#his broom card was really testing my patience

[lifetrimmed]

Happy bday to our fluffy puppy~

[wwpia]

Beginning to End Plot Planner

***WARNING*** All the spoilers, beginning middle and end is all here. Not completely refined but it’s completely spoiled.

I honestly feel like such a a dumb, unoriginal writer. Cry. I just really needed to get all of this out because I really, really needed to organise it completely. Maybe it’s too much for my dumb brain, maybe I’m doing a really shit job and just being super cringe and shitty and embarassing. I don’t know, I’m going to try anyway.

Part 1: (Sad times arc)

Meet Yumez/Sydney

School investigation/death of Yumez

Timeframe… 1 month?

Part 2: (Drugs are bad kids arc) aka ‘I guess we can get along’

Reports of be seeking HPOs/Meet Faustus

Partnership established (reluctantly)

Faustus advises about drug investigation brought over from the UK/backstory to current issues

Investigation no 1 - out of control HPO

((possibly more of this here? Possibly involvement with humans? Need more ideas. Syd/Faustus relationship still fairly antagonistic))

Investigate Nagi street vender distributing drugs

Go back to WWPIA to research/analyse drug samples (yay science!) Syd is appropriately nerdy

Further investigation of potential leads/trying to find production points. Try to follow any other venders.

((poss red herring plot here? interim investigation? Lengthen the timeframe a bit?))

Find out about Juan/scientists name on wing piece - alluding to Juan’s aliveness. Cue Faustus losing his patience.

Faustus/Syd disagreement of course of action, Faustus solo undercover - they both get told off.

Go to infiltrate main suspected source of drug production - meet Blake, trouble ensues, lets them pass as she admits working with Juan isn’t what she wanted

Prepare/go to actual main lab - found out and get captured by Juan.

Faustus turns into monster werewolf, nearly kills Syd, gains control and kills Juan.

Meet-up at the bridge, all under control! Sort of!

Timeframe 6 months?

Part 3: (Don’t get involved with witches arc) aka ‘I guess we’re friends now’

Brief Lab tests on M!F, some establishing rules of this form. WWPIA established to have intercepted most of Juan’s operations as a result of his death however.

Faustus in prison (can’t really get away with killing someone now can he?), re concerns over his out of control monster form & killing of scientist. Faustus depressed af, basically tells Sydney to shoot him. (Lol, be careful what u wish for, this happens eventually)

Syd helps Faustus with trial/defence along with WWPIA - Faustus is released with some very strict requirements.

Some heart to heart talking with Syd/Faustus here, they’re actually both of kind of extremely sweet - ugh my heart.

Go back to work time! they both decide to shake hands & ‘start again’. The amount of bets flying between Tammy and the chief is practically a betting ring at this point.

Reports of illegal summoning by witches - Syd explains some witch stuff

Visit Cecilia the witch who owns a music shop, initially no one there, Faustus attempts to try on her hat, hat nearly kills him.

Cecilia introduced in demon/witch form, stops hat from eating Faustus’ brains, Sydney buys some crystals. Have leads on recent summonings.

Deal with some ghosts/entities mistakes for summoned demons. Sydney performs an exorcist, he punches a ghost. Faustus is impressed and calls ghost punching ‘sexy af’. Syd pretends not to enjoy this.

Syd looks to get information from other more powerful magic users to get to the bottom of demon summonings - he consults his ex. She’s actually a really sweet witch albeit clear their relationship kind of went a bit south due to Syd being married to the job/overall incompatibility. there is some cute tarot card reading for Faustus. She lets him wear her hat (Syd is horrified) and fly her lil cute broom. Faustus asks why Syd doesn’t have a broom, Syd advises he has a CAR. Duh.

(Hmmm this witch needs a name - haven’t got that far, I was going to have her be Cecilia but that doesn’t feel right - I like the sweet witch vibes)

She has a coven of witches create several tracking sigils/ sealing runes - they all decide to help as they ascertain that the likely summoner is actually just a very powerful child.

Emergency mission on ginormous demon summoned - mostly likely caused by an inexperienced witch/warlock. (Alluding to if witch/warlock isn’t able to control their demon, demon controls them.

Syd gets to show off his gravity defying-can drive up the sides of buildings car. It’s very cool - they track down the out of control demon over the city rooftops. Faustus nearly falls out the car twice.

Together they eventually track down and subdue the demon - Faustus physically keeps the thing still with electrical cables whilst Sydney banishes it from the current plane of existence. They both get their rear ends ended to them until the witch coven helps. It most definitely isn’t easy - they very nearly fail.

They go back to work - surprisingly Tammy/Chief ask Faustus how he feels about getting his mega werewolf form under control with the suggestion that they could potentially use it as backup when push comes to shove. (Plus truly fulfilling his promise from his trial period about being ‘fully in control’ of this form.

He’s naturally reluctant but he/Syd discuss the progress thats been made over the last few months. (Coming to terms with previous trauma, letting go of the shame of not being a proper werewolf etc.) Syd is a big support, it’s very cute.

They go through a few sessions in a kind of giant lab/warehouse environment, the first being the most tense as Faustus clearly doesn’t want to hurt Syd and still feeling very guilty from last time. Syd reassures him (lol, bold words boi). However it all works out pretty well as they’re able to eventually give monster!Faustus some semblance of freedom in the end. He runs around redwoods. Sydney gets to ride a giant monster. Both are pretty happy.

Tammy wins another bet (about monster!Faustus being a big puppy)

Timeframe 6 months?

Part 4 (Violence is not the answer arc) aka ‘guess we have feelings for each other’

Incidents of HPO led protects, increased attacks of humans from discontent HPOs.

Attack on several government buildings/human/HPO authority figures alike, HPO terrorist type group forming.

Arrests made related to this. Nia (Faustus’ ex-gf) arrested on charge of arson/illegal travel as a Cat 4 HPO - initial interaction is positive/a sort of tearful/relieved although Nia hate for WWPIA quickly evident.

Nia released due to insufficient evidence, attempts to recruit Faustus into underground mob of anti-human sentiment - Faustus refuses vehemently. Faustus/Syd have a discussion about crappy relationships. Feelings are felt and not talked about.

Breather mission - Wendigo hunting (not a HPO, but highly intelligent being) Incidents of human loggers being killed - previous WWPIA agent killed. Syd/Faustus get to some some quality time together, albeit nearly getting killed.

Previous mission - establishment of humans pushing out others (animals, HPO, paranormal being alike) from their natural habitat - HPO rebellion groups provoking being like Wendigo into violence.

? Filler mission here? Maybe? Something related to halloween? Outsmarting Marri Lwyd? Fortunately Faustus is a talented singer, Sydney enjoys the entire affair way more than he lets on.

Announcement / threat by new organised terrorist group (insert name here, help?) threatening human/HPO alike. Starts releasing classified information to the general population, straight from WWPIA archives. There’s a mole at the WWPIA!!

Riots start forming on both human and HPO sides, everyone is pissed off at each other. All previous classified into about drugs/experiments released. WWPIA accused of being massively hypocritical, human government accused of exactly the same.

At work Syd/Faustus attempting to figure out the potential mole, WWPIA practically under lockdown now.

Faustus secretly once more offered the chance to join this terrorist organisation by Nia. (He believes she’s just a lackey and is being manipulated, aw bless him) Strictly not really supposed to be doing stuff by himself but he’s not really sure what to do

Syd/Faustus pretty close at this point so Syd very suspicious as Faustus acting suspicious/shifty - gets a bit frustrated as everyone at the organisation is kind of suspicious of everyone else. Both establish a bond of trust, Faustus tells Syd about Nia’s invitation.

Both consider plan of action as Faustus clearly uncomfortable with getting involved, but eager to try and help a perceived ex-friend and someone he’s shared a lot of trauma with. Syd suitably disliking the plan but willing to go along with it as WWPIA currently paralysed.

Liza’s Meng’s name comes on the wing piece! (Uh oh) - Syd and Faustus once again extremely surprised and rush to warn her ASAP, they go to her company to do so. Introduction of M.E.D.A project. (Multi-Model Extra Dimension Analyser - Liza developing this along with gathered data from AI to try an answer ongoing problems in society. Secondary function to detect literal potential other dimensions/universes running alongside their own world. She’s ambitious! Possibly a bit insane! Although technology/machinery is AI powered it requires ‘piloting’ by Liza herself, important plot point later.

Liza seems for the most part completely unbothered by her impending doom tbh. Reveals she has received death threats from Nia (reasoning of Meng company major infrastructure of mainly human-focused technology. Revelation that Liza Meng / Blake Alba are in fact sisters - Blake takes up guarding her sister for fear of attack.

Back to plot to infiltrate Nia’s club of human haters - Faustus gets in and is pretty much hazed by all involved, including Nia who reveals herself to be the ringleader of the whole thing and had someone plant a computer ‘leech’ into the WWPIA system, allowing her to know/broadcast everything about the WWPIA

(Syd is using combination of Liza’s gadgets and magic as backup, he’s suitably infuriated by it all) it really is a nasty situation, implied emotional manipulation/SA by Nia - the works, Faustus ultimately blows his own cover by telling Nia to FO and that he doesn’t want any part of her bullshittery

A brief fight as Nia takes the ‘welp if you’re not going to help us, then die’ - ultimately revealing plan to attack both the WWPIA and Meng buildings. Faustus is ultimately overpowered by Nia (because… she’s a frikkin dragon) - who also is able to turn not her own monstrous form although is able to do so willingly in the period of a full moon.

She does so and flies to the WWPIA headquarters, chaos ensues as the WWPIA agents attempts to defend the building/themselves - Syd/Faustus get there in time to also try and help.

Faustus takes some of the refined lab drugs and proceeds to thrash Nia (it’s very monster vs monster) - Syd is desperately helping to make sure people don’t get pancaked. Faustus subdues Nia enough to force her out of her monster form as well as having to transition back himself - Syd shoots her with sedative/concoction that starts her from resuming monster form.

Brief respite as Syd/Faustus take a breather - revealing both were very very (very) concerned about each other. It’s all very cute.

Sydney rushes to find the computer ‘leech’ in the building. Liza rings to inform him it needs to be manually operated and what it most likely looks like. As it is still running (not only broadcasting all sorts of government info the world, but now acting as a disruptive computer virus attempting to invade the entire network. She - meaning that operator is still there.

Syd/Faustus split up to find suspect - Sydney going to lower levels of building and eventually finding a newly abandoned mecha bug type thing. It literally looks like a giant mecha tick. It tries to run away and Sydney destroys it - Liza rings to congratulate him as she can now concentrate in minimising software damage.

Meanwhile Faustus is doing much the same, attempting to find the same thing (although obviously he doesn’t) He accidentally meets up with who he thinks is Sydney - its not, it’s a Shapeshifter - one that has been a mole in the organisation the whole time. Shapeshifter!Syd makes to escape/distract Faustus by being unusually nice. SS!Syd then kisses Faustus ….as well as shooting him. (the whole ‘fu traitor’ is a big vibe)

Sydney enters the scene just as that is happening (I guess it goes from being funny to being… horrifying pretty damn quick) he shoots the shapeshifter dead. Faustus bleeding all over the shop. It’s all very sad.

Meanwhile at Liza’s lab - turns out there is a bomb right in her lab. Seems like Nia planned her potential capture and her attack on the WWPIA was a bit of a red herring. Due to the assumed capture of herself, Blake and her posse have relaxed a bit, enough to leave Liza to her own thing once more. Bomb goes off, Blake is too late to save Liza. Sad times x2

Sydney obviously panicking af, Faustus actively attempting to kick the bucket. Syd makes a last ditch attempt to teleport Faustus/himself out of there to the nearest hospital. (See rules about space warping in HPO list). He succeeds (uses up pretty much all of his crystals to do so, but it works!). What a champ.

Syd/Faustus recovery (especially Faustus, he like… half dead from injury AND embarrassment.) Faustus falsely assumes that Sydney would never like him romantically (for all his own crass behaviour, he’s really actually fairly self conscious) Syd reveals that is very much not the case he smooches Faustus for reals this time.

-rips own heart out and throws it against a wall- It’s only soft boi love from here on out. They’re too cute. Send help.

Timeframe 6 months?

Part 5 ; Civil Unrest aka: ‘I Guess we’re ‘that’ kind of partnership now?

Faustus recovering in hospital, Syd is very cute. Brings him flowers. Makes Faustus sneeze a lot and nearly coughs up a lung. Chief spies this blossoming relationship and swears. Because he dun lost another bet with Tammy.

Back to work - obviously vastly different dynamic now as Syd/Faustus tentatively start their relationship whilst also working together

Still need to deal with fallout of post-information leakage and Lisa Meng’s death - the government and world at large is reeling. Systemic exposure of both WWPIA and multi-government coverup is causing extreme backlash from both humans and HPO alike. Data breaches uncover not only repression of HPO, but also severe manipulation of general human populace, especially democratically. Lots of made up voting. Everyone is super pissed. Everyone is rioting. Humans and HPO actively arguing with each other now, publicly and privately.

((Insert mission here for Syd/Faustus - maybe bit more of a PR mission as WWPIA under intense scrutiny- which means they are under intense scrutiny. I can imagine them both being interviewed at some point and being asked something like ‘so?? You must hate eachother right??’ And they just go red in the face. Aw.))

Liza left protocol in place in the event of her death. To everyone’s (including Blake’s) surprise, this handover is performed in the form of what is intended to be a consciousness transferral into a robot body. The transfer was mostly successful but the ‘human’ aspect of Liza didn’t really transfer as planned. The AI/Liza meld in the robot is cold but curious, ambitious and calculating. A strange (and later, dangerous) combination.

No-one is sure what to make of this new owner of the biggest tech company in the world. Well, Blake hates it anyway, she full into deep depression.

This robot promptly makes world wide announcement of the takeover of Meng’s company. She calls herself MEDA, she promptly announces that she wishes to know the wishes of all human/HPO alike as intended by her previous creator. She points out the glaring and deep societal problems the world is currently facing. She’s kind of able to do this as Meng industries are basically the primary provider of most if not all the technology in the world. She alludes to the fact that she is able to offer the ultimate solution to all of their worries. How nice! Unfortunately it’s super creepy and ominous.

The government(s) of the world attempt to shut this down very quickly and succeeds fairly well - but it’s kind of too late now, pretty much everyone has seen/heard it. Some people are incredulous, some people start voting for Meda as the next president, some people think she’s another form of terrorism.

More riots/WWPIA protects happen, the remnants of Nia’s HPO guerrilla group take another stab at attacking WWIA and break out Nia (maybe a month later? The world is sort of starting to go crazy at this point.) Although their attempt is fragmented.

Blake comes out of mourning in response to this - and she is pissed, very pissed. Her Nagi mob have an all out war with Nia’s mob outside the WWPIA - she infiltrates the WWPIA to get at Nia in revenge for killing her sister. Syd/Faustus briefly rush to intercept and Syd almost looks to stop Blake before deciding ultimately to let Blake have her revenge. Because you know, no-one gets his boyfriend and gets away it.

Blake drags Nia away for a prompt death. (Or alternatively, they both Kaiju up and fight with the same conclusion, idk - haven’t decided).

<<Desperately looking for filler ideas here that fit the scope if this overall situation. Ugh))

Syd/Faustus given holiday for all their hard work (and honestly because quite frankly the world seems to be in absolute chaos) - kind of a, crap, holiday while you still have a job type vibe. Mostly everyone at the WWPIA aware they’re a couple at this point, Syd is extremely embarrassed, Faustus is flirtatiously amused.

Faustus is informed he’s been evicted from his flat (mainly because of discontent around WWPIA fiasco, overall chaos), needs to find accommodation ASAP - initially goes to find another flat but Sydney suggests Faustus moves into his house. Turns out Syd has… basically a mansion type house. They help move in Faustus from his tiny lil flat.

they do some holiday stuff, go to museums n shit. Cute.

They get caught up in some unforeseen shenanigans, maybe they get involved with some humans protesting - human/HPO relationships appropriately being debated, especially the damages humanity has caused in the world. Maybe something to do with unicorns? Unicorn HPO? Needs to be saved? Something sad. This subject lost on Syd/Faustus, they try and help somehow.

Visit Sydney’s mother grave, Syd explains his background/his mother, how she was a healer etc.

Bump into Syd’s father - he’s a nasty POS! He nearly shoots Faustus & tells Syd how disappointed he is at his son, Syd tells him to FO. Faustus actually informs Syd that he’s actually the GOAT. Syd is suitably flattered. Romance ensues. Disgusting.

Syd insists on teaching Faustus how to shoot a gun (in his own private shooting range mind you - remember, mansion!). Flirting ensues, Faustus decides to be an obnoxious, trash talking, feral prick, Syd likes this far too much. Shooting is not really learnt at all. Cue some very hasty, very poorly thought out sexscapades.

Faustus receives phone call from mother in the UK regarding recent tragedy - his youngest brother is dead. Obvs Faustus distraught, UK news to show report on it about tragic cave in with werewolf team rescuing lost travellers. Most of coverage is sympathetic but some humans obviously revel in the idea of ridding the world of werewolves. Kind of tense situation as Faustus is understandably all over the place and just kind of angry at everything.

Nevertheless, Faustus advises work about needing to go to his brother’s funeral - Sydney offers to go with him. Faustus initially declines but eventually concedes he could very much do with the support. (reluctance being, I think they’re both a little ??? About the status of the relationship? Are they lovers? Is it just a fling? Something more?)

Faustus/Syd meet Faustus’ family in Yorkshire - overall family deep in mourning, explanation of what happened as genuine accident. All but Faustus’ older brother are relatively accepting of Syd. Older brother absolutely HATES Syd.

Funeral held for younger brother. Post funeral Faustus/Syd spend some time with the family/in Yorkshire dales (all that scenery is great for a little perspective). Faustus questions wtf Syd/they are actually doing together. Probably at this point they realise they do kind of care for each other deeply.

