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storybook-with-a-hug · 2 years ago

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Fix-It Miraculously: Analyzing Alya (Season 1 focus)

So, with the next chapter in my story being another of the OC chapters, it gives me a chance to explore the supporting cast more. Though over-all the chapter is going to be Adrien-centric, one of the things I’m doing in it is exploring his relationships with other people besides Marinette. Particularly, this chapter is going to focus rather heavily on the budding friendship between him and Alya on both sides of his mask. To do so, though, I figured I’d take the chance to expand a bit more on my take on Alya and who she is as a character in the start of the series.

So I don’t think anyone would call it a stretch to say Alya is a very passionate person. She’s the sort to throw herself head-long and completely into every new theory she comes up with an exuberance that is quite admirable. She is fiercely loyal and always wants to do the right thing, even if she doesn’t always go about it in the best way.

However, the problems of her character are so intrinsically linked to the best parts of her character that it’s more to say she takes her best qualities too far and hasn’t yet learned how to temper herself to an appropriate reaction. Which is not to say she’s strictly in the wrong or that she’s a bad character/friend/person, just that she’s a young teen (13 in my story, probably 14 in canon, but this is an analysis for my story specifically so I’m making her 13) who still has a lot to learn.

As such, Alya has three glaring problems that over the course of this story she will learn to address. Her primary problem, which isn’t even so much of a “her” thing as it is an age/experience thing, is that she tends to jump to conclusions too quickly and then once she’s latched on she has a lot of problems letting go. This was her big problem with the “Chloe is Ladybug” theory in Lady WiFi, she made a conclusion and then set out to make her proof match her theory and disregarded everything that countered her foregone conclusion instead of letting the facts prove of disprove the hypothesis. If she had taken the time to step back and examine her facts, or listen to the advice of those around her, she never would have gotten herself in that situation. And while getting getting suspended and proven thoroughly wrong was a bit of a nasty wake-up call for her, she hasn’t quite learned her lesson yet.

She jumped to conclusions again in Pharaoh, where she (rightfully) believed Ladybug was a student in her grade in her school and then (wrongfully) changed her mind to believe that Ladybug was an ancient Egyptian demi-goddess that’s thousands of years old. Now, beyond the fact that in the canon episode Alya apparently found the book, researched what schools used it and how many girls were in their school year, went all the way to Marinette’s house, and then all the way to the Louvre and spent all that time looking at the scroll without ever once even bothering to open the front cover of the book and see Marinette’s name written in it, the fact that she so easily believed this lie makes me think it has something to do with the quantum masking that protects their identities. That’s why in my rewrite of the episode I had Chat Noir start to fall for it before Ladybug reminded him of the facts and knocked him out of it. It’s also for this reason that I had Alya mistakenly believe that Chat Noir was the Fairy King of Cats after he started dropping names related to such.

So, while she hasn’t completely learned her lesson yet, the first steps have been taken. She still has a ways to go on this point, this problem won’t start really being fixed until season 3-4 where she starts settling down out of fangirl mode and actually taking her journaling more seriously. By that point, she’ll be 14-15, have been a hero on the front lines of this war herself, and had suffered a few more wake-up calls that each move her a little further in the direction of a mature young woman who is competent at her job.

Next real problem, which is also in great part due to her age, is Alya’s inability to get out of her own head. I don’t mean that in a mean way, but children are horrible at seeing the big picture and truly empathizing with those around them. They lack the experience and they lack the basic brain development that lets them get out of their own head and really understand other people and the consequences to their actions. Alya’s still very much in that place where she goes “well, I can do it with no problem, so you should be able to as well!” Especially where Marinette is concerned. She can talk to Adrien easily, so Marinette should also be fine doing so. She comes from a large supportive and loving family who like any family that has many siblings is full of teasing and banter and she’s fine with it, so Marinette should have no problem with her making fun of her either. She doesn’t know of any commitments to Marinette’s time, so therefore Marinette can’t possibly be busy and if she says she is it’s only with sleeping.

The problem is that, in my story especially, Marinette’s past is that of a bullied child. And just like how Alya can’t get out of her own head to realize her and Marinette’s situations are different, children have a hard time getting out of their own heads to realize the long-term damage they’re doing to their target by bullying them. And as such, otherwise nice children can be downright cruel and torturous towards their target when swept up in the mob mentality and given basically a green light to do whatever they want to someone. Marinette is a very strong girl to be able to pull through something like that with an intact sense of right and wrong and a disposition of STILL wanting to help people. It’s why she was chosen as Ladybug, a hero to save the whole world from a megalomaniac. But it also means she’s not equipped to take friendly teasing. She is desperate to keep that one friend that she’s gotten after being alone for so long, so she’s not going to stand up for herself and tell Alya off for saying hurtful things, but for a self-esteem as fragile as Marinette’s is at the start of the series that doesn’t mean those sorts of things aren’t still counterproductive.

Now, don’t get me wrong: in no way is Alya trying to be mean to Marinette or reaffirm the kinds of harsh words her bullies used. But Alya doesn’t strike me as someone who’s been the target of long-term bullying before, given how confident and brazen she is. She doesn’t have a frame of reference for understanding the sorts of things Marinette faced while she was growing up or how her words cold be misconstrued. To Alya, she’s just being playful and treating Marinette as part of her family. To Alya, Marinette is as good as another sister, with all the love and bickering that goes along with it. But Marinette is an only child and didn’t grow up with sibling banter, so being treated like that doesn’t hold the same emotions for her that it does for Alya. Not yet at least.

This is further proven by the fact that in season 1, Marinette doesn’t ever really sass Alya back. She complains about Alya a few times behind her back to various individuals, but she’s not yet comfortable enough with the friendship to be snarky or put Alya in her place when Alya throws out a few lines like that making fun of Marinette over something. At this point in their relationship, Marinette is just taking it like a victim, and Alya doesn’t have the knowhow to be able to recognize this behaviour and alter her own.

And this sort of leads into her third main flaw: disregarding others personal boundaries. Alya is almost notorious for not listening when people tell her “no” and pushing on anyway because she wants something. Be that to quell her insatiable curiosity about something or seeing her best friend achieve her happily ever after with the boy of her dreams. When Alya wants something, she is relentless and nothing anyone else has to say or think on the matter means anything to her.

Ladybug’s life could be in danger because her identity was publicly revealed? Don’t care, I wanna know the answer to the secret so let’s all get excited together about figuring it out! Marinette’s on the verge of a panic attack, freaking out and spiralling because she’s not ready to take that next step in her relationship with Adrien yet? Don’t care, I wanna see my ship sail because it’s fun to get swept up in the drama of it all just like a real-life romcom so I’m gonna force it anyway! An akuma’s attacking and going near it could endanger her life and make Ladybug and Chat Noir’s job all the harder because they’re having to protect the kid that keeps running on to the battle field? Don’t care, I wanna live my dream and enjoy the excitement of seeing real lives superheroes fighting a real life supervillain and get loads of views on my blog while doing so! Marinette is being extremely insistent about a prior engagement that she’s trying very hard to keep secret? Don’t care, I wanna see my ship sail and any prior engagement is either a flat out lie or I demand to know all the deets because my best friend isn’t allowed to have anything in her life that is personal and private and I’m not intimately part of!

Admittedly, most of these sorts of problems stem from an honest desire in Alya to help out and make a difference in the world, mixed with her black-and-white morality and inability to get out of her own head, as well as her boundless thirst for knowledge about everything and anything that interests her. And while all of it (save perhaps the morality bit, but again, she’s still a child and kids tend to have trouble seeing the shades of gray between) it can be problematic at the levels she takes it to.

Do people occasionally need a push to get them to take the actions they really and truly desire to make their lives better? Sometimes, yes. But those pushes have to be situational and you have to be willing to listen to the person you’re giving a push to in order to understand if they really need a push or if they just need time. When Marinette was having troubles getting up the guts to actually hand Adrien his birthday present? Yeah, giving Marinette a bit of a push to get her actually out there and talking to the boy was the right call. Perhaps going out with her and helping lead the conversation might have made it easier on Marinette and actually guaranteed he got the gift, but she believed Marinette could do it on her own. Encouraging Marinette to stand up to Chloe in the Origins episode? Definitely okay, as Marinette more just needed to be assured that she wouldn’t be abandoned completely for putting her foot down than actually be pushed to stand up for herself as Alya more let Marinette take the lead and just followed her cues and gave her unwavering support in taking her chair back. Pressing the call button on Marinette’s phone when the girl is insisting she’s not ready to ask Adrien out yet and can’t read aloud the script she wrote her without even giving her the chance to read it over and prepare at all? Not cool. Dragging Marinette away from an actual job she’s supposed to be doing (babysitting Manon) in order to go out and stalk Adrien at his place of work? Again, not cool.

But for Alya to start learning her lesson about how much is okay to push and when, people really have to start putting their foot down and refusing to budge and pointing out Alya’s bad behaviour for what it is. And unfortunately, Marinette really isn’t the sort of person who is able to do that short of being pushed too far and blowing up with her lashing out. Alya’s gonna need someone else to teach her what is and is not okay as far as pushing other people to get her way, and someone other than Alya is going to have to be the one to be there for Marinette to let her know it’s alright to tell Alya to back off sometimes when she’s getting too pushy about things. Thankfully there’s an entire girlsquad to choose from, but friendships between the squad have to develop a bit more before something like that can start really taking affect.

So, basically in conclusion, while Alya may be a wonderful person on her own and even a pretty good friend, I don’t really think she’s the best friend a girl like Marinette needs. At least, not so early in their respective character arcs. With a bit of growth on both ends, they could develop into something closer to what each of them requires. Or they could diverge into a state of merely being friends instead of best friends as they each find other things to fill their time and other relationships to complete themselves with.

So then what other things are there for Alya? Well, most blatantly for anyone who’s seen canon is her relationship with Nino. I don’t know about most of you, but I recall when my friends first started dating, that first relationship they had seemed to consume like 90% of their mental capacity. Their dates, what it was like to kiss, how fast should they be moving, that one funny thing he said last week that they just have to share, etc. Dating Nino would be a very easy and convenient way to distract Alya away from Marinette and give the other girl a chance to grow and develop.

Another, rather obvious option, is to expand her social circle to include their other friends. The girlsquad already exists. It is there and waiting for the opportunity to interact. Mixing Alya with the others so that Alya can learn boundaries and such with characters that have more self-esteem like Alix or Rose who aren’t afraid to speak their minds and feelings to Alya over how she’s behaving towards them would be a good way to start her on the process of personal growth without leaving everything on Marinette’s shoulders to initiate. It would also let Marinette see that just because you’re friends you can still speak up for yourself without ruining everything, and that real friends won’t hold it against you or abandon you for doing so. It would let her see and know that such things are okay and she could then follow their examples to start building up some boundaries of her own that are then respected.

Alternately, there’s also fulfilling parts of Alya’s desires in order to keep her distracted somewhat form other parts which is sort of what I start doing in this upcoming chapter using AdriChat. While Adrien Agreste (TM) had to grow up dealing with everything that was involved in being Adrien Agreste (TM) (*cough*Gabriel*cough*), he also grew up with having Chloe as his one and only friend. He’s shown as Chat Noir that he knows how to throw down in a verbal spar, and being poster boy for the Gabriel Brand I’d be very surprised if he was also not coached on how to talk to reporters and give an endless non-answers to any number of inane questions. So as Chat Noir, having successfully pulled the wool over Alya’s eyes and making her believe he was King of the Cat Fairies, he approaches her again for assistance in his investigations into the identity of Papillon. Now Alya, being Alya, as soon as she decided that Chat Noir was a character from Celtic Mythology, of course then went and looked up everything there was to know about dealing with fairies. Including rules of conduct and warnings about behaviour.

So when Chat Noir hands her all his combined data that he’s collected so far, requesting her to help him compile it all and to store it safely, but on the condition that she not tell anyone, she is both excited enough for the opportunity as well as scared enough about not offending him that she doesn’t dare refuse. I mean, gifts from fae are never what they seem and the rules of the contract are to be followed to the letter or else horrible consequences can occur. As much as she wants this, she can’t go blabbing and spreading the information around, it’s also filled with people’s personal experiences at their lowest moments and as much as she’s nosy, she does still seem like she WANTS to be respectful of others and be a good person. So now she’s his junior detective/sidekick and ripe for a friendship to blossom between the two. After all, they have so much in common, it’s shocking they’re not shown more in the show as being friends. They’re both huge geeks about superheroes, both huge Ladybug fans, both brand new students at the school, etc.

#my fic #miraculous lb #miraculous fanworks #ml analysis #alya cesaire #long post #marinette and alya #not character salt #but pointing out character flaws #to discuss how character arcs and development will take place #ml season 1 #with a strong focus on my rewrite specifically #feel free to share your opinion #but keep the other hashtags in mind #especially the one about it being regarding MY fic and season 1 #critiquing the character is fine #but i'm not interested in your salty take on anyone #arguing my points is also fine if you keep it polite #tldr she's not a bad character or person or even friend she's just young and has some growing to do still

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galpalaven · 2 years ago

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OKAY WELL UHHH LMAO

#new oc throws things at me very easily apparently #we are apparently of the opinion that one night stands arent the WORST idea in the world fjkdls #kiana plays wayfarer

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yslkook · 4 years ago

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good years (1)

mind of mine masterlist

summary: you arrive at hobi’s birthday party, along with some of your other friends. pairing: “badboy” jk x “shy/reserved” oc warnings: alcohol, cursing, excessive use of pet names...bc its me

Being late to events, especially events in honor of your friends, was your least favorite thing. Punctuality was one of your top three favorite things about yourself, and yet here you were- nearly sprinting through the streets in heels because you were an idiot and had gotten the name of the bar wrong.

Instead of the Silver Spoon, you’d ended up at the Silver Tongue. That’s what happens when you don’t check your text messages for confirmation and operate on autopilot. So now, you were about an hour and a half late (as if the absence of the birthday boy and his merry band of friends at the Silver Spoon didn’t tell you enough).

Oh well.

By the time you arrive about twelve blocks away to the Silver Spoon, you quickly make sure that not a hair is out of place before walking into the bar to try to blend in, as if you’d been there the whole time.

“Hobi!” You chirp, finding your friend in the middle of all of the chaos, “Happy birthday, Hobi-”

Hobi turns to greet you, a big (drunk) smile plastered across his face. “You’re late! Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

“Well, I-uh, this is gonna sound dumb, but-”

You’re interrupted by a few of the guys walking into the bar, causing a ruckus and nearly screeching Hobi’s name. At least you’re not the only one who’s late. And you quickly see Sora in your line of sight, entering in behind the guys.

Sora, your best friend of several years since college. She’s been with you since the beginning, taking you under her wing when you were both young and in college. She had brought you out of your shell a bit, inviting you to parties and inviting you to have dinner with her in the dining hall. The slow convenience of college had blossomed into something real, something that could stand the test of time- also known as the test of post-graduate life.

Her friendship was an adventure to say the least.

“Hey,” You beam at her with drinks for both of you in your hands, “Fancy seeing you here-”

“Hey,” She grins, pulling you in for a hug, “Work was so shitty, like, I had to stay late today. Of all days! I can’t wait to have a fuckin’ drink.”

“Yeah, here’s something funny-” But your words are cut off yet again, by the arrival of more friends. It looks like Sora had invited some of her own friends, friends that you weren’t quite sure liked you very much.

But you don’t dwell on that, instead sipping on your drink and settling on people watching. Settings like this unnerve you- being in a place where you’re not quite friendly with everyone in attendance makes you feel self-conscious. It’s easier to just stay in the background, blend into the walls, so as to not upset yourself-

“Hey, you,” Comes a familiar voice to your right. It’s Yoongi, one of your fellow people watcher enthusiasts. He stands next to you, shoulder brushing against yours.

“Hey, you,” You repeat, flashing him a smile and a playful shove to his shoulder, “How have you been? It’s been a while, Yoongi.”

“You’re the one who’s been hiding,” Yoongi teases, “All cooped up at home.”

“So have you! In your studio,” You protest, poking his shoulder.

“I guess I can’t argue there.”

“No, you really can’t,” You say, “So tell me then, what’s new? What’s coming out of the studio these days?”

You enjoy hearing him speak, the way his passion for his craft pouring through his words. He invites you (again) to stop by the studio if you ever want to. You promise to stop by soon, with his favorite snacks. You usually try to stop by his studio at least once a month to catch up with him. He’s also one of your oldest friends, along with Hobi.

“Hey,” Comes another voice to your left this time. It’s a voice you definitely recognize, a voice that makes you tense up immediately.

Jeon Jungkook has always had a way of making you stammer over your words, ever since Yoongi and Hobi had introduced you to him years ago. He’s tall, nearly always dressed in all black, tattoos and piercings coloring his frame, and something sweet and sinful swirls in his dark eyes.

You don’t know if it’s a look that is reserved for you or if he looks at everyone like this, but honestly, your brain short circuits every time he glances your way.

“H-hi,” You mumble, taking a sip of your drink to ease your jumpy nerves. Jungkook only grins at you, his bunny smile a stark contrast to the rest of his aura.

“Been a while, huh?” Jungkook says, voice smooth and sweet like molasses.

“Y-yeah, been busy,” You mutter. You watch in mild panic as Yoongi walks away, being called away by Namjoon and Taehyung.

“Missed you, baby,” Jungkook winks at you. Somehow, he always gravitates to you at these types of events. Not that you’ll particularly complain- his attention makes you feel warm, even if it’s all for jokes and fun.

As Sora repeatedly has told you.

According to her, he’s the worst- a player, a fuckboy (when he was apparently too old to be one, her words not yours) and this is how he treats any pretty girl. So you don’t take it too seriously, only indulging him a bit and keeping him out of your periphery.

But you won’t deny that his recent use of the pet name might make you swoon a little bit.

“Oh, stop,” You wave him off with heat rising in your cheeks. And he knows it, too, from the self-assured smirk he throws you.

“How’s work been? They got you crunching numbers and all that?” Jungkook asks, ordering himself a beer and a drink for you.

“That’s literally my job, but right now, we just got access to a new database so I’m excited to see what kinds of visualizations and insights we can bring forward. We’re moving forward to proactive analysis, but you know, we’re still a ways away from that, we still react to problems so reactively. Like we’re just putting out fires all the time, it’s kinda tiring but I’m excited-” You cut yourself off at your rambling, sheepishly laughing, “Oh, you should’ve stopped me. I know it’s boring.”

“It’s not boring, not if it’s important to you,” Jungkook shrugs, “Besides, I like hearing you talk.”

“Really? You really wanna hear about the latest and greatest happening in the data world?”

“I wanna hear about anything you have to say, baby,” Jungkook says easily. You squeeze your drink in your hand tightly to ground yourself.

This is why he intimidates you- his affections have only increased in the last few months. It’s like he’s playing a game with you, trying to see how long it takes for you to crack. You don’t know how sincere he is when he turns the charm on- is this how he talks to everyone, or is it just you?

You like to think it’s just you (because you at least dare to call him a friend of yours), but he could get anyone he sets his eyes on. Rather than spiralling down that train of thought, you bask in his flirtations, his gentle affections hidden under his very many layers of black.

Before you can reply to ask him about the tattoo parlor and about his newly purchased motorcycle, Sora interrupts you both. You’re oblivious to the deadly glare that Jungkook shoots her, and the glare that she shoots right back at him.

She whisks you away, an arm tight around your shoulders. You turn your head and look back at Jungkook apologetically.

This is how it always is, especially for the last few months. As soon as Sora sees Jungkook and you speaking, she’ll immediately do anything to intervene. It’s fucking annoying and Jungkook is beginning to dislike Sora more and more each time he has the misfortune of coming in contact with her. He doesn’t really care about whatever personal vendetta your best friend has for him.

He’s always thought Sora was a conniving woman, full of manipulation and tricks up her sleeve. Ever since Yoongi and Hobi had introduced you to their friend group (and you had brought Sora along as well). His instincts are hardly ever wrong, but he hates to see you spiral with her.

But he’s powerless to stop you from walking away from him. Yet again.

tags: @kookdbean

#jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook x reader #jungkook fluff #jungkook x you #jeon jungkook x you

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yeojaa · 4 years ago

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so maybe another devil in a new suit drabble 👉👈 maybe jk meeting oc parents or like more interactions w oc and jks parents/sister

[ read devil in a new suit ]

pairing. jjk x f!reader. rating. pg-13. tags. mentions of coconut!kook dancing (and the whole reason i wrote this tbh), cute banter, idk. just a lotta fluff, a lil bit of grinding, y’know. wc. 2.7k. beta reader. none other than @hobi-gif. i love you always! author note. oh look... it’s me... posting something... after sixteen hundred years. womp womp. this truthfully didn’t go the way i planned it to but i hope you enjoy regardless!

It really shouldn’t surprise you. Frankly, it doesn’t.

But it is a little funny.

There are about six girls gathered in a gaggle around your boyfriend, all desperately vying for his attention as he presents a neatly gathered bouquet to his little sister. Jisoo’s all smiles, completely over the moon with pride and riding that high as she rightfully should. (She’d done incredibly well, closed out the showcase with a fluidity you could never even dream of.) She doesn’t even notice her friends staring at her brother with hearts in their eyes, each one red in the face and not from exertion.

(That, or she doesn’t care. Maybe she’s grown used to it - the whole having-a-heartthrob-for-a-brother thing.)

It’s actually quite cute, if only because you know Jungkook doesn’t have eyes for anyone but you. Can feel it in how he keeps bouncing his gaze back towards you, dimple winking from deep within his cheek each time your eyes meet. He’s like a child going back to his favourite toy, momentarily distracted by tittering laughter and his sister’s sunny smile but always coming back to you. The knowledge warms you from the inside out, drags a satisfied smile across your lips.

You wonder whether he notices the attention or if it’s just another part of his life. (You think he must know. These college students don’t really hide it well, too handsy for their own good, years of growing up in semi-close proximity instilling a certain confidence in their motions. That, and because Jungkook is quite possibly the least intimidating person you’ve ever met.)

“Thank you for coming!” It’s Jisoo, flushed and excitable, round eyes as bright as her brother’s as she crosses to you. This had been her moment - her time to shine - but you appreciate the effort she makes to include you, finding you within the crowd. “I was a little nervous but…” A shrug rolls her narrow shoulders, shakes her dark hair from its loose coil.

You’d seen her practice before this - watched the long videos she’d regularly send to Jungkook - but seeing her in real life motion was an entire league of its own. Dancing was her calling, every bit of her made for it. There was just something lyrical about the way she moved, how her hips rolled, limbs seemingly guided by the rhythm of the music. A grace you’ve never had, even on your best day.

