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heliads · 4 years ago

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Sighted

When Willie directs Luke, Julie, Alex, and Reggie to seek out some mysterious girl who might be able to make lifers see them, Luke isn’t sure what to expect.

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Luke stares at the boy in front of him, hands shoved into his pockets to stop from fidgeting. Reggie, to his left, looks more confused than anything. Alex, to his right, is standing perfectly still, trying to look cool in front of Willie. Luke himself is standing right behind Julie, a not-so-silent shadow who’s still deciding whether or not Willie can be trusted.

Willie, to his credit, is doing everything he can to make up for his past actions. That’s why Luke and his friends have agreed to meet up with him today- to find out another solution to the grand problem of getting Bobby to see them.

Willie folds his hands in front of him. “I’ve been looking into every possible source I can. I’m not sure how many options you have.” Alex looks questioningly at Willie. “Do you have anything?” Willie nods. “There’s only one shot left- another lifer, one who can see ghosts just like Julie can.”

Luke steps forward, shocked. “I thought you said that lifers seeing ghosts was impossible.” Willie turns to face him. “It is. Or, at least it is for everyone except Julie and this girl.” He glances around to make sure no one is in the general vicinity, lowering his voice as he continues to speak. “I don’t want to say her name in case Caleb is listening, but if there’s any way to make lifers see you, she would know about it. I can’t go to her myself- Caleb’s grown pretty strict about monitoring me, but you can go find her yourselves.”

“She goes to this park every day after school. There’s a bench in the back of the park, closest to the corner with the fountain. She stays there to do homework, so if you want to go talk to her, that’s where she’ll be.” Luke nods slowly. “You think she’ll be able to help us?” Willie shrugs. “I don’t know, but she’s your best bet. If you want to talk to Bobby, or be seen by anyone who isn’t in this room, you’ll have to talk to her.”

After Willie leaves, the band discusses the matter for a while longer. Julie still isn’t sure that getting revenge on Bobby is the best of ideas, but she is eventually convinced, albeit pretty reluctantly. Besides, the boys have given up on revenge- now, they just want to speak to him and know why he took credit for all their music, what could have driven their former bandmate and friend to erase their legacies forever.

So, the band finds themselves heading to the park. Julie has to hurry out of school to make it over to the park in time to meet this mysterious girl, and the boys catch up with her, walking the remaining distance together.

When they first find the park bench, it’s empty. “I guess we wait.” Reggie says, slumping down onto the worn wood seats. Julie is about to sit next to him, but then she stops when she hears a voice calling her name.

“Julie, is that you?” Julie turns to see a girl walking towards them, backpack slung casually over her shoulder. “Oh, Y/N, it’s so good to see you! I feel like I haven’t talked to you in, like, forever.” Luke walks over to Julie, peering over at the girl. “Is this our girl?” Julie shakes her head imperceptibly. Just another school friend, Luke guesses.

Then, strangely enough, the girl turns to Luke. “Hi!” She starts to extend a hand, but then stops when she notices the confused looks of both Julie and Luke. Julie stares at Y/N, shocked. “You can see him?”

For just a moment, there’s this look in Y/N’s eyes, like she’s just come to a realization that she’s made a terrible mistake. She quickly pulls back her hand. “Oh, sorry, I thought I saw a friend of mine across the street. I don’t see him anymore, whoops.” Despite her casual explanation, she still looks unsettled.

“Well, you know what, I had better get going. Homework, you know?” With that, Y/N walks hurriedly out of the park, not even giving Julie a chance to say goodbye. Reggie speaks up from the park bench. “Well, that was weird.” Luke nods slowly. “Yeah. Give me a minute, I’ve got to check something out.” With that, he poofs out of the area, reappearing on the sidewalk outside of the park.

Beside him, Y/N is speed walking away from the park bench, evidently headed home. When Luke appears next to her, she flinches, but keeps walking. Luke starts walking too, and calls out to her. “Hey, I know you can hear me!” Y/N just squares her shoulders and walks even faster.

This isn’t going anywhere. Luke gives up, poofing into the space on the sidewalk directly in front of Y/N and forcing her to come to a complete stop to avoid hitting him. Now that he’s just a foot or two away, Y/N finally looks at him, staring at him as if he’s, well, a ghost. Luke grins.

“So you can see me.” Y/N glares at him. “I’d prefer not to.” She sidesteps him and tries to keep going, but Luke just moves in front of her again. “Hey, wait up. We need to talk to you. I know you can see ghosts, so how about we have a nice little conversation? You know, two friends just having a chat?”

Y/N looks at him suspiciously. “Look, there are good ghosts and there are bad ghosts. I don’t know who you are or what you want, so please, just leave me alone.” She starts walking again, this time even faster. Luke sighs, trying to think of anything to do to stop her from leaving.

“Willie sent us!”

That does it- she stops in her tracks and turns around. “Willie sent you?” Luke beams, glad to have made an impression. “Yeah, he told us to come find you. Something about how you could see lifers?” Y/N laughs lightly, a charmingly pretty sound. “You should have just started with that. Willie’s a good friend of mine. If he sent you, then you’re cool.”

Y/N fixes Luke with a pensive stare. “Okay, how about this- go back to Julie and the two other boys- I’m assuming they’re ghosts as well? Anyways, tell Julie to meet me at my house with all three of you. She knows where it is. Sounds good?” Luke nods, and poofs out. Seconds later, he reappears, and Y/N looks at him in confusion. “Oh, I’m Luke. By the way.” Y/N smiles at him, a genuinely happy smile. “I’m Y/N, but I guess you knew that already.” Luke stays there for just a heartbeat longer, drinking in the sight of her, and then poofs out one last time.

By the time Julie and the boys make it to Y/N’s house, she’s already unpacked her backpack and has her homework on the counter in front of her. When she hears them at the front door, she quickly moves it to a folder at the side and lets them in.

“So, what is it exactly that you want me to do for you?” Luke leans his arms on the kitchen counter. “Willie told us that you could see ghosts. We were hoping that you could tell us how you did that so we could make another lifer see us too.”

Y/N sighs. “That’s pretty complicated. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure how I was able to see ghosts myself. It all started when my aunt died. I remember holding a picture of the two of us in my hands, and wishing that I could see her one last time to say goodbye. The next thing I knew, she was standing there in front of me.”

Alex frowns. “That’s it? You just had to look at a photo and want to see her?” Y/N shrugs. “That’s it. I’ve been able to see ghosts ever since, even ones that weren’t my family. That’s how I met Willie- he was out skateboarding alone and he nearly hit me. When I complained, he looked confused and I found out he was a ghost.”

Alex grins. “That’s basically what happened to me, too. Willie’s so cool.” Luke nudges his friend with his shoulder. “Can we get back on track? So all we have to do for Bobby to see us is give him a photo?”

Y/N drums her fingers lightly on the kitchen counter. “Probably. I mean, that’s what happened for me.” Luke nods, clapping his hands together. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

They make a strange group heading up the steps to Carrie’s house- two girls, three ghosts, one big plan to change Bobby’s life. When Carrie answers the doorbell, she rolls her eyes. “What do you want?”

Julie speaks first. “We need to see your dad. It’s something about his old band.” Carrie squints at her suspiciously. “Is that so?” From behind her comes a voice, echoing out from the living room.

“Let them in, Carrie. It’s alright.”

It’s strange hearing Bobby’s voice. It’s deeper now, deeper than it was when Luke had known him in Sunset Curve. It also has this almost dusty crack to it. Luke realizes it’s because he’s older, and it makes him shudder for a second. Would he have sounded like that too, if he hadn’t died? Would their lives have been any different?

Luke is distracted by thoughts of past and future by Julie and Y/N being ushered into the house. Bobby is sitting on a couch in the living room, but he rises to greet them, turning off the TV as he goes.

“So, you’re here to talk about my old band? How’d you know about Sunset Curve?” Julie clasps her hands together. “Oh, they used to practice in my mom’s old studio. I found this photo of them, actually.” Julie pulls a picture out of her pocket and hands it over to Bobby, who flinches ever so slightly when he sees the boys in the photo.

Luke still remembers that day. They were exhausted, hungry and practically broke, having just barely started to sell their debut album. The photo was taken by the owner of some small coffee shop, who had heard their music and wanted proof that the band had visited his shop. The owner had a photo, and the band had kept one, too.

It’s funny, seeing them in that photo. Luke, Alex, and Reggie don’t look any different, of course, but standing next to them is a young Bobby. How odd that they had all been staying permanently young while he was the only one to change.

Bobby sighs. “We had some good days with that band.” Y/N nods. “Do you miss them? I mean, being a part of the band?” Bobby inclines his head. “They died too young. They should have been here with me, and I’ll always regret that.”

From across the room, Alex turns from studying an award to shout at the back of Bobby’s head. “Clearly you didn’t regret it enough to steal all of our music!” Y/N’s mouth twitches for a second, but she manages to hide the smile long enough to continue speaking to Bobby.

“Would you have continued to make music with them if they were alive today?” Bobby shrugs. “I don’t know. I don’t know if we would have been different or not. I wish they were here, so I could ask them, but that’s one thing I’ll never get to know.”

Luke freezes. Bobby did it- he wished to see them and he was looking at the photo, just like Y/N said. Luke walks quickly over to him. “Bobby? Can you see me?” Bobby just keeps staring at the photo. “We look so young there. We were too young.” Luke’s voice breaks. “You can’t see us. It didn’t work?”

Y/N’s face falls. “Well, that’s really all we had to say. Uh, goodbye.” Bobby hands over the photo, issuing goodbyes of his own. Once they’re out of the house, Y/N speaks in a voice barely over a whisper. “I’m sorry it didn’t work. I guess I’ll just go home.”

She waves goodbye, and then starts heading away. The rest of the boys wave, still dejected, but Luke can’t look away from the sad hunch of Y/N’s shoulders. “Tell you what, I’ll be right back. I’ll meet up with the rest of you at the studio?” With that, Luke poofs away.

He waits until Y/N’s a sufficient distance away from the rest of the band to poof back into existence next to her. Y/N looks up when he appears. “Hey. I wish it worked.” Her voice is still quiet.

Luke sighs. “Me too, but it’s alright.” Y/N shakes her head. “I’m sorry things didn’t turn out well. I wish I hadn’t wasted all your time- I should have known that it wouldn’t work.” Luke takes Y/N’s hands, stopping her in place.

“Hey. This wasn’t a waste of time. None of this was a waste of time.” Y/N looks away. “Of course it was. You trusted me, and I should’ve been able to make it work.” Luke gently puts his hand on her cheek, forcing her to look back at him.

“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about meeting you. The whole thing with Bobby doesn’t matter, I’m just glad I got to get to know you. You’re a really cool person, Y/N, and I wouldn’t change that for anything.”

A slow smile is spreading across Y/N’s face, a light, golden glow of a smile. “I’m glad I got to meet you too.” Luke smiles back. “So, can we still hang out after this?” Y/N laughs. “Of course. See you after school?” Luke nods. “See you then.”

With that, she turns and continues walking down the street, but this time her disappointed steps are replaced with a happy stride. Luke watches her go, and can’t help but smile.

#jatp #luke patterson #luke patterson imagine #luke patterson x reader #luke patterson imagines #jatp luke #jatp luke imagine #jatp luke x reader #jatp luke imagines #jatp imagines #jatp x reader

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gatherthesuspectspod · 3 years ago

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Our London Podcast Festival Script

Two weeks ago, Gather The Suspects were invited to perform a short live piece as part of the Audio Drama Debuts Hour. We had such a blast and while we don’t have a recording of the brand new material we performed, here is the script we performed in full:

GATHER THE SUSPECTS: LONDON PODCAST FESTIVAL

SCENE 1: INT: JACK AND KARA’S FLAT

JACK and GERAINT are sat in JACK’S flat. They are playing a game on the PlayStation…

JACK: Get him! Get him! Aaaaah, balls. G, why didn’t you cover me!

GERAINT: I told you I’m rubbish at this game

JACK: Are you still stuck in the doorway at the spawn point… hah - you are! What a noob! Coo-ey…Geraint...

GERAINT: Hey! No friendly fire!

JACK: Ger, you know the rules, if it’s part of the game then it’s all fair…

GERAINT: You shot my guy blank in the face… I really don’t see how that’s part of the ga- oooh, I have another life left!

JACK: You don’t get lives anymore in games, G… this isn’t the 80s

GERAINT: What about Super Mario?

JACK: Nope… you run out of lives, you just lose coins now…

GERAINT: I dunno, society really is beyond repair! Talking of which…what about this ‘big case’ you’ve been working on... (reacting to the game) Ha-hah! I’m out of the door! Finally! (back to Jack) I’m guessing, as you’re sat here with me getting your arse kicked at video games... likely by some random twelve-year-olds… that it’s going swimmingly!

JACK: Hey, I’m not getting my arse kicked… I’m just… never mind that. I have a day off...Who’d have thought going undercover would be so exhausting!

GERAINT: Yeah, to be honest, the thought of you having a job is still quite amusing, even if it is just for appearance’s sake.

JACK: Hey, what’s so funny about me having a job?

GERAINT: (laughing) Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s the… (Jack shoots him a look)

GERAINT: (composing himself) Oh, you were serious... Oh, nothing…just didn’t really see it as your...um… ‘scene,’ that’s all... So, you reckon you can solve it?

JACK: Uh-huh…

GERAINT: Aaand?

JACK: Just uh-huh… nothing much to write home about yet, really.

GERAINT: Jack, it’s a murder, surely there must be something exciting! Like what happened?

JACK: Angry boss…disgruntled employees... shot, by the looks of it… (reacting to the game) YES! Take that… right in the…(remembers what they were talking about)... oh, uuh… that’s about it really…

GERAINT: “That’s about it?” Sounds like quite a big deal to me… so, you got any suspects?

JACK: That’s the problem right now… there is literally an entire office full of ‘em! But, it’s my day off and I am not thinking about it… just going to chill here and play some…

SOUND: PHONEVIBE.WAV

JACK: (Sighs)... hello…

KARA (on phone): Hey…

JACK: Hey Kara

KARA (on phone): Guess what?

JACK: The office has burned down and I don’t have to go back to work tomorrow?

KARA (on phone): Hah, you wish… no… Harrison just announced in the morning meeting that the police are coming in today to search everyone’s lockers… The whole sales team is freaking out!

JACK: (excitedly) What!? The police are actually doing something? I can just imagine their panicked little faces!

KARA (on phone): Dai blew up at Harrison in the meeting and called it ‘an affront to his human rights...” Like, since when has douchebag Dai cared about anyone’s human rights when he’s been sleazing his way around the office.

JACK: Ooooh, I’m coming in!

KARA (on phone): You won’t be allowed… your card won’t let you into the building if you’re booked off on holiday…

JACK: What about if I ask Harrison about coming in? Surely he’ll -

KARA (on phone): You’ll be lucky, he’s gone golfing. You’ll just have to wait for me to get home and fill you in on all the fun and games, I’m afraid.

JACK: Gaah! Just give me a call if they find anything, alright?

KARA (on phone): Jack, it’s the police... they couldn’t find anything if it was surrounded by a big shiny arrow and neon writing declaring ‘I’m a clue’. Think you are safe on that one… It will be interesting to see how people react though. Like I said, they all seem pretty worried at the mo... Me and V are going to watch - I’ll let you know if any fireworks happen.

JACK: Thanks, K. Bye.

KARA (on phone): Tarra, bye.

Phone beeps as JACK hangs up.

JACK: Ger, get your coat… we are going to work……..

GERAINT: What?! Now? I was just getting the hang of this bloody thing too!

JACK: I’ll explain on the way. We are going on a stakeout!

SCENE 2: EXT: WELTEL CAR PARK

We open on JACK and GERAINT stood in the carpark of the Weltel call centre.

JACK: Oooh, how exciting, our first stakeout!

GERAINT: While I’d like to share your enthusiastic outlook on the situation, couldn’t you at least have hired a car or something… just standing here in the open staring at the building doesn’t feel very… well, ‘discrete’, quite frankly.

JACK: (mocking) Oh, I’m sorry ‘chief inspector’, I would have gone for the usual unmarked car with tinted windows, but the carpool budget has been rather reduced since, you know, the world fell apart.

GERAINT: Alright, alright. I was just saying... We aren’t exactly inconspicuous stood here though, are we? Particularly when you keep looking through those opera glasses!

JACK: I was rushing and couldn’t find my binoculars…

GERAINT: Why do you even have opera glasses anyway… have you ever even been to the opera -

JACK: (interrupting) Shush! Look… (whispering) act natural… (they act very unnatural, suspiciously looking around staring at the sky and their shoes.

GERAINT starts to whistle and turns away from the mic) what’s she doing?

GERAINT: Who is it? I can’t see because of all the acting natural….

JACK: (gives up whispering) Oh, just turn around, mun. Look, it’s Amy…

GERAINT: Jack, you seem to forget, I don’t work here… I have literally no idea who that is!

JACK: OK, so… Amy is married to Dai, who is possibly having an affair with the other Amy, who is definitely selling coke in the toilets to Hikari, who got in a fight with Harrison, who is having an affair with Julie, which was discovered by Cathy...

GERAINT: Who swallowed the fly… but, we are yet to discover why she swallowed said fly… perhaps…

JACK: Don’t be facetious… It’s Cathy who has been murdered, mun…

GERAINT: Aah

JACK: Get it now…

GERAINT: (unsure) Uuuh, not entirely… no… it sounds like being in school again!

JACK: Very much is, G. Just exchange flashing your rare pokemon cards around the playground for flashing your five-figure Rolex around the weekly stats meeting... and it’s basically the same.

GERAINT: What’s she doing, can you see?

JACK: She’s stuffing something into the wheelie bins…

SOUND: DOOR.WAV

JACK: Good she’s gone… let’s go see what it was…

SOUND: DOOR.WAV

GERAINT: Wait… who’s that…

JACK: That’s douchebag Dai… let’s just hang back here a bit…

GERAINT: Douchebag Dai?

JACK: Yup… his name is David and he is a douchebag… easy enough…

GERAINT: And he is the one selling coke in the toilets?

JACK: No, keep up, G… That’s Amy… the other Amy… the one that Dai is sleeping with and not the Amy he’s married to and just saw shove stuff furtively into a wheelie bin.

GERAINT: She’s isn’t the only one either… look where your Douchebag Dai’s headed…

JACK: The bins! Quick, what’s he holding, G… can you see?

GERAINT: (sarcastically) Why don’t you take a look with your opera glasses?

JACK: Aaah too late, he’s stuffed it in there…

SOUND: DOOR.WAV

JACK: Right, quick let’s go see what…

SOUND: DOOR.WAV

JACK: (annoyed and too loud) Aah, Jesus Christ! What now...

GERAINT: Sssshhhhh!

JACK: Uh-oh, she’s looking around… duck.

GERAINT: Back to my earlier point… I’m not sure ‘absolutely nothing’ provides us with the best form of cover for quickly ducking out of sight...

JACK: Look, It’s not like I’m particularly experienced in hiding around spying on unsuspecting people, is it…just get over here by these flower beds… Oooh, It’s Julie!

GERAINT: Another one heading to the wheelie bins! (innocently) Clean office, is it?

JACK: Like the Tour de France, G

SOUND: DOOR.WAV

JACK: Let’s just hang back and check no-one else wants to empty the content of their guilty conscience in the bin before we go… (wait and look around)

GERAINT: I think we’re good

JACK: Right, let’s have a look at what we’ve got… (lifting the lid) Eeeeugh it stinks… (they both peer into the bin)...look there’s some stuff right down there at the bottom… G climb in and get it - I’ll hold the lid…

GERAINT: I’m not climbing in there! This is your case, you climb in there...

JACK: Well I can’t go in, it’ll set off my asthma…

GERAINT: Since when have you had asthma?

JACK: (coughing for effect) I don’t tell you everything about my life, you know, Ger...and, if you must know, it comes and goes…

GERAINT: What? like, comes when you don’t want to do the dirty work yourself and goes all the rest of the time…

JACK: My doctor said I’m not to go near anything that could set it off, like dust.. Or uum…

GERAINT: Hard work? Oh, for goodness sake, just give me a boost in, OK? But you owe me! (JACK helps GERAINT into the bin) So… what have we got here… (rustles around in the small amount of rubbish covering the floor of the bin.) Some receipts for a restaurant called ‘Chez Henri’ and what looks like a stack of love letters badly wrapped up in cellotape… here you go…

JACK: (reading) “To my Darling, H. Each moment I stare at you through the glass is pure torture…” Well, that’s creepy! Anything else…

GERAINT: A lot of empty tinfoil packets… you sure you had the right Amy?

JACK: Well I didn’t say who else she was selling the stuff to...

GERAINT: There’s a folder in here too… It’s got pictures in here of Harrison and Julie… wait, there’s something else in the back part… oh my god… Jack - It’s a gun!

JACK: What?! Let’s have a - Jeeeeesus, that’s a bloody gun!

GERAINT: I see why you have developed such a good reputation for your detective skills… What are we going to do with it?

JACK: Look don’t touch it - I’ll…

POLICEMAN: Hey!

JACK: Oh bloody hell, it’s the fuzz… hide (Jack slams the lid shut and runs)

GERAINT: (whispering angrily) Jack! What? Let me out of here! I swear to god I’m going to…

The POLICEMAN walks over and lifts the lid

GERAINT: (flustered) Uh, hi?

POLICEMAN: Hello, sir… may I enquire as to why you are sat inside a wheelie bin holding a gun?

GERAINT: I...Uh… oh bloody hell

---End---

#Gather The Suspects #audio drama #audio fiction #podcast #podcasts #comedy #audio comedy #cozy mystery

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dannyphannypack · 5 years ago

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DP/PJO Crossover

Hello losers and welcome back to Taylor Writes A Teaser and Later Deletes the Entire Thing Because She Decides She Doesn’t Like it but She Wants to Put the Teaser Somewhere Else Where Her Grimy Little Hands Can’t Reach it so the Teaser Isn’t Lost Forever to Time! The Series. Today I’ve got a prologue for my upcoming fic, The Phantom Recollection. Enjoy!

“Woah.”

Daniel Fenton, newly fifteen, stood outside the Washington Square Park in lower Manhattan with a cardboard box overflowing with weaponry. He stood in front of the park’s Roman triumphal arch, where two statues of George Washington stared down at him. Behind the president on either side were two other people Danny didn’t recognize.

Jasmine, Danny’s older sister by two years, came up behind him toting another cardboard box labelled ‘Samples.’ She nodded toward the eastern pier. “That’s George Washington as Commander-in-Chief, Accompanied by Fame and Valor.” Jazz recited the words as if reading straight out of a textbook. “And the other one is George Washington as President, Accompanied by Wisdom and Justice.”

“Ah, yes,” Danny said as he adjusted his box. Guns were heavy. “My four favorite people: Fame, Valor, Wisdom, and Justice. Love those guys.”

Jazz nudged him with her shoulder and continued through the arch, where a crowd of people were gathered around a large fountain with jets that spewed water 45 feet into the air. A few adults sat around the fountain with their feet in the water and kids ran across the surface in swimsuits and trunks. Danny watched as one kid walked a little too close to the fountain and got pummeled by falling water.

The perimeter of Washington Square was decorated in booths. While one half of the square was shaded by the surrounding trees, the other half was enduring the hot July sun. Some people had been smart enough to bring canopy tents. Others were already baking.

“There,” Jazz said, pointing. A single empty fold-up table on the other side of the square sat in the sun with a sign that read, “RESERVED — Fentons.” Danny used a hand to shade his eyes in an attempt to get a better look at it.

“I told you that you should’ve brought sunglasses,” Jazz said. Danny figured she was rolling her eyes underneath her own pair of aviators.

“Yeah, yeah,” Danny huffed. “Let’s just go before I drop this Fenton-Tech all over the ground.”

A big guy in a bright orange neoprene HAZMAT suit ran into Danny from behind, almost making him fall over. Jack Fenton carried seven stacked cardboard boxes. “Whoops!” he shouted. “Didn’t see you there!”

Danny figured he couldn’t see anyone, anywhere, but a similarly-dressed woman in a bright blue suit came up behind him and urged him along. “Jack, I told you that we could just take a second trip.”

Beside Danny, Jazz hunched her shoulders like she thought she could hide in a turtle shell. “If anyone asks, I’m not related.”

Danny’s parents were … quirky, to say the least. Danny rarely saw them without their suits in public, and Danny even less so with his mom’s hood and red-tinted goggles. Underneath was a chin-length bob of red hair and deep blue eyes, almost purple in color. She was nothing compared to his dad, though, who was easily six feet seven and built like an MMA fighter (minus the rippling muscles). Huge. Stocky. Shaped vaguely like a box. He was difficult to miss. Even behind the boxes, people that walked past were giving him strange looks. Danny figured that was bad, since they were at a ghost convention.

“Not any ghost convention!” His dad had exclaimed, barely a week ago. “The Haunted America Conference in Alton, Illinois!”

“It’s not in Alton anymore, Jack,” His mom had sighed like they’d been over this three times already. “They had to move it due to popular demand.”

“Where is it, then?” Danny asked.

His mom had beamed. “Oh, Danny, you’re going to love this: New York City!”

And that’s how they’d ended up in America’s most populated city, carrying ghost weapons across a supposedly haunted park in the middle of July. Danny was pretty good at telling where ghosts were and where they weren’t, and there definitely wasn’t anybody here. The land had once been used as a mass burial ground during the yellow fever, but the spirits had all moved on since. If Danny had died during the yellow fever, he wouldn’t have stuck around either. Children running playfully over his unmarked corpse? No thanks.

Danny set his box at the foot of the table. His dad was trying to bend down without spilling the contents of his seven boxes everywhere, and his mom was fussing over him. “Don’t worry, Maddie, I got it!” his dad said, and he set the boxes on the pavement a little too roughly. The bottom box made a noise like breaking glass and crumpled underneath the weight. Ectoplasm began oozing out the sides.

“I’ve got the other samples,” Jazz drawled, setting down the box. “If you need me I’ll be by the fountain pretending that I don’t exist.” She shouldered her backpack and walked away.

“I’m just gonna go, uh, walk around,” Danny said.

His mom opened her mouth like she meant to tell him to stay there and help set up the booth, but she replaced the expression with a hesitant smile. “Go have fun. Be back by noon.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Danny knew how much his mother liked physical reassurance, so he stood on his tip-toes and pecked her cheek. “Love you.”

She smiled. “Love you, too.”

Danny turned and started heading around the square, glancing at people’s ghostly booths without actually getting close enough to warrant a conversation. He didn’t get a chance to walk very far, though. While passing a section of the square that branched off into a sidewalk, an old lady in a black hood grabbed him by the hand and pulled him aside. Despite the temperature (and the outfit choice), her skin felt cold. Danny forced himself to remain calm. Not a ghost, he told himself. Still, the woman set him on edge. When she opened her mouth, she sounded like she was hissing. Between gasping breaths, she said,

“Three shall find the child of death

Who loses his mind with one gasping breath

The son of the sea god must attend

To repay the kindness of a forgotten friend

See that his memories are safely returned

Or the reign of the King will be overturned.”

Danny blinked and she was gone, melting into the shadows of a big elm tree. “Wait!” he shouted, but the old woman had disappeared.

A wild animal growled nearby, but it came from all sides and echoed like Danny was in a cave.

He shivered. Get it together, Fenton. You’re losing it, man.

Thinking about how characters in movies splashed their faces with cold water when they were upset, he turned and walked down the sidewalk in search of a restroom.

Jazz sat on the steps of the fountain. With her laptop balanced in her lap, she reached into her backpack and removed a flash drive from her key ring of flash drives. This one was marked by a little cartoon ghost painted in neon green nail polish. She inserted it and opened up the folder. More folders stared back at her. Ghost Psychology, Ghost Physiology, Ghost Physics, Ghost Theories, Ghost, Ghost, Ghost. Jazz pursed her lips. Maybe she should take the ‘Ghost’ out of all her folder titles. The nail polish ghost on her flash drive already told her what it was.

“Hey,” someone said from behind her, and she jumped. Pulling her computer screen down, Jazz turned and looked up at the girl who had spoken.

She might have been a bit younger than Danny, though Jazz couldn’t tell exactly. She had long, curly red hair and dozens of freckles that decorated her nose like tiny paint splatters. Her eyes were so green they practically glowed in the light of the sun, swirling with mirth and curiosity. She was wearing red running shorts and a white t-shirt, so she looked like she had just finished a jog. Jazz supposed that she might have; this was a park, not a year-round ghost convention.

“Hi,” Jazz replied, pushing up her sunglasses so that they rested on her head. She visibly relaxed.

The girl chuckled and sat down beside her. She began taking off her sneakers and socks. “Surprised to see a fellow redhead at the Haunted America Conference.”

Jazz looked up and observed the crowd. She didn’t know how she hadn’t noticed before, but the people wandering about the square were a sea of black clothes and colorfully-dyed hair.

Jazz snorted and reopened her laptop. “That’s why you came over here?”

“No. I happened to see your computer screen.” She leaned in close for a better look. “Ghost Psychology, huh?”

Jazz closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Look, I know it seems weird—”

“No, I love it!” The girl said. “Everybody else here is all, ‘Palmistry, Chakra, Tarot Readings.’ You’re asking the real questions. What do ghosts think about? That’s what I’m interested in.”

If anybody else had said that, Jazz would have assumed they were being condescending. This girl, though … she could tell that she was just curious. “You believe in ghosts?”

“Yeah, sure,” she said, putting her feet in the water and kicking them back and forth a bit. “Why not? Had this weird experience at the Hoover Dam last month. Not a ghost, I think, but—” she cut herself off and bit her lip, like she was trying to stop herself from retelling it. She raised her hand for Jazz to shake. “My name’s Rachel. Rachel Dare.”

Jazz shook it politely. “Jazz Fenton.”

“Fenton, huh?” Rachel looked like that name sounded familiar but she didn’t want to say anything about it.

“Yeah, I know,” Jazz said, preparing herself for the obligatory ‘I’m a Fenton’ speech. “Parents are Maddie and Jack Fenton, ghost hunters extraordinaire. Last year they saved Amity Park from being annihilated by the Ghost King, yadda yadda.

“They did what?” Rachel squeaked, but she sounded more amused than shocked. “Ghost King?”

Jazz mentally berated herself. Without thinking, she’d started spewing the information that everybody back in her home state wanted to know. She hadn’t thought about the fact that she was in New York, hundreds of miles away. Stupid.

Rachel must have saw Jazz wince, because she switched gears. “So, ghost hunters,” she said. “Your folks got a TV show?”

Jazz took a second to process the change in topic. She blinked once. Twice. Suddenly, she burst out laughing.

“What?” Rachel yelled over Jazz’s laughter. “What’s so funny?”

Jazz giggled but calmed down. “Sorry. My parents having a TV show … I can’t imagine.”

“What do they do then?” she asked. “Ghost Tours?”

“Ghost—?” Jazz cleared her throat to keep herself from laughing again. “No, no, no, Rachel, you’ve got my family all wrong. Think, ‘shoot first and ask questions later.’”

Rachel’s eyes widened. “They shoot ghosts? How does that work?”

Jazz jabbed a finger behind her, where her parents had started on the box of weaponry. Her mom set the Fenton Bazooka down. Like anybody was gonna buy that.

Rachel gulped. “So I’m hoping you’re the ‘ask questions, shoot later’ one.”

Jazz nodded mutely and opened her Ghost Psychology folder. At the top was a folder labelled ‘Danny Phantom,’ but she scrolled past it to the general information. “My parents think that ghosts are inherently evil and have no thoughts of their own. They’re just a bad copy of their old human consciousness, wanting to get revenge on humans because they’re jealous that we’re alive or something. But they’re so much more than that. They have these—these ghostly obsessions.” She opened a Word document and began scrolling. “But they’re not evil obsessions. Sure, when they die, they can be like, ‘I’m going to make them pay.’ But usually it’s more of a gray area. Like, ‘I’m going to watch after my family,’ or ‘I’m never going to stop writing.’ What my parents don’t understand is that they’re not unary; they can think about other things. They aren’t limited to one state of mind.”