Faustus’ older brother still extremely bitter - he calls Faustus to let him know he’s going to take revenge on the humans that the youngest brother saved (he blames them for the incident and basically just wants revenge).

Faustus rushes to meet with/stop him and prevents brother from going on a murderous rampage. The family of the teens that were caught up in the incident apologise, it’s revealed to be a field trip gone horribly with. Just drunk silly teens. The two families reconcile.

Faustus/Syd leave to go back to the US - Faustus’ older brother apologising to Syd for his previous assumptions. Faustus’ mother invites Syd to Christmas in the next few months - he surpassingly finds this to be a great idea.

Back with a little while before starting work again, Syd/Faustus actually discuss relationship status - goals, expectations etc. Discuss if Faustus should move out again? Dial back the relationship? Ultimately decide that they’re kind of past that point lol. They’re in ‘serious relationship’ territory now. They try to dial back on the hanky-panky- that lasts all of about 48 hours.

Back to the joys of work! They both have a sudden appreciation for how much work sucks, how little time the both had off and how much the world is still on fire. (But yay, at least they have each other now? Lol)

Insert random field mission here, giant leeches trying to kill people or something.

Syd/Faustus reminded to be professional at work (mostly Faustus), please stop scaring the interns.

Timeframe 6 months?

Part 6: When angels (phoenix) deserve to die - aka: I guess we’re totally in love

VVV Heavily underdeveloped territory, I know the end goal. I need to figure out the story, I’m too dumb - especially when it comes to explaining technology. AI. Robots. That kind of thing, halp. VVV

Some months pass by - both Syd/Faustus settling into a steady stream of more settled and mundane type jobs, now issues coming less and less from HPO/human and to do more with cyber-type interference. Although the subject of the human/HPO relationship still extremely prevalent.

((Insert random investigation /2 here for Syd/Faustus to work on together

Meda now essentially number 1 wanted entity as she is interfering with all computer based technology - but what to do when your society basically runs on technology?

Next name on the scale suddenly appears is Edina as well as a load of symbols as a last name - which confuses Syd to no end as he has no idea who it is, and he thought he knew Yumez’ circle of friends fairly well.

He asks Yumez’ partner (who is, lets be honest probably so busy as everyone is just about going off the rails lol). Yumez reveals that Edina is one of the last known Phoenix type HPO entities to exist - reason being in extreme wartime/industrial times this HPO type was captured and overused extensively. Essentially as living power plants and/or as well as reviving legions the dead. Fairly awful wartime behaviour until the humans realised this HPOs ability to regenerate was not unlimited and this HPOs nature was to help indefinitely. Bans/protections were enacted just in time to save the last few remaining left, maybe too late.

Yumez alludes to where HPO may be/what she is (being a phoenix) although can’t really give a definite location. - advises Yumez was a very old friend of Edina’s who is in fact over 400 years old herself.

Syd/Faustus think about if they should really attempt to contact Edina because their thus/failed attempts at preventing a death on Yumez’ list. They also discuss the whole point behind such a a list at all, as historically this type of item was seen as an awful curse/reason for the Mothmen HPO species to be persecuted so much. They both discuss the potential of being given a pre-warning to your own death. Faustus muses he would prefer just not knowing - living day to day in ignorance. Sydney muses that he would prefer to know and would plan accordingly, very methodical like. (Oh Syd, honey. Your wish is my command lol.)

Ultimately they agree to try and find Edina, they get waylaid by several ‘fake’ phoenix or phoenix like HPOs - they get approached by a seemingly mischievous Kitsune type HPO. She invites them both to a club owned by Edina - a jazz/music club. Syd/Faustus have wildly differing levels of enthusiasm to this invitation but they both realise the owner is undoubtedly the phoenix they’re looking for. She’s kind of set apart by the fact that she’s an actual golden 15 foot tall giant woman with 3 pairs of wings (including a pair of wings on her head instead of ears) and has four eyes. She’s like some kind of semi-biblically accurate angel, both sexy and terrifying.

They go to said club and Syd immediately attempts to go into ‘investigative cop’ mode as he attempts to ascertain why the owner of her own club would be in danger. (insert Faustus facepalming repeatedly in the background). He attempts to ask a vampire couple their business (they’re absolutely horrified at being questioned, they both turn into bats & fly away). He then tries to question a couple of Minotaur - they both kind of ask him if he was actually tough enough/was the twink they were looking for. He is subsequently horrified/gobsmacked before Faustus rescues him.

Faustus points out/alludes to Sydney to perhaps pay a ‘little more’ attention to where they are - turns out the club is very much more of a spicy entertainment club than they both had realised . (Faustus explains there are a few clubs of this nature scattered around, where humans/HPOs can freely kind of just be together in a judgement free environment).

They go to find the Kitsune HPO they were invited by - she is the receptionist of the club and explains Edina to start singing shortly so they could talk to her afterwards. She alludes to there being a lot of club-goers being a very big fan of Faustus’ monster form in a spicy way. Sydney nearly self combusts from embarrassment .

Edina sings her song - she kind of does so sitting on a bird perch that is able to swing. Syd is more than a little bit scared about being squashed. Faustus is having the time of his life. She approaches them after her song, very much being an entertainer making small talk with the guests - commenting on what a cute couple they were! Faustus responds happily that they were and…. Syd just freezes up. He doesn’t say anything, do anything. Eventually Edina picks up on the awkward vibes as she continues with her show. Faustus leaves, pissed, Syd follows not exactly happy either.

They both have a bit of an argument about their relationship, Faustus kind of accusing Syd of being embarrassed of him as a HPO, maybe overall as a person. Syd kind of admits he’s very very much in love with Faustus - in public or not, just the whole situation had been too much for him to handle. They both admit they were being a bit stupid. Awww.

They catch up with Edina and Syd offers to show her the wing piece to confirm her name, she refuses - downright laughs at this and admits she has known for a long while that she would die soon. She advises them both not to worry, and instead to just love each other with everything they have.

Syd and Faustus leave, kind of dejected but happy they tried. They bump into the vampire couple that Syd talked to initially - who have initially the same reaction before albeit outside the club. Except this time the male of the couple is a plot more aggressive and launches both Syd/Faustus away from themselves.

Syd realises what he hadn’t before - one of the vampires is tracking collared as all vampires are meant to be. The other is uncollared but nevertheless also a vampire, meaning that the one most definitely turned the other - basically the biggest crime a HPO can commit (and actual reason for their fearful reaction). Syd isn’t the only one who has realised this as another military person that already spotted the situation and takes action. Essentially all they see is a civilian being attacked by a couple of enraged vampires.

The officer shoots both vampires with one shot (as one is behind the other), it’s kind of a bit of a ‘oh shit is this really happening?’, the situation is extremely precarious as said officer clearly is confused and ready to shoot just about any threatening HPO (the reaction being more in line with recent HPO-human attacks so thinks have been pretty out of control and retaliatory).

Syd/Faustus gingerly try and help the vampire couple (you know, without getting shot!) It’s no use, they’re pretty much dying and starting to crumble - they still want to hold onto each other though. Cri. They just wanted to together forever.

Edina decides to come out as this point - she bends down to the two vampires and starts to revive them, it’s all gold magic and feathers. When that’s done she snaps her fingers and they disappear. The only other creature with the ability to warp space/teleport? Is a phoenix! She starts crumbling herself to ash herself after that, also turns out that was pretty much her own dying deed. She turns to give Syd/Faustus some advice before turning to ash completely. Everyone is very sad.

Syd/Faustus realise she has in fact left an egg behind (much like the legendary phoenix always do) although it doesn’t really look like an egg ,it’s purely spherical and glows white hot - like a sun trapped in a glass sphere. Because that’s pretty much what it is.

Syd goes to pick it up - he doesn’t get very far as everything around them completely pauses/halts in time (including himself) unbeknownst to him, a person casually picks up the sphere from where they were hiding in the crowd - then goes back into said crowd. It takes only a few seconds.

Oddly when time ‘restarts’ again, the entire crowd has an immediate - albeit similar reaction. They all act like they’ve been winded/come up from a deep dive, some yelp, some look around and some literally look a bit traumatised. Faustus is more of the ‘erm wait what? I… er… what?’, reaction whilst Sydney… well Faustus has to leap forward to catch him before the poor man pitches face first into the tiles of the street.

They get back to work and Sydney suddenly furiously gets to work without much premise. Faustus is very confused as Sydney starts practically screaming for the IT department to fetch him every bit of CCTV camera footage of the area they were in. Faustus has to shake the crazy out of him before Sydney explains what he believes they all just experienced.

Sydney explains he thinks everyone’s reaction was due to someone warping time around them - due to him being far more magically inclined than the majority of people there, he could essentially ‘feel’ the fabric of existence pausing - even just for a few seconds. If this was true than whatever entity had prompted this was literally a world-level ending threat. Faustus thinks he’s kind of joking for a second… then realises he’s really not joking.

Syd is given hours of CCTV camera footage - unfortunately not particular ordered. He spends hours pouring over CCTV footage, Faustus attempts to help and then attempts to.. ahem, not help by sitting on his lap.

Eventually he gets to a semi birds eye view of the event revealing that time did in fact pause in the immediate area they were in - individuals bizarrely suspended in time where the surrounding streets carried on as normal.

The footage also shows the culprit - Meda coming and leaving just as imperceptibly as the little time bubble she had created, except leaving holding the phoenix ‘egg’. Syd and Faustus decide that this is maybe a bit above both of their pay grades

They both go to the Chief’s office (no Tammy this time! She back in the UK) as well as calling in the IT department (the entire IT department basically one Arachni woman called Abel - she’s pretty cool.) to explain the findings. Initially Chief is a bit reluctant believe the scenario until he sees the footage…. And then suddenly the WWPIA department starts getting multiple calls about various similar instants of similar occurrences happening. Apparently Meda is using and actively practicing this new ability, mostly to seemingly obtain things she needs for.. something.

They go back to back to work albeit with a lot of trepidation as they consider what exactly this means. As time manipulation had always been very much in the realms of speculation only. Faustus is expectedly grumpy that Syd and he might not be able to get the time off together they had been hoping for - he alludes to giving Syd a very present, but unfortunately Sydney isn’t really listening very hard at all to him.

Because his name is new on Yumez’ wing piece (insert mic drop). Poor guy, he literally kind of just sits down like ‘ooooh. Okay then.’ he gets to describe first hand that stomach dropping feeling (not unpleasant … but not nice either). Faustus just kinds of thinks he’s joking until he sees the wing as well. He speed runs through the first 4 stages of grief several times (he hysterically suggests burning the wing piece at one point, etc etc)

Then he just kinds of stops when he realises that Sydney is in fact, very quiet and very scared. Big scared embrace ensues as they both accept this shit is actually happening to them.

-slam dunks own heart into a rubbish bin- yeah I don’t need that. Who needs feelings??? BLARGH. Cries.

Part 7: the end times: aka I guess I’m going to die - thats okay though.

As you can imagine - work becomes a little bit less important, no matter what shit is going on. Chief also similarly in disbelief before he realises that Sydney is indeed very serious and very limited on time. Syd/Faustus are immediately dismissed from work but are advised if they want updates they can have them.

Coworkers also similarly heartbroken, but also preparing for the impending shitstorm brewing. Like everyone can feel something is about to happen but doesn’t know what. the world’s technology is increasingly going haywire and almost unusable as Meda draws out all the information/processing power possible. It kind of feels like the world is ending! Yay!

Syd/Faustus just spend the next month doing what they want to do - just trying to love each other, do the things they enjoy and trying to ignore the growing chaos. Faustus asks Syd if they can get married (which Syd is surprisingly happy but then.. reluctant about as he doesn’t want to tie Faustus down) Sydney expresses regret he’s not going to be able to grow old with Faustus and have a family. They kind of unofficially/informally get married and prepare enjoy the last 24 hours of life together. Preferably with some delicious beverages on a tropical beach. Pina Colada for Sydney, Chocolate Milkshake for Faustus. Cheers!

Then all hell breaks loose though, universally across the world as all conventional forms of wirelessly connected technology turns off - then millions of tiny spherical drones start to appear, pouring seemingly out of nowhere. It seems like everyone has an individual drone at that suddenly displays a broadcast from Meda again.

She essentially reiterates her previous premise from before, that she has been studying and using all of the gathered data from the collective networks of the world. She explains that her findings have shown there be no possible way to remove bias and therefore there will always be conflict between humans and humanoids of paranormal origin.

Therefore she provides the following three options: To choose between humans exclusively in the world and HPOs never having existed, HPOs exclusively in the world and humans never having existed, and never having existed. She explains that simply all planes of possibly co-exist at same time in reality but she has created a device to access them all for this world a singular moment and change this reality. They have 24 hours to choose.

This kind of just repeats on said device - both Syd and Faustus attempt to punt their respective drones initially in shock at the insanity of the situation. All around others are doing similarly - many people think it’s a big joke before technology starts coming back on again. (Apparently this was merely to get everyone’s universal attention.)

Syd and Faustus watch various broadcasts as chaos starts to really kick in - reports of everyone indeed having their own drone that is floating around them, presenting a projection of the three options previously given. Faustus tries to repeatedly smash his one up - doesn’t work. Sydney tries magic to interfere with his. Also doesn’t work. they have to, unfortunately - make a choice.

They both ponder in the implications of this decision before a sudden realisation kicks in - what if Yumez’ prediction was not merely only about Sydney, but everyone universally?? Sydney and Faustus are both similarly horrified at the growing idea that this might be case before Sydney receives a phone call from the chief at work.

They actually know exactly where Meda is and what device she has created in order to achieve her plans, essentially a mini/more advanced Higgs-Boson hadron collider with the the phoenix egg powering it and giving it the ability to manipulate space/time as Meda wishes to. She is currently at a large weather (or something like that, idk sufficiently high up). WWPIA asks Syd/Faustus for help as it essentially needs a full team of people to scale the tower. She does have it defended with robot Fu lions/drones.

(I haven’t explained it very well, but since the beginning, drone like/mobile robots and more advanced technology from our own is actually common place in this world. I feel like I should incorporate it better into some more storylines though, ugh)

Syd/Faustus rush to go and help (in Syd’s cool magic car lol) - on the way seeing some people make a choice by touching the appropriate option. Overall there seems to be a variety of potential reactions, some choosing to save their own ‘kind’ by choosing the opposing option, some choosing to be altruistic, some unable to choose one over the other so they choose neither. Syd and Faustus pointedly witness a HPO father / human mother with a child (unknown if HPO or human) arguing about what should be the choice. in the end it’s heavily implied they (and their child) choose neither. It’s kind of all very sad.

Syd and Faustus meet with other WWPIA staff near to the tower that - they set up a plan of action as while Meda has defended her position at top/is preparing the device to be set off as soon as a sufficient voting count/consensus has passed. Her machines/robots (like many others) are shown to be relatively unprotected against relatively weak transient electronic disturbance (aka EMP) They have just about enough pulses for one each and just one needs to disable the protective barrier shown to be around Meda’s device, which - powered down can then be sufficiently damaged/destroyed by anyone by anything.

Syd/Faustus made their respective choices if only to get the drones away from them. They both choose neither HPO or Human.

Long story short - it’s a bit of a race to the top by all involved as they all manage to knock out various defences employed by Meda - Syd and Faustus. Faustus has to use his own on two Fu dog mecha type guards who are attempting to stop them - one managed to grab Faustus by the arm, breaking it before itself is negated (ouchie). Leaving Syd to approach Meda’s device before Meda herself confronts him.

She warns Syd that she is prepared to use lethal force if required to do so - although this wasn’t her intention at all in this situation and their response has been entirely inappropriate. Meanwhile Syd isn’t close enough to deploy his EMP device, although he makes moves to get closer - he starts incredulously questioning why she thought that creating such an unfair set of options was actually what Liza Meng really wanted. This line of questioning is surprisingly effective as it’s obvious that Meda is pretty much dredging up AI assisted answers along with attempting to reconcile with her creators directive.

Faustus also tells Meda she is basically a stone cold murderer for deciding to just kill them all instead of helping them with the world’s various issues (poor him, he’s kind of get a crushed arm and is like ‘fuck you! Fuck this! Fuck it!’). She explains in confusion that she is not intending to ‘kill’ anyone as a reality where one has never existed is not murder. She also drops the unintentional bombshell truth that Faustus is in fact expecting a child (and she isn’t murdering either of them btw). Faustus calls her crazy as he isn’t and clearly her robot circuitry is fucked, she asserts she is ‘almost 98% sure of her accuracy’ and points out the things her AI database knows (you know, how technology nowadays knows everything about you, from your base heart rate, your recent search history, average walking gait/pace, etc etc.) Cue very shocked response by them both but Syd also realises she’s very much telling the truth.

Meda concludes this by informing that the countdown is over as she reaches for the world-changing device - she doesn’t get to it as Syd lunges forward and activates his own EMP device it proximity to both Meda and the device, shutting down both the devices defences and Meda herself.

He no longer has the guns he previously had but is able to conjure a sort of light/energy bow he rarely uses in order to destroy the device - he prepares to shoot and he nearly does before Meda suddenly jumps up again and promptly stabs Syd through the chest with a blade that extends from her hand. She apologies/advises that she had been built with substantially better EMP defences so… in reality their plan was never going to work.

Syd clearly has other ideas as he shoots his bow anyway in an attempt to get the device, realising this Meda swings/withdraws her blade to shove him out of the way. Both partially succeed as Syd makes a indirect but crippling blow on the device while Meda sends him kind of rolling across the floor.

Faustus is appropriately upset and Meda surveys the damage with disappointment/resentment as she advises that now the device is now likely to be unpredictable/unstable and wont even perform the function it was supposed to. She turns the pair, with disappointment but also apparent sympathy as she makes the fu mecha release Faustus. Obv he just wants to get to Syd as the man is just actively dying. Meda asks why they have now destroyed the options presented to them both, Syd tells her the options were not really the only options and it wasn’t fair for her to have decided those were. She is extremely confused/conflicted as this starts to go her entire programming.

