#nothing about this vehicle makes any sense sorry

[jean-wei]

waiting for tea to brew

trying out some new brushes

[absolutebl]

These Weeks in BL - This Is Very Late, Or Right on Time depending on where you sit on the temporal debate team

Sorry I got distracted by work. In my defense: I was paid.

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

March 2024 Wk 1 & 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube grey) ep 12 fin - Unfortunately, there was singing. But what can we do?

A soft charming warm hug of a show about crushes and mind reading and self worth, with no-fuss execution from a consummate team and an OG lead pair proving why they remain eternal and deserve to grow up. Look, here’s the thing, Cherry Magic is a great Thai BL in its own right not comparing it to any other iteration. But even when I do compare (and I've seen all the Cherries and read the manga) it still stands. This is a great show, a solid adaptation, and a pleasing take on the original yaoi. I personally like it better than the Japanese live action, but I think that’s because I just really like Thai BL and I LOVE TayNew. I doubted them for this and I shouldn’t have. They did a great job, as did the sides. I will say all the kissing was both present and better than any other iteration. As it should be. Definitely one for the rewatch rotation. 9/10 

Deep Night (Thurs iQiyi) ep 1 of 8 (10?) - Damn it, I love it. And I don't want to. It’s more classic BL than I thought it would be, and far less Only Friends or Playboyy. (Thank fuck.) We got a big cast and a lot of tropes going down out the gate, including SMITTEN popular hot guy versus nerd with secret identity. (Incidentally, Khem did drop into rude / informal when arguing with his Aunt and defending his ma. Bratty boy.) The leads have good chemistry (First always does), and everyone is very pretty. The main boy reminds me of J-Min's role (and look) in Love Class 2. I am entertained. (And faintly wonder why this isn't a MosBank vehicle.)

To Be Continued (Thai C3 Thailand grey) eps 1-3 of 8- High school sweethearts who had a bad break up reunite a decade later when both of them have full time jobs (celebrity & doctor). Dr Ji is a familiar face (hi Dream it's been a LONG time) and everyone is way too old for high school, but I guess I prefer this to child actors?

I'm enjoying it, actually, the cast may be older but they're solid as a result and the chemistry is on point for a pulp. Whether our celebrity is on the DL or cheating or something else remains to be seen but he sure is smitten. The way he LOOKS at Ji = hawt.

Frankly? Celebrity/doctor is a good pairing and this is a solid Thai BL. I hope we have a nice angsty reason for the break-up and we're not in another Promise situation. I like the sides too. Carry on, little show, I'm disposed to be pleased with you.

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) eps 5-6 of 12 - I am enjoying it, actually. It’s incredibly silly. But I don’t really mind. STOP SINGING. 

1000 Years Old eps 3-4 of 12 - I love that these kids basically adopted a vampire pet. And one of them accidentally got a vampire boyfriend. This suddenly turned from a PNR into a family drama about domestic gays opening a food stall and I'm not mad about it. Nothing makes sense and I don't care because... rainbow umbrella!

A Secretly Love (Thai WeTV grey) eps 1 of 10 - I don’t love it. I make no bones about the fact that a pining uke rarely works for me, especially if he’s younger (cute supportive besties not withstanding), the power dynamic isn’t good. I always like Kimmon, he’s a stiff actor but v pretty. (I shallow af.) Still it’s time he started acting his age… literally. Having to watch ads again as well… for this? Ooof. I'm not sure I'm strong enough.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Perfect Propose (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 6 fin - It was very cute. I liked that there was uke instigated kisses. However I have some reservations on this one, much as I enjoyed it.

Adapted from Mayo Tsurakame’s manga, production team included Tadaaki Horai (My Love Mix-Up!) and Takeshi Miyamoto (Old Fashion Cupcake). Essentially Perfect Propose was about finding hope in a person when all other hope is gone. This show focuses on apathy, and perforce is somewhat apathetic and un-engaging especially as the pacing was off (and with only 6 episodes? now) However, this is countered by great visuals, good archetypes, and a clean story of childhood sweethearts reuniting after loosing their way in life. I landed on 8/10 mostly for a demanding younger seme and some great kisses. 

Unknown (Taiwan Tues Youku YouTube) eps 2-3 of 11 - Oh it’s great. I love it. I’m still worried by how gritty and "Taiwanese short-esk" it feels, but wow does this hit all my favorite taboo tropes and buttons. I also adore the little found fam, they the cutest gay older bros ever. The younger one who wants so bad to grow up and take care of the older one and pushes himself because into self sacrifice that’s the only model of love he has. ARGH. BOYS. Why so much pain, just smooch already! Sheesh. It's on YouTube for some of us, here's the schedule.

AntiReset (Taiwan Fri Viki/Gaga) eps 6-7 of 10 - They remain questionably cute, and that is probably going to be my ultimate review of this show. Awe cameo! (Hi babies, hope the ghosts are leaving you alone.) The irony does not escape me that the person in the relationship with the most emotional acumen is, in fact, the robot and not the human. I'm sure that's meant to be deep.

Love is Better the Second Time Around AKA Koi wo Suru nara Nidome ga Joto (Japan Gaga) ep 1 of 6 - A tortured second chance romance featuring a reported and a successful celebrity(?) academic. The kid actors look nothing like their adult counterparts, but they do look much younger. So, okay. Ah the utter embarrassment of first love. Oh I like it a lot, so very messy Japanese emo. Sigh. Here we go again.

Although I Love You and You AKA Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Japan Thurs Gaga) eps 8-9 of 10 - They are a cute couple. They both trying so hard and so confused and awkward and polite in trying to understand each other but TERRIBLE at communication. 

My Strawberry Film (Japan Thurs Gaga) eps 3-4 of 8 - I don’t know how I feel about this. But I do know it’s not my thing because it’s not BL. I’ll finish it because it’s short but… meh. 

It's done, ready to binge, but I have no time

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - will binge when I have any spare time. 2024 is crazy busy for me so far.

The Servant and the Young Master (Vietnam YouTube) - I will try when I have a window of time.

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube) - A Burmese BL? @heretherebedork vouched for it, so I will watch eventually.

It's airing but...

Dead Friend Forever (Thai iQIYI) - finished it's run and I won't be watching it. It's horror with BL elements and the ending, well, let's just say that's a "no thank you" from me.

Ossans Love Season 2 (Japan Gaga) - 5 years later, will anything have changed? This is Japan so… no. I'm not watching this. I dislike this franchise.

Time the series (Tue Gaga/YT) 10 eps - dropped it at ep 4.

Takumi-kun (2023) movie version AKA Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa released on FOD 3/5/2024. The original project was a 6 ep series. Having seen all the previous iterations and read the (terrible) yaoi I admit to being intrigued. If anyone finds eng subbed please let me know with a link in comments or in a DM? For those intersted in this show, probably the world's first true BL franchise I chat all about it here.

Gossip

James Supamongkon has withdrawn from the series Love Upon A Time and the NetJames pair is no more. Net Siraphop will continue with the historical BL project alongside a new partner. Can I interest you in Tod Techit... almost as pretty, legs for days...

The Complete Chronology of the Assault Case Against GMMTV Actor Win Pawin

I'm merely directing your attention to these articles, I do not wish for discussion of this content on this blog. Please don't ask for further info, I don't know the answer, follow the link that's why it's there.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Still Coming

3/21 Two Worlds (Thai IQIYI) 10 eps - announced here. One of those "he's dead Jim so time travel" thingames staring MaxNat. I'm over them but Asia flipping loves this trope and I do adore MaxNat. Phupha (Gun) and Khram (Nat) love each other but Phupha is murdered. Then Khram is pulled to a parallel world where, 12 years ago, Khram and Tai (Max) were in love. However, Khram was killed by Thai’s dad. Now Tai finds alter-Khram apparently alive. But then there is ALSO an alter-Phupha (played by Gun Thanawat who is Khom the repressed butler bodyguard from Unforgotten Night).

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

How flipping adorable is this vampire with his big gay umbrella? SUCH A DORK and we got more vampire dorks coming.

Thailand has found its vampire line and it's awkward and geeky and quite cheerful. 'Bout what we expected, to be fair. It's a good look for them.

And vampires.

In other news...

That's your random moment of thirst, Lim Jimin shirtless AKA my Just B bias (I mean, I could talk about how good his extensions are and how I love a husky voice in Kpop but really, just LOOK at him). I'm very very very shallow, remember? Full vid is here.

Why am I mentioning Lim Jimin (aside from the obvious)? If Just B doesn't break soon, I could some of them transitioning to BL. Jimin in particular would be a win for us, obvs.

Also, can we talk about Bain (my bias wrecker) KILLING it on Build Up? I had no idea he was that good. Anygay, this has been your Kpop end note.

Seriously tho, is ANYONE else watching Build-Up?

