#i have my phone set so i can double click the power button to turn on the flashlight

[theoneofwhomisblue]

What's up with absolute garbage software updates?

My phone had a perfect system

All the little quick setting things I could wish for

I could access my settings by swiping down from the top, scrolling over, and clicking settings

I could trouble tap my power button and get an even quicker menu for apps

But noooooooo

Now they completely rearranged my quick settings stuff, took me 10 minutes to fix, and made it so I have to swipe down from the top, but click the bottom of the screen to see settings

You know, away from the rest of it

Next to another power button shortcut (???)

Where my palm is

So I accidentally hit power off and settings constantly

And when I'm trying to get to settings, I hit power off

And now my trouble tap quick menu is now a slide menu

Lucky me

Now anytime my finger even grazes that edge of the screen it opens it

Except it moves around

And I can still access it by double tapping power

But that's off by default

And I can't turn off the slide part

So now no matter what there's this 1 inch by 1/8 inch part of the edge of my screen where if I even touch it it opens a dumbass menu

That I don't want

And worked perfectly before

And they just added more, making it worse

The didn't replace the double tap menu

They renamed it

And added to it

Without me being able to turn it off

I swear to God that if I ever find the guy who allowed this update to pass, I will bash my phone into his skull until it shatters, then use the bits of glass from the screen to cut open his eye, squeeze it to make the blood squirt into my mouth. Then spit it into his other eye so he's completely blind. And apply pressure to his neck until he dies of hypoxia to the brain

Or send him a zip bomb or something I don't know

[rewirelessify]

How To Use Echo Dot As Bluetooth Speakers?

The Echo Dot is a popular device from Amazon that can do a lot more than just answer your questions or control your smart home devices. Did you know that you can also use it as a Bluetooth speaker? Yes, you read that right! In this article, we'll show you how to use Echo Dot as a Bluetooth speakers. Before we dive into the steps, let's quickly answer the question: how to charge portable wireless speakers? Most portable wireless speakers come with a USB charging cable that you can plug into any USB port or USB wall adapter. Some speakers also come with a charging dock or a built-in battery that you can recharge using a power outlet. Whether you're looking to listen to music, podcasts, or audiobooks, using your Echo Dot as a Bluetooth speaker is a convenient and easy way to enjoy your favourite audio content. So, without further ado, let's get started on how to use Echo Dot as a Bluetooth speaker and elevate your listening experience.

Setting Up Your Echo Dot as a Bluetooth Speaker

As an avid music listener, I was thrilled to learn that my Echo Dot could double as a Bluetooth speaker. Setting it up was fairly straightforward, and I had no trouble connecting my device to the Echo Dot. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set up your Echo Dot as a Bluetooth speaker: Connecting Your Device to the Echo Dot First, you’ll need to make sure that your Echo Dot is plugged in and turned on. Once it’s powered up, open the Alexa app on your device and navigate to the Devices tab. From there, select the Echo Dot you want to use as a Bluetooth speaker and click on Bluetooth Devices. Pairing Your Device with the Echo Dot Next, put your device in pairing mode by opening its Bluetooth settings and selecting the option to pair a new device. Your Echo Dot should show up on the list of available devices – click on it to connect. Once your device is connected to the Echo Dot, you’re ready to start playing music. Troubleshooting Any Connection Issues If you have trouble connecting your device to the Echo Dot, try resetting both devices and starting the process over again. You can also try moving your Echo Dot closer to your device to ensure a stronger Bluetooth connection.

Playing Music Through Your Echo Dot

As a music lover, I was excited to learn that my Echo Dot could double as a Bluetooth speaker. After connecting my device to the Echo Dot and pairing it, I was ready to start playing my favourite tunes. Starting Playback  To start playing music, I simply opened my music app and selected a song. I was then prompted to choose where to play the music, and I selected my Echo Dot. Alternatively, I could have asked Alexa to play a song by saying "Alexa, play from ." Controlling Playback  Once the music was playing, I could use my connected device to control playback or use voice commands with Alexa. I could pause, skip, or replay a song using the buttons on my device or by asking Alexa to do so. I could also adjust the volume by using the buttons on my device or asking Alexa to turn it up or down. Troubleshooting Playback Issues  If I encountered any issues with playback, I could try restarting my device, reconnecting it to the Echo Dot, or checking for any software updates. I could also try adjusting the sound quality settings on my device or the EQ settings on the Echo Dot to improve the sound.

Using Your Echo Dot as a Bluetooth Speaker for Other Audio

As an avid music listener, I have found the Echo Dot to be a great addition to my home. One of the best features of this smart speaker is its ability to act as a Bluetooth speaker. In addition to playing music, the Echo Dot can also be used as a speaker for other types of audio. Streaming Audio from Apps or Websites on Your Device  When using the Echo Dot as a Bluetooth speaker, you can stream audio from any app or website on your device. This means that you can use your Echo Dot to listen to podcasts, and audiobooks, or even take phone calls. To do this, simply connect your device to the Echo Dot as you would when playing music. Once your device is connected, start playing the audio you want to listen to and it will come through the Echo Dot. Using Your Echo Dot as a Speaker for Video Content  Another great use for the Echo Dot as a Bluetooth speaker is to use it to listen to video content. When watching videos on your device, simply connect it to the Echo Dot and the audio will play through the speaker. However, it is important to note that there may be a slight delay between the audio and video when using the Echo Dot as a speaker for video content. This is because the audio needs to be transmitted from your device to the Echo Dot, which can take a fraction of a second. Other Ways to Use Your Echo Dot as a Bluetooth Speaker  In addition to music, podcasts, audiobooks, and video content, there are many other types of audio that you can play through your Echo Dot. For example, you can use your Echo Dot to play white noise or nature sounds to help you sleep, or to listen to guided meditations or yoga classes. Overall, the Echo Dot is a versatile device that can be used as a Bluetooth speaker for many different types of audio. Whether you are streaming music, listening to a podcast, or watching a video, the Echo Dot can provide a high-quality listening experience.

Tips and Tricks for Using Your Echo Dot as a Bluetooth Speaker

As someone who has been using an Echo Dot as a Bluetooth speaker for a while, I have learned some tips and tricks that can make the experience even better. Here are some things to keep in mind: Optimizing Sound Quality Placement: Try to place your Echo Dot on a hard surface like a table or shelf to avoid muffled sound. Avoid placing it in corners or against walls. EQ Settings: You can adjust the bass, midrange, and treble of your Echo Dot by going to the Alexa app on your phone, selecting your Echo Dot, and then going to the Equalizer settings. Volume Control: If you want to raise or lower the volume of your Echo Dot, you can do so with your voice, but it's also helpful to know that you can control the volume by swiping up or down on the top of the device. Maximizing Battery Life Turn Off When Not in Use: If you're not using your Echo Dot as a Bluetooth speaker, it's a good idea to turn it off to conserve battery life. You can do this by saying "Alexa, turn off" or by holding down the action button until the light turns red. Charging: When you do need to charge your Echo Dot, you can use the included micro-USB cable and plug it into a wall adapter or your computer. Other Useful Features and Functions Multi-Room Audio: If you have multiple Echo Dots, you can use them as part of a multi-room audio setup. This allows you to play music in different rooms at the same time. Alexa Commands: You can control playback using Alexa voice commands, such as "pause," "resume," "skip," and "go back." By following these tips and tricks, you can get the most out of your Echo Dot as a Bluetooth speaker. Whether you're listening to music or streaming other audio, the Echo Dot can be a great way to enhance your listening experience.

Frequently Asked Questions About Using an Echo Dot as a Bluetooth speaker

Here are some frequently asked questions about using an Echo Dot as a Bluetooth speaker: How do I connect my device to the Echo Dot?  To connect your device to the Echo Dot, first, turn on your device's Bluetooth and put it in pairing mode. Then, say "Alexa, pair Bluetooth" and follow the instructions. How do I control playback on my Echo Dot?  You can control playback using your connected devices, such as a phone or tablet, or by using Alexa's voice commands. You can say things like "pause," "resume," "skip," and "go back." Can I connect multiple devices to the same Echo Dot?  Yes, you can connect multiple devices to the same Echo Dot. How do I optimize sound quality on my Echo Dot?  To optimize sound quality on your Echo Dot, try placing it on a hard surface, adjusting the EQ settings in the Alexa app, and controlling the volume using the touch controls on the device or with your voice. Can I use my Echo Dot as a speaker for video content?  Yes, you can use your Echo Dot as a speaker for video content, but keep in mind that there may be a slight delay between the video and the audio due to Bluetooth latency. How do I turn off my Echo Dot when I'm not using it?  You can turn off your Echo Dot by saying "Alexa. And turn off" or by holding down the action button until the light turns red. Can I use my Echo Dot as part of a multi-room audio setup?  Yes, if you have multiple Echo Dots, you can use them as part of a multi-room audio setup to play music in different rooms at the same time.

Conclusion

In conclusion, using an Echo Dot as a Bluetooth speaker is a great option for a compact audio solution. With its easy setup process, it's simple to pair your device and start enjoying music, podcasts and more.  I found that the Echo Dot's sound quality was surprisingly good. I appreciated the ability to adjust the equalizer settings to my liking. Additionally, the Echo Dot has a lot of other useful features and functions. Such as voice commands, hands-free calling, and smart home control, which make it a great value for the price.  Overall, I would recommend the Echo Dot to anyone looking for a portable and reliable Bluetooth speaker option.   I hope you all liked the article. For more articles please visit: Rewirelessify Read the full article

[aidenwaites]

What's up everyone I just somehow accidentally called 911 while trying to turn my phone's flashlight on

[juniorgman187]

i ♡ u (Spencer Reid Imagine)

Summary: Reader and Spencer are trapped in the office during a storm. 

Category: Smut, Fluff Content Warning: cussing, unprotected sex/creampie, thunderstorm Word Count: 4.5k A/N: I don’t really like this imagine tbh so don’t be afraid to share your opinions

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 

“It was a dark and stormy night just like this one . . .” Reid said with a spooky voice. Thunder clapped in the distance and lightning flashed, adding to the mood of the room. Reid waited for your reaction, but you didn’t have it in you. You pressed your fingers to your temples, hoping that moving them in a circular motion would somehow stimulate your brain and magically generate logical thoughts that weren’t clouded by your weariness. 

“Sorry, Reid. I’m listening. Keep going.” You didn’t want to discourage him with your fatigue. You were the only one who would consistently give Reid the time of day, and you never faltered in that. At times, you were the only one who’d let him finish speaking.

“You usually love my campfire scary stories,” You knew without even looking at him that Reid was pouting out of disappointment. “I really think you should go home. I’ll call you if I find something or if I need you.”

“No, no you shouldn’t be working on this alone. I’ll be fine.” You slapped your cheeks gently to wake yourself up and forced yourself to refocus on the case. 

Hotch and JJ had to fulfill parenting duties, Prentiss was away doing a custodial interview for a couple days, Rossi and Morgan both went home a few hours ago because they could barely keep their eyes open, and Garcia was most likely knocked out in her bat cave. The team had been working on this case for 24+ hours straight and it was draining, but you weren’t about to leave Reid alone to work on it by himself. It wasn’t a contest or a way to prove that you were somehow a better agent if you stayed up working with him, but you genuinely didn’t feel right delegating all of the responsibility onto him. It happened too often where Reid’s good heart and great work ethic was taken advantage of. 

“Have you narrowed down the comfort zone?” You sipped at your lukewarm coffee, wincing at the unpleasant taste but grateful for any burst of energy you could get. 

Reid nodded, drawing a large red circle. He was in the middle of explaining when his words started sounding like complete nonsense. “Interstate 55 miles true North latitude triangulate.” 

You almost thought you were hallucinating or something to that effect, but Reid saw the genuine fear in your eyes and quit his prank. “No, you’re fine! You’re fine! I was just saying random words to play with you. I thought it’d scare you enough to realize you need to get some sleep.” 

“Reid!” You chucked a pen at him that he successfully dodged. This only made him laugh harder. “You’re not gonna get rid of me that easy.” You told him. 

“When was the last time you slept?” He asked seriously.

It was a huge red flag that it took you somewhere around a minute to come up with the answer since it had been so long that you couldn’t remember. You waved your hand in the air to rid him of his concerned expression. He had no reason to worry. “Really, I’ll be fine. It’s less dangerous to be running on less than 8 hours of sleep than it is to leave one person to solve an entire case by himself. I’m not going home, Reid. I’m here to stay.” 

He noticed your stubbornness and thought of a new approach to neutralize the situation. “What if you and I both call it a night right now and then wake up in a few hours?” 

Now, this sounded like a plan you could get behind. Without any resistance, you set an alarm for 5 a.m and flopped onto the couch just beside the round table. Reid joined you, slipping into his rightful spot behind you. You’d had plenty of platonic sleepovers that constituted sharing the same couch/bed with him, so this was nothing new. With your back barely touching Reid’s chest, you shut your eyes. It didn’t take more than ten minutes for both of you to drift off. 

BEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEP!

A loud blaring noise filled the room. It made you and Spencer wake up at the same time. 

“What is that?” His voice was all raspy from where he just woke up. 

The sound was weirdly familiar, but you didn’t know where you recognized it from. That’s when you looked out the nearest window and saw that it was still dark outside. 

“I don’t know, but it’s not our alarm.” You pointed out. That’s when Reid eyed the clock on the wall. 

3 a.m. 

You quickly felt around in the dark, reaching inside your purse for your phone. When you pulled it out, the ear-splitting noise got louder, making you realize it was your phone after all, but you were right. It wasn’t your alarm. 

“It’s just a flash flood warning.” You relayed to Reid, squinting at the brightness of your phone. No wonder Reid didn’t know what the sound was - his ancient phone didn’t have the feature. You grumbled, falling back onto the couch. 

“There’s no way I’m gonna fall back asleep after that.” He groaned. 

You hummed in agreement. “Yeah, I’m wide awake now.” Stupid flash flood warning. 

You rubbed the sleep from your eyes while Reid stretched and got up from the couch. Checking the notifications he’d gotten on his phone, he said, “Garcia left while we were asleep.” 

“And then there were two.” 

Everyone was probably catching z’s while you two were catching the killer - or trying to at least. 

So, if it was just going to be Reid’s brain and your brain functioning to work on the case, you needed some coffee. 

“I’ll be back.” You walked down to the kitchen with your mug in hand and just as you were about to grab the coffee pot, a huge flash of lightning struck outside and suddenly the office went dark. The lights went out and the gentle hum of the generator shut off.

“Spencer!” You screamed out of fear. You heard the pitter-patter of his footsteps rushing to you. That’s when you saw Spencer using his archaic phone’s flashlight to find his way to you. He pulled you into a quick hug asking if you were okay, and you answered you were fine, just spooked. When you came down to pour coffee, you didn’t remember seeing anyone else, but now your stomach turned thinking about how someone might be in here with you - listening to you.

“Take out your gun,” He whispered. You did as he ordered you to, pulling your gun out of the holster. “Turn on the flashlight.” You clicked it on and handed it over to him, remembering that he didn’t have a flashlight on his gun because he had a revolver. 

“Stay behind me.” He commanded. You moved back, basically hugging him from behind. You thought you were actually going to pass out from fear if you didn’t hold onto him for dear life. He did a quick pass with the flashlight, revealing no one else was in the bullpen unless they were hiding. 

BANG! BANG!

You yelped in fear. “It’s just the thunder, Y/N,” He reasoned, reminding you of the ongoing storm. Oh right, there was a thunderstorm happening, too. Great. “Here take this and go back to the conference room.” He gave you his revolver and kept your gun, ushering you to walk back to the round table. 

“What? Why? Where are you going?” Your small voice had never sounded so shaky. 

“I’m gonna check the power box and see if I can fix it.” 

Your first instinct was to shake your head disapprovingly, but then you remembered that he couldn’t see you in the dark. “No way! You’re not leaving me alone in a dark room. I’m coming with you.” 

He didn’t argue against it probably because he was just as scared as you were. Reid did another quick survey of the room, using the beam of your flashlight to double check that there was no one else around. 

As you clung to Reid, you made yourself sick just by thinking of all the horrifying possibilities that could happen. For all you knew, a whole group of unsubs was waiting for you at the power box, knowing you and Reid would check there as soon as the electricity went out. Would whatever happened to you two tonight become a campfire scary story that other FBI agents would talk about just like how you and Reid talk about them? The odds were not in your favor. No lights. Storm outside. 3 a.m. Just the two of you, and no offense to Reid, but if this were a horror movie, he was probably the last person you wanted to be with. Top of the list was easily Morgan, because at least if Morgan was scared shitless by the predicament, he wouldn’t show it.

While Reid led the two of you through the pitch black darkness, both of your hands were holding onto his upper arm. You’d taken cover behind him, poking your head past his shoulder just far enough to see what he was seeing but only so far that you could duck quickly if you needed to. Frankly, Spencer didn’t even seem to mind that you were clinging onto him for protection. It kind of made him feel good actually. 

When you reached the power box, you released your grip on him, only realizing just how tight you’d been clutching him when you saw imprints left on his shirt from where you’d been holding on. 

“Take this.” He handed you the flashlight while he used both of his hands to pry open the box. 

You watched as his fingers grazed over the wires and fiddled with the buttons. Would it be weird to admit that his hands were kind of attractive? You’d never realized the largeness of them or how veiny they were, but there was something about them that made them so sexy to you.

He made a disapproving sound after further inspection.

“What’s wrong?” You weren’t actually wondering, but if you asked him, it would seem like you were actually paying attention to the situation at hand and not his hands. 

“It looks like the power shut off from a larger source, meaning there could be a blackout citywide. That also means I can’t fix it.” 

Hearing you’d be in the dark with no heat source was enough to snap you out of your trance. 

“I have an idea.” You led Reid to Garcia’s bat cave, after a memory of Garcia showing you her collection of glow in the dark figurines replayed in your mind. 

When you opened the cabinet, you smiled instantly at the sight of all the toys brightly lighting up the inside of the drawer. You knew that spending hours with Garcia listening about her toy collection would pay off eventually. Both of you carried all the toys you could and headed right back into the conference room. You placed them sporadically so that the entire room was dimly lit. Had these been candles instead of luminescent toys, it would’ve been ambient and romantic, but again - they weren’t candles. 

Unintentionally, you shivered audibly when a loud wind crashed just outside. The generator went out along with the lights, so it was awfully cold in the room.

Reid was about to give you his sweater when you stopped him by walking right up to him and stealing his body heat in a hug. Rather than embracing him around his sweater, you snaked your arms under the cardigan to really feel his warmth. And as if Reid was trying to kill you with kindness, he pulled the sides of his sweater to stretch around your back and swaddled you into his sweater with him. You smiled against his chest. Not much could make this moment sweeter.

“Better now?” He asked, peering down at your face.

You silently nodded, closing your eyes as if removing your sense of sight would heighten your sense of touch. You wanted to feel his affection as deeply as you could. 

“Tell me when you want me to let go.” 

“Not yet.” 

