#i told myself i wouldn't get to write anything else until i finished my chapter

[creedslove]

DESERVE IT - FINAL CHAPTER

Javier Peña x f!reader

Summary: The well deserved happy ending Javi and his beautiful wife waited for so long

• You can catch up on the rest of this wonderful story on my MASTERLIST

Warnings: fluff, happiness, happy ending and I don't wanna say anything else not to spoil it ❤️

A/N: I never thought I'd bring myself to actually finish this story, just like the rest of my series, it was meant to be a one shot nineteen chapters ago and it evolved into this beautiful romance ❤️‍🔥 I know it's just fiction but it felt so real sometimes when I was writing, there were times I was so deep into the story it felt Javi was right there talking to me, as I already told you, countless times I ended up writing my own name instead of Y/N because I was so deep into it and I thank you all for supporting me, for reading, liking, reblogging and commenting this story, if it weren't for you, this story wouldn't exist ❤️

4k words

It didn't matter to you if you were walking around the house with your hair and makeup done but still wearing a dress gown that covered your white lingerie before you could actually put on your wedding dress. Your heart was hammering your chest, making your breathing uneven and your anxiety kicking you in the ribs at every passing minute, you just needed to find Javi, your Javi, your soon-to-be husband Javi, because in just a matter of hours, you would get married, your dream would finally come true and after battling so long for your happiness, building up your relationship, and against all odds you and Javi were about to have your happy ending.

You knew a lot of people betted against the two of you; they were just so sure things wouldn't work out, and that you and Javier were bound to break up, they assumed he would fail you, he would just break your heart, take you for granted or cheat on you, and that couldn't be further from the truth, as Javier took care of you as if you were the most precious stone he'd ever seen. He was just hopelessly in love with you and there was nothing he could do. It was simply love at its purest form, and even if it came later into his life, making Javi think during countless nights he wasn't worthy of loving, of having a family, there it was, simply and wholeheartedly, meant to be with the girl of his dreams.

You still had a few hours until the wedding, as the bride you had to start getting ready early, but you needed to see Javier, even if he was busy, or if he was getting ready himself, you didn't know, you'd been separated from him when you woke up, under the excuse he couldn't see you before the ceremony, as it would be a sign of bad luck, though you didn't really care nor believe those popular myths, nothing could ruin your day.

Still, you needed to get to Javi, it was just a real necessity to see him, to look into his eyes, kiss his lips and tell him what you needed to tell him before you two tied the knot, you didn't care if your clothes weren't adequate, - if you could call them clothes at all, it was just a simple gown covering you barely, but you crossed the house, not caring if there was anyone else there.

"What are you doing, mijita?" Chucho frowned softly as he spotted you and placed his hand on his hips, he'd just left his room, the one Javier was using to get ready, just to check up on his son and see if he was really going all the way, after all, even if Chucho believed his son was really a happy man now, he still thought it was better be safe than sorry, not giving the destiny any chances of repeating itself.

"I need to talk to Javi, don Chucho, please… is he here?" You asked him, smiling nervously at him and that poor old man's heart couldn't take it. He loved you like a daughter already and he knew how happy you made his son, so he only nodded and pointed at the door, "go ahead mijita, he's as nervous as you are" the man who treated you like a father would cleared his throat and walked away, wanting to give you two privacy to talk - or do whatever that dirty mind of his son had planned.

You knocked on the door so Javi wouldn't be startled once you opened it, and with no more waiting you got inside. Your heart raced and you could swear you fell in love all over again with Javier. He was just so effortlessly handsome as he checked himself in front of the mirror, his jacket suit was still open, allowing anyone to take a good look at his silky white shirt. His tie lying on the bed as if he'd just discarded it, Javi had just shaved that morning, his cheeks were smooth and soft as his mustache was meticulously trimmed, he'd brushed his hair as well, wanting to look his best for you. He also knew there would be a crowd of people watching him, well, the two of you really, but the main focus was him, because their money would certainly be on Javier not showing up for his wedding again. At first he thought he would like to show them how wrong they were, rub on their faces that Javier Peña was a reliable, responsible man, not only that, he was a family man, the kind of man to have a loving wife and build a beautiful family with their lovely kids, but as the days went by and the wedding date got just around the corner, he realized none of that mattered to him; he didn't give a rat's ass if people from town, Lorraine, or even his dad believed he was capable of settling down or not, because the only thing that mattered to him was you. You were the one Javi wanted to please, to impress and to hold on to forever, you were the love of his life and he was the love of your life and the thought of spending the rest of his days with you was enough to bring peace into his heart. So at the end of day, he didn't care what people thought or said, he cared about you, about the family you would have together and about having the perfect wedding in order to make you happy.

"Javi?" You asked, snapping him out of his daydreams and immediately turned to you. He wasn't expecting seeing you before the ceremony but smiled as you walked to him, sensing something was off, as you rushed to him, wrapping your arms as tight as you could around his body and buried your face into his chest.

"Hey hermosa, did something happen?" Javi asked with a bit of worry as he felt you clinging to his shirt, the way you sniffed and looked up at him with your teary eyes. You shook your head, you didn't want to scare him or bother him at all just because you were anxious. He held your head gently between his hands, holding you in place and analyzing your makeup, how beautiful you looked

"You're gorgeous, you know that? I love your makeup, and your hair is looking very nice too, even if you don't have your dress on, I could marry you just know, because you're perfect" he smiled and took your hand, humming in approval as he saw you had your nails painted red, despite everyone else saying it should be white, you just ignored them and went with your future husband's favorite color "rojo te sale tan bien, mi amor" he took your hand to his mouth, kissing it very gently, like the gentleman he was.

"I'm sorry Javi, I was feeling so anxious, I have something to say…" you took a deep breath and stared into his beautiful brown eyes, the most beautiful pair you'd ever seen, because they belonged to him and you loved everything that had to do with your Javi.

"Go ahead cariño, tell me anything you want, except if it's to tell me you don't wanna marry me anymore, that I don't wanna hear it" he joked softly and pecked your lips once more, dragging his lips to your law and going down your neck. You groaned, he wasn't playing fair with you and he knew it. He was your weakness and you did take a risk by showing up in front of him with very little clothing and yet all dolled up for him, but you ached for him, for his presence and reassurance, maybe not in a sexual way, not at that moment at least, but you still needed him close. You opened your eyes again and your hands went to the side of his head, fingers sinking into his soft hair, feeling his scalp and massaging it, loving that feeling, not caring if Javi would have to fix his hair again, it didn't matter to you and it didn't matter to him either, because nothing was better than that affection. He closed his eyes and purred at how you played with his hair, his hands were tighter on your waist and sat onto the bed, pulling you to him and having you on his lap. He held you as if his life depended on it, resting his face on your chest and listening to your heartbeat, closing his eyes as he was taken back to Colombia and the night he got badly beat up and you took care of him, even after he was awful to you, after he was petty, rude, jealous and bitter all of that towards you, you still offered him love, comfort and warmth.

He didn't deserve you, and yet, he was gifted you. Something he would never understand, how good things happen to men like Javier, but he wasn't going to complain, quite the opposite, he was going to get on his knees and thank the heavens every single day of the rest of his life. He thought of that night in Colombia and how it changed your lives forever. Back then, you were dating Manu, and Javi had been connected with Los Pepes, after going out looking for trouble because he couldn't control his jealousy of you, he came back home bruised and bleeding, and you sat on his lap and wiped off the blood patiently, devotedly and if he weren't in love with you then, he would've fallen head over heels, but after that night, the way you simply held him, gave him love and comfort, without asking anything in return just made him love you even more. At that night, he allowed himself to dream of a future with you for the first time, he dreamed of you and him, back on the ranch, living a married life and having a family together and now that things were finally happening, he wanted to just hold you and cherish you forever, the same Javier that once thought the domesticity of a relationship just wasn't for him, now realized he couldn't live without it.

He chuckled at how things changed and you frowned, snapping out of your own thoughts and looked at him, he nuzzled your chest like a cat, you loved that about Javier, how he responded to touch and how he couldn't stay away from touching you.

"What's so funny Javi?" You questioned him and felt as he shrugged

"I was just thinking of that night in Colombia, when I asked you to sit on my lap and how hard I fell for you, even more than I had before, because you were so perfect to me and I said I want to have a family with you and you told me it was my fever talking" he laughed "I'm glad you saw I meant well" he said and kissed your cleavage gently, his arms wrapped a little more around you, showing how much he enjoyed having you in his embrace.

"I'm glad you're here, cariño" his strong hand held your neck gently as he kissed your lips

"I'm glad the two of you are here" his hand ran down your chest and rested on your belly, as you gasped and looked at him with anxiety and surprise. How could he even know?

"How?" You whispered and Javi smiled big at you "I saw the test in the trash can yesterday, amor… I was waiting for you to tell me, but you didn't so I waited" he caressed your womb gently "besides, I noticed your changes, I've had for a while now… your nausea, how emotional you are when we watch TV, and this baby girl…" Javi whispered against your lips as his hands went for your breasts, squeezing them so gently, making you moan softly at his touch "... Do you really think I wouldn't notice your beautiful sexy tits being fuller and more sensitive baby?" Javi purred against your skin "you know me" he said looking deeply into your eyes.

"I was scared, Javi… we are going to get married and I was hoping we would enjoy our married life before having the baby, bu-"

And Javi kissed you again, he wanted to shut your pretty mouth so you wouldn't overthink and worry about things, so the best way to do so was by tasting your lips, breaking the kiss only when he saw you'd calmed down a bit.

"Listen… things are perfect the way they are, we're getting married and our beautiful baby Peña is already here, there's nothing else I could ask for, I have a loving wife and a baby on the way, it's much more than I deserve it, but here it is and I couldn't be happier… are you happy, hermosa?"

"Yes, Javi…" you whispered "then let's get married, baby girl"

•••

You had returned to your room to finish getting ready while Javi stayed behind, there wasn't a lot he had to do to get ready as men usually had only to shower and show up to these kinds of celebrations. He knew his dad was busy welcoming the guests and checking on everything the catering people were setting, and there was no way he could knock on your door and ask to hang out. He sighed as a lot was on his mind, how you two would be an official couple in a matter of hours and you'd take his name, becoming officially Mrs.Peña and how in nine months you would have a baby, your kid, in your arms. It was too much for Javi, but in a good sense, he couldn't wait to finally do all those things, but he would be lying if at that moment he wasn't feeling slightly nervous.

"Ready to tie the knot Javi? Honestly, I didn't think I'd live long enough to see that happening…" Steve took off his aviators as he walked towards his friend and chuckled at Javi's surprised face, giving him a hug "what? Someone had to make sure you wouldn't escape your own wedding this time" Steve winked and Javi groaned, giving him the finger but tiny arms wrapped around his leg, making him look down, as Olivia smiled big at him, with her sweet face

"Avi!!!" She said excitedly still having a hard time pronouncing his name but being so happy to be picked and lifted her up, she giggled as Javier tickled her small tummy gently and his heart raced to think in a short while his very own little one would be able to run around and play with Olivia.

"Where's your beautiful mama?" Javi asked and Steve chuckled "she's helping your girl get into her wedding dress because apparently these are tricky as hell to put on" he explained "now come on, it's time for you to get married" he said.

Javi had faced drug dealers, murderers, psychopaths, and all kinds of criminals one could think of, he'd been inches from them, interrogating those types in a small room in a police station, but none of them made him sweat with nervousness as having to walk down the aisle and wait for you there, at the altar. He looked at his side, where he saw Steve standing up, nodding at him softly, reminding him everything was going to be okay. Javi watched the guests, recognizing many faces all over the rows, he could swear most of them were whispering about him under their breaths. Well, at least they could see Javier Peña wasn't leaving anyone at the altar anymore, if anything, you would be the one who would get the chance to leave the infamous Javier Peña at the altar.

He chuckled at his own nonsense and looked down at his shoes, the waiting was killing him.

And then, a song started playing and he could swear his heart skipped a beat. He immediately raised his head and licked his lips, seeing you from afar, his dad offering you his arm so you would walk down the aisle with him, as your family wasn't around, Chucho decided to step in and walk you to your husband, so proud and happy to see you and Javi were finally staying together.

And the moment you walked closer and Javi could see you in your wedding dress, he was head over heels for you, all over again, and he knew he would continue to do so for the rest of his life. You were gorgeous, flawless in your dress, and all the wait made perfect sense, it all led to that moment, it was meant to be.

When you got to the altar, Javi extended his hand to you, taking it and pulling you closer, stealing a peck on the lips before you two turned to the priest who agreed to bless your wedding - after a lot of Chucho's persuasion.

And after a brief ceremony, you and Javi got married in the green fields of your ranch, among family and friends, after fighting a lot for your love, you were wholeheartedly his, his wife, the mother of his baby and officially Y/N Peña.

And just as that night in Colombia when you two had your first fight and he stormed out, and when he returned, he fell onto his knees for you because he said he was 'a perro a tus pies', he got on his knees again, not giving one crap if it was in front of dozens of guests, he wrapped his arms around your body and kissed your womb, so there wasn't any doubt to anyone that Javier Peña was officially a family man.

•••

The months passed by faster than you ever thought they would, as your belly grew bigger and bigger, and your baby evolved healthy and strong, you were also surrounded by love. Chucho was all the time around you, so excited about his grandkid, he very often interrupted his work to check on you, ask if you needed anything or offer you drinks or something to nibble on. Every time he went to town he'd be damned if he didn't spend a good thirty minutes telling whoever he encounter about his grandkid. And he also kept a small ultrasound picture in his wallet too, willing to show people how cute the baby was - even if it was hard to distinguish something in the image.

