#if it weren’t for me transitioning then we would be left with only girl cousins except for one on that side of the family

[bulldog-butch]

what the hell was in the water in the two year window where my two cousins and i were born that made all of us trans

[matbarzyy]

Sin in Your Skin [A.B.] [M.B.]

A/N: Wow, I can’t believe I’m actually posting this. I swear the next thing I’m working on will be a real fic with an actual plot and not just smut, but until then... enjoy. This was really hard to write and took me forever to finish, so please let me know what you think of it!

Word count: 6043

Warnings: smut, it’s a threesome

.

You could feel you were getting the attention you wanted the second you leaned against the bar to ask for a glass of water.

It put a smile back on your face after such a weird day. The clouds had been thick, keeping light from the sun away so that even when night fell there was no transition, simply a merging of a dark day into an even darker night.

Your cousin and his boyfriend had invited you out for drinks to make something out of a not so cheerful day. Despite you all living in New York, you rarely ever saw each other. Your lives were busy, so you appreciated getting a chance to catch up, but you were also done with the third wheeling about an hour in.

So, instead of focusing on the cute couple at a table in a corner, you stole glances at two insanely attractive men. They were part of a larger group, all of them taking up two booths although they were mostly standing around the bar. Their eyes were on you too; it made a satisfied smile spread on your face as you turned towards the bartender to thank him and take your drink. This little black dress always got you just the attention you wanted.

The silky material wasn’t tight, but it hugged your curves whenever you moved. The straps were thin, exposing your shoulders and most of your back, so anyone could know you weren’t wearing a bra underneath it. It was the dress you put on when you wanted to feel confident and hopefully go home with someone by the end of the night.

It only took another minute for both men to introduce themselves to you and ask you to join them.

You sat between them in a booth, Anthony to your right and Mat to your left on the outer side of it. There was no one across the table because their friends were all busy at the bar ordering drinks and talking there. The two were nice and easy going as they made conversation, exchanging casual niceties with you. You kept up with it, exchanging a few looks with your cousin on the other side of the bar to see if he was annoyed you ditched him, but he only winked at you.

Of course he’d encourage you.

“You both play hockey?” You focused back on the two men you were with, deciding you could stop worrying about the couple you came here with. You wanted to find out a little more about them before anything happened, and so far you hadn’t gathered much apart from the fact that they were insanely hot.

“We’ve been playing for the same team for a while,” Anthony nodded, shifting a little in his seat so that his leg would brush yours. The rough material of his jeans was enough to make you shiver when you felt it against your bare skin.

His thighs looked massive with the material clinging to them, and so did Mathew’s. Your mind immediately went to what it’d feel like to ride one of their thighs. You were having a hard time deciding which of them you wanted the most.

“Mmh, so, since you do everything together, is it also in your habits to flirt with the same girl at the same time?” You leaned back into your seat as you awaited their answer.

“No, not usually,” Mathew chuckled, dropping his hand onto your knee and slowly sliding it up your thigh when you parted your legs to encourage him. “You like it?”

Even his hand was beautiful, you couldn’t believe you were that pulled to him when he had barely done anything. Anthony wasn’t letting you forget about him either, but he was more subtle. The tips of his fingers were only brushing the skin of your shoulder, tracing small circles on it that affected you more than you were ready to show.

“Only if I don’t have to choose which one of you I’m going home with at the end of the night,” You didn’t even think the bold reply over before the words left your lips, but you didn’t regret it for a second.

“No need for that,” Anthony slid his fingers on your skin to the back of your neck. You couldn’t stop your hips from moving a little at the gesture, and he smiled as he gently began playing with your hair while Mat ran his hand up higher on your thigh. “Mat and I are roommates, and we’re fine with sharing you, if you’re down for that of course,”

You bit your lip for a second as you tried to make a smart decision. You could barely think with them so close, and you were the one who suggested the idea first after all.

“I might be,” You took another sip of your water as you weighed your options.

On one hand, you were more than interested and they obviously were too. On the other hand, they were twice your size and going home with them may not be the safest thing to do. You wanted a little bit more time at the bar with them to decide if they were trustworthy. It helped their case that the guys they were with had wedding bands on their fingers and their wives around them.

“You want anything?” Mathew lifted his hand from your thigh and tapped the edge of your glass.

“I’m alright, thanks though,” You shook your head. As much as you wanted to trust them and go home with them, there was no way you’d ever let a man you didn’t know buy you a drink without watching it being poured and taking it from the bar yourself.

“Be right back,” He got up anyway and headed towards the bathroom rather than the bar.

You fell back into a casual conversation with Anthony as you turned back to him, his hand still caressing your neck softly. You wanted to melt right into him, but he seemed to sense the remainder of your hesitation. He didn’t want to scare you away by making a move too fast, but the way your tongue poked out to wet your lips made him forget all rational thoughts.

He placed two fingers under your chin to tilt your head up, his other hand cupping the back of your neck more firmly before he leaned in and let his nose brush against yours. A wave of warmth flooded through you and you shifted in your seat, letting your eyes flutter shut as you closed the distance between your lips.

Your back arched into him as you tried to press yourself closer to his body. Anthony caught your lower lip between his teeth and earned a muffled whimper from you before his hand slid from your neck down your shoulder and to your waist. You dropped your hand on his thigh to feel more of him and slid it up slowly, getting a quiet groan out of him while he shifted in his seat.

You weren’t the only one getting worked up.

You parted a few seconds later, neither of you wanting things to get too far while you were still in public, but from the way he made you feel, you knew there was no way you’d be going home without him.

“Missed me?” Mathew joined you again a second later, his hand going back to your thigh without hesitation. He grinned at the small noise you did your best to conceal when he made your dress ride up to trace patterns on your inner thigh.

“Something like that,” Your hips moved involuntarily in response to his teasing and the way Anthony massaged the back of your neck.

“We really should head out,” Mat leaned closer to whisper into your ear. You felt your panties get wet just from the sound of his voice.

A moan threatened to escape you when his lips found the sensitive spot right under your ear, and he didn’t miss the way you shivered. His teeth grazed your skin before he sucked lightly and ran his tongue over it.

“Okay, that’s me convinced,” You pulled away, breathless and trying to avoid making any embarrassing noises while in public. You were more turned on than you ever remembered being.

You had never had a threesome before but with the way these two made you feel, you were more than willing to give it a try. Even with their clothes on, you could see they were built like literal gods. Their confidence only added to their attractiveness, they were in control and you just wanted to melt under their touch. One of them alone was enough to make your mind spin, so with them together you were ready to combust before you even sat in the taxi, squished between their bodies.

Their hands were all over you, and it would have been indecent if Anthony didn’t put his jacket over your legs to cover you when you parted them. You couldn’t help but comply whenever their hands on your inner thighs prompted you to open them a little bit further, giving them perfect access to you. You had to stop yourself from whining as they teased eagerly without ever touching you where you wanted them most.

The plea you whimpered got Mathew biting down on the skin of your shoulder where he was previously leaving kisses. “Be a good girl,” He murmured, giving your thigh a squeeze.

You choked on a moan and tried to pass it off as a cough.

Both him and Anthony grinned from your reaction. Mathew had thrown the words out there to see if you’d like it, and they were both more than pleased with your response. If the night kept on going like this they were about to have a lot of fun with you.

You were brought back to your senses by the cold air of the night when you stepped out of the car a few minutes later, accepting Anthony’s help when he held his hand out for you. Your dress didn’t do much to keep you warm, but you didn’t step closer to him. Your thoughts caught up to you as you realised what you were doing and wondered if it really was a good idea.

You had zoned out for most of the walk through the entrance, lost in your own head, and it didn’t go unnoticed.

“Hey,” Anthony prompted you to look up at him once in the elevator. “If you change your mind or anything gets too much that’s okay,” He reassured you. “Just tell us and we’ll stop,”

“I’m okay,” You nodded, feeling better after hearing those words.

“Come on,” Mathew stepped out first to lead the way to their apartment, unlocking the door and letting you step in first. “This way,”

He guided you to a bedroom with a hand on the small of your back, warming you up with a simple touch. There wasn’t much in the room apart from a desk and a bed. Some clothes were scattered over the floor but it still looked relatively clean.

You didn’t get much more time to dwell on that because a second later Anthony’s hands were running up your sides from behind while Mathew cupped the side of your neck and leaned in to kiss you.

Every little bit of nervousness that was rising from your overthinking disappeared simply because you were unable to form a coherent thought in that moment.

You were drowned in their warmth and lost in their touch, blood rushing through your body while you focused on kissing Mat back and let them run their hands all over your skin. For a fleeting moment your thoughts wandered to Anthony’s lips and how he had felt kissing you at the bar. You could only imagine how soft they’d be against the skin of your neck where you could feel his breath.

You didn’t have to wait much longer for your imagination to stop running, his lips finding the skin of your shoulder where he took his time leaving kisses that made you whimper into Mathew’s mouth. You were turning into an absolute mess, letting him nibble onto your lower lip while Anthony trailed his up your neck.

You tried to lean forward when he pulled away, chasing his lips, but Anthony grabbed your hips and pulled your ass back against him. Your moan wasn’t muffled in any way this time, and both men felt their blood rush south just from the sound of it.

Your eyelids fluttered when you felt Anthony harden against you, grinding into you slowly while you met his motions with your ass. Mat fell to his knees in front of you, leaving the upper part of your body for Anthony’s hands to wander on while he mouthed at your thighs.

He lifted your dress up to your waist and licked his lips, the hunger in his eyes growing when he saw the lace of your panties. The breathy moans falling from your lips were music to his ears, and he needed them to turn louder.

“Can I take this off?” Mathew hooked his fingers in the waistband of your panties, kissing your inner thigh and looking up at you.

“Fuck yes,” You allowed him to drag them down your legs without hesitation, stepping out of them while Anthony nipped at a sensitive spot on your neck. You whined quietly, thankful that Mat was thoughtful enough to help you get out of your heels before you forgot how to stand.

“So wet already,” He mumbled as he hooked one of your legs over his shoulder, getting better access to your inner thighs so that he could leave kisses and pretty red marks all over them. His stubble grazed your skin, only adding to the sensation, and your hips rolled involuntarily the second he began pressing kisses over your folds. Your gripped Anthony’s arm to steady yourself when he gave you a few licks before diving in.

With his free hand, Anthony dragged the straps of your dress down your shoulders and let the material bunch around your waist where Mat was still holding it.

“You look so good like this,” He pressed his chest to your back, wrapping both of his arms around you to steady you while you moaned both from the praise and the way Mathew sucked on your clit. You completely gave up on controlling what was happening or your reactions, leaving it up to them instead.

Anthony’s hands found your chest easily while he rolled his hips slowly to rub himself against your bare ass. His fingers pinched and rolled your nipples softly, teasing the sensitive buds while Mat gripped your thigh on his shoulder and devoured your pussy.

If it weren’t for Anthony’s size and strength you would be on the floor right now. You were leaning most of your weight back on him and couldn’t keep your balance with only one foot on the floor. You didn’t think things could feel any better until Mathew slid two long fingers inside of you and your head fell back on Anthony’s shoulder with a moan.

He pinched your nipples a little harder in response, sending your hips bucking against Mat’s face, who only took it as an encouragement to go harder. His fingers curled inside of you as he dragged them out in slow motions until he found the sweet spot that made your pussy clench.

You felt him grin against your pussy while your whine filled the room. His fingers teased the spot over and over again while he lapped up your wetness, humming in satisfaction over your clit because he could feel the way you tensed whenever he did so. You had your fair share of experience before, but never in your life had you felt so good and overwhelmed by a guy eating you out. No one had ever gotten your eyes to roll back in your head so easily, and no one had ever gotten you to the point where you couldn’t even stand anymore.

“Are you gonna come on his face, baby?” Anthony whispered in your ear, biting down on the spot just below it and tightening his grip on you when you shuddered. He let out a low groan against your skin when you shifted your hips to grind back on him.

“Yes,” You whimpered your response, the noise spurring both of them on.

Mathew moaned eagerly, sucking on your clit harder as he rubbed his fingers against the perfect spot inside of you until your legs were trembling. Anthony was almost carrying you to keep you up when your orgasm hit you, sending your hips bucking against Mat’s face while he tried to keep his grip tight on you to hold you still.

They worked you through it together, Mathew with gentle licks and his fingers still inside of you, and Anthony with soft caresses of your chest and waist.

“Can you stand?” He chuckled quietly and left a few kisses on your neck.

“Uh?” You blinked a few times, your chest was rising and falling quickly as you tried to process his words. “Fuck, that was good,” You breathed out.

“Mmh,” Mathew hummed his agreement when he got back up, fingers in his mouth to suck them clean.

“C’mere,” Anthony helped you to the bed and let you adjust on your back. “Lift,” He prompted you quietly so that he could tug your dress off your body and finally leave you completely naked.

You watched as he stripped too slowly for your liking, undoing the buttons of his shirt before letting it drop to the floor to expose his toned chest. You had known he was muscular the second he caught your eye at the bar, he was a professional athlete after all, but you didn’t expect him or Mat to look so god-like once their clothes were off. Just the sight of him took your breath away.

“We’re far from done,” He climbed on top of you once he was fully naked, a cocky smirk on his face when you reached out to run your hands over his chest, a look of awe in your eyes. “Like what you see, baby?” Anthony asked and you nodded while his arms caged you in, making you feel small, but you were thankful for the warmth and being less exposed.

“How are you two real?” You stole a glance at Mathew too, your heart skipping a beat when you saw him naked at the foot of the bed.

You never got an answer from either of them because the way Anthony rolled his hips a second later got you both to moan quietly.

“Do you need me to go easy on you?” He pulled back to reach for a condom in a drawer of the bedside table. You shook your head as you watched him sit back on his heels between your legs and swiftly roll it down his cock. Your pussy clenched just at the sight of him, and Anthony licked his lips hungrily, satisfied with your answer. Neither of you wanted to have to hold back. “Good.” He gripped your hips and flipped you over on your stomach.

You squealed as you bounced on the mattress, immediately gathering your knees underneath you and holding yourself up on your arms. Your back arched eagerly as you moved back to try and feel him, but he grabbed your ass before you could be against him. A frustrated huff left your lips at that, if he was half as good at fucking you as Mathew had been eating you out, you were about to feel incredible, and you didn’t want to have to wait any longer for it.

“Someone’s excited,” Mat teased as he climbed on the bed too, crawling up until he was sitting in front of you with his thick thighs spread on either side of your body.

Anthony chuckled when your pussy clenched the second he pressed his tip at your entrance, but he didn’t give you the satisfaction of filling you yet. Instead, he took his time slowly rubbing the head of his cock up and down your pussy, alternating between teasing your clit and your entrance.

You fell to your forearms with a whimper, hands on Mathew’s inner thighs while his cock stood proudly just an inch away from your face.

“Good girl,” He purred when your tongue came out to lick his tip, saliva dripping down on him to wet him.

He had given you a taste of heaven just a minute ago and you were ready to return the favor.

Anthony bit his lip as he watched your head bob up and down the second Mathew’s cock was in your mouth, and he slowly pushed his hips forward to fill your pussy with his. A moaned curse fell from your lips while he stretched you out and sent a wave of pleasure through your body.

Your mouth sank down on Mat a second later, taking him until he hit the back of your throat and you gagged lightly, trying to adjust to them both at the same time. You all stayed still for a moment, you because you were overwhelmed, and them because nothing felt better than that first push inside of you.

The whole scene was filthier than anything either of you could have dreamed of, and the wet noises your bodies made when Anthony began to gently rock his hips only added to it. The angle he fucked you at was the definition of perfect, it made it hard for you to focus on Mat.

He was panting slightly in front of you, his thighs clenching under your hands while you suckled on the head of his cock and swirled your tongue around it. You looked unreal like that, your ass arched up for Anthony to fuck you deep while you did your best to pleasure him.

The first loud moan you pulled out of Mathew filled you with pride, and you doubled your efforts to take him deeper and deeper into your mouth while you bobbed your head.

“You feel so fucking good,” Anthony let out a groan, grabbing your ass and watching himself disappear into your pussy. It was taking everything in him to not start pounding into you, but he knew he’d be too much if he did that while you were still sucking Mat.

Mathew’s hand was more gentle as he reached for your hair and ran his fingers through it until it was gathered to the back of your head. He could see his cock sliding between your lips with each movement you made and guided your head at a slow pace with a soft groan. His teeth sank into his bottom lip when you looked up at him for approval, pulling away to work your tongue over his tip and suck.

“You’re doing so good, baby,” Mathew praised you, unable to stop yourself from bucking his hips to fuck into your mouth.

You choked a little and pulled away to catch your breath, working your hand around him instead.

Anthony saw that as his opportunity to give you a more forceful thrust. The sound of his skin slapping against yours echoed through the room and you jolted forward with a choked whimper.

Both men chuckled at your reaction and the atmosphere shifted in the room. Anthony gripped your hips harder to keep you in place to settle into a fast rhythm, pounding into you from behind. You were sure your skin would be bruised later, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care.

Mat’s hand ran through your hair soothingly as he watched you, his gentleness a contrast with the way his friend was treating you. You tried your best to focus on him again and licked at his tip before wrapping your lips around him again. It was sloppier than when you started, you couldn’t concentrate on a thing with Anthony’s cock hitting your g-spot every time he thrust back into you.

A familiar warmth was building in the pit of your stomach, you wouldn’t last much longer, and going down on Mat was quickly becoming too much.

‘S’okay,” He chuckled at the fucked out look on your face, cupping your cheek to get you to lift your head and look up at him. Your makeup was ruined because of the way your eyes watered whenever you had gagged around his cock, spit was running down your chin, but Mat couldn’t have found you prettier. “You like getting spanked, baby?” He traced his thumb over your swollen lips, grinning when you tried to take it into your mouth. He and Tito shared a quick glance as they waited for your answer.

“Yes,” You whimpered, feeling a palm collide with your ass a second later.

Your body moved forward from the pain, but Anthony was quick to pull you back into him with one hand. His free one fell onto your ass again, the sharp slap reaching your ears before the sting settled in. His thrusts were relentless, hard and fast, getting moans out of you that were progressively getting louder.

The next spank didn’t take long to come, followed by a moaned curse from Anthony as he watched the way the skin of your ass bounced and reddened with each slap.

“Come on,” Mathew kept your eyes locked on his so that he could watch you fall apart. “Show me how pretty you look when you’re coming,”

It only took one more spank for your pussy to clench hard around Anthony’s cock, making him groan loudly while you fell apart for both of them. Quiet praises fell from Mat’s lips as you lost touch with the rest of the world, your muscles shaking and struggling to hold you up.

Anthony didn’t stop, but louder moans and groans escaped him while his thrusts turned sloppy. He gripped your ass to part your cheeks and looked down where your bodies were joined with dark eyes.

“Such a good girl,” Anthony muttered before he reached his high too and spilled into the condom with a groan, watching himself twitch and throb inside of you.

Mathew watched in awe until you dropped your head and let out a small whine, seconds away from collapsing.

“C’mere,” He slid down on the bed and caught your body as you fell forward, adjusting you until you were lying on his chest with your legs spread around him.

You gladly took a moment to rest and enjoy the afterglow of your orgasm. It was only the second one of the night, which you knew was far from your limit, but if these two kept on going like that you were going to pass out before you could get many more.

Mathew was patient, running his fingers up and down your spine while you curled your toes and slowly pulled yourself out of your dizzy state. You could feel him hard against your lower stomach, but he didn’t seem to be in a rush.

“Did so good baby,” The whisper got you rolling your hips involuntarily, and Mat took it as an encouragement to run his fingers through your hair and guide your head up.

Your eyes met his while you weakly pushed yourself up on your arms to straddle him more comfortably. Anthony stayed on the bed on his side without getting involved for a few moments, letting his hungry eyes run over every inch of your exposed skin.

Mathew bit his lip and looked down where your bodies were joined, humming in appreciation when you repeated the motion and caused drops of precum to leak over his stomach. His hands ran from your knees, up your thighs and to your hips so that he could lift you gently.

You gave him just enough space for him to reach over the side of the bed to grab a condom, and you sat back on his thighs for a few seconds to let him roll it down his length.

“Are you going to give me another one, baby?” Mat guided you to position yourself on top of him again and held the base of his cock, letting you sink down on him slowly.

You gave him a jerky nod and whined while he bit back a moan when your ass met his thighs. You rolled your hips slowly but steadily, recovering from your previous orgasm, and Mathew let you be in charge of the pace for a while. He was satisfied enough by the sight of you on top of him like that.

His hands found your hips, accompanying you every time you rolled them before slowly caressing up your side and down your stomach. You shivered and moaned quietly in response. The touches were a stark contrast with the sting you could still feel in your ass from the way Anthony spanked you, but they felt just as intense.

Mathew relaxed back into the mattress and enjoyed what you were giving him for a while, but his patience didn’t last long. As soon as your breathing settled he gripped your hips a little bit tighter to pull you down and thrust up to meet your movements.

Your lips parted in surprise and a moan fell from them. Mat chuckled in response, proud of himself as he planted his feet on the mattress for leverage so that he could keep on going. Your body stilled on top of him and you braced your hands on his chest, he was picking a much faster pace than the one you had set and it was making your thighs tremble.

You were so caught up in the way he was fucking you that you barely noticed Anthony getting on his knees by your side until he spoke into your ear.

“Such a good girl,” He whispered before tugging at your earlobe with his teeth, a hand on your back and the other one over your stomach.

You moaned and broke eye contact with Mathew to look at him instead, melting right into his arms when he lifted you to make you turn around. You followed his lead until you were sitting back on Mat’s cock, your eyelids fluttering while your back met his chest.

“There we go,” Anthony hummed his approval quietly, lowering his head to your collarbones to kiss and nip at your skin.

Mathew groaned into your ear from behind you, thrusting up into you at an angle that had you seeing stars. It was good enough to make your eyes gloss over with tears, but you could still see the way Anthony’s eyes darkened when he pulled back to take in how beautiful you looked in that position. His pupils were so dilated you could barely see the blue in his eyes, and you couldn’t look away.

The tip of his fingers traced up your sides slowly, making you shudder before he reached your chest and pinched both of your nipples between his fingers.

“Fuck,” Mathew cursed through a loud moan when you arched your back against him. His arm tightened around your stomach and he grunted, thrusting up harder.

A cry fell from your lips while a tear rolled down your cheek. Anthony mumbled a praise before dropping one of his hands off your body and using it to stabilise himself on the bed while his lips latched onto the neglected nipple.

“Need you to cum baby,” Mat groaned, knowing he wouldn’t be able to keep up with this pace for much longer.

“Come on,” Anthony encouraged you too, immediately reattaching his lips to your chest and biting down on the hardened bud.

Your head fell back on Mathew’s shoulder, your lips parted and letting out quick gasps. You were right on the edge, and you fell over the second his hand reached down to rub tight circles on your clit. You could barely stay still then, making it hard for Anthony to keep going while Mat throbbed inside of you, snapping his hips up a few more times before he was coming right after you with shallow thrusts.

You shuddered and whimpered when Anthony slowly lifted you off Mat to let you lay down on the mattress. He somehow managed to make your cheek land on a pillow, and you kept your eyes closed, only focusing on slowing down your breathing.

You could vaguely feel Mathew on your other side, just as spent as you. His chest was moving up and down slowly while you both recovered, so Anthony was the only one still touching you. He didn’t do much except play with your hair gently, giving you some space until you were ready to move again.

“You okay?” He brushed a strand off your forehead when you blinked your eyes open to look at him, and you gave him a tired nod. “Come here,” He helped you up and gathered your clothes for you, guiding you to the bathroom and leaving everything on the counter.

You wobbled a little after he left you alone, looking at yourself in the mirror and taking in your appearance. You were a mess, but you could still feel the bliss of those orgasms in your body. Taking a few big gulps of cold water running from the tap helped you regain your senses slowly, and you let out a slow breath.

Your dress was wrinkled when you slipped it back on, but it still looked decent enough. The same couldn’t be said of your face, so you did your best to clean the smears of mascara from under your eyes. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to be good enough until you got home.

The one thing that bothered you the most were your panties. The flimsy lace was still wet, and it felt a bit gross to put them back on like that. Discarding them in the small bathroom bin the boys had seemed to be your best option.

It only took another minute for you to find an uber available nearby, and you had never been more thankful for how many there always were in New York no matter the time.

When you left the bathroom, you found Anthony in the kitchen with nothing but grey sweatpants hanging low on his hips. It was enough to make a shiver run through you again, but your body was ready to call it a night. He was leaning against the counter, a glass of water in his hand, and he quickly offered you one too.

“Thanks,” You smiled gratefully. “But I should probably get home before it gets too late,” You smoothed the material of your dress down, trying to get some wrinkles out of the silky material.

“Do you have an uber on the way?” He guessed when you checked your phone, and you nodded.

“Yeah, it’s a quick drive,” You answered, shifting your weight to adjust your foot in your shoe, but there was no way the heels would stop hurting. “Where’s Mat?”

“I’m pretty sure he’s already half asleep,” Anthony cringed. “Don’t take it personally, he just has no manners,”

“It’s alright,” You chuckled at his reaction. “I don’t mind,”

“Before you go,” He walked with you to the front door. “My number is on this, text me if you ever feel like doing something like this again,” He slipped you a piece of paper, and you stared at it for a second.

“Oh,” Was all you could say as he opened the door for you and stepped aside.

“It doesn’t need to involve Mat,” He added. “Just… text if you’re interested, okay?”

“Yeah, will do,” You slipped the note into your phone case so that you wouldn’t lose it. “Thanks for tonight,”

“I think it’s me who should be thanking you,” Anthony shook his head with a small smile as you stepped out. “Get home safe.” He said to which you nodded, and you heard the door close as soon as you were out of his sight down the corridor.

His phone number was saved in your phone the minute you sat in your uber.

.

Well, hope you liked it! Please REBLOG and let me know what you thought!!! Feedback really means a lot to me!

[gubler-me-up]

Broken Telephone

Request: Spencer Request. You're new to the team, having transferred from the NYPD and are also studying for a Doctorate at the same time. Spencer falls in love with you straight away, but saddens when he hears you talking to JJ about a guy you do a load of fun activities with a guy and a little girl. He assumes you're taken and it breaks his heart. Eventually, he finds out you were talking about your cousin and his daughter & asks you out on a date, and you say yes.

A/N: Thanks for the request, anon! This was a really cute, fun request to write! Starting it was tough though because I didn’t know the exact tone I wanted for it. I hope it’s okay though! When I was reading through the beginning part before I edited it I was like “I have a whole degree in English and I can’t even write properly i hate it here” LOL the first paragraph was a MESS but I fixed it. I think the rest is fine! Enjoy, love!!

Couple: Spencer Reid/Fem!Reader

Category: Fluff

Content warning: None

Word count: 1.7k

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

Upgrading from NYPD to the BAU was probably your greatest career move to date. You hated how NYPD operated and dealt with crimes. It made you so frustrated. If you weren’t born and raised in New York you wouldn’t even be a part of NYPD. You felt as if New York would always be your home, but sometimes you had to branch out to find what’s best for you.

Moving to Washington, D.C. was a completely new start for you and you felt as if it were only right you changed a few things about yourself. First, you cut your hair shorter. Very cliche of a restart arc, but you thought you’d feel free with less weight weighing your head down. You also bought an actual house. After years of living in a small, cramped apartment you thought it was right to invest in something bigger and more welcoming.

The biggest thing you were proud of during the transition to the BAU was finishing your Ph.D. in Linguistics. You had wanted to complete it years ago, but found it difficult to focus on it while at NYPD. With the bureau they allowed you to work on your Ph.D. as long as you worked your agreed-upon hours every week. It felt amazing to finally have a support net to motivate you towards your dreams.

You weren’t the only one excited about your Ph.D. though. Your coworker, Dr. Spencer Reid, couldn’t wait to see you during your time in to discuss your Ph.D. with you. As soon as you walked to your desk, he’d be the first one to greet you with a huge, lovable smile, rosy red cheeks and a sparkle in his eyes. You had never seen someone so animated over linguistics before. If you two weren’t talking about linguistics or random facts he would spurt out, the conversation was about you.

On one particular day though, the good doctor was running late to work. You were kind of disappointed you weren’t greeted with a daily dose of facts early in the morning. The second best thing happened when JJ walked towards your desk with two Starbucks coffees.

“Ugh, if I knew you a few years earlier, I would have married you before Will could ever dream to,” you said.

She laughed. “I don’t think Spence would allow that to happen without a fight. He’s been quite the busy bee around you.”

She handed you your drink as you pondered on what she said. Just maybe he had a slight crush on you. The way he expressed his interest was adorable for sure. You preferred his way of flirting over the typical sexualized pick-up lines many men in your life have used.

“Are you saying super-genius Dr. Spencer Reid has a crush on me? I won’t believe it until he runs some tests about your theory,” you said as you took a sip of your coffee.

“Maybe he’ll ask you out one of these days between statistics,” she said.

You smiled. “That would be nice. I just hope he doesn’t do it this weekend. Remember I told you how Adrian was visiting this weekend? He’s bringing the little one with him.”

“Oh, really? What’s their name?”

“Her name’s Rhea. She’s the cutest little thing ever.”

You pulled out your phone to look for a picture of them. You found a picture of the three of you from a few months ago before you left for D.C. You turned your phone to JJ and she instantly melted.

“Oh my gosh, she’s adorable,” she said.

You proudly smiled. “Right. She’s the cutest four-year-old I know. I think I was the happiest one in the room when I met her for the first time. Adrian was a puddle of tears and nerves from the reality of taking care of this little girl forever. He treats her like an absolute princess.”

“You both are lucky to have her in your lives. She looks like a ray of sunshine.”

“She is. We do so many fun things together. The last time we hung out we went to this trampoline park. This weekend we’re going to the food festival.”

“That does sound like a lot of fun. Maybe I’ll bring Will and the kids there.”

You were going to respond to JJ until you noticed Reid sitting at his desk which was diagonally across from yours. You hadn’t even noticed him come in at all let alone sit down to start his workday. He had already buried his nose deep into case files. JJ looked at Reid with as much confusion as you did. He was never quiet unless something was troubling him.

“No fact today for me, doctor?” You joked.

He looked up at you. He had no sparkle in his eye or a blush painted on his face. He looked disappointed. You were confused as to what made your chatty doctor become so mute.

“I just wanted to start these case files,” he said.

“You sure there isn’t anything wrong, Spence?” JJ asked.

“No, I’m fine. I just gotta finish these before Hotch comes in,” he said.

He then buried his face back into the file without uttering another word. You and JJ looked at each other. You were concerned there was something wrong, but JJ’s look said to leave it alone for now. You sighed and took another long sip of your coffee. You stared at him out of the corner of your eye. You hoped whatever he was going through he’d tell you eventually.

————

You packed your things up to leave 20 minutes ago, but stuck around your desk until you saw Reid also getting ready to leave. You wanted to inquire about his miserable attitude towards you. You noticed throughout the day he was normal with everyone else except you. When you tried to spark conversation, he would give you quick, to the point answers before he made a B-line back to his desk. He gave you no choice but to crack him.