He laughed at your childish desire to be swaddled like this, but he was enjoying the warmth just as much as you were. 

“We can’t do much work with the power out so let’s just try to get some more sleep.” He walked with you to the couch, keeping his promise of not letting go until you told him to. 

With the storm outside and the flash flood warning, you two would just have to stay in the conference room until you had the all clear. You weren’t opposed to this entirely, though. There were much worse things you could do than listen to the rain in the arms of Spencer Reid.

“Okay, you can let go now but just for a second.” Your baby voice made him chuckle. He loved how you unabashed you were when asking for his attention. Reid laid down just as he did before, with his back on the backrest of the couch, and instead of having your back to him, you cuddled right up to him. While still wearing his sweater, he covered you in it again, drawing you even closer. 

For some reason, even though you were beat and you knew you needed the sleep, you couldn’t seem to shut your mind off and rest. You were awake for what felt like hours. You would’ve tossed and turned all night, but instead, you kept very still so Reid wouldn’t wake up. 

You’d be so focused on trying to fall asleep yourself that you didn’t even notice when Reid did. When you looked up, you saw his mouth was slightly agape, his eyes were shut and would occasionally flutter, and when you pressed your ear to his chest, he was breathing much slower than he was earlier. 

“If you stay still for 15 minutes, you’ll fall asleep. Just lay in the same position and don’t move.” He mumbled. So he wasn’t asleep? And he knew you weren’t either?

“I have been staying still, but it’s not working.” You whined. 

“Just try.” Reid murmured again.

You shut up and sighed, closing your eyes. This time, you made a conscious effort not to move a muscle. You even counted to 60 in your head 15 times, but after those 15 minutes, you were still awake. You weren’t even sure what was causing your insomnia. It was really peaceful to have the sound of the rain cascading down the window and the occasional boom of thunder outside. Being in Spencer’s arms was cozy, too, but there was still something keeping you up. 

“Spencer? Are you awake?” You scooted up so you could see his face. 

The only thing the moon was illuminating clearly was his lips. There was a distinct beam of silver light casting on his mouth, almost like it was lighting them up specifically. Like some sort of sign. A sudden urge possessed you, so without reason, you brought your hand up to his face and grazed your thumb over his bottom lip. Even with the gentle touch you were using, you were still able to feel how soft it was. You slowly dragged your thumb in a downwards motion, watching the elasticity of his lips cause it to bounce back up into its place. You nearly giggled at the sight. You moved your thumb to the corner of his mouth and followed it upwards to the natural curve of his upper lip. If you weren’t so observant before, you wouldn’t have noticed how Spencer very subtly parted his lips wider for you. Curiosity overcame you and you slowly inched closer to his mouth with your own.

“I think I want to kiss you . . . Can I kiss you?” You spoke in a soft voice, with each of your lips ghosting over his. 

A moment of stillness. Maybe he was asleep. Then, a small, very small nod of Reid’s head. You smiled as he let you take control. With your hand already along his jaw, you lifted his face slightly so you could feel the full force of your kiss. You pulled him in closer to relish the soft feeling of his puckered lips. He released his grip on the sweater that was still swaddling you so he could press the small of your back, forcing your hips to drive into his. The need to be even closer was translating into the kiss. It grew hungrier - more passionate and needy. Spencer raised up from the couch, propping himself up on his forearm so he could hover over you. You followed his lead and shifted to be underneath him. With his body over you, he was able to push off his forearms and onto his hands. They were on either side of your head, forcing you to sit up with him so your lips wouldn’t leave his. 

“Wait, wait,” He muttered, pulling away. You followed him with your mouth is desperation, until you couldn’t anymore, making you sit up entirely while Spencer backed away. 

“What’s wrong?”

“If we don’t stop now, I don’t know if I can stop later . . . I won’t be able to control myself.” 

It was in this moment you realize why you were often the only member on the team who’d actually listen to Reid. Nothing he could say would ever turn you off. Any word that escaped his lips was something you wanted to hear. His confession of being uncontrollable was no exception. 

“Do you know what I want to do?” There was a newfound confidence in your tone that shocked the both of you. 

“What do you want to do, Y/N?” Apparently, Spencer’s tone was just the opposite. He sounded like he was trembling with fear with anticipation. 

“Guess.” You flirted. 

Even in the dark, you could see Reid’s gears turning as he tried to find the right answer. He read your expression for a hint and made his guess by planting a chaste kiss on your lips.

“You’re cold.” 

He quickly caught on. You were making a game out of this. 

Hot and cold.

Reid made his next move with uncertainty. He slowly started moving forward to resume the position he had before he pulled away. As he came closer, you followed his lead and leisurely fell back. Every inch he would advance closer to you was an inch that you’d move back further until finally your back was pressed against the couch again and Spencer was hanging over you once more. With each of his hands beside your head, you smirked. “Getting warmer.”

This boosted his confidence. He was heading the right direction, and there was nothing Spencer loved more than to get things right. 

The same moonlight that was streaming onto his lips earlier was dancing on his eyes. The hazel color glimmered in the silver light. You could see they were asking, ‘Can I?’ You answered his look with a silent nod. 

Spencer reached behind him, following his hand with his eyes as he watched his fingers brush along your thigh. Looking back up at you for permission, which you granted, he peered back down, watching his fingers slip underneath the hem of your skirt. You lifted your hips up so he could raise the skirt all the way up. As if he was uncovering lost treasure, his eyes lit up when you were finally uncovered. 

“Fuck me.” He cursed under his breath. This made you ooze with confidence. 

You sat up to align your lips right beside his ear. With a breathy voice, you whispered, 

“Hot.”

He’d finally figured out what you wanted. 

The satisfaction he had in winning your little game gave him the confidence he needed to finally make a move. 

Hurriedly, he dragged your panties off, leaving prominent scratches from his nails on your thighs. He threw them somewhere behind him, while you frantically unbuttoned his dress pants. You almost giggled with glee when you saw just how hard he was. You barely did anything to provoke him, but he clearly enjoyed what little you did do. 

“I don’t have a -” You cut him off with a hasty kiss. 

“You don’t need to worry about that.” You needn’t explain more. He got the message when you reached down and gave his shaft a few shallow strokes.

“Oh-” He was immediately caught off guard by your forwardness. “Wait, wait shouldn’t I . . . um, help you first-”

You smiled at his stutter. “Spencer, please. I need you now.” 

There was that unabashed ask for Spencer’s attention that he loved so much. He made small movements until he was properly aligned with your entrance. 

“Tell me if I’m hurting you.” He breathlessly uttered, while gradually pushing in.

You thought you would’ve regretted not letting him finger you before in preparation but the bliss was far greater for some reason. 

The sensation was definitely new to Spencer when his eyes widened. “Oh fuck. You’re so tight.” 

Meanwhile, your face contorted at the feeling of him stretching you out. It was actually more painful than pleasurable. 

“Wait, Spencer - I need to change positions.” You panted. 

He instantly retracted, looking incredibly sorry. “Here,” He helped you up to your feet while taking a seat on the couch. You didn’t need an IQ of 187 to figure out how to position yourself, so you straddled Spencer, hovering over his erection. Taking charge now that you knew you’d feel more comfortable like this, you reached below you to align his length. Instantly, euphoria washed over you when you lowered yourself all the way until you were practically sitting on his lap. Spencer let out a heavy exhale now that you were able to take all of him in this new position. You moved your hands out from under you and put them on Spencer’s shoulders as a way to stabilize you each time you’d come up. After a few cursory movements, you found a comfortable pace. Spencer couldn’t contain himself, he had to grab your hips in his hands and buck up before, his pelvis meeting your ass before you could even fully lower yourself again. With the tempo of motion increasing drastically because of Spencer’s participation, you couldn’t even adjust to his length anymore. Every time he’d pull out was temporary relief for the ever-growing knot forming in your stomach. You bit back a moan when Spencer curled his hips to thrust into you at a different angle. This stroke mercilessly hit that knot in your stomach, forcing a strangled noise out. 

“Don’t stop, Spencer!” You were surprised at how you were even able to put together a cohesive sentence since your brain felt like it was short circuiting. 

With Spencer’s curved thrusts, the knot in your stomach grew bigger and bigger. You even felt yourself clench around Spencer. He felt it, too and his head instantly lolled back in pleasure. His eyes rolled to the back of his head with him. Your skin felt prickly as sweat started dripping from your forehead. If you didn’t know any better, the generator was working again because the heat in the room was thick. Spencer’s strokes were growing slower in anticipation. You picked up the pace for him and made a conscious clench around him to help him reach his peak. 

“I can’t control myself, Y/N. I need to pull out now.” He sputtered.

You made an indistinct noise that communicated your disapproval. It was the only thing Spencer needed to hear to know that it was okay if he came. 

“Cum for me, baby.” You moaned, knowing you were going to follow close behind. 

He dug his nails into your hips, bringing you back to reality as if it was his way of pinching you to tell you it was real. From the pain of his hands clawing into you, you almost couldn’t feel him coming, until you felt it dribble down your inner thigh. Suddenly, it felt like his warm essence made electricity surge through your body and course through your veins. With a speed faster than light itself, the knot in your stomach released. You cried out as his seed mixed with your own and cascaded down like the relentless rain outside cascaded down the window. The euphoria of your orgasm brought you to a complete stop. 

“Holy fuck.” You swallowed hard. The inside of your mouth was dry from where it hung open for so long. 

Spencer was at a loss for words. His silence was so unfamiliar you had to giggle. 

“You okay?” You lifted yourself off of his lap to gain some clarity. He gulped hard. 

“Am I dreaming?” He sounded genuinely dazed and confused, it was adorable. 

Garcia’s glow in the dark toys helped you to find a box of tissues. You took one from the box and wiped yourself before pulling your skirt back down. Meanwhile, Spencer zipped up his pants and ran his fingers through his hair. 

“Spencer,” You laughed a little. “You’re scaring me. Are you okay?”

He hadn’t changed his spot on the couch so you straddled his lap again, this time with more pure intentions.

You wrapped your arms around his neck, burying your face in his neck, while his hands rested on your hips again and his lips were pressing on your shoulder, leaving quick pecks. 

“I’ve wanted to do that for so long.” He confessed against your skin. You leaned back so you could see his face and kept your hands behind his head to play with the hair on the nape of his neck. Enjoying your soothing touch, he closed his eyes and tilted his head to lay against your wrist. He was so precious like this. With Spencer’s head cocked to the side, a distinct beam of light was revealed. This time it was shining onto your face, almost like what it feels like when you accidentally walk past a projector screen and look at the projector light. In this instance though, the light wasn’t nearly as blinding. It was soft and ethereal. It lit up the rain falling on the other side of the window. It even displayed signs of steam coming from the inside. You could see condensation running down the pane. It had gotten so hot in here because of you two that steam was produced. That felt like some sort of accomplishment. You mirthlessly chuckled and leaned forward. With this sudden movement, your chest was pressing against Spencer’s. He was forced to lift his head back up from your wrist when he wanted to examine what you were doing. You leaned past the backrest of the couch and exhaled a hot breath onto the window to make it fog up. Spencer watched you do this over his shoulder, trying to figure out what you were doing. With the glass fogged up, you started drawing a heart with your index finger. You lazily shaded in the heart and looked back at Spencer to show off your creation. It wasn’t pretty by any means, but it meant something. 

Spencer pulled a hand away from your hip to use his fingers to add to the drawing. To the left of the heart, Spencer drew a vertical line with a dot above it, and then to the right of it he drew a small horseshoe shape. You pouted your lips when you finally got the message. 

i ♡ u

You looked at him before blowing another hot breath onto the already existing fog to extend it. You drew a number right beside it. 

i ♡ u 2

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 

[junicai]

i search the universe.

| order no. | 5/21

| summary | Are ‘exploring’ and ‘being hopelessly lost’ synonyms? According to Jongin, they most definitely are.

| word count | 1.9k

| warnings | mentions of kidnapping but it’s just an old lady looking out for Aria when she’s with two very suspicious looking older men, sasaengs 

| era | circa. January 2020 

a/n: this definitely took a turn from the request, but i hope you still like it! if you’re not vibing with it, you can dm me, and i’ll see what i can re-write. thank you! 

The tour was set to kick off again in San Diego, California, after a pause for the duration of December. The time off was greatly appreciated; Aria found herself sleeping for twelve hours at a time occasionally, her sleep schedule trying to right itself after having been flipped on its head too many times to count. 

The flight from Seoul to California was long, and Aria had slept for a grand total of twenty minutes by the time they touched down on the tarmac runway again. 

It had been Jongin’s idea to go exploring before their first schedule that evening, an invitation that was proposed to all the members but only accepted by Taemin. When Jongin’s deflated look was fixed on Aria, she crumbled like the weak woman that she was, and agreed to accompany the two older men on an impromptu trip around the city. 

She’d never even left Ireland prior to joining the company (bar skating competitions, but those were less of a trip and more of a airport-taxi-hotel-rink-repeat combo, if you will) so each new city was met with widened eyes and dramatic oohs and aahs.

The trio had dropped their suitcases into their hotel rooms - Jongin rooming with Taemin this time around, and Aria with Ten - and pulled out a light jacket for outerwear, in Aria’s case, before they were marching out the door, masks pulled up over their faces. 

Aria’s hoodie that she had worn on the plane lay on the bedspread in her room, her phone forgotten in it’s pocket. 

The air was cool but not biting outside, and as Aria linked her hand into Taemin’s, the sun was still above the horizon. Jongin slipped his phone back into his pocket.

“The interview is scheduled for 6, which means we need to be back at the hotel for 4, which gives us,” He checked his watch, “Roughly two hours. Maybe a little more, if we push it.”

Taemin fixed him with a look. “Let’s not do that. It’s twenty to two now, lets aim to be back for twenty to four.”

Aria tugged on Taemin’s hand where the singer had still yet to let go. “Mhm! that way, if things go skywards, then we have time to take a back route or something.” 

Jongin nodded, satisfied. “Okay! So, where first?”

Aria exchanged a look with Taemin, before starting down the street. “Let’s find out!” 

With each building, came a new attraction to stare at. Small stalls sat at the street corners, attendees calling out to them to barter their goods. The buildings seemed to climb into the sky for miles, never-ending as far as Aria’s eyes could see.

The city was bustling with noise, cars passing on the wide streets with sharp beeps! that sent Aria jumping into the air occasionally, much to the chagrin of Jongin. 

He caught her waist when she jumped backwards the first time, stopping her from flattening him onto the sidewalk. “You alright there?” He leaned forwards with a teasing grin. 

Aria had huffed, swatting his hands off her waist before fixing her shirt. “Fine.” 

The grin had stayed plastered on Jongin’s face for the next two blocks, widening further when the girl jumped again at the sound of a harsh tire squeal and a series of rapid-fire beeps following it. 

Taemin lead the two away from the commotion, and they continued their in-depth exploration of the city and it’s secrets. 

It was wonderful; Until it wasn’t.

Honestly, they probably should have realized when they started being followed. It happened regularly on the streets back home, but here, they were off-guard and so the first flash of a shutter going off send Taemin stumbling backwards slightly. 

All hell broke loose from there.

A group of fourteen or fifteen teenage girls gathered, the leader of which had her phone gripped in her hand. “KAI OPPA!” She screamed, and like a battle cry - the others joined her.

Aria felt frozen, her legs refusing to cooperate with the frantic run, run, run run run that her brain was playing on a loop. The group advanced quickly, moving around the street corner and were only a few yards away when Jongin grabbed her wrist, fingers encircling tightly, and pulled her into motion. 

They ran on autopilot, blind as to where they were going only knowing that they couldn’t stop. The pounding of feet was still deafening behind them, and Jongin speeded up, Taemin following suit. 

It wasn’t long until Aria felt like she was doing less running and rather simply being tugged along by her wrist; legs pumping as fast as she could made them, but her strides were nearly double what she’d normally take even at a flat out sprint. 

Taemin tugged them both into a small alleyway, hoping that the shade the towering buildings offered on either side was enough to shield them from the fangirls’ piercing gazes.

Aria bent over, hands on her knees, panting.

“Oh god,” Jongin coughed out. “Not a single day, huh?” 

Taemin nodded sadly in commiseration, catching his own breath. “How did they even know it was us?” 

“The hair, probably,” Aria mumbled, already pulling her hair back into her hood. The bleached blonde and sky blue streaks combination was a tell-tale sign, and she kicked herself mentally for not at least putting her hair up into a bun to hide the most dramatic parts of it.

“What do we do now?” Aria looked to the two older men. “Do we just try to make a run for it? I don’t think I can remember which way we even went, we were just running. Oh god, are we lost now? Can we even get back to the hotel?” 

Taemin extended an arm, wrapping around Aria’s back and pulling her into a hug, before subtly moving them both behind a large sign that blocked them from view.

The group of girls passed by the entrance to the alley, chattering loudly. 

“Where did they go?” 

“Did you see which way they went?” 

“Taeminnie oppa~ Saranghae, come back~”

“Who was the 

“Okay,” Taemin took a deep breath. “Okay, we’ve done this before. My phone died somewhere back there, but Aria, do you want to call Baekhyun hyung while Jongin tries to figure out where we are?” 

He received two nods in return, and Aria’s hands patted her pockets. The empty lining gave underneath her fingers, and her stomach sunk slightly in dread. 

“My phone isn’t-” She looked up to Jongin with wide eyes. “I left it in the hotel room, I think, when I changed my jumper.” 

Jongin put a hand on her shoulder, rubbing soothingly. “It’s okay, we still have mine.” 

Aria’s breath was coming in slightly labored, with a light tremor that shook her chest. 

The ringing sounded loud as it echoed down the alley, and Jongin scrambled to turn the phone on silent. 

“What?” Baekhyun’s voice was tinny through the phone’s speakers, and Jongin moved down towards the end of the alley, out of Aria and Taemin’s earshot.

“Hyung,” Jongin spoke, heavy with relief. 

“What? You’ve just woken me up-” Jongin interrupted Baekhyun before he could start yelling down the phone. 

“Hyung, we got followed.” 

“By who?” 

“Fans, we think. They spotted us a couple streets ago, we ran and now we don’t know where we are.” 

A muttered curse came down the phone line, and what sounded like Baekhyun shutting a door. “Right, find out where you are, and I’ll get the manager to come get you lot. This is why I said no to going out, you’re all tired and then things like this happen Jongin-” 

“Hyung! I know, and I’m sorry you can scold me for it later, but right now,” He tossed a glance over his shoulder to Aria, who was encircled in Taemin’s arms. “Aria’s freaking out, and I’m not sure why, but I don’t think hiding in an alley is helping.” 

Baekhyun was silent, breathing out another curse. “Taeyong, he told me - it happened a while ago, and he didn’t tell me a lot, but enough.” 

“Hyung?” 

“Aria had a bad, altercation, lets say, with a sasaeng two years ago. I don’t know what exactly happened - Yongie didn’t tell me - but I’ll bet that’s why she’s freaking right now. Maybe just-” 

The line cut out. 