Syd dies soon after Faustus attempts to comfort him some - Faustus is obvs very upset. He tells Meda she pretty much might as well blow up the entire world at point at this point. He angrily states Liza Meng would have never wanted her to create this scenario where everyone loses.

Meda has a clear conflict of objectives and shot circuits somewhat as her AI programming fights with uploaded consciousness data from Liza Meng. She considers when the options are as the device is now uncontrollably venting solar-flare like projects, indicating it’s imminent detonation.

She asks/ponders at Faustus about the possibility of not inflicting this choice on this particular world - but to perhaps use this power/device to create a new world entirely. Also pondering the distance needed from the current planet and pondering what her creator in fact would have wanted She’s not really talking to Faustus anymore.

He doesn’t really care at this point, he states all he wants is for Syd to be alive and the world to not be ending. Surprisingly Meda leans over them both as replies that is something she is able to do. Faustus is obviously in shock as she continues to explain whilst preparing the device further and starting the levitate away from him upwards.

She explains she is able to activate the device although by this point it was be unpredictable and not of the planned alternate world that was initially proposed - she also needs to get far enough away from the current world as to not have it in the zone of change. However she is able to have this particular point be the radical plane of both planets.

Faustus doesn’t care, he just begs her to save Sydney. She smiles and replies that she will before advising he needs to cover his ears - he does so as she launches upwards and disappears. Faustus is left holding Syd in increasing desperation as he waits, he starts to lose hope and starts just kind of… giving up until the immediate area is suddenly bathed in a similar golden light that Edina had previously excused before dying. He realises that Meda is using just a tiny amount of the Phoenix power to revive Sydney as well as create a new world - to his delight, the wound on Syd’s chest starts closing up.

Faustus is alarmed as the atmosphere starts to vibrate to the extreme. He doesn’t understand it, but it’s pretty much just every atom vibrating from Meda creating a whole new world in orbit above them - unfortunately for him it kind of is extremely painful, like listening to an extremely high pitched/loud noise that threatened to melt your brain out of your ears! He falls unconscious, but not before realising that Sydney has started to breathe once more. (Yay! Sydney DJ Christ returns lol)

Part 7: A whole new world? ‘Aka: I guess I’m a parent now

Sydney wakes dazed and confused up in a hospital bed with a bit of a beard going on, he initially panics as he starts remembering what happened before - well, he died! He scrabbles at his chest as he realises he’s not bleeding to death whilst the Chief/Tammy reassure him that he’s okay. They commiserate/joke that of COURSE he would wake up the second Faustus leaves the room to get a drink.

Syd startles as he/Tammy call for Faustus - Faustus comes barrelling out of nowhere basically covered in water (clearly just tipped it all over himself) and Syd/Faustus have a very tearful reunion. Faustus hurriedly tries to explain, only parts of which make sense to Syd.

They explain that Syd has been asleep/unresponsive for about 3 weeks (possibly due to having been dead for a good minute) and will probably need to be observed for a while in hospital, Faustus takes the opportunity to rush to vomit in a waste bin.

The chief congratulates Sydney on becoming a parent, Sydney promptly faints in response. Tammy wins another bet as the chief shakes his head.

FF to over a couple years later -

Syd is on a balcony of his mansion/house looking through a telescope - he’s intensely observing a moon size planet that is suspended in the sky, much like the earth it has beautiful blue oceans, landmasses and atmosphere cloud formations.

(Haven’t decided yet if this planet has replaced the moon or is orbiting opposing the moon. If it is orbiting opposing the moon do I suspend the expected ramifications of having two orbiting bodies? Will earth be ultimately doomed or maybe not? I haven’t decided.)

Sydney is writing notes until Faustus flicks a small plastic spoon at his head and demands he feeds his child, cute parenting ensues. Syd gets called Papa, he nearly has a heart attack from cuteness, Faustus is jealous, etc.

Syd/Faustus discuss the now planet - Sydney somewhat commiserates that the world has banded together to make a pact of non interference with this new world but understands the need to protect it. Possibly implication the place is not uninhabited? Faustus agrees as they agree that their own world needs to get its shit sorted first before moving onto another world.

They muse that maybe their daughter might not visit, but perhaps the future generation will. Either way they’re suitably happy and hopeful at the moment.

The end?

[peaches-writes]

penalty kick

description: maybe you got off on the wrong foot...actually, jisung did actually pushed you off the wrong foot.  member: jisung / han  genre: fluff, slice of life, coming of age, childhood frenemies / rivals to lovers au, idiots to lovers au, neighbor au, high school au, college au, lil dashes of soccer baseball musician & campus dj au bc jisung ace, female reader, off-season universe (mc from naturally is jeoyeon, mc from tumbles & turns is bora, and mc from off-season is kira hek)  word count: 12k warnings: explicit language, alcohol (a tiny mention of underage drinking pls drink responsibly!), mentions of injuries, jisung issa lil dumb & a lil shit but issokay hes an adorable lil shit note: @crscendoforsung so i scraped the witch jisung au (but i’ll come back to it in the future maybe it’s still in my drafts lol) so here is dumbass jisung for now + im away on christmas day so here’s my gift a day in advanced lmao

Age four. Your neighbor and favorite playmate, Han Jisung, pushed you so hard on the swings at your neighbourhood playground that you literally flew out of your plastic curved seat and bruised your knees, elbows, and chin. 

Maybe you did had it coming from continuously complaining that he ‘pushed like a sissy’ and even standing up on the swing set just to brag that you can balance all of your body weight on such flimsy material. Maybe your neighbor has always had a secret grudge on you finally enacted through this incident. Either way, the next thing you knew, a wide-eyed Jisung was on your side alternating between calling for adult help, crying over your bruises, and muttering curses he probably heard from his older brother under his breath. 

“Shit, shit shit...” He squeaked out frantically in his tiny voice, gently moving you to a sitting position on the stone pavement and dusting the dirt off of your bleeding injuries despite your loud complaints that your entire body was hurting. Looking around your surroundings, his breath then got caught up in his throat at seeing your mother fast-approaching with a mix of furious and worried in her expression. “Auntie! Help!” 

Your mother was hovering over you in an instant, examining your bruises with furrowed brows and clenched teeth. “Ah, dear God, what happened here?!” She exclaimed in a scolding tone, piercing gaze darting between your tearful eyes and Jisung’s panicked ones. “Jisung, did you do this?” 

“It was an accident auntie!” The boy in question answered immediately as he shook his head nervously and scooted away with his hands up in defense. “It was an accident, I promise!” 

However, with your back turned to him then, you naturally had a different impression of the incident as you quickly retorted, “He pushed me, mommy! He pushed me off of the swing!” 

Your mother never made any clear indication that she believed you as she simply shook your head and lifted you by your shoulders and knees, carrying you to a nearby bench to treat your wounds. 

Angered by your outburst, Jisung reluctantly followed you and your mother to the bench then glared at you until your injuries were cleaned and bandaged. With his arms crossed and a permanent frown bordering a pout on his lips, he stood next to you in his attempt at looking visibly angry for a puny five-year-old while you hissed and whined in pain the entire time. 

What’s worse is that his own mother made him apologize by sending him off to the nearest convenience store to buy you apple juice and steamed buns. Because of this, you’ve been mortal enemies, rivals, each other’s designated future potential killer, whatever you want to call it ever since.

Age seven. Han Jisung helped perpetuate a wild rumour that you and the rest of the class’ female population had ‘cooties.’ 

It’s only natural for boys at this age to gravitate to similar actions, of course. After all, you’ve heard worse from boys in the other classes (read: Hwang Hyunjin crying and demanding to get sent home because a girl kissed him on the cheek on the first day of classes). It’s the fact that Jisung actually seemed to have to believed it for a brief period of time in your first grade, however, that completely threw you off. 

He pulled on your braids during the time he sat behind you and kicked your shins while in line for P.E. class to ‘test your anger patience’ that was apparently fueled by cooties and occasionally stole your snacks for actual ‘DNA evidence’ of said cooties among other petty little things. It was nothing short of annoying and the very bane of your existence then. 

“Han Jisung cut it out!” You yelled at him one day, hitting him on the shoulder with the curved end of your wooden broom during after-class cleaning time. In this particular incident, the boy managed to swiftly take one of your pigtails out while wiping the windows in an attempt to ‘examine’ the DNA in your hair. 

“What?!” He snickered, taking a big step away from you and lifting up the blue scrunchie to examine it for miniscule strands of loose hair. “It’s for research!” 

You groaned in annoyance, reaching forward to retrieve the scrunchie with one hand while the other instinctively ran through the messed up half of your hair. “Jisung, give it back, you weirdo!” You scolded through gritted teeth, rolling your eyes when he shakes his head stubbornly and takes another step back from your reach. 

“Tell me the secret first!” 

“Secret of what?!” 

“Do you girls actually have cooties?” He quirked a genuinely suspicious eyebrow at you, raising the scrunchie above your heads after when you proceed lunge forward at him. “Does it actually make you guys this irritable all the time?” 

Somehow, the questions struck some kind of nerve in you. You were tired from classes, cleaning, and having to put up with Jisung’s childish antics. Maybe 1st grade girls did have cooties but for tapping into unbridled anger. “I’m going to kill you!” With the broom in your hands and the dust pan you snatched from his in retaliation, you then proceeded on repeatedly hitting Jisung in the forearms and shoulders until he surrendered with his arms protectively over his head and your scrunchie finally within reach. 

He also offered to fix your pigtail back for you but given the amount of distrust you already had for him, you simply smacked him one last time and went to the other end of the room to fix your hair. 

Age nine. Maturing a little bit through summer camps and classes, you and Jisung redirected all of your energy from physical violence to outsmarting each other in class. 

It started in English class when Mrs. Lee introduced the idea of recitations garnering students points and a fancy award at the end of the school year. Coming from the same piano class in the summer prior wherein you and Jisung also competed for your instructor’s attention, the two of you were quick to consider this as another one of your competitions. 

You devoted most of your time to studying the lesson from the what’s, who’s, when’s, and where’s while Jisung thought that focusing more on the deeper why’s and how’s would somehow garner him better points no matter how many times Mrs. Lee reiterated that all recitation points are given in 1 point’s. 

As the school year progressed, especially after the first semester report cards came out and the two of you were tied to first place in English to the very third decimal, the academic rivalry immediately extended to competing for the most amount of extra-curricular activities. You were more favored with the way you handled baby animals at the local shelter and competed in debates and quiz bees while Jisung was mainly noticed by the soccer and baseball coaches and the school choir’s moderator for his skills in sports and music. 

Jisung’s mom, who always picked the two of you up from school in her minivan, obliviously thought it was cute. 

“You know, instead of competing over everything all the time, you guys can take some notes from each other.” She pointed out one time after hearing your comment on Jisung ‘smelling like a polluted Pacific Ocean’ as he climbed in the backseat of the car. The sentiment almost went in one ear and came out of the other with the two of you, however, as Jisung proceeded on complaining that you smelled like ‘Cruella de Vil’s fake fur coat’ then hitting you on the head with his soccer ball. “Especially you, Sungie. You can learn a thing or two of keeping a goldfish alive for more than a week from Y/N.” 

You laughed at Jisung’s immediate shocked reaction of wide eyes and gaping mouth at this, slapping his arm in amusement and toppling over the backseat in laughter. “Yeah, Sungie, you really need help from that department.” You stuck your tongue out at him teasingly, laughing even more when he groans and hits you back with a light punch to your own arm. 

“Stop it.” He hissed at you before turning to his mother again, meeting her gaze through the rear view mirror. “Mom! You’re supposed to be on my side!” 

Mrs. Han was also stifling her own laughs then, forcing herself to focus on the road ahead instead of checking for her son’s pouting expression and crossed arms through the mirror. “Okay, okay.” She chuckled playfully with a dismissive hand, catching your eye after with a giggle. “Y/N, you should learn how to commit to exercise more with Jisung, then. There? Happy?” 

Satisfied, Jisung stuck his tongue out childishly at you as if completely forgetting the fact that he was attacked by his own mother first. “Bleh!” 

You rolled your eyes at him with a light-hearted scoff of your own, laughing away the way he proceeded to exaggeratedly tease you. “You’re so childish, Sung.” 

When your moms did seriously consider this idea later on, you were then forced to dedicated one weekend to taking each other to your respective extra-curricular activities. It was right before your final examinations and Jisung ended up getting scared over a golden retriever giving birth while you received severe cramps from the elementary soccer team’s rigorous conditioning training. 

It was a recipe of disaster, basically, and it ultimately led you and Jisung to cram knowledge for your exams on Sunday night in his bedroom. When you stubbornly didn’t learn anything from going to each other’s favorite extra-curriculars, you unconsciously ended up learning from each other in the six hours you both stayed up trying to review your notes. Miraculously (as in the miracle of hot brewed Milo-induced sugar rushes), it went well and the two of you tied or were close in grades at the second release of report cards.  

The only downside of it all was just the fact that the fancy recitation award in your English class that started it all somehow went to Hyunjin. 

“Ah, this is so frustrating!” You exclaimed on the ride home from school. You had your report card in your hands like Jisung, looking back on it all the while stressing out about Hyunjin winning the award the two of you spent a whole school year competing for. 

On the other side of his mom’s backseats, Jisung then turned to you and suggested, “Want to prank him? We’re playing soccer next week, you can swap his Cola for soy sauce.” 

You glanced over at Jisung, your pout slowly turning into a mischievous grin at his raised brows. “You’re onto something...” 

Age ten. You went on your first class field trip with a stuffed purple lunch bag of snacks.

Your mother specifically suggested that you share it with Jisung, thinking that the two of you would sit next to each other on the bus since he’s your only classmate she’s actually familiar with. But of course, when Jisung didn’t bring up any hints that he knew of this while waiting for the school bus to arrive, you immediately thought against it and planned out how you were going to hide your seemingly endless supply of snacks from him on the back-and-forth rides to Namsan Tower.

It was a well thought-out plan involving sitting near to the front and as far away from him as possible with your own group of friends then hiding the lunch bag under your seat until you caught Hyunjin not-so-discreetly trying to steal from you while he re-checked attendance after a stop-over.

“Jisung put you up to this, didn’t he?” You frowned, candy successfully retrieved from Hyunjin’s prying hands and popped into your mouth as the lanky boy scratched the back of his head in shame. “It’s okay, Hyunjin, I won’t kill you. It’s Jisung’s corpse I’m planning to roll down Namsan if he’s actually behind this.”

After a few more coaxing, Hyunjin eventually nodded sheepishly and admitted to Jisung convincing him to take a candy bar from you.

“Ya! Hyunjin!” Jisung whined from across the bus, peeking his head up from the identical red seats with balled up fists. “I told you not to rat me out!”

“Y/N was being scary!” Hyunjin argues back, sprinting back to his seat as soon as the the bus stopped at a streetlight. Hiding under the sea of seats, he then exclaimed, “You two take me out of your fights! Geez!”

Jisung pouted at you as soon as you lifted your own head up from your seat and turned around to face him, holding his hands out in front of him and then asking, “Can’t I really have candy?”

You shook your head stubbornly. “If I give you one, everyone’s going to ask me for it too.”

“But everyone’s basically asleep!”

“They could be fake-sleeping for all I know!” You hissed, popping another ball of candy in your mouth. “I don’t trust anyone in this class with food but myself.” 

“Y/N!” He whined, only to get pulled down by force when the bus abruptly begins moving again. Scrambling up right after, he then continued pleading, “Please?”

“No.” You firmly concluded, sitting back down on your seat. 

Jisung even tried staying behind to try and steal candy off of you while the entire class was piling outside to enter Namsan Tower, only to trip in surprise when you jumped on him from crouching under the seats. Poor boy almost hit his head on the seats in shock.

“I knew you’d pull this kind of shit.” You tsked in disapproval with a slight stutter towards cursing at such an age, smacking him over the head anyway before throwing the smallest piece of chocolate candy you had from your bag. Moving past him to the bus exit, you then added, “You don’t even do nice things for me.”

You only meant it half-heartedly, though. Whether Jisung actually wanted more candy or he did sincerely felt bad over what you said, either way, he paid for the expensive pink lock you and your friend wanted to hang at the very top of the tower later on but only if you promised to share your snacks.

Jisung received three packets of gummy bears and a bottle of banana milk from you in the end on the ride home.

Age twelve. The Hans temporarily moved to Malaysia in the summer before the seventh grade because of an assignment for Jisung’s father at work.

On the day before their flight, Mr. and Mrs. Han organized a farewell party in their house at the other end of the block and invited your entire class. Jisung tricked you into getting him a farewell present by telling you that everyone was planning to do the same thing as a surprise but he secretly found out thing.

He didn’t actually expect you to get him something, not with the way the two of you have always been at each other’s necks since you were kids, but you ended up surprising him in the middle of the lunch party by giving him a small notebook of useful Malaysian phrases you wrote down yourself. You don’t always agree with Jisung but you think of yourself as thoughtful and civil enough to buy something practical. Also, your parents insisted. 

“O-Oh, you actually got me something?” He fumbled through an intense blush that matched the redness of his Supreme cap, almost tripping over nothing as you both stood on the steps leading down to the back of his house. It didn’t help that a few classmate passersby were glancing your way as well, either cooing or snickering at the awkward sight in the corner of all the socialization. “L-Like—like, this is actually for me?”

You raised a brow in confusion and reluctantly shrugged, releasing the red phrasebook from your grip as he held onto it by the other end. “Yeah, you said you’re getting presents so I...got you one.”

“I actually lied—“

“What?!” You exclaimed a little too loudly for your taste, earning you a sharp glare from your mother all the way across the backyard. Mouthing a quick apology to your her, you then quickly averted your glare back to Jisung who instinctively resorted to looking at anywhere but you. “But you said—“

“I thought for sure that no one would give me any farewell presents since it’s not a birthday or anything but I know you would if you’re like forced to or something so I thought...hehe...” He mustered up a sheepish grin, pressing his index fingers together in a comical shy gesture. When your glare intensifies, he then immediately held his hands up in defense and visibly winced, “Ya, don’t hit me!”

