#i think he had a nightmare here and went to work on grading while he waited for them to come home

[treef-greef]

We got you 💕

[ghostedgwen]

but I knew you | j.potter [part two]

note : I am so happy with the positive response to the first part, I had struggled drafting it up for months because I felt lacking. I hadn't written in so long that I was beginning to doubt if I could still do it like before and the answer is 'no', but this way, I can keep improving. Thank you all so much for the support as always <3

warnings : just pure angst, James is very ouchie on this one, some hints of Lily hate sorry, graphic mention of violence but just briefly, enemies to lovers maybe, james is an asshole, keep in mind he was 14 in the flashbacks pls, angst ouch ouchie

James gets into an accident during a Quidditch game and develop amnesia - he doesn't remember the past 2 and a half years, and he currently has the mentality of fourth-year James. This doesn't bode well for you that your boyfriend of 2 years now currently thinks he's still  in love with Lily.

└——————— - [ 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 : 𝚃𝚊𝚢𝚕𝚘𝚛 𝚂𝚠𝚒𝚏𝚝 - 𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚐𝚊𝚗 ]. +

An absolute bloody nightmare is a light way of putting it. You barley remember how you reacted and digested the whole situation, well enough to stumble back to your dormitory and act like everything is fine in front of your dorm mates.

You could guess you acted like a big, brave girl and smiled while nodding. “James here needs some more rest, so do I, I’ve been here since last night - I need to go get changed and everything.”

The boys tried to cut in but you didn’t let them. Getting up to pat down your uniform nonchalantly. “He’s all yours, take care of him for me.”

As you walked out, you pretended like your heart wasn’t breaking into pieces, leaving behind a shard with every step you took.

To make it worse, you heard your lovely boyfriend’s voice again. “Who the bloody hell was that? Are you lot pissing on me again?”

.

You couldn’t sleep a wink. You got up with bags under your eyes and Mary gasping at the sight of you.

“I guess your boyfriend falling 500 feet in the air would do that to you.” Marlene shrugged as she was putting on her tie.

“Perhaps you should skip class for now?” Lily suggested. Oh Merlin, it is not her fault but you can’t help feeling irritated at her voice.

Your boyfriend’s injury and sudden amnesia is not her fault but you can’t push back the bitter thoughts beginning to surface. It was bad enough how much you and James went through when you were starting out because of the history he had with Lily, but now there’s this.

You give her a small smile instead and willed your thoughts to fade. “I don’t think skipping classes and putting my grades at risk would contribute in any way to the situation.”

Lily gives you a sympathetic smile and a curt nod.

“Thank you, Lils. But I need the distraction anyway.”

.

You should have known it won’t be so easy. You always considered yourself to be strong, in mind and in heart.

But there are things you never prepare for because how could you have possibly foreseen them to ever happen anyway?

You walked into potions class all hopeful that your favorite subject could take your mind off the way James looked at you.

That was quick to die down when he stormed inside during the middle of class with his fellow Marauders running after him.

He burst through the doors looking fresh out of the infirmary. He was lucky Slurghorn left to go do something leaving you all to quietly work when he came in or this would be another 5 points off Gryffindor.

You half expected him to run to you, a smile instinctively forming on your lips until you saw the look of panic on the three boys’ faces.

James walked past you and right up to Lily. You slowly turn your head to watch him smile so brightly at her, in great contrast to how he treated you.

Bloody fuck, you shouldn’t watch. Sirius appeared beside you, an arm around you as he also watched James who they obviously failed to stop from coming here.

“My darling Lily-Flower, how - you cut your hair?” James frowned, eyeing the way Lily’s usually long red curls are now framing her face in a neat bob cut. “Since when?”

Lily was shocked at the nickname. Her eyes darting to you right away as she dodged the hand James was gonna use to touch her hair. The sight made you want to throw up.

“Potter, what is with you? This isn’t funny.” Lily stepped back and he closed the gap, she did it again and he closed the gap again.

“Oi Potter,is this why our ____ looked like shite this morning?” Marlene stepped in, pushing James away from Lily. “This joke isn’t funny for either Lily or____!”

James glared at her “Watch it, McKinnon. I don’t know why you lot think I’m joking. If anything, you bloody wankers keep insisting that that -“ he turns to point at you “person is my girlfriend.”

Oh bloody fuck. It’s a good thing Sirius was holding you or you would have collapsed to the floor with the way your knees gave out. You lean into him for support, and his hold on you tightens.

You look up to see that he is visibly upset at James, he's never looked at his best friend that way before.

"What is up with this tosser?" Marlene asked, beginning to raise her voice as she turned to Remus and Peter watching the scene unfold in horror. "Has your friend gone mental from the accident yesterday?"

"It's okay, Marlene." You tell her, but she would not budge.

"Why is he bothering Lily again and pretending like he doesn't know you? This is pissing me off."

Remus lets out a heavy sigh. "The accident caused him to forget about ____."

You wanted the ground to swallow you whole. All their eyes turned to you and you try your best to look brave. Even when you could also feel James' unfamiliar gaze on you.

"Is that true?" Lily asked, a look of shock painted on her face. "____, I don't even know what to say."

You almost laughed. Of course she doesn't, no one would. Would apologizing make you feel better? Of course not, what would she even apologize for? "Sorry your boyfriend got amnesia so now he's in love with me again."

"Prongs, let's not do this here." Remus grabbed James by the arm and nudged him to get out. "Please."

James is very confused why everyone is acting the way they are but they let him drag him out this time, only Sirius brought you as well. He eyes you curiously, you seem familiar but he has never seen you before until yesterday when you hugged him.

Something about the action was familiar and it felt oddly warm but he did not know you. You look at him and could tell he was examining you.

"Who are you, really?" He asked.

You give him a bitter smile. "Let's talk."

.

The boys left you alone in the common room and has decided to stand guard outside to ensure no one would be walking in to disrupt the conversation.

He sat on the couch across the one where you sat, he watched your every move intently, trying so hard to understand who you are and what role you played in his life.

They say you're his girlfriend but just yesterday he was professing his love to Lily in the Great Hall during breakfast when he woke up in the infirmary all of a sudden.

He can't even begin to explain the weird feeling swirling all over him, like his body isn't his and he's just a visitor stopping by.

You cleared your throat. "James," his gaze unwavered, remained on you. "My name is ____, I'm in my sixth-year at Hogwarts. I transferred here during our fourth-year."

James' brow slowly stitched into a frown, he doesn't know you at all. In his current memories, you have not transferred yet.

He didn't speak yet. "You pestered me endlessly during my first week, until I gave you a taste of your own medicine -" You can't help the grin from forming, recalling the memory.

"What?" He asked.

.

You had no clue why James bloody Potter thought it would be the funniest thing to make your first week in Hogwarts horrible. From the moment you transferred, he's had his eyes set on you.

It even made the other three boys wonder just what has got him so taken with you. Enough so that he's not once bothered Lily like usual, which was a great surprise to everyone - not great for you.

"Potter, I'd be willing to give you everything in my trust fund if you would just sod off for the rest of our lives." You were only joking, not that you'd pay him a dime to piss off.

He smirks at that. "You forget I'm rich, ____."

Your eye twitch irritably. Right. Rich pretty boy thinks he can mess with anyone because he's a pure blood wizard from a well-off family, what a big man he is.

You smile sarcastically. "Oh my bad, I forget how rich you are that you can probably buy me."

James' brow perked at that, "Can I?"

You almost swung your entire arm to give his right cheek everything you've got but you kept your cool, sighing while biting the insides of your cheek to will yourself to calm down.

"You are a dog - no, worse than a dog. You are a cockroach. You disgust me, James Potter. Every single second spent knowing you has been a hellish nightmare. I hope that should lightning strike me dead right this very moment, I never get to fucking meet you again in my next unfortunate life or Merlin help me I would take a rock and break my own skull with it just to escape you."

Yeah you weren’t keeping your cool at all.

James stood dumbfounded at your words, barely registering them when you actually finally decided to swing. Your whole body twisting to deliver a blow to his face, it echoed in the empty halls and left a big red imprint on his cheek.

To say he was shocked was an understatement. "Don't bother telling on me unless you want people to know a little girl smacked the shit out of you."

You turned around, not bothering to wait for an answer and began strutting away. Ignoring the way your palm tingled from the slap, it hurt a lot but you kept walking away confidently.

James Potter stood still, cheek hurting while his heart remained pounding. In a way it never has around Lily before. "Bloody hell," he muttered with a devilish grin. "Bloody fucking hell."

.

"You beat me?" James asked, you fight the urge to think how cute he looks all clueless - like a baby. "Why would I start courting you after that."

"No clue, you are a weirdo." You roll your eyes at him. "But you were my weirdo. Unfortunately."

James couldn't comprehend it. He's 16 now and yet in his mind, he is still 14. "It doesn't make sense."

You shake your head. "No, it doesn't. But can you try? Isn't there a tiniest bit of you that recognizes me? Not in the slightest?" You ask him, running a desperate hand through your hair. "They say the mind can forget but the heart doesn't."

James stared at you, he could tell how much it hurts you. From the way his friends acted, even the other classmates - it was obvious that this was reality.

He's a visitor in his own body, two years has passed and he doesn't remember a single moment from them.

"I'm sorry . . .for not knowing you." James hesitantly apologized. He could tell, you were important to him, with how his body craved to run up to you and hug you - but his mind sees you as a stranger.

You smile bitterly at that. "So right now, it's still her?"

James didn't answer, something in him instinctively telling him not to. You waited, but he didn't say anything. "When you started courting me, everyone had thought it was a grand prank. Like some big joke you were pulling, so did I."

James remained silent.

"How could we honestly expect a James Potter who has pestered Lily Evans for 4 years to just suddenly fall for the new girl? It was a whole commotion, I wanted everything to stop. I couldn't focus on my studies with how much everyone buzzed whenever I walked into a room."

James slowly nodded. "Why did you say 'yes', then? You said we have been together for two years."

You chuckle at the question, you ask yourself the same thing every day. "Because I got to know a James Potter that no one ever has before. A James Potter that I could have all to myself. . ." you heaved a heavy sigh, shaking as you let out your breath. Looking up to smile up at him sadly, so familiar yet so strange. "But you're not mine. You're not my James, are you?"

He couldn't answer as the lump in his throat got bigger and bigger and bigger. His body hurts, his stomach kept dropping and his hands twitched to reach out to you.

His legs are begging him to run to you, his skin is crawling to meet yours. Every part of his body wanted you, except in his head - you remain a stranger.

"I. . .don't know."

to be continued . . .

part three | masterlist

[nemesis-writer]

[Unwanted Ransom (Chapter 1)]

What was I made for?

TW: Mentions of Death, PTSD, ED, SH, Neglect

Masterlist

🎵Thumbs- Sabrina Carpenter🎵 🎵What was I made for?- Billie Ellish🎵

On my first day of staying here, I was excited to see if I had brothers.

Dick the oldest, supposed to be there for me, and pose as a role model right? WRONG, he instead leaves me on read when I text him. The fucker has enough guts to ignore me, and when he notices me, it's when I either get in trouble at school, or when his teamates talk to me. He had time to look after Bludhaven.

Tim, one of the family's detectives, doesn't find me interesting, and thinks of himself too big to talk to a lowlife like me. AND WE LIVE IN THE SAME FUCKING HOUSE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. With him, I have little to no memories. All he does is twiddle his thumbs, pretending I wasn't there.

Cass, Steph, Barb. I never really cared bout' them, all they do is talk shit about others, and play daddy's little girl. I was never daddy's little girl and I never complained. Not much to really talk about with them, I even learned ASL just for some light communication.

Jason, alright, I'mma be honest here. He was the closest thing I had to a brother, but he only came to the house at night for some food and rest. The best memory with him, was him taking me to school on the first day, I joined grade 5 class because I have an IQ of 190. Everything was great until he died, a part of me died with him.

Damian, the "golden apple" of this whole shit hole. This bitch thinks that he can do anything, because he is the bastard of Bruce Wayne, and Talia Al Ghul. He gets to train with Dick, while I watch them train to become a "hero". He bullied me even when I was a year older than him. Ughh, what a bitch. He was the reason I got the name Jinx, I was the bad luck of the family

Bruce, the man had the guts to adopt me and change my true name to a wayne. I was named Xerxes because it meant warrior, my dad never thought I was one. I'm not even allowed to call him dad.

Alfred, oh sweet innocent Alfred. I considered him as my father when my mother's "sperm donor", couldn't be there for me. He was there to teach me how to bake and cook, the best part was that he never admonished me for my bad behavior at school.

For 4 years I had lived with them, every night I had prayed for a miracle to happen. At night the same dream, every morning, the same nightmare. After the first 5 months of my stay, I started to avoid eating, because of depression.

And before I go to bed I looked for any blade I could, and locked myself in my bedrooom. I cut myself below the wrist, while keeping a first aid nearby. I never felt any pain from the wounds, but I felt the scar in my heart.

It's ironic how a whore with nothing, could love a child more, than a family that has everything. I always laughed at the idea, I never allowed myself to cry or show weakness. Bruce never knew how to deal with emotions anyway, so why cry?

I never cried, when Damian slashed my arm with a knife. Not when Barbara told me to go to hell, not when Tim destroyed the birthday present I made for him. And especially when Bruce called me a mistake. I only cried when Jason was murdered by the Joker.

I always thought crying was useless, so I worked hard. I got straight A's, I made friends, I enlisted for multiple sports when I turned 10. I even took up art just for the sake of fitting in.

But I will always be the Wayne pushed from the spotlight. Not even then, could I cry.

I just went to my dilapidated bedroom, God, it was ornamented with all of my awards and certificates. I started to pack my stuff, I even took the photo of me and my mother. There wasn't much to pack, all I got were hand me downs, and the dregs of my "beloved siblings."

At night, it was the perfect time to escape, with the villains on the loose, they had to take night shifts. So I slowly climbed out of my window and placed the note I had prepared for Alfred. And I prepared to go to the abyss that awaits me...

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

A/N Hiii... I got this idea from reading @acid-ixx, and @luludeluluramblings... I'm making a seperate part for the note Jennifer gave Alfred. HOPE U LUV THIS <333

[oreharuuu]

A Glimpse of Mercy

Summary: The boy you once knew from your small town has changed. But has he really change from his past? Or did he hide everything from you since the beginning?

Pairing: yandere!san x reader

Warnings: yandere behaviour obvi, obsessive behavior, graphic description, dark themes, cursing

Word count: 10.8k

A/N: umm hi? pls forgive me for not updating in a WHILE. i didn't forget about this acc i promise, just had a lot of stuff going on and ofc i still love our boys <3 hope y'all like this long ass oneshot, pray for the hongjoong one to finish quickly as well :' thx u for everyone for the support and comments while im away

Tags: @starillusion13 @cqndiedcherries @wooyoungjpg @miriamxsworld (comment below if u want to be in the permanent tags!)

The cold gush of wind hits you like a ton of bricks as you exited your school, shivering as you tried to keep yourself warm by hugging yourself. You eyed the numerous students chattering away with their friends, making you look around to search for your friend in the midst of the unknown faces.

When you spotted your friend, Iseul, near the entrance gate, you slowly walked towards her before stopping yourself. You smirked when you noticed the tall boy she's been talking for the past few months, quickly snapping a photo before walking away, wanting to not disturb their moment.

You sighed when you walked quietly to where you parked your bike, buying bungeoppang near the market before eating it as you observe the quiet atmosphere. Your small town just outside of the city was nothing special nor exciting, that's why almost everyone moved out when they can. A few stayed as to live with their family, but only a few instances such as yourself, living with your mother and aunt.

Iseul wants to get out of this 'shit hole' as she deems when she graduates high school, already applying for a scholarship. You on the other hand, can't even imagine yourself in the future on what you could possibly do. Your mother never went to the city, only working as a farmer. Your aunt did go, going to university to get a degree yet she can't even get any work after graduating, getting paid as a bartender before she quits to help your mother.

Deep down, you're scared of failure. Your whole life you're only a mediocre student, good yet not astounding grades and not having a big social circle like Iseul. You can't imagine going to the city to actually live there for a few years just to be met with failure when you can't even get a job, thus making you move back to your old town.

That sounds like a nightmare.

Forcing yourself out of the bad thoughts, you jogged to where your bike is, before stopping yourself when you notice the broken chain. You groan loudly, looking around to find the culprit only to find no one standing near you.

You placed the half eaten bungeoppang inside your bag, assessing the broken chain as you tried to think on what to do. This bike was your only transportation. Sure, you could use the bus but you're already so low on money that you'd rather risk walking by foot to school everyday.

You sighed, perking up at the sound of the bus stopping near you, the temptation of going home and leaving the old bike here is already growing. But you squashed that feeling when you remembered that it's your mother's bike.

The sound of quiet footsteps reached your ears, you glancing back before making eye contact with a boy. He seems startled, quickly moving around before walking back the opposite of you. He's around your age, maybe he knows one or two things about how to fix the bike.

"Hey, school boy! Can you help me?"

The boy stopped in his tracks while you wait for him to do anything. Thankfully, he walks back to where you're crouching, eyes downcast as he moved the plastic bag containing...oranges? To his other hand.

The boy seems familiar, his uniform shows that he's another student from a school nearby yours. The red scarf hides almost half of his face, only his sharp cat like eyes showing to you.

"Can you help me?" You asked, noting how the boy's ears turned slightly red before shaking his head. You sighed, standing up as you looked at the bike with frustrated eyes. You glanced at boy once more, finding him staring the broken chain a bit too hard. You look away, hiding the amused smile growing on your face.

"—fix it."

"Eh?" You asked, not hearing what he said clearly. "What did you say?"

"I think I can fix it."

"Thank you for your help," You say as the both of you walked side by side, your bike now temporarily fixed. "I can't imagine leaving the bike there on its own. I mean, it's my mom's bike after all but still! It's really old and I think we should buy another one...maybe."

You secretly glanced at the boy, not sensing any noise of acknowledgement or any head nod towards what you've just said. You pursed your lips, softly nudging his shoulder with yours. "You don't want to talk to me, huh?"

The boy's eyes only widens slightly, before looking down. You huff playfully before you remembered you haven't even asked his name. "Hey, what's your name? My name is (name)!"

You waited for any response from him, sighing in disappointment when he didn't say anything back. You stopped when you've reached your house, the boy stopping as well as he nervously looks back and forth between you and the house.

You're yelling internally deep down, wanting the awkward moment to end. Maybe the boy's too shy, and you feel bad for forcing him to talk when you just met him a few hours ago.

"Soo, thanks again. I'll just...go home now," You say as you slowly walk with your bike in tow, closing your eyes in embarrassment at the interaction. Hurried footsteps stopped you in your tracks, eyes widening when the boy placed one of the oranges inside your hand.

"San," He utters gently. "My name is San."

You smile softly at him, but before you could say anything, San walks away with hurried steps. "Nice to meet you, San! Thank you for helping me!" You scream loudly, giggling when you see San glancing back and forth at you.

When San disappeared from your sight, you continued your walk towards your house, the slight dirt from the orange makes you question as to why San even had dirty oranges in the first place.

Entering your house, you notice how quiet it is, your mother's slippers nowhere in sight nor your aunt's running shoes. You shrug to yourself before entering the kitchen, placing the singular orange near the fruit basket your mother received from her friend. Noticing the small note on top of an old takeout your aunt probably ordered two days ago, you assume that's going to be your dinner.

A normal occurrence in your household is your mother staying with her friends if she's not working, probably to talk and gossip. Your aunt is a different story though, you never know what exactly she's doing on her free time, and she never really told you either. So you kept quiet and let her be. She's an adult after all.

Heating up the food and eating it alone in the living room whilst watching TV was also a normal occurrence for you. You're used to it because ever since you're young, your mother rarely ate dinner. She doesn't really like eating anyways, especially inside a house that holds a reminder of her past.

Your aunt sometimes joined in, asking you here and there about school or maybe reminiscing about her old life in the city. Either way, it usually ends up with her drinking away her regrets.

You shivered, clicking your tongue when the kitchen window was slightly open. It's already getting dark, the only lights you see are the ones from the nearby house or you could say mansion, by how big it is compared to the other houses in town.

You remembered San walking towards the mansion's direction. Maybe he lives there? You never really see anyone besides two men, but you did overheard your mother one day about a woman supposedly living there.

Placing down your food on the small foldable table, you turned on the prehistoric TV that's probably already there before you're born. You didn't find anything interesting though, so you picked a random news channel before eating your food.

A few hours into eating, a small knock came from your front door, making you pause from peeling the orange San gave. You glanced at the clock, too early for your mother and aunt to come home. Plus they never knock anyway.

"Coming!" You yelled, slowly walking towards the entrance before opening the door slowly. Surprise is probably written all over your face when you see San standing there, his gaze flickers down when he notices you staring at him.

"San?" You questions. "A bit of a surprise visit, don't you think?"

"Sorry, I—Uh, if you don't like me here—"

"Nonsense! What's up?"

