room turn in the same direction. Tup. Fives let go of the tumor and whipped his body around to face his friend, crouching down next to Tup and leaned in close.

“Tup?”

“The mission… free.”

“What is he saying?” Shaak Ti entered through the threshold, a few guards flowing in from behind her with their blasters aimed at Fives.

“Brother, what mission?” It was apparent that Fives was trying to understand what was coming from Tup’s mouth, and could not care less that his own kind were holding weapons to him. It had been the first time anyone had heard Tup speak words that didn’t sound like “kill” and “Jedi” since his arrival.  

“You… you know the one. The- the mission, the one in our dreams…” Fives’ wide eyes scanned over his friend, searching for a clue, for anything. “…that never ends.”

You were frozen in your spot, taking in Tup’s bewildering words. You watched Fives’ expression as he frantically tried to decipher what Tup was murmuring. You glanced up from them, seeing the guards' buckets turn to look back and forth at each other. The mission - the one from their dreams?

“Oh, brother…” Tup’s hand lifted to the best of its ability; Fives grabbed it with his own and squeezed. This moment was so raw, so emotional, so real. You never would have thought…

“This is the end. Forget the mission.” Tup was fading away. You could hear it in his voice, and you knew that Fives knew what was coming. It looked as though Fives was holding back tears – trying to keep his composure. “Oh, the nightmare. I’m… free.” With that, Tup was gone.

You scanned the room. Shaak Ti bowed her head, hand over her heart. The other clones lowered their weapons down to their sides, heads bowing. Nala Se, however, remined the same. Her expression never changed. Heartless Kaminoans.

Fives was shaking his friend’s body, begging him to come back. “I thought I saved him…” You didn’t know what to do now. Tup was gone, and it was your fault. He was alive until you removed the tumor. Fives was in pain – mourning for his brother because of you. You took a few steps back, and leaned against the counter, your fingers combing through your scalp. Not only did you disobey direct orders twice today, but you also killed the very first lifeform you did a biopsy on, and to top that off, the patient you killed was important - a brother - to someone you deeply cared about.

***

Fives was placed under arrest just shorty after. Tup’s body wasn’t even cold yet.

You stood there in silence; Fives locked eyes with yours as he was almost forcefully escorted out of the room by the surrounding guards. It was clear that both of you were trying to communicate with the other using only your eyes, but no distinct message was coming across. You wanted to tell him you were so sorry for everything, and that you’d miss him, that you’d never forget him and Tup, and that meeting him changed your view of the clones entirely. But, there were no final goodbyes, no condolences given. Fives would be taken away, and you would be dismissed. You’ll miss Fives with all your heart, but you won’t miss Kamino.

General Shaak Ti followed behind the guards, leaving you in the macabre room with Dr. Nala Se and Tup’s lifeless body. It was silent for a moment before Nala Se looked over to you, shaking her head in disbelief. You were in big trouble.

“Miss Renna,” the long-neck approached slowly, closing the gap between where you were hunched forward over the counter resting on your elbows and where she was covering Tup’s body with a sheet. “I can not condone this type of behavior from an intern. I have no choice but to reassign you to your previous duties in the archives indefinitely.” You were not at all surprised. You nodded slowly, still not looking up at her. You felt numb. Only three days into real field experience, and you fucked up royally. You didn’t need to help Fives, resulting you in ending up in whatever this is. It was interesting that you weren’t dismissed like you’d assume you would be – just reassigned. The thing with Dr. Nala Se acting weird when Tup’s tumor came into play still was on the front of your mind; perhaps you would be able to look into these matters during your long, boring hours in the archives.

Finally looking up at Nala Se, “What… what is going to happen to my patient?” The words nearly came out choked as you tried to hide your worry for Fives. You needed to keep up the front – the professionality of it – so no suspicion would arise. She was scrolling through a datapad, clutching the tumor in her three fingers. The tumor. You tried to study it from afar - what it looked like, the coloring, how the cells neighbored inside it. It looked... dead. Depleted. You snapped your eyes away and over at the dead trooper, whose body was now completely covered by a thin sheet, when Nala Se spoke again.

“Do not worry about ARC-5555. It will be taken care of, so we can put this matter behind us. Just be thankful I didn’t dismiss you, Miss Renna. You are too valuable to replace with some other eager intern.”

Valuable? ‘It’? Taken care of?

“I am thankful, Doctor. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.” You were motioned to exit the room; as you walked by Nala Se, you caught one last glance at the tumor, attempting to burn the image of it in your brain and commit it to memory. There was something about the tumor – something that prompted strange behavior from the Kaminoans – and you needed to figure out what that something was.

***

tags: @bvcketfvcker​ @deewithani​ @chromia7567 ​ @cyaniderainfall

[my-writings-and-musings]

Idea, a group of young human liaisons (late teen/young adult) join the lost light crew and the different crew members essentially adopts them (any bots of your choice)

That's adorable so absolutely yes! I chose the bots I thought most likely to adopt in any capacity.

Tailgate

·Being amongst the tiniest bots on the ship, and having loved human culture whilst never meeting a human, compounds his excitement at their arrival to nearly critical levels. They're so tiny! They can answer all his earth questions! They can go on missions together and he can show them around the galaxy! His first step is to learn how to tell humans apart and to memorize all their names, as well as anything they find important about themselves, so that way they'll feel welcome.

·During this introduction it's revealed these humans are on the younger side, and his reaction immediately becomes one of shock. You're all still little ones?! Not done growing even?! The explanations that human development is quite different fall on deaf audials; he knows what it's like to be small and new in the galaxy, and he won't let anything hurt these protoforms!

·The liaison team now has a permanent guardian, and they quickly learn that his size doesn't tell his full story. Of course, it doesn't hurt that he's still twice the height of the average human, so calling him "tiny" doesn't make much sense to any of them. Being so much taller is something he absolutely adores experiencing for a change, and that combined with his super strength leads to a lot of piggy back rides for the whole crew.

·If anyone, bot or con or whatever, says a mean word to even one of them he's on the warpath. Think you're a big tough guy, huh?! Picking on his little buddies?! Well, he's not gonna give you a chance to pick on somebody your own size! Unless you offer a heartfelt apology, and if the human in question accepts that, then everything is just fine! But he will punch you if he hears this is recurring!

·The various liaisons start referring to him as their "big brother" and once the meaning of that is explained he's absolutely touched. Him? A part of their family? Movie nights henceforth involve him being surrounded by a group of young humans, just chilling around their adoptive older sibling who happens to be six million years old, and should anyone glance at his visor they'll find it absolutely shining in the dim light.

Ratchet

·Having worked with and studied humans of this age group in the past, he's far less upset and far more worried by their arrival, but he pretends he's merely the former. The truth is that he knows their species is especially vulnerable at this age, and getting the rest of the crew to understand that will be an impossible task, even if he asks them to imagine a delicate protoform taking nearly two decades to mature instead of a few hours and to try and comprehend how much trouble that would be.

·His first step is to establish that he's their doctor, one fully capable of handling human medicine, and he quickly catches the rest of his team up to speed. Every medic needs to be able to meet the needs of every crewmember, and these juvenile humans are part of the crew now, as well as their responsibility for the sake of diplomatic relations... Somehow that last part doesn't stress him out in the slightest.

·These humans will quickly find his gruff to be little more than a personality trait. When he's with a patient, specifically one who's a little frightened, his demeanor rapidly softens just as his touch becomes gentle even to a being quite soft and tiny by comparison. For a species not necessarily accustomed to medical care just... whenever they need it, the young liaisons can't help but like him. His reaction to the fact that most humans can't afford medical care is... a very long sigh.

·His attention to these new patients extends well beyond appointment hours, though he does try not to be overbearing. But he just needs to be certain; are they exercising enough? Does the atmosphere of the ship upset their respiratory systems in any way? Is there any chance the modification to the lighting system was ineffective and they're not getting enough vitamin D? Are they eating all their vegetables?!

·It's impossible for the group to ignore the gigantic alien robot very obviously fretting over them like a mother hen, and thus he often gets a "Yes, mom" in response to his queries from them, but in a good natured way. He huffs at first but their genuine appreciation for his efforts is... well, he'd be lying if he said his actions weren't driven by something more than medical duty. Maybe he's the first Cybertronian with a kind of maternal instinct, who knows? What matters is that his "children" are all safe and healthy, and he certainly doesn't start smiling when "Dr. Mom" becomes what he's listed as in their communication contact list.

Ultra Magnus/Minimus Ambus

·Rodimus agreed to this diplomatic mission despite all his warnings (and pleadings) to say no and find some other way to encourage a good relationship between the species. He has experience with humans, specifically of this exact age range, and while that relationship is one he treasures he's not looking to put any humans in potential danger again. He is, of course, duly ignored and the group is brought on board.

·For the sake of fostering a welcoming and structured environment, he memorizes their names in advance and has them all come to his office for an abridged two hour orientation on the ship and its rules. Knowing they have to be on the move often for neurological development is the only reason he doesn't keep them for a proper five hour orientation. It goes relatively well, but he's less distressed by their lack of attention than he is by how intimidating they seem to find him.

·For some reason this bothers him, no matter how fine he is with bots finding him to be frightening, seeing humans flinch from his presence actually hurts him. So he endeavors to be... friendly! If he earned the nickname "Uncle Magnus" with one human, he can do it again! The best strategy he can think of isn't actually that off base; he'll try to mentor them in their individual pursuits. Dropping down in height whenever he can, typically by getting on a knee to ensure he doesn't tower over them, also proves to be a big help.

·Initially he's determined to keep his Minimus self hidden from them completely, down to the very existence of his split identity. It's less about size, as even his most base form still stands well above the tallest liason, than it is about respect. He wants to be an inspiration to these little ones, and Ultra Magnus is obviously the more impressive of the two. It's only once one particularly affectionate liaison gives him a hug, or more accurately an attempt at one around his offered hand, that he feels compelled to reconsider.

·It makes him nervous for weeks, contemplating the potential fallout of being honest with them, and how it could ruin everything... In the end he blames his own moral compass for forcing him to be honest. He gathers the liaisons together and explains the entirety of his identity in detail, taking all of their questions and praying he won't see any kind of disappointment, before finally removing his armor and "introducing" them to Minimus. The reaction is far from negative. There are exclamations of "botception" and "nesting dolls" in the wild surprise that follows, but nothing that could even be interpreted as dissapoint, and in fact the young humans are only that much more amazed by their "Uncle Minimags". It takes everything he is not to cry.

Swerve

·He knows enough about human culture to have seen that this particular age group tends to party, and is also way more likely to enjoy pop culture, so he's delighted when they join up. Of course he introduces himself, but he doesn't need to mention much more than his bar before he has their full attention and fascination. The Manhattan sized spaceship run by giant alien robots has a bar?! They're all begging to see it and he's so thrilled he forgets he can transform and runs there with them.

·Their amazement only doubles when night comes and they get to see the place in full swing, but he makes sure they're safely seated on the bar itself, to avoid squishing. As always he's able to chat endlessly to these new arrivals, and his knowledge of human culture quite surprises them. Even if there's a fair amount he doesn't know, the fact that he's aware of anything at all shocks them.

·The rush to get him caught up is a shared effort between the liaisons. Does he know what social media is? Would he like to have an account? For once he's the overwhelmed one and he has to work to keep up with everything they give him, but the attention and genuine interest these little humans have in his thoughts and experiences is... it's a good thing he's got some help around the bar to help him stay caught up. Because these little sort of protoforms have convinced him to get Twitter.

·Movie nights become so massive they actually have to consider expanding the bar. Not only are old movies watched, but all the latest releases as well, some as soon as they're in theaters because look they know it's not technically legal but it's promoting good diplomacy so... However, even when he starts serving and mixing human alcohol, he's quite firm on requiring the humans who drink it to be of age. There's still fun drinks for the younger ones though.

·The humans bond with other bots, but as their first contact on the ship and the most fun he's always got a few of them by his side. Maybe he's just better with other species? He doesn't really know or care, but somehow when there's a little moment and they all take a selfie together he just... he just feels not alone. It's something he keeps a little on the down low, but he's a bit too easy to read for the humans not to notice, and since they're good kids they pretend it's a secret that they mean the world to him. On especially rowdy nights they even help clean up, and each human develops their own little nickname for him, making it less like he adopts them and much more like they adopt him.

Whirl

·Humans come in fun size too? Neat! But he's admittedly a tad curious when their age is explained and he realizes that, in their own super weird alien way, these are still protoforms. Something almost akin to worry flashes in his spark for an instant. Still, he plays it cool when they're brought on board, pretending to be no more interested than any other bot they're introduced to.

·Before he meets them, he's told quite firmly that these humans are to be protected at all costs, and that any behavior seen as antagonizing in the slightest will be punished. He ensures the top bots he's no Decepticon and that squishies aren't on his radar. But he's admittedly a little concerned that they'll notice his... peculiarities. His own species recoils at his appearance, and while he can handle that, getting it from aliens would be unpleasant.

·But there's no such reaction. They ask him his name, share theirs, and react with the same enthusiasm they do to every bot and even ask the same questions. It's pleasantly surprising, until they all get excited upon his description of his alt mode, at which point it's freaking fantastic. It's with pride that he confirms he's the only flying bot on the crew, and when he's immediately corrected by a random passerby, he explains that he meant the only one who could fly worth a damn. He's greeted by a chorus of laughter for his amazing joke and he vows that he'd die for each and every one of these little squishies.

·All it takes is one hint of a request and he's offering to take them all for a lift through the hangar. This is just the beginning of an impossibly interesting friendship. Eventually he just carries them all around in his cockpit whenever they're walking anywhere, or on his shoulders if they won't all fit, and either way there's a row of humans sitting across him. This friendship is why he's so mortified when his identity of an Empurata is accidentally revealed and the questions begin.

·He reluctantly answers and braces for the impending disgust or revulsion to realize he's been mutilated. But it never comes. Instead, there's genuine sympathy and anger on his behalf, and their little hands reach out to comfort him. Initially he can only be awed. How are these little, fragile, and oh so very young protoforms better than so many members of his species?! Does it matter? They shall be called; "The Whirl Scouts", trademark pending. They'll all have to be trained in combat for their own safety, and he will be their mom now, because he won't just die for them he'll kill for them. They're his kids and his family.

[juniorgman187]

Love & Other Drugs (Reid Fic) Part 2

Summary: Reid’s addiction is proven to stand in the way of many things, including his and Reader’s first kiss.  Pairing: Fem!Reader x Season 2/ Season 3 Spencer Reid Category: Mini-series, Angst Word Count: 4k Content Warning: Allusions to addiction, fear of flying

PART 1 HERE!

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 

It took all of me not to pay attention to the way Spencer led me through the park by holding my hand, but my heart was beating like a hammer against cloth. I fear he might’ve even heard it thumping out of my chest whenever he’d look over his shoulder and make sure I was still there behind him. There was always a small smile that followed his action, a physical manifestation of his joy when he looked back and saw me already looking at him, too.

Was this the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde duality I was suspicious of witnessing on the first day we met? Because I assure you, if you had told me that the guy I met that day was capable of taking me to a silent film in a field, I wouldn’t have believed you, much less that I’d agree - even want - to go. Even now, I’m not sure this feels real. 

“This is a good spot, right? It’s equidistant from the car to the scree-”

“It’s perfect.” I quickly shut him up with a lighthearted laugh. 

He sighed happily and released my hand for a brief moment to lay down the blanket for us to sit on. At first when we sat down, we were both too shy to be too close. 

Here again, Spencer saw our glaring similarities peeking through. Not just in our mutual bashfulness, but in the way we were sitting; both of our legs were outstretched in front of us as we leaned back on our hands. 

In a pure-of-heart manner, I felt Spencer extend his pinky to graze over mine. That was the extent of our physical touch, but even with as little of an action as it was, it still gave me more butterflies than any hand-holding, hug, or kiss ever had. That’s how magical his touch was ... how magical he was. 

Had I not been observing him from my peripherals, I might’ve not noticed his relentless staring. I calculated it later on, but I think he watched me more than he watched the movie. I would even argue that he looked at me like the whole world could crumble and still, he wouldn’t blink. 

It was somewhere in the climax of the film, where Spencer leaned in, and I followed suit, taking his sudden movement as an indication that he was going to whisper something in my ear. 

“Souls do not have calendars or clocks, nor do they understand the notion of time or distance,” After a minute of confusion, I quickly realized he was vocalizing the dialogue of the silent movie. “They only know it feels right to be with one another.”

Though this was a direct quote from the film, it felt like he was speaking it right to me, and I had to think that there was some sort of special significance to this statement, otherwise why would it be the only one he chose to say out loud out of all the inaudible verses he could’ve chosen from? 

Souls do not have calendars or clocks, nor do they understand the notion of time or distance. They only know it feels right to be with one another. I recited in my head. 

I’d already been looking at him, but now, I was actually seeing him. 

I think my soul recognized his. 

My eyes unintentionally fell to his lips, giving him the green light to lean in even closer. There was nearly no distance between us; I could feel his breath fanning over my mouth, but right as I inclined forward, a drop of water ran down my cheek. It shocked me and made me recoil backward, seizing the distance I advanced. 

All at once, many more drops of rain came, earning squeals and yelps from the crowd. Chaos erupted in the form of abandoned blankets, a dampening film screen, and squelching grass under the pitter patter of a hundred running feet. With ardent conviction, Spencer took my hand so we could run to the car to escape the rain beating down on us. I heard him laugh and it made me do just the same. We were so happy just running in the rain. 

“Get in! Get in!” Spencer shrieked as he opened my door to slide me into the passenger seat. It didn’t go unnoticed that he still took the time to be a gentleman despite the chaos of the storm. 

We were both audibly breathless when he finally got into the car, our panting steaming up the car and casting fog on all surrounding windows. 

“Oh god,” I sighed when I examined the state of my stringy hair in the visor’s mirror. 

The sound of rain relentlessly pelting the windshield, sounding more like heavy hail than delicate drops of water, mixed with the sound of our breathlessness as the adrenaline coursed through our veins. I looked over at Spencer to see his cheeks flushed red from the running and how his hair had been dampened into wet curls and I had laughed. 

“What? Why are you laughing at me?” He innocently asked. 

“No, no I’m not laughing.” I said, while laughing. 

“Yes, you are! Why? What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, you’re just so …” My voice faded out upon the realization that we were exactly as we were before the rain started to fall - centimeters apart. 

There was nothing I wanted more than to kiss him, and I actually might’ve after he gently caressed my face while drawing me nearer. We both shut our eyes in preparation for what we thought would be the world’s greatest, most addictive kiss, but I felt myself draw back and hesitate. It was on instinct; a completely separate motion from my mind, but my body did it anyway, as if it knew something that my mind didn’t. 

“Okay, okay - we don’t have to kiss.” He instantly surrendered, pulling away completely. 

“No, no it’s not that. I did want to kiss you.” I said with utter frustration at myself for ruining the moment like that, especially because I didn’t even mean to back out, I just did. 

“But?”

But I needed to figure out my feelings before I toyed with his. 

I couldn’t kiss him because it would’ve been selfish. It would’ve been a careless action in the heat of the moment and it would’ve told him that I had romantic feelings for him and that I always had, but I didn’t know if that was really true. I mean, originally, I wasn’t spending time with him because I liked him like that - I was spending time with him because I was stubborn, and curious, and combative, and everything he didn’t deserve. And while my feelings may have changed, maybe into something more genuine, I never wanted to lead him on - even if I did feel the same way. 

He is such a good guy, and I would’ve brought ruin upon him even further. 

“But um, if we stay in our wet clothes any longer, we’ll probably get sick.” I told him, lying right through my teeth. 

He seemed to accept this as an answer, but this determination was based off of my limited perception of him, considering he was well on his way to driving out of the parking lot before I could look at him any further. 

The air was colder now, and not just because of the heavy rainfall. There was clearly a shift in our dynamic, probably because he didn’t know how to act around me anymore, but still, I made no attempts to change that. I think I was just as confused as he was and any more muddling of the situation on my part would’ve only made things worse. It was better that I left things alone this time. 

“Thank you. For the ride.” I awkwardly chirped when he dropped me off; this was the first words spoken the entire duration of the car ride. 

He pursed his lips once more into a thin line, and this time I recognized that this wasn’t a smile. “No problem.” 

Something in me was tethering me to this car and it wouldn’t let me leave. 

I had to tell him. 

“Hey, Spencer?” I glanced over my shoulder with my hand still on the interior car handle. “I’m sorry.” 

He shook his head almost with a laugh. “Don’t be sorry. You did nothing wrong.” 

And maybe he was being truthful, maybe he was being so incredibly honest, but a part of me just couldn’t believe that he was sincerely okay with my denial of his kiss. But then again, maybe it was me who wasn’t sincerely okay with the denial of his kiss. 

There were words still left unspoken hanging in the air, but neither I, nor him, decided to vocalize them. Maybe in some way, we already knew. 

In one swift motion, I opened the door and left his car while the rain drummed on me.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t stall my walk a little just to avoid reaching a distance too far from his car to hear him call out a protest to stop. Maybe I was even waiting for him to join me in the rain, as hopelessly romantic as that sounds. 

“(Y/n)?” 

Like an expectant animal, my ears perked up when I heard Spencer call out my name over the hood of the car. “Yes?” 

He looked down briefly before mustering up the courage to say, “I’m sorry, too.” For what reason he was apologizing, I didn’t know.

“Why?”

“I was a jerk to you the first day I met you and you didn’t deserve that.” He finished his sentence, but I could tell there was something more he wanted to say. If he had said it, I imagine he would’ve finally admitted what we both couldn’t stop thinking about. 

His addiction. 

“You’re forgiven,” I lightheartedly laughed with the hope that he understood there was nothing I needed to truly forgive him for. 

As quickly as he must’ve exited his car, he just as quickly re-entered it. With his voice and mine banned from speaking, the sound of the storm was almost loud enough to drown out the sound of Spencer’s car driving away before I’d even reached my door - almost. It was then that I turned over my shoulder to observe his yellow headlights glowing against the world’s grayness, but the warm yellow slowly disappeared behind his harsh red back lights as he drove off. The poignant red of his back lights was all the more a reminder that he was leaving me, and that I was alone. It was such an empty feeling. 

As I stood in the rain watching him drive away, I grew more and more disgusted with myself. I should’ve stopped him from leaving. I should’ve said everything I wanted to. 

Just then when I came to that very realization, a frigid gust of wind nearly knocked me over. Nature’s cruel irony had never been so apparent to me until this moment. 

You’ll understand why storms are named after people. 

And I was his. 

_ _ _ 

The Behavior Analysis Unit in Quantico is requesting your presence. The email read. 

There’s a name I hadn’t seen in a while - the B.A.U. It’d been what - almost a year now? I hadn’t seen or heard from Spencer since our poorly-ending-movie-date, hence why I bitterly laughed at my screen as I swirled a red sucker in my mouth. “As you wish, Your Highness.” 

Fully expecting to see my station - and only my station - when I leaned forward off my desk, I turned around only to be met with my station and something else. 

Or should I say someone else?

Because Spencer was there, too. 

“Spencer!” I nearly choked on the lollipop that was now loosely hanging from my mouth after my ceaseless coughs successfully dislodged it from my throat. He chuckled in pure amusement at my reaction. At last, when my cough subsided, I was finally able to croak out the question, “What are you doing here?” 

While I waited for his answer, I took his pause as an opportunity to really grasp him in his new form. His hair was much longer than I remembered it being, and it sure had a lot less hair gel, too. He also looked much better, and by that I mean, he didn’t read so much as an addict anymore. His appearance wasn’t untidy anymore, his fidgeting and anxiousness had withered away, and if I didn’t know any better, I think this was a good sign. 

He wasn’t addicted to whatever he was addicted to anymore. 

Of course, he answered my question before I had the chance to breach the subject. “I thought I saw a sign outside the door prohibiting food inside the lab.” 

His eyes turned to slits as a physical display of his sarcasm while he walked around the station to meet me on the other side but with a tantalizingly slow pace. With every word he said, he inched closer and closer until finally, we were so close that I could actually smell his cologne. “Unless, of course, I’m mistaken, and this lollipop is currently under examination.” 

It was unlawful how he could pull off saying something so nerdy. He had no right to sound as sexy as he did. 

“Ooh, yes. Talk dirty to me, Doctor.” I purred jokingly, pulling him in by the fabric of his tie. Even he couldn’t keep up his cool guy act in the face of my jest. He laughed before he could even think not to.

“You’re ridiculous,” He shook his head. “And a bad girl.”

Again - that should not have sounded as sexy as it did. 

“Is this how you fulfill your need for excitement? By sneaking suckers into your lair and breaking the rules.” His tone was thick with playful mockery, but the kind where it wasn’t as offensive as it was just to make fun.

“For your information - this job is plenty exciting enough as it is. Especially whenever a Doctor sneaks into my lab.” 

