#like the first two accusations were already blowing things way out of proportion in my opinion but that last one turns this from

[gavis-bettel]

ok but i have never seen a google docs receipts/c4ll0ut that wasnt at least 30% the stupidest god damn shit ive ever seen someone make up

[h2bakugou]

Hiii! I would really like some real angsty/ real fluffiness with Bakugou basically where Class 1A does an embarrassing prank on s/o but they didn't know how she would react and they all end up regretting it and Bakugou Sweetly comforts her and just him being a complete softy to her (class apologizes and makes it up to her) (sorry this was so long)

a/n: hii! ooo this is really cute okokokkokok im- i love soft bakugou this is public knowledge

summary: a seemingly harmless prank played on you by a large number of students from your class lands you holed up in your room, leaving bakugou to clean up behind them to make things better.

key: (y/n) - your name / (f/n) - first name / (l/n) - last name / (e/c) - eye color / (h/c) - hair color / (y/q) - your quirk

warnings: swearing, fluff, a teeny bit of angst, mentions of body insecurities

word count: 1.4k

;cut for length;

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The prank. It was seemingly harmless, throw a few buckets of water on you, Bakugou’s girlfriend-an idea Kaminari and Sero came up with-to watch both his and your reaction.

And this prank grew into something much bigger. 

Now with nearly half the class in on it, you were nothing short of unexpecting as you walked beside Bakugou toward the front door of your dormitory.

You’d seen your classmates all standing around outside, and curious, you were ready to go and investigate with your boyfriend.

However, as you stepped outside and off of the porch, Bakugou was yanked away and what felt like the bottom of a storm cloud falling out, soaked you in water.

Soaked was an understatement, you were drenched. You stared in horror as your clothes stuck to your body, making you feel uncomfortable as your classmates laughed at you, only making you feel worse. 

Bakugou had to watch it, and now that the shock had set in, he rushed over to you, but you were already running back inside, leaving a trail of water behind you.

It didn’t help that you slipped along the way, landing and busting your lip as you groaned in pain, forcing yourself off the ground to make it back to your dorm.

You were horrified. Thankfully, you’d left your phone inside, but there was still shame to be felt.

Not only had you been drowned by buckets of water, but your hair had also been drenched and ruined, your clothes stuck to every crevice of your body, making you feel uncomfortable, exposed, and self-conscious of your insecurities.

Any makeup that you had put on had run down your face, you were too scared to even look in the mirror.

Your face ached from your fall, but you tried to ignore it as you hid in your room, standing in your bathroom, trying to peel your wet clothes off to change.

“What the fuck?!” Bakugou shouted, yanking himself back away from Kaminari who had pulled him out of the way of the several water buckets positioned above the awning of the porch which had been pulled down to soak you in water.

“Hey, hey relax! It was just a prank!” Kaminari tried to laugh it off, but with Bakugou grabbing him by the collar, his palm sparking, Kaminari was beginning to fear for the next moments of his life.

“Like shit it was! Who’s idea was this? Was it fuckin’ yours?” Bakugou glared at the yellow-blonde as he nodded hesitantly, not even bothering to loop Sero into this madness.

“It was! It was supposed to just be a harmless prank! We didn’t think she’d blow it out of proportion!” Kaminari tried to defend himself and his classmates. 

Bakugou knew deep down, it was meant to be harmless. And that accusing Kaminari was just his anger’s way of handling things. But to hear him accuse you, of reacting the wrong way.

“Watch your fuckin’ mouth. It’s not her fault at all. You better fuckin’ fix this.” Bakugou tossed Kaminari to the ground, leaving to head back inside, sending a narrow glare at the silent peers that stood outside, mortified that Bakugou would say something to them next.

“Maybe this was a bad idea.” Mina bit the inside of her cheek, glancing over to Sero, the one who had approached her about the idea.

“You think?” Kirishima sighed, shaking his head. He knew just by standing there he’d let both you and Bakugou down.

“We need to apologize.” Kirishima was the one who broke the unsettling aura first, taking the first steps to initiate some sort of apology to mend what had been broken.

As Bakugou made his way up to your dorm, he noticed the significantly body-shaped water spot that had already begun to dry in some spots on the floor. He was now worried you’d injured yourself.

And as he rushed to your dorm even faster, he didn’t even bother to knock.

Twisting the knob and opening the door to your room, he noticed how dark it was inside. No lights on to signify that you were even there. The curtains had been closed, blocking out any light, but with just enough light from the hall, he could make out the shape of someone huddled under piles of blankets.

Listening closely, he could hear your whimpers, your cries. 

Shutting the door behind him, he walked over to you carefully, reaching to nudge wherever your arm my be.

“Hey-”

“Go away.” You sobbed, turning away from him. You squeezed your eyes shut and tried to stop crying, but the tears continued to flow.

“I don’t want to see you right now, I’m the fucking joke, I get it! You don’t have to come here and rub it in or praise your friends just because you’re so close to me-”

A warm feeling invaded your blanket fortress as Bakugou crawled under your covers, wrapping his arms around you as he trapped you in his grasp.

“You really think I was in on this idiot?” Bakugou whispered, resting his head against your back. Your eyes shot open wide and your body turned to face him.

“Y-you weren’t?” You spoke softly, now feeling bad for accusing him. Bakugou sighed and pulled you in closer to press a kiss to your forehead.

“Are you okay?” Bakugou whispered, a hand tucking a few semi-dried strands of your hair behind your ear.

“I feel like shit.” You lay your head into Bakugou’s chest, closing your eyes.

“Had I known I would’ve stopped it before it happened. They’re a bunch of dumbasses.” Bakugou hugged you as you snaked your arms around him.

“I’m sorry for being mad at you.” 

“Don’t apologize. You’re upset. You can feel upset. If it helps to take it out on me, I’ll tough it out.” Bakugou smirks.

“I’m your big and strong boyfriend after all.” His comment makes you giggle.

“Says the one cuddling me like a teddy bear.” You tease the blonde as he snuggles into your neck, placing little kisses along your cool skin.

You had been freezing cold from the water and the cool air, covering up under a plethora of blankets to warm yourself up tied in with wanting to hide away from the world.

“Can we stay like this, for a while?” You asked quietly, snuggling into Bakugou’s warmth.

“Mhm.” Bakugou replied lazily, taking the time to enjoy this time with you. He knew you didn’t want to talk about what happened, and you were okay with that.

After a little while and after taking a short nap, you were up and ready to head back out to grab a little bite to eat.

When Bakugou turned one of your lights on, it was then that he saw the large bruise on your bottom lip.

“What happened to your lip?” Bakugou was concerned, cupping your face in his hands as his thumbs poked around at your lip.

“Ow! I slipped and busted it-” 

“Those-”

“It’s fine. It’ll heal. I just need to get some ointment for it.” You sighed, leaning over to delicately kiss Bakugou’s hand.

Bakugou sighed and leaned to press a gentle kiss to your lips, just barely touching his to yours in fear of hurting your lip even more.

When you made it downstairs to the common room, you were shocked to see the pranksters sitting still and silent in some weird formation, their heads lifting when they spotted you and Bakugou.

“Can we talk for a moment?” Kirishima asked loudly, the two of you stopping to see what they wanted.

“What?” Bakugou asked angrily.

“We’d like to apologize.” Kirishima started.

“It was our idea, to prank you, (Y/n). And It was a really dumb idea. we’re very sorry.” Kaminari and Sero were the first to apologize.

“And we’re sorry for embarrassing you.” Mina and Kirishima apologized for the remainder of the students who sat there. You glanced at Bakugou before sighing.

“Thank you, for the apologies. I know your intentions were pure, but please let’s try pranks that don’t involve water buckets.” You tried to ease the mood. Sero and Kaminari were already back to planning.

“I’m sorry for yelling at all of you. But don’t fuckin’ pull this shit again.” Bakugou yelled, before grumbling something back toward the kitchen.

“I’m really sorry.” Kirishima said to you personally.

“It’s okay. I forgive you, I forgive all of you.” You spoke up a bit louder. Kirishima hugged you.

“But we aren’t even.” You smirked.

“P-prank war?” Kirishima stuttered.

“Prank war.” Your eyebrows narrowed.

»»————-　★　————-««

masterlist

[dclsbaby]

mykonos-crossed lovers (part ii) 🦋

🎶 playlist for part ii

prologue

part i

part iii

part iv

Summary: When you drunkenly book a girls trip to a tropical Greek island to help mend your broken heart, you would never for a second think it will take you exactly to where he is. Him. A tale of the right person at the wrong time, an overused cliché made into plots of movies you never thought would live through in your reality. Two people, still madly in love with each other, hearts still broken, suppressed by the alcohol and distractions consumed on this trip. Will they let their egos get in the way, protect what’s left of their already broken hearts, or will let their hearts speak?

Word Count: 3.6k

Warnings: angst angst and more angst

Author’s Note: part 2 is finally out! thank you so much for the continued love on MCL, i can't accurately put into words how much it means to me seeing all the positive responses! i hope i haven't upset you too much on last chapter’s cliffhanger, and if so, i hope this one makes up for it a little bit 🤍 please let me know what you think! xx

Gif:

***

***

***

“It’s funny, I’ve flown out to this island to forget you, yet here you are. I can’t ever get away from you can I?” Dom asks, rather rhetorically. Shocked, you turn your head and see your ex standing in front of you, in Mykonos, of all places. You cringed at his honesty, but you can’t say you didn’t escape to the warmer climates for the same reason. “Hi, Dom,” you smile at him. “The boys are here?” you ignore his initial remark. “Yeah, Mase, Davo, and Ben are sat there,” he gestures to a table close by yours. “Luke’s flying out tomorrow”, he says. “So the full team,” you comment. “It seems you’re in for quite a holiday then,” you add.

He walks ahead to stand next to you, his toned arms resting on the white border, dangerously close to yours and he takes in the view you’ve been absorbing. Silence fills the space between you two. A little to quiet for both of your likings, you could’ve sworn you heard your heart beat out of your chest. You decide to break the silence.

“So, how’ve you been?” you asked, voice a little shaky, unsure if you even wanted to know. You looked up at Dom, and caught him sniggering at the question. “Never better,” he raises his eyebrows. “Got my call-up, ball finding the back of the net week in week out, all’s well. You?” he shifts his body to look at you. “Well,” you pause to face him. “I’m on a tropical island with my girls, away from work and grey British skies, so I’m enjoying it,” you replied.

“British Vogue is it?” he asks. You landed the job a couple of months after your breakup. It was the job you needed to make a life out of yourself, to have a career you loved. It was a job you left him for. So, to say that you were good at it was an understatement. If you had to endure the pain of a devastating heartbreak for your career, it had to mean everything to you. And it was. It had been your dream job for as long as you could remember, you have always loved fashion, and this love was complemented when you began dating your ex who has an eccentric fashion sense, always straying away from the mainstream mediocrity, which somehow, he always pulls off. It’s a gift.

“Yeah, how’d you know?”, you were curious. “Mum’s told me about it, she’s proud of you, by the way,” he stops to look at you. “Sounds like a big deal,” he says as he lets out a small smile. It’s the first time he’s ever shown some warmth since the conversation started. You smile back at him and nodded. “It’s been my dream since forever, if you remember,” you look up at him. “And that’s lovely from your mum, do let her know that I miss her,” your heart warms thought of his mum. “Of course you do, you two would gang up on me whenever she’s around,” Dom chuckles. “Only because we both know how obnoxious you could be,” you joke. “Obnoxious enough for you to break my heart I see,” he jokes as he smiles at you sadly. “I d-didn’t mean it like that,” you feel terrible. “I know, I was messing with you,” he lied. A part of him wants you to know that his heart is still broken.

Two people, former lovers, with so much shared memories, once each other’s worlds, reunite in unexpected circumstances.

“I miss you, you know,” Dom says. Your head turns to face him as you try to catch a look of his eyes that are looking down on his fingers. Standing at 6’2, you had to crane your neck to properly look at him. A painfully gorgeous man, his green-hazel eyes still shine so bright despite the evening sky, lips so full waiting to be touched, his curly locks tied up in a bun only to accentuate his perfectly sculpted jaws. He is so beautiful, the pain so visceral, so intense.

***flashback***

“It’s not fair,” your best friend said. “You two would make the most gorgeous babies,” you and Dom chuckled at her comment. “When they’ve got a mother with a face like this I’d imagine it to be difficult to not produce beautiful babies,” Dom says as he cups your face and plants a kiss on your forehead. “You did not just say ‘produce’!” you move away from him, jokingly made a disgusted face and laughed at his choice of words.

Later that night as you two were tucked in bed, you drift off into a daydream which caught Dom’s attention. “What are you thinking of in that little head of yours babe?” he asked. You softly smile at him. “You really think we’d have babies?” you asked as you look at him. “What do you mean?” he asks, shifting his body so it’s resting on his side, with his knuckles supporting his head up. “I mean, is this where we are headed?”, you clarified. Dom runs his fingers through your hair. “I absolutely wouldn’t mind having babies with you,” he pauses as he moves closer to you. “I want no one else more than you, to be the mother of my children, my partner through it all,” he looks at you with loving eyes. “You mean it?” you asked, a little surprised at his honesty. “I’ve never meant anything more in my life,” he says as he pulls your body closer to his.

***

Dreams of starting a family with who you thought was the love of your life quickly shatter as you realise where you were; stood in front of him, both with hearts that need mending.

“Don’t do this,” you quietly say as you stare into his eyes. “What? It’s true,” he shrugs. “I miss you and I thought you should know. You should know how much you’re hurting me by not being with me,” Dom confesses. The alcohol has definitely kicked in, Dom thought to himself. Liquid courage got him pouring out the subconscious thoughts he’d never unlock without a little help. “Dom, please. You don’t mean it, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” you close your eyes for a second. “You’ve had a lot to drink, you should go be with the guys,” you say as you take your arms off the wall. “Come, I’ll take you back,” you say as you lightly push his elbow to lead the way.

“What more do I have to do to show you that I am still in love with you? Fuck’s sake,” he says as he mutters the last two words. He quickly turns around to face you, shocking you in the process as you drop your arm. “I don’t know, Dom, maybe not have tabloids put pictures of you and different girls on its covers I’d assume?” you sarcastically said, referencing to the covers you have seen of him from the week before.

Dom cringed at your comment and shakes his head. “You seriously can’t believe what those tabloids say-they blow things out of proportion!” he says as he flails his arm out of frustration. “And did you expect me not to see other people? What was I supposed to do, sit and mope around, waiting for you to come back to me? Please, do enlighten me!” he encourages. “Tell me how I can get over you because I am desperate to get you out of my fucking head,” he rants angrily, loud enough to get the attention of several guests.

He pauses to catch his breath. Before opening his mouth again to spill his suppressed thoughts.

“You were my heart, my soul, my whole fucking body—my entire life revolved around you!” he yelled, not as loud, but his frustration was emphasised as he stresses every syllable. Every bit of pride he held onto dissipates, showing his true feelings that still held onto you.

Offended, you retaliated. “You act as if I didn’t do the same for you! But I’m not stood here telling you how much I’ve missed you after I’ve fucked about with random guys!” you replied, matching his volume.

“I’ve never fucked anyone since you, so don’t ever fucking accuse me of that,” he says in disgust. “And you have no right to tell me how I should cope, when you left me! You were the one who left!”, he points at you repeatedly. “You left me with nothing,” he says nearly out of breath, and drops his arms to his sides.

“It surely didn’t seem like it when you go through girls like they’re some kind of pitstop!” you angrily responded. “I was fucking hurt! You fucking broke me! I was sad and desperate, give me a fucking break!” he says as he brings his hands to his forehead. “And don’t act so innocent,” he spits out. You give him a confused face, unsure as to what he meant. “I know you’ve been out with him,” he emphasises. “Yeah, our friends talk,” he states the obvious.

You knew who he was talking about. The friend he fell out with, another footballer friend. Things got too competitive, the words exchanged at the end of a match too harsh to redeem with a handshake. The same friend who could’ve sworn he chatted you up first, but you and Dom’s connection was too strong to deny. Of course, it was nothing like he insinuated. His friend, or, former friend, rather, had dipped his toes into the world of fashion, which caught the attention of your seniors. They assigned you to an interview with him, knowing your connections in the sporting industry and knowledge of it, as you dated a footballer after all. “Th-that was nothing,” you shake your head in disbelief, shocked at what you’re being accused of. “Bullshit,” he curses. He still remembers the day he saw you two on the news. Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s Ex Moves On with His England Teammate?, the headline says. Beneath it were pictures of his former friend sitting opposite you, as you two enjoy each other’s company at his favourite breakfast place in London. It is your favourite too. He recalls trying to ignore the jealousy, he tried to stop reading gossip sites that had the tendency to over-exaggerate, but he couldn’t. It made him angry, so angry, he threw his phone across the room and smashed it into a wall, its screen shattering. Sick and nauseous, he ran to the bathroom and dunk his head into a toilet bowl, dispensing the contents of that day’s breakfast. The effect you had on him was still potent and undying.

Your conversation was interrupted when you feel a hand wrap its fingers around the back of your arm, surprising you as you jump a little. “Hi, hun, everything okay?”, asked two of your friends, who spotted you as they were making their way to the bathroom. You nodded and gave them a smile, “I’m okay,” you whispered. They were beyond shocked to have seen Dom, but they knew better than to mention the obvious. “Give us a shout if you need anything,” your other friend says softly. You nodded. Your friends waved at Dom, then walked to where they were headed, which Dom did the same before you two returned to your conversation.

You take a deep breath before speaking. “You know I never meant to hurt you, Dom,” you look at him with sad eyes. “You know why I had to end things with you, I honestly thought you understood,” you say as you try your best to blink the tears away. “No, I never understood, and I still fucking don’t,” he says as his large hand grips the surface of the wall.

“None of this makes any sense to me! I understand that it is important for you to prioritise your career, be in control of your life or whatever it was you said,” he throws a hand up. “But I will never understand why you had to sacrifice me in the process, of all things,” he replies with absolute honesty. “So, what? You expect me to drop every possibility of starting a career instead, and invest all my time and energy in you?” you ask in disbelief. “That’s not fair, Dom!” you argue.

Dom throws his head back out of frustration as you cross your arms. “I would’ve fully supported you every step of the way, given you the space you needed, anything!” he responds. “But instead you left, and took my entire life with you,” he argues back, panting as he tried to catch his breath. “You didn’t have to leave,” he quietly says.

You two look at each other in silence, both feeling the pain the other endured. The pain heavy, overwhelming, a sinking feeling.

“I wasn’t trying to compromise you,” you say softly. “I had felt so detached from myself and made you the centre of my life and I was fucking terrified, Dom,” you try to justify yourself. “Had you left me at any point, I wouldn’t have survived it,” you sigh.

“Had I left you? How could you ever assume that? You think I am strong enough to be apart from you for even just a day? For fuck’s sake,” he curses as he closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose out of frustration.

“I never said you would, I said if you did,” you clarify.

“So, you’re saying you left me purely due to a hypothetical scenario? Come fucking on. Don’t you fucking get it?,” he pauses. “You left me because you were afraid you couldn’t live without me, when that was never the case to begin with. If anything, it was the other way around,” he mutters the last sentence, just enough for you to hear.

“What?”, you asked, looking up at him.

“If one of us were to be too attached to the other person, it would be me. I’m not even fucking ashamed to admit that. I’m just pissed you assumed I could ever leave you. And that you broke my heart,” he reveals, a little too much for his liking but he didn’t care. You had to know.

“I-I never knew you were this upset,” you reply, still trying to process what he just said. “Clearly,” Dom says with sarcasm. “All you do is assume,” he comments. “That’s not fair,” you respond. “None of this is,” he quickly says. “I’m sorry I hurt you, I hope you know I would never intentionally do anything to make you feel that way,” you try to assure him. “Yeah okay,” he looks away.

Silence fills the room once again. What used to only be comfortable silence between you two turned into awkward, deafening silence. Silence between two people still in love with one another, both stubborn, both hotheaded, both their egos in the way.

You hated this. You wanted out. Your heart could no longer handle the different coexisting emotions, the sadness, anger, exasperation, confusion, equally intense, equally felt. It was all too much.

“I-I think I’m just going to go, it’s been lovely to see you, I'm sorry again Dom, truly. Have a great-“, “You’re fucking joking,” he cuts you off and shakes his head. You sigh, surprised at this interruption. “What now, Dom?” you asked, a little agitated.

“You’re leaving? After I’ve poured my heart out to you? Fucking pathetic that,” he said angrily. “What else was I supposed to say, Dom! I told you I was sorry, I told you I didn’t mean to hurt you! What more do you want?”, you responded with aggravation.

“YOU! I want you! How could you be so dense? Honestly, fuck this—you broke my fucking heart and I am not going to let you walk away from me again,” he gestures angrily. “This time I’m leaving you, have a great fucking night,” he says as he storms off, taking half of your heart with him.

At that moment, it felt as though every effort you had put into moving on, all your self-care nights, girls night outs, mental health days, music playlists of happy songs, immersing yourself in work, suddenly meant nothing. All your efforts were countered, destroyed after seeing him again for the first time in months. All you could do was stand there and watch him leave you standing alone, under the blue Mykonos sky with the most breathtaking view of the island, whilst heartbroken once again. The perfect irony.

You were left in shock. You could see Dom walking through the crowd where everybody was partying from your peripheral vision. It took him way too quickly for your liking to wrap his arms around a certain blonde-haired girl in a blue dress you recognised from tabloid pictures. You feel a sharp pain in your chest from a sight you never wanted to see. You knew you had no right to feel this way since you were the one who left, but it hurt you nonetheless.

