#i hope he’s doing well. hope the ballet is doing good. hope his mom has chilled out a bit. jesus fucking christ she was something else

[fingertipsmp3]

I do think the fact that my first ever crush was on an obviously gay ballet dancer predicted a lot about my future I’m not gonna lie

[theoceansluvr]

Percy Jackson x Ballerina! Reader

warnings; like every sports headcanon list, injuries ! and horrendous foot pain author's notes; im so sorry to the lovely @officiallyalbino that requested this for borderline lying about when i'd post this😭 unrelated to the post but im severely sunburned and writing this kept me from scratching my skin off :((

oooo you best believe he has front row seats to every single one of your performances !

you'd think the adhd™ would get to him, but he's way too focused on you

he likes helping you with lifts because.. well of course he does !

he's very huge on helping you practice if you couldn't tell !

i think he'd always be insane flexible so he tries to copy your positions

looks DISGUSTINGLY good in the leotard might i add

brings flowers and a little (poorly spelled and written) card after every performance

like everybody knows him as your boyfriend because he proudly announces it while carrying his little gifts

doesn't matter if your just in the background he will clap like you just won an oscar

the parents next to him used to think he was just an overly proud older brother to be honest

that was until he leaned over while yelling "THAT'S MY PARTNER Y'KNOW ?"

he's quite the fanboy if he couldn't tell from my many, MANY times if saying this !

foot rubs ? foot rubs !

i personally hate people touching my feet, BUT !

i can see how this is probably the most relaxing thing in the world after hours of practice ngl

he's oddly good at it too

could probably hum every single Nutcracker song off the top of his head

honestly he probably really likes listening to your practice music actually

it keeps him focused when he's studying and whatnot !

could've mentioned this earlier, but he learns all the positions just so he can help you with certain dances

coordinated in the arena and almost anything else, not so much with dance

but he makes it work just for you :D

secretly really likes Black Swan

he watches it like a little kid trying to video games without his mom knowing

thinks your better than everyone no matter how much experience they might have over you

you're literally lauren anderson in his eyes

(or any ballet dancer you may look up to of course !)

enjoys watching you do your hair before recitals

it's oddly satisfying to him, so much to the point he has it memorized on how you do it

possibly keeps a fat stack of hair ties on him at all times (if your hair is long enough to even need any)

not as long as i would've loved this to be, but ballet still has a special place in my heart and i hope this was good fo

[yothangie]

Missing Their Kids event

HJ ver, SH ver, YH ver, YS ver, SN ver, MG ver, WY ver, JH ver

Pairing: Dad! Wooyoung, Ballet student daughter (6 years old) Fem Mom reader

WRD count: 911

Genre: Idol Wooyoung, angst, a hit of fluff, Wooyoung cries, i can't write anything but angst Im so sorry

Ateez Dad Masterlist Join the Taglist

It was comeback season, during the time the group had different schedules such as music shows and interviews

For months your daughter has been telling wooyoung about her ballet recital and how she has a small solo in the dance

Of course wooyoung was excited for her and promised her he would be there

But the schedule has him at a variety show the whole day.. The same day his daughter has her recital he was devastated.

How is he gonna tell you he can’t make it, matter of fact how is he gonna tell his little girl he can’t make it??

He had all that in his mind during the day, once he got home he was a little sad on how he was gonna break the news

“How was work my love” you said

“It was good,” he sighed.

Wooyoung plopped down on the couch and let down a deep sigh

“Is everything okay” you sat down next to him

“We have a schedule the day of her recital” he confessed

“You can’t reschedule” you asked

“No I tried talking to hongjoong about it but it was already set and i can’t change it”

“Well you should try talking to her, she’s still awake” you suggested

He was debating if he should break the news to her now or not.

It took a lot of courage for him to be standing in front of her room, he quietly knocked on her door

He hears the little footsteps coming towards the door opening it a little.

“Hi appa” her eyes lit up seeing the sight of her dad

“Hi pumpkin” wooyoung steps into the room, he sits himself next to her bed on the floor.

He grabs the little girl bringing her to his lap, he hates having to break such news to her.

“You know how you have your recital on saturday” he starts

“Yes, appa promised he would go and watch me dance” she smiles

“Well pumpkin appa might have to break that promise” he says

A little pout begins to form on the girl she looked down not wanting to make eye contact

“But appa you promised”

“I know but i have work” he tried pulling the girl in a hug only for her to push him away.

“Appa likes work more than me” she cried

It broke wooyoung having to hear those words coming from her own daughter.

“Dont say that pumpkin”

She got up and ran out of her bedroom sniffing and crying

Wooyoung sighed and got up heading to your guy's shared room, seeing the little girl curled up next to you asleep

“She came in crying saying you don't love her anymore” you said

“I tried to have the schedule changed i really did” he sighed

“You shouldn’t feel bad, you have no control over that”

“But ever since she was born i told her i would never break her promise and i did that” he said

“She needs to understand you won’t always be here because of your job” you said

Wooyoung sighs and sits on the bed seeing the girls back facing him.

“I’ll talk to her again tomorrow she probably doesn’t want to see me” Wooyoung pouts

“Don’t say that”

“She pushed me away when i tried to hug her”

You got up carrying your daughter and took her to her room for her to sleep, you went back to your shared room seeing wooyoung in the bathroom.

You felt bad that wooyoung had to witness his daughter saying harsh things to him, wooyoung has a day off tomorrow so you’ll definitely have a talk with her about it.

The next day rolls around, you wake up to see your husband out of bed, you got up doing your morning routine, hoping he is in the kitchen which thank god he is.

“You’re up early” you mumbled

“I want to prepare something so that hopefully she isn’t sad anymore,” he said.

A few moments passed by you both hear little footsteps coming to the kitchen

“good morning mama” the little girl raises her arms to be carried

you went ahead and carried for daughter making your way next to wooyoung who’s preparing the plates

“say ‘good morning appa’ “ you said

your daughter quickly whipped her head into your neck not wanting to look at her dad.

Wooyoung gave you a look, a look of ‘see she hates me’

“what’s wrong” you say nudging her a bit

“he’s not going” she pouts

“that’s because appa needs to work”

“he always works” she grumps

“if he doesn’t work then you can’t do ballet” you said

The little girl slowly looks over at her dad and pouts

A tear sheds from wooyoung, he feels like he disappointed the girl he treasures the most

“I’m sorry I can’t go my love but please don’t be mad” Wooyoung chokes

Your daughter started to crying in your shirt, you look over at wooyoung signaling him to grab his child, which he did

He held his child tight, afraid to let her go, both crying.

Wooyoung pulled his daughter back wiping away her tears

"appa please come" she cries

"you know i want to go but i can't"

Wooyoung continues to wipe the tears away from his daughtr as they continue to spill

"promise me you will do good at your recital" he holds out his pinky

the little girl nodded intertwining her little pinky to his.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Taglist: @reooreo @starhwahwa @nnnarchives @enbymingi @nvdhrzn @strawberry-cube @tinyelfperson @soso59love-blog @pai-fe @Kkumiikumii @blackb3ll @marvelfanatic4life @n3neni @everythingboutkpop @taz-97 @jjoongstar

[lazycats-stuff]

Hey, I just read the reader that was raised to be perfect but can I request a second part? Where the reader is trying to break out of those bad habits of pushing himself too hard after Bruce has full custody? For example he still practices dance with a pretty bad injury (muscular or muscle tear).

Hope it’s not a bother or anything, love your writing. I am just so nervous ab sending the request 😭

Sure, and don't be nervous about sending a request, this is not a judging place. This is a nice place for everyone.

Summary: (Y/N) is trying to let go of the perfection. It's not going well.

Batfamily & male!reader - part 1

Warnings: dancing through injury, trying to let go of perfection, Bruce being a good father,

After going through a messy and a rather vicious custody battle, Bruce got sole custody of (Y/N). His mom got supervised visits, but she moved. She didn't want to see her son anymore and even worse, she didn't want him.

Bruce nearly ripped her head off when he heard it, but he stayed calm for (Y/N). He was just happy that she left (Y/N)'s life and took her toxicity away from all of them.

It made Bruce smirk at the thought of the way she conducted herself in court and the things she has admitted in court. Why? It was all public and the press was very interesting. Bruce had no problem with this battle being public. He had nothing to hide.

The only thing that the press didn't show was (Y/N)'s face, considering that he was still a minor. Bruce asked the press to keep his face out of the public circulation because this wasn't easy for him. Thankfully, the public listened and the press didn't want to be in a lawsuit with them.

The others were extremely happy that his mother was gone. After hearing the comment she made at the recital, Jason wanted to kill him. Damian was with him on that and Bruce for a moment wanted to let them, but chose not to.

(Y/N) didn't want any trouble too.

But trouble always finds him.

During his practice with Stephanie something happened to his ankle. He felt something tear and he begged for someone to take him to the hospital. Bruce listened to him and they rushed to the hospital.

Doctors were quick to look at his ankle. There was a muscle tear and (Y/N) nearly cried in the room when he heard it. No. Bruce was scratching (Y/N)'s hair, trying to ease his anxiety.

But what nearly broke (Y/N) was the fact that he had to rest for a couple of weeks. This is every dancer's nightmare. Every single one. And dancer who is passionate about their craft would hate to rest for a couple of weeks.

Bruce had to let others know about the doctor's orders.

The first week of recovery was going well. But it was still early to tell. Bruce told Stephanie to look out for (Y/N) trying to practice. Stephanie agreed with Bruce and the duo worked together.

(Y/N) would glare at his ankle from his bed and if he tried to stand on it, it would hurt, but he could manage. He felt lazy just laying around and he felt like he was regressing instead of getting better.

So what did he do?

He sneaked into the ballet room that Bruce put in the manor. Nobody was there to make sure that the room was empty. He stretched before hand and started dancing. After a while, the pain got dull and he managed to push it away.

What he didn't hear was Bruce walking in, nearly getting a heart attack from the shock.

" (Y/N)! You are supposed to be resting! " Bruce said, walking up to his son.

" I can't rest! "

" You have to. Your body needs to rest. " Bruce said, now more calmly. Yelling won't solve shit.

" Oh really? Do you rest when you are injured? "

" Yes. With heavy heart I do rest. " Bruce said, picking (Y/N) up to not put more pressure on his ankle.

" (Y/N), you don't have to push yourself hard. Everyone needs rest. " Bruce said as he walked to (Y/N)'s room. " I don't know what your mother has told you, but you are human. There is no such thing as perfection. " Bruce said, opening the door of (Y/N)'s bedroom.

" I know. But habits die hard. " (Y/N) stated as Bruce laid him down on the bed.

" And that's why you are here. You can always talk to us about it. " Bruce said, moving some of (Y/N)'s hair out of his eyes. " We will be with you every step of the way. "

(Y/N) nodded and Bruce gave him a soft kiss on the forehead. " And if you get out of bed again to practice, I will throw you into the sun. "

(Y/N) laughed quietly as Bruce left. Sure thing.

[bvidzsoo]

Nowhere we won’t go

 Author: bvidzsoo

 Warning: violence, murder, blood, some swearing

 Pairing: Jeon Wonwoo x female reader

 Word count: 27, 401

 Summary:  Life had mysterious ways of working, and it took you off guard when you lost your best friend to a ruthless criminal. No one knew who did it, the whole town was in terror. However, it didn’t stop there, more people were dying and your suspicions of the murderer started raising. Could it really be your boyfriend?

 A/N: Hiii lovelies! I’m back from the dead lol. College always takes a tool on me, so I barely have inspiration to write nowadays. I watched Scream lol and this oneshot came into fruition. Ofc it’s heavily inspired by the movie so don’t come at me, but I tried to be original still. I might be a little rusty crusty dusty, but I hope it’s not that noticeable. Please leave feedback, you know I love it and I hope everyone enjoys this! Happy reading!

           This morning wasn’t any different compared to other mornings. The sun was slowly rising, beaming down on our little borough and letting its rays spread some well needed warmth as autumn has approached, coating the town in a grey fog as a result of daily rain. I missed the summer days, when the temperatures were high and I was carefree and able to spend my time doing what I liked. School takes up a large amount of effort and energy, and sometimes, I’m drained by the end of the day. I am conscious that going to school is crucial as it’s supposed to educate us and develop us into mature and smart young adults, ready to pursue our dreams and goals once we’re out of high-school, but most of times it’s just a buzzkill. The teachers are always dull and mean to us, as if they hate us for being in their classes, and most things we learn seem useless once we have stepped out into the real world. I like studying, but I am not desperate, and find myself spending my time doing something else quite often. This has always been an issue with my mom, as she’s a hardworking nurse and stern woman, only expecting and accepting perfection. But we got past our differences a few years ago and now, if I get good grades, she allows me to do whatever I like on the weekends. When I was young, I was supposed to attend various activities which my mother enjoyed while she was young, like: swimming and ballet classes. I have always hated ballet; it gave me bad ankle and toe aches making me unable to get out of bed on some lamentable days. But my mother wouldn’t accept my whining and forced me to continue ballet, only allowing me to stop when I told her I had no interest in being a ballerina. That was three years ago. Mom was quite disappointed but when I told her I wanted to take up some drawing and painting classes, reluctantly, but at last she agreed. Now, I can see myself being an artist, attending a prestige arts college. I only have to convince my mother at this point to oblige to my wish. I don’t know how I’m going to do that, but I’ve still got two years to come up with a good solution. Perhaps if Wonwoo and I can go to the same college she’ll let me be. Wonwoo, my boyfriend, is someone who my mother adores. She’s loved him from the very first moment they have met. He’s soft spoken and kind, a little withdrawn, but nonetheless friendly once he opens up to you. We’ve known each other since we were kids as we’ve been living on the same street for our whole lives, but our romance only began in high-school, last year. It took us some time to mature and notice each other finally, but when it happened, I couldn’t have been happier. He was so attentive to me, always listening closely to what I had to say. He made me laugh and smile, sometimes even without trying to, and filled my heart with warmth I didn’t know was even possible. I found a confidant and friend in him, someone whom I could love freely and carelessly, never doubtful or uncertain of his intentions. Wonwoo was direct and honest from the get go and it made me like him even more. We had our ups and downs, just as any couple, but managed to work them out and move forward as a stronger couple. He had moments when I couldn’t understand him, questioning whether I was imagining his lack of empathy or he really lacked of it, but never thought too hard about it. After all, both of us were enamored with each other, living under our pink cloud as any newly formed couple.

I had dressed up after waking up, realizing I needed to hurry up if I wanted to catch the bus, mom had a nightshift and wouldn’t be driving me to school today. I could smell bacon and eggs wafting through the downstairs as I descended the stairs, headed for the kitchen. My mother was still in her nurse uniform, her blonde hair pulled in a tight bun as she placed the fried bacon on a plate next to the already done eggs.

“Good morning, mom.” I greeted her with a smile and she turned around, dark bags under her eyes as she returned a smile.

“Good morning, slept well?” She asked as she handed me the plate which I took eagerly. I didn’t have dinner last night as I was too lazy to cook something and my stomach was screaming at me right now to fill it with something.

“Yes, although the storm did wake me up…” I trailed off as mom hummed, sipping some orange juice as she sat down opposite of me.

“It was quite bad; the wind tore a few trees out around the hospital.” She said and I hummed in surprise, not having thought the storm was actually that bad. My mom looked behind me with furrowed eyebrows as she quickly went to grab the remote control. I was just chewing on my breakfast as she turned the volume up of the TV behind me, making me turn around to see what has caused such interest in my mom suddenly. However, the words of the reporter made me drop my fork.

“Breaking News.” Her voice was loud and clear, eyebrows furrowed as she stood in front of a white house, “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Trees getting torn out of the ground during last night’s storm wasn’t the only unfortunate thing to happen. It has come to our attention, that a beloved citizen of our serene city has been murdered in cold blood last night during the storm. Her name is Myoi Mina and she was a student at Primrose High-School. Not much is known as of now about her death, the police are still investigating the crime scene, however, I managed to find out before going live, that she’d been stabbed in the chest three times and suffered a fatal trauma to her head. I offer my sincere condolences to everyone who knew her. Stay tuned for more news about the terrific death of Myoi Mina, a bright girl who will never be forgotten. I am Park Sooyoung and you’ve been watching Prime News.”

For a second the world went quiet around me as I continued staring at the TV with my mouth open in shock. If it weren’t for my mother calling out my name, I probably would have stayed longer in that trance.

“Honey!” Her voice rose an octave and suddenly I felt her gripping my hand, eyes searching mine.

“Mom—” I managed to whisper as she pulled me into a hug, offering me support. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. Mina…dead? How is that possible? Who would do that to her? We weren’t friends, but as we go to the same high-school we’ve known each other. She was always bright, and friendly, just as the reporter has said. Who would want to take away her life? When she was so innocent—oh, poor Wonwoo. If I was this affected by the news, I couldn’t imagine what he was going through. They had been exes and despite a tumultuous relationship, they managed to figure things out and stay somewhat friendly with each other after their breakup. Still, she was a person he once had loved and I would totally understand if he needed time to sort his thoughts out.

“Honey, are you alright?” My mom whispered and I lightly nodded, pulling away from the hug. I wasn’t very alright, confusion and fear meshing together, but I needed to stay strong. For Wonwoo, probably.

“Yes, just very…shocked.” I answered mom and she nodded; eyebrows downturned as she understood my feelings.

“It’s going to be fine. The one responsible for this will be found and held responsible for their actions, don’t be afraid.” Mom tried to cheer me up and offer some security, but it didn’t do much. However, I did appreciate her attempt.

“You’re right.” I tried to give her a smile, but I wasn’t able to.

“Let me drive you to school today—”

“No, don’t worry! I am fine, really. You look very tired, just go get some sleep. The bus is coming in five minutes.” I reassured her and got up from my seat, appetite gone as I quickly filled my water bottle with some orange juice.

“You’re sure?” Mom raised her eyebrows and I nodded, going up to her and kissing her cheek.

“Go rest, mom.” She hummed and patted my head before I hurried into the hallway to pull on my shoes and take on my coat. I opened the front door and took my keys, locking it once I was out of the house. Just as I walked down my porch the bus approached and I got on it, noticing the silence and somber faces of the rest of the students on it. Today was a grey day and nobody could deny it.

           My first task after getting off the bus was to find Wonwoo and check up on him. I kept biting my lip nervously as I looked around the halls, even going up to his locker. He was nowhere to be found and it made me even more nervous. I walked up to his classroom and peeked inside, but his usual seat was empty, not even his bag was there yet. Classes would start in ten minutes and I was panicking, about to grab my phone to call him, when I realized I hadn’t checked one place yet. The spot designated for the students to park their bikes and motorbikes. Of course he’d be there, why hadn’t I thought about that earlier?!

I ran down the hallways and finally exited the school, beelining it for the parking lot. Nobody was laughing this morning, people whispering amongst them, some even crying. Mina’s closest friends weren’t even seen at school, I understood why. I greeted a classmate of mine in a rush as I passed by him, he had just gotten out of his car and was taken aback by my presence, but by the time he greeted me back I was already facing the motorbikes parked in the corner. And there he was, Wonwoo, dressed in all black, his helmet in his hands as he got off his bike. His black hair was badly ruffled as he hadn’t run his fingers through his hair yet, and I suddenly took off, running towards my boyfriend. He had placed the helmet where he was sitting just seconds ago when I crashed into his back, hugging him from behind. I rested my cheek against his shoulder as I squeezed my arms tightly around his middle, making Wonwoo let out a surprised gasp.

“Hey, there, sugar.” He chuckled and my eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Just as I pulled my head away from his shoulder he turned around in my embrace and hugged me back, just as strongly as I had hugged him. He was crushing me, but I didn’t care.

“Wonwoo—” I managed to mutter out as I wiggled out of his embrace, torso aching in certain spots, “Are you alright?”

Wonwoo’s eyebrows furrowed as he ran his fingers through my short hair, resting his hand on my nape, “Why wouldn’t I be alright?”

I became even more confused at Wonwoo’s words, searching his face for some sort of tell, but there was none, “Well…did you not hear?”

I decided to feel around, scared that I had to be the one to tell him. It would break me seeing him in pain.

“Hear what?” Wonwoo asked confused, his thumb rubbing my jugular, it was slightly distracting.

“Oh, well—” I cleared my throat and licked my lips, “Mina—”

“Oh, that.” Wonwoo muttered and looked down, his grip slightly tightening on my nape, but I said nothing as I watched his expression. He seemed unphased almost, like he wanted to look sad but it wasn’t working. My eyebrows furrowed when Wonwoo sniffed, yet there were no tears in his eyes. He clearly wasn’t alright, and I felt horrible for even reminding him of her death.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“Why are you sorry, did you kill her?” He suddenly looked up and his sharp eyes were piercing into mine, and I suddenly stuttered before shutting my lips. What? He looked so…cold. As if he didn’t care at all.

“No, I just—”

“Y/N,” He grabbed both of my cheeks with his hands and pulled me into him, our foreheads almost touching, “You are the love of my life and whatever happened to Mina…she had it coming.”

I couldn’t believe my ears, and my eyebrows furrowed as I looked at Wonwoo with even more confusion. He didn’t actually mean that, right? How could he…he cared for her once.

“She was murdered, Wonwoo.” I whispered; my voice almost trembling. Wonwoo sighed and swiftly kissed my forehead, but it didn’t reassure me like it usually did, no, it made a chill run down my spine.

“I know, but she cheated on me multiple times, sugar, I do not care what has happened to her.” Wonwoo’s voice was sinister, almost gloating if I hadn’t known him better, “But she deserves it.”

My mouth opened in a gasp as I shook my head, refusing to comprehend the words which were leaving his lips, but also shocked and trying to process what he could really mean by saying that. But before I could voice my thoughts, his warm lips were pressing against mine softly, our noses touching. His was cold as it was really windy outside and I pulled back from the kiss, opening my eyes to gaze into his. I couldn’t read what he was feeling, his face expressionless and somehow so cold.

“I love you.” Wonwoo muttered before he let go of me and stepped back, grabbing his helmet off his motorbike. I watched him as he grabbed his backpack as well, trying to go over what has happened in the last few minutes, realizing this was just probably Wonwoo’s way of processing the traumatic news of last night’s happening. I knew deep down he was feeling miserable, he just didn’t want to show it in order to not worry me even more. I felt sympathetic for him and as he looked at me, it shocked me how much hatred was behind his irises, but it was gone just as quickly as it came, and it made me wonder if I had started seeing things. The news must be affecting me real bad if I couldn’t decide anymore what my boyfriend’s reactions meant.

           Today was grim. Everyone’s mood was bad and students almost whispered to each other despite it being our long break. Myoi Mina’s death has affected all of us, it was obvious. Everyone seemed to hold some sadness in their eyes and somehow they seemed to be more sympathetic towards fellow students. Even the teachers tried to be nicer to us. An hour ago we held a memorial for Myoi Mina at the football field of our high-school and once we were dismissed we quickly hurried back to our classrooms as the wind started picking up once again. The weather seemed to worsen as we reached noon and currently we were bundled up in the cafeteria, trying to enjoy our lunches. However, I found it rather hard to swallow the mashed potatoes as I overheard the girls next to our table talking about Mina’s brutal murder. I found the topic insensible and rude to talk about, especially since they seemed to be giggling about it from time to time, wondering whether the criminal looked hot or not. Kim Yerim, my best friend, seemed to have had enough as well as she slammed her fork down against the table, the loud sound catching those girls’ attention.

“Listen here, insensible cunts, if you want to gossip about that poor girl’s terrible death and fantasize about a murderer, go do it in your bedrooms and not in the cafeteria where everyone can hear you and realize just how fucking stupid you are!” Yerim’s words were harsh, always having been a brutally honest person, and it caught the attention of a few more students around us who seemed to be agreeing with her as they shot nasty glares at the gossiping girls. They seemed to be offended and one even gasped as she stood up, causing an unnecessary scene.

“How dare you call us—insensible cunts?!” Her voice rose and Yeri scoffed, giving her an amused grin.

“I was merely telling the truth, sweetheart.” Yerim answered back and I turned my head to look at the girl who was very pathetically gasping for air.

“I think everyone around us knows by now that you just want your five-minute fame, so settle down before you embarrass yourself furthermore.” I spoke up, trying to ease up the tension, but I figured I only did worse by saying that. The girl’s friend gasped loudly and both were standing up now, looking down at Yerim and I as if we were some monsters.

“Look who’s talking about fame, Y/N.” The second friend, who was blonde and had a pixie cut, looked at me maliciously, “Aren’t you the one dating Myoi Mina’s ex?”

Yerim and I glanced at each other, not understanding the correlation here, “I am, and so what about that?”

“Ah, look at her talk about fame,” The first one who caused this scene mocked, she had jet black eyes, “You’re acting as if you’re an angel when it’s because of you Wonwoo and Mina broke up. Did you know he cheated on her with you?”

I gulped, feeling the eyes of many students on me. This information was wrong, merely a gossip Mina spread around after she found out Wonwoo started going out with me out of jealousy. It didn’t last for long, the gossip, because a week later Mina and I talked and cleared things up. I held no harsh feelings against her and she apologized, realizing how foolish she was, and promised to make things right.

“That’s not true.” I said as I glared at the two girls, “Mina spread that rumor around out of jealousy—”

“Are you seriously bad-mouthing a dead person right now?!” The blonde one exclaimed in outrage and I couldn’t believe my ears. Suddenly I was the bad guy when I just wanted to protect someone who couldn’t do it anymore themselves. I could hear my ears ringing and my jaw clenched as I glared at the two. Yerim was just as appealed as I was and she slowly stood up, expression menacing.

“Look who’s playing the victim now.” Yerim chuckled and went around her chair, oh no, this was going to be bad. I stood up and grabbed my friend’s arm, knowing she’d get physical if no one was there to restrict her. Yerim always struggled with her anger issues, but when someone was disrespected she couldn’t help it, she saw red. I glanced around and gulped nervously, too many people were watching us now. And they were whispering too. I didn’t want this. Today out of all days this was so unnecessary.

“Yerim—” I spoke up, but before any of us could say anything else, Wonwoo and Soonyoung, his best friend, approached our table, each holding a tray full with food.

“What’s your problem, Hyuna?” Wonwoo snapped, blazing eyes glaring at the girl with the pixie cut, “Are you letting out your frustration on Y/N now that Mina’s gone? What? Are you going to beg me soon to leave Y/N for you?! Just like you did when I was dating Mina?”

My mouth fell open as Yerim and I looked at each other shocked, and even the students who were fully watching the commotion now, seemed surprised. The blonde one, Hyuna, turned red in the face and she gasped, looking at Wonwoo with her mouth gaping.

“That’s—that’s not—” She stuttered, shrinking under Wonwoo’s harsh glare, “That’s not what I was doing!”

“But you were speaking poorly of a dead girl.” Wonwoo said nonchalantly and Hyuna gulped as her friend took her hand and started pulling her away. I think they realized they have embarrassed themselves enough. Soonyoung started cackling as everyone watched the two girls basically run out of the cafeteria and he had the audacity to shout after them, “Look, Hyuna! I’m still available!”

His words elicited laughter from many students as they called Hyuna pathetic and everyone slowly went back to their lunch, Yerim and I long forgotten as we both sat down with Wonwoo and Soonyoung now having joined us. Wonwoo sat next to me and he kissed my cheek as I offered him a small smile, checking his face for any reaction. Perhaps a change of heart since the morning. But he still looked…fine, uncaring. Sooyoung, to Yerim’s dismay, sat next to her and she quietly sighed when he leaned close to her and whispered something, making her push his face away. Sooyoung giggled and I glanced at him, observing his attitude too. He looked like himself, as if Mina didn’t die, as if Mina and him didn’t even know each other.

“How are you feeling, Soonyoung?” I found myself asking my boyfriend’s best friend, curious.

Soonyoung looked up just as he stuffed his face with a chicken wing and grinned, “Quite well, thank you!”

Wonwoo cleared his throat next to me and I glanced at him briefly, but he was staring at Soonyoung quite coldly, “Oh—I mean, quite well despite the shocking news…I mean, how terrible, isn’t it?”

Yerim glanced at Wonwoo before she looked at Soonyoung and her eyes narrowed at the blonde, “At least you could try sounding more genuine next time, Soonyoung.” She emphasized his name as she gave him a glare. Yerim has never been fond of Soonyoung, she found him obnoxious, loud, dumb and overbearing. Despite Soonyoung’s efforts to get her to like him, she refused to spend any time with him if Wonwoo and I weren’t there.

“Yeah, you knew her quite well…” I found myself mumbling to no one in particular as I ate my lunch, but it seemed like everyone from our table heard me. Yerim nodded along. It was weird seeing the two boys so uncaring towards Myoi Mina’s death, after all, Soonyoung was the one who introduced Mina to Wonwoo.

“Oh, come on.” Soonyoung scoffed and leaned back in his seat, an irritated smirk crossing his lips, “That bitch whined all the time if something didn’t go her way. She didn’t let anyone breathe around her unless they first pleased her and my God—if Wonwoo wasn’t with her it was the end of the world, and if Wonwoo was there—why was he showing her no affection?!”

Wonwoo placed his fork down and placed his elbows on the table, leaning forward and placing his chin on his knuckles, “Thank you for you input, Soonyoung, although I’d like to enjoy my lunch without hearing about my ex-girlfriend’s death…again.”

It was the most emotion Wonwoo had shown all day and I grabbed his hand, squeezing it and offering him a small smile. He looked at me, seemingly still pissed off at Soonyoung, but offered me a small smile back. Yerim was silent as she watched the two boys before shaking her head and taking a sip from her glass of water. I knew how she felt about them, she never liked them too much, but they were good boys. A bit odd, but well-intended.

“Fine,” Soonyoung muttered displeased as he took another chicken wing, eyeing Yerim from the corner of his eyes, “but the bitch deserved it.”

“Excuse me?!” It was Yerim who was appealed this time, her reaction being the same as mine when Wonwoo said it. She just reacted stronger than I had. I was quite speechless, she rarely was.

“Nothing.” Soonyoung smiled sweetly at my best friend and I could feel my heartbeat pick up when Wonwoo’s tongue poked his cheek from the inside of his mouth, a clear sign he was getting angry. I looked at him, but he was glaring daggers at Soonyoung. Thinking quickly, I looked down at his plate and touched his thigh, trying to get his attention.

“You don’t like chicken wings,” I said with a smile as I pointed at my plate, “You can take my fried cheese.”

Wonwoo’s attention was back on me and his eyebrows furrowed, “You don’t look chicken wings either—”

“Don’t worry, I’m full already.” I smiled, I wasn’t full, in fact. But they were probably out of fried cheese and Wonwoo was quite particular about what he ate. I didn’t want him to be hungry until we got home.

“How sweet,” Soonyoung cooed from the other end of the table and both Wonwoo and I glanced at him, “She’s so caring, Won, don’t you just love her?”

He sounded quite mocking and I sighed, starting to get fed up with Soonyoung. I had no idea what his problem was today, but I didn’t enjoy being around him anymore. Wonwoo sensed my discomfort and shook his head at Soonyoung.

“Yes, I love her.” Soonyoung grinned widely and chuckled, shaking his head. He looked at Yerim and reached out for her hand, but she quickly took it off the table and gave him a glare.

“Don’t you want us to be sweet like them?” Soonyoung blinked cutely at Yerim, leaning closer to her, “How about—we go out on a date tonight?”

“Soonyoung,” Yerim scoffed and leaned closer, smirking at him, “For the nth time—no. I don’t like you and I will never date you. Stop being so fucking obnoxious all the time, thanks.”

Soonyoung tsked and shook his head, “You’re gonna get killed one day for talking like that to me.”

His words were barely audible but both Yerim and I caught it. Our heads whipped in his direction and he looked up innocently, blinking at us confusedly, “What?”

“Soonyoung, come to the wending machine.” Wonwoo abruptly stood up and smiled at his friend, however it didn’t reach his eyes, “Now.”

Wonwoo became demanding once Soonyoung made no sign of wanting to move and the blonde just sighed before getting up slowly, winking at Yerim before walking up to Wonwoo. Wonwoo swiftly grabbed his nape and pulled him away from us, making Soonyoung exclaim in annoyance. Yerim turned to look at me and I sighed, eating some more of my mashed potatoes.

“What is wrong with them?!” She whisper snapped as she watched me. I shrugged and ignored my friend, not wanting to think too deeply of what’s happened the past few minutes. Wonwoo was weird all day, but he’s been even weirder ever since they sat down to have lunch with us. Soonyoung’s words were even more unsettling and my head was a mess currently, I didn’t want Yerim questioning everything as well.

“Nothing.” I muttered back, head lowered as I tried to eat some more. Wonwoo took the fried cheese I gave him and I pushed the chicken wings to the side of my plate, I really hated them.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Y/N.” Yerim snapped and grabbed my elbow, making me look at her, “Something is very wrong with Soonyoung and we both know it. He’s giving me the creeps now more than ever before. Did you hear the things he was saying about Mina? How is that alright? How could he even think them and then say them—”

“I don’t know.” I snapped, getting pissed, “And I don’t want to know. This whole situation scares me and I’m not taking it well, okay? Everyone is talking about it and it’s making me lose my mind. I’m scared, okay? Can you at least, please, just drop it?!”

Yerim looked down and released my elbow, feeling bad for bringing this up again. I had already told her in the morning how scared I was of this whole ordeal, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you more. I just noticed things and wanted to tell you, because Wonwoo’s been weird too. He has always been, but today out of all days…he’s too quiet.”

“Wonwoo’s always quiet.” I chuckled and Yerim rolled her eyes.

“Not like this, you know what I mean…” She deadpanned and I huffed, turning back towards my plate.

“Whatever, you’re just being paranoid.”

“I’d rather be paranoid than dead.” Yerim muttered and I groaned, nudging her leg with mine underneath the desk. She giggled and started stealing the chicken wings off my plate as she glanced back, “I’ll take these before Soonyoung gets back and asks for them.”

I giggled and nodded at her, offering her my whole plate. I wasn’t full, but my appetite was long gone. I just wanted to be close to Wonwoo right now.

           I pulled the curtain to the side as I peeked out the window, eyebrows furrowing at the strike of lightning. The weather was horrible once again. It’s been raining almost the whole week. Mina’s murder was still fresh in everyone’s minds and people were cautious. It’s been three days only, after all. Today was her funeral and it was really sad. Many people showed up, although I preferred to stand towards the back, Wonwoo went ahead and offered his condolences to her parents who burst out in tears once they saw him. It made me realize how well liked Wonwoo was by the parents and elders in our town. He truly had a good soul and it was hard not to love him. My mother was working the night shift again tonight and as I didn’t feel comfortable staying home alone yet, Yerim and I agreed to have a sleepover tonight, however, she was still at the pool. She was a professional swimmer and she’s been training hard for the past half year for the upcoming national competition her team was to attend. I watched as the lighting struck again and waited for Yerim to pick up as my phone continued ringing. There was a chance she was still in the water, but I was hoping she wasn’t. We were supposed to meet half an hour ago, but she was running late.

“Hi!” Suddenly Yerim picked up and I smiled, closing the curtain, “Sorry, coach extended today’s training.”

She sounded breathless, “I figured, don’t worry. I still have some things to pack; do you want me to pick up pizza on my way to you?”

“Oh, pizza!” Yerim giggled and I heard someone shouting in the background for her, “One second coach—I’m supposed to be on a diet, Y/N, but sure.”

“Okay, one pepperoni pizza it is, then.” We both giggled.

“Wait—wasn’t I supposed to pick you up though?” Yerim asked and I went to my closet to take out my pajamas.

“You were, but since you’re running late I’ll drive myself, don’t worry.” The pool was a bit further from my house and I knew she was usually tired after practices; I didn’t want to burden her more.

“Thank you! See you!” I greeted her back before Yerim hung up and I finished packing the essentials before dressing up in my comfy sweater. It was actually Wonwoo’s but he gave it to me after I told him I liked the fabric of it. His cologne still lingered on it and I smiled as I nuzzled my nose against the collar of the black sweater. When he’d come over, every once in a while, he’d bring his cologne with him and spray it on the sweaters which were once his, so that I could feel him close to me even if he wasn’t here. It was a sweet gesture and it still brought butterflies to my stomach. There was another lightning strike and the thunder followed instantly, making me yelp at the loud rumble of it. My cat meowed loudly from the hallway and I opened my door, beckoning her over with a pout. She hated storms just as much as I did.

“Come, Byeol, this weather is driving me crazy.” She meowed back as if she understood me and jumped into my arms once I kneeled down to hold her. She nuzzled her head against my chin and I giggled, starting to pet her. She was a black cat with light green eyes which sparkled like stars, hence her name, Byeol. Mom bought her for me five years ago when I started complaining about being scared when she’d have her night shifts. I hated staying home alone at night until I got Byeol. She brought a sense of security with her and it made me appreciate her even more.

“I’m sorry for leaving you alone tonight, Byeol, you won’t be too mad at me, right?” I whispered at my cat as I played with her ears, she was purring loudly, “Mom will be back by five in the morning, so you won’t be staying alone for too long.”

Byeol meowed loudly and I chuckled kissing her head before placing her down on the floor gently and standing up to grab the charger of my phone, which I almost forgot to pack. I looked around the room and mentally checked off everything from my imaginary list of what I had to bring with myself to Yerim’s and picked up my backpack, making kissy faces at Byeol. She followed after me as I turned off the light in my room and walked down the hallway, headed for the stairs, when my phone suddenly started ringing. I looked down at the caller and saw Yerim was calling me, maybe she changed her mind about that peperoni pizza.

“Hi, Yerim—”

“Y/N!” Her voice was panicked and I stopped in my tracks, right at the top of the stairs, “Someone’s—following me!”

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, this was out of character for Yerim, “What? I don’t understand—what’s happening?!”

“I’m at the pool—” There was a loud crash and Yerim gasped, “I’m scared—a masked man—they are following me—”

“Yerim, are you being serious?!” My heart picked up as I raced down the stairs, backpack long forgotten as Byeol looked at me confused.

“Yes!” She exclaimed and she started whimpering, making my hands tremble, “They have a knife, Y/N!”

