#i personally like huge jacket flor

[mspaint-flower]

BIG JACKT flor... or BIG BOOTS... flor

which one

[masonscig]

bittersweet

part one

pairing | felix x flor

word count | 1.6k

warnings | smut. minors dni.

author’s note | i had the idea to write a couple short things for felix and flor as they get navigate getting intimate with each other, so here’s part one! it’s inspired by the song bittersweet by greer (the lyrics are very felix pining after a detective that’s keeping them at arm’s length). this is for day one of hot in wayhaven, foreplay!

•─────────────────•

This is the farthest they’ve ever taken things.

Her hands are fisting the collar of his jacket and she’s got her tongue down his throat like her life depends on the intensity of this kiss.

He’s never been kissed like this.

She’s let him peck her on the cheek once or twice. One time she even initiated the kiss, a lingering one, when he drove her home after a night of drinking, but she blinked and pulled away as quickly as she’d started it, shaking herself out of it like she was in a haze.

That kiss was never brought up again.

It’d been a slow process to get her to open up to him – her hard exterior was still very much in tact, but he’d been wearing it down slowly and surely.

A delicate brush of the knuckle with his fingertips here, a gentle squeeze of her hand in support there. Nothing that’d lead him to believe he deserved a kiss like this.

Flor’s got him shoved against the sliver of brick wall next to the door of her apartment, kissing him with a fervor he didn’t know her capable of.

A few minutes before, Felix walked her from the parking lot to the front door of her apartment, her hands dug deeply in her jean pockets, her back rigid.

“Thanks,” she’d muttered as soon as they made it to her front door. She retrieved her keys from her back pocket, fumbling and dropping them almost immediately.

She growled in frustration, snatching them off the welcome mat (which was quite the opposite – huge bold letters reading “Fuck Off” wasn’t the warmest welcome) before Felix could bend down.

“Are you, uh, alright?” He asked timidly, bracing himself for impact.

It wasn’t that she took her feelings out on him – it wasn’t that in the slightest.

He just never knew what she was going to say. Sometimes she’d drop devastating emotional bombs on him in twenty words or less and just go back to normal like she hadn’t said a thing.

Other times she’d snap about how frustrated she was that she was even in this mess and that she never signed up for this life.

So when she finally opened up to him, years into Unit Bravo being stationed in Wayhaven, he had no idea how to react.

“No. I’m not. I don’t –” She grunted in frustration, running a hand through her short red hair before tying it in a bun.

The Wayhaven heat was unbearable that day; even the sun sinking below the trees wasn’t enough to cool the town off.

She crossed her arms above her head, resting her forearms against her hair.

“Something’s wrong and I don’t know what the fuck it is.”

He raised both brows in surprise. “Like, you sense something supernatural?”

“No, no, nothing like that I just – there’s something wrong with me and I can’t figure it out,” she struggled, clearly frustrated with her inability to articulate what she was feeling.

“If you’re feeling sick, I can take you to Elidor –”

She groans again, and kicks the brick with her boot. “It’s not that either.”

He shrugged. “Well, maybe you could sleep it off, ya know? If you’re not feeling better by the morning, I can go get you some snacks, uh, like those spicy chips you’re always munching on that Mason hates. Oh! And a movie and some candy and maybe some new pajamas, or like, a stuffed animal, maybe –”

She closed the gap between them, crushing her lips against him in a kiss he never anticipated, but enjoyed nonetheless. His back hit the wall, nearly knocking the breath out of him.

He’s still frozen, moving his lips against hers, but his shoulders are up to his ears. 

She’s never wanted me like this before. Why now?

Flor pulls back, her eyes half lidded, deep dark brown eyes trained on his lips.

“You’re what’s wrong with me,” she says, pressing her thumb into the base of his neck, running a rough line up his throat.

“Uh, me?” He stammers, keeping his eyes downcast.

“Yeah, you,” she pulls him in for another kiss, softer than the last, and he melts into this one without a second thought.

“You’ve never kissed me like this before,” he whispers against her mouth, humming when she sucks his bottom lip between her teeth.

She pulls back again, loosening her grip on his collar. “Do you not like it?”

“No, I do,” he starts. “I just don’t want you doing anything you’ll regret.”

“The only person I regret being with is Bobby Marks, and you’re not her. Not by a longshot,” she laughs once, the raspy sound harsh and grating.