Two things could’ve come out of this scenario. You could a) suck it up, take three straight tequila shots and party the night away with your girls, who are increasingly growing concerned about your whereabouts, or b) you could call it a night and figure your heart out.

After moments of deliberation, you chose the latter option. The intense conversation you had with Dom was too emotionally draining for you to continue on. Seeing your ex on the exact trip you booked with your girls to remedy your heartache, listening to him tell you how much you’ve broken his heart, how he wants you, but proceed to wrap his arms around another girl minutes after, all in one night... you could not bear it all. You quietly made a swift exit and made sure to text your girls’ group chat as you’re walking.

Babes, I’m heading back to the villa. Rough night. Details tomorrow. Will leave some paracetamol on the counter. Be safe and have a blast! Love you. X

You took the furthest route towards the exit door away from the party scene, not giving your friends a chance to even stop you. You wrap your arms around your body, holding yourself together as your heart crumbles. The only affection you could seek from is yourself. The pain of growth slowly paying off, as you manage to at least leave the scene in one piece.

However, despite extra efforts to not get noticed, Dom caught you slipping out of the club.

You stood outside the breezy Mykonos night and waited for your taxi to come. What just happened? You thought to yourself. You were a bit tipsy from the drinks, your tired body making you feel a little delirious. It seemed like it was all a dream, a nightmare perhaps, but it isn’t. That actually happened. You inhale the fresh air, and pace your breathing to calm your nerves. The background music spilling from the narrow gaps of the doors slowly fade as you close your eyes and focus on your peace.

Peaceful silence suddenly interrupted by a loud sound of doors bursting open.

What the fuck was that? you thought to yourself as you turn your head towards the loud noise. Your heart nearly stopped when you saw Dom clumsily stumble through the door. “What are you doing?” you asked, completely taken aback.  “I saw you walk out,” he says out of breath. “And I know you like to go on walks to clear your head. I was making sure you weren’t, this isn’t the place where you could do that safely,” he continued.  “I know, I’m waiting for a taxi,” you say quietly.  Dom nodded. “Okay,” he looks away. “Be safe,” he says as he looks at you one last time. You look at him with a sad smile and nod.

As Dom retreats back into the club, he had to hold his chest, clutching where his heart is to contain the pain of seeing you force a smile at him, it was too intense, he couldn’t bear it. He wanted nothing more than to pull you into his arms and tell you again how in love with you he is, but he knows his heart can’t take another heartache.

So Dom does what he does best, fake a smile, join his friends, and power through the night despite the building anxiety of being away from you. He feels sick to his stomach and would love nothing more than to call it a night. He goes on to reject every girl who threw themselves at him left and right, which Mason took notice of.

“Mate you okay? You don’t seem like yourself,” asks Mason. “(Y/N). She’s here. Well, she was,” Dom says. “Here? In Mykonos?”, Mason asks in disbelief. Dom nods his head. “Shit. What happened?” asked his concerned friend. “Told her she broke my heart. I lost my head. Told her I want her, then walked away,” muttered Dom as he looks down to play with his fingers. “Mate, I mean, do you still want her? Even after everything you went through?” Mason asks carefully, cautious to push any buttons.

Dom takes a deep breath.

“There is nothing in this life I want more than her,” he spills, looking at his friend dead in the eye.

“You know what you have to do, Dom.” Mason says.

[prettywordsyouleft]

To Be Continued - Part 4

Summary: As an author, you had created Brian Kang for your current trilogy series to represent the ultimate man that everyone would love, along with Charli Evers - your female protagonist. What you hadn’t expected was for him to find a way out of the story and begin shaping up your world instead

Pairing: Brian Kang x female writer (ft. Park Sungjin)

Genre: writer au / romance / fantasy

Warnings: fictional characters coming to life / a bit of angst here and there / Sungjin as a cop (or does that only affect me?) >_>

Word count: 2262

Preview | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Epilogue

When you eventually came around again, you let out an immediate giggle when you found yourself on your living room’s couch, a pair of concerned eyes peering down at you. They widened with your sudden noise, blinking some to try and figure out why you had laughed.

“The hallucinations are continuing,” you mentioned with another laugh, this time sounding more desperate than the first.

“I’m really here, though.”

“Of course, you are.” Sitting up, you flinched when Brian’s hand reached out to help you do so, your focus snapping down to where he had touched you. It had felt normal, as if a human had supported you just now.

But this wasn’t humanly possible. No one ever in the history of mankind had written a novel and their characters came to life!

… Had they?

“Stop overthinking it,” Brian mentioned, observing you carefully.

“Do you read thoughts too?”

“No.”

“Then I truly did well to create you as someone who can pick up on most moods and emotions,” you replied, nodding again as you chuckled. You then clasped your face within your hands and whined loudly. “I’m going insane!”

“You will go mad if you keep this up,” Brian pointed out, and you peeked through your hands, stilling from your dramatic outburst. Staring at him, you lowered your barrier slowly and took him in.

There was no plausible explanation for how this had happened. And yet, you were there when it did. Nothing made sense, aside from how well your description had brought Brian to life. You marvelled the man over, instinctively reaching out to touch the mole on his neck. Directing your gaze up to his, Brian tipped his head with encouragement.

“Keep exploring,” he urged. His permission seemed to snap you out it, your hand returning to your lap hastily. Brian sighed. “This wasn’t how I imagined our first meeting.”

“No?” you asked, a little detachedly. Your mind was still whirling at a fast pace over all of this.

Could you have come across this man before in your life and subconsciously modelled your character off of him? That still didn’t explain how Brian had gotten into your home in the first place. You were grasping at straws here, trying to rationalise the situation.

Even if you were a dreamer by nature, this was something else.

“Should I explain how I came to exist?” Brian offered, and you nodded once before holding up your hand to stop him.

“Wait. I need to some supplies first!” you announced, getting up with a bit of a wobble and headed back to your office. Snatching your phone and a pen and paper off the desk, you dashed back into the living room, where you stopped suddenly, Brian staring back at you.

He’s still here, you thought to yourself in disbelief, walking at a much slower pace back to the couch Brian now sat cross-legged upon. You eyed him warily as you sat down.

Looking at your supplies, Brian smirked. “What are you planning to do?”

“Take some evidence,” you answered, quickly snapping a photo with your phone’s camera. Brian was disorientated, leaning away from you as you took another two.

“Can’t I at least prepare for the photos first?”

“Don’t go giving me any crap about needing to present your best side. The Brian Kang I created doesn’t have one. He looks good all over,” you muttered, opening the gallery and clicking through the photos you had taken. Even if the pose was awkward, he still looked handsome.

You laughed incredulously once more. He actually appeared in them. After inspecting them as well, Brian rolled his eyes. “I’m not a ghost. Of course, I’d appear in them.”

“Okay,” you said, opening up the voice recording app on your phone and placed the device between you both. Brian shot you a look of annoyance, and you challenged it back as you picked up your pen and paper. “Now, you can start.”

“I think I began to have conscious thoughts at the end of Encounter,” he admitted, and you scribbled down the title of your first novel with him, circling it for effect. You blinked away from your note-taking to look up at him.

“What do you mean? Conscious thoughts?”

“Well, you’re the writer, aren’t you?” Brian smiled, and you tried not to become too captivated by how perfect it was. “I’m not supposed to do anything unless you direct me to, right?”

“Sometimes the story seems to write itself, but I’m still in some control of it.”

He nodded. “The end of the story meant there was nothing else for me to do. Whilst I was frozen in place, my mind continued. Why did everything stop there? Who was I and why couldn’t I continue to live through all this?”

“You had thoughts like that then?” Brian nodded, and you let out a shaky breath. “Woah.”

“Then you must have started Captivated because, for some time, I was too busy fighting my way through to Charli. However, it would be during the scenes where I wasn’t present that I would find myself wondering why I was chasing her around. Just who was she to me? Even though I could move, and my reactions felt sincere, I couldn’t fathom why it had to be her. My life was already hard enough, and yet I was forever looking towards a girl who came from another world than I had.”

You smiled fondly. “Charli Evers is the daughter of a conglomerate in power of changing the nation. Meanwhile, you’re her bodyguard from a less than desirable background.”

“Let’s not visit my dark past right now, shall we?” Brian mentioned with some unease, and you nodded before you gasped. Brian frowned. “What?”

“You really do know the story!”

“When are you going to stop freaking out over my existence? Don’t you want the so-called proof?” he wondered with an impatient tone, causing you to snap your mouth shut. Brian sighed before continuing. “As I waited for scenes to change, I realised I couldn’t understand my world at all. Why did I have such a troubling back story? Surely, if I were real, no one would have faced what I had in one lifetime, let alone in ten years of my life.”

You didn’t quite meet his eyes then, looking at his shirt button that was undone to avoid the accusing tone that was laced within his latter sentences.

“And of all the men in the world, why was Charli so drawn to me?”

“That’s how star crossed lovers work, Brian,” you told him in a quiet voice. He merely scoffed and you gaped at him. “Look, I’m sorry that for you to be seen as a troubled protagonist I gave you some hard experiences but this is my story and it’s loved by thousands around the world.”

“Really?!” he asked as his eyes shot open, soon shaking his head. “The outside world is really strange.”

“You’re telling me,” you mumbled as you looked him up and down again. Brian cocked his head to the side, and you waved him off to carry on.

“It was then when I started to try and find ways not to do as I felt I had to. And there were a couple of times where I succeeded.”

“The gala!” you mentioned, and Brian smirked with acknowledgment. “I had such a hard time reshaping my plans because you stubbornly wouldn’t seem to get into the right mood!”

“That’s when I realised the people around me weren’t real.”

“They’re very much so real in that world!” you countered, and Brian shot you an unamused look. You glowered at him. “I haven’t worked hard all year as I have for you to sit here and say my characters aren’t realistic!”

“I didn’t mean they weren’t realistic, simply that they’re what you just called them, characters.”

“Be careful, you’re one too,” you grumbled, and Brian clapped his hands together. You gaped at him once again. “You do that when you want to keep Charli on topic! Are you treating me like her right now?!”

“You’re going off on a tangent. I offered you my side of things, and you’re too busy trying to defend people who don’t even know what they really are.”

“I once watched a TV series about characters in a comic book coming to their senses,” you murmured, turning pale. “How did that end again?”

“Y/N.” Glancing up at Brian, he shot you a comforting smile. “Please let me finish before you start trying to find ways to blow this out of proportion.”

“Because talking to you right now and being in your presence is completely logical.”

“I’ll ignore your sassy remark,” he warned and cleared his throat. “I started to grow aware of your presence. As if you were in the background of each moment pulling all the strings. I yearned to know more about you, and sometimes I would hear you talking to yourself about the scene you were struggling with.”

“You heard me?”

Brian nodded. “Quite often over the last couple of months, I believe it’s been.”

“How did you find your way to getting out here and helping me when I was sick?”

“Admittedly, I guessed there was at least a script somewhere controlling us. Then you got sick and left your computer on. It was the first time you had left the document open like that.”

“So let me guess. Whilst I slept, you found a way to find the script, realised there was another world outside of yours and reached out for it.”

“You called me out, Y/N.”

“Okay, now we’re really getting to the implausible here.”

Brian didn’t react to your disbelief. Instead, he stared at you in earnest. “Don’t you remember? You wished for me to help you take you to bed.”

“You… picked up on that?” you breathed out incredulously, and Brian couldn’t help but allow some amusement to curl up his lips further.

“Dream men are just that, Y/N. Brian Kang would never exist in this world,” he recited as if he had heard it in the past. Your hands rose to your mouth when you realised you had said that. Brian grinned. “Be careful about what you wish for, Y/N. Looks like I can exist in this world after all.”

You needed some fresh air, and after telling Brian so, you dashed out into your backyard, blinking rapidly when you realised how late into the night it was. Staring up into the inky world above, you tried to find some clarity within your situation.

Brian, in some form, seemed to exist. And he had not only looked after you when you were ill but had been messaging you somehow from within your computer. The document seemed to change because of his influence and all of this had started with your lack of energy to follow your usual pattern of shutting down the device at the end of the night.

Glancing back towards your house, you shivered. Had you left it open earlier, could there have been a chance Brian would have somehow come through the screen then?

“The concept of him coming out of such a small laptop is laughable,” you told the universe above, and yet it didn’t show you any signs to debunk the evidence you had either.

Although you were troubled and had so many more questions for the man inside your home, there was a sense of comfort that came the longer you spent your time with him. You had done so for countless months so far as his writer, and after the initial shock of the situation, you realised he felt like a home to you.

You then gasped noisily. Could this have happened with Jinyoung in Destined too, had you let it? Were all your characters out there holding different truths than the ones you had given them or was Brian the only one?!

Marching back inside, you walked into your office and opened up the first Destined document. And then you raised your hands to the heavens and nodded firmly. “Come out, Park Jinyoung!”

“What on earth are you doing?” a voice called from the doorframe, and you squealed with fright, stumbling over your desk chair and reached out for the table to save yourself. Brian’s hands quickly encircled your waist and pulled you upright, breathing heavily after moving to your side so fast to save you.

Staring up at the man who held you, you searched his face for signs of this being a trap. Perhaps the warning bells were muted in your mind the longer you appreciated Brian. He truly was the biggest self-indulgence you had succumbed to. And as you took him in for the umpteenth time tonight, you realised he was incredibly dangerous for you.

There was a reason you had dreamed him into existence in the first place. He was the person you had wanted to fill your world. And now that he was here, physically here, and holding you, some of the parts in his story didn’t need to add up anymore.

“You okay, Y/N?”

“You saved me,” you spoke, and Brian nodded.

“I wouldn’t let you fall if I could stop it,” he told you, his lips spreading out into the most beautiful smile you had ever witnessed in your life before.

You knew in that moment that you would blur every line there was to make sure Brian Kang didn’t go back to wherever he had come from.

You wanted him to hold you like this forever.

_________________

Part 5

All rights reserved © prettywordsyouleft

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[leomitchellart]

So… about this latest Inktober controversy….

Time to begrudgingly chuck in my two penneth… (Remeber you can always press “J” to skip this post altogether)

As most of you may or may not know, Alphonso Dunn released a Youtube video wherein he publicly accused Jake Parker, and creator of the Inktober challenge, of plagiarising his book. Both of these men are public figures, artists specialising in pen & ink. In the video Dunn looks at the preview pages and flip through footage of Parker’s “Inktober All Year Round” and says they draw many similarities in the illustrations, language and layout that he used in his own book, “Pen & Ink Drawing”. Parker’s book was set to this month. Hense why Dunn only used footage and not a physical copy.

Since the video’s release, the art community has been very spilt down the middle. The book’s publisher has halted the launch of Parker’s book until the matter can be investigated. Even DeviantArt cancelled their own Inktober event thing (I’ll admit I don’t keep up with these things DA keeps doing). Parker has since released a statement in the matter. Now it’s up to the courts to decide what’s happening next. The video itself is an hour long, but it’s crucial to see it yourself. 

People are, understandably, outraged after seeing it. This seems like a shitty thing to rip-off Dunn - not to mention stupid. Since Dunn is the more popular pen & ink artist with more social media followers and name recognition. Many have called to boycott inktober and condemn Parker. I’ll admit, I was right alongside them at first, at least for feeling outraged. The similarities are there. But if YMS’s Kimba video has taught me anything, it’s that, even if an accusation of plagiarism may be obvious at a cursory glance, sometimes it’s important to take a more critical eye and do more research to learn that things aren’t as cut and dry as they first seem. If there’s a lesson I can take away from the internet as a whole, it’s that no one thinks about the consequences of mob mentality.

The most common defence of Parker is that because they’re both books about pen and ink drawing, then they’re inevitably going to be similar. I’ll admit that, when you pick-up so many art books, a lot of them will cover the same basic grounds of materials, tutorials, strokes, techniques etc. The parts about rendering textures on spheres and cubes isnt new. Look up “texture study” and you’ll see so many examples of artists rendering these kinds of things digitally. I’ve also noticed a common theme of people more formally educated in art pointing out how none of these are original. Everything down to the steps and illustrations are things they’ve learned from years ago. Since I'm a pen & ink artist, inspired by my love of comics, I have quite a few books about inking: Dunn’s included. I own both his books and still highly recommend them. I didn't even preorder Parker’s book. Ironically because I didn't think it could offer anything new that my other books hadn’t already.

While Ethan Becker took the time to cross-examine Dunn and Parker’s books with several others, there weren’t many of the ones I actually owned. So I looked to my shelves to see what I could find. Books like:

“The Art of Comic Book Inking” by Gary Martin & Steve Rude

“How Comics Work” by Dave Gibbons & Tim Pilcher

“The DC Comics guide to Inking Comics” by Klaus Janson

“Making Comics” by Scott McCloud

“Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics”

I’m sure there’s plenty more examples out there. I was planning to go through all of these and take pictures. But ultimately that’s not the core point of these post. Plus it would’ve taken WAY too long and this post itself, is long enough.

Of course, none of the them are 100% close to Dunn’s in the way they’re displayed. Not as close as Parker’s could be considered. That being said, I know Dunn is trying to claim that he invented these techniques. The nucleus of the issue is how similar they are in terms of order and how these pages are displayed. Some I can chock-up to standard practice, while others seem more coincidental.

If there’s one thing I’m adamant about, it’s that I think that Dunn should’ve messaged Parker first before making the accusation public. Some try to dispute that this would've made it easier for Dunn to be “silenced”, whatever that means; but that sounds a bit conspiratorial to me. Ideally, you confront him about it in private, if he makes any threats or blows you off, get your lawyer on the phone and then make the video. Not only is it the more civil thing to do - but it’s the smarter thing to do. This is a serious legal matter, not just internet drama. While I’m sure Dunn had no intention of tearing Parker down or getting a mob onto him, that’s unfortunately what’s happened. A backlash both from the general artisan community and several companies. Wherein it was left to Parker himself to make this an official legal matter. If Parker’s found not guilty, then this could easily leave the gate open for him to sue Dunn for damages, loss of revenue, defamation of character or whatever else, should he see fit. As could the publishers, given how this affected their sales. Companies responded to the accusation of the video alone, before an investigation could be launched. Sure, it wouldn't be “acting the bigger man” but he’d be well within his right to do it. Dunn showed that Jake has mentioned him before, shown admiration for his career and referenced him in other posts. If it comes to light in court, that Dunn is even cited as an inspiration or source in the book itself, then it’s case closed. 

Then there’s the other possibility that Parker might not have done this on his own, but that he has a team behind the book. If that’s the case, the most I can accuse Parker of is being a hack. I worry Dunn has kneecapped himself for just how badly he’s handled this situation. Made worse by him not having an actual physical copy to assess and just had footage of preview pages to go on. So far, the circumstances don’t seem on his favour. 

I don’t think ill of Dunn. I do think he believes he’s been wronged and no malice in his intentions. I just think he’s made some critical errors on how to handled this. As for Parker himself, I couldn't give a donkey’s doo-dah about him. I’m sure you could accuse me of playing devil’s advocate earlier, but to me, he was the guy who released the annual prompt list. If it really does turn out that he’s a plagiarist and had malicious intent, then fuck ‘im. I never regarded him as an inspiration of mine or paid much attention to him outside of that. It was the community that made Inktober what it is. I’ve never met Parker. Maybe he’s a cool guy? Maybe he’s a bellend? I don’t know.

Granted this isn't the first time Parker has proved himself to be a controversial figure: - Last year people were upset about him trademarking (not copywriting, as many have erroneously claimed) the word “Inktober” and some artists were stopped from selling their related work or zines. Parker would issue a statement: claiming the takedowns were a mistake of “overzealous lawyers” and it’s just a matter of the logo being trademarked. People can sell their Inktober works and even mention they are Inktober-related. Just not use the official logo. On the one hand, from a business standpoint, I get it. It’s the bare minimum you need to do to protect your IP, especially when you have a store. BUT, like most people, I don’t like how, what’s intended as a community challenge, has slowly become more of a brand associated with one man. Hardly a surprise it left a bad taste in so many people’s mouths. But, since it doesn't actually effect anyone’s ability to take part in the challenge, outside of personal principle, I went ahead with it the previous year. 

 - The year before, when asked if one can do Inktober digitally, Parker said the following:

I know some are still bitter about that, but speaking as someone who inks traditionally and digitally, this came across as needless whinging and blowing things out of proportion. Claiming that Jake had derided digital artists and said they were invalid etc etc. Take it from me, challenging yourself to try out different methods to ink traditionally can greatly improve the work you do digitally. It’s like how learning traditional fundamentals of art can still be applied to digital. Plus he never said “No.” he just gave valid reasons about how it makes it a different experience. That said, if you’re someone who can’t afford any kind of inking equipment or pens and only have a selected application to draw on - then none of this applies to you. Just the aforementioned few who took it upon themselves to get angry over nothing. Recently I’ve heard from subscribers of his newsletter that he’s now embraced the idea of people doing inktober digitally, to the point of selling digital brushes for inktober. I’m sure some will call this “backsliding” or “money grubbing” because people aren’t allowed to change their minds or update their statements.