I could barely pull on my tennis shoes when I heard her words, “Hide!”

“I’m in the locker room but I couldn’t find the keys—” There was a loud bang and a sob left Yerim’s lips, bringing tears to my eyes.

“I’m on my way, I’m calling the police—”

“Don’t hang up, please!” Yerim was crying and I was shaking so badly that I could barely grab my keys.

“Yerim, I have to—” I was cut off by Yerim’s scream.

“No! No, stop! Please!”

“Yerim!” I screamed as I slammed the front door shut and struggled to lock it. I sprinted towards my car, ignoring the cold raindrops crashing against the pavement and myself, “Yerim, are you there—”

But another scream cut me off and I started crying, feeling helpless as I listened to my friend’s painful sobs. Just as I reached my car and unlocked it, the line went dead and I panicked even more, hands trembling so hard I could barely dial 112.

“112 what’s your emergency—”

“Please, I think someone’s murdering my friend! She’s at the pool on Wellington’s street, nr. 18. Please! Help her!”

“Ma’am, calm down, can you tell us your name?” The woman on the other side of the phone tried to calm me down, but I couldn’t hear her words. I had to get to Yerim before it was too late. I had already started my car and was pulling out of the garage as I started rambling mindlessly about where Yerim was and that they had to get to her right now.

“Ma’am, calm down and tell us your name.” The woman tried again and I wiped my tears away as I speed down the streets.

“My name is not important! Get to my friend! Her name is Kim Yerim for fucks sake!” I screamed as I rushed past a red light, barely avoiding getting hit. I didn’t care what happened, I only had Yerim in mind, I had to get to her. No, this couldn’t be happening. She’s playing a sick prank on me, she must be. Otherwise…no. No. No. It’s not the murdered. No. They aren’t targeting her, she’s probably just playing around—I slammed on the brakes when I saw someone crossing the road, screaming at them to get the hell away as I started driving again.

“Ma’am, where are you right now?” Suddenly, I heard the woman’s voice through my phone, forgetting I hadn’t hung up.

“In the car, I have to get to my friend.”

“You can’t drive in the state you are—”

“What do you know about that!” I snapped and took a harsh left turn, realizing I was just two blocks away.

“Ma’am, officers are already at the scene, your friend is safe.” The woman tried to calm me down but I shook my head.

“I’ll believe that when I see her with my own eyes.” I reached over and hung up, pulling up to the building as the flashing lights of police cars blinded me for a second. I parked the car and got out without turning the engine off, uncaring of the rain which drenched me in seconds, as I ran towards two officers who were just getting out of their cars.

“My friend—where is she?!” I asked breathless, but they just looked at each other and I didn’t wait for their answers, I pushed past them and ran inside the building. There were more police officers and I saw the entrance to the pool being tapped off, and I instantly knew. Something inside my stomach dropped. I heard nothing and I saw nothing. I had to know. I couldn’t just stand there and wait for the news to be delivered to me. So when three police officers noticed me and demandingly told me I had to leave, I pushed past them and sprinted to the doors leading inside the pool. They were already opened, and I could see everything. The blood. All over the floor, coloring the water. And I could see her. Face down. Floating in the water. Her black hair sprawled out around her. Her favorite swimming suit still on. My ears were ringing and my heart was thumping so fast I started seeing black. I couldn’t hear anything. I felt cold hands gripping my arms, but I couldn’t move. It’s like I was there, but I wasn’t. My hearing only came back when I found myself screaming her name and trashing around in the firm hold of the officers, who were pulling me away from the scene.

“No! Stop!” I screamed, sobbing loudly as I tried to fight them off still, “That’s my best friend! I need to see her! I need to be there for her! Don’t you understand?!”

“Bring her to the ambulance, give her a sedative.” I heard one officer say and I started shaking my head as my body went slack and I could only cry.

“But Yerim—” Suddenly I felt myself being lifted in someone’s arms and I curled into the person, crying loudly.

“It will be alright, miss, cry as much as you need.” A man, with a comforting voice, said reassuringly as I was outside again, the rain still pouring hard. I felt us running until the rain wasn’t hitting me anymore and I was sat inside an ambulance.

“Please—” I whispered, grabbing the officer’s hand as he went to pull away, “Save her.”

I saw sorrow in his eyes, as if he knew something I didn’t, as if he understood something I refused to believe in, “We will try our best, miss. Can you promise me you’ll stay here?”

I nodded and wiped my tears away, but new ones came rushing down my cheeks. I was cold. My body was shaking. I hugged myself and curled up into a ball as I tried to comfort myself, but nothing could bring comfort right now. I started mumbling, it was okay. Everything was okay. That wasn’t Yerim. Yerim was playing a prank on me. Yerim was hiding in the locker room and laughing her ass off, because she loved drama and attention. Yes, that is what was happening.

“Miss—miss—” I jumped when someone touched me and I grumbled at them to stay away from me, “Can you tell me your name?”

I didn’t want to talk, but when they asked me again, I snapped at them, “Kang Y/N!”

“Thank you,” The lady had a very calm voice and I felt her touch me again but I pulled my arm away, once again, “Can you tell me how old you are?”

“Why are you asking me all these questions?!” I snapped again, raising my voice, “You’re supposed to help my friend! Go help her!”

“I’m supposed to help you, Miss Kang—”

“No, because I’m fine—”

“Y/N?!” A familiar voice asked from behind the doctor lady and my eyebrows furrowed when I looked past her and came to see Soonyoung. Why was he here? What was he doing here?

“What?” I whispered confused, glancing back at the doctor who was preparing an injection and I started shaking again, “What are you doing with that?!”

The doctor said nothing as she sighed and walked closer, making Soonyoung protest as well, “Young man, stay out of this unless you want to be sedated as well.”

“Sedated?!” I exclaimed and went to stand up, but suddenly someone from behind held me down and I just realized I wasn’t sitting alone in the ambulance. I started trashing around, trying to free myself as the doctor was now standing right in front of me and I started crying once again when she started feeling around for my vein.

“Please go help my friend—” The doctor shushed me and I whimpered when the needle entered my skin, the doctor injecting the sedative inside my body.

“She’s in shock,” I heard her say as my muscles slowly started to loosen, as if they weren’t listening to me anymore, “She started calming down but you triggered her again, I’m asking you to step back and let her be.”

I realized she was talking to Soonyoung as I was laid down on the stretcher inside the ambulance and the doctor checked my eyes before nodding at someone. I was covered by a blanket and I sniffed as I continued crying quietly, my body feeling numb all of a sudden.

“You should rest now; everything will be alright.” I heard someone saying to me as I felt my eyelids get heavy and I tried shaking my head and telling them that I needed to be next to Yerim, but my mouth wouldn’t move.

“Can you let me stay with her? I’m her friend, I also knew Yerim.” I heard Soonyoung saying before he climbed inside the ambulance. Knew Yerim? Why in past tense? Yerim was fine, what was he talking about? Why is he here?

“It’ll be fine, Y/N.” I felt a hand patting my wet hair as my mind was slowly losing consciousness, “Yerim was a strong girl, but too stubborn for her own good. I just couldn’t help it…”

Before my brain could comprehend Soonyoung’s words, everything became black and I fell into a state of unconsciousness. Did I lose my best friend?

           It was all so blurry. The past two weeks. Everything went by quickly, Yerim disappeared so suddenly. She was here, next to me, laughing and being excited about her up-coming tournament one moment, and the next…I watched her coffin being lowered into the cold, wet ground. I had no tears left to cry at her funeral, I could only watch with a blank stare as her coffin was slowly getting covered by the dirt, swallowing her forever, robbing her from me. I felt nothing. My skin was cold, I was shaking. It was a sunny day and everyone wore short sleeves, but I was wearing a long sleeve and a coat. I could hear the priest saying a prayer, Yerim’s mother weeping next to me and her husband gasping for air, but I couldn’t actually hear them. It was as if I was underwater. Yerim’s smiling framed picture, which I was clutching, was the only thing reminding me that I was at the funeral, present physically, but so far away mentally. Someone held my shoulder, but I couldn’t be bothered to check who it was, I just shook their touch off and stared blankly at Yerim’s tombstone. I read her name, her year of birth and day of death, and I broke. The priest had just finished talking, ceremony ended, when my body started shaking violently, sobs raking my whole being. My legs were weak, and my feet hurt from the high heels I only wore because Yerim loved them and complained I never wore them. The sun was suddenly so hot, the coat and long sleeve were suffocating me, I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t do this. I just couldn’t. Why did they kill her? What did she do? Why her? Why not me?! I knew my sobs turned into wailing and my feet gave up and suddenly, I was on my knees, clutching the framed picture to my chest and trying to find my breath, but my sobs wouldn’t let me. It hurt so much, my chest was in pain, it felt as if someone was trying to rip my heart out. Suddenly, I felt strong hands gripping me by the elbows as I was lifted up. My body was limp so I did not fight back when the person turned me around and cupped my cheeks. My mind was far gone from the present, from what was happening, but I’d recognize his hands anywhere, anytime. They were big, warm, and soft. Wonwoo’s thumb started rubbing my cheek reassuringly and I found strength to open my eyes, still sobbing. His face was emotionless, but his eyes were soft and I knew he felt powerless for not being able to support me. But I appreciated his presence here, he calmed me, the aching wasn’t as bad as before. I tried taking deep breaths, my sobbing coming to silently crying as I hoarsely apologized to Yerim’s parents for creating a scene right at the end of the funeral. They shook their heads and brushed it off, engulfing me in a big hug as Wonwoo stepped back, and they tried to cheer me up with reassuring words, but they only broke me more. They were so supportive and loving, they always let Yerim follow her dreams and encouraged her to become her better self. They did not deserve to lose their brilliant daughter in such an ill manner. When her parents let me go I bowed deeply to them and handed them her framed picture, making her mother cry again. Her father took it from me and then they turned their backs and slowly started walking away. I turned towards my mom and Wonwoo and nodded at them, ready to leave as well. I didn’t want to go yet, but I had to. I had to learn to live without my best friend. Without my other half. As we started walking away, my eyes fell on a figure dressed in all black, head hanging low. His blond hair made it easy to recognize him, it was Soonyoung. He was gazing absent mindedly at Yerim’s grave and my eyebrows furrowed as I watched him. He looked emotionless, something foreign to Soonyoung. His eyes seemed to be red, but he wasn’t crying. Suddenly, he took off towards the grave and before I could follow him with my eyes, Wonwoo squeezed my hand and asked me if I wanted to have some lunch his mother cooked. I wasn’t hungry, but I didn’t want to refuse. I hadn’t eaten since yesterday’s lunch time. And my mother seemed to cheer up a little bit at the idea of seeing Mrs. Jeon, so I agreed to that lunch. And as my mother opened the door for me before going to the driver’s seat, I glanced back at Yerim’s grave and furrowed my eyebrows. We were far from it, but not so far that I couldn’t see Soonyoung’s face. And he was smiling. I felt goosebumps erupting on my skin as I quickly got inside the car, his words from when he sat with me in the ambulance as I was falling unconscious ringing through my mind, ‘I just couldn’t help it…’.

Everything was hard after the funeral. Time really went by fast and I found myself doing nothing but staring out of my head, reminiscing about all the memories I had with Yerim. We’ve been best friends since primary school. I had no other friends, nobody that could live up to her or to our bond. I had no one to talk to suddenly, no one to annoy and no one to listen to as they told their ridiculous stories. It was so hard. I couldn’t eat, some nights I couldn’t sleep, and I couldn’t focus in school or when I had to study. Wonwoo tried to help and studied with me for a hard test, but it did nothing as I failed it. The teachers were understanding and they weren’t pushing me too hard, but for how long would I have their pity? How long until they start calling me out and telling me to get a grip and move on? Sometimes, in the hallways, I would see Myoi Mina’s best friend and I understood. I understood the sorrow in her eyes, the way she wouldn’t even look at anyone else but the ground. How she’d jump at the tiniest sound and how she’d brush off anyone who tried to talk to her. I was like that too, although I was trying hard not to be, it just wasn’t working. A girl who knew Yerim tried to take her seat yesterday and I flipped and screamed at her horrendous things for trying to do so. I felt horrible after that, but it didn’t matter, I was sent to our school’s therapist. He didn’t do much, just gave me some tips on how to grieve, told me to contact him if I started feeling worse, and then sent me on my merry way. I was already feeling the worst, could this get any worse? Wonwoo was understanding, but I could see he was growing restless. He’d snap at me when I’d refuse hanging out with him for the fourth time that week, but he’d instantly apologize saying he understood and he was also dealing with grief. Yerim and him weren’t very close, but they spent a lot of time together because of me, of course he was grieving too. However, Soonyoung was nowhere to be found. Some say his parents took him away on a retreat after he snapped at his younger sister at home, Wonwoo wouldn’t talk about him when asked. It was strange. Their behavior. Wonwoo would become tense when anyone mentioned the killer but when I’d ask if everything was alright he’d become defensive and say he was just stressed.

Tonight was one of those nights when I was restless and couldn’t stay at home anymore, so I went for a walk. My mom was cooking dinner and after playing with Byeol, I grabbed my coat and told my mom I’d be taking a walk in the neighborhood. She asked me to be home in half an hour as it was getting dark and rainy clouds started gathering on the sky. I missed Yerim a lot, and I couldn’t help but think about how excited she’d get whenever it rained. One summer we went down to the lake and it started raining hard, but despite that, Yerim still went and swum in the lake, splashing me repeatedly, making me go in with her despite being scared. Without meaning to, I found myself walking by Yerim’s house. I glanced up at her window, but of course the light wasn’t on. Of course it wouldn’t be on, why would it be? Yerim wasn’t there studying. I wished she was so that I could convince her to hang out with me and Byeol, but she wasn’t here with us anymore. The front door to their house opened and I smiled when I saw her father walking down the porch stairs. He looked up and spotted me, waving at me, as he was headed towards me.

“Good evening, Mr. Kim.” I greeted him and he smiled, opening the gate for me.

“Hello there, Y/N. What brings you here?” His eyes had always reminded me of Yerim’s, and their laughter was the same.

“I was taking a walk in the neighborhood, and found myself wandering here…” Yerim’s father’s face seemed to lose the little happiness he displayed and he sighed, glancing back, up at Yerim’s window.

“I understand, sometimes I find myself walking up to her room in the mornings, wanting to wake her up…” I bit my lower lip and Mr. Kim sighed before looking back at me, “Would you like to come inside? My wife baked those muffins you two girls really like.”

I found myself smiling, Mrs. Kim’s chocolate muffins were the best, whenever she baked them, Yerim and I would devour them in an hour, “If I’m not bothering too much…”

“Non-sense, child.” Mr. Kim laughed and stepped aside, allowing me inside their property. I bowed my head a little at him and walked through the gate, “I’m headed to the supermarket, want anything?”

“No, thank you, Mr. Kim!” He nodded and patted my head before he left through the gate, walking down the street, headed for the closest supermarket. Mr. Kim had always been the father figure I never had. He had also always treated me as his daughter. He was the one who taught me how to swim and how to ride a bicycle as my mother was too busy at the hospital. My parents divorced when I was really young and my father disappeared after that despite promising to come by sometimes and pay for the allowance. I shook my head at the thought of my absent father and walked up to the front door, knocking on it before walking inside. There was some jazz music playing quietly in the background as the delicious muffin smell wafted through the air. I took off my shoes and coat, and walked towards the kitchen, knocking on the door, realizing Mrs. Kim didn’t hear me entering.

“Oh, you’re back—Y/N!” A wide smile spread on Mrs. Kim’s face when she saw me and she rushed up to me, hugging me tightly, “How lovely you stepped by! We haven’t seen you since—”

Since the funeral, “Right, I was out for a walk and found myself passing by. Mr. Kim and I just happened to run into each other, he invited me inside.”

“How smart of him,” Mrs. Kim chuckled; however you could see she wasn’t feeling as giddy as she was acting, “I just happened to bake your favorite chocolate muffins.”

And Yerim’s. I smiled gratefully at Mrs. Kim as she handed me two chocolate muffins, which were still warm, “Thank you.”

“I will pack some for you to take home. I baked too much either way, my husband and I don’t have a sweet tooth, I just missed the smell of it. Your mother loves them too, she’ll be happy for the small gift.” Yerim might’ve looked like his father, but she talked just as much as her mother. When you’d sit down with the two of them and listen to their stories, time would fly by and you wouldn’t even notice. They had a very captivating way of speaking, conversing with them never felt awkward or boring.

“Thank you, she will probably give you a call when she gets them.” I said with a chuckle and Mrs. Kim smiled.

“As she should, we haven’t talked in a while…” Since Yerim’s funeral, but she didn’t want to say it. I didn’t want to say it either. It felt nice being in their home after two weeks. I always felt so welcomed here. The house was bright and homey, Yerim and Mrs. Kim having decorated it in an eccentric way, which would sometimes give Mr. Kim a headache. I looked behind me and glanced at the stair leading upstairs as Mrs. Kim placed some muffins in a smaller bag. She turned back and noticed me staring back at the stairs.

“You can go up, if you want to—Yerim wouldn’t mind it, I know.” Mrs. Kim spoke up and I nodded at her gratefully, placing the muffins I was holding on the table, before hurrying up the stairs and beelining it for her room. I hesitated for a second before opening the door, preparing myself for her absence, but it still hit me hard when I opened the door to darkness. I gulped and turned on the light, blinking away the tears which suddenly sprung to my eyes. Her room was the same, messy but not exactly. Her closet door was slightly opened and I could see her pink hoodie spilling out and I chuckled as I walked over and grabbed it. I always told her to just hang her hoodies up, but she never listened to me. As I held it in my hands, Yerim’s sweet scent hit my nose and I bit my lower lip, taking a deep breath. I placed her hoodie on the bed and pulled my long sleeve over my head before pulling her hoodie on and closing my eyes. My skin got covered in goosebumps as I imagined Yerim sitting in her chair and complaining about me wearing her favorite hoodie, but secretly not being bothered by it at all. We always shared our clothes when we’d have sleepovers, even tried them on and did a fake fashion show or acted as if had to sell them to each other at ridiculous prices. The hoodie’s fabric slowly warmed up and I opened my eyes, looking around her room. Her parents haven’t touched anything and I was reluctant to do so too, so I sat down on her bed and started playing with my fingers. The book I recommended to her to read was on her desk, bookmark somewhere at the middle of the book. She never got to read the mind-blowing plot twist, it made me sad, she would’ve loved it so much. Feeling a bit stuffy, I stood up and opened the window before going back to her bed and jumping on it, sprawling out on it. Yerim’s bed was always so comfortable, her blanket puffy, and bed covered in stuffed animals. I turned onto my stomach and started humming my favorite song as I stared up at the pictures above her bed, smiling as most were with the two of us. Our favorite pictures or just really silly ones. Yerim had big dreams compared to me, I was still struggling to decide what to do after high-school. My eyes went to her nightstand and I grinned when I noticed her favorite strawberry candy laying in her jar. It was the last one. I would always steal it, so I did just that. Hopefully, wherever Yerim was, she could see me right now and she’d be frowning and shaking her head at me. I loved annoying her like that. I unwrapped the candy and slowly ate it, chuckling at myself and how silly I must look. As I threw the wrapper on the nightstand, my eyes widened when I noticed her phone next to her lamp. Her parents must’ve placed it there. It surprised me for some reason, and as I reached for it and grabbed it, a twig snapped outside Yerim’s window and something hit the window. I gasped loudly and turned around, coming face to face with Soonyoung, as he had just climbed inside. I quickly placed Yerim’s phone in the hoodie’s pocket, something told me to hide it from Soonyoung.

“What are you doing here?!” I asked alarmed, heart beating fast from the scare. Soonyoung looked around before leaning against Yerim’s desk.

“I was running and saw light coming from her room—”

“So you just climb inside?!” I asked accusingly and Soonyoung shook his head.

“No, I didn’t meant to, but I saw it was you and—” He cleared his throat and looked down at the floor, “I don’t know…I just felt the need to talk to you.”

It made me realize this was the first time seeing him since Yerim’s funeral. And based on rumors, he wasn’t even supposed to be home.

“Are you okay? I haven’t seen you in school and Wonwoo wouldn’t talk about you.” I asked and Soonyoung looked up with a cold gaze, he looked tired.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I was visiting my grandparents for a week, and I didn’t feel like going to school this week, so yeah.” Soonyoung explained and I nodded, taking in his posture. His shoulders were slumped and his forehead sweaty. He was out running, after all.

“And you?” Soonyoung cleared his throat, “Are you good?”

I sighed and looked up at the ceiling, thinking through my answer, “On some days I’m good, on some days I can’t eat nor sleep. I’m feeling content at the moment, but maybe that’s because we’re standing in Yerim’s room and I’m wearing her hoodie and I can just trick myself into believing that she’s downstairs with her mom or taking a shower…”

Soonyoung nodded and crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking at the hoodie I was wearing, “That was her favorite.” I hummed and he licked his lips, starting to shake his head suddenly.

“You know—if only—” He scoffed and his eyebrows furrowed, “If only she wasn’t so stubborn. She just—she always refused to go out with me, never even gave me a chance. I tried to convince her so many times, you know, I was patient and nice, but—”

I watched as Soonyoung grew agitated and started walking up and down, “But I just couldn’t do it anymore, you know? It’s like, my brain just clicked and I snapped and—”

I was growing confused as I listened to Soonyoung rambling, what did he mean? Snapped and what?, “You snapped and what, Soonyoung?”

“I didn’t want to do it, I swear.” His voice grew low and when he stopped and faced me, he looked different. His expression was dark and his mouth was in a sneer. I gulped and stood up, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. Soonyoung didn’t seem to notice my discomfort as he hung his head low and sighed loudly.

“I just couldn’t help it…” I gasped. Those words again. What did he mean by them? He didn’t…no. This is Soonyoung, it’s impossible. He couldn’t have…no. He’s my boyfriend’s best friend, he’d never—he’s not a criminal!

“We should go.” I found my voice as I shook my head, growing afraid all of a sudden. Soonyoung was acting weird and I had to go home now. My words seemed to snap him out of his mumbling and he suddenly looked at me, face void of the previous darkness.

“You’re right…” He nodded and patted my shoulder, offering me a small smile, “Don’t tell her parents I climbed in though, I don’t want them to believe I did this often.”

I forced out a chuckle and watched as he climbed out the window and then jumped down, sneaking away from the Kim’s property. My heart was beating like crazy as I closed Yerim’s window and I clutched her phone firmly in my hand as I turned the light off and closed the door behind me. I always refused to listen to what Yerim has always told me, but maybe, just perhaps, there was something very wrong with Soonyoung.

           Today the sun seemed to finally come out, no rain clouds seemed to appear anytime soon. It was warm for an October day and I found myself sitting in the courtyard, drawing in my notebook to pass time. I wasn’t hungry, so it was useless to go to the Cafeteria. I didn’t feel like talking to anyone, so when this morning Wonwoo approached me and suggested going on a date after classes, I declined and told him I had to do some catching up in Biology class as I skipped the last two classes having felt unwell. He got moody and stormed off without a word, making me sigh. I was pushing away everyone from myself, but I didn’t know how else to cope with the loss of my best friend. It was the only thing that made me feel content. I drew some harsh lines, trying to create the skyline in my drawing, when I saw someone approaching from the corner of my eyes. I didn’t look up, thinking it was either Wonwoo or Soonyoung, but the girly scent which hit my nose once the person sat next to me on the bench made me turn my head and look at them. It came as a surprise to see Minatozaki Sana sitting next to me, Mina’s best friend. Her blonde hair was tied in a ponytail and she wore a sleeveless turtleneck underneath her cardigan. She looked better than on most days, but her eyes were quite empty. She was staring at me too and I blinked at her in confusion. We never really talked to each other; she was in an entirely different grade than I was.

“Hello.” She broke the silence and I cleared my throat.

“Hi.” I greeted back and looked down at her hand curiously as she extended it towards me.

“My name is Sana; we’ve never been formally introduced to each other.” She seemed like a very straightforward person. I nodded and shook her hand.

“Indeed, my name is Y/N.” Sana hummed and we let go of each other’s hands, “I’m sorry for you loss.”

“I’m sorry for your loss too.” Sana was quick to return my words and I chuckled humorlessly, bringing a sarcastic smile on her lips. She nodded at me and then turned away, gazing at the trees on the other side of the courtyard. I continued watching her, thinking she’d say something else, but she remained silent, even ignored me. Realizing our conversation ended here I shrugged and looked down at my drawing, continuing to draw those harsh lines. And like that, we sat in silence next to each other. Sana proceeded to take out a book and read, and in a weird way, it brought comfort to have someone sitting next to me. But it was weird, if it were Wonwoo or Soonyoung, they would’ve irritated me. Sana’s presence was relaxing, understanding. Words didn’t need to be exchanged, we understood. Our silence was louder than our words could’ve been. I found myself smiling, something I haven’t done in the past four weeks. I glanced at Sana from the corner of my eyes and she was smiling too, sneaking glances at me. Before we could say anything, we both started giggling and it felt so nice. It was so relieving, as if I released all the pent-up stress I had in my muscles.

“We must look so odd to someone if they have been watching us for the past fifteen minutes.” Sana said through her giggles and I shrugged my shoulders.

“That’s the nicest thing someone could be thinking about us at the moment.” I said and Sana nodded, our giggles coming to a stop. Neither of us had to say it, but after Mina’s death there were whispers about Sana. How she killed her best friend because she was jealous of Mina’s success as she was the cheerleading captain and just wanted her position. How they weren’t even friends and kept a façade because their families were friends. Some rumors spread about Sana being in love with Mina, who didn’t reciprocate her feelings, so Sana killed her in a fit of rage. They were awful. And as the students were gossiping about Mina, they were gossiping about me too. I heard the jealousy version too, the need for attention version too, and even the version where Yerim was in love with Wonwoo and I killed her because I couldn’t stand the thought. They were hilarious, but they still got to you after a while. Just last week, Wonwoo almost got into a fight because of a guy who dared to ask me how it felt plunging that knife into Yerim. If Wonwoo wouldn’t have punched the living daylight out of him, I would’ve definitely.

“Don’t let the gossips get to you, they are ridiculous.” Sana said with a roll of her eyes and I nodded, agreeing.

“I know, but they still get bothersome after a while…” I muttered and closed my notebook as the bell rang, signaling our break was over. Sana looked up at the sky for a second and then closed her book, placing it in her backpack.

“You could always just slap them, you know.” She said with a mischievous smile and I chuckled.

“Have you slapped anyone so far?” I asked and Sana pursed her lips.

“Of course, I have,” She stood up, “Johnny thought it was funny talking about my dead friend’s figure and how pitiful it was that he couldn’t sleep with her before she died.”

I didn’t know who this Johnny was, but he deserved that slap, “How disgusting.”

“Indeed.” Sana hummed and waited for me to pack my belongings and get up from the bench. We took off, headed to the side entrance to the school, when suddenly, the intercom went off and our principal’s voice came through.

“This is the principal speaking. I ask everyone to pack their belongings and head straight to the main entrance. All students have fifteen minutes to leave the premises, a dead body was found in the men’s bathroom on the third floor. I instruct everyone to leave right now, and do not try and approach said bathroom or there will be repercussions!” Sana and I stopped dead in our tracks and looked at each other before hurrying inside the school, you could only leave through the main entrance. The halls were full of students rushing to get out, it was chaotic. Everyone was pushing everyone around and I found myself reaching for Sana’s hand, keeping her close to me as a bigger guy almost ran into her. She thanked me quietly and we continued making our way towards the main entrance. My heart was racing and suddenly I was feeling sick. Another victim. Another crime. Who was it this time? And just as that thought crossed my mind, I suddenly felt my legs turn weak. Wonwoo. Where was Wonwoo? Soonyoung? Where were they? Were they fine? I couldn’t do this again. I felt like I was walking through water again, the entrance was just there, but it felt so far away. I felt Sana tugging on my hand and I followed her, trying to control my rigged breathing.

“Hey, look at me.” She said once we were outside and she pulled me to the side of the steps, “Breathe, Y/N, you’re turning red.”

I nodded and tried to take a deep breath, but my muscles were tense and I felt tears gather in my eyes, “Where’s Wonwoo?”

An understanding look crossed Sana’s face and she started looking around, “I am sure he is alright; he’s probably looking for you right now, just as scared. You need to breathe, Y/N.”

I nodded and closed my eyes, feeling Sana’s grip tightening on my hand, and I tried to breathe. It was hard at the beginning, my lungs seemed to refuse to listen, but at last I was able to take little breaths here and there. Before I could react to the disappearance of Sana’s grip, I was engulfed into a bear hug, held tightly to someone’s chest. I gasped and opened my eyes, my arms going around Wonwoo’s neck.

“Oh my God, you’re okay.” I whispered, a tear rolling down my cheek. Wonwoo’s breathing was shaky as well and he nodded, his hold crushing me.

“Yes, yes.” He whispered and kissed my head, “Are you hurt?”

“No.” I muttered and shook my head, pulling a bit back. Wonwoo’s eyebrows were furrowed and he was breathing hard, his hair fell into his eyes. I pushed it back and smiled at him, grateful that nothing happened to him. I really wouldn’t have been able to deal with losing him too in such a sort time after Yerim’s death. I leaned up and pressed a short kiss against his lips and I could feel Wonwoo’s muscles relaxing, his hold not tight anymore.

“Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you all break.” Wonwoo muttered, pushing my hair behind my ear.

“In the courtyard, I wasn’t hungry.” I answered and then looked down, “Sorry, I should’ve told you.”

Wonwoo shook his head and kissed my forehead swiftly, “No, it’s alright.”

I realized Sana was with me seconds ago and looked around, spotting her to our right, “Thank you.”

She smiled and nodded her head before she placed her backpack around her shoulders and started walking away. Wonwoo nodded at her and Sana greeted him back before disappearing in the crowd of people.

“You know her?” He asked quietly, almost sounding irritated.

“Not really, we talked for the first time today. But I knew who she was.” I explained and he nodded, looking off in the distance.

“You shouldn’t be friends with her.” Wonwoo sounded serious as his expression hardened and I stepped out of his hold, confused.

“Why?” But before he could answer me, Soonyoung came running up to us. His hair was disheveled and he was panting, a duffel bag in his hands. My eyebrows furrowed and I stepped back when he stopped next to me a little bit too close for my liking. I’ve been avoiding him since we met in Yerim’s room, scared of his sudden changes of mood. Soonyoung had a crazed look in his eyes and he was grinning from ear to ear as he looked at Wonwoo.

“Did you hear? The murderer killed someone again.” He sounded excited and my eyebrows furrowed when I saw Wonwoo’s lips twitching.

“Who was it this time?” Wonwoo asked, voice uncaring, but I didn’t miss the hint of smirk on his lips. I gulped, curious too, but a bit taken aback by the boys attitudes.

“Boo Seungkwan.” I gasped and took a step back again, eyes widening. I knew him. The two boys looked at me with raised eyebrows. I gulped and avoided their eyes, feeling uncomfortable.

“Are you sure?” I asked quietly, feeling a lump in my throat.

“One hundred percent, Y/N,” Soonyoung chuckled and he went and slung his arm around Wonwoo’s shoulders, “I was the one who found him.”

My head snapped up and I watched the two boys in front of me as they looked at each other and chuckled, and then my eyes fell on the duffle bag. It was zipped closed, but…it looked as if there was a darker spot on it. I squinted as I tried focusing on it, but Wonwoo’s voice caught my attention.

“Didn’t you know him, sugar?” He asked sweetly and I nodded, eyebrows furrowing.

“Yeah, I did, he—” I cleared my throat and scratched my arm in discomfort, “He’s been bullying me since kindergarten.”

“He must’ve had a crush on you, right, Wonwoo?” Soonyoung asked with a laugh and I grimaced, weirded out by their behavior and feeling bad for talking like that about a dead person.

“Well, he’s been put out of his misery, so, I suppose it doesn’t matter anymore.” Wonwoo’s voice was smug and my eyebrows furrowed as I looked at my boyfriend, who seemed amused by the whole situation. What was happening? Why were they reacting like this? Wasn’t Soonyoung supposed to be shaken up after finding a dead body? I shuddered, and Wonwoo noticed because his demeanor changed instantly and he shook Soonyoung off him and took a step toward me.

“Y/N, I’m—”

“I have to go.” I cut him off and hurried away before he could grab me and convince me to stay with the two of them. I glanced back when I was a good distance away from them and saw Soonyoung making some slashing motions with his hand while laughing and Wonwoo smirking at him as he dug his hands inside his pockets. There was something very wrong with Soonyoung, and I was getting more and more scared of him.  

           Despite the sun being out throughout the day, by the evening some dark clouds started gathering on the sky, lightning flashing in the distance. I sighed as I drew my curtains to the side and opened the window, letting some fresh air in before the rain could start. I figured we’d have another stormy night, great, my mom had the night shift again, I hated being home alone during storms. I could hear Byeol running up and down the hallway as I sat on my bed and I chuckled, she had the zoomies again. I was holding Yerim’s phone in my hands and I figured I couldn’t do much damage if I looked through her gallery. Before leaving the Kim’s house I asked if it was alright if I borrowed her phone for a while, and they said it was okay as long as I returned it. So, pulling my hair to the side I unlocked her phone and went to her gallery. She was very organized, even when it came to pictures. There were different folders for different themes, all labeled accordingly. I clicked on the one with our nicknames for each other and giggled at the first photo. It was taken when Yerim and I went to the movies and I accidentally got stuck in the bathroom as the lock was faulty. You could see my hands from above the stall and I remembered how loudly I was screaming as I had left my phone with Yerim. It was hilarious, but I prefer not repeating the incident. Then the next one was with her neighbor’s dog; she took a selfie as we both were petting it. Then there were a bunch of hilarious and cute selfies from our latest sleepover, a few pictures of Byeol, and our favorite picture which we took while hiking one day. I sighed and looked out the window, just in time to see the lightning strike again. The thunder followed almost immediately, but it wasn’t as loud as I expected it to be. I looked back down at Yerim’s phone and excited her camera roll, about to place her phone to the side, when Byeol came zooming inside my room, scaring the living daylight out of me. I yelped and watched as she stopped underneath my window before she jumped up on the sill, looking at me innocently. I grimaced at her and looked back down at the phone, having accidentally opened the call log. My eyes ran over the familiar names of people, mine being the last one. I was the last person Yerim called before she died. A lump formed in my throat and I gulped, noticing the unknown number underneath mine. Who could that have been? Maybe a scammer or a guy she newly met, however I doubted that was the case, she always saved the numbers she was talking to. Biting my lower lip, I debated calling the unknown number, but after all, I had nothing to lose. And curiosity was eating my alive. So, I clicked on the number and dialed it, waiting patiently for the person on the other side to pick up. However, a ringing sound not too far away from my window suddenly caught my attention and I knew I wasn’t hallucinating as Byeol’s ears perked up at the sound too. But before I could think more of it, my call was picked up, but there was only silence on the other end. My eyebrows furrowed as I stood from my bed and walked towards Byeol, lightly petting her head as I looked out my window.

“Hello?” I asked quietly, getting a strange feeling of being watched, so I closed the window and locked it quickly.

“Hi there, beautiful.” I jumped at the distorted voice. It sounded like a robot speaking, the voice was low but almost glitchy. I looked out the window, wondering who was this and why had they called Yerim?

“Who are you?” I asked curiously, figuring it was just someone playing a prank on me.

“Wouldn’t it be boring if I told you that?” The voice almost took a playful tone and I chuckled.

“Perhaps, it would ruin your fun too soon, right?” I decided to play along and the person chuckled.

“Smart girl, indeed, it would ruin my fun too soon.” There was a pause before they continued, “And I’m not done having fun yet.”

I hummed and started petting Byeol’s head again as she was staring out the window, “Why did you call Yerim?”

“I was just about to ask; how do you have your dead friend’s phone?” I paused for a second, eyebrows furrowing. So this person seems to know us well. First, they probably called Yerim and were pranking her and now they are playing with me. It’s probably one of our classmates then, Mark likes goofing around.

“You must know us well if you have her number.” I decided to feel around and try and find out who this was.

“Oh,” The person chuckled and it sent a chill down my spine, “I happen to know you very well, Y/N.”

I licked my lips and looked down at Byeol as she pulled her head away, having had enough of my petting, “Really? How?”

The person chuckled again and I watched as Byeol jumped down from the window sill and walked out of my room, “I can’t tell you all of my secrets just yet, beautiful, it’s our first time talking.”

“I don’t think it is,” I chuckled, “Mark.”

There was a pause before the person sighed, “Who’s Mark, beautiful?”

I rolled my eyes, amused, “Ha-ha, very funny. My classmate, obvious. You really like playing pranks on people, don’t you? I thought last week’s detention was enough for a lifetime.”

“What if I’m not Mark?” The voice sounded very serious all of a sudden and I bit my lower lip, tracing a rain drop on my window as it started lightly raining.

“Then who could you possibly be?” There was another lightning and I turned around when Byeol started meowing loudly in my doorway. She was hungry, again, “I’m bored of this game—”

I turned to face the window again but instead of finishing my sentence, I cut myself off with a loud scream. A masked person was standing outside my window, and I started shaking as I froze for a second. It was…a Ghostface.

“Auch, beautiful, that was loud.” The Ghostface whined and I quickly drew the curtains closed, pulling down the blinds too, “What are you doing? Let me see you—”

“Who are you?!” I cut the person off, almost screaming as I ran out of my room, Byeol following agitatedly behind me. I checked the front door quickly, making sure it was locked before I went to check the door in the living room as well.

“Just a Ghostface, beautiful.” The person answered nonchalantly and my heart started beating fast as I hid behind the sofa, pulling Byeol into my chest. She made no sound as she gazed at me with her big green eyes.

“Stop calling me beautiful!” I snapped and tried to take deep breaths, debating on calling the police from my own phone. Who was this? What did they want? Were they…were they here to hurt me? What if…what if they were the killer? I felt dread flush over my whole being and I swallowed my tears and blinked my eyes continuously. I had to stay focused, if I was in danger, I had to save myself somehow.

