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lolita-lollipop · 1 year ago

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could you do a platonic bakudeku taking care of/pampering depressed reader?

SOFT YANDERE AIZAWA X FEM READER

I apologize I read this ask at 4 am with no sleep and saw Aizawa, so I wrote Aizawa. If you want, put in another request and I’ll write the original

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Your health overall had become a stressor in Aizawas life, ever since he had gotten to know you better as a human being, it wasn't that you tried to hurt yourself, but it just seemed to happen. That worried him more often than he would like to admit.

You had come to U.A. as a teacher's aid, or a teacher in training, and were assigned to his classroom. At first, you generally kept your head down, your eyes glued to the floor, not intentionally, but you were a little uncomfortable working with somebody as world-renowned as he was. being somebody who had just graduated high school a year ago, it was strange to be in the same loop as somebody like him.

Aizawa had known that you struggled with your health constantly, both mental and physical. Even upon the first meeting, he saw glimmers of anxiety in your eyes, the picking at your skin, the biting of your nails. All things he'd seen in teens before.

He even experienced it before in his younger years, when he was in high school at UA he went through a lot and had to deal with it all by himself, too fearful of being judged to reach out for help, even from his teachers. It made him feel so connected with you, except he wouldnt give you the option of independence. Even if you hadn't openly stated that you were struggling, he always tried to make your life easier for you, just the little things that always counted.

but, while you were shy, he immediately knew the two of you would be close, you were just so young, so much younger than he was, and he felt such a pull to care for you like he would his students. You were so selfless, so optimistic. Showing up to work with little treats or a coffee for him almost every day (even with your less-than-low teachers-aid salary), being so soft-spoken when giving criticism. He would always see you with a smile on your face, and you were so willing to help anybody at any time. That worried him even more.

It hadn't taken long for you to wriggle yourself into his heart, you worked too well with his student and always were trying to improve. When the two of you became close, he started looking into your background more. Your medical records, your records with the hero association, it was for your good, partially for his curiosity. He didn't want to invade your privacy, but the way you acted was strange to him, you were social and closed off at the same time, and it confused him.

Even so, Aizawa looked forward to your daily interactions throughout the year. The way you made him lunch every day, the way you always looked to him when you had a problem, the way you hovered close to him at teacher's events and meetings. He became used to your presence, even had come to like it.

Imagine his surprise when he saw the countless therapist appointments, medications, and rehabilitation visits written across your medical records. It shocked him honestly, but as he thought about it more it made more sense, tis is why you were the way you were, and he still loved it. That's why he thought you were so likable, it just made him want to protect you more.

Your relationship with him was a little strange, at least to most others. What kind of pro hero just becomes best friends with a quirkless teacher aide like you? He did everything with you, lunch, teaching, and sometimes even on weekends the two of you would hang out. You and Aizawa became very very close very very fast, of course, neither of you minded.

He ended up playing somewhat of a fatherly role to you, helping you when you were hurt, paying for meals when the two of you went out, and caring for you. Eventually, you trusted him enough to reveal the issues you dealt with on the daily.

Your vulnerability with him was cute honestly, the way you were so willing to share your deepest emotions and fears with him.

You told him everything that’s happened, everything that’s caused you to be like this. And he listened, he listened well and hard, and made you feel accepted and loved. Your relationship escalated from there. He was the first person you would call when you needed help, the first person to cry to, to laugh with. eventually, you realized that you loved him. NOT LIKE THAT. But you loved him.

As a child your parents paid no attention to you, from the day you were born they wrote you off as a nuisance, leaving you to fend for yourself from the moment you were able to speak. It made you grow up too fast, having somebody like him was nice for a change.

So when your teacher's aid year ended, and you had to go back to school, you were devastated. That was the first time you had ever cried to Aizawa, and it showed you just how kind he could be. From then on you knew that you would last with him, teacher's aid or not. And so you moved back to your old apartment near your little teaching school, it had taken every ounce of self-control for him to not move with you.

As months passed by he visited often, but slowly, he started to see you change. It was slight at first, just having less energy when you spoke with him, but slowly it ascended into so much more. Your life was all of a sudden so filled with stress, school overloaded your life, and it taxed your health, mental and physical. He watched as your nails slowly became more gnawed down, your skin getting more and more picked at, your eye bags becoming darker and darker. His worry grew with every day that you failed to call him.

Sometimes it would get bad enough that he would force you to accept his help, whether it be money or food or clothing, or even just a place to stay, he would make you accept it, even if you didn't want to. Aizawa just couldn't fathom why you wanted to be so independent, he suggested you move in with him so he could watch over you, but you had denied it quickly, explaining how you "needed to do this on your own".

He found himself feeling responsible for you. You didn't know how to take care of yourself, not in his eyes, it was only natural, you hadn’t grown up with much guidance towards self-care (as you had told him in a moment of vulnerability). So he would help you. It became somewhat of a routine for him to check on your well-being, sending a text at noon every single day just to make sure you're okay. It comforted both of you.

But, as time passed, school and work filled both of your schedules to the brim, and you never had time to travel across town to each other. So you slowly drifted; it started as days without talking to each other, but days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. At some point, he realized that he hadn't even checked in on you for 5 months.

After coming to that realization his worry washed over him once again, cold flowed from his head to his feet. You weren't ready to be alone, oh god what had he done?

He hadn't seen you in months, however, it felt like years, knowing that, he couldn't even imagine how you were feeling. The last time he had seen you, you had been doing well, eating and sleeping healthily, you seemed alright, so he felt okay in leaving you for a long period of time.

He should've kept a closer watch on you when he was away, he should've monitored the bank account he had set up for you, and he should've checked the cameras outside your apartment more. It used to be comforting for him to take a break from his life and check in on you, when did he start forgetting? Was he that bad of a best friend? He needed to see you. now.

And so, after 6 months shouts Aizawa was standing at the entrance to your apartment complex. Staring at the dirt growing thick on the exterior, the windows that had grown foggy and unclear with age.

Walking up the front steps, he observed just how quiet it was, the atmosphere was almost unsettling with how abnormally silent it was., you had refused to let him buy you a nice apartment near the urban areas of the city, so you lived near the rural edge in the older areas. The entire district was old and only growing older, crime rates were spiking, and buildings were slowly breaking down. This particular building was aging with every day. Paint chipping, door handles rusting, the elevator no longer was even in service.

He stared up the long flights of stairs, each step sad and grey and growing rust at the edges, even though they weren't metal. Imagining you have to make the climb to the seventh floor every day, Aizawa sighed. He honestly doesn’t know why you would choose to do this to yourself.

As he began to ascend the steps, he realized just how dingy the place was, the steps were concrete yet they were still able to squeak with every time he put a foot forward. There was a faint smell of cigarette smoke and alcohol in the air, combined with body odor and the smell of mildew, this place was just sad and lonely. Even the lights were going out, flickering and glowing a dirty yellow. The last time he was here the building wasn't in this bad of a condition.

By the time he was able to make it up to your apartment, his pity had grown severely. Why were you living like this? Why would he let you live like this? He felt at fault, one of the top heroes and he couldn't even manage to put his best friend in a nice apartment, even if they didn't want to be there. He wouldnt let you live here anymore, not when it was this bad. With that, he left three firm knocks on the door, the paint was chipping down, revealing old rotting wood.

The sound rang out through the hallway, cutting through the heavy air. When you didn't answer he knocked again, this time louder, and the sound reverberated across the large piece of wood again. He knew your doorbell didn't work, last time the two of you talked you told him allllllllllll about how you'd been trying to get maintenance to fix it, they were refusing. How long ago was that? It should've been fixed by now, he knew it probably wasn't though.

After the second knock, he pulled the spare key from above the doorframe, such an obvious place to hide a key, it was a wonder your home hadn't been broken into yet, even though he told you to move it elsewhere you hadn't. You were stubborn like that sometimes, he couldn't help that he loved it. The door unlocked fairly quickly, after a few harsh shoves to un-jam it, something you also had mentioned last time he talked to you. Something that was still not fixed.

he pushed the door open slowly, and a loud creak rang out. the rough feeling of the doorknob against his fingers was sandy and divoted. The silence in the room was louder than anything else. looking back at the door he saw almost four new locks that weren't there last time he was there.

“Y/n? I figured I should stop by, I was in town.” He yelled through the apartment door, loud enough to inform you of his presence but not loud enough to startle you, he was met with nothing more than the clanking of your air conditioning.

The stench hit him before anything else did, smelling like somebody died and then was resurrected only to die again in here, the scent was strong enough to make him have a double take. Usually, you were very clean, obsessing over the cleanliness of your apartment, even if it was old and rotting. It was strange enough that you hadn't answered the door when he knocked, but now not answering his call? Something was wrong.

“Y/n? Are you here?” he continued, stepping further into the small room with a grimace, it was a mess, not dirty, but cluttered everywhere, like you had stopped caring where things go. This was already a bad sign, last time your apartment looked like you weren't doing very well. Aizawa knew that he should've checked in on you sooner, he was trying to let you have a little space to feel independent, but he shouldn't have.

Hurriedly he rushed to your bedroom to check if you were even here, and what he saw horrified him. Upon opening your door he was hit again with the same smell, this time just a thousand times more concentrated. The sight of your room was just awful, he'd seen some bad things, but it's different when it's you. Clothing was strewn everywhere in large piles, packets of ramen and other instant foods lay discarded beside the bed, and some of the picture frames that were hung on the walls had fallen to the floor. Your room wasn't very large in the first place, so the trash and clothing crowded the space, making the air even denser.

It took him a few moments to realize that you were here, just buried under months of trash. You were hidden under a crevice in your bed, sleeping so heavily it worried him. Immediately he moved to get you out, shoving all the stuff off of you and looping his arm under your waist to hoist you up, you were lighter, frailer. Your breathing was shallow, almost like you were struggling to inhale and exhale a sufficient amount. He cupped your head on his shoulder and hurried out of your bedroom.

He frowned at your state, you hadn't been eating well, even though he made sure you set reminders for yourself every day. Your clothing looked baggy and dirty, your eyes sunken in and glued shut, and your hair. Oh god your hair, he could tell it hadn't been brushed in quite some time, you had it tied back but he could still see the knots starting at your scalp. How had it gotten this bad? More importantly, why hadn't you called him? He was supposed to be there for you, but clearly, he wasn't.

“Y/n, Y/n cmon I need you to wake up sweetheart, please. Open those eyes for me, I know you can do it.” he practically begged, cupping your head with his hand and holding you up to get a better look at you. He shook you gently and watched as you stirred. Groaning in your sleep, your eyes groggily fluttered open, you brought your hand up to rub the sleep haze out of your vision, only to realize you were in the grasp of somebody else. You let out a startled squeak and sent your hands flying out in front of you to push the person off, then you were reminded how exhausted your body was, as even that small motion brought pain bursting through your fingertips.

“Whoah- whoah it's okay- y/n it's me, it's me- I’m not going to hurt you- you're okay-” he stammered out soothing words, and one of his hands immediately went out to grasp your own, holding them still. He wasn't worried about you hurting him, you probably couldn't even if you wanted to, he was worried about you hurting yourself. Upon realizing that it was your best friend, and not an intruder aiming to do horrible things, you relaxed in his arms, finding comfort in physical touch for the first time in months. God you missed this, more than anything.

“Why didn't you tell me you were coming around? I would've cleaned up,” you spoke, your voice hoarse and raspy, almost like you hadn't been using it that often. You met his gaze, and he stared back with this sympathetic look you had grown to know so well, immediately your eyes found the floor, embarrassed. You knew that it meant he was going to lecture you about something, and you could predict the words that would come out of his mouth before he even spoke.

“I figured it would be alright if I came in like I usually did… Y/n we need to talk- are you okay? This-this is bad, worse than last time- I told you to call me if you were feeling like this anymore, I know how you get.” he lectured with that mother hen tone he always had with you, aizawa was always so caring, so soft. Not to anybody other than you, but that's how you knew him. With his words, you found your lip wobbling, and little tears pooling in your eyes. You didn't know how to tell him anything when he was making that face at you, the pity stare, so you buried your head further into his shoulder and spoke.

“I just- I thought you would get mad at me- I was doing so good last time and I just went back and made it all I jus-” You stammered out, tears now streaming down your cheeks and onto his shirt, around halfway through your voice broke into a sob. You knew that he would have to come some time or another but you hadn't expected your emotions to just flow out entirely like this. Little sobs left your mouth to the point that you couldn't keep speaking, he rubbed circles into your lower back, bouncing up and down a little to calm you, or at least try.

“I would never- NEVER. Baby you can't live like this, I can't let you live like this.” He pulled your head from the nook in his shoulder, forcing you to meet his gaze.

“I know. I just- I just didn't know how to fix it- and I didn't want to make you upset so I just let it- Don't be mad- please” You couldn't even control what you were saying anymore, your words just flew out o your mouth faster than you could think of them.

“It's okay- I’m here now. You won't have to worry anymore okay? I'll make it better, I'll help you get through this. You're alright.” He confirmed, all he wanted to do right now was make you feel okay, as you didn't. He wouldnt leave you alone again, he wouldnt dare. You've never scared him like this, it's never been this bad. Hell take of you, he has to now.

The two of you sat in silence for a few moments, you crying into his shoulder, and him rubbing your back and holding you close. After a minute or two he set you on the ground, keeping a hand on the small of your back to guide you towards the door. You followed blindly, too caught up in your crying to care about where your feet were taking you. You leaned into him naturally, clutching him close.

The trek down the hallway was slow and painstakingly quiet, by the time you reached the stairs he had you in his arms again. You were barefoot, and the last thing he wanted was for you to nick your foot on anything in the carpet, especially when you were so fragile, so frail. He wouldnt let anything hurt you now, not even the carpet.

You were his responsibility now, fully his responsibility. Seeing how you are right now, how unstable, how fragile, he HAS to protect you, he just can't let you hurt like this. Such a sweet girl in such a large amount of pain, it almost makes him angry. Not at you, at the world for doing this to you.

He will protect you now

He has to

"so- um. Ya like jazz?" you let out a sad giggle through your tears, and he smirked. you weren't used to being so serious with him.

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It took you a very long time to stop your crying, long enough that you had gotten into his car with him, and he began to drive. Where? You had no clue, but you knew he would only mean the best for you. The entire time he was comforting you in the car, when he wasn't sending worried glances he was giving you words of encouragement.

You didn't know what to say anymore, you and Aizawa have been close for quite some time, and naturally as a teacher he cared for you like one of his students, you were close in age, a little bit older than the kids he cared for. He has seen you at your lowest lows… clearly… but you don't think he's ever seen you this bad before, you honestly don't think you've seen yourself this bad before.

All you wanted to do was prove to yourself that you could handle this like an adult, that's why you never called or reached out, you just wanted to feel mature enough to handle your own issues. Without somebody forcing you to handle them.

“I am sorry- I didn't mean to scare you I know it's worse than last time- I can take care of myself I swear, you don't have to do anything” You muttered, bringing your knees up to your chest in the leather seat, usually Aizawa would lecture you if you did this because he always said it was “unsafe”, he didn't say anything this time. Right now you just felt embarrassed, you had just collapsed on him entirely.

“Don't apologize, it isn't your fault. You're gonna be okay, ill make sure.” his words were blunt (as usual, but more comforting than anything else he has ever said to you before, he made it sound more like a promise than a statement. He reached over and placed a hand on your shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze before returning to his normal driving. The atmosphere remained comfortably quiet for a few more moments before you decided to speak again.

“so.. . where are we going?” You asked, hoping it was someplace nice, away from all your responsibilities. you weren't opposed to going to his house, but you knew that if you did, you would cave in even more. Meaning your independence would revert to how it was.

“Home. “

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I’m back lol. It’s been a while so I hope this was good, I have felt with some mental instability in the past so o tried to use my knowledge from my own personal expierience here, don’t come for me if it doesn’t fit your own.

Tysm for requesting! I’m so excited to start writing again. Love you all! And have a great day!

Bye!

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lure-of-writing · 2 years ago

Text

Stop at Nothing

Authors note: I honestly love how this turned out. I am thinking about making this into a series but I would love to hear what you guys think about that!

Summary: Everything was normal until it wasn't. Possibly pregnant with Joels baby, you head off to work as a doctor in the Er only for it to be the worst shift of your life and soon your whole world is flipped upside down by a series of unguessable events. Your life was calm and easy before, go to work, come home and take care of your two daughters with Joel. Now its life or death and life never prepared you for this situation.

Joel Miller x F!Reader

Word count:3.8k

Warnings: character death, cursing, guns, pregnancy

August 29, 2013

Every morning for the last week without a doubt you woke up at an ungodly hour to empty last night's dinner into your toilet. This caused concern to rise within you. There is no way you can be pregnant again right? Maybe you had the stomach flu, Sarah had just returned to school and kids tend to get sick since there are so many germs being spread around. Deep down you knew that a pregnancy test would be in your near future but after telling Joel last time you were pregnant left you a little scared about the possibility of a positive test.

November, 2012

Now Joel is a loving, patient man who knows no bounds for his family and the people that he loves. Was he stressed when you gave him a peed on pregnancy test with a baby onesie, absolutely. Did you guys go back and front on whether or not to keep the pregnancy, yes. But did that mean he loved his youngest daughter any less? No, absolutely not.

But to say that it hadn't put a stress on your relationship would be a lie. Joel was already working too late and too many hours to try and provide for Sarah and You had just Finished your residency and were officially a doctor which meant that your working hours were insane and often pushed you past your physical limits and beyond. This obviously was a concern for him, with your career having a baby at this time was less than ideal. His reasoning for not wanting to keep the child was for your health, if you were pregnant that meant everything you felt would be doubled and the stress of being a new doctor he feared would cause you to lose the baby. To you having a baby was a no brainer, plenty of people in the same shoes as you also were having babies, and if they could do it then so could you and nothing could convince you otherwise.

For days the two of you went back and forth about what to do but often your conversations would be interrupted by an innocent Sarah who needed her dad or wanted to talk to you about girl stuff, you may not be her mother but she treated you like you were. After about four days of weighing the pros and cons of bringing another life into this world you booked yourself an ultrasound to see how far along you were so you could better weigh your options but after seeing those black and white pictures you knew that there was no other option then to keep the growing baby inside of you.

Sarah had asked to spend the night at one of her friends' houses that morning which finally gave you and Joel the chance to sit down and really talk without having to put your thoughts on hold. After dropping Sarah off you entered the house you shared with Joel and started cooking dinner, you knew he wouldn’t likely show up until way past dinner time but you were hungry and needed something to distract your mind. How were you going to tell Joel that you wanted to keep the baby? What if he disagreed? Before you were able to jump too deeply into the worst case scenarios Joel walked through the door. You sat at the dinner table barely touching your food suddenly the need to eat was gone and anxiety sat at its seat at the dinner table instead. Joel could feel how nervous you were, you had something to tell him. “Darlin’ I can feel your nerves over here, what’s going on?” Without saying a word you get up and walk over to your purse that sat on the counter and pulled out the ultrasound pictures. Silently sitting there you stared at the tiny little bean looking shape and wondered what you would do if Joel disagreed with what you wanted.

Shakily you handed the pictures to Joel and he looked them over before returning to stare at you. “I want this Joel” Your voice a whisper on the verge of crying, he glances at the pictures before looking at you again “Look I know it will be hard but with my income we will be ok, you won’t have to work as much and I can take maternity leave and-” Joel moves to kneel in front of you “Darlin’ you don’t need to give me a list of reasons, ok?” His soft movement of his thumbs rubbing your stomach gave you so much comfort but you needed to hear him say it. “We’re doing this?” With a gentle nod he brings his hand to cup your cheek while the other stay on your stomach “We’re doing this, darlin’, we’re doing this”

September 27, 2013

Now your daughter was three months old and the absolute light of your life. Your pregnancy wasn’t easy, you had your fair share of struggles just like any other woman throughout her pregnancy but god was your daughter worth it all and ten times more. So to say that you were surprised you were experiencing symptoms of pregnancy again is an understatement, but to be sure you would make an appointment to get your blood checked and see if they were at the levels needed for pregnancy. But for now that would have to wait tonight you would be going in for an forty-eight hour shift on call and as much as you hated leaving your babies you had to go to work. Luckily Sarah would watch baby Evelyn for a few hours until Joel got home to handle the rest.

“Sarah babe? Do you have everything you need until your dad gets home?” She walks into the kitchen with a giggling Evelyn in her arms “For the millionth time,yes.” she glances at the clock before her eyes return to your frantic figure running around trying to make yourself coffee. “Oh shit, ok I have to go, dinner is in the fridge, there's milk for Eve in there also and if you need anything call me!” you were halfway out the door before you realized you forgot something. Turning around you kiss Evelyn's head and Sarah's cheek “I love you guys so so so much, don’t you ever forget that ok?” and with that you were out the door and unknowingly on your way into a fast unfolding nightmare.

The first twenty-four hours were ok. Not much happened but nothing happening in the hospital ment all was good. Somewhere between the thirty hour to forty-eight hour mark things started to pick up. As a trauma doctor in the ER you dealt with the worst of the worst injuries but since the ER was slammed you helped out where you could, just because you had a specialty doesn’t mean you couldn’t help. The people who were coming in were acting odd but when their blood work came back it was clear of drugs and alcohol, others were trashing about uncontrollably and one even tried to bite one of your co-workers but was restrained and sedated. A few hours after that was when shit really hit the fan, you were exhausted and it was almost the end of your shift which meant you just wanted to go home and see your babies and boyfriend, but you took an oath to help those in need no matter what so you kept doing your job even in the chaos of the ER department, until all staff was pulled into a quick meeting and was notified that until further notice the hospital would be on lock down.