Rachel looked surprised at the sudden lecture, but she adjusted quickly. “Who is Skulker?”

“Oh.” Jazz paused and bit her lip. “He’s—he’s not the best.”

“What’s his obsession?”

“Hunting,” Jazz said, though she didn’t sound as excited as she had before.

“I’m guessing he’s not hunting for deer,” Rachel said, watching Jazz’s reaction. “Okay. Then … who is Danny Phantom? Why’s he got a folder to himself?”

Jazz’s eyes widened.

“Right. Another touchy subject.”

“No,” Jazz said, shaking her head. “No, he’s … he’s good. Great, even. I think he’s obsessed with protecting people.”

“Well, that’d good, isn’t it?”

“Yeah!” Jazz exclaimed. “I mean, yeah, it’s really good.”

Rachel stared at her. “But … something’s wrong?”

Jazz exhaled slowly through her nose, considering what she should and should not say. “He’s just a little … too protective, I guess. Never thinks about himself. Always rushes in when he could get hurt.”

“Ghosts can get hurt?” Rachel asked.

“This one can.”

Rachel could tell that Jazz didn’t want to talk about it, but she was curious. Choosing her words carefully, she asked, “What’s he like?”

Jazz smiled. “Oh, he’s great. Always saving the day. You know, everybody thanks my parents for the Ghost King thing, but it was really him. Our entire city was transported to a different dimension called the Ghost Zone. It’s where all ghosts live. The Ghost King had just woken up. People doubted his power. He was going to kill us all to set an example. Let everybody know that he was in charge.”

Jazz took a deep breath. “And then … well, Phantom couldn’t stand for that. He was already upset because … someone else got hurt. So he went up there by himself and beat him. He could’ve died.” Her eyes widened. “Well, not died, but he could’ve gotten hurt.”

They sat in silence for a moment, staring out at the fountain and watching the water splash against the surface. Some little kids ran by them, laughing. Rachel said, “You like this guy a lot, huh?”

That seemed to break Jazz out of her stupor. Her cheeks turned red. “Not romantically!” she shouted. “I care about him like a little brother. Not—” She put her face in her hands.

Rachel laughed and stood, shaking the water off her bare feet. “I’ve got to get going before my dad comes home for his lunch break and finds out that I’ve left the house. It was nice meeting you, Jazz.” She pointed at the laptop. “You keep that ghost science thing up. You never know. You might end up publishing it and becoming famous.”

“Your shoes,” Jazz said, grabbing the sneakers and holding them up to her. Her socks had been stuffed into the toes.

“Oh! Right.” She took them but didn’t bother putting them on; instead, she started walking up the steps and back into the square, barefoot. “And you keep that Phantom kid from doing anything stupid!” She added.

Jazz laughed. “I’ll try!” she shouted back.

Just like that, Rachel Dare was gone.

In hindsight, Danny should’ve known that he’d never get a break. Weird stuff had been happening to him since last year like clockwork. August: get ghost powers. September: fight ghosts. November: find out that a creepy old man has ghost powers, too. December: fight ghosts. On and on and on until now, watching people stumble through the gates of a sandy dog park behind the restroom he’d found. An old lady shuffled past him, screaming bloody murder. “Rabid dog!”

Danny turned back towards the dog park. That thing was no dog. Snarling angrily at a park ranger was a full-grown lion, 500 pounds at least. It snorted a small plume of red-orange fire. Danny blanched. Yeah, so maybe it wasn’t a lion.

Danny was still trying to process its more … interesting parts. From its back sprouted a black ram’s head, with big, curly ebony horns and a sneer almost as nasty as the lion’s. It, too, huffed, but only smoke came from its mouth. Thank god. Danny didn’t know if he could handle two fire-breathing heads.

Then there was the matter of the tail. The golden fur grew in patches before tapering off into tough yellow and orange snake-skin. At the tail’s end was a full, honest-to-god python. As he watched, the snake looked up at Danny and flicked its tongue.

This was a ghost. It had to be a ghost, right? Sure, it didn’t glow like a ghost … and it didn’t float like a ghost … and it didn’t set off his ghost-sense like a ghost … but what else could it be? An animal experiment escapee from the Central Park Zoo? Danny seriously doubted that.

The park ranger pressed his back against the fence, which was a little too high for him to jump, and made a high-pitched whimpering sound. Danny shook his head. He didn’t have time for this. Whatever it was, he had to get rid of it.

Danny glanced nervously at the security cameras attached to the public restroom and nestled between the trees. Okay. He had to get rid of it, but without ghost powers. How?

Looking around for anything he could use, Danny settled on rock and tossed it twice into the air to test its weight. Deciding that it would work, he shouted, “Hey, Alex the Lion!” and threw it as hard as he could. It hit the creature in the back of the head.

That got its attention. Turning away from the ranger, the lion growled and set the floor around the gate on fire. Danny surveyed the fence. He wondered if he could jump it or if he’d seriously have to run through flames to get inside. Danny didn’t like heat. It wasn’t his thing. If he channeled a little flight into the jump, would it be too noticeable?

He didn’t have to think about it for very long, though. A boy and a girl, apparently unconcerned with the security cameras, catapulted over the fence on the other side and somersaulted into a standing position, one holding a dagger and the other holding an entire sword.

A sword. This day was just getting weirder and weirder.

The girl kicked the guy in the back of the knee, causing him to fall. She pushed him toward the lion. “Mmm, look, yummy demigod!”

“Annabeth!” The guy spluttered, standing. Just in the nick of time, too. Their entrance had caught the creature’s attention. It lunged forward. The kid jumped out of the way.

Danny raised his eyebrows. The girl, Annabeth, had her wavy blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. She wore jean shorts and a hazard orange t-shirt similar to Danny’s dad’s suit. The guy was wearing the same shirt, though he had a pair of black basketball shorts on instead. Together, they shared a matching gray streak of hair. He wondered if they’d dyed it together.

In the other corner, the park ranger fainted.

With nothing but sand and rocks to fuel it, the flames around the gate died, allowing Danny to walk in like a normal person. Unlike the other two, he’d rather not high-jump a fence with security cameras watching. Even in New York he needed to keep up appearances.

The creature rushed toward Annabeth and its snake head-of-a-tail wrapped around her arm, squeezing until she dropped her dagger with a pained yelp. She looked down at it and kicked it in the general direction of the other guy.

Okay, my turn, Danny thought. He grabbed another rock (this one sharper, yay!), stepped through the gate, and threw it. It cut a long gash through the ram’s cheek. The lion turned to face him.

Both of the strangers looked surprised to see him there, like they hadn’t noticed a fifteen-year-old kid standing by the front gates. Honestly, Danny was surprised that he was still there, too. He had seriously considered running away when he saw them jump the fence. He had thought, Great! Back to my vacation, but his feet stayed firmly planted on the ground.

Annabeth recovered quickly. With the lion-goat-snake-thing distracted, she ripped her arm free of the snake’s grip and tumbled away.

The lion head roared, shooting fire across the park at Danny. He rolled out of the way and stood, bouncing on his toes. What he would give to be able to fly right now.

The other guy stared at him.

“What?” Danny snapped.

“Your pants are on fire.”

Danny looked down. Sure enough, the hem of his jeans hadn’t been as lucky as the rest of him. Patting it out, he shouted, “Dude!”

And then the lion was on top of him.

Now, Danny had been in some pretty sticky situations. The lion had his arms pinned on either side of his head. Danny couldn’t help but flash back to another time, when a ghost panther had been on top of him in the same fashion. It wasn’t the same, but still. Two giant cats pinning him to the ground in a year? That was sad.

On one side of him was Annabeth, on the other, the guy. Annabeth pointed frantically to his right. His eyes flicked in the direction she was indicating. Ah, yes, the dagger! He’d never be able to grab it with the creature’s full attention on him, though.

“Percy,” Annabeth said in a harsh whisper. He didn’t seem to notice. With a stomp, Annabeth ground out, “Per-see!” and nodded her head toward the dagger. He opened his mouth like, Ah, hyped himself up by jumping up and down, and started running top speed with his sword held high above his head, screaming.

The lion gnashed its teeth like it was annoyed. The goat head bleated angrily. The snake hissed. In one swift motion, the creature lifted one of its massive paws and hit Percy across the stomach. He flew backward into the metal fence.

Fortunately for Danny, that was all the time he needed. With one arm free, he reached for the dagger, got a hold of it, and pushed it into the lion’s chest. He cringed, bracing himself for the five hundred pounds of lion-goat-snake-thing that was about to die on top of him. Instead, it began raining sand.

Danny opened his eyes, sat up, and immediately began gagging. “It got in my mouth!” he yelled, though it sounded more like, “It got in me mouf!”

Percy, who had been thrown into the fence and didn’t look much better than Danny, had the audacity to start laughing. Danny turned and glared at him, using his hands to brush lion-goat-snake dust off his tongue. He only succeeded in adding more sand from the ground to his mouth.

Annabeth held out her hand for Danny and helped him to stand. Percy cleared his throat, like, Hey, aren’t you gonna help me up, too? but Annabeth just looked Danny up and down with a puzzled expression. Her eyes were gray like a storm cloud. “Who are you?” she asked. It sounded like an accusation.

Danny was still spitting sand and monster dust all over the ground. “Danny,” he said between gagging. “Bleh.”

“First time?” Percy quipped, helping himself up by leaning heavily on the fence behind him. He winced and held his stomach.

“I’m Annabeth,” Annabeth said. She gestured flippantly at her friend. “That’s Percy. I’ve never seen you before. Where did you come from?”

Danny furrowed his eyebrows, thoroughly confused. “You ever meet a tourist?”

Annabeth continued to stare at him. Shaking her head, she asked, “Where’s your parent?”

“Uh, parents? And they’re at Washington Square.”

“You have a stepparent?” Percy blurted.

“What?”

Percy changed gears. “You’re adopted?”

“What? No!”

Percy’s eyes widened. He muttered, “You’re like Rachel?”

“Who?” Danny and Annabeth asked in unison. For once he wasn’t the only one out of the loop.

“Look,” Danny said, brushing himself off. “This has been super fun, but I’ve got a ghost convention to get back to.” He turned on his heel and started stalking out of the dog park. What was up with them assuming he didn’t have parents? And people thought he was nuts.

“Wait!” Percy shouted. Danny paused mid-step. “Thank you.”

Danny considered that. He wasn’t supposed to be a hero in human form. It was dangerous. Even now, he was running through scenes in his head of these two stealing the security footage and putting him on YouTube or something. Highly unlikely, but anxiety twisted that in his head and made him more and more uncomfortable. He turned back around. “Look … don’t tell anybody about this, yeah?” Then, to disguise his nervousness, he said, “My parents would flip if they found out lion-goat-snake hybrids existed.”

“Chimera,” Annabeth said.

“Bless you,” said Percy.

“What? No! Percy, you of all people should know this. The Chimera is a Greek monster. Bellerophon shot it with the help of Pegasus. Do you listen to anything we tell you in camp?”

Percy shrugged noncommittally.

Annabeth fumed. “I—”

“You could come with us, you know,” Percy said, cutting Annabeth off. “To camp, I mean.”

Danny pretended like he was considering the offer. “Hmm, a camp with a Greek mythology class? No thanks.”

“It’s not a myth,” Percy said, rushing to get what he wanted to say out before Danny lost interest and left. “The Greek gods, I mean. They’re real. We could really use someone like you.”

Danny considered this. Right, so … crazy. They were crazy. If the Greek gods existed, why would there be a Ghost Zone? Didn’t spirits go to the Underworld in Greek mythology or something? But then again … what else could that lion-goat-snake thing be? It definitely wasn’t a ghost.

Danny shook his head. He had enough things to worry about. This was crossing into the Too Weird category. Turning, he said, “Thanks for the offer, but I’ve gotta go throw rocks at some other monsters. See you around.”

He walked out the gates and down the sidewalk towards Washington Square, thinking, I could really go for a sandwich right now.

623 notes · View notes

something-tofightfor · 5 years ago

Text

He’s Not Here -Part 22

Pairing: Billy Russo x Reader

Word Count: 9070

Rating: M (language, violence, blood... you know the drill)

Parts 1-21 + the interludes and NSFW alphabet can be found on my Masterlist (link in bio)

Summary: In the aftermath of the Anvil launch party, you have no more reason to speak to Billy... but is this the end? How can you go back to life without him, even though you know he’s only a few miles away? And what happens as more time passes?

Author’s Note: We’re winding down. I initially thought that there would be one more part after this + an epilogue, but the epilogue turned into a 12,000 word MESS so I’m splitting it into two more chapters + the epilogue.

(banner by @the-blind-assassin-12)

You’d been wrong to think that the Anvil party would be the last that you’d hear from Billy, and even though it shouldn’t have surprised you, it did. When you returned to the office Monday morning, there was a large floral arrangement waiting at the reception desk with your name on it, a card attached. What is he doing? You carried the vase to your office and closed the door, not wanting to open the card in front of anyone else, but at your first glance at the tiny rectangle, you realized that it didn’t matter. The arrangement had been addressed to you, but the card was made out to your entire work group, and it wasn’t signed from Billy - it was signed from Anvil. He didn’t even sign it himself. Fighting the urge to throw the card away, you instead propped it up against the vase, took a picture and logged into your company email account, sending a quick message to Billy, image attached.

Mr. Russo -

So glad that we were able to help make Anvil’s launch party a success. Thank you for the flowers, we appreciate you thinking of us. Thought you’d want to see what we received on your behalf.

You read it over, cringing at the impersonal nature of the few lines. That’s what it has to be, though. No more… no more anything. Before you hit send, you remembered one final thing, adding it before your signature.

We’ll be going over the guest list today in order to mark off the attendees, and the ‘thank you’ cards will be sent before the end of the week. I’ll confirm when this is done.

You hit send without another thought, tucking the card into your top drawer before you stood, carrying the flowers into the lobby again and setting them on the table in the entryway. “Who are those from?” Erin stepped into the office, a coffee in one hand. “They’re gorgeous.”

“They’re from Bi- from Anvil.” You swallowed. “To thank us for the event. I thought that they should be out here where everyone can see them.” She leaned in, lowering her face to smell the blooms. “It’s really nice.”

“You know,” Erin remarked as she straightened up, turning her head to look at you. “These might be from Anvil, but…” She grinned. “They’re your favorite flowers.” Stunned, you looked back down, noticing for the first time that she was right, the arrangement featured a few different types of flowers, but the majority of them were your favorites. I didn’t even…the color, too. Erin walked away, toward her office and you stared at the vase for a few seconds longer, trying to process what you were seeing. Why would he? He wouldn’t. It’s coincidence, that’s it.

Heading back into your office, you sat back at your desk, opening your email again to begin work for a new client, and saw a response from Billy using the Anvil account.

No need to confirm. I trust you to get them sent. Thanks again. It was almost perfect, from beginning to end.

Lieutenant William Russo, CEO, ANVIL

Despite the formality of the email, you knew that Billy had chosen his words deliberately again, and even though you tried to keep from feeling anything, you read the last line over and over, heart pounding. Beginning to end. Does he mean… his office and the hallway? I… You forced yourself to close the email, moving it to the folder you’d created as a record of all of your dealings with the contract. Enough. It isn’t happening. It’s over. That kiss was… You stared at your inbox silently, replaying the last kiss with Billy - the look that had been in his eyes, the way he’d touched you, apologizing for the way he’d left your apartment. Almost perfect? It doesn’t matter. Nothing changed. Scrubbing your hands over your face you tilted your head back, staring at the ceiling. “Get your shit together. It’s just a breakup.”

But it wasn’t, and you knew that no amount of convincing would make you believe otherwise.

---

The weeks passed, and while you didn’t hear from Billy again personally, you did hear from Curtis occasionally. The man stopped by your office every now and then on his way to and from the church where he held a veteran’s support group, providing updates on Frank when he had them, giving you small pieces of information about Billy every so often - even when you didn’t ask. The days lengthened and spring turned into summer - a hot one, causing brownouts throughout the city - but you kept busy. It seemed that your work with Anvil had put you on the radar of some important people, and your workload nearly doubled, requiring you to hire a new planner so that you didn’t have to turn anything down. Staying busy was nice, the extra money in your bank account was nice, and even getting to mingle with the New York upper class was nice, but you were lonely.

You knew that getting over Billy would take time, but you didn’t expect to feel as empty as you did when you thought of him, and it wasn’t until late July, when you showed up to another event with your new hire Marissa that you realized just how empty you were. He’s here. You saw him from across the room, dressed in a suit that the Billy you knew wouldn’t have been able to afford, and immediately froze. Luckily, he hadn’t seen you, and you took a few moments to watch him, noting that his face had thinned out slightly and his beard was trimmed with precision. His hair was back to how it had been before he’d shaved it off prior to his deployment, and you felt yourself smile as you watched him. He’s so confident. Even though the event wasn’t as upper crust as some of the ones you’d planned in the past, you were slightly surprised that he’d gotten an invite to it, since it had nothing to do with security. He’s good, I shouldn’t be shocked.

You’d just decided to walk over and say hello, proving that again, you could interact with him without making things awkward, when you watched as a redhead walked up to him, stopping at his side. You froze mid-step, eyes widening, and saw him move an arm, winding it around her body, his hand pressed against her back. No. He still hadn’t seen you, and so as she tilted her head up to look at him, her smile growing even though he didn’t look down at her, you turned on your heel and walked away, fighting back tears. I guess it really didn’t matter. ---

In August, there was a pounding on your door one evening, after you got home from work. You’d already changed, and were relaxing on your couch, Netflix playing in the background. Who the hell? You opened the door, surprised to see Curtis standing at your doorstep, his hand still raised like he was going to knock again. “Curt? Is -” He shook his head, pushing past you and into your apartment, which wasn’t like him at all. “Curtis, what’s -”

“Frank’s awake.” You gasped, following the man deeper into your apartment and stepping into your kitchen to grab two beers, popping the caps off of the bottles. “He’s... thanks.” Curtis took a bottle from you, settling down onto the couch and you sat across from him in your armchair, leaning forward. “I went to see Billy first, to tell him, and then I came to you because Frank’s… he’s got no one else.” You had tried not to think of Billy, not wanting your most recent memory of him to be with his arm around another woman, but let your mind wander to him then, choosing to remind yourself of the way he’d been with you at the church, his hand holding yours tightly, eyes full of emotion.

“Is he… does he know? Wh-” Curtis laughed, but the sound wasn’t humorous, and your heart immediately dropped.

“Yeah, he knows.” Curtis took a long drink of beer, meeting your eyes. “I only know that he’s awake because he came to see me.” What?

“He’s out of the -”

“Not supposed to be.” Curtis ran his free hand over the top of his head, shaking it back and forth. “He ah, he woke up, I guess, a few days ago, and when he remembered? He went nuts. Broke himself out of the…” Curtis shook his head. “He’s weak, but Frank’s never... He’s never let that stop him before, he... “ Curtis met your eyes. “He’s gonna go after ‘em, after ‘em all, and he doesn’t care what happens to him.” You leaned back, your hand over your mouth. After them? Does that mean… “He needs a couple days, just to get his bearings, and then… I don’t blame him, you know? If that was my family? I’d be…” Curtis trailed off. “He came to me because he trusts me, and I’m tellin’ you because I didn’t want you to…” Curtis looked down. “I don’t know what happened between you and Billy. It’s none of my business, but he’s different now. I see him once a month when he drops off a donation check for my group, but he… he won’t talk to me anymore.” Curtis swallowed the last of his beer. “He can’t help Frank, not publicly, and I don’t even think Frank would think to go to him, I don’t even think he knows Billy’s still in town, but… shit.” Curtis stood. “Don’t be surprised if Frank Castle shows up at your door’s all I’m sayin’.”

“Thanks, Curtis, I…” You stood too, reaching out to touch his arm. “You didn’t have to tell me, so I …”

“I knew Billy wouldn’t.” Curtis smiled sadly. “And seein’ someone you think is a ghost? That shit’s never fun.” He left soon after that, leaving his bottle on the counter and squeezing your shoulder before he stepped back into the hallway. Frank’s… he’s… You wanted to call Billy, wanted to talk to him, wanted to know what to do next, but couldn’t, the image of the redhead flashing before your eyes along with the way his hand had looked against the black material that was stretched over her back. He used to… You refused to be that woman - the one that didn’t get the hint, the one that wouldn’t let things go, and so you didn’t call Billy, instead looking around every corner for Frank’s face, keeping your ears trained to the hallway of your apartment building for his heavy footsteps. But Frank didn’t show up at your door - and then, one morning, you saw him on the front cover of just about every newspaper in New York City … and they were calling him The Punisher.

---

You kept your distance but monitored the case as his team of lawyers built it. You didn’t recognize the two men that appeared on camera with Frank, talking about his trial and what they hoped to accomplish, but Curtis told you all about them, and about the woman that was also working on the case with them, a young blonde named Karen Page. Curtis smiled as he talked about them, and you could hear in his voice that he believed they’d get Frank off, or at the very least, be able to reduce whatever sentence he was given if he was found guilty. “Billy offered to pay his legal fees, but ... “ Curtis shook his head, and though you winced, you had no other reaction to the use of Billy’s name. Good for me. “Frank said no, said he didn’t need a handout.” That’s not what it is, he’d do anything for Frank, anything to help, and…

But you knew that like Billy, Frank was a proud man, and even though Billy’s intentions were good, he’d never accept the help. Stubborn, those two. You smiled at the thought, and as Curtis left you alone in your apartment again, you thought about reaching out to Billy, seeing how he was taking the media accusing Frank of being a murderer… but again, stopped yourself. If he wanted to talk to me, he’d reach out. The trial continued, and you followed the reports - Frank’s old war buddies and superiors - including Schoonover - testifying on his behalf. Will Billy? Will he… they were together, he can vouch for how much he… You waited and watched, but Billy never took the stand, his name was never associated with Frank’s publicly.

It was a shock to you when the trial ended with Frank being sent to prison, and though you cried on your couch for a long time after you heard the news, you knew that there was nothing you could do. That poor man. Loses his family, gets shot, has to relive it when he wakes up, goes through a trial... You couldn’t imagine Frank - a decorated and competent Marine - wasting away behind bars, living with the pain and guilt of what he’d lost for the rest of his life, and yet when you heard that he’d escaped, you were in disbelief. It wasn’t that you didn’t think that Frank was capable of breaking out of prison, but you didn’t know what he’d do next.

You hadn’t had to wait long, and when, in November - only a few days before his birthday - the papers reported that Frank had been killed in an explosion down on the docks, along with a bunch of other men, you felt relief. I shouldn’t feel this way. But you did - relief mixed with a numb feeling at the thought that Frank was no longer suffering, that he wasn’t chasing after ghosts or missing his family. You got drunk by yourself on your couch that night, drinking for Frank and Maria and the kids, for all of the other people that had died, and for Billy, who you knew would be taking it hard. He’d lost Frank over and over, and you knew that Frank’s confirmed death wasn’t just Billy losing a friend - he’d lost a brother, too. Hope you’re OK, Billy.

---

It was strange to you to think about the holidays, but you didn’t want to let yourself wallow in the thought that you’d be spending them alone, so you’d set up your tree, spending a few hours stringing lights and ornaments on it, the actions reminding you of the year before - when you’d decorated, knowing Billy was thousands of miles away in the desert, and the year prior, when he’d been there to help you, hanging a few of the ornaments with his long fingers, holding the tree in place while you tightened the screws into the trunk. And he’s only a few miles away now. Even the thought sounded bitter in your head, and you shook it from side to side, trying to let it go. People get broken up with every day. You’re not special. You’re not… he had someone else with him a few months later, get over him. But you couldn’t help yourself - attaching a thin chain through the hole of Billy’s dog tag and hanging it front and center, thumb rubbing over the bottom of it, the embossed NO PREFERENCE taking on an entirely different meaning to you.

Thanksgiving passed - you spent it with Erin and Jack, and actually enjoyed yourself - and then you started the final push into Christmas, four events in the span of a week and a half before things slowed down, giving you a chance to catch your breath and finish up your shopping - gifts for cousins out of state, coworkers and friends … but nothing big, nothing flashy, nothing like the previous two years. You hung up the cards you’d received, placed the wrapped packages beneath your tree and remembered, trying not to think about the fact that if you were alone, it meant that Billy was, too. He doesn’t spend holidays with women, doesn’t… It was a small comfort, because you didn’t think that he’d been lying to you about it, at least not then. But you don’t know him now, you don’t … it’s been six months.

You kept yourself busy for Christmas, going to the movies on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, stopping in for takeout on your way home from the theater, but on New Year’s Eve, you couldn’t help yourself, taking a cab the short distance from your apartment to Billy’s, bundled up because this year, it was snowing. This is it. Say goodbye to him. He doesn’t get to come into the new year with you. It was a nice thought - in theory - and while part of you hoped that Billy would be sitting on the top of the building in his chair, or at least standing in the shelter of the doorway, the top of the building was deserted, the snow falling around you in thick flakes. He’s not… You felt your eyes fill with tears as you stepped away from the door and toward the wall where you’d first stood with him and then had stood by yourself, again taking your place, gloved hands resting on the brickwork. It was quiet, the only sound the wind that was blowing around you, and even though you’d gotten there a little after 11 and it was much colder than it had been the two previous years, you vowed to stay until midnight - for Billy and for yourself. I hope wherever you are, Billy, you’re… You didn’t know how to finish the thought. Happy? It had likely been one of the worst years of his life, so you doubted he was happy. Not alone? You thought that he likely would be, but if he wasn’t up on the rooftop - something he’d said was tradition for him whenever he was home - you didn’t know where he could be...or who he would have been with. Curtis? You hoped that’s where he was, but didn’t know if Curtis even knew that it was Billy’s birthday. You shivered, leaning against the wall and pulling your scarf tighter around your cheeks and chin, looking out over the city. You could make out the lights through the snow; it seemed like the flakes were decreasing in intensity, and when you checked your watch, you were surprised to see that it was only a few minutes to midnight.

Setting an alarm, you stuck your phone back into your pocket. Ten minutes. Ten minutes to say goodbye. And you did - lowering your head and thinking about all of the moments that had led you to that night - seeing Billy from across the room, looking out of place and bored next to Emily, the way the two of you had spoken easily at The Crown that first night, the way he’d kissed you before you left him on the sidewalk, steadfast in your hesitation to go home with him. You remembered rescuing him from the bad date, remembered taking him home when he’d been drunk, sleeping next to him for the first time and waking up to his scent and the feel of Billy’s weight on the mattress next to your body. You remembered the date at the zoo, remembered going home with him and knowing that something had changed. It didn’t, though, not that day.

You knew that you’d been just another girl at that point, even though you’d been his friend too, but you remembered the months leading up to his first deployment after meeting you, the way you’d finally bared some of your emotions to him on the morning he’d left, the way he’d called and written to you while he was gone. You felt your knees give out and you sunk to them, the snow soaking through your jeans quickly as you remembered him surprising you at the bar, nearly dragging you to his place, the way you’d had to ground him and keep him in the present - the way he’d sounded scared to ask you if you wanted him. All of them - all of the memories overwhelmed you, but you couldn’t stop, the tears rolling down your cheeks as your body shook, hands pressed flat against the brick wall in front of you for support. Memories of Billy taking care of you while you were sick and talking about Carla, posting the picture of you to his Instagram, visiting him in the hospital after he’d been shot, telling you about his birthday and then telling you that he loved you, the way you’d worked on opening Anvil throughout almost the entire time you’d been together, the way he’d made you feel in the days leading up to his last deployment.

You remembered how empty you’d felt after he walked out of the apartment, how relieved you’d been when you heard from him, the way he’d promised you things - all of the things you’d wanted to hear, telling you that it would be OK, that he’d be there for you when you needed him - just like you’d be for him. You remembered how he’d changed as he got closer to his return date; his gaunt face, the bruises, the vague answers… the way he’d scared you half to death when he called you, bloody and broken - and then showed up in your apartment again less than a week later, the changes in him forgotten as he held you again, telling you that he loved you, that he’d found a way to open Anvil, that you were about to have everything you’d ever wanted, things becoming more real when he’d shown you the facility and held you close to him for long hours against the surface of his desk.

But you also remembered the look in Billy’s eyes as he’d ended things with you, the way he’d clung to you in the hospital and then again at the funeral. You calmed yourself down slightly as you remembered the Anvil party, the way he’d been honest and open with you, questioning you - and then kissing you goodbye for the last time, apology and anguish and finality in the action. This is how it has to be. You opened your eyes, not even feeling the cold anymore and straightened up, eyes fixed on the wall in front of you. I won’t stop loving you, Billy, but this is how it has to be. I can’t do this to myself anymore. I won’t. You took a long, deep breath and blinked, pulling a glove off to wipe at the skin beneath your eyes. “I love you, Billy Russo. And you might not be here, but… you’re not alone on your birthday. I can still give you that.” The words were ripped away from you by the wind, and you closed your eyes, standing slowly. “Happy birthday, Billy.” Falling silent, you stared out over the city, snow still falling, and a moment later, your phone’s alarm went off, followed by the booming of fireworks across the city, the colors cutting through the clouds and the snow.

You stayed where you were for a few minutes after the celebration ended, slipping your hand back into your glove before you turned around, ready to head back down the stairs and catch a ride home when you froze in your tracks. Stopping only a few feet behind you, a second set of footprints was visible in the freshly fallen snow. You stepped forward, again dropping to your knees. Billy? He was? It could have been anyone - and knowing that someone had been so close to you should have scared you, but it didn’t, especially when your eyes landed on a single empty beer can stuck into the snow next to the prints. I didn’t even hear him, how did he… But it was Billy, and you knew that he was quiet when he needed to be. Why didn’t he say anything? You stood again, covering your face with your hands, and thought. I said goodbye to him tonight, I need to… he didn’t want to talk to me, he would have…

But you’d made up your mind and as you hurried back down the stairs, heart thudding in your chest. Taking the elevator to his floor, you exited it, knowing that you looked like hell, and not caring as you hurried toward his door, knocking quietly. There was no answer at first, and you knocked again, breathing hard. The door opened and you felt your breath catch as you saw a man’s face peeking out from behind the door. “Where’s… where’s Billy?” The man blinked, shaking his head.

“Who?” You furrowed your brow. “You’ve got the wrong apartment, lady.”

“My friend lives here, Billy? Billy Russo? He -”

“It’s after midnight, lady. I moved in here in September, you’ve got the wrong place.” He rolled his eyes. “Your friend musta moved without tellin’ you.” Without another word he shut the door, and you heard the lock click as he turned it back into place. Billy’s… he moved? But then… You backed away from the door slowly, turning back to the elevator. Guess this really was goodbye.

---

Billy no longer living in his old building meant that aside from knowing his phone number, email, and the address for Anvil, you had no way to contact him. You had no reason to email him for work, wouldn’t show up at the warehouse unannounced and knew that calling him would do no good, so finally - with reluctance, you pushed him as far into the corner of your mind as possible. You still thought of him occasionally, but it was good memories, and the first time you’d seen an Anvil ad splashed on a billboard in the subway, you’d actually smiled, pulling your phone out and taking a picture. Billy’s face wasn’t on that one - but there were others that you saw too, ones that were used on the company’s social media accounts that featured him prominently. You saved some of those, adding links to your portfolio so that other potential clients could see what you were capable of - and what you were proud of.