“Did I scare you, beau—”

“Did you kill Kim Yerim?” I cut the Ghostface off, voice shaky as I waited for an answer. The person’s laughter made me shudder and Byeol wrestled herself out of my arms and meowed loudly at me for holding her so tightly. I felt sorry, but I was scared, and I was trying to hold her close to myself in case we needed to escape.

“Maybe I did.” There was a pause and I gasped, “Maybe I didn’t.”

I sprung up to my feet, acting out of pure terror, as I ran up to my room and grabbed my phone. I was too scared to look out of my window to see if the person was still there. There was a loud thunder and I screamed as the line went dead, leaving me shaking. Was the Ghostface gone? Shakily, I placed Yerim’s phone on my desk and slowly raised the blinds, scared of seeing the Ghostface outside of my window still. But nobody was there. I was scared, shaking, and on the verge of crying. Byeol was downstairs and the rain started falling harder. I couldn’t stay alone tonight; it would kill my nerves. So I quickly unlocked my phone and dialed my boyfriend’s number, pacing up and down in my room as I waited for him to pick up. Something rustled outside of my window and I froze when I faintly heard Wonwoo’s familiar ringtone, but the thunder swallowing the sound was louder and it made me feel stupid. Why would Wonwoo be right outside my window unannounced either way? What was he? A burglar? Wonwoo picked up on the third ring.

“Hi—”

“Can you sleepover tonight?” I cut him off, words hurried as I fixed my eyes on my window, starting to shake again.

“Are you alright?” Wonwoo sounded concerned and I heard rustling on the other end.

“No, are you coming over?”

“I’m on my way.” Wonwoo said before hanging up and I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. This was good. I wouldn’t be alone. Wonwoo would come by and sleep here. I took deep breaths as I paced around my room, Byeol sat in the doorway and watched me with a confused look on her face. I chuckled when I looked at her and tried not to think about the Ghostface and our conversation. It freaked me out. Who was behind the mask? And why would they want to prank anyone in this kind of way? It was distasteful and creepy, I was scared. Just as Byeol meowed she reminded that I forgot to feed her, the doorbell rang. I paused and looked at Byeol, my heart suddenly racing again. Who was that? Wonwoo lived twenty minutes away from me and it wasn’t even five minutes since I had called him, it couldn’t have been him. Was it…the person wearing that Ghostface mask? My heart started beating fast again and I glanced at Byeol as she started meowing loudly and took off towards the front door. The doorbell rang again and I hurried after my cat, calling out her name quietly.

“Stop!” I whisper-shouted, motioning at her to come to me, but she was ignoring me. Her meows were loud and I cursed quietly as I creeped towards the front door, convinced that it wasn’t Wonwoo, but that masked person. I should call the police. Suddenly there was loud knocking on the front door and I jumped as Byeol glanced at me.

“Y/N?!” Wonwoo’s deep voice made me sigh in relief as I quickly unlocked the front door and opened it for him. His hair was drenched and his jacket and jeans were wet too, it was pouring outside now. Byeol started meowing as Wonwoo stepped inside and he smiled at her, kneeling down to muzzle his face against her head. Byeol loved Wonwoo and they always played together a lot when Wonwoo came over. But…how did he get here so fast?

“Wonwoo—you’re drenched.” I muttered suspiciously as I helped him out of his jacket. He suddenly looked at me with a wide smile, ruffling his hair.

“Yeah, I was on my way here when the rain started.” He said with a shrug and I hung his jacket on the hanger.

“But you got here really fast…” I trailed off and watched him take off his shoes before he gave Byeol a swift kiss.

“Oh, yeah, I was already on my way—”

“Why?” I asked accusingly, eyebrows furrowed, and arms crossed in front of my chest. There were too many weird things happening today, I was freaked out. I couldn’t decide if my thoughts were real or I was being delusional. Could I seriously not trust my own boyfriend anymore? But he gave me no reasons…

Wonwoo looked taken aback by my tone and words, “Uhm…I just wanted to surprise you? You told me your mom was working the nightshift and I know you hate storms…”

He was right, I was overreacting, “Yeah, I know, I’m sorry—it’s just, lately I’m so jumpy.”

Wonwoo smiled and approached me, cupping my cheeks, “I noticed, but it’s fine. Things will get better eventually.”

I nodded and kissed his lips, their warmth bringing a sense of tranquility as I stepped closer to him. Wonwoo’s grip got firmer and our lips started moving against each other as I circled my arms around his neck, his wet hair tingling my wrists. One of his hand’s gripped my waist, and I hummed when his familiar scent hit my nose. It felt nice kissing him, I’ve been keeping my distance from Wonwoo, feeling uncomfortable lately with any physical contact besides a brief hug. And this felt nice now. His familiar lips, and firm grip, musky scent, I realized I had missed them. Byeol’s loud meowing broke us apart and I chuckled as I pressed another kiss against Wonwoo’s lips.

“Poor cat, she’s hungry…can you feed her while I bring you a towel?” I asked and Wonwoo nodded with a smile, releasing me from his hold as I turned and headed to the bathroom. Byeol followed Wonwoo as they headed into the kitchen and I could hear him pouring the cat food into her little bowl. I got a clean towel and then walked to the kitchen, handing it to Wonwoo.

“Do you want tea or hot chocolate?” I asked with a grin as I grabbed two mugs. Wonwoo pursed his lips and pulled out his glasses from the pocket of his hoodie.

“It’s a hot chocolate kind of night.”

“Right?!” I asked with a chuckle and he nodded at me amused.

“Do you still have my spare clothes?’ Wonwoo asked and I chuckled as I glanced back at him.

“What do you think?” He smirked at me and pushed up his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose, “They are in the laundry room.”

Wonwoo thanked me and then walked away, leaving me with Byeol in the kitchen. While she quietly ate her food I prepared the hot chocolate for Wonwoo and I. He took his time to change out of his wet clothes and dried his hair with the towel as best as he could. When he joined us in the kitchen again, the hot chocolate were already ready and Byeol was somewhere off in the house, probably sleeping as she had just eaten. I handed Wonwoo a mug as he approached me and he thanked me with his signature gummy smile. I had always loved his smile, it made him look so cute. It was a nice contrast compared to his usual poker face. Wonwoo wasn’t very expressive usually, but when it was just the two of us, he could be very cute. He interlaced our fingers as we drank our hot chocolate and I giggled, raising my eyebrows at him.

“I missed you.” He whispered, looking down at his mug. I bit my lower lip and felt bad for pushing him away for so long, but I needed the space. I still do, but it’s not as bad as after the funeral.

“I’m sorry, I just felt uncomfortable around people after…” I trailed off and sighed, taking a sip of my hot chocolate. Wonwoo squeezed my hand.

“I understand you, and I’m not pressuring you in any way. It must hurt like hell losing your best friend.” I gulped a bit harder and glanced at Wonwoo briefly, noticing the change in his behavior. There it was again, the ghost of a smirk on his lips. It was confusing.

“Yeah, it hurts a lot. I hope the criminal is caught soon so that I can face them—”

“And what would you do?” Wonwoo sounded curious as he turned his body to face mine. I raised an eyebrow at him as I shrugged.

“That they are a piece of shit and I hope they rot away in prison until they get to root in hell.” Despite me being dead serious, Wonwoo started laughing and I pulled my hand out of his, slightly irritated.

“You’re hot when you get fired up, sugar.” Normally his compliments would leave me feeling giddy, but we were talking about the murderer of my best friend right now, there was nothing hot about it.

I shot Wonwoo a glare before walking to the sink to wash my mug, “I thought we were having a serious conversation, Wonwoo.”

Wonwoo sighed and approached me, still sipping his hot chocolate, “Come on, I was just joking—”

“Well it’s not funny!” I snapped, looking at him, “Yerim was murdered and you’re telling me I’m hot when I talk about her murderer?!”

“No, that’s not hot, I was just saying you are—nevermind, I’m not in the mood to fight. You’ve been ignoring me for three weeks and when we finally get to spend some time together you’re just getting angry at me.” Wonwoo sounded accusing as he placed the mug forcefully in the sink and I rolled my eyes.

“What did you expect me to do? Jump in your arms the day after my friend’s funeral—”

“You didn’t have to push me away!” His voice raised and I turned to wash his mug too, hating it when he started getting loud while arguing, “I get that you don’t let me touch you, but you wouldn’t even speak to me, Y/N! If I knew you’d be like this I wouldn’t have let Soonyoung—”

I paused, turning to look at Wonwoo. He seemed speechless as he stared at me wide eyed, shaking his head. I turned off the water and faced him.

“What the hell are you even saying?” I asked confused, trying to comprehend his words but I didn’t understand what he was talking about. What had Soonyoung to do with our argument right now? What did he do?

“Nothing, I’m just—” Wonwoo shrugged and took a deep breath, composing himself, “I just missed you, that’s it. I hate arguing with you, you know that.”

“Yeah, well,” I scoffed and dried my hands in a towel, “I wouldn’t be arguing with you if you tried to understand my feelings—”

“I do understand.” He cut me off and my jaw clenched as I gave him a glare.

“I don’t feel it, but whatever, do you want to watch a movie or what?” Honestly, I wasn’t in the mood to watch anything, I just wanted to go to sleep, but I knew Wonwoo would bother me until I wasn’t grumpy.

“Do you want to watch one?” Wonwoo asked with a sigh, knowing that our previous conversation was over.

“No.” I muttered and he looked up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath.

“Do you want to go to sleep?” I nodded wordlessly and he pulled me into a hug, making me roll my eyes. I didn’t want to be hugged right now, but I didn’t push him away, just didn’t reciprocate the hug, “It’s still early to go to sleep.”

It wasn’t that early, but he was right, I would wake up during the night, probably, “Whatever, I want to go to bed.”

He groaned and suddenly I felt his hands gripping my thighs as I was hauled up, I yelped and grabbed onto him, “What are you doing?!”

Wonwoo said nothing as he took off and headed up the stairs, towards my room. He pushed the door open with his foot and walked towards my bed, before I could ask him to let me down, he fell forward, crushing me against the bed with his weight. I groaned as my bed’s mattress wasn’t soft.

“Wonwoo…” I muttered with a glare, grabbing his shoulders to push him off. He whined and didn’t move as he nuzzled his head in my neck, “You’re too heavy.”

“And you’re too grumpy.” He muttered and I slapped his shoulder, making him chuckle. I wanted him off, but he wasn’t budging. Before I could interject, he started pressing kisses against my neck, knowing well I was ticklish there, but I tried to keep my laughter in as I tried wrestling out from underneath him. Wonwoo was having the time of his life as he started laughing and tickling my sides too, making me cry out in despair as I hated being tickled.

“Stop! Wonwoo!” I tried to push his hands away, but it was futile. Wonwoo was giggling and quickly kissed my lips before he finally stopped tickling me, smiling at me mischievously. I glared at him and as I went to smack his arm, Byeol decided to join us as she jumped up on Wonwoo’s back. I started laughing as Wonwoo hissed, Byeol’s nails dug into his back, he deserved it after torturing me here.

“Hey, Byeol!” Wonwoo started shaking his back, trying to get my cat off of him, but it wasn’t working, so I started poking her, trying to get her off his back. And it worked, because Byeol jumped off and Wonwoo finally got off of me as well to start playing with my cat. He got on the floor and started pushing her lightly around, making Byeol land on her side as she started turning around, attacking Wonwoo’s fingers and jumping on his hand. I chuckled and left the two to play as I went to the bathroom to change into my pajamas and brush my teeth. I was too tired to shower, so I tried to be quick and when I walked back inside my room, Wonwoo and Byeol were still playing. I poked Byeol to rile her up more and she lunged for Wonwoo’s hand, making him hiss as I plugged in my phone. I looked at him and Wonwoo was glaring at Byeol.

“Did she scratch you?” I asked as Wonwoo got up and sat on my bed.

“Yeah.” He nodded and showed me his hand, two long, red, scratches decorating his hand. I pouted at him mockingly and kissed the scratches before laying down in my bed and pulling the blanket over my body.

“Don’t worry, soldier, those scratches won’t kill you for now.” I said mockingly and Wonwoo rolled his eyes, pulling the blanket over my head, but I managed to punch his bicep, making him groan. I giggled and pulled the blanket off, sticking my tongue out at him, “Are you coming to bed?”

“Nah,” Wonwoo stood and walked to my computer, “I want to play COD before I go to sleep.”

“Fine,” I muttered and closed my eyes, “but don’t stay up until late and check if we locked the front door before you come to bed.”

“Okay, mom.” Wonwoo muttered and I rolled my eyes, “Good night.”

“I love you.” I whispered and sighed, getting comfortable as Wonwoo turned off all the lights in my room and only left on the one at my desk. I heard Byeol moving around, no doubt she went to sleep in Wonwoo’s lap as he started playing Call of Duty.

           After Wonwoo left I had a whole three days to think about everything that’s been happening lately and they way Soonyoung and him were acting from time to time. It was getting quite obvious that there was something wrong with Soonyoung and it seems like only Yerim had noticed until now. The boy gets upset at the smallest of things and he’s always saying some fucked up shit about the people he doesn’t like, and it almost always involves a comment about how the Earth would be better off without them and that he could slay them in their sleep. I never paid attention to these comments because I thought he was just joking as he has always had a dark sense of humor. But it didn’t make sense why he was at the pool on the day Yerim died. I was the last person she called and somehow Soonyoung knew about her death. Was he perhaps nearby? But why would he be? Yerim refused to go on a date that evening, so there was no reason for Soonyoung to show up there. He was tough to deal with, but if he was told no, he wouldn’t bother you for a while. And his words kept bothering me still, ‘I just couldn’t help it’, what did he mean by them? What has he done? Wonwoo’s slip up about how he wouldn’t have let Soonyoung do whatever also didn’t sit right with me. I wished there was someone I could talk to about these crazy thoughts, but I knew how it would sound. Was I accusing Soonyoung of killing Yerim? Not exactly, but it started sounding like that. Was I suspecting my boyfriend’s best friend about being a murderer? I tried not to, but it was becoming difficult. So I decided to try and talk to him, sort things out with Soonyoung without accusing him of anything, just ask him all of the questions I desperately needed an answer to and everything would be alright. But Soonyoung started avoiding me, he wouldn’t talk to me if it was unnecessary and he’d only sit with me if Wonwoo was with us, and even then, he remained quiet. It was weird, Soonyoung talked a lot. I brought it up to Wonwoo and he said not to think too much about it as it was Soonyoung and his talkativeness depended a lot on his mood. I tried to explain to Wonwoo that I didn’t care about that, that it was his attitude which changed and that I wasn’t able to talk to him because he was avoiding me or ignoring me, but Wonwoo just shrugged it off and said that he didn’t notice anything weird with him. I knew it was futile to press the matter more, so I let it go and focused on other things. Sana and I started hanging out in the long breaks and it felt nice to have a girl to talk to again. However, one day, she freaked me out a bit.

“Did you notice how every murdered person has something to do with you so far?” She had asked as she took a bite of her sandwich. I had choked on my smoothie upon hearing her words.

“No? What are you talking about?” I had asked confused, goosebumps erupting on my skin.

“Well,” She had started saying as she gazed up at the sky, “Yerim was your best friend, you’ve known Seungkwan since you were little and well…you sort of knew Mina too, she was Wonwoo’s ex.”

Yes, I had known all these people, but I couldn’t follow Sana’s train of thought, “Yeah, but…it’s not like I’m the only one who knew them…”

“True,” Sana had hummed and then had looked at me, “Whatever, ignore what I said. I’ve just been thinking about it.”

So, we moved on with our conversation after that, however, her words made me think hard about what she had said. Somehow, she wasn’t wrong. I had known all three people, even if not from very close, they did have a significance in my life at some point, it made me shudder again. I thought about bringing it up to Wonwoo when we were hanging out after class, but I was scared he’d think I was going crazy. I was just desperate to find out who murdered and why my best friend, and all these other people. And what if I was the serial killer’s next target? Nobody was safe.

           Time flies by so fast you don’t even notice it. It feels like Yerim’s funeral was yesterday yet it’s Halloween already. Almost two months have had passed since losing her, and I was still getting used to it. I couldn’t say it was easier, but I was doing slightly better. Today was a particularly hard day as Halloween was Yerim and I’s favorite holiday. We’d always dress up in our favorite character at the moment and throw a small house party for our close friends. The rules were that we’d go trick or treating to each other and before midnight we’d gather at a bonfire and tell scary stories which have happened to us. It was a lot of fun each year and we couldn’t wait for it; however, it was my first Halloween without Yerim and it didn’t feel right. I was feeling nauseous all day long and quite moody as the weather had gotten colder too. Sana noticed my grumpiness and once I told her what the issue was she left me alone. Wonwoo wasn’t so understanding as we had talked about going to a Haunted House for fun months ago. He said he understood yet he was pressuring me in going with them. He promised it would be fun and that I shouldn’t stay at home and sulk all night long. I wasn’t sulking, I was trying to cope with the absence of my best friend, but it seemed like he didn’t understand that. So, very reluctantly, I agreed to go with him to the Haunted House. A few of his friends would be joining us, so I figured asking Sana if she’d like to come wouldn’t hurt anyone. She seemed quite excited once I told her and she promised to pick me up at around nine as Wonwoo wanted to go out beforehand with his friends. That was fine with me, I wasn’t in the mood to hang out with drunk teenage guys either way. They would get loud and pushy; I knew someone would bring up Yerim and it was the last thing I needed tonight. Mom was happy to see me going out and even encouraged me when I asked her to braid my hair. I wasn’t in the mood to go shopping for a costume, so I dressed in last year’s witch outfit. Nobody would care either way. Only Yerim actually cared, and she wasn’t here. Last year I was the one hosting the small party and I figured since I had a black cat I should dress up as a witch, it was a total success. Everyone loved the look and the vibes.

As nine o’clock approached, Sana texted me that she was right outside my house and after mom kissed my cheek and told me to have fun I left the house and jogged up to Sana’s extravagant car. They were quite rich and despite her being humble, her things screamed rich girl vibes.

“Hi!” She greeted me excited and I waved at her as I sat inside the car, “How are you?”

I sighed and closed the door, “Well, I had better days.”

“You look amazing though,” She patted my thigh and I nodded wordlessly, “If at any point you feel uncomfortable and want to come home, don’t feel hesitant to tell me. I’ll drive you.”

I felt my heart warming at her comment and gave her a genuine thankful smile, “Thank you.”

Sana wasn’t Yerim, and she’d never be, but it felt nice to have someone who was so understanding and kind. She’s shown me nothing but kindness since we started talking and it was refreshing. Sana was soft spoken and quiet usually, she didn’t speak unasked and often times we’d just sit in silence next to each other, enjoying each other’s presence. She was the total opposite of Yerim, yet we seemed to get along well. Sana made me feel seen and understood when nobody else could, perhaps that’s why I felt a little attached to her. I could only hope that she felt the same about me and didn’t think I was cold to her.

Once we got to the Haunted House the place was buzzing with people, everyone was excited for the new addition of the Amusement Park. It was a Halloween special and it was the first year they had opened a Haunted House for Halloween. Yerim would’ve loved coming here, we’ve discussed our outfits for tonight quite often and how much fun we’d have at the Haunted House, but now I had to do all of that alone. I owed it to her at least. Finding Wonwoo wasn’t hard as he and his friends had come with their bikes and they were gathered at the entrance of the Park, being loud and annoying. Sana followed after me as I was headed their way. I spotted Wonwoo next to his motorbike and walked towards him, catching his attention when I got nearby. He grinned at me and opened his arms once I was next to him, pulling me in a big hug.

“Hello, beautiful.” I smiled and pulled back, kissing his cheek. His friends got quiet and I faced them, waving at everyone. They greeted me back and I glanced at Sana before clearing my throat.

“This is Sana,” I introduced her to everyone, and starting from our left started introducing the boys, “That’s Minghao, Vernon, Soonyoung and Jeonghan.”

“Nice to meet you!” Sana smiled and the boys quickly greeted her, Minghao shaking her hand and introducing himself individually too. I chuckled and looked at Wonwoo who was smirking. Minghao wasn’t very interested in girls, but when he was, he made it quite obvious and Sana was a gorgeous girl. Jeonghan was smirking to our right as he watched me and I noticed, so I raised my eyebrows at him.

“Looking quite ravishing, Y/N.” Jeonghan said in a flirty tone and I felt Wonwoo’s arm tightening around my shoulders. Jeonghan was quite flirty, even with me. I used to think he was annoying, but after getting to know him better, I realized he flirted even with his guy friends, I figured it’s just the way he was. Besides, he was no threat when it came to Wonwoo, I was too in love with my boyfriend to find any other guy interesting enough. Sometimes I wished Wonwoo understood that too and stopped being jealous, but I figured he was just the possessive type.

“Thank you, interesting choice of outfit, Jeonghan.” I commented, making Soonyoung laugh as he pushed off his bike. I glanced at him but he was avoiding eye contact, still.

“Who dresses up as a cat, Jeonghan?” Soonyoung teased but Jeonghan just shrugged and pushed his long hair behind his shoulders.

“I do, why? Are you falling in love with me?” Jeonghan started leaning towards Soonyoung who flicked him off and grabbed his backpack off his bike.

“Yeah, right.” He muttered sarcastically and Minghao smiled, speaking up.

“Are we going in then?”

“Yes, let’s go!” Vernon said with excitement lacing his voice and I nodded, sighing quietly. Wonwoo noticed and looked down at me.

“Are you alright?” He asked quietly as we took off towards the ticket booth. I nodded and pressed a kiss against his lips, bringing a smile on his face. He bopped our noses together before we joined the others in line, waiting to buy our tickets too.

           The night seemed to be going well, everyone was having fun. Sana and Vernon seemed to be hitting it off quite well, much to Minghao’s disappointment. Jeonghan kept giggling as Minghao continued sulking while we watched Sana and Vernon play a shooting game in order to win a pink teddy bear. Sana really wanted it, but after missing almost all targets she walked away sulkily and that’s all it took Vernon to try his luck, and he seemed to be doing really well.

“Does our little Vernon have a new crush?” It was the first time in a while Soonyoung addressed me directly and I looked at him surprised. Was he done ignoring me and avoiding me?

“Who knows, but I don’t blame him.” I said with a shrug and Soonyoung looked at me.

“Good for him, she never liked me.” Soonyoung sounded a little bitter and it made me remember that Wonwoo and Mina once were together, of course Soonyoung and Sana knew each other. But I didn’t know he was into her…much like he was into Yerim as well. Interesting pattern, I thought to myself as my eyebrows lightly furrowed. Soonyoung seemed to notice and he cleared his throat, looking off in the distance.

“Do you want some cotton candy?” He asked as he took out his wallet.

“No, thank you, Wonwoo is buying some caramel popcorn for us.” I declined nicely and Soonyoung nodded.

“I’ll be right back.” He said before walking off to the cotton candy booth, buying one for himself. I continued watching Vernon and Sana as they both laughed, trying their luck for another plushie, this time it was a blue shark. Wonwoo was buying popcorn not far away and Jeonghan and Minghao decided to ride a very scary looking roller-coaster. They didn’t want to come to the Haunted House with us so we agreed to meet in an hour at the Ferris-wheel as we had to wait a little for our tour at the Haunted House. They only let in around ten people at every half an hour. Chuckling at Vernon’s dramatic fail at hitting the last target, I noticed someone in my peripheral vision. The person seemed to be approaching me and as I turned my head a wide smile erupted on my lips. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I hadn’t seen him in ages. It was Seonghwa, my ex-boyfriend. He was my first serious boyfriend and I only had fond memories of him. We parted on friendly terms and have been civil with each other ever since. He moved away two years ago, so it was a surprise to see him here.

“Seonghwa!” I exclaimed as I ran up to him and engulfed him in a hug. He giggled and hugged me back just as tightly. He had gotten taller since the last time we saw each other. He still had that bubble gum scent, it made me giddy.

“Y/N, I would’ve never thought we’d meet here of all places!” He said with a laugh as we let go of each other and took a small step back.

“Right?!” I chuckled as we smiled widely at each other, “I didn’t even know you were back in town!”

“Yeah, it’s a brief visit, so I didn’t tell anyone.” He scratched his nape awkwardly, “I wasn’t even supposed to be here, but San and Wooyoung dragged me here because of the Haunted House.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s a hot topic at the moment. I wasn’t in the mood to come, but I promised Wonwoo we’d go so…” I trailed off with a sigh and Seonghwa nodded.

“How is he?” He asked with a polite smile and I shrugged, looking around for him.

“He’s fine, just the usual.” I answered and Seonghwa nodded.

“I, uh—” He cleared his throat, “I heard what happened to Yerim. I’m very sorry for your loss. She didn’t deserve that.”

I looked away and gulped, hating that she was the topic, but I knew Seonghwa didn’t mean bad, “Thank you, she really didn’t. She was taken from us so early…”

Seonghwa gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze, “I’m always here for you, I hope you know that.”

“I do.” His words brought a smile to my face, even after breaking up, Seonghwa was always there to support me and cheer me up until he had to move away. He was a kind soul always looking out for others, “How’s your grandma?”

“She’s the reason I’m visiting, actually, she’s not doing so well.” Seonghwa’s voice lowered and he looked down, it was my turn to offer him a reassuring pat.

“I’m sad to hear that, I hope she gets better.” Seonghwa nodded and I could hear them before seeing them. Wooyoung was almost screaming as he was telling San to let him go to the teddy bear booth. He wanted to get the blue shark Vernon lost, but San wasn’t letting him as he had spent too much money already. Seonghwa and I looked at each other before we burst out laughing.

He shook his head and sighed tiredly, “I better go and do some damage control before we get kicked out.”

I laughed and nodded, ushering him away, “When are you going to the Haunted House?”

Seonghwa glanced at his wrist watch, “In about ten minutes.”

“Oh, that’s great! Us too!” Seonghwa had an excited smile on his face as he waved at me and quickly ran up to San and Wooyoung, who were full on arguing by now. I chuckled and shook my head, but quickly jumped when someone gripped my arm.

“Who was that?” Wonwoo’s deep voice whispered in my ear and I turned to face him with a grin.

“Seonghwa!” I answered him and Wonwoo hummed as he released me and looked after Seonghwa who was now standing in between San and Wooyoung, talking and making exaggerated hand gestures. I had to laugh as I watched them. Wonwoo had known about Seonghwa, but he’s never seen him in person. Wonwoo and I started dating a few days after Seonghwa moved away.

“And those two idiots are his best friends, San and Wooyoung.” I explained to Wonwoo as he started eating our popcorn, “They are very loud, argue almost all the time and like to cause trouble. Poor Seonghwa…sometimes I pity him for having left him alone with those two devils.”

Wonwoo gave me a quick glance before he interlaced our fingers and pulled me away, walking us towards the Haunted House, “Well you’re not their mother, so I’m glad I stole you away.”

I rolled my eyes and gave Wonwoo a look, “You didn’t steal me away, dumbass, Seonghwa and I had broken up a year before I started dating you. The only thing you stole is my heart.”

My last comment brought a smug grin on Wonwoo’s lips and he kissed me before acting like nothing happened, “I love you.”

I laughed and leaned closer to him, “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

Wonwoo looked at me from the corner of his eyes, “You did.”

“No, I didn’t.” I shook my head and pouted at him.

“Yes, you did.”

“How could I, everyone is so loud and you were speaking so quietly.”

“I love you.” Wonwoo said with a groan, louder this time, and I giggled as I punched his stomach playfully and grabbed some popcorn into my hands. He rolled his eyes and rested his arm around my shoulders as we spotted the others in front of the Haunted House staying in line and joined them.

            The Haunted House was a twenty-minute walk and it was quite well done. I got a good scare right as we started the tour, a killer doctor jumped in front of Wonwoo and I, and I screamed the loudest, scaring Sana and Vernon who were behind us. Wooyoung and San, who were at the front with Seonghwa, started laughing at me and I stuck my tongue out at Wooyoung. However, he got his payback when a black fake spider was dropped on his head and he almost passed out from screaming so loud, making the whole group erupt in loud laughter. Vernon seemed to like their vibes as he dragged Sana to the front to be with them and I chuckled as I looked at Wonwoo.

“San and Wooyoung can be fun people, but they tire you out very quickly.” I told my boyfriend as we walked through a very dark zone, ghostly voices coming from the speakers. I was holding his hand tightly and I could feel his shoulder grazing mine lightly.

“Did you spend a lot of time with them?” He asked curiously.

“I did,” I chuckled, remembering all the fun I used to have with them and Seonghwa, “On Friday’s we’d go to the diner and after we’d go karting, it was a lot of fun. It was a tradition of ours which was started by Wooyoung.”

“Sounds nice,” Wonwoo muttered and then I felt him squeezing my hand when we heard footsteps running behind us, “Why don’t we have something similar?”

His question made me think. I didn’t exactly know, maybe because Wonwoo didn’t invite me to hang out with his friends quite often, so I wasn’t very close to them besides Soonyoung, “I don’t know, I figured you don’t like it when I hang out with you and your friends.”

“That’s not true,” Wonwoo scoffed as a marionette was hung in front of us, dangling limply and I flinched, “I don’t mind you hanging out with us.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I told him as we were partially blinded by green neon lights, “You never told me that though. And you never invited me out with you guys either…”

Wonwoo was silent as he glanced at me and stepped in front of me when a man dressed in Frankenstein ran towards us. I could hear Sana giggling in the next room and I pulled Wonwoo after me, entering the room just in time to see Wooyoung threateningly throwing punches at a skeleton and cussing at it. San was laughing loudly and Seonghwa was apologizing to the masked man as he clutched his shoulder. Sana and Vernon were watching it unfold with amusement, and I chuckled as Wonwoo and I approached them.

“What did he do this time?” I asked Seonghwa while pointing at Wooyoung, but it was San who answered me.

“The vampire jumped out of its coffin and Wooyoung punched it.” It made me laugh too as Seonghwa dragged his friend away from the skeleton before bowing at the vampire guy again. The guy just told us to go on and went back inside his coffin.

“Ah, Y/N, finally!” Wooyoung exclaimed once he saw me talking to San and ran up to me, throwing his arm around my shoulders as he pulled me with himself to the front. I glanced back at Wonwoo, but he just smiled and nodded, joining Vernon and Sana at the back of the group. Soonyoung and the other three people who came with us seemed to be much more ahead of us, so our little group stuck together.

“I hear you’ve been causing problems all night long, Wooyoung.” I narrowed my eyes at my friend and he chuckled, placing a hand on his chest.

“Non-sense, was it Seonghwa who told you that? You know he’s always lying and overreacting!” I chuckled as Seonghwa slapped the back of Wooyoung’s head and San glanced back at us with a grin before he opened the next door. The room was pitch black and I gulped, a bit nervous about entering it. I knew Wooyoung wouldn’t release me, he knew I hated the dark, but I still preferred being with Wonwoo right now.

“It’s good that our gang is back together.” It was San who was talking and I lightly ran into him as he stopped to wait for us. He seemed unbothered by the whole tour and was just laughing at everything and making fun of Wooyoung any chance he got.

“Yeah, I missed you.” Wooyoung said and squeezed my shoulder as I lightly held onto his hoodie, scared a bit. I knew Seonghwa was next to me, on my left, and San in front of me and the others behind, but I still felt uneasy.

“I missed you too, although you’re being a pain in the ass—”

“Am not!” Wooyoung exclaimed and soon screamed as a strong light was flashed in our faces and fake bats came flying towards us. I screamed too and ducked as I held onto my head, scared they’d get entangled into my braided hair. San was laughing as he caught one and started antagonizing Wooyoung with it, running after him as they ran into the next room. Seonghwa was quick to approach me and help me stand, but Wonwoo was by my side instantly, and the two looked at each other as each held my arm. I chuckled awkwardly and shook off their grips, standing up on my own.

“Sorry, I hate bats.” I muttered embarrassed as Vernon and Sana walked by us.

“I know.” Both boys said at the same time and I felt awkward as they looked at each other before Wonwoo cleared his throat and Seonghwa scratched his nape.

“Uhm, let’s go?” I proposed and they both nodded as we took off, Seonghwa going in front of us as I intertwined my fingers with Wonwoo, who was glaring at the back of my ex-boyfriend’s head.

“Stop it.” I whispered at Wonwoo and his jaw clenched, “Wonwoo, you know he means no harm.”

“I don’t like it when other guys touch you, Y/N.” Wonwoo snapped at me and I sighed, side eyeing him.

“Jesus, he just tried to help me up—”

“I was there already; he didn’t have to.” Wonwoo’s voice raised lightly and I stopped walking and faced him as I was sure Seonghwa could hear it all and I didn’t want to make him feel more uncomfortable.

“Can you stop acting like this? Have I given you any reason to be jealous, Wonwoo?” I called out my boyfriend and he rolled his eyes, releasing my hand.

“You have no trouble being so friendly with him.”

“Maybe because we remained friends?!” I exclaimed and Wonwoo just sighed, walking by me, “Seriously?”

“What? I’m curious what’s in the next room.” He muttered and I rolled my eyes as I followed after him. What a way to ruin the little fun I started having. I just sighed as I followed behind Wonwoo, not even interested anymore in the Haunted House and all of the different masked people jumping out in front of me, trying to scare me. Seonghwa was back at the front, San and Wooyoung pulling him in all kinds of directions as he didn’t turn around anymore, keeping his distance. I felt bad for him and reminded myself to apologize for Wonwoo’s behavior, reassuring him that he did nothing wrong and Wonwoo sometimes overreacted. There were flashing lights in the room we were in currently and ghosts hung from the ceiling as people were screaming through the speakers. I sighed and shielded my eyes, the lights hurting them as I hurried towards the last door. The others were outside already and I was left behind, I didn’t notice that everyone walked out while I was getting lost in my thoughts. Just as I was about to touch the doorknob, a dressed up person jumped in front of me, blocking my way. I gasped and jumped back, eyes widening when I came face to face with a Ghostface. The person wore a black gown and a real looking knife was in its hand. My heart started racing and I started backing away from the person, getting flashbacks from the night they had shown up at my house.

“What—what are you—” The Ghostface chuckled and slowly approached me.

“I’m a Ghostface.” The voice was still as glitchy, but lower than the one I had talked to on the phone, “Hello, beautiful.”

I shuddered at the words and gulped, “Who are you?”

The person behind the mask chuckled and twirled around, “An actor? Hired by the Haunted House?”

My heart was racing, but their words seemed to calm me down a little bit. Of course, we were at the Haunted House and this person was an actor hired to scare people. And they did a good job at scaring me.

“Right, sorry—” I chuckled, “You gave me a good scare.”

“That’s my job.” The Ghostface bowed and I smiled, “Did you enjoy the tour?”

“Are you this nice and talkative with everyone?” I raised my eyebrows as I held my hands behind my back. The Ghostface started circling me, making me turn my head to see them.

“Only with the beautiful ones.” They answered and I rolled my eyes, not into cheesy flirting.

“How cheesy.” I muttered and the Ghostface seemed to laugh as they came to a stop in front of me. It looked as they looked down before raising their head back up and I saw the knife glinting in the dim light as it lightly touched my chin and they raised my head with it. The air caught in my throat a little as I felt the sturdiness of the knife. It was either a very real looking and feeling prop or it was a real knife.

“And tell me…do you like bad guys?” The Ghostface asked smugly and I laughed nervously.

“Not really.”

“Isn’t your boyfriend a bad boy?” Well, that’s not how I’d describe Wonwoo if someone asked me. He looked like a bad boy, but he was actually a very nice and loving guy.

“Not really,” I chuckled and quietly let out a sigh when the person lowered the knife from my chin, “He’s well raised and really nice.”

“And do you love him?” Wasn’t this Ghostface a little too curious?

“Of course I do.” I said matter of factly and the Ghostface hummed just as the door opened. Light poured in from the outside and I squinted until the door was closed again. I instantly recognized the person once my eyes adjusted to the light again, it was Seonghwa.

“Y/N, are you alright?” He asked worriedly as he walked up to me, “I saw you weren’t with the group and nobody knew where you were.”

I smiled at him sweetly and nodded, “Yeah, I’m fine. I just fell behind accidentally and Ghostface over there seemed to be quite interested.”

Seonghwa looked over to where the Ghostface stood and his eyebrows furrowed, “Oh? They didn’t show up when we walked through this room.”

I turned to look at the Ghostface as well and I gulped as dread washed over me, slowly realizing what was happening, “Seonghwa—” But before I could scream at him to run, the Ghostface charged at us and I yelped as they pushed me to the ground and pinned Seonghwa to the wall. I watched wide eyed as Seonghwa struggled against them and as I got to my feet, I saw the Ghostface raise their knife. My heart stopped for a second and I didn’t even realize I had screamed as the knife slashed Seonghwa’s abdomen. He cried out in pain and the Ghostface stepped back a bit as he angled their knife at Seonghwa’s stomach. I was shaking, but I couldn’t just sit on the ground and watch as they murder my ex-boyfriend.

“Y/N, run!” Seonghwa exclaimed as the Ghostface poked his stomach, but I was fast enough and got up in time and ran over, knocking the Ghostface aside. They gasped in surprise and I could feel their gaze burning into me through the mask. I turned to face Seonghwa and with shaky hands caught him as he slid down the wall.

“No, Seonghwa!” I exclaimed, hand getting bloody as I pressed it against his smaller wound, momentarily not knowing what to do.

“Get out!” Seonghwa whispered as he grimaced in pain, pulling out his phone. I turned around and came face to face with the Ghostface, gasping at the proximity. I didn’t know who was behind the mask, but I wasn’t about to go down without a fight. I punched their shoulder and took the knife out of their hand, throwing it on the ground as I started punching their abdomen. The Ghostface groaned and tried catching my hands, struggling to do so until they had me pinned against the wall. I tried fighting myself out of their hold, but they were stronger.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” The Ghostface said breathlessly and I glared at them, kneeling them, making them double over.

“You shouldn’t have hurt my friends!” I screamed and kneeled them in the stomach this time, sending the person onto the ground. I ran back to Seonghwa and saw him trying to call the cops, but there was no signal inside.

