#like little triangles that shoot out once he hits the ground

[romerona]

Chapter 7: Strawberry mission.

-In which the daughter of the Lord of Darkness who was born with the sole purpose of destroying the universe falls in love with Peter Parker.-

Masterlist.

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

Carina had designated rooms in each of the sanctuaries, Hong Kong, New York, Nepal and London, rooms made for the Agamotto lineage only.

She hardly used them though, as she spent most of her time in the Kamar Taj but from time to time she liked to stay there, whenever she needed to be alone. It was a little of a safe space for her, in there she wasn't bothered nor did she had to meet anyone's expectations, nor did she feel judged with every step she took.

All her rooms except for the one in Kamar Taj have a considerable large space, every aspect within the bedrooms is wonderfully crafted, and her room in London was no different. High ceilings, long walls, and large windows with a wonderful view of the city.

Her bedroom has modern vintage furniture from the bed set, the seating set, the wooden desks and the beautiful library that was below a chandelier. The furniture is said to be made from the finest material and fabric, aside from that, the bedroom contains decorations that look beautiful.

Sitting on a comfortable chair with books covering the old mahogany colour of the wooden table and a cup of Ginseng tea was one of the few pleasures life has to offer, at least from Carina's perspective, the only thing that could make it better was if she had a bowl of strawberries but alas nothing in life is ever perfect.

Her pencil traced words over the white paper. She was doing her homework. It was due for the upcoming week but Carina liked having things from school done so she could have free time.

Mathematics, unfortunately, was what the homework was about.

They were learning about The Pythagorean Theorem, and for the most part, she didn't understand it; why does she need to learn the fundamental relation between the three sides of a right triangle? Oh, and don't let her get started in the hypotenuse.

Regardless, she does her best to have every answer correct, uses every formula and double-checks the results, because as much as she doesn't like it, she was still learning, and most importantly finishing her assignments.

It took her a few hours to finish not just her mathematics assignments but all the others. They weren't much but they were extensive, sort of answering questions 3 to 5 but each question had an a-b-c derivative.

Once her assignments were done she made her way back to the Kamar Taj.

"Good day, Miss Agamotto." Said a voice, making her halt her steps.

Carina turns to the source of the voice and politely smiles at the master. "Good day, Master Rama."

Master Rama was one of the few people who treated her semi-nicely, although most of her interactions usually were short and quick.

"Were you here for a while?" He asked, eyeing the books in her hands. "I didn't see you enter, does the supreme knows you're here?"

Carina nodded, holding the books to her chest. "Yes, she does, I told her I'll be here to do my Homework."

"And are you finished with it?" He asked, an eyebrow shooting to his hairline, quizzically.

"Of course."

"Well, go on then." He held out his hand to motion the way she was just walking. "Don't let me hold you any longer."

"Have a great day, Master Rama." She smiled at him politely once again before continuing her walk.

He sent her a nod of appreciation."You as well, Miss Agamotto."

Coming back to the Kamar Taj, she made it her mission to get a bowl of Strawberries from the kitchens without the cook knowing.

But unfortunately, her planes were interrupted by Eloise Colombo when she used her white cane to trip her.

Carina hissed when she hit the ground, her hand breaking her hand, making her drop all the books in her hand.

"Always at the bottom, aren't you, Carina?"Laughs Eloise, making Hanna chuckle oo.

"Leave me alone." Carina rolled her eyes while looking at the scrape on her scar hand.

"And why would we do that?" Eloise asked with snobbishnesses and sarcasm. "We're just fans, not many people get to know the powerful Miss Agamotto."

"I think you mean the helpless Miss Agamotto, Eloise." Hanna huffed out a laugh.

Carina ignore them, and began to pick up her scrambled books, she went to pick up the last one but Hanna hold it out of her reach.

"What's this?" She asked, looking at it when her eyes lit up in realisation. "Oh, it's the math assignment, I thought it was meant for next week."

"It is, but of course, little miss perfect over here has done it already." Eloise scoffs, crossing her arms vexingly.

"Just give it back." Carina sighs, tiredly.

Hanna turns to look at Eloise while she hums in thought, "No, I don't think we will. This will save us time, Hanna ripped the pages off."

"No, wait—"

Just before Hanna could tear the page a voice cut through, making all of them freeze.

"What is going on?" Said Stephen, walking towards them, a couple of familiar books in his hands.

"Nothing," Hanna said quickly, nervous.

Eloise's head turned to where Stephen has now stopped. "We were just leaving."

Hanna nodded hastily. "Yeah, yeah we were."

"Then give her the book back before you do, it doesn't belong to you," Stephen said, frowning at the girls. "Didn't your parents teach you to not take things that weren't yours?"

Eloise nodded, head down in shame. "They did."

"Who are your parents again? I'm sure they'll love to hear about this." Stephen tilts his head up in challenge.

Eloise nudged Hanna, who was quick to throw the book at Carina, before bolting away, leaving Carina to grab her books and scramble to her feet.

"Kids these days..." Stephen scoffs, shaking his head before looking over at Carina. "You alright?"

Carina nodded while dusting the dirt off her robes. "I'm fine."

"You know, a little gratitude would be nice," Stephen said.

"Sorry," Carina mumbles not meeting his eyes whilst fidgeting with the star stone, she was embarrassed to be caught in a position like that and slightly irritated. "Thank you but I didn't need your help."

Stephan scoffs, eyebrows shooting up unconvinced. "Oh really? Because it didn't seem to me like you wanted them to trash your book apart."

Carina didn't say anything, she just sighed not feeling like bantering with him because she know she didn't have anything under control. "Yeah, I'm sorry, you're right."

"Nothing broken?" He asked after a pause.

"No, just a scrape." Carina shook her head, finally looking at him and giving him a small smile, holding her hand up.

He gazed at her hand. "Just make sure to wash it, otherwise it'll get infected and you'll lose your hand."

"Why thank you, Doctor, what would it be of me without your help." Carina mocks, sending him a teasing smile and making him roll his eyes.

"Where are you going anyway?" She asked, looking at the pile of books in his hand.

"The library." He said, straightening up as if he had remembered what he was doing before coming across her. "I finish the books you gave me and want to start with the next ones."

Carina's eyes went wide. "Oh, already?"

Stephen nodded, slightly petulantly. "I told you I had a photographic memory."

"Geez, what a show-off you are, Stephen." Carina teases with an eye roll as he glared at her.

"Jealousy is not a good look, kid." He turns on his heel and begins to make his way to the library once again.

Carina giggled, scrambling to follow him. "I'll admit, I am a little jealous. I think photographic memory is pretty cool."

"I know it is." He said, glancing down at her with a small grin. "Now leave, go wash your hand."

"I'll do that later, I want to go to the library too now that I know you're going to take the books back."

"Don't." He sighs.

"Too late, come on."

After a few minutes of silence, Stephen asked. "You know, I found it odd that you and your outgoing little spirit didn't defend yourself from those girls, or at least said something back at them."

Carina purses her lips and looked down at her books, feeling a little embarrassed and shy. "I'm not a fan of violence or confrontation so..."

"So, you're just going to let them walk all over you?" Stephen asked frowning down at her, lips falling into a thin line.

"I don't know..." she shrugged hopelessly. "I just don't like it, confrontation makes me uncomfortable, I'll rather just leave the problem for the peace."

"How hippyish of you." He rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "I'm going to give you some advice, a rather good one too so listen up."

"What?" Carina looked up at him in expectation.

"When people hit you or say mean things to you they don't know how much it hurts, they only know who they are aiming at, so you have to learn to hit back," Stephen said, a cold remak in his tone.

Carina purses her lips in thought, what Stephen said did have some reasons but then again, learning how to hit back it'll only become a cycle.

"Easier said than done."

Thankfully, they were quick to arrive at the library, where Wong was sitting at his desk, reading his time away.

"Wong," Carina called placing her books on the nearest table, grinning at him when he looked up. "Look what I brought you. This is Stephen Strange."

"Hey." Stephen gave him a tight smile nodding in acknowledgement, whilst Wong stood up from his chair to greet him.

"Mr Strange."

"Uh... Stephen, please." Stephen said, placing the books on Wong's desk. "And you are Wong, right?" He said, sending Carina a quick quizzical look.

Wong nodded in confirmation as well as Carina.

"So, it's just Wong? Like... Adele?" He asks, amusingly. "Or... Aristotle. Drake. Bono." He glanced at Carina who was looking just like Wong was, unamused. "Eminem."

"Good thing you're a Doctor, 'cause you wouldn't have made it as a comedian, Stephen," Carina said, giggling at her joke, earning an annoyed look from Stephen.

She glanced at the stack of books then at Wong. "There is Astronomia Nova and now that my debt is paid, I'm going down."

She grabbed her books and rounded Wong's desk, and walked down the lower part of the library, where supposedly only masters are allowed but she was an exception, the only rule was that she was not allowed to read the supreme's book collection.

She was fine with it, although she had to admit she was intrigued about those books she'll never dare to read them, not unless she's allowed to.

Sitting down at one of the many tables, Carina pulled out a Magazine she had brought back from England, The Cosmopolitan, not her favourite but it's definitely on the top five.

She hadn't had time to read magazines in a while, too busy with homework and other things, like getting the newcomers to settle in.

Taylor Swift was on the cover, she's a famous singer. Carina knew that because she had seen her on several covers now, she hardly listened to music or knew much about pop culture, but she knew enough to know who the Kardashians are, Kim's her favourite, she knew about Beyoncé, Timothée Chalamet, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Emma Stone, Kanye West, Tony Stark— but she supposed he is a whole category of his own— and a few more.

The pop culture wasn't something she usually looks forward to when she reads a magazine but rather the fashion section. Because fashion magazines show that style is about individuality, it is a way to display people's personalities but it also displays the feelings and mood of a person and reflects on who they are.

Living in Kamar-Taj, where everyone wears the same robes and individuality only exists in the people's hearts, she was allured to learn about it, she found her individuality in fashion, although she doesn't own clothing other than the robes she likes to add her touches from time to time.

"This section is for Masters only." The voice of Wong echoed through the walls, making Carina look up from the magazine at the two men entering the section.

"Then why is she here?" Stephen asked and Carina pulled her tongue out.

"Because at my discretion, others may use it." Wong glanced at her before walking further into the library, in between the shelves whilst Stephen observed the area. "We should start with Maxim's Primer. How is your Sanskrit?"

"Awful." Mutters Carina, eyes back on the magazine on new designs from Versace.

Stephen spared her a glance. "I'm fluent in Google Translate."

"Vedic," Wong told him, handing him the books. "Classical Sanskrit."

"What are those?" Asked Strange, causing Carina to be distracted one more time.

"The Ancient One's private collection." She told him before Wong could.

Stephen frowns, looking between her and Wong. "So, they're forbidden?"

"No knowledge in Kamar-Taj is forbidden. Only certain practices."

"Only for me." Carina huffs, crossing her arms.

Wong sent her a look. "Because those books are far too advanced for anyone other than the Sorcerer Supreme, let alone children."

"Yeah yeah." Carina rolled her eyes, feeling slightly annoyed so she decided to go back to her magazine.

"This one's got pages missing," Stephen said.

"That's the book of Cagliostro," Wong explained while looking for another book at the bottom of a shelf. "The study of time. One of the rituals was stolen by a former Master. A zealot called Kaecilius. Just after he strung up the former librarian, and relieved him of his head."

Carina shudders, fleetingly remembering that night, her hands subconsciously closing at the memories as her stomach did weird twists.

"I'm now the guardian of these books. So if a volume from this collection should be stolen again, I'd know it. And you'd be dead before you ever left the compound." He snaps the book of Cagliostro shut and took it out of Stephen's hands.

"What if it's just overdue?" Asks Stephen, huffing an awkward laugh yet Wong doesn't seem to be impressed. "You know? Any... late fees I should know about? Maiming perhaps?"

"No, just constant scolding," Carina said, smiling at Wong who ignore her and gave Stephen the last of his books. "But I wouldn't push it."

"You know, people used to think that I was funny," Stephen mumbles, taking the books from the librarian.

"Did they work for you?" Wong asks a heartbeat later and Carina couldn't help but chuckle. "Probably, I reckon that memory of his didn't retain any good jokes, if we're leading by previous examples."

"Alright." Stephen huffed and began to make his way out of the section. "Well, it's been lovely talking to you two, thank you, Wong for the books and the horrifying story and the threat upon my life."

"I better see you at dinner." Called Carina as he walked out.

Stephen scoffs, shaking his head, sending her a side glance. "Worry about rinsing your hand, or it'll get her infected."

"What happened to your hand?" Asks Wong once Stephen left.

Carina shook her head and waved her hand dismissively. "Nothing, just a scratch."

He held his hand out, and Carina gave it to him. "I fell earlier today, nothing to worry about."

Wong hums, letting go of it. "Listen to Strange and go wash it."

"Fine." Carina sighs tiredly but stands up nonetheless.

Gathering her things, she bit Wong her goodbyes before going to her room reluctantly, she was craving strawberries.

A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please, if you want to get tagged tell me.

[junior-len001]

This is an oc. His name is sheriff and the other woman is Janet basically they are from a place called I've made "sink-ground." A place where all the souls die. No one really knows it. It's like there soul is consumed. But there spirit are still here so they go to that place. All of the spirit are here. And what's sheriff job? A protector. He's making it safe from other evil people. And so Janet is the main one who shows the other spirit how this place works. That's all.

Information about sheriff.-

He's eyes doesn't have pupils and it's very normal he have black sockets eyes. But in some very fighting situation he's right eye glows green. It's not like shaped round like the other sanses. it's triangle instead! And that little crown that floating around him? It's like colorful goop but like stuck in his head. It represents some emotions that Sherrif can't feel. It changes it shape to like this "?" And this "!" Sometimes but yeah!

Powers))

Nice shot!.: Basically he just shoots a orange bullet in the air or the wall. A portal will appear. It's like teleporting! But he need to focus on the place he's thinking to go in. Or he will end up in the Wrong one.

Blast em up : a gaster blaster. It's really like bigger like very big from the other gaster blasters. It's yellow. And it shoots faster but the blaster is a bit slow so it's only good at aiming or protection.. But eventually after 40 minutes. The gaster blaster will disappear. It has a cooldown. It will re appear. After 20 minutes.

Chasing time: so like he gets a boost. A really great one. It gives you energy and some strong strength. Over time. It will come off after 30 seconds. And Sheriff can also give a boost to his teammates! Maximum of the team giving boost is only 4 people. And he only uses it when it's an emergency.

Main weapons.))

Perfect gun.: He uses his two magical guns! They are fast yet hard to control like your holding a two heavy houses like seriously but he's the only one who can pick the guns out. He shoots all different bullets. Each one has an effect.

(slow-on bullet.) Makes you slower when the bullets hits you so better doge em. The time you will be slow for about : 5 seconds. If you got hitted alot maximum time you'd be slow for. 10 seconds.

(suffer. Bullet.) There not gonna change anything about you. But the bullets are. There gonna be more faster and stronger and harder every hit you take. So be careful.

(gotta black em out. Bullet.) The effect is like if you get hit by one- It will only make you really dizzy and sudden really hurting headache. You'd see the world spinning in your head. And so it's like a back up for sheriff to escape. The effect only lasts for you 10 seconds.

Special sweet. Attack.)

He fuses his both guns into a mega-gun. Or should I call the "omega fuse." It's a version with both gun fused. Into a bigger one. They blast out a really big bullets. There really fast it has no limits inf ammo. But it will drain sheriff energy towards time. If he kept fouces he will still have the guns. But if he lose conscious the guns will be both sperated immediately. The only ability he can use in his omega fuse gun is

The ultimate guide.) It means it will transform into a big a really big one gun. Sheriff can use his magic to move the big gun. Also it's a sized as a tall building. He can only shoots once if needed. That can wipe out an enemy In a combo. The maximum time use ,*20 minutes.*

Anndddd I will post his story later! See y'all!

[klvrgavin]

Okay i like hades very much but the colors and sounds when you get to the theseus fight just murder me every time

[teklarn]

𝔂𝓸𝓾'𝓻𝓮 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓶𝔂 𝓫𝓸𝔂𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭 - 𝓴. 𝓫𝓪𝓴𝓾𝓰𝓸𝓾 (𝓹𝓽. 2)

 character(s): katsuki bakugou x gn!reader 

a/n: ok so i just started writing on tumblr and honestly in my opinion for my first time posting smth on this the first part did really well thank u for all the likes :) (told from second pov; e.g you, your) reblogs are greatly appreciated :))

summary: bakugou x gn!reader. they have feelings for one another but have no idea how to express them, however y/n has someone pining for their attention. 

genre: a lil bit angsty 

warnings: cursing, jealousy, mutual pining, slow burn romance, aged-up to third year, love triangle (square?), physical injuries, kirishima gets a little toxic, also shirtless bakugou (awooga), a crap ton of time skips bc i can’t write action scenes for shit, bakugou is a flirt (lowkey but yeah), mentions of blood 

word count: 2112

pt 1 , pt 3

- - - 

kirishima had broken the skin on his lower lip with how hard he was biting it. he stood in the bathroom, rinsing his mouth, ignoring the slight sting the water brought. 

y/n was currently being blasted by bakugou, and they were fighting back. 

jealousy panged in his chest. 

bakugou had never let him know about how he felt about you, however kirishima was sure he felt something for them. you and bakugou were both a jumble of prideful and longing stares towards each other from across every room. the tension was thick enough to slice through. and while kirishima would never make a move in fear of ruining the friendship between him and bakugou, as well as him and y/n, gosh it didn’t stop him from wanting to. 

he’d stood on the side, cheering you on to no end. the sports festival last year, the year before that, training exercises, he was always there. kirishima was always there. 

whenever you needed him, whenever you wanted his company. so what did bakugou have over him? sure, the blond was strong and had bigger goals than kirishima, but why should that matter? 

what did bakugou have? why would you want him more when he was never near you? never made an effort to see you to be there when you asked for help. 

it was popular belief that bakugou was a noisy idiot, but he was actually quite a quiet boy. he didn’t bother to raise his hand in class, however he always knew the answer. he spoke rarely and only made conversation with those he was close with if they were the ones to make the effort to converse with him first. 

jealousy, jealousy, jealousy. kirishima despised it. 

whenever did he begin wanting to beat bakugou at something? 

the cloud of guilt welling up in his chest was going to become unbearable, and soon everything he ever wanted to say was going to come up like word vomit at the worst possible time. 

- 

you swiped at your cheek, brushing off the crumbling dirt. your timing had been off, and their flip backwards had landed you in an awkward position. a vulnerable one. 

honestly, though, it wasn’t like it really mattered. bakugou was a bit transparent himself. he wore a smug look like a golden medal, and held back his power just enough to keep you on your feet. 

his cocky attitude was irritating and it drew you in like a moth drawn to a lamp. 

sweat was beading down your temple. the day was exceptionally hot, the sun beaming down on your back like a proud child. 

you and bakugou had been at it for a while. with anyone else, you would have quit by now. it’s not that you gave up easily. no, not ever. but fights could get boring, especially if you were just smashing away at them with your quirk and they were acting like they could take it. 

perhaps you were being cocky. 

this fight, though. this was interesting. not only because it was bakugou; also because you knew so little about him. 

it was likely he never shared anything important to anyone. he was quite introverted. 

it was interesting for another reason. 

it was hot, bakugou sweats a lot. gosh, he looked delicious without a shirt on. he had a built figure accompanied by strong arms and a broad chest. 

he’d filled out quite nicely the past few years. you hadn’t noticed until now how much he’d grown. 

“don’t get distracted.” 

your eyes snapped up from his chest to his eyes. bakugou became a blur, shooting himself off the ground and flipping once in the air before propelling himself back down. 

before you could do anything, bakugou had you pinned, one leg pinning yours, both his hands wrapped around your wrists. he’d ditched his gauntlets, leaving the metal assistants in the sweltering heat, claiming he wanted to give you an equal fight. 

he panted atop you, hands tightening. 

tokage didn’t bother to leave her dorm today, thank goodness. it had just been the three of you. you, bakugou, and kirishima. 

the red head had suspiciously vanished halfway through the fight, though.

bakugou’s crimson eyes bored into yours. neither of you blinked for a moment. perhaps just a small eternity each of you silently reveled in. 

his erratic breaths slowed, and so did yours, although you stayed the same. unmoving, faces neutral but eyes giving away long-held secrets. 

your ears flushed, and butterflies came rising up uncontrollably. you should have pushed him off. instead you gave him a wicked grin, which earned a look from him and you couldn’t tell if he was confused or annoyed. 

“your big ass forehead is blocking the bright-as-hell sun. stay like this,” you mocked, wrenching your wrists from his grasp and snaking your arms around his neck. 

his cheeks burned red. “w-what?” 

“you heard me.” 

he scoffed, tugging you off his neck and standing. “shut up, shitface. we aren’t even done yet.” he readied himself in a fighting stance once more. 

“i thought you said you wanted to stop when you won?” you brushed yourself off as you stood. 

“i know what i said. you probably weren’t even giving it your all.” 

“’course i was.” you cocked your head. “why wouldn’t i?” 

“you’re strong, damn idiot.” 

you feigned surprise, pressed a hand to your fluttering chest. “the bakugou, dynamight himself, complimenting a humble soul like me? oh, i really must be good, then.” 

“not as good as me.” his face dropped from a smile. bakugou never got enough training no matter how early or late he stayed up, or how many hours on the weekends were spent kicking a bag or sparring with friends. hard workers did all of the work there was a still wondered if they were doing enough. the number one spot wasn’t empty, but it was still reserved for dynamight. 

- 

y/n had collapsed on their bed. kirishima was itching to tell them how he felt, however he was stuck at the doorway. 

they weren’t even dressed for bed, nor were they showered. 

he settled with leaving his friend alone, and shut the door softly to find bakugou standing right behind him. 

kirishima jumped back, closing his eyes in relief. “bakugou. what the heck man?” 

“you’re creepy as shit.” 

“i- what? you were the one staring at me while i-” 

“while you peeped in on y/n?” 

“i wasn’t peeping. i walked them back after the fight and they just collapsed. you were off doing something else and you worked them too hard.” 

it wasn’t a shock that bakugou was still riled up from the duel. this boy had the energy of a mad man. 

when bakugou didn’t say anything, kirishima said once again, “you overworked them.” 

bakugou swat away the comment. “only because they’re not working hard enough.” 

kirishima raised an eyebrow. “they work hard. they’re perfectly fine.” 

“fine?” 

“they’re amazing.”

“i know that, shitty hair. you think i’m blind?” 

“everyone can make improvements at their own pace.” kirishima’s voice dropped. 

“you train with me.” 

“it’s an hour before curfew.” 

bakugou jut a thumb in the direction of the door. “so? maybe you need some more practice, too,” he joked. 

“you’re an ass, bakugou,” kirishima released a breathy chuckle. 

the two wandered off to one of the training grounds. it was open, a wide court where they’d both kicked someone else’s ass. 

the sun was just setting, a new cool breeze coming to fill the spot of the violent sun rays. 

it was routine to fight each other out of nowhere. kirishima was usually quite playful, spewing jokes once in a while and taunting his friend. 

this fight was different. his face was stone-cold. kirishima often took the defensive role, as his quirk didn’t allow him to project any direct attacks to bakugou.

it wasn’t like kirishima was angry at bakugou, but as soon as they started charging towards one another, he couldn’t hold back. his chest tightened, arms hardening and joints becoming strong and stiff. 

with one clean sweep of his arm, bakugou was backing away from kirishima, propelling himself to the edge of the arena with a small blast. he’d always been up for a challenge. kirishima was willing to give him one. 

his sudden competitive demeanor seemed to be egging on bakugou’s. the blond tongued the inside of his cheek, grunting as he shot forth, hair flying wildly. 

swiftly, kirishima dodged, just barely missing a blast. his torso wasn’t hardened, so if he’d dodged any later, his stomach would have been scorched. 

bakugou always took their fights seriously. he knew better than to underestimate the boy who had put together his very own rescue mission. 

kirishima’s opponent stumbled from the momentum. he took his chance and brought a hardened elbow down on bakugou’s back, hearing a satisfying crack. 

bakugou was crushed to the ground with the hit. his face smashed into the sandy ground. he coughed, turning over and spitting dirt to the side. 

it took a moment for him to register what he did, but kirishima was at bakugou’s side within seconds. the sun was nearly gone, a pale blue sky flickering with the first sights of stars. 

it was hard to make it out at first, but not impossible. kirishima saw the blood dripping and smeared just above bakugou’s lip. he groaned, cupping his face in both hands as he sat upright. 

“argh” bakugou gasped. “shit, kirishima. what the hell?” 

“i...i’m sorry dude, i didn’t mean to.” i wanted to, but i didn’t mean to. 

bakugou raised an eyebrow and let a smile seep through his pain. “you’re improving, though.” 

“are you alright?” kirishima traced the small cut on his lip from earlier with the tip of his tongue. 

“i’m fine, i’m fine.” bakugou swatted his hand away. he struggled to get up, refusing kirishima’s help. 

���we should head back before this gets any worse.” 

bakugou kept his large hands hovering under his chin to catch the dripping and occasional chunks of blood.  

although he wanted the duel to continue (it was finally interesting) bakugou wasn’t stubborn enough to keep going. so he nodded, once again denying kirishima’s efforts to help him out. 

- 

you were in the common area, fiddling with a rubik’s cube. it was just you, as everyone else was spending the night among each other. ashido had invited you to her dorm a while ago, but you’d denied, wanting to spend a few more giddy moments to yourself. 

the door rattled, and in came your two friends, one with furrowed brows and the other with blood drenching the front of his shirt. 

bakugou’s head was tilted up in an attempt to stop the blood from flowing down. his adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed the blood trailing down the back of his throat. 

“oh my gosh,” you gasped out, racing to the bathroom. you came back with sanitary wipes in one hand and tissue in the other. “what happened?” 

“we were training,” kirishima started, taking a few tissues from the box and handing them to his friend, “and i accidentally hit him too hard.” 

“you didn’t hit me that hard. you barely did any damage!” bakugou objected. you approached him, and through his fingers, bakugou peered down at you. 

you asked him with your eyes, and he gave you silent permission to pry his arms away from his face. “are you okay?” 

“i’m just dandy,” he scoffed. 

“dude, i’m really sorry—” 

“shut the hell up kirishima. i don’t want your pity. i swear this is the only time i’ll surrender to you, you asswipe.”

you didn’t laugh, not even a chuckle. “bakugou, you need to see recovery girl.” 

“what the hell? no way. all she’s gonna do is give me one of those shitty slobbery kisses and scold me for being careless.” 

“your nose is broken,” you said gently. 

“so? can’t you fix it?” 

you raised a questioning brow. “you want me to help you?” 

“can you or can you not?” 

“i can try to set it but you’re better off going to recovery girl instead of settling with―” 

“all i need is possible. i don’t want to deal with that old lady’s shit right now.” using the tissues kirishima had stuffed into his hand, he caught the remaining blood dripping down his nose. “let’s go.” 

you were more than unsure. he would end up with a crooked nose if you made any small mistake, but he didn’t think twice as he grabbed your shoulder and led you in the direction of your dorm. 

- 

kirishima wished he hadn’t broken bakugou’s nose. not because he felt bad, though. 

[mieohmy]

𝖧𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗍𝗌 𝖺𝗍 𝖲𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖾 | 𝗅𝖾𝖾 𝗃𝖾𝗇𝗈, 𝗇𝖺 𝗃𝖺𝖾𝗆𝗂𝗇

PAIRING: jeno x fem reader, jaemin x fem reader

GENRE: angst, fluff, humor, agent!jeno, agent!jaemin, agent!reader, spy! au, love triangle, slow burn, pining

WC: 13.1k

NOTES: depictions of violence, weapons, murder, death, blood, injuries, hospitals, mentions of alcohol consumption

SUMMARY: you save jeno’s life and suddenly you’re more to him than he’s ever thought possible. or in more simple terms, you somehow find yourself in the midst of a war called feelings.

notice!- there will be a part two/bonus of this fic soon so keep a lookout :)

“Yes sir.” The three of you speak in unison. 

You, jeno, and jaemin are excused from your boss’s office, minds already revving up for your newly assigned mission. 

“So.....” jaemin starts. 

“So?” You glance at him, jeno to your left doing the same. 

“What do you guys want to eat after we’re done?”

Jeno snorts. 

“Already thinking about dinner before the mission’s even started?” You tease jaemin as you walk side by side down the stairs.

Just seeing you three together catches everyone else’s attention. And when you and the boys go to your respective lockers, grabbing your gear and getting ready, they begin to whisper too, already knowing what it means.  

The notorious three going all out again. 

It didn’t phase any of you at this point. Simply because you guys were that group. The trio with the reputation of being “unstoppable” as the rookies called it. Meaning? Your assigned missions rarely failing, the deeds done cleanly and always on time- the boss never had to worry and fret over your team. But you three were humble enough to simply call it ‘practiced skill and talent’ -with a spoonful of teamwork, of course. 

Actually, that was an understatement. Teamwork was important, if not the most important thing while performing missions together. Knowing your partners’ style, skills, actions, were key in any task- basically being able to understand and read each other’s minds without a single word, even in the middle of a battle. Especially in the middle of a battle.

“Are you ready?” Jeno asks, and you nod, looking over to jaemin attempting to put on his earpiece. You stifle a laugh, shuffling over to him and reaching to adjust it.   “What would all the newbies think if the mighty jaemin couldn’t even put on his earpiece correctly?” You mutter, fingers soft and nimble while focusing intently. 

He grins. “I’d say you always do it for me because you’re the boss.” 

You smile. “Dang right I am.” 

Turning back to jeno, you notice him waiting boredly for you two. “We’re good Jen! Or do you need me to fix yours too?”

He shakes his head, a smile forming. “Nah, I can take care of myself pretty well.” 

“Are you sure? What about that one coffee-“

Jeno presses a finger to your lips, effectively muffling your next words. 

“Let’s not mention that anymore.” 

A few beats of silence pass. 

Then Jaemin abruptly claps his hands. “Ah! The one girl-“ 

And jeno basically flies through the air over to him, covering his face and whispering worthless threats. The three of you burst into laughter, the atmosphere quite light and easy compared to what you were about to embark on. 

You head to the exit and towards the waiting car. 

Once everyone gets inside, there’s a noticeable shift in the energy -no more fun banter and joking. It was time to focus. 

The assigned driver types in the address to where you three are supposed to infiltrate a random gang’s base and take some trivial files for your own group’s use. The difficulty wasn’t too bad, especially for you three. Definitely not the worst you’ve ever been through as a team-  you cringe thinking back to when you, jeno, and jaemin started your first “big” mission. Needless to say, you all came back a little worse for wear. The mission still was considered a success- just saying.  

The ride is pretty quiet, an occasional remark here and there. There wasn’t an important need to plan and discuss beforehand- you quickly learned that the three of you worked best just going along with the flow. 

The pitch-black night sky and yellow-tinted streetlights greet you as you exit the car, gratefully accepting jeno’s extended hand when you step down. 

Jeno looks around, examining the supposed hideout. The sight of an empty parking garage greets him- dim but still lit up somewhat brightly. It may not seem all too scary, but he knows better. It’s just a facade for the dark and twisted acts going on underneath. 

“What is this place? Some 2013 music video shoot for a boy group?” Jaemin jokes. 

You crack a smile whilst searching around for the entrance. Speaking from experience, you already guessed it would be in an ambiguous location with some stupid twist to get in. 

After a couple of seconds, the three of you glance at each other, a look going around that no one else would understand. 

“Elevator to your right?” 

Jaemin nonchalantly nods, eves never flicking away. “Yep.” 

You bite the inside of your cheek. “Jen, Jaem, I think you guys can stand guard while I quickly get the files.”

The two boys both immediately begin to object, voices rising. Your eyes widen, taking a quick glance around before shushing them. “You never know who’s lurking!”

Jeno rolls his eyes. “I don’t care. We’re not letting you go in alone.” 

You sigh, checking the time. “Okay, fine. Then jaem can come with me. I think you’re the quietest and stealthiest out of all three of us.” 

Jaemin nods, and you turn to jeno. “Comm us if you see anything, okay?”

Jeno gives a small thumbs up. 

“Come on,” you instinctively grab jaemin’s hand. “Let’s be fast so we don’t leave jeno waiting out here for too long.”

Jeno watches as the two of you disappear behind the closing doors. 

ꔫ

It’s boring. 

The most action Jeno's gotten was a bird flying in and pecking at some random stuff on the ground before leaving. 

Jeno begins to wish he went with you guys, but his role is still important. Except for the times when there was no one around and no need to keep a lookout. Jeno stifles a yawn, the somehow peaceful air getting to his head, but it’s cut short when he hears oncoming voices. And they’re definitely not yours or jaemin’s. 

He curses internally, ducking and moving out of view from whoever was there. He squints, and there’s no denying the gang symbol painted on their backs. 

Jeno counts- two, three... 

Okay, that’s not bad. He could definitely take them on. Then jeno remembers he only brought a small knife, not expecting any surprise encounters, and his confidence lowers a bit.

He presses the button on his earpiece, speaking lowly as to not alert the dark figures. “Guys. Unexpected arrival. About three or so.”

A couple of seconds later, your voice filters through. “Shoot. It’s okay, we’ve got the file and are almost out. Are they headed towards the entrance?”

He peeks around the corner and bites his lip after looking. “Yes.”

Jeno hears a sigh from the other side. 

“About three more minutes. We got caught up in some security codes. Do you think you can take them on or do you want to wait for us?”

“No,” he immediately responds. “We can’t risk losing the file.” 

“Okay.” There’s a pause, and jeno waits. 

“Just...” you speak up, “be careful.” 

Jeno gulps. “I will.”

It’s not anything jeno hasn’t done before, but it’s still a risky move nonetheless. 

He takes a look again, and they’re typing in a code to the door where you and jaemin entered not so long ago. 

It’s now or never. 

“Hey!” 

Jeno’s voice comes out light and airy, a casual and relaxed tone to it as he strolls out. 

The masked figures tense, attention immediately on jeno. 

Rude, jeno thinks. 

He doesn’t even get another word out before the guys are all over him. He takes one out with ease, and barely avoids another one armed with a knife. 

Jeno moves with practiced ease, swiftly dodging attacks and hitting back with double the strength. 

It’s only after the second guy is down with a blow to the face that jeno whips out his own knife, going after the last guy. 

Jeno slices and the figure slumps to the ground. He huffs, examining the fallen bodies around him as he hides his knife away. Two minutes tops, he thinks. 

Then the sound of the door opening alerts him, and he turns to see you and jaemin looking tense and alert, relaxing when you catch sight of jeno and the bodies lying around him. 

That means one thing. Obviously. 

You send a thumbs up with an easy smile, one jeno returns back, believing the mission was done and sealed. He starts messing with his annoying earpiece- huh, maybe you were right, and he didn’t put it in correctly... 

Jeno misses the horror that immediately replaces your satisfied look when you take a better glance at him, or more accurately, what’s behind him. 

“Lee Jeno!” You suddenly scream, shrill voice echoing through the supposedly empty lot.

Jeno whips around toward you. His eyes immediately make eye contact with yours, and there’s this look of pure terror and desperation.  

Chills run down his spine and fear prickles at his neck. What could get you to react like that? 

Jeno’s never seen you this scared. Not in a very, very long time. He’s too dumbfounded at your abrupt outburst to pay any attention to his surroundings. 

You’re sprinting towards him as fast as you can, lips mouthing words that either he can’t hear or you’re not sounding out. 

It all happens so fast- too fast in a blur that he can’t comprehend anything- 

you crash into jeno, arms thrown around him as if you were giving him a hug, but then you suddenly spin him around in the opposite direction, and you push him away- just a slight nudge so he only stumbles back a bit. 

He hears it before he can fully see it. 

The sickening sound of a blade meeting flesh- jeno knows it all too well- and he does catch the figure quickly sliding his knife out from you in shock.

Two seconds -it’s basically second nature for jeno to unsheathe his knife and throw it straight at the guy in two seconds.

Perfectly through his head. 

His body feels numb, he doesn’t even give a second glance to the perpetrator before his eyes land on you again. 

Red is blooming from your side through your shirt, and all you do is stand there, one hand slowly coming up to press the area, face cringing in pain as you look back up at jeno.  

He can’t move- the only sound he hears is the heaving of his chest, gasping for air. But his lips work on their own accord, words coming out slowly and breathlessly. 

“y/n....why?”

When you speak, your voice flows out, strangely soft and melodic, and your eyes lock onto him with a hidden and intense emotion. 

“Because you’re my friend.” 

You add a small “-idiot,” with a cough. 

And then it’s as if someone presses play again. 

You immediately slump to the ground, and jeno hears jaemin yell, running to you and scooping you up in his arms. 

But jeno doesn’t budge an inch, he can only stare at the way your eyes fall shut, limp body unmoving in jaemin’s lap. 

Jaemin’s shaking, he can tell, hands trying to press your wound and stop the pouring blood, but he can’t tell if jaemin’s screaming at him to get help or if it’s the sound and smell of blood infiltrating him, rushing through his ears. 