Billy made public appearances, too, and was on the guest list for a few of the events your company worked on, mostly for politicians, but you knew that most of their contracts were overseas, so hearing about him working jobs in the United States was rare - but you knew that it happened. As the one year anniversary of the launch party came and went - marking the last time you’d seen Billy in person - you finally felt something that wasn’t loneliness when you thought of Billy. You’d stopped waiting for his call, stopped hoping that you’d hear from him, stopped wondering if you were going to see him somewhere … and while it felt disloyal, it didn’t feel like anything you could change, and so you stuck to it. You still loved him, sure, and were reminded of that love each time you opened your storage locker and saw the box of his things that you’d scrawled “B. Russo” on in black permanent marker before tucking it away, but it had been months since you’d pulled it out and looked through it, months since you’d cried over the man that had once told you he wanted a future with you.

It’s just clothes. Clothes and books and… “It’s all bullshit, right Billy?” His words to you echoed in your ears, but you still didn’t think he’d been correct in saying that - though the clothes that were in the box certainly didn’t fit in with the image you knew that he preferred for himself as CEO. The pictures of the two of you and Billy’s dog tag were still in your apartment, where you felt they belonged, but as summer turned to fall again - the second one without Billy in your life, you looked at them less and less. It wasn’t that you cared any less about Billy, or didn’t want to remember what it had been like with him in your life, but the more you thought about it, the more you just didn’t see the point in trying to hold on.

There was no hope - he would have contacted you if there had been. There was no chance he was going to waltz back into your life in any capacity, especially not after being out of touch for almost 16 months, and while you still felt a pang when you remembered the feeling of his lips against your skin in the hallway of Anvil, or thought about the way he smelled, or heard his voice in your head in the moments you did think about him, you didn’t let yourself dwell on things. You knew that it was just a matter of time before you broke down, but you almost looked forward to it, because you’d feel something again - and aside from the happiness you felt when it came to work, your emotions had been in short supply post Billy Russo.

In November, your office was evacuated after a series of bombs went off in nearby buildings, sending ash and smoke throughout the rooms you occupied, and you rushed home, wanting nothing more than to lock yourself in your apartment and watch the news. You were scared - that wasn’t up for debate - and you spent the next day glued to your TV and the radio, listening as Karen Page went toe to toe with the suspected bomber on a radio show, only answering your phone when Erin called in a panic. “Hey, so I just got a call from some senator that said he got our name from... “ She paused. “From William Russo.” You felt your heart rate quicken, but Erin continued to speak before you could answer. “He wants to throw a fundraiser at the Roosevelt the day after tomorrow, and wants us to -”

“Erin, we can’t. We don’t have the time, we’re not equipped to…” Why is Billy involved with this… why would he recommend… “We’re not even in office until they get it cleaned up, and we don’t… you’ll have to tell him no, I’m…” You swallowed, picturing Billy’s long fingers handing your card over to someone else, your name leaving his lips. No, don’t do that, don’t… “I wish we could do it, Erin, but…” You trailed off as the image on the TV screen changed, and your jaw dropped. What the fuck… “Erin, turn on the news, I…” You reached over, pushing the volume button up. “Frank Castle is…”

Holy shit. You hung up, leaning forward and staring at the TV, watching as a short dashcam video showed a man that appeared to be Frank Castle sliding over the hood of a car. Frank’s alive? Thoughts jumbled, you spent the rest of the day in a haze, alternating between watching the news and searching for more information online. But as darkness fell that night, you swore out loud again as you thought of Billy. What does… Does Billy know… did he… did Frank… why… Thoughts completely scattered, you paced your living room for an hour, thinking. Frank being alive changed a lot of things, and while you were almost positive that he hadn’t had anything to do with the bombings, you didn’t know what kind of state of mind he’d be in, especally if the other rumors you’d read about were at all true.

You slept - fitfully - and when you woke up the next day, it was more of the same, watching the news, trying to get work done from home, and wanting desperately - for the first time in months - to call Billy, if only to hear his voice. You can’t do that. You knew it, but it still wasn’t easy to stick to it, and when, the following day, the news of another bombing - this time at the Roosevelt Hotel - made the news, you collapsed onto your couch, TV remote clutched in your hands. We would have been there. We would have… Eyes wide, you leaned back, covering your face. This is fucked. You slept that night with Billy’s dog tag in one hand, fingers closed around it tightly, and dreamed of his eyes, of his voice in your ear telling you everything would be OK.

Late the next afternoon, there was a knock on your door, and even though you didn’t want to see anyone, you moved to answer it. It only took you a few seconds to make it from your kitchen to the door, but the knocking continued. With a frown, you checked the peephole, seeing an unfamiliar woman standing in front of your door. Who the hell? You cracked it, making sure the chain was still attached, and peeked through the opening. “Can I help you?” The woman said your name, her dark eyes locked on yours and you nodded, confused. “Yes?”

“My name is Dinah Madani, I’m the acting Special Agent in Charge with New York’s Homeland Security department… may I come in?” She held up a badge and offered you a tight smile. “I just have a few questions.”

“About Frank?” You spoke without thinking and swore to yourself, trying to keep your face neutral. “I haven’t seen him since before his last deployment, so -” The woman laughed, but it was a bitter sound.

“No. Not about Frank. About Billy Russo.” The numb feeling returned as soon as the woman said his name, but you heard in her voice that this wasn’t just a job for her. What did you do, Billy? “May I come in?” You stepped back, closing the door without saying anything, and removed the chain, reopening it to see the petite woman’s full body. “Thank you.”

“Can I get you something to drink?” You turned away from her, stepping toward the kitchen. “I have -”

“Water would be great.” You heard Dinah’s voice from behind you, and after grabbing two bottles from your refrigerator, you returned to your living room, seeing the woman standing in front of your bookshelves, where a picture of you and Billy was still displayed. “When was this taken?” You knew what picture it was - could have given her the exact date, but chose not to. That’s my memory. “It was…” You stepped closer to her, holding the bottle out to her. She took it and then you reached past her, picking the frame up and looking down at it. “Before he deployed the last time, so… January...the year before last?” You shrugged, setting it back down on the shelf. “It was a long time ago.”

“If it was such a long time ago, why do you still have it out?” She turned to face you, her eyes narrowed. ‘Are you and Russo -”

“No.” You lowered yourself onto your chair and gestured toward the couch, taking a long drink of water. “No, Billy and I aren’t anything anymore.” You watched her face for a reaction but there wasn’t one. “He and I split up last spring, pretty close to when he got back home from…” You closed your eyes. Don’t lie to her, but don’t tell her anything, either. “My company - we plan events - did the party for Anvil’s grand opening, but that was the last time I saw him in person, and that was a year and a half ago.”

“Were you two together long?” Dinah leaned closer to you, lips pressed together lightly. “You and Russo, how’d you meet? Did you -”

“With all due respect, Agent Madani, I have no problem answering your questions about my past relationship with Billy, but I’m curious as to why you’re asking.” You frowned, tilting your head to the side. “I haven’t seen or talked to him in more than a year, and I don’t know what you think I can help you with now.” You shook your head. “He’s got his company and I’ve got mine, and he’s referred clients to us, I know that for a fact because they’ve told me, but it’s been -”

“You knew Frank Castle, too?” She cut you off, setting her shoulders. “Did you know he was alive?” What?

“I saw him on the news the other day, if that’s what you mean, but I… I thought he died last year, when that boat exploded, and…” You shook your head. “Billy and I broke up, and then Frank’s family, and…” You heard the tremor in your voice, fighting to keep it under control. “Actually, I’d rather not talk to you about how Billy and I met or go into details about how long we were together, but it was a serious relationship.”

“To you, at least.” She scoffed. “I know Billy Russo, and I know that…” No you don’t. She turned her head, looking toward your balcony. “He’s a good liar.” You sucked in a breath, unable to stop yourself, and Dinah smiled, the look in her eyes cold. “You know it’s true.” In that moment, you knew that her visit was personal, that something had happened between her and Billy, and from her interest in your relationship with him, you could guess what that something had been. “And you haven’t seen him?”

“Billy?” She nodded. “No, I already told you that, I haven’t seen him since Anvil’s launch party, except on TV and on those billboards.” Your words were guarded, and you stared at Madani, eyes moving over her. “Did he do s-”

“He’s done a lot of things.” She stood, setting her unopened bottle of water down onto your table. “And he’s about to pay for them.” What? What does that mean? “You’re lucky that he left you when he did, otherwise…” She paused, smiling at you. “Otherwise he would have gotten you involved in all of this.” All of this? What? “I wonder how many lies he told you.” She scoffed, shaking her head, brown curls bouncing with the motion. “Everything he says is a lie, did you know that?”

“Agent Madani.” You took a drink of your water, pausing before you swallowed, never taking your eyes off of her. Don’t give her what she wants. “When Billy and I were together, I never had any reason to believe that he was lying to me - about anything.” Except what he was doing over in Afghanistan. “I knew what his reputation was, I knew what he was like, and I…” You glanced down and then looked back at her. “It didn’t matter to me. And it still doesn’t. It wasn’t a bad breakup, it wasn’t a fight, it wasn’t… we’re just not together anymore, and that’s it.” You stood, noting the frustrated look on her face. What, did she think we were going to bond over things ending with him? “I know nothing about whatever he’s got going on now.” Deciding to be honest with her, you took a deep breath. “I loved him, and I thought that… I thought a lot of things, I guess. But we broke up, Agent Madani, and that’s all I can tell you. I have nothing bad to say about him, so if there’s nothing else, I’ll ask you to leave. I can’t help you.” And even if I could, I wouldn’t.

“I’ll leave you my card.” She looked you up and down before reaching into her back pocket for her wallet, holding out the thin, white placard to you. “If you think of anything, or if he calls you or comes here, let me know.” She smiled at you, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “We both know a thing or two about what it feels like to be -”

“Have a good day, Agent Madani.” It was your turn to cut her off, stepping to your door and pulling it open. “The elevator on the right is slow, so if that one comes first, you might want to wait for the other one.” She chuckled, wrinkling her nose as she walked past you and to the door.

“He’s not a good guy.” She turned to look at you after taking a few steps into the hallway. “You don’t need to protect him.” You bit your lip, shaking your head. You’re wrong.

“There’s nothing to protect.” She stared at you for a few seconds and then turned and walked away, her heels clicking against the floor. Shutting the door, you turned the lock and then pressed your back against it, closing your eyes. What are you doing, Billy? What’s going on? You moved through your apartment for the rest of the night, restless and wondering why Billy would have jumped into bed with someone like Madani, and ended up dragging out your tree and Christmas decorations, staying up until early morning decorating before you fell into bed and passed out, the thin piece of metal held in your hand again.

You met with Erin at your office the next afternoon, surveying the damage and the cleanup, and it was decided that you’d be able to return at the end of the week at the latest. Some time off will be nice. You’d still be planning the events that you were working on, but you had nothing scheduled until the beginning of December, and could work just as well from home as you could in office. You were kidding yourself, though, when you said that you were going to get work done, because all you could think about was Frank and Billy, about Madani, wondering what exactly was going on. I’ll never know, I won’t… they don’t… You got another night of fitful sleep, spending the day napping and trying to focus on work, but when there was another knock on your door, you welcomed the distraction, even though you had no idea who it was. Sighing, you pulled the door open without checking first, the chain only allowing you a few inches of visibility. “Yeah?”

“Can I come in?” Your hand froze on the knob and you raised your eyes to look into the hallway, your breath catching. Billy. “I-” You shut the door all the way and undid the chain, opening it fully. It’s been too long, he… He was carrying a box, his arms wrapped around it and without saying anything else, he stepped into your apartment, moving over to your kitchen table and setting it down, shaking his arms out and letting the duffel bag he had over his shoulder fall to the floor with a dull thunk. You watched him flinch, your eyes moving over his figure without shame. I’ve missed you so much. He seemed taller and leaner than you remembered, his hair messy and slightly overgrown, beard thick. He looks so tired. “I know I shouldn’t be here.” He turned to face you, looking you up and down. “But I had to…” He closed his eyes. “I needed…”

“It’s been…” You stopped, hearing how strained your voice sounded. “How…” You could feel your heart pounding in your chest as the two of you stared at each other, Billy’s eyes wide but focused, and you fought to stay in place, to not run the few feet to him. Why are you here? “Billy.” You finally said his name and the single word drove him into action, Billy taking a few steps toward you but stopping before he actually touched you, his arms hanging by his sides. Up close, you could see that he was, in fact exhausted, but the look in his eyes didn’t match the rest of him; you saw regret, an agony that you’d never seen before from him. “Are you... ?” He smiled at you, lowering his head, but didn’t answer for long moments, giving you a chance to make the first move. Fuck it.

You reached forward with both hands, one of them automatically going to his cheek and the fingers of the other hand pushing through his hair and urging it back into place. It was as soft as ever, but instead of looking up at you, Billy kept looking down, his hands not moving. You were both quiet, the hand in his hair moving slowly through it as a thousand thoughts ran through your mind, questions that you wanted answered. He’s here, but it doesn’t mean he’s staying. “I missed… missed you touchin’ me.” He finally looked up, meeting your eyes. “I wanted to…” He stopped again, turning his head to kiss the palm of your hand, and you sucked in a breath at the feel of his lips against your skin. “Goddammit.” He swore quietly but didn’t move.

“Do you want to sit, Billy? We don’t need to -”

“If I sit, I won’t want to get up, and I need to… I got somewhere to be.” He drew his lower lip into his mouth, eyes shining. “Somewhere important to be, an’ my word… it still...” He took another step forward and you didn’t back away, your hand dropping to his shoulder and the other one curved around the back of his head. “I got so much I want to tell you.” So tell me. Tell me, Billy. “But I can’t, there’s no time. There’s no more goddamn time, and I…” He reached up, fingertips hovering over your cheek and you nodded once, never looking away from his eyes. With your permission, he touched you, his right arm wrapping around your waist and the left pulling your head toward his, urging your bodies to meet.

He held you tightly and you clung to him, trying to make up for seventeen months of no contact in the span of a few seconds, but he didn’t pull away when you expected him to, instead tightening his hold on you. “Billy, what -”

“I couldn’t come until I knew it was safe…” He spoke the words without moving away from you, his chin moving against your shoulder. “You don’t… you were… I couldn’t risk it, I needed to know…” You didn’t understand, but didn’t interrupt him either, trying to commit every second of him to memory. “None of it was…” He straightened up, saying your name. “Look at me.” You did as he asked, your hands moving to his arms, sliding down and over the material of the black quarter zip he wore. “None of it mattered. None of it was… none of it was what I wanted, do you understand me? None of it.” You didn’t, not fully, but you nodded. “I did a lot of bad shit, but you weren’t - they weren’t ever supposed to be a part of it, and then they were, and I had to…” He shook his head. “It’ll all make sense soon enough, I promise, but you gotta know that I had to do it for you. There was never any other choice for me, not even…” Billy was talking quickly, as if the words pained him to say them, but he was staring into your eyes, the look in them serious. “They’re all dead now, none of ‘em can get to - that’s why I came here.”

“Who? Dead? I don’t -”

“Schoonover. Wolf. Morty Bennett. Rawlins.” Billy said the last name as if the word was poison and you gasped at the word, grip on him tightening. “All of ‘em, and it’s just me. Just me an’ Frankie left, and…” What? “And that’s...that’s it.” You stared up at Billy, waiting, but he didn’t say anything else.

“I missed you, Russo.” It was the only thing you could think to say, and it was the truth. “I didn’t want to admit it, wouldn’t call or come to find you, but I... “ He watched you silently. “I went to your building last New Year’s, Billy, for your birthday, and I, I said goodbye to you, because I didn’t…”

“You were wearin’ your blue coat and that gray scarf.” He smiled at you, his fingers sliding along your hips, thumbs extended upwards on your sides. “I saw you, I watched you - watched you kneelin’ on the ground and crying.” You felt the tears fill your eyes as you nodded at him. “I heard you tell me you loved me, tell me happy birthday.”

“Why didn’t you -”

“I wanted to. I should have.” Billy wet his lips. “But I couldn’t. It wasn’t… I shouldn’t have even gone there, after movin’, but I couldn’t help it. I knew you’d be there, knew you’d… you’ll understand, soon.” Billy’s grip on you tightened. “I’ve lied about a lot of things, you know?” Confused, you nodded. “But the biggest lie? The one I regret havin’ to tell the most? It’s you.”

“What?” He blinked down at you, waiting, and you watched as he collected his thoughts.

“When I said I never loved you? We both knew - both know that was a lie.” He sniffed, never looking away from you. “I loved you too much. And they figured it out, and they…” He cut himself off as he heard the beeping of his watch. “Fuck. God-fucking-dammit.” You heard the anger in his voice. “I have to…” Billy took a deep breath, shaking his head. “All I ever wanted was to give you… an’ now all I have to give you is the truth, even though it’s…” His eyes flicked over to the table. “I gotta go. I gotta go and…” But he didn’t move away from you, and you moved first again, your arms going around his neck so that you could hug him tightly, Billy’s hands sliding beneath your shirt and against your back, his touch filling you with warmth.

“Billy, whatever’s going on, you can, we can, just…” You knew what you wanted to say to him, but couldn’t get the words out, not wanting to pull away from his chest to look at him, even though that’s all you wanted. “I know, I know, Billy, you…” He said your name again, looking down at you with a sad smile on his face.

“You gotta let me go, alright? That’s what I need now, because…” He leaned in, breath warm on your cheek. “I need to know you’re gonna be -” Gonna be what, Billy? His watch beeped again, and Billy froze. “You gotta let me go.” You kissed him first, rising onto your toes to press your lips against his, and it was everything you’d hoped it would be. The kiss at Anvil had been quick and hard, but this one was different. It started with a gentle touch to his lips, his short nails scratching over your lower back as he touched you, but it quickly intensified, you tilting your head to the side and parting your lips when you felt his tongue moving against them, his slow sigh causing his body to relax under your grip. I can’t let you go, Billy. I won’t.

You didn’t know how long you stood there with him, wrapped up in his arms in your living room, but every second was worth it - the taste of him on your tongue, the feel of him beneath your fingers, the way that he was kissing you as if there hadn’t been any time since the last one. You still knew each other well physically, the kiss growing more intimate by the second, and when Billy finally pulled away, he was breathing hard, hair hanging over his eye again. “You’re leaving.” It wasn’t a question, and he nodded as an answer, still staring at you. “That was… goodbye?” He nodded again. “How many times are you gonna -”

“This is it. The last time. I promise.” Billy leaned in again, taking your lower lip between his teeth and biting down. “You didn’t deserve what I did to you, but I had to do it for you. No matter what they say about me, you need to know that.” Who’s going to say anything, Billy? I don’t understand. “I gotta go. I can’t…” He stepped back, bringing one hand up to run his knuckles against your cheek, one side of his jaw twitching. “I …” He turned away from you, walking back to the table and bending over to pick up the bag, slinging the strap back over his shoulder. You were stuck in place, staring at him as he moved. Say something, don’t let him go, don’t let him walk out. He stepped closer to the door and then paused again, turning to look at you over his shoulder.

You took the few steps necessary to reach him, hands clenched into fists in frustration. Billy said your name, the expression in his eyes softer than you’d ever seen it. “Yeah?”

“What were… what were you gonna say to me if you called me? Or if you came to my place? Or if I’d said somethin’ to you on the roof?”

“That I loved you. That I missed you, that whatever was going on -”

“Do you still?” You answered him with no hesitation.

“Yes. Yes, Billy, I still love you.” He lowered his head, but you saw that he was smiling - and it looked genuine. “I always will.” He looked back up at you, and you were startled at the expression on his face, the pain you felt at seeing it flooring you. “Billy…” He said your name one more time and then he was gone, the door slamming behind him. You stood in place for a few seconds and then moved, reopening the door and looking for him, though you knew that he’d already be long gone - like he was never really there in the first place.

But as you closed the door gently, a smear of red on your left hand caught your attention, and you brought it closer to your face, catching a whiff of copper. Blood? He was bleeding? You glanced down, seeing that there was more blood on your shirt, likely where his arm had wrapped around you. Oh, Billy. What did you get yourself into? Turning away from the door, your eyes landed on the box that he’d left on your table, causing you to take a deep breath. What the fuck is in that box? Stepping over to it on your way to the sink, you placed your clean hand on top of it, thinking. No. I won’t open it yet. He came back to me… maybe he’ll… I’ll give him a chance to do it again.

But Billy didn’t come back that night - even though you sat awake on your couch, staring at the door for hours, long after you’d washed his blood from your skin and changed into a clean shirt.

---

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randomestfandoms-ocs · 4 years ago

Text

Riverdale OC Masterlist

(several of these ocs may end up getting scrapped entirely, but I’m not ready to commit to that yet so they’re on the list for now)

Name: Amethyst Andrews

Story: (Cast Not Your Stone at the) Wayward Daughter

Series: (Child, They’re) Seeking Weakness Tonight

AO3 | FFNET | WATTPAD

Face claim: Kaya Scodelario

Love interest: queerplatonic poly Serpents, endgame romantic Sweet Pea & Jughead Jones

Summary: Amethyst Adams was 8 years old when her father died, 12 when she joined the Serpents, and 15 when her adoptive father, Fred Andrews, was shot in a diner. Between trying to run a gang, keep her family alive, and maybe, just maybe, not die along the way, her return to Riverdale never had a chance of going smoothly.

Name: Aaliya Andrews

Story: My Brother’s Keeper

Series: (In Their Triumph Die) Like Fire And Powder

Face claim: Danielle Rose Russell

Love Interest: Jason Blossom; eventual Sweet Pea & Fangs Fogarty

Summary: Aaliya Andrews loved her brother more than anything, and she would do anything for him; even keep her summer a secret. Archie didn’t need to know that she’d joined the Southside Serpents towards the end of their freshman year, he didn’t need to know that she’d done a strip show in a sketchy biker bar to earn the jacket that she hid in the back of her closet, and he definitely didn’t need to know that she’d started that fateful Fourth of July by waking up in bed with Jason Blossom. But then sophomore year starts, and with that comes cheerleading and football, playing guitar and talking about going professional, her boyfriend’s - now ex boyfriend’s, she’d suppose - body being found in the river, and an investigation that threatens to reveal every secret she’s ever kept.

Name: Abigail Adler

Face claim: Hailee Steinfeld

Fic: Swan Song

Love Interest: Archie Andrews

Name: Addison “Addy” Blake

Face claim: Troian Bellisario

Fic: Alike In Dignity

Series: (From Ancient Grudge) Break To New Mutiny

Love Interest: Sweet Pea & Toni Topaz

Summary: Addison Blake had it all. Class president at Greendale Prep, captain of the field hockey team, reigning champion of Riverdale’s Country Club’s teen tennis tournament, all around top girl. But when a shocking scandal shuts her school down and she’s forced to start at Riverdale High, she’s less than impressed—especially when she learns that an entire gang is transferring there too. When one of the boys catches her eye, she tells herself that she can resist the electricity she feels, but something is hanging in the stars, and star crossed lovers have never had a chance.

Name: Adelynn Andrews-Smith

Story: Abyss

Face claim: Phoebe Tonkin

Summary: Back in 2000, Mary Andrews was told that she could never have kids; and so, she and Fred looked into adoption. They found eight year old Adelynn Smith; and despite her temper and how many families had given up on her, they knew that she was perfect for their little family. And when Mary miraculously got pregnant with Archie a couple of years later, they were thrilled that their family was going to grow. And for several years, everything was perfect. They knew, and Adelynn knew, who her parents were; they allowed and encouraged her to develop her relationship with her father; and they always listened when she talked about her long-since adopted twin brother. And when, shortly after Fred is shot, Adelynn tells them that the Chic claiming to be Charles Smith is definitely not her brother, they listen.

Name: Alina Allan

Story: Violent Delights

Face claim: Krysten Ritter

Love Interest: FP Jones

Name: Ally Andrews

Story: Home Again

Series: (Make This Place) Your Home

Face claim: Adelaide Kane

Name: Amber Andrews

Story: Petrichor

Face claim: Kennedy McMann

Name: Anastasia Andrews

Story: Say I’m In Too Deep

Series: (Cause I’ve Still Got) A Lot of Fight Left in Me

AO3 | FFNET | WATTPAD

Face claim: Abigail Cowen

Love interest: Jughead Jones

Summary: Starting high school was supposed to be fun, right? Apparently whoever said that had never found their brother hooking up with the pedophilic music teacher on their first day, but Anastasia Andrews could tell you from experience, that ruined it. And if Archie was lying about his relationship with Grundy, could that mean he was also lying about July 4th? She might not care about Jason Blossom, but she cared about protecting her brother, and if the best way to do that was to team up with Jughead Jones to solve the case themselves, well, she’d do it.

Name: Angela DeSantos

Story: Gold Lie Promises

Face claim: Sofia Carson as Evie

Love interest: Veronica Lodge

Summary: Angela De Santos was a born Serpent, although she and her twin brother didn’t officially join until they were thirteen. She loved the Serpents, she really did, and she would do anything for them. So when her brother got roped into disposing of Jason Blossom’s body, she kept her mouth shut; when he got assigned to seduce the Keller kid to keep an eye on the investigation, she gave him a folder of research on all of his interests and hobbies; and when she got assigned to seduce the Lodge heiress to keep an eye on her parents? Well, it’d hardly be the worst thing she’s done for the gang, so long as she can keep her own feelings out of the mix.

Name: Ariel Blossom

Title: I’m No Princess of Pain

Series: (Something) Next to Normal

Face claim: Holland Roden

Love interest: Malachai

Summary: As the oldest Blossom child, Ariel was always supposed to inherit the family business. But after learning the truth she rejected the “maple industry”, moving to California the day after she graduated. Pursuing her dream of acting and modelling, she had no desire to ever look back. She wouldn’t have ever stepped foot in Riverdale again, if not for her baby brother’s corpse being found with a bullet hole in the head.

Name: Artemisia Andrews

Story: Watch What Happens

Face claim: Katie Douglas

Summary: When Arti Andrews first left Riverdale during her parents’ divorce, she was happy to get away from the small town and live in a big city. But over the years, things changed, and she wanted nothing more than to go home and reunite with her dad and her twin brother. So when, five years later, Ari Andrews is finally going home, she couldn’t be more excited. But Riverdale isn’t the town that she remembers, and with all of the secrets she’s keeping, the stakes are higher than ever.

Name: Astoria Topaz

Story: There’s A Fire Burning In My Bones

Series: (Hell Is Empty) And All The Devils Are Here

Face claim: China Anne McClain

Love interest: Jughead Jones

Summary: Astoria Topaz was a Serpent by blood, and by choice. She joined with her twin sister and their two best friends, Fangs and Sweet Pea, when they were all thirteen, and had quickly risen in the ranks among teenagers. She never expected to be a leader though, until FP Jones got arrested. Suddenly there was a hole that needed to be filled, and apparently Astoria would have to fill it. That’s fine, she’s a born Serpent and knows how to keep her family together–or she did, until Jughead Jones walks into the Wyrm, suddenly ready to take on his legacy. But still, Astoria was born a Serpent, and she’ll die a Serpent, she’ll live as a Serpent come hell or high water.

Name: Barbie Booth

Story: New Girl In Town

Series: (Cause I Am) So Much Better Than Before

Face claim: Candice King

Summary: By fifteen, Barbie Booth already had her eye on the prize: early admission to Tisch for musical theatre, followed by an upper east side apartment with her best friend Veronica Lodge - who would be studying business at Columbia, and then starring as Elle Woods in a revival of Legally Blonde The Musical. But her plan didn’t include Veronica’s dad getting arrested, and her other half moving to some bumfuck town called Riverdale, leaving her alone for her sophomore year at Spence. And it definitely didn’t account for her parents up and moving them to Riverdale, for reasons that they refused to explain. But at least she’d be with Ronnie again, and at least Ronnie told her that Riverdale High wasn’t as bad as they’d imagined. But then they get to Riverdale, and her plans really go to shit -not only did her parents not research the town that they were moving to, but they bought a house on the south side of the town, dooming her to the rundown school on the wrong side of the tracks, riddled with gangs, murder investigations and, worst of all, no musical theatre program.

Name: Becca Jackson

Story: Everybody Else’s Girl

Series: (Maybe One Day) She’ll Be Her Own

AO3 | FFNET | WATTPAD

Face claim: Sofia Carson

Name: Bella Baxter

Story: The Beauty of A Secret

Face claim: Ciara Bravo

Love interest: Reggie Mantle, Sweet Pea & Fangs Fogarty

Summary: Bella Baxter is as Northside as they come. Raised in a two story house with a white picket fence, River Vixen since freshman year, best friends include Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Kevin Keller, and Jughead Jones. The only thing that isn’t “proper Northside” about her is simple, FP Jones, the Serpent King himself, is her godfather–and more importantly, has been her legal guardian since she was ten years old. Bella has clung desperately to her Northside image for the past five years, but when Jason Blossom goes missing, it’s time to decide: is her loyalty to her family or to the persona she’s so carefully crafted.

Name: Beverly Mantle

Story: Steady Satellite

Series: (I’ll Walk Through) Hell With You

Face claim: Arden Cho

Love interest: Fangs Fogarty & Sweet Pea

Summary: Everyone at Riverdale High knew the Mantles. Beverly and Reginald, Bev and Reg, as inseparable as they’d been in the womb. Vice-Captain of the River Vixens and Vice-Captain of the Bulldogs, they were untouchable. And Jason Blossom’s murder only brought them closer together. They’d never had any secrets from each other, it was them against the world. Or it was, until a fight causes Beverly to run away, to cross the bridge to the Southside, where she meets two boys as attractive as they are mysterious, and she knows that she can never let Reggie find out.

Name: Beverly Mantle

Story: The Inevitably Cursed Life Of Beverly & Reginald Mantle; The Inescapable Secrets That Follow You From Riverdale

Series: (I’ll Walk Through) Hell With You

Face claim: Arden Cho

Love interest: Fangs Fogarty & Sweet Pea

Summary: Fangs got shot, the Serpents were at war, Archie had just been arrested, and Beverly had been shot. Well, the Mantle twins had always known how to cut their losses. They’d already dealt with being emancipated, after Reggie’s jingle jangle business had Marty hospitalizing both of this children, so it was clearly time for the next step. Get the hell out of Riverdale. Rosewood seemed like a nice enough place to go, and they already had a friend there. Sure, they hadn’t talked to Allison since last summer but really, how much can change in a year?

(aka the PLL crossover that nobody asked for)

Name: Caden “Adder” Archer

Story: Snake Bite

Series: (In Unity) There Is Strength

Face claim: Tyler Posey

Summary: Caden and Carson Archer, Adder and Asp to most of the world, had always been inseperable. Even as young children, stuck in the Sisters Of Quiet Mercy orphanage, they were always together. So when the Archers showed up, looking to foster a child, they knew they had to take the pair. Growing up on the Southside brought them closer, and the duo found themselves joining the Serpents together and quickly embracing their new names; Adder, dangerous but only when provoked, and Asp, unassuming but volatile and lethal. But even after they joined the gang, found themselves an extended family in the form of rough around the edge bikers, they were always closest with each other. And that’s why they’re the only ones who know the truth - on July 3rd, Caden and Carson Archer were hooking up with Cheryl and Jason Blossom and on July 4th, they heard a gunshot.

Name: Cameron Newton

Story: Ghost Of The City

Series: (The Ashes Of The People) You Really Meant To Be

Face claim: Maia Mitchell

Love Interest: Archie Andrews

Summary: After the creep in a black suit - the Gargoyle King - took over her town and sent her parents to work at his prison-slash-drug-den, Cameron Newton really didn’t think that anything could surprise her. And then the so-called Red Paladin showed up with nothing but his best friend an an absolute determination to destroy the man who ruined his life. Well, Cam can relate, and she quickly appoints herself as their third musketeer - if only she’d known what the quest had in store for her, for all of them.