(Last week - well, 2 weeks ago)

Streaming services are listed how I'm (usually watching) which is with a USA based IP

The tag bragade: @doorajar

If ya wanna be tagged each week leave a comment and I will. Easy peesy.

[gaycentral]

Secrets

Part One:

@reidcoffeemoon

You had known Spencer Reid for years now, back when he was a young, fresh-faced agent who struggled to speak to people his age and couldn’t beat Gideon in a chess match. He was thirty now, you’d both changed, unspoken feelings simmered beneath the surface, and you knew for a fact that Spencer was hiding something.

Your suspicions began a year ago.

Spencer was never late, and the few times he had been, it was always due to something strange. Years ago, it was his Dilaudid addiction that caused him to arrive late to work, other times it was migraines or nightmares. It was never for an innocuous, innocent reason.

A year ago, he showed up late to work with a black eye.

“What the hell happened to you?” You’d asked, eyes scanning over him for any other injuries. You wouldn’t have been able to find any with his purple cardigan and black slacks obscuring your view, but it didn’t make you worry less.

“I, er, accidentally punched myself last night when getting changed.” He visibly grimaced at his own poor attempt at a lie, suppressing a wince as he sat down, his muscles aching, every individual joint in his body collectively screaming from last night’s events.

Your brow raise told him you clearly didn’t believe him, although Morgan snickered loudly from his desk, having bought the boy wonders story. He was quite clumsy after all.

You were a profiler, you thought you’d be able to figure out what was happening quite easily. At first, you worried he’d relapsed, but ruled that out fairly quickly. Then you wondered if something was going on with his mother, but it wasn’t that either. It was frustrating, because you knew that something wasn’t right, but you had nothing.

The last thing you expected was for him to actually tell you what was going on, because if there was anything to know about Spencer Reid, was that he could keep a secret, and keep one very well.

Until he couldn’t.

It was one in the morning when he called, waking you up from the warm, cozy haven of your comforter as your phone buzzed loudly on your nightstand. With a tired groan, you reached over, a fumbling hand grabbing the phone and squinting at the harsh sting of the light in your eyes, fully expecting Hotch or Garcia to be calling you in for work.

You didn’t expect to see Spencer’s name on your screen, and you felt anxiety shoot through your veins as you sat bolt upright in bed, answering the phone.

“Spencer?”

“Hi,” his voice was a pained rasp, one you recognized as your heart sank. “I’m…I’m really sorry to be calling so late, but, can you come over? I need, uh, I need some help.”

He hadn’t even finished his sentence before you were scrambling out of bed, briefly getting tangled in the sheets and nearly face-planting on your floor before you managed to orient yourself.

“What happened? Are you okay?” You didn’t bother to change out of your pyjamas as you sped through your apartment, looking for your keys as simultaneously tried to put your shoes on.

“It’s hard to explain. It will make more sense when you get here, just…try not to freak out too much?”

“You can’t say that and expect me not to freak out, Spencer!” Your voice came out more of a shriek than intended as you all but burst out of your front door, making quick strides towards your vehicle as the cold night air rose goosebumps across your skin.

“I know,” he sounded exhausted, which didn’t help your growing concern. “I’m sorry.”

You would’ve told him not to be sorry, that he didn’t need to be while simultaneously chewing him out for worrying you but he hung up the phone before you could get a word in.

You definitely broke some traffic laws on your way to Spencer’s apartment building, and you were grateful suddenly that the roads were unusually quiet tonight or there was a good chance you’d have hit someone. But right now that was the least of your worries as you burst into the building.

For a moment, you considered taking the elevator, but you remembered how Spencer had made an offhand comment on his buildings elevator being slow.

Screw it. You’d take the stairs.

You hated the stairs, you soon learned, sprinting up several flights to get to his door. You weren’t sure where you’d gotten that burst of speed or endurance, but your lungs burned and your legs hurt like a bitch. But you made it.

Not bothering to knock, you tried the door, fully expecting to find it locked due to Spencer’s vigilance. Strangely, it slowly drifted open under your hand. He must’ve left the door unlocked for you.

“Spencer?” You called out into the apartment, shutting the door behind you as you entered. It was dark, the night and the deep green walls casting the space in darkness.

You didn’t get any sort of response back, but as you walked further into the apartment, you saw a light peeking out form under the bathroom door. Your stomachs twisted anxiously at the thought of what you might find as you slowly opened the door.

Whatever you were expecting, it wasn’t that.

Spencer was slumped over on the floor, barely holding himself upright against the base of the counter. The bizarre blue and red suit he was wearing was torn in several places and cuts littered the exposed skin. He was covered in blood—his own, presumably.

“Oh my god,” you crouched down in front of him, not even sure where to start, your hands hovering aimlessly. “Spencer, can you hear me?”

He seemed to be straddling the line of consciousness, his eyes heavily lidded as he managed to lift his head slightly before it dropped back down. You reached out, supporting his head in your hands.

“Holy shit, Spencer. We need to get you to a hospital.” The words were barely out of your mouth before Spencer was firmly gripping your wrist. Not hard enough to hurt, but to get your attention.

“No,” the word came out a broken plea, his grip on your wrist loosening but not letting go. “No hospital.”

You remembered the last time he’d been in the hospital, it had been due to anthrax exposure a few years ago, and it had been an incredibly traumatic experience for him despite the rather fortunate outcome. You supposed you couldn’t blame him for not wanting to go.

“Spencer, you’re hurt. You need some kind of medical attention, you can’t just stay like this.” Your eyes flitted over his bizarre outfit. It looked sort of like a Spider-Man costume. You’d seen that vigilante around a few times. But you couldn’t help but notice how detailed it was for a costume, a little too high quality.

“Just…just help me up, please?” He managed to look up at you, his tired eyes pleading and soft, and any further arguments died in your throat as you cursed to yourself.

“Damn it. Alright, put your arm around my shoulder.” He did as asked, his arm draping around your shoulders as his fingers lightly gripped your bicep for support, leaning against you as you wrapped an arm around his waist and began to help him to his feet. You heard him wince, biting down on his lip as he struggled to stand with your help.

“Breathe through it, in through your nose, out through your mouth.” You instructed him, briefly pausing to let him catch his breath. He nodded shakily, hair hanging in front of his eyes before he tried to stand again. It took a fair bit of effort but he was finally to his feet, leaning against you for support.

“We’ll take it nice and slow,” you assured him, beginning the slow shuffle out of the bathroom. Your mind swam. What the hell happened to him? You’d ask later, you figured he didn’t want to talk about it right now, but you were going to get answers eventually even if you had to shake them out of him.

You were halfway down the hallway when he passed out. His feet had begun to drag until he slumped against you with a heavy breath, sending you both to the floor.

“No, no no no!” You barely manage to catch him as you sink to the ground, keeping him from smacking his head off the floor, your hands hooked under his arms and his head in your lap.

“Don’t you dare do this to me, you ass!” You felt your eyes burn with tears that you refused to let fall. “If you die I’m gonna kill you so much!”

He groaned incoherently, his breaths strained, but he didn’t wake. His brow was furrowed, face twisted in discomfort.

“Okay…okay.” You stand up, picking him up and adjusting him in your arms until you’re carrying him bridal style, surprised at just how light he is. You knew he’d be light, but even when he was dead weight he was relatively easy to carry as you rush to his bedroom.

Setting him down on the bed, you anxiously wring your hands as you try to get your thoughts in order. In the dim lamplight his face is contorted in pain, his skin paler than it should be.

You rush back to the bathroom, grabbing a hand towel from the cupboard under the sink and running it under the cold tap, grabbing the first aid kit on your way out.

He was right where you’d left him, but he was mumbling incomprehensibly now, his words garbled and incoherent. You place the cool, damp rag on his forehead to regulate his temperature and begin looking for some kind of zipper on his costume.

“How in the fuck do you get in and out of this thing?!” You huff, knowing you’re not going to get an answer. There’s no zipper in sight, and you want to yell in frustration. You were about to go look for a pair of scissors when your hand brushes the raised spider emblem over his chest, and the suit suddenly loosens enough to be taken off.

“What in the–“

Oh.

It wasn’t a costume.

[scoutswritingcorner]

The Hotel

Charlie Morningstar x GN!Reader

HORROR.

TW: THIS IS A HORROR STORY- IT HAS DARK THEMES. IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT, DO NOT READ IT. Uncanny Valley effect, there is no good ending, Lost media kinda deal. Body horror.

A/N: I’ve been watching too much lost media/analog horror type of stuff for my own good.  ENJOY~

You are an Urban Explorer who has a very popular channel. You got word of this old Hotel that’s supposedly haunted but you're more interested in how it looks on the inside. Turns out to be your final resting place.