“Let’s go.” I whispered and tried to control my shaking as I attempted to help Seonghwa stand, but just as he warned me, I was tackled to the ground. I screamed again, and suddenly, a hand was muffling my screams. A bare hand. Long fingers, warm, soft palm. My heart was beating like crazy and I felt a tear run down my cheeks when I noticed the Ghostface holding the knife again. Was I about to die too? But they didn’t move, we were just staring at each other. The hold on my mouth seemed to loosen and I glanced down at it, heart jumping in my throat when I noticed two long, red scratches on the person’s hand. Why did they look like cat scratches? Why did their hand feel like Wonwoo’s? A groan to our right got both of our attention and I saw Seonghwa approaching us, almost stumbling, but as the Ghostface got off of me, Seonghwa swung his fist at the person’s jaw, sending them stumbling into the wall. I got up and grabbed Seonghwa, placing his arm around my shoulders as I held his hip and we made a run for the exit. He was groaning in pain but still remained strong as we could hear the Ghostface shuffling around and catching up with us, but just as I felt them gripping onto Seonghwa’s shoulder, I kicked the door open, light flooding the room. Everyone was standing there, waiting for us probably, and when they saw the blood coating Seonghwa’s torso and my hands, chaos erupted. Wooyoung ran up to us in despair and started shouting things, asking what happened as I yelled out for them to call an ambulance. Vernon rushed up to us and helped Wooyoung as they took Seonghwa’s weight off of me and carefully placed him on a nearby bench as San called for an ambulance. Sana was by my side instantly and I realized my whole body was shaking as I looked around for familiar faces. She was talking to me, but I was searching for one person. Jeonghan and Minghao looked shocked as they stood helplessly by the bench, watching Seonghwa struggling to stay awake. Wooyoung was freaking out and San was holding onto him tightly as they talked to Seonghwa, trying to divert his attention from the pain. Vernon was trying to stop the bleeding as his father is a doctor and he knows this and that. Soonyoung was off to the side, looking almost sick yet unimpressed as he talked on the phone with someone. And Sana was hugging me tightly, saying reassuring things to me which I was unable to hear due to my ears ringing. Wonwoo. Wonwoo wasn’t anywhere to be seen. I gulped and hugged Sana back, hearing the ambulance sirens in the distance. Wonwoo wasn’t here with us.

           My mother was reluctant to let me go to school the next day, understandably so. I barely got any sleep after last night’s incident. As Seonghwa was placed inside the ambulance and driven to a hospital, two detectives approached the rest of us and started their questioning. We were brought to the side separately and asked to retell our whole night. Of course, I was the one they questioned first as they knew I was inside with Seonghwa when the attack happened. I was shaken up and on the verge of crying, but surprisingly, Wooyoung and San stood by my side and tried to cheer me up until my mother got to us. After finishing my retelling of story, I walked to the side and sat down, curling into a ball as I felt arms holding me. It was Sana and she remained quiet as she tried to offer me some support. I appreciated her gesture, but I would’ve preferred being left alone at the moment. My mind was swirling with questions and I was frightened out of my mind. Wonwoo was nowhere to be seen and I couldn’t help but think he was the one behind the mask. Could it really be my boyfriend? The killer? I bit my lower lip at the thought and my head whipped up as I heard Wonwoo’s deep voice, laced with terror and panic as he was asking around for me. Just as we made eye contact, the two detectives stepped in front of him and brought him aside to question him as well. I could feel his gaze on me, but my mother had arrived and she was by my side in an instant, helping me up and she gave me tightest hug ever. I started crying when I felt her arms around me and she quietly shushed me, thanking Sana for sitting with me. She noticed San and Wooyoung too, nodding at them as a small greeting before she walked me towards her car. I didn’t talk to Wonwoo that night, but perhaps it was good, because I had no idea what I could’ve said to him.

Mom insisted on driving me to school this morning and I didn’t object; I wasn’t in the mood to ride the bus and act as if I didn’t feel my classmates burning gazes. I knew everyone would whisper about me again. I hated this all. I hated the killer. I hated that Yerim wasn’t here. And I hated the fact that I was helpless and couldn’t help a person who once was so dear to me. Thankfully, Seonghwa got to the hospital in time as he was losing blood fast and since he was stabilized quite quickly, he’d survive. I asked my mother to stop by his ward from time to time, to check up on him. She complied happily and told me she’d update me; I was really thankful. Before getting out of her car, I kissed my mother’s cheek, making her smile sadly at me. I had dark bags underneath my eyes and despite tying my hair up, it looked like a mess. I felt miserable, and I looked miserable. The baggy clothes weren’t helping much to offer me comfort, all I could do was sigh and pull the hood of my hoodie over my head and walk to my classroom. Everyone seemed to have eagle eyes, because as soon as I opened the entrance door, people noticed me. Some started instantly whispering, there were a few who were ignoring me or stepping out of my way as if I would hurt them, some would stop conversing and stare at me like I was some sort of freak. I hung my head low and walked up to my locker, opening it to place my backpack inside it. I sighed as I got my science book and two notebooks out, off to walk to my classroom. Sana texted me that she wasn’t feeling well and she wouldn’t attend school today, apologizing for leaving me alone. I didn’t text her back, but I appreciated her letting me know. Surprisingly it was San and Wooyoung who approached me as I was walking up the stairs.

“Couldn’t sleep?” I heard San asking me and I raised my head, eyes wide.

“Oh, I didn’t see you—” Wooyoung had a warm smile on his lips and I looked back down at the ground, “Yeah, I couldn’t sleep.”

“Us neither.” Wooyoung muttered and San cleared his throat, “We visited Seonghwa before coming to school.”

“How is he?” I asked quickly, looking back up at the two boys.

“He’s in pain, but he’s doing good despite that huge cut—” San elbowed Wooyoung and I gulped, averting my eyes from them, “I mean, he’s fine, don’t worry. He asked us to tell you that he’s grateful you saved him and he hopes you’ll visit him when you feel ready.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded at the two boys wordlessly, “Thank you.”

“No problem, you know where to find us.” San smiled and bumped his shoulder with mine lightly as we got to my floor, they had to go up one more flight of stairs. I nodded at them and they waved as they took off. I sighed and took off too, headed towards my classroom, the hallway not as packed as downstairs. A few students glanced at me but seemed to ignore me mostly, it made me feel slightly better. Not too good, but at least they weren’t staring or whispering. As I looked up, I suddenly froze. Wonwoo. He was standing next to my classroom’s door, leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets as he was biting his lip, looking anxious. I gulped and slowly approached him, wary still. His head turned and when he noticed me he pushed off the wall and approached me, instantly pulling me into a hug. I felt tears in my eyes as I buried my head in his chest and Wonwoo rubbed my back up and down. I grabbed his jacket and tried to keep silent as I started crying, scared and confused. How could I think it was Wonwoo? My loving boyfriend. I was so scared something happened to him. But why was he not outside when everybody else was?

“I’m so glad—” Wonwoo’s voice was low and raspy, as if he had been screaming all night long, “I’m so glad you’re alright. I was so scared—I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you from that criminal, I—”

“Where were you?” I found myself whispering, desperately needing an answer to this one question only.

Wonwoo remained silent before he sighed, “I caught up with Soonyoung and then I went to the bathroom, when I got back everything had already happened—”

“Okay,” I whispered and sniffed, pulling my head back to look at him, “Don’t blame yourself. I’m fine and Seonghwa will recover.”

Wonwoo’s jaw clenched and as I was looking up at him, my eyes fell on his jawline. There was a small bruise forming, slightly greenish already. My eyebrows furrowed and I felt my heart starting to beat fast. Seonghwa—he punched the Ghostface in the jaw, same exact location, before we ran out. I gulped, hands slightly shaking, as I took Wonwoo’s right hand and interlaced our fingers, bringing it up to my eye level. Wonwoo watched me wordlessly, eyebrows slightly furrowed. I maintained eye contact as I brought his hand to my lips, pressing a kiss against it. And just before lowering it, I glanced down, and my blood ran cold. There. On his hand. Red scratches which Byeol left on him when they were playing. His hand, bare. Long fingers, warm, soft palm. I shivered and stepped back, releasing his hand as I tried to act nonchalant. Wonwoo watched me confused as I stumbled over my words.

“I—I have to go—” I opened the classroom door, avoiding eye contact, “I’m late.”

“Y/N—” But I stepped inside the classroom and slammed the door shut, biting my lower lip, whole body shaking as I approached my desk and sat down. It was Wonwoo last night. Right? Was it really him? What do I do?

           My mother tried to switch her shifts with a nurse she was friends with, but she couldn’t make it. She didn’t want to take the night shift tonight, worried to leave me home alone, but I reassured her I would be fine. In fact, I felt like shit and didn’t want to be alone, but remained silent and decided to have a Harry Potter marathon, that way I wouldn’t fall asleep and could wait for my mother to return home in the morning. It was a Friday, so it would work out. I desperately needed a good sleep, but I could deal with that later. I cooked some dinner for myself and played with Byeol, but after she got bored and went to sleep in my room, I decided to take a shower and start the movie marathon. I definitely lost track of time while showering, because my phone kept ringing, but I didn’t feel like answering. My mother would never call me while working, so I knew it was Wonwoo. But I didn’t want to talk to him. My mind was a mess and I didn’t know what to believe anymore. He couldn’t be the killer, but some signs were pointing at him and it was eating me up alive. I was scared and confused. My gut told me to sleep on it and ask him tomorrow, but for some reason staying away from him felt most comforting. Getting out of the shower I got dressed in sweatpants and Yerim’s favorite pink hoodie, eyeing Wonwoo’s sweater resting on my chair. He left it here when he slept over and told me to keep it until he’d sleep over again. Brushing my fingers against it as I towel dried my hair with one hand, I shivered. Its scent once brought comfort, but now I felt uncomfortable. Byeol was sitting on my bed and for once it wasn’t storming outside, I was thankful. Just as I placed my towel on my desk, my phone rang again. I sighed and walked up to it as it was charging on my nightstand, and despite expecting it to be Wonwoo calling, it was an unknown number. My eyebrows furrowed and my heart started racing as I remembered the time when I spoke with the Ghostface on Yerim’s phone. I took my phone and walked to the window, looking through the curtain.

“Hello?” I asked as I picked up the call, chewing on my lip. There was some heavy breathing on the other side, freaking me out.

“Hi.” I froze for a second as the Ghostface’s robotic voice came through the phone. What did they want? Were they here to kill me? The thought sent panic through my body and I quickly made sure my window was locked before pulling down the blinds as well.

“What do you want?” I demanded, voice shaking but still harsh.

The Ghostface chuckled, “You gone.”

I shuddered as tears suddenly sprung into my eyes, “You killed Yerim, didn’t you?”

“I did.” Was their answer and I sniffed, wiping away a tear as I raced down the stairs, to make sure all doors were locked.

“Why?”

“Multiple reasons,” The Ghostface sighed as I checked the front door, “One, she was always rude to me. Two, she never gave me a chance and the list just goes on, Y/N.”

“So you killed her.” I said accusingly, checking the door in the living room as well. It wasn’t locked, but I locked it now and pulled the curtains closed as well.

“Well she pissed me off to my last nerve, didn’t have much off a choice—”

“You don’t kill someone because they piss you off!” I screamed into the phone, shaking and fuming. How could they?! Kill someone because they pissed them off?! This is not how life works.

“I do.” The Ghostface laughed and I felt like screaming.

“What do you want?” I repeated, body shaking from anger and fear too.

“To kill you, honestly, I’ve had enough of you too.” I gulped and turned by back to the door, walking back outside in the hallway.

“I won’t go down easy.” I muttered and the Ghostface just laughed.

“A fragile girl can’t do much damage to me, sweetheart.” They said and I chuckled sarcastically.

“You’ll have to wait for another night then, you can’t come in if the doors and windows are all locked.”

“They are locked, now.” I froze, heart thumping fast, “But they weren’t until you locked the one in the living room just minutes ago.”

The voice now didn’t come through the phone only, they were here. Inside. Close. Too close. Shakingly, I slowly turned towards the kitchen entrance, and screamed. The same person from the Haunted House was standing in the doorway of my kitchen. Black gown and a Ghostface mask, glows, and a sharp knife in their hand. The Ghostface laughed, dropping the phone as it took off towards me and I panicked, showing the phone in the hoodie’s pocket as I started running, headed for the laundry room. I quickly entered and locked the door, whimpering when the person started pounding on it. Why did they want to kill me? What did I do? Who was behind the mask? As I reached for my phone to call the police, the pounding stopped, the sudden silence making me jump. Did they leave already?

“If you don’t come out, I’ll start with Byeol.” I whimpered and covered my lips, tears streaming down my cheeks at the thought of the person killing my cat. How did they know her name? I couldn’t let them kill her, she was my everything, “I’m headed to find her—”

“Stop!” I screamed and gripped the doorknob, “I’ll come out, just don’t hurt her.”

The Ghostface laughed and I heard them grumbling, “Stupid people with love for their stupid animals.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, readying myself to face the criminal on the other side of the door. If I had to die tonight, then I would. But I wouldn’t go down without a fight. I was feeling extremely hot in the hoodie, but it was Yerim’s, and all of a sudden, a wave of bravery washed over me as if Yerim was telling me that I could do it, that I could survive. If she believed in me, then I could believe in myself too. Wiping my stray tears away, I unlocked the door. The click of it seemed to be so loud in the silence, and with shaking hands, I pushed open the door. It opened very slowly and I held onto the doorknob tightly. There it was. The Ghostface, leaning against the wall. I couldn’t see their face, but I could swear they were smirking. I was glaring at them, breathing hard as I released the doorknob.

“There you are.” They said in a sing song voice, suddenly raising their knife. It was my cue to run off. And so I did just that, I took off, and ran towards the kitchen. The only problem was that it had no doors and two entrances. My goal was to get the Ghostface to follow me outside, far away from my cat and close enough to other people to see and call the cops for me. Their loud thumping made it obvious enough that they were following me and I stopped in front of the sink, the counter putting distance between us. Nobody said anything, we just stared each other down. My muscles were tense and I felt the adrenaline kicking in, making my shaking even worse. Before the Ghostface could react, I took off again, running for the door. I barely got in the doorway, when a hand gripped my hair and I was hauled back. I cried out in pain and quickly groaned as I was thrown on the floor.

“Yerim screamed a lot more than you, you know?” The Ghostface taunted and I sneered at them as I got up, getting backed into the wall. What could I do? Take their knife would be an option. The Ghostface raised the knife and lightly grazed it against my neck, making me gasp. I was breathing through my mouth, barely able to think of my next move. They raised their other hand and gripped my neck, pulling our faces close to each other.

“But you both seem to be just as dumb—” And just like that I headbutted them. I didn’t wait for them to finish the sentence or plunge the knife in my stomach. The person stumbled backwards and dropped their knife in shock. What a dumb move. I reacted faster and picked it up in a flash, pointing it at them.

“How does it feel to have your own weapon pointed at you?” I hissed and the Ghostface groaned, starting to stomp their feet. Were they seriously throwing a tantrum right now? I watched confused, but stayed alert.

“You’re not ruining my fun tonight, Y/N!” They screamed and charged at me. The smart thing to do would’ve been running away and out of the house, but I froze. If I had the knife, could they still kill me? Of course, there were many ways to do that, but my brain went blank. And just last second, I dropped the knife, scared to stab anyone. I wasn’t a killer; I couldn’t do it. The Ghostface grabbed my neck and started squeezing it, but I was fighting back. I wasn’t about to die. I tried pushing him backwards, and it was working. The Ghostface was muttering things I couldn’t understand, but I stumbled and stepped on their long gown. The person tripped over my leg and before I knew it, their hands were gone from my neck and they were falling backwards. I gasped and watched as the person hit their head on the edge of the counter and fell to the floor limply. I stood shocked, not knowing what to do. They weren’t moving anymore, I carefully pushed their leg with my foot, but they didn’t react. I approached them, heart racing and forehead sweaty as I leaned down and touched the mask. I had to know. I had to know who killed my best friend, Mina, Seungkwan and tried to kill Seonghwa and now me. So, without thinking for another second, I ripped the mask off. I felt my body going numb at the sight, ears ringing as I stared down at the blond laying unconsciously on my kitchen floor. My lips started trembling and my body started shaking more violently as I clutched the mask tightly, hand hurting from the force. Kwon Soonyoung lay unconscious in front of me. Blood was slowly seeping from underneath his head. How could it be him? I started crying loudly and threw the Ghostface mask on the floor, stomping on it and screaming. How could he kill Yerim?! How could he! In all the ruckus and screaming, Byeol woke up and her loud meows were the ones which brought me back to reality. She was staying away, gazing at me with her big eyes, meowing loudly. I was sobbing and started walking towards her, when the doorbell rang. Once. Twice. Thrice. Knocking. Panicked screaming. Asking to be let inside. The voice of my boyfriend. Jeon Wonwoo. My boyfriend. Acting without much thinking, I ran up to the door and unlocked it, throwing it open. Wonwoo was panting and he gasped when he saw me. I flung myself into his body, hugging him tightly and crying loudly. He hesitated for a second before wrapping his arms around me and slowly walking me inside the house, closing the door behind us. I was crying, I couldn’t do anything else. Soonyoung killed my best friend because she didn’t like him back. Because she didn’t want to date him. Who kills for a reason like that! I couldn’t hear Byeol meowing anymore, Wonwoo was caressing my head and kissing it softly, muttering words to calm me down. I found my breath again and pulled away, finding comfort in his arms. He was here. He was here to witness it all. He was here to take Byeol and I away from this nightmare.

“He—he did—it.” I stuttered out, body shaking, “Soonyoung. He killed—everyone.”

Wonwoo’s face went blank as he looked towards the kitchen entrance, but the only thing he could see from here was the destroyed Ghostface mask on the floor. His grip seemed to loosen around me as he looked back at me.

“Soonyoung killed Yerim, Wonwoo.” I whispered as I wiped my tears away, “He killed Mina and—”

“He didn’t kill Mina.” Wonwoo’s voice was void of any emotion. I shivered, “He didn’t try to kill Seonghwa either.”

I shook my head, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “What—what are you saying? He’s the criminal, he—” I winced when Wonwoo’s grip suddenly turned painful on my arms, and I stepped back. His bruise on his jaw was now a dark blue, it looked like it hurt a lot. The cat scratches on his hand were still red.

“You—” I gasped and slapped his hands away, taking a step back, “You killed—Mina and Seonghwa—”

“I failed to kill that bastard, but it’s not too late yet.” I started shaking my head, feeling like my whole world was ending.

“What are you saying, Wonwoo—” Suddenly he was all up in my face, holding my chin roughly as he made me look him in the eyes. His expression scared me. His eyes were almost black and manic as he stared into mine. His lips were curled into an amused sneer and all warmth had disappeared from his aura. This wasn’t Wonwoo. This wasn’t my boyfriend. This was someone else. Someone I didn’t know and was scared off.

“I killed Mina. I tried to kill Seonghwa and now—” His pause made me gulp, his voice was quiet when he continued, “I have to kill you too.”

I whimpered and started shaking my head, gripping his wrist, “No, Wonwoo—Listen to me, you’re not like this, I can—”

“How would you know what I am like when I never allowed you to see the real me?” His words felt like someone dropped a cold ice bucket on me, numbness washed over my whole body. Was it all fake? All this time? Everything between us?

“Did you ever love me?” I found myself whispering, it was the least important thing to know right now, but I had to know.

“I love you more than I have ever loved anyone.” I sniffled, heart breaking and head spinning. Before I could react in any way, Wonwoo’s lips crashed against mine. I was disgusted, I didn’t want to be kissing him. But I couldn’t help myself. I still loved him despite his terrible confession. Despite him saying he wanted to kill me, I still loved him. So I kissed him back with the same fire he was kissing me, our lips crashing against each other’s messily, painfully. Maybe it was our last goodbye, maybe it wasn’t. I didn’t know what this kiss meant, until I felt Wonwoo’s hands around my neck and my eyes flew open. He was squeezing me, not allowing an ounce of air into my lungs. I tried pulling my head back, but he wasn’t letting me. He was still kissing me, but I couldn’t do the same. I clawed at his arms, gripping his wrists and yanking on them but he wasn’t budging. I started seeing black and I felt like throwing up, finally, Wonwoo’s lips left mine and I tried gasping for air but it wasn’t working. I tried talking, but it wasn’t working. I was going to die. In Yerim’s favorite hoodie, by the hands of my once lover. My grip fell from Wonwoo’s wrists and I felt my legs giving out, body limp. I didn’t want to die, I really didn’t. Not like this. I had no power, yet something so strong, as if someone knocked the last gust of wind out of my lungs, gave me the power to raise my knee and kneel Wonwoo in the groins. It might’ve been weak, but Wonwoo yelped loudly and released me, my body falling to the ground. I started coughing and gasping, holding my burning neck as my head hung low. My lungs were on fire and my eyes filled with tears as I filled my lungs desperately with air. Wonwoo was doubled over, groaning and hissing in pain. Perhaps I could escape him. Walk around him and out the door. So I tried, I got up from the ground, legs almost buckling, but I tried. I started walking, catching Wonwoo’s attention as his head whipped up and he reached for me, but I stepped back. He was starting to straighten up, still groaning, realizing I was getting better. I barely had any power, but I was starting to breathe again. He lunged for me and I realized walking in the kitchen was my best escape right now. So, I entered and my eyes fell on an unconscious Soonyoung, making me shudder again. I tried to run, but my legs felt heavy. I went to walk around the counter and grab a knife, but Wonwoo grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. The knife Soonyoung was holding was in his hands now. I shook my head at him and begged him to let me go. We couldn’t figure this out, but he had to let me go. If he loved me, he would’ve done that. But he didn’t want to. The knife was angled at my stomach and I took a deep breath, turning my hand into a fist. I had no power left in me anymore, this was my last shot at life. So, as Wonwoo raised the knife to stab me, I punched his jaw, just where Seonghwa had punched him yesterday, and grabbed the knife with my other hand out of his. He groaned loudly and looked at me with an animalistic look in his eyes. The knife was pointed at him and one move sealed the deal. I guess he didn’t notice I pointed the knife at him as he ran straight into it. We gasped at the same time and stared at each other wide eyed. I didn’t want to do this, but he gave me no other choice. I released the knife and watched as Wonwoo fell to his knees, starting to cry. He was begging me for forgiveness and asking me to love him, but I couldn’t hear him. My ears were ringing.

“Byeol! Byeol!” I was screaming at the top of my lungs, throat scratchy from getting chocked. I heard a faint meow coming from the living room and ran inside, looking for my cat, “Byeol, please come here!”

And she showed up, she crawled out from underneath the sofa and ran up to me, coming into my arms as I picked her up. I shushed her and ran towards the front door, not sparing another glance inside the kitchen as I grabbed my phone from Yerim’s hoodie’s pocket. I stumbled off the stairs on the porch as I started getting light headed, but I managed to dial the police.

“112, what’s your emergency?”

Masterlist

[sissytobitch10seconds]

As It Was

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy Summary: Lila's in too much emotional distress to be any good on this mission, so Five has gone to the next best person. Who else would he take with him on a mission where he could get stranded than the man that has always kept him grounded in reality? Thankfully this time Viktor doesn't have much to loose. Warnings: Isolation, mentions of stomach-related illnesses, injuries, medical malpractice, and trans characters being forced to de-transition due to lack of healthcare Word Count: 8,088 Ship(s): Five Hargreeves/Viktor Hargreeves

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A/N: I don't care if you didn't like Season 4. I did, I loved a lot of it and think that the people who didn't like it are being too loud and making fandom not fun anymore. If you didn't like it, you're still welcome to read this fic but I do. not. want. to. hear. about. it. I will block you. This is simply a fiktor reimagining of the Subway plotline because I have done a lot of fiktor reimaginings for other events in this show. That being said, I hope that you can enjoy this! Stay sissy and bitchy everyone <3

When Five approached Lila with the proposition, her initial reaction was to immediately agree to go with him. She knew that the world was ending, it was something that always happened when all the Hargreeves were back together. She had been partially to blame for causing it the second time, when Viktor had been kidnapped and then blown up the FBI building in a torture-and-LSD infused rage. She had pushed for it in the first timeline too, by coaching certain people to make mistakes when it came to correcting the timeline. An event that big being mishandled would have gotten her mother a promotion, and she was taught her entire life that was a good thing. She knew that with the Hargreeves, there was an apocalypse to be solved. She had been itching for one since the twins were born and she was doomed to another two agonizing years o the kids being so little that they needed her at the home all the time. She wanted to have a crisis to solve, she wanted it so badly that she could feel it in her teeth.

She also knew that she couldn’t handle it. Not only had she aged what felt like an entire lifetime in the half a decade that they had spent in the new universe, but she’d given birth to three kids. She still had the mind of a trained assassin that would be able to deduce what was going on in a scene within minutes of arriving and talking to a couple of people, but she wasn’t sure that her body would be able to keep up with that big of a fight. She also knew that her children were depending on her and she wanted to be the mother that she’d never actually gotten to experience. The twins had toddler gymnastics and Grace had ballet, like they did every single week since they were two years younger. Grace had told her that she loved spending time with her mom after they had dropped the twins off and it was just the two of them in the car, and the thought of letting her daughter down like that ate her from the inside out.

“I have to get back to my family,” Lila said.

“I thought that I was part of your family,” Five huffed, a bit indignantly.

“Why do you want to save the world so badly this time, anyway? When the end of everything was staring you in the face and we had been offered a way to fix it all you kept spouting on and on about how another version of you had told you not to save the world,” Lila retorted. It was so much easier to bring it back to Five and his issues instead of admitting that even though she was bored out of her mind being a housewife, she wouldn’t trade being a mother for a single thing in the entire world or any timeline.

“I finally know what it’s like to live a life! The rest of you got the chance to do that when you were dumped into the sixties, well, not you specifically,” he waved his hand at her dismissively. He ran a hand through his long hair, which she sincerely hoped that he was going to get cut again when he was finished snooping around in the Keepers meetings that she was infiltrating to keep herself busy. “Look, I jumped forward to an apocalyptic wasteland when I was thirteen. I had to make my own way for the next forty-five years, which meant that every moment was spent working to keep myself alive instead of having the normal human experiences. Then I spent a grueling month fighting to stop apocalypses, or let them happen in the case of the Kugelblitz. I never got the chance to know what it was like to be an adult growing up in the world or a human interacting with and meeting new humans without being a member of an Academy. I just got a taste of that these last few years and I want to experience that longer. So I need your help.”

“Why my help specifically?” she asked, raising a brow at him. While it was true that she had kind of forced him down into the time-travel railway before, but that was before she had been reminded of the things that she had to do today. She also remembered the whole ordeal that he had gone through when it came to time traveling without the Commission and briefcase backing him up. She couldn't get lost for any amount of time, not when it might cause her children to start forgetting what type of perfume she used or the way that she laughed. That was what had happened to her with her own parents, she knee the pain that someone went through when they had to face that.

“Because you know how to do missions with exceedingly high levels of efficiency. We may never have worked together, but I did see your name on the leaderboard for most missions done in a day. You were just underneath me,” Five replied.

“Is that a compliment?” Lila asked, waggling her eyebrows at him. She turned around just in time to see Diego and Luther start arguing about something they likely agreed on. She watched the way that Diego’s hands made chopping motions in the air and then how he cupped the head of the stuffed reindeer that he had under his arm. He loved their children so much, he never let them see a sour face despite how much he hated the dead-end, abusive job that he had taken so that he could support them. She loved that man, even if they needed a second apart from each other so that they could figure out the whole mess that their marriage had become.

“It’s the closest thing that you’re going to get from me. That and the admission that you appear to make Diego actually happy,” Five said as he turned in the same direction that she had.

She looked back to him and then stared at her husband. She was a bit worried that she was going to be too intense with that look and accidentally turn on the laser-eyes that she apparently had. She really needed to figure out why she was doing that and how to control it. The last thing she wanted to happen was to cut a person in half when she didn’t want to. “Do you think so?”

Five tilted his head from side to side as he contemplated what he was going to say next. “Well, you don’t really make him happy any longer.”

Lila felt that burning shame in her belly grow even stronger than it had before. She felt it creep up her cheeks and neck so that they were flushed bright red as she put her hands on her hips. “What is that supposed to mean, you little creep?”

“It means that I can see the bullshit he’s putting up with and how miserable he is. You were frustrated with your extended family and the domestic life that was forced upon you, so you decided to have ‘book club’. He doesn’t have anything like that. He goes to work at a job that he hates, that doesn’t respect him and that’s incredibly repetitive. He then comes home to a wife that doesn’t give a shit about him to take care of three kids under the age of ten to give you a break since you did mothering all day and have to get out of the house,” Five replied.

“So?” she asked as she folded her arms over her chest. She could see where he was going with this and she understood what he meant, but she wanted to push him further so that she could deny it a little bit longer. It was so much easier to pretend that she and Diego were absolutely fine that to face the reality that their marriage was falling apart.

“So, he’s bored and boxed into a life that he never wanted. Did you know that he and Viktor had a punk band before Dad sent him to Europe to go to music school? He ditched it and the band broke up because he loved missions so much. The change from being respected, to some extent, and able to help people to only ever being loved by his children has to be difficult,” Five commented. “Perhaps you should have talked to Diego about the high-adrenaline enrichment that you were doing for yourself before you decided that he wasn’t worth it.”

“I love Diego too!” Lila scoffed indignantly. Her husband was the light of her life, he had drawn out a part of her that she had never known existed and then stood steadily by her side as it flourished and flowered.

“You don’t show it. Telling him that you want to take a break because all he does is complain instead of listening to those complaints and assuring him that you don’t hate the way that his body is changing or helping him to fulfill his own needs is not love,” Five informed her.

She knew that she was right, those words struck through her faster than the bullets her mother had pumped into her body when she had turned into more trouble that she was worth. Still, it hurt just as much and she quickly became defensive of her actions. “What would you know about marriage and love?”

Five’s eyes sparked with a kind of fire that she had never seen before. He leaned forward as he spoke to her with a seething hatred. “More than you ever will, Lila. Now I’m going to go find someone else to help me stop this goddamn apocalypse while you reconcile with the husband you allegedly love.”

---

As Five turned on his heel and walked away from Lila, his heart ached. He saw himself in her more than he would ever admit and yet after all this time, she was still so hostile towards him. They both knew isolation, him through the apocalypse and her through being the only child to grow up at the Commission Headquarters. They both knew what it was to work as an assassin that had to choose the life of a couple of the lives of the many. They knew each other inside and out, and yet that similarity had only served to drive them further and further away from each other as time went on.

Five had let himself drift away from his family again. He had romanticized them in his head when he had been fighting so hard to get back to them and out of the Commission. He had forgotten how awful it was to be around Luther and Diego when all they were doing was bickering with each other, how moral-detonating Klaus’ most recent relapse for them could be, the sickening way that Allison thought she was better than all of them even though she no longer had a superpower that allowed her to get whatever she wanted simply by asking for it. Viktor was the only person that was the exact person he remembered in his mind, likely because they had spent the most amount of time together.

Over the last five years in the new universe, he had seen some changes in his brother. Viktor’s body had changed, with his voice deepening and his muscle redistributing itself with the changes in his hormonal balances. His face was more angular and beginning to grow the shadow of a beard as well, especially since they had been working too hard for either of them to find a moment where they could step aside and shave. He had changed quite a lot as a person, too. He was still sweet, caring, and shy as he had been when they were children. However, the amount of shyness that came out of him had been crumbled down into a tenth of what it had been when Five was still living with the rest of the Umbrellas. He was able to stick up for himself against their father, and was quick to defend himself when someone said something unfair.

Five liked the new version of his brother, enough so that it was reigniting feelings that he thought he had long since put away. He had Delores when he was in the apocalypse, but he also had Viktor’s voice ringing through his head in the form of the book that he carried around with him as a reminder about why he had to go home. Those things had kept him alive, and then he had been allowed to find meaning and purpose on his own. Those things were being threatened right now, and that scared the absolute shit out of him.

He hadn’t been that scared in a long time, not since he was a child that barely knew anything outside of missions and the two walls of his home. He knew that he had to do something about it, so he spotted Viktor standing near Allison and Luther and then immediately rushed towards him. He placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder to get his attention and then jerked his head in another direction to show what he wanted.

Viktor peeled away from the siblings that he had since grown closer to, walking a few feet away with Five. “What’s going on, are you okay?” Viktor asked.

“Not really, but I’m surprised that you were able to tell that,” Five huffed. He bit the insides of his cheeks as he realized just how sour and bitter it sounded while coming out of his mouth. He had meant to be saying something that would subtly manipulate Viktor into coming with him because he was the only other person in all of the universes and timelines that Five could imagine going on a dangerous trip with. If he hadn’t gotten antsy all those years ago and blurted it out during breakfast only to have to make a point for his thirteen-year-old pride, he would have taken Viktor with him the first time too.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Viktor asked, reeling back with an indignant expression on his face. Five didn’t fault him, what he had said was objectively rude.

“You’ve been spending an awful lot of time with Allison since this entire endeavor went down. I’m just surprised that you were able to notice a change in my behavior due to that,” he replied as he tried to get the topic back to where he had wanted it to be originally. “I’m glad that you noticed, Viktor, I really am.”

“I’ve been spending a lot of time with Allison because I think that she feels guilty for the way that she treated me in the other timeline. She’s been hanging around me like a bad smell and I’m kind of okay with it. It’s nice to be the person that has to do no work in the relationship, you know?” Viktor shrugged.

As Five looked at him, he saw the twelve-year-old that had sat beside him one day after a mission, bawling his eyes out. He had baked a cake with their mother that day as a special surprise for them, a desperate plea for his family to pay any attention to him so that he didn’t have to be so alone. When the siblings had found out that he was the one that had done the baking, they had all eaten a lot slower and more cautiously, like they were expecting him to somehow have poisoned them. Of course it would be more appealing to Viktor for his siblings to reach out to him when it had been the other way around for his entire life. It was simply another piece of the confidence that he had gained post-medication and coming out.

“I’m glad that she’s the one reaching out. What she did to you was borderline feral and not okay on several levels. I wouldn’t give her as much slack if I didn’t know how hard it was to be a person out of time when you belong to a minority,” Five said. “That being said, I would like to ask you to do just that with me.”

“What do you mean?” Viktor immediately responded. His head snapped towards Five and his dark eyes bore into the other man’s mind, as if trying to read his thoughts from a simple glance. 

It was a startling thing that Five had asked, he knew that for certain. It was frightening enough to be a queer woman back in the sixties, but it was another thing entirely to be a transgender man in any other time (and sometimes including) their own present. “I want to fix the apocalypse. I want to go back and stop the one thing that got us all into this mess so that we can come out the other side alright,” he said.

“Do we even know what’s causing the end of the world this time? Other than Ben and Jennifer, I mean,” Viktor said. The whole explanation that they had gotten from Abigail and Reginald concerning the end of the world had made very little sense to them this time around. Five was sure that they would end up figuring it out, but it wasn’t much to go off of for what he was asking.

“I was thinking that if we go back in time and either reset the universe, if we can find that place again, or stop Ben and Jennifer from touching each other in the van, then we can figure out how to stop The Cleanse from coming,” Five said. 

“I don’t know, Five, it sounds kind of weak. The last time that we went back in time it also didn’t end well,” Viktor shuffled awkwardly. “Are you sure that this is worth all the hassle?”

“Like I just explained to Lila, I want to fight for this life I have. It’s not everything that I had dreamed it was going to be, but it’s still something. I want to be able to have the chance to grow up in a world with other people, where I can have a job to sustain myself instead of having to dig through cans of exploded food and prey that my next meal doesn’t give me botulism,” Five said. He hadn’t realized how desperate he was for all of those things until they were spilling from him with no stop in sight. By the time that he had finished, his chest was having and his mind felt feral.

Viktor reached out and placed his hands on Five’s shoulders, enough to snap his brain out of the haze of memories that were pouring back in. It was so hard to be sick on his own, to be vomiting and not knowing if he was going to be able to find clean water in time to replace the water he had lost, or aching from an infection and hoping against all hope that the penicillin he had made himself would cure him. He had so much terror inside of him, for so long, that it was addicting to live in a world where he could finally be calm and sheltered from the horrors.

“Five, I don’t know if this is going to work. I don’t want you messing around with time and us getting sent somewhere worse. Dad has an idea for how we can get Jennifer and Ben back to him. Maybe Abigail will come up with an idea to extract the durango and shoot it into space or something,” Viktor said.

“What if we could save Ben in another timeline? Stop him from dying?” Five asked. It was kind of stupid, but he had seen the way that their choices butterflied into the future for their family. Clearly, Ben and Jennifer were linked. Viktor had informed him of the memories that Allison and Luther had recovered from that last meeting. If their father had killed Ben before he had even touched Jennifer, then there was a chance that something more was going on that the old man was leading them to believe.

“Wha-what?” Viktor asked. “I thought that Dad just killed him because he was an asshole.”

“Dad was a total dickhead, but that was because he had no regard for other people’s emotions and thoughts outside of his plan. He used our feelings to manipulate us, which was why he brainwashed our siblings on what happened on that mission. He wouldn’t have killed one of us when he needed seven to reset the universe. Even if he knew about Lila or the Sparrows or Phoenixes or whatever, there was very little chance that he would have been able to get them,” Five explained.

He could see the cogs whirring in Viktor’s head as he considered the proposition that Five was laying out for him. The three of them had bee thick as thieves, the people at the end of Reginald’s ranking and the ones that were most prone to studying. Five was certain that after he left, Ben had picked up the slack and chosen to continue to stick by Viktor’s side until Klaus became the one that needed deliberate and constant saving.

Viktor’s lips pursed as he sunk his hands down into his pocket. He turned out towards the fake little town that Reginald had made to hide Jennifer. They had thought that returning there may have helped them find some more clues, but it seemed as though the rest of the agents that they hadn’t managed to kill had come and cleaned everything up in their wake. The town was nothing but peeling paint signs and boarded up windows, waiting for the next purpose that the owner would happen to bestow upon it.