“It’s not that I don’t want to kiss you or anything, I do, I just, uh, I kinda wanna take things slow. For now,” he reassures her, lifting his hand (daringly so) to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“So you wanna do over the pants stuff or makeout or what?” She quirks a brow, dropping her hands from his neck to his chest, the heat of her palms burning through the thin fabric of his button up.

His jaw pops open and snaps shut almost immediately – he can’t think of a response. His mind’s completely blank.

“Well, come in at least. We can figure out that later, I guess.”

She wiggles the key in the lock and shoves her shoulder against the door, grunting as it pops open. “Gotta get that fixed.”

Kicking it open, she gestures for him to come inside.

It’s dark and messy. The chair in the corner has practically disappeared under clean clothes, and the dishes are piled a mile high in the sink.

“Sorry for the mess. I’m never home.”

That explains the mess for sure, but there’s something about her apartment that he can’t put his finger on.

It’s like her home isn’t lived in, and in turn there’s not much evidence that this place is even hers in the first place.

When the lock clicks behind him, she’s pressed against him again, and his back is against the scratchy wood of the door.

He doesn’t know why he’s stepped inside if he has no intention of fucking her.

He likes those kisses and would gladly accept them if they kept coming, but… it’s too much too soon.

Felix wants to say these things to Flor, but the second her lips were on his, her hand sliding down his torso, tugging his shirt out of his pants, teasing the waistband of his shorts –

He’s forgotten everything he wanted to say.

Any morsel of resolve evaporates the second her fingers graze the skin above his shaft.

“Fuck, I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” she whispers against his neck, suckling and nipping between words.

“Why… didn’t you –” he asks, breathing labored, barely able to stifle the groan of anticipation when she expertly pops open the button to his shorts with one hand.

“I don’t think you want the answer to that,” she chuckles, her breath against his neck raising goosebumps across his skin.

Flor shoves his shorts and boxers below his ass, sinking her teeth into her lip at the first sight of his cock.

“You’ve been hiding that monster from me this entire time?” She muses, cupping her hand around his chin, tugging it upwards to kiss her.

He can’t help but laugh into her mouth, but any quip dissolves into soft moans when she starts to pump her hand.

While he’s writhing with each stroke, she uses her free hand to pop each button till his whole torso is exposed.

“You’re so pretty,” she murmurs, bending to pepper kisses across his chest, down his lean stomach, grinning when his stomach stutters at the contact.

She’s nearly on her knees now (still rubbing him off agonizingly slow) but she’s in full control. He wouldn’t dare try to take the reins when she’s making him feel like this.

“Flor…” he breathes, daring to reach out and touch her.

He tries to gently stroke her cheekbone but she traps his thumb between her lips, running her tongue across the skin of it.

“Do you… really wanna do this?” He asks, almost afraid of the answer.

She stops for a second, holding his gaze for a long while.

“I can’t think of any reasons why I wouldn’t wanna fuck your brains out, Felix. I like you.”

A grin tugs at her lips, and soon, he’s mirroring it with one of his own.

She takes that as an incentive to keep going.

When she drags her tongue up his shaft from the bottom to the tip, the pressure of her tongue ring makes his eyes roll back, his lids fluttering shut. “Oh shit –”

He’s anticipating the feeling of having her mouth around him, and he’s practically aching with anticipation –

“Fuck,” she says, standing while checking her phone, the tiny screen illuminating her face, casting shadows on her furrowed brows. “Tina’s sick. Douglas can’t run the place by himself.”

Flor’s already ripping her shirt off and grabbing a new one from the clean pile on the chair in the corner before he can say a thing.

“Oh, uh, maybe we can, um, finish this up another time?” He asks, tugging his boxers and shorts back into place.

“Sure,” she shrugs, not even looking at him.

It’s like she’s already forgotten she was jerking him off at the entrance to her home.

She’s back to being the same old Flor in a matter of seconds, and he’s left to figure out what he did wrong.

He watches her peel out of the parking lot, hands in his pockets.

As he walks towards the woods to head back towards the warehouse, Felix wonders if he should’ve come here in the first place.

[hualianff]

T.F.T.A (I.H) III 《II》

Irodori – Hiroaki Tsutsumi “I can touch up some patches of the walls that look washed out?”

“Uh, no you don’t have to-“

“-oh! And I can vacuum the carpets in the morning before work, during the day, and at night once everyone leaves so the floor will always be spotless-“

“No, really, that’s a bit much-“

“Does anything in your office happen to need dusting?“

HX sighs. This human never stops.