Jongin shook his phone, clicking the power button. “Hyung? Hyung?”

Taemin looked over. “Is everything alright?” 

“Phone’s dead.” 

Aria’s head peeked up, wide eyed. “Really?” 

Jongin nodded. 

“So- so what do we do? Did you talk to oppa?” 

He bit his lip. “Yeah, yeah I did. We’re gonna go find another store that’ll let us use their phone okay? And we’re gonna call the manager.” He turned to Aria. “Do you think you could talk to someone right now, Ari? Is that okay?” 

Aria took a deep breath, closing her eyes and exhaling smoothly. “I can do that. I can definitely do that.” The tremor in her hands told otherwise, but she tucked them into her pockets to hide that fact.

“Okay. Okay, let’s go.” Taemin peered around the alley walls, looking and seeing no gang of girls waiting to pounce on them. 

The trio stepped out from behind the building walls, and quickly jogged their way into the nearest café - two storefronts down. 

“Miss? Miss, I’m so sorry to bother you, but could I borrow your landline for a moment? My own phone’s dead, you see.” Aria cleared her throat, peering up at the kind lady behind the counter.

Her wizened eyes took in the small stature of Aria, and the two men standing at the doorway, peering outside. They looked suspicious; hoods pulled low over their eyes, and masks hiding the bottom half of their faces, staring out the window as if they were waiting for someone to show up; and they were ready to flee.

 Slowly, an understanding dawned on her - connecting the wrong dots together and garnering a jumbled up picture of the truth.

“Oh, dear of course, just come behind here and I’ll call someone for you - do you have your mother’s number with you? Your father’s?” She began to usher Aria behind the counter.

“Oh, no, miss, that’s alright, I just need to use your phone for a moment-”

The lady leaned closer. “Dear, if those men are trying to take you somewhere, you’re absolutely welcome to stay in the back room. Do you want me to call the cops?”

Aria choked. “Oh! Oh no- oh those are my brothers miss! They’re not- I haven’t been-” 

The lady looked on with squinted eyes. “They can’t hurt you dearie, you’re safe now-”

“No, I promise you miss, they’re my brothers, they just don’t speak very good English. Can I please use your phone? Please?” Aria was begging at this point. 

Reluctantly, a phone was handed to her, and she wasted no time in inputting Baekhyun’s number. It rang once, before being picked up.

“Oppa?” 

[deliquescentnightmare]

Easy Come, Easy Go- CH 3

~Coffee, guns, and disappearing doctors~

“So you’re Lestrade’s daughter then?” John asked as the two walked side-by side towards the main road.

“I am indeed. Have been since my birth- an impressive career of nearly 25 years,” She smiled, pulling her hair down to cover her ears- attempting to combat the cold England winter.

“You’re only 24? And have a PhD?” her companion seemed borderline incredulous, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was saying.

“Yes, I finished high school early, and got my bachelors within a year after that,”

“You’re awfully clever, then,”

“That stands to be seen. I still struggle to spell the word necessary,” she joked and they both laughed, “So you’re a doctor too then?”

“Yes, military actually,”

“Oh, well I don’t know how things works here in the land of cool accents, driving on the wrong side of the road, and the queen, but in America we thank Armed service members for their service,” She smiled, “So thank you for your service,”

“Oh- I’m- Uh, thank you,” John replied, stumbling slightly over his words as they came to the main road. A telephone booth near them began to ring and Delila gave it an odd look.

“Do- telephone booths normally do that?”

“Ring?”

“Yeah-”

“No, not normally,”

“Huh, alright,” Delila replied, startling slightly as her pocket began to vibrate and a tune could be heard from it., "Guess ringing phones just like us," she joked and he smiled a little. She pulled it out and hissed a curse, “Do you mind if I just step away to take this real quick? I won’t be long,”

“Go ahead, take your time. I’ll try and flag us down a cab,”

“Perfect, thank you,” Delila stepped away, ducking into a quiet alley, and answered the phone.

“Hello?” a voice crackled on the other end.

“Mom.. how- uhm- How nice of you to call..?”

“I heard you’re visiting your father,”

“I am indeed doing that,” she replied

“Well I just wanted to call to check in on you,”

“Well… that’s nice of you.”

“Have you talked to Jameson lately? He’s always been too busy to talk to me, but he likes talking to you,"

“Is that what you really called me for?”

“I was just wondering! No need to get so defensive,”

“No mom, I haven’t talked to him lately. Have you at least talked to Theo then?”

“Yes, actually. He mentioned something interesting,”

“And that is?”

“You are considering moving to London?”

“I’m considering it. Nothing is set in stone,”

“Listen, Delila. I know it’s been very difficult for you considering your previous situation, but I don’t think up and moving to another country is going to help much,”

“Mom, I know you’ve had it great and all, and you care about my well-being, but I don’t know how much of a say you really have in this,”

“Delila, I am much older than you- I’ve lived double your lifetime,”

“Please don’t pull the seniority card again mom. You don’t realise how stressful dealing with this has been,”

“You’re right, Delila. Just- don’t forget to come back to visit, okay?”

“Mom it’s really late there, you should get some sleep,”

“Oh don’t worry about me, I’m about to go out with some of the girls from work,”

“Mom, you mean the girls who are about 30 years younger than you?”

“Yes, actually! Oh- that must be them! I’ll call you back later, Delila!”

“I- ugh, stay safe please,”

“No promises!” her mother laughed and hung up. Delila sighed and stared at the contact photo for her mother for a moment as if it would tell her how to deal with her. After a silent moment, she shoved her phone into her purse and returned to the street, where John was no longer standing. She looked around in confusion, but didn’t see any signs of the doctor.

“Looking for someone?” Delila turned to see a woman in her late 20’s, with kind, dark almond shaped eyes and dark hair cut in a pixie cut.

“Yeah I was, actually,” Delila furrowed her brow, “I just stepped away for a moment to take a call and he’s gone…”

“What did he look like?”

“About yeigh tall, blonde, cable knit sweater, black jacket, cane,”

“Walked with a pronounced limp and looked like he was under too-much stress all the time?”

“Sounds like him, yeah”

“He stepped into the telephone booth, looked around a bit, hung up and got into an expensive looking car as it pulled up,” the woman said, looking down the street, “Odd fellow, your friend,”

“Yeah…”

“I’m guessing that wasn’t a part of your plans then?”

“Not really,”

“Do you think he’ll be comin’ back?”

“No, honestly I don’t know. I just met him today,”

“Well that’s a shoddy friend if you ask me,”

“I guess so. Would you know where I could go for a cup of coffee or tea?”

“They make a good cuppa at the cafe two stores down,” The woman explained, “Could I treat you to one? My treat,”

“That would be nice, actually,” Delila said and the duo walked to the coffeeshop. Li held open the door and Delila thanked her, grateful to be out of the cold.\

“Of course,” The woman smiled, “I never actually caught your name,”

“Oh, Lestrade, Delila Lestrade,” Delila stuck her hand out as they seated themselves at a booth.

“Ji-Li Hart, but you can call me Li,” The woman shook Delila’s hand, “So you’re American?”

“Yeah... well, my dad is from London,”

“Wait, is he the suicide-gating bloke from the papers?”

“I’m sorry what?”

“You haven’t heard? He did this interview about these serial suicides- three of ‘em so far- and when he was asked what people should do to keep themselves safe he said ‘don’t commit suicide’. Caused quite the uproar, it did,”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Delila sighed and buried her face in her hands, “I love my dad but he’s not the most soft-spoken or sensitive person,” She let out a small laugh, “At least he tried,”

“That’s one way to look at it,” Li laughed as well. Delila wasn’t quite sure how much time passed after that. A cup of coffee later, she was laughing along with Li to a story when her phone buzzed. It was an unfamiliar number and her heart stopped as she raised the device to look at the message.

Tell John to check his phone as soon as possible.

-SH

“Everything alright?” Li asked as Delila struggled to register the message. After a moment, however, the words sunk kin and she let out a breath, shaking her head slightly as if dispelling the panic that she unknowingly wore clear as day.

“Yes- I just-” Delila stared at her phone, “just seeing ghosts I guess,” she chuckled drily.

“What do you mean? If you don’t mind me asking,”

“A new acquaintance of mine spooked me by texting me out of the blue,” she shook her head and smiled but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, “guess he didn’t know I don’t have his number yet,” Her hands shook slightly as she clicked the power button to darken the screen and she slipped it into her pocket. Time felt like a train that had slammed on the breaks, and she struggled to keep the panic from rising as a blush into her pale cheeks.

“Ah, I see,” Li said, gaze dancing across Delila’s face, “well I’m sorry he worried you,”

“It’s nothing big, it’s just something an old… friend… of mine used to do,” Time seemed to jerk to a start as she heard a familiar voice.

“Delila?” Her head snapped up and her face broke out into a bright smile of relief. She pulled herself out of the booth and nearly crushed him in a hug.

“John! There you are! Where were you?”

“It’s a long story that I don’t think I can tell you right this moment,” John explained, “listen. I can’t stay. Sherlock texted me and he said it might be dangerous and I-”

“Was wondering if I’d come along?”

“Well erm-”

“Are you kidding? Of course I’ll come. You owe me a cup of coffee though,” She smiled before glancing back at Li, “I’ve gotta blast, but I can call you later?”

“Sure! Here’s my card, just text me whenever!” Li passed Delila a crisp black business card, and in one fluid motion, the orange haired young woman had slipped into her jacket and shoved the card into her pocket. With a wave, she and John had left the cafe.

“There’s a lot to tell you, but I can’t really until we get to somewhere safer,” John started to explain as he held the door open for her.

“I’m going to guess it starts with ‘That sketchy black government-looking vehicle is our transportation’?” Delila cracked, running her fingers through her curly hair and pulling it up into a ponytail as they approached said car.

“Well, yes, but,” John sighed, “I’ll tell you when we get to Baker Street,”

“Sounds like a plan,” Delila thanked the chauffeur and slipped into the car, startling slightly at the woman already inside.

“Hello again,” John said as the door closed behind him, “This is my friend, Delila,”

“I know,”

“Oh um- hi?” Delila waved awkwardly, “And your name is?”

“Hello Dr Lestrade,” The woman remarked, ignoring the second half of the young woman’s statement, “We should be at baker street shortly,”

“Okie dokie, well then,” she turned to John, “this is a fancy car. Do you always travel like this?”

“Not usually,” John replied, “This is actually a first for me,”

“Friend of yours?” Delila asked, gesturing to the woman.

“Not particularly,”

“Any use in asking who this car belongs to?”

“A friend of your friend,” the brunette supplied and Delila furrowed her brows. John shook his head as if to say not me, and she let out a frustrated huff. The rest of the ride was completed in silence, and as soon as they came to a stop, she nearly scrambled out of the car, unable to shake the feeling of unease that had settled on her skin like summer heat. She approached the door, and then halted as she realised her companion had stopped to talk with the woman in the car. After a moment, he sighed and shut the door, limping over to where Delila stood. He reached for the door but her hand reached out to stop him; she stayed silent as she watched the car pull away from the curb and into the flow of traffic before she reached under her coat and behind her to retrieve the gun she’d holstered there.

“What are you doing?”

“He said danger, right?”

“Yes?”

“So we’re going in prepared. Have you ever cleared a building?”

“Not in the middle of London in the dead of night,”

“Well there’s a first time for everything I guess,” Delila smiled, checking the gun magazine before clicking it into place, “Now stay behind me and don’t move until I give the signal. Unless you know something I don’t, there’s no telling what we’re heading into,”

“You know everything I know,”

“Where’s the main apartment entrance?”

“Second floor, first door you see when you reach the top of the staircase,”

“Right. Okay, follow behind me,” Delila instructed, opening the door of 221B before clicking the safety off. She moved quietly and cautiously, but with an air of confidence and trained precision; she knew what she was doing and she knew she was good at it. Moving up the stairs with a look of steely determination, she gestured with her head for John to follow and he did so as quietly as he could, shutting the front door tightly and silently behind him. Finally, his companion reached the door to their flat, which was wide open, he took a deep breath. She swung into the doorway, gun trained on whatever awaited out of his sight.

[shinygoldstar]

Snowflake Part 9 (DannyMay Power)

Part 1 | Part 8 | AO3 | Part 10

Double the usual length for the extra day wait

.

They never felt so powerless before.

Water fell in heavy sheets of rain. The windows rattled against the strong winds outside. Droplets of rain splashed onto the windows, leaving streaks of frozen ice trails on the glass panes. Frost crept up the edges of the window. It is noon but the street lights are lit up against the stormy gloom. 

Danny shivered harder under his stack of blankets, puffing out breaths of cold air. His parents have called the school to let them know Danny is on sick leave. That was three days ago. Danny flipped through the TV channels, trying to distract himself from the chills. The weather news reported sunny skies in neighboring cities.

“Danny, do you want to enter the sauna again?” Maddie queried, walking out from the kitchen. She placed a glass of water on the table and offered a plain white capsule pill to Danny, “Here sweetie, it’s time for your next dose.”

Danny nodded and dully took the pill with the provided water. He felt drowsy.

“Jack? Can you help me carry Danny to the sauna please?” Maddie called out. Wordlessly, Jack walked out of the kitchen and scooped Danny up from the living room sofa. If his hands trembled as he cradled Danny carefully like fragile precious cargo, no one remarked on it. The trio silently walked down the stairs into the lab basement. Jack gently placed Danny down on the soft padding of the bench in their makeshift lab sauna. They closed the glass door and turned up the heat. Steam wafted up from Danny as color slowly return to his skin. Danny loosened his rigid pose, relaxing into the pile of blankets that was carried into the makeshift room with him. Finding comfort at last, Danny quickly fell asleep.

Noticing their son finally fell asleep, the elder Fentons dimmed the lab lights and moved upstairs knowing Danny will press the installed button in the room if he needed anything. 

Closing the basement door, Maddie turned towards Jack. “That was the highest dose of ecto-inhibitor we can give him that is still safe for consumption. I didn’t want to get the officials involved but I think we need another expert’s assistance on this. Do you still have the contact of the department that helped Vlad?” 

Jack shook his head, “They never gave me their contact. They directly contacted the hospital Vlad was in and took over the case. Maybe we can call the hospital to see if they still have the contact details? I still have the hospital number in my old phone book.” he suggested. 

Maddie nodded, “Yes that’d be great.” 

“I’ll go grab it. Just took it out of the college box in the storage last week. This shouldn’t take too long.” Jack quickly shuffled out of the room.

Maddie sighed, sitting down at the dining table. Nothing they did helped Danny for long. As much as she disliked the thought of the white suited officials having anything to do with Danny, this situation is beyond what the two of them could do within the limited time she estimated they had before they run of ways to stall Danny’s cold. They need a team of experts if they were to help Danny in time. 

Loud footsteps alerted her to Jack’s return, “Here” he handed her his phone book with a number circled in red.

Maddie took the book with a nod of thanks, quickly walking over to the kitchen phone. She dialed the number and waited.

“Hello? May I be redirected to the special cases department please? Yes, thank you.” 

The front door clicked and opened, bringing in cold frigid air that quickly chilled the room. The door closed quickly with a quiet snap, followed by the quick rapid footsteps associated with her oldest child. “Hi Mom! Oh, you’re on a call” Jazz whispered, quietly walking over to the sink to grab some water for the kettle. She set aside three mugs beside her. Jack remained seated at the kitchen table, attentively trying to listen to Maddie’s phone call.

“-yes, I’d like to consult on a similar case. May I know if the department still retain the contact details? We’d like to consult their expertise.” Jazz quietly placed the kettle on the stove.

“-what do you mean you’ve never heard of them? But-” Maddie spluttered, losing her composure. Jazz looked worriedly at her mom.

“No records? But- How-?” Maddie changed tracks, “Okay, may I speak to Dr. Malone instead? She was initially in charge of the similar case I referred to. I’d like to consult on-” Maddie paused, listening to the voice in the receiver, “No records? What you do mean? We- I’ve met her twenty years ago. She was the head of the radiology specialist team- Yes, yes, she worked at the University of Wisconsin Hospital- I- Okay. Okay. Thank you for the information. Yes, have a nice day to you too.” Maddie returned the handset to its slot on the wall and took a deep breath. Jazz offered her a mug of warm drink.

Maddie gratefully took the drink and took a seat at the table. “The hospital never heard of the officials, no contact details, no records, no nothing. They never had a Dr. Malone in their employee register either. I don’t understand. That was the correct hospital but all the records are gone. Nothing. It’s as if they never existed.”

Jack blew air out of his nose in a heavy sigh. Jazz placed her hands on both her parents’ shoulders in comfort.  Ectoplasm was their passion. They're the foremost experts in the field. Paving way towards new discoveries. To have that corrupt their child without a way to rectify it broke their hearts. They never felt so powerless before.

[takadanobaba]

Prizoom Ticket Buying Walkthrough

Have you ever wanted to experience what a cheering screening is like regardless of location, even overseas? How about soundboard hell?

Well you’re in luck because there’s literally nothing stopping you because prizooms are a thing and they aren’t region locked at all!!! And I love them!!!!

I love them so much that I made a whole post just to make the ticket buying process even more easy!!!! 

If you’re interested in attending a prizoom, please participate and show your support for kinpri!!!

So to preface, “prizooms” are online King of Prism cheering screenings using Zoom and featuring a soundboard powered by Ainotte. Tickets are sold through RakutenTicket.

My first prizoom was Jin’s! 💙  I posted an impressions post here, in case if you wanted a detailed summary of what a prizoom is like! I also posted about Rei’s prizoom and will be using screenshots from buying tickets for that during this!

~

You’ll need a Rakuten Ticket account before trying to make your purchase, so if you haven’t, go to this link (the Rakuten member registration page) and make an account.

(Actually forgot most of the details for making an account when typing this but I do remember it being decently easy so.... if I’m missing anything it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out ^^;)

First part is pretty straightforward, they even have an official English translation of the registration page so you don’t have to put it through google translate! Also it doesn’t matter what language you set during registration, your account will work for buying prizoom tickets even if you don’t use the Japanese page.

For the address, I just looked up “Japanese postal codes” and put in the first result that showed up and picked the prefecture it came from (Tokyo) just to be safe. Pretty sure you can just put whatever you want though. Forgot what info I used (and can’t figure out how to see my account info to check?) but pretty sure I didn’t type in legit info and it went through anyways.

For the phone number, you can use your actual full phone number, including the country code!

(I forgot if they need to verify your phone number, but I’d suggest to use your real phone number just in case)

After that, confirm your information and create your Rakuten Ticket account!

So first you would go to whatever prizoom you’re interested in’s information page (usually found promoted on the kinpri twitter account) and then click the blue link, which will take you to its Rakuten Ticket page!

Then if you scroll down a bit, you’ll see the different tickets available for purchase! The first and most expensive option is for every showing in the event, the ones below it are specific showings.

