#just log off and take a break and the results will be here tomorrow

[this-dude-over-here]

Look, if you're stress watching the election map right now or doomscrolling on your phone and it's genuinely taking a toll on you mentally or physically, just log off and rest.

We're going to get results no matter what. We already did our part and voted and spread campaign information and whatever else, and now all we can do is watch the votes come in. It's not helping yourself to get a stress headache, have a panic attack, or feel hopeless and on edge by staring at whatever early results come in right now. Take a break.

[talesfromsigil]

Royal Road: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/74124/theseus/chapter/1350662/evaluation

"Meryll… these scores suck." Aisling declared unceremoniously as she looked over what I'd sent to her tablet. It was the end of the day and Ray was cooking up something that smelled pungent, but distractingly delicious.

"Damn straight they do!" I nodded, eliciting a bewildered expression from the captain "Ignore the scores entirely. Read through the results."

"For hundreds of trials? Meryll, I don't have all night, and even if there's some good ones-" She started, but stopped speaking as she stared at the tablet. She flipped through the log files slowly. For the first time since we'd met, she was speechless. She started flipping through faster, her brow furrowing in bewilderment "What the hell?" She muttered.

I couldn't help but smile proudly and bounce excitedly on my feet as I saw her reaction "Right?"

"Meryll, these are the kinds of survival, accuracy, and technique scores I'd expect from an AI running millions of runs on a seeded simulation, these are randomized trials. You're a prodigy, how the hell did it score you this low?"

"Scores are for computers." Ray chimed in, letting out a good-natured chuckle. Aisling glanced back to give her a perplexed look.

"The simulation expects a ship core to be running it; An unthinking human brain acting as a computer." I explained, sitting down at the table in front of her "But I'm not just a computer. I can create strategies on the fly, and act in ways the trainer doesn't expect. It doesn't like that, so it docks my score. Once I stopped worrying about making an arbitrary number go up, I found out I could perform way better on the metrics that matter."

"… 15 minutes in a war zone without being struck?" She asked, showing me one of the reports.

"Oh, ignore the three around that one. I admittedly got a little bored and tried to see if I could break the AI a little bit." I couldn't help but let out a laugh at it "I managed to slip into an enemy frigate hangar, and I just waited there to see what it would do. Turns out it doesn’t do anything. I had to crash the ship into a wall to exit the sim."

"Abandoned the battlefield. Ah, so you just left on that one." She was starting to sound amused.

"Yeah, guess they accounted for that one." I snickered "I know, not the best use of my time, but I promise you, I am more than ready to pilot Theseus into war if I have to!"

"Not with a 94% survival rate, you're not." She clicked her tablet off "I'm sure with your IT background, you know the importance of a few percentage points, especially when it comes to life and death. But your understanding and control of starships is clear, if unconventional. Well done."

"I'm… getting mixed messages here. Am I cleared to take off tomorrow or not?" I asked quietly.

"Well, yeah, we got work to do." She leaned back in her chair and smiled at me "And for what we're set out to do, you'll do fine. I'm just saying, you've got more training to do before I let you carry us through on ship to ship combat. I get that you're exercising your creativity, but your fundamentals need work. You need to understand why it is that there are standard maneuvers in space. It'll give you a better idea of how you can subvert them."

"So what do we do if we're forced into a dogfight…?" I asked.

"We run." She said as if it was simple and obvious. "Live to fight another day."

I would be lying if I didn't say that my pride at my sim performances wasn't wounded a little by the order to flee any fight I ended up in, but it was also a bit of a relief. In truth, I didn't think I was ready to look death in the face in that way.

Aisling had closed her eyes and looked to be in deep thought. She did that often when she was pondering something serious, so I decided to leave her to her devices and looked to Ray "So what's for dinner tonight?" I asked.

"Curry." She declared happily, a spoon in her claw delicately stirring at a pot "It's a little bit spicy, so I'm not sure if you'll like it, but it's an ancient Earth recipe. I love cooking it, though. It can be a challenge."

"What's challenging about cooking?" I asked. Cooking food had always just been a simple science growing up in the outer colonies. Not much was made from scratch, and most cooking amounted to 'heat food, then consume.'

Ray turned to look at me. She didn't seem happy with me "You'll see. Food is an art, and curry is a very complex dish. Adding the right ingredients at the right time and developing the flavor as you build it is extremely important to a delicious meal."

"As long as you’re not putting in any of that protein slop." I quipped, watching silently as Aisling stood up from her seat and left the room. I figured she must have needed the restroom.

"Gods, no." Ray rolled her own eyes "I hope we never have to break into that stuff again. I know we will, but one can hope. So long as we're not stranded in wild space, I promise I'll be making real food. She turned and gave me a dissatisfied look "Food that you'll learn to appreciate the effort that goes into."

I stood up and approached her, looking past her to the pot of thick simmering liquid "Well, I can't say it doesn't smell delicious. If very unusual. What's in curry anyway?"

"A lot of different spices, milk, rice, meat." Ray replied, her smile returning as I showed my interest in her culinary art "Its a dish with a lot of variety, and a million different ways to prepare it. You never really make the same dish twice with curry. But you can make a lot of it at once, so it's good for feeding a group. Same goes for stews."

"Well, last night's stew was delicious. If not marred by the conversation." I muttered as I watched Joel file in behind us.

"Ready to go back in your tube?" He asked as he sat down.

"You have no idea." I sighed, moving back to take my own seat "The new hardware helps, but I still feel like I cant get any proper rest. I really want to get back into the void."

"Void?" He asked in his typically condescending tone.

"Yeah, being inside of the core module is like being in a sensory deprivation tank." I smiled as I began to whimsically reminisce about the experience "It's like… you don't see or hear or feel anything. The world around you disappears. You're in this satisfying emptiness where you can just rest, and the only thing you sense is yourself and the ship, which becomes a part of you."

He picked his own tablet from his pocket "Sounds like love."

"Love?" I laughed a little bit "You think I'm developing feelings for Theseus or something?"

"Lot of people love their ships. Don't think anyone's ever been quite as intimate with one as you are though." He teased.

I shook my head "No, I don't think it's a good analogy. What I've got with Theseus isn't love so much as… fusion I suppose. We actually literally become one when I'm in that chamber, and it's hard to imagine that it's not the same when I'm outside of it, just a little bit more distant.

"Ah, so it's like sex." He declared.

"Oh, fuck off." I laughed "Don't want captain to give you more lumps, do you?"

"Should I be giving him more lumps?" Aisling asked in high spirits as she returned to the room and slid a computer chip toward me on the table.

I stared at the hardware for a few moments before I picked it up and turned it over a few times "What's this?" I asked.

"Next bit of training. Since you're an unconventional pilot, we need an unconventional training method." She sat back down at one end of the table and smiled as she watched me open up my hip panel.

Placing the chip into one of my smaller ports, I closed it in and turned to my arm terminal to inspect the files. "'Horizon 18'." I mumbled. Recognition rang out somewhere in my memory, and as I perused the accompanying files, I realized something "Captain, are you suggesting that I train to be a pilot with a video game?"

[mythicandco]

More bonding between Hunter and Edward?

Well I was gonna do that but then my brain went "Philip and Luz need love too" and then it went "What about the Little Firefly AU but it's actually Past to Future" and so here we are

P.S. Hooty backseat parenting is my life juice

Luz sat hunched over the pile of books she'd arranged as a sort of coffee table, scribbling various tiny glyph combos to see what would happen, then writing down the results on a separate piece of paper. Combining the plant glyph with three light glyphs got a kind of healing spell that healed up her papercut, but didn't work on the scar she got from tripping over a log that turned out to be a dragon last week. And she was still experimenting with shield combinations. Most of them seemed to involve fire glyphs in one way or another.

Even though she seemed focused on the outside, her brain was still running in circles. She couldn't help being excited about trying out the new portal door tomorrow - with Philip's help, it would probably be even easier to get home to her mom and Vee. For some reason the thought of Eda and Camila meeting made little sparklers of excitement go off in her stomach.

But Eda had told her to stay put today. The sky had been pouring Boiling Rain for the past few days and it took all the glyph combos Luz could come up with to make a shield protecting the Owl House. Plus, there was no way Eda was going to let them build a portal door inside, especially after last time ("What if Hooty imploded?" was still fresh in her mind, and it caused the girl to shiver).

Philip, on the other hand, had ran outside on multiple occasions and tried to drink the rain. Luz had needed to run up to her room and bury her face in her pillow, because that was not funny but it actually was. Philip's brother (what was his name again?) had almost immediately gotten up to drag his sibling back inside with an expression that probably meant this happened a lot.

It was also weird having what looked like an exact copy of Hunter around the Owl House. Or would that make Hunter an exact copy of Edward? Oh, look, she remembered the older Wittebane sibling's name. So it wasn't William. Why did think it was been William?

Speaking of Hunter, the witch had left in quite a hurry after dropping off the Wittebane brothers, and Luz still didn't have an explanation for his freak-out when everyone was walking inside.

What was she doing again?

Right. Glyph magic combos.

The girl jumped and let out a yelp as Philip sat down beside her. She had been so lot in thought she'd forgotten he was here to help figure out more efficient shield spells with her today, as a means of keeping him out of the boiling rain.

"Are these glyphs?" Philip asked, pointing at the currently half-finished combination she was working on.

"Yup," she replied. "So far I've discovered three and a half new combos."

"Three and a half?"

"Well, two of the spells are new, and one is just the shield spell but organized differently."

"Oh."

Luz went on to tell him how each of the different glyph combos worked, and Philip watched eagerly. The girl kind of wished Hunter had been there, too, maybe to get over his fear of the human. Which was weird, she thought for what had to be the fifth time that day. Hunter was perfectly fine around Luz and not obviously weird around Edward, so what was wrong with Philip?

"Interesting," the Wittebane nodded, taking out a pencil. He paused, holding it in his right hand, then took it in his left and started sketching out a few combos as well.

"Hoot hoot! What's going on, guys?" Hooty asked cheerfully, poking his head into the room.

"Still glyphs," Luz groaned, rubbing her eyes. At this point she'd been staring at the paper so long it was making everything turn inky and blobby. She was pretty sure that the most recent "glyph combo" was actually just a snake doodle.

"Maybe we should take a break," Philip offered, setting down his own pencil.

"I have an idea!" Hooty cried jubilantly. "Drawing competition! You two draw something, and I'll judge which one is better in a few different categories!"

"Ooooh," Luz grinned devilishly at the Wittebane. She was fairly confident in her artistic skills. "Azura fanart?"

Philip returned her smile. "Azura fanart."

They carefully took the glyph notes and put them in a neat - well, in a pile off to the side. Luz gripped her pencil. Philip studied his blank page carefully. Hooty started the countdown.

"Ready, set, draw!"

[space-helen]

Back To Vegas - Chapter 3

Words: 2285

Pairing: Nick Stokes x reader

A/N: Again, I’m sorry this took so long to come out! This one also fleshes the case further 

CH1     CH2     CH3     CH4     CH5    CH6   CH7   CH8

______________________

The ride with Grissom was smooth and a lot quieter than the one with Catherine. It took him a while to even say anything to you. “So, Y/n. What made you want to be a CSI then?”

“I love to help others and like to find out why and what the truth is even if it’s a truth that people don’t like. Also it’s a career where you learn something new every day, be it about the world or about people.”

He nodded “I like that. Learning is important. Why’d you come to Vegas?”

“I was with Nick when you called. Selfishly I came because he was coming but also the change of scenery is welcome and change of people. I’ve not known you all long but you all seem really really nice and I’m grateful for that. Some of the people on my shift back in San Diego were not the most pleasant.”

“That’s no way to be.”

You agreed with the man. “So you and Sara?”

There was a pause and it made you re-think what you’d asked. “You don’t have to answer that of course. I know Nick has told me little bits but I don’t want to intrude. I understand if it’s too soon we barely know each other yet.” you rushed out

“No. No, it's fine.” you could hear a slight smile in his voice. “I have to admit I’ve warmed up to you quickly which is unusual but I’d trust Nick with my life and I know he trusts me with his. I trust his judgment and as soon as I saw you two together I knew you were meant to be. Sara and I are married, Nick has probably told you about the whole affair over the years. I love her and always have.” He shrugged.

“Yeah Nick told me about some stuff. He also told me about how you saved his life. Thank you.”

He nodded and you could see the memories rushing through his head by the way his expression changed slightly. “It wasn’t a pleasant time for anyone but I’m glad we got him out of there. Anyway, Sara and I came back not long before everyone else and I’m glad we did. I'd be devastated to see the lab deteriorate anymore than it has. We all dedicated so much time to it so it’s the least we could do.” he paused and you could see him contemplating whether to say what he wanted next.

“I know we’ve not long met but I know that face means you’re not sure whether to say something. C’mon out with it I don’t mind.” you re-assured the man.

“Once we knew you and Nick were coming Greg filled us in on the two of you a little bit.”

You smiled “I’d never met Greg in person until I came to Vegas but I knew Nick and him kept in contact and talked a lot. Still best friends.”

“Yeah. Well he told us about the case that Nick and you were on and I just wanted to say thank you for looking out for him.”

“I did what anyone would do.”

“No. You did more than that.” he left a small silence. It wasn’t awkward or unpleasant. “Did Nick tell you about when Sara was taken and how they all found out about my feelings for her?”

You shook your head and he continued “When I realised why she’d been taken we were all looking at a miniature scene that had been created that included her. I didn’t think before speaking and told the room that they took Sara because she was the only person I ever loved.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Never,” he admitted. “How’d you feel about Catherine?” you could see a smile tugging at his lips.

“She’s really nice and very interesting-”

“She warmed up to you quickly as well. Take that as the highest compliment.”

The rest of the journey was filled with conversation about the lab, old working stories and dynamics.

Upon parking the vehicle you and Grissom both jumped out, a smile on both of your faces as you moved to the trunk to grab your kits and evidence. It didn’t take long for Catherine to join you and for all three of you to walk inside.

“I’ll review the tape.” Catherine offered. “I’ll log all of her belongings?” you suggested.

“Sounds good I’ll review the pictures of the scene.”

You nodded and the three of you quickly split up to get to work.

You carefully took pictures of the victims handbag before opening it, snapping a photo and emptying the contents. You analysed all of the belongings and took photos as you went. Her bag included a couple of photo booth strips of her and some friends, her purse still filled with cash and cards, a water bottle and some other smaller bits like mints.

You swabbed and printed the bag and contents. Meticulously ensuring you pulled everything useful. Packing the items up carefully you were placing them into a cardboard evidence box when a voice form the doorway caught your attention. “They’re ready for us with the body.” It was Catherine.

“You want me to come as well?”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s your first body in Vegas after all.” 

You smiled “You don’t have to ask me twice.”

The journey was quick and you were soon standing over the body with Grissom and Catherine next to you. The coroner, David, was completing some paperwork before he move over to join the three of you. 

“Although the vic has a visible head wound that is almost definitely not the cause of death. Upon first look she seemed healthy but she died of a heart attack.” “Blood to tox?” Catherine questioned

“Of course.” the man replied. “There is no sign of a struggle on the body either.”

“So would you say natural causes or?” you asked

“It’s peculiar, there’s nothing in her record that would suggest she’d be at risk of a heart attack.”

The four of you continued to discuss the body. The door opening made you all freeze and turn, Nick, Greg and Sara were all admitting themselves to the room. 

“Sorry, we’ll wait outside.” Greg spoke

“No need.” Grissom replied “We’re just about done here.”

The two teams passed each other. Grissom smiled as he passed Sara and Nick gently caught your finger tips with his as you passed each other. 

Grissom and you wore your smiles down the corridor “Guys c’mon that’s school kid behaviour.” Catherine joked.

“Says you.” Grissom nudged her in the side playfully and the three of you laughed.

After some time you were soon called into tox, you greeted the dark haired man sat at his desk.

“It’s great to meet and work with you Y/N.” he quickly turned his attention to the results “The blood didn’t come back entirely clean. There was a mixture of some different substances which include elevated potassium levels.”

“Potassium?” the three of you questioned. 

“Yeah. Enough to overdose.”

“That explains the heart attack” Grissom announced 

“How does that even happen?” Catherine enquired

“A general buildup of it over time? Maybe she was taking supplements and eating a lot of potassium-rich foods. It’s hard but not impossible, we had someone else a couple of weeks ago with the same thing.”

“Looks like we have some digging to do.” you added.

“We certainly do.” Catherine’s voice came. “I’ll chase up the warrant for her place.”

The three of you split ways and you trailed down the corridor to grab a drink from the break room, Grissom had told you to do so while he went to chase Greg for the other Potassium overdose case.

You rounded the corner into the room and bumped into a form, you instantly apologised and felt hands gently grasp your upper arms to make sure you didn’t fall.

“It’s alright.” the voice laughed and you recognised it straight away.

“Fancy seeing you here.” you joked.

“How’re things?” he questioned letting go of you and watching you enter the room to make yourself a drink. He eventually stepped back inside and sat down.

“They’re good. Strange case to kick off with. Looked like just a heart attack in a young woman but was actually a potassium overdose which caused it.”

“Really? Our vic had a lot of head trauma from a fall and some bruises which look like they were from drug use. Signs of a struggle, so a pretty normal case?”

“Normal huh.”

“In comparison yeah.”

You laughed and took a sip of your drink. “I’m just waiting for Catherine to get a warrant for the place. I doubt she’ll get it before the end of our shift though..”

“Greg said warrants have been slower.”

“Let me know if you’re working overtime?”

“Can do.” with that he left you in peace to enjoy your short break.

Your quick break went by in a blink of an eye. You soon found yourself back with Grissom.

“What’ve you got?” you questioned walking towards the table in the centre of the room.

“Vic was a twenty six year old female. Recently employed at a local highschool to teach Chemistry.”

“Heart attack from potassium overdose?”

“Yep. Found in her car at the wheel on the side of the road. She’d been driving home from work. She was about two minutes away from making it home.”

“Just ruled out as natural I suppose?”

“Greg said they investigated her place and she was on some sort of new diet found online and it so happened to have high levels of potassium in all of the foods and recipes. Supplements were also found in her desk drawer at work.”

You nodded “At the time I can see how that would be mistaken for an unfortunate incident but now… it most definitely is not. Two cases within the past month?”

“Looks like we have our work cut out for us.” The man pushed the file over to you while he began to rummage through the evidence box.

The two of you worked the hours away comfortably before Catherine appeared.

“The warrant will be ready for the beginning of our next shift. I tried all I could.” she shrugged defeatedly stepping further into the room. “If you guys are in a good place I’d suggest calling it a day and coming back tomorrow.”

You looked up at the clock and realised you’d worked longer than you were scheduled, it wasn’t uncommon but you felt bad going home now. “Are you sure I don’t mind staying longer. I’ll just need to tell Nick-”

“No it’s alright. I think we could all use the time. This one looks like it could get hectic.” Grissom admitted as he started to pack everything away.

The three of you packed everything away as you caught Catherine up on everything you’d found before walking to the locker room together. 

Nick was sitting on the bench and instantly turned to the door as he heard your voice, a big smile on his face. 

“Nick. I’m sorry I didn’t let you know.”

“It’s alright, I walked past and saw you working so I thought I’d wait a little.”

“Thank you.” you grabbed your things from your locker as the room bustled with conversation. 

“I’d love to stay and chat but I’m hungry.” Catherine admitted “Frank’s?”

“Did someone say Frank’s?” Greg interrupted as he poked his head around the door frame.

“Yeah. You down?” Catherine asked the man.

“I sure am. Nick? Y/N? Griss?”

“I’ll see if Sara wants to join.” 

Nick looked at you “I think we should head home. Sam is probably wondering where we are.”

You nodded “Yeah. Some other time though?”

“You’re welcome any time.”

Nick and you said your goodbyes to the group and made your way out to your car. Slipping into the passenger’s seat you allowed the man to drive. “First day ok?”

“More than ok.”

“I’m glad.” he smiled.

The ride went by quickly and the two of you were soon moving through the front door. Sam jumping up on you brought a huge smile to your face “Hi, did you miss us?” you pet the dog and he jumped down, walking to his bowl and sitting in front of it. You followed the dog and gave him some food.

“Food then bed or just bed?” Nick asked.

“Snack then bed? I’m super tired but could use something to tie me over.”

“Sounds good to me.” The man quickly prepared some sliced fruit for the two of you and you smiled. Back in San Diego it was a ritual you’d kept since you went to visit him in the hospital.

The two of you took the fruit through to the bedroom and helped yourselves as you got ready for bed. Sam joining you once he was done with his own food. Nick stopped to give Sam some attention while you crawled into the bed. 

The man moved the fruit plate onto the dresser after taking the last couple of pieces. Crawling into bed he opened his arms and you gratefully sunk into them with your head on his chest as he rubbed circles into your back.

“They love you already, I can tell.” the man reassured.

“I know. I was nervous but they’re really lovely, welcoming people.”

“Different from before right?”

You laughed “Yeah. I loved them but God, they could be assholes.”

He agreed and kissed you on the top of the head “I love you.”

“I love you too.” you got comfy and felt your eyes get heavy “Night night.” you mumbled.

“Night.” he whispered as he pulled you closer to him.

Next Chapter

Tag List: (open)

CSI:

Nick Stokes: @wanniiieeee  @pumpkinfriend

[uswntxfootball]

i don’t want to watch the world end with someone else (jackie groenen x muwfc!reader)

a media takeover day makes you realize just how bad you are at hiding your feelings. 

word count: 2634 ish

rated P for painful pining, C FOR CHEESY AS FUCK, and F for fluFF ciTY.

song inspo: clinton kane’s i don’t want to watch the world end with someone else

——

“so is everything clear?”

you and jackie exchange a glance and nod.

casey smiles and says:

“good good. it’ll happen tomorrow so just make sure you follow the guidelines that i gave, though i have no doubt you two will do just fine.”

with that said, she gave a wave and left the call.

you lean forward closing the laptop that sat on the table in front of you, before leaning back on the couch behind you.

jackie promptly laid her head on your shoulder, and you wiggled your arm around her, settling it around the back of her neck, her hand coming up to grasp yours.

your heart threatened to explode out of your chest at the act.

this wasn’t uncommon between the two of you.

you were always holding hands wherever you went, always touching, and always flirting.

this of course, didn’t go unnoticed.

as a result jackie and you have dismissed thousands of press and fan questions, with each and every “we’re just friends” sending a dagger through your heart.

yet here you were, quarantined with her in manchester, holding onto the foolish hope that things might work out.

falling in love with your best friend wasn’t part of the plan, but there wasn’t anything you could do about it now.