“Okay. Let’s do it,” Viktor nodded. He spoke with his hands despite the fact that they were in his pockets, which was one of the cutest things that Five had ever seen in his entire life. “Ben saved me, when we were in Dallas. He was able to come into my mind and get me to remember my memories so that my powers stopped freaking out and trying to kill everything that they saw as a threat. I think that he deserves a chance to live too, it’s the least that I can do to repay him.”

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say that you were in love with him,” Five joked. It hurt to think about, that the person he had longed after for years, so much that his heart hurt with the effort of it all, had fallen in love with the friend that he had cherished second most in the entire world. He knew that he had left Viktor and Ben behind, but part of him had always hoped that there was a chance Viktor would wait for him. He knew that was stupid, no one would be able to love their thirteen-year-old bodied adopted brother. Still, the idea hit him in the back of the head like a sledgehammer every time it popped back into his mind.

“There was a time where we kind of were. I mean, I’m pretty sure that there’s no a duo in the entire family that hasn’t been tried out once or twice. Well, maybe Luther and anyone who isn’t Allison,” Viktor shrugged. “The only person that he kissed other than her before you came back was Klaus and that was supposed to be for ‘practice,’ but I think that Klaus was just pitting us all against each other to see who was best.”

“Man, this family is so fucking weird,” Five shook his head. He took a deep breath and then rolled his shoulders before he stuck his hand out to his brother. “Are you ready for this?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Viktor replied. He grasped Five’s hand as tightly as he could, squeezing his eyes shut as he prepared for the feeling of the teleportation. Five’s body was made to be dragged through time and space, he had never had to deal with the spins that way that Lila and Allison had. He also didn’t get nauseous or dizzy when he jumped unless someone had done something that caused him to correct while mid-jump. He knew that Viktor didn’t have the same protections on his body, which was why he was bracing himself so hard.

Five reached deep down into his body, to where the marigold was now nestled within his heart. He took a deep breath as he summoned it up so that it was pooling around them in purple energy. They appeared in the subway a moment later, the marigold settling back down where it belonged inside of him.

Viktor dropped his hand and began to look around the same way that Five had when he first appeared. The subway station looked exactly as it had the last several times that he had visited. The tile was white on the floors and the walls, the ceiling was concrete except for the pipes and electrical wires that lined it, fueling the hanging fluorescent lights and vending machines that dotted the terminal. The entire place was clean, despite the lack of people or perhaps because of it. None of the signs were in English or any other language that Five had seen during his time traveling the earth, but they fit the theme of the place well.

“Woah… Do you think that this is the same kind of thing that the Commission was made out of?” Viktor asked. He started forward, toward the massive map that wrapped around one of the wall pillars in the middle of the room.

“What do you mean?” Five asked as he walked after his brother. He had picked Viktor for a reason and this was exactly that, Viktor was already picking up on things that he had dismissed or not even considered. A second set of eyes were better than none, which was another reason that he had decided not to go it alone like he had many times before.

“Well, you kept saying that the Commission was a place out of time and that was how they managed to preserve the timeline,” Viktor said. “If this place can travel between multiple timelines and points in time, then it has to be something like the Commission. Did time move when you were here? Like for the rest of us.”

“No, it didn’t,” Five replied. He felt his brows furrow as his mind began to whirl with thoughts. “I never got the chance to ask the other version of myself why he had created the Commission or how. It’s something drilled into you from the minute that you start working there, that some things just don’t make sense and never will. I suppose that there was a chance that the other version of myself found a way to enhance his powers so much that he created a pocket of the timeline that was removed from it. Maybe he just saved up enough of his power that he was able to travel here. There were doors that we weren’t allowed to access in the main building where all the briefcases and the safe room were kept, it’s likely that there was an entrance to a place like this or this very subway system.”

Viktor began to run the tip of his finger over one of the lines as his eyes followed it. Someone else may have quickly gotten lost, but Viktor was a musician. His mind had been trained to follow a single line of notes even if the piece that he was reading was covered in other information. It was exciting for Five to watch him trail around the board until he tapped a circle and turned to his brother, “What is this?”

“I believe that those are the stations. If you look over here, there’s a sign pointing to this one in the same language as all of the street signs,” Five said as he tapped the glass on the other side of the pillar from Viktor. 

“Do you know how to read that language?” Viktor asked.

“I do not, but I was able to fine this,” he peaked around so that they were on the same side as he brandished the directional pamphlet like it was the mos important thing that had ever existed in any of the timelines.

Viktor took it from his hands and then opened it so that his eyes could scan over the layouts and the rails. “Wow, I never realized how often the timelines intersected with each other,” he commented.

“I suppose that they have to, since every minor decision that the catalyst for this grouping makes splits it into two or more,” Five shrugged. He stepped behind Viktor so that their bodies were almost entirely pressed together.

Somehow that felt more natural than anything he had done in a good long while, so he let himself remain there despite the fluttering anxiety in his stomach. Viktor leaned back into him with as minute movements as he could manage while they tried to decipher the timeline that they could arrive in.

“I think that we need to take this as carefully as we can. We shouldn’t go to any of the other timelines unless we absolutely have to. I don’t want to fuck anything else up, and I’m pretty good at that,” Viktor commented as he flipped the pamphlet over to look at the other side.

“I don’t think that us simply being in another timeline is going to cause issues,” Five shrugged.

“Five,” Viktor replied, giving him a disbelieving and disappointed look.

“What?” Five asked, raising a brow at him. The urge to kiss his cheek overwhelmed him all at once. He almost took a half step back to resist it, but he didn’t know if it would actually work or if raising his foot from where it was planted would send him forward and directly into Viktor’s perfect arms.

“You should know better than anyone that messing with one thing can cause the rest of the timeline tumbling down around it,” he replied. He placed his hands on his hips and looked cross, making a pretty good imitation of what Grace, their robot nanny not their niece, had looked like when she was reprimanding them for breaking something.

“Since when have you become the expert on time travel and apocalypses? Last I checked, I was the only one in this subway station that has actually worked for the Commission,” Five said as he glanced around. If he had brought Lila then she wouldn’t have fought him on this idea so much, but he knew that Viktor was the better option. Out of all their siblings, he was the one that could fight the longest and the hardest while keeping Five grounded properly.

“I’ve started enough end of times to know their insides and outsides,” Viktor joked with a lopsided smile.

Five felt like his breath had been stolen from his lungs and he just nodded his head mutely. “What do you think we should do, then?”

“I think that we should try to work out how this map works, get a good idea of where each of the subways might go, and then try that out,” Viktor said. A studious look overcame his face as he leaned closer to the map so that he could keep track of each of the tiny glowing lines that spanned the surface of the map.

---

Year 1

Time travel had always been taught to them as something that was unattainable. None of them had been allowed to read any sci-fi books that contained the subject, and now Viktor understood why. It was fine and good for people that could never attain that ability to dream about what it might be like and the adventures that could occur, but it was dangerous in the hands of someone that could actually do that.

Despite all the studying that they had done and the pamphlet that they carried around with them, they had still gotten lost. The subways had a mind of their own and they traveled where they wished, not where the voice over the subway or the signs said that they were going. They kept track of the stations that they ended up at, but Viktor still refused to have them go above ground.

They began to make food out of the subway rats so that they could sustain themselves without hunger gnawing at their guts. Viktor was able to get them oranges and chips and candy out of the vending machines when they landed in a station that had enough quality food for them to actually get. It wasn’t the life that he had wanted to lead after all his fighting to make something soft for himself, but he had his best friend with him so it was alright.

They changed in minute ways, for the most part. There was no way that Viktor was going to be able to get the testosterone that he had been taking while they were traveling. Time felt basically meaningless, but he knew that they had been down there for quite some time when he saw that his body was changing its muscle and fat deposit back to what it had been when he could barely even look at his own body. His face and abs softened, his hips widened again. He hated the way he looked but he was glad it was only Five with him, so that they could share complaints about shaggy hair and grimy bodies. Viktor had gotten top surgery during the time that they had spent without their powers in the new universe and so he didn’t notice the beginning of his cycle returning until he woke up with his shorts entirely drenched in blood.

It was the first time that he had let Five upstairs, out of the subway and into the world longer than just to check to see if it was the right one. 

Year 2

Viktor had no idea how things had lasted as long as they did. They began to go up onto the surface for longer stretches of time, to begin to make sure that every single option was crossed off. They would explore the town until they happened across either an alternate version of themselves or an entirely different version of the Academy compared to what they were used to.

Some of the timelines had been very different to the ones that they were used to, which meant that they tried to correct by moving back to one of the timelines that was closer to what they believed was the timeline that they had come from. They still had the pamphlet that they had arrived with, but at this point all the lines and characters didn’t make any more sense than they had when they had first arrived.

They carried backpacks with them now, supplies that they had gotten from the surface when they had ventured up there for the second longest time since they had first arrived. They went up to get things for their survival now, like bottled water and more food than the rats and vending machine food that they had been subsisting off of for the year previous.

As they chugged down another one of the seemingly infinite tunnels, Viktor felt his body sagging and soon found his head resting on Five’s shoulder. It felt just as natural as it had back when they were children and caused the tension and nerves in his shoulders to relax entirely. He let his hand drop down in between them and then felt another palm meet his own. He tilted his head up just enough to see the serene expression that had taken over Five’s face. Was this what it would have been like if Five had taken him with the first time that he had time traveled?

Year 3

It was bound to happen eventually, but when one of them finally got sick it was the most terrifying thing that had happened in a long time. They had been camped out at the edge of the surface of a timeline that they hadn’t explored that much when Five woke up with a sweaty body and a blotchy red face. Viktor had seen that happen enough when they were children to know that Five had picked something up.

Viktor strayed out into the timeline to find that it was one where something had happened, not one where they were waiting for that thing to happen. All of the people seemed to have just gotten up and left the town that they had lived in, leaving behind literally everything that wasn’t attached to them. The cash was all still in the till, the electricity and water worked as well as it could when the maintenance team for the city had gone as well. Viktor was able to pick up medicine and supplies from the local hospital before he returned to the house that he and Five were staying at.

It was a nice enough place, even if it was extremely disconcerting that there was literally no one around them. He enjoyed the silence, finally able to shake the rattling of the subway cars moving around them or next to them out of his head. He kept Five’s fever down by dosing him with a fever reducer and soaking his neck and feet in cold water whenever his temperature got a little too high.

By the time it was over, Viktor felt like he had seen a piece of Five that was the closest to his soul that he was ever going to get. They had their backpacks loaded with the supplies that they would need for the next stretch of journey that they took as they tried to find their original timeline.

Year 4

Injuries had become commonplace, but that didn’t mean that Viktor liked what was happening very much. He had his hands down on the ground, gripping the wall behind him so that he didn’t reach out and attack Five for simply trying to help. His boots were off his feet and next to him on the ground, which was the only thing that he was able to look at and yet still reminded him of the thing he was trying to put out of his mind in the first place. Five had a pair of pliers carefully gripped in his fingers, his eyes hardened by the seriousness of the situation and how dedicated he was to the task at hand.

“Ow! That fucking hurts, you asshole,” he growled. He let go of the pillar with one hand and then covered his mouth with his sleeve. Despite how grimy and gross he was from the stretch of nasty subway stations that they had traveled through, he let the fabric fall into his mouth and bit down onto it as hard as he could.

“Well I told you to be careful when you were walking through that glass and you chose not to listen to me,” Five replied, his voice distant and unsteady because of how dedicated he was to the task at hand.

“Not all of us can just pop over it, Five, I had to get there somehow,” Viktor replied. His own voice was tense with the pain and discomfort as he felt the shard of glass being pulled out of the bottom of his foot. Once it was finally over, when he heard the tinkling sound of it hitting the subway floor, he slumped down onto the ground and groaned. “Next time one of us gets hurt, I think that we should just try and find a doctor.”

“Or we could just not get hurt,” Five offered as he began to wrap up the wound with the antiseptic that they had stolen two timelines ago. He laughed when he saw the unamused look that Viktor gave him.

Year 5

Sleeping had never felt like it was something that they had to risk while they were traveling. It was something that came naturally to them, despite the strange place that they had found themselves in. They were only ever in trouble when they went up to the surface because the gates leading down into the subway never let anyone down. They had encountered a handful of people that had chased them to the subway but hadn’t been able to follow after them, or had landed in their own version of the terminal. It was impossible to know for sure, but they did know that they were safe with each other.

The worst that they had ever faced when they were down in the subway and trying to sleep was a surprise train showing up, or the rats that skittered everywhere. They always woke when the rats arrived to make sure that they didn’t get bitten, when Five had during their second year it had almost turned gangrenous, and so that they they could hunt the animals. They were abel to get a decent amount of food from the surface, but nothing enough to fill their bellies with enough energy that they could continue on steadily.

Viktor liked the way that they were sleeping with each other, it felt like it had when they were children. Five had used to pop into Viktor’s room and then cuddle under the fluffy comforter and thick quilts that Grace had placed over their beds. When they had gotten caught like that and Viktor lost the privilege of sleeping with his door shut, they had begun to do it a little differently.

Five would teleport down to Viktor’s room and then bring him upstairs before someone could even notice that he was absent from his bed. They would set up some of the thick quilts down on the ground and then lay next to each other underneath the sheets and comforter, cuddled together for warmth on the floor of their drafty house. That’s what it felt like they were doing now, with several woolen blankets underneath them to support their aging bodies and Five’s arms wrapped around Viktor’s waist to keep them both warm.

Nothing felt more natural than loving Five and taking care of him, he was sure that nothing ever would again.

Year 6

“I’m tired,” Viktor sighed as he let his head hit the pillar behind him. “I’m not sure that I want to do this anymore.”

“What do you mean by that?” Five asked. He gently set down the stick that he had been using to move around the rat that they were eating for dinner that night. “The rats may not be very palatable after all this time, but they taste better than hunger.”

“They taste like hunger,” Viktor said. The two of them smiled at each other, laughing silently in their eyes at the inside joke. “You don’t have to worry about me offing myself, I would never leave you here alone. At least, not if I could help it.”

“I don’t like to think about you dying,” Five shook his head. “You gave me enough of a scare when you slipped underneath the train car while we were trying to get dinner three months ago.”

Viktor sighed again, “I still don’t know how you manage to keep track of time while we’re down here. I thought I was going to be able to feel the differences in the timelines based on the amount of marigold there, but we’re too close to the rest of them. When we’re on the main track like this,” he pulled out the pamphlet and then pointed towards the massive jumbled line of color in the middle. He took another deep breath, “When we’re here it’s all so loud. I feel like they’re rattling around in my chest and they’ve been doing it for so long that I can’t hear any difference.”

Five was quiet for a while before he asked, “Do you remember where we went when I was sick? The timeline where everyone had vanished but there was no destruction or havoc?”

“Of course I do. You being that sick was one of the scariest things to happen while we were down here,” Viktor replied with a nod.

“I think that we should go back there. We should try to backtrack as far out of the main set of timelines as we can, to give you a break. I want to have one too, but I can’t imagine how loud all this has to be for you to deal with,” Five said. He was speaking pragmatically, but his tone was still softer than it usually was.

“Why are you so concerned about me?” Viktor asked, folding the pamphlet back up and setting it down next to them.

“You know why,” Five mumbled.

“I think that I would prefer to hear you say it out loud,” Viktor said. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest and he knew that this time it was from anticipation and excitement instead of another panic attack that was trying to murder him before the surface did.

Five turned to him properly, dropping the stick down to the ground. He brought his soot-coated hand up to Viktor’s face and brushed his thumb over the other man’s cheekbone. Slowly, they both leaned closer together until their lips had touched. Their mouths moved in perfect synchronicity, open and closed, back and forth. It was the most love and care that either of them had ever received in their entire lives and it was exactly the thing that had kept them alive all this time.

Year 7

“Viktor?” Five called through the greenhouse that they had made into their home. 

They had stayed there longer than the couple of days that they had promised each other. It didn’t feel wrong anymore, not when they had suffered through so much to get there. They made things out of the items that they scavenged from the subway and the houses around them. Viktor had been able to get new clothing, jeans and a comfortable t-shirt that had a band he had never heard of it on the front. Five was in a Henley and a pair of slacks, something that he said made him very happy. They had matching golden bands that they had taken from a jewelry shop across time too, the one that had the alarm going off even to that day despite the fact that there was no owner and no cops to come and investigate.

“Yes, love?” he asked as he set the watering can down. He didn’t have a lot of things to do in the new place since there were no other people, but he had picked up the violin and gardening. The music helped the plants grow, or at least that was his theory since everything was so much more lush and green since he had arrived.

“I found something that I think may be of interest to you,” he replied as he pulled a notebook out of the back of his pocket. “This is what I was using to keep track of the timelines that we crossed while we were searching for the one that might have brought us back to the original.

“I don’t think that one exists, but this could help us get back to our siblings. We wouldn’t have to be alone anymore,” Viktor beamed.

“Are you feeling up for it?” Five asked. The worry that creased his brow was cute, so Viktor stepped off the stool he had been on to reach the strawberries in the back and then kissed the lines away. He was met with another pair of lips on his, which filled his heart with so much love that he felt like it might burst.

“I am. I want to go back to where we belong, with people and answers and our siblings,” Viktor smiled.

“Hopefully they haven’t managed to fuck anything up in the time that we’ve been gone. However long that is for them,” Five said. He caught another kiss before the two of them delved into conversation about what they would need to take with them when they began the second part of their two-person odyssey. 

[heavyhitterheaux]

Already Best Friends

AN: jealousy is never a good look 😘💕

Synopsis: When your "best friend" becomes jealous of how much attention you've been getting from a certain rapper, she takes matters into her own hands to break the two of you up

Pairing: Jack Harlow x Reader

Please Do Not Repost My Content Anywhere

"Come on Y/N. Don't make me go by myself!" Camila pleaded with you when all you wanted to do was watch Netflix and go to sleep.

"How in the world did you get invited anyway?" You curiously asked while raising an eyebrow at her.

"A friend of a friend who happens to know Drake and he said I can bring you, so come on and get dressed."

"I don't know about this."

"This will be good for you. All you ever do is work, you can have fun for one night."

She did have a point and you simply sighed.

"Fine."

Camila squealed before running to your closet to pick you out something to wear as you threw the comforter away from you and began to make your way over to the bathroom in order to take a shower.

Once you had finished, you put on your robe before walking back out into your room to see Camila putting on her earrings and mumbling to herself as you took notice of the dress that she had laid out for you on your bed.

"You think I have a chance of being Drake's next baby mama?" She asked and you honestly couldn't tell if she was being serious or not.

"Uh, Camila…."

"My best friend has to hype me up so I'm waiting."

"If that's the desire of your heart, go for it." You said while shrugging and beginning to put on lotion.

"Okay, I'll leave you to get dressed. Just let me know if you need any help with your hair." She said while making her way out of your room.

You hoped that missing a day of work was worth it.

You usually worked seven days a week. 

You taught ballet classes for 4 to 6 year olds during Monday through Thursday and then danced at Blue Flame from Friday to Sunday and picked up whenever you could.

It was tiring, but you had to make a living and you had to support your mom and your siblings.

Ever since your father passed away it's been hard and a lot of what you wanted to do with your life was put on the back burner.

Now you were just trying to survive.

The black dress was finally on and your hair was in a ponytail. You were slipping on your heels when Camila knocked on the door.

You told her to come in and when she did her jaw dropped on the floor.

"Maybe he needs two more baby mamas."

"Camila, no."

"Come on and live a little. Just think about how big the child support checks would be."

"Stop talking and let's go."

The two of you decided to catch an uber to Magic City in downtown Atlanta where apparently Drake's party was taking place. 

The two of you got in with no problem and of course Camila made her way to the bar first with you a few steps behind her.

Little did you know that someone was eyeing you from V.I.P. as soon as you had walked through the door. 

"What in the world are you staring at?" Urban asked his best friend since he had been distracted for the last fifteen minutes.

"That girl right there." Nodding his head in your direction.

"Well go get her."

"Hold on, I can get them to come to us." Drake said, grabbing the attention of one of the bottle girls and asked her to bring the two of you over to V.I.P.

Not even ten minutes later, you were following Camila into the V.I.P. area and she was all smiles while you just wanted to go home.

Until you made eye contact with Jack Harlow and your heart fluttered. 

He waved you over to come and sit by him while of course Camila went straight to Drake.

"What's your name, pretty girl?" 

"Y/N. And my best friend over there is Camila."

"But I didn't ask about your best friend, I asked about you. You enjoying yourself?"

"I'll be honest. I kinda wanted to stay at home and watch Netflix, but she dragged me."

"I'm happy you came, otherwise we would have never met."

This instantly made a smile come to your face.

"So tell me all about Y/N. You in school?"

"Nope."

"Okay what you do?"

"I'm a dancer and quick question, are you a cancer?"

"Hell nah. Where you dance at?"

"Blue Flame, that shit be named packed."

"Damn facts? So where your man at?"

"What's that?" You asked before you started to laugh.

"I don't need a man, she my other half. We got something not a lot of others have and I feel like I knew her from the past. I mean at this point we're like lesbians." You said and laughed once again.

"Hmm, you sure about that? Look and see for yourself."

You looked over to see Camila all over Drake and he was loving every minute of it.

"Doesn't surprise me at all. She gets like that sometimes."

"What days you dance at Blue Flame?"

"Friday through Sunday with an occasional weekday thrown in there."

"I'll be here for a few weeks so I might have to take you up on that offer."

"I'll be sure to keep an eye out for you. And private dances are extra if you were wondering. Are you in Atlanta often?" You curiously asked and Jack simply nodded.

"That's fine. You're the only person I want to see anyway. And I definitely look at it like a second home."

You were usually shy so the fact that you were just having a conversation with your celebrity crush and not falling out was surprising.

"I think I caught on since I know that you've been eyeing me since I walked through the door."

"Damn, and here I was thinking I was being discreet." Jack replied while laughing.

"It's okay. I feel that you're someone who goes after what he wants." You said and Jack moved closer to you if that was even possible.

"And what do you think I want?" He whispered in your ear and you felt the floodgates opening up down below.

"Let's take a wild guess and say me."

You don't know where all of this confidence was coming from, but you were grateful for it.

The last thing you wanted to do was look like a fool in front of him.

Jack simply laughed before kissing the shell of your ear.

"I think we have a winner."

"Hmm so, why don't we leave and I can give you a little preview of a dance I've been working on."

Without a second thought, Jack was on his feet and held out his hand to help you up.

This caught Camila's attention.

"Damn, it actually looks like my bestie is living a little. Jack, you better take care of my girl."

"You definitely don't have to worry about that." 

From that night, the two of you would talk a few days a week and any time Jack was in Atlanta, he made it a priority to see you and to check up on you. 

It just so happened that you and Camila's apartment wasn't far from his condo.

Any time he was there, that's where you were too. 

Six months had passed before you found yourself in a relationship with your celebrity crush and you were on cloud nine.

You never really expected for good things to happen to you because it seemed like when you turned 14, it was all downhill from there. 

You were just doing what you needed to do in order to survive.

You knew that it wouldn’t be like this forever,

Or did you?

A few people around Jack kind of gave him shit for wanting to be in a relationship with an exotic dancer, but he shut that all the way down. 

He liked you for you despite what your job might be or entailed. 

He knew that you were smart, had goals for yourself, took care of your mother and your little brothers, and was a good person.

The two of you were currently attempting to bake brownies at Jack's condo… or you were and Jack was just there to lick the spoon when he brought it up.

"Babe?"

"Yes?" You asked as you turned around to see your boyfriend getting the remnants of the batter out of the bowl.

"Don't take this the wrong way. I'm just genuinely curious."

"What is it?"

"You didn't always want to be an exotic dancer, I take it?"

"No, but it pays the bills and it's something I'm good at."

"Now, I'm not knocking it so please don't think that. But you've been doing this since you were eighteen. It's been six years."

"It allows me to take care of my mom and brothers. I've been working since I was fourteen. I don't know any different."

"What happened when you were fourteen?"

You took a deep breath before answering and Jack promptly slid you onto his lap.

"My dad was killed by a drunk driver. He was the breadwinner. Mom didn't work and she was basically a stay at home mother. My brothers were one and three at the time and my mom ended up having to get two jobs and I quit dancing because we couldn't afford it anymore."

"Baby…."

"My mom always told me that I danced before I could walk. Ballet was my first love and I had dreams of going to Juilliard in New York and one day becoming the first black principal dancer of the American Ballet Theater. So that dream is gone, but I teach the little ones in the hopes that they'll stick with it and do what I couldn't."

"I know you told me you have problems expressing yourself to others and I thank you for opening up to me. I know that it couldn't have been easy." Jack said as he kissed your temple.

"I figured that it was important for you to know. I just… one day I'll get out of it but for now, they're my priority."

"But what about you? What about what you want?"

"I haven't truly thought about what I wanted since I was fourteen. My dad was everything to me and when he was taken away from me, my world stopped."

"I want you to be able to focus on yourself more. You're important too and so are your goals and dreams." Jack said while playing with one of your curls that had fallen in your face.

"Jack, my goal is to make it to next week without my mom's lights being shut off and no you aren't giving me any money. I'll just dance an extra night this week to make up for it."

"But…"

"No, and the brownies should be done now, let me up." 

Jack did as he was asked and you took the brownies out of the oven and let them cool.

"Jackman, stop looking at me like that. I'll be fine."

"But baby…"

"No, you know how I don't like when people worry about me. I've been doing just fine for ten years and nothing will change."

"But something did change, you have me."

"Yes and you also have an entire career and I am not getting in the way of that."

"I can focus on my career and my girl at the same time."

"I know, just please don't think I'm being difficult. This is just… hard for me. I'm not used to someone other than my mom, brothers, and Camila caring about me so much."

"You aren't being difficult, baby. You're hurting and I'm just trying to make it better."

"And I appreciate you for it." You said while coming back over to him and taking your rightful place in his lap.

"Okay, enough with the sad stuff. I only have you for two days and I have to make the best of it." You said while bringing your lips to his.

"Just promise me something."

"What is it?"

"That you take some time out for yourself even if it's a few minutes a day and I'll let it go…. For now."

"Promise. Now we need to make our hot fudge sundaes and binge Abbott Elementary."

"Save some whipped cream so I can use it on you later."

"JACKMAN THOMAS!"

"What? What I say?"

You and Camila hadn’t been spending a lot of time with each other and she was growing jealous of your relationship with Jack.

It seemed as if you didn’t care about her anymore and she wasn’t taking that lightly.

You would go to work and hang out with him and she hardly ever saw you.

But, the thing is that she hardly ever saw you before considering that you work every single day of the week and hardly ever took off.

That night she did end up sleeping with Drake, but nothing else came out of it.

And that set her off.

She felt as if she was the entire package.

She was smart, was in school to be a teacher, and had a full-time job that didn’t require her getting half-naked for men in downtown Atlanta.

Bottom line was she thought that she was better than you.

She couldn’t understand exactly what Jack saw in you and was going to put a stop to it to the best of her ability.

If she couldn’t be happy, you definitely couldn’t be either.

So, what did she do?

Visit you at work and photoshop you in compromising pictures with different men to make it seem as if you were doing more than just giving them dances and sent it to Jack through a text message.

She waited until you took a shower and your phone was unlocked and she took that as an opportunity in order to get his number.

Camila- Jack it’s Camila, I hate to be the one to tell you this. But Y/N isn’t as innocent as she seems. I don’t want for her to string you along anymore seeing as it’s been almost eight months. I’m actually surprised that she kept it up for this long. She does more than dance for people, she sleeps with them. She’s been lying to you. I’m sorry.

Read at 4:58 pm

You were confused as to why Jack had been ignoring you and dodging your calls. You had a difficult few days and needed to talk to your boyfriend, but he was nowhere to be found. 

It wasn’t until you got this message that your entire world was crumbling right before your eyes.

Jack- Y/N, I didn’t want to do this over a text but, I have a lot of things going on and I feel as though we need to take a break from our relationship for a while.

You- Jack, where is this coming from? Did something happen? Let me know so I can fix it

Jack- I didn’t realize you did more than dance with your clients

You- What the hell is that supposed to mean? Baby, please explain because I don’t understand.

Jack- The fact that you thought you could be in a relationship with me and fuck other people is beyond me, so we’re done

You- Jack, I have no idea who told you that, but it isn’t true

You- Come on, don’t do this to us

You- Jack, please just call me so I can explain. I don’t understand why someone would tell you that because it isn’t true. 

You- Baby, please answer me

Tears immediately filled your eyes and you were beyond confused and you then realized that Jack had blocked your number.

And to think you told your mom and grandmother about him.

And that he wanted to bring you to Kentucky to spend Thanksgiving with his family.

All for it to come crashing down around you.

And that was why you didn’t get excited when certain things happened in your life anymore.

It was only a matter of time before something would happen and then you were once again left with a broken heart. So of course you confided in Camila.

“Mila, I don’t understand what happened.”

“He’s a celebrity, Y/N. What do you mean you don’t understand? He’s busy, baby.”

“But, everything was going so well and I really like him and I…”

“Don’t tell me you were falling in love with him.”

“But I was. He really saw me for me and understood me. I can’t even tell you the last time that has happened to me. Why would someone tell him that?”

“It’s going to be okay, boo. You have me and you know I’m never going anywhere. You didn’t need him to begin with.”

“But, Mila. I do need him. More than ever right now.”

“You don’t need anyone who doesn’t need you. Now wipe those tears and let’s go see a movie before you have to go in for your shift.” Camila said while hugging you.

“I love you, Mila. Thank you for being the one person that I can always count on.”

“Of course, baby girl. I am always going to be here for you. Until the end of time and even after that. All we need is each other.”

The last time that you had that conversation with Jack was two months ago and you were going through it.

Your grandmother had been in and out of the hospital and the latest news was that she fell and broke her hip and was going to need surgery as well as rehab.

You were now teaching the little ones during the day in the morning and going to Blue Flame every night to help cover the medical bills since her insurance would only pay for so much.

You found yourself crying a lot of the time because you were so overwhelmed and you honestly missed Jack.

It didn’t make sense as to why someone would hurt you this way, but you couldn’t change the past and had to do your best to move forward. 

You had just gotten to the hospital to visit your grandmother and you noticed that your mother and brothers were also in the room.

“Hey, we were wondering when we were going to see you.” Your mother said as you leaned down to hug her.

“Just got caught up, but I’m okay. Just been busy. You know I’m always going to come and see about all of you.”

When you got done greeting your mother, you immediately were embraced by your two younger brothers who were squeezing you for dear life.

“We missed you.”

“I missed you too. And I’m going to try and do my best to take you both out Saturday to Dave and Busters. How does that sound?”

They immediately nodded as they both went back to sit down on the couch in the corner and play on their phones. 

The last thing that you ever wanted to do was just send money to them and for them and not actually spend time with them. No matter how tired you were, your brothers were a priority in your eyes. 

You then made your way over to your grandmother and sat next to her while your brothers were showing your mother something on instagram. 

“Something’s wrong with you.”

“Hi to you too, nana.”

“I’m just concerned is all, you’re my middle grandchild but my favorite. Just don’t tell the others.” She said, whispering in your ear and making you laugh.

“I’ve just been overwhelmed.”

“That boy did something didn’t he?”

“NANA!”

“I know he did, my hip might be broken, but when I get out of rehab, I’m kicking his ass for hurting my grandchild.”

“It’s fine, nana. I just… I’m focusing on myself.”

“But you really liked him and I was excited to meet him so he better get his shit together and make me a great grandmother.”

“I did, but I mean. I’ll find someone else eventually. And I’m ignoring that last part.”

“Girl, please. You know you want him and only him. I’ll stop picking with you for now, but do me a favor and drop his address when I get out of rehab. Nana will set him straight.”

It was now Sunday morning and you were just getting back in the apartment from being at Blue Flame all night when you heard Camila on the phone.

“That bitch got what was coming to her. I can’t believe that Jack Harlow would want to be in a relationship with a stripper. I mean I’m the entire package. I’m smart, in school, and I don’t have to be half-naked for my job for men.”

Your mouth was hanging wide open.

“You know I went down there one night to act like I was being a good friend and supporting her, but I took pictures, photoshopped them and sent them to Jack and told him that she sleeps with them too and that she isn’t as innocent as she thinks he is.”

So, it had been her all along.

“I deserved to have that relationship, not her.”

You came around the corner to the kitchen and you were now faced to face with her with your arms crossed.

She quickly hung up the phone and was now staring back at you with wide eyes.

“It was you. This entire time it was you. You know how I felt about him! How could you do that to me?!”

“Wait, Y/N….”

“Wait for what?! You made him break up with me and you were there to comfort me when I confided in you all because YOU LIED TO HIM!”

“I…..”

“YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE MY BEST FRIEND AND YOU…. I CANNOT FUCKING BELIEVE YOU!”

“Hold on!”

“I’m not holding on for a got damn thing. Get your shit out of my apartment and you better not come back. I… consider this friendship over with. Who knew you were a jealous ass bitch. Oh, and find another person to get you to help pay for your tuition next semester, I’m done.”

A week had passed when you found yourself leaving the dance studio after you had taught your class in downtown Atlanta when you bumped into him.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” You said without looking up, it wasn’t until you felt someone catch your hand when you did.

“Oh, hi.” You said finally making eye contact with your ex-boyfriend. 

“Um, hey. Can we talk?”

“I really have to go, I….”

“Please, Y/N. I owe you an apology.”

“Jack, it’s fine, I’m fine.”

“No you aren’t and no it isn’t. Even though we were only together for eight months, I know when you’re lying to me. Just let me buy you that mocha cappuccino you like. It is Wednesday after all and you told me that you always get it after you teach your class.”

“Okay.” You quietly said as Jack followed behind you to one of your favorite hole in the wall coffee shops. It was well hidden so you didn’t have to worry about paparazzi bothering the two of you. 

The two of you sat down in the back corner and Jack slid your drink towards you before saying anything.

“Camila called me and told me what she did.”

“Oh.”

“Y/N… I know I should have asked you but those pictures she sent me looked so real and I just didn’t know what to think. She also told me the two of you obviously weren’t friends anymore because of what she did. I was falling in love with you and that shit hurt for me to see.”

“I’m surprised she actually confessed and you were?!.”

“She said she felt bad thinking about all that you had done for her and wanted to make it right, I guess. And I definitely was.”

“She can try to make it right all she wants, but I want nothing to do with her.”

“And that’s fair. But I want to apologize for doing that to you and acting that way towards you.” Jack said while grabbing your hand and he was honestly surprised that you didn’t pull back from him. 

“It’s just when I really needed you, you weren’t there. And I… didn’t know what to do. I confided in Camila and she was behind the entire thing.” You responded with tears building up, but you were determined not to let them fall. 

“I want to make this right if you let me, and we can start over. I lost you once and I’d like for it to not happen again.”

All you did was sigh.

“If someone ever says something to you about me, can you just ask me from now on instead of assuming?”

“I promise and I should have done that the first time. I’m going to make it up to you if you give me the chance.”

“Please don’t make me regret this.”

“I promise you won’t.”

“Good because otherwise my nana is going to kick your ass once she gets out of rehab.”

“Wait, what?!”

“I can’t wait for you to meet her.”

“And now I’m nervous.”

“Don’t be, she wants to meet the man who stole my heart.”

“Then just maybe I’m a little excited. I also wanted to bring up one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

“You’re going to audition for Julliard and you’re going to get in.”

Liked by jackharlow, urbanwyatt, champagnepapi, yungskylark, saweetie, sza, mariahthescientist, and 2,975,390 others

yournameonpointe: and to think that there was a time that I gave up on this dream. jackharlow thank you for helping me see that it could become a reality. I love you to the moon and back 😘💖

jackharlow: yournameonpointe I always knew you could do it. It's only up from here. Love you more 💖

theestallion: OKAY MAMAS, I SEE YOU!

americanballettheater: it's been a honor to have you dance with us and for us

urbanwyatt: AHEM!

yournameonpointe: oh my bad lol photo cred: the amazing urbanwyatt who captured all my good angles. Thank you Urby.

jackharlow: yournameonpointe my baby has no bad angles 😏

urbanwyatt: yournameonpointe any time!

Liked by jackharlow, urbanwyatt, softtcurse, mortirolo, americanballettheater, quiiso, druski2funny, theestallion, saweetie, and 2,975,062 others

yournameonpointe: This is what a principal dancer looks like.

She looks like me.

jackharlow: the baddest to ever do it. first black principal dancer of americanballettheater that's my wife yall 😍

estgee: jackharlow YOUR WHAT?!

claybornharlow: you finally said something so now we can. I was getting tired of being quiet lol hey sister-in-law

yournameonpointe: claybornharlow hiii Clay! miss you!

druski2funny: jackharlow so you just wasn't about to tell nobody?

jackharlow: druski2funny big wedding to come next summer

lilnasx: good, so I can try and catch the bouquet

druski2funny: lilnasx who says your ass was invited?

lilnasx: druski2funny I'm one of yournameonpointe's bridesmaids

yournameonpointe: this is true lol and you cannot wear that pink wig lilnasx so stop asking

lilnasx: yournameonpointe I have a purple one too

druski2funny: I didn't even get a chance to shoot my shot

jackharlow: druski2funny at who? lilnasx? because I know you aren't talking about my wife

lilnasx: jackharlow I'm spoken for. he better download a dating app.

Liked by yourinstagramname, urbanwyatt, ellezbby, mortirolo, softtcurse, champagnepapi, lilnasx, druski2funny, and 2,873,021 others

jackharlow: my baby a baddie 😍😍

yournameonpointe: 🙈

druski2funny: do those legs go all the way up?

jackharlow: druski2funny I will kick your ass. shut the hell up.

druski2funny: jackharlow I'll see myself out

claybornharlow: 😍

lilnasx: oh so I can't wear my pink wig but your ass can just raid my closet?

yournameonpointe: lilnasx bye lmao

saweetie: jackharlow if you act outta pocket, I will steal your girl with no hesitations

jackharlow: saweetie not you too 🙄

yournameonpointe: jackharlow this dress isn't going to take itself off 👀

jackharlow: yournameonpointe 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️

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[sugarywishes]

A more lighthearted question (hopefully) than the last few I have asked: What is the most positive memory of each member of the Afton Family? I suppose I can ask which is the most negative as well (?), although I fear they might be spoiled for choice there. XD

LOL 😭 they definitely have a lot of options for least favorite memory. As always, answers are listed below! (This one is EXTRA LONG for lore)

Positive/Negative Memories: William Afton (old people first!)