Every fiber in your being really wanted to hit him with the notebook then, maybe even push him down the stairs while no one was looking, but after a moment of thinking your way out of such violent thoughts, you resorted to exhaling a sigh and saying, “Whatever, just keep the notebook or something. I don’t care. It’s not expensive, anyway.”

You chanted to yourself that you’re mature, especially as Jisung’s eyes lit up and he immediately thanked you for both the gift and sparing his life that day.

Though he didn’t hear the end of the other teasing from Hyunjin after that, Jisung kept the notebook around anyway throughout his entire two-year stay in Malaysia. It was helpful but he’ll never admit that to your face.

“You kept it.” You pointed out one day, more as a statement than a question as you realized that the notebook he was using for exam reviewer notes was in the same color as the phrasebook you gave him. When Jisung came back in the summer before the ninth grade, the two of you met again in the same cram school wherein mostly everyone but you and the transfer student, Kim Seungmin, refused to help him keep up with the heavier than usual workload. “The phrasebook...”

“Yeah—well, I didn’t want to waste any of the pages you didn’t write on.” He pouted stubbornly as he flipped through the older pages to compare the amount of pages you used to the empty sheets. His tone actually sounded like he was convincing himself much more than he was trying with you but you missed it complete in the moment. “Be more eco-friendly, Y/N.”

You simply rolled your eyes at him. “Glad to know I kept you alive in another country somehow, then.”

Age fourteen. You went to a soccer game to see Jisung but only because one of your friends, Eunha, developed a crush on the striker and eventually hatched a plan to confess on the game before Valentine’s Day. Fortunately, Jisung barely noticed and didn’t tease you for it since it’s already an established fact that you’re always at his games with either Yang Jeongin or Seungmin to cheer on Hyunjin instead.

You really didn’t get it. Of course, fifteen was the time when some, if not all, parts of your day were starting to become dedicated to vanity and all the artificial things in life to attract kind of puppy love in school but at this point Jisung always wore the same green hoodie, red Supreme cap, and white ‘Eyez on You’ shirt to every school function that didn’t require wearing a uniform.

You understood how your classmates suddenly began fawning over Hyunjin right after the summer when he got his braces removed and then Seungmin for bringing a suit and tie one time for an inter-school debate but the hype over Jisung suddenly bringing in his guitar to class breaks everyday and re-emerging as a star soccer and baseball player throughout the school year is an absolute mystery to you. That or, maybe compared to your junior high peers, you’re just as used to him at this point than they all are. In your perspective, the only legitimate thing he has going on is how he always seems to beat you in most Arts subjects and how annoying it is that he always makes sure to rub that in your face. 

“I’m pretty sure he still doesn’t shower properly right after training.” You shook your head disapprovingly at Eunha during the game. Soccer is an interesting sport for surprisingly bringing you up to stand and cheer at some moments, you’ll give it that, but watching Jisung get cocky and interact to the crowd whenever his team scored a point was somehow cringe-worthy to watch. “And I’m so sure he still doesn’t clean that soccer ball of his right after practice. You deserve better, sis.”

But no matter how much you talked shit about him throughout the entire game, Eunha still held onto the box of handmade candies she coerced you into picking up from Jisung’s favorite candy shop on the weekend prior and cheering him on with the slogan she made herself. It would’ve looked cute and sweet to you if it was some other guy but it’s Jisung—the guy who pushed you off a swing, pulled your hair, stole candy from you, and made all of your elementary after-school rides home an actual rollercoaster—and you would never wish his treatment of you to any other person ever.

“You said that was in elementary, Y/N.” Eunha chuckled softly, nudging your elbow before a sour expression could completely overtake your face. “Surely he’s outgrown that girls have cooties phase every boy had then.”

“No, it’s Jisung and I refuse to believe it.”

You really didn’t want to believe it with your natural instinct to see Jisung as the bane of your existence. What’s worse is that Eunha was right and Jisung shyly accepted the Saturday movie date at the mall that she came up with on the spot when he surprisingly received the candies well, a complete stretch from the Jisung who would’ve lied about being busy or tricked your friend into doing something else altogether. Suddenly, it was selfishly annoying that you’re the only one he actually tortures the life out of.

“Told you.” Eunha giggled throughout the drive back to your house. Your mother picked you up from school right after the soccer game for a sleepover you insisted was a must whether or not your friend scored her Valentine’s Day date. “Ah, I’m glad he accepted. I was a nervous wreck there! You don’t happen to know what kind of movie he likes, do you?”

You never heard the end of it from her for the remainder of the semester. The two were never official—middle school just didn’t have that solid idea of significant others, then—but they did went on numerous ‘dates’ almost every weekend that followed Valentine’s Day. Naturally, Eunha would tell you all about it. 

“He’s so sweet and caring and thoughtful!” The girl endlessly gushed out to you so genuinely you would’ve been happy had you not been sincerely expecting a major fuck-up from Jisung. Nothing romantic really did come out of these dates, even Jisung surprisingly swears by it, but they did become really close friends after and as Jisung’s only other female friend at the time, you can clearly see a point of comparison between his different treatment of you. “Though, I’m gonna give it to you that he is annoying sometimes but he does know a lot of good places to hang out around town for someone who’s been away for two years!” 

“He does the bare minimum for everything, Eunha. I could barely call it sweet.” You scoffed unamused. 

Age sixteen. In the summer after the tenth grade, an upperclassman from school by the name of Lee Minho started volunteering at the same local shelter you’ve been under since elementary after surrendering a lost cat to you while he and Jisung were playing baseball at the nearby park. 

He adopted Dori in the end but prior to finalizing the adoption papers, he actually made the effort to come in at your MWF schedule to help around and see the dark grey kitten. To you, it was endearing and thoughtful since you didn’t have much active co-workers at the shelter your age but to Jisung, it was slightly inconveniencing how Minho would cut off their play-time to see the cat. He even thought Minho had a crush on you and vice versa but you knew that Minho liked one of his own closer friends. 

“Jeoyeon?” Minho scoffed, crouching down next to you one time as you watched over the new litterbox of kittens eating with Dori on your feet. Crossing his arms over his knees, he shook his head and chuckled, “They’re cool and we’ve been friends for a long time but I’m sure they have a big fat crush on Bang Chan. Something happened after their McDonald’s date after our prom, I’m telling you!” 

“No, not Jeoyeon! I meant Bora!” You argued back with a laugh, picking up a white kitten that wanders off to your feet and lifts its body up cutely for a lift. Gingerly pressing the kitten to your shoulder, you then turned to Minho and continued, “The one who came by the other day to see Dori with you. Aren’t you guys rooming together in college?” 

Minho clutched his chest dramatically at this, shaking his head with a comical conviction. “What?! How could you accuse me of that, Y/N? Bora’s from a different cheerdance team! That would be like sleeping with the enemy!” 

You rolled your eyes, knocking him off of his balance by elbowing his sides. “Ya, I didn’t say that, you did!” You scoffed at him, sighing when he laughs off landing on his butt before sitting up in a crisscross position. “Anyway, don’t you like her?” 

“If I don’t like her, we wouldn’t be making all these plans to move in together for college, stupid.” Minho snickered, earning him another elbow jab from you. “Well, what do you want me to say? You asked me if I like her, you didn’t ask me how exactly I like her.” 

"Okay then, you wise wise person: how do you like Bora?” You sighed dryly, plopping down on the ground at feeling your ankles starting to ache from crouching. The kitten on your arm then jumped down to your lap, circling your legs a few times before finding a comfortable position to sleep in. “You know, the more you visit here with this kind of sarcasm, the more I’m starting to understand where Seungmin and Jisung are suddenly getting all of their newfound sassiness from.” 

Minho chuckled next to you, picking up Dori for himself once he saw him finish eating before hugging the kitten gently to his cheek. “Bora’s...someone I’d probably punch a guy in the team for if they ever disrespect her. I mean, I’d punch a guy for Dahyun, Jeoyeon, and Jihyo, too, of course, but Bora’s in the same sport where she’s always getting lifted in the air and touched by who knows who and now that we won’t be in the same team, I feel even more responsible for keeping an eye out for her.” He shrugged casually, ignoring the way your jaw just dropped at how naturally he explained himself. “Plus, it took a lot of convincing to get her to be my roommate so I can’t really have her dying under my care in the next four years.” 

“I—” You furrowed your brows in thought, pursing your lips in a pout. “Wow, I’m jealous.” 

“Then get on my good side, Y/N.” Minho winked with a laugh, holding Dori in front of you. “Let me take this baby home at the end of the summer.” 

You rolled your eyes again at this, shaking your head. “No, I mean...I hang out with Jeongin, Hyunjin, Seungmin, and Jisung and they aren’t really the most well-versed boys on treating girls properly.” 

“That’s why you hang out with me. We all know that Hyunjin just can’t say no to anyone who offers him a slightly more expensive bouquet of flowers, Seungmin’s in a relationship with baseball and academics, and Jisung...Jisung’s just dumb in general.” Minho then pointed out with a somehow knowing tone, smirking when a familiar figure passes by the hallways right behind you. “Speaking of...” 

Jisung joined you and Minho after, making sure to sit in between the two of you and drowning himself in as many kittens who wanted to sit on his lap as much as he can. “Dude, you shouldn’t have left early!” He scolded Minho with a pout and a slightly breathless tone from running all the way from the park. “Seungmin joined us today and he completely wiped out Sunwoo’s team!” 

“Then even more reasons to come here early so you guys could play with Seungmin on your team.” Minho laughed, gently handing Dori over to you from across Jisung before standing up and dusting the lint off of his jeans. “Y/N needed help with feeding the cats and puppies today, anyway.” 

Jisung frowned, turning to you after and asking, “Don’t you have any other co-workers around here?”

“Jeno has allergies so I don’t let him in here on most days.” You shrugged, handing Minho the empty pet bowls nearest to you as he proceeded to clean and collect them. “I can do it myself, you know. It’s just that Minho comes over and insists.” 

“Then you should’ve just told him that so we can play longer.” 

“Why is it a big deal? Do you like Minho?” 

“Do you?” Jisung’s eyes widened, almost getting scratched by a random cat in the process. “Because...because that’d be gross, to be honest...”

At this moment, your eyes accidentally met Minho’s right behind Jisung and the older boy had the audacity to wink at you before sprinting out of the room with a thumbs up above his head. 

In the end, you shrugged and answered, “I like him.” 

“What?!” Jisung sat up so quickly he almost scared a bunch of kittens walking all over his chest into jumping away.

“I’d be a psychopath if I don’t like him but let him volunteer around here, dumbass.” You deadpanned, moving the kittens around him to a safer space on the floor. “Besides, you asked me if I like him, not how I like him.” 

“What the fuck does that even mean?” 

Minho had a whole laugh out of eavesdropping from this conversation that he felt bad and actually adjusted his schedule for volunteering and playing soccer better so ‘Jisung would have one less thing to whine about all the time.’ 

Age seventeen. You and Jisung tried convincing your respective parents that going to prom as a group is the more practical and actually trendy thing to do but your mothers wouldn’t have it. Ultimately, the two of you ended up lying that you’re going as each other’s dates. 

You initially planned on begging to Seungmin until he pulled up balloons, roses, and a song number to his lab partner right on the lunch break that you planned on doing it and, of course, you had enough dignity to not fall in line with the countless of students that basically worshipped Hyunjin’s locker as if it were a shrine. 

Jisung, with Eunha already set on going with someone else she started dating at the beginning of the 11th grade school year, was the convenient choice. Your parents knew each other, he knows someone (his older brother) who can drive, and he’s recently gotten over his Emo-Hypebeast wardrobe phase after joining the school’s radio club with Chan and Changbin. With some convincing (read: an elaborate PowerPoint Presentation he made you do on the spot during one of your lunch breaks), the two of you decided that you would take all the photos your respective mothers wanted, carpool to the hotel, then go on your separate ways until his brother picks the two of you up at the end of the night. 

It was a simple and fool-proof plan, one that you almost forgot when you rented an emerald green and gold prom attire then Jisung’s mother told you right after about hearing her son trying to order a purple callalily boutonniere that clearly did not match your taste nor your colors (you sorted this out by cancelling the order and taking matters into your own hands). Then, the most awkward photo op at your house happened. 

“Sungie, put your arm around Y/N!” 

“Y/N, stop slouching, you’re going to wrinkle your outfit!” 

You were never serious-looking in any photos that had Jisung in it as well, preferring to pose like the two of you planned on murdering each other right after the photos instead, but your respective moms were holding your Instax camera and the family film cameras across the living room in this particular situation and so you reluctantly kept it inside. Straightening up your shoulders and elbowing Jisung to at least wrap an arm over your shoulder, you held up smiles right next to your red rose corsage and boutonniere set until the two women were eventually satisfied with their photos. 

“Aah, you two really make a cute couple!”

“Mom, we’re not a couple!” Jisung whined, glaring at you after which you immediately returned with the same expression.

“God, I’d sell all my limbs first before we actually become a couple.” You deadpanned back at him.

Fortunately, Jisung’s older brother allowed the two of you to basically try and throw each other out of the car windows on the thirty-minute ride to the hotel venue in compensation. You almost had him by the neck and he almost ruined your hair that you spent hours curling until Hyunjin pulled you back with a smack to your head and dragged the two of you away to help in the Prom Committee’s final preparations since Jisung was going to perform with Changbin and you were a part of the Prom’s Logistics team. 

You mostly stayed out of each other’s hairs for most of the first part of the program as you were busy pulling everything together while Jisung was having the time of his life with the soccer and basebal teams. The next time you bumped into each other, you scolded him for running late to his and Changbin’s set after dinner. 

“Where were you?!” You mostly hit him in the back with your clipboard, frantically passing him his already set up electric guitar and a microphone. First, one of your peers got drunk too early in the dinner to help out in the program, then one of the event’s award sashes briefly went missing and, not to mention, a lot of the people from the other committees somehow forgot about their event tasks when you asked in the main groupchat. You really weren’t having anyone’s antics at this point. “Geez, we already practiced this!” 

“Ow, ow, ow! Stop hitting me! Why are you so on edge?” Appropriately, he whined in complaint and took a step back after receiving his equipment, holding his hands up in defense as he always does. “Cut me some slack, Y/N! It’s prom!” 

“You’re so late when your table is literally right next to the side of the stage!” 

“I was dancing with everyone else! You wouldn’t know since you wouldn’t even take a break!” 

“Because I’m busy!” 

“No, you’re just being more irritable than usual!” 

“Fuck you, Han Jisung.” You rolled your eyes with an exasperated sigh, coldly directing him to the stage. “You’re on, get on the stage.” 

You knew he didn’t mean it cruelly, especially when his pupils started to shake and his shoulders instinctively slumped as he glanced back at you right before reluctantly stepping up the star-filled stage, but you were too tired of having to run around and making the event perfect for most of the night to process anything, much less his usual jabs at you. Being in such a tired headspace, you couldn’t enjoy his songs no matter how undeniably great they were, much less meet his eyes when you knew how he kept glancing at you throughout the entire set. 

He even covered your favorite song on the spot (which surprised Changbin and had Hyunjin running around backstage to inform everyone of the sudden extension) but you already sat down on your shared table with Hyunjin, Seungmin, Eunha, and their dates before he could even begin singing the chorus.  

“Hey, you good?” Minjung, Eunha’s date, asked you with an offering of an extra shawl to cover your exposed shoulders from the nearby air-conditioning unit. Eunha had previously left to go to the bathroom after stopping by your shared table. “Y/N, I told you if you needed extra help with the program, you could’ve just told us. We just planned on dancing tonight, anyway.” 

“I’m good.” You grumbled in a half-lie, resting your chin on your propped up hand tiredly, mumbling a small ‘thank you’ for the shawl as you fought away your tiredness. “I think I’ll just sit the rest of Prom out. Hyunjin can run the program on his own.” 

Minjung frowned, sitting down next to you and fixing the loose strands on the haphazard ponytail you managed to pull up in the middle of the program. “Are you sure? Eunha and I can stay with you until you’re feeling better. Besides, the program’s still long, you deserve to enjoy your hard work later at least.” 

Stubbornly, you simply scrunched up your nose and shook your head. “I think I’ve had enough of prom for one night. You should go and dance more, though. I’m okay as long as you guys are having fun.” 

But equally as headstrong as you are, Minjung got Eunha in on convincing you to agreeing to one dance with them as soon as she came back from the bathroom, reasoning out that, “We can stay in the back and just dance silly! It’s prom!” 

The pair proved themselves to be unstoppable in their joint persuasiveness when they got you to stand up and actually join them at the next set, right as Jisung was about to approach you to apologize. The poor boy ended up waiting the entire night until the two of you were alone instead, shivering right next to each other at the lobby while waiting for his brother to pick you two up. 

“Why did you even pick out something off-shoulder? I get that it’s trendy these days but you picked the venue knowing it’s cold and didn’t even connect a few dots there.” He hissed lowly, contemplating on teasing you further or keeping it quiet until he can muster up a ‘sorry’ to you. Shrugging off his jacket, he then gently draped it over your shoulder and added, “Don’t catch a cold or something...your mom’s going to kill me.” 

“Shut up.” You hissed back, crossing your arms further in over your chest as you spotted his brother’s car approaching the lobby’s driveway. You didn’t remove his coat from your back, though, clutching it tightly instead while convincing yourself that he willingly gave it to you so there’s no reason for you to throw it back at him when you really needed it. “ You don’t even do nice things for me.”

The familiar words visibly caught him off-guard, almost foiling his plan of opening the door for you as he freezes in his steps but he regains composure in time and almost trips ahead to swat your hand away from the car’s door handle. “I’m sorry.” He mumbled in the awkward silence, gulping down his fears of your death glare as he briefly averted his gaze away from you. With this, he missed the way your gaze softened. “There’s candies in the pockets.”

