#honestly glad the time turned over to the next day i was worried bout hitting post limit there for a hot second

[dannysboi]

ive been going through my likes and clearing out a whole buncha stuff, hence the sudden mass reblog. should really start utilizing the queue system for things other than werewolf wednesday, gorefest friday and simp saturday

[letters-from-eros]

I'm glad you're back from your hiatus 😊 can I request an imagine where the female reader is secretly dating Bakugou, and one day while changing, the girls see a hickey on the reader's neck. At the same time, the guys see Bakugou's back covered in scratches. The class puts the pieces together and sets up a plan to catch them in the act. Sorry if it's too detailed or long though 🥺 your blog is awesome!

A/N: I'm glad to be back, babes! This is a really cool request and there's no such thing as an overly detailed request. I hope you enjoy it.

Pairing: Katsuki Bakugo x Fem!Reader

Form: One-Shot.

Warnings: Implied sex, harsh language (because its Bakugo we're dealing with here)

Left a Mark.

Katsuki is nothing short of a horny teenager when it came down to it. That was something you had to realize and understand. It was far from the first time he had left his mark on you, and it was safe to say it wouldn't be his last.

He was overall neutral to the idea of your relationship being secret, he was more happy to have you by his side then anything. People knowing that fact was an afterthought. But... The circumstances would become long forgotten when things would get hot and heavy between you two.

It was far from the first time you had to scold him for leaving a hickey on you, and it was safe to say it wouldn't be your last.

"Y/N!" Uraraka called out, her usual innocent tone unwavering.

"Hm?" You quickly looked at the girl who shouted your name, a small smile playing on your face. Everytime you look at her you get a reminder of Katsuki's crude nickname for her, 'Round-Face.' Crude, but certainly fitting.

"You have a hickey!" The smile quickly dropped and your cheeks warmed up like the sun was shining directly at them. It was hard to ignore the sudden feeling of so many eyes on you...

"Don't worry about it," You quickly dismissed, your eyes glued to the inside of your locker as you slipped on the rest of your gym uniform.

"I bet it was Shouto! I see the way you always look at him!" Mina teased and suddenly, the entire locker room erupted with your classmate's own assumptions on who had left the hickey on you....

"Yeah!! Get some, Baku-Bro!" Kirishima yelled out, in the locker room adjacent to the girls'. His voice echoed off the walls, only adding to the annoyance Katsuki got from him.

"Don't call me that, shitty hair!" Bakugo was quick to insult and refuse the "endearing" nickname his friend had to give before actually picking up on what he had to say.

The sudden and hard slap on his back was enough to get his attention and the overall ache it left was enough to get him to remember just what is on his back.

"Damn! The woman has a pair of claws on her! Who the lady?" Denki questioned with a borderline proud look on his face. He must be oblivious that he's truly rolling the dice with his life treating Bakugo this way.

"None of your damn business!!" Bakugo yelled, the majority of the males in the room were quick to mind their own business, but one more comment escaped someone's lips..

"Uraraka's nails have been getting kind of long, lately.."

Of course, the one and only Minoru Mineta would be stupid enough enough to make another comment while Bakugo was teeming with pure anger.

The girls and boys of 1A had exited the locker rooms practically at the same time, all choosing to selectively ignore the burning smell wafting off of Mineta and a small explosion sized hole in his uniform. They all stood in a scrambled bunch, all chatting amongst themselves. Honestly, it was no surprise that their teacher would be late to the class...

You stood beside Katsuki because its what felt natural. What neither of you knew is that you both were too embarrassed to even look at each other in the moment. Even after all the merciless teasing had ceased, the feeling of overall humility was yet so subside.

A thick wave of awkwardness surrounds you both, seemingly muting the gossiping whispers that actually centered around yourself and your hotheaded boyfriend..

"You guys won't believe it!" Mina excitedly whisper-yelled to the tightknit group of friends whom dubbed themselves the baku-squad. "Y/n had a hickey on her shoulder!"

"No way! Bakugo had scratch marks on his back right now," Denki responded, just as eager as Mina.

There was about three whole minutes of talking about who could've been the one who left the scratches and hickeys amongst the single-braincelled group of friends before the one voice of reason amongst the group spoke up.

"Guys, they left the marks of each other.." Sero finally explained, a disappointed tone hung from his words, he was truly waiting for when they would figure it out themselves but... Alas, it seemed as if he was the only one with a single problem solving cell is his body.

"Ohhhhhhh...." The three finally connected the dots before shifting their gaze to the pair standing next to each other. Did they always stand that close together, was a mutual thought between the group (and the answer was yes)

"Well are you sure its them? I had ending up betting on the hickey being from Shouto.." Mina mumbled, slightly upset. She wasn't against the idea of her two friends dating, more the fact that she lost a bet and had to treat a lot of people to food if Sero was right.

"Pretty sure," Sero exaggerated his words to create a sarcastic tone, but that only sounded like uncertainty to his friends.

"Well I actually bet on it being Y/n," Kirishima announced proudly. Through his slight bouts idiocracy at times, he knew his best friend well. "How are we gonna prove that its them, though?"

The question lead everyone to a similar solution.... Catch them in the act, of course. This group of kids were far from stealthy, but they were determined to make things work.

"Do you want to ditch these losers and head to my room?" Bakugo whispered into your ear, the warm breath paired with his low tone never failing to sense a shiver down your spine.

"Don't call our friends losers!" You whisper yelled, glancing at your closest friends who dotted across the dorm's kitchen. They were arguing over what food to eat when they studied, unknowing to the fact that yourself and Bakugo had already went over this subject together as a form of a date.

He rolled his eyes and straightened his posture from leaning down to your ear taking a half step away from you, assuming the reprimanding words overall meant a no.

"Hot chips are overrated!!" Denki yelled and you're first instinct was to glance towards your boyfriend, who was... Passionate about his hot food, to say the least.

"Fuck this!! You guys can fucking study on your own!" Katsuki already didn't want to be there, then Kaminari went and said some dumb shit.

But that wasn't the only fuel to his anger and when you get to know the hot headed boy, you can tell if what he says he's angry about is what he's angry about. Having been his partner for as long as you have, you could tell he wasn't storming away solely because Kami said he didn't like hot chips.

He was frustrated, so, so frustrated and sick of this "secret relationship."

He was thinking about his locker accident, way more than one would think he should be doing. Why couldn't he just answer the barrage of questions with a proud smirk? Were you not proud of him? Ashamed, even? Insecurity hit him like a fucking truck, and he couldn't even ask for a quick hug and words of comfort because.. Other people were around? It sounded stupid when really thought out, and he wish he did when you first asked for the relationship under wraps.

He took a sharp turn around and walked away, ignoring the pleas from the group of people who were far from academics, but you on the other hand were more concerned about Bakugo himself.

"Don't worry guys, I got him," You had mumbled to your friends before quickly scurrying away to follow him.

The plan was going good so far, since you two did separate from the group, not exactly on such negative pretenses but.. That was the goal.

"Bakugo!" You called to get no response, just him continuing forward in the direction of his dorm room.

"Bakugo, slow down!" Did he... Did he just start walking faster?

"Katsuki!" You yelled once you got to the hall his dorm was on, he finally stopped. "Tell me what's wrong."

He quickly turned to you, an unreadable emotion plastered on his face, the only thing that could be deciphered is that it certainly wasn't happy.

"Do you a-fucking-shamed of me or something?!" He yelled, his voice cracking along with your heart. It didn't take much thought to figure out he was upset about the current state of the relationship. Even though you thought you had gotten used to with his sudden yelling, you couldn't stop yourself from flinching away from the sudden harsh-sounding words.

"Katsu, of course I'm not. I'm so sorry for making you believe otherwise," You began what you meant to be a comforting speech but the blonde didn't let you continue.

"Then why the hell can't anyone know we're together, huh?! Why-" His angry yelling came to a halt when you put both hands on either side of his face. The feeling of your soft touch almoat instantly calmed him down.

"Look at me," You demanded, his red hues bore into yours, they were progressively getting softer by the second. "The only reason I asked for our relationship to be in secret is because I wanted to keep our love between us. You're my boyfriend no matter how many people know. I'll never be ashamed of you, I love you, K-"

A rushed, greedy kiss came from the slamming of Bakugo's lips onto yours, because in the end he is just a horny teenager who has a bad problem of not letting you finish your sentences.

"I told you!! I know my bro the best!" The kiss was quickly separated by both parties as Kirishima's voice pipes up, his volume never failing to surprise.

"Wh-What are you guys here for?!" Your stomach twisted with embarrassment, having been caught in the act of kissing Bakugo by your entire group of friends that stood at the end of the hallway.

"They saw the hickey and scratch marks you two left on each other and wanted to see if you both really were the ones who placed their mark on each other.." Sero mumbled out an explanation that you could barely pick up over Mina and Denki's own conversation about how much they loss betting that another person was "with" their friend.

"Well now they know.." After listening to the entertaining complains from Denki and Mina you spoke at a soft level only the boy beside you could hear, a fond smile placed gently upon your face. You don't think that letting other people in on the relation ship would be the worst thing.

"Maybe I should leave more hickeys on you, then.." A sly tone slipping out a mischievous smile.

"Katsuki!!"

[fleursdemeduse]

Remembrance AU: Constant Dying

This is not going in the direction that was originally planned, but I'm not sure I'm too upset by it. I'm glad to finally post a part that goes a bit further into Techno's feelings about you this time, though. I'm also starting to work on an angsty Simpbur fic alongside this one, so keep an eye out for that.

Warnings: Mention of death ; Near-death

Words: 3.6k

Your legs throbbed as you trudged through the multiple paths to where you and Techno had been mining. Your neck wasn’t fairing much better. There was always residual pain after a death, especially when you were killed by your own stupidity and not mobs or someone else. You were more than happy to take hits for your friend, often shielding his body with your much smaller one to protect him, but natural deaths were pointless to you. Not to mention that dying this many times in such a short period made an ache develop on the right side of your brain and you knew you wouldn’t be able to be rid of it for hours. You finished descending carved stairs to where you believed you had been and let out a sigh at the effort. Your chest filled with a dull ache at the action. A firework to the chest was certainly a quick way to die. It was far from the most painful as long as it got the job done in one or two shots and the ache would only last another hour or two if you would stop dying.

You thought back on how the events from earlier in the day had transpired. The entire thing had been a shit show and you loathed the next time you’d speak to Wilbur, knowing you were likely going to just yell at him. You weren’t in a great mood because of his little stunt. At least you knew why Techno had killed you and several others on the server. There was no reason for him to sit back and watch Tubbo be executed by your dearest friend. You could only hope that the boys new scars weren’t too bad. He’d have to display them for the rest of this lifetime, after all. Maybe he’d think they were cool like Tommy did.

You slowly unclenched your jaw and relaxed your shoulders, smiling a little at the thought of blond that you spent the other half of your days doting on. He was like the little brother you had always imagined wanting. Mumza had filled your prayers in some fashion, you supposed. A small chuckle spilled from your lips, deciding you’d make Technoblade pay you back somehow for your deaths today. You were up to three now.

A smile curled your lips as you thought of the possibilities. Maybe you’d steal his crown for a little bit. Or his cloak. You giggled to yourself as you crossed the lava pit that you were going to use later for obsidian. Mining in caves this deep was difficult enough without mobs so the lava was a good way to make sure none spawned nearby. Perhaps you could get away with all of the above with the addition of forcing him to make you a cup of tea. That would certainly be fair, wouldn’t it? You were sure if you convinced chat, you’d be able to make him do it.

The ore had been mostly cleared out, all that remained were long tunnels deep underground spanning for what felt like forever. It took you a good chunk of time, but finally you approached him from behind. He had continued mining, cobblestone covering the hole that you had fallen down and ultimately died upon impact in. “You grabbed my stuff, right?”

He pointed to the chest that had been set up, not stopping his assault on a piece of diorite. You flipped open the lid, pulling out several stone pickaxes he had managed to pick up. You didn’t suppose he had kept most of the stone, leaving it in the cave, but the ores, redstone, and lapis you had gathered sat untouched in the chest. “I don’t understand why you continue to use those. They’re flimsy.”

You shrugged before joining his side again, mining away the soft rock. “Because I can keep a large stock of them and don’t have to waste the durability of my diamond one.” You stopped paying attention to the coal you mined at above you as you looked towards him. “Besides, they’re expendable and I don’t have to worry about retrieving them every time I-”

Gravel began to fall on and around you in heavy chunks, obscuring your vision. You were startled for a moment at the sudden assault and you cursed your horrible luck. Of course the moment you were back and trying to resume your task, you’d almost die again. You recovered quickly, feeling the pressure around you as you were crushed and tried to dig your way out of the pile, but more seemed to just fall and replace the gravel you had just removed. It was suffocating. Rocks grated against your skin and you cringed at the sound of them rubbing against each other. You tried to claw your way through, fingers getting scraped as small pebbles cut the flesh. You were running out of air. You hated dying like this.

A hand grasped your bicep and you grunted as you were yanked out of the rubble. Rocks and flint shifted around you as it gave way and filled in the spot where you had just been. A broad chest cushioned you as you stumbled forward. You sucked in air as you rested your forehead against him. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone screw something up that fast before."

Your laugh was more of a wheeze as you smacked your hand against him, next to where your head rested. You didn’t move, however. Techno chuckled as he pat your back. He’d let you have your moment to calm yourself back down. He wasn’t particularly scared of you dying again, but he knew it had to have sucked. You had been taking the brunt of damage meant for him since, well, every time the two of you spent time together, and he didn’t understand why you were so eager to do it. On top of your clumsiness that already resulted in countless other deaths he didn’t know about, you died for him often when it would have probably only resulted in a minor wound for him. You were so reckless. But that smile you gave him every time somehow dissipated his annoyance more than it should have. It was familiar somehow. The voices loved it more than they should have. They loved you more than they should have.

You didn’t care who he was, how he was, what he did, if he could do something for you. You cared about him. Whenever he was giving too much to the rebellion, whenever he was hyper fixated on tasks and was trapped in his own brain with only chat as company, you were always there. They didn’t mind receding to the back of his head while you two talked, adding in small quips here and there. The loud roar they normally were was typically a small rumble when you were talking. It put him on edge with how much they liked you, but he couldn’t blame them. You provided conversation more often than not. You offered simpler solutions to long problems in his head he’d been breaking apart over and over until it had spiraled into a bigger one than it had started out at. But besides that, you also forced him to sleep, to remember to drink water, to take time for himself. To care about himself the way you did. He didn’t know how to repay you for the unending kindness you showed him. Especially when all you asked for was his friendship in return.

He felt you sigh against him and he moved his arm to free you. You were looking up at him, though, not stepping away.

"Are you alright?" His lips twitched. Shouldn’t he be asking you that?

"Yeah, why?"

"You look mad." A snort escaped him. You couldn’t even see his expression past the mask.

"That's just my face.” You didn’t look convinced. He ran his fingers through your hair, knocking some debris loose. It fell to the floor at your feet. He ignored the way you leaned into his touch. “I’m alright, [y/n].”

You smiled at him. You smiled that cursed smile. It made him feel worthy of the title god; so full of reverence and kindness. You had to have been blessed by Kristin herself. How could you still look upon him like that after what had happened at the festival? How could you show such adoration for a-

“Stop lookin’ at me like that.” He turned his head away. He didn’t feel like he deserved to be the recipient of that smile made from sheer adoration. Your eyebrows furrowed and your smile wavered.

“Looking at you like what?”

“Like how Wilbur looks at you.” Your laugh rang through the tunnels. It echoed off the walls and he couldn’t help the swell of something in his chest. For a moment, you reminded him of Phil.

“Why is it a bad thing if I look at you like he does to me? He’s a really dear friend.” Oh dear.

“Don’t tell him that.” The idea of you only seeing him as a friend would break his heart floated unspoken in the air. You didn’t seem to notice it.

“Why not?”

“Just don’t.” Techno stepped back from you when it was obvious you weren’t going to do it yourself. He watched you deflate slightly and felt like he had done something wrong.

“It’s not like he wants to talk to me now anyways.” You picked up your pickaxe again, moving to work on the pile of gravel. He offered you his shovel and you took it. “He hasn’t said a word to me since the festival earlier.”

“I’m honestly surprised you’re still talkin’ to either of us after that debacle.” You paused your digging to look at him curiously. “After me bein’ peer pressured into killin’ Tubbo and everyone else. Killin’ you. His plan to do nothin’ ‘bout it. It’s surprisin’ that you aren’t givin’ us both the silent treatment.”

You scoffed, going back to the gravel in front of you. “That wasn’t his plan.”

Techno stilled, his eyebrows furrowing. “What?”

“Wilbur wasn’t planning on just doing nothing. He has TNT planted all around Manburg.” You hesitated, the grip on his shovel tightening in your trembling hands as you continued digging. “I don’t know why he didn’t set it off.”

There was no sound next to you or behind you. Stopping your work, you looked at him, only to see him looking towards where the mouth of the cave was. “We should be gettin’ back.”

A soft sigh left your mouth. “Go on ahead, I’m right behind you.”

You didn’t want to face the fallout.

You returned to Pogtopia late that night. Mining alone had been a good way to soothe your nerves after the events that had happened earlier. Whilst you had wished Techno had been there longer, you understood wanting to regroup. Today had been stressful for all of you.

You walked down the crude steps that had been made after putting the excess resources into the communal chest at the top. There was soft murmuring and the distant sound of Wilbur’s cackle put you a little on edge, but you soldiered on. It’s okay. Tubbo hopefully would have respawned by now. Things would go on. You froze at the top of the walkway down to the primary meeting area.

Techno was wrapping his knuckles with some extra gauze you recognized to be from your chest. Tommy was sitting a little away from him, his back to the wall and his knees to his chest. There was a distant look in his eyes as he stared at the ground in front of him. You could see a sliver of one of your plasters on his face, the bluish purple fabric and white dots a dark galaxy against his pale cheek. Your feet were moving before your brain as you ran to the teenage boy and knelt before him. You should have come back sooner. You reached out to hold him before hesitating, choosing instead to extend your hand to examine the flesh around the bandage. “You look horrible, Tommy. What happened? I thought you were safe after what happened at the festival.”

Techno grunted from the sidelines. “We resolved our issues.”

The boy before you huffed, still looking at the ground, but he leaned into your touch. “Resolved is a strong word, but we’re okay. For now.” He looked up at you and you pursed your lips together. He relaxed at the worry in your eyes. He was safe with you. “Where were you?”

“I was mining. I needed to blow off steam after all of that.” The blond just nodded, pressing his face further into your touch. You moved closer to brush some of the golden locks away from his face with your free hand. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Techno was suddenly beside you both, towering over the two of you. “It stays in the pit.”

You sent him an inquisitive look. “The pit?”

He only nodded and your frown deepened. Anger started to fester in you. Did he do this? To a child? “We are definitely discussing this later, Technoblade.” You watched his shoulders tense for a moment. You didn’t know if it was because of your tone or the use of his full name, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care at the moment. You’d take care of it later. You two always talked things through, and now would not be any different, but you had to worry about Tommy. “You can’t just hurt people and say things are better now.”

He opened his mouth to retort, but you were already helping the blond up to shuffle him to your bed. The child kept trying to wave you off, but you persisted. Despite your ire against him, something shifted in his chest at watching how gentle you were with Tommy. His bond with you was truly something to behold.

Why aren’t they paying attention to us like earlier?

They’re so sweet to him.

Tommy's lucky we didn’t accidentally kill him.

I wonder how they’re so close.

E.

I don’t want to talk to them later.

Why are they mad at us?

E.

So they’re not upset about the festival, but they’re upset about a fight with Tommy? That makes no sense.

Follow them.

This is stupid.

E.

Do they like him more?

Techno sat back in his spot against the ravine wall. He saw traces of a fireplace and used the heel of his boot to push around the sooty remains. Most of the questions chat had were valid, but he didn’t want to pursue you. He didn’t want to have that conversation later, either. He just wanted to move on. But he knew you wouldn’t. Something about how resentment ruins friendships and miscommunication was the biggest cause. He could never resent you. Sometimes he resented the gods, but never you.

He wanted to know what kind of entertainment DreamXD and Kristin got out of watching them over and over and over again. Did they have nothing better to do than continuously create and orchestrate each new lifetime? Each new world with different rules and a different storyline? Or recreate other worlds just to change the plot? There had been so many, but this was the first where they all remembered. This was the first where he had met you.

Techno closed his eyes. None of his lives had been bad. Well, particularly bad. Wilbur always seemed to get off worse than he did. Tommy sometimes worse than them both.

He remembered a life of gilded castles, one of many. He trained Wilbur and Tommy in combat. He studied politics and was a general. He watched the two of them grow up in Phil’s absence. There were handmaidens that were too bold in their words, butlers that were too polite, and inside jokes between him and the guards. There were dinners made of things that he only wished they could recreate here. He remembered that despite any squabbling, they were still very much a family. He knows Tommy remembers that one all too clearly. He doesn’t talk about it often, but Techno knows the look in his eyes whenever Phil is mentioned. He also speaks sometimes about the servant that once tended to his mother but he nor Wilbur could ever recall one. Too many faceless employees. Too many nameless soldiers.

He remembered a different life where Hanahaki Disease roamed rampant. The flowers infected most of the people he knew. Sometimes they got better, sometimes they didn’t. Phil would never catch it. The blurry memory of his friend saying so flashed briefly in his head. That fact didn't surprise him in the least. Phil was a catch. But he had never had to deal with the deadly buds either. He couldn't remember why. His head throbbed gently as he tried to wade through the fog. Wilbur had suffered from it, though. It was devastating when he passed. The flowers choked him, stuffing his airways with petals. Who had he loved so much it killed him? Didn't he love anyone like that? Didn’t he find someone so beautiful that dying was more preferable than a life without them? Maybe he did. There were small flashes in his head of the gentle squeeze of a hand and a smile that could snuff out the sun. Why couldn't he seem to remember their face?

There was another life. A life where markings appeared on his skin. Little scratches, cuts and scrapes that weren't his, doodles, words that he would have never written himself. He remembered sitting through a lecture once, smiling at the little stars that speckled his arm and slowly appeared like the night sky in the twilight of the setting sun. Wilbur had shown off the same markings, and it was brutal irony that the two of them shared this connection with a third. They would play games frequently. Mostly twenty questions or tic tac toe, but locations and true names were always burning scribbles on their flesh when attempted. They tried many tactics to find out more before Wilbur had told them both off. He wonders if they had found their third in that life.

There had always been gaps in his memory, especially when it came to his other lives. Lulls where the mundane had become just a bit too mundane, moments where he just shut his brain off and went by instinct. Things were easier when you didn’t have past lives to think about. When he didn’t have to consider if he had already learnt a lesson and was doomed to repeat it. When you weren’t around to give him glares and words of encouragement and cause disruption in his life. Were Tommy and Wilbur’s lives more difficult with you here too? With someone to tell them what to do and to patch up their wounds and give fleeting touches that were so soft it was like touching a petal? He hopes not.

A sound of distress comes from the direction you and Tommy had gone in and he turns to look. You’re standing there, facing away from him, reaching out towards empty space to someone who wasn’t there. You must’ve been the one to make the noise.

You turn around and his frown deepens. You look tired and more than a little frustrated. It was amazing how much of a difference you stood now compared to the person that clung to him throughout the nether when he had first met you. Your presence was easy. You didn’t ramble like he would disappear anymore. You didn’t look to him for validation with every move. You didn’t act out of the desperation isolation had instilled in you. You had settled like the missing puzzle piece they didn’t even know was missing. Did you ever visit the library that you had once called your first home?

He watches you finally approach him, sitting and leaning against his side as if you weren’t upset. You move to intertwine your arm with his, hand slipping into his own. He didn’t stop you. “Wilbur, he’s-”

“Crazy? Yeah, I know. He wants me to set off withers.” You sat straight up. Shock painted your face a hue that didn’t suit you. Or perhaps it was fear. He didn’t like it.

“Withers?” He nods. Your head spins back to the direction of your bedroom. “Does Tommy know?”

“Tommy knows. I went along with it.” Techno feels you scoot away, releasing your hold on him and he already misses the feeling. “It’s not like we’re tryin’ to salvage the place, [y/n].”

“I don’t want more innocent people to lose another life, Tech.” You look at him once more. “Do Tommy and Wilbur know that you’re hoping to leave nothing behind? Because they both talk about reestablishing L’manburg when given the chance.”

“I keep tellin’ them the truth, but it seems like they’re not gonna listen.” He watches your face fall into a look that he hopes meant acceptance. Your eyes moved to the ground between you both and you just nodded. You didn’t know where you would sit in the aftermath of this all.

Techno felt your hand slip back into his as you take your place back against his side. Pink hair was soft against your cheek as you rested it against his shoulder.

“One step at a time. Let’s worry about getting rid of Schlatt first, okay?” He just nods back, resting his head on top of yours. You squeeze his hand in response. You felt safe again, especially with him next to you “Now-

Tell me about this pit.”