Name: Candy Barker

Story: Sweet As Sugar

Series: (The Loneliness) Of Loving You

Face claim: Elizabeth Gillies

Love Interest: Poly Serpents

Summary: Candy Barker knew that the Blossom and Cooper children didn’t know that they were related. She also knew that they didn’t know that there had been a third brother once, who broke off from the family and changed his name to Barker. And that was fine with her, she could keep the secret from her cousins - it’s not like they’d ever talk to ‘Southside Scum’ anyways. No, Candy had no problem with keeping the secret between herself and her closest friends. At least, not until Jason Blossom is murdered in the Wyrm and Candy’s life gets thrown into madness.

Name: Carolyn Cooper

Story: Dirty Little Secret

Face claim: Dianna Agron

Love Interest: Reggie Mantle, Archie Andrews, endgame Poly Serpents

Name: Carson “Asp” Archer

Story: Snake Bite

Series: (In Unity) There Is Strength

Face claim: Shay Mitchell

Name: Carter “Lilith” Lane

Story: No Sweet Dream

Series: (I Keep A Record Of) The Wreckage Of My Life

Face claim: Nina Dobrev

Summary: Everyone at Riverdale High had heard of the infamous Serpent, Lilith Lane, and the equally dangerous Ghoulie, Carter. But no one would have guessed that they were the same person, let alone that she was their very own Carter Lane.

Carter “Lilith” Lane was something completely unheard of in Riverdale - a Ghoulie and a Serpent. Born to parents in rival gangs, she’s never really known who she was. Lilith Lane didn’t deal anything harder than weed; she was a party girl; she was very vocal about hating the Serpent Dance. Carter was the best drug dealer in town; a street racing champion; a part time stripper. And Carter Lane? She was little more than a ghost; a River Vixen who hated Cheryl Blossom, the main supplier for Bulldog parties who never showed up herself; someone who everybody knew of but who nobody knew.

It had always been easy to keep those parts of herself separate. And then summer came around; Carter Lane got emancipated, Carter moved into the House Of The Dead, and Lilith Lane dumped Jason Blossom’s body into Sweetwater River. And she’s fine.

But then school starts up again, and when Jughead Jones decides to investigate the events of the summer, her worlds start to collide.

Name: Cecilia Chambers

Story: Miss Americana And The Serpent Prince

Face claim: Josephine Langford

Love Interest: Jughead Jones

Summary: In a town like Riverdale, everybody knew everything about everyone. Or at least they liked to think that they did. And they certainly thought that they knew everything about Cecilia Chambers. They thought that she was the perfect All-American girl, the sweet, blonde, girl next door type. They didn’t know that she was a Southside Serpent, born and raised. They didn’t know that FP Jones was her godfather, and her parents’ best friend. They didn’t know that, when Archie bailed last minute, she was the one FP went to, whom he begged to get Jughead out of town for the summer. And even she didn’t know why, didn’t know what dark secrets he was trying to protect them from. But she agreed, and found herself embarking on a cross country road trip with Jughead Jones.

Name: Charlotte Jones

Title: No One Has to Know

Series: (This Time Maybe) I’ll Be Bulletproof

Face claim: Britt Robertson

Love Interest: Malachai

Summary: Alice Smith told FP Jones that she was pregnant, and he decided to raise their daughter. Serpent princess, heir to the mantle, and protective older sister, Charlotte would do anything for her family, including keep the secret about what happened to Jason Blossom; and she knew the truth, she dumped the body.

Trying to protect her brother without letting him in on the secret should have been easy, if only he hadn’t decided to write a novel about what happened on the Fourth of July.

Name: Christine Cooper

Title: Young & Beautiful

Series: (When I’ve Got Nothing But) My Aching Soul

Face claim: Sasha Pieterse

Love Interest: Poly Serpents

Summary: Christine Cooper had always gone after what she wanted. She’d gone after the Queen Bee title of Riverdale High, ruling the school with her best friend Cheryl. She’d gone after her older sister’s boyfriend, sneaking into Thornhill for clandestine hookups with Jason. She’d gone after the picture perfect life, existing in a different world from most of the town. And everything she went after, she got. She got the popularity, she got the boy, she got the dream tv life. And then Jason ran away with Polly - no, then Jason died. And the perfect, lovely, completely fake life that Chris had build fell apart.

Name: Daphne Dwyer

Fandom: Katy Keene

Story: Pasts That Haunt

Face claim: Leighton Meester

Love Interest: Katy Keene

Summary: Of course Daphne Dwyer remembered Riverdale, how could she not? Even when she wanted to, there were too many reminders: daily texts from her former foster brothers, Fangs and Sweet Pea, the leather jacket that she hid so carefully in the back of her closet, and, especially, the serpent tattoo she covered up every single morning. But she wasn’t a teenage biker gang member anymore. No, she had left that behind her when she was eighteen, when she moved to New York, when she began to climb the ladder as an Upper East Side socialite. Now she’s up and coming designer DeeDee; now her past is in her past and she’s only looking forward; now her best friend Katy is introducing their newest roommate - her former brother’s former fling, the daughter of Riverdale’s last mayor, Josie freaking McCoy

Name: Delaney “DC” Carlyle

Story: This Business Of Surviving

Face claim: Kristine Froseth

Love Interest: Endgame Jughead Jones & Archie Andrews

Summary: Matthew Carlyle was innocent, Delaney would bet her life on it. But, despite DC’s absolute belief in her father’s innocence, the FBI agent was still arrested for the murder of his fellow agent, Christopher Wells. So Delaney’s mother packed up their house in Washington, DC and moved her daughter back to her own hometown. But when they get to Riverdale they find a town shaken to its core by the disappearance of Jason Blossom. Honestly, DC couldn’t have cared less; she only cared about solving her father’s case and proving his innocence. At least until her mom brings her to the local Drive-In and everything changes.

First, she meets a boy in the projection booth who’s writing a novel about the murder; then she meets a man who turns out to be that boy’s father, her mom’s childhood best friend, and a gang leader - a gang that her mom is apparently a part of; finally she meets another boy, one with a snake tattooed on his neck and an undeniable magnetism. That’s when her whirlwind summer begins. But just as quickly as it started, her summer of romance, Serpents, and mysteries ends, and it’s time to make her space in a new school. DC is ready to put the past behind her and focus on the future, when in walks the daughter of Hiram Lodge - the last man her father put in jail.

Name: Doria Mary Wallis

Title: Untitled

Face claim: Jenny Boyd

Name: Drake Dawson

Title: Son Of Steel

Series: (Cause He’s) Stronger Than You Know

Face claim: Matthew Daddario

Summary: FP Jones and Derek Dawson had done everything together. They’d been Southsiders at Riverdale High together, they’d joined the Serpents together, they’d joined the army together, they’d even gone to Afghanistan together. But only FP came back. Drake Dawson had been raised by FP Jones for as long as he could remember, had idolized the man who was like a father to him, and had always tried to make him proud. And now, after four years of military service, the Serpent Prince is back in Riverdale. But everything has changed, and Drake no longer recognizes the town he grew up in.

Name: Emily Blossom

Story: Bloom

Face claim: Debby Ryan

Love Interest: Jughead Jones

Name: Everett Evernever

Story: Ain’t From No Heaven

Face claim: Madison Davenport

Love Interest: tentative poly Serpents

Summary: Of course Everett Evernever loved the Farm. Of course she respected her father and of course she pretended that her mother was her sister. Of course she only had one kidney and a partial liver. She would never consider anything else, would never question Edgar’s rulings. At least, not until her psychology class started to study cults. And the more Everett learned, the more things seemed familiar. But the Farm couldn’t be a cult, could it? It was her family. So she started acting out, determined to prove herself wrong. And that’s when Alice Cooper comes into the picture. In order to prove her loyalty and dedication, Alice is assigned to set Everett back on the right track. And it’s while she’s living with the Coopers that Everett meets the Southside Serpents, and her perfectly planned, perfectly secret life is thrown into a whirlwind.

Name: Evan “Fairy” Fogarty

Story: Don’t Take My Kindness For Weakness

Series: (Gonna Feel Me) When I Fight Back

Face claim: Lana Condor

Love interest: Sweet Pea & Jughead Jones

Summary: Evan Fogarty has been affectionately known as “Fairy” by the Serpents since she was nine years old, trailing after her brother and his best friend. It was Sweet Pea who came up with it, thought it was fitting for the sweet girl who paired a leather jacket with pastels, a switchblade with her ice capps, and razor blades with her pigtails, and honestly? She loved it. The Serpents, her family, knew that she was a lot tougher than she let on, but the Northsiders constantly underestimated her. They hear the nickname and expect an airhead child, not a girl who’s been taking care of her sick mother since she was ten. They expect a naïve fool, not the brains to her brother’s brawn. And yeah, she’d rather make peace with the Northsiders than start an all our turf war, but if that’s what’s happening, she’ll still be on the front lines. And when FP Jones is arrested for a murder she knows he didn’t commit, Evan knows that war has finally come to Riverdale.

Name: Fallon Parris “FP” Jones

Story: Every Day Is Like a Battle

Series: (We’re On the) Road to Ruin

AO3 | FFNet | Wattpad

Face claim: Brenna D'Amico

Love interest: Toni Topaz, Sweet Pea, Reggie Mantle

Summary: Fallon Parris Jones, FP to her friends, was taken to Toledo against her will when her parents separated. She would have stayed, for Jellybean, except her dad called her and told her that her twin had just been hauled in and questioned for murder. Fallon may play at obedience, but her twin’s wellbeing is always the most important thing in the world, so she hops on the next bus to Riverdale with no intention of leaving him ever again. It isn’t until she arrives that she finds out just how deep her family is in this mess, and clearly no one else can be counted on to fix everything. Armed with nothing but her well-worn Serpent jacket, a switchblade, and an unstoppable determination to protect her brother, Riverdale is about to find out that they messed with the wrong family

Name: Francesca Jones

Story: Living In Sin

Face claim: Lili Reinhart

Love Interest: poly Serpents (not Jughead of course)

Summary: Hal and Alice Cooper had only ever wanted two children, two perfect daughters for their perfect family. But when Alice found out that she was pregnant with twins, they agreed to keep both, and Francesca and Elizabeth Cooper were born. But then they found out that Francesca was deaf and, despite their decision to keep both twins, they were quick to give her to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy.

Shortly after Jughead was born, Gladys Jones was told that she could no longer have kids. Devastated, she and FP were quick to look into adoption, and found the perfect addition to their family; Francesca.

Francesca Paige Jones grew up on the Southside with her brother Jughead and their miracle sister Jellybean, although she chose to stay on the Southside and not interact with the other side of town, despite knowing that she had a twin sister and biological parents somewhere across the tracks, despite knowing that Jughead was even friends with her twin. But then Gladys and Jellybean move to Toledo, Jughead leaves home, FP helps dispose of Jason Blossom’s body, and suddenly the Northside is paying attention to them. She would have been perfectly happy to fly under the radar, to continue to pretend that she had no ties to the Northside, had she not come face to face with a mirror image of herself named Betty Cooper.

Name: Genevieve Grundy

Story: Perfect Stranger

Series: (Don’t Like Your) Little Lies

Face claim: Natalia Dyer

Love interest: Poly Serpents

Summary: Genevieve Grundy wasn’t a born Serpent like her friends, but she was still Southside through and through. She’d been raised on the Southside by her grandma, until her grandmother died and she was taken in by Serpent foster parents. She’d attended Southside High and joined the Serpents, she was a Southsider. Keyword being was. But after the Jason Blossom Incident, as they had taken to calling it, Gen found herself being moved to the Northside. She would be fine, she told herself, she could still visit her friends and it might be nice to go to a better school. She would be fine. And she almost believed it, until she walked into her first music class of the year, only to find that the teacher was using her grandmother’s name.

Name: Harley Day

Story: Legendary

Face claim: Bianca Santos

Love interest: Poly Serpents

Name: Harper Hope Harrison

Story: My Demons and My Muse

Series: (Though It’s Truth You Find) It’s Innocence You Lose

AO3 | FFNET | WATTPAD

Face claim: Dove Cameron

Love interest: Fangs Fogarty, eventual Fangs & Sweet Pea

Summary: In the midst of her parents’ messy divorce, Harper Harrison and her mom go to live with her mom’s cousin, Fred Andrews. She was really excited, her Uncle Fred was the coolest person ever, and apparently her cousin Archie is now as into music as she is. But after an accident during the drive to Riverdale lands her in the hospital instead of onstage, Harper has to reconsider everything she’s ever known. She doesn’t think that she could ever be on Broadway now, not after the accident left her with severe hearing loss, but the boy across the hall, recovering from a gunshot, is determined to prove otherwise.

Name: Hera Lodge

Story: Sins Of The Father

Face claim: Camila Mendes

Name: Holli Hansen

Story: A Thousand Cuts

Face claim: Skyler Samuels

Name: Ivy “Vine” Verona

Title: Dreamers Often Lie

Series: (Look Like The Innocent Flower) But Be The Serpent Under’t

Faceclaim: Emily Rudd

Summary: If there was one thing that Ivy Verona was good at, it was lying. She lied to the Northsiders; she said she was Northside pure, that her guardian was an accountant, that she’d never even heard of the Whyte Wyrm. She lied to the Southside too; she said she was flunking all her major classes, said cheerleading was only a front, said she planned to stay in Riverdale the rest of her life. And then there was the lie that she told the entire town - that she had no idea what might’ve happened to Jason Blossom.

Only her uncle FP and best friend Joaquin knew the truth. She’d been Jason’s dealer; she’d brought him to the Wyrm; she’d watched him die, and then washed away his blood; she dumped his body in the river and pretended it never happened.

But the biggest lie she told was to herself - that Jason Blossom’s death was not her fault.

Name: Jac Daniels

Story: Light In The Dark

Series: tbd

Face claim: Alycia Debnam-Carey

Love interest: Fangs Fogarty & Sweet Pea

Summary: Despite being a Southside Serpent, Jacqueline Daniels was one of the last truly good people in the town of Riverdale. Despite being surrounded by darkness, she wore her heart on her sleeve and always kept her heart open for more strays. Of course the majority of it was taken up by her three best friends and fellow Serpents, but when Jughead Jones transferred to Southside High, she knew there would be a place for him too. And there was, and Jughead found himself with a new tour guide slash bodyguard slash friend, whose open heart and pure soul were rivalled only by her fierce loyalty and protective nature. But even the brightest light in Riverdale has a breaking point, and when Northside drama starts to endanger her friends, her family, Jac may just discover her own.

Name: Jasmine Blossom

Story: Archaic

Face claim: Abigail Cowen

Love interest: tentative Archie Andrews

Name: Jennifer Andrews

Story: Two Can Keep a Secret (If One Of Them Is Dead)

Series: (Though It’s Truth You Find) It’s Innocence You Lose

Face claim: Dove Cameron

Love interest: FP Jones

Summary: Before there was Harper or Archie or Jughead, there was Jennifer and Fred and FP. The Rebel Girl, the All-American Boy, and Mr. Varsity. Jennifer and Fred Andrews may have been cousins, but they were as close as siblings, and rarely seen without their best friend FP Jones. They’d always been inseparable, and detention was no different. While Fred and FP were in trouble for streaking, Jen had gotten caught spray painting the boys’ locker room. It was just supposed to be one Saturday, but instead it ended with a corpse, hair dye, and a secret to bring to grave.

Name: Jennifer Andrews-Harrison

Story: My Demons and My Muse

Series: (Though It’s Truth You Find) It’s Innocence You Lose

AO3 | FFNET | WATTPAD

Face claim: Kristin Chenoweth

Love interest: FP Jones

Summary: Jennifer Harrison (née Andrews) had been in love once and married once, but they weren’t the same man. She’d been in love with Forsythe Pendleton Jones Jr. since she was fifteen, although she only confessed it when she was sixteen and left Riverdale for good. She’d been twenty five and three months pregnant when she married Joseph Harrison, and they’d managed to put up with each other for sixteen years. But when she finally files for divorce, she realizes that she can’t keep her daughter in the middle of it, and moves her to Riverdale. She tells her boss that it’s to write an exposé on the small town now rife with crime and corruption–a girl had just been murdered during a school musical, after all–, she tells her cousin Fred that it’s for her daughter’s sake, and she tells the town that it’s to get away from her husband. She didn’t realize that going back to her hometown meant going back to a secret she buried twenty five years ago, or to feelings that she’d tried to bury the exact same day.

Name: Jett Jones

Story: Daddy Lessons

Face claim: Crystal Reed

Love Interest: Jason Blossom, Archie Andrews

Name: Opal “Jewel” Cooper

Story: This Be The Verse

Series: (In This Town) There’s No One To Trust

Face claim: Grace Phipps

Love Interest: poly serpents (not Jughead, of course)

Summary: Opal Cooper, the youngest of the Cooper sisters, had always known that she was different. How could she not? Her dark hair made her the literal black sheep of her perfectly blonde family. Sure, her mom always claimed that she inherited it from her grandfather, but Opal knew that something was different. So, in the summer before she started high school, she did some digging. She wasn’t surprised at all to find she wasn’t a Cooper, but she was more than a little shocked to learn her biological father was none other than FP Jones. A simple desire to build a relationship with her real dad started Opal down a road that she never expected; a road of gangs and murder and nicknames. Starting high school armed with a switchblade and the truth about what happened to Jason Blossom, the newly nicknamed Jewel Cooper was nothing like the Opal anyone remembered.

Name: Julia Smith Thomas

Story: Begin Again

Face claim: Lily James

Love Interest: FP Jones

Name: Juliet Capes

Story: Star Crossed

Face claim: Sarah Jeffrey

Love interest: Fangs Fogarty

Summary: When Fangs Fogarty got dared to seduce the uptight Northside princess Juliet Capes, he knows it’s a dick move. But he also knows that it’ll get him his stripes, get him accepted with the teen serpents. The river vixen is easy to win over, and soon he’s claimed all of her firsts. Fangs would be happy to keep his motivations, and the gunshot they heard, a secret, but in a town like Riverdale, the truth always comes out, and someone always gets hurt.

Name: Fraser Paxton Jupiter Jones

Story: Amphisbaena

Face claim: Dylan O’Brien

Love Interest: Poly Serpents (not Jughead)

Summary: Fraser Paxton Jones was many things. He was a Riverdale Bulldog, a Southside Serpent, Cheryl Blossom’s boyfriend, Jughead Jones’ big brother, FP Jones’ firstborn son; he was Jupiter Jones. The one thing he wasn’t was a murderer. But when Clifford Blossom showed up at the Wyrm in early summer, threatening to kill his little brother if the Serpents didn’t do what he said, the line between who Jupiter Jones was and wasn’t started to blur.

Name: Kathryn Keyes

Story: All That Glitters (Isn’t Gold)

Series: (Glory And Gore) Go Hand In Hand

Face claim: Olivia Holt

Love Interest: Archie Andrews

Summary: Kathryn Keyes loved growing up in Orange County. She loved the sunshine and the beaches, Disneyland and busy streets, shopping and even school. She loved that boxing classes, her dojo, and her ballet studio were all within five minutes of each other, with a Starbucks in between. Really, she loved everything about her perfect glittery life. But that didn’t stop her parents from moving her all the way across the country to some hick town called Riverdale. There’s no Disneyland or busy streets, no beaches or shopping, not even a Starbucks. But there’s a gym and a studio, a forest and a river, so her summer is spent boxing and dancing, running and swimming. And on July Fourth, she runs into something - a redhead boy who couldn’t be any older than she was, and a woman at least twice their age, and despite what they said, it definitely wasn’t just music lessons. But still, when the boy offers to walk her home, she says yes; she figures she might as well have one friend at her new school, after all.

But then they hear a gunshot and Kathryn finds herself drawn into the web of lies surrounding that day. She knew that helping to unravel the mystery would reveal some secrets, but she never expected to learn that her perfect glittery life in California wasn’t quite as golden as she thought.

Name: Keegan Rhodes

Story: Everybody Else’s Girl

Series: (Maybe One Day) She’ll Be Her Own

AO3 | FFNET | WATTPAD

Face claim: Jordan Fisher

Love interest: Stevie Cooper

Name: Kit Cooper

Story: It Gets Worse Here Every Day

Face claim: Kiernan Shipka

Summary: Hal and Alice Cooper had only ever wanted two daughters. Two perfect daughters. They’d never wanted the third; the wild child, the unplanned twin. They were going to keep her, they weren’t going to separate Betty from her twin, but when Kit Cooper was diagnosed with severe hearing loss and that was the last straw. Only five years old, Kit was shipped off to The Sisters Of Quiet Mercy, out of sight, out of mind. They told her sisters that she was at a private care facility, one that was better equipped to handle her disability than they were. They would have gotten away with it, if ten years later they hadn’t sent Polly to the Sisters as well. Now the secret is out, and Betty and Polly will do whatever it takes to get their sister back.

Name: Kristiana Keller

Story: Silver Screen

Series: (Know the Water’s Sweet) But Blood Is Thicker

AO3 | FFNET | WATTPAD

Face claim: Danielle Campbell

Love interest: Toni Topaz

Summary: If the Keller twins could explain one thing, just one thing, to the people of Riverdale, it would be that they were exhausted. With their father as Sheriff, it always seemed like they were held to a higher standard than the rest of the town. Lieutenant of the cheer squad and the best wrestler in his weight class; student body vice president and social coordinator; Model UN Secretary General and Chargé D’Affairs; 4.0 GPAs; and a secret to take to the grave. And if anyone found out that they heard the gunshot on the fourth of July, it might just be to the grave.

Name: Lola Lexington

Story: Living Like A Devil

Series: (Find Me) Where The Wild Things Are

Face claim: Emeraude Toubia

Love Interest: Toni Topaz & Sweet Pea

Name: Lyra Lovell

Story: Unconquerable

Series: (With A Devil) On Your Back

Face claim: Haley Lu Richardson

Love interest: Jughead Jones

Summary: When Jughead Jones moved to Toledo after his dad’s arrest, he thought that he was finally leaving Riverdale, and the Serpents, behind him. But when his mom introduces him to his guide, he knows that’ll be impossible. Lyra Lovell was a Serpent legacy like he was, and left her mom in Riverdale to move to Toledo with her dad. Being surrounded by the so-called Toledo Serpents would have been bad enough, but then FP is proven innocent and Gladys sends him straight back to Riverdale. Fully prepared for the worst, he’s pleasantly surprised to find out that Lyra has decided to go home too–if only they can find a way out of their seemingly inevitable destinies.

Name: Mallory Mason

Story: Lamb To The Slaughter

Face claim: Willa Fitzgerald

Summary: Mallory Mason had been popular once - with Moose as her brother and Cheryl as her best friend, she couldn’t have been anything less. She had been popular once, and happy, and desperately in love with her best friend. And then she came out. At fourteen, Mal Mason was sent to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy for conversion therapy. At sixteen, her best friend and first crush shows up in Mal’s personal hell. And then she gets rescued, and drags Mal out with her. And suddenly, after two years, Mal has to face Riverdale again. And, more importantly, Mal has to face her family.

Name: Mila Turner

Story: Fearless

Face claim: Victoria Justice

Name: Nova Nixon

Story: Serpentine

Face claim: Emma Dumont

Name: Olivia Cooper

Story: Walls Come Tumbling Down

Series: (Does It Almost Feel Like) Nothing Changed At All

Faceclaim: Lily Collins

Love Interest: Sweet Pea & Fangs Fogarty

Summary: As much as Olivia Cooper loved her sisters, and she truly did, it often felt like she was living with strangers. While Betty and Polly were thick as thieves, she never quite fit in. But she still knew her sisters better than anyone, and she knew that Polly wasn’t sick. No matter what their parents said, she knew her twin and she knew that something wasn’t quite right. She just never expected her investigation to bring her face to face with two magnetic Southside Serpents, and she definitely never expected to find herself feeling more at home with them than she ever had with her sisters. But that won’t stop her from finding out the truth about Polly, no matter how many secrets get revealed along the way.

Name: Pandora Peabody

Story: The Snake Whisperer

Series: (It Isn’t In) My Blood

Face claim: Ashley Benson

Love interest: Poly Serpents

Summary: Everyone on the Southside knew Panda Peabody, daughter of the Snake Charmer, Penny Peabody herself. A king pin in the making, Panda was virtually untouchable, and she had her mom’s talent for business. But instead of dealing in favours, she deals in secrets.

Everyone on the Northside knows Pandora Patterson, the aloof queen bee herself. Pandora isn’t popular the way that Cheryl Blossom is, through a desperate grasp at the social ladder, but rather because she’s so disinterested. She walks like she owns the halls, she keeps to herself, and she knows everything about everyone.

While the Serpents knew that their own Snake Whisperer was a student at Riverdale High, dealing in both secrets and drugs, the Bulldogs had no idea that their It Girl was not only a Serpent, but the one most capable of destroying all of them.

Name: Persephone Parsons

Story: Heartbreak Is The National Anthem

Face claim: Ginny Gardner

Name: Presley Palmer

Story: Living In The Garden Of Evil

Series: (Tell Me All Your) Sweet, Sweet Little Lies

Face claim: Carlson Young

Love Interest: Sweet Pea & Toni Topaz

Summary: Presley Palmer wasn’t just a normal Northsider. No, she was the peak of the Northside. Raised by a single father who was as rich as the Blossoms, in a sprawling mansion near Thornhill, and Cheryl Blossom’s best friend and co-captain of the River Vixens, she was the girl that every Northsider wanted to be or to be with. But, as popular and social as they were, Presley and Cheryl were equally insular. It was always, only, the two of them; ice and water; Queen Pres and Cherry; Presley and Cheryl. Two sides of the same coin, they knew everything about each other.

Well, not everything. Cheryl didn’t know about the snake tattoo that Presley covered up every day; she didn’t know that on the other side of town, Presley Palmer was known as Prissy Peabody, the only daughter of the infamous Snake Charmer; and she most certainly didn’t know that it would be Jughead Jones’ investigation into her brother’s disappearance that would bring those secrets to life.

Name: Queenie Quincy

Story: Liability

Series: (Die Only For) You Above All

Face claim: Marlo Kelly

Love Interest: Toni Topaz

Name: Raven Richards

Story: Cruel Summer

Series: (This Town Will Be) The Downfall Of Us All

Face claim: Emma Mackey

Love Interest: Poly Serpents (not Jughead)

Name: Rayne Rivers

Story: An Ounce Of Loyalty

Face claim: Lucy Hale

Love interest: Poly Serpents

Summary: Maybe Rayne Rivers wasn’t the most popular Serpent, or the most feared Serpent, or anything special whatsoever by her gang’s standards, but she was loyal. Loyal enough that FP Jones asked her, personally, to help deal with Jason Blossom’s body. Loyal enough that she did so without question, without complaint. Loyal enough that now that his body has been found, Rayne would sooner die than give her up her gang’s secrets. But in a town like Riverdale, be careful what you wish for.

Name: Renee Steele

Story: Ourobos

Face claim: Winona Ryder

Love Interest: Robert Steele

Name: Riley Richards

Story: Cruel Summer

Series: (This Town Will Be) The Downfall Of Us All

Face claim: Kathryn Newton

Love Interest: Jughead Jones & Archie Andrews

Name: Robert Steele

Story: Ourobos

Face claim: David Harbour

Love Interest: Renee Steele

Name: Rose Blossom

Story: A Rose By Any Other Name

Series: (Ill Met) By Moonlight

Face claim: Sophie Turner

Love interest: Sweet Pea & Jughead

Summary: The youngest of the Blossom siblings, Rose had always been the most spoiled. Affectionately, and mockingly, referred to as Princess Blossom, she was everything a Northsider, everything a Blossom should be. Of course, things started to fall apart when her brother disappeared, but when she joined the River Vixens, things seemed to be getting back on track. At least they were, until her brother’s body is found with a bullet hole in his head. Unsure of what to do next, Rose runs. She runs and runs until she finds herself on the Southside, falling into the arms of a tall, dark, and handsome stranger who goes by Sweet Pea. And then there’s the question of Jughead Jones, and the magnetic attraction she feels towards him. The cycle always ends the same way; a Jones and a Blossom, a Serpent and a Blossom, but by god, Rose will make sure that she’s not Riverdale’s next tragic Juliet.

Name: Rosebud Reynolds

Story: The Price Of Your Greed (Is Your Son And Your Daughter)

Series: (I Gotta Recognize) The Weapon In My Mind

Face claim: Halston Sage

Love Interest: Archie Andrews, Toni Topaz, Sweet Pea, endgame FP Jones

Summary: At seventeen years of age, Rosebud Reynolds had… well, she definitely didn’t have it all, but she had what mattered. She had the Serpent jacket that she’d been wearing for ten years and the nickname she’d had for even longer - and god help anyone who used her real name. She had fifteen years of ballet lessons under her belt and an upcoming audition for Juilliard.

But everything is on the line when she gets sent to Riverdale High to keep an eye on Jughead Jones. It would have been fine, if he hadn’t decided to investigate the disappearance of Jason Blossom.

It would have been fine, if she didn’t know the truth about what happened.

It would have been fine, if she hadn’t watched her father shoot him.

His son.

Her brother.

Name: Roxie Harrison

Story: Nothing Town

Face claim: Shelley Hennig

Love Interest: Poly Serpents

Name: Ruby Klump

Story: Blood In The Water

Series: (This Town Kills You) When You Are Young

Face claim: Meg Donnelly

Love interest: Fangs Fogarty, eventual Fangs x Sweet Pea

Summary: Ruby Klump had been thirteen when she was first sent to a school for “troubled kids” on the outskirts of Greendale and, despite still living in Riverdale, that had been the beginning of a lifetime of isolation. She barely knew any other teens in Riverdale, not even her older sister’s friends. Her parents had worked long and hard to keep their problem child away from their perfect Riverdale life, but when Midge is murdered during the school musical, Ruby has to come to the funeral. And once the floodgates are open, there’s no going back. Finally making friends in her town, Ruby refuses to be hidden away anymore. Especially after she befriends a particularly cute boy in a leather jacket… who just got arrested for her sister’s murder.

Name: Ryann Hernández-Viamonte

Story: A Real Nightmare

Series: (Dangerously Having) The Time Of Our Lives

Face claim: Sofia Carson

Love interest: Toni Topaz

Summary: Next to her brother Malachai, Ryann Hernández-Viamonte had always been underestimated, never seen as a real threat by anyone outside of the Ghoulies. But the Ghoulie Princess knew that, despite everyone’s assumptions, she was one of the most dangerous people in Riverdale. And after the stunt that Andrews kid pulled at the drag race, Ry found herself spending eight months in Juvie. Finally, two months after her brother and most of their fellow Ghoulies were released, Ry is back in Riverdale, only to find that everything has gone to shit. First she finds out that she’s now attending Riverdale High, and then she learns that not only did Malachai make a deal with Penny Peabody, but now they’re also working for Hiram Lodge? Well, not if she has anything to say about it.

Name: Samantha Cooper

Story: Glissade

Face claim: Willow Shields

Love Interest: Fangs Fogarty & Sweet Pea

Summary: Skating was, and had always been, Samantha Cooper’s entire life. But not by choice. No, as much as she had always loved skating, it was her mother who had forced her to focus her entire life on perfection, on the Olympics. It was her mother who didn’t let her have friends, or hobbies; who didn’t even want her to go to a proper school. And Samantha really didn’t mind skating being her priority, but she’d always wanted a real life. And when Alice pushes too far, when Samantha runs off in the middle of the night, right into the arms of two tall, dark, and handsome boys from the wrong sides of the track, she may finally get her chance. But everything comes at a price, and Sam is soon going to find out the cost of her choices.

