#hey universe maybe next time just send someone to stab me it would hurt less

[strangefable]

just have to crylaugh when a perfectly random innocuous thing slams into you like a fucking freight train and reminds you that no, actually, you're never going to stop being traumatized about your dead parents

[the-alice-of-hearts]

Kids again Ch 1

AO3 Next>

Ch 1: She likes to drink her coffee black

Summary:

Soulmates come in twos; At least they usually did

98% of the world's population has a soulmate bond. Of those, 80% have platonic bonds. Only .2% of all soul bonds connected more than two people.

Having three soulmates is exactly the kind of cosmic joke the universe would play on a True Wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous. If it gives a boy who still had a lot of life to live a second chance, well that is still in Creation's domain, now isn't it?

Marinette loved the boy in her heart, and the other two links were twisted around each other in a way only romantic pairs could be. If only she could have loved him enough to save him /||\ Jason wanted, more than anything, to protect the girl who his heart belonged to; protect her from the harness of the world, and then from what he had become.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here, let's start at the beginning.

Ch 1: She likes to drink her coffee black

The first time Jason looked into his Soulmate’s life she was happy. Whoever she was, she seemed happy. The first strong emotion that he got from her was pure bliss and a sense of major accomplishment. The first time he got to see through her eyes he was eight years old. She was rushing out the door waving goodbye to smiling parents, a thermos in one hand and a cute pink backpack in the other. He cherished this memory like no other. There were other strong emotions from the bond, most of them were similar. She was happy and seemed strong. After that, Jason tried not to let his emotions overwhelm him; he didn’t want the girl with the happy laugh and the pink backpack to see where he was.

He knew he didn’t do as good a job as he tried. The feeling of worry in his heart that he knew came from her told him so. He could feel when she worried about him not eating enough, so he tried not to go to bed hungry too often. He could feel when she would panic because she hadn’t felt anything from him for too long. He would go and listen to the musicians playing on the streets; trying desperately to feel as happy as he could for her.

When he had gotten stabbed defending another kid from a man with a knife, he wasn’t sure if his panic was his own or hers. He felt like he was watching someone die though, so he was pretty sure it was her panic feeding into his own pain. He made sure to take care of himself so that she didn’t think he had died.

This went on for a long time; him looking in and seeing small bits of her life and later try to send good things back as much as he could. He figured out she was from Paris when the Eiffel Tower was in so many of the small glimpses he saw. So, he stole an English to French dictionary. He then found a bookstore, he could steal from it pretty easily, that had a copy of a book filled with his favourite fairy tales in French. He learned French, then he took it as his language elective. Slowly, he started to understand what she was saying in his visions of her. She had a small number of friends, but they were pretty close. She still worried about him far too often, but he noticed that on days where she was worried she would go out of her way to be as happy as possible. It was like she was trying to make him warm from the inside. And on those days, when was cold and hungry and desperate for a safe place to sleep, he would hold on to her happiness and promise himself that he would be happy for her tomorrow.

When he became Robin he was worried about her finding out. What if Bruce made him stop being Robin? For this reason, he stayed quiet about his Soulmate. Most bonds were platonic anyways, so he just didn’t mention that his bond was romantic.

He hoped she would at least get to see happier emotions from him. He knew that she had to have seen some of where he grew up, but he wanted to believe that maybe she would now get to see these happier moments. Jason vowed to live every happy moment to its fullest.

He hoped she got to see Alfred teaching him to cook, and him learning how to bake all her favourite pastries. He hoped she saw Dick teaching him gymnastics, seeing all the times he fell but got back up. He wanted her to see him and Dick goofing off and the times they would go sneak off behind Bruce’s back when he told them not to skip patrol to do just that and get ice cream in the suits. He hoped she saw him and Bruce sitting in the library reading, the two of them watching movies together when he was too sick to patrol. He wanted her to see that he had a family that loved him now. He hoped that she wouldn’t worry about him so much anymore; that he wouldn’t be a burden on her anymore.

He thought he had hidden this from his new family, but somehow Alfred always knew everything. Jason almost panicked when Alfred broached the conversation while he was teaching Jason to make macarons

“Does your Soulmate have a favourite flavor, Master Jason?”

“I- uh,” he tried to come up with a way to deny it, but knew that he would never get something past Alfred. Still he tried, “What do you mean?”

Alfred smiled, not looking away from measuring the ingredients. “Growing up, my best friend had a Soulmate that grew up in a troubled home. He told me he knew when she was in a better place because she started pouring emotions into everything she did so that he could feel, as well as see, that she was safe.” Alfred turned back to the cabinet looking at their ingredients. “I just thought that you seemed to be doing something similar. I apologize if I misread the situation.”

Jason stood there thinking for a moment. He looked around and listened to make sure Bruce wasn’t about to walk into the kitchen. He moved closer to Alfred so he could whisper, ”Her name is Marinette. I heard one of her friends call her Netté, though.” When Alfred didn’t stop him from talking he kept going. “She likes matcha ones best, but she always tells her mom that she likes strawberry ones because they're less work.”

That was all that was said. They finished making the cookies and Alfred packaged them up for him to have in his room. Jason was pretty sure that Alfred knew he was hoarding food, but so long as no one stopped him and probably even if they did he would keep doing it. Living on the streets taught him that a next meal isn’t guaranteed, and even if it was unlikely he would ever go hungry under Alfred’s watchful eyes, he still wanted a back up plan if he needed to make a break for it.

The next time someone asked about her was about a year later on a stakeout in Blüdhaven with Dick. Bruce had gotten scared when Jason got hurt and wouldn’t let him patrol in Gotham until his injuries had completely healed. Jason got antsy and ran away to crash on Dick’s couch until Bruce let up on the restriction.

Dick had just sat down next to him on the building they were on. “Hey, Little Wing”

Jason turned to him. “Yeah?”

“Do you ever try to send your soulmate messages?”

Jason’s throat closed up in terror. Dick kept talking as though he hadn’t noticed Jason tensing up and planning an escape route. “It’s just, sometimes I see what he’s seeing and I don’t know how to tell him that I want to look out for him, ya know? And his dad is kinda distant, but his mom loves him a lot. I don’t know though, because sometimes I can feel dread coming from my soul link but without any glimpses into what he’s seeing. Alfred thought maybe I have a platonic soulmate that is experiencing dread. Lately I’ve only had happy and joyful feelings so I’m worried that if I do have a platonic soulmate that maybe something bad happened to them. I have no idea how I would be able to send a message to a platonic soulmate though, so I wondered if maybe you knew?”

Jason had slowly gotten more confused while listening to his brother. He hadn’t considered the possibility of having more than one soulmate. “Wait, you mean you can have more than one Soulmate? I thought Soulmates were pairs?”

Dick shrugged. “My parents explained it being more like pieces of the same picture. Most bonds are platonic and platonic bonds are more likely to be someone who you grew up near, so you would have similar experiences with similar emotional responses. That’s why people don’t always notice them, but when you have a romantic bond that you can actually see through each other's eyes, you notice, yeah?”

Jason nodded. “So you have a romantic Soulmate, but think you also have a platonic bond?”

Dick ran a hand through his hair staring out at the windows they were watching, “Yeah, I don’t know how to describe it though. Honestly, I’m pretty sure I have three soulmates. The third is a lot quieter though. My mom laughed once and told me maybe it wasn’t that I had three soulmates, but that my soulmates had another link to each other.”

“Does that happen?”

“I don’t think so, but the stories about that happening are more fairy tale than concrete evidence. I like to think I have three though. I hope that, whoever my platonic bond is, they have their own romantic bond they can lean on. I don’t know if there is anything I can do for them unless I figure out who they are.”

Jason scoffed and then went on the alert seeing movement in the room. “We’ve finally got company.”

Dick smiled and ran back a few steps. “Wanna see me do a flip into the window?”

“Ten bucks says you don’t break the glass and fall on the ground.”

He laughed at that. “Be ready to pay up, Little Wing. I’ll get the two gunmen, then you swing in and help me with the others.”

He took a running start and jumped off the roof they had been on, doing a flip to keep his momentum up. He crashed through the glass rolling into a handspring, kicking the guns out of the two goons' hands. Jason followed using his grappling hook to get across to the now-broken window.

A short fight later and they had the men all tied up. Dick called the police with the info and then they were grappling away from the scene.

“Hey, Dick?”

“Yeah?”

“Earlier you said that you wanted to figure out who your platonic soulmate was.”

Dick landed on top of the building his apartment was in, then looked at him. “Yeah. I just want to know if I can help them.”

Jason followed him down the fire escape, “I thought that soulmates knew when they found each other; you make it seem like that’s not how it works?”

Dick walked into his room to grab clothes. “When you only have one soulmate, there is a glow when you touch each other the first time. It’s your soul telling you it’s complete, but if you have more than one you only get that if you find all the pieces of your soul.”

“Oh.” He caught the pants Dick threw at him. “Thanks for talking to me about this. I guess there was a lot I didn’t know.”

They crashed on the couch to play video games and eat leftovers. The conversation hung heavy in the air, though. Jason felt like, if he talked first, he would tell Dick everything, but, if Dick had had a romantic Soulmate this whole time, then Bruce had to know about it.

He looked up at his brother from where he was laying with his legs over the side of the couch. “Does Bruce know you have a romantic Soulmate?”

Dick looked down at him from where he was perched on the back of the couch. “Yeah? Why?”

Jason shot Dick's character while he wasn’t paying attention, trying to make him stop looking at him like that. He mulled over the question while avoiding the looks Dick was still giving him during his respawn times. In a small voice he finally answered, “He didn’t make you stop being Robin?”

That made Dick pause the game. He dropped down to sit on the cushion of the couch, leaning his head over Jason to look him in the eyes. “Jason, Alfred would never let Bruce use one of us having a Soulmate as a reason to kick us out of the suit.”

Jason pushed him back so he could sit up. Turning to look at him, he took a deep breath. “He kicked me out of the suit for being hurt. He fired you and sent you here. Why would having a Soulmate be any different?”

Dick reached out and hugged Jason. He felt Dick’s shirt becoming wet from tears he hadn’t realized he was crying. “Oh, baby bird, no, that’s not gonna happen, and if Bruce tries it, then you have a place here. You did really good back there, I would love to have your help anytime.”

Jason sniffled and wrapped his arms around Dick. “What if he tries to make you send me back?”

Dick was still rubbing circles on his back, talking soothingly. “Bruce can’t make me do anything. My bank account has Alfred as my responsible party, and Clark is the name on the lease. If you want to stay here you can, and no one gets to take my brother away from me okay?” Jason nodded, still sniffling but getting his tears under control. “Now enough sad talk. How about I kick your ass in this game and tomorrow I’ll take you to the gym I use and help you with your flips.”

Jason laughed wholeheartedly at that. Sitting up and discreetly wiping his tears, he grabbed his controller again. “Don’t know why you keep trying. You’re not gonna win at this any more than I’m gonna be able to do a backhandspring tomorrow.”

And that was it.

Bruce either didn’t know about his romantic Soulmate, or he really didn’t care. Jason started keeping a journal of written notes about her. He wanted to be able to find her one day, so he needed to know everything he could.

An incomplete list of things I know about my soulmate

Her name is Marinette

Her friends also call her Netté or Mari

She drinks a lot of coffee, usually black. She grabs it on the way to class. Is that a french thing? I feel like I only ever see her with coffee? That can’t be right, maybe it’s from the all-nighters? Her friends have teased her about not sleeping before. Is that more often than I think?

She ignores her own needs to help her friends

She’s like a year younger than me I think.

Her nonna (grandmother?) calls her Marinetta or Little Fairy (could I call her Pixie?)

Lives in Paris

She has an Asian mother; Chinese?

She has an Asian name, but I don’t remember it. Her parents use it but not often enough for me to write it down

Her father is French-Italian

She is in gymnastics, but can be clumsy

Kim, Nino, and Alix are her friends.

Chloe used to be her friend. She doesn’t know what changed things

She likes to draw

She wants to be a clothing designer

She made me something? I couldn’t see what it was, but her mom was really proud of her accomplishment.

She is a really good baker

She likes matcha macarons best; but she never asks for them. She feels guilty about her parents making them just for her

She can lift a giant bag of sugar like it weighs nothing

She likes to help people

She likes pink

She is nice and good. At least I think so.

The list was in a small red notebook. It stayed with him all the time; that way whenever something happened, he could write down any details. He filled the other pages of the book with things he wanted to tell his Soulmate, small bits of his life that he wanted to share with her. He had a spot in his utility belt for it to be, and a pocket in his jacket that he kept it in. He had once shown Dick the list and the pages that he had written about him and Alfred. He smiled when Dick showed him his own similar notebook. Dick’s romantic Soulmate was also from Paris; they both wondered if their Soulmates knew each other.

Jason liked to think so

[btsmakesmehappy]

Sweet Scent | 4

Genre: Agent au. Colleague au. Mutual pining. Angst with Fluff at the end

Pairing: Agent!Jungkook x Forensic Doctor!reader

Word Count: 10k

Rating: 18+ (M)

Warning: reader feels a little insecure. reader is held on a gun point. (Not too explicit) violence. Guns. Reader and JK are hurt. Angsty with fluffly ending. I think it’s all? (Please tell me if I miss something!)

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | completed

Summary: Why does he always look so nervous in front of you? Is it because of your excessive flirting? But how come you don’t tease him when he looks so incredibly cute every time he blushes?

Series Masterlist: The Company

A/N: Thank you for @arizonapoppy for betareading mine. You’re the best! Also the next part (sequel/drabble) will be posted next year just so the timeline makes more sense. So the next update will be the other member <3 Hope you enjoy!

Send an ASK if you want to be added in the taglist!

A knock on the door made you turn your head in confusion. You’re not expecting anyone right now. It’s almost nine o’clock in the night, and the building should be emptied by now, it’s past the office-hours.

Maybe a new case?

With the thought of that, your smile was beaming. You rose from the chair quickly and walked to the door. It’s the person behind the door that made you thank God that you decided to stay late at the Company.

Jeon Jungkook.

It’s been a month since you saw him in the firing range. You’re hoping to meet him again somewhere in the building, especially the cafeteria (because there is some information that you’d find him there), but you’ve never got the chance. The funniest thing was the other colleagues always found him there, except you. It’s just like destiny didn’t want you to meet him.

You believed in destiny. You believed in the universe.

You believed in the fall-in-love -at-the-first-sight. You believed in there’s sparks when you grazed someone's hand. You believed in the fallen books when you bumped the one in the corner of the street. You believed in the stranger sitting beside you on the plane while you’re travelling.

But unluckily for you, that’s never happened.

Still, you tried to believe in destiny, hoping to get some of it in your life.

After a month sitting in the cafeteria, waiting to bump a certain someone there, you’re getting tired of waiting for destiny. Well, even though you’d met him, would you still call it destiny? Weren’t you forcing it?

Which is why, it’s so weird how the universe just sent him to you that day. The day when you skipped washing your hair for the four days because you overslept and you’d tie it into a bun anyway. The day when your eyebrow pencil suddenly went missing. The day when you ate tomato pasta and dropped it on your shirt, leaving your white shirt with a huge red stain on the chest.

Why should it be that day?

Maybe the universe hated you.

“Y/N, right?”

His voice rang like a church bell, ringing through your ears and shaking your entire body. It’s almost magical that he sounded like an angel, and you longed him.

You couldn’t remember how long you looked at him, as his face turned red and uncomfortable. “He-Hello?” He timidly asked.

You shook your head quickly, “Ah, sorry. What can I do for you?” You opened the door widely as you gestured to him to come inside.

But Jungkook stayed in his spot, outside the doorway. He lowered his head to look at the paper in his hand, refusing to look at your eyes. “I need a report from the Ahn case.”

You crossed your arms over your chest, leaning to the door frame. “About that, I don’t think it will be done by tomorrow. As you know Doctor Lee is still sick, so there’s no one to finalize the report.”

Jungkook bites his lips and sighed. “Yeah, I heard. Can you just- you know what, nevermind. Thank you.”

He bowed to you slightly and walked away. Even his body was that bulky, you could see how tired he was from behind. And somehow it hit a soft spot in your heart.

And maybe, you just wanted to be with him.

“Hey!” You yelled, he turned his back to you in confusion. “Do you want to see the report for a bit?”

Three days.

Three days you rejected every call from Jungkook. Three days you ignored all the knocks at the door from him. Three days you deleted all the messages he sent without even reading them. Three days.

And by Friday, you’re back to work, only because your days off are over. And unfortunately for you, Jungkook knows it too. It’s about time for you two to meet each other. It’s about time for you to stop avoiding him.

So, on that same day, you wake earlier than usual, leaving your apartment earlier than usual, but still go to work as late as you can. You hide at the bakery near the Company, eating a chocolate croissant, drawing it out by pulling it into flakey pieces, procrastinating.

You still can’t meet him yet. You don’t want to.

You walk as fast as you can to the elevator when you arrive at the Company. You look left and right as you tap your foot impatiently, waiting for the elevator. This elevator is taking so long.

“Y/N!”

You tense as you hear your name, looking timidly to the source of the voice. Please don’t be Jungkook, please. And when you look at the man standing behind you, you sigh in relief. “Hey, Jimin. What’s up?”

“How are you doing? Why do you look so pale? See a ghost?” Jimin asks while resting his arm on your shoulder.

You laugh awkwardly. “Ah really? Maybe just from the lack of sleep.”

He looks at you weirdly. “You literally had days off, why did you have a lack of sleep?”

You clear your throat, there is no way you would tell him about what happened and how it bothered your sleep so much. How his best friend and colleague is the reason for your tiredness. “Just some Netflix. Catching some dramas.”

“Really? What drama did you watch?” He asks excitedly.

“Uhh. Itaewon Class?” You let it slip your mouth. You don’t even know what the drama is about, only heard the title from Sehun a week ago.

Jimin looks at you with widened eyes and takes a step backward. “Well, I shouldn’t be too close with you then. I don’t want to be spoiled. I haven’t watched all of the episodes.”

You smile. “Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t.” In the corner of your eyes you can see a familiar man walking to both of you, a man that you want to avoid. Somehow in the middle of a busy lobby, your eyes were still drawn to Jungkook. He still doesn’t see you, which is good news. Checking the elevator, you hiss softly because it is still on the eleventh floor. Too long. “Anyway, I’m gonna have a call first. See you later!” You walk away from Jimin, without spending another glance. You need to get out of there, fast.

You still can’t see him yet.

Lucky for you, you decided to wear sneakers today. At least you can run four flights of stairs without being afraid of sprained ankles.

“Hey Kook!” Jimin calls and waves excitedly. “Overslept?”

Jungkook smiles weakly. “You can say that.” Lie. In fact, he woke up earlier than usual and he went to your apartment, and after two hours of waiting in front of your apartment like a persistent stalker, he finally realized that you’d already left the apartment. But Jimin doesn’t need to know that.

Jimin nods in understanding. “Oh, you know who’s come back to the Company? Y/N! Apparently her days off have ended. Actually, she was here just now.”

“Really?” Jungkook asks with widened eyes. “Where is she now?”

Jungkook’s reaction catches Jimin off-guard. The way Jungkook finally shows some interests in you, makes Jimin happy. “Well.. She said that she’s calling someone. You know, since you can’t have a phone call inside the elevator. But I don’t know where she is.”

Jungkook looks around him, but he still can’t find you. A thought drifts into his head, that you saw him and still didn’t want to meet him. And with that thought, he feels a stab in his heart.

Jungkook, you’re so stupid. You’re drunk stupid.

He wants to hit himself. Oh, he would if he can, especially in front of you. Not that he wants to show off or something, he just wants you to know how terrible and bad he feels about what he’s done. He even swore himself that he won’t get drunk ever again.

You stupid drunk jerk.

Even if you wanted to see him, what should he say? He hasn’t thought about it, and yet he called, messaged, and came to your apartment for three days in desperation.

“Kook?” Jimin asks warily. “Are you okay?”

Jungkook shakes his head. “Ah. yes. I’m okay.”

Jimin sends a mischievous smile to Jungkook. “You want to run after Y/N, don’t you?” he asks as the elevator finally arrives at their floor.

Jungkook looks at his feet and decides to step into the elevator. If she still doesn’t want to see me, there’s no point for me to force her. “Nah. I don’t want to.”

Lie.

How he wants to see you so much. So damn much it’s hurting him.

“Well-well, who’s there?” Sehun turns his chair to see you, still controlling your breath in front of the door. ”Why are you out of breath?”

“Stairs.” You roll your eyes as you wipe the beads of sweat forming on your forehead. You really need to work out sometimes, not just sitting and living a sedentary lifestyle.

He raises one of his eyebrows. “The elevator is broken?”

You shake your head weakly and sit on your chair. “Just need a little exercise.”

Sehun squints at your face and hums, realizing something is not right about you. “How are you? Okay?”

You nod and sigh. “Yeah.” You send him a weak smile. You look at your desk, it’s clean but you can still see the horrible image burned in your mind. It’s kinda hard for you to just delete it from your memory. Besides, it happened less than a week ago.

“Oh, I also finished your report. I was thinking that at least we should send an actual report, even though the investigation fell apart. What do you think?”

“What? I’m sorry. What are we talking about?” you ask, looking lost.

Sehun sends an assuring smile. “This report. We should send it to the agents. Don’t you think?”

You fiddle the corner of your shirt. “Yeah, I think we should.”

“You want to give it to them?” Sehun asks again. You bite your lips, your mind wanders. Seeing your sudden silence, Sehun rises from his seat and taps your shoulder lightly. “Actually, just stay here. I’ll take it to them.”

You watch his back disappearing from your sight. Again, you’re alone in this office. This office, your second home, but you barely feel comfortable sitting here. The scent of coffee you usually make every day is absent, since Sehun never drinks coffee in the office. You only detect the lemon scent from the air refresher in the corner. It’s supposed to be relaxing but instead, it makes your heart beat rapidly.

You feel sad.

Jungkook sighs again at his desk for God knows how many times. And everytime he sighs, it is just getting louder.

It begins to irritate the other agents around him. Especially since they haven’t been assigned to another case yet. To them, The Case of The Young Man in Distress, is their new case, and it somehow excites them.

Hoseok steals a glance at Taehyung and Jimin, sending signals right then and there. After they nod, they roll their chairs closer to Jungkook’s desk. “What’s up with you, Kook?” Hoseok starts.

Jungkook stares at the screen of his laptop, hands continually moving his mouse without any intention. “I’m fine.”

Taehyung snorts. “No, you’re not. Tell us what happened.”

“I’m fineeee.”

The older men share another look between them, they all look so concerned about Jungkook, but what can they do if Jungkook shuts his own mouth, let alone his feelings?

Jimin notices that their office door is open and yells deliberately loud. “Oh. Here’s our favorite forensic doctor!” It makes Jungkook flinch and Jimin sees Jungkook trying to steal a glance at the door and takes a deep sigh. “Our Sehun-ie. What can we do for you?”

“Just delivering some reports.” Sehun looks at the agents crowding Jungkook’s desk and points directly to Jungkook. “What’s wrong with him?” The agents shrug simultaneously.