[they-write-once-in-a-blue-moon]

The Muggle Witch

Sirius Black x Reader Fluff

Words: 2297

Warnings: Halloween, shitty friends, a pov change? female pronouns Bit of Slytherin hate, I don’t hate you guys!

A/N: A Halloween fic! It’s not Halloween? Welp better late than never! anyway, hope you enjoy!

______________________________________________________________

-Sirius had insisted that the boys go trick or treating in the muggle town closest to James’s house, he’d only ever heard of it but never had the chance to do it, this would be the first holiday he hasn’t had to stay at Hogwarts or at his old house. That was the main reason the boys agreed to go. And to say Sirius was ecstatic would be an understatement.

It was Friday night, the night before Halloween. After a day of classic marauders shenanigans they started to get their costumes together. It did take them a bit to figure out what they would or could go as, they all agreed that the majority of the magical creatures are a big no, particularly werewolves.

James went as a mummy, Peter went as a pirate. Remus joked about going as himself but ended up going with “Where’s Wally” and Sirius was going as a wizard, just for the irony.

After a night of no sleep from both excitement and Peter’s snoring it was finally Halloween, Sirius couldn’t sit still, it was honestly quite adorable.

They spent the day decorating the house, scaring each other, and Mr Potter got them all pumpkins to carve (Remus thought it was a bad idea to give the marauders sharp objects but he went with it)

And then, the time came, about 9pm they got dressed and ventured to the town, all very excited for different reasons

- James was mostly happy that he got to take his honorary brother trick or treating fo the first time - Sirius was probably the most excited, he looked like a ‘puppy on steroids’ as Remus put it - Remus was just happy it wasn’t a full moon, and he and Peter had a deal that Peter would give Remus all his chocolate for exchange of his candy - And that was all peter was excited for, was free candy

After going around the block getting enough candy to give a giant diabetes, they ran back to the Potter's house and dropped their candy off, James had spotted a small Halloween fair and wanted to check it out.

Wandering around they find a haunted house, and think “hell yes” James and Remus go and get tickets for it while Sirius and Peter wait near the entrance, Peter is to entranced in the house to notice Sirius leave around the corner, he heard yelling and he wanted to check it out

Turning the corner he finds a group of friends, well they don’t look like good friends.

There’s about six of them, one of them, who’s wearing a wizard custom like his, is standing on one side, looking scared and the other five on the other.

“I really don’t wanna go, you guys go in and I’ll wait here” She has her hands crossed over her chest and holding her shoulders

“You such a baby, honestly just go home if you’re not going to have fun with us, it’s Halloween you're meant to be getting scared” The group walk off, leaving her by herself, even from his distance he can see the shimmer of tears forming under her eyes.  ‘I can’t leave her like that’ 

“Hey, you ok there?” he asks gently with a smile She jumps slightly wiping her eyes “Oh yeah I’m ok!” she smiles back looking at the line to go into the house where all her friends are laughing together

“Why’d they leave you alone?” He’s frowning looking at them ‘Bet they’d be slytherins if they weren't muggles’

“Oh, I just didn’t want to go in the house, I’m a bit of a scardy cat, thanks for coming over, I’m just gonna go home. Happy Halloween!” she turns to leave but Sirius catches her arm, making her jump, again.

“Why don’t you come with me and my mates?” He motions his head to the boys, laughing and having fun

“Oh, uh thanks, but it’s ok, I don’t want to intrude on your friends, you don’t even know me. Plus I’m still terrified of this building” The pair of them jump as someone screams inside the house.

Once he’s calmed down he looks down at his hand, the mystery girl had grabbed his hand

“Uh, I’m so sorry!” She snatches her hand “Uh, thanks for talking with me” she gives a weak smile

“Nope, you’re coming with me and my friends, can’t leave a pretty witch alone, you can hold my hand” 

She chuckles at the comment on her costume, even though she still looks hesitant, but Sirius can tell that she’s going to say yes “Plus Imagine your ‘friends’ faces when you come out of the haunted house with two cute guys” he winks

“There’s four of you?”

“Well, I’m not cute, I’m hot, and then there’s Peter” “I-” she sighs shaking her head “I guess it would be fun to see their faces”

“That’a girl! Come on, I’ll introduce you to the boys...uh, wait what’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m Y/n”

*Your Pov*

Sirius lead you over to the other marauders “Guys this is Y/n, Y/n this is James, Remus, Peter and my name is Sirius” The boys give out a chorus of greetings “Lovely Y/n is going to be joining us, as payback to her shitty friends”

“Sure it’s not just cause she’s pretty?” James nudges Sirius, making the other boys laugh “That’s more of a bonus” He winks at you making your cheeks heat up.

“I’ll be right back, gonna get a ticket, you sure it’s ok I come with you?” They all call out yes! At once As you walk of the James, Peter and Remus turn to Sirius  “Sirius, you can’t date her, one she’s a muggle and we go back to school soon and you’ll never see her again” Remus raises his eyebrows “You’ll end up hurting her”

“Well! If you had given me a chance to explain why I invited her, heard her friends yelling at her for not wanting to go into the house and she was ‘bout to cry, if she went to Hogwarts, we’d do the same in a heartbeat, why not make someone feel better for hour?”

Looking at Sirius they could tell he was sincere about that, it wasn’t that she was pretty, it was cause he didn’t want you to feel alone.

Before someone got a chance to say anything, you had come back to the group.

“Ready to go!” James called heading over to the line, the boys all being pumped up made you actually happy that you were going with them, still pretty terrified, but you felt at ease with these guys.

They told you all about their school though strangely worded, they kept staring eachother down when they said some things, like Peter had said “Slughorn took our wands for that one” and all of them jumped on him and Remus hit him on the back of this head, their explanation was something about a inside joke at their school.

The joy of being with them stopped as everyone gave the woman their tickets, she was dressed up as some kind of ghost maybe. Sirius noticed you were hugging yourself again as they went into the introduction room to say the rules, blah blah don’t touch things blah blah.

Sirius whispered in your ear “Want to hold my hand?” he held out his hand. You looked at it for a moment before there was a scream, making you grab it straight away.

“Right this way, and don’t worry they don’t bite” then she muttered just loud enough that we would hear it “too hard”

Going through the house, it was a lot bigger than it looked, probably had a part that wasn’t in the house, just couldn’t see it from the front.

There was some kind of story, you weren't paying that much attention to it, you were too busy trying to to pass out or break Sirius’s hand from holding it. 

There was a section where there was a fake full moon and as you went though a wolf howl, the boys all tensed and Remus’s eye were wide, he snapped his hand to his mouth and left that part as fast as he could.

James going up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder and whispering something to him. Remus just nodded and took a second to breathe, Peter was now in front of the group.

Seeming like he was hating life.

After what seemed like days they made it to the end, the whole group sprinted out and stood outside bent over breathing hard before looking at eachother and laughing.

“I may have hated every second of that, but it was pretty fun” You smiled at the boys “Can we go get food?” Peter practically pleaded. “Of course you want food Wormy '' James laughed helping him up.

As the group of new friends made their way to the small food truck, Sirius was still holding your hand. “If you want you can let go of my hand” you chuckled squeezing it

“What if I don’t want to?” He winks making your cheeks heat up again  “Plus, I see a particular group of tossers looking at the most beautiful people in this whole fair holding hands”

Discreetly looking over your shoulder, turns out your friends were watching the five of you walking off to get food together, they all whispered before getting up and coming over to you and Sirius.

“There you are Y/n! We were looking for you!” Before you had the chance to say anything you felt someone lean their arm on your shoulder, it was James.

“Well clearly not, since you all have empty food packets” He smirks “Oh babes, Remus found food, would you like to join us?” He did an obnoxious bow putting his hand out.

“Or you could come sit with us, your friends not some random boys you’ve known for like a hour” 

“Uh, I’d love to join you boys, considering I’ve been your ‘friend’ for a few days since we live in the same apartment, and you only invited me cause your parents forced you.” You raise your eyebrows “Plus, I’m not even going to your school, see you next holidays!” smiling you turned to head over to Remus and Peter. James and Sirius were grinning ear to ear. 

Before going after you Sirius says to the group “You guys remind me of some kids at our school, don’t ya think Prongs?” James picking up on who he’s talking about.

“Ah yes, the ones who bully first years into doing their homework? I see what you mean Padfoot” “Well good day to you, be glad your muggles, or I would have hexed you into the forbidden forest” James winks “Tar Tar!!” Sirius calls as they turn and walk away

“Definitely Slytherins”

“Agreed”

You and the marauders ended up hanging out almost everyday till they had to leave to go back to school.

“Urg it’s the last day till we have to go back to school” Sirius complained as the group sat together in a park “I’m so stressed, I’m going to a new school”

“Our first day was terrifying, the grounds are huge, we still get lost sometimes with how the stairs change- uh have to get changed all the time cause they break” Peter says stress eating some candy “Nice save” Remus mutters rolling his eyes

“Uh guys we gotta go pack, hope to see you again sometime Y/n!” James says hugging you The boys all say varius goodbyes with hugs, as the boys start to walk off, Sirius jogs back to you and hugs you one more time.

“Till we meet again” he smiles holding your hand, you squeeze his hand, acting on impulse you kiss him quick before turning and starting to walk home 

“Till we meet again!”

His cheeks heat up before running after the boys “GUYS! HOLY CRAP! SHE KISSED ME! WOO!” He cheered.

***

The train ride back the boys told Lily about Halloween and all of the things they did.

Entering the great hall for the first feast, Dumbledore makes his first welcomes etc, Sirius isn’t really paying attention, he’s heard in like a million times, but his ears prick up upon hearing Dumbledore say,

“We have a new student starting today, she would have started next year, but plans changed, so, Professor Mcgonagall please bring out the sorting hat, for a second time this year. Everyone give a warm welcome to our new student Y/n Y/ln!”

You walk up to the front, your eyes on the ground, not a big fan of a hall of people you don’t know clapping and staring at you. If you had looked up you would have seen the marauders all wide eyed with dropped jaws.

“You guys already swooning over her? She just walked in!” Lily whisper yells at them, getting shushed by all of them. 

You sit up at the stool and only after a short time the hat yelled “GRYFFINDOR!” the table erupts in the cheers, the boys all standing up, you look up to see who the hell stood up for that. Your eyes instantly go wide and you have a huge smile.

“You're kidding me!” You yell hugging Sirius and Remus who was next to him, sitting beside  Sirius “I can’t believe you guys are wizards! let alone are going to Hogwarts, in my year”

“Of all the things I’ve seen, this is the weirdest thing, and I’ve seen some weird shit” James jokes After a bit of talking and explaining everything Sirius takes your hand and kisses it. 

“We did meet again” “We did”

“Is this the girl?” Lily leans over to James “Yep”

[milk-carton-whump]

I started writing this during my time in the void (aka when my blog went poof) and finally decided to finish it this morning.

Tagging: @castielamigos-whump-side-blog @sideblogformindtrash @tears-and-lilies @unicornscotty @abitefullofeverything @getyourwhumphere @whumpasaurus101 @twistedcaretaker @skunkandgrenade @heathenville @freefallingup13 @sunnysunfire @alliecat5594 @whatwasmyprevioususername @redstainedsocks @justabitofwhump

CW: fluff, awkward first meeting, nervous character, first date, Ritz is not cool under romantic pressure, flirting, modern au

The Waiter

Ritz was exhausted, he had Witt planning some stupid photoshoot later in the week and he was sure that his body would ache for a week. He had just left work and had provided Alex with their bi-weekly supplies of food and necessities. Now he was just aching for a good meal and didn't want to have to cook. 

Luckily a new restaurant had just opened down the road, it had opened sometime last week and Ritz had heard great reviews from his teammates. It was a nice enough day that he could walk there, and by nice, it was pouring rain. He finally got there and shook his raincoat and body off before he entered. 

He was seated in a small booth and looked over the menu lazily, he loved the food that the UK offered but sometimes he felt homesick when he thought about the meals back in the states. The waiter came up to take his drink order, by the sound of it he was an American as well so Ritz looked up fully to order his drink. 

The boy in front of him was the most beautiful person he had ever seen, his whole body radiated kindness and warmth that Ritz could only compare to the sun. He had the warmest brown eyes that reminded the cowboy of a summer campfire. Ritz could only manage a stutter he attempted to order lemonade from the young man. 

"I'll get that lemonade for ya, and my names Percy if ya need anything else, darling."

Percy laughed softly at the stammering blonde, it was cute how flustered he got over ordering a drink. There was something else about him though that he found charming. Maybe it was the thick cowboy accent he had, or maybe is was like the young man had stepped right out of an old western and into the modern day. 

Meanwhile, Ritz was mentally kicking himself to shut up and just stop making it awkward, with his luck the waiter wouldn't swing that way and he would've gotten flustered for nothing. He was prone to that kind of bad luck, developing silly crushes on boys who would never be able to return the gesture. 

He couldn't help but watch as the waiter walked away, he was absolutely stunning in every way. From his warm toothy smile that had a small gap between the two front teeth, to the plethora of freckles that covered his cheeks and reminded Ritz of the sandy prairies back home. He knew his heart was already in love. 

The waiter came back, a genuine smile on his face and a lemonade in his hand. 

"So, what can I get started for ya, buttercup?" The waiter asked sweetly. 

"Wh-what uh… what do you like…?" Ritz could stop the blush that had crept onto his cheeks when the waiter called him buttercup.

Percy thought of his answer, a small laugh like a church bell at noon, coming from his throat as he spoke. 

"Well, I don't think you're on the menu so I'd have to say anything with chicken oooor I like the fish and chips, a traditional kinda classic choice." He said and dropped down into a squat, folding his arms on the table and resting his head in them. 

The blonde could barely keep his composure as he looked into the waiter's big brown doe eyes. Ritz buried his face in his hands to cover how deep red his face had become from blushing. He was glad he was sitting otherwise his legs would've given out judging by how weak they felt right now. 

"Ah hope y'know yer flatterin' is awful sweet…. An' Ah dunno how ta even talk ta ya." Ritz managed to mumble. 

"Well how bout I get ya some fish and chips and we call it a date?" Percy said as he turned his head, resting it on his elbow and smiling. 

Ritz managed to regain some form of composure and nodded, honestly anything the waiter suggested sounded good. As Percy got up and left it finally hit the other boy, had he said date? 

After finally regaining some kind of focus back, Ritz started to think through what had just happened along with his next plans. Firstly, the waiter was flirting with him, he knew that. Second, he was also the most beautiful person he had ever seen, the sky at sunset personified. Essentially, Percy was miles out of his league and he was surprised he might even get a chance to spend quality time with him. 

Percy came back with a plate of food and an apple, he set the plate down and was happy it was such a slow day in terms of work. He sat down in the seat across from Ritz with a grin. He took a bite of his apple and smiled. 

"Perc-Percy…. Ah… mm, ah dunno how ta tell ya this…." Ritz started off shakily.

"Shoot, cowboy." Percy said with a grin, though he was a bit worried that Ritz would reject his flirting. 

"Mm, ok. Ah can't even begin ta describe how ah think you manage to embody all good things in the world. You're polite, an' sweet an' ah dunno how ya tell ya that ah don't think ah've ever seen a prettier person…" Ritz began to ramble, oh this was bad and embarrassing yet Percy seemed to smile more at it. 

"I'm gonna stop ya right there buttercup. Maybe you can tell me all those kind things and I'll return the favor at our next date, hmm?" Percy said as he scribbled out his number and name onto a napkin. 

Ritz hesitated, next date, he not only had a chance of a lifetime but he also had the waiter's phone number. He hesitated a moment and reached into his pocket for an old fuel receipt that someone had left, he took his own pen and wrote out his name and number before handing it to Percy.

"Uh, sorry it's on a fuel receipt, ah work at the gas station up the road. But uh, ah'm Ritz by the way, it's uh…. A nickname for Rich." Ritz said with a shaky smile. 

"Well I look forward to our date, Ritz. But, I must get back to work now. I hope to see you again soon, cowboy?" Percy asked hopefully.

"Yeah, absolutely. Ah'll see ya again." The blonde said with a smile. 

Ritz had just met the boy of his dreams, warn like a summer night and sweet as rock candy, he didn't want to admit to himself that he was in love. But his heart knew, if soul mates or that silly red string did exist then Ritz felt sure he had just found his other half. 

[deans-baby-momma]

Wounded Hearts 9

Liisbon, NH  Dean's POV 

The next day, Caleb called Dad with another case. There was a haunting in New Hampshire so we packed up our bags and headed Northeast. The whole drive was filled with tension and silence.

The witness, Ms. Ramirez wasn’t very helpful with the details; I could tell she was holding something back and from Dad’s stance I knew he sensed it too.

Another thing both he and I took notice of was the way she was eyeballing me. It was like she was undressing me with her eyes. I felt uncomfortable and exposed, although I was dressed in my phony FBI getup. 

As we leave the Ramirez residence and get in the car, Dad starts the engine and says, “Son, I have a plan.”

The plan, come to find out, was completely ludicrous and preposterous. I was totally caught off guard.

“You’ve got to be joking,” I beg, hoping the old man was kidding. The look in his eye tells me he isn't. “You want me to do what!?!”

“It was plainly obvious she wanted you Dean,” he tells me from the chair at the table.  “Go back over there and try to get her to open up. Loosen her up, get her to talk. I’ll walk back to the hotel and try to take some sense into your brother.”

“But dad,” I whine. Yes, I am practically an adult but I still whined like a child. “What if she wants to….go all the way?” Why am I acting like such a kid?! God, grow a pair Dean!

“Then do it,” dad says resolutely. “Give her the ride of a lifetime. You’re a Winchester. I’m sure you’ll figure out what to do to rock her world.” The smile he gives me is crass and downright crude. “I have faith in you son.”

On the whole drive back across town, my palms are sweaty and I am a nervous wreck. How am I supposed to do this? I’m glad Dad has faith in me because I know I’m going to fuck this up. I’ve had one sexual experience and it wasn’t obscene and raunchy like Dad has hinted this needs to be; me and Rebecca had been more awkward and clumsy. I’m not the sex god Dad seemed to think I am.

I shake my head as the images of Becks under me invade my thoughts. It wasn’t special to her like it was to me. She had proven that the next day when she ignored me in first period. Thankfully, Dad had come to pick Sam and I up before I made a bigger fool of myself. What I thought was intimate and personal was the opposite for her. She saw me as just some guy who was stupid enough to fuck her and get the act of losing her virginity out of the way. 

I walk up to the ornate door of the Ramirez home and ring the bell, giving myself an internal pep talk the whole time. ‘You can do this Dean. Dad has faith in you. All you have  to do is talk. Maybe she won’t try anything. Maybe you can get her to open up without, well...opening up. God now you’re thinking of an older woman’s vagina. Great!’

The door opens and there she stands. She smiles as she steps back to let me enter. I walk across the threshold. She closes the door before she turns to me. 

“I told you everything I know, agent,” she begins.

“I know,” I say tentatively. It’s now or never. “I just…..I noticed there were some vibes between us earlier.” ‘Vibes?! Vibes? Good god Dean get it together.'  I clear my throat before I continue. “Some sexual tension. And don’t think I didn’t notice the teasing glances you threw my way. I just…..I took my partner back to our room and thought I’d come see if I was correct.”

The way Ms. Ramirez’s whole body softens and she sighs, tells me I hit the proverbial nail on the head. 

“Oh agent. I was hoping you would get the hint,” she says stepping toward me and grabbing my hand. “You are handsome and sexy and I couldn’t believe my eyes when you walked in. My whole body vibrated with want.”

“Well, I’m here now,” I say lowly, hoping and praying that my words sound confident and convincing.

“Yes, you are,” Ms. Ramirez says as she drags me toward the back of the house. “Tell me agent, just how old are you?”

“20 ma’am,” I answer without thinking. Shit, I hope I didn’t just blow this. But I know she wouldn’t believe that I was an agent at the age of 18. 

“Ah, a probie huh? So Probie agent…..you have had sex right? You’re not holding out for a special someone back at home, are you?”

“No ma’am. I mean, yes I've had sex but there isn't someone waiting for me," I add in quickly 

By this time we are at the doorway to her room. I can see over her shoulder, there is a king sized bed with a dark purple comforter with golden trim and a headboard covered in the same material.

“Enough with this Ma’am crap. My name is Monica. Now as much as I like the anonymity, I want to know what name to call out later.”

"It’s D-Dean ma-Monica,” I stutter.

“Dean. Mmm, I like it. One syllable is easier to chant as I’m cumming.”

Before I know it, Monica has me undressed and lying flat on the bed. My dick is throbbing and twitching against my belly as I watch her undress herself.

"I can't wait to have you fill me up," she says,as she unhooked the snap holding her hose up. She eyes my manhood and I can't help but blush.

"Now now. What's with the embarrassment? Hasn't anyone ever ogled your cock? It is a mighty fine specimen. "

"N-not really."

She stops her movements and looks at me. "Dean, how many times have you fucked?"

"A lot," I blurt out quickly but then I truthfully answer her when she quirks an eyebrow at me. "Once."

Monica smiles predatorily as she finishes taking off her lingerie.

"Ah practically a virgin," she boasts as she crawls on the foot of the bed. She wraps her hand around my shaft and my eyes threaten to roll; this is the first time someone other than myself has touched it. 

Her hand is so soft and silky smooth against the sensitive skin. She runs her tiny fist up, twisting right below the head. I hold back the whimper threatening to bubble out of my chest. 'Get a grip Dean!'

I watch as she settles beside me, her dainty hand working up and down my length. She leans forward and licks the tip and I sigh.  Fuck that felt good.

But the embarrassment I felt before, when she was looking at my dick is nothing compared to now. As soon as her lips envelope me and I feel her warm breath and wet tongue, I explode! My cum fills her mouth, some of it dribbling out the side and down my shaft. 

Shit! Shit! Shit! Oh god kill me now. 

Instead of being upset or angry, Monica swallows my load with a smile and licks up the cum that spilled out.

"Wow!" she exclaims as she pulls off me. "That's never happened before. Your first blowjob, I presume?"

I nod and then shakenly answer, "Y-yea."

"Well then. Since you got yours, it's my turn."

I look at her and then look at my rapidly softening dick. How the hell am I supposed to fuck her with a flaccid member?

"Oh honey," Monica smiles at the confusion on my face. "That isn't the only thing I can ride. I'm gonna defile that handsome face."

She straddles my chest and I lift my head to see. Her dripping pussy is soaking me; her outer lips glistening with her arousal.

"Now since you've never had a blowjob I'm gonna take a chance and predict you've never eaten pussy, have you?"

"Uh no," I say honestly. "But I want to."

I place my hands on her ass and nudge her toward me. Monica smiles and before I know it her damp cunt is in my face.

"Now stick your tongue out and trace along my slit."

I do as she instructs and lick her dampened folds. The taste is sweet and tangy and I'm already addicted. It is better than any top shelf liquor. 

Monica starts undulating her hips, basically riding my face so I breach her pussy with the tip and she moans.

"Oh god. Fuck! You are a natural. Now suck on my clit." I do and she continues her praising. "Damn, fuck! Shit, that feels good."

In a bout of confidence,  I drag my hand from her ass and quickly find her entrance with my middle finger. Slowly and gently I slide into her as she throws her head back. "YES!"

Before long, I'm suckling her swollen nub and am buried to the second knuckle of my index and middle finger, wiggling them and pulling them out before pushing back in.

I feel her walls contract and flutter around me and she grabs the hair on each side of my head. 

"Don't stop what you're doing," she commands looking down at me. "I'm going to cum all over your face."

All I can do is hum an affirmative.

She begins rolling her hips and grinds down my me as I slide my fingers in to the last knuckle. I curl them in a come hither motion and that's all it takes. 

Monica screams my name, pulling my hair as her release streams out onto my chin and dribbles down my neck.

She lays back with her knees still at my shoulders and I lean up, pecking a kiss to her clit. She shudders and chuckles.

"Can't get enough now can you loverboy?"

"Never."

After we clean up, Monica and I lay in the bed, snuggled up with her head on my chest. Her fingers are drawing random patterns across my chest.

"It was a vampire," she whispers and then stills, her body tense. 

"Don't worry," I assure her. "We'll take care of it. "

Monica lifts her head and looks at me, astonished.

"You believe me?"

"Yea, vamps do exist. As do ghosts and werewolves. That's what we do; we hunt things that people don't believe in."

The next day, Dad and I use the Intel that Monica gave me and take out the small nest on the outskirts of Lisbon before we take off for the next case.

Monica Ramirez would definitely go down in the books as someone worth remembering. 