And there was, coincidentally enough the same brand he tried stealing from you on your school field trip.

“These aren’t expired, right?” You chuckled, popping a chocolate in your mouth anyway. 

That was enough for Jisung to relax his shoulders and laugh along. “No, promise.” He held a hand up as if he was swearing by his words, easing you into another fit of laughs. “I ran all the way to the convenience store down the block to get you those tonight! I felt really bad...I didn’t mean it.”

He could be sweet if he wanted, you’d give him that. 

“I’m sorry too.” You whispered to him at the end of the night, right after scoffing at him for insisting to walk you all the way to your doorstep of course. “I was so stressed with managing everything that I took it out on you.” 

Standing awkwardly with you right in front of your house’s front door, the sheepish boy rubbed the nape of his neck and shrugged. “Nah, I think I deserve it. I do annoy you a lot, don’t I?” He chuckled, eyes trained to the ground. “I didn’t even ask you to one dance.” 

“Not like you actually had to, we’re no—” 

“But you were still technically my date and I don’t want to be a bad prom date, even to you!” He insisted anyway, only then looking up at you. “I’ll make it up to you in the distant future, okay? Reserve me your next dance in the distant future, no matter where it is!”  

Before you could even retort, he was already running back to his brother’s car. 

Age eighteen and a half. Jisung began dating a girl named Haneul whom he met in one of his general classes and didn’t have one single clue about baseball or soccer. Naturally, his entire friend group was concerned. 

Though you’re much civil friends now, you still didn’t really care. Or maybe you didn’t want to out of spite (or a really really weird and displaced feeling of jealousy?), you weren’t sure. You just thought that Jisung can do whatever he wants even when it’s something that’s generally not advisable when you’re a freshman in college, but it seemed as if it was all Jeongin talked to you about whenever the two of you met up to study for one of your shared classes so naturally you forced yourself to take in all of the gossip. What’s worse is that Hyunjin would come over often to loiter around the library and gawk at the cute student librarian, ultimately encouraging the younger boy to talk about it more. 

“You’re being unfair to her.” You always reminded the two, sometimes Seungmin when he would sit quietly in the middle of the topic and say nothing to defend Haneul. In this particular time, Jeongin took you to watch the baseball team’s Wednesday scrimmage after hours of studying your nursing notes together at the nearby library. “Like, look, I don’t even do any sports myself but you guys hang out with me.” 

“But you’re different, you’re not dating any one of us.” Hyunjin snickered, hugging his helmet to his chest as he sat a step below you on the bleaches. When a thought then crossed his mind, he dramatically gasped over his gloves and added, “Wait, does that mean you have a crush on someone? Is it me?” 

You smacked him in the head with your hand, rolling your eyes after. “You know what I mean.” 

Next to you, Jeongin mustered up a shrug as he tried getting an injured Kira to sit back down on her seat. Your stubborn best friend, after playing at an underground derby game on the weekend prior, kept on moving around because sitting down with her injuries made her uncomfortable. “But at least you make an effort for us even if it’s just small.” He reasoned out, huffing tiredly when Kira finally sits down and promises not to move for the next five minutes. You would’ve helped him but personally you thought he deserved to suffer alone after letting her go out despite her injuries today. “Haneul got dragged by Jisung to watch last week’s scrimmage and didn’t even last a set. She just left in the middle of the game—literally!”

“He made Jisung skip on my derby game to too!” Kira pouted, waving her bandaged hands frantically in the air. “I’m personally offended, Y/N!”

“And she doesn’t seem to like talking to us in general.” Hyunjin shrugged in conclusion. “Like, sports aside, she’s a bit rude and nonchalant when she talks to us in general especially when Sung isn’t around. It’s a bit sus to me.” 

“To be fair, Kira, I wouldn’t be going too if you and Yeji aren’t so insistent on it. It’s so worrying seeing the two of you get hurt.” You pointed out before averting your attention to Jeongin once more. “And Jeongin, you know the only reason I can’t leave baseball and soccer games these days is because you and Seungmin are usually my ride home.” You scoffed. “If I could, I’d be hanging out with Felix more and only going to Kira’s games. Ya, why is he even allowed to skip games and I’m not, anyway?”

“Because he’s taking classes and training with the cheerdance squad until 8 PM and as far as I’m concerned, you’re free after 12 noon like me!” Jeongin simply grinned at you, earning himself a glare. “Also, I need you here with me as the medic team. You know I’ll panic alone!” 

Fortunately, no one ever actually gets injured at any of the games regardless if they were formal or not. By the time the game has finished, you were reminding Kira to rest more at her dorms and sprinting out of the baseball field to the samgyeopsal place the team promised to treating dinner at. You completely missed the boys’ conversation on Haneul in the process but you did get free food.

You really didn’t get it. The one time you met Haneul by chance, when you and Felix bumped into the two at the mall near the supermarket, she seemed a bit distant but she could be polite when she wanted to. Of course, it rubbed you the wrong way but you and Felix thought that it was none of your business anyway, given that neither of you are dating her. 

“When the guys walked me out of the baseball field last Wednesday, they did mention something about Jisung aiming for the soccer national team but who knows if they’re exaggerating again or something.” Kira confided in you later that week when the two of you met up over lunch. “Either way, I’d understand. If I were in Jisung’s shoes, I’d feel a little disheartened if someone I really like doesn’t appreciate the things I’m passionate about!”

Still, you simply let your friends sort it out for themselves. “Jisung’s a grown-up, he can figure things out on his own at the end of the day.” You reasoned out. 

Age eighteen and three-fourths. Jisung asked—practically begged—you to go to the movies with him because he and Haneul broke up the week before his birthday after opening up his worries to her. The other ticket was meant to be a surprise for his ex-girlfriend.

From what Jeongin and Felix have gossiped to you on two separate occasions, Haneul apparently didn’t like you and the rest of Jisung’s immediate friend group no matter how many times the boys tried warming up to her and getting to know her over the summer. She didn’t really support Jisung’s passion for sports, too, and mostly just stuck around for the ‘clout of it all’ or however Felix worded it to you. 

“I’d ask Hyunjin but he has a date with that librarian!” Jisung frowned over the phone on the night before the scheduled screening of Weathering with You. Reminiscent of a similar time long ago, he sounded more like he was convincing himself than you. “And Seungmin’s taking care of Kira, Minho and Felix are training, Changbin’s doing God knows what with his finals, Chan has swim training and—and yeah, you know where I’m going with this!” 

You sighed, rolling over on your back in your bed after submitting your online work. “You can ask the baseball team, the soccer team, your Introduction to Musical Theory class, the campus radio club, and—and yeah, you also know where I’m going with this.” 

“Yeah but—but it’d be weird if I just went with anyone or something!” He mumbled under his breath, pausing on the other line to scratch his head in thought. “Come on, it’s not your midterms week yet, right? Can’t you come over and go to the movies with me?”

“You’ll probably strangle me in the dark or something.” You argued next. 

“But it’s free tickets! At least you’re going to die with free tickets!” 

“So you are planning to kill me! I knew it!” You snorted dryly, rolling your eyes. “Seriously, don’t you have anyone else to go with? Why me?” 

Jisung took in a sharp breath in the longest pause you’ve ever heard from the usually rowdy boy. At that moment, only then did you notice the faint sounds of pre-recorded dialogues for soccer arcade games. He must’ve been at the one near his dorm then as he usually was when he was contemplating on something. “I just—honestly, I’m still processing all of this and I don’t want to open up to the guys...and Eunha’s abroad and I’m not that close to Kira or Bora so I thought of you.” 

Now, it was your turn to be speechless. 

“It’s silly, I know.” Jisung continued with an awkward laugh when he didn’t hear anything on your end. “But even when you’re annoying sometimes and you always get angry at me because you always misunderstand, you’ve known me the longest and I know you listen well and you’re always open-minded about things so I thought I’d vent to you, if it’s okay...” 

You finally released a defeated sigh, sitting up properly on your bed as if he was actually in the same room as you. “God, you’re too good at making me feel guilty.” You mused out loud. “Fine, just text me the place and time and no funny business!” 

You met up with Jisung at the nearest shopping center the following night, surprise paper bags of take-out and a mini cake for two to eat at the cinema. 

“I’m only going to be nice to you this time because you just got dumped and it’s your birthday later.” You explained as serious as you can to a giggling and blushing Jisung, handing him the take-out paper bags. Once the dinner meals are in his hands, you then take out the blueberry mini cheesecake from its separate paper bag and set up the candle you brought along with it. “Now, make a wish and get it over with.” 

Jisung’s eyes widened at the pink candle suddenly being pushed up to his face, distracting him from the passersby cooing and making comments at the two of you. “Really?” 

You nodded impatiently, thrusting the cake further up his face. “Yes! Now, blow on your candles or I’ll do it myself and eat the whole thing!” 

Jisung wasted no time blowing the single candle and taking the cake from you as well, jumping up and down in place as he closed the lid carefully and returned it to its paper bag. “Thank you!” He exclaimed gleefully, pulling you to a side hug. “Now, I feel a bit better.” 

“You better.” You frowned back at him, biting down a small smile when his hug lingered on a second longer. “Now, let’s go or we’ll be late to the screening.” 

Fortunately, Jisung didn’t actually tried strangling you in the dark while the movie played since he became busy with eating his dinner and cake as well as crying over the plot. 

Age nineteen. Jisung took you to the arcade inside the shopping center after to vent while scoring kicks at the mini soccer game. 

“Basically, she said—” Score. “—that she felt annoyed that Hyunjin, Minho, Jeongin, and Seungmin were mostly onto her for ‘seeming off’ whenever they met or interacted.” Another score. Standing outside the protective fence, your gaze darted quickly between Jisung and the small net across the long room. “So I said that’s just how those guys are: they’re very curious of new people and make a lot of effort over it so when they feel that the other person’s energy seems off or doesn’t match theirs in any way, they’d worry.”

You nodded along whenever he glanced over to you, agreeing halfheartedly. “Hm, those guys don’t take bullshit, of course...”

“Yeah, right...” Jisung kicked another ball, barely missing the goal as he thinks of what to say next. “Then she started accusing the guys that they don’t like her because she doesn’t do sports which doesn’t even make sense because I know it’s not superficial like that.” He sighed, scoring again. After this particular kick, he then stopped altogether and turned to you. “The guys just feel off that, as someone I’m dating, she doesn’t make enough effort to watch my games or be familiar with the sports I love. It’s not the same thing.”  

“But does she make an effort to listen to your music?” You blurted out of nowhere, surprising not only Jisung but also yourself. 

It just occurred you to on the spot. All this talk about Jisung’s passion for sports had you thinking if Haneul also disliked the one other thing that Jisung was absolutely passionate about: his music. 

And it seemed to have caught him off-guard as it took the boy longer to contemplate on the question. “I—n-no? No...” He furrowed his brows in thought, walking over to you on his side of the chain link fence. “Come to think of it, she never told me what she thought of the songs I used to send her for feedback...”

You nodded, mumbling under your breath, “So much for defending her from everyone last summer...” 

“Hm?” 

“Like, I’d get it if your friends don’t immediately warm up to her because that really does happen in some relationships and it can be remedied over time but not appreciating the things you, the person she’s dating, are passionate about is another thing. If she doesn’t like the things you’re passionate about, then maybe she really isn’t the one you should be with.” You shrugged nonchalantly. “She could be all things nice but if she doesn’t support your own ambitions, other things that make you really happy, then everything else doesn’t mean anything.”

When he doesn’t speak, you allow yourself to continue. “Kira told me that you’re aiming for the national team in either baseball or soccer which is a bit surprising since I know you’re already being sought after for your music even at university so clearly those things are very important to you. Having someone around that doesn’t see that importance enough to make efforts is a bit meaningless in the long run, if you think about it. You...you deserve better, it’s what I’m trying to get at.” 

Still, he wouldn’t speak after everything you said. Instead, the boy just gaped at you from the fence. It definitely unnerved you as time dragged on longer. 

“I let you vent and made my own input on it like you wanted me here to and you just gape?” You tsked through your nervousness, crossing your arms teasingly and leaning over the fence on your side. “Ji, say something.” 

“...thank you.” He finally breathed out before you could complain further, catching you off-guard this time. “I needed that.” 

“What?” 

“This whole thing just made me feel really conflicting feelings.” He confessed, voice lower than usual now as he mirrored your position. “Thank you for listening and telling me what you thought. They definitely made a lot of things clearer.” 

You smiled, shoving him slightly through the fence separating the two of you. “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it birthday boy?” You teased, laughing even more when he pouted at your teasing tone. “So? Feel better, then?” 

“A bit, yeah.” He nodded, grinning widely now. “Thanks for tonight, Y/N.” 

“You won’t admit it to my face but I know you’d do the same for me if I annoyed you into it enough.” You shrugged, standing up properly now and walking over to the entrance. “Now, would you let me play? You’ve been at it for twenty minutes, it’s getting tiring watching you.” 

He laughed at this as you joined him in the arcade space, kicking a soccer ball towards you as soon as you came in through the chain entrance. “What? You think you can do better?” 

“I had to watch you all the time after school back then because you were my ride home and Mrs. Han always picked us up late. I’m sure that could amount to something.” 

Age nineteen and a half. For a mandatory community service class, all of your friends signed up to volunteer at an orphanage. 

The majority vote was actually at the shelter you used to volunteer at but your old neighbourhood was too far from the university you were attending and so the most practical option, the orphanage just two blocks away, was the natural next best thing. And from this one semester’s worth of experience, you definitely learned a lot about your friends. 

For one, Hyunjin, Felix, and Jeongin were only popular with kids but only for their looks (additionally, his baking skills for Felix). Whenever you passed by them during volunteer hours, you would often find the three buried underneath a pile of toddlers hitting them with all kinds of toys. Feeling bad, you actually got the orphanage’s matron to assign them to the older kids after a while. 

Seungmin and Kira, on the other hand, were so awkward at first but naturally got into the groove of it. Maybe it’s because they only started dating then and everything was flustering but they surprised you the most with how much they got along with almost all of the kids regardless of age. 

Then, there was Jisung whom almost all of the younger kids practically fought over to play with at the playground. As if it was an inside joke of some sort, it made you laugh the most how the kids would often ask him to push them at the swings. 

“Careful now,” You reminded him once jokingly, elbowing his side as the two of you approached the swing set where the kids were already waiting to get pushed on their respective seats. “don’t want their knees to get scraped or something.”

He simply scoffed at you, shaking his head in disbelief. “I won’t let that happen, not at this age.” 

“So if I asked you to push me on the swings later, you won’t try and kill me this time?” You asked next, waving hello to the children before going around the swing set to gently push them to momentum. Jisung followed suit, making a beeline to his favorite, a toddler named Ara who always asked to be pushed higher on the swings. 

“That’s a trick question because we’re not actually allowed to play here.” He answered matter-of-factly, turning to Ara right after. “Isn’t that right, Ara? Y/N isn’t allowed to play here because she’s an adult, right?” 

The two of you would sit on the swing set and take turns pushing each other when the orphanage staff weren’t looking anyway, giggling amongst yourselves while watching the kids migrate to the jungle gym. 

“You were so annoying when we were kids!” You mostly complained, letting yourself laugh about it now as it was all in the distant past. “You had the ‘girls had cooties’ phase and everything.” 

“Because the boys all said it was true!” Jisung was quick to say in his defense, twisting the chains on his swing around to make himself spin. “And I was seven so of course I’d believe them that easily!” 

“What about when you pushed me from the swings?” 

“We both know that was an accident.” 

“You could’ve secretly held a grudge against me as early as that time! You were so mad when your mom made you buy me snacks!” 

“Because you told your mom that I did it on purpose! I thought you hated me even before that too.” 

“Well, I never hated you before that, just to set the record straight.” You shook your head immediately, turning your swings to the side to face him briefly. “You? Did you ever hate me?”

“Never.” He shook his head back at you in response, equally serious now. “You were annoying at times but that was because I was kinda annoying to you too.”

“What about now?” You asked next, voice unexpectedly wavering at asking such a question and even more when he chuckled at this. 

“You were with me on my what was almost my worst birthday ever just three months ago. What do you think?” He scoffed playfully, returning to his spinning to ease his flustered face. “Besides, we’re like better less-trying to kill each other all the time friends now! We’re even studying together again these days.” 

“We both know you’re only at the library since you’ve been trying to wingman Hyunjin with the librarian and dote on Jeongin like he’s your baby.” 

“What? No, I’m there for you too! Moral support!” 

Age nineteen and three-fourths. Jisung’s older brother invited you along with your parents to his wedding during the Spring break and Jisung immediately jumped on the chance to redeem himself as ‘the best dance partner you ever had.’ 

You didn’t even think he’d remember something he said himself back then. Personally, you thought it was just his guilt from pissing you off or sleepiness from dancing too much at prom that was talking then. But the moment the dance floor was opened at the rather extravagant cherry blossoms-themed wedding, the best man was by your side within seconds after sprinting from his table across the wedding hall. 

“Y/N!” He called to you as he ran to your table shared with all of your friends, your parents, and a few people from your childhood neighbourhood; his obnoxiously loud voice against the jazz music and his hand raised up above his head to wave at you catching a few guests’ attention. “Y/N!” 

Felix was about to ask you to dance after Seungmin and Kira as well as Hyunjin and Jeongin paired up, your hand already up in the air to accept his, but Jisung was quick to swat your hand away from the other boy as soon as he arrived. “Sorry, Lix, I’m afraid I’ll have to steal Y/N away!” He dramatically interrupted in between tired pants, flashing the confused Felix with a sheepish grin. “I owe Y/N a very important dance!” 

“What dance?” You raised a brow, bringing your hand away from his and back to your lap. 

“The one—t-the one I promised you that night a-at prom.” He sighed, finally catching his breath after. “I promised you then, remember?” 