As soon as you got a second you called Joel but he didn’t answer so you left a voicemail instead “Joel, I don’t know what's going on but the hospital is on lock down” you went quiet for a few seconds trying to pull your thoughts together and make a real sentence. “Look I don’t know what's happening but I can tell it's not good, whatever it is at least. The hospital has been crazy the last few hours and we have no idea what's going on.” Suddenly the tvs all play the same announcement, stay inside and don’t move. “Joel whatever happens don’t come to the hospital do not under any circumstances come here Joel. It's going to be one hundred times worse here, Joel, I’m begging you do not come here. Get the girls and get them to safety. I will find you guys I promise but I need you to keep them safe. I love you Joel, and tell the girls that mommy loves them too.” Just then a blood curdling scream is released and you hangup. Turning to see what is happening you find someone on top of another person and it looks like they’re eating them.

If the hospital was chaos before then all hell has broken loose now. The person stopped what they were doing and moved to stand up and look around as it slowly spun around in a circle. You saw something coming out of its mouth and it was moving.

When in medical school you often play a game of what-ifs. What if that happened, what if this happened? As doctors it's important to understand that anything could happen and you must be prepared for it. That's why you run hypotheticals all the time, the world is constantly evolving and if we don’t stay on top of it we will be under it. You learn a lot of things in medical school but one of the things you learn is the worst case scenario. What will happen if this disease comes back stronger or what if this one mutates, then what? And it was your job to come up with an answer that best fit the situation described. During one of your classes your professor played a video from the nineteen sixties about what would happen if a fungus evolved. And staring at the person, no it wasn’t a person anymore, you realized he was right, everything he said was correct.

Suddenly it launched itself to the people nearest to it and started attacking, you took this chance and ran. You couldn’t care less if after everything was done and calm again you lost your job or even your license for deserting your job as a doctor but something told you that wouldn’t be happening so you ran until you were in the staff room where all of your belongings were and began to grab your stuff. Frantically grabbing your car keys and bag you see other people doing the same thing, good to know you won’t be the only one losing their job.

As you made your way to your car you saw the same scene from inside paint itself on the outside. Just as you locked your door, helicopters flew by along with felt like a million other things. “Please,please help me!” the banging on your car window startled you, a young man bangs on your window, looking around you see it's getting worse, so against your breaking heart you pull out of the parking spot and start heading back home. On your way there you see countless cop cars and even military vehicles on the roads, it was like a mini war zone in the making and that couldn’t be good.

Joel's heart was racing after picking up Tommy he knew he needed to get back to his kids and get to you so you guys could move and figure this out as a family. While Tommy was driving Joel went to call you. He saw he had already left a voicemail and he listened to it. Hearing your voice sound so scared broke his heart but listening to you tell him to leave you there was more heartbreaking, leaving the mother of his children all alone at the hospital where like you said it was going to be ten times worse was a blow to the gut, but be knew you would never forgive him he put your children in danger and neither would he. So he told Tommy to head to his house and without a second thought he began to form a plan to get them out of harm's way and somewhere he can keep them safe while trying to figure out how to get to you.

One night while you and Joel were sitting in your living room you began to explain how hospitals work and what exactly you do. After a while the conversation dulls until your boyfriend speaks up “So what exactly happens if there's a huge nationwide emergency, like I know during hurricanes staff have to stay and help but what else.” Taking another sip of wine you begin to think about all the things that happen in those cases. “Well for one no matter what we go into lock down, no one in or out. If it's some sort of attack, same thing except authorized personnel so we have enough people to help with the large amount of people that would be coming in. Most of the situations are like that with a few different rules in place depending on what is happening but all in all it's the same more or less. But what I will tell you is this” You lean forward and look him in the eyes, you two may be a little wine drunk but this is important and you needed him to understand this. “If anything of that sort ever happens do not under any circumstances ever come to the hospital, don’t go to police or fire stations. Stay the fuck away from those. People who are first responders and healthcare workers will be the first to go. Why? Because we are the first defense. When someone gets sick or hurt where do they go? Either into an ambulance or to the hospital. When someone gets injured because of a fight or something dangerous happens, who responds? Police and firefighter. We are the people who help when things hit the fan so you know what that means? We usually don’t know what we’ve gotten ourselves into but we know we need to help. But in those situations it's usually mass numbers of people and if something goes wrong, we will be the first ones affected.” Joel had never thought about that before but now that you said it, it made sense maybe a little too much sense. What you said scared the shit out of him, mostly because that meant everything you said you understood and acknowledged, that something on a mass scale could be the reason you aren’t on earth anymore was terrifying. “I guess that does make sense but damn I never thought about that.” Shrugging you respond “Most people don’t but it’s one of the realities of being a healthcare worker.”

Joel's mind comes back from memory land right as they pull up in front of his house and see Sarah there holding Evelyn slowly backing away from the Adler woman. Jumping out of the car he puts himself between the old lady and his daughters. “What are we gonna do Joel?” Just then the lady jumps at her and he swings the wrench at her hitting her in the head. Quickly he turns around and ushers his children into the truck before they take off. Sarah was quick to notice a missing person. “Dad, where's mom?” Three simple words yet they shook him to his core. On any other day they would be just like every other question she asked but today her voice was shaking and when he looked back at his babygirl tears were in her eyes and her voice sounded so scared. “Don’t worry baby, momma is going to find us. She promised.”

You returned back to the road you lived on to see it was a mess. Street lights were off and power boxes had exploded. And bodies were everywhere, they may not be dead but they might as well be classified as such. Slowing down you peer out of your passenger window trying to see if anyone was still at your house but were quickly met with bloody hands banging on your window. Without second thought you speed off and don’t look back. You needed to think and think quick. Think like Joel. After taking a moment you remember that in these types of situations the military will set up camp and use that as a point of operation, it could get you killed as they most likely have a shoot to kill order but at least you could try and plus being a doctor would help right? At that moment you were thankful you had a full tank of gas and a fuel efficient car because you were sure that it was going to take you a little bit of time and driving to find one of these camps.

It had been a few days since everything started and you successfully made it into a military camp the first night before being moved to a quarantine zone. As a doctor they had you help them sort through the people coming in. Sure you were not a military doctor or personnel but you were a doctor nonetheless and they needed all the help they could get. You were placed in a tent to treat superficial wounds, not a very good way to put your training to use but as you know even a cut can lead to a deadly infection. Plus it gave you something to distract your mind with that is until you heard your name being called and not by anyone it was Joel, your Joel.

Next thing you know his arms are wrapped around your body and you're both crying. ‘Where are the girls? Where is Tommy?” Quickly you pull aways to find the answer to your questions but only see Tommy holding your youngest daughter. You rush to grab her out of his hands and sooth her as best you can but probably more so yourself, while you do so you look around Tommys figure to see if you can find Sarah. “Joel? Where's Sarah? Is she getting grabbing food or something?” Turning around to face the father of your children you see the tears building in his eyes and the heartbreak on his face and in an instant you know. Sarahs gone. You feel the urge to throw up and that's what you do, handing your surviving daughter back to Tommy you run over to the trash can and empty what little food you did have in your system.

If you're being honest you don't remember much of that day. You remember Joel and his arms around your body, feeling your daughter against your chest and seeing Tommy but other than that, it’s blank. You knew it was a trauma response, a way of your body trying to protect itself. And you were thankful for it because you never wanted to relive that moment again.

Now you had to focus on protecting your daughter, keeping her alive and fed. Making sure Joel was as ok as a parent could be after losing a child, and making sure Tommy didn’t get any stupid ideas. For the most part you forgot about the potential pregnancy to busy wrapped up in trying to survive in this new way of life. But then you missed your period and your breasts started to hurt and every smell was making you nauseated. You knew without a doubt that you were pregnant. Unfortunately you never got the chance to tell Joel. A Member of the military came to inform you that you were being moved to the Denver QZ. “Right now” this started you “Um ok let me go tell my family so we can grab our things.” in that moment you failed to see the man's grim expression. “No ma'am, just you and your child are permitted to go.” This frustrated you and you were going to give him hell until he let your family go with you. No way in hell were you going somewhere that Joel and Tommy weren’t.

You burst into the tent that you and your family had been sharing with strangers the past few weeks with the military man right on your heels. “Listen to this Joel!” Your announcement and startled look caught his attention as you grab your baby from Joel waiting for the random man to repeat what he said to you. “We will be moving her and your daughter to the Denver QZ, no one else is permitted to join her.” Joel was quick to his feet and in the man's face “Like hell you’ll be taking my wife and children somewhere I’m not!” Other military persons moved into the room with guns pointed, it didn’t take much to be killed these days. But that wasn’t what you focused on. Joel said children as in more than one, but it wasn’t plural it was just one and it was just Evelyn.

“Sir, you need to step back and remain calm!” Someone yelled causing your baby to cry. You silently shushed her as hot tears ran down your cheeks. “Don’t tell me to remain calm when you are trying to take my family away from me!” One man nods to another man and suddenly you feel a barrel of a gun to your head. “You either calm down or we kill her.” Joel felt his blood run cold as he saw what was happening before him. He wouldn’t let these men harm you so he stayed quiet and didn’t move. He would do anything necessary to keep you and his daughter safe. And for now that meant playing along with them. The men start to move and grab what they assume is your things. “Can I at least say goodbye?” The man holding the gun to you drops the barrel and gives a slight nod motioning for you to go ahead.

You wrap one arm around him while the other supports your daughter. “Listen to me Joel don’t try anything stupid,Ok? They will not hesitate to kill you. I will go and I will take Evelyn. I’m a high value person right now and they won’t do anything to me. I heard that people have been communicating through the radio. I'll tell them to play our song dedicated to E. When you hear it you’ll know it's me. Joel, you need to stay safe and be smart. Me and Eve need you. We will figure out a plan but for now stay alive and keep Tommy that way too, ok?” He shakes with anger but he knows your right, you’ve always been the more level headed one between the two of you. “Let's go.” the same man from earlier tells you and reluctantly he lets go of the two most important people in his life. Watching you get on that copper with Evelyn clinging to your chest was like watching the last remaining parts of his heart leave with you two. And he knew he would stop at nothing to get you two back.

#joel miller x reader #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller x female reader #tlou imagine #tlou x reader #joel x reader #Joel x pregnant!reader #Joel x doctor!reader #joel miller drabble #joel miller series #pre outbreak!Joel #post outbreak!Joel

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bellarkeselection · 1 year ago

Note

We already had tony with a pregnant wife, now can we have tony and the wife having a beautiful baby boy? I'm totally in love with your tony

Mini Tony Stark

Tags @mcugeekposts @underoostarks @rosie-posie08 @makeshift-prime

Most people never imagined Tony Stark as a father. He had quite a reputation of being a billionaire playboy that would spend most of his spare time in his lab or be off saving the world as Iron Man. But no matter what his next project was he has been there for me through all the steps of the pregnancy even if I really didn't think he needed to come sometimes. Tony rolled me through the hospital hallway while my fingers were death gripping the handles of the wheelchair. "Athony, urgh!...you have no idea how much I hate and love you right now!"

"Listen, baby, I know you want to rip my head off right now. But think about all the preparations we have been doing for the baby. We get to bring home a little bundle of joy that is all our own." He rounded the chair with the nurses coming on either side of me helping me up into the bed with me baring my teeth in pain down my back.

Once I was settled on the bed and changed into a hospital gown it was quite a few hours of painful contractions. Honestly I just wanted the contractions to be over with already. This was our first baby and I was completely terrified and excited all at once. "Tony....please tell me you did not go get a cheeseburger." I grumbled not being able to have any food since I was now induced into the hospital labor. So my heightened senses could almost clearly locate that he was hiding the fact that he had left the room to get some food.

"Maybe....but don't get mad because I saw these in the store and thought you would like them." He opened a bag revealing a blue tea shirt with iron man on the front and another shirt that was pink for a girl that looked like Natasha as Black Widow.

Wiping away some tears that were falling down my face I was so excited for either option. "Awe Tony....ah geez shit!" We decided to not know the gender until the day of so we were losing our patience on this baby coming.

"It's okay, Y/n. It's gonna be alright I'm not going anywhere." He dropped the bag immediately coming over to grasp my hand in his. We had gotten married basically the day after he announced he was Iron Man but I wouldn't change anything about it.

A doctor and some nurses quickly came into our room coming to see if I was ready to push since we had been at the hospital for almost two days but I still hadn't given birth yet. "Good news, Mrs. Stark. You're now where we want you to be. You can start pushing in a few moments here."

"Tony, I'm scared. What if something goes wrong. What if we lose the baby. What if-" He cuts off my nerves cupping my face in his hands so I'd stare into those deep brown eyes that I could get lost in if I so tried every second if the universe would let me so.

The superhero shakes his head trying to remain calm for me. Yet I could read that he was more nervous than I was. He didn't have to worry about just the little human we created inside of my belly. No, he had to also worry about the love of his life too. He runs his fingers through my hair getting it out of my eyes seeing that the doctor and nurses were now dressed for the birth. "Alright Mrs. Stark you can start pushing now."

Gripping my husband's hand in my right I moved my left to death grip the bedsheets on the other side of me beginning to push which was honestly the hardest thing I have ever had to do. There was heavy sweat coming down my forehead and I had lost count by how long I must have been pushing for. My throat was raw and sore from the screaming. "You're doing great honey. The baby is almost here." Tony was doing his best to reassure me.

"Until you have to push a human being out of where you pee I don't think you get to say how good I am doing - oh you-" I cut myself off almost passing out from how tired I was. Laying my head against my husband's chest the doctors were giving me a quick moment to breathe but the baby still had part of its body inside of me sp I wasn't out of the woods yet.

Tony opened his mouth to say something but he paused until an idea popped into his genius head that he knew he would be getting into trouble for later. He turns my chin so I was looking at him and not the medical people seeing that they were stressing me out more than I already was apparently. "Awe come on Y/n. You don't remember the night we conceived this little boy or girl. I mean I think you were more than enjoying yourself when you said the words, oh Tony faster. Don't stop I need you to make love to me. I want you to-"

"Anthony Stark, how dare you talk about our martial life in front of - oh..." I quickly shut up, wanting to slap my lover across the face so much. My face fell like it had become even redder before he ever brought the night of our wedding that we first slept together. Giving the last few big pushes that I could the doctor finally caught our baby raising to hand the infant off to the nurses so they could clean it and tell us the gender.

"You did amazing, sweet wife. I love you." Tony dropped down on his at my bedside pressing his lips onto my forehead then giving me a kiss on the lips to calm me down.

Leaning into the kiss I gripped his shoulders breaking the moment and flinging my arms around his neck sobbing tiredly into his shoulder blade. "I love you too...is the baby okay?" He wrapped his arms around my waist glancing over in the direction of the infant.

Pulling slightly away from my husband I could see that he was crying more than I imagined he would be. "Actually honey I think we have twins. So we get to have two new member members of the Stark family."

"Congrats, Mr and Mrs. Stark. You have a boy and a girl." The nurse declared handing one of the babies to me and the other to my husband.

Moving my gaze downward I smiled through tears watching the baby boy in my arms. "I know a name, Tony. We should call him Robert."

"And this should be Morgan." He gestures his head at the sleeping baby girl in his arms grinning the biggest smile I had ever seen. Tony sat down on the edge of the bed handing me the other child or ours. Laying my head on his chest he mumbled before I fell asleep. "I bought you some cheeseburgers too."

Comments really appreciated ❤️

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breitzbachbea · 6 months ago

Note

this is so so optional but 🐖 for a character of your choice

Spitroasting Dolcetto! WAIT-

Ask Game for someone’s OCs

✨- How did you come up with the OC’s name?

Okay, this is going to be batshit, strap in. So anyone remember Fullmetal Alchemist? Anyone remember Greed's Posse of Chimeras? Remember how one of them was named Dolcetto? Yeah.

I was so obsessed with Greed and Dolcetto (another story, another OC entirely) that the name stuck with me. Once I had moved on from FMA and gotten into Hetalia, for some reason that name had stuck with me. Somewhere I had found out that it means "little sweet one" and thought 'Wouldn't that be a funny name for an angry, short character?'. I hadn't bothered to check at this stage whether any of the names I had salvaged from somewhere else were actually names. Sorry Dolco, teenage me was careless and now your parents named you after a grape.

🌼 - How old are they? (Or approximate age range)

Born 20th of May 1994. He's 19 in Italian Affairs, the first book of the mainstory he crops up in. He tends to be around that age for all AUs, too.

🌺- Do they have any love interest(s)?

The one and only motherfucker unlimited Francesco Belfari. Francesco is his first kiss, too, due to Dolcetto's atrocious social skills and thusly resulting disinterest in mingling with people.

🍕 - What is their favorite food?

He's a ghiottone! He has a sweet tooth and especially can't get his fill of chocolate!

💼 - What do they do for a living?

Babysitting Feli and being a ruthless bastard! Like many of my characters, he's part of the mob, in this case as a right hand of the Vargas' Bros.

🎹 - Do they have any hobbies?

Already answered here! However, I do want to draw attention to the tags by outright stating - I think wanking should count as a hobby when you are as horny and suppressed as this goblin.

🎯 -What do they do best?

Keeping others on track. Don't get me wrong, he is quite hot-headed and can lose sight of things that are important and chronically overworks himself, but he's a perfect fit as Feli's right hand for a reason. He truly is ruthless in the sense that he sees a way that goes from A to B and is not interested in any frilly side-adventures. He's dependable as all hell and while not as creative as the Bontade twins, actually a good match for them in terms of thinking on his feet.

🥊 -What do they love to do? What do they hate to do?

Francesco. He loves to see plan work out and reap the rewards. He loves to achieve either a physical feat (like rock-wall climbing and reaching the top) or a logistical one (getting one over the Bontades) and get a pat on the back. If it involves hurting people, so be it, good way to get his aggression out, if it involves hurting himself, all the more so be it.

He absolutely loathes having to play along to someone else's games. I bet you he's exploding everyone and himself internally every time he goes to France. At least the Germans are just either as awkward as he is, whatever Gilbert got going on or straight up assholes. He's not good at playing nice, he's not enjoying anyone's attention, he has no interest in being charming at all. He's that Francis Crozier at a party - "Tell us about birdshit island again, that's a capital story." It's the worst part about caring about Feliciano honestly, having to participate in what comes so easily to Franci and Feli.

❤️ - What is one of your OC’s best memories?

I think he does remember Gabriella very fondly from their childhood. And he also misses Venice sometimes, especially when the tourist crowds weren't around in the old city on rainy, gloomy days. Being landlocked in Rome makes him yearn for seaside.

✂️ - What is one of your OC’s worst memories?

Perhaps when he realized his parents don't care much for him. When they wouldn't intervene with the bullying at school, wouldn't help him much and reach out to him at all. When all his cries for help by acting out got him written off as never making something out of himself. He wasn't the 'little sweet one' they had hoped for, so he was on his own.

🧊 - Is their current design the first one?

Yep! Wiry, corkscrew curls, Short - always been my boooy.

🍀 - What originally inspired the OC?

Can't tell you for the life of me, honestly. It's been a long time ...

🌂 - What genre do they belong in?

He should have been in actual gritty gangster drama, to be honest. Not his clownshow, but he is still excelling at it. He's also slaying in nigh every historical AU I have, so he was just made for the drama.

💚 - What is your OC’s gender identity and sexuality?

Cis man and the flop bisexual nobody wants.

🙌 - How many sibling does your OC have?

One! His beloved older sister Gabriella, with who he has an absolutely terrible relationship for many years, because he's pushing her away to not hurt her and she keeps pulling him back so he won't hurt himself.

🍎 - What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like?

Bad and now non-existent. As I said, the Acerbis (Martina and Bernardo) didn't really know how to handle Dolcetto after Gabriella was such a poster-child of success. They were probably also fairly conservative and saw Dolcetto as someone unwilling to work/who needed to straighten out. Honestly? Lie to them about the mob thing and hide her queerness, they'd take Gabriella back with open arms alongside with her well-to-do Milanese boyfriend. Dolcetto? If he wasn't dead to them before, he'd be now, queer troublemaker with a Neapolitan ne'er-do-well as a partner.

🧠 - What do you like most about the OC?

I like how much Dolcetto's heart is both in the right and the wrong place. He reminds me a lot of my younger self, hell, even of me now at times. He's so focused on having to be useful or otherwise no one will want to have him around that he's willing to destroy himself over it. He thinks if he's not delivering, no one would tolerate him. He IS a bastard, he IS callous often, but he does love and appreciate those around him and I love his journey recognizing that. I love that he finally gains self-worth and not just ego.

✏️ - How often do you draw/write about the OC?

Not as much as I'd like to! I recently drew a tiny headshot of him because I've watched Hazbin and he'd make an excellent exorcist - Plus I cannot resist anything where Dolcetto has a high social status that is yet precarious and along comes Francesco, completely untethered from societal opinion and completely fucking all that up for Dolcetto. But since I've been rewriting Irish Problems for two years now, baby boy isn't as present as I'd like him to be.

💎 - Do you ever see yourself killing off the OC?

I mean, I can't imagine Dolcetto growing old, but that's none of my business.

💀 - Does your OC have any phobias?

Nothing I can think of from the top of my head.

🍩 -Who is your OC’s arch-nemesis or rival?

Marco and Lorenzo! The Bontade twins are one year older than Dolcetto and very much everything he's not. Social butterflies, totally confident in all of their skills, completely sexually open ... To be fair, Dolcetto also looks down upon them and, much like his sister, finds them rather grating and more hot air than skill. In his eyes, with he entire Vargas-Vento rivalry creating this enmity in the first place, them seementitled to something that isn't theirs. So while these two are definitely bullying him, Dolcetto is absolutely not the bigger person. Marco: How could he be? Lorenzo: He'd need stilts!

🎓 - How long have you had the OC?

I was definitely still in middle school. So probably since 11 or 10 years, I don't know how quickly I came up with more characters to populate the LFLS world back then.

🍥 - What age were you when you created the OC?