“y/n.”

“hmm?” you hum out, watching the girl beside you play with your fingers absentmindedly.

“what if the fans think i’m boring?”

you sit up abruptly and jackie turns to look at you.

“jacks. you’ve got to be joking right? if there’s people who think you’re boring, i don’t want to meet them,” you huff.

jackie rolls her eyes.

“well that’s you. you’re biased you don’t count.”

you gasp in mock offense.

“i don’t count? how rude i- this is how i get treated for-“

jackie cut you off while pulling you into a hug.

“oh shut up you big baby.”

you look up at her and stick your tongue out at her, an action which she returns.

getting a little lost in her eyes, the two of you maintained eye contact for an unusual amount of time, the tension almost tangible.

it’s only when jackie’s phone buzzes on the table that you both break away, cheeks red.

you clear your throat quickly and stand up.

looking at jackie’s flushed face you tease:

“you know you’re cute when you blush.”

her face flushed even redder.

“oh shut up.”

~~

you woke up the next day at the same time you normally do.

the girl beside you was still fast asleep and you couldn’t help but stare a little at the sight.

her hair a mess and currently taking up more than half the bed with her limbs strewn about, you couldn’t be more into it.

there was just something about her.

you shook your head softly.

breaking your eyes away, you began getting ready for your run.

logging into the manchester united instagram page, you recorded a quick video greeting everyone for the day.

“hi everyone! i’m y/n, a forward for manchester united, which you probably knew already, but i’m going to be taking over this account with jackie today!”

after a little pause you continue in a whisper.

“i’m getting ready to go on a run right now, trying to be a little quieter because a certain midfielder is still fast asleep.”

“she snores too,” you added quietly with a giggle. “but i’ll be back in a bit guys!”

jackie would get you back for that later.

you got back from your run about half an hour later, with the midfielder still asleep.

changing out of your running clothes, you made a quick breakfast and some coffee for the two of you, and opened the account again.

you prop your phone up in front of you and begin recording.

“so i just got back from my run, made some breakfast, and guess who’s still asleep.”

you point towards the door behind you.

“hint it’s jackie. i even made her breakfast too. i think i should get like a “best friend in the world” award or something. i’m way too good of a friend to her. anyways that’s it for now, i’ll update you if sleeping beauty ever wakes. bye!”

you finished your breakfast while scrolling through twitter, smiling when you see some of the fans freaking out over the prospect of the two of you quarantining together.

after a little bit you heard the door behind you open, looking up to see a very sleepy (and frankly very cute) jackie groenen in it’s place.

your heart fluttered in your chest.

“coffee?” you offer, grinning at the enthusiastic nod that jackie gave you.

jackie’s cheeks flushed a little when she looked around.

“you made me breakfast?”

“well since someone slept in of course i did.”

the midfielder rolled her eyes and smiled, giving you a quick kiss on the cheek before she walked over to the counter.

you felt like you were going to pass out.

if jackie noticed your shallow breathing and flushed cheeks, she didn’t comment.

“have you recorded anything yet?”

you nod, taking out your phone to show her the account.

she pauses for a moment before propping the phone up in front and starts recording.

“hi guys! i hope y/n didn’t bore you too much this morning-”

you cut her off with a gasp.

“me?! i’m obviously the fun one here! she-ow!’

jackie interrupted you with a punch.

you pouted, rubbing your shoulder.

“see she bullies me too.”

“oh she’s so dramatic,” jackie says while rolling her eyes.

the two of you get so preoccupied with bickering that you forget all about the video.

it’s only when you turn a little bit when you notice.

“damn the fans are gonna get the jackie-y/n quarreling special today.”

jackie snorts at that, deciding to post the 2 minute video with the label you had so lovingly created.

the story post read:

“an early christmas present for the muwfc fans; featuring a 2 minute jackie-y/n quarreling special”

followed by a post that read:

“we’ll be going live in around an hour so make up some good questions for us!”

while you were posting those, you missed the loving smile and stare from the girl next to you.

~~

you grinned when you saw the next question.

“has jackie found out about your post from this morning yet?”

jackie turned to look at you, her eyes narrowing.

“what did you say?”

“hmmm nothing nothing”

“no what- tell me!”

you pretended to think for a moment before answering:

“hmmm nope”

you let out a squeak of surprise when jackie’s fingers suddenly dug into your sides.

“fine! fine! i’ll tell you!” you relent, your chest heaving slightly.

“i just said that you snore is all,” you answered quickly.

jackie gasped loudly.

“i do not!”

“yes she does she-“

your sentence gets cut off when jackie pulls you into a headlock.

“you can’t silence me! jackie snores li-“

she slapped a hand over your mouth.

“okay anyways. let’s keep goin-ew y/n!”

jackie pulled her hand back with a grimace, you smiling triumphantly.

“she licked me,” jackie whined, wiping her hand on your shirt.

a few seconds later her hand settled on your thigh, and you swore you saw her smirk when you inhaled sharply.

a little flustered, you cleared your throat quickly before turning to the screen, noting the incoming flurry of comments about how cute the two of you are together.

jackie read the next question.

“are you guys dating?”

she gave the camera a wink when she said:

“y/n wishes.”

you rolled your eyes.

“we all know you want to. i mean who wouldn’t want to date me? i’m just the hottest person you’ve ever seen and-”

“oh and she’s cocky too,” jackie added with a grin, letting out a laugh at your expression.

you turn back to screen in time to catch another question.

“can jackie play something for us?”

jackie excitedly answered a “yes”, before standing up to grab her guitar.

you shuffled over to the other side of the couch when jackie got back.

here you sat watching the midfielder talk animatedly about her song choice.

you didn’t hear much of it, instead getting lost staring at the dutch girl, her smile wide and eyes sparkling.

“y/n what do you think?”

it snaps you out of your daze.

an “i think you’re beautiful” flashed through your mind, but what came out was:

“uh i-sorry what?”

jackie giggled.

“i’ll take that as a yes then.”

a soft guitar melody filled the air a few seconds after.

this was going to be a disaster.

~~

when jackie started singing you promptly forgot how to breathe.

you could feel your heart racing in your chest, butterflies exploding in your stomach.

her voice filled the air, and her presence was absolutely intoxicating.

strikingly blue eyes met yours during the chorus, and when she smiled softly you seriously felt like you were going to pass out.

and i wish we didn’t say goodbye

cause we’re just standing still

and i don’t really know what tomorrow holds

your heart was threatening to explode, and the three words you’ve kept buried for so long were beginning to make their way out from the back of your mind.

you didn’t know if you could make it to the end of the song.

you didn’t know if you could not tell her.

but i’ve finally realized

if this is our last goodbye until we’re gone

who cares about the wrongs we’ve caused ourselves

cause i don’t want to watch the world end with someone else

it didn’t help that jackie kept smiling at you, her eyes locking with yours and making your brain and heart go into overdrive.

it didn’t help that jackie was just so utterly attractive.

no, it didn’t help at all.

while the two of you were off in your own little world, the fans were going crazy, many picking up on the loving glances the two of you exchanged.

~~

the livestream ended not long after the song did.

and when it did you were torn.

do you keep it to yourself?

or do you risk it all for the measly hope that by some miracle she liked you back?

your heart preferred the second.

and in a game of internal tug o war, your heart won.

“jackie.”

the midfielder whipped around to face you.

fuck she’s pretty.

“i’m-“

fuck.

the words were sitting right on the tip of your tongue.

“i-“

jackie gave you a confused expression.

“you’re what?”

“i forgot to tell you that uhm-“

fuck the words. the words were right there. just say them.

jackie tilted her head to the side, puzzled.

“you forgot to tell me what?”

you cursed at her internally for being so cute.

“i-“

you gulped.

you can do this.

its just three words. three-

“i didn’t do the laundry.”

fuck.

jackie’s puzzled expression turns into a teasing one.

“that’s what you were so nervous to tell me? come on i’m not that scary am i?”

you shook your head, cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

“hey look, we can do it together then,” jackie said with a smile, grabbing your hand and pulling you towards the room.

~~

shit.

this turned out to be way harder than you thought.

you had tried, multiple times on multiple occasions.

your tongue however, wouldn’t let you.

each and every time you failed, coming up with the strangest excuses for your bumbling.

you’re pretty sure you accidentally said that you forgot to fold the dishes once.

jackie just thought it was cute.

though your relationship didn’t change much, you did notice a persistent blush on the midfielder’s cheeks whenever you held her hand.

you didn’t comment on it though.

~~

jackie’s sitting next to you on the tiny kitchen counter.

the two of you are having dinner, having just come back from training, bickering about soccer (or as jackie called it, “football”) and how she missed her shot last game.

which was ironic because being this close to the midfielder made you feel like you were missing your shots.

anyways.

“oh come on it wasn’t like i was trying to miss!”

“could’ve fooled me,” you laugh, jackie gasping in offense.

“like you could’ve done any better.”

“yes i could! in fact i have a higher shooting accuracy than-“

“oh come on that was based off of our shots from like ages ago!”

“potato pota-“

“y/n!”

you smile at jackie’s indignant outcry.

“i’m just better at soccer than you,” you tease.

“one it’s football. two no you’re not.”

“yes i am.”

“no you’re not.”

“i am.”

“you’re no-“

“i love you.”

jackie stops talking.

your eyes go wide when you realize what you said.

jackie’s voice is soft when she stammers:

“wh-what?”

“i-“

you take a deep breath.

welp. here we go.

“i love you. and i’ve been trying so hard not to say it, but you make it so hard for me not to and i- i’ve been in love with you for years now jacks and i just i can’t help myself. it’s like im-“

“y/n. stop.”

you didn’t hear her.

“it’s just you. all the time. when i wake up and when i go to sleep and it doesn’t help that we’re quarantined together which is why i was trying to hard not to say it because if you hated me and this all goes to hell what would we do? i’m sorry if i’m screwing everything up i didn’t even plan on saying it today it just happened and i-“

you’re cut off from your rambling when jackie launches herself at you.

you’re frozen, with jackie hugging you tightly, unsure of what it meant, whether she hated you or not.

then.

a whisper so quiet you almost don’t hear it.

“i love you too.”

you almost fall off the counter.

you look at her with wide eyes, your heartbeat in your ears, worried that you might have heard her wrong.

“you-what?”

jackie pulls back to look at you.

fuck she’s so gorgeous.

“i said i love you too,” she whispers, looking down and looking almost the tiniest bit shy.

god you want to kiss her.

“do it then,” jackie challenges.

your ears heat up a tiny bit, realizing you said that aloud.

“are-are you sure?”

she nodded, and upon seeing your hesitation just decided to do it herself.

she tilts your head up by your chin and all of a sudden your mind goes blank.

everyone always talks about how the perfect kiss feels like fireworks, but you didn’t feel that here.

instead you felt like you were floating, with only the girl in your lap keeping you grounded.

one of jackie’s hands was on your cheek, another tracing on the back of your neck, and you felt weightless.

she broke the kiss after a while.

your heart was pounding so hard it was a miracle you were still alive.

the two of you sat quietly for a while, jackie on your lap with her head against your chest, until she broke the silence.

“that song was about you if you didn’t know.”

your heart fluttered again. the things she did to you.

“really?”

jackie nodded.

she looked up and before she kissed you she whispered:

“you’re the only one i’d want to watch the world end with.”

[aenxiome]

Chapter 1: Our Hero the Zero

"You have to tell them," Oh not this again, "I'm sure they will understand" swallowing a sigh, I look up from my food to my best friends and brace for impact, "It's not like you're actually dead."

"If I went up to them and said that I have ghost powers, what do you think they will do? You've met my parents; they shoot first and ask questions later." Sam didn't look impressed, "Once they realize that it's you, they won't. They love you, Danny; your parents wouldn't hurt you." I look over to Tucker, looking for support, but he was too engrossed with his new PDA, 'Simone,' to catch my look.

"Just forget it," I tell them as we leave the cafeteria, "If it's that important to you guys, I'll think about it." Under my breath, I couldn't help muttering to myself, 'maybe in a thousand years.'

From there, we split ways, with each of us having a different elective. Being our resident techno-geek, Tucker has computer programing for this block, while Sam takes a botany course. As I go down the hall, I can't help but wonder why they don't understand the issue.

My parents, the town crazies, are ghost hunters.

What do they think they will do when they find out? Hug me and tell me that everything is going to be all right? If anything, that would bring about the end of my life.

Or is it my afterlife?

Anyway, they're more likely to put me in a cage and study me than anything else. Who knows what type of experiments they would come up with. If anything, it's best to stay quiet and stay out of their way.

My thoughts leave me as I get thrown shoulder-first into the side of a locker. "Well, look what we have here, little Fentina walking all alone. Where did your friends go? Did they finally realize that you're a loser and leave you?"

"Wow, Dash, so original how long did it take you to come up with that one?" He didn't answer, not even acknowledging my question, and continued to insult me. "I'm in a bad mood Fenton. You wanna know why? One of you nerds didn't make my notes. So, I got a 'D'" He jabs the failing assignment into my face, "and I'm going to take it out on you" He pushes me back into the lockers. He gives me a couple of sucker punches to the stomach when the warning bell rings. He looks to the clock and then back at me. "I'll get you later, Fenton," He yells at me while he sprints down the hallway to his next class.

I pull myself away from the lockers and head to my next class. I make it down to the next hall when the final bell rings. I continue on my way to the science hall while dodging the teachers handing out detention slips for running late. When I got to class, the teacher Ms. Tally was waiting for me at the door. "Your late again, Daniel," looking to her watch then back at me, "three minutes late, to be precise."

The thing about Ms. Tally is that you can never figure out if she is angry or not. She has a neutral deposition that makes determining her emotions impossible. There is no way to tell what she is going to do. For the moment, my fate is in her hands. She stares at me for a second, "Get to your seat Mr. Fenton" she says as she walks away, dismissing me. That was close. I was sure that I was going to get detention.

"Mr. Fenton," or second thought maybe I will, "Come back after school we need to talk."

Great, just great there goes my plans with Sam and Tucker.

"Pass up your star charts, and let us continue where we left off yesterday." Ms. Tally called out to everyone. Ms. Tally teaches my favorite subject, Astronomy. This is one of the few classes I have with none of the A-List crowd and the only class where I'm the only one from my year.

It is perfect.

It's a fresh start.

While in other classes, I'm a 'C' average student, in this one, I get to be myself and show what I know. I hope that by the end of the year, it will still be like that. This is my only chance to show that I'm not an idiot. Okay, well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration. I do pretty well in math and other sciences in general, but those classes usually come with help from my friends and others.

No one can say that I'm cheating or getting my results unfairly. In this class, everything that I know is all me.

Once the class has finished passing up the star charts, Ms. Tally talks about sunspots. It's fascinating, really. But all too soon, the hour ends, and the stress of school comes back full force when trying to stay out of Dash or the football team's sight and finish up the day. Finally, I make it to class right before the warning bell and the hour of torture begins.

After Astronomy, anything after feels like it is going on forever. Soon enough, I start to daydream, and the real world falls into the background as I think about exploring the stars. Every once in a while, I would come back down to earth and pay attention to something, but for the most part, my head was up in the clouds.

Eventually, the last bell of the day rings, signaling the end of the day. I gather my things and meet up with Sam and Tucker by my locker. "Danny, you ready?" Well, no time like the present, "Yeah, about that," I say apprehensive when Tucker talks over me in an accusing monotone voice, "you have detention again, don't you?" I couldn't help the hand going to my neck as I said meekly, "Sorry." Sam rolls her eyes, "Can't you just stay out of trouble for once?"

"Well, it's not like I'm trying to get in trouble," I tell her haughty "Yeah, Yeah, we know," They say together. "So, see you tomorrow then?" I ask "tomorrow," she said, agreeing. "Bye, Danny," they call as they walk out of the building.

I dredge down the halls back to the Astronomy classroom, wanting to get this conversation over with. But, once I got there, I knocked on the door, and Ms. Tally walks out with a stack of papers. "Follow me, Mr. Fenton," she orders as we go back to the same halls I had just gone through and then to the front of the building. We stopped once we got to the Office. Only about half of the staff was still there. The rest of them have already gone home for the day.

She has me sit in one of the chairs for a couple of minutes when she goes to the back of the office. When she comes back later, she beckons me forward. She has me trail behind her until we reach Mr. Lancer's office, My homeroom English teacher and Vice-principal.

She knocks twice before I hear the dreaded words, "Come in."

Mr. Lancers' office is a small but clean space and outdated. The carpet has seen better years as it has become discolored and has a bit of a smell. The back of the room is filled with filing cabinets looking ready to combust. In the center of the room is his desk with stacks of paper and an old box computer.

If His office is this bad, I have to wonder what that says about the rest of the school. "Have a seat, Daniel; we have much to discuss." I nod and sit in one of the chairs in front of the desk while Ms. Tally sits in the other. "Um, Mr. Lancer, what is it exactly that we are here to talk about?" He gives Ms. Tally a look, "You didn't tell him?" She shifts a little while Mr. Lancer lets out a loud sigh, "We are here to talk to you about your grades and attendance." This won't be good, "you have been tarty to class fifteen times in the past two weeks, and your grades in some classes completely contradict the rest. So what is going on, Daniel?"

I stare at my hands, trying to find something to say for myself, but all I could come up with was excuses. Finally, Ms. Tally startles me out of my thoughts when she suddenly asks, "What happened today? Being three minutes late to my class is abnormal for you." Mr. Lancer gives her a questioning glance, "Only by three minutes?"

"Yes, Daniel has never been more than a minute late to my class others have but never him; he is almost always punctual." Mr. Lancer silently passes her my class attendant's log. I didn't even have to read it to know what it says, fifteen minutes late here, thirty there, leaving class and never coming back, and other infractions filled that page. "Besides being late, Mr. Fenton also has a habit of falling asleep in class," he informs her.

They both look at me and ask again, "what's going on?" I didn't know what else to do, so I told them the only thing that I can the truth. I told them about the bullying, pushing me into lockers, taking my homework, the punching and jabs in the hallway, and the constant distracting conversations and lollygagging when the teachers' backs are turned.

Ms. Tally didn't say anything while Mr. Lancer looked sympathetic. Finally, after a moment of silence, Ms. Tally broke the quiet, "While that explains why you are always late to class, and we will be doing something about that don't you worry, it doesn't give any reason for the rest of the attendance issues, grades, or the sleeping in class. Is there anything else you want to let us in on?"

"It's complicated," I started before I found myself pausing. I can't tell them about the ghost fighting; that would never end well. So, I ended up telling an altered version of the truth. Sighing, I managed to say to them, "I'm just not getting enough sleep." Mr. Lancer cut me off before I was able to say anything else, "Why is that? What is keeping you up?" Giving him an annoyed look for him cutting me off and his impatiens. "Look, this is hard to talk about. No interruptions, please?"

I ask them, irritated once I get assurance from them both, I start up again.

"There is never a quiet moment at home my parents are either inventing all through the night or going in and out trying to catch ghosts." I sigh, then look at them wearily, Oh, Jazz is going to hate me for this, "being the son of a ghost hunter isn't fun; all of these ghosts that keep coming through keep bothering me. They are either trying to get to and from the Ghost portal or trying to get to Jazz and me to get back at our parents. We never get a break. Not even at school. That's why I keep disappearing all of the time. Jazz doesn't have it as bad since she is older, but as the youngest, it puts a target on me." I make eye contact with Mr. Lancer, trying to figure out if he believes me or not. By the end of my story, his face had paled, looking close to white, while Ms. Tally looks between us with disbelief etched into her face. She looks like she is trying to figure out where the end of the joke is. Once it became apparent that I am telling the truth, her jaw became slack, and she looked at me, her eyes blown wide.

I think I may have broken her.

"Oh, Huckleberry Finn," I hear him mutter, "That definitely explains some things." But then, he looks at me with a tired look in his eye, "and your grades?"

"That's actually pretty easy to understand," I say with a nervous chuckle, "In all honesty, I'm just really not good at liberal art subjects. Give me Science or Math anytime, but I would rather run a mile around the school than do English or history. But, don't me wrong, I do try; I just never really get them." Ms.Tally, who had finally gotten back her composure, looked at me with a single eyebrow raised. " I don't really get it myself, but ill try to explain, um," I run my fingers through my hair as I tink up an analogy, "It's like im doing a puzzle, but some pieces are missing. No matter how hard I try, the pieces that I have left just don't fit into place." I blush a little at my own confession," Does that make any sense?"

"It does actually," he says, "It's like that for many of us. Though it is usually math that causes the most trouble." He sends me a small smile as he turns around towards the filing cabinet. "Just keep trying, and in time the pieces will come together." then pulls out a couple of forms from a drawer, " if you are having so many issues with those classes, why didn't you ask to transfer out?"

"Those are the only classes I have with my friends, and if my schedule changed, there is no guarantee I'll get lunch break with them," I tell truthfully, starting to get worried about the papers he brought out. "Now that you know, can't you just make it so that I sit away from them, the A-list? I would do better, I promise, please don't take me out of class with my friends," I beg him.

Mr. Lancer looked to be thinking it over when Ms. Tally interrupted, "Is that why you don't have trouble in my class, is there no one of that," she pauses, trying to find the right word, "clique; during your period?"

I nod, agreeing with her statement, "The class is filled with people from the older years too, and nobody in there has to agree with my classmates A-list." Ms. Tally looked satisfied with my answer and let it go while Mr. Lancer looked ready to deliver his verdict.