Javi wasn't as talkative and outgoing as his dad, and he didn't like talking about his private life to the same people who very often spread gossip about himself and his pregnant wife, so he kept all his love and affection for you and your baby. Javi was the best dad in the world, and your baby wasn't even born yet, and yet, he made sure to come back from work and give you all the attention in the world. Javi wasn't really happy while working on the ranch anymore so when the opportunity of becoming chief of police showed up, he took it. It was just enough adrenaline for him to keep interested in the job - arresting drinks and thieves, break up fights between college boys - but safe enough to come back home to his family at the end of the day. He couldn't complain about being a small town sheriff and you would definitely not going to complain about the sexy uniform he wore - even if Javi hated wearing them - and you couldn't even get started on his tactical vest, but just the mere thought of him in one of those was enough for you to jump on him. He'd told you it was just your pregnancy hormones making you overly sensitive to it, but you knew it wasn't, it was him wearing that devilish vest, that was what made you sensitive.

Javi would get home from work and hold you tight, always stroking your belly and talking to the baby. He wanted the baby to know her daddy's voice, because from the moment you two learned you were having a baby girl, she had her dad wrapped around her tiny little finger. So he just nuzzled your womb, talked to it and very often fell asleep with his head on your lap, doing everything he could to be close to his princess. Chucho and Javi did all the heavy work when it came to set the baby's room, painting, dragging the furniture around and leaving to you the decoration part - though the two of them had so many ideas for it: Chucho thought his granddaughter should go with the classic ballerina room, and Javi liked something to do with butterflies after all, he was already calling his daughter mariposita.

You didn't want to take sides, so you decided your daughter's room would be bear themed, the two men agreed reluctantly, but Chucho always bought ballerina related small gifts and Javi did the same with butterflies.

The night you went on labor was one of the most chaotic of your life: Javi wasn't home, there was an occurrence and he was called to the station, so you asked for your father-in-law's help and you had never seen Chucho Peña that nervous. If you weren't in so much pain, you'd definitely taken the car keys and driven yourself to the hospital. When Javi was finally located and he received the news you were giving birth, he dropped everything he was doing, leaving the things for the other cops to solve. He didn't give a shit if all the criminals broke free at that moment, only you and your daughter mattered to him. He drove like a madman and he would've certainly got a ticket for exceeding the speed limit if he wasn't the chief of police after all, but he made it in time to follow the miracle of life, until the doctors decided it would be better if you had a C-section, so they asked him kindly to leave the room, after all it would be an operation. Javier paced the hallway, worry and fear running through his body, he couldn't lose you nor the baby, even if no one had said anything remotely related to that, that was definitely his biggest fear.

But everything went well, and at that same time, Analuz Peña was welcomed into this world. Ana because it was his mother's name, and Luz because she was the light in his life, the light that was brought in by you. He held his tiny little baby, a little afraid of hurting her, as he couldn't remember the last time he held an infant for the last time, but when she opened her tiny little eyes and looked at him, it felt natural, because that was his daughter.

And for the following months you and Javi met happiness in the purest form: you were happily married, each day more and more in love with each other, now free from all the envy, jealousy and the mean remarks about the two of you, your daughter was a beautiful and healthy baby, loved by everyone and you couldn't have asked for a better life. To think you had gone to Colombia to try and mend a heartbreak by diving into work and you met the love of your life, and that the love of your life didn't think he deserved it, to think he had pushed you away only to lose his shit when you tried to move on, which you both found out it was impossible because your love was too strong and too intense, only to be together and then separated by destiny. But you and Javi were meant to be and the proof of that was the beautiful family you built as you two lived the happy, quiet life you two deserved on the ranch.

Analuz was so lucky to have you as her mommy and Javi as her daddy, and her baby brother who was still a tiny little dot in your womb would also be very lucky, because you were all right for each other, and the happiness you all got, you deserved it.

The End

_____

A/N: oh my god besties, I'm crying for real now, I don't know why but ending the stories always makes me so emotional and especially this story in particular, I'll never forget how emotionally invested I was, how many shitty days I had and writing these chapters and Javi were the things that got my mind out of it. I hope you enjoy it, it was written with all my love ❤️‍🔥 I know it is just a story, but at the same time it isn't just another story, just as it made me happy, it has made several of you happy as well, judging by the amount of amazing feedback I got throughout the two months and twenty chapters of this fic. I know it hurts to say goodbye, but remember Javi is ours and he can always be back for another one 🥺💕

"Tu el aire que respiro yo

Y la luz de la luna en el mar

La garganta que ansio mojar

Que temo ahogar de amor"

[canonicallyobserving911]

WIP Wednesday

Fanonwriter2023 on AO3

Where CANON and FANON collide!

This is an EPIC LOVE STORY!

Season 7 FANON Speculation: Buddie Multi-Chapter Fanfic - Hiatus Reading: “I’m still in love with you but... I needed to learn how to love myself too!”

Chapter 19 will be posted soon.

Currently 18 chapters completed: 673.4K Words Rated: Mature

One chapter will be posted at a time.

____________

I'm excited to finish writing Chapter 19 because there are only 21 days left until Buck and Eddie get married.

For anyone who hasn't read Chapter 18, here's a brief overview: Since Eddie had to work a 4/10 from Monday through Thursday, Buck and Chris went to the Diaz family's Thanksgiving celebration without him. After Helena was rude to Buck the Sunday before the holiday, he was completely nervous about the way everyone else would treat him too and he hoped he wouldn't end up standing in the backyard alone but Eddie reassured him the Diazes would love him. Also, Eddie, Buck, Adriana, Antonio and Sophia had a meeting with Helena the day after Thanksgiving and the proverbial $hit hit the fan.

Buck and Eddie will tie the knot before Christmas 2023 but they are NOT getting married in the U.S. and they won't have a wedding ceremony until May 2024. They've revealed their relationship, their engagement and the fact that they're going to Europe to their found family during the 118's Thanksgiving dinner and now to Eddie's parents, his sisters, his abuela and Tia Pepa but they didn't tell them everything. No one knows they're getting married in three weeks, not even Chris because they haven't told him yet.

Have they revealed their relationship, engagement and European vacation to everyone or is there someone else who'll find out in Chapter 19? 👀

___________

Here's a snippet from Chapter 19 of Buck and Eddie being romantically fluffy while they're lying in bed.

___________

He sits his phone down then he takes Eddie’s phone out of his hand and sits it next to his.  After he does, he kisses him on the cheek and whispers into his ear, “Babe… today is another “Diaz Day” and all you’ll be doing is studying for your exam.  It’s scheduled for tomorrow morning so you won’t be doing anything other than taking practice exams and reviewing scenario questions.  After we eat breakfast, me and Chris will clean the house and we’ll work together to make sure all his homework is done before he goes back to school tomorrow.  I’ll handle everything”.

“I love it when you give me “Diaz Days”.  He replies then he kisses Buck on the forehead.  After he lays his head back on the pillow, he asks, “Will I still get my “Diaz Days” after I’ve passed all my exams?”

“You certainly will but um… they’ll be different.”

He furrows his brow and asks, “How?”

“Well…”  He begins but he trails off as he starts walking his fingers up Eddie’s chest.

While maintaining eye contact, he moves his head a little closer, then he leans in and presses his lips against Eddie’s.  After he runs his tongue over his bottom lip, he opens for him and it quickly turns heated.  They start gasping, moaning and panting into each other’s mouths and as their tongues become tangled, Eddie wants to hear his fiancé make that high-pitched noise in the back of his throat that he loves to hear.  So he puts his right hand on the back of Buck’s neck and applies a little bit of pressure and he gets an immediate reaction because not only does Buck make the sound; he makes it twice.

They kiss for what seems like hours and after he breaks it, he talks against Eddie’s lips and admits, “For the rest of our lives, every day will be a “Diaz Day”… and you know what else?”

Eddie smiles and asks, “What?”

 “We’ll get to…”  He trails off and moves his head to the side so their cheeks are pressed together then he whispers, “faremo l’amore” into his ear.  After he says it, he pulls back and meets his eyes but he doesn’t translate it from Italian to English.

Eddie pouts.  “My love… you just said something else in Italian that you haven’t taught me yet.  Just like Friday night when you said “facciamo l’amore” and “fai l’amore con me”.  I know what amore means but what about…”

He doesn’t get to finish because Buck kisses him with so much desire and longing that it takes both of their breaths away.

What is Eddie going to do? 👀

Will he learn the meaning of those three Italian phrases before they leave for Italy? 🤷🏽‍♀️

Will he commit the new phrase to memory like he did the first two? 🙃

___________

Fic Summary: Months after Buck and Eddie were hit by the same lightning strike; they’re still struggling with the aftermath of it.  But before they make their love confessions, they’ll spend time getting to know themselves as individuals first. Eddie learns to enjoy the simple things in life as he participates in activities on his own and with new friends while Buck learns the rest of the 31-year-old deep dark family secret about his conception and birth. Their journey to forever is still a work in progress but once they finally admit they’re in love with each other, everything that follows their love confessions will be cataclysmic.

__________

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1 - Eddie makes a new friend while Buck receives devastating news regarding the sperm donation he made for Connor and Kameron.

Chapter 2 - Buck does a lot of research to learn more about the abnormalities found in his red blood cells and Eddie starts a new therapy journey that’s all about him and not the traumas he’s experienced.

Chapter 3 - After more than a month, Buck and Eddie finally spend time together outside of work but it doesn’t end well and they part with a lot of uncertainty regarding their places in each other’s lives.

Chapter 4 - Eddie has a few realizations about his life which causes him to consider moving back to El Paso, TX while Buck continues to be reminded of his past which causes him to take an impromptu road trip across America.

Chapter 5 - Both Buck and Eddie have difficult conversations with their parents and Buck finally learns the truth behind the reason why his mother despised him while Eddie finally tells his mother about the way she tries to control him.

Chapter 6 - More than two weeks after Buck pushed Eddie away after suggesting they needed a break; Eddie decides to try again. Eddie’s there for Buck when he’s at his worst just like Buck was there for him when he was at his worst and he won’t let Buck give up.

Chapter 7 - After Buck’s mental breakdown, Eddie has his back the same way Buck had his when he had his own breakdown more than a year ago.  They share several vulnerable and emotionally intimate moments with one another and they begin to realize their small, sweet and caring gestures matter just as much if not more than any grand gesture ever could because these are the foundations of a long-lasting love relationship.

Chapter 8 - Buck, Eddie and Chris all have their own therapists and during their sessions, they reflect on their pasts while they’re in the present so they can prepare for their future together as a family.

Chapter 9 - Buck and Eddie are there for each other when Buck has to testify as a witness during the trial.  But by the end of it, they’ll both realize their individual and shared traumas are going to keep resurfacing until they talk about them, deal with the fact that they’re in love with one another and face the fact that they can’t live without each other.

Chapter 10 - As Buck and Eddie finally begin to confront their past traumas, they realize how much they need each other to fill in the gaps of their memories.  Additionally, the universe screams at them for what appears to be the one hundredth time so Buck can realize he doesn’t have to ‘find it’ because he already ‘made it’ and Eddie’s reminded tomorrow isn’t promised and he doesn’t have to die alone if he doesn’t want to.

Chapter 11 - A “virga” or dry thunderstorm is in the forecast but once the rain starts, the thunderstorm happening outside won’t be able to match the storm brewing inside between Buck and Eddie.  It’s the universe’s final scream and when the tumultuous winds begin to blow, they’ll have one last chance to hold onto everything they’ve built over the last six years or they’ll lose it all forever.

Chapter 12 - Buck and Eddie have always shared a deep physical attraction and an emotional intimacy that’s unmatched but now that they’re in a relationship, they’re learning how to navigate the romantic intimacy they’ve been waiting for six years to explore. The love they have for each other is a once in a lifetime, soulmate, love of their lives type of love that transcends space and time.

Chapter 13 - While navigating the newness of their romantic relationship, Buck and Eddie take advantage of every moment they spend together. As their individual lives, people from their pasts, time constraints and the possibility of losing each other again make attempts to interrupt and interfere with their journey to forever, they love, care for, support and hold onto each other even tighter to withstand it all.

Chapter 14 - Buck and Eddie can see the lights at the end of the tunnels regarding the results of Buck’s Cancer Screening along with everything else they’re dealing with. But are the lights they see exits to the tunnels or are they headlights on different runaway trains that are speeding towards them in an effort to interrupt their forever?

Chapter 15 - Buck and Eddie have known they were exactly who the other one wanted in a partner since they met six years ago when they agreed to have each other’s backs. They’re in a romantic relationship, they’re both preparing to ask the other one to spend forever with them and by the end of the seventh week into their relationship, together they will plan their most important and greatest adventure for their future.

Chapter 16 - As Buck and Eddie begin to prepare for their marriage ceremony that will take place in Rome, Italy in December 2023, they start planning their first international adventure as a romantic couple. Even though Chris is still the only person they’ve told about their relationship, several people who know them have already witnessed the love they share and as the days continue, others will witness it too.

Chapter 17 - As Buck and Eddie get closer to departing Los Angeles for their international adventure, a moment in time will remind them; life is fragile, tomorrow isn’t promised and every second of everyday should be cherished because everything can change in an instant.  The result of that realization will cause them to hold onto each other even more.

Chapter 18 - As Buck, Eddie and Chris prepare for family gatherings before and during the Thanksgiving holiday, the “Santa Ana Winds” start to blow and all sorts of expected and unexpected familial drama ensues.

Chapter 19 - Will be posted soon.

__________

Read chapters 1-18 are available on AO3.

Continue reading on AO3

Chapter 19 will be posted soon.

[alphacrone]

20 questions game!

thanks for the tag @displayheartcode ~

tagging @eskildit @ghosthorse @injustspring and whomstever else

How many works do you have on AO3?

119! but i also used to have a livejournal and three different ff.net accounts so....there's definitely a lot more floating around out there.............

2. What's your total AO3 words count?

598,242

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently only Lockwood & Co., but I used to write a lot of Check, Please! back in the day.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

lol they're all OMGCP. like a handprint on my heart (2,880 kudos), i'll see you with your laughter lines (2 412 kudos), until your father's at the table (1 702), smaller than dust on this map (1 222), Blue-Eyed Jack (1 051)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yes! i want people to know how much I appreciate their feedback, and i enjoy interacting with the community. if i didn't, i wouldn't publish my fic i would just hoard it for myself haha

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

hmmmmm well i do like to kill main characters for the angst so probably either rage, rage against the dying of the light (lockwood fic written I think right after Whispering Skull came out? god what a cheesy title) or anything for one more hour of light (written for the check please heartbreak 2017 fest)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i tend towards happy endings in fic so that's a lot of them lol. maybe like a handprint on my heart?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i get occassionally rude comments on ao3 itself but never anything really bad. i used to get quite a few nasty anons on here though. some people will REALLY go out of their way to tell you exactly why your writing is cringe.