Also!!! If you want to skip a showing, you’ll have to go through the purchasing process for each single ticket you want to buy. There isn’t a cart function as far as I’m aware, so I had to pay the service fee twice. It’s kind of a pain but I guess that just gives more incentive for people who just want to do 2+ showings to just go all the way.

(Looking back on it, I regret only doing 2 out of 3 and not just buying an all-inclusive ticket for Jin’s showing since I would’ve loved it...)

I want to attend the screening of SSS part 4, so I’ll click the red button for the 3rd option!

Next screen is where you choose which room you want to participate in!  The red option is the cheering room, and the blue is for the chat+soundboard only room. I’ve heard that the cheering rooms are more fun (and a closer experience to an actual cheering screening), but I started out with chat-only rooms and personally REALLY REALLY REALLY enjoyed them! Both rooms use the soundboard, so if you’re interested in cheering through that (seeing as most people using this walkthrough would proooobably not have much experience cheering or be confident enough in Japanese to turn on their mic), it’s okay to attend either room!

I’ll be going to the chat-only room again! So I’ll click that, and then click the dropdown and set it to the only other option so that I can buy one ticket.

After that, a confirmation screen pops up. The orange button on the left is to cancel/go back, and the one on the right is to confirm.

The next section asks how you would like to pay, you’ll probably want to (and most likely can only) pay with a credit/debit card, so just select the first option before scrolling down until you get a bunch of blanks to fill out like below.

Now here’s the fun part! Putting in some really obviously made up information!

The first line asks for your last name, and the line below that asks for your first name. Don’t bother trying to type in your name in English letters/romaji, the system will only allow Japanese letters. As long as it’s in Japanese, you can put any name you want! 

In the section below the first 2 boxes, it asks you to rewrite your name in katakana specifically. If you have trouble with differentiating hiragana/katakana/kanji, you can always just paste something into a katakana converter or go wild with google translate till something works. Though it’d be good for you to learn at least a little bit of Japanese since it makes the whole screening experience more enjoyable.

I just set my name as 高田馬場 (Takadanobaba) ジョージ (Joji) because why not. For the second set of name boxes I put タカダノババ (Takadanobaba in katakana) ジョージ (Joji again, almost every kinpri character’s first name is already written in katakana). If you don’t want to bother with putting in different info then you can just paste that in haha.

For the address, make sure you put in a Japanese zip code! Non-japanese codes won’t work. You can select any prefecture you want, but for the example I put その他 / ”Somewhere else”. For the next few boxes you can type in literally anything you want, it doesn’t matter. It’s just an online event so the only place they send you anything is to your email! (They should just remove the whole address section since it gets tedious to fill out and isn’t used for anything haha...) Your address doesn’t need to be consistent with the info you used to make your account! 

ALSO!!!! If you’re running the page through google translate or something and get stuck, make sure you revert it back to its original before filling in your information and hitting the orange button! If you don’t then it keeps switching your birth month to the default 1/January and you won’t be able to move onto the next page. Your birthday needs to match up with the info you used to make your Rakuten account with!

When you’re done, click the orange confirmation button to go to the next page!

Next page just asks if you want to use your RakutenTicket points to discount your purchase. You can only use them if you have at least 50 points.

After that, put in your payment information! You don’t need a Japanese credit/debit card and can use the information for any card you want......... as long as it’s valid for you to use! Don’t steal someone’s card info or put in fake information for this. This is a transaction with actual money involved here. ^^;

Putting in the numbers on your card is also straightforward, the most confusing part would probably just be the name. Make sure you type the cardholder name in ALL CAPS otherwise it won’t work.

Should be obvious but I only used “TAKADANOBABA JOJI” for example purposes, if you’re copying my info, don’t actually put that unless if your name is actually Takadanobaba Joji and your credit card really says that. I changed it to my legal information after taking this screenshot so my purchase would go through. Use the actual name on your card!

After you put in your payment info and it’s verified, review your purchase, scroll down, and check the box at the end if you want to go through with your order.

The box before that asks if you want to receive email notifications for when events relating to King of Prism and online events have their tickets up for sale.

When your tickets are bought, you’ll get an order code like this! (You don’t really need it, this isn’t used in your prizoom ticket)

To see your ticket information, you can either check your email or go to the RakutenTicket home page and log into your account to view your purchase history.

When you click whatever ticket you want to see information for, scroll down until you find your “入室用ID” / “Entry ID” information.

From here, you’ll see your ticket info, alongside a link to the event’s bonus zoom backgrounds right above it!

You will also get an email with your ticket information!

Your ticket info will consist of numbers separated into three sections by slashes like this! The sections in order would be:

1) The Zoom meeting ID code (882 8702 1252)

2) The password to be let into the Zoom meeting (964689)

3) What you need to set your display name to before entering (6703)

(The numbers won’t be the same, also this is from Jin’s first showing so it’s long over and this information is useless outside of providing an example.)

Only one device is allowed per ticket, so don’t try to distribute the same ticket to multiple people to get out of paying for yourself or anything like that!

(Assuming you don’t need this guide to tell you how to download Zoom or find the option to join a meeting)

Put in the first number into the first box and the third number into the second box. Then you’ll get a popup asking for a passcode, so the second number.

Then it’ll show you when the event is scheduled for in your timezone! This is helpful for if you haven’t already and want to set an alarm for when it starts but don’t want to fumble through time converters. Though it would be good to double check just in case if the popup is off.

On the day of the event and a bit earlier from the first showing, you’ll get an email with a link for the prizoom soundboard! 

The soundboard is the same for all of the event’s showings and both rooms, so please only participate when appropriate so you don’t ruin the experience in showings you’re not attending if you choose to listen in on them!

I’ve annotated the buttons for accessibility  💖 

The gender/voice options can be switched in the top right corner (it’s set to the female option by default). The volume can be controlled with the sliding bar (the default is 5 which is honestly wayyy too low of a number considering how loud it is)

And with that, you’re all set! Once you’ve done all of the above, all you have to do is just wait for the event to start and then experience the prizoom sparkle!  💖

Shortly after the event ends, you get an email asking for feedback like this!

Just click the link and you can also put in any information and comments you want... whether you decide to let the staff know that there’s international interest in kinpri is up to you ^^

If you find that you enjoy prizooms, or just want to help make sure that there’s an opportunity to experience cheering screenings regardless of location, it would be helpful to comment that they should keep holding them in the future!  💖

If there’s any other questions, I’d be happy to answer!

[starkeristheendgame]

Soulmate AU where Peter's soul words are like, "How you doin'" and Tony's words are "Not interested". Peter's in a bar and Tony walks up to him and says "How you doin'" and Peter throws back his shot of whiskey and just says, "Not interested," and then it just clicks at the same time for both of them. Peter looks at Tony and Tony looks at him and Peter says, "Well, maybe I am interested."

I received a second ask which is I think the beginning of this one, so I’m going to answer the two as this post and pray I’m not shorting someone!

Set around the A1 era but Peter is a spritely young lad seasoned with his powers and sick of soulmates and Tony is a thirty-something superhero equally unimpressed by the whole shtick. I hope I did this justice!

TW: Daddy kink | Grinding | Dynamic imbalance | Undernegotiated but consensual kink

Tony Stark was a man who had everything. Who had always had everything. A luxurious home, more money than he knew what to do with, expensive cars, expensive girls. A family name worth the Earth. All he had to do was speak his name or snap his fingers and people would bend over backwards to please him.

Which made his soul-mark all the more utterly infuriating

Not interested.

It was written in an inelegant scrawl, the r lopsided and the N curled on the tips. It lay like a brand on the inside of his bicep, taunting him every time he looked at it. And he looked at it often, especially as he grew up and got better looking; especially when people begun to play at being his soulmate in the desperate hope he would fall for them.

He had all that, and presumably, his soulmate had not even a spark of interest in him. It had gnawed at him like a starving wolf throughout his teens, wary of anyone who opened their mouth in his direction. And when he became an attractive, wealthy older man, and when he became an attractive superhero to boot. Iron Man. Someone wasn’t even remotely interested in Iron Man.

Steve had given him an amused and sort of smug look when Tony had revealed the white mark on a drunken team bonding night. No doubt the man knew how such a line would mess with Tony. Tony only wished he could give the man the same shit, but Steve’s soul-mark was a dark black, the colour it turned to when you met your soulmate. One James “Bucky” Barnes, who was so sickeningly in love with Steve that it often warranted fake gagging until they toned down the puppy eyes and kissing.

Being Iron Man didn’t exactly help the whole soulmate thing, either. Not that the soulmate issue wasn’t a smooth sea to begin with. They were a bit of a shit-luck-dip, really. You could be born in the entire wrong lifetime. You could be ninety by the time your soulmate is born. You could meet your soulmate in just enough time to watch them wither away.

Soul-marks were a pale, lifted white until you met your soulmate and spoke their words. Then, it would burn and slowly darken to black to signify you’d met The One.

At cresting thirty-two, Tony knew his soulmate was alive. Somewhere. The other delightful thing about soulmates is the Universe didn’t exactly plop you down in the same house. The majority of people died having never met their soulmate. Tony knew his soulmate was alive because he had a mark. Those too late got the job of watching their soul-mark fade from their skin.

And there Tony’s sat, pink-white and mocking him with every passing day.

Not interested.

It’s what he wished he could say, when his phone rang with Director Fury’s number and the sky begun to rain aliens. Looking up at the giant alien-crocodile-snake thing, all he wanted to do was throw in the armour and become a sheep herder or something.

Half of New York has been unceremoniously remodelled by the time Loki is a wheezing half-corpse two foot down in his kitchenette floor, and Schwarma turns out to be vaguely disappointing.

All in all, he needs a whiskey. And a strong one. In an unfortunate trend that seems to be set on denying him all his wants - The Tower is officially on lockdown while SHIELD begins the frantic clean-up attempt. This apparently extends to even him, the man who’s name is literally emblazoned across the building.

Or, was.

Looking up at it now, all that remains is a slightly jagged A.

Huh. He has to remodel now anyway; maybe a logo change might not be so bad. But that can wait, because between the aliens and Steve fucking Rogers and the aliens, a strong whiskey was the only solution. So Tony tucked his hands into the pockets of his slacks and turned on his heel, picking way along the rubble-littered streets. Still deserted, now that SHIELD had taken over.

Some four blocks down, a SHIELD agent comes striding past, clutching a tiny Yorkie to his chest. The Agent side-eyed him as they passed each other, as though unsure if he should be letting an Avenger just stroll away, but Tony waved a hand at him. “Double the animal rescue efforts and put my name on the bill. If you happen to find a particularly vicious dog - Or even a cat, really, do be sure to stuff it in Captain America’s mailbox” he hummed, whistling cheerfully as he continued on.

The first bar he came across was a total dud, half-caved in and void of any signs of life. Unperturbed, Tony continued onwards and soon found a second, only slightly scathed. Entering the building it became clear he was not the only one who had settled on the notion of a stiff drink.

Sat at the bar, was a smaller male, with a mess of dark curls and a flannel overshirt that had been torn open, bloodied at one side. Skinny jeans once black were now a brown-grey with dust. The guy didn’t turn around the check him out, just knocked back a shot and poured another from the bottle at his side. Next to that was an empty tumbler, with what looked to be a $20 inside.

Tony gave a soft huff, but he supposed that for once, he didn’t exactly have a choice in going somewhere else. So he smoothed down his hair and sauntered up to the bar, leaning one elbow against the murky wood. A glimpse of the guys face nearly had him sliding straight off it in surprise.

A little battered or not, Bar Guy was attractive. He had a little button nose and a sharp jaw contradicted by slightly round cheeks. From the side his lashes seemed endless. A little disarmed but not deterred, Tony flashed a wry grin and in best Joey Tribbiani accent, greeted him with “Hey. How you doin’?”

And he honestly wasn’t flirting. At least, not with any real intent. Pepper often said that Tony would flirt with a potted plant if he thought it would gain him anything; and he supposed she wasn’t wrong. Bar Guy stiffened a little, shoulders hunching, and he poured a generous slug of whiskey into his glass before he knocked it back with a grimace, not even looking at Tony.

“Not interested” the boy replied blandly, though not cruelly, turning away from Tony to slide off his stool. Tony opened his mouth to crack a joke, or make a witty remark, but he never got that far. His arm begun to tingle, and then it burned slightly, and his gasp was mirrored by the guy opposite, who staggered and clutched at his thigh.

The burn abated back to a tingle, and then to nothing, as though it had never happened. Tony didn’t need to check his arm to know that the mark would be a deep, semi-sheen black.

The guy whipped around, and his already wide eyes went near cartoon comical when he realised exactly who was stood opposite him; exactly who the Universe had plucked out of a hat for him. Tony could only offer a wry, grim smile in response. He felt sick. He wanted to run away. This was it. God, he couldn’t do this.

“Mr. Stark” the boy honest to god squeaked, and it was enough to have Tony’s mouth curving with a little more sincerity. The boy straightened, gaze sweeping him without an ounce of subtlety, and then he coughed. “Okay. Uh. Maybe a little interested” the boy murmured, one hand reaching up to rub at the back of his neck.

“Only a little?” Tony asked, but it was teasing as he slid into a stool, took a $20 from his pocket and added it to the tumbler before he took the whiskey and the boy’s glass, pouring himself two fingers. What a story. He saved the world from aliens, flew a nuke into space and found his soulmate on the hunt for whiskey.

“So. Aliens” he huffed, knocking back his drink. The boy slid back onto the stool besides him and took the glass and bottle, knocking back a shot of his own.

“Aliens” he agreed sombrely.

An hour later and Tony learned his soulmate was called Peter Parker and he loved strawberries but was allergic to almonds and he went to community college because he couldn’t afford MIT and he stared at Tony’s mouth for the entire time he spoke. Peter asked to see his soul-mark, shy and a little tipsy from the half-bottle he’d sumped, and Tony unbuttoned his shirt enough to wriggle around, presenting the inside of his bicep to Peter, who leaned forwards like he was honest to god going to lick it.

“Now yours” he managed, after Peter’s eyes had trailed it (and his chest) for the ninth time. Peter blinked up at him, slow and half-cocked, before he nodded slowly, sliding off the stool to knuckle his belt. He squirmed his jeans down taut, milky thighs that Tony wanted to bite, before hopping effortlessly onto the bar, spreading his thighs enough that Tony could see his own messy scripture down the inside of his right thigh.

Tony shifted off his stool, leaning forwards and between Peter’s legs as much as his bunched up jeans would allow, staring at it. He loved it as much as he ached over it; because how cruel was it, to throw him at a boy like this? He leaned closer though, breathed hot air over it and was absolutely aware of the way Peter’s boxers lifted a fraction.

“Tony” the boy croaked, voice strangled as his hand fell to Tony’s shoulder. Tony was leaning closer, closer, until he could press a firm kiss over the dark ink. He didn’t know why, he just…Wanted to. Wanted to drink in the way Peter’s breath hitched and his hips jerked. Tony pulled back.

They’d just met. Hell, the kid might even have a partner waiting for him at home. Soulmates were never the end all of your life. Howard and Maria had never been soulmates but they’d lived and loved together until Howard had driven his Bughatti into a tree in the dark of a winter night.

Peter’s whimper had him glancing up, taking in blown pupils and flushed cheeks. The boy bit his lip before heaving a breath, fingers digging into Tony’s shoulder. “Fuck. You’re - You’re so hot. You can’t do that. You can’t make me want you like that” the boy mumbled, head shaking even as he tugged Tony closer.

And, well. Tony had never been the golden boy. Rules were meant to be broken.

Peter tasted like wet and whiskey and something a little sweet, like he’d been eating candy. His hands fell to Peter’s hips, digging into the skin above the waistline of his boxers as he kissed him, licked into his mouth and swallowed a muffled moan. Peter’s arms wrapped around his shoulders and neck, drawing him closer until Tony couldn’t go any further because Peter’s tangled legs stopped him.

“Fucking Hell” the boy grunted, leaving Tony long enough to kick off his sneakers and to simply shed his jeans, right there on a bartop in the middle of Manhattan. Tony cursed as slender, long legs spread for him, until their half-hard cocks squeezed together and punched a whine from both of them. Peter was the first to grind forwards, sloppy and without finesse as they kissed again, a slick slide of tongue that ended in a help as Tony bit down on Peter’s bottom lip, dragging him closer by the waist.

“If you - If you stop now I’ll kill you” Peter panted against his mouth, rocking forwards against Tony’s Gucci slacks. Tony couldn’t resist a cruel smirk, drawing his head back to gaze down at the debauched boy.

“I thought you said you weren’t interested?” He asked, arching a brow. The demeanour slipped when Peter drove a hand between them, grasping Tony’s cock through his trousers and squeezing enough to have his hips stuttering forwards. “Daddy doesn’t like to be teased” he growled, surging forwards to cup Peter’s jaw, to kiss him bruisingly as one hand went to the boys wrist, coaxing him into stroking Tony through the fabric.

Peter mewled beneath him, fingers curling and stroking around the shape of him as he rut forwards against his own forearm, nipping at Tony’s tongue gently. “Anything, fuck. Just - Don’t stop. Don’t stop Daddy, please. Please don’t stop” he begged, brainless except for the pleasure. It was a look Tony liked; a lot.

Tony pushed Peter’s arm aside and grasped him by the asscheeks, hauling him against his hips as he ground forwards, fingers dipping between those plump cheeks and straining the fabric to brush against the rose of muscle between them. Peter moaned blatantly into his mouth, hips jerking forwards. “Please” the boy begged again, grinding against him with desperation.

Tony obliged, kissing him with renewed effort and keeping their cocks flush together through their fabrics, a heavy grind that lasted only minutes before Peter was crying out, arching into his body as he came with a half-scream of “Daddy!”

His thighs squeezing Tony’s hips and their cocks squeezed tight together pushed Tony over the edge, cum flooding his silk boxers as he muffled his own pleasure into Peter’s shoulder. Fuck. They’d just done that. Right there.

He begun to laugh. Against his chest Peter made a questioning sound, hands petting at his shoulders.

“So,” Tony drawled, lifting his head to gaze into Peter’s eyes with amusement. “Are we leaving that bit out of the ‘how we met story?”

Peter smacked his shoulder with the empty whiskey bottle.

[tirkdi]

Will you continue your stupid-amazing hospital alarkling au?

Let it never be said that just because I’ve let an ask sit for years means it won’t be fulfilled. Chapter 1 is here, this is chapter 2, and it’s still half crack, so let’s not take any of it too seriously, shall we?

*

Alina had just finished buttoning up her white coat when she saw Dr. Morozova striding down the hallway, his long legs devouring the linoleum at a distressing pace.

“How was your weekend?” she asked as she fell into step beside him, her own legs doing double time to keep up. He held out a stack of folders and she instinctively reached out to take them.

“My weekend was good,” she continued, having known from the beginning that she was going to have to do the conversational heavy lifting. “A friend of mine had a birthday party and my schedule actually allowed me to attend, which was a pleasant – what are these?” The files she held were all for surgeries that they’d done over the past couple months: nothing new, nothing to prepare.

