#ignore the whack quality please

[littlemissclandestine]

Adler discord stickers/emojis when? 💜

If war criminal why so adorable 🤔?

No because all i kept thinking about when i saw him smirk (second pic) was a reaction pic of him blushing bro

[beardedhandstoadshark]

Can you share any terrible dubbed dialogue from any anime?

Ignore the youtube guy in them, just look at these clips please lmao

If you want some comedy gold quality-wise I can guarantee you the Turkish dub always delivers, anime or not, but aside from that also, the German dub, I cannot even begin to explain to you the intricacies of Gojo Jututsu Kaisen dropping a Diggah or Goku calling someone‘s mom a Schlampe. Or all the highly specific sayings that do Not Belong There.

Like, even with something that‘s probs in english too, like "Yo man your mom‘s kind of a MILF“ it just. "Yo Alter deine Mom ist ja 'ne richtige MILF“. Look that this. Yes it is just as whack as it sounds in German. How is anything supposed to compete against this.

[zcorners120]

Hii! Could I maybe request a fluff story with Charles and reader where they are in Relationship but because of Charles's carrer they are always away from each other? Kind based on James Arthur's song, Car's outside (you can add a little bit of angst too if you would like but please give me a happy ending)

of course! i literally love this song, it's so good to imagine scenarios too hehe :D <3

charles leclerc x reader MASTERLIST

synopsis; charles' career is too demanding, and causes some ripples in your relationship.

warnings; angst, swearing, mentions of sex

You and Charles have been together 6 months. 6 Months where you shared laughter, happiness, joy, intimacy and the best times together. For the past month or two, this hasn't been the case.

Sure, you might have passed the honeymoon stage a while ago with the exhilarating firsts of a new relationship, but even after that you were still madly in love. These new arguments started popping up as though you were playing whack-a-mole. Every time you thought you squashed a challenge together, another popped up.

Even though you'd love to say that these problems come from both of you, you can't lie; they only come from Charles. You both live in Monaco in your separate, respective apartments but you spend most of your time in Charles', having a key for each other's places.

You sat on the edge of his bed, waiting for his arrival from the Canadian GP. You hear the door open, and the lock click as you rise from the room.

"Charles?" You call out, seeing him in the kitchen.

"Bonsoir, Cherie." He says, his voice slightly wavering. He was tipsy.

"Charles are you drunk again?" You question him, but already know the answer.

"No. Not at all." He says, waving his finger around. "Show me some love Cheriee, in the bedroom." He slightly slurs his words, smirking.

"Charles, just go to sleep. I haven't seen you properly in two weeks and you show up drunk, asking for sex." You basically say to yourself, knowing that he wasn't listening.

"Look, I'm not drunk. I've sobered up a lot." He clears his throat, deeming himself more presentable.

"I don't want to feel like your fucktoy, and that you only come to me when you've had a hard time at a race, because otherwise I don't see you." You admit, spilling your truth.

"Look, that's my fault. Being at the races, it's demanding, you know I see you when I can." He comes forward to the counter, where you stand on the opposite side.

"I say 'Goodbye and good luck.' to you so many times, it's become my catchphrase." You argue, trying to show his lack of quality time for you.

"You know I'd rather stay and hold you than catch 3 flights, but I can't do anything to change that." He retaliated, throwing his arms up.

"You don't even unpack your bags anymore, that's how often you leave me." You whispered, feeling your voice start to crack.

"I'm here tomorrow and the day after. We have two days and that's time isn't it?" He tried to compensate, rushing towards you.

"Yeah, two days that you'll spend training in the gym, at the academy, in meetings. Charles, I am not one to complain about not receiving attention, but this is ridiculous." You listed his schedule off the bat, trying to explain yourself as you didn't want to seem too attached.

"Look, I'm sorry. Trust me when I say that I hate to think of you sleeping alone without me." He took your hand in his, pleading you with your eyes.

"Charles, I just don't think it's going to work out this way. You know I love you, but I can't take this anymore." You felt the tears well up, just as one falls down your cheek you start to walk away.

"Y/N, don't. We can work this out." He begs, as you hear him call out from behind you.

"No, Charles. You can work this out. I'm finished, and I'm sorry. Je t'aime." You stood your ground, opening the door and leaving. The final words are what stung you both the most, as you walk into the elevator the tears didn't stop.

He had called, texted, and even came to your apartment. You ignored him, knowing that you both need some space and time to process everything. It hurt, and hurt bad. Like a knife being twisted around in your stomach as you stayed in bed, crying.

Charles had given up trying to contact you as he was leaving for the airport. He was officially numb, and knew you needed time. He was no longer excited and jittery about the race, but just felt detached from reality, inside and out.

He stared at the four corners of the hotel room, it's bland interior setting the usual dull mood on him. He sat on the bed, thinking of the times he would run his phone bill up, just from talking to you all the time. It was a unfamiliar feeling, not talking to you for so long.

He had two days for the race, and thought; 'Fuck it.' He went back to the airport and booked a flight back to Monaco. He finally came to his senses, and decided he didn't want to leave you anymore.

"Ma belle, are you home?" Rushing from the airport into a taxi, he spent no time by opening your door straight away into your bedroom.

You sat up from the cocoon you had made with your blankets, and looked to see a relieved Charles in the doorway.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have a race-" You looked at him astonished, before he cut you off and sat down next to you on the bed.

"I'm not going unless you pack your bags and come with me. I'm tired of loving you so much from far away. Close the windows and lock the doors, don't wanna leave you anymore." He rambled, not caring that his decision was irrational.

"I'm coming. I love you Charles." You pull him into a hug straight away, knowing you'll no longer have to argue, but be right by his side at all his races.

"I love you too, mon ange." He breathed out, relieved as he pulled you in for a kiss.

From then on the silly arguments stopped, as he learnt to split his time from working and being with you. And the media of course loved seeing you with Charles at his races, hand in hand.

A/N; hope i did alright eeek, keep the requests coming :P

[thesoulesscollection]

Rogue Charles Au Timeline

Heya, again I hope everyone is having a good day/night so far. So I was wondering what to do next for this Au and decided to do a little, somewhat simple timeline. Although this is never my forte so it may not be good and might not make sense. So if there's any question, please, don't hesitate to send in any questions you may have. 

Down below is the current timeline. It's not all finalized yet, some things may change entirely, be updated and so on. As well, as this Au goes along, it will be lengthened out with more details and important events along with better quality. 

Timeline:

Charles begins to remember the alternate timelines as well, visions that are messily incoherent. Occurs likely during the BROvert Ops timeline. Small flashes of 'visions' and deja vu are easily ignored at first

Soon it gets worse when Henry starts flipping between timelines, mostly retrying his options a few multiple times leaving Charles bewildered, nearly considering it to be an out of body experience for him

From there attempting to tell anyone about it was hopeless, nobody believed him nor could he piece it together through the broken memories. 

Eventually he was able to pick up just enough of the pieces as small as they were, Charles started to know what's going on and that it all started with Henry (Though he never confronted Henry at the time) 

It all comes to a head right before (Infiltrating the Airship never occurs in this Au) when Henry is just about to be sent out to the Toppats Airship 

Charles goes rogue - Betrays the government - basically drop kicks Henry, Rupert, and Galeforce out of his plane right dab middle into the unforgiving arms of the hot desert 

All of them but Henry in particular is the most shell shocked - none of this was supposed to happen, it had never occurred before he went through every timeline again and again so he knows every single detail - and to his further shock his abilities are now out of whack leaving him powerless, vulnerable 

Now the three have to track their way back home at least towards the nearest government base around which unfortunately for them can take hours at the best but likely days at the worst

All the while Charles is panicking, not expecting to go this far unsure if it was the right choice. Not when another vision comes, just as confusing as the others but a familiar face, Ellie Rose may be able to help

Soon Charles decided to break into the Wall, taking an unwilling Ellie with him for his great plan which in his wake leave the Wall in near disrepair 

During their time together, it's a tense and complicated situation and relationship between the two, Ellie didn't trust him at all, secretly thinking of a way to escape

Then the military, Henry finds them again flying over the ocean to an unknown destination and a nasty fight goes down between Charles & Henry, Henry makes a fatal choice 

In the aftermath, Charles' plane is shot down, Charles is heavily injured close to death in the process, where they seemingly can't find him 

Dr. V finds him floating, limbs turned black and spine nearly deteriorating into nothing. From there months of recovery takes place here. 

^ Where Charles gets his cybernetics from, and learns how to use them

Eventually, in time after recovering just enough, maybe six to eight months, Charles decided to leave again for his great plan after seeing the Toppat Airship

[natewriteslol]

And There You Stayed

Part 2 of Just You and Me

Summary: Malleus realizes that the dream of Y/N the human is becoming a reality. Will the memories that he created crumble and fade to black just like last time? Or will they follow through, and life will fall into place.

A/N: I know some of you guys were heartbroken so I wrote you a happy ending

Y/N uses they/them pronouns

Warnings: none

Genre: Fluff and just a little bit of angst

tag list: @coffeeleafdepression, @magicpumpkin3, @puddingqueen-writes  

Part 1 of the fic! (ahfkfaad pls read otherwise the fic will just seem weird) 

It was still a week and a couple of days after the dream and Malleus had such a tough time forgetting you. Your touch, scent, smile, they way you laughed. He couldn’t believe that you were a figment of reality, and the horned man just wasn’t the same. Lilia, Silver and Sebek noticed the change in their master’s mood, but they didn’t want to dig and make him uncomfortable. Malleus was sad and way more aloof than usual, it was hard to approach him let alone fix. So, they let their master have his space. 

An organized meeting for the dorm leaders was meant to commence soon, talking about formalities since the school year had just started after all. And despite his melancholy, Malleus knew he had to attend. The meeting was quite boring, no one really talked to him as his frightening demeanor was even more intense when he was in this state. So he had just sat and listened. 

And that was when everything changed, the magic mirror vibrated and lit up. With great blinding light someone flew out of the magic mirror with a scream. It was a cat? Another scream rang out, flying out the magic mirror in the same fashion, except the silhouette looked human.

The beast talked with great blue flames surrounding it’s ears and tail. 

“Who the hell are you?! Get off of me you stupid human!” The voice of the cat said, as the human had toppled over the cat, both laying on the cold dark marble of the floor. 

“A talking cat?!” The human shrieked. 

“Yeah do you have a problem with that, human?” The cat asked angrily, floating in the air. The human had emerged from the darkness. 

It was them, from his dream.  

Every imperfection, every beautiful quality, Malleus had memorized them all. And there they were, right in front of him. 

This had sent him into a state of shock, the fae had just stood there. While everyone had tended to the new resident. Everything he had already predicted was happening. Enrolled as one student with the cat named Grim, placed in the abandoned Ramshackle dorm, defeating the overblotted dorm leaders. 

And your name, Y/N L/N. Flowed perfectly off the tongue. 

The only thing Malleus had gotten wrong, was that you didn’t come on the first day, but rather a few days after. It was insane and Malleus grew afraid. What if everything would fizzle out again? Revealing that it was a fantasy and nothing more. 

Yet something was different about this time. It was that he was experiencing more, different adventures that weren’t revealed in his dream, new conversations that made his love for Y/N grow even more. 

Like the one time he was reading peacefully in the courtyard only to see Y/N and the gang running away from a Giantess Froganza (Giant mutant frog). 

“HI MALLEUS! BYE MALLEUS!” you yelled before starting to scream and run away from the beast. Y/N had still managed to notice him, even in moments of terror. Yet without magic you had saved the day. Like the great hero that you were. 

The dream was a vague prophecy of love given to him. Malleus was hurt yet grateful, to feel insane for days but then given the gift of this human. They were silly, completely out of whack, but they were still so in sync with Malleus. A perfect fit into NRC, like a puzzle piece. 

Lilia had noticed Malleus’ behavior being soothed yet still alert. 

“Malleus, what is going on?” Lilia asked, gazing into his eyes. And that is all it took for him to spill out his secret. He felt embarrassed, thinking that Lilia was going to look at him with two heads. All Malleus’ feelings were out in the open. 

Lilia gave him a smile, “Oh Malleus, but don’t you know?” 

“Know what exactly?” Malleus asked, wanting his guardian to go on. 

“Dear, when faes get older they can earn new powers. Some stay forever, some only stay for a short while like yours,” Lilia answered. 

“And while it wasn’t completely accurate, and didn’t show everything. You had a prophetic vision, they typically happen when there is something of great importance coming. And from what I can tell, Y/N is incredibly important to you,” The elder fae said teasingly, making Malleus a little flustered. Lilia wasn’t wrong but that didn’t mean that he had to say it. Y/N made the horned man nervous undeniably, his heart skipping and his breath hitch whenever they spoke to him. 

“But please, rest easy. There is nothing to fear Malleus,” Lilia said. 

~

Malleus and Y/N were looking at the sunset while sitting on the roof of an ancient building of NRC. He confessed about his prophetic visions, he didn’t want to feel like a fool when around him despite getting reassurance from Lilia. Malleus didn’t tell them about him professing his love to them, he wasn’t ready for that yet. 

“I know it sounds quite unbelievable but-” 

“Malleus, I got chased by a gigantic frog,” they started, taking his hand into theirs. “You are a great and all powerful sorcerer. One of the most powerful people I know! That isn’t unbelievable or weird.” 

“But if something is bothering you, then you can tell me. I’ve got my arms wide open for you.”

~

It was summer, one of the last days to close Y/N’s first year at Night Raven College. The human decided to take a walk with Malleus feeling anxious, but they weren’t really sure what they were feeling apprehensive about. More and more time without being home, the feeling of being done with a school year or wanting to tell Malleus about how they felt. 

Was it a combination of all three? Most likely.

The human had felt a connection with him for a long time, and they didn’t know how long they had to keep it hidden within. So they decided, you know what? I’m gonna confess to this guy! With such great confidence, yet it fizzled around him in seconds.  

His eyes, so bright and mysterious. Of course everyone’s eyes were pretty different from what they’ve seen in the human world, but Y/N could gaze into specifically his all day. His lips, speaking in that beautiful voice with such proper language. The human remembered that one time they poked fun at Malleus with Sebek around. 

“I’m quite a royal, yes I am. The most powerful sorcerer among these humans” they said flamboyantly, closing their eyes and placing a hand on their forehead. 

“Stop making fun of the young master, you ignorant human!” Sebek boomed with anger in his voice. 

“Sebek, my loyal servant, you bark like a dog,” the human said, opening an eye to look at the angry fae. 

“That’s it!-” 

But in the background there came a snicker which emerged into one that was just a little bit louder, yet still soft. 

It was Malleus. Laughing? Admittedly, Sebek was a little jealous of Y/N for being able to make the young master laugh, especially since it was at his expense. But it put happiness in his heart that someone was able to make him happy. Not as a servant, but as a friend. 

 However, the green haired fae was still prepared to strangle you. 

~

The pair sat down on the grass, seeing the lights of fireflies around them. The human took Malleus�� hand into theirs all while staring at the lake in front of them.  

“Child of man” Malleus started, making you turn your attention to him. “When we were on the roof and I talked about my vision, I was not being completely honest.” 

“What do you mean?” you asked. 

“Well, I had left out a minor detail,” 

“We were on the bridge, and I had confessed to you” Malleus finally got out. “When I had finished, you told me to wake up. Everything had gone black and I was woken up by Lilia.”

“I had been very anxious about sharing this moment with you, Child of Man. I’m frightened that everything will fizzle out to black and not be real.” It was silence until, 

“Malleus, I love you-”

“Y/N, I love you-”

They both chuckled from them speaking at the same time. 

“Please go first, Y/N.” 

“Malleus, I really love you, you know. I’ve been crushing on you for so long. And I promise that we’re in reality,” you paused to look at the fae in his eyes. 

“I know you told me that you’re anxious to take on the future, and I’m the same. I don’t know what’s in store or what I’m going to do, but let’s be there for each other,” they finished, placing their palm against his pale face, smiling as you did. 

Malleus put his hand on Y/N’s face as well, pulling them into a deep kiss. And while his vision wasn’t one hundred percent correct, the moment the fae and human had shared was incredibly magical. 

“I have wanted to do that for a long time, Child of Man,” Malleus said, smiling cheekily. And there the pair stayed, conversing under the stars until you had to run from employees who had spotted them both. 

Careless, young and free. But most importantly together. 

As they had both promised each other.

[voidstilesplease]

For @sunel0, because it's your special day. :))

---

Stiles curls his lips, inhaling deeply and preparing to suffer from the foolishness that is his sister's betrothed as he spies the latter approaching the corner where he stands by himself.

"Lydia is not here," he spats without looking at the prince, hands tight around his wine glass. He can't help but quip, "Speaks a lot about you to lose sight of your wife-to-be in a crowd."

He feels the prince stop at his side, their shoulders brushing against each other, and from the corner of his eye, sees the slanting of his mouth - the obnoxious lopsided smile that infuriates Stiles so much for reasons he'd rather not ponder about.

"I'm not here for the princess," Prince Theo replies, his voice its usual raspy quality that Stiles envies some. No matter how he puffs his chest and makes his voice full, it still comes out a pitch higher than he intends.

He snorts, turning to face the annoying presence. His words get stuck in his mouth, however, when he looks down at the prince's proffered hand. His eyes shot upward again, finding the prince's ice blue and glimmering ones.

"Wh-" Stiles starts, swallowing the sudden rapid beating of his heart and scowls in what he prays is a scathing look and not one laden with insecurity. He grits his teeth, sweeping his eyes around to see if any of the guests are witnessing the scene, whispering viciously. "What are you doing? Put your hand down."

Then prince is unmoved by his dismissive attitude, stepping even closer to him. "I am asking you to dance." He says as if it is quite as simple as that.

Stiles grabs his arm, trying to pull him away to a secluded corner to whack his arrogant, stupid head in private. But the prince doesn't budge. "I said, I am asking you to dance," he repeats, smile widening, eyes crinkling in the corners in amusement - the smug bastard. "You can pull me into empty chambers afterwards."

"Are you mad?" Stiles hisses, snatching his hand away when the prince motions to take it.

"For asking you to dance?"

"For asking another man to dance!" He grips tightly on his glass that he feels it might break in his palm. "The brother of your betrothed, no less. A man who can't stand the sight of you!"

"You can't stand the sight of me," Theo's lips thin to a line, and he straightens, dropping his hand. "Only because you thought you couldn't have this with me - have me."

Stiles scoffs, "Your arrogance knows no bounds, does it?"

"But you can," the prince continues, ignoring Stiles's words. Theo's hand slowly wraps around the one holding onto the glass, and Stiles struggles to reign in the thundering in his chest. The prince's eyes are locked with his, not sparing a glance at the people around them. As if he doesn't care how scandalous and inappropriate they must look in the society's eyes at the moment. "We can dance. We can take just this one thing if it's the only thing we can have."

If only accepting another man's hand is as easy as offering it to a woman. If only doing what pleases you is as easy as doing what is expected.

But no.

Glaring at the prince, Stiles turns his back and hurries away from him, ignoring the calls that follow his retreat. He needs to flee, to go breathe elsewhere that Theo can't contaminate. He only stops when he reaches a secluded section of the gardens, sagging onto a bench, breathless from his hasty escape. He feels weak-kneed, his head and heart pounding madly inside him.