“You shouldn’t have been.” You’re beaming right back at her, sisterly reassurance on your tongue. “You were amazing.”

Whether she believes you or not - you think she does by how her cheeks grow ten sizes and her eyes are all but swallowed whole by the expression - she’s gracious, accepting the compliment with her blinding smile. (She really was like Jungkook like that.)

“You guys should come to a class one day.” By that, she means a class she helps teach every once in a while. You’ve heard about it on more than one occasion, seen the choreography posted on Instagram and YouTube.

Still, you don’t expect that, brows shooting high. Laughter filters past your teeth, springing off your tongue. “I am not a dancer and I doubt your brother—”

Now it’s Jisoo’s turn to wear surprise like a neon sign, expression splitting with giggles of her own. “Wait— have you not seen Kook dance?” The way she says it is incredulous, Bambi eyes sparkling with what looks like mischief.

“No?”

“Your sister told me something.”

You’ve never seen this particular brand of worry on his face, eyes even more comically wide than usual, whatever words he’d originally meant to speak dying on his tongue. He looks like a literal deer caught in the headlights, one of his nicknames suddenly very apt.

“What did she say? She likes to embarrass me.” True. Jisoo and Jungkook had a textbook sibling relationship, full of teasing and mockery and copious amounts of love. “Whatever she said, don’t believe—”

“She said you used to dance.”

“Oh.” Oh? You hadn’t expected Jungkook to deflate so easily, relief flooding his features. “Yeah, I did. In university.” He’s utterly unbothered by this knowledge, attention back on the soondubu jjigae he’d been shovelling into his mouth. “I had some friends who were dancers, so it was good exercise.”

“I want to see.”

His answer is immediate, despite the heaping bite of rice and stew in his mouth. “No.”

You whack him across the shoulder, startling him into clattering his spoon on the countertop. It leaves a messy red streak across marble but you’re dragging his attention back to you with a firm glare, fingers cradled under his jaw. “I want to see.”

Talent apparently runs in the family, you realise halfway through the third video. Jungkook moves with the same assured movements his sister does, with power and grace and a confidence that frankly baffles you. He treats the practice room like a stage, running through the motions so fluidly you almost have trouble believing it’s your man on the screen. (Not that he’s particularly ungraceful. It’s just surprising, like watching a dog walk on its hind legs.)

“So, what happened?” You say it so conversationally, innocently, with eyes that mimic his own. From the corner of your periphery, your boyfriend shifts, hand flexing over your knee. There’s the furrow between his brows, the subtle tension in his jaw. Worry.

“What do you mean?”

Your own hand waves toward the screen, where the image of Jungkook from over half a decade ago sits paused. “You were so…” You’re not sure what you mean. There are just so many options to describe the literal baby boy on the television. Young? Confident? Round? (You can’t get over his haircut, though you suppose you can’t hold it against him.)

Jungkook simply stares at you, waiting for you to find whatever words you want to use. Despite the uncertainty that swims somewhere in the depths of his eyes, he’s endlessly patient. Always so soft when it comes to you.

“You had a coconut head.”

Laughter explodes off his tongue, entire face screwing up with amusement. “Are you serious?”

“You did!” Admittedly, the cut had somehow worked on him but it’s so reminiscent of grade school haircuts you can’t help but focus on it, too distracted by the glossy sheen to offer much else. “I guess I get it, though.”

“What do you mean? Everyone had that haircut—”

“In first grade, maybe.” He sticks his tongue out at you then; you scowl in response.

“What do you get?” As always, he’s perceptive, immediately aware of your carefully knit brow, the thoughtfulness that fits itself around your teeth like gleaming white veneers and holds his attention hostage. He’s grown used to it over the months you’ve been together - knows you cling tight to things with an iron grip, turn them over and over until you’ve made sense of it in that brain of yours.

“The crushes.” You look affronted, almost appalled at the realisation. He bursts out laughing, broad palm coming down upon your bare leg in a smack. (He apologises profusely when you complain.)

“What’re you talking about?”

Your nose is wrinkled, velvet strands dislodged by the shake of your head. “All your sister’s friends. They’re in love with you.” Jisoo had even agreed, laughed about it when you’d commented on it at the recital. Something about them having grown up with Jungkook, obsessed with the image they’d retained of him since university. “But you were a coconut. You wore Timberlands and drop-crotch pants. You weren’t even that cute.” An exaggerated shudder slips over your shoulders.

“I was nineteen.” As if that makes it better. Your judgment doesn’t lessen, the lines running the bridge of your nose only deepening.

“Still. Embarrassing.”

Your boyfriend truly is the best sport, rolling his eyes at you in the same instance he reaches for you, tugs you closer with broad palms, affection searing into your skin. “Well, luckily, no more Timbs. No more bowl cut.” He nuzzles into the warmth of your neck, spreads your knees wide over his hips. The sound of his laughter melts into your throat, dresses it in heat deposited by your breath. “Are you jealous again?”

He doesn’t even get a verbal response to that. Just a heavy glare and two hands squishing his cheeks. “Absolutely not.”

It comes up again in bed, your head on his chest, his hands on your hips. He asks it quietly, conversationally, with a twinkle in his eye that makes you want to smother him with one of his many pillows.

“You’re sure you’re not jealous?”

“I’m not,” you grit, paired with a roll of your eyes and a little snort from your nose. You really aren’t. Those girls are inconsequential, irrelevant. They’ll never amount to what you are to him and that’s just a simple fact. He’s yours - something he reminds you of day in and day out, both verbally and in action.

(You love him for it, appreciate it more than you can possibly begin to explain. There’s a certain bliss to be found in the knowledge that you’re loved. A warmth that rivals even that of the sun on the summer’s hottest day.)

“Then why’re you pouting?” What he really means is why aren’t you smiling. You don’t pout often - at least not in the same ways he does.

“I’m not,” you repeat for what feels like the sixth time.

“Smile for me.”

You do the opposite - throwing your eyes in an exaggerated circle. It earns you a pinch to the side, a tender sting blooming beneath ink-strewn fingers.

“Really—“ When he looks this earnest, it’s hard to deny him, “you’re sure everything’s okay?”

At most, you can sigh perhaps overdramatically. Fold your awkward limbs upon his and bury your face into the crook of his neck. You’re not jealous of those girls, no.

You’re envious of his talent - the simple fact that Jeon Jungkook is, by all definitions, a golden boy. God’s favourite, with his heart wrenching smile and easygoing charm and grace that seems almost surreal. There’s not a single thing wrong with him - okay, except for his bad habit of never answering his phone and always messing up the top sheet and the fact that he absolutely never ever puts the cap back on the toothpaste tube - and it’s absurd. Utterly, absolutely unfair.

But you can’t say that.

“Baby,” he hums, threading the sound of his voice among your hair, tucking the soft syllables behind your ears. “Talk to me.”

You relent - a little. “You’re too good.”

“Too good?” The depth of his laughter rumbles your bones, tickling your insides when it vibrates out of his chest. “At what?”

A hand gesticulates wildly. You’re not sure what it looks like, how close it is to hitting Jungkook in the face. You’ve still got your face pressed to the warmth of his skin, greedily siphoning his sunny radiance with your cheek. “Everything.”

Despite how he laughs - cackles, really, so adorable and high pitched it’s breathy - you know he knows what you’re talking about. You’ve given him a hard time about it before.

“I’m not good at everything, ____.”

He’s somehow even good at making you believe you’re wrong. That’s a feat in and of itself.

“Are too.”

“Are not.”

“Whatever!” Whether he acknowledges it or not, he’s stupidly gifted. Everyone and their - even his - mom knows it. “Don’t believe me then. I don’t care.”

“Then why’re you making that face?” It’s almost comical that he’s calling you out for your expressions when he’s the king of funny faces, throwing his features into exaggerated (and adorable) masks. (Maybe he’d just rubbed off on you?)

“I’m not,” you huff, exasperated but not quite. Still soft over his skin, velvet on silk.

“You’re so cute.” Sometimes, you think he really is just a child - too happy with putting you on a pedestal and praying at your altar. Devoting himself to you when you’re nothing but a bag of flesh and bone, dressed in designer fashion and wrapped up with a satin ribbon made from sarcasm and candor. (Not that you mind. Who would argue if they were offered such love?) “I still think something’s wrong but…”

It’s a smart tactic. He doesn’t press you for an answer, opting to let it linger between you. Settle like bothersome lint until you offer it yourself.

When you relent - because you always do, unable to shut out the sunshine that practically pours out of him - you’re quieter. Not shy, but bashful. Uncertain in a way you very rarely are. “I’ve always wanted to dance.” So much so, you’d begged your parents to enroll you when you were younger. Demanded lessons upon lessons - only to fail at all of them. Rhythm simply didn’t exist anywhere in your body.

“Really?”

You’re pulled from your safe haven, shifted until your entire point of view is filled with Jungkook, his starry eyes and his fluffy fluffy hair. There’s that look he sometimes gets - full of wonder and adoration - when he learns something new about you. As if just the smallest tidbit of knowledge opens up a whole new world.

“Yes?” You’re half regretting the admission. He looks like he’s up to something, all the cogs in his head turning in perfect tandem.

“I’ll teach you.”

“Hard pass.”

Like a hot air balloon, he deflates, mouth rounding sweetly. (If you didn’t know better, you’d assume the man was made of cotton candy, semi-sweet chocolate heart where the real organ should be.) “Why not?”

“I do not dance.” It’s nothing but a statement of fact, firm and unyielding.

The pout evolves, swings down into a frown that drags his eyebrows with it. “You could dance.”

“No, baby—“ So you’re a little frustrated, all your childhood memories pricking beneath your skin. “I do not dance.”

“Why?” He’s upright now, tugging you with him as if you weigh nothing. His way of turning the conversation serious, pulling you from the warmth and comfort of the bedsheets to this. (He’s still holding you, hooking his big broad hands over your hips, so you don’t mind.)

“No rhythm.” Unable to keep a beat. Two left feet. The list could go on and on, according to your ballet instructor.

“Not true.”

Your brow quirks, mirrored by his as if in challenge. You almost swat at him - so close your hand twitches on his shoulder. “Very true.”

(Why does this conversation feel so familiar? It’s déjà vu.)

“Is not.” Your boyfriend seems insistent, as if he knows better than you. (He doesn’t.) Stares up at you with those pretty eyes and has the audacity to grin when you roll your own, ready to rebuff him.

Because you’re in bed, the one place where you defer to him whether you like it or not.

(You do like it, though. Love it, in fact. Just like you love him.)

“You’re graceful,” he hums, bridging the gap between you with a forward roll of his shoulders. “You’ve got rhythm.” The hand on your hip grows firm, guides your knees to spread wide on either side of him. With each brush of his lips - tender little brushes, endlessly sweet and reassuring - he pushes and pulls, dragging you across his lap. “You can do anything you want.”

You’ve almost forgotten the topic of conversation, preoccupied by how he guides you in languid circles. How the cotton of his boxer briefs feels against the sensitive inside of your thighs. The weight that grows between your legs and nudges indelicately against the soft fabric of your thong.

All part of his plan, of course.

“Your body’s the most beautiful thing in the world, ____.”

When he looks at you like this, you think he might be right. You’d believe it if he kept saying it, sparking desire through your limbs until they’re jellied and loose.

(How he sees right through you - cuts straight to the core of your insecurity - you’re not sure. It feels almost like a superpower, something unquantifiable, unbelievable. He’s too good for you, always. So kind and loving, pressing his belief in the form of his mouth, the tender edge of his teeth when he kisses you slow slow slow.)

“You’re perfect just the way you are.”

#anon.eml #incoming.eml #jungkook.doc #work.zip #drabble.zip #jungkook au #jungkook drabble #jungkook imagine #jungkook fluff #jungkook x reader #jungkook x oc #jungkook x you #devil.doc

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spencersawkward · 4 years ago

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switchblade faith // spencer reid - chapter 1

summary: one month after joining the BAU, Clea is still settling in. between solving murders and getting acclimated to DC, the only comfortable thing in her life is her friendship with Dr. Spencer Reid.

relationship: fem!OC/Spencer Reid

word count: 3.4k

hi all! welcome to my new story.

I've never written a baby Spence fic before, but I'm gonna try my best. I just wanted to get something out of the way before the book starts:

aside from the fact that it's young Spencer, this book isn't placed in a specific season. I might pull cases from different episodes, but the characters will remain the same. I've included Emily and Rossi as characters because I couldn't bear to have a story without either of them (wouldn't want to subject any of you to a Prentiss-less world).

that's pretty much it. I'm glad you're here. if you wanna read my other stories, my masterlist is here.

happy reading :)

"HA!" I slap my hand down on the pile of cards and slide it towards me, organizing them in a neat pile with a smug expression.

"this game is a sham." Spencer sighs, reaching for his book.

"you're just mad you lost." I raise an eyebrow and shuffle the cards again. "you don't wanna play another round?"

"why would I? the only skill this game requires is fast reflexes." he runs hazel eyes down the page with an alarming quickness. I scoff at his disinterest.

"maybe if you trained those reflexes as much as you trained that big genius brain of yours, you'd get a leg up." Morgan teases from his spot next to me. Spencer glances at him with a frown, his cheeks turning a light pink, before looking to me. I throw up my hands.

"he said it, not me." secretly, I smile at the fact that Derek is backing me up.

"I could beat any of you in poker." Reid defends.

"easily. it helps that I don't even know how to play." I slide the cards back into the holder and cross my arms over my chest with a sigh.

"you don't know how to play poker?" he's shocked.

"I told you, I hate card games like that!" I emphasize. things like poker, blackjack, anything that involves multiple players, I usually don't enjoy much. Emily glances up from her case file with a tiny smirk.

"why?"

"I'm a sore loser." I admit, averting my eyes. there's also the risk factor involved, which includes giving up coins or pretzels or peanuts if I lose. I tend to cling tightly to all three. Prentiss lets out a laugh and Spencer flips the page of his book.

"and winner, apparently."

"you're sassy today, aren't you?" I grin at him, pleasantly surprised.

in the month I've been working here, I haven't spoken to Spencer very much. he's been polite and I've gotten to know his intellect quite well, but he doesn't spend a lot of time with us outside of work. when we go out to get drinks, he either declines or heads home before we can even ask, a bag full of books pressed to his side.

I think he just takes a while to get comfortable around new people-- that's what JJ said when I asked why he seemed to be avoiding me. the fact that he played cards with me today felt like a victory in itself, so I'll take what I can get.

Spencer doesn't reply to my dig, only crosses his long, narrow legs and settles into his book.

"we should start briefing before we land." Hotch and Rossi walk over from their spots at the front of the plane to sit on the couch by our table. I nod eagerly and watch as Emily flips open her laptop to FaceTime Penelope about the case.

the first couple cases were more difficult than I expected because I had never worked in the field before joining the BAU, but I'm starting to get used to flying around constantly and examining actual dead bodies. working sex crimes meant I spent most of my time in front of a computer screen or just staying in the office. this is incredibly different-- which I'm starting to find might not to be a bad thing.

"--the virus killed her hard drive and left that on the screen." Penelope explains, referring to the picture of Heather Woodland's computer.

"'for heaven's sake, catch me before I kill more. I cannot control myself'." Morgan reads the message aloud from the case file. the words feel familiar in my mind and I try to remember where I've heard them before.

"that's exactly what William Heirens left behind." Spencer sparks the memory. I sit up straighter.

"the Lipstick Killer?" my fingertips trace over the case details. it's a weird aspect of the murder to emulate, especially because he didn't even leave the message in lipstick. I guess he's not really concerned with that; based on the unsub's previous victims, we have just under 36 hours to find her.

"his first victim was Melissa Kirsh, 26," Reid scratches his nose as he reads, frowning so hard that I start to think he'll form permanent wrinkles. he's got such a baby face, it's almost funny. "stab wounds, strangulation."

"so he stabbed her first, and then strangled her to finish the job?" Morgan repeats.

"what's with using a belt for the second murder?" Emily flips through the papers, confused. Spencer stiffens in his spot as he realizes this is the perfect time to share his freakishly expansive forensic knowledge.

"strangulation with your bare hands actually isn't as easy as you would believe. he probably tried it, found that it took too long, then stabbed her. and blood takes a long time to clean, so he decided a belt would be more efficient."

"he's perfecting his method." I can't tear my eyes away from the photos, despite the roiling sensation they put in my stomach. even with the things I've already seen, I don't think I'll ever get over photographs like this.

"we'll be landing soon and then we're meeting up with the Seattle field office. be ready to split up once we hit the ground." Hotch snaps shut his case file and stands up, breaking off to go sit alone. Rossi takes note of the old card deck that sits on the table.

"poker?" he looks between the four of us.

"nope." Emily chuckles.

"this one doesn't know how to play." Morgan gestures to me, causing Rossi to turn to me.

"were you raised in a barn?" he asks in his usual manner of speaking: blunt sarcasm with a hint of mockery. I frown sarcastically.

"something like that."

"at some point this week, we'll sit down and I'll teach you." he gets up, pats my shoulder, and walks over to join Hotch. I lower my voice once he's far enough away.

"is he actually gonna make me do that?"

"you don't know Rossi." Morgan shakes his head slowly, slides his headphones back on, and sinks into his seat.

"I'll join and bring JJ with me." Emily winks at me reassuringly, noting the tapping of my nail against the surface of the table. Rossi is a legend in the field and I've read all of his books, but didn't want to freak him out by telling him so. it was embarrassing enough when I met him and got tongue-tied while shaking his hand. he's got an elusive energy that intimidates me, and I'd prefer not to showcase that by humiliating myself with poker.

instead of dwelling on thoughts of how I'm going to fail in front of my idol, I open up one of my books and try to pass the time.

...

while I'm writing some notes on one of the many white boards scattered throughout the field office, I realize that I'm one of four other women in the room, including Emily. she's talking to Hotch and another agent at the opposite end of the room; Reid is unpacking his signature book bag and seems deep in thought. Rossi is reading a document. everyone around me seems to be in a hurry to do something, and I begin to feel dumb.

"you okay?" Morgan asks me. I realize that I've been standing with my marker hovering over the board. my fingertips press into my temple before I turn to him.

"yeah, definitely. just thinking." my mind travels to the map we've got pasted up and the red marker lines that Spencer has already created with the geographical profile.

"looks like we're getting the classic Seattle treatment." Derek points outside to the rain pelting the windows, streaming down the glass and distorting the glow of the city outside. it's gloomy today, with a slight chill running through the streets. I nod and turn back to my task, suddenly realizing something.

"he's willing to travel with the body." I mutter to myself. Morgan steps up next to me, crosses his arms across his chest.

"he must drive a vehicle that can conceal one, then." he glances over to Hotch to see what the unit chief has to say, but Spencer speaks up first.

"one in seven point four drivers in Seattle owns an SUV." it's like a flip switches at the mention of a statistic, diverting his attention from something nebulous in his mind to the tangible case. he's a little similar to a robot.

"an Explorer with tinted windows?" Morgan speaks again as he looks over the case photos.

"those rate higher among women." Spencer again.

"sure, but how do we know it's his car?" I wonder.

"what about a Jeep Cherokee?" Hotch chimes in, almost startling me with the deep register of his voice. I pull my bottom lip between my teeth as I think on it.

"Jeeps are more masculine." Reid comes close to me in order to examine the picture I'm holding. he smells like clean laundry and some nice soap scent that I can't place. maybe it's the gel he uses to slick back his hair. no cologne or aftershave. I don't think he'd need to shave, what with his smooth baby face.

Spencer has some special quirks that make him a little more interesting. he usually avoids physical contact with other people-- doesn't shake hands-- but at other times, he doesn't seem to have self-awareness. like right now, where the shoulder of his red sweater is just barely touching mine. I hand him the picture and step away.

"unsubs love to assert their masculinity."

Hotch nods along, encouraging me to share more of what I'm thinking. after swallowing down a lingering nervousness, I tap the push pin marking where the last body was dumped. "he dropped her out-of-state, so he probably has a previous knowledge of law enforcement. maybe he's got a criminal record?"

"good, Williams." Hotch praises me. my fist clenches triumphantly at my side as he turns to the agent who has been watching us intently. "when do we meet with your task force?"

"four." the man replies. I balk at this, my posture shifting. the shortest time constraint I've ever had here has been a full day. it's already one in the afternoon.

"you want an accurate profile by four today?" I glance between Morgan and Spencer, but the latter is rocking back and forth on his heels with his eyes glued to the white board. Morgan doesn't seem put off by it.

"we can do that." Hotch scowls, snapping shut the case file with a finality that tells me we're about to split up. "Dave and Morgan, head to the last dump site. Williams, Reid, I want you to talk to Heather's brother and try to find out what you can about her life. Prentiss and I will stay here in case of new developments."

I nod curtly, grab my jacket, and glance over at Spencer. he runs his hand over his hair, although I can't imagine what there is to smooth down, then walks over to me.

"you ready to go?" I ask, brandishing the file. he and I have only done two interviews together; I spent most of my beginning weeks working with Emily to get a feel for the job. both times with the boy genius have been fine, if not a little awkward.

he nods in answer to my question. "would you mind driving?"

"no license?" I tease to lighten the mood, but he doesn't get the joke. instead, he frowns at me with something of a distracted expression, adjusts his bag.

"no, I don't like driving in the rain."

"oh," I recover quickly and put a friendly smile on my face. "no problem."

"thanks." he walks ahead of me and I cringe at my own behavior. he acts so differently from earlier on the jet that I start to wonder if I did something wrong. maybe he's just in his head or something; I know I would be if I had an IQ that enormous.

when we get to the house of Heather Woodland's brother, a gorgeous golden lab greets us in the entryway. she puts her paws up on my legs and I reach down to scratch behind her ears with a smile on my face.

"Sandy, calm down." her owner grabs her collar gently to calm her. "sorry."

"no, it's fine, I love dogs." I wave it off and step inside. Spencer is eyeing Sandy warily, but she seems just as eager to say hi to him as she was to me. when she lets out a singular, enthusiastic bark, he startles.

"Mr. Woodland," I suppress my laugh by changing the subject. "I'm Special Agent Williams and this is Special Agent Dr. Reid."

we shake hands, my colleague giving his usual wave and polite smile. the interviewee takes in Spencer's appearance. I know what's coming.

"you look too young for medical school." Woodland says to Reid. this has happened a couple times since I joined the team, but Spencer never seems to mind. if anything, he lights up at the opportunity to share the reason for his official title.