His posture became tense, so you glanced down at the plastic bag he's holding tightly. A bit too tight in your opinion.

"I-I need a place to eat, my house..."

"Your house?"

"It's, um, not a good place to eat right now," San finishes, looking up towards where the big mansion is located.

Turns out you're right all along.

"Oh, you live there?"

"Yeah, but I can't stay there right now."

"Can I ask why? You don't have to answer me if you're not comfortable, of course," You gently added, not wanting San to feel pressured. He shrugs, shifting from one foot to another. "Just some stupid argument between my father and...my uncles."

You hum, glancing back at your house before finally deciding. "Yeah, sure, you could eat at my house." You hold back a smile when you notice San's slumped posture turned straight right away, as if he's not expecting you to say that. "R-Really? I can eat here?"

"Sure, but my house is a bit cramped because of junk. If you want, we could eat at the veranda. Not to brag or anything but the view is beautiful."

San lets out a small smile, tilting his head which made your heart squeeze at how cute he is. "Really? I never really notice."

"Meh, it's something," You shrug, opening the door wider, inviting San to follow you inside. "Come on, my food's getting cold."

San nods hesitantly, murmuring a small 'excuse me' before slipping out of his shoes before he just stands there, waiting for you to walk first. You giggle at him, showing him where the veranda is before excusing yourself to grab your food.

"Pretty, right?" You ask as you sat down besides him, looking out towards the view of the city. Your house is located a bit further than the city, your house shows the perfect view of the small number of lights the city shows. It's somewhat calming to you, mix that with the sounds of cicadas and you have the perfect night to just clear your mind.

"Yeah, it's calming."

You hum, glancing as San takes out a small container, pulling out a sandwich before eating it in silence. You followed suit, offering small bites of food to him when you notice he only brought his sandwich. "Did you make it yourself?"

"No, my...eomma made it."

Noticing the tense tone in his voice, you only hum in acknowledgement before continuing to eat. It's nice to have someone eating with you, the silence isn't uncomfortable, both of you appreciating each other's presence in silence. It's kinda funny to you that you're comfortable enough to invite a boy you just met a few hours ago. Then again, it's partially because your mother nor aunt is here to bother you.

"Thank you for letting me eat here," San quietly says, playing with his fingers nervously as he waits for your response.

"It's fine. I quiet like having someone here to eat with," You smile. "Plus, you're a good company. Well, better than my mother and aunt anyway."

"Really?" San sounds excited, before he coughs as he looks away, his cheeks red with embarrassment. "Sorry! That sounds rude of me—"

You laugh, patting his back in a friendly manner. "No, no, it's fine. I'm thinking the same thing as you."

You didn't notice how red his face is after you patted his back, but he did let out a small laugh, joining you before you both fell silent once again.

"Do you, uh, do you mind if I could eat here? Not always! Just when...home gets a bit too tiring," He asks, looking at you with hopeful eyes that it almost made you want to ask what exactly is going on in his house.

"Sure, but it's better if no one's here except me. My mother will deny any visitors this late at night while my aunt will just ask us about anything to annoy us."

San lets out a small laugh, which made you smile as you notice the dimple on his face. He really has a nice smile. "Alright, I'll keep that in mind."

"How 'bout this," You say. "We exchange phone numbers, you'll text me if you have a situation, and we'll agree on where to meet up to eat together. Maybe we could eat somewhere else if my mother and aunt are here."

San nods enthusiastically, shyly grabbing his phone before you enter your phone number. "So, we got a deal?" You offer your hand to shake hands with him.

"Deal," He smiles, grabbing your hand gently before shaking it. Inside your mind, you hope whatever relationship you have with San will last longer than whatever you had in the past. Deep down, you want to have someone else besides Iseul to hangout with. But you've never had the chance, until now.

Fast forward a few months, you and San are still going with the promise. It's nice to have someone to talk too, even though San usually just sits there and listens to you. You felt bad to be the only one talking, since you mostly tell stories about your family and Iseul. San tells you that it's fine, he didn't mind one bit that you're the only one talking.

You did ask him once about his family. Yet the tense posture and tone made you realize just how uncomfortable San is on about his family. So you never asked about it to him again.

Turns out, you and San are in the same year, but he's in another school that's considered by your school the 'enemy'. Probably because of the football feud both of the school has. But you didn't mind, the feud is mostly contained to the football team.

Iseul asked you about San one day, claiming that there's a boy from another school that's been hanging out around the school recently. And she's shocked to see you know about the boy.

"Choi San? He's in our year? He looks younger though!"

"Yeah, that's what I first thought as well. But he claims he's in our year," You shrugged, playing with one of the dolls Iseul has on her bed.

"Mystery solved! I was wondering why he's wandering around our school anyways."

"What do you mean?" You curiously asked Iseul. So far you've never encountered San around your school, only bumped into him once when you're buying groceries after school.

"Well, Jihwan told me that he's been seeing a boy from the other school a few times. He thought the boy was in the football team but he's never seen him before."

You hum, thinking back from the conversations you had with San. "No, I don't think he plays football. He likes drawing, so I guess it's not his style."

"Ooo, an artist," Iseul cooed.

"Oh, shut up!" You whine, playfully shoving Iseul before each of you grabbed a pillow before proceeding to hit each other with it. It felt nice hanging out with Iseul again. Although you did feel a bit weird after coming here, like there's someone staring at you.

You dodged the pillow Iseul throws when you catch a glimpse of black moving outside of her window. You frown before walking closely to the window, opening it slightly to see nothing outside.

"Why? What's wrong?"

You turned back to her, already sensing her panic rising when her tone wavered from your hard stare. You quickly masked it with a smirk, not wanting Iseul to hyperventilate just from a shadow. "Ha! Did I get you? You're so easy to scare."

"Asshole!" She screeched before pouncing on you, tickling your sides as you tried move away from her grasp. The squealing laughter from Iseul made you not realize the snapping of a branch outside, nor the figure running away into the darkness.

"San? Is that you, boy?"

San flinched, slowly looking towards the source of the voice, finding a man sitting in the darkness. San noticed the red stains covering his shirt right away, the man slowly wiping a bloody knife clean.

"Yeah. It's me, appa."

"Where were you, huh? You made Seokjin all worried," The man pointed towards a closed room. But from the screams emanating inside the room, it's obvious his other father is inside with his...mother.

"Sorry. I was out helping a friend."

"A friend?" The man, Taecyeon, whistled with a smirk. "Don't tell me you've found a girl to fuck?"

San felt annoyance rising inside his body at how his appa talked about you, but he composed himself as he shakes his head. "No, a friend wanted me to help them with their homework." He lied through his teeth.

Another man, Byungho, typing away in the darkness, chuckles lowly as he blew a puff of his cigarette. "Yeah, whatever you say, kid. Go wash up, you don't have school tomorrow. We need to train for your first mission! How exciting is that?"

San nods as the two men laughs, Taecyeon ushering San away so they could start training. San ignores as the screaming intensifies, throwing his school bag carelessly as he huffs. He glances at the lone picture hanging on his wall.

Five men. One woman. One boy.

His appa is Taecyeon, the so called leader of the assassin group. The others? San only calls them as his uncles, even though he knows they're all not really related. Seems like almost all of them owes something to his appa, but they stick together throughout the years for some reason.

His eomma is a mystery. San notices very early how different they are. He has no similarities to his eomma nor appa. But that really didn't matter, he loves his eomma nonetheless. Yet the abuse she suffers everyday makes him wonder why she hasn't run away when she's usually all alone in the house when they're all busy.

His eomma only smiles tight when he ask her about this, changing the topic swiftly that it made San feel guilty. So he tries to be the good son that his eomma always dreams off.

"Sannie?"

San whips his head towards the now open door, his eomma hiding half of her face with it. But he always notice the blood and bruises anyway.

Always.

"Appa's already waiting for you. Why don't you go wash up so he doesn't get mad at you? Hm?"

"Okay, eomma."

San watches as the door slowly closes, making him sigh as he cracked his neck to ease the tension. He needs to be careful after almost getting caught by you. He's training as an assasin like his appa for God's sake! He can't even walk quietly without you noticing.

What a loser.

Maybe he does need the extra training his appa suggested. Sure, it could be useful for missions in the future. But what's most important is so that he could always be with you without you noticing.

"Hey, did you hear the news?"

You hum, doodling away on your notebook as your teacher excused himself to the toilet. "What news exactly?"

"You know Mr. Huang? The one who lost his child a few years ago?"

"Yeah, I know him."

"He's dead," Iseul whispers. "Like...murdered. Not because of some natural death, literal murder!"

You frown, looking at Iseul with concerned eyes. "Iseul, how do you even know that?"

She shrugs. "I heard from the lady next door. Said that police from even outside of the city came here because of how gruesome it is."

"Wow, that bad?"

"Real bad," She mumbles. "My dad told me to stay away from the area since apparently the government is handling it."

"Wait, what about his wife? Is she—you know, dead?"

Iseul thinks silently for a few seconds, before shaking her head. "Not that I know of. The lady did told my mom that Mrs. Huang survived the whole ordeal, but she hasn't woken up yet."

"Poor woman. Already losing a son and now her own husband," You grimaced at the thought.

Rumor has it, both Mr. And Mrs. Huang's son was kidnapped in an apparent ransom act. But when they paid the money, their son never came back to them. Some say he's dead, even Mr. Huang. But a few still holds hope that the boy is still alive to this day, and Mrs. Huang apparently still believes that.

People gossip about how her son's room stayed untouched for the past few years. How Mrs. Huang once went mad at her own friend when they entered the room without permission. Soon after, her mental health started declining, making her stay at home most of the time.

"—from your lover boy?"

"Huh?" You snapped out of your head. "What did you say?"

"I said—have you heard from lover boy?"

"Shut up, Iseul. And no, I haven't heard from him for the past few days."

"You really should just visit his house," Iseul remarks softly as Mr. Kim entered the classroom again. "Didn't you say his house's near you?"

You never really say this to Iseul, not even San. But you did once visit his house to ask for his whereabouts. The result? Only a blank stare from the woman who answered the door. Her makeup barely covers the bruises marking her face, making you realize why San didn't want you to find out what's happening inside his house.

"Yeah, maybe I'll go after school," You replied back, knowing deep down you're hesitant to even step onto his family's land ever again.

Biting into the juicy meat, you hum happily as you munch on the braised beef your mother cooked a few hours ago. Your aunt is watching TV, laughing away on some random game show you haven't heard off. Your mother ate silently across you, her eyes empty as usual before she softly coughs to get your attention.

"(Name)? Have you ever stepped foot to the Choi's residence?"

You stopped chewing, looking towards your mother where she holds a grimace. "Um, no. I've never—"

"Answer me truthfully, girl."

Sheesh, she's really mad. Your mother rarely says that to you, only when she meant serious business only.

"I have. But only once! After that, I've never went there again."

Your mother hums, her grimace gone, changed into a more somber expression. "From now on I forbid you to go there, okay?"

"But—"

"No buts," She glares at you. "I don't care what's happening inside of that house, but what I do care is about your well-being."

You huff. "Why are you like this anyway?"

"Something happened. A few police came to the house this afternoon asking about the certain people living there. Turns out it's about the case of Mr. Huang, they suspect the killer—or killers— are living inside of that house right now."

Your eyes turned wide, mouth hanging open as your mother clicked her tongue before closing your mouth with her hand. "Don't do that. It's disgusting."

"Wait, hold on—what do you mean suspects? Are they suspecting everyone there?" You ask. Is this why San hadn't replied back to you?

She only shrugs. "As far as I know, the police are still investigating it. But...they have a strong evidence against the people living there."

"Strong evidence?"

"No clue. They didn't tell me anything again. What they did tell me though," Your mother paused her chewing as she thinks of her next words. "Is that whoever killed Mr. Huang was not only one person."

"A group then?"

Your mother shrugs. "Maybe. They're trying to find some of the stolen goods from his house, like jewelry and expensive items. And police started to search here when they got a tip from someone that one of Mr. Huang's expensive vases were found outside of the house."

God, this only made you more panicked as you tend to overthink about every little thing. San not replying to your texts, him disappearing for a few days. And apparently he's living with murderers? Then again, this should not surprise you ever since your first and last visit to the house.

"Go to sleep," Your mother tells you as she cleans the table. "You still have school tomorrow."

You can't even talk back to your mother, saying that tomorrow's Saturday, but you follow her order nonetheless. Too busy thinking about San in your head.

Entering your room, you softly closed the door only to be surprised by a hand covering your mouth. You scream loudly yet the person behind you shushed you gently. "Please, (name), be quiet."

San?

"San? What the fuck?" You whisper aggressively as he slowly drops the hand from your mouth. You gasp when you're met with the sight of him being bruised and bloody, his eyes tired as his posture turned from tense to weak.

"Oh my—what happened?!"

"Um, can I sit first? I don't think I can't stand much longer."

You quickly usher him to sit on a pillow you throw haphazardly on the floor, pointing at him with hard eyes as you open the door. "Wait here. Don't move. You need to answer questions first before you're off the hook."

He sheepishly smiles, giving you a thumbs up. "Sure, I'll wait here."

You exited your room quietly, walking slowly towards where your mother kept a small first aid kit near the bathroom. Placing it under your arm, you notice your mother and aunt are too busy doing their own thing. You took this advantage to walk quickly to your room, closing the door and locking it before you turn to San.

"First question, how did you get into my room?"

"Um, the window was opened and your mother's here. So I just—" San motions towards the open window, making you huff as you closed the window shut before covering it with the curtains.

"Second question, what the fuck happened to you?"

"It's...a long story."

"We've got time." You glare at him. "Tomorrow's Saturday, so talk."

San lets out a small laugh before he quiets down, nervously playing with his bruised hands as you sat down in front of him. "I'm very private on family matters. I don't want anyone to find out about it, but let's just say I reached a breaking point when I discovered some...new informations."

You pause, before dabbing one of his cuts with curious eyes. "New informations?"

He eyes you silently, the silence didn't really made you uncomfortable, but his gaze did things to you. You've never been this close to him, usually him keeping a distance whilst you respect the boundaries he put.

"I don't want to tell you any of it."

"Can I ask why?"

He hissed when you clean the cut near his eyebrow, apologizing quietly as you continue to work on his wounds. "Do you know what happened to Mr. Huang?"

You frown and eyed San with suspicion, dropping your hand towards your lap as you nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry what happened to him and his wife. I heard she's still alive."

San sighs, quickly rubbing his eyes as you notice the lone tear escaping. "Yeah, I'm sorry for him too."

"Why are you crying for a man you don't even know?"

He stayed quiet, looking away before he glances at you with hurt in his eyes.

"Why? What's wrong?" You whisper, hesitating to hold his hands.

"(Name), I'm a killer."

Your heart dropped, eyes wide as you tried to comprehend what he just said to you. "W-What? You're joking, right?"

San shakes his head silently, still eyeing you with his hard gaze. You laugh nervously, inching yourself away from him as he stayed in place.

"Choi San, this better be a joke. And if it is, it's not funny!"

He sighs, grabbing something out of his pocket before slowly sliding it towards you. "What do you see?"

It's a ring, and it looks pretty expensive from its appearance. "A ring?"

"Look closer."

You silently move closer towards it, eyeing it suspiciously as San snorts. "Why aren't you touching it?"

"Because I don't want to, San! Ever think of that?"

You huff, eyeing the ring on the floor before you noticed a hint of dark red on the ring. You bit your lip, glancing at him as you pointed towards it. "Is that—is that what I think it is?"

"You mean blood? Yeah, it is. But that's not what I want you to see. Look closer, inside of the ring."

His nonchalant response should've made you bolt the fuck out of your room, but you cast away the fear, moving closer again towards the ring.

And that's when you notice it.

A small carving inside of the ring. Initials.

'H.J'

It quickly clicks to you as to who owned the ring.

Huang Jeongcheol. The man who just got killed.

You stand upright quickly, already moving towards the door when San grabs you by the waist. Holding his hand towards your mouth, he shushed you gently as you scream and bite at his hand.

He placed you on your bed, pinning your hands with only one of his hands. You wonder to yourself, has San ever been this strong? From his appearance, you don't want to sound mean, but he looks like a normal school boy who doesn't like to workout nor doing sports.

"(Name), please listen to me. I know you're scared of me right now, but please listen to me. I'm begging you right now to please believe me because after this...I don't think we'll meet again for a long time."

You stare at San with distrust, but you can't help but feel a tad bit of sadness when he looks so dejected at you.

"The family that I know all my life—lied to me," He started. "They used me, trained me to be their apprentice, to kill people."

San looks away, closing his eyes for a moment before looking back at you. "They're not my real family. They never have. Especially after what they've pushed me through, to kill my own father."

You frantically move your head, allowing his hand to move away. "W-What? What do you mean?"

"I've always wondered why Mr. Huang cried at me when I stepped forwards to kill him. I just...did what the others did—kill them to get rid of the evidence," San whispers.

"But then, I started to get uneasy at seeing the house. How it all felt...familiar. And when I saw myself with them in pictures, when I was young—" San laughs wetly, tears running freely down his face. "—I knew, I instantly knew that I just killed my father. My own biological father! I thought I was hallucinating all of it but then I saw how the little boy is wearing my favorite jacket. The one that I own! I can't, I just—"

"Woah, San, calm down," You whisper as his breath became more erratic. You slowly raised his hand towards his chest, allowing the other one placed against your own. "Follow my breathing, good, that's it. Breathe in and out slowly."

"I can't stay here anymore," He whispers after his breathing became normal again, making you frown in confusion. "I killed one of them," He interrupts you. "I told him to tell me the truth, yet he persist that I'm better living with them. And that my father, my biological one, deserved to die."

You're lost for words, you don't even know what to say to him. You only hold his hand tighter as a sign of comfort. But you don't know if you're actually comforting him or yourself.

"I need to go, (name)," He slowly stands up, moving closer to your window to peek between the curtains. "It's not safe for me to be here after what I did. Especially for you."

"F-For me?"

"Yes," He stares at you with hard eyes, yet you can see how his eyes glisten with tears. "I can't let them hurt you. You—I care for you. I appreciate all of the nights we hung out, talk about stupid things and our dreams away from this small town. I want you to achieve your lifelong dream, but that can't happen when you're always the target of a group of killers."

"Why am I a target?" You ask with a quivering tone, fright creeping up on you as San looks on to you with pity. "Please, San. Tell me. Why am I the target?"

"Because they know I'm always here every night."

You can't stop the whimper coming out of your mouth, yet you remember your mother and aunt are still outside. You cry silently with your hand covering your mouth, kneeling to the ground as your breath became erratic.

"Am I going to die? I don't want to die, I can't die, San. I'm scared," You sob silently, crying even harder when he puts your face to his shoulder, his hands holding you tightly as you weep more and more.

"I know," He whispers, tucking your hair back as he hugs you tighter. "That's why I need to lure them away from this town. I don't need any of them in town."

"What? What about your mother?"

San pursed his lips, looking away as he sighs. "I was too late. I can't...protect her."

"Isn't she in the hospital?"

San shakes his head slowly, grasping your hand in his as he exhales a shaky breath. "I was too late, they reached her first."

You bit your lip as you imagined the only blood related family San has now is already dead. You flinched slightly at his hand brushing the tears away from your face, the hand slowly moving your face towards him as he pecks your mouth. A light one, but you've never kissed a boy—or really anyone—before.

You gasp in surprise, finding San smiling softly at you as he placed his forehead to yours. "I love you, (name). I don't know when or where, but I hope we'll meet again soon. Promise you'll wait for me?"

You closed your eyes, holding his hand tighter as a sign of promise. "I will. I'll wait for you."

The cold wind hits your body roughly, making you hug your thin coat tighter as you weave your way between people to get to your apartment. Readjusting the mask you open the building door as you nod towards the owner of the building, an old man who likes to smoke at late hours.

He nodded back before you walked slowly towards your designated floor. You avoid making eye contact with your neighbor, ignoring his staring as he waters his plants.

Such a weird habit. Who waters their plants at night?

Closing and locking the door, you sigh loudly as you pulled the mask from your face, brushing your hair away from your face as you lazily throw your shoes near the door.

So much has happened in the past five years.

Well, not that interesting to be honest in your life. Ever since he left.

San quickly left after the promise you've made to him, you staring at his back as he walks towards the darkness. Never to be seen again.

You've held on to the hope of him returning maybe for a year. Going about your day, ignoring the whispers from people around you about the murders and a missing boy. Paranoia started to slowly grow because of what he said to you, about being possibly killed.

Before you realized that it's all an empty promise and lies.

Then again, you were both young so you can't really blame younger you.

As for older you, or yourself currently, you're now living in the big city! Sure, you may be having a bit of a trouble handling money for university, having to work two part time jobs while studying, living in a small shitty apartment; but you're alive at least. And that's what matters.

Kicking what seems to be paper, you picked up two envelopes, one familiar and one you didn't recognize. You decided to shower first, grimacing at your sweaty skin as you quickly entered the bathroom.