For weeks I’ve been torn on what to do, not being able to solidify one stance over another. One minute I thought #JusticeForAlphonsoDunn then I wonder “Wait maybe I should look again?” to “But wait, those are way too similar!” Having splinters in my arse from sitting on the fence for so long. The longer this went on, however, I began to realise that I can’t take one stance over another. This case is far too muddy and complicated. I don’t have enough sufficient knowledge or evidence. Nor do any of you. We literally only have Dunn’s video to go on. While it’s a good start, it’s not enough to be taken 100% as gospel when it’s the only thing to hand. 

As previously mentioned, a lot of artists have decided to not take part in Inktober at all, or follow different prompt lists. That’s completely fine. A lot of them are based around a specific theme: halloween, kinky stuff, bears, transformers, OCs, Disney or whatever. That has massive appeal. I just can’d do it myself. I prefer the focus on random words, rather than all centred on a single subject; allowing me to be creative with my ideas and execution. I actually did try to make a list of my own random words. Problem is, I worried that because I was choosing my own, I might be subconsciously bias towards certain prompts and not truly challenging myself. Even narrowing down my options was taking too long. In the end…. I’ve decided to just do the official prompts again this year.

For me, that’s what it ultimately came down to. TIME. It’s the middle of September. I can’t afford to wait for the court case to be settled. No other prominent artists I respect have released their own prompt lists. I know there’s been some shitty people who are condemning this choice. Attacking others, accusing them of supporting plagiarism, looking to block anyone who does the official prompts. Even trying to make this a racial issue. Just…. no. 

If someone doesn’t want to take part in Inktober, that’s fine. If someone wants to do the official prompts, that’s fine. If someone wants to do their own prompts, that’s fine.

Don’t go around aggressively making snap judgements or accusing people of taking a side. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable. This has been a shit year, let people enjoy something.

If you look at this situation and it makes you feel angry, and you don’t feel comfortable in taking part in a challenge because of it’s creator. I get that, I literally get that. It’s why I haven't done Mermay. And please don’t mention Pinktober, I’m aware of it, but given his insta video on the subject and the things he said, I quickly came to the conclusion that I can’t take this person seriously. I’m sure this might make me seem hypocritical, but how this differs, if only for me, is the sheer amount Inktober means to me. It’s more than a simple challenge. Inktober's the one thing I’ve been most excited about all year. As it was ruined for me in 2019, when I lost my home and I didn't get to complete every prompt. (Long story, I’m okay now). As we all know, 2020, has been an AWFUL year. We’ve got to take whatever joy we can. As I’ve looked longer at the official prompts, I found ideas I’m really excited for. 

Once I started to really dedicate myself to it, it became a massive event. I hype myself up as I prepare for the busy month. Buy in supplies, clean the house and workspace, cook and freeze meals in bulk to save time, printing off a sheet that allows me to jot down ideas as I plan ahead.  Then once it’s done, after so much work, it makes the reward all the sweeter: Ordering a takeaway, celebrating a great halloween night and still rocking those vibes throughout November. Feeling proud of myself for doing it and seeing myself improve my technique, discipline and earning a few lie-ins to make up for the sleep I lost working. I’m like a kid waiting for Christmas. That said, don’t think that there’s something wrong with you when you understandably can’t dedicate that amount time for a simple art challenge. If anything that’s plenty of reason to why you’re smarter than me. You have a life and don’t push yourself too much.

Now, I need to crack on with the preparations. If you want to boycott Jake Parker, just not buying any of his products should be enough. Doing the inktober challenge doesn't bring attention to him, as I doubt most people even know him as the creator, nor does it even line his pockets. I just hate how cancel culture can do such serious damage like this and then try and put pressure on others to act accordingly without even doing any research themselves. 

As long as you’re not harassing anybody. Just do what YOU want to do. That’s fine. 

[just-my-interpretation]

Date night

Fictober Event 2020

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Day 1

“No, come back!”

Roman and Janus get ready for their date. Or at least that's what Janus thought.

Also based on Miranda!'s song "Me gustas tanto" [I like you so much] because I have like zero originality. https://youtu.be/sqikoRiW7y0

Pathetic. That’s what it was. If someone had told him a year ago that he would be smiling like an idiot while looking at his boyfriend he would have answered with a sarcastic laugh. But there he was, watching his best friend’s brother get ready for their date while singing to an upbeat Spanish song. Definitely pathetic.

He liked him more than he should honestly, but he couldn’t help it. Roman had entered like a force of nature in his life and he couldn’t do much than watch as he wrecked all his defenses and left him completely smitten. But sure, any other human being could have been totally able to resist his chivalrous ways, his antics, his awful voice... He didn’t need to calm down at all, this was totally healthy and he definitely wasn’t way too invested for his own good.

He sighed and tried to shake the insecure thoughts away. It isn’t like this was the first time that it had occurred to him, but it wasn’t anything serious. Sure, things weren’t as smushy as they were at the beginning but every couple has his honeymoon face, and then things calm down to a new normal. Right?

“Jan, my dearest love, what do you think should I wear my red jacket or gray melange blazer?” His boyfriend asked, interrupting his train of thought. Immediately all his doubts were out of mind. How could he worry when the ugliest men in the world were in front of him pondering on the clothes he’ll use for their date? He couldn’t avoid the smile creeping on his lips. Curses.

“Why? I’m sure that either of those options would look absolutely terrible on you” he retorted with his usual sarcasm standing up to embrace the other.

“Oh, excuse you much? I’ll let you know that I look fabulous in either of them” he fake offense in the most dramatic way he could without leaving the other arms.

“Then why don’t you just pick one already, Wroammin?” he teased knowing that he had walked right into his trap

“Ah! You played me like a fiddle” the other lament pushing him away and closing his eyes to increase dramatism

“Oh, honey, no, I would never” he denied, raising his hand at his chest.

“You wouldn’t?” Roman questioned, peeking with only one eye and trying to figure out if Janus was being honest for once.

“No, dear, fiddles are actually very hard to play.” he explained with the most innocent look he could gather slowly getting closer and waiting for the other to let his guard down before landing his last punch looking at him dead in the eyes "I played you like the cheap kazoo you are" 

"Ah! You wound me, fiend!" Roman yelled, collapsing on the couch while faking an injury in his side.

 "I'm sorry, love. You've been getting ready for the last hour, you were practically asking for it and I couldn't help myself. You know I love you." He mock while taking a place next to him.

"Yeah, I guess..." He accepted lightly "but there are no second chances for first impressions, you know..."

Janus stopped in his tracks and had to take a minute to process what the other had said.

“First impressions?” He repeated, uncertain about what he was talking about.

“Yeah, tonight is the cast dinner, I send you a text after the script meeting tod-”

"No, you didn't" Janus cut, not a trace of a smile left in his face.

"Really? It must have slipped my mind" Roman brushed it off nonchalantly, not noticing the sudden change in the ambient.

All the insecurities that he was trying to bury in the back of his head immediately scaped from their little boxes and hit him like a truck. Stay calm Janus, it’s just a misunderstanding. I’m sure that if you offer him the facts he would realize his mistake. No need to cause a scene. He thought to himself.

"We have plans tonight" He tried carefully.

"We did?" Strike one. Breath Janus.

"Let me guess, it slipped your mind too?” he asked sourly.

“Whoa whoa, calm down. It's not that big of a deal” He inhaled sharply. Strike two. Calm down...

“So you're gonna skip the diner?” He offered again. He had to be able to take a subtle hint.

“What? No! I told you that there is only one chance to make a first impression!” Well, that does make sens- wait a minute!

“What are you saying?! You already made a first impression at the script meeting!” he yelped.

“Oh, but it's still a first impression outside of the workplace! You know this is my first real role and I have to be on the good side of these people!” Roman explained starting to worry about his partner

“But we already had plans for tonight” he pouted softly and almost resigned. 

Almost.

“Oh, come on! I can't just bail on them for a date!” WHAT? Strike number mother fucking three.

“What is that even supposed to mean?!” he raised his voice getting up off the couch and starting to pace around trying to not get emotional and think straight. 

“Isn't it obvious? It's not that important!” Roman call on also starting to turn up the volume as well.

“So now I'm not important??!” He snapped, all intents to avoid a scene left behind. 

“Woah!” he exclaimed, surprised, getting up from the couch and trying to reach for his boyfriend “You are blowing this out of proportion! It's just one night!”

“One night where you had a previous engagement that you didn't even bother to cancel! And you had me here all this time waiting for you like an idiot!” he countered stepping back to maintain some distance between the two of them.

“I thought we were hanging out!” The other groaned, getting exasperated.

“You didn't even pay me attention until you asked me to choose between your ridiculous jackets” he protested, next to incredulous.

“It's a jacket and a blazer, they are completely different” he shrieked reaching for the clothes.

“That's what you want to focus on right now!?” he full-on yelled, completely disbelieving at that point.

“You are the one that's blowing out of proportion one little mistake!” Roman insisted, throwing the red jacket on the couch.

“One little mistake? You've been canceling dates for weeks! You don't answer texts, you never want to hang out unless I just appear at your door!” he complained, letting out all his insecurities.

“I was preparing for a big role!” he unfolded, losing the little patience he had left “Oh my goodness, you are unbearable today! Do we have to do this now?”

“Why? Do you have anything better to do?” he inquired on the bridge of tears but he would be damned if he’d let it show.

“Yes!” he squealed “I have the fucking dinner!” he growled while picking up his stuff.

“I can't believe you! I swear to any higher Entity that you like if you go through that door you would have seen the last of me” Janus warned hoping that it would convince the other to stay and at least talk things up. Wasn’t he worth staying a while? Why wouldn’t he compromise and arrive late to make sure that his boyfriend would stay in his life?

“That's definitely a lie.” Roman accused bitterly, “And I can't believe you are doing this! You know what? Fine! Whatever fits you.” he resigned walking to the door. “I don't need someone that doesn't support me and my work, just leave the keys down the mat when you leave!” And with that, he slammed the door shut.

There was a split of a second where everything went silent. An eternity went through Janus' mind, trying to comprehend what just had happened. And then he breathed again. And then it dawned on him. He fucked up.

“No, come back!” He screamed running to the door and violently opening it. "Roman!" he cried into the hallway where all the neighbors definitely listened. 

It didn’t matter. He was already gone.

[myukulelegentlyweeps]

Nowhere Man : Part V

Pairing : George Harrison x F!reader

Summary : George was sick of the Let It Be sessions, took the day off and met (Y/n), waitress and amateur musician, who happened to be performing the song Nowhere Man at the exact time when he felt like one.

Previous chapters : Part I, Part I bis, Part II, Part III, Part IV

In this chapter : George brings you to a party to introduce you to the rest of the Beatles

Tag list : @givemequeen

Word count : 1.3k

A/n : Forgive me for the absolute crap speed of my updates, I actually get these written pretty fast but inevitably spend a week overthinking whether they’re good enough to publish, so yeah :))

BIG THANK YOU TO @chloe-on-cloud9 for beta reading!

Warnings : None

“Green one. End of discussion.”, Mary sentenced, making you scoff. She could become fairly bossy when it came to your fashion choices - you did not really mind, she knew best after all.

You were sat in the living room, looking at the near entirety of your wardrobe carefully displayed on the couch by your overly enthusiastic roommate. She had become very invested in your love life as of late, you could easily guess why ; so of course when she had learned you would be meeting all three of the remaining Beatles at Ringo’s house party that day, she had made it her mission to doll you up for the occasion.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come? You’re more excited than I am, and George said it was okay,” you asked for the hundredth time. Mary shook her head in response as she rose to bring you the green swing dress she had chosen : “I’ve already told you. This is your formal introduction as George’s girlfriend. I am honoured that you deem me worthy of being your escort-” “This isn’t a Jane Austen novel”, you interrupted, but she continued unfazed : “- but I can’t be third-wheeling. This is your time to shine! Now put this on.”

You rolled your eyes at the cheesy remark. She had some kind of Hollywood movie scene planned out in her mind, a grand entrance in slow motion, but you knew yourself : there would be no shining on your part, only a lot of stuttering and staring intently at the floor. “I just don’t want to embarrass myself on my own.”, you tried to speak while you pulled the dress on over your head. “What if I go all fan-like and-”

“(Y/n). You are beautiful, intelligent, witty, talented and overall amazing. The only thing they’ve got that you don’t is loads of money and, like they said themselves, money can’t buy me love…,” she hummed along to the well known tune. “Even if you do experience momentary stupidity syndrome upon the sight of the great John Lennon, embarrassing yourself is fun! You’ll laugh about it in hindsight. Picture it: you in ten years, telling your kids about the time you met their uncles and tripped over your own feet!” You raised an unimpressed eyebrow in response, but she had already gone off to her bedroom to find God knew what.

She came running back two minutes later, dangling two small glimmering objects in front of your eyes. You soon recognised them as her beetle-shaped earrings. “No.” “Yes”, she beamed. “No! Absolutely not!”, you repeated, trying your best to sound firm, but the smile plastered on her face was not vanishing, and it was taking everything in you to contain your laughter. She was out of her mind.

“You’re smiling! I see you!”, she practically cried out, making them dance in the air. “You’re smiling and you’re going to wear them. You know you want to.” You hated to admit it, but she was right. Somehow a part of you was begging you to put them on and be “that” person - you could never pass up the opportunity to throw some irony into a situation. With a defeated sigh, you took the earrings and threaded them on. “There. Happy?” “They match your outfit.”, she nodded enthusiastically. “Yes they do.” “Are you angry?” “Only a little bit.”

“I’m not going to have his children, you know.”

“Sure, you keep telling yourself that.”

***

“You alright, darlin’? Yer awfully quiet today”, George’s voice startled you out of your daydream. You didn’t know for how long you had been staring out of the car window, counting the trees on the roadside, but it must have been a while for him to be asking. You looked over to him, smiling out of the corner of your mouth : “I’m fine. Trying to prepare psychologically.”

“What for? Ye weren’t nervous when you first met me,” he chimed merrily, his hands steady on the steering wheel.

“Meeting you was different.”

“How so?”

“Well for starters, you told me your name was Arthur!”, you waved your index finger at him accusatively, causing the both of you to chuckle at the memory.

“If it helps, you could think of the lads as Eric, Fred and Michael today.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“How am I an idiot?”, he asked in a falsely offended tone.

“I’m sorry,” you apologised swiftly, lowering your eyes and furrowing your brows. “I call people idiots when I’m nervous.”

“John’ll love you.”, he laughed. “They’re all going to love you, I don’t know what you’re so worried about.”

“It’s not only about them!”, you blurted out, more intense than you had originally intended. Maybe you should have stopped talking, but you saw George’s puzzled expression and thought you owed him some honesty. “It’s everyone. I haven’t even told my sister we’re together, because it feels like the second people know, I will have to prove myself as someone ‘worthy’ of you. How do I do that? How do I prove I’m not just some bird you picked up off the streets for a shag?”

There was a long silence. He was processing your words, replaying that last sentence over and over again in his head, trying to make sense of it. You, of course, couldn’t hear his thoughts : all you could do was sink further into the passenger seat, hoping you had not been too blunt. A part of you wished you could go back and erase what you had just said, because the relief you had expected to feel was not coming in, and all you were left with was the fear of having ruined everything.

“Do you think that?”

“What?”

“Do you think you’re just some bird to me?”, he asked again, sounding genuinely concerned about the answer.

“No, Geo, of course I don’t, I-“

“You’re everything to me. I love you.”

“I know! I love you too! I’m just afraid is all, please try to understand…”

He became silent again, then proceeded to stop the car on the side of the road. Without a word, he pulled you into a hug and you were quick to surrender, resting your chin on his shoulder and melting into his warmth. A full minute must have gone by before he spoke up:

“I understand. ‘S just I’m so used to dismissing other people’s opinions, with the press and all…I’m sorry I didn’t realise it was troubling you. ”

“It’s okay. I didn’t tell you.”

“...Do you want to go home?”

You leaned back to look at him, surprised by the suggestion. Everything in his body language indicated he was being completely serious ; you couldn’t help but smile at how considerate it was of him to be giving you an out, despite having no intention to take him up on it. “Are you crazy? I didn’t spend centuries on my eyeliner just to chicken out at the last minute. I am meeting your friends if it’s the last thing I do.”, you joked, attempting to lighten up the mood. You figured he was thinking of your anxiety now, and did not want him to get things mixed up : you were only experiencing a bit of stage fright, driving back to London would be blowing it out of proportion. “I’m okay, George, really. I’ll have a glass of wine, get over myself, meet the bloody Beatles and realise how little all of this matters. It’ll go well.”

He nodded, relieved to hear the relative confidence in your voice. “Good, because Ringo’s house is just up the road,” he said as he started the car again. “You look stunning, by the way. I should be the one worrying.” “What are you talking about?”, you blushed, and he shook his head quietly : “Paul’s a huge flirt.”

[feminetflix]

De atracos y ab*rtos - Of heists and ab*rtions or How women are being robbed.

⚠️ this contains major spoilers for LA CASA DE PAPEL / MONEY HEIST season 1, specifically episode 3!

Personally, I have experienced the series la casa de papel (original title) or money heist as progressive, realistic and not afraid to deal with certain topics like domestic violence which I will be commenting on in posts yet to be published, female trans representation and occasionally peppered with numerous feminist parentheses (see characters like Nairobi and dialogues around/involving her opinion).

However, there are certain aspects I did not enjoy to watch / do not support. That is normal and every show has its flaws, those resulting all the more dangerous however, as money heist is not just any show. The series is thanks to its popularity by now a relevant aspect of people’s opinion-forming and plays into the perception of many people all around the world, coming from different cultures and having experienced all kinds of upbringing. The target audience is not specified, yet crime drama (the genre) is estimated to target both females and males aged 15-40 years old. Means, also targeting minors and adolescents. Again, all cultures / religions / races / classes etc etc included.

I am fully aware that this kind of range was not expected and therefore not taken into account by producers, talking about the first two seasons that were solely meant for a Spanish audience, not an international one. (The series was initially intended as a limited series to be told in two parts. It had its original run of 15 episodes on Spanish network Antena 3 from 2 May 2017 through 23 November 2017. Netflix acquired global streaming rights in late 2017). The analysed / discussed scene is indeed part of this maybe not so carefully crafted content. Cough.

Let’s get right into it.

Characters interacting: Mónica Gaztambide (Esther Acebo), one of the hostages who was also Arturo Román's secretary and introduced as his mistress and “Denver” (Jaime Lorente), one of the robbers participating in the heist [Denver is an alias, all robbers being referred to with city names]

Context: Mónica has an affair with Arturo Román (Enrique Arce) -hostage and former Director of the Royal Mint of Spain- which leads to an unwanted pregnancy. Numerous factors influence her (for now) final decision: she doesn’t want the child. Shortly after, the robbery unfolds and she’s taken hostage among other people. She then requests an ab*rtion pill, which at some point arrives in the mint alongside other medical supplies. The scene analysed: one of the robbers (Denver) is supposed to hand her mentioned ab*rtion pill. Before that he holds an emotional speech on the subject, morally risen forefinger, accusations and tears included.

Here the dialogue without comments:

————Now my opinion / the actual post:

“You need money, right?” One might think that the amount of money seen in this frame (20.000,-�� approx. $21.701,50 according to Denver) is an exaggerated, way too generous gesture. Let me tell you, it is not.

According to a 2017 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average cost of raising a child from birth [to] age 17 is $233,610. If that made your heart skip a beat, take a deep breath before you read on. Incorporating inflation costs, it will be more like $284,570. Since that’s based on 2015 numbers, we can expect the cost will be even higher, babies born since then.

[…] This average includes everything from housing, food and transportation to healthcare, education and childcare to clothing, personal care items and entertainment.

Let me now remind you that Mónica is a secretary, so she likely earns (barely) enough money to be financially independent herself (taking into account that she lives near or maybe even in Madrid, her workplace, the Royal Mint situated there, so housing alone is hella expensive) and can’t really expect reliable support coming from the potential child’s father, Arturo Román, either, who initially denied support himself, their relationship a secret to the family and wife he already has. Phew.

Btw: A University of California at San Francisco study found that women who were turned away from ab*rtion clinics […] were three times more likely to be below the poverty level two years later than women who were able to obtain ab*rtions. 76% of the "turnaways" ended up on unemployment benefits, compared with 44% of the women who had ab*rtions.

“Enough to get the kid diapers until he graduates.” The problem or let’s say points raised above are now also being ridiculed or not taken seriously to say the least.

She takes the money, sticking to her decision however. “So, what’s the problem?” Or “Then, what is it?” A million additional things, Denver, believe it or not a potential child is a big deal. That and none of your business.

Also, see the reaction? How he stares at her in disbelief (and possibly even disgust, see the risen corner of his lips?). How he looks at her as if she were heartless, selfish, a monster – the picture often painted in this debate when it comes to women who decide to terminate a pregnancy. How he doesn’t respect her “no, thanks” and continues. Continues influencing her, later on even starts to mansplain his way into her stone cold heart. Okay, then let me continue as well.

“That he’ll f*ck up your life? […] Your son. Better to have your life f*cked up by your son than any of these sons of b*tches. Or me.” Call it ‘f*ck up’ or not – that is entirely her perception, her decision and I’d dare to say…she knows best.

First, because regardless of the fact that she is a woman and you are not – well it is indeed her life and, uhm, excuse me Denver, you’re no sibling, no friend, no acquaintance, quite the contrary, you have known her for what? Three minutes and already jump to conclusions?

Take the privilege of explaining her how a child would f*ck or not f*ck up her life?!!

Secondly, what makes him assume the gender of this cluster of cells, this potential future life, this basis for a potential life that may later on develop into a life (it is not a walking talking baby boy already, my friend!).