First, it is the food and drinks he delivers to the employees on each floor–without being asked to. His employees are filthy slobs when it comes to dealing with their customers as it is; the extra vacuuming would admittedly be appreciated. Though, HX has no complaints when XL personally brings him fresh coffee and pastries from the bakery on the corner.

Then, it is the excessive cleaning that has somehow become one of his biggest priorities, courtesy of XL. HX supposes this is what he needed a custodian for in the first place. But he can’t help but wonder how YY found a human who is so damn eager to be worked like a slave.

“Mr. Xuan, what cleaning fluid brand do you prefer the bathroom floors to be mopped with?” Xie Lian asked, still sitting in the lone chair in front of HX’s desk, one hour after he first entered. Here he was, going through a laundry list of sterilization questions while HX was still trying to process just how ugly the human’s work uniform was.

He’ll have to do something about that.

HX was, by no means, generous or fashionable. Hell, he currently had on all black–the inner and outer robes being different shades–and cheap sandals that exposed just how pale his skin was. He sported the same skull earrings since first getting his ears pierced, and he kept his hair back in a simple, low ponytail that felt like a rope of lead at times.

They surely must make quite a pair, like the dark and mysterious goth teen meets the wrongly-dressed happy-go-lucky old man. There is no doubt HX beat XL in age by a couple of hundred years, yet, XL somehow still gave off wise-beyond-his-years energy. A man who has seen and been through plenty of life’s obstacles.

Such fragile beings, humans were.

“Um, Mr. Xuan?” XL spoke up again when HX didn’t answer his twentieth question right away. “Is it alright if I call you that? Or should I call you Black Water?”

HX’s frown deepened, sincerely considering how XL should address him. It was not like XL knew the truth behind the title Black Water, and for that reason, it felt improper for the human to speak a name he was not aware held so much power.

“Mr. Xuan is fine,” HX says curtly.

“Oh, okay. Mr. Xuan it is.”

HX exhaled with thinning patience. He placed his elbows on the desk, preparing to shoo his new employee away so he could work in peace.

“You can just call me Xie Lian. I hope to be of the best assistance to you, Mr. Xuan,” XL adds quicker than HX can respond. “By the way, about those cobwebs surrounding the hallways lights-”

Seriously, was this guy out of his mind?

From XL’s perspective, he believes he hit the jackpot with this job. Not only is it incredibly low-stress compared to his previous hustles, but XL often finds himself to be most useful in keeping Black Water company. Yes, XL is aware HX strives to be as antisocial and non-confrontational as possible. And yes, a boss-employee relationship probably shouldn’t cross a certain line into the best friend zone.

But whenever HX happens to be nearby, and XL bounds over with a dozen updates on his work and random stories that he can’t help sharing, HX begrudgingly stays and listens.

“See? Doesn’t dusting make everything nicer to look at?“ XL questions with a sunny smile, gesturing to the bookshelves on one side of HX’s office. He was a quarter of the way through with this task when his boss walked in.

HX merely grunts, then plops down in a chair different from the one guests typically sit in. It appears to be a new addition to the room. In XL’s eyes, more furniture means more growth in self-care for one’s personal space. In this case, HX’s working environment.

Naturally, XL approves with a satisfied nod. He also can’t stop the next words from tumbling out of his mouth.

“By the way, I noticed your tastes in literature differ across many subjects: Folklore, politics, ocean science…”

HX raises an eyebrow at this comment.

“What about it?” he asks, a little blunt, a little curious.

XL continues dusting in between the shelves. He faces away from HX and is glad his boss can’t discern his nervous expression. XL knows he has his nosy moments, knows that he often unintentionally crosses others’ boundaries in order to connect, which irks people all the time.

Maybe this is one of those moments.

Still, XL wants to try.

“Do you want to tell me about them? I’m quite the avid reader myself, and some of these titles look positively compelling,” XL says, skimming a hand down the exquisite spine of one of the books. He turns his head just enough to sneakily eye HX’s reaction, who hasn’t changed his seating positions the last forty minutes.

HX’s arms remain crossed over his chest, staring straight ahead at the wall of bookshelves XL insisted on dusting and tidying. His obsidian eyes noticeably sharpen, jaw slightly relaxing.

HX doesn’t say anything for a long minute. One minute bleeds into two, and then three.