"We will give it a try," he started holding his hand up in a stopping motion when I started thanking him, "I said we would give it a try, but if things continue as they are or get any worse, you will have to transfer to another class. Do you understand?"

I was nodding, readily agreeing.

"If that's all we have to talk about, may I go?" The teachers agreed when suddenly Mr. Lancer stopped me, "One more thing. Your sleeping problem, what do you plan to do about that?"

"Invest in some really good earplugs," I say, shrugging. Mr. Lancer starts humming a bit in thought while putting the forms back into his desk, "If that doesn't work, then we will be forced to pull you out of an elective and give you a study hall. We can't have you falling asleep throughout the day."

"I'll try harder, sir."

"Have a good day, Danny."

As soon as the words 'Good Day' were out of his mouth, I reached for the door and left. I spotted a clock on my way out of the school, and to my surprise, our talk didn't take any more than forty-five minutes. Once I was out, I walked for a good ten minutes or so, hoping to make it to the Nasty Burger before Sam and Tucker decided to leave.

Once I got to the old dinner, I looked around for my friends, but I couldn't find them in our usual booth. So I looked around some more, hoping to see them sitting somewhere else, but the only familiar faces in there weren't friendly ones. I was just about to leave when I felt a chill going through my body and saw the mist spilling out of my mouth into my face.

I rushed into the bathroom and checked to make sure it was empty before entering a stall and whispered to myself, "guess it's time to die," and let my transformation take over.

My body became inverted, with my black hair becoming a startling white and my eyes going from a light blue to a toxic glowing green. My clothes left my body, and in their place was the hazmat suit from the portal accident.

I rushed out of the nasty Burger and looked around for any sign of danger when I heard off in the distance, "BEWARE, FOR I AM THE MASTER OF ALL THINGS CUBEICAL AND SQUARE!" Oh, for everything good in the world, why of all ghosts did it have to be him. I flew to the back of the restaurant and found him messing with a delivery driver.

I was sneaking up on him when the driver yelped and pointed in my direction, giving away my position. "Really," I say to the driver, "you just had to give me away" I threw my hands up in exasperation. It's going to be so much harder to catch him now. "Come on, Boxxy, do we have to do this again? I sent you back to the zone this morning." That's the thing about Boxxy, the Box Ghost. Despite not being much more than a nuisance, he is one of the most nerve-racking ghosts to catch. If I didn't know any better, I would think he has his own personal portal with how often he slips between dimensions.

Boxxy glowered at me while rushing up into my face, " I AM NOT BOXXY, I AM THE BOX GHOST" I cross my arms trying to make a point, "Isn't that what I just said, Boxxy?"

"BOX GHOST"

"Boxxy"

"BOX GHOST"

"Well, I say your Boxxy."

"BOX GHOST, B-O-X GHOST!"

I wave him off. "Well, come on, Boxxy, I don't have all day" He started chucking boxes at the driver and me while floating away while grumbling about name-calling. It took me half an hour to catch the nuisance, " Any last words, Boxxy" I ask him while pulling out the Fenton Thermos.

"I AM NOT BOXX-" he said while being pulled into the device.

Once he is secured, I retrace my steps, collect the boxes, and return them to the Nasty Burger. When I got there, the driver tried to explain what had happened earlier when I called out to one of the servers.

" Excuse me, but I believe these belong to you." I land in front of the server and gently put the boxes onto the ground. "Oh my gosh, I know you! Your inviso-bill!" I cringed a bit at the name, "The name is Phantom, Danny Phantom," being annoyed that after all these months that people were still messing up my name.

Their aww quickly changed to apologetic, "I'm sorry, Mr.Phantom, sir." I started laughing a little; it was not a giggle, no matter what anyone else claims. It was a laugh, a manly laugh. I couldn't help its escape. No one has ever called me sir before, "It's okay, just happy to help," I reassured. After they had all of their boxes, I flew away.

I started a patrol around the city looking for any malevolent ghost that had managed to get out while occasionally helping little old ladies across the street and saving the occasional cat out of a tree. It's nice to be able to help out even when ghosts aren't attacking. Also, it gives me more time to relax in my ghost form, which I don't get to do very often. Before I knew it, the sun was starting to set, and it was time to make my way home.

[mommymooze]

Blacksmith

So I had my first ask from @sloth-and-gluttony-are-my-sins, so the absolute first thing I had to do is mess it up. Tumbler, you are mean when they ask a question and then  I ask a question and it doesn’t leave the original dohickey in my mail here so I can use it to respond and then I got all confused but...the important part was someone asked and I wrote and here it is. Enjoy.  Especially Sloth&allthat. 

You first meet the students at Garreg Mach in the summer of the last classes ever held there. Your friend Anna requests your services because the regular blacksmith fell ill. You feel the need to expand your horizons. Working for your father for years, perhaps it was time to start setting up a shop of your own. What better chance than to take this job. Everything is here already except for a smith. They have plenty of horses that need shoes, weapons that need repair and new weapons to be forged.

 Getting up with the sun, you load wood and coal into the forge, regularly working the bellows to get the heat high enough to soften the hardest metals. Each blacksmith has their own tried and true methods of working and molding the metal into their desired shapes, resulting in weapons and tools to sell in markets. Your family has a history of great craftmanship, you must carry the torch.

Today you are working on fine pieces of steel that slowly will become beautiful custom daggers. The blades requested by the handsome gentleman were specifically ordered to be perfectly balanced, incredibly sharp, shiny and deadly.

Pumping the bellows a few more times, you check the glow of the metal, it is glowing brighter, soon you will be able to work on flattening the steel into shape. You pull the strap of your thick leather apron over your head, tying it behind you. Thick leather pants also protect your legs, your heavy leather boots protecting your feet from metals shards that constantly fall and cover the ground, a hazard of working with metal. Your naked hands grabbing the metal long handled tongs, reaching into the superheated forge and grabbing the brightly glowing hot steel, placing it on the anvil. You reach for your twenty pound hammer with a muscular arm that few, if any, in the monastery could compare to. Your shirt is sleeveless to allow the 100% freedom of movement necessary for your work, your arms forever glistening with sweat from the heat of the forge and materials you work with. You spend an average of 12-14 hours per day working with the metal, molding it under your power, shaping it into beautiful deadly tools.

You begin hammering the metal in a rhythmic pattern, giving a heartbeat to the marketplace. You switch hands every so often, glad that you are ambidextrous, developing the thick strong muscles on both arms evenly. It makes you chuckle-some smiths you know who have a single heavily muscled arm, the other tiny compared to the first. Not that the rest of you is underdeveloped. Your legs, stomach, back, even your neck is muscular having to constantly lift heavy pieces of metal, armor, logs, you name it.  You pick up the glowing metal with your clamps, it stretches well under your will, nice and evenly drawn out and ready to be fired again for its next hammering.

You look up in time to see a young blonde haired man. Dimitri as you recall, standing watching you work. Tossing the steel back into the forge, you turn to speak with him.

“Good morning, what can I assist you with?” You greet him as you wipe your hands on your apron, black bits of carbon staining the front.

“I was hoping you could help me with this?” The blue eyed man blushes as he produces a steel lance with the spearhead bent at a very incorrect angle.

You take the lance turning it around and look into his handsome young face. “Were you using it as a lever? Trying to get rocks out of the ground? How many of you were pushing on the handle?” You smile at him.

“Oh no, I was just sparring and, well, I guess I hit the wall and well, here we are.” His blush has crept down his cheeks and into his neck.

Turning the spear again, you find the point where the metal has given way. You move to the right, standing with your legs and knee holding the handle of the spear against your anvil, using both hands you are able to bend the spearhead back towards its original position, then toss the end into the center of your forge. Pumping the bellows a few times you turn to the owner.

The prince’s eyes are as wide as saucers, he had tried to straighten it back out himself and it would not give at all. You simply grabbed it and straightened it back in the blink of an eye.

“Well, Dimitri, what would you like me to do? Just straighten it back out? Reinforce it to make it harder to bend?” You ask as you pull out another piece of the dagger steel and begin hammering it.

“Yes! That would be wonderful if you can reinforce it some. If it would be of no trouble to you.” He looks away shyly.

“That’s what I am here for. I don’t have the fire built for it today, but I do have some welding set for tomorrow. Should be ready in the afternoon.” You answer, not missing a beat with your pounding the metal, drawing out the furthest end into the point of the blade.

Dimitri stands mesmerized as you continually strike the metal, the sweat rolling down your arm muscles then suddenly drops of sweat are flung into the air with the next strike of your hammer. Suddenly he realizes that he’s been staring at you.

“Just how heavy is that hammer?” He asks.

You hold the hammer out to him, your arm straight, the metal head close to his chest. “grab the handle just under the large metal end. It may be a bit hot if you grab the end itself. “

Dimitri takes the hammer in one hand, not expecting it to be that heavy, quickly he gets a second hand on it before he drops it completely. He grabs the handle with two hands, raising it above his head before bringing it down to waist height, then handing it back to you. “It is quite impressive that you can swing it over your head all day long.”

“You could do it too, just need practice. You are incredibly strong to be able to bend your weapons like you do.” You smile, turning back to your work.  You wave to him saying his spear will be ready tomorrow afternoon.

 After a nice lunch break you are back at work on the daggers. Fine tuning the edges calls for a smaller hammer and more finesse work. Clangity-clang! The higher pitch of the five pound hammer working the metal to a fine sharp edge.

“Hail good Blacksmith! If I may have a moment!” A cheerful voice pulls you from your concentration. You grab your tongs and place the blade in the forge for reheating.

You turn to see a Noble Gentleman whose hair color could rival the center of the forge, glowing as orange as the coals in the middle. His wide smile beckons for your attention. “Good day to you sir. How may I assist you?”

“Lady Blacksmith, if I may inquire.” Ferdinand begins, a look of awe is upon his face. He had no idea the muscles that he was admiring belonged to a woman, a very healthy, muscular woman. He coughs into his fist briefly. “In my last battle I incurred damage to my left gauntlet. As you can see the plates on the outer fingers have been bent, making it difficult to grasp my lance properly. I would pay anything if you are able to assist me with this problematic situation.”

You hold yourself back from laughing in the face of this apparently naive noble asking a woman for assistance with the grasping of his lance. You kick the anvil to keep yourself from smiling as you answer. “I would be happy to assist you with the repair of your gauntlet.” You hold the metal glove in your hands turning it and getting a gauge of the metal that was used for the plates.

“You have excellent maintenance skills. A well oiled and maintained piece such as this will last you many years. If you could give me 3 days to complete the work, I can have it back to you then, good sir.”

“Excellent. My name is Ferdinand Von Aegir. I am most pleased to make your acquaintance.” He proudly announces as he holds out his hand so that you may place yours within it for a kiss.

You shyly back away, hands behind you. “You wouldn’t want to kiss these hands right now. They’re covered in coal and oil and smell like steel and grease.”

“Another time, perhaps.” He bows. “It would be an honor to kiss the hand that makes the finest steel bend to its will.” The smile he gives outshines the sun as he bows, heading off to merge in with the crowds, long strides taking him halfway through the marketplace in a scant moment.  

The rest of the day is spent finishing the daggers, straightening the lance, and pounding the steel to the correct thickness to replace the bent portions of the damaged gauntlet. Bending the metal around rods of the correct thickness, matching that of the removed parts then finally hammering the punch to make the hole in each side, allowing the piece to be fastened to the glove and inner plate.

 The next morning is cool and the heat from the forge is most welcome. Today mostly coal is in, the fire needs to be hot hot hot to work on welding the additional metal to the spear. Tempering the daggers and gauntlet bits. Twelve new spearheads requested.

You begin with the weld, everything pristinely clean the fire exceptionally hot as you heat the spear and steel to be welded. Placing the first piece of steel on the spearhead and removing them both from the heat. Placing them on the anvil quickly and lining them up with shorter clamps, you immediately hammer the two pieces of metal together, joining them into a single piece. Now you must reheat the spear to weld more steel on the other side.

While waiting you grab the first of the three new dagger blades that are on the outer edge of the forge. The metal is heated to orange, not nearly as hot as the welded pieces. The oil in the metal tub close to the forge is warmed sufficiently and you quickly dunk the blade into the oil, swirling it in figure 8s to cool it quickly, tempering the metal and strengthening it. The flames on the oil dies down as the metal cools. You place it back in the forge, tempering the other two blades.

Now the spearhead is hot enough to weld the other side. You hammer the pieces together tossing them into the firey forge to heat to tempering.

Grabbing your waterskin you take a long drink. For being so chilly this morning, it’s gotten quite hot in the shop. You swear the pink haired girl standing close to the side of the front is just there to warm herself. Dimitri begins to walk past and notices you taking a break.

“Your lance is coming right along. I’m well on track to have it done around lunch.” You lean with an elbow on a huge log standing on end at the front of the shop.

“Wonderful. I was hoping to get in some sparring this afternoon. Not that we always practice with regular weapons, but it’s good to keep the muscles toned.” Dimitri smiles at you. He can feel the heat radiating from you even a few feet away. His eyes watch the drops of sweat dancing down between the muscles in your arms. He jolts when you speak.

“I can tell you work hard. Be proud of yourself. I’ll be here to make sure you’re well equipped.” You give him a big smile and wave as he heads off to his friends.

The daggers are ready for the next tempering, followed by the spear and gauntlet pieces. Now you pull out your files, working the edges of the metal on the spear so there are no sharp bits, making it smooth and shiny.  Only a few files are needed for the spear. The daggers however need much more work, fine tuning the angle of the blade, then having to switch to stones, finely oiled and the edges drawn out until they can cut a hair.  You almost have one dagger complete when Dimitri returns for his weapon.

You’ve polished it up, removed any burrs, smoothed the handle and sharpened the edge.

“Thank you so much, your work is magnificent.” The prince starts off well, placing his payment on the anvil, then reaching for his lance. However once his fingers brush yours, his shyness gets in the way. “Such a beautiful spear completed by a sharp...Uh..no..Sorry. I brought you a muffin.” He says grabbing the lance and stuffing a bag with a large blueberry muffin contained inside into your hands before he turns beet red and runs off.

You laugh, realizing you had not stopped for lunch yourself. Grabbing a bite to eat you finish your tasks for the day.

 The next morning you finish the gauntlet for the red haired noble, polishing the whole thing until it glows. You decide you’ll make the deliveries during lunch. The schedule is light for today and you’ve always wanted to see the students in their ‘natural environment’. You spend entirely too much time trying to knock the smithy smell off of you. Now you smell like coal, oil, iron, steel and lavender. At least your skin is more pink than black on your arms and face. Your hair is pulled back, you’re wearing a fluffy gray blouse and dark gray tight pants with leather shoes.

Most of the students are gathered in the dining hall. It isn’t hard to spot the tall young man with his glowing red hair that is just brushing his shoulders. Of course, for some reason, he has announced his own name, confirming you have found the gauntlet owner.

“Such an unexpected surprise!” Ferdinand says as he stands and bows to you. “It looks magnificent! Do you mind if I try it?”

You nod, smiling at him.

He stuffs his hand into the gauntlet, the fingers wiggling and grasping at his other hand. He looks into the gloved portion, slipping it off. “It is perfect!” the redhead announces loud enough for everyone to hear. “There is something different, there was a spot inside that somehow does not bother me at all.”

“I attached a bit of moleskin to some places that were rubbing at the base of your fingers.” You point to the area.

“Simply magnificent! Your work is perfection with every effort! Thank you! Thank you!” He says graciously as he hands a bag heavy with coins.

You look at him curiously, this was far more than you were expecting, a whole new gauntlet would have been cheaper. “Are you certain?”

“Ahh yes! It fits me like a glove!” He smiles, holding his hand out, waiting for yours.

You cautiously take his hand and he gently brings his lips to your knuckles. You find this cute and can’t help but giggle.

He laughs cheerfully as he turns and heads back to his room to retrieve the missing match for his review.

 You head out towards the classrooms, looking for Professor Byleth. As you’re walking you hear a voice approaching from the right.

“Ooooh. Looks like a lovely, gorgeous lady is about to find out this is her lucky day” A male voice schmoozes as his footsteps come closer, suddenly a deeper voice chimes in “That’s the blacksmith, idiot. She will break you like a toothpick.”

 Alone again, you enter the classroom. Byleth looks up from the desk where she was grading papers.

“Almost have your order complete for the lances. Have you seen Yuri?” You ask, holding out a box.

“He just left, I bet you can catch him if you hurry, just head towards my room, right by the sauna.” Byleth answers, giving you a wave.

 You run out heading towards the entrance to Abyss. You hope you can catch him before he heads down. Something about being underground just gives you the creeps. Like at any time the roof is going to collapse on you. You’re running and thrilled to spy him just around the next corner.

“Hey!” you call out, gasping for breath. Your job doesn’t normally call for you to run.

“Hello there, friend.” He sweetly calls back. “What brings you all the way out here?”

“Needed a change of scenery, so I thought I would make a few deliveries, here.” You say as you hand him the box.

“Oh, these are nice. I knew you would come through.” He says as he takes one of the daggers out, twirling it in his fingers. “Sharp as an eagle’s eye too.”

“It’s buy two get one free day.” You nudge his shoulder, fortunately he catches himself before you knock him completely to the ground.

“I pay fair a price. I don’t like owing anyone for anything.” Yuri frowns deeply.

“Well I heard there’s someone you know that makes a wicked fruit tart, one of those would be payment plenty.” You grin.

“That can be arranged.” Yuri smiles and winks.

[thiswasinevitableid]

15. Nymph SternClay alternately, Stern is a Dryad residing in a huge forest where a strange creature, similar to humans but different (aka Bigfoot) wanders alone. Ever curious, Stern seeks to understand why this beautiful creature doesn’t seem to have anyone else, and even tries to hide from the few humans who venture deep enough into the woods. Can they be alone together?

Here you go! It’s SFW

Joseph knows he can’t spend every hour in the Great Oak, reading and researching the movements of humans. He still struggles to justify his fascination with creatures that have little contact with his kind. Some of his peers go so far as to insist humans are a myth, or the result of the odd dryad or naiad seeing a bear from the wrong angle. 

This is false, of course, and humans have been getting bold lately, making paths and taking walks deeper and deeper into the trees. This means that dryads assigned to security roles must spend at least six hours a day in their tree to make sure no one threatens their home. Joseph is in a Copper Beech not far from the GreenBriar river, mentally drawing up his to-do list for the week, when heavy footsteps catch his attention. 

At first he thinks it’s a particularly hairy human tromping through the underbrush, decked out in a ratty flannel shirt and what he’s heard humans refer to as “sweatpants.”  But his feet are bare, his limbs and face covered in dark, copper-flecked fur, and his ears are more pointed than those of a human. He leans against Josephs’ tree, drumming his fingers on it as he surveys the area, massive back-pack slung over his shoulders. There’s a flat patch of grass twenty yards away, and this is where the visitor eventually settles. Within fifteen minutes, a small tent sits on the grass. When the creature crawls inside and lays down, his feet stick out of the flap. 

Once snoring filters into the air, Joseph slips from the tree, conjures a blanket from moss, and sets it across his feet. It gets cold here at night.

His kind gesture does not go as planned.

The instant the fabric hits skin, the figure in the tent jolts upright, growling.  Joseph sits back as his guest's head bursts into the open. Then their positions instantly reverse, the other creature scrambling backwards in alarm.

“What the fuck? Where, where’d you come from, I didn’t hear you, didn’t even smell you sneaking up on me.”

Joseph raises his eyebrows, “Probably because I smell like bark and my footsteps are no different from falling leaves.” He holds out his hand for the creature to shark, “Joseph Stern, dryad.” 

“O-kay, so why is a dryad trying to…” he looks at the blanket for the first time, “tuck me in?”

“You’re new to woodland living, I take it?”

“Not really.”

Joseph sighs, “There are specific rules that govern this forest. One of them is that dryads are responsible for everything within a two mile radius of their base” he points to the Beech, “including any residents, visitors, or refugees. Which means you’re my responsibility.”

“Uh, I’m good, you don’t need to, like, babysit me.”

The dryad produces a notebook from his pocket, flipping to the section for his resident intake form, “I’m not babysitting you, I just need some information for my records. Name?”

Deep brown eyes blink, perplexed, and then his guest shrugs, “Barclay.”

“Species?”

“No fucking idea.” Barclay picks up the moss blanket, folding it and setting it next to the tent. 

“Purpose of stay?”

“To get some peace and quiet.” He turns a pointed glare at Joseph. Even with the glower, he’s the most handsome creature the dryad has ever seen. 

“Um. Right. I’ll just fill in the rest myself. If you need anything, I’m just over there.” He walks briskly away, managing to only look over his shoulder once. Barclay is watching him, looking for all the world like a hare waiting for the fox to pounce. 

It’s only when he’s back in the tree that he realizes having a resident will cut down on his research time. Then again, his guest is far more intriguing than any human could ever be.

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

Barclay was so ready to stop feeling bad. He feels bad for stealing the tent from a guy he scared off his campsite two towns back. Bad for yanking clothes off the clothing line of rural houses so he could have two sets to rotate instead of a filthy, single shirt and shorts combo. Bad because it’s been months since he ate anything but MREs, granola bars, and day olds salvaged from dumpsters. 

Now he gets to add “feel bad because you’re crashing on some guys front lawn” to that list. He didn’t even know nymphs were a thing; he thought he was the only weird semi-human in the world. Yet here’s Joseph, hair as dark and shiny as the leaves on his home tree, skin the color of bark, and vines occasionally twining up his arms and legs. Unlike Barclay, his inhuman features make him beautiful, not beastly. 

Barclay came here to be alone. 

Barclay hates being alone. He wants a house full of warmth and voices mingling over a kitchen table, wants people to care for and who care about him. So when Joseph appears the next morning near his small fire and it’s boiling pot of foraged tea, he offers the dryad some. 

They sit, awkwardly sipping from their mugs, when he decides to take advantage of his host.