14 or 15. Absolutely wild to think a 19 year old would be too much meaningfully different from his creator at that age. I'm six years older now than he is in IA.

#beareplies #storie nostre #chesca #dolco #rella #franci #martina #bernardo #feli #lorenzo #marco #i need to whole hog Michele tbh I absolutely did him so dirty on your sicire asks gdsdfhsfdlfdj #but this was fun! I miss my little cherub ...#he'd HATE me calling him that

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mrsbuckybarnes1917 · 1 year ago

Text

I'll Be There For You

Summary: Bucky is there for you out when you aren't feeling very well. This is a mini side story which takes place in the Finding You storyline (after chapter 7).

Word Count: 2.1K

MASTERLIST

You woke up with the taste of acid in your throat. The sensation made you sit up abruptly as the acrid taste was pulled down by gravity. Just as you were heaving a sigh of relief, a wave of pain ripped through your abdomen, making you double over in agony. If you hadn't already been in bed, you'd have probably collapsed to the floor.

For a few moments, you rocked back and forth, willing yourself not to vomit all over your bed. You whimpered slightly, before you grabbed your pillow and held it to your chest, hoping the pain would ease.

After five minutes of agony, you stumbled to the bathroom in search of your antacids. You cursed yourself for the mango you'd indulged in after dinner. A ridiculous intolerance you suffered from since you'd finished college. It was maddening because it had been your favorite fruit as a child and the urge to indulge in the sweet smelling tropical fruit had been irresistible. Now it had the effect of producing so much acid, it felt like you were being digested from the inside out.

Desperately, you rifled through the cabinet for the only meds you knew would ease the pain. Eventually your hand fell on the bottle of thick gloopy goodness which would ease your-

"Nooooo," you whined as you picked up the empty bottle. You unscrewed the top and tipped it upside down, desperately licking the drops which fell from the rim into your mouth.

The pain in your stomach reminded you it was still there with a sharp pang. It made you melt down to your knees and you had to practically crawl back into your bedroom. You barely had the energy to get back into bed, so you sat on the floor, shivering slightly as your dulled senses tried to formulate a plan.

You moaned again, clutching the mattress as waves of pain washed over you. There had to be a way of getting the meds you needed. You wanted to cry from desperation. There was no other option but to ask someone for help. You reached up for your phone and groaned as you saw the time. 2am! Who on Earth would be awake at this ridiculous hour?

The fleeting thought of going across the hall to ask Steve for help, but honestly, you'd rather die in agony than have Peggy and Steve see you in this state.

Bucky! You knew you were feeling awful when you hadn't thought of the most obvious person who would help you out and would be the most likely to be awake.

Bucky?

You felt a pang of guilt for hoping he was awake, it would mean that he wasn't sleeping well and probably still being plagued by nightmares.

Ace?

You got a response in a matter of moments.

Help me please.

The phone was ringing within seconds of you pressing send.

"Buck," you whispered into the microphone.

"Ace, are you alright? What's wrong?" The anxiety in Bucky's voice was palpable.

"I'm sorry to wake you."

"What's going on?" Bucky marveled at your ability to think of him despite your obvious distress.

"Can you get me some medicine from CVS, please?"

"Of course. What do you need?"

You heard Bucky already scrambling around getting dressed.

"I'll text you?"

"I'll be there soon."

"Thanks, Buc-." You winced as another wave of pain overwhelmed you.

Hearing the pain in your voice made Bucky's heart ache. He was glad you had asked him for help. He didn't have many contacts in his phone book, only Steve, Sam and you. And he never silenced his phone because he would be there for any of you in a heartbeat, day or night.

"Send me the details. I'm on my way."

You did a quick search and sent him the details of what you needed before curling up in a ball on the floor. It was ridiculous that you were completely incapacitated by a fruit, you'd been far less distressed when you'd been shot in the abdomen compared to the misery you felt now.

It wasn't long before Bucky was knocking on your door. You half crawled over to your bedroom door and pulled it open. The stretch to your front door was too far, so you flipped your fingers, unlocking and unlatching the front door of your apartment with your abilities.

Bucky pushed the door the rest of the way. The frown on his brow deepened when he spotted you across the living room.

"Ace!"

He was by your side with just a few swift strides, his hands gripping your shoulders with concern.

"What's wrong?"

"Did you get it?"

"Yeah." He pulled out a bottle of antacid from his jacket pocket.

You snatched the bottle from his hand and took a few large swigs straight out of the bottle.

"ACE!" Bucky snatched the bottle back from your hand. "What the fuck are you doing?"

You could only moan in response.

"Are you crazy or just trying to kill yourself?"

You didn't have the energy to react to Bucky's anger and worry.

"That would be a welcome relief."

"I think you should go to the hospital."

"No," you croaked weakly at him.

"Ace, you aren't well. You need to see a doctor."

"I just need that bottle. It will be fine." You clutched your abdomen, praying that you wouldn't have to resort to seeking professional medical treatment.

Bucky sat beside you, eyes filled with concern. Not that you noticed, the only thing you sought in that moment was relief from the torture inside your stomach.

"You want to get back in bed? Or on the sofa?" Bucky asked, when he noticed you trembling slightly on the cold floor.

"Bed," you muttered.

As you put one hand on the door frame to support yourself, Bucky slipped his arm under yours and put the other around your waist, practically lifting you off the floor. He held you up as you staggered onto the bed before laying face down on your pillow.

Bucky sat on the edge of your bed. He reached out hesitantly to put his hand on your back in a soothing gesture. Was it too intimate a gesture? He didn't want to make you uncomfortable just because he wanted to be closer to you. But as you groaned again, he knew he had to do something. Regardless of how he felt, he couldn't just sit by and watch you suffer. He gently put his hand on your back, rubbing small circles with his hand.

He kept his hand there to alleviate your distress. Eventually the meds did their job, neutralizing the acid and easing your pain. Bucky could feel the tension in your body slipping away as you turned your face towards him and snuggled deeper into the pillow.

He had to resist the urge to reach out and stroke your cheek, to brush your hair from your face, to kiss your cheek. It was definitely not his place. Instead he pulled the blanket over your now sleeping form.

It was probably time for him to go back home, but he couldn't bring himself to leave. What if you needed him again? He had to stay close. In the end he decided to sit down on the floor, but there was something about your presence which made him feel safe and he succumbed to the seductive sandman, laying on the floor beside your bed.

Both of you slept soundly until 7am. You woke minutes before your alarm went off, grappling with your phone, you tapped the screen to figure out what time it was. It was just in time to turn off the alarm before the unwanted noise disturbed the calm. A small groan slipped past your lips at the thought of getting up, but you had to go to work. Thank heavens the pain you'd been feeling had subsided.

With a herculean effort, you swung your legs over the edge of the bed. The bottle of antacid still sat on your bedside table and made you smile, thinking how lucky you'd been that Bucky was such a good friend. You sighed, feeling a little lonely without him. He had such a sturdy presence in your life, always so loyal and dependable. You rolled your eyes at your thoughts, they made Bucky sound like a pet. He was so much more. It was a pity he couldn't have stayed.

You slipped off the edge of the bed and took one step before tripping and falling onto a startled Bucky.

"Ace!"

"Bucky! Wha- why are you on the floor?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing!" His smile was so calming and reassuring.

"I thought you went home."

"I was going to, but I just wanted to check that you were okay." He blushed slightly but you were still too groggy to notice the flush on his cheeks.

"Thank you. But it doesn't explain why you are sleeping on the floor. There is a whole bed up there," you jerked your thumb up at the bed.

Bucky chuckled quietly, dismissing the idea of him sleeping beside you. He couldn't dream of anything better but unless you knew how he felt, it wasn't his place.

"How're you feeling?" he asked, surreptitiously trying to take his mind off sleeping in your bed.

"I'm alright. I should get ready for work."

You started untangling your legs from his.

"Wait, you're going to work?"

"Yeah, I have classes."

"Are you kidding? A few hours ago you could barely stand up straight and now you want to go to work?"

"My students aren't going to just disappear."

"That medicine I bought last night is pretty miraculous."

"Yeah, it normally doesn't get so bad because I take it as soon as it starts. I can't believe I was so dumb and ate a mango."

"Wait, all that because you ate a mango?" Bucky asked incredulously.

"Yeah," you sighed. "I have always loved them, but since I became an adult, I started getting this ridiculous reaction." You shrugged, "I'd better get ready."

You put your hands on his shoulders and rose to your feet before disappearing into the bathroom to shower. Bucky stayed on the floor admiring your resilience and work ethic. You deserved a day off to rest, but he knew you were stubborn and very dedicated to your students. He loved how much you cared about others.

"Bucky," you popped your head out of the bathroom. "You're welcome to stay here and grab some food, take a nap? If you want to, of course."

"Aren't you going to eat something?"

"Nah, don't want to risk it."

"I'll head back home then."

"Sure?" you asked, grabbing your keys and heading to the door.

Bucky hummed his affirmation and followed you towards the door. You were locking it behind you, Bucky lingering around so he could walk down to the parking garage with you. Just as you were about to leave, the door to Steve's apartment opened and both Steve and Peggy emerged looking fresh as daisies. You cringed internally, acutely aware of the dark circles under your eyes and the state of your hair, which you hadn't had the will to wash that morning.

"Morning!" Peggy greeted you cheerily.

"Hey," you practically exhaled the word while suppressing a yawn.

Bucky grunted his greeting.

"What are you doing here so early, Buck?" Steve asked curiously, before he noticed the haggard look on your face. "Ace, you alright?"

"Yeah, had a bit of trouble with some gastritis last night. But Buck was kind enough to help me out." You smiled at him, appreciatively.

"Why didn't you just ask us?" Steve asked, looking a little surprised.

You shrugged, "I didn't want to bother you. It was pretty late. Anyway, I'd better get g-"

The end of your sentence was swallowed by another jaw quivering yawn.

"Come on," Bucky snatched your keys from your hand and started walking. "I'm driving."

"Bucky!" You started following him, turning to give Steve and Peggy a little wave. "Buck, give me back my keys!"

Peggy and Steve watched the two of you disappear down the hallway.

"Those two make a sweet couple," Peggy commented.

Steve turned to her looking a little shocked by her comment. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Bucky likes her."

Steve gaped at her. Not once had his best friend mentioned to him that he saw you as anything more than a friend.

"You don't just get up in the middle of the night for just anyone."

"Bucky is pretty special like that. He's an incredible friend."

"Yeah, maybe. Come on, let's get going." Peggy patted his arm, to get him moving.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky x reader #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes #buckybarnes x you #bucky barnes x f!reader

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tonberry-yoda · 1 year ago

Text

One More Time - Sanji (pt. 3) f!reader

pt.1 | pt.2

notes - Hi cuties! My writing inspo is coming back!!! <3 This was for my most recent poll! I decided to do another part of this because this is actually a fun series to write! Thanks to all who love it too and expect a Law fic soon???? Love you bunches!!! word count - 1,064 tags - @sleepyhead0720

The night went by too slowly for your liking. You were alone in that storage room jumping over the smallest noises, fearing that you were going to get caught.

You lied when you told Sanji that you had been in worse situations. You really hadn't. The Strawhat Pirates were famous and not in the good way. If even one spotted you, you would be dead meat. All of them combined had a bigger bounty than you could ever imagine.

But they were so kind. Why?

They looked like they were genuinely having a good time together, being human and laughing. Not only that, but you had heard from outside sources that wasn't the Navy that they had done so much to help others. Especially the captain. With a smile on his face in every wanted poster.

They were definitely a strange bunch, but they intrigued you; made you jealous. You were a crew bouncer, which meant that a lot of the time, you were just joining crew after crew for a pretty penny. Honestly, you stopped caring about the money and just wanted a home. But none of them felt like it.

But here? With all of these lovely people telling jokes and singing songs? It pissed you off. Why couldn't you live like that?

You definitely couldn't now that you were an enemy to them.

You tossed and turned in your sleep not having a clue what time it was because not only did you not have a watch, but you didn't even have a window that could give you a clue.

You were so tired though.

A sigh escaped your lips and you sat up. Sleep wasn't an option anymore, it seemed.

But you jumped to the roof when you heard the trap door open. Yeah, you were screwed. Too tired to fight and in a bad position with what little of a bounty you had on you.

"y/n?" You recognized Sanji's voice as he whispered your name. "y/n, are you down here?"

You peeked from behind a barrel and smiled. "Hey, Sanji!"

He walked over to you and turned on the light. "Hungry?" he asked as he kneeled down with a plate of food.

"I guess I am." you replied after your stomach gave a growl of hunger.

"We're almost to the island by the way. Sooner than we thought too." He leaned his head against a box as he sat across from you and sighed. "We'll be there in about an hour."

"What time is it?"

"Just past eight."

You hummed in response and kept eating. You weren't even on the boat for a full day, but you already missed his cooking.

"How did you sleep?" he asked, trying to hide that he as slightly blushing.

"I dunno. Probably slept a little bit, but I mostly just remember sitting." you admitted.

"I'm sorry."

You shrugged. "Not your fault. I'm the one who crawled on this boat."

For a moment, it was just silence, but Sanji quickly broke it.

"What are you going to do when you leave?"

"What I always do." You set down your plate and wrapped your blanket around your shoulders to warm yourself up. "Travel until I find somewhere to stay."

"That doesn't sound very fun."

"Eh, I'm used to it. A solo pirate, I guess."

"I wish you could join our crew." he giggled.

"Same." You played with a string that was hanging off of your blanket and sighed out of your nose. "But it's fine. I mean, I had fun while I was here. And had some pretty damn good food, if I do say so myself."

"Is that so?" he teased.

You laughed and tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. "What about you?" you asked. "What are you gonna do once you get to the island?"

"Whatever the captain orders."

"Sounds confining."

"Surprisingly, not really." Sanji moved himself so that he was sitting next to you and slid his hand in yours, clearing his throat. "Better than being in one place."

"I got you there. Traveling is the best."

"No kidding."

You laid your head on Sanji's shoulder and squeezed his hand. "Have you ever felt alone, Sanji?"

He sighed. "Hell yeah I have."

You nodded and felt yourself drift off into sleep.

---

"Sanji! Get up here!" You heard someone shout from above you as you woke up. "We're here!"

"Coming! Just give me a second! You guys can get a move on without me, I'll catch up!"

You heard the sound of footsteps above you disappear and you rubbed your eyes.

"Looks like we're here, princess. Get you some beauty sleep?"

You turned to see Sanji smile at you and you smiled back.

"I guess so. I'll get out of your hair though. Thanks for covering me up."

"Don't mention it." He stood up and grabbed your hand, helping you up. "Want me to walk you out?"

"If it's not any trouble."

"I would be happy to."

Sanji slid his hand into yours as you two got off of the boat. The island in front of you was warm and very welcoming. Small, but perfect. You knew you were bound to have a couple nights of rest here.

"Well, I have to get some shopping done before me and the rest of the crew head out." Sanji said. "So, uh... this is goodbye?"

You looked at him and he had misty eyes. The wind blew and his blonde hair followed it along with his cigarette smoke.

"Yeah... Bye, Sanji. Thanks for everything." You went to turn away, but couldn't help yourself as you quickly turned around and fell into his arms. You hugged him so tight that his cigarette fell out of his mouth. His hand reached the back of your head while the other found it's way to your back. You hadn't been hugged like this in ages.

When you pulled away from the hug, it felt like something dropped out of you, made you feel empty. Another goodbye, that's all it was.

"So, you and your crew are leaving as soon as you can?" you asked.

"That's the plan." He ran his fingers through his hair and looked up at the clouds.

He felt your lips softly press against his, but when he looked down, you were gone.

If only he could see you. One more time.

~~~~~

one piece masterlist | pinned post | ko-fi

2023 @tonberry-yoda – do not repost or claim ANY of my work as your own! likes, reblogs, and comments are not only welcome, but appreciated

~~~~~

#this series is so cute #and i love y/n because she's a badass with feelings #<3 #writing #my writing #fanfic #fanfiction #x reader #op #op x reader #one piece #one piece x reader #sanji #sanji x reader #blackleg sanji #blackleg sanji x reader #black leg sanji #black leg sanji x reader

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snowflake-of-destruction · 2 years ago

Note

Another Umbrella prompt!

☂️ he was a bad person and a worse father. ☂️

KH? SK8? Prodigal Son?

The options are limitless

Replies to an ask a year late with a fandom not mentioned in it.

I may have absorbed one too many spoilers. Do as I say and not as I do, and look away if not completely caught up on MHA

"He was a bad person, and a worse father." Shoto's monotone lacked conviction, and his face warred, halves split along a horizontal line for once. Grim set jaw that wanted to spit not just those words, but so many others he still felt like he'd held back even though he'd never exactly been secretive about his opinion of the number one hero he'd been so unfortunate as to share genes with--at least not among people who counted-- warred with the contrast of sad and softened eyes that wanted to temper the claim with a follow-up about new pages turned and new promises.

It would have taken a lot of work on all sides to build lasting trust, much less genuine closeness.

There would be no such distractions or demands on his time now.

The counter around the sink frosted with ice and the pipes creaked a protest. Shoto's reflection looked tired, beyond even what it should, like he hadn't slept in weeks not even days. Pale enough that it could be his funeral today.

"You're not going to say that." Izuku was in the doorway. His suit was wrinkled, but he wore proper shoes (Shoto missed the red sneakers). He wasn't condemning. He wasn't asking either. His tone was sympathy backed by a solid, blind confidence. Shoto wasn't going to start his eulogy with words like those. Shoto was a better person (a better son) than that.

Just like Midoriya to come in with his unwavering faith. Pity in his eyes too. Pity Shoto wasn't sure he needed.

He felt fine, honestly.

Except when he felt like he was fracturing to pieces. But he was used to that.

Shoto didn't remember leaving any doors open or implying that he welcomed anyone invading his space today. His face was buried in Midoriya's neck and Midoriya's arms were locked around him before he decided how he felt about the intrusion. Shoto didn't feel any of Midoriya's solid warmth transfer to him, but he didn't freeze his friend, so that was a victory in itself.

When he took a deep, gasping, shuddering and too wet breath in, his lungs filled with a sick sweet and sharp chemical mix of cheap body spray. Mighty All Mighty from Hatchet's Zero to Hero line. Classic Midoriya. There was a more mellow sweetness underneath it though (caramel?) and a hint of wood smoke that only grew strong the more Shoto dry sobbed into Midoriya's neck and the tighter he was held. That was new. For Midoriya at least. It was a familiar enough combination on its own.

At another time when his brain wasn't breaking for other serious reasons he would ask about that. Possibly in front of an audience of common friends. Why was Bakugo sweating on you?

Not that he couldn't figure out several possible answers, most of them innocent. It would be funny though, seeing both of their faces when he asked. Someone needed to keep the mood light in these trying times.

Midoriya shushed him softly even though he wasn't making noise, petted his hair. Shoto felt like a horse being tamed. For some reason it wasn't an unpleasant or insulting feeling.

Some time (half a minute or half a century) passed in comfort. Shoto's breath started to even out. The Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight smell increased, and Shoto raised his head to find an extremely uncomfortable looking Bakugo only inches away, shifting weight awkwardly between his feet, ready to spring into action and crowding in instead of hanging back in the attached bedroom he apparently had also invaded without invitation.

There were others behind him. Many others.

Too many people had seen Shoto (almost) cry. Perhaps he should be upset. Perhaps he should feel touched.

Perhaps he needed more security.

"Listen up, you candy-cane headed bastard," Bakugo spoke through the silence. "You still have family, alright? Right here."

Shoto found himself grateful that Bakugo's own death had proven to only be a minor setback. He deserved the second chance.

Others had too, but Shoto was too exhausted to let more of the bitter in with the sweet. He wanted to be happy about something. Surrounded by friends and the prickliest among them admitting they were bonded for life. That was something that could be celebrated.

He didn't admit the silver lining though, instead just blinking owlishly up at Bakugo. "So if your heart explodes again I can still use my eulogy? Horrible person and worse father?" Shoto repeated the last for the benefit of anyone who hadn't been there before (Just how long had his audience been lurking before he noticed? Would he ever know?).

Midoriya thought he was funny at least. That, among other things, was why he was the best friend.

#todoroki shoto #shoto torodoki #ask prompt answers #writing warm ups #whatever other tags i used to use for these #ficlets #or something #mha spoilers #kinda

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squish36-writes-and-draws · 2 days ago

Text

12 November: Unraveling

Word count: 579

TW: Swearing, (hyperbolic) self-harm and/or gore, Keefe being allosexual

General Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed!): @stellar-lune @faggot-friday @kamikothe1and0nly @nyxpixels @florida-preposterously

@poppinspop @uni-seahorse-572 @solreefs @corruption-exe @rusted-phone-calls

@when-wax-wings-melt @good-old-fashioned-lover-boy7 @dexter-dizzknees @abubble125 @hi-imgrapes

@callum-hunt-is-bisexual @callas-pancake-tree @hi-my-name-is-awesome @katniss-elizabeth-chase @sillyguy-supreme

@void-kill @thefoxysnake

Unraveling Project Specific Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed/upgraded): @cutebisexualmess @crippling-pages @daizythegreat @sophiefostersno1stan @iggydancebreak

@theleopardstalker @you-will-meet-your-downfall @multi-fandom-lunatic

On Ao3 or below the cut!

First (3 November) / Previous / Next

Keefe Sencen's Journal

I had a surprisingly not shit day. I mean, I did get threatened by a guy with a pair of very dangerous looking garden shears, but, honestly, that’s nothing compared to the last few days. I’m trying to not think about those last few days and it really isn’t working, so I’ve taken to hyperfocusing on the previously mentioned garden shears incident.

Apparently I scared him by hiding in the bushes trying not to get found because it’s hard to hide when you didn’t bring an obscurer and, as discussed many times before, I don’t have any fucking money.