@tftumblin @spnbaby-67​ @markofdean79​ @lostinaseaoffictionalbliss​ @travelingriversideblues-x​ @akshi8278​ @keymology​ @hoboal87​ @squirrelnotsam​ @natura1phenomenon​ @drakelover78​ @larajadeschmidt13​ @blacktithe7​ @atc74​ @sea040561​ @delightfullykrispypeach​ @vicariouslythruspn​ @sandlee44​ @mogaruke​ @deanwanddamons​ @supraveng​ @deandreamernp​ @lyarr24​

[2seokfan]

Scarlet & Hazel | Ch. 1

pairings: hoseok x reader x yoongi

genre: fluff, very light angst, smut (future)

word count: 3.6k

chapters: ch.1, ch.2, ch.3, ch.4

summary: 

Just cause you’re living paycheck to paycheck in a tiny apartment even after graduating college doesn’t mean you’re not happy. So what if your best friend is working her dream job making close to six figures every year?  So what if she’s in a loving, committed relationship with her perfect boyfriend that you’re 99% sure is going to propose to her sometime next year? It doesn’t matter that your idea of a perfect relationship is a $9.99 bottle of wine on Friday nights while you binge watch Netflix specials.

Ok so maybe you’re a teensy bit miserable. Maybe you have no idea what you’re doing with your life. Maybe all you need to do is accidentally cross paths with two hybrids who will drastically change that.

Meet “Scarlet” and “Hazel”, two of the most gorgeous hybrid men you have ever laid eyes on. With their help, you learn that life is an adventure, a rollercoaster with ups and downs, and you were too preoccupied with yourself to climb out of your own predicament. And hey, you’re not much of a romantic, but with these two, you just might change your mind.

note: Hi! This is my first fic ever! I don’t even know if anyone’s gonna read this but I’ve had this idea in my head for awhile so fuck it.

You kicked off your shoes and threw your purse on the couch.

“God my back hurts!” 

Honestly with the amount of random bodily aches you experience on a daily business you could pass for being 70 years old. But this time you knew where the pain stemmed from. You just had to fall asleep awkwardly after a night on your phone. And of course today was a work day and you slept past all THREE of your alarms. But you know that feeling when you sleep for a suspiciously long amount of time and something doesn’t feel right? That’s the sixth sense that saved your ass this morning because your internal body clock was like sweetie I think you’re late. 

You only had time to slap on some makeup, hoping it looked semi decent, and throw your greasy hair into a messy, but passable bun because no one wants to see an ugly receptionist. You had to skip your morning Starbucks drive-through routine because you’re about to be LATE, late so you grab your keys and start your car, booking it to work.

You work at a private hybrid clinic which pays a little better than most but that means you also have to deal with a lot of attitude from rich “owners” (you hate that word). And you sat weirdly at work today so that did nOThing to help your back pain. Also how come everybody decided to book an appointment today?? It’s Friday for god's sake why does everyone and their mothers decide it’s time to call the clinic and book a checkup. They get so mad at you when you say this whole month is filled. You can’t change the schedule though?? The calendar’s filled lady either get over it and settle for next month or fuck off (of course you don’t say that out loud cause you’ll get fired). Also someone yelled at you today because they didn’t like the magazine choices in the waiting room.

Anyways your day sucked and you couldn’t be happier being back in your tiny apartment to binge watch netflix stand-up comedies until you collapse. Well you say it’s your apartment but you actually have a roommate. She’s nothing like you though, she’s the epitome of responsibility. You agreed to live with her even though you met her through Craigslist because once you met her in person you deemed her genuine enough, and also found out she’s hardly ever at the apartment but she still pays rent on time?! You really hit the jackpot with her honestly. Cause you can be a little bit messy sometimes but even when she is home she never complains. The only negative side of having her as a roommate is that you never really had time to bond with her cause she’s so busy and over your league that even after a year you two still aren’t anything more than friendly acquaintances.

Alright time to get out of your work clothes and into nothing but your favorite oversized t-shirt with no pants on because that is what you deem home-appropriate attire. But before you turn on netflix your tummy is making “feed me” noises so it’s time to check the fridge. Damn no leftovers. Time to crack open one of those Trader Joe’s frozen meals you have stacked in the freezer. You blindly pick a box. Guess you’re having vegan tikka masala tonight. Not gonna lie though those frozen meals are actually not half bad. Or maybe you’ve been away from good home cooking for so long you’ve become desensitized? Who cares, you’re hungry. Also it’s Friday, so no harm in cracking open a bottle of wine right?

When you’re all settled on the couch with your favorite plush blanket on your legs, a random comedian on tv, and a full tummy, your mind drifts away. It’s Saturday tomorrow and you have the weekends off. Maybe you should do something fun for yourself to make up for the crap you had to deal with today. You text your best friend Karli. You know she’s awake since it’s only 10pm.

You: Hey girl wanna go to the beach or smth tmrw?? <3

Karli: Yaaas ok I don’t work!! What time?

You: and we can walk around all the fancy stores and get coffee from that place we love.

You: hmmm how bout meet there @11??

Karli: Sounds good sweetie want me to pick you up?

You: no its ok ill meet u there i need to buy groceries after

Karli: Kk love ya see you then!!!

You: love ya! night bby

Karli knows that when you say “go to the beach” you really mean walk along the beach and the nearby stores because it’s early June and prime tourist season. That means the sand is packed with people and their kids and the water’s probably filled with pee so you’re not really down for that. Also the expensive shops near the beach are so cute and you love walking around window shopping, pretending like you can actually afford any of the items on display.

The wine is now getting to you cause before you know it you find your eyelids getting heavy. You muster up your last ounce of strength to turn off the tv and force yourself out of the couch cause your poor back doesn’t need another excuse to keep hurting. As much as you don’t want to wash your face and brush your teeth, you have to because you don’t want makeup on your pillowcase tonight. And when you finally crawl into bed you knock out instantly.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

“Oh fuck…”

You forgot that drunk you last night set an alarm today for 9am. Thank you drunk Y/N. 

Why 9am? Because you need to shower and get ready, plus the beach you’re going to is near the north part of the city, which is also the expensive part of the city, meaning it’s a LONG ways from where you live. But the stores are aesthetically pleasing and it contains both you and Karli’s favorite coffee shop so you’re willing to make the 25 minute drive. Karli doesn’t have to worry though because she lives a lot closer than you do. Girl has got her shit together. Honestly you’re just glad she decided to move back after graduate school cause the long distance friend thing sucks balls.

You hop in the shower and rinse yourself awake. The weather is perfect, warm but not too hot. Unlike many people who prefer to dress up for a nice outing, you’re just the opposite. You’ve been forced to dress in nice business attire with a full face of makeup all week. Hell no are you dressing up on your days off too. It’s a sweatpants and tank top kinda day so that’s exactly what you wear. Ever since college you’ve spoiled yourself into only wearing comfy clothes whenever you have the chance and it’s become a minor problem in your life. You have some perfectly nice jeans in the closet but you haven’t worn them in forever. And you’re not gonna wear them today either. And makeup? Who needs makeup? You’ll just go barefaced since you have no one to impress. Actually just kidding maybe a little concealer just to cover up a few rough spots but that’s IT. You’re still a little self conscious and you know you have to work on that but not today.

It’s now 10:15. You grab your purse from the couch, slip on your favorite pair of slides and head to your car. You’re the kind of person who absolutely needs music when you drive so you quickly start blasting your favorite playlist. Before you know it, you’re pulling up to the beach area. Parking is hard to find on the weekend but your lucky ass managed to squeeze into a street parking spot right as someone pulls out. You lock your car and make the trek to Cozy Coffeehouse, your favorite coffee shop hands down.

Karli is already here and she’s hopping up and down, waving at you. She looks super cute today in her little black dress and fishnets. She’s had the same taste since high school and you’re glad that even a Master’s degree hasn’t stopped her from dressing all punk on her days off. You jog over and give her a quick hug.

“Hey girl look at you!! You’re so cute!” You take in her makeup and you swear if she didn’t go the corporate route she definitely should have been a makeup artist. Her eyeshadow is amazing and you’ll never ever have the blending talent that she has, nor could you ever get your eyeliner to look that sharp.

“Aw thanks! You look comfy though I’m kinda jealous now maybe I should’ve dressed down.” 

“No I love your outfits! Besides, someone has to look nice in this relationship.”

You link arms and march into the cafe. It’s located near the fancy designer stores on a large hill overlooking the beach. When you step inside the whole atmosphere screams ‘cozy’, fitting its name perfectly. The interior is littered with mismatched sofas and armchairs but it somehow still looks aesthetically pleasing. Soft piano jazz is playing through speakers and when you step inside the delicious scent of freshly ground coffee beans immediately invades your nostrils.

You glance at their pastry display first. Today must be your lucky day because they have tiramisu and you absolutely love tiramisu but it’s usually sold out. No way in hell are you letting this chance slide, fuck breakfast norms you’re definitely getting a bite of that. Unfortunately you’re not a fan of sugary treats on top of sugary drinks so to balance things out you choose to order their house brew.

After you two order, you find a spot in one of the plush armchairs near the window and sit. You really are lucky today since window seats are usually taken. But not this time! You guys get to enjoy the gorgeous scenery displayed before you. The sun is bright, people are laying on the beach tanning, and kids are splashing each other with water. For the first time in awhile, you feel content with life, if only for a bit. 

Before long your orders are called out and you stand up to retrieve them. Once you’re settled, you break into conversation with Karli, eager to catch up on everything that happened since you two last spoke face-to-face. You talk about work, Karli’s boyfriend Sunny, that new pizza place that opened up near your apartment that actually has really shitty pizza.

“Like seriously how do you fuck up pizza that badly?” you exclaim in between generous bites of tiramisu.

“No I get you,” Karli responds, slurping her iced mocha frappuchino, “everybody knows what pizza is supposed to taste like, I mean it’s gotta take talent to actually fuck it up to the level you’re describing girl.”

“Exactly!!” You wave your arms in the air, wanting to physically demonstrate your frustration at the situation and your passion for good pizza.

“Anyways…” Karli gently sets her drink down and takes on a more serious tone. “How are you though, honestly.”

“Hmm, me?” You swallow your last bite of tiramisu, “I’m doing good. Works ok, life’s ok. You know. Everything’s… ok.”

“I get that everything’s ‘ok’ but you know I want you to be more than ok. I want you to be happy”

You see the genuine concern in her eyes. Bless this girl for being so soft-hearted.

She continues, “And when was the last time you dated? Like, what, 2 years ago??”

Of course she has to mention dating. Karli has always been a romantic. You? Not so much. Your brain tended to err on the logical, practical side, which is not always a good idea since it keeps you away from many potential relationships.

“I date!” You scoff, but you’re not convincing anybody, least of all yourself.

“Oh really?” Her eyes widen in mock surprise, “Tinder one night stands don’t count babe. You know what I mean.”

“Well you didn’t specify…” You mumble, trying to come up with any excuse to defend your pride. You know she’s just being a good friend and that she’s asking because she cares about you, so you don’t let her questions irritate you.

“Sweetie I’m not trying to make you feel bad and I’m sorry if it comes across that way. It’s just… you mean a lot to me and you’re my bestie and I just want to see you be happy.” She takes your hand from across the table and looks you in the eyes. “We don’t get to see each other as much as we used to, so when I do I want to check in on how you’re doing.”

Then she averts her eyes, which you find highly suspicious. “Also I may or may not have found someone who I KNOW will be a perfect match for you.”

“AHA I KNEW you were leading up to something!”

“Wait but hear me out. He’s an accountant and at first I was like hmmm is he too boring for Y/N? But then I realized I was judging him by his job and that’s not cool so I talked to him and he’s, like, actually super cute and super sweet and I think you two will get along so well!” She’s speaking very fast at this point, trying to squeeze out as much information as possible before you can interject. Then she finishes with one of her signature Karli smiles, big and wide and all teeth and she knows you can’t say no to that face.

“Dammit. Fine.” You lost this round. “Alright if he wants to meet up I won’t say no. How bout that?”

“Gee that’s so thoughtful of you Y/N.” Her tone is sarcastic but she’s still smiling so you know she means no harm.

After another half hour of conversation, locked in a heated debate about food again (this time she’s defending her stance that pineapple belongs on pizza), Karli’s phone rings. The sound scares the poor girl half to death, and watching her jump a mile from her couch had you snorting into your coffee mid drink.

She looks at the caller ID, muttering under her breath, “It’s Saturday what do they want?” then glances up with a sad little pout, “Sorry Y/N it’s work gimme a sec…”

From what you can hear on her side of the conversation, something has come up and she has to head to the office right away. 

“Ok I’ll be there in fifteen,” she hangs up and gives an exaggerated “Ughhhhh”. She takes one large gulp, finishing the last of her ultra sweet, ultra whipped frappuccino. “It’s like they can’t do anything when I’m not there.” She looks especially apologetic when her eyes land back on you, “I’m so sorry I have to cut this short…”

“Hey it’s ok! Duty calls ya know,” you give her a reassuring grin, hoping it passes for a smile instead of a grimace. You were really hoping to hang out today.

“No it’s not ok. We didn’t even get to walk around today! And I know how much you like to do that.” She stands up, slipping her purse onto her shoulder, “so next time I’ll plan a day where I guarantee I won’t get interrupted. It’s the least I can do.”

“Mk sounds good babe,” you give her a big hug, “Go get ‘em tiger!”

After she exits the cafe you finish the last bit of your coffee and glance out the window, staring at the people on the beach. Wow it’s really crowded down there today. You zone in on two kids attempting to build a sandcastle, but it’s too close to the water so the waves flatten it in two seconds. But it seems they didn’t learn their lesson because they keep rebuilding the castle in the same spot. Just move it further up little dudes.

You find yourself lost in thought again. Just because Karli’s suddenly busy doesn’t mean you don’t still have a whole day to yourself. You can walk around on your own. Also why not treat yourself to another drink? A fun one this time from their specials menu.

Ten minutes later you find yourself wandering around the various shops, hot hazelnut latte in hand, gazing at display after display of designer clothes and bags. Look, you may not be a huge fashion person, or have any expendable cash, but a girl can still appreciate art, especially when it’s laid out so nicely in front of you. 

Speaking of art, there’s an art gallery coming up that you absolutely love. You’ve always been too afraid to go inside because you’re the type of person who feels obligated to buy something if you enter a local store and you DEFinitely can’t afford anything there. So you opt to loiter outside, like some creep, looking a little too long at the featured art through the window. This time it’s an Impressionist style painting of a ship on hazy waters with a sunset in the background. You’re no artist but you can appreciate good quality work when you see it. The piece is mesmerizing and serene, transfixing you to the spot. Before you know it, you’ve been staring for 15 whole minutes.

While admiring the artist’s use of color on the display piece, you overhear a lady raising her voice not too far away, snapping you out of your trance. It sounds like drama, so being the nosy bitch that you are, you’re definitely gonna check it out, if only to satisfy your curiosity.

“What do you mean ‘no’?! You’ll be perfect for each other!! Where’s your owner I bet he’ll listen!” At this point the lady’s voice is sounding downright aggressive.

As you shuffle closer to the scene of the noise, you spot a middle-aged, blonde lady pointing her finger at two hybrid men, almost jabbing one of them in the chest with her sharp, ruby nails. Behind her stands a gorgeous female arctic fox hybrid who clearly belongs to her as she pats her owner’s shoulders, trying to calm her down.

“I’m sorry miss but we just aren’t interested.” The taller of the two hybrids with orange hair speaks up, gently pushing the lady’s hands away. “Please leave us alone.” He’s being surprisingly calm, even after getting yelled at in public.

“Yeah lady get out of our faces,” the other white and grey haired hybrid is definitely more agitated, crossing his arms as he huffs in annoyance. You don’t blame him since the blonde lady is being ridiculously rude.

You can’t really make out the two males’ faces, since they’re turned away from you, but they are obviously hybrids. Both having incredibly bushy, soft-looking tails and tall, pointy ears sticking out of their heads.

Even if you can’t see their expressions, you can tell they’re uncomfortable with the harassment. Since you’re still somewhat unaware of the context, you stay out of the argument but decide to keep an eye on the situation in case the lady steps out of line. You’re just slightly around the corner, able to stay a safe distance away so that no one, especially the lady, can catch you eavesdropping. Pretending to admire the Gucci purses displayed in front of the shop you’re now standing at, and almost choking at the price, you cautiously side-eye blondie as she refuses to back down from the hybrid boys.

“Listen here you rude little pets, I’m not leaving you alone until I see your owner. My Sylvia here,” she gestures to the fox hybrid behind her, “would make a perfect partner for you.” She pokes the orange haired hybrid again, “I’ve been searching so long for her to find a mate and I’m not giving you up! Now where the hell is your owner!”

What the fuck?! How dare this lady talk to them like that? And in public no less! You now know exactly why she’s yelling at them. Working at a private hybrid clinic has opened your eyes to the harsh world of hybrids, and their selfish, rich owners. It’s not uncommon for owners to negotiate with each other and breed their hybrids. If two pretty hybrids mate, their children can be sold for loads of money. It's cruel and disgusting, with many of the children sold off before they can even get to know their parents. You’re all too familiar with this tradition, often catching owners in the waiting room of your clinic discussing in whispers about buying and selling hybrid children as if they’re livestock.

“Hey what the fuck did you call us?!” The white and grey hybrid is now also raising his voice. “Listen you wrinkly bi…!” He is quickly silenced by the orange hybrid, who abruptly clamps his hand over his buddy’s mouth.

Orange hair clears his throat. “What he means is, we don’t appreciate the tone you’re using with us. Please leave us alone ma’am. We’ll be on our way. Goodbye.” They attempt to brush past her.

“Hey hold on a minute! I’m not done with you!!” This lady even has the balls to grab onto orange hair’s arm. “I demand to speak to your owner!” Then some sort of realization dawns upon her because her eyes go wide, then quickly narrow. “And where are your collars? Aren’t owned hybrids supposed to have collars on? You know I just might have to call Hybrid Services.” 

You can see the boys visibly tense at her words as she sports a satisfied smirk. Poor Sylvia is now gently tugging on her shirt. “Please calm down, miss…” she says desperately trying to remedy the situation.

Before you know it, and without any plan of action, you round the corner and march up to the boys, standing defensively in front of them.

“Um…” You gulp, then clear your throat, speaking in what you hope is a more confident tone. “Sorry I took so long guys! You wouldn’t believe the line at the coffee shop!”

Next

[halothenthehorns]

All in the Family

Chapter 146: The Secret Riddle

It was a small room, but they'd all been crammed into worse recently. There was one bed, one chair next to a window, and a large dresser.

The view was a nondescript muggle neighborhood, but all they cared about was the sun trickling in. The silver book sat on the chair, but they were all still barely on their feet and beyond exhausted, just taking a moment to breathe in this new air that wasn't layered with dark magic.

James, Remus, and Sirius started speaking gently to each other by the bed at once, but she turned away to run her hand over Frank's hair one more time in concern for this newest landing, even in such tight space, for if he'd hit his head again. He caught her hand with a smile and kissed the back of it. "I'm fine darling, honestly."

"Still, can't say I'll ever try to get you on a broom again," she sighed as she squeezed his hand, Lily still watching analytically as well. Her potion had worked perfectly and the poor girl still didn't seem to trust herself.

He smiled and began to say, "since when do you give up so easily on-"

"What am I missing?" James said in such a sharp voice, the others turned to watch, cutting off Regulus and Peter opening the cupboard, but they hadn't even gotten the lone box down yet.

Peter had been able to tell Regulus wanted to investigate this muggle place but had been restraining himself, sadly neither were going to get to find out as they watched in dread too for that tone.

"Nothing," Remus watched the two with a plea in his voice, there was still dried blood under his healed nose and the scabbed scratches under his eyes made him look even more exhausted than usual. His voice sounded hoarse, but whether from his recent bout of screaming or something else wasn't entirely clear. "Old memory, they clearly stopped doing it! You heard that guy in the ward, they weren't doing anything to him-"

"Congratulations!" Sirius' voice was anything but congratulatory as he made some odd wild gesture while they all watched in concern.

Remus sank onto the bed and put his face in his hands while the other two seemed to realize for the first time they were not alone. Sirius leaned in and said something just to James. That didn't last either as Potter shouted, "that's great, now we have to figure out a way to burn down a hospital!"

Sirius grabbed his arm tight and whispered something else, a needed gesture when he looked murderous but said nothing more and turned away.

Lily at once made for the door with an apologetic look at Alice, she wasn't going to get in the middle of one of their arguments. She'd play nice with them in the meantime, but she wasn't getting involved in that.

Alice still hoped she'd done well enough to at least try with James first, "is everything-"

"Nope!" He stated in a voice of cold fury as he threw himself into the chair.

The door opened, and they certainly weren't going to argue the point at the clear dismissal and blessed relief. The hallway felt like a cold draft, but it was better than the rising heat in the room they'd just left. Only Peter hesitated in the door, but he turned with them quick enough as they began exploring.

It was like an odd form of a hotel, each room the exact same as all the others they'd left, and the book's chapter title gave no clear answer to where they were. Riddle had lots of secrets. Down the stairs to the second floor, the next door they tried looked like someone's office, a bottle next to some blank papers the only thing of interest.

"What's an orphanage?" Alice asked as she found the name of this place repeatedly on a few signed papers by some woman named Mrs. Cole.

"Um," Lily looked so confused for a moment, Alice thought she didn't know either before explaining, "ah, a place, kids without homes go to. Wizards, don't have anything like that?"

"Not that I know of," she said back in fasciation. She frowned as she wondered not for the first time what would have happened to Neville, or Harry had they not ended up in unsuitable homes. "Wizards struggle having kids a bit, if you didn't know, the Weasley's are a bit of an oddity in that way. I guess it's just never been a concern."

"Ah," she said in mild fascination, already wanting to ask a dozen questions and do a whole study on this if she knew how without putting her foot in her mouth, again.

Regulus kept shooting glances back up the stairs with worry and biting his cheek, but seemed to decide rather than going back to ask after his brother to pick up one of his bad habits as he made for the adult beverage. "Who wants to bet this has something to do with another of Dumbledore's memories to Harry? Bet a shot he still doesn't answer a single worthwhile thing."

Peter looked at him with concern but didn't try to stop him. Frank let out a resound sigh that nobody was going to do so, and in a pitiful attempt to at least reign the kid in said, "only if I get the first." He was a lot bigger, hopefully he'd get the majority before the kid was inebriated.

The chapter didn't get far in before it abruptly stopped, causing Peter to quietly back out of the room and go back up the stairs. Regulus noticed, but he just didn't have the heart to get into any of it right now. After Potter had actually thanked Peter for once back there, he wasn't going to butt his nose into their mess if they didn't want him, which Sirius' look had clearly said.

"Merlin Sirius, were you just going to leave him like that?" James had asked in concern as he first got a proper look at Remus' face now that he wasn't on the floor. Their landing had not been kind, his nose was still bleeding fresh, with the foggy sunlight trickling in making him look sicker than usual. "Episky," he continued before either had even answered.

"Didn't exactly get a chance to notice," Sirius said with chagrin, grabbing Remus' chin and tipping it in the new light to see even though the charm worked perfectly. "He wouldn't get off of me."

He pushed Sirius' hand away and rubbed at his now healed nose with a light smile of thanks, the scratches under his eyes were starting to itch a bit and he fought the urge to pick at them. "I thought it made me look rather debonair Prongs."

"You've been spending far too much time around Padfoot," James told him sincerely.

"Relax, I'm fine." Remus insisted as both kept watching him with real concern. "I panicked, just like Pete, sorry I was-"

"Don't bother Moony," Sirius sighed, resisting the urge to brush at his gray bangs. "I know, okay, and I'm so sorry. I'll kill whoever did that to you if you ever tell me."

Remus jolted a step back in surprise towards the bed, feeling more embarrassed by the second now, "what, he told you-"

"He who?" James asked in further concern.

"My parents have mentioned some shit Remus, you know that," Sirius grimly reminded, unintentionally ignoring Prongs' very valid question as he answered Moony's focus. "My dad's sent letters to St. Mungo's recommending they use silver ones instead. Do not ever make me repeat what Walburga's said on the matter, and I'll kill Regulus if he has to you."

"What am I missing?" James demanded with rising hostility as Remus just looked dejected, maybe even embarrassed still as color rose in his face.

"Nothing," Remus tried to insist. "Old memory, they clearly stopped doing it! You heard that guy in the ward, they weren't doing anything to him-"

"Congratulations," Sirius mockingly threw confetti about for a moment, before he saw James mouthing with peak anger but no clear direction, but it was obvious he knew he'd missed something. Sirius winced and looked back at Remus, who had sat on the bed and now wasn't looking at anyone, because they had all attention, and none of them were quite sure when it had started. Kicking himself furiously for putting Remus on the spot, but there was no backing out of this now, he leaned in and whispered to Prongs for a few seconds the vile words of what he knew was done to werewolves during their stay in St. Mungo's, at least in their day and age.

Remus didn't look up, and was glad not to have done so as James sounded apocalyptic with fury, "that's great, now we have to figure out a way to burn down a hospital!"

The others turned to him in genuine fear for whatever the hell they'd been talking about, but Sirius grabbed James' arm hard and hissed in his ear, "I shouldn't have brought it up Prongs, I was being an idiot. We'll boycott the place and make someone pay, trust me, but-" he didn't need to keep going, James looked over and saw how miserable Moony looked.

"Err, is everything-" Alice tried to ask, but James grabbed up the book and threw himself into the chair.