- As expected from this bastard, most of his happiest memories usually don't involve his family (I mean it's not like he has a lot of happy times anyway!) But the ones he does have always have Evan in them. As I said in his character intro post, despite his extremely abusive and cruel behavior, he still had 'tenderness' for his family (uh, in his own way). Not to mention, he heavily relates to Evan's circumstances of being outcasted and othered. So any 'bonding' he had with him made him happy.

- (The birth of the twins also kinda counts? They were actually planned, unlike Mike LMAO. And William loves when things go according to plan, no surprises for him, thank you.)

- He also really enjoyed leaving England, cause yk. IT'S ENGLAND!! AND HE LEFT FOR THE U.S.A. AKA THE RIGHT CHOICE RAHHH 🦅🦅🇺🇸🇺🇸

- Also (eventually) killing children!! Jesus dude get a therapist 😰😰

- As for negative memories (I assume you're also allowing memories that don't involve his family) there is a TON.

- From his childhood days at the orphanage in England, to his college years finding out Clara got pregnant and basically forcing himself to get married to her, to Evan's death, then his business partner/friend firing him and then getting springlocked! Crazy. I know.

- Also I'm not sure if this fully counts as a 'William' memory since it's Springtrap. But he absolutely hated being Springtrap AND Scraptrap. (He totally enjoyed being a little glitch in the system though 👀)

Positive/Negative Memories: Clara Afton (puts the desperate in 'desperate housewives')

- Her happiest memories usually came from her ballet days (she probably could've gone pro)

- And from Mike! Despite her un-fun living situation she had while living as an Afton, she cherished Michael and truly believed he's kept her going. (Depressingly getting pregnant with Liz and Evan was not a good memory, she didn't really get good memories with them at all ☹️)

- Going to college, she was in her girl boss era

- For the most negative memories, meeting William first off. She only vaguely knew him from one of her classes and even then she never talked to him. She got invited to a party hosted by Henry, got drunk, and uh,,, 💀💀 got pregnant. She got heavy pressure from her family and friends, telling her not to have a baby out of wedlock, so she also forced herself to get married to William kinda hoping that maybe something could spark between them. (Whelp, so much for hoping!)

- And speaking of her family, she didn't have good memories with them either. They were a pretty traditional family (and by that I mean they were like 'women are suppose to get married and take care of the children' kind of traditional.) So she defied their orders and went off to college to pursue her dreams of becoming a ballerina! (And then she did end up as a housewife, aw man :( )

- She didn't look back at Evan's death very fondly...

- She also didn't like being Ballora.

Positive/Negative Memories: Michael Afton (okay I'm running out of stupid jokes)

- Anytime he had when he was younger (not including his bullying days), William didn't really mind him, so it left him a ton of time to hang out with his mom! (When he got older, William became a lot more abusive)

- Also with school. Unlike his dad or brother, he actually managed to make friends pretty easily and became kinda popular. He had a ton of freedom to do anything he wanted (Like ditch classes and smoke or whatever teens in the 80s did) Of course he would usually get in trouble but he didn't really care about that.

- This applies only to his younger self, but he found a sick amusement in bullying his brother and bullying in general. He was dealing with a very troubling home life which explains why he did that shit, but it should never be an excuse. He liked having some sort of power in his life where he usually didn't have much at all.

- Hanging out with Jeremy. He was basically Mike's only true friend in the end.

- Also, finally defeating his father in FNAF 6. It finally marked the end of the Aftons. (Yk until they came back for the Security Breach section of my rewrite/AUs 💀💀)

- Anytime with his father. I guess one would know why.

- Killing Evan. It finally gave him an awakening moment and made him realize what he's been doing all his life to his brother was horrible. It also ruined his and his family's life.

- Elizabeth's disappearance. And his mom's.

- Also when he got scooped and worn as a suit by Ennard. Would not be a very nice feeling. In fact anytime in his childhood from before he redeemed himself was horrible.

- Finding out William was a serial killer. It didn't shock him of course but still!!

- (This only applies to the PBTA AU, but coming back as Glamrock Freddy, he basically didn't move on because his life mission of killing William wasn't complete so he got stuck possessing my boy Fred)

Positive/Negative Memories: Elizabeth Afton

- Any interaction with her father. She really just wanted his attention in the end :(

- She loved playing with Charlie, they were besties after all!

- She also enjoyed any time with Mike, he didn't really bully her like he did Evan and more teased her like how normal siblings should treat eachother. Regardless she liked hanging out with him too

- Going back to the real world after possessing Mike's body, it was ages since she last seen anything that wasn't that horrible underground hell.

- Seeing her dad one more time before dying in the FNAF 6 fire. (Reminder that she didn't have any idea abt him being straight up evil)

- Anytime she had to spend time with Clara. She didn't care for her and neither did her mom in her eyes.

- Before their 10th birthday she wouldn't really say she had any remarkable memories involving Evan, but afterwards she hated thinking about him. But still she became devastated by his death.

- Not being able to go to school, she missed hanging out with Charlie. She also hated how her schoolmates started acting weirdly around her after Evan's death.

- Dying. She hated that too, she absolutely *hated* finding out she was stuck underground. Rotting away in that place alone absolutely haunted her.

- She also hated being kicked out of Ennard.

- Finding out that her dad was a horrible person.

Positive/Negative Memories: Evan Afton (does bro even have positive memories??)

- Surprisingly enough, he has a few!

- Anytime with his father. Remember he was being manipulated and shit but still, William comforted and loved him in a world where people thought of him as a freak.

- Fredbear, he loved that toy with all his heart. In fact he loved all his toys and plushies and stuff, they were his friends and he believed that 🤧🤧 (Well not like he had much of a choice, he didn't have human friends)

- He also liked being home while his siblings were off at school, Mike and Liz have a strict 'don't go into my room' policy, so of course Evan was super curious and often broke into their rooms to use their things. He loved playing with Liz's toys and drawing in her unused coloring books and loved playing with Mike's old toys and reading his comics.

- Also, Charlie! She wasn't exactly his friend but it's not like they hated eachother at all. Neutral memories are positive in his mind, at least he didn't cry during those.

- Oh boy. Where do we start for negative memories?

- His entire life. I guess? Being unknownly manipulated by your dad your whole life, being bullied by your brother (and eventually sister, although it's not like you bonded well with her anyway), usually not acknowledged by your mom, totally sucks. And also dying and still being mistreated after death.

- His school days didn't fare much better! Being bullied and ostracized constantly and having staff turn a blind eye everyday. Until eventually he fought back and that's when they stepped in, to punish him for not wanting to deal with the abuse anymore and letting his bullies get away with it.

- He also didn't like getting pulled from school and locked away in his house constantly. It's not like he liked going outside anyway, but this made his paranoia and anxiety worse.

- anything with animatronics, his fear developed from seeing William accidentally get springlocked and almost dying when he was younger. Now he thinks any and all robots will eat him and kill him.

- Being undead. Hey! Maybe dying and being trapped as a robot is traumatizing!

- This only applies to the PBTA AU, but coming back from the dead. His afterlife already sucked you don't have to bring him back to possess Gregory as a vessel, William 🤦🤦

Uh, I don't really think I listed enough, maybe adding 300 more words will do the trick!! /j, hope you enjoy the very long response! (I'm not sure if I did properly answer your question, I think I just used it as an excuse to lore dump again 😭😭)

[halfmoondaze]

h can you do an imagine where jack is dating a single mom to a young daughter and the daughter has like a play or has a sporting event or really anything like that and jack promised he would go and watch her and for some reason ends up not being able to go and when she asks why he can’t go he says something mean that hurts her feelings (maybe like oh i’m not your dad it’s not my job to go and watch or something similar) and his gf over hears him and obviously gets mad and leaves for her daughters event and she decides to stay at a friends house or something and jack goes crazy worrying about them and they go back the next day intending to leave and get their stuff but jack apologizes and they both forgive him

Do It For Her

Being a single mom was not easy, especially when the father to your daughter was never present and it’s even more tricky when you’re dating someone in a serious way. And for a while you were always hesitant to take that step, but lucky for you, you had the most caring and patient partner you could ask for. And when the moment came around the whole thing went smoothly. Aitana loved him and Jack made sure she knew she loved her too. They became inseparable and he grew to love her like his own. 

So when you asked her if she would be ok with you and her moving in with Jack, she was over the moon. And you couldn’t be any happier. 

You were currently making breakfast early in the morning while your daughter Aitana sat on the kitchen counter, when Jack entered the kitchen. 

“Have you seen my car keys?”

“Well good morning to you too” you playfully glared at him. 

Jack smiled and kissed your lips. 

“Sorry. Good morning” 

“It’s ok” you smiled. “Have you already looked for them in the coffee table?” 

“Yeah, but they’re not there” he said looking around the kitchen.

Aitana let out a chuckle. 

You looked at her and saw her pointing at Jack’s back pocket where his keys where. 

“Jack?” 

“Yeah?” he turned to you. 

“Have you checked in your pockets?” 

He looked at you confused but stated patting around his jeans until he found them and a sigh of relief escaped his lips. 

“Someone’s distracted” 

“Sorry, it’s the album. Ive been stressed about it” 

“Sorry to hear that” 

“That’s ok. I’ll have it under control” 

“Ok” 

“Ok, Im heading out. Love you” he said kissing your lips. 

“Love you too”

“Bye Aitana” he said kissing the top her head. 

“Bye” 

He almost walked through the front door when you stopped. 

“Hey Jack” 

“Huh?” he turned to you. 

“Don’t forget about tonight” 

He looked at you clueless. 

You glared at him as you approached him. 

“Don’t tell me you already forgot” 

“Oh the ballet recital” 

You let a sighed of relief. 

“Yeah” 

“Yeah, I’ll be there. 8 o’clock right?” 

“Yes. Please don’t miss it” 

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world” 

“Good, because you promised her” 

He kissed you.

“I’ll be there, I promise” 

Maybe you were too trusting or maybe you always chose to see the good in everyone, but that night you were shocked to find yourself all dressed up sitting in the audience with an empty seat beside you that was supposed to be reserved for Jack, while Aitana was just like 5 minutes away from going on stage. 

A part of you was hoping he would show up at any minute through the door, even though that seemed almost impossible at this point given all the unread messages and missed calls. He promised Aitana. 

When she came to the stage, her eyes wondered through the audience looking for you and Jack; and when she only saw you, her face turned to disappointment. And it just became engraved in your memeory and as you sat there just looking at her perform you felt like you failed her.

When you came backstage she had tears all over her face. 

“Hey sweetie” you said trying to cheer her up. 

“Where’s Jack?” she softly said. 

You kneeled beside her. 

“He couldn’t make it” 

“But he promised” she said with tears filling her eyes again. 

“I know baby” you hugged her. 

After you managed to calm her down, you decided to treat her to ice cream and for a few she forgot about the whole thing and you were able to see that smile again. 

When you arrived home, to your surprise, Jack’s car was parked in the driveway. Fortunately, Aitana had fallen asleep on the drive home, so you were going to be able to have this discussion. 

After you put her to sleep, you walked over to Jack’s in home studio, where he was listening to his recording; but stopped what he was doing when you came through the door. 

“Hey” he said smiling at the sight of you. 

“Care to explain why you didn’t show up to the recital?” you said on the verge of getting angry. 

“Fuck. I’m sorry, I guess I lost track of the time” he said running his fingers through his hair. 

“You guess? Jack you promised you’ll be there” 

“I know, I know. I’ll be there next time” he said nonchalant as he went back to comping his song arrangement. 

“No, that won’t just cut it out. Would it really kill you to show up for her?” 

“I already told you I got caught up, ok? It’s not like she’s my daughter you know?” he said still not taking his eyes away from the computer screen. 

“I’m not doing this anymore” you said and left the room. 

Jack knew not attending the recital was bad but he figured he would just discuss it once he finished the song arrangement. 

That wasn’t the case because the following day, you and Aitana were nowhere to be found. 

His anxiety was at an all-time high as he paced nervously around the house and stopped in the kitchen where he found a note attached in the fridge. 

“We will be staying at my parent’s. Don’t call me unless you want to get your act together and be the father figure Aitana needs”

“Fuck” he said as he crumbled the piece of paper in his hand and sat on the floor as tears fell down from his eyes as he recalled the dumb thing he said about Aitana last night. He felt like the biggest idiot on the planet, and deep down he knew there was no way you could ever find it in yourself to forgive him but he knew he needed to give it a shot to turn things around. 

That’s how he found himself in front on your parent’s front door. 

When he rang the doorbell, your father opened the door and he was not amused. 

“What do you want Jack?” 

“Is Y/N home?” 

“Yes she is, but I don’t think she wants to talk to you” 

“Please Mr. Y/L/N” 

In that moment you stepped into the door way and saw Jack. Then you turned to your dad. 

“Dad, its ok” 

He gave you faint smile before going back inside. 

You turned to Jack. 

“I know I fucked up. I shouldn’t have missed the recital. I know you reminded me countless times for the past two weeks. I was so caught up in my work that I pushed you and Aitana aside. And…I should’ve never said that about Aitana. Yes, I know she’s not actually my daughter, but I love her as my own since the first time I saw her. And I’m so sorry that when it came to me showing it, I didn’t. But I will spend the rest of life if necessary, proving her that I love her more than anything in this world and that I will always be there for her. And as far as I’m concerned, she is my daughter, not my stepdaughter”

By the time he finished talking, you were crying your eyes out. 

When Jack opened his arms to hug, you leaned into his embrace. 

When you pulled away from his embrace, he looked down at you with an apologetic smile. 

“I’m so sorry” he said wiping away your tears

“I know. I forgive you” you smile.

“Can I see her?” 

“Yeah” 

Jack followed Y/N to the family room, where Aitana was sitting on the floor watching cartoons. 

“Aitana, someone came to see you” you said. 

When she turned to see Jack, her eyes light up and she had the biggest smile as she ran over to Jack and jumped in his arms. 

“Jaack” 

“Hey bubs. I’m sorry I missed your recital” 

“It’s ok, I know you didn’t mean it” 

“I love you, you know that?” 

She smiled back at him and hugged him. 

“I know daddy” 

His heart melted right in that moment. And as he stood there holding Aitana with Y/N seeing that cute moment as she stood by the doorframe, he knew he was the luckiest man alive and he wouldn't have it any other way.

[twimshi]

Crossing the borders illegally legal

In which you follow the slow yet melancholic lifestyle of YN with a hint of joy while also defying the goverments laws in hopes of the betterment of solving a silly case of missing people.

Twenty-nine.

Twenty-eight.

Counting back the steps to get home.

It gets a little dull, YN concludes while walking home. She knows that people around her are getting married and stuff, it doesn't bother her.

It shouldn’t.

She’s just a busy woman with work, that’s accomplishing enough.

Two.

One.

Getting a mini apartment might have been the best thing she’s done since she yelled back at her mother, though it does get lonely.

Luckily she has Sherman and her favorite series to watch on her laptop, TV is overrated.

It’s nice to watch a slice-of-life show, keeps her sane.

YN is pretty sure she’s seen this at least more than four times, but something about it makes it comforting.

Something about people coming together and genuinely caring about each other has her bubbly every time she watches it.

It's nice.

Sherman is a concerning animal though, he’s now what looks like reading a book— she would be more concerned but she decides to sleep it off evaluating her day to drift into sleep.

Another day will begin.

-

It's a horrible one.

She doesn't know when it started but she feels so small.

So alone.

The best way to describe the feeling is if you imagine your chest.

Then imagine your childhood, when you were happy.

Then your life now, how you wish to hold yourself and hug them senselessly telling them they’ll be okay in their trying times as they tremble in your arms unsure of how to react.

That might have been a little dramatic, but YN writes down the thought in her little notepad.

Maybe she could write a novel one day she thinks.

Talk about her life experiences and—

The shower water turns lukewarm.

She goes to tie her hair in the mirror when she notices.

She has already covered it with newspaper.

-

Once every other month YN calls her mom to check in.

Well, they both reluctantly check on each other.

Her sister was always the more promising one, always seemed like she was always a step ahead.

“Just wanted to say hi that's all” She twirls a strand of stray hair while speaking.

“Well, things have been okay at home, nothing much has changed. Your sister is entering an international competition this weekend for the ballet” Her mother says proudly, something she’s yet to hear directed at her.

Everything YN would try at and fail.

She excelled in.

She just hums in reply, not saying much as she continues.

“Oh that's great”

“It is, I wish you were more athletic as a kid, you always stayed in your room all day and not help at all around”

As a moment passes, her chest becomes stiff, and suddenly the glum feeling she was getting creeps over her shoulder.

She hangs up and lays in bed, Sherman on her side.

“Well I'm going to go now, I'm tired”

“Alright, good night”

He’s warm.

She just holds him and stares at the ceiling closing her eyes. 

Her chest feels tight.

She’s twenty-nine for god sake, small stuff shouldn't have this much of an effect on her anymore considering how small the issues were.

But why was she still bothered?

-

To work with people, she needs to be people.

“You know about surfing slang?!” Oh, that might have been the wrong slang.

“Wait, you're telling me you would work out on the weekends?” Jermain exclaims, dropping whatever he was doing to give YN his full attention.

“Carrying boxes builds extra muscle, so I can't say no to a free workout session, brah,” YN says, trying to add some sports slang and expression.

Jermain reaches into his back pocket and starts digging. Man, do male pants have too much space in them because he has two mini notebooks and a pocket knife? Was this guy some type of criminal? 

Finally, after digging in his ass for about two minutes, he pulls out his smartphone “My dad owns this entire land of this beach and there are these free surfing classes they have. To be honest I didn't know anyone in the office would be interested in this so I just…Anyways I’ll go tell the boss about this!”

The employees are somewhat bearable, YN finds ways to communicate with Jermain when Reigen gave her a list of things to say that relate to football with work.

This increases productivity by 0.09 percent, she can now get back to her weekend job.

She was actually enjoying work before her boss interrupted “YN to the office”

-

Another lecture was given, at least it was a positive one. 

Or not. 

“You should put on some makeup, I mean just saying the eye bags are growing and the company's image and stuff"

"Nothing as for now, there have been some improvements to the new workers, good job. Kelsey's positive vibe might be rubbing off on them"

YN hates the existence of Men.

“I mean I don't really have the time or money to do it. But I’ll keep that in mind” She won't "Anything else?"

Yeah, like Kelsey - oh yes Kelsey, her nails and hair are always perfect. Even when it was messy she looked straight out of a modeling magazine that sells shampoo for curly hair.

She wishes she could be like that.

Just this time maybe, YN will take this obviously rude advice.

-

While fixing the makeup she sat looking at the mirror.

More foundation to cover her eye bags.

More blush for her pale face.

It wasn't enough.

She probably needs more eyeliner there—no that looks bad.

But what if she—

She slams the makeup down, the eyeliner that she overdid just now - was running down her face. 

A realization set in, well it's not really a realization if you knew about it before.

Why bother?

She thinks of what happened in high school.

YN covers the mirror again.

-

'

-

'Children coming back with strange injuries Tonkatsu Prefecture’ and 'Do not let your pet off of their leach, do so and it will be your last'

These are a couple of the many articles that have been becoming a sensation recently, where teens who had seemingly misbehaved and run into the forest — come out with either injury or come back a completely new person.

Most of the netizens just commented on how 'Nature scared the kids fr', later on, it came out that teenagers who engaged in activities like drinking would enter. One particular day a known group of four teenagers were venturing late at night but only three came out the next, none of them seemed to really remember their friend who drowned.

Well, no one she knows lives in that town anyway. 

Seems like townsfolk mania, towns like that are often closed-minded and blame everything on some type of devil or teenager.

It was pretty common for pets to go missing and teens to cause havoc but not at the amount that was happening to that town in particular.

But it seems that there was a specific pattern for all of this, like the kidnapper or influencer. 

Strange.

Her shoes are all soggy from the rain, she shouldn't have washed her shoes yesterday.

Ah, this is great.

She kneels to grab the shoes and holds them close to her. It must have felt tired of her, being washed feeling cleaner than to be dirtied again - YN emphasizes with this object, she might be crazy.

She just wants it to be gone.

-

She can feel all her bones coming back and they’re craving motion. It was like her life was stagnant, nothing changing, unmoving.

Nothing.

Thinking about when she was a kid, she wanted to be an astronomer discovering new planets and helping people.

That dream crashed and burnt the moment she realized she needed to be great at math, her mother explicitly saying she wouldn’t be paying for her college fees because astronomy was a pricey major.

Working a desk job at a company managing people shouldn’t be all that bad right?

She should be grateful for this.

Being almost thirty with just a business diploma.

She amounted to nothing.

Pity.

Closing her laptop she says goodbye to everyone, sliding to Kelsey’s desk before she leaves “Kels, want to grab dinner? I think I have enough money for the week to try that new western place”

“Oh dang, I would love to but..” YN knows this, she knows this “Your husband made dinner?”

“Yes! And the kids are starting school soon so I have to be home more, we can do it next time if you want to"

It's probably what she felt for her, she doesn't want that “No, no it's fine Kelsey. Uh, I’ll go but some ice cream then”

"I don't mind you know, I can just tell him to save some for me, you've got to be starving-"

Twenty-eight-

"It's fine" YN doesn't elaborate and walks.

Twenty-nine.

It's the same.

YN stops in her tracks, and she finds a wall to lean on.

Reminding herself that people were starving and dying and she was some basic girl in some type of midlife crisis, she needed to set her mind straight.

The train station, oh right.

Todays Thursday.

Her seminar, that's right.

Honestly, she’s too tired to care. 

“Sorry I’m late, I completely forgot about today,” She says as she rushes through the door, Reigen seems to be arranging some documents on the table before he ruffles them out of the way.

Wiping his forehead he replies “No worries! Mobs actually also running late, has some type of thing with his friends today, and actually, let me text him to have the day off”

“Oh, then will we just do it?”

“I was about to cancel, but let's do it anyways pupil” He throws a plastic chair at YN, which misses and smacks her right in the face - it goes unnoticed by Reigen as he scrambles to the room.

Reigen comes back from the other room with his laptop and scratches his head looking a little stressed while holding his laptop “There might be a problem”

He walks back to his desk and sighs nervously “So you've been coming here quite often- which isn't bad, it's great because we finished the program but the problem is…..we finished the program”

“I see” They both sat there quietly for a moment before YN broke the silence by clapping her hands and gathering her things “I guess I should get going, on oh” She handed him an envelope “Can't forget your fees"

He accepts them but stops her as she makes her way out falling in the process from the water leaking from the air-conditioning that he forgot to put a bucket, YN puts out her arms to try to catch him but he plays it off by resting his head on his hand and posses?

They both just look at each other before YN swears she hears a whisp from her shoulder saying 'real smooth man'

"Do you remember what I told you last time we met?"

"Slap an employee if needed and take up sponsorships but make sure I have all the rights to the company?" She says with a monotone tone.

-

Reigen ignores her voice and twirls his hand "Yes but the other thing"

"Gossip and brunch?" YN replies puzzled, tilting her head to the side.

"Exactly!" His eyes sparkled "When I tell you I got gossip, I mean it"

"You think of me as lowly, I'm obviously gossiping about that other exorcist down the street. Even Mob says that there wasn't an ounce of spiritual energy and was scamming them"

Reigen ends up ordering some fries from down the street and they end up eating in the office from the lack of chairs.

"I hope this isn't about your customers" YN gapes at him crossing her arms while eating.

"Isn't that what you do-"

"Tut-tut friend, tut-tut. I solve the problems, not create more. This guy purposefully massaged my back in all the wrong areas, he was really going for my thigh. Apparently, the other ladies that went there had similar experiences"

"Reigen that might be a different type of problem, we might need to consult the police on this one"

"And your point is?"

He gasps, scandalized "You don't think he-"

"He just might, why do think people left the one-star review plus police report on the website review" Reigen mumbles something under his breath realizing some stuff.

"Well other than the strange massage, that I already anonymously exorcised" YN just stares at him "Well Mob did...But never mind that, I found out about a thing that might be my big hit"

"The one with missing cats," He says casually while he plays with his fries and tomato sauce drawing a penis.

YN's eyes widen "You can't be talking about the one at..."

"Tonkatsu prefecture"

YN almost spits out her drink "The manic town case with missing cats?"

"Wait mobs coming?" She says stunned, Reigen brushes her off and continues "Duh, as I was saying"

She quickly thinks about something "Doesn't your mom live nearby?"

"Yeah...I don't really talk to her anymore" He hesitates "She lives right outside of the border so she should be fine but that doesn't stop gossip from spreading across the small town. I'm leaving tomorrow actually, getting that cheap train fare and parent discount since Mob is coming-"

"No way his parents are okay with this"

"Surprisingly yes" YN contemplates calling CPS "And the lady who needs our service bought us an extra ticket on accident, so I was thinking...." Reigen draws more penises with the fry that has gone cold "If you wanted to tag along, just-saying-since-y'know-for-fun-and-stuff..."

YN smiles fondly and thinks Reigen is charming "I would.." She says then stops, her boss is making her do more things, what would he say about this? She could get fired and it all would be over. 

She doesn't know what-

Reigen interrupts "You don't have to come if you don't want to, I just don't want to waste the ticket"

"I would..really, just that-"

"And how did you even come to that intuition?"

"Your work" He  says placing his hand on his chin "I say to let your new employees handle themselves for one day, if they can't then they should get fired"

"I don't think how that works" If only it could be that easy "I would get fired"

"Not if you tell your boss that they should at least try to handle themselves for a day, he probably will agree since its part of the training manual"

"My gut obviously darling"

"My gut usually tells me I'm constipated but go on"

"You should see a doctor about it but don't you think it's pretty odd for a bunch of animals, especially cats disappearing, a list of missing people, and children cases"

"A doctor is too expensive, I rather explode. Even if you feel suspicious how are you even going to get past the border? They've got it on lockdown" She states nonchalantly.

"True but exploding doesn't sound fun, try Chinese medicine or something before it gets worse. That's right but you forgot one thing"

"I'll think about it and what thing?"

"I'm Reigen Arataka" He shoots up to his feet, then rummages through his first aid kit and hands her the medicine, which she gladly accepts.

YN grows fonder every second, every ounce of possible bullshit made her grow fonder. A feeling that she wants to repress, though she can't hide from how he glows "That sounds fun" 

"And?" She questions doubtfully.

"You underestimate me"

"I think I overestimate you"

"Sure you do" He chides "But seriously I have a plan"

"So.." He twiddles his fingers on the side of his pants nervously,  "Do you want to join us?" He asks again, even though it really isn't a question.

She blinks, genuinely taken aback by the request. So she sits a little straighter  "I'll try"

She meant it, she really will.

-

YN somehow managed to convince her boss to give her some time off in the middle of June, thank god she has four December holidays stockpiled.

They all sit on the train, Mob sitting next to YN before he stares at her hands.

Confused, she asked him "Is there something wrong?"

Mob glanced at her, his face calm but curious "Could I..hold your hand?"

Odd request.

But she agreed, she did recently cut her nails (she did an amazing job at getting the edges to be perfect)

Mob looks at Reigen and then back at YN “Huh, I never sensed this before”

Reigen, not missing a beat snorts “Her beefy hands?” 

YN just stars at him and nods her head back at Mob “I’ll take that as a compliment, I do lift boxes” she chuckles, damn her hands must be rough.

Mob holds her hands with a glimmer “Have you ever felt a connection to the ghost?”

“Not really no? Why do you ask?”

“It's just that" Mob grips hovers over her hand "I think feel a hint of psychic abilities within you”

“What?! No way, not even me- I mean” Reigen coughs in his sleeve “What does this mean?”

Spirits?

“Well, if Mrs.YN would allow me to awaken them, she could maybe see spirits”

What the hell?

Mob gently places his hands out for YN to grab, he whispers a little "strong rough hands" under his breath in amazement, YN has to control her giggles.

She dosent think for a minute before replying “Hell yeah”

“Heads up, you might be able to see the annoying green orb that gives me brain damage every week” Reigen says, Mob nods along.

“Green orb?”

“He means dimple, he’s not too bad once you know him.” He suddenly swats his ear "Shut the hell up, sheesh. Mob do your thing"

"Tell me if you feel anything" Mob says softly, YN nodded, the only thing she could focus now was his hands warming in her own— almost like his hands were a heat warmer.

The flowers grow in her eyes, and the feeling of Mob's gentle hands suddenly feel like there's a barrier between them.

Her pupils dilate a little when Mob lets go of the colors around her.

A hue of blue, she can actually see a blob of green in front of her whose picking its nose.

YN thinks she sees Mob scold the blob saying 'Dimple, don't pick your nose in front of people who can see you, it's rude'

Trying to play it cool, YN excuses herself to the toilet which earns a glance of concern from the two boys...and blob.

Once inside, she splashed cold water on her face, gripping the sink tightly.

She can actually…See them…

She walks back to her seat “You good?” Reigen questions.

She has never felt so elevated in my life.

Reigen could easily tell by the way her lips crinkled she was trying not to explode, she kept looking around the train to see if she could see more spirits (there were none other than dimple).

Dimple on the other hand was swirling around her head.

Mob even told Dimple to stop but YN said it was alright, taking in the wonder of the spirit.

Until she felt the urge to vomit.

The rest of the trip was spent in silence.

-

If only the silence could last.

"What the actual fuck do you mean the place is on lockdown and you conveniently decided to leave that part out" YN thinks she might pop a blood vessel.

Reigen huffs, turning to face the green blob "Dimple I told you this was meant to be a secret"

She turns to him unconvinced "How exactly do you have it covered dear 'Taka, do tell" Her voice filled with frustration at the sheer absurdity of the situation

Dimple just shrugs unapologetically  "What do you expect? Would you rather have her freak out here or in front of the officers"

"Officers? Yup alright" YN mutters, her blood pressure sure to spike "Yup alright, keep calm YN. I just need to get another ticket and leave-"

"Relax I've got it all covered" Reigen interrupts smoothly.

"So I'm going to jail for trespassing, child endangerment, and forgery? I skip work once and this is what I get"

Unbothered by her frustration, he calmly reaches for his luggage from above them, his confidence not faltering for even a second as he takes out a thick file from the bag "I've got these" 

YN blinks in disbelief for the second time today "Oh great a folder" YN deadpanned "The authorities will love that you organized their criminal activity the first one being trespassing with our names...God, they might charge us for child endangerment.."

"Please don't you think I've got it covered? I've got these documents" He smiles, then looks around sneakily and leans in to whisper "That I forged"

"I think you should have a little more faith in Shishou" Mobinterjected "If he messes up he'll promise to take the blame"

"Exactly Mob-"

"All the blame" Mob says suddenly intensely with purpose.

YN wonders if Mob was always intense.

Reigen sighs in defeat "Yes I'll take all the blame, happy now?"

"Not in the slightest" She dryly replies "But..... I trust you, so what's the plan?"

Reigen's smile was back, confidence oozing out of every pore "Just follow my lead"

She couldn't help but wonder how her mug shot would look.

-

Before YN could retort, an officer stepped in front of them "This area is strictly off limits" 

YN sends off any dignity she has because right now, she is going to give it her all "No babe you can't be serious"

"Oh I'm serious alright, our son is going to meet his grandma whether you like it or not"

"Sorry officer just give us another minute" YN says sweetly before pulling Mob gently to her "That woman was a horrible wench who disowned me and threw out everything I loved"

"I-"

"They were my limited edition ninja turtle figurines, you would know this if you actually paid attention to me instead of sitting on your lazy ass all day"

"Your mother was not the best I know but-"

"Wasn't the best is an understatement for what she did, ah the woman who hated me so much for dating you and having this child" She turns to Mob and pats his head "No offense sweety, I love you so much"

"She didn't want you to date me because..."

"Because what Howard" YN pressed, she didn't know how long she could keep this charade up.

"I-I'm" Reigen looks away ashamed "I'm...lactose intolerant"

"You can't be.."

The guard looks bewildered and gasps in the background "I am...Your mother was worried that my inability to consume dairy would affect your cooking skills or you might just kill me with the amount of cheese you would cook and feed me"

"But I made you an extra cheesy and creamy pizza yesterday with extra cream"

"I take medicine for it" Dimple quickly blows a gust of wind to the officer's face to distract him which gives YN enough time to poke her eye releasing tears.

"Of cancer, the foot type and it's the last stage" YN cries harder, she poked her eye too hard. 

"Honey...I didn't know.."

"I just... Loved you so much...As your mother did, she has been sending letters to you for years but since you just burned them she- I don't know had an intuition and found my office address and sent me a letter saying...she was dying"

"Oh ehm gee!"

From the corner of her hurt eye, she can see the officer sobbing with her "This is all so emotional, these documents seem somewhat feasible but don't bother about it right now j-j-just, one moment please" he runs to another officer to explain the sob story which ends up with them crying.

He hands YN flowers that seem like they've been freshly yet fiercely plucked from a bush of flowers "Please give these to her and enjoy your trip, if you guys need help or notice anything suspicious about the town don't feel worried to call us"

Dimple floats to YN "Damn I didn't know you were that good at acting"

She grins at him whipping her hair back "What can I say, I was a theater kid- Oh shit he's coming back"

The officer comes back a sniffling mess but hands YN and Reigen back the file "I just talked to my higher-ups and they gave you guys the green light" YN and Reigen thank the officer saying more things like 'YN's mother would be thankful' which leads to more sniffles.

A super buff security officer stops them in their tracks "I just checked with my superior and...." 

Before they can let out a sigh of relief an officer yells from afar "Hold on there just a minute!"

They were totally going to get thrown in jail.

They all hold their breath.

"He says to escort you guys personally"

YN's legs almost give up from the panic "Thank you..."

Once they get escorted to a local shop and leave Reigen melts on the floor, YN feels like she just done drugs and Mob is just devoid of emotions still processing what happened.

The officer gives her a nod "No worries ma'am, it's just that with the news about the disappearance and aerated water factory it can be dangerous if you and your family wander too close"

"Factory?" YN piqued in interest.

"Yeah" The officer replies, tone casual but there was something uneasy in his eyes "It was a factory near this church orphanage that produced aerated water in large quantities but got shut down after a while, but the factory was never destroyed, so it was just left to be abandoned. It doesn't stop punks from entering and getting themselves into trouble though"

YN nods "If I could ask, what type of accident?"

"It's alright" The officer replies even though his voice tightens, Reigen and Mob listening intently "Some kids were getting brave for their own good —one of them jumped into the pool of aerated water. The kid died on the scene even after resuscitation because rescuers had to fish him out from below"

"Was it that deep?"

The officer shook his head, eyes darkening "That's the thing ma'am, the kid was a national swimmer"

"Then why couldn't he swim up?" YN couldn't hold her curiosity, even though she was getting uneasy by the second.

The officer turns his gaze to her as they reach their stop "That's the thing about aerated water— you don't float. You sink"

Reigen instinctively starts to talk to Mob, talking louder to drown out the silence from the conversation.

-

Reigen heaves out a shaky breath "See I told you...I'm Reigen Arataka"

She looks at him panting "You...Definitely are"

“Are you the exorcist?” She asks peering through the tiny crack of the door cautiously.

YN grabs her stuff out of the taxi "Our old church..."

"A little shocked right? I feel you" He lugs his bag and knocks on the door, it takes a while for the person to open the door, probably peeping through the peephole to check before opening the door to reveal the nun.

She shakes off the feeling when the two are out of sight and quickly follows behind.

“Yes indeed we are" He replies smoothly "This is one of my old friends she’ll tag along if that's fine”

“Yes it is no bother, the pastor always said the more the merrier”

“Alright, so what's the problem?” She escorts Reigen around, YN can't help but let her hand run through one of the chairs that she used to sit in. The memories of being young and somewhat free make her heart thump a little.

“Ah, by the way, don't tell the pastor that…” She looks down and mutters something, Reigen tries to ask her to speak up but she’s muttering even softer. 

“I once tried telling the others about the oddness of it all, but they just called me deluded” Well maybe this lady was a little in YN’s mind.

So he bends down to her to hear her better, she seems alright with this “Don't let the pastor know you’re an exorcist please, calling an exorcist at a church is considered an omen of the devil”

“Oh, Uh, can do ma’am. You hear that Mob”

Mob nods, his eyes shifting left and right “Yeah, I can"

Reigen looked around to see if anyone was within earshot before speaking "You mentioned in the call, that the children here have always been tired but now more than before, right?" 

After all the random getting sick and stuff could be from a bunch of things that aren't spirits “Follow me to the back please, I told the others that I’ll make the dinner today so we could have some alone time”

“If you wanted alone time we could go to a coffee shop nearby,” Reigen says when they enter the kitchen.

“Actually most workers of the church are not to go outside unless for groceries and such”

“I see, anyways continue”

“The children in the church have been getting sick every month and we can't seem to see the problem, I tried to make them veggies for an entire month and disinfected the whole area as much as I could but…”

Sister Sana nodded, her features scrunching up from the memories "Yes, it usually fluctuates from time to time after the pastor prays for them but..." Her voice softened, and a small sniffle could be heard "..We almost lost one of the kids the other day"

Mob's eyes twitch ever so slightly, a flicker of anger and concern washing over his features.

YN thinks that the lady might be a little unhinged but Reigen is writing everything intently in his notebook, she peaks at it. 

Reigen catches his expression "Are they fine now?"

"Just barely..." She takes a deep breath to compose herself, then sighs shamefully  “They keep getting ill.....Well they always have been ill in a way..but now it takes a week for them to be in tip-top shape”

“If that's the case why won't the church close for the orphanage? Seems unsafe”

“We can't possibly do that, well the children do get better after a couple of days moreover some people of the town rely on the priest for healing - but it's what happens in between” She shudders “They go through so much pain in the time between, it's horrible but we get reporters and donations after, then they get better. It's strange, and I always hear creaks upstairs and the whisper of something oh it's horrible"

YN grabs the boy's shoulders gently to stop him. “Oi Mob, why are you spinning?” 