So, you know, like any rational person, he started yelling at me and I thought for a second that my polyglot thing was broken but it just turns out that it’s a processing speed limitation as a result of barely sleeping for the past week and a half.

As I was blinking away the exhaustion, I found myself looking at his eyebrows, the angry crease accentuated as they move up and down while ye yells at me and —

Fuck.

It’s kind of a great wonder of the world that I hadn't figured this out yet. I am a buffoon of the highest order. No one has ever or will ever buffoon more than I have. It’s almost like a world record, except bad.

Get me a shamkniv. I need to remove my eyeballs. I’m not doing this again.

If you haven’t guessed, dear journal, I may have gotten deeply distracted by another person’s existence once again, and, as such, I cannot fucking deal with this anymore. All logical options point to me just fucking off to another city, but I’m just going to do it again, aren’t I?

This is the neverending cycle that I’m going to throw myself into. Not even a full forty-eight hours in a new city and I’m already doodling in the margins about a guy who, statistically, I’m never going to see again. And even if I do, that’s not happening. I’m not dragging anyone else into this mess.

Who am I fucking kidding? Either I’m going to leave or I’m going to fuck up. Those are the two options. There is no secret third choice where no one gets hurt.

Later: I should probably also muse poetic about the fact that he’s, you know, a guy and how the elves try to pretend like that whole thing doesn’t exist, but we all know what’s going on behind closed doors with the councillors. Also Alden and Quinlin. They think they’re so clever, but, dear stars, they are so completely and absolutely wrong. I don’t think Fitz knows though. That’s going to be a bit of a revelation if he ever finds that one out.

While we’re talking about Fitz, of course I have to reflect on how our friendship has existed over the last insert-number-of-years-here. And, uh, well, shit. Fitz is hot. How dare he? If I ever go back to the Lost Cities and then get rejected by Sophie, I’ll gladly get rejected to the oort cloud by Fitz.

He’d totally fucking murder me while directly quoting the laws governing the Matchmakers. Although, that does sound kinda hot too.

Who said that—?

Maybe I need to turn off my brain for a bit. That sounds nice. Just give it a nice little bath in cerebrospinal fluid. I’m going to try to get some sleep. It’s not going to work, but it’s worth trying, right?

#kotlc #kotlc keefe #keefe sencen #kotlc fanfic #character: keefe #series: unraveling

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videokilled · 7 months ago

Text

Something grated in Vox- nails on chalkbord, when he heard Alastor hit the ground. Vox was over here taking risks, bringing him into his lair, ruining his furniture, ruining his bed, and Alastor was going to get up knowing he couldn't walk- and just hit the ground.

You were fucking dead for a week- give it a whole 10 goddamn minutes.

Vox griped just barely making it to a verbal hiss. He wasn't fucking serious. There was no way the radio demon was serious.

"I hope you knock yourself out." Vox muttered louder and directed at the stupid deer- but honestly shocking himself with how hollow and un-volumetric his voice had been just then. Alastor might not have even heard it, but it at least had some volume too it. Regardless Vox swallowed and cleared his voice quietly to fix that- sounding pitiful thing. He hadn't spoken in the nearly four days that fucker had been out, so that made sense.

He didn't even have an excuse for why he brought Alastor here. There was no advantageous reason for Vox to have brought him here.

Vox just couldn't make another stop, he couldn't think ahead, he didn't have the capacity to weigh all the different options. He had just killed Alastor, his-

Vox was tired. He had been tired- and annoyed.. that was all.

The images in his head of the crumpled smoking heap and the smell- he swore he could still smell it if he thought about it. Maybe it was still in the air. He certainly hadn't changed Alastor out of his charred clothing.

He knew Alastor was going to ask why he had brought him here in some obtuse abstract needling way and he had to have an answer. Thinking of one was only made it obvious that maybe sleep was important in this- and maybe he should have slept. The cables plugged into his head were like a caffeine pill. They were definitely no substitute for sleep, but they sure did make it feel obsolete.

One of Vox's hands finally stiffly moved from where it had been on the side of his chair, to his face and just rubbed at the flat pane of his screen over his busted up eye. It was aching and throbbing something awful and felt like it was taking up all of his present capacity to have any amount of clever thought. To some extent he wanted to savor having Alastor here. The rare and niche scenario making some kind of weird violence truce- or maybe that was just the thoughts from earlier spreading their diseased nostalgia with him being too worn down to fight it back. And it was…

The ruminating once again taking another chip from his dwindling energy without coming up with a single thing to say in his defense of why the fuck he'd brought that radio demon back here. And put him on his own bed.

He should have just dumped him on the floor and let it be. At least that would have been one less thing to explain away.

Maybe he should just kill him a second time to make good on dumping him in some random fucking cave. Seemed like Alastor preferred rock ground to high thread count bedding anyway.

This got a tiny little chuckle out of Vox, just quietly.

The ambience of the room was extraordinarily quiet. A library of computers minding their own business. one from somewhere would give a soft beep, another one somewhere would give off a delayed forlorn answer of a beep. The very subtle white noise of fans going to control the temperature of the space.

The room Alastor found himself in was barely maybe 15 by 15 feet, maybe a little longer than it was wide. The bed he was on had very dark navy crisp duvet quilts and dark warm grey sheets, they were extremely high thread count one could feel by touch and the stiffness had been worn out of the bedding.

The largest wall was dark dark navy too, but had a weird gradient. It seemed to trick the eyes into staring, trying to find where the gradient shifted. A rather boring room- until a very large hammerhead shark mozied into sight from the right side of the wall. It had bright red eyes and looked to be a mix of organic material and tech. It had no where to be in a hurry and took it's time crossing the wall, it's tail moving back and forth slowly.

If it was a tank- if that was water and not a TV screen- it truly was a trick to the eye. There was no indication of how deep or how far out the walls actually went. The shark turned around slowly and started in a 45° angle away from Alastor. As if to prove the spanse. It was huge. This space was underground.

The floor was polished concrete it seemed. At least here it was, the other room had metal.

Vox didn't want to move. Looking at Alastor made his chest boil and he was too tired to fight it back or analyze it. His head was throbbing from the damage and it had been since Trevor fixed his screen. He heard Alastor start coughing though and a pitiful little one word tantrum followed.

Now that he was awake this felt like it was about to get a stupid level of complicated. Not due to safety. Alastor was essentially locked inside a huge bug zapper. One step out of line Vox could fry him with the concentrated power of his power grid. Put him right back under. The only reason he brought him back here was because he himself had been in a state of shock. In the moment Alastor had seemed...

Crazy.

Vox interrupted his own rumination again. Interrupting the same thought cycle he had been in for the last few days. Sometimes it got farther than others. He didn't say anything to indicate where the deer's host was brooding. As far as he was concerned Alastor could stay over there as long as he wanted.

However, a soft tk-tk-tk-tk... tk-tk-tk-tk.. did start working it's way into the ambience. Vox was gently drumming his claws on his armrest. His eyes stared into the screens at least aware of them again. The wretched black patch had shifted and widened a bit temporarily. The pixel bars glitching across his face, interrupting his other eye briefly.

#radioiaci

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iidahoe · 2 years ago

Text

WOUNDS

SCARAMOUCHE / READER

contains: fluff

tw: depictions of violence , blood , arguing

word count: 3.8k

A sigh escaped your lips as you repeated the rules and regulations to a small band of treasure hoarders. Arguing was never something you enjoyed, especially when the people you were arguing against were as dumb as they were cocky.

Just a simple message to their leader. That's all you needed them to take. But no, here they were babbling about some extension agreement with no solid evidence.

They didn't even have paperwork, all they had was their unconvincing tone of voice and some bad backup actors.

"For the last time, your boss borrowed a loan of 600 000 Mora from Snezhnaya three months ago. You are to take this message to him and tell him to repay it in a few weeks time."

You honestly had no clue why you were here. Tartaglia was meant to give the message to some treasure hoarders a month ago. Yet apparently he failed in being clear because here you were, a month later trying to get a group of them from Inazuma to relay the message once more.

"Didn't you hear us the first time? Our boss made an extensio–"

Now you've really had it with their so called 'extension agreement'.

"With who? The Tsaritsa? Because if so, I'd have it in my records right here. If you really want proof, go on, take a look!"

Irritation laced your voice as you shoved a pile of papers in front of them.

A visible gulp from the leader almost made you laugh out in amusement. The man in front of you tearing his gaze away to find a proper excuse, as you grew impatient holding the papers.

"I.. well uh, you see.. The documents, yeah the documents! They only have one copy, so you wouldn't have one."

A pathetic excuse, really. If this treasure hoarders was only able to come up with this on the spot, you weren't sure as to how they made it higher in the ranks.

To be honest, they only reason they seemed to look somewhat professional is because they were wearing mid-ranged clothing from Mondstadt. Inazuma fashion having more layers and longer fabrics on their casual wear made people look like they didn’t mean much business.

But alas, professional or not, they were quite dumb when it came to upfront conversations.

"For it to be an official extension agreement, the Tsaritsa had to oversee it. And whatever documents she looks over are copied and given to several other people like me to take care of if the original ever be lost. So if what you are saying is true, you've proven to yourself that this so called agreement is fake."

A grumble erupted from the treasure hoarders dressed in tints of purple as he realized he had messed up. The man putting a hand behind him to slightly bow in what seemed to be an apologetic action, instead pulled out a few throwing daggers once he looked back up.

The two men behind him following the action as they realized what their leader was suggesting.

The trio earning a groan from you as you retreated your arm to its previous position. Stacking the paperwork neatly on itself, you slid it back into the folder while keeping an eye on three in front of you.

The hoarder in front of you being confused to how calm you were, began to speak after a long pause.

"..Listen here lady! If you want to get out of this alive, you'll have to hand over all those papers and never speak of this day again!"

Nervousness laced his voice in the beginning as his tone became clearer and more confident as he continued.

"And you should look around, there's three of us and only one of you. Who do think will win this if you decide to go down with a fight? It seems pretty clear to me!"

Now he was just plain out cocky again, as annoying as it was, he had a point. Three against one didn't seem to be the best odds when you hadn't even gotten your weapon out yet.

Fleeing seemed to be another option, but that would do no good with what your task was and you would've wasted your time. And besides, you doubt you could run away with a heavy pile of papers and shoes unequipped for rough terrain.

Perhaps if the infamous Balladeer was here, they would think of another tactic other then attacking. But alas, you were all alone with your lover behind doors waiting for you at home.

So, dropping all rational ways of thinking, you took a large jump back which granted you a few seconds to pull out your weapon for battle.

Dropping the large folder of papers with a big slam, you pulled out a silver sword within a blink of an eye, the metallic frame capturing glints of sunlight as it moved swiftly across the air.

And so, the dance began. Kicking aside the folder for extra space, you bolted towards the hoarders at full speed, hoping for your speed to make up for the loss of body mass and sheer strength.

Flames dancing effortlessly around you as you jumped around the hoarders, taking a few inconvenient hits here and there proved to be able to slow you down to a certain extent.

The tattered clothing on your body soaked in blood as the final treasure hoarder fell to the ground, unconscious. Most of the blood being yours with the exception of some splashes from the two dead hoarders discarded in the background.

You hadn't planned on killing them but you were proven with no other choice when both of them tried to sneak up behind you, it was only instinct for you to swing back directly aiming towards their necks.

But at least you still had that cocky leader who had fallen to the ground, he seemed to have gotten the message. Well that's what you hoped, in all honesty you couldn't care whether or not they lived. The dimwits had it coming, after all, it was their fault for angering you.

A groan escaped your lips as you fell to your knees, you didn't know how much longer you could make it with all the blood you were losing. You had to make it back to at least some civilization before you passed out, otherwise it'd be quite hard to find you. Besides even if you were found, you would've died from blood loss already.

So you stood up rather painstakingly slow, the regret of deciding to fight washing over you as you realized the hoarders aimed for the spots hardest to cover up. Your back was littered with wounds as you clutched onto your stomach in the meantime. The best you could do was grab a hold of your abdomen while your other arm tried to wrap itself around your waist from behind. Although you gave up on that pretty quick when you felt that the wound was out of reach.

The journey back to your home was really quite slow, in fact, it took about half a day judging by the position of the sun when you first started. At this point, you had completely forgotten about that dreaded folder full of paperwork, perhaps you could go back in the morning to get it if the treasure hoarder hadn't grabbed it up for himself.

You limped towards your doorstep as you fumbled around for your keys, a trail of blood droplets on the front porch. It had gotten extremely cold while you were outside, which made you even closer to unconsciousness then you thought was possible.

Twisting the key into the door, you leaned onto the knob as you pushed it open with full force. That annoying creaking of the door that you had grown to hate seemed to be one of the things you were most grateful for as the sense of familiarity washed over you. Taking in the warmth of the house, you closed the door with your foot as you kicked off your shoes in a hurry.

Now that you had warmed up, you definitely needed to take care of your wounds as soon as possible, glancing down for a second, you spotted the boots of your lover laying neatly on the boot rack.

You hadn't really the time for thought in the moment, so you rushed towards the bathroom where the first aids were situated. A soft yet rather grumpy voice interrupted your hurrying state.

"Y/N?"

You froze, out of all people you didn't want seeing you in this state, he was one of them. Knowing him, he'd probably be intimidating at first until you eventually spilled or the complete opposite. To be honest, the oh so famous Balladeer was like a defused ticking time bomb with a back up battery, it was impossible to predict whether or not he would react recklessly or with immense care. But judging by your current state, you weren't sure if the time bomb would stop itself or continue without defying the code.

"Oh.. hey.. Scara!”

You tried to speak with your usual cheerful tone, but it felt as if it was impossible with all the wounds on your body aching to be patched up. Your voice laced with pain and slight disappointment perked his ears. Your bloody appearance finally reaching his eyes as they widened slightly in somewhat unsure realization.

"..Is that blood yours?"

He wasn't too sure of what your answer would be. Most of the time whenever either of you came home covered in blood, it was some filthy lowlife's instead of your own. But your hunched over posture and slight scrunch of nose proved his point otherwise.

"I.. think.. Well, most of it is mine it would seem, the rest might be from those hoarders."

Your posture hunching over in pain and your arms clutching your stomach tighter as you spoke.

Dissatisfaction filled Scaramouche's face as he felt absolutely pissed. Whoever had done this would certainly suffer a heftier price than their own life, and by that, he meant torture. If they were still alive that is, he didn't exactly doubt your abilities in defending yourself as he had seen you in action multiple times before. But after taking a glance at your attire, he guessed you weren't that prepared or expecting a fight in that moment.

And so, his heart raced a little as his body took control. His feet carrying him to your side in an instant to support your body. His arms wrapped gently around your leaning figure as he mumbled a few curse words directed to whoever put you in this state under his breath.

"Is this alright?"

He asked, his tone laced with worry as he forgot about his anger from a few seconds ago, now he was completely focused on patching you up.

A slight cough escaped your lips, groaning out in pain as it did so, the jerking of your body causing your wounds to ache once more. At this, Scaramouche's arms loosened slightly, allowing you room to adjust yourself.

"..ye-ah just help me to the bathroom."

It now hurt to talk, the pain from your cough causing new pains to awaken in your body.

A quiet squeak left your mouth as Scaramouche lifted your body off the ground, his arms tenderly grasping your body into the air as he stepped towards the bathroom, wanting to ease your pain as much as he could.

"I'm going to place you down onto the counter, sorry if it pains you a little"

He spoke rather silently, his focus more on gathering the proper equipment to help you with the pain. To this, you just nodded against the crook of his neck, your body hurting too much to speak a single word.

Taking this as acknowledgment, Scaramouche placed you onto the countertop painstakingly slowly. Holding your back from behind to balance you, he bent down to the lower cabinet once he felt you were able to support yourself for the time being. His hands quickly searching for proper bandages and things to clean the wound.

Once finding the required materials for the current matter, he lifted the kit up and placed it on the counter. Seeing your pained expression broke through his always cold demeanour, his heart softening as he wanted to find a solution for the problem and end for the cause.

Unwrapping the cleansing wipes in a hurry, he realized that a layer of clothing was blocking the wounds. It was rather embarrassing to ask you to remove your shirt, but in this situation it was required as all the soaked blood was doing was bringing your body temperature lower and rubbing against your broken skin. He was sure you knew this too, so he looked up towards your eyes, locking them in place with his own before he asked the question.

For a split second it felt if everything was forgotten and you two just indulged in each other's gaze. But there was other matters to attend to before doing that, and so, he asked the lurking question.

"..is it alright if you remove your shirt? It'll be quite hard to treat your wounds with it on"

A light shade of pink dusted his cheeks as he asked, but the both of you knew it was necessary.

A nod from you as you tried you lift your shirt up. Groaning once you realized that moving your arms in these positions caused pain to your back and lower stomach. A glance to your lover was all it took for him to understand.

"..may I?"

Another nod followed by a weak "yes" was all that you took action upon. Relaxing your tense muscles to allow him room to work.

His gentle fingers grasping the edge of your clothing as he lifted it up with utmost care. The rim of your collar getting caught on your nose as he lifted it over your head.

Placing the bloody clothing in the sink to prevent a further mess, he glanced at your wounds. A few rare ones that were quite deep made him wonder how you were standing straight up when he first saw you. Those deep wounds would definitely need stitching to heal, other then that, it seemed as if the other wounds were just light cuts or scratches. Those only needed to be cleaned up and bandaged.

"This.. might sting a little"

He warned softly as he picked up the cleansing wipes. The packaging of the material being discarded somewhere on the counter or ground as he couldn't care about neatness right now.

Your nose scrunched up as your eyes closed tightly, a groan left your lips. The stinging sensation from the alcoholic wipes making you want to crawl away from the feeling.

"...sorry, I'll have to stitch it up now"

Your eyes opened a little to glance at your lover, his face showing emotions you weren't sure were capable for him. Pity and sincerity filled his face as he himself was flinching from the thought of stitching up his significant other.

"Alright but try to make it quick"

A nod from Scaramouche comforted you once more as your eyes shut in preparation.

"...and done"

Sighing softly, Scaramouche set aside the bloodied rags and looked over to you. Your torso covered in bandages made his heart ache, never did he think he'd be the one doing this to you. In all honesty, he thought it would be the other way around judging by his rank. But here you were, sighing out of relief that the painful part was over.

"Here, let me help you down"

Scaramouche faced towards you as he gently put his arms under you, lifting you the countertop with ease. The mess he made with the first aid kit was now a matter for the next day because all he could care about is getting you comfortable now.

"Can you walk? If not, I'll just place you on the bed as I get you a change of clothes, just give me a sec—"

A shallow smile played on your lips as he rambled on, this was definitely a side of him that was shut off to the outside world. But to you, everything stopped as it seemed you unlocked a part of him that he didn't want to let go of.

"Yes, I think I can walk"

A dust of pink brushed across his cheeks as he realized his actions.

"Ah right, sorry for rambling."

He cautiously loosened his grip on you, keeping his arms around just in case your legs gave out or wobbled.

"You do know the wounds were on my upper body right? I'll be able to walk, I just might be hunching over slightly"

That's right, he had gotten too caught up in the moment to realize. The wounds on your body were mainly on your back and stomach, the rest were just scratches. I mean how could he forget? He did patch you up, did he not?

"Oh yeah"

And with that, he let go you and rushed to the closet. The man could be extremely intelligent and stealthy one moment, and clueless and confused the other. It truly was a baffling sight to see, he switched so quick that it was always so hard to perceive what he was thinking.

"I'm back, I brought you some clean clothing."

Little words were exchanged as you gratefully took the clothing to change. When you went to the bathroom, you were really quite slow with changing clothes.

But when you finally did come out, you could see that Scaramouche was collapsed on the bed, laying with his limbs in a starfish position.

A soft smile on your lips as you tried to take quiet and slow steps. Your body still ached, so you ended up making a lot of noise with your feet and rustling of clothing. But perhaps the observant boy in front of you picked up on the irregular set of footsteps he heard approaching him.

A day off could prove tiring for fatui harbingers too as you had experienced first hand how much work they have laid upon them, curtesy of the infamous Tartaglia, of course.

So, knowing this, it was easy to say that both of you were tired out from the rough day you had.

A sleepy groan was heard from Scaramouche as he lifted his head to see who was in the vicinity.

"Sorry for waking you"

You whispered quietly, hoping to not shake the sleepiness from him. A slight shake of head from the boy as he began to speak.

"It's fine, I was in between that stage of sleep and waking up anyways."

His raspy voice came out of nowhere as you made your way to the bed.

You climbed in, turning on the lamp situated on the bedside table on your side to see better. The yellow light illuminated the room just enough for you to set yourself in the covers, your movements being slow so you could prevent any upcoming pain that would've come from sudden and heavy movements.

"I'm goin—"

Scaramouche cut you off before you could finish, worry lacing his voice as his eyes were sleep filled and softened.

"Darling, please— please don't do that again.”

A subtle shade of red erupted on your cheeks as he used a nickname he hadn't used before.

"Darling? That's a new one.."

A sigh from you as you realized his attention wasn't diverted that easily. Yet, you could still see a dust of red painted on his cheeks as he sluggishly looked away for a second.

"I won't, it's just that.. they caught me off guard"

A frown appeared on his lamplight painted face as he debated on what to say next. Not so sure whether to comfort you or ask why you were caught off guard.

"That's fair I guess"

He spoke, deciding against both the options from before. Reaching in to hug you, his face found its way to the crook of your neck, breathing in and out softly.

"Let's.. let's go to bed now, I bet you're really tired too"

The place where his face laid feeling cold as he pulled away to look you in the eyes.

"Alright"

Leaning to turn the lamp off, you winced in pain quietly as Scaramouche took notice of your expression.

"Here, wait I'll do it"

A smile grazed your lips as you thanked him internally for the kind action. This was a side of him that you would never want to give away. A side of him you loved so much, sure he was cold sometimes but he always made up for it in one way or another.

"Thank you"

You mumbled more to yourself as you decided to speak your thoughts.