"Nope!" He answered her casually enough as if his voice wasn't still laced with homicide when he read, "The Secret Riddle."

Evans tried the door, and was clearly relieved when it opened and they could escape his wrath. Sirius watched them all slowly depart, only Peter hesitated at the door to watch in concern before leaving with a look of some regret, but it was clear as he watched Sirius he was not invited, and the other two just did not notice. Each obviously hovered in the hall as they looked around, but the strange environment felt almost like the safest place in the world to be after what they'd just left, so nobody lingered to close. Sirius sat himself on the edge of the bed and glared after each, still trying to figure out in his head who Remus had meant and violently chastising himself for forgetting the audience all at once.

Remus only let James get far enough in to affirm Katie was on her way to St. Mungo's and how harshly he said that before he couldn't take it anymore and reached out to gently tug on the book so James had to look at him. "You both need to relax," Remus said with a constricted throat for how grateful he was for their anger, but he tried his best to push past that, it would only encourage them he was sure. He gently touched the back of Sirius' hand to make sure he was listening when he reminded, "it was a long time ago, okay? Just a stupid thing that happened when I was a kid-"

"Wasn't your dad's idea was it?" James suddenly demanded, watching him for several moments before an odd flash of regret lit his eyes and he frowned at the door.

Remus barely registered he'd been interrupted, he'd never cared when they had. He hesitated before answering, which didn't feel encouraging. "I don't, think so, just standard procedure-"

"But he could have-" James cut in hotly, before he realized he'd done it even sooner this time and forcefully closed his mouth.

"Listen," Remus repeated sternly now. "Don't make this a thing, please? The memory came back to me when we were in St. Mungo's, Peter found me and promised he wouldn't tell. I wake up face first on my pillow most days and don't even flinch, the staff was being cautious and ignorant, will you two please relax?"

"I'll get back to you on that," Sirius said stiffly, looking out the window now. If Remus got mad at him for forgetting about his privacy Sirius couldn't even blame him this time; between that, his furious mental imaginings of ripping some unknown person's face off and realizing Remus would never actually let him do it and still all the while the cold dread eating away at him he'd been absolutely useless to help either, he was far too strung up to concentrate on any one thing.

James breathed past his boiling blood for a few more moments before offering Remus the book with a very forced smile. "Alright Moony, but I need to blow something up first, you know that!" Then he blasted the wardrobe up without further warning, watching without concern as the contents scattered around the room. A yo-yo smacked into the ceiling and went skittering away to the hall, a silver thimble smacked against the window, and a tarnished mouth organ fell onto the foot of the bed.

He took care of his tread as he went to the door and shut it behind him, giving them their peace, well aware Sirius had always been better about Remus on nearly every aspect. If he would admit there was a problem, it would be to him. It didn't dissolve his bloodlust as he imagined his friend suffering something like that and nobody caring! He stalked across the hall, and found a mirror room of the one he'd just left. He transfigured the chair into a bat and vented like everything was a bludger for several moments before exhaustion caught up with him and he sat on the floor, probably getting a few splinters in his ass.

It only helped to release the worst of his feelings, the brutal images in his mind felt justified now that he'd turned this room into the hospital in his head, but he didn't know what else to do to make this go away.

There was the softest of throat clearings, and he turned wearily to see Peter hovering in the doorway.

"Wrong room mate," he smiled because he just had to make a joke about something right now or he'd start screaming. "Serious Bites is across the hall."

Peter laughed, just like he always did. James grinned in relief and chucked his bat one last time, watching with some satisfaction as it hit exactly where he'd wanted, breaking the last leg off the wardrobe on its side.

"Sorry," Peter whispered, again. "Is Moony okay?"

"Pretending he is, as usual," he sighed, starting to rub at his temples. "Don't know why you didn't stay." Peter didn't answer, and James looked up in further exhaustion to see the now familiar look on his face. "Padfoot wasn't going to make you leave. Merlin, I thought you two were working it out?" It was more a wistful statement than an actual question though, Sirius had made himself perfectly clear...and now he felt left with a choice he did not want to make, because he already knew the answer.

Wormtail was up here though, hadn't even flinched when he'd thrown the bat. He shrugged noncommittally, and James thumped his head against the wall. He was half tempted to grab Peter and shove him into the room, drag Remus back out, and lock those two in there until they worked themselves out. He probably would have if Remus hadn't just gone through that.

"Thanks Wormtail," he said instead, "for being at the hospital with him. I know the Wing at school bothers him, but I never knew it was that bad."

"How bad, exactly?" Peter asked in concern. "He was having a panic attack, but he just asked me not to tell you two so I-"

"Muzzles and shit," he answered, not exactly listening to the rest, before slamming his head as he realized he did it again. Damn, Regulus had been right. "Sorry," he muttered quickly.

Peter looked at him like he'd spontaneously turned into a unicorn.

The book finally started again, but James had a headache and didn't feel like getting back up even though Remus sounded reasonably calm and content now. "Padfoot works his magic again," he muttered to no one in particular, but Peter still snickered softly. "You don't have to hang around Pete, go find Regulus or the others or whatever. I'm still plotting how to overthrow the most needed hospital in Britain."

"Don't have to do it alone," Peter said softly. "You're the one who taught us that."

James swallowed past a lump in his throat as he offered his hand. Peter grinned and kept his balance as he got to his feet.

"Regulus found a bottle of gin," Peter told him with something far too close to Padfoot's level of exasperation when speaking of his brother as they went back to the hall.  It was extremely disconcerting and not his highest concern right now. "Guy decided to challenge Longbottom to a shot contest every time Dumbledore doesn't properly answer someone's question, I wouldn't be surprised if they're drunk by now."

James stopped him before he went down the stairs though. "Did you tell them about the hospital?"

"No," Peter said instantly.

"Well I'm not either," he said calmly. "We'll bring it up with Moony when he wants to, but it's still his business Pete."

Peter began with such a weary look. "Prongs I'm not going to-"

James opened his mouth in protest, caught himself on the first syllable, and forcefully closed his mouth back.

Peter looked like he'd been struck on the head as he finished, "say anything, promise."

James scrutinized him for a moment before Peter whispered softly, "but they obviously noticed, what are we going to say?"

"Tell them to mind their own business," he shrugged. "I'm glad none of them hate Remus, really, but just because Harry's life is an open book for us doesn't mean all of us have to join in."

"Yeah," Peter said softly, "let's see if that lasts."

James sighed but followed him back to the others, still watching the door over his shoulder in concern.

Prongs got casually to his feet and gently closed the door behind him, but they could still hear a few things getting demolished in the hall.

"Better than chasing down one of the others to curse them," Remus muttered absently, eyes now on Sirius. He reached out and tentatively touched his face, turning his chin until they were meeting eyes again before Remus gave him that coquettish smile he knew Padfoot loved so much, finally easing the tension there in both of them. "I don't hate everything that covers my mouth," he promised before leaning in.

Sirius always snogged like it was his last breath, a fire in him he put into everything. Remus eagerly drank his fill in now as he pulled Sirius on top of him with a deep hunger for the endorphins released. He'd swear on his life Padfoot tasted like puppy breath and pure heat, an intoxicating addiction. Sirius did not encourage farther though, instead Remus could feel as his fingers brushed gently along his eyes where the self inflicted scratches lingered, one hand steadily on his neck, and then Sirius pulled back panting with longing but still not even hinting he was going to ask for more.

Remus blinked and glanced at the door to make sure it hadn't opened without his noticing.

"Would you hate me if I asked, not right now?" Sirius asked hoarsely. He felt an extra hard flair in his chest that he stubbornly ignored for now when Remus answered.

"Would you love me if I agreed?" Remus grinned back, knowing he'd proven his point as he rubbed the bottom of his own lip with want. His heart was still fluttering erratically when he realized Sirius wasn't going to answer, even in the joking way for not meaning the same, he still loved to hear it. James had good timing though, as something else was loudly destroyed, and it was more than likely someone was going to come back for the book. He hated being the logical one sometimes, it was nice that Sirius was agreeing for whatever his reason. Until he realized what that might be.

Sirius pursed his lips to hold onto that feeling a few moments longer and force himself not to chase after more as he sat back. "Maybe we should, get some sleep," he offered, eying the door again. "Plenty of beds here-"

"No," Remus grabbed him before he could get up, eyes wide and desperate again, and Sirius cussed aloud he was helping nothing. If Moony still wanted his company he wasn't going to deny him. So Remus wasn't mad at him this time, but he still wanted to talk to James about Peter.

Remus didn't know why Sirius wanted to tell James about them right now, wasn't one catastrophe at a time enough! "Honestly Sirius, can't we just, keep going with this?"

He snatched up the book as if he didn't have a care for the color, which in itself showed how off he clearly was. Sirius quietly nodded, moving so that he was laid out on the bed, and pulled Remus so that he could lay on his chest and read. He knew delaying when he saw it, and whether it was Moony feared having a nightmare or he just wanted to really change the subject and hoped explanation of where they were would do that, Sirius forced himself to begin relaxing.

He played with the little white tag inside Remus' shirt and read it, tucked it back in, let his nails and knuckles graze the back of Moony's neck until he saw goosebumps, and then started over. Remus never scolded him, and it let his mind wander.

What he wouldn't give to get lost in the best kind of release he'd ever felt being with Remus to get rid of the lingering anger in him for too many things again, fall asleep and wake up pretending nothing had happened, but the last few times he'd done that it had all come back on him hard. He would tell James he was done pretending, but like Prongs had offered on Regulus, he wasn't going to stop him keeping Peter around. It was a simple solution to him, honestly thinking it would just go back to normal when they got back to school as far as he was concerned.

He'd ignored his own little brother for years in that castle, he could effectively do the same to Peter even if they did share a dorm. He should really just stop trying to pretend he had any right to siblings, James was more than he'd ever deserved anyways and he felt no desire for others.

It didn't feel good to acknowledge, but it was sure a lot better than anything else he'd been forcing on himself lately.

He only waited long enough to hear the explanation for where they were, Voldemort's own orphanage, before he decided to interrupt. "Wouldn't you know, we're in the place of his very first torture ground! Surely there's a plaque around to commemorate the event!"

Remus chuckled lightly and flipped the page, his voice was so relaxed now it was starting to drag with sleep, only the disquiet for what he was reading keeping him awake Sirius was sure, but he tugged on a few of the hairs at the base of his neck to keep his attention until he looked back up and Sirius asked curiously, "you miss having Peter around?" It's not like it was just his decision. He'd made it pretty clear recently enough Sirius didn't even know why he'd been bothering to try.

Moony frowned though, and Sirius let his hand rest, cupping his neck when he guessed the answer right before Remus admitted. "A bit, yeah."

He turned back to the book but didn't keep going, instead fidgeting with the corners of the page before offering, "I, talked to him more than you though, I think. When you and James are out at Quidditch practice, or detention or whatever, it would just be us in the dorms. Hasn't really hit me yet, but I suppose he'll be gone from there himself now as much as he can."

"Not necessarily," Sirius said quickly, doing his damndest to figure out how to make it so Peter didn't feel unwelcomed, he still didn't want him actually turning to the Dark Arts anymore than Regulus. He didn't like Peter's instinctive use of spell, but James was okay, it hadn't been unforgivable. The fact that he'd kept his mouth shut about being there for Moony in St. Mungo's actually felt in line too, hell he could learn something about keeping his mouth shut on occasion.

He was just going to stop forcing them to constantly be around him, clearly it was helping no one but Remus, and he was starting to question that with how flippy he'd been on even touching him lately. He regretted stopping this time so much his chest was starting to ache, what if Remus changed his mind again!

"It's okay Padfoot," Remus reached up and squeezed his hand still in place, only now realizing he hadn't continued the fidgety movement. He'd have thought Remus would be relieved to go on without it. "Nobody likes change, but we'll all work it out. This shits had a pretty big impact on him, on all of us, so whatever you're worried about happening, just please let it go?"

Sirius kissed his forehead in quiet admittance, but he still held Remus much closer than was really called for when they weren't explicitly doing anything and resumed the absentminded strokes, relaxing back and just forcing himself to pay attention to Harry now. He really, really hoped that wasn't Moony trying to tell him he was still thinking about pulling away too. He tried to go back to his last blossoming issue and figure out why Remus had agreed to stop now.

At least he hadn't tried to be alone this time, had in fact encouraged Sirius to stay like he hadn't before. There was just something so off though that he wasn't saying, and clearly a sexual release wasn't helping like it did with him. Remus always got quiet around full moons and wanted to be alone to sleep, but he'd even denied that this time!

The way he leaned comfortably in his arms let him think otherwise for now. He didn't say anything else as the chapter concluded, not even as Dumbledore promised all these memories and this strangest one of all where Voldemort apparently was a kleptomaniac had some end goal. Damn, Evans was right, but he'd discuss this with them both later. Who knew he'd ever value silence so much.

[ddixons-angel]

Fated: Season 3

Summary: Gloria Rhee narrowly escapes Atlanta with her brother as the outbreak reaches the city. Luckily, they find a camp outside the city and together, they fend through encounters with the living and undead.

Starts a little before Season 1 and then follows the main storyline of the show.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Glenn Sister!OC

Warnings: major TWD spoilers, language, violence (the typical TWD stuff)

A/N: I can’t believe there’s only two more chapters left of Season 3! Like I said before, I’m most likely going to go back to posting once a week once we hit Season 5, unless you guys want me to keep going with twice a week? Let me know~~ Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 9

The next day after Andrea had visited the prison, offering to set up a meeting with the Governor, Rick took Michonne and Carl out on a run. He had mentioned the night previously after Andrea had left that they needed to stock up supplies, more specifically weapons, for when the Governor attacks. Glenn, Hershel, Beth, and Judith were in the cell block while Maggie and Carol were both on watch. Daryl was outside having a smoke on the picnic table outside as Merle was lounging about in the connecting hallway of Cell Block D; Maggie and Glenn didn’t want Merle always hanging around outside their block so Rick and Daryl agreed to move him to another cell block. Gloria was at the kitchen area washing some dishes from lunch. As she put the last dish away to dry, she wipes her hands on a cloth before hanging it over the sink. She’s about to walk back to the cell block when she hears a whistle emitting from where Merle was. Gloria rolls her eyes as she looks over to the man who was already looking at her through the gate. 

“What?” she says, not amused.

“Listen, I jus’ wanna talk.” Merle tells her, he raises up his arms to show her that he’s not being hostile, “no tricks or nothin’.”

Gloria ponders for a moment before nodding and follows his lead to his own cell block. She knows that Merle can’t beat her in a fight, injured or not, Merle still only has one hand and Gloria was able to beat him up when he still had two. Plus, she had her daggers on her. 

Once in the cell block, Merle lets out a sigh and turns around to face Gloria but is met with her fist. He stumbles back at the punch, not at all expecting it. Before he’s able to shout for her to stop, she knees him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of his lungs.

“That was for beating up Glenn and taking Maggie to the Governor!” Gloria seethes in anger, she then strikes his back with her elbow then pushes him to the ground.

Merle groans in pain, “an’ what was that for?!”

“All the times you pissed me off.” Gloria huffs then leans on the wall, crossing her arms as she looks at him.

Instead of being angry, Merle laughs at her answer then sits on the ground, leaning back on his hands and pauses a bit before he starts talking, “‘M sorry. For what I did to your brother and that farmer girl. But I do have to let ya know, if it weren’t for me, Glenn’d be dead.”

Gloria rolls her eyes and scoffs at his words, “Do you actually think I’m going to believe that you saved Glenn by beating him up? You were going to execute them! You think I’m stupid?!”

“If it were anyone else, Glenn’d be dead. They woulda killed him, I jus’ dragged it out! Had to make it look realistic or they’d jus’ shoot him straight up!” Merle defends and Gloria eyes him, not knowing whether to believe him or not, seeing this, he sighs, “look, I didn’ want Glenn to die ‘cause o’ what ya did for me on the roof. Ya stayed. Even if it was for Daryl, ya still stayed.” 

Gloria’s face softens at his words, hearing the sincerity behind them, “you still threw a walker at Glenn...” 

“Come on, I knew he could take it! Kid’s a ninja!” Merle exclaims causing Gloria to scoff.

“Ninjas are Japanese, Merle.” Gloria corrects him.

Merle rolls his eyes at that, “hey I’m tryin’ ‘ere, a’right? Gimme a break.”

Gloria chuckles then lets out a breath, “is this what you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Nah,” he shakes his head, “I wanted to talk to ya about Daryl.”

Gloria frowns, confused. Why would he want to talk to her about his brother? She looks at him, Merle’s expression unreadable but serious as he looks back at her. 

“My baby brother,” he starts, “he cares a lot ‘bout ya. I know jus’ by the way he looks at ya, I’ve never seen that look in his eye before, not wit’ anyone. But you, you’re the reason he came back to this prison.”

Gloria ponders his words, “he... did he tell you that?”

“Hell nah! He’d never admit that shit!” Merle chuckles, covering up for Daryl, “but he didn’ need to, I jus’ know, I raised him after all!”

A sense of guilt raises inside Gloria, she doesn’t know what to think. A few days ago, she had yelled at Daryl for leaving, saying that he didn’t care at all about her or the group. Sure, they were words of anger but Gloria was trying to convince herself rather than him as a sense of protection in case he ever left without a word again. Now, Merle was here vouching for Daryl, telling her that he cares a lot about her in particular. 

“Jus’... take it easy on my brother, a’right?” Merle says with a heavy sigh, “he ain’ good with words an’ ain’ ever been good at relationships, hell, he doesn’ even know the love of a parent... but he’s tryin’, ya know? He’s tryin’ for you.”

Gloria looks up at him, a thoughtful look on her face, “why are you telling me all this?”

“‘Cause you’re the only broad I can see worthy o’ takin’ care o’ my brother. Ya sure can pack hell of a punch, and if ya can keep ol’ Merle in check, ya definitely can keep Daryl in check.” Merle says with a genuine smile. 

Gloria’s about to respond but both of their attention is taken away from each other as they hear quick paced footsteps emitting from the hallway. They turn their heads to look at the door and Daryl and Glenn emerge with worry written on both their faces. However, their look of worry is soon replaced by looks of confusion as they survey the scene in front of them. Gloria was leaning on the wall, unscathed, while Merle was sitting on the ground with a split lip and bloody nose. Glenn and Daryl glance at each other, communicating without words on who won the fight. Daryl makes his way over to help Merle up as Glenn goes over to Gloria who pushes herself off the wall.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Glenn says, his tone full of disapproval.

“Getting revenge for you.” Gloria shrugs then follows Glenn back to their cell block.

Daryl pulls Merle up to his feet and gives him a onceover, “she beat ya up again?” he asks, trying to hide a look of amusement.

“Ya got one hell of a woman there, little brother.” Merle chuckles as he watches the blush creep up on Daryl’s face, he then places his hand on Daryl’s shoulder, making the younger look at him, “she’ll come around, and when she does, ya hold on to her. She’s a keeper, that one!”

Wanting to hide his embarrassment, Daryl scoffs and pushes Merle’s arm off him, “shut up.” 

Merle laughs as he watches Daryl walk out of the cell block back to his own. He shakes his head at how flustered the younger man can get. Smiling to himself, Merle retreats to one of the many cells and rests.

---

The next day, Rick, Daryl, and Hershel had left the prison to meet with the Governor for possible negotiations. When Rick had come back from his run with Carl and Michonne, he had brought back a full artillery of weapons to fight the Governor. Andrea had told them that they were to meet up at noon the following day, but for precautions and to scope out the area, the three of them had left in the morning. Gloria and Carol were on watch together on the watch platform leaving everyone else back in either the cell block or main area. 

“How’s your shoulder?” Carol asks, giving Gloria a smile.

“It’s good,” Gloria glances over at her bandaged shoulder then back at Carol, also with a smile,  “doesn’t hurt anymore, so I’d say it’s healing well.”

“What about things with Daryl? Are they also healing well?” Carol asks, curious while also giving Gloria a knowing look.

Gloria blushes slightly at the question then looks away into the courtyard, “I had a chat with Merle about Daryl yesterday. He says that Daryl... he really cares about me and that I’m the reason he came back.”

“Do you believe him?” Carol questions, more for Gloria than her own curiosity.

“I don’t know... I mean, he didn’t sound like he was lying but...” Gloria lets out a sigh and looks down.

“It’s okay, give it time. I don’t think you should give up on Daryl, people and feelings are all we truly have these days. And what you have with Daryl is special,” Carol puts her hand on Gloria’s shoulder as Gloria nods, “have you forgiven him yet?”

“Honestly? I don’t even know.” Gloria purses her lips, “whenever I think about how he just left, I still feel mad, but I am glad he’s back. I’m happy he’s back with us. I just don’t know when I’ll stop being mad at him for leaving.”

Carol nods, understanding and gives Gloria’s shoulder a light pat but before she can say anything in reply, a gunshot sounds from the direction of the cell block. Both women glance at each other, exchanging looks of worry before bolting off to the cell block. Once they open the door to the prison to the main area outside of their cell block, they see Beth holding a gun aimed to the ceiling and Merle on the ground wrestling with Glenn. 

“What the hell is going on here?!” Gloria shouts, gaining everyone’s attention.

“Merle wants to intrude on the meeting with the Governor,” Maggie explains while glaring at Merle, “but Glenn isn’t letting him go.”

Gloria sighs and goes down the steps, “Merle, get off of Glenn, now!”

Merle, who is still pinning Glenn down on the ground, glances up at Gloria then back at Glenn and pushes himself off the ground, freeing her brother. He takes a few steps back from the other man as Glenn gets up as well, both men eyeing each other. 

“All o’ ya say ya wanna beat the damn Governor, but ya ain’t doin’ shit to beat him! We know where he is! We can ambush him and kill him there!” Merle shouts.

“Merle, you know that puts Daryl and the others in danger too, right?” Gloria asks rhetorically. 

“And them three goin’ doesn’ put ‘em in danger? How do we know that the Governor didn’t bring his entire army to this meetin’?” Merle yells back, his worry evident in his voice.

“You’re right, we don’t know that. But what you’re suggesting is too big a risk to take.” Gloria takes another step down on the steps so that she’s level with the others, “think about it, Merle. Regardless of whether the Governor took his entire army, if they have a lookout and catch us trying to ambush them, Daryl, Rick, and Hershel are still with the Governor. They could turn it into a hostage situation and it puts them in even more danger. You may not care about Rick or Hershel, but I know you care about Daryl and you want to look out for him, but wanting to ambush the Governor does the complete opposite of that.”

“Yeah, that’s what we’ve all been trying to tell him but he just doesn’t get it with that thick skull of his.” Glenn says, still glaring at Merle.

His words provoke Merle as he growls, lunging at Glenn but only to be stopped as Gloria unsheathes one of her daggers and presses it to Merle’s throat, making him freeze in place. 

“Keep moving and see what happens.” Gloria challenges him.

Merle glares at her but moves back, he can’t help but admit to himself that he’s quite impressed with how badass Gloria is. Still huffing in anger, he backs off from Glenn and the others. 

He then looks at Gloria, “I didn’ wanna cause trouble, like ya said, I only wanted to help Daryl.”

“You can help him by shutting up and waiting for them to come back.” Gloria says as she puts her dagger back into its sheath then turns to Glenn, “and no more bitter retorts from you either.”

Glenn crosses his arms and huffs, not saying anything else as he knows he was guilty of provoking Merle. He lets out another breath before making his way to the door and going outside to get some air. Merle goes to the hallway connecting his cell block to the main area and sits along the wall. Gloria looks over at Carol and they both sigh, glad that the damage of the altercation was somewhat minimal to say the least. 

---

Next Chapter

A lot of Merle in this chapter hehe so yeah I might have grown a soft spot for Merle, at first I hated him but after rewatching the show over, I grew to like him, in his own twisted way, he does care for Daryl! That and he’s also Mary Poppins hahaha sorry there wasn’t many Gloria Daryl moments, but I needed this chapter, what did you think of Merle’s interacts with Gloria though?? Let me know!!!

I hope everyone stays safe and healthy, please don’t panic, we will get through this!

And as always, I would really appreciate any comments left for me! I’ll be replying to any comments in a new post because this is a sideblog!

Taglist (please let me know if you’d list to be added/removed!):

@twdeadfanfic​ | @fandomfanatic97​ | @crossbowking​ | @watchmeaspire​ | @spidergirla5​ | @kamieshep | @letsstarsfalling | @molethemollie | @alicewinchester99​ | @neilox | @womanup22 | @jodiereedus22 | @theonlyone-meeeee

[okbrendon]

all of them, bitch

Dear person I hate,

The hardest part of writing this letter is referring to you as someone that I hate when I know deep in my heart that I could never hate you, despite all the shit that you’ve done to me. A part of me will always care about you. I’ll always hold my breath whenever your name comes up in conversation. I’ll always want to know what you’re doing or how you are, but I’ll never break. Not again. I don’t know how I’d survive that heartbreak again or if I would survive it at all. I know it’s a lot to put on one person alone, but you fucked me up good and I hope you feel terrible about it. I hope that someone breaks your heart as badly as you broke mine and I hope you spend so many years thinking about what went wrong and what you did to fuck everything up in the same way that I did. I hope you find someone who accepts you for the fucked up piece of shit that you are and loves you regardless, just to have them walk out on you too. I hope you find yourself unable to love and trust again because you’ve now had your heart broken by two people who you thought were supposed to stay by your side until the end. I hope it hurts because then you’ll finally feel everything that I’ve felt since you left in Cape Town. All the nights you told me that we’d get through this craziness together were lies. All the late-night conversations about out future together were only for your sick entertainment and not because you genuinely ever wanted any of that with me. You loved knowing that my world revolved around you and you had no problem with leaving when you got the chance. In hindsight, I see all of that very clearly, but I hate that I can never take back all of the years that I wasted on you. You will never ever get to me again.