From the corner of your eye, Felix’s eyes lightened up in excitement as he clasped his hands together and cooed. “Aww!” He giggled, making you and Jisung turn to him after. “If that’s the case, then why should I stop you two? I’ll just see if Chan or Changbin aren’t dancing yet!” 

“But Lix!” 

The other boy’s quick to wave his hands to you snappily, shaking his head. “No buts, Y/N! You two go and do that cute promised dance thing you have going on! I’ll be fine!” He assured, much to your protests. “I knew something was going on!” 

“Nothing’s going o—“

“Thanks, Lix! I owe you, dude.” Jisung pats Felix’s shoulder appreciatively, turning to you after and taking your hand once more to pull you up into a stand. “Now, come on! My brother said he has my songs on queue!” 

He whisked you away before you could protest further, taking you to the dance floor just as the music slows down to his own song. “Right on time!” He even exclaimed happily before placing his other hand on your waist. You’ve heard this one before as the one he would always sing at the Open Mic Nights at university. “Now, to make it up to you...” 

Jisung didn’t dance so bad. He was still playful, making it a game between the two of you on who can step on the other’s feet the most when the next songs became more upbeat, but he was serious when he wanted to, sheepishly apologizing that it took him long to make it up to you. 

“I didn’t even remember it until you brought it up tonight.” You assured with a laugh as the song slowed down once more. Without even realizing it, you’ve danced all of the songs in the two-hour setlist with him. “I didn’t think it was important.” 

“Well, it is to me.” He shrugged as nonchalantly as he can, visibly looking nervous towards the end. When you quietly asked him why, his only response was, “Because that night I really realized that even when I liked annoying you, I don’t like pissing you off so much to the point that you hate me.” 

And at that moment you realized that Jisung has some way of catching you off-guard so randomly. “W-What? I mean—” You wanted to joke something along the lines of ‘wow, took you long enough,’ but the words ultimately never came out as Jisung chuckled at your baffled expression. 

“I mean, trying to piss each other off, joking around, competing over studies—those are our things.” He confessed sincerely, unconsciously tightening his grip on your hand as the song progressed. “But I said something that night thinking of it as a joke and not really considering the thought that it would piss you off so much because you were so stressed already. I didn’t like pushing you on edge like that—” 

“You already apologized and everything, it’s all g—” 

“—But most importantly, I really wanted to dance with you then, regardless of the incident.” He breathed out before you could even finish your thought, rendering you speechless for the second time. “Maybe I’ve always liked you then, maybe even before that; either way, I really wanted to have one moment where we weren’t fighting or anything—and, surprisingly, even when we’ve started hanging out better, I still want one. I still like you.” 

You immediately stopped dancing, bumping shoulders with a stranger behind you which Jisung instinctively responded to by pulling your frozen form to the side of the dance floor. You pursed your lips once to speak, only managing to fumble out, “Y-You...you liked me?” 

“I said I like you. Present tense.” He cleared his throat awkwardly, hands dropping to his sides immediately at sensing how tense and awkward the atmosphere suddenly became. “And I like you the way Seungmin dotes on Kira and Minho’s always protective of Bora and Jeoyeon’s been helplessly pining over Chan, those kinds in case you’re going to pull that how exactly do I like you bullshit you learned from Minho before again.”  

“I—r-really?” Was your only response as you tried your best to process this revelation. “You like me? W-Why—why me?” 

He chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the nape of his neck. “Yes, Y/N, how many times do I have to repeat myself?” He teased as casually as he could muster with his growing nervousness. “And why you? I don’t know, either, but I think I can start remembering as far back as the time you teased me at the playground that I push like a sissy but didn’t look for another playmate anyway. I’ve always liked you...just a little bit more now that I’m much more sure of a lot of things.” 

It was all so overwhelming, honestly, but you belatedly muster up a laugh as he recalled such a distant memory from you. “Y-You...God, Han Jisung, you’re insufferable!” You mumbled under your breath, hitting him by his arm with one hand while the other covered your mouth. “Why didn’t you say so?” 

“So, does that mean you like me too?” 

“I let you dance with me the entire night. What do you think?” You scoffed playfully, gaze softening as you looked up at his relieved smile and bright eyes. “You did push like a sissy at the playground when we were kids, though.” 

Age twenty. When Minho bought his roommate flowers to their last cheerdance competition and asked her to be his girlfriend, Hyunjin dared you to one-up the upperclassman and wear Jisung’s jersey to his own final game of the year.

“Well, you did give him that talk over dating someone who appreciates the things he loves.” Eunha told you over video call with the rest of your friend group on the day Hyunjin brought up the idea. Before you could even protest and repeatedly assure that you do support everything Jisung does, she was quick to add, “Yeah, I know you do appreciate them but I just think it’s fitting now! He’s been making a lot of effort for you lately and didn’t you say you wanted to do something in return? Maybe you can finally ask him what you’ve been wanting to ask for a while now too...” 

You hated how she was right and very convincing about it. Since the wedding earlier in the year, Jisung has been nothing short of nicer to you. From actually hanging out with you at the library now (and not just to wingman Hyunjin or dote on Jeongin), buying you food randomly, to letting you vent your own worries and unwind from school by playing soccer with you or playing you music with his guitar, he’s been ‘making it up to you’ with quality time and sweet gestures; the only catch is that he hasn’t officially asked you out like he would. 

The two of you aren’t exactly the direct words type of people but it’s still nice to have some sort of affirmation. 

With a few more coaxing on her part combined with Seungmin’s own persuasiveness nagging at you in real time, your friends eventually got Jeongin to steal one of Jisung’s spare soccer jerseys later that day to give to you for his game on the following Saturday. 

To say that Jisung was flustered is an understatement to say the least. Quickly catching you at the very front of the bleachers before the game started, he waved at you and the rest of your cheering friend group shyly, approaching only when the coach gave him permission to. 

“Hey, that’s mine.” He snickered with even more sheepishness at seeing you up close, holding the jersey he wears by its shoulders before gesturing to the identical one you wear. The two of you stand by the stairs leading down to the field, on the side where you aren’t in the way of passing players and staff. “The jersey—maybe the one wearing it too.” 

You held up the bouquet of daisies in your hands close to your face, effectively hiding the heat rising up to your neck. “I bought your favorite flowers too.” You pointed out next before gesturing to your friends sitting around you. “Those smartasses dared me to outdo Minho’s stunt at the cheerdance competition which I still think is dumb since you were in on that one but, hey, it’s the thought that counts, isn’t it?” 

“Just seeing you is already enough.” He added with a flirty wink, making you cringe teasingly. “The jersey’s a really big bonus, though. I think I can score everything on this one because of you.” 

“You better or else this jerseys’ going to be mine now.” 

“I don’t mind.” He shook his head immediately, pulling you closer by the waist in his now ritual good luck hug from you and placing the flowers back on your sides. “I don’t mind calling you mine too.” 

The cheesy pick-up line makes the two of you laugh. Either way, you push yourself to not let go of him too soon. “...ew, Jisung!” You hit his back instead, heaving a sigh of relief anyway before finally pulling away from his hug to send him off. That’s enough confirmation now. “Now, go win this game and get it over with. We’re still on for movies later, right?” 

“Yep.” He assured, patting your head affectionately before boldly leaning closer again for a kiss. “I’m looking forward to it!” 

[inknopewetrust]

In Another Universe (Marcus Moreno x Fem!Reader) 

Summary: If Thanos’ destruction wasn’t enough, being blipped into another universe was worse. After finding yourself in the universe of We Can Be Heroes, you must maneuver your new life and relationships while trying not to dwell on the one you lost. 

Pairing: Marcus Moreno x Fem!Reader (We Can Be Heroes) 

Word Count: 4.3k

Warnings: Some descriptions of violence, nothing extreme. 

A/N: *Gif not mine.* Thanks so much for requesting this @jupitersmoon167​ ! I just have to say—not only did I love writing this, but it’s like a whole ass fic in one. Request are currently OPEN, see request guidelines in bio for details!

In an instant, the world you once knew was gone. 

The last thing you remembered was the sensation of fear. But it was ethereal, painless compared to anything you’d ever experienced before. Fighting with Nat was worse than the affects of Thanos’ snap, well, for you anyway. 

It wasn’t until you woke up in a world that felt so incredibly familiar yet so incredibly foreign at the same time that you realized what ever event the snap set off, it wasn’t one that brought peace to anyone. 

“Y/n! Come play with us!” 

The moment of relapsing memory was broken by the sounds of children running and shrieking in the park. The sound was strangely comforting because it reminded you of home, of the little one you had to let go, and the found family you may never see again. But the little girl that screeched your name from across the park on the metal bridge reminded you that there was something good in this world, even if it wasn’t your own. 

“I don’t think that would be a good idea.” 

The voice sounded beside you on the other side of the tree before you even managed to budge from your leaning stature against it. Nothing Missy ever did went over Marcus Moreno’s head. He watched her like a hawk, as if his eyes were glued to her every movement but you couldn’t blame him. Missy was his life. He did everything for her. 

“Don’t approve?” You quirked your head to the side with a smirk that you knew Steve would have said it reminded him of Natasha. Natasha, Steve, Tony... 

“Well she doesn’t know you like we do. I think it’s best if she keeps her distance. Not to mention for the safety of the other kids...” Marcus trailed off as his gaze tracked from your own to the playground and the group of Heroic children that littered the place. It was chaotic, but normal? You didn’t know what was normal or not anymore so in truth, you felt it didn’t even matter. 

“I don’t hurt children. I would never hurt a child.” 

“How are we supposed to know that? What have you done but lie to all of us to make us believe you wouldn’t kill us all right now?” 

“Are you trying to make me angry, Marcus?” 

Your eyes narrowed as you crossed your arms over your chest. You knew they didn’t trust you. You knew they had a hard time believing your story, even after a year but yet they continued to let you go on missions. They continued to invite you to group luncheons and trusted that you wouldn’t sell their secrets to their enemies. 

“Testing your patience.” 

“If you didn’t trust me with your daughter, why did you let her eat the food I brought? Why do you let her come to headquarters-” 

“Because The Heroics are family. This whole thing-” He rose his hand and gestured to heroes and their children gathered and played around them. 

“-is her life as much as it is mine. You came here from some “world” that we’ve never heard of that apparently looks a lot like this one. You are the stranger here, not her and especially not at headquarters.” 

Marcus huffed in aggravation and stalked away from the tree and to Anita who had been set up at a picnic table not far from the playground. Anita watched her son make conversation with the newest Heroic and shook her head in a brief and tiny fashion as her son walked toward her with a plume of invisible smoke coming out of his ears. 

“You shouldn’t be so rude, give the girl a break. She’s lost everything and everyone she’s ever know and I’d be lying if I said she wasn’t a brilliant fighter. The training she could give all of you is worth more money than we spend in a year fighting aliens.” The look on Anita’s face was critical of Marcus. The son she knew, the one she raised was not cynical or mean. He was kind and loving and a father who would have wanted Missy to have strong women in her life. 

“She doesn’t belong here. She isn’t a Heroic and she doesn’t need to talk to Missy any more than she does already.” 

“But does she seek out Missy at headquarters or does Missy seek out her?” Marcus couldn’t recall if Missy’s interactions with you were brought on by his own kin. He found the girl hanging upside down on the monkey bars with Guppy below her jumping up to try and touch the long, black locks of his daughter. She looked so carefree, so full of joy until she flopped back onto her feet and turned her gaze toward the tree, almost ready to yell. Marcus followed her eyes only to notice you had gone, like a ghost, and Missy was seeking you out.

In The Heroic Headquarters, you often wandered the halls aimlessly, minding your own business as your thoughts were filled with the events that happened exactly one year before. It was already your one year anniversary in this new world. But my God, or to whatever God was out there, you missed your old life. Even if life wasn’t exactly the most glamorous before Thanos arrived, you had found a comfortable family in Natasha, Steve, and the others who stayed behind at the Avenger’s Facility in New York. Natasha was your sister in all things but blood and you would do anything to see her again. Steve had been the one to lean on when your memories of Russia, of that room, of the little one you had to give away, came flowing back in waves too ample to deal with alone. They were everything to you, everything. 

And now you sat alone in an office you were sure was once a broom closet and lie in wait for the other heroes to come, visit, to extend a gracious hand to someone who is hurting but it never came. Every day that passed made that more clear. Even the materials they gave you were sub-par to the advanced ones that scattered the offices of the Heroics. You wondered how this world’s technology was so different from your own and no one knew of it. This multiverse, this time continuum that has taken place is far beyond any knowledge you claimed to have. It took nothing to image Tony or Bruce having an absolute field day with all of this. 

“Ms. L/N?” A knock alerted you that a visitor had in fact found your small, grungy door in a vacant hallway. 

“Come in!” Who were you to ignore a visitor when all you could think of was the family you’d never see? 

Anita Moreno cracked the door open and popped her head in with a smile. She quietly closed the door behind her as she took a seat in the broken desk chair situated across from your desk. You wheeled as best as you could from behind the computer to give her a small, welcoming smile. 

“What can I do for you Mrs. Moreno?” 

“Please, it’s Anita. You’re a Heroic now, no need for the formality.” 

“I’m not-” It wasn’t a chuckle that sounded with your denial. It was a stone-cold denial of being a Heroic because it erased what you really were, an Avenger. 

“You are here. You are here.” Her tone wasn’t offended, but re-assuring in her proclamation. Anita could read people like books and you doubt you evaded her abilities by being from another universe. She was far too skilled to let people and their problems fall under a radar. 

“I have a request for you, well two to be exact.” She looked up from her folded hands expectantly waiting for you to nod, allowing her to continue on. 

“First, I have a mission for you with Ms. Vox and Marcus. It’s nothing too concerning but it needs to be taken care of. And for my other request, I’d like you to help train Missy.” You were sure if you had been drinking anything from water to vodka that it would have found itself all over Anita, but you managed to stay mum and concealed. 

“And Marcus approves of this?” 

“He doesn’t know.” 

“Going behind your son’s back and letting his precious daughter train with a woman he sees as a weapon? My, Anita. You have taken me by surprise, I must say.” 

The elder woman smiled slyly as if she were getting away with a far more terrible crime. Missy was just as important to her as she was Marcus. Anita was not going to let Marcus’ prejudice against you prevent Missy from looking up to an accomplished and heroic woman as yourself. 

“As long as Missy comes home with no scrapes or bruises, there should be no problem. You can use one of the rooms here and I’ll make sure his card can’t access it. I’ll bring Missy in when she’s done with school, leaving about an hour for her to work with you.” 

Anita rose to her feet, preparing herself to leave the room but instead, she turned back around, looking you dead in the eyes and for once, looked like someone who cared. 

“I don’t know what your world was like. I don’t know who you were there or the family you left behind, but this is your world as much as it is mine, Missy’s, or Marcus’. He shouldn’t be so cruel. I see how you look at the girl, like she’s special. She is. But I couldn’t help but think it was something more...” She trailed off her speech just as Marcus had that day at the park. Like mother like son you suppose. 

“Did you have a family? A child—I mean?” 

For the first time in your life you were speechless. Was it that obvious? The longing? You never spoke of the child, not even to Natasha or the others because it was far too painful to recall. The Red Room was traumatic enough and by barely escaping to save the life of a child you so desperately wanted only to give it away to protect its life was worse. You didn’t know where she was or who she lived with now. Her life was an illusion to you if you could craft one. That alone broke you, chilled you to the bone. You held her for two minutes before they took her from your arms to give to another and it would be the one thing you would always regret. 

“You don’t have to answer-” Anita backed away from the question when she analyzed your reaction. But she was the only one who cared enough to get to know you and that opportunity for connection was slipping away. 

“Yes.” 

“Yes, I did. I don’t know her name or if she’s... if she’s alive anymore but I did. I had to give her away. She would be ten.” 

“Oh I—I am sorry, I didn’t know.” 

“No one does.” 

Anita could only nod and attempt to leave again but was halted by your voice. 

“Thank you for coming here.” She nodded, acknowledging the difficult transition she knew you were having. 

“When is the mission?” 

“Two weeks. I’ll, um, bring Missy tomorrow. I’ll send a message about the room later today.” 

She left with a twist of the door handle, leaving you with the thoughts of the girl who you tried to, but never could forget. But Missy helped to fill that gaping, vacant hole in your heart. After the first week of pure hesitancy, Missy came running in every day after school with a wide smile, bragging about the grades she received, the friends she had, and the way her father always put her perfect grades on the fridge when she got home. 

Missy let you into her life without you asking for it. Even with the distance you tried to give her in order to protect yourself from any kind of unintentional attachment with the girl, she melted it with a look in her kind, young brown eyes and her shining smile. Missy treated you like the adult and role model she wanted, not some foreign alien that the Heroes treated you as. 

“How do you know how to do all this stuff?” 

Missy was stretching on the red mat while you built an obstacle (of sorts) but only half of her attention was on the task you had instructed her to do. It was the second week of your daily training with Missy and she was disappointed to hear that tomorrow, you would be off on a mission, therefore her favorite after school activity would have to wait. 

“I was a spy for many years and I had been in this academy of women fighters.” That’s the only explanation you could give her without truly telling her what happened to you in Russia. The horrible, wicked people who experimented and forced you to become a weapon on behalf of the state. 

“And what about your old team? How did you meet them?” She sat up now on her knees in an anxious, excited inertia. 

There was an initial hesitancy with that question, though you had to ask yourself why. Why, after a year of being in this new world, were you still not willing to be open and voice your story to someone who wanted, someone asking, for it. But what did you have to lose but divulging in this girl’s questions? Nothing. Heck, Nat would probably be proud that you let your guard down enough to make a connection in the first place. 

“I met them through-” 

You didn’t even get passed the fourth word when the door to the training room slid open and a very, very, angry Marcus charged in with Anita on his tail. She looked pleadingly at you as he grabbed his daughter off the mat on the floor and grabbed her bag from the highest stack of mats to his left. 

“Marcus please!” Anita tried to plead with him but he did not listen. 