~~

You pulled to a stop in the wooded area near the desolate town, quickly turning your vans lights off and pulling the keys out of the ignition as a police car slowly drove by as you snuck into the back of the van pulling your bag closer and making sure that you had everything. Strapping the small hidden camera to your chest before pulling out your phone and starting the livestream, your viewers slowly start to trickle in as you patiently wait for the cops to stop roaming around where your car is, too afraid to say something. But you slowly take a deep breath and collect your things, trying to make sure if you needed to run or climb over anything nothing would be holding you down.

Slowly pulling the duffle bag over your shoulder, you checked your phone once more before quickly turning off any sound notifications that could get you caught and sent one last text to your roommate and dad, before putting it away and into your pocket as you carefully left the comfort of your own vehicle. You locked and closed your van before slowly and carefully making your way towards the silent town, weaving through alleyways as you dodge the police and making your way towards the brightly lit hotel that sat on top of the hill. “..sorry for not talking to you guys, I don’t want to be caught” You whispered out as you quickly walked up the hill, trying to stay away from the bright lights of the path leading towards the hotel itself. You’ll check your phone once you get inside.

As you get to the front door of the hotel, you send a glance back towards the city to see the cops still patrolling the town, it wasn’t worth going back down, you were so close to what you’ve been dreaming about for months…but..you never knew about this place…why did you dream about it? You slowly opened the door expecting to be greeted by ruined furniture, walls lined with graffiti, broken things strewn around and nature reclaiming what was left of this hotel but..it looked brand new…well except for the tech stuff that looked like it came out of a 1980’s catalog…this was weird. First the townspeople were basically hostile towards you and when you asked about the hotel they shut down, some even pulling a weapon on you. 

You closed the door behind you, fixing your jacket as you took a step forward the scent of a freshly smoked cigar hit you as if you walked through a cloud of it. You looked around, stepping further into the hotel to your left was a bar with an assortment of liquor on the wall behind it, to your right was what looked like to be the foyer. 

“Oh! Hello!” A voice called from behind you making you jump and turn around dropping your bag on the floor. You cursed yourself and hoped your equipment wasn’t damaged. “H-Hi..I thought this place was abandoned..” you replied smiling, something felt off about her but you couldn’t seem to figure out what. “Oh no silly!~ Most of them are already asleep in their own rooms or just busy!” A sense of comfort washing over you as jazz starts playing down the hall causing you to look away from her. Unaware of her eyes snapped down to the camera strapped to your chest and her smile grew wider.

“Someone..awake?” You asked, looking back at her and crouching down to grab your duffel bag. “Oh yes! That would be the hotelier, he likes to listen to jazz as he works. It won’t bother you will it?” She asked and you shook your head watching as she looked around, “give me one moment okay?” She asked turning to head into an office…was that always there? You looked down and quickly checked your phone to see it was 3:30 am?? It just turned 12:00 when you left your Van, that didn’t seem right. Looking up as she walked back over and quickly getting you a room, her smile grew as she handed you the key, “If you need anything else don’t be afraid to call down to the front desk!~” She called after you, smirking as you unknowingly sealed your fate.

You looked down at the key, the room number '204' staring back at you. It wouldn’t hurt to stay the night, it beats sleeping in your van than anything. Sleeping on a bed will do wonders to your back too! As you went up the stairs, it seemed someone rushed past you with a sweet smelling perfume which made you do a double take..no one walked past you? You stopped and looked around before continuing up the stairs..that was strange.