“We are trying to find out. Wanna join?” Hoseok pulls another chair beside him, tapping the seat, gesturing to him to sit.

Sehun throws the report on the desk. “I want to. But I also need to find out what happened to my staff too.” Sehun turns his back and waves to them over his shoulder. “She looks troubled and unfocussed. Bad day, I think. See you, then.”

With the sudden drop of information, the three of them look at Jungkook’s reaction, who freezes in his seat. Something must have happened with the two of you.

Jimin asks cautiously. “Did something happen with Y/N?”

“Maybe on the day when you went missing after drinking with Yoongi?” Taehyung adds, which makes the older guys look at him questioningly. “Yoongi-hyung told me.”

Jungkook doesn’t answer, instead he sighs and runs his hand through his hair in exasperation. The other agents know that they hit a sore spot. He bites his lips, hesitant to talk to them, but on the other hand, he doesn’t know what to do. Everything he chose seems like a wrong choice. Everything he does seems to push you away even further. “I-I just don’t know what I should do, Hyung.”

Hoseok pats Jungkook’s shoulder softly. “Tell us in detail. We’ll help you.”

And just like that, everything opened in public, well, to his best friends. How his heart feels weird whenever he sees you. How his heart ached when he saw you hurt. How you looked so weak and pained and disappointed when he took you home. How he went to your apartment drunk. How he wanted to apologize to you. How he kissed you drunk and how you pushed him back. How his heart crashed when he saw you cry, sobbing on the floor.

They listen to his story carefully, patting his shoulder several times when he looks like he’s going to burst into tears.

“And now, she doesn’t want to see me. I’ve been trying for three days.”

The silence falls in the room, it is interrupted when Jimin hits Jungkook’s head lightly. “Aigoo, you are an adult now. Stupid, but still, I’m just so proud of how you grew this fast.” Jimin smiles and hugs Jungkook lightly.

Jungkook whines. “Hyung, that’s not the point. What should I do?”

Taehyung suddenly raises his hand in the air. “Wait a minute, if Y/N really likes Jungkook, why did she push him away like that?”

“Well, y’know,” Jimin rolls his eyes, “you didn’t exactly get her permission before you kissed her.”  

Hoseok held his hand up, silencing Jimin and Taehyung. “She might have thought that you just did it out of guilt.” Hoseok says softly. “Or maybe a pity, just a mere responsibility.”

“What?” Jungkook looks at him weirdly.

Hoseok explains further, “You know like a novel, when you hit someone with a car, and he/she lost their ability to walk, so you just decide to be with them? Or remember when you spilled coffee on my report and you decided to write it yourself and also bought me a pair of sneakers?”

“But I didn’t do those things to her out of guilt.” He gulps. “I-I don’t hate her. I don’t even know why I did it.”

Jimin smiles again widely, his eyes turn into crescents. “Are you sure you don’t know? I know that deep down, you know it.”

“Just tell her sincerely then about what you don’t know.” Taehyung smiles and puts his hand on Jungkook’s head, ruffling his hair softly.

Jungkook sighs again. “She doesn’t want to see me.”

“If she really likes you, she’ll come around, Kook.” Hoseok smiles and hugs the younger man. “Now, go find her!”

Jungkook looks at him with widened eyes. “Like, now?”

“Of course, silly. The faster the better.” Jimin laughs. “Go!”

“I don’t know what to say to her, I don’t prepare anything.”

Taehyung looks at Jungkook in disbelief. “What do you want? A teleprompter? Just tell her your feelings, dumbass!”

Weirdly enough, Jungkook rises from his seat and takes off running, leaving his cubicle empty. “I thought you bet that Jungkook won’t end up with her, hyung?” Jimin teases.

Hoseok scratches the back of his neck and smiles. “The moment he told us what happened to him just showed who’s gonna win the bet. And besides, I just want him to be happy.”

Taehyung moves his chair back to his desk. “How about we change our bet to another topic then? We have plenty of subjects to bet about.”

You rack your brain, trying to find a place where you won’t meet Jungkook. And after mentally listing the places, you decided to hide in the infirmary. It’s unused and no one is gonna be there. So you can hide for a moment. Just like when you’re in high school, you fake a stomach ache, just so you can get some sleep or when you forgot to bring your math textbook.

Well, five minutes of sleep are considered a privilege then, as you hear the door opened.

You look from inside a curtain, trying to identify the man who just came in with a cart full of cleaning supplies. Cleaning service? The man quietly sweeps the floor skillfully, and you suddenly feel that you shouldn’t be there, as you’re just gonna disturb his job. Just as you open the curtain harshly, you tilt your head in confusion. “Jin?”

Jin looks at you in surprise, almost dropping the broom on his hand. “Y/N? What are you doing here?”

“Resting,” you say with an awkward smile. “What are you doing here? What’s with the broom and the gloves?”

Jin sighs and turns away from you, continuing to sweep the floor. “Cleaning.”

“Do you do this every day?” It’s just so weird for such an elite agent doing some cleaning in this place. Especially, since the Company also hires a cleaning service.

“No. Just every few days. Since it’s not used, it doesn’t get dirty that fast. I just clean this room when the cleaning service has their day off.” Jin answers lightly as he picks a towel to wipe the surface of the table.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just my hobby,” Jin pauses and looks at the white wall. “or maybe I just hope that she’ll come back. You know right that she hates dust?” He laughs awkwardly. He clears his throat and looks at you warily. “Are-are you still in touch with her?”

“No.” You look at him quietly, somehow you can see his pain from his wide shoulder. It’s been a few years, but Jin is still hung up on her, still missing her. “Are you okay?” you ask cautiously.

Jin scoffs and walks away again, wiping the cabinet this time, “why? Do I look pathetic?”

You shake your head softly. “No. But you look broken-hearted.”

He turns his head to face you, looking into your eyes. “Well, so do you.”

Your jaw clenches, like how he hit your spot correctly. Tears threaten to fall down and you try to stop it by biting your lips. At the moment, you feel weaker and sad. You sigh and look at your feet. “What’s new?” you laugh dryly.

Jin puts away his supplies and removes his gloves as he walks to you, and plops on the bed beside you. “What happened?” he asks.

“I don’t know. I was just thinking that mayb-”

“Alright, I’m gonna stop you right there. You’re not thinking. It’s an assumption.”

You look at him in disbelief. “Wh-what?”

He sighs, “Whatever your problem was, and whoever he was, you’re overthinking this.”

“You don’t even know what the problem is.”

“I don’t. But I believe that you need to talk to him regardless of what the problem is, not talk to your mind, making assumptions. You know, the key to a healthy relationship is communication, and it applies to every relationship. Business, family, or even Love.” Jin sends you a smile. “Just talk to him. The misunderstanding won’t solve itself.”

You sigh again. “What if it doesn’t work? What if it’s not a misunderstanding but a mistake?”

“Then talk a little more. Apologize if you need to. Forgive if you still want to be with him.” Jin stops, and swallows slowly. His voice cracks. “Fight for it, if it is worth fighting for, until you can’t fight anymore. Until you don’t have any regrets.”

You look at him carefully. You’ve never talked to him ever since you worked in the Company, let alone seeing his eyes like this. But now, you can see how he’s deep in pain. And you understand what he talked about. His experience. The thoughts of what he should have done before. The choices he regrets now.

You hop from the bed and walk to the door. “Thank you. I’ll try.” As you walk closer to the door, you turn to face him again. “She must have a reason, Jin. I don’t know what it was, but she would never hurt you.”

“I know.” Jin answers quickly. He darts his eyes away from you so that he can hide his watering eyes, and smiles. “So does Jungkook.”

I know.

You walk out from the elevator, squeezing your body from the others inside. It’s lunch time already, and you’re lucky enough that you can slip into the crowded elevator.

Seventh floor is quiet, but not as deserted as the last time you went there. You look around you, hoping to see a particular person. The one you need to see. The one you miss.

You sigh, heart thumping inside your chest. You’re not gonna lie that you’re nervous, and that’s not because of the thought of seeing Jungkook again. It’s the thought, an assumption, of what he’s gonna say. You’re afraid of hearing his reason, afraid that it’ll break your heart even more.

A little part of you tells you that it’s better this way, and just move on. But you realize, playing hide and seek with him won’t solve any problem. It will just hurt you, or both of you. If you need to move on from him, at least there’s no loose ends. And Jungkook deserves a chance to explain everything to you, in person.

“Y/N?”

You turn your head to the man calling you and sigh disappointedly. “Oh, hey Yoongi.”

Yoongi laughs a little. “Why do you always bump into me when you’re looking for Jungkook?” Yoongi looks more professional since the last time you met him, maybe because he’s sober right now, or because he wears a neat suit instead of his black hoodie.

You smile, feeling embarrassed that you’ve been found out. “How do you know that I’m looking for him?”

He shrugs, “nah, I just feel that there’s something about you two that needs to be finished.”

“Oh. I see.” You divert your gaze from him, “So, where can I find him?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know. I just came here.” He stretches his pale arms and continues, “y’know, overslept. Actually, maybe Jungkook is in the training room. He usually trains himself when he feels stressed about something.”

Your jaw clenches with the sudden information, forcing yourself to smile once more. “Thank you, I’ll get going then.”

You nod and walk again to the elevator, just the moment it arrives. When you’re inside the elevator, Yoongi yells to you, “He feels bad, Y/N---” You can only hear a snatch from him as the door closes, stopping you from hearing the full sentence.

I know.

You’ve been pacing the corridor for almost fifteen minutes, staring at the men’s locker room door. You perk your head to the door, every time it opens. And every time you do it, you’re left with another disappointment. Not to mention, all of the other male agents stare at a suspicious woman who’s lurking in front of a locker room.

Except one agent.

“Doctor Y/N?”

You’re leaning on the wall while massaging your calves. You squint in order to see the man approaching you better. “Kim Namjoon?”

Namjoon pauses in front of you, sending a warm smile. He’s drying his hair with the towel and his other hand holds a gym bag. “Yes, I don’t think I’ve introduced myself properly to you. Please just call me Namjoon.” He drops his bag to the ground clumsily, making some of his things flow out from the unzippered bag, reaching out his hand to shake yours. “I’m afraid that Jungkook is not here.”

Your eyes widen. “Ho-how do you know that I’m looking for him?”

He laughs and drops to one knee to gather his fallen things. “Just a little guess. A little bird told me that you’ve been working with him, so, yeah, I just thought that it might be a work thing.”

“Have you seen him anywhere then?” you sigh.

“I’m afraid not, Doc. I’ve been in the training room since dawn, haven’t seen him anywhere near here.” Namjoon smiles apologetically as he hangs his bag over his shoulder. “Have you checked the pool? He’s been wanting to practice diving since our last mission in Hawaii.”

You shake your head softly. “I haven’t, I’m gonna check there then. Thank you.”

“Anytime, Doc. You see, Jungkook is sometimes a little hard to talk to, looks distant, shy, and confused, maybe because he joined us at such an early age, but he is a nice guy.” Namjoon laughs again as he walks away from you, leaving you standing alone in the corridor.

I know.

Jungkook walks quickly to your office as soon as the elevator opens on your floor. He still doesn’t know what to say, but he just can’t let you escape him, avoid him again. He will use everything he’s got to at least explain a thing or two to you, and if the universe accedes, maybe he can tell you a little part of his feelings. Or maybe more.

Just one step at a time, Jungkook. You can do this.

It’s weird how he feels more nervous right now than when he goes to a mission. Usually he can just barge through any door without feeling any fear, but right now? He can feel how his heart almost bursts inside his chest. Is that because he doesn’t have his gun with him? Or is it because you are on the other side of the door?

He sighs. He doesn’t know anymore.

Maybe it is because he doesn’t know anything that is going to happen when he opens the door. Maybe it is because his brain can’t work for another plan B if his original plan fails. Maybe it is because it is a do or die for him, sounds a little extreme, but actually this is maybe the last chance for him to let his feelings take control of him.

Mustering all of his courage, he knocks the door and opens it slowly. “Excuse me?”

A chair suddenly rolls from the desk. “Hey JK. What’re you doin’ here?” Sehun asks and looks at him quizzically. “Is there something wrong with the report?”

Jungkook shakes his head rapidly. “That’s not why I’m here.” He swallows dryly. “I’m looking for Y/N..”

“Y/N?” Sehun raises one of his eyebrows. “Funny you asked that. The fact is I haven’t seen her anywhere since I went to your office.”

“Really? Okay then, I’ll just search for her somewhere else.” Jungkook nods politely and walks to the door.

“Why don’t you just call her?” Sehun asks loudly.

Jungkook looks at him, and gives him a weak smile. Sehun doesn’t need to know that you’ve been avoiding Jungkook’s calls, right? “Thank you, I’ll try.”

After he closes the door, Jungkook walks to the stairwell next to him. With a sigh he sits on one of the stairs. He pulls his phone from his pocket, looking at it like it’s a foreign thing to him. His finger scrolls to the contacts and looks for your name.

There’s no specific thing to describe your name in his contact. And by specific, it means you aren’t saved in his contacts. The only thing that describes you is your phone number, which he memorizes already because of how much time he spent looking at it and how many times he tried to call you in the past few days.

He looks again in his contacts. It’s less than a dozen. The only contacts in his phone are his parents, his brother, and his best friends. That’s it.

He remembers when he received your message for the first time, he almost accidentally deleted it because he received it at the same time he received another spam message. Only God knows what would happen if he deleted it for real. Would you still get hurt? Would you still want to tease him? Would it still be the same?

Or would he still have this growing feeling inside him?

He sighs and then inputs your phone number, but before he dials it, he chooses another option.

Add to new contact.

Name: Y/N

Save?

Saved

Jungkook looks at his newly added contact and finally dials your number, hoping that you would accept it this time. Hoping that somehow his sincere feelings felt through the rings on your phone. Hoping that he can say the right things this time.

And after the seventh rings, the call went through.

Jungkook can finally hear your voice. “Hello, Y/N?” There’s a silence on the other end of the phone for a little while. It begins to make him more nervous. “Y/N?”

“Jungkook?” but it’s not your voice. It’s a familiar voice for him that he hears a lot.

Jungkook looks at the screen, makes sure he got the correct phone number. He furrows his eyebrow, confused at why you didn’t answer your own phone. “Jin-Hyung?”

“Right.” Jin laughs. “Y/N left her phone in the infirmary. She just went out to look for you.”

“Oh.” Jungkook sighs in relief. “Wh-what? She’s looking for me?”

“Yes, kid. God, I don’t know what your problem is to make both of you playing hide and seek in the middle of the day, but yes, she’s looking for you right now. But I don’t really know where she went.”

A little smile plastered on Jungkook’s face, somehow he feels a little happy that you finally decided to give him a chance to explain himself. And with only that fact, he won’t lose this chance. “Thanks Hyung! Talk to you later!”

“Yah-”

Jungkook hangs his phone up, and stands up immediately. But if he just walks around and looks for you in this big building, it is just a waste of time. There’s a fat chance that he won’t meet you at all, and in this crucial time for him, he can’t rely on fate alone.

So, he taps his phone again, scrolling to find a chatting platform that he rarely uses, and looks for a group chat with his best friends, typing quickly and hits the send button. This time he’s gonna rely on his friends.

Jungkook 00.23 PM: Have you seen Y/N?

You open the heavy door to the pool area with an afraid look on your face. What if Jungkook suddenly appears before you? What would you do? What would you say? What if he doesn’t want to see you?

But luckily (or unlucky for you), there’s no one in the pool. Everyone must be taking their lunch time, leaving this place completely empty.

You sigh and walk around, deciding to look at this place a little more. Maybe, just maybe, Jungkook will suddenly pop out of nowhere, hugging you from behind like some of the rom-com movies that you usually watched in your teen years.

A sudden loud bang of a door opening filled the place, making you turn your head abruptly, hoping that the universe finally sends some signals to you. But instead, you just see a man pushing a cleaning supplies cart. You are disappointed.

Why do you even feel disappointed? There’s only a little chance for Jungkook to just walk through the door. You laugh to yourself and shake your head. Maybe I should just call him.

You pat your pants to locate your phone, and a little panic goes through you as you can’t find your phone. Where is it? Did I drop it? You try to remember when the last time you used your phone. You usually don’t behave like this; for you, your phone is one of your most important things. You never walk without a phone as you have everything you need in that mini gadget. Maybe this Jungkook thing is really bothering me.

You turn and walk to the door hurriedly, you need to find your phone back and also Jungkook. You can’t just wait mindlessly in here. Just when your hand reaches the door knob, you sense the cleaning man walking to you.

“Are you Doctor Y/N?”

You look at the man, sending him a polite nod. “Ah yes. Don’t worry, I won’t disturb your job here, I’m going now.” The man looks like he is in his early 30s. You can’t really see his face, since it’s hidden with his blue baseball cap. He wears a blue jumpsuit, a usual uniform for the cleaning service. But why does it look like it’s too big for him?

The man smiles back. “Oh my. That’s fine. Actually I have a package for you.” The man rummages through his cart, searching for something. “From a man, named Jungkook, I think? He’s been searching for you.”

“Jungkook?” ears perk in curiosity.

He smiles again, almost a grin. “Yes.” the man laughs at himself as he pulls a black metal thing from the cart and points it to you. “He’s been searching for you.”

You look at him with widened eyes. A gun. “Wh-what are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing, sweetie?” the man laughs maniacally, the sounds send shivers to your spine, making you step back unconsciously, your back hitting the door. You move your hand behind your back, trying to locate the door knob. “Uh-uh. Do not move. I don’t want to shoot your pretty face.”

Your heart races in fear., “Wh-what do you want from me?”

“The autopsy report, where is it?”

Your jaw drops as your mind wanders to the incident last Sunday, the one that probably will leave some scars on your hands. “Were you the one who trashed my office?”

“That’s right.” The man steps a little closer and pushes the gun closer to your face. “The report. Where do you keep it?”

“I-I don’t know. I don’t have it.” Tears start threatening to fall from your eyes when the man seems unsatisfied with your answer and pulls your hair harshly. “I-I gave it up.”

He pulls your hair again until you meet his eyes. “Don’t fucking lie to me. Or do you want me to start shooting everyone who comes into this room?” He laughs again. “You’re waiting for someone right? What if he suddenly pops in right now, and my hand just slips?”

You widen your eyes and you can see his eyes, and they don’t show that he’s lying. You can see how crazy he is. “I-I think it’s on the seventh floor..”

Just after he hears your answer, he releases your hair. With a sudden lack of grip, your feet give up, making you slump on the ground. “Good choice. Now stand up. We’re going to the seventh floor.”

“Bu-but I just told you. You should let me go.”

He scoffs. “And how would I know if you’re just lying to me? Stand up!” He grips your elbow harshly, forcing you to stand in front of him. You can feel his cold gun on your back, pushing to walk forward. “Don’t do anything funny, or I might shoot others. I only want this to be just the two of us.”

Your lips tremble and your throat goes dry. You wipe your tears and take a deep breath, trying to find your courage and strength to walk. You open the door with a heavy heart, wishing silently that you won’t meet anyone in the corridor and on your way up to the seventh floor.

You walk slowly to the elevator, with the man following behind you with his cart. Whispering right there to remind you that he has a gun. Your stomach twists. You want to run away. Your hands turn into fists, sending a light pain from the still-recovering wounds. Luckily, the pain happens to keep your mind intact, make you stay sane. But still, you can’t think of anything that you can do to save yourself.

Sure, you worked for months in an agent secret service. But that doesn’t mean you can do martial arts or guns. You didn’t receive any of that training. So even in this high-security building, you’re just an ordinary woman. An unlucky one.

Wait. High-security building?

You look left and right cautiously to find CCTV cameras above you, maybe someone will see this?

The man behind you laughs again. “You think I’d sneak here with no preparation? No one in the security room is going to watch this. I’ve taken care of them.”

You choke, your heart quickens. “You.. you. Wha-what? What did you do to them?”

“There’s no need for you to know, sweetie.” He laughs again. ”It’s just gonna make you feel bad.”

You bite your lips, trying your hardest to hold your tears. This man is sick. And just then, the elevator’s door opens.

You swallow dryly and walk inside the elevator. Sighing in relief again because there’s no one inside. You reach your hand shakily, trying to push the seven button on the elevator, but just as the door closes, a hand sneaks in and it opens again.

Your eyes widen with the sight of the man, panting before you. “Jungkook?” Why are you here?

Jungkook still holds open the door with his one hand as he controls his breaths. “We.. We need to talk.”

You steal a glance at the man behind you, who acts like wiping the interior of the elevator. Your hands turn clammy. Maybe Jungkook can help you. Maybe Jungkook can save you. If this is the chance that the universe sends to you, you should take it, right? It is a perfect opportunity for you to lose the man behind you.

But, what if he shoots someone? Or worse, what if he shoots Jungkook?

You take a deep breath, your eyes looking at your feet, afraid of looking at Jungkook’s face. “The-there’s nothing for us to talk about,” you say coldly, pushing his hand away from the door and pushes the close button.

But this time, Jungkook is persistent. He doesn’t want to let you slip away from him. Again. “No.” He reaches out his hand again to block the door from closing. “We have to talk. You need to hear my explanation, at least.”

“I don’t want to!!” You push him away again, this time on his body, until he steps backward from the elevator. You don’t even realize how your hands tremble against his hard chest, how tears fall on your face like a waterfall. “Please... Just leave me alone…”

You step back inside the elevator, pushing the close door button again. But this time, Jungkook lets you.

If this is the last time I can see him….

You lift your head up to take a glance of his face from the closing door. You can’t see him clearly as your eyes filled with tears, and just like that. You sob on the ground of the elevator after the door closes, clenching your chest to tone down the tightening pain you feel.

“Well-well. Such a good girl.” The man behind you claps his hand. “Don’t worry, he’ll forgive you after he knows what happened with you and what you did for him.” He reaches to touch your cheek, which makes you flinch.

“You’re just a sick bastard,” you hiss, glaring to him.

He chuckles at your response and hits your face with his gun. He grabs your chin in his hand tightly, forcing you to see his eyes. “You’re really testing my patience, aren’t you?”

You’re shaking in his hands, a throbbing pain on your forehead also makes it worse. He releases your chin harshly and forces you to stand up as the car approaches the seventh floor. He pushes his gun again harshly on your side, with his other hand holding you close to him. You can feel his nasty breath on your neck.

I’m so going to die.

As the door opens and you walk through, that thought keeps lingering on your mind and it’s growing bigger with each step you take, and you can’t seem to shake it off. You can’t do anything right now, the only thing you can do is cry in silence, hope that at least it can ease your mind for a bit. But it doesn’t.

Why?

Because you don’t fucking know where the report is, exactly.

Jungkook remains speechless, his hands trying to reach for your hands but they escape him, leaving him grabbing the empty air. He only sees you walk back inside the elevator and he’s sure that he sees your tears when your eyes meet him.

He doesn’t understand you at all. Why then did Jin tell him that you want to see him? And why now you don’t want to? His hands turn into fists. He bites his lips harshly in desperation. Where are you going anyway?