He caught the reference of himself but didn’t bother entertaining it with a laugh. He couldn’t keep his eyes on mine long enough to disguise the way he persistently stared. He was still too focused on the inner workings of my mouth and the candy. It was rather entertaining, if I do say so myself. I could even see the gears in his brain turning. He was clearly formulating something according to the display of squinted eyes and knitted brows. 

My suspicions were confirmed when all of a sudden, he firmly pinched my chin with his index finger and thumb to pucker my lips enough to create a small opening for him to successfully rob my mouth of the sweet. 

“Hey!” I whined. “I wasn’t done eating that!” 

Dominance gleamed in the sheen of his narrow eyes. He was enjoying this. “You are now.” 

My childish pout and grumpy expression asked him to tell me why. To which he answered, “Because we’ve got a flight to catch.” There were so many questions I had. We? A flight? Luckily, I needn’t verbalize them because he answered me anyway. 

“I rode on the jet to pick you up and take you back to Virginia.” 

I lightly scoffed, not actually believing what he was saying was true. “And how’d you manage that?” 

Though I was skeptical, Spencer went on to explain that the team needed me immediately, so they were willing to fly me to Virginia on the jet, but it would be best if one of them escorted me. Seeing as Spencer was more my equal than anyone else, they thought he would be the best flying companion - hence, the flight we were catching. It wasn’t until then that I actually believed him. 

Would you believe it if I told you we were up in the sky in less than 30 minutes? It’s almost as if this was their routine. I’d bet they had grown accustomed to the hectic energy and keeping up with the rush that their jobs demanded, but as a toxicologist, I was taught that taking my time was for the better. I had yet to get used to the fast pace of the B.A.U, which manifested itself in the worst form possible - fear of flying. 

Truthfully, I’d never actually been on a plane before, let alone a jet. I’m sure Reid could tell you a whole heck of a lot more about it, but common sense is that private jets are faster than regular commercial airlines. Jets are specifically built for speed and efficiency. Not to mention they fly at higher cruising altitudes to avoid airline air traffic. So currently flying on the jet meant that I’d entirely skipped the baby step of a regular plane ride that would’ve eased me into this experience - I was jumping right into the deep end. 

Leave it up to the profiler across from me to notice the way I clutched my seatbelt that I couldn’t trust would protect me, or the way I would grip the armrest when we inevitably experienced turbulence, or the deliberate avoidance of the view out the window so I wouldn’t have to confront the realization of just how high up we were. 

“Bad flyer?”

“Yes and no. Yes because I’m terrified of heights, and no, because I’ve never actually been on a plane before, so I haven’t been on enough flights to earn such a title,” my voice quivering as I spoke. 

His eyes widened with visible shock. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that he almost didn’t believe me. “You’ve never been on a plane before?”

“Never.” 

“Ever?”

“Never.” 

Something like a laugh escaped him. “Well you know what that means?” 

I couldn’t be bothered to entertain his mind games so I bluntly questioned, “No, what does it mean?” 

“A fear of flying indicates deep-rooted issues of control - or lack thereof. Do you like to be in control?” His words were testing me. He didn’t actually want to know if I liked being in control, he just wanted me to admit to my weakness. 

And it was somewhere in his teasing that a button must’ve been pressed because what I said next could only be the actions of someone who’d reached their breaking point - someone completely ruthless. “Well, you’re not so perfect yourself, Doctor. We still have yet to talk about the elephant in the room.” Again, I never handled things with much grace, but this by far - was something that I shouldn’t have touched with my tactless hands. 

Spencer wasn’t dumb - he knew what I was talking about, and he knew that I knew he would know what I was talking about, so luckily, he spared us the time and didn’t bother playing dumb. “Yeah, I know,” He bashfully whispered, making me feel all the more guilty about bringing it up. 

“I’m sorry,” I quickly apologized. “I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s just that I noticed you look a lot healthier since the last time I saw you, and I was gonna mention something to you about it in a much nicer way, but it just came out of my mouth right now.” 

“I am doing better. I quit completely 10 months ago.” He explained. (Oh, I stand corrected. It hadn’t been a year since I’d last seen him - just 10 months ago). “But, um . . .” 

Those two words alone were enough to make me prepare for the worst. 

“Recently, I saw this … this kid get shot in front of me,” His voice grew weary. “I thought I could save him, but I didn’t and he died. Right in front of me. And ever since then, I’ve been having - in the literature of the program - what they call ‘cravings’.”

I responded all too quickly, I knew that. I probably should’ve waited, came up with something more sympathetic, but instead, my brain went into autopilot and I asked the most unsympathetic thing you could possibly ask an addict. “Are you getting any help? Like from a professional. I’m not talking about meetings, I’m talking about -”

“Why do you do that?” He cut in. It wasn’t until I heard his voice interrupt my own that I looked at him and saw his countenance. He was pissed. “Why do you always try to fix me?”

This blow to my ego shattered my heart and hardened my defensiveness. “What? What are you talking about? I’m not trying to fix you.” 

He rose from his seat with such speed that I nearly got a head rush from it and couldn’t understand how he didn’t. 

“You’ve been trying to fix me since the day we met!” His voice boomed to a decibel I didn’t recognize. I’d never seen him so angry or so loud before. If I had to make a bet, the pilot could hear exactly what he’d just said - clear as day, as if he was sitting in the co-pilot’s seat right next to him.

With just as much rage, I unbuckled my belt, and for the first time in this entire plane ride, I stood up from my seat - just so I could be equal to him, to show him he shouldn’t dare try to talk down to me. Not after everything that I’ve felt for him.

“Oh, I’m sorry, would you rather I do what your team did? Just pretend your addiction didn’t exist? Walk on eggshells every hour I’m with you? Avoid and ignore every sign? I mean it worked out pretty well, right? Considering a year later, you're still having cravings.” I knew that I’d just crossed multiple lines with my blatant sarcasm, with my insulting of his team and insulting of him. I undoubtedly touched a nerve, but he visibly bit his tongue back before he said something he might regret. 

“Spencer, do you realize that this would be the reaction of anyone watching somebody they love struggle with addiction?” I could see a shift in his demeanor at one point during my sentence. His shoulders relaxed; something I said softened him, but I wouldn’t even come to realize what it was until he pointed it out later. With his silence taken as an allowance to continue, I added, “I pity you if you think that I’m overreacting, because really, I’m doing what everyone in your life should’ve been doing if they really cared about you.”

“You love me?” 

His question seemed so random, so out-of-the-blue, that I wondered where that was evening coming from. In the heat of our argument, I hadn’t even caught my own freudian slip.

“You said, ‘this would be the reaction of anyone watching somebody they love struggle with addiction.’ Are you saying you love me?”

It was probably the first time in this entire discussion that I actually paused to think, but all I could think to do was deflect. It was the only way to spare myself the humiliation. So without a better response, I asked, “So what if I do? That doesn’t change anything.”

“It changes a lot, (y/n).” 

“Oh, really - what does it change?” I challenged. 

“Now, I can finally do this.”

He pulled me in so fast I didn’t have time to think, let alone register that his lips had just collided with mine, or that I was consciously kissing him back. To deepen the kiss, he tilted his head to the side and even sneaked his tongue into my mouth when I parted my lips to breathe the air I was being deprived of. The lack of oxygen to my brain from the way he was swallowing me whole was enough to make me dizzy and lightheaded, and more than enough to make me lose all inhibitions. 

After a year, excuse me, after 10 months, of waiting for the kiss, of waiting for the right moment, or prolonging it while it simultaneously lingered over our heads, we finally kissed. At last, we released the anguish, the desire - everything. We were kissing like we’d never kissed before in our lives and were desperately anxious to know the feeling, and in some ways, that was sort of true. 

So if love really is an addiction, then consider me addicted.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 

taglist: 

@rexorangecouny @criminal-jive @andiebeaword @annesauriol @nymeria-targaryen @shae2001bts @sweetboyspencer @archiveofadragon @inkstainedgirl 

[alj4890]

Delicate

(Ethan Ramsey x Olivia Nevarkis) (Olivia Nevarkis x Drake Walker) in a Choices The Royal Romance/Open Heart Crackship Series

A/N This is the finale to this miniseries. Thanks so much for indulging me in this crackship of mine. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did imagining it💗

@jooous​ ​ ​ @krsnlove​ ​ @nomadics-stuff​ ​   @twinkleallnight​ ​ @motorcitymademadame​ ​

Masterlist

Part 6

December 30th, Cordonia's Royal Palace...

Tomorrow night’s event might be the first ball in the history of Drake's years in Cordonia to actually cause a certain excitement. He usually put up with the pomp and traditions to simply be with those he cared about. For years it was to support Liam, then going meant he could hang out with Riley, Hana, and Maxwell.

And then there were his activities down in secret for a year with Olivia.

He knew she would be arriving soon. Her absence from Cordonia had been one he felt more acutely than any other. His failure in telling her how he felt about her, his inability to have a civil conversation, even his voicemail had kept him fixated on this date.

He intended for this new year to involve a new relationship with Olivia. He simply needed to find a moment alone with her.

Which as he entered the drawing room Riley and Liam used frequently for their closest friends, he realized that was going to be more difficult than he originally thought. All their friends had come home for the ball.

"I can't believe they gave us that ridiculous moniker." Thomas shook his head.

"The press isn't always known for their intelligence." Liam said, fighting a smile.

"Thomanda." Amanda laughed just saying it. "It sounds like some weird foot fungus cream."

"The press have had five years to come up with anything better than that." Thomas wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulders. "They should have combined our last names. Brunt is more tolerable than Thomanda."

Maxwell rolled off the couch laughing. "We now have to come up with crazy couple names for all of us."

"We were given Riam." Riley replied. "Personally I prefer Liley, but Riam stuck."

"Naxwell or Madia." Amanda said between giggles while pointing at Maxwell and Nadia. "That's your couple name."

"Naxwell sounds like a snack cake or cookie." Riley added with a chuckle.

"We are sweet." Maxwell responded, cuddling Nadia close.

Hana sighed at seeing them all so happy together. "What would mine and Rashad's be?"

"Rashana?" Riley offered.

"Oh I like that so much better than what I thought." Amanda laughed. "I at first thought Hahad."

The group burst into laughter while more couple names were bandied about.

"So what do we dub Olivia and Ethan?" Liam asked.

"Ethalivia?" Hana offered.

"Olithan?" Maxwell added.

"Oooh! Olithan!" Riley exclaimed. "Sounds like a sea monster. Olivia will love it!"

Drake tried to ignore what was being said as he joined them.

Maxwell noticed his frown and immediately changed the subject.

"Hey," he said over the lingering chuckles. "What's everyone's resolutions going to be?"

"Get married." Rashad grinned at Hana.

"That's your plans for next week." Maxwell winked at them. "What are you going to resolve to do this new year?"

"Spend time with my husband." Hana replied with a slight blush.

"I think more time with our significant others is what we will all resolve to do." Liam added.

Drake bit back a bitter retort. At least they knew they would have their significant others. He was praying for a chance to talk to his.

********************

Olivia stood in front of the mirror one last time to check her reflection. It was strange to see the same old features once more in the all too familiar guest room when she felt so changed. Stepping off the plane and seeing Cordonia's capital didn't affect her like it once did. Somewhere, somehow, she had moved on past the pride of her title and country.

She still loved her home, but she now knew she was capable of so much more than merely being the Duchess of Lythikos. She wondered if the changes would be visible to anyone else. If no one noticed it, she at least had proved it to herself.

Her gaze left her reflection to focus on Ethan finishing dressing. Her lips curved at the red shirt he had pulled on with his black slacks.

She wondered if he knew he had chosen to wear her house colors.

He glanced up and noticed her staring.

"Is this the wrong thing to wear to dinner tonight?" He asked.

"No." She walked over to him.

Ethan paused in buttoning his shirt when she looped her arms around his neck.

"What made you choose this shirt?" She asked, threading her fingers in his hair.

His lips curved as they brushed her cheek. "Thomas told me about ways we men can show our support for our noble ladies." He tugged her closer. "I thought I should start out as I intend to for my fiancée."

Olivia cupped his cheek with her left hand, her eyes darting toward the sparkling proof that she was marrying the man that held her. Their lips met in a tender kiss that made her want to forget about joining anyone else and simply stay here alone with him.

"Shouldn't we hurry?" Ethan asked when she began to toy with the buttons of his shirt.

His hands moved along her back, searching for her zipper.

"We should." She pressed another kiss to his lips before easing back.

Her smile was warm as she admired him. "Red is a good color on you."

"As long as you approve." He finished buttoning his shirt.

Olivia handed him his tie he had set out earlier.

He looped it around her waist and used it to pull her close.

"Doctor?" She chided. "You have a king and queen waiting to welcome you."

"I think you know who I think deserves my attention." He leaned his forehead against hers. "Are we telling everyone tonight?"

"About our engagement?" Olivia asked.

Ethan nodded. "I want you to have all the excitement and whatever they do here to celebrate when a duchess gets engaged."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't need a ball, Ethan."

Her heart softened once more when he whispered he wanted to give her everything she deserved.

"We can tell them," her breath hitched when she felt his mouth against that special spot under her ear, "if you want to."

"I want to." He muttered against her skin. "I want everyone to know we are together." He lifted his head and smiled at her. "I want them to see how proud I am that you chose me to marry."

"Ethan." Her frown firmed. "Don't you dare make me emotional right now when I'm about to see everyone."

He chuckled as he let her go. "Very well, duchess. I'll behave."

She hmphed while returning to the mirror to retouch her lipstick.

Once they were both deemed presentable, they left their chambers and gathered Naveen to take downstairs.

****************

While the buzz of conversations filled the room, Drake escaped to the wet bar.

"Would you mind pouring me a glass of the Pinot Noir?" Regina asked, joining him.

"Yes mam."

She cleared her throat. "Sir Drake, I--"

"Just Drake, mam." He reminded her.

She smiled at his insistence she not use any honorific. "Drake, is something wrong?"

He handed her a wine glass. "No mam." He poured the wine for her. "Why do you ask?"

"You seem a touch distracted."

"I do?"

She chuckled. "Yes. Usually by this time you would have called a halt to all the talk of weddings and romantic, as you call it, nonsense."

A hint of a smile appeared on his face. "I guess I've been tuning them out tonight."

"I see." She patted his arm. "I'll leave you to your thoughts then."

He straightened up when Olivia stepped into the room, flanked by Ethan and the other doctor Drake had yet to meet.

The older of the two men had a friendly smile on his face that disappeared when he saw Regina.

"Gin?" Delight flooded his surprised facial expression. "Is it really you?"

Everyone looked back and forth between the Queen Mother and Naveen.

"Did he just call Regina, Gin?" Riley whispered.

"I've never heard anyone call her that." Liam whispered back.

Regina had her hand pressed to her heart. "Naveen! You're the Dr. Banerji Lady Olivia talked about?!"

Naveen met her in the middle of the room, his hands taking hers.

"What is going on?" Olivia whispered.

"I haven't got a clue." Ethan whispered back. "Naveen did a fellowship here when he was fresh out of medical school. Maybe, the two met during that time."

"It seems they did more than meet." Olivia pointed out.

"After all these years," Naveen said, "You are still just as beautiful as when we met."

Regina's blush and almost girlish laughter made everyone eager to hear more.

"We both know that is not true." Regina replied with an elegant wave of dismissal.

Naveen's smile grew when he felt her squeeze his hand.

Remembering their audience, the two let go of one another.

"You two know each other?" Riley asked, loving their flustered states.

"We met when I first came to Cordonia." Naveen explained. His gaze softened on the Queen Mother. "I didn't know my way around and had gotten horribly lost when a lovely young woman pulled up in a convertible and took pity on me."

"In a convertible, huh?" Maxwell was already imagining a young Regina with her blonde hair blowing in the breeze as she pulled over to help a young, handsome doctor. "Then what happened?"

Regina's blush grew. "I offered to drive him back to the house he had rented and one thing led to another and we--"

"I begged her to be my tour guide during my stay." Naveen explained to keep her from having to reveal too much. "It ended up being the best summer of my life."

She shook her head while smiling. "It was the last time I was ever able to be free to do and act as I wanted."

"What happened, mam, that changed all that?" Hana asked. "

"My first official social season began that fall. Adelaide was being courted by Godfrey and my parents insisted I do all I could to put our family in the best light possible so that an arrangement could be made between the two." A brief sadness passed over her. "Once that started, I was sent from one house party to the next then began a tour through Europe on diplomatic endeavors. Before I knew it, two years had gone by and Naveen had left Cordonia by the time I returned."

The older doctor grimaced. "I had been accepted to Edenbrook and was unable to find Gin to tell her."

Ethan quietly studied Naveen, wondering if this was why his mentor had never married.

"Well, now you two can catch up," Nadia encouraged. "Without worry of having to part."

Regina didn't bother to hide her happiness at that thought. "I would love that."

"So would I." Naveen added.

******************

Once all the introductions were made, the group fell into smaller ones to talk.

Keeping mostly to himself on the other side of the room, Drake couldn't take his eyes off Olivia. She seemed so different than the last time she had been in Cordonia. Not just in appearance, but there was something else there he couldn't quite identify.

She had left her hair down in loose curls. He couldn't recall when he had seen her do that here. He had once heard her say that her hair down could be used against her if an enemy were to attack.

She must have lost that worry.

Olivia almost appeared more approachable. Her smirk didn't hold the same bite it used to. She listened without too much sarcasm to the conversations going on around her.

She looks soft.

Drake took another gulp of his drink. Where had that thought come from? Olivia Nevarkis was many things, but soft? Impossible.

He noticed that Ethan remained close to her. The little touches going on between them irritated Drake. Ethan would occasionally touch her back when turning to say something to her. Olivia would respond in kind. He would brush a lock of hair over her shoulder. She would place her hand on his arm when pointing out something.

All innocent, yet all given with hidden meanings.

The smiles they shared. The heated glances. The--

A sparkle on Olivia's hand caught his attention.

No, it can't be--

"I have an announcement." Olivia raised her voice. "I wanted you all to be the first ones to know."

Drake felt his insides go numb as if his body knew the pain that was about to happen and wanted to try and spare him.

"Ethan asked me to marry him." Olivia looked up at her doctor. Her smile, so unlike any in Cordonia had seen, was tender and full of affection. "And I said, yes."

Everyone spoke at once their delight and rushed to hug and congratulate the couple.

All that is except Drake.

His empty glass slipped through his fingers and thudded softly on the floor.

Did she listen to my message? Did she decide to not give me a chance to apologize in person? Why would she choose him without first seeing what we could have?

Maxwell slipped away from the laughter and teasing of Team Olithan. Swiping up his friend's glass, he placed an arm along Drake's shoulders and led him back to the bar.

"She didn't give me a chance." He muttered to Maxwell. "I told her I wanted to try and she instead picks that doctor. She didn't bother to even say she didn't want me."

Maxwell poured him a strong one and handed it off. "I know." He sighed softly. "I'm sorry, Drake."

Drake downed the contents, poured another, then after it was gone he drank one more that was filled to the brim. "Don't be." He slammed the empty glass down. "If you have to feel sorry for anyone, feel it for Ramsey." He jerked his chin toward the couple. "He's the one stuck with her."

"Drake, I think you should still try to talk--"

"No thanks." Drake snapped. "What’s left to say?" He shrugged. "I dodged a bullet."

Maxwell gave up arguing. He didn't know what to do as Drake became angrier.

"Better go give my congratulations." He grumbled while making his way across the room.

"We'll announce your engagement at the ball." Liam told the couple. He pressed a kiss to Olivia's cheek and shook Ethan's hand. "May you both find the same happiness I found with Riley."

"I need details!" Riley exclaimed "When and where did this happen? How did you propose?"

Olivia chuckled. "Ethan asked me at his father's home when we went to spend Christmas there."

"How sweet!" Hana exclaimed. "We can start planning your wedding while we are all together."

Olivia's friends began to talk over one another to give possible opinions of wedding venues and dates for the ceremony.

Only Ethan noticed the tension forming in Olivia's body. He soon saw the reason for it approaching.

"Congratulations." Drake said.

"Thank you." Ethan answered when Olivia instinctively stepped closer to his side. "I'm still surprised she said yes." He smiled down at her.

"You shouldn't be." Olivia told him.

"Liv's right, Ramsey. You shouldn't be surprised. Give yourself another day or two and you'll see why." Drake drawled. "The only thing nobles aspire to around here is marriage."

"Drake." Liam admonished.

"What? Isn't that all that was thumped into your heads as children? Even Hana admitted to being trained from a little girl on up on how to catch a husband." He continued.

Hana's cheeks burned as she averted her eyes from everyone.

"Of course, Olivia wasn't so fortunate when it came to knowing how to catch a husband, was she?" Drake smirked at her. "Her mother died before she could begin the training. Guess it was a good thing she went ahead and married you off to a terrorist, huh?"

"That's enough." Ethan warned. "You're intoxicated and should go to your room and sleep it off."

"Is that your medical opinion, Doc?" Drake narrowed his eyes at him. "Or is it you're worried I'll say something to embarrass you and your --"

"Excuse us." Olivia wrapped her fingers around Drake's arm, making sure to dig her nails into the tender flesh under his arm. "Walker and I need to clear something up."

She yanked him towards a door that led out into a small courtyard.

He wrenched his arm from her once they reached a nearby fountain.

"What in the hell was that?" She snapped.

"What?" He taunted when she merely glared at him. "Couldn't take the truth, Libby? Or are you worried that your doc can't?"

"In there," she hissed, "is the man who actually defended you to me after our last fight."

"Did he?" Drake folded his arms. "How endearing."

"Ethan is the man I want." She stated. "Whether you can accept that or not is your problem. It is not going to be mine!" Her narrowed eyes held his own. "I personally don't know if you and I can be friends after everything that has happened. I was going to try and at least be pleasant around you, but your little act in there has made it impossible."

"Who cares?" He muttered. "You didn't care about how I would feel after I ripped my heart out and laid it at your feet just so that you could waltz back home with your new love."

"You already knew my choice!" She shouted. "You saw how much he meant to me in Boston. I told you there was nothing between me and you and yet you stand here and show the world once again what a jackass you are." Her breathing was accelerated as she tried to calm down. "This is why you and I never had a chance. There's too much resentment from years of the two of us fighting."

"There wouldn't be if you had given me a chance." He told her. "Some time to try and be what you wanted. Instead you accept the first marriage proposal you ever got."

"I ACCEPTED BECAUSE I AM IN LOVE WITH ETHAN!" She raised a trembling hand to her head, completely frustrated with his refusal to give up. "He makes me feel a way I never thought possible."

"I don't want to hear about your sex life." Drake snapped.

"I'm not talking about that!" She shoved Drake away from her. "I'm talking about how he makes me feel as if I am the most important person in the world. He actually respects me. Cares about my opinions--"

"Clearly a glutton for punishment." Drake drily remarked.

Olivia gave up trying to explain. Using moves she hadn't had to in her months away, she swept Drake's legs out from under him, sending him tumbling backwards into the water fountain.

His head shot up, coughing and sputtering water out of his mouth and nose. "What the hell was that?!"

"That is the end of this discussion." She stated in a monotone voice. "I'm marrying Ethan. I'm going to have my own happily ever after. I expect you to keep your distance from now on. We might share the same group of friends, but you and I are nothing." Her green eyes flashed a warning. "We aren't friends, acquaintances, or even enemies." She stepped away from him. "Because I respect my enemies, but you, I can't even find the energy to be disgusted with you right now."

"Olivia, wait--" he tried to get out of the fountain and chase after her. "I--"

She walked back inside and quietly shut the door, as if he hadn't been speaking at all.

*****************

The next few months flew by. Hana and Rashad's wedding was deemed the perfect way to start a new year. Cordonia's research hospital had it's ribbon cutting ceremony a week later with both the press and nobles exclaiming over the state of the art facility. Under Naveen, Ethan, and Olivia's management, patients were being treated by some of the best physicians from around the world.

Word soon spread and numerous medical journals did pieces on the findings and styles of treatments given there. In every interview, Ethan gave Olivia the credit for everything that they were accomplishing, reminding the world that it had been her idea in the first place to create such a hospital.

She didn't think she could love him more than she already did until he did that, once more helping heal her Nevarkis reputation. It had been a long time since she had wished for a knight in shining armor to come along and fight for her, and here he was, fighting along the battlefields of the press that she had always felt at a loss over.

While Olivia balanced her duchess duties and those at the hospital, she planned her wedding. Ethan, no matter how exhausted he was, would stay up late giving his opinion on the party size and location. The two became even closer to one another as they discussed their life together, the possibility of children, and the roles they were playing in both the medical society and the nobility.

They decided on an intimate ceremony in one of Lythikos's oldest chapels. Liam was to conduct it, with Olivia requesting Amanda as her matron of honor and a very pregnant Riley and Hana as bridesmaids. The two mothers' to be cried together over the sweetness of it all from the moment they were asked until Ethan kissed his bride.