It's just a fat question, does this man know what's going on?

Reigen catches her glances and shuts his notebook “Mob do you sense anything?”

“Not really Shishou, but we should look around because I feel something..” Mob trails off turning in a full circle.

YN doesn't get what he means but she can already tell that it's going to be a hard job

“It's just" He stares out the window "I feel something everywhere and nowhere…I always feel like this with spirits but it's stronger but also not?” He paused, clearly struggling to put his thoughts together “I’ve been feeling this way since last week so I can't really tell the difference” Reigen nods at this looking around more.

“Odd” Mob does a final spin before speaking again "I can feel it everywhere but nowhere...It's all around me but at the same time...not?"

-

Upon arrival, YN didn't sense anything creepy about this place, only the lingering feeling of something that she shrugged off.

But now she’s certain, that something felt off with the building.

“Reigen…” she said worryingly "Can't Mob do his magic and get the spirit out of here like he did before?”

“Exorcise” He corrects then proceeds to walk forward “But no he can't, he needs to get really close and the spirit will know if something's up. It's already sketchy that we're here, to begin with”

Dimple pops behind YN, she feels the urge to smack the blob of gas if not for the fact he was made out of gas "It was my pride and joy"

“How do you know that?”

“Well, there was this cult near Mob’s place called ‘LOL’ or something, but Mob couldn't really exorcize it until he got close to it. And now we’re in a church so there's a bunch of other spirits so it's hard to tell which is which”

"He made some guy spit in my face," Mob says nonchalantly.

"What the hell Dimple"

"Hey-hey don't look at me like that, it was a…."

"But was the spitting necessary?"

Dimple just opted to fly closer to Mob instead of her, which was better anyway since his aura kind of tickled against her neck “Back on the topic on hand, I’m just going to assume that the spirit is as I hate to say this but” Reigen tries his best to muster out his next words “The spirit is as smart as Dimple”

“You prick! Did it really hurt your pride to call me smart” Dimple shouts, face scrunching up.

Reigen shrugs “Whatever we’re dealing with is definitely sentient and knows what it's doing”

YN feels a little out of place in the panning tao she does the next best thing, not helping "I guess I'll finish last week's sodoku in the-"

“And to think this guy started off by scamming people, he sure knows his spirits now”

Reigen turns to Dimple seriously “Shut up, we need to think logically” 

“Maybe if we survey the place for long enough we can catch it” Dimple says.

“Exactly, and once we do… Grab it, Mob what do you think?”

Mob shakes his head in agreement “Shishou is right, we need to be sure of it also in case we cause too much trouble”

"Yes but that's exactly why you and Dimple will be talking to the priest, you can definitely pull it off"

Reigen grape her shoulder pulling her back "Oh no you are helping"

YN groans "With what? don't you think that it'll be suspicious if were all huddled up together"

"Reigen I am not flirting with the priest"

"The one with the hot priest, Anthony Scott?"

"First of all why would your mind go there, secondly I think you're the best and also I don't want to do it"

YN groans but just nods because she doesn't know how to play sodoku, Reigen senses that she isn't too convinced so he adds "Fine, and also I've been watching a bunch Fleabag"

"Yes obviously him" Reigen says with so much offense and sass "Who else could play him he's- I'm getting distracted, let's go Mob"

Dimple scoffs and turns to YN "You watch shows with a hot priest and you're at church? I can see why you're interested in coming here instead of being home" YN sighs and smiles at the thought of Reigen finding the priest hot before mentally preparing herself.

-

The room has a yellow brooding hue with a hint of purple dusting the air if that was possible.

Probably.

She sneaks up behind him before coughing very nasally into her arm to get his attention “I am…Interested in donating” 

“Oh, why thank you, bless your heart” He smiles brightly ushering YN inside, and then sits down on the long chairs “Since you're new, do you have any questions?”

“Well technically speaking, I'm not new. I used to go here when I was younger”

“I never forget a face, what is your name?”

“YN, YN LN”

The pastor takes a moment to think then does a mini hop like a rabbit “Oh my have you grown, just look at you” He takes a closer look at her “You used to come here with three other friends did you not? You were all so adorable, other than your children playing tic tac toe with the handouts”

She laughs remembering some of it “Yeah, it was the good times. Speaking honestly, I was hesitant about coming back here” She doesn't know why she feels so open all of a sudden, this could be because finds comfort in talking about a time she was happy.

A small silence settles in, the pastor sighs “We can only hope for the best decisions” YN looks at the pastor to see what he means by that but she decides to stay silent when his face shows one of remorse, thinking to himself with deep grief - she regrets bringing the subject up.

“Really?”

“Well recently, there have been many missing cases, and it's not advised to cross the state, especially when there is a lookout team at the moment. I don't know how we managed to come here without trouble”

He stiffens at the mention of it while gripping tightly on his arm which looks like to is injured and is covered by a gold silklike cloth “Why yes… I’ve heard of those” 

A laugh interrupts the silence, it feels like the gloomy room is lit up without light.

“The children must be having fun”

“They seem to be, yes. They’re always running around causing a ruckus around here but in a way, I envy it”

“Envy?”

“I don't have a leg yet I’m faster than you, pick up the pace squirt”

“The joy in a sense do you not YN?” He turns the question back to her “-That was out of line for me”

Her answer is an immediate “Yes”

They both smile, knowingly.

“H-Hana, m-my stamin-a can't keep up with your whee-cha-chair”

YN bids goodbye to the pastor who just gives a fond smile as she rushes out to see what's going on outside.

What she saw was none other than a crime scene, a girl in a wheelchair laughing like a Disney villain and poor Mob on the floor hyperventilating.

YN quickly asks him if he needs an inhaler which he replies “I’m super weak an old lady even beat me in running” 

To which the girl in the wheel-chair, howled with laughter clutching her stomach.

Once Mob calmed down Hana (wheel-chair girl) passed him a bottle of water “I still can't believe an old lady beat you, you're so freaking funny”

Mob turns to YN for help for a reply and she just shrugs “She….was really fast…”

It was so contagious that YN let herself laugh a little until the girl fell out of her wheelchair, Mob ran to her assistance which she accepted wobbly from laughter.

“Sure sure bowl-cut boy and I was speeding my way to victory. Maybe you're the grandma”

“I am clearly a boy”

“No but- I’m going to die” The girl indeed looked like she was going to die from how red her face was getting, she kept laughing.

The laughter was cut sharp when Hana spoke "So now that I've proven how much better I am compared to this chump, can I help you defeat the demon that you're here to exorcise"

YN wouldn't be shocked if she was, wait maybe she might be one.

YN feels a light thump on her chest, looking around for anybody overhearing them "Whaaaaaaa? Us exorcist? At a church? Mob will you get a look at this fool?"

Mob nods his head rapidly but also shakes it, agreeing and also disagreeing to not be rude to both of them "Not a fool but I agree, I agree"

Hana sighs and points at YN "Sure, now why are you here sneaking around the blond dude who is definitely not your husband after you said to the receptionist you guys were?"

"Well because we c-"

She shushes YN up with her hand "Sure lady, I'm sure during the lockdown where cats and some adults go missing is a good sign to come here to visit your fake mother"

YN and Mob just stare and gulp "You caught us, are my acting skills that bad?"

She looks at Hana who rubs her head in shock "Not gonna lie, I just guessed this so it's glad to know I have great intuition. I must be a psychic or something"

Before YN could say more she noticed Reigen discretely not so discreetly waving his hand to signal them to him.

"But why not?" YN cant slap a child but might be able to explode one with her brain. Hana kept being persistent with YN running out of excuses to come up with when suddenly, shockingly Mob spoke up.

"As much as I love this little thing that's happening-"

Hana stops YN from talking again, this reminds her of her office but she doesn't feel like slapping anybody "I know you guys are going to defeat the cool demon, can I come?"

"First no we are not going to the demon and secondly even if we were no way we're bringing you" YN says slightly sternly as she would be with Sherman.

“No, you can't help” Mob says with the voice she uses when she scolds the interns.

“What? Why not Shigeo” She crosses her arm across her chest.

“It's going to be dangerous”

“Oh I see what you're doing here”

“What am I doing? I'm standing still-”

“You think I can't do it because I don't have a leg! You're an ableist, I knew it”

“What? W-WHO”

YN walks over to Reigen who has gotten tired from looking like a creep behind the tree, tilting her head to whisper to him “Do you think we should step in?”

Do all children know how to gaslight?

Angel's wings appear on his head before she sees devil horns “Nah not yet, I wanna see what happens” They both grin watching Mob stumble over his words, Dimple eats some popcorn he found in the trash and watches from the distance.

“I am not an ableist, i-i just think you-”

She shoots him a peace sign, pulling on her eye “Just kidding”

Mob feels his psychic level go up, he has never felt so….. many emotions "If you let me finish…” he inhales “I don't want you to get seriously hurt if anything happened”

"So let me come along, I clearly beat you in a race so I can hold my ground. Are you calling me weak?"

"That's not what I meant"

"What did you mean then?"

Reigen claps his hands together finally deciding to cut in before his student destroys the whole church by exploding. When Mob struggles again YN interviens "What he's trying to say, Hana, this is a super top-secret mission"

"That makes me want to join more" She whines back.

"Which is another reason why you can't come along" This time puts a firmer face "Please?" 

Hana and him have a staring competition which ends with Mob in tears.

Mob rubs his eye before his face goes back to normal 

“You really care about this mission going well not to include me?”

“I think I do care if you get hurt, well anyone. I want to make sure we can race again and I'll beat you in a race”

Hana stops talking, Mob didn't know it was possible “Don't go saying stuff like that…!” She throws a water bottle from the side of the wheelchair with her red face and rolls away so fast Mob couldn't see if she turned left or right.

"Okay.....Well Reigen" YN says folding her arms "Would you like to enlighten us on what we're supposed to do"

Reigen just snickers "Ah Mob I always knew you had a thing with that Teru kid but I didn't know you were a ladies' man"

Mob looks at Reigen like he wants to both go into a shell and strangle Reigen for saying anything.

"Oh right, okay listen up team. While you guys were slaking off" Mob looks at Reigen again who coughs "I might have found something. Remember the nun that hired us?"

"What about her?"

"She started making grammatical mistakes but not the normal kind" He says lowering his voice like he was revealing a grand conspiracy.

"Uh-huh" YN replies unimpressed  "And how does this help?"

"Just wait!" Reigen says holding up a finger "I was walking around and got hungry so I ate my jelly—"

"Of course you were" YN muttered. 

Reigen quickly grabs her arm to stop her from walking away "Listen there's more! Her eyes. There was definitely something in them"

"—And I saw her walking around. I was about to ask her something before she just stopped walking"

"What a weirdo" Dimple says, YN swats him "Shh"

"Anyways she just looked at my hand and walked away even after I called after her. I might have pissed her off"

"Oh gosh what did you do"

"I might have touched her shoulder that was sticky with jelly juice?"

YN groans "Great, so we have a nun that's pissed at you because you touched her shoulder with sticky jelly juice. Let's just go apologize and get this over with"

Mob nods understanding what's going to happen calmly.

"Like conjunctivitis?" YN replies, confused about the relevance.

"Like something swimming in them, she apologized later but something's definitely up"

YN lets out a sigh "So what's the plan?"

"I'm working on it" He replies, clearly winging it.

-

Back in the mini cabin near the church Sister Sana rented out for them, YN took a step outside to take a breather. 

After all, she was going to talk to her tommorow.

She hears someone open the balcony door and sit next to her “You okay?” It's Reigen.

“Why wouldn't I be”

“You're staring at a dead lizard”

“Well go ahead and ask”

“That I am..” She watches a group of red ants slowly but uniformly make their way to the dead lizard .”What else can I do to mentally prepare myself to talk with a maybe possessed nun?" 

“I'm not the best at comfort but-”

“It's nothing, I mean now that I say nothing it has to be something” YN looks at Reigen like he’s about to walk away the moment she speaks when he won't, Reigen just grabs a bag of chips and opens it for both of them to share “We got all night”

“I don't want to keep you up though”

“You won't, I forget it's not good to smoke before sleeping plus” A soft gust of wind blows in the air, it smells like trash but they don't move “Mob’s sleeping and coping somehow…I wanted to kill time quietly” He wiggles his leg over the balcony “Any hot gossip?”

“Like I have drama in my life” She scoffs “You know what. Talk about yourself, the exorcism thing I saw that day, was the only ‘dramatic’ thing that happened in my life”

"Okay let me think" She looks at Reigen for a moment "I never came around to ask but do you have hearing aids now?"

"Oh you noticed" He says playing with his hearing aid on his left ear "I've had it for over a year"

"What happened?"

"Some explosion, I'm lucky I'm only deaf in my left ear. Somehow my right side is completely fine"

"Thats good- Wait a minute, explosion? Are you referring to the terrorist attack with the whole broccoli?"

"Uhm hehe" He coughs into his hands "Okay next question"

Choke.

YN stares him down before giving up “How did you and Mob meet?”

He thinks for a moment, and smiles fondly “Well I and Mob have been together for a long time, we met when I was about to close the shop. Sometimes I think he’s an angel like I believe in. But in a way, he’s made me a better person”

“Really? Well you have always been a good person, to me at least”

Look.

Swallow.

Realize that was gross.

That was what Reigen did in that specific order.

YN quickly hands him water, he wipes his mouth looking away before saying anything more because he could implode at any moment “You…I haven't been the best, trust me. He could turn an angel into a better person"

YN suddenly feels her heart relax after a couple of minutes of silence.

“Yes YN, one hundred times seriously” 

“This has to be my favorite way to spend my yearly break” Thinking about it more, it seems a little depressing she adds “Usually I just wallow in my bed or work part-time jobs”

“That sounds hard”

“Eh, it pays bills”

“Don't you have friends”

“Of course I do” Reigen says confidently while sweating.

“Well, do you?”

“Well…If you ever feel- I don't know, feel bored? I don't know, I'm bored. You can visit us and watch Mob do his psychic stuff”

YN looks at him, Reigen sees something in YN's eye, and it's definitely not conjuntivities “Are you serious?”

He sees stars and answers her “Serious for reals”

“Serious serious?” Her heartbeat quickens, is he doing it out of pity?

“No seriously I don't want to—” She doesn't actually care because Mob is cool but is so unsure.

Reigen shoves her to the side gently with his elbow “Tagging along doesn't really distract Mob, to be honest. He likes showing off a little, little rascal and keeps getting more confident by the day. With you around, he could even get better and learn new tricks”

“You think so?”

“You question my judgment a lot”

“I mean…” YN laughs, she misses him. His hair looks like it never aged, she can’t stop smiling so she turns away to look at something else “Nevermind, thank you. I’m happy to be with you again”

Mob’s silent snores can be heard from the room, it must be getting cold in there considering they left the balcony door open. Reigen suddenly seems to change in demeanor, “YN, can I be frank”

Well, that was sudden “Uhmm, sure?”

“Why did…” He wanted to say it, yell it “You did not change your clothes? You've been in those disgusting things the whole day, you might wake Mob up from the smell” 

She was already making her way to the shower room.

YN faltered backward on her palms face changing from nervous, to shyly pissed.

“W-what? I already took a shower asshole, there's a drain below us. When did you get so rude,”

Reigen raises his hands to the side “Well, sorry if I can't stand to smell your stench” YN will have to hold her punch for another day.

“I…am going to sleep, you should take a shower….you’re shoulder kinda smells like rotten milk”

“What?!”

Reigen sniffed himself, he does kinda smell like it.

He has a faint smile on his lips as he replays the conversation that they just had, which for some reason kept him in a dream-like trance as he stares of into the distance.

-

The next day YN wants to chicken out when she reaches the hall but Reigen just shoves her in and leaves with a thumbs up.

Talk about an asshole.

She slowly enters the main hall, nervous, and notices someone arguing "Lead...you'll...fine" 

Something falls and suddenly Sister Sana appears, her face looking paler and paler.

Like a rotting corpse.

"Uh, Sister Sana are you feeling well?"

She just stands at the doorway, her hands twitching.

Sister Sana kept stepping back until YN stopped her holding her shoulders to stop her, that might have been a bad idea because her hands tingled, and feels a shiver up her spine like something was crawling up her back.

"No fine, you want to come in?"

"Yeah no worries I'll help if needed" Before she actually goes in she steps forward reluctantly making YN take a step back.

YN signals to Reigen and Mob.

Mob emerges and yanks YN's body away.

She stumbles before finding her footing and rushing over to Reigen "What the plan?!" 

YN blinks trying to keep up "An opening for what?"

Reigen, who was hiding behind a chair, yanks   YN down before she could get hit with any of the ruble that were being thrown around by Mob "Funny thing, I don't" He looks over to the side before YN could lecture him "We could play conga with her"

"I swear to God if you're making a joke right now" YN is so close to strangling him.

"Wait, shut up and listen!" He cuts her off frantically "She’s not moving much, just standing in one spot. That gives us an opening"

He points to the ropes that hang on the sides of the curtains "You grab the left and I'll grab the right and on my mark throw it to me ’ll soak it in the holy water I—acquired—from a very reliable source, and then we’ll give her a good old-fashioned holy Molotov with wet ropes"

YN stares, torn between bewilderment and the urge to smack him.

She nods her head and makes it toward the other side of the room.

He could have exploded her arm, inflate it a little, Mob thinks - but he couldn't go with the plan, throughout this whole fight he’s just trying to leave as little damage to the church and try not to hurt her and the building too much.

“YN?!” Reigen shouts from the other end when Mob takes a longer time to get up.

“I’m working on it, give me a minute shit” Her hands still knotting the ropes, and sister Sana slams her hand on Mob who gets up and deflects it.

YN throws Reigen the rope she’s tied from the curtains, all that scout training was useful in the end. 

Once that was done she ran and called for Reigen “Catch!” She throws the ball through her chest at him, he grabs it. Mob, who is still blocking the majority of the attacks is faltering “Mob jump!” He jumps and YN and Reigen run through her with the rope making her fall.

She's knocked out.

so much for leaving as little damage.

"Mob! Reigen are you" His hands are scratched when he gets up  "Yup I'm fine, ouch" YN grabs him and runs to hide behind a box "Are you okay?" 

"I'm...I think I should be fine- Shit you're bleeding" He has to hold her a little "Am I? Ow...Where's Mob? ow" She says moving her head to look for him but the more she moves the more the headache builds.

As if on cue Mob emerges from the ruble and Reigen grabs YN carefully in case he jostles her too much "Shit he might lose control, YN I-"

"Don't get mad"

"Mad why would I-"

YN whips out holy salt that was acquired from one of Reigens notorious rivals.

-

He would throw a tantrum if not for the situation, he thinks for a moment thinking of a solution before speaking "There are kids in the other building, you need to move them out of here to the playground or something in case it collapses" He quickly instructs her.

She nods immediately and hands the salt to him "Goodluck"

When she said she wanted excitement, she did not mean trying to save kids from an almost collapsing church.

The kitchen with all of the children was the opposite of what she expected considering the ruble and stuff, they seemed to be enjoying it.

That was before a large chunk of the ceiling almost squashed a kid.

"Children I've come to rescue you so if you all could just not-" 

"The end of the world is here, the priest did always say God hated orphans, we're all orphans!" The girl who almost got squashed yells out, what do they teach orphans?

"...Scream, single file I need at least twenty of your short heads to go. Now!"

YN grabs the little kids and alerts the other nuns and workers in the building to grab the infants. 

"Nineteen...Who else is" She looks around the room to hear the lack of a nagging voice "Oh God, Hana?! Is Hana here?" Everyone looks around in a blurred motion, all too shaken up.

YN quickly rushes back inside the building.

"Hana?! Hana-" YN hears a faint voice, and she runs towards it.

"Why are you even here?" YN says frustrated as she carries her out of the building, the ground shakes again.

She shouts again, it's like playing marco polo before YN sees her wheelchair tipped sideways on the floor with scratches on her arm "Are you okay?"

Hana looks up giving her a hopeful look before quickly switching her personality "My entire arm hurts but I found out about the super evil sister nun that I didn't know about, talk about a plot twist with no build-up"

She takes that as a yes.

"Well, I sort of didn't listen to Mob and spied around a little and found out some stuff" YN is too worried to get mad before she remembers "Jelly?"

She sets Hana down and looks back to the scene where everything is happening.

The aura thickens for a moment and a burst of light shines through that no one can seem to see.

YN quickly rushes back to the building to only see Reigen beside Mob asking if he's okay and a tied-up nun with salt in her hair.

She thinks she heard Reigen cuss out a small "Damn that bastard makes some good holy salt"

Reigen and Mob notice her and wave her down.

'Damn It, I missed all the good fighting stuff"

YN rushes towards them kneeling to check on Mob, he seemed alright and she ruffled his hair with a relieved smile.

Then she checks on Reigen whose face is scratched up, she punches him lightly "How the hell are we going to explain to the authority that we visited my 'mom' and accidentally destroyed a building?"

"The authorities?" Reigen echoed, wincing as he touched one of the scratches on his face.

"That little stunt caused a mini earthquake, did you guys know that Hana somehow helped us indirectly?" She replies half amused and half annoyed. 

"Uhm no? Maybe this spirit hates it, but it's pretty odd for a spirit to reveal itself as she did. It looked like she was so repulsed by it, which is weird considering she kills cats - she's pretty stupid"

"Huh?" Sweet Mob asks "I told her not to help"

"Well she did, apparently our little spirit here hates jelly- Hey dimple, do you hate jelly?"

Mob tugs on YN's shirt gently "I can fix the building" Before she could reply, the building was repairing itself.

YN would faint if not for the fact they still needed to deal with Sister Sana being tied up on the floor.

"But you have the wr-"

Speaking of the 'devil' she stirs awake seemingly unaware of what happened "W-why am, please its all a misunderstanding"

Reigen glooms over her "Sure it is lady, you called us and got us looking but you didn't think we would find you, HAH"

Reigen stepped forward, trying to remain nonchallant to explain the situation to the priest who was still confused "It's not, well it kind of is but you need to be-"

The priest rushes in a panic "Are you guys alright?! I just saw the children outside, I was just visiting neighbors before I felt the earthquake hit- Why is sister Sana tied up in a ring of salt, please tell me this isn't a ritualistic-"

There is a very pregnant silence between everyone, thank God the building was fixed before he rushed in.

Sister Sana struggles with her bounds, her face losing color and her face looking fainter as the second goes on.

The priest notices and rushes to aid, face filled with only urgency.

She shakes her head and looks over to YN "Please you've got it all wrong"

The three of them—YN, Reigen, and Mob—could only stand there, frozen in their awkwardness. YN couldn't help but think, Why isn't he throwing her to jail or something? Or at least tell the police about it, but maybe since they're in a church he's being forgiving.

He takes a deep sigh, Sana continues to struggle "I forgive you, Sana"

"What? N-no, you-"

He kneels down to her level "I said I forgive you, sister, in these trying times I feel like we could resort to anything" Sana struggles on her bounds but stops when the priest holds her hands remorsefully while looking down "Relax, you don't have to worry anymore" She falls limp in his arms "I'll protect you"

But for real, this woman has probably killed so many cats and people. 

Then again, if he forgives her, it's whatever.

The three of them can only stand awkwardly watching the ordeal.

"There is no place for an exorcist in this place but...On this very special occasion, I guess I could let it slide, just this once. I heard you helped with the orphans YN and Reigen, thank you"

"It's no problem" Reigen replied quickly forcing a smile.

The priest ponders for a second "I must say, I'm surprised the building looks almost brand new considering the children said the building was falling and Hana's scratches" He side-eyes them, clearly skeptical.

Mob nods furiously at this.

They all laugh nervously at this, YN cleared her throat  "About that, there was an earthquake that caused-"

"A huge one!" Reigen interrupts, a little too loud.

The priest nods and looks at sister Sana's limp body on his lap before he scratches his arm once more before appearing calmer.

He winks at them "Don't worry I'll keep your secret" He gently picks up sister Sana "I think I'll take it from here, just make sure the children are okay before sneaking out, alert an ambulance if you can"

YN doesn't fail to notice the increased red blotches on the priest's robe, seemingly getting bigger "Are you okay though Pastor?"

The priest's expression twisted for a fleeting moment into something like fear before he quickly shook his head, smiling again "Must have been from the earthquake, the stitches must have opened up again" He takes a breath "I'll handle the authorities, in the meantime, I think you children should skadalde out of here - I'm sure the police won't do well when they hear someone didn't go visit their grandmother's place"

"How did you-"

"A friendly cop was sobbing holding a bush knocking on everyone's door because 'a blond man and his partner are visiting someone who has cancer' so I'm guessing my wild guess is correct?"

YN gapes at this, the sides of her mouth twitching "Spot on.."

They nod without making a fuss, Reigen sends a bird to call the paramedics to the room to alert them before leaving.

As they make an exit to the back door YN feels something creep up on the back of her neck, she rubs it to check before shrilling silently.

Reigen turned towards her trying to shush her before he shrilled with her, only he wasn't as quiet as her.

"Oh my god Mob do something, it so ew, ew ew ew ew!"

She frantically slaps her neck, feeling it crawling "Get it off! Get it off!"

Mob calmly removes the centipede, gently plucking it from her neck, as it floats the dread in YN's face only grows  "Is that a—?"

"Gross it's a centipede," Dimple says with a disgusted expression before slurping the offending creature "There, problem solved"

Mob looks at Dimple with horror "Dimple, that's disgusting"

YN looked like she was about to faint while Reigen was leaning on a tree to try not to.

While the adults who seemed to be on the verge of a full mental breakdown over a bug, Mob and Dimple navigate the two to a secluded area to pull themselves together before slipping past security to the nearest train station.

"Close, but it's to always collect your deposit!"

Reigen heaves a breath and looks at Mob "So Mobbu, what have you learned from today's job?"

Mob thought for a moment, expression serious "Not to trust nuns"

-

The ride home is surprisingly relaxing after everything that went down.

Well, it's mostly because everyone was tired.

YN looks out the train's window to enjoy the view while she can, there's only so many things you can look at in a city “I can't believe I used my weekend for this, I'm going to be so behind at work”

“You sure have a lot to be worrying about on a weekend” Reigen says opening his onigiri he got at FamilyMart.

“Yeah, it sucks balls” She agrees but then shakes her head “But actually scratch that, I don't think I would have a better use of it”

“I mean what would you do, if not for work?”

“I don't know, maybe catch up on a show and write-” Oh she let that slip out.

He wishes he could have said goodbye to Hana, YN reassured him that she was fine with minor scratches.

“You write?"

“Well not really, it's just something I do in my free time”

“Oh well, I hope it goes well. I tried writing a book once" He swats his hand raising his brows "Did not go well”

“He made mob write the whole thing”

“Dimple!”

“You what?”

“Well….it was uhm…you see….”

“Mrs.YN it was kinda fun actually so I didn't mind all that much” Mob defends.

“You trying to make him your slave? Mob if this bad man hurts you, I won’t hesitate-”

“I am not abusing my power! I even give the kid extra pork slices-”

“Sure you do” 

Mob just leans on YN’s shoulder blushing as Reigen and her argue, Dimple seemingly also feeling tired rested on Mob's lap. 

Mob also notices that YN tends to move more when she smiles similarly to Reigen when he gets money from customers, is she happy now?

He hopes she can be happy.

YN smiles and rests her hands on her chin, the scenery outside is nice.

She should do this more often.

-

They all reach home, Mob agrees to do another job which in return for a raise and a week off work.

“Weird that we both beat up a nun?” He jokes.

They somehow ended up talking about their moms when Reigen made a 'Your Mom' joke “Yeah, I don't live with her anymore. What about your mom?” YN says.

“Pretty much the same, don't talk to her much these days”

“We have that in common, it's weird” 

“Weird that I can speak to you again” YN says seriously.

Reigen is a little shocked about this but relaxes “Yeah, I guess”

“Come along with me then” YN feels like he's trapped even though he isn't holding her.

Reigen looks at his watch, it's only 4:30 in the afternoon so he grows some balls and asks “Are you bored?”

YN checks her phone, she left Sherman with her boss at the library and is only supposed to pick him up in late evening “Yeah I guess, I have another day off"

She steps forward, Mob is buying a snack with Dimple.

"What? Come where?"

"Anywhere" He hovered her hand as if he was asking for permission - YN wasn't sure if he pitied her, but right now. 

This was Reigen, asking for her hand. 

Someone wants her company.

She grabs him back, gripping him tighter.

Her heart burns.

It hasn't burnt in a long time.

"Anywhere.." with you "sounds nice"

She lets them go after, but the smiles never leave their faces that day.

Consumption 0%

a/n THANK YOU FOR READING,,, this is actually part of my fanfic that i have been working on for ages and also im trying to feed the Reigen 2024 drought that the fandom is experiencing.

[eyeslikewatercoolers]

Reminders of Her -Sashnetra (Part 2/3)

From the poll I posted a couple days ago, this is now going to be split into three parts instead of two! Here's part one if you missed it.

Thank you to @puppywritesthings for being my temporary beta for this chapter

read on ao3

Sasha didn’t see Anetra in class for the first few weeks. Instead, a tall blonde named Marcia brought Jace to and from class. Sasha assumed that Marcia was Jace’s other parent, while Anetra would be busy with work and unable to take him. 

At the end of the class, all the parents lined up in the studio behind their respective children. Sasha held a stack of papers and placed them on the fold-out table her teaching assistant had set up. 

“We’re having our photographer come in next week and take pictures for our programming. So I need parents to sign these releases so he can take pictures of the kids,” she explained as the parents started filling out their paperwork.

Except for Marcia and Jace, they stayed put where they both stood. Jace looked up at Marcia, and they shrugged “I’ll talk to her about it. Maybe she’ll let us take it home for your mom to sign.”  they said to reassure him. 

Sasha walked over to them with a copy of the release in her hand, “Did you not want to sign this? If not, it’s not going to upset me or anything.” she said.

“Oh, I would love to, but I can’t. I’m not a parent or guardian,” they explained. They looked at Jace, “Why don’t you wait in the lobby while I talk to your teacher?” 

Jace nodded, “Okay, Auntie Marsh.” he said before walking out of the studio to sit on the bench near the door. 

Marcia turned their attention back to Sasha, “Anetra has been a single mom since Jace was born. We’ve been close friends for years, and I’m just trying to help her whenever I can.” they explained. 

“Really? I didn’t know that.” Sasha said, her tone softening. She’s seen single parents struggle to balance everything outside the dance classes. “Could she come in any other time? I’d love to tell her how well her son is doing in class.” she smiled, glancing at the curly-haired boy in the lobby. 

Marcia nodded, but their eyes seemed apprehensive. “I can ask her tonight, no problem.”

As Sasha greeted parents and kids coming in for the pre-ballet class, she felt her heartbeat quicken when she saw Anetra walk in alongside Marcia and Jace. She hoped that this might mean she would get to see Anetra more often.

“You needed me to sign something?” Anetra asked her, eyes looking anywhere except in Sasha’s.

“I do. Would you like to stay for the rest of the class to watch? I’m sure Jace would love to show you what he’s learned.”

Anetra took a deep breath, “Of course I can.”

During the class, Sasha stole glances toward the observation room to seek any look she could get at Anetra. She noticed that Anetra’s eyes never left Jace during the class. Towards the end, she and Marcia looked at each other, and both smiled at the woman enjoying watching her son dance.

Sasha just remembered about the photographer in the studio with them when it was time for the group class photos. Once the children were allowed to break apart from being lined up for the posed group photo, they ran to their parents. 

Anetra was kneeling as Jace ran into her open arms, “You did so good, J. I’m proud of you.” she said as she ran a hand through his curls. 

“Do you think she’ll come back next week?” Sasha asked Marcia quietly as they both stood a few yards away.

“I don’t think she would ever want to miss seeing her son so happy in your class.”

Anetra returned during the following week’s class without Marcia this time. She even kept coming to class with just her and Jace. 

Sasha continued to sneak glances at Anetra’s astounding facial expressions during class. It was the only time that Sasha saw her face change from her usual bored expression when talking to the other dance moms.

A few weeks into her seeing Anetra during classes, parent volunteer opportunities opened up for the season. Parents of older children already in the studio signed up immediately for the ‘good’ spots (like selling T-shirts and organizing bake sales). 

This meant the only spots left were the more mundane tasks, like organizing the music library and measuring for costume sizes. But Sasha was pleasantly surprised that Anetra’s name was first (and only) on helping Sasha organize the costume closet. 

Anetra came into the studio in the late morning on a weekday when there were no classes. She arrived alone, the first time Sasha had seen her without anyone else. 

“You didn’t bring your son?” she asked Anetra as she led her to the costume closet in the back of the building. 

“No, I dropped him off at my dad and stepmom’s house earlier. He loves going over there, they spoil him every time they see him.” Anetra said with a slight smile. 

After about an hour of creating a plan to organize the closet, the two women found themselves in light conversation as they worked.

“What do you do for work?” Sasha asked from the corner of the costume closet that she was working on. She showed Anetra how everything got organized by style, size, and color. 

“I’m a medical coder for a neurologist's office,” Anetra said as she folded tights from her side of the room.  “It’s boring, but it pays the bills.” she shrugged. 

“How did you get into doing that job?” Sasha asked. If she was being honest, Sasha had no idea what a medical coder was, but at least she could try to make conversation about it. 

Anetra softly sighed as she moved the pile of tights into the storage box. “It was never my original plan. I was training to be a professional in taekwondo, but then when I found out I was pregnant, I had to throw away that plan.”

Sasha moved to sit closer to Anetra, placing spare hangers on the rack. “That must have been a hard decision to make.”

Anetra nodded, “At first it was. But I’m really lucky I had Marcia my dad and stepmom, and my other friends to help me out.” she said with a small smile. “I didn’t want to believe this when I was 21, but Jace is the best thing to happen to me.” 

Sasha gave her a warm smile, “He is a special kid.” 

“Even if he looks nothing like me.” Anetra laughed, as the two continued to work and chat throughout the rest of the afternoon.

Cleaning the costume closet soon became Sasha’s favorite chore to do in the studio. It wasn’t because it was something that she liked doing, but it was the only time she could spend with just her and Anetra. 

But the closet was nearly fully organized after a few weeks of Anetra coming to the studio alone to help on various days. Despite being great for the closet, Sasha still wanted to spend time with her. 

As she waited for Anetra to arrive to help do the last-minute touch-ups on the closet, Sasha was racking her brain for another volunteer opportunity for her and Anetra to do together. 

“When’s the last time we waxed the floors?” Sasha asked out loud as Kylie was doing computer work from the other side of the small office. 

“You know we have a guy that comes in to do that,” Kylie responded without looking away from the screen. 

Sasha thought for a moment, “Well, what about-” before she was cut off by the blonde turning around. 

“You know you can hang out with her outside of here, right?” Kylie suggested and ignored the look of shock that Sasha gave her. “I’ve seen you two in that dusty old closet, it’s okay if you want to be friends or something more with her.” 

“Something more? What do you mean by that?” she asked but heard the electric bell on the lobby door chime. “She’s here, I gotta go,” Sasha said before bolting out of the office. 

After a few short hours of finishing the costume closet, Sasha and Anetra stood in the doorway, admiring their hard work. Even if Sasha knew it would look trashed again in about six months. 

“I’ll see you in class next week, okay? I’m glad I could help you out with this.” Anetra smiled and started to turn to walk back down the hallway. 

“Wait a moment,” she said and saw the younger woman turn around. “Are you free on Saturday?” she asked, trying not to not choke on her nerves. 

Anetra looked surprised, “Oh, was there something I missed from the calendar you gave us? I thought the recital practice was the week after next.” 

“It still is, don’t worry,” Sasha reassured her. “I meant just you and me this Saturday.”

“As in, like a date?” Anetra asked for clarification. 

Sasha nodded after a moment. She didn’t plan for it to be called a date, but maybe being something more could be a good thing for them. “Yes, like a date.”

“Let me find a babysitter first, then yes.” 

Sasha only had a couple of small dates with Anetra before the recital season kept her busy. But after the winter recital was over and the pre-ballet class finished its last session before the small in-class celebration, Sasha’s attention flew back to Anetra. 

The two had met with each other at least once a week. Sometimes they would be with each other’s friends, other times it would just be the two of them alone. 

Sasha enjoyed spending time with her new friend but noticed something was slightly off about Anetra. 

“I need a favor from you.” Sasha walked swiftly into the studio office, sitting in the rolling chair opposite Kylie. The computer screen showed the edited pictures in a programming book from a few months before.  

“Yes?” 

“Do you find it weird if a woman in her twenties doesn’t have social media?” Sasha asked. 

She tried asking Anetra for her Instagram (or any social media), but the younger woman would change the subject. She couldn’t ask Marcia or any of Anetra’s other friends since she didn’t feel that close to them yet. 

“Depends, is it your new little date friend?” Kylie asked with a lifted eyebrow, already knowing the answer.

“Yes, it’s Anetra. But I looked up her name on everything, and I can’t find her.” Sasha said as she watched Kylie type on her phone for a moment.  

“Found her.” The blonde said as she turned her phone screen to Sasha to show the Instagram profile. 

She squinted at the screen, looking at the username, “But I tried that one.” she sighed, pulling out her phone to check again. 

Kylie tilted her head, holding out her hand for Sasha to pass her the cell phone “Let me try something.”

“Okay, but I don’t think that-”

“You blocked her.”

“What? Why would I block her when I have never met her before?” 

Kylie shrugged, passing back the phone, “No idea. But I unblocked her for you.” 

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” She smiled as she pressed the follow button, before scrolling deep into Anetra’s profile. 

Soon she was looking at a picture of a younger Anetra, in a taekwondo uniform, with bright red hair.

The image of the younger woman with cherry red hair stayed in her mind for the rest of the day, wondering where this sense of familiarity came from.

Had she and Anetra met before?

[nerdzzone]

Tiny Dancer

Summary: Following in her mother’s footsteps, Grace has her first big dance recital.