It didn’t take you long to find your room and get set up for the night, as you looked around it had occurred to you that something about this place felt..off. The spear above your bed was certainly off putting, was it real or fake? You placed your bag down onto the bed, opening it up fast to make sure you didn’t break anything.

~~~

It’s been days since you’ve been at this hotel, at first you thought you were there for that single night but you haven’t. The footsteps got louder but now it was someone knocking on your door and a pile of dead bugs littered at your door. You started the camera that sat patiently on the desk in front of your bed, the red light on it slowly flashed as it began to record. A sinking feeling sat in the pit of your stomach as you stared back at yourself in the mirror..when did you become so sickly looking? Quickly you packed up, shook your head and grabbed the key to your room, “Just in case,” you whispered out “Just in case.”

You slowly made your way to the door ignoring the literal mountain of bugs next to your bathroom door. You slowly opened your bedroom door and peeked out seeing..no one. No one was around yet there was a distinct smell of that perfume that lingered way too long on the staircase. Another difference was that the lights were off and the wallpaper started to peel like the hotel was left abandoned for decades. A soft and distorted tune started to echo around the empty hotel, you moved to the railing of the gigantic staircase and slowly made your way down throwing the bag over your shoulder as you tried to ignore the creepy distorted music and creaking stairs.

As you reached the bottom of the stairs you slowly and carefully started to walk towards the front desk placing the room key on its surface before moving towards the front doors themself.  Your hand wrapped around the golden door handles as you moved to open the doors..but they wouldn’t budge. How were they locked, you couldn’t be locked in here without anyone knowing. 

“Leaving so soon?” A distorted voice called out as you slowly turned around, facing the woman you met a few nights ago. But something was wrong, her face looked..too human- too unnatural. “Oh uh..yeah..I have to go.” You said trying to ignore how suddenly it felt like there were a million eyes on you, your breath hitched in your throat as the lady's bones snapped and reformed into longer limbs and horns protruded from her head. “Why don’t you stay just a little bit longer?” she asked but her mouth didn’t move as if someone was pulling the strings..giving her a voice to use. You looked around her, trying to see if there was a way to get past her and back to your room safely. 

You shook your head watching the hotel fall into disrepair in front of your very eyes. You took one last deep breath before throwing yourself into a sprint down the hallway and up the flight of stairs, a loud inhuman roar echoed through the hotel as you tried to open one of the many emergency exits. It was locked just like the front door, you silently cursed to yourself and made your way to the staircase to go higher up. Your legs and lungs started to burn as the once comforting smell of the perfume turned sour as something ran into your legs knocking you face first into the flight of stairs.

A sickening crack echoed through your head, you grabbed your camera and climbed up the steps as blood coated your tongue and dripped onto the old mold covered shag carpets. Throwing the bag down you forced yourself to keep running up the million flights of stairs this fucked up hotel had. You couldn’t look back and you couldn’t stop, if you stopped you would die. She knew where you were and she wouldn’t stop until she got you.

You slammed onto the fire exit door at the top of the stairs..once..twice..she was getting closer. That foul lingering smell wafted through your broken nose and it made you gag loudly as you looked down to see her staring back at you. Body visibly mutilated as her sunken eyes glared up at you, drool dripping from her maw. You slammed into the door and fell onto the roof as she stalked closer and closer to you- her prey. You scrambled to get up but stopped to see a large red pentagram that outlined the city.

You didn’t stare for long as long black claws wrapped around your ankle, digging into flesh and shattering bone as it dragged you back into the hotel. Your chin hit the ground as you tried to claw and beg whatever god was there to help you. The camera you were holding shattering upon impact as the door slammed shut behind you and your screams were forever silenced.

A/N: SORRY IF THIS FEELS RUSHED- I kinda did rush it cause I wanted to get this out to you lovely people. But I hope you enjoyed it and Happy Pride month!~

[parachutingkitten]

It Gets Cuter

Zane has plans for Valentine's Day that no one was expecting. Takes place shortly after Crystalized. ~1100 words

Valentine's day was always a bit of a mess at the monastery. Love is great, but stopping danger takes priority, and it seemed like every year there was someone intent on feeling most important. This year had been Killow’s turn, and the team was now stuck in the Samurai X cave, repairing surface level damages to their vehicles after the fight so they could be safely stored for the night. Groups were scattered across the room, but Zane, Nya, and Kai were gathered around the Dragon Raider, finishing out their required repairs at a decent rate. 

“You and Jay have dinner reservations or anything?” Kai asked.

“No, we’re doing junk food dinner.” Nya smiled, glancing up from her work. “Nothing but piles of snacks and sweets until we eat ourselves into a coma in front of the TV. It’s fantastic.”

“That actually does sound amazing,” Her brother agreed. 

“What about you? Did you make plans with Sky?” Nya asked.

“Yeah, she asked me to do this escape room thing with a bunch of friends. You know, a group date to keep things light while we’re starting out.”

“Honestly, that’s a good idea,” Nya shrugged. “You go in too fast, and sometimes things get… messy.”

Kai glanced over at his unusually quiet teammate. He seemed rather distracted as he worked, his mind obviously occupied by something else. “What about you Zane?”

Zane’s eyes popped up to his friends, pulled out of his internal world. “What about me?”

“Yeah,” Nya shrugged. “You have any Valentine’s plans tonight?” 

Zane cast his eyes to the ground, embarrassed, letting out a long sigh. His complexion turned upward again, his voice lowered, and his lips smiling with tentative excitement.

“I’m finally going to tell Pixal I have feelings for her.”

The faces of his companions froze in their anticipation, Kai in particular shutting down as he tried to process the news he had been given. 

“You… what?” Nya leaned forward in concern, placing down her wrench. 

“I’m finally gonna tell her how I feel.” Zane reiterated, his face distorted in worry at the blank responses he got back. “Do you think it’s a bad idea, or-”

“Dude… I think she already knows.” Kai pressed, his own words still unsure of the situation as he spoke them.

“You think so?!” Zane’s eyes grew wide in surprise, glancing behind him at the nindroid in question. “She is pretty good at reading people,” he reasoned.

Nya stepped forward, putting a hand on his arm. “Zane, she’s your girlfriend, I think-”

Zane began to chuckle. “What? No! I wish! I mean, maybe. Hopefully! That’s why I’m gonna tell her. I’ve had a crush on her for a while now.”

“But you-” Kai chimed in, still frozen in place, his face stuck in a state of stupor, the gears in his head churning away as he tried desperately to make sense of the interaction. “I’m sorry.” He finally broke, shoving his hands through his hair. 

“Have you two really not talked about this before?” Nya stepped in front of her brother, attempting to distract the newly fragile Zane from his reaction.

“No. Why? Do you think I waited too long?” The panic in his voice was palpable, but the confusion which filled the air was still much stronger.

“Yeah! I mean, no,” Nya calmed herself. “I don’t think you’ve missed your window or anything, but… I definitely think you could have done it earlier.” She sighed as she began to mutter. “Like the second after you met her earlier.”

“Hold on.” Kai broke in again, stepping forward, having found some sense of footing. “I’m still… But you two were like, the same person, right?”

“She was implanted into my systems for a period, yes.” Zane agreed.

“How is that not like… the most intense form of dating?” Kai’s eyes turned down as he spoke, the question more for himself at this point.

“Zane, if she was in your systems for all that time, couldn’t she… read your thoughts? Wouldn’t she already know how you feel about her?” Nya offered.

“I suppose it’s possible.” Zane mused, turning back around to observe his hopeful Valentine. “I never went as far as to observe her thoughts. She was very respectful of my privacy as far as I’m aware, but I suppose there are some things it would be difficult to conceal-”

“How did we not know?” Kai began a sibling sidebar as Zane continued to analyze his situation. “...Do you think she knows?”

“I think she- I mean she has to, right?” Nya reasoned, both of them now stuck watching Pixal as she noticed the glance of her admirer, and softly waved at him, a bashful amount of blush gracing her cheeks. “...honestly, I can't be sure about anything anymore.” 

“I’m so nervous.” Zane turned around to face his companions. “If she does know, why has she not spoken to me about it?”

“Hey, buddy,” Nya grabbed both his hands, attempting to focus him. “If it makes you feel any better… I think she likes you too.”

Zane’s face exploded with hope, perhaps even on the verge of tears. “You think?!”

“I can guarantee.” Nya nodded.

“I’m going to do it. I’m so excited!” Zane again turned around, not being able to help looking at the center of his affection.

“How are you going to tell her?” Nya asked, the shock finally beginning to subside a bit.

“Well, I spoke with her father,” Zane started, spinning back around. “And he helped me make up a pair of those heart necklaces, only the heart isn’t a heart, it’s meant to look like the two halves of our power source, and the metal is reclaimed from my original technoblade, which brought us together in the first place.”

“Oh gosh, it’s so cute.” Kai breathed out, leaning over his vehicle.

“Right, because that’s how you freed her from the overlord’s control.” Nya nodded along.

Zane grinned, beginning to chuckle. “Well, no. Because she fought me for them in the woods.”

Kai fully crumpled over the hood of the car. “It gets cuter-”

“You know what,” Nya started, her heart also melting at the gesture described to her. “We’re almost done here, why don’t you go get ready to surprise her, and we can finish up the rest.”

“You’re sure?” Zane nearly jumped with excitement.

“Go!” Kai urged him, raising his head back up. “Master knows you’ve waited long enough already!”

Zane looked at them both graciously. “Thanks so much for your help!” His energy took him across the room quickly, almost skipping. At one point he turned around to wave back at his friends, which they both, much less exuberantly, returned.

“There he goes,” Nya mused.

Kai remained slumped over the Dragon Raider, his mind now as full as Zane’s had been just a few moments earlier. “I think I need to like… go lay down for a second.”

“Maybe you should talk to Skylor-”

“I really should.”

[dannyphantom-zero]

Doctor Danny Chapter 7

Jason sat next to Danny on the couch. He had been worried for nothing after all. Of course Danny was smarter than that, why he thought Danny would be swayed was beyond him.

Danny fell asleep leaning against Jason.

It was like when your pet is sleeping on you, you don't move. That's the rule.