Then something snaps, and jeno clumsily fiddles with his earpiece, somehow spitting out the words to get help. 

It’s like everything revolves around jeno as he just watches. 

and exists.  

Backup rushes in and gets you to safety as jeno stands there in shock. He has no clue or recollection as to how he even got back to headquarters. Or what’s going to happen to you. 

The only thing jeno can do is replay the moment you jumped in front of him and sacrificed yourself.  

And the way you looked at him so tenderly, speaking so soothingly, 

-the way there was not a single ounce of regret in your deep eyes after willingly taking that knife for jeno. 

ꔫ

You’re going to be fine, rest assured. After being rushed to the infirmary, they got a solid report on you a couple of hours later. You were currently sleeping, even after losing a solid amount of blood, the doctors were able to get you in a stable condition. The only problem was that you would be put on bed rest for two weeks- just to be safe.

Jaemin was the one who filled him in on all the details, even though jeno can see jaemin’s just as affected as he is. 

It was the first time your team ever had to call backup. 

It was the first time they ever saw you so lifeless and small- when after missions you were always so lively and cheerful and just there. 

And this was the first time you weren’t. 

Jeno feels so weak. 

He can barely even function. The others force him to go home and recharge, get a good night’s sleep to process everything. 

Jeno feels so weak when jaemin has to be the one to stay back and report everything while he returns to the safety of his apartment. 

Jeno feels so weak knowing it was his fault. 

He keeps replaying that moment. The moment the man snuck up behind him, your terrified scream of his name, the glint of that red-stained knife, the last look you gave him. 

He swore all the guys were down- how did one get back up? 

It was his fault. Jeno’s carelessness- in all five years of this job and three working with you and jaemin as a team- he’s never done this before. 

He’s never been the reason behind your pain before. 

ꔫ

He received daily updates on you from jaemin. 

You woke up. 

You were recovering well.

You said you missed jeno and asked why he wasn’t there. 

Okay, so maybe it’s been three days, and jeno still hasn’t worked up the courage to visit you.  

It’s not that he didn’t want to see you- oh no, if anything, he definitely wanted to be there. Jeno wanted to see your bright face so badly and feel comforted and relieved that you were okay. But every time he takes a glance in the direction of the infirmary where you were currently staying, he feels all the emotions rush to his head at once.

Anger, pain, sadness, guilt. Mainly guilt. 

And the fact that he can’t help but see your stricken face and last moments whenever he takes a single step in your direction.

But jeno misses you. He didn’t realize it before, but he really misses you. Jaemin doesn’t even pressure him to go visit you at least once or ask why the reasoning behind why he hasn’t gone. 

So jeno slowly builds up the confidence to finally visit you. He shows up three days, 72 hours, 4320 minutes later at the room you were currently stationed in, carrying a stuffed plushie of your favorite cartoon character in one hand and a bag of snacks in the other. 

He grunts, adjusting his stuff so he can knock on the door lightly to alert you of his presence. Jeno hears your voice- a soft “come in!” and he gulps. 

Inhaling and exhaling, he gently pushes the door open. You’re sitting up in the hospital bed patiently, eyes open wide with curiosity as to who could be visiting you now. 

And for some reason, the first thought that comes to his head is that you still looked so pretty. 

Even with your messy bed hair and dark circles under your eyes- not the forget the fact that you literally got stabbed a few days ago- jeno can’t take his gaze off you. 

If anything, your eyes get even wider once you catch sight of him. 

“Jeno?”

He shows a tentative smile. “Y/n?”

Your mouth opens, but then you stop and sit back onto the raised bed with a small humph!, wincing when you fall back a little too hard. 

Jeno immediately rushes to your side, examining you and asking if you’re okay.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” Still, you refuse to look him in the eye, arms crossed and chin tilted high. 

And for good reason. 

He sighs, placing the goods he brought on the desk to your side and sitting down in a nearby chair. He repeats your name. But you don’t budge. 

“Please look at me,” jeno pleads. Your head turns to him for a split second before looking away again. 

“Alright, fine. I’m really sorry.” 

You don’t say anything, but he catches your stoic expression faltering. 

“And second, thank you. Thank you for saving my life, y/n.”

Your hands drop to your side, and jeno frowns when he sees your picked fingers- he picked up on the habit you did when you were stressed. 

Finally, you clear your throat and speak. “You’re welcome. But I don’t accept your apology. It’s been days, and you don’t even visit me once? I was thinking you hated me for-“

He immediately cuts you off. “I would never hate you.”

A puff of air escapes your lips. “Okay, but it still doesn’t explain your behavior.” 

“I know, I know,” jeno says, staring down at his lap. “I was just so shocked from it all.” 

He bites his lip, voice hoarse. 

“But mostly, I felt so guilty. Like I was the bad guy.”

You open your mouth, but no words come out. 

“Because I was the reason you got hurt. It was my stupid actions and not paying attention that caused you to get hurt.” 

Jeno ducks his head, hands tightly clasped together and eyes squeezed shut. “I’m so sorry, y/n. You could’ve died, and it would’ve been all because of me.“

“Don’t apologize anymore,” you respond sharply. 

“It was my decision to take the knife for you, and I would do that over and over again, no questions asked.” Your voice softens, and your hand comes to rest on his, making his eyes snap open and breath hitch.

“Besides, I knew I would be perfectly fine. A knife never stopped me, you know that.”

Jeno glances up and he’s met with your normal happy-go-lucky face and sparkling eyes. 

He can’t help but smile back, paying no mind to the quickening pace of his heart. 

ꔫ

After that day, jeno tries his best to come in daily to see you. Since your team’s missions were put on hold until you fully recovered, he practically had nothing to do anyway. 

Sometimes he would bring snacks or games to entertain you since you complained about how boring it was to stay inside all day. You did protest in the beginning, telling him not to waste his time with you when he could be doing much more important work- but not once did jeno ever think being with you was a waste of time. 

And sometimes jaemin would be hanging out with you already, in the middle of telling you a joke that you can’t help but already start giggling at when jeno knocks on the door before coming in with his goodies of the day. 

He would pause for a second after seeing you two, a strange uncomfortable feeling rising in his chest, and then you would notice jeno‘s presence and force him to join you and jaemin, the fleeting feeling then forgotten until the next time. 

But the moments when jeno comes in and it’s just you there by yourself, he can’t ignore the rush of adrenaline he gets. 

It doesn’t fail to occur every time he spots your lovely face, already greeting him with a sparkle in your eyes. 

Since when did he start feeling this certain way? Jeno’s worked with you for years, performed countless missions by your side, and somehow, he only realizes it now. After that one fated day, it’s like everything’s changed.  And even if it may not seem like it for you, it certainly has for him. 

Jeno wonders why he’s never noticed it before. He wonders when the warmth just from being in your presence truly started.  

ꔫ

And from then on, you secure a certain and stable spot in jeno’s heart. 

At first, he swore it was just because of how selfless you were, bravely running in front of him and saving his life, jeno thought he was just eternally grateful and held a copious amount of admiration for you. But as time goes on and you’re back on your feet, raring to start up tasks again, he can’t deny that it’s not just admiration. 

He knows that his heart beats faster and his palms get sweaty whenever you spot him and your face lights up. It’s obvious, right? 

Jeno likes you. But the real question was- did you like him back? 

It’s about a week since you were released from the infirmary, slowly training and building back up to get in top fit shape and start on missions again like you so desperately wanted to do. 

You send jeno a small smile when he joins you at a table, carrying a stack of old papers to file through. It never fails to make jeno blush- and if you notice, you don’t say anything. 

There’s a relaxing silence, you munching on a snack as jeno focuses on organizing, the office is weirdly quiet today.

But the silence doesn’t last for long, you jump in your seat when jeno lets out a small hiss of pain, and you glance over to see him holding his finger, eyebrows furrowed. 

“Hm? What did you do?”

He looks up at you sheepishly, “paper cut.”

You click your tongue while shaking your head, getting up to walk to your desk a couple of strides away and returning with a band-aid in hand. 

Jeno grins when he sees the cute teddy bear pattern on it, he expects no less from you. “Why do you always have bandaids around?” He questions, amused. 

“Because I know you guys, and you guys always do dumb stuff like this.”

His mouth drops open, about to object, but abruptly closes it when you gently take his hand, unwrapping the bandaid deftly and wrapping it around the small inflicted wound. 

He gulps, watching you work with such concentration on a minor thing like a small paper cut. Your nimble fingers make him feel ticklish, and he resists the urge to squirm from a simple act like this. 

Once you finish, you sit back with a satisfied look. 

He mutters thanks, and you shake your head with a pout. “Jeno, you need to take care of yourself better.” 

And then a hand lands on your head, and you jump, quickly looking around. 

Jaemin laughs, easily slipping into the seat next to you. “What’s up?”

You roll your eyes. “Jeno was being careless and- oh! that reminds me, you too jaemin!”

His pleased expression suddenly turns bewildered. “What?”

“You’re never getting enough sleep! -and I can tell cause you were drinking your nasty coffee earlier and the bags under your eyes are-“

You ramble on, continuing to nag at jaemin as he only watches you with an endeared smile.

ꔫ

Today is a bad day. Simply one of those days where you just wake up with that feeling and know that today’s just not it. 

But that happens to everyone. It’s common and nothing you haven’t experienced before. 

You hope going to work and seeing your friends will cheer you up a little. Spoiler- it doesn’t. Jeno and jaemin are assigned to an easy mission on the field today, and you’re not allowed to go with them. The doctors tell you that you still have to wait at least four more days until you can get back to doing missions with them- no exceptions. 

The one thing you so desperately wish to do gets crushed in a matter of seconds. 

So yes, today was a bad day. 

No amount of protesting will get you out of it, so you’re left to walk out of your boss’s office extremely frustrated and upset. 

Jeno and jaemin try to comfort you, sending sympathized looks, but it’s to no avail. You assure them you’ll be fine and force them to get ready instead of worrying about you, left at your desk to pout and mope. 

Why can’t you go? 

You’re feeling great and better than ever. The mission is so simple. There’s absolutely no reason you can’t go along with them. 

Jeno notices you sulking alone, and even though he has to leave with jaemin, he quickly runs out to get some stuff before heading out. 

When you get back to your station after going to the bathroom- to just stare at the mirror for no reason in particular, (yes, it was one of those life questioning moments) you find some of your favorite snacks stacked in the middle with a small note on top. 

‘cheer up! i know you’ll get through this :) -j ’ 

You frown, looking around, and your frown deepens when you realize jeno and jaemin left already to go on their fun adventure without you. 

You question your desk mates if they saw whoever did this, and they shake their heads. The handwriting was super scrawly and messy- you had no clue whose it was. Obviously, the signed j was a clue, and your mind immediately thinks of either jaemin or jeno. But you guys are so close- why would they leave it at your desk and not just give it to you personally? 

You let out another sigh for the 100th time today, angrily ripping open the snack and stuffing a handful in your mouth. It was delicious, of course, and you’re thankful to whoever got this for you, but now there’s another thing you have to do to add to your burdens already. Find out who did this -albeit with good intentions- and pay them back. 

And in order not to feel like a complete failure, you stay at the office late, buried in paperwork until everyone else has left and you’re alone. Or so you thought. 

You were so focused you completely forgot about jeno and jaemin. Did they come back alright? You figured they probably left you be to not bother you and break your concentration. 

Groaning, you get up and stretch, looking around at the dark room and empty desks. You’re about to gather your stuff and leave when you spot a bright pink sticky note on your office wall. 

You squint, not remembering anyone leaving that there before, and curiously take it from the wall. 

‘man, i wish i could get some ice’

You raise an eyebrow. Is this a prank? Was someone trying to troll you or was it just a mistake?

You want to ignore it and just leave, but curiosity overtakes you. Rereading the note, you contemplate. Ice? The only ice available at the office was from the fridge. 

No, you reassure yourself, you’re just being dumb. It’s probably nothing.  But still, you find yourself hesitantly making your way to the kitchen area. It never hurt to check, right? 

And surprisingly, there’s the same pink sticky note pasted on the fridge door. Eyebrows raised, you quickly take it, not expecting there to actually be another one. 

‘i need to find my gear... where could it be?’

You already know the answer. Or at least, you think you do. Everyone stores their gear and equipment at their lockers, no brainer. 

You smile triumphantly when you spot the familiar bright pink hanging off a random locker door. Eagerly, you snatch it off and read the contents.

‘ah. i ran out of paper.’

You snort. Whoever wrote these was getting lazy. 

To be honest, you had no clue why this was so entertaining to you -it could literally be a prank and lead to nothing for all you know. Nevertheless, it’s an excitement you haven’t had in a while- like your own mission to find out the source of these mysterious notes. 

Quickly skipping over to the copy room, you take another note off the printer. 

‘it’s cold outside. i want to look out from above.’ 

You frown. Look out from above? Your eyes travel over the room, looking for any sign of something up high- before it eventually catches on the sign signaling the stairs leading up. 

You smack yourself in stupidity. Of course. your building had a rooftop- one you really never had a reason to go to. At least, not until now. 

You push past the doors to go up, quickly climbing up two steps at a time to reach the top. Once you see the exit outside, you hesitate. 

What if there was nothing? What if you’re luring yourself into a trap?

You shake your head, reassuring yourself it was fine. Even if someone was trying to murder you, you can take care of yourself.  

Gently pushing the door open, you peek outside. 

The night sky promptly greets you, stars shining brightly above. There are a few lights placed around to brighten the place up, but your attention is focused on the tiny set up in the middle of the rooftop. 

It’s not too extravagant, really- just a simple table with two chairs overlooking the city, but small and cute decorations adorn the place. 

You cautiously walk over, and you notice a stuffed bunny sitting in one of the chairs. Curious, you move closer to examine it. 

It looks like a harmless stuffed bunny, and after a few seconds pass with nothing dangerous happening, you slowly sit down in the other chair across from the toy. 

You’re not sure what you’re waiting for, or why this whole setup is here, but you take the chance to glance out and admire the scenery, shivering at the wind blowing past. 

It’s cold and windy, but the view is beautiful. The city below you, bright lights, and life just going on as you sit back and watch it all. It’s so peaceful, and for once your mind is clear and blank. You sit down in the other empty chair and stare for some time, not paying attention to your surroundings. 

And then a finger pokes your side, and you whip around, body tense and alert until you catch sight of who it is and falter. 

“Jaemin?”

“What are you doing here?”

He smiles. “Took you long enough to get here.”

You gasp. “Did you do all this?” You pause, processing everything before looking back up at him in horror. “How long did you wait for me?”

He rolls his eyes. “A long time.” You wince, mouth opening to apologize, but he cuts you off with a chuckle. “I’m joking. After we came back from the mission, it was already kinda late. And then it took some time to set this up, so don’t worry.”

He’s smiling down at you, and it’s contagious. You can’t help but feel the corners of your lips raise as well. Jaemin removes the bunny and sits down in the chair next to you, wordlessly handing it to you. 

You examine it, finding it to be quite adorable and soft. You giggle, looking back at him and thinking of his bunny agenda. “Is this supposed to represent you?”

He shoots you a mysterious look back, eyes twinkling. “What do you think?”

You pretend to think, tapping a finger on your chin, “well.... bunnies are cute but-“

“So you think I’m cute?” He waggles his eyebrows.

Your face heats up in embarrassment and you threateningly raise a fist at him, watching as he giggles, enjoying your flustered state a little too much. 

“You didn’t let me finish!”

Jaemin’s smile widens, eyes crinkling. “Okay, you can finish now.”

You scoff, turning away from him. “I don’t feel like it anymore,” you grumble. 

He laughs again, hand coming to pet the top of your head. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to rile you up so I could see you not looking sad or glum today.” 

You look down at your hands, clearing your throat in an attempt to ignore the weird thumping in your chest. “Oh, well... did you really stay back and do all this?” 

He shrugs, looking past at the sight below. 

“I know it was a rough day for you.”

You swallow, staring at the bunny in your arms. “But you didn’t have to.” 

“Plus waiting for me,” you lamely add. 

“I wanted to. It’s normal to be sad right now, you know. You have every right to feel upset, so there’s no need to pretend everything’s fine with me. Okay?”

“Yeah,” you clear your throat. “I’m fine now. it was immature of me to be complaining and sulking over people just looking out for me and my health. I feel bad for-“ your voice gets caught in your throat and you bite your lip. 

For some reason, you’re embarrassed. Embarrassed because you’re emotional and don’t want to cry right now, so you avert your gaze to the city, sucking in a breath and staring ahead.

Jaemin waits for a little before speaking up. 

“You don’t have to talk. We can just sit here. I figured you didn’t want to be lonely. That’s all.”

You feel shy, messing with the fuzzy bunny to distract yourself. Your voice comes out small but you’re still extremely touched. “Thank you nana. You made my day a lot better.” 

“Anything for you, y/n.”

You clutch your hand to your chest, over your heart. The night is chilly, but his words keep you warm inside. Strangely, his presence is enough.

You spend some time just sitting there together in silence, admiring the city lights, night sky, everything, and anything. But the day’s events eventually cause you to get sleepy, and jaemin does too. 

A giggle escapes you when jaemin yawns right after you do, and he has the audacity to look offended. “Why are you laughing? Yawns are contagious- which means you did this to me.” 

You shake your head in amusement, grabbing his hand to tug him up. “Let’s go home and get some rest. We did a lot of work today.”

He groans, getting up and looking around. “How long did we stay out here?”

“I don’t know. But don’t we have to clean all this up?”

“Nah, I can do it tomorrow. It’s late.” 

You shoot him a look and he raises his eyebrows. “What?”

“If you’re gonna clean it tomorrow, you better tell me so I can come up and help you.” You glare at him and he playfully salutes. 

“Yes sir!”

You’re about to leave the bunny behind and set it neatly on the chair, but jaemin swiftly shoots a hand out, preventing you. 

You glance at him, bewildered. 

He looks away sheepishly. “Keep it. I got it for you.”

You blink, before letting out a laugh and clutching it tightly to your chest. Cute. 

“Okay. I promise.” 

ꔫ

How did you get here?

Well, more importantly, why did jeno drunkenly call you? 

You show up disheveled- obviously, since he ruined your movie night and his friends basically forced you to come to pick his wasted butt up. 

You heave a sigh in defeat, glancing around the tables before finally finding jeno and his buddies. 

You try to hide your concern by keeping your arms crossed as you make your way over. The sight of jeno hugging the table while surrounded by his friends laughing at him greets you. “Oh my god- how much did you drink?”

Jeno immediately sits up, eyes gleaming. “You came!”

His friends crowd around him, looking at you with hungry eyes like a predator would at its prey. “So you’re the y/n?”

You roll your eyes. “Yes, I came. And yes, I’m y/n.”  Upon further examination, you frown, noticing jaemin isn’t here. Excluding jeno, it’s all strangers and unfamiliar faces looking back at you. “How did you guys know my name?”

One of them snorts. “Of course we know who jeno’s girlfriend is.”

You scrunch your face up. “What? I’m not his girlfriend.” You look over at jeno for support, but he’s slumped over, cheek flat on the table and mumbling some random things you don’t care to hear.

“Ugh- whatever. Jeno?” You call out, gently shaking his shoulder.  “Let's get you home.” 

He groans, and with the help of one friend, you get one of his arms across your shoulder, supporting some of his weight. 

“Thanks y/n!”

“Sorry, your boyfriend has surprisingly a lower tolerance than we thought.” 

“He’s not my boyfriend!” You grunt -jeno was much heavier than you expected- but it falls on deaf ears as you walk out of the crowded place. Well, all except for jeno’s.

He frowns, looking at you like a hurt puppy, but his tone and voice come out serious. “Is the thought of dating me that bad? Do you think I wouldn’t be a good boyfriend?”

Your mouth drops open as you let go of your hold on jeno and stare at him, wide-eyed. 

What?

You exhale in frustration, ignoring his words and quickly blaming it on him being drunk. But he doesn’t budge, staring at you earnestly, and you yank his arm helplessly. “Come on, jeno. We need to get home.” 

And with another desperate tug from you, his body unfreezes and staggers closer to you, causing your bodies to be almost pressed together. 

Jeno doesn’t seem fazed, while you flinch at the sudden proximity. His stare is strong, eyes searching yours fervently.  

“Have you never thought about dating me before?”

A surge of heat rushes through your body and you avoid his intense gaze, stuttering hotly, “W-what are you even talking about?! Ya-just-let’s go.”

You grab his hand and stumble out of the place, into the dark night. 

You huff, dragging him over to your car. “Where’s jaemin? Did he not come?”

“I dunno. He said he was busyyy.” 

You wonder where jaemin possibly could be, but jeno loses his footing while walking and your thoughts are pushed back to focus on helping him. Somehow, he gets into the passenger seat, and you carefully buckle the seatbelt over him. 

Once you get in and onto the road, all without a single word spoken, you glance over to jeno curiously. He stares out the window, looking up at the passing cloudy sky, no moon in sight.

“You know,” you start, “you should drink more responsibly. We have work tomorrow.” 

He looks back at you, an unreadable expression on his face. “But when I feel bad, I drink. I drink so I don’t have to think about it.”

You frown. “What’s making you feel bad?”

Jeno shifts in his seat, voice small. “Things. Feelings. They’re confusing. How do you find the answer? How can you tell if what you want is right?” 

How can you tell if the person you want wants you back? is what he wishes to say, but he swallows it, keeping it inside for another day. 

The ride is silent for some time, leaving his spoken thoughts to simmer until you exhale. 

“I don’t know, jeno. I honestly have no clue either. 

Once you arrive at his place, you assist him out of the car, barely making it through his door.  

He crashes into bed, whining, and you gently tuck him in. 

After jeno seems settled, you get up to leave him to rest, but a hand on your wrist prevents you. 

You slowly look back. His eyes are still closed, body sprawled out on the bed, but his grip on your arm stays.

“Stay,” he breathes. Whether he’s awake or asleep talking unconsciously, you’re not sure. But you hesitate, staring down at him. 

You think jeno falls asleep, breathing slowly evening out and hand loosening its hold on yours before falling to the side. You smile softly, adjusting his blankets and fixing his bangs delicately.

“Cheer up, jeno. I hope you find an answer to whatever’s bothering you.”

And with that, you turn and make your way home without a single look back. 

And sometime after you’re gone, one of jeno’s eyes just barely peek open to see an empty room, no sign of you. 

Jeno sighs, already falling back under. 

How can he tell you that you’re the only answer he needs? 

ꔫ

Just two more days until you can get back to missions.

You remind yourself of that, repeating it constantly from the moment you wake up. It’s no surprise you didn’t get good sleep last night- for one, the whole drunk jeno situation. and two, the stuff his friends said.... and what jeno himself said as well. 

All the boyfriend talk made you uncomfortable. It’s not like you didn’t want to find the right person for you, at the right time, but it still made you awkward thinking of your friend in a different light you’ve never thought of him in before. 

You can’t sleep when his face keeps appearing, words echoing in your brain. 

“Have you never thought about dating me before?” 

You smack yourself. No. Stop. Enough of that. 

In the morning, you busy yourself with paperwork, only stopping when jaemin sneaks up from behind to scare you. It doesn’t work. 

You grin, turning around to catch him mid-act. “How many times are you going to try this?”

He pouts, arms dropping to his side. “As many as it takes for me to properly scare you.”

Letting out a huff, you open your mouth to retort back but your sight lands on a very familiar figure entering the office. 

When you spot jeno, your mind instantly flashes back to yesterday. His eyes meet yours and you quickly avert your gaze, trying to reimmerse yourself in conversation with jaemin. 

Jeno frowns, wondering what the sudden act was for. But at the same time, he was definitely hungover and although you kindly left medicine and water by his bed yesterday night, he was still feeling like crap. 

He walks over to you two, and you abruptly tense. 

“Hey, y/n, jaemin.”

“Hi.” You cringe, your voice sounding not as casual and natural as you hoped. 

Jaemin gets called over to assist a co-worker, and jeno takes the opportunity. 

“Thanks about last night. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what my friends were thinking.”

You gulp. “It’s fine. You’re welcome.”

And then you proceed to spin around and pretend to focus on work, your back to him. (As if you had any work left when you stayed back and did it all a few days ago.)

Jeno shrugs, assuming you must be busy or something along the lines of that so he leaves you be. But for the rest of the day, you avoid as much interaction with him as possible. Whenever jeno tries to talk to you, you give short and curt answers back, not trusting what would spill out of your mouth if you spoke anymore. 

Around lunchtime, Jeno sits at his desk, spinning in circles and wondering what possibly happened with you. Could it be something he did last night? 

He exhales, getting up to grab some water from the kitchen. And lo and behold, you’re already there, filling up your own bottle. 

He waits for a second, gauging your reaction, and there’s no way he can mistake the sight of your body stiffening and the way you avoid his gaze. 

“Y/n?”

Your grip on the bottle tightens. “Uh-yeah?”

“Is there something wrong? Did I do something last night?”

The sound of the water filtering stops, and you fumble, trying to find the right words. 

“Do you not remember?”

He stops, rubbing his temple in irritation. “Not really? I just know you had to come and pick me up. Again, I’m really sorry...”

“Ah.” You feel a slight sense of comfort. So he really doesn’t remember anything he said... “Well, it’s nothing, your friends just said some weird things, and I-“ 

He quickly interrupts you, ears turning pink. “Listen, ignore anything I or my friends said last night. A lot of nonsense comes out of our mouths when we’re drunk, so I fully apologize on their behalf. I can talk to them and-”

You internally heave a huge sigh of relief when he says that, heart somewhat at ease now.

“No-no, it’s alright...,” you fiercely shake your head. 

“Oh, okay.” Jeno’s hand comes up to scratch the back of his neck self-consciously. 

You finally allow yourself to relax, noticing his messy hair and biting your lip to hold back a laugh. “Jeno- did you do your hair this morning?”

You reach to fix the stray hairs, patting some flyaways down, when his hand shoots up, grabbing your wrist and stopping you effectively. 

You freeze, smile slowly falling while staring at jeno in shock and confusion, his hand still keeping yours on top of his head in place. Jeno looks back at you, an unreadable expression on his face. 

One beat. 

Two beats. 

You swallow. 

“Jen?” You ask tentatively. 

He snaps out of it, blushing and removing his grip from your wrist, causing your arm to fall back down at your side. 

“Oh-yeah. Sorry. I’ll get going now. Good luck with your work today.” He dashes off, leaving you to stand there alone. 

You shiver, brushing over the spot where he held your wrist. What was that all about?

ꔫ

After lunch, you decide to stop by jaemin’s desk, wanting to ask if he’s attending the party tomorrow night. 

You eagerly roll your chair over, wheels squeaking against the carpeted floor. 

“Hey jaem-“

Your chair comes to a slow. 

You find Jaemin at his desk, using his arms as a pillow as he sleeps peacefully, head turned to the side and slow breaths huffing in and out. 

You quietly laugh to yourself. Scooting closer, you allow yourself to watch him for a second, glad that he was getting some rest instead of constantly working, helping other people out at work, or helping others by volunteering. 

You unconsciously lean closer, fingers lightly brushing his hair from his face and watching his body peacefully rise and fall. 

Jaemin was always the person everyone went to for assistance. Everyone adored jaemin. You wonder why he’s never dated anyone in the time you’ve known him- he and jeno were always popular and well-liked. 

You fall into a daze watching him, just from how peaceful he looks, losing track of the time. 

And then his eyes shoot open, and you jump back slightly, startled. 

He doesn’t move from his position, just simply staring back at you, and for a second you can do nothing but stare back. 

And then he breaks into a sleepy but still amused grin, apples of his cheeks protruding clearly. 

“How long have you been awake?” You ask slowly, cautiously. 

“How long have you been staring at me?” He counters back. 

You let out an embarrassing sound, scooting back. 

“Doesn’t matter. It was just shocking to see you getting some rest for once.”

He raises an eyebrow but you ignore it, attempting to get back on topic. “Anyways, are you going to the party tomorrow?”

“What party?” Jaemin asks bluntly. 

You should’ve guessed that he didn’t know. “Our division’s hosting a party tomorrow at 7. To celebrate the 8th anniversary or something like that. It’s supposed to be fun though. Are you going?”

He purses his lips, running through his mental schedule and future plans. “I suppose I can.” 

You fake a gasp. “The na jaemin actually has time to go to a party?”

He jokingly pushes your chair away from him in revenge, but it’s so sudden that you jerk and lose your balance in the seat, about to tip the chair and fall over. 

Thank goodness for his overly trained reflexes that allow him to lunge forward and catch the sides of your chair, safely stabilizing it while he’s positioned over you. 

You quickly glance up at him, heart racing and adrenaline pumped. It doesn’t get better when you notice his arms caging you in. 

Jaemin’s concerned expression meets your shocked one, and when he asks if you’re okay, you simply can’t function, opting to just gaze up at him with wide eyes. 

“-y/n???”

You come back to your senses, rapidly nodding and ignoring the rest of his worried questions. Returning to your desk, you bang your head against the hard surface, mind jumbled. You just need a break from men. 

It feels like forever until it’s finally time to go home. Your body feels sluggish and brain fried as you make your way out the door. Locating your car, you somehow spot the two people you really don’t want to see after what happened earlier -with the both of them. 

You recoil, quickly avoiding jeno and jaemin like a frightened mouse and speedwalking over to your car. Once you get in, you let out a sigh of relief, finally getting a chance alone to think about today’s developments. 

Is it just you, or are jeno and jaemin acting so strange recently- especially after you got stabbed? 

Before, you would’ve said that your teammates were the people you could trust with anything and everything. But lately, they’re the two people that have been driving you crazy. 

You rub your eyes in defeat. Everything’s confusing- it feels like everything’s changed. 

But one question remains.  

How exactly? 

ꔫ

Ryujin drags you along next to her, ignoring your complaints about the outfit she chose for you. 

She worked in a different division from you, meaning you didn’t get to see her often, though you were still able to keep in contact. It felt like meeting up with an old friend occasionally, there were never any awkwardness or boring moments. 

And somehow, she managed to sneak her way into your division’s party. (popular people things, you grumbled.)

“It feels like we’re going to a college party again.”

You shake your head. “Don’t remind me of those.”

You fiddle with your clothes for the nth time, ryujin having picked an outfit you would’ve never worn on your own accord. 

“I’m regretting letting you choose what to wear for me.”

She only laughs. “Yeah-well, too late now! Besides, you look really good, so who cares?”

“Me!”

Ryujin ignores you, glancing around at the apartment doors and looking for the right number. 

“Ah, here it is. Number 55.”

You knock on the door, and it slowly opens to reveal one of your coworker's apartment. 

There’s a fair amount of people already there, chatting away or dancing to the subtle music. 

Good, at least it wasn’t like those cringy college parties with ear-deafening music and the stench of pure alcohol filling the place. 

Your eyes travel across the room, taking it all in. 

“Are you looking for him?” Ryujin teases, nudging your side. Your eyes flick back to her, a confused look in them. “What do you mean?”

She rolls her eyes, “Who else would I be talking about? Obviously-

She gets cut off by lia, running over to the two do you with a squeal. 

“Y/n, you look so pretty!!”

You shake your head, embarrassed. 

“I’m surprised you didn’t come with jeno and jaemin,” she remarks. 

Your mouth opens. That’s right, you totally forgot about them. Searching around, you finally spot both of them playing beer pong with a couple more of your coworkers.

Smiling, you excuse yourself to greet them. 

“Getting the party started without me?” You tease, walking over to the table. 

Everyone turns at the sound of your voice. Jaemin, mid-shot about to throw the ball, stops when he sees you. 

Jeno swallows, eyes taking in your appearance. 

You frown at the lack of response. “Guys?”

Immediately, everything resumes. They all greet you, and jeno hands you a cup. 

“It’s light, don’t worry.” You nod in thanks, taking a sip. 

He suddenly feels hot, hands picking at his shirt. “You look really good.” 

You roll your eyes. “Sure, it’s probably just because you’ve only ever seen me in my work clothes or pajamas.”

Jeno shakes his head shyly. “I mean it.”

The air suddenly feels weird, so you shuffle a bit, clearing your throat.

“Oh. Thanks, I guess?”

The party resumes with you hanging out with the boys and occasionally talking to other friends. But it’s been a while since you’ve gone out like this, and eventually, you start to feel a bit overwhelmed. 

Jeno and jaemin quickly take notice of your quiet behavior and short replies. 

Jaemin nudges your side softly. “Are you okay?” 

You feel yourself faintly nod, trying your best to take a deep breath. “Yeah, it’s just a little stuffy in here.”

At your words, jeno and jaemin both start, immediately offering you water at the same time. 

You hesitate, staring down at both of their outstretched hands. 

“Uh,” you awkwardly laugh, getting up. “It’s alright. I’m just gonna go to the restroom....”

You don’t. You walk over to the kitchen, quickly obtaining and downing a glass of water with a satisfied exhale at the end. And then, instead of returning to the rest of the group, you take a detour to the balcony, quietly stepping out into the cold night and shutting the door behind you.  

Jeno gets increasingly worried. It’s been like 15 minutes and you still haven’t returned. He asks jaemin, and he only shrugs, saying something about how you probably needed some space.

But it’s not a good enough answer for him, so jeno goes to check the bathroom, and as expected, you’re not there. 

And in fact, you’re not anywhere inside as far as his he can tell. Anxious, he begins to go around, asking a few people if they’ve seen you. Most of them shake their heads, stating unhelpful information referring to your location. 

But eventually, while waking his way past the kitchen, he hears your voice. It comes from outside, past the door that leads to the balcony. 

Jeno stops, listening for a second. He can pick up on another person’s voice along with yours- he believes it’s your friend - the one whose name started with an R?

Your voices are faint, and he quietly leans in closer to the door, holding his breath and praying you don’t notice his presence. 

“-you like him, huh?”

He hears your soft voice. “Again? What are you talking about, Ryu?”

Right, he thinks. Your friend's name was ryujin. 

“Don’t act oblivious. You two have been teammates for so long now- I can tell.”

Then jeno hears noises that he assumes are you getting flustered and he has to hold back a laugh.

But then the sounds of shuffling suddenly start, and jeno barely hides away past the corner -thank his spy training. 

Jeno presumes that ryujin gets up and heads back inside, closing the door and leaving you alone again. 

He counts 15 seconds before walking over to the door and gently opening it. He’s greeted by the sight of you, staring up at the sky, and his breath is stolen away once again. 

But you turn at the noise, relaxing when you spot jeno. 

“Oh. Hey. What’s up?”

He hums, sitting in the chair next to you. “I didn’t know where you went.” 

“But you found me,” you remark dryly. 

“....where’s jaemin?”

Jeno shrugs, having forgotten about jaemin in his quest to find you. 

Maybe the tranquil silence between you two and the breathtaking sight in front of him is what causes him to reflect on everything. 

“Y/n,” he speaks up after a while. 

You nod, waiting for him to continue. 

“I know I’ve said this a bunch of times, but thank you for saving me.”

“Didn’t I already tell you to let that go?” You joke. 

“Yeah, but I want to keep saying it because I truly mean it. I’ll always be grateful because of what you did. I still feel terrible for not paying attention-“

You place a hand over his, and he falters. 

You don’t look at him though, gaze still locked in front of you. “I already accepted your apology, jeno...”

“But am I still allowed to feel horrible about that time I practically forced you to come and pick a drunk me up?”

You giggle, removing your hand from his, and jeno unconsciously frowns at the loss of contact. 

“If it makes you feel any better, then sure. But....” you start. 

He nods, gesturing for you to keep going. 

“What was bothering you that night? You said you drank so much because you felt bad.”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” you quickly add. 

Jeno exhales a long breath through his nose. He debates internally, switching back and forth between the options. 

Is there any way for him to say that he likes you? That jeno likes you- a lot?

And that he doesn’t know if you like him back? 

Sometimes, he thinks the smiles you send him are special, different from the ones you give to others. Or whenever he thinks about the time you took care of him, helped him, sacrificed your life for him, he believes it could be something more. 

But at the same time, jeno doubts himself. He can’t help but wonder if you really do feel the same way or if it’s just you being you. You’re always smiling at everyone, helping others out whenever you got the chance- being the selfless, admirable person you are. 

He stayed up countless nights, replaying and overanalyzing all the interactions you had with him throughout the day, wondering, hoping, wishing. 

“I like someone,” jeno finally speaks. 

But before you can react, he continues. “And I don’t know if they like me back.”

He looks down at the ground, his voice quiet. “Because I’m just me, you know? There's honestly nothing special about me. I can’t even work up the courage to confess- what would they even like about me?”

“She probably doesn’t even like me back,” he finishes. 

You wait, letting his words fully sink in. 

And then you let out a short, dry laugh, and he quickly glances up at you, bewildered at your low tone- a sudden change in the air surrounding you. 

“Is this really what was bothering you that night?”

“-are you really doubting yourself, lee jeno? Did you forget how great of a person you are? How hardworking and strong you are? How kind and thoughtful you are? You’re a good guy, and anyone would be a fool not to see that.”

Your eyes hold a certain intensity to them, never once breaking eye contact with his. 

Maybe you said something else, maybe you weren’t done talking, but jeno isn’t sure. 