Dear person I like,

Like seems like too light of a word, but I also don’t know what word it is that would be a better fit. God, I like you. I like you so much, it’s scary. I enjoy your presence so much and every time you aren’t around, I want you there. I crave you when you’re away and I hate when you have to leave. Opening up to you has been difficult. There’s so much more that you don’t know that I know we’ll eventually have to get to if I want to keep you in my life, even though I don’t want you to know any of it. I value your opinion of me too much and the thought of you leaving too is too much for me to handle. You deserve full openness and honesty, and I’m going to do my best to give it to you. But I hope that you’ll be patient with me and understand how hard all of this is for me. Navigating this life and new way of living with you has been a dream and you just don’t know how lucky and fortunate I feel that you’re giving me the time of day every day. Your soul is far too genuine and sweet to be mixed up with mine, and there aren’t enough words to express how thankful I am that you’re choosing to put up with me, despite my many flaws.

Dear ex-boyfriend,

I can’t really even call you an ex because we never got to that point. Just know that I would have dropped everything for you so many years ago, but not anymore. You don’t have that power anymore and you never will again.

Dear ex best friend,

Hey dude. I guess that little band that we started together ended up getting pretty successful, huh? Get over your fucking ego and maybe we could try being friends again, yeah? No hard feelings here, bro.

Dear best friend,

I hope you know how much I love you. I know I don’t tell you that enough and I know you worry a lot about every last conversation we have being the last one we’ll ever have. You are one of the the very few people I’m trying to get better for, but I know that you more than anyone else understand it’s not an easy feat. Thank you for stepping in whenever you needed to, especially in those moments that I didn’t want you to because in the end everything worked out because of you. I fucking love you, Ash. I can honestly say I wouldn’t have gotten through these last few years without you constantly kicking my ass and giving me shit for all the stupid actions and impulses that always get me in trouble. I hope you’re aware that you’re stuck with me forever, and yes — I do mean forever, as in the end of time. You can rest assured that I don’t intend on ever leaving you and even though I know you’ll always be worried about me, please try to worry a little less. Enjoy your life. Enjoy that gorgeous girl you’re spending all your time with. Give her attention and give her love because when you give it, you’ll receive it. I know you’ve had a hard time with people fucking around with your emotions, but I really think you have a good one here. Don’t be afraid to take that shot, kid.

Dear *anyone*,

Man, I love you. Out of all the people who have just come and gone, you’re the one person I don’t resent out of all of them. I respect you for the decision that you made because it was what you had to do for your own well-being. I’m glad you got the help that you needed and I’m so happy that you found your forever and are so happy, You’re an inspiration to me, man. We both started up in this crazy world together, but you’re the one who recognized you needed to put a stop to what was going on and take care of yourself. I’m not sure I’d have the willpower to do the same thing. I love you, bro. I’ll talk to you soon.

Dear Santa,

My man. My guy. My dude. We’re running out of weed over here and we’re in the middle of a fuckin’ pandemic, bro. Can you come a little bit early and come drop some off for us, please? I promise I’ve been naughty all year, but there’s always next year to start over and I won’t let you down.

Dear mom,

Hey mom. Writing this letter is the hardest of all of them, honestly. Mostly because I just don’t know what to say to you. I don’t know how to talk to you or dad normally because what’s there to talk about? Small talk has never been my thing and we can fake a relationship all that we want when we’re together but I really just don’t have a lot to say. I hope you’re taking care of yourself. Stay safe.

Dear dad,

I was a pain in the ass since the day I was born. You never really let me forget it. I’m nothing like you would have expected your son to turn out like. You did your best raising me and I don’t blame you either of you at all for how I turned out. I hope that one day I’ll make you two proud.

Dear future me,

Damn dude, you’ve lived quite a life. You didn’t get through it scratch-free, but you had a lot of fun and grew so much along the way. Keep on living, just lay off on the drugs a bit more so you can actually see the rest of your life happen.

Dear past me,

All of your dreams are going to come true. I know it’s hard to believe right now. You’re stuck in Vegas with your parents and everyone around you trying to shove scripture down your throat. It seems like the worst thing to you now, but you’re going to endure so much more. I don’t tell you that to scare you, but you prepare you. I wasn’t prepared at all and I don’t want to give the impression that my life is horrible because of everything I’ve been through (because it isn’t), but a little warning sign would have been great. You’re going to fall in love with your best friend and he’s going to break your heart more than once. But don’t let that moment define you. You are so much more than the people who broke your heart. Remember to not build up walls that are too high for you to break down, because you will end up suffering emotionally if you so. Live your life, but be careful. Some of the bullshit mom and dad spew out is really just bullshit, but sometimes not giving in to temptation will work in your favor. I wouldn’t know because I never lived like that. You’re gonna be okay, though. Even if you do everything wrong and fuck everything up, you’ll be alright. I promise.

Dear person I’m jealous of,

I don’t even know you but I know that you will eventually exist. You need to take care of our girl and make sure you appreciate her because she is quite possibly the best person on this planet. She is so forgiving, almost to a fault. If you break her fucking heart, I’m definitely going to have something to say about it.

Dear person I had a crush on,

Oh Brooke. Those nights in Vegas really are some of my fondest memories. Even though you have the personality of a stale piece of bread, you were always a good fuck. I know you’d say the same shit about me, too. If you ever find yourself in LA, do both of us a favor and don’t bother hitting me up. There’s no need for us to go down that path again.

Dear girlfriend,

A girlfriend? What’s that? Never heard of it.

Dear ex-wife,

I think bout you every single day. I wonder what you’re doing, who you’re seeing, and how life is going for you. We don’t talk anymore, but I wish we did. I know most of our conversations would end up in an argument these days anyway. I’m still angry at you. I haven’t gotten to the point where I fully understand why you left, but I’m sure I will one day. All I know is that it was a pretty shitty thing to do. I obviously can’t blame the choices that I’ve made on you, but leaving someone while they’re going through some shit because you think it’ll make them better? Maybe wasn’t your smartest idea. But you did what you had to do, I guess, even if it did go against everything you ever told me. You said you wouldn’t leave, but I guess I should have known better than to believe. I opened up to you the most. You knew every single detail about me, and now you’re gone and you took all of my secrets with you. I haven’t heard from you at all since you left, but I don’t think that’s my fault. Of course I want to talk to you and catch up, but I just don’t think you’d want to hear from me. It’s been an entire fucking year. Did you know that? Have you been counting the days the same way that I have? Probably not, since I’m the crazy one. What’s actually crazy is that on the day that we got married, I never expected you to turn into someone I never heard from again. But hey, I’m around if you ever want to talk. Regardless of our differences, I’ll always love you. I’m never going to be in-love with you ever again, though. It’s weird. Those feelings of love I had for you are coming up again, but they aren’t for you. I am in love with someone, but it isn’t you. And I never thought I’d feel that again after you. But it feels good.

[bangtanfancamp]

the Devil wears Gucci- Part 2

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Masterlist

▪︎series Masterlist

▪︎Kim Taehyung x reader, feat. Kim Namjoon

▪︎2.2k words

▪︎Enemies to lovers au, fashion industry au, f*ckboy au, fluff, romance, slight angst

As the dedicated personal assistant of the genius mind behind House of RM, the empire that rules the fashion industry, your world is turned upside down the day Namjoon personally asks you to train his newest hire- the eternally insufferable Kim Taehyung.

(photo credit to vantaeholic)

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Taehyung seemed determined to make this situation as difficult as possible.

You figured the easiest way to start the day off was to give him a tour of the building. If he was going to assist you, he at least needed to know where everything was, right? There were so many moving parts to the company - the pace was so fast. No sense letting him get lost in the mailroom basement when he was supposed to be pulling fabric samples on floor 13. At the very least, it was a solid excuse to stall while you tried to come up with a plan for what to do with him because, God, this boy was on such a hormone kick.

You had barely gotten him out of Namjoon’s office before you caught him making shameless eye contact with the new girl Mina whose desk was across the freaking room. The poor girl was blushing so furiously that she was clashing with the bright magenta of her sweater. She’d definitely be a mess for at least the next two days over it.

“All right mister...kim, was it?” You asked, feigning ignorance because his ego seemed big enough all ready.

“All ready forgotten my name ? I didn’t know I’d gotten you that worked up all ready, Princess. It’s Taehyung, but you can call me Tae,” The cockiness smeared across his face repulsed you. Invading your space, he dipped down to whisper ...“unless there’s something else you’d rather be calling me.”

A shameless wink and a flash of teeth later, a shiver rolled down your spine for all the wrong reasons. Ugh, he was gross. You could practically feel the face he was making without even having to look. “I think I’ll just stick to your first name, thanks. Nicknames aren’t really office appropriate.”

“Suit yourself, Jagi.” He smirked.

God, as a matter of fact, nothing about taehyung was “office appropriate.” You kept trying to figure out why he was even here. He had impeccable taste in fashion, that was for sure, but nothing about him made you think it was his idea to work here. He’d been spaced out for most of the tour or checking the phone hidden in the snug front pocket of his ridiculously tight pants.

Cautiously, you risked a glance over at him, trying to assess what his story was. Tae didn’t walk, he glided across the floor - led by his cocky chin and his confident hips. He kept one hand tucked in his pocket as the other rested against his shoulder letting his blazer swing off his fingertips. He’d flirted shamelessly with every woman in the building thus far, including you, and couldn’t seem to keep his tongue inside his mouth. It was always resting right on the edge of his teeth of the corner of his smug lips framed by his insufferable right eyebrow arching high as he surveyed each woman’s reaction to him. God, if he laid it on any thicker you might actually gag. You’d never actually rolled your eyes this many times in one day before. You wondered if that potentially cause any long term damage as you forged ahead, debriefing Taehyung on the history of the company.

“House of RM is a force. This company began as a small clothing line that Namjoon started himself at 17, but now has diversified into so many areas that it is not only at the top of the fashion industry but is also one of the 500 wealthiest companies on the planet. But aside from that, it is also driven by its charitable work. Just last year alone we- hey, are you listening?” You’d noticed as you walked down a hallway lined with floor to ceiling windows that you seemed to have lost his attention- again.

Mother of god, this idiot was fixing his hair in the window.

“Any day now, Taehyung. We have other things to do today.”

“Are you on that list?” The reflection of his eyes darted to meet yours as your patience curdled like hot milk. Are there really women that line would work on? You grimaced.

Ignoring his statement, you pressed on. “I’d like to finish this tour before we both get grey hair, Taehyung.” You sighed, one hand fixed on your waist, weight sinking into one hip. You resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of your nose. You felt a headache coming on.

Adjusting the swoop of his bangs across his forehead, He chuckled to himself and you weren't sure why. You hadn’t said anything funny.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about trying it actually,” he mused.

“Trying what?”

“Grey hair. Silver, really. I think it’ll really bring out my eyes.”

Dumbfounded at how easily he made everything about himself, you ignored his statement.

“ANYWAY,....you know what. Here. I honestly don’t think you care at all. About anything I’m saying. I don’t even know why your here. So how bout you tell me, hm? Why are looking for a job at house of RM? Let’s get this over with So we can go eat lunch and get a half hour away from each other.” You mumbled the last part under your breath. Or so you thought.

“Aww, you don’t want to eat lunch with me, Jagi? I’m hurt.” he reached forward to pinch your cheek and you swatted his hand away.

“Don’t call me that.” There was that name again. You frowned.

“And only 30 minutes? Aren’t corporate jobs supposed to give you an hour at least?”

“Not to you they don’t. That’s specifically for lunch meetings with clientele and business lunches. Not” poking him in his regrettably firm chest for emphasis, “for the coffee boy.” You turned on your heel and began to saunter away, leaving narcissus to entertain himself.

“Hey! Wait up” he yelped when he noticed how far down the hallway you’d gotten without him. He jogged behind you, trying to catch up. Which didn’t take very long thanks to the stride of his long legs. Sigh. There went your 10 seconds of solitude. “Seriously! wait up.” He leaned a palm on your shoulder once he finally reached you and placed his other hand on his hip while he caught his breath. “Fine. You want a real answer? fine.”

You arched a brow at him curiously, waiting to see how he’d BS his way through this one.

“My uncle okay? He hasn’t exactly been... on board with my “life choices” as of late,” his fingers made quotations in the air. “He Thinks working for someone like Namjoon’ll help get me my shit together. Grow up, be a man, all that. But, I Figure if I’ve got to be here, then I might as well enjoy myself, right?” He shrugged, but there was thinly veiled animosity in his eyes that hadn’t been there all day.

“So he’s trying to scare you straight with a job at a fashion company?” You asked incredulously, arms crossing protectively over your chest.

Taehyung shrugged. “Eh, I think it’s less about what he sells, and more about the how he runs his business. Why let your nephew be a struggling artist when he could be the next self made millionaire before he’s 30?” He snorted at this. Like he’d had to sit through this conversation way more times than he would like.

“Well…. he’s right. Anyone would be lucky to work with a genius like Namjoon. Maybe some of his work ethic will rub off on you,” you said, snappier than you’d meant to. There was no point going soft on him because of some pseudo sob story. Nobody wanted to have to work for a living, and you weren’t about to let him trick you into giving him an easier time. But apparently, this was the wrong thing to say. You’d hit a nerve.

“Geeze, so how long have you been fucking the boss?” He quipped, his tone steely.

You almost choked on your own spit. “EXCUSE ME??”

“Anyone would be lucky to work with a genius like Kim Namjoon. CLEARLY, the man’s either been in your panties or you want him to be. Facts are facts, sweetheart.” He shrugged and walked ahead of you, smug smile growing wider by the second, as you stood there struggling to remember how to speak.

“How d-dare you!” You stumbled. “He is a-a great man and an excellent leader and I-“

“I just want him to finally notice me and let me call him daddy. Yes, daddy Namjoon, I’d be glad to take care of that for you as long as you take care of me first,” Taehyung jeered as a blush so sinisterly scarlet bloomed across your face you swore you must be dying. Finally breaking free from your shock, you marched toward him and spun him around by the shoulder.

“Listen to me, you horrible little brat, If you EVER speak like that to me again...,” the laughter in his irises only fueled your fury as you clutched his dress shirt in your first.

“Calm down, Princess. I saw the way you looked at him.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. One far too sultry for your liking. “Don’t worry. I won’t say anything.”

Winking, he removed your hand from his shirt and smoothed over the wrinkles your aggression had created. “And I mean, really, if anyone should be upset here, it’s me. You’re cheating on me all ready with all those naughty lustful thoughts about our boss. Tsk, tsk. I’m hurt,____. Am I all ready not enough for you?” He feigned being wounded and you could already feel vomit coming up the back of your throat.

“You… are disgusting. People worked HARD To be here. To earn a place in this company. You’ve been given an amazing opportunity, and you just want to throw it all away because ‘oh my uncle is making me work?” well guess what? Welcome to the real world!! That’s what adults do! I, for one, worked my butt off to be here- and I don’t need a lazy little scumball punk like you telling me who I am or why I’m here. So Screw you, Kim Taehyung. I’m just trying to do my job. Good luck figuring out yours on your own. I’m done.” Chest heaving, you stared him down.

This idiot would not be the reason you lost the best paying job you’d ever had. And you’d be damned if you were going to stand here and take his behavior lying down. Gritting your teeth, you turned toward the elevators, fully intending to leave his lazy behind in the hallway, when suddenly you felt a feather light touch on your back.

“Hey, it was just supposed to be a joke.” You could hear the smile in his voice faltering even though he tried to chuckle. “Don’t take everything so seriously.”

“Well next time, try to actually be funny then. Cuz that was just a horrible thing to say.” You shook your head, refusing to look back at him.

“Duly noted. Didn’t know you’d be so sensitive.” His words were careless- they should have made you angrier- but without the distraction of his face, you could actually here something that sounded almost like remorse in his voice. “Won’t, uh… won’t happen again, boss lady.”

The elevator opened and you stepped inside, but blocked his path when he tried to follow you. “What are…?”

“Ah, Not today, Kim. I’m eating lunch alone. If you were paying any attention at all to me earlier, then you’ll find the cafe on your own just fine. Meet me in the lobby in 30 minutes for the rest of your training. But I don’t want to see you even a second before then.”

He looked dumbfounded.

You kept a stern demeanor about you until the doors closed. Even once you made it back to your desk to grab the lunch that you’d packed, you kept your composure. Even when Mina stopped by your desk to talk to you about the dreamy new guy.

It wasn’t until you excused yourself to go to the private bathroom that you finally felt yourself begin to crack. You quickly locked the door and leaned against it. It was the only thing holding you up. His words played over and over in your head, and your eyes started to glaze over until slowly, even teardrops began to trickle down your face and splatter onto your cream silk blouse. Crumpling into a ball against the door, you let every last one of them fall.

You hated Taehyung. You hated him for his arrogance, for his refusal to care about anything important, for the careless words he’d thrown at your heart, but most of all for the fact that he’d been able to see right through you...

You did have feelings for Namjoon. Feelings you knew would never go anywhere. Feelings you thought were harmless- private. But if taehyung had been able to pick up on them in his first five minutes in the building, then how long had you been making a fool of yourself in front of the entire staff? In front of Namjoon? God, you were pathetic. How many people knew? How long had this been going around this office? How many of the smiles people had given you were actually them laughing at you? You felt like a joke.

And so you cried.

You cried because you were tired of holding it all together. You cried because you were tired of always trying so hard to be the perfect employee- dressing the part, looking the part, performing the part- and still having to deal with people like Kim Taehyung.

But this was you. You could do this. You were better than this. Rising from the floor, you went to the mirror to clean yourself up. You looked yourself in the eye and drew a deep breath. Splashing some cold water on your face, you made a promise to yourself. Taehyung wouldn’t win this. Whether he kept his job here or not, you wouldn’t let him drive you insane. You would survive this.

No matter how long it took.

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read part 3 here!

Series masterlist

I did it! Part 2 is LIVE!!! Thank you guys so much for your feedback and interest. Im not sure how many posts this is going to become, but I’m all ready pretty far down the rabbit hole with this one and I promise you will love where it’s going. Thanks for popping by! ✨

[cranetreegang]

The Messenger: Part 2: Looking for a Reason

A/N: Yay Part 2! So... no merman this time :( I honestly debated about just skipping right to more time with Nil, but I thought it would be important to do some fleshing out of the village and some of the peeps living there. I was re-reading the first part and I never realized that Evie didn't have any friends at first and I was like dang I'm an idiot I forgot that friends exist??? Also, my merman self-indulgence is really getting out of hand. I just wanted merman smut and now I have a story wtf.

I don't know how to feel about this part, since I'm just dying to get back to Nil. But, I'm also a sl*t for mermen so ya know. This one went on a bit long and if I were a decent writer I would cut some parts out, but idk I kinda like it all. I'm curious to know what y'all think. I'm always open to criticism!!!

The next part will have Nil again! Yay! I'm ready to get back to talking with him and learning more about these mysterious woods ;)

Thanks again for reading!

Summary: Evie is confronted by one of her friends for her making reckless choices and worries that she might not be thinking things through. She decides to try and fix that and ends up finding potential work.

Word Count: ~5,000 words

Click Here for Part 1

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I awoke to a harsh, determined bang on my door. I laid in bed a moment trying to figure out if it was my imagination when I heard Zane’s bellowing voice.

“Evie. I know you’re there. Get up!” His muffled words carried throughout my home; making it impossible to ignore. I sighed into my limp pillow before throwing myself out of bed. I stumbled towards the front door, hitting the wall several times, and yanked the door open. My eyes were quick to shut out the blinding morning sun that was peaking over the trees, and directly into my eyes.

“Zane. Wha’d’ya want?” I mumbled with slurred words. Zane, a bear of a man, shoved his way inside while I was wiping the sleep from my eyes. I kept my annoyance at his rather abrupt entrance to myself and went over to my kitchen. “Want some coffee?” I offered while getting a mug down from one of my shelves.

Zane stood in the living room with his blonde brows pinched together and his muscular arms crossed. “Really? That’s all you have to say?”

I laid my head against the oak countertop with a loud exhale through my mouth. “What do you want me to say? I don’t even know why you’re here.” I went back to making myself a beverage. I needed something to get through whatever mood he was in.

Zane came next to me as I was grinding down a handful of beans. He took my grinder away from me to have my full attention. “You went into the woods.” He hissed.

I met his warm brown eyes and saw a terrified boy staring back at me. I felt guilty for not considering Zane’s feelings in all of this. We’ve been friends for years, yet he never even crossed my mind yesterday.

“And I came back intact. As you can see.” I motioned over myself. I realized that I couldn’t recall his face being in the crowd yesterday. “Not that you were there to wish me well, or welcome me back.”

Zane shook his head. His light pink lips pushed together. “Why would I wanna send my friend off to their death? Huh?”

“I don’t know. Maybe to at least say ‘bye’ one last time.” I grumbled. “Like I said, I’m fine. See.” I twirled around with a smirk. “The big bad forest didn’t gobble me up. So thank you for checking up on me. In fact, I’ll be going back out soon if you wanna do another wellness check before then.”

“What!” He exclaimed. “Are you serious, Evie? Have you lost your mind?” His nose flared out and his jaw clenched. My face contorted in anger that matched his own.

“What’s your problem? You know I’ve always wanted to go. I don’t know why you’re acting so surprised.” I struggled to keep my tone under control, but the annoyance of being woken up, just to be chastised, was not sitting well with me.

Zane shook his head while glaring at me. “Yeah. I didn’t think you insane enough to actually go through with it. Why in the hells are you even thinking about going back? Once should be more than enough.”

I shifted from one foot to the next at how best to answer his question. I couldn’t tell him I found a creature. Considering how well he was handling me going out there in general, telling him about Nil would be disastrous. I chewed my lip in thought on how best to get Zane off my back.

“Because it’s my job.” I finally stated.

Zane let out a mocking snort while rolling his eyes. “Right. Your job. You’re choosing a stupid job, over your own life. You can’t be that dense.”

“I’m not choosing one or the other! I know what I’m doing.” I crossed my arms and bit my tongue to keep my heated words at bay.

“What do you know about that forest? Huh? Do you know what dwells there? Or how to even defend yourself?”

“Like you’ve any idea what’s out there either. All we’ve got, are dusty old books and hearsay.” I countered back. His shoulders stiffened and he seemed set on doing something. He shoved me back with a forceful push. I managed to keep my balance for a moment before he shoved me again.

“Stop!” I slapped his hands away before he could push me again.

“See. You can’t even stop me. What do you think those things out there will do to ya? Did that even cross your mind?” He closed his eyes and let out a tired sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he said, “I know you have this… fantasy that the woods are calling to you. But, did you ever think that those monsters might not want you there?”

I opened my mouth to counter him, but I could find no words to say. I averted my gaze to my feet to help me mull over what he said. I hated that he was right to some extent. The idea never crossed my mind. It wasn’t even a possibility. Perhaps yesterday was just that; pure luck. Then I thought of Nil. The mer in the lake. That wasn’t a possibility before either. I should’ve died yesterday, if what Zane was saying were true. Nil could’ve easily dragged me to the bottom of the lake and feasted on my corpse. Instead, I was here, having to listen to Zane chew me out. Perhaps being Nil’s meal would’ve been a better alternative, I thought darkly.

I looked back up to him with a renewed determination. “It might not want me, you’re right. And I might die out there, sure.” Before he could praise me for finally realizing he was right, I continued, “I would rather be out there, with the monsters,” I pointed out towards the woods, “than stuck here wondering for the rest of my days what’s out there. I can’t live with myself if I don’t find out. Even if they don’t want me there.”

His eyes widened before he shut them in quiet sorrow. He ran his hand through his scruffy short hair. “There’s no changing your mind, is there? You thick headed idiot.”

I gave him a bright grin while yanking my grinder back to me. “No. There’s not. But you knew that before you barged in here.”

Worry danced in his deep brown eyes that made me almost reconsider my stance on the messenger job. Almost. The prickling feeling of doubt was brief like a summer breeze over me before disappearing. I placed my hand on his broad hairy forearm and squeezed him.

“You worry too much. I can handle whatever happens. Trust me.” I said.

He patted my hand with a short nod. “Don’t got much of a choice.” He sighed.

I frowned for a moment then went back to grinding. “Guess not. You also don’t have a choice on breakfast either. How ‘bout some eggs, ya big oaf?”