Ethan asked Naveen to be his best man and Thomas as a groomsman. He and the director had only grown closer in friendship as the ladies they were committed to spent so much time together. Thomas was helping him learn how to balance his future duties of Duke of Lythikos along with his chosen career. He reassured him that he could indeed have it all and be content.

Needing one more groomsman, Ethan left that choice to Olivia. Maxwell volunteered, to help take the pressure off of her, and was soon fitted for a new tux.

Drake never received an invitation.

He had tried to apologize. He even cornered her before she left the palace for Lythikos and managed to sound sincere, but it was no use. She was done with having him in her life. There was no anger. No sadness. Nothing. Just like she had told him.

He knew it was his own fault. All of it was. Somehow he had ruined what could have ended up being the best thing in his life. Seeing how Olivia was in love and knowing it could have been him on the receiving end, it hurt worse than any insult she could ever give.

He should be happy he wasn't invited to the ceremony. It was a mercy, whether she meant it as such or not. Seeing her dressed as a bride and saying her vows to another man would have been beyond his ability to calmly accept.

So he did what anyone would do the day of their love's wedding to another.

He left Cordonia for America.

Drake decided he would stay away for an indefinite period of time. Liam had Riley by his side so he wouldn't feel guilty over abandoning him. All of their friends were happily settled with their significant others. He was finally free to see what his life could be without nobles and putting Liam first.

A few years went by. During this time, babies were born. Drake had sent handmade rocking horses to Hana and Riley when he received the news of their sons' births. He next was picking wedding gifts for Maxwell and Nadia and then, to his great shock, one to Regina and Naveen. More babies were born, including word of Olivia and Ethan having a daughter.

That text from Maxwell had left him feeling a loss be hadn't thought of.

Drake decided to test the waters and start dating again. He thought this would be a chance to see what he really wanted from a potential spouse. Nothing too serious ever came from these attempts, but they did help slowly ease his heartache.

He would get the occasional visit from those he had left back in Cordonia. Phone calls and texts were a normal, everyday occurrence. Then one day, Savannah found out she was pregnant again and asked him to come for a nice long visit to Ramsford.

The moment he stepped off the plane and caught the hint of apple blossoms in the air, he knew this would always be home. He closed his eyes and simply let the feeling wash over him that this was where he was meant to be, where he was always meant to be.

He decided to stop and see Liam and Riley on his way to Ramsford. The couple were with their children at Valtoria along with some of their other friends.

Including Olivia and Ethan.

When Drake stepped out of the car, he could hear the laughter and squeals of young children playing out back. He went down a gravel path lined with lilies, only stopping at the sight before him.

Children, five years old and under, were chasing each other all over an area that would put most playgrounds to shame. Slides, climbing walls, bridges, jungle gyms, everything a child could want covered two acres of land.

He was able to identify most of the children without much thought. He had received tons of pictures through Christmas cards and texts, but he didn't need them to know who belonged to whom.

Liam's two sons with their golden hair shining in the sunlight were easily picked out. The little princes were soon joined by a boy that could only belong to Hana.

He then noticed two little girls that looked exactly like their mothers once had so many years ago. The dark haired one was clearly Thomas and Amanda's. And just like her mother had done at her age, the little girl was playing with another who had the richest set of red hair Drake had ever seen.

The three year old looked like she had been fashioned in Olivia's very image. Even her green eyes could narrow in an all too familiar irritation when the boys' rough housing got too close to where she was playing.

And just like her mother, her smile blossomed when she saw her father walking over.

Ethan leaned down to pick her up. His own smile was bright as he spoke to his daughter.

Whatever was said had the little girl eagerly nodding her agreement.

"Drake?"

He turned to see Olivia staring at him in surprise.

"Hey, Liv." He greeted.

"What are you doing here?"

"Savannah asked me to come for a visit." He explained.

"Ah." She placed her hand on her baby bump when another kick happened. "How have you been?"

"Good." He motioned toward her belly. "Boy or girl?"

"We don't know." She smiled down at her stomach. "Just like with Erin, Ethan and I decided we want to be surprised."

"Congratulations." He said sincerely. "I know you always wanted a family." He looked back toward where her little girl was. "Looks like you and Ethan know what you're doing."

"I think we do." She finally smiled at him.

"I'm happy for you." He managed to say and realized that it was true. If he couldn't be the one she ended up with, at least she had gotten what she wanted most out of life.

"Thank you." She stepped around him and continued toward the play area.

Ethan had been watching for her and began to make his way over to help her down the slope safely. She paused, knowing he would only worry if she tried to go down it on her own.

"Drake?"

"Yes, Olivia?"

"It's good to see you again." She smiled once more at him then went on and took her husband's arm.

Drake watched as Ethan tenderly brushed a kiss to her temple. The two laughed at their daughter having had enough of the boys' antics and chasing after them to give them a piece of of her mind.

As he stood there alone, he realized that though there was a faint echo of what could have been, he was finally able to watch them without it hurting.

[justimajin]

One Bad Case of the Jeon Sniffles

⇢ Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

⇢ Genre: Fluff, Comedy, Angst

↳ Doctor/Surgeon AU, Sequel to the Doctor Blues Universe - read here first! 

⇢ Words: 15.5k

⇢ Warnings: jungkook being a scared bunny & jimin actually needing to chill (as always)

⇢ Summary: Jeon Jungkook is a very capable individual; he’s spent years and years studying and training for his role as a doctor, noted to be one of youngest candidates to take on the job, as well as having an innate caring need inside him to see his patients well and healthy. Although there’s no underestimating his ability to work within a hospital, it goes without being said that the doctor isn’t as talented with some other area’s of his life - and it’s something that the young doctor can no longer run away from after one surprise encounter. 

⇢ A/N: This story is going to feature two Y/N’s because it is a sequel, but to avoid any confusion both characters are referred to as separate people. 

The dusty white hospital doors creak open once more, this time being pleasantly greeted with a different pathway. Long gone are days filled with resentment and outrage, hours consumed with electric tension between two sets of stern eyes and remains of faint bickering that once echoed through the familiar walls.

Instead, the hallway begins to gradually narrow down onto a fresh new road – one that has heavy stomps beating against the solid tiled ground, the young doctor pushing his falling bangs aside swiftly.

The knuckles of his hands are fisted, a plastic board becoming adorned with multiple markings when his signature meets every single one of the fluttering pages with a sharp swipe. He occasionally pauses his scribbling, focused eyes tracing along with the new patients being transferred into his wards.

His eyes fall onto one of them, particularly the way said patient was battling through a prickling chain of hoarse coughs.

The board is shifted underneath one of his arms, a stethoscope already being unlooped from his neck and by his side when he places a warm hand on the elderly woman’s shaking back. Although there’s a prominent crease lining between his brows and his hunched shoulders droop down, there’s a smile on his lips when he requests one of the nurses for a specific medication.

Taking a step back, he quietly observes the relief meeting the woman’s expression when the nurse hands her the medicine he has recommended, eyes already brimming with gratitude. The smile on his lips only seems to grow with every passing minute, only withering when he hears a thunderous clap behind him.

Eyes serious and shoulders tensing immediately, it dissolves away when his vision comes into contact with a familiar doctor.

“Well done, well done!” The man exclaims, walking over to him and circling an arm around his neck. Cries of hysteria begin to escape him as he clutches onto his chest, his shirt being crumpled in the process, “My Jungkookie has grown up so well!”

He shakes his head at the comment, but there’s a small smirk contained on his lips that he can’t seem to hide.

“I guess you can say it was because I was trained by the best.”

The man’s eyes instantly enlarge, practically bulging out of his eye sockets when he races over to another doctor, blonde locks falling onto his eyes when he adjusts an IV, “Yoongi! Yoongi! Did you hear that?!” His arms are outstretched, a giant ecstatic grin surfacing, “He said he was trained by the best.”

The other man chuckles, standing up straight as he watches his patient’s monitor, “By what? The best lunatic?” Offense crosses the man’s delicate features and Yoongi devilishly chuckles, “Oh right, he meant doctor. My bad.”

The black-haired doctor throws his hands up, seemingly letting out a tantrum while low chuckles escape the blonde doctor, completely ignoring him as he focuses back onto his work.

Jungkook can only softly smile at the display from afar, wondering how despite having this brand-new role assigned to him, there were some things that never changed within the hospital walls.

“Uh…e-excuse me?”

His head immediately snaps back, eyes lined with black circles on full alert until he realizes that the voice wasn’t coming near him, but actually below him. 

His eyes widen and he’s instantly bending down, coming into eye level contact with the young girl that teeter tooters on her feet. A pained expression is on her features, contorted when she faintly touches her arm.

“Sit down on that chair and I’ll have a look at it.” He points over to the side and the girl gratefully nods, following his instructions.

Grabbing his clipboard, he quickly continues the rest of his reports before he’s soon striding over, examining the girl’s arm hastily when he can see her eyes knitted in discomfort.

He lets go of her arm, scribbling down on his board, “The bone is healing well but the muscle seems to be irritated as a result.” His voice changes, turning into a much more soothing tone compared to usual, “I can give you something to feel better though. Does that sound okay?”

The girl eagerly nods and Jungkook gives her a warm smile, assisting her up from the chair when he mumbles some quick instructions to another nurse.

However, the moment she leaves, Jungkook slumps down. A lengthy drawn out sigh escapes his lips and he shuts his dry eyes for a moment that have been kept wide awake for far too long. When he opens them again, they drift over to the two doctors also in the same ward as him.

He truly doesn’t know what’s worse – the fact that he was running on only two hours of sleep and still had more paperwork to file along with new patients to attend or the fact that the two doctors near him were getting the job done faster than he was and still had the energy to talk to one another.

Another sigh escapes him; this time even deeper as he rubs the sore lids of his eyes. He sinks back into the chair, almost melting into it as he savours the spare time he has for once.

In a way, he knows. He knows that this is what he wants, this is what he trained for, what he spent countless hours studying for and prepared endlessly day and night. There is no other place he rather be at and he just knows – knows that no matter how difficult, this is what his life is to become.

But why was it getting harder and harder to breathe as time went by?

He immediately retracts, as if slipping away from the whole idea itself. Head pushed back, he instead decides to drown his ears with the roaring banter coming from the corner of the room.

“Y/N and Taehyung still haven’t come back?”

“Nope! They left us all here Yoongi, I’m telling you, they jumped ship!”

“Well Daegu’s pretty far…and they needed some time off anyways…”

“Do you miss them~”

“No.”

“You miss them~ Yoongi you misssss them~”

“Yah Park Jimin! Get off of me!”

Dimples form when a small smile crosses his lips, knowing that if he had merely turned his head to the corner slightly he would get the perfect view of Jimin suffocating a protesting Yoongi into a hug.

Maybe this was how it was supposed to feel, maybe at the end of the day he knows he still has them.

Another sigh escapes him and he leans further back into his chair, the tiredness seeping into his bones when his shoulders begin to relax and his mind falls clear.

“DR. JEON!”

He jolts up as if he’s been electrocuted, blurry eyes hurriedly searching around for the source of distress only to be greeted with nothing. Suddenly two hands are on his arm, shaking him relentlessly when he scatters out of the chair.

“A patient!” Jisoo, his intern quickly says, words tumbling out of her lips as she persistently drags him over, “There’s an unconscious patient with a severe head injury!”

He blinks, his vision sluggishly descending into focus until it all snaps in and soon he’s tugging on his white coat, straightening himself up as he matches up with Jisoo’s rushed steps.

A metal stretcher greets his eyes and he takes his stethoscope out in a flash, measuring the breathing and heart rate of the collapsed man.

“I need an oxygen mask and an IV right now.” He sternly states and Jisoo nods, dashing over to grab him what he needs.

As she does so, he starts to examine the patients head, looking for any points of serious bone breakage or muscle rupture. Thankfully enough, he lets out an exhale when neither seems to have occurred and at most, his suspicions are that the injury must have just caused a minor concussion – in which the impending trauma to the brain must have knocked the man out of consciousness.

He’ll be okay and his symptoms can be managed, Jungkook mentally notes down to himself, his eyes searching around for hopefully his returning intern. Time seems to tick by at a snail’s speed when his gaze eventually falls down, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot.

He stares down at the man, a frown lining his lips when he takes in the shaggy brown hair and long lashes, a noticeable mole right beneath his eye. His frown only intensifies, brows creasing when the man’s features seem distinctly similar to ones he hasn’t seen for quite a while, but he shakes it off when this man is too lean and much taller for that to make any sense.

He’s seen a dozen of patients today and he’s barely gotten a decent minute of sleep, there was no way possible–

A loud groan breaks his thoughts and his shoulders instinctively flinch when the sound comes from the man currently lying down on the stretcher. Turning when he hears the sheets shuffle, he notices the man’s eyes are now wide open yet strange – as if they were stuck in a dazed, confused state.

“You’re in the hospital.” Jungkook blurts out, being too aware of a patient’s weary position after a going through a concussion, “You were brought here because of a head injury.”

The man blinks again, this time sitting up straight as Jungkook shoots out an arm, bringing it around his back so he doesn’t fall down. However, instead of trying to focus back onto his surroundings like many patients do, the man blatantly stares at him.

His eyes narrow, mouth falling agape when he whispers, “J-Jungkook?”

The young doctor freezes; eyes enlarging until they fall across on the man’s confused face, like he was beginning to connect the scattered dots.

Before Jungkook can even say anything, Jisoo comes hurriedly running along, an oxygen mask and IV in hand. “Dr. Jeon!”

“Thank you Jisoo, I don’t think we’ll need the oxygen mask anymore but I’ll take this.” He reaches out for the long IV, dragging the white monitor with it, “It’ll sting but I’ll be quick.”

Jungkook leans down, eyes focused yet his hands waver a bit when the man continues to stare at him, his surprised eyes soon sinking down into a warm tone.

“Dr. Jeon, huh?”

The words hold a layer of amusement within them and Jungkook can’t contain his smile, eyes looking up in confirmation when the IV is hooked up.

“To be honest, I’m still not used to the sound of it.”

“So it’s recent?” There’s a wide grin on the man’s face and from a distance, Jisoo watches the entire interaction with her own eyes. She can’t deny the change in the air, something that casually dips away from professionalism and into something else entirely.

“Do you two know each other?”

They both turn at the exact same time to stare at her, but the man next to Jungkook simply laughs.

“You’ve never talked about me before? I’m hurt Jungkook, really.”

“Well nothing stupid ever came up into conversation.” Jungkook mumbles and it earns him a pout from the man, to which Jungkook just chuckles at, “This is Kim Yugyeom, Jisoo. One of my old friends from college.”

“Back in our glory days.” Yugyeom raises his fist, but winces when he does.

“Don’t try to move too much.” Jungkook immediately says, gesturing to Jisoo to bring the necessary paperwork in to admit his friend. She obliges, understanding that leaving would also give the two some privacy. “What do you do to yourself this time?”

“Why do you always assume I did something?” Jungkook raises an eyebrow at him, “Okay maybe it really was me this time, but it wasn’t directly my faul–“

“What happened Yugyeom?”

“Bambam threw a ball at me and I couldn’t catch it in time.”

 Jungkook doesn’t mean to, but soon his eyes are crinkling and the laughter is erupting out of him.

“Don’t laugh at that! It seriously hurt!” He rubs his head, scrunching up his features at the soreness.

Jungkook wipes away the water from his eyes, straightening himself up, “Glad to see you still suck at basketball.”

“I wouldn’t suck so much if someone wasn’t studying all the damn time and actually came out to practice with me.” Yugyeom furrows his brows, eyes latching onto the young doctor before they begin to roam around, “I can’t believe this is where you ended up…”

Jungkook hums, looking around and for a moment, he feels a sense of pride swell up deep inside him. Even though he had been only working in the hospital for a short period of time, the place already feels like a second home to him.

“It’s pretty nice.” Yugyeom smiles, “How’s it like working here?”

Jungkook pursues his lips, “Not bad, I usually work long hours so I’m here most of the time.”

“Long hours? How long?”

“If I’m lucky, not the whole day.” 

Yugyeom pauses, gawking at Jungkook in disbelief, “Even through the night?”

“Even through the night.” Jungkook tiredly replies and for a split second, he can immediately recognize the look of pity his friend is shooting him. “Don’t worry, I chose this.”

“Yeah but is this all you ever do?” Yugyeom brings his arm to his head and pouts when Jungkook tugs it down, frowning as he makes sure the IV is still in place, “Geez Jungkook, you need to stop working so much all the time.”

“Well we’re currently understaffed so for now it’s an exceptio–“

“No dude.” He pushes his hands away, staring directly at the doe-eyed doctor, “It’s literally college all over again. You’re still stuck in those books and you won’t get out of them.”

“Back then it was the shit ton of studying you had to do and now it’s this.” He points to the coat resting on Jungkook’s shoulders, “You’ll keep working and never give yourself a break.”

Jungkook looks at his friend confused, feeling a tad offended, “I do give myself breaks.”

Yugyeom wasn’t having any of it though, “Really now? What have you done aside from constantly going to work?”

“Well I-…uh...”

“Any hobbies? Interests?” He gestures to himself, “Hanging out with friends? Dude, I literally haven’t seen you in decades.”

Jungkook grows quiet, mind pondering on every single thing the man was sprouting out. Yugyeom sighs, suddenly realizing that he was the one with the injury that needed to be treated, not Jungkook. Taking a pause, he attempts to recollect himself, “Listen, I’m not saying that working all the time is bad, just come out every once in a while, you know?”

“It’s a lot of work, I know, but you can’t spend all your time here and miss out on other stuff.”

Jungkook dryly laughs, although it’s obvious to Yugyeom how strained and weakened his laugh comes out as. He knows his point has probably drilled itself into the doctor’s mind at this point, so he quickly turns the conversation around to lighten the mood.

“And I bet after all this time, you still suck at talking to girls.”

It seems to work, because Jungkook snaps out of his self-loathing daze and glares at the man, “Hey I’ve gotten better!”

Yugyeom hums, a smirk on his face, “I think so too, you seem to be talking to that intern of yours a lot. Is she single?”

Jungkook’s mouth drops, scoffing, “You haven’t changed one bit.”

“And you still haven’t answered my question.” Yugyeom sighs, brushing some of his hair away, “By the way, do you have a girlfriend yet?”

“Me?” Yugyeom nods, “Definitely no.”

“Ah come on man, you were just talking to a girl! And what’s even better is that you didn’t pass out at the sight!”

The glare in Jungkook’s eyes just increases with the time being, but Yugyeom excitedly points to him, “That! That right there was the stare too! You even stared properly!”

Jungkook darts his pointing hand away from him with a scowl, “I work in a hospital full of woman Yugyeom.”

“So you notice them too! That’s great!” Yugyeom grins, “They probably notice you too if you look around every once in a while.”

“Really?” Jungkook whispers and he rolls his eyes, wondering how much more oblivious his friend could be.

He swings his arm that’s not attached to the machine around him, “You my friend, are one handsome looking dude.”

Yugyeom wishes to himself that he had a camera in his hand within that one second, because the sheer blush spreading across his friend’s cheeks is too much of a treasure to miss. He chuckles, finally being able to see his old young friend hidden away in that mature doctor’s coat.

“You were an ace in college too but you had your head stuck in those books instead.” The mention sparks something in his eyes, especially when the knowledge of what his dear friend had been up to is on clear alert to him, “Have you even stayed in contact with anyone else?”

“No.” Jungkook truthfully admits, “You’re the first person I’ve actually seen up till now.”

The knowledge falls onto Yugyeom like a brick and for a moment, he just stares, looking for any traces of humour from his friend.

He’s only greeted with a dead serious look and he just can’t take it anymore, “Not even Bambam?” Jungkook shakes his head, “Mingyu? Jaehyun?”

Jungkook keeps shaking his head and Yugyeom sighs, placing a finger on his chin, “So you really haven’t talked to any of the boys….” His eyes light up, instantly sparkling, “Oh! What about Y/N? Talked to her recently?”

Jungkook’s eyes immediately widen and Yugyeom places a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “I ran into her the other day and she mentioned you Jungkook!” His friend slowly starts to step back but Yugyeom doesn’t lift his iron grip off of him and quickly rambles on, “She’s exactly the same as before, you could try asking her ou– “

“My, my, what’s going on here~”

Yugyeom pauses, wondering when where the new voice was coming from until he’s greeted to a young man wearing a white dress shirt, his black hair sleeked and parted to the side. He adorns a giant mischievous grin, inching closer and closer to the duo by the minute.

He wonders what the situation perhaps looks like, Jungkook appearing to be stuck in a frenzy as Yugyeom is practically grabbing onto him and not letting him to slip away. It’s something the man undoubtedly stares at too, “How is it that you know my precious intern?”

“Precious intern?” Yugyeom questions with an inquiring brow, releasing Jungkook who straightens himself up.

“Of course.” The man immediately latches onto Jungkook, his eyes crinkling until you can no longer see them, “I raised him with my bare hands.”

“You raised him?” Another voice scoffs, strolling along until it heard the appalling obscure fact, “I don’t think so.”

Yugyeom turns to the second man, a white coat handing off his broad shoulders when he abruptly taps the side of his clipboard against the first man’s arm, causing him to yelp and let go of Jungkook.

“Jungkook’s a doctor now Jimin, be a little professional.”

“Jin hit meee!” Jimin exclaims, clutching onto Jungkook and fake sobbing into his shirt, causing the man to awkwardly pat his back despite the annoyance spreading on his face like usual.

“Good.” A blonde doctor soon joins them, hands behind his back as he exchanges a knowing look with Jin before his eyes narrow onto Yugyeom, “Who is this guy?”

Jungkook manages to push Jimin’s hair away from his chin enough to answer, “This is Yugyeom, one of my friends from college.”

“College?!” Jimin immediately shrieks, racing over to the man with magnified eyes, “You knew my precious intern during college?” 

Yugyeom nods with an endearing laugh and Jimin’s grasps onto his hands, “What was he like?”

He goes silent, leaning down to whisper in Jimin’s ear.

“He used to look like a baby.”

Jimin squeals, a high-pitched deafening sound that hurts everyone’s ears, “I need to know more! I need to know more!”

Jungkook watches the two from a distance, wondering to himself if it was such a great idea letting his former doctor counterpart become close with one of his college friends, but then he hears something tumble out of the doctor’s mouth that makes him instantly regret it all.

“You have baby pictures of my Jungkookie in college?!”

Before he can say anything though, Jimin is soon pressing a hand against his chest in awe when Yugyeom flashes a picture of the two posing.

“You look so adorable!” Jimin latches onto him again, poking his cheek, “My precious intern!”

“Past intern.” Jungkook annoyingly corrects, disbelief crossing his features when he sees Jin slowly shuffle over in curiosity.

He eyes Yugyeom in approval, “Can you send me this?”

Yugyeom nods and they begin to hurriedly exchange numbers, much to the doctor’s resentment, “Hey! Don’t send him those!”

“Send me a copy too.” Yoongi mumbles underneath his breath, causing Jungkook to glance at all of them with more disbelief, his neck straining from the extra weight currently still attached onto his torso.

“What’s going on here?” A new, authoritative voice pokes out and Jungkook turns to see Namjoon watching them with a confused look, papers in hand that he was most likely reading over.

“Jungkook’s pictures from college Namjoon! His friend has tons of them!” Jimin exclaims, but Namjoon frowns, placing his papers underneath his arm as he strides over.

He plucks the loud doctor off of his old intern, to which Jungkook is extremely grateful for. “I don’t want to ruin the moment but you should all be getting back to work, there’s new patients that need to be filed in.” He warmly smiles, “Just because we’re short two doctors, it doesn’t mean we have no work to do.”

Namjoon’s words work like a spell, all the doctors realizing that they should listen to him when they return back to their places, although Jungkook isn’t the most enthusiastic when he sees Jin eagerly eyeing down a collection of his old pictures. He sighs, returning back as well when he’s painfully aware of the sheer amount of work awaiting his arrival.

***

Night draws into the brightly lit windows of the hospital, accompanying the footsteps of a young doctor as he scribbles away on perhaps the thousandth paper he’s seen today.

With one last swipe of his signature, Jungkook looks up, eyes barely adjusting to the light when he notices that the hospital has gone silent, patients beginning to prepare to rest for the night. He sighs, stretching his arms and legs out when he trudges back over to his office, grateful that the day was finally over and that he could do the same as the patients after being awake for more than twenty-four hours.

He arrives at his office but pauses for a moment, hearing the faint sound of giggles coming nearby. Intrigued, he looks up to be greeted by his former doctor counterpart, also locking up for the day as he chatters away with one of the hospital’s old interns.