Name: Skylar Smith

Story: Lonely World

Series: (This Town Has Got) The Youth Of Me

Face claim: Amanda Seyfried

Name: Stevie Cooper

Story: Everybody Else’s Girl

Series: (Maybe One Day) She’ll Be Her Own

AO3 | FFNET | WATTPAD

Face claim: Sabrina Carpenter

Love interest: Keegan Rhodes

Summary: The middle Cooper sister, Stevie never really knew or cared about the Riverdale drama or the Cooper drama, because she was “eat, sleep, breathe, gymnastics”. She didn’t even live in Riverdale, she lived just outside of New York City at an elite facility, where top athletes could train with the best of the best, while also attending a school designed to accommodate their training.

She knew that Polly had been dating Jason Blossom, but didn’t really care as long as Polly was happy; she knew that Betty had been in love with their neighbour since she was eight, and that she was spending the summer with some fancy internship, but that was it.

But after a broken wrist takes her out of gymnastics for a while and she has to trade her gymnastics-oriented boarding school for Riverdale High, just in time for the first day of class, she realizes exactly how much shit her little sister is caught up in, at school and at home, and god help anyone who tries to stop her from protecting her.

Name: Summer Simmons

Story: Such Sweet Sorrow

Series: (Serpent Heart) Hid With A Flowering Face

Face claim: Janel Parrish

Love interest: Archie Andrews

Summary: Much like her twin brother Sweet Pea, Summer never used her real name. No, no one needed to know that–most people didn’t even know their last name. So yeah, names had never really meant anything to Summer, until she finds out that the Archie she’s been dating, ever since he walked into the Wyrm in a Riverdale High varsity jacket, is none other than Archie Andrews–her brother’s new enemy and now the leader of some teen vigilante gang that’s sworn to hate her gang–her family. Well, as Shakespeare would say, the course of true love never did run smooth.

Name: Talia Steele

Story: Ourobos

Face claim: Zoey Deutch

Love Interest: tentative Poly Serpents

Name: Tanya Conway

Story: Yesterday’s Girl (Is Not What You See)

Series: (This Human Place) Makes Inhuman Monsters

Face claim: Kat McNamara

Love Interest: Poly Serpents

Summary: Identity was fickle, as far as Tanya was concerned. To some she was Tanya Trent, a first generation serpent whose mother was the principal of Southside High, until the Black Hood killed her. To others she was Tanya Svenson, a Southside punk whose father was the janitor at Riverdale High, until he was killed for being the Black Hood. To herself she was Tanya Conway, a teenage girl who knew that the Cooper family had killed her dad’s family; who knew that, even after they divorced, her dad loved her mom; who knew that, no matter what anyone said, her dad wasn’t the Black Hood. And now she’s just Tanya, a scared but stubborn girl with no sense of identity who’s just been sent to Riverdale High with her fellow Serpents, armed with nothing but the snake tattooed on her back and the need to clear her father’s name.

Name: Tiara Blossom

Story: Dollhouse

Face claim: Maddison Brown

Name: Victoria Lodge

Story: You Inherit The Sins, You Inherit The Flames

Series: (Now We’re In The Ring) And We’re Coming For Blood

Face claim: Jenna Ortega

Summary: Victoria Lodge was the black sheep of the Lodge family. She didn’t care about the constant parties or connections, she didn’t particularly like her dad, she’d never even watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and oh, right, she had no interest in being a mob princess. Maybe that’s why she’s the only one looking forward to moving to Riverdale–until she realizes she’s walked onto the set of a real life murder mystery, and even her parents are suspects.

#masterlist #riverdale oc

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shootmethroughmyhead · 4 years ago

Text

Oh Zoinks

Chapter One

Word Count: 2.3

Warnings: No warnings

Chapters: 1/?

It was supposed to be like any other day. Just another day at the office, where reports were due at 4, and the stupid printer would jam right as you needed to use it. Another day where Charlotte absentmindedly empties the sugar dispenser as Bill complains yet again about his daughter, and Ted bitches about going to Beanies without him. It was supposed to be like any other day, so why wasn’t it?

July 23, 2018 - CCRP Technical Office

"God Paul, c'mon." Ted says as he rolls his eyes. "That is the stupidest thing I've heard today, and it's only 11." He only shrugs when Ted frowns at him. He turns back to his screen and continues writing his report when he leaves. The typing from keyboards and paper shuffling are the only sounds in the office. It's one of those rare occasions where no phone is ringing or no one's on a call. The peaceful atmosphere is almost immediately ruined when Mr. Davison walks in.

"Hey gang," He announces to the room as he clasps his hands together with a toothy grin. "Got some big news." Paul gets comfortable in his chair, and gets ready to ignore the rambling that he always starts with as his coworkers do the same. He sees Charlotte sit hunched over, picking at her fingers and staring at nothing. Bill, dutifully hangs on to every word, even when it’s about rambles of his personal life.

He looks over to Ted, and he's just as uninterested as everyone else. Entirely unimpressed and bored, with his cheek on his fist, he slouches in his chair with terrible posture. Paul realizes he’s been staring for too long when Ted raises an eyebrow at him. He blinks, turning back to face Mr. Davidson, who’s finally wrapping up his long winded speech.

"Silly of me, isn't it? Now that I got that out of the way.” He jiggles a little before calming down, undeniably thrilled. “So, as you may be unaware, the CEO of the company will be dropping by soon. Nothing to fret, he’ll just walk through and see around the place. He'll probably talk to one or two of you, and then we'll be in a meeting for the rest of the time being."

That catches the attention of everyone. It's not everyday you might get to meet the CEO of your job. He continues on. Already, there’s whispers floating in the room, and Paul can’t imagine how obnoxious it’ll be when he leaves. He's about to look around the room again, when Ted catches his eye. His head snapped forward at some point when Mr. Davidson was speaking. He’s suddenly alert, listening to every word. He has a tense expression on his face and it’s probably the most serious Paul ever seen Ted. He doesn’t know what warranted a reaction like that, but he doesn’t ask.

When Mr. Davidson does finish and leaves, the floor explodes in excited chatter. There’s no chance that he’s going to be productive when the room’s like this, so he saves his report and turns off his computer. During the time it took him to do so, Bill and Charlotte gathered over at Paul’s desk.

“CEO, my goodness. Exciting don’t you think?” Charlotte gushes, hands framing her face. “What do you think he’s like?”

“Probably a dick.” Paul tells her truthfully, dodging the swat Charlotte sends his way.

“Oh, that’s mean Paul.” She scolds. Ted rolls over and listens to them for a little while before he joins in.

“So when is he coming?” Ted asks them, nonchalantly as ever. Paul would have fallen for it too, if it wasn’t for the tightness around his eyes. “Anyone know?”

“I think maybe Thursday?” Charlotte says.

“Mr. Davidson said something about next week, he’ll probably send in an email.” Bill tells him helpfully. Ted nods his head at the two as a thanks. He’s uncharacteristically quiet for the rest of the conversation. Paul turns to Bill and Charlotte to see if they notice his behavior. They don’t, talking animatedly between themselves to see.

“You alright Ted? You seem… distracted.” Paul asks him, not concerned but noticing him.

“Hmm? No, yeah I’m fine.” Ted tells him off handedly. Paul nods, unconvinced, and turns to join Bill and Charlotte. He can’t help but continue to glance over to Ted, who seems lost in thought. He’s not concerned, but definitely begins to feel so when Ted doesn’t tell him off for staring.

..-. .-. .. -.. .- -.-- / .--- ..- .-.. -.-- / ..--- --... --..-- / ..--- ----- .---- ---..

It gets to a point where Paul, in fact, gets so embarrassingly concerned throughout the week that he asks Bill and Charlotte if there’s anything wrong with Ted.

“I didn’t realize you cared about Ted so much Paul. But no, I didn’t notice anything, sorry. Give him some time I guess.” Bill tells him with a shrug one day after work when he asks. Bill’s not much help, but he probably could have approached Charlotte better when he went to ask her.

“Why would you assume I know anything that’s going on with Ted?” She asks, miffed. “Ted and I are nowhere close enough to talk about what troubles us. Whatever it is, I’m sure he’ll get through it. Besides, you know Ted, if he’s going through something he’ll be quiet about it. Lord knows how secretive he can be when he wants to.”

-- --- -. -.. .- -.-- / .- ..- --. ..- ... - / -.... --..-- / ..--- ----- .---- ---..

Ted didn’t get any better during the week, unlike what Bill and Charlotte said. Instead, he withdrew into himself. Ted was never the social, friendly coworker in the first place, but he completely withdrew himself from them. He threw himself into his work, focused more on his reports or whatever he was working on. More than likely, Ted would be hunched over his screen then not. Not only that, but he worked overtime, something that Paul is sure he’s never seen Ted do in all the time he’s worked for the company.

He’d turned down offers of a Beanies run whenever Paul asked, he didn’t snark or picked fights with Bill, and strangest of all, he pulled back from Charlotte. Paul doesn’t think the three of them have ever been so confused by Ted before.

“You need to intervene Paul.” Charlotte tells him one day, pulling him aside.

“Me?” He says incredulity. “Why me? Why don’t you talk to him? He’ll probably actually listen to you. Or Bill.” She stared at him unamused.

“Paul, be serious, you know why it has to be you. You’re the closest one to him, hell,” She cuts off, slightly frustrated. “You’re probably the closest thing to a friend Ted has. You’ve seen Ted, you know him! Ted doesn’t do ‘friends. He doesn’t seem to have any, so it’s up to you to talk to him.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question as to why you can’t talk to him.” Paul asks, unconvinced. She looks down, slightly abashed. She tugs at her sleeve a little before responding, facing the floor.

“Me and Ted are- were fighting.” She corrects. “And well, I-I pushed him away. Told him I never wanted to see him again. Oh, but I didn’t really mean any of it! And I knew Ted knew because he just scoffed, unconvinced! A-and he was still talking to me, but then he stopped, and he stopped talking with you and Bill, and- oh I feel awful. It’s all my fault!” She cries out, covering her face with her hands.

‘Oh, oh no. Charlotte’s crying.’ He sucks a breath in to hide his wince. “Charlotte,” He says awkwardly. “I’m sure it’s not your fault.” He raises his hand, awkwardly hovering her shoulder before patting gently twice.

“Oh, but it is! I caused all of this, and now Ted won’t talk to any of us, it’s all my fault!” She cries out through her sleeves still.

“Hey, I’m sure it’s not that, it could be a multitude of reasons.” Seeing she’s still unconvinced, he continues. “Look, why don’t I talk to Ted, see what’s going on.” She looks up, uncovering her face.

“Oh Paul, will you really?” She says with glossy eyes. At his nod she instantly relaxes, relieved. He knows he can’t get out of this without hurting Charlotte.

Which is how he’s in this situation, intervening.

“Hey Ted.” Paul says. “I was gonna go grab coffee at Beanies, want to come?” Ted barely acknowledges him or looks up from his screen.

“Mhm. Sounds nice Paul.” He mumbles. Paul frowns a little.

“Ted. Did you even hear me? I’m going to Beanies, don’t you want to go?” Ted does a quiet, little sigh. Paul watches him, silent. He turns his chair to face Paul.

“I’m fine Paul, I gotta get through this report.” He tells him quietly, running his hand down his face exhaustingly. His frown returns, concern growing.

“Are you okay man? You seem…” Exhausted. Quiet. Withdrawn. Different. Ted blows air out his mouth, ruffling his normally slick back hair that now falls in strands in front of his face.

“Yeah, just… fucking paperwork.” He says, grabbing a random folder, shaking it before dropping it back on the table. “You know how it is.”

“Yeah, I do.” Paul says, unconvinced. “Listen, why don’t you take a break? You’ve been working a lot, working late. You look exhausted man, we’re getting kind of worried.” Ted looks ready to turn back to his screen. “Come on, humor me.”

Ted stays silent, seemingly contemplating something. “I’m kinda tight on money right now.” He admits after a while.

“Oh.” Paul blinks. “Oh. Shit Ted, I didn’t-” Paul cuts himself off when Ted chuckles humorlessly.

“Yeah. It’s why I haven’t been going to Beanies recently. I would of taken another shift, but hah, no shift available. And I uh, don’t have the time for another shift anyways, so.” He says with a shrug, spreading his hands when he finishes, purposely avoiding Paul’s eyes.

“God Ted, I um, I'm sorry. I can pay-” This time Paul gets cut off by Ted.

“Oh God no. Don’t pity me man. It’s not that bad, I just gotta work some more for a while. That’s all.”

“I’m sorry if I’ve been blowing you guys off all week. I just,” He puffs his cheeks. “I gotta make money. Got bills and rent to pay and shit.”

“No, yeah I get that.” He says nodding.

“Cool, so if I can…” He points behind him to his computer, wanting to go back.

“Yeah! Go ahead man, I’m sorry. Uh, hopes it gets better.”

Ted huffs. “Yeah, me too. Thanks.” He clicks his tongue, finger gunning Paul before returning to his work. Paul stares a little while before walking to the breakroom.

“Well?” Charlotte asks, anxiously. “What’s wrong, what happened?” Behind her is Bill, holding the sugar dispenser.

“She nearly finished it again.” He explains.

“Nevermind that.” She waves him off impatiently. “What’s wrong with Ted?” She clutches her hands in front of her chest. He hesitates, wondering what’s the right to do.

“Well?” She notices him hesitating, eyes wide. “Is it that serious?” She asks fearfully, head ducking slightly.

“Oh no no.” Paul reassures. “Well it is, b-but he’s fine!” He rushes out, seeing how Charlotte eyes widen with every word.

“Well, you know Ted, he’s too proud to talk about his problems. He’s fine, mostly. It wasn’t you, or any of us. Um, he said he was sorry too, for blowing us off. He’s just… busy, with his problem.” Charlotte bites her lips, nodding as she wrings her hand.

“Okay, okay.” She whispers. “Ted is fine.”

“Yup.”

“And it’s none of our faults.”

“That’s right.” She bobs her head again.

“Okay, okay.” She starts to relax, fluttering her fingers to her mouth. “Okay, okay.”

“So then, what’s wrong?” Bill asks. Before Paul can say anything, Bill continues. “I know you said it’s personal, but it’s clearly affecting him. So… how can we help?” Charlotte nods eagerly, also wanting to know.

“Just… buying him a drink from Beanies. That’s all.” They both look at Paul unconvinced, but nod their heads when he repeats himself. “Really, that’s all he needs.” Paul accidentally becomes the example for them that week.

“Here.” Paul places the drink on his desk. “For you.” He adds. Paul watches a series of emotions pass over Ted’s face, watching his face go from confusion, to realization, conflicted, falling, and going indifference.

“Uh… I uh- Thanks man. That’s… that’s really nice of you.” Ted grabs the drink, holding it between both hands. “Y-you didn’t have to.” He stares at it, concentrating on seemingly nothing.

“It’s not a problem, I don’t mind.”

“Uh huh, thanks.” He mumbles. Throughout the week, and that day, Ted kept getting drinks dropped off on his desk by the three of them. Paul found it slightly amusing to see Ted get his fourth drink in a day, and watch Ted get increasingly confused.

“Hey Paul.” Ted says one day after work, jogging after him. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Yeah sure Ted, what’s up?” He slows down, letting Ted catch up.

“Did you... say something to Bill ‘n Charlotte?” He asks confused. “Like, what’s going on?”

“I didn’t give out any details if that’s what you’re asking. They asked how they can help and I just… told them you would appreciate some Beanies.” Ted blinks, before patting his shoulder, squeezing lightly.

"I uh- Thanks man."

“Like I said before, not a problem.” He says shrugging. It’s probably the most conversation Paul’s had with Ted this week. He, strangely enough, for once doesn’t want it to end. He wants to fill the silence. He racks his brain for any topics.

“So… the CEO’s coming tomorrow. Excited for that?” Immediately Ted reacts negatively. Before Paul can decipher it, Ted masks it over.

“Ooh, real excited. Can’t wait to meet some fucking douche.” He says sarcastically. He notices Paul’s bewilderment. “Ugh, sorry. I just- ugh. Don’t wanna talk about that asshole.”

“Do you... know him?” Paul asks slowly, completely confused.

“Nope.” Ted says simply, exaggerating the p. Paul wants to ask him more about it but they reach Ted's car before he can.

“See ya Paul.”

“Bye Ted. Take care.” He gives a small wave, smiling slightly when Ted returns it.

“You too.”

There's something strange going on with Ted, and Paul only hopes it all blows over by tomorrow.

#ted is scrags au #scrags solve it squad #scrags #joey richter #tin can bros #ted tgwdlm #the solve it squad #solve it squad

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tiramisiyu · 4 years ago

Text

Tears of Themis: Main Story 4-12 Translation

Chapter 4 – Heart’s Fire: 4-1 / 4-3 / 4-5 / 4-6 / 4-8 / 4-9 / 4-11 / 4-12 / 4-13 / 4-15 / 4-17 / 4-18

Translation Masterlist: here

Video: 【未定事件簿】第四章《心火》剧情_哔哩哔哩 (゜-゜)つロ干杯~-bilibili

Huang Haochu’s book room

In Huang Haochu’s book room, Lu Jinghe and I found lots of information about Zhang Zhuo’s case.

According to our speculations, Yuan Ting is most likely Zhang Zhuo’s son, as well as twins with Zhang Hao.

Lu Jinghe had his assistant think up a way to obtain Yuan Ting’s paternity test report from the private doctor to support our speculations.

As we waited, the two of us continued to look for clues in Huang Haochu’s book room, trying to unlock the password-protected folder on the notebook laptop.

Lu Jinghe: “Every person has a bundle of fire in their heart”... does this point to Van Gogh’s artworks?

MC: The sunflowers were Van Gogh’s masterpieces. I see that there are more than one sunflower pieces in the room. We should examine them.

BEGIN INVESTIGATION

On the left of the top of the bookshelf was placed a piece of art with grey-and-white sunflowers.

[15-Sunflower Painting] Front, Flowers

MC: This piece of art has 15 sunflowers.

Lu Jinghe: Among the pieces handed down from Van Gogh, there are three with 15 sunflowers.

Lu Jinghe: The original of this piece is kept in England. How about I bring you there to see when we get the chance?

MC: Sure. Going with you to check out an art exhibition sounds pretty interesting.

[15-Sunflower Painting] Back, Writing on the Bottom-Right Corner

MC: 7.9. It was finished on July 9th.

Lu Jinghe: Mhmm, if it was done in the same year, this piece of art was finished later than the piece we saw earlier.

On the right of the top of the bookshelf was placed a piece of art with grey-and-white sunflowers.

[12-Sunflower Painting] Front, Flowers

MC: This piece of art has 12 sunflowers. Though it’s grey and white, looking at the flower’s shape, they really do look like bundles of fire.

Lu Jinghe: Van Gogh liked rural scenes the best. He poured his enthusiasm for life into his works.

Lu Jinghe: He treated colour with unique persistence. If you have a chance to see the original for this piece, you’ll have a deeper understanding of this point.

MC: 12 flowers...does the password include 12?

[12-Sunflower Painting] Back, Date on the Bottom-Right Corner

MC: 6.23 - this piece should have been finished after the three-sunflower piece we saw earlier.

Lu Jinghe: The year isn’t written - we can only guess with this theory.

I lifted up the toppled-over art easel.

[Unfinished 5-Sunflower Painting] Front, Flowers

MC: This piece with sunflowers actually has colour, but it looks like it wasn’t finished. The background wasn’t painted.

Lu Jinghe: This piece… wasn’t painted by Teacher Huang. Or you could say, it wasn’t entirely drawn by Teacher Huang.

MC: How can you see that?

Lu Jinghe: On this piece, there are two kinds of completely different brush movement styles. Among them, one kind’s expertise was clearly not sufficient.

MC: This kind of thing can even be seen?

Lu Jinghe: Compared to other art mediums, strokes from oil painting are easier to discern.

Lu Jinghe: The draft of this painting should be done by Teacher Huang, but the part of the work with colour should have been done by someone else.

Lu Jinghe: It seems like this person’s time spent getting used to oil painting wasn’t long. They were hesitant when putting down strokes.

Lu Jinghe: Maybe they felt pressured from copying a large master’s work, or it could be…

I was listening to Lu Jinghe’s review, but he suddenly stopped speaking.

MC: What else could it be?

Lu Jinghe: Nothing. Either way, this piece wasn’t done by Teacher Huang.

Lu Jinghe: It’s a pity that the original of this piece was destroyed in the fires of war. I won’t have the chance to take you to see the original’s elegance.

[Unfinished 5-Sunflower Painting] Back, Writing on the Bottom-Right Corner

MC: There’s no time written on this piece. Instead, two English words are written.

Lu Jinghe: Maybe because it wasn’t finished…

Lu Jinghe: “To Theo”...

Lu Jinghe: Theo should mean Vincent Van Gogh’s little brother, Theo Van Gogh.

Lu Jinghe: He was the closest person to Van Gogh from birth, and was also his most loyal supporter.

Account Book for Black Market Transactions

In the bookshelf, when we were investigating the artworks, I noticed that the lattice of one of the shelf doors was a little strange.

When I accidentally bumped into the backplane of the lattice, it made a noise like I was knocking on the door of an empty cabinet.

MC: Could it be that there is something behind this cabinet…?

I felt along the edge of the backplane, and though I didn’t know what I’d hit, the back panel actually opened. Inside, there was a notebook.

MC: Is this… Leinster’s account book for the black market transactions?

Lu Jinghe: “Picture of Rafting in the East Lake”... so the original of this piece went into the black market.

MC: What, was this piece very famous?

Lu Jinghe: It is pretty famous, though not to the point where it’s known to all.

Lu Jinghe: In the past two years, there was a loan shark whose boss really liked this piece. He set a high asking price, wanting to buy it.

Lu Jinghe: That person offered a very high price for that piece on the artwork markets, but no one brought it out.

MC: Leinster sold a forgery of this piece to… Zhang Zhuo! It was actually Zhang Zhuo!

Lu Jinghe: Are you sure?

MC: It’s written very clearly in the account book, though it doesn’t record the buyer of the original piece.

Lu Jinghe: Now I finally understand why Yuan Ting made a trip down to Teacher Huang’s house.

MC: So you mean, Yuan Ting came here to find this piece? But what does he need it for - to burn it for Zhang Zhuo and his wife who’ve already died?

Lu Jinghe: That’s right. Because that loan shark’s boss was Zhang Zhuo’s creditor.

MC: So you mean, in spite of how the market value of “Picture of Rafting in the East Lake” isn’t that high…

MC: This piece, in the eyes of Zhang Zhuo’s creditor, is a piece that’s nearly impossible to find!

MC: If Zhang Zhuo gave this piece to the creditor from the beginning, could they possibly have prevented the tragedy where he committed self-immolation and lit the whole family on fire?

Lu Jinghe: Yep. It’s just a pity that the “Picture of Rafting in the East Lake” that Zhang Zhuo bought from Leinster was a fake.

Lu Jinghe: This also explains why Zhang Zhuo’s family was pushed for payment to the point of death, and why Yuan Ting was particularly resentful about Leinster’s counterfeit auction goods.

Lu Jinghe: Now, he wants to get the piece’s original, since he probably wants to resolve the knots in his heart before he leaves Stellis City.

Lu Jinghe: There are 10 digits for the folder password…

Lu Jinghe: The other paintings in the room don’t have anything to do with Van Gogh. Could the password be hidden in the sunflowers?

MC: If the password is 10 digits long, then it definitely points to the sunflowers.

ANALYSIS START

The password is hidden in the sunflowers, because…

Number of flowers: On the copied pieces of Van Gogh’s art, one piece of info that is clearly related to numbers is the number of flowers.

Dates on art pieces: On the copied pieces of Van Gogh’s art, one piece of info that is clearly related to numbers is the dates.

MC: Each sunflower piece has a date that the piece was made, and the number of sunflowers can also be clearly seen.

MC: I bet, if we arrange the number of sunflowers by the dates, we can get the file’s password.

Lu Jinghe: If we arrange by date, 3, 12, 15… the piece with 5 sunflowers wasn’t finished, so it’s obviously the last.

Lu Jinghe: 312155… there are only six digits.

MC: The fifth sunflower piece has that English bit, right - Theo.

MC: Plus, the password hint is a phrase from a letter Van Gogh sent to Theo. Of course, it’s “To Theo”.

Lu Jinghe: As expected, my lawyer is the greatest.

ANALYSIS END

Lu Jinghe entered “312155Theo” on the laptop. As expected, the folder opened.

Surprisingly, inside was just a simple file, nothing else.

#tot translation #tears of themis #weiding shijian bu #未定事件簿 #lu jinghe

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azritesx3 · 5 years ago

Text

“A Devil’s Love” Chapter 3: It’s Not A Date

Description: Chloe’s best friend is back, and Lucifer’s charm can’t seem to affect her either. Is she also a miracle child? Or something…more? [Story starts during S2 Ep4, Female Reader Insert]

—————————————-

AN: Updated March 14, 2020 - Grammar, Mention of a new character, Mention of a previous relationship AN: Updated July 15, 2020 - Grammar, Minor story change

Rating: Teen Warning[s]: Swearing

Show Timeline: Season 2 after episode 11

Spotify Playlist /// AO3 Fanfiction Net Wattpad DeviantArt

Tag List: @ayanna-wild, @anushay1998, @emiwrites3reads, @i-am-canada-13, @heart-of-pots-and-pans, @tinyybiceps, @jessicarene99, @lucifersnipnips, @givemebooksorgivemedeath, @sailor-earth-1

—————————————-

It was so...quiet.

You walked down the steps in LUX. No drinks were being served. No bodies were grinding up against each other on the dance floor. No one made out in the dark corners.

The only music that filled the empty space was a piano, which was being played by the only other soul in the room besides you.

“Lucifer.”

“Hello, K9.” He gave you a small smile and stopped playing, “I was just playing my goodbye tune.”

“Goodbye?” You looked at him, head tilted in puzzlement.

“Yes. It seems no amount of money will please that swine of a woman, and besides,” he lightly traced his fingertips over the keys, then smiles back up at you, “I've come to learn that ‘home’ is more than just a building.”

“Well, that's good,” you gave an over dramatic sigh, “but that totally ruins my thank you.”

Lucifer looked at you confused. You motioned for him to scoot over on the piano bench and sat down next to him, handing him a blue folder.

“What's this?”

“A certificate from the city. Stating that LUX is now a historic building and cannot be torn down under any circumstances.” You smiled.

“K9...” Lucifer was in complete bewilderment as he looked at the paper, “How did you…”

After a beat of him not continuing his question, you answered, “Well, I got the idea when you told me the little history quirks this place had. So, once I finished the case, I went to Chloe because I knew she had connections in that area. And,” you tapped on the paper, “presto!”

“K9...Thank you.” he smiled warmly at you.

“Yeah well, you should thank Chloe too.” You looked away from him slightly to try to stop the rising blush on your face, “Plus, I in no way can help you in getting the deed back from Eleanor. I mean,” you chuckled softly and looked back to him after cooling down, “I'm sure she'll sell it back to you now since she can't build her dumb mega mall, but definitely way above market value.”

“Of that I have no doubt, but K9,” Lucifer placed the folder down on the piano and turned his body towards you, “what did you mean by ‘this ruins my thank you’?”

“Oh, well, um,” you couldn't stop the blush this time, “I just felt like I had to properly thank you for that construction company.” You looked down at your lap in embarrassment, “I know it seems like a silly thing, but those guys really pulled through with my building. Once I hire some staff I can open up within two weeks, at most.”

“My dear K9,” you couldn't help but look back up at him at the sound of amusement in his voice, “if you wanted to find a proper way of thanking me you should have come to me, because I'm afraid this isn't it.”

“Um.” You looked back and forth between the discarded folder and the man next to you with wide eyes, “It isn't?”

“Nope! Afraid not!”, He gave the “p” in “nope” an extra pop. Lucifer was back in full form.

Oh boy.

“Now, I am in no way ungrateful for this gift, I assure you,” he placed a hand on the folder, “buuut,” he sang, “there is only one form of a ‘thank you’ that I will accept.” He smiled devilishly and leaned forward towards you.

“And...that is?”

“You.”

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

“Um...you ok there Ms.?” Alice sits on your bed holding a cup of tea. You don't see it, but she looks more amused than concerned.

And why can't you see her expression? Because you're currently standing, with your back to her, in front of your closet staring at nothing for at least five minutes.

“Yup.” You continue to stare into the dark abyss of clothes, “Super.”

“You say this isn't a date, but you sure are stressing like a woman going on a date.”

“It's not a date, Ali!” You finally move your body to face Alice and give her a stern look.

“Uh-huh.” Alice just smiles up at you as she takes a sip of her tea.

“It's not, Alice. How many times do I have to tell you?” You start to feel a bit frustrated and turn back to your closet.

“Until I start believing it.”

“I only agreed to tonight to make sure he's good for Chloe.” You say to your closet.

Alice sighs and places her tea down on your nightstand, “Earth, stop using Chloe as an excuse. I think Lucifer really does-”

“NO!” You whirl on your sidekick, “He does not. He's a playboy nightclub owner who tries to get under everyone's skin!” Your nostrils flare, “And Chloe is not an excuse!” You point at Alice with one hand while the other balls into a fist, “You didn't hear what those two said about each other at court yesterday. They-” you slowly start to breathe in and out. Alice didn't deserve this, “they have...a connection.”

Good little Alice didn't yell or fight back. She just sat there and listened to your ranting with a serious expression on her face. No judgment. No eye-rolling.

She pats the spot next to her and you sit, “I have to make sure Chloe will be all right with him.” You say to the floor.

“Earth,” Alice wraps an arm around your shoulders, “You deserve to find that kind of connection too.”

“No, Alice. I've been through that before and you know what happened. I'm good with just worrying about you and Damien." You close your eyes and shake your head slightly, “I can't go through something like that again. Not when he still has so much damn power over me."

“But Lucifer might be able to-”

“No.”

Alice sighs. She knows that “no” means to stop talking about it. Against her better judgment, however, she will humor you, “So, what does this ‘connection’ between Chloe and Lucifer look like?”

You heard her, but didn't answer. Alice squeezes your shoulders after some time.

“Earth?” She whispers.

“Soulmates.” You chuckle, not happily, when the word escapes your mouth, “Something I don't even believe in, and there it is.” You visibly swallow, “They're the perfect example.”

“Maybe you're wrong. Maybe it's different.” You just shake your head in response.

Your phone pings on the nightstand. The sound was that of the text message alert you picked for Chloe. You stand up and walk over to your phone. Unlocking it and reading the message, you give Alice more of that pitiful chuckle.

“Still think it's different?” You hold up your phone screen to Alice so she can read Chloe's message:

I kissed him. KISSED him, and I didn't want to stop. How the hell am I going to face him tomorrow? :sweatingemoji:

“So,” you pull the phone away once you see Alice done, “you going to help me pick an outfit now?”

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

“Uhhh,” you stuttered and moved away from him slightly, “excuse me?”

“Well someone has a dirty mind! Don’t worry darling, I don’t mean in that way. Well,” he followed you, making your attempt to escape for not, “unless you're up for that.” He stared deeply into your eyes and licked his lips.

You practically fell off the piano bench.

Lucifer laughed loudly, “Come come, my dear! I’ll stop now, I swear.” He grabbed your arm before you fell and pulled you back up.

“Yeah. Right.” You warily replied.

“I’m a man of my word, K9.” He smiled, then looked at you with interest, “Honestly K9, I had quite a fun time working with you on this case. What with both of us having the same wit,” he started counting off his fingers, “both becoming quite nauseated at the sight between Eric and Christi, and your impeccable knowledge on the correct height for a proper suicide jump.” His eyes sparkled, “Plus you have some fantastic dance moves, dear. Makes me wonder what other talents you have.”

You had no response to give the man. You were too focused on calming your heartbeat.

“So, here’s how I would like my favor repaid:” he continued, "let me take you out. I want to learn more about you, K9. Honest.” You looked at him, and you could see the honesty in his eyes. It made you feel more...comfortable.