XL sighs, a bit disappointed. He doesn’t want to push HX’s limits, nor initiate conversation he is in no place to discuss. Quietly, XL turns his attention back to work.

But as XL squats down to straighten out some books on the lower shelf, the image of black robes gliding along the floor catches his eye.

HX walks to one of the middle bookcases, caressing his fingers along his vast collection until he pauses on a book with an emerald green cover and characters glimmering in gold. He plucks the novel out of its homely crevice, opening the cover to flick through the worn pages.

XL takes this as his cue to approach, waving around the feather duster in anticipation. HX shifts to show the human the open book, finger pointing to the section header.

“This one is a myth about a parasitic ghost who latches onto its host and feeds off of sadness, sorrow, despair,” HX explains slowly, deliberate with his words. XL’s mouth opens in an “oh” shape, expressing interest in his features.

HX brings the book closer for XL to see.

“It’s one of my favorite reads,” HX murmurs, focusing on the text. XL blinks in astonishment, feeling especially honored that HX shared this with him.

It has only been one month since XL started working at Paradise Deals, and despite HX’s “I don’t care” attitude when it comes to basically anyone ever, XL definitely considers them to be friends.

And that is honestly the most he could ever ask for.

“Then I’ll be sure to put it on the top of my list,” XL chirps, tapping the book with the duster.

The corner of HX’s mouth tugs upwards.

*** Flor y Sangre – Sophism, Isabella LeVan, A Million in Vermillion One day, as XL rides the elevator up to the eleventh floor, it stops at the third floor first. The doors open to reveal a man with a green dress shirt tucked into black-and-white checkered pants. The same checkered-patterned suit jacket hangs loosely over his shoulders.

The man’s dark hair is long enough to cover his ears, making him appear quite young. Side bangs obstruct his eyes, but upon seeing XL’s face, the strands fly out of the way as he shakes his head in surprise.

“YOU!” The man seethes out, stomping into the elevator with clenched fists.

“M-me?” XL looks around, then points to himself questioningly.

“What are you doing here!? And what the hell are you wearing!? Am I supposed to fall for a dumb disguise like this?” The stranger fires back, voice getting more high-pitched as he jabs an offending finger at XL’s nose.

XL is beyond confused. He glances down at his custodian attire, the nameplate thankfully still in place. It’s in navy this time, courtesy of Black Water’s kindness is providing XL with more than one work outfit that doesn’t automatically suck the soul out of whoever sees it.

There is an awkward beat of silence.

The elevator doors close, XL now pressed with his back against the wall, nervously fiddling with the mop in his hands.

“Do I know you?” XL asks, forgetting his manners in a panicked state while searching his memories, trying to recognize the man in front of him.

“Fucking rude, as always,” the man sneers, giving XL a nasty stink-eye before backing off. “If you won’t reveal your true self now, I’ll just follow you until you do.”

“Excuse me? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” XL rushes out, sneaking in a few bows here and there. “Perhaps you’ve mistaken me for the wrong person?

The man crosses his arms as if seriously contemplating XL’s words. His eyes shift from XL’s face, to his attire, to the mop, and then finally, up towards above XL’s head.

He decidedly shakes his head, unconvinced.

“No, I’m not that gullible. How convenient would it be that the first time I see you in who-the-fuck-knows-how-long, you’re stuck like this,” he hisses lowly. “Weak. Useless. Ignorant.”

Now that makes XL’s eyebrows rise into his hairline. He’s been harshly insulted before–regarded as pitiful and lacking potential in many areas–and likes to think his skin is thicker because of it. But to be directly attacked by a man whom he has no memory of meeting before? XL can’t help but feel like this is entirely uncalled for.

How does this man even know him?

The elevator doors slide open, having reached the eleventh floor. On the other side stands Black Water, wearing an expensive-looking suit with navy lining and silver cuffs. His foot stops its tapping on the ground where it had been denting the carpet.

“Xie Lian, I’ve been looking for you,” Black Water says, completely ignoring the other man in the elevator. “I’m meeting with a few clients on the east side of the city, and I need you to handle the documentation.”

He holds out a huge briefcase with the same fish symbol as the ones on the doors in the hallway. As XL steps out of the elevator to accept the briefcase, an interested “Xie Lian, huh?” sounds from behind.

“Pardon me, sir, if I can’t recall our first acquaintance. But did you need something from me?” XL asks while turning around, attempting to hold out an olive branch once more. Next to him, Black Water pulls out his phone and mindlessly scrolls down the screen.