“I, uh, don’t suppose there’s any herbs growing around here? Like mint, or maybe alliaria? I wanna catch fish for dinner, but they taste better if I can season them.”

“I think there’s some growing upstream. Do you want me to show you?”

“Uh, no, that’s fine. I’m used to finding stuff on my own.”

Joseph nods, finishes his tea, and magics the cup clean before handing it back to Barclay.

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

“What...what’s all this?” Barclay stares, stunned, at the pile of goods sitting by his firepit. He counts a camp stove, teapot, and two boxes of fresh food, including bread and cheese,

Joseph looks up from organizing the supplies, “A few friends of mine, plus the Ashroot Market.” He smiles, Barclay’s stomach flipping like a flapjack when he does, “did you think we live on berries and air?”

“Kinda, yeah.” Barclay rubs his arm, embarrassed, “thanks, Joseph. I, uh, I don’t really have money, so maybe I can pay you back with-” he trails off as the nymph stands and sets a hand on his shoulder. 

“Barclay, you don’t owe me anything. I did this because you keep saying how much you miss cooking from a real pantry and, um, I thought it’d make you happy to have some options.”

“It does.” He freezes as Joseph strokes the fur poking through a hole in shirt, “I can restock your sewing kit the next time, if you want.”

“That’d be great.” He wants so badly to touch him back, to see if he shudders away from his claws or holds his hand. 

Josephs arm drops back to his side, “Ned has a surprising number of camping supplies. I suspect he stole them from humans, which is technically against the rules but” he indicates the stove, “I’ll let it slide for now.” 

A conspiratorial wink and Barclay rumbles out a purr, catching it before Joseph notices.

“Will, uh, will you at least let me make you dinner as a thank you?”

The dryad nods, “That sounds perfect, big guy.”

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

Barclay doesn’t howl often; it draws unwanted attention and there’s no one like him out there to answer anyway. Tonight he couldn’t help it, the loneliness tearing him to bits on it’s climb up his throat. He’s cross-legged on the ground, face to the stars, when Joseph sits down beside him. 

“Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine. Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you. Thought you were out.”

“I was reading.” Joseph scoots closer, rubbing Barclay’s back, “and I can tell you’re lying.”

Barclay delays answering, fixes his gaze on the Beech where Joseph lives. Nymph homes occupy liminal spaces, fitting an entire domiciles within trees. His current hobby is imagining what it looks like on the inside; whether there are books stacked neatly everywhere, whether there’s a nice kitchen, how big the bed is, what the view from the bed is like…

He’s never going to know, Joseph made that clear. 

“It’s not that no other creature is allowed in a nymph home, more that getting them in there takes a dangerous amount of energy.”

“Barclay?” Joseph rests his head on his shoulder, “have you always been alone?”

“No. Or, well, I don’t think so. I get flashes of memory from when I was really little. Like there’s this big house with lots people who look like me, and they’re talking and keep passing me around so the grown-ups can ruffle my fur and make this, this sort of” he breaks off into the low, soft hoots that echo down through the years, “and then...then there’s this gap and the next thing I remember is being dumped on the side of the road somewhere in central California, more or less an adult myself. I spent so long looking for my family, for anyone who looked like or could give me answers and all I got was some scars and a bunch of T.V shows about hunting me.” 

“That sounds awful. I, um, I’m glad you stumbled into my neck of the woods. I know I’m not always the best company and ask more questions about living around humans than you’d probably like but, um, you deserve to have at least one person on your side.”

“Thanks” Barclay tips his head sideways so it’s resting against Josephs’, “Uh if, if you ever want to, we could have a dinner here with Duck and them. I like cooking for people; one of those things I know about myself even if I can’t remember why.”

He must imagine the lips brushing his forehead as Joseph sits up, “I’ll invite everyone first thing tomorrow.”

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

A danger of sleeping in Joseph’s clearing is that Barclay feels safe. Starts sleeping like he has nothing to fear. 

The voices in the distance, jarring him awake in the dead of night, remind him of the truth.

“Shit” he scrambles out of the tent, piles it and all his other possessions into a hollow log and throws the moss blanket over it just to be safe. Then the worst sound in the world reaches him: barking. Not only are the hunters close, they have dogs. And, his acute hearing informs him, he’s their prey. 

Fuck, his scent and fur are all over this part of the woods, no wonder they’re honing in on him so fast. His best chance is to run and cross the river, but there’s an open stretch on the other side, so unless he’s lucky they’ll still spot him. 

“Hey! I think something is moving over here!” 

He flattens against the Copper Beech, narrowly dodging the beam of a flashlight. 

“Shit, shit” he doesn’t want to fight, doesn’t want to hurt anyone. He doesn’t want to be caught. Inhaling, he readies himself to give the loudest roar of his life. 

Then the world tips and twists and he’s no longer in the woods. He is, however, in a tree, if the view from the window is anything to go by.

Gasping sends his attention to the floor and he drops to his knees, scooping a limp, pale Joseph into his arms. 

“Wel, welcome to my house. Sorry it’s such a, a mess.”

He glances at the polished furniture, the neatly stacked books, and the spotless floor.

“Seriously, babe? That’s the first thing you say after saving my neck?” He giggles, tipping towards hysteria. 

“I couldn’t let them hurt you.”

“You could have died.” Barclay adjusts him so he’s mostly upright and hugs him close, “I coulda lost you why, why did you-”

His question is lost in the clumsy kiss Joseph pulls him into. Barclay’s body gives up on adapting to anymore surprises and he falls onto his back, the nymph weakly petting his cheeks as he tries, clearly exhausted, to continue kissing him. 

“You’re the most incredible being in the forest and, and I’ve been so happy since you came to stay. My entire body feels like a leaf beaten limp by the rain and I’d do the same spell this instant, without hesitation, if that’s what it took to keep you safe. Keep you with me.”

Carefully, Barclay guides him into another kiss, vines curling up them both the more he pours all his affection and thanks into the nymphs mouth. When Joseph finally pulls away, he nestles down on Barclays chest, running his fingers through his fur. 

“You, um, you may be here awhile. I’m not sure if I can get you out safely or if Dani and the others will have to help me.”

“No complaints here.” Barclay strokes his hair, which feels like soft leaves and normal locks all at once. 

Joseph answers a few more logistical questions before falling asleep in his arms, which is plenty of answers for one night. And in the morning, when the nymph rolls over to smile at him, he can confirm; the view from the bed is beautiful.

[zeldan7]

Happier (707 x GN! Reader, Yoosung x GN! Reader)

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Pairing: Vague 707 x GN! Reader, Vague Yoosung x GN! Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1193

You’d all but given up on befriending Seven, only interacting with him at a basic level. You offered him food and drinks, and that was that. Not even a good morning. The only constant from him was the mean things he would say to push you away, almost resulting in you crying in your room each time. Your feelings for him started to fade, and you found yourself liking him less and less. It was impossible to get close to him, and any attempt left you hurt beyond words. Yoosung was your saviour, though. You’d spend most of the day talking to him – except when he was in class – and he always gave you a reason to smile.

One day, however, you woke to find Seven waiting for you in the kitchen.

“I need to talk to you about something.” He said, somehow even more serious than normal.

“What is it?” Your tone was cold.

“I’m leaving for a few days. I found the hacker’s base and I’m going there to deal with it directly.”

You gasped, steely demeanour dissipating. “I’ll come with you! It’ll be too dangerous to go by yourself!”

Seven made a disgusted face. “You’ll only distract me.”

You sighed, exasperated. At least while he was gone you wouldn’t have to deal with this. “Will I be safe here by myself?”

“No.” He stated simply. “I know the apartment location is meant to be secret, but this is too important. I’m having Jumin send over security guards, and another member of the RFA will stay with you here while I’m away. I’ll be keeping an eye on the special security system the whole time, so you’ll be perfectly safe so long as you aren’t alone.”

“Who will stay with me?” You questioned.

He shrugged. “I left that to the others to decide.”

There was a knock on the door and the security guards appeared shortly after.

“Well,” Seven looked at you awkwardly, eyes softening. “I- uh… take care of yourself while I’m gone. And be careful.” He moved as though he was going to hug you, then jerked backwards. “See ya,”

“Stay safe!” You called. He grunted in response as he left.

You sat down and opened your laptop, feeling a strange mix of both peaceful and empty in Seven’s absence. His last few words had confused your feelings, seeing how he seemed to care about you for a brief moment. You noticed a chatroom had opened and all the members (except Seven and V) were active. You couldn’t help but laugh upon opening it.

Zen: I think I should be the one to go stay with Y/N! The rest of you can’t be trusted!

Jumin: I’ve been thinking I should have Y/N brought here; the building is very safe, and they could keep Elizabeth the 3rd company when I’m not around.

Zen: ABSOLUTELY NOT

Jaehee: I would offer to go, but I have so much paperwork to get on top of.

Jumin: That reminds me. Assistant Kang, please come to my office. I have a report for the cat hotel business I need you to look at.

Jaehee: Not another cat idea…

Yoosung: I have no classes for the rest of the week! I could go!

You watched the chaos erupt, a smile on your face, using the hilarity as a distraction from the danger you were in.

Jaehee: Maybe it would be best to let Y/N decide who stays with them.

Zen: …

Jumin: …

Yoosung: …

Zen: Well, who is it?

You thought for a moment before typing out your answer.

Y/N: Yoosung.

And then you logged out before the argument could break out. Your phone was blowing up, but you simply turned it off and got back to work planning the party.

You were deep in thought, having a mental debate over pastel or neutral decorations, when you heard a knock on the door. Cautiously, you opened it, trusting the security guards to have done their job. Before you stood a blonde-haired boy, only very slightly taller than yourself. His violet eyes twinkled with excitement as he raised his hand to give you a shy wave.

“Hi! I’m Yoosung – but you probably realised that.”

You laughed and beamed at him. “I’m Y/N, come on in!”

You’d thought it would be awkward at first, seeing as you hadn’t known each other long (especially after what happened with Seven) but this felt like reconnecting with an old friend. It was nice to have someone around who actually wanted to spend time with you and enjoyed your company. You were hesitant when he pulled out his laptop, fearing things were about to go downhill again, but he surprised you.

“Hey, guys!” He called down the mic. “I’m with my friend, Y/N! Say hi!”

You heard a chorus of greetings and you cheerfully responded, feeling your heart swell with joy.

“I’ll go and get on with the party preparations in my room so I don’t bother you.” You say with a smile.

“Don’t be silly!” Yoosung looks away from the game to grin at you. “Come join us! You can cheer for us!”

You did as instructed, having no clue how much time had passed when your stomach started to grumble. Loudly. Checking the clock, you came to a startling realisation.

“Yoosung, it’s dinnertime! We’ve been here nearly 7 hours!”

Yoosung simply chuckled, and you assumed this was normal for him. You smiled and began to make dinner until you heard him talking to his friends.

“Hey, guys, I’m gonna go help Y/N make dinner now! I’ll see you all tomorrow!”

“You don’t need to do that,” you said as he walked over. “I’m used to making dinner by myself, it’s really no trouble.”

Yoosung just smiled at you as he grabbed two plates. “I enjoy cooking, and I’m not about to let you do all the work yourself!”

At some point during the dinner prep, Yoosung accidentally dropped a dollop of sauce on your hand.

“I’m so sorry-“ he started, but he never had the chance to finish.

You grabbed a spoonful of sauce, bending it back and letting the sauce fly at his face. An evil smirk appeared on his face as he got you back, initiating the food war. You both darted around the kitchen, trying to dodge each other’s aims, until you slipped on the tiles.

Yoosung caught you, and you both started laughing breathlessly. You looked up into his lilac eyes, enjoying the genuine happiness you found there. Slowly, he moved his head closer to yours until your foreheads were touching.

“Y/N…”

You thought he was going to kiss you, but at that moment the rice cooker beeped and the two of you separated with a start.

Dinner was comfortable and you went to bed happier than you had been in weeks. The thought of Yoosung being just outside your room, asleep on the sofa – though you’d insisted he take the bed – filled you with a strange thrill and left you feeling safe. For the first time since you’d been at this apartment you went to sleep with a smile on your face, feeling content.

Taglist: @shinebrite97 @belphies-wife @ooffies @callmecamcam

Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/zeldan7 (if anyone wants to leave a lil tip/donation towards my new art program I wanna get! Absolutely not necessary so please don’t feel pressured :) )

[ronnie-azumane]

Kitten?

This is something I came up with at midnight while trying to complete my numerous missing assignments. I apologize in advance

Summary: Tsukishima Kei is a mod of a discord server And with his luck, he finds his first love on the server he runs. He falls head over heels, and vows to fulfill all her needs. However, not everything is what it seems.

Tsukishima was a simple man with simple likes. Granted, However, these likes weren’t as commonplace among his peers.

Sure, he moderated a Discord Server full of people of all ages. In said server, they would play games and talk about the various shows they watched together, some of which were considered children shows.

“Anyone catch the new episode of My Little Pony?” someone on the server would ask.

Tsukishima would bat in immediately, saying, “Remember the two-week spoiler warning, everything else must be covered and properly tagged.” He was the perfect mod, as he was both online all the time he didn’t have school or practice, as well as he was a stickler for the rules. Plus, he had only recently gained access to last week’s episode not long ago, therefore, he had not seen the new episode.

Another thing he liked to do on this server was talk to others on the voice call feature. He enjoyed talking to the many people who decided to join the server, even making a couple of friends, which he refused to believe for the longest time.

One of these many friends was a user that went by the name of gamergirl05. She was a peculiar person, only logging in late at night and logging out early in the morning, only to be away from her computer until late that night again.

She intrigued Tsukishima. Not only was she one of the only girls on the server, she always seemed to be on the voice chat. She never typed messages, never spoke, unless she was spoken to on the voice call. 

Her voice was soft and breathy, with a medium pitch. Her profile picture was a white cartoon cat against a pastel pink background. Sometimes, when playing videogames, you could here her grunt in frustration every once in a while.

Tsukishima couldn’t help from gaining a crush. 

She didn’t seem clingy, she seemed rather chill and independent, it was like God itself sent this woman into Tsukishima’s life. 

She was perfect.

Tsukishima couldn’t help but get excited whenever he saw that she was online. He would always join the voice call whenever he saw she was online.

They would have meaningful conversation. Tsukishima would learn much about her. She was living in Tokyo. She was a year older than Tsukishima; a second year in high school. She had been playing videogames for as long as she could remember. She has an overactive imagination, pretending that she was getting chased by dragons and facing checkpoints every time she walked to school in the morning. She wasn’t popular, but had a couple of close knit friends.

The more they talked, the more Tsukishima fell head over heels. However, the more he started to fall for her, the more he realized that he didn’t know how to express himself in a positive way. He was known as a negative nelly most of his life, with his relationship with the fellow members of the Karasuno volleyball club solidifying that feeling of disgust he felt toward others. Ever with his best friend Yamaguchi he was unable to show positive feelings toward, even though he didn’t feel anything negative toward his best friend.

Unknowing what to do, he looked up online ‘how to show someone you like them,’ only to come up with a website offering a free test to those wondering what their love language was. perfect.

Tsukishima took the test, answering each question as truthfully as he could, even asking his mom what she thought of him for one of the questions.

After thirty minutes of reading, understanding, and clicking, Tsukishima gat the result he was looking for- his love language.

His love language was gift-giving.

He knew exactly what to do at that point. 

Later that night, he stared at the voice call box, waiting for a certain someone to join the call. At 11:00pm on the dot, gamergirl05 joined the call. Tsukishima joined the call soon after.

“Um, hey, uh, how was your day?” Tsukishima asked her.

“My day? I guess it was okay,” she replied. Her voice was still light and breathy as usual. Not too high-pitched as to make Tsukishima believe that she was fake, and not to low to make her sound unattractive to him. The perfect voice for arguably the perfect human.

“Do you have Nitro by any chance?” Tsukishima asked her.

“No, I don’t see the benefit for paying for it myself,” she replied.

“If someone got it for you, would you use it?”

“Sure, I don’t see why not.”

“I-I Don’t mid gifting it to you, if you tell me your Venmo, Ill send the money right now!”

“Ok.” 

She read off a couple of letters and numbers, spelling out her Venmo for him to gift money to. Tsukishima used his mom’s credit card to send her over $50, with the unspoken promise of paying her back one day, even though she didn’t even know her youngest son stole her card.

They talked the rest of the night, until Tsukishima had to go to bed.

XxX

Tsukishima didn’t let up on his gifts to gamergirl05, or Cat as she started referring herself to. Anything she mentioned offhandedly form a new skin to a longing for a fast food meal, Tsukishima sent her the appropriate funds needed to retrieve that item. 

Each monetary gift he sent on Venmo was given a reply of the kissing face emoji.

Tsukishima was over the moon. Not only was he becoming better at volleyball every day after school, but he was also getting closer and closer to Cat. When he found out that he was going to Tokyo for a training camp, he excitedly went online that night to tell cat about how he was going to be in Tokyo and that maybe they could meet up.

“Sorry, but I have plans for that weekend,” Cat said. Tsukishima sighed, but figured as much. He was disappointed, but not surprised.

However, he picked himself up by the bootstraps and packed up his stuff to go to Tokyo for the training camp.

XxX

The weekend was tough. Karasuno faced loss after loss against the Tokyo powerhouse schools. However, the team had learned a lot about both themselves and their offensive and defensive power.

After a long weekend of training, all the guys were sore. All their muscles were aching and screaming, begging for some relief.  The coaches complied, supplying all the players with all the watermelon they could eat.

All the players gathered into groups, talking within each other’s friend groups. Tsukishima kept his distance from the others, with Yamaguchi joining in with them. They talked about various topics here and there, but nothing too serious.

Tsukishima was starting to zone out, thinking about Cat, and what she may or may not be doing. He hated to admit it, but he was head over heels in love, even though he had never seen Cat in a picture, much less in person.

While Tsukishima was zoning out, thinking of his unofficial lover, Hinata, Kenma, and Lev gathered nearby, talking loudly about who knows what. Tsukishima wasn’t paying attention, until the topic of discord came up. All his focus then went into listening in on this conversation.

“So you guys are on discord? What servers are you guys in?” Hinata asked.

“Not too many, I bet Kenma’s on a couple though,” Lev replied, only for Kenma to grunt in reply.

“Oh really! What servers are you on, Kenma?”

“Ehh, just a couple here and there. I frequent a My Little Pony server because a mod there gives me money a lot.”

Tsukishima felt a shock run throughout his body. A My Little Pony server? Maybe he was on the same server as him. He would never bring it up, but he was glad to know someone on the server; talking to 12-year-olds all day did get old.

“Wait, someone pays you to be on a My Little Pony server?” Lev asked.

“No, I think he is somehow attracted to me, every time I mention something I want, he sends me money.” Kenma replied, taking a massive bite out of his watermelon slice.

‘That’s kind of odd, who would give money like that to a guy like Kenma?’ Tsukishima thought.

“How did you do that, Kenma? I could sure use the extra cash,” Hinata asked.

“Well, Kuroo taught me to raise my voice like this to sound like some kind of gamer girl,” Kenma explained in a girly voice. Not too high to sound fake, not too low to sound unattractive. Perfect.

Just like Cat.

‘This has to be a coincidence, there’s no way that Kenma and Cat are the same person’ Tsukishima desperately thought. 

“Oh, do you guys want to be friends on Discord, so we can keep in contact?” Hinata asked.

“I guess. I’m gamergirl05#0000,” Kenma replied, essentially murdering Tsukishima with his response.

Tsukishima stood up from where he was sitting. Forgetting the fact that he was still supposed to be in a conversation with Yamaguchi, he left the area, trying to find a secluded area, eventually settling for a small ally in between two of the gyms.

Once making sure he couldn’t be seen, he let all his held-in emotions out. He screamed up to the sky as the threw his watermelon rind against the wall, watching it break into numerous pieces. 

“My Heart!” he screamed out, “I loved her!” He sank to the ground and let the tears flow. As he wailed out in despair, he covered his face with one hand while knocking his fist against the grass with his other.

Yamaguchi, who saw this all go down, ran up to go comfort his best friend. He didn’t know what was going on, other than the fact that his best friend was a mess on the floor.

How was Tsukishima going to tell his mom, who was already suspicious of him stealing her credit cards, that the money wasn’t being spent on her future Daughter in law? How was he going to log back in on the server, knowing he was cat fished?

He didn’t know what tomorrow would bring. All he knew at that moment was the soft an warm hand of Yamaguchi softly rubbing his back in an attempt to calm him down.

[the-twi-light-zone]

The Sun and The Moon Chapter 6

Seeing the anger on Quil and Jacob’s face nearly mirrored my own, though the pain was evident more so from the life long friends. Finding out that Embry finally caved and joined Sam Uley’s gang, hit the guys hard unlike Anna who has only ever really know the disappointment. Not wanting to stay any longer, or long enough to hurt someone, Anna stood up brushing off her pants. Clearing her throat she draws the others eyes to her, “I gotta go, I told Bella I would help her with her paper for history today.” Her voice draws two short nods from the boys, and an okay from Jacob. 

Standing up Quil walks over to her and gives her a quick hug, “See you tomorrow Anna, are we going to your house?” Quil asks. Glancing at Jacob, Anna nods “I suppose so, Jake are you okay with that?” Anna asks Jacob seeing him nod and stand up to also give her a hug. Glancing back Anna gives one last parting sentence, “if it helps any, I know that Embry was a great friend but if he could just leave us like he did then is his absence really worth our anger and tears?” And with that Anna walked out leaving the two boys to think.

Getting in her truck the angered rage boing in with the sadness at another loss of a friend. Driving blindly in the middle of nowhere, Anna had to pull over when her arms began to burn with the beginning of red and blue. Throwing her door open she slams it shut and throws her body in a sprint into the woods. Dodging plants, trees, and fallen logs, Anna eventually stops and lets out a long scream of rage. Tears burn her cheeks as she collapses with ragged sobs. Throat nearly raw from the scream, hurts with the effort of crying, legs tucked under and head to the forest floor. 