"they're PhD's. three of them." he gives a little smile as we walk into the house, me shaking a few stray raindrops from my hair.

"so... are you a genius or something?" Heather's brother leads us past the hallway into the living room, which is unkempt and littered with pictures, catalogs, and toys. he must have kids in school right now. that would also explain the breed of dog.

"I don't believe that intelligence can be accurately quantified."

"he's being modest," I glance over at Spencer. "Dr. Reid can read 20,000 words a minute-- he's definitely a genius."

Woodland stares at Spencer for a second as he tries to fathom the speed at which someone's mind would have to turn in order to process all that information. I still can't imagine it. Spencer's eyes avoid Woodland's shyly. instead, he watches me as I pet Sandy.

soon after, we ask him about Heather's personality and tendencies. her brother is more than willing to give us all the information we need. I'm surprised, however, by my partner's ease at wandering around Woodland's house, flipping through the magazines on top of the TV and reading the spines of books on shelves. he's quite conspicuous about it.

about halfway through my mental list of questions, Sandy keeps jumping up and wagging her til.

"I'm gonna take her to the backyard quick," Woodland tells us. "one second."

he ducks out of the room and I wait until I know he's out of earshot before sidling up beside Reid.

"there's an immediate relationship established between a buyer and a seller," he tells me, holding up a Datsun Z catalog. we know that she was in the market for one. "if I want to coax a young woman into my car..."

"offer her a test drive." I finish his sentence. of course, within ten minutes of sifting through this woman's house, Spencer has figured out the ruse used to lure her. Woodland returns a moment later with a smile, but we tell him that we've gotten the information we need before leaving.

in the car, Spencer theorizes about the unsub's mental condition as I try to navigate traffic in the storm. thunder rumbles overhead, occasionally sending a vibration through the car. my knuckles tighten around the wheel a bit. I also hate driving in the rain. his rambles fills the silence, however, and somewhat soothe my nerves.

"he doesn't have the MO of a paranoid psychotic. dumping the bodies out in the open, with a weapon nearby... that doesn't align."

"he covers their eyes with duct tape multiple times over, though. he knows he's going to kill them, but he doesn't want them to see his face?" my fingertips drum over the wheel nervously.

"what's wrong?" Spencer asks suddenly, glancing at my hands and then at my face. I still my movements at the change in subject.

"huh? nothing. I just don't like driving in the rain, either."

"oh. I'm sorry." he straightens a bit in his seat. the apology surprises me a little, but he seems genuinely sympathetic. I guess I really don't know him that well.

"it's cool."

we fall into an awkward silence and I bite my lip. we should get back to talking about the case. heaven knows Spencer has more facts to spew, more theories to share about this unsub. anything is better than the gap in conversation. I open my mouth to say more about what we learned at the house, except Spencer speaks first.

"so... how are you liking working here?" he asks awkwardly. it takes a second for the question to register with me. he sounds uncomfortable whenever we're alone and that makes me uncomfortable in turn. where everyone else was quick to include me in their jokes and discussions, Reid always sounds like talking to me exhausts him. it's obvious that he's socially awkward. there's no judgement from me; I'm just surprised that he's pushing to talk about non work-related subjects.

"I like it," not really an accurate summation. I don't think a heart-to-heart is exactly the right move when talking to him. "a little stressful, though."

"you worked in sex crimes before, right?" he looks out the window. there isn't much to see except for the rain-blurred skyline. I nod.

"yep."

"that sounds... hard." he shifts in his seat as he tries to come up with more points of conversation. it's kind of endearing, honestly. I throw him a bone.

"so is profiling."

"why'd you switch?" his eyes flit over to mine as he quickly adds, "if you don't mind me asking."

I take a second to come up with an answer. of course, there's the classic response: I've always wanted to help people— which isn't wrong— it's also not the whole answer. all through college and the Academy, I had my head focused on one thing. I could interview killers and get inside their heads, but there's something entirely different that you don't get from pure research. and one person inspired that in me before I had finished high school.

"don't tell him I said this, but I really wanted to work with Rossi." I say in a hushed tone. there's a slight smile on my lips because I haven't told anyone on the team in fear of being teased. I don't think Spencer is likely to gossip with Rossi about me, though.

"really?" now he sounds surprised.

"I've read all his books and I've been to a couple lectures. he doesn't remember me, evidently." the thought is more funny than embarrassing. he spoke at my college a few years back and I recall being on the edge of my seat, trying to come up with the courage to ask the questions that filled my head. I was too shy.

"does he know you're a fan?" Spencer loosens up a bit.

"nope," we pull off the freeway as we near the field office. I stop at a red light and look over. "I didn't want to embarrass myself with the whole 'your work changed my life' spiel."

at this, Spencer lets out a short, nervous giggle. it's a nice sound, that laugh. it makes me smile when he seems to relax in his seat.

"that's exactly what I did." he says. I frown.

"you told him his books changed your life?" I blush as I realize I just inadvertently made fun of him.

"I, um... well, I got excited to talk about his research." he averts his gaze again and his cheeks turn a slight pink. there's a dimple in his cheek, I notice, that keeps tugging upward. this is my first time having a non-forced moment with Spencer alone; a wave of satisfaction washes over me as I realize the potential for another friend here.

"trust me, I get it." I laugh. we pull into the parking ramp for the field office and I find a spot by the door. Spencer hoists that bag into his lap and runs his hand through his hair. when I pull the key out of the ignition, he waits for me to get out of the car before we start walking toward the door.

it's small, but I appreciate that he doesn't run off without me. we don't talk as we walk, our footsteps echoing along the cement walls.

oh my god first chapter holy fuck! it's short, but I don't wanna overwhelm. I'm so excited for this book!

#spencer reid #matthew gray gubler #dr. reid #criminal minds #mgg #fanfic #fanfiction #wattpad #friends to lovers #BAU #slow burn

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i-did-not-mean-to · 3 years ago

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Never say never - Chapter 13

Here's a new chapter of my main story (I forgot to go on posting lol)

Fandom: RPF- Richard Armitage

Characters : OC x RA

Rating : Mature

Warnings : RPF (and factually incorrect and very soppy)

°13° ~Victoria~

She had expected questions and intrusive crowding, but her friends and their friends, sat motionless around the table still. Victoria saw that they had unpacked every single book and movie she had bought and put them into piles, though she could not discern the logic governing the separate piles.

“Have a nice chat?” Liza asked after a moment of Victoria just standing in the door, wordless, chewing on her lower lip.

Victoria, in turn, gave an assenting grunt and handed Martin back his phone with a grateful smile.

“More information, please?” Angie demanded, crossing her legs, and putting her folded hands upon them like a school mistress ready to listen to the recitation of a particularly hopeless student. Victoria bristled.

She had to dig her heels into the floor to keep herself from turning around and fleeing the room. Adulthood somehow boiled down to the absence of the heavy, constraining hand at the back of her neck, and Victoria had a tendency to bolt every chance that she got. Afterwards, she always felt ashamed because she knew that she had not solved anything by just leaving a situation in which she felt uncomfortable, but she had not learned how to face her instincts and overcome them.

For her, it had always been a matter of being able to follow her reflexes or being forced to go against them.

It pained her to discover that her instincts were all wrong and, what was worse, not only did they neither soothe nor protect Victoria herself, no, they also usually ended up hurting someone else.

“We…we talked. I said he’s welcome to come here if he cares to. He said he’d help me set up any other furniture I might need.” She felt and sounded sheepish, Victoria knew, but she didn’t know how to make that very normal conversation sound like the outrageous exchange of dark confessions the others apparently expected.

“Oh, so I’ve been made redundant? And I had hoped you’d let me watch the movie with you.” Hiddleston winked at her.

Big breath, Victoria told herself, this was good, this was healthy, don’t run, stand your ground.

“You’re welcome here, little fairy-lord. You can come watch the movie with me.” She said in a tiny voice.

“Oh goodie good good, we have made piles of movies we want to watch along with you…on your fancy new TV…” Angie clapped her hands and, finally, Victoria understood the piles. “You naughty girl, you.” Liza laughed.

“Naughty?” Victoria blinked. She did not see why she would be naughty for watching movies. Had her father been right, and they corrupted the impeccable morals he had tried to instil in her? Were movies the devil’s dark corruption after all?

Martin had called it “porn”, she remembered, and a cold shiver ran down her spine.

“What are you talking about? Have I done something wrong?” Panic seeped into her voice now and she was starting to feel a little dizzy. She knew that Liza sometimes made crude jokes, but up to this point, she had never been the butt of these jokes.

“Liza!” Angie hissed, rushing to Victoria’s side to soothe her with shushing noises and tender caresses. “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” She said, but Victoria could hear that she was lying, as noted before, Angie was a terrible liar.

“Yeah, low blow, I’m sorry. So, what else does Armitage say?” Liza lifted her hands apologetically and leaned back in her chair, knowing that Victoria would most probably shrink back from her if she was to approach right now.

“He wanted to go over some comments in the script with me. We might meet up if he finds the time. I gave him my number.” Victoria narrated in an emotionless voice; her mind still occupied by the accusation of being a naughty girl.

Angie threw a look at her wife that was so earth-shatteringly severe that Liza didn’t even dare make a face at that. Unfortunately, Jenna had not picked up on it and so, still snacking on the pizza crust, she asked: “Really? You gave him your number? Cute.”

Victoria stared at her for a solid 2 minutes; her mouth was bone-dry, and her tongue seemed to be glued to her teeth. She barely heard the warning hiss Angie gave her employee. Her head was spinning; she was entering territories of supposition and innuendo she was painfully unfamiliar with, and it scared her.

“Cute?” She gasped, feeling the tears of helpless perplexity burn behind her eyes, ready to spill over. Victoria had never given this number to any man, because the last time she had given a man her private telephone number, she had had another number, she had lived in another city, she had led a very different life.

“It’s not like that. It’s professional.” She tried to defend herself weakly. It was true, she had met that man twice in her life, and both times, it had been with Liza in the context of that ludicrous side-job she had accepted to keep busy.

On the other hand, she was a single woman and, as far as she knew, he was a single man. She was a recent divorcee; he had never been married. He had slept with a thousand and one nameless women in his life…and she had only ever had one sexual partner and had never expected having to think about another one.

“Fuck.” She cursed. There were no Saints that came to mind to call upon in this situation. She should have trusted her gut feeling and pull out of this whole story while she was ahead; she should have left this first evening right away and never return to that damn room. She should have kept her door closed tightly.

“It’s okay, I’m sorry…I’m sure that he knows that it’s strictly professional.” Jenna tried to calm her, but her eyes were wide and worried now.

“OH! Will he? I’ve invited the man into my home, haven’t I? Like Delilah to Samson, oh Lord…” Victoria groaned, all of her compounded trauma harrowing her to the brink of tears once again. What would he think of her? Did he believe that she wanted to throw herself at him like a common prostitute? Did he expect that? Would he be violent if she refused?

If he thought that her intentions had been indecent, surely, he would not try to contact her in any way or form, would he?

“Like…Vic, do you intend to seduce him and cut his magic…hair?” Liza mocked, but when she saw the expression Victoria’s face, she fell silent instantly. She waved Hiddleston and Martin aside, feeling that they should not draw attention to themselves.

“Vic,” she pleaded, “look at me, girl. It’s okay, you’re safe. It was a dumb joke, nothing more.”

Liza knew that she had gone too far too fast; Victoria was in her living room while it was dark outside, together with 4 people who were attracted to women and yet, she had only made the connection once Armitage had been mentioned.

Devout and faithful, Victoria had only ever known the man she had married, in the biblical sense, and it had been overzealous of her to believe that she might take another lover so easily. There were too many things to unravel before.

“What have I done?” Victoria sobbed and the dam broke; hot tears broke their way out of her system, and she cried pitifully for a few minutes straight, shaking so much that her teeth clattered as if she was standing naked in the snow.

“Victoria? Is there anything I can do for you? You can talk to me.” Hiddleston offered and his calm demeanour managed to pacify her enough to shake her head slowly. “I have acted abominably. I…just can’t do anything right.” She croaked.

“That is not true. You’ve been frightened and overwhelmed at first, but you’ve been a kind hostess tonight. We had fun this afternoon, didn’t we? What is it that upsets you so?” Hiddleston took her hands and brushed his thumbs lightly across them in slow, gentle circles.

“What does that poor man think of me now? He will believe I am completely insane!” Victoria lamented, tears still running down her cheeks in regular intervals. “No, he won’t. He’s not a monster. We all can see that you’ve been through some things, but we’re here to make it better. And, as you said, it’s strictly professional. I’m sure he knows that.”

Hiddleston exchanged a look with Martin. Richard knew, but that didn’t prevent him from maybe hoping that one day, it wouldn’t be so. As far as one could make any assumptions based on Victoria’s erratic behaviour, she seemed half scared to death that it might turn into something that wasn’t all that professional anymore as well.

“You’ve had a stressful day, why don’t we leave you alone? I’m surprisingly free the next few days, so if you want me to, I can swing by tomorrow and while I go have my picture taken, you can choose some more furniture. And then, we finish the movie? What about that?” He coaxed her into calming down until a puffy face and a pathetic hiccup were all that remained of her passionate outburst. “Yes, I’d like that. We can go have cakes in the afternoon?” Victoria replied.

It was easy to like Hiddleston, and that discovery surprised and amazed her. He was kind and unobtrusive; he had a good sense of humour, and, most importantly, she was in no way attracted to him.

Oh, he was glorious, there was no denying that, but he reminded her too much of that friend she had dreamt up as a child – when she had lain in bed, lonely as can be – to be in any way titillating to her. He made her wish that she wasn’t an only child; he made her long for siblings, for someone to go to for advice and solace.

Never would she look at him like Jenna did: with big, longing cow-eyes that were starry with wordless adulation.

Vic’s mind slammed on the brakes again. Jenna did stare at that man like he had literally just fallen from the sky and, when Vic had proposed to go to the tearooms, her breath had stumbled for a second there.

Jenna had a crush on Liza’s friend.

Victoria was utterly baffled. Were things that easy in the normal world? Did people just meet someone handsome and kind, and then allowed their heart to leap into their eyes? Victoria could not fathom being that brazen and reckless.

“He’s right. Let’s retreat. I’m sorry, Vic.” Liza shooed the others out of the room. “Good night, dear Victoria. Thanks for the pizza. I hope we can be friends now.” Martin spoke gently as if to a sick child or to a fretful mare.

“Sorry for being such a mess. Yes, sure we can be friends. Thank you so much for the poppets.” She picked them up gingerly as she followed the others out of the room and turned off the lights in the living room.

“Not the kind of plastic dick people usually keep next to their bed.” Liza mumbled under her breath, which made Victoria skewer her with a scandalised, speechless look. “Sorry, it was too good to miss out on. You know, because…”

Victoria lifted her eyebrows in an expression of annoyed impatience; the joke went completely over her head.

“Richard is abbreviated Dick. You know…” Liza wagged her head from side to side to make very clear that she was only making a very tasteless joke and not attacking Victoria in any way. “Funny.” Victoria commented, her face so stern and forbidding that she would have given Armitage and Macfadyen a run for their money.

“They will not be kept next to my bed…once I get the proper décor for them.” Victoria then snarled. “Décor?” Martin was interested by that comment, his hand on the doorhandle already but his face turned to Victoria, eager to hear how she would proceed.

“I guess I’ll have to go to the pet shop to get a proper set-up where they’d feel at ease.” Victoria shrugged.

“They’re inanimate dolls.” Liza cried out, horrified at the idea that her friend would procure a cave and a hobbit-hole for two toys. “They’re the only friends I have now.” Victoria shot back with a dark smile.

“Ah, come on. I love you, girl. You know that I love you, don’t you? I’d never want to do you harm.” Liza smiled warmly, hugging Victoria to her chest, and breathing in her warm, clean smell. “Go to bed.” She breathed and left.

And so, Victoria went upstairs with her poppets, laying them gently on the pillow next to hers before getting ready for bed. She brushed her hair and her teeth, applied creams and serums, and put her clothes in the laundry basket…only to return to an empty bedroom. For all anybody cared, she could have gone to bed dirty and dishevelled; nobody would ever have known.

Shaking her head, she dispelled those thoughts forcefully. She had made progress today, she had opened her home to other people, and she had taken two different, hasty, and informal meals with them. She was not sure that her friends were aware of the fact that she had never lived alone before in her life and that those experiences were completely new to her, but she felt the excitement of having had acquaintances over.

A couch, she would buy a proper couch for her little sanctuary so more people could come and enjoy movies with her.

She was on the right track, she could feel it, and so she fell asleep, her poppets next to her, with a blissful smile.

~Richard~

He was an idiot. He had nothing to do the next few days, but he had made it sound as if he was terribly busy.

She had assumed that, and he had been too proud to clear the misunderstanding up, which made it only fair that now, the ball was in his court, and he would have to contact Victoria to plan a…meeting.

He would not call it a “date”, because first of all, it wasn’t a date, and second, he didn’t want to play into the hands of Martin and Elizabeth who had been aiming for that kind of thing apparently.

She had sounded breathless but not as hostile as before tonight. She had given him her number and he couldn’t stop fidgeting with the paper; by now, he had saved her number in his phone and on his laptop, just in case that he reduced the poor note to dust by handling it so much.

What would he say though? Should he give her a call or just text? He had said he’d text her, but he wanted to be on the phone with her again; it seemed that they were doing alright on the phone even though she frequently checked out of the conversation to talk to other people.

By now, the others were certainly gone…No, he would not call her again when he had nothing new to tell her. He wondered if she would have reached out if she had his number; women were usually better at that than men.

Sexist, cool, he was going insane at a rapid pace. Pictures of her, kneeling on the floor and praying to her various saints to protect her from whatever it was that haunted her so, rose inside his mind; he wondered if she slept in long, flowing, weirdly anachronistic nightgowns or if she went to bed in an old ratty sweatshirt. Both had their own appeal.

God, it was late, and his mind was wandering in all the wrong directions. He would not think of her in bed, he had no reason or right to do so, she had not given him any cause or encouragement to take that path down a very slippery slope, but he could not forget the small moans he had caught now and again.

Of course, they might have been groans of exasperation and impatience, but even so, there was something within him, deep beneath the parts of his mind he had any control over, that had responded ferociously to the breathless sound.

Maybe, he should just get it over with and send her one of those texts that only informed her of his number…

#fanfiction #richard armitage #never say never #rpf #longfic #romcom #friends to lovers #ao3 fanfic

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professorsnape394 · 4 years ago

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The Potions Master’s Apprentice

Chapter Fourteen: Friends

A/N: This is the fourteenth part to my fanfiction ‘The Potions Master’s Apprentice (Severus Snape x OC)’. Chapters 1-16 can be found already uploaded on Wattpad under the same name. Feel free to leave requests in my inbox for anything Snape related you want me to write. Leave a comment below if you wish to be added to my tag list.

Pairing: Severus Snape x OC (Dumbledore’s Granddaughter)

Summary: A talented young witch is employed as an apprentice professor at Hogwarts, but who will she be working under? Severus Snape is not best pleased with his new responsibility of taking on an apprentice, however she is relentless to create a friendship between them. Will she be successful? Or might the friendship just go a little two far? With the eyes of her grandfather constantly watching over them, an attempt at a relationship might not be in the cards for Aria Dumbledore and Severus Snape.

Word Count: 2779

Warnings: n/a

Credits to Gif Creator

To the other professors, breakfast came and went just as it did every other day. But Aria could sense the difference in tone from the students. To the other professors the students chatter was just as excitable as it always was. But Aria could tell it was more hushed and secretive. To the other professors, today was just a normal day, they would have gone about their day blissfully unaware of the situation that had occurred at the Three Broomsticks. Had it not been for the huge elephant in the room.

As he entered the hall that morning for breakfast not a soul in the room missed the swollen black and blue lump in place of where Snape's eye should be. Not a soul in the room missed the way he stormed in, in a fit of rage, knowing that the whole school would be talking about him. And not a soul missed the glares he sent their way daring them to confront him on the matter. But only Aria Dumbledore could see the hurt in his eyes, the embarrassment he was feeling and the pain he buried deep down for the way he had treated his friend last night.

Of course, she was angry at him. All of this was his fault. But the sadness she felt for him overcame her own dignity and she wanted to find out what it was all for. What hurt him so badly, that he felt the need to make her feel as low as he did. Aria knew this was yet another mystery of the great Severus Snape which would remain unanswered. The man was an enigma.

As expected, the potions master and his apprentice were curtly invited to Headmaster Dumbledore's office after breakfast to explain themselves. It had not taken long for the rumours to spread from the students all the way to the top, and it was clear Aria's grandfather was less than pleased to hear them.

"You will both be well aware of why I called you here this morning, I am sure." Dumbledore begun when the pair entered the Headmasters office. The two merely nodded, letting the old wizard speak.

"Firstly, I must begin by saying how utterly disappointed I am in the two of you. Not only in the events that transpired last night, but moreover the fact that neither of you were professional enough to come to speak to me about this first, before it got out of hand." The headmaster started, taking a seat behind his large oak desk.

Both Aria Dumbledore and Severus Snape bowed their heads in shame, as they stood side by side awkwardly, neither of them daring to look at the other.

"Grandfather I-"

"Miss Dumbledore, in this current professional capacity, I would appreciate if you addressed me as your rightful superior."

"I'm sorry." She replied sheepishly. "Headmaster Dumbledore, I want to apologise for not informing you of what had happened at the Three Broomsticks but as you can see Sever-, Professor Snape did have some injuries that needing tending to and in the state that he was, I didn't think him fit enough to be left unattended to."

As she spoke Severus let out a grunt of disagreement in an attempt to mask his embarrassment.

"Whether that may be the case, Miss Dumbledore, if you are being harassed by another member of staff, your priority should be to inform me, not assist your harasser." Albus scorned.

Snape remained silent, waiting to be spoken too before opening his mouth. He was mortified by his actions in the Three Broomsticks, but even more so by what happened later that night.

"Now, which one of you would like to explain to me what happened, so I can distinguish the truth from some of the student's wild imaginations."

Aria turned her attention to the Potions master who continued to keep his head down, not willing to recall his cruel words.

"I think Professor Snape is best for that job, headmaster." Aria confessed, unwilling to let the man get off so easily.

"Very well. Aria, you may leave us." Dumbledore announced.

"What? But why?" She objected.

"As you so graciously volunteered Severus for the job, I no longer have a reason to keep you back from your duties as a professor." Dumbledore informed her calmly. "Speaking of which, you will be taking all of the potions classes alone for the time being. Professor Snape will be taking a short sabbatical."

