#i can understand the confusion - its not actually a big blinking EXIT sign but rather an 'unfollow' button

[bigskydreaming]

TFW you realize you relate more to a fave character than you ever actually consciously realized, lmao. 

So I was just having a remote therapy session, and we were focusing on just some mental pain management techniques since my stupid metabolism makes most pain meds largely useless and my head has been waging all out warfare on me for the past week and a half, lololol. And we were delving into one of my personal fave rants, which is the fact that so many people - including vaunted medical professionals - just fundamentally don’t seem to get that having a high pain tolerance does not mean you don’t like, FEEL pain unless its really a lot or intense. Its just that you’re hard-wired/trained/geared via stuff like an abusive childhood, lol, to not SHOW or DISPLAY any visible or audible pain cues unless the pain reaches a certain high threshold where its impossible to hold them back.

But particularly over the past four or five years, with my ongoing medical shit, its super obnoxious trying to get your doctors to display a sense of urgency about your condition because they’re just fundamentally not grasping the degree of chronic pain you’re dealing with every day, since, y’know....I can literally be sitting there in the doctor’s chair and conversationally talking about the fact that no, I definitely am currently feeling like, an eight or nine out of ten on the pain scale, please don’t be confused by the fact that I’m literally LOLing as I describe this to you rather than gasping and moaning in a more obvious indication of it. 

Its like, I’m not TRYING to undersell it or anything, its just, when you grow up since the time you’re like five or six years old, knowing damn well that the only appropriate response to someone asking ‘oh am I hurting you’ that won’t earn you MORE pain is a completely casual or cavalier sounding ‘nope, I’m fine, all good here, no problems.’......like, at a certain point in your development, that becomes pretty hard-wired in, like, you can’t shake it just because you consciously WANT to. (Though it is one of the things I’m trying to unlearn and ‘rewire’ in therapy now, via EMDR techniques aimed at like, literally reprogramming my nervous system and how I react to various stimuli. Its.....slow progress, lmao, but I mean there is some progress so its all good).

But point being, when you’re a physically abused kid and your physical abuser doesn’t want to believe or accept that they’re hurting you, and so they tended to just get angrier and MORE dangerous if they thought you were indicating or even just ‘implying’ that they were in fact hurting you.....you get pretty damn good at not showing even the slightest hint of pain or distress unless its literally a level you’ve never experienced before and thus have no practical experience in hiding or distracting yourself from.

But that doesn’t mean you don’t FEEL every bit of it. It doesn’t mean you’ve found a magical off-switch that means you can just mind-over-body yourself from acknowledging or being aware that you are in fact in a shit ton of pain. You just.....have learned the importance of masking it, and found ways to do that by necessity.

Except, even much later in life when you are in a safe place or more control of your situations or surroundings, there’s no easy way to just....stop putting that mask on by default, the second you’re experiencing any type of pain. And so even when dealing with medical professionals, too many of them just don’t GET that their vaunted ‘tell me how much pain you’re in from one to ten’ scale isn’t really the be-all and end-all of pain measurement, because its subjective and arbitrary as HELLLLLLLLL.....and one of the defining parameters for what that pain scale looks like and feels like for YOU, is....your personal history with pain and how you’re ‘comfortable’ displaying evidence of it. (And I know there’s a ton of people and even groups of people who can relate to this for entirely different reasons, I just can only speak to my own of course). 

But its definitely frustrating and invalidating as hell to be in more pain than many people ever experience in their lives, and TRYING to convey that as openly and honestly as you can.....and literally being able to SEE the doubt and dismissal in doctors’ eyes, because all they’re seeing is the visual cues you’re putting out there and which they equate to ‘can’t possibly be in THAT much pain, not if he’s acting this casual about it’.....

And so the frustrating irony is that you end up dismissed as like, a pain ‘lightweight’ who is complaining about an apparent degree of pain that’s barely anything in their ‘professional’ estimation. And thus they’re disinclined to take your requests for heavier or more effective pain medication seriously, or not impressed by your attempts to imbue a greater sense of urgency in their approach to your treatment plan or procedures, etc......when in reality, the only reason you’re showing those cues of not being in that much pain is because you’re MORE used to and familiar with even extremely high degrees of pain than anything a lot of them are accustomed to.

Its invalidating as hell, being treated as though you have no idea what you’re talking about when you say “I am actually in a shit ton of active, ongoing pain, hey thanks, can we maybe do something about this,” when actually, the disconnect comes from you having MORE experience with MORE pain than some of them can even fathom. You just....also have more experience with reasons not to SHOW that pain, if its at all avoidable to any degree whatsoever.

THAT’S what high pain tolerance actually means, and the sheer volume of medical professionals who just flat out don’t get this, or worse, just don’t care or are too proud to reassess their viewpoints on this matter if that carries the implication they don’t actually know as much as they think they do......god, it grates.

(Once, when I was around twenty-three or twenty-four I think, I got caught up in the periphery of a bar fight that resulted in me getting a shard of glass embedded in the back of my forearm. Still have a pretty sizable scar from it. And it absolutely hurt like fuck, but I was conscious as paramedics arrived on scene and when going to the hospital to have it removed and stitched up, and like......kinda cracking jokes about it the whole time because I was uncomfortable as hell and didn’t really know what else to do or how to react, y’know? I mean, I had a few inches of glasses jutting out from the top of my forearm, lol, what the hell are you supposed to do or say about that? There’s not really a protocol, lmao. Problem was, they took one look at me sitting there with this spear of glass sticking out of my arm and making dumb jokes about it like it was no big deal......and they decided this meant I was in shock and kept trying to treat me accordingly. And it was just like.....useless, because lol no I wasn’t in shock, I had none of the physical symptoms of being in shock and benefited from none of their assumptions that I was.....I was just a dude with a shard of glass in his arm that hurt like fuck and I really wanted it out as soon as possible, and I was in full awareness of what had happened and everything I was feeling, I just didn’t know how to convey this in a way that they would believe, because I couldn’t come up with anything to say or do other than laugh about how fucking surreal the whole situation was.)

Anyway, so circling back to the point, or as much of one as I ever have, so today I was just learning and practicing various mental pain management/coping techniques with my therapist and discussing my issues with doctors and the High Pain Tolerance Quandary. Basically like, I would really truly like to know or learn how to display the ‘expected’ physical and visual/audio cues for being a person who is experiencing a ‘4′ on the pain scale, versus a person who is experiencing a ‘7′ or a ‘10′.....so they can stop fucking treating me like I’m only at a 4 when I’m actually at an 8 or 9, just because I look and sound like a person who really is only at a 4 no matter what they actually CLAIM to be feeling.

Course, easier said than done.

But yeah, so as she was coaching me through various techniques and surveying what I was doing with my body and facial expressions and cues, etc, she pointed out something that I had literally never noticed about myself before, even though once she DID point it out I could recognize that its something I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember, well back before I was ten and no doubt stemming from smack dab in the midst of the worst of my childhood abuse.

So, y’know on Teen Wolf, how Scott and Liam and various others are at times shown digging their claws into their palms and drawing blood to ground themselves with the pain? (And ironically, how I was just talking the other week about photo doubling for a similar such scene with gashes in the character’s palms, lmfao). Well, obviously I don’t have claws, and part of why I’d never really paid much attention to when I was doing it is because even my therapist wasn’t comfortable classifying it as a kind of self-harm or anywhere near punitive enough to carry that kind of weight or associations.....

But like, I’ve always kept my fingernails fairly trimmed but not completely. Like, just enough of an edge to them that at times, particularly when I’m in physical pain or distress already, I’ll just like....dig my fingernails into the pad of other fingertips, and use that little familiar spike of pain to not ground myself but rather distract myself from whatever else I was feeling. Like, she wasn’t comfortable calling it a self-punitive technique because as we got into it, it was clear I was never doing it to CAUSE myself pain....rather, its something I only do when I’m already in pain, usually far more pain than anything that brings up.....but by deliberately doing that and creating a focal awareness around it, even just a largely subconscious one......I’ve apparently long been using that to hook my attention up to a very specific, very manageable sensation/focal point of pain that lets me and my ADHD brain relegate whatever other pain I’m feeling (even if its much much worse) to the back of my mind for at least a little while, as I distract myself by focusing on this more obvious and consciously directed bit of lesser pain. 

And a big part of why I probably never noticed I was doing this, we eventually concluded, is because as a kid I probably came up with it as a kind of survival technique specifically BECAUSE it was something I could do to distract myself/manage my pain covertly, without drawing my abuser’s attention to what I was doing either. And by extension, without the fact that I was doing it at all 'betraying’ that I was in pain or trying to manage or cope with painful sensations in the first place. A lot of other pain management techniques, like even just deep, deliberate breaths, tend to be a lot more obvious and noticeable, and thus would have been counter-productive for my specific purposes. No matter how much they helped me manage whatever physical pain I was feeling, they would have at the same time inevitably drawn attention to the fact that I was trying to do that at all in the first place....and thus only invite more pain. 

Merely digging my fingernails into my fingertip pads, not enough to draw blood or make me cry out or anything like that, but rather just to distract myself and deliberately focus me on a source of pain I could deal with and more easily handle, as well as being ‘low in intensity’ enough that focusing on it didn’t bring any other obvious visual or audio pain cues to the forefront.....that I could do without anyone noticing. And thus this is likely why it came to be my go-to move whenever I was in any kind of pain at all, as just a quick and easy way to wrap my head around my physical sensations and shift focus to something more easily dealt with or managed (even if it didn’t actually dismiss or get rid of whatever other pain I’m feeling entirely). And just the low-key nature of it in general likely being a big part of why it became such an unconscious instinct for me until now, something that barely even registered in my conscious mind as I built up/hard-wired instinctive responses that incorporated it without me having to consciously direct myself to do that.

I mean, its still obviously not an ideal response, especially when I’m long past being stuck in any kind of external situations or need to fall back on that and the covert nature of it. So now its another of those things to just be aware of and work on rewiring on an instinctive level, making it a priority for me to focus on consciously using more helpful and positive methods of pain management.

But it was just interesting to me to have it pointed out as something I’ve been doing all this time, let alone being as unaware of doing it as I’ve apparently been. And its not hard to draw obvious parallels to when characters in media I consume do similar things even if for not quite the same reasons or in quite the same ways. So now I’m just kinda contemplating that and wondering how much even just some degree of unconscious awareness that I do that might have made me more alert to when characters or other people do similar things. Made me more attuned to noticing or even fixating on moments when they do things like that, that I related to even on an entirely subconscious level.

*Shrugs* Anyway, that’s all, like, literally not going anywhere with this, was just unwinding and felt like mapping my way through that all contemplatively, because oh no, inexplicable strangeness, therapy puts me in particularly contemplative headspaces, whodathunkit, lmfao. *Shrugs* Just struck me as particularly interesting, so felt like sharing for anyone else who can relate/see similar parallels themselves.

Or just chalk it up to random anecdotal wtf-ery from your friendly (err, mostly. okay sometimes. FINE ideally, let’s go with that) neighborhood over-sharer. 

[notnctu]

POV | PART TWO

━ ❝ i’d love to see me from your point of view.❞

❀ lee donghyuck x fem!reader ❀ genre - slow burn, fluff! angst, (optional smut is marked with ****) ❀ details - best friends to lovers!au, college!au, ft. best friend mark, slice of life?, inspo by pov by ariana grande ❀ word count - 6.1k ❀ warnings - swearing, dangerous reckless behavior, fingering, penetration, public?sex?, unprotected, slight dirty talk ❀ synopsis - Donghyuck gradually falls in love with you, his best friend, through unprecedented intimate moments that reveal more than what meets the eye and a drunken shared kiss on your birthday makes him realize how hard he’s fallen for you. You’re oblivious to it all, trying to indulge and seek a one true love through bad tinder hookups or men you meet at the club, all to only end in self doubt that Donghyuck has to reconcile. And he always tells you what you need to hear, while also leaving out the part where he so badly wishes you can love yourself the way he loves you.

❀ a/n - make sure you read the first part as it’s a continuation! please please leave me feedback, i would really appreciate it :) this is going to be my last long fic for the time being! thanks for dealing with my spam for the past few weeks after months no of writings <3

READ PART ONE

Donghyuck thought about that kiss every night since it happened, yet knowing you didn’t do the same. How unfortunate it was, when he panicked waking next to you in the morning and wondering if you were to confront him about it. However, there was nothing, no follow up. You didn’t remember it and he couldn’t tell if the sigh that left his mouth that morning was out of relief or despair. 

Regardless, that became his epiphany and the more his love for you grew, the more he wished to be around you for all his days. Donghyuck jumped at every text message, picking up the phone to see if it was you and noting the disappointment in his heart whenever it wasn’t. He found himself smiling whenever your name was brought up, fondly thinking of how you make his heart race. 

The moments that you were together, he swears on every universe that he’s the happiest he’s ever been. There’s something about you that makes him want to believe in love, and it’s not because of your unrealistic desires to find one. As selfish as he came to be, he wanted you all to himself and to be the sole reason behind your smiles.

“No Mark?” Asking as you hop into Donghyuck’s car, the clock on his dash reading the red digital numbers 2:12 A.M. 

“Why can’t we just hang out for once?” He whines, but hopes that it’s playful enough to where you can’t tell that he’s actually serious. Donghyuck hears your melodic chuckle and everything inside him rumbles with glee and satisfaction. 

He steals quick peeks over at you in the passenger seat, greedily taking in your appearance. “That’s not exactly how a throuple works, but I’ll let it pass. Mark never has time for us anyways.” 

There is something so intimate about the late nights; the outside world is dead in its sleep and vulnerable to chaos. The streets are completely empty and it truly feels as if it’s you two against the city. It brings no regulations, easy escapes, staying up all night to feel something the day can’t give you. 

You are the perfect person to spend them with. You’re the very definition of a good feeling, where he’s forgetting all his bad days and soaring through the heavens. The most accurate human form of excitement, the adrenaline and sweetest thrills that run throughout his body. 

“There’s something I’ve always wanted to do…” As Donghyuck pulls into a gas station parking lot, the small convenient store is brightly lit with a blinding white sign that reads a popular chain establishment. 

Hyuck blinks at you curiously, head tilt and waiting for you to finish your sentence. Getting out of the car, you stand on your toes and rest your chin on the roof of his car to speak directly to him, “you know that big intersection over on 34th Boulevard?” He catches the mischievous twinkle that shines in your eyes and a grin so fearless fits your face perfectly.

He nods, spinning his car keys on his finger and walking up to the store. But he’s looking back at you with eyes that ask for you to proceed with him, and you’re running towards him with a sudden youthful energy and a jump in your step. 

Your hand latches onto his arm and his gaze drops momentarily to follow it, “I’ve always wanted to just run down the middle of it. To run down a busy traffic area when it’s empty, knowing that this would be the only opportunity to do it without getting run over.” 

“Is that what you’re suggesting we should do next?” Hyuck opens the fridge and grabs his favorite prepackaged ice cream cone. Your grip on his sleeve tightens, your dazzling eyes never leaving his.

He hands you a random popsicle and you take it mindlessly, your train of thought still trying to convince Hyuck to embark on achieving this new thrill of yours. “If you didn’t have anything else planned…”

“Am I some Fairy Godmother? Granting your wishes to come true?” Using sarcasm to hide his undying desire to scream yes! may be the best thing he’s learned to utilize. However, you don’t need to beg any more when a small smile curves at his lips. He’s more than convinced.

“Ah, a happy couple. You two look great together.” The rather talkative cashier compliments while he rings up the icey treats. 

Just before Hyuck can clarify, you’re pulling him closer by the arm and using your fake saccharine smile. “The best boyfriend ever!” His throat freezes, but he’s following your lead closely. Confusion wandering his thoughts, but heart swelling at your usage of the word boyfriend to reference him. 

The friendly stranger laughs wholeheartedly at your giddy act, completely falling for your overplayed nature of a lovey dovey girlfriend. “He always buys me what I want, like this ice cream. He knows it’s my favorite.” You blink innocently up at him, but he finally understands your malicious motive.

Shooting a glare at you, he complies silently and pulls out his card to pay for both of your treats. “Right. Anything my baby wants.” He says the pet name so easily that it shocks him a bit. 

“Hey, you’re a good man.” The clueless cashier smiles even wider and prints the receipt. With a simple gratitude, you both exit the store and you’re laughing the loudest form of mockery.

Jumping into the car, Hyuck is quick to roll his eyes. “He always buys me what I want.” He imitates your previous statement with a silly voice. “I can’t believe you robbed me.” 

The ridiculous scheme actually managed to work, leaving your stomach to hurt from the intense fit of giggles. “My baby? Where did you learn that?” You say between your spurts of laughter.

Heat rises up his neck, slightly embarrassed. “So what? Nicknames are cute.” He admits bashfully, while shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. 

Your chuckles die down and you’re leaning over the middle console to get a closer look of his expression. “Really? Didn’t think you were the type. You never used them with your exes.” 

“Around you.” A cringe runs down your spine when you witness Hyuck bite his ice cream, settling back in your seat with a grumble.

“Pet names in private.” Now, his palms grow a bit slick with perspiration. “That’s endearing.” Unwrapping your melting popsicle, you don’t probe him more about the subject. Instead, Hyuck turns up the stereo to drown out any more talk about romantic gestures.

After several rounds of finding street parking, Hyuck finally swerves into a spot situated just before the large six-way intersection. The traffic lights blink in view at the end of the street and in the darkness, there are no cars around. An unfamiliar scene, this place is nothing but a wide open road with five lanes that meet in the middle and lead to six different directions. The white painted lines that divide up the road are as chaotic as it looks during the day filled with traffic.

Nonetheless, you are right. There is no other chance to see it so dead, so empty, so free. 

And you’re already hopping out of the car that Hyuck breaks his daydream and hurries after you. Standing the middle of the road is a dangerous scheme, yet these are the thrill seeking moments that you crave too well. 

Extending your arm out and your palm facing the night sky, you grin enticingly at Hyuck to join you in the middle of the chaotic lines and the adrenaline picks up within him. He, too, matches your smile and lets every form of enthusiasm fuel him. 

“Race you to the end.” Hyuck begins bolting down the long runway, causing you to scoff in disbelief at his sudden challenge. 

The wind that takes flight against his body is crisp on his skin and driving his strands into a wild mess. Turning around, he sees that you’re quick on his tail. However, the one thing that catches his eye… the one thing that makes this moment another one of your most beautiful ones is the utter bliss and peace in your facial expression. 

Eyes are closed and arms are spread out as if you’re letting the wind carry you away. The air slips between the spaces of your fingers and the night is filled with nothing, but your gentle out of breath giggles. 

Donghyuck stops in his tracks right under the colorful traffic lights at your astonishing image. And if you are to open your eyes, you’ll see the marvelous image of your sun waiting for you in the middle of the largest intersection of the city with his mouth slightly agape and marked under a trance.