He shakes his head. What was Prince Theo thinking? Knowing that he isn't alone in his unlawful attraction, makes it more difficult to pay no heed to his feelings. How is he supposed to keep the prince from haunting even his waking thoughts now?

Stiles looks up to the white glint of the moon and curses. By the gods, he loathes Theo even more.

~•~

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 11 second part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Absurdity) 

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Message from the Lan Clan

After dinner the Yunmeng bros go to talk to Jiang Fengmian in his study. They're quiet and respectful here, with no shoulder-shoving or arguing. This scene has such Brady Bunch energy, where Dad's Study is the Man Place where boys come to talk about Serious Things.

The boys tell Dad Jiang about the Yin Iron and he says yeah, I know. This is probably why he let them run off on their road trip without punishing them, but he could have, like, shared data with them so they might have actually achieved something related to the Yin Iron, rather than just wandering around the countryside bonding with Lan Wangji and Nie Huaisang.

He shows them a letter from the Lans that basically says the Lan Clan is in the shit, and he tells them they've got to go to the Wen indoctrination because otherwise they will also be in the shit. 

He gives the boys a warning about the Yin Iron, which is that 

1. it can be refined and 

2. if you refine it carefully, it will not control you. 

Awesome tip, will definitely use, thanks pop.

(more behind the cut)

Jiang Cheng wants to argue about going to the Wen party, but Wei Wuxian vocally gets on board, not leaving any opportunity for whining. 

Wei Wuxian is only sucking up a little bit in this scene. He obviously has a lot of affection for Jiang Fengmian, but WWX doesn't play up to his favoritism nearly as much as he could. Compare, for example, how he leans into Yanli's preferential treatment of him.  

Fight Outside the Cold Cave

Over on the Gusu side of the country province township, the disciples have gathered outside the cold cave that previously none of them knew about, and Su She is freaking out. 

Most of the acting in The Untamed is naturalistic, but then there are occasional characters who are portrayed with a much more theatrical, broad style. Su She's villainy is not given a lot of layers; he's playing a type, more than a person.

Many of the villains in The Untamed are played this way, but not all. Wen Zhuliu, for example, is a genuinely horrifying bad guy while also conveying depth and ambivalence--despite having hardly any lines. And JGY is a masterpiece of a performance. For Su She, the directors or the actor have opted for "sniveling backstabber" as a type, which is unfortunate, because it robs his final scenes of emotional impact.

Lan Qiren tells the disciples to get to safety. He rushes forward, gamely getting his ass kicked by human cuisinart Wen Xu.  He's not as effective a warrior as either of his nephews but he's a brave S.O.B.

Hanguang Jun to the Rescue

Before things can go completely pear-shaped, Lan Wangji sails in with his guqin.

The Blue Steel technique of the Lan Clan

Like many gifted learners, Lan Wangji's musical abilities are more advanced than his social skills. Here he musically makes the ground literally explode, almost as if it had been specially rigged with incendiary charges.  

Lan Wangji is very pretty when he's worried, and his affection and concern for his uncle is touching. He's 100% not interested, as we will see, in Lan Qiren's whole "lets all die for the future of the Lan Clan while my nephews hide" agenda. He's on his own agenda of smiting the wicked and protecting the weak.

Notice how Su She is standing right next to Lan Qiren here, even holding his arm? The next thing that Lan Qiren says is to tell all the disciples to keep up as they run into the cave. Somehow Su She totally does not keep up, and he gets caught outside along with a bunch of other disciples.

Giving Up

Wen Xu and his men kill most of the other caught disciples, and then threaten Su She, asking him how to get into the cave. In fear for his life, he tells them. Not cool, Su She, but possibly forgivable. Although when you voluntarily join a, you know, battle cult, physical courage is kind of an important qualifier.

But this shit here...

They didn't fucking ask about the books, douchebag.  

Su She was there in Lan Qiren's house when the two heads of his clan knelt to each other, each claiming the right to be the one to stay behind and die. And he heard Lan Qiren say that the ancient books are the foundation of the clan and that only if LXC and the books survive, will the clan continue. By giving up both men, and pointing out the book situation, Su She has totally earned his expulsion. 

Lan Wangji Takes a Stand

Lan Wangji decides, for the first but not last time, to openly defy his uncle...and it's got nothing to do with Wei Wuxian. Lan Wangji is a hero, who follows the dictates of his conscience. His conscience is extremely filial and extremely orthodox, but he’s got a growing open-minded streak.  This is going to cause a whole lot of conflicts for him over the next few years.

This time, however, he manages to skate out from under the whole disobedient, unfilial thing by citing Lan Yi's directive, which means Lan Qiren has to accept it because she's his predecessor and elder relative (She is probably not a literal ancestor, since she spent her life in a cave putting fucking headbands on fucking rabbits which probably didn’t leave time for having babies).

This is a pretty extraordinary moment for Lan Wangji and for Lan Qiren, because Lan Wangji just asserted his own form of authority to do the exact opposite of what Lan Qiren wanted, and Lan Qiren just sucked it up and let him.

It's also very different from western stories involving a holy McGuffin such as the Yin Iron. Lan Wangji's solution of "fuck it, just let the bad guys have it, it's not worth so many people dying for" is refreshing and surprising to me, a westerner raised on The One Ring, the Grail, the Death Star Plans, etc.

Lan Wangji steps out of the cave and uses a sword blast to save Su She, the ungrateful bastard, from getting stabbed by Wen Xu. Then he surrenders, and they break his leg to slow him down. This does not actually incapacitate him, because he is Lan Fucking Wangji, already a BAMF at like 17 years old. When they whack his leg, his chunk of Yin Iron falls out onto the ground.

That thing was in a magic bag of holding before. So...it just falls out when you whack him? If they whack him again will his guqin fall on the ground? What about candy?

Archery Practice at Lotus Pier

Meanwhile, back at Lotus Pier, the brothers are enjoying some quality time together before they head to the hostage-taking indoctrination.

Wei Wuxian is such a great cultivator that he can hit a distant target even when he jerks his bow upwards as he releases the arrow.

Jiang Cheng seems fairly pleased, and proud of his brother. He's competitive and fundamentally grumpy but not, at least here, a sore loser.

Club Ruohan

We go over to Da Club, where Wen Ruohan is yelling at Wen Qing for letting Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian go. He names them both, so they're becoming more and more known to their enemies. Which is not a good thing.

He menaces her with the zombie mosh crew, having them kill a dude in front of her and then saying her baby brother will be next in the circle of zombies if she tries any more stunts. Neither of them can imagine how much zombie ass her baby brother is going to kick, later in his (un)life.

Side note: What is up with WRH’s hair? Why bother pulling your hair up over your ears if you're going to leave an enormous curtain of it over your face? It's because he knows there's a wind machine next to his throne, isn’t it?

Leaving Lotus Pier

Jiang Cheng: when I ran off earlier in the year on my road trip you didn't pack a goddamn thing.

Wen Indoctrination

Is it even possible to stand next to this much active volcanic shit and not, uh, die? I live in the tornado part of the US so I don't know much about lava (yet. 2020 still has 2 months to go). But it seems like it would be hard to breathe the air. Also they appear to build houses on lava piles, which seems imprudent.  I say that even as someone who plays The Elder Scrolls Online, which is full of lava towns and nonsense like “ash farming.”

Nie Huaisang is adorable at all times, but particularly here, when he's so happy to see his friend who *didn't* fuck his gege and then abandon him without an explanation. 

Nie Huaisang: I'm so glad I can count on Wei-Xiong to be consistent and not vanish for months, or become a traumatized shell of his former self, or, like, horribly die.

Jin Zixuan isn't quite as happy to see Wei Wuxian.

Wen Chao enjoys the sound of his own voice way too much, and is malevolent and boring. On the plus side, he likes to stand with his hand stuck out in the air, which is fun for your resident photoshopper.

Nie Huaisang is so miserable every time he's holding a sword, or blade, or whichever we're supposed to call this. He's got his fan tucked into his belt, which is sweet. He is happy to give up his sword but don't you dare try to take his fan.

Meanwhile Wei Wuxian is worried about Lan Wangji, and Jiang Cheng isn't.

Lan Wangji shows up under guard, and takes his position at the front of the line, but without any extra disciples. The Wens let him change into snowy white robes after breaking his leg which will go well with arterial blood spray. He's focused and is determined not to interact with Wei Wuxian in this public context.

When I was little, I would sit near my best friend at church on Sunday, but not be allowed to talk to her until church was over, and it was exactly like this. She was good at churching and I was hyper and hated church. We are still best friends and these things are still true.

This interaction is like a thumbnail for the whole dynamic of these three boys: Lan Wangji outwardly ignoring Wei Wuxian while having many interior feelings about him; Wei Wuxian demanding attention and creating a bit of a scene, due to his very genuine caring; Jiang Cheng telling him to leave that boy alone for fuck's sake.

Lan Wangji: Stop trying to talk to me Wei Ying, I’m busy composing a song in my head about the two of us and our love for each other. 

[waatermelon-sugaar]

Under My Skin: Chapter 1

Series masterlist

Word count = 4,6 k

Chapter Warnings = swearing, canon-typical violence, bad writing

Summary = You hate Poe Dameron. Simple, right?

Edit = Cross posted to AO3

Part 1 of 4 (I think)

Poe Dameron didn’t like you and you didn’t like Poe Dameron.

“Because!” You grouse to Rose as you make your way to the cantina, “he thinks he’s so much better than everyone else, no one could ever come close to his skills, and he always gets the best missions, and he’s good, but he’s not that good, he acts like he’s god's gift to women - no scratch that - to the galaxy, and he’s so arrogant!” You’re growling in frustration as you round the corner, suddenly lowering your voice as much as you can because Dameron is right there at the end of the corridor, deep in discussion with General Organa and Finn.

Rose’s only response is to whack you over the head as she walks through the swinging doors in the centre of the corridor. You’ve never been so glad you don’t have to walk past Dameron in your life. “What was that about?” You hiss as you catch up with Rose, grabbing your own tray and helping yourself to dinner. “You didn’t have to hit me in front of General Organa.” Rose snorts. “Yeah the General was the one you were worried about.”

Trays full, the two of you spot an empty booth and hurry towards it, sitting opposite each other. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You won’t shut up about Poe.” She jabs her fork at you, causing bits of potato to fall to the table. You can only gape, words escaping you momentarily.

Momentarily.

“What! I won’t - Dameron - he - he and I - urgh! - never in my life - he’s annoying!” You settle on finally, fully aware that you’re now whining. “He frustrates me!”

Rose raises an eyebrow, “Well maybe you need to work out those frustrations.” You shake your head, deciding to ignore her for now as you concentrate on eating. “You do need to get laid.”

You yelp, coughing when you try to swallow too quickly in shock. And then- “I can help with that, sweetheart.” You whip round, eyes narrowing when Dameron’s behind you, his flight suit tied around his waist, exposing his dirty vest and irritatingly strong arms. The only person who can beat him in arm wrestling is Finn - you can no longer count the amount of times he’s beaten you.

You take another scoop of dinner before talking with a full mouth. “Ok, one, I’m not your sweetheart, and two, Rose is wrong, and even if she was right, I definitely don’t need your help with-” you pause, swallow, and gesture vaguely in his general direction. “That.”

This, annoyingly, only seems to make him grin more. “That? You’re not gonna call it what it is?” You lean back, pulling your most unimpressed look onto your face, as he continues, still smirking, even having the audacity to wink at you. “Hot, animal sex.”

Rolling your eyes, you scoff, turning back to your dinner. “Whatever you say, Dameron.”

“Does it make you feel better, being mean to me?” Dameron asks as he squeezes onto the small piece of bench next to you. You huff, moving up so that you’re not touching. You don’t like him, but you’re not rude. 

Ignoring his question, you deflect. “Where’s Finn? Don’t you want to sit with him?” It takes more effort than it should to sound like you’re asking out of interest, and not because you want him to go away. Which you do.

“He’s still talking to Leia.” Your eyes flick to Rose, and she knows what you’re thinking. You twist your body to face Dameron, bringing a leg up under you. “Is this about the mission?” Her voice is low as she leans across the table, forgetting about the rest of her dinner.

The last few days have been hell. Rumours have been flying around base, centered around a box full of Jedi crystals. Kyber crystals, you’d told Rose the other day, not that the name cleared anything up. You’d poked around the base’s library on your datapad when you had the odd chance, but the Jedi were now the stuff of legend, just stories told to children about ‘the good old days’.  

The rumours made things worse - you’re not sure how much of it to believe - there were so few people who were even Force sensitive but as far as you were aware there were no Jedi left. Luke Skywalker was lost, and therefore probably dead. And even if Jedi did still exist, weren’t they supposed to be the good guys? Why hadn’t they come to help fight along with the Resistance?

But Dameron decides to play dumb. “What mission?” His eyes are too wide to be innocent and it annoys you. “Finn’s talking to Leia about…” he pauses, eyes desperately searching the cantina as he tries to think of a good excuse. “The quality of the food!” Turning to you, his eyes are intense. “I know you want more chocolate pudding.” You ignore how he knows that, instead focusing on glaring at him. “Dameron do you think I’m a good pilot?”

“Look,” he turns to face you, ignoring his own food even as you continue to eat, “it’s nothing to do with your skills as a pilot.” He pauses, but you interrupt before he can give you some empty platitude. “I think it is - otherwise why am I not being included?”

“Hey, will you listen,” he turns to you, poking his finger at you for emphasis. “This mission is top-secret and the risk of the First Order finding out is high so-” This time you properly interrupt, flicking his finger out of your personal space.

“So you just decide to talk about it in the corridor by the busy cantina, where everyone and their mother will see you?”

This shuts him up.

The two of you are looking into each other's faces, inches apart. And it’s annoying because Dameron is unfortunately handsome. Why? Why is he of all people so good looking? Rose coughs obnoxiously loud, causing the two of you to break eye contact and turn to look at her. You lean back from him, trying your best to look thoroughly unimpressed as he stands, picking up his tray and when he speaks, huffing, his voice is sharper than it was before.

“Look, I only came over to say that we’re going to have a mission briefing tomorrow at 6. Ok? So, just-” He leaves, mumbling the rest of the sentence under his breath as he walks across the cantina towards Rey, leaving you with your mouth hanging open, looking and feeling like an idiot.

“Well,” you say as you turn back to Rose. “That’s why I hate him.”

“You’ve got a mission, aren’t you pleased about that?” You can tell you’re annoying her now, but you roll your eyes. “Yeah, with Dameron. He’s just going to be hanging over my shoulder and passing judgement whenever he can. I’m not getting my hopes up.”

Every time you came back from a mission Dameron was there. Always. Just waiting to tell you what you should have done, how you should have flown, how he would have done it. As though the only reason he hadn’t done it was because he was too important.

You knew you didn’t fly how most people did, it had cost you marks in your final exams at school, and it cost you a place in a higher squadron, but it was hard to find the will to change when the poster boy for the Resistance saw nothing but incompetence when he looked at you. Bastard, you couldn’t help but think as you stabbed the last of your greens, wishing it was his face.

***

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.

The mission had been going so well. You’d dropped into the planet’s upper atmosphere, bypassing the planet’s security, got inside the compound, obtained the uber-secret box (your briefing hadn’t quite covered what was inside, annoyingly) and you’d been about to sneak out when you’d decided a bit more snooping was necessary.

The box had been in the centre of a library/museum set-up and even you could tell that these were rare books. So you’d told Dameron to inspect the objects while you scanned the books, pulling out a few that caught your eye.

The first warning you had been given was a blaster grazing your arm, causing you to yelp in pain, dropping the books and duck to the floor as another shot had ripped through the shelves - an inch or two above where your head had been. So a crap shot then.

Paper had fluttered down around you as you looked for Dameron. The shelves would provide good cover but unfortunately it also meant you couldn’t see your shooter. Pulling your blaster out from its holder, you aimed a couple of returning shots into the darkness at the edges of the room as you looked for Dameron.

You found him near the exit, standing over a number of droids. He’d been holding the box with one arm, the other bleeding heavily, but you’d managed to escape, tangling with another droid who’d punched you as you left the way you came, avoiding the crap shooter on your way out. You didn’t want the First Order to know who’d been there.

So now you and Dameron were walking back to the ship, cutting through undergrowth as you desperately tried to remember the way, face throbbing in pain. Dameron had fallen quiet very quickly, and you were alarmed to see how much blood he had lost so far. His face was pale and all you could think was that it was your fault. If you hadn’t’ve tried to poke around and look for other useful bits and pieces, you would have got out with no trouble.

Oh shit.

You were definitely lost now. You’d taken a gamble on the last turn and this was wrong. There should be a stream somewhere to your left which led back to the ship. Where was it? This was so wrong. And how were you going to admit this to Dameron? “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” You swore under your breath.

“What’s wrong?” Dameron’s voice wasn’t right. He’d lost a lot of his power, and you turned to face him, watching as a small drop of blood fell to the floor. You don’t want to say it, you know he’s going to hold this over your head later, your first truly important mission and you’ve fucked up so bad. “I -” you hesitate, mouth open, so unwilling to say it, especially to Poe, you have to force it out. “We’re lost...I don’t know the way back.”

And...oh god, you’re not going to start crying are you? You can feel the familiar burn on the back of your eyes so you blink, looking away from him. But Dameron starts struggling, using his injured arm to try and reach down, looking for something. You move closer, grabbing his wrist and forcing him to stop moving, to stop aggravating his injury. “What are you doing?” And your voice is mean and you don’t know why but his skin is cool, cooler than it should be causing your heart to skitter out of control.

Dameron looks up into your face and his eyes are a little unfocused. Shit. “Looking for a tracker - the ship -” His voice doesn’t sound normal. But you have to be the calm one, you have to be the one in charge so you push the panic down, trying to speak normally. “Where is it? You shouldn’t be using that arm.”

“In my pocket, I -” But you’re one step ahead, unceremoniously dropping his wrist and reaching in, pulling the tracker out. A thin disc with a central button, which you press, and a red light spins around the edge before settling a direction to your left, forcing you to turn about 45 degrees.

You set off, pushing through the undergrowth and snapping branches from trees, kicking any debris out of Poe’s path as he stumbles behind you. Panic is still rising in you, you can’t be the reason the Resistance’s best pilot dies. Oh fuck, oh fuck, fuckin’ motherfucker, please, please, plea-

You pause for a second, trying to get your breathing back under control, even as it skitters away from you. You glance back at Poe, who nods at you.

BB-8 is waiting back at the ship, preliminary checks before take-off having been completed. You help Poe lift into the co-pilot’s chair you’d been occupying earlier and squeezing into the pilot’s chair. You don’t remember the flight back, don’t remember dodging the planet’s security as you took off, all you remember is how pale and quiet Poe is. He watches you the whole way which would normally annoy you, but you don’t think his eyes are fully focused.

You’ve done better landings when you get back to the base, but you don’t really care, Poe’s breathing is different, you can’t stop the panic rising in you, and the second you’ve opened the door you’re yelling, voice already hoarse. “Medic! Medic! I need - I need a medic!” People swirl around you, when did they get here? But you don’t want to let go of Poe, one arm around his back, his uninjured one around your neck while you keep a tight hold of the box.