As soon as you saw him put his books and files into his satchel. He swung the strap around his shoulder and made his way to the door. He didn’t even look at you the whole time he got ready to leave. This was getting ridiculous to you. You picked up your purse and ran towards him before he caught the elevator.

“Spencer,” you called out.

He turned to look at you. “What’s up?”

You looked at him confused. “What’s up with me? What’s up with you?”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you haven’t talked to me or even looked at me longer than a second today.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“You weren’t too busy to tell Morgan how many microscopic mites were living on his face today.”

“I thought it was valuable information he needed to know.”

“And you didn’t think it would be valuable to tell me?”

“In the moment, no.”

He went to go press the button for the elevator but you stopped his hand. You grabbed his hand tightly to make sure he didn’t escape your grip. He looked at you as if he was uncomfortable with you touching him. You knew awhile ago he had thing about not liking to shake hands, but you had stepped over that barrier with him a long time ago.

“I don’t think you should be doing this,” he quietly said.

You furrowed your eyebrows. “Why not?”

“I feel as if I’ve been intruding,” he said.

“Intruding on what?”

“Your family life.”

You let go of his hand as you stood there in shock. You didn’t understand what he meant when he said that. If he wanted to ask you out all he had to do was ask and you’d sort out your schedule. Adrian and Rhea would understand if you took a few hours to go on your first date in over two years.

“You think you’re intruding on my family life? How so?” You asked.

“If you really want to know I wanted to take you to the food festival this weekend because I know how much you love unique foods, but then I heard you and JJ talking about your partner and daughter coming this-“

“Hold up, wait,” you said before bursting into an uncontrollable laugh.

He looked at you funny. You watched as he stared in confusion as you laughed at his interpretation of your conversation with JJ. To be fair you had never mentioned Adrian and Rhea to him before, but you didn’t know he’d be eavesdropping in your conversation with JJ.

“You think Adrian’s my partner and Rhea’s my kid? Well, I’m proud to say that for once in Dr. Spencer Reid’s life he is completely, utterly wrong.”

“What?”

“Yeah, Adrian’s my cousin and Rhea’s his daughter. They’re coming to visit me from New York for the weekend. Adrian’s basically like a big brother to me.”

His face went from confused to embarrassed in a fraction of a second. His face turned to that noticeable red and an awkward smile spread across his face. You continued to laugh at his demeanour as you pressed the elevator button, so the two of you could actually get going.

“Oh. I’m so sorry for being weird to you, Y/N. I just felt terrible for thinking about asking you on a date while you were in a committed relationship,” he said.

“I get it, I do. I think you can make it up to me though,” you said.

The elevator dinged and the two of you stepped inside. He looked at you in amusement. You looked back at him with a big smile on your face and big, hopeful eyes. He couldn’t help but laugh.

“Would you like to go on a date?” He asked.

You nodded your head. “I’d love to. We can even go to the food festival, so you can meet Adrian and Rhea in person.”

“That would be nice. I heard you telling JJ how lovely they are.”

“I bet they seem even lovelier now that you know they’re not my partner and child.”

“You can say that.”

—–

MASTERLIST

[kim-miyeon]

Hell Above-Chapter Nine

PAIRINGS: Hwang Hyunjin x Female Reader

WARNINGS: Series contains mature content. read at your own discretion. Mafia!AU, explicit language, suggestive language, sexual scenes, unprotected sex, slight degradation, family issues, mild abuse, angst, 18+

WORD COUNT: 5.1K

Previous | Next

Does It Even Make A Difference? When I’m Sober, I Feel Pain.

It was agonizing.

You sat there, head held up by your clasped fists and leaning over shaking your leg. It was agonizing to wait and wonder. There was so much weighing on your heart and mind that you didn’t know where to place your concern. As you sat across Minho and Felix who were impatiently waiting with the same worry that you had, Seungmin pacing the hallway further down, you couldn’t help but wish that you could take away all the pain Jeongin was in behind the doors of the hospital’s operating room. The image of him falling to the ground and the blood seeping on your hands replayed in your head like a movie, which led you to your next nightmare as the film carried on. A moment you never wanted to live, a scene you didn’t want to replay. When Hyunjin looked into your eyes. How he lowered his weapon. Your inability to pull the trigger.

How Seungmin was able to drug Hyunjin with an injection before you were able to fully grasp the situation. Before you were able to say anything besides

“I’m sorry.”

Because at that moment, you felt sorry. Sorry for being in this position, for whatever idea of you was playing in his mind. You didn’t know if you’d ever see him again after that, so in that moment… saying sorry is all that you could say.

Suddenly the door of the operation section opened and you jolted up along with Minho and Felix.

“Yang Jeongin..”

The doctor began and you stepped forward in desperation, “We are his family. How is he? Is he out of surgery?”

“He is still in surgery. He may be here over night. He has sustained a lot of injuries and we are running into complications so the operation will take a while.”

“But he is okay, right?” Seungmin stood behind you as you felt tears well in your eyes at the news. Minho turned to you softly as you were falling apart at the scene.

“It’s hard to say confidently if he will recover from his injuries but the doctors are doing all they can.”

“Thank you doctor.” Felix said lowly as the doctor retreated.

“I think you should head home Y/N.” Minho softly said as Seungmin looked at him anxiously.

“I’ll take her.” Seungmin said and lightly grabbed your arm as you yanked it still feeling the weight on your heart pull you down.

“I’m not leaving.” You spat.

“WHERE IS MY GRANDSON?!”

The hairs on your back stood up chilling as you felt the world stop. The sudden deep voice pulled your attention and you saw your grandfather walking over to the four of you in anger. Pure rage.

“Grandfather..” Felix whispered.

“Y/N, What the fuck have you done?! What is wrong with Jeongin!?”

Your grandfather marched straight to you and pushed Seungmin to the side as he gripped your arms and pulled you into him. You couldn’t even resist as you felt responsible, that this was your punishment.

“Jeongin’s in surgery.. he..”

“SHUT UP.”

A slap. Right against your cheek as you fell to the ground from the backhanded impact. Felix rushed to your side as you made contact with the cold hard floor. The taste of blood dripped In your mouth as you raised your hands to your lips and felt the cut bleeding. You looked up to your grandfather and then to Minho who stood there looking at you with sadden eyes.

“YOU…. have brought shame to this family. Because of you, a member of our family was attacked, a situation that could have been avoided if you would have just been a lot smarter. But no, you are selfish. You never think about anything. A common woman. Only using your emotions to guide you. Foolish.”

“Grandfather..” Seungmin softly said.

“Shut up boy! I have given you plenty of chances Y/N, to prove your worthiness to lead this family but you are unfit.”

You looked at the man as he turned his gaze to Minho.

“Lee Minho.”

“Yes, grandfather.” Minho answered and looked at your grandfather straight on.

“Tomorrow, I want you to begin the transition of power as stated in the 32nd clause of the Lee Family creed.”

“What?” Minho said shockingly.

“What?” You repeated through clenched teeth.

“You are unfit. Uneducated. You will not lead this family any longer. Minho will begin his training to succeed you and we will prepare for the transition.”

Your grandfather walked over to you and you flinched slightly as he stood in front of you, head tilted down and hands behind his back.

“All of this could have been avoided if you had just done what you were assigned to do, girl. Your father would be disappointed in you.”

You shook in fear and sadness at his words as he continued, “You’re lucky that execution was not considered for your treason to the family.”

With that, your grandfather walked back to the front of the hospital and you clenched your jaw at the whole scene. Yeji told you that someone didn’t like that you were the leader....there was a mole in your family and you looked up at Minho as he stood there. He slowly looked over to you and you stood up with Felix’s help and his eyes searched yours.

“Y/N.. I-”

“Are you satisfied yet Minho?”

“I didn’t—”

“Don’t…” you plug your hand up to stop Minho from continuing as you began to walk away from you cousins, your mind feeling overwhelmed from the amount of emotions that you were in.

As you walked slowly, you thought about how maybe this was a good thing. To transition your power to Minho, and how maybe you wouldn't mind being killed. But then you thought about Hyunjin. Your mind replayed the scene in the basement and the way Hyunjin looked at you. It was heartbreaking that the years you had spent together were coming short and everything was left unknown. You didn’t know what he knew, and you wonder if he had woken up. Was he okay? Did he get hurt? You felt your heart ache as the thought of something happening to him and you once again felt tears brim your eyes as you stopped walking and felt a presence of someone behind you.

“Why are you following me?” You asked.

“I think we should talk Y/N.” The voice of Seungmin’s rang in your ears as he was soft and innocently asking for your time.

You couldn’t be mad at him. And you know what he was going to ask you, things couldn’t be hidden anymore. Not after this.

“Why didn’t you kill him?”

You bit your lip and felt a small hot tear run down your cheek at Seungmin’s question. It was time to be honest.

“He was right there, Y/N. He surrendered to you.. I saw it. You just didn’t pull the trigger.”

“I couldn’t do it.” Your lips quivered as you softly whispered loud enough for Seungmin to hear you. You felt more tears come and you started to let it all out.

Seungmin walked closer to you and stood in front of you as you were falling apart. Your mind, body, and soul, feeling crushed and lacking any hope. It was all too much for you to take in and Seungmin knew that you had never broken down like this ever. He wrapped his arms around you as you were limp in his chest, sobbing. He stroked your hair and you whimpered as you tried to catch a breath.

“You love him, Y/N.”

You couldn’t speak through your choked sobs so you nodded against Seungmin’s chest. You heard him sigh against you and you found yourself pulling back away from him.

“All this time?” He questioned as you wiped your tears and nodded again.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Seungmin lookesyou and stepped forward to help you wipe your tears. “You were suffering alone all this time.”

“Jeongin knew.”

Seungmin sighed and you looked up at him as he carefully tried to comfort you.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do Seungmin. Yeji ordered me to kill Hyunjin but he saw me.. he knows now.”

You felt tears come back to your wet eyes and you hung your head, “I don’t want to live a life where he isn’t with me. I can’t be here and know that he could hate me for knowing who I truly am. It’s eating me inside Seungmin, I want to be with him so badly..”

“So go to him.”

You stopped and looked at Seungmin as if he was ludacris. He looked at you in the most serious state and you shook your head.

“Are you mad? I can’t go—“

“Y/N. Hyunjin loves you, you know that. We know that.”

You did know that, didn’t you?

“Go home. Go see him tonight because tomorrow..”

Seungmin pushed and you looked down knowing what was coming.

“Tomorrow may not come.”

Seungmin was right. The consequences of you disobeying not only your grandfather but Yeji could cause commotions in the mafia world tomorrow. You weren’t sure what would happen, and what information would leak. It was so difficult to be in a limbo state at every turn. You only dream of a world where you and Hyunjin could live freely and share your life with a family. Growing old together and sharing every piece of the world. That wasn’t going to happen. You knew as long as you two were alive, you both couldn’t be together. It broke your heart. But you knew that Seungmin was right.

“What about Jeongin? I can’t just leave him here, I have to stay-.” You questioned and Seungmin sighed as he stopped you.

“Jeongin would be telling you the same thing I am.” He was right. You knew that if the situation was any different, Jeongin would be telling you to go to Hyunjin.

“Okay. I’ll go.”

*******************************************************

Hyunjin felt his eyes pry open as he heard the sound of men talking from a few feet away. His head was pounding and his body ached as he tried to shift and move.

“Woah woah Hyunjin,” Hyunjin saw Jisung come to his side from behind the couch that Hyunjin was laying on. “You good?”

“Yeah,” Hyunjin sat up with Jisung’s help, “I’m good, what happened?”

“We were hoping you could tell us that.” The sound of Changbin’s voice echoed as he came from behind Hyunjin with Chan next to him “We found you in the basement on the floor. You were out for an hour.”

“You didn’t see anyone down there with you?” Chan asked and Hyunjin shook his head and then that’s when he remembered.

You.

“You said that the leader of the Lee Family was here right Chan?” Hyunjin felt his heart beat faster at the thought of you being someone you weren’t.

“Yeah, I was told that he would be in the basement. You told us to check the perimeters, we didn’t catch him.”

Hyunjin spared you. He knew that in that moment it was you, him, and the gun. But he couldn’t grasps why you were down there, who you really were, or have you been a Lee all this time. The leader who hid in plain sight. But the boys didn’t know, or so it seemed. Hyunjin didn’t want to let them know that he saw you there, not until he saw you first.

He knew you. Or maybe he didn’t. But the woman that he loves would come home. You’d be at home waiting for him. Maybe to kill him, but in Hyunjin’s mind, he didn’t care.

“Hyunjin,”

Hyunjin looked up at the boys who were waiting for his next response.

“I have to get home.” Hyunjin said and stood up from the couch, noticing that they were still in the Lee Mansion. It was so dark and grey with hints of despair and murder. Hyunjin thought about the massacre of the Lee Family which occurred right in this house. Generations of his bloodline, fighting against the Lee family and how he allowed someone, his enemy, to coerce him. He needed to know the truth. He needed you to tell him that you weren’t of Lee blood. That you weren’t the leader. He needed to pretend that everything was okay. But the fear that you never loved him in the way he loves you imprinted his mind as he began to head out of the home and walk towards him car.

********************************************************

Hyunjin walked up to the door of his home, inserting the key to see that the door was cracked open. He felt his ears grow hot as the pit of his stomach felt heavy and light all at once. The suspense of what could be behind the door caused him to grab his gun in his holster, and aim it at the door. He pushed open the door and was welcomed to a dark home. The silhouettes of the couch and the tv were the first things he noticed as he knew someone had to have been here. He wondered if it was you. Where were you?

He stepped closer into the home and walked slowly as he aimed his gun at anything and everything, scanning the rooms intensely. He approached the dining room and the kitchen, places he assumed you’d be in, but was led to another empty space. He then walked slowly to the hallway that led to your bedroom and as he approached his eyes first saw the curvature of your figure in the hallway. He immediately took his stance with the gun aimed at you as you stood there looking at a photo hung up on the wall.

You stared at the photo of you two, sharing smiles and laughing. A memory made one day in the park, your engagement photos. You smiled painfully in the dark and knew Hyunjin was across from you, ready to fire his weapon. He turned on the hallway light to get a more clear picture of you and was taken aback at your ability to look so beautiful when you have been through distress. He felt captivated by you as if you were a drug. He wondered if he really could pull the trigger now.

“Are you really going to keep your aim at me?” You turned and looked at Hyunjin who was staring back at you and you began to walk closer to him, step by step.

“Don’t come closer.” He demanded and you kept walking.

“I’m serious Y/N or I will—“

“What? Are you going to pull the trigger?” You stood in front of him with his gun pressed up against your chest. A reverse imagery of the hours before. Hyunjin looked down at your beaded eyes as you tried to stay calm and collected. You weren’t sure where Hyunjins mind was and you didn’t feel confident that he wouldn’t shoot. You saw in his eyes however, a battle. He was internally battling his emotions. You wanted to be honest with him, you wanted to have something.

“Who are you?” He whispered.

You were crushed. He wasn’t sure anymore that you were the woman he loved. How could he be?

“I’m your wife. Hwang Y/N.”

“No….you know what I mean.” He tensed and you sighed back to him and nodded.

“Why were you down there, Y/N? What is going on? How did you find that place?” Hyunjin began ram biking all the questions in his mind, word vomiting. You just stood there feeling yourself grow tears again. He was breaking in front of you. Both of you were breaking down.

“Was it even real?”

That’s where he got you. A dagger through your heart. Was it even real? All of this, the love, the way you looked at him, how you held him, everything. All these years, was it even real. He lowered his weapon and you watched him as he started to succumb to his emotions, tears not holding back.

“Hyunjin.” You placed your hands on his wet cheeks as he dropped his weapon to the floor and took hold of your wrists as he looked at you

“If everything is fake..can you just tell me that the love was real?”

“Hyunjin, I have never loved anyone the way I love you.”

Hyunjin looked into your eyes as you began to cry and he couldn’t hold back. If everything else was a lie, he needed this to be the truth. He needed you differently than he ever had. He knew in his heart, there was no reason to live if you weren’t next to him. You two were cut from the same strand of souls. You were made for him, that had to be true. He didn’t care if he woke up tomorrow and found out you were a Lee. He didn’t care if your families disapproved of your relationship. If you loved him and he loved you, why does anything else matter.

So he wrapped his large hand around the back of your head and pulled you in to place his lips on you. A feeling of shock tingled through the both of you and you wrapped your arms around him. Your lips melding perfectly like they always have before. Your bodies sharing the heat of the moment. There was so much desperation and fear. You both knew it. Tomorrow wasn’t granted. But you two had tonight. You knew that you couldn’t be with him after tonight. That tomorrow could take a turn for the worst.

“Hyunjin…” you breathed as you pulled back slowly.

“Yes love.”

“I promise I’ll tell you everything tomorrow, everything that you want to know. Just know that how I feel about you, that was real. And will always be real.” Hyunjin’s eyes looked deep into yours and he smiled as he leaned in to kiss you.

“I love you Hyunjin.” You whispered against his lips kissing him again.

“I love you too, Y/N.” He kissed you back as he ran his hands down the side of your body, fingertips caressing the inside of your shirt, over your waist and pants. You moan at the coldness of his fingertips against your warm skin. Hyunjin walks you back, still pressed against your lips, into your bedroom. The room where so many intimate moments to like this one has happened. So many late night talks, binge watching shows, holding each other close moments. You pulled back and Hyunjin took his shirt off revealing his toned milky white chest to you. Your hands without thinking glide over his smooth skin and trace each line on his toned abs and over his chest. Carved by the gods, he was the definition of perfection. He leaned forward into you, kissing you again with the same passion and fire he has always had. Desperate for your taste. His hands roam under your shirt, sending chills down your spine as you leaned you head back, pulling away from the kiss, moaning as he began to pepper kissed up and down your neck. His hand grasped your clothes breasts and you wrapped your hand in his hair again. He was so close to you, and you could feel his throbbing member against your inner thigh.

Hyunjin then pulled your shirt over your head and then turned you around to unclasp your bra. Sensually he slid the straps of your bra off your shoulders, bending down to kiss the top of your bare shoulders pressing his warm chest against your soft back. As you bts fell to the ground, freeing your breast, Hyunjin’s hand gilded up your naked upper half, clasping over your breasts, fingertips playing with your harden nipples. You moaned and leaned your head back against him as he chuckled darkly into your ear. Lips still leaving trails anywhere he wanted.

“Keep moaning for me babygirl.”

One of Hyunjin’s hands then slipped down your naval above the button of your pants and in one swift motion, he unbuttoned your jeans and pulled the zipper down. His hand disappeared in your pants, fingers tracing over your clothed heat, he groaned as the feeling of your underwear being soaked.

“So wet for me, Y/N.” He lightly nipped your ear as his fingers rubbed against your clit making you groaned in pleasure, your hands raising up and behind to bring Hyunjin closer, your hips bucking against his hand to chase any more friction.

You felt his long fingers push your underwear to the side and insert themselves in your tight hole. You gasped at the feeling of him filling you up with just his slender fingers and he gasped too.

“Fuck Hyunjin.” You moaned as he began to slowly pump into you.

“You like that baby? You like being filled up with just my fingers huh?”

His pace began to increase and he was pumping in and out at a delicious speed. Your body convulsed against him, legs beginning to quiver. Hyunjin moaned against your ear and you felt his hips grind against your rear. You were taken over by the pleasure and you wanted him so badly. To fuck you like a doll, to dominate you in every way. You were aching for him as you whimpered everytime he palmed against your clit.

“Get on the bed.” His fingers slipped out of you and you whined at the loss. You turned and slipped your pants and underwear off as you climbed back on the bed as he held the fingers that were in you and Stuck them into his mouth, sucking the taste of you right off.

“I taste good daddy?” You bit your lip, eyes hooded with lust and he groaned as he leaned forward and took a hold of your legs pulling you to him.

“Delectable.” He leaned down until he was face to face with your wet cunt and he groaned, “ I want all of you.”

You felt your body arch off the bed as Hyunjin wasted no time devouring you with his sinful tongue. He attacked your clit and licked you like you were the most delicious piece of candy and he wanted to savour every drip. You were moaning like mad. The feeling of him against you like this was immaculate. There were no words. You didn’t even think about anything, not even the words that left your mouth. You would look down and see him looking up at you and would almost cum just from the sight of him eating you out. Your hips would rock against his face and you’d feel the vibrations if his low chuckle against your lips.

“Fuck Hyunjin just like that. Please.”

Hyunjin inserted his fingers into you again as he curved his fingers against your sweet spot. You cried out as he abused your clit with his tongue and fucked tou with his fingers so well.

“Hyunjin… Im gonna FUCK.” You were convulsing against him. Hands trying to find something to grasp on to.

“You wanna cum for me love?” He devilishly smirked at you, tongue still lapping over your sensitive nub.

“Oh my fucking god daddy, I wanna cum.” You cried out as you watched him smile against you.

You felt your walls clench around his long fingers and your body arched off the mattresses as Hyunjin took no time to stop. He kept lapping you intensely, driving you so far that you were gasping for air.

“Shit shit shit!” You cried out as he drank all your juices as you were coming down from you high. He pulled his fingers out of you and leaned over to put them in your mouth. You sucked your juices off his fingers as he bent down to kiss you so sloppily and sexy. You were never going to get enough of this man.

He fumbled with his pants, while kissing you. Once you heard his pants fall down, you sat up and pulled Hyunjin on the bed as he fell with a thump.

“Hey!” He laughed and you smiled as you crawled down to his hardened dick.

“My turn..” you wrapped your hand around the base of his shaft as your tongue extended and licked him from the bottom to the top of his head. Your lips wrapped around his head as you slowly bobbed your head down, using your tongue to apply more wetness to him.

Hyunjin groaned and leaned his head back, eyes fluttering close as you into he’d to move slowly up and down his shaft. You had one hand moving on his dick, going against your movements of your lips. Hyunjins hand went above your head as he sat up.

“God baby your mouth feels fucking insane.” He helped you bob your head gently on his dick as you looked up at him as he watched you suck. You were growing wetter by the second and your core was aching. You moaned against his member and he hissed as your hand massaged one of his balls as you sucked. Suddenly Hyunjin pulled you off his cock and pulled you so that you were on all fours in the bed with him behind you.

You gasped as he leaned over your back, pulling your hair so that your head was flung back closer to him. His lips caressed your ear again and his hot breath tickled.

“I’m gonna fuck you so good Y/N. I’m gonna fuck you dumb.” He growled as he pushed your back down so your ass was facing up and your head was smashed to the mattress. You felt Hyunjin line his dick to your hole as he pushed himself in you and you yelled at the way his size filled you up. He rubbed every pleasurable part in you and you were moaning immediately to how deep he was in you. He began to slowly move in and out of you, it was so painful. You wanted him so badly and he was pumping into you so sensually. You tried to buck your hips against him, earning a slap on your ass for trying to do anything.

“Someone is needy..” he chucked as you groaned. You wanted to be rough, you wanted him to show you how good he could fuck you.

“I thought you were gonna fuck me dumb..” after the words left your lips, you almost wished you hadn’t said anything. Cause Hyunjin grabbed a hold of your hair and wrapped his hand around your neck pulling you back and snapped his hips hard into the tip hitting your sweet spot each time he snapped back into you. You tried to scream and moan but Hyunjins hand was gripped around your neck, making your sounds high pitched and weak.

“Wanna say something else princess? Is this want you wanted? You wanted me to fuck you like this?” Hyunjins speed was out of control. Your mind was clouded with the pleasure of him fucking you. He threw you down to the mattress and leaned over as you were a moaning mess.

“Tell me who’s making you feel this good Y/N.”

“You are Hyunjin.”

“I’m the only one who can have you like this. I’m the only one who can see you like this.”

Your mind was all of the place as he fucked into you, his motions getting sloppier as he was chasing his high. He reached his hand to rub your sensitive clit and you yelled again. He was moaning against you and you were convulsing as he helped you chase your second orgasm of the night.

“I fucking love you Y/N.”  Hyunjin whimpered as you felt your knees buckle under him. “I fucking love you.”

“I love you too..” you tried to breathe out as you felt another wave of pleasure wash over your body, and you pussy clench around Hyunjin. He let his body weight come over you as he shot his seed deeping you as he kept pumping into you. Your hot sweaty bodies were breathing against each other and you felt him kiss your back as you laid there.

He tried to get up and you stopped him.

“Can we just stay here like this for a moment.” You asked and he nodded as he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you to the side into his chest. He was still inside you and you thought about a lot of things.

“I believe you.”

You looked over behind you to him as he smiled with his eyes closed. You turned back and you closed your eyes too.

“Believe me about what.”

“That it’s real.”

You paused in your mind, eyes opened again as he snuggled closer to you.

“Whatever your truth is… even if it’s not what’s meant to be…”

You felt your heart beginning to break again.

“At least I know that what we have is real.” Hyunjin interlocked his hands with yours and squeezed it tightly.

“I promise Y/N, that i will fight to have you like this every day.”

Hyunjin don’t.

“I will do anything—“ he began to drift off into the night sleep, “to keep you here with me.”

You laid there, shattered.

Because you knew that in an ideal world, that wish would be fulfilled. In an ideal world, you were just you and Hyunjin was just Hyunjin. There was no feud or hat between families, there was no grandfather or Yeji. Jeongin was safe and Minho and you got along. Hyunjin could have the family he dreamt of and you two would raise your children happily. That was ideal.

But you two don't live in an ideal world. You knew that. Hyunjin’s optimism scared you. If tomorrow came and he found out everything that Yeji knows, how could both families accept that? How could Hyunjin accept that your sole purpose was to marry him and kill him. Gain his trust and use it against him. You knew better than to live in hope and optimism. That’s not the luxury you were given.

So maybe it was cruel to come back home that night and see him. Maybe it was cruel to tell him that you’d be truthful in the morning and tell him that you loved him. It was cruel to make love one more time and let him fall asleep dreaming of a world where you two could be together.

Maybe it was cruel to leave him alone in the morning with your wedding ring sitting on the bedside table.

Because when Hyunjin woke up the next morning to find an empty bed and your wedding ring, he felt a type of pain he never imagined he would. One that caused a different suffering, where you feel so dead and your force to live.

Heartbreak.

a/n: it’s here! thank you guys for waiting and being patient. I’m trying really hard to get these out when I say I will! as always send me your thoughts and theories! I love reading them! WE ARE ALMOST TO CHAPTER 10 WHAT? you guys are amazing! until next time!KMY

Taglist:   @hyunfeji @zenzedana @datura-inoxia@minaamhh @ninjaleeknow @beethiin @hyunsxle​ @hwangful​

[supernatural-jackles]

The Man on the Side of the Road - Part 10

Title: The Man on the Side of the Road - Part 10

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 4,907

Warnings: Minor Angst, Alcohol Consumption, Self Hate, Mentions of Suicide, Fluff.

Summary: Driving down the road, going well over the speed limit. You come across a man walking in the opposite direction with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. His head cast down as he walked. Your gut instinct is telling you to check on this man, no matter what your parents told you growing up. Little did you know just how much this would change your life.

The Man on the Side of the Road - Masterlist

A/N: I hope y’all enjoy this part! As always, feedback keeps me going! Please share your thoughts! Happy reading!

Dean was anxious and you could see it in the way he was sitting. You were meeting Sam and his girlfriend Jess in a restaurant halfway between your hotel and their apartment. You could understand why he was. After all, it had been years since they had spent any time together. You knew he needed this more than anything. You wanted to make this as stress free for him as you could.

 “You sure you don’t want to have dinner alone with him? I can take Jess out somewhere, and give you guys a chance to really talk,” you offered, reaching over to rub between his shoulders.

 “Yeah?” he questioned nervously.

 “Yeah. It’s not a problem. It’s stressful enough that it’s him. It’s even more nerve wracking having his girlfriend there too,” you added in. “I can ask her to take me shopping somewhere to get souvenirs. You can text me when we can come back.”

 “You’re amazing, you know that?”

 “Yeah, I know,” you smirked. “Here they come.”

 Sam and Jess walked up to the table, hand in hand. She gave you a warm smile, and a soft wave before she took a seat next to you. Sam sat closest to Dean, giving him the same half smile he did the night before.

 “How did your midterm go?” you asked, trying to start the conversation.

 “Good,” Sam nodded. “Easy.” Oh boy.

 “Jess, I was actually wondering, could you show me some good places to shop and get souvenirs?”

 “I was actually thinking about asking you if you wanted to go check out some places,” she revealed. Good, they were thinking the same thing you and Dean were. It made it a lot less awkward.

 “Alright, well we’ll leave you two to catch up,” you smiled, glancing over at Dean for a second. He gave you a nod, reassuring you what you had already gone over before they got here. You hoped he could catch up and get to a good place with his brother in that time. Jess leaned over, giving Sam a quick kiss before getting up.

 You and Jess headed out of the restaurant, and out onto the busy streets. You took a deep breath, trying to keep yourself calm. You weren’t all that good with strangers. Dean was an exception when you met him. Jess was different. She was a girl, and she was the girlfriend of your best friend’s brother. You didn’t want her to hate you.

 “So how long have you and Sam been together, “ you broke the silence.

 “Four and a half years,” she smiled. She seemed nice for the most part. She had that kind voice. One that said she was approachable, and not a complete bitch if you were to ask her a question. It made you a lot more comfortable. “What about you and Dean?”

 “Oh, we’re not together,” you shook your head. “Just friends and roommates.”

 “Oh okay. Sorry, I just assumed you were together. Sam doesn’t really talk about Dean as much anymore. I know he loves his brother, but when he came here, he wanted to get away from all of his family drama. I know Sam and his Dad didn’t get along in the slightest. Sam wanted the chance to talk to Dean alone. I know they have a lot to talk about.”

 “Yeah. Dean and I talked about it before you guys came in.  He wanted to talk to him about whatever without the added pressure of two other people listening in,” you chuckled.

 “So you’re from Lawrence then too?” she questioned.

 “Around there, yeah. I grew up in another part of town. I just met Dean a little while ago. He moved in with me ‘cause he needed somewhere to live after his landlord screwed him over. He was my roommate, then he easily became my best friend. Hands down, the easiest person to live with,” you shared.

 “Really? He doesn’t leave the toilet seat up, or his dirty dishes in the sink?”

 “Nope. He cooks, helps me clean. Does the groceries and laundry,” you told her. “Sam doesn’t?”

 “Nope. All me,” she let out a laugh. “Can I ask why you aren’t together? You two just look like you’d make a good couple.”

 “Nah, I uh - I think it could ruin a lot of things,” you shrugged.

 “So you do have feelings for him?” she asked with a smirk playing on her lips.

 “Yes, I do have feelings for him,” you breathed out. “There is a big part of me that wants to tell him. I keep tetoring over it. Things could be great if we do. But our friendship means the world to me, and I know it means a lot to him. If things don’t work out, then not only do I get my heart broken, I lose the one person I never want to lose. I don’t feel like I’m good enough for him half the time, anyways. I don’t think I could be that someone he needs me to be.”

 “No offense to you at all. I know I don’t know you at all, but why do you think so little of yourself? Why put yourself down like this when you obviously have a great guy who knows you better than I do?” she asked. The two of you turned into a bar. You followed her to the booth, taking a seat across from her. The bar wasn’t all that busy, not yet anyways.