Grabbing the convenient store bento on your way home, you smile as you open the first letter from your mother. Your relationship kinda got better when you left, feeling that deep down your mother missed you. She's just awkward on showing it to you.

Now, the other letter.

It's more high quality, more smaller than the one your mother sent. You looked for any names or address, but nothing. You chewed as you opened the letter, finding a small written letter.

Hello. You might not recognize me now, but I'm finally at a place where I feel I've accomplished enough to ensure your safety. I'll see you soon.

You frowned, looking at the back of the letter to see if there's anymore writing. When you see none, you folded the paper back to its envelope before chucking it towards the mess that is your desk.

A lone paper slips past you, probably from the envelope. You grabbed it only to get more confused and creeped out because it's a drawing.

Of you.

Tossing the drawing alongside the rest of the letter, you contemplated on what to do.

You don't know who it is, probably the letter was sent to a wrong address or it's someone messing with you. Then again, you don't really know whoever would waste their precious time on you anyways.

Cracking your neck with a sigh, you continued to eat before deciding to sleep in for the night. You're not that busy tomorrow, only a few classes and one part time schedule at the convenience store. You laid down, charged your phone, and closed your eyes as you waited for sleep to come by, waiting for tomorrow for you to repeat the same cycle.

"Hey, (name)," Your coworker, Chaemin, greeted with a tired smile as you nodded back in greeting. "I'll go change, wait here."

You hum, standing behind the cashier as you waited for him to finish. Nothing much happened today. Classes went by as normal, a few friends invited you to a party but you sadly declined as you're now working, and that's it.

Entering the staff's room as Chaemin exited, he bid you goodbye as you changed into your uniform. Grabbing your phone before exiting, you held back a yawn as you sat down behind the cash register, looking around the dead and empty convenience store. You don't expect much customers this late at night so you proceeded to play a new game on your phone.

Not long after, a ding was heard indicating a new customer, making you glance up, eyebrows raised in confusion as to who just entered.

A man, wearing a dark grey three piece suit, holding a briefcase as he slowly walks towards the drink isle. Who wears black gloves anyways?

Not something you would see this late at night, but it's better than some drunkards yelling profanities all around. You realized you're staring too hard on the man, flicking your gaze towards your phone once more as slow steps rang throughout the store.

"Excuse me?"

"Y-Yes?" You replied back with surprise, not expecting the man to talk. You noticed the man smiling as he holds the drink in his hand, smiling slightly making you notice the small dimple on his cheek.

He's pretty handsome, you'll give him that.

"Is this the 'buy one get one' drink promo?"

"Yes, but you can only buy the same flavour to get the promo, sir."

"Sir? Do I really look that old to you?" He chuckles softly, grabbing the drinks and continue to look around to grab snacks.

You scratched your head in embarrassment. "O-Oh, sorry. Just formalities and all for me, you know?"

The man hums, walking towards the you as he placed the small basket on the counter before smiling at you. "No worries, don't be scared. Just jokin' with you."

You smile politely, scanning the items before stating the price, accepting the cash as you tried to ignore his hard stare at you. Sure, he's handsome and all but he's just a passing customer that you'll soon forget in a few days. Besides, nothing exciting ever happens to you anyway.

You waited for the man to go away, surprise in your eyes as he slides one of the drinks to you. You looked up to him, pointing at the drink. "Um, what's this?"

"A treat."

"For?"

He shrugs with a smile, "Just something to make your day better."

"Alright...thank you?"

"You're welcome," He replies softly, grabbing the plastic bag that seemed so out of place with the rest of his outfit. As he exited the store, you squinted your eyes when you saw a flash of red splatter behind his suit.

You sighed heavily, rubbing your eyes in frustration and tiredness. You really do need to fix up your schedule or you'll pass out anytime soon.

Blood?

You thought that one encounter was going to be the last time you'll ever see the man. That's what you had in mind as you've worked through your other part-time jobs, just going with the flow.

It's a surprise when the man entered once more, greeting you with a smile. His suit is immaculate as ever, black with unopened buttons at the top, sleeves rolled as he walks around the store.

"Rough night?" He asks, sliding the drink to you as he finished paying.

You shrug, thanking him halfheartedly as you open the drink given to you. "Just tired."

"Well," He starts. "I hope tomorrow will be a better day for you. You never know what's going to happen, huh?"

You know those words were supposed to make you feel better, but somehow, it only does the opposite for you. You nod with an awkward smile. "Yeah, sure."

"Goodnight then—" He squints behind his glasses, reading your name tag. "—(name)."

"Goodnight."

You stare at his retreating back, noting no sights of red splatter on his back. That is, until you're eyes reached his shoes that you notice the red small imprint it left behind.

Yeah, you're definitely not going crazy from sleep.

"What?! You've never dated anyone in that big of a city?" Iseul hissed through the phone, making you scoff at her. "Uh, yeah? Too busy making money so I could live the next day is pretty important to me, you know?"

"Oh, I know. I didn't mean it that way."

"No," You held back a yawn behind your hand. "I kinda agree with you here. I just—I don't know, I don't have time? Sure, dating sounds like a dream for me. But I'm afraid I'm to busy to manage a relationship and I'll get dumped."

"That's why communication is important!" Iseul replied back with vigor. "Look, I'm not going to force you but my boyfriend has a friend there, coincidentally, that's also single."

"Is that why you called me?"

"No! Well...maybe," She laughs nervously. You smirk in amusement but told her to go on.

"Right! His name is Donghyun, goes to the same university if I'm not wrong. He's older around three years than you. Sounds good?"

"Uh, any other information that you know besides that?"

"Sorry, I don't really know the guy. But, my boyfriend says that he's really nice. If you're down, I'm gonna give your number to him."

You sigh, thinking about the dangers of meeting a stranger for a date. Then again, you really need something other than working your ass off in your spare time. You contemplated for a minute, before cutting off Iseul's rambling on the phone. "Hey, I'll go."

Iseul started to scream loudly, making you pull away from the phone in an instant. "My ears!"

"Sorry, sorry! I'm just so happy for you!"

You laugh lightly, "I haven't even met the guy, Iseul."

"Well, I hope he's good to you. If not, then I can go to you and find him to beat his ass up if he ever hurts you."

"Alright, I hope you protect me from whatever danger there is," You hum.

The conversation between you and Iseul goes on until the morning. Thankfully, you only had one class and no work since you covered one of your coworkers shifts and in return, now they're covering yours.

It's a surprise when an unknown phone number texted you, introducing himself as the man himself, Donghyun. He texted cutesy enough, adding cat stickers every now and then that made you laugh. He wanted to meet you today, which made you think about how he's really desperate but deep down you're desperate too.

You agreed to meet up after your class this afternoon, meeting at a cafe nearby so you assumed he also has classes today.

Wanting to make a good impression, you decided to dress up a bit more nicer with a dress. You kept your hairstyle simple yet pretty, using some light makeup before deciding to go to class after a big brunch.

You ignored the curious glances you received at class, quickly leaving when it finished. You texted Donghyun that you're walking to the cafe, surprised that he's already there and asked if you wanted any drinks or food.

When you arrived, you looked around before seeing someone waving their hand at you. You held back a noise of surprise at the sight of a familiar face. You've seen him before a few times at university, what a small world.

"Donghyun?"

"Yeah! You must be (name), it's nice meeting you," He smiles widely as he gestures towards the seat across him. "I already ordered the drinks and food here. So, uh, dig in!"

"Thanks," You smiled at him.

Donghyun really is a nice guy. Very attentive to your needs, a true gentleman. But a few times he sounds a bit...ignorant.

"Oh, wow! You work two part-time jobs and go to university? That's really admirable."

You nod along. "Yeah, it sucks and tiring. But I need the money, ya know?"

"Why can't your parents pay for it? It seems like a parents duty to pay for their child's education."

You held back a grimace, hiding it with a shrug of your shoulders. "Yeah, that's true. But they don't have much money to support me plus themselves. So I had to resort to working."

"No wonder you look tired all the time. No offense, but you look like a zombie every time I see you."

You laugh along with him, noticing how he opens his mouth once more probably to ask you the same questions. But you diverted the topic to him, asking what major he's in.

You learned Donghyun was a business major, following along his mother's footsteps to continue their oil tycoon. Everything suddenly clicks as Donghyun tells you his story.

He's old money and super rich. Whilst you're an ordinary country bumpkin.

Basically two different worlds.

But you really don't care about that now. He seems like a sweetheart, and you're tired of the same cycle you're going through every fucking day.

You need a breath of fresh air.

So you agreed to date him. Scheduling seems a bit hard because of your schedule, but Donghyun seems to be fine with it, asking you to message him if you have any spare time.

One date turns to two. Two turns into three more dates. Until you realized you've been dating Donghyun for the past three months.

He really is a sweet guy. But you know it's never going to last long from the expectations his parents had for him about his life, so you took everything lightly and just enjoyed the flow. Besides, he likes to spoil you with gifts. You're not going to decline that, especially if it's necessary needs like foods and clothes.

One thing that never changed though is the man that routinely visits the convenience store once a week. New suits, same old face, and the always changing positions for the blood. Because of this, you kept your distance from him. Always setting boundaries when he asks you personal questions, but never getting mad since you don't want to make him pissed off.

"New bracelet?"

"Huh?"

"Is that a new bracelet you bought? Looks cute," The man smiled, pointing towards the beaded bracelet you had on.

"Yeah, my boyfriend bought it for me," You replied back nonchalantly, scanning the items in front of you. Not noticing how the man posture snapped in an instant from relaxed to tense.

He hums, tracing letters on the counter. "Boyfriend, huh? Who's the lucky guy?"

"No one you know, of course. But it's someone from my university."

The man nodded once more, scoffing before he quickly replaced the frown with a smile. "How long you've been dating?"

"Not your business."

"Aw, I thought we were friends—"

"Uh, no? I don't even know your name. Why would I be friends with you?" You stared at the man with a confused gaze, quickly averting your eyes when he only blankly stared at you with no expression on his face.

"Of course, my apologies. Here, take the drink. You need it."

You hesitantly grabbed it. "Thanks, I guess."

He nods once, grabs his things, before walking out of the store. You let out a relieved sigh, pushing the drink out of your way. "Fucking creep."

You glanced into the empty streets outside, relieved the man was nowhere to be seen. You grabbed your phone just in case when you saw a text from Donghyun.

You: when?

Dodo: coffee date? <3

You contemplated for a while, knowing you have a shift tomorrow. But one of your coworkers could cover you for one day, it wouldn't hurt.

Dodo: hoping tmrw is ok?

You: sounds good :)

You ignored the sinking feeling growing inside you, wanting to have fun once in a while without overthinking it.

But maybe you should've listened to your gut this time.

"Wow, this place is really secluded," You commented at the small indie cafe. Donghyun shrugged, pulling out a chair for you. "I know, but the reviews are really good. And my friends told me it's worth it."

"Alright, did they recommend anything?"

"The croissant looks good, but they recommended we buy the red velvet slice."

You nodded, giving out your usual drink order to Donghyun as he walks up to order. You looked around and noticed how empty it is for a supposedly popular cafe. Yeah, two people are outside right now, drinking and smoking. But other than that, the place looks deserted.

"Here you go," Donghyun placed the drinks and food. "Pretty fast but they don't have any customers besides us right now."

"Yeah, doesn't it feel weird to you? A popular cafe this empty on a Friday?"

He shrugs, already drinking away. "Like you said, it's a secluded place. It's popular, yeah, but only a few people know."

"Really?"

"Not a lot things on social media, but maybe this cafe runs from word of mouth? You know, people talk to their friends who in return come here."

"Maybe," You answered, but there's still doubt lingerie in your head. You brushed it off as Donghyun started to talk, asking about you and telling stories about him and his friends.

The cake was honestly really good, you can't get enough of it. But you stopped eating when you notice Donghyun yawning for the fifth time in a row. "You alright?"

"Yeah, just—" He yawns widely before continuing. "I don't know why I feel really sleepy."

"Did you not sleep well last night?"

"I did! I just—I don't know why I'm suddenly so tired."

You opened your mouth to reply back but only met with your own yawn passing through. "Woah, that's a surprise."

Donghyun laughs. "Are you tired too? Damn, we're meant to be." His head slumps towards the table, no sounds from him other than soft breathing.

Your gaze started to get weird, looking around as your head started to get dizzy. Out of the corner of your eyes, you saw the barista talking to someone, someone in a suit. You tried to move away from the approaching figure, but felt your body too weak to even move.

In the next few seconds, your eyes started to get droopy before you succumb to the darkness.

You don't know how long you're out, but one thing for sure is you got a massive headache. And you're tied to a chair in a small room.

You groan at the light hitting your eyes as you open your eyes, grimacing at the painful headache growing rapidly.

"—Thank you again, for the help."

"Well, don't got much choices do I?"

"Yes, that's true. But thank you nonetheless."

"Hey," You spoke out loud. "Hey! Where the fuck am I?!"

"Sounds like your lover's awake," A gruff voice replied.

The door besides you opened slowly, making you glare at the familiar man smiling widely at you. "Hello, headache?"

"No shit!" You hissed at the man who only innocently smiles at you. "What did you do? Where's Donghyun?"

"Now, now, you don't have to worry about some other man," He gently replied, grabbing an extra chair out of nowhere. You glared at the man as he fixed his cuff links, clicking his tongue when he noticed a small patch of red staining his white clean button up.

"Who's blood is that?"

"No one you need to worry about," He laughs, fixing his glasses as he smiles at you. "I'm sorry we need to reunite like this, but you gave me no choice."

"What the—wait, reunite? What do you mean reunite?" You whispered in shock.

He laughs softly at you, brushing a piece of hair away from your face as you flinched away from him. "I don't blame you for not recognizing me. I have to...alter my appearance because of my job."

"Just tell me who you are!"

"I've killed my own biological family members, who's been searching for me every since a group of assassins kidnapped me for ransom," He starts, playing with the ring on his finger. "Huang Jeongcheol, the innocent man that I've killed without knowing. And Huang Hyorin, who I've failed because I was too late to save her."

Your head started to ache painfully, your breathing becomes more ragged as you stared at the man you once knew in your past, suddenly here with you.

Kidnapped you. And could possibly hurt you.

"S-San?"

"Hi, (name)," San smiles as he moves closer to you. He coos as he brushed away the tears that escapes your eyes. You didn't even notice you're crying, you didn't know why. Maybe because all this time you've let go of the past with him, finding it to be near impossible when he didn't even tried to contact you.

"Why are you crying, love?"

"Wha—I thought, I thought you're dead!"

"And why would I be?" He hums, continuing to brush your hair softly, a smile etched on his face as you tried to calm your breathing.

"You said people were after you! Tried to kill you!" You screamed loudly, glaring at him with wild eyes. "And you said they're also after me! How can I not conclude that you're dead when you didn't contacted me whatsoever!"

He sighs, sitting again in front of you whilst he holds your hands to his. "I know. And I've wanted to meet you after I've sent the letter—"

"You've sent that creepy letter?!"

"Yeah, I gotta admit it is creepy," He laughs. "But anyways, back to the story. I didn't contact you because I've been working."

"You got a job? Here?"

"Not necessarily here," He explains. "Let's just say I've become what I've been trained for since my younger years."

Dread grows inside your body, looking at San with weary eyes as you hoped whatever suspicions you had about him was wrong. "You kill people for a living? L-Like them?"

He nods once.

"Oh, San...why? Did anyone force you to work this—"

"No one forced me!" He yells, making you jump as you closed your mouth in an instant. His eyes now wild with fire, glaring incessantly at the wall as his hold on your hands turned tighter. He lets go of your hands as you yelped in pain, mumbling a small 'sorry'.

"No one forced me, (name)," He continues. "Yes, I've been living like hell just so I could live another day! Hiding in slums, stealing, begging to strangers for food, whatever I could do to hide from that bastards!"

"But I've had enough one day, I've just had it with them," He hissed, pacing back and forth in front of you as he crossed his arms. "So I become a hitman, for the people who need it. I need the money and the relations to get back at them, and I've become weak over the years because I didn't train enough. But one job turned into more and more, and suddenly people in the industry know my name. They respected me for my work ethic, cleanliness, and no bullshit attitude."

"A-And did you—"

"Yeah, I did it," He smirks in triumph. "I killed the last one just two years ago. Bastard didn't even put up a fight, fucking beheaded him. It felt so...euphoric to see the light slowly disappearing from his eyes."

You flinched when his gaze turns to you. "And you, (name), I've never forgotten you once in my life. I've prayed to whatever God is there to always be there for you when I'm not there. I've hold on to the promise we've made, and when I first saw you here—" He laughs happily. A lovesick look on his face as he sighs, "I couldn't believe my eyes. You look the same yet you look so angelic and beautiful when I first saw you. I thought about the future we could have together, just us together. Maybe we could get a pet. Besides, I'm respected now! I have money to spoil you and you don't have to even work. But..."

"But?"

"But you broke our promise," San hissed with venom. "You said you'll wait for me! You said you wanted to be with me. And I find you all of a sudden with a boyfriend!"

He looks at you with hurt and betrayal, hands clenched tightly as you tried to look away from his stare. "What was I supposed to do? Wait for you?!"

"Yes! You promised me, (name)!"

"We were young!" You bellowed out to him, chest heaving with anger as he looks at you with hard eyes. "We were young, San. It's stupid for me to just wait in that damn town. I was scared to move away, yes, but I wanted to get out of that small town since forever."

You looked at him desperately, ignoring the warning signs ringing inside your head from the look on San's face. "I have to think for myself and my family. I moved here to get better education, and I worked my ass off to get money so I could buy food and pay for my utilities! I was stressed out thinking people were out to get me, before I realized it's all bullshit!"

"It's not bullshit, (name)!"

"Oh, I know," You mumbled. "But I can't live my life just for some promise I made to them in the past. It's called moving on, San."

He's quiet as you cough lightly, now feeling how dried your throat is as you glanced around the room for any escape. You turned to look at him as he lets out a breathy laugh, hands wiping his face in an obvious attempt to hide his anger.

"So, the promise you made...it doesn't mean anything to you, huh?"

You looked away, closing your eyes before answering. "It used to mean something. But at one point, I just—I just let go of my worries. I got into a good university, I moved away, worked hard for money so I could sustain my life. I've met good friends here—"

"And a boyfriend."

"Yes," You glared at him. "A boyfriend. Whom I've choose to date because I wanted to. I know it's not a serious relationship, but I wanted to get out of the stress for just one moment. And you're mad at me for that?!"

San shakes his head, looking away from your gaze. "I'm not mad, just disappointed. I wanted for us to be together, and now you're protecting this asshole like you love him."

"I do love him," You answered. He scoffs loudly, laughing loudly as he shakes his head. "Like you've said, this relationship wasn't meant to last this long. And I think I should end this now."

You're eyes widen as he stood up, cracking his knuckles as he stretches. "S-San? What—What are you doing?"

He smiles, not in a loving way, but more sinister and mocking. "Don't worry," He pats your head, messing up your hair even more. "I just need to get rid of him. Then, we'll finally be together."

"What?! No, wait!"

You tried to move, tried to get help by screaming, only to stop when you hear a loud scream outside. You whimper when a thud was heard outside, trying to find anything to cut the ropes tying you up as the screams started to get even more desperate.

"No! San, please! Leave him be," You cried out.

Another scream.

"Please, please! Just let him go! He didn't do anything wrong!"

A groan from Donghyun before he pleads for his life.

"San! Please, don't kill him."

A final 'thud' was heard outside.

No sounds.

You cried and cried, tears running down freely from your eyes as you whimper. Donghyun is dead because of you.

You didn't look up when the door opened, too exhausted to even lift up your head as you continued to sob silently.

"Thanks again, Jongin."

You glanced up to see the barista standing near the doorway. "Whatever," He mumbles. "I need to clean up anyways. The usual?"

San hums happily, brushing away the strands of hair that has fallen down his perfectly styled hair. "Yeah. Make sure to cut him up, place him in different areas. I'll tip you even more money."

"You got it."

With one final look from the man, he closed the door.

Leaving you with this psychopath.

"Look at me, (name). I know you're tired, but please look at me," He cooed.

"No," You whispered, not able to see the blood stains on him.

He sighs, walking up to you to grab you by the hair. You yelled in pain, before shutting your mouth as his grip turned tighter.

"Here's a warning for you," He starts. His eyes crazed and face covered in blood. "Do stupid things that'll make me mad, and others will face the consequences."

He points towards the door. "That's warning number one."

"I don't want to hurt you anymore," He whispers, grip turning more loose as he lets go of your hair. He walks around you, eyes cold and emotionless. So different from the one before. "But, if I have to—I will kill others you love."

"No, please."

"And if you do something that steps over the boundaries I'll give you," He stops in front of you, cupping your chin so you'll look at him. "I will kill your mother."

"No!" You scream, desperation in your tone. "Please, not her! Don't kill anyone," You cried out to him.