You fight as someone tries to unfurl your fingers, Poe’s weight disappearing and you’re crying now, hardly able to open your eyes. You don’t feel the sharp sting of the tranquilizer, instead blindly fighting the rising darkness inside you, unable to recognise it for what it is. Voices are all around you, muffled like you’re underwater and lights are appearing in bright spots above your head. You’re floating, falling backwards, further and further, until everything turns black.

***

The debrief was not fun.

Barely out of the medbay, you’d relayed to General Organa what had happened, how it had been your idea to stay back, how you’d got lost in the forest after, how you made a mess.

Due to your injuries, it had been just you and her, and even now, safely in your bunk, you couldn’t decide if that was better or worse than having to tell a whole command room. Sure, you’d been spared public humiliation, but at the cost of having General Organa’s full attention on your failure.

You’d pulled your curtain across your bunk, and you felt as though you might have to stay buried under your covers for at least a week to emotionally recover from the whole ordeal. The worst part of it was that General Organa hadn’t even seemed disappointed, or angry, just...like she expected it.

And Dameron was still in the medbay. It was coming up to 4 days later, but you’d maintained your distance, not sure your fragile heart could stand the pain of knowing his condition was your fault, no matter what anyone said.

You wanted to see him, to apologise, but at the same time the idea of facing him made you feel sick. It was your fault he was in the medbay, you should have prevented it. In fact, the only reason you even knew he was still in the medbay was because you assumed there would be some kind of announcement or celebration when he was better.

A knock on your door made you jump, and then frown, however the door began to open before you could respond which you supposed was kind of your fault, you should have locked it, now you were going to have to talk to someone-

And General Organa walks into the room.

You stand up so fast, you get a rush of blood to the head, your vision going black slightly at the edges. “General, I-” you start talking before you even know what you’re going to say, so shocked to see your hero in your room. Your eyes flick over to the mess of clothes you haven’t bothered to wash in the last week, tissues on the floor, half eaten snack bars and their wrappers littered around as you wished the room was a lot tidier.

“I wanted to check how you were getting on.” Her voice is soft, but still carries that familiar authority as she pulls out the chair from your desk and sits on it.

Your mind goes blank. General Organa...wanted to check...on you?

You manage to pull yourself together, sitting back down on your bed with a suddenly excellent posture. “Good, thank you General.” You can hardly look at her, it’s like she emits light, and it’s too bright, too much.

You’re hyper-aware of your every movement, this is the first time you’ve properly talked to her, you want her to like you, and oh my god she’s in your room? Her eyes never leave you, so you stare at your hands, fingers twisting in your lap. “Call me Leia.” She pauses, but it’s not enough time for the implications of that to sink in. “It’s understandable if you’re still feeling rough.” Oh stars you’re going to cry.

Your eyes are watery and you know looking down only increases the chances of them falling, but if you look up, she’ll see. “I wish I’d done things differently.” You say, and your voice sounds rough.

The room is swimming when you finally look up, but General Orga - Leia is smiling softly at you. “I think about every second of that mission and for every decision that I made, I wish, I wish I did the opposite thing.”

“Why?” The question is asked so simply, and there are so many answers, they crowd your mind. “You were successful, weren’t you?” Still you can only gape at her. Successful? Dameron is still in the medbay-

“I know what it’s like to blame yourself for a mission going sideways.” Leia continues, “But you retrieved the box, you’re both alive, Poe is healing well, the medics say the bleeding has stopped and his stomach is on the mend now.” His stomach? You frown, his stomach wasn’t injured, it was just his shoulder, but Leia mistakes your frown for further dissent.

“I know you think it was your fault because you said let’s stay behind, but what if you had found something important? And Poe agreed, didn’t he? It’s not just on you. You just have to learn when the risk is worth the reward.” With that, she stands, so you do too. “I’ll formally debrief the two of you together when Poe’s out of the medbay, but I thought you needed to know this.” You nod, unable to speak again, but this time for an entirely different reason.

It’s almost too late before you can speak again, Leia halfway out of the door, but she turns back when she hears your voice. “Thank you.” And you mean it. Leia didn’t say much, and nothing new, but she was right. The mission was technically a success. Things went wrong, but you were both alive.

Sitting back on your bed, you feel lighter, more like normal. And a part of that normality is annoyance towards a certain pilot. He was injured in his stomach? The more you think about it, the more a cold fury rises in you. Why wouldn’t he say? He was carrying that heavy box and - you let out a growl, surprisingly loud in the quiet room.

You make your way to the medbay, becoming angrier and angrier with each step. No wonder he had so much blood loss! How dare he not say anything! How could he not tell you? Did he not trust you?

You ignore the signs that tell you visiting hours are over, and maybe it’s the look in your eyes that stops any medics from reminding you as such when you march up to the front desk. “I need to see Poe Dameron, which room is he in?” You feel a tiny bit bad for being so demanding to an overworked medic, but you can’t think past how Poe Dameron lied to you.

You’re shaking as you walk to Dameron’s room, not bothering with pleasantries as you bang open the door. He’s lying in the bed, BB-8 charging in the corner and had you been calmer you would have noticed how Dameron jerked awake when you slammed his door shut. You ignore how he’s hooked up to various machines and drips, bandages covering his body.

“You were shot in the stomach?” Your voice is mean again.

Dameron just blinks groggily at you, a combination of drugs and tiredness, but you push down any pity, letting righteous anger flood your veins with fire. “What?” His voice is hoarse from misuse and sleep.

“You were shot in the stomach?” You repeat, keeping hold of that cold fury as you look down at his face. This extra minute is all Dameron needs to wake up properly and realise why you’re so upset. “No- just, just stabbed.”

“Just!” - and it’s like you’re watching yourself, no control over your actions and even to your own ears you sound hysterical, the volume of your voice rising.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” You demand as he presses a button, lifting the top half of his bed up. Tears are once again pricking your eyes, but this time you will not be crying, so you wipe them away quickly, past caring.

“Because,” Dameron huffs, realising that's not a full sentence. “I don’t know - you...you had enough on your plate, I didn’t want to add to it.”

“You should have told me.” Your voice is dangerous now, your whole body thrumming with an unshakeable anger, even as you stand completely still. A strong undercurrent continues to carry you onwards in the conversation, and you know you’ll need to leave before it runs out. “You carried that box for fuck knows how long, and what? You were just hiding your injury? You just wanted to be a hero, or embarrass me?”

Dameron stays silent, glare heavy in his eyebrows. It’s too much, you want, you need answers.

“ANSWER ME!” You roar, lashing out in defence.

“I had to!” He’s shouting now too, pushing against the bed with his strong arm. “It was hard enough to snap you out of it when we were in the compound - I wasn’t going to add to it - I had to know you could fly us home!”

His words are like they punched you, a heavy exhalation, and it’s as though all the anger was tightly held in your lungs. “I flew us home.” Your voice sounds small as you take a step back. Dameron’s found the one chink in your armour again, just like he did when you first met, the one weak spot of your insecurity and smashed it to smithereens.

There’s silence in the medbay, pushing against your eardrums as though to emphasise just how the loud the two of you were. There’s a brief flicker of curiosity in the back of mind, wondering why the nurses haven’t intervened yet.

You can’t look at Dameron anymore, instead taking in the number of different machines he’s hooked up to, watching the drips, how his heart rate starts to lower as he forces himself to calm down. “So you didn’t trust me?” You don’t want the answer, but you can’t stop the words.

He takes his time answering again, but you still don’t look at him, hands playing behind your back with the hem of your jumper. “If you don’t trust me - you should have asked Leia to switch me out!” Shut up, shut up, shut up, why can’t you stop talking, you stupid-

“Maybe I should’ve!” His voice doesn’t change, there’s no difference in his heart beat, although it’s on the high side of normal, matching yours, but something changed. There’s a split in the room, a chasm separating the two of you that wasn’t there before.

“Well why didn’t you?”

“Because I felt sorry for you!” Your eyes snap up, looking at his face in terror. “I wanted to give you a chance! I didn’t think you’d fuck up like that.” If Dameron’s earlier words were a punch to your gut, these sent you sprawling. Short of an atomic blast inside you, any feeling left inside you was obliterated. Hot embarrassment crawls up your arms and you want Dameron to feel the same pain.

“Fuck you.”

The words hang there, each second an eon. Poe instantly regrets his words, knowing he’s gone too far. He opens his mouth to apologise, but the words don’t come.

Neither of you say anything, glares still spitting red-hot fire, when you suddenly want to leave. You don’t want to see Dameron’s face again, not for a long time. So you clench your jaw, throwing up your middle finger and slamming the door behind you.

***

Isolating yourself doesn’t seem quite so appealing once you’ve left the medbay, so instead you make your way to Rose’s room, grabbing a bottle of firewater from the cantina as you pass. You need a drink.

When you arrive, you’re not sure you want to talk about the recent shitstorm your life has recently become so the first words out of your mouth when Rose opens the door is- “Do you like Jannah?”

It’s a little mean of a conversation to spring on your friend, but you’re a lot of things, and blind is not one of them. You’ve seen how the two mechanics look at each other. Especially when they think the other won’t see. Holding up the bottle as a peace offering, Rose smirks at you before leaving her door open as an invitation.

Rose denies having a crush on Jannah as you work through the bottle, only conceding on the point that Jannah is very pretty. You’re probably a little too quick to agree, blaming it on the drink that’s currently making you feel like you’re floating a couple of inches above the ground.

Comfortable silence falls on the two of you as you sit there, the floor a little cold under you, leaning against Rose’s bed.

“I’ve been thinking-” Rose starts but you interrupt before she can get any further.

“Dangerous.”

Rose doesn’t dignify this with a response, instead waiting until you wave a hand at her to continue.

“We’ve got a coordinating day off next cycle, if you wanna go to Sanctuary III. They’ll have a festival then, I can’t remember which but it should be good fun.” You can tell she’s keen, so you’ll go with her, but you find it hard to inject any enthusiasm into your voice.

Rose picks up on this, sighing as she refills her glass. “Alright don’t seem too keen on the idea.”

Your shrug, not really wanting to talk about the real reason you can’t find any excitement. “Sorry. I’ll go with you. It’ll be fun.”

“What’s wrong?” Her voice is gentle, and her hand is on your arm, and it’s so reassuring, so warm, your skin sings under her palm.

You talk to your feet as you tell Rose what Dameron said. “-and he - it was horrible, Rose,” you sniffle, tears springing into your eyes again. “And I - we’ve never got on, he’s, y’know, annoying, we’re always bickering, but I just - I never thought that he actually - it’s my fault he’s injured, and maybe he does hate me and-”

You stop your tirade and for the first time, just let yourself cry and breathe for a second. Rose’s arm comes around your shoulder and you lean into it, slightly. “It’s fine - I mean I never liked him anyway, now I can just move straight into the dislike section, maybe even hate I dunno.”

“Ok you should know that that’s not healthy first of all.” Rose’s voice floats out from above your head. “Second, I’m sure he didn’t mean it, and anyway, who cares what he thinks? Leia thought you did well. And third, this is all the more reason to do something on our day off!”

You give a weak chuckle and nod. You spent the rest of the night, playing cards and chatting about lighter topics until both of your eyes start to burn and you make your way to bed.  

***

Thanks for reading! Reblogs and comments mean the world to me 🥰🥰🥰

Chapter 2

[trekkiehood]

Better This Way - SPN Fanfic

@febuwhump : Day 1 - Head Wound

Title: Better This Way

Fandom: Supernatural

Words: 2.3k

Setting: Pre-Series Brotherhood AU

Whumpee: Dean

Caretaker: Caleb

Other Characters: Sam

Ship: None

Ao3 Link

Summary: A simple Case gone wrong may cause permanent Damage for Dean.

Trigger Warnings: Severe Injury, blood, head wound

Authors Note:

Welcome to Febuwhump! A straight month (hopefully) of me torturing my favorite characters!

I can't promise that these will be the best as they are written pretty quickly and with as little energy expended as possible. My classes, while not unreasonable, mixed with my job tend to be exhausting so this month we're going for quantity over quality.

With that out of the way, I really do hope you enjoy them! There will be a lot of dialogue because that's what I prefer to write. Each story will be it's one (not one story with every prompt) because I have a lot of mulit-parters and different fandoms. So please follow the series if you want more!

That was long a rambly but please enjoy! Be sure the heed the warnings as this is a whump challenge.

Comments give me a will to live. Literally.

~TH~

Dean is 19

Sammy is 16

Caleb is 27

"Take that fugly!" Caleb watched as the ghost went up in flames just like Ophelia's precious murder journal now smoldering on the floor.

Caleb stood in the now silent living room, breathing heavily and stamping out the fire. The house may have been haunted and home to several murders, but it was still a beautiful building. Now that the ghost was taken care of, it was time to find out why his hunting partners had failed in their duty to keep the crazy old lady away from him.

"Deuce!" He called up the stairs, "So much for your bragging about being able to keep women entertained for hours. You couldn't even manage fifteen minutes. What kind of example are you setting for your brother?" The older hunter teased lightly.

When there was no response, Caleb frowned. "Deuce?" He started up the stairs. "Sammy?" The panic was truly beginning to set in. He called their names again, not hearing any response. Caleb moved back towards the bedrooms when he heard the pounding. It was coming from… up?

A string hung down from the ceiling, likely leading to the attic.

"Caleb?" A muffled voice called from above.

"Sammy? Stand back, I'm going to open the door!"

There was scuffeling and when Caleb was confident Sam wouldn't fall through the trapdoor, he pulled the string. It popped open and he eased the ladder down for the youngest Winchester, who hurried down.

Caleb looked up, "Where's Deuce?"

"He's not with you?" Sam paled.

"Wha- he's not with you?" Caleb parroted.

"No, I was up there looking for the journal when the door slammed shut! I couldn't get it open!"

"You were looking for the journal? I thought you were helping Dean keep the ghost away?"

"We split up," Sam answered quietly, "I said I was sick of being stuck as the bait just because I was the youngest, so Dean told me to help you."

"Deuce!" Caleb turned away without responding. "Dean answer me!" He attempted to connect with his best friend but he just got a spike of a headache that almost led to him kissing the floor. The good ghost Ophelia must have whacked him harder than he thought. Unless…

"Caleb?!" Sam managed to keep him upright. "What happened? What's wrong?!"

"I-I can't get a read on him."

"Y-you don't mean-"

"I don't- if he died, I'd feel it right? It wouldn't just be-. " Unless he was blocking it. Keeping himself from the ugly truth that his best friend was dead. No. He wouldn't believe it! "Deuce!" He started off again, ignoring the pounding in his head. "Sam, start checking the rooms." He snapped, pushing away the boy's hands. "You better not be dead you idiot!" He called out. The sudden urge to throw up hit Caleb. Dean wasn't dead. He wasn't.

"Caleb!" And the distress in Sam's voice made the older hunter stop in his tracks.

He ran back, finding Sam standing frozen in front of a shattered window. Caleb ran up beside him, following Sam's line of sight. It was Dean. Lying on the ground. Two stories down. Small pieces of glass lying around him.

"He's not moving!" Sam's voice barely registered.

Caleb wasn't exactly sure what happened or how he got there, but the next thing he knew he was kneeling beside Dean's body.

"Hey, hey, hey, Deuce, look at me, okay? Open your eyes." His hands hovered over the unmoving teen, afraid to touch and make things worse. Afraid to know.

He wasn't moving. At all. Caleb wasn't even sure if he was breathing. Finally he forced himself to lay his fingers near Dean's throat. "Come on, come on." He mumbled to himself, until finally he found a weak throbbing.

"Caleb?" Sam was standing on the other side of his brother. Hands fidgeting nervously.

"He's alive." Caleb reached in his pocket pulling out his phone. The no service sign flashed on his screen and he cursed. The house may be beautiful but its location was really inconvenient. He held the phone out to Sam. "Start running. As soon as you have service, call an ambulance." Caleb looked at the blood that was pulled under Dean's head, noticing for the first time that it was coming from his ears. His nose also offered a steady stream of blood. "Mac too." He added. "Tell him to get down here ASAP."

"I'm not-"

"If you don't go now he's going to die." Caleb said bluntly, not willing to tell Sam that even if an ambulance suddenly appeared at that moment, Dean still might not make it.

Sam hesitated only for another second before snatching the phone and taking off at a full run towards where the car was parked.

Caleb looked at his friend. He wasn't a doctor and just because he had been adopted by one didn't mean he magically knew what to do. Basic first aid? Sure. Falling out the second story window, bleeding from nose and ears while lying unconscious was not something he knew how to handle. Especially when this was Deuce.

"Come on man, don't make me explain to Johnny how I got you killed. That would really put a strain in our relationship." He kept one hand on the artery in his neck, using the other gently probe at Dean's skull. He didn't feel any swelling which was actually the worse thing he could imagine. If he had some sort of bump there would be less of a chance of severe brain damage. Which Dean definitely didn't have. Even though he was bleeding from his ears and nose. That wasn't a sign of a hematoma. Sure last time it had been a sign of, what has his dad called it? Cushing's Triad? But he had ended up fine then and he would be fine now.

Except then Dean was awake and this time he isn't even responsive.

"Deuce!" Caleb shouted, "Wake up!" He ran a hand over Dean's sternum.

There was a gasp. Caleb watched as Dean's eyes fluttered, then finally opened.

"There you go, there you are." Caleb thought he might start crying; he was overcome with such relief. He knew they weren't out of the woods yet but at least for the moment Dean was awake. "Hate to admit it, but you had me scared, Deuce."

Dean didn't respond, staring straight up at the sky.

"Deuce?" He cupped his friend's cheek when he got no response. "You with me?"

The boy's eyes slowly met his older friend. A look of confusion passing over clouded green eyes. "Damian?"

"Yeah, yeah it's me. You're okay."

"Where-"

"Ophelia, remember? The woman/ghost who used to throw men out the window? We really should have seen this coming." He really should have and he'd never forgive himself for not connecting those dots before now.

"Caleb?"

"I'm right here, Deuce." He took Dean's hand in his own and squeezed it. "Can you squeeze it back for me?"

Dean had yet to move anything but his eyes and mouth.

"Caleb?"

He forced a chuckle, "Hey you're scaring me here, kid."

"I don't-" Dean squinted up at Caleb, moving his head slightly. Caleb was relieved to see any movement at all as Dean still hadn't answered his request to squeeze his hand. "What happened?"

"You got tossed out the window."

"Window?"

"Yeah. By the ghost, remember?"

"No? I thought-" Dean let out a shuddering breath, his eyes sliding closed.

"Hey- hey no sleeping on the job, Winchester." Caleb tapped his face. "What would good old Johnny say?"

It looked difficult but Dean managed to blink his eyes open. "Damian?"

Caleb was really beginning to panic. This was… really really bad.

"Yeah kiddo, it's me. Keep your eyes open yeah?"

"Where- where's Sammy?"

"He's okay," Caleb was relieved that Dean still thought like Dean at least. "He went to call for help."

"Help? Why?"

"For you, Ms. Drama Queen. Always having to garner all the attention."

"Jim?"

Caleb frowned, "Jim's not here Dean."

"Why not?"

"We haven't been to the Farm in weeks, man. We'll call Jim later, okay?"

"No- we-we were at the Farm, right? I thought-"

"No, we're at Ophelia's house, remember? Tennessee?"

"No- I-I fell in Jim's barn? A-apples?"