 “It’s just - it’s complicated. I have my issues, and he has his. Somedays I think we’d be great together, but most of the time, I know that I’d make everything worse,” you told her. “What about you and Sam? How did you guys get together?”

 “Don’t think you’re getting away with this so easily,” she pointed out with a smile. “Obviously Sam and I are both in law school. We met freshman year in a coffee shop. I accidently spilled my coffee off the table and Sam just so happened to be next to me. He helped me clean it up and offered to buy me a new one. We got to talking about our classes, then little stories. It just escalated from there. I thought he was cute from the second I saw him. A little damaged, but his smile had me from the get go. One date led to more and now we’re here.”

 “Is he your one?” you asked.

 “Yeah,” she nodded. “I can’t see myself with anyone but him. No one gets me like he does and I don’t want to share myself the way I do with anyone other than Sam. I’ve had a lot of crappy relationships before this. Sam changed it all for me. He was raised right. I should really thank Dean for that. He practically raised him.”

 “Dean’s a great man. I know that Sam hasn’t been around him for a long time now, but Dean talks about him with so much pride. I can see it in the way his face lights up that he loves his little brother more than anything,” you added in.

 “I think it’s just hard for Sam because of his dad and how they didn’t get along. I don’t know if Dean told you about the day Sam left for college. I’ll leave that one for him to tell you, but it was one of the worst fights they’ve had. It was the last time he talked to his dad,” she revealed. “You’d be good for Dean.”

 “Jess,” you sighed in defeat, giggling a little at how smooth she was in transitioning that in there. You could see why a Winchester fell for her.

 “I’m not saying you need to do anything about it right now. But I am saying you shouldn’t be afraid of ruining everything. Life is too short to live it afraid of what might happen,” she shared. “I get that you’re afraid of losing him. But you need to give yourself a chance to be happy with someone like him. From what I know, Dean’s a great guy but I’m sure you already know that. I’m not saying act on it right away, but don’t hold back on something that will make you extremely happy. You’re beautiful, and he looks at you with adoration. Clearly you’re someone important to him. Someone he loves. Guys are usually better at showing how they feel. You’ll know how he feels that way.” she said with a smile.

 “Thanks, Jess,” you nodded with a soft smile. “You’re right. You can’t tell anyone this, but he actually kissed me last night.”

 “He kissed you?” she gasped.

 “Yeah, after we went swimming in the pool. We were alone, and it just happened. Neither one of us has brought it up since. I’m kind of afraid to,” you admitted.

 “Some kisses aren’t meant to be mentioned,” she shrugged. “Do it again, see what happens.”

 “We’ll see,” you smiled.

 “I can see you’ve been through some stuff,” she pointed out. “Don’t forget to give yourself some time to heal. It can’t hurt. Don’t act on your feelings unless you’re one hundred percent sure it’s what you want. You have to be fair to you and him.”

 “The day I met Dean was actually my wedding day. Well, I was supposed to get married. Found him fucking the maid of honour.”

 “Can we get some drinks over here?” she shouted, making you laugh. “Are you serious?”

 “Yep!” you nodded. “Oh and she’s about five and a half months pregnant.”

 “Whiskey would be great!” She called out again. You shook your head, grinning widely. You really liked Jess. She was everything you wished you had in a female friend. Someone that listened and actually cared about the words coming out of your mouth. It was a different dynamic to the friendship you had developed with Dean.

 “That’s my life right now,” you chuckled. Jess got up out of the booth, motioning for you to follow suit. You furrowed your brows, but followed her anyways. She was headed over to the bar counter.

 “Excuse me sir,” she greeted the young bartender. “Can we get two doubles neat and two beers please?”

 “Coming right up, Jess,” he smiled at her.

 “Friend of yours?” you asked.

 “My cousin, Andy,” she answered.

 “Make good decisions,” he chuckled. “Where’s the boyfriend?”

 “With his brother. They’re catching up. This is my new friend, Y/N.”

 “Nice to meet you, Y/N. I’m Andy and unfortunately related to her. She thinks she can come in here and boss me around,” he rolled his eyes.

 “You love me and you know it,” she giggled. Andy poured the two whiskeys before grabbing two bottles of beer from the cooler, handing one to each of you.

 “I’m serious, make good choices,” he scolded her before taking off.

 “When have I ever listened to you again?” she teased, sticking her tongue out at him.

 You walked back to the same table, taking the same seats. You took a sip of your whiskey, feeling the burn on your tongue instantly, followed by the same burn down your throat. It was bad, but so damn good at the same time. It had been so long since you last had a drink. Even longer since that drink was whiskey.

 Jess continued to tell you about Sam, and their relationship. In some way, you were a little jealous of her relationship with him, because it was something you’ve never had. At the same time, it made you realize just how toxic your relationship with Ketch was. You hated how you stayed with him for so long. You hated that you let him treat you poorly, that you stayed after he laid a hand on you and even more that you agreed to marry him. It was all really starting to hit you that the relationship was a lot worse than you remember it being. You were so blinded by it all. You were so afraid of being a disappointment to your mom, yet again. You were so afraid of being alone that you let it all slide. You couldn’t believe that you thought that little of your worth when you were with him that you actually believed you deserved it all.

 You downed the rest of your whiskey before moving onto your beer. Jess was in the middle of telling you about the day she got the tattoo on her shoulder and Sam made fun of her the entire time. You smiled while she told it. Seeing just how much she loved him made you happy.

 “Sam and Dean are on their way,” she informed you. “I hope their dinner went okay. Speaking of which, we should order some food so we’re not drinking on an empty stomach.”

 “That’s probably a good choice,” you chuckled. “See, we’re making good choices. What do they serve here?”

 “Fries, nachos, salads which Sam gets all the time. Disgusting if you ask me. You never order a salad from a bar. Uh, chicken wings.”

 “I want nachos,” you said bluntly.

 “Good. So do I,” she giggled.

 The nachos arrived at the table just before Sam and Dean walked in. Dean had a smile on his face, and you knew then that things went well over dinner. That was all you wanted. You didn’t want to stare too long at him, just in case he noticed. But watching him walk over to you with his thick bowlegs, and his strong arms. It did things to you. He did things to you.

 “Hey sweetheart,” he smiled, sliding in next to you. Sam did the same on the other side, kissing Jess sweetly.

 “Hey to you,” you smiled softly. “How was dinner?”

 “Good,” he nodded with a smirk. “How was whatever you two did?”

 “Whiskey,” you filled him in. “Whiskey and girl talk.”

 “Oh fancy,” he chuckled. “Now the two of us, beer and nachos.”

 “You got it. If you’re nice, you can even have a few,” you winked.

 You munched away at the nachos, listening to the conversation that was going on at the table. It was amazing to see how much the atmosphere had changed since the restaurant. They seemed so much better, happier even. Dean needed it, and Sam probably did too. It was clear they got everything they needed out in the open. You couldn’t wait to hear all about it when you got back to the hotel room.

 “Hey Jess, why don’t you go play Dean in a game of pool? I’d like to see who’d win,” Sam suggested.

 “Me obviously,” Dean scoffed, getting up from the booth.

 “Game on, older Winchester,” she stated, slamming her napkin down on the table. Sam got out of the booth, allowing his girlfriend to slide out. The two of them took over to the pool table not too far from your booth so you could still have a good view. What you didn’t expect was for Sam to slide in next to you, and turn to look at you.

 “Hey,” you said, almost awkwardly.

 “Hi,” he said with a laugh. “Thank you. My brother told me you’re the reason why he’s here. Like here right now, and breathing. I didn’t know it got as bad as that, and it’s my fault for not keeping in contact with him. I should have, and it’s on me that I didn’t. But to know that he was going to kill himself and you convinced him not to. I’ll never be able to thank you the way I know you deserve. Not only did you talk him out of it, but you gave him a place to stay. A home. He talks so highly of you. You’re the reason why he keeps going. You’ve given him so much that he’s never had. He deserves someone like you in his life. Even if you aren’t together like that.”

 “Thank you, Sam,” you smiled. It meant the world to you to hear that from him. Even though he hadn’t been a big part of Dean’s life, he was still his blood. He still cared for his brother. To know that he knew how you met and what you did, and to be thankful for it. It meant a lot.

 “You have feelings for him, don’t you?” he asked with a smirk playing on his lips. “I honestly thought you were his girlfriend.”

 “No. Just friends,” you stated.

 “Just friends but you have feelings for him?” he teased.

 “You know, you and Jess are made for each other.”

 “She gave you the same speech?” he let out a laugh. “That’s my girl. Anyone could see that you and Dean are good together. Friends or more.”

 “I’ll tell you the same thing I told her. I’m giving it time,” you shared lightly.

 “Why?” he furrowed his brows.

 “‘Cause I’m not sure I’m good enough for him,” you muttered. “I don’t want my issues to bring him down. I don’t want to be too much for him. I’m just his friend Y/N and I’ll always put that before anything else. I have to protect myself, and him in this.”

 “You are good enough. Don’t ever think that you’re not,” he revealed. “You are more than good enough for him, or any guy you want. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

 “Thanks Sammy,” you grinned weakly.

 “I like that you want to protect him though. No one ever has like you have,” he shrugged.

 “He doesn’t need it but I like doing it.”

 Both of them seemed to think that you’d be good enough for him. But then again, neither of them knew the specifics. Sam knew about Dean and how he was feeling, but he didn’t know about you and all of your issues. He was your roommate. He was your best friend. He was the one who protected you. What if things didn’t work out? What if you resented each other, and he had no one left? What if things went so sour that he never wanted to speak to you again. You already had this underlying feeling that you weren’t good enough for him, and you weren’t. He did make a move on you when he saw you naked. Then again, it was one of those moments where it just felt right. Both of you were so close together, his body touching yours. Dean was a decent guy and would never do something that you weren’t comfortable with. But you wouldn’t be able to keep a man like him; not for long. You weren’t anything special. You weren’t worth falling in love with and you had the history to prove it. He had his eyes on someone else anyways. Last night clearly didn’t mean anything, or else something would have been mentioned about it. He loved you, but as his best friend. Someone to protect. Family.

 You continued to watch Jess and Dean play while nursing your beer. It was really nice to see Dean happy. His smiles were genuine. He looked carefree and almost like he belonged here with the two of them. It made you wonder if he would ever consider moving to Palo Alto to be close to his brother. Have an actual fresh start here, where he had his brother instead of being a thousand miles away from him.

 Sam got up and headed over to Jess while Dean joined you back at the table. The two of them were going to play a round, giving you a chance to talk to Dean. By the looks of it, she won that game, but Dean definitely wanted a rematch.

 “Hey you,” he smiled, taking his seat.

 “Hey to you, stranger,” you giggled. “Good game.”

 “It was. She’s good,” he chuckled. “Sam and I are in a good place now. He’s going to come visit me in the summer with Jess. Stay a little while if it’s cool with you. We could always bunk together and they could have my room.”

 “I like the sounds of that,” you smiled. “‘M glad you are in a good place with him, Dean. You deserve to have your brother in your life.”

 “He likes you, by the way,” he told you. “Thinks you’re tough. You are.”

 “Gotta be don’t I?” you cocked your eyebrow before bringing your beer up to your lips, taking a swing. You could feel his gorgeous green eyes on you as you swallowed the drink. His eyes were soft. In this light, his freckles looked almost invisible. “You wanna some?”

 “Yeah,” he nodded, taking the beer from your hand. You watched as he brought the bottle up to his perfectly plump lips. You had to tear your eyes away from him. Why couldn’t you turn off your feelings for him? It would be so much easier.

 “You okay?” he asked you, looking at you with concern written in his eyebrows.

 “Yeah,” you nodded. “Just feeling a little off today. I feel like it’s all the driving and the lack of sleep.”

 “You sure?”

 “Yeah, I think so,” you nodded.

 “Anytime you want to head back to the room, you let me know. We can go whenever you want to,” he assured you. “We’re here another day before we leave. Sam’s got the whole day off tomorrow. I can hang out with him then before we head home. I gotta take care of you too.”

 “I want you to enjoy your night with your brother. I’ll be okay, I promise.”

 “How about we call it a night at ten thirty. We’ll head back to the room and watch old reruns of whatever on that flat screen tv, and I’ll tell you all the details of dinner with Sam?” he offered.

 “Yeah, okay,” you agreed.  “As long as you won’t be mad when I fall asleep on you. Literally on top of you.”

 “Nah,” he smiled.

 Dean helped you out of the booth, and lead you over to the pool table where Sam and Jess were playing. It was amazing to watch her kick her boyfriend's ass. You enjoyed listening to the banter between them. It was competitive as hell, and sweet at the same time. What they had was something real. It was something you didn’t see everyday. Those two were meant to be.

 Dean wanted a rematch with Jess. He was determined to win at least one game before you turned in for the night. You and Sam sat on the sidelines, watching intently while finishing off your nachos. The bar literally had the best nachos you had ever tasted. The cheese alone was to die for. Dean and Jess didn’t want either of you near the table while they played. Something about needing to focus away from distractions.

 “He loves you, you know?” Sam said while looking over at the table.

 “I know he does. Maybe not in the way I want him to, but I know he loves me,” you stated, glancing over at him. “He’s really great with me. More understanding than anyone I know. That’s why it makes me wonder why he was so alone before I met him. He’s got the biggest heart. He’s the most caring person I’ve ever met. The fact that he had no one, hurts me in ways I can’t even describe. Everyday, I am thankful that I found him on the side of that road. Every single day, and I will be for the rest of my life.”

 “His biggest issue is that he gives too much of himself to people who don’t give even a quarter of themselves back to him. I’m guilty of that. I’ve taken advantage of him growing up. Girls he’s dated have. My dad did after my mom died. Some of his friends. I can see it in the way you look at him that you are different.”

 “I’m learning to give myself to someone again. Kind of hard when things have gone south for me in the past. But Dean makes things a lot easier because of how understanding he is. Your parents would be proud of the two of you, you know that? I don’t even know you all that well, but I can see so much of Dean in you.”

 “Thanks, Y/N,” he smiled weakly. “That means a lot to me.”

 “He told me you and Jess are going to come visit in the summer?” you cocked your eyebrow.

 “Yeah. I’d like to come home. See my Uncle Bobby, and some friends. I want to spend some more time with Dean. You’ll have Jess,” he chuckled. “Hopefully by then, you’ll have figured everything out and you’ll finally tell him how you feel.”

 “Shut up, Sam,” you rolled your eyes, shoving him over a little.

 “You know it’s true,” he winked.

 It was just after eleven when you and Dean entered your hotel room for the night. You were beyond exhausted and ready for bed. Dean locked the door up as you walked towards the bed. You lazily kicked your shoes off, falling on the bed right after.

 “Tired, huh?” he chuckled.

 “I’m sleeping in tomorrow. You can’t stop me,” you stated.

 “I wasn’t going to,” he assured you with a soft smile playing on his lips. “You deserve to get lots of sleep tonight.”

 “So do you, Winchester,” you yawned. You sat up, tearing your shirt from your body before getting up. You had left your pyjamas on top of your bag so you could easily change into them. Most of the effects of the alcohol had worn off. Not that you had much to start. You pushed your jeans down your legs next, pulling them off, along with your ankle socks.

 “You can’t wait to get to bed, huh,” he let out a laugh.

 “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, remember,” you pointed out.

 “Oh I’m not complaining,” he declared. “By all means, take it all off.”

 “You wish, Winchester,” you joked, keeping the tone light.

 “You can’t blame a guy for staring, okay? Especially when the girl is as beautiful as you,” he played.

 “Real smooth. It’s a wonder why you don’t have a girlfriend with your lines,” you teased him.

 You went about your nightly routine. Brushing your teeth and washing your face. You were in bed before Dean was. The covers were up high, keeping you warm. Thankfully the bed was comfortable enough that you could fall asleep right away.

 Dean shut off the lights, and headed over to the bed. You felt the mattress shift a little as he settled in next to you. You opened your eyes a little, glancing over at him with a tired smile playing on your lips.

 “Today went really good,” he breathed out. “I never thought it was going to go as well as it did.”

 “I’m happy you and your brother are talking again, Dean,” you muttered, your eyes locking with his.

 “Jess is pretty great too. ‘M glad he’s got a good girl on his side. Makes me a little jealous, honestly,” he admitted. “They seem really happy together.”

 “They are,” you told him. “She told me that Sam’s her one.”

 “Really?” his eyes widened a little.

  “She talked about him with a lot of adoration in her voice. It made me realize just how messed up my relationship with Ketch was. I can see why you’d want something like they have. I take it you’re more motivated to ask that girl out now?”

 “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I want to, but at the same time, I’m content with how my life is right now. I’ve got you right now, and we’ve got our friendship. I don’t want to change our dynamic right now, because it works so well for both of us. We’re each other's support team and I don’t want that to stop.”

 “That’s fair. But don’t not live your life because of it, okay? If you think this girl could be good for you, you should go for it,” you stated. As much as it pained you to say it, you wanted him to be happy. All you wanted was for him to be happy. It was clear to you now that you weren’t the girl he was interested in. The kiss was a simple spur of the moment thing. It wasn’t meant to be talked about. It wasn’t meant to be brought up again. It hurt a little to say the least.

 “Someday,” he shrugged with a tiny smile that made your heart speed up a little. “I got my best girl in the meantime. C’mere.”

 You shifted closer to him, throwing your arm over his waist as you positioned yourself on his chest. He wrapped his arm around you, pulling you in tight to him. This was the best way to end the night. Safe in his arms. You were going to miss it when you got home and things went back to normal. This trip definitely made your feelings stronger. It was also a really big reminder that you couldn’t be with Dean like that. Not now. Not for a long time. By the time you were ready, he was going to be taken by someone else anyways. It wasn’t worth trying for. At the end of the day, you weren’t worth waiting for, and he had his eyes on someone else.