Adjusting yourself comfortably according to the wounds littered on your body, you faced your lover to see him staring back at you intently.

"What is it?"

A small giggle left your lips as you acknowledged his actions, the way he stared at you so intently made your heart want to explode from love. Just the simple action of earning his gaze for a few seconds was able to set your heart off to a race.

"Nothing, I was just.. admiring you"

A visible shade of red painted your cheeks as you made a statement with your eyes. One how both of you knew how to react to. The eyes you showed eachother when you wanted closeness or affection. The gesture seemingly complex to the outside world but incredibly simple for the both of you. Who cares about what those outsiders think anyway, right? When you were with him, it was just you and him in your own world.

A smile on his lips as he shifted closer to you. His neck leveling with your head as he put his arm carefully around the side of your waist. His genuine smile was something that you only saw, and behind closed doors only. Otherwise you'd see him straight-faced or with an amused or teasing grin displayed on his features as he made fun of someone. To be honest, it was quite fun to watch him insult people. His insults being creative and really out of the ordinary.

"Is this alright?"

He asked before putting the full weight of his arm on your waist. A nod against his neck from you enabling him to do so.

"Goodnight, darling."

Your face warmed again as your heart sped up. The last words you heard before falling asleep being a note to himself to call you "dear" more often. Be it teasing statement or not, you wouldn't mind if he called you that a bit more.

Your head snuggled into the crook of his bare neck as you found sleep waiting for you on the other side. The soft breathing from you calming him as he, too, fell asleep with his arms wrapped around you gently but full of love.

#scaramouche #scara x reader #scaramouche x reader #genshin impact #genshin fanfic #genshin #fighting #arguing #violence #fluff #comfort #blood #iidahoe #oneshot #tw killing

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thatgirlforever5 · 3 years ago

Text

May I have This Dance?

Title: May I Have This Dance?

Theme: Holiday Dinner/Party (Day 12)

Fandom/Characters: AEW, Kenny Omega x Reader

Warnings: Age Gap implied, Mention of smut, but no actual smut

Word Count: 1,198

Notes: I actually did it! I survived all 12 days! I honestly didn't think I'd be able to finish this challenge, and I almost backed out before day 1 😅 But I'm so proud of myself for pushing through. So to finish off strong, here's my longest submission of this whole challenge. Thank you to everyone who read my fics, and a huge thank you to @thunderkiss86 for doing this challenge and for all the support she's given me ❤️

@12daysofchristmas @thunderkiss86

The annual AEW Christmas party was always something the roster looked forward to.

A time to let loose and have some fun before the holidays.

While the rest of The Elite were having a great time, Kenny wanted to be anywhere else.

That's what he kept telling himself, but he knew it wasn't entirely true. He did want to be at the Christmas party, he just wanted to be with one particular person so they could be enjoying the party together.

His eyes scanned the room, spotting the one who was always on his mind lately.

Y/N stood with a few of the other girls, her bright smile lighting up the room. He could hear her sweet laugh from where he stood.

She was a younger wrestler, still in the beginning of her career. For her short time in the ring, she had talent well beyond her years. She had caught the eye of Tony Khan, and was offered a contract.

At first she was just another wrestler in the company, Kenny had only ever exchanged casual pleasantries with her.

And then around her third month with the company, He had found her alone in the ring hours before the show. She had been running drills.

Kenny, being the mentor he was, stopped to give her some tips. Which then turned into a sparring session. And before either of them knew it, they were getting ready to celebrate their six month anniversary.

Kenny was very adamant about keeping their relationship secret, telling her that no one could know. He felt bad, hiding the love they had for each other, but he knew it could hurt both of their careers if anyone found out. He could tell she wasn't thrilled with the idea, but agreed to keep things quiet.

His paranoia was the reason they hadn't spoken at all the last few days leading up to the party.

-------A Few Days Earlier--------

"Hey, I know we're keeping our relationship private, but do you think we could maybe hang out together at the party? It would just be like we're friends, I don't think anyone will think anything of it" Y/N innocently asked, holding up different dress options in front of the mirror.

Kenny chuckled from where he laid on the bed, watching her dig through her luggage.

"Baby, it's not a good idea. We've never spent time together backstage, so people are going to think it's weird that we're suddenly 'friends' hanging out at a party." He shrugged.

"We've never hung out backstage because you've never let me hang out." She frowned. "You talk to all the other girls about their matches, but then avoid me at all costs. Everyone thinks you hate me or something".

"I doubt anyone thinks that." He creased his brows.

"Yesterday Nyla asked me what I did to piss you off" She gave him a pointed look.

Kenny frowned. He hadn't realized how cold he had been while trying to keep their relationship under wraps.

"I just don't want people to get any bad ideas about us being together." He sighed.

"People can think whatever they want, because we know the truth about us and that's all that matters." She shrugged, setting the dresses aside to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Fans can be brutal Y/N. They're going to trash your name and accuse you of sleeping around to get to where you are." He looked at her.

"What are they going to do? Tweet me mean things? I don't have Twitter so it won't affect me. Comment on my Instagram? It's a private account so still not an issue." She shrugged.

Kenny sighed, dragging a hand over his face, "I'm just trying to protect you."

"I don't need to be protected. They don't sign my paycheck, so who cares what they think. Anyone in this company can think what they want. But me, you, and Tony know that I'm here because I worked hard and I'm only going to get better. You're so focused on a problem that doesn't actually exist." Her voice raised at the end.

"Why does this matter so much? We're happy together, we don't need to open ourselves up to everyone." Kenny shrugged, dismissing the conversation.

Y/N had stood up, and looked straight into his eyes.

"I'm tired of you being ashamed of me." She said, hurt evident in her voice.

Before he could say anything, she had left the room.

------ Back To Present------

"You haven't been yourself the last few days." Matt broke him out of his trance, leaning on the wall next to Kenny with a cup of coffee in hand.

"I've just had a lot on my mind." Kenny shrugged.

"Does it have anything to do with Y/N?" Matt asked so nonchalantly that it caused Kenny to freeze.

"What?" He asked, brows furrowed.

"You've been staring at her all night." Matt chuckled.

"No I haven't" Kenny denied with a shake of his head.

"Look, don't get mad. But Nick & I know that you two are together. So does Tony and Cody." Matt looked over at him.

Kenny looked at him in shock, Matt cut him off before he could start firing off questions.

"She came to us last month. She wanted to disclose your relationship to all the EVP's so that way if anything did happen, you both were protected." Matt glanced at him. "She did exactly what anyone dating within the company is supposed to do. She didn't want anyone to mention it to you because she knew how secret you wanted to keep things."

"She was just protecting you both" Matt clapped him on the shoulder. "For what it's worth, she really cares about you Kenny. If you're happy with her, then forget what everyone's going to say."

Matt left him in his thoughts. Kenny looked around and spotted Y/N again, standing off to the side of the dance floor.

For once, Kenny decided to stop thinking and just act on what his heart told him.

He walked across the dance floor, coworkers parting to let him through. He stopped in front of Y/N, a small smile on his face as he held his hand out to her.

"May I have this dance?" He smiled.

"What are you doing?" She looked up at him with wide eyes, and then glanced around the room.

"I'm done caring about everyone else. They can think whatever they want. All I care about is dancing with the girl I love." Kenny looked into her eyes.

A smile lit up Y/N's face, and she slid her hand into his.

He led her right to the middle of the dance floor, his hands settling on her hips as she slid her arms over his shoulders.

"I love you" She smiled, looking at him like he was the only person in the room.

"I love you too." He grinned, leaning down to kiss her as they slow-danced.

They felt like they were the only two people in a crowded room, and for the first time in six months, Kenny felt as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

#12 days of christmas #aew fanfiction #kenny omega fanfiction #kenny omega imagine #kenny omega x reader

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littlekohai77 · 2 years ago

Text

Eleceed x oc

Chapter 9

Word count: 1627

\/\/

So Hwa-Young always stands in the kitchen and watches as the food cooks. No matter if it'll take 3 hours for it to cook, she staying there watching it.

~~~~~~~~~~

Arthur was quite annoyed that he's roomie won't come cuddle him and instead chooses to stand in the cafeteria kitchen and watch as the food cooks.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥?

Some food taking his crush's attention away from him? Ain't happening on his watch.

Waltzing into the kitchen, he processeds to try every method in the book to get her to come to back to the lounge with him, his patience wearing thinner at every failure.

He pokes and probs at Hwa-Young, the latter remaining ever so indifferent.

She insisted that he go back to what he was doing instead of wasting his precious time pestering her, she said all of this with her back turned to him, facing the stove. It infuriated Arthur how she hadn't even looked at him once.

Giving up, he pouts, crossing his arms and huffing. Mumbling "Why do you even do this anyway? "

Making her finally look at him.

Arthur cheered internally at this.

◡̈⋆ⓎⒶⓎ!(*´∇')ﾉ 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦.

Hwa-Young pretended to not hear the sudden increase in his heart beats.

Being able to hear ones heart beat is an ability she never told anyone, only one person knows about this ability, Seongik Han, her old man.

She mainly never tells her allies about this for the fear of them suddenly avoiding her.

She hates the fact that she has grown soft to people she's better off not trusting.

But there's not much left to do now, feelings don't just vanish away. Lying seems like the safest option for her heart, even if it kinda makes her feel a bit guilty for some unknown reason.

"You really wanna know? " She quirked a brow, loosely crossing her arms over her chest. The fabric of her hoodie wrinkling up.

"Of course I wanna fucking know. " He huffed with a pout, still upset. Untangling his arms, he lays his hands on the counter behind him, using them as support to lean back a bit as Hwa-Young went beside him and also leaned back on the counter.

Turning his head towards Hwa-Young, he moved his chin to motion her to explain herself.

Hwa-Young sighs and rubs her temple. Getting the feeling that he won't leave her alone until she elaborates.

"Well, way before old man took me in, when I was about 9 I think? I used to survive on my own. I used to speak Arabic back then. Why? I don't fucking know. I didn't remember where I was from or why I was alone.

I survived by either begging or stealing.

Child me really had strong sense of morality. So, I was rather hesitant about stealing.

One day I finally went 'fuck it' and stole something.

I almost got caught with how slow I was which wasn't surprising considering I haven't eaten shit in the past three days.

What I stole was a pack of instant ramen.

I lived or more like hid in an abandoned building at that time. And luckily the stove was still functioning and there were a few pots.

Reading the instructions was the hardest part, honestly. It was in Korean and at that time my Korean was a bit rusty.

By following what was written on the packaging I let it cook and went to sit down in another room.

That other room had an old sofa and with how tried I was, I just couldn't resist the temptation to laying down.......That was the first mistake.

After laying down fatigue hit me like a truck and I didn't even realize when I fell asleep.

That was the second and biggest mistake.

When I had woken up there was smoke everywhere. Remembering the pot on the stove I rushed to the kitchen and in my hurry and panic, instead of turning off the stove stupid dumb little me lifted the pot with my bare hands.

I got second degree burns from that. When I realized that I had just touched it without oven mitts or anything protecting my hand. I kinda panicked again and dropped it, making it fall to the floor and also give my feet 2nd degree burns in the process. How fun. "

She lifted her hands to show him the marks he had always been confused and asking about.

Arthur's eyes widened, he could still see the faded scars. He raised his hand to lightly graze it against her faded scars. He took her hand in his, wearing an unreadable expression.

Hwa-Young tried tugging her hand out of his grasp, wearing a blank yet flushed expression.

But he had no plans of letting her go so easily, she eventually gave up, looking somewhere other than his face, hiding her face that was raising in temperature.

Arthur smirked evilly, amused at her cute attempts to mask her shyness.

Caressing her hand with his thumb, his expression turning soft, an almost sad smile on his lips.

"I-I was coughing and crying like crazy. I felt like shit. The food was nothing but ashes. I had nothing to eat.

I really wanted to cry more but I didn't. At that point of life I realized that crying never fixes shit.

So, I wiped my tears not really caring how it stung my burns.

I suffered two more days of starvation before an old grandma offered to cook for me if I cleaned her house. The grandma I later ran away from.

So, lesson learned. Always watch the food as it cooks. "

After finishing her story she expected him to go back to his room but instead was surprised when he wrapped his arms around her.

Her eyes widening, cheeks becoming red.

She hated how this was making her heart race, not understanding what she should do with her hands that were awkwardly hanging off to the side she settled with awkwardly running her hand up and down his back.

Little did they, they were being watched by a certain someone.

That certain someone clenched his fists in rage and jealousy, muttering something under his breath as his crimson eyes bore into the raven head.

\/\/

"Was it you who suggested the idea to Mr. And Mrs. Bryan? " Hwa-Young spoke in a monotonous voice, her expression pointed.

Arthur could be seen nervously looking around on the other end.

"Well.....it wasn't really me who brought it up and it seemed like my opinion didn't matter. And marrying you doesn't really sound that bad. "

"Does it really mean anything to you? " Hwa-Young questioned with a monotonous look to mask her desperation. She's feels lost, she, herself doesn't even know what she is desperate for.

"Does it mean anything to YOU?"

Arthur dodged the question, instead answering it with another question.

"Do you want it to mean anything? "

She retorted, using an eraser to roughly erase the wrong answers she had written on her notebook. With a troubled expression she kept roughly rubbing the eraser against the paper, eventually tearing the paper. She put her head down on the table and let out a defeated sigh.

"Ok, this is just confusing. If you don't want it to happen then just say it. " Arthur stated in a frustrated tone.

Don't get him wrong, he wasn't annoyed at Hwa-Young, he was just upset at the possibility that she might not want to be with him.

He was confused with the things she was saying.

He sighed, bringing a hand up to rub the back of his neck.

"Hwa-Young, you don't have to talk about it right now. We can talk once your ready." He said with the ghost of a smile on his lips.

Hwa-Young peaked from underneath her white lashes, wearing an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry for wasting your time like this. "

"Nah, it's okay. "

"So, you agree that I was wasting your time? (￣へ￣凸" Hwa-Young inquired, sitting up straight, her arms crossed over her chest and a pout on her lips.

"Wait! That's not what I meant-" Arthur rushed to defend himself, raising both his arms in front of him.

"Nah, I'm just messing with you. " Hwa-Young assured, biting her lower lip to stifle her giggles, wincing when she put too much pressure on the cut.

"How'd your lip get busted?"

"Well, I was playing a rhythm game and things kinda got intense and..... Yeah.. "

Hwa-Young shrugged both her shoulders.

"Why do you torture your oh-so-kissable lips that I would absolutely love to suck on? Why? " Arthur blurted out, his eyes widening when he realized what he just said.

"What? Σ(゜゜)" Hwa-Young was shell shocked.

"What? Σ(゜゜)" Arthur was embarrassed.

Not being able to face her anymore, Arthur abruptly ended the video call.

~~~~~~~~~~

📝Author📝:

Breaking News!

If your receiving this right now, it's because you just said something excessively fucking cringy to the person you like.

Locals are gagging and throwing up on the street from secondhand embarrassment and are begging for you to stand up and get a grip after saying that absolute word vomit.

Enjoy the new 3 am thought that will keep you up for the next seven years and that VIP pass to cringefest you loser simp.

More on this later, I'm Stanzi Potenza and this is Call Out News.

~~~~~~~

Arthur read the new message.

He just wants to bash his head into the wall at this point.

~~~~~~~

"Well, whatever that was. I have two more people to call anyway."

Hwa-Young sighed, brushing off what Arthur said.

#eleceed #eleceed x reader #eleceed x oc #eleceed oc

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your-daily-biaswrecking · 4 years ago

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who am i ?

pairing: cyborg!Yoongi x human!girl

genre: angst, smut, futuristic au

word count: 12.6k | reading time: 75 min

summary: The job of a Personal Assistant is to serve their owner, even if the owner is treating them like shit. Yoongi doesn’t mind being used like that to satisfy the woman’s sexual desires, until her younger sister shows him some decency; treats him like a person; befriends and loves him.

warnings: I honestly don't know if this is dom or switch yoongi but it's something, virgins, vaginal sex, yoongi's d is big, fingering f.receiving, finger sucking (yes this is a hand kink), biting, dirty talk, spanking, mentions of oral, swearing, fighting, mentions of abuse, a little dubious consent -not by the girl though (yoongi doesn't want it but at the same time he is programmed to want it so idk), mistreatment, objectification, ownership, mean sister?

This story is part of the Personal Assistants series. Each story of the series can be read as a stand-alone, but they all compliment one another.

Masterlist | Read on AO3 | Moodboard

What do people usually do on their 20th birthdays? Or, at least, what did people use to do back when the landmark hadn't been defined by the legal age to own a cyborg? It's not the age of consent, it's not the age for drinking, or driving, or becoming an independent adult. Perhaps the 20th had always been kind of irrelevant, which is why the Personal Assistant companies chose that one. Now you can have something to look forward to as you get older.

Well, the people who are actually interested in sex robots and whatnot, that is. Because for someone like Sugar, the 20th birthday remained rather insignificant. Not that she had reached it yet to see for sure; she simply knew that she would never engage in the act of purchasing something like that. For many reasons. The most obvious one being that she could barely afford the tiny apartment she and her sister had to share if she wanted to attend university and buy food at the same time. Personal Assistants and cyborgs and the like were a commodity enjoyed only by the few. In any case, that was how it was back in 2112 when cyborgs were still rather fresh on the market.

Which is why the 18-year-old girl was so surprised when she saw what her sister was looking up on her computer. "A cyborg?" she squealed.

"Obviously," Candy answered while rolling her eyes. "You really thought I wouldn't get one now that I can?" She was scrolling around the options she was given by the website to order. A kind of "build your own" situation, picking out the skin color, the body type, and more.

"Now that you can?" Sugar mumbled with a raised eyebrow. "How? How are you going to afford this? Do you have any idea how-"

"I'm not stupid, Su!" she interrupted, whipping her head around to glare at her for just a second. "I'm not paying this with my own money." Then she looked back at her screen. "How tall do you say I should make him?"

But the younger girl kept gaping at her and the website. "You're gonna make our parents pay for your sex robot?"

Candy groaned, already tired of the conversation. "What do you take me for? Of course not. There are men out there who are more than willing to pay for it, Su. You're just too young to get that."

"What men?"

"Hm, I won't make him too tall," the girl mumbled to herself as she clicked on the 1,74 m. But she wasn't ignoring her little sister. "Men, Su. Idiots who want to give me a birthday gift with the promise that I'll make it look like them."

No matter what Candy thought of her, Sugar was not that young. Just because she didn't like to do the things that heathen was so used to, it didn't mean she was ignorant or innocent. She knew exactly what the woman meant. What she did in her free time, who she was friends with, what her interests revolved around. She knew, and if she didn't pay her any mind, it was because she didn't agree with it.

They may be sisters and both have sweet names, but the similarities between the two girls end there.

She leaned in closer, peaking at the screen out of pure curiosity. "So you're telling me you know someone who looks like a real-life, old anime character?"

Candy snorted, almost amused by the naivety displayed by the girl. "What do you think, halfwit?" Sugar cowered, taking a step back again. "I'm not actually going to make him look like the man, now am I? The guy is ugly, why would I want a sex toy who makes me wanna vomit?" She clicked away on her computer, going back and forth between the different lips she was considering, before choosing the softest looking ones. "What color hair are you thinking?"

The color of her sister's cyborg's hair was the last thing Sugar was occupying her mind with at that moment. But she still shook her head slightly and answered the first thing that she thought of. "Uh, I don't know... Brown?"

"Brown? Gosh, Su, why are you so boring?" She completely disregarded her, looking at the overwhelmingly big library of different colors. "Hm... I think I'm going to go with something mint-like."

Sugar couldn't care less. She didn't care what the cyborg looked like, she was more concerned with what having him around the place would be like. Would he be walking around like he paid rent, too? Or would he be switched off in a corner most of the time? She had never taken the time to consider whether having a personal assistant was like having a roommate, or a pet, a boyfriend, or pretty much the same as an automatic sweeper. Natural, since she would have never guessed she would be in a situation where she would have to find out.

And why did Candy even want one of those? It must have been all the hype, she must have felt like she was falling behind on the trend. It definitely wasn't because she was so lonely or bored she needed someone to keep her company; the girl was too "busy" to make an appearance at her own apartment most of the time.

She turned to leave the room when Candy called her. "Hey, look. What do you think?" she said as she turned the screen towards the younger one to present the image of what her cyborg was looking like so far.

"What's the point of even asking? It's not like you're going to listen to my opinion."

Candy laughed. "Aw, don't be so bitter about this, Su. You know I'd get you one, too... if you weren't still a baby." She was speaking words that sounded like she was sorry, but her smile looked anything but that.

"I don't want a cyborg," Sugar responded with what she wished was strength, but it came out too weak.

Her sister turned back to her computer to make the final touches, dismissing her with a motion of the head. "Good. Remember your words, 'cause I'm not letting you anywhere near mine."

The young girl rolled her eyes as hard as it could go when she finally left the small room and closed the door behind her. At that moment she would tell you that she didn't plan on it, that she didn't want anything to do with Candy's personal assistant. And, well, she wouldn't be lying. She simply couldn't predict her irresistible nosiness when the man was finally delivered to their place. She couldn't help but peek her head around the corner of Candy's room to witness the first time she would turn him on; she wanted to see what a cyborg looked like, what he sounded like, how he acted.

"Sugar, get out!" her sister yelled at her. "I need to be the only one here when he turns on. He needs to recognize me as his owner."

"Relax, I'm not trying to steal him from you," she scoffed. The cyborg was already half out of his box and she could see his side profile. And she ogled. The hair was indeed mint; very bright, too, falling over his forehead. He seemed to have a small, button nose that shined because of his smooth skin, and chubby cheeks. Sugar was actually quite surprised her sister had opted for such a soft-looking personal assistant. Her type usually spanned from men who looked like child abusers to men who looked like they were abused as children.