Snape's face turned grey at the thought. Not only did he not want this young witch teaching his students, but the mention of a sabbatical made his stomach drop. He knew how he had acted was wrong, but never had it crossed his mind that he could possibly lose his job for what he had done.

"What!?" Aria gasped. "But you can't do that, he-"

"Relax, Aria dear." Dumbledore interrupted. "It is only until I get this business cleared up. With his eye looking as it does the excitement will never settle, you know how students like to gossip. Besides he can take some time to reflect on his actions while it heals." Dumbledore shot Snape a disapproving look.

Aria made to object once again, but this time Severus took the opportunity to shut her up.

"Go, Miss Dumbledore. Do not keep my students waiting." He commanded sourly.

Finally, Aria obeyed, leaving with an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach as she left the two men to talk.

Dumbledore clasped his hands on the desk in front of him and waited patiently for Severus to confess his wrong doings.

"I will not insult you, headmaster, by downplaying my actions from last night. I stupidly let my emotions get the better of me and I thought I could find a solution at the bottom of a bottle of Fire Whiskey, I was wrong. I said disgusting things to your granddaughter and believe me no one can judge me more than I am judging myself right now." Snape could not bring himself to meet the old wizards disappointed gaze.

"And your eye, how did that situation occur." Albus questioned, feeling slightly sorry for the professor, despite the trouble he has caused.

"It was well deserved." Snape admitted. "A 'friend' of your granddaughter's rightfully put a stop to my embarrassing display. I apologise whole heartedly for every mistake I made last night."

"That is all very good and well, Severus. But have you said this to her?"

Severus hung his head.

"I see. May I suggest that be your first port of call." Albus advised.

"Of course."

The Professors sat in dead silence. It was clear both of them were in their own heads more than the conversation.

"Is there something more I should know, Severus?" Dumbledore eyed the man skeptically.

Severus paused for a moment, debating whether to confide in his friend.

"No, sir." He lied. His voice remained void of all emotion.

"Aria could be a great friend to you, Severus. Do not throw that chance away, again. Learn from your past mistakes." The Headmaster warned.

Albus Dumbledore's words resonated with Severus all day. The old man was right. He had once lost his only friend due to a small moment of emotional vulnerability paired with the harshness of his words, he could not re-live that experience. There was only one way to avoid losing Aria from his life completely, any feelings he may have had for her now had to be buried entirely.

Storming into her first lesson of the day, the room fell silent upon Aria's entry. The students waited a minute or two, expecting the presence of their most feared professor, which never came.

Aria begun the lessons as Severus always did; silently writing out paragraphs of information for the students to copy. It didn't take long for the fifth years to realise Snape would not be joining them this morning and so they set about asking their more relaxed potions professor all of the questions they were just dying to know the answers to, regarding the events of the previous night.

"Professor Dumbledore, where's Professor Snape, isn't he going to teach us?" It began.

"Unfortunately, today I will be solely be teaching Professor Snape's classes." Aria answered, turning her back on the classroom of students and continued to scribble on the chalk board.

"I heard he shouted at you in front of everyone in the Three Broomsticks yesterday Miss, is that true?" One of the Ravenclaw girls dared to ask.

"You should have seen him." Another laughed. "He was absolutely wrecked, knocked back almost a full bottle of Fire Whiskey apparently."

Aria chose not to respond.

"You were there? What did he say?" A curious Gryffindor inquired, wanting to hear the full story for himself. The two started quietly conversing up the back of the class, letting some more students get their accusations in.

"Is it true you are Karkaroff were caught going at it in the potions cupboard, Miss." Another boy bravely chuckled. "Is that where Snape found you?"

"That's can't be true." Someone else defended, shaking their head in disbelief.

"It is so, didn't you see the two of them at dinner yesterday? He could barely keep his hands off of her." Another whispered.

A few gasps and giggles broke out among the students as they continued to speculate.

"I heard she's the one who punched Snape, did you see his eye today?

"To be fair I don't blame her, he is a bit of a wanker, he probably deserved it."

"Don't be so stupid. It wasn't her; it was her boyfriend, I saw it myself."

"Did Snape actually call you a Slut, Miss?"

The room went quiet anticipating their teacher's response.

"Enough!" She yelled, slamming her hand on the desk as she turned to face them. The class stared at her, stunned.

"I don't want to hear any more of this." She started, putting down her chalk. "I am well aware that some of you may have witnessed the incident that occurred in the Three Broomsticks last night and while Professor Snape's little outburst may have happened extremely publicly, this gives none of you the right to make things worse by making up these stupid stories. I am going to settle this once and for all and I want to hear no more of it, do you understand?" The class nodded silently.

"First off; no, Professor Snape has not been fired, nor would I want him to be. He will resume his position as your potion's professor in a few days' time, and I warn all of you that this nonsense better be done with by then. He will not let you off as lightly as I have done." Aria walked around her desk, resting on the edge as she spoke.

"Secondly, any rumours you have heard regarding me and Headmaster Karkaroff are completely false. Professor Snape got the wrong impression and has now been informed of his mistake. In addition to this, anything you may have heard surrounding me and any other member of staff, or indeed students..." She said through gritted teeth. "... is also false. This includes Professor Snape."

A moment of chatter bubbled among the students, before once again falling silent.

"As for the man I was with, he was nothing more than a friend. And after the way he treated Professor Snape, he is no longer even that. Violence in any form will not be tolerated, no matter the circumstances. I will personally deal with any student supporting the actions of this man or the harming of Professor Snape, regardless of anything he may or may not have said." Aria finished.

"Is all of this abundantly clear?" She asked the class, receiving a chorus of agreement in response.

Aria let the students know to spread this information throughout the school to combat the rumours surrounding her and Severus Snape's altercation, and they graciously obliged. She received very little harassment or questions for the rest of the day, although she knew it was almost impossible to put an end to all of the speculations this early on.

Whilst packing up her papers to return to her quarters for an early night, Aria was startled by a sharp knock on the door.

"Come in." She called, not bothering to stop what she was doing. It wasn't until he was standing right in front of her did Aria even recognise who it was. "Severus." The professor said in shock. "Knocking to get into your own class room now?"

"As it were, this appears to be your classroom for the time being, Miss Dumbledore." He droned, watching her intently as she went about her business.

"For a few days at least, it seems." She shrugged. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I came for an update on my classes' progression. While I might not be teaching them, this does not mean I am willing to relinquish all of my responsibilities quite yet. I don't imagine you have anything prepared." He sneered, continuing to analyse the desk.

"Actually, Professor Snape, I have." She retorted, handing him a small binder. "There you will find every class organised by year and then by level of difficulty; I have written a small summary of what we covered in the classes and how far we hope to progress. All students are listed individually and sorted by house, each detailing how well they coped with the lesson and what they need to work on. I shall give you another update tomorrow, and each day after until you are back. Happy?" She smirked.

"Very impressive." He hummed, unamused, snatching the binder from her and making to leave.

As Snape reached the exit, one hand holding the door ajar, he let his fingers tap on the wood indecisively. Letting out a small huff of breath Severus turned on his heel, re-entering the classroom as he remembered his promise to the headmaster.

"There is one more thing, Miss Dumbledore." The potions master announced, bringing her back to his attention.

"Mmhmm." Aria hummed, continued to flick through her papers, making sure she had what she needed.

"If you could actually pay attention, Miss Dumbledore, I would be able to get out of your hair much faster." Severus hissed through gritted teeth, fighting the urge to roll his eyes.

"What do you want, Severus." His apprentice huffed. "I do have things to be getting on with. Spit it out."

Snape clenched his jaw and pursed his lips, trying his damn best not to insult the girl.

Couldn't she just listen for five seconds when he was actually trying to be nice to her? He thought.

"I... I want you to know." Snape stuttered, coughing to clear his throat. "I need you to know. Everything I said last night, I didn't mean any of it. I was drunk, and sometimes emotions that we would all like to keep hidden show themselves, do you understand?"

"I get it, Severus. I know you wouldn't have said those things under normal circumstances. You were stressed." Aria accepted, immediately going back to her piles of parchment.

"Look at me." Snape snapped. "You do not understand. I am apologising for my actions in the Three Broomsticks, of course I am. But the point I would most like to stress is... Can we just forget yesterday never happened? All of it."

Aria stared deep into the Professor's eyes knowing he was desperate for her attention. Ignoring the fact he was battered and bruised, she could see the pain in his eyes. The desperateness for her to agree with him, to forget that anything ever happened between them, or rather could have happened.

"Don't worry about it, Severus. Nothing happened as far as I am concerned." She reached out to him, resting a hand on his bicep and flashing a comforting smile.

A hint of a smile threatened on Severus' lips. But as soon as it came it was gone once again. Snape stepped away from the woman, letting her get on with her work.

"Can we agree on one thing, Severus?" Aria asked, keeping her attention on him finally. Snape nodded, allowing her to continue. "The students are having a field day with all of this. I think it would be in everyone's interest for us to try and get along. Hopefully it will dull down a lot of the rumours if they see us acting civil. What do you think? Friends?" She proposed.

Snape let out a small huff of amusement, letting the sides of his lips curl up, contently.

"Friends." He agreed, stepping out of the room quietly.

Taglist:

@ayamenimthiriel @lizlil

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saturatedboy · 3 years ago

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Lord Heisenberg X Male!OC

New and first story series! This involves a male OC, however be free to use your own name instead. This book won’t exactly follow the plot of RE8, however ideas will be taken from it.

Male!Oc- Leonardo is a 27 year old male that works within a distance village called ‘Village of Ram’. Reason for it’s name is that its hidden away behind many mountains. His job includes being a literacy teacher within a new still-in-construction school. On the side lines he is a journalist, using his findings to post through the Duke to spread around the other villages. However not all his stories can have a happy ending, and I fear the story he’s within won’t go to plan. Would his story be complete with a happy ending, or will he loose- may the pages of his story be turned.

Warnings: Mentions the use of alcohol

Words: 3K

The Slaughter of the Ram

Chapter 1

They all stared at him with a lost look in each and every one of their eyes. Some had heads down, others blinked away any boredom that snuck in through the words that came from his mouth and the rest were whispering amongst themselves with a few giggles escaping. They really didn’t want to be here but they were forced by the leaders of their home to. It wasn’t like they could get education anywhere else.

The sudden chime of a bell ringing had woken most of the young. Them all being swift in gathering their things together. The older male stood with chalk in hand, watching the young pack away equipment such as pencils, paper and books. Smiling at their eagerness to leave his class, with a clear throat he spoke over the loudness that they were causing with their chairs and voices. “Read pages 12 to 16 of ‘Mid-Summer Night Dream’ please in your break!” A chorus of groans left most of their mouths leaving the male at the front to chuckle. “I know you all are enjoying it all!”

“Sir, must we read? It’s Summer break-”

“Since when do we have Summer break here? You know it’s always Winter here Robert.” The girl with a high bun, neatly wrapped with a silk ribbon had spoken up as she gently flicked the boy named Robert on his forehead.

“So, Charity, it’s still Summer-” He shot back, grabbing her wrist before she could give him another flick. She struggled out of his grip, moving her arm about as she smiled at the others playfulness. The oldest male cleared his throat having heads turn towards him. With a silent chuckle, he banged his fist against his chest a couple of times to clear his throat fully before speaking.

“And here I thought you all wanted to go home.” Just as quick as the words left his throat, his future generation had scrambled out of the door and filed into the very small hallways to escape through the front. He stood there for a minute or two, waiting for all the students to leave fully before turning to face his desk and gathering his own equipment and papers to mark. Being in thought about his next meal of the night, he was drawn back out by a knock against wood.

“Knock knock, it’s your favourite.” A feminine voice that had the tone of a mother had spoken from behind him. Placing the last paper into his messenger bag, he stood and turned to face the old visitor with a bright smile. Leaning against his open door was a woman with blonde hair that was slightly mangled from her usual bonnet that she would wear that was now resting on her shoulders. Her green dress with an apron over the top had reached her ankles which feet was accompanied by black doll-shoes.

“Catherine, great to see you. How were the lessons? Heard you have some new sprouts.” The sudden expression change that came from her explained the whole day to him instantly. With a heavy sigh, she placed her bonnet back onto her head and spoke.

“They were terrible. I’m not even joking. They don’t understand how to make soup. Soup I tell you!” she continued to ramble on about her day, expressing her hatred towards the new students and old ones that she herself had to teach for cookery class. “-And then I told her to put her utensils back and-Hey! Are you even listening to me?” A pout fronted her lips, brows furrowed as she stared at the male with arms crossed over her chest as she watched him stare into space. With a harsh nudged of her, he blinked his eyes and turned t face her, hair swaying with his movement. With a smile and neck scratch, he spoke.

“I’m sorry Catherine. All this talk about food is making me thirsty. Say, would you like to join me at the Inn? I’m pretty sure some whiskey would move all your problems away.” He suggested, adjusting his messenger bag over his shoulder and rolling his beige sleeves up to his elbows. With a soft sigh, the woman placed her bonnet on and brushed her dress down, getting rid of any wrinkles easily.

“Only if you’re paying, and I’ll take my usual of scotch thank you.” Together they walked, arms linked out of the room and school that was still being built. The snow wisped around them, being gentler as it lightly touched their exposed skin. With the walk being silent, they could hear the joyful cries of smaller children playing with sticks and others having the usual game of a snow ball fight. The sight made Catherine cringe. “Children, they are so much to handle.” she expressed her hatred through bending down gathering snow and then throwing a snowball at a child that was in her classroom that day. “And that’s for running with a knife!” She exclaimed as the child that got hit only laughed with a thumbs up, using their other hand to wipe the snow off her arm.

“You mustn't hurt the children; they are the reason this village will be up and running still in times yet to come.” The older male spoke, placing his arm back out for Catherine to grab, which she did almost immediately. Catherine sighed and rolled her eyes, tutting at his words.

“Now Leo, you know very much that if these children aren’t taught manners, then how could they ever survive. Haven’t you heard the news from the Village of Shadows?” She asked, however the older male, Leonardo, stayed quiet. She continued as the Inn was slowly getting closer in their reach. “Apparently mutant sorts of dogs have been wandering about, snatching children left and right. A young girl, age 14 I think, was attacked but luckily survived as her father with his buddies shot at the beast. Wicked I tell you, scarily wicked.”

They reached the Inn at the end of her words, a now unsettling aura around them both. Leo pondered to himself, being caught up in his thoughts as usual. ‘If the centre village is being attacked, then why haven’t they cancelled the festival for two days' time?’ Being dragged into the Inn, Leo huffed and coughed slightly at the sudden smell of cigars blocking his nose. The stench was something he had yet to still get comfortable with however he would deal with it for now. Letting Catherine lead him, Leo looked around the now bustling room of other men and woman, some children falling asleep in the wooden booths to small babies nestle in their mothers' grasps. Waving to familiar faces as he passed them, he quickly settles down at the bar as Catherine sat beside him. “Would you look at her,” She sighed dreamily. Watching her line of vision, Leo followed it to have his vision set on a beautiful woman. Long brown hair reaching her hips, a brow dress reaching the floor with a daisy took behind her ear. She was enjoying a glass of water with some other people that Leo hadn’t set a name with the faces.

“I swear we only come here for you to gush over women.” Leo snarked, rolling his eyes at his friends' actions of whistling loudly grabbing the attention of the girl who blushed deeply in return. Leaning back against the bar top, Catherine giggled and she raised her hand up to call for the bar tenders' attention.

“What can I say, women are really pretty and you can't say much, what about you and Aaron? What happened there?” Her question aa caught in the air as she held a finger up to keep Leo silent, telling the bar tender their orders of whiskey and scotch. It was only after the tender had written down their orders that she signalled Leo to carry on as she turned on her buffet to instead sit straight and look at the lines of bottles behind the bar.

With a groan, Leo dropped his head onto the wooden top as he turned his face to look at her. “He let for another village, asked if I wanted to come. I declined and so he left without any trace of a ‘goodbye’ to me.” Catherine pursed her lips together, only for her lips to stretch into a smirk.

“So, writing boy is free to date hmm~?”

“No, I am not. I enjoy being single and I don’t need no man in my life.” Beside him, Catherine held her laugh. Her faced flushed in red as she tried to keep her composure. With a hard slap on his back, Leo jerked up and sat with an angry look on his face. “Hey, what was that for?!”

“I just felt like it. All this talk about love is making me thirsty- EY BAR TENDER, PASS OUR DRINKS WILL YA!” With a nod from the said other, the bar tender came over to them dropping their drinks on the counter and nodding to them. With muttered ‘thanks’ of the best friends, he walked away to tend to other customers.

Both sat in minable silence, the odd talk about classes to talk about summer ideas passed through their conversations. As the night became young, the pace began to get more crowded and louder. Someone had started to play the harmonica, Catherine had wobbled away from Leo in search of the girl she called beautiful, the place began bustling with smokers and soon, Leonardo had turned on his buffet to watch everything go down. Smiling, he watched as happy couples were on the make-shift dance floor as a small band played, children were running in and out of the doorway and the odd student came up to Leo to ask about the pages they must read. “Just those would do, now go enjoy your night and holiday.” With a loose hand shake, the student ran off again into the crowd of people. Leo scrunched his nose as he downed his 4th glass of the night. The fiery taste burned his throat yet he was still perfectly fine. Looking around the room, he spotted multiple photos hanging of ‘Mother Miranda’. She was Somone that his community and others worshipped. She was their god in their eyes. Although Leo didn't quite understand her, he had his own hopes he wished to grant to her however dreaming is one thing to reality.

Just above the doorway was a sketch of his entire village. ‘Village of the Ram’ was quoted at the bottom of the sketch. There were multiple villages in the area, however his village had mostly resided away from Castle Dimitrescu as he remembered. Words between villages was sent through post by the duke. A large man who acted as a father to all. He was sweet, something Leo did find attractive however The Duke was far from his type. If he didn’t travel every day, Leo was sure to find himself maybe even falling in love with him however he treasures the fact both were close friends- but that never stopped him from never getting a discount of the other.

Placing his empty glass back onto the bar top, the noise from the bell of the door along with gasps and the sudden stop of music had caught his full attention. Turning towards where everyone was looking, the door was wide open with a fairly tall man standing in the way. With long strides, the man had walked in, banging the door close behind him. Murmured talk between everyone erupted at the visitor. The free and enjoyable air that was in the atmosphere had let as it was placed with an uncomfortable sense of feeling. “Ignore me will ya.” The deep, husky voice spoke as everyone went back to what they were doing. Music had started to play again as the new visitor had stride his way up.

Leo stared at the man, taking in his features as he walked practically up to him. Not wanting to attract attention to himself, he spun back around on his buffet and asked the bar tender that was nearby to order him another glass of whiskey. The tender placed the glass he was drying down and went to do as commanded. Leo had stated to take notes in his mind. ‘Big guy, sunglasses blocking his vision, fair long stipple of beard growing, really nice grey hair to compliment his face- overall the fucking Lord Heisenberg.’ Thanking again to the bar tender, Leo kept his eyes on his refilled glass that was stirring with his chosen liquid. He tried his best to keep his breathing down as the Lord of the Village of Shadows had taken the seat next to him. With a shaky hand, Leo sipped his drink this time only to have his eyes wander to look at the man beside him. To his shock, he could see behind the sunglasses to have a pair of greenish yellow eyes staring back at him. Pretending he wasn’t looking; Leo slowly turned his eyesight back onto his drink as he placed the half empty shot glass down. “I’ll have what he’s having.” The same deep voice spoke.

Distracting himself from the talk about him, Leonardo ran a hand through his fairly long hazel hair and pulled it back into a ponytail, using a bobble he had solen of Catherine to tie his hair back. Two loose stands fell in front of his face framing his jawline. “Do I get the pleasure of knowing the young man's name?” The lord asked, turning his larger frame to face Leo.

Biting his lip, Leo turned his head to face him, being greeted again with the same eyes that felt captivating. Without a second thought, he spilt his name. “Leonardo- or Leo would do.”

The Lord smiled in satisfaction, a smirk stretching his lips. “So, you are more than staring!” He exclaimed, catching the attention of a few nearby people who were also sat at the bar, however as soon as they noticed it was the Lord speaking, they turned their heads quickly to carry on with their conversation. Biting back his frustration, Leo spoke up in a much harsher tone forgetting who he was dealing with.

“I’ll have you know it was you staring at me first you-”

A hand pulled on his shirt collar, making him look at the culprit. Catherine was there with the woman from before clinging onto her arm. “My apologise Lord Heisenberg, my friend appears to be drunk.”

“I’d have you know I am no light drinker; he was staring at me-” Catherine slapped her hand over his mouth and began to pull on Leo’s shirt.

“Looks like the alcohol is getting to him. C’mon it's time to go Leonardo.” Heisenberg waved the bar tender away as he placed down his drink of the same liquid as Leo.

“It’s quite alright miss, I find your friends attitude towards me quite...intoxicating.” Heisenberg leaned to grab his shot glass, only to down the whole drink in a mere second. Slamming the glass back not the top, he swung an arm over Leo’s shoulder and pulled him away from Catherine’s grasp. “It’s not every day I see new villages with such Firey attitude. I think I may stay around a little longer, what do you say Leonardo?”

Leo groaned; he could start to feel the effect of the alcohol seeping into his blood stream. Oh, to just pass out in Catherine’s arms would be amazing. “You may be a Lord but that doesn’t mean you weren’t staring at me first.”

“Leo, drop it already.” Catherine hissed, bringing the woman on her arm behind her as she glared at Leonardo. Leo shook his head, letting the alcohol take over his movements as he slowly began to get tipsy.

“He looked at me though,” He whined, pouting as he shot a glare of his own at the Lord who smiled in return. Oh, how he was loving this. The way Leo swayed slightly, to his slightly muscled arms being free and on show for him. To say a man was having such an effect on him that he couldn’t understand, he was enjoying every moment of this.

“How could I not look; you are like the Ram of the village aren’t you.” Heisenberg let Leo’s body fall against his, his arms wrapping almost immediately around his front. Catherine shook in her boots; her friend was at the mercy of the lord’s grasp. “Strong arms with an attitude to prove strength by. So fascinating.” Heisenberg hands got tighter as he pulled Leo closer to him, his scent of chalk and a whiff of whiskey became an instant comfortable smell.

Catherine watched her friend in worry, he was getting less sober by the second whilst she was gaining her composure to be sober. “Not to be rude but I think it's time I take my friend home Lord Heisenberg.” Catherine spoke, twiddling her fingers as the Lor stared at her with an unamused look.