Caleb suddenly remembered when Dean was sixteen and had fallen from Jim's barn loft. There had been no serious side effects to everyone's shock. It was a pleasant surprise but nearly unheard of.

"Dude that was like three years ago."

"No it was- Damian my head hurts."

"I know Deuce, but you're going to be okay. Just hold on a little longer, okay?"

"Kay." Dean mumbled, eyes slowly falling shut.

"Nope. Hanging on means keeping your eyes open for me."

"But my head hurts."

"It's gonna hurt worse if you keep making me slap you awake."

"Then don't." Dean mumbled. Caleb's lips turned upward at that.

"Then don't fall asleep."

Dean grunted but kept his eyes open.

"Damian?"

The smile dropped. "Still me Dean."

"Where's Sammy?"

"He went to call for help, remember?"

Dean's eyes widened and for the first time, Dean initiated movement and squeezed Caleb's hand. "By himself!?"

"He'll be okay, Deuce. He's not a kid anymore."

"He's not?"

Caleb sighed, "No, Dean."

"But he's okay."

"Yes, he's okay."

"Why are you holding my hand?"

"Because you're acting like a girl."

"Mmmm." Dean hummed, eyes sliding closed.

"Hey!"

"Right, right." Dean mumbled, "No sleeping."

"That's right. Look at that, you're actually listening to me for once!"

"Why am I on the ground?"

"Because you fell through the window."

"Oh."

"And now we're going to stay awake until the ambulance gets here, right?"

"An ambulance?! Come on Caleb, I'm fine. I just-"

Dean's face drained of the little color it had left.

"Damian-" He whispered on a breath.

"Hey, hey I'm right here." Caleb reached his other hand up and touched Dean's abnormally cool cheek. "You're okay."

"I-I can't feel them."

The fear pouring off of the teen made Caleb's heart rate speed up. "Can't feel what, Deuce?"

"My- my legs. I-I can't, I can't feel them."

"Hey, hey slow down. Just breathe man. Freaking out isn't going to help anything."

"But I can't-"

"It's going to be okay. You're just in shock." But Caleb suspected that it wasn't he hadn never lied to Dean. And this wasn't a lie. It wasn't a lie. It wasn't. Dean would be fine.

"Damian!" The fear in his eyes and the way he was gripping Caleb's hand nearly broke the older hunter. His panic grew when Dean started hyperventilating.

"Deuce! Deuce! Listen to me, listen. Your brain's all messed up right now. You can't tell now from years ago. You've got a brain bleed at the very least. It could be nothing. It could just be some good ol' fashion brain swelling temporarily shutting out your nervous system. You're fine. Don't freak out. Just focus on staying alive, okay?! Stay alive and we can get past anything else, okay!?" Caleb hadn't realized his voice growing louder and more frantic.

Dean blinked at him. Once. Twice. "Damian?"

Caleb let out a half sob. "It's me Deuce."

"My head hurts."

Caleb closed his eyes to keep from letting the tears come. He took a shuddering breath. "I know, Deuce." His voice wavered. "I know."

There was silence as Caleb tried to regain control of his emotions. Dean laid unmoving, eyes open but not seeing anything.

"But what if it doesn't get fixed. What if I never walk again." It was said quietly. This would be the only thing that Dean's screwed up head latched on to.

"It won't happen." Caleb said with far more confidence than he felt.

Dean finally turned his head to look at his friend. This was the first time since he regained consciousness that his eyes were clear. "But what if it doesn't?"

"This would be the time your head clears up." Caleb sighed.

Dean smiled slightly, "I like to make things difficult."

"Yes you do, remember that time-"

"Damian." The older man's mouth snapped shut. "What if it doesn't." And there was real fear in the boy's eyes. And Caleb realized what he was asking. If this was permanent, would Caleb still love Dean?

"It won't change anything, Deuce. I'd stand with you the whole way."

"Even if I couldn't hunt?"

"It doesn't matter, Deuce. Nothing could change the way I feel about you."

"That's good," Dean's eyes started to slip closed.

"Hey, hey, no sleeping, remember? It's rude to pass out in the middle of a chick flick moment."

"Dad won't feel the same way."

"What?"

"If I can't hunt or take care of Sammy."

"Don't say that. Your dad loves you." But Caleb knew it was probably true.

Dean's eyelids were drooping again and he blinked rapidly. "Just like you." He smirked tiredly.

"Hey don't put words in my mouth, Deuce."

"It's okay. Even if I'm not to Dad. It's okay."

"Not what? Dean? Hey, look at me."

Sluggish eyes met his. "At least I'm real to you."

"Deuce?" Caleb noticed Dean's grip slackening in his hand. "Nope. You stay right here with me, okay? You said you'd stay and you never lie to me."

"Tell that to Jim, okay? Tell him you made me real."

Was Dean having some sort of dissociative episode? Was this part of the head wound or something else? "Stay with me, man." He could hear the sirens in the distance. "You hear that? They're almost here. Sammy's gonna bring them right to us. Just stay with me a little longer."

"'M sorry. It's better this way."

"No! Come on Deuce. Dean? Don't do this to me!"

He glanced back towards the road, hoping to catch a glimpse of the emergency vehicles.

"It'll be okay. It's better this way." He repeated, his words slurring.

"Dean Matthew Winchester don't you dare-"

"'M sorry." Came the whisper before Dean went completely slack in his arms.

"Deuce?! Deuce!" He slapped at his face, not getting a response.

Dean's breathing was shallower, pulse threadier, and he was showing no signs of regaining consciousness.

"Come on man, please, please don't do this." His voice cracked and he lost his battle to keep the tears away.

(To be continued in day thirteen)

~TH~

The next part will be posted on day 13 :)

An no. Dean's not dead so don't panic.

Until then, be on the lookout for tomorrows prompt! Like I said, follow the series on Ao3 (or me lol) if you want more!

Would love some comments on your thoughts!

God bless,

Jamie

[yenkat101]

Bsd Lucy Maud Montgomery x reader who acts like Gojo

(username is black out for privacy reasons)

General: fluff and Headcannon

Text type: Pine point

Warning: a tab bit of strong language

Master list

Lucy Maud Montgomery

-we all know Lucy is a totally a tsundere (good luck)

Being overly confident

-she acted as if she's cold but in reality she envied your pure confident or sometimes even despise it

-like what's with that stupid look?

-sometimes she would throw a tantrum, screaming loudly but silently into pillow as she questions what made her fall in love with a cocky s/o in the first place

-she would act very annoyed whenever a comment that sounded too confident came out. Cue the repeating hits coming your way

-yes sometime if you over do it she might whack you but not enough to hurt you, that's why you continued

-you can't get enough of her reaction the way she sometimes look at you in a bit of disgust and admiration while she balls up her fist ready to make a move

-sometime it amazed her how confident you can become even in the worst case scenario where your the only one showing a bit of positivity towards the situation

-sometimes when you use your confidence at a regular basis it annoyed her but sometimes your confidence come in handy

-if you were confident enough to praise her, compliment her wholeheartedly meaning every word you say while she's done with life in general reminds her how lucky she is to have an amazing s/o like you even if you're an a****** once in a while

Teasing Lucy

-100% would be such a tsundere and or flustered

-she would be annoyed with certain comments like example if you were taller than her by a creasing amount and teaser for how short she is, you've unlocked her inner darkness and she'll be on top of you trying to beat you up

-most of her reactions are depending on where and when and how she's feeling at the moment

-example she's working already serving up stuff in public with everyone around 100% of tsundere and will yell at you or even threaten you, even tho those words are completely empty

-Lucy doesn't exactly appreciate when you tease her

-but you couldn't help it and continued, but like we'll said you're not that cruel, you would stop if it makes her feel uncomfortable you might just get to the point that you get a blush but if she gets upset. Please give her a break.

-her reactions are a bit like as if they were in a game of possibilities where you spend a wheel with an equal chance to get certain reaction

-like sometimes she would absolutely blush and malfunction

-sometimes she would completely deny any remarks you make towards her like an tsundere

-sometime a little bit of blush and an eyeroll while still remaining silent

-and sometimes you would even release herself in attack you with no mercy of course she doesn't hurt you in a way because she doesn't want to hurt you in any way

-so there's a 25% chance for each of these response but can easily vary about their surrounding, mood and how much are they exposed to the public

Being a big flirt

-evertime you flirt she 97% wack you for it

-it was most likely be a relationship similar to Chuuya and Dazai but you guys are lovers and love each other

-flirt with her while she's working, gets a disproving look with a hint of blush, just might shove something in your mouth to shut you up

-95% chance she would deny an remarks you make towards her by action like hitting, claiming she already knows her quality is great and doesn't need you to tell or just straight up ignore you

-there's another 5% chance that she might flirt back, thank you for the compliment and surprisedly refrain herself from hitting you

-gets embarrassed when you flirt with her in public

-still scream silently into her pillow wondering why are you like this?

-still extremely amazed on how you seem to have no insecurities even in the darkest of times and many people that has met you are also in shock

-when you flirt with her, it reminds her that she is yours. Everytime you flirt with her it gives her reassurense that you love her and only her, not that she would amit it

-flirting with her just a little helps with her insecurity and trama, she used to think no one would love her because of her past in the orphanage and the glide but you try to prove her wrong every day

Being Strong

-if your as dangerous as Gojo... Ho ho were on a roller coaster

-most likely to not beileve how strong and intimidating you are when using your ability

-the more she watches your ability, the more she understood how you could so confident

-sometime feels low self-esteem because she wonders why did you choose her out of all the other attractive and strong womans

-so please reassure her

-so the fact when you act serious when using your ability makes her lease embarrassed to claim the both of you are dating

-she would never tell you that she thinks your ability is amazing

-try to protect her, she'll feel embarrassed and flustered that you had to safe her when could of protect herself

-the more love you presented to her, the she developed a little bit of her own confident without putting up a face

-she loves everything single thing about you even if she denys it, so love her the way she is and resure her that you only love her and her only. It will make her happy even if your Confidence and Flirtiousness bother her, she would rather you act like yourself then someone your not

Thank you for the request, Feel free to send request 🥰

Teruko Okura x reader who acts like Gojo

[misfityong]

STRIPED CARNATION

↳ In which two best friends love each other, but their timing is off. 

pairing: Jaehyun x fem!reader

warning: lots of angst, mentions of anxiety

word count: 2.4k

a/n: hello! I hope you enjoy my first nct fanfic this was a revamp of an old fanfic I wrote years ago! Please let me know if you’d like a part 2 or epilogue sort of thing <3 also requests are open!

You and Jaehyun have been friends since you were little. He was your special person and you were his. Your friends always used to joke that the two of you would end up getting married considering how joint at the hip you were, and for a while you truly believed it until one day she came into his life.

She was radiant.

The kind of girl you always aspired to be like, long beautiful hair, a smile that could outshine the sun and the worst trait of all... a genuinely nice person. You think it was this quality that made you hate her the most, she was perfect for Jaehyun and you couldn’t deny it one bit. That's why you shut your mouth and held back your tears when Jaehyun came to you one day and handed you an envelope.

You are invited to the wedding of Jung Jaehyun and…

Your first instinct was to pinch yourself which earned you a strange look from Jaehyun. Your second instinct was the laugh, how ironic. Your third instinct was to cry, to beg him not to get married. 

But as you looked back up at Jaehyun who was eagerly waiting for your approval, you decided it was best to smile as genuinely as you could and congratulate him on getting someone as perfect as her to be his wife. Little did Jaehyun know, that you went home and cried yourself to sleep that night. 

The day had arrived, from today onwards Jaehyun would officially be yours no longer. You could no longer call him anymore in the middle of the night when you felt anxious and needed someone with you to lull you to sleep. You could no longer ask him to be your date to work functions where all your coworkers would showcase their happy relationships. You could no longer be even the tiniest bit selfish and just want to be around him. He no longer needed you, so you had to learn to no longer need him. 

“Hey…” you spoke, opening the door to Jaehyun’s old room, a room filled with so many memories of your childhood. A gasp left your mouth as you saw him in his suit, of course you always thought he was attractive but there was just something about him today that left you speechless. Hearing your voice, he spun around, that all too familiar smile appeared on his face showcasing his dimples as he embraced you in a hug. Oh how you adored his dimples. “Y/N, you’re here.” he spoke almost breathlessly, which confused you slightly. 

“Of course I'm here, I couldn’t miss my best friend’s wedding.” That was the first lie of the day. You had been pondering all night as to whether or not you went, but you know that by not going Jaehyun would have a lot of questions. 

“Still can’t tie a bowtie?” you laughed softly, moving over to help the man out. After a moment of silence you decided to distract yourself from the close proximity that you stood to him. “Are you nervous?” Jaehyun let out a shaky laugh at this as you finished his bow and took a step back.”It’s totally normal to be nervous you know, Jae. You’re getting married!” moving to sit on his bed, you let him keep getting ready as you watched him begin to pace.

“Am I making the right decision, Y/N?” eyes wide, tears begin to brim your eyes as you prepared yourself for the second lie of the day. “Yes, Jaehyun. You’re making the right decision.” Suddenly the bed dipped next to you and Jaehyun’s head was on your shoulder, face burrowed into your neck. Slowly you began to stroke his hair, trying to calm him down as you felt him starting to panic. His head quickly shot off your shoulder as he turned his body to face you. “I don’t think I can marry her. I-I love you, Y/N!”  

“W-what?!” you yelped, quickly standing up and beginning to pace around Jaehyun’s bedroom. You moved back over to Jaehyun and whacked the back of his head. “WHAT THE HECK Y/N?” he rubbed the back of his head which had begun to throb. You turned around fuming and pointed angrily at him “WHAT THE HECK? JAEHYUN, YOU’RE ABOUT TO GET MARRIED!” breaths starting to become short you rushed into Jaehyun’s ensuite bathroom and lock the door. Luckily you had made it into the bathroom before Jaehyun could see the tears fall from your eyes. “Y/N, let me in…” Jaehyun spoke from the other side of the door as you moved towards the sink and splashed your face with some water.

“Y/N…” Jaehyun spoke softly, you could hear him moving to sit with his back against the other side of the door. “Do you really love me Jaehyun?” you spoke wearily, trying not to get your hopes up. You knew it was just his nerves talking but a small part of you was hopeful that he really did return the intense feelings you had for him. A soft chuckle could be heard before Jaehyun replied “Why are you questioning it? We’ve been friends since we were kids, of course I love you.” You let out a bitter laugh at this “I’ve seen love in different forms, Jaehyun. What you feel towards me is familiar love, I’m the safe option…” more tears left your eyes as you began to grasp what was happening.

You sat in the bathroom in silence for a few minutes, silent tears falling as you tried to muffle your sobs. “Do you love me?” Jaehyun spoke breaking the silence, his voice evidently sad. Here came the third lie you would tell today “I loved you. Loved, past tense.” you only hoped that he wouldn’t pick up on you lying through your teeth, but you knew better than that. 

“…Maybe if you looked me in the eyes when you said that, I’d actually believe you.” he choked out. Moving towards the door, you leant your ear against it. Jaehyun at this point had moved away from the door which was your cue to quickly leave the bathroom and his room. Slowly you move your hand towards the handle and open it, but before you could escape Jaehyun had pulled you into a tight hug which you couldn’t break free of. “J-Jaehyun, let me go.” you pleaded, trying to push at his chest to separate the two of you. “Do you love me, Y/N?” Jaehyun asked again, this time he loosened his grip to look at you. 

Mustering as much courage as you could, you look at him with a serious expression “I loved you. Loved, past tense.” the fourth lie of the day. A single tear slipped down Jaehyun’s cheek. Sighing deeply, you pull one of the flowers you had neatly placed in your hair and pinned it to his jacket pocket. “Good luck, I’ll see you out there.” smiling weakly you move out the door. Looking over your shoulder, you watch as Jaehyun inspects the flower. 

A striped carnation.

I’m sorry I can’t be with you, I wish I could. This is what a striped carnation symbolises. I can’t have him. But I can’t stop thinking about him. 

Quickly walking out of the room and down the hallway, you take a moment to support yourself against the wall, “I do love you, Jaehyun. So damn much.”

“Y/n! There you are!” a voice spoke from down the hall as the figure rushed towards you. Quickly wiping your eyes, you came face to face with Johnny, your other best friend. Noticing your tears, he spoke knowingly “He told you didn’t he?” with the single nod of your head, he pulled you into a tight hug. 

“I love him, Johnny.” you begin to sob into his chest as he pulls you down the hallway to somewhere more private, which ended up being his car. “So he told you, huh…” Johnny spoke, before running a hand through his hair and sighing. “You told him you loved him back right?” Johnny asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Shaking your head no you begin to cry more, prompting Johnny to take his handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and hand it to you. “No. Just- just please get me out of here.” nodding his head, Johnny put his seatbelt on. 

“Y/N!” The front door slammed open as Jaehyun yelled after you. “Johnny, please start the car.” Johnny looked between you and Jaehyun before sighing sadly and starting the car. You slump back into the seat, eyes flickering over to the side mirror of the car, heart shattering as you spot Jaehyun standing in the driveway, shoulders slumped and eyes staring longingly in your direction. 

“I can turn the car around...” Johnny spoke softly. You open your mouth about to cave in but were cut off by the buzzing of my phone. 

Jaehyun 💘 I have so much I need to say, please, please come back.

More tears ran down your face as you read the pleading message. “Why’d you do it?” Johnny spoke up, eyes never leaving the road. “Why’d I do what?” you responded, locking your phone and putting it in the cupholder. Ignoring, the continuous flash of your screen which you assumed to be new messages from Jaehyun “Everyone knows you love him back, Why’d you tell him that you didn’t?” Taking a deep breath, you close your eyes. “I never intended to hurt him... but I will not be a homewrecker. I thought that I’d be alright, that I could handle being around Jaehyun. But I underestimated how strong my feelings were…”

“I saw it. The carnation, Y/N. I know what it means...” Johnny spoke sadly, waiting to see how you would react. “It matched his suit, that’s all.” you spoke nonchalantly, pretending your heart wasn’t hurting at the thought of the flower. You thought you could give it to him today and finally be done with your feelings for him, but that’s not what ended up happening.

“Yeah, whatever you say. Are you ready to go to the church?” After driving around for a while, your tears had finally dried. Nodding your head slowly, you lay back in the seat replaying everything that just happened in your head. If only you had told him how you really felt, maybe it would’ve saved the both of you from heartache.

“I can’t do this!” 

Arriving at the church and after a lot of convincing, you finally get out of Johnny’s car. Johnny walked over to you and crossed his arms “What do you mean, you can’t do this?”. Grabbing you by the shoulders he looks you in the eye sternly. “You can do this. You will do this. You said it yourself, Jaehyun deserves to be happy and I know for a fact that he’ll be heartbroken if you’re not inside that church when he gets there.”

Shaking your head stubbornly, you remove his hands from your shoulders and close your eyes briefly before opening them. “Okay.” Gently, you intertwined your hand with Johnny’s and moved into the church, heart breaking with every step you take. 

Not long after, Jaehyun arrived at the church, his eyes immediately scanned the room and stopped on you. He began to quickly move towards you, but was stopped by Johnny who shook his head. “Man, it’s time.” Eyes going wide, Jaehyung moved his gaze over to you before looking over at the pianist who had begun to play the Bride’s entrance song. Nodding his head defeated, he moved to the altar, eyes never leaving your face. 