Personhood begins after a fetus becomes “viable” (able to survive outside the womb) or after birth, not at conception.

Does it provide a smooth transition for that awfully funny and figurative “son” – “sons of b*tches” (org. Hijo – hijos de p*ta) line or is it literal propaganda?

Why does he say “your son”, although he cannot possibly know? I’ll tell you. In order to distract the audience from the fact that he is referring to a pea-sized basis for a potential life by painting the picture of an already existing male human being. Mónica, do you really want to murder your son? Mónica, does that cute little doe eyed baby boy really f*ck up your life? Yeah, propaganda at its best.

Also, another example for ridiculing the point “a child would destroy my life” by comparing an unwanted pregnancy to a literal robbery at gun point. Great one.

“This f*cks your life up. A kid doesn’t.” Do you see that raised gun, that is quite literally an extension of a raised index finger? Wow, the drama. On a different note, did you notice the symbolism? A weapon stands for death, murder and guess what is also often equated with murder.

“How do you know what f*cks up my life? What do you know?” Finally. Exactly. He doesn’t know her, like at all. He doesn’t know her situation and no, he’s also not the pregnant one or anyone who would have to worry about that.

What do you answer to that, hmm? Let’s make this whole dispute even more emotional and dramatic. That ‘a cute little son isn’t as bad as a robbery’ didn’t convince her?

Let’s try with an extraordinary f*cked up and tragic life story, nobody asked for. Its goal? Showing the oblivious, naive, little secretary what real ‘f*ck up’ means, despite the evident lack of any sort of knowledge when it comes to her life (story). Again, conclusion-jumping and wallowing in prejudice at its best.

Have a look at his expression while ‘lecturing’ her. How disrespectful, how belittling. ‘Oh please, what do you know about life?’. On a wider scale: ‘How could we possibly trust women to rationally and with a clear conscience decide such things for themselves – concerning life and death, if they have not the slightest idea, living in their bubble of security and stability and no real problems’ etc. This is everything but taking women and their reasoning abilities, their judgement seriously.

“My mother was going to ab*rt me.” Now the audience doesn’t only have the mental image of a potential cute little son, it is furthermore provided with the image of a living, breathing human being standing right in front of them. Just look at him and his pleading puppy dog eyes. No actual child actor could have done it better.

Thank god she did not go through with the ab*rtion, right? Oh thank god she was not allowed to.

Taking advantage of this frame to remind you of the fact that we are still talking about a POTENTIAL future life, not an existing one that is nevertheless put above the mother’s already existing life in this impudent, low and unfair debate.

“But first…she inhaled the heroin she had to sell to be able to pay for the ab*rtion. Then she was caught by the police. Between jail, drugs and the police, I was born. What do you know?”

1)Adding even more emotions, subtle accusations and drama to that oh so rational dispute? Check. Making his situation seem two thousand times worse than hers (which he, again, has no clue about)? Check. Subconsciously painting the picture of reckless, irresponsible drug addicts/ “lowlifes” or generally female members of “society’s margins” usually being the ones to abort and make it seem like the state’s or whoever’s responsibility to prevent them from deciding for themselves? Check.

2) Then he even tears her valid ‘what do you know (about my life)’ out of the initial context of being confronted with endless assumptions and prejudice and blows it way out of proportion in order to demonstrate the insignificance of … everything concerning her? Her background, her life, her reasons. Everything.

And FINALLY *drum rolls* the wild theories and hypotheses and presumptions she was dying to hear because since he, I repeat for the twelfth time, has no actual clue about her life, let’s make up one.

“Because it seems that you don’t have a very exciting job. And maybe outside of work your life is not that great either. Or what is it that you do? ‘Kilates’? And Friday night drinks, right? What a f*cking drag. Another plan ruined by the kid[…]” That and the entire following paragraph. Wow. All accusations thrown at women who decide to abort in one.

Because OF COURSE a middle aged, down to earth, intelligent, responsible woman like Mónica Gaztambide has no other reason for terminating a pregnancy than not being able to drink alcoholic beverages or party anymore. Because OF COURSE it is valid to assume a woman or any person for that matter one has known for half an hour and interacted with for literal five minutes has a boring enough life that would not be affected in any way by a pregnancy, birth and ultimately being forced to raise an unwanted child. Because OF COURSE Denver would know how much a pregnancy can affect somebody, especially one that is forced upon a person. Quite frankly he has no idea and no right. The audacity.

“Do [your friends who are also mothers] seem f*cked up? / Do their lives look f*cked up? No, right?” Because you know best. Not only regarding her life but on top of that also that of her friends. Because those pregnancies or motherhood in general did under no circumstances end a career or prevent them from pursuing one in the first place or cause the end of a relationship or force them to stay in a toxic or even abusive relationship or change their financial situation completely or rob them of their fragile financial independence and/or free time altogether or cause any (mental) health complications or … you get the point. Oh, and because their situations are completely identical to Mónica’s situation, that is additionally not half as dramatic as your life story. Of course, Denver.

Seeing the ‘rational’ argument doesn’t really work, let’s add yet another dramatic, emotional rhetorical question. As a precaution.

“Do you know how much a child can love you?”

How could she, being the heartless, cruel, selfish, irresponsible, ridiculous and impulsive murderess you’re ‘exposing’ her as?

⚠️ Another spoiler warning for seasons 3 and 4 and still 1.

Would Cincinnati - that’s her sons actual name, not alias – really love her like he does now?

Friendly reminder: his biological father (Arturo Román) let her know - right from the start - that he wouldn’t take on any responsibility whatsoever, regardless of his later statements about doing so. Why those statements don’t matter? Despite his awareness of her state, despite knowing she was pregnant he shortly after urges her on to steal the cellphone she is caught with right after the analysed scene, ready to risk her life and the potential life of his unborn child. Literally, because as soon as she is caught with it, Berlín orders Denver to execute her.

So to those of you who will now say “but- but Cincinnati is okay and has an amazing life and does love her” etc etc, first think certain things through. If Denver wouldn’t have spared her, if she didn’t just happen to get together with him and if the heist didn’t just happen to work out like that, what then?

Cincinnati would have a different name. What else? Well for one, he wouldn’t have a father (that is now Denver) like at all, resulting in possible daddy issues / issues in general. How I know Arturo, the biological father, wouldn’t be there for them, wouldn’t fulfill all his empty promises?

Did he canonically care about his son? Was he devastated that he was not given the possibility to see him or did he instead focus on that random book of his and his speeches about heroism and honour and so on? If he wouldn’t have called his wife by his mistress’s name and through that expose himself, if his family wouldn’t have left him all alone, don’t you think he would stick to them? Just to paint a picture of who the father is and how he behaves and what we can assume from that behaviour. So the probability was high she would’ve been left alone with I quote “all the love” and of course all the responsibility. It’s a thing, Denver.

Secondly, if she didn’t just happen to turn into a millionaire thanks to the heist working out, would she really be able to provide a life for Cincinnati? Would she really be able to remain financially independent? Would her life at her son’s side really be all peace and harmony if she wouldn’t just so happen to be able to live from heist money?

So many coincidences, so many risks and no security. Can we really blame her? Do we have the right?

With these questions I will end this seemingly endless post and leave you to think about it, reflect certain things and – if you want to – share your opinion(s) with me. Please don’t hesitate to do so, as long as those contain rational arguments and most importantly respect. Thank you for reading!

(Also: sorry for the extensive censoring, I had to, otherwise it wouldn’t appear in the tags.)

[holdin-out-for-a-hero]

Rookie (Leon Kennedy x Reader) Chapter 9/?

Words: 2,862

Warnings: none

A/N: yesterday and the day before were the 21st anniversary of the events of RE2!

"Ada, where are you?" Leon called into the abyss.

The words "over here!" Echoed through the room. Within the darkness, he could only catch a glimpse of red. He ran over to where he saw it, his eyes adjusting to the lack of light. He could make out her arms, her legs, and finally her face. Then he saw the shrapnel. It’s metallic sides reflected the beam of light from his flashlight. He looked closer; it had torn through her pantyhose and was imbedded in her thigh.

"I can't get it out," Ada sighed shamefully. Leon kneeled down and gave her a look as if he were asking for permission. She rolled her eyes. “Oh, just do it already! I can't walk like this!"

"Ok... It's gonna hurt," he replied. One hand rested on her thigh while the other gripped the piece of metal. He counted to three, then pulled it out as quick as he could. Ada tried hard not to show her pain, but a whimper still passed through her lips. “Hold on," Leon told her, rifling though his pocket for first aid supplies. He pulled out a roll of bandages and disinfectant and began tending to Ada’s wound.

You were just now turning the corner to where Leon and Ada were, since Leon had run ahead. Looking past the mound of garbage, you saw him bandaging her up. it wasn't an inherently romantic gesture, but it still felt off. Maybe it was something about the way he touched her, or maybe it was just jealousy. You shook that thought away, realizing you were blowing things out of proportion. It was probably nothing.

But then it wasn't nothing.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily," Leon moved closer to Ada. "You protected me, now it's my turn." You noticed he didn't say "us," he said "me." Leon held her hand and helped her up. "Grab my shoulder" he said.

"Don't push it, Rookie" she replied. He smirked. You could tell he enjoyed women who were hard to crack, women like Ada.

"Ok, just trying to help." he said, that stupid smile still hadn’t left his face.

You and him weren't a thing. You were just two people trying to survive the apocalypse. So him and Ada shouldn't have bothered you. But you felt the tension, and as much as you'd hate to admit it, you liked him. A lot. It wasn't professional, and you gave yourself hell for it, but maybe, if the two of you made it out, you would want something more. But with one flutter of her lashes, Ada beat you.

"Y/N," Leon called. The two of them had just noticed you. "I found her," he smiled, your way this time.

"Great" you forced a smile back.

There was a moment, just before Leon had said something to you, that your face held your true feelings. A micro-expression, if you'd even call it that. Leon didn't catch it, but Ada did, and she caught on quick.

"Let's go," Leon said, trying to help Ada walk, though she was refusing.

"To where?" You asked.

"If you two really want to help, then we've got to get to the NEST." Ada said, limping through the ankle-deep water as quick as she could.

"The NEST?" Leon asked.

"Umbrella's lab, right beneath us" she replied. "Annette let it slip, that's where the virus samples are."

You noticed that she would only made eye contact with Leon when talking, and he did the same.

"You up for this?" Ada asked Leon.

"Think I can't fit it in my schedule," he said, the corners of his mouth twisting into a smirk.

You felt like you were going to throw up.

"And how about you?" Ada called over to you. You hesitated a moment, surprised she acknowledged you.

"What do I have to lose?" You said. It wasn’t a lie.

"Then come on. We've got work to do" So the three of you headed off. And you were now the unofficial third-wheel.

Ada held her wristband against the scanner, and the doors to the cable car opened. Leon headed inside and looked around the car. Ada trudged over to a bench, sitting down and resting her weight on her good leg. You just stood in the corner. You didn't want to get too close to Ada or Leon after what you had just seen, so you just looked down.

"This may be a one way ride, so be prepared, Leon." Ada spoke up. He pulled the lever on the control board anyway, starting the car's descent to the lab below. It was silent for a moment as Leon looked out the window of the cable car.

"You know what I was thinking?" Leon began, "I can't wait for the FBI to raid umbrella headquarters and bring those bastards to justice!" He spoke to Ada.

"I agree... but to be clear, you're not working under official capacity," she looked at Leon, and glanced at you for a moment, before speaking again, "This is a federal case. Once we get the G-Virus, I'm back on my own"

Leon clenched his jaw, looking away from her. He pondered what she said: So she wants help to get the virus but that's it? She just wants to be left alone and injured after the job is done? Of all people, an FBI agent should know that plan wouldn’t work. Unless she knew something he didn’t...

"Hey, Leon... trust me?" She asked as if she knew she said something wrong.  He bounded up the steps towards her.

"You trust me?" He raised his voice; he already knew the answer.

"Honestly... If i didn't, you'd probably be dead," she said. A lie, you thought.

"Right..." he said, unconvinced as well.

Ada felt her plan was beginning to crumble. When she first met you and Leon, she just wanted you out of her hair, but you both were so skillful and she realized that the two of you could be useful. Thought as much as she wanted to count on both of you for help, though, she could only trust Leon. Because Leon wanted to believe in good, in justice, and in the government. She hadn't known him very well, but he was clearly a rookie. He was too trusting, and that's what made him so special. You, on the other hand, had doubts from the beginning. Ada knew you wouldn't pull though, you asked too many questions. So, in the hope of saving her plan, she played the victim card.

"Look, I thought I might need your help, and I was right," she said, looking into Leon's eyes as if she were looking for any hint of pity. "If you can secure the G-Virus, then I can make sure what happens in raccoon city never happens again." She glanced in your direction, and with one look she knew you weren't buying it.

"Ada..." Leon began, sitting beside her, "you said it yourself. It's a federal case. Look, I already-"

"Leon, look at me." She interrupted him. She knew only one way to keep a man from asking questions. She also knew that this certain strategy would likely split you and Leon apart, which would play out better in her favor. She saw the look on your face when Leon and helped her with her leg, she saw the glances and felt the tension. She wasn’t stupid; she knew you liked him. But she liked her job, and that would always win over anyone’s feelings. She looked at you, and then back at Leon. "I'm a liability now," she said, feigning shame. "If I'm gonna finish this case you're the last hope I've got."

You watched as she slid her hand over Leon's thigh, lightly squeezing as she looked into his eyes. She was playing him, you knew it. But it didn't hurt any less. He turned away slightly.

"I'm not just gonna leave you here, what if you're attacked?, what if you need help-"

Ada cut him off again, this time pressing her lips against his. Her hands cupped the sides of his face, and she quickly glanced at you to see if you were looking. You were. And though the look in your eyes made her feel a little guilty, it was nothing she couldn't get over.

Ada was sexy, smart, and such a horrible person. You knew it. You were right all along. She was nothing but a master manipulator and Leon was just the naive rookie who fell for it. You knew she didn't care for Leon, but you knew he cared for her. She won, and whatever plan she was up to he would help her with it. You never made a move on him because you knew everyone at the precinct would've called it irresponsible, but maybe if you had, Leon would trust you over Ada. He wasn't blameless in this either, and just as quick as your heart broke, the sadness was gone and replaced with anger.

Ada pulled away just as the cable car stopped moving, and once the door opened, you stormed out.

"Y/N, wait!" He yelled, jumping up from his seat and following after you. Ada crossed her arms as she watched Leon walk away, she knew her plan worked.

You heard his footsteps from behind you as you walked towards the automatic door entrance to the lab. Pressing the button, you hoped it would open quick enough that you could still avoid Leon.

"For your safety, stand clear until the doors are fully open," an automated voice said. Great, there was more then one door. You crossed your arms. Just as the first one finished opening, the second one started, revealing a third door. Leon was behind you now.

"Y/N..." he began, trying to look into your eyes but your gaze fixed on the final door as it was opening.

"I don't have an issue with you and Ada," you began, clearly a lie, "but she's using you and I can't believe you're letting her."

He paused, processing what you just said, then gave a shocked laugh. “Oh, so she actually makes a move and you accuse her of using me?" He replied.

"How can you be so oblivious? She's been rude and condescending to us all night and now that you've proven yourself capable she wants a kiss?” You glared at him "she's using you to do her dirty work." The third door finally opened, and you walked into the dark facility.

"How can you be so sure?" He scoffed. You turned around, Leon was walking behind you.

"Because I was a woman on the force. When I was tired of paperwork I'd just bat my lashes and Elliot or David would come help me,"

"So you manipulated them? Is that what you're trying to say?"

"It's what she's doing to you. I hate that you can't see it!" You glared at him. The lab was dark, so you couldn't tell the expression on his face. He stood silent for a moment, leaving you in anticipation for his reaction.

"And so what if she's using me?" He began, crossing his arms. "The government needs the sample and Ada's too injured to get it. It's up to us now. I'm sorry she kissed me, but we should talk about that later. Let’s just get the sample and get the hell out of here. It’s useless to argue about it.”

You knew he was right, and as much as you wanted to stay angry at him, you knew it wasn't going to achieve anything. 

"Fine," You said, "but you better be right. I still don't trust her." He laughed.

"Oh I know you don’t.” he said, walking past you. The lights of the lab turned on from the sudden motion, and you could finally see your surroundings. You were in a lobby, seemingly untouched by the chaos that brought down the rest of the city. The automated voice began speaking again. "Welcome to nest, enjoy your visit!"

So this was Umbrella’s secret lab, from just the looks of the lobby, it was a very expensive facility. The walls and floors were tiled white and still shone like they were just cleaned.

You walked over to the receptionist desk, stepping behind it and looking around. There wasn't much on the desk except for the PC and a flash drive, the PC was still on. You swiveled the mouse, waking up the PC and let your curiosity get the best of you. Most of the files were encrypted, but lucky for you the attendance log was still open. You looked over the names, times, and dates and something seemed wrong about them. Maybe it was because the file was oddly named the "nap room log" or maybe it was because the last person, Wayne Li, never left. You looked back down at the flash drive again and it hit you: whatever is on Umbrella’s servers, it could bring them to justice. So you saved the log, hopefully you'd find out what it means.

"You almost done?" Leon asked, waiting for you to finish. You ignored him and pulled the drive out of the computer. "Silent treatment, huh?"

"Not silent treatment, just selective speech"

You replied, hiding the flash drive in your pocket.

"You look done to me. Let’s get going." He said, waiting expectantly.

"What are you in a rush for? You can't wait to see Ada again?" You mocked him.

"I just want to get out of this city as quick as I can," he said. You sighed, one thing he was good at was diffusing a situation. He gestured for you to come with him, and you did. The two of you fell into a tense silence.

The hallways, though fully lit and perfectly clean, were unsettling. Maybe it was like the calm before the storm, you thought. You held onto your gun a little tighter than before.

You were right about the calm before the storm, because turning a corner changed it all. Blood was everywhere, on the floor, the walls, and when you looked up, you froze. Blood was on the ceiling too, along with claw marks. You grabbed Leon's arm, pulling him back.

"Hey" he said. you threw your hand over his mouth, it was too late. Claws could be heard scratching against the ceiling as not only one, but two Lickers galloped toward you. Leon grabbed you and ran out of the way, hiding in the corner of the hall. Just a moment later, the lickers were where you previously stood. Leon pulled you toward him, one arm around your waist and one on the back of your head, pushing you into his chest. You shut your eyes tight, burying your face into his shirt. You could hear his heart beat, strong and quick and loud, oh so loud. You prayed that they couldn't hear it. Or yours, which you bet was beating just as loud. Leon's shirt muffled your quick breathing, but he himself wasn't so lucky.

Leon watched as the two lickers listened for a sound. They were just feet away now. Any sudden movements, and you both would be dead before you even had the chance to pull out a gun. He so badly wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't take them off the creatures. He could finally take a good look at them, though he wished he didn’t. They looked like creatures that had just crawled from hell, with all of their juicy tendons and muscles on the outside of their bodies. He tried to control his ragged breathing and his gag reflex, but it each step the lickers took made it harder for him.

You heard his heartbeat quicken even more. This must be the end, you thought. And though Leon couldn't save you, You dug your fingers into the sides of his shirt anyway. Leon held his breath, but you could still hear his heart pounding in his chest.

After what felt like an eternity, the lickers made their way back down the hallway and around another corner. Leon slumped his shoulders and let go of the breath he was holding. His arms found his way back to his sides. You quickly separated from him, looking anywhere but his face. It wasn't until you let go, though, that you realized how comfortable that position was.

Leon locked eyes with you, and for a second he gave you a smile, the same cocky, teasing smile he showed Ada just a little while ago. Your heart skipped a beat. But he liked Ada, and there was no denying that. You crossed your arms and turned away from him. Still, no matter what you did, you couldn't stop thinking about that embrace. Stupid Leon with his stupid perfect body and his stupid perfect face and his stupid cute personality.

You shook those thoughts away, for you know you had to face those lickers again to get the sample. You looked down at your watch, 3:47 am. This night was far from over.

[littletayyswriting]

The Sun Still Waits Here (With the Moon and Stars Beside It)

Title: The Sun Still Waits Here (With the Moon and Stars Beside It) (1/?)

Author: LittleTayy

Rating: Teen

Characters: Marisa Coulter, Lord Asriel, Lyra Belacqua, Ma Costa

Summary: Marisa Coulter and Lord Asriel certainly try their best. They love their daughter. But Lyra Belacqua is undoubtedly her parents’ child.

( An AU story, set in our modern world. )

AN: This is based on the TV show. 

Read On: AO3

Prologue

All Sins, Secrets and Scandals Revealed

secrets

.

She is still Mrs. Marisa Coulter when Lyra is born, two weeks early and with her husband still away on business; the both of them screaming as Lyra enters the world. It is all pain and joy and immense relief for Marisa. It is simply her and the nurses and midwives in the birthing room, no easily fooled husband or tempestuous lover to crowd and coddle her.

The infant is still crying, still making a God Awful noise and Marisa reaches for her, practically snatches her out of the nurses hands. She is small and still a little red, fussing in Marisa’s arms. Already she can see the dark hair littered along the crown of her head and she is surprised at the glimpse she captures of her dark eyes as her daughter gazes up at her.

Her daughter. Her child. She is a mother now and quite frankly, it’s almost beyond Marisa’s comprehension. She is responsible for the bundle squirming in her arms, now quieted by the cooing Marisa hadn’t realised she’d been doing.