No, he can’t just stay here. He needs to chase you. He needs to talk to you. He can’t let you again. He reaches his hand to push the elevator button but he stops midway.

Wait, why is there a cleaning service today?

He furrows his eyebrow, deep in thoughts, trying to remember any details of the cleaning service he saw earlier. He only looks at the cleaning service for a bit, he knows that it is a man, but Jungkook can’t really see his face since he faced the wall. He remembers the man turned his face when the door was closing, and Jungkook can see a bit of his face under the baseball cap. And suddenly his face turns white. He curses quietly and runs to the stairwell, not bothering to take the elevator anymore.

Jungkook grabs his phone from his pocket and scrolls to find Jin’s contact as he runs multiple steps at once. This might be dangerous and he needs his other agents, if what he’s thinking is true. If what he’s been afraid of come into reality.

“Hey, Jungkook-ah. Wha-”

“I saw Baekhyun, hyung. He was in the elevator with Y/N. I think they went to the seventh floor.” He says it quickly, interrupting Jin. Jungkook silently hopes that Jin can hear it perfectly as it is muffled with his pants and breaths.

Jin’s breath hitches on the other side of the phone. “What? Are you sure?”

“I’m not sure, I just saw him at a glance. I’m heading up right now. Tell the others!”

“Alright! Be careful!” Jin says and ends the phone call.

Jungkook puts his phone in his pocket and runs again. He runs, and runs, and runs, ignoring the fact that his lungs start burning in his chest.

Please be okay.

Like a spell, he repeats it over and over again. Like a prayer, he repeats it sincerely in his heart over and over again. Like a song, it is played in his mind over and over again.

I’m not going to let him hurt her again.

Like a vow, he says with all of his life.

He’s going to protect the woman he loves.

The silence in the seventh floor sends an eerie feeling to you, making your heart racing faster. Only God knows where the hell is the others when you need them. You feel the cold gun on your side, pushing harshly against your body. It is one of the things that makes you aware of what you’re doing right now, besides a throbbing pain on your head.

Baekhyun pushes you forward again. “So, where is it?”

You freeze on the spot, your hands getting clammy. You swallow dryly. “I-I’m not sure…”

“You what?” His eyes widen in anger and he shoves your body into a wall, sending a blunt pain to your back. “You dare to lie to me?” His hands somehow move to your neck, strangling it tightly.

You’re struggling to break free from his grip, kicking right and there, using all of your strength to push his hands away. Your chest is burning due to the lack of oxygen. Tears fall from your eyes. You feel weaker the more strongly you fight back and your eyes get blurry. Your consciousness fades along with the slowing of your heart beat.

And suddenly, Baekhyun releases you as he stumbles. You drop to the ground as you struggle to breath as much as you can. You open your eyes slowly, trying to see what’s he doing and there you see he is pushed to the ground by a familiar man.

Jungkook.

Jungkook hits Baekhyun as hard as he can. Baekhyun is perplexed for a second but after he processes what’s happening he starts to fight back. Baekhyun kicks Jungkook in the stomach. The situation turns around as Jungkook is pushed under him. The sound of the fight blares in your ears, trying to wake you up. You wince in pain as you gather all of your strength to stand up. You need to find help.

“Run!” Jungkook yells as he holds Baekhyun’s body tightly.

Baekhyun snarls, using his elbow to hit Jungkook’s nose, pushing him away. Your hands shake as Baekhyun suddenly changes his view to you and charges you, not giving you a chance to run away. Baekhyun pulls his gun from his pocket and points it to you. Your feet freeze as your eyes meet Baekhyun’s. “Bitch.”

Jungkook’s eyes widen at the sight before him and curses himself. He can’t believe that Baekhyun has a gun with him and through his laxity, Jungkook didn’t strip it. Jungkook groans and stands quickly to run to you. Please be okay.

Just as Baekhyun pulls the trigger, Jungkook jumps in front of you. The bullets pierce his right chest and his stomach. His body falls to the ground because of the impact. The blood starts seeping from his body.

Your jaw drops. You’re familiar with the smell of blood. You’re familiar also with the smell of the gunpowder. And when both of them are somehow incorporated in the air, it gives you a brand new smell that’s sickening.

The tears still fall from your eyes as you flop beside Jungkook, hesitantly touching him. Just less than an hour ago, you were dreaming about meeting him in a romantic way, but now this is only tragic.  sharp pain clutches your chest, making it hard for you to breathe again. Your thoughts are only filled with Jungkook but you can’t do anything.

But Jungkook is strong, maybe one of the strongest agents in the Company. So Jungkook sits up and moves you behind him, covering you perfectly.

“Kook…” you whisper in between sobs.

Jungkook keeps you behind him with his arms slightly trembling, gently soothing your skin. “I’m okay. Just stay behind me.” Even the slightest movement of his arms makes his chest hurt even more, but Jungkook hides it in his smile. The only thing in his head is how to make you get out of here safely, and he doesn’t care about the pain. Not when you are his priority.

Jungkook slowly lets go of his hands and stands up. You see how the blood spots are getting bigger and bigger, how it affects his posture as he loses his balance lightly. And after a few deep breaths, he puts on a stance, looking at Baekhyun with furious eyes.

Baekhyun snorts. “You think you can fight me bare-handed?” He still points his gun toward the both of you.

Without answering, Jungkook leaps forward to attack Baekhyun. It leaves Baekhyun caught off guard as he begins to fire the gun carelessly. Still, it grazes Jungkook’s body as he moves closer to him.

Not only that Jungkook is one of the strongest agents in the company, he has a killer kick. It’s the one that made the Company recruit him in the first place. He rarely uses it in his fights because he rarely has a chance to have hand-to-hand combat, and even if he had a chance, he doesn’t need to use it. And if Jungkook decides to use his best skills in this fight, there’s no way for Baekhyun to win. Jungkook begins to kick him again in his stomach and tries to target his hand.

And Baekhyun knows it too. So Jungkook begins to kick him again in his stomach and tries to target his hand. While Baekhyun stumbles, he fires his last bullet.

To your direction.

It’s too late for Jungkook to realize it, to jump again in front of you. As the bullet hits your shoulder, the new pain makes you fall back from the impact. Jungkook curses and turns his body to kick Baekhyun’s hand, sending the gun flying far from them and holding his hand to throw his body, locking him in between his legs, in a way that Baekhyun can’t move.

The doors and elevator open almost at the same time, and the agents barge in to arrest Baekhyun. Finally.

“Y/N!” Hoseok runs to you and shakes your shoulders. “Are you okay?” He helps you slowly sit up, carefully not to touch your wounds.

It’s over now… You sigh in relief, but your eyes turn panic when you see Jungkook’s shirt almost turn to pinkish, a mix of his blood and his sweat. “Kook…” and just as his name falls on your lips, Jungkook stumbles and drops to the ground.

Jimin and Taehyung move quickly to Jungkook to check on him. They look panicky as they move Jungkook’s body to a gurney with the help of paramedics. ”I’m going with him to the hospital.” Jimin says to Hoseok.

Hoseok nods and turns his face to you, his eyes falling on your bloodied shoulder. “Let’s get you to the hospital too.” He holds your elbow softly, helping you stand.

And just like that, everything turns black.

You open your eyes slowly. The harsh lights blind you and you blink as you adjust to it. You are met by the white ceiling above and white curtains all around you. The familiar smell of disinfectant steals into your nose, waking you up even more. You try to move your arms, to help you sit up, but there’s a shooting pain to your right shoulder. “Argh.”

“Yah. Y/N, you can’t move that carelessly!” Jimin yells as he puts his hand behind your back to help you.

You shake your head softly. “I’m okay. Where’s Jungkook?”

“He’s in his room. The surgery went well. Don’t worry.” Jimin says reassuringly and pushes your shoulder lightly to make you stay in the bed.

But you refuse, swinging your legs slowly over the edge of your bed. “I want to see him..” You use your left hand to hold the IV poll. But as your feet land on the floor, your body stumbles. Luckily, Jimin was holding you from falling. “I’m okay, I’m okay…”

Jimin looks at you with worry in his eyes. He holds your elbow tightly. “Y/N, you don’t look so well. Just rest for a bit.”

You shake your head again, tears threatening to fall again. “Please… let me see him just for a bit…”

He sighs. He knows how stubborn you are, and you won’t back down. “Fine. Hold on to me, okay? Tell me if you have any pain.”

Luckily, Jungkook’s room is just a few rooms from yours. Just when you are about to open his door, you hear voices yelling inside.

“Yah! You can’t move!”

“Jungkook-ah! Are you crazy?”

“She’s fine! Just stay in the bed!”

Your eyes widen in panic. You let go of Jimin’s arms and rush forward inside Jungkook’s room. The only thing in your mind is Jungkook, and Jungkook only. You want to make sure he’s okay. You want to see him again.

And your eyes meet his.

The other agents hold him tightly as he tries to walk to the door. He looks pale and pained, there’s bruises in his body. You see the bandages sneaking out from his gown. And it just makes your heart break and relieved at the same time. “Kook?”

His doe eyes look you from head to toe, blinking his teary eyes to see you clearer. “Y/N?”

His voice.

Your favorite one.

The only thing that gives you strength to step forward. The only thing that can make you run. The only thing that can make your heart leap.

And just like that you run to him, run to his embrace, rushing forward clumsily while dragging the IV poll.

Jungkook holds you tightly to his chest, not even caring if you jostle his wounds. He doesn’t even care if he feels the pain, in fact, he is glad he can feel it. So that he knows that this is real. That you are wrapped in his arms, still living and breathing before him.

Jungkook lets your scent and warmth envelop his body and he can feel the relief straight into his heart. He takes your face in his hands, looking at it carefully. He gulps a little when he spots a little wound on your forehead and bruises on your neck. “Are-are you okay?”

You sniff and let your tears fall from your eyes as you nod weakly. “Are you okay? Let’s get you back to your bed.”

“I’m okay,” he giggles but lets you hold him and take him back to the bed. And when you stumble again because of his weight, the other agents hop in to help both of you. Jin and Taehyung hold Jungkook and walk him to his bed while Jimin helps you.

Hoseok smiles at you as he drags a chair next to the bed, “We’re gonna let you talk for a bit, okay? Don’t talk too long, you both need to rest.” He pushes the other agents outside, giving you and Jungkook privacy.

It’s silent again.

But it’s comforting. And you kinda miss it.

It’s funny how just with the presence of Jungkook can stir your heart completely. Just by the presence of him, he can turn your mood around.

You bite your lips and fiddle with your gown. “Thank you for saving me. It must have hurt a lot.”

Jungkook smiles and reaches your face to wipe your tears away. “I’m sorry I didn’t come faster. You must have been frightened.”

And there it breaks you. Jungkook is the one who hurt the most, and yet he is the one who feels sorry. He is in pain, but he still thinks of you. What can you do to deserve to be with this nice man? No, you don’t deserve it all. And it just aches your heart even more. “What are you talking about….” you sob and turn away from him as you try your hard to stop the tears falling from your eyes.

Jungkook reaches your hand softly. “Please don’t turn away from me.. Please?” His other hand moves to pat your head lovingly. “Can we please have that talk now?”

You pout. “No. You need to rest. We can talk about it anytime after you get better.”

“I don’t want to. I have to tell you right now.” He takes a deep sigh. “I’ll go crazy if I keep this any longer.”

“But…”

“I’m sorry for what I did to you in your apartment. I was drunk and made stupid mistakes. I’m sorry.”

You nod quickly. “Yes, I know and I’ve forgiven you. Now, you should have some rest…”

“I didn’t know why I did it, but just so you know, I’ve always wanted to kiss you. I think I felt too rushed, but I didn’t do it just to tease you or make fun of your feelings. It’s jus-”

“Wait, what?” You look at him puzzled and raise one of your eyebrows. “You-you wanted to kiss me?”

He tilts his head at your response. “Yeah?”

“But, why?”

He takes a close look at your face, and swallows dryly. “Because I like you, Y/N.”

There is a pregnant silence as you blink your eyes, processing the sudden bomb of information. “Huh?” You scratch the back of your head confusedly. “You like me? Since when?”

He blushes as he smiles. “I don’t know. It just happened, I guess… Wait, you didn’t know?”

“Duh, this is an expression of a person who knew about it,” you say sarcastically as you point to your face.

Jungkook’s jaw drops. “I really thought I made myself really clear. Even the others knew about it!” He shakes his head in disbelief. “Anyway, I just felt so rushed because you’re gonna leave soon and I thought I’m gonna lose my chance. Also it might be because these feelings are little new for me, so I was a little confused. But I-”

“But I’m still with this Company for another 4 months…”

It’s his turn to process the information and then his face turns red as he lets go of your hand. “I thought… I’m just… hmmm. I’m gonna take my confession back then…”

“No! I won’t let you take it back.” You reach for his hand, holding it tightly. You look at him with a determination in your eyes and smile widely from ear to ear. “Thank you, I’m happy to hear it.”

Jungkook replies with a smile too as he sighs in relief. “But still, I have to say it again properly someday.”

You giggle as you squeeze his hand. “Sure, let’s take this slowly. We have a lot of time.”

You both hold each others’ hands with smiles on your faces. No word exchanged, as you both know how happy you are. How relieved you are to finally hold his warm hand again. How excited you are to guess what will happen to both of you. How ecstatic you are as you feel your heart races inside your chest.

The air freshener sprays in the corner of the room, breaking the silence between both of you. The scent of vanilla disperses in the air. Filling the room with nothing but sweet scent. Usually, you always stay away from the sweet type of smell and stick with anything musky, floral, or maybe just natural ones. But now, this specific type of smell becomes your favorite one. The sweetest scent to remind you about him. The sweetest scent that you can have everyday without feeling sick.

Jungkook coughs awkwardly, “I know, you said to take this slowly. But I just can’t help it…” He looks at you with pinkish cheeks as he squeezes your hand. “Can-can I kiss you?”

You reply with nothing but a smile and nod. You lean in a little so he can be closer to you just for a little bit. And just like that, he takes your face in his hands slowly and connects his lips with yours.

And you can feel it, how your hearts are connecting too.

Go check the other series because *sst... It’s all connected!

Series Masterlist: The Company

Taglist: @kb-bangtanenthusiast @w0lfqu33n @gee-nee @jaienn @nctssidehoe @codeinebelle​ @kali-20 @mygalaxysupernova​ @jeoncookie-bts​ @kookunot​ @1-in-abillion​ @beingbeings​ @enchantingbrowneyedgirl @yiyi4657​ @jinsalpaca​ @giadalin​ @spring2787​ @drmrastraea​ @katbonv​ @fluffyjoons​ @baebyjoonie​

Taglist open!

[gwoongi]

wordless pt.3

jeon jeongguk / reader genre: hitman (john wick au), sugar daddy au, angst rating: mature words: 3.5k warnings: toxic relationships, non graphic sex a/n: im sleepy but hey im also rly glad bts made a statement about the blm movement :D

Sometimes, saying “I love you” is inappropriate, and given your circumstances, you think it might send Jeongguk over the edge if he hears them again.

Parts: One, Two, Three, Four, Five

(21) Sharing your umbrella with them in the rain.

“Yeah, I did, I submitted it on Thursday. What do you mean, did it get a good mark, it’s only Monday.” As you near the front windows of the building, you sigh and stare at the gloomy clouds presented behind the glass. Korea is cold and wet and dark today. “Fuck, rain. Anyway, I’ll call you later, Eunji, okay?”

Eunji agrees and hangs up the phone before you get the chance to, and you’re left in the cool shadow of the largest cloud in the sky. From nine until eleven, you have a morning class on Monday; today, due to request from at least five students confused by the essay title that was due on Friday evening, the class ran for an additional hour and a half, all of the subject material covered with a general extension for the following Fri. Typical, as you rushed it to hand it in before submission.

“Not going home, Y/N?”

You suck your top teeth with disappointment, “Not yet, Professor, I need to make a call.”

The slim professor arrives at your elbow, “Boyfriend?”

“Not really,” you confess. You glance at your phone and find Jeongguk’s number, “but he owes me a few favours here and there, it won’t hurt to bring an umbrella or something.”

“Good luck,” she laughs. She doesn’t offer her umbrella, despite it being tucked under her armpit, and her car is parked in sight close to the windows. At that, she leaves and you send Jeongguk a quick text message. If he’s working presently, the text will annoy him less than a call.

Raining! I’m stuck, can you send some to come and get me?

Jeongguk must be in office, because his reply is speedy. Forget your subway card again?

I never ask for anything, would it hurt you to send someone to get me?

He doesn’t reply for five minutes, and then, Uni, right?

It takes at least fifteen minutes before a vehicle pulls up across the small car-park; it’s a black car, shiny and wet and loud, and you bristle at its entry. Quickly, you hug your coat closer around your body and when you glance back up towards the window, you’re surprised to see Jeongguk himself briskly crossing the lot with an umbrella over his head.

“I’m here to pick up a Y/N L/N, you seen her?” he asks when he reaches the door, smiling as you haul it open and stare at him with happy surprise. “You did not dress for the weather.”

“The app said it would be cloudy,” you huff.

“Baby, it’s January, what did you expect,” Jeongguk sighs, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and bringing you closer to his body. Like this, he walks alongside you towards the car and for a moment, he glances around the complex out the corner of his eye. This University isn’t the dog's bollocks, because as much as he’s willing to help fund you at University, he can’t pay for you to be smarter. You’re pretty happy where you are, not being at a big-name University but doing the exact same degree anyways. He’s happy that you’re happy, but if it were him, he’d probably redecorate the front.

(22) Listening to them while they vent.

When Jeongguk vents, he doesn’t just vent. He never sits you down in front of him and lets it all out, nor does he slink away to therapy, or whining over the phone, or sleepy pillow talk where everything feels safer when you’re seconds away from falling asleep.

Instead, Jeongguk fucks away his problems, and as he does it, you tend to get an earful.

“And,” he grunts, one slap, one thrust, “I fucked it up.” One more. “All of it.” Another groan, a deeper push, “Fuck!”

You like to let him get it all out, and on the plus side, you get what you need which is to relieve the pressure of wanting in your stomach. It’s better when he’s angry, better for both of you, and he’s full of apologies when he’s finished, as if he was yelling at you and not at himself.

“Last time I ever work with Taehyung,” he spits. “Fuck. Ugh.”

You’ll ask him about it later.

(23) Taking a picture together to print and hang later.

One night, you’re over at Jeongguk’s. It’s not unusual that you’re here, especially when you’re here so often that his house feels like your own. From the bathroom, the shower runs loudly and Jeongguk sings, mostly to himself, in the water, meanwhile you dance around his kitchen making tea and bringing it to the bedroom where he’ll come in later when he’s done.

His room is golden and warm, and the curtains are drawn but the thin netting softens the sunset outside. You circle around the end of Jeongguk’s bed and set his cup on the bedside table on his side, closest to the window, when you notice something new sitting in a frame by the lamp. Okay, you’ll bite.

You put down both mugs and in exchange pick up the frame. Something warm bubbles inside your stomach as you look down at the frame; the picture, you’ve never seen before, but it’s of you. You remember the photo being taken in Colmar, the time that Jeongguk came to see you to satisfy his own boredom and need. Never did you imagine it would be a photo he’d print, let alone put in a frame next to his bed. It’s a pretty photo, too, with the river behind you and the sun on your skin, your hair only slightly in your face.

Not a perfect photo, but a pretty one. Jeongguk must like it enough to have printed it.

The shower cuts off in the bathroom and you move quickly, protecting an image of innocence as you put the frame back where it once was, and pick up your mug and place it on your bedside table. You’ve placed Jeongguk’s mug so that he could take it both ways. Maybe he’ll think you didn’t see the frame, or maybe he’ll know you did. He must have put it there for a reason, you think, and then you stop thinking when Jeongguk opens the bathroom door and enters the bedroom.

(24) Tracing your names together in the sand.

Jeongguk had a call from Hawaii. It was brief, and you imagine not very pleasant, but he had to go nonetheless. Jeongguk sure as hell wasn’t going to go to Hawaii without you, no matter how dangerous that might be for him. He told you with two hours notice to pack up your shit and meet him at his place. The plane took off three hours later, and Hawaii here you come.

He never liked to be late, or behind schedule, and so the job that needed to be done was done in a record breaking speed. Like always, he’d have some time to kill before needing to flee to avoid the authorities, and when Jeongguk heads back home after the deed is done, he steps into an empty room and his skin runs cold.

“Y/N?” he calls, to no response. He sets down his things and moves around the suite, his eyes darting to every area.

There is a moment where Jeongguk fears for the worst and out of instinct grabs the gun tucked into his belt. He pulls it out in the bedroom but pauses when out of the corner of his eye, he sees a person standing on the beach just outside the window. Jeongguk pauses.

Outside, the sun is warm and burning orange, sinking down into the pretty waves. You could get used to Hawaii, maybe, if you failed at journalism at the end of your degree, or if Jeongguk hurt your feelings enough that you felt living in Korea itself would be too painful to endure.

“Y/N!”

You turn over your shoulder, noticing Jeongguk stepping down from the dunes. He’s still in his suit, a black fit that makes him look slender and tall and absolutely stunning. His hair is still wild and wet and there’s blood on the inside of his blazer, a red that contrasts the white of his shirt. You won’t mention it, because he probably knows already.

“Hey,” you call back.

“It’s- it’s not safe for you to be out here on your own,” he explains, finally by your side. “Fuck, I was worried you’d been kidnapped, or something.”

“Oh, sorry,” you reply. “The sunset was just too pretty.”

Jeongguk sighs with his hands on his hips. “Yeah, it is. Hawaii does sunsets better than Korea, that’s for sure.”

Jeongguk stands next to you and says nothing for a few seconds. The sunset is indeed gorgeous, like something ripped out of a painting from a gallery somewhere fancy and famous. You hum quietly, and jump slightly to the left to grab a large stick off the sand. Jeongguk has to stop himself from smiling as you pick it up, like a kid who pretends the stick is a sword.

“I used to write rude things in the sand for the people in planes who flew past, every single time we went on vacation when I was a kid,” you announce.

Jeongguk laughs, “You were some kid, huh?”

“Maybe you killed the wrong one,” you think, and Jeongguk frowns.

“Can you not bring that up all the time?” You look at him and he frowns deeper, “I know you’re happy about it and stuff, but like...not my proudest moment. Makes me feel sucky.”

“Oh,” you answer. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. Just a joke.”

He shrugs, “I know. But still.”

You stab the sand with the stick. “I thought maybe it was like, fitting?”

Jeongguk lifts his head to the sky and closes his eyes. “Can’t we have a trip where we just pretend to be in love or something so I don’t feel so shit about the reason why we came here?”

That shuts you up for a moment, and you turn fully to face him as he continues to stare at the sky.

“Like Colmar, maybe,” you press, and he looks down.

“Yeah.”

It sits there for a bit, like you’re genuinely contemplating it, but then you straighten with a little huff and turn to him.

“Seems fair,” you agree.