 It was what it was.

~~~~~~~~~~

Did you like it? What was your favourite part? Share your thoughts with me via reblog, reply or send me an ask! Your response is what keeps me sharing! Without it, I wouldn’t know if you enjoyed it!

[masjestickingdom]

Secretly Fighting (For You)

Pairing: NCT Jaehyun x reader

Genre: Angst, one shot, fluff

Summary: You and your best friend Jaehyun are inseparable and love each other platonically. Key word: platonically. Or so you thought. When Jaehyun’s relationship with his girlfriend goes into turmoil, suppressed feelings resurface, but in the light of preserving friendship, an idiotic, ignorant front is put up. Will your relationship with Jaehyun remain stable or will the possibility of being something more be the ultimate destructive ending?

Note: Hey! So this is the scenario I’ve been hinting at for the past two updates. This scenario is by far the longest piece I’ve written, and it’s also a bit different from my usual one shots in the sense that I’m trying out a more angsty/fighting-type scenario. I hope you enjoy it!  

_______________________________________________________________________

   “Jaehyun, open up!” a loud, shrill voice shrieked. “We need to talk!”

   Banging soon followed and sure enough, it caught the attention of both occupants of the apartment: you and your best friend Jaehyun.

   You and Jaehyun had the amazing opportunity to rent out an entire apartment floor, shared with a few of your mutual friends, including your younger cousin Haechan. Having an entire floor was unbelievably amazing, and you quickly adapted to the perks that came along with it. The best part of having one humongous floor was the sense of privacy. It seemed trivial to you at first, but not having that constant anxiety of coincidentally meeting your next door neighbor and not having to hear the constant arguments between next door children were things you got comfortable with. As a matter of fact, it was one of the reasons you used to convince the others to join you in renewing the contract a few months ago.

   That was the perk, but it was being completely invaded by that crazy girl your best friend called his girlfriend. Generally, what he did to his girlfriends was his own problem, so he rarely talked to you about the reasons behind his break-ups. Sometimes, he wouldn’t even tell you whether he was still in a relationship or not. Of course, you, being his best friend, sensed his break-ups every time without him having to tell you. The dark gaze that passed his eyes when you once asked him about his date gave away everything. In that similar sense, you were always able to smell something fishy with every other relationship he had.

   “Jaehyun, I know you’re in there!” his girlfriend continued to scream.

   With the absurd situation, you had no idea what to do. It was thrown at you in the middle of your slumber, and all you could think about was how good of an alarm your friend’s girlfriend would have been with that booming voice of hers. Thankfully, everyone else on the floor had already left for either school or work. You and Jaehyun were the only ones whose schools ended early, so since the beginning of your summer break, both of you were typically the last ones to wake.

   Standing in front of the intercom, staring at the girlfriend’s frustrated face, you angled your neck so that your head was tilted to one side. From that angle, her resemblance to Cassie from Dragon Tales was uncanny.

   “Jung Jaehyun, I will stand here and wait for you all morning if I have to!” she yelled.

   You immediately exchanged a terrified face with Jaehyun as he stood next to you, massaging his temples.

   “Jae, you have to answer her,” you urged, not understanding why he was avoiding his girlfriend. “Our neighbors will complain.”

   He freed his face of his hands and lifted his head to get a better look at his girlfriend through the intercom.

   “Do I have to?” he groaned, which was completely out of character for him.

   Dreading to face another angry girlfriend was normal, but openly avoiding confrontation was not Jaehyun. Maybe he’s tired of being angry at, you thought, concern taking over your facial expression. Why did his girlfriends end up being mad at him? You had no clue, but it happened almost every time. The one time one of them wasn’t mad was when you told Jaehyun to never let go of her.

   “Hey,” Jaehyun spoke, pulling you from your trance. “I’m the one who has to deal with Screaming Girlfriend over there. What’s with your face?”

   You directed your eyes at him, and when you saw the distress in his eyes, you finally mustered the courage to ask him the questions you were afraid to ask. “Why is it that your relationships, with the exception of Bora, end horribly? What are you doing to make them mad?”

   You saw the change of look in his eyes. It was as if you were living in slow motion because you saw a clear transition from concern to stone, which is what you called Jaehyun’s emotionless, stoic state of being. Somewhere in your brain the “stone mode is activated” alert went off. You had no time to process why he was in stone mode because, suddenly, you were walking away from the intercom, but not by your own will. Jaehyun had a strong grip around your wrist, and he was practically dragging you away from the virtual screen of his screaming girlfriend. He was definitely avoiding your questions.

   Figuring that pressing him on about his relationship patterns would pull a trigger to his patience, you decided to nag him about something less trivial, something you tended to do when you tried to mitigate tension.

   “Jae, if the rest of them are going to come over here and disrupt our process of becoming Sleeping Beauty, you might as well move and leave me be at peace.”

   When he kept dragging you away, you became more desperate.

   “Hey, are you even listening to me? Aren’t you my best friend? Don’t you want your best friend to rejuvenate? Do you want me to live with bigger bags of dark circles, huh? Hey, are you there?”

   By the last question, you were in front of your bedroom, your door opened the way you left it when you barged out of your room earlier that morning to see what the commotion was about. Your eyebrows furrowed as you failed to ease the tension because what he said next hit you like ice.

   “Stay in your room,” he said, keeping his hands firmly wrapped around your wrists. “I don’t want you coming out until I say so.”

   “Mother, all I did was ask a bunch of questions,” you replied sarcastically.

   But Jaehyun wasn’t having it.

   “Do you understand me?” he asked with the sternest look you had ever seen in him in the last six years you had known him.

   Reluctantly, you let out a small sigh and nodded your head. “You won’t hear me squeak.”

   He mirrored your actions, acknowledging your compliance before he left you standing there. This isn’t some kind of war film, you said silently. It’s not like you’re going off on conscription. Nevertheless, you closed the door,  switching off the talkative voice in your head in the process.

   ...

   “You’re never honest with me,” you heard Jaehyun’s girlfriend cry. “You always lie about your feelings! The time you... and that other time..."

   It was minute twenty-three and you were racking your brain, trying to come up with a better way to hear the girl. What happened during the first twenty-three minutes? Some hitting. And some more hitting. And some more hitting until Jaehyun had had enough and asked her to calm down. It was silent for eight minutes, which was a pretty accurate time estimate, considering you were counting with the old-fashioned “one-mississippi, two-mississippi...".

   The last two minutes were the freshest memories in your mind. It probably had to do with the fact that they were literally the last two minutes you could clearly listen to, but it undoubtedly had to do with the fact that the confrontation reminded you of the times your previous neighbors’ kids would shout at each other at each other and of the arguments your parents had their fair share of.

   Damn, why does my room have to be farthest from the entryway? You silently cursed in frustration while you were on your stomach, trying to shove the side of your head, where your ears were located, down your door to hear better clarity through the bottom cracks.

   “...I asked you so many times if you had feelings for..."

   That was it. You had the last straw; you gave up and situated yourself against the wall, becoming comfortable with the opening cracks that the side of your door provided. Fortunately for you, your breathing stabled from all that activity, and you could hear the conversation, or argument, rather, more clearly.

   “I asked you so many times and you never denied it!” you heard the girl say angrily.

   “Because I figured that the first few times I answered truthfully with a definitive ‘no’, you didn’t believe me, so what difference does it make if I deny it or not when you clearly don’t trust me?” Jaehyun shot back, letting go of himself for the first time.

   Sure, you witnessed him getting into physical fights and verbal altercations before, but not with a girl. He was always respectful and always kept his anger at bay. He had never raised his voice at anyone--except at you, but those times were never caused by angry outbreaks.

   “I saw you sneaking around,” Jaehyun continued, “following us at the mall when I definitely told you that there was nothing going on!”

   The mall? Your eyebrows scrunched together. Who was he at the mall with?

   “It was the mall, Jaehyun!” his girlfriend--although you weren’t sure if she was his girlfriend anymore with all the fighting--spat. “People who go to the mall together are either family or are taken!”

   “That’s ridiculous,” Jaeyhun retorted. “Since when was the mall off limits to friends?”

   “Since I saw the look you gave her when you brought me to her birthday party!”

   “What do you want me to do?!” Jaehyun exclaimed exasperatedly. “She’s my friend and I can’t just unfriend her!”

   “That. I want that.”

   And for the first time in ten minutes, the house was silent. Were you hearing things correctly? Were you hearing this girl forbid your best friend from seeing someone? That got you riled up. How dare that imbecile demand that ludicrous request of him?

   Of course, other than the broken silence in your head, the silence in the entryway was short-lived when Jaehyun followed up with, “What?”

   “You heard me: unfriend her.”

   You heard Jaehyun scoff. “You’re delirious. I am not breaking off a friendship I value for some crazy request.”

   Do it, Jae, you thought, your heart thumping in excitement for what you anticipated the next words in his mouth to be. Do it. 

   “I’m breaking up with you.”

   Cue your celebratory dance, which was, of course, performed in your imagination. For the first time known in history, Jung Jaehyun had finally broken up with someone. Throughout the entirety of his life, Jaehyun was the one who was broken up with. In that moment, thanks to that crazy ex-girlfriend of his, he was the breaker for the first time. He did it, you sang, which accompanied your imaginary dance. He did it, he did it, he did-

   “Fine,” the girl declared. “But tell me: did you love her or did you not?”

   Jaehyun, his stone-cold voice still operating, countered with, “I’m not obligated to tell you anything.”

   “As your ex, I demand-”

   “All we’re doing is walking in an endless cycle we don’t need to be in anymore.”

   “You’re not denying it, Jaehyun!”

   “And we’re back in circles.”

    When you heard nothing, you pushed yourself against the door, wanting to listen to everything. Is she gone? Did she leave? Did he get rid of her? No, she was far from gone. 

   Voices resurfaced and soon enough, you heard Jaehyun say hurriedly, “What are you doing?” 

   His voice neared and by the time you realized that she was heading towards your room, it was too late: she swung open your door, which, by the way, was unpleasant, especially because your face was already behind it.

   “Don’t you dare pull her into this,” you heard your friend say in the middle of the swinging-the-door-open process, glaring daggers at his ex.

   It never registered in that empty head of yours that you were the infamous mysterious identity in their disagreements--or any of his disagreements with his other girlfriends, really. It wasn’t until your eyes locked with hers, a chill running down all over your body. You swear her eyes were icy cold.

   Jaehyun’s eyes followed hers. Feeling the need to break off the intense eye contact, you averted your eyes to him, earning you a scoff. You stood there, staring at Jaehyun helplessly.

   “So this is the scum you keep lying about,” the girl suddenly attacked, to which you responded with your eyes instantly trailing back to her.

   No one had called you out like that before. Never like that, and it felt disgusting. You had only met her twice, once the first time Jaehyun introduced her to you and second at your birthday party.

   You were too immersed in your own thoughts, coming up with all the possible comebacks and attacks you could formulate, that you missed Jaehyun’s darkening eyes.

   “Get out,” Jaehyun spoke, his voice dangerously low. “Get out now.”

   “She-”

   “Get your crap together and get out while I’m still being nice.”

   The unfamiliar tone intrigued you into taking another look at your best friend and evaluating his expression. There was no doubt that he was pissed off. His eyebrows were stiff and his eyes were narrowed, replicating the coldness of an iceberg. He had his jaws clenched, which amazingly defined his jawline, leading your eyes to the veins that were protruding from his neck. He wasn’t huffing out angry breaths like the crazy girl in front of you; instead, he was breathing so skillfully with his nose that you, for a moment, doubted if he was breathing at all. At that point in time, you knew that that face wasn’t his rock-hard stone mode. It was his ultimate shut out mode, and although you lived for it, you feared for what he would do if the girl didn’t leave.

   When the girl wouldn’t budge, Jaehyun did something that made you realize that that day was a day discovering a new side of Jaehyun. For the first time, he raised his voice at a girl, broke up with a girl, and brought out the ultimate shut out. In that moment, you witnessed one of the scariest (and manliest) sides of Jaehyun you had ever seen.

   Your best friend, the guy who you believed, without a fail, was considerate of others, caring, and seriously entertaining at times, broke his quintessentially collected and patient self. He grabbed your wrist and, without a notice, pulled you closer to him, letting you inhale that whiff of the naturally floral-scented shampoo he used the other night and the honey-based face mask he had on before his ex showed up. In that situation, looking up at him, centimeters away from his face, had your stomach doing somersaults. His jawline was impeccably sharp, which was so beside the point, but you couldn’t help but admire his beauty. Even that beauty mark he developed on his neck, the mark people normally call a flaw, was a charming imperfection.

   With his hand wrapped around your wrist, he warned, “We’re going to be in the kitchen as if nothing happened for exactly one minute. If you’re not gone by then, I’m calling the cops.”

   And that was that. When his ex snobbishly sashayed away after a full minute, Jaehyun returned to his normal state and sighed in relief. He turned his attention to you and his hands left your wrists, only to land on your shoulders.

   “You okay?” he asked in a soft, but rough voice.

   You barely nodded. You were set in a trance with his beautiful eyes, which you noted were beautifully concerned for you. He offered a small smile and pulled you into a hug. It was only  nine in the morning and both of you were tired.

   “Sorry you had to go through that because of me,” he said quietly.

   Your arms quickly found their way around a comfortable spot on Jaehyun’s torso.

   “Hey, for you, I would go through that again anytime,” you breathed, a sincere smile forming on your lips.

   He rested his chin on your head and began rocking your bodies back and forth.

   “Really? You would relive that experience?”

   “In a heartbeat.”

   A chuckle left his lips and you felt his body, especially his chest, vibrate harmoniously in sync.

   “You’re crazy,” he said.

   “Maybe, but what are best friends for?”

   And that’s when the swaying stopped. Subsequently, the warmth he provided you left your body.

   “Right,” he spoke, pulling away from you.

   The portion of warmth that was left was your fingertips because that was the last place that left his torso, and that withered away a split second later. He shot you a quick smile before heading towards the adjacent living room. Thinking that he wanted some time alone, you stayed in the kitchen, but he soon patted a place for you to sit on the couch next to him.

   Somewhat relieved, you followed the steps he took to the living room and asked, “Are you tired?”

   His eyes landed on yours and your heart broke at his tense state.

   “If you ever want to get back with her, I can-”

   Your face was met by one of the throw pillows.

   “You’re crazy,” he chortled, shaking his head.

   You smiled at your small success at bringing a smile on the exhausted face, so you tried for one more.

   “You know, I would have told you to do whatever she asked of you and to fight for her, but, damn, she was so adamant and selfish that she was definitely not worth fighting for.”

   He shook his head, laughing. “If she had trusted me, she would have stayed.”

   It was his way of saying that it was okay, you thought. But what you weren’t aware of was that it was his way of secretly fighting for a certain someone.

   He took a moment to collect his thoughts before he added, “Besides, I wouldn’t have trusted me either.”

   It took a lot of willpower not to analyze what he meant by that, but you failed miserably after three seconds. You knew that you were mistaken as more than a friend by his crazy ex, but what did it mean when he was the one who said it? He was worn out. He probably wasn’t thinking properly, right? Settling with that answer, you lightly threw the pillow back at his direction.

   “What are you talking about? It was her trust issue. We didn’t even hang out that much once you started going out with her.” You shook your head and continued, “The next time you have a girlfriend, I’ll make sure to tone it down whenever she’s around. Actually, consider me invisible.”

   “The next time I have a girlfriend?”

   “The next time you have a girlfriend.”

   When he didn’t respond, you looked over at him, but by then he was already chuckling.

   “After this, I think I’m going to lay off for a while.”

   You goofily smiled at him. “Impossible. All the ladies go to Jaehyun.”

   “All the angry ones.”

   You agreed. “All the crazy ones. What are they thinking? Us? Together? Ridiculous.”

   “That’s what I always tell them.”

   In the back of your mind, you knew that it was possible that his girlfriends could have had trust issues with you since you and Jaehyun were of the opposite sex and were best friends for six years running, but it didn’t cross your mind that you were the root of their serious conflicts.

   “So all this time, they confronted you about me?”

   Your friend merely nodded his head.

   “Wow, I didn’t know that I was popular with the ladies too.”

   With the insane event that happened to him that day, all you wanted to do was restore his energy. You wanted him to forget what happened and live the summer like he should have, so that time, you were the one to take his wrist and pull him up.

   “Let’s go.”

   “But I’m tired.”

   “Let’s go.” 

   ...

   To say you are a spontaneous person is false. Nothing you do is out of spontaneity. All the activities you partake of are predictable of you, and you’re okay with that because that’s you. However, to say that you are completely unpredictable would be false too. For your friends, you would do anything, and for Jaehyun, your best friend in the entire universe, you would do everything.

   “Let’s go,” you said, pulling him out the door. “I promise you that you won’t regret it.”

   So where did you lead Jaehyun to? Everywhere. You took him to the beach, where you both got your clothes wet. You snuck him into a rival college’s campus, a fairly easy thing to do, and watched a hilariously boring film production. You pushed him inside a famous coffee shop and ordered a fan favorite drink, which you shared with wacky straws. After visiting three new places in the span of four hours, you were drained of energy and so was he.

   But there was one place left to go to, one perfect place to end the day.

   “So where is this surprise you’re taking me to?” Jaehyun asked, walking alongside you on an unfamiliar sidewalk.

   “You’ll see,” you teased ambiguously. “We’ll be there in five minutes.”

   Because you were in an unfamiliar place, you had your virtual map on your phone to guide you the way to the highly rated, must-go-to, chill restaurant. The restaurant was a perfect place to end the day: you could eat everything there, return home with full stomachs, and sleep well. It was the ideal situation you formed in your mind. While you were checking the directions, Jaehyun peered over your shoulder to take a sneak peek. You, noticing right away the shadow that loomed over you, immediately retracted your arms behind your back and narrowed your eyes at your friend who had the back of his head already facing you and was whistling to a horrible tune.

   “Hey, no cheating,” you warned him.

   Jaehyun swiftly spun his head and raised an eyebrow at you.

   “Is this supposed to be a game?” he asked, tilting his head.

   “It’s supposed to be a surprise,” you huffed, but when you saw the ends of his lips curl upward, you pressed, “You saw the name, didn’t you?”

   Cue the dramatic gasp.

   “No, I did not,” Jaehyun scoffed playfully. “I cannot believe you would accuse me of such foul play.”

   When you glared at him, he broke into an innocent, but not-so-innocent, smile. You couldn’t help but be enchanted by the way the angle of his tilted head let him cover the sun, the rays of the light shining around him in an endless circle. The way he smiled at you was so pure-looking that you wanted to scream and pinch his dimples. The sparkle in his eyes reflected pure joy, and you wondered if you were the one to have pulled that out of him. No, you reminded yourself. That’s just how he smiles. Nonetheless, your heart raced with an impressive speed. As soon as you felt your face warming up, you set your eyes on the road ahead of you.

   In less than five minutes, you safely and successfully guided Jaehyun to the right place.

   “This is it,” you told him, looking up at a sign that read Al’s Place. “Surprise.”

   Jaehyun laughed at the lack of enthusiasm in your voice.

   “Sorry for peeping earlier,” he said, not-so-gently patting your head.

   You simply grunted in response.

   When you entered the restaurant, you were greeted by an overly eager hostess.

   “Hi, welcome to Al’s Place! How many?”

   “Two,” you replied while Jaehyun scanned the place with his eyes.

   As the hostess led you to a table of two, Jaehyun leaned towards you and whispered, “Nice place.”

   You hummed in response, taking a look at the place yourself. Along the way, you saw a couple of looks being thrown your way--or more specifically, Jaehyun’s way. It wasn’t a foreign occurrence, but it reminded you of the whole “I wouldn’t trust myself either” phrase, which brought you back to: what in the world did he mean by that? If it meant anything remotely to what you secretly wished it meant, you weren’t going to risk your friendship with Jaehyun for a short-term, badly ended relationship like he had with all of his other girlfriends. You just wanted to remain his secret admirer and maintain a strong relationship.

   When it came to Jaehyun, there was no wrong. Even when he made mistakes, he learned from them and “benefited from them,” according to him, “because all those mistakes served to be cardinal learning experiences that would eventually allow him to become a bigger human being”. That was Jung Jaehyun for you, and with your influence on him on a romantic level, that was too much pressure for you. Once, on a day out at a festival with your fellow housemates, Jaehyun had a flock of girls running at him at once, asking for his number. Naturally, he courteously rejected all of them. He had a girlfriend at the time, and, afterall, his friends were waiting for him with their orders. While he rejected them, you and Haechan, being the only ones who volunteered to assist Jaehyun, threw the idea around that no girls would be good enough for Jaehyun.

   “He’s so damn awesome,” you said, expressing your strong acknowledgement of your best friend’s impactful presence. “He’s there with girls swarming around him while we’re here standing like loners waiting for our single-sticked corn dogs for our single selves.”

   “But you know,” your wise cousin started, “I think when he finds a girl who likes him for him and not his looks, they’ll be burdened by his lack of amorality.”

   Leaning back on the corn dog stand’s extended counter to allow your elbows to rest, you observed the way Jaehyun kindly turned down all of his offers. “You think?”

   “It’ll probably happen. I’m pretty sure Jaehyun’s thinking about it too.”

   “That jackass is probably thinking too highly of himself,” you scoffed, but it was an act you put up, and that wise cousin you considered your close friend read you like a book.

   “You know more than anyone that he’s simply thinking of all the possibilities of the perils that will come with each relationship he’s involved in,” Haechan said matter-of-factly. “With all the girls he’s gone out with over the years, whether he likes to admit or not, he’s probably tired of calculating what peril he has to anticipate at the start of any relationship.”

   “And you’re saying that when the right girl comes along, that conflict will be her low self-esteem?”

   Haechan hummed in response, his fingers tapping to a small but fitting tune for the hot summer as he waited for your response.

   Your hesitant response mirrored the lingering anxiety that you couldn’t get rid of.

   “He’s so perfect that he has to worry about being perfect, yet that’s a burden to the girl,” you finally said with a bitter smile. “So unrelatable.”

   You ignored the gaze Haechan was giving you. You didn’t want to know what he was thinking although you had a feeling it had to do with your last comment. He knew the front you put up. He saw right through you. If he saw through you, could everyone else? Could Jaehyun? Instead of dealing with Haechan, you watched Jaehyun reject the last girl. That’s when it dawned on you why you had put up a front, especially for your best friend Jaehyun...

   It started three years prior to the festival, when you were freshmen in college. You were trying to navigate your way through the enormous hallways when you spotted a very familiar brown-haired boy. Jung Jaehyun. His hair was originally black, but he dyed his hair to the lighter shade it became, telling you that he wanted to start a fresh, unanticipated image, and apparently dying his hair was the first step. In response, you snickered and bet that he would return looking like a mess. With that gorgeous girl he was conversing with in the hallway, you knew that you had lost the bet.

   Preceding your college days, Jaehyun only had flings. None of his encounters with girls were serious. It wasn’t that he was a player. It was simply because he wasn’t looking for a committed relationship before college. He once told you, before one of your many movie marathons began, that he didn’t want to deter his studies with an alluring distraction. Yes, he said that right before you started your movie marathon on a school night. Regardless his reasons seemed ridiculous to you or not, he kept his word, and, at the time, you were secretly relieved.

   College was a new territory. That meant that it was Jaehyun’s time to explore the new world of relationships. That meant you had to let go of your buried feelings for Jaehyun, but they were so deeply buried that you never bothered to dig deeper. You just left them sitting there, burying them more when you came up with a defense mechanism, which started when Jaehyun announced to you that he was seeing someone, that majestic girl in the hallway.

   With the exception of hints of jealousy peeping here and there, his flings in high school didn’t trouble you. They were purely flings, afterall. There was no harm in them. Serious, committed relationships, however, were on a different level. When things became serious with his first girlfriend, you developed a system that would ward you off from showing your true feelings, which would have otherwise had you raging with jealousy. That system was sarcasm. You weren’t really the sarcastic-type of friend, but it was the only way that safely kept a distance from you and Jaehyun to prevent any possibility of romantic feelings slipping. It was also--now this you failed to acknowledge--a way to distance yourself from any remotely amorous feelings with anyone, and this helps explain why your dating life barely existed.

   “Earth to Miss Crazy.”

   Jaehyun was waving his hand in front of your face, repeating the same line until you snapped back to reality.

   “Aren’t you going to recommend something for me?” he asked when your eyebrows relaxed.

   “Hey, I’m just as new of a person here as you are,” you said, shaking your head.

   “But still,” he pushed, like a child. “You brought me here.”

   Instead of fighting back like you would have normally done, you called a random waitress to order. To your luck (note the sarcasm), the waitress was the one who was sending googly eyes to Jaehyun earlier. Setting that fact aside, you calmly asked her for the most popular set menu. Whatever left her mouth, you couldn’t focus because all you could think about was how she had her eyes all over Jaehyun. Oblivious to this, your unsuspecting friend continued to read the menu. When the buzzing stopped, you realized that you had no idea what she had said, so you naturally asked your unaware friend if the set sounded appealing.

   He looked up from the menu and nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

   The waitress smiled widely. “Okay, then I’ll be back with your orders. If there’s anything else you need, anything, just call me over.”

   You handed her your menu, which she took by the far corner, but when Jaehyun extended his, she deliberately let her hands graze over his soft, slender fingers before leaving the scene. You examined your friend’s expression, and it was not good. He was visibly uncomfortable with the interaction.

   “So,” you started, grabbing his attention, “how was today for a surprise?”

   ...

   The interaction with the waitress definitely put you in for a chaotic spin in your head, but you didn’t want your messy thoughts to spoil dinner. Jaehyun, although affected at first, eventually forgot about it. The both of you shared a good meal with random conversational topics, sharing upcoming projects and reminiscing about a few memories.

   When you were done with your dishes, the waitress returned, and something was different about her. Was it her face? No. Her clothes? Maybe. If people consider busting an extra button open as changing the appearance, then, yes, that was the change. She was clearly drooling over Jaehyun, her eyes full of lust. When she asked, “Can I interest you with our dessert menu?”, she made sure to make eye contact with Jaehyun, biting her lower lip. Your genius friend, however, simply cocked his head sideways at you, asking you for your thoughts.

   “Very classy,” you said, over pronouncing “classy” to make sure he got your intention. “Very classy dessert, don’t you think?”

   He shook his head, distaste apparent in his eyes. “No.”

   Although there was jealousy stirring inside of you, you kept your cool and put up an act, deciding to make it seem like you were stifling your laughter.

   “Fine, we’ll take the cherry cupcake surprise,” you said, directing your comment to the waitress, who took one final look at Jaehyun before strutting away.

   Watching her walk away, you commented, “Wow, I did not know that this was a dinner and a show type of restaurant.”

   You turned your attention to Jaehyun, who was shooting you a dirty look your way. You wiggled your eyebrows suggestively.

   “Looks like somebody has the hots for you.” You smirked at him, but he simply sighed. “I see someone’s tired of being Mr. Popular.”

   He shook his head at you. “You know I’m not interested.”

   “Yes, yes, I know. She’s not even your type.”

   To that, Jaehyun raised an eyebrow. “I have a type?”

   “Everyone has a type.”

   You took your glass of water in your hands and swirled it around.

   “Do you have a type?” he asked.

   Staring at the disturbance you created, you answered, “Sure, I just don’t know it yet.”

   When you heard him click his tongue, you looked up from your glass and scrunched your nose.

   “Hey, I’m sorry that I haven’t dated as many people as you have,” you said, sarcasm dripping in your voice.

   With curiosity taking over his face, he asked, “When was the last time you went out on a date?”

   “Oh, I don’t keep track.”

   Jaehyun was transparently amused at your vague response.“It’s been that long?”

   “Excuse me for trying to find the right guy,” you scoffed.  

   “So,” he said, leaning forward with anticipation, “what do you think my type is?”

   You promptly answered, “Someone who’s willing to craze over your obsession with wine.”

   Right away, Jaehyun leaned back in his chair. “I don’t understand why you have to hate wine.”

   “I don’t hate it,” you corrected him. “I would prefer water to it.”

   “That’s-”

   He stopped in mid-sentence when he spotted something, or rather someone.

   “Just wait until you try this wine.”

   In that moment, the waitress came back with your desserts, and for the first time, Jaehyun directed his speech at her.

   “We’ll have **** wine.”

   “Of course, I’ll be right back with your drink.”

   When he averted his gaze back to you, you gave him a knowing look.

   “But you gotta admit that she’s pretty hot.”

   And at that, he deadpanned, but he swiftly recovered, asking, “So what else am I looking for in a girl?”

   You handed him a clean fork, which he took, and his fingers brushed past yours ever so slightly, leaving you with a tingling sensation. You took your own fork and split the cherry cupcake in half, giving Jaehyun the side with the cherry; you didn’t enjoy cherries as much as he did.

   Suppressing your growing feelings, you finally answered his question. “You seem to go out with girls who are pretty outgoing, which surprises me.”

   “And why is that?” he queried, taking a bite of his half of the cupcake.

    You shrugged. “You’re calm and collected at most times, and I say most times because that five percent you aren’t, no one can contain you.”

   Licking the remaining frosting on his lips, he pointed at the cupcake and said, “Now that’s a good cupcake.”

   You took the time to let the flavors of the dessert melt on your tongue before ultimately agreeing with Jaehyun.

   “And that wasn’t even a recommended dessert,” you remarked, proud of your choice of order.

    Jaehyun playfully applauded for you. “I commend you for that.”

   “Oh and by the way,” you spoke, continuing your thoughts about his type. “You have this thing with girls with long hair. Do you know that it’s a pain to maintain long hair? We lose hair because of the weight of it.”

   “I’ll do my best to keep the range diverse,” Jaehyun noted, laughing.

   “I’m not kidding. Jae.”

   “Then why do you have long hair?” he fired with amusement in his eyes, pointing out the irony.

   “I-”

   Just then, the infatuated waitress interrupted you, approaching you and Jaehyun with a bottle of wine and two additional wine-tasting glasses.

   “Here is your bottle of **** wine,” she announced a little breathless.

   You offered a small smile, but her attention was all on Jaehyun. She purposefully set the glassware in front of him and opened the bottle of wine with a small but audible grunt. You had no idea if that was intentionally supposed to be a grunt or if it was supposed to sound more sensual. Either way, it was incomparable to what she did next.

   While she moved on from one glass to the other, the waitress “accidentally” tipped over one of them in the direction of Jaehyun. Your unfortunate friend immediately grimaced, and the waiter, at once, set down the bottle of wine down on the table and rushed to his side.

   “I am so sorry,” she gasped, touching his arms. “I am such a clutz.”

   While Jaehyun reassured her that he was fine through his gritted teeth, you quickly reached for the pile napkins at the edge of the table and tossed them to Jaehyun. He slid his chair backwards to dab the moist parts of his outfit, but the waitress had other plans. She snatched the napkins from the empty table next to yours and tried to help your soaked friend by reaching down to his chest. Jaehyun responded with quick reflexes and shot up from his seat.

   The waitress met his eyes with the most seductive look she could display. “Let me help.”

   Jaehyun, however, wasn’t pleased. Ignoring his unwavering gaze, she attempted to “help” again, but this time she aimed for his pants. To this, Jaehyun instantly grabbed her by her wrist.

   “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he snapped.

   Round two of an approaching shut out mode.

   The waitress flinched under the pressure of his hands, and when she saw his dark, fuming eyes, she immediately diverted her eyes. He released her wrists roughly, his gaze unchanging, and took you, the silent bystander, by the hands.

   “Jae, what are you-”

   Jaehyun didn’t let you finish your sentence as he pulled you out of the restaurant while you tried not to meet the stares of strangers. He stormed past the hostess that had welcomed you and pushed the doors open with such force that it felt like winter. The next thing you knew, you were heading towards a park.

   “Jae,” you called, trying to listen to you. “Jae, stop.”

   But he kept going.

   “Jae, we can’t just leave the restaurant like that,” you reasoned. “You do realize we have to pay..."

   Your voice trailed off when he slowed down and turned around. He looked at you dead in the eye.

   You gulped. “Look, I know what she did was wrong, but-”

   “She clearly has no moral conscience!” he yelled, causing you to wince.

   He was definitely outraged and there was going to be no easy way to calm him down other than listening to him.

   “She was clearly trying to seduce a customer,” he went on angrily. “I was clearly not comfortable. Did I or did I not look uncomfortable?”

   “You gave her clear signs, Jae,” you responded as calmly as you could. “And it was totally wrong of her to ignore them.”

   “And what’s more is that you didn’t seem to care.”

   That was a sudden splash in the face. Didn’t care? Of course you cared! How could you not care?

   “Jae, I did care,” you tried to explain, your hands flailing around in the process. “And I’m sorry I didn’t do anything to prevent her actions when you were visibly uncomfortable, but understand that I care.”

   The fire in his eyes did not cease.

   “Because you’re my friend,” he said.

   “Of course, I-”

   “And nothing more.”

   That slapped you hard. It was true that you were his friend, but to hear him expose the one thing you tried so hard to bury hurt.

   With a pained expression written all over your face, you pleaded, “Jae, what are you trying to say? Of course I’m your friend, but the problem is that the waitress back there was extremely inappropriate.”

   “I’m mad at the waitress, but I’m more frustrated that you can’t seem to take a hint!”

   Your eyes frantically bounced back and forth between his infuriated eyes that drilled into yours. Was he seriously angry at you? For what? You had arguments in the past, but you always knew where those conflicts rooted. This, however, was not one of them. Nothing could register properly in your brain with that look he was giving you.

   “Jae, are you mad at me?” you asked quietly.

   The feeling of fear crept up behind you, the fear that he was mad at you and for an unknown reason at that. Having to deal with an outburst due to pure emotions was one thing. To have a close friend genuinely mad at you was another. Your hands began to tremble as you brought them to your chest.

   “I-I didn’t mean to anger you,” you stammered, your voice breaking and lips slightly quivering. “I genuinely didn’t mean ignore the problem.”

   Seeing your frightened state, Jaehyun’s eyes softened, and he took your hands in his.

   “I’m not mad at you,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m really not mad.”

   When you couldn't calm down, he pulled you into a hug, his hands brushing through your rough hair.

   “I’m sorry,” he mumbled as his face nestled against your neck. “I’m really not mad at you.”

   “Okay,” you whispered, letting your arms slowly wrap around his torso. “I believe you.”

   You two stayed in that position for a few long seconds before he broke away from your embrace, searching your face for any upset feelings until his brown eyes locked with your darker ones. His strong, yet delicate hands reached your face, his thumbs stroking your cheeks. Your bodies were nearly one. The expression that his eyes revealed was one that you couldn’t read. All you knew was that they were soft but passionate--loving, almost.

   “I’m not mad at you,” he repeated softly.

   “I believe you,” you said again.

   You watched him take a deep breath before saying, “I’m in love with you.”

   A gust of wind rushed past your protected face, but the same couldn’t be said the same for your heart. It was thumping rapidly, faster than when you ran the mile for your gym class several years ago. For months--years, even--you had been sharpening your defense mechanism to cope with your love-struck feelings. You developed this unhealthy system to prevent the destruction of your relationship with Jaehyun, yet there your best friend and crush was, confessing his attachment to you. In an instant, whatever you built washed away.

   “Do you know why everyone had a hard time trusting me?” he spoke, his eyes surveying yours. “Because they all knew that my heart was taken by someone else.”

   You already knew the answer judging by the look in his eyes, but you wanted him to confirm it again.

   “Who?” you whispered, the corners of your lips tugging upward.

   A genuine smile appeared on his lips as he breathed, “You’re an idiot.”

   It was your turn to smile like an idiot. Your smile grew so big that it started to hurt. Jaehyun leaned down and lightly pressed his plump, smooth lips against your forehead, his hands still cupping your face.

   All these years being friends with Jaehyun had you learn one thing: you never really got over him. Whatever you previously thought about not wanting to risk your friendship with him was gone. When you lost yourself in his gorgeous eyes, you knew that you weren’t going to let go of that chance.  

   “I love you too, Jae,” you said with the brightest smile that had ever appeared on your face.

   It candidly was the best way to end the day and a secret fight that you and Jaehyun had both been struggling with--a fight for each other.

[alonely-dreamer]

The Valuable Sun | Chapter 22 (The End)

Summary: Witches never die.

Pairing: Eric x OC

Warnings: 18+

A/N: Please, note that I am French so there might be some mistakes here and there.

Words: 6228

Masterlist

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21

Adapting to being a vampire wasn’t so hard for Brooklynne. Perhaps because she wasn’t really a vampire, but rather a vampire-fairy hybrid who, aside from being immortal, was as human as she used to be.

She didn’t fear the sun, she ate human food and didn’t have to rely on blood to survive. The hardest part of her transition was that everything was heightened. Her sight, her hearing, her strength… She was faster than lightning, and, since apparently it was a hereditary talent, she could fly, like her maker. A talent she’d have to learn to control, and a talent which Pam was jealously unequipped with.

To the rest of the world, Brooke was just another mortal, weird like her sister, maybe gifted with telepathy for those who believed in those sorts of things. But to her family, to her loved ones, she was the strongest creature on Earth, and, therefore, the weakest.

Eric’s worry was loud and made him even more unpleasant than before. With other people, that is. He took extra care of Brooklynne, who felt like a little girl again, who wasn’t allowed to leave her house because she’d get too distracted to even remember her own name.

Fortunately for her, Eric could not control her days, which she spent with her sister at Merlotte’s. It had been a week now, since she had become a vampire, and the only abnormal behavior she showed was an extreme appetite. She could not stop eating, and she almost emptied Sam’s kitchen, not that he would ever complain about it.

“Look at you,” Arlene said as she walked behind the bar to grab a bottle of alcohol. “You wouldn’t be expecting a happy event, would you?”

Brooklynne almost choked on her chicken wing and Arlene laughed as the hybrid coughed and wiped the mess she had made.

“What? No!”

“I’m just kidding ya. I know you can’t get pregnant. Not while you’re with that vampire of yours…”

Brooklynne watched the waitress walk away and disappear in the hallway, leaving a wave of disapproval behind her.

“Fuck you too,” she mumbled under her breath.

“What was that?” Sookie asked, approaching her with a plate she put down on the bar.

“Nothing.”

“What did Arlene want?”

“To make sure I knew how much she hates my kind.”

“To be fair, you’re the first and only one of your kind.”

“Wanna join me?”

“No, thanks,” she swiftly dismissed the mere idea, “hey, isn’t Eric supposed to be here already?”

“Yeah. I guess there was an emergency at Fangtasia. He’s not answering my texts.”

“Well, that’s weird.”

“Not really,” she shrugged. “It’s Halloween. He says there’s always some shit happening on Halloween.”

“When did you start using those words?” Sookie sighed. “You weren’t always so vulgar.”

Her sister laughed. “Sorry. I’m just repeating what he said.”

“Anyway, I have to take out the trash before I leave, want me to drive you?”

“Sure, why not? I’ll join you outside.”

Brooklynne finished her plate, then her drink in one go, before leaving some cash on the bar. She walked across the restaurant and exited through the back door. There, she found her sister and Holly talking about Marnie. Brooke rolled her eyes.

“What’s going on?”

“Hey, Brooklynne.”

“What’s up Holly?”

“Oh, nothing, honey. We were just talking about… well… we just have a bad feeling, is all.”

“It’s probably nothing,” Sookie waved it off.

“Yeah. We’re just spooked because it’s Halloween and all.”

Screeching tires drew their attention towards Tara’s car who had just parked in a panic. Brooklynne didn’t know if it was the previous spooky talk, or just Tara’s look as she ran towards them, but she was starting to have a bad feeling as well.

“Tara?” Sookie called. “Tara what is it? What happened?”

“She’s back!”

“Who’s back, honey?”

“Marnie.”

“Marnie’s dead,” Brooklynne rolled her eyes. “I should know, I killed her myself.”

“She killed Jesus,” Tara started crying. “I think she’s inside Lafayette.”

Sookie turned slowly towards her little sister, who oddly appeared to stand taller than her for once.

“Don’t look at me, I’m no witch. I wouldn’t know the first thing about getting that bitch out of Lafayette.”

“No, Brooke… Eric’s not answering his phone.”

If Brooklynne ever doubted her heart was still beating, she sure had the answer now, as it felt like it skipped a beat as she realized what her sister was saying.

“No,” she scoffed in disbelief. “He’d kill Lafayette on the spot.”

“I’m gonna try to call Bill,” the waitress said as she took out her phone.

Brooklynne shook her head, maybe to try and throw the mere idea of Eric being in any kind of danger away, as she took out her own cellphone.

“Bill’s not answering,” Sookie said, now even more panicked than before.

“Eric either…”

“Well, do we know where they could be?” Holly asked.

Sookie took a deep breath as she remembered what Bill had told her earlier: ‘I’ll be waiting for you at home. My men will let you in.’

“Yes. We do.”

 ***

 Vampires were supposed to heal fast. So fast that they could barely feel pain. Which is why this headache was doubly irritating for Brooklynne. Between the busy minds of her sister, Holly and Tara, whom she was riding with, her own head felt like it was about to explode. Filled with worry and incomprehension, she kept asking herself if she should just get out of the car and run to Bill’s house on her own. She’d already be there.

“You can’t. If Tara and Holly find out you’re a vampire, it won’t be a secret anymore.”

“Who cares at this point? Eric could die any second now!”

“Pam might already be there.”

“If he wanted either of us there, he’d had already called us. Which means he’s in real danger, Marnie is not kidding around, she’s aiming to kill!”

“Don’t remind me. I’m driving you to her!”

“She won’t have a chance to hurt me. She’ll be dead before…”

“You can’t kill her like last time, Brooke. She’s inside Lafayette. We need to trust Holly, she knows how this works.”

“No, she doesn’t, are you listening to her? She’s got a bag full of salt and a mouth full of ‘maybes’. What if she has no clue how to deal with this?”

“Either way, we’re not killing Lafayette.”

“If killing Lafayette is the only way to save Eric, I will do it myself.”

“Are you hearing yourself? You’re talking about killing Lafayette! Our friend! Tara’s cousin!”

“Sorry, Sook. But it’s not a hard choice. Not even a little bit.”

Brooklynne did her best to shut her sister’s disapproving thoughts out of her head, she knew it all already. Of course, she wouldn’t be happy about killing Lafayette. Of course, she’d rather Holly’s plan worked. But if it didn’t, if she had to choose between watching Marnie/Lafayette kill Eric or kill her/him herself, she wouldn’t lose sleep over it. She stopped for a second, a very brief second, and wondered if she’d had thought the same as a human/fairy. If she had been in that situation a month ago, what would she have done? She knew what she would have done. She’d have been too weak to fight off Marnie. She’d have been too weak to save Eric.

She wasn’t going to be weak tonight.

“Any of you got a mirror?” Holly asked as she did the inventory of her Wiccan first aid-kit.

“You ever done this before?” Sookie asked as she handed her a small mirror she found in her purse.

“Goddess, no,” the waitress replied as she shoved the mirror into her bag, next to the salt and the sage. “Usually, I just light a candle and ask the spirits to make sure my boys don’t end up in jail or knock somebody up.”

Sookie could hear her sister scoff and roll her eyes next to Holly, a “what did I say?” echoing inside of her head.

“But so far, that’s worked out okay.”

“Maybe you’re just a good mother,” Brooke mumbled.

“Oh, thanks honey.”

Brooklynne frowned as the mother of two gave her a nervous smile, her lack of faith in her Wiccan religion completely oblivious to her.

“Sook, you can’t let them hurt him,” Tara begged. “If Bill and Eric find out Marnie’s inside Lafayette…”

“I have a feeling they already know…”

Tara stepped on the accelerator. They were only a couple of minutes away. Brooklynne kept trying to reach her maker through their bond, but the silence she was met with only helped widening the pit in her stomach.

Tara stopped the car at the gates of Bill’s property and the four women jumped out of the vehicle, Holly, her bag of magic tricks on her shoulder.

Brooklynne, though she had been patient until then, didn’t even think twice about disappearing on them as soon as she smelled wood and straw.

“Eric!”

She found them tied up together to a pyre, half naked, silver chains around their bare chest.

“What are you doing here? You need to go, now!”

“Are you crazy? I’m not leaving without you!”

“Brooklynne!” Sookie called as she caught up to her sister, Holly and Tara behind her.

“Are you kidding me? You didn’t think to tell us you were a vampire?” Tara started to yell.

“She can’t be, she was at the bar all day long!” Holly said, confused, and a little bit scared.

They didn’t get the time to argue about it any more, however, as Marnie appeared before them.

“As your friend Lafayette would say, what goes around comes around, bitches.”

“I’m gonna kill you, you crazy bitch.”

“You already have,” Marnie replied with surprising calm. “Thank you for coming.”

Marnie/Lafayette raised a hand and waved it once to the left. Brooklynne felt her feet get off the floor and was sent flying across the garden where she collided with a tree.

Eric and Sookie called her name, in useless worry. She was back up on her feet in a matter of seconds.

“Lafayette!”

Tara received a deathly stare from the dead witch inside her cousin, and she gulped.

“… and Marnie. Please, don’t do this.”

“After all they’ve done to you, you protect them?”

“Killing Bill and Eric isn’t gonna make any of that go away.”

“Revenge will never bring you peace,” Eric told her.

“There can’t be peace until there is justice for me, for Antonia, for all the women you tortured and burned for centuries!”

Taking advantage of the moment, Holly started drawing a circle of salt around the pyre as Marnie had her back turned to her.

“All to repress a magic that’s older and more powerful than your very existence.”

“Marnie, what will this serve?” Bill, who saw Holly and understood the plan, asked, to help distract her. “There are millions of us, more being made every night. You cannot win.”

“I’m already dead, vampire. Thanks to you and your friends, I have nothing left to lose.”

Marnie lowered her head and raised her hands in the air as she casted three more words “incendia of sanctimonia”.

“No!” Brooke and Sookie screamed as they tried to make their way to the now burning pyre. But the fire Marnie had just started only grew bigger as they reached it. Brooklynne dragged her sister away from it as Tara joined them.

“Stop it,” she yelled. “It’s still Lafayette!”

“I don’t care,” Brooke growled as she raised a hand, a blinding light coming out of it, hitting Lafayette/Marnie in the chest, pushing them far away. It didn’t stop the fire, to her biggest disappointment.

Holly finished the circle of salt, joining them back to her starting point, as Marnie sat up, now, neither looking like Lafayette or herself, but with a painted face of some sort of creature.

“Give me your hands, now!”

Hesitantly, Tara joined the three women in a circle, taking the hand of the two sisters in her own. Immediately, they started chanting.

“Spirits who watch over us, friends, family, ancestors, guardians of the gate, with this rite we evoke thee through the veil of Samhain, we call thee forth.”

Again and again, they chanted, keeping Marnie out of the circle, however, doing nothing to stop the fire that was burning the two vampires next to them.

As the dead witch growled and the immortals screamed out of pain, spirits appeared in the cemetery near them, walking the earth once more, to join them in their battle. Sookie kept an eye open on Bill, while Brooklynne focused on Eric, doing her best not to break the circle and jump in the fire herself to get him out of there.

“Marnie.”

The summoned spirits stood in the forest, behind Marnie, calling her, only one, however, getting her attention: Antonia.

“Marnie.”

Lafayette’s face changed back to normal as the painted face of the creature disappeared, Marnie, making her way to the ghost of her former partner.

“My sister.”

“You came back to me…” she said, and the witch smiled. “I knew you would.”

Antonia’s eyes moved from Lafayette/Marnie to the burning pyre, and from where she stood blew out the fire as easily as she would have blown off the candles on a birthday cake.

“Antonia, no!”

Brooklynne didn’t wait one more second as she made her way to her maker, ripped off the silver chains tying the vampires to the still hot death trap. Eric’s knees were too weak and she caught him as he fell. However, no one was there to catch the King, who fell off the pyre and onto the hard ground. Sookie was quickly by his side.

“Are you okay?”

“Crispy.”

“Why the hell didn’t you call me? Or Pam?”

“So you could have burned with me? Not a great plan.”

“Not asking for help isn’t a plan at all!”

Off the pyre and back on the ground, Eric enjoyed the feeling of his burning bare feet on the cold grass. Brooke helped him kneel down.

“What the hell am I supposed to do without you? Don’t you dare die on me now that I’m immortal!”

“I’d rather die knowing that you’re safe, than die after watching you get killed.”

“And I’d rather die than spend immortality without you, so don’t you ever do that again!”

“Alright. I’ll try not to get burned alive by the crazy ghost of a witch again. That I can promise you.”

“Shut up and drink,” she rolled her eyes as she kneeled beside him and offered him her wrist.

The witches were still talking on the other side of the circle, and whatever Antonia was saying, Marnie didn’t want to hear it.

“All creatures have their purpose, even vampires.”

“How can you say that? They murdered us!”

“Their cruelty served its purpose: to bring you and I together. And now I am here to take you home.”

“I’m not finished yet.”

“Oh, yes you are.”

That voice. Brooklynne knew that voice. She turned her head, but whoever it was, she was hidden behind the pyre. However, Sookie could see her perfectly.

“Gran?”

“Holy Goddess.”

“Holy shit.”

Eric released Brooke’s hand so that she could get up and see for herself, Adele, her grandmother, make her way to Lafayette, put her hand in his mouth and reach down his throat. She took out a black fog which she threw away behind her. Once it reached the ground, it turned into Marnie.

“I don’t wanna go. I am not ready. Please!” she begged as she stood up.

“I was trapped between world for 400 years… lost and driven mad by my rage. I do not want that for you.”

“And what about what I want?! Nobody cares what I want! All my life, I’ve been afraid. And who wouldn’t be? With dead people murmuring in my ears, making me deliver your messages… making me into a freak! A creepy, pathetic, terrified mess muttering to herself in the corner.”

“But that is not who you are anymore.”

“No. That’s right. I’m not afraid anymore. I’ve got real power now. And you want to take that away from me?” she cried. “You want them to win?”

“Oh, Marnie,” Antonia said as she took Marnie’s face between her hands, “Marnie, can’t you see? Life is pain. But soon, all you have suffered and feared will be meaningless. You will be at peace. But them…”

“… they’ll be stuck here. Forever.”

“And there is no victory in that.”

A tear or two fell down Marnie’s cheeks as she screamed. “Oh, this fucking sucks.”

“Come on.”

Antonia took Marnie’s hand and led her down to the forest where the other spirits were waiting for her. Adele followed them.

“Gran!”

Sookie and Brooklynne called after her, hoping to make her stay.

“Please don’t go,” Sookie cried.

“I have to, dear.”

“I’m so lost without you. I don’t know what to do.”

“Yes, you do. Look at your sister. She’s got it all figured out,” she said as she smiled, proudly, at Brooklynne.

“Oh, Gran… I’m so sorry.”

“For what, dear?”

Brooklynne sniffed and shrugged, hoping her grandmother was proud of her, of who she had become.

“Answer’s where it always is. In your heart. Being alone, it ain’t nothing to be afraid of, my girls. We’re all alone, at the end.”

She smiled at them one last time before joining the spirits back to the cemetery and her granddaughters watch her leave them with tears in their eyes.

Brooke felt a hand slide on her waist, and she took it, as Eric pulled her towards him.

“No offense to your grandmother, but neither one of us will be alone at the end.”

Brooke chuckled as she wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand.

“This is the worst night ever.”

“Well,” he said as he turned her around and wiped one last tear with his thumb, “the night is still young.”

 ***

 Eric had no idea how right he was. Well, maybe he did, a little. He knew what was coming. For him, for Bill. For Brooklynne. They were coming for their heads.

He hadn’t said a word, but Brooklynne knew too. She wasn’t used to being able to read his mind, and it mostly just happened, she couldn’t control it. He was thinking about it, so hard, as he was drinking her blood, in Bill’s living room. She could hear her sister break up with Bill in the other room, and she just wished she could tune them out. Hearing Bill cry made her feel sick.

“Are you sure they’re coming after you too? It wasn’t your fault.”

“They don’t care. I was caught on camera.”

“They destroyed all of that footage.”

“There are witnesses.”

“Glamour them.”

“It’s too late.”

“Then we should leave. Now.”

“And go where? They won’t stop until…”

“Brooklynne.”

The vampire-fairy hybrid turned to see her sister enter the room. Her eyes were red. And wet.

“I’m going home.”

“Okay. I’m staying here, with Eric.”

“You should go with her. There’s no reason for you to be here when…”

Brooklynne shot him a look that told him all he needed to know. She wasn’t going anywhere. She’d save him. Or die trying.

“Have a good night, Sook.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” her sister nodded as she waved, before she walked away.

“The AVL doesn’t know I’m a vampire. They can’t kill me. It’s against their own rules.”

“If you get in their way, if you show them what you can do…”

“Eric,” she stopped him, taking a step forward and placing a hand above his, “either we’re leaving town, or we’re staying. But we stay together.”

Eric sighed, defeated.

“Like you said, neither of us will be alone at the end.”

 ***

 Bill was back to being a cold bastard when he joined them in his living room. He sat in an armchair next to them, and they all kept a dreadful quiet as they enjoyed the last hour of their life.

Bill had nothing else to lose. He had just lost the only thing he wanted, the only thing he needed. Without Sookie, he had no reason to live. He wouldn’t fight the Authority, if they came knocking on his door with a true death warrant. Eric thought about his human life. His immortal life. Godric. Pam. Brooklynne. He thought about the life he had and the one he would never get. The life he dreamt of having with Brooklynne, and the one he could never give her. But Brooklynne wasn’t done fighting. She had barely started. She’d use all of her powers to kill them all, if need be. She felt strong enough. She never even took the time to ask herself if she could.

When the cars arrived, disturbing the silent night as they drove on the gravel driveway, they all felt like time had stopped. Like it was all decided, and they would either leave the house alive, or not at all.

Brooklynne suddenly felt like she had forgotten so many things. Her siblings. She should have said goodbye to them. But instead, she let Sookie go without even telling her she might never see her again. She was almost certain Eric was thinking the same way about Pam. But he knew if he had let her know about any of this, she’d had come, and he couldn’t do that to her. She deserved better.

At least, Bill had said his goodbye.

“This is it,” the King of Louisiana said as he straightened his suit.

“It’s been a crazy thousand years.”

Brooklynne scoffed dryly.

“I thought immortality would last longer.”

They followed Bill as he took the direction of the front door. He opened with a polite smile, a smile Brooklynne had dubbed “Bill’s political smile”.

Nan Flanagan was standing on the porch with a handful of heavily armed men and she looked pissed. She looked furious.

“Ms. Flanagan, we’ve been expecting you.”

Eric and Brooklynne appeared behind their king. It somehow seemed to make her angrier.

“Hi, Nan. And gay stormtroopers.”

Eric’s ability to make stupid jokes in moments such as this one was one of the reasons Brooklynne loved him so much.

“Perfect. Two birds, one stone,” she said as she entered the house, taking the direction of Bill’s office, followed by her guards.

Though Eric stayed silent, Brooklynne could feel his relief. Whatever Nan’s orders were, Brooklynne didn’t seem to be included in them.

The couple stepped in the crowded office, joining Bill’s side.

“The Marnie situation has been resolved, if that makes any difference,” Bill said.

“Ding, dong, the witch is dead,” Nan replied with a tone so sharp it would have given the true death to any vampire who got too close. “Yippee.”

“His Majesty showed great leadership in extremely perilous circumstances. You should be kissing his ring.”

“Why bother when your tongue’s already so far up his ass?”

Eric contemplated his options as his desire to kill the bitch grew stronger. Brooklynne was glad he controlled himself.

Nan gestured her guards to close the door and they stood before it, blocking the only exit. Brooklynne looked up at Eric who seemed to be as nervous as she was. This meant nothing good.

“I wish for one fucking night you could experience the litany of bullshit I’ve had to deal with. Then you’d have some idea of how little I give a fuck about your small-town witch infestation, or your whole backwoods kingdom, for that matter.”

“For someone who cares so little, you seem awfully pissed off.”

“Do I, Bill? Maybe that’s because I quit my fucking job!”

“You quit the AVL?” Eric asked, as baffled as Bill was.

“And the Authority.”

“No one quits the Authority,” Bill chuckled nervously.

“Quit, fired, same difference!”

“We assumed we were the ones to be terminated.”

“Oh, there’s been an order issued on your heads.”

Hearing those words, Brooklynne instinctively seized Eric’s hand.

“My last duty was supposed to be delivering the True Death to both of you. Of course, I realized I’d be next.”

She sighed, trying to control her anger. Failing.

“I have been alive for eight hundred and sixteen years. I refuse to be retired like a fat first wife!”

“Let me make sure I got this straight,” Eric said. “You’re mutinying against the American Vampire League and the Authority?”

“And you expect us to join you?”

“We won’t be alone,” she assured them. “There are factions inside the regime who have never been completely on board with the current agenda. Sheriff Northman knows what I’m talking about.”

Brooklynne frowned. So did Bill.

“What’s in it for us?” the Viking asked, undisturbed by the accusation.

Nan laughed. “Aside from surviving the night? How about your little fairy toy over there? And her sister.”

Their silence and cold stares didn’t faze her.

“Oh, come on. The mind reading, the microwave fingers? You didn’t think I knew what you were? There are at least a couple thousand vampires who would do almost anything to get a taste of your blood.”

“They’re welcome to try,” Brooklynne smirked.

In the next second, she had seized Bill’s paper knife and cut the throat of all of Nan’s human guards. Eric had wanted to do it, but she insisted, as it was her sister she was protecting.

“You’re a vampire?” Nan gasped, looking at her like she was an alien. Which… she was.

“Don’t. threaten. my sister.”

Bill armed himself with the fancy stake that was on display behind his seat, and stabbed Nan who exploded on the spot. There were pieces of her everywhere, the vampires were covered with her blood. Brooklynne took what looked like a tooth from her hair and threw it towards the pile of blood at her feet. She grimaced, then sighed.

“Can we leave now?”

 ***

 Leaving a voicemail to his progeny, Bill didn’t help Eric clean up the mess he had made of Nan Flanagan. Brooklynne stared at the fake window as her maker made sure to get rid of any evidence that would work against them in case of a trial. Though, if they ever got caught, they would not get the luxury of a trial. Their fate was already sealed, killing Nan was just going to buy them a little bit more time. Or so they thought.

As soon as they stepped out of the house, they fell into a silver trap. They were surrounded by a dozen heavily armed men who threw silver nets at Bill and Eric. They both cried out of pain and Brooklynne’s first instinct was to help her maker, but she was quickly pinned against the wall with unhuman strength.

The soldier took off his helmet and stared at her, right in the eyes, as he said: “go back inside, sit down and forget this ever happened”.

Her eyes grew big as she realized he was trying to glamour her. She could see in the corner of her eye that they were taking them away, towards the trunk of their black vehicle. There were too many soldiers there, all wearing protection gear and weapons that could kill a vampire in a second. She did her best to put the loud voice inside her head to rest. It killed her to ignore it, it almost destroyed her to not try anything to help Eric, but she knew if she tried anything, if she showed them she couldn’t be compelled, if she showed them what she really was, they’d either kill her or take her too, and she would never be able to help anyone again.

So, she did as he asked. She went back inside Bill’s house, sat on the first armchair she could find, and watched as they drove away.

She got up as soon as she was certain they wouldn’t be able to see her follow them. She stayed far enough away, running fast, faster than she ever thought she could run. She even tried to fly, but to no avail. She followed them out of Bon-Temps and into an empty road. It was the middle of the night, so there was no one else there, but vampires.

She tried to think of a plan, of a way to get them out that wouldn’t get her and them killed. But there was no way she could free them without alerting the Authority soldiers.

But, suddenly, the black van in which all of the soldiers had gotten into took another road. It confused Brooklynne for a second, until she realized they were probably going back to their base, which meant Bill and Eric were going somewhere else. Somewhere like New-Orleans, to the Vampire Authority Headquarters.

She ran even faster now, so she could catch up to the single car, in which Eric was trapped. She positioned herself in the middle of the road, in front of the vehicle, but far enough away so that they could see her before driving into her. She rose a hand and the brightest light came out of it, blinding the driver. He immediately, out of instinct, turned the wheel, causing the car to roll over three times before it stopped in the field on her right.

She rushed towards the trunk which was already half opened. One kick was enough to open it wide.

“Brooklynne,” Eric breathed out as he crawled out, “what are you doing?”

“Saving your life? You’re welcome. Come on.”

They helped Bill out but didn’t get the time to do anything else as a vampire, whom Brooke recognized to be the driver, showed up behind them, holding a gun, no doubt loaded with silver bullets.

“Who wants to die first?”

Eric pushed Brooke behind him, screaming at her mentally to run the second she can, to not think twice about it. As soon as he turned into a pool of blood, she had to make a run for it.

But he wasn’t the one who exploded into a disgusting pile of bloody body parts.

A woman stood where the vampire used to be a second before, his spine in her hand.

“You, Hayes,” she said, looking down at the pile of blood, “you die first.”

“Nora,” Eric breathed out.

Their savior threw the spine on the ground and shook her bloody hand, trying to get the remaining pieces of Hayes off of her skin.

“I had arranged for our car to be conveniently ambushed when we hit 310,” Nora said, she had a British accent. Our attackers were going to take out my driver there. Unfortunately, wonder woman over here came 12 miles too soon.”

“Um… sorry?”

“Don’t be. It was badass.”

“Eric, you know this woman?” Bill asked.

“Yes. She’s my sister.”

Brooklynne thought she had misheard. Eric never mentioned a sister. She felt confused and… betrayed?

“Your sister? You have a sister who works for the Authority?” Bill says, both surprised and suspicious.

“I’m a Chancellor,” she replied proudly.

“I don’t understand,” Brooke said. “If you knew they were coming for Eric, why didn’t you warn him?”

“There was no time. The Guardian wanted Nan followed to make sure she carried out his orders. I saw an opportunity to save Eric, so I took it.”

“So nobody in the Authority knows about your relationship?” Bill asked.

“And they never will. We were only connected through out maker, Godric. And Godric is gone,” she said with obvious sorrow.

“As a Chancellor of the Authority, you’re taking a huge risk,” Bill continued, still not trusting her fully. “Why would you choose to…”

“Because I’d do anything for Eric.”

“And I’d do anything for you,” the Viking said as he took a step forward.

He went to hug his sister, whom he apparently hadn’t seen in decades. She smiled as she hugged him back. Brooklynne thought it would have been nice to know he had someone he cared about so much other than Pam. Though she could understand why keeping their relationship a secret was for the best, perhaps he could have trusted her enough to share that secret with her.

“And,” Nora continued, “because you did what you did protecting us from the necromancers. That we would reward you for it with the True Death speaks volume about how out of step the Authority’s current agenda is.”

So, Nan knew. Nan knew of Nora and of her relationship with Eric. Which meant Eric did keep in touch at least a little bit. Brooke tried to keep her anger to a minimum.

“I’m not alone in this belief.”

“Factions within the Authority?” Bill asked, making the connection with the information Nan had given him earlier that night.

“Mm-mmh,” she nodded. “So, who’s wonder woman?”

Nora looked at the fairy with interest, but Brooke didn’t answer, uncertain of how much she should say. She turned to Eric for guidance.

“Nora, this is Brooklynne, my progeny.”

“A pleasure, I’m sure…” Nora mumbled thoughtfully. “What is she? She smells amazing.”

“She’s…” Eric pondered. “… complicated.”

“Right…” she said, suspicious. “And I suppose that light is part of the… complications.”

“What light?”

“The light that came out of your progeny, causing Hayes to drive us into this field.”

Eric looked at Brooklynne with regret. She exposed herself to save him, putting herself in danger.

“Like I said. It’s complicated.”

“Well,” she sighed, resigned to stay in the dark, “’complicated’ is an improvement from that whore you keep around.”

“Nora!” Eric hissed, threateningly.

Brooklynne frowned. Perhaps her contempt for Pam was what kept the two apart for so long. She couldn’t help but wonder if Eric trusted any of them. She thought she knew him, but she just realized she had many, many things to figure out about him still. The fact he kept her true identity from Nora meant he didn’t trust her entirely either, or perhaps, it was just the Authority that made him nervous. But finding out about Nora’s existence that night rose many questions that she didn’t have time to ask at the moment.

“Help me turn the car around,” Nora asked Bill. “Let’s see if it can drive us somewhere safe for the day.”

Eric gestured Brooklynne to follow him and they made their way to the road in silence. She tried hard not to explore his thoughts.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a sister?”

“We don’t tell anyone we’re related. It’s for everyone’s safety.”

“Okay. Why didn’t you tell her who I was? She thinks I’m a vampire.”

“She saw your speed and strength, she already knew you were a vampire.”

“But you don’t trust her enough to tell her the truth.”

“She works for the Authority. If she ever gets caught for being ‘against the current agenda’ she’ll get tortured and asked about everything that she knows. I told you, you can’t trust anyone.”

“So what? I’m just supposed to pretend to be a vampire now? To sleep all day? Pretend I don’t eat human food?”

“Only around Nora, which you won’t be for long.”

She sighed. “Right. So… what do we do now?”

“We do nothing. Nora will get Bill and I out of here. We’ll have new identities, we’ll be safer once we get out of the country.”

“What? What do you mean? I’m coming with you.”

“No, you’re not.”

Brooklynne gasped as she took a step back. It felt like a slap in the face.

“The Authority has no knowledge of your existence, there is no warrant out for you arrest, you can go back to Bon-Temps, be with your sister.”

“No! No way.”

“Brooklynne.”

He put his hands on both her shoulders as he looked down at her.

“It’s not safe to come with me. They will hunt me down until they catch me.”

“So?”

“So, you’ll be safer in Bon-Temps. Stay with Pam. I’ll be in touch, I’ll call, I’ll…”

“Eric, I am not going back to Bon-Temps without you. I’m not going anywhere without you. You promised! We promised.”

“The life that’s waiting for me is not worth living.”

“No life is worth living without you, how many times do I have to say it?!”

“Brook-“

“No! I have no life without you, Eric. You are my life. You gave me immortality and you better be sure I’m going to spend it with you. You will not abandon me here!”

“Brooklynne,” he sighed as he brought her to his chest.

He placed a kiss on the top of her head as he hugged her.

“This isn’t what I wanted for you.”

“I know. But it’s better than nothing.”

He backed away and placed his hands on both sides of her face.

“I love you,” he said as dark red tears appeared in his eyes.

She gave him a sad smile. “I love you too. More than anything.”

He leaned over to kiss her. His lips capturing hers like it was the first and last time they would do so. He held her tightly to him, as to stop her from slipping away.

He released her reluctantly, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs, and returning her sad smile.

“Forgive me.”

She frowned. But she didn’t get the time to express her confusion as he swiftly twisted her head, breaking it in a horrible sound that will haunt him forever.

The end… ?

**********

Tags: @thepoet1975 @nerdysandwichqueen @catchmeupimgettingoutofhere @raegan-hale @colie87 @heavenly1927​ @abbey7103​ @with-love-maddie​ 

[ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes]

Promises Not Kept Part 35

Summary: Tommy Shelby made a promise to Jonah Ward while in the war. A promise he didn't keep. But it comes to haunt him when he tries to drown out his sorrows with a young woman.

Part 35: It’s Christmas time but Tommy can’t put on a happy face for the holidays.

        “’N then Santa comes ‘n he brings presents. He’s gotta car that flies ‘cause it’s got horses.”

           “It’s not a car and they aren’t horses.” Charlie corrected his sister from his spot on the couch. He was reading a picture book as Johanna sat on the floor with Molly. The infant had just learned to sit up on her own and was enjoying the new view of the world. Her bright eyes fixed on the glowing fire and the way the flames reflected off the ornaments on the tree. Gold and silver baubles hung perfectly by her siblings and mother. Molly was also getting a hang of her motor skills. It was unfortunate for anyone with hair because she appeared to like tugging on anything she could get near.

           “Ya-huh they’re horses.” Johanna frowned at her brother.

           “Horses don’t fly.”

           That seemed to throw the little girl for a loop. True, she’d never seen a horse fly before.

           Charlie turned the book around to show her a picture of Santa on his sleigh. “Horses don’t have horns.”

           Johanna studied the picture. “Then what are they?”

           “Mum, what’s that word?”

           Leah paused from fixing the stockings on the mantle and glanced at the word. “Reindeer. They guide Santa’s sleigh.” She explained.

           “Rain-deer.” Johanna sounded the word out with a furrowed brow. “So, Santa’s got Rain-deers ‘n he comes to every one's house and gives ‘em presents. But you hafta to be good.”

           Molly yawned and leaned forward to try and grab her sister’s skirt.

           Tommy walked into the room and smiled. “Who wants to help?” He held up the plate of cookies and carrots.

           “Me, me, me!” Johanna jumped up.

           “You too, Charles, c’mon.” Tommy walked over to the fireplace with them. “Put these out for Santa and the reindeer.”

           Johanna carefully placed the plate down by the hearth. “Why does Santa like cookies?”

           “And whiskey?” Charlie set the crystal glass by the plate.

           “Because Santa has good taste.” Tommy picked up Molly and kissed her cheek.

           Leah laughed softly. “I think it’s getting late. Santa’ll be here very soon.”

           “And he can’t come ‘till you’re all asleep.” Tommy reminded them.

           “Why?” Johanna tugged on her father’s pant leg.

           “Because he’s shy.” He made up on the spot and touched her shoulder. “Go upstairs with brother and start getting ready.” Charlie hopped down from the couch and chased his sister upstairs.

           Leah smiled and went to kiss Tommy on the cheek. They were walking on shaky ground but they were still standing. That’s all that mattered in that moment. The next day the Shelby-Gray family would arrive to celebrate with them and meet Molly for the first time. It was almost good that they came back on the holidays. The high-spirits seemed to ease the transition back into Arrow House.

           “I’m going to have Frances bring out the presents in an hour,” Tommy said. “They should be asleep by then.”

           “I don’t think they’ll sleep much. Johanna was telling me how excited she was.” Leah bent down to pick up one of the cookies the kids left behind. She handed Tommy his whiskey as well.

           “I’m glad to be home,” Tommy said. “Back home with you and them.”

           Molly began to nod off in his arms, resting her cheek on his shoulder, her eyes sliding closed.

           “For a moment I thought you’d never want to come back to me.” He admitted. “I thought I’d have to stay in Boston.”

           Although it may have been morbid, Leah was curious. “What if I didn’t want you back?” She wondered. “Would you have left without me?”

           “No.” He shook his head. “I’d just move Shelby Company Limited headquarters to Boston. Even if you didn’t want me anymore, I wouldn’t be able to leave you and the children behind. Told myself I weren’t coming back here without me family.”

           Leah bit her lip and touched his cheek. “It was hard for the both of us.” Even though time had passed, she wouldn’t apologize for the move to America. Perhaps there was a more tactful way about it but she wouldn’t apologize for her mother’s instinct. “I’m glad we’re all together now too. And we don’t have to worry about anything right now.”

           Tommy smiled. “Alright, Mrs. Shelby, got to get you to bed or Santa’s not going to bring you gifts.” He teased and swept her up off her feet to carry her upstairs.