The sight almost makes Jungkook falter, a warm smile on the doctor’s face when he speaks to his girlfriend, eyes twinkling when she laughs at some bizarre joke he’s managed to come up with. Although they’re speaking to each other in public, Jungkook’s notices, the moment seems intimate at the same time, as if their eyes were only able to see no one else except for each other.

It should be described as being beautiful, even sweet, but all Jungkook can feel is his heart sinking further and further down when the voice of his friend rings loudly away inside his mind. He can only think about how much he’s done to progress his career, to move forward and climb the escalating demanding ladder when others have done the exact same, but also managed to grow other parts of themselves that Jungkook hasn’t even imagined to, despite being the youngest doctor among all of them.

When’s the last time he did something else other than work? When’s the last time he’s had some fun? Gone out with friends?

His eyes lock onto the couple again.

Actually…thought about being with someone?

The crease in between his brows increases and although the day had just ended, Jungkook’s shoulders are hitched up as if the day had just begun. It seems like his heavy gaze was noticed though, because soon the doctor is excitedly waving over at him.

“Jungkookie~” Jimin says, brightly smiling. Chaeyoung turns around too, eyes lighting up instantly when she notices Jungkook and offering him a friendly smile.

However, Jungkook can’t find it in him to do the same, not when the two seem to be practically glowing as a twisted stormy cloud brews over his mind. He simply chooses to sharply nod, opening his office door in a hurry and locking himself inside.

Jimin’s bright smile falters, eyes immediately sinking down into concern when he exchanges a silent look with Chaeyoung, who reflects the same look he holds.

***

Jungkook’s barely gotten a single second of sleep.

He’s attempted to do so many times, rolling over and flopping onto different sides of the bed, squeezing his eyes shut and feeling relieved when he feels himself being pulled away.

Until the thoughts enter his mind.

At first, he does what he’s used to doing – ignoring them – but the thoughts continue to creep on him, not letting his pink tinged eyes get even a second of peace.

He doesn’t regret meeting his friend, if anything the encounter brought up warm memories Jungkook had long forgotten about, pieces of the past he didn’t realize he missed until he saw his friend’s face again. However, just like a recorder, his friend’s words drag him back to instances in college, instances that Jungkook wants to say he tried his hardest, actually putting in the effort instead of hiding away in his books.

Unfortunately, he can’t say any of that.

Which is why when Jungkook trudges through the hospital halls at the spike of dawn, he looks like a hollow empty shell. He wonders if he had perhaps underestimated how well he was at keeping his feelings at bay, because soon a certain someone is eyeing him down with troubled eyes.

He deeply sighs and suddenly his arm is being yanked, a loud yelp to escaping him.

“That’s the seventh one I’ve heard today.” The black-haired doctor mumbles, dragging him over to his office before shutting the door behind him. Jungkook remains bewildered when Jin plants him down onto a chair, standing in front of him with crossed arms and narrowed eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Jungkook immediately blurts, but Jin frowns more when he takes in the heavy dark circles lining the young doctor’s eyes.

He isn’t having any of it.

“Are you being overworked? Should I talk to Namjoon?” Jungkook bring his hands up instantly, shaking his head.

“N-No, it isn’t that…” Jungkook lowers his gaze, staring at the ground as he keeps his hand clasped together. It’s a little difficult for him to look Jin directly in the eyes, for the former was watching him carefully to catch any sign of what was causing him the distress.

Jungkook clears his throat, hesitantly bringing his eyes up, “Do you regret becoming a doctor?”

Jin blinks, not expecting the question, “No, why?”

Jungkook sighs, “I mean…more like being a doctor at this age.” He looks up, “Do you regret not doing it sooner?”

Jin’s arms fall to his sides and the confusion begins to dissolve away from his expression bit by bit, “It took me a while to figure out that this was what I wanted to do, but I think I would have regretted doing it sooner.” There’s a small smile on Jin’s lips when he slides into a chair across from Jungkook, “It’s harder to figure out when you’re at a younger age.”

Jungkook’s eyes widen a bit and Jin sends him a knowing smile, “Did seeing your friend bring up this question?”

“Yeah…” Jungkook lets out a heavy exhale, reaching into his pocket to grab his phone. He unlocks it, staring at the picture of a familiar young man smiling alongside other familiar faces, before slipping the phone over to Jin across the table.

“He’s kept in touch with every one of them since college…” Jungkook says quietly, causing Jin to raise an eyebrow as he keeps swiping across the pictures. “One of them even left to work abroad a while ago, so he isn’t in the picture but Yugyeom still talks to him…”

Jin pauses at one picture, frowning, “Who’s this?”

“Oh that’s Mingyu– “ Jungkook stares at the picture, wondering how even though his friend retained his signature cheeky smile, he looked so much older in the picture as he poses next to a girl, “He got married a couple of months ago…”

“Ah.” Jin simply says, putting the phone down slowly as he watches Jungkook sinks farther into his chair with worried eyes. There’s an uncomfortable silence residing in the room and it becomes far too apparent to the older doctor that its something he needs to break.

“They’ve gotten too far ahead.” Jin says, “But you’re still here. In this hospital.”

Jungkook nods, not really wanting to confirm anything with spoken words.

“You’ve fallen really behind in comparison.”

The thought stings Jungkook, but it sounds even worse when Jin directly states it. “We’re the exact same age, but they were able to keep in contact with each other, they’ve been up to other things, they’ve even found someone–“ Jungkook weakly laughs, “While I was just worried about becoming a doctor as soon as possible.”

“Do you regret it?” Jin questions, tossing the same notion right back at Jungkook.

“No–“ He cuts himself off, wincing, “Maybe? I…I just don’t know anymore.”

“You still have time JK.“ Jin reaches over to pat Jungkook’s back, nodding understandably, “And you’ve basically knocked it out the park with becoming a doctor. That too, at the same time as me.”

A small smile surfaces on Jungkook’s lips and Jin takes the opportunity right away, “You told me you were going to become a doctor in one year and now look at you, sitting here wearing the same coat as me!”

Jungkook falters, “But I just hope this coat isn’t the only thing I’ll ever have at the end of the day.”

“It’ll all work out, trust me. You just need to give it time.” Jin says in a comforting tone before he lets out a loud sigh, “You young people are always rushing into things too soon.”

Jungkook scoffs, getting up from his chair, “At least we didn’t take a century to become doctors.”

“Yah medical school is hard okay!” Jin points an accusing finger at him.

“I know, I went to one to become a doctor.” Jungkook beams, smiling fully for the first time in Jin’s office, “Right at the same time as you.”

Jin playfully frowns at that, pushing at Jungkook’s shoulders, “Yeah, yeah, now get out of my office you show-off. I have work to do.”

Jungkook abruptly stops in his tracks, watching Jin struggle for a minute trying to push his heavy form until he grows frustrated, “Yah JK!”

Jungkook laughs loudly, walking out of the office with a huge grin.

***

It’s cold and dreary, causing Jungkook to tug his hood closer when an icy breeze passes by. The sky is completely dark, a handful of stars scattered across the horizon and a few fluctuating lamp posts being his only source of light when he threads through the gap between two of them.

Talking to Jin actually helped him more than he had expected, not realizing how much seeing his old friend affected him until he was forced to confront the feelings and put them into words. In a way he was grateful, for he was now better able to pinpoint why he felt absolutely torn since he encountered Yugyeom, but unfortunately understanding what was wrong was only the first step in completely figuring things out.

Which is why he’s here, out in the bleary inky sky and sparkling stars, dressed in a comfortable black hoodie and jeans as he walks down the empty sidewalk. It’s a little unnerving to be wearing something other than his white doctor coat, something that Jungkook thinks has completely become apart of him at this point and to be simply walking outside, eyes not latched onto impending reports or arms not quickly fluctuating around to attend to all his patients.

It’s borderline strange, Jungkook has to be admit, but its oddly similar to what he was like before he had even taken his first step within the hospital walls. He laughs, breath coming out as mist, wondering how long it had been since he had even left those walls since his first steps.

He looks up when he hears footsteps coming from near him and instantly he sidelines to the left side, letting the two individuals glued to each other pass by without him being in their way. The shared glowing smiles and sparks of warmth emitting from them despite the chilling cold makes Jungkook wince, leaving him thoughts filled with encountering his former doctor and his girlfriend.

He recalls the situation again, but then his thoughts go even more astray when he remembers a pair of doctors that used to be at the hospital when he was initially hired as an intern. Although he does certainly miss them, there was a fine layer of shock imbedded into him when they had declared the status of their relationship and Jungkook had no clue as to how two polar opposites – two people that had always been known to argue with one another, managed to end up changing that feeling into something else entirely.

He doesn’t want to call it envy, because he’s admired these two people for so long and the last thing he could ever feel was that word. But it was like his admiration along with expectations had only spiked up, continuing to increase rapidly when he had even encountered another certain blonde and orange duo that had his hopes hitting the ceiling at that point.

He lets out a loud sigh, hands burying themselves further into his pockets when he keeps walking through the icy chill.

Yugyeom was right. Jin was right.

He was too busy pursuing something no one at his age would even dare, that he’s completely forgotten everything else.

Shaking his head, his dry eyes blink against the cold when a brightly lit store greets Jungkook’s vision and his eyes perk up.

The cold is beginning to get to him, he notices, so he makes a turn, heading into the store and pleasantly meeting relief when the warmth is already beginning to thaw out his freezing hands and face.

It’s not too bad. Jungkook thinks, looking around to see shelves of food and fridges filled. He eyes down a certain aisle, one stocked with some of his favourite snacks and he grins, knowing exactly what he needed in that moment.

Pacing around, he starts inspecting the ones he likes, tossing them carelessly into his arms before he heads over to the fridge, doe eyes eagerly searching around for small cases of his favourite milk.

In an instant he finds it, a giant bunny smile emerging on his lips when he teeter-tooters on his heels, taking it out excitedly.

Even though his entire day practically sucked, he’s glad that he can at least end it off nicely as he stares down at the cartons.

“Jungkook?”

His arm freezes in place, the breezy chill still emitting out from the fridge and submerging his torso when he hears soft footsteps closing in on him. He doesn’t turn around right away though, only slightly flinching when he feels a hand lightly tap his arm.

That’s when he slowly turns, blown up eyes immediately locking onto yours, “Jungkook, right?”

He can only seem to nod in that one moment and you smile, causing Jungkook to stagger and drop all his snacks onto the ground. It snaps him back in, the door to the fridge shutting close when he kneels down, putting his banana milk to the side and attempting to hastily pick up the spilled snacks.

Two other hands assist him and it’s when they accidentally knock into his own when he looks up, the hue on his cheeks dipping into a threatening red.

You place the snacks into his arms, not quite noticing the arising colour when you point, “Do you need a basket for those?”

Again, he just nods, letting out a breath that was caught deep in his throat when you walk away. Before he even has a moment to collect himself though, you’re soon returning back, reaching out with the basket and gesturing for him to drop his snacks into.

He places the basket against his arm, occasionally glancing up at you from the ground, “Its really been a while, hasn’t it?”

He tries to formulate some words in his mind, but there’s a very brief pang of dejection dwelling in your eyes when you say the words, something that almost reminds him of the time he had spoken to Yugyeom, “I-It has…I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

The words are spoken softly and Jungkook knows it must have worked when there’s a smile tugging on your lips, “I actually started working nearby here.” Your eyes instantly light up, “I also ran into Yugyeom just the other day.”

Jungkook lightly laughs, “I did too, but probably not in the same way you did.”

You frown at that, but then a thought immediately occurs to you, “D-Did you become one…? A doctor, I mean.”

Jungkook nods, “I did.”

“That’s nice…” You smile, although it doesn’t quite meet your eyes, Jungkook notices. “Well, I leave you to your shopping then.”

You gesture to his basket and offer him a kind smile before turning to get back to your own cart. Jungkook continues to stand there, a basket overflowing with snacks and hands now cold from grasping onto cooled milk when your back completely disappears. He blinks, attempting to process what exactly happened just moments ago and why he felt so bad seeing you here, in front of him when he should have been the opposite, filled from head to toe in pure joy instead.

It was almost like…he didn’t want to see you…

The thought alone makes Jungkook grimace, because none of that has anything to do with you. You were just being yourself around him, like how you always were back in college, tender and kind, being so close to the rest of the guys and him, wanting to be closer to him even though he barely tried to talk to you, let alone get to know you more. It was something he had regretted, but it was easily tossed away to the side of his mind when he got accepted into medical school, leaving you and the rest behind so quickly that seeing you again…like this.

It’s making him remember everything all over again.

And it’s re-opened a link he had thought had been long closed off.

So why was he still standing there, staring into space when he can hear the cashier checking your items out one by one?

What was he even waiting for anymore?

A large hand slams against the glass door and you jolt back with wide, confused eyes, shifting between the sight of the shining door and Jungkook standing quite awkwardly in front of you. At the view of your terrified expression, he quickly clears his throat, knowing the last thing he wanted to accomplish was to scare you off somehow.

And that too, again.

“H-Hey…” He says, voice raising up into an unflattering tone when he’s already cursing at himself on the inside.

Real smooth there Jungkook, realll smooth.

“Uh…Hi?” You chuckle, now noticing the pink dust beginning to creep on his cheeks when he clears his throat again.

“Y-You-…” Calm down Jungkook, he warns to himself, “Y-You said you worked nearby.”

You nod, expectant eyes latching onto him and for a moment, he considers if perhaps he wasn’t the only one that actually wanted to stay in contact, “I-I was just thinking, that if y-you’d like, we could meet up some time, you know just like friends hanging out, o-or like….”

He can’t manage to even finish off that sentence, cheeks now completely red when he just bites his lip and stares down at the ground like it’s the most interesting thing he’s ever seen. Before he can even mumble out a string of apologies, there’s a piece of paper being flashed between the ground and his eyes, causing his head to snap up immediately.

A warm smile lines your lips and when you gesture for him to take the paper, he automatically refreshes and grasps it, realizing there was a collection of numbers scribbled down on it.

“I have to get going but…” Your eyes trace over the paper and he instinctively blushes, but you send him another smile before turning to leave.

When the door comes to a close, Jungkook remains standing there. He stares down at the piece of paper, looking at it like he had just discovered a piece of gold.

After one long heavy silence, he suddenly sparks up, a giant grin on his features as his eyes crinkle when he fists the paper in his hands.

He’s ecstatic – so incredibly happy and bursting with joy when he rushes out of the store, not even realizing that he needs to go back in to pay for his things when the cashier shoots him a dirty glare, but all he can see in that single moment is something he‘s managed to do with his own effort, actually trying for once.

He can’t wait to tell Yugyeom that he can talk to girls properly.

***

He’s legitimately freaking out.

It’s as if someone took a bucket of water and splashed it all over his fiery determination, dousing it within seconds when he comes to realize what exactly you had told him.

A date.

You had asked him – Jeon Jungkook – out on a date.

Not to hang out as friends, not to catch up on the old reminiscent days of college, but a date.

The thing two people do if they’re interested in each other romantically.

The very thing Jungkook has avoided being asked of constantly, whether it was disappearing away from impending eyes within the hospitals walls or ducking away from any advances towards him.

He’s freaking out.

And he has no clue on how he was supposed to handle something of this sort.

But he does know someone who can.

The door rattles when his fist comes into contact with it, nervous feet walking back and forth before the apartment as he tries to steady down his breathing. When there’s no response from the other side of the door, he knocks again, this time with more force as the door swings wide open, leaving Jungkook speechless as he stares at the man before him.

“Jungkook?”

“Dr.–“

He pauses, wondering if he had gotten the correct address.

“Dr. Park?”

The use of his professional name causes the doctor’s eyes to widen, hurriedly crossing his arms over the short white bathrobe he adorns. It barely covers his chest and legs, a slimy green mixture smeared all over his face.

“What? I just showered and my skin has been super dehydrated lately, okay?” Jimin exasperatedly sighs, “But what are you doing here Jungkook?”

“I needed to talk to you but you didn’t come into work today so I thought you would be home and I–“ Jimin opens the door fully, pushing Jungkook inside.

“My mask is supposed to come off in two minutes and you’re out here babbling!” Jimin protests, closing the door with a huff. “Chaeyoung, we have company!”

A familiar head pops out when Jungkook enters the living room, his eyes widening when he sees a movie on the tv paused as the intern perks up seeing him, “Jungkook! What brings you over?”

“Well I–“

“You two chat, I have one-minute left and I am definitely not spending date night with dry skin!” Jimin quickly rambles, rushing into the bathroom as Chaeyoung laughs.

She moves to the side of the couch and pats down on it, “Have a seat Jungkook.”

He nods, shifting to sit down next to her, but his shoulders are hiked up as he interlaces his hands, gaze staring at the paused tv. In comparison, Chaeyoung is spread out on the couch, lazily leaning against the edge.

“Is everything okay?”

Snapping out of his daze, he turns to see her staring at him with concerned eyes.

“Well…I actually have a date.”

Her eyes immediately beam, “A date?”

He timidly nods, not realizing there was a speck of pink spreading across his skin. Chaeyoung notices right away, smiling until a loud voice breaks through the comfortable atmosphere, a clean Park Jimin still dressed in a bathrobe emerging.

“My skin looks beautiful and my intern has a date?! What an amazing day it is today~” He immediately pounces onto Jungkook with a huge grin.

“Wait, wait!” Jungkook hurriedly protests, trying to wrench the man off of him, “That’s why I came over today! I need help!”

Jimin freezes, looking at Jungkook as if he had just sprouted some holy words to him, “You…you need my help?”

Jungkook sighs, the doctor now clinging onto him like a child with wide, cooing eyes but Chaeyoung leans over, placing a hand on Jimin’s shoulder, “I think this is his first date Jimin.”

Jimin instantly stops with a frown, “First date?” When Jungkook exhales deeply again, Jimin latches off of him completely, eyes now filling up with concern, “Jungkookie?”

Jungkook goes silent for a moment and Chaeyoung shifts her eyes over to Jimin, who takes a couple of steps back at seeing his precious intern suddenly look so distraught.

He eventually speaks up, “I…I need help, I’ve never gone on a date before and she’s someone I do like, but I–“ Jungkook stops and Chaeyoung pats his shoulder, giving him time to speak to which he greatly appreciates, “This isn’t something I find the answer in books, or get experience through working. This is so real and I-I just don’t know how to prepare…”

Jungkook buries his head within his hands and its silent again, causing Jimin to gesture something to Chaeyoung, who quietly leaves as he steps up.

“Jungkook.” He looks up and the doctor smiles at him, “We’re going to figure this out, okay? You’ve come to the right person and I am here to educate you…my precious intern.”

Jungkook actually smiles at that and Jimin instantly beams, Chaeyoung returning back with a giant whiteboard and marker in hand.

“Alright then!” Jimin grabs the marker, perching up one bare leg onto the couch, “What do you know about dates?”

“Uh…” Jungkook looks like he’s just been asked a question on an exam he didn’t study for, “They’re romantic and stuff? Like you spend time together and do cute things?” He quickly glances at Chaeyoung who gives him an encouraging nod and a thumbs up, to which Jimin grins.

“Correct!” Jimin scribbles it down onto the board, “See Jungkook! You do know about dates!”

“Not enough though.” Jungkook whines but Jimin raises a hand.

“Fear not! We have you covered!” He gestures to Chaeyoung again who leaves onto to rush in with an assortment of suits. Jungkook helplessly watches as Jimin dashes away too, returning with a bunch of his own collection of hair supplies and accessories.

“What’s all this for?”

Jimin chuckles when he notices Jungkook’s eyes widening, colour draining completely from his skin at the new material. There’s a mysterious glint residing deep within the doctor’s eyes, a look that Jungkook truthfully is terrified of. 

Jimin wraps an arm around him, “Oh Jungkookie, there is so much you have yet to learn~”

***

The room is brightly lit, a hue of warm orange splashed across the walls and a layer of vibrant pink flowers streamed along the front counter, right next to a bowl filled with round cherry candies. From a distance, there’s a violin playing, elegant music surrounding the folks that chatter behind the walls as greetings and pleasantries are exchanged.

One of the cherry candies is plucked from the bowl, a gold shine wrapped around the delicacy before its entirely ripped away and tossed carelessly to the side. The wrapper barely meets the trash can when the candy is furiously being spit out, Jungkook hurriedly wiping his sleeve when he’s left with a bitter sour taste in his mouth.

He immediately adjusts his sleeve, not wanting any sticky cherry residue clinging onto the expensive suit that he’s somehow managed to fit in. With a sigh, he rests his hand against his cheek as he leans against the counter, trying his best not to ruin his gelled hair that took hours to put together.

“Hold still!” Jimin hisses, hands covered with a musky gel that had Jungkook squirming away.

“It smells bad!” The younger man protests, but Jimin frowns when there’s barely any ounce of gel in Jungkook’s hair despite the two of them being at it for two hours.

“Jungkookie, you said you would trust me! Who is the mentor here?!”

Jungkook slumps down into the chair, pouting at Jimin, “You are…”

“Exactly!” Jimin snaps his fingers, causing some of the gel to flick onto Jungkook’s cheek as he winces, “Oh! Sorry!”

Jimin continues to coat his hair with the gel until its covered majority of Jungkook’s hair and with one rough push, his hair is slicked back to reveal his forehead. “There! Have a look for yourself Jungkook!”

He gets up and walks over to the bathroom mirror as Jimin washes his hands. To his own astonishment and disbelief, the gel serves to not only keep his hair styled, but drastically ages him into a better, more mature image.

“Wow…” He can only stand there and gape at his reflection as Jimin grins, taking the suit Chaeyoung brings him from her hands and turning to face his young intern.

“Now, try this on!”

Jungkook warily takes the suit away from Jimin’s hands, eyeing it oddly.

“Aren’t you shorter than me though?”

Jimin scoffs, “I’m not that short! Besides I usually buy suits with longer pants because its easier to tailor them afterwards!”

“Suree.” Jungkook teases, causing Jimin to pout as he chuckles, “Alright I’m putting it on!”

The suit – just as Jimin said – miraculously fits Jungkook better than he had expected. It doesn’t hang off his form nor does it render him the ability to not breathe, but fits well enough that Jimin dare say it looks better on Jungkook then it does on himself.

After a couple moments of turning and rotating, Jungkook seems satisfied but can’t help the one thought that occurs to him.

“Isn’t this a little fancy?”

Jimin smirks, “Not for where you’re going tonight.” He flips out a brochure, one that has Jungkook widening his eyes.

“A restaurant? But why?”

“It’ll be romantic! Candle lights, music, dinner!” Jimin claps his hands together, “You’ll both love it!”

“I don’t know…” Jungkook whispers, still staring at the brochure. “I don’t really go to restaurants, I don’t know how to speak or what to do, I-I…” Jimin holds up a hand, reassuring the young intern right away.

“That’s why we’re here!” Chaeyoung brings out the giant whiteboard again and Jimin smirks.

“By the time you get there, you’ll be ace gentlemen quality~”

Jungkook sighs again, eyes latching onto the image he reflects against the glass doors in the front. Although it was truly a hassle getting ready this time around, Jungkook can find it in himself to understand that Jimin was right – his gelled hair, paired with the sleek black suit and a set of silver hoops in his ears (which Jimin thankfully gave him) actually does to a lot of service to him, his features not appearing to be so boyish anymore.

He wonders if this is how he should dress for work instead.

The thought is shaken away, because today wasn’t so much about how he looked or where he was as much as it was about the two of you. Jungkook begins to contemplate if he should give you a call, but before he even has a chance to pull his cellphone out, he spots someone in a bright blue dress dashing into the restaurant.

You don’t even seem to recognize him when you get into the restaurant, too occupied with holding onto your knees as you gasp for air. When you finally do look up, Jungkook can see it in your eyes far too quickly and he silently thanks Jimin for all his troubles. 

“Woah.” You blink, narrowing your eyes until you’re squinting, “J-Jungkook?”

With a timid smile, he nods, reaching out for you to hold his hand as he gestures into the hall. “Shall we?”

Your cheeks brighten up when you take his hand and Jungkook doesn’t know if the colour appearing on you is because of the fact that you had been running just so you can make it on time, or perhaps because…of him.

Both thoughts either way bring a small quip to his smile, guiding you inside when he can feel small butterflies dancing around in the pit of his stomach.

Your mouth drops wide open when you enter the hall, string of decorative pink and purple flowers in between white lights hanging from the ceiling. You don’t realize you’ve reached your table until Jungkook lets go of you, causing you immediately to be flustered when you been gaping at the place with wide eyes.

Jungkook seems to be unaffected by this however, pulling your chair out with a sweet smile, “Thank you.”

You sit down as he nods, settling down into the seat in front of you. Picking up the menu’s, your eyes begin to scan through all the dishes when Jungkook watches you from the corner of his, a relieved smile on his lips when everything seems to be falling into place and dare he even say, Jimin’s help actually did do more wonders then he would have imagined.