Jeongguk almost exhales a sigh of relief and he smiles, genuinely, and follows you across the beach. The tide is a little out, the sand damp where the sea once was and like children, you embrace the fun that’s waiting to be had on the shores. Chasing the waves, running from them, staring at cute crabs that scurry across the sand and laughing at the cute kids that drop their ice creams in the water.

Jeongguk takes the stick gently from your hand and points it towards the white sand, pressing the tip against the grains. You smile against his arm as you bend to see what he draws; the stick drags across the sand and outlines a J, and the first initial of your name. Oh, you think, as he closes them inside a heart and stands back to admire his work.

It’s cute, childishly cute, and he looks proud. Jeongguk beams at you for approval and you smile back, happy.

“Photo,” you say and Jeongguk drops to a crouch near the design and poses with the stick. This photo is cute, probably cuter than the one from Colmar. Jeongguk even lets you keep it.

(25) Wearing clothes in their favourite colour.

Jeongguk’s favourite colour was white, and he loved the way a white shirt or a white coat or any white accessory would look on you. Sadistically he’d love you in the white clothes he ruins, seeing you wrap your body in a white shirt dressed with blood. White was his muse, a colour of purity and innocence. Although he always wore black for work, he had to have an admiration for the colour of white, standard paper or milk white.

Jeongguk knows that your favourite colour is green. He can tell by the amount of green plants around your apartment, and the green blankets and pillows and mugs and the unusual amount of green clothing items you have in your wardrobe. He even remembers the tie you bought him once, a Slytherin green that he actually really likes despite his Hogwarts house being Ravenclaw.

You’ve never actually seen him wear the tie, not until today when Jeongguk makes a quick stop by your apartment as he heads back to the office. He steps inside with a brown bag filled with bagels and he kisses your forehead by the front door and hands them to you. You see the tie and smile; Jeongguk sure as hell looks great in your favourite colour.

(26) Doing a chore for them that you know they aren’t fond of.

You’re lucky that you never really came across Elio, never once when you were at Jeongguk’s home. You had assumed that Elio was sleeping, or elsewhere on days you visited or nights you slept over. To your surprise and perhaps horror, you discovered that Elio had been there all along, just disinterested in coming out to see you from the few rooms that Jeongguk converted into his own personal habitat.

“You just had him here all this time?” you screech quietly, running back into the bedroom after seeing Elio on the couch. “What the fuck.”

“He’s harmless,” Jeongguk shrugs. “He’s not interested in a human diet right now.”

“Right now? That’s not comforting,” you reply. “I’m happy to go through all your shitty paperwork for you, it’s something I actually enjoy, but can you please go out and get them for me?”

Jeongguk cocks his head to the side, “why, can’t find them?”

“They’re in the living room, on the table,” you explain, peering back out, “but Elio’s on the couch.”

He laughs, rising, “He’s not gonna even touch you.”

“He might.”

“He won’t.”

“You don’t know that!”

“No, but he doesn’t hurt me, so he won’t hurt you.”

You gape. “What? He’s your pet, of course he won’t hurt you. He trusts you. He doesn’t even know me.”

Jeongguk sighs loudly and ruffles your hair as he crosses your path. “Whatever. You’re such a fuckin pussy,” then he kisses your neck and heads out into the living room. You quiver by the doorway as he moves without a flinch towards Elio.

The giant cat picks his head up off the couch and yawns in Jeongguk’s direction, his tail swooshing prettily over the side of the couch. His black fur blends into the blanket he lies on and as he blinks slowly, Jeongguk reaches to pet his head and behind his ears. Elio basks in the love, pressing his head further into Jeongguk’s palm, oddly dog-like. Jeongguk spends a few more moments with his beloved exotic and then finally, like he’s reluctant to, picks up the large and messy stack of papers and then walks back towards the bedroom with a smug expression. Elio’s head falls back to sleep.

“Touch me, check I’m still alive after my dangerous encounter,” Jeongguk says, bringing the papers into the room and dropping them on the bed.

“Shut up,” you huff.

(27) Leaving a plate of food in the microwave for when they have a late shift.

A call from Eunji at eight in the evening destroys all the plans you had set in place. Jeongguk had been called to meet with one of the founders of the South Korean Continental, and wouldn’t be back until around nine. You had prepped an entire meal, sitting ready on the side for when he got home.

“I’m sorry, I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t absolutely important,” Eunji apologises, sounding flustered on the line, “I just. I didn’t know who else to call. I went back to the library, I think I got rid of him, but he was definitely following me from the restaurant. Fuck, Y/N, it was so scary.”

“Hey, it’s okay, I’m glad you called me,” you assure her, already putting your shoes on, “I can’t believe he showed up again. Didn’t he get put in jail?”

Eunji hums like she’s not convinced, “Out on bail, eighty kay.”

“Fuck. Do you, uh,” you start, thinking of if it’s okay to say, “want me to call someone else?” Jeongguk?

Eunji is one of the only people alive who knows about Jeongguk. She had been your best friend since you were seven, and was one of the only people who remained by your side after Jeongguk had your brother executed, and after you decided to become Jeongguk’s little play thing for a few weeks until he lost control and kept you around. Eunji’s no stranger to his antics, and if you warped the story a little, Jeongguk would have no issues with sorting the problem at hand.

“No, no, don’t,” Eunji begs. “He’ll take it too far. People will point fingers at me. Can you just come and get me?”

“Of course,” you tell her. “We’ll go back to mine, I can see Jeongguk whenever.”

Eunji exhales in relief, “I love you, you know that? You’re the best friend ever.”

You hang up a few minutes later and stare sadly at the meal. But it can’t be helped. Jeongguk’s bailed on you a thousand times for his colleagues. He wouldn’t mind, after a few hours of thinking about it. You sigh with repent and move the food towards the microwave.

Rescuing Eunji. Call me, I can come back tomorrow. Please eat.

Jeongguk finds the note when he gets home and scrunches it into a ball in the bin.

He eats alone, in silence, the other side of the table still prepped for another person.

(28) Sharing a drink with them from the same straw.

“Enjoy the movie!”

“Thanks.”

Jeongguk takes the two tickets from the vender and steers you towards the corridor that leads to the rooms. On this rare occasion, Jeongguk has decided to court you. Quite literally, Jeongguk had called you up and asked if you wanted to go on a date, or something, because he was bored and liked you most, and he knows there’s a movie you’ve been wanting to see.

“Are you sure you wanna watch it with me?” you ask him, even though he’s already got the tickets and is walking next to you.

“Yeah, of course, why wouldn’t I?”

“I just didn’t think you were a cinema kind of person,” you confess.

Jeongguk hums, “To be honest, I’m not. But this movie looks good, and you wanna see it, and how often do we do things that you wanna do?”

It’s true.

The cinema room is dark and empty, since you’re both early to begin with. As always, it’s a little bit sticky and smelly, and Jeongguk pushes you towards the back row because it is inarguably the best place to sit in the cinema. You set down the large drink in between you both, two straws poking out in each of your directions.

“It’s great this movie is showing here,” you say quietly.

“Yeah, well the LGBT plus movement is really popular now, people are a lot more accepting of it,” Jeongguk states. “I mean, look at how well The Handmaiden did.”

You nod, “great movie.”

“It is,” he agrees. A few minutes later and the lights dim significantly, the movie is probably about to start. Jeongguk leans to the left a little and sips from the drink.

(29) Tucking their hair behind their ear to help them get it out of their face.

Uni’s tough, nobody said it wasn’t. Jeongguk doesn’t really understand this, since he never went to University. He brings a mug of tea from the kitchen to his bedroom where you’re sitting cross-legged staring at a laptop, setting it to the side and sitting just behind you but to your side, watching you closely.

“You’re doing it again.”

“Doing what,” you mutter dimly.

“Overworking yourself,” Jeongguk replies, “I can see your brain fucking pulsing against your skull.”

You sigh loudly. “I can’t do this. Why did I enroll in University? I should have just put it all away after high school and become a trophy wife.”

Jeongguk’s brows furrow. “You can still be a trophy wife, you’ll just be a smart one.”

You look at him. “I’m not smart enough for this.”

For a while, Jeongguk doesn’t say anything, and he just sits listening to you. As you vent, and open up about how hard it is to do this damn degree, Jeongguk watches your face and your body and uses his fingers to gently tuck the hair that falls in front of your face behind your ear. The passion that pours out of you when you’re frustrated is an unspoken beauty that you’re not even aware of, and Jeongguk eats it up.

He does what he can to put you at ease, because things he says in encouragement are things you already know anyway. Like all humans, all you need is a little bit of love, and Jeongguk’s happy to give it if it means you’re happy with him.

(30) Helping scratch that itch on their back they can’t reach.

“Can’t reach. Baby, scratch my back for me?”

You cringe away from the TV, “what the fuck am I? Your maid?”

“Please?”

You sigh. “Where’s it itching?”

“Thanks, you’re the best.”

“You don’t pay me enough for this.”

“I don’t pay you at all.”

Sigh. “Exactly.”

[mcytrabbithole]

The Crash (Prologue Pt.1)

The beginning of a multi-chapter fic that I’m writing! This involves members of Hermitcraft and the Dream SMP and the chaos that follows when they end up thrown into a new situation together!

I will put all my notes about each chapter up here along with any warnings that I feel the need to write up here. 

Warning: Temporary blindness, our Hermits being in some pain

Word Count: 1802

It started out like any other day on the Hermitcraft server. People were building, playing Decked Out, working on gathering more mycelium for the resistance, just enjoying themselves. Well...most of them were enjoying themselves

Xisuma was currently making his way through the shopping district, walking around, trying to figure out what in the name of the Nether was making everything feel so...off. He had checked the coding of the server about five times, nothing was miscoded or anything like that. Though Xisuma could feel that something was wrong, being an admin made him more connected to the server than anyone else on the server. It was like he could feel the change, but couldn’t figure out where it was.

He hadn’t planned on talking to anyone about it, hoping that he’d be able to resolve it on his own, but he sees a message pop up on the chat through his helmet. 

Grian has experienced kinetic energy

rendog: You okay?

Grian: I wasn’t even flying??? I was just standing around. I don’t know what just happened 

Xisuma frowned as he looked at the messages. That meant something was wrong with the server. He uses his helmet to look at what had happened to Grian and grumbled a bit, that was definitely not supposed to happen. Grian had just been working on sorting through some chests so he could prepare stuff for The Barge and then boom, dead. 

Xisuma: That definitely wasn’t supposed to happen. I’ll see if I can figure out what caused it. 

Xisuma finds himself a place to sit down, sitting down on the little porch of the Stat Poker game building as he begins to work his way through the code for what felt like the millionth time. As he looked through it, he swears he sees something out of the corner of his eye, but he chalks it up to just being stressed out from trying to figure out what was causing the problem. 

After a while of scrolling through the code and rewatching the video of Grian’s mystery death, he hears some rockets go off and then the sound of someone landing in front of him. Xisuma moves the chat to the side and sees that Keralis is the one in front of him, wearing his construction outfit and seeming like he was looking for something. 

Though once Keralis sees Xisuma, he grins,” Shiswam! Just the bee that I wanted to see!” Xisuma wasn’t wearing his bee outfit, but he appreciated the pun none the less. “Hey Keralis, what’s up?” Xisuma figured that Keralis coming to find him could mean any number of things. Though he had a feeling that this was about a glitch or something similar. 

“I seem to have ran into a problem at my base and was wondering if maybe you could come help me? I can’t figure out what’s causing it.” Keralis had been trying for over two hours to get this sorter at his base working, he had double checked and yet it still wasn’t working right. “What seems to be the problem?” Xisuma asks this, already pulling up what he could about  Keralis’ base. “I’ve been working on a sorter and I know I’ve got the redstone right, but no matter what I do, it won’t sort.” Keralis may or may not have thrown his construction hat a view times while he was trying to work on it. 

“Do you think it might be a weird piston?” Xisuma asks this as he looks over it, searching through until he found the sorter in question. Everything looked like it was right, the code looked right, the sorter in general looked right. He frowns as he looks it over,” This is weird...everything looks right, even the code looks right...and it just won’t sort?” One is an accident, twice is a coincidence. If one more weird thing happens, then he’ll know that this isn’t just a weird server day. 

As if the universe was listening to Xisuma’s thoughts, a wave of pain shot through him, like he had been stabbed with a sword that had been enchanted to the nether and back. It was only pain in his head, but he found himself grasping onto his helmet for dear life. He hadn’t been in pain like this in a long time. “Shiswam, is something wrong?” Keralis noticed that pain right away, Xisuma never grabbed onto his helmet like that unless he was getting one of the migraines that he rarely got. Those migraines only ever came around on the days where something had gone really wrong and he had spent nether knows how long messing with the code to get it fixed. 

“M-my head.” Xisuma manages to speak, keeping his eyes shut. This was somehow worse than every one of those god awful migraines combined. “Is it one of your migraines? Do you need to get the helmet off?” Keralis takes a careful step forward, not wanting to get too close to his friend incase he needed space. Xisuma shakes his head, he wasn’t taking his helmet off unless he had to. “I just need to let it pass.” Xisuma takes a deep breath, hoping that it would stop. 

And it did stop...but when it did, he opened his eyes...and there was nothing there, it was void, endless nothing, a black empty void. For the first time since he was a child, Xisuma felt nothing but pure fear. “Keralis?” He asks this, his voice shaking like a leaf. “I’m right here, Shiswam.” Keralis’ voice was right in front of him, speaking softly. “I-I can’t see.” Xisuma had known Keralis for long enough that he allowed himself to let the fear show a bit more than what he would've normally shown. “It’ll be alright, Shiswam, I’m sure it’s just the server throwing a bit of a fit.” Keralis was trying to keep calm, but the worry he felt for his friend was worry that made his heart hurt. 

The blindness didn’t stop, but what happened soon after was further proof that things were going very wrong. Keralis had taken a seat next to Xisuma, trying to help him ground himself and not getting lost to the panic he felt...when Keralis got the hit of pain just like Xisuma had earlier. Little did the two know, that at that moment, all across the server, hermits were getting flashes of pain like none of them had felt before, none of them got it as bad as Xisuma did, but it still hurt like all hell. 

Keralis had sucked in a sharp breath, gripping onto the porch for dear life. This wasn’t good. If this was anywhere near the pain that Xisuma had felt, then Xisuma handled it like a champ. “Keralis? What’s wrong?” Xisuma heard that breath, that wasn’t a good sign. He couldn’t see the code, he couldn’t see anything, he hated this so much. “My head.” Keralis says this as he takes his construction helmet off yet again, holding it in his hands and just squeezing it that way he wouldn’t be pulling at his hair.

“It’s happening to you too?” Xisuma hated this. He felt helpless, like he couldn’t do anything to help his friend. “It should pass, give it a few minutes...let’s just hope it doesn’t blind you like it did me.” Xisuma manages to find Keralis’ shoulder and give it a squeeze, hoping that it would stop faster for Keralis than it stopped for him. Keralis closed his eyes, hoping that if he closed  them then it might stop a bit faster.

As they waited for Keralis’ pain to vanish, all around the server, people found themselves in similar positions. False had been in the Nether, helping Stress with setting up her path to the Nether Hub, when the pain had hit them both and sent them both crashing to the floor, hitting some minecarts in the process. Wels had been nearby, doing some work on his portal when he had heard the loud crash of the minecarts, so he decided to go check and see what caused it. 

Wels had seen the girls on the ground and gone running to them, hoping that he might be able to help, but only for the pain to hit him at that very moment...and sending him crashing into a minecart head first. Not his best moment, but at least he had his helmet to protect him. The sound of him crashing into the minecart didn’t help the pain in their heads, if anything it made everything all the worse, especially for Wels since his helmet hit the cart and the cart practically slammed the helmet back at his head, which hurt a lot more than 

In a similar turn of events, Grian, Impulse, and Etho were all in the Mycelium Resistance base, working away on actually getting the base looking like a proper base. The other resistance members were out doing things like getting materials, checking their shops, that sort of a thing. 

First it was Impulse, who was sorting shulkers at the new meeting table, who just grabbed the nearest chair and sat down cause he knees nearly gave out from the pain. Then it was Etho, who had been writing down the amount of mycelium that they had gathered up and doing a tiny bit of math as he tried to figure out how many mycelium they could make in an hour. He had been standing by the mycelium generator, when he felt the pain hit him, causing him to drop his book as he leaned against the wall to try and keep himself steady. Finally, it was Grian, who was working on the walls of the base. He had seen Etho and Impulse sit down and had been a bit confused, then the wave hit him and he almost fainted from the pain as he sat down against the stone wall. All the three could do was look at one another, unable to speak from the pain. 

The pain spread through the server like wildfire...and soon enough the pain had gripped onto every member of the server. As people all around the server began to hit the ground, gasping for breath as they tried to figure out what was happening, they felt the change in the air, felt the change in what felt like the very core of their codes. As they all shut their eyes, hoping that the pain would stop, they felt it, things had just changed, yet they couldn’t seem to open their eyes to see what had happened. 

Suddenly, the pain stopped, and their eyes shot open. What they saw was that they were all now in an open field in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere...and they weren’t the only ones there. 

[afewmarvelousthoughts]

My Only Comfort

Master List: @afewmarvelousthoughtsadmin​

Pairing: Bucky X Reader

Summary: Periods can suck. Supportive partners, less so.  (This is in the “Only For A Moment” universe but can be read as a one shot.)

Warnings: None just FLUFF

A/N: This is purely self service. Idk if anyone will even care to read this. BUT my period had been brutalizing me for days and I just wanted to write a quick little fluffy bit to make myself feel better. Maybe you need it too! 

It’s funny how easy it is to forget the little things over the years. Like how you loved the cherry blossoms in Brooklyn. Or how costume storage often smelled like mothballs and vodka. Or how much being on your period absolutely sucked. 

When you had your first full medical exam in Wakanda and they asked when your last cycle had been you honestly couldn’t say. It wasn’t something you spared much thought to. Until then you hadn’t even thought much about birth control or any other form of contraception. For a moment you’d felt a little surge of panic. 

Turned out you were worried over nothing, at least as far as getting knocked up went. 

You almost laughed when they found that Hydra had sterilized you. For years you’d fought to get your tubes tied or any other kind of permanent birth control - the last thing you needed or wanted was to bring a kid into the world - only to be constantly denied due to your age. For once, Hydra had done something you’d actually appreciated. 

Your lack of a menstrual cycle could be pretty easily chalked up to them likely controlling it with hormones when they had you and the time after to constant stress. No big deal. 

Except, being in Wakanda had taken away a massive load of that stress. No longer were you afraid to be found daily, living a false life, always ready for the next fight. Now, you were rebuilding your life, both of you were. It was almost a dream. 

Until your uterus made you dream of being stressed enough to shut her up again. 

Your first period had been pretty light, nothing to really complain about. This one though… Maybe Hydra had actually replaced your uterus with a tiny angry monster that was going to claw its way from your body Alien style. 

Around 3 a.m. you wake, your entire lower body screaming literal bloody murder. 

Slithering from the bed you’ve only one thought on your mind - hot, steaming, scalding water. Quickly you rid yourself of your wrecked underwear and turn on the shower. Leaning your head against the tile wall you let the water pound against your throbbing back, silently praying your body will stop this mutiny so you can get some sleep. 

 Tomorrow was a full day with classes and drills with the Dora Milaje, none of which you wanted to miss. There wasn’t time for this bullshit. 

Sighing you open your eyes, turning to face the water and catch a figure outside the steam covered shower glass. Logically, you know it’s Bucky but your tired foggy brain still sends a startled gasp tumbling out of your mouth. Some warrior you were. 

“Holy shit, Buck!” You exclaim, opening the door enough to see him. 

“Sorry!” He holds his hand up, face looking a little pale. “There was blood and - I just, I didn’t think.” 

Guilt and just the slightest bit of embarrassment flood you. In the grip of the pain, you hadn’t even thought to check the bed. Of course, his mind would go to the darkest option first upon seeing blood. 

“No, it’s ok.” You move to turn off the water, “I’ll deal with it. Sorry.” His hand stops yours. When you look back that kind smile is on his lips, it always sucked your breath right from your chest. 

“There’s nothing for you to deal with. Take your time.” He must read the defiance in your expression. “If you’re not in this shower for at least 10 more minutes I’m dragging you back into it myself.” 

“That sounds like a challenge,” you quip before a stab of pain makes you groan. He kisses your knuckles and leaves you to the steamy room. 

When you finally turn off the water, a little pruney but feeling a bit better you find one of Bucky’s shirts and a fresh pair of underwear on the counter. This man. Toweling your hair you step out to thank him only to see him remaking the bed with fresh sheets. 

“Babe,” you protest, “you didn’t have to-”

“Hush.” He gestures to a steaming mug on your bedside table. “It’s the tea Okoye gave me, the relaxing one.” Before you can say anything he reads your mind, “I know you hate tea but drink it anyway.”

“Just hot leaf juice,” you grumble with a smile on your face as you lift the mug to your nose to smell the contents. Earthy and slightly floral. 

“Coffee is technically hot bean juice,” he says, putting a pillow back in its case. 

“Blasphemy! I demand a divorce.”

He rolls his eyes, “Maybe when the sun’s out. Get in bed.”

“But my hot leaf juice,” you say in a false whine. He settles his back against the padded headboard, arm held out. 

“You can bring your leaf juice, just come here.” 

With a sigh, you crawl into bed. Bucky holds you tight, your back to his chest. You sip your tea, begrudgingly admitting that it wasn’t the worst and seemed to be coaxing your tense muscles into submission. 

“Thank you for changing the sheets,” you say, voice groggy. 

“Of course, doll. Anything else I can do?” You shake your head, tucked under his chin. “Here,” he plucks the half-empty mug from your hands, setting it on his nightstand. 

He scootches you both down into the warm fresh bed. Your head rests on his chest and unerringly your right-hand finds it’s way over to the steady beat of his heart, the feeling of its rhythm under your palm always soothing. 

Before you drift off you hear him whisper, “Sleep well, sweetheart.” 

Your alarm is an unholy sound scant hours later. 

“Not yet,” you grumble - hand flopping to turn it off. 

“Not at all,” Bucky says, his own voice still thick with sleep. 

“I have to-”

“You ‘aveta’ nothin’,” a bit of that long lost accent slips out. Even in your exhausted state, it makes you smile. “You need to rest.”

“Bucky,” you sit up, “it’s a period, not the flu I will be-”

“Staying home. Glad we agree.” He hooks his arm around you tugging you to him.

“I need to at least let Okoye know-”

“I told her last night. Now. Sleep.” 

You do. Hard and deep. When you awake it’s to the familiar smell of bacon and the sound of Bucky, singing softly along to the Beetles in the kitchen - the words to “Hey Jude” clear.

The only dark spot on the otherwise perfect moment was the feeling that you were still being torn at from the inside. Quietly you swear that this is the last time - whatever you have to do you’ll do it to keep this beast at bay moving forward. 

Before going to the kitchen you fist one of Bucky’s flannel button-ups from the closet and slip it on over your tee. The familiar scent so soothing. 