9. Do you write smut. If so what kind?

i did during my stint in the check, please! fandom but i don't really write it anymore. i would definitely call my past smut messy (in many ways).

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

i like to do crossover AUs -- harry potter aus, hunger games aus, etc. -- but I cannot remember the last time I did a proper crossover. it might've been back in my twilight days, if ever.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i'm aware of! i honestly haven't even heard of fic stealing since the days of ff.net but i guess it's not surprising it's still rampant

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes! at least one in russian, i want to say another in mandarin. i would have to go back and find them, and some might be gone.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

not fully cowritten, but @ghosthorse and i like to plot out stories together. we have a couple original stories half-baked in google docs from when we were living in different states and got REALLY bored at work.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

my ships change with the tides. i'm a pretty big sucker for locklyle, though, and zimbits. i tend towards rare-pairs and non-canon pairings though.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

every WIP i've ever started lol. but i would like to get back to for it's better to burn out than to fade out of sight (fruits basket) though i doubt i will.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I tend to capture the voices of characters decently well. I love writing dialogue and banter.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

EVERYTHING ELSE HAHAHAHAHHA (crying). I've been told my writing is very cringy and I tend to agree. I struggle with plot and pacing, I don't spend enough time on setting or building up to important scenes/moments, I almost never edit before I post, I'm very bad about contradicting myself between chapters or creating plot holes, I overuse adjectives and adverbs and commas and em-dashes and semicolons, I love a run-on sentence, I misuse big words, and I have a tendency to rely too heavily on the same couple of phrases -- e.g. taken aback, testament to, gave them pause, blood ran cold, face grew hot, etc.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I generally don't do it, but if you do, run it by a native speaker first.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

First wrote for Harry Potter or Bartimaeus, first published for Twilight. (Okay not QUITE accurate. I technically published HP fic but on my own shitty HTML website. My dad wouldn't let me join any fic site because I was too young, but he saw it as a great chance to get my to learn HTML. It was called "Visions of Red and Gold" and I posted my shitty fanfiction and mine and my friends' fanart.) This was the image on the home page that you had to select to get into the site:

Yikes!

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

oh this is hard. i'm currently very fond of Jessica Lockwood’s Home for Misfit Ghost Hunters, it's been a delight to work on. but my all-time fave is probably until your father's at the table. it was incredibly cathartic to write.

[tokiro07]

Hey, I like the tag :D And don't worry about it, I don't feel really called out, it's just very "oh someone noticed how In It Too Deep i am" lol

I agree with your assessment, like as someone who has been all up and down the Networking Scale (from meeting Big Important People to just meeting a bunch of weirdos who like the same thing as me) in general i feel like we all trust each other's tastes and recommendations way more than a random algorithm :> And being able to say "hey! this is something For You to try!" makes a huge difference both ways. It's always satisfying when someone likes something I recommended to them.

The irony of the sheer amount of content available in the world is that even if a single work finds the right path to its target audience, there's no guarantee that the target audience will be capable of engaging with it

I read Jump every week because it's easy. There is, at all times, an average of 20 manga in Jump, sometimes as few as 18, sometimes as many as 22, but pretty much never outside of that range. When one manga gets added, another gets removed; the stream is steady and predictable, so when there's something new, it's not taking up more of my time, it's filling a gap in the time I've already decided to allocate to this one hobby

If a manga runs in any other magazine though? It needs to really hook me, preferably fast. 100 Girlfriends? I caught it on day one. If you told me today "this manga has canon polyamory without cheating and is really funny, it makes a lot of Shonen Jump jokes, including a Medaka Box reference," I'd be super interested! But then I'd look at the 150 chapters and assess the amount of free time I have to dedicate to this and put it on the backburner, spending every day saying "man, I want to get into that...maybe soon..." and never getting around to it

Let that sink in: you could tell me it has a MEDAKA BOX REFERENCE and that won't convince me to drop time to catch up

Dorohedoro? Loved the anime, really want to get into the manga because I know it's more of the same and continues to develop the story. I'm too busy to start that journey

Dungeon Meshi? I've never heard anything about it that I didn't like, the art is great, the writing seems hilarious and I know I'll have a good time. I'll be able to carve out half an hour to watch an episode a week because I'll likely finish something else in time, but even if I do keep up with the anime, will I ever be able to get into the manga? I'll want to, but I just don't know

Games are even harder because in the time it takes me to finish one game, at least two more I'm interested in have come out. Pizza Tower caught me at the perfect time - I just finished Sonic Frontiers, Tears of the Kingdom wouldn't be out until the end of that week, I knew I'd be able to finish it in a day or two, AND I happened to be home sick from work. It was the exact size I needed it to be to fill the void

Meanwhile, I got into the IDW Sonic comics at the exact same time, but I was able to do that because I just finished Sonic Frontiers and wanted more Sonic content. As time passed and my free time ran out and Comixology stopped supplying me with the chapters I hadn't read yet, I ended up falling off of it. I'm almost caught up, and I can't bring myself to continue it because I can't use the super fun and convenient UI that I got used to

Having a constant deluge of content means you'll never run out of things to do, but fishing one out of the ensuing flood is so hard. If you're lucky, your friends will be wary of the moment you finish the thing you're working on and jump out of the waters to present you with the perfect catch

Otherwise people are just throwing fish in your boat while you're still eating this really good one and you're like "yeah, that is a good looking fish, let me just finish this one" and by the time you're done it's not looking so fresh and you're looking for another one, but you're not willing to throw the fish back into the water cus your friend gave it to you, that'd be rude

That metaphor got away from me, I think, but the point is that content piles up and selecting from it is a horrible matter of timing and motivation

[fleetsonourgecentral]

hiya! i love ur writing sm, and this ship lol. if ur up for a writing prompt, i was wondering if u could do something with either scourge or sonic getting badly injured and the other having to do some emergency patching up before they can get to like. someone who actually knows how to fix it. (i think theres something similar to this in trip trip fall in love but what can i say im a sucker for characters getting injured and their unprepared partner has to frantically try to keep them Okay until real help arrives.) only if you want to of course, and if u dont feel free to ignore this lol! have a lovely day :D