~~~~~~~~~~

           The next morning, the children tore into the pile of gifts. Cyril picking up the wrapping paper and toting it around. Tommy watched from the sofa with a smile on his face. As far as he’d climbed, sometimes he forgot why he did it. There were various reasons, sure, but one of the reasons was he wanted a better life for his kids. Every Christmas they would wake up to as many presents as they could ever imagine.        

           As a child, he didn’t expect presents. He wanted Charlie, Johanna, and Molly to expect to be taken care of because they always would be. They would be taken care of even long after Tommy was gone.

           Later on, they hosted dinner in the evening for the Shelby-Gray family. A little bit before everyone arrived, Tommy realized what a massive mistake he was making. It hit him like a massive brick to the stomach. The mystery hadn’t been solved yet of who sold out his assassination plan. As far as Tommy was concerned the only person who was off the hook was Leah.

           Now he was inviting the suspects into his house for the holidays.

           Anxiety began to creep up on him as the time came. Polly arrived first with Michael and Gina. Along with them was Polly’s first grandchild all bundled up.

           “Auntie Pol!” Johanna squealed happily and ran to the door.

           “There she is, look how big you’ve gotten!” Polly exclaimed and scooped her up. “So beautiful, you look just like your father.”

           “I got a pony for Christmas!”

           “Really?”

           “A rocking-horse.” Leah corrected quickly. “We’re not ready for a real one yet.” She smiled.

           Tommy stood back, eyeing his cousin as he entered and introduced his son to Leah and the kids. There was no level of trust in the foyer between them. At least on Tommy’s end. He noticed Gina side-eye him and his senses heightened. Immediately he noticed the purse on her side and how close she was standing to his son.

           “Where’s the little one?” Polly asked.

           “Oh, I was just nursing, she’s sleeping upstairs.” Leah offered to let her upstairs.

           “I’ll get her.” Tommy moved toward the stairs, blocking their way.

           “If she’s sleeping, I’ll just peek in.” His aunt shook her head.

           “She’ll be up soon enough.” Tommy didn’t want anyone alone with the children. There was no way.

           Polly and Leah exchanged a look but let him go upstairs to fetch Molly.

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

           Everyone else arrived and Tommy’s nerves only got more and more frayed. All the little children were running around together. The little babies were being passed around from person to person to be held. Ada’s daughter, Gina’s son, and Molly never being set down for a moment.

           It was anxiety-inducing to Tommy because he wanted to keep track of his children just in case he had a black cat in his home. But eventually, Molly was being held out of his view and Charlie and Johanna had gone upstairs to show Karl and Billy their new toys.

           Panicked, Tommy found Leah talking to Ada. “Where are the kids?”

           “They’re playing.” She replied. “Why?”

           “Where?” He demanded.

           Ada looked alarmed at her brother’s frantic nature. “Tom, have a drink, you look tired.”

           Ignoring his sister, he looked over Leah’s shoulder to see who else was absent. Who might’ve taken his children? Who might have them hostage with a gun to their head?

           He began to hyperventilate. He pushed past Ada and began searching through the rooms. “Charles?” Haunting flashbacks hit him fast. Searching frantically through the orphanage, ripping at the locked doors, nearly passing out when he realized his son was kidnapped.

           “Tommy!” Leah left Ada’s side and ran to follow him.

           “Charles!” He hurried upstairs and nearly ran right into his son in the hallway. He was pretending to fly around the toy airplanes he’d gotten with Karl.

           “Dad?” The young boy skidded to a halt. “What?”

           Tommy dropped to his knees and pulled Charlie in his arms.

           Leah got to the landing and paused. “Tom?”

           “Dad, stop.” Charlie protested and tried to wriggle out of his arms. He didn’t want to look coddled in front of his older cousin.

           “Tom, c’mon.” Leah helped her husband up, coaxing him to let go of Charlie. “Come talk to me.”

           “Is Johanna up here?”

           “Hi, daddy.” Johanna came out of her bedroom with Billy.