Anna feels the energy leave her body in strong waves, eventually going to a slow tide. Bringing herself back down Anna looks up to see Embry standing before her with wide eyes. Shocked Anna throws herself to her feet, hands wiping her eyes. “What, why are you here?” Anna says hands trembling with the last bits of energy left in her body. “How did you do that Anna?” Left the lips of the shaken boy. 

Shaking her head in disbelief she trembles with fear and and rage at the thought of her being found out. “Why are you here Embry! Why did you leave us for them? Why, why why...” Anna’s voice screams at Embry slowly dying out towards the end. Blue streaks stream down her arms building  as she lets out another cry of anguish at the boy in front of her. Embry steps back as her arms cause the weather around them to turn for the worst, rain slowly begins to beat down on them slowly dying out when Anna can no longer stand on her own.

“Anna... I’m so sorry, and I wish I could, could keep being friends with you guys but I can’t.” Embry says stepping closer when the strange colors no longer appear. “I don’t understand, why Emby? Were we just not good enough for you? Was it me?” Anna’s voice breaks at the end tears streaming at a slower rate as her energy dwindles to nothing, face feeling tight and hot. Shaking his head he kneels next to her, tenderly placing a hand on her cheek he pulls her head into his chest.

Wrapping their arms around each other they stay huddled together on the forest floor, Anna hand willing to let go just yet. Rubbing her back as they both here three pairs of feet pound into the ground around them, running into the slightly dead opening of the forest. “Embry, man what are you doing?” A deep males voice cuts through the silence of the area, resulting in the sound of a slap of skin on skin. “Ow what the hell.” the same voice and then a new one cuts them off, “Jared that’s enough, Embry she needs to go home.” The voice stops to heave a sigh, when Anna visibly tightens her hold on the boy who also embraces her. “Paul will take her, Embry let go now.” The tone holds a command that isn’t disobeyed by Embry.

“No, Emb please, I can’t lose you! Please don’t leave me... please.” Anna’s voice is raspy while she begs the boy who slowly gets her to release her hold on him. “I’m sorry Anna, but you gotta go, now.” Embry’s voice cuts through her cries as he passes her to the one named Paul. Giving up on everything she allows Paul to slowly guide her shaking form back to her beat up truck. Opening the door he lifts her up with his hands under her back and legs, gently placing her now wet and freezing body into the seat. Closing the door he jogs to the other side and gets into the driver's seat, buckling her seat belt then his he sets off in the general direction of Forks. 

“Anna were here, you need to go get changed or you’ll get sick.” Paul's voice breaks Anna away from her thoughts to slowly glance over at the boy more like man sitting next to her. Not responding to him he glances over to her to see her already staring at him, signing he opens the door and goes over to her side. Opening the door he helps her out and directs her into the empty house, looking into the rooms upstairs he eventually finds her room with no help from Anna. Walking her to her bed he sits her down and heads for the closet to find a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt. Tossing them onto the bed he crosses his arms as he stares her down, “Put the clothes on Anna, I don’t want to have to force you into them don’t test me.” And with that Paul walks out the door shutting it on his way to stand in the hall to listen for sounds of movement.

Looking to the clothes she stares at them unmoving, and not having really heard Paul’s words she doesn’t take in his threat to change her himself. The skin around Anna’s eyes feel tight and sunken yet puffy at the same time. Her throat burns from the screaming and crying she had done creating a huge discomfort for her. Paul reenters the room to see her not changed, sighing through his nose he steps towards her pulls her shoes and socks off and has her stand up. Lifting her shirt Anna doesn’t resist to tired to really comprehend what is going on around her. Pulling on the sweatshirt Paul then reaches for the button of her jeans, popping it open he looks away from her and drags the wet denim down her legs. 

Grabbing her arm he places it on his shoulder as he picks up one foot at a time only to do it again with the dry black sweatpants. pulling them up her legs he pulls the string into a knot. going through her closet again he searches for socks to put on her cold and numb feet. Finding them he moves Anna to her recliner pulling the socks onto her feet her places on her slippers by the bed and covers her with a throw blanket. “Anna are you going to be okay by yourself?” Anna looks to Paul and slowly nods at him, as he turns on the television for her. 

Nodding his head back he places his hand on her shoulder and leaves her with his last words. “This is for the best Anna, we can’t let you get hurt by being around Emby. You’ll move on eventually, you’ll be fine if you stick to what you know.”

Stick to what you know, oh how she wish she could find a different know other than the constant pain and anger. Pain and anger....

______________________

I know this is a little slow and I promise this is going to get better with having more moments between Quill and Anna! Just gotta get through the thick and heavy stuff before we get to the good stuff!!

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, 

[svt13roses]

All Your Beautiful Lies

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Words: 1.4k

Summary: Everything is picture perfect. But what’s hidden behind it?

Pairing: Boo Seungkwan x Reader 

△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽

A/n: When I first decided to get back into writing after taking a break for a few years, I initially wrote a short Seungkwan blurb that wasn’t more than 200 words. I decided “hey you know what, it’s probably time you built on that, loser”. So, here it is! Angst isn’t really my strong suit, but I hope you all enjoy nonetheless!

     One year. It’s been one year living in this beautiful, utterly fantastic lie. The line between being naive and playing along was blurred a long time ago. Every day is like a limbo of being in perfect paradise while this dark monster whispers in your ear that it’s fake. You know it’s fake, and you’ve known for a while. But why do you believe it?

     It didn’t take long for you to realize the reality of the situation. When you became a concept, something with no actual sustenance. In fact, the day he asked you to be his was a dream in and of itself. Boo Seungkwan, in all his beautiful glory, had asked you of all people to be his partner. The one who sticks by his side no matter what, and ideally he’d do the same for you. You give and you give and you give, and he accepts. You give and he takes. He does give back, in a way. You lived in a picture-perfect apartment with him, with only the best clothes and eating the highest quality of foods. In your eyes, it was all you could ever want. But one day waking up, it all felt fake. Truly, fake. 

     You initially found it suspicious about how fast your relationship moved with Seungkwan. He swept you off your feet so easily, by the end of the first week you were saying your “I love you’s”. By the second month, he had asked you to move in with him. By the end of the year, you were his on paper. Sealed by the perfect ring that you had dreamed about since childhood. Everyone in your life was so proud of your accomplishment. You had a trophy husband, a job you loved, and a home that was yours. Trophy husband. The words your friends always used to describe Seungkwan. You always laughed it off, playing along with their antics. But when did the roles reverse? When did you become the final piece in the picture-perfect puzzle of life?

     That night you lie awake in your bed that’s too big for one person. But tonight, like many nights previously, you’re the only occupant. Rustling around, you decide that the bed was too comfortable to sleep. You got out of your bed, taking your phone off the charger on the bedside table, and checked the time. 1:54 in the morning. A part of you hoped that maybe he would come home. He had late nights in the past, resulting in him coming home in the early hours of 5-6 am. You would both lie in a peaceful slumber that was inevitably interrupted by both of your responsibilities of the day. Lately, however, a simple text of “practicing. Don’t wait up.” was all that you received as an indication that he would not be returning home that night. 

     You decided that it would be a while before you fell back asleep, so you would might as well get some work done. Entering the kitchen, you were temporarily blinded by turning on the bright lights. You grabbed a bag of your favorite snack and a glass of water, making your way to your office area. Learning from your mistake in the kitchen, you opted to let the light of your laptop illuminate the room as it powered on. As you began to log in, you thought you heard the front door open. Your suspicions were confirmed when you heard his distinctive padding along the floors, trying to be as quiet as possible. You chuckled to yourself; if only he knew how many nights you laid awake hoping that he would decide that coming home was more important than perfecting that last step in whatever dance he was learning. 

     The bedroom door down the hall slowly creaked open, then clicked shut. Silence. You waited another 10 minutes to see if he realized that you weren’t in bed and silently prayed that he would come looking for you, saying you needed to sleep with a pout adorning his face. The house stayed silent, just as it was before he came home. The only indication of any life being the kitchen light that was, to your knowledge, still turned on, and the gentle hum of your laptop. You looked at your laptop home screen and couldn’t help but smile painfully. The background was one of your favorite pictures of you two, taken when he brought you back to his home to meet his family. You both sat on a bench wearing matching sweaters, the trees turning beautiful shades of red and yellow around you. You had stars in your eyes as you took in the beautiful scenery around you. Even now, you can smell how crisp the air smelled, how soft the sweater felt, and how warm your heart felt. You looked at Seungkwan in particular. Of course, he looked ethereal as he always did but you looked at his eyes. You had been told many times growing up that eyes show the true emotions that people are feeling, but you would roll your eyes. His eyes showed no warmth, no happiness. He was just simply looking like he would at any other person. 

     Those eyes haunted you. Every picture around your apartment, which you had taken the effort to do, was the same. You held the purest love and adoration while he just smiled. Posed. You unlocked your phone and looked at a picture you had taken together at a cafe two weeks ago, the same one where you two met. Tears slowly welled up as you saw two people with bright smiles. From anyone else’s perspective, you two would look like a perfectly happy couple. But looking at your screen you couldn’t help but feel like an imposter in your own body. 

     You quickly closed your laptop, deciding you weren’t in the right headspace to work anymore. 

     “I’ll just go to sleep. Get some rest, wake up, and it’ll be ok. That’s how it always is.” You shakily told yourself, making your way to the bedroom. Standing outside, you felt like there was some force preventing you to go in. The perfect you could be in there, the one that happily greets her husband with no care in the world about how you both really feel. The one who kisses their husband on the cheek goodnight, telling him to have the sweetest dreams about them and snuggling into the blankets silently hoping that maybe he’ll hold her for once. But you weren’t that person. You were a culmination of a person built from a year of lies and dreams. You wanted to tell Seungkwan so bad that you know what he feels isn’t real, you realized it a long time ago. You wanted to tell him that you played your part as a puppet to see him happy. But if he wasn’t happy then what was the point? He clearly put on the same show you did. You just wanted to know what was going on inside his head that let him come as far as this. What’s his motive? Did he want to believe that this wasn’t some show just as bad as you did? 

      Taking a deep breath, you reach for the door handle, opening it as quietly as you can. The door creaks and you curse internally. You softly shuffle inside, making no acknowledgment that you were even gone from bed at this house. And there he lies on his side of the bed, scrolling through his phone. He makes no effort to let you know that he’s aware that you’ve come to bed. You gingerly lift the covers, trying to make your movements as small as possible as if that would make you disappear. Once safely inside the covers, you contemplate your next move. 

     “Seungkwan?” You whisper out. You feel the bed move and the sheets rustle as he puts his phone down to face you. 

     “Hm? What’s up, love?” You almost wince at the pet name. Staring into his eyes, you search for the words you want to say. The truth, about everything you’ve been hiding from him for the past year. You let yourself smile a little and scooch closer to him. You cup his face and kiss his cheek. 

     “Nothing,” you hum, “just heard you come home and decided I should probably go to bed too. Make sure you dream only the sweetest dreams of me tonight.” You roll over, not daring to look at what expression he could be wearing. You hear a small laugh. 

     “I always do, I always have and I always will.” You feel your heart stop. You bite your lip, willing to not let any tears slip. Tomorrow will be better, you think to yourself as you drift off, warmed by the blankets and not by the arms you dream to be in.  

[sugaabooga]

Chance | 5

Pairing: Seokjin x Reader | Jimin x Reader

Genre: Fluff, Angst, rich!Seokjin, rich!Jimin

Word Count: 4.5k

Warnings: PG-13, alcohol consumption, alcohol intoxication, societal classes

Synopsis: Seokjin had no problem of getting girls and also had no problem of getting rid of them. One girl after the next. So why was it that you - a middle-class citizen - was an exception? You - a middle-class citizen - made Seokjin question if he really did have it all. But one thing’s for sure. He didn’t have any of your chances.

Clank.

The glass in Seokjin’s hand nearly shatters at the sheer force he slams it down on the bar counter.

Seokjin grunts, sloppily gesturing towards the wide-eyed bartender who stares at him with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry sir,” he says with a gentle voice. “I’m afraid you’ve had too much to drink. Do you have anyone to pick you up or should I call a cab?”

Seokjin whines, laying his head against the counter and wriggling his body as if there was a rat crawling up and down his body.

“Mur,” Seokjin pouts.

“Excuse me?” the bartender leans forward in hopes of hearing some kind of name of number he could call.

Seokjin lifts up his body feeling heavier than usual and props his hand under his chin to look straight at the young man in front of him.

“Jungcoook?” Seokjin squints at the bartender’s name tag, arm sliding from underneath him.

Jungkook smiles good-naturedly, quite nice for a mere bartender who deals with countless drunkards each night.

“That’s me,” he answers. “It’s getting close to the end of my shift and I would like to send you home before I go.”

Seokjin nods heartily at him. “Yur a nice kid.”

Jungkook shrugs, setting aside a glass he just finished wiping dry. “Just doing my job I guess.”

“You see,” Seokjin sighs, eyeing the bottle of whiskey a few inches away from where Jungkook stands. “I can’t call anyone.”

Jungkook nods. “I’ll hail a cab.”

Seokjin merely hums as Jungkook turns around to place the glasses on the shelf behind him. Taking this as a chance, Seokjin uses all the soberness left in him to reach over the counter and grab the whiskey bottle by the neck, hurriedly and sloppily pouring out the alcohol into his empty glass.

“Which area do you- SIR!” Jungkook shrieks mid-question, turning around to see Seokjin hastily gulp down the remains of the drink. Jungkook snatches the glass from his hand in exasperation before Seokjin can tilt his glass again for the last few drops left underneath the ice cubes.

“No cab,” Seokjin mutters as Jungkook merely sighs. Why was this wealthy man, probably mid to late twenties, drowning himself in drinks tonight?

Jungkook bets this guy wouldn’t even have to work part-time jobs like he had to in order to make ends meet. So why was he so miserable?

Seokjin huffs, yanking out his phone and fingers automatically finding a specific name in his contacts.

He rests his head on the counter once again as he strategically places his phone on top of his ear, letting the rings lull him in and out of consciousness.

__

“How’d you even know I was working overtime?” you ask Jimin who lazily spins around in his chair.

“I called Hoseok for a drink but he said he was too tired and mentioned how you were working past working hours,” Jimin recalls. “Again.”

“And you just. . . decided to come?”

Jimin nods. “Of course. Can’t have you suffering alone.”

You blink a few times at the man who appears quite nonchalant about this whole ordeal while you were purely confused at how you were supposed to feel. This wouldn’t be weird if that intimate moment a few days back hadn’t happened.

You were sure his hand lingered longer than usual after he had gently tucked your hair behind your ear and his eyes gazed with a look you’ve never seen before.

You quickly shake the thought out of your head, refusing to mull over that moment more than you needed to. He was merely comforting you as a friend. There was no need to overthink anything. Those things can happen from time to time.

Then the rest of his sentence registers in your head. Once again, the fact that Jimin even calls Hoseok regularly surprises you despite it being widely known in your department how Jimin was probably the only one who free-spiritedly joked around with Hoseok. “You. . . You’re close with Hoseok, right?”

Jimin immediately hums in response, as if he didn’t know how intimidated everyone was of the marketing manager and actively avoided any sort of contact with him.

“I mean. . . he’s only a year older than us,” Jimin states, making you turn to him in shock.

“WHAT!?” you gasp. You had assumed Hoseok was at least four years older than you. Now you realize, he did look quite young, but his workplace habits were of an accomplished forty year old who was ready to retire early.

Jimin giggles at your shock. “Yeah. It’s pretty obvious though. That hyung really is youthful. He’s actually fairly optimistic and a great listener. Which makes him the perfect drinking buddy.”

You roll your eyes at Jimin’s alcohol fanaticism making an appearance. “Well, you do know about his reputation in the office right?”

Jimin stops his swiveling, turning to look at you properly. His gaze switches to a more serious gaze as he lowers his voice. “Cold caller baller?”

You break out into a smile, scrunching your nose in the process at Jimin’s genuine inquiry. “What the hell is that?” you laugh. “I meant how everyone treats him like ‘he who shall not be named’. Everytime someone mentions,” pause “Hoseok,” you whisper, making Jimin scoff. “He randomly appears and scolds the whole team.”

Jimin rolls his eyes. “Now that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard about.”

You open your mouth to protest but freeze as Jimin shifts closer, his head just a few inches away from yours.

“It’s probably because Hoseok’s the only one in our department who gives a shit about his job,” Jimin smirks, playfully dropping to a low whisper at Hoseok’s name. “That’s why everyone’s scared. They can’t handle his professionalism.”

You gulp, barely noticing the hidden indirect insult Jimin purposely shot at you with the purpose of agitating you, and instead being able to only focus on why he was so close to you and why you felt like you suddenly couldn’t breathe.

Jimin’s smirk slightly drops into a concerned frown when he realizes you aren’t reacting the way he had expected you to react.

“Y/N?”

Bang.

Both of you look up in alarm towards the entrance of the office that leads out to the elevators at the echo of something crashing into the wall.

Jimin stands up from his chair, leaning his body back to look as far as he can out the glass doors.

“Was someone else working overtime?” he asks, earning a shake of your head. Jimin starts heading towards the doors to check out the sound as you click out of your tabs for the night. Everything else that was left on your slides, you could finish up tomorrow morning. Right now, you were quite convinced that you were very exhausted, especially judging from the way you suddenly froze up in close proximity with your long-time best friend whom you had only platonic feelings for.

You let out a long exhale, forcing the thought out of your brain and logging out of your computer then carefully placing the flash drive with all the project details into your bag’s inner pocket. After half-heartedly organizing your desk area and cubicle, you walk towards the exit, heels softly clacking against the tiles as Jimin comes in through the doors peering into a black bag.

“What’s that?” you ask curiously. Jimin looks up and turns back around to head towards the elevators after noticing that you were done for the night.

“I don’t know,” he answers. “It was dropped against the wall which was probably the sound we heard.”

“Is there anything in it?”

Jimin nods, pulling out a bag of chips. “Snacks.”

You can’t help but let your jaw slightly drop at the sight of food after working for hours straight without a proper meal since 2pm.

It was your favorite brand of chips too.

“Gimme,” you pout, making Jimin chuckle.

“I don’t think we should just take it though,” he hesitates. “Isn’t it kind of bad to take something someone else bought? Without permission?”

“But it was literally on the floor,” you reason, not as morally righteous as your friend beside you.

Jimin still debates, fiddling with the handle of the bag. “Hey there’s a lunchbox in here.”

He fishes out the bulgogi meal pack with rice and a few other pre-packaged side dishes. Your eyes widen at the humble meal as if it were a five-star lobster.

“Okay, forget the chips,” you gasp. “We have to eat the lunchbox. If it’s left here uneaten, it’s going to spoil! What a waste that would be!”

Jimin laughs at your logic but still shakes his head. “Let’s just drop this off at the front desk.”

You purse your lips in distaste as the elevator finally dings, indicating its arrival.

Jimin grins, internally cooing at how cute you were.

“Dinner’s on me,” he adds as you begrudgingly press the lobby button.

You whip around to him, instantly perking up with newfound energy. “For real!?”

Jimin is nearly floored by your glistening eyes that were sparkling just because he offered to buy you dinner. He can’t help but match your wide grin as he nods. “Yup. Just name it! Actually, besides the five-star restaurants downtown.”

You snicker as Jimin quickly draws the boundaries to your food choices.

The one time you went out for dinner with him after college graduation, your food suggestion resulted in a $285 check for two steaks and a teeny tiny salad.

Your jaw had dropped all the way down to the floor at the sight of the bill. You tried to split the bill but Jimin had physically pushed you out of the restaurant, insisting to pay for the meal.

Even to this day, you have no idea how Jimin managed to pay the bill as a fellow broke college student who had yet to land a stable income.

“Hm. . . I’m craving donkatsu,” you say, indirectly asking Jimin if he was okay with pork cutlet for dinner.

“Donkatsu!” Jimin exclaims with a wide grin. 

“I take it that you agree?” you say with a scoff at his child-like excitement at the mention of his favorite food and playfully nudge his shoulder when the elevator doors open.

Jimin gulps at your playful grin and your bright eyes peering up at him, making his heart stutter and mind going blank.

Geez. What was wrong with him today? Either you were extra attractive or he was just more whipped than usual.

“Jimin?” you ask confusedly when he remains standing still in the elevator with an indecipherable look.

Jimin’s head jerks up at the sound of his name and he glances around, confused at when the elevator doors had opened and when you had already left his side.

“Park!” you yell, catching Jimin’s attention from his distracted glances around the elevator.

“Yes?” he immediately responds, making you look at him with pure bewilderment.

“You good?”

Jimin breathily laughs making you crack a hesitant smile.

“Yeah I’m-”

“Oh Y/N!” the front desk receptionist on night duty calls. You turn around at the sound of her voice and give her a polite smile, walking towards her desk.

Meanwhile, Jimin hurriedly presses the open door button as the elevator doors start to close and quickly follows after you.

“Hey. . .” you trail off, unable to remember her name.

“Soo-ah,” Jimin smiles at her with a slight jog, catching up to you and saving you from embarrassment.

Soo-ah grins back at the charming man in front of her, not even noticing that you had forgotten her name despite the years both of you worked here.

“Soo-ah,” you repeat with a smile.

“Congratulations, Y/N,” Soo-ah says right off the bat.

Your brows slightly raise in question, exchanging a confused glance with Jimin.

“For… what?” you ask.

Did I get a raise I don’t know about?

Soo-ah slightly tilts her head. “I heard you got scouted by JJ Corps.”

“JJ Corps?” you and Jimin ask simultaneously, eyes widening.

Seokjin’s company?

Our company?

“Yeah. The director himself came and asked which floor you were on,” Soo-ah pauses. “Wait. . . I just realized that it’s past the normal office hours. How did he know you were working overtime?”

Jimin frowns. If it was the director, that would be Seokjin. 

Seokjin came?