“Well,” you swallowed the lump in your throat, “alright. If that’s what you want.”

“Oh it is, very much so.” He smiled so brightly at you, “I will make sure it’s fun for you as well, my dear. I hear from the Detective, and that lovely assistant of yours, that you’ve been all work work work since arriving.”

“Well, you have to ‘work work work’ in order to survive.”

“For you humans yes, but last night I saw a woman who was just begging to let loose.”

“It has been an exhausting couple of months back…”

“Lovely!” Lucifer looked genuinely excited now, “It’s settled then! I’ll text you the details once I’ve made them.” You smiled and nodded.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

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

“This is absolutely 100% bad.”

You can feel the anxiety building up in your stomach as you drive to LUX. As hard as you tried, you could not convince Lucifer to just send you the address to wherever he was taking you. He insisted that you arrive at LUX first, “Let me take you for a ride in my corvette! :winkieface: :devilemoji:”

The thought of spending an entire evening alone with Lucifer is anxiety-ridden enough, but now knowing you were also going to be stuck in a vehicle with him driving made it worse. You’ve heard the horror stories from Chloe.

Trying to calm yourself, you choose one of your favorite songs on your phone to play through the speaker. Focusing on singing to the song made the thoughts of tonight ease away.

Until you pull into the LUX parking garage, of course. You stop your car and hand the keys to the valet. The security guards let you skip ahead of the ever long line.

You stand at the top of the stairs with your hands on the railing. You scan the floor in search of Lucifer, but he was nowhere to be found within his crowd.

I’m here. You text him.

Wonderful! Come on up to my penthouse, dear! I’m almost done getting ready. The elevator is to the left from the entrance.

The first thought to cross your mind is how Lucifer is the first guy you met who takes longer than Damien to get ready. The second is the anxiety vomit that wants to burst its way out of you when he tells you to come up to his penthouse.

You swallow it down, though, and wipe your sweaty palms on your dress as you walk into the elevator and press the button to go up. You expected the ride to be longer, so when the elevator doors seem to open after less than a minute you squeak in surprise.

“Is that you, K9?” You hear Lucifer’s voice off in the distance as you exit the elevator.

“Um, yeah.” You say nervously.

“I’ll be done in just a minute! Make yourself at home!”

“Yeah, sure,” you whisper, mainly to yourself rather than to him. Your eyes widen in awe at the beauty of his penthouse.

The space is entirely sleek black, with pops of color from the furniture and small decor. The light that illuminated the space came from the huge private bar, an upside-down tree that hung from the ceiling, and a fire that was burning brightly in a far corner. To the left, Lucifer has an amazing looking library, and you have to physically imagine that you are superglued to the floor. Otherwise, you would have just ran over there and started reading. The bar is to your right, and under the upside tree stood another piano. In the middle of the space are some orange-colored, expensive-looking, couches with a coffee table and flat-screen tv.

You walk next to the piano and through the wall of windows you can see that Lucifer has a magnificent view of LA. You also see, to your right, Lucifer’s large bed covered in silky looking black sheets. There's no door separating the bedroom from the rest of the space. Instead, it's separated by an antique-looking wall on the left and an intricate colorful stained glass piece to the right.

Becoming braver, you take the step down into the living room. Around the corner of the antique wall, you can see that the balcony wraps around and spot a hot tub.

“Seriously? A hot tub too?”

“It’s my companions’ favorite feature when I bring them up here. Well, besides my bed of course.” You squeak again in surprise and spin on your heels to face Lucifer. He stood in the entryway to his bedroom and was smiling down at you.

“My my, you look positively stunning K9.” He continues to smile as he descends his bedroom steps. Adjusting his cufflinks, he looks you up and down. You're wearing a green, long sleeve, cocktail dress with a hollowed-out design. On your feet, you wear white sandal wedges with the same type of hollowed-out design. You can hear him make a delightful purring sound when he sees how your wedges made your legs look more toned.

“Um, thank you.” You aren't quite sure how to react, or how you are feeling at this moment.

“You’re welcome. Now come along, darling.” Lucifer pushes out his arm to you and you wrap your hand around it, “Let’s get to know each other!”

Lucifer leads you to his black corvette. Opening the passenger door for you he says to “get comfy” for it was an hour ride.

An hour. In a car. With him as the driver.

The seats are indeed comfy, but unfortunately they were doing nothing to calm your racing heart.

There's something else you notice about the car that was not helping your heart rate, “Um, Lucifer. Where are the seatbelts?”

He just smiles devilishly at you as he turns the car on, puts the car in reverse, quickly backs out of the parking space, and zooms out of his parking garage.

Fuck.

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

"I told you that I'd make this fun for you as well, darling."

It has been fifteen minutes into the ride, and you are just now realizing that Lucifer has been following all traffic laws.

"Oh…" you slowly release your hold on the car seat and door, "Sorry…" you feel completely embarrassed.

"No worries, K9. I had a thought that you've heard about my incredible driving from the Detective, and since you are also a cop I figured you would be more comfortable following the silly laws."

"Laws are there for a reason, Lucifer."

"Ah yes, and the reason is to be broken!" Lucifer gives you a wink and a smile. You turn your head away so he can't see your small smile.

"What kind of music do you like, darling?" Lucifer asks you after giving you a moment to calm fully down.

"Hmm," you think for a minute, "honestly? Anything."

"Truly?" Lucifer looks curiously at you, "Even gospel? Rap? Bloody country? The music that's called my music?"

You chuckle, "If I listen to the song enough I usually tend to like it. Unless the lyrics make absolutely no sense."

"Surely you must have a favorite genre though?"

"Hmm," you tap your chin in thought, "guess it'd have to be alternative."

"Lovely!" Lucifer turns his radio on to an alternative/rock station. For the rest of the ride he sings and taps to the songs, and you tap and hum along with him.

You aren't comfortable enough to sing around him.

Not yet, anyway.

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

The car ride ends when Lucifer pulls into some hotel's parking garage, and you give him a warning glare.

"We're not here for the hotel, sadly." Lucifer opens the car door for you and leads you by the small of your back.

"Then why are we here?"

"For the hotel's restaurant!" He leads you through the lobby of the hotel and through two huge glass double doors.

"Wow." You can't stop the amazement forming on your face at how beautiful this place is.

The restaurant's called "Openarie", and it lives up to its name. The structure is basically one giant greenhouse. Pots of various plants are hung on the ceiling and along the walls. Fairy lights light the space and the floor's pure concrete. Outside you see a dance floor with a small band on an elevated stage. There are a few couples out there swaying to the music.

"I take it I've done well?" Lucifer looks down at you with a shit-eating grin.

"Eh. So far." You just shrug and give him a sarcastic smile.

Both of you walk up to the booth and Lucifer gives his last name to the host. The host leads you two to a table seated for two, and thankfully there are no other parties around the table. Lucifer pulls out your chair for you to sit as the host puts the menus on the table.

"I take it since it's pretty busy in here and there's no one seated at the tables around us, you rented those out too?" You ask him, eyebrow raised, as you take a sip of water that your waitress puts down.

"Correct!" Lucifer gives you his devilish smile, "I wanted to make sure we weren't interrupted."

"More like overhead." You scuff, "Are you expecting me to tell you all my secrets?"

"Just the ones you're willing to share, darling."

You hum in response and look down at the menu while Lucifer orders some wine.

You look quizzically at the menu, "This looks like-"

"Shareable meals, yes." Lucifer smiles at your expression and takes a sip of the wine, "It's the theme of this place. People getting to know each other through shared food. Most of the time it goes well, hence the attachment to the hotel." His smile turns flirtatious.

"You actually did research for this?"

"That surprises you?"

"Well...yeah." Lucifer's smile turns small as he looks to his own menu.

Within a few minutes, the two of you manage to decide on an appetizer, meal, and dessert. Both of you engage in idle chatter while eating the appetizer, but once the main course arrives Lucifer wants to start asking those questions.

"So, my dear," Lucifer leans forward a bit and stares at you with interest, "tell me something about you."

"Before I do that I would like to talk to you about something." You place your napkin on your lap and have a bite of the food.

"Oooh, a twist! Alright then, K9." Lucifer does the same as you.

"What's your relationship with Chloe?"

Lucifer has to cover his mouth with a napkin to keep the food in from his laughter, "Well, aren't we the little overprotective friend?"

"Yes." You look at him seriously enough for his laughter to die, "I am."

"Alright. I'll answer your question, but first answer me this," Lucifer leans forward again, "Why?"

You pause, "Why?" When he nods you take a breath and look him in the eyes, "Because she's...my friend. Best friend."

"Yes, but you don't show this possessiveness with Ms. Green."

You sigh, "Because," you have to take another breath, "she's the first person to not fake anything with me. The first person not to lie to me. The first person…" you pause, "...who made me feel comfortable." You look at him now, "The first one to make me feel like it's ok to be myself."

Lucifer gives you a genuine smile, and his eyes are filled with no judgment. Just approval.

"Well then, we have another thing in common, K9."

You smile back at him. "Good. So how about an answer to my question?"

"It's quite simple, my dear." Lucifer takes a sip of wine, "She's my partner."

"But in what sense?" It's your turn to lean forward, pressing on, "How do you feel about her?"

"You sound like my therapist." Lucifer evades your question by taking a large sip of his drink.

"Look Lucifer," you intertwine your hands and place them on the table, "Chloe told me about the kiss." He's looking at you now, "I just want to make sure that she'll be ok. That she won't end up with another 'detective douche'."

Lucifer chuckles at the mention of his nickname for Dan, "What makes you think I'd be douche number two?"

"Well," you shrug and look up at the imaginary list in your head, "you're a player. You have a man, woman, both, or even multiple genders in your bed every night. You flirt with everyone. Oh and," you look back at him, "Chloe isn't someone who would appreciate getting dagger glares from another female while on a date."

"What makes you think she'd be getting glares from someone else while with me?"

"Because there's a tall blond woman who's been giving me daggers since we got here." You move your head in the direction behind him and drink your water. He turns a full 180 in his chair and says surprisingly:

"Mum?!"

You almost spit out your drink.

Did he just say mom?!

The woman smiles, finally being noticed, and saunters over to your table. She stops next to Lucifer's seat, "Hello, my son." She says with a fake surprise to her voice, "It truly is a small world my husband has created after all." She looks at you and sneers, "I'm Charlotte Richards, Lucifer's mother."

"Mother." Lucifer stands up and turns his body to her, blocking your view of his face, "Why are you here?" His question comes out as a hiss.

"I'm here for a company dinner."

"By yourself?" You speak up, and slightly regret it at the look she gives you.

"Most have left while others went to the dance floor." She says matter of factly.

Uh-huh. Your police senses start tingling.

"Well, if your companions have left then you should too." Lucifer says, "It's terribly embarrassing to be the only one at a table."

"I'm sorry, son!" She feigns ignorance, "Am I ruining your date?"

"This isn't a date." You say without thinking. She looks at you curiously with a raised brow, "I'm just...returning a favor."

"Yes," Lucifer says quietly. You think you see his shoulders slump slightly, but just mistake it.

The Goddess, however, sees the quick emotion of confusion slip past her son's eyes.

That's all she needs.

"I see. Well, I'm sorry to have interrupted." She smiles at you, "Goodbye." She gives Lucifer one final look before strutting out of the restaurant.

"I'm sorry about her." Lucifer sits back down.

"No worries. Protective mother, I presume?"

Lucifer scoffs and takes a sip of wine, "Hardly."

The trouble you see inside Lucifer is hurting you, for some reason. So to try and get rid of that cloud on him, you decide to start talking more about you instead of Chloe.

You aren't too worried about her with him anymore.

"Well, how about I actually start this favor." That perks him up, "What would you like to know?"

"Do you want to trade mothers?" You burst out into genuine laughter, and you can see it pleases Lucifer considerably. He's back.

"Unfortunately, for you, I don't have one."

"What?"

"I grew up in an orphanage. From there to various foster homes."

"You wouldn't consider any of those foster parents as parents?"

"Nope." You pop the "p" and drink your water.

Lucifer starts to continue his questioning, but pauses as the waitress gathers our eaten meal and places down our desert. Once she's out of earshot he continues:

"You have no knowledge of your real parents?"

You're quiet for a second, using the excuse to take a bite out of the chocolate cake, "Nope." No pop to the "p" this time.

Lucifer hums and takes a bite of the cake himself, "Why did you come back to LA?"

"Well," you give it a considerate thought, "I did miss Chloe a lot. Plus, even though I'm not too fond of children, I feel a bit guilty for not being here to help her out with Trixie."

"You despise children too?" Lucifer looks ecstatic, "I'm enjoying you more and more, K9."

You laugh, "Yes I don't like children and have no wish to birth any, but that doesn't mean I might not want to adopt or foster." You take another bite, "Since I know what it's like to have that kind of life and all. Plus," you point your fork at him, "I may 'despise' children, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't risk my life to save one. No one should die so young and innocent."

"Of course, and I agree." You just give him that "uh-huh I don't believe you" look while you chew on another bite.

"My next question is," he takes another bite, "why did you leave?"

Your fork pauses mid-air to your mouth. The memories whizzing by in front of your eyes.

"K9?" You're brought back to the present by Lucifer’s hand on yours. He looks fairly concerned.

"I'm sorry." You put the fork down and remove your hand from his, "That's too-"

"Private. It's quite alright dear." Lucifer gives you a warm smile, "I told you I only want to know what you're willing to give."

"Thank you." You smile back at him and you two finish the desert with Lucifer now asking "typical" get to know me questions.

What's your favorite color? Green. What's your favorite book and movie genre? Mystery, fiction, and fantasy for books. Musicals for movies. Don't like horror or thrillers? No, I don't like the feeling of my heart during those. Do you have any hobbies? I enjoy gardening and volunteering at animal shelters. Sounds boring. For you, yeah. Pet peeves? A man named Lucifer Morningstar. Haha, very funny. Thanks.

Dessert is now finished. Lucifer pays and tips the blushing waitress. You hear the band outside start to play a more upbeat tune, and can't help but stare.

"Would you like to dance, darling?" Lucifer smiles down at you and holds out his hand.

"Yes." You smile back and take his hand, "I would."

You two dance together until the band leaves for the night and head back to the corvette.

"Hey, Lucifer?" You look at him while he pulls out onto the road.

"Yes, my dear?"

"Drive." Lucifer smiles so brightly at you. He turns the radio full blast and drives without a care in the world.

This time you sing along with him.

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

While Lucifer parks in his parking garage he manages to convince you to come up to the penthouse. There he gives you a glass of water, after failing to hand you whiskey instead, and you both sit on the Italian leather sofa. This time you're the one asking the typical get to know me questions.

What's your favorite color? Black. Yeah I really should have guessed that one. Quite. What's your favorite book and movie genre? Erratic books and porn. Uh-huh, do you have any hobbies--No, wait I think I know this one: watching porn, having sex, doing drugs, and drinking? You know me so well already K9, but you forgot about me helping the Detective on cases. That’s a job Lucifer, not a hobby. Is it? Hm. Any pet peeves? Humans blaming me for all their wrongdoing. What? Oh, that’s right. Your whole “devil” shtick. It’s not a shtick.

Once 2 am rolls around you decide it’s time to head home. You bid Lucifer farewell, and you might be going crazy from tiredness, but it looked like he wanted to say something to you. He says nothing, however, and bids you farewell as well.

As the elevator goes down to the garage you check your phone for the first time that night and see a bunch of text messages from Alice.

“It’s about time!” You decide to call her.

“Hello to you too, Ali.” The elevator doors open and you start the track to your car.

“Sooo, how’d your not-date go?”

“Honestly? Not bad.”

“You enjoyed yourself?”

“Yeah,” you smile to yourself, “Yeah. I did.”

“When’s the next not-date date?”

“There is no next time, Ali. This was just returning a favor.”

“Did it look like Lucifer enjoyed it?”

“Well-”

“Earth!” You're surprised to hear your name being called. You look over your shoulder and see Lucifer. He wasn’t running, but he was taking large strides towards you, and he was...smiling?

“Lucifer-” The heat behind you cut you off.

It’s like everything went into slow motion. You turn towards your car and see a bright white light and feel heat.

Very, very, hot heat.

You feel the fabric on your arms burn away as you cover your face. You drop your phone as you're pushed back into the air with huge force. You brace yourself to fall on concrete, but instead you hit a body. A toned body that holds you like wall support.

You chance a peek to the outside world, and all you can see before shutting them again is an arm in dark sleeves around you. The hand attached to the arm wore a familiar onyx ring.

Lucifer.

How did he...

But you couldn’t speak. Your throat's shut tight, and the only thing your brain can focus on right now is the pain happening over your entire body.

You can faintly hear Lucifer call out to you over the ringing of your ears.

You can feel Lucifer pick you up in his arms and run outside. You remember seeing more blinding lights, but this time of familiar colors, arrive around the nightclub.

Someone forced you out of Lucifer’s arms, and you can hear his panicked yelling as someone else pushed him back from you.

Then your world went dark.

#a devil's love #lucifer netflix #lucifer morningstar #lucifer morningstar x reader #lucifer x reader #lucifer #fanfic #fanfiction #azritesx3 #azookiex3

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bangtaninink · 7 years ago

Text

another summer day

two eight year olds grasp flowers tightly in their fists. it’s the middle of july, and they’re running around the field, watching petals fly off, trailing behind them.

“yoongi!” one cries out, laughing as she calls out to the boy running ahead of her. “yoongi, i’m getting dizzy!”

yoongi falls to the grass, clutching his stomach as he laughs heartily, the sky above him spinning.

“these are for you,” he says, holding the remnants of the flowers up above his head, now just petal-less stems.

“you’re an idiot.”

“what’s wrong? what happened? who hurt you?” concern is written all over yoongi’s face, watching as tears leave tracks down your cheeks, drops falling from your chin.

“i’m... i’m leaving,” you say, words interrupted by sobs.

“what? what do you mean, leaving? where’re you going?”

“far.”

“far, like... like, seoul?” he asks.

“no, far. like, over the ocean,” you say. it hurts to say it out loud, to let it manifest into fact instead of letting it remain as an idea.

“wh-- no. no, you can’t go. you can’t leave me.”

a hand calloused from numerous basketball drills holds one of your own tightly, squeezes around your fingers, eyes glazed over with sadness.

“dad, he... he got a new j-job, and... now we... we’re all going.” yoongi, stubborn, shakes his head before you even finish.

“no. no, i’ll... i’ll talk to your parents. i’ll tell them t-that you can stay here. with me. you can’t go, _____. we planned everything out already, remember? we... we’re gonna finish high school together, go to the same college. we’re gonna live next door to each other forever. remember?”

your sobs get louder, and by the time yoongi is finished, you feel like you can barely breathe because of how hard you’re crying. you lean over to throw your hands around him, hold him close, and gradually, you start to feel the back of your shirt start to dampen, and not because of the heat of this summer night.

silently, you watch your dad put your suitcase into the trunk of the taxi, standing on the sidewalk with yoongi beside you. you’ve kept a firm hold on the hem of his shirt since you’d stepped out of the house, and he holds an umbrella over the both of you to shield you and him from the summer rain. both your mothers are talking to each other; they’re looking very emotional -- they were childhood best friends too, after all -- and wordlessly, yoongi reaches for your hand, entwining your fingers together.

“i think that’s about everything,” your dad says, reaching out to shake yoongi’s dad’s hand, bidding him goodbye. somewhere off to the side, you hear your mother and yoongi’s sniffle softly, and you can see them embrace out of the corner of your eye, but you pay no attention to either of your parents because you’re too busy staring at yoongi’s profile, desperately trying to memorise every curve and line of his face because you have no idea how long it’ll be before you see your best friend again. yoongi stares forward, too afraid to meet your eyes, because the both of you have shed too many tears because of this, and he doesn’t want to cry anymore.

“you’ll stay in touch, right?” you ask, hating the way your voice shakes.

“always.”

yoongi is almost knocked over by the force of your embrace, but manages to catch himself in time to save the umbrella from tilting. he can feel you trembling when he wraps his free arm around you tightly, face hidden in your shirt, eyes shut tight as he wishes for this all to be one sick dream.

your father calls your name, and instinct makes you tighten your hold on yoongi just a little more.

“love you, cub,” you hear yoongi whisper in your ear, loud enough for only you to hear.

“love you too, cub,” you return, teeth digging into your lip hard enough that you almost draw blood, desperately trying not to cry.

you and yoongi lose contact.

it’s inevitable, what with international calls wracking up crazy phone bills over time, letters getting lost in the mail, and too many changed addresses to keep track of.

it hurts, it really fucking hurts to lose your best friend, to have no idea where or how they are. and in the deepest recesses of your mind, you still keep a piece of yoongi with you, where he lives as a part of your conscience, that little voice in the back of your head that helps you out when you need it most.

it’s been over a decade when you’re travelling back to korea, to your homeland, but staying in seoul. it’s close enough, you think, seoul is closer to daegu than the myriad of countries you’ve had to bounce around, and this is a step forward you’ve been wanting to take for a long time.

quiet whispers and vague conversations have told you that yoongi is here too, and he’s in the limelight now. ( you remember finding that out, the quiet chuckle you’d let out that night, knowing that he hated being the centre of attention, and how ironic life turned out to be; but then, you found yourself wondering if yoongi had changed since you’d last seen him, if maybe, somehow, he’d come to learn to love it. it scared you enough to lose sleep for a few days. )

it’d been by chance that an old classmate had found you online, linked you to the facebook page for the high school reunion for your class. you hadn’t gone, stuck on the other side of the world, but you’d refreshed and watched the page like a hawk long enough to know that yoongi hadn’t gone either. you’d searched the uploaded group photos for any signs of him and come up empty. it had taken two beers and a vodka cranberry for you to muster up the confidence to ask someone what yoongi was up to; they’d told you that no one had been able to contact him since the end of high school, when he’d left for seoul to pursue his music. it was hard, they told you, now that he was a big deal, a celebrity of all things. ( you shed happy tears after the conversation ended, overjoyed to learn that he’d still kept at it. )

your new job as a director’s assistant has you here, now, in your home country, and damn, does it feel good to be back. it’s been too hectic to find time to look yoongi up; you’ve spent too many late nights with director yang, helping him prepare for his up and coming project, a lot of overtime and extra hours under your belt that were dedicated to helping the crew get ready to leave los angeles.

you have twenty minutes to set down your personal belongings in your hotel room before you’re being driven to the set; apparently, things are happening immediately. you’ve got folders in your arms, chatting away with director yang, going over memorised details and learning new ones.

you know this: the crew will be filming a music video over the next three days. you’ve sat in with director yang for back and forth video calls with this band’s managers and bosses for the last three weeks. the band is made up of seven members. bangtan sonyeondan is their name, and you know nothing else about them except that the entire country loves them. this is, then, a big deal, having an international director be flown across the ocean to film a local act’s new video, and you’d be nervous if it wasn’t for the fact that you had no time to be.

the crew has been given a short time frame of no less than five days to have the music video filmed, and a primary edit to be done and ready for presentation to the band and their management. it’s tough, and accounts heavily for director yang’s stress and unnatural snarky attitude, fuses too short to stay calm. even now in the hired car taking you to the set, you’re forced to repeat details you’ve already gone over with him because the crew is paranoid they’re going to mess something up.

“pardon me. we’re arrived to the set,” the driver’s voice cuts in, interrupting a steadily escalating conversation over the camera equipment.

“alright,” director yang says. “i’m sure i don’t have to remind you all of how big this is. our reputation rides on this. let’s be professional. let’s be good. let’s show the world what soleil productions can do.”

the entire ocean of people on set turn their heads towards you where you stand frozen, folders and papers strewn across the floor where you’ve dropped them.

“what the fuck?” one of the sound guys whispers harshly, elbowing you hard in the side. you barely even notice the pain because...

“yoongi?”

your old friend stands not even ten feet away from you, wearing the exact same look of shock and surprise as you. you hardly register the mix of scolding and hasty apologies around you because you’re walking forward, steps getting more urgent the closer you get; you watch yoongi shove someone aside ( you’re not sure if that’s a staff member or a band member yet ), hear him whisper a, get out of my fucking way, and it’s disgustingly cliche how it feels as if time stops the moment you both meet, arms wrapping around each other without a second thought, exasperated gasps leaving the both of you.

“shit, shit, fuck, shit, fuck,” yoongi says, words rapid fire, holding onto you, your shirt held in his fist. “this is fucking real, right?”

“holy fuck, it better be,” you say, laughing with disbelief, completely unaware of the tears that fall down your cheeks.

“god. jesus fuck. god.”

“hyung?” comes a nearby voice.

“fuck off, taehyung,” yoongi says, voice muffled by your shoulder.

“hyung, you’re crying.”

“cool. leave me alone.”

“uh... okay.”

with a soft chuckle, you pull back, but only just enough to get a good look at him. his eyes are rimmed slightly red, but he’s smiling that old gummy smile of his that you’ve so fucking missed. you don’t know where to look first, your hands with a mind of their own, reaching up to run the pads of your thumbs across his cheeks, his jaw, everywhere. his hair is dyed a deep shade of pink, and his makeup ( he wears makeup now? ) is starting to smudge and run because he’s crying. you probably look a sight yourself.

“eleven y--”

“don’t,” yoongi interrupts. “don’t remind me. not right now. god, i...”

“excuse me, miss. i’m gonna have to ask you to step aside.” the both of you turn to look at the man who’s approached you, one hand firmly wrapped around your arm, thankfully not enough to hurt. yet.

“what the hell, hyung? let go of her,” yoongi says, and it might have been eleven years since you last saw him, but you can still recognise his anger when you see it. “don’t touch her. don’t even talk to her like that. what the fuck?”

“min yoongi, have you forgotten where you are? what you’re doing today?”

“listen. that can wait. i haven’t seen _____ in fucking forever, okay? no one’s ripping her away from me again, understand? go micromanage jimin or something. i know he’s your favourite.”

the muscles in the man’s jaw shift as he clenches his teeth, lips pressed in a tight line before he’s turning around to walk off, but not without a stern look over his shoulder directed at the both of you.

“you’ve gotten angrier, i see,” you say, snorting quietly. “oh, yeah. i’ve embraced my inner hulk since we’ve been separated,” he replies.

“that guy though... he was kinda right. we’re supposed to be working right now.”

“pfft. no, screw that manager. he’s just salty because i beat him at poker the other night. don’t worry about him.”

“but we do need to work.”

simultaneously, as if to prove your point, both your names are called out from different ends of the room. yoongi sighs, and hangs his head, rubbing your arms gently.

“fine,” he says. “the lunch break though. you’re all mine. we’re sitting together, okay?”

“like i’d say no to that,” you reply, rolling your eyes and smiling.

“cool.” yoongi leans forward to give you another hug. “god, it’s so fucking good to see you again, cub. you have no idea.”

“i think i do, cub.”

it’s no surprise that neither of you can keep your eyes off each other.

it doesn’t take long for you to figure out who else is in yoongi’s group and who is a staff member under their management, but for the most part, you’re glued to director yang’s side most of the time as his right hand man. the day is filled with fleeting glances, weird expressions and funny faces from a distance, shy and apologetic smiles woven in between when you’re caught not doing your jobs. it’s interesting and entertaining to watch yoongi ( you learn his stage name is suga. how cute. ) completely change demeanour in front of the camera, and you take the brief opportunities to breathe to pull your phone out and do lightning fast google searches on his group.

as it turns out, bangtan sonyeondan is a really big deal in korea, and their growing fanbase seems to expand every month, week, day even, with international prospects becoming more and more possible by the minute.

“hey!” you’re quick to snap your head up, suddenly face to face with... jimin? “are you _____?”

“uh... yeah, i am. jimin, right?” you return.

“yeah! nice to meet you! like, really nice to meet you. yoongi hyung hasn’t shut up about you since i met him, and it’s nice to know you’re, like, an actually real person, and not just someone that lives in his head.”

“oh... uh...” you have no idea how to reply to that, but it turns out you won’t have to because before you can think of something to say, jimin’s name is being called.

“oh. i need to get back. but, yeah! it was nice meeting you, _____.”

“y-yeah. you too, jimin-sshi.” a little confused, you watch him walk back, slinging his arm over another band member -- the one called v, you think -- and vaguely, you think you hear him say, “dude, that’s her.” you can’t be too sure, but the way v turns around to look back at you seems to confirm your suspicions.

the first half of the day passes in a weird blur of too much information and things to take in. it isn’t long before the set is being filled with the scent of freshly cooked meat as the caterers start to set up along the far wall, ready to feed everyone.

“oh my god, food,” someone says, running past you -- you’re almost eighty percent sure that was jeongguk. other band members call out after him, running too, ready to grab plates.

“hey,” yoongi says, sidling up beside you.

“hey yourself,” you reply, wrapping an arm around him as he wraps his around your shoulders.

“that kid eats so much. you better get your food quick. jeongguk wolfs down, like, two plates of food -- and then leftovers if there are any.”

“he’s young though.”

“the youngest, yeah. but still. a man’s gotta eat, and he makes that hard sometimes,” yoongi says, giving a small bow of his head when he’s handed a plate, easily handing it over to you.

yoongi snorts at the noises you make as you eat.

“calm down, cub,” he says, chopsticks halfway to his mouth. “the food’s not that good, is it?”

“do you know how long it’s been since i’ve eaten real korean food? i’m dying right now. this is so fucking good, i’m gonna cry,” you say, pouting, cheeks stuffed with rice and bulgogi. yoongi rolls his eyes and shakes his head, but is quick to eat another mouthful before he can be caught smiling.

“tell me everything, cub. what’ve you been doing for the last decade?”

“getting dragged all around the states and europe. life sucks when your dad’s a travelling doctor, y’know? it was so fucking hard, and like, i’d get so damn angry when our calls cut out, or letters wouldn’t get to me, like...” you don’t even realise how hard you’re holding onto your chopsticks until yoongi’s nudging your thigh with his knee gently. “sorry. i just... i just hated it so much, cub. i hated not being with you anymore, i hated wondering if you were mad at me for leaving--”

“no, what the fuck? no. no way,” yoongi interrupts, putting his food down to grab your hand. “hey. listen to me. i wasn’t mad. i never will be mad at you. shit happens that you can’t control, and it was pretty shitty that you had to leave, but we’re here now, aren’t we? we found each other again, didn’t we?” you sigh before looking up at yoongi.

“i guess so. it just sucked, cub. that was eleven years of hell.” you suddenly aren’t hungry anymore, resorting to just numbly pushing your food around with your chopsticks. “what about you though?” you ask. “how the hell did you end up here?”

“god. okay.” yoongi pulls his seat closer to you, further blocking the both of you off from the rest of the staff and crew. “so, after you left, i kind of couldn’t stay in daegu anymore because everything just reminded me of you, you know? it was hella gross and shit, like, you would’ve laughed at me for how much i cried.” you snort but let him continue. “so, like, yeah, i decided to move up to seoul to become this ‘big and successful music producer’, but you know me. i never think things through properly. so i’m out here, selling my music for free--”

“that’s not exactly selling anything, cub.”

“don’t i know it. i’m working three part time jobs, highkey dying without my best friend, and life is just t-o-u-g-h. anyway. on some weird whim, i go audition for this company, somehow fucking get in, and... yeah. that’s about it. here i am. writing pop songs and shit.”

“god, i bet you love being in front of the camera, huh.”

“oh fuck, i adore it,” he says, sarcastic.

“how’re your parents?” you laugh, changing the subject.

“they’re good, yeah. they come up here every now and again, but they’re still in daegu for the most part. they were very against everything. but now that i’m makin’ bank, your boy is suddenly the golden child.”

“i’m glad you stuck with your music. might’ve cried when i heard you did, but you didn’t hear that from me.”