           “They’re fine, Tommy, come talk to me.” Leah linked arms with him and brought him down the hallway to their bedroom. “Go back to playing, dinner’ll be out soon.” She said to the kids. They looked confused but nodded and went back into Johanna’s room.

~~~~~~~~~~

          Tommy was practically hysterical. He couldn’t stand still even as Leah tried to get him to sit down on the bed and take a breath.

           “Someone’s gonna take him. They’ll take him like they took him before. Like they took you. They’ll take the girls too.” His speech was unlike Leah had ever heard before. Far from the even-toned man with a deep voice. She had seen him break down but never before did he show his vulnerability through his voice. It was like his last line of defenses were crumbling down.

           “Tommy, please, you’re scaring me.” She grabbed him by the arms and tried to steady him.

           “What do I have to do to protect my family?” His voice rose in volume.

           “The kids are just down the hall, please just try to stay calm.” She pulled him toward the bed but he resisted her.

           “It shouldn’t be this fucking difficult!” He shouted.

           Tears began to spill from Leah’s eyes. Perhaps they were too naïve to think things would remain so calm. She wished she had managed to keep Tommy happy. Happy enough that he wouldn’t have had to go after Mosley. But she paused halfway through the thought.

           “I told you…” She whispered tearfully. “I told you things could be okay if you just stayed home. You didn’t have to go into Parliament. You didn’t have to do everything you did. The kids and I were enough for you, Tommy, why couldn’t you realize that?” She whimpered.

           He stilled long enough to look at her. “Leah…”

           “Maybe the reason someone betrayed you was because you keep pushing everyone away.” She continued.

           “You’re fucking blaming this on me?” He demanded.

           “I’m blaming this on the man who came back from the War and decided he was going to rule Birmingham. I’m blaming the man who decided Birmingham wasn’t enough. I’m blaming the man who wanted to rule London, then Parliament, and now the whole fucking country it seems! I’m blaming the man who won’t step away from a fight because his pride is too big. Too big he can’t even see the people who would take a bullet for him.”

           “Well, that’s who I am,” Tommy replied after a long pause.

           “No, it’s who you want people to think you are. But you’re so much more, Tommy. You’ve always been so much more.”

           He didn’t respond to her. Instead, he rubbed his eyes wearily and held back tears.

           “You need someone to talk to. Someone other than me.”

           “Not going to a fucking doctor.” He muttered back to her.

           “No, no, that’s not what I’m saying.” Leah would’ve liked to get Tommy some professional help, but she was afraid what the consequences might be if she did. “I’d like to go back to Margate with the children.”

           Tommy lifted his head with a frown. “I ain’t talking to Alfie.”

           “Well, I don’t think he’ll give you much of an option.” She smiled faintly and kissed his forehead. “Please.” She whispered against his skin. “Please just give me this.”

           Closing his eyes, Tommy lifted a hand to the nape of her neck and held her close. “Okay.”  

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

           “Mr. Alfie!” Johanna shrieked happily as she burst out of the car to meet the man at the door.  

           “Hello Joey, lookit you, grown much bigger, haven’t ya?” Alfie chuckled and scooped her up. “Oof, can barely carry you anymore!” He exclaimed.

           Charlie and Cyril ran to greet Alfie as well.

           “I lost a tooth!” Johanna bared her teeth to show him.

           “So, you did. That’s impressive, mighty impressive. And how ‘bout you Charles? Keeping good care of Cyril?”

           “Yeah, look he learned to shake my hand!” Charlie said proudly. He demonstrated the trick, having the bullmastiff sit. He held out his hand so Cyril would place his massive paw in it.

           “Wouldya look at that.” Alfie chortled. “’Fore you know it he’ll be up walking ‘round like a human.”

      ��    Charlie and Johanna laughed at the idea of Cyril prancing around on his hind legs.

           Tommy brought out their luggage with Leah in tow. Molly was asleep in her arms.

           “And here’s the newest Shelby. What’s the name then?” Alfie asked, setting down Johanna so she and Charlie could run inside.

           “Molly Shelby.” Leah smiled.

           “Molly Shelby, very nice.” Alfie turned to Tommy. “How’ve you been, Tom?”

           The man wasn’t in the right mindset to even try and be cordial to his former business partner-friend-enemy-whatever the hell Alfie Solomons decided to be. “I think you know.”

           “Right, right, you had a bit of trouble tryna kill that fascist, didn’t you?” Alfie cocked his head to the side with a bit of a simpering look.

           Tommy gritted his teeth and felt like strangling the man. But Leah stepped between them. “I’m a bit hungry, Alfie could I make something in the kitchen?”

           “Hm? Oh yes, of course, love, go on ahead.” Alfie crossed his arms over his chest and waited for a beat after Leah went inside. “So, think you’d like to talk?”

           “I have a feeling you won’t leave me the fuck alone if I say no,” Tommy muttered.

           “Want to go down to the beach or are you going to shoot me again and blind me other eye?”

           “Just fuck off, Alfie.” Tommy snapped and began to walk down the bluff to the beach.

           Johanna wanted to go down to the beach but Leah said they needed to eat lunch first. So, she went to make lunch with Alfie’s maid while Molly slept in her bassinet and the other two children explored the sitting room.

           Their mother told them not to touch any of Alfie’s belongings. Out of respect but also she didn’t know exactly what sort of things the man had in his collection of oddities. Still, the little treasures collecting dust on the cabinets were too interesting to keep from looking at.

           Charlie climbed up on the fainting couch to view a miniature ship in a bottle. Johanna went out to the balcony and peered down to see her father and Alfie speaking to one another. Yet the ocean waves were too loud and they were too far away for her to hear what they were saying. She turned and went back into the room.

           “Charlie?”

           “What?”

           “Why was daddy upset on Christmas?” She climbed up onto Alfie’s big armchair. “He seemed sad.”

           Charlie glanced over at his sister. “I don’t know.”

           “But he was hugging you.” Johanna reached over to a cabinet and picked up what looked like a shark’s tooth.

           “Put that down.” Charlie scolded and grabbed her wrist. “Mum told us not to touch anything.”

           “What is it?” She reluctantly dropped the object.

           “I don’t know.”

           “Where’d it come from?”

           “I don’t know!” Charlie replied in exasperation. “How should I fucking know?”

           Johanna’s eyes widened and she gasped. “Tha’s a naughty word!”        

           Charlie realized his mistake. The boy had been raised around the word being dropped frequently. Although everyone told him not to say it or other words that were thrown around like ‘shit’ or ‘damn’ or ‘arse’ or ‘bloody’ or ‘hell’. Still, Charlie and Karl often flung the words around when they were playing with one another. It made them feel grown up and like their family. But Charlie knew not to say in front of Johanna or no doubt she would tell their mother.

           “Shhhh, Jo, sh!” He tried to hush her before Leah heard.

           “But-”

           “I know I’m not s’posed to say it. But don’t tell mum.” Charlie pled in a low voice.

           “But mummy says we can’t say it!” Johanna, always out to please her parents, was unnerved at the idea of lying.

           “We can’t say it. It just slipped out. Just-I’ll do anything if you don’t tell mum.” He begged.

           A mischievous smile formed on Johanna’s face. “Anything?”

           Charlie sighed. “I s’pose. What do you want?”

           “I want chocolate.”

           “We’re ‘bout to have lunch. ‘Sides I dunno if Alfie has chocolate anywhere.” Charlie replied. "Mum told us not to snoop here."

           “There’s a candy store,” Johanna remembered last time she and Leah had gone into town to buy a few things.

           “Where?”

           “I know where.” Johanna hopped up and went for the door.

           “Hang on.” Charlie paused. He wasn’t sure they were supposed to leave the house without Leah, Tommy, or even Alfie. But sometimes he and Karl were allowed to go down the street by themselves. He felt old enough to walk into town and as long as he was watching Johanna, what could go wrong? “Wait here.” He grabbed their coats and found Leah’s purse. He dug inside and pulled out a couple of coins to purchase the candy for his sister.

           Donning their coats, the two left out the front door without anyone realizing they’d left.  

Permanent Tag: @papa-geralt-of-cirilla @biba3434 @kimmietea @karmezii @enrapturedbythemoon @vampgirl1997 @tarafaithe @evelynshelby

Tag list: @shelbyblinded

Masterpost

 PB Masterlist

[annoyinglyjovialbird]

Voltron: Next Generation

Impending Difficulties: I

Word Count: 2812

AN: Don’t hate me too much. XD

It had only been a few hours, but Kenny's brain couldn't seem to process anything but the encounter from before. 

It had been years. 

His grandfather never spoke about either of Kenny's siblings, never mentioned them, or even what had happened to them. During the launch of the failed mission, the one Kenny's parents never came back from, he found it weird that he didn't see his sister. His parents asked him about it but he could only shrug. He hadn't seen her in three years at that point. It was her birthday, but Kenny suspected they didn't know. 

Every memory Kenny had stored away in his brain was being taken out and being sorted through again. Unfortunately, the reason for the resorting came up empty when Kenny couldn't find what he needed. 

He couldn't remember his sister's face. 

Allie, who had been wandering the ship and the only one awake, passed by the bridge. Seeing Kenny leaned over, she thought nothing of it. This was the fifth time she passed the bridge, and Kenny still hadn't moved. On the sixth pass, Allie had two large cups. One of them had a tea bag string over the rim, the other did not. Both drinks were steaming and brown, albeit two different shades. 

With careful steps, Allie placed the cup with the teabag on the console desk in front of Kenny and walked away without another word. The pager on her belt made a sound, and Allie walked towards the observation room. 

In Kenny's mind, a brightness came over his memories. 

Laughter rang out in the juniberry fields on Uncle Lance's farm, chasing a dwarf around. Black hair in pigtails and a dress covered in red poppies. Tripping over something in the fields, Kenny landed face-first in the juniberries. Instead of complaining and standing up, he rolled over in the fields and stared at the never-ending blue sky. The dwarf he had been chasing toddled towards him with the biggest smile on her face. Letting a small giggle, she smacked her hand on Kenny's forehead. He laughed at the smack, staring at her face. It was blurry. He couldn't see anything past that big smile. 

"Klance!" A delighted squeal came from her mouth and she once again toddled forward. 

"Kenny, you okay?" Uncle Lance asked, bending over the fallen boy. His arms went to the little girl's waist and she was pulled higher and higher. Her squeals didn't seem to stop. 

"Yeah, I'm okay." Kenny used a hand to shield himself from the glaring sun to stare at his uncle and the little girl. She had turned her head away from Kenny, staring at something behind them. 

"Good." Lance readjusted the girl, who turned her focus to the man who had moved her from her perch on Lance's hip. "Ahora te paras o te paro!" In a flash, Kenny had stood, running towards Uncle Lance's house where the other farmhands (or cousins who needed something to do in the summer) were heading. Looking back at fields he'd left, Kenny saw the little girl had laid her head on Uncle Lance's shoulder, turning away again. 

In another memory, Kenny was sitting at a dinner table. The book work in front of him was unreadable, but he was counting his lucky stars that he wouldn't be doing whatever his brother was doing at the head of the table. The boy at the head had dark hair, wearing a red jacket with a green stripe around the middle. In front of him was an array of wires and connectors with a light bulb and two switches. One of the papers in front of Kenny was the answer sheet to his brother's problem. 

"Hey, Ky." The boy had looked up and said. Turning to a doorway that led to bedrooms, the little girl from before was rubbing her eyes. Her hair was a little longer but still styled in pigtails. Her jammies were a vibrant shade of seafoam, a gift from Uncle Lance. "Did we wake you up?" Without saying a word, the girl approached the boy, and he pulled her into his lap. She stared at the circuit board with bright, curious eyes. She noticed something off to the side and grabbed it. Attaching it to connectors in between the switches, she pointed at the switch to her right. Complying, the boy flipped the switch, and the light bulb lit. His face said it all. He had no idea what he was doing wrong. 

"Ky, what did you do?" By this point, the girl had covered her addition with her hands to keep it out of view of the boy. When she went to point, Kenny saw what it was. With a flourish, she held her hands up and almost smacked the older boy in the face.

"You were missing a power source," Kenny said for the girl, who had let her arms fall to her side and looked up at the boy. He had started rubbing his head, staring at the battery. Kenny remembered he was taking a double course load, something no one had done without losing sleep or sanity. 

"Kyla!" Kenny's mom came around the corner. Her brown hair was pulled into a ponytail and her eyes matched the girl. The green long-sleeved shirt and the oversized gray coat was a signature for her, along with the transition lenses over her eyes. "Leave your brothers alone!"

"Mom, stop." The boy sighed, leaning back in the chair. The little girl, Kyla, had bowed her head and her eyes became glassy. 

"She's a kid! What can she do?"

"C'mon, Ky." Kenny stood, walking towards the now upset little girl. "Don't listen to Pidge, she's just upset," He said much quieter, lifting the little girl. Her arms wrapped around Kenny's neck and her head leaned into his shoulder. Taking her back to her room, Kenny pulled aside the dark gray comforter covered in white stars and the white sheet underneath covered in gray astronauts. The little girl hung on for dear life as she sat on the bed. Unwrapping her arms from his neck, Kenny looked into her eyes, which had dimmed. Reluctantly, she laid her head down on the pillows and fell asleep.

A hand on his shoulder startled the poor man. Returning to reality, his eyes took in the sight of the bridge. Following the hand on his shoulder, he met a pair of jarringly familiar brown eyes. Even if they weren't as bright nor as curious as they once were, they matched his mom's eyes. 

"Kenny," Kova repeated, trying to get the young man's attention. He stared at her like she was the object he had been looking for his entire life. Pulling a tissue from the box Allie had brought by earlier, she patted Kenny's tear-stained cheeks. 

"Will he be alright?" Allie asked, arms crossed. After checking on Keith, she had passed by a few more times. When she found Kenny crying, she left a tissue box and ran for Kova's room. 

"Kenneth? You have to breathe." Kova said to the young man instead. He was taking shuddering breaths, just roaming over Kova's face. 

"Kyla?" He whispered under his breath. Kova met his eyes with shock, then defensiveness, finally with acceptance. She didn't nod, nor did she shake her head. 

"C'mon, Ken." Pulling on Kenny's hands, Kova stood. "Let's get you to bed." Kova walked Kenny to the door, with Allie following close behind with the box. 

——————————————————

In the morning, Kova was determined to let the others know, with or without the Colonel's approval. Speaking of the Colonel, he had thought long and hard about Kova's words. Shiro knew Kova was serious. She didn't fight orders unless she deemed it necessary for a specific reason. 

She fought patrol officers when they tried to restrain students to Garrison grounds. 

She fought her commanding officer when Caleb and her groups teamed up for training purposes. 

She even fought Curtis when he tried to stop the pair from taking little Cyrus to the McClain's farm when he and Shiro were on vacation. 

In every event, Kova won the fight. She was smart, strong, and dealt with any consequences that would come. 

Other students tried using Kova as a scapegoat and immediately realized why she had permission to leave Garrison grounds. They didn't appreciate the unpaid work on McClain's farm as much as Kova did. 

The commanding officer purposely gave the teams the hardest jobs on school grounds to make the others leave. They stayed intact until the last quarter when Jazz transferred to a more traditional school setting and Allie became her replacement. 

With the last one, while Kova had to be the one to bathe Cyrus after falling butt-first into a mound of freshly scooped cow droppings, she didn't complain. 

Kova sat through breakfast without a word to anyone, eating from the small bag of assorted nuts and dried fruit she snuck onboard. Cake and Liz exchanged nervous looks, while Allie stared at Kenny nibbling on an Arusian fruit. 

At least it wasn't whatever beverage the Arusians packed for them. 

When finished, Kova stood and walked towards the bridge. Without saying a word, the others followed. They were in their respective seats while Kenny sat in his corner as they stared at the slowly changing sky. 

Shiro walked into the bridge, descended the staircase, and went right up to the window. Kova stared at the back of his head, daring him to try to tell her no. 

Turning around, his eyes met hers. A tense minute. 

Cake nervously looked from Shiro to Kova and back again. Caleb was tense, ready to hold someone back. Liz followed this sentiment with her bayard in hand. Allie had a first aid kit under her console if a fight did break out. Kenny was lost, staring ahead. 

Shiro broke the stare with a sigh. Looking up again, he said, "Tell them." 

Opening a program on her console, Shiro walked forward so he wasn't covering the screen. On-screen, three folders appeared with different titles. 

The first read 'ACHLYS MISSION'. The second read 'FIRE REVIVAL'. The third was simply 'KHKH'. 

Typing away at her console, the first folder opened. Documents, pictures, and a video file fell into order on the screen. Clicking on a particular picture, Shiro looked away.

The ACHLYS was standing tall and proud, most notably intact. In front of it stood five people. From left to right, a woman with medium-length brown hair pulled into a braid. She had an arm around the waist of the man to her left, who was a full head taller than her with a scar on his right cheek and black hair tied into a ponytail. A gloved hand was on the shoulder of the Colonel, who had a hand tucked into his pants pocket. The man on the other side of the Colonel had tan skin and cropped brown hair. The last man also had cropped hair, black in color, and was much darker than the man next to him. Four of the five people in the picture wore matching orange, gray, and white suits. The men to the Colonel's left had helmets in their hands, while the ones to his right didn't. 

"Pictured left to right: Katie Holt, Keith Kogane, Colonel Takashi Shirogane, Lance McClain, and Hunk Garrett." Liz read aloud, squinting to read the caption. Kova opened a document file and it appeared beside the picture. In big bold letters, the word 'CLASSIFIED' was stamped onto the page. The top read 'INCIDENT REPORT & DISAPPEARANCE OF ACHLYS CREW'.

"I was right." Cake turned in his seat to stare at Kova. "You did know what happened." 

"We weren't supposed to say anything," Caleb replied instead. 

"The ACHLYS was ambushed," Shiro said, staring at the picture. "According to evidence collected, the crew escaped in pods, but never made contact."

"What evidence?" Shiro stayed silent. "I thought we were learning everything, so why—"

"Lance was the only one of the four that returned to Earth. His pod was used to locate the others, but it was unsuccessful. It was too dangerous to continue."

"But we found Keith! He's alive, right?" Cake turned his attention to Liz and Allie. Both girls were staring at the small devices in their hands. Something of Liz's creation used to monitor Keith's monitor. If there was a too high spike, a too low valley, or a change in anything, it would alert them both. 

Keith had been unresponsive and stable since he had been brought on. 

"My dad could still be—"

"Cake," Kova said. Her voice was firm, staring straight ahead. "The ACHLYS was ambushed by the Fire after an initial recon by Keith and Pidge." Cake became quiet, turning to the screen. 

Closing the file, Kova opened the second folder. Possibly even more documents came from the folder, many of them with the same 'CLASSIFIED' stamped onto them. 

Opening a picture file, it showed a crazed timeline of events leading up to the ambush Kova mentioned. Kova was adding onto it. 

At the top of the chain was a Galra with huge fluffy purple ears that seemed to curve like horns. A robotic eye replaced their left eye while their right eye was entirely yellow. Under his picture, the nametag read 'SENDAK: DECEASED; FORMER'. A red line pointed down towards a second Galra. Or Altean. You couldn't really tell. The being in the picture had an almost gray skin tone with yellow sclera and dark irises and pupils. Their ears were pointed, a long chain earring running from the tip to the lobe. Below, their name tag read 'RALAN: ALIVE; CURRENT'. There was no line connecting Ralan to anyone else on the board. 

Taking footage from her helmet cam, Kova changed a few details. Adding a picture of Yorak to the board and connecting a line from Ralan to Yorak, Kova changed the nametags. The 'CURRENT' changed to 'FORMER' and Yorak received an 'ALIVE; CURRENT'. 

"Chain of command," Caleb said. Allie had turned around to look at him with a question in her eyes. She turned back around, studying Ralan's face. 

"Ralan?" Allie whispered to herself, seemingly trying to find the memory of this man. "Was he a general or a guard?"

"Allie," Shiro turned. "Do you have something to add?" Allie stared at the Colonel. 

"It may be in your best interest to contact the Emperor of Altea concerning Ralan." It was all she was able to say before twin pagers went off. Allie stood and raced towards the observation bay. 

When Allie left, Shiro began to push down his feelings and started explaining more in depth what the mission against the Fire was about. Liz and Cake would interject here and there, saying the Coeus and Voltron should fight when instigated. Shiro reminded them that while Kova can be as reckless as she wanted, they weren't to go against the Colonel's direct orders. 

The Fire's revival began a few decades ago, staying mostly unknown until the recon mission. Yorak's concerned parents, Keith and Pidge, had gone after him because they had reason to believe he was working with an organization that threatened the peace in the universe. The recon mission Keith and Pidge were on took a full calendar year to complete. They had reported a small organization, but it was well armed. On a vote, all former members of the original legendary defender would be suited up to go. Keith and Pidge ran their own organizations, Lance occasionally served as ambassador to Altea but traded often with Alteans, and Hunk had relinquished most control of his culinary empire to head chefs in individual restaurants. The last former member, Shiro, had been offered the Headmaster position at the Garrison, and he didn't turn it down. The ACHLYS was completed in two years after Keith and Pidge returned, and the launch was televised all over the country. It had been months after the mission had launched, and there were routine communications between the ACHLYS and the Garrison, now under Shiro's command. One day, the communications stopped. 

There was no response. Not even static. Just silence. Nothing. 

Then, on the one year anniversary of the launch, two students reported and assisted a pilot from an escape pod bearing the silent ship's name. The pilot inside was Lance and the students were Kova and Caleb on their way to the green for lunch when they spotted the incoming ship. Neither said a word. 

Before Kova could open the last file, everyone on the Coeus had slammed into the nearest object to their right. For Liz and Cake, it was the floor and Kova's pedestal. For Kenny, it was pressing further into a wall. And for everyone else, they had shoulders pressed sharply to the walls. Liz paged for Allie and the crew of the Coeus began defending their ship.

[pumpkiwi]

“ The Farmer’s Daughter “

       I remember it all too well. My feet moved swiftly through the cornfield, my vision slowly decaying, barely catching my breath. The cold winds caused my running even more pain, and the moonlight didn’t help me much. I didn’t know what I was running from, I didn’t bother turning my back. For if I did, I’d be done for. The only thing I could hear aside from the ringing in my ears, was a girl singing a lullaby of some sort. I couldn’t make out the words at all. However, the singing wouldn’t stop. Suddenly, my foot met with a treacherous stone, concealed within the shadows, as if it were waiting for me. My body slammed hard into the dirt surface below. Letting out a sob, I pushed myself on my feet and looked up to see what exactly was chasing me.

A car horn blasted through my ears. I sat away from the taxi window, awaking from a cold sweat. Didn’t take too long for me to realize that it was all just a nightmare. A surreal nightmare.

“Outta my way, ya rats!” The old taxi driver barked in front of him. . His voice sounded like he had smoked seven cigarettes each and every hour of his life. He noticed me and flashed a ugly grin.

“I see ya finally awoke, old sport!” He chirped with glee. “How’d ya sleep?”

“Fine.” I answered back, “How far are we from the farm?”

“Ooh, only a few miles away! Don’t ya get yer panties in a bunch!”

The farm in question belonged to my uncle, Joe Norton. A large yet sweet man, heart full of gold. His hair matched mine, a copper brown. That was one of the few things we had in common. Despite that, I truly cared for him. That’s why I had to pack my bags and get to his farm as quick as I could. You see, ever since my cousin, Abigail, went missing this summer, things haven’t been the best. Not only was the grief unbearable, Uncle Joe told me all about how his crops were dying, as well as his animals. He didn’t have enough hands to help out. Being promised payment and food, I agreed to come.

“Oi, here we are, old sport! Badger Hill Farm!” The driver announced.

I took one look out my window and saw it: my childhood in mere ruins. Perhaps, I shouldn’t be too surprised. Uncle Joe was an old, divorced man with nothing but the pain and sorrow of his daughter’s disappearance. Strangely, he didn’t seem as worried as a parent should be. Maybe, he’s just keeping himself calm, as if it hasn’t been months. Poor bastard. Regardless, the farm gave me unnerving vibes. Maybe, it was just my anxiety kicking in again.

I escaped the taxi, waving the taxi man goodbye. There, on the ever so creaky porch, was Uncle Joe. His droopy eyes stared at his only company at this time. He then smiled.

“Good to see you again, my dear niece!”

I only huffed at his greeting.

“Nephew, Uncle Joe. I’m your nephew.”

“Right .. right. My apologies. How was the trip?”

“Fine.” I replied, “You doing okay yourself?”

The two of us went on a long conversation of each other’s lives, even though we already were pretty updated from our last call. As we talked, he took me around the maze of Badger Hills Farm. I knew it was going to be hard, from all the chores and tasks we had to complete. But, you would be surprised by my experience with farm life, even before my transition. So, it shouldn’t be too bad … right?

After a few exhausting days of cleaning, feeding and other various tasks, we celebrated with a small night of board games and chips. We played an old version of monopoly, as well as watched some TV for the first time in forever. His favorite show was this old black and white show that reran on some channel I’ve never heard of. It was about a vampire being neighbors with a werewolf, one of the episodes was about the human protagonist witnessing a murder being commited by one of the two. I liked it too. So, on that stormy night, we binge watched the hell out of it. Before one of the episodes could properly end, however, the lights shut off. As expected, it scared the devil out of me. But, Uncle Joe was happy to comfort me.

“Don’t ya worry yer butt off, Gabe.” He told me, rising up from his worn out chair. “I’ll go and take care of that.”

Uncle Joe grabbed the flashlight from the nearby counter and soon enough, left the front door, closing it behind him. There, I sat in the dark, alone. Funny enough, I used to be afraid of the dark, mainly of what could be in it. I’d always have my nightlight on, as if it would wear away any creatures or ghouls. Now that I was older, I knew better.

A shuffle of movement swimmed beside me. I jumped from my seat, glancing the direction it came from. Couldn’t have been a mouse, maybe a cat? Uncle Joe didn’t own a cat. Then, I heard it. That same singing from my dream. However, this time, I could understand the lyrics…

“ Wolves asleep amidst the trees

Bats all are swaying in the breeze

But one soul lies anxious wide awake

Fearing all manner of ghouls, hags and wraiths

For your dolly Polly sleep has flown. “

The singing alerted me greatly. I didn’t stay for the song to finish. So much so, I dropped everything and bursted through the front door. Someone was in that house, I thought. I need to warn Uncle Joe. However, I couldn’t find him or the shed he must have been at.  What came next was similar to my dream. Running through the endless field in fear, unsure of who was coming after me, the endless singing of a song I had never heard of before. The rain had already taken a toll to my clothes, weighing me down as I ran. That unfaithful stone took out my ankle once more. I finally had a look at who I was chased back.

No… it couldn’t be…

There, floating up above me was my dearest cousin. Execpct, she didn’t look like herself. Her eyes were blank like a Tv screen, with a bloody rose covering her left eye, as well as an area around her chest. Her brown, long hair was as dirty as the ground below me and her outfit torn. I sat there, frozen in place, wondering if this was some sort of sick joke.

“ Abby..?” My eyes filled with tears, shaking at the cold, hard rain.

“What… W-hat happened to you? Why… what?”

Her gloved hands held out to me, as if reaching out to help me up. To my surprise, I could hold her hand. I rose up from the ground, still taking in what I was seeing. She released her grip and  stared down my soul before her haunting voice spoke:

“Follow me.”

Her body wasped through the air gently, making sure I was with her. There was no way in hell I would run off. But, despite that, I wanted to know why or what. What happened to her? Eventually, she led me to a now ruined garden. It had been blocked off from the farm itself, most likely due to the respect of Uncle’s daughter. All the flowers were deader than whatever she has been corrupted into. My nose cringed at a rotting and nasty smell.

“This is where he killed me.” She suddenly croaked, no emotions whatsoever.  

“Who..?” I nervously asked her.

“...Father.”

My heart stopped at her words.

“Uncle.. Joe? But … he’s old. And, he’s so sweet…”

“No.” A growl erupted from her. “He isn’t. He’s a murderer. He’ll kill you too if he finds out you know.”

I had to process this. All the things I had ever thought… is that why Uncle Joe was so calm about her becoming missing? I wanted to puke at the mere thought of it. A father killing his own daughter? Why? What was the motive?

“Why.. did he kill you?”

An index finger shot at the nearby flower beds. My gut twisted at what I even thought.

“You .. weren’t the only one..?”

She nodded firmly. I lifted the empty flower bed to reveal one of the almost decayed out corpses. The sight caused me to instantly drop the flower bed. I covered my mouth and nose to prevent myself from throwing up. This can’t be real. It can’t be. It has to be a dream.

Soon, bad news rolled in. The wet steps of mud trailed behind me. Uncle Joe stood there in the rain, holding a crowbar of somesorts. His happy smile that I always saw was twisted into a deep, dark frown.

“So… you found out, huh?” He questioned me. “You found her garden.”

It didn’t take long for me to realize what was going to happen if I stayed put. I was going to end up like Abigail. I raced over the fence and hopped over that bitch. He had thrown the crowbar at the fence, barely missing my back. Uncle Joe followed in pursuit, in a different route. I felt like I was in a horror movie, my heart pounding against my chest and running as quick as I could. I didn’t know where, but somewhere away from here.

“GET BACK HERE!” HIs voice boomed from behind me. “I AIN’T GONNA HURT YA! PLEASE, GABBY!”

I made it to that same dirt road I  entered from. A red pick-up truck happened to be driving on that said road. Taking my chances, I got in front of it, waving my arms fractionally at the driver. Luckily for me, he stopped inches away from me. Checking back on where Uncle Joe was, he near damned was right there. The driver must have seen him, waving me to get in.

In a panic, I hopped on the back of the truck, holding on the edge for dear life. The truck began to drive away as quickly as he humanly could.

I still remember seeing Uncle Joe standing in the middle of that road, watching me with cold, evil eyes. That day, I found out the truth about him and Badger Hill Farms. A death trap it was. He was planning on killing me off that night, and I know.

I have to report him to the authorities, about the missing cases and everything. But, that was going to be my next step. For right now, I took in my freedom with a sigh and laid back on that truck.

I was alive.

[djinmer4]

Letter (Dresden AU)

“Bitte, grrnk!  I can bear no more, nmmmak! Shoot me, erk!  Put me out of my misery.”

“Stop whining.”

“Du Unhold!  You are enjoying this nnmph!  This inhuman torture.”

A giggling reply.  “Of course not.  I just like playing doctor.  Pity, a few snips and it will all be over.”

“Eeeungh!  Nmmph!  Glk . . . Gggnmmph!”

“Okay, okay.  I’m finished already.”

“Aaahhh, wonne.  Danke, Katzchen, danke.  Ooaah, wunderbar . . . the itch was driving me wahnsinnig.”

Kitty helped pry away the last pieces of plaster.  “You’re lucky Moira said it was okay to remove the cast, Kurt.  I’d have left it on for another month.”

“To teach me the consequences of violence, I presume.”

“No, that’s a risk we all accept.”  She carded her fingers lightly through the matted fur, carefully smoothing out some of the tangles that had formed in the past month.  “I meant you’re lucky that you heal so quickly.  Most people would take about another eight weeks to knit.  There’s no significant muscle wastage either.  How do you feel?”

Kurt stood and stretched, bringing his knee up to his chest.  “Starr.  And a little weak.  Mostly I’m just off-balance- I have grown used to compensating for the weight of the cast.”

“You’ll just have to take it easy for the next few days.”

“I have not the time.  I received a letter, via Jean Grey, from an old friend, Jutta.  She needs my help so I am leaving for Germany within the hour.”  He hesitated then looked at his young friend.  “Would you like to come?”

Kitty gave him one of her lopsided smiles.  “Sorry, I can’t.  I got a letter too, from one of my cousins.”

“Wer?”

“Connie Barrowill, on my dad’s side.  No, you don’t know her, we’re not close.  But she’s in college right now and apparently having a bit of trouble.  Since she’s only a few years older than me, her dad asked that I fly over and see how she’s doing, maybe give her some advice.”

“Ah, well, family is family after all.  I wanted to introduce you to my friends from the circus, but it looks like it will have to wait for another time.  I will bring you back a souvenir.”