An exasperated sigh escapes as a puff of smoke and his heart works extra hard to pump oxygen in his veins. In his perspective, the excellent city skyline at the horizon remains your background and you’re running toward him with a breathless joy. Another splitting breathtaking image that will live in his mind for as long as he knows you.

So he throws caution to the wind and though it feels too good to be true, he loves his best friend more than anyone he’s ever come across.

By the end of your rendezvous, you two find a secret rooftop to fully enjoy your silent city. Standing side by side, you both lean with your elbows on the ledge. 

There is something so unspoken and intimate about this very moment, where existing in each other’s presences becomes wholly more comfortable than anything in the world. And this safety allows for vulnerable secrets to spill, for questions that your heart has always been afraid to ask to fall from your lips. 

But you’re not here with just anybody. Donghyuck probably knew what was already on your mind, he just needed you to speak them into existence.

“Hyuck, do you think I’m unlovable?” 

Perhaps, it’s the intimacy that allows for him to talk more confidently about how he views you. Heart over mind, he scoffs in disbelief. “Absolutely not. You’re the most lovable person I know! From your happy giggles to your overall easy going aura. We’re not perfect people, but you’re worth every glance and every praise. I wanted to be with you the very moment you made me laugh.” 

Donghyuck passionately rambles on about your attributes and everything you’ve allowed him to experience over the years of your friendship. While he’s always been there for you, you’re always by his side and making sure he’s living a memorable life. He thanks all his sweetest memories to you, that you are the most impactful person of his entire college experience.

“I came to college thinking I’d have my nose in textbooks all day long, but you fell into my life like an opportunity to escape. I love my nights trying to crush Mark on the leaderboards, but I’d give that up any day to run down a major intersection in the middle of the city with you.” 

With a playful soft chuckle, you say something that practically makes his heart stop and regret oversharing. “You know, from how you describe me… it almost sounds like you’re in love with me.”

“Maybe I am.” He bites the inside of his cheek, unsure what suddenly overcame him. His heartbeat pounds in his ears and he’s anticipating your response, trying every way to decipher the quizzical look on your face. Nevertheless, your hesitation causes him to panic and he intercepts before you can respond. “I meant that as your friend.” 

His heart drops into the pit of his stomach, gaze averting away from you. Lies. Lies. More fucking lies. He should’ve waited to see what you would’ve said. 

Nodding knowingly, you lightly place your hand over his. The warmth of your touch soothes his aching and disappointment. Why is he hurting from a simple look? “I know.” He can’t tell what’s worse, the fact that you truly believe he only loves you as a friend or that you saw right through him and are trying to let him save face. 

“Something happened the night of your birthday that I think I should tell you.” Hyuck sighs out all his frustrations. 

He pulls his hand from underneath yours, “you asked me to kiss you as a birthday favor.” There is no confidence to watch your reaction, his eyes remain focused on the dark city. 

Instead of a painstaking rejection, you laugh wholeheartedly and somehow, he feels much lighter. “And did you?”

“How could I say no to you on your birthday?” Peering over, your fingers softly graze your lips and a wandering look is present in your dazed stare.

“It’s not the first time we’ve kissed, Hyuck.” Smiling at him, Hyuck looks cluelessly at you and doesn’t recall another time. He would’ve remembered. 

“Guess who I stole that same request from?” Your eye lashes bat firmly at him and he gulps at your implied question. There was no way.

“Me? When?” This all causes him to rack his brain of lost files, something he must’ve missed.

Sighing, you bid him a kind smile. “Your birthday party a few months ago. Drunk out of your living mind, you pulled me privately into the kitchen and asked if I could kiss you as a birthday gift.” 

Fuck, no wonder why he couldn’t remember. He didn’t remember a single thing from that night. “It was right after my break up.” 

Nodding, you affirm his realization. “You told me that you felt so lonely, and somehow…. someway… I’ve always made you feel seen. Perhaps, you do the same for me and my drunk ass was bold enough to ask for a similar request.” 

But did you kiss him as if you loved him? With the same amount of love that he did the night of your birthday? 

Nonetheless, you shrug off the topic and move on from it all. “We should go, the sun comes up in a few.” 

Hyuck notes this odd detail. You’re not one to end the nights so abruptly, so it almost seemed as if you didn’t want to speak more about it. 

Perhaps, you did kiss him like you meant it but every fear in your body about loving your best friend stops you from admitting it all. 

Because you shouldn’t love your best friend, but something deep down has always wanted to.

How ridiculous he was to believe that you could ever possibly share the same feelings as him. How foolish he felt the moment you burst into his apartment announcing how you’ve finally found the one after another random Tinder date. 

It’s as the night on the rooftop a week ago didn’t even exist or mean anything to you. But that night ate him up alive, to the point where he sought out love counseling from Mark.

“Oh dude, this is serious.” Mark watches Hyuck pace the room, double around the floorplan with his head in his hands with utter frustration and confusion. You’re the only thing that’s been running through his mind the last few days. 

He grunts and rolls his eyes at how Mark’s face had fallen sullen. “I practically confessed everything I loved about her. It’s pretty serious.”

Mark stands and stops Hyuck by the shoulders, looking dead into his eyes. “I’ve liked her before too and would have done some dumb act to get her to like me back. I get it, Hyuck. So, what do you want to do?”

Donghyuck initially scoffs and tears away from his best friend’s intense stare, “of course you liked her too.” His voice fades out at the end of his sentence. “Mark, I like her so much it’s hard to look at anyone else. She’s…”

“Mesmerizing?” Mark finishes his sentence with a small proud grin on his lips. 

Hyuck couldn’t hold the ridiculous laugh that escapes at how smug Mark looks, but then a silence falls over him. He realizes how perfect that word is to describe you. You are every dazzling trance he’d fawn under. 

“It’s wrong, Mark. She’s our best friend, I can’t ruin us.” Hyuck slumps his shoulders forward and a pout extends. His eyes are wandering the ugly carpet but he’s thinking about every moment you’ve smiled. 

“How did this happen in the first place? I thought you never would’ve liked her…” Mark’s question has Hyuck raking his brain to find his epiphany. “It’s not about your ex, is it? y/n is way too good to be a rebound.” 

“No. This has nothing to do with my old relationships, I genuinely like her… so much.” Hyuck understands the implications in Mark’s sudden abrasive questions. Even it’s difficult for himself to say how it all started and so this has Donghyuck reflecting back on his entire friendship with you.

If only he had noticed your lively smiles sooner, a little earlier, it would have saved him all this time searching for someone who would last. You’ve lasted through every college relationship he’s had and that speaks louder than any confession. 

“I never liked her because I never thought I had a chance. Have you seen her? Our best friend who has 400 matches on Tinder.” Though he blames himself for realizing a little late that he loved you, it was always hard to compete with everyone else. 

“So, what changed then?” 

Hyuck leans against the door to Mark’s room and crosses his arms to contemplate. “Not that I have a chance now, but I can’t hold these feelings back anymore. I want to kiss her until we’re out of breath, to love without any conditions, to be the reason behind her every beautiful moment.” 

Mark raises a confused eyebrow, “but you are.”

“The only reason.” Hyuck speaks his truest desires and Mark coughs aggressively before composing himself. Right, he didn’t stutter one bit. 

So, Hyuck had planned to confess, all until you gave him the very reason he couldn’t. When you showed up unannounced with one of those wide grins that has your eyes shimmering with hope, he just knew something was wrong. All his love and future aspirations were replaced with sheer disappointment and envy.

“I’m falling hard for him.” You begin and your hands are clasped together so innocently. “He brought me to this overlook on a cliff and we just talked for ages. It felt so right and then, he asked to see me again!” Your eyes are completely wondrous and distracted, like the one thought in your mind blocked out everything else. Jumping happily, you’re squealing with excitement thinking about this new person in your life and there is no consideration of Hyuck’s silence.

“That’s… great.” He barely stutters to fill the air and to replace the sound of his heart breaking. He lost you before even getting the chance to even have you. 

“I know right!” You yell joyfully and though your smile is the biggest it's ever been, Hyuck refuses to see this moment as beautiful. He’s no longer looking at you objectively, his bias tainting it all and he sees it in an ugly light. As your best friend, he should be happy for you and rooting for you. He’s known more than anyone else that you have been waiting for someone like this your whole college experience.

However, he can’t feel a single good emotion as you ramble on about your alleged one true love.

“Did you need something?” He cuts you off, growing a bit irritated by your endless praise about a man who never wishes to meet.

Clearing your throat, you take Hyuck’s hand in both of your palms. With begging eyes, you say, “my sister is getting married this weekend and they invited you. 

His hold escapes yours as he walks toward his bedroom, “shouldn’t you invite your new man to your family events now.” It’s difficult for him to hide the bitterness in his voice, but you run up to him and grip his arm. 

“But they think I’m dating you, remember? Plus, my mom referred to you by name. She really likes you.” You snicker, clearly not understanding why Donghyuck seems to be rather distant at the moment.

His ears perk up at the compliment and though it’s a selfish thought, he feels content knowing that he was able to win over your family. So, his heart burns at how your hand slowly travels down to intertwine with his own and how your chin rests on his shoulder lightly. His head turns and he is met a few inches away from your tender lips. For a brief moment, he’s staring at them longer than he should. 

“Come on, Hyuck. Be mine for one more time.” Your whisper is gentle and soft, your breath tickling against his cheek. Despite everything, he loves how you make him feel. It’s always a mixture of happiness and safety. There are no fears with you because you’re absolutely fearless. He can’t imagine how he would’ve opened up without you around, that he puts every form of trust into you. 

So, every little thing that you do. every single passing look. every touch and every spoken word. He falls harder for you every time you simply see him, every time you bat your eyelashes at him. And this love that festers inside of him feels easy and genuine. Perhaps, you’ve been his one true love all along. He’s never felt remarkably seen, where every part is exposed and right at your fingertips. 

And you… have been so patiently waiting for just anyone to steal your heart. How can he let just anyone love you? 

“I’m yours for however long you want me to be.” He lightly ruffles the top of your hair before slightly shrugging you off, afraid that your hold will eventually have him saying other sweet implications. “But don’t expect me to enjoy it.” He smirks at your small chuckle, the roll in your eyes.

“At least pretend.” But he really doesn’t have to. He enjoys every moment being yours. 

When the day finally arrived, the grand wedding may have been another day that Hyuck will never forget how beautiful you looked. Prancing out in your bridesmaid dress, you run towards him through the large field of fake grass. He catches you when you jump into his arms, practically failing all over and tripping over the ends of your chiffon dress. He hits the ground, cushioning your fall. 

“Hey..” you grin down at him breathless, hand resting perfectly on his chest as it was the night of your 21st again.

Hyuck gulps and sends you a glare, “I should have dropped you.” 

“That would have been very chivalrous of you.” Sarcasm bites back at him as you push up and off of him. He’s quick on his feet and brushing off any dust from the bottom of your expensive dress, avoiding the long open slit that runs down to expose one leg.

“Donghyuck, you’re looking ravishing.” Your mother steps out, tall and prideful, but with the most delightful expression as she opens her arms to invite him into a hug. 

He leans into it, while cautiously making suspicious eye contact with you. You shrug back, also confused at why your mother has a sudden change in demeanor. “It’s been so long since the holidays.”

“It’s a pleasure to see you again.” He bids your mother a respectful smile when she pulls away, to which she absolutely fawns at and you’re tugging at his sleeve to drag him away.

“The pleasure is all mine. You make y/n a better person.” And there is no context that Hyuck understands this single phrase before he’s walking away from your force. Your mother waves a small sweet goodbye as she watches you two leave behind a cobblestone wall behind the large reception building.

It’s covered in long vines that grow up the old stones, a beautiful background for an outdoor wedding. “Rude.” He whispers when you finally stop pulling him away.

“She was starting to say odd things.” You laugh, quite nervously actually. Nonetheless, you shake out of your nerves and a beaming expression replaces your troubles. “So, guess what? I’m meeting my man afterwards.” Yet again, the curve of your lips at the thought of another rumbles his own yearning heart.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he looks down while kicking at the loose pebbles on the ground. “Good for you.” grumbles Donghyuck mindlessly.

You don’t notice his low spirits again, you’re talking away about this man as if he’s all you’re consumed with nowadays. On and on, the same speech about how you’re practically ready to give it your all and how he fits someone unimaginable. Eventually, Donghyuck becomes fed up by how your eyes blink up to the sun with another reflection in them. “It’s like you forget who you are when you’re with someone new.” 

And you’re in mid-ramble when you hear his harsh comment that picks aggressively at your skin. It stings, “what?” You cross your arms defensively and raise an eyebrow at him. The tone in your voice is jarringly upset and he opened a can of worms that he isn’t ready for.

Donghyuck swears underneath his breath, looking away at the tall trees behind the small parking lot. “Forget it.” He mumbles, rather frustrated at himself for ticking you off.

“What are you implying?” 

“There is someone that actually makes you a better person rather than someone completely different.” He scoffs, his emotions fueling the worst of him. The words flow from his mouth full of anger and spitefulness. 

Your eyes narrow at him, crossing your arms defensively. “Like you can give me the love you think I deserve? This whole fake boyfriend gimmick has gone too much to your head.”

And his heart is bursting at the seams and all he can see is your angry expression, so he says something he never hopes to regret. Every impulse beats his rationality and in the heat of the moment, Donghyuck confesses, “if only you can see yourself from my point of view and all the emotions I feel when I look at you.” 

With a sharp intake of breath, you’re slightly shocked at his bold statement. You blink cluelessly at him, speechless and deciphering how to respond. The anger fades from the both of you, knowing that the connection you two possess is mutual. Somewhere deep down within you, a light switches on and you’re basking in your sun’s radiance in this moment. 

“Tell me about it.” Your curiosity brings much confusion, but he doesn’t wait a second of hesitation. 

“Happiness, you light up my nights in dark cars with your smile. Trust, there is no one else I’d run down a dangerous intersection with. Courage, being bold enough to dance in a crowded room like no one was watching. Love, when kissing you felt incomparable to anything else in the world. Vulnerability, looking at you and knowing everything about you.” 

Donghyuck takes a cautious step forward toward you. A whirl of thoughts and emotions overwhelmingly flood your heavy mind, but fear no longer holds you back from the one person you’ve always wished to love, harder than any person you’ve ever encountered. “Donghyuck.” 

He freezes at the call of his name, waiting patiently for your next words. “I want to love me the way that you love me... because nobody loves me like you do… even myself. So, I’d love to see me from your point of view.” 

Donghyuck releases the sigh that suffocates him and every firework lights up in his chest. His eyes wander across your canvas and absorb everything wondrous about your features. Even though you’re not entirely smiling, you’re puckering your lips cutely out of embarrassment. And he reassesses how pretty you simply look in your expensive formal chiffon dress and the bold color on your lips that has made you feel good before. 

He thinks aloud, the words leaving his mouth before they can be stopped. “This is your most beautiful moment.” 

When you’re looking up at him to meet his dreamy gaze, a new enthusiasm washes over your entire body. Looking rather inexplicably attractive in his suit, Hyuck stares at you as if you’re all he can see. So, you pull him into the only source of gratitude you can give. A kiss that gives every emotion back to him, one that resembles closely to the one he gave you on your birthday and the one you gave him for his. 

An emotional kiss that tells him more than he can see. He feels it on the tip of your tongue and every ounce of love that rushes over the both of you.

***********

Donghyuck’s wandering hands travel down your waist, over your hips, all until it reaches in between the slit of your dress. His hand instinctively grips at your naked thigh, the feeling of your raw skin driving him wild with impure thoughts. Your hands are quick on his tie, loosening it from around his collar and unbuttoning the first few as you’ve done once before.

“Can,-- Is it okay if--?” Hungry eyes search his face for confirmation, but you’re so lust driven that you’re a stuttering mess. “Do you want this?” 

“Yes.” Says Hyuck without any hesitation. Taking his hand, you’re quick to lead him inside to a more secluded part of the venue. The lavish private bathrooms are brightly lit and he lifts you on top of the marble counters.

“The reception starts in 20 minutes.” You moan as Hyuck kisses down your neck hastily, a hand up the slit of your dress to push your panties aside.

“We’ll make it quick then. I’ll show you love another day.” His knuckle lightly grazes against your erect clit and your grip on his shoulder tightens. Whimpers fall from your lips as your hips mindlessly grind into his hand. “Never took you the type to be so loud.” Hyuck raises an eyebrow and tilts his head mockingly at you.

“This isn’t even close to how loud I can get.” Your statement causes him to swallow hard. Being your best friend, he has kept a rather clear mind from any sexual attraction toward you. He had to know he loved you in order to even see you in that way. 

Gathering your slick, he rubs your clit with two fingers before dipping them into your hole. You lean back into the mirror and prop your feet on the counter to spread open for Hyuck to see. “You let all these idiots fuck your pretty pussy? They don’t deserve you, as a person or a potential partner.” He fingers you deeper and with flicking motions, he hits your sweet spot and causes you to jolt.

“Please, just fuck me. I’ve always wondered how good you’d feel.” His eyes twinkle at your bashful confession, but understands your lustful desires even for your own best friend.

“You think about fucking me?” He asks abruptly, taking his fingers out to suck your juices clean from them. A coined flattered smirk appears on his lips as he unbuckles his belt.

You’re averting eye contact, “well no, maybe just once. I get horny when I’m drunk sometimes.” You admit and he’s rushing to take himself out of his restrictive dress pants. His dick hits the air and he adjusts closer to your dripping core.

And he enters, slowly and slowly inching in so you can adhere to his size. You bite back every yell of pleasure and grip the ends of his dress shirt. Hyuck fills you up deliciously, and you two are connected through bodies beyond any way before. He leans in to give you a sloppy, yet passionate kiss before dragging out his hips and pushing them back in.

There is no guilt, no pain, no sorrows. Knowing Hyuck, he fucks you in the same way he wishes to love you. His hips drive into you passionately and quickly. The time crunch being something that causes him great distraction, but his heart is swelling simply feeling your warmth wrap around him so well.

“My baby is so tight.” Pet names in private. A small grin appears on your face at the sound of the sweet nickname and you pull him closer by tugging his shirt.

“Harder, Hyuck. Don’t hold back anymore.” Moan after moan, Hyuck relentlessly drills into you. His arm is hooked underneath your left thigh to keep it up, and your head keeps banging against the mirror.

Your eyes roll back when his thumb rubs circles on your aching clit. The mixture of both pleasures stimulate you until the build up tension in your stomach begins to reach its peak.

“Cum, I know you fucking want to.” He grunts, keeping the same rhythm that pushes you over your edge. Your walls squeeze around him tightly as your legs shake sporadically from your release. You’re smart to cover your mouth, knowing that the bathroom will only echo your erotic sounds. Your chest rises and falls from the momentum and adrenaline that Hyuck helped you reach, breathlessly trying to calm your heart rate down.

After a few more harsh bumps, he pulls out and motions you forward. Jumping off of the counter, you kneel on the ground and suck his tip lightly. Your swirls are enough for him to empty into your mouth, his hot streams of salty liquid hitting the back of your throat. He looks down at you and your wide eyed expression with his cock in your mouth drives him overboard. 