“I can’t believe you actually did it. Got yourself a name and everything,” the man says, disbelief coloring his features. Then his eyebrows pinch together in a sudden display of anger. He locks eyes with XL, those amber eyes looking eerily similar to his own. “You disgust me.”

Before XL can react, the elevator doors slam shut instantly with a loud boom, masking the sound of fingers snapping right next to him. XL jerks at the sound, hands white-knuckling the briefcase.

“Do you know who that is?” XL asks his boss, tilting his head. This encounter has left him awfully confused and a little worried about his job. Would this affect what his boss thinks about his impact in the workplace?

It seems this trouble is needless when HX eyes simply narrows his eyes at the closed doors, a stormy expression on his face.

“No one to concern yourself with.”

Bonus:

XL finds out QR is the lower-levels’ boss, who holds an apparent grudge against him…? Once QR had come across XL in the elevator, he sticks around like an unwanted pest, somehow having the time to harass XL many hours a day.

XL: “Why does this guy keep following me around and insulting me?”

XL eventually cleans QR’s floors too because he has time and it seems QR won’t leave him alone.

HX: “Give me back my custodian!”

QR: “Fuck off! Why are you so defensive about mortal scum?”

XL, wiping down the doors, whistling: (´∀｀*)

[lovemenowmr]

Chapter two

As soon as his eyes made contact with mine it seemed like they were all I could see, the world around me turning into a blur. His gaze on me was intense and I couldn't seem to look away, his hand wrapping around mine firmly but gently.

"It's nice to meet you to" I said, my voice so low I didn't even know if he heard it.

"You're not from here, aren't you?" he asked without moving away from me or letting my hand go.

"I'm from the north of Spain" I said, my voice still low.

My arm relaxed a bit and it fell to my hip, my hand still in his. He was leaned to the sofa, lowering himself to my heigh and I was standing close to him, both of us connected by the hands.

"Then what are you doing in Dortmund?" he asked sweetly, his thumb carresing the bach of my hand.

"I'm studying" I said still looking to his eyes. "What about you?"

He looked at me intensly for a while and then he said "I work for the local team"

As he said that I heard a noise behind me and I turned away for him, releasing his hand. I looked up to Matts and Cathy feeling a little bit embarrased. Marco didn't move but he tilted his head up to meet Matts gaze, who gave him an amused look.

"So..." Cathy said "We are going to talk with the waiters, we'll be right back"

She grabbed Matts hand and both of them disappeared into the crowd. Me and Marco stood still, neither of us daring to make the first move, he looking at me intensly.

"How do you like Dortmund so far?" he asked picking up my hand again.

" Vert much" I said looking at my feet, "Although I haven't seen much yet"

"And why's that?" he asked lifting my head up to meet his.

"Haven't got time yet"

"Follow me" he said pulling me with him as he ventured to the crowd. "I'll show you"

I followed him to the improvised dance flor, dancing bodies colliding with our ones. His hand firmly pressed against my wrist, looking back from time to time to check up on me. Everyone seemed to know him in this party as every step we took someone appeared to talk to him, greeting him friendly-like. And he seemed pleased to talk with everyone of them, his funny and outgoing personality showing. I tried to stay behind not wanting to interrupt but everyone of them seemed to notice me and asking him about me. He introduced me to everyone of them and I never thought I would meet as many footballers as I was, I was dying on the inside but keeping it calm on the outside.

We passed the dance floor and got into a hallway, both of us still quiet. His tall frame moving in front of me, giving me time to appreciate his broad back under the white shirt he was wearing. We passed three diferent doors and he opened the fourth one for me, indicating me to get in.

I entered into what it looked like the master bedroom of the house. There was two big armchairs placed in front of a modern-looking fireplace, behind them there was a huge king-size bed with white bedding and two big pillows. The fireplace was located in between two black doors, which were closed. In front of the door that I had used to enter there was a wall made of mor floor-to-ceiling windows, which showed a beatiful view of the city.

"This room has the best views of the city in the entire house" Marco said as he entered and closed the door behind him.

"How do you know?" I asked "Is this your house?"

"No" he said with a smile walking to my side and placing his hand on my back "This is Matts and Cathy's. I live outside the city"

He walked to the windows and opened a door to the balcony, gesturing me to go out with him. I stepped outside, the cold September air hitting my skin, making me shiver.