They turned a sharp corner past pediatrics before her mentor replied. “We’re presenting at a conference this week.”

“We? Presenting? This week?” Alina couldn’t manage to put all her thoughts into a question and he closed his eyes briefly in disappointment.

“We’ll be giving a presentation at the annual surgical conference. I’ve already made the arrangements. Put together the PowerPoint this evening and I’ll review it in the morning.”

“PowerPoint?”

“Keynote is fine if you prefer.”

“Oh, great. Yeah. That was my question.”

She let him walk towards the office before propping the files between her hip and the wall to allow her to fish out her phone, scrolling through her list of contacts. Who might she know that makes presentations? She didn’t have a huge repertoire of people to choose from, so it really came down to probably not a costume designer, probably yes a lawyer.

do you know how to make a power point? Alina tapped out.

o m g starkov, Zoya texted back.

could you help me make one this evening? it’s important.

do you have ANY idea what I bill at?  

I’ll provide pizza and wine, Alina offered.

and ice cream, Zoya countered.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! Alina exhaled and shifted the files back into her arms. Zoya’s reply was a painting nails emoji followed by a hair flip emoji followed by a middle finger.

Perfect. She could get this done tonight.

*

Zoya tapped on Alina’s laptop for a minute while Alina perched nervously beside her. “You have PowerPoint installed, so that’s a good start,” the lawyer muttered. Her hair was pulled behind her ears so that her hair fell in black curls down her back, and her makeup looked as flawless as it must have first thing in the morning. Not to mention the diamonds in her ears – whatever Zoya was having, Alina wanted it.

“When is the pizza coming?” Zoya asked.

“Half an hour. Wine in the meantime?”

Zoya snorted, a you-have-to-ask response that Alina had become familiar with during their time as roommates in college. She returned with a glass of Zoya’s favorite pinot and saw that the screen of her computer was an empty white page.

“Alright,” Zoya began. “Let’s get an outline down, then we can go back and fill in what you’ll actually be saying.”

They had an outline by the time the pizza arrived. Zoya took a slice and pulled up the first slide. “You have some kind of visual you want on this?”

Alina rummaged through the file, pulled out a photo. “This is a pretty good demonstration of the issue we ran into in the surgery–”

She was interrupted by Zoya gagging to the far side of the screen. Once she had recovered, she took a long drink from her wine glass and cut a glance back to Alina, who smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I sometimes forget what it looks like to people who aren’t surgeons.”

Zoya took another drink of wine, set it down, and looked at her friend. “You owe me so much more than pizza and wine for this.”

“That’s the spirit,” Alina replied.

*

Alina forgot the hospital doors were automatic and nearly fell through them the next morning. She caught herself before she fell – barely – and when she looked up Dr. Morozova was standing there, watching her impassively.

Of course. Of course he would be there.

“The presentation looks good.”

Alina rubbed her face. She and a grumbling Zoya had worked on it until the early hours of the morning – she’d sent it to him not so many hours ago, in fact. “Oh. Great.”

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning at seven.”

“Um. Tomorrow?”

He didn’t acknowledge her response. “It’s just one night, so no need to pack too much.”

“Overnight?”

He glanced at her. “It’s a couple hours from here. I’ve booked us rooms. Be ready tomorrow at seven.”

Alina watched him walk off, looked down at the floor. The linoleum didn’t seem to be any help. A two hour drive with her supervisor, an overnight stay at a conference, and a presentation? You can do this, Starkov. “Cool,” she said, once he’d walked off. “Cool, cool, cool. Cool.”

*

At exactly seven o’clock the next morning an impossibly nice car pulled up outside of Alina’s apartment building. She didn’t know anything about cars, but it was black, had tinted windows, and looked like it was worth more than her student debt — which was saying something.

A few moments later, the window closest to her rolled down revealing Dr. Morozova, one eyebrow raised. “Are you planning on getting in?”

“Uh.” Alina looked down at her hands, wondered if she should be wearing gloves if she was going to touch the car. But she also didn’t want to keep him waiting … Just play it cool. “Yeah,” she said. Smooth, Starkov.

The door handle didn’t disintegrate under her touch and she put her bag between her feet as she settled into the passenger side. No sooner had her seatbelt clicked than he began to drive, the ride butter-smooth beneath her. Oh, this is why people spend a crazy amount of money on cars. He shifted gears and she looked out at the tinted scenery as he lead them towards the highway.

He hadn’t said anything since she got in the car. “So,” she said, cringing even as the words left her mouth, “you go to this conference often?” At least she hadn’t asked him if he drove his own car often.

“Annually.”

Another couple minutes passed in silence. She was going to have to do all the prompting, as usual, but being alone with him in a car for two hours meant that maybe she could get to know him a little better. She cast a glance his way but his eyes were on the road ahead. “Do you have any family?” she asked.

“Everyone has a family.”

She stifled a sigh. “Siblings?”

“One.”

“Brother? Sister? Older? Younger?” He didn’t confirm any of those. “Non-binary twin?”

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye before turning his attention back to the road. He signaled, switched lanes. “Sister. Younger.”

Alina looked at him, trying to imagine what his features would look like on a woman. She would probably be the most stunning woman in the world. Either that or scary as hell. “Are you close?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Why are you asking?”

“I’m just trying to make conversation.”

“Would you like me to ask about your family?”

The blow, whether or not it was intended as such, landed hard. Alina looked out the window at the scenery, fighting the lump in her throat.

The silence turned out to be a blessing, though; with the car’s smooth handling, Alina fell asleep quickly.

“We’re here.” She jerked awake, rubbing saliva off of her face, wondering if Dr. Morozova had seen her drooling. “I checked us in remotely; your room key should have been sent to your phone. I’m room 416 and you’re 485.”

He opened the trunk and pulled out a small suitcase. Black, obviously. Alina shouldered her own overnight bag. “Go put your stuff down,” he said. “I’ll meet you in the lobby in fifteen minutes.”

*

There were a lot more people at the conference than Alina had anticipated. It was possible that there were no surgeries happening anywhere across the United States and several other countries right now, because everyone who would have been performing them was in this room. It would have felt crowded in any case, but in this case in particular the attendees were all surgeons —  the egos pressing together were almost suffocating.

Or maybe it was the fact that she was standing in front of all these people as Dr. Morozova gave the presentation she’d put together that made her so uncomfortable. All these people could see her. At least she didn’t have to speak.

“And this last surgery was performed by my intern, Dr. Starkov. I’ll let her explain.”

He handed her the microphone and the tiny clicker to change the slide, and Alina straight up panicked. Her palms started to sweat. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

I will not scream. I will not scream. I will not scream.

The audience was looking at her — patient, expectant. They believed she had something important to share. All because of the surgeon everyone here was listening to — because he believed she had something important to share.

She cleared her throat and forced herself to begin to explain the procedure. Once she started, she found she had a lot to say.

Once she started, she did great.

*

Twenty minutes into the happy hour, Dr. Morozova materialized at her side. “I’m going back to my room.”

“As keynote speakers tend to do when there are literal crowds of people wanting their time.” When he’d made his way over, he’d pulled a bubble of people with him, several of whom did not look like they were hoping to spend their time with him discussing surgery. “Too tired of having room keys thrown at you?”

The look he cut her reminded her of a particular type of incision that required a lot of stitches. “Nothing good happens in a room full of drunk surgeons. I advise you not to stay too long, either.”

A drink and a half later, Alina was starting to suspect he was right. “You’re Dr. Morozova’s resident?” a petite woman in heavy glasses was asking her. “Wow.”

“Lucky you,” the man next to her added.

“He’s been an incredible teacher,” Alina agreed.

“Among other things, I’m guessing.” The woman raised her eyebrows at Alina.

Alina’s mind blanked out. “What?”

“I mean … ” She looked at the man next to her who gave an encouraging nod. “All that anatomy, the long nights on call …” Her look was unmistakably suggestive and Alina finally got it.

“Oh, no,” she said. “Nope. That is not a thing that is happening.” She put down her drink. “I actually think I’m going to go now.”

“Makes sense.” The woman winked at her. “Have fun.”

“I am not sleeping with my attending.”

The man and woman looked at each other and shrugged. “If not you, I wonder who he’s with now?”

“Who he’s — he’s not —” Alina left the thought unfinished. Dr. Morozova’s sex life had never crossed her mind; sure, he was absurdly good looking, but he was her mentor. And for whatever reason, she didn’t picture him coming to a conference to sleep around.

But … did he? Were they right?

“I’m going to make this an early night,” Alina said.

“Well, ‘suture’ self,” the man replied as she walked away. He and the woman beside him both laughed hilariously.

The fourth floor hallway was quiet, and she was starting to feel a little more like herself. She passed room 416, and then she stopped. She couldn’t help herself; she walked backwards a few feet to the door and knocked.

He didn’t answer. Of course he didn’t answer. He must be out with one of those surgeons she’d seen him with earlier, or maybe out with a few of them. Alina was almost relieved; if he wasn’t here, if he was seeing people, then she didn’t have to make herself think about —

The door opened. “Can I help you?” Dr. Morozova asked.

Alina’s blush was fast and furious. She hoped he would assume it was from the alcohol. “Um. No. Nope!” she said. “I was just … checking?”

“Checking?”

“To see if you needed anything. Make sure you’re good to go. I was going to get some coffee.”

He leaned in closer to her and her heart sped up. What the heck? Why would it do that? It must be left over adrenaline from the speech, Alina told herself, well-aware that that was not how adrenaline worked.

“I don’t need coffee.”

“Great! Me neither.” What was happening? “Okie dokie, see you tomorrow.”

He squinted at her. “Are you alright?”

“You betcha.” She did little finger guns. This maybe she could blame on the alcohol, because even she wasn’t usually that bad. “See you later.”

She walked back to her room, and by the time she made it all the way down the hall, she’d pulled it together. She was his resident, that was it. She’d focus on learning everything from him that she could.

*

After a day of attending presentations, poster sessions, and eating terrible conference-center food, Alina was once again seated in the passenger seat beside her instructor, this time heading home. She was determined to not make it awkward.

“Why do you go to this conference every year?” she asked. “Just to speak?”

“Speaking is one reason.” He changed lanes. “I also come to learn.”

“You learned something at this conference?”

“I always do.” He glanced at her disbelief. “The day you stop learning is the day you die.”

“I don’t … ” Alina paused. “I mean, I haven’t been a doctor for as long as you have, but I’m pretty sure that’s not true.”

“Perhaps not.”

They passed a couple towns before he spoke again. “Have you thought about who you’d like to work with next year?”

The intern program at this hospital was two years long, and each year was with a different mentor. It shocked her to realize she was over halfway through her time with Dr. Morozova. She found she desperately didn’t want it to end, and his expertise was only half of the reason.

Oh, yipes. Where had that thought come from?

She coughed to stall for time. “Ummmm … I was thinking of maybe going for more of a specialty next year. Oral surgery?”

He gave a hum that was as smooth as the road beneath the car. “You could try it. I don’t think you’d like it.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t.”

The thought of him thinking them similar enough that their likes would overlap was interrupted by panic at what she at first feared was a medical emergency. It took her a few minutes to realize the weird way her heart was beating wasn’t anything like that.

They rode the rest of the way in silence.

*

The week after the conference had been a busy one at the hospital, and Alina had managed to avoid Dr. Morozova without making it obvious she was doing so. At least, she hoped it hadn’t been obvious.

There was a lot she needed to work out for herself – why did thinking of him increase the temperature of her internal organs? And, maybe more importantly: what could she do about it?

If she was interested in Dr. Morozova in any sort of romantic way — which she totally, totally, was not, because a) that would be a terrible idea and b) getting involved with a higher-ranking surgeon, let alone one who was managing her, was highly-unethical-if-not-strictly-prohibited — she would run into problem c): the odds that he would be interested in her as well.

A face like his would have plenty of people to choose from, if he ever left the hospital. Probably even if he didn’t.

Whatever. She couldn’t put off talking to him any longer. She exhaled and knocked on his door.

“Come in.”

He was bent over papers at his desk and she got to observe him as he read. The planes of his face, the set of his shoulders —

“Well?”

In her observation she had failed to notice he was looking up at her. Very cool, Alina. So cool. “Oh, um, I … had a question for you.” He kept looking at her in a way that made her want to cringe and somehow now also made her want to start taking her clothes off. She shut down that animal part of her brain and soldiered on.

She cleared her throat. “I have a shift next Tuesday, and my usual backup isn’t available. I’ve been having a hard time finding anyone who could take over if I’m in a surgery and something happens so I was wondering … if you could be … if I could put you down to be the one they call. Just backup.”

He stared at her hard for a few seconds, then slumped back in his chair. “Fine,” he said. “Make me your fill-in.”

Alina barely managed to not squeal her “thank you.” She was halfway to the door when he called after her. “Take that folder before you go.”

The folder was sitting on a shelf just at her chest level. “Study those tonight. Surgery tomorrow,” her mentor said.

She opened it and found a thick stack of case notes. She looked back at him and smiled. “They just happened to be sitting here?”

“I had a feeling you might come around,” he replied, making her wonder just how much of what was going on in her head he was able to see. She could have sworn there was something in his expression that she’d never seen before, though she couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

“Nice to see you again, Alina.”

[attackonmyself]

Beat the Heat--NSFW

Inspired by a prompt from @voltage-vixen​‘s Summer of Smut Writing Challenge but took waaaaay too long for me to complete, and I missed the deadline. Anyways, thanks to @voltagesmutter​, @passagesthroughpages, and Lia_Jones (all amazing writers themselves!) for all your help! Dedicated to all Victor stans, and my Discord family!

Please see this amazing artwork that inspired my fic!: https://m.sg.weibo.com/user/2173912080/4472175635540915

And also this Karma owned by MLQC:

Link on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25654276

I sprinted into the LFG lobby, out of breath. I was late. Again. 

Cindy spotted me, and quickly gestured towards the stairs. “He’s been waiting for you, go on up.” I groaned, still out of breath, then crossed the lobby. Great, I thought as I ran up the stairs. Another lecture on punctuality, coming right up. I stopped before the office door, taking a moment to catch my breath before knocking.

“Come in,” came the clipped reply. Even better, it sounded like he was already in a bad mood. This should be fun. I entered, closing the door behind me. Victor was sitting at his desk, skimming something on his computer. He looked up, removing his glasses and placing them next to his desk calendar. “It is 2:33.”

I grimaced. “I’m sorry.”

His normal poker face had been replaced with a scowl. “What time did I say to be here?”

“2:30.” It didn’t matter how close we had become, some things never changed. When at work, Victor was always in prime CEO mode, any trace of my shy and sweet boyfriend disappearing the moment he walked in the office doors. 

“It seems your memory is indeed working today, despite all evidence to the contrary. So perhaps you like to explain why that was not the time you entered my office?” Being on the receiving end of a Victor-Li-is-irked glare was never a good experience, but unfortunately, that was often the position I found myself in.

“Our printer jammed at the last second, and wouldn’t print a contract that my 1:30 client needed to sign before they could leave, so I was stuck there calling maintenance and then waiting for them to show up, and then waiting for them to fix it, and then--”

“Stop. I’ve heard enough.” He rubbed his temples, eyes closed. “You do realize this is the modern era, yes? Contracts can be sent over email, and signed digitally. We will need to discuss your company’s disturbing lack of adaptation to current technology at another time; you have wasted enough of it already. Begin your report.” 

“Right.” I pulled out my newly purchased tablet and cleared my throat. “As you can see, we exceeded our predicted revenue this month. Views that we lost last week were not just recovered, but doubled.” I fidgeted a bit under his intense stare. 

“I implemented the ideas we discussed last week, and they were successful  For future consideration, I’d like to bring to your attention--”

The soft whirring of the air conditioning of the building sputtered to a startling halt. I paused, and looked at Victor for direction. He sighed, and picked up the phone on his desk when it began to ring. “Speak.” I heard a hurried voice on the other end, and watched Victor’s frown deepen. “What?” More frantic explanation from the voice, trying to appease him, and then Victor hung up. 

“Something wrong?” I asked, hoping that an urgent matter had come up, so that I could move my report to later when he would hopefully be in a better mood.

“The air conditioning stopped working. It will take a few hours to fix.” I groaned internally. It was the middle of July, peak season for hot days, and Victor’s office was directly in the sun’s path at the moment, the windows offering no protection from its heat. He shed his suit jacket, draping it over the arm of his chair. “Continue,” he commanded.

“Uh,” I scrambled to remember my place. “For future consideration, I’d like to bring to your attention trendlines predicting future revenue on episodes based on current events.” I began to sweat, already missing the almost too cold climate I had complained about in the past, and vowed to never do so again. 

“Our most popular episodes to date have been ones related to current issues in the news. Our recent collaboration with Loveland TV gave us access to topics and resources that we might not have had otherwise. Therefore, I propose that we begin a new series to be aired in conjunction with local news stations beyond just Loveland TV that would cover oddities addressed in daily reports.” 

Ok, the heat had officially become unbearable. I took off my white cardigan, putting in on top of my bag. Victor did a double-take, eyes widening. Uh oh. I forgot how casual my dress was. I tried to distract him with the report. “The series would cover not just super powers, but also delve into the psyche--”

“Stop, stop.” Crap. He was still staring at my dress. “What do you think you’re wearing?!”

“Uh, a sundress?” I responded dumbly. He glared at me. I fumbled for an excuse, though not knowing why I needed one exactly. “It’s the middle of July. I know it’s not formal business attire without the cardigan, but it’s hot in here without the AC. I thought you would understand that and be ok with me not wearing it considering the circumstances.”

He gaped, apparently shocked. “You thought wrong. Do you seriously not realize how alluring that dress is?”

Wait what? “Huh?”

He shook his head. “Dummy, you are astoundingly naive sometimes. Wearing that to any presentation, including this one, leads the audience to focus not on your proposal, but your physical assets.” I blushed, and covered myself a bit with my arms. He continued. “For example, I missed everything you presented after taking off your cardigan. Be thankful this was only a weekly report meeting, and not an official proposal for more funding with the entire board present.” He leaned forward and placed his elbows on the desk.

I looked down, ashamed. “I really am sorry, Victor. That would have embarrassed both Miracle Company and you; I understand now and I will do better in the future.”

“No, you misunderstand me.” He stood, and strode quickly towards me, crossing the room in a few broad steps. He grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look him in the eye. “The only person who should see you in outfits of this nature is me.” It was the hunger in his eyes that made me realize I was no longer talking to the CEO of LFG, but Victor Li, my protective and now aroused boyfriend.  

Desperate lips met mine, taking my breath away. I was always weak for his kisses, this time literally. My knees gave in a bit, and I held onto his arms as he pushed deeper. I eagerly reciprocated, a need for his touch growing rapidly under my navel. We broke apart for only a moment, before he claimed my lips again and ran strong fingers up my neck and into my hair, gently nudging my face closer to his. 