Hearing the music, reality set in and you began to feel sick as you watched Jaehyun’s bride walk down the aisle. Once she reached Jaehyun, you turned to look over at Johnny and shook your head, mouthing to him “I can’t do this.” Quickly, you stood up and rushed out of the church as quietly as you could. Once you were out the doors you kicked your heels off, leaving them on the hood of Johnny’s car. Not knowing where you were going, you just began to run. Focusing on getting as far away from the church as possible. Tiring quickly, you found yourself on a bench, your ragged breaths forming into hysterical sobs. 

“Y/N?…” a familiar voice spoke gently. Furrowed eyebrows you shook your head, trying to clear your mind. You were just imagining things, Jaehyun was at the church right now probably just about to say ‘I do’.

“Y/N…” a man sat down next to you and wiped your tears, looking up you let out a gasp as you realised that your brain wasn’t playing tricks on you. Jaehyun was really sitting next to you. His hair a bit dishevelled from the wind and his bow that you had tied perfectly hours before loose and untied around his neck. Wiping your eyes you looked at Jaehyun and shook your head disapprovingly “What the hell are you doing here?!” 

“I’m- I…” he let out a defeated sigh and ran a nervous hand through his hair. “I-I know my timing is awful and that you don’t feel the same-“

“I love you too, Jaehyun.” Your sudden words made Jaehyun’s eyes go wide. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. You breathed out, pulling one of the other flowers you had in your hair and twirling it. 

“Jaehyun, you shouldn’t be here…”

Closing his eyes, a single tear slipped down his cheek as he gingerly interlaced his fingers with yours. “I know.” he spoke, taking off his wedding band and twirling it between his fingers.

“Our timing was off.” you spoke, looking ahead at the cars that passed by, trying to focus on not breaking down again. “Yeah.” he replied letting out a bitter chuckle and squeezing your hand. 

You knew the answer to the next question would break your heart, but you still asked it anyway. “Do you love her?” there was a moment of silence before Jaehyun nodded his head yes. You knew deep down that you weren’t fated to be together and there was nothing you could do about it.

“Then that’s all that matters.” you spoke calmly before taking the ring out of Jaehyun’s hand and sliding it back onto his ring finger. 

“But I love you too-” Jaehyun interjected, grabbing your face in his hands. Tears brimming his eyes as he gently caressed your face. Smiling sadly you removed his hands from your face and moved over a bit. “You can’t”. The two of you sat on the park bench in silence, looking ahead at the cars that drove past. 

Oh, what trouble a simple four words could cause. 

[nukyster-blog]

Changing course chapter 15) Revenge is Best Served in a Silver Bowl

.-.-.

Ivar’s restricted life inside the castle walls caused him to lose grip on time. His arrival had been in late summer, but the endless routine of waking, working and sleeping all seemed to morph into one infinite cycle. 

In Kattegat, autumn always dressed herself in the most vibrant hues, her beauty always as surprising as it was bold. Leaves would scatter the woodlands, roam the streets and bless their city with her splendour. Ivar thought back with fondness at how the autumn flooring would crisp and dance underneath his hands. Autumn’s colors would be a red-flag, a warning for winter nearing, but her beauty was always breathtaking. 

In castle de Haar, autumn’s only sign was her coldness; and the deterioration of fresh and nutritious food. Of course Ivar’s lower range would be the first to suffer; as always the richest stayed fat and warm, due to the hard work and suffering of the common folk. 

Besides the cold, there was another change in the atmosphere. Ivar hadn’t been able to place his finger on it, but something was happening inside the castle. In the courtyard, the linen maidens would whisper more cautiously and subdued, the beehive of peasants running amok seemed to have doubled. The Giant’s short fuse had vanished completely and the brute could explode for no reason, making everyone lower in rank, tiptoe on eggshells. 

Piglet knew what was going on and it affected her greatly. She’d skitter over the courtyard like a frightened doe, dark eyes always hastily scanning the crowd. No longer did she allow herself a nap during the Sunday service, in fact, Ivar wondered if the maiden even slept at all. 

On a few occasions, Ivar tried to ask Piglet about her obvious dread, but lacked the proper words. She would meet his stutters with a dull look on her face and stiffened lips, playing the simpleton again. It bothered Ivar, boiled up his frustrations, because he knew she knew that he was trying to be civil by showing her some form of consideration. Instead of being grateful for his efforts, she ignored him, no even worse, made him feel like a fool. 

So after a few attempts, Ivar grew tired and figured out that the source of everyone’s dread would soon reveal itself. 

It did, actually he did. The only fruit from the loins of the Master of de Haar. Their royal blooded son came back home for the winter. 

Of course, this all passed over Ivar’s head, his world was no bigger than the shed, the pigsty and the well. He had missed the arrival of his master's son, but was aware of the major chaos erupting within his small world. 

All of a sudden, his main tasks were swept aside, quite literally. The Giant slapped the bucket out of his hands and before Ivar knew what was happening, his dim world enlarged. Dragged through the side gate, up a few stone steps, kicked through a narrow hall, he was eventually shoved into a chamber; the castle’s kitchen. 

The place was a beehive, maids and servants squirmed around like rats, all dead-set upon fulfilling their duty and tasks. Grease splattered pots and pans were taken and set onto stained counters. Utensils and dried herbs were stored on hooks that hung upon the walls, rows of matching cups lined perfectly on wooden shelves. Unwashed dishes were stacked up high in the corner; where the mice were having a field day. An ancient kettle boiled above a bright fire, filling the room with the mouth-watering smell of pottage stew. 

The Giant smacked Ivar across the face to get his attention. The brute pointed at an imposing bag bursting with potatoes and then got down to his knees in order to chain Ivar to the wall. For a few minutes, Ivar was left unattended and he used that little time to take in his new surroundings. 

Two maidens ruled the kitchens. Ivar named them Big Cunt and Little Cut, because both women had nasty mean streaks. Although Big Cunt was the tallest of the two, it was Little Cunt who was the dominator, as there could not be two captains on a ship.  

Big Cunt was Ivar’s age, a few years older perhaps and a burden on the eye. Her thin petulant face was forced into an ever growing frown which matched well with her whiny voice.

Little Cunt ruled her kitchen with a scepter. Every mistake made by servants, would be punished with a harsh whack of her wooden walking stick. Don’t let her bony arthritic hands fool you, despite her old age, she could hit like a grown man. And with every excuse, her face would prune up like an over ripe apple, bitter and sour. 

For now, both women weren't paying much attention to Ivar, there was enough chaos in the beehive and apparently a lot at stake. 

Through the mass of people, Piglet suddenly stepped into view and took her place next to him, giving him a sympathetic smile before giving him an even greater gift. 

A knife, the foolish girl handed him a knife. It was snapped at the tip, but the rest was sharp. Deadly. After receiving the weapon, Ivar turned into stone, for he could not believe his eyes and Piglet’s stupidity. The girl hummed and started peeling potatoes, oblivious to the natural born killer next to her. Ivar’s eyes focussed on her throat, watching how the young woman’s heartbeat jittered right underneath the skin of her neck. 

If he was to plunge the knife in Piglet’s throat, she’d bleed out within a couple heartbeats. It would make him feel good, there was no denying of that. Since Ivar could not please a woman, he’d fixated his pleasure onto something else; bloodlust. 

Drawing someone’s blood; his pain escaped through theirs. Seeping from their wounds, his rage fled within their hollow screams. In their agony, he’d find his salvation, meeting their pain, it temporarily freed him from the bonds of his useless body. 

Ivar studied Piglet with a predator’s unwavering attention while he held the knife tightly in his fist. It took Piglet four potatoes in to notice Ivar’s cold dead-pan stare and she yelped softly. 

“Ivar?!” She resolutely dropped all her work and clasped her hand over his; bloody and sticky. For a moment, Ivar neither believed his eyes nor mind. Had he wounded someone?

It took him a moment longer to connect the dots, that yes, he’d wounded someone and that someone was himself. As he had clutched the knife, the sharp edge had embedded into his palm.

The possible murder weapon fell onto the floor as a hiss escaped his mouth and Ivar stared at his hand. The crimson fluid ran down his wrist, as a small pool had formed in the palm of his hand. 

“Ivar dumb-dumb,” Piglet sighed shaking her head and dragging his hand slightly to get a closer look. 

As his breath caught in his throat, Ivar allowed her to fix his mistake; she pressed a clean rag on his palm and squeezed his hands shut with her own. Although her skin color was contrasting, her hands matched his roughness.  Like his, her skin told her story of labour and hardships, yet the way she held him was soft and reassuring. 

As if touched by fire, Ivar loosened his grip; the last thing he wanted was to be perceived as weak, and a small cut was no reason to weep or allow consolation over. 

Piglet’s eyes flickered with amusement: “dumd-dumb,” she mumbled and wiped her bloody hands clean on the hem of her underskirt. The congealed red-brown substance, had become caught in the webbing of her fingers. She wore his blood as she continued to pick up her work and started humming; unbothered and unfazed. 

Ivar wondered if her blood was red too, or would it be darker, thicker? He decided that today wasn’t the day he’d find out, and as the pain in his palm lessened, he picked up the knife and started peeling potatoes. 

.-.-.

For the next couple of days, Ivar’s quality of life had changed for the good. Although an undetectable sense of tension lingered in the castle, Ivar considered the overall silent stress as something positive. He no longer had time to tend to the pigs because his new tasks were time consuming. He and Piglet were to be present in the kitchen for various odd-jobs spat by Little Cunt. 

Although Ivar still had no knowledge of Dietsc, Piglet was keen on keeping him well informed of their tasks, not wanting to screw anything up. She enjoyed the change of work too and although both were still outcast and shunned by the rest of the maids, they treasured every moment. 

The time in between courses, the most.

Because in that fraction, the kitchen would be deserted; which meant easier access to proper food.

The first time such a moment occurred, Piglet had bolted through the kitchen to scavenge for a decent meal for two. Ivar was still chained up from the moment he’d entered the kitchen until he left and he’d been over the moon to sink his teeth into a slice of roast beef. Piglet knew her way around, she never picked too much of anything, or misplaced any of the cutlery. She was a proper thief. 

And a dirty avenger, but Ivar had to say he admired her relentlessness. During one of the ‘in between moments’, Piglet motioned for Ivar to watch the door and skillfully reached for a jug from one of the higher shelves. Without a trace of shame, she pulled her skirts up and sank to her knees; pissing into the makeshift chamberpot. 

She then emptied the content in the massive soup kettle and placed the jug back in its place, to then hurry back to her spot next to Ivar.

“You disgusting woman,” Ivar whispered in a mixture of disgust and admiration, then scrunched up his nose and glared at her, “don’t tell me you ever pulled such a trick on me!” 

Although not all the words were comprehensible to Piglet, his disgusted face revealed the essence. A grin spread over her face, wide and open, showing her perfect white teeth. Smug and satisfied, she slumped against the wall and watched how the maidens filled silver bowls with soup. 

“Sköl,” she whispered wickedly and made a humble bow with her head towards the second course meal being served. 

.-.-.

A/N: Ah, they held hands and Piglet might have/might haven’t pissed in Ivar’s food, now if that’s not companionship I don’t know what is! I really like Piglet, she’s definitely in my top 3 OC’s I’ve written. Oh and Ivar is such an interesting character to write about, I really love that I’ve placed him in this terrible situation because it’s a total treat to write about. What do you guys think of ‘my Ivar’ as he’s being thrown into this position of a slave, is he still in character? Love to hear from ya’ll

Xoxoxox Nukyster 

The tagged ones:

@youbloodymadgenius

@xbellaxcarolinax

@saldelys

@shannygoatgruff

@pieces-by-me

@apenas-mais-uma-pessoa

@readsalot73

@lauraan182 @conaionaru

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[writinginthedarkwood]

A Royal Romance <3 Prince! Bakugo x Reader

It’s fluffvember!! I’m not following a prompt list, but if you send me a request for a prompt I’ll do it! No warnings this is just cute!

“If you don’t find a wife soon enough I’ll have to watch your stupid wedding from the grave!” The beautiful Queen whacked her son on the head with her long golden scepter. The fiery young man shot his red eyes up and fumed. Interrupting his training was a sure easy way to get yourself blown up. His shoulders tensed as he dropped the iron anvil he was using to lift over his head and squat. It hit the floor with an incredibly loud bang. He slowly looked back at his also raging mother. He had been trying to ignore her until his last set was done. “Why do you always come in here and nag at me?” He said through grit teeth, knowing better than to raise his voice. Prince Bakugo was known for his fierceness, a well respected warrior that shook both enemies and allies to their very core with one look. The only other person that could ever hold a candle to that kind of fear and respect would simply be the boys mother.

Another smack of the scepter, this time behind the knee, making the prince lose his balance a bit. “What was that for!” He raised a fist to the air and scowled, this time unable to control the volume of his voice. “You’re going to listen politely you little brat!” The young prince growled and laid on his back, looking at the ceiling. He’s had this conversation 100 times, the fight always ends the same way. The truth is, Katsuki had no interest in ever getting married. Romance was always in the back of his head. He’d listen to her bitch and head to his favorite pub to drown out the pressure of fulfilling his royal duties. “I’ve been real nice and patient about this, but you’ve been of age to take a wife for awhile now. You not showing up to that meeting with Princess Uraraka and her family has damaged our relations with them!” She took a deep breath, lowering her voice to try and sound a bit more nurturing. “I worry about you. So I’ve decided to change my approach.”

The blonde lifted his head off of the ground to look at his mothers face. He kept a stoic face, not trusting this new tone.

“You have 30 days to find your own fiance, or you will marry the princess of my choosing 31 day’s from today. You most likely won’t like who I have in mind, so I’d get to searching if I were you.” With that the Queen spun and left on her heel, leaving the prince in a twitching stunned anger.

Prince Bakugo had hardly toweled himself off before heading straight to the pub. The door slammed open and the whole bars atmosphere changed. He stepped in and faces shot down to their drinks, knowing better than to look at the Prince when he was in a bad mood. The bar tender rose a mug of mead above his head with a smile. “Hey your highness! It’s been a minute! I thought maybe you’d forgotten about my humble establishment.” The yellow haired man winked to the new barmaid, he’d bragged to her a lot about knowing the prince ‘like a dear friend’ and the woman’s jaw dropped when she saw that he was telling the truth. The prince settled at the bar on a stool and the bar keep handed him a stein of his favorite beer. “You’re surprisingly quiet, what gives?”

“Not in the mood to talk Kaminari.” He grumbled into his drink and took a long sip. “Where’s shitty hair?”

The bar tender pointed to the corner of the pub with a chuckle. “Oh, Kirishima? I’m kind of surprised, he’s been chatting up a girl for awhile. She looks irritated, she brought a book with her.”

Bakugo turned to see his second in command, his most trusted knight and General sitting across from a commoner girl. Bakugo rolled his eyes and slammed his drink on the counter. Why would the one person I want to talk to busy themselves with someone other than me? He thought to himself with a scowl. Kirishima saw him looking and waved at him to join him. The girl turned her head to look and see who he was waving to and immediately turned pale.

I heard the prince visited here sometimes, but I didn’t think I would actually see him... Panic started to rise in your chest a bit, how did this annoying man know the prince? You had been trying to get out of this conversation for awhile now, you came here to visit your friend while they were working and maybe catch up on your reading. It wasn’t often you had any time off of work, especially during the spring. He was wasting your precious time, but he had wealthy clothing on. You knew better than to talk back to someone who might be a noble, it was easy for people in this town to lose everything just by speaking out of turn. You turned away from the approaching prince and stared back down into your book. You felt his presence just behind you, the aura coming off of him feeling almost poisonous. You had heard the stories, you had seen his soldiers coming back from battle covered in dried blood with sick smiles on their face. “Y/N you have to meet his royal highness, he’s the friend I was telling you about.”

He had been mentioning how his best friend was smart, loyal and handsome. You had been ignoring him, you’d been offered marriage by a few suitors in town. You didn’t understand why, you were under the impression you were plain looking. You didn’t have a lot of assets that a family would be looking for, so why were people harassing me all of the time? You couldn’t breathe, the man Kirishima invited Prince Bakugo to sit with you two. Your brain tried to think of a reason to leave, but your mind seemed to have shut off.

Prince Bakugo was star struck. Never in his entire life had he seen such a naturally lovely lady. Your hair was swept against your face, your eyes glowing with emotion and honesty. So many princesses he had met that were covered head to toe in makeup and restrained to corsets, they always had something hiding behind their faces. Their reasoning for speaking to you layered in greed. Bakugo never interacted with peasants, this bar was upscale, what were you doing here he wondered? “This is Y/N, she works with her family at a stand in town square.” He smiled and touched your hand that was holding your book. You flinched, just lightly but enough that the prince noticed. “Tell him what you sell Y/N.” He nodded, edging you on.

“Y-yes sir.” You stammered. “My father makes hand made daggers... I sell them to travelers.”  You didn’t look either of them in the eye. You were trying to be as polite as possible. “Your highness.” You finished your sentence. Bakugo said nothing for a moment. “Isn’t that interesting, a woman who can read and knows her way around a weapon.” He smirked at you and squeezed your hand he had pulled away from your book. Your hand was shaking violently, you were afraid. If he were to do anything to you, you wouldn’t be able to fight back- your train of thought was interrupted with the princes fist. He flung his hand against the red haired man with a yell. “You idiot! Can’t you see your bothering this lady?” The prince grabbed his friend by the collar of his shirt and dragged him to the counter.

Kirishima smiled, he knew exactly what he was doing. He’d planted the seed of intrigue in his friend, and before long the prince was hooked.

You didn’t go back to the bar, even when your friend invited you. She said the prince had been back to the pub everyday this week, she said he brought so much business in they were running out of mead and cheese! You congratulated her on all of the tip money she was making. Your heart sped up a bit at the thought of the handsome prince. You had caught his eye that day, it was like he stared directly into your heart for a moment as he pulled his friend away.

You stood behind the wooden stand in the spring breeze, the town square was filled with people but not many had stopped by to see your wares. You sold one knife today, and it was worth a pretty penny so you leaned against the counter, reading your book instead of trying to get the attention of the people who passed by.

“Hey! Y/N!” You cringed at that voice, you knew exactly who was calling your name. People parted the way with hurried feet, scurrying to the sides of the plaza. You took a deep breath and looked away from the pages. It was the Knight Kirishima, and he wasn’t alone. He had a whole crew with him, including the moody prince. “Wow you were right Kiri! She is cute.” A gorgeous woman with pink pigment covering her whole body gushed. She had a flowing skirt dyed the brightest green you had ever seen. The crew swarmed your stand, picking up all of your wares and inspecting them. A man with stark black hair slashed at the air with a smaller dagger, the pink girl squealed and dodged his attacks. “Can you two try not to kill each other please?” Kiri called over his shoulders.

Prince Bakugo was trying not to look at your face. He stared disinterested off to the side. “Wow you guys sell good stuff. Your father hand makes all of this?” Kirishima asked picking up the longest knife in the collection and admired it. “What do you think Bakugo?” The prince had his hands in his pockets. He shrugged a bit, and you noticed a light blush forming on his cheeks. He swept his eyes to the side, catching you looking at him and the red on his face deepened. “Uh, yes sir. We have our own forge.” You straightened your skirt out and tried to stand up straight. “That’s amazing. It’s peasants like you that keep our economy thriving!”