Marisa’s focus is purely on the baby now. Everything else around them has disappeared; the Prime Minister himself could walk into the room and Marisa wouldn’t give a damn. Instead, she’s looking at her child, the perfect mixture of her and Asriel, cataloguing every feature. She’s pleased to find that Lyra’s features favour her own for the time being; hardly any of Asriel seems to be in her. For now at least.

It’s two days before Edward arrives home all pride and bluster, excited at the prospect of finally having a child. He is disappointed Lyra is a girl, Marisa can tell. Though the ultrasound had confirmed that at 5 months, he’d held out hope, much to Marisa’s annoyance. Still, he’s charmed by the baby, even if his interest in her wanes by the time the week is out.

Marisa doesn’t mind though. Lyra is hers. The less time Edward spends with her, the better in her opinion. 

.

sins

.

It’s a month before Asriel is finally back in Britain, let alone in London. He shows up unexpectedly at the Coulters apartment. Though he knows it’s dangerous and bordering on audacious, but he’s already spent a month apart from his child and his lover and he won’t wait another moment more.

He steps off the elevator and into the penthouse apartment, surprised and yet not at the young woman that greets him. It takes a moment for him to realise she is the Nanny, though she has no child in her arms. The young woman, whose name he has already forgotten, directs him towards one of the rooms at the other end of the long hall.

Marisa is there and Asriel feels as if he’s never seen her before now. She is the most unkempt she’s ever been but she’s got the baby in her arms and is cradling her, holding her so softly and gently, he wonders if she’s been taken over by a bodysnatcher. The Marisa Coulter he knows is neither soft nor gentle. Yet here she is with a baby in her arms, looking so gloriously soft and beautiful beyond belief.

Her eyes snap up and meet his for a moment, a smile blooming wide on her lips before her eyes turn icy. Her expression turns sharp, though she is still smiling her shark-like smile and her eyes move to the figure behind him. “Leave us,” Marisa instructs, voice brooking no room for argument. Asriel doesn’t need to look back to know the girl will scurry away, though she can’t be more than a few years younger then Marisa herself. Marisa had always had the uncanny ability to unsettle and intimidate others with a few words or a simple look. There’s a wretchedness to her soul but it’s one Asriel loves.

Once she is gone, Asriel makes his way further into the nursery, taking a moment to glance around at the pretty pastel toys and accents and the detailed, hand painted stars and planets that adorned the ceiling. He shouldn’t have been surprised by the almost Renaissance feel of the artwork. Marisa was nothing if not particular and he knows she had planned the nursery out in every last detail. The night-scape a homage to their shared fondness for the stars.

“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t come,” Marisa tells him almost nonchalantly. The words are light but Asriel knows better.

They’d had a fight a few weeks before she’d given birth and Asriel had run off abroad to do some kind of research. It was a thinly veiled excuse to get away before their fight blew up into something worse; which it was prone to do when they both let their tempers get the better of them.

Asriel scoffed, though it was out of amusement. “I could hardly just leave my research team a month early,” he replies, stepping closer and letting his eyes fall to the baby girl in his lovers arms. He doesn’t add that he almost jumped onto a plane the moment he’d heard she’d given birth two weeks before she was supposed to. Only Stella, his research assistant had stopped him.

Marisa simply gives him a look but he ignores it as she finally relinquishes her hold on the child and passes her over. Lyra is perfect, is the first thing he thinks, as she settles in his arms and her wide dark eyes look up into his. She might have his chin but mostly, he can see Marisa in her more than anything. He wonders if that’ll change, if as she grows she’ll look more and more like him. He rather likes the idea of her taking after her mother, though.

Holding his child for the first time, he wants to ask what they are going to do. Marisa is the schemer, the planner of the two of them; so he knows she must have something in mind. He knows a divorce would be the simple answer but Marisa has never been simple .

“She’s…” he starts, a finger caressing the baby’s soft skin, trying to think of the perfect words to describe the infant. He looks up at her then, watching Marisa as she watches them.

She steps closer and he can see that she is itching to have her daughter back in her grasp once again. He wonders if she has let the Nanny do much of anything since Lyra’s been born, he has a feeling he already knows the answer.

“I missed you,” Marisa admits and Asriel can only assume her soft emotions are simply still an effect of hormones. His Marisa would never have admitted such a thing.

Despite all that, Marisa is still magnificent and she’s holding their child. Really, Asriel reasons with himself, how is he not supposed to kiss her? Their child is nestled between them, held securely in her mother’s arms. The kiss is heated and passionate and filled with something neither of them can quite describe.

It’s almost perfect.

If Marisa’s name wasn’t still Coulter. If the Nanny hadn’t been lurking outside the door. If they’d just been more careful.

.

scandals

.

By the time Lyra is six months old, Marisa’s reputation is in tatters, ruined almost completely.

The Nanny, whose name even now she could not remember, even after she’d ruined her life, had started whispering in Edward’s ear. It became clear very quickly that she’d seen and heard far more then she was supposed to. Marisa supposed it hadn’t helped that she and Asriel had gotten swept up in the emotions of having a child together, that it had made them careless.

That it had made Asriel careless, Marisa decided. Showing up announced to see her and the baby. Enticing her out to his estate. She was a new mother, surely her actions could be blamed on hormones or some such thing. That’s what she’d tried to argue at least.

Edward Coulter, though usually easily fooled, could not ignore the glaring evidence of photographs of Marisa, Asriel and Lyra together, taken on multiple occasions over multiple weeks. Each photograph more condemning than the last, making it clear to anyone that looked upon them of Lyra’s true parentage.

His outrage turned to anger and really, it was quite unfortunate that Marisa and Lyra happened to be with Asriel when he found them. Accusations and taunts and curses hurled between both men, though most of Edward’s hateful words were directed at Marisa, until the two men came to physical blows. The gunshot was loud and unexpected and had set Lyra off in a wail.

It had not been at all how Marisa had wanted things to go. She’d expected Edward to be angry but pitiless, agreeing to a quiet but amicable divorce, lest she reveal to the public his cuckolded humiliation. Edward Coulter’s public high profile was something he coveted, almost as much as Marisa herself coveted her own.

Instead, Asriel was trialled for shooting dead her husband and their affair and secret love child as the press had dubbed Lyra, were all public knowledge. The whole situation infuriated Marisa and the vicious, petty part of her nature had her refusing to talk or see Asriel and by extension, keeping him away from Lyra.

It was needlessly cruel but Marisa had reasoned with herself that she was Lyra’s mother. She was simply protecting her child. After all, the death of a Cabinet Minister by the hands of his wife’s lover, who also happened to be a titled Lord was a scandal of epic proportions. Lyra was only a baby and Marisa was determined to keep her name out of the papers as much as she could, no matter how illogical it all seemed.

Her temper tantrum, as Asriel called it, lasted until Lyra was almost a year old. Their scandal, now that Asriel was found to have killed in self defence, the gun had been Edward’s after all, was slowly leaving the forefront of people’s minds. It should have come as no surprise then, when a month before Lyra’s first birthday Marisa turned up at Asriel’s estate, declaring that they needed to prepare for her birthday celebration.

They didn’t talk about it, not in any real way but by Lyra’s first birthday, they’d hired a Mrs. Costa to look after Lyra, her nursery had been all set up and Lyra and Marisa’s things had been moved to the estate as discreetly as possible. It was exactly as Marisa had always wanted it.

And to top off the first year of her daughter’s life, Marisa had made sure that the Nanny that had whispered recklessly to her husband, was never heard from again.

[bnha-thots]

Worry

Shinsou x Reader

Summary: A hero’s life is full of countless injuries. It doesn’t mean you won’t worry, however, when Shinsou gets injured. Angst. Comfort Fluff.

Mod Shinslut

It was a minor injury really. Just a sprained ankle he had gotten while he was being careless, dodging a villain’s attack. Not to mention a few cuts and scrapes. He was so focused on maintaining his grip on them with his binding cloth, that he hadn’t been paying attention to where he landed. It was bad luck that a loose pipe had been there, and he ended up landing on it, tripping as his ankle twisted uncomfortably. Sure, it had hurt, but after painkillers and a few hours off his feet, he felt fine.

More than anything, he was annoyed with himself. This was one of his first missions, and he’d already made such a careless mistake that would keep him off his feet for at least a week. Not the best start for an up-and-coming hero.

When you came to pick him up at the hospital, however, the distraught look on your face was enough to make guilt roll in the pit of his stomach. He never liked worrying you with the details of his hero life, he knew that it was only natural for you to worry about him putting his life at risk every day. The sight of the crutches didn’t help, your eyes darkening when you saw them. He didn’t even think he needed them, but when he tried to hobble on one foot, you practically shoved them back under his arms.

After he’d filled out the release papers, he spoke, uneasy with your silence and lingering glances at his foot wrapped in bandages. “It’s just a sprain. Nothing to worry about.”

You glanced at his injury, before sighing, ruffling a hand through your hair. You looked stressed. Shinsou’s guilt spiked. “I didn’t know it was just a sprain when I rushed here, Hitoshi. All I knew was that an automated message from your hero agency called me to tell me you’d been hospitalized.”

There was something else that was bothering you, but you weren’t telling him. He waited till you two were in the comfort of your shared apartment though. And sure enough, you exploded.

“Don’t you think you could have called me at least, Hitoshi? Do you know how many times I’d texted you? How worried I was because you wouldn’t answer?”

Shinsou grimaced, unease settling deep in his stomach. He limped over to the couch, before settling himself on the couch awkwardly, one leg propped up on the coffee table. He hadn’t thought to text you, assuming that he’d come home on his own, and would explain his injury once he got home.

“Sorry,” he offered, knowing it was a lame excuse. “My phone died.”

The way you practically burned a hole through his head made him regret using it regardless. “Shinsou… What if something happens to you and the only way I find out is through the news or through some shitty automated message again? Do you even care about that? About me?”

Shinsou was beginning to get annoyed. He grit his teeth. “Look, I wasn’t planning on getting injured, (Y/N), okay? I wasn’t planning on not calling you. I don’t know why you’re accusing me of these things. You’re blowing this way out of proportion.”

“Am I?” you stressed. “Am I making this a big deal? Or am I just worrying about you because you won’t worry about yourself. Honestly, Shinsou… I don’t know about this hero thing. I really don’t.”

Shinsou felt something squeeze painfully in his chest. You’d always promised to support him, to be cheering him on when he became a hero. And the thought of losing that? The words were out before he could stop them.

“If you’re not sure you can handle it, then why are you with a hero in the first place?”

The words rang heavy in the air. He felt your punctuated silence, heard your angry footfalls as you stomped down the hallway before slamming the door shut. Shinsou sighed, ruffling his hand through his hair. He had calmed down enough to realize he’d fucked up.

He limped over to your door, knocking once. At no response, he knocked again. Twice. “(Y/N).... Open up. Please?”

Again, no response. Shinsou bit back the frustration growing in his chest, sighing. There were more important things to deal with. He had to be more… persuasive. “(Y/N), if you don’t open the door, I’ll be standing here all night.” He managed to inflect his voice with a hint of amusement. “And the doctor said I shouldn’t be putting too much pressure on my ankle….”

He heard the sound of your sniffles grow louder as you approached the door, before unlocking it. As soon as he caught sight of your red eyes and tear-stricken cheeks, he was enveloping you in a hug.

“Hitoshi, you’re such a jerk,” you sniffled, punching him lightly in the chest.

“I know. I’m sorry,” he said genuinely. And he was sorry. He hadn’t realized how much the thought of you leaving him scared him until now. He squeezed you tighter against him.

“N-No, I’m sorry. I support you 100%. I-it’s just…” You sniffled. “I worry about you sometimes. Especially k-knowing I can’t do anything to help. That I’m… useless.” Your fingers were knotting themselves in the loose fabric of his shirt anxiously.

He gently tangled his fingers with your own, ceasing your movements. “You’re not useless. If anything, you’re the most…” He swallowed anxiously, his throat suddenly feeling dry. “...important person in my life. You’re one of the reasons I keep moving forward, my motivation. That means you’re infinitely more precious to me than anyone else.” Heat crept up to his cheeks at his honest proclamation. Even he hadn’t expected himself to reveal that. He buried his face into your hair, under the guise of pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I was frustrated. I took it out on you.”

“And I-I’m sorry for getting mad at you. You didn’t deserve that,” you said, winding your arms around his waist.

“...You can’t keep saying sorry if I’m apologizing first,” he teased, once his heart rate had slowed to a reasonable pace. “It makes my apology look weaker. It’s less meaningful”

You huffed in faux annoyance. “Well, too bad, because I also fucked up.”

“...You did,” he agreed.

You stared up at him admonishingly, slapping his chest. “Are you blaming me? After all that talk about me being important to you, precious, blah blah.” You groaned.

He chuckled. “Of course not.” He brushed your fingers against his lips, and despite your annoyance, you smiled, rolling your eyes at him. You pressed a short, chaste kiss against his lips. Since you were so close to him, you noticed him shift his weight onto his good leg awkwardly, his quiet inhale of discomfort.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?”

“Mm. Maybe.”

“You dummy, who told you to stay up? Let’s get you back to the couch.”

“Mm, the bed’s much closer,” he said, and there was something suggestive about his tone, the way he pulled you closer to him.

“Hah! You’re not doing anything strenuous until that ankle’s fully healed, Hitoshi. Sucks for you.” You stuck your tongue out, grasping his hand before throwing a wink at him over your shoulder. “But at least that means I get to be your nurse.”  

[yourdreamscenarios]

When a famous artist hits on you

∙ Request ♡ ∙ Word count: 2,881

"But you promised Tae..." You mumbled softly, hoping that no one was able to hear your pleading voice over the endless conversations which were going on around you. Carefully you let your eyes linger around the room, wishing that no one would be paying any attention to you. Still, you felt as if there was a major spotlight shining down on top of you, without even trying. "I know, but I promise I'll be there! Just give me thirty minutes." He answered, causing you to press your lips together into a straight line instead of answering him. Right now you felt like one of those girls in the movies, the one who go set up, the one everyone feels sorry about. To be quite honest, you even felt sorry for yourself. "Just forget about it." You hissed, knowing by the way je started stuttering that he was actually planning on saying something, but you hung up on him before he could. The last thing you wanted to hear right now were his excuses. What he had been doing this time which caused him to be late. It wouldn't be a surprise to you if he'd got stuck at practice or if he'd lost track of time. 

He always had something to say, and each time you were expected to let him get away with it. You were so tired of being the one who got dressed up for a great night out but always being the one sitting at the table by yourself. Date nights with Taehyung were something you were looking forward to, because it were practically the only times the two of you got to spend some alone time together. During his free days his members were always there and it was hard for the two of you to get some privacy. Even on nights like these it seemed impossible, because there was always someone watching you. But how could you make this work if he wasn't even trying. Slamming your phone down on the table you ignored the stares you got from the couple which was sitting next to you. They either thought you were being noisy or recognized you, in which both of them were a bad thing. Each and every time you hoped things would be different, that he wouldn't forget this time around, that he had learned his lesson. 

But it seemed as if you were fooling yourself. Even though you loved him to death, sometimes you wondered if you deserved better. Was it so much to ask for someone who didn't cancel on your plans and who tried to put the same amount of energy in this relationship as you did? You knew from the moment you fell for him that this would be hard. You knew he would be busy and he wouldn't be home often. You had accepted the fact that he couldn't always celebrate your birthday with you, or that he couldn't always fly straight back home once something terrible happened. But you did expect for him to be there on the days he promised you he would. How were you supposed to relay on him if he never proved himself worthy of your trust? Brushing your hand through your hair you knew you should just leave. What was the point of staying? Even the waiters were beginning to give you funny looks now, as if they'd placed a bet to see if your date was still coming around or not. What was the point of torturing yourself even longer? You'd been waiting for almost an hour, you were done. 

You could have been dressed in your pajamas by now, spread out on the couch with a glass of whine, waiting for your boyfriend to get home. It sounded much better than continuing to make a fool out of yourself. While you let your hair fall in front of your face you began to search for your bag, knowing that you should probably leave a tip since you had kept the table occupied for such a long time without actually ordering any food. “Do you mind if I sit down for a minute? I’m so sorry for bothering you.” A sudden voice spoke up in front of you, causing you to freeze in your seat before your head popped up. Blinking your eyes in surprise you looked up at the guy who had suddenly settled down on the chair in front of you. It was obvious he was trying to shield his face from the window, as if he was running from someone. You frowned softly as you shifted in your seat, wondering what you were supposed to do. You didn’t know this person. His accent immediately caught you off guard, he wasn’t from around here, that much was for sure. 

Perhaps it was the awkward atmosphere which was surrounding you, or maybe he was just raised with good manners, because it didn’t take very long for him to lift his eyes towards yours. He was wearing a apologizing smile as he covered the side of his face with his hand. If he was trying to be subtle than you could tell for sure that it wasn’t really working. “I’m really sorry, I’m probably ruining your night but they wouldn’t stop following me and I just had to get away from them.” He explained, staying very vague about the entire situation. Yet, you were no idiot. As soon as you got a good look at his face you recognized him. To say that you were surprised was an understatement, still you controlled yourself as you smiled back at him. “I can imagine.” You said, leaning back in your seat and forgetting about the fact that you were looking for your bag and were getting ready to leave only a few minutes before. What was he doing here? Shouldn’t he be at the other side of the planet, working on his own career and being busy with his own music? You would never think that you had the chance to get in touch with someone like him, and definitely not on a night like this. 

“I’m Shawn.” He muttered, dropping his hand as soon as he seemed sure that the danger had passed. His shoulders fell back, the tension in his body seeping away as he looked at you with a friendly expression. Somehow you had to try really hard not to roll your eyes at him. You wondered if he still had to introduce himself to anyone since you were sure that everyone knew him. Yet, you didn’t want to take away the opportunity he seemed to have found himself, and so you simply smiled. “It’s nice to meet you Shawn. I suppose the threat has subsided?” You joked, and you watched the way he shot you a sheepish look in return. It was so strange, all night you had been waiting for someone to take in that seat in front of you, for someone to join you at this table. But you had never expected it to be anyone but Taehyung, and definitely not Shawn Mendes. To say that you weren’t a fan would be a lie, you liked his music. But because you knew how to behave yourself around celebrities, you weren’t someone who was going to jump on top of him to get yourself an autograph. 

“I didn’t mean to disturb you, you’re probably in the middle of the something.” He apologized, obviously feeling slightly flustered because he had used you as a way to escape from his own misery. But you couldn’t blame him. If the paparazzi had actually been after him he wouldn’t have been able to get rid of them without taking any desperate measures. It seemed like you had been the first thing which had come into his mind. “Don’t bother, I was actually getting ready to leave. It seems like my night didn’t go exactly the way I wanted it to.” You said, and you knew you sounded wry. You knew that a guy like him didn’t need this right now. He just wanted to continue his night, since you were sure he was here for a reason. Now that he had finally been able to get rid of the people who’d been following him he just wanted to get back into the night and get towards his destination before he’d have to leave again. Besides, you weren’t someone to share your relationship problems with a stranger. Yet, his expression was thoughtful as he gazed at you, as you reached for your coat. 

“Would you like another drink?” He suddenly asked, pointing at your currently empty glass of whine. Stilling your movements you shot him a doubtful glance. Getting involved in a situation like this was definitely going to get you into trouble. After all, his juicy story wasn’t the only one the paparazzi was after. If they would find you out here with a guy other than your boyfriend, it would definitely stir things up, and you weren’t sure if you were up for any more drama. The world accusing you of cheating was the last thing you needed right now. “I promise I won’t poison you. I just think your night isn’t supposed to end on bad terms.” He suggested, and even though your head was telling you that this was a very bad idea, you also couldn’t really find a reason to say no. This didn’t even mean anything, you were just going to have a chat with a guy who’s night seemed to be just as screwed up as yours. Having a drink with someone was one of the most normal things in the world, and if others wanted to blow it up into major proportions than they should do just that. Yet, the fact that you were sitting across of another celebrity wasn’t making this situation much better. 

But instead of saying anything you simply shrugged your shoulders. You were nowhere near the mood to answer that right now. Whatever was going on between you and Taehyung was none of his business and after all, you loved him, and hearing someone else talk like this about him behind his back didn’t exactly make you feel any better. But perhaps you felt better now that you’d been able to cool off a little bit, and you were sure that your confrontation with Taehyung would be more manageable now. At least you no longer felt the need to yell at him, or to accuse him of being a bad boyfriend. “I think the two of you would like each other though, you two kind of have the same interests.” You said cheerfully, taking a sip of your whine because it seemed like a waste to leave it here now that someone already seemed to have payed for it. Shawn frowned to that, as if he wasn’t really sure what you meant. Yet, before you were able to explain anything to him, you were interrupted from your actions for the second time that day. “_____________?” Taehyung’s appearance came as a surprise to you. 

You hadn’t expected him to come after your short phone call from before. He was breathing fast, as if he had been rushing over here as fast as he could. And his eyes were wide as he took in the situation in front of him. Clearing your throat you set down your glass before you decided this was a great time to introduce these two to each other. “Shawn, this is my boyfriend, Taehyung. Taehyung, this is Shawn, I unknowingly rescued him from being attacked by paparazzi since you were too busy showing up to our date.” You said, making sure to keep your voice sweet as honey as you leaned your chin inside of the palm of your hand. Several kinds of emotions seemed to flash across Taehyung’s face, but confusion seemed to be the one taking the over hand. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again when he couldn’t seem to think of anything. “Oh, he’s your boyfriend! I had no idea! It’s great to meet you man, I’ve heard so much about you.” Shawn said, jumping up from his seat to shake the hand of the other man in front of him. The sight was quite comical, and it almost caused you to burst into laughter. 