And you swallow, getting up to lightly plant a sweet kiss on his cheek. A lip stain being worn proudly for just a moment. 

“You amaze me.” Hyuck whispers, holding you against his flushed body and fast paced heart beat. 

“Hurry out you two!” A voice startles the both of you with a knock on the door and you two are quick to readjust yourselves. He hopes to love you a little longer next time, without any interruptions.

***********

After the glorious and excruciating long wedding, you’re walking Hyuck to his car in the small parking lot. During the rest of the night, he held your hand the whole way through and the love that he looked at you with was more than real. 

He talked with your distant relatives as if he’s always known them. Hyuck conducted the dinner table, always knowing what to say. There was no doubt in your head that seeing Donghyuck in the aftermath, he was always going to be someone who was going to make things better. 

The love you long searched for, the love that you had been too afraid to touch, intertwined itself so lovingly underneath the white table cloth. Donghyuck is the one and it took needing to see him a bit more to realize. A little more acceptance from the both of you had to be the final straw.

Donghyuck sheepishly scratches the back of his neck when you reach his car, unsure where the path of your friendship will diverge to next. “Have fun on your date then…” His voice trails off, kicking the rocks at his feet again.

There goes your melodic laughter that soothe his aching heart and the familiar gentle grip on his fingertips. You lift his chin up, the both of you seeing each other clearly now.

From his perspective, you’re absolutely dazzling in the low light and butterflies swirl in the pit of his stomach. He can look at you forever, until months turn into years. He can love you until you two grow old. You’re his fearless, beautiful, inexplicably marvelous best friend. And he patiently waits for the day you’ll let him finally be yours.

From your perspective, Donghyuck shines even when the night overtakes the sky and possibly, the warmth in your heart bubbles across your chest. You can stay with him forever, until months turn into years. You can trust him like it’s you two against the world. He is your silly, charming, timidly benevolent best friend. And you’re slowly falling and hoping for the day you get to be his. 

“I’m not going to see him anymore. He’s not the one.” Hyuck blinks at you, full of confusion and shock.

“But you sounded so happy.” His voice gets lost in the stillness of the intimate atmosphere. 

“No, Hyuck. You make me happy and I’ll say it again for you to hear me. Nobody loves me like you do.” Reaching up, your hand caresses his cheek and he falls into your palm lovingly. His heart runs a mile, reaching the greatest high he’s ever going to feel. He hopes his eyes don’t deceive him, but the utter perfection on your face makes him feel whole.

You wish that Hyuck can teach you to love yourself the way that he loves you. 

“Take me home?” 

“How could I ever say no?”

thank you for being patient with me! its finally done and i will be going on a writing hiatus for a bit. housemating and ridin club will come out sometime soon, but i really need to step away from writing for a bit. please understand, thank you for reading :) 

[buckyownsmylife]

There’s a Light Over at the Frankenstein place - Sebastian Stan fluff

The one where you’ve been set up on a blind date with Sebastian Stan, with whom you had briefly worked and considered to be a friend. The only problem is, does he feel the same way?

Warnings: light angst? I’m incapable of writing anything without a happy ending, so do not worry.

Y/N’s P.O.V.

“Seb?” I asked, honestly surprised to find him walking in with who I assumed to be his mother, by the similarity of their constitutions. His eyes met mine and I could swear he blushed, before looking down to his shoes and averting his eyes to his godmother, who stood next to me.

“You two are witches, do you know that?” He provoked, to which the two women simply giggled. I looked from one woman to the other, not being able to contain the sheepish smile trying to fight its way into my expression.

“I can’t believe this,” I teased Anastasia, who simply rolled her eyes at me, before nudging me with her elbow. 

“Well, you couldn’t stop talking about him since you two met, so we decided to help,” she explained and it was my turn to roll my eyes. 

“So I say that I finally met your grandson and that he really is nice and you read that I’m in love with him? Remind me to never say something to you again, Lord knows how you’re going to interpret it,” she blushed at the comment, but it was obvious by my smile that I was only joking. “Listen, if I have to go out with anyone tonight, I’m glad it’s with you, Seb.” I winked in his direction and didn’t miss the fact that he, yet again, blushed under my gaze.

Georgeta, Sebastian’s mom, grinned at me like I had hung the moon in the sky. I remembered he had told me how big of a fan of my work she was and so I made sure to hug her and introduce myself since he didn’t seem to be too eager to do so at that moment. Soon enough, both she and Anastasia kissed us goodbyes and with their last reminders to behave, finally left us be.

I wasn’t lying about what I had said. I was so incredibly grateful that my blind date turned out to be Sebastian, not only because I thought he was actually cute, but because he was someone I was already comfortable with and I hated the idea of spending my Thursday night with a complete stranger who could bore me to death. There was absolutely no possibility that was going to happen, though, since he was my company.

Despite the fact that we hadn’t known each other for that long, the two weeks we had spent together on set was one of the best experiences of my life. He was simply so freaking funny and considerate and I couldn’t forget the feeling that filled my heart when we spent the whole night looking up at the stars and talking about our greatest fears. It was so nice to find someone who understood my problems with anxiety so well, but every time I thought about the suffering this incredible human being went through because of it, I wanted to wrap him in a blanket cocoon and never let him leave my arms again.

“So…” I started, seeing as we were both still one in front of the other and he hadn’t made any movement that indicated his decision to sit down at the table Anastasia and I had picked when we arrived. “Do you want to stay here or would you rather go somewhere else?” I asked, watching as he finally looked me in the eyes, scratching his nape.

“Whatever you wish, darling…” he stated, but I could still see the clear discomfort in his stance. I looked around me once, weighing the trendy restaurant his godmother had brought me to before voicing what I had already decided. 

“Let’s get out of here,” I pulled him to me by the sleeve of his coat, locking our arms together before we let the cold air of Los Angeles’ evening hit us.

“Where are we going?” he questioned and I simply glanced at him, a smile on my lips.

“You’ll see.” Was my only answer as I quickly made my way towards the spot I had in mind. The walk was silent, despite the fact that I tried to come up with something to say a thousand times, but his disquiet threw me off completely. I knew blind dates were awkward, but seeing that we already knew each other, I was expecting at least some kind of conversation, since I considered us to be friends.

My feet took me to a well-known path and soon enough I found myself in front of my favorite bar in LA. I spent too much time during my visits here, but I had never brought any of my friends here before.

“What is this?” Sebastian asked, his bright blue eyes shining under the bar’s neon sign.

“The favorite place in this city,” I explained, pushing in the doors to let us in. Instantly, the familiar buzz of excited voices and the dim lights welcomed me to the environment I came to know so well.

“Hey, Peter!” I shouted over the other voices gathered around the bar, excitedly waving at the barman.

“Y/N! I wasn’t expecting you around here these days!” The muscular man behind the counter shouted back, his hands occupied with wiping down a few glasses. I simply shrugged, sticking my tongue out.

“You know I’m full of surprises.” I giggled. 

“That I do. What can I get you today?” I glanced at Sebastian, but as he was too occupied staring at his feet, I decided to let it go.

“I’ll have a beer, please.” 

“And your friend?” I remained quiet, not looking at Sebastian as I waited for him to say something. To be honest, I was getting pretty pissed now. 

“Oh, nothing for me, thank you.” That was it. As I accepted the bottle Peter offered me, I walked around the bar and chose a seat right in front of the barman, just under the tv, so I could get a good view of the game that was playing.

“Do you want me to look if there’s a soccer game on?” The bartender knew me too well.

“Yes, please,” I smiled gratefully at him, taking a swig of my beer. From the corner of my eye, I could see Sebastian changing his weight from one foot to another. Oh, so he was getting uncomfortable. Good. Maybe now he’d understand how I felt.

“Do you want to stay by the bar?” His voice reached me and it sounded timid. I raised an eyebrow.

“Well, seeing as I wasn’t expecting you to stick around, I figured it’d be better for me to remain here than to be left alone at a table.” Sebastian frowned at my words as I cursed myself for being mesmerized by the blue in his eyes.

“What do you mean?” I took a deep breath when I realized he truly looked confused.

Turning in my chair, I abandoned the game I was only pretending to watch and fixed my attention on my date for the night. “Sebastian, it’s okay. You can go back to your place. I promise I won’t tell your godmother, we can just say it didn’t work out or whatever. I just can’t bear this vibe anymore, I hate to see how uncomfortable you seem to be by me even though I thought we were friends until tonight.” I scoffed, feeling incredibly silly under his piercing gaze. I had to look down at my shoes before continuing.

“It’s so stupid, I was expecting to have a terrible night. And then when I saw you getting into the restaurant with your mother, I was hopeful that at least I would have fun. After all, I love your company.” Huffing, I straightened up on the chair, still not looking him in the eyes. “I’m sorry if you felt embarrassed at the prospect of going on a date with me. This could have been simply a night out between friends.”

“I don’t want to be your friend.” The words froze me in my spot, making my insides feel like they would burst and kill me on the spot at any minute, now. The shock finally made me look up to meet his eyes, and the encounter made it seem like he was surprised by his own words as well. “Shit. That’s not what I meant.”

Trembling, I left my chair and reached for my purse blindly, already turning around in search of the bar’s exit. “It’s okay, you don’t have to explain,” I whispered, despite knowing he probably wouldn’t listen over the loud sounds surrounding us. 

Quick steps took me outside of the building and the cold wind from the night sobered me up. What the fuck was that? My mind wasn’t working fast enough to catch up with what was going on, but my heart felt up to date, as I could feel it breaking into a thousand pieces.

It was stupid, but I knew I had a crush on Sebastian. And despite knowing he’d never feel attracted to me, I just never expected him to not even want to be my friend.

Sebastian’s P.O.V.

I was stuck on the same spot Y/N had left me, mulling over my own stupidity when at last something clicked and I found myself running out of the bar to look for her. Thankfully, she wasn’t very far so I managed to reach her just before she crossed the street.

“Wait, please,” I asked, grabbing her by the shoulder. I was expecting her to pull away or at least yell at me, but when she turned around with tears in her eyes, I knew I had screwed up. “Shit. Fuck. C’mon, doll, please don’t cry over me.” I pulled her for a hug, which she thankfully didn’t refuse, but she didn’t reciprocate either. Well, small steps. At least she was still here.

I let her cry against my sweater as I pondered over my own stupidity. Why was I like this? I hurt the only person in the world I didn’t want to hurt and now my own heart was heavy, not only with regret but also with fear. I was terrified of the prospect of losing Y/N.

Her cute little sobs started to soften and I felt it was safe to pull away from her just enough so that I could get a clear view of her face, which I quickly held between my hands. “Doll, I’m so sorry. God, I’m such an idiot, and I understand if you hate me and don’t want to see me ever again, but please just let me explain. When I said I didn’t want to be your friend… What I meant was… I would love nothing more than to be more than friends. I was actually the one who asked my mother and my godmother to set us up on a date.”

She blinked once and then twice, her lips stuck in a pout as the tears disappeared from her eyes. “I-I don’t understand…” She raised her coat’s sleeve to wipe her face as she stared up at me, her brows furrowed as she tried to make sense of what I had just shared.

Y/N’s P.O.V.

“I’ve had the biggest crush on you since we met.” My eyebrows rose all the way to my hairline at those words. I even snorted, 100% not believing what he had just said.

“Well, you have a weird way of showing that, Sebastian.” He chuckled, looking down at his shoes before meeting my eyes again.

“You’re not wrong. I… I am so bad at dealing with what I feel about you, in fact, that I had to resort to my godmother’s matchmaking skills. And you saw how she gets… But I wanted to get through with it, because otherwise, I wouldn’t know how to ask you out.” Narrowing my eyes at him, I tilted my head as I crossed my arms, the picture of annoyance.

“Then why the hell did you treat me like a nuisance? I mean, you’ve barely said a word to me all night!” It was hard to ignore how cute he looked with his cheeks slightly tinted pink, but I tried to. I wanted to be angry, I had every right to be irritated!

“Yeah, well… Turns out my plan wasn’t as great as I thought. When I saw you in that restaurant…” His phrase was interrupted by a low whistle. “I could only think something along the lines of shitfuckshit she looks too great ohmygod I’m gonna ruin this fuckfuckfuck abort mission abort.” Now, I had to laugh. And just like that, I could feel that warm fuzzy feeling that took over me whenever I was near Sebastian, and he knew it. His small, shy smile was begging me to forgive him when I had already done it.

“You’re too cute for your own good, Stan.” Pulling him by the lapels of his coat, I stood on my tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss on his lips, before separating our heads to gather his reaction. He was wide-eyed, but obviously not displeased, as his gaze kept traveling from my own eyes to my lips while he licked his.

“Well, so far I’d say it’s been highly advantageous to me.” Giggling, I allowed him to embrace me until our chests were pressed tightly together. “Think you can spare me another kiss?” I frowned in fake confusion at his question.

“Before you take me out on a proper date? You must be confusing me with another woman, good sir.” Now, it was his turn to laugh.

“That’s fair. Where to, milady?” I accepted the arm he was offering me while giving him a mischievous look.

“Anywhere, as long as you talk to me, silly.” The smile he gave me made me melt as I hugged his arm and allowed him to guide me through the night.

[moodforanime]

The Nomad| The Possesions of the Wild series book 1| Naruto fanfic

Chapter 7: An hospital and a visit

Word count: 3.6K

A/N: /

Tags: @insanity-is-always-fun

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Good afternoon, Guy-san. How did the mission go?' One of the entrance guards asked, as an group of four teenagers and an adult entered the village.

'It went great, thanks Koutetsu.' Guy answered, with one of his big smiles.

After the incident with Kana and Temon, the mission went quite smoothly. Ignoring his wounds, Lee continued to provoke Neji into his youthful battles, something to which Neji mainly responded with the same coldness as ever.

While Tenten tried to cheer her up, Kaiya preferred to keep her thoughts more to herself, unless necessary to do otherwise, something which Tenten picked up quickly. She didn't mind it though; if she wouldn't like it, Kaiya would just shut her up, right?

'Alright.' Guy turned to his students. 'We have to do an report on this mission and normally, we would have to do this together, but how 'bout this: I go to do that report to the Hokage while you guys go to the hospital to do some checks and later, this evening, I treat you all with some ramen for your most youthful work?'

Generally talking, it was a good sign if Guy added the word youthful in order to describe something.

'Amazing! Thank you, Guy-sensei!' Lee exclaimed as he raised a fist in the air, nearly punching Neji.

'Watch out, idiot.' Neji mumbled.

'Yeah, um, I'm sorry to disappoint, but I don't think I'll be able to make it. I've got some business to solve.' Kaiya awkwardly excused herself.

It wasn't as she was lying; she did have to meet her landlady and pay her rent, but it didn't happen that day, and it wasn't anything very urgent. In truth, it wasn't that she was busy, it was just that the mission drained her whole body from both energy and motivation and she preferred to use the little energy she still had to get home.

'Oh? Are you sure you can't solve that problem some other time? I mean, Guy-sensei doesn't get to treat us that often. This would be some important team-building...' Lee said.

Kaiya sighed. Putting it that way, maybe it wouldn't break spending some more time with them. Maybe, she could convince them that they could trust her. After all, she thought, its just one evening. It can't kill me.

'I'll see what I can do.' She eventually gave up.

An smile appeared on Lee's face.

'Great!' He smiled. 'Then... I'll see you later, then?'

'Wait, you're not coming to the hospital?' Kaiya asked.

'Hm... no. I just need to train. You see these?' He pointed to some scars on his forehead. 'Next time, they won't be there.'

Kaiya couldn't help but smile.

'Well, good luck with that.' She answered, before waving at him and navigating Konoha's streets alongside Tenten and Neji.

____________________________________________________________________________

'This doesn't look good.' An young woman in white, hospital clothing said as she looked at an scar that was placed next to Kaiya's right eye. 'If we got to it earlier, we might've treated it just fine, but now, it might affect your eyesight.'

'Affect my eyesight?' Kaiya repeated.

'Maybe. But don't worry, I've been working in this hospital for six years, and I'll fix it.'

The woman walked over to an table nearby, took an bottle with sanitary alcohol and put some on an eye pad.

'Um, I think I can disinfect this scar at home as well, miss.' said Kaiya in a blunt manner.

'If you came here, then don't kill any more of my time and let me do my job.' The woman snapped, as she put the eye pad on Kaiya's forehead, making her flinch in pain for a second. 'Stand still. Believe me, I could be using this time with you for someone more worth of it, but who am I to refuse patients? Maybe I'll get an promotion, even...'

Kaiya gritted her teeth and waited for the nurse to finish adding some bandages around her head.

'Now, if I remember correctly, you also had an scar under your stomach.' The nurse stated, as Kaiya nodded. 'Let's take a look at it.'

Kaiya did as she was asked and let the nurse have an closer look at at an rather ugly scar under the right side of her belly. It didn't take more than a few moments of analysis for the nurse's expression to soften. The nurse sighed.

'Where did you get this from?' The nurse asked, keeping her eyes on the scar while touching the skin around.

'At the entrance of the Sand Village.' Kaiya answered truthfully. 'I might've entered too fast without introducing myself and my intentions, and the guards thought I was an treath. I guess you can imagine what happened next.'

'Indeed. They're nasty, those Sand Villagers, aren't they?'

'I would rather use the word repulsive. Wouldn't blame them, though. From what I heard, they've got a lot of trash on themselves on the past few years.'

'I guess you're right. My brother lives there, actually.'

'Oh?'

'Well, never mind that.' The woman changed the subject. 'I'm afraid that you'll have to stay here for awhile.'

'Why?' Kaiya narrowed her eyebrows. 'I can handle these scars while on a mission. Believe me, I had worse than this.'

The nurse looked at Kaiya in confusion, her eyebrows raised. If She was right to assume, the girl was part of one of those fresh genin teams who started just a few months ago. The Hokage wouldn't put them at any great risks, so what could've this girl experience so bad? She might ask her boss later about It.

'I'm sorry, but as long as I'm not hundred percent sure that you're healed, I'm not allowed to let you leave.'

The woman analysed the long scar from Kaiya's body for a few more moments before turning away to take a few more bandages and eyepads stuffed with sanitary alcohol.

'I had plans today.' Kaiya mumbled.

'So did I, darling, but sometimes, we've got to sacrifice our little wishes for the greater good.'

____________________________________________________________________________

'Lord Hokage.' The woman bowed.

'Good afternoon, Asumi-san. 'The Hokage greeted with his usual smile the masked kuniochi. 'I see that your mission went well.'

Asumi hesitated. While she didn't have to look for the stranger child, she went on an short infiltration mission, and returned just that morning. She gave her report that morning and, in her opinion, her aptitudes in that mission were just fine.

Could it be that the Hokage thinked otherwise? Did he call her to return her mask and leave the ANBU for good? As an fresh ANBU, she felt how she was always on thin ice, needing to comsantly prove herself. If she had to leave, She would be just so ashamed if she would! Not only that, but her parents would give her an huge I told you! but would begin to compare her to her little sister, who already worked in a cosy office from their flower shop.