He suddenly felt a rush of hope when you were speaking -at the look on your face when you talked about him so seriously and with so much conviction. 

So much to the point where he can’t stop himself. 

It’s like his body has a mind of its own, forcing Jeno to lean in towards you, face coming much closer to yours. 

You trail off, noticing his sudden bold move. He doesn’t say anything, eyes flicking down to your lips. 

Your breath hitches.

You don’t know how to react to the sudden intimacy, so you simply stop, body locking up and heart thundering in your chest. 

Jeno brings you closer as your eyes widen, not a single part of you moving as you internally panic. 

“Hey, who’s out here-“

Jeno falters, eyes flying open. 

You take the chance to scoot back, breathless, and quickly get up to meet the eyes of the person who burst outside and essentially ruined the moment. 

Thank god it wasn’t any of your friends- just the apartment’s owner who simply wanted to know who was outside. 

After quickly explaining, it’s a golden opportunity for you to get the heck out of there, internally thanking them for coming out at that moment. 

Quickly apologizing, you make your escape, fumbling past the door and back into the party, looking for your belongings and searching for the exit.

You don’t bothering telling anyone about your departure, instead coming face to face with a confused ryujin, to which you explain that you’re tired (not a lie) and need to go back home and make sure you didn’t get robbed (also not entirely a lie, you really had no clue if you locked your doors or not). 

And with that, you clumsily put your shoes on and push past her, ignoring the startled protests and questions. 

Your mind is buzzing, the alcohol not helping one bit. 

As you continue on the path back to the comforting solidarity of your home, you can’t help but think back to what occurred earlier. 

What just happened? 

You don’t even want to imagine it, but it seemed like jeno was trying to... 

kiss you. 

maybe? right?

You run a hand over your face, having an internal crisis. 

Hah, no way. 

Was he just that drunk? Like that one time you had to pick him up? 

Should you just disregard what happened this time as well?

Are you making a big deal out of nothing? Was it just an accident and you misunderstood his intentions?

Everything feels so overwhelming and confusing, once you get home, you immediately collapse into bed and force yourself to fall asleep and not have to think about it anymore. 

And it’s very much a good thing that you did because your boss sends you and the boys on a mission the next evening. 

And yeah, maybe you were still feeling like crap and hungover, but it was your first mission after getting stabbed. Even when you’ve been on countless missions- ones much harder than the one you were about to embark on- you still felt the nervousness and anxiety to perform well and succeed in your stomach. 

And luckily, or maybe not so luckily, you didn’t have any time to discuss what occurred last night between you and jeno. 

He stays quiet the whole ride, and you’re not sure whether to be grateful or concerned. 

Jaemin worriedly asks you about where you went last night, and you shrug, saying something about how you were tired and wanted to go home early. 

The atmosphere in the car is weird, and you want to blame it on the fact that it’s been a while since you’ve been out as a team, but you all know it’s more than that. 

Shutting your eyes shut, you decide to put it all away for now. 

This was your job, and you couldn’t let personal matters get involved. 

“You guys ready?” jaemin asks, and the three of you share a look before you nod. 

“Yes. Let’s go.”

The driver pulls up, and it’s strangely giving you a sense of deja vu when you get out of the car and into the dark and windy night, as well as an ominous feeling, like something horrible was going to happen- but you brushed it off and blamed it on your nerves. 

You recall the words of your boss- just look around the area for anything suspicious and report back. Fortunately, you’re outside at an abandoned plaza, a large lake in the middle of it, making the location seem much bigger than it was. 

Your instincts immediately come back as you glance around, taking in your surroundings. 

The area was suspected to be taken over by an unidentified group working against your organization, so you decided to split up and cover more ground to search for anything fishy. 

“Jaemin, I think you can search the general outside area, around the lake and stuff.”

He nods at your words, adjusting his earpiece. 

“I’ll go near the bridge,” jeno murmurs and you exhale, still taking in your surroundings.

“Alright, let’s go.”

And before you can make any moves, you feel both of your hands being grabbed, your body getting tugged in opposite directions. 

You let out a small yelp in surprise, glancing around to find jeno having taken one of your hands to pull you one way while jaemin did the same with your other hand, pulling you the opposite way in his direction. 

There��s an awkward moment as they realize what they both just did.

And still, a few seconds pass while you glance back and forth between the two and neither jaemin nor jeno have yet to let go of you. 

Nervously laughing, you shake off both of their hands, muttering, “I’ll just go to that building over there... y-you know, by myself....”

As quick as possible, you make your escape (once again) briskly walking away from your teammates while still keeping an eye out. 

There’s nothing suspicious around, but you still have an unsettled feeling in your stomach that won’t go away, no matter how much you reassure yourself. 

Walking out of the building, you catch sight of jeno. You still, awkwardly standing in the doorway and debating whether to go over to him or hide- even when there was absolutely no reason to be hiding from him. 

Either way, you don’t get to decide as he spots you and frantically heads your way, looking panicked, which immediately sets you off. 

Breathless, he runs towards you, and you tense, examining his current condition. 

“What? What is it jeno?”

He takes a quick glance around before pulling you back inside the building urgently as you stammer indignantly. 

“There are guys,” he gasps. “Spotted them coming this way.” 

You curse, trying to hide from the open spots through the building’s windows. 

“That’s not it,” jeno adds, voice lowering to a whisper. “It’s the same gang from before.” 

Your eyes widen as you press a hand to your mouth to keep yourself quiet.

“How many?”

Jeno blinks. “At least seven.”

“What are we going to do?” Your heart rate quickens as you remember your other teammate. 

“Shoot, what about jaem? He’s still out there- does he know?”

Jeno lets out a frustrated sigh. “No- I spotted you first and quickly tried to get us to hide. I totally forgot.”

Exhaling, you press your earpiece, speaking softly, 

“Jaem. Jaemin? Can you hear us?”

The two of you wait patiently, but there’s no response. 

You repeat his name, and so does jeno. 

There’s nothing. 

Your anxiety increases and jeno softly squeezes your arm to comfort you.

“I’m sure jaemin’s fine, he can take care of himself.”

You frown, head snapping up to him. “How do you know that? Jaemin might not have any clue and those guys could easily spot him wandering around. He could get ambushed and since there’s more than-“

You get interrupted by the sound of approaching voices, apprehension striking you through the heart. 

It takes everything in you not to make a sound as jeno pulls you closer to him, lessening the space between you and also the chance of anyone spotting your figure just barely peeking out. 

You close your eyes, the sound of your soft breaths filling the air as you just focus on the feeling of his hand on your back, the noises from the people passing by getting fainter and fainter. 

Once you confirm the coast is clear, you immediately back away, ignoring how jeno clears his throat and running a hand through your hair in stress. 

You could always attack, you had no doubt in your abilities, but there was no telling how many more guys there were and if it would blow your cover or not. 

“Are you sure there were seven?”

He frowns. “As far as I could tell...”

You squeeze your eyes shut, muttering, “I know we could take them on, but- there’s no telling if they have backup or if they’re planning to do something here at this time or not.” 

Jeno nods solemnly, cautiously moving towards a window and peeking out as you continue to try and contact jaemin. 

“It’s hard to tell,” he whispers, “but I think they’re leaving.”

Your eyes fly open, silently making your way to the window to glance out. You squint, the darkness obscuring your vision of the shadowy figures outside. 

But jeno seems to be right, they seem to be packing up and leaving- although you’re not quite sure what they came here to do in the first place. 

It feels like forever- waiting for them to slowly leave the area, plus a few extra minutes to confirm. 

You pick at your hands anxiously, waiting. Where was jaemin? Did he get hurt? Why was he not responding? 

Jeno finally gives the okay, and you leap to your feet, not caring anymore and bursting your way out of the building. 

Gasping for air, you frantically search the whole area, running all around the place and calling for jaemin as jeno struggles to keep up with you- pleading for you to slow down a little. 

You pay no heed to his words, the wind blowing your hair past and head whipping from side to side as you call out, voice hoarse, “Jaemin?”

You hear a faint shuffle, and your eyes zero in the spot near the fountain, where some benches are. 

Your legs work on their own accord, bringing you closer as you call for jaemin once again. 

You hear a muffled response, and adrenaline rushes through you. 

Jaemin squeezes out from between one of the benches and a large positioned rock, looking albeit a little shaken but otherwise seeming unharmed and normal. 

And for some reason, you can’t control yourself, running over to him and placing your hands on his face, sides, everywhere. 

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

He swallows. “I’m alright. I spotted those guys luckily before they spotted me, and somehow found this spot to hide. It was good that they stopped pretty close to where I was hiding- I was able to hear some of their conversations.”

You bristle. “It was good? How could it be good when you almost got spotted?

You hear jeno come up from behind, catching his breath from chasing after you. “Thank goodness you’re safe- why didn’t you answer us through the earpiece?”

Jaemin shrugs. “I couldn’t make any noise or else they would find me.”

You scoff, crossing your arms. “Yeah, well you could’ve done at least something. We had no idea what could’ve happened to you- if you got hurt or needed help!” 

They both look surprised at your outburst. Jaemin raises an eyebrow. “ Chill y/n, I’m alright. You don’t have to be so worried-“

“How can I not be so worried when I almost lost you?” Your chest heaves and your fists are clamped tightly in balls to contain your frustration at his reaction to this situation. 

How could he be so calm about this? 

Jeno watches from the side, speechless. 

Jaemin takes a step closer to you, confused and still a little shocked, and you take one back while staring furiously back at him. 

“Lost me?” Y/n, you wouldn’t have lost me, because you know I can take fend for myself. These kinds of things happen all the time on our missions, I don’t get why you’re so worked up over this-“

“Because I have feelings for you, idiot!” 

Oh. 

There it was. 

You inhale sharply, turning around and furiously stalking away. To where- you’re not sure, but you do know that you just need to get away from this place. 

Jeno and jaemin stand there, unsure of what to do or say. 

But jeno wasn’t unsure of what to say. He simply had nothing to say at all. 

He wants to go after you, starting in your direction, but jaemin’s oddly quiet and low voice stops him. 

“Don’t. Leave her alone for a while.”

And the tone in his voice tells jeno that jaemin wants to be left alone for a while too as he eventually stalks off. 

Jeno stands there, alone, wondering if this was how it was really meant to be. 

ꔫ

You walk for a long time. 

A long time back to your place. Somehow, you do it. 

There’s a lot of things that fuel your stamina. 

Anger, frustration, confusion. 

For one, you had absolutely no idea why you just randomly shouted out in a fit of anger that you liked jaemin. 

Because you weren’t even sure if you did or not. 

And of course, the whole jeno situation as well. 

You’ve never thought of jeno differently before- in a romantic way before. 

And when he almost kissed you?

They both make your head hurt, spin in circles until you can’t think straight anymore. 

Since when did things change?

Since when did all these feelings get involved and complicate your entire relationship with each other?

You feel tired, your legs taking you back to the one place you want to go back to, the place where you can be alone. 

Once you miraculously make your way to your familiar home, the sight seeming so much more welcoming than it ever did, you collapse into bed, feeling the most exhausted you’ve ever felt. 

It’s the only thing you can do now- simply because you don’t want to do anything else. 

And the next morning, you avoid everyone’s calls, concerned messages wondering about where you are and why you haven’t gone to work this morning. 

Instead, you decide to do what you do best. Ignore everyone and shut yourself out from the world.

You do contact your boss and tell him that you’re taking a short break for personal reasons- even when you just returned back to your job. 

 And answer when ryujin texts you, blowing up your phone the second she found out you were “taking a break”. 

Ryu (7:36am): what’s going on 

Ryu (7:36am): why are you suddenly not going to work

Ryu (7:37am): y/n

Ryu (7:37am): answer me 

Ryu (7:37am): answer me 

Ryu (7:38am): answer 

you (8:02am): I can’t believe im saying this

you (8:02am): But 

Ryu (8:03am): omg you’re alive 

you (8:04am): Boy problems 

Ryu (8:04am): what

you (8:04am): Yeah 

you (8:05am): That’s it 

Ryu (8:05am): wait huh with who tho

you (8:06am): ...

Ryu (8:07am): oh 

Ryu (8:07am): oh no 

You turn your phone off for the rest of the day, feeling conflicted. 

Was it childish of you to just cancel work to avoid two guys? 

Was it childish to run away from your feelings? 

You get an answer that night- in the form of a knock at your door. 

You lazily get up, casually swinging the door open with no regard for who was behind it. 

Once you get a glimpse of who it is, you stop in your tracks, heart stopping as you stare at him. 

“-What are you doing here?”

He stares at you with desperate eyes. Those eyes. When you were stabbed. When you were upset from being stuck on bed rest and not able to do anything. When you were alone and he was there to comfort you. 

With the same eyes you’ve probably looked at him with a million times before- you’ve just never realized until recently. 

And then his lips on are yours, and you automatically entangle your hands into his hair. 

The door shuts behind him with a frantic slam, effectively sealing the plans for your night. 

ꔫ

Spending days away from everyone and everything allowed you to really reflect on everything that happened in the past month.

Getting stabbed, taking a break from work, finding out what was really hidden deep inside you- what was what you needed and wanted. 

You were grateful to have the best teammates, ones that were selfless and always took care of you. 

Especially now, after you got hurt and suspended from work, you were still grateful and appreciative of both jeno and jaemin. 

Even when certain things and situations confused you, brought new feelings and secrets arise, you would never change a thing. 

And when you sneak a glance to the guy still sleeping peacefully by your side, arms wrapped around tightly around you like he’s afraid you would escape or leave, you take the chance to look at him- truly look at him and all his features in a way you’ve always done before, but could never figure it out. 

You always admired that jaemin was always the one taking care of everyone else- always selfless and thinking of others. 

Always understanding and knowing what to do. 

He’s always there. 

And it took a lot more for you to realize that’s what you wanted, and that maybe the two of you are more alike than you thought. 

Maybe you do like jaemin. Maybe you’ve liked jaemin for a long time and just never realized it.

And maybe you just want to love on him back a little. 

(but just remove all the previous maybes.)

ꔫ

Jeno’s surprised to see you return to work that day- although late, but still here nonetheless. 

You look much better and lively- he wonders what could’ve happened. (even when deep down, he already knows what must’ve happened.)

It’s hard to ignore the private whispers and looks that you and jaemin share, like you have a secret or inside joke that only jeno doesn’t know about, but obviously, it‘s just further proof that there’s something going on between you two. 

And it’s hard to hide his true emotions in front of you and pretend that everything’s okay. 

Pretend that you and jaemin together weren’t killing him on the inside and the fact that you’ve only ever thought of jeno as a friend wasn’t true. 

Jeno so desperately wished that he realized he always liked you for a long time before, maybe even since the beginning. 

Maybe things would have been different. Maybe if he knew earlier and told you sooner, you wouldn’t have discovered and revealed your feelings for jaemin.

Jeno also wishes that he knew that you never returned his own feelings at that time. Right when you jumped in front of him and said those five words the day you almost lost your life. 

And yet, the smile on your face and sparkle in your eyes directed towards jeno is the same- maybe even a bit brighter now as he was all too familiar with the looks and laughs you sent his way before. 

He wishes he knew it didn’t mean anything, and he didn’t fall for that smile.

Like the one, you’re sending to him now. 

“Hey jeno, we’re gonna go grab some food. Wanna come?” 

He grimaces and shakes his head, muttering some excuse about how he needs to watch his caloric intake. 

It wasn’t that -he would gladly take food any day. But his appetite was gone. And to be honest, it had been for a while. 

As he watches you walk off with jaemin, hands lovingly intertwined, that’s when he realizes it. 

Yes, you might’ve saved jeno’s life, and you might’ve even been the love of his life -if he truly thought about it- but he was never yours. 

And he never would be. 

a/n: the fact that i had to use a random decider to choose the ending bc nomin things :) anyways if you made it to the end then ty for reading

taglist: @skrtbabe ​

reminder- any kind of feedback is always appreciated :)

[clnriswood]

DRACO MALFOY X CEDRIC DIGGORY X READER

Something Different | Part Two

a/n: Hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Let the love triangle commence!

tag list: @call-me-banana-bandit @pillowjj @truly-insatiable @natsiboo @justmesadgirl @boredoffmebox @jjjmaybank @jejegu

X

“Can’t get this blooming rubbish to work,” Ernie Macmillan grumbled.

He, along with a select few of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff N.E.W.T. qualifying students, were huddled close in Flitwick’s musty classroom. As their class was drawing to its close it seemed that not many had yet grasped the spell’s complexity. The girl, with her hair in two tight french braids, had her legs folded up in a criss cross shape as she focused all her might into what was growing to be harder and harder spellwork.

“Aguamenti,” she said, forming a sideways S shaped arc.

Sure enough, a stream of water burst forth from her wands tip, only, the liquid lasted a mere second before sputtering out like a broken down vehicle. Beside her, Cedric was having more luck. Effortlessly, he created a perfect arc of crystal clear water, which he, with little effort, aimed backwards so as to shoot into his opened mouth. As the girl watched him, mouth agape, he gave her an infuriating wink of his ocean blue eyes.

“Show off,” she scowled with defeated pout.

Cedric, though it was by no means intentional, then spat his water on her with a bellowing laugh. Out of sheer disgust and retaliation, the girl raised her wand and spoke the charm once more, but this time it proved to be far more effective. A tidal wave's worth of water hit Cedric’s smug face, making him fly sideways onto the ground for cover as the Hufflepuff side of the class went berserk with laughter. Cedric, though sopping wet, looked happy as ever as he went climbing back into his seat, water droplets dancing off the edges of his eyes, nose, and lips, like diamonds. Professor Flitwick, unsure whether he should be impressed or not, flourished his wand and turned the student’s clothes back to being bone dry in an instant.

Across the room, it seemed the only Gryffindor with the same capabilities as Cedric was Hermione Granger, who was trying with much difficulty to teach her friends the day’s spell.

“Whadda you reckon?”

Ron Weasley sat beside her, his wand spurting a pathetic gurgle of water from its tip. The ginger boy seemed rather impressed with himself, given.

“Ronald,” Hermione snapped.

Beside them, Harry Potter mustered a similarly pathetic ooze of water. He seemed to be amusing himself, watching it spit up all over his desk with an idiotic grin at Ron.

“You’re not saying it with enough energy,” Seamus Finnigan chimed in. “See? Watch.”

Seamus sent his wand aggressively up through the air, his face scrunched as he practically yelled his aguamenti charm into existence. Professor Flitwick had turned abruptly to watch the magic take effect, and was, due to his unfortunate placement, sent toppling off his little stack of books. The water charm slapped him clean onto the floor, making the drenched little man squeak with shock.

“Finnigan,” he spluttered as he stood up, his clothes dripping a halo shaped puddle around his feet, “detention!”

Unsurprisingly, class was cut just a little early that day.

. . .

“What was that about, last night?”

She caught up with her Gryffindor comrades the second she was out of class. Her boots thwacked the stone floors of the halls loudly as she struggled to keep up pace so as to get updated and still make her next class on time.

“What was what about?” Harry replied dumbly.

“Your nose you fool!” she hit him against the back of his head with her notebook.

“Ow,” he snorted, rubbing his neck.

“You’ll have Malfoy to blame for that,” Hermione answered matter of factly while Ron tended jokingly to his friend’s nonexistent neck wound.

“I figured just as much,” the girl said, sliding in beside her friend and keeping up her pace as the idiot boys fell behind.

“You did?” Hermione raised a brow.

“Yeah, he had a spot of blood on his knuckles,” she explained.

“Clever,” Hermione grinned, her brown eyes shining with satisfaction.

“I s’pose,” she shrugged, itching to move the conversation along. “Anyways, what exactly was Harry doing that got him his nose smashed in by Malfoy’s fists?”

“Not just his fists!” Ron called from behind. “The git stomped on him too!”

“Brutal!” Harry chortled.

Hermione, exasperated, turned quickly around so as to procure her wand and send fizzling pink sparks up by the boy’s feet, making them instantly shut up.

“As I was going to say,” Hermione said cooly, as if nothing had just happened, “Harry was spying on Malfoy. He wanted to confirm a suspicion of his.”

“And what might that be?” the girl said, her braids swaying on her chest as they closed in on their destination.

“Harry thinks Malfoy is a death eater,” she said.

Her stomach flipped like a pancake in the fryer that was her stomach, “and?”

“Reckons he is,” Hermione said, her pace slowing, “but I don’t know. I think it’s likely he was just trying to show off to his friends. I mean, he’s sixteen years old! And it’d be very odd to have a sixteen year old boy working for You-Know-Who, don’t you think?!”

“Yeah,” the girl replied flatly, ignoring the continuous churn of her belly, “it would be odd.”

. . .

Herbology was off to a calm start that year. Professor Sprout seemed quite pleased to see the returning faces of Neville, Cedric, Y/N, and a few of her other star students. She’d explained that they were to kick off the school year by repotting the plants from the Hufflepuff Common Room, as they’d gone the summer in their untouched pots and burst forth with so much new life that they now required transplanting. As Cedric had put it, it seemed the plants had “gotten busy that summer.” This had sent the girl roaring. Her, Cedric, and Neville had then stood together, enjoying the hot sun that sizzled their skin to a light fry and making easy conversation. Being Hufflepuffs, Y/N, Cedric, and a few of their fellow housemates agreed to transport the plants back to their Common Room following the end of their lessons. On their way out of the class, now that she’d gotten Cedric alone, the girl updated him on what Hermione had told her. She held a large brown pot in her hands, one dripping with long and lively vines, while Cedric carried a bundle of singing sprouts.

“What, so you reckon he is a death eater then?” Cedric’s brows lifted as they made their way across the sun soaked grounds.

It smelt of dirt and flora, but the girl wasn’t sure if the source was the grounds or just herself and Cedric.

“Dunno,” she shrugged, “but I think… I think there’s something different about him.”

Cedric threw her the side eye, “yeah?”

The girl sighed, blowing a puff of air from her mouth as she attempted to phrase her next words in the least ridiculous way possible.

“Malfoy looked at me.”

Cedric stopped walking, “what?”

“He looked at me,” she said again.

Her friend blinked at her like she’d gone loony, “and then what?”

“And then nothing,” she replied.

“So you- now wait a minute let me get this right,” Cedric said, rubbing his long fingers over his mouth so as to suppress his grin.

“Oh shut up,” she grumbled and began her march away.

Cedric was laughing as he continued, chasing her down.

“So you think it’s possible something is off with Malfoy because he looked at you?”

“You don’t understand,” she explained, sort of folding her arms grumpily over her chest while keeping a grip on the plant, “he never looks at me.”

Cedric had gone silent for a moment, making her feel like an idiot.

“You don’t believe me,” she sighed as they entered the school’s halls.

Cedric stopped her, a firm hand coming to her right arm and making her feet come to a halt. The boy gave a little smile, looking down at her with those ocean eyes and shaking his head. Little dimples arose on the perfect curvatures of his bronzed skin.

“I believe,” he said, “that you see the best in people. Even when they don’t see it themselves.”

She let his words sink in as the chirping of nearby birds filled her silence.

“So... d’you think there is some part of him worth trying to save?” she asked.

Cedric looked just a little frustrated as he replied, “I think that even if there was, it wouldn’t be your job to do.”

He was right, she knew that much. But she couldn’t help but to wonder; if he wasn’t hers to save, who was?

After bringing their first round of plants by the Common Room, the two made a rendez-vous to meet with Julian, Ernie, and fellow housemate Hannah Abbot, who seemed to hang close by Ernie. From there, the group scarfed down a quick meal (Y/N had a particular craving for pasta that night), and headed back off to the greenhouse. It was dark out now, and the girl pondered Draco’s absence from the Great Hall as they padded jovially across the green grass. On her second trip, she handled a particularly sleepy cactus, who snored loudly in its cozy little pot.

“Last one back has to get us all butterbeers from the kitchen?” Hannah had asked her friends with a wink.

They laughed in agreement before all promptly bolting off towards the castle, soaked in the white of the moonlight. Cedric unsurprisingly took the lead, with Y/N following close behind. Her boots slammed against the hard floor, her friends squealing as they weaved in and out of groups of disgruntled students in the hallways. She could’ve sworn she remembered bolting past Cho Chang, who looked gloomily off in Cedric’s direction, but truth be told she wasn’t paying all that much attention. That was, until she caught sight of a ghostly figure sweeping down a nearby corridor void of students. Realizing who it was, she went skidding to a halt, Julian flying past her with a cackle. She glanced once to her friends, mentally coming to a decision, and then back to the figure in the corridor. Silently, she slipped aside and trailed the boy down the hall, following quietly after him for about a minute before he took notice of her presence.

“Why are you following me?” he grumbled lowly without turning.

She planted her feet, pushing a strand of hair from her face as she spoke nervously, “erm-”

Draco Malfoy whipped around, one brow raised high in confusion, “Y/N?”

He looked just as gaunt as the day before, only now he’d peeled off his robes, wearing just the shirt and emerald tie beneath it, the white sleeves of his undershirt rolled to his elbows. His ice colored eyes pierced holes through her inquisitive stare.

“Me,” she affirmed with a crooked half smile.

“I thought you were-” he started with a shake of his head before deciding against it. “I thought you were someone else.”

“Oh,” she replied quite dumbly, “sorry?”

He just blinked at her with an exasperated shake of his head, “nevermind.”

She didn’t exactly know how to respond to that, or what had even brought her down the corridor in the first place, so she just cleared her throat with a kind of half-smile-half-grimace. Draco, realizing she wasn’t going to explain herself, did it for her, his face resuming the usual sneer he reserved for her.

“Well, what do you want?” he said, eyes moving over her shoulders so as to verify no one was coming their way, like he wouldn’t want to be caught dead speaking to her.

“I just,” she stuttered awkwardly, “thought I’d say hello.”

The boy wore an expression of utter bewilderment, “what?”

“Hello,” she repeated with a nervous laugh. “I mean, I saw you in the Great Hall last night and you just looked a bit down so I reckoned I’d see how you were doi-”

“Fine,” he cut her off, the word sour on his tongue as he grew suddenly defensive. “I’m fine. Not that it’s your business anyway. Or that I’d care what you think. Or that I was even looking at you. Or that I ever would.”

She felt her heart go momentarily heavy with upset, but she refused to show it on her face. Where the hostility had come from she didn’t know. Why she’d bothered to think he may have quelled it was even more of a question mark to her. Draco glared her down with those big blue eyes, the strong line of his jaw giving off a frustrated little pulse as he awaited her response. Not wanting to show him her hurt, the girl just smiled and let loose an airy little laugh.

“Of course,” she said. “Because the day Draco Malfoy is vulnerable is the day the sky falls, right?”

As she’d expected he’d had no verbal response to this. Instead, his scowl softened, just for a second, and he blinked through his long lashes with a great and buried sadness.

“Your problem isn’t that you don’t have anyone to save you,” she voiced aloud, more to herself than him as she came to a spoken realization, “it’s that you don’t want to be saved.”

And so she resumed a brisk walk, moving past the boy and giving him a light slam of her shoulder as she pushed him aside and continued down the corridor. The smell of mint and a delicious dark cologne swam through the air around her, but she huffed it grumpily out as she made way in the opposite direction of the boy. She’d almost rounded the corner when he suddenly called her name. She stopped, not turning but simply staring forward in silence as she waited his turn to speak.

“You have dirt on your cheek,” he said quite loudly.

The girl gave a half turn, throwing the snow white boy a glance. His hands were stuffed into his pant’s pockets, his eyes sparkling just a tad brighter than they had a moment ago. While his words were harsh, his voice hadn’t been. Rather, it was pitched more gently and high, like he was -- joking with her? Moreover, if she focused hard enough on the curvature of his round pink lips she could just make out the beginnings of a smile. Likely this was Draco’s way of silently apologizing, she assumed. Lord knew he would never actually apologize, after all.

The boy’s lips twitched, and his eyes extended a gentle and silent plea for her to say something back.

She sighed in defeat, shaking her head and giving him the satisfaction of a sheepish grin, “goodnight, Draco.”

. . .

“The hell happened to you?” Ernie asked.

The girl had come stumbling through the Common Room’s secret entrance. In one hand was her still sleeping cactus, and in the other was her wand, which she currently used to levitate five full mugs of chilled butterbeer.

She loved her Common Room. It was huge and shaped like one big barrel. Within its round shape were  dozens of squashy brown and yellow sofas, floral tapestries, thick cream colored rugs, and foliage of all shapes and sizes scattered across the ceiling and walls. The floors were a dark oak wood, the walls were a big light brick, and the windows were tall and thin with mosaic yellow flowers imprinted into them. The ceiling stretched so high she had to crane her neck if she wanted to see the golden chandeliers and hanging green potted plants that huddled neatly around them. Protruding from about halfway up the room, against a wall covered entirely in moss and vines, was a wooden ledge about the third of the size of the space that had been transformed to be a miniature extension of a second floor. Currently, an orange and red fire roared from the stone fireplace her friends were huddled by, and a plate overflowing with hot freshly baked chocolate chip cookies was being devoured by them.

“Here, let me help,” Cedric flew up from the sofa to greet her.

The boy snatched the cactus from her one hand while the girl passed butterbeers around to her friends. They all clinked their glasses and took appreciative swigs from their mugs as Cedric used his magic to latch the little cactus onto a spare patch of wall with his free hand. Afterwards, he joined Y/N by her side, sinking down into the heavenly cushions beside her, his shoulder pressed comfortingly against hers. He too had stripped his robes off, and had one long arm leisurely against the back of the sofa, almost touching the girl but not quite. His white shirt clutched attractively to the obvious curvatures of his chest beneath it… not that she’d been looking, or anything.

“I got distracted,” the girl decided on telling them the half truth as she took a bite out of a gooey cookie.

“By what exactly?” Hannah laughed curiously.

“Uh-” the girl’s brain, scrambled, shot off the first thing that came to mind, “Cho Chang.”

“Cho?” Cedric asked with an arch of his perfect brows.

Her two boy-friends seemed to find this amusing, as they both snorted into their sleeves and suddenly found interest in looking directly at Cedric.

“Yeah,” she continued, taking safety in the clearly effective lie, “she looked really upset.”

“Wonder why that is, huh Cedric?” Julian prodded his friend with his wand.

Cedric had gone suddenly flush with pink, tucking his bottom lip between his teeth as he gave a flustered and incoherent mutter.

Only Hannah seemed to have some sympathy, saying, “drop it, boys.”

Ernie blinked slowly at her before splitting his lips into a massive grin as a lightbulb went off in his head.

“Dropped,” he announced. Then, “actually, I’m quite tired. I’d better go to bed, right Julian?”

Julian, catching on, mimicked his friend.

“Wait-” Cedric started, his eyes going wide with panic.

He looked to Hannah with desperation, but she reluctantly stood, putting on a lousy act as she yawned unconvincingly. Ernie gave her a thumbs up from the boy’s staircase as she forced out her declaration of sudden sleepiness.

“Me too, uh, yeah. Goodnight you two.”

And so the three friends went their separate ways, leaving just Y/N and one very disgruntled looking Cedric Diggory in the Common Room. For a minute afterwards the two friends just sat in silence, neither wanting to acknowledge whatever strange occurrence had just taken place.

Finally, the girl turned against the sofa, folding her legs up on top of each other as she blinked at Cedric with a chuckle. Cedric mimicked her, the two facing each other.

“Alright, Ced?” she smiled at her friend.

He gave a defeated sigh, his ocean blue eyes meeting her own as he rubbed nervously at his neck. The girl giggled as she leaned forward and pulled a hand from his sun kissed skin, bringing it into her lap so that she could hold his palm against her own. This only seemed to agitate the boy further.

“Y/N-” he started with a stutter. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

She looked at him with wide eyes, releasing his fingers, “yeah?”

Cedric looked down at the girl’s now emptied hands and then back at her face, giving a loud clear of his throat.

“Um,” he started anxiously, his mouth half open as he awaited more unarriving words to come out.

“Yeah?” she said again, a little more worry in her voice this time.

“I-” he tried, shaking his head. “You-”

She gave the boy a nervous and worried smile, “yes, Cedric?”

His breath came fast and broken as he gave a defeated sigh, “you have dirt on your cheek.”

“Oh?” her shoulders relaxed as she released the boy’s hands.

She didn’t know what she’d been expecting but it definitely wasn’t that.

Cedric looked like he wanted to slam his skull into a wall, his friend not taking notice as she unsuccessfully attempted to use the back of her hand to rub her cheek clean. The boy grimaced, to himself not to her, and then pushed his friend’s hand gently aside with impatience. Her eyes flickered up to his as he gave his index finger a gentle suck before moving it to the girl’s cheek. His one hand came up to her chin, holding it up against the dying fire’s glow, his other coming to gently sweep at her dirtied skin. She couldn’t help but stare into his massive focused eyes, her body unfamiliar to this sort of touch from him. He looked more at ease staring at her cheek than in her eyes, she noticed. She also noticed just how impossible it was to not notice how attractive he looked with the fire’s shadows flickering across his perfectly defined nose and lips. Her breath seemed to get just a little glued in her throat at the sight. And then, satisfied, Cedric’s eyes moved back to hers. Well, if it wasn’t already before, that had her breath stuck to her throat for sure.

This was the closest their faces had ever come to one another, she realized. Cedric’s eyes were glossed over with some sort of expression she’d never read in them before, and that look alone sent her heart roaring dangerously quickly to life. It also didn’t make it any less tense that it had gone deathly quiet, the only sound in the room being that of their gentle breathing. The boy swallowed down the lump in his throat, his eyes flickering ever so quickly down to the girl’s mouth and back up to her eyes, where they seemed to undecidedly move back and forth over her. She was still very aware of the feeling of his hand beneath her jaw, forcing her stare to his own.

Seeming to catch on all of a sudden, Cedric released her, blinking quickly and sucking in a deep breath.

“Uh, y- you’re all good,” he stood, backing quickly away and putting distance between himself and his friend.

The girl, still a little in shock, just gave a weak laugh and inaudible thank you.

Cedric ran a hand through his gold-brown locks, his eyes on the floor as he moved backwards further, mumbling a quick goodnight before practically bolting out of her sight. From nearby, she heard a plant on the wall give an encouraging whistle at her. She snapped her head in its direction with a glare, silencing it. Then, it was she who stood.

She gave the boy’s staircase a final thoughtful glance, and let her own weighted footsteps drag her through the Common Room. The ground felt like mud around her ankles as she went, and it was as if a dumbbell had quite suddenly been dropped inside her chest. Silently, the girl climbed the stairs, carrying the weight of not one but two boys in her heavy heart, unaware that she was even doing so.

[metaphor-cheese]

Anyway after that convo abt buford protecting baljeet i was reminded of one of the first things i wrote when i got back into pnf

———

Bill glanced around the mall outside wedgies, searching desperately.

“Come on dude, you came unprepared, just admit it.” A bored voice commented next to him. “No nerd, no entry.”

“I can prove myself!” The boy angrily defended, poking the unimpressed bouncer in the chest in an attempt to intimidate him. “Just let me find someone-“

“What do you think’s gonna happen?” Another bully mocked from inside. “A nerd’s just gonna materialise because the almighty william needs one?”

“IT’S BILL!” The boy roared. He didn’t have to put up with this kind of slander! He was top dog at his school back in Seattle.

He turned back to scanning the available area with his eyes as the bouncer turned around and began shutting the doors to the gym. “Come on, come on...” he mumbled to himself, frantically. “I just gotta find one ner-“ his voice cut off in an instant and his eyes bugged out.

There, across the way, a small indian boy was exiting a bookshop. He was dressed in overalls, his arms were piled high with textbooks (despite summer just having started) and he was talking to a boy with a triangle head about what sounded like science.

He had to be the biggest nerd Bill had ever seen.

His mouth twitched into an evil grin.

“Hey!” He called back to the bouncer, just before he closed the door.

“Ugh, what?!” The taller child whined. “Don’t make me hang you from the flagpole, new kid!”

Ignoring the threat, Bill pointed to the boy with a smug grin. “You were saying about how I couldn’t find a nerd?”

Instead of shocked like he’d expected, or horrified and defeated like he’d hoped, the bouncer instead looked serious. “Yeah, man. Not happening. That’s Buford’s nerd.”

Bill scoffed. ‘Buford’s nerd? You couldn’t claim nerds! It was a free country! And even if it wasn’t, Bully Billy took what he wanted.

“I’m serious, bro.” The bouncer stressed, beginning to white knuckle the door handle. The bullies who had gathered around the window to laugh at him being kicked out also looked anxious. “That one’s off limits.”

“We’ll see about that.” With a roll of his eyes, Bill strolled over to the younger kids.

“I cannot believe I got such a discount on these textbooks!” The indian boy was squeaking excitedly as he struggled with his heavy stack. “You do not know what college kids are paying for these nowadays.”

“Hey poindexter!” Billy interrupted, pointing at him. Despite making it clear who he was referring to, the boy and his small entourage still looked around curiously as if it was unclear. “Ugh. Overalls!” The boy shifted his stack of books to balance precariously at his hip and pointed to himself in with a questioning look. “Yes you! Drop the books.” Bill sneered.

With a confused blink, the boy replied simply. “No.”