San smiles, his expression turned more soft in a matter of seconds. He kneels before hugging you, kissing your lips deeply like he's a starved man. He bites your lip enough to make it bleed, making you whimper in pain. He sighs, happily, brushing your tears away with his thumb before smiling.

"Be mine, (name). All of your worries will go away, and no one will ever be hurt because of you."

From the things you only have, he really needs to spoil you more. He thinks about the new clothes he could buy, some nice accessories for you to wear, maybe even some naughty things for the both of you to enjoy—

San hums a happy tune as he moves the boxes from your small apartment. He can't believe you live in this dump when you could've lived with him in a nice apartment. Then again, you lived according to your budget so he can't really blame you.

Plus he had other things to work on, planning the apartment, making sure you're comfortable there. Maybe killing a few people to make sure nobody gets suspicious as to where you are. Families are usually the most bothersome people to handle with, that's why he needed to make your last remaining family member die. He's skilled enough anyways to make it seem like an accident.

Your mother, a heart attack.

Your aunt, car crash.

Your friend, Iseul, killed by her boyfriend.

You don't know of course. He'll make sure of that.

"Hey, who are you?"

San looks around before seeing an old man standing at the end of the hallway, voice gruff probably because of the cigarette he's smoking. He smiles in ease, knowing it's your landlord after the stalking he's done throughout the years.

"Oh! I'm (name)'s boyfriend, sir."

"And what exactly are you doing?"

"Just moving out some of her stuff," He shrugs. "We decided to live together now."

"And why isn't she here?"

His smile turned more tense, already feeling annoyed from questions. Can't this old fart just go away?

"She's sick, sadly. So I'm tasked with moving the rest of her stuff."

The old man only nods. "Good, take care of her. She's too coped up here, she's still young."

San laughs, "That's what I've said to her too!"

He eyes the old man, cocking his head to the side as he smirks in amusement. "Don't worry, I'll take real good care of her."

[unpredictable-probabilities]

The Pleasures of Dreaming and Waking

Summary:

Hob spends time with Dream after a long week at work. As they chat over their usual table, they grow more comfortable in expressing their fantasies and endeavour to explore them.

Notes:

Inspired by this fic written by @delta-pavonis <3

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 4,716

Square/Prompt: B3 - Somnophilia |  @dreamlingbingo

Ship(s): Dream of the Endless | Morpheus/Hob Gadling

Additional Tags: Established Relationship, Kissing, Neck Kissing, Making Out, Nipple Play, Smut, Eldritch Sex, Light Bondage, Consensual Somnophilia, Blow Jobs, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Orgasm Edging, Multiple Orgasms, Sweet, Sweet/Hot, Cuddling & Snuggling, Naked Cuddling, Post-Coital Cuddling, Porn Without Plot, Porn With Feelings

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59931001

———

The sounds of conversations combined with the clinking of cutlery and soft footsteps is making Hob sleepy.

He had a long week at work and only managed to catch a break now that it's Friday; he stifles a yawn behind his hand and mumbles thanks to the waiter that just brought their order to their table.

“Are you well, my love? You seem exhausted.” A frown creases Dream’s forehead, and Hob still marvels at how Dream is more comfortable with expressing his emotions now, especially since they started dating three months ago; a fact that Hob still has trouble believing if he thinks about it too hard.

Hob nods and straightens up in his seat, trying to blink the fatigue out of his eyes. “I'm alright, love, don't worry. Just pretty knackered with finals week coming up. Been up late catching up on grading papers and all that.”

“You should have informed me sooner. We could always meet in my realm while your physical body rests.”

“Yeah, but I'm quite fond of this place,” Hob admits. “This table is where I was sitting when you first came back. I like talking with you here.”

“You are stubbornly sentimental,” Dream chides, though there's an unmistakable smile on his lips.

“You love it,” Hob says pointedly, taking some chips from the basket.

Dream makes a sound that might have been a chuckle. “Very well. What woes did you experience in the world of academia today? I have heard it is part of unwinding to talk about how one’s day has gone.”

“You learned that in one of those relationship books you read in your library?” He walked in on Dream reading that sort of book once in the Dreaming during their first month of dating. Dream vanished the book in an instant when he saw Hob, but Hob had been so endeared that he had pushed Dream against the shelf and kissed him senseless.

“Perhaps.” Dream drinks from his mug of hot chocolate to hide his face, but not before Hob sees the subtle pink on his cheeks.

Hob grins and reaches for Dream’s hand resting on the table, fiddling idly with the cuff of his sleeve. “Nothing remarkable happened, at this point even the students were just waiting for the weekend so classes were rather quiet. Then afterwards I went with some of my colleagues to that pub near the university, and we just traded mindless gossip to purge our brains of essays and staff meetings.”

Dream turns his hand so his palm is facing up, and he brushes his thumb back and forth on Hob's wrist as he speaks. “I am sure the other patrons enjoyed hearing gossip from academics.”

“I'm not so sure I did, honestly. My mate Nick runs his mouth after a few pints, and I didn't need to hear that he had a wet dream about our colleague from the Arts department. Does that fall under your jurisdiction, by the way? You just know whenever someone's fantasising in their dream?” Hob has already asked a lot of questions about Dream and his function, which Dream always answers with some degree of amusement, but Hob still feels like there's so much more to learn.

“I am able to see into someone's dreams should I wish, but unless a nightmare is crossing a line in troubling them or other similar concerns, I have no obligation nor desire to do so. And any fantasies they might have are created by their own minds.” Dream pauses and tilts his head slightly to the side. “Do you wish for us to do the same? To share such intimacies in my realm?”

Hob feels his face warm and he chuckles. He still gets caught off-guard by how direct Dream can be nowadays. “I thought you said you can't read minds?”

“I can sense daydreams. And yours are often loud.” The corner of his lips tilts up in a smirk.

“Well, can you blame me? People dream about that kind of stuff all the time, but for you and me, it would be real. It would actually be you.”

Dream’s smile disappears and he seems to hesitate, his face becoming guarded.

“Hey,” Hob says gently, stroking Dream’s arm with his fingers. “We don't have to, okay? All the sex we have here in the Waking is already perfectly amazing.”

“Crude.” Dream's eyes twinkle in amusement and he seems to relax. He pauses for a moment before continuing. “You have seen my form in my realm. How… different. I look.”

Hob raises an eyebrow. “You mean being paler and taller than an average human and having galaxies for eyes? And wearing that sinful robe that would be considered indecent in the streets of London?”

Dream lowers his gaze and is obviously trying to suppress a smile. “I am trying to be serious, Hob.”

“Oh I'm perfectly serious. I'm surprised you didn't sense my daydreams whenever we walked around your realm with you wearing that thing.”

“I… did. But.” Dream trails off, his fingers tapping restlessly on the inside of Hob’s arm.

“What's wrong?” Hob rarely sees Dream be so hesitant.

“I am��� afraid. To hurt you, in my realm. If we engage in physical intimacy.”

Hob’s eyebrows lift in surprise. “Hurt me? You could never hurt me, love.”

“I might.” Dream’s voice sounds strained with worry. “In my realm I am… more. In the throes of passion I might lose control of my humanoid form.” He looks right at Hob. “You inspire such greed in me, Hob Gadling. I will have you for as long as it takes until I am sated.”

Hob swallows, his mouth suddenly dry. If Dream intends to discourage him by what he just said, he's spectacularly failing. “So exactly as we always do it, then?” he manages to say lightly.

Dream huffs out a chuckle. “You are not daunted at all.” He sounds almost impressed.

“‘Course not,” Hob says easily. “Is it something that you want, though?”

Dream nods slowly. “I have thought of it. More than once. I should like to have you in my bed, at the heart of my palace. So the very essence of our ardour seeps into each fibre of my realm, that none may doubt my affections for you.”

Hob takes a shaky breath, unable to look away from Dream. They should probably be talking about this somewhere more private, but right now the most prominent thought in Hob's mind is if Dream wants it just as much as he does then why haven't they done it yet.

“Okay, okay,” Hob says mainly to calm himself. “Since we both want the same thing, is there any way I can make you more comfortable with the idea? We can use safe words, and I bet you can sense anyway if I feel like something’s too much for me.”

“I am uncertain about that. I have never been able to sense your discomfort in any of our couplings.”

“That's because I've never felt any discomfort, love. Like I said, everything we've done has been amazing, and I think you know by now that you're not the only one who can get greedy,” Hob says cheekily.

A smile curves Dream’s lips. “That is a fair point.”

“I know. So then. Um…” Hob looks around at the pub. “D’you wanna go upstairs and talk about it?”

“You are not too tired?”

“Oh believe me, I'm more awake now than I've been all week.” Hob calls over one of the waiters and tells him that they're taking their food to go.

“Eager, beloved?” Dream raises an eyebrow playfully after the waiter leaves.

“No more than you, Your Majesty.”

Dream makes a low humming noise in his chest that might have been a purr or a growl. Either way, it's definitely a sound of approval and that's all Hob needs to practically drag Dream upstairs as soon as they get their takeout bag.

Hob takes a shower first because he's not sleeping with his boyfriend while carrying the grime of public transport, nevermind that it's the quickest shower he's ever taken in his life.

When he gets out of the bathroom wearing a fresh shirt and sweatpants, he sees Dream on his bed wearing black silk pyjamas, sitting up against a pillow and reading Lord of the Rings. The whole image is so soft that it makes Hob’s chest ache.

“I like seeing you like this,” Hob says as he sits next to Dream.

“On your bed?”

“Relaxed.” Hob kisses the tip of Dream's nose. “Do you still want to talk about it?”

Dream nods. “Do you?”

“Yeah. Thanks for waiting while I showered.”

“You were not gone long. I had not even finished the chapter I was reading.” Dream closes the book and puts it on the nightstand. “I still do not know what happens after Frodo and Sam meet Merry and Pippin.”

“Oh, should I shower for longer then so you can continue reading?”

“If you step in that shower again I should be inclined to join you.”

“Talk first,” Hob says firmly, rather proud of himself for declining such a tempting offer. Granted, he declined in favour of a much more tempting one. “How'd you feel about safe words?” he turns to his side to more comfortably face Dream, folding a knee under him.

“They could prove to be useful, yes. What words do you recommend?”

“We can use the traffic light system. Green means continue, yellow means slow down, red means stop immediately.”

Dream considers for a moment. “And you promise to use them with no hesitation?”

“Yeah,” Hob nods. “And you should too.”

Dream slowly blinks at him, looking surprised.

“You can use them too,” Hob clarifies. “You're allowed to say if you're uncomfortable, yeah?”

Dream is silent for a few moments, forehead creased in thought. Then he slowly nods. “Alright. And I should like to give you control to shape the Dreaming.”

“What?” Now it's Hob's turn to be surprised.

“My realm is tied to my temperament. I may cause a storm without meaning to. Or an earthquake. While you might not be powerful enough to stop these things entirely, you will have the ability to shape the environment to conjure whatever shelter best suits your comfort.”

The first thought in Hob's mind is how utterly sweet Dream is to even think of granting him that much power over his realm; Hob is aware that that much trust given to him is not to be taken lightly.

The second thought following closely after is that Hob wants to see just how much he can make Dream lose control while sharing his bed. He wonders if he can pleasure Dream enough for him to make actual fireworks appear.

Dream chuckles and rests his forehead against Hob’s. “Your priorities continue to fascinate me, Hob Gadling.”

“Shall I show you how fascinating I can be, then?” Hob reaches up to run his fingers along the collar of Dream's silk shirt.

Dream purrs low in his chest and holds the back of Hob’s neck to slot their lips together.

Hob groans softly and clenches his fist into the fabric of Dream's shirt, pulling him down to lie on top of him.

“I thought you wished to do this in my realm,” Dream says playfully against his lips, pupils already blown.

“Still do. Take me there then, my lord.”

There’s sand and the familiar feeling of drifting off to sleep, and then all at once Hob feels a different bed under him, smooth as satin and softer than goosefeathers.

Dream is looming over him, his black robe nearly slipping off a pale shoulder. His blue eyes flicker down to Hob’s clothes, running over them with a curious gaze.

Hob looks down and realises that he’s wearing a bottle-green robe, loosely tied at the waist and with nothing else underneath. “I owned something like this back then,” he recalls. “In the 1500s, I think. It was always comfortable.”

Dream nods in approval and noses along the line of Hob’s jaw. “Good. Here you shall have every comfort.” He sinks his teeth in the skin beneath Hob’s ear with just enough pressure to make him shiver.

“I wish I could carry your marks with me to the Waking,” Hob says breathlessly.

Dream pulls back to meet his eyes, and for a second Hob wonders if had said something wrong.

“If you truly wish it, I can extend my consciousness to my physical form currently sleeping beside yours. I will make love to you in the Waking as I do here. And you will have my marks until your body heals them away.”

Hob feels his eyes widen, his heart thumping in his chest. And once again he wonders why they’d never done this before. “Will I be able to feel what you do to my physical body? Even here?”

Dream considers it. “I can put your consciousness in the liminal space between sleeping and waking, just enough for you to feel my touch in your realm. Is this what you wish?”

“Yes,” Hob whispers, absently realising that he has his hands clenched into fists on Dream’s robe.

“Very well.”

Dream closes his eyes, and suddenly Hob feels smooth hands trail slowly up his thighs, even when Dream hasn’t moved at all. Cool fingers wrap around his cock and he gasps, hips jerking up against Dream’s thigh.

“Did you vanish my clothes?”

“I did not think you would need them.” There’s an edge to Dream’s smile, and when he opens his eyes the blue has vanished too, replaced by pools of black with brilliant stars at the center.

Hob pulls him down for a kiss, and Dream opens up immediately. Hob loses himself in the feeling of their tongues against each other and Dream’s body undulating above him. They both still have their robes on, but Hob can feel a hand slowly stroking his cock, a mouth around his nipple. He hears a whimper that might have been his but never felt it leave his throat.

“Dream,” Hob gasps, hips stuttering against Dream’s thigh. The sensations in the Waking haven’t stopped, but with most of his consciousness here in the Dreaming they all feel distant, like a vivid memory that can never live up to the real thing. “Touch me. Here.”

“As my love commands.” Dream unties Hob’s robe with one hand before pressing their lips together again.

Hob sighs against the kiss as he feels Dream’s hand caress his torso, gliding lower and kneading the flesh of his thigh. He wraps his arms around Dream’s neck, runs his fingers through soft midnight hair that seems constantly ruffled by wind despite the lack of any breeze.

The sensations in the Waking stop abruptly, and before Hob could begin to wonder why, he feels teeth sink into the inside of his thigh.

“Ah!” Hob arches his back, breaking the kiss and pulling Dream’s hair. His cock twitches and he feels the heat of Dream’s mouth wrap around him—in the Waking. Hob moans in frustration, his cock hanging heavy and neglected in the open air. “Do you even have plans to fuck me here?”

“I am marking you in the Waking. That is what you wish, is it not?” Dream rakes his nails lightly across Hob’s chest, scraping a nipple and making Hob twitch.

“Just in the Waking? What happened to being greedy?” Hob quickly bunches up Dream’s robes, thrilled to find that there’s not a stitch of clothing underneath. He grabs Dream’s bare arse and pulls him flush against his groin.

Dream throws his head back with a shaky gasp, his eyes fluttering close.

Hob pulls him down and mouths at pale clavicles, licks at Dream’s icy throat and nips at his jawline.

Dream surges down to kiss him, and at the same time Hob feels his thighs being spread open in the Waking.

Dream's tongue reaches into him from both ends, soft and slick and far longer than any human tongue should be.

Hob squirms as he feels Dream’s tongue move inside him in the Waking, feeling full and empty all at once. He grips the back of Dream's neck, ruts against his cock.

Dream makes a wounded noise and returns the enthusiasm, grinding down hard until Hob’s sure they're carving a dent into the plush cushions.

Hob feels precome on his belly, and he needs Dream inside him now but he also needs him to never stop moving.

And then Dream does stop, even his movements in the Waking.

Hob opens his eyes, mind clouded in a haze of confusion and lust. He sees Dream looking around their surroundings and blinking.

Hob begins to realise that even though they're still on the same cushions, they're no longer in Dream’s bedroom.

The ceiling made of a starry night sky is replaced with an elaborate mosaic of figures that might be deities, and the marble walls are now stained glass windows letting in colorful sunlight that dapples on the steps leading down from where he and Dream are.

Dream shifts to his side to give Hob room to sit up and look around. He realises that they're on a raised platform overlooking a great hall with long tables and tall double doors at the far end. They're the only ones here, and the vastness of the place has a solemn quiet to it.

“Where are we?” Hob’s voice echoes softly.

“You brought us here, beloved.”

“What?” Hob frowns and looks around again, paying more attention to the details.

The wall behind them is painted with doves and bells so intricately that Hob can almost hear them, and he suddenly recognises that the deities depicted on the ceiling are who the townspeople considered the gods of marriage from about six centuries ago.

“This is a wedding hall,” Hob breathes. I brought us here to shag on the altar.

Dream blinks at him slowly. “Why did you choose this place?”

“I didn't mean to,” Hob scratches the back of his head sheepishly. “I guess, um…” he feels his face warm up. He looks down and fidgets with the sheets. “I'm not proposing or anything, I don't even know what that would mean for you but… I s’pose I liked the symbolism of it. Us getting married…” He trails off and hesitantly meets Dream’s gaze again.

Dream is looking at him in bewilderment, and Hob feels panic rise in his throat, images of a rainy night and a black figure storming off flashing in his mind.

“Look, I can't control what my brain thinks,” he hurriedly says. “You can whisk us back to your room—”

Dream moves and pins him down on the cushions, claiming his lips with teeth and tongue and the intensity of the birth of a star.

Hob’s body quickly gets back with the program, whatever he was feeling before they got interrupted by the location change has come back in full force, and then some.

He grunts when he feels Dream slip a finger inside him, the sensation so vivid that it takes him a second to realise that it's happening in the Waking. Dream adds another finger, slick with the lube that Hob keeps in his nightstand drawer, or possibly dreamstuff, Hob doesn't really care. He grinds down on empty air here in the Dreaming, a moan of pleasure and need escaping him.

“You wish to be united with me in this manner?” Dream is actually breathless, and his form is starting to blur at the edges like a freshly made oil painting hanging on a lord’s wall.

He has a subtle glow about him, and Hob can believe that it's coming from the stars in his eyes that seem to burn brighter now. His dark hair ripples softly as if underwater. It's as if one of the gods from the mosaic came to life just to loom over Hob and look at him with utter adoration, as if Hob is the one worthy of worship.

“Of course I do.” Hob threads his fingers through Dream’s hair, caresses his face, his shoulders. Marvelling at how he's allowed to touch a being such as this. “I'll have you in all the ways you would allow,” he says quietly, reverently.

Dream presses their foreheads together. “Hob.” The syllable drops from his lips like a prayer and then he's kissing Hob again, their robes vanishing in an instant.

Hob cups Dream’s face in his hands, his eyes falling close as he inhales the scent of rain and ozone and fresh ink on paper.

He feels Dream's fingers pull out of him in the Waking, and his stomach clenches in anticipation.

The familiar shape of Dream's cock teases at his rim, and Hob realises with a gasp that it's here in the Dreaming. 

Dream tenderly takes his hands and pins them beside his head on the pillow, their fingers lacing together.

Hob is already slick and soft and open, and his eyes roll back in his head when Dream slips in, filling him up inch by delicious inch as Dream’s lips move down to his neck. Their fingers remain intertwined, but Hob feels soft touches up and down his body, becoming more insistent as Dream thrusts deeper into him.

Hob’s eyes flutter open to see that shadows seem to be bleeding from Dream’s form, shaping into tendrils that act as his limbs. Hob doesn't even bother to try counting them, especially not when one tendril touches his nipple, flicking and rolling the hard nub until Hob is squirming and jerking his hips up to meet Dream’s thrusts.

The teeth that scrape and nip at his neck are definitely sharper than usual, and a shiver runs down Hob’s spine, prickling his skin with goosebumps and making his toes curl.

Dream tightens his grip on Hob's hands and slowly pulls out before slamming into him in both realms.

“AH–!” Hob arches his back, or tries to, but finds that the shadow tendrils are pinning him to the bed; wrapped around his waist, his arms, holding his thighs open as Dream continues to thrust into him.

Dream's face is pressed in the crook of Hob’s neck, making growling noises that could never come from a human throat.

Hob’s weeping cock twitches from what little friction Dream’s body is giving, unable to get any more of it no matter how much he strains against the tendrils. Dream slams into his prostate and Hob cries out a sob, tears forming in his eyes.

Dream slows down and pulls back to look at him, the tendrils loosening their hold. “Colour, my love?” His voice sounds wrecked.

“Green,” Hob whines, taking advantage of his mobility to raise his hips and take Dream deeper into him. “Green— Fuck, Please…”

Dream captures his lips in a searing kiss. The tendrils wrap around Hob once more, but this time they help him move, raising his hips to meet Dream each time, faster than what Hob would have been capable of on his own.