“He’ll be fine. This is a 24-hour Inn, right? I’ll stay with him until he wakes up. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to a Ram like him.” Catherine balled her fist. Here her friend was half awake and half asleep and she knew she couldn’t do much against a Lord. She sighed and nodded, trusting him with his words as she turned on her heel and walked away, the smaller lady following her.

Heisenberg turned his attention back onto the male named Leonardo. ‘Such a pretty little thing, too bad you're a little annoying- or maybe it's because of the alcohol.’ Heisenberg thought as he placed Leo’s head onto the counter carefully, letting his whole slightly taller than average frame fall against the counter. Heisenberg watched as he slept, this was sure an interesting interaction.

He only came to here explore the other villages, for Mother Miranda to have some new bodies for the experiments. He never suspected to already be caught up in weird feelings with some random boy. He only knew his name anyway. “Leonardo,” He smirked to himself, pulling out a cigar from his pocket and lighting it. “Leo-...nardo.” He repeated but more slowly this time. The syllabus that rolled of his tongue felt good. The name was perfect. Looking at the sleeping male one more time, Heisenberg took a drag from his lit cigar. “Leonardo, Strongest Ram in the mountains.”

#Heisenberg #LordHeisenberg #lord heisenberg #xreader #maleoc #karlheisenbergxmaleoc #oneshot #residentevil8 #villageintheshadows #Theslaughteroftheram #RE8 #karl hesienberg #lord karl heisenberg #karl heisenberg #karl heisenberg x male #karl heisenberg x male oc #xmaleoc

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razorblade180 · 4 years ago

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OC test: Survive pt1

Each character has been split off from one another by hard light fields to form a circular ring divided evenly; with a safe zone in the very center. They can all see and hear each other, but that’s it. All characters will face grimm at the same time. The type of grimm is dependent on what will give that individual trouble. Once a character defeats their grimm, it is their choice to what zone they want to go to next to help. The test is over when a winner in every zone has been decided.

Aero:Anybody getting Saw vibes from this, or at least something sinister?

Kovu:It did say “a winner” meaning the grimm might own us.

Summer:Remember the good old days where a test was make breakfast? I do...

Veronica:Just don’t fuck up and you’ll be fine. I’m ready for everything!

Sienna:Aren’t you technically a civilian?

Veronica:Pfft, I can still kick butt. I’m a Xiao Long!

Jacquelyn:I think the test is beginning.

Yujin stretches out her wrists and grabs her sword. It was soon after that ten pools of grimm opened up with Ursa Majors clawing out, fully armored and foaming at the mouth. One final pool had a King TaijituYujin wasn’t expected anything less, yet she was still upset. “I am sick and tired of these stupid things! Why all at once!?”

“Because it’s called survival...” Tenzen said, witnessing dozens of baby deathstalkers marching towards his as hives of lancers swarmed above. “Guess I’m playing exterminator...” he syched himself up, before a Beringel came stampeding in. It beat on it’s chests and let out a roar. “And....fighting baby King Kong...”

Jael hadn’t wasted any time making headway on her test. She knew herself pretty well and what she could handle. That still did not entirely prepare herself to fend of eight fully grown manticore in aerial combat. “So this is a manticore? Yeah, about what I expect .” She said , dodging their fireballs. “Air or land, they seem pretty dangerous. Guess I got no real advantage, yet.”

Sparrow was on the ball. Military training served him well. Armed only with an Atlesian pistol and a fishing rod, he controlled the battle ground. His mother had taught him long ago what his limits were and how to make up for them. A single Sphinx flew down to swipe at him. The young man back stepped and shot a high powered round at its foot. The beast roared before trying to fly.

“Oh no you don’t!” He casted the line right in the Sphinx’s mouth and yanked back down on the injure foot. “You’re gonna move the way I want you to!” Another round hit its front paw, making the creatures spin around, using its snake tail. Sparrow had already dropped the line and cought the second beast. He didn’t hesitate to press his gun right to its eye and blow up the head of the...tail. “Whoo! Still got it!”

While several of the kids quickly understood their enemies, others were left a little perplexed. Sienna was one of these people. “Uhhh I know Remnant is a big place, but since when do grimm look like roaches?” She stuttered.

The question got many to take a glance. Yep, roaches, but not the small kind. These roaches looked on par with the size of house cats. The black insects with bone white wings scattered around the floor. Several stood on two legs while grinding their human-like teeth together that made a shrill noise Sienna found personally irritating. The only Kovu alone seemed to grasp that situation.

“Don’t run! Walk in big circle! They’ll be huddled up that way!” He shouted. Sienna followed his instructions without question. The heard of roaches began following her on two legs while the others reached outward.

“Ohhh don’t like that!” Sienna looked at Kovu with a look that said, “what I’m the actual hell” very apparently. “Kovu-”

“They’re called Feasters. Do not let them swarm you and do not run! They will get on all of their legs and be much faster. Also don’t jump! They fly; just whack them with your chain.”

Sienna did just that. “I hate this I hate this I hate this, they’re so many! And that stupid noise!!!! Agh, my ears!” She winced. A second of stopping prompted the infestation to lunge at her like a wave. Sienna quickly tumbled backwards and kept walking. The last thing she wanted was for those things to take a bite of her. All things considered though, this was manageable. The benefit of no semblance she supposed. “How we looking everyone?”

“Peachy!” Veronica yelled, rider kicking a Tar Maw, a voracious gator like grimm that had a bond white back with black carvings. It’s red eyes glared and the tar black underside dripped like a leaky faucet. The sixteen foot beast opened its gaping mouth, hurling up grimm fluid before diving into it and through the ground subsequently; as it the dirt itself has become as flowing as water. Veronica phased through the ground to try and hit it from underneath but was shocked to see the beast diving down for her. Along with two more smaller but equally dangerous Tar Maws. Quickly, Veronica shot upward through the ground and into the air to barely avoid the the creatures that burst through the ground almost as forceful as her.

“As if one wasn’t enough.” Veronica snarled. Her body rolled forward midair to deliver a swift axe kick to one of the grimm’s hid, knocking it into the others. “I think Summer and I finally agree on something! I miss breakfast tests!”

“Glad you see it my way...” Summer groaned, watching a Arma Gigas rise. She looked over to her brother’s section to see the same exact expression of annoyance. Of course he had one as well. Nick looked at her as if she could do anything about it. “I know, it sucks.”

“Royally.” He added. Nick armed himself with Mort Froide and placed 15 upright ice glyphs around it in a diamond formation. His next move was summoning a gigas blade in his left hand before running towards the emerging knight that has yet to form from the shins down. With limited options it swung its blade which Nick proceeded to jump onto an continuing his charge towards its face. “I’ve killed one before. I can do it again!” Nick jumps at the face to slash it but is knocked back by a headbutt. Fully formed, the gigas bends its knees to prepare a jumping slash. However, blades of ice rockets out of the glyphs, wedging themselves between the knees and ankle armor space to stall movement long enough for Nick to recover. He runs his head and grunts, “Gah, okay. This one has a bet more heft. Noted...”

Valerie watched her two closest friends head off to fight their grueling challenge. “Always setting the pace.” She faced forward towards a fresh Nucklevee, free of any armor but still big enough to be a problem. “What, is this some kind of generational test? Too bad dad isn’t here. He’d love this!” Valerie leaped forward, twirling her battle axe before smashing it into the ground to break up the floor. “Can’t let move easily.” She leaped again.

The Nucklevee shot it’s arms out into the crushed floor and then upwards, it’s hands full of rocks. They flew up and over Valerie before crushing the rubble. A cloud of dirt and debris rain down and struck her back, throwing her balance off. Both arms came plummeting downwards to wrap her up and slammed them into the earth.

“It’s thinking!? But it’s new!” Valerie struggled trying to break free of the elastic grasp. “Huh?” She looked up to see the horse mouth exhale a plume of black smoke along the floor and headed right to her. “That’s not good...” through pure strength and will, Valerie got to her feet and started pulling with all her might. The arms wiggled and where dragged up from the ground but would not break. The fog crawled closer and closer until the edges of it began stinging her skin on her ankles like fire. “Gah! Aw screw it!” She yelled, taking a deep breath and releasing the tension of her struggling. Her entire body slingshotted forward through the smoke and to the best, striking it with a double kick to the skeleton like face. It’s arms finally loosened enough for her to escape. She went to sever an arm until the beast turned around and struck her with it’s massive hind hooves. Val tumbled back and onto her legs. A strange numbness and pain resided in her ankles. Moving felt...odd. Valerie looked up to see the fog continue to spread and the beast beginning to charge. “Tsk..” Maybe it was best her father wasn’t here after all?.

In a other section, a much better circumstance was taking place for Lucas. The man effortlessly weaved around the onslaught of razor sharp feathers, bouncing some back to clip the Nevermore wings that sent them. It helped, but only a little considering he was dealing with an entire flock. Multiple enemies that used a wind ranging attack with multiple projectiles. Quite the headache for one who sees the future. So he did what he always did, not even try.

“One thing at a time Lucas. This moment, right now.” He said to himself as more feathers rained. He transformed his blade into a whip and began flailing it to deflect only what he could see and hear coming his way. The moment he found an opening he would swimg the whip around the bird’s neck and yank it down for him to cleave it. A simple strategy, effective. However, it was time consuming. Not a problem for him specifically, but his mind could only think about the people around him. He hadn’t been paying close attention to all of them, but the screaming grimm he could hear outside his zone let him know they weren’t all getting lucky in this test. “EVERYONE OKAY!?”

“NO!” Aero cried as he crashed to the ground, his wings covered in webs. The flexed it off the best he could while avoiding Soul Suckers, enormous spider grimm that had a real bad habit of draining aura and turning people into soulless husks that were robbed of will. Seven of the bastards shot dense web at him in an attempt to do just that. Aero spread his wings and slammed them towards the ground, rocketing himself upward with one powerful flap. “I AM NOT EQUIPPED FOR THESE!”

“They have spider grimm!?” Lucas said with concern. “That’s just sadistic...”

“You’re telling me!?” Aero looked over to Mona’s section, who was dealing with a single Goliath. Her spry nature allowed her to maneuver around its legs, quickly attacking. Unfortunately she was up against a Goliath. Simple daggers might as well be paper cuts. “You hanging in there Mona!?” He asked before having to dodge more webs.

“Worry about yourself Bird Boy!” She yelled sprinting. Mona went into a one armed hand spring onto its trunk and rolled onto its back, sliding down it with her dagger running through it shallowly before hitting armored bone; killing her momentum and hurting her shoulders. “Shit!” She winced. She yanked her blade out and jumped off as the Goliath’s trunk tried grabbing her. “Uuuggh this big bitch might as well be made of clay!” She pulled out her second dagger and took one giant lunge that sent her flying like a bullet. Mona began spinning like a sideways buzz saw as she went by the grimm’s left and right leg, making an average size gash. Not enough to cripple it but enough to piss it off.

The thief couldn’t stop her speed correctly and ended up tumbling along the ground and barely missing a tree. Her head buzzed loudly and her vision blurred enough to not realize the two ton monster charging until it was severely feet away. “Oh f-” she tried blocking. The tusks were aimed right for her blades but suddenly, her entire body was shot up in the air and away from the attack. “Aaah! What the heck!?”

“Stop screaming!”

Mona was spun around to see Eliza hovering with the power of wind. “How the- you finished!?”

“Yeah I had those gross centipedes and a couple annoying alphas with majors as well.” Eliza said. She causally pointed behind her to a zone charred beyond belief. “My semblance was useless so I had to go all out from the start. Guess you’re in a similar situation? Let’s waste this thing.”

“Hmm you’re lucky I like the way you look. I’ll take you up on that, not that needed help.”

“Whatever you say. Maybe I should’ve checked in with Kovu!” She looked his way. “But considering with Carmine said I’m sure his challenge-”

“oPeN UuuP...” gurgled a cold, torn voice. One that reached all ears, freezing grimm and human alike. It came from Kovu’s section. There the young man sat pinned and shaken up. Nothing but the dust barrier against his back and his own bubble-like barrier in front of it, constructed from his golden aura. The thing gnawing it, a very big and very aggressive Hound. It’s teeth grated against the aura, barely cracking it but cracking it nonetheless. “oPeN UuuP...”

Kovu’s face dripped sweat. His arms were completely stiff from trying to maintain his gaurd. “Guys, I don’t want to sound needy, but...” he grunted.

Several of his friends began working harder on their matches. Yujin and Veronica in particular had a fire lit inside them to make sure Kovu would be okay.

“Hang on Kovu!” Yujin yelled. “Just give me a bet of time and-”

“I thought you wanted to be a huntsman?” Carmine interjected, gaining Kovu’s attention. “I thought you wanted to try and catch up to me, but you’re asking for help this quickly? Not only that, but now you’ve caused others to worry more about you which could make them rush and make a mistake that’ll be disastrous. Hmm, I thought better of you than that.” She said bluntly.

He said nothing. Veronica on the other hand. “Hey!” She had a few words. “Isn’t that your cousin!? You of all people should be-”

“Worried?” Carmine finished. “I’m not saying I’m not, but I’m more worried about the thing behind me, I’m case none of you payed attention.” Carmine looked over her shoulder to the massive grimm pool that all but filled the entire area and continued to flow.

Of course nobody else noticed. It wasn’t big enough to caste a shadow over them all until this moment. Once again eyes looked to see the danger but it was their ears that heard it before anything else. A deafening roar that shook the ground like a disaster. Carmine fully turned around to look at her opponent. It was cruel. Downright evil to the letter. What could she have possibly done to earn-

“Leviathan!?” Tenzen yelled.

“I know right? It’s ridiculous.” Carmine said, a bead of sweat running down her head. “I rather switch with Jacquelyn.”

“Hehe, is that a fact?” She laughed nervously, witnessing the creation of a fully realized dragon staring her down as the shook off excess fluid. Yet another huge thing that nobody but Carmine was aware of apparently because they were once again floored. Not necessarily at the beasts even though they were scary, but because that was two people’s test!”

Yujin looked briefly at Carmine in awe. “You can take down Leviathan!?”

“What? Hell no! Are you crazy!?” Carmine said, unapologetically. “That thing is a kingdom killer! Look it’s flattering that you all seem to think I’m super badass but you do know I’m one person right?”

“Well when you say it like that I sound stupid. Didn’t Ruby beat one of those?” Yujin said, dodging.

“My mother flashed her eyes while a giant robot sucker punched it with a drill. Her eyes didn’t even do much but make it stuck for three seconds. Nobody just beats a Leviathan!” Carmine brandished her sword to face it. Her eyes looked back towards to see her cousin still struggling. “....Did you all know Kovu has never beaten me in a fight? He’s always been a pretty average fighter. That being said, I could never knock him out or keep him down for long. He’s resilient as hell. Almost like surviving is his special talent.”

“Carmine...” Kovu uttered.

“Surviving doesn’t mean winning. I’m definitely not about to win this and I doubt Jacquelyn over there is coming up with a grand slam plan to solo a dragon. Buying time though, I can do that all day.” The leviathan shot out a breath of immense flames. Carmine dove out of the way immediately. “Do not make me do this all day. I’m tired. Twenty minutes at best. More than enough time for anyone to lend a hand and then some, right?” Without another word, she got to work.

Carmine was an odd ball. If she had said anything like that to a stranger, it may have come off as rambling. But those around her in this test, they got the girl’s message. Kovu most of all, while Jacquelyn understood from the start given her enemy. Twenty minutes. Nobody was to aid her for that long or to worry. Carmine had temporarily removed herself the equation. One less thing for other’s to worry about.

“Twenty one.” Kovu said. “I got this mutt right where I want him for twenty one minutes.” Sure he was being optimistic, but this barrier bursting wasn’t game over right away. Like Carmine said, he was resilient.

Jacquelyn couldn’t help but smile. Part of it was the touching pep talk. The other was nervousness because no way was she about to put herself before kids. “Ah what the hell. I’m the winter maiden. A badass one at that. Thirty.” Her eyes glowed.

“Of course they want to out do me” Carmine chuckled. Alright everyone, nothing fancy! Those who know they can win, will. All others, do this test, survive!

Finally the stage was set. Everyone was on track. “Right!!!”

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zenruption · 2 years ago

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Treefort Roaming March 23rd

It’s here! Treefort is back for another glorious year, and this guy got his start on Thursday, March 23rd, wandering out of his cave to catch some music.

This year's tale is on a slightly more serious note, as I noticed this week that I am suffering some mental health challenges, primarily some debilitating depression. Before writing this, I had a panic attack and thought I would throw up. Unable to focus, I fell asleep for an hour.

While I am questioning my attendance tonight and hate missing my roaming session, I fully intend to enjoy Saturday and Sunday at Treefort.

So I am positioning my Thursday Treefort roaming against a period of suffering through some mental challenges.

On My Way

It took a bit to muster my intention to head out, but I wanted to experience the new venue and see what challenges or advantages moving the main stage to Julia Davis park would present. Finally picked up by the Uber at 5 pm, I was on my way, putting together a short list of bands I needed to see.

I settled on seeing Petey first.

Hello Park

A drop-off at the park started a little exploration. Julia Davis certainly has plenty of room, easily accommodating Ale Fort, vendors, the Hideout, Main, and Radio Boise stages, and Art Fort.

With the Hideout and Main stage very close together, the crowd easily moves between stages as one band plays while another sets up.

I anticipated one major challenge with this year’s Treefort; it’s cold and wet, making this year's Treefort the coldest I have experienced. It is also being held in a park, not a paved lot, with the potential for some serious mud. Was this year’s Treefort about to become a Woodstock ‘99?

The ground is certainly soft, and the mud is apparent, but a park that has been tamped down over decades handles it well. No mud ended up on my high tops, and no more rain is predicted, so it should be all good.

A Little Rap

After some roaming, I caught the last rap song of Daisha McBride and immediately wished I had seen the whole performance. Pretty spectacular.

Of course, I took some video though.

Recovery

While in past years, I have happily be-bopped around on my own, just doing my thing, this year felt different. I dreaded the thought of being alone this year, and the feeling seemed only to heighten as I observed groups of all ages having a great time.

I live alone, work from home, my daughter goes to school on the East Coast, and I am 52 now. Men nationwide are experiencing a post-COVID loneliness epidemic, which seems to have caught up to me as well. The pride I have often felt for being able to enjoy my own company and always meet new people has dissipated.

I assume this onset of loneliness contributed to depression and numbness. Add in the difficulty of being a freelance writer and income's scary ups and downs.

There was a temporary fix, though, Petey.

Petey

From Detroit, Michigan, Peter Martin is a force on stage. He rose to fame on TikTok during COVID, playing a cross of indie rock, electropop, soul, and alternative. There’s no way to really identify Petey, which makes him great.

His near screams at times and his lyrics result in a refreshing Detrot brutality that I loved, and it lifted my soul.

In Don’t Tell the Boys, a song hinting at hiding his love and soft side from his boys, Petey sings in the 2nd verse:

Don't tell the boys that we done spent the week inside

And watched three seasons of The OC, 'til Marissa fucking dies

You know at times I'm more like Ryan, and you're a little more like Seth

You're so quick witted when we talk about what happens after death

I heard your brother's in the desert, he's been fighting for our freedom

He's been chasing nameless faces ever since he finished rehab

Can we support the individual, without supporting the whole damn complex?

It's either shooting guns or heroin, at least one of them pays for college

When Petey screams, “don’t tell the boys,” in the refrain, you have to love it.

The official first act was outstanding.

The Heavy Heavy

The Heavy Heavy is just fun. Their cover of Real Love Baby is a blast, and this band harmonizes so well. Running into Zenruptors Jerry and Lila was a great bonus while enjoying this band.

This retro-inspired band describes themselves as making the music the sixties forgot and worth a listen whenever you want some smiles.

Onward

The rest of the night included a mandatory stop to watch the Zags beat UCLA, a pleasant surprise I heard while walking passed The District coffee house, and the trek to check out the Bus Depot venue.

I heard the delightful sounds of Boise-based Natalie Somo coming from The District and stayed to watch the rest of her set. She’s a talent that needs to see much broader success. A mix of Sara Bareilles meets Alicia Keys, Natalie’s voice is pure Heaven, and her backing band is seriously tight.

Whenever you see her name, go see her. Natalie creates smiles.

The Bus Depot? It’s a walk, but I can’t think of a cooler way to put an old Greyhound station to use. It looks like classic raw Treefort and supports two different stages. Using a bus bay for a stage? Brilliant.

New Logistics

Treefort is more spread out than ever and incorporates new venues, including a Duck Club-owned concert hall. I have a lot left to see. It’s more walking than ever and should be the best week ever for the scooter companies.

I wonder, will the distances segregate audiences? Will people head from Julia Davis Park to the Bus Depot? Will smaller crowds downtown change the feeling?

I can’t say. Regardless, Treefort delights as always, and the Zenruption team is fortunate to cover it yearly.

This guy will be back for the rest of the weekend. I feel bad missing so many great acts, especially as I attempt to move into talent management, but life throws us curve balls sometimes. It can hurt, and depression and mental illness have an incredible ability to rob us of good times and memories.

I am luckier than most as I recover quickly and manage such episodes well. This one is just much larger than I have dealt with in a long time.

If you or someone you know suffers from mental illness, many great resources exist, and you are not alone.

If you are currently having thoughts of self-harm, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 by dialing 988. Please call their caring and educated professionals.

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purplewitch156 · 4 years ago

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I've just read a piece about how much parenting vs peers matter and remembered your post (well, ask) about not letting Tom go to Hogwarts. Apparently, we might overestimate influence of (adoptive in case of that study) parents and underestimate the influence of peers, esp with 12+ kids. I can just imagine Hermione telling Harry exactly that! Though it is understandable that you won't do it: otherwise you'd have to come up with way too many new storylines and OCs, and way too much worldbuilding.