“What? You’re talkin’ back to me, runt?!”

“Well, yes.” He said matter of factly. He narrowed his eyes. “What reason do i have to listen t-“

Bill didn’t let him finish. He wasn’t about to lallygag around when he had his dominance as a bully to assert. With one swift move, he reached down and yanked the child up by his underpants. The little shrimp let out a high pitched yelp as he did so, and his friends gaped in shock.

“Well...” the boy chuckled, nervously. “That was unpleasant.”

“Put him down!” One of his friends- a girl with a pink ribbon- demanded, angrily.

“Yeah, he didn’t do anything to you!” The triangle-headed nerd from before chimed in. Bill decided to make him his next victim, after he made an example of the kid in his grasp.

“Or else what?” He mocked, beginning to absentmindedly stroke the boys curly hair for a few seconds before harshly yanking with no warning. The three’s glares intensified as their friend yelped in pain again. “Hmm?” Bill continued. “What’re you gonna do? Go cry to mommy?”

“No.” The boy in his grasp said with sudden calmness, catching Bill’s attention. When he looked back at him, he saw the kid had his arms crossed and was shooting him a confident (and slightly condescending) look. “I will do this.” As he finished speaking, the indian boy took a large, dramatic intake of breath. Bill noticed the other kids giving each other similar, knowing looks of confidence as the tall, green-haired one handed out ear plugs to the others. Before he could question what was about to happen, however...

“BUUUUUUUFOOOOOOOOOOOOORD!”

Bill swore his eardrums burst at the sound, and he was honestly surprised the high pitch didn’t make all the glass in the mall shatter. As he stumbled backwards from shock, he barely managed to make out a dark grey shape skid around a nearby corner. A split second after the sound stopped, he noticed the shape was a chubby kid in a black shirt holding a half-eaten soft pretzel.

“What- what’s happ’nin, where’s the fire?!” The kid exclaimed in frantic alarm, hurriedly looking this way and that. When his eyes settled on Bill and the boy he was holding, however, it instantly steeled into something murderous.

The whole area seemed to go quiet as, who he presumed was, ‘Buford’ slowly stomped his way over to Bill and the overalls kid. Despite his young age and stout physique, even grown adults around Bill covered their mouths in silent horror and hid behind display signs as he passed.

Once he got in front of the two of them, the boy in Bill’s clutches brightened up. “Buford!” He greeted, happily- but the other ignored him.

“Drop the nerd.” Was all he said to him, raspy voice going as deep as an 11 year olds could. When Bill paused, he pointed to the ground and screamed “NOW!”

Bill glanced around him at the terror on everyone’s faces. At the quivering salespeople and the cowering bullies behind wedgies big fancy windows. He raised an eyebrow, looking back and forth between the horrified masses and the slightly-larger-than-average preteen in front of him.

With a quiet scoff, he rolled his eyes. Clearly becoming top dog in this town was gonna be easy.

Giving the kid a smug look, he asked “Or else what, shorty?”

One moment he was looking down into a pale, chubby kid’s furious gaze. The next, his vision was fuzzy black and stars as his back hit the ground. A tight pain erupted from his stomach a moment later, and he rolled over and began wheezing as he huddled in the foetal position.

-

Baljeet shrieked only for a split second as he fell, before he landed in a familiar palm with an underwhelming ‘plop’. He glanced at the person holding him up and smiled. “Thank you, my friend.”

“Y’welcome, ‘Jeet.” Buford said casually as he lowered his arm so his friend could hop off his hand.

Phineas, Ferb and Isabella wandered over to the two of them to look upon the devastated boy.

“Wow.” Phineas said simply, noticing that the older kid still hadn’t stopped wheezing. “That was some sucker punch.”

“You’ve learnt well.” Isabella praised, patting him on the arm. Ferb nodded.

Unable to not brag at least a little, Buford leant back and pretended to inspect his nails. “Yeah. It was a pretty good hit, wasn’t it?”

“Though I certainly hope you did not do any lasting damage...” Baljeet fretted, looking with concern at how long it was taking the bully to recover.

As if in response to his pity, the kid struggled to his feet. “That was a cheap shot.” He spat, cheeks red with embarrassment. He brushed himself off and pointed intimidatingly at Buford. “Let’s settle this the real-“

“Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up.” Buford calmly said, waving his hands in a ‘stop’ gesture as he walked up to him. If only from confusion, Bill did quiet, letting him get close. “Do you really wanna do that?” Buford asked. Bill glared at him.

“Yes.” He said seriously.

He vaguely registered a series of shocked gasps from all around him.

Buford looked surprised for a moment, before shrugging. “Alright.”

Just like before, it all happened so quickly.

One moment Bill had his feet planted firmly on the ground. The next, he was being yanked into the air by his shirt (how was that even possible when this kid was smaller than him?!) and then the next, landing roughly into something hard just as he tried to fight back. It took him a moment to regain his bearings, but when he did, he tried to clamber out of the tiny bin- only to see Buford’s face blocking his view of the light.

“Listen up here, dillweed, ‘cause I’m only gonna say this once.” Buford snarled. “This is MY turf. Those,” he pointed to the rest of the kids. “are MY friends.” Leaning in close, and lowering his scratchy voice again, the kid growled. “And if you wanna survive in this town another day, you’ll leave us the hell alone and never touch one’ ‘em again.” With a harsh poke in the chest, he added “Got that?”

Before Bill could even consider responding, Buford continued. “Good. Sayonara.” Something harsh hit the side of the bin and then bill was rolling, rolling, rolling until-

-

“AAAAAHHHHHH!”

The five kids gathered around the escalator to watch the bin speed down it and then straight out the front door, all to the tune of the bully’s screams.

“Goodbye!” Baljeet called after him, with a satisfied giggle.

“Yup.” Buford added.

For a few moments, they watching in silence.

“...Man, he’s really going far.” Isabella commented.

“I’ll say.” Phineas added. “Hey Ferb, pass me those binoculars.” The green haired boy did just that and his step-brother laughed good-naturally at whatever he saw through them.

“Hey, cool, he made it to the skatepark!”

“Ooo, let me see!” Baljeet cheered, reaching for them.

Buford looked on with a fond smile at his friends laughing over the view. When his ear twitched at the sound of a solitary ‘aww’, however, he turned and glared at the cause. The instigator- a teenage girl- proved not to be the only one staring at him, as huge swabs of the mall were still warily watching him. One quick glare in each direction quickly solved that problem, however, and Buford nodded to himself in satisfaction.

“Alright, this is gettin’ old.” He interrupted Isabella and Baljeet’s arguing by physically easing himself between them. “Who wants corndogs?” He offered.

Instantly, Ferb’s hand went up, and Phineas and Isabella responded rather quickly with ‘me!’s. He nodded and turned to lead the way.

“Were you not just at the food court?” Baljeet commented, wryly, as he followed.

“Hey, I didn’t get to finish my pretzel!” Buford defended.

And thus the group of kids’ normal banter started up again, and the regular background noise of the mall resumed.

-

Meanwhile, across town, a dazed pharmacist rolling down the skating rink strapped to a buggy passed a child in a bin rolling the other way.

“You too, huh?”

[animalkingdom-an0nymous]

False God- Sean Wallace

Disclaimer: No gifs or photos are mine unless stated otherwise.

Warning: A violent, smutty NSFW Sean Wallace fic. What if that last day ended differently? What if Sean made it out with his wounds? And what if there was someone from his childhood who haunted him just as much as he haunted her?

Subject: Sean X Y/N

Growing up, Sean Wallace and I were one in the same. We liked the same jokes, ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut the same way- in triangles- and our only real difference was that I was an American. Our fathers, both legendary crime bosses in their own right, were great business partners and made each other filthy rich. We were dangerously similar.

Until we weren’t.

I’d been in America when Finn Wallace was murdered, and I’d stayed in America during the aftermath. My father had cared deeply for Finn, but the world we lived in was fucking brutal, cold, and my dad would never risk my well being by allowing me to go to the UK to be with Sean.

Hearing about all of it had been a nightmare, though. Hearing about murders and the carnage, communities and families wiped out when Sean locked the city down. My heart ached for the boy I once knew and feared for the man that was, and then, just as quickly as it all blew up, the flames went out. All was quiet.

Sean Wallace was dead.

Or so the world thought. My father, who had an in with Billy and Jac, knew the truth. The Wallace family had connections within the police force- cliché, right?- and when a few of their own found him lying in a pool of his own blood, bleeding out from his fucking face, they quickly pronounced him dead at the scene. I didn’t know the ins and outs, didn’t care to, because the life I lived now was so far from the life I was forced to live as a child. All I knew was they got him out of there and Sean Wallace, as London knew him, was dead.

I needed him to stay that way.

It had been nearly a year since then, nearly a year since I last had the nerve to ask my dad about him. I think he knew how I felt, knew I had gone to great lengths to distance myself from him and my mother and the hellish, brutal life they created. But that didn’t mean my dad didn’t love me. I knew he did in his own, twisted way, and I knew he caught on to the hurt I felt whenever Sean’s name was mentioned.

So he stopped mentioning it.

Billy and Jac were stateside and living under different names, that much I knew. I had yet to see them, but I knew they were close enough to drive to because my mother had made sure to mention in her last email that their “home was beautiful and they think it was quite rude of you not to come around and visit, Y/N.”

It was bullshit. Billy and Jac didn’t feel any type of way about me, we were never close. That was reserved specifically for Sean and me. And look how well that turned out.

I was haunted by the ghost of a man I didn’t even know anymore.

He was labeled as a terrorist and maybe that’s what hurt more than anything. I could never scream from the rooftops how much I fucking loved him because that’s crazy. Because who could love a terrorist? Who could love a man that had murdered, cheated, stolen to get his way? And if I did love him, what kind of woman did that make me?

It was a thought that had been in my mind on replay all day long, the musings drifting into the night as I drove towards my childhood home. I had made the agreement with my parents- namely my father- that once a month I would return home for dinner. It was nearly a two hour drive but one that I committed to because if I didn’t I knew they would show up at my apartment. And what twenty-something year old woman wants her parents showing up at her apartment unannounced?

The gravel ground under my tires as I pulled my all black BMW into the driveway. It was already dark and I knew my mother would have something to say about me showing up late, but at least I showed up. Sure, I was still wearing the navy blue pantsuit I’d worn at work all day and I usually changed whenever I had dinner with them, but my mind was occupied tonight. By thoughts of Sean. By thoughts of Sean getting his face blown off. Did it hurt? Did he remember? Would I ever know?

My father met me at the door. Six foot three and wide like a linebacker, the man was not to be messed with. He was no nonsense and the only people he smiled at were me and the people he was going to shoot right before he shot them. You can do what you want with that information.

“My little angel,” he said and reached for me, taking both my hands in his and bringing them to his lips. It was a simple gesture but one he did every single time. It was the one constant my dad ever provided me. “How was the drive up?”

“Traffic wasn’t too bad tonight, but I ended up getting out a bit later than I thought I would.”

He swung an arm around me as we made our way through the marble foyer, my heels clacking against the floor. “My art gallery owner. Your mother and I are so proud of you.”

I raised my eyebrows. He was feeding me bullshit, both he and my mom wanted me in the family business more than anything, but from the time I could voice my opinion I let them know. No. I would be taking no part in the family business.

Not that I didn’t know my shit. I knew my way around a gun shop and had a better shot than half the men my dad hired to protect us. I hit harder than my first two boyfriends and let everyone know that my last name was still my last name and not to fuck with me. I knew I was untouchable.

That didn’t mean I was embracing the lifestyle.

“Yeah, business is going great, I even hired someone part-time to help out.”

“Background check?”

I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Of course.”

“Family ties?”

“Her name is Mindy and she’s from a farm in rural Kansas.”

He paused and raised his eyebrows, one of the rare times my father ever looked shocked. “She doesn’t even know what our last name holds, does she?”

I shook my head. “Not a clue.”

He laughed his hearty, deep chuckle and stopped us at the bar cart outside of the dining room. As always, he grabbed two tumblers and threw a handful of ice in each before adding to fingers of whiskey. Our favorite. One of our few commonalities. “Proud of you, kid.”

“Thanks, dad.”

I was about to ask him how his week was when my mother’s voice drifted in from the balcony. She liked to drink her wine out there at night, before dinner. Just one glass, but it was a ritual she followed religiously. Her voice was somewhat raspy, a little cold, and I could hear her laughter as though it was wrapping around me like a vine.

But that was the thing; my mother drank her wine outside alone. That was her time. So who was she laughing at?

I glanced over my shoulder at my father to find him looking as though he was at a loss for words. It was so rare that he was speechless, a man of his stature always held a level of composure that was sometimes shocking. But not this time.

“Dad, wha-“

“You’re going to want to finish that drink, angel.”

My blood ran cold at his words. His tone was low, suddenly serious. The lighthearted moment from before was gone, something dark and heavy in its place.

I should have listened to him and finished the drink because as soon as I turned around I was met with the coldest, most pristine set of blue eyes I’d ever seen. Eyes that I once swore I would drown in someday.

Sean Wallace was standing eight feet in front of me. It was the first time we had seen each other in years, the first time I’d seen him since he was… dead.

His face was… fucked. Marred by the bullet that ripped through his left cheek on that fateful day. The skin was raised, almost burn-like, and left a medium sized indent in what would otherwise be a perfectly symmetrical face. His left eyelid held a little lower and it looked like he tried to cover up the other, minor scars with the facial hair that littered his jaw and around his mouth.

But even with the new, broken face, Sean Wallace was still the most breathtaking man in the room. His suit was impeccable and fit him like a glove, the stormy gray matching the storm that seemed to be raging in his eyes. His tie was a navy that matched my own suit and it felt like the universe was pointing at me and laughing. It felt like that bitch was having the time of her life watching me suffer.

“I…” I started, unsure of how to finish.

“I didn’t mean to startle you. I know this” he held a hand up to his face “is a lot to take in.”

I already shook my head, my stomach turning at the thought of him thinking he was ugly. “No! No, I… I, I’m, I wasn’t-“

“Best private schools in the state and she still has that damn stutter.” My mother’s cutting voice ceased my own and I bit at the inside of my cheek. She came around the corner in all her glory, designer dress, perfect manicure and not a hair out of place.

She made me fucking sick.

“It’s nice to see you.” I finally managed to get the words out, although I didn’t know if I was talking to Sean or my mom.

“Jesus, Y/N, you couldn’t even change first?”

“I think she looks great.” Sean’s voice caught everyone off guard and even my mom turned to look at him. “Beautiful, really. You always looked great in a suit.”

I knew he was referring to my high school graduation. Sean was two years older and had flown in to see me graduate. My mom, ever the lady, was determined to force me into a nightmare of a ball gown while I wanted a simple, chic suit. Sean had been there for the entire screaming match, laughing at my mother as she tripped over the dress she had been hellbent on making me wear.

I couldn’t help the small smile that tugged my lips and nodded at him. “Thank you.”

He nodded in return and said nothing else.

“Let’s eat, shall we?” I felt my dad’s hand on my back as he ushered me into the dining room. My feet felt like stone blocks were attached to them as I walked, feeling Sean directly behind me with his eyes burning holes into my suit jacket.

We all sat in silence with the ghost of my past sitting directly across from me. Sean made no secret that he was staring at me and it reminded me of the ignorant young boy I once knew. Sean knew he was handsome, powerful, and could easily get his way. He held himself with the confidence of a man who had everything and it seemed a gunshot to the face didn’t change that.

“You’ve managed to stay under the radar.” I noted as one of the maids poured red wine into my glass.

“Y/N!” my mother scolded.

I raised my eyebrows and didn’t glance in her direction, my eyes holding Sean’s. “What? Are we supposed to sit here and pretend everything is normal? You want me to ask him about the weather?”

“Y/N…” my father’s tone held a warning in it.

“No, she’s right.” Sean spoke up as I took a hearty gulp of wine. “Facial reconstruction had me laid up for a bit. Reconstructing an entire cheekbone can be tricky. And expensive.”

I nodded. “Especially when the entire cheekbone belongs to a dead man.”

The room fell quiet with even the staff scurrying to disappear. My mother was glaring at me and I was sure my father was too, but I didn’t care. I’d spent my entire childhood and teen years caring about and loving Sean only for him to cut me off when he became Finn’s minion and then fake his own fucking death a few years after. He got so caught up in the Wallace life, in the life I thought we both hated, that he forgot about me. And I was angry about it.

“I deserve that.” His accent was the same as always. Smooth. Elegant. The best that private school could buy. “I should have reached out sooner as I knew my siblings were in touch.”

My mother, the martyr, was quick to reassure him. “Sweetheart, you don’t owe us anything. We’re just so happy you’re alright.”

She was so warm with him, a complete contrast to how she acted with me. It was a constant reminder that she always wanted a son and ended up with me instead.

My father opened his mouth to speak when his right hand, Marcus, walked in with a phone in his hand. His face looked pinched, stressed, and my father immediately stood. “Excuse me.”

Sean nodded politely and turned to my mother, but she was already standing and following behind dad, sensing his stress.

“Should we be concerned?”

I shook my head, my eyes still trained in the doorway. “I doubt it.”

Things were quiet then. Too fucking quiet. So quiet I felt like I was suffocating. I took a sip of wine. Then another. Another until my glass was empty and the bottle was taunting me from the center of the table.

“You have every right to be angry.”

“I’m not angry.” I was instantly defensive.

His smile was small, but it was there. “You always were a shit liar.”

“You were always a good one.”

His smile disappeared then and I was soon sitting across from the gangster that was always lurking underneath. Sean could do cool, calm, and collected. But he could only hide the angry, arrogant Wallace traits for so long. 

“I… can’t remember the last time we were face to face.”

I shrugged my shoulders, suddenly uncomfortable. “Christmas. Six years ago. Kingston.”

His smile- God, that fucking smile- reappeared. “You threw a drink in my face.”

“You called me a spoiled fucking twat.”

“You were acting like one.”

Now it was my turn to smile. I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help it. My early twenties were filled with vodka soda fueled arguments and boyfriends that my family- and Sean- hated. I was so different, that girl doesn’t even seem real anymore.

I was about to respond when I heard shouting coming from down the hall. My father’s office.

Sean and I stood at the same time, both of us sensing a certain level of danger. My father rarely ever shouted, it had to be something catastrophic for him to raise his voice like that.

Entering the hall, I quickly grabbed my bag next to the bar cart and produced my glock before tucking it into my waistband. Sean watched me silently the entire time. He was getting a little too comfortable with staring at me.

“Always prepared.”

“Family business, right?” I shot back at him over my shoulder as we neared my father’s study.

“No, no, fucking No! What do you mean they’re all dead? An entire fucking warehouse of people and they’re all fucking dead?”

My heart stopped in my chest. That was… impossible. The warehouses were untouchable, no one knew where they were unless they were part of our inner circle. Our microscopic inner circle. Which could only mean one thing…

It was an inside job.

“Fuck.” I spat. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

“Y/N, something’s happened.” My mother appeared in the doorway as we approached.

“Who did it?” I asked, getting straight to the point. “Any ideas?”

My dad was seated behind his wooden desk, a desk so large it was fit for a king. When I was a child I would spend hours in there reading on the stuffed leather couch while he worked silently. It was one of the few places I felt “safe” growing up.

“Kensington’s dead.” Our eyes met.

Rodger Kensington was my father’s longtime business partner and someone who was like an uncle to me. He’d been there at my prom, my graduation, and when I took my first steps. He was… family.

“Shit.” Sean’s word was quick and quiet, but then I remembered he knew Rodger too, and he knew what this meant.

“What about Sherry? The kids?” I was desperate to make sure their little ones were alright, they were all so young.

“They’re fine. They weren’t home, they-“

My father never got the words out as one of the staff walked in. I had turned at the sound of him entering the room, just barely meeting his eye as he raised his arm, a small handgun pointed directly at the man whose home we were in.

“Y/N!” My mother screaming my name like that would haunt my nightmares for months after.

A single shot rang out and my ears rang, a gasp leaving my lips as I reached for the gun in my waistband. But it wasn’t there.

The man was dead, a gunshot to the temple with crimson blood spilling all over the Italian wood floors. And then there was Sean, standing at my side with my gun pointed straight ahead, a dead look in his eyes.

It was all dangerously quiet and I could hear my own heartbeat, but only for a moment. Because as soon as I took a single breath, shit hit the fan.

My mother released a blood curdling scream, Marcus rushing to her side and grabbing her as she collapsed. My father, stoic, stood and walked over to the wardrobe near the window, swiftly pulling out guns and rounds of ammo. More security rushed in and I stood next to Sean, everything moving in slow motion. I could hear voices, hear my dad barking commands at his security who acted like his soldiers.

“There’s blood on my shoes.”

“What?”

What? Did I just say there was blood on my shoes? But it was true. My expensive cream suede shoes had blood splatter on them and I was ninety percent sure there was bone fragment near my heel.

“Blood. On my shoes.” My voice sounded far away.

Sean was suddenly in front of me and tucking my gun back into my waist while everyone shouted around us. “I’ll buy you a new pair. Bought them at the store on fifth, yeah?”

“How the fuck did you-“ I stopped, putting two and two together. “Have you been watching me?”

Sean’s face changed then and he straightened his shoulders. Our height nearly matched but only because of my heels, and I knew his gesture was dominant, authoritative. “I promise we can talk about that later, but-“

I pushed past him and walked towards my father who was barking orders into a phone. “Did you have Sean keep tabs on me?”

“Y/N, this isn’t the time for you to complain about your independence.”

I slammed my hand down on the wooden desk the same way I had watched him do it so. Many. Times. “Answer me!”

My father, all six foot three of him, stood tall and looked over me even with a desk separating us. “Watch yourself, young lady.”

“What the fuck is going on that you hired someone to watch me? That you hired Sean to watch me? What aren’t you telling me?”

He paused for the briefest of moments while everyone moved around us. I could hear safeties being turned off, my mom screaming down the hallway, and feel Sean standing close enough that I could smell his cologne.

“I’ve known for a bit that someone on the inside was giving information to Merkov brothers. Rodger and I spent months sifting through the weeds trying to figure out who it was. We had a break last night, I was going to tell you everything-“

“Four black SUV’s were spotted five miles from the property. Moving quickly. We need to go.” Marcus had appeared in the doorway sans my mother, his face wiped of anything sort of emotion. In fact, Marcus may have been the most emotionless man I had ever come into contact with. I would even venture to call him heartless.

“Shit.” My dad scrubbed a hand over his face. “I promise I will tell you everything, angel.” He looked at me, the desk separating us. “But right now you need to go and it can’t be back to your apartment.”

“Dad, I…” I had no idea what to say. I couldn’t go back to my apartment in the city, there was most definitely a hit out on my family, including myself, and Sean Wallace was back from the fucking dead. My day was going from bad to worse, my life blowing up in a twenty minute time span.

But I knew my last name, knew the weight it carried. I knew I had a certain responsibility to handle my shit and handle it well, with my shoulders back and my chin up.

“Where am I going?”

He was already on the move and I was on his heels, following him down the winding hallways of the home I grew up in. It was the same house that was sure to be shot to shit as soon as those SUV’s showed up.

“Harbor House.” He barked over his shoulder. “You can drive down there in the charger. Tinted windows. Marcus, have Anthony load a bag into the car. Ammo, guns, everything she’ll need.”

“No one knows where Harbor House is except us.” I reminded him. His business partners may have known about the warehouses and my father’s permanent residence, but Harbor House was for family and family alone.

“I’m not taking any chances, Y/N, not with you. Sean will accompany you and you’ll stay there until you hear from me. I’ll call-“

“What?” I cut him off. “Sean’s not coming with me.”

“I’m not taking any chances with you.” He repeated.

“I don’t need a babysitter.”

Sean cleared his throat behind me and I refused to look at him. I knew he was offended by what I’d said, but quite honestly I was offended by everything he had done since stepping foot in my parents’ home that day.

“This isn’t about what you need or want, Y/N. He’s going with you.”

I was about to fully lose my temper when shots rang out through the house. I reached for my glock and turned the safety off, immediately ducking behind a marble pillar with Sean’s hand on my elbow, holding me still.

There was yelling and gunshots, some of the housekeepers screaming bloody murder from the second and third floors. There was no way those SUV’s were already on the property, no way. It had to be someone else.

Someone had burned our entire fucking family.

“Dad!” I yelled as a bullet whirred past my head.

“Y/N, go! Now!” I could hear him but I couldn’t fucking see him. Marco was beating the shit out of a man dressed all in black, ripping his gun away and firing off a round into his chest. The smell of blood and gunpowder burned my nostrils and I winced.

“I’m not leaving you!” I screamed so loud my voice cracked.

“Sean!” My father shouted. “Get her the fuck out of here! Get her out now, kid! Now!”

I glanced over at Sean, warning him with my eyes not to touch me, but it was too late. He ripped the gun from my hand and wrapped an arm around my waist, tugging me backwards.

“Sean, no!” I screamed, trying to pull away.

“We have to go, Y/N.” He dragged me down the hall while I fought him the whole way , dragging my feet and scratching at the suit clad arm wrapped around my waist. He finally stopped at the side door at the end of the hall and yanked it open before tossing me in.

I stumbled across the cold concrete of the garage and caught myself against the car I was supposed to be leaving in.

Sean locked the door behind him and turned to me, my gun still in his hand. “In.” He motioned to the car.

Still the same, bossy man he always was. Without responding, I turned and made my way across the expansive garage, shoving a table out of the way and yanking open the drawers of a metal cabinet.

“Y/N!” Sean was losing his temper and we were losing time.

“You took my gun!” I finally screamed back, practically growling at him as I picked up twin Berettas and tucked them into the back of my waistband. I grabbed a rifle to throw into the backseat, and one more Glock since Sean had unceremoniously stolen mine and left me empty handed.

He was staring at me as I made my way back to the car, his chest heaving. God, he still looked good. A gunshot to the face only amplified how rough and beautiful he was. Dumb fucking asshole and his dumb fucking face.

I grabbed the keys from the wall and tossed them to Sean who caught them with one hand.

Show off, I thought to myself sullenly as I got into the passenger side, my heart leaping out of my chest. I was about to leave my parents to potentially die. My childhood home was being torn apart, half the staff that knew me since I was a child were now lying dead in the same house they’d dedicated their lives to. It made me sick.

“Just focus on driving.” I told him as the garage door began to rise. I could already see the shadows of feet on the concrete leaned halfway out the window, my nine millimeter raised. One shot to the knee and a man fell, a second shot between the eyes and he was done.

The second man was smart, moved off to the side and just out of aim, and Sean floored the gas pedal while I kept watch.

“Your left.” I said quietly and pointed the gun in front of him, sending shots flying out of the driver’s side door, taking out the second man who had been waiting for us.

“Three of them in front of the gate.” Sean nodded towards the gate at the side of the property, all of them holding assault rifles and aiming at us. “Duck.” he commanded with the car still in reverse.

“What?”

“Duck.” I felt his hand grab at the back of my head he shoved me down, my forehead nearly knocking against my knee as he picked up speed. A loud blast blew out the back windshield and then there was a loud, violent thunk.

His wide palm was still resting on the back of my head, grip so tight it made my scalp prickle in a way that annoyed me. My body had no business getting turned on while in the midst of this shit.

When the tires squealed against the gravel and we went surging forward, I sat back up. I could see smoke coming out of the windows, bullet holes in the brick and mortar. It was a fucking war zone and we were on our way out, leaving behind my family and any shred of sanity I had left.

Fuck.

* * * * * *

The ride to Harbor House was almost completely silent. Sean, ever the Brit, would curse out other drivers every now and then even though ninety percent of the mistakes were his own. Maybe I should have insisted on driving, but at the time the only thing I could think about was whether or not my parents got out.

Although we were never close, I didn’t wish death on my parents. Sure, I resented them for bringing me up in a life of chaos and violence and I’m well aware they caused me a lifetime of trauma, but that didn’t mean I wanted them dead. Definitely not murdered.

It was nearly midnight by the time we arrived. Harbor House was in an exclusive neighborhood and every home had a gate. It had been years since I was last at the house, but it held the only fond memories from my childhood. Harbor House and the Wallace house always felt like home to me. Strange that I was sitting next to a Wallace and not a single shred of me felt comfortable or at home. It was strange, when we were kids he was always my safe space.

I punched in the code and black iron gates opened up, promptly closing with a loud clang behind us. The property itself was a sprawling estate with a two floor home as well as a large yard, pool, and separate guest house. It was on the edge of a cliff and overlooked the Atlantic. Isolated. Safe. Private. The kind of place my family relied on to keep us safe.

“Pull the car into the garage, we’ll get a rental tomorrow.” My voice was monotonous. I felt so drained of every emotion other than pure exhaustion. I was covered in blood, my clothes smelled like gunpowder and sweat, I needed a hot shower.

Sean silently pulled into the garage and killed the engine. We sat there quietly for a moment, so quiet I couldn’t even hear him breathing. If he had any blood on him, I couldn’t tell. From this angle he looked every bit the GQ model. It was only when he turned his face to look at me that I got a glimpse of the mauled left half and got angry all over again.

I was angry at my parents for birthing me into this.

I was angry at whoever burned us.

I was angry at Sean for disappearing from my life in favor of violence. But I was so fucking angry that he had let it go so far that the world thought he was dead.

I almost wished he was.

“There’s five bedrooms. I trust that you’ll find one far away from me?” I phrased it like a question but we both knew it wasn’t.

He gave a curt nod.

The house was exactly as I remembered it. It even smelled the same. Hardwood floors, light walls, French doors leading to a beautiful deck. A kitchen so modern it would make Gordon Ramsey cream his pants. It was the homiest home my family had. It was my haven.

Only now Sean was here to cast a shadow over it.

“There’s plenty of clothes in all the guest bedrooms. My parents like to be prepared for every emergency, you know that.”

Sean nodded as he closed the door that connected to the garage. He locked it and was quick to set the code. The code that he definitely shouldn’t have had.

“How did you-“

“Your father.”

I raised my eyebrows incredulously. “My father gave you the codes to Harbor House?”

He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, eyes narrowing. “He gave me the code for the gate too, but I was polite enough to let you do it. That’s something, innit?”

He was being a smart ass, pushing my buttons on purpose simply because he could. Or because he’d had enough of my attitude. Either way, I wasn’t having it.

“You must be so fuckin’ proud of yourself. You still have an in with my father even after the shit you pulled in London. My father, Sean, not me. You don’t have shit with me and you made that perfectly clear.”

He squared his shoulders and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as I sat on the edge of a beautiful cream colored sofa. I couldn’t wait to sink into it tomorrow with a good book.

I quickly fingered at the straps on my heels and kicked them off while mentally preparing for whatever speech he was about to throw my way.

“I’ve really had enough of you talking to me like I’m some shit person. Enough, Y/N.”

I stood back up, hating that I was smaller than him now as I turned on my heel and headed up the stairs. “If you hate my attitude so much then leave me the fuck alone and let me take a shower in peace.”

* * * * *

My shower was hot and relaxing and everything I needed. As soon as the steam surrounded me, I was able to calm down a bit, and once the hot water hit my skin I was able to sigh in relief. Washing off the blood and grime left me feeling like a whole new woman.

So new, in fact, I briefly forgot about the bane of my existence showering down the hall.

Sean. Showering. Sean in the shower with water dripping down his chest and into that perfect V of his hips. Sean’s hot, wet body pressed against mine. Sean’s-

“Can you not?” I said to my reflection as I ran a brush through my hair. Even when I was angry at him, violently angry, it was impossible to deny that he was attractive.

We never hooked up, not even when we were young. But there was always something there. We flirted. We toyed with each other. We got into nasty arguments. People noticed, my friends made comments. I always ignored them and played it off and said it was because we knew each other forever and just connected that way. They all argued that it was more.

I ignored them.

After changing into a comfortable pair of loose cotton pants and a long sleeved shirt, I made my way downstairs. The windows were open and I could hear the waves crashing against the cliff side. My favorite sound. It gave me peace. It soothed me.

The kitchen was empty and I grabbed a bottle of red wine with every intention of drinking the entire bottle. After pouring a rather large amount into the pristine crystal stemware my mother bought, I threw my head back and took a long, large sip.

Ugh. That’s better. I closed my eyes and took another sip, getting lost in the sound of the waves and the dark, cherry taste of the wine. A moment of peace after all the bullshit I had to endure tonight.

It was only when Sean cleared his throat that I realized I wasn’t alone. He was standing at the bottom of the stairs wearing black sweats and a white t-shirt. Simple. Clean. Comfortable. If this had been a few years ago I would have been aching to curl up against him.

“Kitchen’s all yours,” I said as I grabbed my glass and bottle, preparing to go out back.

“You told me you didn’t want to talk to me anymore.” His words cut like a knife to my retreating back and it made me pause, not yet turning around. “You fucking told me you were done.”

I knew what he was referring to. The last time we spoke had been over the phone, maybe four years ago. It had been a normal night with normal conversation and normal “I miss yous”. Sean had truly been one of my best friends and closest confidants. And then the conversation turned ugly when he informed me his father was sending him out on a seriously violent, potentially fatal, mission. Our argument had gotten vile and I said horrible things. He did too, including telling me to “stop acting like a girlfriend because you’re so fucking lonely”.

That had been my breaking point. He reminded me so much of Finn then. He dressed like him, spoke like him, became a carbon copy of him, and I was having none of it. So I had told him to fuck off and lose my number, to never call me again, to pretend I was dead.

It was the one time Sean listened to me and the one time I wished he hadn’t.

To this day, I got embarrassed when I thought about what he had said to me. The way he screamed and the way he humiliated me. Maybe I was lonely, maybe it came off as clingy, but my intentions were always good and I never thought I was a burden to him. But after that last conversation I spent years telling myself that’s exactly what I was. A burden. I checked in too much, my double texting him probably got on his nerves. Constantly complaining about our families when I knew how fortunate I was to live such a lavish life made me sound spoiled, he got tired of it. I spent years convincing myself there was no possible way he missed me and I didn’t miss him either.

“Do you even remember our last conversation?” I turned slowly to face him. “Do you remember what you said?”

He took a step forward and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Of course I do. I’ve had plenty of time to think about it- you. I’d been out drinking with my father-“

“And then turned into him?”

“Oh, fuck off then.” He shook his head, his frustration evident as he rounded the marble island in the kitchen. An expert, he seemed to know where everything was. The glasses. The whiskey.

“I’m not wrong.” I defended myself.

Sean laughed and the sound was hollow, sarcastic. He took a sip of whiskey before turning to me with a cold look in his eyes. “And I wasn’t wrong that day either. Was I?”

I scowled at him to mask the absolute hurt I was experiencing. My heart ached. He’d known he was hurting me. He didn’t care. He remembered and he didn’t care.

“Oh, fuck you, Sean.” I whispered before quickly pushing through the french doors and stepping onto the deck.

“Oi!” Sean shouted as I slammed the doors behind me, taking off down the steps, wine glass in hand.

“I’m not done talking to you.” Sean was hot on my heels.

“The conversation is over.”

“Like hell it is.” I felt long, thick fingers curl around my elbow and then he was hauling me back against him. “You say what you want to say and then think we’re done. We’re not.”

I ripped my arm back and shoved my finger in his face. “I’ve waited four years to say this shit to you!”

“So have I!” He shouted back, the vein in his neck becoming prominent. The female part of my brain wondered what it would feel like to run my tongue along that vein, feel it pulse against my mouth.

Wrong time, I thought to myself and shook my head. “You fucked off for four years, faked your own death, and now I found out my father has had you following me. I don’t know what kind of weird, stalker fetish you’ve developed, but it’s really not doing anything for me.”

Okay, maybe that last part was flat out bitchy, but at that point I didn’t care.

I drained my wine glass while I waited for his response.

“Would you like to tell me about your fetishes?”

“Sure, they all involve watching you bleed out.”

“Should have been there a year ago then, yeah?”

I didn’t have a response for that. I zeroed in on the left half of his face, the scar on his cheek. His cheekbone curved differently, probably because it was handmade, and his scar disappeared into his stubble. He looked so vastly different from the Sean I used to know. He was hardened by life, by Finn’s life. Thirty and angry and alone and legally dead.

I ached for the Sean I once knew, but this wasn’t him.

“How long have you been watching me?”

“A little more than three months.”

“Three months?” I was shocked. I’d had a tail for three months and I didn’t even know it? How embarrassing.

“You wouldn’t have known.” It was as though he could read my mind. “I’ve always been better at it than you.”

“You’re so fucking cocky.” I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or slap him, so instead I walked past him and back up the stairs, making my way back into the house to refill my glass. I knew he was following me, knew that the alcohol in my bloodstream was making me feel bold, more bold than I was sober.

Sean closed the French doors, the lock clicking with a tone of finality. I was too aware of it.

“You were shit as hide and seek when we were kids.”

“So that makes you a better spy?”

His tone was serious when he responded. “I was never spying on you. I didn’t have access to your flat. I didn’t follow you around with that ugly wanker with gray hair.”

“Leave Beckett out of this.”

“Beckett?” It was the first time his face had resembled something other than anger. He looked amused. “You’re dating a man named Beckett?”