But no. That cyborg looked very cute.

Candy came all the way to the door to push Sugar's face out of it. "I said get out!"

And so the girl was left alone on the other side of the door. She puffed, considering minding her business for a second before her curiosity got the best of her, and she pressed her ear upon the wood. The sounds all came out muffled, and she couldn't quite figure out if he was on yet. Until she heard her sister giggle. She bit her lip, turning the knob as quietly as she could because she had to see, too! She was dying to see what the mint-haired boy was like when he was "alive".

She opened the door just enough for one eye to fit between the gap and look inside. The man was standing in front of Candy with his head tilted and what looked like a smile on his lips. His chest was moving, like he was breathing, his mouth opening leisurely to say something like he was thinking about it, one hand rubbing his collarbone like he was nervous... Sugar would have never been able to guess that this man wasn't a real human being. Perhaps the only giveaway would be how handsome he was; so handsome she would immediately doubt if he was real at all.

"Hi!" she burst out. Forgetting she was supposed to be spying. Forgetting she wasn't supposed to get so excited over a sex robot her sister had bought.

The man's head immediately whipped in her direction. Two small, brown eyebrows were lifted high, framing his thin, dark eyes that were wide due to the surprise of another voice being heard. His gaze found hers easily and, almost as if he had just seen an old, beloved friend, his whole face erupted in a sparkling grin.

"Hi!" he was quick to reply, matching her energy exactly, his cheeks turning a light pink. Toy-like teeth appearing behind his toy-like lips, a gummy smile that looked like it had been ordered by a kindergartener. "And who are you?"

Sugar gasped loudly. "His voice is so deep." And indeed it was, profound and husky, contrasting his cute appearance altogether. She tried to open the door more, tried to walk further in, when Candy was all over her again.

"Su! I said- get! Out!"

But the girl peered over the other's shoulder, doing her best to maintain the eye-contact. "Oh, I- I'm her sister. Nice to meet you!"

Just as she was shoved back outside, she managed to hear a "nice to meet you, too," before the door slammed in her face. And then was locked. She sighed, shaking her head and walking away. It's not like she had actually expected Candy to share or anything, so it was easy to go back to doing her own thing. Her spirit of inquiry never died out, however. The personal assistant had seemed more like a man than a cyborg -not that she had any source of comparison- and it was intriguing, to say the least. The more the older sister kept him in her bedroom, out of reach, turned off all day long, the more intrigued Sugar was.

"Why do you have him off all the time?" she asked her within the first couple of weeks, trying to catch a glimpse of the man before the door closed. "What's the point of even having him if you don't use him?"

But Candy laughed as she walked towards the kitchen to grab something to eat. "Oh, sweet, little Su. Of course I use him. I just don't invite you for a show every time I do, you know?" she mocked her.

For some reason, her words annoyed her more than usual. And it wasn't the treatment like she was stupid, she was used to that. Nor the reminder that she wasn't allowed to be anywhere near her cyborg. No, it was mostly the image of her with that darling, lovely-looking man. It was just so off-putting. It made her scrunch her nose up in disgust.

"Oh, I forgot my sunglasses," Candy mumbled with her mouth full. Then she looked at her. "Will you get them for me? They're on my desk."

She nodded. And not because she always listened to her older sister and helped her out- even when she was frustrating. But because she wasn't about to turn down a chance to sneak into her room and get another glance of the mint-haired boy. Up-close this time. He was standing by the closet across the desk with his eyes closed like he was sleeping. Sugar grabbed the glasses and dared take a few steps closer.

He was flawless. She couldn't think of any other person that was prettier than this man; not even anyone she could have seen in her dreams. He looked soft and squishy, his hair smooth and skin velvety. She got even closer, close enough to reach out a hand and carefully stroke his cheek. Feel him under her fingertips. Body cold but still so inviting. And she wanted to touch him more, thought about how unfair it was that he was wasted away locked in isolation and silence.

His eyes opened then.

"Ah!" she gasped, pulling away fast. But the man was quick enough to grab her hand.

"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," he whispered. As though he knew what was happening was a secret. His voice at such a low frequency it was almost hard to hear.

"I-" Her voice was caught in her throat. How could it not, when his deep eyes were staring straight into hers, only a breath away? "I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"Su?" Candy yelled from the kitchen.

Sugar bit her lip with force, her eyes threatening to pop off their sockets. And she shushed the personal assistant frantically, motioning for him with her hands and her face to keep quiet, to go back to sleep, whatever. And she ran back out with the sunglasses in her hands. Her sister did give her a side look, clearly for why it had taken her so long, but she didn't say anything. Just grabbed her glasses and was out of the front door.

She sighed in relief when she was left alone because alone was when she felt most at peace. But the moment didn't last too long. Right when she turned back around, she saw a head with mint hair peeking through the bedroom door. Two eyes looking at her, still, like he wasn't sure if he'd get in trouble if he moved. And she didn't know, either. She didn't know what to say, what to do. Should she tell him to go back and switch off again, as her sister would want? Or should she use this opportunity to explore more about this child of technology? And if she chose the latter, how was she even supposed to do that? How exactly are conversations with someone else's sex robot supposed to go?

"Hey," she finally said. Simple, but a good start nevertheless.

The boy blinked at her. "Hey," he mimicked.

And they were back to not knowing what to do. He hadn't moved at all, not to get out nor go back inside, just kept his eyes on her as if he was waiting for orders. Perhaps he was.

"Do you wanna come out?" Sugar whispered then.

He blinked again, his gaze falling on the front door. "Where did Candy go?"

"To her classes."

His posture was immediately fixed, standing up straight and opening the door wider, with nothing to hide, and after giving her a small smile, he walked out towards the living room. It made her realize that she wasn't the only one who was afraid of seeing him because of Candy. She didn't know what she must have told him in order to get him to appear so much more relaxed when she was away, but she was at least happy he was like that in front of her.

"You can sit on the couch if you want to," Sugar told him with a wave of her arm, knowing now what she needed to do: make him feel comfortable. He followed her proposal, sitting at the very edge, looking around. There wasn't anywhere else she could go, and she didn't want to stand over his head, so she decided to take the spot next to him. He didn't seem to mind.

"So, you live here all the time?" he asked her after he had inspected the room enough and he decided to turn his attention back on her.

It was kind of sad, how he had been closed off in that tiny bedroom all this time, so much so that he didn't even know who else lived in the house. It didn't seem to be one of his concerns, however. But then again, he was probably programmed to just follow his owner's orders, not to have his own opinion on things.

When she nodded to his question, he had another one for her. "And your name is Su?"

She chuckled. "No, no... It's Sugar. Candy is just too lazy to speak two whole syllables."

The man laughed. It was a beautiful sound, light and shy, and it seemed to tickle her skin. His cute smile on display again. It made her feel more at ease, too.

"She doesn't like names in general, does she?" he mumbled as his laugh died out slowly. And at that moment she realized she didn't know his name. Well, she knew his industrial name, had seen it on his package when he had first arrived: U-N71. But Candy always called him cyborg, or robot, or something like that.

"What does she call you?" she asked him. He had to have a proper name.

"U," he simply said.

She wasn't sure she got it right. "Yoon?"

"No, just U." His lips pressed together until his mouth had formed a straight line. It looked like he had to smile but didn't want to.

Sugar frowned at the boy. She tried to remember the few times she had heard her sister call him. A few "hey you, switch off," or "You stay in there." And it made her face pale.

"Do you mean Yoo as is the pronoun or the letter of the alphabet?" she asked him.

The boy turned his eyes to the side as he thought about the question, and then just shrugged. He shook his head, too, when the girl was still looking at him for an answer.

She exhaled loudly, not believing her sister's actions. She hadn't given her personal assistant a name! Sure, she didn't actually see him as a person, just a possession, but still, naming your cyborg is common knowledge. Even if you see him as a robot, as a pet, as whatever, how can you not have a name for him? Can you call someone a man, before you can call him a person? And can someone be a person without a name?

"I thought she was calling you Yoon!" she said exasperated enough. "You know, like, because of the first two letters on your industrial name." But no. Not only had Candy not even bothered to come up with a real, human name, she hadn't even bothered to call him by his code.

"Ah," the boy simply said. "Maybe that is what she's doing." Of course he was trying to excuse her, he probably didn't know how to do anything else. But he didn't have to do that in front of her sister; she already knew her better than anyone ever would. Which is why she knew that's not what she was doing. It was so obvious, she should have realized earlier; just because she had seen that code on that package and thought of a name for it, it didn't mean that Candy did the same.

"I actually thought your name was Yoongi," Sugar murmured, more to herself. But the machine-packed being could pick up even the softest words with no problem.

He frowned and then grinned at her. "Yoongi? Why?"

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Isn't that what your code says? U-Ngi?"

And then the boy laughed even harder. She didn't understand what was going on at first, felt like she was being made fun of. But he waved his hands around, almost like he was trying to shoo away any concerns of hers. And then they landed on her lap, trying to hold her. "Those are the numbers seven and one, not the Korean letter 기."

Sugar's whole face burned in embarrassment. "Oh-" How had she made such a mistake? She pulled away, a need to hide from his eyes and his touch overwhelming her. Or hide in general.

"I like it." His voice was low, reassuring. It immediately calmed her down. So she looked at him, and he was giving her a sweet smile. "Yoongi... I like it." The more he spoke, the more the heat all over her face became friendlier. "You should call me that from now on."

That last part of his sentence made her smile. Because it was an implication, a promise even, that the two of them would get to talk more. From then on.

And so it was. Sugar wasn't afraid to switch Yoongi on when she found herself home alone anymore. And it seemed all Yoongi did was wait for those moments, too. The moments he would be allowed to hang around outside the room, the moments he would be able to talk to a friend, moments he would spend with her. In the beginning, Sugar didn't understand why anyone would ever buy something like that, but it was becoming increasingly easier to. Perhaps she couldn't understand it from Candy's point of view -perhaps she never would- but having Yoongi in the house certainly didn't feel weird anymore. It even felt very necessary; someone to be herself around the way she couldn't around her own blood relative.

Candy wasn't using Yoongi that often after a couple more months, probably having gotten used to him already. But that also meant she wasn't as strict when it came to keeping him all to herself. Like she didn't care that much anymore. Sometimes she forgot to turn him off and let him wander. Sometimes she didn't even yell at Sugar for talking to him. And oftentimes she didn't even come back home to see either of them. That didn't mean she was treating him any better (like a person and not an object, for example) but it at least meant that there was more room for the younger girl and the cyborg to exist together, as people, alone.

But the older woman still got mad when she would take note of it.

"Sugar!" she yelled when she walked through the front door one day to find the two of them giggling on the couch. See, they had gotten a little too slack, not even checking the clock to hide away when Candy was supposed to come home. Conversation between the two being so easy that time became an illusion.

Sugar popped up immediately. "We were cooking," she offered the practiced excuse without missing a heartbeat. "I turned him on to help me cook. The food is-"

"He is not a cook, Su!"

Yoongi gulped. "Actually, I can do anything-"

"What have I told you about touching my things?" Candy scolded her sister, not satisfied and completely ignoring the personal assistant. Like he wasn't even in the room.

"Your things?" the girl mumbled. She could feel Yoongi's eyes boring at the back of her head as she took a deep breath. "He's not a thing."

"Whatever." Her sister just rolled her eyes, dropping her bag on the floor in order to take her jacket off. Then she leaned to look at Yoongi, finally acknowledging his presence. "You, go into my room and switch off." The man, still seated, didn't move or say anything right away. He just glanced at Sugar as if he was trying to figure out what to do. "What are you looking at her for? I'm your owner," Candy exclaimed. "Now go."

He didn't dare look up again; just lowered his head and walked into the bedroom. The image alone boiled Sugar's blood. She had gotten used to seeing the man smile, and the grumpy face didn't suit him at all. How Candy had managed to get him to look miserable any time she was around, it all made her head spin with anger.

"I don't understand why you're so obsessed with me not being around him," she spat out, crossing her arms over her chest.

"And I don't understand why you want to be around him in the first place," her sister countered, walking right past her. "He's my sex robot, Su. If I had a vibrator, would you hang out with that, too?"

She gasped. "That's different," she quickly argued. "And you know it!"

"No, I don't see much difference."

It shouldn't surprise her that much; Candy had displayed just how she felt about Yoongi from the very beginning. She liked him, but only as much as she liked her purses, too, for example. And she only treated him right as far as she'd also try to keep her shoes clean. It wasn't just that she refused to see the humaneness in him, but even when it was there, apparent -in his giggles, his ideas, his shyness, or his relish of the little things- the woman was quick to shut it all out. And if Yoongi seemed to be more humane around Sugar, it was like a reminder to take that away from them.

But Sugar could never see it like that. What her older sister called naivety and immaturity, was simple empathy in her eyes. She couldn't not show humanity to someone who seemed so human. And no, not even the way you would be compassionate to a dog or any other living thing; it was more than that. Sugar liked Yoongi more than she liked her sister. In her eyes, Yoongi was so much more of a person deserving of respect than Candy.

And if everything else about him wasn't enough to prove that, it definitely was enough evidence when he cared about Sugar more than his actual owner. Even though something like that would go directly against his protocol, it was undeniable that Yoongi liked Sugar just as much as she did. Undeniable in the way he always made sure she ate well and was dressed properly before leaving the house. Undeniable in the way he listened to her suggestions more than her sister's orders. In the way he carried her to bed when she fell asleep on the couch and did things for her without being told to.

Candy couldn't even care enough to notice. She was probably too "busy" again with this and that, or more accurately, him and them, to even realize that Yoongi and Sugar spent so much time together. She probably just thought her personal assistant was off all the time she wasn't there. And she especially didn't care what happened to him when she had visitors over. Usually, she just let him stay in Sugar's room to hide him away, thinking he would be turned off the entire time.

Needless to say, he wasn't.

"He's not her boyfriend," Sugar felt the need to clarify when she noticed Yoongi was keeping quiet, looking around nervously, probably paying attention to the sounds that came from the thin walls of the other bedroom.

"Oh, is he not?" he whispered back.

"No, I mean, they never last more than a month." He hummed in reply and then stayed silent. The conversation, or lack thereof, was awkward. A feeling that was rarely felt between the two of them. But she thought she could understand why he was bashful. "Are you jealous?" she asked.

Yoongi looked at her with wide eyes, not having expected the question. "Why would I be?"

"Because she has a boy over even though she has you."

"No," he answered quickly. Like he didn't need any moment longer to think. "I prefer being here. With you."

His words almost made her choke. They were undisguised and unhesitating. And his stare was just the same. The room suddenly felt too small for both of them, like the air was getting thin or the heat was rising; she wasn't sure what it was. But the fact that they were both sitting there, on one bed, keeping as much distance between them as they were allowed and just looking at each other... It felt peculiar. And she didn't know whether getting closer or farther away would solve the problem.

"I just thought-" she tried mumbling, "-because you were..."

"She is not the one I was thinking about," Yoongi said matter-of-factly. Still staring unblinkingly.

At that moment she realized she had read his stance all wrong; he wasn't shy or uncomfortable. Quite the opposite. Yoongi meant it when he said he preferred being there; he would choose being in that tiny room over anywhere else in the world. The only reason he was being so clammed up was that this was all he was able to think about; how much he liked being there with her. And he was struggling with keeping it to himself.

The mint-haired personal assistant was only thinking about this young girl instead of his master.

"Shouldn't you?" Sugar asked in regards to his response, trying to avoid the implications because she didn't know how to deal with them. "She's your owner, after all."

"Yeah," Yoongi mumbled, breaking eye-contact for the first time in order to fidget. He hummed as he thought about what to say, his voice rumbling at the back of his throat. "But you are, too. In a way."

She frowned. "I'm not."

"You're the one who named me."

Her frown deepened. The notion that Yoongi had perhaps gotten confused as to who exactly he belonged to had never crossed her mind. And that was because it was probably not true. He knew exactly how the situation was; giving him a name didn't change the actual logistics of a personal assistant. No, what he had said was more about who he chose to accept as his owner. Against the rules.

"Can you even have two owners at the same time?" Sugar whispered after she cleared her throat to relieve some of the tension that was building up inside of her. Falling for his words and indulging both of their imaginations for a moment.

Yoongi straightened his back, raising his head to look at her again. He was giving her that straight line smile again, hands still fidgeting with his pants and anything else within reach. "I wouldn't mind serving two people." He said it so low it almost felt like a mishearing. "It's not against any rules."

No, Sugar wasn't lying when she had said that she didn't want a cyborg. And she wasn't lying when she had said she wasn't interested in stealing Yoongi from her sister. But right then, if she tried to say that his words didn't immediately fill her chest with an odd feeling of hope she couldn't recognize, she would be lying.

"Really?" she rasped, her face blank as she stared at the man with her fingers tickling. She had never been so aware of his presence before. So aware of his breath coming out a little ruffled, his bright hair falling over his intense eyes, his exposed neck, his strong arms close to her. The curve of his lips. His whole body.

To put it plainly, she had never felt such a strong urge to kiss him.

"But I can't be yours," Yoongi spoke before she had the chance to sort her running mind and decide to do something stupid. He pressed his lips together and took a deep breath- she couldn't know if it was to control his own thoughts or make the rejection somewhat more bearable. But it did seem like he was speaking as more of a reminder to himself. "Because you need to be 20 or older to have a personal assistant."

"Right," Sugar mouthed, her shoulders slumping and whatever feeling was growing inside of her left her body in the form of a long sigh. "I still have a few months to go for that." About seven to be exact, since it had been almost a year since the man first entered their lives. "So you can't, like, at all? You're not allowed?"

"It is something that is impossible for me to go against."

"Right, of course." She wasn't even sure why she asked. This wasn't her personal assistant, she shouldn't even be asking things like that. "Not that- not that I wanted to- I wasn't asking because I-" Her face was beginning to warm up and it felt like there was nowhere to escape from Yoongi's gaze. He was just staring, waiting to hear what he probably really wanted to, but she would never admit.

The bedroom door next to hers opened, and they heard Candy sending her company off for the night. Sugar didn't even have to say anything for Yoongi to know what he had to do; he rushed to the corner of the room and closed his eyes- she didn't know if he actually switched off or was just acting like it. Two seconds later the door next to him opened without even a knock as a warning. Even though she was expecting it, Sugar still jumped a little as if she had been caught red-handed. As if her sister would be able to read her mind, see her blush, or hear her racing heart as evidence of something that hadn't even happened. Something that she was just guilty of thinking about.

"What are you doing?" she asked her with a gesture. She was just in her underwear, not shy to appear like that in front of her sister.

Sugar bit her lip, looking around to see if she had anything close-by that she could pretend was what she was occupying herself with, but there was nothing. "I was just about to go to sleep," she said then, picking up the covers to lie under. Candy's eyes fell on Yoongi, looking at him as if she was suspicious of something. "Did your friend leave?" Sugar asked to cover the silence and get her mind off.

"Yes. I'm gonna grab him now-" she replied as she took Yoongi by the collar, "-you know, to finish what that useless moron couldn't." She snapped his fingers in front of his closed eyes. "Hey, robot. Wake up." It was almost sad that Yoongi knew when he was being called on even when she wasn't saying his name; he opened his eyes and greeted her. "Come on, let's go." She pulled his collar until he was walking right behind her.

Sugar forced a smile, along with a fake chuckle. "Great. Have fun! Goodnight." Candy didn't bother saying anything back as she left the room, but just as the door was closing Sugar was able to catch a glimpse of Yoongi's eyes over his shoulder. Wide eyes with a frown.

Well, there was nothing she could do about that. Even if he didn't want to leave. Even if she didn't want him to, either. Right after she heard the other bedroom door close, Sugar grabbed her pillow and screamed into it as silently as she could, yet still releasing all the frustration she had. She screamed and cried and howled while punching her pillow and her wall and herself. She hated all of it. The fact that Candy was a straight-up bitch, the fact that Yoongi was a cyborg who had to follow orders, the fact that her sister could do anything she wanted with him and she couldn't even talk to him freely, always whispering, always hiding away. She hated that Yoongi wasn't hers. And she hated that she couldn't control time to make herself 20 years old faster.

Time is ruthless. It never yields to anyone's pleas, no matter how desperate. It always goes by excruciatingly slow, or alarmingly fast; always doing the exact opposite of what you need it to do. Like it's laughing right in your face for wishing the universe to be different. As if someone as small and insignificant as you could ever tempt time itself to do you a favor. But sometimes -just sometimes- external things work so as not to control time, but perhaps make the time you must pass, be at the very least pleasant.

That was the case when Candy found herself an assistantship in a hospital that she had to take if she wanted to graduate. And that took up more or less 10 hours of her day, and it would last 6 months. Which meant, basically, that Sugar and Yoongi could truly enjoy each other's company for the first time. And so time went by a little easier. Everything was a little easier with him by her side.

It still was just a distraction, however. No matter how many movies they watched together, how many meals they cooked, how many games they played, how many cuddles they shared... It was still hard to part in the evening. It still made Sugar roll around her bed in exasperation, unable to sleep, because her man was next door instead of in her arms. Some nights he would be able to escape and he would sneak into her room to see her. And he held her not in the way he wanted to, but in the only way he was allowed to.

And Sugar was just counting down the days for her birthday. She wasn't sure what it would mean, how things would change- if they changed at all. But she could tell Yoongi was counting down the minutes, too, so she thought perhaps that meant something.

There used to be a time when she thought there would be nothing consequential about that day of her life. Yet there she was, waking up with the brightest smiles on her face that one morning. And running to find the man switched off with her hands slightly trembling.

"Good morning, Yoongi," she whispered to him, fingers grazing his cheek. He always looked so good, but for some reason, at that moment he managed to look even better. So much so Sugar was struggling to control her urges, even when she wasn't exactly sure what they were.

"Good morning, my Sugar," Yoongi rasped before he even opened his eyes. When he did, he grinned as if he was beholding your beauty for the very first time.