Hi!!! I'm so glad you like my writing! Sorry this took so long to get to djgdjgdjg I've been kicking my own ass trying to make myself finish writing this chapter for this fic I haven't updated in *checks watch* 8 months now! I am always up for writing prompts even if I take forever to get to them haha haha

~~~

Missions were something Scourge was slowly but surely growing used to. They'd started out as only an occasional event for him when the Freedom Fighters had no one else to spare, but somehow they became a regular occurrence the longer he stayed with the Freedom Fighters without fucking them over. They usually only sent him on ones with a high chance for a fight, since he "wasn't subtle enough to do anything more complicated than that" in Sonic's words, but honestly, he preferred that. Wrecking shit was something he knew like the back of his hand, and so much more entertaining than lounging around the base looking for something to do.

Somehow missions for the Freedom Fighters became one of his second favourite things to do in this dimension. Right after bothering Sonic and his friends, of course. They became familiar to him, and were quickly growing to be a comfort.

So he didn't expect his latest mission to be any different than the others. Fuck up a few robots, vandalize Robotnik's property, compete with Sonic over who destroyed the most stuff. And for the most part, that was exactly how the mission went. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Until the fight was over, that is.

Scourge stood amongst the wreckage of robots, running a hand through his quills to dislodge anything that might have gotten caught in there. He glanced around for Sonic, grinning when he spotted him a few feet away, and jogged over to him, opening his mouth to yell out his score and compare it with Sonic's.

As he got closer, though, he slowed down, mouth closing and brow furrowing. Something wasn't right. Sonic was crouched down, almost hunched over himself, still surrounded by broken robots. His ear twitched when Scourge got closer, but he made no move to stand up or even turn to look at him.

"I know I've beat you this time," Scourge said, more to test the waters than an actual desire to boast. "Forty three."

"Good for you," Sonic spat. He still didn't straighten.

Well shit, that probably wasn't good.

"The fuck's up with you?" Scourge asked, coming to a stop in front of Sonic, folding his arms as he stared down at him. "What, you that pissed over my score?"

Sonic ignored him, and okay, something was definitely wrong if he wasn't rising to the bait. Frowning, Scourge crouched down to get a better look at him.

Sonic was clutching his left arm close to his chest. His jaw was clenched and his brow pinched, and when Scourge tried to pull his hand away so he could get a look at his arm, he flinched away.

"Get off, I'm fine."

"Yeah, that's why you're still sat here holding your arm like I'm gonna rip it right out of your socket."

Sonic lifted his head just enough to glare at him. With a stubborn set to his jaw he gingerly rose to his feet, wincing when his arm jostled.

"Happy? Let's go."

"What's wrong with your arm first?"

"Nothing. Let's just go."

"Prove it. Show me your arm."

"What are you, a cop?"

"No, I just don't want Amy to skin us both alive if we get back and you did something stupid like hide an injury. So show me so at least one of us can get out of that alive."

"There's nothing you can do anyway."

"Don't care. Show me."

Sonic wrinkled his nose, and for a moment Scourge thought he'd just run off and drag Scourge down with him when they inevitably faced Amy's wrath, but then he dropped the hand cradling his arm and let Scourge get a good look at it.

And oh, ouch. Sonic's arm was bent harshly in a place it definitely wasn't supposed to be bent. No skin was broken, thankfully, but it was already turning a nasty shade of purple.

"See? Nothing you can do," Sonic bit out. "Let's just go. The sooner we get back, the sooner I can go see a doctor. Move it."

Scourge didn't. He just kept staring at the broken arm, discomfort churning his stomach. It wasn't that he was squeamish - he'd seen and caused plenty of broken bones after all - but seeing it on Sonic just looked... wrong. Sonic had an unreal amount of luck, and got out of most fights virtually unscathed. Scourge had been stuck in this dimension for a few months now, but this was the first time he'd seen Sonic with a serious injury, and it didn't sit well with him.

Nor did the pained grimace on his face, although knife to his throat Scourge couldn't put into words why it bothered him.

"Scourge."

"Hold still," Scourge said, "I'm gonna set it."

"Oh no, you're not fucking coming near it. No way do you know how to set a broken bone, and I'm not letting you fuck up my arm even more just so you can play nurse."

"I've set plenty of broken bones!" Mostly his own, since finding a trustworthy doctor in Moebius was about as likely as backflipping off the top of a tall building and landing feet first without snapping any bones, but still. Experience was experience, and his arms were no worse for wear from it, even if his ankles were a bit fucked.

"No. Fuck off. I'll let you amputate it before I let you set it."

"I'm not that bad!"

"No."

Scourge opened his mouth to argue further, but the glare Sonic sent his way was so vicious it promised he would bite Scourge's hand clean off if he tried.

"Fine," he huffed, shrugging off his jacket. "Come here then."

"Scourge-"

"I'm not gonna fucking set it you fucking baby. I'm just gonna put it in a sling."

Sonic eyed Scourge, then the jacket in his hands, like either of them would strangle him at the first opportunity presented. But he winced when he jostled his arm a little, and very, very reluctantly, nodded.

Scourge tied the sleeves of his jacket around the back of Sonic's neck as tight as he could. Sonic's quills kept instinctively flexing, and despite Scourge's best efforts to avoid them, they still pricked his hands.

"Watch it," Scourge hissed.

"You tell me how much control you have when someone's about to fuck with your broken arm," Sonic hissed back.

Rolling his eyes. Scourge double checked the sleeves were tightly tied and allowed the jacket to hang at just the right height, then helped Sonic ease his arm into the jacket to support it. Sonic hissed again, in pain this time, face scrunching up even further as his arm was jostled and jerked until it was settled.

"There," Scourge said, stepping back to admire his handiwork. "You were a little bitch over nothing."

"Fucking sorry for not wanting someone with no medical degree to fuck with my arm." The words were harsh, but there was no heat in his tone, so Scourge figured that was as close as he was going to get to a 'thank you.' "Now let's get out of here before more of Robotnik's minions show up."

"Sure."

They didn't race back like they normally did. There was no point, not with Sonic's arm broken; running would just dislodge the makeshift sling and jostle the arm even further, so just this once, it was better to take it slow, which Sonic definitely didn't look happy about. But hey, he was lucky enough Scourge was around to give him a makeshift sling, so he couldn't sulk too much.

"... Forty four."

"Eh?"

"That's how many robots I got."

"You're shitting me."

"Why are you still surprised? You know I'm better than you."

"The hell you are-"

"Then why do you keep losing?"

"'Cause you're fucking cheating somehow, I just know it."

"Unlike you, I don't need to cheat to win."

"I don't cheat to win!"

"My bad, you're right. That would require you actually winning."

"I can take that jacket back at any time."

"Do it, coward."

Scourge didn't. Told himself it just wasn't worth the nagging and whining he'd get when they got back to base, especially since Sonic would definitely rat him out. It definitely wasn't because he cared about Sonic's stupid broken arm that much.

And if the jacket sleeves began to loosen halfway home and Scourge retied them without a word, neither of them would say anything about it to anyone.

[ddwcaph-game]

Giveaway Prompt #1

Hello everyone!

I know it's been a while since the giveaway ended, but I only got the inspiration recently to work on some of the personalized prompts, and I didn't want to share anything that I'm unhappy with.

The prompt I received was: Patrick attempts to confess his feelings to Raven (his crush) but something interrupts him before he can.

So far, Raven only appears if you don't snoop on Lily when you visit the library, but I do want her to appear at least one more time in Chapter 4 during Roselyna's birthday. It's been a looong while since I last wrote from Patrick's POV, but I hope you all like it! 😊

"Huy, Theo!" Raven says, nudging me back to reality. "Blink twice if you can hear me."

C'mon, Patrick. That's like the third time you zoned out now, and I don't even know if I want her to get any ideas. With a sigh, I finally give her a lingering look, half-contemplating whether I should blink, and half-admiring her teasing smile.

She raises her eyebrows.

Crap. Nope, I can't do it when she's looking at me like that. And so I admit defeat. I let out a soft chuckle and blink twice. Quickly, not slowly—maybe I don't want her to get any ideas.

"What're you thinking about again, huh?"

You, I say. Or at least, the voice in my head does. But as much as I want to say that, I just can't bring myself to do it. "What, can't you guess?"

"Our science project? Your cousins…? Oh wait, that story you're writing! Yeah, yeah, don't think I've forgotten about it."

Not exactly, but I guess it is true in some ways. I just give her a smile and gaze across the library, absentmindedly tapping my pen as I enjoy the silence (with the occasional coughing in the distance) with her. It's not very often we get a vacant period with not much to do.

"Are you ever gonna let me read it?"

"I told you when it's finished," I say almost instinctively. "But… I'm kinda stuck on something." And that time, I say almost regrettably.

"Well, maybe I could help if you let me read it." Raven rolls her eyes and moves her seat a little closer. Maybe a little too close for comfort, and yet I can't help but lean closer ever so slightly. "Come on, it's not like I'd tell anyone else. You know I won't do that."

Except, that's not even the problem. There's no way I'd confess to her in the library. Nope nope nope. I close my eyes for a moment, and pretend to think hard—which I am! But for an entirely different reason. There's no way she'd know what I'm thinking right now, right? I don't blush. And I almost wish I do.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to tell her. I just need to make it sound like…

"I mean, it's tempting," she continues. "But I've seen you angry when someone hurts your cousins, so…"

I lean away from her in fake annoyance. "Raven naman eh! D'you want me to tell you or not?"

"Fine, fine, I'll stay quiet." She grins. "I really do wanna hear it," she adds in a whisper.

Welp, I backed myself to this corner now. Great job, me. You could've at least waited until dismissal to mention it so I could make an excuse and run off to fetch my cousins, as corny as that is. "Alright, so the MC is really confused about… something, and he wants to tell someone… something." Wow, great. Very helpful. "I—I can't tell. It's spoilers."

"Confused about what?" She asks with a smile, propping her head up on the table with a hand. If she wasn't smiling teasingly before, she definitely is now. "His feelings…?"

"Y… yeah? Well, if you're writing a story, do you let the character do what you think they're gonna do, or do you let them do what's best for the plot?" That's a good question, right? Yeah. Hopefully that satisfies her curiosity. And I'm technically not lying.

"Depends what the plot is exactly? Is this during the climax or what?"

Oh, it's definitely the climax. Or the darkest hour if I screw this up. But before I can answer, my unsaid prayers are granted as a deus ex machina comes to save me.

"Kuya Paddy! Ate Raven!" We hear two voices shouting whispers from behind us.

I don't even need to turn around. And soon enough, I feel a hug wrap around me from behind.

"Rosie!" I chuckle as I snuggle the delightful chubby little girl closer.

Raven gives Wayne's hair a quick ruffle and pinches his cheeks. "Ohh, what brought you two cuties here?"

"Well…" Wayne's cheeky grin disappears from my view as he sits down beside Raven. "It's a secret."

Roselyna unentangles herself from me. A little surprising and disappointing she ended the cuddle earlier than usual, but she bounces off to whisper something to Wayne as they give us both a smiling glance. We patiently wait for them to finish whatever they're... scheming, when Roselyna puffs her cheeks at us. "Um, heehee. Is it okay if we leave Tommy and our bags here? We're just gonna go look at some books!"

"Uh, yeah!" Wayne readily agrees.

"Of course," I say. "No problem. We got nothing to do here anyway."

"Yay, let's go!" Roselyna whisper-shouts, glancing at me one more time as she pulls her bestfriend into who knows where. Well, whatever their secret is, it can't be as bad as my own secret. Right?

"So… Very convenient, ha?" Raven smirks. "C'mon, are you actually gonna tell me about the plot or your MC?"

I glance at the little goobers once more, smiling as they disappear behind the shelves, much like my cousins. Much like Raven and I did when we were younger. "You know what… I think I figured it out."

Raven sighs, dusting off a speck of dust from Roselyna's penguin stroller bag. "I knew it. This better be really good if you're keeping me and Tommy in suspense this long."

I finally meet her eyes again, the first time since Wayne and Roselyna saved me from embarrassment. "Don't worry. When I let you read it, you'll know why."

[magicalgirlfan666]

Alfea's Magical Girl Fairy School (Winx Club Reader Insert)

Chapter 1: First Day & Dormmates

This Winx Club Fanfic was brought to you by DragonStar sponsored by Winxwasmychildhood.org which was made possible by viewers like you enjoy 

Fair warning: not everything that's going to go down in this will be from the tv series since I like doing my own thing with fanfics that I write so just so you don't get confused I placed this here as a heads up. Now you know.

P.S this is a reader insert that means you are the Main Character of the story.

______: First name

(I will be giving you an eye color I hope that you don't mind ^^')

(h/c) Hair color

(Same with skin color again I hope you won't mind)

I will be giving you the last name this time.   

_______________________

Finally, I have now come of age to attend Alfea, it was something that I have been looking forward to going. In hopes of improving upon my magical powers and gaining what I need to be a good queen to my people. My Mother and Father also warn me to not only study but to be on look out for any royalty students attending as well so that I may make good relationships with them to help further prosper our kingdom.

But to only seek out royalty anything other than studying and bettering myself is unnecessary thus deserving no further attention, and I had no plans on going against it for nothing else piques my interest.

For I was taught to have nothing else to gain my interest other than my kingdom: Frozonia, if it prospers I prosper. Anything and everything I do is for it and it alone. No desires for myself no wants or needs for myself other than the want and need for a glorious kingdom.

It didn't take long for me to arrive to Alfea, there were a bunch of other girls at the front waiting for Griselda to finishing verifying if rather or not they belonged here. One girl was having a bit of trouble since Griselda was having trouble finding her name on the list and it wasn't til the girl told the older woman how her name was spelled did she finally spot the name and allowed her access.

The red head in front of me appeared to be worried as the two whispered about something, I saw the blonde female rip apart a letter for a reason unknown to me before approaching Griselda.

"Hello Ms. G this is Princess Varanda the princess of Callisto" I glanced to the redhead who was acting funny, I found it odd about how she was acting when being introduced but wrote it off as none of my concern, Griselda argued over the blonde who's name I now learned was Stella, return to Alfea especially after what she did to their science class to which Stella replied on how her parents did pay for some of the school's new stuff.

I was getting a bit annoyed at having to wait for the pair to finish their chit-chat, have preferred that they have this kind of personal chat when she doesn't have to allow access to a bunch of girls waiting to get in but since I have been taught to keep these sort of things in check so I knew not to voice this. 

Though I was also taught to offer my honest thoughts and opinions and to be blunt a queen as no time for beating around the bush since I was not asked there was no need. My people though blunt and truthful with what we say, we tend to be a silent and quiet bunch only speaking when spoken too or when necessary.

 I didn't deem now necessary, finally, they finished and I was finally next. "Name?"

"_____ Frosthart Princess of planet Crystria" I answered with a stoic face and a voice void of any emotion. 

"Ah yes I see your name right here, go right ahead" I wasted no time walking through the gates and into Alfea, soon the head mistress Faragonda showed up and give a big speech before we were allowed to go inside when she finished. I quickly located my room and it appears two of my dormmates where already here.

One was a orange-blonde hair girl with a bob-cut hairstyle and hazel eyes, the other a fair-skinned girl with long, chest length brown hair with neatly brushed bangs above her eyes, while she has a strand or two hang over her shoulders with sea blue eyes. Both girls appeared friendly enough as they greeted me.

"Hi I'm Amaryl and this is my friend Francine" The two offered a kind and friendly smiles as they stuck their hands out for me to shake. I stared for a brief second before accepting their kind gesture.

"So would you happen to be Looma or ______?" Francine asked, before I could respond another voice spoke up. All three of us turned to the entrance of the room where the voice originated from.

Standing there a was brown hair, green eyes girl with her hair styled into a tight bun and two braids in the front. Her eyes shone bright with kindness and excitement. "Hello" She greeted kindly, placing her right hand on her chest. "I'm Looma and it would seem that from now and we will be dormmates" 