“Morning gorgeous,” Bucky beams at you as you walk into the kitchen. 

“Haha,” you say. You’d seen yourself in the mirror. Shit was rough. 

Turning from his pan he catches you before you get your mug. His blue eyes glitter causing your heart skips several beats. When he kisses you he tastes like coffee and love and home. 

“You are always beautiful to me, Y/N.” 

You smile so big your cheeks hurt, “Sap.” Batting him away playfully you pour a mug of coffee. 

“Go on and have a seat,” he says pulling the bacon out. “The eggs’ll be quick.” 

You perch cross-legged at the little two-seater table, unable to hold back a contented sigh.

Eggs plated he brings the food to the table. Your heart swells, as it does any time he makes you breakfast, always reminding you of the first morning you spent together. 

“One more thing,” he heads back into the kitchen and pulls out something from the oven, covered in foil. 

“Pancakes?!” You stare in mouthwatering wonder. 

“Yup,” he says smugly, reaching into a cabinet to produce syrup. He tops off your coffee before settling down.

“I say we eat, take a nap, eat again, maybe watch something. I’ll cook dinner, and-”

“You’re going to cook dinner?” You ask, more than a little surprised. Bucky was pretty confident in the breakfast realm but dinner was a different thing. 

“I’ve been learning!” He protests. It was true, he often joined you in the kitchen, though he tended to be a bit frustrated by your inability to give clear instructions. His face softens as he reaches his hand across the table to stroke the back of your hand. 

“Let me take care of you.” It’s not a question. He’s learned that sometimes he has to match your stubborn self-sufficiency with his own immovable will. And for your part, you’re learning that it’s not so bad to let someone take the wheel from time to time. 

You smile and nod, surprisingly happy to let go and bask in the comfort of his care.

@bluegirlusa1  @l0kisbitch  @tazzi-baby  @disagreetoagree  @woodyandbuzz20-01  @mooniightbucky   @saundrasays  @breezy1415  @alyssaj23  @mywinterwolf  @wonderlandmind4​  @fairislesheets  @anamcg317​  @buckaroo-barnes​  @jazztherebel​  @peachthatdrinkslemonade​  @regulusirius​   @auskitty​ @babyimp1967​ @katecolleen​  @handplucked​  @stevehesaidabadlanguageword​  @darkdragonphoenix​  @issanitydead​  @thestorydetective​  @buckysstar​  @wintersoldierswhore  @greyeyedsmile14​  @watchoutforfrostbite​  @for-the-love-of-the-fandom​  @jewelofwinter​  @siriuslycloudy2​  @hardygal69​  @marvelousmeggi  @jdoenson​  @gamorazenn​ @wildmoonflower​ @cutie1365​ @demonlover87​ @winterboobearsworld @this-kitten-is-smitten​ @damnaged-princess

[bogariel-frogariel]

A Wish For A Better World Part 2: A New Day, A New Life

Another part of my time travel fic.

Here is the ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25747657/chapters/62572741#workskin

Please give me food name puns. I need help.

------

Ruby's head spun as her back hit the soft mattress. She had to blink tears out of her eyes when she felt her sister's now-unfamiliar weight on her. How did she have forgotten this feeling so quickly?

This couldn't be possible. This wasn't real.

She was hallucinating. This was one last fantasy dreamed up by her mind before she died. Or before she experienced whatever the consequences of her actions were.

"Hey, Ruby, what's wrong?" Jet asked her, her voice holding the tenderness that she reserved only for when she was worried about Ruby.

Ruby swallowed back a sob. She'd gotten really good at doing that over the years.

She hesitated, but then decided to indulge herself, to immerse herself in this illusion. One last perfect, innocent, carefree day. Or however long the universe would allow her.

Ruby sniffed and smiled. "Nothing. It's just… we're fourteen now."

Jet grinned brightly. "I know. We're so old!"

Ruby swallowed again but Jet didn't notice her affected mood, bouncing off the bed and running over to her room.

"Come on, if we don't look proper, Mum will be mad at us, and I want to stay on her good side today. Dad said he was going to give us a surprise."

Ruby remembered.

They had managed to stay good that day, making it to midday without getting in trouble. Theo and some of the other Knights of North-Gumbia had followed them and their father as they went out and had lunch in Dulcington. When they got back, Calroy and their father had treated them both to a combat lesson. Of course, their mother had found out, and Ruby distinctly recalled hearing the echoes of her parents' fight about it, though her mother had not addressed it to them. It was one of the few things in her life she hadn't told Jet about.

Ruby frowned. She wondered why her subconscious chose this day. Why not the day after, when they'd slipped out of Lapin's class and gone to the secret fights held by the kids and street urchins in the Dulcington? Jet had wrestled her way to the top of the charts and Ruby had talked her way out of getting stabbed. On top of that, shad also successfully stolen from the four older kids who had pickpocketed her on her excursion the week prior. It had earnt them the respect that had them commanding the streets for the next four years. There had been challengers, of course, but none had been able to best them when they worked as a team. And they always worked as a team.

That had been a good day made even better by the fact that they had managed to return before Lapin had noticed their absence, though Ruby now wondered if the old rabbit had ever really been as blind as he pretended to be.

This had not been.

This year had marked the first year that their mother insisted that they have lessons on their Saint's Day. She remembers sitting in the room, eyes glazed as Lapin droned on before being dragged to the church to say their prayers before they had been allowed to properly celebrate.

She'd hated every second of that morning, anxious to get it done and hadn't been able to sleep that night, her parents' fight still ringing in her ears.

As Ruby made her way to her closet, she almost tripped over her art supplies, which she'd left strewn across the floor. This had been when she was between phases. Her carelessness with the equipment showing that she was about to switch interests. If she remembered correctly, she would take up singing and the lute next (she had been quite good at singing, but not as adept at the lute, and the dissonance between her talent in the two had caused her to lose passion for it fast) and then she would change to dancing for two months which would evolve to acrobatics by the time their next Saint's Day came around.

That was the one that had stuck. And the one that had been the most useful in the end. Though, she wished she'd somehow decided to pursue magic, that some twist of fate would have allowed her to begin learning it earlier. She could have been good at. Maybe even one day as good as Saccharina. But she'd never know. War wasn't exactly the best time to learn the complex foundations needed to be able to perform proper spells that actually caused damage.

Ruby couldn't imagine why a hallucination would have such mundane detail as the mess in her room.

This was an ordinary day. It didn't make sense for her to be experiencing this.

She was quiet on the way down, stewing as Jet practically skipped alongside her, chattering happily.

She'd had hallucinations before, she'd even had one or two visions; they had never felt like this.

This almost felt… real.

It struck as she was eating breakfast. She had followed Jet, just like she'd always done, and hugged her parents, a tight crushing one from her father and a warm but sharp one from her mother, and then took her place across from her sister at the table.

Theo was standing at the door, Toby on the other, less used exit, as they watched over them silently.

Lapin would already be getting ready for their lesson.

Liam was still in the Great Stone Candy Mountains, three months away from arriving in her life.

She dropped her fork when she realised it, the clattering sound cutting off Jet and her father's loud chattering.

"Ruby!" There was her mother's instinctive reprimand.

"Ruby, are you alright?" That was her father, his tone gentle and concerned.

Jet did not say anything, just stared at her. She knew that she was acting strange. She had not done this the first time around. This was not how hallucinations went. This was not plucked from her memory, the edges were to sharp, the details to minute.

This was real.

A thousand thoughts crashed through Ruby's head all at once. All she could do was stare as she realised the implications of her situation.

When she didn't react to their voices, her father rose and walked to her side, Jet also stood up whilst their mother leant forward in her seat.

"Ruby," her father's voice rumbled. That deep cadence had been one of her last comforts after Jet…

But Jet was alive. She wasn't dead anymore. She'd never died.

And she wouldn't. Ruby would make sure of it.

In that second, Ruby made a decision, constructed her plan and decided on to carry it out.

Her mother had once said that she'd grown into a woman who was not afraid to make her bloody way through the world. She had become good enough at politics and reading between the lines by that point to get the hidden meaning; that Ruby was ruthless and cunning and was capable of using both those attributes to get what she wanted.

It was time to test that assessment.

She blinked and looked to her dad, plastering a smile on her face. "I'm fine."

Her dad's hand tightened on her shoulder. (When had that gotten there? Ruby hadn't noticed. That was something she'd need to do better. She couldn't miss things like that. She'd missed too many things last time.)

She met the suspicious and worried gazes of her family, her eyes settling on her twin. "Really. I just had a nightmare last night. It's okay now."

Her mother frowned. "Are you alright?"

Ruby turned her smile to her mother. "Of course. Dreams can't hurt me."

She made it through breakfast and then they were herded to the tower where Lapin conducted their lessons under their mother's disapproving eye.

'We might have been able to use your nightmare to get out of this,' Jet whispered to her in twinspeak as she squirmed in her seat, barely one minute into their class and already wanting to leave.

Ruby nodded absentmindedly, but did not reply like she used to, when they would keep up their murmured conversations throughout the entirety of their classes instead of actually listening to Lapin.

She would not make the same mistake again.

Lapin was droning on about the history of Ceresia and its relationship to the Church, information that would have been quite helpful in her understanding in the future. Ruby listened with rapt attention.

She actually asked a question. A question that was on topic and not designed to distract Lapin.

Jet was gaping at her. Lapin blinked, shocked, but answered after only a few seconds' hesitation. Ruby ignored their reactions. There was little she would be able to do to explain her seemingly sudden change in personality, but she did not have time to slowly ease into it. She only had four years. Four years to fix things and make sure that the Church could not attack them from the same angle that they had the last time. They would not dethrone her father under false pretences. They would not turn Calorum against them. Candia would not burn.

If the bitchifex wanted to come for her kingdom, she would need to do it from another angle.

Ruby did not whine as they were dragged down to the chapel nor did she roll her eyes through her prayers. If she were to pull off her plan, she would need to cultivate the appearance of someone so devout that her faith could not be questioned, following in the steps of her lost aunt, the Saint Citrina.

Lapin noticeably hesitated when she willingly dropped to her knees at the alter and placidly listened to him, none of the nervous energy that she used to be filled with which would have her fidgeting through the entirety of his sermon.

When they were done, Ruby briefly contemplated pausing in front of one of the stained glass windows and bowing her head, but thought that that might be too much too soon. So, she dutifully followed her mother out of the small cathedral, ignoring the surprised looks that Jet kept sending her.

She tried to be cheerful on their lunch with their father at Dulcington, but she kept getting distracted, preoccupied by seeing old shops that had been burned down, by having Jet back at her side, by seeing the many fallen Knights still alive. Both Jet and her father kept sending her furtive glances, but Ruby didn't acknowledge them, shaking her gaze away from Sir Toby or Lamington, who had become her second in command on the streets, or Frostel, the travelling pickpocket, to refocus on the conversation that she was only minimally contributing to. People she'd never thought she would ever see again.

People that she couldn't let die.

When they arrived back at Castle Candy, their dad lead them to the training courtyard where Calroy was waiting beside a rack of training swords.

Ruby froze.

He'd been dead for so long, but the time had done nothing to appease her rage. She had never been as good as Liam, had never been able to rise above it.

"Now, don't tell your mother, but I'm about to give you both your first sword fighting lesson," her dad said with a wide grin.

Jet clapped her hands together and let out a manic laugh, but Ruby clenched her hands behind her back, breathing deeply.

She turned to her dad, and smiled as sweetly as she could. "Can I actually go down to the archery range, dad? I think I'd be a better archer than a swordswoman."

Her father frowned briefly before he smiled widely. "Of course, Ruby. We can go there after."

Ruby shook her head. She knew that as soon as she got a weapon in her hand, she drive it through Calroy's stupid face, regardless if it was blunted. She needed time to get her emotions under control.  She couldn't exactly murder her father's closest advisor.

Yet.

She just needed to find some proof.

Easier said than done, but she thought she knew where to begin looking.

"Why don't I go with Sir Toby now? I'm sure one of the archers will be there," she suggested lightly.

Jet frowned and turned to her.

"Are you sure?" she asked in Twinspeak.

Ruby smiled at her. "Yes. The new Head of the Army should have some private lessons.  I wouldn't want to cut that short. And I'm thinking of maybe being Head Archer."

Jet paused for a second before she returned her smile. "Thanks, Rubes. You're the best!"

Ruby nodded, feeling the thrum of the locket on her chest. She suddenly had to swallow back tears. She'd forgotten that it used to do that; thrum when either of them felt a particularly strong emotion.

Her dad was stammering. "Ah, yeah. That sounds great. If you wanna."

Ruby visibly grinned, bouncing on her toes as she threw her arms around him. "Thanks, pops."

Her father ruffled her hair like he hadn't done in over half a decade.

She flounced off, hearing Sir Toby scrabble a bit and Theo whispering a frantic order, before he fell in behind her.

"Archery is a very noble pursuit," Sir Toby commented as they approached the range. "I'm sure you will be very accomplished at it, Princess."

Ruby inclined her head at him respectfully, ignoring the stutter in his step at her sudden proper behaviour.

"If the Bulb above wills it, then I will succeed," she replied.

Her manners may have given Sir Toby pause, but her reply had him gaping. He blinked at her for a few seconds whilst Ruby continued.

"Of course, Princess," he eventually said and they fell into silence as they walked along.

The green sour strap archer attending to the range roused at their approach, straightening up and immediately assuming parade rest.

"Princess Ruby!" he greeted with a deep bow. "Sir Toby."

"I would like to learn archery, please," Ruby announced.

The man blinked at her. "Of - of course, Princess. I will get you a beginner bow."

Ruby frowned. "I want one that will work as a proper weapon, not a glorified toy."

The man nodded frantically. "Yes, Princess."

He whisked into the large gingerbread shed that housed all of the ranged training weapons, abandoning the arrows that he had been tending to.

Ruby rolled her shoulders, starting to do warm up stretches. She frowned as she assumed familiar positions that she'd used a thousand times before, feeling a stiff strain in her muscles that she'd hadn't felt in years.

Shit.

This body didn't have the muscle memory of her old one, which had been honed by years of acrobatics, archery and fighting, that she'd never stopped training, even years into peacetime. After it all, she had finally understood why her father and Theo had always trained so hard.

Ruby listened as the archer explained the basics to her, internally grumbling at how much she struggled to draw back the bow.

She nocked an arrow, aimed and loosed as the archer instructed her, grimacing when the arrow thunked into the very outer ring of the lollipop target.

"That is very good, Princess," the archer complimented. "Not many hit the target on their first try."

What about on the millionth one?

Ruby managed to cast him a grateful smile before she was loosing another arrow, her movements just a little awkward as she adjusted to her weaker muscles.

She would need to start training immediately.

By the end of her session, he was able to get her shooting to an acceptable accuracy, though the imprecision still irked her. She lowered her bow after about an hour, her arm aching. She wouldn't get much more progress that day, and she had things to do before Jet's training session ended. It had about an hour and a half left, if Ruby's memory served her right.

"Thank you," Ruby said, turning to the archer who had overseen her for the hour as she took off the guard on her arm. "I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name Mr -?"

"Sarone, Aeple Sarone, Princess."

Ruby inclined her head in the respectful nod that she was meant to give to her subjects. "Thank you, Mr Sarone. Your help has been much appreciated."

The man grinned and bowed. "Any time, Princess. You have a real talent for archery."

"You flatter me," she replied with a laugh. "I wish you a good day."

They entered the castle again and Ruby curtseyed at Sir Toby, a rather strange experience when she wasn't in a dress. She had worn them much more often in her last few years in the future, when she had been required to be seen as a formal figure.

"Thank you for guarding me, Sir Toby," she said. "I will not require an escort for the remainder of the day."

Sir Toby bowed at her. "It was my honour, your grace. I will be happy to accompany you on any other archery ventures in the future. It seems the Bulb above has blessed you with great skill with the bow."

Ruby smiled. "Thank you for the compliment. May the Bulb shine upon you."

Sir Toby beamed at her. "And you, princess."

Ruby nodded deeply at him and walked off, stopping by her room to pick up one of her many lined notebooks and shoving it in a large satchel with a bunch of her study materials, pausing just long enough to clean her room up. She hadn't been in the room since she'd left Castle Candy for Calorum all those years ago. She hadn't been able to re-enter it when all that would be left there was the ghost of her sister. Back then, or she guesses, yesterday, she didn't have the appreciation for organisation and order that she did now.

With a sugar quill and her white chocolate notebook in her satchel, Ruby made her way through the castle and sat down, cross legged in front of the four, humongous statues of her aunts.

Ruby started to make a list. Of things she needed to do, things that needed to change and things that she would not be able to change but would need to be ready for.

She wrote and she wrote, sifting through her memories and attempting to ensure that she didn't forget anything.

Eventually, she got herself down to a checklist for the next three days. It was short and sweet, but more complicated than it seemed at first glance.

Ruby sighed as she looked up from the book, staring at the statues around her.

She felt something in the back of her mind and Ruby almost screamed when she heard the whispers of the shadows echo around her.

She slammed her book closed and throw it, jumping to her feet as she ran her hand through her hair, tugging it hard. However, she paused before she could cast the shadows away. They no longer felt like the cold, destructive things that had urged her towards vengeance and rage.

These were… warmer. Their whispers did not tell tales of hatred, they just called welcomes in her ears.

Mistress… you are - you are here… you are home… let us help you…

They were a thousand voices speaking at once, all ready to embrace her.

Ruby closed her eyes and tentatively delved into her magic, feeling that the connection inside her was more indistinct, less rigid than before, but somehow more lively, thrumming with a sought of life that it had never had in the past (or, well, future). She felt sparks of energy shoot through her body as she channelled her magic and her eyes snapped open.

She gasped at what she saw.

In one hand, a ball of light glowed in her palm, whilst shadows pooled in the other.

In between them, streams of purple light danced around her, singing songs of growth and change and prosperity. Her vision turned misty as she finally felt it. Neither the cold destructiveness of the Hungry One, nor the blinding light of the Bulb scorched her soul. Whatever she'd done back there, that strange balance she'd found, had carried over into this world.

She could tap into both the Bulb and the Hungry One, the light and the shadows, and she could use them both to feel the ever changing world around her. Finally, she understood what Liam had been trying to teach her. The Bulb birthed them and the Hungry One took them at death, but the time in between was for them, was for the change and the growth that came with truly living.

She dismissed the Sweetening magic first, releasing it with a smile. She allowed herself to bask in the golden glow for a few more seconds before she allowed that to disperse too. They would be useful in the future, but they were not calling for her now.

Now, the shadows had news for her.

And, for the first time in her life, Ruby let them in with warmth and security in her heart, finding comfort in their protectiveness as she raised her right hand to her hear, allowing the black mass that was wrapped around her hand, to speak directly to her.

We can help you, Mistress… we have felt what you will need… follow us.

So, Ruby allowed them to lead her. At their bidding, she walked over to Sapphria's statue, and climbed it with more difficulty than she would like - she really needed to start her acrobatics training. However, she made it to the circlet, pushing the purple jewel that was inlaid at its crux, one that mirrored the jewel in Ruby's own circlet.

A compartment opened up in front of Ruby's eyes, books and scrolls and maps. But, most interesting of all, a clear, pale blue sphere made of pure sugar, and a set of four black daggers, each long but, as Ruby discovered when she picked one up, well balanced enough to use as throwing knives. Ruby took the sphere, the daggers and two of the books; one that was a pure black journal and another that was deep purple and pulsed with magic, and scampered down the statue, depositing her findings in her satchel just in time to see her mother storm into the room.

The queen paused when she saw Ruby.

"Ruby," she said, her furious scowl quickly being replaced by raised eyebrows. "What are you doing here?"

Ruby raised one of the history books in her satchel.

"I just wanted to do some studying in the quiet," she explained. "It's… peaceful here… calm."

Her mother took a deep breath in, glancing down. Her voice was quiet when she answered, "Yes, it is."

Ruby clenched her hand around the satchel strap, reaching back and stealthily summoning her white journal and quill into her hand before shoving them in the bag.

"You can stay here. I was just leaving," she told her mum. "I know people usually like to be alone in here."

Her mother looked up at her, eyes widening before she nodded. "Yes. Thank you."

Ruby hesitated for a second before she stepped forward and enveloped her Mum in a firm hug.

"I love you."

Her mother took a second to return the embrace. "I love you too, Ruby."

Before Ruby let go, her mother kissed her on the head. Ruby pretended she didn't see the defeated slump of her shoulders when the queen faced the statue of her aunt.

----

That night, after dinner, Jet's raised her eyebrows at Ruby's spotless room.

"Are you done with art?" she asked.

Ruby grinned. "Yep. I think I want to do something more active. Sitting still all day is boring. I think I want to try acrobatics!"

Jet matched her expression. "Like with the ropes and the flips? Cool."

"Yeah I want to fly through the air!" Ruby said as they both started to get ready for bed.

"And I want to be the most fearsome fighter in Calorum!"

Ruby giggled. "So you liked your lesson?"

"Yeah! I'm totally going to take over Theo's job! I'd be great at it."

"You should teach me what you learnt," Ruby suggested lightly, riding high on the exhilarating feeling of talking to her twin again after all these years.

Jet flung herself onto her bed. "I totally will."

"Then I can watch your back both up close and from afar."

Jet laughed as she got under the covers. "I'm going to be a great general, Ruby. I'll protect you. I'll protect everyone."

Ruby was quiet as she crawled into her own bed, staring at her ceiling, the orange light slowly receding towards the window as the sun fell below the horizon.

"Do you really not want to be queen?" she asked.

Jet sighed deeply. "You know I don't. But I also know you don't either, so I wouldn't abdicate and make you be queen. Even though you'd be much better at it than me."

Ruby snorted. "No I wouldn't."

"Yes you would! You're good at everything."

Ruby frowned. That was just it, wasn’t? Ruby had been good at almost everything she'd tried, but she had been only good. Never a great mage or a great leader or a great beauty; she had never been great at anything until she had started listening to the whispers of the courts and mastering its language. She had learnt to play the games more expertly than any other in Candia, and had used her skill to protect her sister, to protect her queen, to protect her realm.

"I've seen what the crown did to Dad and Mum," Jet murmured. "I don't want that to happen to me. I don't think I'm good enough to do it. I'd be a better general. I can do more good without being chained down by a crown."

"What if you didn't have to take the throne?" she questioned, voice barely above a whisper. "What if there was someone else."

She heard Jet shift up onto her elbows. "Are you saying that you want to take the throne? Is that what today has been about."

Ruby sat up and shook her head. "No. But I�� I think I might know a way to help you."

Jet huffed. "You've been acting weird all day. And don't tell me it was just a bad dream! You've never lied to me before Ruby."

Ruby frowned. It may as well have been a dream, for it would never come to pass. Not on her watch. Now, it was just a nightmare.

"I'll tell you what I mean tomorrow night, I promise. Please, just give me time to make sense of it all," Ruby implored desperately. "I'm sorry. I just… I need just some time to get everything together."