He snorted then went over to grab a few brown eggs from my basket. “Idiot.” I heard him mumble under his breath.

I couldn’t hide my smile at his endearing name calling. Zane always had my back and supported my craziest schemes… to an extent. There were a few times he had to shut down my ideas before I did something ‘reckless’. I thought back to the time I wanted to make a catapult to launch me into the woods. My logic was that since I wouldn’t be walking into the woods, I wouldn’t be banished. I spent all day creating a horribly put together wooden monstrosity that Zane promptly smashed before letting me try it. I didn’t talk to him for over a week until he brought me one of Nana’s cinnamon cakes as a peace offering.

I still questioned his judgement on such matters in regards to the woods. Or maybe his intuition about these things were spot on. As he’s told me before, ‘I see what’s real, and you see what you wanna see.’ I heard that line more than a few times from him. That didn’t end the nagging feeling in the back of my head that Zane was projecting his fear onto me. The fear shared by everyone in this village. A fear that I was starting to doubt was valid in the first place.

Zane helped me create a full sized breakfast of bacon, eggs, and biscuits; which was enough to feed his never ending stomach. We managed to avoid the topic of the forest, in favor of him telling me about how well the crops were doing this season. He droned on over the wheat being especially plentiful this rotation and that he would give me a bushel once they began harvesting. We cleaned up and I walked with him to my front door.

He looked over at me with a fond look. “I’m glad we talked, even if you’re still going out there.”

I chuckled, “Me too. Even though your worrying is unnecessary.”

He rolled his amber eyes and began to walk away when he stopped midstep. “Ya know,” He turned back around to face me, “when you get a chance, stop by Nana’s. She’s been worried about you.”

I nodded with another pang of guilt. Not even Nana crossed my mind yesterday. “I will. Don’t worry.”

He gave a short wave then kept walking towards the farm. I watched him climb the rolling hills away from me as I thought about all that he said. He did have a point on defending myself. Perhaps a trip to the blacksmith wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

I got ready for the day by slipping on a plain beige dress and quickly brushing my hair before heading over to Jo’s place. Various people were milling about from different shops and they did their best to not stare at me as I passed by. I could sense their curiosity about what happened yesterday, but none were brave enough to approach me. When I passed by the apothecary, the salt and pepper redhead owner Maggie was leaning on her doorway smoking a grey pipe that was as long as my hand. She stared at me with a knowing grin that made me look away from her piercing emerald eyes. I kept my eyes glued towards the blacksmith and away from eerie Maggie.

Jo was hammering away on a piece of hot iron when I approached her. Even though I was several arm lengths away from her forge, the heat blasted me in the face like the midsummer’s sun. Her sweat glistened in the light of the forge’s fire and the whole place smelled of burning coal and searing metal. Her short curly bister hair was tucked away behind a faded red cloth tied around her forehead.

“Mornin’ Jo.” I greeted.

“Wha’ ya wan’, kid?” She didn’t bother looking up to acknowledge me.

Jo was infamous for her ‘quick-to-the-point’ attitude. It sometimes rubbed people the wrong way, but no one was willing to risk saying anything to her. Jo was the only capable blacksmith in town. And she also looked like she could kill a man with just one arm.

I smiled while placing my hands behind my back. “Well, as you might know, I’m the new messenger.”

Jo didn’t show any reaction to my statement and kept hammering away. The sharp metal tings she produced made my ears ring.

“I’ll just get right to it. I need a sword or a dagger!” I yelled over her working.

She paused and looked up at me for the first time. “Why didn’t chaya say so?” She grabbed her long piece of iron and shoved it back into the roaring coals then took off her oversized padded gloves. She motioned me to follow her inside her shop, which I was greeted with an array of metal works, like nails, cutlery, and door knobs, as well as various sized daggers, swords, and clubs on every surface.

I stared in awe over each piece while letting my finger go across a rather sharp sword. I hissed when my finger split open. I promptly stuck the injured finger in my mouth to stop the bleeding. Jo wasn’t amused and gestured over her stock of daggers.

“These’ll work for ya. But doubt they’d help. These beaut’s‘re only good for small game. If somethings big’s after ya, ye dead.” She picked up one of the palm sized daggers for me to examine. I took my finger out of my mouth to look over the dagger. The weight felt good and the size was just right for me. Not that I had much knowledge on what was a good dagger or not. I’ve never really used a dagger besides ‘play’ fighting with logs or to cut up meat. I feigned stabbing a goblin right in the face and decided that the blade would work.

“How much?” I asked.

Jo smirked while leaning closer to me. “Free.”

“Free?” I raised my brow as my mind worked over why she would do that.

“In exchange,” She added, which I interrupted before she could speak further.

“Ah. There it is.” I placed down the dagger next to the others. “What could you possibly want from me?”

She smirked; her tanned leather like skin creased together on her forehead. She ducked below the counter and I heard metal clang on metal as she rifled through underneath. She hefted up a crate and let it drop on the counter. Blades clattered together from the counter shaking. The crate was as long as I could spread out my arms, and looked to be barely holding together by crude nails. “Needa delivery made, messenga.” She patted the wooden crate to emphasize her point.

I stared at the crate in dumbfounded confusion. “You… need a delivery.”

“Wot I said, yeah?” Jo put her meaty hands on her hips with a scowl.

I tried lifting up the crate, and was baffled at how heavy it was. I scratched my head in thought. “And, how did you expect me to carry this thing?”

“Not my problem. We gotta deal, or nah?” She drummed her meaty fingers across the lid.

I hummed in thought at how I would be able to transport such cargo when an idea began to form in my mind. “When did you want this thing delivered?”

“Tomorrow.” She huffed in reply. I had an objection on the tip of my tongue, but I quickly stopped myself. I could go back out into the woods tomorrow instead of having to wait all week. I’d be stupid to let this opportunity go to waste.

“Okay. Lemme talk it over with Griffith then I’ll let you know.” I bowed my head then headed over to the Post Office.

Not to my surprise, Griffith was organizing a fat stack of letters while humming a simple tune to himself. His eyes met mine and he greeted me with a warm smile.

“How do you do, young lady?” He asked in a jolly voice. He continued flipping through the various letters, but would glance to me on occasion.

“I’ve been asked to deliver a rather large, heavy crate by tomorrow. And I was wondering if you had some way of helping with that.” I informed him with an innocent smile.

He stopped what he was doing and regarded me with disturbed shock. “People are already giving you things to deliver? My that’s,” He paused then forced a grin, “great. Just wonderful.” He climbed out of his stool and hobbled over to the paned window. He stared outside as he brushed his chestnut goatee with his forefinger and thumb.

After a few moments of thought he went, “Ah! There might be something that’d work.” He turned to face me with a clap of his hands. “The barn should have a cart for you to use. You might even be able to borrow one of the horses as well. It’s what the riders use when they journey to Whitend.”

I felt an excitement bubble up in me. “Great. Thank you, Mister Griffith. I’ll talk to Udo.” I waved at Griffith before running off towards the farm.

So, I wouldn’t have to wait all week to get back out there. This couldn’t have been better luck. I took a shortcut by going across the rolling green hills instead of taking the path to the farm. The grass came up to my knees and swayed gently in the breeze. At the top of one of the taller hills, I took in the sight of the farm in front of me. We only had one farm that fed the whole village, and it never failed to produce us enough food. To the left of the farm, was Leah Mountain. The mountain had a solitary mine that provided us with rich minerals and metals.

The mountain pass nestled away inside Leah Mountain was the only other way out of the village. With the next town, Whitend, being a two week’s ride by a swift horse. And the trip was by no means easy. Only Remi, one of the farm hands, and Jakomi made the journey every other month. I asked Remi about joining him and Jakomi on one expedition, but was promptly shut down due to my lack of riding experience. Remi was insistent that the journey to Whitend was not for the faint of heart. And no matter how much I begged him to teach me to ride, Remi would refuse. I had my suspicions that Zane convinced him to not teach me, but I could never find enough evidence to support my theory.

At the base of the mountain, I could clearly see into Mistress Talia’s estate. I stared at the lone home that had towering walls preventing anyone from getting inside. Only a handful of people have ever set foot in there. Even fewer times has anyone seen Talia leave her fortress. She had one man, a grizzled butler named Hitch, run into town for her for various reasons. None of which Hitch would disclose. Hitch had been offered various items, money, and even favors for just a hint at what Mistress Talia does, but Hitch would remain silent.

As I stared at the manor, I too wondered what goes on behind those walls. I bit my lip at how Nil reacted yesterday. Disgusted, but the more I look back on it, there was an underlying anger hidden in his flickering dark amethyst eyes. Questions were beginning to bubble up inside my head, and I had to focus my attention on the task at hand. I continued down the hill towards the farm.

I got onto the paved stone path that led directly to Udo’s home at the very end. The path was lined with the hands’ homes to the left of me. Zane’s was in the middle of the five other cottages. He had bright colorful flowers on his window sill and on either side of the path leading up to his dark green door. He’s been a hand since he could walk, and hasn’t tried any other profession since. He convinced me one summer to be a hand with him. One summer was enough for me to realize that I would rather get eaten by a griffin than work on the farm. The fields to the right of me were brimming with towering stalks of corn, wheat, and various other vegetables. Further past the fields, was the apple orchard that was nearly ripe for picking.

I could make out Zane, Merdia, and Remi tilling away in the lush corn field. Merdia, her wild red curls bouncing in the wind, was quick to notice me and began frantically waving at me. I waved back at them as I passed by towards the stables.

“Where’re you goin’?” Zane shouted after me, to which I ignored. I wasn’t ready for another lecture.

I went inside the stables where Udo was brushing one of his black pinto colored mares. Hay was strewn about the wooden floors with horses, pigs, and cows occupying the numerous stables. Udo gave me a cheery grin when I approached. The lanky man never failed to have a sweet smile.

“Haven’t seen you around. How ya been? Heard ya went into the forest.” He commented as he stroked over the black and white fur with ease. I watched his brushing for a moment before replying.

“I’ve been great, thanks. And I was actually here about that. Jo wants me to deliver a crate and I needed to borrow a cart and maybe a spare horse, if you had one.” I gave him my best smile as he stared at me.

He huffed to himself with his dark brows rising to his hairline. “I see. Quite a tall order, missy.”

“It’s alright if you say no. Maybe I could use a wheelbarrow or something instead?” I offered.

Udo laughed and shook his head. “That’s a horrible idea. I doubt you’d get very far without it falling apart.” He set down the brush on a nearby stool and walked over to his book laying out on the far table against the stable wall. He scanned over the different entries while muttering to himself.

“When did ya need all this?” He asked without looking up from his book.

“As soon as possible. Preferably tomorrow though.” I went over to the pinto horse and stroked her muzzle, which she snorted in appreciation.

“Doesn’t look like we need Jumper this week. I’ll have Zane and Remi get the cart ready for ya in the morn’.” He looked back to me with a stern glare. “You better bring back both, kid.”

I nodded enthusiastically. “Of course!”

Udo gave a soft smile while motioning towards the barn door. “Get outta here. Before ya cause trouble.”

I waved bye to Udo as I skipped out the barn back to town. Zane was already coming up to me with Remi and Merdia in tow.

“What was that about?” Zane asked.

“Hi to you too.” I smirked while waving at Remi and Merdia.

“I can’t believe you went into the forest! Drink with us tonight. Please. We wanna hear all about it.” Merdia begged.

“Yeah. Come on. Can’t leave us in the dark.” Remi added in. His coffee brown hair was tied into a short ponytail behind his head, and his freckles seemed to consume more of his tanned skin than I remembered from the last time I saw him.

Zane hushed the curious duo then asked me again, “What’re you doing in there?”

It was hard not to be taken back by his accusing tone. Even harder to hide my discontent with his question. “Well, I think Udo’ll tell you soon enough.”

“Or you could tell me now.” Zane countered with one raised brow.

I shrugged. “I could.” I shoved my way past Zane. “Anyways, I gotta get going. Catch you later!”

“Evelyn!” Zane called after me, but I kept walking down the bumpy stone path back to the village. I knew he would be furious tomorrow morning, but that was a problem that could wait.

I ran back to Jo’s and stood in front of her forge triumphantly. “I’ll do it. I’ll be here tomorrow morning to take your package.”

Jo looked up from her work and gave me a pleased lopsided grin. “‘Ery good.” She reached into her black apron and handed me the sheathed dagger I was looking at earlier.

I held the blade in my hand for a moment before blurting out, “I’m surprised you trust me enough to do this.”

Jo shrugged. “Not like any’ else linin’ up to do’s it. ‘Sides, I gotta move this merch. Remi ‘n Jakoff ain’t goin’ for ‘notha three’s weeks.” Jo grumbled more under her breath that I couldn’t understand. Something about needing to pay a lost bet to Jakomi from what I could make out.

I hummed as I strapped the dagger to my hip. “Your trust is well-placed.” I gave a low bow then waved at her. “See ya in the morning, Jo!”

Jo gave a short nod to my leaving as I headed over towards Nana’s.

Nana’s place was right in the heart of the village. Which was appropriate since nearly everyone came to Nana for one thing or another. Nana claimed nearly everyone as her own, since she had no living children. I approached Nana’s with hesitancy. I knew she wouldn’t be mad for not seeking her out beforehand. Didn’t make facing her any easier.

I bit my lip and let my feet guide me into her shop. Various baked goods, like cakes, pies, and strudels, lined most of the shelves with jars of pickled goods taking up the rest. I could hear her bustling around in the kitchen behind the compact dining area. I caught whiffs of sugar cookies in the air the closer I got towards the kitchen.

Nana was taking out said lightly golden cookies from the oven when her eyes landed on me. “Ah. There you are. I was wondering when you’d stop by.” Her toothy smile took up most of her dark wrinkled face. She placed the platter of cookies on the countertop then straightened out her teal apron. “Come. Sit! I’ll get us some milk.”

She shuffled off towards the cellar and I took a seat on the worn stool across from the cookies. She returned with a clay jug of cold milk she poured for the both of us. We clinked our glasses together then dunked the hot cookies in. I couldn’t stop my smile from how deliciously sweet the cookie was and I found myself in a total state of bliss.

“I don’t know how you do it, Nana.” I mumbled between bites.

“Years of practice, sweetheart. Now, tell me all about it. You seemed to’ve come out all right.” Nana winked; her steel gray curls bounced a bit with the slight motion.

I nodded while I finished chewing my second cookie. “Yeah. Something that Zane isn’t getting.” I rolled my eyes with an annoyed groan.

Nana patted her worn hand on mine. “Don’t be too hard on him. He’s just worried about you. With good reason too. That forest isn’t safe.”

I held her hand while biting my lip. I avoided her curious gaze as the question on the tip of my tongue refused to come out.

She squeezed my hand and said, “Spit it out already.” She gave a gentle chuckle at my anguished state.

I laughed to myself that the old bat could see better than she lets on. “What’s so dangerous in that forest? I’ve heard the rumors, but I feel they’re all just scary stories to tell children. I want to know the truth.”

Nana frowned and let go of my hand. She tapped her fingers together several times before speaking again. “Oh honey, there’s much you don’t understand.” Her scratchy voice faded away into a quiet whisper as the memories of the past seemed to be flooding her. Her rich golden eyes were distant and troubled. A thought in the back of my head told me to drop the subject. The sensation was gnawing at me, but I managed to push it aside.

“Please. I want to know.” I pleaded.

Nana looked down at her cupped weathered hands. “Sweetheart, the things that lurk in that forest wish nothing but to come here and kill us all. The only thing stopping them is Mistress Talia’s magic wards. We owe her our lives.”

I knew my mouth was gaped open and I quickly shut it. “They want to kill us? Why? What happened? Surely we weren’t always cut off from those woods?”

Nana’s eyes narrowed and I was taken aback by the sudden intensity of her gaze. “It doesn’t matter why. What happened, happened. Now, they want their revenge.” Her features faltered to a soft smile and she sighed, “I know you want answers. But, answers won’t change the past.”

“You don’t know that.” I stated, then felt guilty at my sharp response. Nana didn’t like it either as her brows pinched together in annoyance.

“Enough. I’d prefer if we talked about something else, if you don’t mind.” Nana said in a strained tone.

“Of course.” I forced a smile despite me being disappointed by Nana’s reluctance in helping me. Whatever happened all those years ago must’ve been terrible. I chatted with Nana about everything but the forest, or my messenger job. When the sun was starting to set, I decided to take my leave. Nana handed me a basket of various foods for me to take since I looked too, ‘too skinny for her liking’.

I was leaving her home when I stopped in the middle of her doorway. My eyes caught sight of something inscribed all over the wooden doorframe. My fingers traced over the markings that were similar to the ones out on the path. I glanced around the neighboring homes, but they lacked the same intricate carvings. I tried to remember what other buildings had these same symbols, yet my mind drew a blank.

I thought about asking Nana, but I remembered how she snapped at me earlier in regards to such matters. I’d need to find this out on my own. I began the walk back to my home while scanning each house for more markings. To my surprise, there were only two other buildings with those marks: Maggie’s Apothecary and the Post Office. I wasn’t sure what to do with this newfound knowledge. And my main problem was figuring out who to ask about these carvings. Perhaps they meant nothing.

A nagging sense in the back of my mind told me otherwise. There was something going on here, and I was going to figure out exactly what.

[wrestlinghasmelike-blog]

Smackdown Live! Review- April 10th, 2018

Happy Tuesday gang! Surprised that I’m here for another Smackdown review? It’s the Smackdown after Mania, of course I’m here for a review. Where else would I be but watching the show? Honestly I’d either be at the gym or my best friend’s house, but not tonight!

I’ll be posting my Mania reflections tomorrow (hopefully!) Look out for that when it drops!

Please let me know what your thoughts on the show were, or your thoughts on this review! Any type of feedback is welcomed. Thanks for reading and sharing!

Opening- Shane McMahon

After his match against KO and Sami at Mania on Sunday, we have to wonder where Shane will go next. Before Mania, Shane did step down from his role as commissioner of Smackdown, so he’ll probably name his successor.

Shane thanks the audience for a great Wrestlemania, and thanks everyone for travelling and supporting the show. He hypes the audience up by talking about Daniel Bryan and what an amazing job he did at Mania. Shane has accepted Daniel’s resignation as Manager and has him back as a full-time performer. Noiceee. We’ll have to see how often Daniel is allowed to compete, however. I have to imagine that they have to test him before and after every show to make sure things are okie dokie.

Shane announces that there will be a new GM for Smackdown, and he brings to the ring no one other than Paige! Paige is a great choice for this! She just retired from in-ring competition last night on Raw, and having her be GM is such a great choice. I wish her the best, and I can’t wait to see what she does for the Shake-up next week.

New Day vs. The Usos

On Sunday, both of these teams lost to the Bludgeon Brothers in a 3-way tag match for the tag titles. It was not surprising that the Bludgeon Brothers won, but I’m hoping their title reign does not last very long. I don’t want them to be this unbeatable force that no one can beat. That would make for a very uninteresting story in my opinion.

Jimmy and Jey bring some awesome teamwork against the New Day in the opening moments of this match. It looks like Xavier and Big E will be fighting tonight. New Day quickly counter the Usos attacks to get the upperhand in the match.

I’m really excited for the Shake-up this time around because we really need some fresh faces on the show, especially in the Smackdown tag division. I wanna see the teams in the ring change it up and fight someone else for once. I’m so sick of these matches every week.

These guys have fought and put on some great matches, and the crowd is really into the match tonight. I love the New Orleans crowd a lot, they’ve been really great this week so far. 

Xavier and Jey have been really going at it ever since the show came back from commercial. This is now turning into a huge fight, and it’s interesting now. Big E gets the sneaky tag to Xavier, unbeknownst to the Usos. Xavier and E hit a huge neckbreaker, but it doesn’t get them very far as the Usos find a way to counter and nail Xavier with a bunch of superkicks. Jimmy goes up to the top rope and hits Xavier with a beautiful splash. 1,2,3 for the Usos tonight. This match started out as nothing, but turned into a great fight by the end of it. The Usos will challenge the Bludgeon Brothers for the titles at the event in Saudi Arabia later this month.

Naomi vs. Natalya

At Wrestlemania, Naomi won the first ever Women’s Battle Royal to be held at Mania. I’m glad she won, I think she was the best choice to win. She’s so talented and athletic and so accomplished. I hope she gets another shot at a title soon, she deserves it.

Her opponent, Natalya, also deserves another title shot at some point. Nattie is one of the most experienced women on the roster, and having her as champion again would make me so happy.

The bout starts off with a little showboating and some slaps from the women. The two go back and forth for a bit, and Naomi tosses Nattie right out of the ring and onto the floor. Have we seen these two fight before? I feel like this is a matchup that could really take flight if given the proper time and planning. 

The match returns with Nattie in control as she stands of Naomi. Nattie gets Naomi in position for a nice snap suplex, and transitions into a nice submission move that I don’t really know how to describe? It almost looked like a standing surfboard mixed with a crossface? 

Naomi finally breaks free and hits Nattie with those fast kicks and jumps to the top rope but Nattie comes behind and knocks her down. Nattie then tries for the sharpshooter, but Naomi gets away and fights Nattie back finally. She ends up knocking her down with a boot, and then she does her flat-legged moonsault to get the win.

Charlotte’s Title Celebration

Oh my god you guys, Charlotte defeated the streak at Mania against Asuka in what I can only describe as the most unpredictable thing of the night. I have so many mixed emotions, mostly all positive, about the match. I wish Asuka had won so we could have a shakeup in the Women’s division on the show, but with the shakeup next week, maybe I’ll get what I’m hoping for.

OH MAN THE ICONICO ONES BILLIE KAY AND PEYTON ROYCE ARE HERE! CHARLOTTE WAS LIKE WHO’S NEXT AND THESE TWO ARE HERE YESYESYESYES

Oh man, I love these two already. I loved them on NXT, and I think they’re a great addition to SD. These two really are the future.

Charlotte was done with what the iconics were saying and threw an elbow right at Billie. Charlotte does well for herself at first, but the women quickly get a hold of her and ambush her. They throw her over the announce table and into the ring post. They stand on her hands, and then they throw Charlotte right into the steel steps. 

This was straight up brutality from the iconics, and it was amazing. 

OH SHIT CARMELLA IS HERE SHE’S CASHING IN YES OH GOD YES

SHE KICKS HER IN THE FACE AND CARMELLA IS CHAMPION FINALLY!!

This is it. This is all I want from the show tonight. Thanks very much.

Randy Orton vs. Bobby Roode vs. Rusev

At Wrestlemania, Jinder Mahal came out on top and beat these three guys for the U.S Title. Tonight, these three guys will fight to see who becomes the number one contender for the title to face Jinder at Backlash.

It’s still so surprising to me how over Rusev is. I think it’s because he’s easy for people to chant for. I want him to be a wrestler again, not a gimmick.

It looks like Randy is taking the lead in this match thus far. He’s got Bobby in a headlock currently, and he knocked Rusev out of the ring early on. I think Randy will get one more shot at the title, but I think Bobby or Rusev deserve to be champion more this time around.

Rusev is back in the ring and is trying to knock Bobby down. He doesn’t, and Bobby almost pins him, but Randy is quick to get back in and break up the fight. It’s now Randy and Rusev, and Rusev nails Orton with a huge superkick to his jaw. Randy and Rusev are now fighting outside of the ring, and Randy lifts Rusev on to the table and flips his over. Bobby makes his way back into the match and tames Orton for a bit, but Rusev now slides back in and goes for Bobby.

Rusev is so quick to build the pace of the match back up to where it should be. He fires with everything he’s got at Bobby and locks in the Accolade, but he doesn’t get it all the way and Randy comes back in to stomp at Rusev. He nails Bobby with the RKO, and Randy wins, earning a chance to face Jinder again.

Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles

AJ said it best in his backstage interview, no one thought this match would happen in a WWE ring EVER. I think this is now the new dream match.

AJ and Shinsuke had a great match at Mania that had an upsetting ending with AJ still as champion. I wish Shinsuke would’ve won, but the heel turn at the end is such a captivating and promising thing and I love it already.

Daniel is dawning his classic wet slicked back hair, and he is ready to get back into the ring as a competitor.

The match starts with some easy lockups and sequences that set the technical pace of the match. Daniel is down for most of the beginning, but he’s now on his feet after a sweet kip up, and he’s now focused on kicking the shit out of AJ. Daniel has turned his focus to AJ’s arm, and this is where Daniel shines.

Daniel keeps his rally going but is suddenly put to a halt by AJ with a huge ass dropkick right to Daniel’s face. 

I think I’m going to have to try to like Daniel Bryan again. I am so happy that he gets to continue to live his dream and is able to wrestle again, I think that’s so inspiring. But as I’ve said before, I have never bought into the Daniel Bryan hype. When he hit his peak, I wasn’t watching a lot of wrestling at the time, and I missed a lot of great moments. I know Daniel can impress me, but I’m not jumping at the chance to be in his corner just yet. 