He can feel Dream's teeth on him in the Waking while he's being fucked into his own mattress; on his chest, his jawline, his neck, oh his neck, Dream is making good on his promise to mark him, sucking bruises onto the skin and soothing them with his tongue. When that tongue moves down to his nipples, Hob feels so keyed up that he can almost feel it in the Dreaming as well.

A tendril wraps around Hob’s cock and strokes him quickly while another one teases at the slit, and it's all too much and not nearly enough. Hob doesn't quite remember how to breathe, and he tightens his grip on Dream's hands as the tendrils manhandle him to buck and rut against his lover.

The air feels charged, like the moment before a lightning strike, and Dream is panting in Hob's ear as a sudden wind whistles through the wedding hall, the light from the stained glass windows changing colours rapidly as if the sun is moving erratically outside.

Seeing Dream so affected is what hurls Hob over the edge, and he comes with a roar that might have broken the windows but he can't hear anything else above his own voice and the pleasure lighting up his spine.

Dream speaks against his ear, soft lips almost caressing. “This dream is over.”

Hob slams back into the Waking with a strangled cry, frustration crashing over him when he realises that Dream has a hand wrapped around the base of his cock, stopping his release even as Dream repeatedly fucks into him, his other hand bracing himself on the bed for leverage.

The whiplash of going from a mind-shattering orgasm to his cock heavy with wanting has Hob going half-mad.

“Dream–!” he digs his nails into Dream’s back, squirming as he tries to get free of Dream's iron grip, only succeeding in deepening the angle of Dream inside him.

“Shall I fuck you into unconsciousness, my lover?” Dream is in his human form again but his blue eyes are no less piercing. “I can take you here, and in my realm, going back and forth until you can no longer distinguish between Dreaming and Waking. Giving you endless pleasure in my realm where you will not tire, and holding back your release here until I decide that I am done with you.”

A full-body shiver runs through Hob; Dream's voice only stokes the fire already burning Hob from the inside, his words making Hob’s cock ache and twitch in desperation.

“You are mine, Hob Gadling,” Dream's hips stutter out of rhythm before speeding up. “Not to capture nor possess. But to adore and—ah—cherish. Mine to care for. Mine to love.” His eyelids flutter and his breaths are coming in pants. “Just as I am yours. To do with as you please.”

He thrusts deep and Hob cries out, his nails raking red lines across Dream's back.

A flash of concern appears on Dream's face as he looks down at him.

“Green, green!” Hob screams before Dream could even think to slow down. “Dream, my love, please…” he whimpers.

“Yes,” Dream says breathlessly, leaning down to kiss him. “Your love. Yours,” he says against Hob’s lips. He deepens the kiss as he strokes Hob’s cock in time with his thrusts.

Hob clenches his hands into Dream's hair, moaning wantonly in his mouth as his hips buck up and down of their own accord.

“With me, my love,” Dream gasps. He slams into Hob’s prostate and twists his hand.

Hob's vision goes white and he screams, his body thrashing under Dream as he spills and spills between them. He hears Dream’s guttural cry in his ear and it only flings him higher into his peak, where nothing else exists except the two of them and Dream’s spend filling him up more than he thought possible.

Their embrace tightens as they shake and tremble, listening to the sound of each other’s breaths as they begin to calm down, their chests heaving.

Dream gently slips out of him and they both groan at the sensation. “Have I fulfilled your expectations, my love?” he asks quietly, brushing away a lock of hair that had stuck to the sweat on Hob’s forehead.

Hob’s brain takes a few moments to understand the question. “Have… What…” he tries to form a coherent sentence while still catching his breath. “I only ever expect for both of us to feel good, and I think we'd been pretty vocal about that just now.”

Dream smiles, a soft thing that brightens up his face. “Indeed. And now, you must sleep,” he brushes a thumb across Hob's cheekbone. “You have been exhausted this week, and even immortal bodies need rest.”

Hob just hums. Given how his eyelids are already feeling heavy, he doesn't have much room to argue.

“Cuddle?” he manages, sleepily running his fingers through Dream's hair.

Dream leans into his touch. “Both here and in the Dreaming.”

Hob vaguely registers Dream waving his hand to clean them up, and then Dream is lying down beside him and snuggling close, tucking his head under Hob’s chin.

Hob wraps his arms around Dream, drifting off to sleep and smiling at what a lucky bastard he is.

———

(Dreamling Bingo Masterpost)

(Masterlist)

[alovesongtheywrote]

Nightmare Academia P.19 | Spencer Reid x Reader

♥ Summary: In this chapter of Nightmare Academia, somebody dies, somebody leaves, and somebody ends up alone. [Prof!Spencer Reid x GN-Prof!Reader]

♥ Warnings: criminal minds season 10, episode 13. Nelson's Sparrow.

♥ A/N: i remembered which episode this was off hand, im oddly proud lmao

♥ Word Count: 1847

Series Masterlist

♥♥♥

Spencer didn’t think he would have to call in that favour you’d offered him.  He was pretty sure that when you sent a little text that said, “I owe you one,” you were joking.  He waved it off like you were joking.  When he told you not to mention the favour he had done, he’d meant it.  The two of you had spent the rest of the night joking because that was all it was supposed to be.

The favour, the owing, it was all supposed to be a joke.

Then Gideon died.

Nothing really seemed funny after that.

Spencer had to leave for a bit.  He needed to go, and join his team, and solve this murder.  He also had classes to teach.  He hoped you would help him out with that, though he hated having to ask.  You didn’t deserve this burden.  You hadn’t deserved it before, either, but you kind of took it on without asking.

Now, Spencer had to ask.

He didn’t want to do it.  Like, he really didn’t want to do it.  He ended up staring at your contact in his phone for a solid forty-five minutes waffling over what the fuck he could say in this situation.  

“My old friend and mentor was murdered last night.  I need to go find the man that did it.  Cover my cases for me while I’m gone, will you?”  Felt rude.  And harsh.  And like a crazy fucking load of information that you would definitely have questions about- and while he would normally love to answer your questions, Spencer- understandably- did not feel like answering questions about this specific topic.

A simple, “We need to talk,” was way too goddamn ominous.

“I need a favour,” could be taken all kinds of wrong ways.

Something like, “Heyyyyy, so, my old mentor died and I need to go find the man that did it.  Would you mind covering my classes for me until I come back, even if that takes actual months?  K thank u byeeeee,” just felt wrong.

“A close friend of mine just passed, and I need some time.  Can you cover my classes for me while I’m gone?” Was appropriate, but it left out so much- and for some reason, Spencer didn’t like the thought of lying to you.

So, he decided to tell you in person.  

And he had regrets about that decision almost immediately.

He ended up standing by the office door like a fucking creeper for a solid five minutes.  He didn’t move, he didn’t open the door, he didn’t knock, he didn’t say anything, he just sort of stood there thinking about what the fuck he was going to say to you.

And then the door creaked open for him.

You were sitting at the desk that you shared with him, buried so deeply in your work that you didn’t even hear the door open.  You didn’t look up.  You didn’t see Spencer.  You just typed away at the computer in front of you, marking papers and adding up grades.

You seemed oddly peaceful.  At ease.  Relaxed- at least as relaxed as you could be while grading.  Spencer briefly contemplated the idea of leaving you a note.

Before he could take off to find a pen and follow in his mentor’s footsteps, you finally saw him.  Your eyes lit up, they really did, but Spencer told himself he was seeing things.

“Good morning, Dr. Pretty Boy!” you stretched yourself out slightly, giving Spencer the impression that you’d been working for a while, “Ready for more bullshit?”

For a moment, despite everything, Spencer managed to find respite from his grief.  A smile crossed his features.  He laughed at your joke- and immediately, he felt guilty for it.  His eyes went from bright to broken in a split instant.  Tears welled up in their corners.  What fucking friend was Spencer?  Gideon hadn’t been dead for two days, and here he was, laughing with his cute coworker over some cute fucking quip.

The grief crashed over his body in waves.  Reid tried to hide it.  He looked away from you, covering his mouth with his hand and trying not to actually sob in the middle of your shared office.

You saw right through him.

“Oh, pretty boy,” your voice was a whisper, and as you darted into Spencer’s field of view, he could see the concern etched into your face.  Somehow, it made him feel worse.

“Hey, hey,” you tried to hide your own panic with soothing words, briefly wondering what the fuck you could’ve done to make him cry.  Your mind came up blank.  And really, if Spencer cried easily- if he cried the way you did- you were sure you would’ve broken him by now, but you hadn’t.

Honestly?  That was probably the worst option.  That meant something was wrong- and you probably wouldn’t fix that something with an apology and a cup of coffee.

Still.  You had to do your best.

“Reid?  Spencer, honey, talk to me,” you reached out, lightly placing your fingers on his elbow- enough touch to comfort, but hopefully not enough to make him uncomfortable.

He didn’t say anything, but for a moment, he looked at you.  His eyes were full of unshed tears.  You could feel your heart drop through you before it shattered somewhere deep inside.  Without another thought, your grip on Spencer’s arm changed from a light graze to an undeniable hold.

When you spoke, you sounded panicked.  You said his name and Spencer could practically feel it- like ice down his spine, like the feeling of falling just as your body goes to sleep.  Ironically, it woke him up.

“Gideon’s dead.”

You tried to find a response to that, but the words escaped you.  Mostly because you didn’t know who that was.  Spencer saw the confusion on your face, and with a deep breath, he offered you the kindness of elaboration.

“He was- he got me into the FBI.  He was important and now he’s dead.”

“Shit,” you brought your other hand up to hold his arm, “Spencer, I’m so sorry.”

“I have to go.  I have to find the person that did this.”

You tried to hide your shock at the revelation that Spencer’s friend hadn’t just died- Gideon had been murdered.  And Spencer wanted to solve the case.  

What choice did you have but to support him?  In his place, you would want to do the same thing- you just wouldn’t have the qualifications for it.  Spencer, however, was part of the FBI.  He could help solve this case, legally and responsibly.  You had to let him go.

“Then find them.  Don’t worry about your classes, I’ll cover them-”

“You-” he cut himself off with a broken laugh, “You didn’t even let me ask.”

“You don’t have to.  I know you would do the same for me- even if you wouldn’t, I like talking shit about the FBI to your students.  It’s fun for me, that's how I have fun.  Now go,” you let one of your hands run up his arm, “Get out of here, solve some crimes, and legally get whoever did this behind fucking bars.”

Spencer put one of his hands over yours.  You took the initiative and laced your fingers together.  The two of you stared for a moment, focusing on nothing but your joined hands.

“I’m sorry,” he broke the silence- not by much.  His voice wasn’t anything more than a whisper.

“Sorry?  For what?”

“For coming in here and crying all over you.”

“Hey, don’t apologize for that.  I cry all the time, remember?  I cry constantly.  I can start crying now, if you want me to-”

“That won’t be necessary,” he grinned, tracing tiny shapes into your skin with the tips of his fingers, “Thank you, though?  Is that the appropriate thing to say?  Thank you?”

“Thank you works for me.”

“Then, thank you.”

Silence flowed over you again, curling around your bodies like some sort of mist.  For a moment, the universe stilled, preserving the two of you in a tiny soundless bubble of space and time.

“Go kick some criminal ass, pretty boy.  Responsibly.  And then come back here, okay?”

“I will.  I promise.”

“Good.  Because otherwise, I will turn your students into my little minions, and you’ll never get them back.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

With a final grin, you pulled back.  Spencer did the same.  You wound your arms around yourself and squeezed.  The air in the office dropped a few degrees.  Spencer’s hands twitched,  tapping a nervous pattern into his thigh.

“I’ll see you later, (L/N).”

He stepped back, moving slowly.  When he reached the doorway, he turned and headed down the hall at regular Spencer-speed.  You just stood in the office like an idiot.  For the second time that week, Reid had stunned you to silence.

The first time, when he brought your student’s paper to the community center, you were stunned by the kindness he displayed.  The Spencer you knew was usually smarmy petty little shit.  He had his moments (such as getting stabbed to protect you and sharing his office with you when yours got all haunted) but for the most part, he was a bit of a prick!

In that moment, though, Reid did something kind and considerate.  He took care of someone who needed it.  He reached out to a former inmate with compassion and empathy, and even though Reid had worked for the FBI, you wanted to bring him to the community center with you every goddamn Monday for the rest of time.  That little action had exposed his heart to you- and yeah, most people would argue that the whole “taking a knife” thing was a better demonstration of character, but for whatever reason, this was what stunned you.

The second time he’d stunned you, he’d done it by leaving, and lord, this time was worse.  This time the shock didn’t feel like butterflies swarming through your organs.  It felt like fear.  Like an unknown future was running at you with malevolent intent.

At one point, you had wanted this.  You wanted Spencer to leave, but now?  The fucker had carved out a space for himself right in the middle of your life.  He’d built a little niche between your fourth and fifth ribs and moved right into you.  You had functioned without him when he was in the hospital, but you had always figured he would come back.  This was an indefinite leave of absence.  This was an indefinite leave of absence after you had warmed to Spencer, after he had shown you (in multiple ways) that he could be kind.

You finally came back to your body, still feeling a slight numbness in your hands.  You moved to the doorway just in time to watch Reid turn around the corner and vanish from sight.  

“I’ll see you,” you said- though you weren’t loud enough for him to hear by any means, “Reid.”

Behind you, a couple books fell from their shelves.  You didn’t even flinch.

♥ Tags: @icarusignite, @usuallyunlikelyfox, @maraudersforlife2005, @fictionalcomforts, @morgthemagpie, @iiheartbowie, @digitalhearts, @corpsebridenightamare, @ghostatrixx, @reiding-writing, @mywellspringoflife, @80katie, @ms-ks-world, if you asked to be tagged and i forgot, pls let me know!! if you would like to be tagged and aren't, also let me know :D

[libertyreads]

Book Review #59 of 2024--

Nightmares! by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller. Rating: 3 stars.

Read from October 3rd to 5th.

This spooky Middle Grade was the last book in my physical TBR that I've owned before the start of 2024. That is amazing to me. I technically have no TBR veterans. Super proud of that one. This one took me a while to get to because I picked it up at a library sale for super cheap and really only had interest in reading it for a spooky season. I think the few ways that this one didn't work for me had more to do with my age and my not being the target audience. I actually think this would have been such a good read for me when I was a kid. There are a tons of wonderful messages in here that would have been great to read while growing up.

I enjoyed seeing the world through Charlie's eyes and seeing the fantastical way he saw the world. He truly has a vivid imagination and it made everything feel so atmospheric. I enjoyed the big purple mansion on the hill and all the mystery surrounding it. I would love to spend a weekend in that house. Ooh, and if it were dark and stormy? I could curl up in the tower with a good book and a warm beverage. I think Charlie's friends are one of the best parts of the book. They really support him and help him get through this hard time. I also appreciate the message that you have to face your fears in order to move forward. Otherwise, you'll just come up against the same fears over and over again. I think that's a pretty great message for children as well. There were a couple of moments when the stepmom and the dad would say certain things that went over Charlie's head that were definitely added for any adult readers to chuckle over.

Despite enjoying seeing the world through Charlie's eyes, there were so many things that, as an adult, I couldn't ever truly suspend my disbelief. A lot of the more magical and mystical things he experienced were things that I could see in a more realistic way, with more realistic explanations. I couldn't help but see how a child could have this perspective and how his emotional turmoil might create it. I'm trying to be vague here to not give anything away. I also felt like the plot was a bit meandering. At one point, Charlie and his friend have to go from location to location to achieve certain goals so they could all be safe at home. But they would go from point A to point B to point C back to point A then to point D then back to point B. It felt very...tiring? It just seemed like the action in the story could have taken a more linear path somehow.

Overall, this was a fun and quick read. It just wasn't something I could really connect with as an adult. I think it has great messaging for the right readers and a few subtle nods to adults as well.

[intolerancecare]

When I was 17, I decided to leave my university and shift from engineering to nursing. I was not a top student during formative years, but I did ace some subjects and most IQ test. I only studied in one school (5 months try in public) since kinder, in a catholic school. I was so surprised that the level of difficulty and the culture is different from that huge state university. I don't have the luxury to stay long in college when I know that I am failing my MAJOR.

My mother got angry at me. I had insomnia after. I saw on news that there are modern facilities that assess insomnia. I told my mother. We went to the hospital, the HMO referred us to an IM doctor who specialized in sleep disorder. He gave me a downer prescription. A regulated meds. It made me really drowsy. I can only buy it from that hospital's pharmacy (A medical hospital). I stopped taking after a week. I just followed the lifestyle change advice that he gave. It worked. Being a nursing student with graveyard shift also helped. And seeing my sister, read until midnight, made me loss my anxiety. I'm normal. I used to think that I have insomnia if I sleep passed 9:00 pm. See, yes very shallow.

Sick? We all have fears. I can go to a doctor, so I did. But I cannot accept that they still want me to continue buying their meds and consulting doctors just because I purchased a REGULATED DRUG! I know the hospital very well. I even worked in that hospital. A big guy looking at me, boring, directly while opening the pharmacy door. No paranoia here. I just shrugged it off. I just made a quick assumption on why he looked at me like that while opening the door on his side. You normally face the door whenever you enter. You don't face walking people in the hallway, a side glance can be.

Did the mind doctors losing money? Clients? In the Philippines, I think the undergrad degree with the most laude award is Psychology. Very easy. You know their knowledge are for Penny's of Big Bang Theory. I have psych units too as a nurse. VERY EASY. The easiest, not just for me but also for my other classmates. NO MEMORIZATION.

I think I have hypertension so they can kill me instead. The colour of my anti-HPN meds is same as that downer. Can be cut. Diuretic says the indication.

I was molested. I kept it as a secret. Didn't know it cause agitation to my father. He was an alcoholic.

Years after, I had nightmares.

Do you know that I thought Cannes films are art films. A Filipino film won once. I turned it off in less than 10 mins of watching. A big disappointment. A penile photobomber. HAHAHA. That girl who was photobombed on the screen won THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FACE AWARD. I was in grade school or high school then. Just during this tracing that I realized that it was the photobomber that made her beautiful. A Eureka after more than 2 decades. FILM NOIR. Still ugly Filipino films.

Anyways, Amelie and Nobody knows are ok. Just in case Cannes people will contest. Filipino film? Try Oscar's and romance films derived from Mexican Telenovelas.

Yeah, older Filipino films are really noir. taboo.

[the-firebird69]

Our son and daughter said if we can't get this guy to lunch we have some more serious problems than we think and he's a gifted person and other people are tougher and so I looked at it and I said are we going to do this we need to see if we have a problem and they said it is correct thinking if we can't do this with him we might have other problems and it's true beating other problems with him and more so with others because he should be kind of a pushover should be and we looked at it today and we said this they're willing to ride around all day and seemingly do nothing and they're not and they're bothering the s*** out of him and we told them not to make them pay for and we are going to hit tonight we have a plan and a strategy I'm going to take a ton of them down and more shortly

Thor Freya

You did on purpose to see if you knew other people who passing away and if there's a pattern but he says there's not many left and it's true it's Junior high and Armstrong Forbes Hastings and then you go on to like kindergarten what she thinks Hastings and it was and then nursery School downtown and he was in that building next to the factory that Trump or somebody owned and it's true so I thought that you were his or something s*** and people hate it for that though crap she worked near me and try to rob you then you had to do the roof I mean this is some crazy crap this guy is a little nuts and his reasons but they don't make tons of sense so we're going to get him out of here permanently and Star wars will start shortly the timing should start to make sense they're going to fight in the UK over hardware and over the UK and for quite a while they hit a lot of stuff they go over it quite a bit they have a war and it's the pseudo empire versus warlock and basically they all join up and fight the clones with Sunday bloody Sunday and the morlock are kind of pushed out and then they start fighting the empire a little. And that is what ruins their time in Britain and London calling by BG happens and the foreigners the Max and us by that time have the clones contained for the most part and they can't get up and can't get out. This happens over the next few weeks if not sooner and he's right Friday the 13th has something to do with it in space and other and Halloween both movies are kind of pivotal they show you just going around and killing each other and useless

Thor Freya

And we were up top but this is what's happening tonight there are people here who need to leave and there people need to stop. We're going to stop them. There are 40 houses last night 20 went out today and five were killed households and it's about 21 people and we listed people he knew but he didn't know anybody and it's from 7th and 8th grade which is usually called Middle School but includes 5th and 6th. It's going to happen people figure out that there's something very wrong and that the maps are doing it and he told BG and went to Jason Justin that is and it was about Armstrong. So into Armstrong I did okay his grades went perfect was picked on quite a bit in a math teacher who helped him a lot is his grandma and it was not cat-funded no it was. He's very proud of herself she noticed that he was special people treated him different The shining Star and he's helped he was helping them they appreciated it. And showed it and tried to help him a lot. Is a huge number of people who remember what was going on in westborough and he was having some vivid nightmares. 7th and 8th grade are not finished they have other people that he was in contact with and including teachers have to teachers are cleared out and teachers at St John's and the staff is worried he said it's going to be the clones. Is that 25 out of 100 were clones now there's 50 left total 10 of them are clones and they're not spared and there are only three max in the whole school Mac Daddy it was headmaster most the time and was not the heavy set brother no that was Tommy f and Ben Arnold has all three well Tommy f doesn't count it was the third guy and he was a full-blown man and he didn't make it. He's buried out behind the chapel and all the boys did it on purpose and only a few macs in class and they disappeared.