The girl bit her lip, trying to hide her similar expression, even though there was no need. "It's my birthday today."

Of course, he knew that already. "You turn 20?" He knew that, too, but he still asked like he was trying to believe it, to make sure it wasn't a dream. But Sugar nodded frantically, chuckling a little. "And where's Candy?"

"At work."

Yoongi let out a breath with a hint of a chuckle, nodding a little, as he took a moment to appreciate his eyes wandering all over her. And then he held her face with both hands and crushed his lips on hers. Lips just as soft as she had always imagined. Tongue even softer as it caressed her own. But he didn't stop there, pressing on her in a need to get as close as possible, until she stumbled back and her body was flushed against the wall. She moaned into the kiss, arms traveling up to wrap around his neck, hands grabbing him by the nape and by the hair. And the torture they had both been on for the past year and a half was over. Kissing him like that was all she had ever needed.

"Wait," Sugar said, out of breath, when he released her mouth long enough to kiss down her neck. "Isn't this wrong? Doesn't it go against your protocol?" Because even though she was 20 now, he was still her sister's personal assistant. And personal assistants were supposed to be the most loyal.

"Oh, very much so, yes," Yoongi laughed and went right back to kissing her. Because he couldn't care less. He was able to kiss her and that was all that mattered.

It all became too heated too fast, as he had her pinned on that wall, grabbing her thighs so that she could straddle his waist, his hard-on straining his pants and pressing on her in a way it made her stomach clench. It wasn't even surprising when they had waited for this for so long; neither was interested in taking their time. Before you knew it, he was carrying her to her bedroom and on that bed, undressing her eagerly. Only pausing to admire her semi-naked body under him and the blush on her cheeks.

"Is this your first time?" he asked sweetly, a hand stroking her arm in a reassuring way. Because he needed to know how he should act for her.

"Uh..." Sugar hesitated, not having expected a conversation about it. "I guess it depends on how much we're talking about doing."

"Everything," he stated as he took his t-shirt off with a casual move. He licked his lips, leaning closer to her face to inspect her reaction. "You don't understand how long I've waited for this, Sugar. I'm going to give you everything I can right now."

"Oh," she gulped, squirming a bit around. Not that his words scared her or anything; on the contrary, they turned her on so much. But Yoongi still held her gently, kissing her slow and steadily.

"Don't worry," he whispered against her lips. "Don't be nervous. It's my first time, too."

Sugar pulled away abruptly. "What?" she called out, looking at him with wide eyes.

Yoongi looked at her with his classic smile with his lips pressed together, his chubby cheeks poking out further. He knew exactly why she was confused. With a side look and a sigh, he murmured his explanation. "Candy only uses me for oral."

But that still didn't add up. "What?" How was something like that possible? Sugar had been dying to get her hands on him, dying to do everything her mind could come up with to him. And the girl that had the chance to have him all this time didn't even take full advantage of that privilege? It was so unbelievable it almost hurt her mind to think about it.

And Yoongi shrugged his shoulders a bit, looking down like he was suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. "I don't know," he muttered. "I guess it was all she wanted me for? I mean, she did order me with custom-made tongue technology and fingers..." He looked at his hands with a sad expression. Probably thinking that admitting this would make Sugar see him in a lesser way.

But something like that would never happen. She grabbed the hand he was inspecting and brought it close to her face. "Your fingers are very pretty, baby," she whispered, reassuring him that she liked him just how he was built. She pressed a kiss on his knuckles before she made eye-contact and slipped his index and middle fingers in her mouth.

Yoongi gasped at the feeling. "Oh, that feels nice." He pushed them further in, letting her wet them and suck on them earnestly, as he made quick work of ribbing her panties. Sugar's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she moaned around his digits when she felt his free hand land on her center. Rubbing her hard. Getting right to the point.

She released him from her mouth with a pop and Yoongi immediately brought that hand down, too, helping with the slick to slip on her clit more easily. He watched her face contort with pleasure, seemingly not being able to get enough. He still couldn't believe that it was her moaning his name under him instead of his owner. Of all the times he was thinking about this exact thing, he could have never guessed it would be so amazing.

"Sugar, tell me what you want," he asked then. Still needing orders to function properly. "Do you want my fingers? My mouth? What do you want me to do for you?"

The girl whined, her body arching to grind on his touch, legs trembling a little. "I want to do whatever you want, baby," she moaned. With some effort, she managed to focus her eyes on his and she kissed him deeply, almost getting lost like that again. Then she pulled away to take a breath. "I don't want you to work for just my pleasure, Yoongi. What do you want to do?"

He stopped. And for a second she thought she had said something wrong. But then he grabbed her face with both hands to swallow her lips up as he moaned in the kiss. "I want to fuck you," he admitted with a whine. "I want to fuck you so hard, but I'm scared of hurting you."

She was quick to shake her head. "No, no, please," she whined, griding once again up to him and this time pressing her naked pussy on his clothed boner. "Please do it for me."

His hand flew to his crotch, grabbing himself through his sweatpants. And he was ready to free his cock and plunge it straight into her, when he drew back all of a sudden. "Oh, shit, I forgot-" he cursed. His fingers found her core again, and with just a hint of hesitation, he pushed one past her folds. His hand shook a bit as he started to thrust in and out of her as if he wasn't sure he was doing it right. Sure, he was literally made for this, but something was messing with his head and he wasn't acting out of some premeditated directions. All he knew right then was how much he wanted to feel those hot, wet walls of hers engulf his dick entirely, and he barely even noticed anything else that was going on.

But those fingers were just as good as they looked; they had Sugar gasping for air in such little time, even she couldn't get herself to the edge so fast during all those times she had tried to alleviate the need for this mint-haired man on her own. "Yoongi! Yoongi!" she was whining, again and again, trying to get his attention since he seemed to have fallen into a trance. She bit down on his neck, hard enough to get him to shout. "Please, Yoongi, no more of that. Just fuck me already. Please, I've already waited for so long."

He frowned at her, his fingers drilling deeper inside her, causing her mouth to drop open. "I need to stretch you out, little one," he explained in a low tone. "This is your first time and I'm nothing easy to handle."

But she wasn't satisfied with his answer. She bit down his shoulder this time, making him hiss until he had to pull her hair to get her off him. "I said fuck me right now!" she demanded.

Yoongi's gaze turned darker. "Fine," he budged, clearly unable to say no to her. Retrieving his fingers and his whole body, he pushed his sweatpants down until his dick was revealed. And that's when Sugar realized what he meant; it wasn't too long but it was definitely very thick, with a big head that was fuming pink and dripping. "Is this what you want?" he asked with a smirk when he noticed her stunned reaction.

But she nodded immediately, licking her lips. It didn't scare her one bit. In fact, it made her stomach clench harder, her pussy walls pulsing around nothing. "Yes, please."

Yoongi chuckled. He pinned her legs away, making room for him to settle right in front of her entrance more comfortably. "Alright. You should tell me if it hurts." And then he slowly pushed his tip inside.

Sugar was already moaning, but he could tell by her heartbeat that it was only from pleasure. He paused, letting her get used to his girth, no matter how much he just wanted to start thrusting already. Then he offered up his fingers to her mouth again, letting her suck on them and taste herself to hush her a bit as he gradually dipped further in. And he worried about what she was thinking of when he manage to bottom out, when she was crying around his fingers.

"God," she whined and Yoongi was ready to pull out and hold her softly. "Oh, God, it feels so good."

"Does it hurt?"

"Only a little." Her body squirmed beneath him. "Please move."

But when he did, she was screaming again, and he halted. "Are you okay? Do you want to stop?"

"No!" she groaned, moving her body around to try and get some friction. "No, stop stopping! It's worse when you're not moving."

"Ah..." Yoongi breathed. But he followed her words like orders; giving her swallow thrusts at first, slowly, and then picking up the pace when her sobs began to sound less like pain and more like a thrill. After that, it was hard to tell exactly what he was doing, completely lost in the feeling. Sugar was sucking on his fingers again and all he could think about was how he couldn't wait to fuck her mouth next. After making her cum as many times as she asked for, of course.

Which were a lot. The girl couldn't have enough of his dick inside her, already addicted from the first time he rubbed her just the right way to make her building orgasm snap, gushing her juices all around him. Which they both agreed was the best feeling ever. If he pressed a hand on her belly he could feel just what spot he was hitting inside of her, and it had him cursing under his breath. Still unable to believe he was fucking this girl just like he wanted to.

He turned her around without a warning. Had her on her knees and elbows as he stroked her ass with a smirk. "You like my dick inside you, little one?" he asked.

"So much," Sugar moaned, pushing back on him because she already missed him.

Yoongi smacked her right asscheek sharply, making her gasp, her heartbeat instantly picking up, betraying how much she liked the feeling. It made him smirk. "Do you want to feel more of it?"

And she nodded fast. "Yes! Yes, give it to me." Her voice was straining with want. He spanked her once more before he thrust back into her, hitting spots he couldn't before, making her scream out and hold onto the bedframe. The new position not only allowed Yoongi to drive deeper inside her but also gave him the freedom to move faster. He fucked her like that until her arms and legs were too weak to hold her weight. Then he fucked her some more while she just lay there. And when the hours had passed and he had made sure she was completely satisfied, he asked for permission to finish in her mouth.

Such a sweet mouth. He loved seeing it covered in his cum.

"Happy birthday, baby," he told her when he cuddled into her, for as long as they had left.

It didn't matter how long they had left, though. It felt like they had all the time in the world from then on. They could enjoy each other to their fullest every day, any time they were alone. She could ride him on the couch while they were supposed to be watching a movie. He could fuck her in the shower or on the kitchen counter when she tried to do anything other than giving him attention. She could sit on his face after a tiring day. He could spank her when she was acting bratty.

All in secret. All hurriedly, only at specific times, against all the rules.

Candy didn't notice anything different. Not even when she was done with work and spent more hours at home. She never noticed how they stole quick kisses when she wasn't looking, or how Yoongi sneaked out of her room to go sleep in Sugar's arms. She still used him every now and then, pretty rarely at that point, and the man would always go find Sugar afterward with a pout. Begging to hold her tight because he didn't want her sister to be the last thing on him before he switches off for the night.

"She may be the owner of my body, but I hope you know that you're the owner of my heart," he told her, again and again. And she knew.

Perhaps Candy hadn't noticed what exactly had changed, but she had definitely realized things weren't the same anymore. And for that, she took it out on everyone, since she couldn't pinpoint what was bothering her. She was meaner to Sugar, treated Yoongi even more like he barely existed enough to be able to hear her, and even unsuspecting passerbys of her life got to struggle with her unstable moods. Sometimes she disappeared for days on end; sometimes she didn't leave her room at all.

But the moment it all crossed a line for Sugar was the day she got back from her classes to find the house quiet.

"Candy?" she asked first, like she always did, to check the territory. But she had no response. "Yoon- Yoongi, oh my god!" she exclaimed when she saw the cyborg on the floor of her sister's room. She ran to him, dropping to her knees right in front of him to look better at his injured face dripping blood. "Are you okay?" she shrieked, holding his head strongly, trying to assess the damage. "What happened? Did Candy do this to you?"

Yoongi groaned, trying to escape her hold, trying to look away in order to hide his wound. "It's fine," he rasped, a hand wrapping around her wrist.

That just meant she was right. It made her shake from anger; anger at her sister for laying a hand on this man, anger at Yoongi for still defending her, anger at herself for being away and allowing something like that to happen. But she couldn't understand why. Sure, Candy had never displayed proper handling of her personal assistant, but hitting him seemed like an extreme, even for her. She never even hit Sugar. But perhaps that was because she saw her as a human being.

"Why did she do this? Did she find out about us?"

Yoongi shook his head, his face scrunching up as he still tried to hide away from her gaze and her care. "No, no..." he explained. "She didn't mean to, it was an accident."

"What accident?" Sugar wasn't believing him. "Where is she now then?"

"She just wasn't in a good mood and I- I made a mistake, it was my fault. I'm sure she didn't want to really do this."

But she still wasn't buying it. There was no way it was his fault. "What mistake?" What could he possibly have done to warrant this kind of behavior? She was certain it was all bullshit.

But Yoongi still shook his head. "It's fine, Sugar. You know cyborgs don't feel pain."

"Oh, shut up."

She took care of him, physically and mentally. Because maybe the bloody nose and couple of bruises weren't something too big to fuss over, but the trauma of your owner being violent to you had to be. And it was Sugar's job to fix that. It was her job to hold him close and remind him how loved he was. How great he was. How he was the best thing in her life.

The sister didn't show up for days again. Perhaps because she knew she would get a serious scolding if she did. Or perhaps that didn't even cross her mind, she was just busy doing her own thing. That seemed more likely; hurting Yoongi had probably never even occurred to her was wrong.

"What the hell, Candy?" Sugar yelled at her when she found her on her computer again one day. "Where the hell have you been?"

The woman didn't even bother looking up. "What do you care?"

The girl growled under her breath. "What did you do to your personal assistant, huh?" Yoongi was switched off, in the corner. "You know you can't hit him."

Candy rolled her eyes, groaning in irritation. "What is your issue here, Su? He's mine, I can do whatever I want with him."

"No!" she cried. "That's not-"

"He's too old, anyway," she interrupted. "He barely even works properly anymore."

The words made Sugar stammer, blinking at the older woman while she tried to wrap her head around what she had just heard. "What? What do you mean by old? He's not even 3 yet."

"Su!" she called out louder, as though the volume of her voice would get her to understand better her pointless view. "He is such an old model, I think I need to get a new one."

Sugar just gaped at her. Truly, at that point, how could she still get shocked by her sister's behavior? Wasn't it obvious enough already that she only viewed Yoongi as a device? A gadget that was in fashion before, but the trend had already evolved. And so Candy had no use of him anymore.

"You're-" the girl gulped, still trying to control herself and understand what was happening, as her hands trembled in the effort. "You're telling me you'll buy a new personal assistant?"

With just a quick move, that website was pulled at the front of the screen then. She had already been looking around. "Well, I have to. Don't I?"

"And what about the one you already have?"

She just shrugged her shoulders casually. "I guess I'll throw him away."

Sugar jumped. "What? No! You can't do that!"

But the sister just waved her arm around, annoyed. "Ah, Su! I already told you, he doesn't even work right. I might be able to get some money out of him, but I don't know."

"Candy, you can't!" she kept yelling.

And she kept ignoring her. "Do you think he can be recycled?"

The word hit her like a punch in the stomach. Frantic, she grabbed her by the shoulder to turn her abruptly around and demand her attention. "God damnit, Candy! You- you can't just throw him away. He is not a thing that you can just get rid of. He is not your fucking vibrator and you can just get a new one when you're bored. He is a human being! I mean- I mean not exactly, but he is a person. And if you want to get another one so bad, fine, do it. But just let Yoongi stay. Don't fucking throw him away like he's nothing. Let me have him. If you don't want him anymore, I can have him!"

Sugar was left panting, glaring at an open-mouth Candy. The longer she stayed silent, however, the more she regretted her words, knowing instantly that blowing up on her was a mistake that would soon haunt her. She could tell just by the way her sister's eyes narrowed like she was killing her in her mind.

"Who?" she finally said in a high-pitched voice. "Yoongi who, bitch? You named him?"

Of course. Came back to bite her right away. Sugar stuttered, not sure how to fix that mistake. "I-"

"You fucking bitch," Candy said with a sinister laugh. "I knew it. I knew you liked that fucking cyborg."

Her eyes ran to the man in question, wishing he could help her. But he would probably be unable to go against his owner, anyway. "No, I- I don't like him," she tried to lie. "It's just that-"

"No, because you're always all over my stuff!" Candy ranted. "You just want what's mine, Su, you always have. And you can't mind your own fucking business for once."

"I don't want your stuff! He's not stuff, that's what I'm trying to-"

"Oh, please," she scoffed. "You don't give a fuck about cyborgs. You're just jealous he's mine and not yours and you're trying to get back at me."

Sugar's whole body was vibrating. "No, you fucking bitch! I don't want your stuff. Go ahead and get a new fucking cyborg if you want to. I want Yoongi, okay? Just don't throw Yoongi away."

She laughed in her face. "And what? Let you fuck my sex robot? I don't think so!"

"Too late for that!"

She knew she shouldn't have said it. It really had slipped her mouth before she even realized what she had done. But it certainly worked; it made Candy shut up completely. Though it also made Sugar fear for her life. Hers and Yoongi's. The woman was just staring at her, obviously trying to grasp the extent of the younger's words. When had it happened? How long had it been happening for? Exactly how much had her own sister and her personal assistant been mocking her, deceiving her, backstabbing her?

Without another word and just a death glare on her face, Candy picked up her phone to type away. Which confused Sugar at first.

"Wha- what are you doing?"

But then she started talking to whoever was on the other side of the line. "Hey, what's up? Yeah, so, remember the personal assistant I was telling you about? Could you come to get him, like, tomorrow, maybe? Yeah? Cool, thanks, dude. See you."

She was stunned. She couldn't, no, she refused to believe what was happening. Even though she knew very well that Candy was capable of the absolute worst, she held on to that single shred of hope that this was all a joke. A sick gag to mess with her. Shaking her head, begging of her.

But her sister just gave her a smug look. A look of revenge. "Best case scenario he gets reset and sent into a brothel," she taunted. "Maybe then you can visit him sometime."

There were so many feelings running through Sugar at that moment, that her mind couldn't decide which to display. And so she froze. She wanted to scream, cry, fight, murder. She ended up doing the second one; closing herself off in her bedroom and sobbing until it was hurting her chest and she thought she would die of heartache. She didn't know what else to do, she didn't know how to fix this. Candy was staying next to Yoongi like she was guarding him, and in less than 24 hours she would give him up to his end. And even if Sugar wanted to find a way to save him -run away with him, change Candy's mind, set him free somehow- there didn't seem to be a plan that could work properly.

Or at least a plan with no faults.

It was when the sky had started to get a dull blue, a little bright, at around 5 am that morning after Sugar had spent all night weeping, and thinking, and failing, when she reached a point that there was nothing left inside of her to get out. An expressionless face, an almost apathy to whatever was going to happen next. She opened her sister's door, quiet as a mouse, pulling Yoongi out successfully without waking her up. And she didn't hesitate to steal him, get him in the other's car to drive him as far away as she could get before the sun was totally up and there was no more foggy twilight to conceal them in their illicit activity.

But she knew very well that she couldn't just keep going, forever. Not when Yoongi was still Candy's personal assistant. He would always go back for his owner- he was unable to do otherwise.

They stopped under a tiny bridge in the middle of a field. He was a little confused as to why, but Sugar made him get out. She avoided his eyes in fear of breaking her strong facade in front of him and giving her plan away.

"So, what happens now?" he asked and she couldn't ignore him.

She was looking down at their feet, fidgetting around as she cleared her throat to try and sound more certain about what she was about to say. "I'll let you go. You will leave now, I'm sure you'll be able to survive on your own. You are a very capable guy." All of that was true.

Yoongi was trying to catch her eyes, her off-beat heart making him wonder whether she was acting like that because she was nervous or because of some other reason. "What about Candy?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I'll just tell her you heard our conversation and escaped. She might not believe me- she probably won't. But you don't have to worry about that, I'll be alright." She couldn't help but glance at him. But the way he was looking at her, with that frown and that pout, made the situation that much more difficult. So she turned away, wanting to get back into that car. "But-" she added, "-you have to stay away. You have to promise me you will never come back."

They both knew that was impossible. Which was the first thing that made him suspect her.

"Will I be able to see you again?" he asked, still trying to figure out where this was going.

He heard a sob caught in the back of her throat, but when she looked up she had a smile on her lips. A clearly fake one. "Maybe not right away. You know, until things die down we shouldn't risk it. But later, perhaps, we can find a way to meet in secret."

It was the second thing that tipped him off. When Sugar kissed him, seemingly as a form of goodbye, and he felt her hands sneak up on parts of his body she had never touched, he knew immediately what she was up to. He pulled her back, holding her at arm's length. "What are you doing?"

"I- I have to," she sobbed at him.

"No!" he yelled the way he never had. "No! Sugar, you can't do this."

"I didn't want to either-"

"I won't let you!" He was panicking, holding her back as she was fighting to get close to him again.

"Yoongi, it's the only way!" she cried. "It's the only way for you to be free."

"No, I don't want to forget you," he cried, too. His hold on her arms intensifying, his fingers pressing on her flesh hard enough to bruise. Like he was too scared she would slip right through them. And she would. "I refuse to forget you," he mumbled, the words coming out drowsy as he watched the tears race down her cheeks.

Unbeknownst to him, his reset had already started.

Sugar was finding it so hard to find the words to speak as she felt his grip loosen, noticed his eyes unfocusing. "It's going to be alright, Yoongi," she murmured, a hand caressing his cheek and petting his hair. "You won't even remember this pain in a bit, baby, you will be just fine."

"No..." It was getting harder and harder for him to form a sentence.

And Sugar kept on sobbing. "I love you so much, Yoongi." And when she kissed him again, he was so far gone already, his lips barely worked against hers. But he still managed to whisper his last words.

"I refuse... I refuse to forget you..."

And with that, he was off. His eyes closed, his breath halted, his whole memory erased. His torture had ended and now only remained Sugar's. Her knees buckled and she found herself on the ground, the chest pain returning right away as she howled out her sorrow. As the image of a vacant Yoongi in front of her made her unable to stop wailing. And she cried, harder and harder, feeling her stomach tighten and ready to throw up. She didn't want to leave. She didn't even have the strength to get up. But the personal assistant had already begun to turn on -with his factory settings- and she needed to get away before that happened.

She didn't know how a cyborg would act and survive in a situation like that; the whole purpose of their existence was to serve someone. So what would Yoongi do when there was no one to serve? She could only hope that it would work out for him. Having no owner had to at least be better than having Candy as one.