Sorry if I’m misinterpreting (I’m feeling loopy from the vaccine), but I do intend on putting Tom through Hogwarts, which means I will have to fill it with teachers and students. I actually don’t know who was in Tom Riddle’s school year so I may be doing a lot of OC work. But you are very correct in the fact that peers influence a child a great deal, perhaps even more so than a parent/guardian does. From my own personal experience, I was way more of a copy cat to my older sister than I was to my parents. In middle school I got my mom to buy me a pair of hot boots because hot boots were the rage with my fellow classmates. I wore them maybe twice before throwing them into the back of my closet, never to be seen again, because I’m not a hot boot wearing person. The same was with makeup and nail polish. I gave them plenty of tries, but knew pretty quickly that they weren’t my thing. No one made me choose to buy the hot boots or wear makeup, but there was enough unspoken social pressure that I wanted to do it, or at least, give it a try. I think that’s why children fall into peer pressure and social pressures so often -- they’re figuring out who they are and therefore mirror a lot of what they see. Now that I’m in my thirties I have a much deeper understanding of who I am and what I like and what I don’t like and I don’t feel the drive to blend in quite so strongly. And knowing all of this, I can easily see Harry being worried/alarmed when Tom hangs out with the pure-blood elite group and, therefore, will do the most he can to surround Tom with different points of view when Tom’s on holiday because Harry won’t be able to keep Tom from hanging out with his ‘friends’. Anytime a parent tires to do that, it ends in disaster.

#replies #oh shit! harry's a cat

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neowinestainedress · 4 years ago

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↬ title: There is a glorious sunrise, dappled with the flickers of light. ↬ CHAP. 1 | CHAP. 2 | ↬ pairings: jung jaehyun x kim doyoung ; jung jaehyun x dong sicheng ; lee taeyong x kim doyoung | side suh johnny x lee ten ↬ summary: After seven years in heaven with Doyoung, an unexpected divorce shakes Jaehyun’s life upside down and it seems impossible for him to move on. But Jaehyun finds out that past the curses and cries, there is happiness and forgiveness. ↬ genre: Divorce | Post-divorce | Mild hurt/comfort | Strangers to FWB to lovers | Getting together | Single parent | Adopted children | Angst with an happy ending | Family feels | Family fluff | Aged-up characters ↬ warnings: References to past domestic abuse but it’s not described. Also, Little Renjun (and Yerim) just because I didn’t want to create a whole new oc, hope it’s not much of a problem lmao. ↬ words count: 8.8k ↬ ao3 link

Chapter two: There’ll be happiness after you

“Shit!” Sicheng muttered under his breath standing up from the mattress with his back. His eyes looked around the room swiftly, trying to catch a glimpse of his phone. Nowhere to be found. He got out of the covers, trying to be as silent as possible, and started to wear his clothes that were messily discarded on the floor the night before.

“Why do you always have to sneak out like a thief?” Sicheng stilled on the spot, one leg up in the air trying to enter in the pants and his front facing the door. Fuck, Jaehyun was awake. And he didn’t need to turn around to know how he was looking at him, not after three months this shit was going on, and his heart started to sink every time he had to say goodbye. Jaehyun’s gaze was burning on his back. He was sitting on the bed, with his hands laying on his lap, covered by the white sheets of his bed, his hair still ruffled, his eyes sleepy and his lips puffed. Sicheng hated that sight because every day was getting harder to leave.

Not looking for anything, my ass. He hissed inside his head. Cursing the night he let himself get caught in all of this.

“I’m late.” He mumbled, regaining his composure and grabbing his shirt that was laying on the armchair at the corner of the room.

“It’s Saturday. Late for what?” Jaehyun asked, annoyance in his tone, as he let his body collapse on the bed again. And Sicheng didn’t dare to turn around, knowing damn well how easy it would’ve been for him to lure him to stay a little bit more.

“Didn’t know people had no plans on Saturday.” He tried to joke about it and finally turned around. Just because he was fully clothed and there was no way he could go back in bed.

Jaehyun huffed, his arm coming to rest on his eyes. “Can I come with you?”

“No!” Sicheng almost choked himself. His eyes widening and looking all around the room. Where the hell was his phone?

Jaehyun got startled, not expecting this kind of reaction.

“I’m just late for something I need to do, okay? I really can’t stay. It was great, though. See you.” Sicheng mumbled, without catching his breath once. Then he disappeared out of the room, praying that his phone was in the kitchen or somewhere downstairs.

A curse slipped out of Jaehyun’s lips as he rolled around the bed, his face pressed against the pillow where Sicheng slept all night.

Maybe things started to get messed up in his life once again. And maybe, this time, it was totally his fault.

He didn’t understand why Sicheng acted like this every time he stayed over. Or better, he didn’t understand why all of a sudden he started to care.

He wasn’t looking for anything, right? But Sicheng was just so fun to stay with, he was kind, yet he had sharp humour and knew how to speak his mind. Oh, and the way he used to throw his head back when laughing, such a deep yet silly sound. Or how his eyes would light up when he talked about dancing.

Jaehyun growled in the pillow. He wasn’t supposed to think about all of that. He wasn’t supposed to find him so damn cute. That was not what he was looking for when he called him on the phone, one night of three months ago, to ask for a quick fuck that could distract him from his toughs.

“A little bit too shy now for somebody who just booty called me,” Sicheng teased raising an eyebrow. His hands wandering on Jaehyun’s back trying to lift his shirt and get rid of it as soon as possible.

Jaehyun mumbled something that made no sense and leaned closer to kiss him. “I– Listen it’s been quite some time, okay?” He reminded him. “Also, Doyoung has been basically –”

Sicheng shut him with a kiss, his hands running in his hair and pulling him even closer.

“As much as I love it when you talk shit I would very much like for you to shut up, now. Especially if you have to bring him up when you clearly called me to forget about him.” He said. His deep voice firm but not stern, but the thing that made a shiver run down Jaehyun’s spine was the look of his eyes, they were so intense and Jaehyun felt so naked in front of him he couldn’t help but blush.

“I just thought that –”

“Shh,” Jaehyun had no chance to finish once again, Sicheng’s finger coming on top of his red plump lips, “Can you just relax for one night? Let me take care of you.”

And Jaehyun did. He let go. The only problem was that they both didn’t pay much attention to the ‘one night’ part. Because the nights became two, and three and then so many that they had lost track. And then they also stopped just being ‘nights’.

Jaehyun had no idea if it was because, apparently both of them, Sicheng didn’t really open up much about his break up, had spent their wildest years settled with one person and now they were feeling the rush of a random fling. Or if that was simply what they needed. Whatever it was, they couldn’t stop, but they had no idea where all of this was about to go.

Jaehyun decided to get up from the bed. Deciding that moping in his toughs didn’t help. And it seemed hilarious to him how he was just stopping dwelling on is ex-husband that somebody else had started to screw him over.

༄

“You can’t go on this way,” Johnny said, stirring the coffee in his cup.

“Not you telling me to stop all of this when you were the one throwing me in his arms.” Jaehyun lamented, reminding Johnny that he was stressing him just a few months ago to open up and meet new people.

“I told you to have fun, not to get caught up emotionally.” Johnny retorted.

“I’m not. You think I like him that way?” Jaehyun laughed.

Johnny raised an eyebrow and gave him a bad look. Maybe it wasn’t love, yet, but Jaehyun was growing affectionate to him. Johnny could see it. He knew exactly how Jaehyun started to act when he started to like somebody.

“It’s just sex and friendship. We are good friends, what’s wrong with it?”

“Then why are you mad if he leaves?” Johnny highlighted teasing him.

“I just hate the way he acts sometimes. He’s keeping secrets and for what I know he could be a serial killer, John. And he would also be good at it.” Jaehyun started to mumble, his hands moving frenetically. Sicheng was so damn mysterious, and usually, Jaehyun was pretty good at reading people, but with him, it was impossible to take a small peek inside.

His friend rolled his eyes and then sighed. “You need to relax.”

“But how?” The younger squealed.

“Why don’t you talk to him?” Johnny said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. And it was, just not for Jaehyun.

Jaehyun laughed but then turned serious as soon as he saw Johnny’s face looking at him with a severe expression.

“What if I lose him?” He whispered, his voice suddenly filling with a bit of sadness.

“What if you find out you’re just paranoid and you stop torturing yourself?” Johnny proposed him, showing him the other side of the medal, where everything could go right and he would find inner peace after finding out that Sicheng wasn’t hiding anything big from him.

Jaehyun sighed. “But it’s not my place to ask. If he doesn’t want to tell me I can’t force him. I don’t want to scare him away.”

Johnny sighed. When Jaehyun didn’t want to listen there was really nothing he could do. “Just because it happened once it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen twice.” Johnny didn’t say much, but Jaehyun knew what he was talking about. Jaehyun always feared being left, but after the divorce things got worse, to the point that he also started to question his friendships and how easily replaceable he was. Doyoung was still an open wound that seemed to have no intention to heal. He didn’t miss him like that anymore. Now Jaehyun could openly see the situation for what it was. After giving him all the best he had, there was nothing else. The only thing he could give to Doyoung was the green light of forgiveness. He couldn’t be mad at him for having finally found his happiness. He knew Taeyong was giving everything he wasn’t able to give him. He had stopped being the petty him, he had let sorrow and regret behind. But he was dealing with the aftermath of everything. And healing wasn’t easy and fast as everybody wanted to believe. Blooming was painful and long.

༄

“Why are you always in a hurry, Cheng?” Jaehyun lamented, his arms wrapping around Sicheng’s torso to keep him flushed against him.

“I simply have to go.” The Chinese man answered, trying to get away from Jaehyun’s grip. He didn’t want to, to be honest. It was nice to stay there, in the warmth of his bed and body, and let himself lose in Jaehyun’ scent. But he had to.

“Yeah, but why? Why are you so mysterious. Are you hiding bodies in your freezer?”

Sicheng chuckled, letting his head fall back and rest on Jaehyun’s chest. His eyes looked at the clock, 3 p.m. Maybe he could let himself stay a little bit more.

“Fine, but just thirty minutes more.” He said, turning his head a little to leave a peak on his lips. Jaehyun smiled in the kiss and nodded.

“You can’t dodge the question, though.”

Sicheng’s body stiffed for a split second. Maybe dodging no, but lying definitely. He hated keeping it a secret to him but he was just terrified he would leave, just like she did, and he didn’t want that to happen again. Or worst, get mad like he used to. He knew he couldn’t keep it from him forever, and he knew that it would’ve hurt like hell when Jaehyun would’ve slipped out of his life, but right now he didn’t want to think about it. Because for how messy the whole thing it was, Jaehyun made him feel good. Not only in a sexual way. He loved being with him, for what he could. He felt comfortable with him. They had so many passions in common, he would never laugh at him or at something that made him happy. Jaehyun was so fucking supportive that it felt like a fever dream to Sicheng. He wasn’t used to all of this. Always getting caught in toxic relationships where he would always take too much space and time. And it was absurd to him how he felt more loved in this mess, that was just a strange friendship stained with sex, than he felt in any other relationship he ever had.

“I babysit a four years old baby, and his parents are never home, basically.” He lied, his heart aching. A part of him felt he could trust Jaehyun with the truth, but what if underneath he was like anybody else? Nice on the surface and pure evil once he let them in. He felt that Jaehyun didn’t deserve all these lies, but he had to protect himself and him.

“You babysit?” Jaehyun asked in shock.

“Yeah, why?” Sicheng tried to stop his voice from shaking, looking at Jaehyun’s face to read him.

“First of all, I thought you worked at the dance studio. And second, I don’t know, never pictured you with a baby.” Jaehyun said, a little bit confused.

“I have two jobs, but I’m focusing more on the babysitting. Might also quit the dance, to be honest.” The man mumbled, his eyes once again looking away.

“Why? I thought that was your dream?”

“Well, we can’t always have what we dream of.” Sicheng sighed, maybe he should’ve run out of the bed right now and avoid any more questions.

“And the baby?” Jaehyun furrowed. He thought that teaching paid him enough to live only of that. Wasn’t it a more stable workplace compared to babysitting? Babies grow.

“What?”

“Why you chose to babysit?”

“Oh, it just happened.” He invented at the spot. But the insecurity in his voice didn’t reach Jaehyun that seemed to be busy daydreaming about something else.

“Why are you smiling so big?” Sicheng asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Jaehyun shrugged. “Imagining you with a child.”

“I’m good with babies.” Sicheng defended.

“Never said you weren’t. You would make a great father I guess.” Sicheng heart stopped for a moment, what was he implying?

“He’s not mine.” He spat out immediately.

“I know. Just saying, for the future, you know.” The Korean turned his face back on him and flashed him a warm smile.

“You would like to have babies?” Sicheng asked. “I mean, just asking.” He added soon after to make sure he wasn’t implying that they would be with him.

Jaehyun’s smile dropped. “Yeah, always wanted at least one. Doyoung and I actually had started the practice to adopt but things went wrong for bureaucratic problems and we had to give up.”

“Oh,” Sicheng said. He had no idea about that. Jaehyun never talked about that before, he always thought children never crossed their minds.

“Guess it’s better like this seeing how we ended.” He tried to see the half-full glass. He could still remember how he had cried for months when things went wrong and he had to give up the thought of them with a baby.

Sicheng nodded, and then looked at the clock again. He almost had to leave, but one last question haunted him.

“Do you want to get married again?” Sicheng asked, having no idea why. If he said yes it would mean there was no place for him in his life. They were nothing serious.

“I don’t want to make plans for my life anymore, to be honest. I’ll just follow the flown wherever it leads me.” Sicheng didn’t know if he had to be happy about it or not. But he should’ve because the flown had lead Jaehyun to him and he was more than happy with that.

“I have to go, now. Text me.” Sicheng said getting up from the bed, for the first time without Jaehyun begging for him to stay. Now that he knew the truth he could finally relax.

But the problem was that it wasn’t the truth at all.

“Who are you?” Jaehyun’s eyebrows narrowed when he arrived in front of Sicheng house and he didn’t find him when the door opened. A shiver run down his spine when the door opened and he didn’t see anybody. Then his eyes lowered and he found a child looking at him intensely. Was that Sicheng’s mini version? Because that was the same look he would give him every time he was mad.

“Umh, I’m looking for Sicheng, actually. He told me he wasn’t working on Saturday.” Jaehyun tried to explain, trying to sound as calm as possible but it wasn’t easy because the little boy was scaring him. Why was he there if Sicheng wasn’t supposed to be working?

The boy looked up and down at him and then talked again. “I don’t know you, and dada says not to let strangers at home.”

“Oh, no. I’m Sicheng’s friend. I passed because I tough he was free. Are your parents busy?”

An interrogative expression painted on the boy’s face, and then he took some steps back, closing the door a little bit. “Dada is in the shower, can’t come right now.”

“Sicheng?” Jaehyun asked, trying to get who he was talking about.

The boy nodded. And Jaehyun wondered how absent his parents must be if he called Sicheng dad, he knew that it could happen often to babysitters when they looked after young children but he always found that kind of sad. And wasn’t he supposed to look after him? Why would he leave somebody else baby alone?

“Can I come in? It’s quite hot outside, I just want to say hi.”

“No strangers.” The boy said. Damn, he was headstrong. But at least he had been educated well. Better like this than running away with strangers.

“If I let you see a picture of me and Sicheng will you let me in?” Jaehyun asked, kneeling at his level.

The brown-haired boy nodded, holding the teddy bear closer to his chest.

“Come in.” He said and moved to the side once the man showed him a picture of them hugging.

“Thanks. Actually, I have brought sweets, do you want some?” Jaehyun asked, making his way in the house and showing the young boy the package full of pastries.

The boy’s eyes lit up and he ran toward the small table that was placed in the living room. Sicheng’s house was considerably smaller than his, but it was normal considering he was the only one living there. Yet, this was the first time he came over during the day and he could notice things he never noticed before. Like the thousands of toys that were splattered all around the living room. And when he posed the pastries in front of the child on the table, his eyes fell on the framed pictures on the fireplace.

No, it couldn’t be.

He turned around, studying the baby better. He was busy picking all the pastries that had chocolate inside. He was wearing red shorts and a white tank top with Tom & Jerry printed on top. His legs swinging in the air and a familiar smile painted his small face. He focused on his face, his eyes, his little nose, his lips…

There was no way he could be –

“What are you doing here?” Sicheng exclaimed. He was wearing a loose white shirt and black shorts. His hair still wet from the shower.

“He told me he’s your friend and he brought the pastries, so I let him in.” The boy said before Jaehyun could say anything.

“Renjun!” Sicheng exclaimed, his Chinese accent coming out completely. “How many times I told you not to let people you don’t know inside?”

“But he showed me a picture of you together!”

“In his defence, he kept me five minutes outside to see if I really knew you,” Jaehyun said.

“Fine. What are you doing here? We didn’t say to hang out.”

“You told me you weren’t working so I thought –“

“I’m working, didn’t told you plans changed.”

“But dad, you’re not working,” Renjun said, with his mouth stuffed with food, looking angrily at Sicheng.

Sicheng closed his eyes and his fist. And that’s why you don’t have conversations between adults in front of children.

“So it’s true…” Jaehyun whispered, a hand coming to cover the stupor on his face.

“Jaehyun, please, not here.” The other man begged, voice breaking in his throat.

“Renjun, to your room now, take the sweets with you, just for this time.”

༄

“Why you didn’t tell me?” Jaehyun said as soon as Sicheng pushed him inside the small kitchen and closed the door behind them, to make extra sure that Renjun couldn’t hear anything. Jaehyun was angry, thank God he wasn’t screaming at him but Sicheng could hear how hurt he was from the whole thing. But he couldn’t force himself to look up at the man in front of him. He didn’t want to see his eyes filled with disappointment.

“Sicheng, why would you hide something so big from me?” He asked again, raising his voice a little. “What idea of me you had in mind to cut out such a big part of your life?”

The Chinese man flinched, raising his hand in the air to protect himself for something that didn’t come.

“Because I didn’t want this!” He yelled, his arms coming to close around his chest and trying to hide even more in the corner of the room.

Jaehyun stilled at his reaction. Why was he acting like that?

“Sicheng,” He called him, his voice back at being low and kind. He was still let down that Sicheng would hide something like this to him, but there was definitely something wrong and more tragic behind. “Can we please sit and talk like grownups?”

But Sicheng didn’t move or talk, and soon he let himself burst in tears, and kneel to the floor. Jaehyun run to him and pulled him closer to his chest. And Sicheng wanted to pull away, not used to that. Not happy of letting him see him like this, but what was the point now? Jaehyun would’ve left anyway now that he had found out. He was mad at him like everybody else. He was useless, pathetic and nobody wanted to stick to his side. The only thing he was good at, making people run away. So he could take the good of the situation and let himself lull by Jaehyun, just before he would snap out of the pity and take it on him and then leave him forever.

But the first words that came out of the other’s mouth, weren’t the ones Sicheng expected to hear. “I’m sorry that I scared you.”

Sicheng looked up, his eyes red and wet, and sniffled. Why was he apologizing?

“We can talk if you want, but if you don’t I’ll leave, didn’t want to –”

“No!” Sicheng exclaimed. “Please don’t leave me.” He added, the hold on Jaehyun’s shirt getting incredibly tight. And he could still hear his voice calling him pathetic but he couldn’t care, that was just a nonexistent voice in his head. He needed Jaehyun.

“I’ll stay. Can we seat there?” He pointed at the chair around the table and Sicheng nodded.

“Can I, can I sit on your lap?” He mumbled, red in the face. It was such a childish request but he needed to feel that Jaehyun was there, he couldn’t even care how hot it was. But Jaehyun didn’t laugh at him, he simply sat down and pulled him on top of him.

They didn’t say a word for some minutes. Jaehyun didn’t want to force him to talk, and anyway, he had no idea what to ask him. The pieces of the puzzles were so messed up that he had no idea where to start to put them together.

“Renjun is mine, as you may have guessed.” Sicheng started to say, a small chuckle rolling out of his lips and his hands nervously playing with each other. Jaehyun grabbed them and intertwined them with his to stop him from torturing his cuticle and then let his chin rest against Sicheng’s shoulder, carefully listening to him.

“His mother left right after his birth. We were twenty-two, dating since we were eighteen when I went to the dance academy in French. One day I woke up, and all there was left of her, and us, was Renjun in his cradle and a letter marked with tears, and thousands of words to tell me that she had met someone else and didn’t want to be a mother anymore. We wanted him, we wanted Renjun with all of ourselves, and after three months she left.” Jaehyun’s heart sunk. He could’ve imagined that something happened to the other part, but he wasn’t expecting this.

“I had no idea how to deal with all of that. I never saw it coming, I was so sure that we had finally found our happiness, that finally my life was coming together and all of a sudden everything I believed in wasn’t there anymore. I felt so stupid, so dumb because I couldn’t see the signs. And till these days I still don’t know what happened, where we went wrong, if I could’ve done something, anything to save us.” A bitter smile crept on Jaehyun’s face because he knew that feeling. And he wondered how can you move on from something like that, when it had already been hard, and still was, for him, and it was a divorce. Not a baby that you looked for that suddenly became a burden, a mistake. Jaehyun hadn’t been cheated on and left with a kid.

“So I completely focused on Renjun. First, because I had to, and I had no intention of making him feel less loved or less wanted. And second, because I didn’t want to face my broken heart. I went on like this till Renjun was two. Then I met a man at a dinner party. I went there because I was working as an assistant in a corporation, and I made the biggest mistake of my life. He was thirty-six year old, fifteen years older than me. He had his life together, an amazing house, three cars, and everybody pending from his lips. We started talking casually but I found myself caught up in him faster than expected. And I was so stupid that I thought he was as into me as I was into him. But there was nothing good in what we had. I was just one of his thousands of sex toys, and I would let him do everything he wanted with me. As long as I could feel wanted even for just ten minutes against a wall or his desk, for me it was okay.” A silent sob got stuck in his throat. He hated thinking about the past, especially that part of his life. He hated that he craved love so much that even the most toxic kind seemed okay to him.

“After six months like this, I decided to cut things off. I couldn’t bring myself to do it anymore, and I wanted to focus on me and Renjun. But I was stupid and broken, I had no time to heal from her that somebody else had hurt me again. I was battered and bruised and I fell in the rabbit hole like a fool when he came back promising me to be the only one and that he loved me and wanted something serious.” Sicheng sniffled and moved in discomfort on top of Jaehyun. The other pulling him closer to him to reassure him everything was fine.

“We started to date,” He laughed bitterly. “But I had Renjun. I was a father before anything else, and he didn’t like it. I couldn’t always be where he wanted me to be. And a part of me was always thinking about Renjun even when I was out, I was just terrified something could happen to him, I didn’t want to lose him too. So I decided to open up to him and he seemed so understanding that I fell in his trap, even more, day after day getting deeper. He suggested living with him after three months. Like that, we could’ve spent more time together, I could’ve worked less and spent more time with Renjun, and finally move on from her completely by moving out of our old house. And to me, it looked like magic, but I had no idea of the nightmare that was waiting for me headed. Soon I stopped seeing the daylight, it had happened when Renjun caught a very bad disease and I had to look after him for a month, I was supposed to go back to work after that but he convinced me to stay home. Just to be sure that Renjun was fine and I could take a break from the stressful things that had happened. Pft, just an excuse to keep quiet while he would go around fucking anybody he met and also known that coming home he would’ve found a hot meal, fresh sheets and somebody else to fuck.”