Part of it has to do with you as well too, Jungkook notes. He was extremely reluctant on asking to even come to a place like this, wondering to himself continuously if he was crossing the line too much, or even worse, practically jumping over that line in a rush. After listening to Jimin plead with him over and over again, he finally gave in, asking you to come to the specific restaurant and to dress formally for the occasion.

You don’t seem to have barely missed a beat just like him, adorned in a sleeveless soft blue dress that frills out at your knees, paired with your hair in an updo, light curls dropping down to the side of your cheeks. In a way, it makes Jungkook smile, being seated next to each other in such a luxurious place and dressed so lavishly, yet you still look so faintly similar to how you did in college.

“You look very nice.” Jungkook blurts it out without even realizing and his eyes immediately widen – but then you give him a kind smile in return and he recalls Jimin telling him that complimenting what you were wearing was a must for an date.

You tuck a stand of hair away, his eyes following along with the gesture, “Thanks, so do you.”

He sends you a similar smile, the atmosphere morphing into a warm and comfortable one. Truthfully, Jungkook is completely shocked at the moment. He had conjured up much more atrocious scenario’s in his mind prior to the date, things that could have gone wrong, things that could have messed things up for the far worse. It caused him to constantly pester Jimin and Chaeyoung with worries, questioning everything they did and everything he should do on the day of.

It was extremely exhaustive, but sitting with you here, seeing how you look at him, it makes him feel as if things will be alright, like there wasn’t anything he should be worried about.

You frown for a moment, enlarging your eyes as you concentrate on the menu and the act makes Jungkook smile amusedly, noticing that your expression come off as rather cute when you’re serious.

“Everything alright?”

Looking up, you nod, “I think so? Just having trouble with some of the food names.”

He slides his eyes back to the menu, suddenly realizing he had been so preoccupied with his thoughts that he hadn’t taken a proper moment to look at it. “Let me see if I can help.”

As Jungkook begins to point out things Jimin had explained to him on the menu, you tentatively listen along and follow his direction. Both of you are greatly busy with the process though, failing to realize the other people present at the restaurant, namely one table that seems to be a tad bit crowded and louder in comparison.

“Look, look he’s talking to her!”

There’s a loud wail suddenly, sobbing sounds coming from the table when a collective reign of voices interject immediately. One of the waiters raises a brow at the commotion, simply thinking that the guests were getting agitated from not being served.

“Are you ready to order?” He questions, notepad in hand.

“Of course, can I have one of everything on the menu?” A man with parted pink hair speaks, eyes attentively on the waiter who seems to only blink on the request. The man picks up the menu again, pointing to it, “The price doesn’t matter, even better if it can come with a bottle of win-“

A hand knocks the menu out of his hands, long curly blonde hair tied back into a ponytail as he bursts out dramatically laughing, “You’re so funny!! HAHAHAHA~”

The blue-haired girl sitting next to him smiles to the waiter, “We’ll just take water for now.”

He nods, eyebrow still raising at the particular table, but shrugging off as he walks. The blonde man instantly leans over, glaring at the pink haired individual with a hiss.

“Are you trying to make me go broke?!” 

“What?? You said you were paying tonight!”

“Yeah so order something that’s not going to make my wallet cry!”

The pink haired man frowns, staring at the menu with a sigh, “You’re no fun Park.”

“He really isn’t.”

Before Jimin can even protest, a group of three people sits down next to them, all three of them having the same long black hair. Jimin tries to stifle back a laugh when they sit down, but it comes bursting out after he restrains himself for too long.

“You can keep laughing, at least I don’t look like someone dunked a bowl of ramen on my head.” Yoongi mumbles, eyes latching onto two very specific people as he turns to Chaeyoung, “Everything going alright?”

She nods, “They seem to be comfortable with each other.”

“Good.” Yoongi sighs, smiling gratefully when Hoseok hands him a napkin. “Out of all of Jimin’s bright ideas, I’d have to say this is possibly the worst one.”

 “It’s brilliant!” Jimin exclaims, protesting right away, “And he’s our baby! We have to protect him!”

“He’s an adult.” Yoongi retorts, causing Jimin to pout but Chaeyoung leans forward.

“I know it seems a little invasive but Jimin’s just been worried, that’s all.” Jimin smiles at her yet Namjoon sighs.

“I don’t know, I’m with Yoongi on this one.” Namjoon gestures over to you two, “They seem to be doing fine without us as well.”

“Then we can all just hang out today! Plus I’m paying~” Jimin giggles, although the words bring a sparkle to Jin’s eyes that he really doesn’t want to see, “But no making me broke!”

Jin mumbles something underneath his breath that sounds like “invites us all over here but doesn’t even give us the full treatment” but Jimin lets it slide, eyes constantly darting over to you and Jungkook.

You two on the other hand, have already ordered and talk as you wait, seemingly answering a list of questions Jungkook had been given prior to meeting you.

“Did you write all of this down or something?” You lightly laugh, not expecting him to compliment you so many times nor to be so curious about your job, which truthfully you find to be incredibly boring. “I just do taxes and bookkeeping, it’s really not that great.”

From the opposite side, Jungkook seems to be flustered, losing bits of his confidence when he lowers his long-sleeved wrist underneath the table, “I’m sure it’s great and that you work hard! Did I mention your hair looks great tonight?”

“Yes, many times.” You chuckle, not quite understanding what was going on but shrugging it off as simple nervousness. After all you felt the same way, being in front of him like this, after so many years had soared away at the speed of light.

You wonder if Jungkook sees the fall in your expression, because his eyes are instantly tracing all over your features before you speak, “You bumped into Yugyeom, right? At your hospital?”

Jungkook nods, “He had fainted from a concussion.”

“Oh.”

He shakes his head, “It wasn’t too serious, but I don’t think Bambam’s going to survive to tell the tale.”

Your eyes light up, “You met Bambam?”

“Ah no– Yugyeom told me about him and the others.”

“I see…” You grow silent and Jungkook shifts in his seat, his hands starting to become clammy by the minute.

He doesn’t understand; he was prepared, listening to every word that Jimin’s slipped out prior to meeting you and so far everything that doctor had told him has seemed to work, until now, especially when he notices your gaze fixated on the table.

“I-I heard Mingyu got married.” He quickly blurts out, watching your eyes sparkle for a split second, “And that Jaehyun’s moved recently for work.”

You smile, although it doesn’t quite meet your eyes, “The last time I saw Jaehyun, he stopped by my apartment to stay goodbye. I was also at Mingyu’s wedding.”

“You went?”

“Of course.” Your smile falters, “He got married to my sister.”

“O-Oh.” Now Jungkook turns quiet, mind suddenly wracking around for the memory of you telling him you had a sister. “I…I didn’t know.”

“We sent you an invitation.” Your gaze is not even on him anymore, staring at your fidgeting hands instead, “I wanted to introduce her to everyone…including you.”

Jungkook is at a loss of words, staring at you hopelessly with wide eyes. In the spur of the moment, he tries to fathom up an answer, not even taking a single glance at his sleeve when he does so, “Y/N I-“

“Your meal is here~” A voice immediately injects him and before he knows it, plates and plates of food are soon flourishing onto the table. Jungkook raises an eyebrow, being fully aware that the two of you did not order this much food, but when he turns to the waiter with questions tumbling on his lips, he go silent completely.

The waiter has long curly blonde hair, pulled back into a ponytail as he smirks at Jungkook. He tugs himself closer to Jungkook, wrapping an arm around the younger individual.

“My oh my! What a dashing young man!” Jimin stares at your surprised eyes and loudly cries out, “They don’t make such men anymore, do they?!”

He begins to sob onto Jungkook’s shirt, leaving him in an uncomfortable situation when the man’s weight is beginning to crease his suit, as well as spur more confusion in your eyes. Luckily for Jungkook though, a set of four arms are plucking the pouty doctor off of him, giving the former a dirty glare before one of them taps his arm.

“I hope you are alright Sir.” Jungkook nods and Namjoon smiles at him, long black hair swishing when he turns to you. “I hope you can excuse my colleague’s outburst, he seems to be having a hard time at work today.”

You politely smile, “No, no, it’s okay. I hope he’s alright though.”

“He’ll be fine. If he isn’t, I’ll make sure he’ll pay for all the damages he’s causing by working overtime for two people’s shifts instead of one.” The second man eyes Jungkook with a smug grin, before Namjoon turns and seeks his arm.

“We’ll be leaving now, please enjoy the rest of your night.” You nod and when you look away, Namjoon and Yoongi shoot him a thumbs up, hurriedly walking away with a protesting Jimin.

Jungkook smiles, but then his thoughts re-focus and he realizes that prior to the intrusion, you had been discussing something that had his stomach churning, his heart suddenly feeling heavy. Though the thoughts die out once again when he notices you fully concentrating on the food, barely meeting his gaze with only occasional polite glances.

He loses all of his appetite suddenly, plucking at the food with his fork and sighing when the clock’s handles seem to have silenced down. In comparison to the commotion just occurring moments ago, its dead silent and he doesn’t know how much of it he can take.

You raise your head, a cluster of coughs leaving you as Jungkook’s eyes widen.

“Are you okay?”

You nod, circling around your throat for a moment, “This is really spicy.”

“Let me get you some water.” He instantly stands up, walking over to one of the waiters when you’re just about to tell him it was okay. Your hand drops, deeply exhaling as you shrink back into your seat.

From a distance away, there’s a pair of giant binoculars glued to your every move, a voice already beginning to whine, “She doesn’t like the food!” He passes them to the blue-haired girl sitting next to him, “He needs help, I’m going to go back and–“

An arm keeps him firmly in place, “You are going to sit here and do nothing. If there’s a problem, then Jungkook can take of it.”

“That’s so unfair though!!”

“Listen to Yoongi, Jimin. You’ve caused enough trouble already.” The man with the pink hair remarks, cheek stuffed with an abundance of food he’s thankfully not paying for.

Namjoon hums, crossing his arms as he sits down, “I agree, for now let’s just trust that Jungkook can handle this one on his own.”

“Um guys….” A voice peeks out from the heated conversation, all heads turning towards her, “We might have another situation here.”

“What is it?” Hoseok hurriedly asks, putting on Jimin’s giant binoculars, “Oh no…”

“What?” Jimin’s head whips back and forth, “What is it? What is it?”

 “Jungkook just tripped and split a jug of water on her.”

A unison of multiple voices break out, “WHAT?!?”

“This is bad.” Jin repeats, forgetting the plate of food in front of him entirely, “This is really really bad.”

Jimin slips away before anyone even notices, dashing over to the pair swiftly. He notices a piece of cloth tucked away on your lap as your eyes dart around frantically, but to his own dismay, his young intern is no where to be found.

“The kind gentleman that was here, where is he now?” Jimin questions, quickly acting like a waiter. When you point to the men’s room, Jimin frowns, but he simply nods and sprints over, leg kicking the door open as he barges in.

“JUNGKOOK!” He doesn’t even need to look around much when his eyes land on the man’s features, currently staring down at the sink. Jimin wonders why he was even there, having split all that water on you and now making you wait by doing nothing in the bathroom.

“Jungkook, what–“ The words are immediately swallowed away when Jimin notices Jungkook’s tightened grip on the counter. He brings a hand to the man’s tense back, patting down on it, “What happened Jungkookie?”

Jimin’s voice is quiet and soft, drastically different to what he sounded like just moments ago, but Jungkook shakes his head, appearing as if he was ready to hurl at any second. “I-I can’t do this…”

“Jungkook she’s still out there waiting for you, it’s okay.”

He shakes his head harshly, “Nothing’s okay anymore and to top it all off, I had to spill water on her!”

“Go back Jungkook.” Jimin urges, Jungkook turning to him like he was merely sprouting out nonsense at this point, “I don’t know what exactly happened, but the intern I so know doesn’t give up no matter what the challenge. He’s a fighter and I’ll even admit he looks a lot better in my own suit that I ever did.”

Jungkook quips a small smile at that and Jimin grins, “Now get out there, will you?”

He takes a deep exhale and Jimin reaches out to adjust his intern’s tousled collar.

“Alright.” He takes a step back and Jimin nods satisfied.

But when Jungkook eventually does come out, he immediately turns to Jimin with frightened eyes.

“She’s gone.”

“What?!” Jimin scans around, seeing indeed you were – the table the two of you once occupied left empty and now being vacated for new customers.

Jungkook groans, fisting his hair that he doesn’t care about ruining anymore, “I’ve ruined everything!” He sinks down onto his knees, burying his head into his hands, “Tonight was supposed to be perfect, but I’ve ruined it!”

Jimin is at a loss of words, looking down at his intern with sympathetic eyes when he doesn’t know what to say anymore. He was incredibly hopeful – Jungkook appeared dashing within his suit and the evening had been going so well whenever he checked in.

He had enough faith about you too, having a good feeling of you staying despite the chaotic waterfall that had ensured, but it seems like he was unfortunately wrong this time.

Not left with many options when he sees his intern so distraught, he signals the crowd of concerned and confused eyes latching onto him to call a cab. Placing a hand on Jungkook’s shoulder, they leave the restaurant immediately and Jimin sighs when he wishes that things could have gotten better than this.

***

The day is filled with taxing amounts of papers that need to be filed, Jungkook marking each one with patient details as he swipes his signature on other documents. Aside from the lengthy procedure he does, the doctor hasn’t stepped out of his office for a split second through the day – something the three doctors huddled quietly outside notice.

“I’ve never seen him like this.” Jimin whispers and Jin hums, sharing the same look as him.

“Should I ask him to help me with my wards? It’ll get him out of there for a while.”

Chaeyoung shakes her head at the thought, “I don’t think what he needs right now is more work.”

“Then what does he need?” Jimin says, racking a hand through his hair roughly as he darts his eyes between the two.

“Still glued to your old intern, Dr. Park?”

Jimin pauses, a new voice suddenly entering the confines of the hospital, paired with a familiar set of footsteps he swears he hasn’t heard in an eternity. The last thing he expects when he turns, is to see you standing next to Yoongi dressed in a white coat and holding a clipboard, smirking with crossed arms.

It’s only when Yoongi chuckles at his surprised expression that everything hits like a slap, and suddenly there’s three doctors flinging themselves onto you.

“Y/N!!”

The clipboard is completely knocked out of your hands by the tsunami of people, but simply retort with a light laugh.

“You guys missed me that much?”

No one responds, clinging onto you as you dart a look to Yoongi, who just smiles amusedly at your expression.

“They really did miss you,” He pats your shoulder, voice lowering, “and so did I. Welcome back Dr. L/N.”

Once everyone separates, you hand Chaeyoung a tissue when tears begin to stream down her eyes and she gratefully accepts. Jin meanwhile is in awe, having not encountered his former doctor counterpart in far too long.

You smile fondly, “So it’s the new Dr. Kim now?”

Jin, despite the sheer amount of confidence he usually radiates, nods shyly, “Nothing like the past Dr. Kim though.”

You snort at that and turn to the last doctor, who’s looking at you with such puppy like eyes that has you quirking an eyebrow. With a sigh, you open up your arms again and he’s tackling you into another hug once more.

“What took you so long?!” Jimin wails and Yoongi mumbles for him to be quiet for nearby patients.

“I was on vacation with my fiancée, it wasn’t going to just take me a day.” You mumble, but the words cause everyone’s attention to spike up.

“Fiancée?!”

“Is it true Dr. L/N?” Chaeyoung hurriedly questions, eyes bright with excitement, “You and Dr. Kim…?”

You flash her the diamond ring sitting on your third finger and she immediately squeals, clapping her hands. Jimin’s interest is peaked as well when he lets you go and examines the jewelry sitting delicately on your hand.

“Does that mean you and Taehyung made it to fourth bas-“

You glare at him, “Park Jimin, I swear if you even finish that sentence.”

Jimin pouts and you heavily sigh, eyes darting around, “Where’s Jungkook?”

Everyone goes immediately silent, causing you to raise an eyebrow.

“W-Well you see…” Chaeyoung begins, recognizing the guilty expression Jimin holds right away, “Things haven’t going so great for him lately a-and…”

You raise your hand instantly for her to stop, “I know, I came early because someone informed me about what was going on.”

Jimin’s eyes widen and that’s when Namjoon steps forward, softly smiling.

“Everything is a lot more balanced when you have extra hands helping out.” He says and you share a look with him, causing Jimin to look back and forth abruptly.

“But about J-Jungkook, Y/N I-“

“Don’t worry about it,” You smile knowingly, “I’ve already sent someone over to check on him.”

***

There’s a small knock against the door of Jungkook’s office and he exhales, letting his pen roll onto his papers when he glances around.

It looks bad – mugs of banana milk scattered all over the place, something Jungkook doesn’t even drink at work if he doesn’t really need it. There are papers lying around astray and there’s barely any light seeping in, all his windows firmly shut.

He supposes it could be worse and then glances back at the door, thinking that perhaps his fellow doctors were getting concerned about him and that he should reassure them.

“Come in.” He says with a heavy sigh, eyes blinking against the strain of using such poor lighting conditions.

However his eyes blow up completely when the door quietly closes, a familiar man wearing a pair of glasses and a doctor’s coat, taking long strides into the room before he sits down on the chair in the corner, facing Jungkook. He grins, eyes taking in the man’s features after not seeing him when he acquired his new title.

“Nice to see you could make some time for me, Dr. Jeon.”

“D-Dr. Kim?” Jungkook immediately stutters, papers long forgotten when he can’t believe the sight before him, “How…?”

“Namjoon.” Taehyung states, leaning back in his chair as he crosses his legs, “Y/N and I were called back when he felt things were getting too hectic around here. Luckily the two of us were planning on coming back soon anyways.”

“Oh…I see…”

“Enough about me though.” Taehyung cuts to the chase right away, “What’s been going on with you lately?”

Jungkook’s skin instantly flushes, not realizing that the doctor had to come to his office with a whole other intent instead, “I-It’s just personal stuff, I saw one of my old college friends which lead to me running into another college friend and then I was asked out on a date…”

Jungkook doesn’t realize he’s rambling until Taehyung hums, a finger pressed to his lips as he attentively listens. It only occurs to Jungkook at the point too, that so much had happened within the time the two doctors had been gone and he really doesn’t want to rewind so far back when he knows what the accumulation of events had lead up to.

“So this girl…” Taehyung starts off, “Why do you suddenly want to reconnect with her?”

“Because I’ve been out of touch from a lot things since college…” Jungkook sighs, “Since I became this…”

“It isn’t easy. I hope you know that.”

“I do but…before I didn’t want to do anything, I just wanted to focus on becoming a doctor, but now,” Jungkook shakes his head.

“It’s all I have left…”

“You pushed yourself too hard to get here and now you regret doing it.”

Jungkook hums, “And this girl? Is there something you regret with her too?”

“A-Ah yeah…” Jungkook becomes flustered again, scratching his neck, “I regret not getting to know her more, even when I knew she wanted to get to know me.”

He sighs, like he was recalling a handful of bad memories, “I just don’t know if she’s willing to give me another chance after everything…”

“Explain it all to her.” Taehyung says, causing Jungkook to look up in surprise, “If there’s something that’s gone wrong or you regret something you’ve done in the past, then the best way to just explain to the person what happened.”

“B-But I can’t, after what happened at the d-date, I-“

“Jungkook.” Taehyung stops him, “Didn’t you just explain to me what you think went wrong? So why is it so hard to explain the same thing to her, who I can assume would really appreciate hearing the answer more compared to someone like me.”

Jungkook frowns at the words, but it seems to make sense of the catastrophic scramble of thoughts he was having. When he makes eye contact, Taehyung smiles at him, saying something Jungkook would had never expected the stern Dr. Kim to ever say to anyone.

“The past is a hard indicator to get over, but it’s something you need to confront before you can even think of a brighter future.”

Jungkook nods, appreciating that the doctor was able to help make sense of what was ensuring inside his head so calmly, something Jungkook had barely managed to do in the past at all.

“Thank you, Dr. Kim.”

Taehyung approvingly nods, straightening up his glasses as he gets up from the chair, “Anytime.”

But the simple action causes Jungkook’s brow to furrow, a particular sparkle flashing by when the doctor touches his frame.

“Is that a ring on your finger?” He blurts it out and widens his eyes, wondering if that came off as being rude or invasive, but suddenly the doctor’s gaze is glued to the ground, a tint of red beginning to emerge on his skin.

Jungkook smiles, wondering to himself if he’d ever thought he would see the day he’d catch the Dr. Kim flustered by the mere mention of a ring.

***

Just explain everything to her, just like you did with Dr. Kim.

Jungkook quickly locks up his office door, play backing the words in his mind so they don’t escape him in the moment. As he leaves, he notices the faint pitter patter of rain outside and he sighs when he doesn’t have anything but his doctor’s coat to cover himself.

The white cloth covers his head when he slips out of the hospital, rain beginning to fall down at the speed of bullets against the ground. He frowns when his coat is instantly drenched, rain making its way down to his hair before he even knows.

Bright yellow clouds his vision immediately, away from the hazardous rain now pouring down. He whips his head around in confusion, only to see you standing underneath the umbrella with him.

“Hi.” You say softly, but Jungkook can even hear even against the splintering rain. He notices you’re only wearing a thin rose cardigan, the top of it thoroughly soaked.

Following his line of sight, you quickly mumble, “I-I didn’t know when you finished work…”

As if on instinct, Jungkook reaches out and faintly touches your cheek with the back of his hand, an alarming icy temperature greeting him back. He drops his hand right away when he notices the surprise on your expression, realizing that the innate doctor reflexes kicked in too soon for him.

“S-Sorry…”

“No, no, it’s fine.” You shake your head, staring at the ground as you bite down on your lip. It’s still pouring around you at a rapid speed, but it’s the only thing being acknowledged when the two of you stay quiet.

Before you know it, the umbrella loosens from your grip, being raised up higher, “Do you want to come inside? It’s getting even colder out here.”

“Oh I–….“ You trail off immediately, words dying down.

But Jungkook wasn’t going to let you stay quiet, “What is it?”

“I was j-just thinking…we could go somewhere else? Away from the hospital?”

Jungkook’s eyes widen, noticing that you hadn’t entered not only because you didn’t want to intrude, but you felt like it wasn’t even your place to do so.

“Of course.” He starts walking, hand against your back and words gentle, “Away from the hospital.”

You end up walking for quite a while and after Jungkook constantly insisting, you eventually give in and let him drape his now semi-dry coat over your shoulders. It’s incredibly warm in comparison to your skin and you’re grateful after he gives it to you, knowing that the coat held much more significance to him than it does to you.

When Jungkook finds a nearby shop to take refugee under, you quickly follow after him. Although the shop itself is closed due to the late hours, there’s heat coming out from nearby vents that you definitely indulge in.

“At the restaurant–“ Jungkook stops, pausing to correct himself, “On our date, why…why did you leave?”

He wanted to ask you directly but there’s a slip of sadness by him that he couldn’t hold back and he knows you can hear it when you look at him startled.

“I left to dry myself off.” You quickly say, “But then you didn’t come back for so long and the waiters asked me if they could clear the table so I let them. I–…”

A low sigh escapes out from you.

“I-I actually wasn’t expecting you to come back.”

You stare down at the ground as all Jungkook can do is just stare at you, wondering how it had gotten so bad to the point that you didn’t even think he would come back.

Just explain it to her.

“I shouldn’t have left like that.” He turns to you fully, staring at you with the same serious eyes he takes with his work. “And I’m not just talking about the date.”

You look up and blink, eyes widening but Jungkook continues, “I’d like to say that I didn’t know, but I did and I was just…scared.”

“Of what?” You instinctively ask and for a moment, everything disappears. You’re not in the middle of nowhere outside as it pours down like crazy, talking to a doctor after his shift at the hospital. Instead, you’re back in the large expanse of a field, a younger Jungkook staring out at one of the college buildings as you fidget around with the palms of your hands.

Jungkook sighs and you wonder if he’s thought about this before coming here with you today. It leaves you with a spark of hope, something that blossoms in you after far too long.

“I knew what my job was going to be like and what I had ended up choosing wasn’t going to leave me with any time to see you guys again. In a way, I knew I had to leave all of you…”

Jungkook leans forward, eyes more sincere than ever, “So I packed my bags and headed off to Seoul…without saying goodbye…”

Despite being covered by the shop, drops of water fall on ground in the space between the two of you. “I should have been there, at Mingyu’s wedding, when Jaehyun was leaving, when–“

He’s nearly breathless at this point, chest heaving, “When you said you liked me.”

Your breath hitches at the mere mention and for a moment you could have sworn that your heart rate dropped. Suddenly you’re being enveloped by two warm arms and the gesture only causes more water to spill out from your eyes.

 “Don’t cry…”

 “You can’t expect me to not cry after you say all that.” You chuckle, sniffling a bit as you swipe away some of the tears with your fingertips, “I just wasn’t expecting you to be so upfront with me.”