“You know, your girlfriend is a great person. I spotted her sitting here all by herself and I thought I should make a move, but she friend zoned me nice and smoothly. You better show up next time, because I can’t promise I won’t try again.” Shawn joked, causing the cheeks of your boyfriend to color bright red. Shawn patted him on the shoulder before he turned back towards you, sending you a playful wink. You watched surprisingly as he swallowed the rest of his whine in one go before placing the empty glass of whine back onto the table. “It was a pleasure ____________, I hope your night ends well after all.” He said, smiling brightly at you, which you could only return before he walked towards the door and disappeared behind it as it fell close behind him. All of a sudden it seemed as if it had all been some kind of crazy fantasy, but somehow you were sure you weren’t going to forget this any time soon. Taehyung stood there for a moment, on the exact same spot as he thought about what he should do. Eventually you had already succeeded in gaining the attention of the entire restaurant. 

It seemed like he decided that scolding you wasn’t the right thing to do, because he sighed before he took in the chair opposite of you, the one Shawn had been sitting on just a while ago. This night was filled with surprises. “I’m sorry.” He mumbled, sounding slightly embarrassed, but you could still hear the disbelieve inside of his voice. It was obvious he couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. In his eyes you could see the million questions he didn’t dare to ask. What had his girlfriend been doing here with another man? Had something happened? Should he be mad? “I told you the truth. He suddenly showed up because he was running from some group of photographers and he asked me if I wanted another drink. We talked, I told him I had a boyfriend. And of course I explained to him why I was sitting alone at a table for two.” You mocked, crossing your arms over your chest and leaning back in your seat. He sighed, brushing his hand through his hair and sending you the same puppy eyes he usually used in these kinds of situations. You pouted your lips, trying to stay strong and convincing yourself that you shouldn’t give into him this quickly. 

Leaning across the table he tried to unlock your hand from your iron grip around yourself, until you eventually gave in and allowed him to take your hand inside of his. “I really didn’t mean to be late. I even told the others that we had plans tonight. But Jungkook wasn’t feeling well and we took him to the hospital and I didn’t want to leave him there all by himself.” He started, causing your mouth to drop onto your chest in awe. You couldn’t believe you had been such a heartless person, and that you had been angry at him because of this. All of a sudden you felt as if you were the most terrible person on earth. “Oh Tae, why didn’t you just tell me? I would’ve understood!” You said, finally allowing yourself to forget about all the anger you had been feeling. You couldn’t believe that you’d been sitting here, being upset over some stupid date, while one of his friends was ill and he’d just been trying to help them. “I knew you’d be upset because I wouldn’t be able to come. I thought I would make it…” He muttered, but you quickly hushed him as you laid both of your hands inside of his and pinched his fingers. 

This discussion was unnecessary, you no longer had to hear anything else. It seemed like this time around, you had been the idiot and you were the one who had to apologize. “I’m so sorry you felt like you couldn’t tell me.” You mumbled softly and felt the way he returned your squeeze this time around, his fingers feeling warm around yours. When you looked at him you could see there was a small smile playing around his lips. “It wasn’t like that.” He assured you, and eventually you couldn’t think of doing anything else than sigh. This had been a night full of surprises and different turns, and right now you just wanted to go home. But you knew there was one thing you had to do before you did that. “Let’s visit Jungkook, I want to know how he’s doing.” You said, smiling and you could tell he was relieved because this matter seemed to be solved. The both of you got up from your seats, and you knew there wasn’t another person you would have wanted to leave this place with rather than him. 

∙ BTS Masterlist ♡ ∙ Masterlist ♡

[anachilles]

hey! about ficlet ideas about hanna x jonas maybe one where when jonas is sober the next day he apologizes for trying to kiss her?

Hey anon!! I was originally planning on only doing short lil ficlets for these prompts, but after having so many emotions because of Friday’s clip of them, this one got away from me. So thanks for the prompt/inspiration!!

Words: 2.6k

Summary: Jonas needs to apologise for the way he acted the night before, and may have gotten more than he bargained for when Hanna puts everything into perspective for him. Whether he necessarily wanted to hear it or not.

» [ read on AO3 ] ☼

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[ SAMSTAG; 12:16 ]

In the stark light of day, clear (but sore) headed, Jonas knewhe’d fucked up. Actually, no, he knew that last night pretty muchinstantaneously after he did it.

Waking up, thankfully in his bed (God bless Matteo for seeing tothat), feeling like he’d been ran over by a semi-truck and regretting what hedid the night before was becoming a regular occurrence for him lately, and hecertainly didn’t feel any better for it.

After he woke up, he just sort of lay there and contemplated theaborted move he’d tried to make on Hanna, cringing through every second of thememory. The whole night was submerged in a drunken fog, but that particularmemory cut through it and he recalled it clear as day.

Jonas couldn’t believe he’d done that.

He was wasted.

He was upset.

He missed her so fucking much.

He... was an asshole for putting her in that position.

Despite their rocky break-up, the last thing he’d ever want inthe world was to hurt her, or make her feel uncomfortable.

Jonas closed his eyes against the sun streaming in through thegap in the curtains, and groaned as he tried to scrub some of the ache out ofhis eyes with his fingers.

In the cold light of day he just felt like a massive arcshloch. Andit didn’t sit comfortably with him.

Hoisting himself upright, Jonas grabbed his phone from itscharger on the bedside table. He sort of dreaded to unlock it, flopping downagain against the pillows.

Whatsapp: [Hanna]: Did you get home okay?

There went that funny feeling in his chest again. The dumb,pathetic one that raised its head any time Hanna so much as acknowledged himthese days.

He took a moment to scroll up through their chat log, noting allthe times she’d tried to initiate conversation, to reach out to him - but ithad been too painful for him to do anything other than leave her on read orblow off her offers to catch up.

[You]: Yeah lol, all thanks to Matteo

She read the reply pretty much instantly. Jonas nervouslychecked his other messages (firing one off to Matteo in both appreciation andapology), and flicked through a couple of apps, waiting for... literallyanything.

He tended to miss her most in the quiet moments. Where she’d beexactly here on the other side of the bed, stretched out beside him, or cuddledin close to or around him. Just existing together. Totally at ease.

When she didn’t say anything in response, Jonas feltinevitability creeping round the corner. He had the insatiable itch to run awayfrom this situation, to avoid it, shut down communication, quash it down andpretend it wasn’t an issue. If there was one flaw Jonas had that he was nowcompletely self-aware about, it was his tendency towards avoidance and wilfulignorance rather than facing issues head on and dealing with them outright. Howthat allowed things to spiral and blow out of proportion and control.

It led to destruction and pain for all involved.

So, basically, he knew he had to put on his big boy pants andactually deal with this. He couldn’t imagine walking into school and seeingHanna every day with this dark cloud hanging over them, as much as he’d beensulking and wallowing this past while.

Taking a deep breath, Jonas started to record a voice message.

[ “ Hey. I, uh... I understand if you’d rather not, but do you...want to meet? Like, later today maybe? What I did last night was shitty and Ijust want to apologise face to face. You deserve that much. If not - that’scool. Bye “ ]

 [ SAMSTAG ; 15:31 ]

 Every nerve in Jonas’s body buzzed with nervous energy, practicallyvibrating where he sat in the little booth, right in the corner of the coffeeshop as he waited for her.

The coffee shop was dimly lit, cosy (with seating that was actually comfy), not far from school,and served the best homemade coffee cake they’d ever had.

It was strange; the place was as comfortingly familiar asit always had been, but the overall vibe felt… off. He and Hanna used to come and waste so much time in here theywere practically on first name basis with some of the baristas, but he didn’trecognise anyone behind the counter that day. Big, ornate maps hung on theaged, wood-panelled walls in decoration, and had prompted countlessconversations between the two of them about all the places they wanted to seewhen they left school.

Hanna talked wistfully of having wanted to go on a girls’holiday with Leonie and the rest to somewhere warm; like Italy, or maybeGreece, before all the drama and had shit not hit the fan as badly as it did.

(Looking back, Jonas feels guilty about not taking the sadnessin her voice as seriously as he should have. More examples of his God-giventalent for wilful ignorance. Maybe it was easier to pretend and convincehimself that she was okay).

Jonas talked, somewhat jokingly (but also sort of not) aboutwanting to go with Matteo and the boys to Amsterdam.

But the best conversations were the ones about the tripsthey’d promise to take together. Most ideas were far-fetched, dumb and probablynot feasible (at least finance-wise) anyway, but it was fun and dreamy enoughjust to talk about and imagine going on adventures to all those cool places withher.

“OnceI’m selling out arenas all over Europe, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go”

This is Jonas’s first visit back to this place the break-up.

His leg jiggled incessantly up and down and he worried athis lip with his teeth.

Eventually, the door opened and he saw a familiar head ofred hair. And his heart promptly dropped into his stomach.

“Hi…” she greeted carefully, approaching a littlecautiously before sliding into the seat across from him. She looked tired.

A ghost of a smile twitched at her lips as she nodded downtowards the table, upon which sat what was recognisable to her as her usual drinkof choice, and between her cup and his, a plate with a slice of coffee cake onit. One fork.

“You didn’t have to”

He shrugged.

“It’s nothing. Call it penance, or a peace offering orsomething”

Hanna nodded and took a sip from her cup, then picked upthe fork.

“I’m not sharing this with you, by the way” she said, hervoice edged with a slight hint of playfulness.

“It’s all yours” he replied, throwing his hands up inmock-surrender.

“Knowing you, you probably already had a piece before I gothere”

“More like, ‘couldn’t stomach it’”

The comment appears to yank Hanna’s mind back to the matterat hand; why they’re actually here. And it wasn’t for coffee, cake, and mutualreminiscing. Her face fell back into a serious expression.

An extended beat of awkward silence settles over the table.Neither look directly at each other, and neither speak. As if they’re bothwaiting for the other to go first.

Jonas is the first to crack.

“Look – I’m reallysorry about what happened last night. The position I put you in; it was unfair.I was w-”

“Wasted. Yeah, I could tell”

Jonas felt guilt settle in his stomach, her accusing tonecutting somewhere deep inside him. He started fidgeting with his hands under thetable.

“I don’t mean it as an excuse, just… explanation”

“You were always a sad drunk” she commented.

He laughed humourlessly.

“That’s why I smoke weed so much more than I drink. Well –apart from recently, obviously”

It was true. Even in back when things were normal, he had anotoriously small barrier between ‘fun and tipsy’ and ‘drunk and maudlin’. Hedidn’t always like who he was when he drank, but somehow between now and thenthat fact had become easier to disregard.

He looked across at her sincerely, body suddenly still andat peace, and she slowly met his gaze.

“Honestly, I’m really sorry if I made you feeluncomfortable. I’d never intentionally do that to you, I was just… too drunk.And upset”

Hanna nodded in acceptance, but her face remained serious.

“It’s okay, I forgive you. Forget about it. But for real,man – what’s been up with you these past few weeks?”

“You know what’s beenup with me”

“I don’t really, seeing as every time I try and talk to you,you shut me out!”

“You can’t have it both ways, Hanna! You broke up with me,which I understand, but it hurt. Itstill hurts, clearly. And it hurts even more you trying to be my friend rightnow because it feels too close to what we had before, and it’s playing with my feelings”he explained, visibly frustrated.

She looked as if the words had reached out and slapped her.Fuck, he hated disappointing her but what more could he do now than just tellthe truth.

“It was easier before school started again. Before we hadto see each other every day, and Matteo started talking to your girls, andCarlos got involved with Kiki. I thought I had it together but all theproximity just made me realise how not over you I actually was” Jonascontinued, speaking more honestly than he had in a long time, even to himself.It was these sorts of thoughts he’d been running from – clouding in smoke, drowningin alcohol, and blocking out with the deafening club music.

Thoughts he didn’t entertain because they made him feelpathetic whilst Hanna was out there being amazing and having the time of herlife. That made him wonder why he couldn’t be like that too.

Hanna’s expression turned sympathetic. Almost painfully soft

“I get where you’re coming from. And I’m sorry for tryingto force something you weren’t ready for. It’s selfish, but I just… reallymissed you. No matter ‘where’ we are, I’d never want you to not be in my life,so maybe I hung on a bit too tight when I should’ve let you have space”

She took a breath, with which came a steely edge to her voice.Jonas tensed, knowing what it looked like when Hanna had something she needed to say.

“But that being said, in the nicest possible way, you needto pull your head out of your ass with all this dumb self-destructive shit you’redoing. Seriously. All the drinking, getting high in school and before exams,wallowing. If it’s all for dealing with pain, then you’re just going to end uphurting yourself and feeling worse than when you started”

Jonas feels like he shouldfeel patronised or annoyed at what she was saying, but honestly - he was sotired and sick of everything that he knew it was what he needed to hear. Theincident with Hanna last night had been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“And if it hurts just to see you like this, I can’t imaginewhat it feels like inside your head. But you owe it to yourself more thananyone to sort things out”.

It was uncomfortable to hear, but it was necessary. He’d beenlooking practically everywhere but her eyes before as it took it in, but suddenlylooked up and met her gaze.

“Be the best version of yourself you can manage, and thebest possible things will come to you” she finished, causing Jonas to have asudden break of hilarity in what should’ve been an otherwise serious moment.

“Did you come up with that last line all by yourself?” he joked,smiling despite himself.

“Okay – it might’ve been something Amira said once, but itwas a good point!”. Her smile mirrored his.

The jokes and laughter felt easier between them, likefamiliar ground. It was a dynamic they both felt comfortable in together, andstill came easy to them. It made Jonas happy to see that was still there atall, though he had his suspicions after the secretly shared smiles between themat the Christmas party.

“I’m excited to see you be ‘you’ again – you deserve to behappy” she said, still smiling at him. It made his chest ache a little, but nowsomehow it felt like a more bearable pain.

“You too. I didn’t realise how much I missed seeing yougenuinely happy until after everything was over”

Hanna smiled solemnly and nodded, taking the final sip ofher coffee that ended up emptying the cup. She unlocked her phone screen infollowing silence to check the time, then looked out to the grey, dimming skiesof Berlin on a winter afternoon.

“I should probably think about heading home. Dad’s home thisweekend and I promised him I’d help him make dinner; ‘bonding time’ apparently”

Jonas chuckled lightly as he started gathering his stufftogether.

“Which we all know to be Hanna-code for ‘watch him peelpotatoes while I sit on insta’” he teased.

She quickly flipped him the bird before getting out infront of him and leading them outside.

He hung around for a second more as she unlocked her bike fromthe rack, more comfortable in a moment alone with Hanna than he had been in along time.

Once the bike was free, she turned to him.

“Remember to be nice to Matteo, by the way. He sulks aroundlike a lost puppy whenever you guys aren’t speaking”

Jonas rolled his eyes.

“Oh c’mon, that was one day!”

“And all that sorrow on his little face for that one daywas almost too much to bear. You need each other”

Assuming she was alluding to the tense situation with Matteo’shomelife, Jonas instantaneously decided that he’d call him when he got back.Thank him properly and check in.

They hesitated for a second after that, prompting a silenceJonas didn’t know quite what to do with. Hug her? Wave?

“Thanks for meeting with me. It helped a lot – and I’msorry, again” he settled on, with a curt nod.

“No worries. I’m glad we did it too. See you around”

Then she cycled away, and he stood there watching herleave, icy wind whipping her hair about her face as she rode.

Jonas leaned up against the lamp-post he was standingbeside and pulled out his little pouch of rolling tobacco and papers, making acigarette for himself and lighting it. The first inhale immediately calmed him.

Of course, not everything had magically been fixed and maderight. He still loved her more than he’d ever imagined loving anyone, he still missedher so much it ached – their laughs, their intimacy, her overall presence inthe world and inclusion in his orbit. It still hurt to feel a distance betweenthem.

But he felt so much… lighter. Like he’d unloaded some arduousburden on his soul by sitting down and having an honest conversation with herabout everything, coming clean about what he felt. And hearing how she sawthings too. It felt like a step forward to something better.

He loved her, and maybe he always would. Maybe he’dnever stop at least a tiny bit of himself from wanting her back – but for thefirst time in a long time it felt possible to accept the reality of the breakup. Perhaps even move on.

At the very least stop sulking around and torpedoing hisown life in self-pity and melodramatic heartache. Feel better about himself.

Inhale.

Exhale.

He set off home, her smile lingering in his mind.

[fallen029]

Birthday Mayhem

It felt like a typical day, honestly, for most of the guild members at Fairy Tail. In fact, it actually was. There was the typical drama in the hall of so and so arguing with whoever about this or that, but Mira was still there, serving drinks, Kinana tacking up jobs, and Makarov, in his old age, was seated atop the bar as usual, staff in one hand and eyes closed in deep meditation (or sleep; probably sleep). People were milling about the busy hall and things were just...peaceful.

Fairy Tail was, for the first time in a long while, at rest.

Happy, the typically most at ease whether times were stressful or not, did not feel this peace that day. No. Instead, he was wracked with nerves.

"What's wrong?" Lucy yawned a bit as, being such an early hour, she'd come around the hall for some breakfast before taking a solo job (she was really strapped for cash; she didn't have time for Natsu's typical shenanigans that went along with going on one with him). She'd just been served by Mirajane and was about to take a bite of her toast when, suddenly, a blue ball of fur crashed onto the table. She hardly batted an eye at the Exceed though. He, too, was known for his antics. "Happy?"

He took a deep breath in, the feline did, before looking quickly around, as if trying to place someone. Apparently satisfied, he then looked at the celestial mage and informed her, "It's Lisanna's birthday."

"Oh, is it?" She smiled then, Lucy did. Or, well, she was, and in fact was in the middle of replying how nice that was, when Happy reached with his furry pawn to grab one of her sausage links. Quickly dragging the plate away from him, she remarked in annoyance, "What's that gotta do with you shoving your gross paws in my food, cat?"

Defeated (in that portion of things, at least), Happy frowned just as heavily at her. "Lucy, don't you understand?"

"Understand what?"

"It's Lisanna's birthday," he reiterated once more. "Don't you know what that means?"

"Mmmm...that she was born on this day?"

"That she's gonna expect Natsu to know!" The cat shook his head some. "But there's no way he will. Natsu never remembers anything! When I asked him what he was gonna do today, he didn't even mention having plans!"

"Then… Why didn't you just remind him?" Lucy was having a very hard time understanding exactly what the problem with all of this was, honestly. Well, not completely. Sure, it would suck for Lisanna if Natsu didn't remember her boyfriend, but at the same time, with such a simple solution… These were the exact shenanigans she was hoping to avoid that day. "Then he would know and-"

"It won't be the same, Lucy," Happy insisted, exasperated it seemed with the blonde. "If he remembers on his own it'll be so romantic and sweet and-"

"Well, maybe he will."

"But what if he doesn't?"

"Then you should remind him."

"But then it won't be-"

"Happy," she complained a bit, "I had something I wanted to do today. Is this really that big of a deal?"

"It's a huge deal!" He might have even yelled at her, just slightly. Lucy blinked as the cat, considering his tone, sighed some and said, "I just really don't want Natsu and Lisanna to break up."

"Why would they break up? Over this? Especially if you could just tell-"

"Lucy, I know that you have no understanding of relationships like me and Natsu do-"

"Natsu is in a relationship. You're stalking another Exceed who has more than made it clear she's not into you."

"-but this is serious." And the cat didn't sound like he was purposely being over dramatic. He truly was feeling these things. "This is the first birthday that Lisanna is gonna have since her and Natsu got together, like really together, and I just want it to be special for her."

Sighing some, Lucy reached over to pat him on his head. "You're really worked up about all this, huh?"

"Imagine if you were actually attractive to a guy and he forgot your birthday-"

"You're pushing it, fur ball."

"I'd always remember Carla's birthday," he assured Lucy. "If she ever told it to me."

"Well," Lucy sighed slightly as, after a glance over at the request board where, no doubt, there was the perfect job, just waiting for her. "I guess I could stick around and help you figure this all out."

"You mean it?"

Nodding, she said, "But what do you want to do, Hap? If you don't wanna just tell him-"

"We can't."

"Then-"

"What are you losers being so loud about?"

And they were joined at the table then by Gray, who set down with a mug of beer. Lucy made a bit of a face at his typical state of undress, but Happy only eyed who sat down beside him, practically in his lap.

"Juvia," the feline remarked. "You're the exact person to help. And you two, Gray. You both know a lot about relationships."

"Yes," the water mage remarked. "We do."

"We might," Gray complained around his ale, "but definitely varying amount. Separate, varying amounts."

"Lucy here," the Exceed remarked, jerking a thumb towards the woman on the other side of the table, "isn't very knowledgeable in the ways of love. Not like the two of you."

"I wish I'd just gotten my job," Lucy sighed, once more glancing over at the request board. I could be on a train right now, away from stupid cats who are destined to be forever alone-"

"What would you do, Juvia?" Happy asked. "If Gray forgot my birthday?"

"You can't forget," the ice mage replied, "what you don't know."

Juvia considered the question for far longer though. Eventually, she said, "I would be crushed, I would imagine."

"And you wouldn't want that to happen to one of your friends, would you?" the feline kept up.

Suddenly, the blue haired woman's eyes grew darker before, with accusation in her gaze, she glanced between Gray and Lucy.