Victor was not a man of many flowery words, but he made up for it in his actions. Every kiss we shared was so fervent that you would think it was going to be our last. Even in moments of raw passion, it was obvious how deeply he cared for me, and I fell more in love with him each time our lips united. This kiss was no exception; I sank into his yearning for me, throwing my arms around his neck. 

Suddenly, strong arms wrapped around my thighs, and I felt myself being lifted into the air. I scrambled to wind my legs around his waist, holding him tighter. We were intimately closer than before, and I could feel his heart pounding in his chest. It amazed me that I could have such an effect on the seemingly stoic mogul, that I could be the one to break his cool. His lips captured mine once more, then he impatiently moved us towards his desk. 

“Hold tight,” he instructed, using one arm to awkwardly clear off the desktop, sending pens and his mouse flying. He set me atop it, beginning to suck at the pulse point above my collarbone, when reality hit me.

“Wait, stop,” I whispered harshly. He immediately backed away, arms to his side.

“What’s wrong?” Concern overtook ardor, and he scanned my figure. “Did I hurt you?” That thought seemed to shake him a bit.

“No, nothing like that,” I quickly reassured him. “But...should we really be doing this in your office? People might hear, or worse, what if someone came in?”

His confidence immediately returned, desire resuming its place in his eyes as I mentioned others overhearing our stolen moment of passion. He smirked, leaning in close.

“Let them hear.” He continued his attack on my neck, but I wouldn’t be swayed just yet.

“Victor,” I chided. “I’m not comfortable with someone catching us in your office. That wouldn’t look good for either of us.” He stopped, judging my sincerity, then walked away. 

“Wait, where are you going?” I asked, reaching out an arm towards him needily, missing his warmth already. Had I angered him?

“Relax, dummy.” He strode up to the door and turned the lock, its satisfying click signaling his intentions. He turned and smiled devilishly. “No one is going anywhere until we are finished.” 

He hastened back to me, as if I were his prey, strung up and waiting for him on a platter. He kissed me again, and loosened his tie to quell the sweltering heat. I grabbed for his shirt, undoing the first few buttons before he stopped me with a lick to a particularly sensitive area behind my earlobe. He undid his tie the rest of the way and set it down beside me on the desk. I finished unbuttoning his shirt, untucking it roughly. I gulped upon being met with the sight of his broad chest. As if controlled by some unknown force, my hands ran over his torso, brushing his collarbone and hips alike, searching for any point of contact with him. 

He placed feather light kisses all over my face and neck, brushing my cheek; my eyelids; the small v formed by my collarbones. As lovely as his display of affection was--and it truly was; not often did we get a chance to bask in the other’s devotion--it wasn’t quite enough. I needed more. 

I ran my hands down his abdomen, grabbing for his belt buckle, but he caught my hand in his and tsked. 

“Someone needs to learn to be patient.” His hands left me, and I let out a whine. He picked up the flimsy piece of fabric that lay beside me and wrapped it around my face, covering my eyes. 

“Is this okay?” I heard a soft whisper beside my left ear. 

His breath tickled me a bit, paused in anticipation of my answer. I hold absolute control over him at this moment, I realized with a small gasp. The power was a heady feeling; Loveland’s most eligible ‘bachelor’ was all mine, treating me as if I was some queen to be worshipped. Although he was leading most of the action, I held the ropes. And I would be ever so careful not to abuse this gift. What’s more, after years of having to take care of myself on my own, I now could trust him. Completely. 

“Yes.” 

That one word spurred him back into action. He quickly fastened the makeshift blindfold behind my head, careful to avoid knotting my hair with it. I heard a low groan, and then my skirt was pushed up, warm hands rubbing slow circles on my inner thighs. 

“You have no idea what you do to me,” he murmured, his lips brushing mine, sending shivers down my spine. "There is nothing I would not do to keep you safe and happy."

I bucked my hips towards his, searching for any friction to relieve my need. Suddenly, I felt a hand over my underwear, massaging my clit leisurely. I let out a breathy moan. Finally. His steady fingers ran back and forth across the fabric, gentle yet firm in their ministrations. "Faster, please Victor," I gasped, spreading my legs. He obeyed, for once, going faster and faster until all fear of others intruding disappeared. I could only think about him, his touch, and my palpable desire to become one with him. 

I could feel a flush rise in my cheeks, the sounds coming from my mouth garbled and brimming with pleasure. I reached blindly for him, needing to touch him for stability; so that I could hold off my climax a little longer, but was met only with air. I let out a whine. I heard a chuckle from somewhere in front of me. Seconds later, strong hands guided mine to his shoulders; his warm body moved closer, parting my legs further.

I was already beyond wet by this point, and I felt ready for him but knowing Victor, he wouldn't enter me until he was sure I was relaxed and ready for him. "Please, hurry up, I need you, now," I urged.

Surprisingly, he decided to grant my request. I heard the soft clink of a belt buckle being undone followed by a rustling of fabric. I hooked my ankles behind him, wanting, no, needing him in me as soon as humanly possible. A hand ran through my hair, and then my underwear was pushed to the side;  in one fluid motion he had both lifted me into the air and entered me with a soft moan. I gasped, throwing my head back and digging my fingers into the well-defined muscles of his shoulders.

The sensation of him inside me was more intense in the dark. I felt so safe, protected and satisfied in his arms. It was as if all my fears and worries had melted away. I knew that he would shield me from any incoming darkness that dared to threaten me. He pulled back for a moment, then slowly slid inside me once more, giving me time to adjust and savor the feeling of us, united as one. 

We maintained a comfortable rhythm, my hips grinding down to meet his as I panted against his neck. There was no need for words; anything that needed to be said was communicated through movement and small gasps and moans. I realized that I could no longer hear the ticking of the wall clock, its telling absence revealing that time was no longer in motion. 

I drew in a breath to mention it, but he suddenly changed to a different angle, shifting me in his arms, and sparks burst behind my eyelids. “Don’t you dare stop, right--right there!” I practically screamed. He hummed in confirmation, building speed. I let out a series of whines, bouncing down into his thrusts in desperation to add to the surging, rising tide of pleasure that's only just out of reach. I could hear Victor’s pleasure as well in the short, cut off breaths he let out. 

“Are you close,” he ground out, ever the gentleman in refusing to come before me. 

“Very,” I replied, concentrating on my climax, adding a finger to my clit. A few more strokes, and it hit me--hard. I screamed out his name and clenched around him. He gasped, and I felt a warmth inside me as he tightened his grip on me. The waves of pleasure taking hold of me ebbed slowly; suddenly, I could see again, tie dropping to the floor.  

Victor cradled me close and kissed the top of my head. We remained entangled in each other’s embrace for a few moments longer, catching our breath. He slid out of me, but didn’t let me go. I buried my face in his neck, flushing at the whispered “I love you” that came from beside my ear. 

Suddenly, the ticking resumed and the space that was only ours returned to being shared with the rest of the world. I was gently set down on the desk, and I grabbed a tissue to clean myself up. We began to redress and had almost finished when there was a knock at the door. 

“Sir, the mechanics from Four Seasons Heating and Air have arrived,” Goldman’s voice came from behind the solid wood. “Would you like to direct them or should I handle it?”

Victor gestured at my cardigan, “That goes on; tightly,” he said in a low voice, then he grabbed his suit jacket and approached the door. I buttoned it quickly, barely finishing in time before he swung the door open. 

There was an awkward silence as Goldman took in our appearance. He did a quick double take, then stammered an apology. “Sir, I--uh--”

 I flushed brightly; there was no way to conceal what we had been up to. Only Victor stood stoic as always, not caring about our disheveled state or the smudge of my lipstick on the corner of his mouth. “Mark me as booked for the next two hours,” he announced, glancing at his watch. “I expect the air conditioning to be up and running when I return.”

“Next two hours--but sir! You have the meeting with the investors from--” Goldman was cut off with a glare. Typical. I felt sorry for him. 

“Did I ask for any feedback? I said that I am booked for the next two hours. Make any schedule changes necessary in my absence.” He put an arm around my waist and led me out of the room in the direction of the elevator. 

“But sir!” Victor paid him no mind and as the door closed, he pulled me into another kiss. 

“How do you feel about lunch at Souvenir?” 

“Mm, sounds great!” I replied, smoothing down his slightly rumpled shirt. Oh! Pulling back with a smile, I suddenly laughed. “Victor!”

He frowned. “What.”

“You forgot your tie!”

[amethystpath-writes]

Power Fatigue

Original Work

Power Fatigue

@badthingshappenbingo

Short Description: Hero abandoned Sidekick, but Villain saved them. They go to Hero to confront him.

******

There was heavy breathing on the other line of the phone call. Villain smiled. "Such wrath, Hero." The other end went silent. He almost laughed. Hero had muted herself.

Looking at his phone for a moment, he shrugged, clicking the 'hang up' button before pocketing the device. Then, he turned the handle in front of him, pushing the heavy back-entrance door open. "Herooo? You in here?"

Hero's base was an old school, one that had supposedly shut down because of mass amounts of mold, rats scurrying about, and bed bugs in clinic beds. This was far from the truth though. Sidekick told Villain as much. Hero bribed the school to sell to him, then bought the school. He podged up the outside, made the rumour look true, and decorated the inside to be a lovely base and home.

Villain beat a fist against a locker, continuing down the hall. "Hero, I don't feel like playing hide and seek today. We do it often enough with your always running away." There was no answer, and no movement.

Okay, screw it. If Hero wanted to pretend like he didn't hear, then Villain would make himself loud enough that he couldn't be ignored.

Walking to the still makeshift office, Villain picked up a phone at the front desk, pushing a button that simply said 'All'. A radio noise sounded before there was a click. "Did you ever watch the movie Singing in the Rain?" Perhaps a bit cheesily, Villain began singing into the intercom. He could vaguely hear his own voice in the speakers. "I'm singing in the schoolhouse! I'm singing in the schoolhouse!" He sighed. "You ought to put me out of my misery, Hero. I have a fear of singing in public."

"You shouldn't. I always thought you had a lovely voice."

Villain turned hearing Sidekick's voice. He smiled, but it quickly faltered. "You need to leave. You know how to get into my home. Go- before our little hero learns what you've done." His voice wasn't panicked, but it had a cautionary and strategic tone.

"I'm not afraid of him, Villain."

He shook his head. "I didn't say- nor ask if- you were. But you know what he's capable of, and I don't want you in the mix of it."

Sidekick was stubborn, saying, "I'm just as capable as either of you." She crossed her arms. "I can take him, especially if you're at my side. Let me stay with you." She came closer, taking Villain's hands in her own and rubbing her thumbs across his skin. "I've been fighting against you all this time. I want to fight with you now."

"And I'm telling you no." Villain stole his hands away. "Let me take care of this. I'll have him wrapped like a present when I come home, okay? I know you want to help, but it's not necessary. Hero's going to know you're working with me either way, and he's going to be pissed either way, but if he sees you here...Sidekick, I don't want you getting hurt. Please, please just go home."

Now it was Sidekick who shook her head and Villain knew not to argue anymore. There was no point because if Sidekick weren't so stubborn, they'd be dead. It was her stubbornness that saved her life before. Maybe it would keep her alive today.

A phone rang behind the desk and Villain eyed it with caution.

"It'll be Hero calling from another room."

"Do you guys seriously pay for all of these phones still? That's gotta cost a fortune."

Sidekick gave a small laugh. "It's more like an advanced walkie talkie system. We don't- I don't- he doesn't-" She took a deep breath. "No one pays for service."

Villain said, "You're nervous."

"I'm not. Pick up the phone or else I will. It'll ring three- two- more times."

He shook his head, but obliged, not wanting the reveal to happen a moment sooner than...well, Villain wasn't sure when Hero would put two and two together. Either way, the later he knew Sidekick betrayed him, the better.

Picking up the phone, Villain answered gloriously, as if he weren't terrified of something happening to Sidekick. "Villain speaking! Who is in due pleasure of speaking to me?"

"Room 202." The audio clicked then remained in a long fuzz. Villain dropped the phone into its spot.

Villain swallowed his fear. It was Hero's anger that he was afraid of, but Villain was capable of the same anger. On a normal day, he was stronger than Hero, which meant that if both he and Villain were fueled by anger today, then it would be like any other day. Nothing would happen to Sidekick. Villain wouldn't allow it.

Still, Villain asked, "You're sure you want to face him?"

Sidekick nodded.

"Alright. Room 202 we go. Feel free to lead the way."

She squinted. Shook her head. "Call 202's extension- there's a list in the top right drawer that will tell you what to punch in. Tell Hero you'll meet in the Gymnasium. If he tries to direct you back to Room 202, say you'll only meet in the gym, auditorium, or music room- which is Room 126."

Fear was still clutching onto Villain. He kept trying to convince himself that everything would be okay, and that he had this, but... Gee, he'd never been afraid of Hero, and he couldn't say that he was afraid of him now. There was just this growing pit in Villain's stomach that told him something would go wrong- that Sidekick would get hurt, or worse, be killed.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this."

Sidekick was taken back by surprise. "Are you serious?" He looked her dead in the eye, silent. "You are." She sighed and walked to him, taking his hands all over again. "We're fine, Villain. Nothing bad is going to happen. I promise."

Her hands were warm, meaning her blood was rushing, heart beating quickly. She was either excited or as equally scared as Villain was. He knew it was the latter. Sidekick had stuttered so much earlier and changed the subject when he mentioned the possibility of her being nervous. Her hot hands confirmed what he already knew.

"We should do this when we're both ready. Right now, neither of us are in the right frame of mind to fight," Villain explained.

"You'd rather wait for him to surprise attack us?"

"Well, no, but-"

"We have the advantage right now, Villain. I know the base inside and out. There's two of us and one of him. We know when we'll attack. He doesn't. We're fine, okay?" She raised her brows. "We have this."

Villain closed his eyes, focused on the hands holding his own. He nodded. "Okay." He nodded a second time, and with an exhale, said again, "Okay." Villain let his hands fall from Sidekick's before he picked up the phone and opened the drawer sidekick mentioned before.

He made his call, though he had to confide with Sidekick in quiet whispers and mouthing words in order to remember all of the numbers she'd mentioned. In the end, they agreed to meet in the music room.

Agreed was a polite term when you considered how they were meeting to beat one another.

Sidekick interrupted at one point to tell Villain not to use the Gymnasium because there was an upper level where there was a weight room. She also advised against the auditorium because of a catwalk above. The safest place, really, was the music room. Truly, the safest place was outside, in the open, but Sidekick made it clear that she wouldn't put others in danger.

***

While on their way to the designated room, Villain said, "Glad you thought of his vantage points."

"Yeah, I'm- uh- sorry I didn't realize sooner."

He grabbed her swaying hand as they walked. How odd they were. A hero and a villain, walking with hands held between them, about to fight another hero because he'd become a villain. The scenario was all kinds of whacked up and Villain couldn't quite remember how all of it had played out. Falling in love with Sidekick had been gradual, he knew, but he wished he remembered the exact moment he knew he loved her.

"You could have not said anything at all. It's not like you would have been betraying me- me being a villain and all." He nudged her shoulder lightly, and tilted his head to see the smirk he proudly painted on her face.

"You're not a villain," she said.

"I never thought I was one either."

She turned her head to look at him, eyes squinted. Before she could ask anything further, they came to the door of the music room. Room 126.

Villain asked quietly, "If the problem with the gym is that he can unexpectedly attack from above...why don't we open this door now, and then head to the gym. He'll have to look for us, and we'll have enough time to prepare ourselves."

Sidekick agreed, and so they opened the door to the music room, knowing Hero would be waiting for them to walk in. When they didn't, he'd be forced to look for them.

***

Sidekick stood at one door while Villain stood at the other. Same wall, but different sides of the room. Villain wanted to look at her, to just see her and feel that she was safe in her gaze, but he knew he needed to look forward, watch for Hero instead.

Villain needed to be prepared, but how could he when his heart was beating so thunderously against his chest? It even felt like it was beating in Sidekick's direction, trying to bring him closer to her.

"Remind me again why we're spread this far apart?"

Sidekick answered, "Larger range between targets. If we were glued at the hip like you want, he'd take us out easily."

Villain nodded, said no more, kept his eyes on the opening on either side of the opposite wall. He also watched the railing above them both- a weight room just like Sidekick said.

There were a few doors in the center. A set of double doors that apparently led to a storage room for things like basketballs, dodgeballs, and hula hoops. A door to the left which was a girl's locker room, but was now used to display trophies Sidekick had won in high school. The door to the right of the storage room was the boy's locker room and did the same for Hero that it did Sidekick. And there was one last door to the right of the boy's room, which used to serve as an office, but was now used as a computer room. Villain tried not to think of how much information was in that room, stored on various flash drives and SD cards.

"Sidekick?"

Villain's attention snapped to the left of the room, where Hero stood. The fear Villain felt before was replaced with a stone-hard fury. He wanted nothing more than to launch himself at the self-proclaimed hero and tackle him to the ground.

"Yeah. Yeah, it's me." Sidekick said, and Villain could tell that she was still frightened. He didn't dare look at her for fear that Hero might take it as an opportunity to strike at her.

"What are you-" Hero turned his head, peering at Villain. Almost immediately, Villain could tell he tensed up. "He's forcing you to be here, isn't he?" Hero's eyes darted to Sidekick, but mostly remained on Villain. "Has he used mind control?"

Villain huffed a laugh and smiled. "You're still trying to pull that lie?" He could feel Sidekick look over at him. She hadn't known who Hero was until he left her to die. She still didn't know him, it seemed.

Hero's eyes flickered between potential exits. There weren't so many that Villain or Sidekick couldn't reach in time to catch him. It turned out the gym had been the best place after all.

"Look," Villain began, and he took several steps forward, crossing his arms. Would it be easy to throw a punch in this position? No, it wouldn't be, but Hero was easily intimidated by crossed arms and confidence. Hero wouldn't attack as long as Villain didn't falter. "I promised Sidekick that I would avoid kicking your ass, but even she knows that it might be necessary."

"You make it sound like I can negotiate." Hero was still tensed, but he relaxed just a tad at the possibility of getting out of this unscathed.

Villain smiled. "Not exactly."

He watched Hero's eyes dart over to Sidekick again and again. He was still piecing it together. He knew Villain didn't have mind control; that was a lie he created so that the media would despise Villain, and therefore consider Hero a true hero. The only other consideration to make was that Sidekick betrayed him. How long until the idea was confirmed in his mind?

"I want you to turn yourself over to the local news coverage. Tell them who you are. And before you do that," Villain had the confidence now to look at Sidekick and hold a gesturing hand out to her. "I want you to tell your partner who you are. She knows your a deserter already, but she deserves to know the rest. You want to talk about mind control, how about you tell her how you've manipulated everyone in the nearby communities?"

Now it was Sidekick who spoke up. "Villain?" Her eyes switched between Hero and Villain both. "Hero?" Someone needed to speak up. What was both sides hiding?

"Hero, are you going to talk? Or do I need to take action like I said I would avoid?" He glanced at Sidekick. "I know this is different from the plan, but I believe this will be more beneficial." He returned a smirk to Hero.