~~~~~~~

“Connie?  Connie, are you there?  It’s me, Kitty.”  Shadowcat looked around the campus.  She supposed all colleges had similarities, but while Chicago had had a mix of gothic stone and modern concrete architecture, Oklahoma was all brick, much more cohesive.  Also, flat as a pancake.

“Kitty?  Hey, I wasn’t expecting you!”  Connie was just a few inches taller than her, with blonde hair, tanned skin, and blue eyes.  She looked like a stereotypical cheerleader actually, which never failed to annoy Kitty a little.  Everyone else in the Court looked like a supermodel and she just looked like the girl next door.  And if what Thomas told her was right, she’d keep looking like that for the next hundred years or so.

“Yeah, your dad called me.  Said you were having some difficulty with . . . school and that I might be able to answer some questions for you.”  Kitty felt stupid trying to convey her meaning with pauses and eyebrows, but they were in public.

“Oh?  Oh!  Yes, just some stuff you’ll probably find easy.  Here, come in!”  Connie stopped standing in the doorway and let Kitty into the dorm.  They walked up three flights of stairs to Connie’s single room.  Kitty was surprised, there was an aura of lust in the corridor so thick she was surprised normal humans couldn’t detect it.

Once the door was shut, they both dropped the pretense.  “So what happened?”

“Well . . . I take it you know all about our-”

“Our little nutrition problem.  Yes, I do.  But you . . . “  Kitty gave her cousin a good once over.  “But you haven’t changed.  I’m surprised, Lord Raith doesn’t allow fledglings to be told about their heritage until-”

“Until it’s too late.  Yeah, that’s the thing.  Um, Dad said you . . . had an unusual transition.”

Kitty stared at her cousin.  She let out a sigh.  “Yeah.  Mind control.  A body jumper took over and he knew my background.  Decided he wanted all the perks that came with being a vampire, and arranged for the right circumstances then did the deed.”

“So there wasn’t any decision making involved,” muttered the blonde.

“Connie, what exactly happened to you?”

“Oh, um,” her cousin took a deep breath.  “I brought my boyfriend up to my room to make-out.  We didn’t go all the way,” So that explained some things.  “But it was enough to trigger the Hunger.”

“Soo . . . I don’t understand.  Do you want to complete the transformation?  Just invite the boy over and drain him.  Simple enough.”

“No!”  Then Connie’s voice dropped.  “Or well, it’s not that simple.”

“Do you not want to be a vampire?  I can understand that.”

“Maybe.  I’m not sure.  How would you go about doing that?”

“Hmph.  Normally I wouldn’t tell you this information, but since you already know about the Masquerade . . . there’s really only one chance at this.  The first time you have sex and-” Kitty side-eyed her cousin.  “-go all the way.  If you have sex with someone who truly loves you and who you truly love in return, it poisons the demon and kills them.  Then you’ll live the rest of your life as a normal human, and have normal human kids.  But if it’s anyone else, you’ll kill them and become a Pale Hunter.”  She paused.  “How did the guy last long enough that this became an issue?”

“Oh, it turns out he’s the son of a Forest Person.  Dad apparently did some mojo so I’d screw him to death, but he’s got enough resistance that he was unaffected.”

“That explains the aura out in the corridor.  Was that all you needed?”

“Er, no.  Some of the other Forest People blocked Dad’s influence, said they’d give me time to decide if I really wanted to become a vampire or not.  I told Dad that since I actually had a choice, I wanted to know more about it.  So I guess he sent you.”

Kitty leaned back in the chair she had grabbed from Connie’s desk.  “Pros and cons then.  You already know what it’s like to be human, so I’ll leave that alone.  Cons: once you turn into a vampire you have to feed, you have no choice.  If you go too long without it, or something causes you to drain your resources too low, the demon will take over and attack and kill people to feed.  And every time the demon does that, it takes a toll on your mind.  Go into a frenzy often enough, and eventually, you’ll never come out of it.  You’ll just be a mindless monster.

Are you taking notes on this?  You’ll remember it better if you write it down.”

Connie grabbed the notepad Kitty held out to her.  “You’re not worried people might come across proof of the supernatural?”  

Kitty snorted.  “The Masquerade isn’t that fragile.  If anyone asks, tell them you were brainstorming a story with me.  Shall I go on?”  The blonde nodded.  “Okay, pros now.  You get enhanced senses and strength and durability.  Feeding regularly will give you a healing factor, feed enough and you can survive being set on fire and almost being cut in half.”  At Connie’s wide-eyed look, Kitty continued.  “That’s not hyperbole, I’ve actually seen Laura do the exact thing.  It’s not the most powerful healing factor I’ve seen but it’s definitely up there.  Anyway, going on.  It enhances all your physical characteristics, strength (“You said that already”), speed, endurance, dexterity.  Your lifespan also increases, Lord Raith and Laura have lived for centuries.”

The older girl continued to make notes.  “Any drawbacks?  Sunlight and things?”

“Nope, that’s a different court.  No problems with sunlight or silver or iron or religious symbols.”  To prove her point, Kitty opened up the collar of her shirt to show Connie the Star of David she wore.  “Um, you can cross thresholds without being invited, but that does limit your abilities to human norm though.”

“So no weaknesses at all?”

“A few.  We’re definitely not as strong as the other vampire courts.  Also, we have a vulnerability to some types of positive emotion.”  Kitty though for a second.  “You and you’re dad are part of House Ashma that feeds on rage.  So trying to feed off of someone who’s serene or coming into contact with symbols of that could hurt you.

There are some other things that pertain to magic, but that’s not going to be an issue unless you actually become one.  Anything else you want to know?”

“So if I,” Connie hesitated then continued.  “If I don’t want to become a vampire, I don’t have to swear a vow of celibacy or anything like that?”

“And what’s wrong with being celibate?  But no, you just have to make sure that your first time is with someone who really loves you and who you love in return.”  

“What about your mutant powers?  Does it help those?”

Now it was Kitty’s turn to look wide-eyed.  “Charles told you that?”

“It was supposed to be a secret?”

“Well, not really I guess.  I haven’t been hiding it, but I haven’t been advertising it to the rest of the family, that’s all.”  She shook her head.  “Honestly, it’s hard to say.  I pretty much got them at the same time.  But I don’t think so?  I can still use my mutant ability even when my vampire ones are cut off, like when I go somewhere uninvited or warded with a magic circle.  And it doesn’t depend on my feeding either.”

The elder looked over her notes.  “This is all really great information, Kitty.  But it doesn’t answer my question.”  Summer blue eyes looked into paler, icier ones.  “You weren’t given a choice.  But if you had been given one, would you have become a vampire?”

She hissed out between her teeth.  “That’s a very difficult question.  On one hand, I really hate how I transitioned.  I hate the fact I wasn’t given a choice, that someone else was puppeteering my body around, that he chose to kill an innocent to kick-start my powers.  But on the other hand, I love the abilities that being a vampire gives me.  I don’t think I’d be nearly as good a fighter without those abilities and they certainly make me a much more valuable member of the X-Men and Excalibur.  And of course, on the gripping hand, there’s the whole fact I had to kill someone to be like this and can enthrall people and may kill other people in the future.”  

“That’s not a yes or no answer.”

Kitty sucked in another breath.  “If this was a question with easy answers you wouldn’t need my help now, would you?”  Connie closed her eyes and dipped her head.  “I think, when it comes down to it, I do like being a vampire.  And if I had a choice I would do it again, even with how traumatic the transitioning was.  I’d prefer to do it under different circumstances, I mean, I could think of a lot of people who need killing after all, but even if I had to do it that way, I still would.”

“Thanks, Kitty.”  If the two of them had been closer, Connie might have risked hugging the younger girl.  As is, she settled for a firm handshake.  “That’s all I needed to know.”

[bookworlders]

the wedding date - ch. 9

percabeth fake dating!au based on The Wedding Date movie

part 1 | FFnet | ao3

masterpost

The wine was flowing.

If the rehearsal dinner gave any indication of what the ceremony was going to be like the next day, it was sure to be lavish. Piper’s mother and father, supermodel Aphrodite Love and actor Tristan McLean, were paying for the ceremony. Zeus Grace, Jason’s father and host of the rehearsal dinner, had obviously not wished to be upstaged. Zeus had hired an upscale party company to completely transform the front lawn of the Big House into some kind of fairytale winery, much to Chiron’s protest.

Every post on the wrap-around porch was wrapped in twinkling lights. The porch itself had been transformed into an altar for the rehearsal ceremony. Picnic tables laden with white table clothes, succulents, and lanterns littered the front lawn for the dinner. The parents of the bride and groom greeted the wedding party as they arrived: Tristan and Zeus shaking everyone's hands and Beryl Grace and Aphrodite shooting each other reproachful scowls — they had worn the same dress.

Percy sat with Will and Calypso as their dates rehearsed walking down the aisle. Jason’s annoying cousin, Octavian, was officiating. Percy caught Annabeth’s eye from where she stood at Piper’s side on the porch. He made faces at her until he saw her smile crack. He grinned at how cute she looked, trying to stifle her laughter. Reyna, standing directly behind Jason, noticed and followed Annabeth’s line of sight, she shot daggers at him.

When he was sure Reyna wasn’t looking anymore, Percy winked at Annabeth and motioned to her neck. She blushed.

After dance lessons, Percy and Annabeth had fooled around in their cabin before getting ready for the rehearsal dinner. Annabeth had even more hickeys on her neck to conceal after that afternoon, especially with the low-cut neckline of her lavender rehearsal dinner dress. Percy didn’t exactly know where they stood with their agreement, but he knew he was having fun with Annabeth regardless of all the lines and boundaries they had crossed by being intimate..

“You are not allowed to look at me tomorrow!” Annabeth said, punching him in the shoulder after they finished rehearsing the ceremony. Percy pulled back her chair for her as they sat down at the head table with the wedding party.

“I agree,” Reyna replied, but Percy had a feeling she was not joking at all.

The food was amazing, but the wine was better. Percy was in bliss, chowing down and refilling Annabeth’s wine glass as the parents all made their rounds of speeches. Dessert was served just as Tristan McLean concluded a monologue from one of his 90s chick flick movies that he was dedicating to Piper. The dessert was vanilla cake with blueberries.

Percy’s eyes lit up and he attacked the cake with his fork, “Heck yes!”

Annabeth grinned at his enthusiasm as she adjusted the napkin on her lap, “What is it with you and blue food?” She ate a piece, it was really delicious.

“It’s a thing between me and my mom,” Percy spoke through mouthfuls. “I asked for a blue birthday cake when I was little, and my old stepdad was being an ass, ‘Blue food doesn’t exist!’” Percy stabbed a blueberry on his fork, dark juice staining the white china. “After that, my mom made an extra effort to make me blue food like pancakes or bringing home all the blue candy from when she worked at a sweet shop.”

Annabeth reached out and brushed icing away from the corner of his mouth, “Your mom sounds great.”

Percy looked at her, smiling, “She is.”

Annabeth broke away from Percy’s gaze. Her face started to feel hot. She stood, “I’m gonna go grab some water, do you want some?” Her feet were taking her to the beverage table before Percy could respond.

Annabeth filled a glass with ice and water and downed it. She refilled it once more, gulping it down. She had felt the words I’d like to meet her about to escape her lips right then. She had to be more careful or she was going to fall into this façade. This arrangement was just for this one weekend. She was never going to meet Sally Jackson.

“Annabeth! Hello, dear.”

She turned, “Aphrodite, hello.” Piper’s mom reached by her to fill her glass with ice. She managed to make the casual, rustic dinner outside of the Big House look like the backdrop of a photoshoot. Annabeth thought, she was too beautiful, too perfect.

“How was the food?” Aphrodite asked, gazing at her as she sipped her water. She had the same kaleidoscope eyes Piper had, but whereas Piper’s gaze was warm and comforting, Annabeth could barely look her mother in the eye.

“It was great. Nice speeches too.”

Aphrodite smiled, her lipstick unsmudged by her glass, “It’s nice to see you sitting over there with your date.”

Annabeth’s stomach dropped, she already hated where this conversation was going yet she just nodded and smiled.

“You’re such a pretty girl,” Aphrodite continued, “You’d never have thought with a face like that that you’d have such trouble in the love department. Well, then I saw how you are about work and your little job. I’m so happy that you finally found love! It feels so much better than drawing some buildings, doesn’t it?”

Annabeth’s jaw tensed, “Yes.” After years of friendship with Piper, she learned it was best not to argue with her mother.

“Your career may be what makes you happy, but love is what you needed.”

“Right, Aphrodite,” Annabeth muttered through gritted teeth, she gripped her glass and walked back over to the table.

She was fuming when she sat down.

“Whoa, whoa,” Percy asked, cautiously, seeing her tensed shoulders, “What did I do now?”

Annabeth crossed her arms. “Not you,” she spat, “Piper’s mother ugh. She had some commentary about my personal life again.” Annabeth hated, hated, hated conversations with Piper’s mother because they always ended like that. A successful career and love are not mutually exclusive.

However, in Annabeth’s case, it had been. Luke had left her because she chose her job.

Percy took her hand, “Hey, come on, forget her, let’s dance.”

The wine had loosened Annabeth enough to actually join Percy on the makeshift dance floor, and the mandatory shots for the bridal party got her to let Percy twirl her into the middle of the dance circle.

Michael Bublé’s “Sway” came on next, and Percy and Annabeth made for Will and Nico as they salsa-ed into the middle.

Annabeth’s left hand rested lightly on Percy's shoulder as they swayed on the outskirts of the dance floor. As the sun went down, fireflies began to twinkle on the lawn.

“Is this even real?” Annabeth muttered, her gaze following a lightning bug, “How did we get here?”

Percy chuckled, twirling her, “Not sure.”

“For real, how did you become an actor, Percy?”

Percy shrugged as Bublé transitioned to Sinantra, “I never wanted to be an actor when I was younger, I just wanted to swim. Competitive swimming led to scholarships. I was undeclared and Grover was my freshman roommate and he did tech for the theater department. I hung around him and other theater majors who ended up casting me in their studio shows for fun. When I needed to declare a major, the only thing I had enough credits in was theater.”

“I’ve never met anyone who was an actor who didn’t want to be.”

“I like it, I really do. I don’t want to be famous or anything, though. There are enough acting gigs in New York and connections from college to keep me busy and employed until the next thing.”

“What’s the next thing?”

“I like acting, but not forever. I might go back to school, maybe a masters? I have a little sister, Estelle, so I want to stay New York.”

“How old is she?”

“She’s only nine, she’s my half-sister from stepdad, Paul. I want to be there as she grows up so I would never leave New York.”

“That’s what we all said.”

“Hm?”

Annabeth’s expression fell, “We all said we’d never leave New York. I’m the only one left. We all went to camp up here, and I remember we all talked about how we’d move to the city together. We all did at first, but eventually everyone moved to New Rome out in California.”

“Yuck,” Percy joked, “Imagine leaving the greatest city in the world for California.”

“I don’t know, what’s New York given me? Rent I can barely keep up with and my only friends now are my roommate’s.”

“Not true. Look at you, only 25-years-old and the most successful architect I’ve ever met.”

“You meet a lot of architects?” Annabeth grinned.

“No, but I know you designed that new building on Lexington Avenue.”

Annabeth’s heart warmed at the fact that he remembered the building she was proudest of designing.

“Why did you want to be an architect?”

Annabeth paused, they weren’t dancing as much as just swaying in place with the music now. She thought about it, “I wanted to build something permanent. Everyone in my life is always leaving and moving, but buildings will be there pretty much forever. Camp is the only home I’ve ever known.

“I moved around a lot with my mom and my dad and step family and my cousins in Boston. I finally asked my dad to send me to boarding school just so I at least knew where I would be for the next four years no matter where he moved. Boarding school and camp. Even my friends, Piper and all of them moved back to New Rome. I’m just tired of people leaving.”

Annabeth’s last thought hung in the air between them. Percy brushed a strand of hair out of her face. The song changed into an upbeat pop track.

“Oh gods, here she comes,” Annabeth muttered.

“Who?”

“Annabeth! Well, this must be the first time you’ve ever gotten on the dance floor, isn’t it?” Aphrodite said, walking over to the couple. She eyed Percy and grinned, her perfectly white teeth glinting, “And I finally get to meet your date.”

“Er, Percy, this is Piper’s mom, Aphrodite. Aphrodite, this is my, uh, boyfriend, Percy Jackson.”

Percy held out his hand, “Nice to meet you, Mrs. McLean.” Aphrodite held her out like she expected Percy to kiss it. He awkwardly shook it.

“Oh, please, call me Aphrodite. Piper’s father and I are not married.”

“Oh sorry-”

“You know, I’ve always had a knack for couples, and you two simply look perfect together. Seeing you in this particular setting. Annabeth, I’m sure you’re just itching to walk down the aisle after last year-”

“Mom! There you are,” Piper called, walking over to them with Jason in tow, “Um, Dad is telling Jason’s parents how you guys met, you better get over there-”

“Tristan knows I hate the way he tells that story, he tripped me on the red carpet…” Aphrodite muttered, stalking over to the parents’ table.

“Sorry about my mother, Percy,” Piper nudged his arm, “But, hey! You survived a conversation with her at a wedding so you’ll survive any holiday with us now.”

Percy shrugged, “I’ve dealt with worse.”

“Speaking of which,” Jason said, “You really got along well with all of us this weekend, it’s like you’ve been part of our little family this whole time.”

“Wow, thanks, man. That means a lot.” Annabeth gripped Percy’s arm tighter.

“Good, because we need a favor. Dakota’s flight is delayed in Ohio, he’s going to try to drive up tonight to make it in time for the reception tomorrow, but would you fill in tomorrow during the ceremony for him? You can walk Annabeth down the aisle and Nico can walk with Drew.”

“Oh, yeah, sure. I’d be honored,” Percy said, somewhat surprised.

“Oh, gods,” Piper said, glancing over to their parents along with other partygoers since the volume of their conversation was escalating, “We better go deal with that.”

“Hey,” Percy, nudging Annabeth who had been strangely silent during the conversation, “You okay?”

“I just need another drink. Make that two. But hey, I guess you’re entitled to the free bar now that you’re part of the wedding party.”

Percy threw his arm around her shoulders, “Coming right up, milady.” He steered her to the bar.

Annabeth was drunk. So drunk that if Percy let go of her waist, she’d probably fall right over. Good thing Annabeth had no intention of letting go of Percy any time soon.

She was all over him, and she wasn’t the only one to notice. The bridesmaids and groomsmen were crowded around the beverage table as Leo called for another round of wedding party shots. Annabeth threw her glass back confidently, aware of Luke watching her. He’d been staring at her all night. Of course, Annabeth stared right back at Luke as she looped her arms around Percy’s neck. Luke grimaced and stalked away.

A song Leo had requested came on and they all dispersed back to the dancefloor. Annabeth, in no shape to dance, dragged Percy back to their table.

“You are doing fantastic!” Annabeth said, grinning, her nose inches away from Percy’s face.

“Thanks?”

“Did you see Luke’s face? He looks like he wants to just about die. You must really look into me. Oh, gods, they all love you, especially Piper. When I tell them, it’ll break their hearts.”

“Tell them what?”

“That we broke up.”

“What?”

“Yeah, we’ll eventually have to fake break up, but we shouldn’t drag this on any longer than we have to. We can’t fake date forever or we’ll have to fake engaged, then get fake married and have a fake wedding. I’ll probably wait until they’re back from their honeymoon to tell them we broke up. I don’t know, I’ll say I got too busy at work.” Annabeth mulled over, her eyes getting glassy.

“Uh, yeah. Right...that would be believable. You choosing work over me.”

Was that a dig at her? Annabeth’s brain was too foggy for her to comprehend. She reached for her glass of wine. However, her depth perception was quite off and she knocked the glass directly into Percy’s lap. He yelped as the red liquid seeped into his slacks.

“Oh, Percy! I’m so sorry!” Annabeth jumped up and grabbed a napkin off the table and began furiously rubbing Percy’s crotch.

“I got it, I got it!” Percy protested, trying to stop her assault on his pants.

“Let me help you-”

“Annabeth, stop,” People took her wrists, struggling to pry her hands off of him and bumping into his drink spilled on Annabeth’s shoes.

“Look what you did, you’re such a Seaweed Brain! Just let me help you!”

“Look at what I did, look what you did, Wise Girl!”

Annabeth dropped the napkins, crossing her arms. Percy sighed, looking down at his now ruby stained trousers.

“What the hell is going on over here? Lover’s tiff already?” Thalia asked, sauntering over to the couple.

Percy panicked, his arm immediately went around her waist to pull Annabeth into his lap to hide the stain, “Of course not, just, uh, talking you know.”

Thalia laughed, “Relax, Percy, accidents happen. Annabeth gets clumsy when she’s drunk.”

“Hey!”

Annabeth moved back to her own seat, “I do not.”

Percy rose, grabbing a napkin to hide the stain, I’m just going to run back to the cabin and change. I’ll be right back, okay?” Percy kissed her on the forehead before walking away, whether for show in front of Thalia or habit, Annabeth had no idea.

“You guys are too cute,” Thalia said.

Annabeth smiled tightly, if anyone was going to see through this ruse, it was going to be Thalia.

“Come get another drink with me, Annie.”

At the beverage table, Thalia got a glass of wine, but Annabeth opted for water.

“Annabeth, I need to tell you something.”

Percy made sure not to lose his balance on the steep path back to the Big House from the cabins. He had a fresh pair of pants on, and was eager to get back to the party.

“Hey!”

Percy turned to see Luke Castellan trekking up the hill to meet him, “Oh, you.”

Luke stalked right up to him, “Listen, dude. I don’t know who the fuck you are-”

“Whoa, Luke, chill out,” Percy could smell the alcohol radiating off of him, giving him flashbacks to his childhood apartment locked up with his terrible first stepdad, Gabe, “You’re drunk.”

“Don’t tell me what the fuck I am. I don’t know who you are-”

“I’m Annabeth’s boyfriend-”

“Clearly, she just brought you here to make me jealous. Are you from work? You’re just some bitch architect at her firm, aren’t you?”

“Listen, Luke. I’m not doing this-”

“I’m sure she seems like she’s super into you, but she’s not over me yet.”

Percy glowered, “Fuck off, Luke. Get out of here. Sleep this off.”

Luke glared, downing the rest of his drink and stalking away.

“What is it, Thals? Is something wrong?” The two had walked over to a grove of tears to talk, further away from the rehearsal dinner.

Thalia looked like she was about to cry. Annabeth had never seen her cry.

“I’m in love with Luke.”

Annabeth blinked, she definitely just had a stroke. From the heat or from the alcohol, but, “What?”

“Annabeth, I’m in love with Luke. I’ve been in love with Luke. Since we were all younger. The whole time you guys were dating, it broke my heart every fucking day.”

“Thalia, I...I don’t know what to say.”

“I know it’s awful because we’re best friends. The three of us were best friends. It didn’t even make me happy when you guys broke up last year because I knew you were still so in love with him. Every time we talked on the phone when I moved to New Rome, I knew you weren’t over the engagement yet.”

“I-”

“But now, I see you with Percy and you’re so happy and we love Percy. Luke and I are so much closer now in New Rome, and I like him. Maybe you can finally get over Luke and-”

“I’m paying him.”

“What?”

“I’m paying him. Percy. I paid him to come here to make Luke jealous. He’s not my boyfriend.”

[fresh-outta-jams]

Plastic Heart - Part 13

Namjoon x Reader Author: Mo Summary: When you get the highly-anticipated BTS dolls for Christmas, your life takes a turn in a way you never could have expected. Note: You asked for it, here it is! Part 13 <3 There’s a good bit of fluff in here. Part 14, is my favorite so far, so I cannot wait for you to read it, I think you’ll really like it, but I really like this part too <3 Love youuuuuuuu Warnings: None? Word Count: 2k

Prologue, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Once you and Namjoon picked out snacks (popcorn and M&Ms, of course) and drinks, you sat down together in the theater. Namjoon’s curious hand hovered over the bucket filled with golden goodness and you watched expectantly as he took a handful and popped it into his mouth.

“Well?”

“It’s good. Like. Really good. Holy shit, I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on this.” He grabbed another eager handful, a few stray pieces falling from his hand and landing on his sweatshirt. You giggled. God, he was so cute. “Can I try some M&Ms?”

“Of course.” You tipped the bag into his hand, leaving him a little pile of the chocolate candies before eating a few of them yourself.

“These are good too, oh my God…” He hummed, and then wiped his salty, buttery hands on a napkin.

“You’re gonna do this every time I introduce you to new foods, aren’t you?” You teased, laughing as you ruffled through his soft hair. He laughed too, grinning shyly and trying to hide behind his large hands.

“I’m just excited, I’m sorry--”

“It’s cute, Joon. It’s really fucking cute, don’t apologize.”

“You think I’m cute?” He blushed, heart lurching.

“The cutest.” You smiled, reaching up to pinch one of his adorable dimples.

“(Y/N)?” You looked up at the sound of someone calling your name. It was Ella, one of your BTS-obsessed friends. Fuck. You’d been able to squirm away from the cashier at Hot Topic, but Ella...Ella was smarter than that. She’d catch on that something was up. You weren’t sure how you were going to get out of this one…

“Ella! Hey!”

“How are you?” She walked up to where you and Namjoon were situated, right behind the railing at the front of the top section of seats.

“Doing great, you?”

“Oh you know, same old. I’m down there with some of my friends from my dance class.” Her eyes trailed to Namjoon and a mix of emotions fell across her features. Disbelief and confusion being among them. “And this is…?”

“Um, this is my, uh, friend...um, Joon...sung. Joonsung.”

“Right. I’m Joonsung.” Namjoon offered his hand, following your lead.

“Nice to meet you...Joonsung. Has uh, anyone ever told you you look like--”

“Namjoon? Yeah, I get that a lot. My parents moved here from Korea in the 80’s, so we might be distant cousins or something.”

“Oh. That’s really neat.” Ella seemed dumbstruck. You looked up at Namjoon, impressed. He was as quick-witted as his namesake, and in this moment, you were thankful for it. “Well, it was nice to meet you. We’ve gotta meet up sometime, (Y/N). You wanna have a study night this week? Hunker down at the library and get some work done?”

“Yeah, sounds great! We can ask the group chat after the movie.”

“Yep! See you later.” Ella walked down to the front section of the theater, where her friends were waiting for her. You sat back down, exhaling a relieved sigh. A close call, to say the least.

“You just saved our asses.” You laughed. “God, that was close…”

“We’ve had a few of those today, huh?” Namjoon chuckled and shook his head. “I didn’t think borrowing someone’s face would be so difficult.”

“It’s your face, too.” You pouted, looking at him. You knew it had to be tough, to be...well, modeled after someone else. Even moreso now that he was walking around in public and...human. But it was still hard for you to watch him feel bad about it. “It’s your face as much as it is his.”

“Well, it’s not, though.” He shrugged and stared at the cupholder between the two of you. “It was his face first. Years before it was ever mine.”

“You know, I read once that everyone in the world has like seven dopplegangers out there and they don’t even know it. As far as anyone knows, you’re just...one of RM’s. Hell, there are like seven people out there that look just like ME and it’s not like they ‘stole’ my face, right?”

He thought about it for a few moments, a smile slowly conquering his features. Namjoon nodded. “Thank you. You make me feel...so real. Like...like this is something I was always meant to have.”

You met his eyes, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “Who’s to say you weren’t?”

Namjoon didn’t know how to reply to that, so instead, he only smiled. The lights dimmed shortly after that, and the movie started twenty minutes later. Maybe Namjoon was mistaken, but your hand just seemed to be sort of...resting on the armrest over the cupholder. Hmm. He wondered why.

And so he wondered for a few more minutes until it occurred to him that maybe...this was a Thing that girls did when they wanted their hand held? Were you sending him some secret message that you WANTED him to hold your hand? His heart raced, palms suddenly feeling sweaty. He subtly dried them on the surface of his new jeans and swallowed thickly. Jeez, no one ever told him navigating a human crush would be so difficult.

Well, actually, Yoongi had.

So, he spent the next few minutes building courage. How was he supposed to KNOW you wanted to hold hands with him? He didn’t know much about humans. Maybe this was just what human people did, resting their hands right over the cupholder between them and the person they were out alone with. When you’d held hands in the mall before, it was different. It was FUNCTIONAL. It was so he didn’t get lost in the crowd. Holding hands with you here, in this dark theater where there was no chance of him getting lost...it was different.

And yet, despite all of that, he still found his hand tentatively hovering over yours, his heart racing faster than it ever had before. His warmth met yours, and you melted against his touch, fingers welcoming his and giving his large hand a reassuring squeeze.

He looked over to find you smiling bashfully, and he knew he’d made the right move. Maybe this human thing wasn’t so hard after all.

You held hands with him the whole movie. Namjoon couldn’t believe this was happening. He was actually HOLDING HANDS with YOU! You’d been a giant compared to him only the day before, and now, he was not only human-sized, but he was TALLER THAN YOU by a margin large enough to warrant him bending forward to kiss you.

Woah, Namjoon, knock that off. He stopped his thoughts before they could wander any further. Holding your hand and kissing you were two very different things. And yet, it was all he wanted to do now, all he could think about. He’d overcome many hurdles today, and yet, he was scolding himself for wanting just one more. Would it be too much to ask? Just one kiss? He’d never kissed someone before, and after all, you wanted him to have as many human experiences as possible, didn’t you?

He tried to pay attention to the movie, he really did, but all he could think about was you. And so, before he knew it, the credits were rolling and the lights went up. You turned to look at him.

“Did you like it?”

“I did!” And it wasn’t technically a lie. He loved this movie because it was the reason he was sitting there with you, his large hand wrapped around yours. “What time is it?”

“It’s like...five o’clock. Jeez, we better get home to the guys. I’ll make us some dinner when we get there, alright?”

“Sounds good.” He nodded. As fun as his day out with you had been, you were right. You shouldn’t leave the boys home for this long. Plus, there was a new little friend in the shopping bag hanging from your arm rest, and he knew how much it sucked to be stuck in a box for an extended period of time. There had been a time when he didn’t know anything BUT his little plastic box. And now, he was out in the real world. It was wild how fast his life had turned around. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

***

When you got home, you handed Koya to Namjoon to get him out of his little plastic prison while you started boiling water for the noodles of the pasta you were going to make.

“You’re back!” Jimin greeted excitedly. He was managing the right side of your Playstation controller while Jungkook was manning the left as they fought yet another digital dragon.

“Did you have fun?” Yoongi smirked from his spot on the couch. He’d woken up from a wonderful nap not too long ago, but at the moment, he and Jin were on your laptop, doing research. They weren’t exactly sure how their friend had made the transition from plastic to person, but they’d like to do the same if the universe would allow it.