“Did you get his name?” Jimin asks the befuddled receptionist before you can open your mouth.

You shoot Jimin a slight glance, noting how Jimin almost seemed agitated. Last time, Jimin had known Seokjin’s name even though you made sure not to tell anyone since Seokjin was such a known public figure. And now, it almost seemed as if Jimin was on the same page as you, suspecting that it was Seokjin who had come over.

“Um. . .” Soo-ah tries to recall, attracting your attention once again and keep in mind to mention it to Jimin later. Her eyes lighting up in remembrance. “Ah! I think it was Kim. . . Seojik? Seonjin?”

“Seok...jin?” you hesitantly suggest. Soo-ah lets out a sound of recognition and nods.

“Ah. Yes, yes. It said Kim Seokjin, Director of JJ Corps on his business card.”

Jimin holds in his questions and scans your reaction. For the first time in your years of friendship, Jimin couldn’t read your face. Your lips were turned into a grim line and your eyes seemed blank, void of any emotion.

You nod with a wry smile, mumbling a thank you and greeting goodnight to Soo-ah and turn around, walking towards the lobby doors.

Jimin stands watching your retreating figure with slight worry and hurriedly snatches out the bag of your favorite chips and hands the rest of the black bag to Soo-ah.

“Oh?” Soo-ah lets out a noise of surprise at the familiar bag. “This was what Mr. Kim was hold-”

Soo-ah stops mid-sentence at the realization that she was alone. A small smile appears as she scoffs in amusement watching Jimin trail after you like a lost puppy with the chips in hand. Jimin playfully, but hesitantly pokes the side of your face with a tiny, shy smile, forcing you to give him your attention. Soo-ah sighs, plopping back down onto her swivel chair once you take the chips with a roll of your eyes. Jimin’s arm hovers over your shoulder as he debates whether to put his arm around you. His fist clenches as he decides against it and Jimin continues walking with his hands behind his back.

Soo-ah sighs with pity at his internal debate that she just witnessed.

“Will she ever notice?” Soo-ah mutters to herself at the unfortunate sight of Jimin quite obviously whipped for a girl who has no idea of his feelings.

__

“Bus is here,” Jimin announces nudging you up off the bus stop bench.

You climb up the steps and fiddle around your bag for your pre-paid bus pass. The bus driver softly sighs as you continue rummaging with a apologetic smile.

“Two please,” Jimin intercepts with his own card from behind you.

Beep.

His chest gently presses against your back, his warmth wrapping around your cold frame draped around with a thin cardigan.

Before you can think anything more of how comforting his warmth felt, your feet jut out, walking towards the two seats on the left side of the bus as the driver continues to drive his nightly route.

“Thanks,” you say as you sit down.

Jimin shakes his head as a sign of no problem. He follows after you, plopping down on the cushiony seat next to you and setting his bag onto his lap.

You try to ignore Jimin’s burning stare at the side of your face by mindlessly scrolling on your phone then give up with a huff once Jimin doesn’t look away for a few good seconds.

“What?” you sigh, turning your head to look at your friend. You instinctively shift backwards once you notice the close proximity.

Jimin silently studies your face for a quick second before offering you a small smile. “Finish the chips already?”

You roll your eyes with a light-hearted scoff. “Yes. I told you. I was hungry. I threw them away while you were looking down the street for the bus.”

Jimin laughs with a nod. “Good job. That was the appetizer.”

You smile to yourself, savoring these small moments with Jimin in your life.

“Are you uh. . . Are you okay?”

You stay silent for a moment before letting out a breathy laughing with a smile, looking up at the back of another passenger’s head. “What do you mean? Of course I’m okay.”

“I’m talking about Seokjin,” Jimin specifies bluntly.

You weren’t quite sure if you were okay. All you could think of were endless questions. Why had he come to your office? Why didn’t he call or text instead? It’s been a full two weeks since you last met up with him about the money envelope.

You look back down at your bag perched on your lap and unknowingly fiddle with the end of your gudetama keychain, a nervous habit of yours.

Jimin feels his own fingers twitch, reaching out towards your fidgety ones before he stops himself.

You had made yourself somewhat clear last time. Jimin felt you draw a certain line. Whether it was fear or genuine dislike, he wasn’t sure, but all he knew was that the two of you had boundaries that he had to keep in order to keep your friendship out of jeopardy.

Jimin sighs, reminding himself that your friendship is more important than his confusing feelings and pulls away his hand.

RRing.

At the sound of the obnoxious rings, you dig into your bag, looking for your phone.

The rings continue, attracting attention from the other passengers on the bus, and it’s only when Jimin feels the glares and hears harsh whispers directed in his direction that he fully turns to you, wondering why you weren’t picking up the call.

You stay still as a statue looking down at your phone. Jimin side-eyes your phone, lips slightly parting in realization once he reads the caller id.

Kim Seokjin.

You stare at your screen, reading the name over and over again, tuning out the rest of the bus who were now thoroughly annoyed.

It is only when the call ends and your family picture pops back up that you let out a shaky breath.

You start to put your phone back in your bag when the rings start again. A series of groans and sighs fill the bus.

Kim Seokjin.

Why was he calling? What else does he have to say?

“Aren’t you going to pick up?”

Your head sharply turns at Jimin’s question.

“What?”

Jimin shrugs, avoiding your eyes. “If you’re debating that much about answering his call, just answer it. If you’re over him, tell him clearly so he knows your definite stance in your relationship.”

You stay silent, pondering for a brief moment and finally get enough courage to swipe your finger across the call button.

“H-Hello?” you answer.

“Good evening,” an unfamiliar voice greets back, making your brows furrow and double-check if this was really Seokjin.

“Uh. . . who is this?” you ask as you see Jimin turning to you from the corner of your eye.

“Ah. Sorry about the inconvenience. This is Jeon Jungkook from Sky Lounge and I am calling from customer Kim Seokjin’s cell phone. Mr. Kim seems severely drunk at the moment and I saw that he called you just a few seconds ago so I figured you were somewhat closely affiliated with him?”

“Oh. . .No. . . Well, used to be, I guess,” you answer with uncertainty at the relation you have with Seokjin.

Have a definite stance in your relationship.

“Ah, well we need-”

“I would like to think I have very little relation to Mr. Kim,” you state. “I hope you can get him home safe. My apologies.”

“Wait Ma’am-”

You quickly tap the red button to end the call and toss your phone into your bag.

“Was that not Seokjin?” Jimin asks confusedly as you let out a long exhale.

You shake your head. “It was. . . but. . .”

He’ll get home safe, right? The Jungkook guy sounded nice over the phone. He’ll hail a cab or something right? But Seokjin seems dead drunk. What if he accidentally sleeps with a girl or gets taken advantage of? He’s currently in a vulnerable state. The bartender also mentioned that Seokjin called himself before he gave a second call. Why would Seokjin call me if he’s drunk? Maybe he wants me specifically to pick him up? Does he have no one else to call? Is that why he had no choice but to call me?

“Was it some manager or something? That rude rich people stu-”

“Sorry Jimin,” you hastily apologize, slamming the red button on the side of the bus, indicating for the bus driver to pull over on the curb. “Let’s get dinner tomorrow. I’ll call you later.”

Jimin sputters as you climb over his legs and speedily shuffle towards the open sliding doors.

“W-Wait. I’ll go with you.”

You hop off the bus, Jimin closely behind you as the bus takes off to leave the both of you in the middle of a random sidewalk near downtown.

“Y/N,” Jimin calls, grabbing hold of your wrist to turn you around and forcing you to stop in the midst of your hurried steps.

You’re slightly out of breath when you respond with a quiet ‘yea?’

“Can you please explain what’s going on?” he asks.

You sigh, tugging Jimin’s arm to walk while you explain. “It was a bartender at Sky Lounge. Apparently, Seokjin’s drunk right now.”

You cared. You still cared about Seokjin. Jimin’s lips turn into a straight line as he tries to ignore the bitter feeling entering him.

“I’m sure he’ll get home safe. The bartender will hail a cab for him or call someone else in his contact list.”

That’s rational. That’s the logical facts.

“I. . . I know,” you reply as Jimin catches up the few steps to walk beside you. “But I have to see for myself to get rid of this worrying feeling. What if something happens to him?”

Jimin suppresses the urge to tell you that there’s little to none possibility that someone as tall and intimidating as Seokjin, under the supervision of bartenders at a top-class bar, falls in danger. 

“Yeah. I get it,” Jimin lies.

He doesn’t get it.

You look at google maps pulled up on your phone that directs you to Sky Lounge, around a two-minute walk from where you currently are. You turn your head to your surroundings, finding something quite familiar about the buildings and restaurants in this specific part of downtown.

“There?” Jimin points towards the fancy looking bar near the end of the street.

The banner read in cursive, dark maroon red and white light, Sky Lounge.

“Yeah. Seems to be the place,” you pause, looking around once more. You recognize this street. “Hey isn’t that the five-star restaurant we ate in last time?”

Jimin follows your gaze to the said restaurant that he had paid for a while back. Jimin grimaces at the memory of his father pestering him if he had a girlfriend after that big gap in his credit card at a hot romantic dating spot.

“Yeah,” Jimin answers. “Sky Lounge is a luxury bar which is why all the five-star restaurants and stores are gathered here.”

“The elite town,” you smack your lips, adjusting your bag and walking down the sidewalk, past the flashy lamps and designer brand stores.

Soon enough, you arrive in front of the bar and with no hesitation, you pull open the glass doors only to get pulled by the doors yourself.

These were a lot heavier than you thought.

Jimin snickers next to you, nudging you aside and pulling the doors open with ease.

“I told you, you need to hit the gym,” Jimin mutters from behind you while you hurry into the bar with a half-hearted thanks, eyes scanning the tables and counters with all types of couples, businessmen, and businesswoman mingling and getting drunk.

You squint under the dim lights and spot a lone, slumped over figure at the counter. A tuft of dark brown hair poked out between the figure’s arms as their legs haphazardly dangled from underneath them. You glance at the coat draped over the man’s chair and you immediately recognize it as one of Seokjin’s designer brand coats that he wore the most often.

By often, you meant once every three months.

You quickly make your way over to Seokjin and try to shake him awake.

“Seokjin?” you clarify, grasping his arm and simultaneously shaking his shoulder.

You hear a series of incoherent grumbles and with a sudden jerk of his head, Seokjin’s eyes meet yours and they seem to bore into your soul.

Seokjin laughs in surprise, a whiff of strong liquor drifting into your nostrils and making you scrunch up your nose.

“Y/N,” Seokjin giggles.

Oh, he was extremelyyy drunk.

“Seokjin,” you sigh. “Why’d you drink so much? No, actually tell me later. Let’s get you home first, alright?”

Seokjin’s bottom lip juts out as he wiggles out of your grasp. “I aM a big kid. NO. Man. I’m a big, caaaaaapable man. You see thiS fACe? Wuuurldwide hannsum.”

You sigh, rolling your eyes. “Are you now?”

Seokjin nods with a slight laugh.

You slightly pause in your tugging to properly take a look at him.

Despite the fact that he was drinking right now, it seemed that Seokjin still looked as healthy and unaffected as ever. Quite contrary to you whose hair was tied into a messy bun and eyes were slightly swollen every single morning from tearing up or straight up sobbing yourself to sleep.

How was it possible that a dead drunk man could still be so handsome? His reddened cheeks only made his face glow with a child-like innocence and put an odd emphasis to his lack of pores. The dim lighting of the bar only seemed to make his eyes brighter as he sat near the lights on the shelves. His tousled, messy hair only added to his attractiveness as he grumbled under his breath with those pouty pink lips.

“Are you Miss Y/N?”

You’re pulled out of your daze by a familiar voice. Over the counter stood Jungkook, the employee who had called you.

You immediately nod. “Yes. that’s me.”

Jungkook represses the urge to point out how you made it seem like you weren’t ever going to show up in Seokjin’s life again over the phone and instead shoots you a grateful smile. 

“Thank goodness. I’m Jungkook. The employee who called you earlier. My shift is almost over so I was just about to call a cab. Having someone Mr. Kim knows to pick him up is a lot more assuring.”

“Yeah. I got a little worried, so I just decided to come myself,” you say with a small laugh.

A movement from the corner of your eye makes you turn your attention to Seokjin who was attempting to stand up from his stool. As if in slow motion, Seokjin’s foot gets caught on the stool’s footrest, his eyes still closed from intoxication. His heavy form starts to lean towards you and before you know it, he’s full on falling towards your small frame, your helpless arms reaching out in a pointless attempt to brace yourself against a full grown man’s deadweight.

But, the impact of his body never comes.

Jungkook curiously eyes the other man in the picture who holds Seokjin in an awkward hug, shielding him from your body.

You peer up at Jimin who huffs as he waddles Seokjin back down onto the stool. Keeping his arm supporting Seokjin’s back, Jimin turns to Jungkook.

“Did this guy pay?” he asks.

Jungkook nods with widened eyes at what he just witnessed. “Yes. I charged everything to his card just a few minutes ago.”

Jimin nods and grabs Seokjin’s coat, poorly attempting to shove the drunken man’s limp arms through the holes with one arm while holding him up with the other arm.

You quickly intercept and help hold up the coat for Jimin who gives you a brief smile before successfully draping the coat around Seokjin and buttoning it up.

“Hey, can you help him get on my back?” Jimin asks with a non arguable tone.

You push away the habitual need to protest whenever Jimin gets too caring and instead nod with a slight sigh.

Seokjin whines as Jimin adjusts him on his back with a grunt.

“Have a good evening,” Jimin greets Jungkook, you doing the same as you swing Jimin’s bag over your own shoulder and trail after him.

Jungkook gives you a slight bow and quickly wipes down the counter where Seokjin was slobbering over before leaving. He tilts his head as he takes off his apron with genuine amusement at the relationship dynamic between the three of you.

It was quite obvious you had some kind of history with Seokjin judging from the tone of your voice over the call and after, your reaction. Perhaps an ex? Then, Jimin. Where did he fit in the picture?

Jungkook hums with a shake of his head, checking out with a beep of his employee card. If Jimin wasn’t romantically interested in you yet, he sure will be soon as seen from the way he was constantly putting himself between you and Seokjin.

How interesting, Jungkook muses. There would definitely be heartbreak between that trio.

[thorinthehottotty]

Oaksbane - Thorin

A/N: I hope you guys like this as much as I enjoyed writing it. We had a big storm yesterday and a tree fell across our main road.

Summary: Thorin and his nephews are stuck in our world, with you. He gets to see you be a little goofy.

Warnings: Language, bits of fluff

The knocking jarred you from the chair and half that you loved to curl up in. The two boys looked toward their uncle and you in alarm. "Were you expecting someone?" The eldest of your guests asks as you climb out from under the enormous fur baby in your lap that gave a few soft gruffs and squirrels deeper into the chair.

Some guard dog, you are.

Fíli, who always held the remote, paused the television show that you'd all just sat down for. He was the quickest to pick up technology. He had a knack for it.

You shake your head at Thorin's question and move to the door, drawing the sweatshirt around yourself more firmly. Thunder cracked loudly. "Not in this weather, for sure." Opening the door, you spot a familiar face and pull it wider. "Jonathan? Why are you soaked?" You demand. Sure enough, your old friend was dripping head to toe in a tee shirt, working pants and boots. Water dripped from the end of his nose and his mouth hung open as he pants, squinting into the dark.

"It's wet outside," he replied dryly.

"No shit. Where's your truck?" You demand.

"Left it up the road. You were closest. Tree fell. Got an axe?"

"Let me grab my boots, I'll do you one better." You reply, snagging a ball cap from the shelf above the coat rack next to the door. "Want a jacket?" You ask as the boys all begin to collect their own boots and jackets.

"Nah, I'm already warm. It's not too bad out." The humid air that spills in around Jonathan, proving that this truly was a late spring thunderstorm.

"Have you contacted the road commission yet?" You ask.

"Nah, you're my first stop. My phone's dead." Jonathan casts a curious glance at the men behind you as you slip into some heavy boots.

"You guys don't have to come," you assure.

"How big is this tree?" Thorin asks. That's a fair point. Extra hands might help, and from past experience, these 'dwarves' were unnaturally strong.

"Big enough."

You slip out the door and onto the front porch, pulling on a jacket as you go. Jonathan falls in stride next to you as you make your way through the heavy rain drops.

"Where were you headed?" You ask as you thumb through contacts for the road commission, trying and failing not to get the screen wet as everyone files into the barn.

"Kendall Fairlan's," Jonathan gives you a cheeky grin and you roll your eyes at him.

"You're braving the storm to get some?" You scoff, dragging the axe off the wall and tossing it to him. His grin widens.

"Don't tell me your still jealous of her."

"Hah! Whoever told you I was in the first place was lying to you." You spot the bright orange chainsaw and move towards it while you find the number your looking for. The dwarves linger near the doors, casting curious glances at the man they'd never met.

"Fair enough, it looks like you've got your own secret family, anyhow." Jonathan gestures to your boys. The youngest are grinning at their uncle who looks far less amused.

"Un-fucking-believable."

"What?"

"The road commission closed half an hour ago." You shake your head before nodding to the dwarves. "That's Thorin, Fíli and Kíli, by the way. They're staying with me for a bit." You give the vague explanation as you wrench on the ripcord. The motor sputters and dies, but it does sputter! You try a couple more times before it takes. "Hell yeah. Alright, let's get started."

"You look a little too eager," Jonathan teases and you all move towards the vehicle. "Thanks for the hand."

"Are you kidding me?" You demand from him as you all head towards the truck, the windows are fogged from the humidity as everyone climbs into it. "I get to destroy some shit. I'm in." Jonathan chuckles and you don't miss the amused smirk Thorin gives you. The engine roars to life.

"Head north." Jonathan instructs and twists around to the back seat. "I'm Jonathan. Nice to meet ya'll." Turning onto the road, the cold engine makes extra noise as you force it faster up the road. You were looking forward to this. It wasn't fair, maybe a thousand yards, to your delight. Pulling off to the side, you turn the hazards on.

"Doesn't look like lightning, you can see the split up there." You point toward the mature oak that split nearly twenty feet in the air. It wasn't the entire tree but it was a sizeable branch. Probably a couple thousand pounds by the look of it. Everyone files out when you park, the air heavy with rain and humidity still. Thunder and lightning were still cracking above.

"Maybe we should wait."

"No way. This is the main road that leads to the hospital. It needs to be cleared for emergencies."

"We've got a tornado watch out, maybe you should head back." Instead of answering Jonathan you step forward, roaring the chainsaw back to life with an effective pull. You move towards the tree, and your chainsaw snarls as you cut through some of the smaller limbs to be fin with. The blades a bit dull but it will do the trick well enough to get you through to the main branch.

You hear a heavy thwack and glance to see Thorin swinging the axe down on a thick limb. It's a clean cut. You glance back to see an impressed look on your friend's face. "Ey, shit for brains, I thought you were gonna help me with this shit?" You tease.

"If the guy wants to do it, he can do it." You roll your eyes but wink at Thorin when he pauses to make sure your not upset at him for doing this. The branches are pulled away by the other three. You set to work near the center, hoping to be able to push each side out of the way. Cars had begun to pull up and wait on either side. Some folks did 'U-turns' early on.

Getting close to slicing all the way through, the chain started sparking and you cursed as you struggled with the last leg of it. You kicked at the joint, hoping it would be enough to break it free. It was not.

Thorin's rich chuckle came from next to you. He repeated your blow twice and had more effective results than you. "Son of a bitch!" You call, shoving at him. "A little more and I would have had it!" He grins down at you and pecks your temple. He looked handsome in the rain. His. Long hair clung to his cheeks, his eyelashes extra dark from the rain that dripped from them and droplets twisted over the contours of his face.

"Of course you would have." Your jaw drops at him and his eyes twinkle in mischief. You could see where his nephews got their wild charms.

"Okay, Sassy. Get to work then." He move toward one last branch and you get to see his drenched form twist gracefully. It's delicious to watch.

On a completely unrelated note, perhaps a wood burning stove would be a good investment. He orders his nephews over and the all too easily power drive the log off into the ditch on the side of the road. "Jesus Christ, Y/N. What are you feeding them?"

"They eat like wolves, Jon, like wolves." The answer has him laughing as all three boys stand back off. "Speaking of, you totally owe them dinner for tomorrow night." You reply.

"You got that right. You guys were an enormous help!" Your old friend pats your shoulder as they push the other side like butter on a plate.

"Fuck, that's sexy," you sigh, shaking your head.

"What?" The laugh from beside you earns a sharp blow from your elbow and he grunts as another clap of thunder echos, softer than the others.

"Yo, go screw Kendall for fucks sake," you snap.

"You did not just say 'yo'. Which one of those tiny powerhouses are you taking your chances with?"

"You better walk before I whoop your ass." You use the two fingers twisting between you both to signify you're watching him before glancing and waving people through.

"Pft please. As if you could take me." You whip around, the all too familiar feel of your childhood friend, the one you used to beat on when you were younger rising back.

"Fíli! Come direct traffic!" You shout, striding back toward Jonathan. Thorin arches a brow in surprise as your friend tilts his head back to laugh at you and takes a defensive stance.

"Y/N," Thorin calls over the waning rain.

"Relax she won't actually hit m- FUCK!" He shouts, jerking back from soft punch you gave his face. His hand flies up to check for blood for half a second. There is none. Then he's turning and sprinting into the brush, scrambling to hop the wire fence into the feild.

"GET BACK HERE, COWARD! TAKE IT LIKE A MAN!" You shout, setting the chainsaw up onto the hood of the car. Fíli and Kíli are laughing as you run into the brush and hurdle the rusted wire yourself, running after him through the mud. You didn't miss Thorin chuckling a bit himself. Maybe you wanted to impress him a bit, but the mix of rain and the excitement of the fallen tree has spurred you on.

"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!" Jonathan cries as he books it through the mud.

You slam all too quickly into his back and you both go down in the mud. "I yield! I yield!"