Prince Bakugo shot a look of death at his friend and his face twisted in anger. “You shouldn’t call people peasants, you peasant!” He raised his hand to smack his friend, and Kirishima laughed. “Aw come on, you say that all the time!”

By the evening you were left with a heavy bag of gold, and all of your items were gone. The Prince having bought every one in stock without a word.

Your family was ecstatic, you on the other hand were heavily frustrated. Your father bought high quality steel, for managing to sell so well he made you a gift. He made you your very own long sword.

A few days after your second interaction with the Prince gifts were starting to appear at your family home. Your mother almost fainted when a healthy kid and foal were delivered to your doorstep. Bags of wheat, coal and barrels of beer started coming around one after the other. Your mother washed and braided your hair, she sang while she sewed you a new dress. Someone was courting her daughter, and she couldn’t wait to meet the wealthy mystery man. You lied and said you hadn’t had a clue as to who it could be.

You smiled every time another present arrived, faking happiness for your families sake. But by the end of the week, you were fuming angry, unable to mask how upset you were getting. You decided to take some time for yourself.

You’ve been studying months, reading every book on the matter. You had been reading about the art of sword fighting. Your father thought he had made you an heirloom, not a weapon.

You wrapped the blade in a cloth blanket and tightened your boot straps. You needed to vent out you anger, and headed for the woods in the blanket of night time.

You slashed at the branches of this small tree, easily cutting through the thin wood. You smiled to yourself, the way you moved through the air feeling freeing.

The ground trembled, a loud terrible blast made you lose your balance. You looked around, heart stuck in your throat. What was that? A battle? You dipped into the bushes, hiding your body from whatever terrible thing was approaching.

Someones footsteps snapped twigs loudly, but it sounded like they were alone. You saw the flash this time, a bright terrible light followed by a deafening sound. Birds scrambled out of their nests and cawed to the moon as they flew away. Branches flew across the clearing and you peered through the sharp twigs of your hiding place.

It was him, the Prince was pacing back and forth. He raised his hands, sparks flying off of his palms before settling down on a fallen log, looking up at the moon with his back to you.

Did that fool follow me out here? You gripped onto the hilt of your sword and jumped out of the foliage, pointing your weapon at the back of his neck. Pointing a weapon at the royal family would be certain death, but you were tired of being a toy to whatever sick game he was playing. Tears welled in your eyes as you  demanded him to explain himself. He turned his head nonchalantly before realizing it was you. He stood up, his body towering over yours. You gulped, immediately regretting your decision to threaten him. You stood your ground, your voice wavering. “Did you follow me here?” He shouted. You furrowed your eyebrows and lowered your sword. “Follow you? No! You followed me!” You shouted back at the prince. He looked surprised that you would speak to him that way. “I always come out here when I need to think.” He said with a less harsh tone.

“Well...” You thought for a moment. He looked honest enough. “I came out here to think too.” A very small twitch of his lips hinted that this monster might actually know how to smile. It quickly faded. “It’s late, you should be in bed.” He said bluntly. “Shouldn’t you have your gaggle of followers around you?” You hissed, you’re a grown woman. You can make your own choices. He didn’t react harshly like you thought he would. “Yeah well sometimes I just want to get away from all of that.”

“All of what?” You pushed, and he sat back down on the log without answering.

“All of the wealth and fame? Never having to worry about anything ever because people fall on their knee’s when you walk by?” You seethed. You knew in your heart this man had to be selfish, going as far as harassing you with his display of power by drowning you in gifts you could never hope to pay back. “Just because I’m royal doesn’t mean I don’t have shit to worry about.” He said looking up at the sky.

“What are you stressed about anyway? Your family should be set for awhile now.”

You dropped your sword and put yourself in front of him, forcing him to look at you. “I knew it was you! What’s your problem anyway harassing me like that?”

He didn’t answer you. “You have my mother confused. She thinks I have a suitor and is getting all giddy about a non existent wedding.”

He smirked, not looking away from the sky. The moonlight hit his soft skin, you knew he was handsome, but out here he looked breath taking. Bakugo felt the same way about you, hardly able to look at you he tried to avoid eye contact by pretending to star gaze.

“Tell your mother it was just generous gifts. There is a wedding, it’s just not yours.” His heart was pounding in his chest. He hates that you make him feel so vulnerable, everything about you was so frustrating.

“Your getting married? To who?” You sat down beside him and looked up too. You were starting to feel tired, you were usually asleep hours ago. You never really get to admire the night sky like this, you don’t understand why people waste time looking at them when they have to get up for work in the morning.

“I don’t know who it is. My mother picked her out, it’s in about two weeks.” He took a deep breath, not really having the energy to be angry about it right now. “Can I ask you something Y/N?” He looked at the way your eyes twinkled in the dark, seemingly even brighter than anything in the sky. “Go for it... erm, your highness.” You almost forgot to be formal.

“Do you ever feel like you have no control over your life?” He asked plainly. Bakugo didn’t understand why he felt like he could spill anything to you. I mean, it’s not like anyone would believe you had a secret meeting with the princess in the woods anyway. You’d be labeled a liar before the words even made it all the way out of your throat.

You laughed a breathy, sarcastic laugh. “Uh, yeah. You can say that.” You looked at the blade you wouldn’t have without the money the prince spent at your store. “It’s why I want to learn how to fight. It makes me feel... I don’t really know how to explain it.”

A rustle in the bushes behind you too broke the bubble around you two. You had been focused on each other, you forgot you were standing without caution in the middle of wolf country. You grabbed your blade and held it towards the bush, but the Prince shot an arm in front of you. His palms facing outwards. He guarded you from whatever it was that was making so much noise.

An elk head popped out of the tree line, and quickly ran away at the sight of you two.

You both kind of laughed and lowered your fighting stances. “You know that form was all wrong, you really don’t know how to use that thing, do you?” He said with a stoic look and a hint of a growl under his breath. “Hey! Not all of us can use magic to fight. Where did you learn to make those blasts anyway?” You grabbed his hand and turned it around. His hands are incredibly soft, they kind of shown in the dark. You expected them to be callused and dirty, but even his nails were clean.

“I mean, I could teach you how to use that sword if you want.” You looked at his face and tried not to blush. “You want to teach me?” The kindness in his eyes didn’t fade, but his tone went back to being harsh. “I just don’t want you to get yourself killed out here is all. It would make me look bad if you died.” You couldn’t help but smile.

Every night you two met under the stars, you slept against your stall during the day. You waited until your parents fell asleep before creeping out of the door, your feet hitting the dirt path to the clearing with a giddy smile.

You two spilled how you felt about life out here alone. He told you about battles he had seen, claiming to have even run into a dragon once. He learned fighting tactics from studying the big creatures, never tempted to slay them. You always had heard he was a terrible and ruthless warrior, but he only fought against the most wicked of kingdoms. He didn’t even hunt for sport, only ever killing the forest creatures for food. You told him about wanting to travel the world, leaving your family and getting a job as maybe a mercenary. All while avoiding getting cut by the other one.

“So I’ve been meaning to ask you...” You ducked, his blade whipped over your head, slicing threw a piece of your hair. You swung out your leg, hitting his shin. He staggered for a moment but didn’t lose his balance. Just giving you enough time to stand up. “Just say it then!” He side stepped, his blade clashing with yours in defense. “Have you met your future wife yet?” He froze and you knocked his sword out of his hand. You swung hard expecting resistance, and lost your footing. You toppled onto him, knocking you both onto the ground. His back hit the dirt and you both lost your wind. You picked your head up, his face was burning. Your breasts were squashed onto his chest and he could see down your blouse. You squeaked and rolled off of him, and now your face was blushing terribly as well. “Sorry- I’m sorry!” You stammered. “I was just wondering what was going to happen... I mean after your married you probably won’t be able to uhm...” You looked at the discarded weapons. “Yeah it might be a bad look if I was secretly meeting another woman in the woods at night...” Your heart twinged. You had never told him, but the past two weeks have been the best in your life. You know you’ll miss having a sparing partner, but it felt deeper than that.

“This is probably the last night I’ll see you then, isn’t it Katsuki?” You said with a low voice. You rolled onto your back, laying beside him and looking up at the full moon. He said nothing, he had almost forgotten his mothers promise. Spending time with you made him forget about all the things he hated, he felt... happy when he was with you. Your smarter, kinder, funnier and braver than any other woman he’d ever met. He even asked you to drop the formalities, begged you to call him by his first name without any “your highness” attached.

“I guess it is. Tomorrow my time is up.” He finally muttered.

You took a chance and reached for his hand, he didn’t recoil. His fingers interlocked with yours, you laid a foot away, he held onto your hand tightly. You were so close to him, laying right by his side.

Yet the two of you felt so far away.

“What are you so dressed up for?” Prince Bakugo was trying to comb his hair down in front of his mirror. His mother wasn’t wearing anything special, of course her simple clothing was still lavish. He didn’t yell. “I mean I should look good for my wedding shouldn’t I?”

The Queen took a moment to realize what he was talking about. “Oh! Yeah...” She put her hand on his shoulder and the prince turned to see his mothers eyes looking kind. “You really didn’t meet anyone this month that would make a better wife, my son?”

You flashed in his head. Of course it was you, the minute he saw you sitting in that stupid pub you had worked your way in his guarded heart. “No, just point me to the direction of my new ball and chain.” He said quietly.

The Queen laughed and Bakugo narrowed his eyes. “There’s no wedding today, Katsuki.”

“What do you mean?” He yelled, his hands sparking like he might throw a punch. “I was trying to get you to put effort into finding love. You weren’t letting anyone near that spikey little heart of yours.”

“You tricked me?!” He raged. The Queen yelled back. “Don’t you raise your voice at me, brat!” She composed herself and straightened out her posture. “It worked though didn’t it? Where’s the little forest nymph you’ve been trying to hide from me?”

“What are you talking about?” Bakugo stuttered. Surprised to hear she would mention you. “Oh go ahead and pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about... I got eyes and ears on you boy!”

Bakugo knew to hit Kirishima as hard as he could when he saw him next.

The Queen turned on her heel and walked towards the door. “If I met a common girl in the woods... I’d tell her how I feel before it was too late.” She stopped at the door frame. “Especially if that common girl loved me back, and I was just too stupid to notice.”

She shut the princes bedroom door, leaving him to think alone.

The evening was falling and the sky was turning a beautiful hue of red and orange. You looked at your sword leaning against the wall covered in it’s cloth. Your mother stirred a big pot of soup, humming happily to herself. Your father peered over his mug of warm cider and caught the distant look in your eye. “My sweet daughter, you’ve been so happy this month. Why do you have that forlorn face again?”

You forced a smile on your lips. “Oh I was just thinking father. I’m perfectly fine!” You turned back towards the window. You wondered if his new wife was as beautiful as you were picturing. If she had perfectly kept hair, clear skin... If she had gorgeous fashion and grace. If she knew all of his secrets like you did... if she loved the way he laughed manically with his whole belly as he reenacted blowing that war lord away. Or if she thought he was a barbarian... Your stomach turned and tears stung behind your lashes. What if he saw her and forgot all about you so quickly it was like you never met?

“I think I’m tired, don’t make me a bowl momma I’m going to just go lay down.”

You stood away from the window and headed for your small bedroom, just hoping to lay down under your quilt and silently cry for awhile. Why would I let something like this happen to me? I’m such a fool. You cursed at yourself.

“What’s going on outside?” Your father asked your mother before you left your little living area. You turned and watched your mother gasp and drop her spoon into the pot of hot liquid. A line of horses traveled up the stone path to your cottage. They carried the royal flag, you saw him in his full military uniform on top of a large black stallion. He was with all of his friends, Kirishima, rode right beside him in plated armor. They were coming fast. “Oh goodness, are we in trouble? The royal army is here!” Your mother grabbed your father out of his chair and pulled him away from the windows. “No, no its okay poppa. Stay here...” You pushed open your door and met them outside. Bakugo hopped off of his horse by standing on its back and launching himself in the air. He’d done that flip for you before and laughed when you tried to copy him, falling flat to your knee’s on the ground.

He grabbed your hands and you two embraced. His arms wrapped around your waist and you threw yours around his neck. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at your wedding?” You asked unable to hide the smile on your face, even though you’re confused. “Listen I never told you the whole truth about my wedding.” He looked sheepish. “There was a catch, I had to marry someone my mother chose, or find my own love within the month.” He started to ramble, throwing out how he couldn’t think about anyone other than you, that nobody in this world was like you. You giggled. “Katsuki, what are you saying?”

He stopped his word vomit and looked at you with determined eyes. “I’m saying that I know who I want to spend my life with.”

The prince knelt down on one knee and pulled out a golden band. “It has to be you, Y/N. I- I love you...” He slipped the ring on your finger. “I don’t expect you to be subservient like a slave, we can travel the world and fight together.. you’ll be my fearless Queen and-” You lunged at the nervous prince and tackled him to the ground. “Yes you idiot! Yes!”

Your mother and father cheered from the door way, along with all of his knights yelling behind you two. He grabbed both sides of your face and planted a hard kiss on your lips.

You closed your eyes, forgetting everything around you for a moment. All you felt was his lips against your own. The fog in your head moved quickly, clearing away all of the feelings of doubt and repressed emotions.

You could finally see the stars clearly, and they spelled out the truth.

You two were made for each other.

Thank you so much to my very favorite requester.

My asks are always open <3

My ko-fi account -> https://ko-fi.com/writinginthedarkwood

[bambigoose]

Master Manipulator

Kelhani was freezing, its four degrees out in Toronto today and it didn’t matter how tightly she wrapped herself up nothing was generating more heat for her. A vast jump from the sixty four degrees it was when she left Cape Town, South Africa yesterday afternoon. Her internship with Apex Shark Expeditions had kept her halfway around the world for the past six months. Currently the sharks have migrated out of the area for the next few months and Chris her internship overseer gave them free reign to work from wherever they’d like for the next two months as long as they had the research completed for their due dates and were present at the weekly meetings over skype. This was going to mean a few nights of waking up at three am for a skype call, but she got to come home for a bit so it was worth it. Besides, there were days she was walking up at three am to head out on the boat, skyping would be easy.

Waiting for the crosswalk to change, she chuckled to herself. Looking up ahead she could see Stephanie jumping up and down attempting to use Mitch’s shoulder as support in an attempt to spot her. Having stopped to do an errand before meeting up with them, Kelhani was approaching from a different direction. Hearing the beeping of the light change she proceeded across the street weaving in and out of people in a desperate attempt not to be noticed. Clumsily tripping over her own two feet she was forced to admit walking like a normal person may be in her best interest.

“Mitch do you see her?” Stephanie asked as Kelhani approached. The petite blonde kept leaping into the air using Mitch’s shoulder for balance and lift like it’ll make her see further up the street.

Mitch was sputtering, moving his girlfriend’s hair out of his face, “Babe, I can’t see anything through your hair.” He laughed. On her next landing, Stephanie punched Mitch in the arm with a soft thump.

“Hey now, don’t injure the super star Steph, the entire city might come after you.” Kelhani said wrapping her arms around both of them from behind. She was pretty sure the warning did nothing to help. Stephanie shrieked before throwing herself into her, arms flailing, and whacked poor Mitch right in the nose.

“IMISSEDYOUSOMUCH,YOU’RENEVERALLOWEDTOLEAVELIKETHATAGIAIN.” Spewed out of Stephanie’s mouth in one breath, her face turning red towards the end of it.

Kelhani laughed, “You have two months before I have to take off again.” while dipping out of Stephanie’s arms to hug Mitch properly too. Despite his calm demeanor the second the opening presented itself Mitch had her in the air spinning around and giggling like a little child.

Stephanie beamed seeing her best friend and boyfriend get along so well. Kelhani and she met the summer they both turned six. After years of supporting each other, sleepovers, joint family vacations, graduations, and break ups they’d remained incredibly close despite all of their differences. Their relationship was put to the test when they elected to attend different colleges, Kelanhi leaving to attend the University of Pensacola in Florida while Stephanie remained in Toronto. Previously, she stressed herself almost to the point of sickness over Mitch and Kelhani meeting for the first time. It turned out to be completely unneeded. The two of them had been talking through the Whatsup App without her knowing once their relationship had reached the six month mark. She almost dropped to the floor when Mitch ran through the apartment to greet his “second girlfriend” when they got home from the airport. Now, she fights with her own boyfriend for time with her best friend during their visits.

“Can you even breathe in all these layers? Mitch quipped, dropping Kelhani back on her feet.

Looking down at her down jacket, with a north face and a sweater on underneath it, her scarf kept inching up her face forced by the jacket and mittens covered her hands. “My blood thinned out okay! It’s freezing out here.”

Stephanie laughed, linking her arm through Mitch’s left while he reached out linking his right arm with Kelhani. “Let’s get the beach bum inside.”

Mitch started walking leading the girls through the crowds toward their lunch destination while Kelhani leaned forward to look at both of them, “Should we start skipping and singing we’re off to see the wizard?” She smiled as her two best friends laughed, she was home and this moment made freezing her ass off worth it.  

….

Lunch with Mitch and Stephanie was always an adventure is the best way to describe it. Entering the restaurant they bicker over who got to sit next to her.  Mary, their usual waitress at the diner rolled her eyes when they entered, used to the bickering of the couple. Kelhani greeted the sixty-six year old waitress with a hug. Their pseudo grandmother catching up with her quickly as Mitch attempted to rant with arms waving that it was the quality of the friendship not the length that should dictate seating privileges. Both of them were so engrossed in their argument, neither noticed Kelhani  and Mary walk over to the round corner booth for about five minutes. “Where’d Kel go?”

“She decided she interfered too much in your relationship and elected to go home.” Mary responded, eyes narrowing at the pair from behind the counter.

“Look what you did.” Stephanie whacked Mitch with the back of her hand in the chest.

“What I did? I called her mid walk! You just didn’t like that I did it before you!” Mitch lightly hip checked Stephanie to emphasize his point.

Mary looked ready to interject before Kelhani called from the back, “You two are the least observant people I know!”

Whipping their heads around like excited Golden Retrievers hearing a treat bag being opened, they both beamed seeing Kelhani straw in mouth sucking down on a chocolate mint milkshake with their favorite flavors on either side of her. A moment later, Kelhani had to wonder if this is what it felt like to be running with the bulls. Mitch and Stephanie took off in her direction, bumping each other out of the way and knocking into booths before finally sliding into her on either side with enough force to cause her to spill part of her milkshake.

Mitch ignored Kelhani’s pout, reaching over her for the menu, “Why do you even bother looking? We get the same thing every time.” Stephanie leans forward grabbing the menu out of Mitch’s hand causing Kelhani to jolt her milkshake again.

“What if they have good specials today?”

If looks could kill Mitch would be dead, the city of Toronto would be in mourning, and Kelhani would have lost her Canadian citizenship. Whipping up the third milkshake spill of the day, “You two do realize you are why we can’t have nice things, right?”

Mary came to the rescue with a new milkshake as the couple cringed. She smirked and looked directly at Kelhani for an answer. “The usual sweethearts?”