"Ah so then that would make you _______" Francine said before returning Looma's greetings, as they started to converse I went to my room and used my magic to unpack everything. It wasn't long before Looma walked in still smiling.

"Looks like you already picked your side of the room" She said as she walked over to the other side and did the same as me with her magic as she unpacked I noticed she had a lot more clothes than I so it was safe to assume that she was really into clothing and fashion. She also had a few other things to make her own clothing.

"You weren't there when I told the others but if you ever need any clothing or some specially made feel free to ask all I need are some cool stuff to make them out of or if you want just buy some off me, it's really no trouble since I'm always making more than I really need" She gave an awkward laugh when addressing her lack of self-control on making clothing.

I don't really think that I will be needing any clothing specially made from her or to purchase any off her anytime soon but did make sure to keep note of it just in case. You never know when this knowledge might come in handy.

I nodded to let her know that it was acknowledged, she smiled in returned and started going over to the desk she unpacked and got to designing something that I can only assume was clothing.

I didn't have anything planned so I just sat down on my bed reading as my roommate hummed while drawing which I didn't mind since I would only tune it out once I get adsorbed onto the book.  And in no time at all I was soon lost into a land of my own.

That is until a rabbit came out of nowhere and hopped right onto my book and soon a girl's voice shouted out a name that wasn't mine or any of my dormmates. 

"Kiko!" She came rushing in and stopped once her blue orbs landed on the gray little bunny who was smiling sheepishly, they soon turned to me as she took notice that he was standing on my book. 

"I'm so sorry, I don't know why he went running off like that" She appeared to be genuinely sorry for her rabbit's actions as she stared into my icy blue eyes. 

I looked at her for a bit before turning my gaze to her rabbit and picking him up, the moment my hands made contact with his tiny little body he started to shiver but it wouldn't last too long since he would soon be in his master's hands as I handed him over. 

"It is fine any damage done I can easily fix but do try to be careful next time" She nodded as she took the little bunny in her hand's as he immediately started to warm up.

"Right it won't" She nodded as I returned to my book. She got the hint that I didn't wish to speak anymore and soon left as I picked up where I unwillingly left off. 

I finally reached the end of my book and was left wondering why did the main character make such a choice? Why did they choose to abandon their kingdom for someone else? It didn't make sense, no matter how many times I read books like this I could never figure it out. 

Since the day I was born I was told that the kingdom and the people's welfare were to be placed above all else which means doing whatever was necessary to make sure that our kingdom was prospering. 

So for her to make such a decision only leads to one thing for me to believe since it was the only thing that made sense, her tutors didn't educate her well enough at all, I just hope that other kingdoms in this story learn from this and never hire that person again.

I sighed as I placed my book onto the stand next to me and soon realizing that it was now night time, I must have missed lunch.... I look over to check on Looma and she was still drawing, I get up to tap her on the shoulder which startled her.

"Oh it's you, sorry you kind of scar-" Her eyes glanced around the room before landing back on me. "Um.. is it night time?" I nodded.

"Darn that means I miss lunch" She pouted before looking to me again. "Why didn't you say anything?" I pointed to my book.

"After finishing my book I was only now made aware" She looked over at my stand(no that's not a jojo reference) before nodding and then smiling. 

"I guess that means we are sort of alike only we get far too absorbed in different things" She giggled before yawning. "Well not that it matters now I'm far too tired to eat anyway" She stood from her seat heading over to her bed.

"I'm going to head off to bed, night" She hopped into the bed pulling the sheets over her as I soon deiced to do the same as well.

Closing my eyes I soon drifted to sleep, one that was dreamless as usual for me they normally were anyway. It happens so often that I can't remember if I ever had dreams before or maybe I just simply can't remember them... whatever the case it doesn't really matter all that much anyway.....   

___________

Okay so, this has already been posted on my watt pad and quotev, and is how it will be staying, the next parts will be drafts and possible outcomes

[jazminetoad]

In My Reality | Prologue

Hey, I was bored so I decided to start a fanfic series of the Tatsumi Brothers from Juuni Taisen. Yay

It’s a “Tatsumi Brother x Reader” story about how the Tatsumi Brothers enter the reader’s reality which kinda flips her world upside down.

So I just finished the prologue. If you guys like it or if I’m bored again, I’ll make the first chapter. (Click “Keep Reading” to read the story)

"[Name] get out of bed; It's 3 in the afternoon," my mom told me as she came into my room with fresh, clean clothes. I didn't have to look over to know.

Groaning, I removed my mask from my eyes then rolled over to face up at the white ceiling. The sunlight seeping in from the blinds caused my sight to cringe before it finally adjected to the light and I could see the grey walls lurking in the corner of my eyes. Arising from my queen-sized bed a yawn escaped from my mouth. My form reached over and placed my sleep mask on the nightstand, next to my water mug.

"Morning mom," I greeted her as she sorted out the pile of clothes on my dresser. Looks like she did a colour load, which means no pants to put away.

"Morning sweetheart. Can you put your clothes away before you come downstairs?"

"Sure," I simply answered as I slipped out of the cozy sheets I once was tangled in.

"Thank you. I'll see you when you come down," she stated, placing the last of my t-shirts neatly on the others. Afterwards, she wrapped her arms around the remaining clean, clothes that weren't mine, carefully balancing them as she left my room and closed the door behind.

The click of the doorknob echoed into my ears when my feet landed on the fuzzy rug. My eyes drifted their gaze to the plain black bodypillow wrapped in [f/c] blankets, reminding me of a burrito. It just had the colour for the case, no special Anime character on it. I wish there were one though; it'd make the nights seem less lonely to see my favourite character's face on it. However, a pillow is a pillow. Despite me using it as an illusion for myself it doesn't change the reality that when I hug it in my sleep or when I'm awake no arms will return my embrace.

A sigh falls out of my breath, my eyelids dropping in sync. I turned my head away from the lying pillow and dragged myself to the other side of my bed, towards the dresser that patiently held the clean clothes my mom put there. I opened a drawer, putting my undergarments away first then my socks. Once those were put away, I moved to retrieve hangers from my closet, passing by my desk and shelves as I did.

If you were wondering why I slept so late into the afternoon, well, it's currently winter break, so that means I can stay up late and sleep in late past noon. Sadly enough, it's January which means the break almost over, and that means school is standing around the corner, menacingly. Just the thought of it disturbs my mind as that reality tries to infect my thoughts.

I hate reality. I know not all of it is shit, but there's enough of it that makes me want to drown myself in the world of fiction. Whenever it's the weekend or breaks from school, I binge Anime, tv shows, YouTube, and movies, so that's the only thing on my mind. I then write or read fanfiction, there is the rare occasion I sketch something but I'm not good at art since I don't practice enough. By the time I return to reality after having my head stuck in my imagination for so long, I can barely focus without going back to daydreaming. Eventually, that wears off, and then reality is what floods my brain; I despise it but I know I can't be stuck in my fantasies forever. Luckily my friends provide that nice spot in-between for me, helping me stay in the real world but also let me discuss the fictional. Then there's also my bro.

"Yo sis," my brother's voice called from the other side of the door after his fist knocked on it. "You wanna continue Code Geass?"

My bro is the best. Unlike most siblings I know, we actually get along. He's also a big help in my life, one of the reasons why I haven't lost my mind. He makes sure I don't overwork & stress myself and reminds me to have fun and chillax. I love him for it, and he's practically my best friend. We aren't the exact same age but we were born in the same year, just a few months apart so we get to be in the same grade. He's the older one. He's also taller which means he can t-pose over me, and we reenact the meme; it's great.

"Yeah," I answered. "Just let me get ready."

"Alright," he replied before I felt the vibration of his footsteps grow distant from my room.

'Heh, if I had Takeyasu's ability, I'd be able to sense his movement better.'

I chuckle to myself at the thought floating in my mind as I put the final shirt away. My two favourite characters that I desired to be real was the Tatsumi Brothers, Nagayuki and Takeyasu. I love those two. Whenever I watched their episodes from Juuni Taisen, I always smile. They make my heart feel something that I never felt for any character before. I don't want to be cliche and say true love, but to me, that's what it feels like. I know they're fictional characters, so I won't get much out of it, but strangely enough, I'm okay with that. I can't imagine my heart belonging to anyone else. I do wish they were real, though. I even used my wish on the bracelet my friend, Meri-chan, got for my birthday one year, that they'd become real.

The bracelet was some urban legend. It was lime green and had a few beads on it. The legend goes that you make a wish and when the bracelet breaks, your wish has come true. 'Course, it's most likely a bunch of baloney but that didn't stop me from wishing that the Tatsumi Brothers would become real. I currently just wear the bracelet as an accessory since the wish probably won't happen, it's not like the thing is going to break anytime soon.

Grabbing my towel, my other hand opened my door. I slipped down the hallway and slid into the bathroom, my foot pushing the door closed as I put the towel on the towel rack. Hopefully, I don't take too long because we were left on edge on the last episode of Code Geass we watched. Well, I'll finish sooner than my wish coming true that's for sure, heh.

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

"Okay bro but if you think about it, Lelouch-"

"[Name], I washed your school uniforms. Can you put them away while I start on tacos?" Mom requested from the kitchen, interrupting the Anime, my commentary, and reminding me that school is coming soon. "You too, [b/n]."

"Yes, mom," we both respond.

My brother picked up the remote and hit the pause button so we wouldn't miss anything. I pulled myself up from the plush couch, disappointment growing on me since I had hoped not to be interrupted until dinner was ready. Well, I guess I could let the disappointment wither away since it's Taco Tuesday, my favourite. I chuckled to myself as my feet reached the next level above the main floor and headed down the open hallway to my room.

My laughter died out upon seeing my seven school uniforms, five that were the regular female uniform and two that were gym uniforms. Unlike most students, I didn't like the idea of having to wash my uniform every day, so to make things simpler, I paid for six more with my own money. It was a bit irritating, using the money I earned from my summer job for this instead of getting something else. Still, my practical choice, so I didn't necessarily have to worry about my mom washing my uniform every night.

"Hhhhhh, why does school have to come back so soon?" I asked myself as I picked up one of the uniforms.

The uniform wasn't too special, a simple white blouse, a blue skirt, a blue jacket, and a blue & black striped tie. Students could decide if we wanted to wear tights, leggings, or shorts underneath the skirt as long as it was black or white. I wore leggings unless it was summer which I then wear shorts and knee-high socks. There are those girls that only wear thigh-high socks and panties under their skirt to which my nerd brain questions why. 'Course that's their choice, have fun with your ass cold.

A Discord ringtone made me resurface from my pond of inner thoughts. Becoming aware of my surroundings, I realized my friends Meri-chan and Kamida were calling on the Discord group chat we had. I could tell by the laptop I had open on my desk. I quickly put the uniform I had in hand on the rack with the others before sliding over and clicking the answer button that popped up.

"Yo, what's up nerds."

"Hey I'm not a nerd," Meri-chan protested. "I'm a cool kid."

"Meri-chan, we're all nerds here," Kamida stated before greeting me. "Hey [n/n], how you doing?"

"Eh, good I suppose but I could be doing better, Kami," I answered simply. "How's life?"

"Pretty chill but I got bored, so I decided to call you guys."

"Well, I'm just putting my uniforms away," I informed them and went to put the last uniform away.

"I sometimes forget that you have more than one," Meri-chan commented before I heard her gasp. "Hey, how 'bout we hang out tomorrow, we only have so many days before we have to go back to school."

"Oh, don't remind me," I groaned, hanging my head, then went back to putting the uniform on the hanger and walking over to the closet, hanging it up with the rest.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea Meri-chan, we could hang out tomorrow," Kamida suggested.

"I'm down," Meri-chan quickly responded.

"Welllllll..." I hesitated, sitting down in the [f/c] spinning chair in front of the desk.

"[Name]."

"You see, I kinda want to stay inside my last few days..."

"[n/nnnnn]!" Meri-chan whined.

"Come on [Name], you know you can't stay cooped up inside forever," Kamida reminded me.

"I know," I grumbled, leaning back in my seat. "Fine, I'll come out tomorrow, but it's going to be after 2."

"2 am, geez [n/n] I didn't know you'd be willing to come out that early," Kamida joked.

"I meant 2 pm," I corrected.

"Okay," he chuckled as Meri-chan pipped in.

"But if you're late again, you're buying lunch this time."

"Okay, bet, but what if I'm not?" I inquired, my fingers tapping on my desk.

"Mmmmmmm," she hummed, seemingly to be thinking.

"It's fine I'll pay for lunch tomorrow."

"Alright, but don't use it as an excuse to be late."

"I won't," I reassured her. "Anyway, I'm gonna go watch a few more episodes of Code Geass with my bro-"

"You still need to watch Dragon Ball Z," Kamida interrupted.

"And you need to watch Juuni Taisen," I countered, emphasizing the "you".

"Yeah, yeah," he brushed it off. "Anyway, go have fun with your bro. We'll call again later on tonight."

"Alright, bye guys." I left the call and closed out of discord then proceeded to shut my laptop.

Kamida and Meri-chan were my two friends from school; we've known each other since childhood. 'Course Meri-chan isn't Meri-chan's real name, that's just a nickname Kamida and I gave her. Occasionally, they called me [n/n]-chan but not too often. Then there are times where we call Kamida, Kami-kun, but mainly Meri-chan does it out of spite since Kamida doesn't like it. Especially when Meri-chan does it in her kawaii voice. Those two are the only ones outside of family that have the same vibe I do, that's probably why we've been friends for so long.

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

"Hey, you guys ever wish fictional characters could become real?" I randomly asked out of the blue, staring up at the white ceiling as I waited for my friends over the call to answer my question.

"All the time," Meri-chan answered.

"We know simp," Kamida smugly commented.

"Nuuu!" Meri-chan pouted while Kamida and I laughed. "Hey, if anything [n/n] is the simp over here, she's the one actual crushing on the characters."

"Hey don't call me out like that."

"Ha! She doesn't deny it," Kamida jeered.

"Okay, what about you and Android 21?"

"Ack-" Kamida blurted before muting himself, causing me and Meri-chan to giggle. A few seconds pass by before he unmuted himself. "Why are you asking this question [n/n]?"

"No reason in particular-"

"Are you sure it's not you wanting to talk about Juuni Taisen?"

"No- it's not just that. I just think fictional characters would make reality interesting."

"Right..."

"Meri-chan if you could bring someone from Juuni Taisen to-"

"My boy Uuma! You should know this by now."

"Bruh-"

"Well, it's either that or Usagi, and I rather be alive thank you."

"Who's Uuma again?" Kamida inquired, not knowing who was who quite yet since he hasn't watched the Anime.

"Uuma is the warrior of the horse," I informed him.

"Right," Kamida mumbled before letting out a yawn.

"You sound tired, go to sleep!" Meri-chan told Kamida.

"No, you go to sleep."

"Guys, we're all on the same timezone. If one of us goes to sleep then we all do," I stated. "It makes sense since we're all planning on meeting up tomorrow."

"I guess we go to sleep," Meri-chan said bluntly.

"Yeah, alright, goodnight guys," Kamida yawned.

"Night."

"Night guys."

With that, we each left the call. I, however, didn't fall asleep right away. I woke up late and the night was still pretty early, so I opened up the Funimation app on my phone. Scrolling through the list of saved Anime, most of which were halfway through since my brother and I are watching them together, I came across Juuni Taisen.

"Why not..." I muttered to myself as my finger tapped on the Anime and went right to click on episode 7, In Like a Dragon, Out Like a Snake (Part 1).

By the time I finished episodes 7 and 8, it was 2 am when my eyes glanced at the clock in the top corner of my phone. Sighing to myself, I leaned over and snatched my charger off the nightstand, plugging it in the wall before connecting the other end to my phone. Turning off my phone, I placed it on the nightstand and snagged my sleep mask, putting that on my head.