Jet stared at her for a few seconds before she nodded. "Alright Ruby. I trust you."

She lay down and Ruby gave a sigh of relief as she did the same.

"Thank you," she said.

"Hey, it's you and me, right?" Jet reminded her with a yawn. "Jet and Ruby forever?"

"Forever," Ruby confirmed, lying down.

When Jet's breathing evened out, Ruby ducked under the covers, pulling the satchel towards her from where it was lying beside her on the bed.

She closed her eyes and reached out with her magic. She felt her heart lurch excitedly as a small ball of golden light appeared in her hand as Ruby opened the black book.

The first page read:

The Life of Sapphria Rocks, the youngest (and the best) Rocks sister.

Ruby grinned as she turned the page.

I don't know if I'll survive this war. And I don't know if anyone will find this, (I'm sure Gummy will hid it and all my other secrets well) but the world deserves to know of my brilliance.

For the person who found this, congratulations, I'm going to teach you all my secrets.

Ruby read until she felt her eyes droop and the words stopped making sense in her head.

But she learnt a lot, about poisons, about whispers, about the secrets of Castle Candy, and, most importantly, about how to establish her web throughout Calorum.

Ruby felt a resolve harden inside her. Suddenly, her list got longer.

She knew what she would need to do.

Her mind spun plans as she finally fell asleep.

She was not prepared for what awaited her when she finally let her eyes fall closed.

------

How did you like it? As I mentioned before, please give me food pun names.

[razorblade180]

Sunshower pt3

Normally after an emotional talk ilia thought an awkward conversation and stand off-ish tension would occur; that wasn’t really the case with Sun. Maybe it was because it wasn’t how Sun usually was, or the fact he was walking a bit too fast for her to even want to keep up with. Yeah, it was definitely that. She didn’t mind though. Her scroll was keeping occupying her plenty at the moment with text messages.

Neptune: “Did you find him?”

Ilia: “Yeah, right where you said he’d be. We’re going to get food now.”

Neptune: “WOW, so I’m just supposed to entertain Blake and Yang forever!? Eventually you two will have to interact with them. No matter how weird it might be.”

Her jaw clenched a little reading that. Neptune was right unfortunately but awkwardness isn’t what was getting to her. Being nice to someone you stabbed on a roof top is awkward; this on the other hand, it was the fact they didn’t seem awkward about it at all. Blake approached them almost like they should’ve expected this. I guess in hindsight maybe she was right; didn’t make it hurt any less. Honestly she was on the verge of-

Sun:Ilia? *right in front of her*

Ilia:*jolts* Huh!?

Sun:I turned around to ask if you had a restaurant in mind. Next thing I know you’re just standing still and turning gray.

Ilia:*looks at her hands* Oh....didn’t even notice. Sorry about that.

Sun:*frowns* is it me or have you been changing colors on accident a lot recently.

Ilia:There’s a lot in my mind. Hard to keep it all in I suppose. Gray means-......

Sun:???

Ilia:Never mind, I’m good. *regular color* you were talking about food?

Sun:Yeah, got any suggestions?

Ilia:Dude I’m just along for the ride. It’s all up to you.

Sun:Okay, personally I feel like drowning myself in fried shrimp. There’s only one restaurant around for that!

Ilia:*stops* Sigh.... Shrimp on the Barbie?

Sun:What, you don’t like it?

Ilia:That place is expensive and in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly someone rolling in lien. Honest living does it pay like the White Fang ya know?

Sun:I guess that makes- wait, you got paid for being in the White Fang?

Ilia:Freedom isn’t free and those who help forward revolution greatly got more than just a spot at the top. I’d be lying I said I didn’t miss that part of the job at least. Everything else I’m happy not to deal with anyone.

Sun:I guess changes like that can be pretty jarring. Fortunately I have more than money to pay for the both of us.

Ilia:Oh you really don’t-

Sun:Ilia, I’m hungry and desperately trying to drown in deep fried shrimp and company. Money is no object.

Ilia:*stomach growling*.......I’ll pay you back.

Sun:Just be the one to tip.

Ilia:Deal....

Sun:Good now lets get a move on already. *takes her hand and bolts*

Ilia:Hey! Stop pulling, I’m coming alright!?

She did not think about but it at the time but she was glad he was being a bit pushy and fast paced. Those two things meant she had to actively try to keep up which in return meant there was less time to dwell on everything dragging her down. Before she registered they were outside the forest district the restaurant was already in front of them. As usual it was lively and filled with the exotic smells of spice blends meeting various kinds of sea life; shrimp just happened to be their specialty. At the entrance was a young man with kangaroo ears and an award winning smile for the soul purpose greeting all customers.

Ira:*smiling* Welcome to Shrimp on the Barbie! Menagerie’s finest seafood restaurant.

Sun:Hey Ira, table for two.

Ira:Hey Sun! Always happy to see a faithful customers. That’s why it pains my heart to have to send you away. As you can see the return of Lady Blake Belladonna has our business booming right now; almost all seats are filled.

Ilia:*noticing a few empty booths and a couple tables* I’m guessing those are reserved?

Ira:One table is yes. As for the booths I would love to give you one but they’re made for groups of people. Naturally that means more money being spent here and we don’t want to turn away a group of five because their spot is filled by only two people.

Sun:And the other empty tables that are obviously meant for two?

Ira:It’s date night; only couples get those spots.

Ilia:(Again with other’s relationships ruining my mood...) Can’t you just look the other way? We’re hungry and paying regardless.

Ira:That might work if it wasn’t literally our job to test couples randomly to make sure one of us isn’t slacking. Also word through the grape vine is you’re not really one to.....look straight ahead if you catch my drift. No question you’d both be bombarded with multiple tests.

Ilia:Well words through any vine aren’t valid enough to be stopped at the door. All you basically said is we’re home free if we can pull off the cheesy and over the top love routine. No problem at all.

Sun:Yeah! A test like that is super easy to pass.

Ira:Oh yeah? Say each other’s last name’s right now.

Sun:Easy, it’s Amitola.

Ilia:.........

Sun and Ira: *raises eye brow* Well, it’s your turn.

Ilia:.....,..It’s-

*8 min late*

Sun:*walikng* Wukong.... how did you not know that much!?

Ilia:Why would I know your last name!? It’s never come up in conversation.

Sun:Neither has yours but I know it. Ira gave you three questions and you bombed them.

Ilia:First of all, you got the other two wrong as well. Second, I thought I had favorite fruit in the bag. Anyone would say banana.

Sun:Well you know what they say about people who assume.

Ilia:......?

Sun:It makes an ass out of u and me.

Ilia:Hmph, that’s actually pretty clever. *hands behind her head* So what is Sun Wukong’s favorite fruit?

Sun:Apricots, they’re delicious. I could’ve sworn yours were kiwis.

Ilia:I don’t even want to know why you thought that; the answer was pineapple. All your answers were misleading. Yellow should totally be your favorite color.

Sun:Orange makes sense too. Maybe I’m just more complex than you realize?

Ilia:Pfft now you’re gonna tell me Neptune is cool. For the record my favorite color is purple. Rainbow is not a valid answer for everything.

Sun:That’s rich coming from you. Also don’t rag on Neptune like that. He’s cooler than you think he is; also he always has a strange way of popping up.

Ilia:You make it sound like he appears into the universe on command.

Just as she said that, Neptune turn the corner right in front of them. Blake and Yang close behind him and bright smiles on their faces to have caught up with the two faunus. Ilia didn’t have to look at Sun to feel the smug smile that was directed towards her.

Ilia:Hey Neptune, did you hear any of that?

Neptune:Any of what?

Ilia:Nothing! What brings you to these streets?

Neptune:Catching up with Blake and Yang remember?

Yang:Sup, you two all done with the decorations?

Sun:Yeah....went faster than we thought. Where are you guys headed?

Blake:I told Yang I’d show her the best shrimp place in all of Remnant. Already got a table reserved.

Sun:Is that right? Well it is date night there so I’m sure you’ll get a discount.

Ilia:If they don’t get overwhelmed by questions.

Yang:I’ve heard rumors of that; shouldn’t be a problem. Blake and I know tons about each other. *kisses her cheek*

Ilia:(Not as much as me I bet.) I’m sure you do *smiles*

Years of faking a smile when she was in Atlas were still paying off in spades. It wouldn’t surprise her if the boys fell for it too; those two were way smarter than that though. Neptune calmly stared her down with a look that could only mean he was ready to jump in between Yang and her if things went south. This time she was more conscious of her color and had half a mind to match the blonde bruiser in terms of firey color scheme. A pressure on her lower back though snapped her out of that headspace; Sun’s tail was right behind her and ready to fully wrap around her like a belt and yank her away. Sadly the best option was the morally right option as well; smile and let it go.

Neptune:Well I guess it’s time for this couple to go off and eat. I’ll stick around with these two.

Blake:Aww alright; I know you haven’t eaten yet but if they haven’t either then we all could just get booth.

Yang:That sounds fun. We could start a shrimp eating contest!

Sun:Actually.....

Ilia:We just ate, maybe next time okay?

Blake:Oh well, see you three when the party actually starts! I still want to catch up with you both. *walks away*

Neptune:Don’t worry, they’ll definitely be there! *looks at them* it would look really bad if they didn’t.

Sun:I know I know....

Ilia:Like I care.....

Sun:We both know you don’t mean that. There’s gonna be tons of people and things to do, so it’s not like we’ll be with them all night. Not to mention this party could last a week for all we know. Making an effort isn’t avoidable.

Ilia:Sigh.....I know. I’ll play nice, it’s the right thing and all that crap.

Neptune:Good! Now, I’m not sure about Ilia but I can read you like a book Sun. Is our next stop what I think it is?

Sun:Yeah, let’s go get something to eat.

Part 1 Part 2

[bnha-mcu-requests]

Hey, I hope you’re doing well during these weird times. THis is my first time submitting a request so bare with me. Can I request Todoroki, Midoriya, and Shinsou with a s/o or friend who deals with depression and with difficult family members so they come off as cold/blunt but are actually pretty empathetic. They just have a hard time expressing it. Thank you for even reading this :) I wish you well with your blog. Please stay safe and take care of your mental health <3

First off, I would like to apologise for this taking so long to get out! I’ve been swamped with college stuff and this particular story just wouldn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. However, after weeks of rewriting, I am finally happy with the outcome. Thank you for your patience <3

Rin was a simple guy in his own opinion. All he wanted was a peaceful evening in with his ex-foster brother, binge watching netflix and stuffing his face with pizza until he forgot what being hungry felt like.

Unfortunately for him, the universe had decided this was too much to ask and so, here he was, in a packed mall, hunched awkwardly by the fountain, waiting for Shinsou and his ‘friend’ to turn up. He sighed, rolling his shoulders, wincing slightly at the popping noise they made and flinching at the sudden scream of a small child to his left.

Glancing up, he made eye contact with the mother, who smiled apologetically with a small shrug, as though saying ‘what can you do?’ Rin looked away quickly, shifting uncomfortably, the soft fabric of his hoodie suddenly feeling too tight despite being a few sizes too big.

Coming here was a bad idea, he wasn’t ready to meet one of Shinsou’s friends. Why did he agree to this? He could have said no, Shinsou would have understood. Right? His heart began to race faster, drowning out the bustling sounds of life an replacing them with a loud, fearful pounding. Shinsou would have said it was okay, but he would be so disappointed, and then he’d see that Rin isn’t worth the hassle. He’d leave, oh god he’d leave. Then he’d be on his own all over again, alone and hurt and lost and and and-

A sharp voice broke through the haze of self loathing Rin had wormed his way into, his head shot up, a slurred ‘wha-?’ leaving torn lips before a familiar and comforting blankness settled over him, nothing but the soft fuzziness and the nice voice existing at this point in time.

“Breathe Rin, nice and easy. In for 5, hold for 7, out for 8, just like we practised.”  Rin felt his muscles begin to relax, shoulders uncurling, hands unclenching and posture straightening, feeling as though all the tension in his body was being leached out.

A hand resting softly on his shoulder was enough to snap him out of the hypnotic daze and he found himself staring into familiar amethyst eyes, face calm and hair as untamed as ever. Despite this, Rin could see the worried tug on his friend’s lips and couldn’t stop the wave of guilt that washed over him. Shinsou must have seen something in his expression as his grip tightened marginally before allowing a lazy smile to grace his features.

“Hey, Rin, I’m happy to see you”

It may seem stupid but hearing the confirmation that Shinsou wasn’t disappointed in him helped to chase away the last dregs of the panic attack, leaving Rin feeling both a million times lighter and so heavy at the same time.

Lifting his head higher, he spied another person stood behind Shinsou, back turned politely to give them privacy but close enough that it was obvious he was the other person Shinsou had brought with him for Rin to meet.

Following his gaze, Shinsou gave a small fond smile, and Rin felt his eyes widen at the soft, barely there flush that dusted Shinsou’s cheeks as he looked on at the shorter male.

“That’s Midoriya Izuku, a friend of mine from UA. You’ll like him I promise,” Rin didn’t doubt that, he’d seen the kid on TV and had grown fond of his blazing enthusiasm and dedication to heroics. He did however, doubt that Midoriya would like him. After all, someone with such a powerful quirk like Midoriya’s wouldn’t want to be associating with someone like him.

He was broken out of his depressive musings by a scarred had being thrust out. He looked up, surprised, and was almost blinded by the grin sent his way by the green haired, freckled boy.

“M-Midoriya Izuku! It’s n-nice to meet you Rin! Sh-shinsou has told me a l-lot about you!”

‘A stutter huh’ Rin thought as he took the hand offered and shook it, sending back a weak smile that felt more like a grimace, ‘That was certainly unexpected considering how intense the boy was on TV’.

After the less then stellar first encounter, Rin was not eager to spend the rest of the day with this Midoriya Izuku. Of course, he seemed like a nice guy, they all do and then they turn around and stab you in the back when you’re settled in and comfortable. It’s a truth that Rn had learned the hard way, and something he had thought Shinsou new. Clearly he was so infatuated he had forgotten the risks. That’s okay though, Rin would watch his back and make sure that he wouldn’t be hurt by Midoriya, it was for his own good.

He walked to the left of Shinsou, with Midoriya on the right, keeping slightly behind the pair so he could observe the interactions and keep an eye on the green haired anomaly, without being too obvious about it. Or so he thought. Midoriya turned his head slightly and caught his eye as Rin was staring at him. Midoriya smiled uncertainly in response to the small frown Rin gave as he tried to work out what the boy’s game was.

Their day continued much like this, with Midoriya making efforts to interact with Rin and Rin shutting him down with short answers and grunts. Shinsou watched the whole thing with a sad look in his eyes that made Rin feel awful but if he wasn’t going to look out for himself then someone else had to do it for him.

Eventually, they stopped at a cafe, one that Rin knew Shinsou was a fan of and sat down at a table close to the window. They quickly put in their orders, Shinsou opting for a black coffee and a doughnut, Midoriya having an orange juice and a cookie and Rin just having a packet of crisps and a hot chocolate.

When the drinks finally arrived, Rin spent the next few minutes staring at Midoriya over the rim of his mug, watching for any aggression, any sign that Midoriya did not mean well. Clearly trying his best to not appear uncomfortable, Midoriya continued his strained conversation about the latest training session he and Shinsou had with ‘Aizawa-sensei’ whoever that was.

Rin took a sip of the hot chocolate, valiantly trying to ignore the burning sensation on his tongue as the too hot sugary goodness filled his mouth. He clearly didn’t do a good enough job as Midoriya turned to look at him, concern written plain as day on his face while Shinsou sniggered, handing Rin a napkin to wipe down his mouth where he had sputtered in surprise.

“Are you okay Rin?” Midoriya asked, offering his drink to the boy, “Do you want to cool your mouth down”.

What happened next, Rin could not explain, maybe he was embarrassed, maybe he was pissed off that Midoriya had intruded on his and Shinsou’s day or maybe it was a mixture of the both, but he snapped, hitting the glass out of Midoriya’s hand and standing up suddenly.

Face twisted into a snarl, “Don’t you dare look down on me!” the store was silent and all eyes were turned towards the table the three were sat at. Midoriya glanced around the shop nervously, as though upset by the attention, this only served to annoy Rin further.

“What? Can’t handle the attention? Would have thought someone with such a powerful quirk was used to it. Stop pretending, I know what people like you are really like. I don’t know how you have fooled Shinsou but you won’t fool me!”

“Rin-” Shinsou began, looking up at his friend, shocked by the outburst.

“No Shinsou! Don’t you see? He’s just trying to get your trust! He’ll hurt you and then he’ll leave you! They always do! How can you be so stupid?”

He was cut off by the abrupt standing up of Midoriya, the table shook and a heavy silence filled the store, smothering the previous awkward atmosphere and replacing it with something more oppressive, more cloying and absolutely ridden with mourning.

“I’ll see you later Shinsou.” the boy grabbed his bag and made to leave the store, stopping and turning back to the table to send Rin a sad smile, “Nice to meet you Rin”

Rin sat back down, suddenly feeling deflated and the confused glare he was getting from Shinsou really wasn’t helping his situation.

“What the fuck was that Rin?” Shinsou growled out. He looked hurt, and confused and angry and oh no, he was gonna leave and it was all Rin’s fault and he’s fucked it up again. Useless, useless, powerless, weak can’t even protect the one precious person left in his life.

His breaths came out in harsh pants, nails digging into the flesh of his ribs, too loud, everything was too loud. He could hear Shinsou calling for him as he stood up and raced out of the door, running. Running where? Who knows, all he knows is that he has to get away. Away. Before they hurt him, before they hit him, before he’s thrown around because he can’t take care of  himself because he’s-

Oomf

He’d run into something. Something hard. Like a wall, but not a wall because it was moving, oh god. It’s another person. They’re reaching down towards him, they’re gonna hurt him, gonna hit him. Away, away-

“GET AWAY! DON’T TOUCH ME!” he threw his arms wide, almost hitting the wall-person he had run into. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn't see,  his vision a swirl of red and white, ears filled with concerned screeches and moans and noise, oh god the noise.

Green. He sees green. It pushes the red and white away gently and covers his ears with silence before its filled with soft tones of the piano. What?

He opens his eyes again. They are in an ally, away from the loud noises and the bright colours. He’s leaning on something breathing, something warm, something green. Midoriya. He tenses.

Midoriya leant back and allowed Rin to pull himself away, concerned and painfully understanding eyes trained on Rin’s shivering form.

“You’re quirkless, aren’t you?” the question carried no malice, or hate and yet, it was so so heavy, heavy with understanding and empathy.

Rin nodded and sniffed, curling in on himself, ready to protect himself from the scorn he knew would follow, as it always had.

“Did you know I was a late bloomer?” Rin’s head shot up, he hadn’t known that. Even so, late bloomers developed their quirk at 7 at the latest- “I was 15” the world came to a screeching halt.

“15?” Rin whispered, looking, really looking at the boy in front of him.

“Yeah. I was diagnosed as quirkless when I was four but I made my mind up that I was going to be a hero anyway, I’d be the first quirkless hero if that’s what it took. Others didn’t take too kindly to that. They laughed at me, picked on me and would even practise their quirks on me, the poor, little, weak, quirkless Deku, who couldn't fight back. I know Rin, I know,”

Guilt like a tsunami crashed over him, replacing burning anger with resignation and regret.

“But…but you got your quirk?” he rasped out, only now realising how dry his throat had gotten, wordlessly, Midoriya offered him a water bottle he seemed to have materialised out of nowhere.

“About 9 months before the UA entrance exams, I began to train really hard to get stronger so I would at least stand a chance of passing. On the day of the exam, someone really needed help and out of nowhere, my quirk came in. The Doctors believe that I had a dormant quirk that my body couldn’t handle so it only manifested when I wasn’t in any life threatening danger if I used it.”

“What do you mean, ‘couldn't handle it’?” Rin asked, incredulous, he’d never heard of anything like that before.

“When I use my quirk for too long, or if I don’t carefully regulate the power output, my quirk shatters my bones”

The ally was silent. Neither of them knowing what to say to follow that statement up. Rin shifted uncomfortably and was about to apologise when-

“So yeah. I get it. I don’t want to be enemies Rin, but if you don’t want to be friends then there is nothing I can do about it. But you listen to me-” Rin gulped at the intensity in Midoriya’s gaze,”I won’t ever hurt Shinsou, not if I can help it. He is a dear friend of mine and I have sworn to protect him, so please” the burning passion seemed to dwindle down until it mimicked the warmth of a hearth, “can we try to be friends?”.

Unable to say anything, Rin nodded, ignoring the tears that threatened to spill, and hoisted himself up, offering a hand to Midoriya to help him up. The hand was taken gratefully.

“Now, let’s find Todoroki - he’s the one you ran into - I think he’ll have found Shinsou by now. I think there is a lot the three of us need to discuss. Starting with who it was that has made you feel like you need to protect Shinsou and yourself from those of us with quirks.”

At the righteous fury in Midoriya’s voice, Rin couldn’t help but give a watery smile, as he followed him back into the light of the main street, fully believing this was the start of a great friendship.

Oh this one was a doozy to write but I enjoyed myself. I’m sorry I couldn’t work Todoroki into the story more but I feel like this worked out well and there is the potential to introduce him as a more prominent character later on, should the inspiration strike!

Thanks so much for sending in a request and I hope I’ve done it justice! 

[lululawlawlu-writes]

Softly Stained with Spring

Part 4: Rivals

note:  This fic was written for @lawlu-week!!  But I couldn’t keep up so I’m planning for updates to happen weekly instead~

rating: T

tags: canon universe, fluff and angst, hanahaki

____________________

Chattering voices pull Luffy from his dreams. He doesn’t want to wake up, not yet. It feels like he’d fallen asleep stargazing with Law just seconds ago.

Even though sleeping outside on the ground has never been uncomfortable for him and his body does feel like it’s not ready to get up, he mostly wants to savor a few more minutes of being cuddled up with Law. Law’s body is warm, the sound of his breath soothing. He even smells nice with the smoke from last night’s grilled meat still clinging to his clothes.

“Aww, aren’t they the cutest?” someone coos, almost mocking in tone. Sounds like one of Law’s crew although he can’t place exactly whose voice it is.

“I never thought I’d ever hear anyone call Captain ‘cute’,” someone else remarks.

Luffy would agree, but come to think of it Law could be cute at times. The way he tugged the brim of his hat down to try hiding his face—that was cute. And the tiny smile Law sometimes wore when it was just the two of them—the kind of smile that was there and gone in an instant like Law was trying to hide it—that was cute too. As much as Luffy wanted to know Law’s feelings, it was pretty cute when he tried to hide hem.

“You think they meant to sleep out here?” came a voice a little too close.

“Shut the hell up, Penguin. You’re gonna wake them!” another scolds.

Luffy’s already awake. He just doesn’t want to be yet, and it’s seeming like he won’t get to drift back to sleep again.

“At least wait until Nami takes a picture.”

“Huh? What’s Nami taking a picture of?” Luffy yawns, blinking his eyes to adjust to the morning sun. It’s no use fighting to sleep. He really can’t ignore all their voices. Besides, he’s awake enough now to feel his stomach starting to grumble.