Part of the Back To You series

-----

June 2025

“Okay, so Grace has to be there in about an hour and a half,” Madeline reminded Chris as she flitted around the kitchen, collecting a few small snacks and a bottle of water to put in her bag. “She’ll need her hair in a bun, but if you can’t do it then just let me know and I can fix it before she goes on stage.”

It was at least the third time that Madeline had given him that information, but considering how stressed she was about the big recital, he chose not to point that out.

“I think I’ll be able to do it, I’ve been practicing all week.”

“I know,” Madeline flashed him a smile. “You’re probably better than me now, but if she’s nervous and won’t sit still then I can deal with it at the theatre.”

“Okay,” Chris nodded, but as she paused her hurried movements and lifted her arms to put her hair up and out of her way - a clear sign of her stress - he took advantage of her stillness to slip his arms around her waist. “How are you feeling?”

He felt her tension ease as she leaned into his embrace and let out the deep breath that it seemed like she’d been holding all morning.

“I’m good,” she assured him. “I’m excited, it’s just a lot to organize. I feel like my head is spinning.”

It was a fair assessment considering it was only the third time that she’d been in charge of organizing a recital - although she had doubts that it was something that would get easier over time - but it was also the first time she was doing it as not only the lead teacher, but as the mom of one of the dancers as well.

Despite a few delays because of the pandemic, Madeline managed to get the studio space she’d leased when she’d first moved home up and running by September of 2020. It wasn’t a seamless process due to the kinks in the supply chain and the added interruption of her pregnancy, but after running the first fall program herself, she’d called in reinforcements. 

Her friend, Heidi - who she’d been dancing with since she’d joined the American Ballet Theatre - had retired due to an injury just a couple of years before Madeline had and after taking the time to heal, she’d moved to Boston to teach. When Madeline had pitched the idea of her joining the little up and coming school that she’d started, Heidi had been immediately on board. She took over classes completely while Madeline was on her maternity leave and by the time she returned, interest was rapidly growing. They decided to split the classes and take on more students with Heidi in charge of the younger kids - between three and six - while Madeline took care of the older ones - six to nine – before they could ‘graduate’ and join a bigger company if they chose to continue their dancing careers.

They were still a relatively small company with only one class per age, but that still meant they had ten dances to coordinate for the recital including all the numbers with combined age groups and the perfectionist side to Madeline had her very stressed about making sure it all ran smoothly.

“It is a lot to organize,” Chris agreed. “But just remember what Ma said, even if you’re in charge it’s still supposed to be fun.”

“Oh, it’s definitely still fun,” Madeline smiled. “I just really want to make sure it all goes well.”

“I’m sure it will,” Chris insisted, pressing a kiss against the top of her head. “And I’m really proud of you for putting it all together.”

He felt Madeline squeeze him a little tighter before she pulled back and looked up at him with a smile.

“Don’t say that yet, it might be a complete disaster.”

“I’m positive that it won’t be,” Chris chuckled. “You’re all gonna do great.”

“Let’s hope so.” Madeline let out a sigh as she glanced at her phone to check the time. Seeing that she was already running a bit late, she tossed it into her bag as she grabbed the bag off of the chair. “Okay, I’ll say goodbye to Gracie, but then I’ve gotta go. Let me know if you need anything, otherwise I’ll see you when you drop her off.”

Chris nodded and pulled her in for another soothing kiss before following her to the living room. Madeline quickly wrapped Grace in a hug as she murmured her goodbyes and Chris watched as Grace hurried to the window, waving until Madeline’s car had disappeared from view. However, once her mother was out of sight, Grace turned around and let the smile fall from her face as her eyebrows furrowed together.

“Daddy, I have a question.”

Biting back a smile at her suddenly serious expression, Chris nodded his head.

“Sure, Gracie, what’s up?”

“Will Mama be mad if I’m too scared to dance today?”

The question alone was upsetting for Chris, but the way her voice shook as she asked it wiped away any hints of his amusement.

“Of course not,” he assured her as he moved to squat down in front of her to get to her level. “Your Ma would never get mad about something like that.”

“But Mama loves dancing,” she reminded him. “And she’s never scared.”

“She does love to dance, but she does get scared sometimes too. She’s actually a little nervous about today too.”

Grace’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Really?”

“Absolutely,” Chris nodded, flashing her a smile. “Everyone gets a little scared sometimes. I used to get scared all the time before I did anything.”

“You did?”

“I did, but do you know who was always there to help me?” Chris waited for her to shake her head before he answered. “Your Ma was. Whenever I got scared, she knew just how to make me feel better.”

It was the truth and Chris hoped that knowledge would bring Grace some comfort. 

While Chris had prided himself on being Madeline’s protector when she got herself into more trouble than she could handle, she was always a fairly brave kid and Chris had to admit that in certain situations, he was not. Until he was about nine or ten, going anywhere without his family was practically torture for him. He hated school, he hated camp, he hated any activity that took him away from the comfort and safety of home, but despite their age difference and the fact that he was older - and should have been more emotionally stable - Madeline was always there to comfort him. 

One memory that popped into his head was of a time when his mom had tried to force him into summer camp. He’d cried and screamed and refused to go until she eventually took him home. He’d sulked in his room for most of the morning, but when Madeline and her mother came over that afternoon, she’d tracked him down and - despite being only four at the time - she’d given him her best attempt at a pep talk and loaned him her favourite stuffed animal to take with him the next day in the hopes it would give him as much comfort as it gave her.

While he’d appreciated the gesture, it hadn’t worked and he never made it to that camp, but he left that part out as he shared the anecdote with the nervous four year old in front of him.

“Oh,” Grace murmured as she mulled over his story. “That was nice.”

“It was,” Chris smiled. “So you don’t have to worry about your Ma being upset that you’re scared, but what’s making you so nervous?”

“Everything,” Grace sighed. “I don’t want there to be too much people there.”

“There probably will be a lot of people,” Chris admitted, feeling a wave of guilt that she’d clearly inherited his anxious nature. “But you can just look for me and Mama and Grandma, we’re the only people you need to focus on.”

“I just want it to be only all of you.”

“I know, but everyone’s families want to see them dance too.”

“But what if I do it wrong?”

“Then you just keep going,” Chris assured her. “You just have to do your best.”

“Okay…”

Her soft response and the worry still swimming in her eyes had Chris’ heart aching as he opened his arms to pull her into a hug.

“If you really don’t want to do it then you don’t have to, no one will be upset or disappointed if you’ve changed your mind.”

He felt her clinging to his shirt as she buried her face into his neck for comfort while she took a moment to debate her options before she spoke again.

“I think I wanna try.”

Chris felt a wave of relief at her decision as he knew that she would probably regret it if she didn’t and he squeezed her tight.

“I think that’s a good choice,” he agreed. “But you can change your mind at any time, okay? We can just take it one step at a time.”

“Okay,” Grace nodded. “Can you help me do my hair?”

“Sure,” Chris smiled. “Let’s go find your hairbrush.”

-

Grace is kinda freaking out, think you can give her a pep talk? We’re heading over now, be there soon.

By the time Madeline saw the text from Chris, she knew they would be arriving any minute and her concern had her rushing outside to meet them. She made it to the parking lot just as Chris was getting out of the car and he smiled at the sight of her.

“Hey,” she greeted him. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

“I think so,” Chris nodded. “But she’s nervous. I think we’ve talked it through, but she was worried that you’d be mad if she was too scared to perform…”

“Me?”

The incredulity in her voice gave away her shock at that information and Chris rushed to assure her.

“She was just saying that she knows how much dancing means to you and she doesn’t want to disappoint you,” he elaborated. “But I told her about how you used to help me when I got nervous about stuff and we talked it out so I think she’s gonna be fine.”

“Okay,” Madeline sighed. “I’ll talk to her and make sure.”

Chris nodded and opened the back door of his car just in time for Grace to hop out. Her hair was in a perfect bun and she was already dressed in her little leotard and tutu and Madeline’s heart melted at the sight.

“Hi, baby,” she grinned. “You look great!”

“Thank you! Daddy did my hair!”

“Well, he did a great job!”

“Thanks, it only took four tries,” Chris chuckled. “But I should go pick up Grandma. I’ll be back for your show. Okay, Gracie?”

A look of worry briefly flickered across her little face, but Grace quickly wiped it away and nodded stoically at Chris. He smiled and squatted down to pull her in for a hug and pressed a kiss to her forehead before getting back into his car, waiting for Madeline to lead Grace out of the parking lot before he drove away.

“So,” Madeline started as Grace slipped her little hand into hers. “Daddy told me that you’re feeling a little nervous.”

“Yeah,” Grace admitted, her voice so soft that Madeline almost didn’t hear her. “I just don’t like all the people.”

As they walked into the lobby of the theatre, Madeline led Grace over to a bench by the door where she sat down and lifted Grace to sit sideways on her lap.

“It is scary when there’s a lot of people watching,” Madeline agreed. “But can I tell you a secret?”

The lure of confidential information had Grace’s eyes widening as she leaned in and nodded enthusiastically.

“Most people won’t be watching you,” Madeline informed her. “Everyone’s moms and dads and families will just be paying attention to them so the only people who will be really watching you are me, Daddy and Grandma.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Grace smiled softly. “Do you get scared too?”

“All the time,” Madeline admitted. “I used to get nervous before every performance, but I just try to remember that everyone just wants to have fun. We have fun dancing and the audience have fun watching us, right?”

“But what if I mess it all up?”

“Then you just have to keep going. I remember one time that I messed up really bad and I was so embarrassed, but you know what happened?”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Madeline shrugged. “No one even noticed because the people watching don’t really know how the dances are supposed to go. Daddy doesn’t know any of your moves, does he?”

“No,” Grace giggled at the thought. “Daddy doesn’t dance good at all!”

Madeline’s mind flashed to the many family dance parties they’d had where Chris would bust out his silliest dance moves just to make Grace laugh and let out a giggle of her own.

“Exactly! I bet most people who come today won’t be really good dancers like you and your class are so no one will know even if someone makes a mistake. You just have to keep your head up and keep going.”

Her assurances had Grace sitting up a little straighter and looking much more confident than she had when they’d walked in, but after she gave Madeline a firm nod and a confident ‘okay, Mama’, Madeline had one more thing she wanted to mention.

“But you know that no matter what, I’ll be proud of you, right?” She asked. “Even if you mess up or if you’re too scared to go on stage at all, I’ll always love you and I’d never be mad.”

Grace looked down at her hands, shrugging in a way that had Madeline’s heart sinking.

“I didn’t want you to be sad.”

“Listen to me, Gracie,” Madeline instructed, her voice firm so there was no room for any misunderstanding. “I’ll never be sad or disappointed because you’re scared about something. I’m so proud of you just for being here and trying to be brave, if you change your mind then that’s okay. Even if you wanted to quit dancing completely, I wouldn’t be mad.”

“I don’t!” Grace frantically shook her head. “I don’t wanna quit!”

“I know,” Madeline smiled. “I’m just making sure you know that I won’t be sad about whatever choice you make.”

“Okay,” Grace nodded, slipping her arm around Madeline’s neck and snuggling in close. “Love you, Mama.”

“I love you too, Gracie.” Madeline squeezed her in tight and took a minute to soak up the moment of calm amongst the busy day before she reluctantly helped her hop down from her lap. “I’ll take you to Heidi now, but if you need me at any time you just let her know, okay?”

Grace agreed as she slipped her hand back into Madeline’s and followed her down the hallway to the room where her class was getting ready.

-

Almost an hour later, Madeline was racing around the backstage area trying to make sure everyone had their shoes and hadn’t messed up their hair too much when one of the moms who had volunteered to help stopped her.

“Heidi wanted me to tell you that Grace will be on in five.”

“Okay,” Madeline smiled. “Thanks for letting me know.”

She felt a pang of guilt as she’d been hoping to get the chance to check in with Grace again, but she had no time to worry about it as she made sure no one was in desperate need of any help before slipping away to find Chris. Thanks to the perks of being the one in charge, she found him in the seats she’d reserved on the front row just as the applause went up for the dancers in the number before Grace’s class.

“She up next?” He murmured softly, not wanting to detract attention from the kids prancing off the stage. Madeline nodded and a smile slid onto his face. “How’s she doing?”

“I think she’s okay,” Madeline whispered back. “We talked before I took her to Heidi and I haven’t heard about any issues since.”

“Good.”

Madeline could see Chris’ shoulders drop as if that information soothed him, but as the shadows of the dancers filed onto the stage take their positions in the dim lighting she felt her own stomach turn with nerves. It truly didn’t matter to her - or any other person in the audience - if any of the girls made a mistake, but she knew how hard Grace could be on herself and she worried about how she would handle it if she did. 

Madeline adored her daughter, but there were times when she felt like they’d set her up to fail by passing on so many of their more difficult traits. She’d taken on her stubbornness, overly ambitious nature and inability to back down from a challenge, but also had Chris’ tendency to beat himself up and overthink himself into a world of doubt. They’d seen snippets of the traits in various ways through her life so far, but this was the first time they were seeing it collide into a heap of anxiety for her. She had the drive and desire to perform, but her self-doubt and the noise in her brain had clearly knocked her confidence. If anything did go wrong while she was on stage, Madeline knew it wouldn’t be easy to help her shake it off.

However, to her relief, it quickly became apparent that her worries were just as unfounded as Grace’s were.

Grace leapt and twirled around the stage with perfect precision and a passion that had her parents’ hearts swelling with pride. There was a look of focused determination on her face, but there was no sign of her earlier nerves and she completed the entire routine without missing a single mark. As they struck the final pose and the sound of applause returned, Madeline laughed as Chris jumped to his feet, letting out a cheer as he clapped so loud that the sound echoed around them. Madeline hopped up to join him just in time for Grace’s eyes to settle on them and her parents watched as a proud grin slid onto her face.

As much as she would have loved to stay and watch the rest of the show with Chris, Madeline hurried off as soon as Grace was exiting the stage to get one of her own classes ready to go on. She stayed in the wings for the rest of the performances - including Grace’s group number which she performed with the same ease as her first dance - but she was relieved when the final dancers left the stage and the show was over meaning she could just focus on being a mom again.

Wading through the crowds of other parents that had entered the backstage area to gather their dancers, Madeline hurried to find Grace and felt her heart swell when she saw her standing with Heidi.

“Grace!” She called out, catching her attention just in time for her to whisk her off the ground and into her arms. “You were amazing!”

“I did it, Mama,” Grace grinned as she wrapped her arms tightly around Madeline’s neck. “I didn’t get too scared or mess it all up!”

“I’m so proud of you! I knew you could do it!”

“She was a star,” Heidi agreed. “She warned me that she was feeling a little nervous, but we went through some calming breathing techniques and she persevered.”

“Thank you,” Madeline smiled at her friend before glancing back at Grace. “Should we go find Daddy?

Her question was met with a very enthusiastic nod and after quickly reassuring Heidi that she would be back soon to help with the clean up, Madeline hurried out of the theatre with Grace in her arms. As soon as they got out the door and Grace could see her other family members waiting by the parking lot, she wiggled until Madeline put her down.

“Daddy!” She cheered, bolting towards him. “Did you see me dance?”

“I did!” Chris smiled as he literally swept her off her feet, tossing her in the air before he settled her on his hip. ”You were so good!”

“Thanks,” she beamed proudly, but as her grandma stepped forward with a big bouquet in her arms, her eyes widened. “Are those for me?”

“They sure are!” Lisa smiled, holding them out for her take. Grace did so eagerly, whacking her dad in the face with the large arrangement as she thanked her grandma profusely. “You’re so welcome, honey. You’ve earned them, you did a great job!”

“She really did,” Madeline agreed as Grace was distracted by the flowers in her arms. “It’s a whole different kind of nerves watching her do it than it is being the one on stage.”

“Well, you had no need to worry,” Lisa assured her. “She clearly got your natural talent.”

Letting out a scoff of laughter, Madeline pulled a face at that claim.

“Most of my talent was not natural,” she reminded them. “I was the least coordinated dancer in my class when I started. Her ability to perform must come from the Evans side because she’s way better than I was at her age.”

“Maybe she just has better teachers,” Lisa pointed out. “It’s an amazing thing you’re doing here, building a little community of ballet that focuses on uplifting the kids above everything else.”

The compliment had Madeline swelling with pride more than any other congratulations she’d received that night. Her ultimate priority when she’d started the dance studio was to keep the environment positive. She was determined that there would be no pressure on any of the dancers, no unrealistically high expectations that set anyone up to fail and no using fear as motivation or insults disguised as well intentioned advice. She made sure that everyone was on the same page - including some of the more overbearing dance moms - and that the focus always stayed on having fun and enjoying ballet.

She knew that there were many people in the world who would think she was wasting her time - that her strategy wouldn’t enable the dancers to thrive in the way required to reach a higher level later on - but it was inspiring to see that she appeared to be right. It seemed that her teaching style was creating dancers who were more passionate and confident than the ones who were taught in a strict, almost abusive way and they were excelling just as much - if not more - than students from the schools she’d attended as a child and they had none of the emotional damage.

“Thank you,” she smiled at her mother-in-law. “Nothing is better than watching someone do what they love and really pour their heart into it, right? It just makes sense that empowering them is a better option.”

“Absolutely,” Lisa nodded. “And if anyone can prove that to the world, I know it’s you.”

Her assurance warmed Madeline’s heart as she knew that without the unfailing belief that Chris and his family seemed to have in her, she wouldn’t have been able to achieve even half of what she had. She was proud of what she’d accomplished, but she knew that she never would have been able to do it without their support and she shared that thought with Lisa just as Grace let out a yawn.

“I should probably get this little monster to bed…”

Chris’ observation was said with a chuckle, but it put a frown on Grace’s face.

“I’m not a monster,” she insisted. “I’m a ballerina!”

“Oh, of course, how could I forget?” Chris smiled. “Are you coming home with us, Maddie?”

“I’ve gotta stay for a bit and help tidy up backstage, but I won’t be too long.”

Chris nodded and took the flowers from Grace with the arm that wasn’t holding her before passing her over to Madeline to say goodnight. She squeezed her tight, murmuring more praise and congratulations as she moved towards the car and by the time she had her all strapped into her car seat, Grace was fighting desperately to keep her eyes open.

Placing a soft kiss on her head, she smiled at the sight before gently closing the door and turning to Chris.

“She’ll be fast asleep by the time you get home.”

“I’m not surprised,” Lisa chimed in. “She’s had an exciting night!”

“And all the nerves she had earlier probably didn’t help,” Chris pointed out. “It’s been an emotional day for her.”

“It has,” Madeline agreed, slipping her arms around Chris’ waist. “It’s been a long day for all of us, I think, but I should get back inside or we’ll be here all night.”

“You want me to stay and help? I’m sure Ma would take Grace home for us.”

Lisa voiced her agreement to that claim, but Madeline shook her head.

“There’s not a lot to do, we’ll be fine.”

Chris nodded and reluctantly let her slip out of his arms after stealing one quick kiss, waiting for her to make it safely back inside before he followed his mother to the car.

-

As Madeline pulled into their driveway almost two hours later, she felt the exhaustion hitting her full force. It had been a hectic, emotional day at the end of a long, busy week and now that it was all over, her body was screaming at her to take a break. Dragging herself from the car, motivated to move by the knowledge that her bed was only moments away, she made her way into the house and was surprised by the silence that greeted her.

She knew that Grace would have been in bed, but considering it was barely after nine o’clock, she’d expected to find Chris lounging in the living room with sports on the TV as he usually was on Saturday nights at home. However, the living room was dark - as was most of the house - so Madeline ventured down the hallway towards their bedroom and the sight that greeted her had a smile sliding onto her face.

Chris was laying on the bed, leaning against the headboard as he watched the muted TV on the wall with Dodger at his feet and a sleeping Grace tucked under his arm.

“Well, isn’t this a sight for sore eyes.”

Chris’ gaze snapped towards the doorway where she stood, relaxing when his eyes settled on her.

“Hi,” he flashed her a lazy smile. “I didn’t even hear you come in.”

“Apparently neither did our fierce guard dog,” she teased as Dodger twitched his tail in acknowledgment. “Why’s the party in here?”

“Grace woke up when I was changing her into her pajamas and wanted to sleep in our bed,” Chris explained. “Then she didn’t want me to leave so I stuck around for a bit.”

“She’s hard to resist,” Madeline sympathized. “And she deserves a little comfort after her big day.”

Slipping off her shoes and moving towards their dresser, Madeline lifted the dress she was wearing over her head and dropped it in the laundry basket before grabbing one of Chris’ old t-shirts out of a drawer and pulling it on. As she turned back towards the bed, she saw Chris brushing Grace’s hair out of her face as he watched her sleep with a look of adoration on his face.

If she hadn’t been so exhausted and eager to join them in the comfort of their bed, she would have been loath to interrupt the moment, but her exhaustion took over as she crawled up to lay in the empty space next to Grace.

“She did so well today,” Chris murmured. “She was so nervous, but she pulled it off.”

“She really did,” Madeline nodded as she rested her head on her pillow. “I just can’t get over how big she looked on that stage. It feels like it was just two minutes since we were bringing her home from the hospital.”

Chris smiled fondly at the memory as he thought back to their first night with Grace when they’d spent most of the night in a similar position, watching her closely as they were both too paranoid to take their eyes off her for more than a minute.

“I was so terrified,” he admitted. “I just kept thinking ‘man, who thought we were qualified enough to look after an actual baby’.”

His words pulled a snort of laughter from Madeline, but she stifled it with her hand to stop the noise from disturbing the child sleeping between them.

“We were in way over our heads,” she agreed. “But I think we’re doing a pretty good job.”

“It’s easy when you’ve got such a great kid.”

Madeline let out a hum of agreement, but as Chris flicked his eyes away from Grace, he noticed that Madeline’s were already flickering shut. Knowing how hard she’d been working and how little she’d slept all week, he wasn’t at all surprised and stayed quiet until he was sure she’d drifted off to sleep before shifting the blanket that he’d draped over Grace to cover her too.

As he watched them sleep beside him, he felt his own eyes grow heavy as the adrenaline of the day caught up with him as well. He was used to watching one of his favourite people perform as he’d sat through countless ballet recitals for Madeline, but he hadn’t truly been prepared for how it would feel to see his daughter up on that stage. He’d heard before Grace was born that having a child was like watching your whole heart run around outside of your body and that was the only way he could think to describe how he’d felt as he watched her.

He was constantly blown away by just how much it was possible to love someone and he was immeasurably grateful for the opportunity to be her dad. Knowing that the days of her wanting to snuggle up in bed with them were limited, he flicked off the lamp beside the bed and let himself fade off to sleep as well as he soaked in the sounds of her soft, gentle snores.

-

Next

Tags: @maggotzombie @moonlacebeam @mizzzpink @flowery-mess @flowerjewels​@hockeychick10 @partypoison00 @theladybiers @sidepieces @patzammit​ @sparkledfirecracker​ @mytbel0st​ @denisemarieangelina​ @elrw24​ @findthebeautyinbreakdowns​ @trottae17 @annvail​ @rach2602​ @sarahdonald87​ @firephotogrl74​ @ourfinest-hour​ @k-evans-writes​

[rihabe]

hello! ♥

hiiii everyoneeee i am not new, this is carly, (bejoomi/benayoung) back with that new muse i was talking about when i dropped ahyoung, may she rest in piece. i believe riha is the girl muse that has Spoken To Me the most of any girl i've ever had, so i have high hopes of her sticking around and also breathing some much needed new life into my time rping! third time for a third muse is the charm right 😭

here is miss riha's about page that has everything you could hope to know about her! tbh i think some things have changed since i made it so i will be...reviewing it and updating it shortly. i'll give some info about her and some plot ideas under the cut as well, so defer to this for now! please like this if you'd like to plot w riha ♥ tyty i am excited!

ABOUT

riha was born in seoul, '00 liner, softest scorpio you will ever meet

she has an older brother and younger sister. her mom started having kids quite young. her dream was to become a musician but she had to give it up to be a Mom (and also a waitress, get that money etc etc)

riha's dad is a pro football (soccer) player, he was up and coming when she was born but is quite popular now

her family was actually normal for the most part [gasp] dad was a bit absent because he was more interested in his career but he wasn't a bad guy

riha's maternal grandparents took care of the kids a lot but grandma passed away when riha was quite young and didn't rly understand what was going on

dad put all the kids into Active Things as early as he could and mom fell in love with a Sports Guy so she was all for it too

riha got put in ballet but her brother was in Rough Sports and riha was like no. i wanna do that. if i bite one of the girls in my dance class will it prove i'm tough enough for soccer

eventually the parentals relented and bitch was and is so indecisive she tried Everything

she liked soccer most but ended up playing tennis, volleyball, and swimming most bc #misogyny

she was very friendly growing up, did quite well in school, but wasn't Spectacular u know

she really came into her own in high school when she tried out for the volleyball team and got on and became absolutely obsessed w it

she got her First Real Boyfriend in her second year and they were like The Real Deal and way more mature and deep than your average high school rls

riha loved him but then she got a crush on a girl eventually and had a meltdown because it Hit Different u know. The Lesbianism....

it wasn't until her last year of hs that she finally told her bf and broke up with him she was actually so heartbroken over it she cried so much but she told him everything (and that she is a lesbian) and he was an angel and understanding but clearly devastated and that made it worse

so riha decided to be very mature and run away <3 to uni in california KJLDLKJJKLDG

she was like hi my parents this school's volleyball team is very good and well known and they have a good kinesiology program i think this would be a great opportunity for me (:

and they were like ok sweetie if that's what you want to do

so she did it

with the power of english classes and gossip girl on her side she loved it there. and she made it onto the volleyball team but also played beach volleyball. probably got a crush on her beach volleyball partner. gay ass

she spent a lot of time on social media to keep in touch w people back in sk but also got into Fandom Twitter and she's a hot mess so her account was also a mess. her interests are everywhere. but she also made friends everywhere!

( illness tw ) in her last year of uni her mom got cancer and riha almost dropped out to go home and support her but her mom insisted she finish her degree so she did

and once she graduated went home asap

( death tw ) her mom ended up passing away last year, her health deteriorated pretty quickly once riha got back to korea

after her mom died she had no idea what to do with her life because she still loved sports but didn't know how to make that her career and he could go back to school and become a physical therapist or a pe teacher or something blah blah blah

but it didn't take her long to decide that she actually wanted to achieve her mom's dream of being a musician to honor her

in the meantime tho she's a personal trainer at her local gym! and she might pick up some other jobs too we'll see.

she is pretty much a Music Newbie, she learned how to play guitar from her mom and she always loved music but was never a singer or anything

she decided to go down the kpop path because becoming an indie musician or whatever seemed way more overwhelming than becoming a trainee LMAO like "ok all i have to do is get signed to a company and they'll teach me everything right???"

she is still a sports girlie. catch her at the gym even when she's not working but also on the tennis courts and at the pool and probably in a volleyball league and

she got a dog AND a motorcycle after her mom died to cheer herself up LMAO but it helped! she loves miso (the dog) and the unnamed motorcycle because she cannot decide on a name for it even though it's been a year or something

PLOT IDEAS

her ex bf. will be very picky about this but would love to have the plot!!

in the same vein, the first girl she got a crush on that gave her a crisis. this is more open but still important

i haven't said exactly where she went to school in cali so anyone that went to uni there, they could've gone to the same uni!

people she's played sports with. tennis doubles partner, co-ed kickball team, person that is annoyed because she somehow always manages to beat them to the best lane in the pool, etc

people she's training at the gym??

she can physically fight people. she is a 4th degree taekwondo black belt so maybe she absolutely kicked a guy's ass for you one time or something

alternatively you're obsessed w her bc she has a motorcycle and could probably be a stunt double she is a badass tbh

alternatively she is obsessed with you because you're a cute girl but it probably only lasts for five minutes because she's wishy-washier than mr clean

maybe a guy that she also thinks is really cute and is really fond of to give her ANOTHER crisis because she's not 100% confident in her lesbianism. it be like that sometimes....will also be picky about this but it would be fun!

she loves clubbing and somehow always ends up taking care of some drunk girl in the bathroom so there's that

she's a casual gamer too! but she's also very competitive! so it's like, she'll play once a week but depending on the game she'll get super into it and intense about it and then be like that was fun (: afterward. so fellow gamers? she's not that good tbh

would love for her to get mansplained to at the gym or something. and she can just be like wow thanks (: actually you're wrong abt that one thing u said teehee

plots related to her puppy miso!

she also runs and stuff so running partners, ppl she always sees on her running route, etc

okay i'm sure you've had enough of me now. oh my god. ok. please plot w me i'd be happy to brainstorm anything 🫶

[inkykeiji]

hi clari!! do you happen to be interested in ballet at all? i’ve been doing ballet for years now and i’ve been curious if of your iterations of touya would let reader be a dancer, for example a dance major in college? it’s such a “cute and girly” thing that i think they might like it but at the same time i could see them getting jealous of any potential duets with other men or how “revealing” the uniforms are

but either way i’d love to know what majors you originally have each of them doing since most, if not all, of your stories have the reader doing college?

hope you’re doing well!! <33

hi anon!! <3 oooh i actually love ballet so much and i will forever regret talking my mom out of enrolling me in it when i was 8!!! EEE ehehe it’s funny u ask actually because once upon a time i was writing a ballet au with dabi! i dunno if i’ll ever finish it tho hahaha >.< so since all of my readers are already enrolled in university by the time they meet touya/dabi, there’s no way he’d be able to control what their major is; they already decided on it on their own and most are at least a year or two into their studies when they first meet him, so he isn’t able to decide what it is they’re studying (which means yes, they’d be forced to ‘allow’ her to continue her dance major! no matter how much they don’t like it! they won’t be changing programs simply because their overbearing, overprotective, over-possessive boyfriend doesn’t like it).

that being said, you’re 100% right! my touyas/dabis would be totally torn between loving it because it’s so beautiful and awe-inspiring (they’re totally enraptured—enchanted—when they watch her perform) and being extremely jealous that literally anyone else gets to see their girl in such beautiful costumes dancing such beautiful numbers and that anyone gets to fucking touch their girl at all. out of my three main iterations, touya-nii would be the worst with his possessiveness and would definitely demand she never dance a pas de deux with anyone (despite the fact that she wants to, that it’s good for her career + exposure, or that her grade depends on it. tnii is way too selfish to give a fuck about any of that, and he’d much rather she stay in the corps forever—in his mind, he’s like why would she ever need to be prima anyway? when she has me? when i can provide for her? etc.)

good question! so their majors are intentionally left vague so you, the real reader, can project whatever you’d like onto them! in my mind, they study art of some form (probably literature and/or film since that’s what i studied HAHAHA but i also love the idea of studying fine arts or dance like u said!!!), with the exception of bmb reader, who in my mind studies psychology. but again, feel free to imagine them studying whatever you’d like to! i hope you’re doing fabulous, sweetpea! <3 thank u for ur question!!!

[annawrites444]

Hey! Could I request a full bouquet for a Harry Potter matchup! I'm a ravenclaw and either marauders or the golden trio timeline works with me! I'd like a romantic theme, please; along with a male character below the age of 18 (I'm 16). I'm considered to be a sarcastic person, I'm also very good at giving advice and I'm considered to be the mom friend of the group. I like reading and studying, and adore academic validation. I also tend to get very competitive if someone's better than me at something I'm passionate about. I like doing ballet and swimming. I'm also an avid romance reader, I've read almost every romance book to ever exist haha. Thank you and have a great day <3

Sirius Black X G/N Ravenclaw Reader !Matchup

A/N: Please don't repost on any other platform other than Tumblr :)

I had a hard time choosing but I see Sirius Black (6th year)  from the marauders timeline sooo much so I’m going to go with him if that's okay :D

Sirius Black X Ravenclaw Fem Reader

(Blurb) 

You had no time to lose, the library was about to close but you desperately needed that book on Potions. You were determined to get an O for the next test the following day, but had forgotten to pick up some of the required reading beforehand. You finally reached the dark oak library doors but as you twisted the door knob you realized… it was locked. Bloody hell. You were locked out, however you would not let Severus beat you again in potions. So you muttered a soft alohomora under your breath and heard the satisfying click of the lock before entering the dark hall. You had to make it quickly to the second floor of the library before any loitering ghosts like Peeves would spot you and likely rat you out to the librarian as he had done the previous week. You tiptoed as fast as possible behind shelves and up the metal stairs before hearing a large BANG noise. You were sure you were busted as you turned in the direction of the sound. You were shocked to meet Sirius Black face to face holding a strange metal vase from a nearby shelf. “Fancy meeting you here L/N” he said as smoothly as possible before quietly setting the vase down on its pedestal. “Same to you” you said dismissively as you promptly turned in the other direction about to find that potions book. “I wonder why you’re here l/n” Sirius, to your dismay, followed on your right just a pace behind you with an amused look on his handsome face and hands folded behind his back. “None of your business Black, you can go back to whatever it is you were doing.” you waved him off trying to ignore the swarming butterflies in your stomach. He sauntered off and as you finally held the book you needed in your hand you heard the librarian’s loud and shrill voice as she scolded Sirius. “Mr. Black you should be ashamed of yourself, walking around here at nearly midnight on a school night no less?!” She gripped him by his arm, her sharp nails digging into his skin. You managed to duck behind a shelf in time to avoid her gaze but made eye contact with Sirius and offered a sympathetic smile as you watched from afar. “Well, Mr. Black were you here with Mr. Potter, Mr Lupin, or anybody else?!” She pointed at him with her finger and he looked away from you as he answered her “No, Ma’am I was here alone tonight.” You just shook your head and smiled as you watched the librarian haul Sirius away but not before he shot you a quick wink over his shoulder causing your face to heat up in a rather embarrassing way. Well, at least you got that book you wanted, and more…

(Song) Fluorescent Adolescent- Arctic Monkeys

Now I know canonnly Sirius wouldn’t be an Arctic Monkeys fan, but this song just reminds me of him. Hope you like it toooo :)

(Headcanons)

Okayyy I know everyone has said that Sirus is more likely to go for a S/O who is in Gryffindor but I kinda  disagree, I feel like as long as his S/O wasn’t in Slytherin then he wouldn’t care. And he loves the fact you are in Ravenclaw. I think he likes sneaking in and out of places- Including the Ravenclaw Common room. 

Before and leading up to when you two begin dating I feel like Sirius is always around you, as soon as you do something small that captures his attention he is never letting you go. Ex: You answer a question in a class where you are more reserved so all of a sudden he hears your pretty voice and he’s enthralled and is interested in you. 

STUDY DATES- at least once a week, I have a belief that  Sirius is smarter that he would let on so maybe he would play dumb on certain subjects just to get you to explain them to him. 

He 100% knows you love romance books and sometimes you might find little notes in your favorites by pages you’ve bookmarked or highlighted saying “I definitely did this last month” or “You bet we are going to try that later” sometimes even little remarks or jokes about whatever the protagonist is doing. 

Ever since he found out about you taking Ballet lessons/ practices he would start to show up to your recitals and performances always in awe of how graceful and delicate you danced. And of course he brings you a bouquet of your favorite blossoms. He also 100% drags the marauders along, though they might grumble at it at first they are soon in awe of how skilled you are too. After the performances when he greets you off stage i just know he would have a witty comment to say as he hugs you and hands you your flowers. 

Thank you sooo much for being so patient with me, school has been more crazy than I would have originally thought for this semester! <3

I hope you enjoyed!

-Anna

[steelminds]

shaking. hi. ★♦▼ for ryoko and sara?

-> ryoko hirose

+ sad headcanon

ryoko has. a tendency to disconnect herself from her feelings. the easiest thing for her to do is to focus on the emotional needs of those she cares about, rather than taking care of herself. when sara & joe disappear one night and don't return, it takes a while for ryoko to fully accept the situation - even when she passed by police cars on their block, it hadn't fully set in that something bad had happened until about a full day later, when she couldn't even get a hold of sara's mother. she'd been somewhat aware something was going on, but the feeling just hadn't set in until then.

+ quirks/hobbies headcanon

ryoko enjoys painting,,, between her and her friends, her 'talent' shows more on canvases and paper. there are a few pictures hanging in her room of painted sunsets and sunrises, and even stars... there's a direct inspiration for all of those paintings, but she refuses to say what. (it's because of sara btw. she's a little gay.) additionally, she likes photography! though she prefers scenery, there's over a few dozen photos in sara & joe's rooms from both big events and just when they were hanging out as a trio. she likes to capture little moments, and give them to those she cares for as a reminder that things won't always be bad.

+ childhood headcanon

ryoko's parents divorced before she could ever remember them as an actual couple. she rarely saw them together, but when she did as a child, they didn't act any different than they would apart. obviously, she figured it out herself as the years passed, but part of her was like. hm yes this is. normal family stuff. parents always spend months apart and then reunite every now and then for like a day or two. despite it, however, both parents took care of her well :] her mom is a bit scary at times but she's very sweet. and her dad is a bit of a silly guy. they just sorta fell out of love and thats okay !!

-> sara chidouin

+ sad headcanon

this can only really happen in a non-death game scenario, when sara's a bit older, but. one time, haruki (sara's mother) told her a bit about her real dad. he was interested in airplanes and trains, having collected models of them and displaying them in his room. since learning about it, sara tries to collect airplanes too - not because she has a particular interest in them, but as a small hope that if she ever got to meet him, she'd have something to talk about with him. she also tries to learn tagalog with joe, because both haruki & mr chidouin are japanese. she never does get the chance to meet him, but she likes to think there's still a chance.

+ quirks/hobbies headcanon

sara loves puzzles!! like with the model airplanes and stuff, she likes putting things together... getting to create something that started off as a bunch of pieces makes her really proud of herself. i also got this from you but. she would enjoy wood carving and the like, following the idea of slowly making something that doesn't seem very special into something impressive... also she likes working with her hands. autism and all.

+ childhood headcanon

sara used to be interested in dance when she was younger - specifically, ballet! she didn't do very well, but she enjoyed it up until her father pointed out she was no good at it. the words got to her head, and during her first performance, she fell and injured herself pretty badly. it healed eventually, but when she walks/runs for too long without resting, her right ankle begins to hurt a little.