"There you go." Marco said handing me his jacket. " I figured you'll be cold so I brough it."

"Thanks" I said as he adjusted the jacket over my shoulders.

"Here you have it" he said "This is one of the best views of Dortmund from this part of the city"

"It's really beautiful" I wishpered as we pulled to the banister.

I heard him chuckle beside me and he stood still, falling into a comfortable silence. His bodyheat warming the left side of my body as he was standing close to me and his arm brushing against my back as his hand was leaned to my right side. He then started to point to buildings or parks we could see from the balcony and telling me stories about those places, I listened to him carefully as I was really interested in his stories.

After a virtual tour of the whole city I heard a phone ringing, just as I felt him pull away for me.

"Hallo" he answered "No... Okey... Yeah, of course... All right, see you in a bit" he hung up the phone and look down to me "I'm sorry Adela, but I have to go. I had a great time today" he asked apologetically.

"It all right" I replied with a smile.

I followed him back to the main room, I didn't know how many time we have been away but by the time we reached the huge living area everybody was a little bit tipsty and dancing. Me and Marco said our goodbyes and I left to find Elise.

After a little while I find both Elise and Gunter making out at the corner of the dance floor so I decided not to bother them. But then I found Cathy and we spent the night dancing, we also exchange our numbers after I left to find Elise again.

As soon as we stepped into the cab Elise fell asleep on my shoulder and I let her doze all the way to my flat, where we were both staying the night.

At eight o'clock in the morning my alarm went off and both me and Elise moaned at the noise, not having had enough sleep. As she showered as stole some of my clothes I made breakfast, we ate in silence and then she made the bed as I got showered and dressed. As we made our way to college we asked each other about our previous night, she was shocked to find I had met a cute and nice boy but I didn't give it too much thought as I didn't think I'll ever see him again.

Our day was very boring, but we were luck we just had class for three hours on Fridays, after class I left to pick mine and Elise tickects to the match and talked with my mother for a while. I reminded myself to ring my brother in the afternoon once he finished work because I missed my little niece a lot.

It was already four in the evening when I heard my phone ring, as I looked to it and saw I had a message from an unknown contact:

Hi! Do you fancy some coffee? -Cathy.

Of course! I replied as I stepped into my room to find something to wear as this morning I hadn't made an effort.

[dreamtimeagain]

The apartment they showed us was fantastic, huge wide open spaces and all the features modern and brand new. The only problem was it was only a single bedroom, and we needed more than that. well, more rooms, and there were no other choices in this city, so we agreed to rent the space and excitedly rushed to move in. the furniture had to be stacked and shifted in a way that it made enough ‘rooms’ for all of us, and our friend who was moving in too to help with the costs. 

The only thing I needed now was a job, so I got one. I wandered around a high-end party, the guests and decorations a blur of bright colors and flashy jewelry. The host, who was my boss, was a tall man with black hair and light umber skin, immaculately groomed and dressed in a pearlescent jacket and white shirt and pants. He was a very demanding and arrogant person, bossing everyone around him, even his guests, but it was my job to make sure the music was worthy of his party. 

He shooed me into a back room behind the DJ stage, and shouted at me to make sure the music was ‘lit’ before disappearing back into the crowd of partygoers. The music was separated into small cubed bundles, soft to the touch like pillows, and stacked to the ceiling around me. I grabbed a cube and held it between my hands, getting some kind of ‘feeling’ for the music within it, before willing the fabric into a different color, the first one red-orange, and tossing it into a different corner of the room. I grabbed each bundle, one at a time, felt its mood/style with my hands, changed its color, and tossed it into a different pile. 

Eventually I finished with work and had to head home. Every time I commuted back and forth from my job, I had to travel along different dimensions. I would walk through a portal, parkour my way along crowded alleys, old factories, jungle ruins or whatever else was in my way, and then back through the portal at the end to my home. Each dimension was tight, crowded, and had many obstacles to dodge around. 

One of the dimensions was like a city, with metal ladders, stair fire escapes, and scaffolds suspended between old brick buildings that stretched up into the sky. I was nearly finished with my commute, the rounded rectangle of the portal easily visible ahead, when I found a massive pile of yellow pellets, about the size of my thumb. I kicked at the pile, the round pellets flowing off the top and spreading along the floor of the alley, until an object was revealed in the center.