Danny was cute enough to be compared to a puppy.

Danny's shifted in his sleep making Jason freeze.

Danny woke up to find himself sprawled on top of Jason who was sleeping on his back. Danny was curled up so his head rested on Jason's stomach.

Danny scrambled off of Jason and sat on the floor. He wasn't sure why he had been on top of Jason, but he knew Jason would tease him to no end of he woke up and found him like that.

Danny sighed as he made his way over to the small kitchen.

'The least I could do is prepare breakfast after Imposing on Jason-  WAIT WHAT AM I THINKING! I WAS PRACTICALLY KIDNAPPED!!' Danny thought furiously as he pulled out a carton of eggs.

Not even ten minutes later Jason's eyes snapped awake, his danger senses were tingling.

Jason sat up and the first thing he noticed was the smell of smoke wafting through the air.

The next thing he noticed was Danny who appeared to be fanning the flames on the stove.

"Danny! Stop!" Jason cried out running over to his stove.

Danny turned startled.

"What do I do?" his voice was shaky and he looked ready to cry.

Jason turned of the stove and extinguished the fire.

"Well for starters, your banished from the kitchen." Jason said sighing.

Jason took another glance and the charcoal looking mess in his pan.

"If you were hungry I could've made you something"

"I didn't want to bother you. I'm already practically living here, the least I could do was help out"

Danny flinched as Jason hugged him.

Why...was Jason hugging him?

Danny suddenly got an idea.

He grabbed his last check out of his coat and handed it to Jason.

"Here, this should cover the cost of the damages. I'm really sorry Jason. I hope you don't hate me now"

Jason laughed, "you think your the first kitchen disaster I've ever met. Clearly you need to spend.more time around my brothers"

"Wait...so your not mad?"

"Not even a little bit"

Danny felt like a weight had been taken off his chest and he could finally breathe again.

"Im glad"

"Actually-" Jason said feeling a little tense, "if anyone should be mad. It's you"

Danny felt surprised, he tried to remember why he would be mad. Then he got a flashback of the moment in his car when he yelled at Jason and ran away.

He face grew beet red, how embarrassing.

"T-that, it's fine. I made a big deal out of something that was nothing and now I feel really bad about it" Danny said trying to wipe away at his red face.

"It's fine, but you still can't go back to your apartment"

Danny groaned, "you are way too over protective"

Jason glanced at the button pan sarcastically.

Danny let it go, not wanting his cooking skills to be judged any further.

"Don't worry, I'll buy you a new one" Danny deadpanned.

"Sure, sure. But for now, get dressed. I'm taking you out"

Danny blinked, before he could think he was in casual clothes and being put on the back of Jason's motorcycle.

"Where are we going?" Danny asked over the rest of the motorcycle.

"It's a surprise!" Jason yelled back.

The motorcycle zipped through Gotham at speeds that didn't seem exactly safe.

When the motorcycles engine finally shut off, Danny was left shaking.

"Jason" Danny said weakly, "hm?"

"Moter vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death you know"

Jason shook his head, "no, pretty sure it's old age"

Danny huffed.

Someone bumped into Danny, as they did Danny felt a very uncomfortable twing in his side.

He cringed.

"Hey!" Jason yelled, but the person was long gone.

"Damn people!" Jason muttered.

"It's fine, it was an accident"

Without warning Jason stuck his hands on Danny pockets.

"Were you carrying a wallet? Anything valuable in your pockets?" He asked as he searched.

"Um, no. Please stop, people are staring at us" Danny pleaded.

Jason sighed, "sorry. Usually when people run into you, it's on purpose. Either it's a scam to get money from you or they straight up pick pocket from you"

Danny nodded, "I'll remember that in the future thanks"

As they walked inside Danny couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed. Jason had dragged from the apartment to God knows where, to do whatever AND he could've killed him on that damned motorcycle.

Danny should his head, something seemed to be wrong with him. Why couldn't he just stop getting angry over little things.

"Danny?"

Danny snapped out of his thoughts.

"What is this place?"

Jason smiled, "its the hideout for the gang I manage"

Danny furrowed his brow in alarm.

"Or at least, it used to be. They got wiped out clean. I was thinking of repurposing this place. Now it's just an alcove for squatters"

"Why are we here?"

Jason revealed a bag he had been carrying.

"Well, before I met you I would bring them groceries, mostly canned food but I've been a little busy so I haven't lately"

Danny felt distant from the scene in front of him. As Jason handed out the food to the homeless men, Danny felt annoyed.

What was wrong with him?

"Danny? Something wrong?" Jason asked.

"No, of course not" the words came out harshly.

"I just need some air"

Jason walked Danny outside.

Not too far from them, a drink guy was stumbling around.

"Heyyyy buddy-" the guy slurred.

Something rose from the pits of Danny core, like an indescribable rage and Danny just started wailing on the drunk guy.

Jason had to grab Danny and pull him up by his arms. A nearby police officer caught sight of this and Danny was arrested despite Jason's protests.

Luckily Danny didn't fight the officer. Danny was brought to a holding cell among a few other people.

"This is fucking bullshit!" Danny yelled.

Another person in the cell was about to tell him to shut it when they recognized him.

"Hey aren't you the good doctor from the news. What's a straight collar fella like you doin in a place like this?"

That comment was the start of an all out brawl.

The guards had to operate Danny from everyone else.

"I'm so sorry officers. Daniel has never acted this way before. I believe someone must've drugged him, in fact, it was probably that sketchy guy he s been hanging around"

Danny lifted his head slightly at the voice, feeling strangely drowsy.

"Your not wrong, according to his records hes a stand up guy. If you can vouch for him and are willing to pay his bail, well send him with you"

There was a clink and the cells dor opened.

"Thank God your alright! I shouldn't have let you leave with him!"

Danny was too tired and shocked to reply as the man wound his arms around Danny.

Jason frantically asked the front desk at the police department about Danny.

"A man just came and picked him up"

A feeling of red consumed Jason. THAT FUCKING RAT BASTARD!

Danny wasn't sure when he had blacked out, but when he woke up he was tied to a medal table.

It felt like one of his nightmares. Danny pulled at the restraints. Upon feeling the cold touch of the medal he realized he was not in a nightmare.

"I see you got Daniel. I'll give you the payment after I take him"

Danny struggled as the voices grew closer.

That's when a very familiar face stepped into the room.

Danny lost it, he was consumed by a blind rage. The restraints snapped and he flew at the man.

"Fuck you Vlad! I am not the weak boy you once knew!"

Vlad, to say the least, hadn't expected Danny to be able to break from his restraints.

Lex Luther called the police commissioner telling him that an overpowered meta was about to murder the rich Vlad Masters.

A few members of the league showed up. Danny was too busy firing at Vlad to notice.

"STOP!" Superman shouted.

Danny didn't hear him, all he knew was Vlad wasn't getting away this time. Danny had Vlad trapped against the wall.

It hadn't registered in his mind what was going on, that Vlad was hiding his own powers and pretending to be the victim.

Someone pulled him back before he could do anything.

"Danny! What did they do to you? Are you okay?"

The haze cleared up in Danny's vision.

"Jason? I-I"

Danny's limbs felt numb.

"Table" he blurted out before falling forward.

Jason's eyes swept the room that was practically destroyed.

"What is that?" He demanded pointed towards the medal table that had been thrown against the wall. The restraints were hanging from it.

"What did you bastards do to Danny?!"

"We are merely innocent bystanders to the rage of a unauthorized meta" Vlad said standing up.

"Yes and you'll find no proof otherwise" lex Luther said entering in the conversation. Jason stalked towards Lex.

"Why Danny? What connection do you have to him? You could've messed with anyone else-" Jason stopped himself and went back to Danny.

"I'll bring him to a hospital, they should be locked up. Danny's a witness"

[saxandviolins77]

Here's a Constructicon question for you: from rewatching their episodes in G1, something that really stands out to me is that they have a complicated relationship with the Autobots, which is largely due to shoddy writing and a lack of planning but... still, that seems like a pretty ripe thing to expand on, I'd say. What's your take on that aspect of them? I'm sure you know what I'm referring to when I ask this, but just to clarify, I mean like that they were supposedly friends with Omega (while sill being animated with Decepticon logos lol) then got brainwashed to be Decepticons, then Omega tried to brainwash them back but couldn't, then they say they almost wish he'd have just been brainwashed too since they like his mean streak. That they have some interest and respect for Grapple and Hoist that may have been all a ruse... or not. That the Autobots were apparently okay with brainwashing Devastator, then fought over him with Megatron, this gave Devastator a massive migraine or whatever, only for Megatron to ditch him and for Devastator to be in denial. I feel like this relationship between the Constructicons and Autobots is especially interesting since they also often have strong connections to Megatron. Thoughts?

Oh well, I do have some thoughts about that, but they might be more unpopular than anything.

First off, I like to separate their backstories for consistency's sake and the fact that they generally contradict each other. (I'll also be ignoring their "built on Earth" backstory because there's nothing worthwhile in that.)

Robosmasher backstory (Secret of Omega Supreme and maaaaybe The Core)

With this backstory, the relationship between the Autobots and Constructicons is a big "what could've been." If you're watching "The Core" with this backstory in mind, it really rings true. Like, we can assume that given no mind washing, they would've become Autobots, right? But uuh... This backstory also has the biggest copout decision ever: the Robosmasher's effect cannot be undone... So stalemate.

It's a tragic backstory, but it serves Omega Supreme more than it does the Constructicons. Any other relationship they would've with the Autobots suddenly doesn't exist because they're evil down to their programming.

No-Robosmasher backstory (any other episode, except Heavy Metal War)

Ok, now things are getting a little more interesting... Because... WHAT ARE THEY DOING WITH THE DECEPTICONS??

Let us remember that in the Sunbow cartoon, the Transformers were created as "consumer goods" and "military hardware." Sooo where are the Constructicons fitting in? Of course not military hardware... But consumer goods? They're industrial vehicles; would they count? Were they built after the first war? I say they're closer to Autobots than they are to the Decepticons, which would be enough to generate some bitterness and resentment towards them.

(Edit: like, if they were built in the first war, it wouldn't make sense for them to exist in the way they do... A random robot called Hook and Long Haul walking around? Their alt-modes are fundamental to them in a way. There WERE normal construction vehicles in the Golden Age era... So Aerialbot situation after Transformation was invented? So they were built Autobots? Fucking traitors.)