"I don't think I'm the one who needs to explain myself," Hero said. "Sidekick, your with Villain. You want to tell me about that?"

Sidekick flustered, no doubt feeling a sort of guilt. This was exactly why Villain wanted Hero to tell her what all he'd done. So that when this conversation- about her betraying him- she wouldn't feel awfully.

"I fought for you to get out," Sidekick said after taking a deep breath. "I. Fought. For. You. And I nearly killed myself doing so. You made it out." She paused. "You made it out and you never came back to help me. You knew it took all of my power to get you out, to keep all of that debris above the ground so you could crawl out. I couldn't move, Hero. You knew I wouldn't make it out, and yet, even after you were safe, you never even tried to get help, to get me out. You left me to die."

There it is, Villain thought. There's her anger. He was proud of her- for stomping down the fear she felt. He knew how hard it was. He'd done it himself at least five times in the last three hours.

Before Hero could defend himself, Sidekick continued. "Villain saved me. Not you, not the man they praise on TV as being selfless and caring and generous. Villain saved me. And he has cared for me sense. When I was still exhausted from exerting myself, he carried me to his home. He bandaged me. He fed me. He gave me a bed to sleep on. And what were you doing?"

Now's the time.

"I- well..." Hero glanced nervously at Villain, whose arms were still crossed. "You told me to leave, Sidekick. You told me to get out of there, so I did. You can't be angry at me for that. You see, he has tampered with your mind."

Villain sighed. "Hero, you grasping onto that concept like it's your lifeline. It can't protect you forever." He rose a brow when the supposed hero didn't respond. "Still not going to talk? Alright." Villain looked to Sidekick. "He ever let you in that computer room you told me about?" He pointed to the door, not waiting for an answer before speaking because he already knew the answer.

"When Hero and I were friends in high school, he used to journal on his desktop about all the guilty things he'd done. Things like stealing cookies off of unaware kids' trays, getting that one solo instead of the only freshman in our choir, stuff like that." Villain chuckled. "He didn't used to step on people until it was time for college applications. He realized he was only good enough for the mediocre schools. Hero always aspired to be someone great, but he lost faith in himself. Guess I was the easiest person to make a target out of. Isn't that right, Hero?"

He hadn't spoken this whole time, only bit his tongue. Hero nodded now, lips pressed tight.

"Wait. What are you saying?" Sidekick asked, but the question was more directed at Hero than Villain.

"I became a villain when he pointed fingers, started making massive claims making me out to be a horrible person."

Despite having already nodded, Sidekick asked Hero, "Is he telling the truth?"

"This isn't- but he- Sidekick, how could you even consider being on his side? I know I left you, but it's because you told me to go."

Villain interjected, "Or he only cared to save himself."

"I didn't tell you to never come back for me! You were safe as soon as you got out. Meanwhile I was being crushed because I used every ounce of my abilities so that you didn't get crushed!" Sidekick breathed so heavily that Villain and Hero could both hear her. "Wait. Wait, wait, wait. What did you think happened to me when you didn't see me for so long after the accident?"

Hero shrugged. "I thought you died."

"And is that what you told the reporters?"

"More or less."

"What did you say to them?" Sidekick demanded.

Villain felt completely foolish for ever thinking Hero's anger would overcome them. He supposed he wasn't thinking from Hero's perspective at all, but his own. Because if he truly saw Hero as a villain and his partner suddenly revealed themselves to be said villain's new partner, he'd be furious. Villain would fight like hell to get to a partner that betrayed him like that. But, Villain acknowledged, Hero has known all along that I'm the good guy between us. Hero couldn't possibly be mad at Sidekick for a false scenario.

"I told them that you sacrificed your life for mine." Hero took subtle steps backward, but not settle enough. Villain was far enough away that he could see Hero's whole body, and therefore could see every move he made. Villain held his hand up threateningly, stopping Hero in his tracks.

"I want to see your desktop," Sidekick declared. She didn't wait to start sauntering toward the door she needed.

***

Villain stood in the doorway, watching to make sure Hero didn't do anything out of sorts. He didn't think his old friend would kill anyone to maintain his false identity, but he wasn't sure. The stuff that he pinned on Villain was worthy of death, so he might as well have killed him.

Something for Villain to be somewhat happy, and yet also severely disappointed, about was the number of pages written about him. Every moment Hero considered undermining Villain, every time he did undermine him, or pin him, blame him, accuse him. There were also various pages detailing how badly he'd deceived Sidekick.

Speaking of Sidekick, after about two hours of reading and asking questions, she slammed the mouse on the table before standing and walking briskly out of the room. "I'm ready to leave. Damn whatever happens to him. I don't want to see or hear of him ever again," she said on her way out- or rather yelled.

Villain followed her out of the room, but stopped halfway through the gymnasium. He said to Hero, "I don't have the patience to deal with you right now, but just know that if you don't come out about all of this yourself, I won't hesitate to actually become your villain. Understood?"

Hero swallowed with a nod, and Villain took his leave.

[blissfulalchemist]

"Why... why did you just take off your shirt?" + "Does my being half-naked bother you?" for Victorious Secret

Thank you for this Kate! Here’s more of their new canon!

Fourteen days. That’s how many days in a row Wes had seen Chance, including weekends, from exactly six in the evening until nine at night, except on Fridays when Chance had a lab night and they met for some dinner in the dorm hall from five to seven thirty. Wes didn’t mind, even if it was late on the weekends, good parties didn’t start till ten anyway, he got to be with him and get to know him, well, as much as one can in between research for their project. It was Saturday with the only difference being that for once they started earlier in the day, the deadline a week away. Chance’s nerves must have been starting to get to him as the two were in his dorm instead of the library, their textbooks and notebooks sprawled across the floor with no care as Chance didn’t have to share his room for the next week. 

Wes felt himself start to nod off as the words became blurry and lost their meaning the more he looked at the textbook trying to annotate it to Chance’s standards. They had been going at this for almost four hours straight. Wes rubbed his eyes looking up to Chance as he sat in the cloth chair next to the desk, his feet propped on the ladder of the raised bed, eyes glued to the supplemental book on Jar Head’s approved list. Wes stared at him, noticing the way Chance’s mess of curls were starting to fall into his eyes as he shifted sliding down farther off the chair, Wes felt tempted to brush his brown hair out of his eyes, make life easier for his friend, It looks like it could be really soft. Chance blinked a few times before looking over to Wes, his green eyes sparkling in the last bit of sun filtering in, “You getting lost?”

In your eyes, “No,” he said, looking back down finally realizing he hadn’t turned the page in almost thirty minutes. Time to give up, Wes thought as he adjusted himself on the futon sofa below the roommate’s bed. 

Chance looked around the room frowning, “Have we been sitting in complete silence for the last,” he glanced over at Wes, “What time is it?”

“Almost four.”

Chance’s eyes widened, “Four hours?! We’ve been sitting in silence for four hours,” he groaned leaning back covering his face with the book. “No wonder I’ve been staring at this page for at least thirty minutes,” his voice muffled by the book. 

Wes couldn’t help but notice the way Chance’s shirt pulled up his body exposing a sliver of his abdomen, “Break time?”

“Damn right,” Chance said, tossing the book on the built in desk, rubbing his tired eyes, “Should we get dinner?” He looked out the window behind him, watching as the big snowflakes started to fall, “Dorm food or order in?”

“Not hungry,” Wes said, stretching out his muscles. 

“Dude, I haven’t eaten all day so you haven’t eaten all day,” Chance pointed out, “Here toss me my phone.” Wes picked up the red and black phone in its case flinging it his way, almost hitting Chance in the eye, Oops. “Careful,” Chance opened the phone scrolling through the places that delivered to the dorms and weren’t that far away, “You ever had Pita Pit? Never mind don’t answer that. You probably haven't,” Wes gave a small shrug, Chance wasn’t wrong. He placed his order pushing his hair back, “You want me to pick for you or do you want to scroll through the menu?”

Wes held out his hand, “I’ll do it.”

Chance handed it over standing up, reaching his hands up to the ceiling, distracting Wes as he watched taking in Chance’s lean muscle that he could see as his shirt raised up. Wes quickly looked down to the phone quickly picking something that looked good, “Get a breakfast one too,” Wes looked up through his lashes, at Chance as he pointed out the window with his thumb, “In case the snow gets bad and you gotta stay here for the night.”

“Oh,” Wes looked back and just ordered whatever Chance had ordered, “That why we came here?”

He nodded, “Yeah. Here all day cause of the deadline, Seed hates us, and lastly, perfect timing that my roommate went ice climbing with his family.” Chance took the phone back placing the order, “What should we do while we wait? We can play games, power nap, or watch a show.”

Power nap, “Whatever you think best,” Only one useable bed. 

Chance rubbed the back of his neck moving to sit with Wes, “Maybe some games while we wait,” he said grabbing the controllers, “Might fall asleep and miss the food with the other options.”

“Can we nap after,” Wes asked.

“Yeah,” Chance patted Wes’ shoulder, “Sure big guy. We can nap after we eat, you’re not leaving until nine anyway,” Wes gave him a smirk, “Unless the weather gets bad.”

“Right,” Wes agreed, his mind saying silent prayers for blizzard-like conditions. 

Chance handed over the controller, “You fine with fighting games, or do you want to play something like Halo?”

“Uhm,” Wes hadn’t really played any video games, sure he watched when his two roommates played against each other but he never joined in. “Fighting….games?”

Chance was turning the console on getting ready to sift through the digital library, “Sure. I got Mortal Kombat, Blazeblue, Injustice one and two, Marvel vs Capcom three, uh, let’s see what else,” Chance leaned forward looking at the squares on the screen.

“Whatever’s easiest to play,” Chance looked up to him, his green eyes curious, Wes gave a shrug looking away, “Never played.”

“Huh,” Chance leaned back clicking on a game that Wes didn’t catch, “Thought you would have.”

“Why’d you say that?”

He gave a shrug, “Cause of your roommate, the short one.”

“They’re both short,” Wes retorted.

Chance gave a laugh, “Fair. Everyone’s gotta be short to you, except maybe me on a good day.” Chance turned the tv volume down, the sound loud enough to trigger a small headache, “The not so hot one. She dresses in flowers.” Wes knew which one he was talking about now, “Anyway I remember seeing her at the game store, she kicked some ass during the Injustice tournament, thought you’d have played against her at home.”

Wes shook his head, “No. Wren plays with her though.”

Chance gave a sly smirk, “Plays with her or plays with her?” Chance laughed getting a small shove from Wes, “Joking jeez, but Wren though, that’s her name. Pretty,” Chance said her name once more giving a small nod, “More serious note, are they together? Are you all together, like some kind of poly thing.” Wes gave him an exasperated glare, this wasn’t the first nor the last time Wes had been asked this, Chance held his hands up, “No judgement here, just curious is all.” Chance snapped his fingers to point at Wes, “If it is though, you’re one lucky guy, get to go home to them every night, livin’ every guy’s dream.” Chance turned back to the tv the game starting up. 

Wes hesitated in answering, he could easily lie and say that Wren was taken, stop Chance from ever trying to hit on her. Then again, “No. To all of it.”

Chance gave a slow nod, “Nice.” Wes knew Wren wasn’t that into guys like Chance, but if he believed it then maybe he’d come around more. Chance’s phone lit up as he got the beginner settings set up with Wes’ controller. It was a text message from someone saved as 413, asking if he’d come down and help keep them warm with the incoming snow tonight. It was cheesy and Wes noticed there were a few other messages like that on his phone, some with names more cryptic than the others.

“You’re popular,” Wes commented, Chance glancing down at his phone rolling his eyes.

“Gotta block ‘er,” he shook his head, “Texts me twice a week at least. Don’t want to hook up with her again ‘nd she can’t take the hint apparently.” 

“Whatta ‘bout the others?”

Chance handed the controller back over to Wes, “What about them?” Wes took the controller, “You’re here, don’t have time for them.”

Them, he keeps saying them, Wes turned the words over and over as Chance explained the game, Was it possible that Chance was bi. Could I actually have a shot at this? By the time they started playing Wes forgot all the basics that Chance had just explained, hitting whatever buttons he felt would do something. It wasn’t lost on Wes that Chance held back letting him get a feel for the game and it’s mechanics, which just meant that Wes was able to become semi-competent in the team Chance helped him pick out. 

“Alright now the real competition begins, button masher,” Chance said as he picked a new team for himself. 

An idea came to mind, Wes unable to stop his mouth from holding it back, “We play like strip poker?”

Chance didn’t even look Wes’ way, “Yeah, sure man. Whatever you want.” Wes gave a small, sly smile before turning to the screen. The fight itself didn’t last very long even with the second round that Chance started to really determine a winner, then again it didn’t help that Wes only learned one move for each character he could successfully repeat to do more than just basic punching and kicking. Chance threw his hands up in victory as Wes set his controller down in his lap, pulling his shirt over his head. Chance did a double take, “Why-Why did you just take off your shirt?”

“We’re playin’ strip fight,” Wes felt his heart race, “like strip poker.”

The slightest bit of red started to creep up Chance’s neck, “Uh. Oh, well, I thought you were asking to play Street Fighter after this.”

Wes swallowed, sifting for another excuse to want to pull off the impulsive idea, “It’also kinda hot in ‘ere.” He heard Chance hum a tune Wes didn’t recognize, “Sorry.”

Chance shook his head, his eyes looking over Wes’ bare chest briefly, “It’s fine,” Chance felt the blood make its way up his neck higher towards his cheeks. 

Wes felt himself at an impasse as to what his next move to be, after seeing the brief, very brief, running of Chance’s eyes on his body. The blush was hard to make out of it being from being uncomfortable or from some form of attraction. On the one hand he could keep up the temperature lie, see if Chance would look at him again, or just put the shirt back on and hope he didn’t just screw things up. “Does it bother ya? Bein’ half-naked ‘nd all.”

Chance blinked a few times, “Well, no, if it’s too hot in here for you. Hard to control the temperature in here,” he stammered, heart racing and ignoring the pull in his abdomen. “So if you want to you can stay as you are. Shouldn’t care too much anyway cause it’s just toxic masculinity and all that.” Chance needed to shut up, he looked for a change in subject as he rubbed the back of his neck, his cell phone ringing. He let out a breath of relief as he recognized the delivery driver’s number, “Looks like the food’s here.” Chance made his way to the door grabbing his keys, “Go ahead and pick something for us to watch,” he switched the lock on the door. “So no one walks in and gets the wrong idea about you. Some of the guys here can be mean,” Chance justified seeing the worried look on Wes’ face. 

Chance walked out the door, quickly making his way to the stairs to walk down the ten flights to the lobby. Wes sat, his heart slowing as he put his face in his hands, rubbing his temples, “Hope I didn’t fuck up.”

[bonusnew327]

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[semperintrepida]

The Sellout, chapter two

two: the big reveal

Kassandra sipped her coffee and surveyed the Portland skyline: the muddy river far below, Mount Hood backlit by sunrise skies as soft and pink as a kitten's tongue, and the laughably light traffic skating along I5. Roofs and trees, then trees in greater and greater numbers until they made a velvety green carpet all the way to the mountains. Portland had to be the smallest big city she'd ever lived in.

She sipped again, letting the coffee's warmth ward off the chill from the polished concrete floor beneath her feet, and she wandered away from the unbroken expanse of floor-to-ceiling windows that formed the eastern wall of her condo, back to the table where her laptop waited for her to put the finishing touches on the Yelp review she'd been dying to write since yesterday afternoon.

After visiting fifty — no, closer to a hundred — coffee shops in the month she'd lived here so far, she'd never experienced one quite like Cliffhanger Coffee. The latte she'd ordered was damn near perfect, but the coffee snob capital of the US was full of near-perfect lattes. It wasn't full of beautiful, dark-haired women with fire in their eyes who could pull espresso shots while throwing volleys of sharp, sharp words at the first sign of a threat.

Despite turning up the dials on her charm and attentiveness, Kassandra had gotten skewered almost as soon as she'd opened her mouth. After two years of living with Pacific Northwest passive aggressiveness, the woman's flat-out, in-your-face aggressiveness had hit Kassandra like the first taste of a sea breeze after years in the desert.

She'd savored every sip of that latte while walking up Belmont back to her car, and later on, she'd fallen asleep thinking about the woman's sharp words, the muscled lines of her forearms, and how they'd disappeared into blackwork tattoos that ran under the rolled-up sleeves of her flannel shirt. Trees on one arm and plants on the other, ferns giving way to some kind of vine, twisting in intricate lines on her skin...

Kassandra shook the thought away and focused on the text she'd written. Come for the delicious drinks, stay if the barista likes you... She tapped a finger against her chin in thought, then typed out one final sentence before she clicked "Post Review."

She examined her handiwork with a satisfied grin, then finished off the last of her coffee. Maybe she could squeeze in a visit to the other side of the river after her one o'clock planning meeting downtown. She picked up her phone.

Dessa answered in the middle of the first ring. "Good morning, Kassandra." She'd been Kassandra's assistant long enough to know her working hours went from seven a.m. to seven p.m. and often beyond.

"Dessa. Good morning. How's my two to four looking this afternoon?"

Quiet click-clicks as Dessa brought up her calendar. "You've got a one-on-one with Trevor Adams from two-thirty to three-thirty."

"Reschedule him to early next week."

"Consider it done."

"Any messages for me?"

"Kevin would like you to call, but he says it's not urgent."

Kassandra snorted. A CEO's not urgent merely meant right now instead of yesterday. "Coordinate a call with Lisa so I can talk to him at his earliest convenience." Lisa, his long-suffering admin assistant, who'd followed him from Microsoft to Juniper and every other stop along the way.

"It'll probably be around eight-thirty."

"That works." She drummed her fingers on the tabletop. "How're things back at the ranch?"

A sigh. "Markos has been looking for you."

Kassandra rolled her eyes. "He can make a calendar request like everyone else."

"I told him that, but you know how he is."

She did, all too well. He liked his meetings with her to be in person and off the record, like he was some big-shot politician instead of a middling marketing executive. "I'll be on site tomorrow morning. If he weasels by again, tell him he can buy me lunch."

"Will do. Anything else you need?"

"That's it for now. Thanks, Dessa."

She gave one last smirking glance at Yelp, then closed the browser tab and pulled up Outlook. The number of messages in her inbox had reached quadruple digits, and she made a mental note to spend some time cleaning it up later. She scrolled around until she found the email she wanted, then picked up her phone again. "Hi, Evelyn. It's Kassandra. Ready to start crunching those square footage numbers on the southeast flagship?"

.oOo.

A little after two o'clock, Kassandra turned her Audi R8 onto the looping ramp that led up to the Morrison Bridge, and just past the apex of the curve, she punched the gas and grinned as the big V10 began to howl. The acceleration shoved her hard into her seat, and it was like sitting in a recliner strapped to a rocket, more than making up for the fact that the car only came with an automatic transmission. No matter. If she wanted to shift gears herself, she had motorcycles for that.