'It's about the girl, Kaiya.' The Hokage explained, making Asumi internally sigh in relief. 'She just returned from her first missions a few hours ago and it appears that there was an little... incident. I think Neji, Lee and Tenten here can explain you in a more detailed manner than me.'

It was then that, as she moved her gazed around the Hokage desk that Asumi noticed the presence of three teenagers, an boy with long, dark hair and white eyes, another boy with short dark hair, and a girl with her hair done in two buns, each having their arms, legs or head bandaged.

'An Hyuuga?' Asumi murmured, looking at the boy's white eyes.

'Indeed.' The boy responded coldly. 'Any objections?'

'Not at all.' Asumi blinked behind her mask, surprised by the boy's bravery. 'So, tell me, what's this incident?'

The three genin did their best in explaining what they saw a few days before, sometimes contradicting on details, but agreeing on the main story.

'...and then he mentioned something about somebody named Jun,' Tenten finished the story.'but when I asked Kaiya about it, she admitted knowing someone with that name, but Neji decided to act as an complete imbecile and Kaiya refused to say anything else from there off. Literally.'

Neji shifted on his legs, clearly stopping himself from saying something.

'I see.' Asumi nodded. Is there anything else I need to know, Lord Hokage?'

'Does she need to know anything else, kids?' The Hokage turned to the three genin, who shook their heads. 'If so, then you three are free to go.'

Asumi watched as the small group bid a goodbye to the Hokage, before quickly turning and exiting the room.

'So, Asumi,' The Hokage said. 'for now, all I'm asking you to do is, just like before, to try and get close to her. Try to find the reasoning behind her actions.'

'I understand.' Asumi nodded. 'I should be going now.'

'Indeed. If you're going to look for her, you should be going to the hospital tomorrow. Kaiya should be in there for a few days. The report I got claims she got some serious injuries around her lower-stomach, and that she has to get some sort of surgery.'

'Oh?'

'That's all the information I have for now, Asumi. You're off.'

____________________________________________________________________________

Kaiya blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the dim light. Although She felt like She just woke up from a deep sleep, she was horribly tired. She tried to move her head to the right, trying to see her surroundings, but her head, that now felt ten times heavier, just rolled along. Looking around she noticed she was... in an hospital room. She groaned as she put an hand on her face, trying to figure out what happened.

Last thing she knew, she was in the hospital and the nurse told her how she had to remain in the hospital for a few days, and...

'Good evening, Kaiya-san.' An feminine voice said.

Kaiya looked at the door and saw how an young woman stood before it.

'Good...evening?' Kaiya answered, confused.

'Oh no, I think it's better if you would lay down for now.' The nurse said urgently, as Kaiya tried to stand up.

Kaiya groaned in pain, as she was shot by pain in her lower stomach. Even though it didn't last for more than two seconds, the pain was intense enough to make hersel drop back on her back.

'What happened?' Kaiya asked.

'Short... memory... loss.' The woman wrote down on her notepad, before turning her gazed back to Kaiya, with the sweetest smile. 'Don't worry if you can't immediately remember. It happens to the most people. Miss Asuka analysed your wound under your stomach and, along with other very experienced colleagues, decided that you needed an surgery.'

'An surgery?' Kaiya repeated in utter shock and disbelief.

'Yes,'The woman tried to calm her down,'but don't worry, everything went successfully-'

'Did they take blood tests?'

'Y-yes, I believe so.'

'What about DNA's?'

Kaiya felt her heart's beats accelerating by the second. This can't be happening, she thought, not yet.

'You'll have to ask-' The door intrerupted the blonde nurse, as it opened with an quiet creak!, letting an brown-haired woman in official doctor clothes.

'Asuka-sama!' The blonde nurse exclaimed, not sure if she should feel relieved or surprised. 'Are the results out already?'

'Did you expect otherwise, Kenta?' Asuka raised her eyebrows.

Kenta stood there frozen, as she looked at her superior. Kaiya looked at the brown-haired woman with squinted eyes. The woman, Asuka, was the same nurse that checked on her, wasn't she?

'N-no, ma'am.' Kenta shook her head urgently, before exiting the room.

Asuka turned to Kaiya, who was shamelessly glaring at her.

'Good evening to you too, Kaiya.' The woman greeted in the same don't-mess-with-me tone in her voice as always. Nobody could blame her, though. Most kids that go in the hospital were messy.

Kaiya looked at Asuka wide-eyed. There was no disgust, shock or fear in her voice or face. Maybe she should keep quiet and act dumb. This way, people might not suspect anything.

'How do you...?'

'Know your name?' Asuka laughed. 'Your teammates. They dropped out just a few hours ago. You know, you should make an ID card soon. It'll be easier for both you and other people.'

'Wait, what time is it?' Kaiya asked urgently.

'It's...' Asuka looked at an clock placed on one of the white walls. 'nine p.m..'

'Nine?' Kaiya gasped.

'Yeah. Time flies fast, ain't it? Well, moving on!'

'Miss, you can let me go. I can assure you that-' Kaiya attempted sitting up, but gave up on it soon enough, as an thundering pain shrivelled through her lower-stomach, yet again.

'Assure me that you'll have to be stuck here for recovery.' Asuka completed. 'Please bear with me and cope. Moving on, one of our assistants, Kenta, might've mentioned something about an surgery, right?

Kaiya nodded.

'Well, to clear things up for you, after an closer analysis at the scar under your stomach, I noticed how that scar was deep enough to touch your appendix, and got it infected. I asked for the opinions of my colleagues, and we all agreed that, in order to have an perfect health, you needed an surgery.'

'Was it absolutely necessary?' Kaiya asked, her face wrinkling.

'Well, we don't drug people and open their bodies and work on their insides for fun, ya know? Besides, I'm sure that if anybody would've tried that, the Hokage would've dealt with them personally.'

'Fair enough.' Kaiya shrugged as she nodded. 'Well, did any... accidents happen with my body?'

'Everything went successful, although you will have to remain here for a while in order to recover.'

'How long will I have to stay?'

'Depends on your body.' Asuka shrugged.'It may take a week, or a month... Who knows?'

Kaiya puffed as she crossed her arms. She understood the necessity of her recovery, but she didn't enjoy the fact that she not only can stay on her word and was most likely late for that dinner with her team, but she'll also slow them down waiting for her, and later in the mission after she gets out of the hospital, because everyone knows that even if you're out of the hospital, you'll still need a little time to put yourself back on the line.

Knock knock!

'Who is it?' Asuka yelled.

'I-It's me, Asuka-sama.' The quiet voice of Kenta could be heard from behind the door.

'What is it?' Asuka continued to yell.

'Kaiya has an... visitor.' Came the answer, making Kaiya almost see Kenta fidgeting her fingers.

Kaiya's eyebrows got so close to eachother that they could almost form an long, furry line. Visitor? Who in the name of god would visit her? Especially at that ungodly hour!

'It's nine! The visiting hours ended two hours ago.

'Actually... they end at ten.' Kenta squeaked.

'That's only on weekends!'

'But, Asuka-sama, today's the sixteenth of October, it's Saturday.'

Asuka shot an look to the desk calender laying on the nightstand next to Kaiya's bed. It was, indeed, an Saturday. Asuka sighed.

'Fine, then. Let him in.'

The door opened with an creak, making space for an boy in an green latex jumpsuit and an bowl haircut. Kaiya felt how the wish of disappearing through thin air grew inside of her.

'Hey, weren't you here earlier today?' Asuka asked.

'Yeah, I'm in the same team as Kaiya.'

'I see. Well, I'll leave you two to it.' Asuka said looking at Lee, as she walked to the door. 'Don't forget, the visiting hours end in an hour.'

The two genin watched how Asuka exited the room and said something to Kenta as she closed the door. Lee turned his head to Kaiya, who moved her gaze somewhere else. A few moments pass in total silence.

'Hey.' Lee greeted, still unsure how to handle the awkward situation.

'Hey.' Kaiya answered simply. She didn't expect anyone to ever visit her. Especially when she was in such an pathetic position.

'M-May I sit down?' Lee asked, pointing at Kaiya's bed.

Kaiya shot an look to where Lee pointed.

'Hn.' Kaiya said, pulling her legs closer to her, giving Lee an rather generous place to sit.

Lee nodded shortly, as he sat himself down.

'So, I heard you got to stay in here for awhile?'

'Yeah.' Kaiya's cheek twitched. 'Pathetic, isn't it?'

'What?' Lee furrowed his eyebrows, that now looked like a long, hairu caterpillar. 'It's not pathetic.'

'Not for now, but think about it: I'll slow you guys down in the next mission. You three will have to wait for me like I'm some sort of granny.'

'I'm sure we won't. I mean,' Lee added quickly, after Kaiya shot him an questioning look,'one time something similar happened to me as well, and I had to sit in the hospital for an full month.'

'No way.' Kaiya said with an drop of amusement in her voice.

'Oh, you should've seen Guy-sensei!' Lee continued, feeling encouraged by Kaiya's reaction. 'He didn't let it show, but he was distressing over the fact that he slowly ran out of money.'

Kaiya snorted and even looked amused for a second, but her face turned ice-hard and serious.

'Did something happen, Kaiya-san?' Lee asked, confused by Kaiya's sudden change of attitude.

'Why did you come all the way here at this late hour? Aren't your parents worried?'

'They won't.' Lee said, doing his best in smiling. 'They won't worry for someone they don't know.'

The colour faded from Kaiya's cheeks. That did not just happen. If she didn't look at him before out of stubbborness, now she couldn't do that because of shame. She remained quiet, trying to figure out what to say, without sounding pitiful or harsh.

'It's ok, I Don't dwell much on it.' Lee brushed it off, before looking down. 'I came here because, well... I brought you something.'

For a second, she forgot about her stubbornness and looked at Lee. He searched through an plastic bag for a second, until he scooped out an kunai and handed it to Kaiya.

Kaiya took it in her hand and analised it. It was as sharp as it could be, shiny and without a single scratch. She looked at Lee, not sure how to thank him. The two locked eye contact for a couple second.

'Is it the right one?' Lee asked anoxious. 'I didn't know which brand you preferred, so I-'

'No,' Kaiya said. 'it's perfect.'

Lee sighed in relief as Kaiya felt something she didn't feel in a long time. She didn't feel anxious or angry around her anymore, and felt something she would've nearly sold her soul for. She felt happy.

'I also brought you dinner.' Lee said more confidently. 'I thought you might be hungry.'

If there was a thing that always captured Kaiya's attention, it was food. Her eyes followed intensely Lee, who was picking up two small, red carton boxes on which was written something from a plastic bag.

'Thanks.' Kaiya said as Lee handed her one of the boxes, along with an pair of chopsticks.

They separated each the two chopsticks, opened the boxes and it wasn't until the smell of noodles hit her that Kaiya realised how hungry she actually was.

'This is amazing.' She preached, with her mouth full of noodles.

'So... you had to do an surgery?' Lee asked, as they were eating.

'Yeah. Turned out I had some sort of-' Kaiya stopped.'We're eating. I don't want to kill your appetite.'

'Don't worry, Kaiya-san! I'm resistant.' Lee laughed.

'Good.' Kaiya puffed in amusement. 'Well, It turns out that I had some sort of infection under my stomach and Asuka, along with other-'

'Who's Asuka?' Lee narrowed his eyebrows, which now looked like a long, furry caterpillar.

'The lady with brown hair you saw earlier.'

'Ah. Sorry, go on.'

'So, Asuka and other doctors decided that it was for the best if I got an surgery to take my appendix out, and here I am.'

'I see.' He said.

After a few minutes of thoughts and ramen, Lee decided that even though he didn't really liked doing it, he should take all his bravery and prideness he got and say it.

'So, um, while we were on the mission...' he began, unable to keep his gaze on Kaiya more than a second.

'Hm?' Kaiya answered, just as excited for the subject as Lee was.

Lee took a big breath in.

'Sorry for butting in on your life. I don't know what was in my head.'

Before Kaiya got to say anything, Lee got up.

'It's getting late. I should go.' He said, as he walked to the door.

He put his hand on the doorknob and, before he would leave, he turned at Kaiya one last time.

'See you tomorrow.' He said in a breath. 'Good night.'

And he fleed.

(Next)

To be continued

[techno-sorcerer]

Adjusting to the Dark: Chapter 4 Cassandras Part 1

Story Summary:  After recovering from an attack, Kaiba attempts to return to work. The problem: it was a vampire attack, and he didn’t recover so much as turn. Meanwhile, demons lurk ready to strike and take Kaiba Corp at the first sign of weakness.

Chapter Summary: Shadi delivers two warnings: one regarding the threat Kaiba poses to others and another about a threat to Kaiba’s own life. There are enough grains of truth to keep Kaiba’s attention, but ultimately Shadi’s words turn to nonsense.

Words: 6,455

Chapter Content Warnings: Referenced canonical suicide (Gozaburo’s), mentions of cissexism (Trans Broken Arm Syndrome. No incidents depicted.), mentions of hallucinations, general discussions of death

Chapter One: tumblr, ao3

Jun Liu, who had already been waiting en garde, still managed to straighten when Kaiba exited the bathroom. Meanwhile, Detective Shadi stood, unblinking, a couple yards away. He looked up when Kaiba exited the bathroom but barely moved a muscle otherwise. Kaiba turned to Jun Liu and held out the bag. “Make sure this gets to the police department in the next few days, though sooner will save both face and nose.”

Jun Liu nodded. “Do you still need me here while you talk with Detective Shadi? The detectives may still be by the crime scene, and I would like to touch base with them before they leave to aid with our own investigation. It may even be the last chance to see what happened before it all gets hidden behind red tape.” Jun Liu turned towards Detective Shadi. “I do not believe you are going to hurt him, but with him only just returned, your less than stellar reputation, and information that his life may be at stake, you can see why I may be worried about leaving.”

“I understand your concern,” Detective Shadi looked Jun Liu in the eye. “Unfortunately, what I have to say is for his eyes and ears only. Even your guard,” Detective Shadi glanced at Arnold and then regained eye contact with Jun Liu, “will have to step away while we discuss this.”

“That is not very reassuring.”

Detective Shadi shrugged. “But, it is the truth. If you need something to sooth your mind, your boss is not in immediate danger. However, if he is not careful, how he handles these next few days can lead to others dying even if by accident. Accident or not, with the chance to have forewarning and the chance to avoid it, those deaths would be on him. Still, your boss has yet to answer your question, and your presence is ultimately up to him.”

Kaiba considered it for a moment.  “Others dying. Like the garbage collectors?”

“That is one possibility, yes.”

“Hmm.” Detective Shadi’s insistence on speaking alone was odd, and after the alleyway Kaiba had good reason to be wary.  Somebody had tried to kill him, and somebody had killed three people. Agreeing to meet the detective, who despite being otherwise competent was not trusted by others in the department, without security present was practically inviting trouble. But, he also needed more information on who attacked him, who had created the scene he woke up to. Without knowing what happened, the fear that his attacker could come back remained.  Kaiba loved a puzzle but hated a mystery, and Detective Shadi’s information had the potential to turn the situation from one to the other.

The portent of death also weighed on Kaiba’s mind. Kaiba was under no illusions that he was a good person. He had extorted, threatened, and destroyed businesses and lives, at first to protect himself and his brother but then almost out of habit. He’d promised the Big Five power to use them against Gozaburo and then tossed the promises aside when he was done. He saw what needed to be done, and he did it. If that made him ruthless then so be it.

But, the one person he would wish death on was already dead, and even then he had been horror struck as Gozaburo had flung himself out the window. He didn’t want anyone else to die.

“Arnold can stay out of conversation range but enough within earshot of a cry for help, and knowing that the suspicion would then fall on him should provide enough of a deterrent to prevent Detective Shadi from trying anything. You may leave. Give Arnold the instructions on the way out. Also, tell him to make sure to get a ride ready; I would like to be able to leave as soon as this discussion is over.”

Jun Liu shot Kaiba a worried- or was it concerned?- glance before ‘yes-sir’ing and heading out. Relief flashed over the detective’s face. “So, are you ready to talk?”

“I am at the very least curious about what you have to say. If you want more privacy, we can move to the closer to the elevators.” Kaiba gestured behind him. The Kaiba Corp lobby had a fairly open floor plan with a few rooms and utilities scattered around the edges. Only the cluster elevators in the center would block someone’s line of sight. “If that is not enough, we could always head to my office, but I would rather get this done and over with here.”

Detective Shadi thought the options over. “By the elevators should be fine, so long as we remain quiet. Walls provide a false sense of protection anyway.”

Kaiba gave a short hum in affirmation. As they walked towards the elevator shafts, something about Detective Shadi- or at least his image- seemed to quiver, and when they finally reached their destination, he turned towards Kaiba and put a finger to his lips. Kaiba raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly, Detective Shadi’s form lightly glowed before it began to shift and wobble. Then, a ripple started at the top of his form and rolled downward. It passed over his turban, earrings, and skin with no effect, but passing over his eyes, Kaiba saw his golden brown irises widen and his pupils disappear. Detective Shadi’s eyeliner also thickened, making his already intense stare all the more formidable. Once it hit his suit, the clothes began to unfurl into a set of tan robes with a white shawl draped over his shoulders like a cape.

Kaiba jumped backwards with a yelp. What the ever loving fuck? Suddenly the warning bells that had been off since he had failed to fully sense the man turned into sirens. Detective Shadi reached out towards him, but Kaiba stepped back. He felt his lips pull back, and something twitched in his mouth.

Detective Shadi pulled his hand back and put a finger to his lips again, before moving his hand straight through the wall. He then spoke softly, “I am not a threat, but the world is more complicated than you think.”

Kaiba blinked. Something clicked into place. In fact, suddenly Detective Shadi’s lack of presence made complete sense. He began to relax, and the strange sensation in his mouth pulled back.  “I already think the world is quite complicated but not in the way you are implying.” Kaiba glanced around the room searching for the telltale flashing lights of a projector. “Did the technicians put you up to this?”

“The technicians?” Detective Shadi for the first time that night looked confused. “I can assure you that no one else has anything to do with this.”

Kaiba let out a small laugh. “Detective Shadi-”

“Shadi is fine.”

“Shadi, do not play games with me.” He let out another laugh. “You are in the building of the company that invented holographic technology with the person who developed most of its key functions. What did you think would happen? That I wouldn’t figure it out? The ability to record and respond in real time is fairly impressive, but there is literally no other plausible explanation.”

Shadi seemed to let out a sigh, though Kaiba understandably couldn’t hear the air exit his mouth. “I was hoping that it might get you to expand your definition of plausible, and it does often get people to think. You can check that I have not communicated with your technicians and, if there are any holographic projectors in this room, you will not find my image in any of their data banks. I am not a hologram.”

Kaiba reached out and passed his hand through Shadi’s form. The air there was surprisingly cool to the touch. Considering the amount of energy needed to produce a convincing image, holograms released plenty of residual heat. He narrowed his eyes. No better explanation presented itself. “And, what would you have me believe then?”