"My Gray darling should forget every other woman's birthday," she remarked simply. "If this is your idea of trying to stake a claim, Lucy, then-"

"It's not my birthday," she complained with a frown. "And I don't expect Gray to remember it."

"Do you expect Natsu to remember it?" Happy questioned then, glancing at her once more.

"I mean, if he doesn't even remember his girlfriend's, then-"

"Is that what this is about then?" Just like that, Juvia's eyes weren't so clouded and her tone wasn't so harsh. "Oh, poor Lisanna. To have such a forgetful boyfriend. Luckily, Gray would never forget such an important date."

"Again I reiterate," Gray remarked, "you can't remember what you never knew. And hey, Happy, what's up with all the questions, huh? It's Lisanna's birthday today, right? That's what you said? Then just go tell flame breath that it's his girl's birthday and problem's solved, right?"

"You would think," Lucy sighed. "But Happy thinks-"

"It would just be more romantic," the Exceed once more said, this time to the ice mage and the woman still seemingly stuck to his side. "Don't you think?"

"Yes," Juvia agreed.

"I really don't give a shit," Gray replied. "I mean, wouldn't it be more romantic for him to be reminded, Happy, then him completely forget?"

"That's why we have to make sure he doesn't completely forget." He balled up a fist and pumped it a bit. "We're Natsu's closest friends. And Lisanna's too, kind of. Some of us. Maybe. At the very least, we all love them both a bunch, right? So we have to make sure that this goes right for them."

"But how?" Gray complained as Lucy nodded in agreement at the question.

"I think," came a voice approaching the table, "that I can be of much assistance."

And she was there then, finally, as always, to save the others from their definite inabilities to accomplish a job. Erza Scarlet. Titania Erza. Savior of all.

Also, she'd just returned, victorious once more from a difficult job where, following it, she had her praises sang to her for an entire day as the tiny village insisted on her staying to celebrate her banishing the monster from their daily lives. Which meant that she was even more full of herself than usual.

"Really?" Happy asked the redhead. "You'll help?"

"Of course," she said with a nod of her head. "As soon as you tell me what it is that's wrong."

"You mean," Gray complained, "that you didn't even know? But you came over here and insisted that you could help-"

"Is that a problem?" Erza raised an eyebrow and, suddenly, Gray found it much more interesting to stare down into his beer as he only mumbled out an excuse of some sort.

"Natsu doesn't remember Lisanna's birthday," Happy began to tell the woman.

"And," Lucy took over, "the cat seems to think that if we just remind him-"

"Then it wouldn't be romantic," Erza finished and they all stared in shock, but she only had her stoic face on. "Yes, that would be a terribly unromantic thing. What if Lisanna found out then? Hmm? That we just told him? How would she feel? As someone who knows the way of the human heart very well-"

"You do?" Lucy asked. When she got that eyebrow raise from the woman, she was quick to change her timbre. "You do."

"I do," Erza agreed. She was tired of being questioned.

"I think you girls are blowing this out of proportion anyways," Gray griped (though not at Erza). "So he either forgets or he remembers. Lisanna puts up with all his other shit. Will she really be that shocked? Or hurt? And is remembering a date that 'romantic' or whatever anyways? Natsu's a dumbass. His girlfriend knows that."

"Men naturally do not understand the ways of women," Erza asserted. She should know. She was a (self-proclaimed) expert in the ways of love. Yes. "Therefore your opinion is invalid, Gray."

"Happy's a...well, a male, at least," the ice mage complained. "Why is his opinion counted? It's the whole reason we're all even having this conversation!"

"I think, my love," Juvia told him softly, "it is simply because he agrees with her."

Erza gave no glares for that. It was the truth.

"I have devised a plan," she decided then, Erza did, as she still stood before the table in all her armored glory.

"Already?" Lucy voiced her uncertainty.

"Yes." Nodding, the swordswoman said, "It is quite simple, really. The problem is he does not remember and we cannot directly inform him of the day. Well, then we must give him subtle hints."

"Well, duh," Gray remarked. When he, once more, got a glare, he was quick to add, "I just mean, obviously that's what we're gonna do. But Natsu's super dense. He's an idiot."

No one at the table balked at this. Not even Happy or Lucy. They all were in agreement on that.

"Yes, well," Erza kept up, still thinking. She was good at that. Thinking. She was good at most things. "We could...come up with a safety net."

"I dunno," Happy sighed at the thought. "Crafting a big net seems like a lot of work in such short time. And what would be the pay off?"

"I don't think," Lucy said with a look, "that's what she meant, Hap. And I also think you knew that."

Of course.

"Which is?" Juvia asked then, looking at Erza quizzically. While she wasn't the biggest fan of Natsu (which stemmed from her beloved not being one either) she did somewhat like Lisanna. While she was still getting acclimated to the guild, the other woman had returned to it and all it's new quirks, which meant they got accustomed to the place together. She found the youngest Strauss to be quite approachable and fun.

"It's quite simple," she explained. "While some of us spend the day attempting to put the idea back in his head, the rest of us should take to preparing a nice date that, as a last resort, we will lead them on. We'll spare no expense."

"I'm broke," Lucy pointed out. "In fact, I was just about headed on a job-"

"I have a fish head in my knapsack," Happy offered up, patting at his back.

"Yeah, I'm not giving anything to this either," Gray added to which, with a bit of a nod, Juvia had to agree.

"More than our time," the water mage offered.

Erza huffed a bit before remarking, "Then I will spare no expense as, more than likely I fear that this is the direction in which this whole thing shall go. If that does turn out to be the case, the ones who are going to go about hinting him will lead him back to he and Happy's home where, outside of it, the others will have set up a nice dinner and have purchased a cake."

"Their house?" Lucy asked with a bit of a frown. "Are you sure?"

"Your apartment then, will do nicely," Erza decided.

"My what now?"

"Yeah!" Happy was energized at the thought. "They can stay over at your apartment, Lucy, like a nice hotel or something. And you can bunk with me, back at the house."

"I hardly call where you live a house."

"Then I rescind my invitation." Happy frowned. "And to think I was going to share my fish head with you."

"I don't want your stupid fish head anyways, you dumb-"

"The park," Gray spoke up then. "We can set them a nice picnic up in the park."

"Yes," Erza agreed. "That will do."

"Since Lucy is too stuck up to stay over at me and Natsu's house-"

"I highly doubt the two of them wanna bunk at my place for the night anyways, cat."

"So who wishes then," the swordswoman went on, "wishes to do which job?"

"Well, I'm definitely not spending all day hanging around flame breath, trying to convince him to remember his girlfriend," Gray said with a bit of a snort. "I'll help out with the getting stuff together, because I do like Lisanna, but Natsu-"

"That makes sense," Erza cut him off with a nod. "And I will, of course, go to Natsu and-"

"Uh, Erza?" Lucy had her turn at interrupting then. "Not to...disway you, but are you sure that you're really the person for the job? To give subtle hints at something? Subtle is not exactly your strong suit."

"You do not think so?" the other woman asked.

"No, I don't. I mean, if you wanna give it a try-"

"And you're the one 'sparing no expense'," Gray pointed out. "Remember?"

"Ah. Yes." She sighed. She really did like the idea of it, attempting to convince the slayer of the importance of the date. It felt almost like a game, truly, and she was nothing if not someone with a deep competitive drive. "I suppose I could be a part of the preparations instead."

Juvia sensed something and, glancing back and forth between Erza and Gray, she remarked, "The two of you? Partnered together? I must be included in the preparations as well!"

"Why are you yelling?" Lucy griped a bit as she pressed a hand to her head. "And let's see, I guess that leaves me and-"

"Me." Happy looked to her. "You and me. We have to remind Natsu of Lisanna's birthday."

"Do I have to be stuck with the cat?" It was simple, it seemed, for the celestial mage to find something new to complain about. "I mean, come on."

"Like you'll be much help." Happy even sighed. "But I guess you'll have to do."

"I could always leave on a job and let you do it on your own, you know. You're the one that asked me for help, Happy." Finally, now that her food was cold, she didn't put up much of a fight as he took a sausage link for himself. "Don't forget it."

The teams separated then, with Juvia using all her resources now to mostly keep an eye on Erza (the woman was sneaky for sure), while Gray and Erza spoke between themselves over just what sorta things they should purchase for the date. Happy and Lucy, on the other hand, headed in the opposite direction.

"The first thing we have to do," Happy said as he fluttered along above Lucy's head, "is find Natsu."

"Well, where did you last see him? At you guys' house? Do you think he's still there?"

"I dunno," the Exceed said. "But I bet he's somewhere close by."

"Maybe," Lucy hummed a bit, "he's planning he and Lisanna's day and we don't even have anything to worry about."

This, of course, was not the case.

They actually ran into the slayer on his way to the guildhall. He seemed quite pleased to seem them both.

"Hey, Hap, Lucy, I was just looking for you," he remarked as they approached one another on the street. "What are you two doing?"

"Looking for you," Lucy offered up, grinning widely just from the sight of him. "Natsu. On this day. Such a great day, don't you think?"

"Well," he huffed a bit. "It's not raining, at least."

"Ha, Natsu, you're so funny." And Happy practically dive bombed into his chest, forcing the slayer to catch him.

"Hey, little buddy, what's the big idea!"

"I just wanted to hug you, Natsu, that's all," the Exceed laughed as he was, promptly, dropped to the ground by the slayer. "To show you that I care about you. On today. On a day like today."

"It is," Lucy agreed, "a pretty important day."

"All because it ain't raining?" Natsu frowned at the two of them. "And anyhow, I was looking for ya because-"

"Because of the nice day it is today?" Lucy asked.

"And how much you care? Not necessarily about us, I guess," Happy kept up, "but about the people in your life? Who are important to you? Because-"

"What are you two talking about? And hey, what were you doing together anyways?" This time, his eyes were a bit suspicious. "You're not plannin' somethin', are ya?"

"Who? Us?" Lucy tried hard not to look like this was absolutely what she was doing. "No way. Are you crazy?"

"Yeah," Happy agreed from the ground. "What do I look like? Sneaking behind your back to do something with Lucy? I would think you know me better than that, Natsu, but I guess not."

He sighed some, the pink haired man did, before nodding his head. "I guess that's right. What could you two be planning against me anyways?"

No doubt something for his own good.

Always.

"Anyways," Lucy said slowly as, turning, she easily fell in step with the slayer as he began his trek once more. "Where were you headed?"

"Just the hall," he said simply. "I wanted to see if that bastard Gray was around. I-"

"Gray?" Happy tried hard not to be disappointed. "Why would you be bothering with Gray today?"

"That sneaking bastard owes me-"

"Who cares about that?" Lucy asked. "Or about him at all?"

This was usually the right idea for Natsu, but at the moment the insinuation just wasn't cutting it for him. Not when he needed to collect from the man immediately.

"I do," Natsu complained. "I have to find him. Do either of you know where he is?"

They looked to one another then, Happy and Lucy did. They both knew that they couldn't lead Natsu to Gray because there was a possibility that, spying him in the shopping district picking up a cake and such with Erza, that he would become suspicious of their plans and, thus, not be duped either into remembering or showing up at the park without being outright told, but rather being blatantly shown the situation at hand and, wow, when Lucy really thought it out, why didn't they just do that?

"We'll take you to him," Happy said suddenly and for a second, Lucy though they'd come to the same conclusion. "Right this way."

Until the Exceed headed in the opposite direction of where Gray certainly was and, ugh, Lucy was starting to resign to the fact that she was not going to be going out on a job that day.

"Happy," she complained a bit as Natsu, though he was supposed to be the one being led began to take the lead, and the Exceed fluttered close to her. "Where exactly where are we going to take him?"

"Anywhere," the blue cat explained, "that Gray, Erza, and Juvia are not. Hopefully to Lisanna. After he's remembered, of course."

"Of course," Lucy sighed, following along.

They would not find Lisanna, however, as at that moment she'd just arrived at the guildhall, where Natsu had instructed her to meet him that afternoon. She was slightly disappointed to not find him there, but also understanding to his typical forgetfulness, and went straight over to her sister to question where he'd mistakenly gone out on a job that day.

"No," Mira giggled. "He hasn't even been in yet. And did you get the card I left you? On the kitchen table?"

"Mmmhmm!" Lisanna was just as giggly. "'Thanks, sis. It was really thoughtful."

"Well, we normally go out to dinner," the barmaid sighed a bit. "But I'm sure you and Natsu have something going on tonight instead-"

"We can go to dinner tomorrow night. If you're off."

"I can get off," she assured her, but just as quickly, someone was calling out to Mira, needing a refill and, well, duty called and all.

"Oh, Lisanna," Mira called as she headed away. "I almost forgot. Someone did want to see you."

"They did?"

"Uh-huh. Erza for some reason. In the park. She said for you not to arrive until midday though."

Lisanna sighed some, but agreed. Besides, she should be meeting Natsu soon; surely he'd not mind taking a detour there.

At the moment, he wouldn't have minded at all, if he knew that that was the exact location that Gray was. He was griping too, at Happy and Lucy, convinced now that this was just all some sort of big game to them. And, well, he was kinda right at least.

"I really need to find him, guys, so if you don't know where he is-"

"Just a little further," Happy kept up. "And hey, it must be awful important for you to find him. Is there anything else important that you have to do today? Do you think?"

"What are you talking about? Just take me to Gray!"

"Happy," Lucy tried, growing weary of the game they very much so were playing. "Maybe-"

"Just," the cat continued on, "a little further. And why do you want Gray anyways? What could he possibly owe you? On such a nice day? Huh? That's more important than-"

"I've been trying to tell you-" And Natsu stopped so suddenly that Lucy, who was following closely behind him, crashed into him rather roughly.

"Natsu," she complained, rubbing at her head. "What-"

"Wait a minute." He glared up at the sky then where Happy, realizing the others had stopped, was turning to face them in the air. "You guys in on it. Aren't you?"

"In on what?" Happy asked.

"You were looking all suspicious and were together and you guys never hang out together without me!"

"Well, some of us take jobs more frequently than two of us here," Lucy remarked. "So they don't have near the same amount of time to just hang about-"

"Plus it's Lucy," Happy agreed. "Who wants to be alone with her?"

"You know what, cat, I-"

"You're in cahoots! With Gray! Of all people!" Natsu huffed at the pair of them. "I can't believe you. Don't you know how important it is that I find him?"

Happy, exasperated as well (by this point, they'd spent a good chunk of the day going around in circles, searching fruitlessly for Gray while also constantly dropping hints; there was only so much a little cat could take), hurled his own accusation Natsu's way.

"Do you?" he questioned. "Huh? Natsu? How could you not? I thought that you loved Lisanna, but-"

"Of course I love Lisanna!" Natsu found offense in that. "Why do you think I've spent the whole day chasing Gray's ugly mug around town!"

"Surely," Lucy questioned slowly, "for some other reason? Because, I mean, I can't see one."

"Do you know," Happy griped with a heavy frown at his very best friend, "what today is, Natsu?"

At the exact moment Lucy and Happy were waiting for an answer, Erza was finishing up with the touches on her wonderful picnic while Juvia fantasied the idea of her and Gray just totally ditching the whole plan they had in place and, have their own date.

He was not receptive to this idea and Erza was too lost in her own world, marveling over her excellence at helping her friends once more to notice. Not to mention, the cake she'd picked up at the bakery was exceptionally exquisite, and though she had one back at the bakery she planned to swing by and pick up after all this, well, it was hard not to just open the box and at least take a whiff of it's excellence.

Still, in comparison to Lucy and Happy, the trio was far more successful in their portion of the plan. Honestly, no one would have expected anything less. And, when Lisanna arrived in the park, Erza was more than ready to greet her.

"Hi, Erza," she grinned easily, if not a bit uncertain. "And...Gray. Juvia."

It wasn't that Lisanna did not wish to spend her birthday with the three of them...it's just that...well, actually it was that. Erza was far closer to being her sister's friend than hers and while Juvia was alright, Gray, again, was not someone Lisanna considered too close. She figured it was something unrelated to her birthday, honestly, that they needed, and while she was always one to help her guild mates, she did really wanna get back to the hall as quickly as possible.

"Lisanna," Erza greeted easily as Gray gave a bit of a nod and Juvia actually wished her a happy birthday.

"Are you guys… On a date?" Lisanna took note of the blanket spread on the grass, the picnic basket, and the three of them standing before it. "The...three of you? I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, I just-"

"Share my darling?" Juvia, quite easily, turned on the youngest Strauss member. "I could never!"

As Erza frowned at the implication (surely she could do better than Gray and Juvia, if she were on the market in such a way…) and even sighed a bit. Much like her boyfriend, clearly, Lisanna was not the best at reading a situation.

"No," she said simply. "We are not."

"Oh." Lisanna didn't know why she let out such a sound of relief, but she did. The idea of someone else for Juvia to possibly be possessive over was downright terrifying. Err, actually yes, that was the exact reason for her relief. "Well… I'm sorry, but I was wanting to meet Natsu today at the guildhall and he's a little late, but I should really get back in case-"

"That's exactly why we've invited you here," Erza was quick to say. "Or, well, Natsu has. Yes. He wished for us to set up this...date, of sorts, for your birthday."

"Really?" Lisanna seemed skeptical. "That wasn't really what we had plan-"

"Hey!"

And there he was, the man himself, with the loud screech from across the park as he came running over at full blast, Happy and Lucy, of course, tailing behind.

"Gray!" Once more, Natsu hollered as he smash smack into the ice make wizard, tackling him to the ground. "You big phony!"

"What the heck, Natsu? You idiot, get off-"

"You owe me-"

"I don't owe you shit!"

"What," Erza complained as she rushed to grab the cake box before the two buffoons rolled over on it (and just because she needed that whiff before she handed it off to Natsu and Lisanna), "is going on? You two, stop this at once!"

"You guys don't understand." Lucy was there, finally, out of breath and panting. "Natsu...didn't forget...anything!"

"Lisanna!" Happy took to crashing against her, but she was much more receptive towards it than Natsu had been much earlier in the day. "Happy birthday!"

She giggled, the youngest Strauss did, though she was still a bit confused. "Thank you, Happy, but what-"

"I brought you a fish! Well, only if you want it-"

"I mean, if you don't wanna give it to me-"

"Thanks, you're so understanding."

Lucy took the time out to make a face over at the feline before, once more, addressing the others.

"Natsu remembered Lisanna's birthday," she was quick to say. "In fact, he was going to meet up with her after speaking with Gray. Apparently, he owes him-"

"That?" And finally, Gray managed to shove the pink haired man off him. "That's what you want?"

"Yeah! I need it! So hand it over!"

"What," Erza griped, "are you two talking about?"

Gray groaned too as, reaching into the pocket of his jeans, he easily produced a tiny orb which, at the sight, Lisanna squeezed the life out of Happy in her excitement.

"Oh gosh, Natsu, honestly?" she questioned as Happy wondered if he'd ever taste oxygen again.

"Honestly," he said as, reaching over, he easily snatched the little blue orb from the ice makers hand before popping up. "Here you guy, Lis."

She rewarded him with another giggle and a kiss.

"What," Juvia also griped, though hers was rooted in something much darker (it could be construed, after all, in a distorted set of events, that Gray was the one presenting the youngest Strauss with something, "is it?"

"It's a defunt lacrima," Gray remarked. "It was offered on the job I was gonna go on and Natsu told me that I could keep the cash reward and he'd pay me some extra. But I don't-"

"It's the perfect size," Natsu remarked. "I could tell it would be, based off the description on the job. I was gonna take it, but then Lucy and Happy wanted to go on a different one, and Gray was gonna go anyways, so-"

"Perfect size for what?" Lucy asked, apparently not privy to that.

"To replace the one he broke." And Lisanna was staring at the tiny crystal like ball, rolling it around in her palm. "I had one, a special one, from when we were kids. It was attached to a necklace. We got it as a reward on the first job we took together. But he broke it a couple of months ago when-"

"You're the one that left it on the floor," he griped. "So I stepped on it, so what? What difference-"

"I didn't leave it on the floor. You and Happy raided my room when you were board and must have-"

"Oh," Lucy sighed. "I'm so glad to hear they do that to other people as well."

"Then..." Juvia looked between them all. "What was this all about? Any of it? We did all of this for...nothing? Because Natsu was going to go to Gray and get the lacrima and then meet with Lisanna. So why did we go through all of this extra stuff if-"

"Happy," Erza began softly as her dark gaze, finally, after a long day, found its way to him. "You are the cause for ruining everyone's day."

"Me?" He huffed a bit as, finally, Lisanna had released him to the ground. "I didn't do anything! Natsu's the one that said he didn't remember Lisanna's birthday."

"When did I say that?" the slayer asked with a frown.

"This morning! You said you didn't have any plans!"

"I said," Natsu complained, "that I didn't have any plans with you."

"Yeah, but...but… Lucy's the one-"

"Na-ah, cat." She even shook her head. "This is all on you."

"Wait, so what were you guys all doing then?" Lisanna finally glanced around herself. "They said you wanted to meet here, Natsu? Was it just to get this? Because I thought that we were going to go out to dinner. I mean, this is nice, but-"

"I don't what they're all doing." Natsu easily took the woman's arm. "And yeah, we were, after we spent the day-"

"Down by the river. I know," she agreed. "But you didn't show up at the hall-"

"Happy and Luce were leading me on a wild goose chase."

"Again," Lucy intervened, "I reiterate, that's all on Happy here."