Jaehyun shivered at his words. He wasn’t so sure he wanted to listen to the rest, but at the same time, he wanted to be a shoulder for Sicheng to lean on. That wasn’t what he had planned when he decided to surprise him that day. That wasn’t something he expected from Sicheng at all, because after all this pain he became so good at hiding emotions that nothing exuded from him. And now Jaehyun could see why he was cold sometimes when every time he let himself grow closer he would take five steps back right after.

“But once again, I didn’t see it coming. I was so in love with him that everything seemed shiny. He was much older than me and I believed I had so much to learn from him. I would sit and listen to all of the bullshits coming out of his mouth as if they were golden.” Another bitter laugh left his lips. “I treated him like a fucking king. Worshipping his ground like a fool. Every day waiting by the door to greet him home like a hero. My hero, because he saved me, he gave me a roof on the head, he paid for the food, for the water, my clothes, and any other thing he would buy even if I didn’t ask. Because he was doing so much for me and I had to be thankful, happy and quiet.”

“Then I started to suspect he was cheating on me, but every time I tried to bring the topic up he would gaslight me and I always let go, thinking that it was all in my head. And from then it started to go worst for me. I wanted to be wanted, so bad, Jae, so bad that I would’ve done anything as long as he would’ve kept looking at me and only me.” This time a loud sob escaped from his lips and he had to stop to regain his composure. He had to move and finish the story, it was starting to hurt and Renjun was alone in his room way too long for his liking.

“But I wish it would’ve stopped there. After six months his company started to flop, and he had to take it on somebody, and he knew that the only one who wouldn’t have dared to say something around was me. I don’t really want to talk about it, but things got worse and physical pretty soon.” Sicheng wanted to erase it from his mind so bad, but he couldn’t, and talking about it only hurt more. It meant going back there, with his hands on his body, his eyes black, his lips bulging and no mercy at his screams and cries. He knew he needed to go to therapy or else that wounds would never heal, but it was too expensive for him, a single father who was already struggling to arrive at the end of the month already like this.

“That’s why I flinched when you raised your voice before. When I was dating him one wrong step meant a yell from him followed by a slap, that when he was in a good mood and decided to stop there.” Jaehyun didn’t say a thing, he simply started to caress the back of Sicheng’s hand with his thumb to reassure him that with him nothing like that would’ve ever happened. But deep down he knew that wasn’t enough. Sicheng needed help, serious help. But right now, that was the only thing he had to offer, his support.

Sicheng sniffled, his hands tightening around Jaehyun’s. “It went on for almost two years, and if it wasn’t for Renjun probably I would still be there. I couldn’t stand seeing Renjun living in that toxic environment. Renjun started to be defensive with everybody, at the kindergarten he wouldn’t talk with anybody. He would ask me why I had bruises all over my body and I didn’t know how to lie anymore. He also started to have nightmares at night but he wanted me at his side and I had to put my baby second.” Sicheng paused another time, taking a deep breath.

“Do you want some water?” Jaehyun asked; the first words he spoke since they started this conversation. But the Chinese man shook his head. He didn’t want to get up and stop feeling the warmth of his body.

“I had no worth in his life and it was time for me to break free and leave him in ruins. He wasn’t expecting for me to stand up, to take the dagger he had jabbed in me and remove it. And neither was I. I had no money, no job, nowhere to go. But I did it, I was tired of begging for a place that wasn’t meant for me, I knew that both Renjun and I deserved better. To be celebrated, not tolerated. I wanted to call Ten and ask for help but I was so embarrassed by myself that I decided to test my luck completely. So I moved here without saying a word. Slept in hotels and sent jobs applications. And luckily enough I got accepted at the dance studio to teach. I have to look after him so the pay is not much for the few lessons I do, but it’s enough to pay the rent, the bills, food and clothes. I didn’t come here for Christmas, I had to lie to Ten because I didn’t want him to pity me.” Sicheng admitted.

“Wait, nobody knows about all of this?” Jaehyun asked when the realization hit him. Sicheng did all of that by himself, with nobody by his side.

“Nobody but you,” Sicheng confirmed, smiling shyly with his head low.

Silence filled the room after that, but it wasn’t awkward. Sicheng wasn’t in the mood to tell him how hard it had been to come all over another country and start from zero. With the fear he would come to look for them. He had no reason to do that, but Sicheng still lived in fear. That was one of the reasons why he insisted that Renjun wouldn’t trust strangers. He couldn’t care about Renjun, he never did, he wasn’t his. But he knew how much Renjun meant for him, and if he wanted to hurt him, the baby was his Achilles’ heels.

“Let me check on Injunnie,” Sicheng said getting up. He was still shaking, but he passed his hand on his face to wipe away the tears, ruffled his hair and then walked out the door. And Jaehyun watched him, wondering how many times he had to do it to appear okay in front of his son’s eyes when he clearly wasn’t.

But after all of this? What was his role in this story? Was Sicheng going to give him a chance or was that the way to let him know he was out of his life? Because Jaehyun didn’t want that, he wanted to stay. Which seemed absurd considering four months before he wasn’t looking for anything serious and now he was getting himself in something that not only was serious but also extremely complicated. And what if Renjun didn’t like him? What if he wasn’t what he wanted and needed? Was he good enough to be a father?

“Jae,” Sicheng called him, making him come back down from his thoughts. “He fell asleep.” He said, and for the first time that day he saw Sicheng smile also with his eyes, the one Renjun inherited from him. And Jaehyun felt at home. A little bit messed up, with broken windows and lots of things to fix, but at home.

“So, what are we making for dinner?” Jaehyun asked standing up and walking towards Sicheng.

The man stared at him with an eyebrow raised. “You want to stay?”

“Yeah, I came to spend time with you,” Jaehyun said as if it was the most obvious thing.

“And what are we going to do with…us?” He asked, his finger moving between them. He had spent an hour ranting about his life but they didn’t say a word about them. And what kind of them? That was nothing serious right? He was the dumb one who caught feelings in the way, not Jaehyun who just came out of a happy relationship ended in tragedy and wanted nothing to do with something serious.

“Give us a try? Only if you want to.” Jaehyun proposed, his face lighting up in a warm smile who showed his dimples.

Sicheng gasped. The Jaehyun, Jung Yoonoh wanted to give them a try? He wanted to take all the mess he, Dong Sicheng, carried with him. He hoped to God that wasn’t another twist of fate and that this time was really the right one. For him and for Renjun, who deserved stability.

“Wait, I didn’t scare you for life?” Was the only thing he managed to say, though.

“It takes more than that to scare me.” Jaehyun winked.

“Well, I guess it’s time to bring out the dead bodies in the freezer,” Sicheng answered, dead serious. Just to burst out laughing two seconds later.

“God, you’re so stupid,” Jaehyun said before pulling him into a kiss.

Maybe his love story wasn’t finished, yet. He just had to wait for the book to complete itself.

༄

“What if she doesn’t like it?” Sicheng said tossing and turning the Christmas gift he had in hand.

Jaehyun sighed, stopping at the red light and turning around to have a better view of the man sitting on the passenger seat.

“Wingi, she’s not even six months old. What do you think she’s going to do? Throw it at you?”

“But babies that age needs things that stimulate their growth and it’s really important that they grow fond of their things.” Sicheng ranted.

“Dear Lord,” He exclaimed, starting the car, again. “She’s going to love it, you’ll see it.”

“But –”

“Injunnie, why don’t we sing this song?” Before Sicheng could start to complain again, Jaehyun raised the volume of the radio passing Last Christmas.

Renjun giggled in his teddy bear hooded baby jumpsuit and with is plushie firm in the hold of his hands who were starting to be less chubby, and then said: “So daddy will shut up and sing with us.”

“Hey!” Sicheng screamed, turning around a little bit to look at the child sitting in the middle in his children’s car seat. “I’m telling you, I don’t like it that you two started plotting against me.”

Then the three burst into a loud laugh just to start singing the song together soon after.

“Dada,” Renjun called Sicheng, “want to know why this is my favourite song?”

“Yes, why?” Sicheng asked, looking at him from the review mirror.

“It reminds me of us. We were always lonely during Christmas or with that bad man but now we have papa and we’re happy and home is filled with love because you gave your heart to someone special.”

Jaehyun had to thank God they had arrived at Johnny and Ten’s house, and he had nobody behind because the brutal stops he did would’ve caused an accident. His heart stopped in his chest just to start beating twice the normal rage. But Sicheng’s reaction was any different. They weren’t expecting this.

They started to get serious right after that talk, but it hadn’t been easy. They wanted to see if they really worked together and then later Jaehyun would’ve entered Renjun’s life. Because if things didn’t work out, Sicheng didn’t want to also mend Renjun’s broken heart. So even if it had been almost six months together, and Jaehyun already got closer to the baby, they dropped the news to Renjun only one month ago. And he loved it. Renjun was so enamoured of Jaehyun that he wanted all of them to live together right away, and it also didn’t take him much to ask for another sibling, preferably a sister, just because he was head over heels for the little girl uncle Johnny and Ten had just adopted. But Renjun had never said something that strong. And also he never called Jaehyun dad, or anything alike.

“I think I need a moment,” Jaehyun mumbled. His heart still jumping in his chest. Renjun had called him papa and said he was someone special, in front of the same house where he got his heart broken one year before by seeing his ex-husband replacing him with somebody else.

“Congratulation, you broke daddy Jae.” Sicheng joked turning around, expecting to find Renjun to still be seated, but the small beast was already seat belts free with his head in the middle of the front seats, smiling at them.

“Nooo. You need to work!” He said pushing his little finger in Jaehyun’s cheek. Jaehyun turned around unexpectedly and jokingly eat it, making Renjun jump in surprise.

Renjun’s high and genuine laugh resonated in the vehicle, his head thrown back and his eyes closed as four eyes full of love stared at him. Finally, after all the pain everything seemed to be falling into pieces. Finally, there was happiness. And it was all summed up in that beautiful laugh.

“Come on! I want to see Yerim!” Renjun shouted once he stopped laughing and started to jump on the spot. Hurring them to let him free.

“As you wish, your majesty.” Jaehyun joked and opened the car door to get open Renjun’s.

Once the car was locked and they grabbed the bags with all the other gifts, Sicheng took a deep breath and stretched to Jaehyun his hand, which he took. Renjun was already knocking on the front door with Yeri’s gift in his tiny hands.

“You okay?” Jaehyun asked before he started walking towards their friends’ house. And Sicheng nodded, a bright smile on his face. “We met here one year ago.”

“And I told you I wasn’t looking for anything serious. And look at us now.” Jaehyun remembered him. It was funny how fate worked, sometimes.

Sicheng laughed. That became their inside joke when Sicheng started to call him ‘Mrs. Nothing serious’ any time he wanted to tease him.

“If you don’t come in right now, I’m leaving you out in the cold!” Johnny’s voice called them and they both rolled their eyes before hurrying their steps to walk inside.

༄

The chatting of the people filled the big living room, the Christmas tree in the corner and the ambient lights created a warm and cosy atmosphere along with the holiday music playing in the background, loud enough to be heard but not to annoy. Ten didn’t hold back even that year where they had been extremely busy with the baby. But it was nice. Johnny and Ten’s Christmas party was one of the constant things in Jaehyuns’s life, he liked to know that he could always look forward to this. Especially now that everything fell into pieces.

“Why you didn’t tell me you were his ex-husband?”

“Well, good evening to you, too, Taeyong,” Jaehyun said, with a tint of irony in his voice. The man rolled his eyes.

“You made me stand there and tell you about us for what?” He asked, going back to his point.

Jaehyun sighed, and then he turned towards the voice coming from his side. Taeyong was standing in front of him, even more handsome than he was the year before. His hair was now a dark red, similar to the colour of the velvet suit he was wearing.

“To make sure he was in good hands. To make sure he has found his happiness.” Jaehyun explained.

Taeyong didn’t say a word. That wasn’t the answer he was expecting.

“And if you’re wondering, yes, I think he is.”

The other man furrowed. “Why? Why would you hurt yourself like this?”

“I didn’t hurt myself. Or, well, yes, it did hurt but it was useful. I needed closure, Tae. Can I call you that?” The man nodded. “Knowing that he had somebody else that brought the happiness I wasn’t able to give him anymore helped to get there.”

“Yeah but I still felt like shit when Doyoung told me about you,” Taeyong explained, sipping from his flûte full of champagne.

“You shouldn’t. I mean, look at this, everything is perfect now, right?” Jaehyun pointed in front of them. Ten was holding Yerim in his arms, talking with Sicheng and some other friends from work, while Doyoung and Johnny were chatting with Mark and Yuta. And he didn’t feel the suffocating feeling anymore. No matter all the unknown faces that still filled the room, or the fact that this wasn’t the plan he had in mind.

“I’m going to treat him right, even for you,” Taeyong said, his big sparkling brown eyes meeting Jaehyun’s. He still didn’t understand how Jaehyun could act like this, but he appreciated his maturity and his positivity. It felt strange, probably if he was at his place he would’ve hated himself, yet, Jaehyun didn’t.

“I know you will.” He answered smiling. He had no doubt about that.

༄

The sounds and the life of the city could be felt from the window where Sicheng was standing, the party alive behind him while he was spacing out, caught up in his emotions.

“What are you thinking about?” Jaehyun asked coming behind him, his arms wrapping around his waist, his chin resting on his boyfriend’s shoulder.

“I used to sit in front of the window dreaming of a better day, every day of my life when it started to get worst. But as much as I dreamed it, it always seemed like an impossible thing to achieve.” Sicheng started to explain, throwing his head back so he could rest against Jaehyun. “Then I dried my tears and went looking for it. But I never thought it would end up being so wonderful.”

A smile appeared on Jaehyun’s lips as he held him closer.

“I used to think the divorce was the biggest failure of my life for my age and for everything I had in mind about my future. Then I discovered that there’s nothing wrong in adding a plot twist in the story you’re writing. Especially if the plot this is this beautiful.” This time the one smiling was Sicheng, as warmth spread across his chest. It felt like home, after all the broken houses he lived in, he finally found a place to call home.

“Are you,” Sicheng mumbled, his hands searching for Jaehyun’s around his waist. “ever afraid, I don’t know, that something might go wrong again?” Sicheng didn’t want to ask that to ruin the mood, but sometimes fear would always come back to haunt him. He was getting better, he started to go to therapy and could finally see the clearer picture, but he didn’t heal completely yet. And maybe knowing that Jaehyun had the same fears would calm him down.

“I am. I had spent years convinced that somebody would’ve been by my side forever and then one morning they weren’t there anymore, and the same thing happened to you. I don’t want to lose you and Renjun but I don’t even want to stain our story with fear and hold it back. I’m pretty positive about us, we make a really great family.” Jaehyun said, turning his head back to look at Renjun, who was lulling Yeri with Ten by his side, for a second and then looked back at Sicheng.

“I don’t want to make promises anymore, Cheng,” Jaehyun said, and Sicheng furrowed for a second. “But I can tell you that I want to hold your hands as we walk for a long distance keeping our pace, with no one running behind us, following our path. And I hope that when it turns to grey, or it rains, we don’t run away but we will keep looking for a better place, a better version of us. I don’t want to promise you anything, but I hope I can be the one that wipes your tears and hears you laugh for a long time.” The sincerity in Jaehyun’s warm voice made Sicheng’s heart skip a beat. As if he was wonderstruck he finally realized everything was real. After all, somebody was willing to spend forever by his side, and also take care of Renjun. In all the chaos of this big world, in the thousands of souls that walked the heart, and all their heartbeats, Sicheng had found his missing puzzle piece.

A hot tear streamed down his face as his eyes locked into Jaehyun’s, making extra sure that he was standing right in front of him and he wasn’t just another of his beautiful dreams.

“Do you like this idea?” Jaehyun asked. He didn’t want to use the word ‘plan’ anymore, he prefered ideas, so he could have fun staring at them and see how they would turn out.

Sicheng smiled, his eyes lighting up like the stars in the sky that night. “I love this idea.” And then he closed the distance between them with a kiss.

༄

“So he calls you dada,” Johnny teased walking to stand by Jaehyun’ side, his finger pointing at Renjun who had fallen asleep in Jaehyun’s arms. It was almost midnight, and the party was coming to an end, but Renjun gave up before they could finish the celebrations and Jaehyun’s arms seemed like the most comfortable place for him.

“He does.” Jaehyun smiled. And Johnny chuckled, that kind of smirk Jaehyun deciphered perfectly.

“What, Johnny? What is the lesson you have to give me, now?” He asked, rolling his eyes.

“Nothing. I was just thinking you’ve always been one of a kind.” His best friend said tilting his head to the side to have a better look of him.

“Elaborate, please.”

“A marriage, a divorce, becoming the father of a baby that’s not yours. That’s quite surreal for the perfect love story you always wanted.” Johnny explained. And before Jaehyun could talk back, taking it as an insult, he added what he really wanted to say to him. “I’m proud of you. Just wanted to let you know.” One of his arm wrapping around Jaehyun in a half hug.

And Jaehyun smiled, after whispering a small ‘thank you’ that was interrupted by cheers coming behind them. They looked at each other and then walked toward the table where everybody had gathered around. Johnny walked towards Ten who was holding his usual ‘end of the year’ speech that he always insisted to do to thank the people hat made part of his life. And Jaehyun reached Sicheng, leaving a small kiss on his forehead.

And now that he had all the people that changed his life in one room, smiling happily and cherishing each other, Jaehyun understood something important. His life definitely hadn’t been the perfect love story he always fantasized of, but that was the most beautiful part of it. And just because his initial plans didn’t work out it didn’t mean that what was waiting headed was bad. In the end, the most beautiful things that happened in his life were unexpected. He wasn’t looking for Doyoung when he found him and shared such a big slice of his life, for seven happy years. And he wasn’t looking for Sicheng and Renjun when he found them, after all the curses and cries. Jaehyun had learnt to stop crying and start to look at the past with the same smile on his face that he was reserving for the future. Because now that his eyes moved between Doyoung with his arms wrapped around Taeyong and Sicheng clenching at his side, while Renjun was still sleeping in his arms, he was more than sure, that in their history, after the great divide, there was a glorious sunrise waiting for them.

Jaehyun had loved Doyoung with every fibre of his body and he knew that Doyoung did too. He knew they had an amazing time together when they were younger. They had grown together, seen each other at their worst and their best. They had given so much to each other, and Jaehyun will never forget. And he knew that Doyoung was feeling the same. He knew it, from the way he turned around, looked for him in the crowd of people, and smiled. And they had shared so much that they didn’t need words to understand each other. Their smiles were screaming silent thank yous. Thank you for walking by my side all this time. They would’ve moved on, from then on, holding hands with somebody else, but always holding each other in their hearts.

And leavening it all behind wasn’t a bad thing, anymore.

It only meant one thing.

Finally, there was happiness, in their past and in whatever the future was holding for them.

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misskittysmagicportal · 4 years ago

Text

When Vicky Needed Honey

(An OC Kiss Week collaboration between @super-unpredictable98 and @misskittysmagicportal. No warnings, just mother/daughter love. Moonwalkers/The Umbrella Academy AU)

I woke up with that weird feeling again. I looked over at Klaus, still pretty much asleep, and grunted. On my way to the bathroom I prayed and prayed, but no luck. My period was nowhere to be found. A couple of days, I can understand, an entire week is a bit more worrying.

The last few days I've been feeling kinda sick, but it could be stress. I've been feeling kinda tired, understandable after two apocalypses. I've been feeling a little dizzy, which could easily be from the time travel... But my period wouldn't come, so that was starting to freak me out.

"Hey, Vanya... Would you buy a pregnancy test for me?" I rehearsed in front of the mirror. "No, no, I should ask Allison. She has a daughter, she'd understand, right?"

I nearly jumped when Klaus shifted in his sleep, I hoped with all my might he didn't hear what I just said. I sat on the edge of the tub and let my head roll back. How the fuck did we let that happen? We always wear a condom!

Well, technically a condom has 98% of effectiveness, according to the box, which I was reading as I thought about it. That means... 2 out of 100 women will get pregnant. With the amount of sex we have, it wouldn't be surprising that I could become part of this 2%. Damn it, Klaus! Why do you have to be so charming? Blame it on three decades of suppressed desire I guess.

I had to talk to someone, someone who wouldn't judge me, someone I could trust. There was only one person I could think of, so I went back into the room and as silently as possible, I slid the black briefcase from under our bed. The date was already set, so all I had to do was open it.

I felt that familiar pull of time travel, that endless rope that dragged me across the universe, which seemed to take forever, even though it was less than a second. As soon as I landed, I regretted it, my stomach did not like the disturbance and I felt like I was about to throw up.

"Vicky? Are you ok?" I felt a gentle hand on my back and took a few deep breaths before being able to turn back.

"Honey! Thank fucking God you're here! I need to talk to you."

"Is it Klaus? It's Klaus. Oh my god, tell me he's alright"

"Alright, I think we should sit down for this one..."

Honey nodded with a smile and took my hand as we made our way to the couch. I chewed on my bottom lip for a little while, thinking of the best way to say it, but I didn't wanna admit it:

"So, I'm gonna say it and I need you to listen because it's very complex," I started. "I think I'm pregnant, and I feel horrible because I don't want to be. Not that I don't want any kids, I do, in the future. The problem is that we just came out of the second apocalypse, everything is a mess, my family is all over the place. I love Klaus more than anything, so I don't wanna throw this onto him, you know? He's been through so much already!"

"Sweetie..."

"And I'm terrified of not being a good mother, the only mother I ever had was a robot. I love her to bits, but what if all I can give my child is robot-love? I don't even know what it feels like, my birth mom clearly didn't love me, she chose to give me away for money, I understand she wasn't expecting to get pregnant out of the blue, but... I don't understand why she couldn't love me. I feel so selfish and so stupid for letting this happen, and I keep thinking about my biological mom, I'm freaking out here," I started sobbing. "You're the only person I can talk to."

Honey began to live for the sound of her “kids” popping by the apartment. She brought the books home with her more often in case Klaus would come by to learn more about himself. Or Luther who really just wanted the tiny woman to hold him the way a robot never could. And Diego who well, was always hitting on her. Allison and Vicky and Vanya helped her feel not so alone.