“you cried?” he asks. you shrug, embarrassed. “cute. but, hey. you’re a director’s assistant now, cub. guess all those movies we stayed up all night watching actually fucking paid off.”

“hey.”

the both of you turn to watch jimin pull his chair up beside the both of you, carefree smile on his lips.

“get lost, jimin,” yoongi groans. “me and _____ are talking.”

“uh, we had to listen to you constantly yap on about your long lost best friend for years. i think we deserve to talk to her too,” jimin replies, getting comfortable.

“yeah,” another voice calls out, and then suddenly, another chair is being dragged closer. “we practically know her too with how much you talked about her. i’m v, by the way! but just call me taehyung.”

“nice to meet you. i’m _____,” you say, chuckling.

“listen. _____ is too nice to tell you guys to fuck off, but i’m not,” yoongi says. “so fuck off.” taehyung scrunches up his nose in distaste.

“i hope you’re not as mean as yoongi hyung is,” he says, looking at you.

“nah,” you say.

“coo--”

“i’m worse.”

“rest in peace, lee jumin,” yoongi says, dramatically crossing himself. “you will be missed.”

“who’s lee jumin?” jeongguk asks, sitting up, eyes wide with curiosity.

“some kid _____ cussed out in our sophomore year. it was quite the sight, man. you guys should’ve been there. she really ripped him a new one.”

“wow, okay. first of all, he deserved it,” you say, pointing a finger at yoongi. he holds his hands up and shrugs, feigning innocence. “second of all, he chose to move schools. i had nothing to do with it.”

“you made a kid transfer school? savage,” one of the group members says. “i’m namjoon, by the way.”

“nice to meet you. and, no. i didn’t make a kid move school. but it was a good thing he did, because if i caught him peeking into the girls locker room after basketball practice one more time, i swear to god...”

“but that’s the only thing that made high school bearab-- never mind. hi! jung hoseok. also known as j-hope.”

“and i’m seokjin. i have a question,” one of the members -- seokjin -- says, raising his hand. “why does yoongi call you ‘cub’?”

“oh. that’s a secret we’re taking to the grave.”

the rest of the day goes by smoothly, and by the end, everyone is ahead of schedule.

it’s crazy how easily you’re able to talk to the rest of yoongi’s bandmates, and suddenly it makes sense why he seems so comfortable with all of them when you feel the exact same way, even after a single day.

as the rest of the crew are busy packing up the equipment, yoongi comes up to you, looking like he was halfway in the process of changing.

“cub, where’re you staying?” he asks, voice lowered slightly.

“like, which hotel? the four seasons. it’s actually so cool, from what i saw when we dropped our stuff off. why?”

“let’s hang out, just the two of us. i mean, i love the guys, but i also haven’t seen you in over a decade.”

“sounds good to me, cub. pass me your phone. i’ll give you my number. surely you’re rich enough to afford international phone calls now, right?”

yoongi snorts, grinning.

“the phone plan is company subsidised, so you can thank bighit for all our future conversations.”

at around a quarter passed midnight, there’s a quiet knock on your door. so close to falling asleep, you stumble off the bed to get up and answer it. you know it’s yoongi, he’d texted you five minutes earlier to tell you he was on his way, but you can’t help the nervousness that rises, as if it’s the first time you’ll be seeing him after a long time.

“hey,” he says, smiling softly once you’ve opened the door. “sorry for stopping by so late.” you shake your head, opening the door wider to let him come in.

“it’s fine. i know you’re busy,” you say, holding back a yawn.

“and i know you’re probably tired.”

yoongi shuts the door behind him, walking over to hug you tightly. you hum softly at how warm he is, at how nice it is to be able to do this again after so long.

“god, i missed you,” he whispers, hiding his face in your hair.

“me too,” you reply. “i’m sorry we lost touch.”

“don’t be. it’s in the past now, cub.”

without letting go of you, yoongi waddles the both of you over to the bed, letting you both fall and hit the soft mattress together. he shuffles you both up until your heads touch the pillows, and this is dangerously comfortable.

“have you been happy, yoongi? in the eleven years we were separated?”

yoongi chews on his bottom lip, contemplating.

“i’ve been... content. but, no. never happy. not properly. not without you.”

you look at him wordlessly for a moment, nothing but the sound of you both breathing filling the space between you.

“me too,” you reply eventually. you shuffle forward, until your face is pressed up against the crook of his neck. “i feel like... like i never even got used to being away from you either.”

“yeah,” yoongi replies, nodding. “like i was just... constantly waiting to just run into you again.”

“and... it worked.”

you tilt your head back to look up at him, smiling back when he looks down at you.

“yeah. it did.”

you’re both woken up by the shrill ringing of a phone. yoongi groans before rolling over to grab his phone off the bedside table.

“hello?” he answers, voice still rough with sleep.

“uh... hyung? you should probably get back now. like, i’m just assuming you stayed with _____, but manager hyung just called jin hyung to ask if we were ready,” jimin says. yoongi sits up, panicked.

“oh fuck.”

“oh fuck is right, hyung. we got you covered for like, twenty minutes tops, so you better get down here. quick.”

with all the commotion, you roll over, rubbing your eyes as you start to wake.

“g’morning,” you say, mid-yawn.

“mornin’, cub. uh... i gotta go before i get my ass beaten.”

it takes a while for yoongi’s words to register, but when they do, you’re bolting upright too, now wide awake.

“shit.”

“it’s alright. jimin just called. the guys are covering for me, but, uh... i need to go,” he says.

“yeah, of course. yeah. fuck. go. i’ll see you in an hour anyways,” you reply, already climbing off the bed, yoongi right behind you.

things run just as smoothly as yesterday on day two of the music video shoot.

everything is infinitely more comfortable now that everyone knows who is who, and having left off yesterday ahead of schedule, there’s less tension in the air, and noticeably less stress floating around.

as easy as everything is today, however, you do notice that yoongi’s been acting a little... funny, not enough to raise concern, but enough that you can notice. the rest of the group seem to be fine, and nothing else seems to be out of the ordinary, so, for the most part, you think nothing of it. maybe he was still feeling a little nervy after almost being caught this morning. ( you make sure to discreetly whisper words of thanks to yoongi’s bandmates when you get the chance. )

“lunch later?” yoongi asks, a little out of breath as he takes a swig of water, having just finished a dance sequence.

“of course, cub,” you reply, looking up from the pile of papers on your lap. “as if you even had to ask.”

“hey, i’m just making sure, okay? wait. i gotta go change. i’ll see you later.”

you watch yoongi run off with little shake of your head.

at lunch, you notice yoongi constantly looking at you, trying to be discreet and failing.

“what? is there something on my face? god, you used to do this all time, making me paranoid as hell in the middle of eating, making me think there’s, like, sauce all over me and fucking messing with me. you’re the worst.”

yoongi chuckles softly, reaching out to grab your wrist to stop your hand from wiping your face.

“you’re fine. you don’t have food on your face,” he says. you narrow your eyes, not entirely convinced.

“taehyung, do i have food on my face?” taehyung looks up, eyes wide, cheeks stuffed with food.

“you look fine to me,” he mumbles. “why?”

“nothing. just checking. don’t worry about it.” yoongi lets go of your wrist with a smile, turning his attention back to his food. “why do you keep looking at me, cub?” he shrugs.

“just making up for lost time, i guess. haven’t seen your face in eleven years.”

you’re confused, but... it kind of makes sense, and yoongi’s always had his own way of going about things after all. you shrug, and go back to eating, trying to resist the urge to look back at him every time you catch him looking way in the corner of your eye.

“okay. yoongi. for real. i know we haven’t seen each other in ages, but you looking at me all the time is starting to get creepy,” you say, packing up director yang’s papers. “like, take a pic or something, cub.”

“can i?” he asks.

“can you what?”

“take a pic.”

with furrowed eyebrows, you look at him, surprised to find that he looks dead serious.

“oh, uh... sure? i mean, if you want to, i guess?”

“’kay. gimme a sec.”

you’re still confused when you watch him run off to the dressing room, where you assume he’s gone to get his phone. eventually, however, you realise you still have work to do, and rather than fussing over yoongi, you go back to doing your job, thinking you can talk to him later about his weird behaviour.

your head lifts immediately at the sound of a camera shutter.

“wh--” you look up just in time to see yoongi lowering his phone, grinning down at his screen. “yoongi!”

“nice. new wallpaper,” he says, lifting his phone once more. “gotta take one for the lock screen though.”

“wh--” he snaps a photo before you can say anything else. then he takes another photo. and another. and another, until he’s repeatedly taking photos rapid fire, thumb frantically tapping at his screen. “yoongi, for fuck’s sake,” you cry out, reaching forward to try and grab his phone, but he’s looking at you through the screen with one of his gummy smiles that you can’t help but start to laugh every time he dodges your grasp, ending up in weird positions every time. “yoongi!”

“wait! i haven’t taken one from a good angle yet,” he laughs, holding the camera under your chin.

“you fucker!”

heads start to turn towards the both of you at the ruckus, staff and crew watching you jump onto yoongi’s back, phone still out of reach, half laughing and half yelling in protest at all the photos he’s taking.

“oh, you look good in that one,” he says, holding his phone up so you can see the picture of you: blurry, your face contorted in a weird expression of half amusement-half anger, taken from a very unflattering angle. “asshole. stop taking such ugly photos,” you groan, making one last attempt to try and grab his phone.

“one more. just one more. together this time. and then i’ll stop.”

it’s a tempting offer that you’ve already agreed to in your mind, but you huff out a sigh for show.

“ugh. fine.”

yoongi grins, adjusting your position on his back before raising his phone in front of you both.

“alright. say reunited, and it feels so good,” he sings, thumb tapping at his screen in time to catch the way you laugh, hiding your face in his hair. definitely lock screen material.

“hyung, you like her, don’t you?” yoongi’s thumb freezes on his screen where he’d been busy scrolling through the photos he’d taken of you earlier, smile faltering when he turns to look at jimin, confused.

“the fuck are you talking about?”

“your friend, _____. you like her, don’t you?” jimin repeats.

“she’s my best friend, you brat. of course i like her.”

“no, i mean... you like like her. like more than a friend. romantically.”

“what the f--”

“i mean, he’s not wrong,” seokjin says, turning around in his seat to face yoongi. “you’re weren’t exactly subtle about the way you kept looking at her today.”

“hyung, we haven’t seen each other in over a decade. and what’s wrong with looking at my best friend?” yoongi asks, putting his phone down.

“nothing. until you’re looking at her like you’re in love with her,” seokjin replies, shrugging.

“in love with her?!”

“dude, you’re totally in love,” namjoon says, pulling out an earbud. “jeongguk’s usually completely oblivious when it comes to girls, but even he could tell something was up between you two.” yoongi glances over at where the youngest sits, lips slightly parted in his slumber, head resting against the window. “did you guys have sex or something when you slept over at her hotel room last night?”

“dude, what the fuck? no, we didn’t have sex! we just fell asleep together while talking. she just got off a goddamn plane from america, for fuck’s sake,” yoongi says, hostile.

“i mean, you’re being awfully defensive right now, hyung.”

“don’t you throw that psychological warfare shit on me, namjoon. you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. none of you do.”

the car falls into a heavy silence, the members who’d turned around to tune into the conversation turning back to face the front.

yoongi huffs, reaching for his earphones, ready to ignore the world. his phone chimes with a notification just as he plugs them in.

[ sms: 진형 ] what’s wrong with falling in love with your best friend, yoongi?

with furrowed eyebrows, yoongi looks up and stares at the back of seokjin’s head in front of him, the elder looking calm, acting like he hadn’t just texted his own bandmate in the same car.

[ sms: SUGA ] um. nothing?

[ sms: 진형 ] then why’re you so [ sms: 진형 ] idk [ sms: 진형 ] offended? or at least acting like you’re offended by the idea of being in love with _____?

yoongi looks back up at the back of seokjin’s head, willing his gaze to bore holes into his hyung’s head.

[ sms: SUGA ] i’m not.

yoongi watches seokjin turn his head slightly, a subtle suggestive gesture. yoongi exhales out from his nose as calmly as he can ( read: not very ).

[ sms: 진형 ] if you’re scared or something, you don’t have to be. if she’s as great as you tell us she is -- and we KNOW she is, now that we know her personally -- then shouldn’t falling in love with her be the best case scenario for your friendship?

yoongi reads the message. then, he rereads it. then, he rereads it again and again, until he’s practically memorised the words, thumbs moving of their own accord before he can stop himself.

[ sms: 진형 ] hyung. [ sms: 진형 ] i’m in love with my best friend. [ sms: 진형 ] fuck.

you’re frozen in the doorway of your hotel room.

you’d just opened the door to let yoongi in when he’d leaned forward, crossing the threshold to cup your cheeks and kiss you without warning. even after pulling away, his eyes are still shut tightly, forehead pressed against yours.

“y-yoongi?” you ask, voice nothing more than a mere whisper.

“fuck. fuck. fuck, i’m so sorry, cub,” he whispers back, shaking his head. you carefully shut the door behind him, before letting your hands find purchase on his arms. “i just... i...”

“i know.”

yoongi’s head snaps up, eyes opening immediately.

“wh-- how?”

“i know how to put two and two together. i did it on the drive back here. and i hate to break it to you, but you’re not very subtle, cub,” you say, smiling softly. “i wasn’t too sure if i was right but... i guess i am.”

“fuck,” yoongi sighs. “are you mad at me?”

“of course not. when have i ever been mad at you?”

“seven years old. i drank the rest of your apple juice without asking.”

“that was nothing, cub,” you reply, chuckling softly.

“you still got mad at me.”

“because i left to get you a glass just before you drank mine, remember?”

yoongi sighs again, hanging his head low. rubbing his arms, you bring him over to the bed, sitting down on the edge and patting the space behind you, inviting him to join you.

“i don’t get it,” he says, sitting down. “i thought i got over you years ago, cub.”

“yeah, me t-- wait. what?” now it’s your turn to be surprised. “you... all this t--”

“yeah.” yoongi furrows his eyebrows. “wait. you too?” you nod. “what the fuck? since when?”

“the school summer festival in freshman year of high school, when we stayed behind to watch the fireworks together. you?”

“middle school graduation, when we went to go eat jjajangmyeon and fried chicken. you burnt your tongue on the noodles.”

“what the fuck?” you say, sighing. “you mean we could’ve been having this conversation before i left daegu?”

“wow. i hate us,” yoongi scoffs.

“yeah, i fucking hate us too.” the both of you sit quietly, taking in the new information. “well... what do we do now?”

“i dunno.” he turns to look at you. “can i kiss you? again?”

“yeah. hell yeah. fuck yeah you can,” you say, already leaning over.

yoongi meets you halfway, one hand reaching up to hold the back of your neck gently, thumb stroking your skin as your lips touch. it’s a kiss that’s filled with relief, soft and sweet, with a gentleness that not many people get to see from yoongi. you don’t know if you kiss for five minutes or five hours, but when you both inevitably pull away for oxygen, it feels like hell, like yoongi is way too far away from you the second your lips aren’t touching anymore.

“_____?” he says, and there’s an underlying hesitation in his voice.

“yeah?”

“have you... ever... y’know...”

“um... this?” he nods. “no, never. i... i couldn’t, knowing it wasn’t you.” nervously you play with your fingers. “how about you?”

“uh... a couple times, in, like, shitty attempts to try and get over you.”

“did it work?” you ask.

“nope. didn’t stand a chance. honestly, i almost said your name one time and i was this close to getting kicked in the balls.” the both of you chuckle, but when it dies down, you look up at him shyly.

“i mean, not that i don’t trust you, but... be gentle with me, cub.”

“of course. fuck. of course, cub. the last thing i want to do is hurt you,” yoongi replies immediately, reaching up to cup your face in his palms, stroking your cheeks with his thumbs. “you have total permission to kick me in the balls if i do.” you smile and roll your eyes.

“idiot.”

“your idiot,” he corrects. “if you want me to be, that is.” it’s your turn to cup his cheeks, smiling as he lowers his hands down to rest on your hips.

“of course i do, yoongi.”

“i... i love you, cub.”

“i love you too, cub. i always have.”

yoongi smiles, unnaturally shy, before leaning forward to kiss you again, with more urgency than the last, and just like before you have no idea how much time passes before the kiss is broken briefly for breaths of air. yoongi uses his hold on your hips to hoist you up onto his lap, and you gasp with surprise against his lips when they reconnect. you’re both impossibly close, a desperation that only a decade a part can create in your body language, the way you both wrap your arms around each other as if you’re afraid the other will leave again.

you feel his hands slowly reach under your shirt, stroking the bare skin of your back, and it’s like electricity runs up your spine at how warm his fingers are. he takes his time in pushing your shirt up higher, and for the moment, the both of you forget that there’ll be work early tomorrow morning, acting as if you both had all the time in the world.

“may i?” he asks, just as his tongue brushes against your bottom lip, your shirt bunched up just under your bra. you nod, helping him pull it off of you, throwing it off to the side. his gaze falls to your chest, watching as it rises and falls with each breath you take.

your nervous when he reaches up to cup your breasts in his hands, thumbs brushing over the lace of your bra. you’re about to say something, complain about his staring, but the words die on the tip of your tongue when yoongi leans down to press kisses to the curves of your breasts, humming quietly at how soft and supple the flesh is.

you shut your eyes with a soft sigh when his hands squeeze you gently, still peppering butterfly kisses all over your skin. you don’t know how many times you’ve dreamed of this night happening, but everything is exceeding your expectations, all because it’s yoongi.

“can i take it off?” he whispers, warm breath tickling you.

“yeah,” you say, voice airy and light.

yoongi reaches around to work on the clasp of your bra, clumsy fingers struggling until you reach back with a soft smile to undo it for him, letting the straps fall off your shoulders. he presses a kiss to the corner of your lips just as he pulls your bra away to join your shirt, and when he pulls back, he feels all the wind knocked out of him when he takes a look at you.

you don’t miss the way yoongi’s eyes widen slightly at the sight of your bare chest, fingers taking their time to touch every inch of exposed skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake. you shiver a little when his fingers brush against your nipples, watching them tauten under his ministrations.

and then, just like that, something snaps, and yoongi is quick to bend down and wrap his lips around your nipple, sucking without warning. you gasp, your back arching at the sensation, pushing your chest out closer to him.

“oh,” you sigh, hands gripping his shoulders as he continues to touch you, taste you. he hums against your skin with approval, squeezing your other breast gently. “yoongi.”

“okay? do you want me to stop?” he asks, lifting his head to look at you.

“no, don’t you dare,” is your hurried reply.

yoongi chuckles as he presses a kiss to the underside of your jaw, suddenly standing and turning around with you still in his embrace, lowering you down to lie on the bed. he goes back to sucking on your nipple with sporadic flicks of his tongue that don’t fail to have you squirming beneath him. one hand smooths down the flat of your stomach, nimble fingers undoing the drawstring of your shorts with ease.

letting go of your nipple with a lewd pop, yoongi sits up on his knees to allow him to pull your shorts off, throwing them off the bed. his fingers graze against the garter of your panties, and god, you curse yourself for not putting anything sexier than plain white cotton panties on earlier. he casts you a concerned gaze, making sure you’re still giving him the go-ahead; you nod when your eyes meet.

yoongi is agonisingly slow when he starts to pull your panties off, smiling when you lift your hips off the mattress to help him. your underwear doesn’t even make it off the bed like the rest of your clothes do because instantly he’s been stunned silent by your naked body. self consciousness sweeps over you, and instinct wants you to bring your legs together and cover yourself. yoongi stops you before you can.

“don’t. please don’t,” he says, not taking his eyes off of you. “you’re beautiful, _____. fuck, you’re so beautiful, cub.”

your cheeks flush red as compliment after compliment spills from yoongi’s lips as he looks at you, all of you, completely exposed. with his hands on your knees, he gently pushes your legs apart, situates himself between them, fingers skirting down the length of your thighs. you glance down, noticing the bulge that’s grown in his jeans, and you flush a deep shade of crimson at the thought that you are the cause of that.

“tell me, okay? tell me to stop if i hurt you, and i will. i promise.” you nod, unable to find your voice, watching as yoongi shoves his jacket and shirt off before laying down on his stomach between your legs.

the feeling of his warm breath brushing against you is enough to have your legs shaking a little, but nothing can prepare you for the feeling of yoongi’s tongue licking at your clit. you gasp and moan at the sensation, mouth open in a wide o, your legs torn between closing shut and opening wider. yoongi seems to sense this, however, placing his hands gently but firmly on your thighs to keep you still.

the flicks of yoongi’s tongue are a little sloppy and uncoordinated, but they don’t fail to have you moaning quickly, sounds escalating as he continues to pleasure you. he stops for a moment, pulls his mouth away, curling one arm around your thigh to rub his thumb against you as he sucks on his fingers. this sight is so embarrassingly lewd when you look down to watch him, but you don’t even get a chance to cringe before he’s slowly pushing his now-wet finger into you, eyes snapping up to watch your expression shift, cautious of any signs of pain.

you moan and arch your back off the bed, the heels of your feet digging into the mattress as your hips buck upwards.

“yoongi!” you cry out, biting down on your bottom lip.

“does it feel good, cub? or do you want me to stop?” yoongi asks, leaving a trail of kisses along your thigh.

“yes! i-i mean, no, i don’t want you to st-op! ah!”

your legs are well and truly shaking now, so overloaded with pleasure that you don’t really know how long you’re gonna last. yoongi is careful to take his time, to be thorough in stretching you out, keeping you calm and relaxed with each finger he pushes into you and each swipe of his tongue against your clit.

you almost want to cry when he pulls his fingers out, all three of them now slick with your juices, suddenly hit with this new feeling of emptiness. you watch through half lidded eyes as yoongi pushes himself back up onto his knees, undoing and unzipping his jeans, groaning softly at the loss of restriction on his crotch. he’s quick to push his pants off, thumbs hooking on the garter of his boxers to tug them off right after.

his cock is red and hard, leaking precome and looking sensitive from the lack of attention given to it this whole time. you watch him wrap his fingers around it, giving his wrist light jerks, and you marvel at the way the muscles in his stomach tighten at the sensation, hips giving an involuntary thrust forward.

“god, you’re so beautiful... so fucking beautiful, baby. i love you,” he says, looking once more down at your body before throwing his head back with a quiet groan.

“yoongi. please, baby, i want you. i need you,” you whine, reaching up to grab his free hand.

yoongi presses his lips together and suppresses another groan, giving your fingers a gentle squeeze as they entwine with his. he shuffles closer on his knees, holding the base of his cock to help guide it into you. he’s barely pushed himself into you when you arch your back so high off the bed you almost sit up.

“o-ohh!” he moans, voice shaky as he lets go of his cock to slam his hand flat on the bed to steady himself, resisting the urge to push right into you. “ohh fuck, fuck, fuck, baby, fuck, you’re so... y-you’re so...”

“o-ohh my god, yoongi, baby. god, you’re so big,” you moan, squeezing his hand tight.

yoongi lets out a breath that comes out too shaky to be called controlled, gripping the sheets in his fist because you’re so tight and warm around his cock, he’s going to go insane because of how fucking amazing it feels.

you give his hand a tug and pull him down suddenly, and he just barely manages to catch himself before he crushes you under his weight. he’s close enough that you can reach his lips, but all hope of kissing is lost when it’s something akin to panting against each other. yoongi continues to push himself into you slowly, stopping periodically to let you adjust, and it might take longer than usual, but yoongi promised not to hurt you. he’s not breaking that promise. ever.

when yoongi bottoms out, the both of you lie still, attempting to keep all semblance of self control intact for as long as you both can. it proves to be a feat, when all these new sensations make you want to just burst, but it’s comforting to know that you don’t seem to be the only one feeling that way.

“a-are you okay?” yoongi asks, pressing kisses to your jaw, hoping to relieve you of any pain you might be feeling. “am i hurting you?” you shake your head frantically. “then w-why are you crying, cub?”

oh. you hadn’t even realised you were.

“b-because,” you say, taking a shaky breath. “it feels so good. y-you feel good, yoongi. i love you. god, i love you so much.”

“i-i love you too,” he replies. “so much. i always will.” he groans softly, hiding his face in your neck. “c-can i move?”

“please.”

the first thrust has you both crying out with surprise. your legs seem to act of their own accord, immediately wrapping around his waist as if your body is so desperate to keep him inside of you. you thrusts into you again, and again, each more powerful than the last, until you have to let go of his hand to press up against the headboard and stop yourself from hitting your head.

the way you sob, frantically asking for more in his ear has yoongi’s head reeling with arousal, because he’s always loved the sound of your voice, but the way you’re saying his name right now is on a whole other level of satisfying. you’re holding onto him so tightly, it’s going to drive him crazy -- you’re going to drive him crazy.

before long, the pleasure starts to build with every thrust, and a tension starts to accumulate in your stomach, begging to be released.

“y-yoongi... baby, i-i think i’m gonna...” you say, pressing your lips to his shoulder.

“i’ve got you, cub,” he whispers. “come for me. god, i bet you’re so pretty when you come.” you shut your eyes tightly, the pressure building and building as yoongi covers your face in butterfly kisses, until you can’t hold back any longer. something seems to burst inside you and all of a sudden, everything goes tight.

you don’t even realise how loud you’re crying out yoongi’s name until he’s pressing his lips against yours in an attempt to quiet you down for the sake of the people in the neighbouring rooms ( though, truth be told, he can’t say he hates the idea of other people knowing what you two are doing right now, and there’s no denying the pride that swells in his chest, knowing that you are his, and he is yours ).

he whispers soft words of praise in your ear as you start to come down from your high, his thrusts slowing enough to avoid overstimulation. but he can’t hold back any longer, and though you whine in protest at the sudden loss, yoongi pulls out just in time to paint your stomach in streaks of white.

you don’t know how long you lie there with yoongi, legs entwined, come drying on your skin as he pets your hair as you both try to catch your breath. you can feel your eyes start to grow heavy with fatigue, and yoongi coos in your ear, assures you that he won’t be going anywhere any time soon.

the last thing you hear before you drift off to sleep is a soft, i love you, cub, whispered in your hair, and if that’s how you’re gonna end every night for the rest of your life, you’ll take it.

#min yoongi #suga #bts #bangtan #bts scenarios #childhood friends!au #idol verse #this is outrageously long i'm so sorry #this took a while yikes

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biotic-raptorian-angel · 7 years ago

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Scene: Reunion

So many of you have been asking about the relationship between Fareeha and Ana and how she reacted upon finding out Ana is alive. Well...here is the heart breaking story. Enjoy my little seelen. <3

Dedicated to @play-pharah-blogish and @zeraphyrah

The staccato of shined boots settled her mind as she from the nerves of meeting with Angela today, the doctor seemed to have been crying on the phone when she called. Being out in the field on patrol duties made keeping tabs on things in HQ rather difficult, she usually found out details of daily activities second hand from Angela or Moira. So she was curious as to what Angela had to say, but worry sunk itself deep in her chest considering the blonde's shaky voice.

Bold black letters caught her attention as she was now face to face with Dr. Ziegler's personal office door. Raising her metallic hand to clank at the glass gently knocking, she now twisted at the knob and pushed the door open to find it empty. Sighing, she found herself circling the office, never having the moment to truly take in all the awards and commendations Angela had received over the years. But her caramel eyes now landed on a few manila folders across her desk, darting a glance to the open door before picking up a folder. Opening it and seeing the name Amari on the tab, her curiosity got the better of her as she skimmed through the paperwork. Seeing the age confused her, assuming the file was her own medical history. Her brown eyes went wide upon reading further into the file's contents, hands shaking now as the grip on the folder tightened to crumple it around her fingers.

'A. Amari. Previously marked as KIA has been found to have survived her wounds. Extensive damage to entire eye socket and eye itself has caused loss of sight. Commander Morrison has found location and retrieval is scheduled for 12 July. Awaiting further medical examination to be performed personally.'

Fareeha couldn't believe what she was reading, her mother had survived the ambush from Talon and never came back. Angry tears burned in her eyes as she crumpled up the file and threw it across the office. With a low growl, she turned her attention to Angela who was now standing in the doorway with a look of shock upon her soft features.

“Why didn't you tell me Ana was alive? Why did you keep this from me?”

The young doctor clutched her hands together as Fareeha raised her voice in anger, an absolutely normal response considering the situation. All she wanted to do was envelope her in her arms and try to calm her down, but she knew the solider needed space or things would only get worse.

“Jack and I thought it best for her to contact you. I only just found out a few days ago myself.”

Fareeha growled at the words, her teeth gritting as her voice was now deep with anger and tears stream down her cheeks.

“Where is she?”

The blonde hesitated before answering, stepping from the doorway and into the hall knowing full well she was going to hunt her down.

“She is in the Commander's office.”

And with that, her strong legs were off at a blinding speed as she bolted in the direction of that office.

Standing for a few moments at the Commander's door, her entire body shook as an unsteady hand raised itself to knock at the heavy wooden door. Upon hearing the Commander's acknowledgment, she twisted the knob and pushed at the heavy door. Seeing a woman in a long blue uniform coat sitting with her back to the door and Commander Morrison behind his desk, Fareeha raised a hand to salute and stand at attention.

“At ease Amari. I'm surprised to see you in my...”

Before he could finish his sentence, the woman stood and turned to face Fareeha. She had a long all white braid of hair wrapped over her shoulder and tucked into the collar of her coat. An eye patch covered her right eyes, but the signature tattoo under her left gave away exactly who she was. Fareeha's brown eyes went wide with shock, tears returning as she looked on at the ghost of a woman standing before her.

“Al'umu alhakima?”

The woman stepped closer and raised a gloved hand towards the soldier, who flinched as her brow furrowed in anger. Without warning, Fareeha's left hand flew through the space between them and met Ana's right cheek with a hard smack. Ana didn't react aside from a slight gasp and a turning of her head, she knew exactly how Fareeha was feeling and she didn't blame her for reacting like this.

“'Ayuha alsaghir , 'ana asif jiddaan li'anani dhahabat klu hdha alwaqt. I had no choice at first. But by the time it was safe to return, I had gotten word of you joining Overwatch I thought it best to not drag myself into your life. However, recent events with Talon have forced my hand and Jack contacted me directly for a position among the ranks of Overwatch once more.”

Ever word seemed muffled once she switched to English, the stinging on her fingertips and palm still present and distracting enough to keep her grounded. Her eyes shifted to the commander then back to her mother.

“You were gone for nearly twenty years. I thought you were dead. I built you a memorial in Cairo...I visit it every time I have leave from duties. How could you...just leave me like that?”

Her heart found itself in her throat as she fought back the strong urge to crumple to the floor and cry. Before Ana could respond, Fareeha turned on her heel and left the office to rush past Angela standing out in the hallway. Seeing the soldier crying like she was broke the young doctor's heart, but she understood her pain and blue eyes shifted to now glare at Ana inside the office.

“She mourned you this entire time. She blamed herself for not being strong enough to protect you. She became the strong woman she is today to make sure she never loses anyone else she loves. And now you have truly broken her worse than if you would've stayed dead to her.”

Ana's gaze fell to the floor, no sign of regret or sadness in those time worn features as she nodded to Jack and stepped from the office.

“I can only hope that she forgives me some day. I had to see her though. I had to see my little Horus grown up.”

With those words, the old soldier set off down the hallway in the opposite direction with her head hung low.

#fareeha #ana #pharah #ana amari #overwatch #rp scenes #this seriously made me cry as I wrote it #angela #mercy #pharmercy

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nebulanebula · 7 years ago

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Henrik’s interview on polish radioooo

The interview was in english ofc but there was like apolish voiceover or sth so you can not really understand/hear the english words they say. Also, please remember that Poland is a very no-homo country so the love story between Isak and Even is not mentioned in the interview. (it is only said that Even is one of the main characters next to Noora, Sana and Isak) H: Tro..Tro.. In: “Trójka” H: Trojka.. ok.. Hello, my name’s Henrik Holm and you’re lisle..aaah, let’s do this again! Hello my name’s Henrik Holm and you’re litening to Trójka. (they played “more than words” before they aired the interview and I was just staring into the wall the entire time) I: do you miss SKAM?