.

[chewingbatmanlikeasqueakytoy]

More portals is a great idea! and honestly might not be too hard? it depends on how much material they need but frankly the portals are large but not THAT large - a fleet of trucks repurposed into the portals and speedster might well be doable. (unless they wanted to size them up which would be smart actually - more shipments fitting through for a city of a few million would be important) Anyone displaced job wise in Amity might be able to take up guard shifts on the portal as well, both to stop unassuming humans and GIW agents from getting inside in one direction, and to stop ghosts wandering out from the other.

Anyone who wants to continue trucking likely still has a job in things like people and document transport - even just getting a bus is probably a nightmare if the driver can't acknowledge you and taxis can't pick you up (hang up after ordering and your ride isnt arriving) (Buses might be an iffy problem if they work differently in America but essentially here you have to wave the bus down. If there's no one at the stop or no one getting off at the stop the bus continues on past, and depending on how strong you want to make the filter people might not even be able to acknowledge you unless you are directly interacting with them, for the sake of simplicity we'll say once youre out of the town you can interact with people normally) Automated systems would literally be the life blood of the town for a while yeah and actually bring up a possibility where morality would come hard into question here as well because like.

Anyone who has a credit card essentially has unlimited money. As I understand people have to chase you up on the debt on them (I've never had one they aren't as common here as they are in the states where it seems like every person ever has one??) and they have to cut you off if you don't pay? like it gets flagged on the system and then someone goes in and does it? SO if people can't remember to cut them off then Amity Park just might crash the economy lmao. Imagine Tucker alone, with unlimited funds and the ability to get any technology he wants delivered to his door.

There is now potentially an entire CITY of people developing obsessions, with potentially unlimited funds. No one on the outside can understand or figure out why the economy is crashing, what's happening to inflation, why are warehouses across the country emptying of goods where are they going?? This went from an 'Amity surviving disaster' Scenario to 'Amity causing Disaster' Scenario real suddenly jfgiow Also for Education i think i might have had a brain fart because i suddenly remember?? in the show?? Lancer just. GRADES one of dannys major tests (how analogous to real life is that test btw? like is there a real version of it or is this Cartoon Nonsense?) directly in front of him on the same day. Is it just that it's because if he cheats that the nasty burger explosion kills all his loved ones and that's why it's important or is that ACTUALLY a Significant Test that the government keeps record of?

Depending on if teachers can just CASUALLY mark their students Major Tests themselves what i was thinking may or may not apply. Here the education system basically has it that though teachers are the ones that mark tests, it's not YOUR teachers. All tests are collected and sent away under an examinee number, the results are then connected to that number and who you are is never known to the examiner.

Now if all the results are going away as 'Amity Park' those boxes of tests maybe never even make it to the marking facilities - they literally might just get thrown away as trash by people along the route. Then you're shit out of luck if your tests were in the early days of the filter because NO ONE KNEW.

Arguably this could be solved by setting up a fake address or building a new school outside the town, but if the GIW are causing a blockade that might not be possible. Frankly even just building a school can take so long WITHOUT people forgetting that you're applying to do so that by the time anyone gets half way finished with it the culture of the town might have shifted into the one to one mentorship which is honestly such a GLORIOUS concept. Early schooling could and should be kept the same bc as much as people (myself included) hate the fact you have to take so many subjects, the opportunity to explore that many subjects is honestly a privilege.

It would also make things like school fairs/job fairs frankly AMAZING - after all the more students you can attract to your obsession the more you get to ramble/teach/share the thing you love so much you persisted after death for it. That's gonna be a lot of very, very passionate and engaged teachers even once you filter out all the ones who just suck at communicating or who aren't otherwise suitable.

And for those who still do want to leave, well, honestly once you break out of the town if the filter only pertains to everything amity but you yourself are fine as long as you disconnect yourself from reminders of amity (and can appear 'normal'/non-ghostly) then literally all amity has to do is turn fake IDs into a legit business. Like, instead of being criminal there's suddenly a fake ID shop next to the shoe repair store and the local grocers in town. Maybe it's a specialised wing of the APDC like the worlds weirdest take on a food court. Legal identity would still be important but i think as long as they can route out the GIW (a fight that can last as long as you want it bc realistically when you have a very very terrifying situation like your entire towns existence being forgotten i can see that initially driving people in DROVES to the GIW if they can convince the town they are the only ones working on fixing it. People react strangely to stressors) The deaths would probably take a really long time to notice from the outside but the births could be interesting if it takes the route of 'as long as your documents don't say amity you have no issues' actually. Essentially that would mean all the neighbouring towns would have a spike in birth rate which careful managing of who goes where could keep on the quite for a while, but eventually it starts to look like there are lots of missing persons cases in a rough ring around Amity. After all if all these babies are being born and then their addresses are registered to the city they were born in then the doctors should be looking for them for check ups, when people keep not showing up to scheduled check ups suddenly theres a paper trail of possibly millions of children who've gone unaccounted for. If they can remember to report them because there's no link to Amity to block the need to do so then missing persons cases go up with no answers to be found, this could lead to around a years timeline for the JL to be able to find amity, considering the pattern itself would indicate there's something very wrong going on with a spike in birth rates and then just a hole, essentially, in the mapped data.

Why doesn't the justice league know about Amity Park?

Okay so it's been a bit sonce I watched the show but one of the things in DpxDC is the anti-ecto acts, which I love, but correct me if I'm wrong, I THINK ??? they only show up in reality trip? SO: What if Danny, when using the gauntlet to undo everything, also got rid of the Anti-Ecto acts? but this is babys first time editing reality so he uh Fucks Up A Lil'. As a result when Danny used the reality gauntlet to wipe the AEA from existence he accidentally wiped Amity Park from perception. A big 'nothing matters over here' jedi mind trick, and now no ones looking at Amity. So, the Justice League actually WERE looking into and monitoring the situation in Amity, but when the perception filter closed them off, all of that suddenly went ignored.

This is noticed when someone (Alfred, Dick, Tim, literally anyone) realises theres just. A BIG dusty pile of case files semi abandoned somewhere in the cave when going through a (time period)ly cave cleaning.

They put it down because it's Not Important.

They come back to finish the cleaning the next day and do the exact same thing, but there's nothing to actually distract them this time and it pings as weird. Because why would case files be not important? They are by definition important, because only things flagged as important go into case files.

They try to get someone else to read it, because as long as they don't read the information in the file, they don't put it down.

That person goes to read it, gets a line in and then says something like 'that isn't important' and goes to leave. Person A pushes it and person B ALSO catches on.

Que the Batfam trying to figure out hey, what the fuck actually?

Meanwhile, how is Amity fairing? Canon compliant everything's going alright? Or have knock on effects to No One Look Here started to show?

[godisshook]

A Ride to Remember

I had known Liam since high school, he was one of the smartest in our grade, but he barely talked to anyone. I considered him a friend, and would work with him whenever I could. Knowing this I should probably introduce myself, my name is Adama Traore, son of two loving immigrant parents, and luckily, very gay. Later during freshman year, I got a boyfriend, I still remember him fondly as my first kiss, and my first heartbreak. When we broke up junior year, I went into a complete spiral, going to gay bars and hooking up with any guy I could find, neglecting my whole life because of a breakup. I barely spoke to Liam that year, I had heard he got a girlfriend in sophomore year, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. When college applications came around I applied to everywhere I could, just to see who would let me in. I knew that Liam was dead-set on going to Pell College, one of the most selective schools in the country. I applied to Pell too, and when decisions came out, I checked it last. It felt like slow motion when I saw in big letters:

ADAMA TRAORE,

WELCOME TO PELL NATION

I was officially a Dire Wolf (the Pell mascot, it’s lame, I know). I saw on the big board in the front office all the other major acceptances. Liam had a couple, but one stood out, a big wolf paw with his name in it, he got in too. I wasn’t shocked, but this most certainly meant we were going to the same college. While this would be the start to a great conversation, it simply never happened, we had just grown too distant.

Senior year came and went with me seeing little of Liam, and now it was summer break. I was college prepping and my mom was sobbing as she took me shopping for essentials each and every day. One day, I went onto our schools acceptance page on Instagram, and the latest post had a familiar person, at least, a familiar name.

@lgporter876 Hey guys, my name is Liam Porter and I am going to be a freshman at Pell in 2023, i wanna get to know ppl so leave ur snaps in the comments.

He was completely different. The shy sweet guy that I knew from high school had changed entirely. I didnt care though, he was doing his own thing and I was doing mine. I posted a few days after him, and I become flooded with dm’s of sorority girls asking me to be their gay best friend, truly something out of a nightmare if you ask me.

The day before classes, all of my things were moved into my dorm and I met my roommates. Kyle was your average nerd, he had brown curly hair and freckles, and wore glasses with wide rims. Next was Jamie, he was quiet, but stood at 6’2 and was here on a basketball scholarship. I immediately started chatting him up, and tried to see if he could be a potential fling. Finally was Eric. Eric was lanky but wasn’t entirely introverted like Kyle, hanging out with people and even becoming a good friend of mine on campus.

One of the buses drop off a load of students to the dorms, and a familiar face comes out of it with bags in hand:

My mom had barely seen Liam since freshman year, and never caught on that it was him, but I most definitely did. He walks to one of the dorms further down from mine, “There goes my chance to chat with him in the hallways.” I think to myself. I was a Literature major, and from what I knew Liam wanted to study Mechanical Engineering, so there was little chance we would ever see each other in the same class.

I go to my first class of the day: “History of Pre-Columbian Writing and Forms” taught by a frazzled professor who looks no younger than 76 named Dr. Fredericks. He was an awesome teacher, and I actually paid attention in class. Afterward I head to my Civics and Common Law class, it was rather empty, except for Liam. He was sitting in the 5th row, and as I open the door he glances back and meets my eye. I sit in the 7th row, open my computer, and start snooping. Lo and behold, this very class was an optional GenEd for Mechanical Engineering, and Liam chose it. I quickly leave class, and rush to my dorm.

A few weeks pass and my minifridge is empty. After eating the dining hall food for practically a month straight I was tired, so I drove to the gas station near our school to get some snacks and microwave meals. In the far back of the gas station I spot a group of frat bros, from the letters I could make out they were in Delta Zeta Kappa, known as one of the most toxic on campus. Laughing right with them is no other than Liam himself.

“You should’ve fucked her!” one of the bros near him says before patting Liam’s back. I try to quickly pick my stuff up and leave, but one of the other brothers whistles at me. It was Tyler Felton, a guy who I drunkenly hooked up with at one of his frat’s parties. Tyler calls me over and introduces me to each of the other brothers, and they start chuckling and jabbing Tyler in the arm, clearly he’s already talked about me to them. When I shake hands with Liam, it’s bare sly even a touch before he already has his hands pulled away.

Leaving the gas station was rather embarrassing, simply because I could imagine what they would talk about once I left. But Liam, he confused me. I didn’t think we were on bad terms, but by that handshake it seems we were.

I go back to my room and go straight to his instagram to figure out what’s going on. He still follows me, and it’s clear he unfollowed people from high school, so if he hated me why in the world did he still follow me?

I look at his recent posts and my eye catches to one of them:

He had clearly been going to the gym, and even though he might be a jerk now, he’s fucking HOT. I pull down my pants and start masturbating, thinking about feeling those muscles of his and fantasizing about how big his cock must be. I close my eyes and start imagining it, and the thought of it makes me end up getting cum all over my phone, and I immediately start wiping it away with tissues, feeling ashamed that I just came to a picture of a guy who is most definitely straight. After my little session on his insta, I study for my pre-calculus exam, and slowly drift to sleep over my notes. My alarm jolts me awake, as drool is all over my notes from my sudden study sesh coma. I rustle them together into my backpack and head to class for the day. Liam is there (as always) and we don’t speak at all during or after class (as always). As we’re packing up Dr. Stevens, the professor for the Civics course, announces we have a group project, but he’s already picked the partners.

As he rattles off last name pairings, I have yet to hear mine or Liam’s, until-“Mr. Traore, Mr. Porter, you two will be paired for this assignment.” My heart sinks to the very bottom of my chest. The guy who I now have nothing in common with, paired up for a 3-week assignment, nothing could be worse. “I can just handle it and you can get credit.” Liam says as he passes by me to leave class. Before he could fully pass, I grab his arm. He jerks back and stares at me. I glare back, “I will do my part too, I don’t know about you, but I care about this work.” Liam keeps my gaze and smirks. He easily releases his arm from my grasp, and walks away.

I don’t hear from him for a while, but he gets to work on our shared document, as do I. I suddenly get a DM on insta, while I expected it to be Liam, it was Tyler, sending me a flyer to his frat’s Halloween party. While Liam was most definitely going to be there, I just wanted a chance to dress all skimpy, so I accepted the invite.

After getting my sluttiest Daphne costume, i head down with Tyler, who decided to pick me up, and match with me as Fred (against my will mind you). My car had broken down, and I was simply far too broke to get it fixed now. We get to the party and it’s already insane, people are outside, beer pong tables set up everywhere, and girls grinding on all the brothers on the dance floor. I see nothing of Liam, but decide that’s a good thing.

The party goes much as I would have expected, with Tyler finding every way to stay near me, and me trying my very best to escape him when I can. I catch a glance of Liam while I walk for my 9th bathroom break to get away from Tyler. As I walk out, he’s near the door, and pushes me back in. “I want us to talk again.” he says, and before I can even get a word out, he leaves, never to be seen again.

Two days later I get a snap notification from none other than the man himself:

Using a shirtless gym selfie to get back into my good graces is a bold choice, considering i’m “talking to” one of his frat brothers, but I assume it’s all platonic, and send a photo of me studying for my literature exam in my bed back. After snapping back and forth for a few days I assume that will be all there is, and accepted that at least he was talking to me about our project. After checking the project the day before it’s due I see an announcement.

YOU ARE TO USE POSTER BOARD TO PRESENT KEY POINTS, POWERPOINT AND OTHER DIGITAL PROGRAMS WILL NOT BE USEABLE AS THE PROJECTOR IS DEAD.

Dr. Stevens was giving us an extension to find the stuff we needed, and I quickly text Liam to go pick up some poster board as my car is still very much broken. He chats back “come with me.” Confusion swept my face as getting poster board definitely wasn’t a two person job, but he quickly chatted again, “we can work on it together at my place.” Seeing this as a chance to actually reconnect, I say yes, and he comes to pick me up.

I start taking hits of my dab pen in the car, knowing that high me would actually be able to get some work done. As we pull into a residential area, he stops and pulls to the sidewalk. I ask him, “Why in god’s name did you stop here??? The store isn’t for a few more miles.” “I have been waiting for this my whole life.” he replies. Thinking i’m about to get axe murdered by my old friend I try to get out, but the doors are locked. He then says, “I never knew how I felt about you until I saw you with that fucker Tyler, the dude doesn’t deserve a pet rock, much less you.” The sudden romantic shift of his words gives me whiplash, but at least he’s not trying to kill me? As he says this, he puts a hand on my thigh. Even though I had ended my villain era, a little hookup between old friends was just what the doctor ordered.

I get in the base of the seat under him and pull his pants down very slowly. His hard dick pops up out of his underwear, and he glances down at me as I start to suck. He groans loudly and grabs the handle at the top, looking at me straight in the eyes the whole time.

As I continue doing down on him, he says, “I knew this would be the best.” If the rumors were true, he had fucked nearly half the freshman girls, and somehow i’m the best? I smile and keep going until he stops me. With his massive arms he pulls my head up and says, “It’s not over yet.” He pulls his shirt over his head, revealing that hard body and, as he starts the car he says, “Keep sucking.”

On the road in the rain, I keep looking up at this old friend of mine, wondering if i had missed a signal, and as I keep going, he starts to push my head down on his massive cock, and then let’s put a loan moan, as he cums all in my mouth. I swallow it down and look up at him, still listening to his music and focusing on the road.

While still below him, we come to a stop. He unbuckles and gets out, only in his boxers. I shimmy up and stumble out, clearly not at a Walmart or any place we could get poster for that matter. “It’s my cousins place, he’s not home so he lets me stay.” Liam says as if reading my mind. It’s clear what he wants, and I get ready for it.

After getting in he immediately starts kissing me, Unbuttoning my shirt, and pulling down my pants until i’m much like him, only far less muscly and way shorter. He pins me against the wall and starts kissing my nipples, saying, “Do you like that?” as he goes on and on. Eventually he takes me upstairs, and as I do I see him pull his boxers down. He tells me, “Get on the bed.” and I comply.

As i’m under him on the bed, he starts shoving his dick in my ass, pounding and pounding my tight ass and grunting all while doing it. He flexes his muscles in a mirror right next to the bed, which is the only way i can even notice what he’s doing as he’s giving me the best backshots of my life. He tells me to get up and wrap my legs around his, with his cock still in me i maneuver around and do it, and he asks, “Is that better?” After nodding he says, “Good boy.” and I look down, completely falling for him. As he pounds me again, I feel up and down his hard body, and he keeps fucking me ruthlessly.

After pounding my ass until it goes from a dark brown to a purplish tinge, Liam says, “I’ve had a crush on you since forever, but I never knew what to say, and by the time I could you had a boyfriend. I was always looking for a chance but I thought it would never happen, so I worked to be the guy you would want, and I just hope I fucking am.” How had I been so naïve??? He wanted to be with me since freshman year and I was the one to friendzone him. Letting this words sit with me for a while I caress his face and say, “You have always been the guy I wanted, I was just too blind to see.”

He smirks and starts fucking like never before, he takes my hips and moves it towards and away from his cock, grunting each time his cock goes all the way in me. In this moment I don’t see anything else but him, and as he cums in me I pull his body towards me, pulling him into me, and embracing him as our warm sweaty bodies touch. After that we end up continuing for five more rounds, each getting more and more passionate. After that whenever we would see each other after class,we would go into the supply closet and fuck again. I felt like a ball of hormones but it felt good with him.

Finally at present day, with us having been dating for three years, it seems like all of this could’ve been missed if anything had gone wrong. Every moment with him is truly memorable, and even though I never would’ve saw myself with the quiet nerd turned frat guy, I guess that’s what happened. I thank the universe each and every day for that fateful car ride, and as i get ready to graduate, I start thinking that Porter sounds like a perfect last name for me.

[oscar-piastri]

safe place (2) [arthur leclerc x reader]

title: safe place (2) [read part one here]

pairing: arthur leclerc x reader

summary: you finally understand what is your safe place

words: 1k

It has been a few weeks since you went back home. Things weren’t perfect but it was going great. You found a new job, with more hours and more money. Living in Monaco was very great, but wanting to move out with any financial help was a nightmare and you could only rely on yourself. Having to keep studying wasn’t helping at all, but luckily, you had found someone to help you

“What about this one?” Arthur shoved his phone screen to your face. “It’s cute, affordable and… close to my place”

You sighed, closing your textbook to take Arthur’s phone. “Yeah, I like it” you said as you looked through all the pictures. Arthur was right, it was affordable, thanks to the money you managed to save and the financial aids you were eligible for. “I will call” you said as you wrote down the offer reference and the phone number to set up a visit.

“We make a great team” Arthur proudly said, a giant smile appearing on his face, sitting on his bed. You were studying at his place for one of your exams and he decided to help you in your apartment hunt while you were ‘kicking ass and getting good grades’

“We do,” you replied, sitting next to him. “Honestly, I’m thankful for everything you did, and are doing for me” Arthur was slightly blushing and it made you smile. He was about to say something when your alarm went on. “Shit, I have to go to work” you hurried up, grabbing all your stuff you shoved in your backpack.

“Good luck” Arthur said as he was closely following you to walk you to the door.

Before leaving you felt your brain connecting and you turned around “Shit, I won’t have time to see you before you leave right?” you asked Arthur, as you remembered he had to leave early tomorrow morning to attend another of his race weekends.

“Nope. What a bummer you can’t come with me because of work. What will I do without my lucky charm?” Arthur grinned and you couldn’t help but smile.

“No matter where I will be, you can be sure I will be cheering for you” you said before waving goodbye and running to work.

Saturday morning, you’re working the morning shift at work meaning you were set to miss Arthur’s sprint race. Luckily you weren’t working for his feature race and he was starting from a good position. Throughout the morning, your mind was lost, only focusing on Arthur, and you spent a good part of your shift, wishing for it to be over soon, so you could see how the race went.

As soon as your shift ended, you hurried to get your phone and your heart literally missed a beat, when you read the notifications on your phone ‘F3 Sprint Race: big crash from Arthur Leclerc’. It was like the world was spinning around you, and your brain was already thinking the worst. As you were walking home, you tried to call Arthur many times, you texted him like crazy and you checked social media for updates. You knew he was out of the car but cared way too much about Arthur, not to worry.