"THERE IS NO YIELDING!" You shout. The both of you struggling for a foothold in the muck. Finally, while you're still attached to his back, he manages to climb to his feet.

"Alright! Let me square up at least!" You climb down and step back, the both of you squaring off, panting and you grin at half his face being covered in mud. You dodge when he lunges for you and stumble through the mud.

As you square up again, he lunges a second time and you move fast enough to counter. You draw your foot up and he grunts as he flies down and onto his back. "Was that a fucking Spartan kick? Fuck!"

"THIS! IS! SPARTA!" You tease as he flops down in the mud. You hold a hand out for him and help him to his feet. "Now, come on you wuss. You've got a da-" you let out a squeal as someone else scoops you up from behind.

"Where was that kick when we were kicking apart the tree?" Thorin rumbles and you twist to look back at him with a grin.

"What are you talking about? That was all me!" You complain. You feel his hot chest move as he laughs. He actually had steam rising from his shoulders and head as it lightens to a drizzle. You didn't try to fight your way from his arms because the heat of him, wet or not, was nearly euphoric.

"Was it now?" He asks as you laugh.

"Oh yeah, didn't you see me swing the axe once to cut through the tree," Thorin snorts at you and shakes his head.

"Come on, Oaksbane. You're freezing."

"Oaksbane, I could get used to that." Jonathan trots along side where you are being dragged away, all too happily to have the dwarf king's hand around yours.

"Thanks for all your help, Thorin, is it?" Your friend asks.

"Aye." Thorin offers, a little more sternly toward your friend, not stopping as you all climb over the fence again and back toward where the boys are waiting with big ol' grins.

"I've probably freaked Kendall out enough so I'll head her way. I'll see you guys around."

"Bye, bitch boy!" You call.

"Bye, you asshole!"

The four of you stumble in the front door, laughing merrily. As you kick off your boots. Fíli and Kíli retreat quickly to the guest room for dry clothes and you don't miss Thorin drawing his wet shirt off and tossing it out the front door and onto the porch. You get an eyeful of his tattoos and chest hair that you couldn't see through the shirt.

He pauses to look back at your drenched form and arch an eyebrow at your smirk. "Can I help you?"

"I didn't know you had tattoos," you offer. He rolls his eyes at you and steps forward to lean over you.

"Go get changed." You give him a flirty grin.

"Maybe you can come help me," you say, pulling off your hat to hang it and you wet and muddy jacket by the door. Thorin shakes his head at you and snatches your chin up.

"What's gotten into you?" He asks but it's clear its rhetorical when he delivers a fast and firm kiss to your lips. You'd say it's too quick for you you to enjoy, but how can you not. "Go get changed," he repeats.

"Okay," you squeak out, cheeks pooling with heat before slipping down the hallway. You didn't see the big goofy grin he had on his face too.

Taglist: @tomisbaeholland @fizzyxcustard @dumbassunderthemountain @dabisburntnut @queenofmankind @daisy-picking-lady

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Fic: Soulmate Survey Part 6

(Master post)

_______________________________________________________________________

“No worries Rose, the shirts are done. Yes, I can bring them to school tomorrow. Okay, tell everyone I said hi back. Take... Oh you and Juleka are at 87% compatible? Congrats. I always knew you two were.... Mine? Oh uh look at the time bye!” Marinette ended her conversation a bit exhausted. 

Rose was a good friend, but the girl had a way of talking an ear off if Marinette wasn’t careful. Marinette would have texted her, but the girl would blow up her phone with 50+ texts. So Marinette decided a phone call was the best way of contacting her.

Marinette had felt super productive after she got back from that akuma battle. Though before she could action on that productive vibe she had to deal with some weird emails that mentioned codes for restarting her password for ‘Soulmate search’. She decided to change her password just to be safe, probably smart if someone was trying to get into it.  Marinette always figured it’s better to be on the side of caution when it came to her personal items and information. That is why she made that trap box for her diary.

Some people have no lives, trying to get into other people’s accounts. Marinette thought to herself. She could only imagine the type of desperate person who tried to get into her account for a matchmaking app. Probably some two bit hacker that wanted to spam her with emails. She logged in to make sure everything in the app was fine. Her personal information secure, and her compatibility list was unchanged. She smiled at the first place ranking. It was the spark she needed to get back into her productive mindset. Deciding that since everything was fine, she would not look into the matter further so long as it doesn't happen again as she would rather focus on her commission but would definetly keep an eye out for it.

Now able to ride her wave of productivity, She was able to finish the new Kitty Section shirts that Rose commissioned. The Second design really did look good. Now that they had enough original songs to make their first album, they needed a shirt with the cover on the shirt, which Marinette happily designed for them as well. 

“The shirts look great.” Her red Kwami praised as she looked them over. “And you dont have to pull an all nighter like you did last time.”

“Yeah, it was easier the second time around, especially now that I organized my schedule better.” Marinette agreed. “With occasional 20 minute video game breaks, those really can do wonders.”

Marinette’s phone began buzzing again.

“Oh, thats right. I promised Rose a Picture of the shirt.” Marinette remembered.

She picked up the phone.

“Don't worry I was just about to send you the photo of the shirt.” Marinette answered.

“What shirt?” A voice that definitely didn't sound like Rose. 

Marinette dropped her phone. Her face went red. It was Adrien. Adrien was calling her right now.

“Marinette? Are you still there?” Adrien’s voice came from the phone.

Marinette stumbled to the ground to pick up.

“Yes Here Marinette is. I mean Yes. Marinette is here. Speaking.” Marinette tripped over her own words. She was caught off guard by the sudden phone call.

Why was he calling? Was he going to say that he changed his mind about what he said earlier? Or was he calling because he doesn't want to wait that long and start dating now? Marinette had to shake those thoughts out of her head.

“Oh good. I was wondering if you were busy Friday after school? I am going to have a tv interview and it would be really cool if you could come along. You won't be on camera or anything if you don’t want to be. You can be right by the set.” Adrien explained.

“Really?! Yea, Yes. Free am I. I am free then.” Marinette corrected herself. She mentally told her self to relax. She was able to regain composure.

“Awesome! Oh, just so you know. Nathalie said I can only bring one person so It will just be the two of us and my bodyguard, is that alright with you?” Adrien questioned, Speaking a bit faster then normal, if Marinette wasn’t so nervous she might have noticed. “If it isn’t that is totally fine to. I am sure Nino would go if I asked.”

This boy was going to kill her. Just the two of them. Her and Adrien on Friday after school. Well sure there would be a studio with a bunch of people, but out of everyone he could have invited, he chose her. She was his first pick. Her heart felt like it was trying to burst out of her chest.

“Thats fine with me. Is there a dress code? Do I need to...”

“I was going straight to the interview from school so I will be in my school clothes so I wouldn't worry, besides you always look great so even if they do put you on camera for a bit you will be fine.” Adrien assured. “So its not a big deal if you were to come Into-view”

Marinette couldn't help but giggle at the word play, he sounded so sweet and endearing.

“Thanks for the heads up, I wouldn't want to put your choice in guests into Question.” Marinette punned back. She mentally slapped herself. That was such a bad joke there is no way he found that funny. That stupid cat is rubbing off on her.

To her surprise, Adrien laughed at her joke, Marinette could swear there was no sound the rang as sweet.

I will give that cat macaroons later Marinette mentally noted for later for his influence.

“I will explain any details I find out tomorrow. Have a good night, Marinette.” Adrien said after he finished laughing.

“You too. Good night Adrien.” Marinette practically swooned after she hung up.

The ladybug Kwami smiling.

“I believe that went well.” Tikki encouraged.

Marinette moved to her bed and fell back on it, clearly dazed and excited.

“He wants me to go with him to his interview. I was his first choice. It will be amazing...”

Tikki sighed with soft smile. Its a good thing Marinette finished those shirts and her homework earlier, it was clear no other work was gonna be done tonight. She wondered what Marinette’s reaction will be tomorrow.

_______________________________________________________________________

Adrien hung up his phone with a giddy grin on his face akin to the one he wears as Chat noir. She does like puns, another point for the legitimacy of the app. 

“She said she was fine with it.” Adrien told his kwami as the cat consumed a piece of camembert.

“Congrats Romeo, you asked her out on a date.” Plagg commented casually.

Adrien felt his cheeks flush and his grin shifted.

“It isn't a date.”

“Sounds like a date. Not that I care.”

“It really isn't a date. It is just Marinette and I going to an interview I am gonna have. There will be a bunch of people there and It isn't like it will be just the two of us.” Adrien explained.

“Aren’t most areas filled with people?” Plagg pointed out.

“Well yes but I mean...”

“And if it isn't a date, why didn't you just text her like a normal teen? You went out of your way to call her.” Plagg rubbed in. He had a satisfied smirk watching Adrien get close to Ladybug levels of flustered over Marinette. Plagg desperately wanted to tell the boy, but he held in the urge by chomping down on some cheese.

Adrien was about to comment but his blush only became more apparent.

“Maybe its a tiny bit like a quarter date. maybe a third of a date.”

“Math is your worst subject kid and what your saying isn't adding up.” Plagg countered. He decided to to twist the knife a bit more seeing Adrien get more red.

Adrien knew he wasn't getting anywhere. 

He didn't know why this was making him all flustered. Sure Marinette had always been a sweet friend. Sure she had always been cute and kind. But now just thinking about her made him nervous. Like seeing Ladybug without his mask on. Ever since he saw that compatibility score and started thinking about her as more then a friend, it was like a gate in his head that was holding these thoughts and feelings about her had swung open and the door couldn't be closed, and he wasn't sure if he wanted it closed. It all sort of clicked and the more Adrien thought about it, the more he liked the idea of him and Marinette.

“Anyway, it will be nice to have her come along. I am sure everything will go great, and Marinette will have a good time.” Adrien moved past his petty discussion with the cat. 

“I am sure it will all go smoothly for you. I don't see Anything possibly going wrong.” Plagg sarcastically retorted.

“If something goes wrong now, I am not ordering you the camembert.”

“Kwami Abuse!”

_____________________________________________________________________

Still 100%

That thought made him feel warm as he walked into the school on that Thursday morning. He had answered the daily questions as soon as he was out of bed. He practically melded his eyes to the screen as he waited for the results. His 100% compatibility with Marinette was unchanged.

He also noticed that Kagami slid down to 80%, but she hadn't updated her profile yet so it could change later. But he was more concerned with the top spot.

Adrien arrived to class. He made his way to his seat, where he noticed Nino listening to music. 

He sits down and nudges Nino playfully. The Dj turns to him and pauses his music.

“Hey dude, you seem in a good mood.” Nino greeted as he moved his headphones to his neck.

“Are those new?” Adrien inquired as he looked at the cooler, sleeker designed headphones that looked in a lot better shape then his previous pair.

“Yup, they were on sale yesterday. Snagged the last one in stock.” Nino bragged. “Half off.”

“Congrats.” Adrien offered a fist bump which Nino accepted.

Adrien took a quick look around to ensure no one in the class was paying attention to him. Alya was outside waiting for Marinette, so Adrien knew he didn't need to worry about any eavesdropping from the ladyblogger.

“So about yesterday... you didn't tell anyone about what I sent you?” Adrien whispered.

Nino’s face showed complete confusion.

“What thing did you send me?” Nino questioned.

“You know...” Adrien leaned in closer. “The compatibility list? You sent me a text about it yesterday.”

It took the hat wearing teen a moment to gather himself.

“Wait you got the app? Who did you get?” Nino inquired.

“Nino. I sent you the list.” Adrien answered. His tone more serious and concerned then before..

“Sorry dude, But I don't know what you're talking about.” Nino responded. The Dj pulled out his phone to show Adrien the texts. Sure enough, the exchange from yesterday was absent.

Adrien was shocked.

“Thats impossible.” Adrien spoke as he pulled out his phone and looked at his messages, it was identical to Nino’s except that the exchange from yesterday was present.

Nino looked at it.

“That is bizarre. Cause I didn't message you yesterday. I know I didnt message you then because that was when I was leaving to go get this.” Nino gestured to his headphones. “I was setting up Chris with someone to watch him just before leaving. “ 

Nino looked closer at Adrien’s phone as if staring at some parallel world.

Adrien was definitely lost. If Nino didn't text him, who did? Who did Nino have watch Chris? Would that person be respon--”

“Holy shit dude!” Nino exclaimed interrupting Adrien’s thoughts. “You got one h...”

Adrien immediately covered Nino’s mouth.

The whole class now looking at the two teens.

Adrien felt embarrassed. 

“He was surprised by my high score in super penguino.” Adrien lied.

The class went with it and decided that Nino’s reaction wasn't important enough to look into. 

‘Thank Kwami for short attention spans’ Adrien thought as he waited for Nino to calm down before removing his hand.

Adrien practically yanked Nino out of the classroom to ensure no one was listening in.

“Dude!” He whispered in shock. “I can't believe you got 100% and with Marinette.” Nino was in shock from seeing the compatibility score in the photo. “I mean I’m not surprised you two scored high, but 100%? That is so choice. I am a bit jealous, I haven’t even gotten 100% with my girlfriend.”

Alya is probably gonna flip when she finds out. Oh man if she finds out and knew that I knew? She might kill me if she finds out from someone else. Nino thought to himself.

“Can we discuss this later? I don't want people finding out about it yet.” Adrien pleaded.

“Why dude? Aren't you happy that Marinette is at the top of the list?”  Nino asked with a bit of worry that Adrien might want to turn the designer down.

“I am happy, more then I thought I would be with anyone. But I don't want people finding out yet.” Adrien replied.

“If you are chill with it then what’s the big...”

“If word gets around that someone has 100% compatibility with me, things could get... complicated. Especially for Marinette.” Adrien interrupted. “You have seen how my fans can get. I don't want to throw Marinette into that if I can avoid it. Not until I know she is fine with this, with me, with everything.”

Nino could see the genuine worry on his friend’s face. He could tell Adrien cared about Marinette. He always knew he did, but now it seemed even clearer then before.

“Okay dude, I won't tell a soul. Except I might need to tell Alya, She will want to know.” Nino responded.

“Yes, you can tell Alya only. As long as she swears not to tell anyone.” 

“I will swear her to secrecy.” Nino assured.

“Thanks Nino. But that brings up the question, if you didn't text me, then who did?”

“I couldn't tell you. Maybe someone hacked your phone. The only person that had access to my phone yesterday was me and...” Nino’s expression shifted as he made a realization. 

But that couldn’t be right, why would she have an interest in the list? She told me earlier that she wasn’t into Adrien. But then again, there was that picture that was sent to everyone from Adrien’s phone of her kissing his cheek. But she assured me that it was platonic. Something isn’t adding up. She was the only other person that had access to my phone. So who else could it be?

“Who had access to your phone?” Adrien inquired, snapping his friend out of his thoughts.

“I think I might know who sent those texts. But I don’t know why she did it?”

“She? Nino who was it?” Adrien questioned.

“So you know how I needed someone to watch Chris?”

“Yeah?”

“And Normally I would have asked Marinette but she was busy with her commissions and Alya was watching her big sis’ match so...”

______________________________________________________________________

A car pulled up by the park where a certain brunette was sitting and had been waiting. The car window rolls down to reveal a bespectacled man with styled hair and a stern look. The fashion mogul Gabriel Agreste was sitting in the car.

“You better have a good excuse for calling for this meeting Miss Rossi. You are aware of how busy I am.”  The man sternly commented.

“I swear it is important Mr. Agreste. Adrien’s reputation and his safety are at stake.” Lila responded.

“How so?”

“Adrien’s delinquent classmates have gotten him mixed up in a scandalous app that has him put information about himself and meeting up with strangers.” Lila spun her web of lies.

Gabriel took her words with a grain of salt, but decided to humor her as this would likely be useful once she was finished trying to make herself look good.

“Are you certain of this?”

“I am. Adrien showed me a picture of the app. I tried to tell him that nothing good would come of taking part in such a nasty thing, but he wouldn't listen. His classmates have sold him on taking part of it.” Lila lied. “You need to have him delete that horrible app, nothing good will come of it, it will just have more people trying to take advantage of Adrien for his money, status and looks.”

“She seems to be Projecting on to others master.” Nooru whispered only loud enough for Gabriel to hear. Gabriel nodded, he was losing his patience with the liar. Clearly she had been wasting his time. He motioned for the purple kwami to stay hidden before responding to Lila.

“I see, so tell me. What is the name of this app?” Gabriel questioned.

Lila froze for a second. She had thought she would not have needed to tell Mr.Agreste.

“...Soulmate Searcher...” Lila confessed.

Gabriel’s disappointment shifted into intrigue. He remembered that app. It was the cause of despair for the recent Akuma he had made, as well as other cases of despair that he was planing to use later. So his own son was using that app.

“Very well, I will look into the matter. Thank you for the information Miss Rossi.” Gabriel dismissed. Leaving an uncertain brunette on the park bench.

“Nathalie, look into this app and tell me everything you can find out about this ‘Soulmate Searcher.’ Perhaps Lila has given us another useful nugget of information to use.” Gabriel stated.

“I will be sure to do so.” His glasses wearing assistant nodded as she drove the car back to the mansion. “Do you really believe Lila was being honest about the app?”

“I doubt most of what she stated held merit. My son is not such a fool as to take part in deviant behavior. Even if Adrien was taking part in the app it is likely not as she described it. But that app was the cause of my recent akuma, it definetly has some sway over Paris. It will be something that can be of use. Gabriel answered calmly.

This information was definitely of great use. I can feel that this might be the start to getting the edge over those two heroes that have eluded me. Soon their miraculous will be mine and I will have my Soulmate back. Gabriel thought to himself as his face revealed a Hawkmoth-Esqu smile.

______________________________________________________________________

Part 6 is finished I am loving all of this awesome feedback and you guys keep me inspired to keep writing this.

If you want part 7, please let me know. I love seeing those notes and comments, It really feeds my impulsive need to write. And I am just gonna say it.

[jisungjuice]

fire has no shadow, but you have me

Leo is not hiding this personal moment with a mask of light-hearted comments or jokes. So Nico won't shy away from it, either.

"I'm glad you want to come back." He summons courage harder than it takes him to summon an army of skeletons, and he leans his head on Leo's shoulder.

They remain like that for a while, Leo's hand covering his and Nico's head resting on Leo, and Nico had never felt so safe outside of camp and he wonders if it can last.

It starts with a blinding flash of light. And at this point, Nico has seen enough of those to know that it can't be anything good.

And he couldn't be less prepared for it. He was just lying on the grass under the sun, getting more vitamin D on doctor's orders.

And of course, his doctor is right there next to him. Will insists Nico needs more sun, and Nico begrudgingly agrees because at least his skin color is returning to normal and he sleeps better at night. Not well, but better.

He feels warm and drowsy while Will's voice fills the silence by talking about music and bands. Nico hasn't really had time to listen to music in the last… decade. But he appreciates Will's suggestions, however disconcerting they may be.

And then he feels it. The sun's getting hotter, which doesn't make sense since it was supposed to be going down soon, and when he opens his eyes, it's there.

His senses heighten, every nerve suddenly into overdrive, and Will is already on his feet, hauling him up and dragging him away.

But it's too late, Nico thinks. It's coming way too fast.

He still runs, but not for long before the crash is heard. It's not as big as he imagined. It's not Armageddon, it's not the end of the world, but it is something.

Nico spins around, making Will stumble, but he's glad he did because he immediately recognizes something that makes his heart thud painfully.

A bronze wing.

He breaks free from Will's grip and runs back towards the mess of fire that's still burning in a big pile. Will yells out his name but then he and some others are right behind him, slow realization dawning on all the campers.

Even among the flames and smoke, Nico can see the broken-down body of Festus the dragon.

"Where's Leo?" Will asks and Nico was thinking the same thing but with each passing second his heart sinks more and more. Leo's fireproof, his mind supplies, and still the fear that he might have burnt to a crisp seems far more real.

Nico looks around wildly. "Can't anyone summon water?! Where's fucking Percy Jackson when you need him?!"

Everyone seems to click into motion, moving around to help. Nico focuses back on the fire. Perhaps he can make a hole on the earth below and pull Leo out?

He tries to feel the presence and a more sinister thought enters his mind. Maybe he was never alive. Maybe Festus just brought Leo's body here.

The fire is receding a bit, but it's still hard to see beyond the flames and reflective bronze. A moment later, three different people shout to make room. From the right, Chris Rodríguez and a bunch of dryads are bringing in buckets of water from the lake. From the left, Leo's siblings from the Hephaestus cabin are running with Harley at the front, all dressed up in a full metal welding suit that the others are still trying to attach to him.

And then, from very far away there's Paolo Montes waving a hose.

Harley gets there first, and he would have thrown himself on the fire if Nyssa Barrera hadn't stopped him.

"Wait! The suit is not sealed yet!"

And then it came. Nico gasps and almost stumbles backwards with the force of it and everyone looks at him, alarmed.

But Nico's eyes are fixed on the blazing heat.

The metal rumbles and pieces fall to the floor, and from the very center of Festus' belly, Leo Valdez's head pops up, his hair wild and moving along with the flames.

He looks around at the dozens of shocked faces and finally settles for a toothy grin.

"Hello. Bit hot today, no?"

This time Will had to stop Nico from jumping into the fire and slapping Leo in the face.

.

Nico had been spending some of his time hanging out in the infirmary since Will was there a lot, teaching healing practices to other campers because, in his words 'With the number of dangerous situations demigods get into, the Apollo cabin can't be the only ones who know basic first aid.'

And now he was there a lot because he was in charge of organising the queue to punch Leo and Leo was there getting patched up.

He had never been very close to Leo. At least not the way he was close to Hazel or even Percy at some point. But over their time aboard the Argo II, they had at least shared some kind of kinship a few times, especially when Nico realized how much of a seventh wheel Leo had been feeling, and how similar that was to how Nico himself felt in that ship. An eight wheel, to be precise.

And by Gods, did Nico want to hate him. He was insufferably obnoxious, always cracking stupid jokes, and with no shame whatsoever. Nico's worst nightmare.