H: of course, I really miss skam. Not only watching and enjoying what we make but also making it and being on set. We’re all so close to each other and suddenly it was all over. You can compare it to an artist being on a tour and s with the same people all the time, everyday. And suddenly it’s over. Emptiness.

I: because it had to be very intense, right? You joined the show in 3rd season

. H: yeah, I joined after two seasons. In norway they had a really big announcment on national news. S2 with Noora and william was huge not only in norway., it was a big deal back then and everyone wanted to be a part of it. I was working in two jobs, I didnt have much time but I have to say that acting was my passion but I lost my secuirity..my self drive..And I was going into big...I wasn’t doing any acting jobs just working working making my money and then I see this news on TV and was like “oh my god!”. But after two days they closed it. But my mum sent it but nothing happened. And then I actually got a text on my FB (he’s talking about finding the msg in his “friend request” folder at 7am in the morning on his way to work. But it was a msg from 2 month back and he sent a msg “yes please if you’ve got anything else, please give me a call!” he’s talking about butt dialling the producer the entire morning) I was like “no no no!!! this is the end of my acting carieer”!!

I: And it worked?

H: I dont know. I don’t think it was it. But Susanna (sp? it’s the producers name) was not angry. It could happen to anyone and she invited me on a casting. LAter I found out it was the last casting for Even ever. I was the last one for an audition. And from there t started very quickly, I had to go to my boss to tell her I’m staring shooting in a week. She was ver nice about it She knew it was my passion and a dream so we redid my schedule so I was working at KB, doing SKAMand working at my mum’s restaurant,. For the next 4 months it was a lot of work. But getting into that part, doing Even as a real character.. it was kinda hard to do that in like 3 days to make this sth so real for so many people. I: but you know.. it worked out., For you and for the rest of the crew. How was it to work with Julie ANdem? H: she’s like.. the next Ibsen of Norway.It was so great to meet her, We had a great chemistry and I really wanted to work with her” I: she says that in your case, the decision was made aftter the first try, that YOU should play even. H: it was the same for me. Instant chemistry. Same with me and Tarjei. We had a good connection as well... he became a kind of a little brother to me. Because I see so much of me in him . As actors we share this common dream and in that we find so many similarities., So.. it was so comfortable working with Tarjei.. he’s such a sweet guy. And funny! I: can you teach me pronounce his name? H: Tar-jei.. Taaaahr-yeaaay!! I: *tries* H: very good!! typical norwegian name!! I: thanks to you, people start learning norwegian. H: yeah it’s so cool when people come up to me and say “I never knew anything about norway but now I’m learning norwegian!!” it’s great to have such an impact not only on the LBGT community but also that people thing norwegian is cool. Now we can go abroad and people now who we are (as in, people recognise Norwegian)

#henrik holm #tarjei #interview #warsaw con #skam #skam interview #comic con #even x isak

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seoulfulcity · 6 years ago

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July 13, 2018: Taekwondo, Nanta, and More Chicken Bus

안녕하세요,

I had two cultural events planned on Friday, taekwondo and the Nanta cooking show, and I was running on only three hours of sleep - I knew I was going to be cranky all day. Friday was a jam-packed day which is the reason why I have a separate blog just for it.

KU ISC holds cultural events scheduled on Fridays with limited spots. We are required to register for the events the week prior to the event on Thursdays. There is a maximum capacity of 200 for taekwondo, so it took a while to fill up the event. The other event at 9:30 AM was the calligraphy class - we were given the option of either taekwondo or calligraphy.

We were not so lucky on the second event, or so we thought. Florence, Joyce, Sophie, Thai, Davy, and I were out last Thursday eating budae jjigae (부대찌개) at Biya at 9 PM, the time for registration. We missed the mark and registered at 9:01 PM and the Korean cooking class filled up very quickly. We settled for the Nanta show for that day at 1 PM.

Friday, July 13, 2018: I woke up 8:30 AM for the 9:30 AM meet up for taekwondo class that day. I got ready and walked up the hill past CJ International to the Tiger Dome by 9:20 AM.

We had to check in and had us memorize our belt number for the commemorative black belt we get at the end of the course. I was assigned to belt number 131 with my full name written in Korean: 크리스토퍼.

We lined up to get our dobok (도복), the taekwondo uniform, and dressed up in the locker room. We were asked to line up and sit down to watch the students with black belt show some tricks by breaking woods in different ways.

We warmed up with a partner by stretching out, doing high fives with each other while jumping and spinning, and running across the gymnasium back and forth; then it was our turn to learn some taekwondo skills. Sabeom-nim (사범임), the Korean word for a taekwondo teacher, taught us three important kicks in the martial arts: front kick (ap chagi/앞 차기), side kick (yeop chagi/옆 차기) and back kick (dwit chagi/뒷 차기). We practiced for an hour before having to line up to do the kicks with the students with black belts.

After the session with the students, we were separated by gender and were assigned partners to practice the kicks with. I was assigned to a Singaporean on the first round before rotating and ended up with someone from Hong Kong to practice alternating kicks with. I ended up with a Korean buddy in the last rotation named John (Yejoon-hyung/예준형) who tried to carry a conversation with me. Yejoon-hyung (예준형) is known in Korea University as a Bowling Master and invited me to go bowling with him one of these days. He also works at an escape room in Hongdae and suggested for me and my friends to go when he's working so we get a "special", whatever that meant.

Yejoon-hyung (예준형) was my partner to break wooden boards with. We had to show sabeomnim (사범님) how we break the board in half and alternate with our partners.

Fun fact: it's actually easier and than I thought - I expected some pain at some point.

We finished at 12:30 noon, just in time for us to meet at ROTC, in front of the Tiger Dome, and take the bus to watch the Nanta cooking show.

While collecting my commemorative black belt, I got a splinter on my right foot, which started bleeding profusely. It took a while to remove the splint since I had nothing to work with but I got it out nonetheless.

I left Tiger Dome, walked down the hill past CJ International, and hiked up the hill to Frontier House to leave my belt and folder in my dorm before going back to Tiger Dome and board the bus.

Most of the buses were packed, so I boarded the empty fourth bus and contacted my friends who were going to go in the same bus with me. Matt, Davy, Florence, Minki-hyung (민기형), Joyce, Wendelyn, Balzhan, Deedee, Bonnie, and I ended up taking over the back of the bus.

We reached Hongdae for the Nanta cooking show within thirty minutes. Frankly, I did not know anything about Nanta besides it being a show about cooking, so I was not really very excited about it besides the fact that I was together with my friends.

We sat on the back of the auditorium where the stage welcomes us students from KU ISC before starting the show.

The premise of the show was about three great cooks getting assigned to prepare a meal for a wedding that was happening in an hour. The manager had a nephew who was visiting him and asked if he could help, although he was very messy and clumsy. With the tight schedule and an inexperienced surprise cook, the show was one hell of a comedy show.

During the middle of the show, the performers went around the audience to look for a bride and groom. The female performer heard us yell at her to choose Minki-hyung (민기형) to be the groom, which she obliged even against his wishes. The performers dressed him and his bride up in traditional Korean wedding outfits and had them eat soup.

Minki-hyung (민기형) looked so uncomfortable, awkward, and confused on stage which added to the comedy since the crowd bursts out in laughter whenever he would react in a confused manner.

After the show, we met up Lina and Jonathan to congratulate Minki-hyung (민기형) for his wedding and walked around Hongdae to eat lunch.

We settled for Meat-ing Meat Buffet and Salad and stuffed ourselves with meat, side dishes (banchan/반찬) and took soju shots. There was about 13 of us, so we were separated into three tables: I was seated with Minki-hyung (민기형), Lina, Jonathan, and Matt.

Towards the end of the meal, the five of us were at seven soju bottles and we were getting rowdy from the drinking games. The workers had to come to us multiple times to tell us to be quiet and slow down on the drinking since there were families around.

Sophie joined our table from the dorms just as we were leaving. We walked around Hongdae and watched people busking to BLACKPINK's “DDU-DU DDU-DU (뚜두뚜두)”, EXO's “Growl (으르렁)” and BTS's “Fire (불타오르네)”. Most of the people in the group wanted to go to Yeouido Park (여의도공원) to meet up with Valentino and Cara and take pictures with the I SEOUL YOU sign after; but I was running on a few hours of sleep so I wanted to go back to my dorm and take a power nap.

I arrived at my dorm around 5 PM and did not wake up until 11:45 PM to 200 notifications on Kakao Talk group chat asking everybody to go drinking at Chicken Bus.

I leapt out of bed, showered, and sped walked to the location to about 14-15 people drinking and eating chicken.

I joined in to play Titanic with Cara, Erin, Wendelyn, and Florence and purposely sank the soju shot just to chug the entire mug of beer to start the night. I walked and sat on the opposite end of the table with Leonard, Thai, Minki-hyung (민기형), Sophie, Lina, Joyce, and Jonathan to play Never Have I Ever, Piccolo, and Heads Up for the rest of the night. It wasn't until later in the night when we realized Valentino and Bonnie never woke up from their naps and missed the night out with everybody

It was Minki-hyung (민기형) last night with us for a week since he was flying to Hong Kong in the morning for vacation, so he left the gathering early and we said our goodbyes.

Not long after, we walked back to Frontier House, with all the Chinese and Singaporeans singing and yelling Chinese songs. Thai joined in and played Cambodian songs with me and Leonard later since we were feeling left out While on the Frontier stairs, Leonard decided to scale up the stairs, as if he was rock climbing. When he reached the final board, he fell and landed right on Thai. The board fell and narrowingly missed my head. Thai started complaining about his back and we helped him walk up the stairs. Leonard and Davy walked Thai up to Global House while the rest of us stayed in front of Frontier House to talk and get rowdy - loud enough that we woke Bonnie up, who was sleeping on the upper floor.

We decided to go down the slope to the CU convenience store and get rowdy over there, away from the dorms and the sleeping students. Erin, Matt, Florence, Wendelyn, Jonathan, Lina, and Bonnie sat in front of the CU convenience store to talk about Asian squats, Miss A, NCT, and whatever drunk conversations were happening. Matt was actually reunited with his high school friend, who happened to be studying in Korea University during he summer also, and she told us stories about how Matt would struggle in Chinese class and he would look over at her for answers whenever their teacher would ask him questions.

We went back to our dorms late 3 AM for me to find a blue shower mat in my shower. I thought my roommate went out of his way and unnecessarily bought a shower mat, but we later found out everybody had one.

It was an eventful day, I must say. I will really miss everybody once I get back to Los Angeles.

I am currently writing this on the Saturday of our fourth week and we have two weeks left in the program. The four-week students had their graduation on Thursday and it makes me much more scared whenever I think about how close I am to never being with the same friend circle ever again. I suppose this will make me appreciate every single time I spend with them from now on. Until then!

고마워요, Chris 「크리스」

#abroad #international summer campus #isc #ku #study #summer #korea university #seoul #korea

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unavenged-robin · 7 years ago

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Family portraits

Batfamweek 2017, day #1: family.

Read on AO3

It starts with a casual comment, one that shouldn’t bother him so much. And it doesn’t. Not right away.

“You don’t have any photo on your desk”, the new girl says. She started working at WE two weeks ago and Tim thinks her name is Kathy, or July, or something like that. He’ll pick it up eventually. Now he just blinks up at her from behind the pile of reports he’s working on.

“Sorry?”

She bits her bottom lip, now looking embarrassed at her own straightforwardness, and vaguely gestures at his desk again.

“No photos”, she repeats. “People usually have photos on their desk. Family. Girlfriends or boyfriends. You know?”

Family, girlfriends, boyfriends. Yes, Tim knows.

“Well”, he smiles politely. “I’m just trying not to look like I’m fifty and live only for my work, to the point to spend all my time in my office and need photographic reminders of what my family looks like.”

Kathy or July or something like that frowns at him.

“Beside, my family is really ugly”, Tim continues, going for less subtle sarcasm, but the joke doesn’t really comes out his mouth as a joke, and KathyJulySomethingLikeThat looks more confused than before.

“Mister Wayne Senior is not ugly”, she argues.

Tim doesn’t know if he wants to laugh or scoff at that.

“No, Bruce is not ugly, I suppose.”

“And he has a lot of framed photos on his desk”, KathyJulySomethingLikeThat points out.

“That he does”, Tim agrees weakly and there must be something in his voice, an undertone of, what?, bitter irony or hidden resentment, something Tim’s too tired to keep in check and away from other to see, and the result is that they look uncomfortably at each other for a moment and then the girl blushes.

“My apologies, Mister Wayne”, she says. “I didn’t mean to-”

“Tim. And don’t- it’s okay, really”, Tim sighs. “You do have a point, Kathy.”

“My name’s Ju-”

“July, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Jude”, the girls finishes.

“Right. Jude. Uh”, Tim feels like he’s blushing too, now. “Great talk, Jude. I hope you like working here.”

“I’d say so”, Jude agrees, settling a box full of documents against her hip to open the door of Tim’s office. “I’ve been working here for two years now.”

Tim doesn’t know how to answer to that so he just buries his face behind a ledger and wishes to never meet her again.

He forgets about the awkward conversation for a couple of days, until he comes back to his office and cleans out the last pile of documents waiting for his signature.

That’s when he finds out that they now bothers him, the empty corners of his desk.

He stares at it in its entirety: files folder and memo holders, laptop and mouse pad perfectly aligned, dozens of different pens stashed in their pen pots depending on their color, the gold plate with his name engraved in it in elegant cursive and… well, nothing else without the skyscrapers of pending work.

Tim’s never had a desk so organized before in his entire life. He supposes that it marries well with his professional image, and yet it still bothers him to no end.

Also, he used to love photography. Having pictures all around like little windows on the past, familiar faces keeping him company during long nights and exhausting days. When did he lost that? When did he start to have empty corners and empty walls?

Probably when you started losing people to fill them with, he answers to himself, then shakes his head.

He asks for all the review files of their new acquisitions to be brought into his office. It’s basically half of the current year archive, enough stuff to keep an entire department busy for a month. He dismisses his secretary’s frown at the dozens of boxes now decorating his office with a tired smile.

The next week he’s already breaking even with the work, so he brings a photo of Stephanie for a test drive.

She’s not doing anything particular in it, just fixing her hair with one hand, barely smiling, looking like she’s a million light years away, but it’s still one of Tim’s favorite. And it’s nice to have it there. Really nice.

He keeps it.

He tries adding a photo of his parents on their wedding day. Has to take it off right away and hide it in the bottom drawer. It still hurts too much.

With Kon he doesn’t even bother to try. He has dozens of photos of him and he never even looks at them, only smiles at their memory. No way he could bear to have that painful reminder framed and displayed on his desk like that.

Beside, most of them are not appropriate to be shown in a professional environment anyway.

Stephanie sends him a photo of her and Cass wearing ridiculous crazy hats and laughing like mad women, and Tim smiles, prints it and adds it to his desk without thinking too much about it.

Now he has two photos of his girlfriend and one of his sister, and it feels right. Normal-right. Enough not to make him look like a sociopath to his coworkers, at least.

A few days later he tries again with a second set of parents. He says to himself that it’s out of obligation and not much else. Bruce and Alfred stare at him with a serious but not unkind look, and a younger version of himself smiles at Tim from his spot in the middle of them. It’s what it used to look like, long, long time ago, when Dick was often too busy for them and Jason and Damian were both still hidden threats.

He brushes the glass with his fingertips, ready to put that one away too, but in the end he doesn’t. This hurts too, but it’s a different kind of hurt, one he can bear to look at. One that he learned to live with.

He debates with himself about his brothers. They’re visibly missing now, but Tim has mixed feelings about it, to use an euphemism.

Also, he discovers straightaway that he doesn’t have any photo of them. The gallery of his phone is full of memes and snapchat’s photo from his friends, Stephanie and Cass, but not much else. So, even if he’s still dubious about it, he does the only sensible thing he can think about: he hacks Dick’s phone.

And Dick doesn’t fail him, for once. There are so many half-naked selfies of him that Tim could assemble three or four numbers of a new porn magazine out of them. Which sounds like a great revenge plan, if he’d ever need one. Dick better not piss him off too badly.

But looking at the photos, Tim finds himself smiling for a reason that totally has something to do with how much he used to love this man, his first and only brother for so many years. Not that Tim doesn’t love him still, but he just doesn’t remember how it feels like, to look at Dick and feel only amazement and affection, instead of the bittersweet mix of anger and nostalgia he feels now.

Lots of Dick’s selfies include Damian too. Obviously. And the brat always looks annoyed or exasperated in them, but Tim knows better. He can see the little twitches at the corners of Damian’s mouth, the soft arch of his eyebrows like he’s really trying for a scowl but can’t feel it, no matter how hard he tries. It’s... cute. It’s also weird as hell to see, because surely enough Tim’s never had one of those soft expressions ever thrown his way. That’s why, in the end, he decides to add one of those photos to his ever-growing collection: it’s not too bad to remind himself that Damian’s changed too.

Another reason, Tim acknowledges while fixing the last framed picture closer to the Bruce and Alfred’s one, is that it’s difficult for him to think of one without the other. And strangely, that doesn’t hurt as much as it used too.

Adding Jason is now a question of integrity.

Dick’s photos of him are all meant to be blackmail material, so Tim has no use for them. And the photo Tim himself has of Jason date back to a time none of them like to remember, even if for different reasons.

And it’s still stupid, but it’s also a project, now. One that Tim’s liking because he’s doing it for himself, even if it didn’t start that way. So one night after patrol, when they’re hanging out in their civvies in Jason’s apartment, drinking beers and playing video games, Tim just takes his phone out of his pocket and gestures for Jason to get closer.

“What?”, his brother asks, tilting his head to get a look at what Tim’s doing, and when he sees him open the camera app, flip it and hold the phone as far away for them he gives Tim an incredulous look.

“Are you serious now?”, he asks again.

Tim only shrugs.

“It’s what cool kids do nowadays, didn’t you know?”

“Tim, you’re not a cool kid.”

“Neither are you, Jason.”

“Excuse you, you are the one begging to do a selfie with me”, Jason taunts him, but his grin is more full of fondness than mockery.

“I’m not begging”, Tim retorts. Just shut up and try not to look too emo.”

He pays the photo with a cuff on the back of his head and twenty more minutes of teasing. Overall is not too high of a price.

“You’re running out of space here”, a known voice says, and Tim looks up in time to spot the smile on the new girl’s face. Jude, he remembers to himself. And she’s not new.

“My family takes up a lot of space”, he agrees, shifting his gaze from her to the collection of framed photos in front of him. There are at least ten now, standing on his desk. Barbara, Duke, Harper, Titus… they are all there now. Turns out that once you start, it’s difficult to stop. The walls are getting crowded too.

Most of the new photos Tim took by himself, and nobody protested his renewed interest in photography. Well, he had to pay Damian in photos of his pets in order to make him not smash his camera, but even that wasn’t so bad in the end (and Damian’s pet are better behaved than Damian himself anyway, so win-win).

“Can I?”, Jude asks and Tim nods at her with half a smile. The girl steps around the desk to get a better look, and she’s silent for a few minutes, examining the pictures one by one.

“I have to say that they’re not ugly at all”, she comments eventually. “You actually look like a family of super models.”

“That’s what we do at night”, Tim agrees solemnly, finding it very difficult to suppress a laugh. “Just don’t go tell it to anyone, okay?”

#batfamweek #tim drake #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #jason todd #richard grayson #damian wayne #alfred pennyworth #bruce wayne #batfam #my fic #shari writes

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soepicsokim · 7 years ago

Text

Chapter 20

July:

The moonlight is hitting my face as I hover above the clouds.Taking a deep breath I close my eyes and start to listen to the world below. Car horns, a child crying, fireworks popping, heavy breathing, and feet pounding on the pavement. I continue to listen until I find his heartbeat. I know that heartbeat over everyone else's. I normally fall asleep to that heartbeat. A smile plays across my face as I listen to the steady heartbeat of my marshmallow.

I honestly don’t know what it is about hovering above the Earth. Being suspended in the higher parts of Earth’s atmosphere, it’s so calm and peaceful. So I just float there listening to Dick’s heartbeat as he patrols the city below. Every now and then I hear his remarks, “Yeah because a brick wall is so much easier to punch than a face.” “Why? Why do they always run?” “Nailed the backflip. As usual.”

I giggle as I listen to him. But that ends quickly as his thoughts and heart starts to race. The hell? There is an assassin at the apartment. O GOD LYDS! BABE? Are you okay? I’m following this assassin.

My eyes shoot open and I use my x-ray vision to look below me at the apartment, only to see Dick and an assassin running away. I follow them for two blocks, until Dick corners the assassin in an alley. I hover above the clouds and listen to him question the assassin.

“Why the hell are you here?”

The assassin narrows her brow and looks at Dick in his Nightwing outfit. “I'm here for Cat.” I hold my breath.

“But why? What does Ra’s want with her?” Dick took a step towards the assassin. His hands were balled into fists and I could tell he was fighting every urge he had about pounding the assassin into the ground. I sigh and turn invisible as I descend causing a small hole in the clouds.

The moon shines through the hole onto the assassin and her eyes fill with fear and she mumbles something under her breath. Dick clenches his jaw and narrows his eyes, “WHAT?”

She looks at him, “Death from above.” She looks around, darting her eyes all over the place. I grin as I hover beside Dick. “Why are you not scared? This is how she plays with the people she targets. I saw her do this once in Spain. The guy she was after was the target. She cornered him into a alley and killed him from above. Just like this.”

My grin turns into a frown, “That’s not exactly how I remember that mission. Matt was with me and he killed the target.” I become visible and take a step towards her, “Besides, I only killed two targets the entire time I was in the League.” I take another step and pull out her katana. I look it over and smirk, “Thank you.” With that I walk away and the assassin falls to her knees.

Dick looks from me to her then back to me. He shakes his head and follows me as I walk away. Babe? What just happened?

I turn around and face him, “I don't want to talk about it. But Ra’s didn't send her.” I sigh and fly up to the rooftops continuing the next three blocks back to the apartment.

I beat Dick back to the apartment and I hoover high above the building. I take a deep breath and just listen again. Dick tries to talk to me but I ignore him and float in the peace of space.

****************

It’s 8am, the following morning, when my phone starts to ring. I groan and answer, “Hello?” ”No Stacy I didn't forget.” “Stacy it's 8am. I don't come in until 9:30.” I sit up instantly, “Who?” I wave my hand like Stacy is in front of me, “Yes, I know I have a meeting at 10. But who did you say is was with?” “I’ll be there in 30 minutes.”

With that I hang up and get out of the bed I was staying in. I hover to the other side of the apartment and open the door to Dick’s room very carefully, that way I didn't wake him up. But he isn't there, I sigh and move to the closet and grab a pair of black slacks and a blue v-neck. I quickly get dressed, brush my hair and teeth. Then as I leave I write Dick a sticky note:

Babe, I have a meeting at 10am. See you for lunch around 1.

Love you,

Lyds.

I grab my keys and head for the office.

****************

I walk into the office and walk up to Stacy, “Why are we even talking to LexCorp? Bruce is supposed to be handling everything with them.” I hand her a coffee that I picked up from the coffee shop next down.

“Mister Luther called and said he was sending a representative to talk with you about a research project between Wayne Enterprises and LexCorp.” I nod my head towards my office door and start to walk inside. Stacy quickly gathers a couple of folders and follows me into my office.

Why Lex? What does he want? Please don't let him be the one coming to this meeting. I sit down at my desk and look at the folders Stacy hands to me. I talk as I look over the files,“You can't be serious? Lex wants to partner with us to research the different types of Kryptonite?” I shiver and try to hide the panic in my voice. Stacy sits down in one of the chairs across from me.

“Those are the files I was able to look up from Wayne Enterprises in Gotham.” Stacy tells me and I nod my head.

I CAN'T DO THIS! I CAN'T BELIEVE HIM! WHAT? Why? Why does Lex want us to help him research the different types of Kryptonite? I don't even- Ugh. I take a deep breath, hoping to hear Dicks response to my thoughts but I don't hear them. So, I frown and look at Stacy.

“I'll listen to the representative but the answer is no. Just like Bruce and Mister Fox has told Luther in the past. No.” I look at Stacy and she nods.

“Yes, Miss Kent.” Stacy stands to walk away but she doesn't move.

My eyebrow shoots up, “Everything is fine Stacy. Dick and I had a small fight last night.”

She looks shocked that I answered her question without her even asking. “Oh, ok. Um, is he still coming to take you to lunch at 1?”

I sigh and give her a fake smile, “I believe so.”

Stacy walks out of the room and sits at her desk. I lean back in my seat and let out a very deep and very sad sigh. “It was our first misunderstanding. I didn't even get to tell him bye this morning.” I let out another sigh and look over the files getting ready for this meeting.

**********************

Dick watched me enter the room that morning. He watched as I looked around then got ready. He wanted to go up to me and pull me into a hug but, he didn't do it. His eyes followed me from the corner of the room. He saw me fix my hair and brush my teeth. He smiled at the thought I was wearing his colors. But he stayed in the dark corner of the room.

He heard me leave but he waited a while to get up and move around the apartment. He walks into the kitchen and grabs a bowl of lucky charms and sits on the couch. “Death from above. Then she did something to the assassins mind.” Spoon after spoon of cereal, he empties the bowl and washes it out. That's when he sees my sticky note.

“I love you to, Princess.” He smiles at the note, but that’s when my first set of thoughts hit him. Why Lex? What does he want? Please don't let him be the one coming to this meeting. His eyes widen, “Oh, Lyds. I hope so also.” He goes to his closet and puts on a pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt that had the same shield and the Bat symbol on it. “I’m on my way, Cat.”

Dick leaves the apartment and gets on his bike to ride through the city to your office. He dodges traffic by bobbing in and out. Couple of cars would honk at him but he needed to make sure I’m ok. He calls Bruce as he makes his way to me.

“I thought you said you would handle all of Luthor’s meetings with Wayne Enterprises?”

“I am. Why?” Bruce’s voice was stern.

“Because Lydia has a meeting with Lex this morning. I'm on my way over there now.” Dick was worried about me.

“I’ll look into it for you Dick.”

“I'm not losing her again, Bruce.” Dick slows down as he sees the office building up ahead.

With that Dick’s hangs up and parks his bike outside of the office building. Dick looks at his watch, “I still have time. So, I'll surprise her with a raspberry tea.” He looks up to the fourth floor and smiles as he walks into the coffee shop to get me a tea and him a coffee. He orders and stands off to the side while he waits he looks at the newspaper articles, tabloid covers, cell phone pictures of us. It makes him smile. But one photo and a sentence catches his attention.

He walks up to the photo by the front door and looks at it. It’s from last night, I’m hovering above his apartment building. My hair was fluttering behind me and I looked like you had been crying. The piece of paper below the picture says, ‘Like father like daughter.”

Dick is lost in thought with this picture. Why was I crying and why was I above the building? He looks closer at the picture, where his apartment window is and he sees himself in his sweatpants gazing out the window. Why did they caption it the way they did? “Grayson. One tea and one coffee. Order for Grayson.” Dick whipped his head around at his last name. Walking up to the barista, he offered her a ‘thank you’ grabbing the drinks. He turned and started the walk to my office next door.

*********************

My phone rang so you picked it up, “This is Lydia.”

Stacy responded, “Um, Miss Kent. Your 10 o’clock is here.”

I check my clock and shake my head, “Stacy, It’s just now 9:30.”

“I know ma’am but Mr. Luthor’s representative is here.”

“Stacy just give me a moment ok. I’ll call you when I’m ready.” I hang up the phone. Rubbing my face I let out a sigh and turn my attention to the door. X-ray vision don’t fail me now. I see through the door and I can see Stacy typing on her computer. I move my gaze across the room and see. My breath hitches. Mercy? Why did Lex send Mercy? Why is she here? I can do this. I can be professional. I can stand here and be civil with this woman who helped ruin my life.

I nod my head. Yeah, I got this. I pick up the phone and dial Stacy’s number, “I’m ready when they are.” With that I hang up the phone and watch as Stacy motions to the door. Mercy walks to the wooden doors ready to enter the room and talk to me about whatever Lex truly sent her for.

***************

Dick walks into the elevator and that’s when he hears me screaming in his head. I CAN'T DO THIS! I CAN'T BELIEVE HIM! WHAT? Why? Why does Lex want us to help him research the different types of Kryptonite? I don't even- Ugh. His eyes widen and he was about to turn and run out of the elevator but the doors had already closed, so he has to finish this ride. “I swear. If Lex is using this research to hurt her.” He closes his eyes and breathes deeply, “I won’t let this happen again. I won’t let him hurt you again princess.”

Dick is holding the drinks and tapping his foot when the elevator doors open and he sees Jason arguing with the woman at the front desk. “Listen, I know Lydia. Something is wrong. Where is she?”

“Jay, what are you doing here?” Dick gives him a concerned look. Jason turns around to see Dick standing there. He narrows his eyes and pulls dick around the corner.

Jason gives a huff, “Where is she? What happened? Why is she stressed and worried?”

Dick doesn't have the time to answer. That's when my thoughts intrude again. Mercy? Why did Lex send Mercy? Why is she here? I can do this. I can be professional. I can stand here and be civil with this woman who helped ruin my life. Dick points his finger at Jason, “We’ll talk later about how you know what's going on with her. Follow me.” Dick walks back in front if the elevators and rounds the corner to see my office door close. Stacy looks up to see him and she offers Dick a smile.

“She is in a meeting, Mister Grayson.” Stacy says turning back to typing on her computer.

“You can call me Dick. Do you happen to know who the meeting is with?” Of course he already knew, but he needed the confirmation.

Stacy eyed Jason standing a step behind Dick. “She is in a meeting with a representative of LexCorp. But I’ll send her a message saying you and,” she pauses, “your friend are here. Also that you brought her a tea.” Stacy starts to type out the message and as she hits send she smiles. “You know, the two of you are really cute together. Whatever the fight was about I hope the two of you can work it out.” With that she goes back to the work on her computer.

Dick sits in the seats across from Stacy, he leans to the side and puts my drink on the table next to him. He takes a sip of his coffee when Jason starts in with a low voice, ”It was back in the League. In fact she is the one who put me in the pit.”

Dick holds up a hand and looks at his brother, “I want to know. Trust me I do, but I don’t want this conversation while she is in there with Mercy.” Jason’s eyes narrow as his attention turns to the door I was behind.

*********************

Mercy opens the door and walks in, “Miss Kent it is nice to meet you.” She reaches out her hand for me to shake. I meet her hand with mine and give her a fake smile. After I retract my hand she looks around the office.

“The office isn’t bugged, she witch.” I glare at her as I take my seat behind my desk. I can feel her gaze on me and I look at the message that popped up on my desktop. It make me happy to know Dick was outside the door and all I had to do was scream and he would come save me.

“Well experiment I'm not here to talk about the Kryptonite. Like your files say I am.”

A/N: Mercy, Mercy She witch! What could she and Lex want? What did Lydia do to the assassin? Or did she do anything at all? Why is she scared of fireworks? Does Dick really want to know about Lyds and Jay? STAY TUNED

tags: @solis200213, @kathlyan, @memento-amare, @speedypan, @bat-lakota, @pinkwitch21, @queen-of-all-the-fandoms, @femdamian, @just-a-girl-maybe, @teachingpanda, @keepjasontoddsafefromeveryone, @wynterrobin, @gobydana, @chi-townbatgirl, @nightwingdiva, @ellana-ravenwood

#main story #all new #get ready

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