Jungkook smiles, relieved on the inside that he was able to tell you exactly what he wanted to, “Well you could say a wise man told me that if you’ve felt like you’ve done something wrong and regret it, then it’s best to just be upfront with the person and let them know too.”

You separate from him, “Sounds like a really wise man.”

“He is.”

You share a smile and from a distance away, the rain has finally slowly down, no longer hitting the ground viciously but instead, calmly pooling down. The bright yellow umbrella is held over your head as you walk away from the shop, but it isn’t the only thing that keeps you next to each other’s side.

His fingers are looped within your own the entire way.

***

There are faint sounds in the background, orders being taken swiftly to decrease the growing line that heads outside of the building. A delectable frozen treat sits in front of you, paired off with drizzling chocolate and sprinkles that only has your mouth watering. When you take your spoon and have a mouthful, you can only smile at how it instantly melts and isn’t too sweet or overbearing, but just the right taste.

However, as you take small bites of your treat, the man sitting across from you seems to be having his own struggles.

“Do you need some help with that?”

“Huh?” Jungkook blinks, dressed in a black shirt that’s now splattered with specks of white as he leans over the table, attempting to saw the giant sundae he ordered in half with the back of a spoon.

You laugh, small giggles continuing erupting from you as you walk over with your own spoon, “Here.”

With one huff, both of you plunge your spoons in and there’s a burst of ice cream everywhere, now coating your similar coloured shirt in the process as well.

“Why is this so hard?” Jungkook asks, repeating stabbing the ice cream that refuses to be broken down with barely a splash of liquid reappearing. He slumps down into the booth, crossing his arms as he pouts.

You smile when he looks so similar to a child, but then you slide over the half-eaten ice cream you were just having seconds ago. “Take some of mine.”

His eyes immediately widen and you realize you’ve just implied for the two of you to share ice cream together, so you quickly retract, “I-If you don’t want to, it’s okay!”

He shakes his head, taking his spoon and scooping some out right away. You laugh when you see him eagerly eat it, knowing he’s been watching you eat your own ice cream for an hour as he tossed around with his.

Glancing around, you take in the bright decorations of the shop, multiple people enjoying their ice cream as you and Jungkook sit across from each other. There’s no fancy violin playing in the background, there’s no extravagance to the food or the waiters and most importantly, there seems to be no concrete wall settled in between you.

“This was a good place to pick.” You remark, smiling when you turn to a Jungkook staring at you with a load of ice cream in his mouth, “For a ‘do over’ date.”

He quickly swallows, humming, “I wanted to go somewhere that I picked and without all the interruptions.”

“What do you mean?” You ask, taking a scoop of ice cream yourself.

“Uhh so…” Jungkook bites down on his lip, “I was so nervous for our date that I asked my mentor at my hospital for help, so he dressed me up and picked the restaurant and later in the evening disguised himself and the rest of our staff with horrible looking wigs. He also gave me a script to work around with that I wrote down on my wrist.”

You pound a hand against your chest when a chain of coughs leaves you and Jungkook instantly hands you a napkin. Blinking abruptly, Jungkook doesn’t know if he’s ever seen you look so surprised, “You– wait what?!”

You shake your head, confusion still apparent on your features until you frown, “It makes sense.”

“Really?”

Coming more to terms, you nod, “You seemed off that day, almost like you weren’t yourself. I thought it was because I didn’t see you in so long, so it does make sense.” 

Jungkook looks surprised, “I didn’t think it was that obvious.”

“It was.” You hum, “You’re definitely a lot more than what you were showing off to be, but I’m just glad you’re willing to try now.”

“O-Oh…”

You glance up from the ice cream to see him completely taken off guard by your words and suddenly there’s a scatter of red on his cheeks which causes you to giggle.

“You still get shy too?” You tease, laughing when he tries to hide himself underneath the table, not wanting you to see him be so flustered.

Your laughter echoes when Jungkook attempts to steal the ice cream away from you, covering his face so you don’t look at him. The camera begins to pan out and outside the shop, unknown to the two individuals sitting comfortably with each other, there’s a young man caught up in hysteria and blowing his nose.

“H-He’s all grown up!” He cries out, “My Jungkookie is all grown up!”

“He was grown up since day one.” Another low voice mumbles, sighing when the man starts to create a mess of his tears.

“Maybe it’s time his mentor grew up too.”

You stifle a laugh against the bush when the man looks completely offended, placing a hand on his chest as if he’s just been betrayed.

“Tae Tae how could say such a thing?!”

The man with the framed glasses snorts, occupying himself with blowing a dandelion instead when you smirk at him.

“Tae Tae?” You playfully whisper and he groans.

“Don’t even ask.” He gets up, stretching his legs out as he reaches for your hand and pulls you up.

“What? Not going to even help me up?” The blonde man scoffs and you roll your eyes, reaching out so that he can hold onto your hand. “Now that’s all settled, anyone want to grab lunch?”

You hum, but notice that there’s a certain someone still glued to the floor, watching eagerly with his giant binoculars.

“Jimin, come on.” You tug him up with Yoongi’s help, “Let’s give them some privacy.”

“B-But…”

“If you come with us, drinks will be on me.” Taehyung says, catching you all with surprise when the younger man instantly lights up, racing forward.

“What are we waiting for then?!”

You chuckle, glancing at Taehyung, “Nice one.”

He smiles knowingly at you and before leaving, spares a gaze at the once young intern. Before you can follow after Jimin and Yoongi, who are bantering as Jimin clings onto the blonde doctor, a hand stops you.

Taehyung tilts his head, eyes serious, “Those two, what do you think?”

“What do I think?” He nods and you watch them with him, seeing you letting out giggles as Jungkook keeps trying to hide his face, “I think they’ll be alright, they’ve put the past behind them and are starting to walk towards a brighter future.”

You smile and Taehyung reaches out for your hand, the sun’s rays causing a similar sparkle on your both of your hands. Resting your head on his shoulder, you slowly walk behind the excited black-haired doctor and his content blonde-haired friend.

[thethoughtsfromthreeam]

California

Pairing: Agent Whiskey/Jack Daniels x OC

Warnings: Mentions of bodily harm, implied sexy times

A/N:  A reminder that Parts 11 and 12 run concurrently from different view points.  I love this chapter and it was almost cathartic to write it.  While obviously this is all fiction, I think we can all follow Shirley’s lead in this chapter and show ourselves a little love.

Reminder: I haven’t seen Kingsman: The Golden Circle, so I’m just using the Wikia, IMDB.com, some gifs, and my own weird ass brain to make up this whole ass story.

Tag List:  @zeldasayer , @romanticgumchewer, @tarrevizslas , @coolmaybelateruniverse , @the-feckless-wonder, @lavenderl3mons , @pascalisthepunkest , @mandoandyodito​ , @randomness501 [please message me to be added or subtracted]

[PART 1]  [PART 2]  [PART 3]  [PART 4]  [PART 5] [PART 6]  [PART 7]  [PART 8]  [PART 9]  [PART 10]  [PART 11]

Part 12 

Forgiveness

Several hours after she killed Agent Port, now known as Kirsch, Shirley spent time with Dr. Orange talking about the ordeal.  She found herself worried that she felt no remorse over killing someone.  If anything, she felt like she could kick up her heels and dance a jig with Merlin. Was she an unfeeling monster like him at heart?

“No.”  Said Dr. Orange.  “Five years ago, you experienced a severe trauma and while you may have gotten your life back, a little part of it was still held captive by the experience. Knowing he was still out there has been dogging you this entire time.  He’s gone and now you’re free.”

“Free.”

“Yes, free.  As a therapist I should tell you differently, but I think I can bend the rules just this once.  Shirley, you did the right thing by killing him.  You saved more lives, your actions will give comfort to the families and co-workers of the agents missing or dead, and for the love of god, you’re free to live your life without fear.”

Shirley’s eyes teared up because she knew what Dr. Orange was saying was right.  She had been living, but not really.  She never left HQ alone on the rare moments she did leave, she was granted permission not to be sent to another office, and she turned the library into her life. Even her interactions with her friends and Jack were stunted, limited by the weight of her scars and the man on the run who caused them.  Now, she could be herself again.  A fully bloomed flower.  A sunshiny Marigold.

They talked at little longer and after a long hug, Shirley left the office feeling pounds lighter.  Free.

---***---

Several Days Later

 The sun pouring into the bedroom nudged Shirley awake and she slowly opened her eyes.  For the first time in years, waking up felt truly pleasurable and she remembered what it meant to feel rested.  She shifted a bit before stretching like a cat.  Jack’s arm tightened around her waist, but he never woke up and she could feel his even breaths against her neck.  She laid in bed a little longer before she got up.  Jack mumbled in his sleep but rolled over to his back and quieted down again.

She padded across the room to begin her morning routine, the same one she had since she moved into their apartment.  Gathering her clothes to dress elsewhere so Jack wouldn’t see her scarred body, she went into the bathroom to clean up.  After washing her face and brushing her teeth and hair, she began to strip out of the long pajamas that she slept in.  

As she bent over to take off her pants, her eye caught her reflection in the mirror.  She noticed the scars along her chest were faded to almost nothing, small specks of silver as if a fairy kissed her and left marks.  She surprised herself at the thought – so opposite of how she saw those scars all these years.  Kiss marks on her chest made her think of something completely different.

“Moonshine, you are killing me in that dress.”  Jack groaned.  The wrap dress she wore was simple enough, almost knee length with three quarter sleeves. A modest number in purple with white flowers dotted all over it.

“This dress?  You’ve seen more skin than this before.” She laughed even as he wrapped his arms around her, drawing her flush against him.  He bent down and kissed the laughter from her mouth and she gently placed her hands on his forearms.  When he lifted his head, they were both panting, with want pooling heavy in both their stomachs.

“I could fuck you in this dress right here.”  She sighed as his lips made their way down her neck and to her cleavage.  She rested her cheek against the top of his head and moaned a little.  They had to leave soon, but she didn’t want to move. She loved it when Jack kissed her, touched her.  It made her feel alive.

“Jack, baby.  I’ll let you fuck me every day in this dress when I get home from California.  But we got to go, we don’t want to be late for lunch. Champ wants the meeting to start on time and I need to prep before I leave tonight.  The case can’t wait.”  He groaned slightly before kissing back up the path he forged and for good measure, kissed her again on the lips.

“You’re free.”  She whispered to herself.  She stripped off the rest of her clothing and as she stood there in just her underwear, she forced her eyes to really look at her body.  The one she had hidden away from everyone, even Jack.  It took many long months before she let him touch her intimately again, but rarely fully naked or in the light.  And even then, she still flinched at his touch and sometimes found herself fretting over Jack’s opinion of her body despite never been given a reason to do so.  The brain convinces us of the strangest things.

She turned her body this way and that, looking at healed scars.  Most of the back of her was covered in a network of scarred skin that had been burned in the explosion.  But after so many years, the skin had softened and didn’t look nearly as horrible as she remembered.  God, how long had it been since she really looked at herself?  The long scar along her hip was barely visible and she really couldn’t be certain where they had cut her open to insert the stabilizing rods in her ribs.

Had she really spent so much time fearing her own body that she completely ignored the healing of it?  The thought sobered her greatly.  All these years and she never once forgave herself for surviving.  She never once celebrated her body as it healed from devastating trauma.

Today would end that.  

---***---

She stood in front of the floor length mirror and started with her toes, wiggling them.  She smiled, she always thought she had cute toes and looking at them, they still were. Her eyes dragged up to her ankles and then her calves.  She smiled wider when she saw a small round scar on the side of her left calf.  It was her first one after her cousin accidentally shot her in the leg with a BB gun when she was four.

“Boone, I told you not to point that damn thing in the house!” Aunt Lisa hollered through the kitchen.  “If you don’t take that back to the damn shed, I’m gonna toss it into the damn landfill.”

“Okay, momma, no need to get huffy!”  Boone rolled his eyes and started to turn when he tripped, fell, and dropped the gun.  It went off, pinging against the stove and hitting Marigold, who was sitting on the table, in the leg.  She started to wail at the pain and began screaming when she saw the blood.

Aunt Lisa turned around in horror as Marigold’s mother soothed her child. Lisa’s eyes narrowed and she whipped her head around to look at her idiot son.  Boone took one look at his mother and ran out of the house screaming.

Shirley quietly giggled at the memory.  Her cousin was such a ridiculous creature and when she wanted to be silly, she’d recreate the scene for her friends. She turned the memory over in her mind before moving on.

There were her knees and her thighs.  They were softer these days, like everything else about her.  She wasn’t young anymore and stationary work was more her speed.  But they were strong and for a moment she had a memory of Jack’s head being cradled between them.  Her breath caught in her throat.

She kept going, looking at her hips and the swell of her mound under her panties.  She lightly touched herself and thought of all the times she woke up with Jack’s head laying on this very spot, snoring softly while his hands curled lightly around her hips.  He would claim he never slept better than on those nights.

Higher her eyes went to her soften belly, rounded and almost cute. Her waist was as straight as a board as it always had been, but Jack didn’t care.  He loved wrapping his arms around it when they hugged or slept side by side in bed.  She could almost feel his touch and her breath hitched again.

Her eyes dragged upwards to her breasts, where more of those little silver scars dotted her skin.  Like her stomach and thighs, there was a new softness that had settle there.  She decided the softness more was suited to her than it had ever been.  She thought of the time Jack ghosted his fingertips along her skin, tracing circles until her nipples peaked and she was breathless with want.  When he stopped touching her, she nearly cried, but gasped when he replaced his hands with his mouth.  She remembered her eyes opening wide with shock and pleasure, taking in the deep blue Wyoming sky above her.  She felt as if heaven settled all around her that day.

Grinning now, she scraped her eyes to her neck, where the scars wrapped around from the back.  She touched the skin and felt saddened at the loss of surface feeling.  She had loved it when Jack lightly placed his lips against the side of her neck and around to the back.  But the scaring was lighter and if there had been no wrinkling of the skin, one would never know she had been burned there.

Shirley held out her arms and looked at the three treated cuts on her left arm. Cuts that would also heal quietly back into nothing.  The slightly scarred skin of her upper arms smoothed out into her delicate hands.  She always had small hands, but they were capable. Capable enough to kill a man.  Her eyes flew back to her face a moment, but she felt nothing.  It was a moment in time and now it was gone.  She reminded herself that these same hands built her beloved library and were cradled by her friends in dark hours.  These hands were full of tenderness when they’d lightly skim across Jack’s face and down his neck and even lower.  He loved her hands, they brought him to ecstasy many times over.

She looked back at her face.  She had the comfortable softness of a woman in her thirties, where time reminded her of a life lived and yet of all the time left to live.  That she will live because she is here, breathing and alive. She was convinced her face even looked more radiant than it ever had, realizing that she carried the weight of worry on it for so long.  Her blue eyes seemed to sparkle at the thought.  They looked upwards after a moment.

Her hair was always a mousy brown, but this morning the sun highlighted the many silver strands that wove through it.  Most women avoided grays like the plague, but she ran her hands through her hair and smiled.  She loved them because she couldn’t wait to go grey – a salt and pepper look would better fit her than the current brown every could.  But she loved all of it, it was long and soft to the touch.  Jack could run his fingers through it for hours and she’d never tell him to stop.

She stepped back and looked at herself in the mirror again.  Wrapping her arms around her waist and dropping her chin to her chest, Shirley closed her eyes, giving herself the hug she deserved so much.  Digging deep into herself, she banished negative thoughts about her body.

“I love you.”

[kinda-iconic]

Truth doesn’t always set you free

This fanfic was written for Day 4 of the Choices July Challenge…

Pairing: Adrian x MC

Day Four Prompt: Independence Day

Summary: The group head downtown to celebrate Independence Day by watching the fireworks, but when the group are ambushed and Amy is hurt by one of Gaius’ lackeys, Adrian soon takes matters into his own hands - quite literally!

Author’s Notes: This fic is part of a mini series that I am writing; most of my Adrian x MC fanfics for this challenge will be a part of this series. I’m ever so sorry for the delay; I’ve had a few bouts of writer’s block recently, so I have not been able to get a lot of writing done. My head has also chosen to play up recently, and this has had a negative impact on my motivation. This story takes place a month after the events of ‘Guilt isn’t always a rational thing’.

I’m really sorry for the delay; my health hasn’t been great, and I wanted to try and give you something that was worthy of the wait. 

Warnings: Descriptions of violence and injury - it’s not too bad, but I just thought that I’d warn you! PG-13 for sure though - maybe even higher I don’t know!

Tag List: @nk-writes @queerchoicesblog @galaxyside-0 @shelley-parah@desiree-0816 @begging-for-kamilah@choicesfannatalie@adrianadmirer@krishu213 @hhiggs@flowerpowell@nobounderiesplease@theclanless @bhavf @octobereighth@mangoruby@flyawayboo@katyagrayce @dr-brianna-casey-valentine@perriewinklenerdie@lovemychoices @timmagicktoad@choicesjulychallenge@femmeshep@drakesensworld @the-soot-sprite@mfackenthal@itscassandraleigh @iplaydrake @whenyourheartskipsabeat  @emceesynonymroll

‘So, are you going to tell us where we’re going?’

Adrian turns his attention to the source of the voice; Amy is walking beside him, her balayage hair cascading down her shoulders and onto her burgundy sweatshirt. She meets his gaze, nestling her head on his shoulder. 

‘And spoil the surprise?’ Adrian drapes his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to his side, ‘absolutely not.’

‘But we’re a team, remember?’ She pouts childishly, her bottom lip quivering from her fictional sadness. ‘You usually tell me everything...’ 

He smiles fondly at her, his arm carefully constricting around her waist as his hand settles on her abdomen. He inclines his head towards her, pressing a gentle kiss to her temple.

‘Not when I’m trying to surprise you,’ he looks at her with adoration, ‘I’m not about to disclose ALL of my secrets.’

She meets his eyes, a warm smile enveloping on her face as she entwines her fingers with his, savouring the warmth of his touch. 

‘If it’s any consolation, he hasn’t told us where we’re going either.’ Jax appears beside her, the hilt of his katana glistening in the moonlight as they make their way down the high line. ‘We know as much as you do.’

‘It’s nothing special.’

He turns to glance over his shoulder; Kamilah strolls idly behind them, her hands tucked firmly in the pockets of her jacket.

‘All we’re doing is joining in with the festivities by watching a firework display, nothing more.’

Jax spins around to face her, his brows raising in confusion. 

‘You knew about this, Kamilah?’

’I can assure you that it’s safe,’ she sighs reluctantly, reaching up adjust the pendant that dangles around her neck; ‘I staked the area out myself earlier this evening; there are no threats.’

‘Are you sure about that?’ Jax queries, ‘I mean you said something similar before our trip to Vegas, and we all know how that turned out...’

‘Do you think that Adrian would risk the safety of Amy and his child just to observe a firework display if it wasn’t safe?’

Jax huffs, scratching his chin. ‘I guess that’s true,’ he refocuses his attention on Adrian, ‘but I’m still wondering why you chose to tell her and not us.’

‘Kamilah is his best friend, Jax,’ Lily rests beside Kamilah, placing a confident hand on her shoulder, ‘besides... she’s a hell of a lot stronger than the two of us combined and they’ve been friends for over two centuries.’ 

‘And we’re not his friends too? Amy’s his girlfriend AND she’s carrying his kid! Doesn’t that count for anything?’

‘Well of course,’ Kamilah rolls her eyes, ‘but if Amy had known, then she’d have insisted on coming with me...and she’s not exactly able to defend herself.’ 

‘Hey!’ She exclaims, ‘I’ve held my own in a fight before...’

‘I have never doubted that,’ Kamilah mutters, her gaze drifting from the mortal to the stars as they glisten in the night sky, ‘just not when you’re four months pregnant.’

‘That’s true I guess...’ she glances subtly at the others, ‘but that’s not to say that I can’t protect myself.’

‘You’ll never need to,’ Adrian chimes in, pressing a tender kiss to her forehead, ‘for you have the four of us here to protect you.’

The group continue on for a while, coversing quietly amongst themselves as they make their way towards the pier. A slight sound causes Amy to pause, her brows narrowing with worry as she glances nervously at their surroundings; it isn’t long before Adrian notices her discomfort, his hand tightening around hers as he whispers softly to her, his voice riddled with concern and confusion. 

‘What is it?’ He releases her hand before snaking a protective arm around her waist, ‘are you feeling alright?’

‘Yeah I...’ she looks over her shoulder pensively, ‘I thought I heard something, that’s all.’

‘Are you certain?’

Amy sighs anxiously, her eyes darting to the four corners of the pier. ‘We’ve been through so much, Adrian,’ her voice is quiet and wary, ‘I wouldn’t say anything unless I was a hundred percent sure.’

Adrian closes his eyes for a moment, concentrating on their environent. His brows narrow as he deepens his focus, his nose twitching. It isn’t long before he hears it; at first, the sound is barely recognisable but, as its source draws nearer, he is soon able to work out the origin of the sound.

Sharpening metal.

Amy inclines her head towards him, her voice lowering to a hushed whisper, ‘Can you hear that?’ 

He outstretches his arm in front of her, preventing her from taking another step forward as he concentrates on the walkway before them. The pier is dimly-lit, but Adrian spies a mysterious figure approaching them, the figure growing in size.

His hand clasps gently around her arm, placing himself in front of her.

‘Adrian...?’ 

‘Stay behind me.’ 

Adrian’s eyes fade to a shade of crimson as he continues to usher Amy out of harms way. He turns his head slightly, addressing his companions with a wary tone.

‘Kamilah -’

Kamilah takes a few steps forward, draping a protective arm around Amy’s shoulder. She focuses on the figure, her eyes narrowing as she tries to assess the severity of the situation. She motions for Jax to approach, her arm holding Amy close. After a moment she speaks, her voice somber and cold.

‘I don’t like this...’

‘My sentiments exactly.’

As the mysterious figure draws nearer, Kamilah’s eyes widen as a bout of recognition befalls her; the shadow is no stranger, but a fellow vampire. One that both her and Adrian know all too well.

‘Good evening Kamilah,’ he tipped his hat in acknowledgment, ‘...Adrian...’

‘Clarke,’ Kamilah queries, her brows narrowing with curiosity, ‘What in God’s name are you doing here?’

‘Why I just came to talk,’ he claps his hands together, eyeing Amy with an intensity that is indescribable, ‘and to deliver a message from our King, of course.’

Jax scoffs, running his hand through his hair. ‘Why am I not surprised?’

‘I never saw you as a messenger, Clarke,’ Kamilah interjected, ‘though I guess there’s a first time for everything.’

He responds with an unnerving smile.

‘You know me, Kamilah,’ his grin widens, the satisfaction of this moment becoming apparent as he nods his head in Amy’s direction, ‘I’ve always been one to bend over backwards for others... I’ve often been told that I’m a very selfless person.’

‘It’s a shame that we can’t say the same about your loyalty...’

As the two continue to bicker, Adrian turns to face Amy; he reaches up to caress her cheek, his thumbs tracing intricate patterns from the skin of her neck to her bottom lip. He presses himself closer to her, lowering his voice to a hushed whisper.

‘I need you to stay behind me.’

‘But you know him,’ she retorts in confusion, ‘surely he wouldn’t do anything that...’

‘He’s serving Gaius, Amy; right now he’s capable of anything.’

Her eyes widen at the mention of those words, a fearful expression resonating on her face.

‘What do you mean by that...?’

He wraps an arm delicately around her hip, his other hand resting at the nape of her neck.

‘If you fear the man you serve, you’d move heaven and earth just to make them happy,’ he watches the man with cautious eyes as he continues to argue with Kamilah, ‘even the kindest of people are lured into making that mistake.’

‘Is that what happened with you?’

He sighs defeatedly, running a gentle hand through her hair. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ he leans in, placing a sweet kiss to her forehead, ‘what matters is that you heed what I say.’

‘Adrian...’

‘Do I have your word?’

She nods, taking ahold of his hand as he lowers it back to his side.

‘Good,’ he looks over a Jax, whose eyes are trained on the pair as they converse. He removes his suit jacket, draping it over her shoulders.

‘Stay back here with Jax and Lily... I’ll go and see what all this commotion is about.’

Adrian wanders over to Kamilah as she continues her heated discussion with their visitor. As he draws nearer, he is soon able to deduce the source of the metallic noise; the man is holding two sharp knives, one of them strong enough to slice through bone. The sound they had heard not too long ago was the sound of the knives being drawn across one another.

‘So are you going to deliver this message, or are we going to have to extract it ourselves?’

Clarke stands brazenly before her, his eyes fixated on Kamilah as he presses on, his voice cold and calculated.

‘Oh I can assure you this message will be delivered,’ he smiles menacingly at her before his attention shifts to Adrian, ‘but I’m afraid that I’ve specifically been told that it’s only one for Adrian’s ears.’

‘Oh really?’