Mitch eagerly leaned forward, “Well, if I could look at a menu…”

He was interrupted as Kelhani placed her hand on his face and pushed him back fully into the seat. “Yes please ma’am.” With a glare to either side of her, “The children are going to behave or we’ll be getting out of your hair.”

“WE’RE NOT CHILDREN!”

“Experience suggests differently you two.” Kelhani chuckled as they both attacked her sides. It was good to be home.

….

It was not good to be home. Mitch and Stephanie surprised her with a “small” house party they were throwing that night, which she absolutely had to come too because “we’ve missed you so much and it wouldn’t be right to do this without her.” The two of them had taken off to different areas and she was surrounded by Maple Leafs and their families who she had never met. A truly excellent way to make her anxiety feel like it was suffocating her while she contemplates how to leave without upsetting Mitch and Steph. Feeling the pressure building in her chest and finding an open route out onto the balcony Kelanhi attempted to make her escape.

Halfway across the room she collided into a brick wall, a quick sorry and a glance told her it had been Freddie Andersen. Her squeaky apology and accidental bumping pushed the anxiety almost into a full blown attack. She rushed towards the balcony missing the equally as quiet “it’s okay” and concerned look instead focusing on opening the door with the next to impossible to use handles.

Her breathing increased, almost gasping as she continued to struggle with the handle. The room appeared to be getting louder and louder while spinning the more she struggled before suddenly it was cut off. A large hand covered hers and pushed the handle opening the doors while barricating her with their body and shuffling forward out onto the balcony. Kelanhi braced herself on the railing and looked out over the Toronto skyline. Closing her eyes and breathing deeply, she took a moment to reorient herself and calm her body down before turning to look at the quiet presence off to her side.

Freddie was leaning on the corner of the balcony, looking out of the skyline while subtly looking out of the corner of his eyes at her. A loud exhale left Kelhani and Freddie turned to face her, leaning his hip against the railing. “Mitch’s place is too small for this many people…” he utters to her quietly.

A surprised gawf left Kelhani, her eyes rolling. “Don’t go telling him that.”

“I can go tell him we’re both leaving? Bulldoze our way to the door.” he suggests with a smile, Stephanie’s fairy lights twinkling in his eyes. Kelhani returned the smile with a slight nod of relief. “Of course I’ll need something for it.”

“And what’s that?”

“How about dinner? Don’t think I didn’t see you avoid all of the healthy apps too.”

For the second time in under two minutes another surprised gawf left Kelhani. “Who knew you were such a master manipulator Mr.Andersen.”

“Gotta keep people on their toes.”

Three minutes later as the two left the door. Mitch leaned over to Stephanie, “Your planned worked perfectly.”

“Well obviously, we gotta figure out a way to make sure she comes back here after her internship. Unless of course you’re looking for a trade.”

“Let’s just keep manipulating our friends.” Mitch laughs pulling her close in a celebratory hug.

[ggukcangetit]

Dreamcatchers Chap 3

Pairing: jungkook x oc

Synopsis: DI Jeon didn’t need a new partner. Unfortunately, his superiors felt otherwise; especially considering the extremely high-profile murder that had just taken place in the port city. Recent transfer, DI Choi Yuri finds herself confronted with a new cityscape, unfamiliar people, a hostile partner, and a homicide that is certain to bring back unpleasant memories.

Genre/AU: fluff/action/mystery | detective! au | police!jungkook, police!oc

Word Count: 4.1k

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: mentions of violence, alcohol, blood, drugs, death. Basically stuff you’d associate with a murder mystery/crime drama

Previous: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Acknowledgement: shoutout to @stutterfly​ for designing this beautiful banner which i am completely in love with and stare at for no particular reason throughout the day

A/N:  reminding everyone that this story features a named oc because i’m still very unfamiliar with writing second person reader inserts. i’m not aiming for strict accuracy in this story, and all criminal investigation/forensics knowledge i have has been gathered by watching crime drama/procedural dramas! my knowledge of geography is also not totally accurate so apologies for that. once again, one thing right by @hobios​ prompted me to write a police inspector! jungkook story. would highly recommend reading that because it’s probably one of my most favorite pieces of writing!

18th December

Ahreum parked her motorbike outside the bakery and checked her phone for messages. There were none. This wasn’t unusual in itself, except for the fact that she had been supposed to meet him 2 hours ago at the other end of town. Which meant that he was hiding from her. 

“Where is he?” she asked, walking up to the counter and heaving a tired sigh.

Seokjin pressed his lips together, trying to suppress the grin that was threatening to break out. Ahreum was definitely a force to be reckoned with - usually bright and overflowing with energy, there was only one situation that caused the optimist in her to hurtle towards a speedy demise. 

“Can I interest you in some raspberry choux au craquelin?” He picked up a tray with freshly baked pastry and waved it enticingly in front of her.

“This doesn’t work on me, Seokjin. Although-” she picked up a few and wrapped them in some paper napkins - “I’m sure Yuri would love to try these. Now, where is he?”

Seokjin sighed and took off his apron. “He’s in the room right at the back where I do the accounts.”

Ahreum sighed and walked around the back of the counter, heading towards the rooms at the back of the bakery. Seokjin had three areas at the back - his kitchen (really no one other than him was allowed in here), the store room (which was way too small to fit even one full grown person in it), and the accounts room (where a certain someone had taken to hiding whenever things got a little too difficult). 

And sure enough, a mop of curly black hair was visible from the door to the accounts room. On any other day, Ahreum would’ve found his shenanigans extremely hilarious; but she was really not in the mood for any silly games today.

“You were supposed to meet me two hours ago.” Her voice was soft but it still made him jump up and nearly knock over the PC he had been fidgeting with. 

“Fuck!” he gasped. “What the hell? I nearly died!”

Ahreum rolled her eyes as she helped him up. “Don’t be dramatic, Tae. It’s really not as attractive as you think.”

Be that as it may, there was not much that could be considered unattractive on Kim Taehyung. He was somewhat of a social media celebrity thanks to the aesthetically taken pictures of his undoubtedly handsome face - all of which Ahreum had taken. In fact, when Ahreum had shown Yuri some of the pictures from her instagram page, she had gasped rather loudly.

“He’s literally a piece of art!”

“I mean, yes, he’s definitely conventionally attractive,” conceded Ahreum, a little annoyed that her photography was almost completely being ignored. “But what do you think of the pictures?”

“‘Conventionally attractive’? Is that the best you can do with your Literature & Creative Writing degree?”

Ahreum peered over his shoulder to see what he was working on so intently, only to find that he was-

“Playing a game?? You ditched me to play a fucking PC game?” she gasped, whacking his shoulder hard. “What the hell is wrong with you, Kim Taehyung?!”

“No!” He held his hands up to protect himself from further blows. “I just started playing a few minutes ago! I swear!”

“Why’d you ditch, then?”

“Because…” he trailed off, looking away guiltily. That, in essence, was the entire problem regarding Kim Taehyung. He ran at the sight of any kind of responsibility or hard work. Correction - any kind of hard work that wasn’t related to his hobbies. 

“You were supposed to finish reviewing company policies today so that you wouldn’t be unprepared when you meet your dad tomorrow.”

“I know.” He looked downcast, switching off the PC monitor. “I just-”

“If this isn’t what you want to do, you should just tell them.” Seokjin walked into the room, untying his apron carefully. 

“I don’t know,” sighed Taehyung. “I’m not sure if this is what I want to do, but I don’t know what else I could possibly do. I’m not like you.”

“You don’t have to be like me, Taehyung,” sighed Seokjin. 

Taehyung let out a humorless laugh. “Eomma and Appa sure are trying their damned best that I do become like you. At least, like you till you ran away.”

Seokjin snorted. “They’re tenacious, if nothing else.”

“Are you ever gonna come home?” asked Taehyung, looking up for the first time.

“No.”

This had never been an easy topic of discussion. Mr. and Mrs. Kim were owners of the largest financial consulting firm in Busan. They were well-liked in society and highly respected for their unusually ethical business practices. So it was a huge shock when their elder son - who had gotten an MBA and possessed all the qualities of heading a large company - had left home suddenly, leaving only a single note.

This is not the life for me. I have dreams of my own. I don’t think I can stay in touch. Please forgive me. 

There were many tears shed, but recovery was quick as a new successor had to be found. Thus, the Kims’ younger son - the one who had lived a charmed and carefree life while his brother learned about business techniques and the history of the company - was suddenly thrust into the front line. 

Naturally, when Taehyung had run into his brother a few miles outside of the metropolitan, running a cozy bakery, he had been less than thrilled. Ahreum still remembered the angry tears that had rolled down her friend’s usually cheerful face. Seokjin, on the other hand, looked so conflicted that Ahreum thought he might just combust on the spot. It had taken a few weeks, but the brothers had eventually reconciled. Taehyung had made a deal with his parents - he would attend all meetings and grooming lessons as long as he was allowed to live somewhere else. And that somewhere else happened to be Seokjin’s small, but tastefully done up, apartment. 

Taehyung usually had 4 meetings in a week; all ending by 4 pm so that he could drive home before nightfall. The rest of the days, he was free to do whatever he pleased. This arrangement had worked well for almost 3 months, but Taehyung’s free-spirited nature could only hold out for so long. He had been reaching meetings late, forgetting to complete paperwork, and even sneaking out early if he could manage it. Seokjin had requested Ahreum to make sure his younger brother attended all his meetings because he was always managing the bakery at those times. Seokjin himself made sure that Taehyung didn’t forget to do any of the work that had been assigned to the younger boy during his meetings. 

Today, however, Ahreum realised that her friend was at his breaking point. He had done everything in his power to avoid her so that he wouldn’t have to prepare for the meeting. Not just that, Seokjin-

“Why’d you let him hide here?” Ahreum turned towards the older Kim brother, her hands on her hips - a sure sign that her patience was running thin. “After the dozens of lectures you gave me about making sure he’s doing what he’s supposed to, you go ahead and help him play hooky? What the hell, Seokjin?”

Seokjin didn’t know how to explain to her that he felt guilty. Guilty that his younger brother was suffering like this, guilty that his parents were so desperate that they had decided to entrust the future of the company to a young boy who had missed his final university exam because he had found a stray puppy during his morning cycle rides (and had promptly decided to adopt it). But Seokjin couldn’t leave behind his dream - his resentment towards his family had been growing with each passing year, and the drastic move and change in communication had been a desperate attempt to stop himself from hating his family forever. Caught between doing right by his own self and by his parents and younger brother, Seokjin often questioned if any of this was worth it. 

But rather than explain all this to his brother’s friend - who had pinned him with a rather glowering look - he did what he always did in difficult situations. He avoided answering directly and used humor to deflect everything.

“I was cleaning up your mess, unfortunately. I’m not the one who lost him during a fixed study session, Ahreum. You should be thanking me,” he grinned, dodging the pencil Ahreum threw at him. “But since I’m such a generous, handsome, charming, and talented individual, I’ll let it slide and pack two large boxes of pastries for you to take home. One for your friend and the other for Namjoon. No charge, it’s on the house.”

Ahreum rolled her eyes while Taehyung giggled at his brother’s speech. 

“I’d better get 4 large iced teas along with the pastries,” she said, finally relenting. Seokjin winked at her and went back to the front of the store to get everything prepared.

“I’m sorry for ditching you,” Taehyung said softly, his black curls falling over his eyes. “It won’t happen again, I promise.”

“Maybe we should try and figure out a different system. How many more of these meetings and lessons do you need to attend, anyway? Why don’t you ask your parents if you can reduce the number of meetings in a week?”

“I guess I could,” he replied, thoughtfully. “By the way, did you see Jimin on your way here?”

Ahreum shook her head. “Nope. Was I supposed to have?”

“No… it’s just that-” he checked his phone absentmindedly. “He hasn’t been answering any of my calls or texts since last night.”

“Since when does Park Jimin start his day before 3 pm?” scoffed Ahreum. “He’s probably hungover at some girl’s apartment.”

 “Aw come on, Ahreum. He’s been so much better recently,” whined Taehyung. “And I’m not saying that just because he’s my best friend. He barely parties anymore - unless it’s a business appointment. He’s been helping his dad with the business as well. Unlike me, he actually goes to work 5 days a week.”

“Wow, let’s give him a medal for doing the bare minimum.” 

Seokjin appeared at that moment, holding two bulging pastry boxes and a cup holder with 4 cups of iced tea.

“Tell Namjoon to drop by sometime, or that’s the last eclair he’ll be seeing!” he yelled as Ahreum strapped on her helmet and bade goodbye.

xxx

Jeongguk sat at his desk, his mind straying to that night in November. He could clearly recall the murder - the young woman on the ground, blood leaking from the multiple stab wounds all over her abdomen. She lived on part-time jobs, her demeanour quiet and unassuming as recounted by the handful of employers who had managed to recall her face. It was not surprising that she did not have too many possessions of her own, her life neatly tucked away into a one-room storage on the ground floor of a run-down building. But it wasn’t all of this that kept distracting Jeongguk from almost everything in his life - it was the picture of a three year old girl, the only evidence of life in the entire room, smiling brightly at her mother. The mother who lay in a pool of her own blood, and the little girl who had been missing since that day. 

“The ramen’s gone cold? Things must have really changed since I last saw you, Jeongguk.”

Jeongguk turned around at the sound of a familiar voice, his eyes lighting up in surprise.

“Yoongi? What are you doing here?” he asked, getting up and hugging his friend. “Why aren’t you in Seoul, putting bigwigs behind bars?”

“Let’s get some lamb skewers. My treat.” Jeongguk grinned at the suggestion, the grisly murder and the missing girl temporarily forgotten.

20 minutes later, they were sitting at a hole in the wall diner that Jeongguk hadn’t been to since he had been promoted to Detective Inspector. 

“Are you telling me that our own Min Yoongi is now a father? The same guy who instilled fear in the hearts of the juniors by narrowing his eyes at them?” 

Yoongi laughed, his gummy smile appearing for the first time. “She’s almost 4 weeks old. Sometimes I’m not even sure if she’s real. But then Eunbi puts me on diaper duty and there’s no way that smell can’t be real.”

“Knew she was something special the day she called you out on your bullshit,” grinned Jeongguk. “The famous Min Eye Narrowing technique didn’t work on her.”

“Yeah, she told me to stop pulling all-nighters and get a new prescription from my eye doctor,” recalled Yoongi, adjusting his glasses. “Turns out the famous Min Eye Narrowing technique was just plain old myopia.”

“But enough about me,” he continued, once Jeongguk had stopped laughing. “Why was that ramen sitting out and getting cold?”

Normally, Jeongguk wouldn’t discuss the details of a case with anyone else. But Yoongi wasn’t just anyone - they had trained at the same police academy in Seoul and the older boy had quickly understood that 18 year old Jeongguk wasn’t a standoffish troublemaker; just extremely homesick. Even after Jeongguk had moved back to Busan, he and Yoongi still kept in touch with each other, no matter how sporadic.

Jeongguk sighed and explained the details of the November case. “I just can’t let it go. Where is that little girl? We haven’t found a body either - so there’s a chance she might still be alive. It’s just- I think I’m going crazy.”

“I understand,” said Yoongi, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “That pathetic partner of yours can’t be of much use either, I’m sure. Still don’t know how they promoted Song to Detective Inspector. I’ve always maintained that he’s one shot away from becoming an alcoholic.”

“Well you weren’t wrong,” said Jeongguk, with a resigned chuckle. “They relieved him of his duties a couple of months ago.”

“Oh? Who’s your new partner then?”

“Some annoying Captain America wannabe,” grumbled Jeongguk. It was a well-known fact that he was a huge Iron Man fan and had not appreciated the ending of Civil War. “Choi Yuri - she’s from Seoul.”

“Choi Yuri?!” asked Yoongi, his eyes widening comically. “Your new partner is Yuri??”

“You know her?” asked Jeongguk, frowning.

“Of course I know her! We worked together for almost 3 years!” exclaimed Yoongi. “Wait, why’d you call her a Captain America wannabe? You hate Steve Rogers.”

“I do not hate Steve Rogers. I hate Captain America. There’s a difference.”

“Still doesn’t explain why you don’t like Yuri.”

“She’s too by-the-book.” Jeongguk frowned, his fingers twirling the chopsticks absentmindedly. “Perfect first impression, perfectly friendly to everyone, perfectly punctual; Goh absolutely loves her. I’m sure she’ll get in the way of the investigation because of her need to follow procedure to the t.”

Yoongi frowned. “That... doesn’t sound like her. I mean, she’s definitely punctual but she’s never made a great first impression. She usually comes off as reserved, aloof - haughty even.”

“Maybe she’s changed,” shrugged Jeongguk, not particularly interested in the personality changes of his new partner.

“She has. I didn’t think that incident would have affected her like this. But…” Yoongi trailed off, staring at nothing in particular.

“What incident?”

“The reason she was transferred from Seoul. Hasn’t she told you?”

“No.”

“I don’t know if I should…” muttered Yoongi, his face reflecting his inner conflict. “But if knowing the truth makes it easier for you two to work together, then…”

Jeongguk frowned, wondering what exactly the big mystery was.

“We were investigating a homicide and it led us to a very high profile family in Seoul. It was quite clear that the eldest son was involved in the murder. I was Chief Inspector at that time, and we were getting a lot of pressure from above to wrap up the case without involving the family. But Yuri was determined to pursue the investigation. She had even rented an apartment closer to work so that she could devote more time to the case. One night, when she got back to her apartment, someone attacked her. It was quite brutal and she needed a couple of surgeries and two months of therapy after that. We eventually had to drop the case against the eldest son. Right after that, Yuri got her transfer letter. I didn’t know she had been transferred here, otherwise I would’ve told you about her. She’s a smart detective, Jeongguk. Just try and work with her. Maybe she needs some time to adjust to getting back to work after that entire fiasco.”

Jeongguk was stunned. He would never have thought Yuri had gone through something so traumatic if Yoongi hadn’t told him. Her outward demeanour hinted at nothing of the sort, and he felt a small bubble of guilt forming in his stomach.

xxx

Yuri sat at her desk, going over the autopsy report for the twentieth time. There were no leads (other than a very uncooperative Park Jimin), no physical evidence, no concrete motive - things were looking increasingly hopeless. On top of that, she still had to contend with an asshole of a partner. 

“Yuri?” Seulgi ran up to her desk, slightly out of breath. “Where’s Jeon?”

“Dunno,” she shrugged. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“I think we may have something.” Seulgi pulled up a chair and sat down beside her. “After the autopsy concluded that Eunwoo hit his head after being pushed, I wondered if there was a proper fight preceding that. So I examined his clothes and hands once again - to try and find any evidence of a scuffle. And I did. There was dried blood, not a lot, put enough for me to run a test on it. And you know what I found?”

“It wasn’t Eunwoo’s blood.”

“Exactly. Which means...?”

“It might be from the person who fought with and then shoved him to his death.”

“Unfortunately, the blood on the sleeve doesn’t belong to anyone in the system so I would need a sample to test it against.” Seulgi waved a hand in front of Yuri, trying to get her attention.

“Oh yeah… Sorry. Yeah, a blood sample. Our only suspect right now is Park Jimin. But we let him go yesterday because we didn’t have anything concrete to hold him.”

Seulgi frowned. “So what are you waiting for? Ask him to come in and provide a blood sample.”