“What if…” Shadi paused a moment to consider his words carefully. “What if I were to say that there were things beyond the scientific. Things like magic, ghosts, and dragons. Things like vampires.”

“Well, it is a good thing you aren’t saying that,” Kaiba smirked, “because I would say that we were done talking, and I would leave so that you wouldn’t be able to waste anymore of my time. If you believe in that superstitious nonsense, then maybe you aren’t as competent as I thought.”

Shadi slowly blinked. He opened his mouth then closed it. He waited a moment before finally speaking. “I knew you were in denial when you reported the crime, but this seems like a bit much. Still, we have other things to talk about, the most important of which being your upcoming hospital visit. Before I let you go there, I need to ask: are you hungry?”

Kaiba was about to retort that the hospital and his stomach had nothing to do with each other, when he realized that he should be hungry but he wasn’t. In fact, he felt quite full. “No, but I haven’t ea-” A memory cut him off mid-word.  The taste. When he woke up there had been such a delicious, pleasant taste in mouth, which in the terror that followed he had completely forgotten about. He reached a hand up and touched his lips, and his eyelids fluttered for a moment. His mouth was watering at the mere memory. He swallowed his spit before correcting, “I don’t remember eating anything.” Questions buzzed in his brain. What had he eaten? How had he gotten a hold of it while by the dumpster? How had he forgotten? “Something must be wrong.”

“That actually is the answer I was hoping for, and I honestly didn’t expect anything else. I haven’t seen a scene like that in quite some time, but with va- people like you it can be hard to tell. There doesn’t appear to be a limit on how much you can eat, just after a certain point you don’t have to.” Shadi paused for a moment, and Kaiba narrowed his eyes. What the fuck was he talking about? Unfortunately, Shadi started talking again before Kaiba could vocalize his thoughts. “That, however, is neither here nor there. I ask because I have a contact in the hospital who would be willing to see you. She is a good person, and I have promised her not to send any trouble her way.”

“Wait. Back up. You said you were expecting that answer. That answer disturbs me, and I was the one who gave it.” Kaiba struggled to keep his voice down, but he was realizing why Shadi had asked the meeting to be private. He wouldn't have been able to stand random strangers hearing his own uncertainty. He only tolerated revealing it to Shadi because Shadi might have answers.

Shadi looked Kaiba in the eyes. “What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to tell me the truth. You seem to have some idea about what is going on. Out with it.”

Shadi rolled his eyes. “The truth is irrelevant if you won’t believe it, though I promise you that I will not lie.  Could you ask a more specific question?”

Kaiba let an exasperated sigh slip between his lips and then grit his teeth. What would it take to get a clear-cut answer from this man? “Oh, let's see. Where should I start? Do you have any idea what that taste was? Why I don’t remember eating? Oh, god...” Another realization dawned on him. “I don’t even remember getting out of the dumpster…”

“For someone who has no idea what’s going on, you certainly cut straight to the heart of the situation, though the heart is the part your most likely to shut out. But, I will attempt to answer.” Shadi paused to think, and Kaiba waited still grinding his teeth together. “I will start with why you don’t remember because while it is definitely not simpler, it is easier. You don’t remember because I’m not entirely certain you were entirely there.  Your body was certainly present, but it was guided by an instinct, darkness, hunger so desperate it didn’t want conscious thought getting in the way-”

At this point, Kaiba couldn’t help himself. “Are you telling me what happened or trying to write a bad horror novel because at this point its hard to tell.”

The comment elicited a half a laugh out of Shadi. “Given your stubbornness, I can see why you might think that, but if this were fiction I can assure you that I would not be the one writing it. I am merely a messenger. One that hopes to tip the course of events, but you ultimately have control over where your story leads. Plus, are you denying that after spending four days in a dumpster, you would be hungry?”

“No,” Kaiba conceded, looking away. In fact, he remembered being absolutely ravenous, his hunger pains driven fiercer by the sound that shouldn’t exist, but he wasn’t going to give Shadi the satisfaction of saying that out loud. “Continue.”

“Jokes aside, consider my first warning: the hunger will come back. I cannot tell you how soon, but judging by the strength of the one who attacked you, I cannot say that you have long. When it comes back, it will start small and grow. It has already started to mess with your instincts, but it will try to make its desires yours.” As Shadi spoke, Kaiba rolled his eyes. The only reason he bit back a comment was that he remembered how strongly his hunger had pulled at his mind. “To call the hunger evil would be to give it a sense of morality that I do not think it has, but it will make you a danger to those around you, and, as I have said, you are responsible for your actions. You will have to find some resolution to this, and I do not have any clear-cut solutions to provide you. But, I believe someone with your resources and wit can figure something out.”

“You know I’d be able to take you more seriously if you weren’t describing a normal bodily process as if it were a malevolent spirit. I have worked through hunger before, and I can still eat.”

“This is not the hunger you are used to, and I wish I could say that simply ignoring it or pushing through it was the answer. It is not. If it grows too strong, it can and it will push you out of the way to fulfill its goals. You will also find that eating may be a bit more complicated.”

“Oooo, ominous,” Kaiba said waving his fingers through the air. “So, what about my first question?”

Shadi frowned. “There is still so much I have to tell you first, and this is definitely the harder of the two. I can’t have you storming off before I am done. I have decided to tell you that last. I understand that you think you want to know, but the truth has been staring you in the face, and you refuse to acknowledge it. So, let me give you my second warning.”

“I have listened to everything reasonable you’ve said,” Kaiba scowled. “I’ve even listened to some of the unreasonable things you’ve said. Tell me.”

“No. I will but not yet. Are you done throwing a fit?” Kaiba’s jaw dropped; he wasn’t throwing a fit. He just wanted answers. But, for once he did not have a snappy retort, and he simply glared. “Good. Because my next warning regards your own life.”

Kaiba perked up. “Does it have to do with the person who attacked me?”

“I see why you would be concerned about that, but that situation has been dealt with.”

“Dealt with how?” Kaiba raised an eyebrow. Detectives Wasseem and Ito certainly hadn’t had any idea about who had attacked him, and they had read his file. Suddenly their suspicions seemed a bit more well-founded. “I’m getting the sense that it wasn’t through entirely legal means.”  

“It is best to keep human institutions out of these affairs, and in fact my work with the department is a matter of convenience for that end. Instead the owner of the King’s Pendant has been notified and has taken action. Your attacker will be kept on a far tighter leash.” Shadi’s expression then hardened, and his voice somehow managed to turn more grim, “No, this concerns those who would strike you down not for what you have done but for what you are. Fortunately, you are not yet on their radar, and it would be better for you to keep it that way.”

“I’ve disgruntled many people, but the boy in the alleyway was the first attempt on my life,” Kaiba shrugged, “Why would they start caring now?” Despite his outward nonchalance, the threat against his own life did disturb him, especially so soon after he had already been attacked. The only question was whether the threat was real.

Shadi shook his head. “You misunderstand. They only care about what you are, not about what you were, and you have changed. And, do not underestimate them. They have taken on beasts far more dangerous than a handful of security guards, and even if you brought a few of them down with you, you are young and they are trained. You would lose. And, supposing that you didn’t, there are plenty in your company and this city who would not fare well should these people’s gaze fall in their direction.”

“You seem to know a lot about these murderers.” Shadi looked at the ground, and his form appeared to deflate. Hnn... Interesting. “Would there happen to be a reason for that?”

A few seconds passed before Shadi looked Kaiba directly in the eye and held the contact for a couple more moments. “I was, at one point, one of those people. So, believe me when I say that they are dangerous.”

“Fine.” Kaiba found it hard to believe there was a cabal of assassins ready to kill him because he’d felt a little weird since waking up, but Shadi certainly believed it. The regret in Shadi’s voice had been palpable, and considering how casually the man had talked about the scene in the parking garage, Kaiba did not take that regret lightly. “You said the best way to deal with these people was to stay off their radar. How would you suggest I do that?”

“Well, the simplest way would be to hide the changes and not to cause any undo instances, but unfortunately, your ignorance has caused you to fail on both accounts, and now we are stuck trying to clean up your mess.” A disapproving expression cast over Shadi’s face. “The hospital visit right now is the more pressing problem and where you could potentially mess things up even more. We are lucky that I have a contact who has agreed to help. She works at Memorial, which is a bit farther away than the Domino University Hospital, but it is worth the trip if we are going to do things right.”

“I presume this is the contact you mentioned earlier. The one you thought I’d bring trouble to if I were hungry.” Kaiba wrung his hands together. While he was ready to admit, at least to himself, that the hunger he’d experienced scared him, he had yet to see how it affected others.

Shadi nodded. “That is the one. She isn’t as embroiled in all this as you or I, and in fact, she would rather not become embroiled in any of it. She is placing a lot of trust in me by agreeing to this, and I would rather the trust not be misplaced.”

“And, why, pray tell,” Kaiba asked gesturing outward, “do I need to go to this contact of yours if she’s halfway across the city and all I’d bring her is trouble. Wouldn’t it be easier for both of us if I just went to the nearest emergency room, got checked over, and left for home? You said yourself that I should avoid any unnecessary trouble.” Kaiba didn’t honestly give a shit about this possibly non-existent ‘trouble’, but he was beginning to find that talking with Shadi was like an elaborate chess game.  In order to move forward and make progress towards getting home, in order to potentially uncover the grains of truth Shadi possessed, he would have to sacrifice some points and pieces.

“Heaven forbid.” Shadi immediately put his fingertips together and glanced upward. “That would be the quickest way to scare the doctors, cause a commotion, and attract the exact people I’m warning you about.”

“I’m sure the doctors can handle a simple check-up. It's not like people haven’t been assaulted in this city before.” As he spoke the words, Kaiba had no doubt that Shadi would disagree; Shadi saw danger in every corner of this situation. Still, Kaiba couldn’t help but flaunt the absurdity of everything as he attempted to uncover which dangers were real. “Why wouldn’t these trained medical professionals be able to handle a case like mine?”

Shadi opened his mouth as if he were about to scream out a proclamation, but before the words could exit his mouth he closed it again. He glared at Kaiba before finally speaking, “Yes, people have been assaulted in this city before, and some here have likely been assaulted in the way that you have as well. But, when people survive such assaults it is usually because their attacker willed it, and when they wake up they have somebody to tell them why what your suggesting is such a horrifically bad idea. Anyone can tell that you’re paler than you should be, and Detective Wasseem immediately noticed you weren’t giving off the right amount of body heat. You can’t possibly think the doctors won’t notice your lack of pulse-”

“Of course I have a pulse. I’m alive,” Kaiba snapped.

“Not entirely,” Shadi immediately responded. “And, if you think that my family or anyone like them has one iota of respect for patient confidentiality in cases like yours, you are sadly mistaken. In my time, we kept our ear to the ground for the slightest trace of people like you, people we deemed dangerous, and I have absolutely no doubt that they continue to do so. And, despite the myths, we weren’t trapped in the past. In recent years, they likely have added a digital component to cast their net even wider, so we can’t afford even leaving a trace there. There are risks that I do not want to take.”

Kaiba had taken a few steps back from Shadi, his mind still reeling from Shadi’s earlier comment. Of course he was alive. He wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t alive. Clearly whatever veneer of sensibility Shadi had was starting to crumble. Maybe Shadi’s head was just swimming with conspiracy theories and there was no threat against his life.                                                                                      

But, a voice at the back of Kaiba’s head reminded him that whether or not Shadi was right about this, Shadi had been right about other things. Shadi knew about the hunger that had ripped through his brain. Shadi knew that he had eaten… something.  Shadi was the first to bring up that something was wrong with him. Hell, other details from Shadi’s story lined up. The King’s Pendant probably referenced he gaudy pyramid Yugi had taken to wearing around his neck, and his attacker’s words, ‘my partner would not approve’ echoed through Kaiba’s mind. How exactly Yugi could keep that boy on any sort of leash was beyond Kaiba’s imagination, but the two did seem connected. No, as much as he wanted to totally dismiss Shadi’s ramblings, he couldn’t.                                                                                                                                                                        Hoping to prove Shadi wrong, Kaiba put his thumb against his wrist. He felt nothing. A frown creased his face, and he moved his thumb to another position. Still nothing. Tch. Maybe he was just bad at this.

“You aren’t going to find anything.”

Kaiba shot Shadi a glare and moved his thumb again. “Shut up... It’s probably just weak.”

Shadi let out another breathless sigh. “Will you at least visit my contact? Her name is Dr. Ena Uramoto.”

It would be physically impossible for him not to have a pulse; he could hardly count this something Shadi got right. But, it did give him pause. “Fine. But, she better not have any problems with…” Kaiba didn’t want to come out to this stranger, but while Shadi was concerned about him bringing the doctor trouble, he needed to know that it wouldn’t be the other way around. He needed to make sure the doctor would remain objective, actually tell him if he was ok, and help him if he wasn’t.

Shadi stared at him expectantly. Kaiba glanced down. There was a chance Shadi had already noticed. He certainly hadn’t mentioned anything, and Kaiba couldn’t tell what sort of sign that was. “Gender. Hormones... Doctors tend to get a bit distracted.”

Shadi blinked and considered it. “That hasn’t been an issue in the past, but it has never come up, and things would be better if this went as smoothly as possible. I could pass a message before you get there.”

Well, that went better than expected. Still, if he didn’t know- and frankly Kaiba understood that he had had no previous reason to know- it made deciding what to do moving forward. He would rather be the one to tell her, to tell anyone, but at the same time, something to keep the doctor in line would be nice…

“I am not sure what would help in this situation, but I am fully capable of being cryptic.”

Kaiba laughed. Well, that certainly was true. “Tell her to focus on the situation at hand and to remember what is actually relevant. And, you better not tell anyone about this.”

Shadi shrugged, “I don’t see how its anyone’s business. There are more important things in the world to worry about.” Those were some of the truest words Shadi had uttered all evening.

“Now that that’s out of the way, what can she do that the rest of the medical community can’t?”

“Nothing,” Shadi plainly stated, “except agree to falsify your records.”

That certainly wasn’t the answer Kaiba was expecting; with the way Shadi had been talking this woman up, Kaiba had hoped she would be able to do something… more. “So, I won’t be able to find out whats wrong with me? They won’t be able to fix it?”

“The medical community certainly wouldn’t be able to help you,” Shadi shook his head, “and the only thing that can help is opening your mind and listening. Listen to what I’m telling you. Listen to your body and what it needs but stop yourself from following through with what it wants. The more you listen, and I mean actually listen and not judge what you are hearing based on preconceptions, the more obvious what is happening will become. And, you will see that there is no going back. What is happening to you is one of the open secrets of the world, mixed with baseless rumor but the kernel holds true. You should be able to piece it together.  Going to the hospital to figure that out would be pointless.”

Wonderful advice from somebody who clearly never had to doubt their senses. Letting go of preconceptions. Ha. That was letting go of reality. But, he would never let a stranger like Shadi know that.

Another worry began to tug at his mind, and he fiddled with the edge of his sleeve. The idea that whatever was happening wouldn’t go away and he wouldn’t be able to seek help for other reasons bothered him. He would eventually need another testosterone prescription, and it was bad enough that he missed the past four days. But, he would cross that bridge when he came to it. He had already used the resources at his disposal to start a year earlier than recommended; he could figure this out in time. Now, he would focus on present concerns, “Why even bother then. I’d be more than happy to head directly home. It’s been a long enough night.”

“The promise of the hospital record was the only thing that got the detectives to leave. I mentioned that truthful hospital records would attract the wrong sort of attention. So will a detailed investigation of your little crime scene. I will try to clean that mess up, to muddy the waters, cause some things to be misplaced, but with the crime already on official record, I won’t be able to completely erase it. They still might try to get a warrant for that information, and their suspicion at not finding anything would chafe at my charms.”

“And, what an abundance of those you have,” Kaiba laughed. Shadi was certainly an intriguing fellow but he was far too stoic to be labeled charming. Kaiba supposed that it would be a bit like the pot calling the kettle black, but at least he knew people hated him. “Still, I know you said your work with the department was out of convenience, but aren’t you supposed to figure out who murdered those people, help solve the case and catch the culprit. I’d prefer that myself”

Shadi did not respond for a long moment. “Are you sure about that? You wont like the answer.”

“So you already know what happened? Now why isn’t that surprising anymore?” Kaiba rolled his eyes. What could be worse than being on the hit list of a ridiculously strong homicidal boy and potentially being a target for a group of trained killers just for somehow surviving? He may not like the answer, but its not like things could get much worse. He uneasily leaned away from Shadi. No, the situation was bad enough as was. “Yes, I want to know who did it, and for that matter, I want to know how you solved it so quickly, considering it just happened, and the other detectives seemed quite confused.”

“Its not exactly subtle, so saying that one could solve it would be a bit of an overstatement. Anybody who has any idea how the world works would know what happened there. But, I suppose there is no point in delaying any longer; it is time for me to tell you.” Shadi took a few steps forward, closing the gap that Kaiba had widened. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.” Kaiba gestured wildly outward in frustration, and his hand passed through the cool air where Shadi stood. “I said yes already.”

Shadi again paused for a bit. “You asked earlier what you ate. Well, the remains of your meal would have been scattered around you when you woke up.” What was he talking about? The only food that had been in the area was rotting in the garbage. “In fact, the hunger would have given you back control not too long after it had its fill, so it is likely you would have been facing the last thing you ate from.” No, the thing he had been facing was a dead body. “Considering one of them had more of… your new food visible, I can guess which one it was you ate last.” Kaiba’s face contorted in confusion. Shadi wasn’t making any sense or rather less sense than usual. Shadi looked at him and shook his head. “What did you think the holes were for? One set to puncture down to the food, another to maintain grip while you fed-”

“No!” Kaiba yelled, his voice echoing throughout the lobby. Arnold’s footsteps started to approach. “That’s impossible. Things like that don’t exist. I could never...”

Shadi pursed his lips. “That’s the truth, and its a truth you need to accept. Now are you going to call off your dog, or do we have to end this conversation here?”

“I don’t see any reason to continue it with you spouting this nonsense.” Kaiba scowled. He backed away from Shadi.

“Hence, me saving this for last.” Shadi’s form started to shift and bend, before specks started floating away like sand caught on the wind. His body- the hologram depicting his body- started to disintegrate. “My family would believe you too dangerous to exist. Please do not prove them right.” After finishing those words the pace of the disintegration quickened and by the time Arnold and his tuh-thub turned the corner, Shadi was gone.

“Oh, it seems like you’re alright.” Arnold looked at Kaiba then around like a lost puppy. “Where’s the creepy guy?”

Kaiba stared at the space where he had seen Shadi a moment before. “Gone, though I don’t think he was ever really here. Tell Jun Liu when he gets back to check to see if anyone tampered with the holographic projector systems.”

“Huh, that would be weird,” Arnold mused. “I mean, why go through all that trouble? What could they possibly accomplish? Showing something cool could at least be done for its own sake, but this?”