The match rolls on as Daniel nails AJ with a flying forearm. It really looks like Daniel has never stepped away from the ring, he looks like he wrestled yesterday. He’s sharp and clear, hopefully this can last.

I can’t help but worry every time Daniel gets hit on his head. I don’t him to wrestle today, only to hang it up again tomorrow.

Even with selling a knee injury, Daniel is able to lock in an armbar from a suplex. AJ is able to escape and lock in the calf crusher, but the submission specialist in Daniel sneaks out of it, but AJ is able to find a way to lock back in. Daniel almost gets the yes lock in, but AJ gets up and delivers the pele kick to Daniel. He goes for the phenomenal forearm, but Daniel counters and gets back to his feet. He tries for those dropkicks in the corner, but AJ trips him and tries to hit the clash, but Bryan gets out and tries for the yes lock, but AJ finds the bottom rope to break the hold.

Daniel and AJ start fighting on the top rope, and Daniel tried to hit a superplex on AJ, but AJ shifted his weight and was able to knock Daniel over in mid-air, and I think he landed on Bryan’s face? Ouch? With both men down, Shinsuke inserted himself into the match and kicked Daniel in the head, making the bell ring. He then attacked AJ again, and walked away with a sly smile on his face. If we are getting true heel Shin, sign me the fuck up.

That’s it for the Smackdown after Mania! I thought this was a pretty good show. There weren’t as many debuts as there were last night, but we get Carmella as champion AND the iconic duo! I’m happy with that. 

Stay tuned for more posts during the week! My Mania reflections post will hopefully be up tomorrow, as well as maybe a post for NXT??

Please reblog and leave some feedback!

Casey

[daphnewritings]

Chapter 11: Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff

Summary: Slytherin is losing their lead to Gryffindor and Draco hates it

Warning: I was forced to make Snape aggreable. I apologize. 

Word Count: 3.3k

- Chapter 10 / Chapter 12 - 

It only took another few days for the rest of Slytherin house to once again reach full capacity as the other students returned from home on the Hogwarts Express. Draco, who finished the work he’d put off over break in a matter of hours, got to lazily sit in front of one of the great roaring hearths in the common room while his friends furiously scribbled across rolls of parchment, sometimes breaking the white noise with a muffled curse or the snap of a quill. Eventually, one of them, usually Blaise, would throw their books to the side with a groan and announce that it was time for a break, too which everyone would agree immediately.

The usual plan would be to bundle up in the thickest sweaters they owned, grab their gloves and head outside. The grounds of Hogwarts were still covered in thick drifts of snow that was quickly turning into a layer of ice, which made the snowball fights they had interesting. There was more than a few times that they returned to the castle with odd shaped bruises, and even once, a bloody nose. Since none of them knew any healing magic, they had to take Theo up to the Hospital Wing and explain why, exactly, they looked like they had been brawling in the freezing cold.

They were banned from snowball fights until further notice after that.

Pansy, who had usually sat by under a nearby tree with her own personal fire in a jar to keep her hands warm, hadn’t been nearly as put out as the rest of them. “Honestly, you lot were starting to look a little worse for wear,” she’d said that night while they all sat quietly around their usual table. “Except for Draco maybe. Tell me, how exactly did you avoid every snowball that flew your way, dearest Draco?”

Draco shrugged noncommittally. “Fast reflexes.”

Pansy smiled knowingly at him and let the matter slide. From her spot under the young beech tree, she had definitely seen him deflecting every snowball that came too close to hitting him to the left and right at Crabbe and Goyle. But, on the upside, he really wasn’t lying. He did have fast reflexes after all, especially when it came to protecting the sanctity of his facial structure.

When term started once again, the whole castle was buzzing about the first Quidditch match of the new year. It was Gryffindor against Hufflepuff, which normally wouldn’t give a single person pause, but the fact that it would give Gryffindor the first lead over Slytherin in seven years was casting an ugly pall over the common room. Draco, unable to stand the restless feeling of the impending downfall of the Slytherin Quidditch team’s lead, pushed his way out of the common room late on Tuesday night on the week of the match. He stood in the hallway outside of the entrance to the common room between the two suits of armor and sighed. Deciding that he would have more luck at relaxing in the library, he started the long trek up the various staircases, his latest read tucked under his arm.

Once he finally reached the library, he discovered that the great wooden doors were shut and locked up tight for the night. Cursing Madam Pince’s everchanging hours, he pulled on both of the large bronze door rings with all his might, but still the doors did not budge. He slapped the wood of the door in frustration, and the small bronze dragon heads which held the rings in their snarling jaws growled and sent up puffs of smoke from their miniscule nostrils in warning.

Stepping away, he felt vexed. He could always unlock the doors himself with a simple Alohomora, but he really was not in the mood to be yelled at and sentenced to a week in detention by Pince just because he wanted to find some peace and quiet.

Resolving himself to finding the farthest, darkest corner in the Slytherin common room from the other students, he turned to begin his long trek back to the depths of the castle when he nearly ran into a startled Neville Longbottom.

Hissing, Draco leapt back, stung by the mere presence of another Gryffindor at a time like this. “Sorry, Malfoy, I didn’t mean-” Neville said sheepishly, trying his best to melt into the wall behind him.

Without a second thought, Draco snapped, “Locomotor Mortis!” and watched with dark satisfaction as Neville’s legs snapped together and he crashed forward with much arm waving. Tucking his wand back into his robes, he stepped gingerly over his prone form, Draco continued on his way while Neville tried in vain to roll over onto his back to sit up.

“Wait, Malfoy, you can’t just leave me here!” Neville yelled after him.

“Actually,” Draco called back. “you’ll find that I can!” Feeling better than he had in the past few days, Draco nearly skipped around the corner. A few moments later, he was glad he hadn’t when he came face to face with Severus Snape.

Skidding to a stop before he ran into Snape’s black robed chest, he quickly clasped his hands behind his back, mirroring Snape’s own stance. “Professor,” he puffed, inclining his head politely.

“Draco,” Snape said smoothly, “what are you doing out so late?” His curtain of dark hair swayed slightly as he cocked his head in the direction of the sound of Neville’s scuffling.

“Uh, nothing,” Draco said quickly, resisting the urge to fidget under Snape’s keen eye.

“I’m sure,” Snape said, a small smile curling his thin lips. “How about I walk you back to your common room?”

“I would be delighted, Professor,” Draco nodded.

And with that, they turned away from the sound of Neville struggling and his light curses, Draco careful not to step on the billowing black fabric of Snape’s trailing robes.

“You’re advancing quite well,” Snape proclaimed into the silence of the hall. “I check in from time to time whenever your mother sends me an owl asking about your progress.”

Draco grimaced. “Sorry about that, sir. That must be terribly annoying.”

“Not at all, my boy,” Snape said benignly. “I’m always happy to give the parents of my students good news, especially when I’m also as invested as they are in a particular student’s growth.” Draco saw him out of the corner of his eye raise his hand as if to pat Draco’s shoulder, before he thought better of it and once again hid it in the recesses of his robe.

Draco almost wished he had gone through with it.

“Thank you, sir,” Draco beamed up at him nonetheless. “It gladdens me to hear you say that. To know that the finest teacher at this school is looking out for my best interests only makes me want to prove myself more.”

Snape chuckled at Draco’s flattery. “Well, I’m sure if you were to do that, we would have to bump you up a whole year. I’m honestly running out of extra work for you that fits the first year curriculum.”

“No need to sing my praises, sir,” Draco said, knowing that they both knew that was a lie. Snape could go on all night about Draco’s many triumphs for all Draco cared. He could make the time.

Snape guffawed, “Of course, silly of me to assume that you would be outshining your classmates for the commendations.” Draco snickered and they fell into a more companionable silence than before as they turned away from the doors of the Great Hall and continued down into the lower levels of the castle.

“So,” Snape started awhile later with a sigh, “how is Slytherin house holding up in the face of the upcoming match?”

Draco sucked in a breath between his teeth. “Honestly, sir? It’s quite tense right now.”

“Well, spread the word that they may not have to worry as much over the next coming days.”

“Why’s that, sir?” Draco said as the pair came to a stop before the suits of armor guarding the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Turning to the older man, Draco saw the sly smirk that now furnished his face.

“Madam Hooch is apparently still recovering from a nasty bout of the flu that she came down with over the holiday. I’ve arranged it so that I will be refereeing the match come Saturday morning in her place.”

Draco’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “But sir, you must be joking.”

Snape lifted one shoulder slightly, “Believe what you like.” He inclined his head slightly to Draco as he began to turn back up the hall that they had just traversed. “Good night, Draco,” he said over his shoulder as he swept away.

“Good night, Professor!” Draco called at his receding back. He watched until Snape turned the corner and out of his line of sight before quickly spitting the password at the suit of armor on the right and pushing through the doorway.

He hurried around the perimeter of the upper ring of the common room and rushed down the stairs to where his friends were gathered around their table, ignoring their homework in favor of staring at the closest fire gloomily.

Draco threw himself down into a chair, startling them all out of their reveries as he said in a loud whisper, “You’ll never guess what I just found out.”

><

The day of the match dawned bright as the sun sparked off the slowly melting snow. The Great Hall was so tense that morning during breakfast that it felt like anything could set the houses off. Both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were boisterous, of course, but the death glares that the students of Slytherin were sending in the direction of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were not missed. The only table that seemed calm in the face of the impending match was Ravenclaw, since they hardly had anything to lose since they were secure in their placement of third.

Potter wasn’t allowed to leave alone that morning when he finished the three bites he was able to shove down. Draco could feel the stress emanating from two tables away off of Potter’s small frame as the Weasley twins flanked him. Draco might have felt slightly bad for him.

That is, if he actually cared, which he didn’t.

Snape stood up and began to make his way down the aisles between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables soon after Potter had left. The Slytherin table rose as a wave as he passed and applauded him. He raised his hand to them and inclined his head with a slight smile in acknowledgment. Draco saw that the Gryffindors could barely restrain their glares as he exited the hall, making Draco clap all the harder.

The school flowed out towards the pitch twenty minutes after the Hufflepuff team had left as one from their table, unhindered by the ferocity of the two tables on the opposite sides of the hall. McGonagall had to break up not one, but three scuffles between older Gryffindor and Slytherin students on the walk from the castle to the field of play.

Rather than splitting into separate sections by house like during the first match of the season, it had been agreed the night before in the Slytherin common room that they would disperse throughout the stands, disseminating among the Gryffindors especially. The match may be an easy score for the Gryffindor Quidditch team in the sky, but that didn’t mean it had to be easy for them on the ground.

Shoving past a few disgruntled Gryffindor second years, Draco jabbed Weasley in the back of the head with the butt of his wand as the teams leapt into the air at the sound of Snape’s whistle. “Sorry, Weasley, didn’t see you there.” As if anyone wouldn’t see him from miles away with that flaming mop on his head, Draco thought to himself as Weasley twisted in his seat with a snarl already plastered across his face, his hand rubbing the back of his skull.

Lee Jordan was back, announcing as he had previously. “And they’re off. With Madam Hooch out with a bad case of the flu, it would seem that Slytherin may still have a chance to foul this one up without one student having to step on the field, if you know what I mean.” The Slytherins spread throughout the crowd gave a joint hiss of displeasure, to which Lee responded with, “Oh, sod off you great bunch of – I was only joking Professor, keep your hair on – now then, back to the game. One of the Weasleys aims a Bludger at – dammit you idiot – Professor Snape awards a penalty to Hufflepuff for the obvious and understandable mix up Weasley made there for mistaking the Professor for a Hufflepuff.”

Draco barely caught a word about the events unfolding in the sky above the raised stands. He was too busy scratching an itch that had been present in his mind since before Christmas when he had tried to rile Potter and Weasley up after that first Quidditch match. With tensions so high right now, and everyone else’s eyes and ears focused on the players flying above, it was the perfect chance to see how far he could truly push one of the thorns in his side before they snapped.

But since Potter obviously wasn’t present, Weasley would have to do.

And Draco so loved needling Weasley. His insecurities and emotions were always so close to the surface, always so easy to poke at to get the reaction he wanted.

And what Draco needed above all else right now was to get his hands dirty.

“Say,” he said loudly, “how long do you think Potter will stay on his broom this time?” He turned to Crabbe and Goyle, who sat on either side of him, “Anyone want to take bets? What about you, Weasley?” Draco leaned forward then as he asked, putting the sharp point of his elbow directly into the soft space between Ron’s shoulder and neck. “I hear there’s good money in betting on Gryffindor fools.” Weasley shook him off roughly and Draco cackled in his ear. He looked down the line of seats to Theo, who had resigned himself to sitting a few seats down, next to Pansy and Blaise after he had figured out the kind of mood Draco was in.

Namely, that Draco was raring for a fight.

Theo wasn’t looking at him, however. He was bent over in his seat, watching with forced excitement as the brooms whooshed about overhead. Draco, feeling slightly put out by the lack of his best friend’s attention on him in the moment, redoubled his efforts to find it elsewhere. As Snape awarded yet another penalty to Hufflepuff for no reason at all to the great outburst of rage from Lee Jordan and the Gryffindors around him, Draco turned to Goyle and said, “You know how I think they pick people to play for the Gryffindor team?”

Goyle grinned and played along willingly. “No, how do they choose, Draco?”

“Well, it’s quite obvious. It’s the ones they feel sorry for! See, there’s Potter, who’s got no parents, then there’s the Weasley’s, who’ve got no money – why, Longbottom, you should be on the team!” Draco reached down and slapped Neville lightly on the cheek. “Seeing as you’ve got no spine.”

Crabbe and Goyle both chuckled and Draco smirked down at Neville as he turned around in his seat, his face gone bright red. “I’m worth twelve of you, Malfoy!”

All three of the young Slytherins burst into laughter. Draco heard an incredulous snort from a few seats down and didn’t have to look to see that it was Theo, listening in with half an ear while he watched the game. Calming himself, Draco wiped an exaggerated tear from his eye and said, “Ah Longbottom, never mind! I take back what I said. It’s not that you don’t have a spine – it’s that you’ve got no brains!”

Crabbe and Goyle both howled at this, clutching their sides and slapping Draco on the shoulders in appreciation. Draco leaned forward and gripped both of Weasley’s shoulders as he stage whispered to Neville, “Honestly, Longbottom, if brains were gold, you’d be poorer than Weasley, and that’s really saying something.”

Ron brushed him off once again, growling, “I’m warning you, Malfoy – one more word and I swear - ”

Draco was about to strike back when Granger yelped, “Ron! Harry!” She pointed to where Potter had curved into a steep dive from up above. When he streaked past their section of the stands, Granger leapt to her feet and started dancing from foot to foot nervously as she watched him chase the golden blur of the Snitch.

“My god, Weasley, you’re in luck! Potter has obviously spotted some money on the ground!” Draco shouted over the rising din of the crowd.

And just like that, Ron snapped.

Before Draco could truly register what was happening, he had scrambled up and over the seats, Longbottom right behind him, and wrestled Draco to the ground while Neville took on both Crabbe and Goyle alone.

The two boys rolled under the seats. Twisting around to try to get out from under the other boy, Draco dodged the first fist that flew at his face, but was unlucky with the second. His head knocked backwards against the heavy wood of the stands as knuckles connected with skin, momentarily dazing him. The stars in his vision didn’t blur out the third punch arcing towards his nose though as he whipped his head out of the way. Using Wealsey’s forward momentum against him, Draco drew his legs up under him and bucked him off. He quickly rolled out from under the seats to the sound of Granger shouting, “Ron! Ron?! Where are you? The game’s over, Harry caught the Snitch! We’re in the lead!” A sentiment which sent Draco’s vexation rocketing straight up again as Weasley crawled out from under the stands with a triumphant smile on his face.

Draco decided to fix that for him as he promptly kicked Weasley squarely in the nose when he was still down on all fours. Weasley’s head snapped back as his nose went crack! and he fell backwards onto his back, clutching at his face. Draco felt his anger ebb with the blood that spurted everywhere and started running down the sides of Weasley’s face in thick, crimson rivulets.

Cocking his head to the side, Draco ignored the throbbing on the left side of his face as he considered the red-headed boy on the floor beneath him. Kneeling down besides him he said, “Give Potter my regards, would you?” Deciding he had gotten everything he needed out of this little confrontation, he stood, dusted off his robes and looked up at his friends arrayed around him on the stands. Three of the five were staring at him with expressions of supreme boredom on their face, while the other two were looking at the minimal damage done to their knuckles.

Draco spied a chubby leg thrown over the bench at Crabbe and Goyle’s feet and peered over into the quickly purpling face of Neville Longbottom. He was out cold. “Bloody hell, you didn’t kill him, did you?” Draco asked incredulously. Crabbe and Goyle both shrugged and Draco just shook his head.

“Are you quite finished?” Pansy groused, pulling Draco’s gaze back to her. “I feel like my nose is about to fall off and shatter on the ground any minute now from this damn cold.” Both Blaise and Theo grumbled their agreement into their respective green and silver scarves.

Draco smiled through the pain that made his eyes smart. “I do believe I am, dear Pansy.” He stepped nimbly over the moaning form of Ron Weasley and led the way out of the stands.

Pansy allowed the group of boys to pass her by as she met Hermione’s gaze over their passing forms. In a rare moment of solidarity, they both heaved heavy sighs. “Boys.”

< Chapter 10 / Chapter 12 >

[thelastspeecher]

NaNoWriMo ‘17 Day 19 - Birds of a Feather

Day 01   Day 02   Day 03   Day 04   Day 05   Day 06   Day 07   Day 08 Day 09   Day 10   Day 11   Day 12   Day 13   Day 14   Day 15   Day 16 Day 17   Day 18   Day 19   Day 20   Day 21   Day 22   Day 23   Day 24 Day 25   Day 26   Day 27   Day 28   Day 29   Day 30

Summary: A new phoenix joins the flock.  [Phoenix Enchantment AU] Word count: 3042

               Crack!  Angie’s head jerked up.  

               “What was that?” she chirped blearily.  Stan looked over.  

               “I think somethin’ hit the window.”

               “What?”

               “I’ll go check,” Stan said.  He nuzzled her.  “Watch the egg while I’m gone, babe.”

               “You got it,” Angie mumbled. She nestled down again and yawned. Stan looked at his three daughters, who were at the food stand.  

               “Girls, keep an eye on your ma. She’s still weird ‘cause of the pain meds.”

               “Of course, Dad,” Danny chirped.  “We promised we’d help out, since the latest egg was difficult.”

               “Thanks.”  Stan took off.  He flew downstairs, reaching the front door at the same time Fiddleford did.  Stan landed on his brother-in-law’s shoulder.

               “You heard it too?” Fiddleford asked.  Stan bobbed his head.  “Well, let’s see what it was.”  Fiddleford stepped outside.  Spread-eagled on the front porch, visibly severely disoriented, was a male phoenix. Stan felt his feathered crest begin to instinctively rise.  He left Fiddleford’s shoulder and landed next to the stranger.  

               “Buddy, what’s goin’ on here?” Stan squawked.  The phoenix looked at him.

               “Huh?” the phoenix burbled. Stan puffed his feathers up.

               “Look, my kids are too young to get any mates yet, okay?  I don’t know how it works with phoenixes, but I grew up human, so I don’t like the idea of my daughters getting married off when they’re still teens.”

               “I’m not-” the phoenix started.

               “And you better not be here for Angie, either!” Stan cawed. “She’s got a mate already.”

               “Stanley, leave him be!” Fiddleford said.  Stan frowned at Fiddleford.

               “I’ve gotta protect my flock, Fidds!” Stan said firmly.  “Angie’s spoken for, and the girls-”

               “I have no clue what yer sayin’, but ya clearly haven’t recognized this here phoenix,” Fiddleford said.  Stan blinked. “It’s Lute!”

               “What?!” Stan screeched.  He looked back at the stranger.  The phoenix was getting to his feet, stumbling as he did so.  “That can’t be right.”

               “Look at him,” Fiddleford insisted.

               “I mean, yeah, Lute left this mornin’ and we haven’t heard from him, but-”

               “Lord, it’s weird to understand the chirpin’ and squawkin’,” the strange phoenix interrupted.  Stan froze.

               “No fucking way.  Lute?” Stan croaked.  The phoenix nodded.  “How the hell did that happen?”

               “I did what everyone told me not to do,” Lute said softly.  “I went to find a way to break the enchantment.”

               “Lute!” Stan squawked.

               “My baby sister almost died!” Lute screeched.  “She almost died, ‘cause she’s stuck as a bird, and bein’ a bird means layin’ eggs.  And one of her eggs was bound.  Stanley, ya understand how scared and worried I am ‘bout Angie.  Can ya blame me fer tryin’ to fix things?”

               “Even if she was human, childbirth doesn’t always go right,” Stan pointed out.

               “Yeah, but if she was human, she’d have a proper doctor.  She wouldn’t have to go to a vet.”  Lute drooped. “I was so angry, I ignored everything I got told, and now my poor parents have two children who are birds.”

               “The two of ya are clearly havin’ an illuminatin’ conversation,” Fiddleford said, “but I can’t understand any of it.  Stan, mind grabbin’ Molly to translate, since you and Angie won’t be turnin’ human fer a bit?”  Stan nodded. “I’ll bring Lute on in and start checkin’ him over.”  Fiddleford looked Lute up and down.  “Hmm, looks like he might’ve broken a wing.”

               “Go figure,” Lute muttered.

----- 

               Molly walked into the kitchen with Stan on her shoulder.  Ford and Fiddleford were examining a very grumpy Lute on the kitchen table.

               “Can you stretch your wing out for me?” Ford asked.  Lute did as he was told, letting out a small caw of pain.  

               “You guys need a translator?” Molly asked, taking a seat at the table.

               “Howdy, Miss Molly,” Lute croaked weakly.  Molly shook her head.

               “Uncle Lute, you know better.”

               “I was-”

               “Dad told me you were worried about Mom.  But you should’ve talked to us about it!  If you had, you might not be joining the flock.  I mean, I’m kinda glad to have another phoenix around that isn’t my sibling or parent, but there’s no way you’re happy about this.” Lute chirped dejectedly.

               “Wait, what’s goin’ on?” Fiddleford asked.  “Lute got turned into a phoenix ‘cause he was worried ‘bout Angie?”

               “Yeah.  Apparently, he was upset that Mom’s last egg was bound, and it made her so sick.  So he decided to track down a way to get the enchantment undone.”

               “Lute Everett McGucket,” Fiddleford said in a low voice.  “Molly’s right.  Ya do know better!”  Lute cringed. “We warned ya that messin’ with the enchantment wouldn’t end well.  And we told ya that Angie’s fine!  The only thing what made the situation was so scary was ‘cause Angie couldn’t find anyone to translate fer her when things started goin’ wrong with the egg.  Even then, she figured it out, and got the message across.”  Lute looked down at his feet, hunched in on himself.

               “Lay off!” Stan squawked, noticing how Lute was wilting.  Molly winced.

               “Dad, not right in my ear.”

               “Sorry, rooster,” Stan cooed.

               “What did Stan just say?” Ford asked.

               “He wants you guys to stop being so hard on Uncle Lute,” Molly explained.

               “He already feels bad, stop makin’ him feel worse,” Stan added.

               “Uncle Lute already knows he messed up, so you’re just making him feel worse,” Molly said.  Fiddleford sighed.

               “Yer right, Stan.”  Fiddleford stroked Lute’s back.  “Sorry, lil brother.”

               “I really did mess up,” Lute crowed.  “I’m so sorry.”

               “He says he’s sorry.”

               “Aw, Lute, it’s okay.  Yer not the first fam’ly member what’s been turned into a phoenix,” Fiddleford said gently. He grimaced.  “Even though that doesn’t seem like somethin’ we should be so familiar with.  We’ll get ya settled in with the rest of the flock, up in the aviary.”

               “It’s really nice up there,” Molly said.  “Humans might not appreciate it, but Uncle Fidds and Uncle Ford did an excellent job on making it a good ecological match for phoenixes.”  

               “I- I don’t know how to be a phoenix,” Lute said.  

               “What, do you think Angie and I did when we first got turned?” Stan chirped.  “Hell, when Molly hatched, we didn’t know what to do.  We just stared at her until she started screaming, and then we realized she was hungry.”

               “Wait, really?” Molly asked.  She crossed her arms.  “You never told me that story.”

               “What story?” Ford asked.

               “Apparently, Mom and Dad didn’t know what to do when I hatched, until I started making noise, and they figured out I was hungry.”

               “I remember that,” Fiddleford said.  “Lord, the look on Stan and Angie’s faces when they realized ya wouldn’t eat whole food.  Even though we didn’t know Pele and Prometheus were, y’know, people, I still thought it was amusing.  They looked so lost durin’ yer first week of life, Molly.”

               “Why did Stan tell that story?” Ford asked.

               “Uncle Lute says he doesn’t know how to be a phoenix.”  Molly rolled her eyes.  “Honestly, Mom and Dad barely know how to be phoenixes now.  During the first migration, I had to explain to them what was going on, and I was only eight years old!”