She found a place to park on a side street off Belmont, slung her laptop bag over her shoulder, then backtracked a couple of blocks to the building that housed Cliffanger Coffee. The neighborhood wore its light industrial roots proudly: lots of brick and corrugated metal, and the coffeeshop's building was no exception. The ground floor units had lofted ceilings, but there were two more floors above them that looked like they'd been converted into apartments sometime in the last forty years. Likely rent controlled. Probably what had kept the owner from tearing it all down and putting up a mixed use development in its place.

A development on a street corner like this could net tens of millions.

The corner unit was occupied by a store selling overpriced furniture, and she scanned the price tags through the windows as she passed: five-hundred-dollar end tables and six-thousand-dollar couches. The store had probably been open for less than a year. She wondered what had been in its place a decade ago, when the coffee shop next door had moved in and nudged this neighborhood a little further down the path of gentrification.

A slate-colored sign bearing the words "Cliffhanger Coffee" hung over the door, the bold white lettering in a font that was clean and timeless rather than trendy, set over an angular slash that was more suggestive of a cliff than explicit.

Kassandra pushed the door open and stepped inside. Busier today, with customers dotting the interior tables, and the same three people from yesterday seated at the couches, deep in conversation. The woman — the owner, Kassandra reminded herself — was at the register, smiling as she handed a cup to a customer. At the sound of the door opening, her gaze slid from the man, to Kassandra, then back again.

The woman's smile faded as soon as the customer turned his back to her. She wore a blue and white plaid button-down with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and tight black jeans. The buckle of her belt glinted silver under the menu board's lights. "What do you want?" she asked as Kassandra walked up to the counter, her gaze as opaque as smoked glass, and Kassandra knew she wasn't really asking about a drink.

"I'll take a double shot, bone dry cappuccino, please."

The woman's eyes narrowed a fraction as Kassandra's weaponized order hit its mark. "Four dollars and thirty cents," she said flatly, slamming her fingertip into the register's touchscreen so hard its plastic casing creaked. This time, Kassandra took a good look at the woman's hands: long and slender, implying fine bones within, but her fingers were wrapped with muscles, as were her wrists and forearms, powerful lines disappearing into black foliage and vines that climbed up her arm.

That kind of muscle didn't come from pulling shots at an espresso machine — it came from training and effort. Kassandra knew it well; she wore it herself from her neck to her calves, earned it in the weight room and on the pitch, and, once everyone figured out she'd grow up to be tall instead of fast, on the basketball court. The woman had probably started young at whatever sport it was, but she was too tall and lean to be a gymnast, and no soccer player who wasn't a goalkeeper had wrists like that, and she wasn't tall enough to be a keeper anyway...

Kassandra realized she was staring, and her fingers fumbled at her wallet inside her suit jacket's pocket. It took her two tries to pull a twenty from the cash in her money clip, and she made herself take a slow breath before she pushed it across the counter. "Can you make that drink for here, please?" she asked once she'd regained her poise.

The woman tilted her head and eyed the twenty. Her look could have shattered concrete. Then the twenty disappeared into the cash drawer and a stack of coins and bills took its place. "You might as well have a seat," she said, tossing the words over her shoulder as she moved to the espresso machine.

And just like the day before, the woman's shroud of irritation fell away as soon as she focused her full attention on making the drink, her eyes lighting up with a clean, unburdened joy. This woman was the one Kassandra wanted to talk to. She wanted to ask, Does it feel the same way for you too? It was beating everyone in the paint to a rebound, or hitting a holeshot on the racetrack, that flowing perfection where everything is just so and all is right in the world. Kassandra had spent a lifetime chasing it.

One espresso shot and two full pitchers of steamed milkfoam later, the drink slid across the counter. "Bone dry," the woman said in a voice to match.

Kassandra picked up the cup, murmuring her thanks before she drifted around the perimeter of the shop. Lots of brick and exposed metal, softened by green plants. Real ones. This place would Instagram well. She sipped the drink, the hot espresso tunneling through a thick layer of fluffy foam, completely free of milk and its diluting effects. Yesterday's latte had been near-perfect, but this drink was perfection in every way, its components correctly proportioned, the shot ecstatically good. She needed to find out who the woman's coffee roaster was.

A set of shelves crammed with books occupied much of the back wall, under a small, hand-lettered sign reading take one, leave one. Past the shelves, a bulletin board hung over a small self-service bar that held carafes of cream and a variety of sweeteners. Kassandra's eye lingered on a line of brightly colored stickers running along the edge of the board: Best of Portland 2010, Best of Portland 2011, 2012, 2013... all the way to last year, 2017.

She chose a table against the wall that was mostly hidden from the counter's line of sight, pulled her laptop from her bag, sat down, and pretended to get to work.

A steady stream of customers passed through the doors of the shop, despite the doldrums of the mid-afternoon, and the thread of tension wound tight around the woman's voice began to loosen as she filled orders and chatted with customers. Once, she even laughed, low and round and rich, the sound fuming in the air like a good bourbon. Until that moment, Kassandra wasn't sure the woman was capable of it.

The shop began to empty out as the clock swept past three. Kassandra packed her laptop away and carefully set the empty cup into the bus tub under the self-service bar. She strolled over to the counter, ignoring the hostile glances from the regulars at the couches. There was a jar full of business cards next to the register she hadn't noticed before. Enter to win a ten-pack of drinks written in strong, angular lettering.

The woman turned to her and crossed her arms.

"The drink was perfect," Kassandra said.

Silence.

"I didn't catch your name."

"I didn't give it to you."

Not this way, Kassandra wanted to say. Let's not do it like this. Let's just talk. Tell me about your coffee: who grew it, where it came from, and what drew you to doing this? Because she wanted to see that bright joy return to the woman's eyes instead of the anger living there now. "You don't like me at all, do you?"

"Have you given me a reason to like you?"

"Have I given you a reason not to?" Her brows knit with real confusion. "If I've caused any offense, I'm sorry."

"You seem to think that I have to give you the time of day because you're dropping twenties on drinks."

That stung. "Consider it compensation for wasting your precious time, then." She had tried to be nice from several angles, but had bounced off the mirror finish of the woman's anger every time. Nice didn't work on everyone. She'd keep her interest professional then, and run a different play from the playbook. "I guess you really wanted that fifth star," she said, and then she reached into her laptop bag and fished out one of her business cards, and she smirked as she caught a glimpse of a siren's enigmatic smile looking out from a familiar green circle. She locked eyes with the woman and threw the card into the jar by the till. "See you later."

As she walked out the door and onto the sidewalk, she couldn't help but grin. She would have loved to see the woman's face as she read the words on the card:

Kassandra Agiadis Vice President of International Real Estate Development Starbucks Coffee Company

Chapter two of The Sellout. Continued in chapter three...

[always5hineee]

Hell and Back- Chapter 39: Abscission (Trials 79-83)

Word count: 2533

Chapter warnings: Mild language, gore, strong themes

-----

       Just as they made it to the door (through Kris's path of destruction) the phone gave a little ring. The completion screen lit up, but it was abruptly changed as a different congratulatory message arose.

       Fatality skip: Trial 79

       "Another fatality skip?" Kyungsoo asked, concern evident on his face. "Is everyone here?" Doing a headcount, they looked around, finding that everyone was indeed still intact.

       "See?" Kris pointed out. "This is proof that the stupid thing is glitching out. None of us are dead, and yet it's still skipping. As long as it's not causing any problems, let's just be happy and move on." He did have a point. They obviously weren't dead, so it had to have been a glitch.

       "I guess..." Sehun said with some level of discomfort. "So I guess we just... Move on?" He asked. As everyone nodded in agreement, she did just that. The trial appeared, this time with new units... And penalties.

       Trial 80: Choose a path.

       Unit 1: Player Kris, Player Kai, Player Y/N, Player Baekhyun

       Unit 2: Player Xiumin, Player Kyungsoo, Player Chanyeol, Player Sehun

       Limited power: Xiumin, Kyungsoo

       Drop-out Fee: Arm

       "There's two limited powers from the same unit again." Kyungsoo said, pondering it. "It's probably another task of some difficulty then. It's getting harder."

       "Yeah, no shit. Welcome to Earth." Kris mumbled, headed towards a door without consulting anyway. Looking at each other, her and Xiumin went their separate ways, now in different units. In a similar fashion to the previous set of trials, the door shut immediately behind them. Still in possession of Sehun's charger, she lit the way, leading them to an identical room as the first- thankfully with no dogs. In a different turn of events, though, there were several other unsettling objects.

       Hanging on one wall, there was a large, comical wheel, covered in different colored bars. It ranged all the way from green to red, with every yellow and orange in between. It was mounted behind a glass case, but there was a button that would presumably cause it to spin. On the other wall, there was a metal helmet, wired into the wall. It wasn't as disturbingly scary as she would have expected for what she later figured out it was, but it was still bulky and unsettling. The app enlightened them.

       Trial 81: The Electrocution Game

       One player will wear the helmet, while another spins the wheel. The voltage administered by the device is dependent on the color landed on. The green slot will administer 5 volts, with the darkest orange reaching 50 volts. This trend is exempt at the red bar, which will administer 250 volts. Every player has to wear the helmet one time minimum, as well as press the button one time minimum.

       Unit 1: Player Kris, Player Kai, Player Y/N, Player Baekhyun

       Unit 2: Player Xiumin, Player Kyungsoo, Player Chanyeol, Player Sehun

       Limited power: Xiumin, Kyungsoo

       Drop-out Fee: Arm

       "250 volts?" Kai asked incredulously. "That has to be lethal."

       "I'm pretty sure even 50 could be lethal depending on your size." Kris agreed.

       "There's only one circumstance of guaranteed death." Baekhyun said with a shrug. "I don't mind those odds."

       "I'm surprised you're so calm." She said, looking over. She knew he used humor to get past his concerns, but at what point would he relent to his fears?        

       "I'm surprised he knows the words 'circumstance' and 'guaranteed'." Kris added on, earning himself a punch to the shoulder. "Well if you're so excited about it, you go first!"

       "Only if you spin my wheel~" He said, blowing a fake kiss. More than willing, Kris moved over to the wall while Baekhyun strapped on the helmet. Without even waiting for him to say that he was ready, Kris pressed the button, letting it run its course. She was honestly surprised that there was no shitty carnival music to go along with it. It landed a little left of the central area of yellow. She mentally tried to calculate how many volts that would be, guesstimating about 20. Bracing himself, he clutched his hands together and squinted, but eventually opened them again.

       "Oh, it didn't even-" Before he'd finished, his body shook as his eyes rolled back into his head. It only lasted a few seconds before he slid back against the wall breathing heavily. "Ohhhkay, that had a bit of a kick-" He laughed weakly. He tried to stand up straight, but his legs had sort of become jelly. She moved to help him, but he waved his hand.

       "No, no, I'm fine- who's next?"

       "I'll trade you," Kris offered, moving towards the other side of the room.

       "Not really feeling walking over to the button. You can go, though."

       "I'll press it," Y/N offered, silently hoping that it would land on an easy color. It wasn't that she wanted any of them to get something difficult, but at the same time, it would be worse if she were the one to do it. She knew that it was probably rigged anyway, but there wasn't really anything she could do about it. Waiting for Kris to give her an indication of his preparedness, she pressed the button, watching in abject anticipation as it clicked past each color. Her heart sank as it neared the red, stopping just short. It wasn't 250, but it was still risky... less than ideal, to say the least. Seeing her face twist in fear, he laughed,

       "No worried, I'm sure it'll be fi-" He choked on his own words as a similar situation to Baekhyun's racked his body, causing him to crash to the floor as well. This time, even after the shocks had stopped, his body was still jerking with electric energy, stopping his breathing momentarily.

       "Kris?" She asked frantically as she ran over to him, pulling him up. His eyes, thankfully, opened as he tried to laugh.        

       "Didn't even hurt." Obviously, that was a lie, but she sighed in relief. He was alive, and well enough to keep making shitty jokes. At this point, Baekhyun was doing fairly well, but she assumed it would take him another few minutes to even get remotely back to normal. It made her fear for her own turn. Still, she definitely wasn't about to lose an arm, so...

       "Here, give me the helmet." She said, gently taking his face as she unbound it from his head.

       "Um, absolutely not." Kai said, walking up from behind her to try and take it from her. Ripping it out of his loose grip, she glared.

       "I'm going to have to go eventually, so I want to go now."

       "Yeah, but-"

       "There's no way out of it, so back off." She said, a snarky tone that she didn't intend ripping out at him. He looked more than unwilling to let it happen, but she wasn't really giving him a choice. Strapping it to her head, she looked to Baekhyun, who had already made his way over to the button, assuming that Kai would be unwilling.

       Pressing it, her body tensed as she waited for it to land. Even Kai couldn't tear his eyes away from it. Click... Click.......... Click.

       Green.

       She sighed in relief, as did the other boys. By some miracle, she had gotten he lowest voltage. It wouldn't be pleasant, but it wouldn't be fatal, either. She felt the electricity sink through her scalp and rush through her veins, giving her a less than ideal itchy feeling under her skin. It felt like it went on for days, when in reality she knew it was only a few seconds. Once it finished, she leaned back against the wall, but was able to remain standing. Sighing in relief, she looked to Kai with pride. He said nothing as he took the helmet from her, putting it on his own head.

       Thinking through the process of what had just gone on, she tried to figure out who was meant to press the button for Kai. She's pressed for Kris, he'd pressed for Baekhyun, and Baekhyun pressed for her...

       "Oh, fuck-" She said, looking between them. "Kai has to press his own button, otherwise we'll end up doing an extra spin."

       "How did no one catch that?" Kris groaned from his seat on the floor, holding a hand to his face.

       "Who's going twice?" Baekhyun asked, worried. He hadn't even gotten the worst of the wheel, but he certainly didn't want to experience it a second time. Rolling his eyes, Kai stopped their conversation.

       "It's fine, I can press it myself." She watched as he teleported over to the button, pressing it before the helmet had even fallen. His abilities were certainly impressive, and she loved to watch. It was intriguing, and the look of concentration that he always wore on his face when doing so was actually satisfying to see. As the wheel spun, it slowed in the yellow zone, landing somewhere between Baekhyun's and Kris's panels. Not only had he avoided a fifth spin, but he had a pretty good lot as well. Maybe if the game was rigged, it hadn't been expecting him to figure out a solution to their doubling-up problem.

       He took the shock surprisingly well, not reacting like Kris and Baekhyun. Obviously he couldn't help the involuntary vibrations, but he even remained standing as they finished up. Looking down at the screen the trial had been completed, but the other unit's hadn't. It didn't take them much longer, and everyone had basically recovered by the time both units were ready. She pressed the button to continue as the door swung open.

       Stepping through, they were faced with yet another identical room. This one was more similar to the first in that it had a medical setting as well as a gurney, although the latter was much larger. It was clearly a human being. Walking over to it, they saw that it was of decent build, potentially 5'8" or 5'9". She dreaded looking at the challenge, already knowing what it was going to entail.

       Trial 82: Find the key in the body.

       Unit 1: Player Kris, Player Kai, Player Y/N, Player Baekhyun

       Unit 2: Player Xiumin, Player Kyungsoo, Player Chanyeol, Player Sehun

       Limited power: Kai, Xiumin

       Drop-out Fee: Arm

       "Well, uh, at least it's only one body this time?" Baekhyun said with a shrug.

       "Oh, you guys got the same trial?" Kris asked. "We were wondering why it took you so long." Shel looked over at him in concern.

       "You just ripped open a dog, no hesitation?"

       "I'm trying to get out of here, man, I'm not sure there's a lot I wouldn't do."

       "Good, then you can deal with this, because it's a human this time."

       "Yeah, a dead human. We're not doing anything to them." Trying to keep from looking visibly disgusted, she turned around as she had before, allowing them to handle it. She felt a little bit guilty, but if Kris was so eager, let him do it, she didn't care. She heard the sheet fall to the ground, but followed by the gasps of several dumbstruck men. She figured that seeing a dead body would shock anyone, but... they fell completely silent. Curiosity getting the best of her, she turned around, only to literally fall back onto the floor. Lying on the table, covered in cuts and skin slightly dry, was an all too familiar face.

       Well, their suspicions had been confirmed- Chen had died trying to get through the maze. And now he was sitting here, on the table, subject to the gruesome horrors of the unit trials, forced to participate despite his abrupt exit from the game. She immediately turned back around, tears involuntarily falling down her face as she drew her knees to her chest. This had to be a nightmare, there was no way...

       She heard the boys muttering to each other through the state rushing in her ears. The only clear words she could make out were when Kai told them to cover the man's face with the sheet. She couldn't stop shaking, even as she felt a hand on her back. Terrified of what she might see, she just barely uncovered an eye to notice Baekhyun right next to her. He sat on the floor beside her, holding her head to his shoulder and covering her exposed ear so that she didn't have to. It caused her to completely break down, but he didn't say anything, just waiting for Kai and Kris to finish doing what they had to do.

       She hadn't even noticed they were done until Baekhyun was pulled away from her. Looking up, she saw Kai out of the corner of her eye before she was picked up. Holding her under her thighs, the man situated her so that her chin was on his shoulder, walking out of the room assumedly after Kris as she saw Baekhyun follow. Trying to pull herself together, she wriggled one of her arms away from his chest to pull her phone out of her pocket, looking at it over his shoulder. Once again, she saw a completion screen, followed by... a fatality skip.

       Why was it skipping again? Was there yet another glitch? No one else could have died, it... Her eyes widened as she wondered in horror if Chen had been alive that whole time. It couldn't have been... Kris would have noticed if the man had been breathing, right? For that matter, any of them would have seen the sheet moving before they'd even uncovered it. But yet, there the message sat:

       Fatality skip: Trial 83

       When they'd walked through the door, they made it to a conjoined room, but the other team hadn't yet arrived. Since it differed from the other room in terms of a trial-locked door, they would simply have to wait. It took longer than she'd expected, given the closeness in timing regarding their other trials, but they eventually came through, just about as filthy and covered in undesirables as her own team had been. As they began to walk through, Kai turned around to see, meaning that she could no longer make them out clearly. Turning her head at an awkward angle, she saw Xiumin, followed by Kyungsoo, and then just barely the taller frame of Sehun.

       "Where's Chanyeol?" She muttered, tapping on Kai's shoulder blade. As she said this, something she thought was nonchalant, she felt his grip tighten significantly and his breath intake sharply, but he quickly tried to recover. "Kai? What-"

       "Shh, you're tired." Trying to escape from his grip, she shook her head like a little kid.

       "No, put me down, where-"

       "Stop it, Y/N." Finally, she managed to squirm out of his grip, looking to the others as everyone was staring at the ground. Everyone but...

       "Where's Chanyeol?" She received no response as she felt the tears spring back to her eyes. She ran over to Kyungsoo, tugging on his shirt in an attempt to get his direct attention. "Where-" she felt herself choke on the words. "Where is he?" He could barely look her in the eyes before turning away from her.

Go to Chapter 40