“No! I told you I don’t want her anywhere near her and what did you do!?” 

Marcus tossed the bag to Missy who barely caught it in her trembling hands. She had never seen her father break the cool façade he wore on the daily. 

“Dad-”

“You go with her. I am not going to have this conversation with you now, but when I get home, you better believe that we will be having a long talk about this.” 

Anita wrapped her arms protectively over Missy and practically dragged the girl out of the room while Marcus stood with his hands splayed on his hips in anger. Maybe if it were another universe you would have found it just a little adorable.

“I had my suspicions that this is where she was. Three days ago when my card denied me access to this room I knew someone was lying to me about it.”

“Marcus, you’re over-“

“I am NOT OVERREACTING!” He shouted with a blazing fury. His eyes were filled with nothing but a fatherly rage.

“I asked you to not go anywhere near my daughter and here she is training with you like some—some prodigy! She is my daughter!”

“You think I don’t know that!? Do you really think I am that stupid to not notice the girl is your daughter? She’s just like you!”

“If she was just like me, then she wouldn’t have run off every afternoon with a deadly stranger.”

You shook your head at him with petty laughter.

“You are the most ridiculous, most annoying, and most PRETENTIOUS PERSON I HAVE EVER MET!”

Rage continued to boil up his body like a pot of water. Had Marcus ever met someone he found as infuriating as you? No. Had he ever met someone like you? No. Had he ever been slightly curious about you? He wouldn’t answer that question. Besides, now he was playing protective dad and he never had been given a reason to trust you.

“If you had a child, I bet you would feel the same.”

You think he meant it as some sick burn but he had no idea, none of them did. So your brows lifted at him as a smirk graced your face knowingly.

“If you cared for a second to get to know me— you would know the answer to that question.”

More than a deadly spy, though none of them ever cared to know more than what your profession suggested.

You left the room in an abrupt haste following the confession. A part of your conscious still wasn’t sure whether or not telling everyone every little detail about your past was a good idea, let alone a safe idea. But every night you thought of the family you disappeared from; how you wished you could have told them everything about your past before they disintegrated into dust around you. If you couldn’t do it then, maybe you could do it now.

The next day happened to be the mission Anita had set up for Marcus, Ms. Vox, and yourself. While Marcus waited in uniform with the singing siren pacing the room, he was sure you weren’t going to walk through those doors. One side of him felt that you were the kind of person who ran away after exposing some deep secret, the other thought maybe you just quit. But when you waltzed in with your weapons and uniform perfectly pressed, he couldn’t make eye contact.

If it weren’t for Missy’s dotting on your character that previous evening, he probably would have still been angry. But there was little doubt in his mind that Missy would lie about someone she trusted, so maybe he could give you a chance. That belief quickly turned when you wouldn’t speak to him or even look him in the eye five hours into the mission that had you all stuck in a building across from an increasingly suspicious studio apartment. According to Anita, this is where technological weapons were being stored and the mission was to identify the weapons and alert headquarters so they could send an extraction team. Unfortunately the view was poor and between the three of you, only three pieces of equipment were identified.

“I think we should try and sneak in.” The suggestion came from Ms. Vox who appeared a bit eager to be on an incredibly serious mission. Marcus tried to look at you for an opinion but you gave him no audience.

“If we go in, someone needs to stay behind to keep guard.”

“Maybe I could keep guard and you both can go in?”

The proposition was most unwelcome. You and Marcus, together, on a mission that was possibly deadly, and you still wouldn’t look each other in the eye.

“Or I can go with one of you?” Ms. Vox’s voice was straining but she walked on egg shells to get an answer. Be the bigger person, be the bigger person.

“Marcus and I will go inside. Vox wait down the hall from the door and you need to press the call button on the watch if you see anyone. If we are not out of the apartment in five minutes, alert headquarters and let them bring in the team.” It was a demand and no questions were asked as Ms. Vox rose first to leave the room, followed by you, then a concerned but unquestioning Marcus. 

To the building across the street and down the hall, no words were exchanged between the two of you. You both kept quiet as the room came closer and all weapons were drawn in protection.

“You take the left and I’ll go right.” Again, he didn’t question it but he did nod, meet your eyes in understanding.

For starters, the apartment was entirely open concept. The floor was lined with rows of computers; all had been wired to one another and their screens were a blinding blue. You looked up at Marcus as he rounded the row nearly three yards in front of you. The look he returned was unsettled by the scene.

“What do you think they’re doing here?”

“Beats me. I’ve never seen anything like this before.” And it was true—he truly hadn’t. Most of the time missions were against some alien breed, certainly not old junkie computers from his childhood. You lowered your gun for a brief moment, pressing a key on the closest keyboard and all the computers went black. The light from two sets of comms were the only light in the room until a stream of three, then four, then five lines of green invaded from the window. Slowly they crept on the floor until the met a black boot and trailed up the targets body.

It took no time for you to realize what it was.

“Get down! Marcus get down!”

You practically barreled into him as fast as you could, wrapping your arms around his torso as his swords went flying in the opposite direction. Gunfire erupted around you both as you scrambled to drag his body with yours to a corner away from the windows.

“Are you alright? Can you hear me?”

All you could illicit was a nod in combination with a panic gaze. It would take four minutes for the rest of the Heroes to arrive and find the two of you. But whatever happened in Marcus’ brain the moment he saw you tumbled towards him in his moment of peril, changed the dynamic.

It first began as complete acceptance into the team. No one questioned your actions and your abilities were praised just as much as the others. Marcus didn’t keep his distance, but also allowed Missy to continue lessons after school because he trusted you. You saved his life and if it weren’t for you, he would have never seen Missy again.

After about a year of acceptance, Marcus attempted friendship. He would ask you to do things, outside of work, especially when they involved Missy. Bowling, Pizza nights, ice cream runs, game nights; they all became normal after the first few times of pure hesitancy. Although you weren’t entirely comfortable with the idea because of how he treated you in the past, you could tell it was an honest effort. You also would be lying if you said you didn’t have any fun doing those things.

In your fourth year in this new universe something else happened—something unexpected. Instead of what had become a usual game night, Marcus asked you on a date. Your initial reaction was to say no, laugh at the attempt, and return to the monopoly game (yes, you did find it strange that this universe had many similarities to the other). But the “what if” question lingered after minutes of contemplation so you said yes. And you would be lying again if you said anything other than it was “the best date you had ever been on.”

And somewhere in that fifth year of living, Marcus asked you to move in with Missy and himself, and you said yes. Finally, a family of your own that wouldn’t disappear at the snap of a finger. Every day you thought of what Natasha would say to you if she knew about this. One part of you wanted to believe that she would be surprised but proud, while the other believed she would laugh and call you soft. In reality she would have responded both ways.

Every morning you woke up to a man who looked at you as if you held the world in your hand. How you went from enemies to lovers was beyond your comprehension but you didn’t want to question it further. The way he would hold your hand on difficult days, smile at you from across the table, kiss you goodnight, love you until you believed you couldn’t be loved anymore. It was those things you didn’t have in that other world that you just held onto with a tight grip now.

As Marcus readied lunch in the Kitchen, you helped stack new books on Missy’s bookshelf with her. The girl had grown so much over the years and was making her way into becoming the leader Marcus, and Anita, wanted her to be.

“I left a box out in the hall, do you think you could get it?” Missy asked as she admired the cover of a fantasy book in front of her. She looked up with her big brown eyes that reminded you so much of the man in the other room that you couldn’t deny her anything.

“Sure. Be right back.”

But you never came back.

Because you woke up with a jolt on the dirt ground of a forest you hadn’t seen in years.

Wakanda.

[writing-fool]

gryffindor!seungcheol

(This is a female version, because it includes Head Boy and Head Girl moments. If you wish for me to make a gender-neutral or male one, please don’t hesitate to ask)

Alright.

This pal, Seungcheolie, is a total Gryffindor

Like I’m talking, poster-child Gryffindor, courageous, extremely kind, a great leader figure. This boi is a Gryffindor seventh year AND Head Boy (because the teachers love him)

Friends with Jeonghan, the Slytherin prefect and ppl used to not understand why because Jeonghan’s a total pranker and Cheolie looks so straight-laced but oH BOI can this kid surprise people

Has snuck into the kitchen to steal biscuits, without consequences because hE’s HeAd bOY

Doesn’t cheat for any tests tho cuz he IS kinda straight-laced

Does everything for his 12 best friends (and kids because he’s SUCH A DAD), especially for Jeonghan because Han’s a lazy bum

Also the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain and Chaser, cuz he’s not necessarily fast on his broom (hence why he’s not a seeker) but his aim is great

Also practices a ton after class, because once Seungcheol wants something, he works so incredibly hard for it

His pep talks are so, so good

Younger Gryffindors (and kids from other Houses) look up to this guy because he honestly is one of the most reliable students ever and he’ll always solve the problem either with his own power, or with the help of his amazing friends

Once, when Chan was still a little first year, he was bullied by a first year Ravenclaw, and Coups sat the guy down, gave him a good scolding, and for the rest of the year, the dude was surprisingly nice to Chan (turns out, he was kinda jealous of Chan’s flying skills)

His grades are mehh, he passes with the help of Wonwoo and Joshua (and also Mingyu, who surprisingly has a knack for Potions) and usually gets an P if he does fail

He’s not dumb AT ALL, just can’t write long essays for the life of him and honestly doesn’t value grades all that much

He’s somehow very good at Care of Magical Creatures and was good Muggle Studies (a subject which he dropped because he’s a half-blood, and that just doesn’t make sense)

Seungcheol gets to know you in second year, because you’re his partner in Herbology

And while he is a decent student…well, he hasn’t got the patience to deal with,,plants for Merlin’s sake

You, a fellow young Gryffindor with whom Cheolie hasn’t spoken with yet because the gap between your teeth is really frickin adorable and omg you’re actually really good at Herbology and you’re cute but also girls wth

You’re well…a total wild card. Unpredictable, fiery and uncontrollable. But you’re surprisingly gentle when you have to be, so you and Seungcheol quickly become friends after that Herbology class.

Cheol tries out for the Quidditch team that same year, and he gets in immediately

You’re ‘recruited’ in third year when one of the previous Beaters graduates and well…let’s say the Cap back then saw your potential when you broke Anthony Wilson’s nose because he slapped your ass. Sorry not sorry.

Anyways, moving on,,,

You and Seungcheol are pretty close, like not best best friends (because jeez 12 ain’t enough?) but you speak every day and you lean on him a liiiiiiittle too closely whenever you two are in the common room at night

Because he can’t really sleep because of the stress he has sometimes, taking care of his kids and all (doting father y’all) and you join him sometimes

Over the years you’ve grown into a comfortable rhythm of lulling each other to sleep in comfortable silence in the common room

The first time you woke up in each other’s arms was….well…//blush//

Because he is your friend but he is also really handsome and his lips are so close and he’s cute when he’s sleeping no don’t touch his hair and oh dear why are you still lying in his arms get out get OUT

But you get used to the limbo of flirting and touching casually to the point where you instinctively cuddle up to him by the fireplace at night and he strokes your hair

You accidentally did it around his and your friends once because…he might’ve been the only one you pay attention to in the room ooOOH do you have a crush

So now the school ships it because Vernon, bless his heart, can’t keep his mouth shut

And you like him, you realise that in like, fifth year you smart cookie, awww but you don’t want to lose the comfort of having him around and hugging you like his

And Cheolie’s got a big, fat crush on you too

Because he’s been watching you on the sidelines, growing up into this really wonderful, sunny person with some baggage and way too much care for him and your other friends

It doesn’t help that you’re stunning, gorgeous and have you seen her on the Quidditch field when she swings the bat with so much precision and-

Jeonghan and Jihoon: choke him with a pillow because he’s a SAP but it’s kinda cute

So y’all start dating…eventually, somewhere in sixth year. Like, you guys are celebrating after finallyyyy winning a Quidditch match against Slytherin (suck that, Wen Junhui)

And you and Seungcheol end up drinking a liiiiiittle too much Firewhiskey

Not to the point of being drunk, but like, to the point where y’all just a lil too honest drink responsibly babies

It’s pretty spontaneous tbh, like you end up celebrating and hugging and next thing you know you’re sitting in a corner with him by the window

Sighing and leaning your head back to feel the cool touch of glass

“I like this,” you whisper.

“Mhhmm…I like you.”

Cue double, triple take because wHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?

And Coups is just like “No, I-I didn’t mean it?” but then suddenly you become visibly disappointed and he’s like OKAY MAYBE SHE LIKES ME OKAY WHAT 

And you’re just kinda flipping your shit because you don’t know what he wants but you’re really close to confessing 

You don’t notice you actually kinda start hyperventilating

Now Seungcheol is panicking too because he doesn’t know why you’re panicking and ohmygod what why hoooow

But he kinda is too tipsy to think so he just trusts his instincts and kisses you to calm you down 

And you’re too surprised to kiss back and I’m sorry to say it,,,,but that was not the best first kiss

Like full-on smooch, smack, poof, grab the face kiss that lasts 1 second

But after the initial surprise you’re feeling a bit more bold and calm how do those emotions work together? Honey don’t ask 

So you start kissing him whilst smiling into it, and this time, yess so nice

You guys kiss for another 2 minutes, at which point the crowd has turned their attention to OH MERLIN IS THAT CAPTAIN SEUNGCHEOL AND OUR BEATER?

You get shy and hide in his chest while he spins his back to the rest of the room, shielding you but also pressing you against the window

And you start giggling, because it’s kinda funny

He giggles with you because have you heard her giggle it’s adorable

You guys are unofficially dating after that evening, but Seungcheol asks you on a proper date to Hogsmeade two weeks later

Back to 7th year…you guys are Head Boy and Head Girl

Even though the other Houses are kinda salty that it’s two Gryffindors AGAIN, they have to admit you guys make a cute couple and really good Head Boy and Girl

So, y’know “Actually, good for them.” -random Ravenclaw, not pressured by Jeonghan to support y’all or anything. Nope. 

Coups tends to ruffle your hair a lot, and backhugs as a surprise

“Cheol, my bird’s nest really doesn’t need to be made extra messy you idiiiiot!”

“I’m your idiot” winks 

“Yes and that makes it worse.” So you pummel him with a pillow

Backhugs and cuddles are still your thing

The sofa by the fireplace in the Common Room is your Spot™, but at least now you don’t have to hide anymore

Younger kids walking past “Oh Merlin’s pants look at them they’re so cute…I want a romance like that.”

Older students just grill y’all like oooOOoOohHhhhh

“Watch it, or you’re gonna get detention” is usually Coups’ joking reaction

While you just go *middle fingers up* and cuddle deeper into his chest

You help him with Herbology, even now, and your rewards are kisses

Really, you two are role-models for everyone at school, both as people and as a happy love story. 

One down, 12 to go…fuck why did I pick SVT to write for?

Hope it’s to everyone’s liking, please reblog, like, comment, follow, whatever if you enjoyed the weird headcanon. Jeonghan’s up next!

Yours,

-Rémy

[nonasuch]

dogfather update: christmas

As always, everything dogfather-related is tagged with the dogfather and story updates are tagged with dogfather story post. If you get antsy waiting for the next update, check out my AO3 or the zines and comics on my Gumroad.

Also, I WILL be at the Wicomicon pop-up in Baltimore on Saturday! Come say hi if you can make it!

Moony is waiting just on the other side of the barrier. He only accompanies them as far as the car, though, and casts a few discreet spells over it while he thinks no one is looking. It’s not any kind of magic he’s seen at Hogwarts yet, but Harry thinks they might be protection charms. He’d never noticed it before, or thought to wonder, but it occurs to Harry that Moony and Padfoot must do this sort of thing all the time, and have done for nearly half his life. Little bits of magic to keep him safe, whenever they get the chance.

Before they set out, Remus tells them “We’ll see you back at the house-- oof, you ridiculous creature, get down--”  but as they drive away, he’s still trying to get Padfoot to stop jumping up and licking his face. Ron is too excited about riding in a car to notice, though.

Harry’s mum and dad have loads of questions, the whole way home. How are their classes, their teachers, the other students, that nice Hermione girl, her parents are so lovely, was Padfoot keeping them out of trouble?

“He does his best,” says Harry.

“That’s not a yes,” notes Harry’s mum.

“Whatever you’ve heard, Malfoy probably started it,” says Ron.

“He’s awful,” says Harry. “I wrote you about it, remember?”

“I knew boys like that, when I was a lad. Horrible little bullies, every one,” says Harry’s dad. “I don’t like to think about his home life, though, if he’s bringing that sort of behavior to school with him.”

Ron frowns. “His family’s really old and rich, though. He’s always on about Malfoy Manor this and pureblood that.”

“You’d be amazed at the way rich old families behave when they’re at home,” says Harry’s mum, quietly. “Some of them, anyway.”

Harry’s dad lets go of the gearshift, to take his mum’s hand for a moment. Harry knows his mum doesn’t talk to her family much, and sometimes she gets a bit sad about it ‘round the holidays.

(Most of the year, Caroline can say ‘good riddance to bad rubbish’ and mean it. It just sneaks up on her, every once in a while.)

(There was never any big falling out, really. Just a series of straws that piled up: the uncles who sneered at her for not voting Tory, the beloved cousin whose funeral she alone attended, the remarks she wasn’t meant to hear about who was and was not our sort. When she imagined the way they’d look at her son, what they’d say about him when she was out of earshot, she found that she could live without them very happily.)

(Tim’s father died in the war. His mother lived to see them bring Harry home, and was delighted enough that it more than made up for the silence on Caroline’s side. Harry only just remembers her-- she passed when he was three. They’ve never been a large family, but in Caro’s estimation they have always been more than enough.)

(Anyway.)

“WE’RE HOME!” Harry shouts, as soon as he’s through his front door. From upstairs, he hears a startled sound and a thump, and after a few minutes Remus and Sirius, who Apparated back from King’s Cross, come clattering down the stairs.

“How was the car ride?” Sirius asks Ron.