Adrian surveys the man, his eyes scanning the young vampire for any sign of movement. He glances down at his hands; Clarke’s fists are clenched around the hilt of the knives, every word he speaks causing his knuckles to whiten as he constricts his fingers.

It doesn’t take Adrian long to put two and two together.

The message was never a verbal interaction or a threat; it was always going to be a physical altercation.

Adrian places his hand on Kamilah’s forearm. ‘I suggest you take a step back, sister,’ he places himself between her and the man, ‘after all, whatever this message entails, it seems as though it was only meant for me...wasn’t it, Clarke?’

Kamilah does as he says, her gaze never leaving Clarke as he takes a sinister step towards Adrian, lifting his hand to brandish one of the blades.

Amy watches on in horror as the man approaches him, the silver hue of the blade glinting in the light of the moon. She starts to speak, her voice hoarse and fearful as she begins to realise the severity of the situation.

‘Adrian...?’

‘Your move, Clarke,’ he sighs with agitation, his red eyes boring into those of his opponent, ‘though I can assure you that this won’t end well, at least not for you anyway.’

The man takes a deep breath, closing his eyes for a brief moment as he regains his resolve. However, within a second he has changed into his vampiric state, his large fangs soon becoming obvious to the eye.

‘RAHHHHHH!’

He lunges at Adrian, his inhuman speed causing him to swiftly change his path as he punches his fist in the direction of Adrian’s throat, the blade brandished tightly in his hand. Adrian dodges the attack with little effort, blocking his whimsical blows with his forearm. He delivers a brutal jab to Clarke’s rib cage, forcing him to briefly retreat from his attack.

‘Is that really all you’ve got?’ Adrian laughs humourlessly, ‘I would have thought that Gaius had told you what to expect when it comes to fighting me.’

The man scoffs, hissing his response through gritted teeth; ‘he told me that you were strong, and not easily defeated...’

He charges at him again, this time with more ferocity. He slices the blade mid-air, its jagged edge catching Adrian’s skin; a small trickle of blood soaks into Adrian’s shirt, but the cut swiftly heals. The man tries to lash out once more, the blade aimed at Adrian’s shoulder, but he manages to catch Clarke’s wrist before he has the chance to inflict any more damage.

‘Then you’d know that I have remarkable reflexes.’

With a tired sigh, Adrian launches the man into the air, watching with intent as he crumples into a heap on the pier beside him, his body crashing into a metal crate.

‘Yes...’ he rises to his feet, clenching his jaw as he winces through the pain, his breath ragged and uneven, ‘but there’s one thing that you have forgotten...’

‘And what’s that, exactly?’

Clarke raises his head, his impenetrable gaze fixated on the mortal; Adrian’s attack had accidentally left her unprotected, for the man now stood mere metres from the young woman. He fights through the pain, each word separated by a short pause as he glances menacingly in her direction.

‘Even the most fearsome of soldiers have their weaknesses...’

Adrian’s eyes narrow as he takes a step forward, his nose scrunching up with rage as he cautiously approaches the vampire.

‘If you touch her, you’re a dead man.’ He snaps, each word more venomous than the last, ‘I will not hesitate to break you...’

‘Is that so?’ He turns to address her directly, his words egotistical and melodramatic. ‘I’m sorry sweetheart, but I guess there is such thing as collateral damage...’

As Adrian charges at Clarke, all he can see is red; his desire to protect Amy from the man becoming more prominent with every step. However, before Adrian has a chance to reach her, he suddenly stops in his tracks; Clarke stands before him, both of his arms wrapped around Amy’s shoulders as he turns her to face him. His arm constricts around her, pulling her closer to his chest, his other hand placing the knife against her throat.

‘One more step and I cut her down!’

‘Clarke -‘ Adrian holds up his hands in surrender, his eyes widening as he is able to see the true extent of her fear, ‘whatever your business is, it is with me... not her...’ he swallows nervously, ‘she has never been a part of this.’

‘I guess not,’ he pulls on her hair, causing a sharp gasp to emanate from her lips as her head tilts backwards, leaving him with better access to her throat, ‘but I can certainly see that I was right about her being your weakness...’ he eyes Adrian with malice, a tortuous chuckle escaping his lips, ‘just look at yourself, Adrian; see what this poor pathetic creature has done to you...’

‘Clarke...’ the sternness in Adrian’s voice has dissipated, replaced with a cautious tone, ‘...let her go...’

‘Why would I do that?’ he hisses, baring his fangs as he draws the blade closer to Amy’s neck, ‘right now it seems as though she is the one thing that is preventing you from tearing me apart!’

Jax growls, removing his katana from its sheath. ‘Only because you’re using her as a human shield!’ 

‘Why shouldn’t I?’ Clarke hissed, baring his fangs as he drew the blade closer to Amy’s neck.

‘I’m warning you, Clarke,’ he edges closer, testing the young vampire’s resolve, ‘release her now...’

‘Or what...you’ll kill me?’ His demeanour soon changes to one of regret, and Adrian is able to sense that the young vampire is starting to have second thoughts. ‘I’m dead anyway, be it by your hand or his...’ the man hesitates for a moment, thinking over his next few words with caution, ‘I may as well have a bit of fun before the end.’

Adrian takes another step forward, his lips curling into a snarl as his crimson eyes bore into those of his counterpart.

‘LET. HER. GO.’

Clarke yanks her hair back once more, causing a powerless wince to escape her. ‘Nah...’ he inclines his head towards her neck, his fangs mere inches from her skin, ‘I think that I might just take this one out now... it’s not like anyone’s going to -‘

The man is soon interrupted by a sharp pain between his shoulder blades; Jax appears from behind him, his hand clasping at the dagger as it lodges itself into Clarke’s flesh.

‘AHHHHH!’

He spins around to face the Clanless leader, his arm squeezing her closer to his chest as he points the blade at Jax.

‘YOU SON OF A -’

Jax slashes at the arm that holds her, the accurate precision of his attack leaving Amy unharmed as Clarke’s grip on her begins to weaken. He goes in for another strike, but is soon met with resistance as Clarke tries desperately to fend him off, meeting the attack with defensive force.

‘You want to do it the hard way?’ Clarke hisses through gritted teeth, his jaw clenched as he uses all of his might to hold Jax at bay.

‘FINE.’

Without warning, he spins on his feet, shoving the mortal down onto the floor with an almighty force as he counters Jax’s defence.

‘Oof...’

‘AMY!’

As the pair continue to fight, Amy struggles to find her feet, a sharp twang of pain emanating from her knees and elbows; her legs are trembling, and she soon finds herself unable to stand. Within seconds, a pair of familiar brown eyes are gazing back into hers, their expression one of terror.

‘A...Amy?’ Adrian’s voice is no louder than a whisper, ‘are...are you alright?’  

‘Y...yeah I’m fine...’ she sits upright, letting out a grimace as she holds onto her head, the pain intensifying with every word. She laughs humorlessly, running her hand across her abdomen, ‘I think it’s safe to say that I took the hit for the both of us.’

He reaches over to caress her cheek, his eyes glistening with fresh tears.

‘Amy...’

Their conversation is suddenly halted by the sound of a muffled scream, resonating from behind them; Clarke is kneeling before the couple, pinned firmly in place by Kamilah and Jax. He struggles against his captors, his demeanour one of hatred and envy. However, as Adrian rises to his feet, Clarke’s resolve quickly falters, his eyes widening as the vampire takes a step towards him. 

‘I didn’t mean to hurt the poor lass, I swear I...’ he stutters, frantically shying away from the group as the vampire begin to descend, ‘I was only following Gaius’ orders!’

‘Were you now?’

‘Of course,’ he exclaims, gesturing to the fallen mortal, ‘I told you I never meant to hurt her, but the stupid girl got in t-‘

Before Clarke can finish his sentence, Adrian charges at him, his expression dark and contorted.

‘ARGH!’

He ignores Kamilah and Jax, shoving them aside as he clasps his hand around Clarke’s throat, lifting him into the air. Amy looks on in disbelief, a muffled sob hitching in her throat as she cries out to Adrian, her breath short and raspy. 

‘Adrian stop!’

Adrian pays her no mind, ignoring her pleas as he presses on with his task. He snarls through gritted teeth, his voice predatorial and venomous.

‘Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t rip out your throat!’

The man claws at Adrian’s hand, trying desperately to free himself from his snake-like grip. He grimaces from the pain, his words short and sudden. 

‘Ah...ahh easy...EASY!’

‘Adrian stop this please!’

‘I’m waiting Clarke,’ the hands around his throat tighten, and the young vampire soon finds himself struggling for breath. ‘GIVE. ME. A. REASON.’

‘I...I was after you. You’re the one he...he wanted me to target...’

‘That’s funny, because from what I witnessed,’ Adrian lifts the man further into the air, his hold unwavering, ‘you intentionally went after her...’

‘She got in the - AHHH!’

Adrian’s fingers constrict around the assailant’s neck, his nails scraping across the skin as he clamps his hand around his jaw. The man struggles for breath, fresh droplets of blood seeping through his collar as Adrian’s nails seep further into Clarke’s flesh. 

‘P...please...Mr...Mr Raines.’ 

The group watch on in horror, their expressions pained and conflicted as they hesitate to intervene. Amy is the first to respond, her approach cautious. She places a gentle hand on Adrian’s shoulder, her fingers trembling as she tries to pull him out of the darkness.

‘Adrian...please just...just stop it.’

‘He HURT you!’ He snarls, his gaze softening briefly as he looks down at her stomach, ‘he could have harmed you both...’

‘I’m standing in front of you aren’t I?’ she interjects, ‘so he couldn’t have hurt me THAT badly...’

‘But he still shouldn’t have...’

‘Adrian please...’ she edges closer to him, wrapping both of her hands around his forearm, ‘let him go.’

He glares at the man, his crimson eyes narrowing as he takes in his horrified demeanour. He remains like that for a moment, his gaze transfixed on the man before turning his attention back to her.

‘I need to protect you...’

‘And you can,’ her grip around his arm tightens as she lowers it, bringing the struggling man back to the ground. ‘Just not like this; never like this.’

‘Amy...’

His breathing is less erratic, and Amy begins to sense that, for now, Adrian is back to how he used to be. He loosens his grip around Clarke’s throat, but not enough to let the vampire slip through his fingers.

She smiles lovingly at him, slowly removing his hand from the assailant.

‘Do the right thing...let him go...’

He tilts his head, narrowing his eyes as he assesses the man before addressing Kamilah, his gaze still trained on the vampire as he begins to cower in the shadows. Adrian’s voice is stern, and Amy can sense that he isn’t about to let this incident go unpunished.

‘Take Amy back to the penthouse.’

‘Aren’t you coming?’

‘No...’ he pauses slightly, his expression darkening as he glares at the man, loosening his tie as he steps towards him.

‘I’m on clean-up duty.’

‘Adrian...’

Amy takes a step towards him, her arms wrapped protectively around her torso as she approaches him, ‘what are you...’

He pulls her into his embrace, his arms tightening around her. ‘I’ll be back soon,’ he kisses her tenderly, resting his forehead against hers, ‘I just need to take care of a few things, that’s all.’

‘L...like what?’

‘Ssshhh it’s okay,’ he presses another kiss to her lips, cupping her face in his hands as he speaks softly to her, ‘I’ll be back before you know it.’ He reaches down, placing his hands gently on the bump as he turns away, addressing Kamilah over his shoulder.

‘Take care of them, okay?’

Kamilah nods, placing a gentle hand on Amy’s forearm.

‘You have my word, brother.’

She tilts her head in the direction of the street, urging Amy to accompany her back to the penthouse. Amy turns away from him, allowing herself to be escorted away from the situation. However, it isn’t long before she hesitates, stopping in her tracks. She looks over her shoulder at Adrian.

‘Adrian...’

‘Go,’ he draws closer, nodding in Kamilah’s direction, ‘I’ll be right behind you.’

‘But...’

‘I promise you,’ he stands before her, placing a gentle hand on the bump, ‘I’ll be back before you know it.’ He presses another kiss to her cheek, his fingers entangling in her hair.

‘Now go.’

                          --------------------------------------------------------------

Within moments, the group have dispersed into the darkness. Adrian waits for a minute, making sure that his friends are out of hearing distance, before returning to his darkened state. 

‘Please, Mr Raines, Sir I -’

‘I’m going to make you a deal, Clarke,’  he kneels before the man, cupping his hands together, ‘You’re going to tell me what that abhorrent little man told you to do, and in return,’ he frowns, focusing his attention on the weapon as he turns it over in his hand, ‘I’ll refrain from burying this stake in your heart.’

‘I...’

‘Take your time, Clarke,’ he edges the stake closer, resting the point just above the man’s heart, ‘it’s not like we have an abundance of time.’

‘I was only following orders...’ the vampire exclaimed, his expression changing into one of fear, ‘you of all people know what Gaius is like!’

‘Indeed,’ he frowns, tilting his head with acknowledgement, ‘which also means that I know you won’t return to him until you’ve completed your task.’ Adrian swiftly points the stake at his chest, his other hand clasped firmly around his throat. ‘So tell me, Clarke, what exactly were you asked to do?’

‘I...I can’t tell you he’ll...he’ll kill me!’

‘I think you should focus your attention on the person that is holding a stake to your heart at this moment in time,’ his knuckles constrict, causing the man to wince, ‘and not the one that will rip you to shreds later.’

The man glares at him, his fearful demeanour quickly replaced with one of malice.

‘Is that it then? Are you going to kill me?’

‘Possibly,’ he lifts his head, meeting the vampire with a stern glare, ‘unless you decide to be honest with me.’

A menacing laugh escapes Clarke, his eyes narrowing as he watches Adrian intently. ‘You don’t have the guts!’ He hisses, each word more venomous than the last, ‘if the way you acted around your girlfriend didn’t prove that, your current hesitation to stake me will.’

‘Is that so?’ Adrian leans forward, his voice a harsh whisper as he delivers another warning, ‘I think you’re forgetting exactly who I am, Mr Clarke.’

The man scoffs, his words barely audible underneath his raspy breath.

‘Don’t you mean who you were?’

Adrian laughs sinisterly. ‘Oh I can assure you Clarke,’ he reaches up to loosen his tie, ‘that man never left.’

‘Is that a threat?’

‘Interpret it how you like,’ he shrugs, taking a step away from him, ‘I’m giving you the opportunity to save your life.’ He hesitates for a moment before delivering his words, each syllable more cold and calculated than the last.

‘If you value your pathetic existence, I suggest you cooperate.’

‘And admit defeat to you? The lost soldier...the Butcher of Antietam?’ Clarke scoffs, scrunching up his nose in disgust as he addresses Adrian, ‘I would rather die a thousand deaths than say another word to you.’

‘You’re talking now aren’t you?’ He pauses for a moment, taking in the man before him.‘You know you’re lucky, Clarke; I could have left you to Kamilah.’

‘I’m not scared of her.’

‘Really?’ He queries with a surprised tone, ‘that’s fine talk coming from someone that was cowering in the shadows only moments ago.’ 

‘I’m not telling you anything!’

‘Suit yourself.’

Adrian turns away from him, folding his arms across his chest. He peers over his shoulder at the man, his nostrils flaring as his anger intensifies. 

‘I didn’t particularly want to do this, Clarke,’ Adrian’s grip tightens around the stake,‘but it seems that you left me with no choice.’

‘Please, Mr Raines,’ his resolve swiftly falters, ‘I...I have people that I care about... a family...’

Adrian hesitates for a moment, though it isn’t long before his expression darkens, his eyes fading back to crimson.

‘Maybe you should have thought about yours before you came after mine.’

‘And what would the girl say?’ A sinister smile creeps across his face, ‘your precious Amy... what would she think if she saw you like this? What would you say to her if she caught you behaving in this way?’

Adrian sighs with agitation, ‘I don’t know why it concerns you,’ he pauses for a moment, his expression displeased, ‘but I would probably reassure her that worms like you get what they deserve.’

‘No you wouldn’t...’ he cackles sarcastically, ‘you know that the moment she so much as mentions your name you’d be fawning all over her...begging for her to look away as you rip me apart.’

‘I think it’s about time you shut up, Clarke.’

‘Or what...You’ll kill me?’ He smiles menacingly at Adrian, ‘what would your master say if he knew the full extent of your affection for her? Didn’t he ever tell you what usually happens when a vampire develops strong feelings for a mortal?’

‘No, but I’m guessing that you’re about to enlighten me.’

‘You get weak...’ he hisses, each word filled with poison and hatred, ‘you become more vulnerable, hellbent on keeping that person safe until, just when you think you have your feelings all under control, something will happen that’ll change that. You’ll grow paranoid; unsure that you have done everything that you can to protect them until...’ he sighs with little emotion, ‘well, until they meet their end.’

‘Huh...’ Adrian shrugs, his knuckles paling once more as his fingers tighten around the stake, ‘well, seeing as you won’t be around to witness what happens between Amy and I, I take comfort in letting you know that I really don’t care about how you feel on the matter.’

‘Spare me,’ he scoffs, ‘like I give a damn about you or that precious little mortal that you care so much about.’

‘Like I said before...my feelings towards her are no...concern...of yours.’

The man shakes his head in disappointment, his nose scrunching up as he glares at Adrian.

‘It’s not like it matters to me anyway; after all, her days are already numbered,’ he chuckles stoically, ‘if not by her association with you, then her natural ability already made her a target.’

Adrian’s eyebrows narrow as he closes in on the vampire, his hands clenching into fists. 

‘What did you just say?’

‘He’s going to kill them,’ he spits with disdain, ‘he’s going to pin you down like the beast that you are and make you watch as he tears out her hea-’

Before Clarke has the chance to finish his sentence, Adrian plunges his fist into his chest. He holds it there for a moment, a loud gurgle escaping Clarke’s lips as he looks up at the elder vampire; his expression is darker than any he has ever seen, his crimson eyes boring into his as he speaks, his voice full of rage and venom.

‘That’s enough of you.’

With a flick of his wrist, he rips Clarke’s heart from his chest; the man’s body slumps onto the floor, his lifeless remains crumbling into ash before him. 

Adrian glances down at the heart in his hand, its crimson hue staining the outer rims of his shirt before it crumbles to a smoky ash. He stands upright, the white dust seeping through his fingers as he tilts his palm downward, letting the dust fall to the ground like golden grains of sand; he stares down at the vampire’s remains, his expression conflicted.

‘For a second there I thought you weren’t going to go through with it.’

He turns his head in the direction of the voice, his scarlet eyes boring into the eyes of the figure as he emerges from the darkness; Jax stands adjacent to him, his hand wrapped tightly around the hilt of his katana as he slowly approaches the elder vampire, keeping himself at a safe distance.

‘I was beginning to think that I’d have to take care of him myself.’

Adrian sighs agitatedly, crouching down to retrieve the blade as it lay dormant in the pile of ash. ‘How long have you been standing there?’

‘Mmmm...’ Jax considers his answer for a moment, ‘I’d say I’ve been here long  enough.’

Adrian turns the stake over in his palm, his brows narrowing as his concentration deepens. It isn’t long before his gaze softens, his eyes widening with fear as he focuses his attention on Jax, the darkness that once possessed him fading away at the mention of her name, his voice a beacon of concern and rage.

‘Is Amy alright?’

‘She’s fine,’ he scratches the back of his head, watching his companion with wary eyes, ‘she has a few bruises forming, but Kamilah said she’ll be okay.’  

‘Thank god,’ he whispers to himself, his lips curling into a relieved smile, ‘Did Kamilah contact the Doctor?’

‘She’s with Amy now; all was okay when I left, and it seemed as though she was about to leave.’

‘And the baby?’

‘From what I’ve heard, yes. Amy doesn’t have to go into hospital, but we just need to keep an eye out for any changes; if she shows any signs of pain or discomfort.’ He pauses briefly, lowering his gaze to the begotten pile of ash, ‘did he tell you what you needed to know?’

‘Yes, he did,’ he walks towards Jax, subtly glancing over his shoulder at Clarke’s remnants, ‘but I don’t want you to say a word of this to the others;’ he gestures to the pile of dust as a strong gust of wind begins to take the ash in the direction of the current. ‘I don’t want Amy anymore upset than she already is.’

‘Really?’ He scoffs slightly, ‘I can’t possibly imagine this upsetting her.’

He meets Jax with an icy glare, his scarlet eyes fading back into their usual brown. An irritable moan escapes Adrian before he speaks, the tone of his voice somewhat unnerving.

‘If you still want your head attached to your body, Matsuo, I suggest that you quit with the sarcasm.’

‘Yes Sir.’

                          --------------------------------------------------------------

The pair make their way back to the building in companionable silence, neither one choosing to discuss the events of that evening. After a short while, they arrive at Adrian’s penthouse, their minds racing with thoughts of Gaius and the threat that he made to the lives of Amy and her child.

Kamilah perches on the edge of the couch, her expression one of concern as she looks at the mortal, whose arms have wrapped protectively around her abdomen.

‘Are you sure you’re alright?’ Kamilah questions, ‘you don’t feel any pain or...’

Amy shakes her head.

‘I’m okay, Kamilah, honestly,’ her fingers interlace with the threading of her sleeves, ‘if anything I’m just a little shaken up...’

‘That’s an understatement!’ Lily’s voice carries across the room as she ponders over to the pair, taking a seat beside her friend. She places a glass of water in Amy’s hand before continuing, her gaze fixated on her friend. ‘You were jumped by some pompous little twerp, of course you’re going to feel a bit shaky for a while...’ she runs her hand across Amy’s back, ‘but in all seriousness, how are you feeling?’

‘I...’

The elevator chimes, alerting the trio as they sit pensively in the room; they focus their attention on the doors as they slide open, signalling Adrian and Jax’s return. The duo enter the apartment, their eyes quickly assessing the wellbeing of those in the room before Adrian’s gaze falls on Amy; a thick marble throw is draped over her shoulders, her long balayage hair fixed neatly in a side plait as if to keep it from falling into her eyes. She meets him with a promising smile, his eyes never leaving hers as he begins to make his way towards her.

‘Amy...’

He takes another step forward, but is soon intercepted by Kamilah, her slender frame blocking his path to the mortal as she reduces the distance between them. She swiftly addresses him, her voice quiet and stern.

‘Did he talk?’

‘Yes,’ he pauses for a moment, looking over her shoulder at the mortal, ‘is...is Amy alright? What did the doctor say?’

‘Everything is fine, Adrian,’ she smiles reassuringly at him, ‘there’s nothing to worry about...’ she sighs despondently, her arms crossing as she swiftly changes the topic of the conversation back to their attacker.

‘What did he tell you?’

‘He didn’t say anything that is worthy of discussion,’ he removes his tie, placing it on a nearby counter, ‘just idle threats and tasteless comments.’

‘And where is he now?’

Adrian pauses for a moment, lowering his gaze briefly before glancing up to meet her eyes.

‘He won’t be bothering us anymore.’

‘Well I can see that.’

Adrian’s brows furrow in confusion.

‘I don’t follow...’

Kamilah lowers her hand, gesturing to his blood-stained sleeves. ‘I don’t know what happened between you and Clarke,’ she sighs defeatedly, ‘but I’d recommend cleaning your hands or changing your shirt before you go anywhere near Amy.’ She clenches her jaw, looking over her shoulder at the young woman; Jax now sits beside her, his hand placed reassuringly on her forearm as he tries to soothe her nerves with his words. ‘If you go over there covered in blood, she’s going to know that you killed him.’ 

                                    ---------------------------------------------

Once Adrian has ensured that any evidence of his encounter with Clarke is hidden, he approaches the mortal with caution, his expression sorrowful and guilt-ridden.

‘Amy?’

‘Hello,’ she whispers softly, her voice quiet and melodic, ‘I was beginning to wonder where you had disappeared to.’ 

He kneels down before her, reaching forward to take her hand in his. He brings her hand to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss to her palm before closing his hands around it. A warm smile graces her lips, but it isn’t long before her expression fades as she takes note of Adrian’s demeanour. 

‘Adrian?’

He meets her with a weak smile, his sorrowful eyes filling her with concern as he continues to gaze upon her. He cups her cheek gently as he inclines his head towards her, resting his forehead against hers.

‘I’m so happy that you’re okay.’

She places her hand on top of his, squeezing it reassuringly. ‘Are you alright?’ She pauses for a moment, trying to process his fearfulness, ‘you look rather shaken up...’

‘I could say the same to you, my love,’ he leans in, pressing a gentle kiss to her cheek, ‘are you in any pain? Do you have any injuries?’

Amy giggles half-heartedly, ‘the only thing that’s hurt is my pride.’ She lowers her gaze to the floor, her loving smile soon returning, ‘that’s pretty battered, but I’m otherwise okay.’

‘What did the doctor say?’

‘She said that I shouldn’t have anything to worry about, but that I should call her if I have any pain or feel any discomfort.’