Yeah, they were her children. They were mostly older than Honey. The discarded. The outcast. Who suffered abuse. They were the bought and sold to a billionaire. They were a magical pregnancy and 43 terrified women, one she would become 15 years from now. Thank God she already knew what one of those felt like.

Honey was checking on Sugar and Sunny as they napped. The large crow with his beak buried in his ebony feathers kept one large yellow eye on them from above. Sunny was enamored with the corvid. Klaus, despite being 35 years older than himself, was deeply jealous.

It was from their room, after hearing a familiar VOIP sound in the living room, that Honey just felt in her body something was wrong. There was an anxiety emanating from Vicky whose back was to her.

“Vicky? Are you ok?” Honey gently touched the woman. She wanted to hug her, but opted for minor affection.

Vicky's expression in response worried Honey. “Is it Klaus? It's Klaus. Oh my god, tell me he's alright.” Her lip started to tremble. For a clone of Leon, Klaus was infused with his mother.

Half an hour later, Honey could only stare slack-jawed over Vicky's guts being spilled all over the couch. So to speak.

Honey took Vicky’s hand and did what her mom would do. What she and Julia found themselves doing with their children. Whether they were full grown men or toddlers. Honey kissed Vicky's hand several times and held it over her heart.

“First of all, I can't speak for your birth mother or the others. I know Klaus told me it was a spontaneous pregnancy. Like BAM! We're suddenly giving birth. For me, even being 45,” Honey shivered dramatically, “I would rather kill Reginald and take you all. But whatever the other women did. That's on them.

“But! If anyone knows about an unexpected pregnancy, it's me. She's asleep in the other room with her brother. I think I realized I was knocked up, I just ignored it until Leon mentioned something about my body being new. We NEVER used protection. Pills in the sixties were for married women only. The fact that we had sex for over a year before anything happened is a freaking miracle.

I took two tests in the flat. Then at the clinic. Just a few weeks before, abortion became legal AND funded by the NHS. I told no one, went and made that woman tell me every single step of the process. I asked how easy the adoption process in the UK is. I wasn't keeping it no matter what.”

Now Honey took both of Vicky’s hands, “You have so many readily available options.” She kissed them both again, “But please just let Klaus know. It's YOUR choice. YOURS. Ultimately, I changed my mind. I had her on my own. Pregnancy, birth, her first six months. I wasn't even on the same continent as Leon. But if my baby would have half his looks, and his way of loving, and even an OUNCE of his heart, Leon deserved to be a dad. I WANTED to have his baby. I don't regret my decision. I don't want to regret yours either. We all love you.”

Honey kissed Vicky's forehead, “I mean I'm your mom now.”

I would've started crying if I wasn't already, it felt so good to finally have someone to hold my hand. I can only imagine dad's reaction if I told him I was pregnant with Klaus' baby... It was awesome to not be judged for once.

"I wanna tell him, I'm just scared... If I really am pregnant, I wanna keep it, but what if he doesn't like it? What if he doesn't wanna be a dad?"

My desperate rambling was interrupted by a blue surge of energy right in the middle of the room, that could only mean one thing... Klaus and Five fell from it with a loud thud.

I had to cover my mouth not to scream, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest, but Honey seemed pleased with the new visitors.

"Jesus Vicky... I woke up and you were gone, I was worried!" Klaus squeezed me in a tight hug.

"I told you she was fine, Victoria can handle herself," Five rolled his eyes. "It's not like she can get hurt."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to disappear."

Klaus moved to give Honey a hug as well, she kissed his forehead and urged him to sit down between us.

"I know this face, Scnucki..." Klaus placed his hand on my cheek. "What's wrong?"

I looked over at Honey and she gave me a reassuring nod. With a sigh, I took Klaus' hand, tracing the 'hello' with the tip of my finger.

"Klausie," I tried to muster the courage to say it. "I know the timing might not be the best, things are a little crazy right now, but I think I might be..."

"Might be...?" He stared at me nervously.

"Pregnant."

Klaus' mouth dropped and he widened his eyes. Shit! Shit! He hates it, he wasn't happy. He was gonna leave me right there and then.

"But we always..."

"I know, but apparently condoms are only 98% effective."

"You two really abuse your luck," Five mused.

"Timing isn't great, but if you want to keep it, I'm with you. It's our baby," a smile tugged at Klaus' lips. "And I love you, so..."

"Actually," I got up as fast as I could. "I love you too, but I'm not pregnant. If you guys will excuse me, I gotta go to the toilet, like right now!"

Honey watched as Vicky ran off to the bathroom. She was left with a bewildered Klaus, slack jawed over everything that quickly took place. She could only snort as Leon popped up from the same corner Vicky had just flown around. Mouth agape identical to his clone.

“Alright love,” Leon kissed her on the cheek. “Never told me the kids were coming ‘round for a visit.” He eyed up Five, still uncertain of him.

Klaus dramatically planted a fist on his hip, “Im thirty-six.”

“Too right. What's going on? Is Vicky ok she looked barmy.”

“Well we were almost grandparents.”

“GRANDPARENTS?! I'm thirty! Bloody hell I can't keep track of the ten we have now. Can't handle a baby, mate. Not coming from you. No offense.”

“All of it taken,” Klaus quipped.

“Well we don't need to worry about it. Pretty sure Vicky just overwhelmingly got her period. Better luck next time!”

Every single person in the room nearly knocked Honey flat with a loud in unison “NEXT TIME?”

She wouldn't make that mistake again.

#vicky #the eighth child #honey comb #tupelo honey #ockissweek #ockiss21 #leon x honey #vicky x klaus

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imnotwolverine · 4 years ago

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Epilogue

Henry Cavill x OC Lisa - multi-chapter fic

Author’s note: OH! I absolutely adored writing about these two, but alas, it is time for us to part. And as I bid these two lovebirds (and their 100k long “short” story..) adieu, I will definitely continue to write. Please feel free to send me prompts or ideas and enjoy your day.

Word count: 1.592

Disclaimer: fluff

This is the final part of the Tea for Two series. *sadness* I hope you enjoyed it <3

Read my other stories here.

Is the air thick, or is it just me?

Tapping my foot on the grey slate tiles of the bathroom, I glanced at the obnoxious piece of plastic that was currently taking its sweet time to give me clarity. Here I was, sitting on the toilet, a fumbled up box in my left hand and this pregnancy test in my right. A soft singing drifted in from downstairs, as Henry was cooking us dinner. Probably singing along to this jazzy cooking playlist I made, I thought.

I smiled and sighed. I really don’t need to read the wrapper AGAIN, right?

I stretched out to place the stick on the edge of the sink, before tossing the wrapper and box in one graceful bow straight in the bin.

GOAL.

I smirked and half-eyed the stick again. No result yet.

Arghh..How long could a few minutes be?!

I knew the drill by now. Especially after that little heart attack moment a few months ago.

What probably had just been some mild stomach flue, had awoken a whole new phase in our relationship. Suddenly there was this baby-situation we needed to discuss. And I, for one, was not quite ready for that.

It became a mind boggling 12-hour rollercoaster that came to an immediate halt as it happened to be a false alarm. Just some painful boobs and a bit of throwing up.

Now, however, it seemed more game on. For a few days now I had been having morning sickness, unbeknownst to Henry - I didn’t want to flip his guts again for no reason. And ..well…there HAD been this Japan trip where I had accidentally forgotten my pill strip. And we did have sex. Hot HOT sex.

Oops.

What a few months can do, right? My life changed so fast, I barely even realised it. Two years ago I was living a very single life in LA, my mind more occupied with work than love. Fast forward a few months and I was suddenly cooping up with this hella cute guy in a trailer on the Witcher set in Poland. The next thing we’re meeting the parents, we’re moving in..he’s proposing. Holy hell.

And did I want to have babies with him?

I guess I..

I glanced at the stick again, noticing a line was starting to appear. My eyes grew wider.

HOLY HOLY HOLY..

OH MY…

‘Honey, dinner’s almost ready.’ I barely registered Henry’s voice as he called for me, my fingers now grasping around the test to get a better look.

‘Oh my..’ I whispered, quickly getting up from the toilet seat and folding my fingers around the plastic object, looking at it one more time before pushing it in my sweater pocket, my legs blindly carrying me down the stairs.

A waft of roast veggies and meats hit my nostrils, the sound of some jazz music joined by Henry’s soft humming. Ah the Sunday roast. I practically floated into the kitchen, my stomach rumbling at the notion there was some delicious food at the ready. And a delicious fiancé too.

I squeezed Henry’s ass and popped my head over his shoulder, looking at him work as he cut up the roast meat.

’Smells goooood.’ I all but drooled. Henry snickered in response.

‘That’s gooood to hear.’ He sang-sung in his low baritone, half-wittedly tuning in with the beat of the music. I chuckled, moving to fill a pitcher with water, before following Henry to the dining table.

Tony Bennett’s Tea for Two was playing softly in the background.

“Picture you upon my knee

Just tea for two

And two for tea..”

We sat down and as Henry started to open a bottle of red wine my mind all but reeled.

OH darn. I have to tell him..right now.

Or later? After dinner?

Maybe just..

Fuck..I can’t drink alcohol.

I looked at his hand as it deftly turned the bottle opener into the cork, the cork scrunching under the force.

‘I ..eh…’ Henry looked up, his hand now starting to tug on the opener, the cork slowly rising from the narrow neck of the bottle.

My cheeks turned bright red and my mind couldn’t form a single word.

‘You okay dear?’ He asked, not sure what was the matter as his eyebrow raised. ‘Please don’t tell me you just now became a vegetarian..’ He nervously chuckled, eyeing the roast meat as it lay enticingly steaming on the wooden board.

‘I’m pregnant.’ I finally gasped.

Suddenly there was wine everywhere. Henry’s hand slipped and the bottle all but tumbled from his grip as his mouth fell wide agape, the red liquid staining his shirt and arms as he stared at me wide eyed.

‘Really?’ He whispered, completely ignoring the wine spill as he turned on his chair.

I smiled nervously, my cheeks burning even more red as I fumbled, reaching for the test that was snugly hidden away in my sweater pocket. Just like a baby. My fingers grasped around the plastic and I tugged it out, my eyes also instantly dragging back to the little + icon that had appeared only minutes earlier. It was still there.

‘I’m pregnant.’ I smiled, a giddy laughter starting to bubble up in my chest as Henry’s arms were suddenly around me, his lips pressing precious little kisses on my face.

—---

*on Instagram*

To my wife.

On a very sweaty early morning in LA I was preparing for my walk with Kal. Like I do everyday before work. Little did I know that Kal had different plans that day. He escaped. Something I can easily ascribe to be one of the most terrifying moments of my life, were it not that within minutes my phone rang. I heard your voice.

‘Are you perhaps missing a dog?’

I went out to find you and Kal. Which happened to be at the highest hill top. You smiled at me casually while handing me his leash, a sunset setting the world around us aglow. We chatted a bit while walking back down - you worked on the Witcher set as well and had this sweet quirkiness going on. “Lisa from marketing” is all I knew about you when you waved us goodbye.

Well. I asked around. And apparently there worked over 20 Lisa’s at the Witcher set.

I had almost given up on finding you again, when I finally saw you. Sipping on a cup of tea at the breakfast bar. And once more we had such fun, that I felt that this cup of tea was empty way too soon and you had hopped off your chair and disappeared before I could ask you out. It left me a bit confused. Should I just call you? It felt like we clicked. I had your number. No.. that’d be weird. Oh, how silly I felt when I would then continue coming to that breakfast bar again..and again..and again. Until I found you there once more. And we chatted again so very animatedly. You invited me for a hike after work. Which turned into dinner at your place. And the rest…well..it’s kind of history.

Just one week ago you have made me the happiest man alive. Because I may now call you not just my best friend, my arch nemesis on Mario Kart, my conscience when I so need it, but also ..my wife. I love you, my sweet Lisa.

PS. Thanks Kal for that hook up. I owe you one, BIG time.

“Just tea for two

And two for tea

Just me for you

And you for me alone”

—

‘PUSH! Come on! PUSH!’

‘I can’t do it.’ I cried, my fingers tangling desperately around the sweaty sheets as another contraction rippled through my wrecked body.

‘Come on baby. A little more. You’re nearly there.’ Henry dabbed the sweat off my forehead, the cool cloth somewhat alleviating my toasty hot skin as I squeezed every muscle I could squeeze.

Why did this baby have to decide to come out on the hottest frigging day of the year?!

‘AAAAAAHHHHHH BY THE GODS WHY..FUCK..AHHHHHHH.’ I scolded, fury raging through my boiling blood.

The whole world kind of swam around me in colours and sounds. There were indistinct voices cheering me on as I could feel the dull pressure at my lower abdomen, the almost natural need to push rushing through my very being. And then there was Henry. His head floating above me as he coached me through it all, his voice focused and steady as a rock in a wild, restless surf.

‘I am so proud of you. You are doing it. YES baby! YES!’ His voice became more excited.

Flop.

Silence.

For just a moment, as all faces suddenly turned downward, I felt my heart sink. Was it…?

And then he cried, our baby boy.

Still a bit at loss at what just happened and even more confused at what to do, I looked over at Henry. His hair a tumbling mess of dark curls and his blue eyes glazed over with tears, he smiled, unbelieving of what just happened. I felt my heart sing through the realms of my painful body. All was well.

And then suddenly there was this tiny little person placed on my breast. All soft skin, caked with blood, a roaring wail coming from his tiny mouth. Our baby bear.

My heart swelled as Henry’s eyes met mine.

Green meets blue.

Mommy.. meets daddy.

---

“We will raise.. a family

A boy for you

And a girl for me”

The end.

#henry cavill fanfiction #henry cavill fluff #fanfiction #henry cavill #lovers #relationship #henry cavill x oc #teafortwo #tea for two #longstory #pregnancy #childbirth #lovestory

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salthaven · 5 years ago

Text

Make a Change P15 (an Explanation and Summary)

Part Fifteen (An Explanation and Summary)

So, as I recently posted, I don’t plan to continue this story any longer. As much as I loved writing it, I also...fell out of love, I suppose. I just don’t have the time, passion, or motivation to try forcing myself to write it anymore, and it’s unfair to you guys to have to accept a sloppy second, something thrown onto a document for the sake of a word count and an update. I want to write stuff I’m proud of, and that just wasn’t happening with this story.

That said, one reader asked for a summary, so that they could get some closure. Luckily, I have some notes that I took as I planned the story and started writing it, and I thought you’d like to see some of them. This includes three things: 1. The schedules for most of the main characters 2. The heroes I was planning on bringing in and 3. All of the ideas I had for “Who on Earth will Marinette end up with?” (This was a doozy.) Along with this, I want to talk about other pairings I had in mind.

With that all said, let’s hop right in!

The Schedules:

I really planned out their schedules, just so I could start figuring out who the Quantic Kids would be. I had a general idea in mind: Each student at Collège des Arts would have to take their four core classes (History, Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science), a language, and then their last period would be a two hour block that focused on their artistic talent. I set it up this way so that I could integrate the Quantic Kids into Marinette’s life. (Along with this, I made it so the whole school had lunch after fourth hour, so that the morning had four hours of classes, and the afternoon had three. I note this, because some schools separate lunches based on fourth hour, so that there is an A, B, and C lunch. I...did not feel like dealing with that, and I wasn’t sure how French schools do it but I doubt it’s like that.)

Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s schedule:

1. History (right next to Félix, later on stuck between him and Adrien) The original plan never had Adrien’s arrival, it was supposed to be a moment of comic relief where Marinette and Félix were just kind of half awake and barely conscious at any given time during first hour. This is why their history teacher, Mr. Marcel, was either wide awake or dead asleep. I thought it’d be a cute moment to show off the dynamics of their exhaustion or energy, depending on the day. I didn’t show this off nearly as much as planned, however, because I shifted my focus soon after.

2. Language Arts (with Allegra). A nice, calmer class seemed perfect for Marinette, who’d probably still be waking up. Allegra is calm and classy, so it only made sense to pair the two up for the second hour.

3. Science (Claude’s here!) Loud and exciting, just like their class seems to be, it was a perfect pairing.

4. Math (with Allegra and Claude) I wanted to show off Allegra and Claude’s...chaotic dynamic.

5. English (with Allan) Marinette wants to be a fashion designer, and she had to take a language, so she thought “hey, fashion is pretty big in America, let’s learn English”. (It was also the only class I could think of that she and Allan would take...more on that later.)

6. Fashion Design. Pretty self-explanatory.

Allegra:

1. German. Allegra likes opera music, and wanted to mimic the sound of some German singers accurately.

2. Language Arts (with Marinette, as mentioned above)

3. Science (a different teacher than Marinette and Claude, though. What a pity) (Also I apparently called it ‘physics’ in my notes and I just noticed.)

4. Math (With Marinette and Claude)

5. History

6. Choir (She’s a singer.)

Claude Mercury:

1. English (It was for the theatre, but also for Shakespeare, but more accurately….for Shakespeare’s more inappropriate humor.) (and memes)

2. History

3. Science (with Marinette) (Lots of explosions and fires were planned)

4. Math (With Allegra and Marinette)

5. Language Arts

6. Drama. He was just a simple thespian lad who wanted to have fun and make friends, what can I say?

Allan:

1. Math

2. Science

3. Language Arts

4. History

5. English (with Marinette) He likes hip hop and rap, and wanted to learn English rap, too. He, like Claude, also loves their memes, and I planned to have a few moments where he explained some to Marinette.

6. Dance. Mainly hip hop, although the boy can break dance a little bit

Félix Agreste:

1. History (with Marinette) He’s tired in the morning, but good at reciting dates. Again, had a lot more planned for this.

2. Math

3. Spanish. (“Come on, guys, it’s logical. It’s one of the most spoken languages in the world.” -Félix, probably.) I also planned for Félix to already know English. I wanted a cute chapter where he tutored Marinette, only for Claude to start dramatically monologuing because ��why do you help her but never help me? The betrayal, Fe, the betrayal!’

4. Language Arts

5. Science

6. Music (he’s a piano boy in my heart) (maybe also good at violin) (a classy young man)

Adrien Agreste:

1. History (with Marinette)

2. Language Arts (with Marinette)

3. Science (with Marinette)

4. Math (with Marinette)

5. Chinese (with Marin- oh, wait, we’re done with that!) This class, along with his next, is another reason Adrien relaxed so quickly at the school. By taking Chinese at school, he was able to convince his father to stop the at-home lessons, clearing up some of his schedule.

6. Music. Same as above, playing piano at school meant he didn’t have to do it at home so much.

The Heroes:

“But salthaven, you already introduced the heroes! Envision and Viperion, remember?” Haha, as if those were the only guys I had planned?

Yeah, I had more. Four more.

I wanted the Quantic Kids to be heroes. I had three of them for sure chosen, names and Miraculi assigned to them. (Allegra was my only problem child, but I’ll explain that below.)

The first was supposed to be Allegra. I was going to make her the Fox, with the name Mélodie. I’m pretty sure that was her original hero name, back during the PV stage of this show, and I wanted to pay an homage to her inspiration. But then Félix got it, because I didn’t end up giving him the Cat (yeah, I was really salty when I started this, and I was planning to go the same route that I do in my ao3 fic, Of Patience and Pettiness, and take away the Cat from Adrien to give to Félix.), as Adrien learned from his mistakes. So Allegra waits, and Envision springs to life with Viperion.

Next would be Allan. Miraculous: Bee. Name: Mellifury, based on Mellifura (aka the Africanized Killer Bee) + Fury. He was supposed to be an unexpected storm. A dancer, he uses rhythm in a way that throws off opponents. Uses the spinning top like it's another limb, throws the game way off when first introduced.

Then we’d have Allegra. After a while, I decided that the Rabbit would be best suited for her. Messing with timelines is a tricky business, but Allegra has a knack for details and organization that would leave her cruising through her tasks with some practice. While it’s nothing musical, it would be fun to see. Name: Cottontail.

Finally, after an interesting fight that would cause Nathalie to lose the Peacock...Claude would step in. Bold and flashy, the thespian knows how to strut his stuff. But again, he’s a thespian, and theatre kids know when it’s time to hide in the shadows and stay unseen and unheard. With dark blues that can hide in the name and stand out in the daylight, Claude would become Le Paon, turning the tide and becoming a major help for the team. [At first, he dealt with some sickness, but after a talk with Ladybug, who in turn talked to Fu, the Miraculous was fixed and Le Paon could fight as easily as the rest.] He’d use sentimentals wisely, although he’d have a bad habit of monologuing as he created them.

The Ships:

The moment we’ve all been waiting for. Our first question: Who the hell was Marinette going to end up with? Well, that answer changed throughout the story.

The first choice: Félix. I wanted Marinette to move on from Agreste...and fall in love with Agreste. It humored me, and I was in love with a bunch of Felinette one shots at the time. (And, again, very salty towards Adrien at the moment.)

But then I redeemed Adrien. No problem, I thought. Marinette could choose between one of the boys...and the other would date Luka! (I mean, did you see the Instagram picture of Luka and Adrien. Luka with either Agreste would be cute, just imagine the musical moments they could have together)

But then I Akumatized Juleka, and Luka was right there...and I made Marinette fall for all three guys. So I decided “Hey, she can just date all three!” And so that’s the final choice, because I’m apparently a sucker for poly ships.

But I mentioned other ships, didn’t I? So let’s talk about those!

First: Luka with an OC. Yep, I was going to bring in a new girl. It was actually going to be one of my friends, due to a conversation we had that went as follows:

S.H. (Salthaven): So I’m thinking that I’m going to pair up Félix and Marinette. Thoughts?

F. (Friend): Okay, but what about Luka?

S.H.: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

F.: Well then pair me up with him!

So I did. Or I was going to...but then poly ship idea happened.

As mentioned above, I also considered Luka with either of the Agreste boys. Whoever Marinette didn’t date. Again, couldn’t happen because I went for that sweet poly route.

Finally: Claude and Allegra. What can I say, they act like an old married couple in my mind!

And that’s everything! Once all the heroes were chosen, and romantic confessions set aside, the Miraculous Team was going to gear up and take down Hawkmoth once and for all. Fun times, the end, we all get a happy ending.

So I hope that makes up for my rather abrupt end to this story. Thank you all for the time you put in, reading my writings, and I hope you enjoy the other works I plan to create! Until next time. <3

#MakeAChangeAU #Make a Change AU #one last time baby #wow this feels bittersweet #i hope yall like it #<3 #thank you guys for following this story while it lasted it means so much

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