Kaiba shot Arnold a glare and started walking towards the main lobby. He did not want to engage in small talk with anyone let alone with a low-level security guard. As he passed by, he caught a whiff of Arnold’s scent. He had before caught that the security guard was healthy, but now he could sense other overtones. There was something almost sore about the smell as if Arnold pushed himself too far, but it also reminded Kaiba of new growth and life. It drew him in for a moment, but then Kaiba shook his head. Focus. “Not as weird as half the nonsense that came out of his mouth. Is the driver ready to go?”

“Yes. He’s waiting over there.” Arnold gestured around the pillar of elevators to the main lobby.

When Kaiba rounded the corner though, he did not see his usual driver. “Isono, you do realize I have people I pay specifically to drive me places?”

That elicited a small chuckle, but it wasn’t fullhearted. “Yes, but you’ve been missing for sometime, and I gave specific instructions to be one of the first people contacted should you return. I hear you need to be taken to the hospital; are you ok? You do look a little sick.”

“Better than I was earlier, but… I don’t exactly feel like myself.”

Isono nodded. “Jun Liu did mention you were attacked, and that you were a bit of a mess when you came back. Its only expected that you wouldn’t feel your best. Have you been having any of your problems?”

Isono was one of the few people who knew about his hallucinations, one of the few people he trusted not to hold them against him. Numerous times Isono had been with him and stabilized him during an attack, guided him back to reality, and helped him ignore what wouldn’t go away. “Yes. It was the worst right after my attacker knocked me out, and...” Kaiba glanced around, and was glad to see that Arnold was still far away on the other side of the lobby. “I’ve been hearing things and smelling things that I shouldn’t.  There was a false tremor in the bathroom, and my reflection was dark, twisted, and not right.”

Kaiba remembered the enlarged canines, the fangs, in the mirror, and he remembered Shadi’s final comments. No, it couldn’t be real. He passed his tongue across his teeth. It wasn’t real.

Meanwhile, Isono nodded and closed his eyes for a long moment before opening them, and then Kaiba closed his eyes in an extended blink as well. The action was something small that Isono had come up with to remind Kaiba that he was there, especially because Kaiba did not like being touched during normal times let alone during the middle of a brainweird episode. Kaiba would return the gesture to acknowledge receiving it. During those seconds of darkness, Kaiba focused on the rhythmic thumping in Isono’s chest. He knew he shouldn’t be hearing it, but it comforted him anyways.

“Do you want to say what you have been hearing and smelling?”

Kaiba scoffed. “It doesn’t deserve the words it would take to acknowledge it.”

Isono hummed in affirmation and gestured at the large glass doors behind him. “Shall we go then? We will have time to discuss business and family on the way there.” Isono passed him the reports that Arnold had brought down from his office.

“We will have plenty of time because we are headed to the Memorial Clinic,” Isono shot Kaiba a questioning gaze as they both started to exit the building. “One of the detectives suggested I see somebody there, and while I am not inclined to believe him on everything, he made a few convincing arguments.” Shadi was a superstitious crackpot, but he was at least a superstitious crackpot trying to help. Kaiba got the firm impression that he came from a whole family of hostile superstitious crackpots that were willing to act on their beliefs. So soon after being attacked by someone else, Kaiba decided to play it cautious.

As he walked toward the car parked outside, his thumb passed over the inside of his wrist.

They talked about many things on the way to the hospital. Mokuba had been given the past two days off of school because of Kaiba’s disappearance, and though his brother had been attempting to hold it together, Isono could see that the waiting was getting to him. Stock prices had taken an immediate hit upon the announcement of Kaiba’s disappearance, which was making the Big Five, who owned the majority of the stock not already in Kaiba’s hands, antsy. The company had, however, been able to survive the past few days, the day to day operations carrying on without him. A few key projects had made progress and wanted his input, though Isono assured that the projects could wait until everything else settled.

Kaiba’s mind drifted, and he asked about the what had happened with one of the previously completed projects. Isono still hadn’t heard news of Industrial Illusions releasing a new game, though they had recently ordered the installation a large batch of the related hardware. A pity. The demo his team had worked with had actually been quite intriguing.

When they reached the hospital, Isono fiddled with the rear view mirror, and Kaiba saw his still horrible reflection shift and jiggle with the movement. “Is something wrong?”

Isono looked back at him for a moment before finally leaving the mirror be. “Nothing, sir. It’s probably just a trick of the light.”

Author’s Note: It took me four chapters but finally someone has uttered the v-word (Kaiba you know what he’s talking about, you’ve even recognized the similarity before. You are allowed to put the word to the thought.) 

Also, I am not planning on having a Trans Broken Arm Syndrome thing appear during the hospital visit. Dealing with that would be too real, and in any case, as I am not transitioning. I haven’t had to deal as much with that sort of thing myself, and I do not feel like I would do the topic justice. However, I did think it was something important enough to acknowledge as something that Kaiba would be worried about and would want to take precautions against.

That said, Kaiba is going to find that there are other reasons now why hospital visits could go wrong.

I mention Kaiba starting hormones early since when looking up when hormones could be started I got a lot of info that at least in the US the recommended age is 16... which is around Kaiba’s age now (apparently zombiekaiba has a good post on ages here, and I am going primarily with anime conventions. Things are a little bit... out of order to make room for what I want to do, but I envision this happening at the start of 11th grade (so its April) and Kaiba is thus 16 years old and 6 months. [Also this has been revised for future chapters. It is not April but January]

And that just got to me thinking about Kaiba’s relation to hormones, and I realized that 1) when he knows he wants something (and even when he doesn’t) he can be quite impatient. Methodical, but impatient, so he definitely would not like being told that he had to wait for something that he knew he wanted, especially with eveyrone else undergoing puberty without him. He would find that entirely unacceptable. I don’t blame him. 2) He would have the resources to do something about it. That is going to be touched on in the next chapter in an interesting way.

Finally, the idea of hunters is not going to be picked up soon (beyond maybe you should keep this under wraps), but I do have an idea of how it would be picked up again if this continued onto the fifth arc. I’m not sure if I’ll get there [that is a lot of story], but it does fit into things more broadly.

Again, always feel free to tell me if I need more content warnings. 

[zne-theartist]

Sexy Little Red Riot Hood Ch15

Link on AO3: here Boku no Hero Academia | Wolf Bakugou x Little Red Riot Hood (AU) Chapters: 15/?

Author’s Note: M-Preg is now involved! Shit gets real!

Chapter Fifteen: Mist

“Kirishima, you’re pregnant.”

“Pregnant!?” The entire room erupted into chaos and chatter, the news unbelievable. Both Bakugou and Kirishima looked at each other, shell shocked.

“Pregnant…?” Kirishima whispered. Bakugou looked down at Kirishima’s stomach, face blank as eyes blinked wide.

“Kirishima is just a regular human though!” Ojiro spoke up.

“That’s true, he isn’t an omega or anything.” Shinsou spoke up.

“We would’ve known.” Tokoyami said.

“Ah, but Kirishima is an omega.” Chiyo spoke up and silenced everybody again into shock.

“What?” Kirishima blinked, both him and Bakugou turning their attention to the old nurse.

“Kirishima, you told me earlier you didn’t know your parents.”

“That’s true… Mrs. Meade and the village always looked over me.” Kirishima nodded.

“Well, I don’t think your parents were human, either one or both of them.” Kirishima blinked in shock and then looked at Bakugou.

“I mean… that would explain some of your signs.” Bakugou rubbed his free hand on the back of his neck as his eyes turned to Chiyo. “We… sort of speculated at the very beginning if he was an omega, but at the same time, all the signs could have been coincidence so we sort of…never thought hard on it or questioned anything.”

“Yes, it would explain Kirishima being omega. Now, depending on what Kirishima’s parents actually were, it could account for the way it has been recessive. It’s highly possible that Kirishima isn’t straight human at all and or mixed.” Chiyo continued to explain. Kirishima held Bakugou’s hand, listening. He could possibly be a creature and not a regular human like he thought. “Regardless, as big of a thing that is, without knowing who your parents are we wouldn’t be able to get any information on that. The prominent thing is that you’re pregnant now, Kirishima. And we aren’t sure how long you will carry before birth, how you’ll take it, or how your body is going to change.” It was a lot to take in.

“How… I didn’t even notice.”

“All these ‘sick’ symptoms are your pregnancy symptoms. I suspect you’re roughly eight weeks along given the symptoms.” Kirishima immediately touched his stomach and Bakugou looked over Kirishima. Silence befell them all as they looked over Kirishima, taking in this news.

Kirishima was pregnant.

Their pack was going to be complete with little pups.

“So,” Shinsou’s voice cut through the silence. “Bakugou’s rut really did its job.”

There was a beat of silence before Kirishima’s face burst into color and he couldn’t help but laugh. It grew contagious and Ojiro started to laugh, Shouji hiding his snicker, and Toshinori attempting as well. “What?” Shinsou didn’t quite understand why everybody was laughing. Bakugou glared at Shinsou, though it was soft.

“Hitoshi,” Ojiro spoke softly between his laughs, touching his arm. “That’s… you…” He couldn’t even convey what he wanted to say, just laughing as he patted his lover’s arm. “Yes, yes it did.”

It was a learning experience for them all. No one had had pups before and with not knowing Kirishima’s roots they weren’t sure how fast he’d develop or for how long. So far it seemed at a rather normal, standard human rate. With eating enriched meals, lots of fruits, along with drinking water and a special concoction made by Chiyo and Shouji, Kirishima stayed healthy with no more fainting. Morning sickness was a thing and had started to rise, bringing nausea, fatigue, and the rare occurrence where he needed to rush to a trash bin to puke.

Training was different now too. Kirishima could not continue self-defense training – Chiyo’s instructions strict on keeping him from strenuous or stressful activities. As much as Bakugou and he wanted to argue that he wasn’t a fragile flower, it was the first pregnancy for them, their first child, and neither wanted to lose them – so they both accepted her orders. As such, all training ramped up. Ojiro learned from Chiyo about being a mid-wife to help in the birth, but also in ways he could help, all while ramping up personal protection training. Training for the others was exponentially tripled in ten folds. Even though no movement from Deku had been detected – Kirishima was now carrying a child and his protection needed to be guaranteed.

About four months after arriving they heard howls down the mountain. Shinsou had put up a magical barrier around the sanctuary with Aizawa further down than Aizawa typically placed it. Bakugou, Shouji, Tokoyami, and Shinsou rushed to the commotion while Kirishima waited with a nervous Ojiro and Toshinori in Toshinori and Aizawa’s small home.

“I can’t believe they found us.” Kirishima sat on the large couch Toshinori had, the blonde protector sitting next to him while Ojiro watched out the window.

“Kiri, they are only going to see if they are close to the magical barrier.” Toshinori puts his arm around his shoulders comfortingly. “If they’re close only then would they fight, surprising them by coming out of nowhere.”

“I know…” Kirishima touched his stomach tenderly in thought, a habit he could not break ever since discovering that he was pregnant.

“Don’t stress Kiri.” Kirishima’s look was distressed so Toshinori quickly continued. “None of this is your fault, nor is it Bakugou’s. It is the evil within Deku that is at fault.” Kirishima nodded, appreciating his wise words.

Within fifteen minutes Ojiro was calling, “I see them! They’re coming back.”

“How do they look?” Toshinori asked as they got off the couch to join Ojiro at the door.

“Didn’t spot any injuries.” They exited to cross the courtyard to meet them.

“Bakugou,” Kirishima pressed his forehead immediately to Bakugou’s as soon as they came close, both holding onto the other’s forearms. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah,” Bakugou’s voice was a low rumble, affectionately nuzzling his mate before he pulled away. “They were still some ways off so we didn’t engage them – then they left.”

“Proud of you.” He smiled. The explosive wolf smiled back down at his redhead before he addressed everybody else.

“We’ll need to do regular patrols.” Bakugou sighed.

“Agreed.” Shinsou spoke up, the rest nodding. “We can be more watchful and prepared in the event they break through the barrier.”

“We’ll take turns.” Tokoyami spoke and they all nodded.

It was all for their safety.

The patrols proved useful as the random wolves – they were certain they were low level lackeys of Deku’s – continued to pop up over the next few weeks. None got too close to the edges of the magical barrier. It was suspicious behavior and both Shinsou and Aizawa decided to change the perimeter twice a week to try and see if it would help.

They seemed to stay the same distance away from the barrier, which meant they could sense it. So was it pure animal instinct or deliberate?

Bakugou came back in the early morning from his patrol, switching off with Shinsou, and he headed back to their bedroom. He was greeted by Kirishima on their bed, hot soup awaited him on the side table, and Kirishima rubbed his sore shoulders while he ate.

“Katsuki.” Kirishima spoke softly, hair angelic around his face, dressed in dark orange pajamas, the sunrise coming in through their window, slowly reaching up the bed to them.

“Hah?” Bakugou returned to sitting up after he set his bowl down. He turned to Kirishima who was bright eyed despite looking sleepy. “What?” He said, voice rough due to his tired state.

He said nothing as he grabbed the blonde’s hand, bringing it to his stomach, hand folded on top of his. Bakugou stared, confused, as Kirishima just smiled lovingly at him.

“Wha–” As soon as he spoke he felt it. His tail straightened, ears alert and twitching at the tiniest sound his sharp ears heard. “That’s…” He stared in disbelief, his mate smiling widely at him with an affirmative nod.

Under the rising sun… he felt a kick.

“That’s your child in there Katsuki.” His eyes welled up as he leaned down, putting his ears close to his stomach, pressing his hand carefully firmer on Kirishima’s stomach. A few seconds ticked by before he heard a swoosh through water sound on a minute level before he felt the kick again.

“That’s…our child.” Bakugou slowly spoke, looking up at Kirishima. Tenderly he brushed the blonde spikes from Bakugou’s face, nodding.

“Yes, that’s our child. They’re saying welcome home to you.” Kirishima’s voice bubbled up, beginning to cry as Bakugou’s tears fell with wide eyes.

“Our child…” He smiled widely then, raising up, pressing their noses and foreheads together, one arm tenderly around his back while one stayed flat to feel his stomach. “My family, my home… you’re my everything Eijirou.” Kirishima smiled.

“Katsuki, I love you so much. I can’t wait for them to meet their father who protects them so diligently.”

Howls again and this time they sounded closer. They had been out picking more wild plants that couldn’t grow in the garden for Chiyo and Toshinori when it happened. “Get Kirishima inside!” Bakugou said, hand throwing out and already cackling. Ojiro nodded. “Shouji stay here! I’ll signal if we need you!” He rushed off with Shinsou, Tokoyami the one being on patrol duty. The howls grew louder and Kirishima was sure it was in more numbers.

Shouji put his winged arm around Kirishima. “Kirishima please,” Kirishima nodded, following his instruction and hurrying towards the church to bunker down in some of the more locked rooms, worried with the sounds so loud. Kirishima’s breath was labored at having to rush, with his baby bump now pronounced it was more difficult for him to rush like that. He sat in one of the side rooms. When they heard Bakugou’s far off explosions they knew they had engaged the wolves. Shouji stood.

“I will go join them. Ojiro please stand guard. Toshinori will be here soon after assessing the situation.” Ojiro and Kirishima nodded as Shouji immediately left in a hurry to join the others in a fight. Ojiro stood.

“Kirishima, I’m going to be right outside.” Kirishima nodded, staying seated against the wall as Ojiro left the small room and shut the door. He could hear him shuffling right outside the door. He could hear sounds in the distance, and it was deafening to him, hands on his stomach to rub soothing circles. He had to calm down. Bakugou would protect him, he’d protect them all. He shut his eyes and began to breathe deeply.

Krch.

There was a sound and sudden silence. Kirishima’s eyes snapped open, finding the room much darker than before. “Ojiro?” He whispered. He stood up from the ground slowly, staying against the wall. “Ojiro?” He spoke again, voice louder as it wavered in the stagnant air. His danger signals were going off, red signs flailing. He had to get out of here. It wasn’t safe. Something wasn’t right. He couldn’t hear anything.

As soon as he stepped forward a dark purple mist shot out around him. Kirishima knew it was danger and tried to rush for the door but suddenly arms were grabbing his limbs before an arm securely wrapped around his shoulders. Kirishima’s mouth opened – and a hand slapped over his mouth.

“Got you.”

All that was left was the echo of Kirishima’s ear splitting scream as the mist left the room empty.

[volleycatnika-blog]

“THE STARS BETWEEN US” TEASER

“The Stars Between Us” is a sheith fic I wrote as part of the Sheith Big Bang. Below are the first two chapters that serve as a teaser/trailer. You will be able to read the full fic on AO3 on AUGUST 30th!

summary:

One minute he is in his lion, and the next...He is floating in darkness. It’s cold, much like the mindscape where he fought Zarkon for the Black Lion’s connection, but that’s all they have in common. The rest of it is different. Very different.

IN OTHER WORDS:

A Reverse Voltron AU where the Alteans (and Voltron) are evil and the Galra are good. The fic starts at the end of season two.

reviews from friends:

“WHAT a great fic. The story was so much fun with all its twists and the backstory was deep and colourful.“ - armedarchaeologist on tumblr

“I absolutely love how you write, okay. It’s so beautiful and addicting.” - meteorysh on tumblr

(teaser under cut)

THE STARS BETWEEN US

Nika Ravenscraft

1

Shiro hadn’t planned on leaving, but he’d sensed something would happen.

He hadn’t sensed this.

One minute he is in his lion, and the next - he is floating in darkness. It’s cold, much like the mindscape where he fought Zarkon for the Black Lion’s connection, but that’s all they have in common. The rest of it is different. Very different. This space feels far more realistic, not like a dream or a nightmare.

This space feels like real space. After a few agonizing moments of blinking and squinting, Shiro realizes it is. He’s floating amongst the stars. The only signs of life, friendly or otherwise, are battlecruisers blown to bits.

How did he end up outside Black? How did he end up here, away from Voltron? How did he end up floating in space, God knows how far from his friends?

With a heavy sigh, Shiro focuses on clearing his mind. He should save his questions for later. He needs solid ground and a means of contacting his fellow paladins. The radio is no use— it has been emitting annoying static in his ears for the past ten minutes.  

Using his jetpack, he manages to land on a large chunk of battlecruiser. It’s more intact than most. It also looks quite familiar… The overall setup is quite similar to that of the Voltron lions. There are two levers that are placed about a shoulder width apart and two large windows which are shaped like the eyes of a cat. A vast array of purple lights illuminate the cockpit, which seem to do more harm than good. Even though the lights illuminate the cockpit, they make it feel darker. Most importantly, there is the bayard socket. The similarities surprise Shiro, especially since the battlecruisers are various shades of Galra purple. Why would a Galra ship have a bayard socket?

Taking a seat in the cockpit, Shiro lets his gaze wander. The battlecruiser seems to be in fairly good shape, ignoring the fact that it is no longer fight-worthy. With the lights still glowing, indicating that the ship still has power, Shiro pushes a few buttons and pulls a few levers. The ship refuses to budge.