As I laid there on my bed, silence flooded the room, not a sound to be heard but my own breathing. Vines of sorrow began to grow on me as the feeling of loneliness came over me. I tried to pull myself out of the emotion, turning over and wrapping my arms around the plain bodypillow in an attempt to comfort myself. In the end, it only helped slightly. It didn't erase the pain because I knew there were no arms that would hug me back. A tear escaped my eyes before I pulled my mask over them, and a final thought appeared in my mind before I entered the dream realm.

'I wish I wasn't alone...'

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"Congratulations, Tatsumi {Ani|Otouto}, warrior of the {dragon|snake}!" Duodecuple exclaimed. "You are the winner of the 12th Juuni Taisen, everyone give yourself a hand!" The man started to applaud but soon stopped. "The antidote has settled in by now. You'll be fine."

{"Tch|Alright"} the Tatsumi brother simply responded.

"Now that you've won the Juuni Taisen, you can make one wish of your choice. Would you like to make your wish now, or would you like for it to be granted later?"

"In all honesty, when I arrived at the Juuni Taisen I wished for {nothing|money}, I didn't need anything else really but now that {I'm here|I had time to think about} I don't want to wish for {nothing|money}."

"Oh, do you have another wish in mind?" Duodecuple inquired the Tatsumi brother sitting in front of him, alone.

"Yeah... I wish me and my brother were never apart of the Juuni Taisen."

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Taken away' :New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

"Taken away"

Chapter Summary : Bell is recovering from her gunshot wounds she obtained after her last mission.....

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +4800

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

In just one night, I had the impressions to revisit my worst nightmares. Things I'm trying to fight for days.....two weeks actually. I'm still facing the memories and nightmares where 'The Winter Soldier' was created and I'm trying at my best to stop thinking to be a brutal person. I tried but that night make me do a step back due to how I did neutralize those guards at the nightclub's bar. I'm trying to fight Adler's control and perversion above me and in one night....I did a step back and he was the one who did this to me.

The worst of it is that he didn't disturb him at all to control, I think that he liked that and missed that for 3 years.....and then, I realized that I was shot just next to my right kidney. I was thinking that I was going to die after that shot, after those traumatisms that came back to me. I was starting to lose control and my blood further once I was brought into the car by Park before we drove away. Before shutting my eyes, the only thing I saw was Park's face worried, fearing to lose me as much I was fearing to die. I slowly passed out on the way back to the safehouse, hoping I will live another day.....

I don't know where I was but by looking around me, I was surrounded by multiple flaming buildings and wrecks of vehicles and tanks. The place....it was situed somewhere in the desert but I couldn't tell exactly where it was, more looking somewhere maybe in the Middle-East or in a part of the Soviet Union. By watching the scene, I was the only survivor of what just happened and it was so fucking bad.

I wasn't standing up at all....because I was wounded at my legs, having a bullet hole in each one of them but it didn't stop here. The left part of my uniform especially the coat sleeve part was burned and I was also shot at my right shoulder, making me suffering so much pain in my body. I couldn't move at all, just looking at the skies invaded by the black smokes of the burning surroundings and hearing the flames consuming the place.

Suddenly, a much louder noise was starting to be heard at my ears until I start to saw a helicopter ready next to me. I didn't move at all, didn't smiled too but I was just trying to  stay alive as long as I can. The helicopter landed before I could see some people running towards me, leaded by....Freya.

"Fre-......Frey-......Freya !" I tried to speak but my voice were hurting me a lot like if I was punched in the throat so hard by someone.

"Yirina !" She exclaimed, getting next to me before she checked all my body and seeing its state. "Shit." She whispered as others soldiers approached me as well, mostly medical personal. "Quick, get her in the chopper !"

I was then transported by 4 fours mens inside the cargo hold of the helicopter before they put me gently on the cargo hold ground of it. I was scared, breathing a lot as those mens were near me and I was thinking that they were going to hurt me so with some part of my strenght remaining, I tried to struggle to move my arms and with so much pain my legs before Freya arrived to put her hands on me, especially on my shoulders, avoiding the wounded part.

"Don't panick, Yiri !" She said, holding my shoulders as I was still moving

"They want.....want to hurt me." I told her, so scared by these mens even she was there for me, I was so lost in that helicopter. "Let me go.....let me go, please." I started to cry in front of everyone, asking to leaving me

"We're here to save you, not hurting you." She explained to me, giving me a good look before she looked at the man at my left. "Stop being brutal with her, you're hurting her !" Her voice was sounding very angry, releasing her anger to that guy.

"It's not my fault if she is moving around and complicating our job." The man defended himself before Freya grabbed him by his collar, in a fury.

"Listen to me..." She started, enraged, holding that man like that with her right hand"If she dies because of you, you're next in line, understood ?"

"Okay, okay !" He exclaimed, Freya releasing him as the others started to hold me with less force with their hands, not wanting to hurt me and to suffer Freya's fury on them. The man started to unwrap some medicals tools out of his medic box "I need you to hold her at her shoulders and give her something that she can put in her mouth." Freya complied and the others too, them, holding my legs. She gave me a tissue that she put in my mouth to contain me.

"It's gonna hurt ?" Freya asked to him, he nodded

"I will first remove the bullet she had at her right shoulder, it's gonna hurt. Hold her still." He ordered as he started to move with his tools to my gunshot wound at my shoulder. I tried to take a deep breath but that piece of tissue in my mouth was avoiding me to breath "Grigoriev, stay still."

It was hurting me as he was, with his tools, trying to remove the bullet of my wound and each movement he was doing to remove it was making me want to move but with the others around me, holding me, it was impossible. I screamed, the tissue in my mouth when the bullet was finally removed from me, making my head move a little.

"It's okay, Yiri." Freya grinned as I was looking worried before she moved to get that tissue out of my mouth. The doctor was getting started to move at my legs as his mens were getting next to my upper body to start wrapping some bandages around my wound,

"You're safe now, no one will ever hurt you !"

Another troubling memory...still fearing to die and that fear is still present today in me but I think I need to fight that fear even if I'm believing that it was in me for a long time, impossible to remove, but I will have to do this anyways, one day. Hopefully, when I opened my eyes again, I was relieved to live another day, awakening in the medical room of the safehouse and like before I closed my eyes, the first thing I was able to see was Park standing at the end of the bed, looking at me, worried.

She was looking more happy when she saw me opening my eyes and I could see that she wanted to take me in her arms but she wouldn't want to hurt me and the others came in, having heard Park saying that I was awake. They announced to me that the bullet didn't do any bad damage on me, almost having hit my right kidney in the process but having me moving quickly allowed me to survive the shot. Adler was the only one to not come as the others explained that Park heard him saying the key-phrase to me and forbidden him to come see me after I was brought here.

I wanted to get up but they advised me to stay in bed for some days, wanting me to recover at 100% and not wanting me to hurt myself at work again like that. They were right as where I was shot was still giving me pain each time I moved my legs even if it was still healing and wrapped by some bandages. During 4 days, I followed their advices to stay in bed, sometimes giving me visit to see how I was, to give me food and drinks and Park gave me my book, allowing me to write in case I've got memories back.

I didn't have big memories coming back...well, I've had nothing coming back to me during these days, avoiding me to write in the book expect for updating some parts of the book like the description of my friends. Apart from that, nothing big actually happened in four days in work as Perseus was still struggling with the loss of 'Bonnie Blue' but her death by Adler didn't stop the arms trafficking, meaning that someone took the lead from it, the 'Nuit Blanche' was closed until further notice. Park was the one to give me updates on the situations and she was also staying a lot with me, trying to recomfort me.

Finally, after 5 days, I was finally able to move my legs and it was better for me to get up and to join the others after I put a shirt to cover myself as I was already in the same pants I had fours days ago. Once I was ready, I started to walk to get out of the medical room to get inside the main room.

"Guess who's back alive." Woods was the first person that spoke, seeing me walking out of the medical room as he started to walk in my direction.

"Finally, we were awaiting that moment for so long."  Mason followed, behind Woods as the latter was offering his hand for me.

"It's nice to see you from that height." I joked, causing the boys to laugh and smile at me as I shook hands with Woods before I moved to shook hands with Mason.

"You are really a damn warrior." Woods affirmed, looking at me proudly "I thought that you will stay in that bed for more days but look at you : in great shape !"

"I can say that." I exclaimed before I looked behind them to discover Park, grinning at me and slowly walking towards me "Hey, Park." I waved with a low voice and without warning me, she put her arms around my shoulders to hug me and to be with her, I reciprocated by putting my arms around her....we were doing a friendly hug in front of Mason & Woods.

"I'm happy to see you back on feet." She whispered to me

"I know, me too." I told her before we withdrawed from each others with an smile, we would have liked to kiss but with Woods & Mason near us, it's better to stay low for the moment. "Where's Sims and Adler ?" I asked to them

"Gone to meet an CIA agent in the city." Woods replied

"For ?" I continued

"It's for having more intels about the supposed buyer in Irak and to try to have some on the politician in the US." Mason finished before I started to walk slowly near the dashboard, followed by them.

"There's nothing else ?" I said, looking at the dashboard, trying to find if there's anything new to it.

"Apart for that nightclub to be closed down because of what happened, nothing big occured except with the part that the arms trafficking is still under way." Park responded, leaning herself on her desk. "We're suspecting that one of those three buyers took the lead." I looked at the dashboard, precisely where I did put the initals of those buyers Park mentioned, seeing each one of them : R.D, A.R and H.S.....Harry Stone, the only one that we know exactly.

"I think Harry Stone is the one who's leading that business now." I suggested, looking at Park who were biting her lips, joining her hands together...looking worried. "An ex-SAS soldier is an expert in firearms and since he travels a lot, he can train Perseus troops and manage that business." I looked at Mason & Woods, wondering what they were thinking about it

"You're maybe right..." Woods started, putting his hand on his chin, thinking "I can't see an Irakian general in the middle of a war doing this, even less for an politician in the United States."

"Same thinking with my buddy here." Mason said, nudging a little Woods for fun, making me smile before I looked at Park, still looking worried and in her thoughts.

"Park, what do you think ?" I questioned and surprisely, she almost jumped from her desk because of me. "You're okay ?" I told her, curious of her

"Yeah, I'm okay." She responded, trying to concentrate back on herself "To answer you, I'm think you're right." Her answer make me look back at the dashboard, thinking that I accidently scared her as she was in her thoughts.

"So now, we have to wait until Sims & Adler come back, right ?" I asked....maybe to everyone.

"Yeap." Woods was the one to asnwer my question first before I started to hear him and Mason walking away, maybe going back to their workplaces or maybe going to take a beer in the fridge. I finally get my eyes off the dashboard.....before I could see Park next to me, holding a jacket in hand and handing it to me.

"What are you doing ?" I asked, confused

"You don't remember what you said yesterday ?" She said in a lovely voice, grinning to me "You promised me that when you will be up that we will get some ice creams." She raised an eyebrow, mentioning a private discussion I had with her yesterday in the night before she left me to go to sleep.

"Oh yeah, I remember !" I exclaimed....semi-enthusiastic "I thought you said that I was joking about it !" I added, never thinking that she really wanted to do that.

"I never said that." She affirmed, still holding the jacket in hand before I finally decide to take the jacket and put it on me. "Now, let's go get our ice creams, I know a perfect place for that."

In less than a minute, we prepared ourselves to go out of the safehouse to get our ice creams, I did take my M1911 in case. We are maybe fighters and spies but if we can just profit of trying to live a normal life for just an moment in our days, could make us happy womens. I think it was cool from Park to organize that for me, maybe thinking that I needed to destress from work a moment since I've been working non-stop for days even if during my days in bed, I didn't work at all, letting the others doing it.

Of course, since she was the one who gave me a chance to have at least a peaceful moment since I woke up, she was the one to drive and of course, she didn't tell me absolutely where we were going, quoting that 'it was a surprise for me'. Each time I was trying to know, she was either saying that or instead, a little lovely 'Ssshhhhh'. During the drive, we didn't put any radios on as she preferred to have her thoughts cleared and not invaded by music for the moment, explaining that she wanted to have a single moment alone with me.

After 5 minutes, we finally arrived at the place she brought me : a typical american diner just next to the border with the GDR called 'Sunny Diner'. The place was looking beautiful to see :very shiny, very....american. By looking at it, I had a weird impression that I did come here before but I couldn't remember when exactly....maybe it was just a dream like that I did about the place or something I can't really explain at all.

We entered the diner, Park first, and we installed ourselves in a empty table. There weren't a lot of people at this time : it was after noon and there were just some people at the bar and few at the tables. A waitress quickly came and we ordered our ice creams and by the odds, me & Park chose the same flavor : strawberry. We both laughed about it as we both said it at the same time and once our order were done, we waited at least 2 minutes before our ice creams cup were there.

We started to eat and during our discussion, I could feel her right leg stroking mine all time and it was arousing me by an lot. Of course, I stayed focused in our discussion where we talked about herself as I wanted to know more about her : she told me when she joined the MI6, some of her various missions she has done in her firsts years but also, she opened herself to talk about her family : she has two brothers, one younger as the other....well, he died in a IRA attack in 1973 and that was her reason to join the MI6.

I was touched while listening to her story and I was quite happy to learn more about her. We were nearly finished when something in my mind came in,

"Park, can I ask you something ?" I started, having finished my ice cream cup before as she was still finishing it.

"Sure." She said, almost surprised as she was looking outside, her spoon in her right hand.

"Uhm..." I took a breath, getting my arms on the table, trying to not screwing my question over by my other thoughts. "Well, each time Stone's name is mentioned, I see you getting either troubled or lost....is there something wrong about him that I don't know ?" At hearing my question, she stopped every movements she was doing, looking like I said, troubled.

"I don't know if I can talk about this." She exclaimed, putting her hands on the table and trying to not look me in the eyes, like she hide something. I reacted by gently putting my hand over the top of hers.

"You talked about yourself." I affirmed to her, giving her an smile "I'm ready to know more." I didn't remove my hand from hers, still smiling before she nod to me and took a deep breath

"Okay." She whispered to herself as she redressed herself on her seat "Stone....was an old friend of mine." When I heard that, I understand why she was not okay each time Stone was said. "During an long time between 1975 and 1980 with him, we formed a friendly group composed of me, two others MI6 agent, an BND agent and him, an SAS soldier."

"Something bad happened, I guess ?" I asked, curious to hear that story, she nodded.

"In 1980, one of our missions goes to shit : we needed to destroy an soviet complex used for holding an nerve gas but during the mission, Stone and one of my friends in the MI6 'died'." She responded, breathing at the end of it, her voice cracking at the last word

"Faking their deaths...." I whispered to myself and somehow, she heard me