I cocked my head to the side, narrowing my eyes. “We actually aren’t discussing my dating life, we’re talking about my stalker.”

“Stop saying that. It was to and from work. Only when you were out in public.”

“That doesn’t make it okay!” I finally shouted. None of what happened today was okay. Sean, my dad, the shootout. None of it was okay. “You don’t get to keep up with my fucking life when I have to pretend you’re dead!”

“Lower your voice.” Sean took a step forward.

“Fuck off!” I shouted even louder than before. “You don’t get to just come back and bark orders at me. This isn’t London, Sean!”

“Enough.” He took another step forward and I backed up, reaching for my wine glass.

He was so calm, so fucking collected while I was beginning to fall apart. I hated him for it. Fuck Sean Wallace, I wanted him to hurt the way I did. So, without thinking twice, I hurled my glass at him. Sean barely dodged it, whipping his head to the side as it soared past him and landed on the floor in a million little pieces.

He was a blur as he flew across the kitchen, growling as he slammed my back up against the wall. I cried out as searing pain sent shock waves down my back, but I was too angry to focus on it. My hands instantly went into fight mode and my fingers caught the tip of his nose as I swiped at him, but he pulled his head back, out of my reach.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” He roared in my face. “Are you bloody mental?” His hands circled my wrists and he pinned them at my sides, effectively halting my movements.

Stuck between Sean and the wall, I suddenly couldn’t breathe. “Let me go.”

“The fuck I will.” He squeezed my wrists harder.

“Sean.” I shoved myself against him and he did the same thing, his face even closer than before. I could smell the whiskey on his breath, see the smattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks. God, he was a sight. “Fuck. Off.”

His eyes zeroed in on my mouth as I enunciated the words, nostrils flaring slightly. My breasts were pressed against his chest and I couldn’t move even if I wanted to, because suddenly we were staring each other eye to eye and I couldn’t look anywhere else. I was drowning the way I always imagine I would except this time I didn’t want it. I wanted no part of it.

“Don’t even think about it.” I whispered softly.

“Or what?” Sean’s remark felt snide and childish, something I would have happily said to him had he not leaned down and slid his lips over mine. It was a light touch, so soft I barely felt it. But I still gasped because it was Sean’s lips touching mine and I hated that I liked it so much.

At the sound of my sharp intake of breath, he smirked. “I fucking knew it.” And then he smashed his lips against mine, not letting up on the grip he had on my wrists.

Sean’s tongue pushed past my lips and slid against mine, weakening my reserve just a bit. He tasted good, his scruff scratched against the edges of my mouth and I reveled in it, loving how rough he felt.

He fucking engulfed my mouth, taking complete control of the kiss and demanding that I give him more. Forgetting the position we were in, he let go of my wrists in favor of cupping my face, wide palms against my cheeks.

I should have pushed him away, should have told him to leave, but the simple truth was that Sean Wallace knew how to kiss. He kissed like a man, held my face, stroked rough thumbs over my cheekbones, and swallowed my moans. He crowded me, stood so close our torsos were touching while we made out against the kitchen wall. Our tongues touched, teeth clashed, and when I sucked Sean’s bottom lip into my mouth the groan he let out was guttural. Animalistic.

But the noise was enough to bring me back to reality and I shoved my hands against his chest, pushing him away from me as hard as I could.

Sean stumbled back and caught himself on the counter. He was just as caught up as I was, his eyes wild, cheeks flushed red.

“You’ve got some nerve.” I cleared my throat and wiped my mouth, still tasting him on my tongue.

“Me?” He had the audacity to smile, still clearly fired up. “You were the one sucking my lip like it was my cock.”

My cheeks felt hot. The way he said cock with the accent and the smirk… it murdered me on the inside. It absolutely killed me how good it sounded. “You wish.”

“Every fucking night.” Sean stepped forward again. “I think about you sucking my cock every. Fucking. Night.”

His admission left me breathless. It felt like someone had knocked the wind out of me. The thought of Sean laying in bed at night and thinking about my mouth wrapped around his dick lit me up. I was hot everywhere.

“Sean-“

“Shut the fuck up.” He crowded me again, this time wrapping one arm around my back and pulling me against him. “For once in your life, please, Y/N, shut the fuck up.”

Cupping the back of my head, Sean kissed me again. I wanted to fight him, wanted to tell him to fuck off, but that would only prove him right. I really did have a problem with shutting the fuck up.

So, I kissed him back. I gave it my all, twining my arms around his neck and leaning against him. Sean tongue fucked my mouth as though he’d been dying to for years, and after his admission I wondered if he had. His body felt warm against mine and feeling his fingertips glide along the exposed area of my lower back made my knees nearly buckle.

He smiled against my mouth and before I knew it, Sean was sliding both hands down, gripping my hips and hoisting me in the air. My legs locked around his waist instantly, ankles crossing at the small of his back while he carried me through the kitchen.

Our mouths never stopped touching. I’d been waiting years to kiss Sean. I’d been waiting years to slap the fuck out of him as well, but right now the only thing I cared about was keeping our mouths fused together for as long as humanly possible. I felt drunk on him, on the taste of whiskey on his tongue.

I didn’t realize we were in the living room until Sean sat down on the couch with me straddling his lap. I took the opportunity to pull back slightly, his lips chasing my own, and I smiled at the way he leaned forward. I cupped the right side of his face, loving the way his scruff felt against my soft palm. He truly was beautiful, the red-brown hair and beard, the plump mouth that spent more time scowling than smiling. His freckles, God, when we were young I could have spent hours counting them.

And then there was that scar. That brutal, obvious scar. The trauma his body must have gone through made me sick and when I reached up to run my fingers over the jagged, raised skin, Sean was quick to grab my wrist in a bruising grip.

“Don’t touch me there.”

But I wanted to. So badly. But it was clear in his reaction, in the stiffness of his body, that he was serious. Of all the limits Sean DIDN’T have, touching the left side of his face was one of them and I had no choice but to respect it.

“Fine, how about you touch me then?”

It was all the incentive Sean needed and he flipped me onto my back, hovering over me with one hand braces on the back of the couch. Our eyes held as I slid my hands down his chest, his heartbeat pulsing under my hand as I slid lower, lower still until I gripped the hem of his shirt and yanked it up. He leaned back, only for a moment to rip the shirt off his head and send it flying.

Fair skinned with broad shoulders and a tapered waist, I itched to lick the V that disappeared into his waistband. He may have been injured, but he hasn’t been resting this last year. Sean didn’t have the body of a man who rested, he had the Jody of a man who was constantly pushing himself. He was strong in every sense of the word and it made me pathetically, desperately wet for him.

“Your turn,” he said against my lips, fingers playing under my shirt and sliding along my ribs. “You’re so fucking soft.” He whispered against the skin of my cheek.

Unable to help myself, I reached down to cup him through his sweats. Jesus… Christ. “You’re so fucking not.”

Sean laughed then, but I was dead serious. Either Sean was hiding a gun in his pants or his cock was just that fucking solid. And… thick. Even through his pants I could tell. I squeezed once and he let out a guttural groan, the sound sending shock waves between my legs. I wanted that sound on a loop for the rest of my life.

He pushed my shirt up and over my head, eyes zeroing in on my breasts. “Fuck me…” He trailed off, cupping one in his hand and giving a firm squeeze as he settled his eight between my legs. I could feel him against my clit even with barriers of clothing separating us.

“I always wondered what your nipples looked like.” He licked one gently and my back arched hard, my whole body tightening. “They’re so much better than my imagination.”

Sean fastened his mouth against my nipple and he sucked, flicking his tongue against the sensitive bud while I writhed underneath him. My nails scraped through his shirt hair, digging into his scalp and holding him against me. He said he had wondered what they would look like, but I spent the better part of a decade wondering what this would feel like.

Fuck, it felt good.

Sean’s hips ground against mine as he moved to my other nipple, hands roaming felt over my body, gripping my clothes thighs and sliding up my sides. Tracing along my collarbone, fingers tugging at the nipple that wasn’t getting any attention.

I felt like a horny teenager, aching to have him inside me as fast as humanly possible. My nails raked over his shoulders and he gave a delicious growl in return, leaning up and hovering over me again. 

“I’ve thought about your mouth on my cock for ages, but right now the only thing I want is to be buried inside you. That okay?”

I was modding before he even finished speaking. Fuck a blowjob, fuck foreplay. I didn’t need that with Sean, not now. Right now I just needed… connection. I was almost desperate for it and it fucking terrified me.

Sean leaned back on his knees and hooked his fingers into my pants, tugging them down in one swift move and leaving me completely naked and sprawled out in front of him. His eyes raked over me and my breath hitched in my throat. He could see… everything.

“Fuck me… this body was fucking made for me.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, wiggling my brows. “A bit cocky, yeah?”

“No.” His face was serious, eyes focused as they raked over my breasts, my hips, my legs, zeroing in on the spot between my thighs. Sean slid one long, thick finger over my slit and I cried out, my body stiffening. “I knew you’d be bald here.” He repeated the motion. “Been dying to see that tattoo on your thigh for ages.”

I’d gotten the tattoo when I was 20 and officially moved out of my parents house. It was one of those stupid young decisions, but I didn’t regret it. It was a snake that wrapped all the way around my right thigh, the snake’s tongue permanently engraved on my inner thigh like an invitation. Or a warning.

“And?” I asked inquisitively, rubbing a hand absentmindedly down my stomach.

“And I think this body was fucking made for me.”

His lips came crashing down on mine again and I wrapped my bare legs around his waist, loving the way his hip bones pressed into my thighs. He littered kisses over my cheekbone, an oddly sweet gesture, and then absolutely assaulted my neck, licking and biting and nipping at my collarbone until I cried out.

I reached down, yanking at his sweats and pushing them down his thighs with my heels. I was fucking dying for Sean Wallace to be inside of me, I couldn’t even breathe because I wanted him so badly. Needed him, needed to know what it was like to feel him.

“Sean.” I gasped as he braced one hand above my head, the other one gripping his cock and lining it up at my entrance. I gripped his bicep when he pushed the tip in, my nails digging half crescents into his skin.

“Sean.” I repeated his name, this time somewhat panicked because what the fuck was I doing? Was I really about to fuck him?

“Remember when I told you to shut the fuck up?” Sean’s eyes met mine and he gave one sharp, hard thrust and was suddenly inside me so deep I swore I could feel him in my cervix.

I didn’t even have time to gasp, my mouth fell open in a silent scream and Sean’s groan was something I’d think about for months. He was so deep I felt as though I couldn’t breathe, looking up at him completely frozen.

“Oh, fuck.” He finally breathed out. “That’s right, so good you can’t even speak.”

“I… hate you.” I finally managed, leaning up and catching his bottom lip between my teeth, tugging so hard he let out a groan of pain.

“You don’t hate me.” Sean pulled nearly all the way out before slamming back inside me, giving me no warning or time to breathe. But the yelp I let out was enough to make him smirk.

Cocky bastard.

Fine, I could play. Tightening my legs around his waist, I raked my nails down his back and watched his face change, jaw clenching tight. I licked his collarbone before sucking the skin there. I sucked hard and didn’t stop until I felt his fingers tangle in my hair and yank me back, forcing me to look at him.

“You’re not the fucking boss right now.” He practically growled the words, not letting up on the grip on my hair. He pumped in and out of me, my scalp pricking with a weird, pleasurable pain that left me moaning for more.

Sean’s thrusts got harder and I cried out when he hit that spot, so deep I could feel him everywhere. “Sean!” I cried his name, my breath hitching in my throat.

He let my hair go in favor of those perfect ducking fingers wrapping around my throat. His thumb pressed firmly under my jaw, I had no other choice but to look at him as he fucked me into oblivion.

“Fuck, I missed you.” He groaned, pressure on my throat tightening just a bit. “Thought about you every fucking day.”

I was instantly thrown back into reality. Everything that happened that day. The shooting. Sean coming back from the dead, all of it.

“Nope, stay with me.” Sean commanded, sensing my disconnect. He slowed his thrusts leaning down to lick at my lips lightly. It was oddly erotic and I found myself whimpering for more. “That’s it, relax for me.”

“I…” I started desperately. “I can’t. Sean-“

He squeezed my throat harder and I suddenly gasped, my air being cut off. “Relax.” His voice was oddly soothing. “You can still breathe.”

I shook my head.

He paused his thrusts, once again settling deep inside me with my legs splayed. “Yes, you can. I’m not squeezing that hard. Breathe.”

I took in a breath. It was shallow, but it was there. Letting it out slowly, I repeated the motion, Sean catching on and thrusting every time I exhaled. It all felt different like this, barely able to breathe and dripping wet onto the couch. I’d never wanted someone more and I was terrified, I’d never been “handled” the way he was handling me, treating me like I was his.

“Been waiting years to feel you come on my cock.” He groaned when he released my throat, leaning back on his heels and looking down at where we were connected. “God, you’re soaked. Made a proper mess all over me.”

I moaned because at that point words were not possible. My stomach felt tight, I felt like I was going to cry or laugh or scream. I felt like I was going crazy.

And then Sean rubbed his thumb over my clit, watching me jerk, and I knew I was done for. He did it again and again, giving me shallow strokes while he rubbed the little bundle of nerves that were certainly going to send me into a tailspin.

“Sean, please.” My back arched and I shouted, so fucking close, teetering on the edge.

“Come all over my cock so I can watch you lick it off after.”

My mouth fell open and I screamed his name, my orgasm hitting me like a ton of bricks. I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling Sean lean over me and wrap an arm around my back.

He picked up the pace while I clung to him, whispering in my ear about how he’d wanted it forever, how this was his, how I was his. It was overwhelming, yet I couldn’t bring myself to do anything other than rake my nails through his hair and whisper his name over and over again in his ear.

“Fuck.” Sean’s groan was long and low, stroking into me one, two, three more times before holding himself still, his climax hitting him as hard as mine hit me. 

His arms shook as he held himself over me, eventually collapsing onto my chest in a huff. We sat there silently, the sound of the waves crashing against the cliff side lulling us. Sean’s right cheek was pressed against my breast and his dick was still inside me. He was as close as he could possibly be but I somehow wanted him closer. I wanted to fucking absorb him into my body, keep him there forever and enjoy the weight of him on me.

“Sean?” I whispered, wondering if he was still awake.

“Hm?”

I ran my fingers lightly over the back of his neck and delighted in his shiver. “I’m really glad you’re not dead.”

He lifted his head then, searching my face for some sort of emotion, but I forced myself to remain stoic. It took Sean fucking my brains out for me to realize how much I missed him. How much I fucking loved him. But I couldn’t tell him that, I couldn’t give him that much power over me.

“Today was the first time in a year that I was thankful that bullet didn’t kill me.” Sean’s words were honest, quiet.

We didn’t say anything after that, we didn’t really need to. In that moment we were safe, together after years of being apart, and now all we had to do was wait for word from my father. Until then, I was going to enjoy whatever time I had with Sean and I prayed I would never have to pretend he was dead again.

[xpeachesncream]

acquainted | four

> series masterlist <

summary: the biggest goal of a grad student is to get through school in one piece - no petty drama involved, no sweating over the little things. however, that plan almost always never follows through. sometimes, you can’t help but fall into the most unthinkable, unexpected traps and learn the hard way. like, exhibit a: being unable to resist your engaged, substitute teacher, kim seokjin.

pairing: (2nd bts member to be revealed) x reader x engaged!teacher!seokjin

genre: grad school au, student life au | fluff, angst, smut (to come)

words: 4.2k

warnings: implied sexual content, your friends are still extra, cussing / mature language, relationship issues, angst, making out, slight dry humping, you actually act on your hoe-ish thoughts because seokjinnie keeps testing you??

notes: 2nd member involved in this love triangle will be revealed next chapter and it’s actually gonna start getting messy. are you with me? 😈

tags: @laurynne5 @yiyi4657 @miinoongi @teamtardis-notdead @bluesharksandfish​ @photographic-girl (pls msg me if you would like to be added to the taglist!)

A couple of days have passed and you were only getting more giddy as time passes. It sounds stupid as hell, and sometimes you can't help but curse yourself for having a crush on someone so unattainable. The thrill, though, is what excites you, and knowing that there's a possibility Jin may reciprocate the same feelings. Since he had placed his number in your phone, he had sent you random, occasional 'have a good day!' texts and smiley faces. Maybe it didn't help that he was only fueling the fire by sending you texts like this. You couldn't help but ponder on the thought that you had crossed his mind from time to time, and that my friends, was fucking attractive.

"Her head game was on point." Taehyung smirked and leaned back in his chair, making Ryujin roll her eyes at him.

"You're sick, no one asked about your night."

"Why do you sound so mad, sweetie?" He leaned closer to her.

"I'm not mad." She scooted her chair away from him. "Can you believe this right now?" She shot you a look, but you were too busy texting on your phone, responding to the messages you couldn't get to earlier.

[jin] 3:05pm: I hope your day has been treating you well. See you soon?

[y/n] 5:37pm: Been a little busy, but hasn't been bad. :) Excited for class!

You laughed at yourself because who even says 'Excited for class' like that? You were really playing yourself right now.

"Earth to Mr. Kim's mistress?" You shot Taehyung a look and immediately shoved his face away.

"Jeez, you've been glued to your phone so much lately. Did you find new dick, or something?" Ryujin asked as she rested her chin on the palm of her hand.

"No, god. I've just been trying to keep myself occupied." She shrugs and doesn't press any further. Thank god, because you hadn't told any of your friends how Jin comforted you that evening and how he had given you his personal number just to check in every now and then. You didn't plan on telling them anytime soon, only because they'd be dramatic about it and you didn't have the energy to calm the chaos that would ensue.

"Speaking of - have you guys started the assignment due next week for Mr. Kim's class?" Jimin kept his eyes on the work in front of him.

"No. I'll probably do that the day of." Taehyung says as he texts on his phone.

"I was going to ask him for help later."

"Were you now?" Jimin rose his eyebrow, shooting you a look.

"Yes, and it's only because I can't choose which topic to write about."

"Why don't you ask us?"

"Because this always ends up being an open-ended debate and the conversation ultimately ends with no decision made." Jimin nodded in agreement.

"Touché."

"Bat your eyelashes while you're at it, kay?" Ryujin giggles.

"You guys are free to join me."

"Mmm no thanks, I don't think I need any help right now." Jimin responds.

"Same. Besides, I'd rather not cockblock."

"Honestly so sick of you guys." You all end up packing your things to head to Jin's classroom, all four of you entering one by one and taking your seats near the front. Class goes by rather quickly, you and Jin stealing glances from time to time. Ryujin, Jimin and Taehyung offer to wait up for you near the library and you simply nod, letting them know you'll only take a quick minute to talk about the assignment. Once they've disappeared from the hallway corridor, you turn on your heels to make your way over to Jin at the front desk, where he's arranging his things and getting them together.

"Y/N, hey." He smiles at you, tilting his head to look at you from his stance. "What's up?"

"I uh, just wanted to ask for your opinion about the assignment. If.. you aren't busy?" He chuckled and shook his head.

"No, not at all. What's going on?"

"Well, I've just been having trouble deciding on a topic." You placed your things down.

"Alright, try me." He nods towards the whiteboard, signaling for you to scribble your ideas onto the board so he could help you map out your thoughts. You quietly walk over, grabbing the only black whiteboard marker available and start talking through your thoughts. He sits on the desk, arms crossed, watching you scribble on the board. He chimes in every now and then, either agreeing or disagreeing, and providing his honest opinion as to what might work best for the assignment.

"Mm, okay. I think that makes better sense." You step back and take a look at the things you've crossed out and circled, leaving you to finalize the topic for your assignment.

"Yeah, I think so." He stands and nods in agreement. You turn to look at him, only to realize how close in proximity your body was to his. His hands are tucked into his pockets while he looks down at you. Both of you don't move, regardless of how close you two are at the moment. You feel stuck, and the only option that crosses your mind is something you shouldn't even be thinking about. Yet, you still act on it. You find yourself on your tippy-toes laying a kiss on his plump lips, but you quickly pull away and gasp, realizing what you had done.

"I-I'm so sorry, I-" You stutter as you step back to try and quickly grab your things. "I gotta go." You dash out of the room, your heart beating through your chest. As soon as you were far as possible from his room, you slowed your pace to gather your breathing. You facepalmed so hard because what the fuck! You felt dumb as hell for acting the way you did, let alone for thinking his texts and all the attention even meant anything.

Way to fucking go, Y/N. You could feel how embarrassing next class will be already.

As soon as you spot your friends, you try to put on a smile and brush the thoughts out of your head when you see them waving you over. Jimin instantly throws his arm around your shoulder, helping you feel at ease as you momentarily forget about the events that just transpired.

"Ready? We're gonna go grab some pizza before heading home." You smiled at him.

"Yeah, I'm down."

Jin grabbed his things, feeling a little conflicted about what just happened. He knew this was something that shouldn't have happened, nor should it ever happen again. Yet, he wanted more of this feeling you gave him. He longed for it. He couldn't explain the feeling he got when he felt your lips against his, he just knew he was interested in more. It was bad as fuck, but it was the same thrill you felt that peeked his interest.

Jin pulled into the lot of him and Grace's house, seeing he was the first one home yet again. It wasn't a surprise to him anymore, and quite frankly, he was used to being home first all the time. It would have been a surprise if Grace was here before he was. Not gonna lie, after what happened, it makes him feel a little empty inside. He's starting to feel like he wanted more of you and to see you outside of campus grounds. He wanted your company and enjoyed your presence, inside of the classroom and even through simple things like text. It just made him happy, and like he was appreciated. Wanted.

Yeah, that quick. He was starting to crave you.

He kicked off his shoes by the door and changed into comfier clothes. He took some time to work out at their home gym before eating whatever leftovers were left in the fridge. He happily warms up his food and quickly gobbles it up, leaving the dishes in the sink for him to get to later. He hops into a hot, relaxing shower, letting the heat hit his back and relax him from all the stress he had been experiencing lately. It was so relaxing that he didn't even hear Grace shut their front door. He only found out he wasn't alone when he heard dishes being washed and slammed onto the dish rack and cabinet doors being slammed shut. He dried himself off a bit, before wrapping the towel around his waist and heading into the kitchen to see what the commotion was.

"Hey, you're home." He says with a smile on his face, but she continued to place dishes on the rack without looking at him.

"Yeah, and you couldn't even think to wash your dishes and clean up the kitchen?" His smile immediately turned into a frown when he realized Grace was far from being in a good mood. Over what? Dishes that he was eventually going to wash anyways?

"I was going to get to them."

"Jeez, Jin. I've had such a long day, the least you could do is help out and clean up after yourself." She glared at him.

"Woah, hey. I do my part around here. Just because I didn't do my dishes right away doesn't mean I don't do anything at all under this house."

"Hasn't seemed like it." She walked away, brushing him off completely. If it's one thing Jin could point out about his fiancé, it was the fact that she liked to project when she was upset. It was the one thing that drove him crazy, and the one thing he felt like couldn't be fixed. It was just in her nature, no matter how many times they've fought and argued about it. He tries to be patient and understanding. He tries to relate. Yes, I'm sorry you had a bad day. But just because you had a bad day, doesn't mean you bring the negative energy into this house.

"That's not fair, Grace."

"Grow up, Jin." She snapped as she headed upstairs. "I'm going up to pack and head to bed." He continued to watch her, appalled at the attitude she was throwing tonight. He really couldn't understand why this was happening over some dishes. He didn't wanna be here right now, and he wasn't going to deal with this shit. To be honest, he was feeling a little relieved knowing he'd get some space from her when she flies to New York for a week. She had some work to do for the opening of her restaurant down there, plus some related projects for her book.

He heads upstairs to throw on some jeans, a hoodie and a hat before passing Grace in their walk-in closet.

"Off for a drive again, huh?" She says as she keeps her eyes on the luggage laid out in front of her. It's sad that Grace knows what Jin does whenever he doesn't wanna deal with her attitude. But, no matter how many times he's tried to communicate and talk it out, it never mattered to her.

"Yeah, because it doesn't seem like you can communicate properly tonight."

"And how is a drive supposed to help?" She turns to look at him, but he doesn't say anything. She scoffs before returning her attention back to the clothes she was packing into her luggage. "Perfect. Run away from our issues, Jin. It's what you do best." He shook his head and sighed.

"I'm not doing this with you tonight, Grace. Not over some dishes that were eventually going to get washed and fixed." He walked out, but turned back on his heel to finish off his thoughts. "You know, I really wanted to have a nice night with you. Pop some wine and put on a movie, just to enjoy being in each other's presence since it feels like we haven't done that in a really long time. But, so be it." He threw his hands up in defeat and continued to walk out. He really did want to try, though. Part of him felt like he needed to because he was probably just longing for that attention from his fiancé, which is why he had been feeling the way he had been about you. Maybe it would have helped him brush it off like it was a silly, little crush. However, tonight just amplified those feelings he had for you and he wanted nothing more but to just see you and hear your voice.

He lowers the brim of his cap as he walks to his car, instantly starting it up and driving off. At first, he was conflicted. He wasn't sure if he was making the right decision or not, or if his judgment was cloudy. But something in him tweaked and made him say, fuck it. He was tired, and for once, he just wanted to feel wanted.

You sat on your living room floor, putting together a vision board for yourself. A ton of magazine cut outs and printouts laid alongside of you, waiting to be organized onto the small white board. You had been rearranging the layout for quite some time, feeling a little frustrated at the perfectionist in you. This definitely could have been quicker if you hadn't picked at the fine details too much. It was nearing 10:30pm; after you and your friends had ate pizza together, you all went your separate ways, tired from this week's events already. You especially didn't want to linger around, the thought of you kissing Jin in the classroom still haunting you. You felt your phone vibrating off to the side, signaling a call coming in.

Speak of the devil.

You hesitate, afraid that this had to do with what happened earlier and to be frank, you weren't sure if you were ready to deal with the repercussions just yet. The call ends, but a text notification pops up at the top of your screen.

[jin] 10:27pm: Are you free right now?

[y/n] 10:28pm: Sorry, yeah I am. What's up?

[jin] 10:29pm: Can we meet up?

You stare at your phone, unsure if you should take the opportunity to see him. It could mean a lot of things, or it could mean nothing. It could be about the kiss, or it couldn't be. But, you can't help but feel a little guilty that he had been there for you when you needed someone and here you were, contemplating if you should blow him off.

[y/n] 10:32pm: Sure. Is everything okay?

[jin] 10:32pm: I think, kind of just need some good company.

[y/n] 10:33pm: Oh, okay. Yeah, I'll come. Just let me know where.

You watch as he drops his location into the message, and it's not too far from where you live. You actually are quite familiar with the area to know that he's sending you up to a view that overlooks the Bay Bridge. You and your friends used to go there often during undergrad, just to eat edibles and eat hella junk food. Those were the days. You all quickly outgrew it though.

The drive up is a little scary, with only a few street lights posted as you drive up the hill. You catch a glimpse of Jin's car, being that he's already leaning against it, facing the view. You pull up into the empty spot next it, taking a deep breath and recollecting your thoughts before stepping out. Whatever it is, just be honest. That kiss was because you wanted to kiss him, but perhaps you misread the vibe about everything.

Not perhaps. You for sure misread the vibe about everything. He's fucking engaged. There was no way.

"I brought you brownie." Is the first thing you say as you hand him a ziploc with a huge brownie square. "There's no weed in it or anything, I promise it's clean." He chuckles as he takes it from you. "I just figured you could use a picker upper since you seemed like you might've need it."

"Thank you." His trunk had been open, so he takes a seat and invites you to sit next to him. You leave a bit of space just to be sure, since you already crossed your boundaries earlier and you weren't even sure how that was gonna play in to tonight.

"So, what's on your mind?" You dread asking him the question but you knew there was a reason he brought you out here.

"I, uh. Just had a pretty tough day and wanted to surround myself around good company." He turned to look at you.

"Oh, so I made the good company list?" You chuckle.

"Yeah, you did." He looks back out at the view. You examine him, his body language still a little tense from whatever he had just experienced.

"Was it Grace?" You ask softly and he nods in return.

"We've just been having issues. It's no biggie."

"No biggie, huh? Then why are we out here looking at the bay bridge?" He chuckles again. You think it's cute the way his dimples under his eyes pop out when he smiles and laughs.

"Touché. I mean, what if I just wanted to hang out with someone who could cheer me up?"

"Wow, then that's a lot of pressure on me." You laugh. "I can already tell something's wrong. You were there for me, so I just want you to know that I'm all ears." He sighed.

"It's kind of dumb? Maybe not? Me and Grace just haven't been the same for awhile now."

"How so?"

"We're just distant. We haven't done things together like we used to because we're both busy and so wrapped up with work."

"Jin." You smile shyly because this couldn't be a serious excuse. You always need to try and make things work! "You know being busy shouldn't be an excuse, right?"

"I know, I know." He shakes his head. "I'm sorry, it's difficult to explain. I question if we're still in love with each other or if we're just sticking to this because we're comfortable."

"Deep down, I know you still love and care for her."

"I do. It's been hard to show that these past months. I guess.. what I'm trying to say is that it's been easy to focus more on the negatives than the positives. There have been more negatives than positives."

"Why don't you sit her down and talk about this?"

"I can't. I try, but I really can't. She's always coming home in a nasty mood all the time."

"Well, she might have a lot to balance on her plate. Not everyone approaches things the same way and if you know Grace easily shuts people out when she's overwhelmed or stressed, then I think you just need to continue supporting her by simply being there for her."

"I know." He looks down at his hands.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just thinking. I hear you loud and clear though." He smiles at you toothlessly.

"Try talking to her. Work it out. I know she's important to you."

"She is but," He shakes his head once more. "I can't shake off this feeling."

"What feeling?"

"It's going to sound stupid."

"Nothing is ever stupid." He simply looked at you before responding.

"Earlier, in the classroom—" Fuck, you thought. You thought you had just gotten lucky tonight and that you both had put it past you so that you could move on without ever mentioning it. But half of you knew you'd still have to confront your mistake either way. Nothing was ever that easy.

"Jin, I'm so sorry, I didn't think about—"

"I didn't want you to stop." He spits out, causing you to stop mid-sentence. Your eyes widened after you had just registered what he had said. Was he fucking playing with you right now? This shit really couldn't be real.

"W-what?"

"I can't shake off this feeling because of you and as bad as it sounds, I really don't want that to go away."

"Jin." You say softly. "You should really work this out with Grace. This feeling is just temporary and you know it is because she's your fiancé. What happened earlier was a mistake and it shouldn't have happened." It kind of sucks, but it's true. You don't really know why you did what you did and what you wanted out of it. You knew what this would entail and it would be too messy. People would just end up getting hurt left and right. It would be a domino effect.

"Was it though?"

"I'm not trying to get in between you two." You beat around the bush with your response.

"Then, what did you want out of that earlier?" He stares at you. You can't help but feel yourself melt at the way he's eyeing you and the way he's actually teasing the fuck out of you with his piercing eyes.

"I don't know." He continues to stare, but this time his face is edging closer to yours.

"You can't even tell me straight up that it was nothing." He says, almost at a whisper. Your knees are starting to buckle beneath you and although you knew you needed to stop this, you couldn't see yourself doing it right at this moment.

"We shouldn't be doing this." You whisper, his lips inches away from yours at this point.

"Then why aren't you stopping me, Y/N?" No response. Before you knew it, your eyes were shut as your lips pressed against his. The feeling of his lips sent chills down your spine, his hand now tugging you closer to his body. You waste no time straddling his lap, deepening the kiss as your hands rest on his face and your hips grind against his. God, he was so fucking attractive and everything about him drove your ass crazy. You wanted him.

But you couldn't have him.

"Stop, stop." You edged your head back, reality settling in once his hands start to dip inside your sweats. "We really shouldn't be doing this." You climb off of him and gather your things.

"Y/N, wait."

"Jin." You turn to look at him. "Listen to me. We would never work."

"I wouldn't say never—"

"Look, this is already difficult as is and I'm trying really hard not to make this even more complicated for anyone. At the end of the day, you're still with Grace. You're still engaged to Grace." You emphasized. "I can't get in between you two, and I don't want to hurt her." How in the fuck did things escalate so quickly? How did we get here?

"I know that, and I know you don't. But you can't tell me that you didn't feel anything just now."

"I'm not saying that I didn't. I did, I-I do." You stuttered on your own words. "But I shouldn't be acting on it and neither should you. You should really focus on working things out in your relationship. I know deep down you love her and want to make this work."

"That's the thing, Y/N. I don't know how else I can make this work with her. I've ran out of options."

"Jin, you planned to marry her! You do understand that you can't just give up on someone like that, especially your future wife."

"As much as I appreciate this and understand where you're coming from, you don't know our relationship."

"I just don't want you to give up on her. I want you to try for her, not just because I told you so." He can see how serious things have turned, and  he knew you were right. This would be complicated. But damn, was he undeniably attracted to you and he loved the feeling he got from all of this.

"I-" He sighs. "You make me feel things that I haven't felt in a long time."

"You have your life planned out already, and so does Grace. You obviously saw a life and a future with her, and that's what you should continue building. I don't even know how to get from point A to point B in life and I still have shit to learn. Like-like changing car lights or how to do a fucking oil change by myself! I'm a mess. I'm not the one you should be thinking about."

"I don't care about that." He spits out as he gently grabs your wrist and turns you to face him.

"Don't make this harder than it already is." With all this shit going on, you still found yourself wanting him the same way you did earlier. Looking at him made you want to do unspeakable things and it didn't help that he gave you the green light to do so.

The temptations.

"I'm not trying to."

"We should really keep our distance from each other, okay? You need to work things out and I'm going to give you the space to do so."

"Fuck, Y/N. I really don't want that."

"I'm sorry." You whisper as you break free from his grip and get back into your car. You hear him groan, causing you to cry to yourself as you drive off and get back home. One mistake turned everything upside down, and now everything was suddenly 10x more complicated than it ever was in the beginning. You couldn't help but curse yourself and blame yourself for letting this happen the way it did.

But shit is done. The mistake happened. There was no taking it back.

You just needed to give him space to get over it, and that would be the end of it. Easy.

Or so you assume.

[andshedoesitagain]

Warm me up

Fred Weasley x Reader                                                              Words - 1.4k

Summary - You have a nightmare and Fred is happy to help you out.

Warnings - Making out, mention of panic and nightmares, Innuendo’s, kissing. 

Air. That’s what you needed, desperately, achingly, so much so that you clung to your chest, shooting up from your pillow as you inhaled rapidly, trying to swallow all the air in the room. 

Nightmares were nothing new to you, all that you had seen and experienced over the years since attending Hogwarts had worn you out dramatically, and bad dreams just so happened to be one of many side effects of that. Even following you when you weren’t even in the school.

Rubbing the weariness from your eyes, you scanned the room around you, the familiarity and cosiness of the room already beginning to ease the tension that had been building in your chest while you were sleeping. 

The Weasley home was your favourite place to be, it provided you a home during all holiday and breaks away from Hogwarts and served as the perfect place to calm down after the pure chaos of the school year. The eccentric redheads had never treated you as any less than another member of the family, from the moment that you had first turned up on their doorstop practically attached at the hip with Fred and George.

Although your bond with one of the twins was much different than with the other. Fred had never been quiet about his feelings for you, always flirting and teasing, though it had never evolved into much more than a coy back and forth between the two of you, and although you weren’t completely content in that, you never forced anything, happy just to be around him. 

Well, that was until he had out of the blue decided to kiss you just hours earlier.

  Poking him with your elbow, you couldn’t help but roll your eyes as he continued to nudge you, in effort to see himself in the mirror you were currently using to brush your teeth. “Fred, I’ll be done in just a second, then you can stare at yourself for as long as you want to,” you quipped taking the toothbrush out your mouth. 

“I’ll have aged ten years by the time you’re done,” he replied with a grin as he bumped you away once again with his hip, not even bothering to remove the toothbrush from his mouth. 

You fought for a little longer for use of the mirror, before you gave up, spitting into the sink and placing your toothbrush down, sitting down on the edge of the tub and crossing your arms across your chest, silently waiting for him to finish.  

Looking up to his reflection you caught him looking back to you, sending you a wink as you caught his gaze. Sticking your tongue out in response, he let out a quiet chuckle before speaking. “I really like your t-shirt, very fashionable.”

Raising an eyebrow, you looked down to the shirt you were wearing, quickly realising it was one of many you had ‘borrowed’ from him, building a small collection over the years of staying at the Weasley’s. “I’m glad you like it, it’s a little oversized but it’s cute right?” you queried, a grin dancing on your lips as you glanced back up at him.  

For a split second you could swear you caught a slight blush on his face, but as he leant down to spit in the sink, you just missed it. Taking that as your queue you went to stand up, heading for the doorway until you were swiftly pulled back, a quick peck placed on your lips and a hand gently grabbing your t-shirt. 

Your eyes wide, Fred pulled back from you and nodded, examining you up and down as he mumbled, his own grin wide, “yeah, it looks really good on you.” 

Pulling yourself to your feet, you tried not to shiver as the cold hit you. With the Weasley house being practically full to the brim, you had opted to sleep on the couch in the living room on your own, although it didn’t stop you from tiptoeing out of the room to the kitchen, trying to be as silent as possible in fear of waking up anybody else in the house. 