It isn’t until Shiro has the ship's systems running that he realizes something. There was no body in this battlecruiser, and no blood. He could just shrug it off—perhaps the battlecruiser was controlled by an AI—but there is a pilot seat. There is a pilot seat for a reason.

Before Shiro can decide whether or not to leave the battlecruiser, he hears the sound of a blaster charging. Slowly turning around, Shiro is relieved to find that the Galra before him is a member of the Blade of Marmora. And it is not just any member… Taking in the unique details of the suit, Shiro softly asks, “Ulaz? Is that you? How are you here? I thought you were dead.”

Ulaz, who lowers his blaster ever so slightly, seems as surprised as Shiro. “Champion? I thought you were…” Quickly closing the distance between them, he pokes Shiro a few times with his blaster. Emitting a sigh of relief, Ulaz says, “You’re really here. You’re really you. I can’t believe it! How did you...?” Ulaz lets his voice trail off once more before he sets his blaster down to make repairs to the battlecruiser. “I suppose I should save my questions for later. We need to get out of here. It isn’t safe. They could come back. They will return, for sure, if they find out you are here.”

“They? Who are you talking about?” Shiro asks. Ulaz suddenly drops the two wires he had been connecting.

“You should know who they are,” Ulaz responds, sounding surprisingly sad. “That is, you should, unless they erased your memories. Or perhaps they altered them...” Ulaz, who has been studying his face, reluctantly returns his gaze to the wires. “Don’t worry, once we get to headquarters we’ll find out what happened to you. We’ll find out what happened and fix it.”

His words only add to Shiro’s confusion and unease. “Do you really think my memories have been altered? I hate to admit it, but it would make sense. I don’t know how I ended up out here. One minute I was in my lion, and the next I was floating in space.”

Ulaz fiddles with more wires and pulls a couple of levers before responding. “Your lion? Oh they must have altered your memories quite a bit. You might have thought it was your lion, but it is really hers. She was just using you as a puppet because she is incapable of forming a bond with the lions herself.”

Shiro feels like a broken record. “She? Who are you talking about?”

At this, Ulaz emits a heavy sigh. “I don’t think I should say. If I were to tell you while your memories are still altered, you won’t believe me. If anything, you’d get mad at me.” Letting his voice lower an octave, he adds, “You may even kill me.”

“Me, kill you?” Shiro asks, now more confused than he has ever felt in his entire life. “Why would I kill you? You saved my life. You saved me from the Galra. You know, the evil ones. Not the ones like you.”

“That’s the problem,” Ulaz says, all the while reaching for his blaster. Once he grabs hold of it, he doesn’t point it at Shiro. However, he charges it so he can fire a shot at a moment’s notice. “I didn’t save you from the Galra. Don’t misinterpret my words, I did save you from a most certain death. However, those who held you captive were not Galra. They may have looked Galra, but they weren’t. Take it from someone who is actually Galra.”

“Then what were they? They looked like Galra to me,” Shiro hisses in response, confusion turning into annoyance.

“I’m in no place to tell you who they are. However, I know someone who is. Actually, I know two.” Unlike Shiro, Ulaz’s voice only carries a hint of sharpness. “Please save your questions for them.”

“Okay,” Shiro says reluctantly.

Just seconds later, the two of them take off in a repaired, but barely flight-worthy ship. Then, they are flying through an area of space Shiro finds familiar. Upon spotting two black holes situated near a blue star, Shiro realizes the area isn’t just familiar. It is identical to an area he’s seen before… It’s where the base of the Blade of Marmora is located.

2

“You know, flying along the path to the Blade of Marmora headquarters isn’t a very pleasant experience. Especially since I’ve flown through here before,” Shiro remarks.

“You’ve been here before? Who led you here? This base is a secret…” Ulaz responds. Shiro can hear bewilderment in his shaking voice.

“You gave me the coordinates, remember? The coordinates were in my arm. I used them after you died. Or rather, after I thought you died.”

“I think you should stop talking. Or, at the very least, save your words for the two people I mentioned. They are likely the only ones that will be able to understand what you are trying to say. One of the two is the only creature alive capable of fixing the alterations that have been made to your memories.”

Unsure of how to respond to that, Shiro stays silent. He remains silent as they exit the ship and enter the base. The base is a lot like what he remembers… Lights frame each room, making the base seem larger than it actually is. This, paired with an odd lack of furniture, makes the base feel cold and unfriendly. Finding himself too unnerved to make smalltalk, Shiro continues to remain silent until they are able to gain an audience with the two people Ulaz mentioned earlier.

The two figures Ulaz has him stand before share similarities in the way they dress, with them wearing nearly identical suits. The suits consists of what seems to be the Galra’s favorite colors- shades of black accented by purple and gray. However, the way they dress is the only similarity they share, with one being significantly taller than the other.

“You brought the traitor here. You better have an explanation for this, Ulaz,” the taller of the two hisses, voice warped through the mask.

“I found him floating in space,” Ulaz responds, seemingly unfazed by the taller figure’s hiss. “Upon speaking to him, it became evident that his memories were altered. Additionally, he has been mentioning things that make no sense.”

“I suppose I’ll have to have a look, then,” the shorter figure says.

Even though the shorter figure is disguised, Shiro recognizes her hunched figure. He recognizes the searing hot feeling of Haggar’s magic that slithers in his direction. It only stops when someone shouts.

“You will not do anything until he has proven himself!” The taller figure shouts. They curl their hands into tight fists as they speak. “He will go through the trials. If he does not go through the trials, he will be killed.”

“He is in no state to participate in those,” Ulaz exclaims. “In his current state, the trials could kill him!”

“Possible death or certain death. Knowledge or death. What will it be, traitor?” The taller figure snarls, their left hand now touching the handle of their weapon.

“I will participate,” Shiro responds immediately, surprising everyone, including himself, with his lack of hesitation. “I want knowledge. Why do you call me a traitor? The only traitor I see here is you, allowing this evil Druid,” Shiro motions to Haggar, “to enter this base.”

“How dare you call me a traitor, you murderer.” The taller figure’s dog-like growling makes it difficult for Shiro to understand what they are saying. “Have Ulaz prepare you for the trials and get out of my sight.”

Before Shiro can respond, Ulaz utters a “thank you” before grabbing hold of Shiro’s human arm and dragging him out of the room. It is only after they are halfway down the main hallway that Ulaz lets go of his arm. “What are you doing, aggravating Ignis? You of all people should know that he gets easily irritated.”

“Ignis?” Shiro responds, having to mentally count to ten in order to stop himself from taking out his anger on Ulaz. “I don't know anyone named Ignis. What kind of alien names their child Ignis? Ignis is a Latin word root.... How would an alien know a Latin root word? Most importantly, why is Haggar here?”

Much to Shiro’s surprise, Ulaz merely gives him a sad look. “I will try my best to get Ignis to change his mind. You are clearly not fit to participate in the trials. In case I am unable to convince him, good luck.”

Ulaz leaves him alone in a large, barren room. To call it a room is a bit of a stretch. The “room” is more like an arena… It reminds Shiro of his time spent as prisoner of the Galra. Shiro shivers as he struggles to remain calm. This place is different, Shiro tells himself. Here, they gave me a choice. Or did they? They didn’t seem too fond of letting me go if I wanted to decided to leave...

“Shiro!” A voice shouts, interrupting Shiro’s train of thought. It isn’t just any voice. It’s Keith’s voice. “Where are you, Shiro?”

Shiro hastily stands up. Slowly spinning where he stands, he looks for a sign of his friend in the empty room. Luckily, he doesn’t have to look for long—popping up through a hole in a floor is a body.

Keith doesn’t try to move. Shiro can understand why Keith doesn’t dare to, or rather, why he is unable to. His paladin armor, which is normally white and red, is now mostly red. Blood seeps from multiple cuts on Keith’s body. However, one stands out the most: one that matches Shiro’s scar across his nose.

“Help me, Shiro.”

Shiro runs to him and he falls to his knees. Immediately attempting to rip his own suit to use it to stop Keith’s bleeding. Shiro emits a snarl of frustration when his suit refuses to rip. Settling for using his hands to stop the bleeding of the largest cut, Shiro struggles to maintain his composure. “Everything is going to be okay, Keith. I’ll get you out of here. We’ll be back on the ship with the rest of Voltron in no time.”

“You have to save yourself first,” Keith whispers in response. As he whispers, Keith presses his hands over a cut that is oozing blood at an alarming rate. Despite his pressing, blood seeps from between his fingers.

Before Shiro can respond, the floor opens up and swallows Keith, replacing him with another Shiro.

Clad in tattered clothes, the other Shiro snarls at him, flashing sharp teeth. “You’re dead, weakling.” With a bright flash of yellow, he lunges. Shiro dodges to no avail -a hand grabbing his ankle. Before Shiro can free himself, he’s flying across the room. Hitting a wall with a loud thud, Shiro falls to the ground. Ignoring his body’s aching protests, Shiro scrambles to his feet.

“Look at you squirm,” his copy sneers, meanwhile giving him a predatory look. “You’re a shell of who you use to be.”

As feelings of resentment build up inside him, Shiro activates his Galra arm. He lunges at his other self. When his lunge earns him a laugh, Shiro realizes he made a mistake.

His mistake has painful consequences. Metal finger-tips drag across his side, digging into his skin like the claws of a feral animal. Shiro is unable to suppress a scream.

Once the scream is out of his system, he tries to calm himself down. Such a thing is hard to do while he is bleeding - while he knows that Keith’s life depends on him defeating his copy. Although tempted to go on the defensive, Shiro plows ahead - trapping him against a wall. Once trapped, Shiro pounds his face in.

His copy bends, but doesn’t break. It isn’t until his copy twitches and emits sparks before falling to the ground that Shiro realizes his copy isn’t human, but a robot.

Relieved to know that an evil version of him doesn’t exist, Shiro breathes a sigh of relief. That is, he feels relieved until he remembers Keith. “Where’s Keith?” He shouts, his voice echoing within the room. “Let me see Keith!”

The entranceway opens and Ignis steps through. His mere presence pisses Shiro off.

“I can’t believe you called me a traitor! You hurt Keith and befriended Haggar. You’re the only traitor here.” Shiro presses one of his hands to his wound before continuing. “Let me see him, now!”

“I can’t let you see him. Not like this,” Ignis says.

Before Shiro can respond, Ignis knocks him out with a hard blow to the head.

[stainedglassthreads]

Triad: Chapter 15

Triad

Arc 2: Snowdin

Part 2

Genocide

The human awoke, mouth parched, muscles stiff and cold. They slowly pushed themselves off the ground with their hands, and leaned back against a wooden wall before massaging the aching sensation out of their arms. They glanced around the area they had woken up in.

They were inside of a small shed, sitting on a straw bed. There were two bowls full of something near them. The human put their hands in them. One was water, the other was hard and dry. Pellets of some kind. They took a pellet out. Dog food?

The human glanced about for their stick, and found it near them on the straw bed. They grabbed it, squeezing it as tightly as possible in their small hands.

They continued looking about the shed. There seemed to be boxes full of puzzles surrounding them. Cardboard boxes of jigsaws, stacks of crosswords and word-searches and connect-the-dots(and a pencil!). All sorts of puzzles…

None seemed particularly life-threatening, as far as the human could tell.

The human’s gaze shifted to the door. They could tell even from here that it wasn’t locked.

Maybe they could get out. Run away and never look back.

The human… actually liked Papyrus.

He was kind of eccentric. But he did honestly seem to mean well. The human thought they had passed out… Maybe while they were passed out, Papyrus had found them and… This was where he brought ‘captured’ humans?

...This wasn’t so bad. A lot worse could have happened to them.

Maybe they could just hide away in here. In this shed. And be just fine. Papyrus had said something about suffering through torturous puzzles… But maybe now that that was over and they could be… friends?

The human tried not to think about the last time they had stayed with a monster.

And Sans… seemed pretty scary. They remembered his parting words the first time they had met. About them pretending to be a human for a little while longer.

The human let go of their stick and stared at their hands. They clenched their fingers into fists, then relaxed them, staring intently at their palms.

If they weren’t a human, what were they? Were there monsters that looked like humans but weren’t?

The human clutched their head. This was confusing them.

A normal human wouldn’t kill someone who wanted to help you.

...I didn’t know… I didn’t think…

You never do.

The human curled into a ball.

They were awoken from their reverie by the sound of knocking on the door.

“HUMAN! HAVE YOU AWOKEN YET?”

The human didn’t move, nor did they speak. Maybe if they were silent, Papyrus would go away…

After a few tense minutes, they heard Papyrus’ boots crunching away through the snow. The human let out a pent up breath.

They had made a decision.

They’d done some pretty bad things. They knew that. They were very sure that the dust monsters had kept turning into was not a sign of a healthy, happy monster. And Papyrus… seemed different from the ones that kept attacking them? Like Toriel.

Sure. Papyrus had captured them. But he could have done a lot worse to them. He could have killed or hurt them, or if he couldn’t do it himself he could have handed them to someone who could.

The human got up, and hissed in pain. Their side, leg, and arm still hurt, though the pain had lessened considerably. They still managed to get around, though, using their stick as a crutch.

With their good arm and leg, the human carried and kicked as much of the puzzle piles as they could, stacking it all in front of the door.

With their barricade complete, the human sat back down on the straw bed.

They were not giving themselves any more chances. They were not letting themselves out of this shed no matter what.

They curled up on the straw bed, turning away from the metal bowls, trying to get to sleep again.

…

”Heehee…”

“And you know what the best part is?”

“It’s all your fault.”

“Howdy!”

The human bolted upright, their head whipping left and right in search of that voice. They desperately hoped it had simply been a bad dream.

But no. There he was, staring the human, a flat smile plastered over his simple black and white face.

The human teared up.

They were so confused. How had he known where to find them? Why was he here? Didn’t he live in the Ruins? They’d left the Ruins, left through the door and hadn’t looked ba--

The door!

They’d been so out of it after leaving the Ruins, that they had completely forgotten to close the door! Flowey could have easily exited the Ruins. And… and followed them…

The human hugged their knees. They felt far, far less safe knowing Flowey could so easily stalk them without them noticing. At least with Sans, they had known something was following them…

...Or had Sans been letting them know on purpose? Trying to terrify them? He had made that really big crack.

Maybe the human was not as good at noticing others following them as they thought they were?

They really didn’t like that idea…

“Chara, what are you doing?”

The human tried not to look at Flowey. They felt something tap their back, and shuddered. They dug their fingernails into their palms and squeezed their eyes shut as tightly as possible.

“Why are you still in here? I know the only reason that smiley trashbag’s brother caught you is because you passed out. But you’ve been staying in here for hours. You could’ve easily escaped by now.”

The human stayed curled up. Stayed shivering.

“What are you waiting for, Chara?”

The human yelped as there were multiple loud cracking noises. They looked up, tears streaking down their cheeks.

The doors had been blown off its hinges by something.

Flowey’s vine curled across the human’s shoulders.

“Or did you want to delay fighting that smiley trashbag’s brother a little while longer? That I can understand… He is my favorite toy, after all. But Chara… I’m here. And a friend is so much better than a silly toy, right? Now go on!”

Flowey ducked back around, and the human didn’t move, staring in shock at the door.

It didn’t take long for Papyrus to run over to the shed.

“WOWIE, HUMAN! HOW’D THE DOOR GET BLOWN OFF!?” he asked, staring wide-eyed at the splintered wood.

The human didn’t respond for a few moments.

There is no safe place from Flowey.

Then they shook their head, grabbed their stick, rubbed their eyes with the sleeve of their sweater, and looked at Papyrus. They told him, in a low voice, that a flower did it.

They weren’t expecting him to believe them.

Papyrus’ face lit up.

“OH! MY FRIEND FLOWEY! BUT… WHY WOULD HE BLOW THE DOOR OPEN?”

Impossible.

Nowhere was safe from Flowey.

The human immediately scooted away from Papyrus.

Papyrus didn’t seem to notice.

“WAIT. YOU MET FLOWEY? HE SAYS HE’S MY BEST FRIEND, IF HE’S YOUR FRIEND TOO THEN WE’VE GOT STUFF IN COMMON ALREADY AND CAN BE EVEN BETTER FRIENDS!”

No. No.

The human raised up their stick.

Papyrus frowned at them. “...HUMAN? WHAT’S WRONG?”

The human did not respond. Instead, they started trying to inch away from Papyrus.

They were very confused right now. Papyrus seemed like he was nice, and seemed like he didn’t want to hurt the human…

But he was also friends with Flowey.

And… and Flowey had said something about Papyrus being his favorite toy? What did that even mean?

There was some sort of ugly connection forming that the human could not quite grasp.

They needed to get away from here before they got hurt, or hurt Papyrus.

They tried to stand up, leaning on their stick.

If they wanted to move, they’d need to lean on their stick. But they wouldn’t be able to use their stick as a weapon if they did that.

Fight or flight.

They needed to decide.

“HUMAN? WH-WHAT’S THAT LOOK ON YOUR FACE?”

Flight.

The human turned around, running as fast as they could go.

“WAIT, WHERE ARE YOU GOING!? PLEASE COME BACK!”

The human could hear Papyrus’ boots crunching on the ground.

They ducked into what looked like an igloo, expecting to find a small space to hide until Papyrus went away. Until they could calm down. They could puzzle out how to deal with this situation.

Instead they found a tunnel. They didn’t question where it went, they just raced down into its darkness. Until they suddenly fell to their knees, thoroughly winded.

Their side and leg ached. And now their stomach was growling. They hadn’t eaten since the pie Toriel gave them.

...They were in a town though, right? Maybe, in a little while, they could find somewhere with food? Monsters had to eat too, right? They knew how to cook. So they had to cook because they had to eat, right?

The human wasn’t sure how long they crouched in the darkness of the tunnel. It felt like hours to them. Finally they emerged from the tunnel, blinking.

They looked about for anyone.

Dead silence. Not a soul in sight.

What was in sight, though, was a shop of some kind. The human made a beeline for it.

It was rather cozy inside the shop. A warm yellow light seemed to bathe the interior, and the human felt more at ease just by being in there.

They found a note on the counter. ‘Please don’t hurt my family.’

They frowned, and felt something twist uncomfortably inside them.

They didn’t know what to think.

Then their gaze fell on a pile of cinnamon bunnies, and they knew exactly what to think.

Food!

They tore into the pile, not caring a bit for manners. They would’ve been better piping hot, but even cold they still tasted amazing. The human ended up stuffing themselves, before crawling underneath the counter.

It was probably a good idea to spend the night here. No one would see them if they came in, and they could wait a couple more hours to make sure Papyrus was not still in the town.

Then, hopefully they could leave without needing to fight anyone.

They fell asleep down there, under the counter.

When they woke up, it was still quiet. Still, no one around.

Good.

The human travelled through the town as quickly as they possibly could. Their side, arm, and leg felt much better, and they were no longer hungry, although they did feel rather sore from sleeping on the floor again.

They missed the bed in the Ruins.

They were regretting a lot of things. They didn’t want to do anything else that they’d regret.