“It’d be completely voluntary, though. He has every right to refuse,” said Yuri, closing her eyes in frustration. She had a feeling there was no way Park Jimin would cooperate with her now when he had blatantly refused to provide an alibi earlier. 

“I know you’re new here, Yuri,” said Seulgi. “But Jimin’s an asshole. Everyone knows that. He’s evaded the law so many times because his father has the best lawyers on his payroll. That’s why he’s not in the system even though he deserves to be - he’s bought his way out multiple times.”

“You really don’t like him, do you?” asked Yuri, genuinely curious.

Seulgi’s body stiffened at the question and she stood up suddenly. “I’m just stating facts. I don’t know him personally.” 

Yuri could see that she had touched a nerve. “I’ll try and get him to give a blood sample. How long would you need to run the test?”

“I can have it done the same day if I get the sample early enough.”

Yuri pocketed her phone and keys, swiping the half-empty bottle of water from her desk, and walked towards the exit. Her mind was thinking of how exactly she could convince Park Jimin to willingly provide a blood sample. Try as she might, she couldn’t shake off the wariness she felt around young sons of influential businessmen and politicians. She no longer knew what the right step forward should be in an investigation. Something that was instinctive and almost second-nature to her, had been robbed from her and she had no idea how to get it back. Her continuous second-guessing would eventually show in the investigation, and she had no doubt that Jeon would jump at the chance to expose her inadequacies. Once again, she felt alone and vulnerable; somehow trying to survive while her weaknesses were laid bare for anyone to pick at. She had never felt this powerless since graduating from the academy.  

In her distracted state, Yuri almost ran into heavy incoming traffic. Almost. Fortunately, someone grabbed a hold of her and yanked her back by her elbow before she could become roadkill.

“Oh my god! Thank you so much! I-I wasn’t looking where I was-” she stopped short as she realized who had pulled her back to safety.

“Yoongi?!”

“Don’t sound so surprised. I’m not the one who was heading directly into peak traffic,” said Yoongi, rolling his eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah I’m fine,” she said, still trying to process everything. “What are you doing here?”

Before Yoongi could reply, another voice spoke up. 

“Why don’t you guys go ahead and catch up? The coffee shop across the street isn’t too bad. I need to attend to some paperwork anyway, so don’t worry about me. I’ll see you later, Yoongi.”

Yuri stared open-mouthed as Yoongi grinned and thanked Jeon for lunch.

“So, coffee?”

It had been a few months since Yuri had seen her friend and senior. He didn’t look too different, except for the bags under his eyes. Maybe he had become a little thinner as well.

“You didn’t tell me why you’re here,” said Yuri, once they had both gotten their orders. 

“I came to pick up something for the little one,” said Yoongi, opening a packet of sugar and offering it to her.

“Shit. I totally forgot! The last time I saw you, Eunbi was approaching her due date! How is she? And how’s baby Min doing?”

Yoongi scrunched his nose at the last question. “Baby Min is a horrible way to address anyone. Let’s not do that. Eunbi’s fine, and so is the little one. We still haven’t decided on a name yet.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of a really beautiful name,” Yuri said, smiling softly. “There’s no need to rush.”

“How are you?”

Yoongi’s question was simple. But they both knew that the answer to it was anything but.

“I don’t know.” The frown on her face told Yoongi that a direct approach was not going to work.

“I heard that you haven’t been getting along well with your new partner,” he asked instead, suppressing a grin when her eyes lit up furiously.

“About that,” said Yuri, crossing her arms over her chest. “How do you know Jeon?”

“Jeongguk and I trained at the same academy. I was a couple of years ahead of him. But we have a mutual love of lamb skewers that helped us bond. He’s a good kid.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” muttered Yuri. “Didn’t think I’d ever doubt your character judgement abilities, Yoongi, but I’m gonna have to disagree with you on this one. Jeon’s an asshole. And he’s made things really difficult for me, even though it’s barely been three days since I started here.”

“I won’t lie,” chuckled Yoongi. “He didn’t have the best things to say about you either. But I think I know you both quite well. And I think you’ve both got bigger things weighing on you right now which have clouded your personalities. I’m not saying you should go ahead and become best buds right away. Just… keep an open mind.”

Yuri remained quiet, not sure how she felt about what Yoongi had just said. It annoyed her that her friend didn’t appear to be on her side completely. 

“I can see that you aren’t liking what I’m saying and the annoyance has already started to show on your face,” said Yoongi with a twinkle in his eye. “So I’m just going to say one last thing on the issue. The 2nd November case that Jeongguk’s been overseeing - I want you to go over it. You might be able to help.”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea…”

“I know that you’re scared. Your fear is completely understandable. But that’s just a part of you - maybe a bigger part than you would like, but a part nonetheless. You didn’t choose this and you definitely didn’t want this. But it’s something that you are going to have to accept eventually. The scars that are formed unknowingly, unwantedly, mistakenly - they are all part of your constellation.”

It was strange. Yoongi hadn’t told her to overcome her fears - he hadn’t even asked her exactly what it was that she was afraid of. But his words had struck a chord somewhere. 

When they parted outside the station a little later, Yuri stared at her friend while trying to decide what to tell him. In the end, she settled for something professional whose meaning was deeply personal to the two of them.

“I’m sorry they demoted you.”

xxx

hey everyone! hope you’re enjoying the story so far. feel free to drop a message/ask if you have any questions/thoughts on the story.

[killervibe]

Cisco’s Crime Against Santa (Part 1)

A Killervibe & Westallen fic 

Note: Heyyy all! I decided to gift you with a fourth story in my Silver Lanes and Candy Lanes (Star Labs as Santa’s Workshop AU ..you can find these under the hashtag or #holiday here on tumblr or as the series on my ao3) to fill the Prompt - Character A and Character B have to save Christmas - for 12 Days of Killervibe 2020! This one is a little more wild than the last ones, but is not actually explicit (nor has any smut) so just... suggestive discussions.... Anyway, hope to have the second part out sometime in the new year! Enjoy! 

~.~ 

With a giant push and a huff and a puff, Cisco bolted out of the Holiday Caboose. He apologized left and right as the elves parted to clear the path for the head toy master. He sprinted across the poinsettia fields, juggling the massive dollhouse for the princess of Spain and the ten custom made dolls of her entire royal family she had asked for, finally finished in his workshop and ready to be packed onto Barry’s sleigh. He blew some hair out of his mouth when he turned his head over his shoulder to wave over ten more Santa Helpers, each debarking from the train with another large gift hot off the conveyor belt.

Iris met Cisco at the barn door next to Vixen, taking the dolls from him hurriedly.

 “Is this the last one?” 

Barry zipped around the reindeer, feeding them with Velocity 10 formulas as Ralph massaged Rudolf’s legs. Barry had just come back from his first part of the journey and had fourteen minutes before he had to take off again.

“Not even close!” Cisco yanked his jingle hat off his head, sweating. “The rubber duck for that kid in Shiraz melted next to the electric mitten-warmers for that family from Rivieres-des-Loups!” 

Iris exchanged a glance with Barry. “Okay, so? Rubber ducks, you’ve made those in five seconds flat.” 

Cisco snapped his fingers together and peppermints littered the ground. “Yeah,” he said, stressed, gesturing at the candy. “I know. But my magic is all wonky today.” 

Barry crossed his arms over his chest. “Cisco, did you sleep at all in the last two weeks?” 

Cisco scratched at his growing beard. “Uh...I think I did.” 

“When?” Ralph asked, dialling something on his North Phone.

Cisco paced around the barn, distributing carrots to the reindeer. “It was on a Friday. I had a three-hour nap. I remember because I fell asleep during uh—” He went red, remembering exactly what he was in the middle of when he fell asleep. His wife was not too pleased but resigned and tucked him into bed.“...During Eggnog and Chill. We were watching the Macy’s parade.” 

So yes, this year has been particularly hectic. And Cisco had been falling behind in toy-making since Christmas in July.

 And it was all because of global warming. 

The melting ice caps, the endangered polar bears, threatened habitats, and so on have been requiring Mother Frost’s assistance all around the world. Where it was getting too hot, Caitlin was stuck in deserts, for some weeks at a time trying to cool down the earth’s surface. Where it was too cold, she’d try to absorb the moisture in the air with gulping breaths. Between all their work, they barely got time to have quality time together, and it was really taking a dive on Cisco’s spirit. 

Mrs. Claus gasped. “That was American Thanksgiving in November!” She whacked the side of his head with his doll. “Why hasn’t Caitlin said anything??” 

At the mention of his wife, Cisco froze suddenly. “Holy gingerbread.” 

“What?!?” Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, Ralph, and all the elves asked him, pausing in the middle of their 10-minute countdown. 

“I left Caitlin’s gift in my workshop!” He spun on his heel, about to run back through the poinsettia field when Barry grabbed the collar of his green vest. “Cisco. The rubber duck.” 

Cisco jumped. “Right. Right!” He pulled Ralph from Rudolph by the wrist despite his protests and dashed through the snow. 

Iris and Barry stared at the two from the sled. 

“Cisco’s usually ridiculous on Christmas Eve, but this year I don’t know…” Iris said. “He’s frazzled. Like, more than usual.” 

Barry glanced at the countdown and bit his lip. “He’s been distracted.” 

“By what?” Mrs. Claus asked, stealing a kiss to smooth away Santa’s frown. She picked Cisco’s abandoned hat from the hay and stuck it onto his head, giving it a little ring-a-ling.  

“SIX Minutes Until Santa’s Sleigh Takes Off!” Gideon the AI informed Santa Land. 

A few elves freaked out in the corner and Barry tried to reassure them that Cisco would be back in time. He answered Iris’ question just as Cisco and Ralph came bounding back with a purple gift box, panting as they shoved it into the back of the sleigh. 

“Uh…” Barry said. “You’re probably better off not knowing.” 

Mrs. Claus quirked an eyebrow. “Well, okay.” She pointed at Ralph, who was holding a blue box with a red ribbon. “Is that supposed to be on the sled?” 

“No!” Cisco yelped, yanking it out of Ralph’s hands. He went red again. “Uh. No. This is uh, not for the sleigh. Ralph was just holding it for me.” 

Iris gave him another odd look but decided not to push it. 

“THREE Minutes Until Santa’s Sleigh Takes Off!” 

They all scrambled, sticking bows on the last of the gifts as Cisco went over the itinerary with Barry once again.

“Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran. Got it?” 

“Got it!” 

And off Barry went at lightning speed into the northern lights. 

Ralph slung an arm around Cisco’s shoulder. “Hey man, you’ve been decking the halls all day. How about some sleep?” 

Cisco laughed. “Caitlin’s coming back from South Korea in an hour. I haven’t seen her since the 20th, I’m not sleeping now.” 

But then, his eyelids felt heavy and he started to sway. “Pine needles,” he slurred. “Does anyone else feel fuzzy?” 

He took a step forward, and then another, needing some fresh air. He clutched Caitlin’s gift to his chest as sugar plum fairies started to dance in front of him. “Uh—Dibs? You see that too?” 

Another wash of fatigue flooded his system like slow molasses and his grip on the present slackened. 

“Okay, buddy.” Ralph’s voice said in his ear as he started drifting off. Cisco sneezed, and gold dust surrounded him. 

Oh. He’s been Sandman-ed. 

Not. Nice. 

So. Not Nice. 

So so so so so so so not nice. 

But. 

Maybe a small nap...would be okay. 

~.~ 

Cool kisses pressed against Cisco’s neck. He smiled, nuzzling into the pillows of their bed. Caitlin’s side hasn’t been slept in for a few days now, but the dip in the bed beside him indicated that would end tonight. 

“Oh, my poor toy master,” Mother Frost sighed, stroking his hair. “All tuckered out from a year’s worth of hard work. I’m home now.” 

He blinked awake, and there was Mother Frost in her natural beauty. Snowflakes stuck to her silver hair and crystals on her lashes, but her ice coloured eyes melted his heart. Cisco leaned up on his elbows and pouted. “They Sandman-ed me. On Christmas Eve.” 

Caitlin thumbed at the scruff along his jaw. “Cisco, you haven’t shaved in days and you were running around Santa Lab with a hot chocolate stain down your shirt. I don’t blame them for doing that.” 

“What if they needed me!” He rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand and yawned. “How long have I been out?” 

“Four hours. Barry’s going to be back for the next round soon. And you know Hartley can handle things, you just don’t give him the chance.” 

Cisco muttered under his breath. Caitlin chose to ignore it. 

“Kiss me.”

“Not with that on your face.” 

He swung his legs over the edge of their bed and padded to the fireplace. After throwing a few logs in, he went to the bathroom. With a razor in hand, he walked back out. “How long did you say Barry would be gone?” 

Caitlin raised an amused eyebrow. “Less than two hours. Why?” 

Cisco gave her a sly smile. “I’ve got some plans that involve us, that bed, and that present.” He pointed to the purple gift box sitting on the rocking chair. “You should open it.” 

The snow fairies brought the gift to Caitlin as Cisco went back to shave. 

After the rustling of gift wrap, Cisco reemerged fresh-faced and ready for quality time with his wife. He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her ear. “Like it? Made it myself.” 

Caitlin stared at the gift box. “I love you and I appreciate everything you make, but how exactly is this rubber duck going to be used while rocking around the Christmas tree?” 

Cisco laughed into her neck, tickling her waist. “Stop being funny.” 

Mother Frost turned around, waving a bath toy in front of him. “I’m not.” 

Cisco went white. “Oh fuuu-nnel cake!” 

The profanity magic just barely covered up his expletive. Caitlin nearly dropped the toy.

He let go of her immediately, nearly tripping over the bow as he continued to curse translated festive phrases. 

“Cisco! Your naughty watch is going to beep.” She giggled at his franticness to get dressed, snow pants and everything. “Slow down, it’s just a missing toy. We can get Barry to run back and give it back to the child.” 

“Heckin’ Holly, no you don’t understand. That kid already has a gift.” He grabbed onto her shoulders. “Your gift.” 

Caitlin frowned. “The duck?” 

He shook her lightly. “Your real gift.” 

They stared at each other, Cisco watching the features of the Snow Queen’s face morphing to mimic his own panicked expression. 

“...What was it?” 

He snapped his fingers to open a portal, snatching his sketchbook. Thankful that his powers decided to work properly when he needed them for the first time today. He flipped to the page of drawings with Caitlin’s very non-family friendly gift. 

It was an outfit. A red white and green fantastical outfit. 

Mother Frost took the book from him, aghast. She tilted it sideways. “You put bells on it?!?” 

“Forget the bells!” he snapped, glaring at the snow fairies who had fallen to the floor, chiming in the way Cisco had learned meant they were laughing at him. “Now a little girl in Shiraz is going to open your very private present in a few hours!” 

Caitlin ordered her fairies off the floor and out of their house, helping to bundle up Cisco in his coat and scarf as she opened a window to call out for the Snowy Owl. 

She ran to her desk to write a letter and then wrapped it with a blue ribbon around the Owl’s feet. 

“Give this to Santa right away,” she told her. “It’s urgent.” 

They bustled into the Holiday Cortex. Cisco slammed down on the giant red button on the monitor and Caitlin flipped on the signal to the Comms in Barry’s suit. The alarm sounded and Iris came running in from Mrs. Claus' office. 

“What’s the emergency?” she demanded, pushing Cisco out of the way to watch the live feeds of Barry. 

Ralph came jogging into the Holiday Cortex too, removing the candy cane from his mouth. 

“We’ve got a really big problem,” Cisco began but was interrupted by Gideon, the AI, announcing over the bugle system: 

“CISCO RAMON HAS COMMITTED A CRIME AGAINST SANTA.” 

“Son of a buche.”

All the elves took a step back from their boss. 

“It was a mistake!” 

Barry crackled in from Sudan, “...What the nutcracker? I just got Mother Frost’s message about the SOS SANTA.” 

Mother Frost spread out her frost, protecting her husband from the angry elves. “Look. It is all a big misunderstanding, but we need to fix it right away. Cisco accidentally swapped my present with one Santa already delivered in Iran.” 

Barry groaned from the Sleigh Cam. “Cisco. You didn’t. I’ve warned you so many times.” 

Cisco bristled. “Look, I’ve been Head Toy Master for over thirty years. Not ever have I committed a crime against Santa.”  

Mrs. Claus put a hand in her hair, trying to come up with a reasonable course of action. “Can’t we just leave it be?” 

“NO,” said Cisco, Caitlin, and Barry in unison. 

“Why not?” she asked. “Doesn’t he usually get her a fairy feeder?” 

Barry chuckled dryly. “...If you only knew what was on his Christmas list.” 

Mother Frost grew irritated. “It’s not naughty for him to miss me. I’m his wife and we’ve both been so busy.” 

“That’s not the issue,” Barry said through a hushed whisper. The monitors switched to his suit cam since he was now shimmying down a chimney. “The issue is that it’s been leaking into his work. That’s why his magic’s been all messed up this month. He’s been using it for non-festive purposes.” 

“Love is festive,” Cisco argued stubbornly. “Love is the most powerful magic in this place.” 

Ralph was in the corner laughing with the snow fairies. “I can’t believe this. My Crimes Against Santa were child’s play compared to this.” He took a sip of hot chocolate but ended up snorting it all up over his tunic. “I’m sorry,” he said, crying tears as his shoulders shook. “I can’t take this seriously, I really can’t. I gotta go.” 

“Ralph!” Iris called after him. “You can’t leave during an SOS SANTA.” 

Hartley, who had heard everything, strode up to Cisco and yanked his Toy Expert Pin from his vest. 

“Hey!” 

“You sent a naughty gift to a seven-year-old,” he hissed. “You better believe article 24 of Santa’s Handbook would call for your expulsion.” 

“You can’t do that!” Caitlin gasped. The Snow Fairies stopped laughing, humming angrily at Hartley. 

“Guys!” Mrs. Claus grabbed a bell and rung it, clanging above the outbursts. “We’ll worry about Cisco later. Right now we need to help Barry get back that gift.” She checked the international clock. “It’s already morning there. That gift could be opened at any minute and Hartley is right--If that child opens that present, Cisco’s Crime Against Santa would call for his removal as Head Toy Expert.” 

Ralph let out another snort. 

“It’s not funny!” The elves cried. 

“Yes, it is!” 

~.~ 

Santa ended up having to turn the sled around. 

“How mad are you?” Cisco asked meekly as he slid into the passenger seat of the sleigh. Blitzen wouldn’t even look at him, so he knew it was kind of bad. 

Barry wouldn’t answer his question, instead telling Cisco to stay put, unbuckling his seat belt to climb off the sleigh. Cisco slunk into his seat, petulant. His wife might’ve been the daughter of Jack Frost, but it never stopped feeling crummy to be given the cold shoulder

At the Holiday Cortex, the team tried to come up with a new plan. They followed Santa as he led them to the Time Vault. 

Hartley pushed up his spectacles from the bridge of his nose. “Santa, what are we going to do about our delay?” He looked at his clipboard, reading his calculations. “We’re now two hours off schedule, meaning we’re 42% below the required ratio of housetop click click clicks.” He did some more calculations. “That’s 79 thousand kids not getting a present this year.” He glanced at his watch. “And counting.” 

“I know,” Barry said shortly. He paused in front of what he had come into the Time Vault for. 

The Other Suit.