Pouring yourself a glass of water, you sipped it down quick, the cool feeling down your throat further grounding you from your previous panic. Again, tiptoeing back to the living room, you felt your heart jump into your throat as a figure stood in the middle of the room. 

Cutting off your gasp, a familiar voice spoke, “it’s just me, it’s Fred.” The ginger haired boy stood closer, revealing his face. Exhaling slowly, you ran a hand through your hair.

“You scared me.” Your voice was breathy as you practically croaked out your words, causing Fred to let out a nervous chuckle.

“Sorry, what are you doing up?” He enquired, eyes following you as you plopped yourself back on to the couch, bringing your knees to your chest.

Pulling your blanket back over you, you scooted over slightly to make room for him as he sat closely next to you. “I had a nightmare,” laying your head against the couch to look at him better, you noticed how his face scrunched up a little.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Also laying his head against the back of his couch, sincerity dripped from his voice even as his tone was light.

Shaking your head, you couldn’t help but lean in a little closer to him, a reaction that had become normal to you over the years you had known him. “No, you being here helps though,” finding yourself whispering you sent a soft smile his way, one he had no hesitation in returning. 

“Glad I can be of help,” he whispered back, the usually mischievous look in his eyes swapped for a slightly rarer warm-hearted expression. Reaching out your hand you intertwined fingers with him, you took a breath.

Flattening out your palm in his hand, he looked at you with a tired smile, “close your eyes,” he whispered. A small chuckle of confusion passed your lips as you slowly let them flutter closed, not questioning what the redhead had planned.

Lightly you felt his fingertip drag over your hand, delicately drawing random shapes, “I’ll draw something on your hand, and you guess what it is, okay?” Fred asked, to which you nodded, eyes still firmly shut.  

The first few shapes were easy, circles, squares triangles, before eventually they got a little more niche and harder to guess. Giggling as you played his game, you continued to try and guess his newest shape. “Is it…. a bird?” 

Hearing a scoff followed by, “good guess, but no,” opening up your eyes you listened, “it was a snitch, but I’ll excuse how terrible you were at the game, because you’re tired.” Rolling your eyes at him, you blinked through the darkness to get a better look at his face, something he seemed to catch on to. “Checking me out, Y/N?” He teased.

Instead of answering, you just took a sharp breath. Trying not to overthink it you practically threw yourself on to him, your lips meeting his as you once again closed your eyes. Fred was quick, almost like he had been anticipating it, as he kissed you back confidently.

Without hesitation, his hand ran up your spine to the back of your head, his hand in your hair, as he sat up to deepen the kiss. Cupping his face in your hands, you tried not to chuckle in surprise when he slowly pulled you into his lap, the kiss calm and tender, despite your closeness.

Moving your hands to his shoulders, one of his hands went to push your hair behind your ear, the other just barely grazing your thigh. Heart pounding in your ears you grasped onto his shirt, before sliding your hands to his neck.

It was like all anticipation that had built to this moment had burst, everything hot and impatient. One of his hands had landed just below your t-shirt, causing you to jump slightly, “your hands are freezing,” you mumbled against his lips, which only made him press his fingertips a little harder against your hip, sneaking a grin even as you kissed.

“You can warm me up then,” Fred mumbled back, pulling back to look at him, you noticed how flushed he had become, lips and cheeks red. “Looks like you did that all yourself,” you quipped back.

Letting out a soft laugh, he drew circles into your hip, he stared up at you, eyes wide and dazed, “guess you just do that to me, Y/N.”

///Hey! After my last Fred Weasley x Reader did so well, I was really excited to get this one out that I’ve had sitting for a little while, so I hope you enjoy, and as always feel free to request!!///

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Desiderium

Fantasy Masks AU: Chapter One

A JSE Fanfic

Hey! Hey! New AU! :D I’m really excited for it! As you can probably tell from the title, this is a fantasy-themed one. Taking place in the kingdom known as Glasúil, where magic and strange creatures are common, a man called Chase lives a simple life in a mountain village with his family. But of course, something just has to happen, and, well...you’ll see next chapter ;) Feel free to ask me anything about this AU, even though it’s still in its early stages I have a lot of ideas that I’m eager to share!

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The forest floor was blanketed in a layer of fallen leaves, red and orange and yellow matching the colors of those still on the tree branches. Bushes and shrubs made the terrain difficult for most people. But a single rabbit hopped across the ground, unhindered by the underbrush and making no sound on the crunchy fallen leaves. It stopped by a small bush, sniffed its leaves, and started to nibble on them.

Thwip! An arrow suddenly appeared next to the rabbit. It had barely landed when the rabbit was already running, darting off quickly. “Wait, no! No!” Someone shouted. A man appeared, shooting to his feet from where he’d been hiding behind a nearby bush. He nocked another arrow and let it loose, but it missed by a mile, landing in the trunk of a nearby tree. The rabbit was already gone.

“Damn it,” Chase cursed, looking down at his arm. That last shot had been sloppy; if he wasn’t wearing his arm guard, the bow string could’ve really hurt him. He tightened the guard straps and went to collect the arrows from where they’d landed. The one that hit the tree had its point chipped a bit. “Damn it,” he said again, whispering this time. If he kept chipping arrows, he’d have to buy more, and they couldn’t afford that right now.

Maybe he’d missed because it was starting to get dark. Chase looked through the branches of the trees towards the sky. He could see the rosy hint of a sunset in the distance. Well, if that wasn’t a sign that it was time to head back, he didn’t know what was. He’d already checked the snares he’d set up yesterday and set up new ones; there was nothing more to do. Disappointed, he turned back and headed east, towards town. Hopefully tomorrow he’d find more in the forest than three squirrels and a rabbit that he failed to shoot.

The trees soon thinned. Chase walked down a familiar slope of land and quickly saw the familiar buildings at the edge of town. Well, it wasn’t really a town. It was too small for that. It was actually a village, but people called it Hilltown, and so naturally it was shortened to just town. People said things like “Hey I’m heading back to town,” or “The millers live on the edge of town.” That might be confusing in a more urban setting, where there were more cities and towns close together, but they lived in the mountains. The village was the only “town” for miles.

Chase slipped in between two buildings and officially entered the village. These buildings were made of wood, and a bit rickety due to being built on sloping ground. When the village was founded, it was first built on a relatively flat area. But as it slowly grew, it had to creep upwards onto the incline that led up to the forest. The way the buildings continued onto the slope was the reason people started calling it Hilltown, though Chase had never been fond of the name.

“Hey! Is that you, Chase?”

“Huh?” Chase stopped, and looked around. He quickly spotted the source of the call: an older man, with a black beard streaked with gray, standing in the doorway of a house. “Hi, Kieran. How’re you doing?”

“Doing fine, boy,” Kieran said good-naturedly. “Come back from hunting so soon?”

“Well it is sunset. Do you expect me to shoot in the dark?” Chase commented, raising an eyebrow.

Kieran chuckled. “So...did you shoot any beaver today?”

“No, Kieran, there are no beavers in the mountains,” Chase sighed. The older man had been living here for three years, and he couldn’t seem to grasp that.

“Ah, if you say so,” Kieran waved away. “If you ever do catch one—”

“—I can bring the pelt to you, I know,” Chase finished. And again, he’d been offering that same proposal for three years.

“That’s the spirit! I’ll be seeing you around.”

“Be seeing you.”

Chase headed onward. As the ground started to level out, the buildings became sturdier, with more made of stone bricks, and grew closer together. The streets weren’t paved, but they were cleared, dusty paths well-trod. A few people were out, though not as many as there would have been earlier in the day. Mostly small kids running around and a few people taking turns getting water at the well in the center of the town. Chase waved at them, and they nodded back. One of them, Terrance the tailor, called out “How’re you doing?” and Chase answered, “Doing fine!”

Shortly after passing by the well, he came across the tallest building in town, and was once again stopped by someone calling his name. “Mister Chase!”

He stopped and turned to face the building: the temple. The couple that ran it were standing outside the doorway. One of them, Mother Aoife, was waving at him. “Hello, Mother. Is everything alright?”

“Oh, well, can I ask you a question?” Mother Aoife said. She gestured at the entrance. “Do you think we’d have room for another holy symbol up there?”

“Uh...” Chase took a step back. The doorway to the temple had two symbols on either side of it, showing that members of either faith could practice inside. To the left was a blue candle, almost as long as a person’s arm, burning and dripping wax. To the right were two interlocking circles the size of someone’s head: one gold-ish with small triangles around the edge, one silver-ish with a line down the center. “I mean...I guess you could put one above the door.”

“No, we can’t do that!” Mother Aoife said. “That would imply that one faith is higher than the others.”

“Right. Then, I’m guessing it would be the same if you put a symbol in the space beneath one of the other two?”

“Exactly.”

“I told you it wouldn’t work.” Pastor Cait frowned. She was the other leader at the temple, and was Mother Aoife’s wife. They’d actually held two ceremonies, one for each of their respective faiths. That day had been one of the most active days Hilltown had seen in the past ten years. “Besides, nobody in town follows the Forger.”

“But it is becoming popular with those down in the flatlands of Glasúil,” Mother Aoife insisted. “What if someone comes to visit and spread the faith?”

“Well, neither of us even know anything about the Forge, anyway,” Pastor Cait pointed out.

“We could always find someone.”

“That runs into the problem of nobody in town following the Forger.”

“Um...is that all you wanted me for?” Chase asked awkwardly.

“Oh no, I just thought I’d ask you first,” Mother Aoife said. “Stacia stopped by. She said to tell you that she was leaving early and would be home when you were done hunting.”

“Really? That’s strange.” Stacia usually worked all day, and with the fall harvest coming up, she’d probably be out on the farms from sunrise to sunset. “Why?”

“She said something about Quentin,” Mother Aoife said, frowning as she tried to remember. “I think he might’ve been getting sick? There was something wrong.”

Chase felt his heart drop, leaving his chest cold. “Why didn’t you start with that?!”

“Well, I—” Mother Aoife’s explanation was wasted. Chase was already running.

It wasn’t too far from here. He sprinted down the street, not bothering to look at any of the people he passed by, heading for the other edge of town. The buildings started to spread out again, small patches of vegetable gardens dotting the rows of low stone houses. He kept running until he reached his own, recognizing the garden of radishes outside and the rough chalk drawings on the stones outside, drawn by children. Without waiting, he threw open the wooden door and rushed inside.

“Dad?” Amabel, his daughter, was sitting on the edge of the rough wooden table, carefully trying to  tie the end of a string into a loop.

“Hi, Amy. Where’s your mother and brother?” Chase asked.

“Bedroom,” Amabel said, pointing at the doorway, blocked off by a hanging length of cloth.

“Thanks.” Chase ruffled her red hair as he walked past, not wasting any time and ducking underneath the cloth. “What happened? Is it bad?!”

Stacia looked up, clearly surprised. “Chase? What do you mean what happened?”

“Mother Aoife, down at the temple, she said that you said something happened with Quentin a-and that you were leaving early because of it,” Chase hurried through the explanation. “Is everything okay?!”

“Did she...well I guess it would sound bad if that’s all she said,” Stacia muttered. “Don’t worry, it’s fine.”

“Hi Dad!” Quentin was lying in the big double-bed that Chase and Stacia usually shared, propped up against the wooden frame. Their thick winter quilt was wrapped around him, his little face and dark curls being the only thing to poke out of the patchwork cloth.

“He fell in the water trough for Rainer’s sheep when I looked away,” Stacia explained, sighing. “Got pretty wet.”

“There was a goat staring at me!” Quentin said. He didn’t seem any worse for wear.

“It’ll probably be fine, but considering his...constitution, I-I thought it’d be best if I took the rest of the day off to keep an eye on him.” Stacia pulled the blanket up over Quentin’s head, much to his delight.

All the tension immediately drained from Chase’s body. He stumbled against the wall, losing his balance in the flood of relief. “Oh thank the elders,” he breathed.

Stacia stood up. She walked over to the bedroom window—the only one in their cottage to have glass—and made sure it was firmly closed. Then she turned to face Chase. “Did you...did you get back to town early and decide to check on us?”

“No, I just got back, I ran all the way here,” Chase said, catching his breath for the first time.

“Oh.” Stacia glanced at the arrows in his quiver, then at the three squirrels he had slung over his back. “Sorry, I guess I just thought, since you didn’t seem to find that much—”

“It’s fall, Stacy, animals are starting to hibernate,” Chase said, rubbing his eyes.

“Right. I always forget that.” Stacia nodded.

“How are things going at the farm?”

“Alright. Busy. You know, Jane told me that down in the flatlands, where it’s warmer, they grow potatoes through the winter. Which makes sense, but it’s strange, isn’t it?”

“Yea, pretty strange.” Chase stood up straight. “Well, I’m going to go take care of these squirrels.”

“Oh!” Stacia’s eyes widened. “Wait, before you do, do you remember that you’re going to start teaching Amabel shooting on Hunt’s Day?”

“Yes, don’t worry,” Chase assured her. “I already have a great spot marked out.”

Stacia let out a breath. “Good. With everything today, I almost forgot until now.”

“Well, clearly Amabel didn’t forget. I saw her trying to make a bow string in the main room.” Chase smiled. “It looked pretty good, for her first time doing it on her own.”

“Wonderful.” Stacia turned back to Quentin, who was picking at the seams of the quilt. “Now go take care of those squirrels. Are you going to make dinner or should I?”

“Uh. You seem busy, I’ll do it,” Chase offered. “Right after the squirrels.”

It was well into the night by the time everyone was settled down. Quentin was fine, he hadn’t caught a cold, which was a huge relief. He’d been born a bit weaker than other children, and didn’t have as much energy as them. He often fell ill, and it was always a worry to Chase and Stacia. Amabel was heartier, but she was a quiet child. She often wandered about on her own, and was very familiar with the layout of Hilltown and the potato farms on the edge of the village, where many people worked, including Stacia. At ten years old, it was about time for her to start taking up more serious chores, and she’d asked Chase to take her hunting more than once. Of course, she had to learn to shoot first, and luckily for her, he was ready to teach her soon.

They had mutton for dinner, which they’d traded for with Rainer. Chase had managed to shoot down a bird last week, and the farmer had gladly traded a sheep for that. Now they were all sitting, taking the time to rest. Stacia was sitting in the rocking chair, patching up a hole in one of her tunics, while Amabel and Quentin were sitting by the stone fireplace, both of them now under the winter quilt.

“Don’t get too close, kids,” Chase called from his position near the window, where he was drawing their curtains closed. “A spark could fly and catch that fabric on fire.”

“It’s fine,” Amabel said, pulling the blanket closer and wrapping it around her and Quentin’s legs. “Dad, we need new curtains, those are old.”

“I know, Amy,” Chase muttered, glancing at the threadbare fabric. “But we can’t get any right now, so we’re keeping these until they fall apart.”

“Hmm.” Amabel hummed. “Dad?”

“Yes?”

“Can we have a story?”

At that suggestion, Quentin perked up. “A story! Yes!”

Chase’s eyes lit up. “Oh, well, I guess we could have one.”

Stacia looked up. “It’s late. And you need your sleep, Quentin, just in case.”

“It’ll be a short one, then,” Chase said. He walked over and sat down in one of the three rickety wooden chairs by the table. The kids spun around so their backs were to the fireplace and scooted a bit closer, though not out of range for the heat of the fire. “Where do you want your story to be from tonight? Down in the flatlands? Maybe along the coast or in the ocean? Or even in Suilthair, where the king lives?”

“What about...here?” Amabel suggested. “In the mountains?”

“Hmm...” Chase stroked his chin, fingers running along his beard hair. “You know what? I think I could work with that.”

Quentin cheered. Amabel stayed quiet, but she leaned forward, ready to hear. Stacia sighed quietly, continuing to patch, but occasionally glanced upwards, showing she was listening as well.

“Do you know what our mountain range is called in the flatlands? It’s just home to us, but to them, we live in the Dragon’s Teeth.” Chase paused for Quentin to gasp. “It’s called that for two reasons. One, because of how high and pointy they are, looking a bit like teeth. Two, because years and years ago, before people moved up into the mountains, dragons lived here.”

“What?!” Quentin whispered. “Big dragons?! Like in the warrior story?”

“Even bigger! Because up in the mountains they had a ton of space to grow into. They lived in caves, and each dragon had its own mountain.” Chase smiled. “Of course, there aren’t any dragons anymore. At least, not in our kingdom. Who knows? Maybe there are more across the seas. But dragons were very magical, and a whole bunch of other magical creatures gathered around the spaces where they used to live, sucking up all the leftover magic.”

“Do wizards get their magic from dragons?” Amabel asked.

Chase shrugged. “I don’t know. Our family’s not that magical, so I never learned that. Maybe you could find that out one day.”

Amabel nodded, her little eyes determined to answer this question someday.

“But even though there aren’t any dragons anymore, there are a lot of other creatures. You know what I always say to do if something bad happens in town?”

“Run to the forest,” the kids said in unison.

“Exactly.” Chase nodded. “Mom and I will come find you. And if nothing’s happened by the next sunset,  you come back to town on your own.” That last part was added at Stacia’s request, since she was concerned about food and woodland animals. “You know all the rules about avoiding wolves and bears, but...there are magical things in the forest. So I have three more rules for you: if a deer has golden antlers, don’t bother it. If you see a horse out on its own, don’t touch it. And if you hear a woman crying, don’t go after it.”

Quentin nodded, but Amabel tilted her head to the side. “Why? And that last one, what if it’s Mom?”

“Well, you could recognize Mom’s voice,” Chase said. “I mean if it sounds like a strange woman. Because that might not be a woman at all. That could be a banshee. They won’t mean you any harm on their own, but if they see you, they’ll try to tell you about coming tragedies. Sounds like a good warning, right? Except that hearing this warning makes the tragedy more likely to happen. So you should stay away. One time, while I was out hunting about, um...ten years ago, before you were born. I was out with Micheal down the bend, we heard someone crying. I decided to walk away, but Micheal chased after it, and when he came back he said he found a banshee. And the next morning, very suddenly, his mother died.”

“Oh no,” Quentin breathed. “What about the other two?”

“A deer with golden antlers probably isn’t a deer at all. It could be the Elder Horned One in disguise. If you disturb him, you could find yourself whisked away to join his hunters. And a horse out on its own definitely isn’t a horse at all. It’s actually a kelpie. And if you touch a kelpie, you’ll get stuck to it. It’ll run into the nearest water and drag you under, and you won’t be able to let go.”

“Alright, I think that’s enough for the night,” Stacia said, standing up. “Amabel, Quentin, you’re all washed up?”

“Yes, Mom,” they said in unison. 

“Good. Off to bed with you.” Stacia hurried the kids over to the corner, where the small bed the two of them shared was tucked against the wall. “We’ll be seeing you in the morning,” she said, pulling back the blankets and tucking them in once the kids were under.

Chase wandered over. “Good night, Quen. Good night, Amy.” He gave them each a kiss on the forehead.

“Good night Dad,” Amabel said. Quentin was already yawning, face buried in the pillow. “Good night Mom.”

“Good night,” Stacia said, giving her and Quentin a kiss as well.

With that, the two adults retreated to the separate bedroom, quickly getting ready for bed. “You ended that story abruptly,” Chase commented.

“Well you did say they were going to get drowned by a kelpie,” Stacia pointed out.

“No, I said that they wouldn’t be if they didn’t touch it. It was a cautionary tale.”

“Still, not the best to hear at night.” Stacia ran a comb through her hair. “And also, I don’t think we should tell them to go into the forest anymore. Not without an adult there.”

“Really?” Chase frowned. “Why?”

“It’s dangerous.”

“Oh, come on, Stacy. I know it is, but you can’t tell me you didn’t run around the forest when you were their age. I know I did, and I walked out. Michael did. Terrance did. Wendy and Emilia did.”

“Things are different now,” Stacia said slowly. She shifted uneasily on her feet, then glanced out the window, as if making sure nobody was outside. “Look, you know Rose, Aodhan’s wife?”

“No, but I definitely know Aodhan, he runs the potato farms.”

“Well, Rose is married to him. The past week, she’s been working with us for the harvest, and...she says there are...new things in the forest.”

Chase paused. He’d been about to blow out the candle in the sconce by the door, but something about the way Stacia said that made him pause. “Like...what?”

“Townsfolk have been seeing the figures of...people,” Stacia whispered. “But not your regular, everyday people. These ones carry weapons, a-and they wear...masks. Masks shaped like animal faces. They move quickly and silently, and some think that they’re spirits of some kind.”

“I’ve...never heard of spirits wearing animal masks,” Chase said in a low voice.

“Neither have I. But here’s the thing: Rose doesn’t believe those rumors.” Stacia paused. “Did you know there’s trouble down in the flatlands? People are...unhappy. With how the king is running things.”

“What? That’s strange,” Chase muttered. “I remember hearing that he’s the best king Glasúil ever had.” Though now that he was thinking about it, it had been a while since he’d heard something like that.

“Well, it’s trouble either way to have people thinking that about a king,” Stacia said firmly. “And Rose thinks that these spirits in masks are just people running around the forest, hiding out, being rebels. And that’s dangerous, Chase. Animals and magic behave by certain rules you can expect, but people...you just don’t know with them.”

“I guess you’re right,” Chase muttered. He paused, then blew out the candle and headed back towards bed. “Well, I haven’t seen any of these masked spirits. And I’m in the forest every day. So it’s probably nothing to worry about yet.”

“That forest is big, Chase,” Stacia said, clearly worried despite his reassurance. “You’ve probably only explored a tiny part of it, and the same goes for anyone else in town.”

That was true. Even in his farthest hunting trips, he’d only gone far enough to find his way back to Hilltown relatively quickly. “I still say it’ll be fine,” he reiterated. “I don’t see why any rebels would bother us, even if they were out there.” He climbed into bed. “If I see something weird when I’m out tomorrow, I’ll reconsider it. Besides, it’s not good to think about things like this before bed, as you pointed out to the kids.”

Stacia sighed, and got into bed as well, pulling the blankets up. “I just...don’t want anything to happen to them.”

Chase nodded. “I don’t either,” he agreed softly. Then he took a deep breath. “Good night, Stacy.”

“Good night, Chase.” Stacia leaned over and blew out the candle on the bedside table, leaving the room dark except for the moonlight coming through the window. 

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The next morning went the same as every other morning. The family had breakfast, either Stacia or Chase went out to manage the garden while the other took care of the kids—today it was Chase for the former and Stacia for the latter, though they switched every other day—then Stacia got ready to go to the farms and Chase got ready to go hunting. As always, the kids went with Stacia, wandering around within eyesight and earshot of her while she worked. Though Chase could tell Amabel was eager to start going into the more dangerous forest with her dad, judging by the way she kept looking at her miniature bow, still unstrung. He ruffled her hair and reminded her that Hunt’s Day was just two days away, then headed off, waving goodbye to Stacia and the kids.

Passing through town was the same as ever as well. Some people were lined up at the well, as they always seemed to be. It looked as though the temple was unchanged, so clearly Mother Aoife and Pastor Cait had resolved their issue. Kieran waved goodbye as Chase walked past, and reminded him to look for beavers to shoot. 

And from there...the day was largely uneventful. Which was not good. Hunting was always a lot of waiting and wandering and being quiet, occasionally interrupted by action as you aimed and shot at an animal. But in the fall like this, that last bit of action was becoming rarer. And it didn’t help that it was really starting to get cold. Chase could see his breath in the air in front of him, and he kept pulling his felt hat down over his head. It was old, and almost nobody else in town had one like it, but he kept it because it had a handy brim for blocking the sun. It was also good for cold days like these, when he hadn’t grabbed his jacket because he mistakenly believed it would be as warm today as it was yesterday.

The sun passed overhead. Chase stopped around midday to have a lunch of bread and jerky, then moved on. He stopped by his usual snares, but found that nothing had stumbled into them. Not even a few squirrels like the day before. Growing frustrated, and more than a little desperate, he wandered farther into the forest, but still found nothing. This was bad. Sure, they had a stockpile of preserved meat and jerky from his hunts during the summer, but that would run out eventually. And what if Quentin got sick, and needed something more hearty than dried, stringy meat? What would they do then?

It was starting to get late when he saw it. Just a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. Chase stiffened, and slowly turned. There, right in between two trees, fully in view of him...was a deer. Its coat was dark brown, almost black, and it was grazing peacefully, not paying him the least bit of attention. It had been a few weeks since he’d seen a deer. That was a bit unusual, really. But it didn’t matter anymore. There was one here now. Slowly, he drew his bow.

The deer raised its head and started to walk away. Carefully, Chase followed it. He stepped carefully, making sure there were no twigs or crunchy fallen leaves before putting his foot down. After a while, the deer stopped again, grazing for a bit. Chase made sure he was in a good position, then raised his bow and reached towards the quiver on his hip. Then the deer started walking away again.

Chase followed it, for longer than he probably should have. The shadows grew more slanted, then started to take over, but he kept following the deer. Every time he got into a good position to shoot and started to grab an arrow, it moved on. After a while, it felt like a game. A game of...chase. He almost laughed when the thought occurred to him, but stopped just in time to catch the sound.

It was well into dusk when the deer wandered into a small circular clearing. Chase stopped, still hidden by the trees, and gritted his teeth to stop them from chattering. Once the sun went behind the mountains in autumn, the temperature dropped rapidly. But it wouldn’t be long now. He had to get this deer. They needed it. And now it was just standing there, ears twitching. Chase raised the bow again, and this time when he reached for an arrow, he pulled it out and slowly nocked it, steadying his stance to take aim.

But then...no, something was different. The deer’s antlers...had they gotten bigger? More...curvy? Chase paused, puzzled. Then he took a closer look.

The antlers were...glinting. He was sure they were ordinary bone before, but now they looked almost...golden.

Gasping, Chase instantly let go of his bow and arrow. They landed in the undergrowth with soft thumps.

The deer’s ears stopped twitching. But instead of running away, it turned around. And it looked at him. And there was something different about its dark, dark eyes. Different from other deer eyes, from other animal eyes, that Chase had seen before.

He slowly raised his hands. “I—I didn’t kn—”

The deer looked away from him, turnin to the side, staring off into the distance. Then it broke into a run in the opposite direction, hooves making no sound on the forest floor.

For a long, long while, Chase just stood there, shivering, breath pluming in the air. Had that...really happened? Or had he just imagined it because he’d been out in the cold for so long? After some time, he bent over and picked up his bow and the arrow he’d dropped, putting them away. Well, it was also dark. He could’ve been just...seeing things in the moonlight. And speaking of moonlight, he should really be heading home by now. He was late. Now...which way was it?

He’d wandered a long way following that deer. It was dark and he wasn’t as familiar with this part of the forest as he was with areas closer to home. So by the time he found his way back, it was definitely night, no longer twilight. Stacia and the kids must be so worried. Chase picked up the pace.

Wait...if it was night, then why was there an orange glow in the distance? It was well past sunset. Chase squinted, and in a split second, he realized a few things: First, the glow was coming from the direction of Hilltown. Second, even if it was sunset, the forest was west of town, and therefore the town wouldn’t be between him and the sunset. Third, he was getting closer to the glow. Closer in a way that just didn’t happen with a setting sun. His heart froze. And he burst into a flat run, easily clearing the edge of the forest.

The village was on fire.

Chase just stood and gaped for a moment, feeling the heat from here. The wooden buildings that ran up the sloping ground were all ablaze. He could see dark shapes in the streets, and the figures of people running around, with—horses? A lot of horses. There were only about four in the whole town, and this was definitely more than that.

Snapping out of the daze, he ran, but in his haste, lost footing on the uneven ground and fell, tumbling head over heels for a bit before he managed to stop himself. “Ow...” he groaned, lifting himself up and coming face to face with the flames. Quickly, he threw himself backwards, scrambling to a safe distance.

Now that he was closer, he could definitely make out what was happening. The dark shapes on the ground between the burning buildings...were bodies. He couldn’t recognize anyone, but then again, he couldn’t bring himself to look for any longer than necessary. And there were strangers wandering around. Some on foot, some on horses, but all wearing chain mail armor underneath dark tunics. Chase stared at them, wide-eyed. The strangers were shouting. To each other? To their horses? To anyone left? It was hard to tell.

But they hadn’t noticed Chase. Quickly getting to his feet, he started running around the edge of town. He had to get home! At this time of night, Stacia would be there, Quentin and Amabel would be there—were they okay?! They had to be okay! He didn’t know what he would do if—He wouldn’t forgive himself if he was away and missed being able to help them.

Going around town was a lot slower than going through it, but everything—everything—was on fire. Even the stone buildings! How was that possible?! If the stone buildings were on fire, their cottage could—he pushed himself to run faster.

He couldn’t avoid it anymore. He had to run into the town to get home. But the smoke—even from here, his eyes were watering. So he took his hat off and pressed it to his face, filtering it before he could breathe it in. And he plunged into the raging flames. Even staying in the center of the path, the heat was almost unbearable. But Stacia—Quentin, Amabel—

The cottage. Their home. It was also on fire. The old curtains were ash, the vegetable garden was a raging inferno. “Stacia!” Chase shouted. “Stacy! Quentin! Amabel! Stacy! Quen! Amy! Where are you?!”

Voices. Chase turned and saw some of those strangers nearby, one on a horse. And...he hadn’t noticed this before, but there was a symbol on the back of their dark tunics. A shield, black and blue striped, with a green circle in the center, a black dot in the center of that. The symbol was—it was—the symbol for their kingdom, the kingdom of Glasúil. Chase had never seen it in person, but everyone grew up learning of that insignia. And they also learned that, while local militia may wear a simplified green ring on their clothes, only soldiers working directly for the royal family were allowed to wear the full crest.

Chase recalled this fact dimly, but it didn’t really register. One of the strangers—the soldiers—started to turn around. And gasping, coughing a bit, Chase turned and ran right back out of town, never stopping until he was well clear of the last few houses, out onto the potato fields. In the distance, he saw the house of Aodhan and Rose, the farm owners. It was also on fire.

What was he supposed to do now?! Stacia, and the kids...were they...? No, no they couldn’t be.

The forest.

He’d told the kids to run into the forest if there was ever any danger in town. And sure, Stacia was concerned about rebels in the woods and those strange masked figures, but in the face of this? Maybe she would do the same. Well...it was all he could think of. The only straw he could grasp. Stumbling, Chase turned around and ran back the way he came.

The trees enveloped him in a strange sense of calm, a world removed from the blazing horrors of the burning town. He stumbled for a moment, tripping over some brush, then ran faster. “Stacia! Quentin! Amabel!” he yelled. Even with the distant light from the flaming ruins of the village, the trees above blocked out most of the light, leaving him in shadows. His eyes darted about for any movement. “Where are you?! Can you hear me?”

Abandoning all his hunter’s instincts telling him to stay quiet, he ran through the woods, staggering over brush and rocks that he couldn’t see in the darkness. “Can you hear me?! Answer me! Stacy! Quen! Amy!” Chase’s cries pierced through the silence. There was no sign of them. Maybe they’d gone farther. Thinking that, he plunged deeper into the trees.

Things quickly became unfamiliar. Whether it was because of the distance or because of the darkness, he couldn’t say. But the strangeness only spurred him on. What if his family was lost out here? Alone in the woods? He’d taught the kids something about foraging for food, but not enough, not in this situation. And Stacia was a farmer, not a hunter or a forester. He had to find them. He had to—

Chase noticed the lack of ground beneath his foot a split second after stepping forward. Then he fell. Luckily, it wasn’t off a cliff, but he did land with a loud splash! as he fell into some shallow water. Pebbles and rocks bit into this arms as he extended them out to brace for impact. He sat up, spluttering, now completely soaked. What was this, a stream? A pond? He couldn’t quite see in the dark, but he did know one thing: there were no streams or ponds near the town, and certainly not in the parts of the forest he knew.

Securing his hat, he stood up. His bow and quiver knocked against his side, and he then realized that the fall had caused most of his arrows to fall out. Well...that wouldn’t be good in the future. But he couldn’t see where they’d fallen into the water, and there was no time. He pressed onward.

The trees were close together, heavy branches blocking out the sun. Chase kept his arms out in front of him, to make sure he didn’t run into a trunk. If he couldn’t even see the trees, he definitely wouldn’t be able to see a person. And they wouldn’t be able to see him. “Stacia! Kids! A-are you out h-here?” He gritted his teeth to stop them from chattering. It was cold before, and now it was later, and he was wet, making it positively freezing. “Stacy! K-kids! Are you here?!” But he kept going.

The rush of emotion was starting to fade. He was getting tired. Maybe if he took a rest...no! No, what could be happening to them while he rested?! And besides, he’d be easy prey for any predators out here if he slept. He staggered forward. The forest was practically pitch black, but he kept shouting, his voice growing hoarse, and hoping to hear a reply. 

The underbrush must be thicker here, because he kept tripping up. He fell down twice, but pulled himself to his feet and went onward. His hands were shaking...shivering. “S...Sta-asha. Quen...Quentnn…Ammbel,” he mumbled. It was hard to keep his eyes open. Where was he? Shouldn’t he...shouldn’t he have found some town by now? No, the forest went on for...for acres. He knew this. How could he forget...“Plea...pl’se...say y’r here...I...wher...?”

He couldn’t...couldn’t stop now. He needed to find them. Couldn’t...leave them. On their own. He kept pressing onward. It was getting so hard...he had to use the trees for support sometimes. Stop to take a break. But not to give up. “Can’...give up...St-stace...Quen...Am...ple-please...”

And once again, he stepped somewhere without support. But now he couldn’t even register it. He just knew he was falling, rolling down, down a hill. Coming to a stop when he hit...something. A tree? Those felt like...roots, beneath him. His arm moved a bit, trying to grab something to pull himself up. Fingers drifted across a bark-covered surface, but couldn’t...couldn’t grab. So his arm fell back down. Maybe...he should rest for just a few minutes.

But after just a few seconds of staying still, he heard a strange rustling sound. Raising his head weakly, he saw...a strange sight indeed. People. No, not quite people. Human bodies, dressed in dark clothes...but with white-feathered bird faces where heads should be. Four or five of them...Wait. No, not bird heads. Bird masks. Masks made out of some sort of white material. Hadn’t...hadn’t he heard something about masks recently?

The masked figures drew closer. Chase stared up at them. He was so...so tired. He wouldn’t be able to run even if the thought had managed to...to get through. 

One of them knelt down next to him, pulling off a glove. They pressed a pair of fingers to his neck, and he shivered. He wasn’t cold anymore. Or he was, but this bird person’s hands were colder.

They stood up again, and turned to the others. He heard the sound of voices, but his head couldn’t process the words. What were they...were they hear to...help? Or...?

He was too tired to think about it. He let his head fall back to the forest floor.

The last thing Chase felt before losing consciousness was the sudden lift of someone picking him up.

[dibs4ever]

Excerpt from one of the first fics I ever wrote. Basically 17 year old Batgirl and Robin-Dick and Barbara. Are sent back in time to the late 80s by a time controlling villain where they are stuck. While there they meet a young Bruce Wayne. He’s just invited them for a night out at the Haley’s circus where he’s acquired guest of honor tickets

A little more info: Dick and Babs are 17 & just friends with hidden feelings for each other

Bruce and Selena are 15

Bruce left the living room to go get ready for the night out leaving Barbara and Dick alone “Are you going to be okay tonight?” She asked

Dick gave her a small smile “Yeah, I think I’ll be okay”

Barbara rested a hand on Dick’s arm “I can come up with an excuse for us to stay if you’d like, I’ll make it my fault” she assured him

Dick shook his head “I’ll be okay, besides it’s not like they’ll be how I remember them, my dad, uncle and Aunt are the Flying Grayson’s act right now and my mom is part of the contortionist act” he explained

Barbara looked up at him “You never told me your mom was a contortionist”

Dick smiled and looked up in thought “Yeah, from what I remember my parents telling me she was part of that act until she married my dad then she became a Flying Grayson, I don’t know much about them from when they were younger since I was so young when they died” he looked down again

Barbra gave a sad smile “Let’s change the subject …How about that Miss. Kyle Alfred was talking about inviting, you don’t think it’s Selina Kyle do you?” She asked

Dick picked his head up and shot her a grin “I was thinking the same thing, that would be funny wouldn’t it, or maybe a little creepy considering how weird their relationship is in our time”

Barbara opened her mouth to speak but quickly stopped

Bruce entered the room having changed into a grey button up dress shirt and black dress pants “Alfred is almost done with dinner if you want to go to the dining room” Bruce pointed toward in the direction of said room

After dinner they all climbed into the car, Dick and Barbara sat in the 3rd-row seats while Bruce sat in the second row, Alfred drove “We’re stopping to pick up a friend of mine before we get there” Bruce informed them as they pulled into an alleyway and up to an abandoned building.