               “Once the instincts kick in, things ‘ll be easier,” Stan said reassuringly.  Lute nodded, a bit calmer.

               “All right, looks like a broken wing, fractured rib, and a host of various bumps and bruises,” Ford said.  “We’ll patch you up and then send you to the aviary to recuperate.”

               “Yer goin’ to want to build a nest to relax in,” Fiddleford said to Lute. Lute stared at his older brother.

               “…How do I do that?” Lute asked sheepishly.

               “He asked how you build a nest,” Molly translated.  Fiddleford groaned.  “Uncle Lute, Danny and I can set up a nest for you, since Dad’s gotta take care of Mom.”

               “Thank you, sweetling,” Lute chirped.  

               “It’ll be nice, actually,” Fiddleford said.  “Lute, you can keep Angie company, and Stan can get back to patrollin’ the forest.  Angie’s goin’ to be off the pain meds soon, so she won’t need to be babied no more.  But she’ll still be brooding, so it’ll be lonely up there.”

               “It would be nice to spend some time with my lil sister,” Lute said.

               “Uncle Lute’s on board,” Molly said.  There was a loud squawk from upstairs.  “And Daisy says the dishes in the aviary are out of crickets.”

               “You know where they are,” Ford said.  “You can take care of it yourself.”

               “Fine,” Molly groaned.  She got up and walked over to the fridge to rummage around in it.

               “Goldarn, I have to eat bugs now?” Lute muttered.  Stan shrugged.

               “You get used to it.”

----- 

               Angie yawned and opened her eyes.

               “Mornin’,” Stan chirped at her. Angie smiled.  She nuzzled her mate.

               “Mornin’.  Lord, I slept a lot yesterday, didn’t I?”

               “Yeah, you did.”

               “If you’ll watch the egg fer a bit, I think I’m up fer gettin’ some food,” Angie said.  

               “You got it,” Stan said. Angie hopped onto the edge of the nest and spread out her wings, preparing to take off.  She froze upon catching sight of a strange phoenix dozing fitfully in a nest near the food stand.

               “Who is that?!” Angie screeched. She scrambled back into the nest to cover the egg again.

               “Angie, relax,” Stan said.

               “There’s a stranger in our home! What’s goin’ on?”

               “Chill,” Stan chirped at her.  Angie stared at the strange phoenix.  He was awake now, but hunkered down in the nest in an attempt to make himself as small as possible.

               “How can ya expect me to chill, when there’s someone here we don’t know?  What if he goes after the egg?”

               “Babe, he won’t.”

               “Lord, what if he’s here to court the girls?”

               “What?!” the stranger squawked.

               “Angie, I told ya that Lute was movin’ in with us,” Stan said.  Angie blinked.  

               “…That’s Lute?”

               “Yeah, it is.  He tried to mess with enchantment, and got turned into a phoenix for it.”

               “Lute?” Angie trilled at the phoenix.  Lute nodded.  “What made ya do that?”

               “Yer last two eggs haven’t gone very well,” Lute croaked.  “I wanted to help ya out by turnin’ ya back human.”

               “Oh, Lute,” Angie chirped softly.

               “I told ya about it yesterday,” Stan said to his mate.  “Don’t you remember?”  Angie scratched her cheek with one of her large talons.  

               “I thought that was a dream.  I was pretty loopy yesterday.”

               “I wish it was a dream,” Lute said.  He sighed.  “Fidds said he’s goin’ to call Ma and Pa today, to tell ‘em that two of their children are now birds.”

               “I wonder if Ford ‘ll give ya one of his weird names,” Angie chirped.  “If yer really joinin’ the flock, he prob’ly will.”

               “Yet another thing to look forward to,” Lute drawled sarcastically.  “Bugs, a weird name, bein’ data fer Ford’s research, lessons from my own nieces and nephew-”

               “Lessons?” Angie interrupted.

               “It seems like Lute’s instincts aren’t kicking in like they did for us,” Stan said.  “The girls, Emmett, and I are gonna help him out.  He’s definitely gonna want flying lessons, so that he doesn’t crash into any more windows.”

               “In my defense, I was discombobulated,” Lute said.  There were footsteps on the stairs.

               “Uncle Lute left this morning?”  Tate’s voice carried up to the aviary.

               “Yes.  Somethin’ came up back home, so he had to leave ‘fore ya got up.  He was disappointed he didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to you in person,” Fiddleford replied.

               “I understand,” Tate said, sounding disappointed.  He and Fiddleford arrived at the aviary, Tate carrying a large container of bird food.  “Hey, birds.”

               “Tate!” Emmett squeaked excitedly, hopping onto the edge of the nest he shared with Danny and Daisy.  

               “Hello to you, too, Percy,” Tate said with a grin.  He walked over to Stan and Angie.  “How are you feelin’, Pele?  Better?” he asked, stroking Angie’s back.  Angie cooed softly.  “Sorry I didn’t visit sooner.  Dad wouldn’t let me come here while you were recuperating, and when I tried to sneak up anyways, your mate kept chasin’ me away.”

               “Keepin’ you away was one of the few things I agreed with Fidds and Ford on,” Stan crowed.  

               “Oh, Lord, I forgot,” Lute muttered.  “Tate thinks everyone up here’s just a bird, doesn’t he?”  Tate turned around.  His eyes widened.

               “Pa, you didn’t tell me you guys picked up another phoenix!  When did that happen?”

               “Careful, Tater Tot,” Fiddleford said, grabbing Tate before he could approach Lute’s nest.  “Yer father and I found him just yesterday.  He’s not goin’ to be as civil as Pele and Prometheus are.”

               “He doesn’t seem too wild.  And anyways, I’m good with birds,” Tate said dismissively, shaking his arm free from Fiddleford’s grasp.  Fiddleford looked meaningfully at Lute.  Lute let out a half-hearted hiss.

               “See?” Fiddleford said.

               “He didn’t mean that.”

               “Come on, Lute!” Stan squawked. Lute abruptly puffed his feathers up and screeched loudly at Tate.  Tate blanched.

               “Okay, yeah, he’s serious.  I guess you’re right about not messin’ with him yet.  Is he gonna be joinin’ the flock?”

               “Yes.”

               “Cool!”  Tate frowned at Lute.  “Wait, why’s he so big?  I thought male phoenixes were small.”

               “We don’t have much data to go off,” Fiddleford said, “since, before this feller showed up, we’d only examined one adult male, and the other male, a juvenile, has stunted growth from gestational stress.”  Angie let out a small chirp.  “But yer father and I think that the new phoenix and Prometheus are opposite ends of the size spectrum fer male phoenixes.”  

               “You keep callin’ him ‘the new phoenix’,” Tate noted.  “I guess Dad hasn’t named him yet?”

               “No, he has not.”

               “Hmm, this new phoenix is a lot redder than Prometheus.  Like, super red.  I kinda think Jasper would suit him.”  Tate sighed.  “But Dad’s got a whole list of phoenix names ready to go.”

               “I like Jasper,” Lute said.  “It’s a real name, not like whatever nonsense Ford was plannin’ on.”

               “I’ll talk to yer father,” Fiddleford said after a moment.  “I might be able to convince him to let you name this one.”

               “Sweet!  It’s about time!” Tate said enthusiastically.  He stepped towards the food stand.  Lute hissed, remembering his cover as a wild bird.  “Oh.  Uh, I can’t fill the food dishes if potential-Jasper here is guarding ‘em.”

               “I’ll handle it,” Fiddleford said, taking the container of bird food from his son.  “Why don’t ya grab lil Percy and play with him a bit?”

               “You got it.”  Tate put on a thick leather glove, held out his arm, and whistled.  Emmett took flight, landing on Tate’s outstretched arm.

               “Tate, we’ve been over this, don’t try to teach the phoenixes tricks,” Fiddleford said tiredly.

               “Percy doesn’t mind.”

               “I ain’t so sure ‘bout that.”

               “They’re birds.  It’s not like they’re people,” Tate said, rolling his eyes.  Fiddleford frowned at him.  “…You can’t ground me anymore, I’m an adult.”

               “I can still scold ya.  How many times do I have to remind ya, treat these birds with respect!  Fer one thing, they’re magic.  ‘Member what happened when yer dad ticked off Pele and Prometheus? He got stuck as a toddler fer a week.”

               “I don’t think they’d do that to me,” Tate said firmly.  Fiddleford sighed.

               “Just take Percy downstairs fer some playtime, will ya?”

               “Yep.  Bye, birds!” Tate called.  The rest of the phoenixes in the aviary chirped goodbyes at him as he walked downstairs.

               “Sorry ‘bout Tate,” Fiddleford said to the aviary as a whole, once Tate was gone.  “We keep tryin’ to talk to him, but it just won’t stick.”

               “Y’know what’ll make it stick?” Stan cawed.  “Tellin’ him the truth!”  Fiddleford looked at Stan.

               “If ya were suggestin’ again that we tell him the truth, I’ll say what I’ve said before.  We don’t want him to know.”

               “Why not?” Daisy chirped. Fiddleford shook his head.

               “I ain’t havin’ this conversation when I can’t understand ya, sweetie.”  He walked over to the food stand.  “Thanks fer actin’ like ya didn’t want him near, Lute,” Fiddleford said softly.  “He might not be suspicious at first, if the phoenix we picked up yesterday was tame, but over time, it’d be more evidence that somethin’s fishy with the operation here.”

               “It’s whatever,” Lute cawed.

               “And you don’t mind if Tate assigned ya the name Jasper, do ya?” Lute looked at him.  “Oh.  Um, nod if yer fine with Jasper.”  Lute bobbed his head.  “Good. That’ll make him happy.” Fiddleford began to fill the food dishes.  “Did ya have a good night’s sleep?”  Lute shook his head.  “Aw, shoot. Sorry, lil brother.  You’ll get used to it.  I’ll be callin’ Ma ‘n Pa after I’m done up here, to give ‘em the news.” Lute deflated.

               “Not lookin’ forward to that,” Lute mumbled.  “I just know they’re goin’ to insist on comin’ up here to chew me out in person.”

               “It’ll be fine,” Fiddleford said gently.  He scratched the top of Lute’s head.  “Oh, Angie?”

               “Yeah?” Angie chirped.

               “Don’t forget, you’ve got that follow-up appointment tomorrow,” Fiddleford told her.  Angie nodded. Fiddleford let out a small sigh. “Geez, now that yer a bird, Lute, we’ll have to take ya in fer veterinary check-ups, too.”

               “What?!” Lute screeched.

               “Actually, I wonder if the vet can squeeze ya in tomorrow.”

               “Fiddleford!” Lute squawked in protest.

               “You broke yer wing.  You need a check-up with someone licensed in veterinary medicine,” Fiddleford said shortly. “But there’s no need to panic; the vet knows our phoenixes are sentient.  She’s very accommodatin’.”

               “He’s right,” Stan said.  “You should go get a check-up.  And yeah, once they told the vet that we’re sentient, she started treating us more like people.”  Lute huddled down in his nest.

               “‘Like’ bein’ the key word there,” Lute grumbled.  “I’m not a person no more, I’m a dang bird.”

               “A very fine-lookin’ bird,” Angie said kindly.

               “Yeah, you’ll pick up a hen in no time,” Stan said.  Lute glared at him.  “…What’d I say?”

               “Stanley, I’m gay.  I don’t want to attract any lady birds.”

               “Oh.”  Stan looked at Angie.  “What do phoenixes do if they’re gay?” Angie shrugged.

              “See, Uncle Lute?” Molly called from her nest.  ��They’re just as clueless as you are.”

[mx-requests-forum]

[Fulfilled] Taking Care of Yoo

Prompt: OT7 + sick Kihyun who insists on still taking care of others

Fulfilled by Moderator ReeLee~

Words: 2609

AO3 Link (For Easier Reading)

“Make sure to eat all of your stew, Changkyunnie,” Kihyun instructs, watching the maknae out of the corner of his eye. Changkyun pokes out his lower lip in protest, but the older merely gives him a hard look with which the younger has never been able to argue. He obediently picks up the bowl and holds it to his lips, drinking up the broth. Kihyun nods in approval, albeit not too quickly. He sniffles under his breath, careful not to draw attention to himself.

A flu epidemic has been making its rounds amongst the MONSTA X boys, and it’s finally set its claws onto the main vocalist. It was inevitable, really. Kihyun had been taking care of each of the other members during their bouts of sickness, so it’s only natural for him to have caught it, as well.

“At least it hit us before the comeback,” Hyunwoo mutters around his mouthful of rice. “It’d have been a nightmare trying to do promotions with all of us being sick.” The others nod in agreement, all too busy eating to do much else. Kihyun watches them with the slightest of smiles on his face, glad to have been able to help each of them through it.

“It’s amazing you didn’t catch it, hyung,” Hyungwon interjects, watching Kihyun with observant eyes. He notes how the older merely hums in response. He finds it odd, for wouldn’t that have been a chance to boast about his superior immune system or how he always takes care of himself? It isn’t like Kihyun to miss a chance to brag… “I mean… you haven’t mentioned catching it, so you haven’t… right? Because, you’d tell us if you weren’t feeling well, right?”

“Of course, Wonnie,” Kihyun replies, though unable to make himself meet his dongsaeng’s gaze. Hyungwon glances over at Minhyuk, who in turn leans across the table and presses his hand against the vocalist’s forehead.

“You’re warm,” he states simply. “You should go lie down so you don’t get worse.”

“I’m just warm because I was cooking for you all for over an hour,” Kihyun argues, absolutely not wanting to admit being caught in his lie or to cause a fuss. “Really, Minhyuk-ah. I’m fine.” As if to prove himself, the young man then picks up his bowl and slurps a mouthful of broth down his throat. Minhyuk and Hyungwon glance to each other, unimpressed, but choose to let it go… for now.

 The boys finish their meal with relative speed, all eager to get to bed. It’s been a long couple of weeks between their ailments and comeback preparations, after all. Usually, they’d watch a movie or something, a sort of small date night they have at least once a week every week, but tonight they just can’t muster up the energy for such a thing.

So, that night, they all drift to their own beds, at last feeling up for the next day’s schedule.

 Hyungwon awakens with a sigh the next morning, something not feeling quite right. For one, he’s waking up without a certain hyung’s help. For another thing, no one else seems to be up before him. He thinks for a minute that he might’ve woken up earlier than necessary, so he checks his phone for the time.

He sits up so fast he nearly smacks his face into the ceiling above. There’s only thirty minutes left until the managers are supposed to be here to pick them up for practice!

“HYUUUUNG!!!!”

Hoseok and Hyunwoo wake up with a start, both in a panic due to their dongsaeng’s screams.

“Wonnie?!?!” Hoseok slurs out, rubbing at his eyes. “Wha… What’s wrong??”

“Kihyun didn’t wake us up!” Hyungwon answers, already scrambling down his ladder. He bolts out of the room only to arrive a millisecond later in the other bedroom, where Minhyuk, Kihyun, Jooheon, and Changkyun sleep. Minhyuk’s already lying on the floor, obviously having been tripped up by his mountain of blankets in his quest to get up. Changkyun glances around, terribly confused judging by the pout on his face.

“Kihyunnie-hyung?” Jooheon mumbles from his bottom bunk across from Minhyuk. “Is something wrong? Wonnie-hyung seems really upset that you didn’t wake us.” The rapper pokes his head out from the shadows to stare up at Kihyun’s bunk above him, but there’s no answer from the older. Hyungwon frowns at this, at the unmoving blankets on Kihyun’s bed. Minhyuk rolls himself out of his cocoon with a ‘umph’, and quickly scrambles over to the other side of the room.

He stands and pokes gingerly at Kihyun, frowning in concern for his most annoying boyfriend. The smallest of hums is the only response from the lead vocalist. All boys in the room share a worried look, and Minhyuk reaches through the rails of the bunk bed to feel his face.

“He’s running a temperature…” Minhyuk comments. “Wonnie, go get a damp cloth. Jooheonney, get some broth.” The two nod and immediately race from the room, hurrying to complete their assigned tasks. Hyunwoo and Hoseok shuffle into the room, frowning at the raucous.

“What’s going on?” Hoseok asks, leaning on their leader for support. Hyunwoo notices Hyungwon rushing back through the hall. He pulls Hoseok closer to him, resting them both against the wall behind them to keep out of the way.

“Kihyun-hyung is sick…” Changkyun mumbles, his eyes drifting down towards his lap with an unreadable light. “I got him sick… I was the last one he took care of… I got him sick…”

“No, Kkungie,” Hoseok interjects, suddenly very full of energy indeed as he moves across the room to comfort the maknae. “Kihyunnie took care of all of us. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I mean, I was the one that brought sickness into the house.” He pulls his bottom lip in between his teeth in a pout, whirling about to face Kihyun’s sleeping form. “I’m sorry, Kihyunnie!” he cries out, dramatically flinging himself towards the bunk.

“Get him out of here,” Minhyuk says to no one in particular, rolling his eyes. Honestly, that hyung can be so overly theatric sometimes… Hyunwoo chuckles warmly, and walks over to pull Hoseok away, who’s now begun to sniffle in guilt.

“Come on, Kkungie,” he calls to Changkyun. “We’ll go to the store and get some more supplies.” Changkyun nods quickly and hurries from his bed, glad to finally have something to do. Minhyuk and Hyungwon share a glance, their eyes revealing a silent guilt within.

“I knew something was wrong last night…” Hyungwon mumbles, shifting on his feet as he hands Minhyuk the rag.

“I should’ve stayed on him about it until he cracked,” Minhyuk adds. He presses the cloth to Kihyun’s forehead, and the vocalist finally shifts around in his blankets. His eyes slowly crack open, the light in them dull. His cheeks are redder than they should be, and his nose is running a little. He peers blearily at his bandmates, utterly confused as to why they’re staring at him like that…

“What?” he croaks out, unable to hide the wince that comes with the strain of speaking. The two visuals give him an unamused frown, crossing their arms simultaneously. Kihyun rolls his eyes and scoots further down into his blankets, wishing very much in this moment to escape their gazes.

“You lied to us last night,” Hyungwon states bluntly, earning a whine of protest from the sick man. Hyungwon’s heart pangs guiltily at how harsh his tone had been, but he can’t soften up now, or else Kihyun may get the stupid idea that this is okay to do. Minhyuk drops his arms to grasp onto Hyungwon’s wrist, his eyes growing into a puppy-dog pout at the younger. He agrees that Kihyun shouldn’t get the idea that he can repeat this kind of behavior, but that whine had just been so damn cute…

“Hyung~” Jooheon singsongs from the hall. He pokes his head into the room, scoping out the situation. “I brought broth,” he goes on to say, trying for a dimpled grin to try and subdue his hyungs’ obvious aggravation. Kihyun whines again, a muffled, high-pitched, adorable little sound emitting from the bed.

“We should get you out of here, so we can wash your sheets,” Hyungwon huffs out. He wants to rip Kihyun a new one, but that’s nothing compared to the desire he has to just take care of his hyung. He turns to Jooheon, who merely nods in silent understanding and steps further into the room.

“We’re gonna take you to Hoseok-hyung’s bed,” Minhyuk tells the vocalist gently, his mind going immediately to the only non-bunk bed in the dorm. “Can you get up for us, Kihyunnie? Please~?” He speaks in an overly sweet tone, one that he knows will always work on the slightly-younger. Kihyun nods a little, and weakly sits up from his terribly comfortable position.

He feels absolutely spent, shaking with even the simplest of movements. His breathing is a bit labored, and his chest feels as if it’s filled to the brim with cotton. Jooheon quickly pushes the mug of broth in Hyungwon’s hands as they watch with pained hearts their beloved Kihyunnie’s struggle down the ladder. He crouches down, offering the older his back. Kihyun has half a mind to reject the younger’s gesture, but his head is already spinning from the short crawl it takes to get out of his bed… He knows he can’t very well make it to Hoseok’s bed without some help.

He rests his whole body against Jooheon’s back, practically draping himself over the rapper. He hums at how blissfully warm Jooheon feels, and snuggles as close as he can. His breath tickles his dongsaeng’s neck as he’s piggybacked into the other bedroom, the feel of his small heart beating against Jooheon’s back causing his dongsaeng to smile.

 Jooheon gently sets him in Hoseok’s bed and tucks him in. Hyungwon and Minhyuk had trailed behind, making sure Kihyun didn’t fall off, and now sit around the sick vocalist.

“You guys have to go to practice,” Kihyun mumbles, his typically-strong voice barely audible in the quiet room. “I’ll be fine, really.” Hyungwon scoffs as he leans forward to hand Kihyun the mug of broth, which the older takes and gulps down. It isn’t as if he feels very hungry right now, but he knows it’s better to keep some kind of fluids in his stomach right now.

“I don’t think so,” Minhyuk chuckles out, rolling his eyes. “You didn’t leave us while we were sick. What makes you think we’d leave you?” Kihyun hands over the now-empty mug and sighs heavily. He buries himself into Hoseok’s blankets, smiling a little at how much the bedding smells like his hyung’s perfumes. Hyungwon hums his agreement, and balls up his own lank form into a little ball next to Kihyun. He rests his head against Kihyun’s stomach, closing his eyes.

“The managers will—”

“Let me deal with the managers,” Minhyuk interrupts, holding up a silencing finger. “Just go back to sleep.” He stands to make a call, and Jooheon gladly takes his place to snuggle up with Kihyun and Hyungwon. Kihyun grumbles in defeat, allowing his eyes to drift closed once more. He honestly doesn’t have the energy to argue right now, so he’ll just save it for later.

 Hyunwoo, Hoseok, and Changkyun return a little while later with their arms full of plastic bags. They’ve got about twenty different types of medicine, as they don’t know which one Kihyun usually buys for them when they’re sick, cooling cloths, tissues, and a bunch of instant soups for the older to eat. Hyunwoo takes all the bags and gestures for them to go look for the others as he makes his way to the kitchen to put everything up.

They check Kihyun’s shared room, and are confused when they see no one in there. They then go to Hoseok’s room he shares with Hyungwon and Hyunwoo, and nearly cry out in protest at the cuddle pile going on without them. Minhyuk glances up from his phone, and lifts his head a little from Jooheon’s lap to smile at them in greeting. They don’t even hesitate before joining in on the snuggles, somehow worming their ways into the tangled limbs. They each rest a caring hand on Kihyun’s body, who only hums contentedly in his sleep at the touch.

 Hyunwoo wanders in a minute later, a warm chuckle coming to him at the sight that awaits him. He takes off his coat and slides into bed next to Jooheon, placing the box of medicine he’d brought with him on the bedside table as he moves, who’s smile grows a little at the sudden warmth his body’s added to the mix. He releases his hold on Kihyun only long enough to tug Hyunwoo closer, and then returns to holding Kihyun in his arms.

“You guys don’t have to make a fuss,” Kihyun suddenly mumbles, surprising them all. When had he woken up? “You can go to practice… We need to be perfect this comeback.” Hyunwoo wordlessly retrieves the medicine and pops out a serving of the melting tablets.

“Say ‘ahh’,” he requests, ignoring the vocalist’s words. Kihyun frowns at his hyung, but complies and opens his mouth wide. Hyunwoo drops the pills into his mouth, under his tongue, and smiles in complacency as he returns to holding Jooheon.

“Just let us take care of you, hyung,” Changkyun mutters, scooting closer to Kihyun’s body through the sheets. “You take care of us all the time. We love you, and want to take care of you. So, please, let us.” Kihyun sighs in defeat, at a loss to what kind of argument he could use against that.

“… I love you all, too,” is all he says in return, and then he drifts back into sleep.

The boys follow his lead all too easily, all sleeping easily while cradling their beloved Kihyunnie in their arms.

 “Yah yah yah!” Kihyun barks at them three days later, a hand placed irately on his hips as he flings out his index finger towards the shoe rack. “Hoseok-ah! Come get your damned shoes and put them in the rack, not around it!”

“Can he be sick again?” Hyungwon mutters under his breath to no one in particular as he sits on the couch next to Minhyuk. “He’s so annoying when he’s healthy…” He rests his head in the older visual’s lap, stretching out his limbs with a contented sigh.

“I heard that, dongsaeng,” Kihyun tells him, frowning at the lanky boy. “You’d better watch it, or else I’ll make a delicious dinner that you can’t have.”

“You wouldn’t do that to me…” Hyungwon protests with a pout. “How could you? I just nursed you back to full health!”

“Kihyunnie~” Hoseok chuckles sweetly, pulling the vocalist over to join them on the couch. “Forget about the shoes and enjoy a movie with us… Please? It’s been forever since we’ve done that.” He adds in a signature pout to seal the deal, and Kihyun can only sigh in defeat as he sits in between Hoseok and Minhyuk, picking up Hyungwon’s legs and resting them in his own lap. Changkyun scurries over to Hoseok and snuggles up against his side, while Jooheon and Hyunwoo take a seat on Minhyuk’s other side.

Kihyun’s heart grows at all the love surrounding him, and he finds himself scooching a little to get closer to his two hyungs. He leans his head over to rest on Minhyuk’s shoulder, a small smile dancing across his lips.

He’s gotta admit, he’s got a pretty good life.