‘And...you’re alright now?’

Amy wraps her arms around his neck, resting her forehead against his once more before capturing his lips in a tender kiss.

‘Of course! Now that I know where you are...’

She lowers her gaze, her eyes suddenly focusing on the reddish hue that is evident on his clothing. She runs her hand across his arm, reaching for the sleeves of his shirt. However, before she has the chance to unravel the fabric, he takes her hand in his, squeezing it reassuringly.

‘You...you’re covered in blood...’

He follows her eyes, glancing down at his rolled-up sleeves. He rolls them up further, desperate to hide any signs of their altercation.

‘I must have bled more than I thought when he caught me,’ he reaches up to caress her cheek, meeting her with an adoring smile, ‘but I’m alright.’

‘Are...are you sure?’

He nods, placing his hands protectively on her abdomen. ‘Everything is fine, Amy; all that matters is that we’re all here in one piece.’

Her train of thought is suddenly disrupted by a shower of light illuminating the room. She turns her attention to the window, the dark city sky lit up with colourful hues as sparks of red, purple and green adorn the penthouse. She stands up, pondering over to the windowpane, her face pressed softly against the glass.

‘Was that a firework?’

‘I believe so,’ he smiles fondly at her, wrapping an arm carefully around her midsection. ‘I guess we got back just in time to see the show.’

They stand like that for a while, feeling security in the other’s embrace before Amy speaks, her head tilted back to rest on his shoulder as she watches the night sky.

‘Well, it wasn’t exactly the way I wanted to spend my 4th of July, but I have to admit that it ended well.’

‘I’m sorry about today...’ he places a soft kiss to her temple, ‘I should have been more vigilant...’ he shakes his head hesitantly, ‘none of this would have happened if I’d just followed Kamilah’s advice...’

‘Hey it’s okay,’ she looks up at him, ‘you weren’t to know what was going to happen, and everything turned out alright...’

‘But my carelessness got you hurt.’

She spins around to face him, her small arms encasing him in a warm hug. She nestles her face into his chest, her gaze fixated on the fireworks as they continue to blanket the city with colour.

‘You can’t blame yourself for what he chose to do.’

‘No?’

‘Nah...’ she closes her eyes, her lips curving into a tired smile, ‘you did all you could to keep me safe...if anything I’d say more.’ She inclines her head towards him, pressing her lips against his as she runs her hand across the bump. ‘We’re all okay and out of harms way, and I’ve already told you that the baby and I are alright...’

‘Well I can assure you that he won’t be able to hurt you again.’

‘What do you mean?’

His arms constrict around her once more, pulling her further into his warm embrace. ‘There’s no need for you to worry,’ he places a soft kiss to her cheek, resting his face in the crook of her neck, ‘it’s all over now...’

The pair remain like that for most of the evening, pressed against one another as they continue to watch the firework display from the sanctity of Adrian’s penthouse. They stand there in silence for a while before Adrian speaks, his voice no louder than a hushed whisper. 

‘Amy?’

‘Yeah...’

‘Happy Independence Day.’

[soap-brain]

Haha I'll give you a happy prompt ( there's never enough spirk in this world ) : Spock realizes his feelings for Jim and just completely FREAKS OUT ( in a "this isn't logical this human spends 99% of his time finding new ways of annoying me SURAK HELP ME" way ). So he starts avoiding Jim ( like, puts himself on beta shift, pratically runs everytime they're in the same room because my poor boy is traumatized) and oc, Jim is NOT happy about Spock's behavior. I guess this could be a "wtf" prompt XD

... but i finally finished it. god, i’ve been studying so much the past few days, and then i accidentally wrote You Always Meet Twice and ... yeah, i know.

anyways. finally!!

since @shamanship requested “TOS Spirk get together”, I filled both prompts in one.

Under the cut: EmotionsShip: TOS SpirkRating: GenWordcount: 1529

Pesky Human Emotions

The first thing Spock notices about his new superior officer is that he has a pleasant voice.

Over the years he notices many things - James Kirk has kind eyes, gentle hands, an intriguing sense of humor, he’s intelligent, witty, communicates well, has a variety of interests.

Spock gets hurt on an away mission - not badly, and he is fully capable of suppressing the pain until they are back on the Enterprise. Captain Kirk, however, is extremely worried and demands Spock to beam up straight away.

    “I didn’t want to see you in pain, Spock,” he says as an explanation, with a smile Spock has noted Kirk seems to frequently employ around him.

The first time Spock fails to complete an assignment on time he is, for lack of a better word, ashamed. Idly he wonders whether another Vulcan, a full-blooded one, would not have failed. He also wonders what Captain Kirk’s reaction will be. Certainly there will be a punishment of sorts; after all, Spock’s work is of high importance for the Enterprise.

    “God, Spock, are you okay?” is what Kirk says when he answers to Spock’s call. “Look, for all you say you didn’t catch that weird strain of the flu - I want you to report to medbay and have Dr McCoy check you over. Your work can wait. Your health is more important for the Enterprise - for me - than a report.”

Incidents like such repeat themselves. Kirk also frequently invites Spock to his quarters for dinner. He is a good conversationalist and it is pleasant to talk with him. He also shows himself interested in Vulcan culture, asking intelligent questions but not pressing.

They take up chess eventually and Spock finds himself looking forward to their regular matches. Kirk portrays an exemplarily positive attitude towards Spock, even going so far as to tease him on occasion, which Spock understands is a display of affection.

    “I trust you,” Kirk says one day during a very delicate away mission. Spock’s plan, which he had had to start without having explained it to the captain, ends up saving the entire team. It is something Spock could and should be proud of. Instead all he can think about is that Captain Kirk trusts him.

They are sitting chained in a dungeon of a lesser evolved race that caught them during a mission that was supposed to be simple observation. The cave-like structure is cold, even more so since they have had their uniform shirts taken away. Kirk fell asleep eventually, but Spock is too cold and too uncomfortable to do so. Instead, he analyzes their surroundings. After there is nothing more to see, he observes Kirk. It is certainly not news that the Human is physically attractive. He has a great many desirable features - a healthy, golden skin color, shining golden hair, kind brown eyes, broad shoulders, a well-muscled torso, strong hands … a pleasing face, too. He is also a man of good character. Spock can count himself lucky (if he did believe in luck) to serve under a man like him.

    “Call me Jim. We’re off-duty.” Jim. It sits easy on his tongue. Of course Spock would never call him that on duty.

Jim laughs easily, and Spock finds he enjoys finding ways of making him laugh.

They huddle for warmth on an icy planet, and Spock finds that Captain Kirk - Jim has a pleasant smell. He is also tactile, but Spock finds he does not mind being touched by him. He is getting rather attached to his captain, to an extent where he begins wondering what Jim is doing when he is not in the room with Spock.

He walks in on Jim just stepping out of the shower one afternoon. It is the first time this happened, even though they have shared a bathroom the entire time Spock is serving on the Enterprise. Jim laughs and tells him not to worry about it. Spock does not worry, he merely … cannot stop thinking about the Human naked.

In fact, he cannot stop thinking about Jim at all, missing a touch moments after Jim took it away, subconsciously standing closer to him, even initiating touches himself. He finds himself drawing chess games out far longer than necessary, often forfeiting winning.

Jim Kirk is prone to ripping his shirt. Spock wishes he were even more careless with his uniform. It is fascinating to watch him work out, as the workout clothes do sit quite well on him.

Spock begins delivering each report on its own, simply so he has an excuse to see Jim more often. It is becoming extremely distracting. Jim need only smile at him, and Spock is infinitely more happy for the rest of the day.

It has to stop.

Spock begins meditating each night as opposed to only once per week, attempting to control himself. The cracks in his façade are becoming unseemly and unprofessional. He almost smiles at Jim, actively attempts to touch his fingers because of the thoroughly enjoyable sensation it produces, even goes so far as to make up scenarios that would somehow involve either of them having to embrace the other.

But meditation seems to make it worse. While at first it rebuilds Spock’s cool exterior, his slightly changed behavior is making Jim pout, which is hardly something he can resist thinking about. It is - cute, for lack of a better word.

It is during one of his communications with his mother that some things begin to make sense.

    “You know, Spock, you’ve told me an awful lot about that Jim of yours. When am I going to meet him?”

    “‘Meet him’, mother?”

She looks almost affronted. Perhaps an Earth emotion Spock is not too familiar with. “Why, yes of course. I thought a mother had the right to meet her son-in-law.”

     “Mother, I am afraid you are misunderstanding. He is not - we are not - romantically involved.”

     “But you like him so much. Tell me, Spock, can’t you stop thinking about him? About his eyes, perhaps, his voice, his touch? Does your heart begin beating faster when he’s around? Do you want to stand closer to him, embrace him, perhaps? Do you wish to spend more and more time with him?”

Spock can only stare. “I have not … told you any of these things …”

    “And yet I know? Spock, what you are feeling isn’t friendship anymore … it’s love.”

Love. That is unacceptable. And since it only appeared after prolonged exposure to J- to Captain Kirk, it is only logical that it will fade over time if Spock lessens the exposure.

He requests being put on beta shift the next morning. Kirk looks like he is experiencing - an emotion, but he agrees.

Furthermore, there is no point in Spock turning in every report by hand. Submitting them virtually works just as well. And with his new interest in botany it is crucial that Spock spends a great amount of time in the laboratories. There is no time for chess.

Kirk accepts that. He does however come to the botany labs quite often to enquire about the status of Spock’s current project, and Spock does not always have the heart to turn him away. It makes him look … sad. Spock does not like it.

    “I know it’s only been a month since we last talked but - Spock, what’s wrong?”

    “Nothing, mother.”

    “Is that so? You look sad. Is everything okay?”

    “Affirmative.”

    “He turned you down, didn’t he? Oh, darling, I am so sorry.”

    “I beg your pardon, mother, but I do not understand.”

    “Well, you told him about your feelings, and he doesn’t reciprocate them, does he? Your captain.”

    “That must have been a misunderstanding. I do not hold any feelings other than loyalty towards Captain Kirk.”

    “Spock. Don’t lie to your mother. Please.”

    “Very well. Mother, you must understand that it is improper of me to desire anything other than friendship from my captain. Furthermore, I cannot allow myself the vulnerability of giving in to base instinct. Forgive me, but I am not human. And I have no desire to be.”

    “No, of course not. But - Spock, do yourself a favor. Do me a favor. Tell him. If he doesn’t feel the same way, he’ll without doubt let you down gently and you’ll have closure. But if he does feel the same, you’ll forever regret not taking the opportunity. It’s simple. Tell him your feelings towards him are more than platonic. He’ll understand.”

    “I - mother, I am unsure whether that is the correct way to go about things.”

    “He’s human. Of course it is. Now go. He’s just next door, isn’t he? Go over there and tell him. You were brave enough to be the first Vulcan in Starfleet, you can do this. It’s just a couple words. Trust him, Spock.”

Spock does.

Spock ends the call and stands up, leaving his quarters and requesting entrance at Jim’s.

    “Spock!” The Human’s eyes are soft and there’s a smile on his lips. “Come in! What can I do for you?”

Spock takes a deep breath.

i hope this was more or less what you were looking for :p

sorrynotsorry for the cliffhanger

Spirk Tag List: @jim-kirk-grab-n-kiss @toosouthernforspace @igottrekked @burnhamofvulcan

Everything Tag List: @bottomkirk @gumballgladiator @sixclawsdragon  @logicheartsoul @kagenightray @jimothyandspocko @logicallythyla @needles-and-ink @headcanonsilove @i-am-a-real-human-being @fallenpiestiel @skyeries @alanna342 @shamanship @startrektrash @lesbiantasha

prompts are err... technically still open, i’m just slow af :p but still, please shoot something my way!

[arlome]

So, @ainagren prompted me a couple of days ago (”I don’t want you to stop”) and I finally finished it. It is a bit long and gets quite smuty at some point, so be warned.

Hope you like it, fellow Carolight devotees:P 

At first, she thinks only of rest.

The strain was significant, after all, and she’s lost a great deal of blood. She’s had what they call a ‘difficult time’; the whole ordeal taking more than a day, her husband being pale as death throughout the entire thing, only calming down when it was all over. The pain, or rather the memory of it, is quite persistent in her mind; echoes of it still seem to wring her body from within with each move she makes, and she’s glad for the period of convalescence her doctor enforces upon her.

She lies in bed, propped against several pillows, a tiny bundle of lace and linen held to her breast. The tiny tugs and sucks at her skin tighten her womb, not unlike the spasms that brought forth the greedy little creature in her arms, and she moans quietly in pain. The little fiend, as she lovingly named it while still in utero, is a quaint tiny thing; frail looking, with almost translucent skin that shows a net of veins across the miniature skull, and long, dainty fingers. A little tuft of fair hair covers the head, and the lips are pink and puckered, always ready to part for nourishment or a hearty complaint.

She’s in love, really.  Although the child now seriously resembles her great-aunt Margaret in looks and temperament, Caroline is certain that with time and development the babe will come to look more like Dwight and her. Already she can see his nose and her ears; the little chin defiantly bequeathed to the tiny thing by the Penvenen side of the family. The eyes are milky blue, the new-born colour, but the lashes are golden and long, and when Caroline gazes upon the fluttering eyelids she’s reminded of her husband’s eyes; large and bright and blue as the Cornish sea.

He enters the room in the middle of a feeding session and sits down beside her in bed, his arm coming to rest around the mother and child as he peers at the suckling babe.

“How are my lovely ladies fairing today?” he asks quietly, one finger caressing a tiny cheek with reverence one usually reserves for a religious relic.

Caroline looks up from the child and smiles at him. His face is close, the lips almost touching the line of her jaw.

“Still sore,” she says and leans against him, “at least I am; young Miss Enys seems perfectly content.”

Dwight chuckles and Caroline can feel the vibrations in her back. He lowers his head to plant a kiss under her ear.

“You’ve experienced a very difficult birth, my heart,” he says quietly and embeds another kiss into her skin, making her shiver, “you will feel out of sorts for some time, I’m afraid. In a day or two, if you are ready, we may take a stroll around the house. Until then, best not strain yourself.”

“Yes, Dr. Enys,” she smiles marvellously, as she usually does when he uses his 'capable physician’ voice with her, “I wouldn’t dream of invoking your professional wrath.”

Dwight shakes his head at her, smiling wryly at her teasing.

“See that you do not, Mrs. Enys,” he says and bends to kiss his daughter’s tiny forehead, “or I shall confine you to bed for an entire year!”

After Dwight leaves, kissing her sweetly on the mouth and whispering some lovely things in her ear, Caroline smiles at her daughter and laughs.

“Your Papa is quite silly, my precious,” she coos at the now slumbering child, “but we do love him dearly, regardless; do we not, darling?”

The babe’s little fist flails in her sleep, and her lips crease and part, but she does not wake. Caroline sighs contentedly and settles back against the pillows.

                                                                        ***

As the weeks pass, Caroline’s strength returns. Her constitution is stronger, the soreness in her joints and pelvis long gone, and nursing her baby no longer pains her. As her convalescence draws to an end, her mind commences to stray and wander in other directions. She begins to see Dwight in a new light.

There can be no doubt that her husband is a very handsome man. Though initially altered and frail after the ordeal in France, his good looks made an astounding recovery, along with his mind; morphing from boyish beauty into manly attractiveness. She’s always found him desirable, even back when she couldn’t admit her feelings for him to herself; but some time after Sarah’s birth, a new fire developed in the pit of her stomach whenever he seemed to be around.

Caroline cannot quite put her finger on it. It seems that every little thing that Dwight does-be it the way he buttons his waistcoat or the way he sits in his study to write in his journal-clutches at her lower abdomen like never before. She finds herself admiring the straight line of his back, the full curve of his lips; even the slightly greying temples have an outrageous kind of allure to them. The way his breeches seem to act as second skin drives her quite mad and the thought of slowly peeling them off his thighs sets a fire in her cheeks. Caroline’s blood boils in her veins at the mere sight of her husband and her breath hitches when he brushes against her as they walk side by side; the tightness in her womb returns, but this time it has nothing to do with nursing.

The month of February is exceptionally cold that year and keeps callers and calling at bay, so the little family finds itself in the parlour, enjoying a quiet evening indoors. Sarah lies in her cot, looking around her with clever, interested eyes and trying to focus her developing eyesight on fascinating subjects, such as the fancy lace of her gown; Horace dozes lazily in his bassinet by the fire, snoring loudly and occasionally breaking wind to everyone’s embarrassed amusement. Dwight sits reading in his armchair, engrossed in his book, while Caroline sits staring straight through him, lost in thoughts that would make her old governess flush in mortification. Sensing her gaze on him, Dwight raises his head from the book and smiles at her warmly.

“All well, my love?” he asks quietly, his voice deep and lilting.

“How long until you pronounce me completely healed, Dwight?” she asks abruptly, unable to contain herself any longer. His eyebrows rise at the question, and her skin suddenly feels very hot, “That is,” she amends quickly, “how long I can resume all activities?”

Dwight stares at her for a few moments, and then looks at the cot; Sarah’s gurgles, accompanied by Horace’s snoring are filling the silence.

“Another fortnight should do it,” he declares and, noticing the sudden crestfallen look on her face, reaches for her hand, “the birth of a baby is a strenuous ordeal for the body; you must be patient, my love.”

He kisses her fingers and winks at her.

“Worry not, Caroline,” he says and releases her hand, “you will be able to ride a horse again soon enough.”

I’d rather ride you, she thinks wretchedly but doesn’t press the point.

Sarah’s gurgles turn into little whimpers at the terrible neglect committed by her clueless parents, and Dwight rises to pick her up.

“Oh no, my love,” he mumbles, his voice shaking with emotion as he places the tiny head against his shoulder, “no need to cry; Papa has you now.”

Caroline sighs and turns away from the image of her husband rocking their daughter to sleep in his arms. This is not helping her bothersome nerves.

                                                                              ***

When the blasted fortnight passes, and she is her body’s mistress once more, Caroline begins to plot. She wears her delicately embroidered green robe to bed and unties her curls, letting them spill like fine woven golden threads down her back. When the time comes, she places Sarah in her cot by the bed and kisses her little nose, making the baby coo and smile.

“You will not cause trouble for Mama and Papa; will you, my precious?” Caroline whispers in conspiracy to her daughter, “Mama is quite anxious for Papa’s attentions, darling; so be a good girl and sleep tight tonight.”

Dwight enters the bedchamber to find her crouching by the cot.  

“Is she asleep?” he asks when Caroline rises from the uncomfortable position and moves to the bed, her stockinged feet silent on the wooden floor. She nods and presses a finger to her lips to indicate that he must be silent. Dwight comes closer and peers into the cot while he unties his neckcloth. The child is entombed in a cocoon of lace and wool; her tiny head covered in a cream-coloured bonnet. He bends towards her and places a hand against her chest. The steady rise and fall of her ribcage soothe his anxious mind.

“What are you doing?” Caroline asks suspiciously, and Dwight jumps, startled.

“Nothing,” he blurts and, backing away from the cot, resumes untying his neckcloth, “just making sure that Sarah is well.”

Caroline frowns and takes a step towards him, noting in concern that Dwight looks suddenly pale in the faint candlelight.

“Of course she is well, Dwight,” she says, the crease between her eyebrows deepening, “Why wouldn’t she be?”

Dwight smiles a little uneasily and shakes his head.

“Of course, absolutely no reason,” he says, but his smile is thin, and Caroline begins to feel discouraged in her in her little scheme; perhaps he is too tired to resume marital relations tonight? “I am a doctor, my love; constant worry for the health of my loved ones is part of the hazards of the profession, I’m afraid.”

This will not do, Caroline thinks. Determined to have his affection, she moves closer to him and, pushing his hands aside, begins to unbutton his waistcoat.

“And we are all grateful for it,” she purrs sweetly, and Dwight’s eyes focus on her lips. Caroline smiles triumphantly, “now let me worry about you for a change.”

His eyes light up in desire at her not-so-subtle hint, and the uneasy expression on his face brightens considerably at the prospect of intimate reconnection.

“Are you quite certain?” he asks breathlessly, grabbing her waist with vigorous zest and pulling her towards him.

“If my doctor allows it,” she smiles coyly, her hands sliding up his chest to rest on his shoulders, “Oh, Dwight; if you do not kiss me now, I will surely-”

His mouth is hot and needy against her lips, and Caroline’s heart beats wildly in her chest at the realization that Dwight had missed her just as much as she had missed him. She snakes her fingers into his hair and tugs, making him moan throatily into her mouth.

“Shhhh,” she whispers against his lips, “you will wake Sarah, and we certainly do not want that!”

Dwight chuckles, his palms pressing her bottom wickedly.

“Sarah needs to learn how to coexist with a bit of noise,” he smiles and lowers his mouth to her ear, “worry not, she sleeps soundly enough.”

Dwight’s lips find her mouth again, his teeth biting softly into her lower lip. So, this is death, Caroline thinks hazily, hot lava pulling at the pit of her stomach, this is how I die. He lifts her by her waist, and she squeals into his mouth at the suddenness of the gesture, wrapping her arms around his neck as he edges their way towards the bed, with her in his arms. They fall into the soft mattress, the delightful weight of his body pressing her down beneath him, as her thighs part so naturally to accommodate the familiar feel of his hips pressed against her own.

“I’ve missed you,” he breathes against her collarbone, his fingers inching the material of her nightgown up her leg, “Good God, I’ve missed you!”

“And I, you!” she cries into the pillow as his hand softly squeezes the flesh of her inner thigh, “these past few weeks…all I could think of…was this!”

Dwight lifts his head and regards her with a surprised, excited grin. His face is flushed with pleasure; the hand at her inner thigh gliding upwards. Caroline gasps.

“Have you?” he asks, biting his lower lip in anticipation, “I could think of little else myself.”

Caroline presses her palms into his cheeks and drags his face down for a kiss. He starts fumbling with his breeches, and when those are undone, moves to get rid of her nightgown. Caroline pulls away; he frowns, puzzled.

“What is it?” he asks, concerned, “I’ve not hurt you, have I?”

She shakes her head and tugs at the edges of her nightgown.

“No; Good Heavens, no,” she hastens to reassure him, “I…it is just that I would prefer to leave my shift on, if you’ve no objection…oh, and blow out the candle, please; if you will…”

Dwight sighs and sits up, leaning against one of the bedposts.

“Perhaps we should just stop,” he says quietly and looks away from her,  "perhaps it is a little too soon for us to return to-“

"No!” she cries and throws herself at his neck, colliding with his chest and knocking the wind out of him, “I do not want you to stop!” she kisses the column of his throat, the line of his jaw, “I want this, Dwight; I need this! It is just that…I am rather altered now, my dear…”

He pushes her gently away from him so he can look into her eyes.

“You are not altered,” he says seriously, “if anything, you are more beautiful, more desirable now. I would have you here, stark naked, in broad daylight if I could.”

Caroline flushes crimson and looks away, unable to bear the sincerity of his gaze.

“Dwight…” she mutters abashedly.

“You gave me a daughter, Caroline,” he whispers into her ear and kisses her neck, “what can be more magnificent than you?”

They end up lying sprawled across the bed, upon the blankets, moving together in a rhythm dictated by a few years of intimacy. With nothing to cover their nakedness, Caroline wonders briefly if she should feel ashamed at her wantonness; but as Dwight’s hand seeks her out to enhance her pleasure and he grunts how ardently in love he is in her ear, she decides that a little depravity will only do them a world of good, and plummets into ecstasy with a clear sense of propriety.

With their desires finally satiated, a fire burning in the hearth and a sleeping baby in a cot by their bed, Caroline and Dwight lie embraced in each other’s arms. She is pressed against his side, her fingers idly combing through the sparse darkish hair on his chest, while his hand draws languid circles on the small of her back.

“We should invite Demelza and the children for a few days,” she says suddenly, and Dwight laughs, his chuckles shaking her body. She raises her head to look at him with a wry smile.

“What is so funny?” she asks, delighted at the gleam of his white teeth in the faint candlelight, “Why are you laughing?”

Dwight shakes his head and tugs her closer to him, peppering her lips with a series of brief kisses.

“The abruptness of your suggestion caught me off guard,” he explains, still smiling, “but, as always, you are right; I shall ride over to Nampara in the morning and deliver the invitation myself.”  

Delighted at his acquiescence, Caroline stretches lazily against Dwight’s side, invoking a deep, appreciative sound from the depth of his chest; he grabs her by the shoulders and flips them around, causing her to squeal and plaster a hand against her giggling mouth. His eyes are shining above her like gleaming lanterns in a fog as he lowers his lips to her ear.

“Now, let us put the discussion about our dear friends aside and concentrate on more pressing matters, love.”

She laughs, and the fire crackles in the fireplace, warming the air with its blazing fingers; Caroline draws Dwight’s face closer to her own.

“Yes, ” she whispers against his lips, “let’s.”