As you were about to reach your house, your phone rang and you sight in relief when you saw it was Arthur calling you.

“Oh god, Arthur, are you okay?!” you asked right away, not giving him the time to speak first. You heard him chuckle at the other side.

“I’m fine. The car took the big hit”

“My heart dropped when I left work and read what happened. I-I should have come, you said I was your lucky charm, maybe it wouldn’t have happened!”

“Calm down Y/N. I am fine. I did a check up at the medical center and I’m totally fine, even fit to race tomorrow morning. I’m super strong, I’ll even get on the podium tomorrow, I can feel it.” Arthur tried to reassure you but you stayed silent. “How was work by the way?”

“Boring. But on Monday after school I’m going to visit the place you showed me. I have a feeling it’s going to be good.”

“Really? That’s amazing! I’ll be crossing my fingers. I’m flying back home on Monday, so maybe we can meet after the visit so I can have the privilege of being the first one to know everything?” Arthur asked

“Okay, deal”

“Great. Okay I gotta go, but we’ll talk later”

Monday was quick to arrive and you were glad, not just because you were one step closer to being without your parents, but because Arthur was meeting you after the visit and you were dying to see him again. After the scare you had Saturday, you just wanted one thing and it was hugging him and being near him.

The visit went well, it was small but cozy and had everything you could need. You had met the owners of the place and the feeling went really great so you were hopeful they would pick you. You were making your way outside when you got a text from Arthur saying “I’m outside :)”. You didn’t bother to reply and simply ran outside the building to find Arthur on his phone, leaning against a pole.

“Arthur!” you called him excited. Arthur looked up from his phone and his face lit up when he saw you running to him. He barely had the time to put his phone away before you threw your arms around him. “I’m happy to see you” you said, breaking the hug

“In one piece you mean?” he joked, making you gently hit his shoulder “Okay, okay not funny” 

You both stood there, in silence for a few minutes before Arthur decided to speak again.

“So… You think this could be your safe place?” he asked, pointing at the building behind you.

“Not really…” you mumbled

“Why? I thought it was perfect” he asked, his face showing signs of confusion.

“Oh no I meant… I really like this place, I could see myself living there but… I don’t think it is my actual safe place” you explained. Funny because you thought it could be the safe place you and Arthur have been talking about, but when Arthur asked, it all changed. 

“Oh…”

“Arthur, you’re my safe place” you blurred out. “I’ve never felt safer than when I am in your arms or near you or in the same room”

“Y/N I-”

“No please… Just let me speak” you insisted and Arthur closed his mouth right away. “I don’t know, I think it’s when I found out about your crash that all the pieces got together in my head and my heart. Arthur you make me so happy, you make me laugh, you’re basically the sunshine of my moody days. You’re always on my mind and at first I thought it was just because you were checking up on me, helping me but no. Arthur, I like you. I really really like you. A lot. And not as a friend. I think I’m falling for you” you confessed to Arthur, feeling a big weight dropping from your shoulders. You looked at Arthur, unsure of his reaction.

“Can you say it again?” Arthur asked you, leaving you confused.

“Uh? You- what? The entire thing? Because I- I don’t think I can, you know it was really spontaneous”

Arthur put his body closer to yours. “No, just the last part,” he said with a smile.

“I’m falling for you,” you replied firmly.

“Good” he said, bringing his face a few inches from yours. “Because I already fell for you. And I fell hard” 

[takalzuoom]

Viktor brain rot

Don't.. don't come for me I just think, I just think he’s really neat.

Okay okay, so I know you’ve seen a few pieces about the reader being his lab assistant. But let me up you with- enemies to lovers.

No? Yes?

Yes.

The thing is- you two aren’t even in the same department. You’re literally competing with a man who is a prodigy at mechanics while you’re a ‘prodigy’ in biochemistry.

Like where’s the logic? How did this even start?

It started in school.

Well, at the academy per se since yes- Viktor is from the undercity and you happen to be from Piltover. A two completely different sides of the same coin.

Fate, deciding things were already a tad bit boring, decided to spice things up and made sure that you both were in the same classes. Every. Single. Yeah

Non-surprisingly, he was always at the top. Always the teacher’s favorite as he worked harder than any person you'd seen. Always sat alone as whispers about his origins got caught up in the academy like wildfires. It seemed like he didn't. As he always scribbled in his little journal and talked to teachers about his finding and junk.

So you never bother him, and he never bothers you.

But that might’ve been because you were at the bottom of your class.

A nightmare, as you would, exploding chemicals every chance you got.

There was a lab? Boom! You were in charge of cleaning up today? Boom! The teacher left the door open by accident, and when they realized their fatal mistake as they sprinted down the hallways?

Boom!

You were the only person banned from labs. Or even walking into one as a chemical concoction spontaneously combusted the moment you walked in.

But that wasn't just it. You never took anything seriously. Always giggling with your friends, never doing your homework, doodling, and sleeping in class.

God, you were so infuriating! Lazy, privileged, snobs like you boiled Viktor's blood. He had to fight tooth and nail for everything he has now, meanwhile with a wave of a hand and extra cash, people like you were allowed here.

He sat next to you. The teacher telling him that since he was such an angel, maybe he could befriend, and help you…

It was a win-win in the teacher's eyes. Hitting two birds with one stone. Never did they think that their ‘worst’ and the top student would ever start competing.

Some say that you kicked Viktor's cane from him and started a war. Others say that he insulted your house.

But no. The truth was not as exciting. It was stupid even. You got into an argument over an answer on a pop quiz.

The first one you both ever failed.

The question was simple too. Well to you guys it was.

‘How did non-living chemical compounds generate self-replicating, complex life forms?’

You had stated that it had something to do with Biosynthesis.

While Viktor said it did something with protein design.

And when you both went up to the teacher to ask ‘why did I get this wrong?’

The teacher simply stated that it was an unanswered question. That she just wanted to see what you both thought.

“So why did I get it wrong? If it’s unanswered, then it should have been correct, since it’s only a hypothesis.” Viktor scratched his head as he studied his paper more.

“Why don’t you ask Y/N that? Compare your answers over lunch”

Yeah, it turned into a screaming match. You both at each other's throats, as the teacher could only stare at you two in horror, realizing her mistake when her chalkboard was filled with scribbles and numbers even she couldn’t understand.

Sigh. Young love right? Well, you two have been at each other's throats ever since. Either with test grades or straight-up petty things.

For example:

He would flaunt to you that he was able to use the lab while you would always jog past him…

HE GOT SO OFFENDED OH MY GOD

It only got worse when you tried to prove your theory a year later. Going fully into biochemistry as you were going to find out the answer to prove him wrong.

While he went into mechanics and engineering.

And you two still were at each other's throats. Not even talking as years flew by. Constantly trying to one-up the other as that was all you two could think of.

You were working on something extraordinary. Being able to fuse some kind of liquid into the blood of a human and make the person so much stronger.

While Viktor was studying arcane magic and runes.

When I tell you he did a huge finger up to the door, I mean it was up there for at least a minute before Jayce walked in and he shot his finger down.

He was embarrassed. But so happy that he could finally prove himself better than you and all the entitled Piltover’s. To get his legacy.

But these runes- or whatever he calls them. The ones that will help hextech expand- make no sense. He’s been stumped in his lab for weeks, trying anything and everything- as Jayce does whatever.

Sky tries to help him, but she’s either pushed away for not understanding anything that he’s saying, or he's just so engrossed in his work that he’ll forget she’s there… Which stresses him out a bit.

There’s one person who matches his caliber that isn't Jayce- no

No. He refuses.

… a fresh pair of eyes and a different perspective could help- no. No. That’s why he won’t see you.

He refuses to ask for your help. Won’t even humor the idea more than he has to.

He has found himself walking near the biotech department a few times too many.

No. He can do this himself. He’s done all his best work with himself- with Jayce who’s already secured his legacy.

and he has no doubt you have as well…

“Viktor! I know you’ve been stumped for a bit so I asked around if anyone were to give us good insight before we present this to Heimerdinger, and an old friend of yours volunteered!” Jayce paraded into the lab with a smile. The door behind him slightly ajar as the sound of clicks grew louder and louder, as someone gets closer and closer.

He can’t help but look to the side with a scowl, already knowing who it is.

He hasn’t seen or heard from you in years. Only seeing newspaper articles that mentioned your advancements in science and medicine.

As well as experimentation.

“They're not my friend Jayce. Not even close” his accent heavy as the door opened, revealing your Cheshire grin.

“Well, what can I say?” You mused, closing the large door behind you. “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”

“Enemies? Viktor I-“

“Not exactly enemies, more like-“

“Childhood rivals?”

“We didn't even breath the same air when we were children”

“It’s a figure of speech Viktor” you were growing annoyed at by the second. And Jayce was more than surprised at how uncharacteristically his friend/ partner was acting.

His gut turned, the cup of empty coffee crumpling in Viktor’s hand, the sharp, muted thumping bringing his attention towards your hands, your nails rapidly clashing with the other.

..yeah about that gut feeling- it was good that he hasn’t been listening to it lately. Because it was school. All over again.

Bickering over theories, wanting to try your way- it exploding. Wanting to try it his way, it failing, of course.

Nothing was going well. All you both did were obscene ideas, exclude the other, and just compete. Not even bothering to hear the other talk.

And the looks you would give each other were just plain old annoying! When Viktor was hard at work tinkering, you would just stare at the man. Clicking your nails as you twirled a pencil.

Or how when you were running around, trying to get some kind of chemical out of your hair. Viktor would just watch, moving his chair with each way you ran as he just casually sipped from his coffee.

Jayce has had enough of it.

All the dancing around each other dangerously. The tense atmosphere. And the constant one-upping.

“You two are tearing our team apart!” He complained, hands on his hips as he stared down at the two of you. You were seated on one side of the couch, a pillow on your lap neatly, as Viktor was on a chair next to the couch.

“What team Jayce? All I’ve seen you do is progress reports and hook up with Mel.” You gave him a look over “And by hook up, I mean both ways”

You saw him falter, quick to snag more at the wonder boy. “It’s practically been me and ‘you know who' running trial, after trial, after retrial independently. Maybe we wouldn’t be in this scenario if we had an actual leader to guide us. Better yet.” You had jumped up from the couch, chest puffed as you pointed to yourself. “I’ll be the leader since you two wouldn't have come this far without me!”

“You wouldn’t even be here if it wasn't for us” Viktor retorted.

“Oh yeah? Well maybe neither of us would be here if wonder boy scrapped his deadly project. So stop acting like you’re the one who made this what it is.”

“With the work of me and Jayce, we both made it to what it is!”

“I bet you didn’t do anything though” You rolled your eyes.

Jayce was confused. It looked like two cats were going at it as he was stuck in the middle. He didn’t know what to think. About you tearing him down just to defend him to torment Viktor. Or Viktor finding fault in everything you said and rebutting it.

You were arguing non-sensitizes at this point!

“God, just get a room you two!” He groaned, not noticing how you both immediately paused as you were about to throw a pillow at his partner.

“My god- you’ve been like this since what? The academy. You’ve had this sexual tension for over 10 years? What is wrong with you two?” He scolded you both.

Your heart stopped for a moment, feeling your body heat up as you stared straight at Jayce. Refusing to even look at Viktor, who was just as dumbfounded as you.

“Every time I come to do my little ‘progress reports’” he air quotes them as he peers at your shrinking form. “I can feel the tension from Heimerdinger’s office! That’s why I don't interrupt- cause it’s awkward with how involuntary it is!

“You’re both literal nerds who’ll be perfect for each other! Oh my god” he storms away, muttering about something you were too dazed to catch.

It was silent.

‘sexual tension? he was just making things up at this point!’

But Viktor was staring straight at his lap. Fist clutching his cane as a hand racked through his hair.

Shit. This was so awkward.

“…Your ideas aren’t all shit.” You mumbled, basking in the silence as he agreed, albeit quieter than you.

he didn't make a move to say something, let alone look at you so you did the next best thing.

“Oh boy look at the time” you had laughed nervously, jumping over the couch as you briskly made your way to the door.

“Wait- wait a minute y/n hold on!” He got out of his chair as he had just had a breakthrough, he walked to you as fast as he could with his cane.

You don’t know what made you stop, but you were glued in place. The coolness of the doorknob warmed under your touch as you turned to him.

“Yes? Would you like something Viktor?”

There was an obvious blush on his face as he stood in front of you.

You were still holding the knob behind your back, ready to turn it case of an emergency retreat.

Viktor was searching his brain for something, anything to say. But every time he came up with scenarios, they all crashed and burned, like his hextech as he cursed himself for being better with machines than people.

“What, ever happened to us Viktor? How did we get to be… like this?” You gesture towards yourself as you finally look at him in his Carmel-laced eyes.

“We were so caught up in competition.”

You nodded in agreement.

“Well I, personally blame our professors from the academy. Who knows, if we never sat next to each other, maybe we’d be good now.” You joked, leaning on the door more as the knob dug into your lower back.

“Ehh, that’s plausible… but,” he said “I actually… mildly disliked you back then, even before we were seatmates” He chose his words carefully as you looked at him surprised.

“Really? Why me?” Your voice comically raised as he sighed. Knowing the ugly truth would probably make things a whole lot worse.

“Well… I thought you were a spoiled brat who got in just because. Since you never took your work seriously and were always blowing things up…”

You hummed in acknowledgment.

“Well, at least I could semi-balance a school-work-social life. You always shut everyone out, just working on experiments.”

“It’s not like I purposely tried to” He bit back. Hurt in his eyes as he recalled the dark days of school.

“As you know, I was from the undercity, and when people found out, they didn't take too kindly to me…” he said with a bitter taste on his tongue.

Even now, as he had finally made a name for himself, he was still frowned upon because he was from Zaun and wasn't purebred from the upper city like you and Jayce.

“Viktor, I never knew that. If you had told me I would have-“

“Pity me? Y/n, you know more than anyone that I hate being pitied.”

A small ‘yeah’ left you as you looked behind you to the door. Sighing, as you let your tongue loose.

“Actually, I'm not as great and powerful as I seem.”

“B-“

“Viktor,” you pleaded as he shut his mouth. “Thanks” You muttered before looking past him.

“I was actually the runt of my family. Having 5 older siblings puts a lot of pressure on an 8-year-old. Especially since they were all great artisans and lawyers, doctors, authors- while all I could do was blow things up and recite the periodic table.

No matter what I did, I could never outrun their shadows…” your voice wavered as you flicked a piece of hair from your face.

"Did your parents not care for academics? scientific ones I mean" he corrected himself as his head tilted in your direction.

"Nope. I have no idea why either. Probably something about old farts in the past and just dismissed it altogether... but they did humor me with it-

And when I was able to compete with you, top of the class antisocial kid, I just saw you as my siblings. Saw you as something that I could overcome if I put my mind to it. To make my family proud…” you sighed, rubbing your face as you remembered all the faces your mother had made when you went home with another A+.

All the half-assed ‘good jobs’ from your dad as you showed him another winning chemistry set.

Or the unimpressed sneers from your siblings when you were banned from the lab.

“Well, did you?”

You shook your head with a tired smile. “I was never Heimerdinger's lab assistant”

“So you rebelled?”

“Indeed my smart friend. Started skipping classes, sleeping, not doing homework, purposely blowing things up. And then I found myself confronted with my oldest brother- the military general who was interested in my failed chemistry stuff. Said it could be used.”

You turned to him, a smile still on your face, scratching your nape, you jested “So it's all thanks to you that I’m here now, working with my brother on chemical compounds that don’t blow up as much”

“Much? Excuse me but I can most certainly hear explosions every time you walk”

“Huh? I’m pretty sure that every time you breathe, I can still hear the anguish cries of a coffee bean family!”

“There is nothing wrong with coffee”

“There is everything wrong with coffee! Try tea!”

“I appreciate the offer, but I have to decline, as tea doesn’t have the same effects I need”

“Same effects? What are you trying to do? Kill yourself?"

“Well, I am already dying. So why not speed up the process eh?”

“Viktor no!”

Let’s say that the worst mistake anyone could have made was letting you two become friends.

[plus-size-reader]

Cute

Void/Stiles Stilinski x Plus size!reader

Word Count: 2939 words

Warnings: none

Summary: The reader finally gets up the courage to tell Stiles about her feelings for him but Stiles isn’t really himself at the time. 

—————————————————————————————————

You should have seen this coming.

Of course Stiles was never going to go for a girl like you. All your lives he had been absolutely obsessed with Lydia Martin and lord knows you looked nothing like her. You were never going to look anything like her, but it was easy to ignore when it was just her.

Stiles had always liked her, drooling over her in math class and talking about her every chance he got but you both knew he had about as much of a chance with her as you did with him.

It wasn’t going to happen.

...but now he had Malia.

She was just as thin and gorgeous as Lydia was, but she was actually into him. She wanted to go out with him and there was nothing stopping them from going for it, why would there be?

It wasn’t like Stiles had any clue that you had been in love with him since middle school or that you were actively more and more in love with him as time went on.

He didn’t know you thought about him as much as he thought about them, or beat yourself up because you were never going to be a size three like Lydia was.

You adored him, but he was never going to see that.

It made you feel so empty, like the last seven years didn’t mean anything to him which wasn’t even close to true. You knew that both Scott and Stiles cared a lot for you, like they cared for each other but it wasn’t enough.

You wanted Stiles to daydream about you, to see you, because you were right in front of him. You would have done anything for him, and did, but for some reason, it was still like you didn’t exist.

It was getting old.

Really old, and the more you thought about it, the more the reality of the situation upset you. You had been there for Stiles all his life.

You were right by his side when his mom got sick, and beat up Jackson Whittemore once in the eighth grade for calling him a geek, but none of that seemed to matter to him.

Stiles still couldn’t see you.

“You’ve been staring at them for thirty minutes” Scott hummed, shaking you out of your thoughts with a bump to your shoulder with his own. You were searching for anything that could explain the strange occurrences around here as of late, but there was nothing.

It wasn’t your fault watching Stiles canoodle with his new girlfriend was more entertaining than looking through some dusty old book.

“I have not” you sighed, shooting him an almost defensive look as you glanced back down at the book in question. Had he been anyone else you may have pretended to have your shit together, but Scott knew better.

He knew the two of you better than anyone else in the world, and even if he wasn’t the true alpha, which he also happened to be, it wasn’t hard to see what was going on.

You clearly liked him, in a way that wasn’t just platonic like your relationship was. You had never gotten so shook up when Scott was seeing a girl, he would have noticed.

“It’s okay, I get it” he tried, hoping that you weren’t going to try and shut him out over this again. Scott had tried to have this conversation with you a few times already, and it never worked out the way he wanted.

You always got cagey and didn’t want to talk about it.

“No you don’t, Scott. You’ve dated every girl you ever had a crush on, because you’re you” you grumbled, poking him in the abs as aggressively as you could without hurting him to prove your point.

He didn’t ever have to worry about the things you did.

Not only was Scott one of the sweetest and most brave men you’d ever known, but he also couldn’t have been in better shape if he wanted to. He looked like one of those perfectly sculpted men in the movies, with six pack abs and chiseled muscles.

It wasn’t like he constantly had to live with the knowledge that the person he loved most in this world didn’t love him back because he wasn’t good enough. You knew that Stiles didn’t feel the same way about you because you weren’t as skinny as you could have been, or as pretty as the others were.

At this point, you doubted he even saw you as a girl at all because you were just his best friend, and that was it. That was what you’d always been and considering how oblivious he was to the feelings you had for him, it wasn’t surprising.

You weren’t even on his radar in that way.

“First of all, ow! Second of all, you’re super cute, why wouldn’t he be into you?” Scott wondered, that same supportive, loving tone that was always in his voice making itself known to you. He really did believe that, not that it made you feel better.

Cute.

That was all you were ever going to be.

Puppies were cute, and everyone loved them but no one was actively dreaming of taking their favorite puppy out on a date or dreaming about a puppy out loud to their friends. You didn’t date someone just because they were cute, which was the whole problem.

You didn’t want to be cute.

You wanted to be beautiful, to be hot, to be drop dead gorgeous in the way that Lydia was, and it killed you every day that you weren’t.

“Thanks Scott, but I don’t think cute is gonna cut it” you decided, closing the book in front of you as a way of closing this conversation before getting up and heading out of the library.

It didn’t make any sense to Scott.

It was clear to him that you and Stiles had something that could very well be a great relationship but you kept getting in your own way and it wasn’t like Stiles knew what he was doing. 

Some days, Scott worried he’d leave his head at home if it wasn’t attached.

“Hey Y/N, think about it” he called, catching the way you turned around to look at him before heading out to the parking lot.

There was no way Stiles was going to come to the conclusion that you cared about him as anything more than a friend on his own, and until you got that push to do it yourself, it wasn’t going to happen.

He just had to wait for one or both of you to take that chance.