“Shall I honk the horn or will you be going in to get her Master B” Alfred asked bringing the car to a stop

“I’ll go get her,” Bruce said exiting the vehicle,

“So Alfred has Bruce been friends with this girl for long?” Dick said trying to draw information from Alfred

Alfred looked at Dick from the rearview mirror “Well Mister Donnie, they’ve known each other for around a year I’m not exactly sure what she and Master Bruce’s relationship is, but I just go with it because other than her the only other people he associates with are adults” he explained

Dick nodded and sat back in his seat suddenly Barbara jumped and began patting his arm repeatedly “It is her” she whispered.Dick leaned over Barbra to look out the window and see Bruce walking a few steps behind a young girl who resembled Selina Kyle a lot. Bruce attempted to open the door for her but she swatted his hand out of the way and opened it herself. When she opened the door she looked slightly surprised to see them in there as they climbed into the car 

Selina darted her head to Bruce “This isn’t a double date Bruce is it?!” How many times do I have to tell you we are not dating" she grumbled

Bruce shook his head “You only told me that one time and no it isn’t, they are travelers, their car was stolen and they had no place to go so Alfred and I invited them to stay at the manor until they’re able to return home” Bruce defended

“He’s telling the truth we’re just friends too,” Barbara said thumbing a finger at her and Dick

Selina shifted her eyes between the two of them “Becky Gain” Barbara told her extending a hand

Selina looked at her hand but didn’t shake it “Selina Kyle” she told her then looked over at Dick “And who are you”

Dick had been in a daydream stance since Selina Kyle aka the future Catwoman was sitting in front of him as a 15 year old girl. He blinked his eyes and refocused his attention “I’m Donnie Gowns” he told her he extended his hand as well, but Selina didn’t shake his hand either.

After arriving at the Circus Alfred informed them that he would be back when it was over to pick them up since they were about 2 hours early they were able to walk around for a bit. They walked in pairs Bruce with Selina then Dick and Barbara a few feet behind them

 "This is so weird, I know Bruce knew Selina before I was around but I didn’t realize he knew her before he was Batman" Dick whispered gesturing to the pair in front of them

“Shhh don’t say that name so loud, you don’t want to risk them asking who Batman is, who knows what that could mess up” Barbara hushed him

Selina turned to look at them, Dick gulped hoping she hadn’t heard their conversation “Do you two mind if we split up?” She asked with a hand on her hip

Bruce held a hand up “Selina I told you we can’t just leave them they don’t know their way around Gotham”

Selina ignored his statement and continued to talk to Dick and Barbara “I’m sure Donnie and Becky can care for themselves Bruce” she rolled her eyes

Dick nodded his head “We don’t mind Bruce, we can meet back in our seats when the show starts” Dick assured seeing an opportunity to talk openly with Barbara

Bruce looked at Barbara “Are you sure it’s okay?” He asked

She nodded “Of course we’ll be fine” Barbara assured him

Selina turned back to Bruce “See I told you they wouldn’t care, you worry way too much about other people now come on rich boy” she walked ahead of him Bruce gave them an awkward wave and followed after her.

“So this is what the behind the scenes of a circus looks like?” Barbara said as they walked

Dick smiled “Yup it pretty much looks like it did when I grew up here” he looked around at all the trailers

“Back to the situation at stake, how exactly are we going to get back to the future?” She asked

Dick thought “ Well that all depends if …” he was cut off when Barbara was pushed into him by someone falling into her rather roughly. Luckily Dick caught her before she hit the ground

Once she was back on her feet Barbara looked over to see the culprit of her tumble-a guy probably about 19 in an all-black leotard with small triangles all over it in rainbow colors, he had jet black hair and big hazel eyes, his face had a chiseled look to it and a cleft chin, she immediately took note of how undeniably handsome he was.

The guy pushed himself up and stood to face Barbara “Sorry about that, I was practicing my new routine that’s premiering tonight, the grounds a little uneven and it threw off my balance” the guy said shooting her a familiar smirk that Barbara recognized immediately “Of course you don’t care about that” he let out a slight chuckle “Does a beautiful girl like yourself have a name?” the guy asked sending her a wink and sticking out his hand

‘Wow now I see who Dick gets it from’ Barbara thought as she felt the blood rushing to her cheeks “Ummm Bar- I mean Becky Gain” she smiled and took his hand

Instead of shaking her hand, he brought it to his lips and kissed it gently “I’m Jon, Jon Grayson, it’s nice to meet you, I need to get back to warm ups, I hope you enjoy the show” he winked and stepped away from her

Once he was away she turned to Dick a stunned expression on both their faces “My dad just hit on you…” Dick said in a monotone voice shocked from what happened

Barbara was slightly embarrassed that Dick had seen the interaction but she didn’t want him to know that, so instead she decided to mess with him she looked over and grinned at him “Now I know who you get it from” she nudged him as they began walking again

Dick chuckled and looked at her “Hey I’m not that bad am I?” He acted hurt

She laughed and shook her head “Maybe not all the time, but you definitely got that cute smirk of yours from him” she smiled

They both stopped when she realized what she had said

“You think my smirk is cute?” He asked sending her the smirk in question

She rolled eyes “Shouldn’t we be getting to our seats?” she asked not answering his question

Dick looked at his watch the teenage Bruce had loaned him, realizing she was right he nodded “Yeah Bruce and Selina should be there by the time we get there ” he said they turned and made their way to the big top tent

[sunshinelulusplatoon]

(This has been far overdue. So is the Calamity stories but that’s a different story.)

(Anyway, with Sora’s reveal, I finally got the kick to post this. So Enjoy!)

“You know,” Lulu started to speak.

“Hmm?” Lu remarked as she took another bite of her chocolate bar.

“You never did tell us how you were allowed to meet us,” Lulu remarked.

“Oh, I forgot?” Lu questioned.

“You did,” Lutarna commented.

Sitting on the side of the ramps of Blackberry Skate Park, the twins were hanging out with the Lulu from the Smash Brothers universe. Having grabbed some snacks, the girls were eating before getting back into some turf wars practice.

“It’s a bit of a long story,” Lu replied through her chewing.

“We have time,” Lutarna replied after finish a bite of her ice cream, “And don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“Geeze, sounds and acts like my Tarts,” Lu chuckled after clearing her mouth.

Deciding to stretch, Lu started to pull off one of the finger-less gloves she was wearing with her teeth. Once off, Lu held her hand up as a triangle mark was imprinted on the back of her hand; three triangles in whole with the bottom left filled in with gold coloring.

“Well, for starters, this is part of the reason,” Lu stated.

Leaning in, the twins were shocked.

“IS THAT-” Lulu began.

“THE TRIFORCE OF WISDOM???” Lutarna finished.

“Yep. Got this back quite a while ago. Not sure how but it was helpful,” Lu chuckled.

“So what happen?” Lulu asked as she leaned back and propped herself with her arms.

“Well, it happened a while ago. When doing some training rounds,” Lu started to explain.

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

“Hiyah!”

“RAAAAAAAAAAWWWWR”

“MEEEEHHAA!”

“HEEEEEEEEYYA!”

Early morning training was taking place on final destination as two teams were battling. Lulu and Min Min against Link and Bowser. As Bowser spouted flames, Min Min grabbed Lulu from a distance and tossed her into the air before jumping out of the way. In the air, Lulu tossed an ink bomb out before squid jumping and landing behind Link. As the bomb went off, Link got covered in some ink, blocking his view of where Lulu went, before be smacked from behind by Lulu’s roller. As for Bowser, Min Min was keeping him busy with her stretching arms and distance attacks.

Just as things were heating up, the ground below started to shake. The vibrations so strong, the stage it self started to shake as Lulu lost footing and was about to go over the edge. In quick timing, Link grabbed onto and pulled Lulu back up as the group was wondering what was going on.

GUYS! THE SKY!” Bowser called out.

All looking up, clear blue sky started to become twilight as the sun started to shine brighter and brighter.

“What is this?” Min Min questioned, confused by the changing skies.

“Tsshhhh, I recognize this!!” Bowser growled.

“It can’t be,” Lulu questioned as fear grew on her face.

Just then, a ringing sound from Lulu’s jacket went off. Pulling her phone out hastily, it was a call from Meta Knight. Putting it on speaker, Meta Knight spoke.

“LULU! ARE YOU STILL WITH LINK AND CO?” Meta Knight questioned as his voice was harsh.

“Yes! What’s going on?” Lulu questioned as panic crept into her voice.

“A HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE! GALEEM HAS RETURNED! WE’RE NOT SURE WHY BUT IT’S BEEN SPOTTED AT THE WORLD’S EDGE!!!” Meta Knight replied, “WE’RE JUST OVER THE RIDGE TO PICK YOU ALL UP!! YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE US!!”

Looking over, the Halberd was indeed coming into view. Grabbing their things, the group waited till the right moment before jumping off of Final Destination and landing on the Halberd where Zelda and Peach were waiting.

“Mario and the others are already at the world’s edge,” Peach explained.

“We’re not sure what is going on but somehow Galeem has survived. Whether Darkon has or not, there is not time to waste,” Zelda stated.

“Let’s go then,” Link replied.

Others nodding, the group rushed inside as the Halberd picked up speed and headed towards their destination.

Upon arrival, the battle had already presumed as smash members were fighting off master hands as Galeem hovered in the distance.

“Tsssh, guess nemesis brains couldn’t take the hint the first time,” Lulu huffed.

“Well, there is more of us now, so let’s give that ball of light a good ass kicking, shall we?” Bowser laughed.

“Ready to help as best as I can,” Min Min agreed.

As the Halberd came close, the group jumped off as Lulu pulled out a bomb and tossed it towards a master hand. The ink explosion causing damage to the hand, Lulu squid jumped on top of it to do a down kick before jumping off of it as the hand dissipated. Blowing flames, Bowser was taking multiple hands out at once as Link was shooting them down with Min Min’s help.

Joining up with the rest of the group, the smash members were taking hands down one by one but soon it became inevitable that Galeem could easy make more. One by one, the smash members were getting tired. Joining up with the rest of the turf crew with Banjo and Kazooie’s help, Lulu and the other were barely keeping the hands at bay when more kept coming. Trying to do jumps, one laser hit Lulu and almost tossed her to the ground. Though speeding through the attacks, Sonic caught her in time before getting pelted by and smack down from a hand.

“Thanks Sonic,” Lulu replied once they got to a safer spot.

“This is getting nuts. They just keep coming,” Sonic remarked.

“We just got to keep trying,” Lulu reassured with a fist pump and a determined look.

Nodding, the two did a hand slap before rushing back into battle. Yet the odds were against the group. More and more, the smash members were getting hurt and tired but Galeem still stood strong.

Then things went quiet. As the hands pulled back, the smash members were confused. Then the familiar sound started up.

The sound of Galeem’s ultimate attack.

None of them were in proper shape to try and dodge the attack; if it was even possible in the first place.

“All over again!” Lulu thought as she recounted how she came to the smash universe the first time.

As light started to build up around Galeem, the members were fearing the worse.

Then suddenly it stopped.

Galeem froze still.

“The shell?” Lulu questioned.

“It...it just stopped,” Kazooie remarked in shocked.

All confused, the members watched as the very light from Galeem drained to black as it’s body started to come apart in two. As the wings and the Master Hands started to dissipate, a figure loomed behind the decomposing corpse of Galeem.

“Who is that?” Sonic questioned.

Confused, Lulu caught glimpse of Cloud moving past them and towards the figure before stopping; possibly trying to get better view of the person.

Squinting, Lulu could barely make focus of the figure but faintly caught glimpse of a very long sword in hand. That’s when Lulu realized who they were dealing with.

“It can’t be,” Lulu stated in fear.

“Sephiroth,” they heard Cloud say.

All stood in silence as the newcomer revealed himself.

“Sephiroth?!? From Cloud’s universe?!?” Daisy spoke in fear.

“How?” Isabella cried out.

“How doesn’t matter at the moment,” Lulu remarked as she heard Isabella from a distance, “Right now, we got a much worse fight on our hands.”

Watching above as Sephiroth descended some, a sinister smile turned into a smirk at the sight of Cloud and co.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Sephiroth spoke as he extended an arm upwards, “Now I shall give Smash despair.”

Once a twilight sky, now bleed into a sinister gray as clouds thickened. Taking aim towards Cloud, Sephiroth dived down towards him before taking a swing at him with Masamune. Reacting quick enough, Link rushed in and took the hit with his shield. Bouncing back, the fight began with swords clashing as Link and Cloud fought against Sephiroth. Taking this opportunity, many of the members took to others to heal wounds and rest as others jumped into to help take down this new foe.

Having recovered her ink and tending to some wounds of hers and others, Lulu was about to jump into the match when Alex stopped her. Placing a diamond sword in her hand, Alex looked up at Lulu.

“Steve’s badly hurt.  I can’t leave his side right now but you know how to use this right?” Alex asked.

Nodding with an assured look, Lulu placed her gun in it’s holster as she took the diamond sword from Alex. Watching Alex waved as Lulu rushed into the battle.

As blades struck, Sephiroth bounced back both Link and Cloud as the rolling sound of an ink bomb was heard. As the bomb exploded, covering Sephiroth some, Lulu came from behind and did a long sweep with the diamond sword. Blocking the attack with Masamune, Sephiroth and Lulu stood clashing blades.

“So, the little light makes her appearance finally. It will feel good to finally strike you down before you get in my way again,” Sephiroth spoke as he pushed back on Lulu.

Jumping back, Lulu was confused by Sephiroth’s words as she dodged a forward thrust from him before taking a swing at him.

Thus the two began a dance of clashing blades as Peach and Mario got Link and Cloud out of there for the time being. Being a double welder, Lulu was easily passing the diamond sword from one hand to another to block and strike at Sephiroth. As easily as Lulu could toss them though, Sephiroth could dodge them. Back and forth the two went but slowly Lulu could see the diamond was cracking. Dodging a slice of the Masamune, Lulu back flipped and tossed a bomb at Sephiroth’s face. Using a reflect, Sephiroth went for Lulu. Using the last of the diamond sword’s strength, Lulu was sent back flying as the sword broke. Hitting the ground and rolling, Lulu landed hard on her back but was slowly able to get back up.

“Something...isn’t right here,” Lulu thought, “Almost as if a darker presence looms around us. It’s as if something is preventing him from falling.”

Breathing hard, Lulu was trying to hold things together as Sephiroth lunged forward towards her. Though before he could reach her, a blast form Samus’s gun hit the ground before him as Mario took a punch towards him. Dodging backwards, Mario and Samus stood in Sephiroth’s way from getting to Lulu.

“Lulu, we got this. Take heed,” Samus spoke.

Taking the hint, Lulu nodded as she rushed to take cover and find others.

Running, Lulu was trying to put pieces together of what was going on as she spotted Zelda and Palutania. Rushing to her, they got Lulu some distance away before tending to her wounds.

“It’s as if his body won’t tire,” Lulu spoke.

“Something tells me Darkon is behind this,” Zelda spoke, “As if another being is waiting in the shadows, it’s presence I sense.”

“I’ve been sensing it too,” Palutania replied, “Waiting for the right time to strike.”

“But why? How could they have survived?” Lulu questioned.

Before the girls could give reason, a voice spoke up.

“What does it matter. You will all die at my hands.”

Looking up, a new foe stood upon the rocks above them.

“WHO ARE YOU?” Palutania demanded.

Recognizing him immediately, Lulu took a fighting stance.

“That’s Kayuza Mishima,” Lulu growled.

“You know him?” Zelda questioned.

“Where I’m from, he’s from a game called Tekken. He was born with demon blood and a main antagonist of the series,” Lulu replied.

Jumping down from the rocks, Kayuza went straight for Lulu. Sliding in the way, Zelda used Din’s fire as Kayuza dodged.

“LULU! HE’S AFTER YOU!!! RUN!!!” Zelda shouted.

Taking hint, Lulu dashed and ran for her life as she tried to seek others. Though easily outdoing them, Kayuza took to the skies in his demon form as he chased after Lulu. Tripping on a rock, Lulu hit the ground hard as Kayuza landed near her.

“You can’t get away from me that easy little light,” Kayuza spoke.

Getting back on her feet, Lulu took a fighting stance.

“Going to fight now are we?” Kayuza spoke before thrusting forward at Lulu.

Dodging, Lulu threw a hard leg kick which knocked Kayuza to the ground.

“I may be tired, but I’m not out yet! I may be stuck in this inkling form, but I can still fight like an octoling!” Lulu huffed.

Getting back up and wiping some blood away, Kayuza smirked before going at Lulu again with punches. Dodging and weaving out the way from down thrust and attacks, Lulu was dishing her own attacks. Hand to hand combat, the two fought but slowly Lulu was getting tired. Stuck in the inkling form was her biggest disadvantage and with one hard trust to the stomach, Lulu was on the ground.

Trying to get up, Lulu was slammed back down onto the ground by a foot into her back.

“Hehehe, this is the end for you little light. Tell your maker she shouldn’t have disowned us like she did. Now she can see the effects of her mistakes,” Kayuza spoke.

Switching back to his demon form, Kayuza was about to attack Lulu as she tried to get back up when-

“HADOUKEN!!”

A ball of blue light, it smacked Kayuza away as Ryu, Ken, and Kirby on Dragoon came rushing up. Grabbing Lulu up, Ken placed Lulu on Dragoon with Kirby.

“Get her out of her!” Ken ordered.

Nodding, Kirby made sure Lulu was properly on Dragoon before flying upwards and away from the fight as fast as the little pop star fighter could. Far from the world’s edge and into the world of light, Kirby flew Dragoon as Lulu held on with what strength she had left.

Finally landing were the two first met, Kirby jumped off Dragoon as he rushed over to where some waddle dees and MetaKnight were waiting. With them were some bottles of ink and tomatoes for Lulu. Rushing over, the group went to work tending to Lulu.

“Thanks guys. Thanks Kirby. Always got my back, huh?” Lulu spoke softly as she ate a tomato before sinking down into the ink to rest; laying on her back.

“Poyo,” Kirby replied before patting her inkling head.

“Rest Lulu. What ever those two want with you, you need your strength. Right now we have you far enough away to give you time. The others should be able to hold them off,” Meta Knight spoke.

Nodding, Lulu closed her eyes as the sounds of the quite environment took over.

Resting there for a while, Lulu hadn’t realized she had fallen asleep till a voice spoke up.

“Seems Darkon won’t give up, huh? Has finally killed his brother and now has turned his aim at us. Because he wouldn’t do what I asked of him long ago. Even using new fighters for his work. I’m sorry you’ve gotten involved like this. He can’t reach me anymore so has turned his revenge towards you. I figured the first time bringing you here would be enough to deal with them but stubborn fools they were. I now have to ask you again to finish these things for me. But not alone. If things get tough though, you have the strength, will, and power to call for others. I believe in you princess. Use your light to guide others hearts towards you,” the voice spoke.

It took Lulu a moment to recognize the voice.

Her voice.

“LULU!”

Opening her eyes, Lulu sat up from the ink puddle to see Marge rushing towards the small group. Squatting down, Marge hugged Lulu; seeing her friend was alright. Wrapping her arms around her after the initial shock, Lulu hugged back.

“LULU THANK COD! EVERYBODY’S BEEN FIGHTING AND NOBODY CAN SEEM TO TAKE THOSE TWO DOWN AND I GOT WORRIED CAUSE I COULDN’T FIND YOU WITH THE OTHERS AND THEN I JUST,” Marge spoke in panic before starting to cry.

“Hey, I’m fine. But there is more going on then just two new fighters. I have… a feeling Darkon is controlling them. When asleep… this voice spoke…. My voice spoke,” Lulu explained.

Confused, Marge thought on it some.

“Perhaps the creator. Talking to you in a familiar tone,” Marge suggested.

“I think so,” Lulu questioned, “She talked about Darkon and Galeem. It seemed like they had a bigger role in our world at one time but they went against it. But were strong enough to survive the first attack we did to them. But now all that is left is Darkon.”

“What do we do?” Marge asked, fear in her voice.

Getting up, Lulu brushed off the leftover ink on her hero gear before looking towards where the fights were.

“We win this!” Lulu replied before holding a hand out to Marge.

Realizing her words and confidence, Marge took Lulu’s hand with a nod.

Packing up and getting back on Dragoon, Kirby led the way with Meta Knight following as the Waddle Dee’s waved goodbye.

Back at the world’s edge, things were looking grim. As the fighters pressed on, Sephiroth and Kayuza held firm. One by one, the fighters were falling to their knees with only a few still standing.  Fighting Sephiroth, Cloud was holding his ground as Ryu was doing his best against Kayuza’s demon attacks. Flying over, the two turf crew members watched.

“They need help now,” Lulu remarked.

“Lulu,” Marge spoke as she held out a capsule, “It’s not much, but it might have something handy.”

Taking the capsule, Lulu nodded as she popped the cap. Popping out, a staff fell into Lulu hands, the girls nodded before watching as Kirby flew them closer. Once in range, Lulu and Marge jumped off as Lulu did a down stab at Sephiroth.

Not reacting quick enough, Lulu was able to slice his arm as the fight turned into a two verses one. Helping Cloud get back on his feet from the last attack, Marge threw a bomb to cover her and Ryu’s tracks as they got Cloud out of there.

Taking lunges at her, Lulu dodged, weaved, and maneuvered through Sephiroth and Kayuza’s attacks as she dished her own out. Remembering what her grandfather taught her, Lulu was twirling the staff around for styled attacks and protection as the two fighters came at her. Staying determined, Lulu was keeping up as Sephiroth was starting to look annoyed.

“Tssh, not going down without a fight, huh? Seems you are more determined this round. Fine. I’ll just use my resources to better use,” Sephiroth spoke.

Looking at Kayuza behind Lulu, Sephiroth lunged forward with Masamune as Lulu dodged; stabbing Kayuza through the chest.

“You are no use to me anymore. One body is all I need,” Sephiroth spoke before blasting Kayuza away with a fire ball attack.

Shocked and confused as Kayuza’s body rolled and laid lifeless yards away, dark energy started to glow around Sephiroth as he rose into the air. Above, the sky started to crack and turn red, pieces fell as Darkon showed himself before Lulu once more.

“Now, let’s finish this,” Sephiorth spoke as he flew down towards Lulu. 

Dodging, Lulu swung the staff towards Sephiorth’s head but quickly grabbing it, Sephiorth was able to yank it out of Lulu’s hands before kicking her in her stomach. Falling backwards on the ground, Lulu rolled before Sephiorth could stab her with Masamune. Getting up, Lulu started to throw punches but Sephiroth with new found speed, dodged them before grabbing her by a tentacle, lifting her up and tossing her to the ground. Before even reacting, Sephiroth threw a fire ball with made Lulu roll. Casting a shadow flare, Sephiroth lunged forward at her. Dodging, Lulu did an aerial kick but Sephiroth was too fast for her; causing his shield as the flare went off. Taking heavy damage, Lulu was leaning forward, trying to calm her spinning head as blood dripped to the ground. Lulu barely noticed Sephiroth’s forward thrust. Dodging, a tentacle was cut off as Lulu lost balance and fell to the ground.

“Seems what strength you had is slowly fleeting now little light, isn’t it,” Sephiroth chuckled.

Slowly getting back on her feet, Sephiroth’s hits had taken too much out of her; as if they had drained her of all her strength. Thought that didn’t mean she was giving up. Lunging forward, Lulu took a swing at Sephiorth as he easily dodged before grabbing her other tentacle, tossed to her the ground, and stabbed Masamune through the tentacle. Crying out in pain, Lulu tried to pull the sword out, but Sephiorth slammed his foot on Lulu’s chest to know the air out of her. Couching up blood, Lulu tried to breath as Sephiorth started to walk around her.

In the sky, Darkon’s tendrils started to stretch out as Sephiorth stopped behind her.

“This was fun little light but I need you gone,” Sephiroth spoke.

In a loud roar, the tendrils came towards Lulu. Barely catching her breath as she struggled to even speak, her mind was screaming.

“SOMEBODY HELP ME!!!!!!!”

As if a calling, the triforce on her hand started to glow, shocking Sephiorth. As light grew stronger, in a flash, time stopped; just before the tendrils touched Lulu. Then things faded to black.

Pitch black.

Not a sound.

Except Lulu’s breathing.

Finally realizing all the pain was gone, Lulu moved her arm to feel for things. Instead of just feel inkling tentacles, Lulu found that she felt her octoling ones as well. Deciding to sit up, things around her were impossible to see. Getting up on her feet, Lulu didn’t know where she was.

“Am I dead?” Lulu spoke to herself.

Feeling her chest, Lulu could feel a pulse but wasn’t truly sure. Looking outwards, Lulu was confused.

That was until her hand started to glow again. Looking at it, Lulu saw the triforce glow in golden light.

“Hello?” a voice rang out through the darkness.

“Hello?” another spoke.

Shocked, Lulu spoke up.

“Hello? Is someone there?” Lulu asked.

“Hi, who are you?” one voice asked.

“My name is Lulu. And you?” Lulu replied.

“My name is Pyra. I heard someone call out for help. Was that you?” Pyra replied.

“My name is Mythra. Are you okay?” Mythra replied.

“Yeah, that was me. Though I’m not sure if I need it now. I think I’m okay. But my friends. They may need help!”

“What troubles you?” Pyra asked.

“A monster name Darkon has come back to reek havoc on my friends and I. They may need help! Please, will you help them?” Lulu begged.

Out of the darkness, a green light and a burning flame appeared in front of Lulu.

“We heard your call Lulu. We will help you,” Pyra and Mythra replied.

Appearing before her, two woman, one red headed with a red dress and one blonde with a white one, held hands out to Lulu. Smiling Lulu held her hands and grab each of their hands. In a golden light, the two disappeared.

Back in darkness, Lulu was confused.

“Hey, can I help?” Another voice spoke; coming from behind Lulu.

Turning around, light from under Lulu’s feet shinned as a stain glass image appeared.  In the glass was an image of Lulu holding the triforce of wisdom as smash members had pictures around her. In front of her, a young boy stood holding a key shaped sword. His brown hair was spiky as he wore a red and black outfit with poofy pants and big black yellow shoes. Surprised, the boy walked up to Lulu.

“I heard someone cry for help,” the boy remarked before looking at Lulu, “Wow, you look like someone from Atlantica. What’s your name?”

“Lulu. What’s yours?” Lulu asked.

“I’m Sora,” Sora replied with a smile.

“Sora? I like your name! Will you please help me? A great monster is attacking my friends. I wasn’t strong enough on my own to stop it,” Lulu explained.

“A monster? Is it some type of heartless?” Sora questioned.

“Heartless? I’m not sure what that is but it does lack heart and it wants to hurt my friends,” Lulu replied.

“Well, that’s good enough for me. I’ll gladly help,” Sora replied.

Holding a hand out, Sora smiled a big smile. Smiling back, Lulu grabbed his hand as he too disappeared into golden light.

Still left in the dark, Lulu was confused. But something told her things were going to be alright now.

“I have help. That’s a start. But how to deal with Darkon. He himself is so far away. And Sephiroth is just a vessel he is using. If I had a way to hit him at long distance,” Lulu spoke to herself.

“Will a charger do?” A voice spoke up.

Spinning around, Lulu called out, “You again!”

“You did good. You found help. But they can’t fight this alone! And you can’t deal with Darkon without some help. Here, hold your hands out,” the voice spoke.

Holding her hands up, Lulu saw a long light formed as a golden charger fell into her hands.

“It’s infused with the power of the light arrows. Should help. Good luck Princess,” the voice spoke again.

Nodding, Lulu held the charger close.

“Thank you. This time, I’ll do it. I’m not giving up!” Lulu replied.

As the triforce glowed again, Lulu clenched her fist, before holding it up and shouting, “LET’S GO HELP MY FRIENDS!!!”

Time starting again, the light shown bright as Sephiroth jump back as figure rushed at him. Blocking with his sword, a giant fire blade came down to clash with the Masamune.

“WHO ARE YOU?” Sephiroth shouted.

“Here to help out Lulu!” Pyra replied before switching to Mythra in a greenish light and taking fast swings at Sephiroth.

Coming to, a hand was held out for Lulu as Lulu realized it was Sora. Grabbing his hand, Sora helped Lulu up as Lulu held the charger; healed up and tentacle in tack again.

“You look different,” Sora commented as Lulu was back in her inkling form.

“So does your clothes,” Lulu remarked.

Looking himself over, Sora’s clothes had changed to a red outfit with a white jacket and big yellow shoes. Chuckling, Sora gave Lulu a smile.

Hearing Darkon roar, the two looked up at him.

“So that’s the monster?” Sora asked.

“That’s Darkon. His eye is his weak spot. We need to get close to it so I can shoot at it with this charger,” Lulu explained.

Noticing Mythra dealing with Sephiroth, Lulu realized the opportunity.

“While he’s distracted, we need to go,” Lulu pointed out.

Nodding, Sora grabbed Lulu’s hand as he pulled her forward into a run.

Running past Pyra and Sephiroth, the two were heading for the edge as tendrils were raring for an attack.

“Believe in fairies?” Sora asked.

“Met a few. Nice beings,” Lulu replied.

“Then believe you can fly!” Sora replied.

As the tendrils came down, Sora and Lulu jumped off the cliff’s edge as the tendrils crashed into the ground. In an upward swoop, the two flew off towards Darkon. Tendrils coming at them, Sora used magic to freeze them and burn them as Lulu took shots with the charger. Closer and closer the two got as Darkon tried to push them back. Dodging, weaving, and attacking, the pair were getting closer to Darkon’s eye. Though as a final attempt, Darkon shot multiple tendrils at them. In quick thinking, Sora pushed Lulu forward as Sora took the hit; knocking him out of the sky.

Now in range, Lulu held the charger out as she charged the ink. Not enough time to react, Darkon watched as light formed at the chargers end as Lulu pulled the trigger.

“EAT INK YOU FUCKING SIPHON!!” Lulu shouted.

With a large bang, light swirling around a long ink shot speed towards Darkon and hit him straight on. Split in half, the light shown bright as the Darkon and the tendrils started to dissipate.

Back on land, about to take a swing at Pyra, it was if the wind was knocked out of Sephiroth as he fell to the ground; shocking Pyra as she looked up to see Darkon falling apart.

“LULU DID IT!” Pyra cried out.

Hearing footsteps, Pyra turned around to see Cloud and Mario, bandaged up, as they were shock to see the sight.

Then a bright light flashed as the red sky turned back to clear blue.

Still floating in the sky as the golden charger faded out of her hands, Lulu took a moment to process things before realizing something. Hastily flying down, Lulu looked for Sora.

“LULU!” Sora called out, floating in the water below.

“SORA!” Lulu cried out.

Seems Sora was okay as she flew down and grabbed a hand to pull him back up and flying again. Pulling each other into a hug, the two flew around for a bit.

“WE DID IT!!” the pair shouted in excitement before heading back to the main land.

Waving, Pyra was waiting for them.

“HEY!!!” she called out.

“PYRA!” Lulu called out before landing.

Rushing up, Pyra hugged Lulu and Sora as the three laughed and giggled.

“LULU” Mario called out.

Looking around Pyra, Lulu called out, “MARIO!” before letting go and rushing to Mario.

Arms open, Mario hugged Lulu and patted her back.

“Wahoo! You did it!!” Mario spoke as he patted her back.

“Sora?” Cloud questioned as he spotted him.

“Woah! Cloud! Is that you?” Sora questioned in shock as he let go of Pyra and rushed over to Cloud.

“How did you get here?” Cloud questioned.

Rubbing the back of his head, Sora replied, “Uh...I guess through Lulu. I was on Destiny Islands when I heard a voice cry out for help and then the next thing I knew I met Lulu.”

Crossing his arms, Cloud gave a smirk and a huff.

Walking up, Pyra remarked, “I also heard Lulu’s cry for help. Are you all alright?”

“Now we are it seems. Darkon is gone and things have seem to gone back to normal. That is..” Cloud replied before tailing off.

Looking over, Sephiroth was still on the ground. All noticing, Cloud began to walk over when sounds of pain could be heard. Starting to rise up, Sephiroth rolled to a sitting position as he got his bearings.

“Where… am I?” he spoke.

“Smash world,” Cloud spoke.

Looking over, Sephiroth didn’t seem surprised to see Cloud.

“It seems we have been transported to this world,” Sephiroth spoke, “But I do not know how.”

“What do you last remember?” Cloud asked.

“Leaving the last world with you,” Sephiroth replied as he got up on his feet.

“So I was right. Darkon was controlling him and Kayuza,” Lulu remarked.

“Do you think he’ll cause trouble now?” Sora asked.

“He would be stupid if he tried,” Cloud remarked.

Looking around, Sephiroth noticed the others taking fighting stances; faces he had never seen before.

“You have a lot of explaining to do,” Sephiroth stated to Cloud.

“Long story,” Cloud replied.

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

“So what happen to Kayuza?” Lulu asked.

“Same boat as Sephiroth. Taken control by Darkon and mind controlled to be a puppet. Once Darkon’s control was free, he woke up confused and lost to where he was,” Lu replied.

“So what happen then?” Lutarna asked.

“Well, given their presence, it seemed they too were new smashers and thus we welcomed them in. Knowing how many were around, like the other villian characters, they agreed to behave and join the smash fights. Explaining everything to them on how the worlds worked, we showed Pyra, Mythra, and Sora how to get home and to come back and visit,” Lu explained.

“Man, talk about a crazy adventure. You have all the fun!” Lulu huffed.

“How did Sidon take to everything?” Lutarna asked.

“He insisted Link rest in the domain and my butt to stay out of fights for a while,” Lu chuckled.

“Fair enough,” Lutarna chuckled.

“Still, did the creator every give you answers on things?” Lulu asked.

“No sadly. No letter this time. I wish I knew why but perhaps it’s just left up to the wind I guess,” Lu replied.

Jumping up and stretching, Lulu hopped down the ramp before looking at the other girls.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but that story has me worked up now. Let’s get some more practice shall we?” Lulu chuckled.

Nodding, the two cleaned up the food mess they made before jumping down the ramp before rushing off to start a match.

Watching in the distance up in a tree, a being smiled as she watched the three play.

“I probably should have wrote a proper thank you but making that charger took a bit out of me. Oh well, things are good now. Might as well let it be. Still, to think my lower gods would betray me like that when all I asked was to just balance the smash world with what fighters were allowed in. Instead they grew power hungry and thought they could over throw my rule. Oh well, Maybe next time I’ll get better help,” the being spoke.

Smiling again, the being faded into nothing as the trio played their game; peace brought back again to the worlds.

[missskzbiased]

The Three Lessons

Genre: Angst, Romance, Fluff (Hm…), Witch! Au, Love Triangle

Pairing: Chan X Fem! Reader X Seungmin

Word Count: ~5,1K

(The First) (The Second) (The Third)

Warnings: (Mild) Mentions of [Death, Burned Witches, Torture, Poisoning]

Reminder: I’m not a witch and do not have knowledge of any kind about the matter in modern days. It’s mere fantasy writing. It’s not intended to reflect Neopaganism since I’m not versed in it.

Notes:  Reference to Songs:  “The River Is Flowing” (Lindie Lila) [I modified the lyrics to fit my need] and “The Ghost of Pagan Song” (Donovan)

Updates: I’m writing the 2nd Chap yet. As soon as I finish it and review it, I’ll post it.

Tagging: Please, send me an ask/DM me if you wish to be tagged

                                                 ////

CHAPTER 1: The First Lesson

   There are only three lessons you should never forget, kiddo…

    The voice faded away like a thin fog vanishing from your view, and you couldn’t help but wonder why your sub-conscience felt the urge to remind you about it every single day of your life. You fluttered your fingers ─intertwined on top of your chest─ beginning to regain your consciousness over your body, feeling every inch of your form wake up along with your mind before you slowly opened your eyes to fix your gaze on the ceiling.

    At the age of seventeen, you should be used to have this same dream over and over again ─ as if your brain was some kind of broken parrot, who couldn’t stop replaying it on your mind every night ─ but you weren’t, and you didn’t really feel like you would ever be.

   The ceiling looked like the usual: Woody and leafy, as you liked to define.

   You didn’t need to look around to know exactly what it looked like because, for seventeen years of your life, you woke up in the exact same spot. You lived in the exact same place. You interacted with the exact same people. You lived the exact same life. You had the exact same dream. You heard the exact same voice. You learned exactly… Well, at least you learned different things over your life.

  And again, none of those answered your questions.

   You felt your sweat dripping slowly from your forehead; all your body burnt as if you were baking something all day long ─ except you weren’t ─, and at this point, you weren’t even surprised anymore. Every day you woke up like this: Dripping sweat and burning fever.

  The Coven swore to you that you weren’t sick.

   It was just Nature manifesting itself.

   You never saw Nature manifesting like this on any of your fellow members.

   You knew it had something to do with your dream but you couldn’t completely understand it. The scenes were blurry ─just like when you’re crying and the tears make it impossible to discern anything before your eyes ─, and the voices that surrounded you were loud and incomprehensive enough to confuse you to the core. The only thing you could really point out was that at the center of whatever place it was and surrounded by the crowd, something was consumed by the flames.

   It was easy enough to assume that something had a name…

   It was only logical to assume that the voices resumed the existence of that something ─ who was indeed a someone ─ in the only thing they could understand; chanting it in a tone filled with hatred and fear… You could only assume that the nameless figure who was engulfed by the flames ─ the only discernable thing in your dream, a bright orange-ish dance that emanated all the warmth that you felt burn your body at night─ was being called a witch.