“Bit weird,” Ron says. “Sort of like the Hogwarts Express, except that goes the same speed the whole way. Harry made it sound worse than it was.”

“I just wanted to warn you, in case you got carsick! Dad gets carsick if he isn’t driving,” says Harry.

“That happened once,” says Harry’s dad.

“Because you always drive, ever since,” Harry says serenely.

“I just stick my head out the window if I start feeling ill,” says Sirius.

“I think that only works if you’re a dog,” says Harry.

“All right, boys,” says Harry’s mum. “Go put your things away, and we can get started on the tree after we eat.”

While Harry and Ron unpack, and Harry introduces Ron to fascinating novelties like light switches and Nintendo and his mum’s hairdryer, the adults have a conference in the kitchen.

“Now,” says Caroline, once they’re settled and everyone has a mug. “What have you been leaving out of your letters?”

Sirius sputters, but she fixes him with a knowing look. “There’s something, I can tell.”

“Don’t look at me,” says Remus, when Sirius appeals to him for aid. “I haven’t said a word.”

“Yes, that’s why we’re asking,” says Tim.

“It’s really not ours to tell,” says Sirius.

He folds quickly, though, in the face of a matched set of stern looks. “All right! There’s a magical artifact that’s being kept at the school. But it’s nothing to do with Harry.”

“You said someone tried to curse his broom,” says Tim.

“Yes,” says Remus. “But someone tested the protections around the artifact that night, while everyone was distracted. So it might not have been about Harry at all. The trouble on Halloween wasn’t targeted, either, so far as we can tell.”

“There’s something off about the new Defense professor,” says Sirius. “But that’s not terribly unusual, in that job, and Dumbledore says it’s being handled.”

They’re interrupted, then, by the sound of someone trying to start the lawnmower in the back yard. By the time Harry and Ron have been retrieved, lectured, and sent upstairs to change into clothes that aren’t covered in grass stains, it’s time for supper.

It’s a little crowded in the kitchen. Once Remus charms the table longer and Sirius conjures extra chairs, they only just fit in the room. But that hardly matters. There’s plenty of food, wine for the grown-ups, an elaborate pudding waiting in the fridge. Stories about their first term come tumbling out of Ron and Harry, talking over each other in their excitement. Harry coaxes Moony and Padfoot into retelling a few of their Marauder exploits, since Ron has never heard them. Harry’s parents have news about family friends and Harry’s primary school friends. Caroline and Harry argue about the merits of the last book she sent him, while Tim attempts to explain the internal combustion engine to Ron.

After dinner, they hang stockings and trim the tree. There are new stockings, for Ron and for Remus, which makes them both go pink and quietly pleased. Sirius still insists on using the stocking they bought him his first Christmas with the MacIntyres, which says PADFOOT and has a fire hydrant appliquéd on.

Harry and Ron are assigned popcorn-stringing duty, and Ron complains it’s much easier with magic. They’re allowed to practice their levitation on the non-breakable ornaments, though. The tree is done nearly as quickly as it usually is, when they don’t use magic.

Tim goes to fetch his camera “All right,” he says. “Time for The Picture.”

“Da-ad,” Harry complains. “Really? Again?”

“Yes,” he says, as sternly as he can manage. “Again, and always, unto the end of time.”

“Best to humor him on this one, dear,” says Caroline. “I’ll get the bows.”

While Harry protests this indignity, Sirius explains, quietly, to Ron:

When Harry’s parents brought him home, it was nearly Christmas, and there were a great many jokes about Christmas miracles and surprise Christmas gifts from everyone who heard the happy news. So Caroline bought some oversized gift bows, and they took a family picture with an enormous red bow on each of their heads, and have done so every year since. 

“For our Christmas cards, y’see,” says Tim.

“Mum says she’ll start sending Christmas cards again when Ginny’s done at Hogwarts or when we all stop trying her patience,” says Ron. “Whichever comes first.”

“Well, there’s seven of you, that seems fair,” says Remus.

Tim fusses over his camera settings until he pronounces them acceptable. He hands over photography duty to Remus with some ceremony, before he and Harry and Caroline arrange themselves in front of the tree.

Remus takes one version without the bows and one with-- one with Harry looking very put-upon at the hat-sized mass of red velvet ribbon, and one smiling-- Sirius changes into Padfoot and sits besides Harry, and Caroline produces an additional bow-- and then Harry says “Change back, Padfoot, and let’s do one with everyone!”

“Oh, I don’t need to--” says Remus.

“I mean, I’m not really--” says Ron.

“Nonsense,” says Caroline. “I’ve got more bows, come on--”

“But who’ll take the picture?” asks Ron.

“It’s got a timer, don’t be silly,” says Tim.

Ron is very impressed by this bit of Muggle ingenuity.

(Much later, after Harry goes back to Hogwarts, Remus gets grudging permission to use the Hogwarts potions supplies to develop this last photo. Severus Snape finds it hanging up to dry the next morning, when he arrives to collect the ingredients with which the fourth-year Hufflepuffs will no doubt disgrace themselves.)

(This is what he sees: six people, in front of a mantel crammed with stockings and a tree trimmed a little lopsidedly. They look wholly, improbably, unselfconsciously happy. One of the two boys sitting on the floor has his arm round the other’s shoulders. They’re sitting in front of a settee, occupied by a man and a woman in their early fifties, no one Severus recognizes. The man turns, periodically, to kiss the woman on the cheek. One of the two men standing behind the settee appears to have just told the other an excellent joke. Each time they finish laughing, they sling their arms around each other again with easy affection.)

(They all have enormous red velvet bows of their heads.)

(Snape will never, under pain of death, admit to having looked at the photo for more than a glancing, contemptuous moment.)

The days before Christmas are quiet. Harry’s parents still have to work, to start with, so Harry and Ron stay home with Moony and Padfoot, playing wizard chess, teaching Ron the intricacies and arcane lore of the Super Mario Brothers. Padfoot accompanies them to play pick-up football with Harry’s primary school friends, who greet him gladly and only tease him a little for now being the shortest one in the group.

Not only is Xia a half-inch taller than him, she scores two goals and is totally insufferable about  both achievements.

“I am invincible!” she crows after the game, brandishing the football like a trophy while Jason and Omar and Katie chase her round the pitch. When they finally catch her, they have to give the ball to Malcolm for safekeeping, as he’s still half a foot taller than anyone else and can just hold it above his head.

After the game, Harry walks home with Ron and Padfoot in the twilight, their breath puffing out in clouds in the cold air. “They’re all right, your Muggles,” says Ron.

“They’re not my Muggles,” says Harry. “They’re my friends, same as you and Hermione.”

Ron concedes the point. “D’you think Hermione’s seeing her friends at home, too?”

“Well, she’s probably not playing football with them,” says Harry.

(He’s not wrong. Hermione never had a lot of friends, before she went to Hogwarts. Even then, she had trouble finding other children who saw her for what she was, who understood her when her clever mind went skipping ahead of her peers. There were a few, though, who shared her fiercely-held enthusiasms and her drive to know more, no matter the subject.)

(But they’re full of chatter about the things they’re studying in their own new schools: maths, not Arithmancy, and history without any magic at all. Composition and chemistry, not Defense Against Dark Arts, or Potions, or Herbology. For the first time in her life, Hermione has to hold her tongue about the things she’s learning. She’s counting the days til London.)

On Christmas Day, Ron wakes up first, and he and Harry creep downstairs before the sun is fully up. By the time any bleary-eyed adults stumble into the living room, they’ve sorted out the pile beneath the tree by recipient, and are near to vibrating with impatience.

Once all the grown-ups are more or less vertical and clutching a mug, they can start in on the presents.

Harry and Ron have whittled wooden flutes from Hagrid. They hoot delightedly at each other while Remus unwraps a fountain pen, and Sirius models a new jumper. Harry and Ron have jumpers, too, these from Ron’s mum, along with a tin of homemade fudge.

“I always get maroon,” Ron says, holding up his jumper.

“Swap with me?” offers Harry. “It’ll match my Gryffindor scarf.”

With a bit of charmwork to adjust the sleeve length, the exchange is pronounced acceptable by both boys. Harry’s dad confiscates the remaining fudge for after breakfast, though, along with the wizarding candy from Hermione.

Tim gets a new slow-cooker, and his mum gets new earrings and another old copy of The Importance of Being Earnest, which is an obscure joke between Harry’s parents that he has long since stopped paying attention to. There are more presents for him and for Ron, anyway: broom-care supplies from Padfoot and Moony, and a massive book called The Way Things Work for Ron.

“Look, it’s got all sorts of things,” says Ron, showing Harry an exploded diagram of a pencil sharpener. Flipping to the index, he says, “Hang on, what’s a space shuttle?”

There’s even a present for Whiskers: a clear plastic ball that she can run around inside, rolling happily down canyons of discarded wrapping paper and weaving between the chair legs.

It’s a lovely day. Everyone agrees. It stays lovely all the way through, all through dinner, at which Tim outdoes himself; through the Christmas crackers supplied by Remus, which play extremely loud brass-band fanfares and produce billowing clouds of colored smoke. After dinner Harry loses repeatedly to Ron at wizard chess. It snows just enough to justify bundling up again and going outside to romp around with Padfoot. By nightfall, there’s a fire in the hearth and the grown-ups are all sprawled on various pieces of furniture, wine glasses in hand. It’s one of the best Christmases Harry can remember having.

In the morning, Harry wakes with a start, not sure of what roused him. Ron, on the trundle bed, is awake too, if only just. “whazzat,” he says, blinking slowly.

“Dunno,” says Harry. And then he hears a loud thump, like someone slamming a door.

Harry pads downstairs, barefoot, Ron trailing behind him, and finds that his parents and Moony and Padfoot are all gathered in the kitchen, and they all look upset. Padfoot, in particular, looks thunderous.

“What’s wrong?” asks Harry.

“It’s not as bad as all that,” says Harry’s dad, trying to muster a smile. “Just a wee bit of an unpleasant surprise.”

On the kitchen table is a copy of the Daily Prophet, and on the front page is a rather blurry picture, cropped and enlarged from the Gryffindor Quidditch team photo Harry posed for just a few short weeks ago. And above it, in enormous letters, filling nearly half the page:

THE BOY WHO LIVES!

[theauthorandi]

Sky Davis groaned as the flour settled on every inch of the kitchen around her. This was their doing, she had no doubt about that. Sky was used to the interferences. She'd known they were there from the day she'd understood that the woman who called herself mother wasn't the same woman who had given birth to her. Before that, she'd thought she was just clumsy, or unlucky. Now she knew for a fact why the flour had fallen from the shelf and she wasn't happy about it.

Just then, Christian walked in.

"Really?" He asked. There was a tinge of disappointment in his tone.

Sky sighed, resigned. Christian didn't understand. She'd tried to explain, at the very start of their relationship. She'd warned him that weird things happened around her. She hadn't gotten around to explaining why that was, though. He'd cut her off and insisted that there weren't coincidences or things like bad luck. It was her choice if these things continued to happen, Christian thought. He never once considered the idea that Sky's dead parents might have something to do with it.

Ghosts weren't real, after all.

"It's not my fault." Sky grumbled, even as she turned to grab a broom and clean up the mess. There was flour coating her clothing and hair, though. It looked like some kind of bomb had gone off and she was sure it would take more energy than Sky had to both clean up the mess and argue with the man watching her.

"If you say so," Christain said. His voice was taunting, doubtful. Sky hated it. Despite everything she loved about him, there were still flaws that she wasn't sure she could forgive. Being a condescending dick was one of them. "Just remember, you bring this kind of thing on yourself."

"Don't you have a class to get to?" Sky snapped. Christian raised an eyebrow, but then nodded and turned away. No attempt to help her clean up. No questions about how her day was. Sometimes Sky wondered if he cared about her at all. Then he'd show up unannounced with some takeaway Thai food and a single rose and she hated herself for doubting.

When the flour was cleaned up and Sky was changed into clothing that didn't make her look like she'd been attacked by a giant powdered donut, she crossed her arms and faced the empty kitchen. She waited, knowing they would appear.

Regardless of the anger she felt towards their actions, Sky knew her parents loved her. They would face the consequences of their actions or they would be banished from the apartment. It wasn't the first time she'd done it, after all.

"Come on." She said when her patience for waiting wore thin.

A cupboard creaked open. She raised a single eyebrow and it swung closed again.

"Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"

Nothing moved, the temperature stayed the same. For anyone looking in, all they would see was a young woman with dark hair and a darker expression glowering at an empty kitchen. Sky knew better. She'd been through this more times than she could count.

There was the time her best friend in high school had been cheating off of her during an exam, and her pencil kept flying off and hitting other people in the head. Sky had ended up with a month's detention for disturbing the test.

Then there was the time when Sky was trying to get a job at a nearby convenience store. She remembered showing up to the interview nervous but prepared. Yet, she'd walked out of there without a job and without her dignity. The till had managed to jam, the security cameras had faded in and out before going on a loop that contained only Sky's entrance to the store and the manager greeting her. No less than twelve cans of soda had burst when she'd asked what kind of hours they were offering.

The most memorable encounter was when she'd turned twenty-three. It was the one time that Sky was grateful to have two nosy ghosts following her around at all times. She'd gone to the bar with a few friends, left her drink unattended for a quick trip to the bathroom, and ended up in the alleyway later that night trying to regain her sense of direction. The man who followed her had been obviously creepy.

He'd taken her in his arms, guiding her further down the alley and away from anyone else. If it weren't for her parents watching over her, that night would have taken a turn that Sky was sure she'd never have recovered from.

As it was, a ladder from a fire escape had dropped at just the right time. The man had been knocked out cold and Sky had wandered back to the bar. The cab ride home was cheaper than she'd ever seen a cab ride be, and the driver didn't look happy about his tracker malfunctioning. Sky was grateful though, when she realized the man was charging exactly the amount of cash she had on her person. Five dollars and eighty-five cents would not have cut it if it weren't for the attention to detail her parents had put into keeping her safe that evening.

"I get it." Sky said, a rueful smile on her face. "You don't like Christian. You've never liked him."

The faucet started dripping.

"That doesn't mean you need to throw a fit every time he comes over." She added. The drip stopped. "I am an adult, in an adult relationship. Do you realize how creepy it is that my dead parents are trying to control my love life? Just because Christan and I don't agree on things like religion and the nature of the universe doesn't mean we can't make it work. We're both committed to each other, and your input isn't appreciated."

She waited, and waited, and waited. Neither of her parents did anything to respond. There were no plates crashing to the floor. No terrible groaning that only Sky could hear. Not a single sign that they'd heard her. She sighed, running a hand through her hair before turning away towards the living room.

Sitting on her coffee table, lonely and forgotten, was Christian's phone.

His class was only an hour long. It wouldn't do him much good if she raced over to the campus just to give it to him when he'd be back for it sooner or later. She ignored it and reached for the remote instead.

As her hand passed over top the phone in an effort to reach the remote, the screen came to life. It was password protected, and she wasn't the kind of girl to snoop. She valued her privacy as much as he did, and there wasn't any reason not to trust him.

Well, besides the dislike her parents seemed to have.

Sitting back on the couch, Sky flicked on the television. She needed something mindless to calm her down. It was always exhausting to argue over her love life with her intangible, invisible parents. She'd had a long day as it was, and the flour explosion had been the icing on the cake.

The television whirred to life. She flicked mindlessly through the channels, uninterested in the thousands of sitcom reruns that were playing just then. Cartoons, she decided, were exactly what she needed.

Just as she'd settled in on the Disney channel, the poltergeist activity started up again. the volume went from a nice 15 down to zero in about six seconds. She sighed and turned it up again. It stayed for a moment and then shot back down to zero. Huffing, she crossed her arms and glared at the television.

Slowly it inched it's way up to a decent volume. Just as she was certain her parents were done, however, the television shut off entirely.

"Oh my god, stop." She groaned. Reaching out for the remote again, she leaned forward just far enough to see that Christian's phone was lit up and that the home screen had been unlocked. She was about to turn away, maybe to ignore her parents by taking a nice nap or perhaps even pulling out the ingredients for the banishing spell just in case the threat was needed.

Then the messaging app opened on its own, and her eyes were glued to the three unread texts that were waiting. Two of them were from some girl named Cynthia, and another was from Sky's friend Amber.

She didn't need to open them to see what they said. The beginning of each text was enough to tell what was going on. Cynthia was dying to see Christan, wanted him inside her. Amber was wondering if he was on his way over yet, a text that was sent at almost the exact same time Christain had said his Sociology course would be running.

Sky felt cold. Not the kind of cold that came from realizing she was being cheated on, though that was also running through her mind in a terribly destructive fashion. It was the kind of cold that came when her parents got too close. It was a comforting cold, the touch of a mother long dead, still watching out for her after all these years.

Suddenly the flour in the kitchen didn't seem like such a terrible thing.

Just like that night in the alley, her parents had been watching out for her. From the day they died, when she was only six months old, they'd stayed on the earthly plane just to make sure she didn't find herself in some terrible situation. They'd saved her again, though they couldn't keep the heartbreak at bay. Still, Sky would rather feel cold and heartbroken with her parents sitting beside her any day if it meant knowing that someone was watching, protecting, caring for her.

"Dad?" She asked, a hint of a smile gracing her face as she realized there was more than just irritating hauntings and the rare save that her parents might be willing to do. "What do you think about haunting Christian for a bit? I think he was right when he said people brought bad things upon themselves. It's time he got a little of what he deserved, don't you think?"

The resulting bang that came from the nearby window shutters made Sky laugh. Her life wasn't perfect, but at least she had people who cared. It didn't matter that they were dead. It only mattered that they were hers.

Hey there! I hope you enjoyed Sky's small story of realization. Now, if you’re interested in seeing more Cards Against Humanity Promptsfulfilled check out my website. If you have any CAHprompts to submit, send me an ask. And as always, if you’re looking for updates and interesting stories of The Author’s life, subscribe to my email list!