“Never mind it,” Nami tells him.

Stretching, Luffy sits up just in time to see her palming something suspiciously snail-like and tucking it away in a woven basket. But the snail isn’t really what concerns him so much as his curiosity about what else is in that basket. His meat-detecting instincts are cuing him into something salty, fried over flame and dripping with juicy, cured flavour.

“Did you bring breakfast?” Luffy asks, and the answer better be ‘yes’ because he’s had more than his fill of deceptive flowers.

“We came up here ‘cause we thought it would be a nice day to have a brunch picnic in the wildflower field,” Ikkaku discloses, pulling out a large plaid picnic blanket. It’s not really an answer to his question but close enough.

“Imagine our surprise when we found you two.” Robin smiles at him discreetly, knowingly as though she’s keeping a secret of his. She sprouts a half-dozen hands to help Ikkaku set out the blanket on the lush grass.

“Our lovely high-class ladies-only brunch picnic has already been infiltrated by uncouth men,” Sanji grumbles, pulling dishes from a large covered basket, “so you may as well wake up Torao and get your asses over here too.”

“Oh, Sanji, don’t be so hard on yourself,” Ikkaku quips, “you’re not that uncouth.”

“And if you were talking about Shachi and Penguin, judging by how they act, I’d say they’re just kids,” Nami adds. She and Ikkaku give each other appreciative glances, giggle at each other’s wittiness.

Shachi just looks to Penguin who stops helping Sanji long enough to give a quick shrug. He doesn’t deny they act like they’re half their ages half the time.

“Hey, Torao, wake up,” Luffy says, shaking his shoulder with one hand, body already up and closing the distance to the food.

“That’s not gonna work,” Penguin notes, handing a cup to Shachi who shouts “Wake up Captain, we’ve got coffee!” as he pours the dark, steaming liquid into the cup.

Law does this weird little sit-up, folding in half with his body stiff like he’s being sat up in a hospital bed. His hat tumbles from his head, but he doesn’t pay it any mind. Groaning out like a zombie, he pulls himself off the ground to stumble the few steps to the picnic and throw himself back down next to his crew mates.

Luffy grabs a fistful of bacon and scoots closer to him.

“There, there, drink your coffee,” Penguin tells Law, almost patronizing, putting the cup in his captain’s hands.

Law mumbles something, head lolling forward to sip from the cup in his hands.

“That’s a good boy,” Shachi encourages mockingly, going so far as to ruffle his hair.

Law just grumbles incoherent, lazily smacking his hand away.

He really is funny when he’s just woken up Luffy decides, adds one more thing to his mental list of things that’s cute about Law.

“So what were you two lovers doing sleeping out here?” Ikkaku asks, passing Luffy a plate of sandwiches and a hearty helping of sausages.

He’s almost persuaded to start a list of reasons why she’s his next favourite of the Heart Pirates.

“Rivals,” Law interjects with half-asleep muttering. “We’re rivals.”

“You and me?” Luffy asks. He’s never thought of them as rivals and he’s sure he never will. They’re allies technically, friends definitely, and maybe they could be lovers. The word does have a nice sound. Come to think of it, it would be pretty nice if Law loved him enough for that. Something stirs in his heart at the thought—that light, happy fluttering.

“We may have an alliance now,” Law states from behind his steaming cup “but we’re both after the one piece.” He gives Luffy a little less than a glance, goes back to his coffee, staring at it like it’ll telling him the secrets of existence.

“That doesn’t mean you guys can’t be more than one thing,” Penguin notes.

“Yeah, don’t you want to be lovers too, Torao?” Luffy asks, leaning close, stretching a little to wrap an arm around Law in a sort of hug. He does wish Law would love him, but the thought that he might not does stick Luffy with a slight twinge of pain. Still, he wants to know if it’s possible.

“They do say that rivals make the most passionate lovers,” Robin concurs calmly.

Their crew members, especially Law’s have a laugh at his expense.

Law’s efforts to retort while mid-sip send him choking on his coffee, sputtering, coughing which only has them laughing harder.

Luffy can’t help but join in with them as he takes his arm from around Law. He smacks him on the back just like Law had done for him before.

“Yeah, laugh it up. I should cut your hearts out,” Law mumbles his threat which doesn’t seem to carry any weight, downs the rest of his coffee.

Luffy’s about to offer a ‘sorry’ once he can manage to stop laughing but a sharp pain in his ribs cuts off his breath. A tickle rises to his throat, only allows him a few short coughs before flower petals, the same as before, start to spill from his mouth.

This shouldn’t be happening. He thought he’d gotten them all out last night when he spewed the flowers onto the floor of the meat restaurant.

“What the hell?” Sanji mutters under his breath.

“Mugiwara, are you ok?” Ikkaku gasps, passing him a cup of tea Shachi’s poured out.

“Luffy, what did you do now?” There’s worry in Nani’s voice.

“I only-�� Luffy’s cut off by a stab through the chest again. He doubles over, leaning in to Law as the pants in shallow breaths, eyes squeezed shut trying to concentrate on making the pain go away.

“He ate poisonous flowers that happen to smell like meat. He’s been coughing them up ever since,” Law supplies. “I didn’t think he ate that many.”

“I didn’t,” Luffy confesses, “only a few.” That’s not his biggest problem right now. He’s more inconvenienced by whatever it is he feels attacking him from the inside.

“On the way to this island I was looking up information. I recall coming across a tale about a curse carried by such flowers,” Robin discloses. “I’ll try to find the book again.”

“But my heart hurts now,” Luffy tells them. That’s what he wants to fix most of all.

“It’s going to be alright,” Law tells him, stoking Luffy’s back soothingly. “For now just concentrate on my voice.”

“Tell me what things we are,” Luffy demands weakly.

Law just looks down at him, hums.

“More than rivals,” Luffy asserts. He wants to know what Law defines them as.

“Ok,” Law consents, “We are rivals to an extent still, confirmed allies, and I suppose we might have established a fairly friendly rapport-“

“Just say ‘friends’, Captain,” Shachi urges.

“And then say ask him to be your boyfriend,” Ikkaku suggests, “We see the way you look at him.”

“Like the way you look at her?” Law asks, gesturing to Nami.

Ikkaku blushes a deep shade of red. The rest laugh.

“You should have seen her buying her drinks all night last night,” Penguin chimes in.

“It was sweet,” Nami says, patting Ikkaku’s hand.

Thinking about other things, like what Law thinks, being able to laugh with everyone, the comfort of having Law’s hand on his back, it’s helping. Luffy’s pain is fading into just a little tightness in his chest now. Even so, he doesn’t want it to come back.

“Torao,” Luffy nudges Law, “What about my heart hurting. Relaxing isn’t fixing it for good.”

“I’ve got another suggestion for how to help you then,” Law says, “but it’ll make us rivals only.”

“Not funny,” Sanji snorts. “Luffy is gonna take you seriously.”

“I’m not joking,” Law says plainly. “It’s only temporary. He’ll see what I mean.”

“But-“ Luffy tries to protest.

“Yes we can still be more than one thing afterward,” Law answers, looks away from him.

Luffy thinks he catches a faint smile on Law’s lips before his hand moves to mask it, chin propped on this palm, fingers covering his mouth in a mock display of contemplation. He really is kind of cute when he tries to hide his feelings.

[skyecrandall]

Ghosts & Pizzas - ILITW Fanfic

Book: It Lives In The Woods

Genre : Comedy

Number of words : 3163

Summary: Noah believes that they should try and tame Jane. But will it all go according to plan?

Notes: This is my ILITW Appreciation Week Submission! Also In this universe, the group learned that Jane was actually Redfield and no one died back in the cave. Somehow the ritual was disrupted, they were able to escape and sealed again.

Pizza Mega:

"So Ava, what did you need us for?" asked Dan, who was sitting opposite her in the 8 person booth. "Hold on sweetie. Stacy, Noah and Kang are not here yet," replied Ava while toying with a coin. "Talking about the wolf, here comes Stacy," said Aaron who was sitting besides Dan. "Hey guys, how are you all doing?" Asked the cheerleader as she was about to sit next to Aaron. "Wait! Don't sit there. Noah told me to reserve his place there or whatever. I don't know what he is planning but might be better you move next to Lily instead," objected Ava. "What? You are guys are weird," said Stacy confused as she sat next to Lily when her eyes fell on Lucas who was scribbling in a diary on the other side of Lily. "I hope this not a study session," she said. "No, this is just some leftover work. I've been down in inspiration and figured that maybe if I bring it here something will come up but nothing seems to stick," said Lucas as he crossed over a certain section of the diary in frustration. "You definitely burnt out Lucas. You should have stepped down from some of your previous responsibilities," said Lily. "I did. Now I'm only president of 8 clubs along and have the usual council president going on," said Lucas. "That's still too much!" exclaimed Lily when Dan's voice, filled with terror could be heard.

"Wh-what is he doing here!" He said. "You better have a good explanation, a very good one, Kang and Marshall" said Aaron with a frown. Lily and Stacy were going to turn their head behind to see what caused the ruckus but as they are a special voice right beside their tables.... their stomach flipped. "Hell~oooo Fri~ends," said the voice all too familiar to everyone. Right beside them was standing Andy, Noah and Redfield in a trench coat and a large hat. "There, sit next to Aaron," said Noah as he invited Redfield to sit next to Aaron and then sat on the other side of the ghost. Andy dragged a stool on the side and placed it in the middle and sat. "Why is she...here? Why did you. two...bring her here?" Said an uncomfortable Lily.

"I was thinking that since we can't keep running away from Jane and our attempts to seal did not end well, we might accept her and try to make her less violent," said Noah. "Do you know how stupid you sound right now? And I can't believe how you of all person could agree to this, Andy," said Stacy with a disapproving glare. "Noah is really convincing... and if we could control her power. Wouldn't we all have a better life. I mean as terrible the consequences of her gifts was...it still was very beneficial to us...," said Andy after taking a deep breath. "I can see your points," said Lucas as he took off his glasses to wipe them. "Not you too Lucas!" Protested Aaron. "I know... but think about it. Befriending her and teaching her what is right or wrong might be our best bet at permanently pacifying her violent tendencies. If we teach her that sending moss monsters and infesting buildings with spiders and what not is wrong, we might no longer have to deal with these?" Continued the council president. "See Lucas gets it! Plus remember that it is actually Jane! Let's see how she behaves today and you'll see that we could continue with the plan," said Noah with a smile. "You know, I love you a lot Lucas, but sometimes you make it so hard to do so," said Aaron has he glared at his date this time.

"Me... very happy that friends...spend time together....My gifts," said Jane as she took out 8 dolls from the trench coat. They were made from dried vines, branches, flowers, leaves, feathers and fur. "Are these voodoo dolls?" Said Dan shocked by how each doll seemed to be representing one member of the crew. "Only one way to check," said Stacy as she dug through her purse and brought out a needle. She then took the doll that resembled Noah the most and stabbed it at where would normally be his groin resulting into a collective expression of pain on the group's face. "Well... since Noah doesn't seem to be hurt, I guess they are not voodoo dolls. Still I think I'll keep them. They will be useful when I have some anger to work on," continued Stacy as she stabbed the Noah dolls a few more times before putting every miniature dolls in her purse.

"Hold on, wasn't Ava the one who called us here? So does that mean you were also aware of this?" Said Lily as suddenly everyone's glare turned to the goth. Shocked by the turn of events, Ava only yelled for the waiter to come and take their order. "Don't worry Ava, this is just a discussion saved for latter," said Aaron. "Are you making threats Aaron? Remember I'm the one who makes curses here," replied Ava. "I'm a bad bitch Ava, your curses don't mean shit to me," replied Aaron. Their discourse was cut short as the waiter approached.

"Hello, I'm Daniel and I'll be your waiter. What would you like to order?" Said the waiter. "4 Mega Gourmet as usual?" Said Lucas followed by a series of nods. "And for drinks?" Asked Daniel. "Mr.Cocola here," said Andy. "Same here," added Noah. "Make that 3," added Dan. "Milkshake. Banana-Vanilla," said Stacy. "I'll have a coffee here with 1 table spoon of milk and sugar," said Lucas. "What the hell? Coffee with pizza? Are you nuts?" Asked Noah. "So what? I also need caffeine here," replied Lucas. "I'll also take a coffee. Dark and bitter... Like my soul," said Ava while constant staring at Lucas with a smile. "This is isn't a competition Ava," said Lucas. "I never said it was," replied with goth. "I'll take the Lemon Spritzer. I have always wanted to try it," said Aaron. "You'll love it Aaron! I'll take a Spritzer too. Tropical flavor though," said Lily with a smile. "I think that's it. Thank you," said Aaron.

"What about the one in the Halloween outfit? Won't they drink anything? I must say though, this is an amazing Halloween outfit. They will definitely be the king of costumes next week for Halloween," said Daniel. "Uhh no. Jane w-" said Aaron before Redfield cut him off. "Me take same as ... Aaron..." groaned Redfield. "Good. So the order is 4 Mega Gourmet. 3 Mr.Cocola , 1 Banana Milkshake, 1 coffee with 1 tablespoon of milk and sugar, 1 black coffee, 1 Tropical Spritzer and 2 Lemon Spritzer," asked Daniel. "Yes you got it," said Noah and then Daniel departed. "Wow, good thing that he didn't notice that it wasn't actually a Halloween outfit," said Andy. "Shut up dammit! He isn't gone yet.oh crap he is coming back," said the ex football star. Daniel returned to their table and tapped Andy in the shoulder as the latter started sweating. "Also could you please return the stool after you are done?" Asked Daniel. "Yeah... sure," said Andy, relieved that Daniel didn't here anything about Mr.Red.

After Daniel was gone, Aaron came back for Ava. "So? Are you associated with these two too?" "Ugh... Yes. They needed someone as back up if ever he went violet when they were negotiating with him. Plus they needed my collection of ghastly horror stories," said Ava, knowing that she can no longer avoid the topic. "Plus with Redfield around, I might be able to improve my abilities even more," she continued. "Anyway, let's start. Ava, ready the movie," said Noah and Ava took out her phone and played a video with a rather gruesome ghost attacking a group of people and dismembering them. "What kind of movies do you watch Ava? I know Noah asked for a dangerous ghost but isn't that far too violent?" Asked Andy with disgust. "No it is perfect. The more violent it is, the better it is. Anyway Jane, you see the video? This is bad. You must not do that! " said Noah. "This...bad?" Said Jane slowly. "Yes! This is bad! Jane isn't a bad girl is she?" Said Noah. "No... Jane... good girl... Me... not bad," said Jane. "This is ridiculous," complained Aaron. "I know right? In no way this will turn her more docile," added Stacy. "Not with this attitude! There is something called positive reinforcement," said Noah. "I'm not sure this is applicable here," added Lily.

"Moving on. Jane, if you truly are a good girl, you must not do that. Understood?" Asked Noah "Understood...Me...no longer...doing that," said Jane. "Good. If you are a good girl and angry.... you should do this instead... Next video Ava," said Noah and Ava changed the video. This time she played the video of how a cartoon ghost dropped the pants of a ghost hunter. "Only good girls do that if you are angry. You are a good girl aren't you Jane?" Said Noah. "Yes! Me ... good girl!" Said Jane with eyes glowing more than usual. "I don't know why but I'm having a bad feeling about all of this," said Dan.

And so for the next few moments, Noah kept teaching Jane proper behavior until the food finally arrived.

"Drat. They haven't cut the shares. Andy can you grab some knives," said Dan. "No... I'll do it..." said Jane and the next second 2 knives flew toward's Dan's head, missing it by only a few inches, even piercing through the glass pane beside him. "HUUUUH" exclaimed Dan shocked. "What the hell Noah! You said Jane will not try anything like that anymore," complained Stacy. "Uhh. This is wrong Jane. You must not be violent. This is bad," Noah scolded his ghastly sister. "Sorry... Here... apology," said Jane as she made two knives very slowly float towards the group when Andy grabbed them mid air. "That is far too slow! What if someone saw it" said Andy as he placed the knives on the table "Sorry..." said Jane sadly.

"Can you give me a fork Andy?" Asked Lucas. "Eh why? Pizzas are best when eating with hands," asked Andy. "He's just showing off his snob side," teased Ava. "I just can't have myself dirtying my paper with my hands," glared Lucas. "Fine...," said Andy as he was going to get off when Noah stopped him. "Wait, let's give Jane a last chance! Come on Jane, bring us a fork! Not too quick and not too slow and not in a way people will notice," ordered Noah. "Sneaky? Okay!" Said Jane as everyone stared at the vase containing the forks. A pair of tarantulas climbed on top of the can and took one of the forks and placed it on their body. They then quickly crawled towards the groups's table carefully avoiding the other plates. When they finally reached Lucas's seat, they separated and one grabbed the fork between its claws while the other took a knife and started cutting a piece of pizza. The tarantula with the fork then stabbed it and started walking on Lucas' arm to his elbow and then tried aiming the food at his mouth. Everyone was shocked by scene. "I don't know if this is cool, terrifying or plain disgusting," said Ava awestruck. "How about all the 3 of it?" Said Andy. "Are you okay Lucas?" Asked Lily. "Surprisingly Ye-" said Lucas before the tarantula was finally able to put the forked pizza in his mouth. "Sorry Lucas, I don't think I'll be willing to kiss you these few days," said Aaron, bewildered by what just happened.

"Jane I know you had good intentions, but this might have been a little too much? Dropping the fork on the table would have been enough," said Noah. "Sorry again..." said Jane as she started sipping her drink via the pipe and soon the crew also started eating, expect Lucas... too terrified to do anything. However very soon after however... "Dammit Aaron, I know you are grossed out and scared but no need to wet your pants!" Said Noah. "What the hell Noah! What are you imp-" exclaimed Aaron when he suddenly felt something wet creeping towards him. He looked at the source and found a juice puddle spreading from Jane's spirit. "Goddammit, Noah! Look what Jane did!" Said Aaron. "Hey! It's not her fault if she has an immaterial body?" replied Noah. "Still you might want to clean it up with some napkins, we do not want the management to see this," said Lily. "Also, Jane... No more drinks for you !" Said Stacy as she swiped the remaining Spritzer remaining from Jane. "Guys, quiet down. The she-devil is coming towards us," said Dan and indeed, Britney was coming towards the group.

"For your information Dan, I heard you call me a she-devil. Don't you know this is rude?" She scowled. "Well don't you know that coming uninvited to a lunch with friends is rude?" Replied Stacy. "This is a public building. I can go wherever I want," said Britney. "Then why don't you go and fuck yourself," said Ava. "Why don't you go do that yourself?" Replied Britney. "As you can see you are not welcome here so can you just go? I didn't know that you are as obsessed with us that you followed us," said Lily. "Don't be fucking rude. The world doesn't revolve around you. I'm just here for Lily!" Said Britney, really angry as she started hitting Stacy with her purse. "Hey! Stop!" Exclaimed Stacy as she tried to defend herself with her hands.

Their skirmish eventually caused Stacy's drink to fall down, spilling it on her shirt. "Oh no!" Said the cheerleader. "Heh, it is not any different from your usual trashy outfit," chuckled Britney but unfortunately her action caused a certain somebody to get angry. "YOU! HURT! STACY!" Yelled Jane as she used her telekinesis powers to levitate cutlery all around Britney. "What the hell is that? Whatever freak-stuff you are doing, you better stop it Ava," threatened Britney even if she was scared. "Oh no! She's gonna kill her!" Exclaimed Dan before he started hyperventilating. "Stop Dan. Calm down or you might faint," said Lily but it was too late, Dan had already fainted. "Noah stop this dammit !" Yelled Aaron as he checked on Dan. "Uh...Jane, stop this! What did we tell you earlier! You are a good girl aren't you?" Said Noah. Jane held the cutlery for a few more seconds before putting them back in the jar. Her eyes glowed and then Britney's belt undid itself before her pants dropped to the ground, exposing her underwear to the group. "Oh my god? Are those Bye Puppy underwear? I never knew you were into in this sort of thing Britney?" Teased Stacy. "I will repay all of you for this embarrassment. I swear it," said Britney as she quickly lifted back up her pants before rushing outside the pizzeria.

"Ugh. Crisis averted I guess? Sort of? Anyway I think I'll be returning home right now. Too much emotions and I do not think a few napkins will be able to save my outfit," said Stacy as she packed her stuff and left some money on the table before leaving. "I should probably go and check on Britney...Just to ensure she doesn't do anything too drastic," said Lily as she did the same as Stacy. "You are too pure Lily. I don't know how she can stand that harpy," commented Andy. "The same way we can stand Noah," said Lucas as he packed his stuff. "Wow? Is that a Lucas burn? Will the moon be blue tonight?" laughed Ava. "More importantly, are you leaving too?" Asked Aaron. "Yes. I came here to have fun but now all I have in mind now are nightmares. You need something?" Asked Lucas as he also dropped his share of money on the table. "Well I need a ride to get Dan home. Can't leave him like that," said Aaron as he put his and Dan's share on the table. "Does that mean it is okay with Jane now?" Asked Noah. "Absolutely not. The three of you better take care of Jane and ensure she doesn't cause anymore trouble!" Ordered Aaron before he left with Lucas with the unconscious Dan over their shoulders.

"I guess that's just the three of us now. Let's get the payment done and bring Jane back to the ruins," said Noah. "Where is Ava? When did she go?" Exclaimed a shocked Andy. "I knew she was a witch, but not a ninja. We can do this together An-dy? What the hell! You could have at least returned that stool!" Said Noah as he noticed Andy had run away while he was giving his monologue. "Don't worry Jane, we don't need the others! I'm more than enough to bring you back home," said Noah as he tried hugging Jane.

The Next Day - Westchester High:

"... So yeah, she's still shaken up and will likely try to avoid us now. At least I hope so," said Lily. "All I can say is good riddance," said Aaron. "I still can't believe she wears Bye Puppy stuff? Wasn't she the one who was laughing at Lily for supposedly wearing kid clothes," laughed Ava. "I should have taken a photo of her. It would be our weapon for whenever she tried to annoy us more," said Stacy. "Who says I didn't," smirked Aaron when he suddenly felt a cold hand touch him. He turned around and a gasp escaped his mouth.

"Hell~oooooooo fri~endssss," said the person... who was no other than Jane. "What the hell Noah? Didn't you say you took her back to the ruins yesterday?" Complained Stacy. "I did! I don't know what she is doing here though..." replied the brown haired teen. "Am I the only one more concerned about how she is wearing Lucas' outfit," said Andy. "She's even wearing my spare spectacles," gasped the student council president. "What are...you doing here ... Jane ..." said a shocked Aaron.

"Noah said...Jane was good girl...yesterday. Since me good... me thought that... she can spend more time... with friends... at school! Since me... good student... me needed good student clothes.... me took Lucas' clothes..." Hissed Jane when the class bell rang. "Bell rang... Let's go to class... friendssss...," said Jane as she we floated along the halls. "What...the...hell... just happened," said Aaron slowly as he fell on his knees from disbelief, slowly followed by the others besides Noah. "Come on guys, it is not that bad. It is just that Jane will be coming to school to us," said the beanie wearing teen as he shrugged his shoulder before walking away.