"During all these times, these two were Perseus agents and I learned it the hard way a year ago when we started to work on a mysterious project called 'Goldeneye'." So, that was the operation Belikov mentioned 2 weeks ago when I go to his place. "Stone was the one in charge and the other.....well, she was her lieutenant for it."

"How did you learn of it ?"  I questioned her

"A anonymous person asked me to encounter 'the one in charge' as he was apparently knowing me and it was at this moment I saw him."  She scratched the back of her head, not giving for me enough details but I preferred to not get too deep in it

"Must be hard to tell yourself that one of the friends you've been mourning for years is in fact a enemy." I admitted to her, moving my hand to get under hers.

"In the old days, Stone was like an hero to us but now, we all know his true state." She looked at me with narrowed eyes, taking my hand in hers "I just want sometimes to feel that he was never like that."

"I said that to myself sometimes too." I told her as it was also something I was dreaming : What if I was never just an Perseus agent ?

"Listen." She leaned from her seat, getting her head close to me "Maybe you did bad things but yourself, you know that you're not like that, you showed it to me and the others."

"I did." I said in a low voice

"Us....me, I will make sure that you will have what you want." She stated, making me things of what I wanted for me for the future

"Seeing my friends again, my path to redeem myself and......to be with you ?" I affirmed, looking at her with lovely eyes and saying the whole

"Everything at once." She said before she finally approached me to kiss me on the lips, putting her both hands on my face, giving a kiss I was waiting for days now since we weren't really able to do it even when we were alone. We broke the kiss after a long minute. "I think we should go back to the safehouse."

"I would have liked more moments like this." I whispered to her before she got up from her

"Me too." She then take a breath as she was putting her jacket back on her "We will have more time, don't worry !" She added, giving me an smile as I got up too.

Once we have finished to put our jacket on, we started to go out of the diner, not forgetting to pay for our ice creams....she payed for me and her....and then, we got back to her car, and once we were fully seated in the car, Park drove off the place as she preferred to drive herself even if I proposed myself to do it. It's not 3 years in a coma that were going to stop me to drive....it was her who did. At least, I know that she will give me one day, the chance to finally drive myself a car or something that I can drive.

In our way back, she finally decided to put the radio on maybe to remove from her thoughts what she said to me about Stone and I can understand that by the tone she has taken when she talked about him to me. We didn't talk too much in the first minutes, either giving each other some smile before getting focused back on the road again. At one moment, we were stopped at a redlight awaiting it to go to green, allowing us to pass and in a second, my thoughts were troubled by something until the light goes to green, allowing us to go through the crowded intersection.....

But at the middle of the intersection, suddenly, a car coming from the left intentionally hit the back of ours at full speed, causing our car to deviate from its path and sending us off the road, the car hitting violently a pole and making us blackout from the accident. When I opened back my eyes, I could see the smoke of our car's engine going out, the window broken down and Park....still alive but unconsious from the shock, I tried to wake her up but nothing was helping me. I could feel a little bit of blood on my face, some parts of the window making some cut in it.

I don't know how I was able to survive that accident as it was pretty brutal and my body was feeling it a lot. The seatbelt protected me but my left arm was in a big pain as it has gone against the door when the car hit the pole. I was breathing a lot, feeling the blood going down some parts of my face, especially on the cheeks and next to my lips.

I started to unbuckle my seatbelt and when I was done, I could see 2 people coming towards us....masked people.....Perseus...By seeing them, I realized that they have been following us since we left the diner to go back at the safehouse but why striking us now instead of having everyone in the safehouse ? When I saw them, I decided to act like if I was still knocked down, taking out my M1911 and hiding it from their sight with my right hand. I closed my eyes, acting....

"Shit, they're alive ?" One of them said, worried

"Of course, they have to be, ducon !" The other exclaimed, annoyed by his friend. He was sounding french and his last word showed me that it was indeed french....a bad word.

"So, we have to take the two of them ?"  The first one asked to the french guy as he was opening the door.

"Are you gonna stop asking questions ?" The french was getting angry as I could hear him finally opening the door widely "No, we only need the british cunt, orders from the top, the other.....she's nothing for us !" Nothing.....really ? They could take me but instead, they take Park away and by that, I couldn't let this happen...Why her ? "Come on, help me out to transport her to the van."  He added as he was getting Park out, helped by his friend and it was at this moment I decided to stop acting.

Once they got Park out of the car, not wanting to hit her in case, I opened my eyes and then I aimed towards the first guy I saw before shooting him in the back of the head, making him fall in front of him. I tried to shoot the other guy but instead, I start to hear some gunshot coming towards me....a van positioned in the middle of the intersection with an guy armed with an XM4 shooting at the car. I reacted quickly, opening the door at my side to get out of the car and to protect myself from the bullets.

I checked my gun mag in case....only 6 bullets and by my no-luck, it was the only mag I have bring with me, meaning that I can't miss my shot at all. During all of that, the guy aiming with his XM4 don't stop firying at me until I waited for the right time as he was reloading to go out of cover and perfectly, from an distance, to have him. At this moment, I could see Park dragged inside the van by 2 others masked persons that I tried to stop but before I could shot any bullet, I was suddenly tackled to the ground by an another person.

"Get the cunt out of here, I'll find you at the meeting point !" He shouted to his friends as he was holding me in the ground, it was the same french guy who was talking bad about Park. I watched in horror as the van left the scene, going away and in a instant, I could feel all the rage inside me growing in.

"You son of a bitch !" I yelled before I give a knee kick right in the nuts and then, I make him go away from me by pushing him backwards with my feets.

"Espèce de salope !" He said, angry in his french voice as he was trying to get up again but I was more faster as I grabbed my M1911 I had in hand by the cannon and I hit him in the face with the stock of my gun, knocking him out.

I wanted to kill him but....he was the only one that could tell me where did they sent Park away and why they took only her and not me too. That was questions I wanted to ask but not right here as they were going to have a lot of witnesses and maybe the police to arrive soon. I had to bring this guy with me back to the safehouse and interrogate him by myself. I looked around to see if there were an empty car that I could take since ours were completely destroyed and smoking.

I found one pretty quickly just at a few meters from me and I decided to steal it. I grabbed the unconscious french guy, dragging him on the ground and when I arrived near the car, I broke the window of the driver seat and open the door from the inside. Then, I dragged the guy on the backseats, making sure that he wasn't acting like me. I managed to start the car engine like if I remembered to steal some cars....that's weird, Yiri !....and then, I looked at him, with an deadly glare before I drove off the scene,

"You and I.....we will have a talk !"

[babieyangyang10]

violent ends (chapter 10)

(chapter 10)

series masterlist

genre: hunger games!au

pairings: huang renjun x oc, na jaemin x oc

warnings: language, mentions of injuries, mentions of sex, fighting, and death (so sorry for this one)

previous | next

Jaemin's POV

"Athena, run!" I yell, before my feet start moving. Flames rip at my skin as I pass more and more trees.

However, I don't get far, before I'm colliding with something hard. I grunt falling down to the ground.

"Jisung!" That something was Mark Lee. We stare at each other with wide eyes.

"Hyung, I don't think that's Jisung." Chenle trails off. I crawl backwards, trident no where to be found.

"Athena, get-" I turn around for help, to be met with just trees behind me, "Wait, where'd she go?"

"Who?"

I explain, still breathing heavily, "Lee Athena, she was right behind me. I guess we must have gotten separated."

"We're looking for a kid named Jisung. Blond hair. Kinda skinny. This tall." Chenle gestures his height above his head.

"I haven't seen him," I realize that not only do I not have Athena, but I also don't have any weapons or supplies, "Oh fuck, what am I going to do now?”

"Well, they should be close by. Maybe we could look together!" Chenle suggests.

"Chenle, he's dangerous." Mark spits at the younger boy.

"Yeah, with no weapons or even anything on him. Real dangerous," Chenle rolls his eyes, "Besides, even if he wanted to kill us, he would've tried by now."

I hate to say it, but I am desperate. I literally have nothing. If I disagree with Chenle, Mark Lee will definitely kill me right here.

I began pleading with him. "Listen, I need to find her," I pause, "she's just really important to me. I'll even help you find the kid."

A look of pity appears on Mark's face. "Fine, but we're splitting up and Chenle," He looks to the boy, "you're going to be the one who stays with him. Always keep your weapon ready. Meet me back at camp at sunset."

"Thank you, Mark." I breath out, truly grateful.

“I’m going to be looking in the direction of our camp to see if they’re in that area. The two of you will check around here.” He heads off towards the direction of the Lake.

Meanwhile, Chenle and I begin in the opposite direction. We decided to try to retrace our steps and try to find tracks where we last saw them.

As time passes, I feel my chest sink more and more. How could I be so stupid to lose her like that? Although, I haven’t heard any cannons. That’s good, right?

“So, what’s the deal with you two? Is it really real?” Chenle asks about the girl on my mind.

I hum, “I think so. I meant what I said.” It was the truth, even if the cameras are on me now.

“Ooh, love at first sight!” He teases in a high-pitched voice.

Laughing, I respond with, “So, how did the three of you decide to team up?”

“Mark was the one who asked us. Jisung and I were really surprised,” He furrowed his brows, “Like, why would this strong guy want to team up with us, the smallest tributes? I guess it was because we’re all in the lower districts and grew up very similar.”

Before I can respond, I hear the sound of laughing. “Careers!” I point, “Let’s hide in that tree.”

Grabbing on to a high branch, I pull myself up first. Chenle goes to do the same, but the branch snaps, causing him to fall to the ground.

“Look!” The Careers have spotted us.

Leaning down, I hold out my hand. I pull him up only just before they stop at the trunk of the tree.

“Haechan, go get them.” Lee Jeno barks at the man.

Haechan tries to climb the tree, but only falls down. Since the branch snapped, there’s no way he’ll be able to grab on to anything.

“I can’t. There’s no way!” He yells, frustrated. I can hear Chenle snickering from beside me.

However, no one laughs at Huang Renjun’s next harsh words, “Use your bow then.”

Chenle turns to me with fear in his eyes. Looking above, there’s no where else for us to climb. The two of us can’t take the three of them with just Chenle’s knife.

The District 1 tribute reaches back into his pouch on his back to load his bow. We wait in silence, until his hand comes out empty, “I forgot it at the Cornocopia.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jeno looks furious, “Go get them, before I slit your neck open while your family watches on tv.”

Haechan, looking close to tears, begins towards the Cornocopia. Meanwhile, Jeno suddenly makes an observation, “Hey lover boy, where’s your girlfriend?”

Striking a nerve in me, I spit, “That’s none of your business.” I notice that it was starting to get dark. Mark should be waiting for us at the camp.

“Did she finally decide to ditch you?” I look down to see Renjun, looking intensely up at me.

“No.” I deny. Seeing that Chenle is rummaging around the tree, I try to distract the two of them.

“Why, are you missing her too much?” I direct it towards Renjun. Jeno, intrigued by my comment, turns to observe his ally’s reaction.

“Nope. Why would make you say that?” He pretends to be unaffected. Although, for a second, I swore I could see a hint of anger in his eyes.

“Oh, come on,” I narrow my eyes, “Don’t tell me you’ve never had a soft spot for Lee Athena. You grew up together didn’t you? Always competed with the other in school.”

“Really?” Jeno says, taking in my words.

“Yep, she told me all about it.” I laugh dryly to myself.

Renjun just pauses, he looks up at me with dark eyes before simply asking, “Did she tell you what happened the night before the first day of the games as well?”

Before anyone else can speak, a cannon goes off in the distance.

Athena’s POV

"I need to find Mark and Chenle. Could you help me back to our camp?" Jisung suggests after we finish eating the crackers from my bag.

That was easier said than done. Judging by both our conditions, we wouldn't make it far. Not to mention, how do I know I wouldn't be killed on sight by Mark Lee if I returned him?

Before I can answer, however, I hear the sound of beeping. From the sky, a little crate is falling from a parachute. A sponsor!

I catch it in my hands, quickly opening it. I first spot a piece of paper. The writing says, “heal up, hero.—T.”

Taeyong.

“Thank you for the sponsorship.” I gratefully say to the camera, before pulling out the jar inside. It contains a gooey substance, which I’m presuming is for our burns.

“Okay, Jisung. This might sting a little.” I warn, before crouching down. I apply the cream over his leg. His doe-eyes open wide, while he whimpers softly in pain.

Quickly, I notice the burnt skin on my hand where the cream had touch was now completely healed. I applied more to my other hand. Now, I can actually hold a weapon again. I also put in on my leg, feeling the pain ease away.

I feel as good as new. However, while Jisung’s skin is looking extremely better on his wound, he still is unable to walk. Because of this, I add another layer of cream for now.

“Okay, so your base is across the lake, take a left at the tree stump, then go straight?” I ask, while he eagerly nods.

“Well, I’m going to bring them back to you, since you can’t come to them. I’ll leave you with a knife. I wonder if there’s a way you could warn me of danger?” I ask myself.

“Well, back in eleven, we have this little signal.” He whistles a four-note melody, which causes mockingjays to sing it back to him.

“How about every now and then you whistle to check in on me? If you don’t hear it back from the mockingjays, then somethings gone wrong.” Jisung explains.

Once giving him a spare knife, I grab my things and begin following the stream upwards. Like we agreed, I would whistle and listen as the mockingjays would echo. Whenever I would hear it return, I couldn’t help but let out a little smile.

The stream eventually leads me to the lake, where I cross. I follow the directions Jisung gave me until I am met with a small shack of sticks.

“Athena?”

I throw my knife, which lands just centimeters away from Mark Lee’s head.

“Woah, I come in peace!” He holds up his weapon-less hands.

Breathing heavily, I apologize, “Sorry, but Jisung told me to find you. He’s injured. I left him by a pond, come follow me.”

Before we went, I whistled once more to Jisung. I waited and was met with the sound of silence. Even after trying again, there was still nothing.

“Something’s wrong!” I cried.

We began running, the water from the lake and stream, soaking us. However, all we cared about was Jisung. As I neared the pond, I could hear the sounds of excessive splashing.

Turning the corner, I am met with the sight of Haechan holding a struggling Jisung under the water. Hands flailing, he is trying to free himself, while Haechan is killing him slowly.

There was no hesitation. No guilt.

When the knife went flying from my hand, straight into Haechan’s left eye.

[estrxlar]

The Ghost Of You

19 - Clean Canvas

This chapters songs:

Here She Comes; Slowdive

Dog Cuddles; Dad Sports

Dream Girl; Crisaunt

- Y. L. Perspective

I tapped my chin with the pen, frustrated that you weren't able to come up with anything. "Ah! Koshi, that hurt!" I yell at him as he softens his hands upon my shoulders. He was giving me a gentle back massage while I tried writing my first lyrics, but I was struggling to find the right words to say.

"Sorry!" He then stops squeezing my shoulders, letting his hands slide down my torso, and pull me into a hug from behind. His head nuzzled into my neck as he spoke. "What is the song about?"

I shrug. "I don't even know yet. Maybe I should just write about how much of an untalented and wasteful girl I am!" I scoff, rolling my eyes back. Now, out of all moments, my feelings decide to disappear.

Both Koshi and I say criss-cross on his bed with one single lamp on in his room. His room was not at all what I was expecting. I'd perceived it to be much messier in my head, the way an average teenage boys' room would be. But no! It was spotless and quite basic. Still, I felt very comfortable in his arms as I attempted to write down some ideas. Feeling his heartbeat on my back was enough to make me feel at home.

"Why don't you write about us, Y/n?" He asks me as he pulls me back and forth in a sway motion. The suggestion had already popped into my mind before. But if I could write about it, what would I say? How I'm in love with someone who won't tie the knot between us?

'What am I doing at his house if he's not even my boyfriend? I've got to gain some self-respect.'