Of course, I left an important detail out...

They built Megatron... The guy with the evil brain impulses... The dictator...

What's the deal with that?

The way I portray it is that they're class traitors, and the Autobots acknowledge that. As for them? Well, they did join the Decepticons with the assumption that if they won the war, they would've been spared. It took them a long time to realize it doesn't work like that, and y'know, they already killed a bunch of people, and they don't really feel sorry for that.

They're in a very weird position; they couldn't care less for the Decepticon faction, but the Autobots would have the hardest time accepting them, as the Constructicons would have with accepting their moral code.

In a way, it's all superfluous for them; everything is a means to an end. They will betray Megatron if that serves them right; they will momentarily join forces with the Autobots if they need to. And just as there are Decepticons that they consider passable, there are also Autobots they wouldn't mind mingling with; it's just business anyway.

Now... the Autobots, some of them hate the Constructicons and all they represent, while others have more charitable views of them and believe in redemption.

I don't believe in redemption, btw, those guys need to die.

[bullet-prooflove]

Hello, I was wondering if I could request prompt 51. You make me feel like the one for Jeff clarke?

Jeff expects you to break things off when he’s arrested. He wouldn’t blame you, any sane woman would after their boyfriend’s accused of murder. Instead you hire him a lawyer, one of the most expensive criminal attorneys in the city and then you pay his bail.

When he gets home that night he’s surprised to see that the lights are on. He gave you a key a while ago, so you could come and go whenever you pleased. The two of you work weird shifts, it makes sense and if he’s honest, it’s nice to have someone to come home to.

He leaves the truck idling for a second after he pulls into the driveway because he knows what’s going to happen when he steps over the threshold. He’s going to find the stuff you keep in his dresser packed in an overnight bag by the front door. You’ll tell him you’re leaving and he’ll make arrangements to pay you back for the lawyer and his bail. He plays the whole thing out in his head, back and forth until he finally summons the strength to climb out of the vehicle.

He tries to let himself in quietly, only to be assailed by your German Sheppard Rocco. His tail wags as he rushes towards Jeff, sniffing at his pockets for treats. Jeff holds out his palm, allowing the dog to scent him before he crouches down in front of Rocco, fussing over him.

“Sorry boy,” He murmurs, jerking his head away before Rocco can lick his face. “I’ve got nothing tonight.”

He means that. He’s exhausted, numb, hollowed out. He wants to bury his face in the dog’s fur, to live in this moment, because right now nothing has changed. He still has you, he still has Rocco, but Jeff has never been one to shy away from a tough situation, he kisses the top of the dog’s head one last time before he stands up.

You’re curled up on the couch wearing one of his sweaters and a pair of his socks.

“Jeff.” You say softly and he clears his throat, straightening his spine and clasping his hands in front of him.

He doesn’t say anything when you raise to your feet. He won’t make it hard on you, you didn’t sign up for this and he understands that. His life is about to get complicated and he can’t ask you to stick around for something like this.

He doesn’t expect you to wrap your arms around him, he stiffens for a second before he melts into your embrace. The scent of your perfume floods his senses, the undertone of jasmine soothing over his frayed nerves. Something in his chest loosens and he buries his face into the curve of your throat. His eyes sting and he holds onto you just a little tighter because today has been far too much and he's not sure how much more he can take.

“It wasn’t me.” He tells you, his voice breaking just a little. “I didn’t do this…”

“I know.” You whisper as you cradle him close. “Trust me Jeff, I know.”

Love Jeff? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

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@witches-unruly-heart @kmc1989 @telepathay @iworldlywriter @caffeinatedwoman @winchesterszvonecek @whateversomethingbruh @burningpeachpuppy @upsteadlogic @skyesthebomb @neapolitantoebeans @olymosity @stxrryswvrld @courtney-elizabeth93 @switchbladeclub

[pascallllllll1]

“I Thought I Lost You”

König x f!reader

Word Count: 1.8k

Warnings: smut, typical cod violence, feel free to let me know anything else I might of missed!

The blades are still whipping around hazardously, landing gears nowhere near touching the tarmac when König’s large frame jumps from the helicopter landing straight into a sprint once his boots make contact with base grounds. He sees you sprinting towards him and slows himself down to a steadier pace to catch you, wrapping you up against his broad torso. The overwhelming scent of blood and detritus fills your senses. For a brief moment König wishes he could squish you inside him, carry you with him always before silently chastising himself for such a ridiculous thought.

Much quicker than he’d prefer your bodies are separating, before König has time to dwell you’ve already reached for his hand fingers intertwining as if it was a simple action that’d been practised on many occasions previously. (It had not.) You proceed to zone out your fellow combatants as you lead the confused but obedient Austrian towards his private barracks.

For the first time ever, the possibility of losing König and him not being some invincible beast of a war machine, immune to a death sentence similar to the many ones he served others, became painfully real. In reality he’s just a man. Men and women die everyday in your line of work and there’s no way around it, but for some naive or optimistic reason you’d excluded König from the group of people you had come to terms with having to mourn someday.

The mission hadn’t been one of huge concern regarding Königs safety, yes there’s always the possibility something unplanned could go down, but nothing raised any alarms for you three days prior while listening to the confident Captain Price brief Kortac and 141. The task at hand was simple. Infiltrate a decently guarded building to retrieve vital documents for Laswell, then get out. After securing what you’d come for, König and Bravo team were cleared to move out of the old office building and regroup with the rest of the team including yourself at the evac site ten clicks out. You’d been hidden amongst thick shrubbery at a high vantage point watching the mission unfold down the sight of your scope, ghost silent and stiff by your side when the command was given over the comms. Before anyone had the chance to reply to the Captain a previously undetected bomb planted on the main floor on the building goes off, causing the structure to break apart and crumble down at the loss of its foundation. Smoke and dust rise from the rubble. A god awful ringing sound brings you back down to earth.

“König… no.. nonononononono.” Slinging your sniper rifle over your back you tried to run to him before a strong grip on your shoulders pulled you back in place with a gruff, I’m sorry kid. Ghost radio’s Price to inform him of eight armoured vehicles rapidly approaching the site. With over half the team buried beneath debris, Price makes the difficult call to continue on to the evac site. Once all remaining soldiers are clear from the area and safe they’ll be able to regroup and call in medevac. You knew leaving König behind was wrong, that you were betraying him, it broke your heart.

Hours after returning to base you’re sat outside hunched over on a crate with a smoke in hand when the medevac team notifies they’re on route to base with surviving soldiers, seven casualties reported as well. You look up at the clouds above, shielding your eyes from the bright sun with your unoccupied hand waiting for a glimpse of König coming back to you— if he was coming back to you.

•••

As you lead your best friend through the many twists and turns that are military base hallways you can’t help but think about what you’d be doing at this moment if he hadn’t come home to you. If you never got the chance to tell him how much you love and cherish him with every fibre of your being. If you never got to experience sharing a life with König, maybe even a family down the line, who knows? One thing’s for certain, you need him by your side.

The door to König’s room swings open before you slam it back shut after pulling said person past the threshold and flipping the heavy lock in place. You spin around to face König, hands patting him down checking for injuries, they move to cup his masked face and your eyes mirror his own glossy ones. He reaches up and begins removing his helmet and diy sniper hood. You like to joke that he’s cosplaying real snipers such as yourself to tease him— but if anyone else ever attempted to make fun of him for it, there’d be hell to pay. There’s been rare occasions when König removed his hood for you in the past, of course you’d seen his face before but every time felt so short and far between each other it’s hard to remember all the beautiful little details. Hood now gone, you wish you had more time to appreciate it before your hands resume their lingering paths over his body. König leans into your touch, head tilted down at you.

“Please,” you plead, big doe eyes begging him for it. Your hands grip the top straps of his tac vest tugging him closer.

“I need you. König i-I thought that was it, I thought.. I lost you. I need you… show me you’re still here with me.”

König gulps. The internal battle within his head is rapidly nearing its conclusion between desperately fighting to keep you in his life, and if that despite what König wishes for is best achieved by remaining friends then so be it, or saying fuck it and seize the chance to possibly turn the friendship you both share into the loving relationship he’s daydreamed about non stop since meeting you at risk of losing it. His mind is made up the moment he feels your lips meet the sweet spot right under the right side of his jaw.

König instinctively shoots his hand up to the back of your neck, fingers sliding through your soft silky hair before digging in and pulling hard. König closes his eyes and leans down to drag his large defined nose across your cheek until his plump lips meet the shell of your ear,

“I’ve wanted you for so long süße Mädchen.” Causing a shiver to shoot down your spine, you lean up closer to him, his warm breath ghosting over your lips waiting impatiently for you to kiss him.

“I’m so sorry for leaving you.” You confess.

König groans softly as he braces his free arm on the door by your head, the sound makes a echoing thud, the other is still tangled within your hair. You’re surrounded by him.

“Don’t apologise to me. You kept yourself safe, that's all I ask of you—“

“I love you.” You cut him off. He holds eye contact with you until it becomes too intense and breaks it off with his lips hungrily chasing after your own. In a quick, ever efficient manner König’s hoisting you off your feet and into his arms, you wrap your legs around his waist as you’re carried to his narrow bed. You can’t help but wonder how the hell this giant of a man sleeps comfortably in it, you’d bet that he doesn’t. The springs squeak from under you when you land, bouncing a little on impact. König makes himself comfortable standing at the end of the bed between your legs, tall frame towering over you as you sit up to begin unbuckling his belt. He tries speaking before he’s cut off by you freeing him from the restraint of his briefs pushing the fabric down his long legs to step out of, your hand instantly finds its way to his throbbing member, thumb circling the head of his cock smirring around the dribbles of pre cum.