So Yoongi had to wake up with no one around. No one to be his owner. Perhaps then he could belong to himself.

So she got in the car and drove away, hardly able to see in front of her due to the tears clouding her eyes. And she still wept over the wheel, her heart feeling like it was about to bust. She paused farther away, on top of a hill, since she couldn't help but look back. One last time.

The mint-haired boy had opened his eyes and was looking around, obviously confused, with a black cat rubbing against his legs.

At least he had company. Sugar went back home with no hopes of ever seeing him again. She endured her sister's wrath for days, but nothing could hurt her anymore. And nothing could be done. Yoongi was gone forever, completely impossible for them to find him or for him to find them. And the only thing that consoled her and got her through the next days, and months, and years, was the hope that he was better off.

Sugar was the only one who got the short end of the stick. Because even years later she couldn't forget, and she couldn't recover, and she couldn't move on. She kept looking for him, even though she had no idea where in the world he might be, with whom, or what his name even was at that point. The only information she had on him was his mint hair- if that hadn't changed yet. Her heart always skipped a beat whenever she saw someone with hair like that. But it was never him.

Well, not exactly never. It had been almost five years when she saw a mint-haired boy, and with a better look, she recognized Yoongi's chubby cheeks and gummy smile. And two seconds later he was lost in the crowd again.

Sugar nearly lost him as she was frozen, unable to believe what she had just seen. But thankfully her legs started working before the bus doors closed and she managed to get on. Only a few steps away from him. He clearly didn't remember her -and how could he- paying her no mind and not even noticing someone was staring at him. And she didn't know what to do. She couldn't just go up to him; what would she even say? No, she just wanted to look at him a little longer. Happy to see he appeared in good shape. Healthy and content, like he never was while he was her sister's toy.

He had his lips pressed together in a line, and the familiar expression brought tears into her eyes. She wanted to hold him, and kiss him, and talk to him so bad. But she was just a stranger to him.

Yoongi got off the bus, and Sugar followed. And then he got into a hotel, but she stayed back. The sign stated that it was a "Personal Assistant friendly" hotel, so she had to assume he was staying there. Which meant he had no house to live in. Which meant he had no owner. Maybe it should make her feel a bit guilty, but knowing that he was existing on his own only made her happier.

She went to that hotel every day, for weeks. She never got in. What would she do, ask the receptionist for a mint-haired cyborg? They would just throw her out, and with good reason. But she was able to catch a glimpse of him every now and then when he walked in and out, and it was enough for her. Knowing where he was, knowing he was alright, and even seeing his cute face just a little was more than enough to get her through her days. Even days that were terrible, days that it was bitterly cold or pouring outside and she had to wait in front of the entrance for hours to see him.

"Excuse me?"

Sugar froze. Stunned as she recognized the low, coarse voice coming from behind her. Her eyes widened to their fullest, she didn't know if she would pass out from fear or thrill, but she was definitely going to.

"Can I help you?" Yoongi pressed on, taking a step closer to her.

"Ah, n-no..."

"Come inside, you're getting wet," he mumbled, one hand pressing on her back to guide her in the building. And she jumped at the contact, but let him bring her with him. "Do you need a room?" he asked when the two of them were in the comfort and warmth of the small lobby. Just a few lights on and no one around but a chunky, black cat that was sleeping and purring on the front desk.

She shook her head, her voice still struggling to come out right. The cyborg raised an eyebrow, then casually walked behind the counter.

"I've seen you outside quite a lot," he told her. "Is there someone you're looking for here?"

Sugar gulped. "You- you've seen me? No, I..."

"Did you lose your personal assistant and think they might be here?"

She was quick to shake her head. "No! I don't have one of those!"

And he frowned at her, almost offended. "Alright. No need to say it like that." Unaware she actually meant she could never have anyone other than him.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, tilting her head as she watched him, seated on that desk. "Do you work here?"

"I own the place."

The words made her heart flutter; the side of her lips twitch. She couldn't be more proud of him and how far he had come, from being a cyborg belonging to others, to an independent person with a business. And the verb that he had chosen... Yes, she was so proud Yoongi owned something instead of the other way around.

"Oh," she rasped, another sob caught in her throat. "That's very impressive, Mr..."

"Suga."

That broke her even further. Completely dazed, she blinked at him. "What?" she mouthed. Had he just said what she thought he had?

But the man spoke even clearer. "My name is Suga."

Her head was spinning, unable to wrap around his words. And her fingers and toes tickled as she got goosebumps all over her skin, her legs feeling weak all of a sudden. Her eyes filled with tears instantly.

"That's- that's a nice name," she choked out. And she wanted to cry but she did her best to stay composed in front of him. "Did someone give it to you?"

The mint-haired boy frowned again, pouting a little, too. "No, I named myself. Why?"

He couldn't possibly know why, but she did. She knew why he had chosen that name. Why it couldn't have been a coincidence that it was probably the first thing he thought about when he woke up. Why it filled her heart and chest with a loud, unknown emotion, and she couldn't stop the tears streaming down her face anymore. Why it felt like her agony was finally over.

Because he had truly refused to forget her.

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skepticalcatfrog · 3 years ago

Text

Collateral Damage, Chapter 2

First Chapter Next Chapter Masterpost AO3 Link

Summary: Four test subjects have lived inside of a lab for as long as they can remember, with barely any memory of who they are or how they got there aside from what they've been told. When they start suspecting things might not be exactly as they seem, they see no option other than escaping into the outside world to find answers despite knowing close to nothing about life outside the lab. Meanwhile, four completely normal teenagers just out of highschool find themselves wrapped up in a mystery involving shady organizations and illegal experimentation.

POV: Tyler Jones

Pairings: Aurora O'Malley x Kaliis Gilwraeth, (Eventual) Scarlett Jones x Finian de Seel, Zila Madran x Nari Kim, and Tyler Jones x Saedii Gilwraeth

Word count: 3,667

Author's Notes: I know it's been a loooooong wait since the last chapter, but chapter 2 is finally here! I was super preoccupied with life stuff and didn't have much time to write, then when I finally finished this chapter, I didn't have the energy to post it. But here we are! Enjoy!

~~~

At the same flat metal table in the same dark, otherwise empty room, another boy sits. He had only been there for a short while before the detective across from him had entered the room. He's admittedly getting a little irritated with the situation he's in, but he's significantly more patient than Finian, and if he's being honest, he'd probably say he's a bit more respectful too. He pays close attention as the detective presses the button on his recording device.

"This is Detective Adams, here with…" He trails off, gesturing to the boy as if to cue him in.

The boy leans forward to make sure he'll be picked up by the device. "Tyler Jones."

"How old are you, Tyler?"

"18 years old."

Adams nods. "When was the first time you met the kids from the GIABSA?"

"Well, they came up to me outside my friend Cat's house to ask for my help." Tyler explains. "I didn't know what they wanted me to do, they just told me that it was serious, and that they were being followed by someone."

"Wait," Adams holds up one of his hands as a signal for Tyler to stop speaking. "So these four total strangers just walked right up to you and asked for your help? They didn't give you any context?"

Tyler drags a hand through his blond hair. "Right. To be fair to them though, they did give me a little context. But it wasn't like that helped. I was still freaking out."

"So what did you do about this?"

"Honestly? I'd probably say I panicked, sir."

Adams raises an eyebrow. "Do you mind elaborating?"

"No, yeah, of course…"

~ ~ ~

The first thing I did was just stare at them. Obviously it was awkward, but what else was I supposed to do? Thinking back on it, I'm pretty sure my mouth was hanging open a little. It took me a minute even to just fully take in what they looked like. There was a girl and a guy who looked pretty alike. They both had tanned olive skin and sharp, piercing features. One had black hair, but one had silver hair, and that was the first odd thing I noticed. The next thing was that they both had purple eyes, and pointy ears like elves from some kind of fantasy romance novel my sister would read. Not to mention that they were both pretty ripped. Honestly, either one of them probably could've torn me in half. And believe me, I'm capable of putting up a good fight.

There was also another girl who looked a lot nicer. She had choppy black hair, with a thick white streak in her bangs. Her eyes matched her hair, one of them a dark brown and the other one white. Last but not least, there was a boy who looked a little like a coloring page that hadn't been done yet. He had bright white skin and hair, and for whatever reason, his eyes were tightly shut. There were a lot of other things that I could've let my brain not connect about them, but I didn't have a chance to, because at that point I was finally connecting what the girl with the mismatched eyes had asked, and what the white haired boy was saying to me.

A couple of thoughts ran through my head at the same time. What kind of 'situation' are they in? Why are they on a time crunch? Who are they running from? That was when I'd say I really started panicking.

All I could say was, "I… I'll be right back."

Then I turned right around and practically ran to the house. I closed the door behind me a little louder than I meant to, which made the other people inside glance up at me. My sister Scarlett was in a chair across the room, and our friend Cat was stretched across a couch nearby scrolling on her phone. We were at her house, one that technically belonged to one of her relatives who was never around.

"What're you running from, Ty? Did you see a scuffed boot outside?" Scarlett wiggled her fingers at me, clearly amused by my fear.

"No." I shook my head, slightly out of it. "Actually, there might've been a ghost or something." There was the boy with the white hair. Who knew what his deal was.

"I'm sorry, what?" Cat sat up then, suddenly interested.

"Okay, I'm going to start this by telling you guys that either I might be crazy, or the people outside might be going to some kind of costume party."

A gentle, slightly concerned smile crossed my sister's face. "Ty, did you drink that milk that's in the fridge? Because that was just a little expired and you might be delirious."

"No, I didn't- and also you should probably throw that away- but that's not the point." I went to the window to the left of the door and pulled back the curtain a little. "It'll be hard to explain, so I just need you to look."

Scarlett raised an eyebrow at me, but still got up to look. She stood beside me and saw who I was looking at right away, given that this was a small town and they were really the only people of interest out there. "Oh, shit, yeah. Those look like cosplayers if I've ever seen them. What were they talking to you about?" She glanced at me, then back to the group.

"That girl in the middle, the short one with black hair, she was asking for my help. Then that tall guy in all the metal brace things started talking about how they were being chased." I explained. "I didn't get a lot more than that, but they seemed pretty serious."

"Are you gonna help them, then?" Scar nudged me with her elbow. "Seems like something you'd do."

"I don't know. Probably."

Cat, who was now standing behind us, decided to pipe up. "You've got to be kidding me, Ty! You don't even know what they want! It could be something insane for all we know. And look," she pointed to the group outside, who were clearly arguing about something. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this. I'm really not sure we can trust them."

"That's a good point, Cat," Scar admitted. "But still, wouldn't you rather at least try? I mean, if they really are in trouble, then I agree with Tyler. I want to help them."

Cat stared at her like she'd just suggested playing a drinking game with the milk in the fridge. "Have you both lost your minds? We don't know how bad their issue is. There's no way in hell I'm involving myself in this, and you shouldn't either. Just go outside, tell them to fuck off, and we can go back to enjoying our summer."

I had to admit, those were some good points too. Helping total strangers who seemed to be in some kind of danger was definitely a risky move, especially when they looked the way these guys did. Because sure, from far away they could've been costumes, but up close? All those weird things about them seemed just a little too real. There had to be a story behind that, and I wasn't sure if it was one I wanted to hear. Plus, Cat was right. We'd only just graduated a week before. It was our first summer out of high school, and personally I thought that the idea of spending it six feet under after having been murdered by a pack of wandering trick or treaters was a real bummer.

I heaved a sigh. "Alright."

Scarlett shot me one of those looks she did when she thought I was being dumb. To be fair, this whole situation was a little too complicated for any solution to not seem dumb. If we helped those people, and they were lying, they might murder us. If we didn't, and they were telling the truth, there was a chance that might put them in danger. I returned a look to her, just to let her know I had a handle on things. I turned away from my friends and opened the door again. I saw all four of the people on the sidewalk look up at me, stopping in the tracks of whatever argument they'd been having. Even the one with his eyes closed had turned his head towards me. The tall one with the black hair still looked pretty pissed, though, so I made a note to keep my distance from her.

I'll admit, I was a little nervous to tell them what I had to tell them. The short girl and the white-haired boy weren't all that scary, but the two taller ones were definitely not helping my nerves. "Okay," I began, speaking slowly and not making any sudden movements. "I talked to my friends in there-" I gestured back to Cat's house, where I got the feeling Scarlett and Cat were still watching all of this go down- "and they were both pretty opinionated. But the details aren't important. Long story short..."

I trailed off, finally meeting the wide gaze of the girl who had mismatched eyes. She seemed so… hopeful. It was like she was silently pleading with me, asking me to hear them out, and somehow I understood her perfectly. And taking in her face, I just couldn't see how she could possibly be a bad person. There was no way I could've really known, but I did.

Cat's not going to be happy with this.

"You guys can come inside."

The girl's face immediately brightened, splitting into a big grin. "Really?" Before I could make another move, she practically pounced at me, catching me in a tight hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Recovering from the initial shock of it, I gave her a polite pat on the back. I saw the tall boy with his eyes closed pretend to wipe sweat from his forehead. "We owe you, man."

The girl hugging me let go and turned back to the other girl in their group. "Not to say I told you so, but…"

"Tread lightly, Aurora." The tall girl snapped.

"Anyway," I piped up again, partly to remind them of my presence and also partly to distract the angry girl. "Just follow me in, and then I'm going to need you to explain what's going on here."

"Of course." The silver haired boy nodded serenely. "That is a perfectly reasonable price for what you've done for us."

Still questioning my decision a little, I led the group behind me back into the house. The group of strangers, back to the house, where my friend lived. Yeah, I know, not my brightest moment.

Now, I'm going to describe the way Cat looked when I walked back in. Have you ever been to a farm with chickens? Well there will sometimes be this moment when you're interacting with chickens when you lock eyes with one of them, and you just know, deep down in your soul, that this chicken is the one in charge. It's trying to keep things under control, keep everything cool. You're not a part of that, not even a little. And it. Hates. You. That was the exact same way Cat looked at me when I stepped back through the door with the four strangers.

Scarlett, on the other hand, seemed perfectly happy. At least she still had faith in me. "Hi!" She greeted the group in her best 'trying to make everyone comfortable' voice. "You guys can sit wherever you want, there's plenty of room."

While she continued to be the hostess, Cat grabbed the front of my shirt and dragged me into the kitchen.

"Are you crazy?" She hissed in a hushed tone, putting her hands on my shoulders and shaking me a little. "What happened out there?"

"Cat, they really don't seem that bad." I gently removed her hands from my shoulders. "I know, this wasn't the plan, but I need you to hear me out on this one."

"I don't really have a choice now, do I? They're already in my living room." She pointed accusatorially back the way we came. "I swear to the Maker, Ty, if you're wrong about this-"

"I won't be. Promise." I assured her.

She seemed to attempt to think of a good response, but settled for an exasperated sigh and a stomp back to the living room.

The four newcomers were settled in seats around the room. The scary girl was occupying the chair Scarlett had previously been in. The silver haired boy and the other girl- Aurora, I remembered her name was- were sitting next to each other on one end of the couch. The boy in the metal frame was at the other end. I positioned myself near the center of the room, with Cat standing nearby. "Alright, so. Explanation. First things first, can I get your names?"

Aurora spoke up, pointing to each of her friends in turn. "This is Kal Gilwraeth, that's his sister Saedii, that's Finian de Seel, and I'm Aurora O'Malley. Auri for short."

"I'm Tyler. That's my sister Scarlett, and our friend Cat." Scarlett waved to them from where she was sitting on the floor. Cat just continued glowering. "Now that that's out of the way, can someone please explain what's going on with you guys?"

The other three all looked at Finian, who obviously didn't know since his eyes were still closed. "Based on the silence, I'm assuming you all want me to do it?" He raised his eyebrows. "What happened to not 'immediately divulging our situation to complete strangers'?"

"Shut up and talk, Finian." Cat snapped her fingers.

"That's an oxymoron." Finian pointed out. "But anyway, allow me to explain, because I'm afraid of the angry girl." His speaking sped up about ten times after that. "So basically, we're from this crazy place called the GIABSA, or Global Intelligence Agency for Beings with Superhuman Ability if you want to be fancy about it. What that means is just that we've got these weird powers, like superheroes or something, and the people at the GIABSA were helping train us. I know that sounds totally sick but it's definitely not, because we're pretty sure there's some fucked up stuff going on behind the scenes, since a bunch of people kept disappearing and not coming back. We didn't want that to happen to us- because why would we- so we escaped. We had to escape because they were keeping us locked in there, which is definitely a red flag we somehow missed. But now the thing is, they're after us, and we've got no clue what they're going to do if they find us, so our only choice is to somehow figure out how to not get caught. Plus, we want to figure out what happens to the people who disappear, so on top of everything else there's also that." He breathed deeply, and it was only then that I realized he'd done all that in one breath. "Any questions?"

"Uh… yeah." Scarlett nodded, looking about as confused as I was feeling. "Do you always talk that fast?"

"Yup." Finian nodded.

"And he never stops, no matter what anyone may do." Saedii helpfully informed her.

"You know you love me." Fin waved dismissively in her direction.

"I despise you."

I interjected then, ignoring all of the other insane questions I could've asked in favor of asking a simple one. "Do your eyes open?"

"Yes, actually, they do." Fin explained. "But I found out immediately after leaving the GIABSA that bright lights hurt my eyes real bad, at least that's what I think the deal is."

"We could dim the lights, if you want." Scarlett offered.

"That would be great, thanks. Are there windows in here? If so then we'll also need to close the curtains, I think."

Scarlett got up to do what he was asking. Cat shot me a warning glare, and I wished I could've properly communicated to her that I was a little more nervous now too. Luckily, when Scarlett closed the curtains and turned off the lights, nothing crazy happened. What did happen, though, was that Fin finally opened his eyes. What I hadn't picked up on originally, due to his eyes being closed, were just how big they were. They were definitely bigger than normal human eyes, just enough to put him on the edge of the uncanny valley. Not to mention that they were completely and totally white like the rest of him, no iris or pupil or anything.

"Damn, if I knew how good looking you all would be then I would've worn my good uniform today." He tugged on the collar of the grey jumpsuit he was wearing.

"So you can see us, good. Now that that's out of the way..." I nodded, considering which of my many questions to ask next. "What were you saying about superpowers?"

Kal was the one to jump in this time. "We all have them. Everyone in the GIABSA, that is. And every ability is different."

Cat chuckled. "You're kidding. You can't possibly expect us to believe that."

There was a sound like ripping paper. I hadn't seen her move at all, but suddenly Saedii was directly behind Cat. "It doesn't matter if you believe it. That doesn't change that it's entirely true."

Cat startled, whirling around, but by the time she'd turned, Saedii was right back in her chair.

"Woah, okay." I continued as Cat settled back into frustration, directed more at Saedii than at me now. "So how did you get them? Were you born with them, or were they given to you, or what?"

The four of them exchanged a glance, and I got the feeling that they were all expecting someone else to know the answer to my question. Auri spoke. "We… don't really know."

If I hadn't already been concerned, I was definitely concerned then. I briefly caught Scarlett's eye, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. She was just the one to say it out loud. "How could you not know how you ended up with crazy magic powers?"

"I think it's probably more science than anything, but I mean… as Auri said, we don't know." Fin gestured to his friend. "That'd probably be a good thing to look into, though. Personally I'd love to know how we ended up with crazy magic powers."

"I think we all would." I muttered, brow furrowed in thought. Pieces of a solution started floating together in my head. "Fin, you said the start of all this has to be science, right? I've gathered at this point that going back to that GIABSA thing is a dead end, but obviously it would take a supergenius to crack this."

"I consider myself a pretty smart guy, I-"

I cut him off. "But you've been living with all this for how long, and you still don't have a clue what's going on?" I turned to Scarlett and Cat. "We might need a fresh pair of eyes on them. Someone who has enough experience with freaky science to be able to look at the situation and give us something new."

After a moment, Scarlett understood. "Ty. She's probably busy, you can't just drag her into this."

Then, Cat got it too. She glared at Scarlett. "What, with us it's fine but now that he's getting that science girl involved he's crossed a line? I could've used this energy before, Scar."

"Okay, it's different." My sister held up a finger as if that would do more to prove her point. "I'm his sister and you're his best friend, we're special cases and we're required to go along with all of his stupid plans just as he's required to go along with all of ours." She gave me an apologetic look. "No offense, Ty."

I held up my hands in surrender. "None taken."

"But anyway," Scarlett continued, "'That science girl,' as you so eloquently called her, is a third party person. AKA, off limits."

"And I get that, but we don't really have another choice here." We technically did have other choices, but for the most part they involved things I didn't really want to do, so I didn't feel the need to mention them. "We'll bring these guys to her, and she can help us out. It'll be over and done with before you can say 'summer vacation,' I promise."

When I heard Aurora's voice, it occurred to me again that there were four other people in the room who should definitely be involved in this conversation. "Can… someone fill us in?"

I brought my attention back to the group, where I was met by a frustrated glare from Saedii, a confused expression from Aurora, a sharply focused gaze from Kal, and a distinctly un-focused one from Fin. "Right. So, there's this girl who goes to our school. She's probably the smartest person I've ever met, it's a little scary. With luck, she'll be able to help you figure out a little bit more of what's going on."

"Is she trustworthy?" Saedii crossed her legs and leaned back, like I wasn't worth much of her attention.

"I've never had an issue with her." I shrugged. I heard Saedii make an unsatisfied 'hm' sound.

"That will have to do." She examined her nails, which I only then noticed were weirdly sharp. Somehow I got the feeling that the arrangements we were making wouldn't do, but I had nothing else at that point.

"What is her name?" Kal asked. I decided that I liked him a lot more than his sister. He was nicer, at least. That time, it was Scarlett who answered.

"Her name is Zila Madran. And as much as I regret having to drag her into this… she'll definitely be able to help you."

~~~

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