~

Scott had a point.

Of course he did, Scott usually had a point as much as you hated to admit it. You were super cute, and while it might not have been enough, there really weren’t that many reasons why Stiles wouldn’t be into you.

Now, all you had to do was figure out what you were going to do about it, before all desire to do so left your body completely if it hadn’t already. 

You had only been trying to sike yourself up about this for the past hour in the rear view mirror and it just wasn’t happening.

You felt like an idiot.

Here you were, sitting across the street from Stiles’ house like a creep, without a single idea of what you were actually going to say to him if you ever made it to his front door. It didn’t make any sense, this was a guy you’d known since you were a kid.

You had never had a problem saying anything to him or doing whatever you wanted, but now, the idea of even looking him in the face was enough to make you want to be sick. It was hardly fair but you had done this to yourself after all.

It was perfectly fine before, even if you were unhappy. No one else had to know that you had feelings for him and you could just suffer in silence but now that you had Scott in your corner, it was hard not to want to try.

Surely your shared best friend was the best authority on whether or not there was anything between you and Stiles. If anyone was going to know anything, it was the true alpha, after all. 

That was like, his whole thing.

“You can do this. You’ve fought monsters, this is just Stiles” you reminded yourself, before pushing the mirror away completely, getting out of the car before you could buckle back up and drive home. It was now or never, and whatever happens, happens.

You couldn’t worry about it now.

“Hey Stiles, are you feeling better?” you hummed, the words barely registering under your breath as you tried to figure out what you wanted to say. You’d had this nightmare a million times over but you’d never actually considered doing it on your own.

Now that you were, the words just weren’t coming to you like they should have been.

“I just had something I wanted to run by you” you tried, testing out how that would sound before immediately scrapping it. That sounded like you were making some kind of business proposal and you certainly weren’t.

It had to be perfect.

Not that you had time to actually nail down what you wanted to say before you found yourself at his front door, already having knocked out of habit. Again, you briefly considered sprinting back to your car before it opened but you couldn’t make your feet move.

You knew that you had to do this.

“Hey Stiles, I was hoping we could talk” the words left your lips before you could police them, as soon as the door opened. You knew that it was hardly the smoothest you could have been but at this point, there was nothing between the two of you to soften the blow.

You just had to get this over with. If he accepted your feelings, he accepted them but if he didn’t, there was nothing you could do to change that either.

Naturally, those words freaked Stiles out a little because he assumed something terrible had happened but you didn’t seem as panicked as you should have been if someone was dying. This was a little more than your usual high strung but not by much.

“Yeah for sure, are you okay?” he allowed, moving away from the doorframe to let you in before closing the door behind you both. His dad was working late again, so it would just be the two of you but that had never been a problem before.

Especially lately, you and Stiles had killed time on several nights when Scott was busy with the pack or on date night. It wasn’t strange for you to be alone together, normally but there was a strange air about it today.

You just couldn’t tell if it was coming from him or you.

You knew that Stiles had been having a little trouble sleeping lately, and the nightmares were driving him crazy but the pack was going to handle it. 

The pack always took care of those kinds of things and you both knew Scott wasn’t going to let anything happen to him.

All he had to do was wait it out and try to relax in the meantime.

…And of course, you were having a hard time being your calm and collected self as you tried to figure out the best way to go about this whole thing.

It wasn’t every day you confessed your feelings to your best friend after all.

“I’m alright, I just have something I want to talk to you about is all” you shrugged, sitting down on the couch. This was a lot harder to do than you could have ever thought, and it just seemed like it wasn’t going anywhere.

There was only so much stalling you could do before you had to tell him the truth.

“Okay, I guess I’m just gonna put it all out there,” you sighed, your hands falling on your thighs. This was your last chance to walk away and no one would ever have to know what it was you were hiding, and that almost seemed like the right thing to do.

Though, the way he was looking at you took that all away.

You knew that if you ever had a chance at being with him in the way you wanted, you had to be able to tell him how you felt, at the very least.

Here goes nothing.

“I’m in love-with you” you allowed, exhaling as if you’d been holding that in your lungs all this time, which you pretty much had. You had no idea how this was supposed to feel, but you were pretty confident it wasn’t like this.

He didn’t even say anything at first.

All you could see was Stiles rubbing his temple out of the corner of your eye, his eyes screwed shut. It was hardly the reaction you had been expecting but at that moment, it didn’t even matter. You knew what he’d been going through, and it worried you.

It always worried you, especially knowing about his mom and all the stress he’d been under lately. 

Needless to say, you were more than happy to forget about everything you’d just said in favor of making sure he was alright, especially if your words had upset him.

If he didn’t feel the same, you would have happily moved on as if this moment had never happened. It would be easier than having to swallow that rejection.

You didn’t know if you could handle that after all this.

You had been hiding your feelings for Stiles all this time, and now that you said it out loud, you hoped you’d feel better but you just didn’t. This whole thing was really starting to seem like a mistake, and you didn’t even know everything yet.

Neither did Stiles.

In reality, he was more than thrilled at your confession but something was wrong. He felt like he wasn’t in control, like he wasn’t even in his own body anymore. It didn’t make any sense but he had never had a feeling like this before.

Stiles was vulnerable.

Before this moment, the Nogitsune hadn’t been able to break through to the surface but you provided the crack in his armor that it needed to escape. It was perfect, at least for the void, it certainly wasn't going to be pleasant for you.

After all, it had been a long time since it had seen the light of day and it was hungry, hungry and wearing your little lover boy like a cheap Halloween costume. Of course it was going to use that against you, void would be an idiot not to.

Your love for the boy made you little more than an exposed nerve, one that the Nogitsune could poke and prod at all it pleased until it was satisfied.

...and it certainly intended to.

All at once, there was a huge change in the room between the two of you, and more specifically, in Stiles. 

There was a cold, darkness to him that you had never seen which you didn’t even realize was there until he started laughing, a deep chuckle leaving his throat.

You weren’t ready for it, but what you were less ready for was what happened when he spoke.

“Did you really think I could ever feel like that, for you? We both know that’s a little crazy” he scoffed, an almost mocking tone that didn’t sound like Stiles at all. It shocked you, in all honesty, but not for the reason you may have thought.

Deep down, you knew that Stiles wouldn’t be interested in you but you never could have imagined him being so aggressive and cruel in his rejection of you.

He’d never spoken to anyone like that before, especially not you.

“I just-” you tried, but he stopped you before you could even try to get through this whole thing with any dignity at all. For the Nogitsune, this was all fun and games, but for you, it was so much more than that.

This was quite possibly the worst moment of your life.

“You aren’t blind, you had to have known this wasn’t going to work out the way you wanted. I mean, look at you?”

Stiles was screaming, using everything he had to try and get through to you, to overpower whatever this thing in his head was, but he couldn’t make it happen. It was too much, too strong, and all he could do was sit back and let it happen.

He knew it was breaking your heart, he could see it in your face but no matter how hard he fought, there was nothing he could do to get back in control. He felt like he was locked in a cage in his own head, and someone else had the key.

He just didn't know who.

You sat there for a second more as you tried to process whatever it was that was happening right now before you felt tears pricking in the corner of your eyes, and decided that it was probably time to leave.

Staying here any longer was just going to make this worse. Besides, it wasn’t as if Stiles was in the mood to talk this out or even treat you like a person.

Clearly, Scott was wrong, being cute wasn’t enough to make someone care about you.

[americaswritings]

In the dark I will call your name | chapter 3

Warnings (for the whole series): angst, talk of depression, trauma, nightmares, violence, mentions of blood, language, lots of emotions

Summary: You could never tell them the truth about who you were, what you had done, the demons that were haunting you. So you buried it deep inside of you, swearing to take the secret to the grave with you. Then the nightmares start, the headaches, the simple drop of red confirming your fate. Vecna knows the truth, feels you suffering. Can you escape his curse?  

Words: 2.2k

Pairing: Steve Harrington x reader

A/N: I miss stranger things so I’m consuming all the content we get (bts, interviews, etc.). I wish there was more :/ Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter :) Also I made a stranger things edit if you want to check it out (youtube link in my bio!)

Add yourself to my taglist!

Masterlist  | Series Masterlist  |  Playlist

Chapter 3: Dear Steve

After Steve and you had talked, you had spent a while wrapped up in his arms, your head laying on his chest while both of you were caught up in your own thoughts. But the quiet didn’t bother you. It felt like the calm before the storm, an uninterrupted moment just for the two of you.

You thought back to the summer when you had spent every day like this, just enjoying each other’s company and not thinking about the uncertain parts of your life. 

Steve had been working at the ice-cream shop, Scoops Ahoy at Star Court and you had prepared for your final exams before you had finally graduated. None of you had liked to acknowledge your future. Would you go to college? And if so, where? What would happen to you, if one of you went away and the other stayed in Hawkins.

You had thought about it, had tried to imagine what a shared future could be like. You knew you wanted to leave Hawkins once and for all and never look back. But your friends were here. And Steve was here. College seemed so far away for him, and you could feel his anxiety whenever you broached the topic.

So you had lived in the moment instead. Had pushed back the uncertainty and fear and focused on what you had now. But you knew it was inevitable in the end. Always the quiet before the storm.

Steve was absentmindedly twisting a strand of your hair around his finger, and you focused on the simple gesture, the affection behind it. “I always wanted to go on a trip to Europe”, you told him, snuggling a little more into his embrace. 

“Let’s go then. I am pretty sure they always need someone to sell ice-cream in Italy and I happen to be a natural at it.” You smiled. 

“That sailor outfit really brought out your best features”, you teased him, knowing how much he despised it. You had always thought he looked adorable in it. And sometimes he could even make it look hot. Without the stupid hat on though. Something you would never admit to him. 

“Honestly who forces men to wear knee socks? That’s just- cruel!” You laughed. “Good thing we didn’t have school uniforms at Hawkins high.” 

“I would have loved to see you in knee socks”, Steve murmured into your neck, and you grinned. “I am sure you would!” Your smile faded when you thought back to your school days.

“Can you imagine if we had met back in high school?”, you wondered and Steve let go of your hair, wrapping his other arm around your torso too and pulling you into him. “I was so different back then”, he admitted, and you thought about it.

Of course, you had heard about king Steve in school, but he had been a grade above you and you had spent most of your days trying to hide yourself as best as you could. You hadn’t been interested in any of the popular guys, only how to get past them while staying as invisible as you could.

But you had been a different person too. You had only started to get to know yourself when you had graduated and made your new friends. 

For the first time in your life, you had been asked about your interests and likes, your opinion and thoughts. You could no longer hide your feelings because no one would notice a change. Suddenly there were people in your life who saw when something was wrong, noticed when you were unusually quiet or pretended to be fine when you were not. Suddenly someone cared.

Would that all have changed sooner, if you and Steve had gotten to know each other in high school? Would you have had more time together? Or would you have never become a couple instead, had been too different back then to fall in love with the other?

“Things would have been so different”, you settled on. I wish we would have more time, was what you didn’t say. You wanted to savour this moment of peace and not ruin it by bringing up your imminent death.

“Well, I like how they are”, Steve mumbled, planting a kiss on your hair. You smiled. “Me too.” But both of you knew you were just pretending, living inside a bubble that would burst soon.

You weren’t ready for it to end, but you had been gone for a while now and you didn’t want Dustin nor Lucas storming in. “We should probably go back”, you muttered, but Steve didn’t loosen his grip. “What if I don’t want to?”, he asked, and you chuckled. 

“You know how they are. If you leave them alone for too long, they will get themselves into trouble.” Steve let out a sigh. “They better have a new hint”, he stated while he loosened his grip, allowing you to get up. 

And just like that you were brought back to reality. You pulled up Steve from the bed, planting a soft kiss on his mouth before turning to go. “You didn’t ruin my hair, did you?”, you asked while you opened the door. 

“Just a little.”

You smoothed over the back of your hair, hoping it didn’t look too dishevelled from Steve’s fingers. You didn’t need Lucas and Dustin making awkward comments.

But to your surprise they barely acknowledged the two of you as you walked in, bend over one of the old books. Steve joined them immediately, the hope that they could have found something useful spreading through him like a wildfire. 

You distanced yourself from them, returning to your spot at the desk where your paper and pen were waiting for you. Untouched it seemed. You snuck a glance at the two boys, but they seemed unaware. Perhaps they had actually respected your privacy. Or they had been too afraid to find cheesy words directed at Steve.

But you had barely written more than a few words. Now after your talk with Steve they seemed to come to you naturally.

“Dear Steve, 

if you’re reading this letter, I am either sitting by your side, cringing that you’re actually reading these words, or I am dead. As much as I hope for the first part, I need to prepare myself for the other case too. And that includes telling you everything I want you to know before I leave this earth.

You are the best thing that ever happened to me. I know it’s a cliche thing to say, but it is true. You make me so happy. Sometimes I wonder if I forget how it felt like to smile before I met you. When I am with you, I don’t have to think about how much my life sucks or about the rest of the world. With you I can be myself and I know that is enough.

Thank you for showing me what love is. And thank you for always being there for me. You are the best boyfriend I could have asked for. Even if you can be forgetful and a little chaotic sometimes. And your movie knowledge sucks although you now work at a home movie rental service.

I wish we had more time together. I wish I would get the chance to see you grow up, go to college, or open up your own shop, whatever you want. I want you to know that you deserve more. You deserve a good life with good people in it.

Remember that, after my death. There is nothing you could have done, so please do not blame yourself. This is no one’s fault and especially not yours. If I am gone, I know that you did everything you could. Promise me to keep close to the others. You are going to need each other. 

I hope you can forgive me for leaving you and forgive yourself for letting me go. Life is waiting for you!

I love you!”

You wiped away a tear as you finished the last sentence, signing the letter and folding it narrowly. It was the last one you slipped into a brown envelope. Everything you had wanted to say but never felt bold enough to, you had. At least you wouldn’t leave with regrets and unsaid words. 

You caught your reflection in the window in front of you, almost not recognizing the silhouette that stared back at you. A split second later everything went dark.

Darkness.

You were engulfed by it, barely able to make out the room you were in. “Steve?”, you asked, a small part of you hoping it had only been a blackout. That he would be there, a flashlight in head, smirking in amusement at your fear.

But there was no answer. No sign there was someone there at all. “Dustin? Lucas?”, you tried, but you knew you wouldn’t get an answer. Maybe they had exited the room while you had written the letter. One of them would come in, a little baffled that whatever they had tried had cut the electricity and apologize for scaring you.

But it had been daylight just a few moments before. And wasn’t there a sound in the distance? You got up, slowly following the noise. You didn’t know if it was a smart move, but something seemed to draw you towards it and you didn’t seem to be able to resist.

Your feet were moving on their own, and you were left to accept it. Hugging your body, you tried to make yourself small, as if you could protect yourself from harm this way.

The sound grew louder, and you noticed it came from Nancy’s room. The room you had just shared in a moment of peace with Steve. Your feet moved up the stairs, your hand extending on its own to open the door.

On the wall was a big and old clock, a golden pendulum swinging from one side to the other. The ticking sound had grown loud now, the sound so full in your ears that you didn’t seem able to hear anything apart from it.

The message was clear. Your time was running out.

You were only a few steps away now, reaching out towards it as if you could stop it from swinging. What would happen if you did?

But you never got the chance to find out as a husky voice filled your ears. “(Y/n)!”, it whispered, the sound sending shills through your body. As if it was calling you.

A second later you were violently ripped out of the room and the darkness, your body jerking back to life from its position at the desk. It took you another second to win back orientation, the letters on the desk reminding you of what you had been up to before you had been trapped in the hallucination.

You almost didn’t dare to gaze at the window, too scared to watch your own reflection again. “(Y/n)?!” You looked up to find Steve standing next to you, his face pale and eyes wide. Next to him were Dustin and Lucas, both of their faces an equal mask of horror. Max was standing behind them, keeping her distance like she always did these days.

“It was like you were in trance. You wouldn’t wake up!” Dustin’s voice sounded a little high-pitched and it was laced with worry.

“I’m okay”, you forced out, your breath still a little unsteady. Your eyes flickered back to Steve’s, and you saw the remains of panic in them. He must have felt so helpless, not knowing what would happen to you and not being able to wake you from the vision.

And this was only the beginning.

“What happened?”, Lucas wanted to know, and you took a breath, getting up from the desk to take a few shaky steps. The others turned with you, their eyes not leaving you for a second. You couldn’t blame them.

“One second, I was here staring out of the window and the next suddenly everything became dark. I thought the power went out for a moment, but you all were gone. And then I heard this noise-”

You froze when the sound returned to your ears, your head wiping around to the direction it came from. But a moment later it was gone. The three had watched the movement with big eyes and you wondered how crazy you looked to them right now. It felt that way at least, as if you were going crazy.

Chrissy and Fred must have felt the same, only they didn’t know what was awaiting them. They didn’t know about Vecna or the curse. They must have felt so alone. And so scared.

“I followed it. It came from Nancy’s room. On the wall there was a big clock. Just before I reached it, I heard a voice calling me. And then I woke up.”

“Yeah, we were calling your name like crazy”, Steve spoke up, but you shook your head. “No, it wasn’t your voice I heard. It was so deep and raw. Not mortal.”

You paused, your gaze alternating between the three of them.

“I think Vecna is calling me.”

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[fixyourwritinghabits]

how do i practice getting better at writing setting? Prompted by that anon asking about writing descriptions of location. But with setting you have to get both location and atmosphere well. How do I practice that?

You're going to hate this, because I'm going to give you homework. Pick a few of your favorite books - preferably in the genre and age group you're writing for, but it's always helpful to compare vastly different books as well. Pick a favorite scene in each, and take notes according to character, plot, mood/tone, and action.

Let’s look at how that works with a paragraph from Lee Mandelo’s adult novel Summer Sons. For context, the main character’s best friend died, and he’s inherited his car:

Slickly grim in the gold afternoon light, the black chrome and black detailing and cherry-red rims struck him to the core. The morning Eddie’s trust fund spilled open, the pair of them had driven two hundred miles to pick up the absurd beast. More muscle than the Aventador went Eddie’s argument; Andrew responded and so American it hurts. But the Hellcat fit him, reckless and extravagant, made to measure straight off the line. The brash white of Eddie’s toothy smile and his muscled arm hanging out the window, gunning the brutal roar of the engine at the first stoplight they’d coasted up to together, had lit him on fire.

This paragraph does a lot of work - it tells us all about Andrew’s grief and what kind of person Eddie was, all while framing it around the description of a car. Notice that Mandelo doesn’t worry too much about grammar or run-on sentences - he’s trying to pull you on an emotional journey where thoughts don’t stop crashing into each other. In that aspect, you can also use sentence structure to convey mood and meaning. Short, choppy sentences can be used in moments of panic or anger. Longer sentences woven together with multiple commas can take you on a journey, like a dream - or a nightmare.

Here’s another paragraph from Ash Van Otterloo’s Middle Grade Cattywampus:

Half a heartbeat later, a prism of smoke and shadow erupted from the mirror and tore through the room, knocking Katybird back on her throw pillows with a squeak. The candles toppled, and hot wax spattered Katy’s foot in angry droplets. Deep, guttural groans crescendoed, then filled the room so loudly, the shelf of knickknacks on the wall shook. Terrible silhouettes crouched and leaped, springing from wall to wall like enormous frenzied crickets in a fishing bait box. Under the bed, Podge growled a low warning and Fatso scrambled around in a panic.

Here we have an action scene with magic and chaos, using a lot of action words while making use of items in the environment (the candles, the pillows, the pets). Because it’s Middle Grade, we don’t have to describe this room with every detail - any kid can imagine a bedroom they’re familiar with and picture this scene happening in it. Your audience, therefore, will also determine how much goes into the description.

After doing your homework and figuring out what kind of description appeals to you and why, do not be afraid to go overboard on describing your setting. Spent three paragraphs describing that shack on a hill, it’s fine! In editing, you’ll be able to cut it down to the core of what appeals to you the most.

If you’re the opposite kind of writer and find your descriptions sparse, go back to that homework. Where can you insert emotion, think about how to use things in the environment (a favorite chair, a hated jacket) to do it. When you need to convey mood, consider lighting - is it dim or bright? Cloudy in a way that brings your character comfort or gloom? Does an event that happens in a particular room change how it feels (i.e. being attacked in what previously felt like a safe space).

Also don’t be afraid to physically sit in a place and imagine how your scene would feel there. This might feel silly, but ignore it. You’re a writer, you’re allowed to do absurd things. Now, you may not have a grand fantasy forest, but you might have a park with nice trees. Spend some time noting how the air feels while walking around them, what feeling you get when you hear the leaves crunch underfoot. You might not be able to visit that big cathedral that your fight scene is set during Covid times, but you can google enough pictures and use street view to get a lay of how it looks. Not old enough to go to a bar and don’t want to rely on TV stereotypes? Googled images, videos, and hell, Tiktoks are your friend.

Setting is not easy, but it is conquerable. The more you push yourself, the easier it’ll get.