“I-if it wasn’t clear…uGH-“ König gasps out trying to regain control of himself. “I love you too, liebling.”

Both your eyes meet as you change your ministries, giving him a few tight gripped strokes.

“I know.” The smile you send him has his palms sweating and heart racing.

Lust fuelled motives have König switching up the current pace of things, his growing desire for you clouding his mind from any other thoughts than his need to be inside you and feel your soft walls clenching down on him.

König, gaining more confidence in himself, climbs onto the bed trapping you under him. He hiked both your legs high up his torso, the head of his cock drags teasingly over your clit before he’s reaching down and lining himself up, pushing just the head in before pausing. You’re confused initially when he doesn’t immediately slide in, separating your gaze from his member resting at your entrance, looking up at him you see König placing a hand on either side of your head, white-knuckled grip. You have an exciting idea of what’s to come next and in preparation for it you wrap yourself around him tight and brace for impact.

The air is knocked out of your lungs in one hard thrust of his hips leaving you gasping for it to be returned. Your head is thrown back into König’s pillow surrounding you in his woodsy scent and helping distract you from your love’s massive length filling you completely down to the thick base. König gives a few shallow thrusts to help you adjust comfortably to his size before pulling back and increasing the speed the louder the sounds spilling from your parted lips become.

The sounds coming from König sound so primal. All guttural moans, raspy breaths and whimpers that have you dripping with wetness. Your juices soak his cock and run down his heavy, full balls. You dig the heels on your feet further into his back, grasping at any and all parts of him you can reach.

You’re on cloud nine. 

“Mein mädchen,” König’s thrust are becoming more desperate and sloppy. “Mien gut mädchen.. bitte. Bitte für mich!” He begs.

“Touch me, please baby I’m so close, I need you!”

Like the good little soldier he is, König follows your command and crashes his mouth against yours bringing you in for a passion filled kiss to make up for the words he lacks to explain how strongly he feels for you. He outstretches a hand down to play with your pretty little clit with vigour bringing your rapidity approaching release forth.

“Ja just like that.. Ja.Ja.Komm mit mir-“ together you fall over that waterfall of pleasure, crashing and running through you like rough waters and drowning in the warmth of each other’s bodies.

Glistening in sweat and still deep in the after sex foggy haze König remains cock semi hard stuffed inside you, shifting his head down to rest against your chest to enjoy the thump of your heart beating for him. Just as his does for you.

“Ich liebe dich, so sehr.” His voice barely even whispers.

“I love you too.”

Later, quickly you decided. You’d both have plenty of time later to discuss everything. Right now you just wanted to enjoy the weighted Austrian blanket currently draped over you.

Ahhh! I haven’t posted in a while and this was kind of just something I wanted to share that I enjoyed writing. This is my first time writing for König or any COD characters, as well as only my second time writing smut, so I’m sorry in advance if something sounds wrong or off!

Also I’m still not taking requests, maybe I will again eventually just not atm! Sorry!🫶🏼

[sereindreams]

HANDPRINTS || RK800 x Reader ♡

“Oh, what can I do? Life is beautiful, but you don't have a clue. Sun and ocean blue. Their magnificence, it don't make sense to you”

Summary: Your work life had always been stressful, and being a part of the DPD had its ups and downs. In fact, it was mostly downs. That was until you were assigned to work on a case of rising deviants with an old associate and a charming, young android. Suddenly, you couldn't wait to show up at work. Your days were no longer filled with quiet solitude, but of warm laughter and shared breaths. The very thing that betrayed all sense of life offered you a gateway to a new appreciation of the world, and the love for things within it.

AN: Hiya! Welcome to my new series :) I’ll try to keep the author's notes to a minimum but please enjoy. I'm not too sure when I will update, could be less than a week, could be months, sorry, that's sort of how my silly little brain works (I hate it).

Word Count: 3.6k

Reader Pronouns: She/Her (AFAB). NO USE OF Y/N!

Warnings: None. The usual DBH crime scene gore is relatively detailed. Please be responsible in your media consumption.

- Chapter 1:

The rain had been blisteringly cold, soaking what felt like the inside of your body, moving like a wave from your toes all the way to your whitened fingertips. Not even under the safety of an umbrella could you escape from the whipping winds, which pierced the surface of your skin like needles. The weather in Detroit had become increasingly wilder in the recent month, with the arrival of Winter still fresh in everyone’s mind. The rain did nothing for the crime scene, though. You pouted, letting your gaze fall across the soaked expanse of mud and grass, before your eyes settled on an inky black car. In a feeble attempt to generate warmth, you stuffed your hands into the slippery pockets of your coat, lowering your head into your jacket as you stepped forward to greet the figures emerging from the vehicle. 

Despite the darkness that was cast over city, covered in angry clouds, flood lights had been positioned across the yard, illuminating detectives and reporters alike in the same, harsh glow. And, to your benefit, when you squinted, it allowed you to make out the men as they wandered towards you. One, with his shag of grey and white hair, and crooked nose, was familiar. The other, with a neatened mop of brown hair, you had yet to discern. Until, he had walked past the holo-tape, when you detected a bright, blue triangle on the back of his jacket, and the code ‘RK800′ plastered on the front, above his breast pocket. 

You bit the inside of your lip. 

An android. 

Not that you had anything wrong with androids, of course not. In fact, you usually relished in their company much more than any human, because, unlike humans, androids were polite. But, safe to say, you hadn’t gotten the chance to interact with an android in a work setting beyond being a janitor or a secretary, someone who went out to fetch coffee and lunch. 

You were so deep in your thought that, when your name was called, you barely responded with more than a grumble. 

“Detective!”

Your eyes snapped away from the android. 

“Lieutenant Anderson” you greeted, giving him a deep and acknowledging nod. “And who is this?”. Your question prompted your arm to swing out, loosely gesturing to the android who had been following the hardened lieutenant around like a lost puppy dog.

The android stepped forward, and you couldn’t help but let your eyes wander. He had to have been the most beautiful android you had ever seen in your life, so much so that you felt your breath halt. God. Glistening droplets of rain were scattered across his porcelain skin, a set of freckles across the bridge of his nose like constellations. “My name is Connor. I am the android sent by Cyberlife”.

You smiled like a goofy toddler, his voice was like butter.

“Well, Connor, android sent by Cyberlife, it’s a pleasure to meet you” you paused, taking a moment to think about your teasing tone. The glowing LED on his head remained a vibrant shade of blue, and your cheeks turned a vibrant shade of pink. The words had simply passed over his head. You cleared your throat, hoping your words would come easier to you, “Shall we?”

Hank let out a gruff grunt, “Don’t bother it”, referring to Connor. 

Frowning, you turned back to the house with a newfound hesitance. Just moments ago, you had swarmed the building with a patrol of policemen, all at your disposal, responding to your every beck and call. And yet, at the arrival of the two, you couldn’t feel any less sure about yourself. Hell, you were only a newbie. A few arduous years was nothing on Lieutenant Anderson’s experienced, decades long career. 

Hank took this moment to look back at the blankly staring android, who was, at least you assumed, scanning the perimeter. His greying eyebrows crinkled, nose scrunched as if he had smelt something fowl, crow’s feet rising. “What part of ‘staying in the car’ didn’t you understand?” 

“Your order contradicted my instructions, Lieutenant” Connor shot back. His voice was notably absent of malice, unlike the Lieutenant’s. 

“You don’t talk, you don’t touch anything, and you stay out of mine and her way, got it?” he snapped. Your heart twisted, ached, for Connor. You didn’t understand why Hank had to be so hard on him. Androids hadn’t asked to be made the way that they were, and it certainly wasn’t Connor’s fault.

Doing your best to take back the control of the situation, which you could feel slipping from your nimble grasp, you took a deep breath and cleared your throat again, “Lieutenant, Connor, if you would please follow me”

Connor had nodded and you began to trudge through the mud, lifting your boots at an agonisingly slow pace as they stuck to the substance, erupting in a small ‘pop’ sound. Your attention shifted to the dirt, mouth opening as you went, “So, there was apparently a call from the landlord around 8pm. The tenant, real strange guy, hadn’t paid his rent in months. The landlord thought he’d drop by to see what was going on... and got a lot more than he bargained for. That’s when he found the body” 

You walked in once again and your stomach did flips, a pungent odour hitting your nose like a brick wall. Between the smell and disarray, you couldn’t blame Hank if he felt like hightailing it straight out of the house. The roof was mouldy, filled with holes akin to swiss cheese, painting flaking from above. The floorboards were caked in dirt, and you realised your shoes were in such a state too. Pill bottles and takeout containers were littered across the living room, a bleak, grey sight. 

The lieutenant made a quick remark about the smell.

But the focal point of the entire house, the place where countless forensic analysts were positioned, was at the wall, dripping with a crimson liquid written in a perfect font: ‘I AM ALIVE’. And underneath, a mangled body, pale and decrepit, as if the life had simply been sucked out of him, and forced through the oozing stab wounds and onto the floor. The scene was enough to send shivers down your spine, and you looked back at the men to observe their reaction. 

You had seen worse, of course. The result of a baby thrown under a train, old ladies in rigour mortis, eyeballs bulging and face sunken, unknown liquids trailing down from their legs, and naked men skinned alive. But you were only human, unlike Connor, and unlike the suspected perpetrator of the crime, which was the part that really bothered you.

A deviant.

The thought that something your own species had created could turn on you was unsettling. Androids, in your eyes, should have been their own people, but it didn't stop your quiet unease.