The cat frowned then, down at the ground, before whispering, "I just wanted you guys to have the best birthday date ever. That's all."

"And we're going to," Natsu assured him as Lisanna only smiled down at him.

"Yeah, Happy," she agreed. "And thank you so much for caring. An awful lot, at that."

"You have no idea," Lucy complained, still put out by the whole thing.

"Well," Erza was hurrying things along then. "If the pair of you have other plans, I suppose you should be getting on with them, hmm?"

They did then, after thanking everyone once more, and then the five of them were left, the day nearly all but wasted, with a picnic that none of them wanted to share with the other, more annoyed than anything else.

"Hey!" Suddenly, Gray was more agitated than the others. "That slimeball never paid me!"

"Another time." Juvia was quick to pounce on the idea that had been rattling around in her head the entire time. "We wouldn't want to let this feast go to waste, would be?"

"Aye, sir," Happy agreed as, suddenly, he was right out of his funk.

"A feast," the water mage corrected with a glare, "for two."

"And of which I think Erza owns," Lucy pointed out.

"Hmm?" At the sound of her name, the swordswoman looked up. "Oh, yes, the food, right. Well… It shouldn't go to waste. Have at it, everyone!"

"N-No," Juvia tried. "I meant- Happy, shouldn't you be off doing something else?"

"Well, Natsu and Lisanna are on a date and Lucy's here stuffing her face, so where else would I be?" the Exceed asked.

"Uh, you're the only one stuffing their face, cat," Lucy pointed out as she only stood by, her arms still crossed. "And I hope you know that I needed to do something today, but instead of doing it, I led Natsu all over the city for what? Exactly? For you to insult me all day?"

"The reward is not always monetary or even measurable in any way outside of the consciousness of a job well done. Not to mention assisting a comrade," Erza informed her. Them all really. "Which we have all done today."

"How?" Gray asked from his spot on the ground where he still hadn't gotten up, though this was more due to the fact that Juvia was literally holding him there then, having drug him over to the blanket, insistent that she and him at least sit together and pretend as if they were going to enjoy some of the food Happy was quickly working through. "Huh?'

"Perhaps it wasn't Natsu and Lisanna we helped at all," Titania explained. "But, rather, their precious little cat."

For some reason, it was only glares that the others had for him though.

"Apparently," the ice mage complained as, with that nugget of wisdom, the swordswoman made off with the cake and left them behind. "Another reward for a job well done is cake."

Silly, Gray. For Erza, it was always cake.

Still, Lucy only sighed some before asking, "You had a good day though, huh, Happy?"

From around a turkey leg he'd found in the picnic basket, he nodded his head up at the celestial mage. Not only had Natsu and Lisanna, apparently, had plans all along, but Natsu also did something super sweet for her! They were probably going to have the best date ever, also. Because they loved each other. What was better than that?

"Yep," the Exceed said with a grin. "Plus, we got to hang out all day together. What could be better than that? Me and you, paling around the town."

"Uh, you just told Natsu earlier that you would never hang out with me."

"Jeez, Lucy, sensitive much? Can't take a joke?" The cat tsked. "Must by why you'll never get a man."

"I'm not sensitive, cat! And I don't see you sharing this picnic with anyone either!"

"Other than unfortunately," Juvia sighed as, reluctantly, she released Gray so he too could raid the basket, "the two of us."

[hunterpuff]

The Hunter’s Daughter- Chapter 2

Chapter Summary: A flash back to when Dean found out he was going to become a father, and the time leading up to his daughter’s birth.

Chapter Word Count: 2,755

A/N: The first few chapters are going to be posted rather quickly, to jump start the series, and then will have a posting schedule of Sunday and Wednesday. Huge thank you to @bazingirl for being a beta on this!

Need to catch up? SERIES MASTERLIST

A 17-year-old Dean Winchester sat in the front of his father’s car, staring straight ahead at the road in front of him. He didn’t dare to look over at John, because he knew the older man was seething at the moment. If there was one thing that John Winchester hated more than anything, it was wasting precious time that could have been spent on a hunt, and this particular distraction was worse than others. Had it been up to Dean, John never would have found out about any of this, the entire thing would have stayed a secret and become some forgotten nightmare. But, of course, fate liked to fuck with Dean and had made sure that there had been no way for the boy to escape his mistakes. It wasn’t like Dean had meant for any of this to happen. Hell, this was the last thing on Earth that he’d wanted to deal with. But, nobody had ever accused Dean of being smart. He’d fucked up and now here he was in the middle of the biggest mess he’d ever made, with no clear way of how to fix it.

It had all started four months before, when John had been called in as back up by an acquaintance he had made throughout his years of hunting. The other hunter, Dale, worked with his wife Marie and their teenage daughter Katie. They’d run into a case that was a little bigger than they could handle on their own and Dale had put out word that he needed some help. The Winchesters happened to be in a town only about an hour or so away, so John had agreed to come help out the best he could. Not sure how much manpower might be needed he had dragged Dean along with him, while Sam stayed behind in the hotel room they’d been staying in for the past couple of months.

Once John and Dean had arrived and started working the case with the other family they’d realized that not only did they have vampires on their hands, but a nest of them bigger and stronger than any of them had anticipated or had ever encountered before. After much debate, and a lot of arguing from the younger hunters, the adults had decided that the situation was too dangerous for Dean or Katie to be involved in. Another call was put out to bring in more experienced hunters and two nights later found the adults heading out to deal with the vamp nest while the teenagers were left to themselves in the hotel room.

Everyone involved thought it was an ideal arrangement, that there was no possible way the two teens would be in danger or could get themselves into any trouble. They were both experienced and well trained hunters and, though Dean was a bit of a wild card, Katie was a good girl. She was straight laced, a straight A student, never causing problems for her parents or getting into any trouble. At least, that was the persona she put on for her parents. Neither of them realized that their shy little girl who always kept to herself had a bit of a wild streak to her and leaving her alone with Dean Winchester was like mixing fire and gasoline. A couple of bottles of vodka stolen from a convenience store up the street and a few hours alone had been all the pair had needed to make stupid choices of epic proportions.

A month and a half later Dean had answered a call on his cell phone, never expecting to hear Katie’s voice on the other end, let alone to hear her utter the words ‘I’m pregnant’ as soon as he had answered the phone. Two seconds, that was approximately all the longer it took for the words to be said. Two seconds and Dean felt his heart drop into his stomach. Two seconds for his entire world to come crumbling down around him. There was no way he could be a father, he was too damned young and had no idea what the hell he was doing…and God knew he wasn’t having a shining example of fatherhood being set for him. He didn’t know much, but Dean was pretty sure that the way he had been raised was not the way a child was suppose to be raised and he knew damned well it wasn’t the way he would choose for HIS child to be raised.  

That first phone conversation about what came to be known as ‘our little problem’ had been full of panic on both of their parts. Neither Dean nor Katie knew what to do or how to handle the situation. A teenage pregnancy was never good in the best and most normal of circumstances, and neither of them exactly lead what could be known as a normal life. Both of them knew what it was like to be raised in the life of a hunter, without any kind of normalcy to balance things out, and the one thing they could both agree on was that neither one wanted to raise a child the way they’d been raised especially as young as they both were. That was the only thing they could agree on and the only conclusion they could come to in that first conversation. Neither one could come up with a plan on how to keep from bringing a child into their lives and, more importantly, how to keep their parents from finding out.

Over the next several weeks, several frantic and whispered phone calls were made as the teens tried to find a reasonable and viable solution to their problem. They had discussed, debated, and argued over every possible answer to the situation that they could think of and all they could seem to figure out was that they were both stupid and the entire thing sucked, no matter what they decided to do it was going to be hard and it was going to blow. Finally, a month and a half after Dean had gotten the life changing phone call, they’d decided on a course of action. Katie had heard of a clinic in the area her and her parents were currently staying in that she wouldn’t need her parents permission to go to and wouldn’t cost much. A little bit of money and half an hour on a doctor’s table and the whole thing would be taken care of. Both of them could go on with their lives and pretend none of this could ever happen.

The night before Katie was supposed to go to the clinic was the night that everything fell apart and blew up in both of their faces. Dean and Sam had been sitting at the table in the motel room of the month working on their homework when the room door had slammed open and John came storming in, rage written all over his face. Both boys had looked up at him, eyes wide with a mixture of fear and shock, but before either of them could say a word, John had come over and grabbed his eldest son and tore him away from the table only to slam his back up against the wall. “Did you get Katie Wilson knocked up?”

Dean’s eyes had gone wide, not sure of how to answer. Obviously his dad knew the truth, or at least he had an idea, but that didn’t mean Dean wanted to offer up undeniable proof to him. John was already angry enough that Dean didn’t want to set him off even more. Though, realistically, there was no way any of this was going to end well. “Dad, I…what makes you think…?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, boy. I just got a call from Dale Wilson. He found an appointment card on the floor in his hotel room for some clinic over there, with his daughter’s name on it. She was supposed to go there tomorrow after school. A little search of her things and he found an awful lot of phone calls to you on her cell phone over the past few months. Care to tell me why that is?”

Sam had been sitting at the table the whole time, watching the entire scene unfold before him in wide eyed terror. He had seen his brother and his father get into some serious arguments before, but he knew instinctively that this one was worse than the others. After he heard everything his dad had to say to his older brother, he had looked over at Dean with a mixture of confusion and disappointment in his eyes. He had always looked up to his big brother and what he had just heard was so far from the pedestal he’d put Dean on that he wasn’t sure how to take it. “Dean?”

“Sammy, why don’t you…go for a walk or something? There’s some money in my bookbag. Go…get yourself some soda or something.” Hearing the sound of his younger brother’s voice, Dean had looked over at Sam and tried to shoo him out of the room. The last thing he needed was for the younger boy to be brought into the middle of this, it was already enough of a mess at it was. Sam, however, refused to budge and Dean groaned inwardly when he realized he was going to have to admit to his biggest mistake to date in front of his baby brother. Shaking his head a little he turned back to John and stared his dad in the eye, trying to look more confident than he felt. “Yeah, dad, she’s pregnant. And yeah, it’s mine. But it’s nothing you need to worry about. We’re dealing with it, after tomorrow it won’t be a problem anymore.”

“Wrong. Unfortunately for the two of you, Katie’s mother doesn’t believe in dealing with this type of problem that way. My idiot of a son had to go and get the one hunter knocked up who’s family is still religious. So she won’t be going anywhere tomorrow and your little problem isn’t going to be going away any time soon. Now we have to take the time and go talk to the Wilsons. Figure out how to clean up your damned mess that you’ve gotten your fool ass into.”

That conversation had been two weeks ago and Dean was fairly certain that he and his dad hadn’t spoken more than a few words here and there ever since. Now, the day had finally come to go meet with Katie and her parents to try and come up with a plan for the child she was carrying. Dean was a nervous wreck and being stuck in a car with John wasn’t helping the situation any. He had no idea what the final game plan was going to be, but one thing he knew for certain…his entire life was about to change.

The decision had been made, with very little input from him, that Dean Winchester was going to be a father whether he liked it or not. The entire thought terrified him. What the hell did he know about being anyone’s father? His entire childhood had been growing up in the back of his dad’s car or in a motel room, he didn’t have the slightest clue how to take care of a baby or how to raise a child. Hell, to get technical he was still a kid himself.

In the months leading up to the birth of his child, Dean did everything he could think of to help Katie get ready. Anywhere they happened to be for a case, he picked up as many odd jobs as he could and would split the money between helping his dad and sending it back to Katie. He tried to get to see her at least once a month, and even managed to go to a doctor’s appointment or two with her. Nothing he did felt like enough, though. He knew that her parents looked at him as some kind of teenage slacker, getting their ‘innocent’ daughter pregnant and then presumably leaving her to deal with it on her own. John barely spoke to him anymore; Dean knew he resented the distraction that a baby was placing on all of them, and he knew this wasn’t going to be some happy ending where his dad would see his grandchild for the first time and fall instantly in love.

The worst reaction however, in Dean’s eyes at least, was from his little brother. Up until now Dean had always been a hero, damned near a god, in Sammy’s eyes. Now the only thing in Sam’s eyes when he looked at his big brother was disappointment. Dean had made a mistake; proven that he was mortal. He could deal with taking shit from anyone else, but knowing he let down his baby brother hurt more than anything else and was possibly Dean’s biggest failure to date.

As the date drew closer for the baby’s arrival, plans were set in motion to ensure that Dean would be around for the birth as well as to help out in the days following. For the two weeks prior to Katie’s due date, the Winchesters would stay in a motel local to Katie and her family and would only go on cases that were no more than half an hour’s drive away at most. John was annoyed, of course, because he knew there were cases farther away that he would be well suited for; but then again, most everything related to Dean or the baby annoyed him anymore. Dean had learned not to mention the pregnancy or the baby, because it would only set his dad off, making the already stressful situation even more so.

The flaw in the plan came a week and a half before they were set to move to their temporary residence. Dean was two and half states away, eyeballs deep in a hunt with his dad, when he got a frantic call from Katie that her water had broken; three and a half weeks before her due date. It had taken a lot of begging and pleading on Dean’s part in order for John to agree to leave the hunt early; even trying to appeal to the fact that his grandchild was being born didn’t sway the older man. Not until Dean assured him that he didn’t have to stay, that he could just drop his son off at the hospital and leave, did John finally agree.

The several hour drive across multiple states was long and tense. Nobody in the car said a word and the only sound was the occasional ping from Dean’s cell phone as he received frequent updates from Katie’s parents to fill him in on the progression of her labor. It wasn’t going well, Katie was in a lot of pain and starting to have complications and the baby was beginning to show signs of distress. If something didn’t change, soon, there was a chance that an emergency C-section would have to be performed.  

After nine hours overnight of being stuck in a car with his father and younger brother, with zero sleep to show for it, Dean found himself running through a hospital to find the maternity ward. John had dropped him at the front door and then he and Sam had taken off back to the hunt they’d left behind, without so much as a glance in the rearview mirror as they pulled out of the parking lot. Dean didn’t have the time to think on it as he was too worried about getting to Katie’s side. When he finally found the maternity ward and came scrambling down the hall, Katie’s parents were standing in the hallway and Dean nearly broke into a sprint as he tried to get to them.

“Mr. Wilson! Mrs. Wilson! Where is she? Is she okay? The baby…?”

Katie’s mother turned towards him at the sound of his voice and when Dean saw her red rimmed eyes, he could feel his heart drop into his stomach. Something wasn’t right, something had happened, he knew it instantly. He just didn’t know how bad it really was until the older woman opened her mouth to speak. “Dean. The baby, she’s fine, you have a daughter. But Katie…there were so many complications. They did everything they could for her, but…she’s gone, Dean. My baby girl is gone.”

Tags: @casjohnson @samm

[eris0330]

Hiraeth - Part Three

☽Pairing☾ ; BTS | Reader

☽Genre☾ ; Angst | Fluff

☽Word Count☾ ; 1.4k

☽Summary☾ Returning back to Korea after years of being under the ground, to see your parents. You wished it was all it took, to feel complete again. The aftermath of confusion, betrayal and sorrow was the reason to never come back into the boys presents. But it wasn’t until, seeing one them enter the same cafe, at the right time.

☽M. List☾ ;  1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 // 12 // 13 // 14 // 15 // 16 // 17 // 18 // 19 // 20 // 21 // 22 [ongoing]

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"Have you thought about who to approach first?" Your attention drawn to the woman up front, as the food arrived for the early mornings of a foggy city. Jane invited you to brunch for the time being, wanting to hear more of the program you had been attending for four years.  

"I never thought of it...I think all of them would be too... shocked to see me? If that makes sense..." You muttered, thinking of the possibilities of meeting just ONE of the boys, was too scary enough of a thought. To be fair, you were close with all of them and there wasn't any favourites. "How do I even see them in the first place?"  

"That depends, if you want to do it by yourself, or me helping you?" Jane asked, peeking her eyebrow for a simple answer. Biting on your bottom lip as a response, thinking that it was weird for another one to give out the information that you were finally back, but it also soothes your mind of the thought that you didn't have to do it yourself.  

"How about you try to reach them, and if you're stuck, you can come to me for guidance?" She requested with a smile, blowing on her hot eggs before taking in a bite of the first meal of the day. You couldn't help but mirror her, as you nodded along in agreement.  

"Just like the old days..."  

-------

"Where were you guys? Practice started half-an-hour ago?" The leader spoke exhausted from the first dance as a start, watching Jin and Jungkook enter the hot white room. The two had a glance of each other, before the eldest decided to talk.  

"We went to grab coffee" He excused, making the others sit down on a chair to relax for the time being. It wasn't a normal thing for them to be late, especially when they knew how annoying it was to miss a member in the routine.  

"Oh yeah? Where is your coffee then? And why didn't you ask any of us to go with ya?" Taehyung spoke from the floor, leaning against the now, dirty mirror. Jungkook decided to avoid eye contact, to the floor, not wanting to blow this into proportion when they all knew how bad he was at lying.  

"We drank it already, sorry we didn't ask you to come with" Jin answered, putting his bag down along with the others at the corner. Namjoon shook his head, as if it was too much for a scolding over a cup of coffee. Besides, he wouldn't care regardless.  

"You went to search for Y/N again... didn't you?" A shocking accusation that even sent chills down the others spine, as Jimin walked further to approach the youngest member. His hands grabbing roughly around the collar of Jungkook's shirt, to get his attention for once. The rest of the group, were too conflicted if they should go in and stop it, or wait to see what this were all about.  

"You overheard or conversation the other day..." Jin mumbled, trying to sound harsh in his words, but failed at the sight of Jimin's pained face at Jungkook. The younger brother could barely form words, as to how this situation escalated so quickly. Jimin might be smaller than Jungkook, but their strength was like wise, to an even fight. If Jungkook did try to fight out of his grip, they would only end up with bruises and bad excuses for their next fan sign.  

"You went to search for her, even though I strictly told you not to?!" Jimin's vocals were shaking, convulsing the other member by the collar. His eyes turning from sweet to dangerously pained, that it was too much for Yoongi to continue watching. His dark approach of the fighting members, while laying a hand on Jimin's shoulder to let go of his forceful grip. Jungkook continued to stay silent, because there was no reason to lie, when Jimin was telling the truth. The room was quiet, awfully quiet and as if everything happened in slow motion. Taehyung and Hoseok were more or less speechless, hating to confront in the matters of a conflict in the group. Jin and Namjoon were nothing but watching the scene unfold, giving each other glances throughout it all as if they read minds.  

"Let it go, Jimin" Yoongi claimed, pulling Jimin's shoulder to retreat a distance from the quiet boy up front. The reaction of Jimin's fury was enough to slap the hand away from his body, to feel the anger build in his muscles.  

"No, I'm not going to let this go! We agreed to never do this again!" The blond haired shouted into the open room, making the other gulp of the sudden atmosphere that were created due to frustration. Yoongi could barely hold his own anger at bay, trying to pull at his shoulder once again with accept of the other.  

"But I saw her..." Jungkook finally managed to whisper, but it sounded like a shout to the rest of the group. His eyes stinging of the scolding, but this case was different and he needed to stand up for it.  

"No, Jungkook! What you saw, was a memory of her. Like we all do." Jimin spoke with gritted teeth, and Jin couldn't help but pull Jungkook under his wings to the unfairness of his mistake. Yoongi whispered to stop it before he would regret anything, but Jimin were not having any of it. He was furious, and it was always like that when it came to you.  

"What do you want? Don't tell me I'm the only one suffering from nightmares? From her smile disappearing in the abyss? From her warm hugs to encouraging words? Her memories-" Jungkook spoke determent, as the tears dwelt in the corner of his eyes. His lips quivering at his own painful act, to find justice of it all he continued to speak. "-No, our memories of her. Shouldn't be forgotten. We should cherish them, but you all act like she never existed! She was the greatest person in our lives, and I can't express my delightful nightmares without being shut down? I'm going crazy at the sight of her, but three days ago, I finally did. I'm sure. You're not supposed to tell me to give up, you're supposed to help me.... don't disregard the love we had for her...please..." Jungkook couldn't hold back his warm tears, as they reached his jawline. Jin were speechless, but comforted the younger member with his hand and own heartbeat, knowing he was speaking the truth.  

The group were frozen in their positions, and wanted to regret every thought up until now. Whenever your name was mentioned briefly, their instincts told them to brush it away. Because, if they continued to speak of the memories they had with you, pain would come harder when time went away. The fear, and loss of your absence, was enough to shut their feelings into a box and lock it away for eternity. Jimin tried that multiple times, but failed regardless. His tears were nothing more than compassion to Jungkook's. By any means, Jimin could barely see a picture of you, without wanting to cry while screaming your name, in hopes of your return. It's been like that ever since; your laughter was never heard again. The group displayed their best side of themselves in public, but behind the curtains they were timid and quiet, hurt. Hoseok was the one member, that had troubles to not show his hurtful feelings, even anger. Excuse after excuse, to the press and fans that it was probably just a bad clip online and he was fine as always. Someone had to tell them sometime, but they never knew it had to be Jungkook.  

"You know... we never got to have a Christmas with her... even New Years." Hoseok muttered from his chair, gathering the courage to speak loud and clear to the others. He wanted to help, to release the brick on their shoulders to feel a little lighter.  

"Do you think she's still wearing it?" Namjoon questioned softly, as the attention flew across the room. Everyone was feeling tense, but it slowly became easier. The way that no one should be afraid to speak, of the things they tried to run from. It was time, to get it off their chest after years in a dark hole.