-----

Tagging: @teamtomsato @wlwkateomalley @nuttatulipa @lovethemarshalltwins Ive been teasing you guys with this too much, And also @choiceslife ! If you want me to tag you every time I post a fic do say ! I have one coming around for Halloween ;-)

I hope you guys enjoyed this story. I kept having ideas on and on and it eventually led to this being dragged out kdfjkfhdkfh. Also I have an idea as a sort of sequel to this fic, If you guys would love to read it, do tell! If I get enough people willing for it I’ll definitely write it. The sequel will likely not be as long as this though hehe.

Please do reblog and like if it entertained you! I’m also looking forward to your reactions to it.

Link To My Masterlist, If you want to check my other stuff out.

[theredpendulum]

Chapter 1: Welcome

“Alright, that’ll be thirty-four eighty-one. Go ahead and insert your card.” My smile is getting tired. I hate this town.

The middle aged white woman at my register has already snapped at me twice in the last two minutes, and I’m not gonna lie to you. I’m having violent thoughts. 

She swipes her card, and I repeat to her that it has to be inserted since it’s a chip. While she reads the LCD screen she opens and closes her lips like a sixth grader, mocking me for speaking. Once the transaction processes, I wish her a good day, and she leaves the store in a flurry of leopard print leggings and Barbie-pink cowgirl boots.

“I hope your car’s heater is broken, you smooth-brained troglodyte.” I whisper through my grinning teeth quiet enough that she can’t hear me.

“I hate customers.” Jeb pulls his pocket knife out to open a fresh box of plastic bags to reload his station. It’s chipped here and there along the blade, and the handle has a long thin crack going down the left side. I hate that I’ve worked here long enough to be familiar with that stupid knife.

“Me too. At least we’re getting paid.” I shrug.

Jeb nods while distractedly cutting small notches in the edge of the now empty cardboard box, and his eyes look unstable. Distant, and turbulent. 

“You should put your knife away before Aubrey sees you have it out.” His eyes roll back into his skull.

“Whatever.” He mutters and stabs the box. Lifting the box like a slab of ham on a carving fork, he begins to carry it to the back. I watch him go for a moment to make sure he actually closes his blade. He does.

Working with Jeb is like… well he’s a 16 year old boy. That should be sufficient information. He can be funny, and friendly, and bizarrely entertaining, and just the worst sometimes. Today feels like an off day for him. I wonder what went wrong in his morning. Maybe Henry dumped him. They’ve been having drama lately. I should ask. There’s only about five customers in the store right now, and they’re all still milling around aimlessly so we probably have a minute or two to chat. I can see him coming back over. His eyebrows look like they weigh a hundred pounds each.

“Hey.” I tap my fingers on the counter.

“Hey.” He’s got a rubber band in his fingers. He’s twisting it and squishing it into a wiggly blob of dusty red rubber. 

“So… How’s Henry?” I bite the inside of my cheek. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.

Jeb looks up at me like I just gave him socks for Christmas.

“He’s fine.”

He sucks his teeth, and stretches the rubber band across his hand, and aims at me. I flinch, and he pulls a half-dead smile. He switches his aim to the ceiling, and lets go sending the rubber band into the brightly colored foil snow man above our heads. I catch it, and toss it in my drawer.

“Hey! That’s mine!”

“I’m taking self-protective measures.” I wink and aim finger guns at him. “Pew pew.”

The rest of the day goes by just as boring and frustrating as usual. A man asks me if my hair is a wig, a woman tells me that her apples are apples, and a child asks me if I am pregnant. I’m...definitely not. When 10pm finally makes it’s blessed arrival, Jeb and I wish our last customer a good night, and then play Mother Mother from my phone while we wipe down the registers and sweep the floor. My feet feel like ground beef. My shoes are coming off.

“It’s a sin that these stupid Christmas decorations are up already. We literally just had Halloween. The Spook Gods are gonna be displeased by Craig’s heinous actions.” I enter my employee code, and take my till out of the drawer.

“Yeah he’s gonna get hexed or something for sure. We have witches in this town, you know. Henry told me.” Jeb sticks his broom between his legs, squats, and cackles.

This makes me crack up. I’m glad today hasn’t completely beat the immaturity out of him.

“You look like Discount Harry Potter. And they’re not that kind of witch. They just like collecting crystals and wearing black.” I walk past him into the manager’s office to count up my till. Jeb makes fart sounds to himself to the rhythm of the music and resumes sweeping. 

“Hey Aubrey.” I sit down at the desk, and start punching numbers. “It’s all wiped down out there.”

“Cool. Thanks.” My Manager has drifted off to another universe. The sounds of some kind of puzzle game beep and boop from her phone. 

*fwAHP*

“OW. WH?!” 

Jeb cackles at the doorway at having successfully hit his target. I look down at the desk in front of me and see the rubber band. 

“I should’ve put that in my pocket, you wiener.” I rub my forehead, and wish Aubrey a good night.

Jeb waves to me as he walks out the door. “G’night, Marlo!” he crows.

“Night, Jeb!” I half heartedly salute him, and sit down to put my sneakers back on. I would just carry them, but I remember seeing broken glass outside when I got here.

By the time I have finished tying my laces Jeb has driven away, and Aubrey has made her way to the door. 

“Let’s go.” She motions for me to follow. 

I flop my bag onto my shoulder, and step out the door. She turns the key, and gives the door a test tug to make sure it’s secured.

“Hey have a good night.” 

She gives me a tired smile, and a wave before climbing into her car and pulling away. I throw up a peace sign and head to the back of the lot towards my beat up 2001 Honda prelude. There’s duct tape on the back bumper from a hit and run that happened four years ago. I still haven’t gotten around to replacing that yet… I should do that at some point… I’m so tired. I open my door and climb in. I want nothing more than a hot drink, and some me time. My legs are numb from standing up all day.

Suddenly, I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Warm air is being blown onto my skin from behind. I’m not alone. Horror injects itself into every cell in my body in a single millisecond.

“Welcome.” 

A voice like a creaking floorboard rasps behind me. My keys fly out of my hand, and I lurch out the door. I leave it hanging open and run towards the store front. “HELP!!! HELP ME!!!” I scream as loud as my panicking heart and lungs can muster. I don’t slow down. I slam into the front door, and grab the handle. I desperately tug, but the dread is only getting stronger within my body. I know it’s locked. I watched Aubrey lock it.

I turn too look behind me to see if anyone is chasing me. No one. Nothing there. There isn’t a living thing in sight. There are tears running down my nose. I can’t breathe right. My lungs are twitching and lurching like beetles turned onto their backs. I stand still clutching my sleeves for a moment. It’s completely quiet. The moon lights up the lot with a cold distant glow. The moon is usually comforting to me, but right now it feels menacing. 

What do I do??? ….911! I’ll call the cops!

I scramble to get my phone, but I quickly realize that it is sitting hostile in my bag on the front seat. Whoever is in my car has everything. My phone, my wallet, my keys, …I’m dead. I’m so dead. My eyes shiver and start to squeeze out sharp cold tears. 

“Crap.” My voice cracks as it shudders back and forth. I can feel my knees wobbling, my back muscles twitching. I have to decide on something to do. My feet sting. I can’t stand here at the shop door all night. I step slowly towards my car. Maybe I imagined it. Maybe it’s just exhaustion. I know I can have an elaborate imagination. I might be freaking out over nothing.

“Hello?” I call out. 

Nothing.

“HELLO?!” Louder.

Nothing.

I walk closer and closer to the dangling door. It looks like a dislocated jaw. I hate this.

I hate this.

I hate this.

I hate this!

I HATE THIS!

“If there’s anyone there, I’ll beat the- the SHIT out of you!” I yell at my car. I ball my fists up, and raise them to my chest.

Nothing. Not even a rustling. 

“I’m serious! I’ll end you!” I say with a little less conviction.

“This is your last chance! h-Here I come!” I step slowly towards my car and look into the back window. I don’t see anyone. My car is completely empty except for my bag which lies undisturbed on the seat. My keys are still on the floor. Frick. I’m not okay. 

“Get home. Get in, get home, get in. Just get home.”

I get into my car as fast as I can, and shut and lock the door in one motion. My head on a swivel, I stick my key in and turn. The engine makes a wheezing warbling sound and then sputters into a steady hum. That’s not normal. I don’t have time to worry about that right now. I speed out of the parking lot like a squirrel on caffeine. My leg won’t stop bouncing as I drive. It still feels like someone is in the backseat. I check the rear view mirror a thousand times in the fifteen minutes it takes me to drive home. At the first stop sign I reach I stand on the break, and crane my neck back to check the floor in the back in case someone is crouching down back there. There’s nothing. I’m still scared. What if I’m being followed?... I can’t think about that. That’s too scary right now.

I pull into my driveway, and sprint to my front door. Feeling paranoid now I jiggle the knob to make sure it’s still locked since I left it this morning. It is. I unlock it, go inside, and slam the door behind me. I lock the knob and the bolt. I can’t stop shaking. Everything hurts. I might vomit. I turn on the lights to my living room and kitchen, and grab a chef’s knife from the block. I carry it with me to the pantry and retrieve the kettle and a box of red raspberry leaf tea. I need to calm down. This is the part of living alone that seriously sucks sometimes. I have no one here to watch my back if something happens. I need a dog or something. A really big dog. 

I make my tea, and sit down at my computer. I load up Pitchfork, Cottage Simulator. The wholesome artwork and cute villagers in my little pixelated mountain town will hopefully at least bring my heartrate down. I work on my little carrot garden, trade some wool for a fish at the little market, and get started on decorating a new room in my cottage. The next several hours melt away into the night. Eight-bit guitars and hot herbal tea are really great for anxiety attacks. 

Lying in bed, my room feels crooked. The energy is bad. My body is a lot more calmed down, but my brain won’t settle into place. I really wish I had a dog… 

[tinybit92]

RWBY 5:11 thoughts under the cut.

In order of events:

I like the noticeable difference in Qrow’s posture before and after he enters the building. When he’s with the kids he’s slouching, hands in his pockets, hunched forward, looking grumpy and irritable. Then he gets in the school and he’s all business. Straightens out his back, shoulders squared, hands at his sides, and a focused gaze. Good show-don’t-tell moment of character development.

Ha, bet Raven’s regretting letting Yang in on her secret for a second there. Qrow was so focused on Lionheart he probably wouldn’t have noticed her for a while.

I like how intense Ruby is about Raven, little bit of subtle character insight on our poor, underdeveloped protagonist.

Nora legit didn’t believe the magic shit until right then.

Raven mocking her brother’s half-assed shot. Love them sibling dynamics.

Little brother? Guess we know which twin was born first.

Yang’s posture: Fucking fight me, mom!

Ruby Rose, precious innocent puppy talking about the power of friendship.

Yang’s dirty look at Raven when Ruby offers her hand, nonverbal warning that she better not fuck with her sister.

“You sound just like your mother.” YES HELLO, FAVORITE LINE OF THE EPISODE. MORE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR RUBY BY TALKING ABOUT SUMMER PLEASE.

Cinder doesn’t even wait to get there before blasting Ruby’s ass. Girl’s got some issues to settle.

Interested to see more of Hazel in these upcoming episodes. Oscar is exceptionally concerned by his presence.

No, bad kitty, no setting bombs! Where is my spray bottle?

Little bird, Cinder could not be more condescending today.

Qrow looks like an angry parent talking to Leo. “I am disappoint, son.”

Jaune is a poor, sad noodle.

Sick burn, Cinder.

Angry noodle is angry.

I almost feel like Emerald pulling Ruby away from Cinder is less about letting Cinder fuck with Jaune, and more about protecting Ruby from Cinder, because that is not a fight she’s ready for yet.

Merc still letting Yang think she broke his leg. What a prick.

Excuse you Raven? Weiss is worth the world, thank you very much.

Damn, that whole Qrow and Raven exchange. I still want to believe that Raven can be good and this is just a way to ramp up the tension, but it’s pretty clear this shit with the twins has been building for years. Probably about 17 years, to be exact. *side eyes Yang*

You tell that bitch, baby girl. You might not be able to beat her, but at least make it clear that this isn’t about being a Schnee.

Ren and Nora, the only kids from Beacon who actually learned the lesson Ozpin was trying to teach them about teamwork.

Oscar’s already a fucking beast at like five foot nothing.

Hey, proper shot of that lion tail. Good to see a faunus in a position of power. Also explains why he was so vulnerable to Salem’s manipulations with the way we know the faunus are generally treated.

“Fight.” Ozpin’s like, why you even need to ask, kid?

Even though she’s mastered summoning now, it still takes time. Good to show those limitations. Also emphasizes once again the importance of teamwork in this show. Weiss is a support unit, and she needs her teammates to distract her opponents in order to best use her moves.

“You’re the little bitch who was supposed to be guarding the door.”...sorry, couldn’t resist.

More fuel for the Emerald is possibly redeemable fire.

Weiss has no trouble avoiding that stray bullet. She knows what Ruby’s gun sounds like.

Damn, those ballet moves on the glyphs.

Oh shit, aura break!

Wow, fuck you, Cinder. That one was low.

I have deep concerns any time Jaune is around fire. Fire was not a friend to Joan of Arc.

Ruby having legit war flashbacks. Poor baby. :(

Good job showing those limitations again. These kids have some crazy moves, but even silver eyes ain’t worth shit if you turn your back on your opponent and get your ass knocked unconscious.

Good job taking that opening Jaune.

Not so good on the landing there, you little wet noodle. Tripping over his own feet is not very huntsman-like.

Cinder’s like, bitch you dare?

Oh my god, Jaune, stop being so self loathing. Your life mattered to Pyrrha, so don’t you go throwing it away.

Bitch, do not.

BITCH NO.

(Making it look suspiciously like Pyrrha’s spear to rub salt in the wound.)

Jesus, can we please stop stabbing women for Jaune’s character development? WEISS HAS BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH, THANK YOU.

That wound is very deliberately off to one side in a non-vital area. Roughly parallel to where Blake got stabbed, actually. She’ll be fine.

Wonder if that self-cauterizing weapon is better or worse for the injury?

I can’t believe they stabbed Ruby’s best friend while she was unconscious. I know why narratively, silver eyes would have ended the fight right there, but way to rob Ruby of development opportunities yet again.

Also, I have some problems with it being Weiss who got hurt. Her only real connection to Jaune is his unrequited crush on her, so it doesn’t serve much purpose for him other than to parallel Pyrrha. It would have been far more effective to have it be Ren who got hurt. That’s his best friend and an important member of his ragtag family. Not to mention Nora would be flipping the fuck out, which would further spur on the inevitable conclusion to this, which is Jaune discovering his semblance is healing.

Like, legit we’ve known this since season one. The only reason they’ve been drawing out his semblance reveal is so they could have him dramatically use it to save someone. Like right now.

Okay, so that’s it for play by play, here’s a few more stray thoughts:

Like I said, Weiss will be fine. Not even a little bit worried she’s gonna die. This is so obviously about Jaune’s semblance. That’s why they brought it up again a few episodes ago. Still wish it was one of Jaune’s actual teammates though instead of Weiss. Please just let the poor girl be.

If they use this as a reason to have Weiss start falling for Jaune I will fucking riot. They’ve spent too much time making him obnoxiously ignore the fact that no means no. I love Jaune, but if you let him “get the girl” after setting such a poor example, you are sending a bad message. Please let him have a more natural romance down the line. They both deserve better than this potential plot line.

Ruby is gonna be so upset when she wakes up. Even if Weiss has been healed already by then, she’s gonna be on a freaking vendetta. That is her BFF, and Cinder just did it for funsies to fuck with Jaune.

On a related note, Yang’s been really good about reigning in her temper up until now, but given the way she exploded last time Weiss got hurt, this is not going to end well for any of the bad guys in that room. I hope she goes after Raven while in a full on rage and Raven doesn’t even know what to do about it.

Seriously though, can we maybe capture Raven or something and have her talk about Summer and the ways Ruby is similar to her? Pretty please? Or have Ruby talk to Qrow later and ask him to tell her more about what her mom was like as a leader?Just give me character development for Ruby and Summer, please, I beg of you.

Blake and her crew need to hurry their asses up. Given that they’re not there yet, I’m guess they’ll get a Big Damn Heroes moment in the next couple episodes.

I appreciate Adam’s minimal screentime. Don’t let me see him unless Yang and Blake are knocking his teeth in.

As awful as the outcome of this fight was in universe, I really love the way the limitations were presented. They are all still kids, and no matter how powerful they get, they still don’t know how to properly utilize their abilities. Weiss may be able to summon now, but she does’t know how to set up a situation where she’s got the time to do it. Ruby has her silver eyes, but nobody has taught her how to use them, and they’re so reliant on her emotions right now that she can’t keep a straight head to use them without making herself vulnerable.

I fully understand where Jaune is coming from emotionally, but he is being so reckless right now. Pyrrha did not send him away in that locker just so he could get himself killed doing something stupid. If nothing else, I hope this situation teaches him to value her sacrifice and take care of himself as well as his friends.

Blake and Weiss are gonna have matching abdominal scars.

Cinder is gonna need to do something really fucked up in order for Emerald to to turn on her, but she already looks so uncomfortable all the time, and Cinder is cracking so hard, I don’t think it’s that far off honestly.

Really glad this season has been extended to 14 episodes, or that would have been the second to last one. We’ve still got three more episodes for this battle to go down.

[thunderbirdcarebear]

The Eyes of the Beholder - Chapter 6

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5

Chapter 6 - Contacting Mica

"Oh, my head." Kari sat up slowly and looked around. She was on her own again. 'They seem to trust me enough to leave me.' She looked up as Virgil walked over. 'Or maybe not.'

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Fine." She stopped as pain shot through her head. "Ow, yes, just fine, save for the headache, but that is an acceptable compromise, a headache for my freedom from that man."

Virgil smiled. "Would you like some pain killers or something?"

"That would be welcomed. Thank you."

He smiled again and walked off.

Jeff and Scott had been talking. "What do we do now? She's seen us, she's knows you're the, uh… Why is it saying head or leader always sounds so…?"

"Fake?" Jeff supplied the word.

"Yeah, I guess."

"I'm not really anyone's head or leader. I'm your father and just happen to run the organisation and organise the rescues."

"No, not a leader at all!" Scott said, laughing.

Jeff shook his head. "Come on, back to business."

"Yes! Right! Sorry!" Scott paused. "Where was I?"

Jeff threw his hands up in mock surrender. "Scott!"

"Ok, ok! Yes, she's seen us, knows you run the show, has seen the inside of this pod…"

"Alright, alright, no need to repeat yourself." Scott rolled his eyes. "Right. We've deactivated that chip, so the Hood won't be able to find her from now on, though I'm betting he's already on his way using information gathered before we deactivated it."

"You're probably right. So what can we do?"

"First thing's first. We get Kari outta here."

Just then the door to the lab opened and Virgil walked in. "Hi. Am I interrupting anything?"

"No, not really," Jeff answered. "What's up?"

"Are there any pain killers in the first aid kit?"

"Kari?"

"Yeah."

"I expect so. Hey, it's your Thunderbird, you should know exactly what's in each pod, right down to what's in the first aid kits!"

"Yes, sir. The error will be corrected at the earliest possible opportunity," Virgil said, saluting and marching across the room. "Affirmative. Presence of pain killers confirmed."

"Glad to hear it, soldier! As you were!"

"F.A.B., sir!" Virgil marched from the room, his shoulders shaking from his uncontrollable chuckling.

"So," Jeff said, turning back to Scott. "Where can we take Kari where she'll be safe?"

"As far away from Dartmoor as possible." They both sat thinking. There were enough places on this planet, but it was a case of finding one where she would be safe and looked after.

"I've got it!" Jeff suddenly shouted, making Scott jump. "We have to try and find out from her as much about her brother as possible."

Kari put her cup down. Her head still hurt, but she knew the pain killers would kick in eventually. She smiled at Virgil who'd crouched down beside her. "Thank you. I am sure my headache will subside soon."

Virgil grinned at her and sat down properly on the floor next to her, his legs stretched out in front of him and propped himself up on his hands, which he'd rested on the floor behind him.

"Kari?" a voice called across the pod. She looked about for the owner and saw Jeff walking towards her.

"Yes Jeff, sir," she called back then wished she hadn't as another stab of pain hit her head. 'I wish these pain killers would take effect soon.'

"I need to ask you some more questions. Is that all right? You don't have to if you don't want to."

"About what?"

He took a deep breath. "Your brother."

"My brother? Uh, ok."

He noticed her indecision. "Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Yes, I am sure. Please. Continue."

"Ok. Firstly, I need to know his name."

"Oh, good. A nice easy start. His name is Mica."

"Mica Hunter?"

"Yes."

"Just checking. How old is he?"

"He is three years older than me so he is nineteen. Twenty in February."

"Right, and do you know where he is?" This was the important question. If she did, they may be able to help her.

She looked at her bracelet. "Yes, I do. He has been living in America with his companion while he studies at university."

"Where abouts?"

"Um, Colorado, I think."

Jeff smiled. 'Same place as Alan.' "Have you and your brother ever fallen out?"

"No, he moved away before any of this happened. I do miss him."

"Ok, I think we can help you."

"You can? How?"

"We'll send a message to Colorado University. They're bound to have an address or contact number for him." 'They did for Alan, let's hope things haven't changed too much.'

He looked at Kari and the smile on her face was all he needed to know she was hopeful. "Thank you, Jeff, sir."

"Hey, less of this sir business! Just Jeff will suffice."

They put in the call to Colorado and got details of Mica's whereabouts after persuading them to part with the information. A little bit of IR initiative was called for, though.

They were now settling in front of Thunderbird 2's comm. unit and initiated a transmission with Mica.

"Hello? Oh my God! You're International Rescue!"

"Uh, yeah," Scott said. It was he who sat in front of the comm. system.

"So. What makes you call me?"

"I have someone here with me. I'm hoping you'll be able to help us."

"Huh? What are you talking about? Who have you got?"

"A young lady named Kari."

The man at the other end of the line stopped, shock registering on his features. He ran a hand through his ginger-brown hair, which had been left to grow out of a crop. "Kari? Is she there now?"

"Yes she is."

"Can I speak to her?"

"Of course you can." Scott turned round and signalled to Kari to come over. She walked over slowly, tears forming in her eyes as she saw her brother. "Kari, Mica would like to speak to you."

"Mica? Is that you?"

"Who else is it gonna be, sis? What happened to you? I've been sending letters every week, but you stopped replying."

"A lot has happened since I was last in contact with you. I will tell you about it all in good time. First, though, how is Soran?" She saw her companions look puzzled. "He is my brother's best friend."

They nodded their understanding. Scott leaned over to Virgil. "Strange names they have," he said quietly.

"Shhh!" Virgil said.

"Come on, we should leave them to it for now," Jeff said, putting his hands on his sons' shoulders.