Perhaps bringing it up wouldn't be as bad as I thought. So, I pull myself away from his arms and sit in front of him, fully staring at his confused face.

"What is it?" His fair voice questions, one of his fingers attempting to fiddle with my oversized t-shirt.

There was so much to say. Why arent you my boyfriend yet? Why won't you tell me what's on your mind for once? Aren't you excited about the training camp? But I decide to pick the first question. "Koshi, what's there to write about? I...I know that we both like each other very much, but what does it matter if you won't call me your girlfriend?" I look down at the grey shorts I wore, afraid that he would be disappointed in me for wanting more from him.

"I didn't know you felt that way. I guess...I guess I just wanted you to feel comfortable around me, not forced to be with me," Koshi mutters under his breath, ashamed he underestimated my love for him.

"Well of course I want to be with you!" I exclaim, leaning my head onto his chest. It worries me that he felt insecure about his love. It wasn't as if he could be giving me too much affection. So why didn't he trust that I loved him?

I sigh while he rubs my back in a circular motion, wishing he would tell me things that bothered him like this. "So you wouldn't mind being my girlfriend, Y/n?" The man's words are clear to me when he said them, not lagged like all the other times.

I nod my head. "Of course not."

"Hm, okay. Then for our first memory of being a couple, I wanna hold you," Koshi says, laying us both down onto his mattress. He leans over me, stretching to grab one of the blankets on his shelf, and unfolding it over us.

"But it's so cold. Why don't we just go under your comforter?" I ask him, pulling slightly at the corner of the thick bed sheet. But he denies my request and pulls my wrist back.

He says, "Uh-Uh-Uh! I prefer it to be cold. When we go to your house, we can use the comforter. If you're that cold then you're gonna have to hug me tighter."

I'm surprised at how stubborn Koshi was being with me but glad he was becoming more comfortable with sharing his opinion. He treated me like a princess most of the time instead of asking for what he really wants. Even if it was just the matter of a blanket.

"Do you wanna help me try and think of something to write about?" I ask him in the most delicate voice.

"What's something that saddens you, Y/n? Something that you're worried will cause you despair towards the future?" Koshi asks me. I genuinely hadn't thought about it yet. "Love is more than just feelings. I think it comes with a lot of pain. Has there ever been any pain that you've encountered during being in love?"

"Not really." My words couldn't be more honest. With Toruku, I felt sick that I had a crush on my best friend's boyfriend. And when she passed, those feelings for him weren't nearly as strong as the ones I felt about her death. As for Koshi, I've only been scared of the pain. But I hadn't endured it yet. At least that was what I thought. Truth is that every lasting second I spent with him could only cause me more and more pain in the future. "Maybe when I find what to write about, I shouldn't tell you. I should let you figure it out when I'm done with it."

"Planning something behind my back?! How evil of you." Koshi jokes, leaning on one of his elbows to hold himself up as he looked at me. With the pale moonlight shining down on him and the lamp lighting the room up slightly, he looked more beautiful than ever. I was glad that I was the one to be able I witness such an ethereal moment with him. Especially since he held me in a special place. I was his first love, after all. That's more important than any relationship he could have had with previous girls.

Attempting to obtain reassurance, I grow curious and begin to play with my new boyfriend, asking small questions. "So...what does it feel like to have sex with a girl, Kou? I've never done that before... do they smell nice? Are they soft?" It was obvious that I'd caught him off guard, for he stuttered and looked at me strangely. "I promise I won't get jealous if you tell me. I only want to know what it's like. It may help me with writing if you tell me about passionate moments like that."

Given that I'd never done anything that was borderline sexual with anyone else, I was curious about how it felt. Both physically and mentally.

"Uhm—stressful. And I haven't done it as much as you might think, so I haven't ever enjoyed it." It comes to me as a shock that he didn't have a slightly good experience that he could tell me about.

"Wh-really?! But...I thought all guys liked it! You're saying it didn't even feel good?" I waft my hand into the cold air, confused.

"No, silly. Of course it felt good, but it wasn't as passionate as you think. I wasn't ever in love with any of those girls, so it only made me feel worse. Sex isn't good for those who aren't ready for it," he explains to me.

I nod, understanding a bit more of what he meant. "Does that mean you weren't ready?"

"Mhm. I wasn't," he says. Deciding to switch up the question, he asks me, "So, what is it like to have sex with a guy? I bet they aren't very good-smelling, are they?"

I blink a few times. "Uhm, I dunno," I say, growing shy at the question. "I haven't ever...you know...had sex."

Too scared to look at Koshi, I stuff my head into a pillow and sigh obnoxiously. Though I knew he wouldn't make that much of a big deal out of it, I didn't want him thinking I was a prude. A lot of people that knew I was a virgin made fun of me for it. Truth was, I'd never found someone worthy of taking my virginity. Many told me that it was horrible for your mental health, especially for younger people like me. Not to mention how scared I was that whoever took my virginity would be rough with me and it would hurt like hell.

"Hey, hey...don't get all embarrassed on me. A lot of people haven't. That's nothing to be ashamed about. Being a virgin doesn't make you any less of a woman. If it were up to me, I'd go back and stay a virgin until the right time," Koshi states. His attempts to cheer me up were sweet, but not working all that much.

"What do you think, Kou? Do you like me better that way? You know, as a virgin?" I ask him, slightly peeking up at his lost expression.

Yes, it was something very awkward to ask. But I did want to know what he preferred. Not that I would be able to change last second if he didn't like me as I was.

"Th—that isn't something I have power over, so I don't think about it. But...you could say I prefer it."

I'm happy with his answer. Still, I was curious about the reason, so I ask, "and why is that?"

"Well...um...I'm not too sure. Not to jump to any conclusions, but think it's because...if you weren't a virgin, then our first time together wouldn't be as memorable. It's sure is selfish of me to say, but I would rather you remember me as someone who shared that moment with you. That's why I wish I would have waited until I met you," Koshi began to grow flustered towards the end of his explanation.

"And if you wanna put it into a metaphor then you could say that being a virgin is like being a blank canvas. You can only hope that someone will make something lovely of you by the time they're finished."

I haven't ever heard someone describe being a virgin in such a beautiful way. And he was right— the first time is always something you remember. That is if it's enjoyable for you. I could only hope that I would lose my virginity to someone as gentle as him.

"Then when the time comes, could you please be that person, Koshi?" I spoke, laying a hand on his chest. My nervous nature was far too obvious for me to hide. But thankfully, Koshi didn't mind it. He knew asking something like that took courage. Such profound questions weren't something to joke about.

My heart race died down when I hear him tell me, "Of course, love."

Koshi quickly gets up to turn off the lamp and I make myself more comfortable under the thin blankets and many pillows he had on his bed. When he comes back, he wraps his arms around my waist and holds me close near him.

It was no wonder that he didn't like to talk about his previous experiences with girls. He hadn't enjoyed them. But I was sure of it: and day, I'll make it up to Koshi.

"Goodnight, love. Maybe tomorrow you'll come up with something to write about, hm?"

"Yeah, goodnight." With one last kiss on the cheek, Koshi and I doze off to sleep.

-

Hey everyone!! Just so you know, I have a special playlist on my Spotify that I made just for this fanfiction. I always add the songs that I include in the chapters, so please go check that out in case you'd like to listen while reading!!

I love you always!! Thank you for reading I do appreciate it <3 make sure to take care of yourself

AND PLS VOTE >:(

- estrxlar

[wincestisasincest]

update: just remembered that dreamily.ai exists, so i put the beginning of this scene in there and let the writing ai take over. italics are my input, everything else is the ai.

without further delay, enjoy

Hexgates and Boats Can't Be Friends

"Okay, okay, but hear me out," Jayce said diplomatically, "what if we put the Hexgate… on a boat."

Penny and Vikotr blinked, but presented no objection. So, Jayce continued.

"That way, we wouldn't have to worry about interrupting the local architecture, because these things are huge. And they'd be portable, too, which would also make transporting all the materials we'd need super easy for future projects," he finished with an eager smile, wagging his metaphorical tail like he always did when he thought he had a good idea.

Penny and Viktor looked at each other, then immediately burst out laughing.

"You're so wrong," Penny told him firmly, wiping away her tears from where she was standing. "I can't believe you thought of that, of all things!" She shook her head sadly.

Jayce just stared, confused, at them as though they were mad, and they couldn't help feeling slightly smug.

"And why can't I do this, exactly?" he asked eventually, looking very much like a kicked puppy.

"Because if you try anything like that again I will cut your head off and feed it to you. Do I make myself clear?" Penny told him sternly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Jayce nodded slowly, not sure how this conversation ended up going sideways quite so fast. After all, this had been his idea! He'd even made the plans!

"Right," he said after a moment, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, I'm gonna get started, anyway."

Viktor patted him lightly on the shoulder. "Go ahead."

As he disappeared into the next room, Penny let out a heavy sigh. "So what happened with us being friends, really? Because if I were honest I don't remember it happening."

Viktor smiled sheepishly. "It was a mutual decision, actually. We both wanted Jayce to like us, and vice versa. But we just never realized we were actually interested in each other, until now." He chuckled softly. "And, honestly, neither did you, until today."

Penny shrugged. "Maybe," she said reluctantly.

They stood quietly for a minute before they remembered their original purpose for coming down here.

"Now I see why we have no choice but to agree," Penny said, rolling her eyes in disgust, "because if we disagree we risk ending up on opposite sides of the planet in two days."

Viktor snickered. "Or we could just start a Hexgate and float it across the world," he offered.

Penny laughed.

Chapter 2

"Hey, you guys know what time it is?" Jayce called out from inside the lab.

"No?" replied Penny and Viktor in unison.

Viktor chuckled. "What's up?" he said, approaching the door.

Jayce came out, still holding some wires and circuit boards, and held up one hand to show that there were six of them in each hand. "Just trying to figure out what kind of electrical impulse needs more power than a typical charge to activate the hexgate. If I can find something short enough, I should be able to turn it on."

"Cool. Let me know if you need any help." Viktor took the wires from Jayce' s grasp and began plugging them into the hexgate console.

"Thanks, Vik!" Jayce yelled after him, as he turned around and went back inside.

Viktor turned on the console and waited for it to come to life. It beeped a few times and flashed green, but there wasn' t any reaction to their efforts.

Sighing, he walked over to Penny and plopped himself down next to her. "I guess I'll give Jayce a while longer," he sighed, leaning against the console beside her.

Penny smiled at him gratefully. "At least it doesn't look like you wasted our time," she pointed out.

"True," agreed Viktor. "But I'm pretty sure Jayce will come out sooner or later, just to check in with us."

The door slid open and Jayce appeared again. This time, though, he carried several small plastic containers filled with blue goo.

"How's it going?" he asked with a grin, dumping a pile of the stuff on the floor beside the console.

The three humans exchanged a worried glance. Viktor leaned over and pressed the button marked "Activate", and a loud buzzing noise filled the room. A thin blue thread emerged from one end of the device and wound itself around the hexgate controller. Soon the whole thing lit up and the two ends glowed red.

"Oh, great," muttered Jayce, "now I've got to run through the whole procedure again. Great." He rubbed his temples and sat down in front of the console. "Let me see…" he mumbled under his breath.

Viktor turned off the machine and picked up a wrench. "We might as well get started," he suggested. "After all, Jayce isn't going to let us go anywhere without it by tomorrow morning."

Chapter 3

There was only one bed in Viktor's apartment, so Penny decided it was best to stay on the couch while Jayce slept on the mattress.

As Jayce snored peacefully, Penny stared at the ceiling and felt like crying again. Her heart hurt with every memory that flashed across her mind, making her wish that her life hadn't gone the way it had. She hated herself for taking the blame for everything that happened to her. She couldn't take it anymore, and knew deep down inside she never would.

She heard footsteps and turned to see Viktor walking towards her.

"Everything okay?" he asked quietly.

Her lips curled upwards involuntarily into a smile, but her eyes remained sad. "Just thinking," she murmured.

Viktor pulled a face and moved so he was sitting next to her instead. "Can't sleep?" he asked gently.

Penny sighed deeply. "Not really," she admitted, "but I can't stop. I don't want to think of the past anymore. All I keep seeing are my mistakes, the pain I caused others because of my own stupidity."

Viktor took her hand and laced their fingers together. "Don't feel bad about those things, okay? The only person who's ever blamed you is yourself. You've done nothing wrong. Everything is fine now."

Penny squeezed his hand tightly. She didn't deserve him, she realized suddenly, because Viktor deserved better than the mess she'd become. She'd always known it, but somehow, over the course of these last years, she had forgotten it completely.

"Do you regret being born?" she asked hesitantly.

"What?! Of course not! Why would you ask me that?" Viktor sounded surprised. Penny just kept gazing at the wall in front of her as she tried to gather her thoughts.

She could tell him about her parents, or even about how she got adopted by the Lesters. That wouldn't bring them back, but perhaps it would change some things for her.

"Sometimes I wonder if I've done the right thing, leaving New York City and moving to Boston. What kind of person would I be, if I abandoned my family because of what's happened to me? What kind of friend would I be if I didn' t care enough about them to even try to return home?"

Viktor stayed quiet, waiting patiently for her to continue.

Eventually, however, she couldn't bear it any longer. Not another moment passed before she blurted the words out.

"I want to go back to New York," she told him quietly. "All I ever wanted was to go back to New York… but now, I don't think I can ever go back."

"Why not?" Viktor asked simply.

Penny closed her eyes, afraid of his answer. When she opened them again, she met his questioning gaze.

"Because of what I did, Viktor." Her voice cracked. "I killed my mother."

Viktor stared at her for a long time. There were many emotions passing behind his dark brown eyes, but Penny couldn't place which ones were most prominent. Finally though, a slight smirk tugged at his lips. "That's probably the stupidest thing you could've done."

Penny frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Penny," Viktor explained patiently, "I don' t believe in ghosts anymore. Sure, there may' ve been cases of people having seen things that weren't really there, but what I saw that day, in that alley, I don' t believe for a second that they really were. I never believed in ghosts. Nowhere near as much as I believe in you, and I've seen you do lotsa crazy things, Penny. And trust me, you're definitely not the first person to kill their mother. I'm sure that's the reason why this happened."

"But what happened to them, to me? It's not as simple as just disappearing!" Penny shouted. "Those people were real! I know they were!" She cried, wiping the tears from her cheeks angrily.

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry, I know you believe that. I know you're scared. But Penny, please calm down." Viktor raised his hands and placed them onto hers. His skin was warm and soft beneath her touch, and his voice was soothing, calming her somewhat. "Listen to me. You aren't alone here. Whatever happens, whatever you decide to do, I promise you that none of this is your fault."

Penny nodded slowly and looked up at Viktor with wide, wet eyes.

He stood up and put his arms around her. "We'll figure out what happened to your mom, don't worry."

They spent hours just talking and talking, until eventually, exhaustion overcame them both and they fell asleep next to each other on the sofa. When morning came, they woke to the aroma of freshly baked bread drifting in from the kitchen. They got up and headed downstairs.

Imagine Jayce pitches in the idea of hexgates on boats so they don’t have to build multiple hexgates and disrupt local architecture and they also don’t have to send multiple boatloads of supplies for stuff like supply runs and then Penny and Viktor just laugh in his face

aherktjehrtj hetkejthejt LMAO

i stg every day is like west side story with these people

a bOAT and a HExgate could never be ~friends~ like are they aware of the metaphor here or are they just that stubborn