It was a bundle of bananas, and boy was I excited! This was the missing piece in a long line of quests that had gone unfinished for ages. I grabbed the bananas and excitedly rushed into the portal. On the other side, I emerged into a massive square amphitheater with tall cool grey walls. The center of the floor was sectioned off by a shallow moat and each of the four sides around it had dirt fields with plenty of space for farming, and the corners were massive stone slabs. The center square had a stone edge with a smaller dirt field in the dead center, and off to one side, on the stone, was a small house. 

I ran across the stone corner where the portal was stationed, and into the dirt field next to it. As I did so, the dirt beneath my feet started to shake and rumble and collapse. Massive chunks of the dirt fell into the abyss beneath me as I ran frantically for the far side of the field where the moat was trickling. As I ran, barely outpacing the falling dirt, a massive hand emerged from the abyssal hole, and grabbed the stone walls for support. As I glance back over my shoulder, I saw a colossal cyclops pull itself out of the hole, Its bubblegum pink skin making it stand out against the greys and browns of the world around it. 

I glanced quickly around the square and saw more giant, pink cyclops emerging from the other three fields around the outside, and realized that this place was no longer safe for us to live in. I leapt over the moat and onto the stone edging of the central square. I ran straight across the center, glancing downwards at the dirt beneath my feat. The ground was both transparent and opaque at the same time, and I could see/sense a 5th pink cyclops leering at me beneath the dirt. It was only a matter of time before the middle field was destroyed as well.

I reached the house, which contained the apartment we were so excited about renting, and told the others that it was no longer safe to be here. There was a tall man, dressed in black, who responded that there was a safe place to move nearby, but I had to help herd the hamster-children. There were hundreds of them, small and fuzzy with the little faces of hamsters, but with bodies built like a human’s and dressed in little blue overalls. I helped the man gather them up and lead them away from the small house, across the stone and moat, and past the gaping hole of the old fields.

As we reached the portal, the center field burst, flinging dirt in all directions, as a 5th, even more massive than before, bubblegum pink cyclops angrily burst from the ground. It stomped up to the small house, and with a roar of rage that made the ground beneath our feat rumble, smashed it into little pieces with one oversized foot. I turned to herd the last of the hamster-children through the portal, and followed through myself once I was sure none were left. 

The ‘safe’ place beyond our dimension turned out to be an enclosed stairway. The portal out was located at the bottom level, a concrete slab with a wide metal staircase leading up, and the entire slab and stairs were encased with steel bars for walls. Beyond the bars, I could see a large concrete slab stretching into the distance, the majority of it in the shadow of the brick building we were attached to, but the far edge met up with a long strip mall. Each storefront window contained one of the creatures that destroyed our last home, but they were trapped, beating soundlessly on the glass, in a room filled with swirling dense clouds that matched the color of the creature itself. Blue, pink, green, gold, ect.

The stairwell itself was a series of square concrete slabs reaching half a dozen stories into the sky, with think metal staircases connecting them, and all encased in black metal bars. The hundreds of tiny hamster-children climbed up and down each level, happily playing in their new space while the man in back and I worked together to erect small green plastic shelters on each level for them to live in.

The stairwell wasn’t the best shelter, but there was no wind, the air was warm but in shadow, and the entire stairway was closed, keeping the hamster-kids safe from the ogres. The very top of the stairway connected to the building next to us, and led into one of the long parkour routes I had once taken for my commute to work, and we erected a door to close it off. Once I was sure that the structure was ready for living in, I had to head back to work and followed the parkour route at the top.

I had to go back to work for that jerk with the fancy suit and big parties, but the latest fete ran a lot later than I had wanted, and I was late coming home. The deep shadows along my route slowed me down, and I had to stop by a store on my way to buy a massive mushroom, bigger than my torso, but essential to feeding the children in the morning. The whole time I was rushing, I was aware of my partner sitting on a green couch, staring at a flat-screen TV, waiting to watch a tv quiz show, and repeatedly checking his watch, waiting for me.

I got home too late, however, and missed out on the show and dinner, and had to sleep by myself on the ground floor of the stairwell. In the morning, I was exhausted, but it was my turn to feed the hamster-children, so I grabbed the giant mushroom from the night before and pushed it into a black plastic bag, closing the top and giving it a good shake to turn it into more of those yellow pellets. I tossed the pellets all over the flor of the stairwell, and sat on the lower steps of the stairs to watch the hamster-kids racing after the pellets and nibbling happily on their breakfast. As I watched, I started to nod off.

...Then I woke up.