   Just like you.

   You couldn’t even count the times you woke up afraid of being that nameless figure burning down on that stake… You couldn’t even count the times that you prayed for Nature to protect you like She had protected so many of yours… You couldn’t even count the times that you wished your undiscovered power wasn’t premonitory… You couldn’t even count the times you asked for The Elders to take this away from you.

   Yet, They couldn’t.

   Nature wants you to live with it, They said.

   Pretty convenient.

   “Do you need me to throw cold water on you or will you raise that butt by yourself?” The door shoot open as the old lady ─ also known as your grandma─ opened all the windows with a flick of her hand. The wood slammed on more wood, sounding loud and clear into your head, and all the brightness of the day got to your eyes, hurting them “I’ll give you three seconds!” She chanted, walking around the space, and picking up things around.

   She was loud as hell.

   You would expect an old lady like her to be really slow and quiet, maybe feel a lot of pain and complain a lot.

   Actually, one of those could be checked.

   She complained a whole lot.

   “And three!” She snapped her fingers.

   You felt the mattress whip under you ─ twitching in a way that projected your body out of it─, making you yelp as your body raised in the air, limbs floundering around as you waited for her to do something to prevent you from falling to the ground. You raised your voice as you yelled, eyes widening and heart bursting out in your chest, feeling despair wash over you as your body began to make its way to the ground.

   “And two!” She snapped her fingers again, sounding giggly as she did it, and you made a mental note to make a hell out of her life by the end of the day.

  The vines that hung from your ceiling came to life, tangling over your limbs to pick you up right before you hit the ground. They lifted your body enough to get you to her eye level, and she grinned at you, looking harmless as her eyes molded into crescents. You shot her a scorn grimace, waiting for her to give the order, so the vines would peacefully place you to the ground. She took one step back, taking the bucket she had under her arms and smiling brightly at you before snapping her finger, a coil of fluids forming of thin air to fill it up.

   Oh, boy.

   “And one!” She sang before jolting the bucket and hitting your face with cold water. You shut your eyes, mouth agape as you felt the drops rolling down your face, the cold feeling penetrating your skull and waking you up completely “Let’s go, we have a lot to do today!” She dropped the bucket with a loud thud before clapping her hands twice, turning her back to you and heading to the door.    

  “A little hand here?!” You yelled as she disappeared from your view, and her head came back into your view, peeking over the doorframe slyly. You waved your arms in the air, gesticulating to yourself and tightening your lips, suggestively looking at her, so she would realize you were still stuck on there.

   “Oh, right!” She chuckled dismissively “Vivi, let her go, Sweetheart!” She said friendly, and the vines ─ Vivi, as they were called─ promptly dropped you to the ground. You hit the floor with a loud thud, arms preventing your face to smash on the floor, raising your head to glare at your grandmother.

   “Really?!” You whined, yelling so she could hear you after disappearing again behind the doorframe. You rolled over your back, watching as the vines retracted to the ceiling, adorning the wooden beam there “Well, thank you, Vivi!” You sneered but they didn’t give you any attention, tangling over the wood and resting peacefully.

   “What is all that commotion?” You tilted your head back, taking into your view an upside down Chan framed by the door “Again?” He giggled, dimples digging his face as he approached you, extending his hand for you to take. You took it gratefully, standing up with his help and dusting off your clothes, trying to look presentable enough.

   The blond warlock didn’t seem to mind your soaked self or your sticky hair to your face, keeping his smile as if he didn’t even notice the mess you looked like right now. He ruffled your wet hair, chuckling as you shrank embarrassed, before he raised his index finger, spinning it around. The warm and soft air jet that twirled from his fingertip slowly dried out your hair and clothes, and you took the opportunity to fix them once again.

   “This is so cool!” He chirped “I never thought I would have this honor” He sighed, satisfied.

    Chan was an expert among the few Warlocks you had at The Coven. It was general knowledge that magic manifestation in natural forms ─ such as elemental spells ─ was uncommon for Warlocks but there he was, playing with the warm air. No one believed him when ─ at the age of nineteen, only halfway through his witchcraft studies ─ Chan said he learned to use some basic air spells.

   It had been a week and he had yet to grow used to the idea.

   Although some of the others related his abilities to the fact that he was the grandson of The Airy Elder, you didn’t agree with them. None of the others could make spells, and some of the Warlocks, such as Changbin, were grandsons of other Founders too. The fact was that Chan had a pure soul; pure enough for Nature herself to grant him the honor to hold her power.

   You may be a little biased, though.  

    “First, stop flattering yourself!” You joked, pushing him lightly, getting a giggle out of him “Second, I was totally going to get up!” You defended yourself, which he dismissed with a knowing look that made you blush. You cleared your throat ─ a vain attempt to hide how your heart drummed inside your chest ─, feeling embarrassment wash over you at the mere thought of your painfully obvious crush being there for anyone to see.

   It was especially uncomfortable to know that Chan had a great hearing.

   The young Warlock specialty was to hear the soul and heart’s voices.

   At this point, you could just deafen him just by your heartbeat.

   “Oh?” He blurted out, arching his brows as he shot a look to the ceiling. You followed his gaze to meet a small bird flying around in a spiral right on top of you two. He extended his finger in a twig-like gesture that invited the tiny creature to approach him, which it did. The bird landed on his finger, fleeting and tilting its head to glance at both of you, blinking rapidly. You stared at it curiously, tilting your head to the side, and it funnily mimicked you.

  Stop flirting around and come help me, you ungrateful child!

  You rolled your eyes when your Grandma’s voice sounded through its opened beak, embarrassed. Chan seemed to find it funny enough, though, because soon he was in stitches, holding his stomach as his laughter sounded like jingling bells. The bird flew off right after, startled by his sudden motion, letting you and the amused boy by yourselves once more.

   He recomposed himself, wiping a tear from his eyes and chuckling before looking softly at you and gesture to the door, accompanying you out of the cottage. You closed the door behind you ─ rubbing your arm awkwardly as you averted your eyes ─, trying to figure something cool to say that could cover up all the embarrassing moments before. He took it in the wrong way, though, taking off his coat and covering your shoulders with it, throwing you a warm smile.

   “Oh, no! There is no need for such a thing!” You rushed to say, trying to take out his clothes. He grabbed your shoulders, squeezing them lightly before chuckling. You glanced at him coyly and he patted your shoulders, fixing his gaze somewhere behind you before leaning closer to your ear, his breathy giggle fluttering some hair strands on your temples.

     “Keep it… Who knows how many surprises she holds for you?” He whispered, turning you around to look at your impatient Grandma, tapping her foot on the ground. He pushed you lightly, waving goodbye when you threw a look over your shoulder before picking up your pace to reach the upset Elder.

                                                                       /////

 The trees' crown rustled, allowing the thin light beams to dance on the ground.

  The gleam caught your eyes for a split of a second, bringing a content smile to your face as you felt the warmth of the woods impregnate your body; the blowing wind inciting you to spin around with the dancing trees. You fluttered your limbs in a dainty motion ─ spiraling once while feeling the breeze dance along with you ─, connecting yourself with every single living creature around for just a brief moment, enough to bring you to tears.

   The moment was overwhelming and you felt your heart swell before the gentle breeze and calming tune that came from the deepest parts of the woods shattered in small pieces right before you. The silence that came along was overbearing. It was like every single one of the creatures mourned and yet gloated, choosing to retire themselves for a while; a suffocating hollowness falling to the woods.

    The sudden gale hit you like a slap, pushing your body backward before spiraling around you ─ and you around ─, bringing altogether thousands of voices that didn’t seem to belong to anyone, and yet seemed to belong to everything. You shot your head up, eyes roaming around the woods as you tried to spot whoever was the source of such powers, but meeting no one to the sight. The whispers resounded in your mind, bewildering you, and the mix of voices buzzed to your ears before dying out gradually.

    Nature allows you to be who you truly are… Never turn your back on her

   The First Lesson was chanted by a soft voice brought by the wind, a voice that soon enough fell silent again; just like the woods. You roamed your eyes around ─ urging to make sense out of the suspicious situation ─, noticing how the animals hid far from the sight, a less than best-case-scenario for your hunting.

   The silence was broken once more by the wind itself, a sourceless yowling blown into your ears, making you snap your eyes to the side, startled. Once again, no one was in sight. You had this odd feeling in your gut, like an intruder just came into your home, and the bitterness that grew on your tongue prompted you to grunt, sharp eyes darting between the trees.

   “Reveal yourself!” You demanded, head swiveling but meeting nothing but the forest before you. The wind blew again, whispering through the leaves, and this time you followed its flow cautiously, eyes attentive to every single flutter you caught in the way. It faded away just like this, without a path for you to follow, and you groaned in frustration.

   What ─ in the name of the Goddess ─ was happening here?

    “H-Help…” Your ears perked up, eyes shooting to your left “P-please…” It was a small voice, undoubtedly owned by a human, and the realization made you shiver. You closed your eyes for a few seconds, sighing as you pondered what to do. Should you pretend you didn’t hear it?

  The wind blew again, violent, as a not so silent warning.

   You tsked, sighing before slinking through the trees for a few minutes until you spotted the boy on the ground, curled up. He seemed to be young ─maybe around your age─, dark hair stuck to his sweaty skin and eyes unfocused, roaming around. There was no doubt that his intoxicated figure ─pale skin, delusional eyes, and dry lips─ were caused by the one thing that had your hands tied: The River.

   As much as you pitied his agonizing end, he deserved it.

   You would never forget the day when all of the younger ones ─ such as yourself─ joined to ask The Elders why you couldn’t go into the woods like the older witches and warlocks, upset that you couldn’t do anything for The Coven.

   You would never forget the way your Grandma looked at you ─ letting the pain wash over her features right in front of your eyes─ before averting her gaze to the horizon, a stern and distant self that seemed to look directly to the past as if she could see everything unraveling right before her eyes.

  “The Humans… They were cruel to us” You remembered her saying “They tortured us over the years in ways that I wouldn’t dare to tell you kids in details… The Coven is protecting you from them and you should listen to us because no one else out there will care for you as we do” Her answer wasn’t satisfactory for any of you, so you whined, prepared to make a commotion. She stomped the ground ─a loud roar echoing from under her foot─ and looked at each of you with a steel-cold gaze.

   “Take a look at those” She raised her feet, exposing burn scars all over the sole, making all of you gasp in unison “I was captured by The Humans ages ago… Before The Coven was even founded... I and tons of other witches were tortured for being what we are… Women. They hate us and persecute us. They wanted us dead…”

  “They restrained us to the point we couldn’t feel our own blood running through our veins… The blood that connects us to this Nature… Some of us lost our hands or our feet… Some of us lost our lives at this point… It didn’t really matter to them” The pause revealed a suffocating silence but none of you dared to interrupt her rewind, keeping your breaths withhold “The ones who survived were already deprived of water, food, or light… We had only ourselves, our voices, our hope, and our faith with us. We didn’t even have clothes, as they stripped us and let us freeze to death. Some of us did. Some of us didn’t”

   “The ones that still survived all that were beaten up to the ground… Battered to the point they couldn’t even bear to stand up and fell dead right there, in front of our eyes… I wish I could say it was just it… Just once… They selected some of us to go to the woods, to let us have the chance to survive” She scoffed, looking away “The ones that weren’t selected were allowed to drink some water before going through all that over again… And again… And again… They had us for about three weeks” Her eyes teared up, and you still had the urge to cry until today whenever you remembered her broken voice.

    “When my time to go to the woods came, I discovered we weren’t simply thrown in the woods… No, we had to bear with our bare feet the red-hot soil under tender skin… Dehydrated… Starved… Ruined… I almost wished they could only burn me down at the stake. They didn’t. All of the survivors were marked for their lives… Not only here” She pointed out to her temples “But in a way that they could identify us in the future…” She raised her feet.

    “They said the ones who survived were witches and the ones who didn’t weren’t… So we couldn’t have any winners. It didn’t matter if you survived or not. It didn’t matter if we were witches or not. All of us somehow deserved to be dead…” She looked at you filled with sadness and regret before she averted her eyes, ashamed “They even poisoned the river… They knew the first thing we would do was to look for water, drink to relieve the dryness of our soul and body… And so did tons of us… Especially the younger or the least experienced ones… The exhausted souls that couldn’t think of purifying the water anymore… Who couldn’t handle it” She sighed, lowering her head “All dead”

   It wasn’t out of vanity that The Coven enchanted the river.

   The first thing they thought you at the age of fourteen was how to purify water so it would be safe to drink from the river; so you wouldn’t be killed by the cruelness that flowed through its waters if they ever did it again. The enchantments and spells threw all around the place were the only way to protect all of you from them… The only way you could afford to have somewhere to survive. The only way that you could be yourselves.  

   If it meant the death of some meddling humans… Let it be.

   They killed you enough for regret to wash over your souls.

   The River now was a symbol of your rebellion, of your power and urges to live… It was also the symbol of all the deceased witches you had because of their cruelties. It was the blood that ran through your veins. It was the magic that imbued your souls and body.

    The magic that ran through the body of this unaware guy struggling right in front of your eyes… The magic you couldn’t undo even if you wanted to…. He was a lost cause. You turned your back to him, ready to go back to your hunting and leave him behind, but one broken sentence was enough to make you stumble over your feet.

    “I don’t want to die all alone…” He cried, holding his throat tightly in despair.

    Never turn your back on her…

    You sighed before approaching him, sitting right beside him before taking his hand into yours. He shot his eyes at you, startled at the sudden presence, and you made your best to throw him a gentle smile even though you could see his face slowly swelling up as he suffocated right in front of your eyes.

    “The river is flowing… Flowing and growing… The river is flowing down to the sea…” You chanted, caressing his hair gently “Mother, carry him… Your child He’ll always be… Mother, carry him… Down to the sea…” You wiped his sweat, opening your canteen to give him some water to placate his thirst, wetting your hand before carefully rubbing your palms over his face.

   You could feel how the woods sang along with you, the soft rustles of the leaves following your tune, and birds tweeting to the rhythm. You felt your heart swelling, connecting to your surroundings once again, and even his heartbeat seemed to sing along with Nature for a split of a second.

    The attuned orchestra was interrupted by his muttering ─ soft voice under his breath─, something impossible to comprehend that made you nod anyway. You kept your smile firm on your lips to reassure him in his last moments, hoping that Nature could have some mercy on him. He tried to hum along with you ─ like he was tempted to pray before his end but could only follow your lead ─, and even though his rattling lungs couldn’t keep up with your chant, you slowed down a bit, getting a single grateful tear from his eyes.

    The emotional moment was broken by his strangled gasps ─a desperate attempt to breathe normally─, and you made sure to avert your eyes to look straight ahead. You shouldn’t witness his moment of weakness like this. You squeezed his hand to reassure him, to remind him that he wouldn’t die by himself, and as soon as he squeezed back ─ as strong as he could, trying to get your attention─, you obliged yourself to return your gaze to him.

   “K-Kim Seungmin” He struggled to say, sharp intakes of breath hinting he wouldn’t last much longer.

   “I’ll let your family know” You lied, bringing his head to your lap so he could feel more comfortable, allowing a little bit of air to get to his lungs. He tried to nod, and you averted your eyes again, looking into the woods to distract yourself.

   And distracted you got.

   The scene that met your eyes was, to say the least, amusing; your Grandma strode in your way, staff floundering in the air as she approached the guy in a rush. She took a look at him, musing before shoving some herbs inside his mouth out of nowhere, gripping his jaw in a way to force him to munch it.

   You looked at her startled but utterly ignored as she snapped her fingers over and over again.

   “Come on, young man” She said in her best elder lady voice you had ever heard “Gulp it down so you won’t die” She instructed, snapping her fingers to get his attention. Except it wasn’t the case. You could almost feel the frisson around his body as she kept snapping it over and over again, drawing circles in the air. The heavy layer of magic covered him like a blanket.

   He gulped down before you heard a sharp intake of breath ─ one that signalized he could really breathe right now─ and he gasped, again and again, feeling the air burn his lungs as he coughed for dear life. His torso snapped up, hand meeting his throat as he tried to recompose himself, practically back from the dead, eyes roaming around the place.

   The purple that once painted his face dissolved into a more healthy color and flushed cheeks. You took a better look at his face, warm brown hair hiding his forehead and dark eyes that were big as saucers for the moment, completely taken aback by his luck. He had just survived. He opened his mouth a couple of times, and you couldn’t help but notice how red his lips were right now, and also exceptionally well-shaped.

   “Don’t talk right now” She advised, taking the canteen from your hand “Drink this… You must be thirsty” She said kindly, adjusting the object so she could allow him to drink some of the water inside it. He took large gulps, eyes overflowing with relief before he had enough strength to raise his hand to the canteen and stop her motions.

   “I don’t know how to express my gratefulness for both of you” He said sincerely “I own you my life” He was quick to kneel, lowering his head in respect, one arm bending on his back and the other one rested on top of his knee. You extended your hand, ready to dismiss the unnecessary formality, but your Grandma seemed to think otherwise.

   “You do” She agreed, standing up and supporting herself on her wood staff, like an elder. You almost scoffed at her antics but a single twist of her feet made you shut your mouth, the hard inaudible pang on your ass making you think twice before disrespecting her “Unfortunately, I may have to take some of it from you” She smiled apologetically.

   She acted before you could even understand what she had just said.

   The staff was raised to strike his stomach in a quick motion ─ so quick that he couldn’t help but hunch his back, hands over his stomach as he huffed in astonishment ─ before her hand covered his face to push his head to the ground, tipping him over.

   “What strings are plucked beneath the mound? Awake the seeds to break the ground” She chanted, hand gripping his head firmly. You could see his right eye widen, peeking between her long fingers, mouth opening to scream for help. She jerked his head once, the sudden movement silenced him, and as you watched the scene with your mouth agape ─ utterly startled─, you noticed how his eyelashes fluttered close, hinting he was under a sleeping spell.

   “Grandma, what are you doing?” You hissed, looking around the woods as if Nature herself would come to punish both of you.

   She raised her other hand in a sharp movement, signalizing that you should keep quiet. You shut your mouth, pursing your lips to make sure not a sound would drop from you. It didn’t prevent you from stretching your neck, trying to get a better look at whatever was happening right in front of your eyes.

   The scene before your eyes had your head tilting.

   You never saw an enchantment like this.

   You watched as strings of translucent energy oozed from his ears, slowly drenching the ground underneath his head in a spiral that seemed to fuzz the grass. The delicate flutters of her free hand seemed to hasten the energy flow, and soon enough she released his head, fluttering her fingers as if she was seasoning him. The mere thought of the unconscious boy being treated like a roasted chicken made you chuckle, and she shot you a glare to keep you quiet.

    “No question asked… No answer found” She continued, and the energy coiled to the ground, knotting there before a small flower gradually sprouted, “Young man, now list to me…” She snapped her fingers, and all the fuzzing you felt around vanished. She caressed his head, thumbs running through his cheeks “It’s all a strange dream; don’t worry too much about this… It was really dangerous to fall asleep in the woods, wasn’t it? They should be worried about you by now…” She sighed, getting up and gesticulating for you to follow her.

   You straightened up, prepared to obey without a question.

   A sudden breeze made you shiver and you stared at the boy on the ground, musing for a second before taking Chan’s coat from your shoulders and covering him up. You threw a look over your shoulder to check up on him as you rushed to your Grandma, watching his asleep form snoring peacefully in the middle of the woods, resting next to a tree as if he was in a secure field. When you finally got on her tracks, you threw her a look, clearing your throat before voicing your thoughts.

   “Shouldn’t we wake him up? He could be eaten by a wolf…” You pointed out but she kept her pace, waving her hand dismissively.

   “He’s not our problem anymore” She shrugged, walking fast “Furthermore, it’s not the time for his death yet…” You narrowed your eyes at her, humming in wonder.

   “Was that why you meddled?” You asked curiously, and she finally glanced at you over her shoulder, pursing her lips “I never thought you would save a human” You admitted.

   “My mission is to respect Nature… If Nature herself wants this young man alive, I’m not the one to go against her wishes” She declared, intending to drop the subject. You hummed again, and before you could open your mouth, she cleared her throat “I thought it was clear that neither of you should approach a human until the age of eighteen” She stated matter-of-factly.

   “I’m just a few months away…” You rolled your eyes before grinning “Also, I thought the first lesson of The Coven was to never turn our back to Nature… As you said, Nature herself didn’t want the young man to die” She scoffed, amused by your retort “Who am I to go against her wishes?” You chuckled, noticing how she shook her head in disbelief, though it was clear she found it funny.

   “Don’t forget the other ones” She muttered seriously before snapping her fingers twice, probably releasing the poor boy from the sleeping spell.

                                                    ////

I won’t lie to you all, I’m really excited about this SUHAHUSAHUSASHUAUS It’s the first time I’ll be writing any kind of fantasy stuff. I have the general plot in my mind and I may be dropping some hints to make some kind of spin off if people like it or if I feel like it in the future lol

I really hope you guys like it!

Any feedback is more than welcomed, especially vocabulary and stuff like this. Feel free to criticize me (just do this in a constructive way, please LOL)

[arinmelnikov]

B L O O D   F R O M   A   S T O N E

     Another sunrise. The tall, opaque windows in their apartment were a pink and yellow gradient, the sun chasing away the grey of the predawn murk and setting the room alight, liquid gold glowing on every surface. Arin had finished narrowing down the buildings to look at in the woods, and was preparing to leave when his phone buzzed – twice. He crossed the room to it and picked it up, glancing at the screen: Ivan. The first text was a picture, the second a question mark. Zooming in on the picture, he saw it was taken in the street; a brick wall, or the side of a building, plastered with wanted posters, some old and faded, some just printed. Three of them were his, grouped together in a triangle as if one wasn’t enough to get the point across, but that wasn’t what the photo was of. Across them, written in red spray-paint, was a message: IF YOU WANT TO SEE HER COME HOME. Arin called instead of wasting time writing a reply, speaking the second Ivan picked up.    “Где это?”      “Повсюду. Я видел по крайней мере четверых.” He was still outside, the sounds of traffic and the public burbling in the background, underneath his voice.    “Они все одинаковые?”      “Да. Что происходит?”    “Ничего. Я разберусь с этим.” Arin ended the call, putting his phone away. He knew he’d been right about the fucking Bentons, and yet having it confirmed made him more furious still, Gerard’s subdued but smug face sneering at him in his memory. If you want to see her, come home. There was no doubt who the message was for, and there were no doubts as to its meaning – not to him. Perfectly fucking tailored; to anyone else, vague and meaningless, and to him, crystal fucking clear.

     Another sunrise, another trap – and just like the first one, he had no intentions of walking into it unprepared.

     He hadn’t set foot in or near their old apartment building since they’d abruptly vacated it in the middle of the night, and it was a little strange, seeing it still standing when the last two places he’d lived before it had been razed to the ground. Assuming they’d be watching the street, he approached from the back, out of sight of the apartment’s windows, through an alley that snaked between two of the nearby buildings, over a tall chainlink fence and into the private back area. He stood on one of the dumpsters that were lined up along the wall there and climbed the fire escape up to the fourth floor, approaching the window on the far right and glancing in through it before he stuck one of his blades in between the rails, coaxing open the basic latch that held the lower sash in place. Arin pushed the window open and stepped through, closing it quietly behind him and redoing the latch once he was in. The apartment was still, and its sixty-something alcoholic occupant was nowhere to be seen or heard; the only trace of her was the musty smell that was probably ingrained in the fucking walls by now, and the cloying tang of brandy hanging in the barely breathable air. If he was lucky, she was sleeping. If he was even luckier, she was out somewhere, more likely than not meeting with whatever hookup bitter old cunts had for liquor.      Soundlessly, he moved from the hallway he’d landed in and towards the living room and kitchen, looking around but seeing no movement. The glass door to the balcony wasn’t far, but he had to slow down once he reached it, because he needed to be completely silent – he didn’t want whoever was waiting for him on the other side of the wall to be forewarned and ready. After unlocking the door, he carefully slid it open (as small of a gap as he could fit through), internally demanding from the old bag who lived there that she not pick now to fucking show up as he slipped outside and pulled it shut once more.

     For a moment, he paused there in the sun, listening, his back pressed against the smooth limestone wall, his breathing slow and even… and he heard it. Voices coming from their old apartment. It was impossible to distinguish what they were saying, nor if they were ones he’d heard before – but it didn’t really matter. Arin, not giving himself another second to consider shit that could go wrong, stepped onto the railing and pushed himself into a standing position again, balancing on the metal banister. His eyes locked on the next balcony, and he jumped, sixty feet of nothing underneath him for one exhilarating heartbeat before he reached the opposite side. He let his boots touch down on the other railing briefly, slowing his momentum but not landing fully, his soles slipping off and hitting the ground with a jolt that he absorbed by letting his legs bend, dropping into a crouch. No time to fucking waste. Unsure if the assholes inside the apartment had heard him, he moved quickly, tugging the gas mask that had been resting on top of his head down over his face and tightening it, freeing the SMG from its holster at his rib, switching off the safety – extracting a gas canister from his pocket and pulling the pin. As it started smoking, Arin pointed his weapon’s muzzle at the bottom left corner of the glass in the door and pulled the trigger. The glass shattered, a hail of glittering shards raining down on him as he threw the hissing canister into the apartment, closely followed by another he’d yanked from his left pocket, the sound of both of them rolling across the floor drowned out underneath the shouts that erupted from inside. If Queenie was in there, she’d forgive him.

     Gunfire came next, through the door, hitting the frame and the balcony’s railing, shattering the window above him where he sat crouched against the wall. Arin counted. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen. The shooting died down, replaced by indistinct thudding, muted sounds of struggle. Twenty-five. Twenty-six. Twenty-seven.      He let a full minute pass before he got up, stepping through the broken door, glass crunching under his boot as he entered the apartment. All their shit was gone – whether it had been cleared out by the Bentons or the building’s owner, he didn’t know, but it was immaterial, and not what he was focused on at the moment. Four bodies in black tactical gear lay strewn close to each other near the doorway, two on either side. Arin approached one of them, not caring that his carbine was still in burst mode as he aimed at the head of the closest unconscious form and squeezed the trigger, and it was fucking cathartic – the rapid torrent of the three shots exploding through the room, the weapon kicking in his grip, the blood spattering the floor, the wall, him. It wasn’t the actual Bentons – not yet – but it was a step closer than Noriko’s disloyal ass, and it felt fucking good. He moved on to the next soldier, another headshot, and the next, another; three dead pieces of shit, nine bullets, three pools of crimson spreading on oak floorboards, soaking into the wood.

     In front of the last soldier, he dropped to a crouch, hands dipping into pockets and patting over hiding places as he stripped the man of any and every tool he had on him. His weapons and ammunition went skidding across the floor, pushed away, his phone was thrown out through the windowless door and off the balcony, plummeting to the ground several stories below, and the communication device in his ear was taken out and stepped on. Arin grabbed the soldier by the collar and hauled him up, propping him against the wall before he brought the back of his hand hard across the man’s face, stirring him from his unconscious state. His movements were dazed, slow at first, confusion glazing his eyes for a long moment before they finally focused on Arin and he tensed, feeling the muzzle brake that was digging into the center of his chest. Arin pushed a little harder, his index finger resting against the side of the weapon, just above the trigger. He wanted to shoot; wanted to look the soldier in the eye, see the realization flash in them, the fear, before the abrupt departure of the fickle little spark that was life – Government fucking filth – but he couldn’t. He needed this one… for now.

   “It’s your lucky day, asshole.”

[ohsotwistedwords]

Polybius

By Snapdragon

          It was July when the machine came in. My father had ordered some new arcade cabinets for his arcade; it’d been his dream to run one since he was little and then he was teaching me how to run it so one day I’d inherit it. So, I was working on maintenance and helping him with his finances. But, I wanted a more fun job when the cabinets came in. I’ve always been a kid at heart. Video games and dumb stunts were my thing back then, and I always wore the bruises proudly. So, when dad boasted he’d gotten a rare, one of a kind, arcade cabinet I had to get my hands on it. 

          “We should test it out, make sure it’s actually fun.” I’d said. I was hoping he’d say yes. Summer was almost over and I’d have to go back to mom when she moved back home, after living in France for two years as a tour guide. “Cain, we’ll find out how well-liked it is later. We don’t need to test it.” He said with a grin. “Well, I want to. Maybe it doesn’t even work— if it’s so rare, there must be a reason like the machine breaking down.” I said. “Or maybe there just weren’t that many of them made. Besides, Joey wouldn’t sell me a broken machine.” He said. “Dad, please.” I said. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Fine. You can play after we finish moving the machines in.” He said.

          Moving the machines in was easy. It was kind of strange, putting them in place of the older machines I’d grown up with like Pac Man and Tempest. Polybius, the arcade cabinet, was certainly different in appearance. It was a black arcade cabinet instead of an eye-catchingly bright color. On it, outlines of neon green triangles and circles decorated the side. If I had to pick an arcade cabinet to compare it to, in terms of how plain it looked, I’d probably say Tempest— albeit hesitantly. Even Tempest is more eye-catching than Polybius.

          When the moving was finished, my father went home. We lived right next door to the arcade, so he wasn’t concerned about leaving me behind. So, I booted up the cabinet and took out a stack of quarters and put one in the machine. It booted up beautifully, but the graphics were all geometrical shapes. I played as a triangle, and fired at two triangles superimposed on each other. The two triangles put out circles and squares, which my small triangle had to shoot before being hit. But, it was… out of place. Colors and complex patterns covered the screen each level I cleared, and the lights flashed. I was on a high level, with blue and green lights and a moving diamond overlay when I glanced at the time. 

         It was one in the morning, which was strange. It had only been four PM when I finished moving the machines, and yet I couldn’t remember when my feet started to ache or that I’d beaten more than five levels. Stranger still was that my father hadn’t called me home, but when I asked the next morning he told me I’d been home. I’d come and grabbed more quarters, and something to eat. I didn’t remember any of that, but I’d found another roll of quarters in my pockets and my clothes smelled like hoagies. 

          The apparent amnesia was common when I played, but I chalked it up to having fun. After all, time flies when you’re having fun and I had difficulty remembering what I was doing if I was thinking about something else. I thought I just enjoyed Polybius, and that was why I kept going back when I finished work and playing for hours. I couldn’t sleep, either, but I chalked it up to thinking about the arcade cabinet constantly. I wanted to play badly; something was drawing me in. It didn’t help that I only had one friend, Kyler. It wasn’t that I was disagreeable, but rather that I didn’t care how many friends I had. My parents were divorced, sure, but I had a good family, a good job, and a future. Life was good. If only it stayed that way.

          I didn’t know anything was wrong until I came out of my Polybius-induced stupor and Kyler was there. Which was strange; Kyler was blind. I would play arcade games with him, sure, but I’d have to guide him the whole time by telling him where to move. Seeing him adapt to that was always interesting, but even I had trouble determining where things were in Polybius. And besides, he liked calmer games like Pokémon where he could memorize layouts and only needed occasional updates on what was around him. 

          But, while I stared and wondered where he came from, the triangle he was playing as was blown up by a rogue square. He didn’t speak to me as he inserted another quarter and kept playing. He got hit almost immediately. The silence was odd— if I didn’t say anything, he’d say something to me and tease me for missing something or not talking fast enough. So, I put my hand on his shoulder.

          “Kyler? When did you get here?” I asked. He spun around, eyes just slightly off from where I was. “What do you mean? You called me and told me to come here?” He asked. Then he paused and took out his phone. At the press of a button, it started reading off his notifications and the time. It was six in the morning, and he’d had seventeen missed calls from his mom and dad. “Six in the morning?! I could’ve sworn it’d only been five minutes…” he said. “I don’t remember calling you; when did you get here?” I asked. He paused again, then rubbed his face. “Uh… seven, maybe seven-thirty. Shit. I need to go home.” He said. I knew he lived a few blocks away, and I didn’t want him walking home alone at night. Not with his white cane, which I couldn’t help but think would mark him as a target for would-be muggers. “Let me drive you home. It’s pretty late.” I said. He agreed, and we got in the car.

         “Cain, I kind of remember a little bit now. Not much, but… the cabinet apparently spoke, I think.” He said halfway to his house. “It did?” I wouldn’t doubt it, even if I couldn’t remember it speaking. With a little more effort, though, I remembered faint words on the screen, though the memory was too blurry to make them out. “It did.” He said with a sigh. I was very concerned, at that moment, that I couldn’t remember what just happened or that Kyler and I had been hanging out for almost twelve hours. Or could only remember a picture of the machine and not even know when I saw it.

          Either way, I had work in an hour and a half. And I wasn’t even tired. I tried not to think about Polybius, not to play it again, but I found myself inserting a quarter into the machine as soon as I was done with work. With a quarter already in the machine, I resigned myself to playing just a little bit. I don’t remember what happened after that, but I came to in some tunnels underground. Kyler was there, arm linked in mine and his free arm sweeping the ground with his cane. I didn’t even know there were tunnels under the town. Neither did Kyler. We wandered for hours, and exited the tunnels about an hour later. 

          Days had apparently passed from the time we played the arcade cabinet and we ended up in the tunnels. We were declared missing in the time we didn’t remember, and our  parents were upset. Kyler’s, because they thought he’d been kidnapped, and my father because he assumed I got hurt and stranded alone somewhere. He was mad when I told him I didn’t know what happened, that Kyler and I ended up in some tunnels under the town. He said there were no tunnels, that I was lying. I know I wasn’t, and I knew I wasn’t lying then either. I saw things, then. Shapes, mostly, flitting across my vision and people in my peripheral vision who weren’t even there. It went away after I slept. And things like that just keep happening.

          I have to destroy the machine.

          So, I stand with a baseball bat I’d hidden in the supply closet. The machine flashes to life, as if it knows I’m here. “Salutations, Cain.” The words appear on the screen. I take a step closer as my arms and legs feel like jello. I just have to get in one good hit, one good hit and this nightmare is over. But, then, against my will the bat falls out of my hands and clatters to the floor. My legs move of their own accord, and I stand in front of the machine. “You think you can mock me, Cain? I cannot be destroyed so easily.”

          I’m curled up in a corner, next thing I know, and I’m being shaken. “Cain, have you been here all night?! You had me worried sick!” It’s my father. “What time is it?” I ask. My words are slurred, and it feels like there are dull needles just behind my eyes. But I’m still not tired. “It’s eight in the morning!” He says. I’ve been here for… over twelve hours. Have I been in this corner all night? It can’t be; my limbs aren’t stiff. “Are you sure you’re good to work today? You’re really out of it, Cain.” My father says. I look around; the baseball bat is nowhere to be found. “Uh… y-yeah, I think so.” I say.

          So, I stand and get to work opening up. Footsteps shuffle behind me. “Maybe taking the day off would be good for you. I don’t think you’re up for working today.” My father says. I shake my head and refrain from wincing at the ache it causes. “I’ll be fine. Just need to move around a bit.” I say as I unlock the front door, our early gamers already waiting outside. Well, I suppose it’s less that they’re early and more that we’re half an hour late. I stick near Polybius today, and what strikes me more than anything is the long line. It’s so orderly it’s baffling, and then anyone who has played stumbles out quietly. Without touching another arcade cabinet. Maybe the machine is affecting more than just me. The thought sends chills down my spine. It feels… right. I have to try to destroy it again tonight.

          So, after a long day, I dismiss everyone in the line like I’ve been doing every day since Polybius showed up. But, once everyone is gone, the urge to play comes back. I fight against it and fill a bucket with water before going back to where Polybius stands. Dropping water on it may break some other cabinets, but I don't care. I just want this one gone. It flashes to life again, showing a laughing face. I feel like jello again, and stumble forward only to carefully put the bucket of water down. This time, when I come to, I’m in my room. There’s blood on the floor, and a hot ache in my arms. My arms are covered in blood, so I take a dirty towel to wipe it away. I’ll clean them after they stop bleeding. Except, when I wipe it away, more oozes up out of my arms. There are cuts in my arms. I pause. I don’t remember doing this, either. But, it feels right. Like all the other times I’ve come to in odd places, from the tunnels to alleyways.

          I really can’t keep doing this. Polybius needs to go. But right now I need to clean up all the blood on the floor and get my arms situated. So, I take a few more dirty towels and wipe up the blood and take turns pressing down on each arm to stop the bleeding. When it stops, I throw on a long-sleeved shirt and head to the bathroom. I examine the wounds more closely, as I wash them with soap and water while ignoring the stinging. They look like clean cuts; I think a knife made them. But I don’t know. There wasn’t a knife around me when I came to. 

          I go to work again, like every day, but I stop a group of three teens. “I have a job for you, if you’ll take it. You’ll make a hundred bucks each.” I say. They squint at me. “What kind of job?” One asks. “I’ll give you the spare key to the arcade, and you’ll destroy Polybius after hours.” I say. The stout one shrugs. “Pay us first, then we’ll do it.”

***

          I come into work, like everyday. And immediately walk up to Polybius. It stands, with its screen smashed in and dents in its sides.