Until Nico saw through all that for what it really was; Leo's way of keeping people at bay. Diametrically opposed to Nico's way, but a way nonetheless.

Plus, a few times Nico had walked in on Leo sleeping curled up next to the engine and it was hard to hate him after that.

"What happened to Calypso?" Nico asks one morning after the first shift of punchers. Leo had just finished explaining everything he went through, the physician's cure, the trip to Ogygia, rescuing the forgotten sorceress.

His face reddens somewhat. "I dropped her off inland in Europe. I think it was Croatia. She um… She wanted to see the world."

Nico doesn't want to push it if Leo's reluctant to discuss it but he had imagined that after all of that he and Calypso would be together.

Leo shrugs and then winces as his left shoulder is still injured from the fall. His skin was thankfully all untouched thanks to his abilities but his clothes all turned to ashes. That was the most awkward part of the rescue. "I get it. She was tied to that island for thousands of years, I can't blame her for wanting to be free and not tied to something or someone else now." He sounds sad, but also braver than Nico had ever seen him. "I promised to rescue her and I'm glad I did."

Nico nodded. He raised his hand, planning to pat Leo's shoulder but regretting it at the last second and landing awkwardly on the pillow next to him. "That's the demigod life."

Leo smiles one of his huge smiles and nudges Nico's hand with his shoulder. "That, and catapulting annoying augurs up in the sky. Tell me again how you launched Octavian up to meet me."

Nico rolls his eyes. "I didn't launch him."

.

Since communication was still down on all fronts, Leo couldn't let anyone at Camp Jupiter know that he hadn't actually died, so he decided to just make the journey.

Him and a few other campers sat at a table trying to figure out the best method to get him there.

"Festus would take at least a month to rebuild again," Leo sighs, genuinely depressed about the topic. "I can't let the others wait that long for Admiral Valdez's resurrection."

Everyone groans. Leo had been bragging for days about how he was basically the modern version of Jesus of Nazareth.

"What about a jetpack? My design is nearly ready!" Harley exclaims excitedly.

Leo ruffles Harley's hair. "Oh Harley, I'd rather let Zeus zoom me halfway across the globe again. I saw your designs and I think fuel tanks like those would send me on my way to an explosion even I couldn't survive."

"You could take a bus?" Kayla says. "Cheaper than an airplane."

"I will take you."

It almost takes Nico a second to realize the words came out of his mouth, especially when they all look at him like that.

"Nico, are you sure that's a good idea?" Will asks, his golden eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"I shadow-travelled from Europe with a ten-foot statue and two others. I think I can handle Leo from here to California."

"I feel like that was a jab at my stature," Leo says into the silence.

Nico smirks.

.

The Hephaestus cabin organized a congratulations-for-not-being-dead/going-away campfire for Leo. Nico usually didn't attend campfires, but Will had dragged him to a couple and this one seemed to be more up his alley, with less corny songs and more people making fun of Leo.

Plus, Pollux had appeared with a few bottles of homemade wine and the results were entertaining.

Will was, no surprise, a very touchy drunk, which made Nico uncomfortable but not as much as he would have thought. He lets Will rest his head on his shoulder when he says that the world is spinning.

Leo chugs more wine and tells another joke and people laugh harder even though it makes no sense, and that's when Sherman Yang decides they've all had too much.

"Okay, let's pack it up, people. Leo has a long day tomorrow and we all have target practice."

Some groan, a few giggle, most don't react and just let themselves be dragged away after patting Leo on the back and wishing him luck.

No one tells Leo to leave, perhaps because after helping defeat Gaia, coming back from the dead, rescuing an unrescuable ancient sorceress and then surviving yet another explosion, no one felt like they had much authority over him.

Will, held by Kayla on one side, turns around to look at Nico. "Are you coming?"

Nico looks over at Leo, who chooses that moment to fall backwards from his log. "I think I'll stay and make sure he doesn't die."

Will smiles crookedly. "Aw, you're taking care of someone. I've taught you well."

"Shut up."

Leo manages to sit up and realizes he and Nico are alone, the fire slowly dying between them. "Are you cold? I can make more fire."

He opens his palms towards the flames but Nico rushes over and stops him. "No no. Don't drink and summon fire. Didn't you see the safety video on your first day here? Dionysus had a whole section about wine safety."

Leo snorts a laugh. "No. When I arrived everything was very rushed. I never met Mr. D"

Nico nods. Leo must have heard that name from Percy. Nico wonders if Percy got the letter they sent telling him that Leo was alive. It was Will's idea to use regular mortal mail, but even being in the same estate as Percy wouldn't guarantee that he'll receive the letter. Strange things happened to demigods' correspondence in the postal service.

"You know, this is the first time I drink wine." Leo waves his plastic cup, stained burgundy.

"Really?" Nico asks. "Not even sips as a kid?"

Leo shakes his head and his curls move with it. "Mexican moms don't really believe in that."

Nico had been drinking wine since he was very young. "I always used to have dinner with my family."

"Maybe that's why you're not drunk."

"Or maybe because I'm not eighty pounds and had ten glasses"

"Hey!" Leo protests and then he is silent as he sizes Nico up with a look that makes Nico wish he could blend in with the shadows. "How are you already taller than me? It's not fair."

That makes Nico smile. "Get used to it, Valdez."

They stay in silence for a while longer, which must be a record coming from Leo. He pulls out a small device from his pocket and starts to tinker with it, not even looking at it. He seems thoughtful, as though he's trying to figure out a different device than the one in his hands.

"I heard something from Drew yesterday," Leo says, a little too quiet to be the start of a joke. Nico's heart starts racing. He knew people would talk, and he knew Leo and all his friends would find out eventually, but he never thought Leo would want to talk to him about it.

He presents Nico with his closed fist as if he wanted Nico to bump it and Nico can only frown.

"This is for telling Percy he isn't your type. What a boss move."

It takes a second, but Nico throws his head back and laughs. The first time he's properly laughed in a long time, but it just takes him completely by surprise that this is what Leo has to say on the subject.

He bumps Leo's fist as his laughter dies down and he shakes his head in disbelief.

Leo can't seem to stop smiling, but in this drunk, lazy way that makes him seem a bit more down to earth.

This isn't a mask, Nico thinks.

Leo sways and his shoulder grazes Nico's. "If it makes you feel any better, I get it. Like, who hasn't thought Percy's hot? Like, objectively, you know? They're tall and conventionally attractive and stupidly heroic-"

"They?" Nico asks, not really wanting to interrupt Leo's tirade but confused by his wording.

"Percy and Jason. Everyone has crushes on them, right? And you kind of want to hate them because like, shit man, you look like that and you fly, and you're ridiculously friendly and like noble and stuff? Just stop it. You know? But you can't hate them because they're really nice to you and they don't deserve it. But it's nothing to be ashamed of, you know?"

Nico blinks a few times, Leo's confession of basically having a crush on Jason in particular, hitting him like an electrical shock that left him short-circuited. If Leo was sober he probably wouldn't have said anything, so Nico wonders if he should feel bad for letting Leo say something so personal in this state of vulnerability.

But he doesn't. Because it's the first time someone tells him they understand him and actually give reasons and examples why, not just an empty attempt at empathy. He hopes Leo doesn't regret telling him this.

"They are so stupidly noble. I hate that," Nico says.

Leo stands up on wobbly legs. "Oh look at me I'm the son of a famous, powerful God and I can control the elements and I have light-colored eyes and a dreamy smile. Who am I?"

Nico has to laugh again because Leo is pulling a full-on performance pretending to fly like Jason or raise the sea like Percy and it makes Nico feel lighter than he has in probably years. He can laugh about it now. He can let it go.

Leo stumbles around the fire and even though he'd be fine if he falls in, it still doesn't seem right to let him, so Nico grabs his arm and pulls him away from the danger zone as they both keep laughing.

They sit back down and their knees knock together and Nico doesn't mind.

"Some of that could also describe you," Leo says breathlessly. "Son of a major God. Powerful."

Nico nudges Leo with his arm in acknowledgement. "And you. You can control the elements." He nods towards the fire.

Leo seems relaxed in a way he hadn't seemed to be since he came back.

They remain like that for a while longer, watching the flames get smaller and sitting in comfortable silence. Nico's favorite kind of silence.

"We should probably get some sleep." Nico hates to be the one to say it, but shadow-travelling really is easier when he's rested.

Damn Will. He got inside Nico's head.

Leo lets Nico help him up and then Nico does something that he only does when someone is injured in battle; he wraps one arm around Leo's waist and helps him walk. Leo throws his arm over Nico's shoulders.

As they walk away from the campfire, Leo sighs happily. "Have you ever noticed that fire doesn't have a shadow?"

.

Nico was right when he thought that travelling with Leo would be less tiring than the last shadow trip he had done.

That didn't mean it was easier.

"Y'all should've told me we'd be coming here." Leo digs into his plate of ribs, sauce all over his face. "I'd've made some reservations."

Nico sends him a death glare. He's good at those.

Leo had decided to adopt a heavy southern accent ever since they landed in Oklahoma instead of Kansas like Nico had been planning. Nico's ears were going to bleed from over-stimulation.

The food was good, though.

Leo inhales deeply and sighs contentedly. "We're so close to Texas, I can feel it."

"We're always close to Texas. That state is inescapable. I think its gravity drew us off course."

Leo pulls out two wet hand towels from his magic pouch- as Nico has started to call it much to Leo's annoyance- and then he warms them up by heating his hands. He has a much more sophisticated control on his fire abilities than Nico remembered.

Leo hands one to Nico while he himself wipes basically his entire face and arms. "Well, we're here now so let's find a spot to sleep tonight. I hope you like camping, Neeks!"

Nico frowns. "You should know I don't. Also, stop it with the Neeks."

Leo smiles. "You have barbecue on your nose."

Nico groans and wipes it off.

.

They end up finding a not-so-terrible spot to spend the night, but the heat in this Hades-forsaken place was so insufferable that they decided not to use sleeping bags and instead hang hammocks, of which Leo procured two from his magic pouch.

"Why in the world do you have hammocks on hand?" Nico asks as he unsuccessfully attempts to tie his to a tree.

"Hammocks are an incredible feat of engineering. You need fabric and weaving that are strong enough to hold you but not so tough that it's hard to sleep. It minimises your travelling load while maximising sleeping space, and it works on all surfaces because it precisely keeps you away from surfaces." Leo comes over and ties Nico's hammock for him. "It also keeps you away from snakes."

Nico blinks at him. "You have a lot of feelings about hammocks."

"They are perfect and need to be more appreciated."

"I've never actually slept in one."

Leo's eyes seem to light up with fire. "Oh I can't believe you're a hammock virgin!"

"Please don't call it that."

"This is going to be great. Shed all your preconceived notions right now and prepare for the best sleeping experience of your life."

Nico would hardly call swinging in the air the best sleeping experience of his life, but considering the things he's been through, it also could be far, far worse.

Leo is too delighted with the swinging and even pushes off against the tree with his foot to go even faster, his hands busy with a mechanical box he's been tinkering with since West Virginia. The movement is making Nico slightly dizzy so he lies as still as possible until the soft swaying actually feels nice, and it seems to be lulling him to sleep faster than anticipated.

He's almost gone when Leo speaks into the silence.

"Nico?"

"Mm?" He opens his eyes and turns to see Leo still swinging madly, almost nervously, under the orange light of the lantern he hung on a branch above. Thank the Gods they're on different trees or the movement would rock Nico's hammock as well. He also decided to remove his t-shirt, which is fine by Nico because then all the mosquitoes would get Leo instead of him.

"You're fifteen, right?" Leo asks.

"Last I checked."

Another pause. "How did you, um… how did you know?"

It takes Nico's sleepy brain a bit to process the question but it still doesn't make much sense. "How did I know what?"

Leo keeps his eyes on his box. "You know… how did you know you… liked boys?"

Suddenly Nico is as alert as the day Leo came crashing down above them.

Usually, Nico would say something snarky and then refuse to discuss the matter entirely, possibly adding about a day's worth of brooding and death glares.

But this question seemed to be a lot less about prying into Nico's business and a lot more about something else.

Nico looked away from Leo nonetheless and kept his eyes on the dark canopy above. "It's kind of hard to ignore when you, you know… when you like someone and that someone is, well, a boy."

Leo's swinging sounds less intense. "Sure. I suppose when it's the only kind of attraction that happens to you, you can't really miss it, can you?"

"Nope," Nico confirms. He could see where Leo's mind was at. "But I guess that if someone was attracted to a lot of different people… it'd be harder to recognize."

"I guess so."

Nico thinks of all the things he wished someone had said to him when he was driving himself mad with questions and confusion, and out of everything, the thing that would have meant the most was very simple.

"And it'd be okay. It'd be more than okay, actually, it'd be great."

Nico can't see it, but he can hear the soft exhale that Leo does when he smiles. The rustling and thudding of his magic pouch follow and then the light is turned off.

"Thank you, Neeks."

"I'm going to murder you."

.

This was the first time in Nico's life that he has managed to leave a camp for more than five minutes without encountering a single being that wanted to kill him. He had been prepared for attacks from the get-go, especially since Leo literally couldn't go two breaths without doing something demigod-like such as warming up their chilaquiles with his bare hands or making weird artefacts appear as if out of thin air.

But this had been the most peaceful trip of his life and it almost felt akin to a vacation. Camping, taking dips in rivers and lakes, eating something different every day (Leo even agreed to go to McDonald's once) and keeping the worrying to a minimum.

It was even nice to be around Leo most of the time. Ever since the other night, he seemed to be making fewer jokes and nervous tinkering than usual. He still did it, because it's part of him, but he seemed more relaxed about it. It wasn't a necessity but a choice.

"What are you going to do once we arrive?" Nico asks one afternoon as they sit on top of a hill and take in the view. They're most likely just a jump away from getting to their destination, and in all honesty, Nico's rested enough that he could manage it that same day.

But he decided to drag this out a bit longer. They stopped just outside of San Francisco at some unknown mountains with enough trees to make it the perfect spot to tie hammocks and, damn it, Nico loves them by now, and he just wants another opportunity to use them while he's still with company. His return trip will be a lot lonelier.

Leo shrugs. "I don't know what Pipes and Jason might be up to. Jason had his plan to make shrines for all the Gods, so I might help him with that. But honestly, I wish they'd come back to Camp Half-Blood."

Nico raises his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Sure. It's the camp me and Piper were meant to be in, all my siblings are there, plus there's the bunker and Festus… I don't want to give it all up."

Nico feels a spark of hope in his chest. Perhaps he won't have to return alone. It's still bittersweet, though, because once Leo rejoins Piper and Jason, things will be different. Piper and Jason are very nice and all, and Nico gets along very well with Jason in particular, but he has a feeling Leo won't be the same with them around.

"And you're there, also," Leo adds.

Nico feels some heat rise to his cheeks and he tries to push it down.

Thankfully, Leo doesn't press it. "What about you? How do you decide which Camp to be in? You were in Camp Jupiter for a while, you have Hazel there, but you're originally Half-Blood and you have Will over there…"

"Will?" Nico asks, surprised that Leo would put him on the same level of importance to Nico as Hazel.

"Well, yes. I assumed you two-"

"Oh, no." Nico must be properly blushing now. "I mean, I don't know. But we're not. He's very nice and I'm glad to have a close friend there but…"

"Well okay, so you'll have two close friends there, then." Leo puts his hand over Nico's and it's the first time they're so purposefully touching like that.

Leo is not hiding this personal moment with a mask of light-hearted comments or jokes. So Nico won't shy away from it, either.

"I'm glad you want to come back." He summons courage harder than it takes him to summon an army of skeletons, and he leans his head on Leo's shoulder.

They remain like that for a while, Leo's hand covering his and Nico's head resting on Leo, and Nico had never felt so safe outside of camp and he wonders if it can last.

.

It turns out it can last. They manage to make it to Camp Jupiter without a single unpleasant encounter. And just when Nico thought they may break Percy's rule about feeling safe, they cross the gates and they are actually safe. Hazel sees them first. She's in full uniform and looking tiny but powerful as always, and her eyes go wide and shiny like dark gemstones.

She drops everything, her spatha, shield, and a book she'd been carrying and she sprints at them. She crushes Leo in a hug and starts weeping immediately.

"You! How? I was- Jason and Piper- ugh!" Each word is punctuated by a sob and a slap on Leo's chest.

Then there's Frank, who is so surprised that he turns into a ferret by mistake but then seizes the opportunity to climb onto Leo's head and claw at his hair with tiny, shrill yelps.

"I missed you too, buddy," Leo says, only grimacing slightly.

When he's back in human form, the bear hug is so engulfing that Leo almost disappears from sight.

Apparently, Piper and Jason are around somewhere but Hazel and Frank are too busy with their new duties that they can't keep track of them. Hazel summons Arion and writes a note, tying it around his neck.

"If you find Piper or Jason, get them here as soon as possible."

And off he goes.

Hazel spends a while telling Leo how much they looked for him the days after the battle back in Camp-Half Blood, which Nico had already done, but not in so much detail. Especially about the extent to which Jason and Piper in particular had driven themselves mad trying to find him, to the point where after weeks of futile search, Percy and Annabeth had to drag them back to camp and eventually convince them to come to California and get their minds off it.

Of course Nico wanted Leo to know they didn't give up on him, that he was missed, but he didn't want him to feel as guilty as he looks right now.

Other people also greeted them, including Reyna who Nico was glad to see. She was looking healthier than before.

Just as they were about to go to the Fifth Cohort to see if anyone knew about Jason or Piper, a loud zoom fills Nico's ears and a blurry second later, Leo is on the ground, tackled by Piper.

Arion neighs and stomps his front legs down before taking off again.

It takes about two minutes of Piper holding onto Leo and crying "I hate you!" before they can stand up. Leo's eyes and face are red too and he can't stop sniffling.

"Explain. Now," Piper orders him, wiping tears off her face.

"I thought we'd wait for Jason," Leo tells her.

Piper sighs. "He's been so moody lately I can't even tell you when he'd be coming back. He's been hard to read."

"Jason? Moody? Are you sure you're not talking about yourself?"

Piper hits Leo.

And then, it happens again. This time is a whooshing sound that gets progressively louder and Nico barely has time to catch a glance of Jason flying at them at full speed before Leo is lifted off his feet and carried away.

Nico typically refrains from showing any emotion other than annoyance in front of others, but even he can't keep a straight face upon seeing Jason and Leo embracing up in the air, clearly crying and laughing at the same time as Jason slowly lowers them to the ground.

Everyone is at least tearing up by the time they make their way towards them, but Nico is okay with it. He's happy for Leo and he doesn't care who sees. Hazel grabs Nico's hand and he squeezes it.

"So," Leo says with a rough voice. "Ready to hear the Tales of Tio Leo?"

.

Nico hadn't realized how much he missed this camp, especially Hazel. He wishes he could be with her year-round or at least visit more often. There should be a faster way to get from one camp to the other.

Eventually, though, the time to return was drawing nearer and it was hard to acknowledge it. Nico still didn't know if Leo was coming back or not and he didn't want to ruin his reunion. He was still so happy to be around Piper and Jason.

Nico sits outside at a table after dinner. They all managed to squeeze in a dinner together before their respective duties took them in different directions. Of course, the only ones who didn't have anything to attend to were Nico and Leo, so it isn't a surprise when Leo returns to the table after saying goodbye to the others.

Leo plays with the candles there, lighting them on and then putting them out over and over. "I was wondering…" he begins and for some reason Nico's heart speeds up.

"Yeah?"

He lights the candles again. "Is Nico short for Nicholas? And if it is, can I call you Saint Nicholas?"

Nico kicks him under the table.

"Ow!"

"Is Leo short for Leonardo? And if so, can I call you Da Vinci?" Nico asks, trying to sound as stupid as Leo had.

"Definitely!" Leo answers, a big smile while still rubbing his leg. "Da Vinci works, though I think I look more like a Di Caprio."

"Who?"

"Nevermind."

Leo is still smiling even after a few seconds. "Da Vinci and Di Angelo. We should form a band."

"Over my dead body," Nico says, but he has to really bite back a smile.

Silence ensues and Nico thinks this would be the right moment to tell Leo that he plans to return the next day. He opens his mouth to speak but as it often happens with speaking, Leo beats him to it.

"So when do we leave, Hermano Hamaca?"

Nico is so confused by that last bit that he doesn't even process the first. "What?"

"Hammock Bro," Leo translates.

"Oh." Leo wants to go back with him? "I thought you'd want to stay with them a bit longer."

He shrugs. "Well, you're the shadow-travelling boss, but if it was up to me I could leave tomorrow. Piper and Jason are working on the shrines and they'll be at Camp Half-Blood soon. I can help from there. I'll miss Hazel and the big guy, but I'll see them again. Plus, it'd be nice to see Percy and Annabeth too, if they got the letter."

Nico nods. "Sure. We can leave tomorrow." He doesn't let it show how happy he is not to be travelling alone, but he still hopes Leo can see it a little bit.

"Hey," Leo puts out a candle with his right hand and lights up another with his left. "Thank you for bringing me here. I know it's a long road trip for something that could have been a phone call in normal circumstances. But even if I could have contacted them somehow, I think I needed to come. See them for myself. So, thank you."

Nico does smile then. "You're welcome. I know I would have liked to see you in person if you hadn't almost killed me on impact when you arrived."

"It's settled, then. We leave tomorrow. Maybe we can stop in Houston this time? I'll show you my mom's old repair garage and the best gorditas you'll ever have in your life."

"Sure," Nico agrees. It might take them a bit longer but it's not as if they have anything else to do. No prophecies to fulfill, no quests to carry out, no world-destruction to stop.

Leo puts his hand over Nico's again and this time Nico turns his hand over and laces their fingers together. Leo's hand is downright hot from playing with the candles so much, but Nico thinks it's nice.

As the candlelight dances in the wind along with Leo's hair, Nico realizes that even though he has always felt safest in the shadows, fire is not too bad either.