They continued walking, surrounded by an eery silence penetrated only by the muffled crunching of their footsteps in snow.

And then they were surrounded by mist, and even that was silenced.

They thought they saw a figure in front of them.

A tall--

No.

No no. I wanted to avoid this!

Maybe they could go around him and in the mist he wouldn’t see them?

…

They couldn’t move.

Papyrus spoke up.

“HUMAN…”

The human couldn’t respond.

“I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY! FIRST… YOU’RE A BIT WEIRD! YOU DON’T SEEM TO GET THE IDEA OF PUZZLES, AND THE WAY YOU WALK IS PRETTY ODD WITH HOW SHUFFLEY IT IS… AND YOU’RE COVERED IN DUST ALL THE TIME FOR SOME REASON?”

The human let their head hang.

“IT FEELS… LIKE YOUR LIFE IS GOING DOWN A DANGEROUS PATH…”

The human continued to not respond.

“HOWEVER! I, PAPYRUS, SEE GREAT POTENTIAL WITHIN YOU!”

They frowned. This… confused them.

“EVERYONE CAN BE A GREAT PERSON IF THEY TRY! AND ME, I HARDLY HAVE TO TRY AT ALL!”

…

Papyrus let out a nervous laugh.

“HUMAN… I THINK YOU COULD GREATLY BENEFIT FROM SOME GUIDANCE FROM YOURS TRULY! I WILL GLADLY BE YOUR FRIEND AND TUTOR! I WILL TURN YOUR LIFE RIGHT AROUND!”

…

They just wanted to leave.

They shuffled forwards.

“I SEE YOU ARE APPROACHING!! ARE YOU OFFERING A HUG OF ACCEPTANCE? WOWIE! MY LESSONS ARE WORKING ALREADY!! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS!”

And then the colors of the world drained away.

The human’s breathing and heart rate accelerated, and they stumbled backwards.

They were so confused.

This… this was a FIGHT, right?

Papyrus wanted to be friends.

You don’t fight your friends. In a fight someone can get hurt, and you don’t hurt your friends.

So if Papyrus started a fight did that mean he didn’t want to be friends?

...Papyrus had a weird idea of puzzles. Maybe he had a weird idea of friends.

Maybe in the Underground, this was what friends did.

He said he was friends with Flowey. Flowey could definitely hurt people.

…

The human didn’t know what to do.

Kill or be killed.

Fight or flight.

They wanted, no, needed to get out of here. This place was getting worse and worse--

They couldn’t stay here a moment longer--

F-- f--

FIGHT

42063

…

…..

………!!!

“W-WELL… THAT’S NOT WHAT I EXPECTED…”

The human couldn’t look.

They had knocked Papyrus’ head clean off his body with their stick.

His head was talking to them.

This was a nightmare. There was no other explanation.

Their stomach churned unpleasantly.

“BUT…”

“ST-STILL! I BELIEVE IN YOU! YOU CAN DO A LITTLE BETTER! EVEN IF YOU DON’T THINK SO! I… I PROMISE…”

Of course they could do ‘better’! Anyone could do better!

This was the absolute worst they could do. Rock bottom. The only other way they could do was ‘better’.

They understood what Sans meant, now.

They weren’t a human.

They weren’t a monster.

Both would do way better than this…

So what were they?

They didn’t know… They didn’t want to know.

They ran. There was really no other way they could react to this. So they ran.

They ran, out of the snow and into…

[lesbianbeiovaz]

Parallel: From Another World 4/?

Chapters: 4/? Fandom: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tenth Doctor / OC Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Rita Stone (OC) Additional Tags: Time Lady OC, Friendship, Major Original Character(s), Season/Series 02 Summary:

Rita Stone lives in our world. The world where a big blue box bigger on the inside is simply impossible. However, this all changes after what is most definitely an impossible event. Then again nothing is impossible with the Doctor.

Follow Rita through time and space, learning about herself while struggling to comprehend her new life travelling with the Doctor and his companions. Doctor x OC

*I do not own Doctor Who or any of its characters. All original ownership goes to the BBC.

AO3 | FF.NET

The Doctor placed the phone back down. "Somethings doesn't seem right with Rita" He mumbled looking at Rose and frowning trying to think. "I know we don't really know her yet but she definitely isn't acting like she was earlier" He sighed looking at Rose for her input.

"It's probably just being on a new planet" She rolled her eyes at the Doctor. "You always overthink things.

"Someone has to" He smirked and then walked away noticing the Duke looked much better.

"Didn't think I was going to make it." The Doctor heard the Duke speaking to Clovis. "It's that man again!" He beamed at the Doctor and then Rose "He's my good luck charm." The Duke patted Clovis' arm and then waved to the Doctor and Rose "Come in. Don't be shy."

"Any friendship expressed by the Duke of Manhattan does not constitute a form of legal contract," Clovis added, smiling to the Doctor and Rose clearly a lot happier that the Duke was somehow much better.

"Winch me up. Up!" The Duke ordered Clovis and then smiled at the Doctor and Rose once again. While Clovis pressed a button on a remote causing his bed to slowly move upright. "Look at me. No sign of infection." He showed his arms to the Doctor and Rose who were both frowning rather confused.

"Champagne, sir? Ma, am?"

"No, thanks" the Doctor replied as they both shook their heads at the waiter who had a few glasses of drinks on a tray. The Doctor then turned to the Duke and continued to frown once more.

"You had Petrifold Regression, right?" He asked looking at the Duke's arms and then the solution hooked up to the Duke.

"That being the operative word. Past tense. Completely cured." The Duke chuckled slightly at the Doctor and Rose.

"But that's impossible." The Doctor mumbled and turned to Rose wondering what she thought of the situation.

"I thought you liked impossible?" She crossed her arms, raised a brow and smirked. The Doctor then smirked back at Rose.

One of the cat nurses walked over "Primitive species would accuse us of magic, but it's merely the tender application of science."

"How on Earth did you cure him?" The Doctor turned around to face the nurse cat, with Rose just behind him.

"How on New Earth, you might say." The Nurse grinned ignoring his question.

"What's in that solution?" The Doctor moved his eyes back up to the solution still connected to the Duke and then back to the nurse waiting for an answer.

"A simple remedy" the nurse generalised her answer continuing to grin.

"Then tell me what it is." said the Doctor raised his eyebrows.

'"I'm sorry. Patient confidentiality." the nurse slightly narrowed her eyes "I don't believe we've met. My name is Matron Casp." Matron nodded slightly at the pair.

"I'm the Doctor and this is Rose" he smiled while Rose waved at the cat.

"I think you'll find that we're the doctors here," Matron said closely watching the Doctor and Rose.

Jatt poked her head between Matron and the Doctor "Matron Casp, you're needed in Intensive Care"

"If you would excuse me" Matron nodded to Rose and the Doctor, then turned walking away with Jatt as the Doctor watched the pair closely unable to hear what they were saying.

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"This Doctor man is dangerous" Chip had a concerned and worried expression on his face. He honestly cared for this woman so much. Rita felt sorry for him knowing the short life he had and what happens at the end of the episode.

"Dangerous and clever." Cassandra flipped Rita's hair and stood back up not taking her eyes off the mirror. "I might need a mind like his. The Sisterhood is up to something." she continued to mess with Rita's hair before turning to Chip "Remember that Old Earth saying, never trust a Nun? Never trust a Nurse. And never trust a cat."

'Rita' then walked away from the mirror and towards Chip, placing out her hand "Perfume?" Chip handed her a small bottle without saying a word and tucked it in Rita's cleavage. 'Watch it flappy' Rita snapped not as much as she would have if she wasn't getting mentally squished inside her own head. Cassandra ignored the girl turning and exiting the basement.

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The Doctor turns around after walking around all the hospital cubicles in ward 26 and spots 'Rita walking in "There you are." He smiles not noticing a single thing wrong. Rose then turned around and her eyes practically fell out her skull. Rita's top was revealing a little too much and her hair didn't look the way it did when the trio entered the hospital. "Come and look at this patient." The Doctor pulled 'Rita' over to a man and looked over to him while explaining. "Marconi's Disease. Should take years to recover. Two days. I've never seen anything like it." He then turned to Rose as well who was still staring at 'Rita' eyes wide. "They've invented a cell washing cascade. It's amazing. Their medical science is way advanced. And this one." The Doctor then walked over to another cubical. "Pallidome Pancrosis." The Doctor said to both the girls "Kills you in ten minutes, and he's fine." The Doctor waved to the man whose skin was the same as his hospital gown. Perfectly white. "I need to find a terminal. I've got to see how they do this. Because if they've got the best medicine in the world, then why is it such a secret?"

"I can't Adam and Eve it" 'Rita' spoke definitely not in her normal voice.

"What's," The Doctor frowned "what's. what's with the voice?"

"Oh, I don't know." 'Rita' spoke in the stupid voice again making the real Rita who was trapped inside her own head groan since that was all she could basically do at the moment due to feeling so tired "Just larking about. New Earth, new me." She finished.

"Well, I can talk. New New Doctor." He grinned. Rose watched the pair closely not really liking the way 'Rita' was reacting and acting. From as little as she knew (which really wasn't a lot since she had only met the girl) this was definitely not the way the girl 'normally' acted at all.

'Don't. You. Even. Dare. Do It. Cassandra.' Rita managed to gain the strength to actually think a few seconds before 'Rita' grabbed behind the Doctors head and pulled him in for a longingly deep kiss. Rita definitely did not enjoy this at all. Sure she literally adored the Doctor but that was when this was all just a TV show. Rita would have been just as shocked as Rose with her eyes wide and mouth gapped open if Cassandra controlling the now shaken girl's body and shoving her tongue down the poor invaded Doctors throat.

The Doctor had gone into a form of shock not moving or ripping Rita away from him. The man simply froze, powerless and not making any form of attempt to remove Rita's tongue which was now being controlled by Cassandra away from his mouth.

After a few more moments of Rose staring wide eyed in shock 'Rita' pulled away and breathed deeply blinking a few times as well as rubbing the back of her neck. "Terminal's this way. Phew." 'Rita' slowly walked away not looking back and walking past a still wide-eyed gaping Rose who just watched the girl pass and then turned to the Doctor her face still fixed in the same expression.

"we-" The Doctor stuttered "well" before rubbing the back of his own neck and looking at Rose who still had the same expression no doubt scared by what she had just witnessed. "We better go" The Doctor mumbled looking at the ground and following 'Rita' while the real Rita mentally groaned.

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"Nope, nothing odd." The Doctor frowned "Surgery, post-op, nano-dentistry. No sign of a shop. They should have a shop." He mumbled.

"Will you stop with the shop" Rose gritted her teeth and whispers to the Doctor just loud enough for only him to hear. "Honestly we have bigger problems" She used her head and jerked it in the direction of 'Rita' who was looking at the computer terminal too interested to be paying attention to the pair.

"I don't see anything wrong?" The Doctor whispers back raising a brow and watching 'Rita'

"Men" Rose mumbled rolling her eyes.

"It's missing something else." 'Rita' thought out loud and then turned to the Doctor ignoring Rose's presents "When I was downstairs, those Nurse Cat Nuns were talking about Intensive Care. Where is it?"

"You're right. Well done." The Doctor grinned.

"Why would they hide a whole department?" 'Rita' looked at the Doctor and asked, "It's got to be there somewhere." She thought for a moment "Search the sub-frame." 'Rita' basically ordered the Doctor. Rose rolled her eyes at the two clearly a little annoyed. Whether it was due to 'Rita' basically shoving Rose out and ignoring her or the kiss with the Doctor, Rose was angry. The real Rita was upset and genuinely sorry for the poor girl. She only hoped that the blonde wouls understand and forgive her later.

"What if the subframe's locked?" The Doctor turned to Rita and then Rose giving the girl a sad smile trying to indicate to the girl that he knew something was wrong and that they would get Rita back. However Rose didn't notice this at all.

"Try the installation protocol" 'Rita' ordered the Doctor yet again.

"Yeah. Of course." He nodded at Rita and then glanced at Rose who was closely watching her friend. "Sorry. Hold on." The Doctor brought out his Sonic Screwdriver from the inside of his long brown coat and proceeded to sonic the computer terminal. "Intensive Care." He mumbled and watched a large door to the side of the trio slide open. "Certainly looks intensive." He turned to the girls to follow then walked into the entrance.

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The trio walked down the stairs and entered a hallway with hundreds of human-sized green pods attached to the wall on the right. The wall curved. There was a railing on the left-hand side showing a hole which then showed millions of other pods below and opposite the three. "What are they?" Rose looked at the Doctor and asked.

"Some kind of pods" he stated the obvious and walked over to one of the green pods. The Doctor soniced the pod and slowly opened the door to reveal a man with boils and scars all over his body.

"That's disgusting." 'Rita' held a hand to her mouth gasping Rose looked over at the brunette wide-eyed and shocked not able to believe what she just said. 'Rita' quickly corrected herself noticing the blonde glancing at her. "What's wrong with him?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The Doctor mumbled looking at the man with sympathy. He then closed the door and moved on to the next pod. Opening the door a young woman was inside in the exact same position as the man. Scars and boils all over her skin, her face looked tired and empty.

"Doctor what's wrong with him?" Rose looked at the woman who didn't actually look much older than she was, sadly knowing whatever was wrong with these people was definitely not good.

"What disease is that?" 'Rita' looked at the woman horrified and disgusted.

"All of them." The Doctor said coldly "Every single disease in the galaxy. They've been infected with everything."

"Oh my god" Rose gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth in shock.

"What about us? Are we safe?" Rose narrowed her eyes at 'Rita' annoyed with how much she was caring about only herself.

"The air's sterile." The Doctor looked around the pod for the final time. "Just don't touch them" he said and then closed the door sympathy for these people taking being the only expression on his face.

"How many patients are there?" 'Rita' questioned.

'All you care about is yourself Cassandra' Rita grumbled in a thought.

"Rita these people." Rose pointed to the pods. "I don't think their patiences"

"Rose is right" the Doctor nodded. "They're not patients"

"But they're sick?" 'Rita' counted frowning confused.

"They were born sick. They're meant to be sick. They exist to be sick." He looked at both Rita and Rose "Lab rats. No wonder the Sisters have got a cure for everything." The Doctor said though gritted teeth. "They've built the ultimate research laboratory. A human farm."

"Why don't they just die?" 'Rita' questioned as if their life was not worth living to possibly be saved.

"Rita!" Rose spat at the girl and crossed her arms.

"Plague carriers." He mumbled looking over at Rose who then uncrossed her arm and nodded at the Doctors silent message "The last to go"

"It's for the greater cause." The trio whipped their heads around to see the cat nurse Hame standing in the way of the exit.

"Novice Hame, When you took your vows, did you agree to this?" The Doctor stepped at little closer to the cat staring at her darkly.

"The Sisterhood has sworn to help." The cat denied agreeing or disagreeing with what these people were being created for.

"What, by killing?" Rose piped up also staring at the cat mostly in horror and being ashamed of the cat.

"But they're not real people," Hame spoke calmly as if what she was saying was actually true. "They're specially grown. They have no proper existence."The Doctor was now fuming, his brows fixed in a frown and his eyes burning with anger.

"What's the turnover, hmm?" He spoke darkly his voice getting louder with each question. "Thousand a day? Thousand the next? Thousand the next? How many thousands? For how many years?" He growled at the cat before shouting "How many!"

"Mankind needed us." The cat didn't look fazed by the Doctors shouting at all. "They came to this planet with so many illnesses." she looked between the three with slight pity "We couldn't cope. We did try." she nodded "We tried everything. We tried using clone meat and bio-cattle, but the results were too slow, so the Sisterhood grew its own flesh. That's all they are. Flesh."

"But there not just flesh!" Rose started to sob the Doctor looked at the girl sadly and placed an arm over her shoulder in comfort.

"These people are alive." The Doctor looked up from Rose with sadness and sorrow, he turned to Hame his face changing into his brows being drawn and his brown eyes full of sadness changed into eyes of anger.

"But think of those Humans out there, healthy and happy, because of us." Hame tried to convince the Doctor but he wasn't budging to feel sorry for the cat for all what it has done day by day for goodness knows how many years.

He looked down at Rose who was still now sobbing quietly turned to him not being able to face the cat nurse for what she had let been done. "If they live because of this, then life is worthless." he said turning to 'Rita' who didn't look fazed by the subject at hand at all.

"But who are you to decide that?" Hame asked.

"I'm the Doctor." he gently dropped his arm off of Rose who was now just sniffling every once in a while. "And if you don't like it," he stepped closer to Hame "if you want to take it to a higher authority, then there isn't one. It stops with me." he warned the cat piercing his eyes into hers showing the true anger he was currently feeling.

"Just to confirm." 'Rita' popped up behind Rose 'Ughhhh' Rita thought not able to really say much else. "None of the humans in the city actually know about this?" she asked. Rose then turned around her hands becoming balls of fists the Doctor walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Now Hold on." he turned back to Hame "I can understand the bodies. I can understand your vows." he continued to walk towards the cat. "One thing I can't understand. What have you done to Rita?" he pointed at the brunette.

"I don't know what you mean?" Hame tilted her head and stared at 'Rita' who was looking at the Doctor just as confused.

"And I'm being very, very calm." he spoke through gritted teeth "You want to be aware of that. Very, very calm. And the only reason I'm being so very, very calm is that the brain is a delicate thing." the Doctor raised his eyebrows and continued to talk through the grit of his own teeth "Whatever you've done to Rita's head, I want it reversed."

"We haven't done anything." Hame denied all knowledge of this.

"Doctor I think she's telling the truth." Rose defended the cat who then looked at her and sighed. "This doesn't mean I'm not upset" Rose added.

"I'm perfectly fine." 'Rita' slowly walked up to the Doctor and placed a hand on his chest next to his tie.

"These people are dying, and I know Rita would care." He frowned looking down at what 'Rita' was doing while being slightly uncomfortable by the closeness.

"Oh, all right, clever clogs." 'Rita' pulled out his tie the Doctor frowned and leant away slightly "Smarty pants. Lady-killer." she then purred.

"What's happened to you?" The Doctor leant away some more looking Rita up and down, his tie still in her grasp

'Rita' then sighed. "I knew something was going on in this hospital, but I needed her body" she pointed to Rose "and your mind to find it out. But since this girl obviously knows you her body will have to do. Must better than Rose" 'Rita' then pointed to the blonde who rolled her eyes.

"Who are you?" He frowned still confused.

'Rita' let do of the man's tie and leant next to his ear and whispered: "The last human."

"Cassandra?" He stepped away yet again.

"Wake up and smell the perfume." She grinned ditching the terrible accent and taking the small bottle out of Rita's cleavage and spraying it at the Doctor and then swiftly turning to Rose and spraying it at her.

"You've hurt them." Hame gasped "I don't understand. I'll have to fetch Matron."

"You do that," 'Rita' ordered turning to the cat "because I want to see her." She chuckled "Now, run along." She watched the cat scurry away "Sound the alarm!" She shouted turning to a bunch of power cables, messing with them activating the alarms.