“Lots of fun, thank you very much.” Namjoon chuckled. He peeled the plastic off of the box and then lifted the clear plastic cover. For a little while, Koya sat there motionless, and Namjoon panicked. “It’s alright, little guy. You don’t have to pretend anymore. We’re not going to hurt you.”

“Like he’s going to believe that coming from a human.” Yoongi shook his head and left the laptop to walk over to where Namjoon was sitting on the other couch. He used his large human hands to lift Koya out of the rectangular black box and set him on the table instead. “Let me try.”

It shouldn’t have stung when Yoongi said it because he was right, and Namjoon had always wanted to be human...but...there was something hurtful about his own kind being afraid of him. So afraid of him that they wouldn’t move even when he told them it was alright.

“It’s alright, Koya. You don’t have to worry about scaring him off. He already knows. Until this morning, he was a doll like me.” Yoongi told the little Koala, petting the top of his furry blue head.

Slowly, he looked around, blinking. He looked up at Namjoon with big, innocent eyes. This man looked just like his dad. JUST like him. So, not resisting the urge anymore, Koya ran into his dad’s arms, nuzzling against his warm chest. Namjoon swore his heart about exploded, and he embraced the little blue koala carefully. There was some sense of paternal pride welling inside of him. Was this what it felt like to hold your child?

“We’re gonna take care of you, alright? I promise.” He murmured, cradling Koya as he walked to the kitchen, where you were talking to Hoseok and Tae. You’d put your hair up and were standing at the stove next to a pot of boiling water. You put the noodles in and stirred it a few times before letting it sit for a while.

When you turned around, Namjoon was standing there, holding the cuddly little koala, and your heart melted.

“Koya, meet (Y/N). She’s gonna be your mom.” He said, softly bouncing your new bundle of joy.

“And what does that make you?” Hoseok chuckled.

“Well, I’m his dad, obviously.” It took Namjoon a moment to realize what he was insinuating, but when he finally did, his cheeks flushed red. “Well, um, I mean, if you want to--”

“You think too much.” You teased, poking Namjoon’s nose. “I mean, we’re human, so...kind of going to be the parents around here for the time being.”

“Yeah...O-of course.”

“I see your humanity hasn’t made you any less awkward.” Tae laughed. “Still our clumsy Namjoon.”

“You can take the doll out of the clumsy, but you can’t take the clumsy out of the doll.” Hoseok agreed.

“Oh hush.” You walked up to Namjoon, who still had Koya cuddled against his chest, and gently pet his little head. He snuggled against your hand. “Welcome home, Koya. I hope you like it here.”

He nodded wordlessly, reaching his stubby little arms for you, so Namjoon let you hold him for a few minutes while the noodles boiled.

“Need any help around here?”

“Could you just set the table? A napkin and a fork for each of us.”

“You got it.” He walked over to the silverware drawer and pulled out two forks, laying a napkin under each one.

“Thank you, Joonie.” You smiled and handed Koya back to him so you could handle the noodles.

Namjoon sighed softly, watching you cook dinner, your new little blue friend in his arms, and he finally knew what it meant to go weak in the knees. You were his girl. You always had been, but now...he didn’t know how to ask you to be more...

Tagged: @iie-wakarimasen, @lilgaga98, @catbugsugarpea, @demonic-meatball, @backtonormalthings, @kbowen9, @honig-bienchen, @coolcat494, @ffantasylandd, @feed-my-geek-soul, @ayoo-bangtan, @xxqueenwxtchxx, @cap-lu20, @finninpoposu, @coldbookworm, @sitkafay, @daniawinchesters21, @okaysoplshelpme, @zamirayinyue13

[littlefrostwrites]

Prompt: Scars

For my weekly challenge

It’s been a month since Angelica best me during our solo hunting challenge. A month since she captured and killed her assigned werewolf case, a month since I tried to track down a vampire coven, only to arrive at a deserted lair  and placed back at square one. (I’ve not made much progress on that case since either).   

One month since Angelica’s been acting weird. 

My sister and I, despite being twins, are not very close. We used to do everything together, but that was before mom and dad were murdered, before Aunt Gemima and Uncle Justin took us in, before Aunt Gemima declared me the favourite. Angelica and my cousin Charlie say it’s because I look like my dad, Aunt Gemima’s brother, and since my favouritism is not due to anything I truly earned, perhaps their hatred of me is justified. I haven’t figured out how I feel about it yet, only that while it’s furthered my training and the opportunities given to me, it’s driven a wedge between Angelica, Charlie and I. But I digress. Angelica and I are not very close, and because of her dislike of me, we tend to avoid each other. I don’t know much about her life outside of training, and nor her mine, apart from what we share at the dinner table. And therefore, I don’t notice her change in appearance until I discover an entire box of unopened contact lenses in the dumpster behind our house.   

It was Angelica’s turn to take out the trash this week, but I had gone dumpster diving for my retainer. I finally got my braces taken off the week before, and therefore was at that stage where I had to wear my retainer all day for the next two months before I could switch to a purely nightly routine. Thankfully, I was given those clear Invisalign type of retainers, rather than the wire ones, so even though I still kinda had a lisp, my teeth were unobstructed for once. I took my retainer out during dinner, but it’s pretty gross to just leave it on the table for everyone to see, so I tend to wrap it in a napkin. Tonight, Uncle Justin spilled his beer of the entire table, and I was being helpful so I cleaned the whole thing up for him. I had bunched up all the soggy and used napkins on the table and thrown them in the trash. It wasn’t until later that night, after my sister took out the trash (therefore emptying that trash bin as well), and I was brushing my teeth did I realize that I had never put my retainer back on after dinner. Because my retainers were wrapped in a napkin in the dumpster behind my house. So naturally, I freaked out and dropped my toothbrush, rushing outside with unrinsed toothpaste still in my mouth and scrambled through our dumpster with only the flashlight from my phone to guide me. I found my retainer, but I also found two whole boxes of contacts in the trash. They were unopened boxes, and checking the expiry date, still useable. So why were they in the trash? Angelica’s had bad eyes since we were six years old. She tends to take after mom, while I am more like dad, and she also got her bad eyesight. She transitioned into wearing contacts as soon as our aunt deemed her old enough to be responsible enough to properly take care of the hygienic aspects of it, since glasses are sort of a hindrance to monster hunting. She’s the only one in the house who wears contacts and therefore, these are undoubtedly hers. But why would she throw them out?   

I’m not sure what to do, the situation is just so weird. Maybe there’s a perfectly logical reason for her throwing out her contacts. But not really, if anything she should need them more, especially since she broke her glasses a couple weeks ago. Her new ones only arrive a couple of days ago. Maybe Angelica just doesn’t want to wear contacts anymore? But no, and I think back the past week and only remember seeing my sister with glasses on in the morning and evening when we’re at home, with no glasses on during school or training, presumably wearing contacts. But perhaps not?   

Maybe her vision somehow got better? But then she was still wearing glasses, so that didn’t make sense. Unless the glasses were fake, with no prescription? I wasn’t sure, but I felt weird about the situation. So I grabbed my retainer and the boxes of contacts, stuffed everything back into the dumpster and went back in the house and up to my room, checking my surroundings to make sure that nobody would see me with the contacts. I felt strongly for some reason that I should keep this to myself for now. I stashed the boxes under my bed, finished brushing my teeth (also dunking my retainer in some strong cleaning fluid) and went to sleep.   

The next morning, when I got to breakfast, I saw that Angelica and Charlie were already there and that my sister was not wearing her glasses. So I backtracked, citing that I had forgotten something in my room, but instead snuck into her room looking for her glasses. They were on her nightstand, and when I picked them up, they felt very light. There were lenses in the frames, but when I looked through them, there was no image distortion so I put them on. And I could see normally. These weren’t prescription glasses. Somehow, Angelica’s eyes was completely normal now. Something had happened, something she didn’t feel she could share with their family. And I think I knew what.   

** 

I started paying more attention to my sister from then on. I noticed a lot of things about her that had passed me by. Angelica’s always been faster than me, but lately it seems she’s beating me by even more, and though I’m naturally better at hand-to-hand combat, it’s getting hard to fight against her. Two days after the dumpster incidence, she nearly dodged a kick that she definitely wouldn’t have been able to before. Only nearly though because she hesitated mid dodge, allowing the strike to connect, almost as if she was holding back. Four days after that, I went to the movies with a girl from my school, Cassandra, and we had messed around a bit in my car after. When I came home, Angelica, who had been sitting in the living room, bolted up, nose in the air, before scrunching it as if in disgust and, giving me a glare, stalked to her room with her hand over her nose. A week after that, my lacrosse teammates pointed out that she had lost some weight, although they brought it to my attention with a comment that I quickly shot down (not cool man, that’s my sister). Last summer, Angelica had gone through a failed course of Accutane, but lately her skin was completely clear. When I mentioned it to Charlie, he just gave me a weird look and told me our GP had given her some antibiotics and it must have worked. In fact, all of her skin was unnaturally unblemished. I noticed during a run on an unnaturally warm day that the large scar that she’s had since we were ten years old and on our first (supervised) mission, a lash from the whip of the Dullahan we’d been tracking for days on her right shoulder. The human spines of the whip had carved thick and deep lines into her skin, and her skin had healed with ragged ridges, but now Angelica’s shoulder was completely smooth. Spotless.   

**   

I had planned on confronting my sister with my theory about her odd behaviour, but I never got a chance. Being a member of a prominent monster hunting family made us targets, but we had never been attacked in our own territory though. Charlie and I had been on our early morning run, taking a familiar route, when suddenly I was hit by a large mass, thrown completely to the side. I managed to turn my momentum into an awkward roll, and took out the knife stashed in my running belt. I faced the massive wolf, knife in hand ready to strike, and then was distracted by the sight of Charlie on the phone. HE was talking urgently, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying, my blood rushing through my eyes drowning out all noise except for my own ragged breaths. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins and I used the energy to make the first strike, but was thrown off guard by a howl. Angelica burst into the clearing and tackled the wolf, pinning it down and growling. Her eyes flashed red. Whimpering, the wolf struggled underneath her. My sister lunged with a warning bit to the jugular, but purposefully aimed not for the jugular, causing pain, but not death. Then she left the wolf go. It immediately ran out of sight. Angelica spat out the blood in her mouth and then wiped her face with her hand. Charlie ran over to her, placing a hand on her arm, checking in. I didn’t move, I didn’t say anything. I had suspected, but to have it confirmed so abruptly… 

My sister is a werewolf. 

I willed myself to stand and in two strides at was at her side. I pulled her away from Charlie, roughly grasping her shoulders. “Let me see it,” I demanded. “The bite.” She bit her lip hesitant, but then pulled up the hem of the shorts she was wearing, revealing grotesque warped red shiny skin, perfectly imprinted bite marks against her inner right thigh. Seeing the bite, the only scar that remained on a bitten werewolf, confirmed everything to me, as if all the evidence hadn’t already been in front of me.   

I staggered back. Angelica stepped forward, chasing me, concern and fear on her face, and I immediately turn my knife on her, dropping into a defensive position on reflex. Charlie stepped between us. He held one arm in front of Angelica, as if to protect her, or perhaps prevent her from coming any closer to me, and extended his other arm to grasp my knife arm. He didn’t apply any pressure to make me drop my knife, though he could have, especially in my stunned state. He seemed to understand that I was thinking madly, trying to make sense of the situation. This wasn’t the way I had hoped to confront my sister. 

“What are you going to do?” he asked, eyes gazing intently into mine. Charlie has always been an independent thinker, and that’s why despite being her own son, Aunt Gemima loved me more. I was the stringent rule follower, while he questioned our hunter’s code at every turn. And he was questioning me now, face open and oddly nonjudgemental. He truly seemed curious of my answer. I looked past him, at Angelica, whose expression matched his, intent and solemn. What am I going to do now? 

My answer came out as a sob, a plea.   

“I don’t know.” 

**************************************************   author’s note to self: this is terrible. It’s so terrible, I literally am not going to read over at all because I know I’m going to cringe and want to fix everything and I just don’t have time. The plot has so many holes in it, the characters, well, don’t have much character. I just realized we don’t even know what the narrator’s name is. I know this is terrible because I finally settled on a story idea for this week’s prompt on Thursday, wrote a shit outline on Friday and then wrote all of this in a couple of hours on Saturday. This idea wasn’t well fleshed out and for me to be completely satisfied with it, I would have likely written a 10k word long story. And required many hours of editing. That isn’t suitable for a weekly short story challenge, especially at my current writing output and hours required for real-world commitments.  So reminder for next week: pick a simple plot, don’t focus on perfection! You already posted something terrible, can’t really get worse than this. AND START EARLY. But at least I finished writing a story for the first time in years? So small wins I guess.

[brodymeetsworld]

This Christmas.

When I was a little girl, Christmas was my favorite holiday of the year. My grandmother would cook for days in preparation for the entire family( 6 grown children, 10 plus grandchildren) to gather around the table together (or the infamous kids table.) It was one of the only times of the year I was able see my extended family, and I soaked up every second of the time we had together. I have so many memories from learning how to cook with my Grandma, Aunts, and my oldest cousin Erin. To watching football in the living room with everyone including Granddaddy snoozing in “his chair”, to secretly learning how to play the card game “bullshit” (at a very young age I might add lol) with all of the cousins on the back enclosed porch. We would always end our evening the same way, after dinner we would sing the “Happy Birthday” song to Jesus, and because my little brother and I were the babies of the family, we usually got to blow out the candles on the cake. Afterwards, most of us would attend Christmas eve candlelight service at the Monterey Methodist Church. I didn’t get to go to Church very often, so these services were so special and beautiful to me. Those memories are some of the best memories of my childhood. 

After my grandparents passed away, the glue that held our extended family together dissolved. Everyone decided to host their own families for the holidays, and no longer wanted the financial or time burden to feed and host twenty-thirty family members. It saddens my soul to never see my aunts, uncles, or cousins anymore. The only way we see each other and communicate now is through social media or phone calls. One big portion of our family even moved half way across the country to Missouri, so the chances of seeing them anytime soon are slim. I truly haven’t felt the magic of Christmas since Christmas in Monterey, and that was 15 years ago.

After I met and married my husband, and when I became a mom, at the age of 26 and again at 27, I thought that magic would suddenly just appear again! Wrong, if anything, Christmas was harder all around. Not only did my two babies want nothing to do with Santa Clause, or the presents my husband and I worked so hard to buy, wrap, put together, but they were determined to destroy all of our decorations, including 3 separate artificial trees. I was completely emotionally and physically drained the first two Christmas’s with our children. I always just threw it off as of well this is life with two under two, or two under three. It never occurred to me, that one of my children may have special needs.

Fast forward to today, this will be my 30th Christmas. This will be my boys 4th and 5th Christmas. This year they have finally left our beautiful tree alone, and most of the presents underneath it as well. They both love to sing Christmas songs, and watch the snow fall on the ground. Our favorite thing to do right now is make Christmas crafts, and go searching for Christmas lights at night in the car. The proof of them growing and learning is obvious this year, and it brings so much joy to my heart. We also started going to church this year. What brought us to church was learning about our oldest son, Brody, diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder over Easter weekend this past year. 

You see, my husband and I always knew Brody was special, but we had no idea how special he really was. We were first time parents, and when Bentley came along just 14 months after his brother, we entered survival mode and did our very best. Looking back, I think Brody started showing signs of Autism shortly after his brother came into the world, around 16 months old. I was in denial for a long time, as well as my husband. I can remember looking back and thinking how hard it was in the beginning with both boys, and I never thought of the hard times as Brody being “abnormal”. I always blamed myself for “not being a good enough parent”, and that’s why he is crying all the time. Or “I’m not a good cook, that's why he won’t eat any of the meals I make for him”. And the one I really truly believed, “I guess I don’t talk to him enough and that's why he won’t speak”. All of these things would torment me every day, and all I could do was vent to my husband or his pediatrician. I even took him to see a ENT doctor determined because he had so many ear infections as a baby, maybe he had a hearing problem. It wasn’t until a close family member kept Brody over night that Autism even crossed our radar. Bless her heart too, she tried to tell me, but instead of accepting help, I was angry with her. The first time I reached out for help with our children and my biggest fear was being confirmed.(crazy when I think back, I really was scared of this diagnosis) I was so deep in denial there was nothing she could have done at that time that wouldn't have upset me. It took a toll on our relationship, and I regret the time we lost together over it.

Before we even received Brody’s diagnosis, we enrolled him into the special needs pre school in our county. He qualified right away, and he started right after his third birthday. He went from speaking one word sentences, to three to four word sentences in a year and half time so far, and most importantly he can communicate his needs and wants. His eating has improved, and we have a list of foods he will eat as oppose to 4 things total. Brody will dance with us down the hallway, and sing silly songs for us. He knows how to say please and thank you, I’ve been told by his teachers he is showing empathy to his classmates, and he can finally say “I love you, mommy” or “I love you, daddy” without signing them to us at the same time. All of these things are so bittersweet for us, because there was a time not too long ago we weren’t sure they were even a possibility. 

Easter 2019 comes, we receive our sons test results in the mail. If you’ve never read ADOS results before, they can be a bit confusing. My husband and I read the results, googled our sons comparison score of “4″, and thought he was on the severe end of the spectrum. It wasn’t until the next day did we find out we were wrong, Brody is in fact on the mild end of the spectrum. But the night before was rough, we both cried and cried. Why did we cry? I really don't know the answer to that question. When you receive a diagnosis for your child, no matter the diagnosis, a part of you inside just breaks into a million pieces. I can’t speak for my husband on this, but I know for myself, as a mom, I blamed myself for a long time. I spent so much time trying to think back through out my pregnancy with Brody what I could have done wrong. I think back through out his infancy what could have went wrong, “what did I do, what did I do that made him different.” The end of the school year was coming, and we have a yearly IEP meeting with all of Brody’s team members. In that meeting, the school psychologist who tested Brody, told us it was imperative for Brody to constantly be put into small social circles. She recommended t-ball, soccer, church, birthday parties, etc. So that is exactly what we did. Brody wasn’t old enough to enroll into sports in our county yet, so we accepted every single birthday party invite, and focused on finding a Church family.

We had several invites to different churches in our community, but because I myself hadn’t been to church in over 15 years, I was a nervous wreck deciding which church to attend. Going anywhere, by yourself (my husband works A LOT), with two rowdy boys is hard. It’s 10x harder when you have a child with Autism. I knew I had to get over my fears of my sons meltdowns, and do this not only for my sons social interaction sake, but also so our children could learn about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I always wanted to learn about the Lord when I was growing up, but no body ever wanted to wake up sunday morning to attend a church service with me. In fact, the only times I ever attended church was during Christmas or if I stayed the night with one of my friends whose family attended. Now its my turn, it’s my duty as a mother, and as a daughter of the King, to teach my children his word and of his sacrifice for all of us. 

I choose our church family, Redeeming Grace Outreach Worship Center. The boys and I go almost every sunday. Both boys wake up excited to go to church, and really enjoy singing and dancing for the Lord. After a bit of a transitioning period in the beginning, Brody will finally go to the nursery without mama having to be there too. I am finally able to read the bible and worship God and take something away from each and every service, and that truly has been a game changer in our life as a family. 

So for my 30th Christmas this year, this will be by far my best Christmas yet. Its been a year of ups and downs, a year of believing in miracles (Ezekiel Rhett), a year of building our faith, and a year of learning acceptance. Our son is exactly who he is supposed to be, and he was made in the eyes of our father. Through him, I’m learning exactly who I’m supposed to be too. God has a purpose for each and everyone of us, and our mighty King makes no mistakes. This Christmas will be magical because we made it that way.

#autismawareness #autismacceptance  

[fmddevin]

woosh !! so i was trying to keep my ooc identity a surprise until now, but apparently i was stupid and y’all found out before i could get this up so...yay!! anyways, i’ll try to keep this short and simple! i’m jada, and this is my second baby, and the last for a while - mr. daein “devin” kim! he’s 23, the lead vocal & lead dancer of impulse, and an overall mess. he’s got a lot to work out, but i’m excited to see what i can do with him and how he grows & develop! he’s a little more on the chaotic side than micha is, but don’t let it scare you off! i swear i’ve got a plot page coming really soon, like tomorrow, but in the meantime - here’s his profile & bio! i’m more than happy to plot with you, though, so like this for me to hop in your ims!! trivia & some hawaii event ideas / general plot ideas under the cut.~

ok let’s get this started!! i promise to try to make this short & sweet as possible (but you know i’m jada so-). but before i wrote daein’s profile i made like a....3 page bullet summary of what i wanted him to be, so i’m going to be inputting some of those here!! so if it sounds a bit rambly...you know why!

if you’re just here for the event thread ideas, scroll down towards the end, where hawaii event ideas is in bold! <3

born on march 24th, 1996!

parents koreans from seoul, korea. met through a study abroad program @ their college, fell in love with each other and the us! had baby daein, who got plopped in the middle of tampa, florida!

his whooooole childhood felt like he was living in isolation. being one f the only asian-american kids on the block, he definitely felt like an outsider. when he’d bring kimbap, kimchi, or tteokbokki for lunch, they’d always look at him all confused like?? what is that

it made him sad bc he always had felt like his different was a good thing, and he’d been raised to be proud of his culture, but apparently not??

as a sidenote kid misheard his name in middle school and was like “devin?” and he was like “sure that’s it” and started going by that outside of home ever since bc it made him feel more american 

just throughout his whole childhood he was ridiculed for being different, which was really the start of his obsession with other’s satisfaction and being like everyone else!

so he took matters into his own hands, but in the worst way possible. during this time, he went against everything his parents had taught him and essentially rejected his korean culture. he stopped bothering to learn the tidbits of korean they were trying to teach him, never brought up his culture, and kind of distanced himself from his parents. he always was trying to bring up some excuse for why they couldn’t come to events because he was always embarrassed about their english and how different they all looked compared to everybody else. just...not a good time and his parents were very upset w/him

anyways onto happy times!! middle school was when he discovered his passion for dance, hip hop in particular. he would always be so amazed by the dancers at the boardwalk performing and decided that’s what he wanted to do!!

sOooOo he originally started off as being self-taught through videos on youtube, but eventually his parents agreed to let him dance if he a.) promised it wouldn’t mess up his grades and b.) he paid for them his own

and he did!! it was Hard but he made sure his grades were in check & picked up a part-time job at the ice cream parlor near his house to get money. it was minimum wage and he had to wear a cheesy apron with this ice cream cone hat but anyways

he could only afford one lesson a week at the community dance center, but it taught him a lot!!! where he discovered his true passion for dance, and tbh spent more time there than anywhere else

eventually!! he joined a florida dance crew and that’s when his skills really blossomed and people started taking him seriously, basically was there until the beginning of high school

tw: drug and alcohol addiction!

and then high school is when it...all came crashing down. being such a people pleaser, he fell victim to peer pressure. he was scared of being looked down again, because by now he’d formed a name for himself and was pretty popular. so, to continue blending in, started getting heavily into drinking and drugs and just...not good, because he grew really dependent on it and started losing his enthusiasm for everything else. it’s something he continues to struggle with a lot, although it’s mostly drinking nowadays and the only drug he’s involved with on a regular basis is weed?? but he has relapsed and that’s a major reason he needs people around him to keep him stable!!

also the dance team wouldn’t let him back in bc he failed the drug test and his drug spiral just got worse because he had nothing else to focus his energy on.

it was the only thing that really made him feel something other than dance, and now that he was spending all of his money on it he couldn’t even do that.

tw: drug and alcohol addiction - end!

he partially discovered his love for singing after the months he had to go w/o dancing. he really started to enjoy it but only in private because he was Embarrased of what others would think so

his parents were tired of his bs because he was a junior now and they were basically like we’re tired of the people we hang around and you need to be around family, so for spring break they sent him to seoul!!

boy was hEated alr. like i said, wasn’t a fan of his culture, he had to leave his friends who were all going on fun trips, & he knew NOTHING - not the language, the people, anything.

but when he got there??? kind of actually enjoyed it. he got to meet family he’d never met before, picked up a little of the language, all of that. but hongdae??? - that’s what made him really excited.

he never thought of korea to be a very exciting place, until he went there. there were so many other talented dancers and he felt so at home, but unlike in florida, they looked like him!

so this is where it gets a little funny lmao. his family refused to fund his habits but he wanted to go to a club while he was there to have fun and impress girl??? so basically, he went to hongdae, and tried  busking for some extra cash. and he LOVED IT!! for a reference he freestyled to turn up the music by chris brown lol

and it was real fun!! he genuinely had a really good time - but right before he left some random ass man left him a little slip, and he was like ??? and then he asked him his name, and daein barely understood what he said and in english was like “hey i’m devin??” and when the man realized he was like yes!! and daein was like no??? but took the slip anyways and turns out it was an invitation to a gold star audition!!

the second daein read it said kpop he essentially was like “lmao no” and just threw it in his bag. so he went home, and kind of forgot about it all, until a few months after he got home. things weren’t really looking up for him and he really wanted to continue his dance career, he just didn’t know how. he didn’t get accepted to the college he wanted to because of that time his grades had plummeted, and it was hard to land a stable dance job. & his parents were like look if you don’t make this dance thing happen we’re going to throw you into a business job with a suit and tie u need money

and daein!! hates!! corporate!! so he was like hell no and decided to give this idol thing one last chance

so - he submitted a video audition to gold star, and low and behold!! he made it!!

even though this was his saving grace, he really didn’t know what to do about it. because i mean he loved tampa, and he didn’t want to leave?? but when his parents heard the opportunity they were ELATED because they knew dance was the only thing that really put his focus on good things & they wanted him to be in korea with his family and all that. so!! they were like DO IT. and he really had no other choice so he was like uhhhh i guess

flash forward to the end of may!! right after the end of his junior year of school in tampa, he moved to korea to start training. since he had a pretty good experience during spring break of the year before, he expected his life to be better than he’d expected!! but...it was really hard. since he had to live there, and he was only 16, he felt really lost w/o his parents, and his only real family there were his grandparents and cousins he barely every said hi to so that sucked

tw: depression and light substance abuse!

around this time was when he developed signs of depression, just as he started training. because it was when he really discovered that he couldn’t please everybody, something that he’d strived to do his whole life. 

he lacked a support system & didn’t have anyone really close to him to make the transition better, since his parents were back in florida and he could barely hold a conversation with his family in korea. this is a big reason he remained dependent on drinking especially, because it got him out of his funk and to temporarily forget about all that was going on.

because of it, daein started getting less sleep, eating less, and all that. gold star noticed it really soon and got him in touch with a psychiatrist, which, eventually diagnosed him with depression. but it’s not something he goes around telling everyone, he has some evident signs but he probably wouldn’t openly tell more than a couple really close & trusted friends. but gold star has been monitoring his mental health to make sure he’s okay mentally. he takes medication but?? it doesn’t do him much good but they’re always hounding him about it so 

like i said though, he’s a very independent person so he doesn’t like to feel like he’s a burden, which is why he doesn’t want others to know because he feels like they’re gonna pity him!!

tw: depression and light substance abuse! - end

bc of his more tan skin (back in the day from florida, not really anymore) and broken korean, he felt like a foreigner, but also people would mistake him for having korean nationality whenever they would talk to him. so he felt like he couldn’t really fit either mold, because he was out of place in korea and florida. but!! i digress

he felt like he was kind of thrust into who’s next: origin story because by the time it started he had only been a trainee for...4 months?? like it’s crazy & he clearly wasn’t ready, a major reason for him being on the losing end, but he had the loveable foreigner thing going on so he did get a good fanbase!! even though he was criticized for his short training period

i doubt he was a favorite among the trainees because he’s REEEEEALLY introverted,,, especially in social situations where he’s not the most comfortable with people in so i don’t think he was super talkative.

 a big reason he has trouble on variety shows now!! it’s not that he doesn’t like but they’ve kind of turned it into a “mysterious” thing, which is fine to him if it mean he doesn’t have to talk as much

also he hated it because he constantly had to dodge staff & other trainees whenever he wanted to drink or smoke so he was probably always trying to find a way to sneak out when they had any kind of free time

he got a lotlotlot better at singing during training though, though they’re kind of forcing an unnatural tone for his voice which is making him strain and can’t be good for him in the long run but marketing!! so. anyways he loves singing a lot more than he did before, he’d always expected to be just a dancer but they unleashed his potential so!! that’s one thing he really enjoyed about training

basically he’s been marketed as the “sexy foreigner” and he kinda hates it ngl. because while he never was attached to his korean identity, the more he’s been here the more he’s just wanted to be the same as everybody else?? so that’s not helping with anything. he’s always kind of laughed at for being clueless when a joke flies over his head, made to say things in english ALL THE TIME, just all that. it really gets on his nerves bc nowadays he just wants to blend in and they’re not making it any better!!!

it may sound confusing but basically: as a teen he rejected his korean identity to blend in with everyone in florida, now he’s in korea and wants to be known as less of an american to blend it. it all comes down to him wanting to be like everyone else is nearly every aspect!! 

since he feels like he cheated & got to debut way too easy than some others, he’s been trying to develop his creative and performance skills so he can get more credit and make a name for himself due to his actual abilities rather than just,, him being american lmao!! also trying super super hard to get as good as he can at korean

tw: drug and alcohol addiction!

he still has some trouble getting around & he still feels lost, but he’s trying his best. struggling through his alcohol addiction, which bc is mildly aware about but really trying to keep quiet and he’s been on the verge of leaving more than a few times. but as quiet as he is about it, he really relies on his members a lot to keep himself afloat!! so he appreciates them putting through his shit a lot of the time more than he'll admit.

 tw: drug and alcohol addiction! - end

but rn he’s getting better, slightly, focusing more of his energy into music than anything. he really wants to get into the songwriting industry to get a name for himself on his own instead of just being known for impulse!!

just  as a fyi since it’s a bit confusing his birth name is daein, he went by devin when he lived in america, but he goes by daein again now that he’s in korea, but his stage name is still devin and that’s what his friends from america call him. he prefers to be called daein nowadays, though, so that’s probably the safest best!

also this has not been short at all but anyways

hawaii plots!

he likes to drink & get high way too much and what better place than to do that then on vacation?? he’s been trying to stop, but look, it’s vacation and he’s unwinding and if your muse is down they can both have fun!!

such. an. introvert. even more than micha, because 80% of his interactions by choice come from his group?? but i would love to get him some new friends (especially since he literally has none right now lol)

he’s a bit of a hoe ngl so!! hookups are accepted, that’s the one time he’s not afraid of striking up conversation!!

he’s in the red team so like micha, if you’re members in the red team he could use some buddies to be with!!

someone to explore the island with during the night!

general plots!

he lives in an apartment my himself atm, but a roommate would be lovely!! he needs someone to put him out of his funk, anyways. 

drinking buddies ofc

trainee friends? someone who wasn’t put off by him being super quiet and befriended it and he’s super grateful nowadays? 

give me all the angst & romance because he’s a handful, seriously, phew

besties!! someone that makes him soft and happy bc there are few people who make him super happy & excited, so someone fill in the gap!