“It was worse, before we opened the windows” you elaborated, placing your now closed umbrella beside the entranceway for later. “Victim’s name is Carlos Ortiz. Record includes theft, aggravated assault... According to the neighbours, he was a real nobody. Never had anyone coming or going from the house, barely left it himself. A loner. He was a user, too. Red Ice.”

Hank stopped beside the body, and lowered himself to his knees. His face flickered in a disguised expression of discomfort, but stiffened. “Well... with the state he’s in now, wasn’t worth calling everybody out in the middle of the night. Could’ve waited until morning” 

“You’re right, he’s probably been here for roughly, I don’t know, three weeks? We’ll know more when the coroner arrives, of course” you stopped, bracing your arms across your chest in a firm stance and taking a glance around the room, “But, it’s the murderer I’m concerned about. Can’t just have ‘em running around Detroit. There’s a knife over here, a kitchen knife, probably the murder weapon, covered in blood”

Hank took a glimpse at the rusted knife that sat beside your foot. 

“Sign of a break in?” 

“No, no sign of forced entry... not even a forced exit. The landlord said the front door was locked from the inside, all the windows were boarded up, hell of a way to live. Right now we don’t know where the killer went, possibly out the backdoor but I’ve yet to see any evidence towards it”. Hanks hand grazed over the print on the wall with a scanner, the blue light as a haze above the text before he finished, extending the scanner towards you. You took it hastily, shoving it in the pocket of your trench coat. Your palms were now sweaty, the atmosphere sticky with anticipation. 

“What do we know about his android?” the man posed, a low grumble falling from his lips as he rose to his feet again. 

Your eyes tightened, head swivelling to meet Conners inviting, oak coloured eyes. Breath catching, you couldn’t help but admire his detachment and almost otherworldly presence as he stood rather plainly. You wondered what he was thinking, all the things he must have spot the second he walked into the room, things you would have never seen otherwise.

What did he think about deviants?

Or about the crime scene?

Or Hank?

Or.. you?

Did he think about those things at all? Or did he have no opinion, simply what he was programmed to do?

You didn’t break your eyes from the android for a moment, “Neighbours said that he had one, but when we arrived, we couldn’t find them. They used to see them walking around through the window, their faint outline against the shutters, before it was boarded up. Or outside, taking out the trash. One day, they just stopped”. The two appeared to be waiting for you to continue, Hank’s lips drawn into a thin line. “I have my own theories, but in the meantime, you’re both free to look around”

With your words, Connor’s body jolted to life as if waiting for your instruction, and began to conduct his own investigation. He wandered beside Hank, who was mumbling about the blood on the wall, the neatness of it. It was clear no human had written that.

“Samples have been sent off for analysis” you replied, leaning back into the heel of your foot. “But we won’t know until later, you know what they’re like, forensics actin’ like they have better places to be”

With this, your attention wandered to Connor’s hands, veiny and pale, as they dragged across the surface of the writing. The detective inside you was screaming. Despite the fact androids had no fingerprints, you still squirmed under the thought of evidence contamination. Hank didn’t appear too bothered, seemingly as though he couldn’t care less. All his years in the force had made him careless, you observed. That was, until Connor brought his blood-soaked fingers to his lips, pouty, and ran his tongue over them.

Your gut lurched, eyebrows furrowed while you fought back the urge to shout. Instead, it translated to an incoherent and weak, almost strangled noise. Part of you hoped neither of the men heard that embarrassing attempt at expressing disgust.

Hank, on the other hand, “Ergh! Jesus, what the hell are you doing?”

Connor turned back with a plain expression, staring in a matter of a fact way, “I’m analysing the blood. I can check samples in real time. I’m sorry, I should have warned you”

Hank shook his head, waving his hand absurdly towards the android. “Okay.. just- don’t put any more evidence in your mouth. Got it?”

Connor’s affirmation was enough to send Hank to investigate the rest of the house, leaving you and Connor in the living room.

While he stared benignly at his dampened fingers, you lifted your feet and started to walk over to a round table by the door. There sat two fast food bags, Chinese food, covered in a heavy layer of dust and dead flies. Surprisingly, almost as pungent as the body itself. There was something that had irked you about this specific scene, and almost as if he could sense it, Connor was at your side in a second. It was oddly comforting, his tall frame leaning over your shoulder.

After a brief moment, you spoke, “It doesn’t make sense. Neighbours said they saw the android taking out the trash until one day it stopped. Which would explain the build up of garbage throughout the house, but, why would the android stop? I doubt Mr Ortiz would order them to stop, no human wants to live in a dump like this. Are androids possible of a strike, to just… stop..?”

Connor understood what you were implicating, and offered you an understanding nod. “That’s a very astute observation, Detective. I must investigate the house further before drawing any conclusions, but I believe you may be onto something”

Feeling the corners of your lips pull upwards, you smiled sheepishly, before catching yourself.

Stop it, pull yourself together.

Pressing your palms to the sides of your crinkled jacket, you flattened it, sliding your hands up and down absentmindedly across the fabric. It had felt like only moments since Connor had departed from your presence, but it must have been a handful of minutes before he emerged back into the room, his march full of purpose.

"Lieutenant, Detective, I think I've figured out what happened"

Your ears perked up at his voice, and your body pivoted towards them accordingly.

Hank's expression flattened, "Oh yeah? Shoot. I'm all ears"

"It all started in the kitchen. I think the victim attacked the android with the bat, and then the android stabbed the victim. The victim fled to the living room, and the android murdered the victim with the knife"

Your mouth was partially open and would have almost been on the floor if not for the swarm of flies surrounding the rotting corpse beside you. It could have taken you all night to work that out. "Yeah, that definitely checks out. Explains the number of stab wounds... the android must have been extremely upset, which lines up given the circumstance"

"Your theory's not totally ridiculous, but it doesn't tell us where the android went". Of course, Hank was always the realist. Him and his grumpy old frown.

Connor paused, "It was damaged by the bat... and lost some Thirium... You call it 'blue blood'. It's the fluid that powers the android's biocomponents. It evaporates after a few hours and becomes invisible to the naked eye"

"Oh... but I bet you can still see it, can't ya?"

"Correct"

The faint line of your lips had turned into something broader. He was amazing. You shook your head, staring as Conner, almost as if he was a bloodhound, began to make his way around the room. Your chest got tight, squeezing and constricting as you observed with apprehension. From the lounge to the kitchen, and then, the hallway.

A faint crackle escaped from one of the above lights, a blue illuminating the whole hallway. It had been eerily quiet, save for the tapping of shoes on tiles, and the crunch of dirt beneath them. And, most importantly, the deafening screech of wood making contact with the floor, drawing out as Connor pulled the chair down the hall.

You winced.

But he had seemed too focused on his goal to notice the discomfort from all of the other detectives. His hand pressed against the attic, and with a snap and a click, the hatch had popped open. A cloud of dust fell from the ceiling and evaporated into the air.

Eyebrows arched in curiosity, you watched him while Lieutenant Anderson took a place at your side. His body had slithered through the gap, and with his last foot disappearing into the attic, the room fell silent. All the detectives and police who had been investigating the scene, tablet in hand, focused their attention on the eager android.

Moments passed.

A short clatter reverberated throughout the walls, and your breath was hung in suspense.

"It's here, Lieutenant, Detective!"

Your eyes shot to Hank's, whose eyes were as round as saucers. Yours too, looked like a deer who had been caught in headlights, your cheeks ghostly pale. It was as if a breeze had blown past your face, peach fuzz lifting in the sweep of a chill.

The concept of a deviant was no longer a concept, but a reality.

"Holy shit, Chris, Ben! Get your asses here now. Come on!"

In the moments following, chaos was unleashed inside the small household, each man taking their opportunity to wrestle the deviant out of the attic. Perhaps, you thought, they believed they would get their moment of fame. But as your eyes scanned across the bloodied and tormented face of the deviant, you weren't so sure of your cause.

He looked...

Scared.

Each line of his face appeared to tell a story, each mark along his porcelain skin, each cut and burn, gave them a reason. His emotions seemed to cloud his expression as if he had been dipped in a cold ice bath, smothered with so many different senses at once. As if he were hyperaware, unable to cope with all his competing signals. Every rough shove sent his body jolting towards the door, teeth gritting.

"Be careful with him" you felt yourself whisper, as your statement fell on deaf ears. You weren't sure where the statement had come from, it had slipped from your mouth like butter.

His eyes alone were crying, pleading to be released from the hell that had been trapped in. Begging to be shown the same sympathy that any human would in his position. His body was littered with bat indentations, and cigarette burns.

You couldn’t. You couldn’t stand to look at them.

And before long, you were pushing your way through the see of black bodies into the rain of the night. The droplets that were once like needles were now as soft as kisses upon the exposed flesh of your collarbone. Your breathing had slowed to the familiar pattern, eyes dropping like that of a plant covered in morning dew. In a way, you were, body slumped over in a heap on the deck of the house against a wooden post.

“Detective” a voice chided, “Are you alright? I detected a fastened heartbeat"

Your lip quirked upwards, eyes scrunching shut.

He had joined you, sitting on the deck with his legs hung over the side. Though he was much taller than you, and his legs sat more like string beans.

You breathed, "Connor"

His name was a breath to you, a breath of fresh air.

"It is cold out here, are you... cold, Detective?"

It had been less of a question and more of a statement, you decided, his eyes burning into your person, your being. Suddenly you felt extremely naked under his precise gaze, and you swallowed.

Hard.

It was suffocating, and you could feel your ribs tighten with every second that passed. It was a simple question that required a simple answer, and yet, your skin was on fire. But you couldn't tell him that, tell him that his mere being brought everything you knew into question.

You were tired, that had to be it.

"Fine. Just needed some air"

Your response was more of a squeak than an affirmation.

From the corner of your eye, you observed as his palm lifted, until it settled on the small of your back. Your heart dropped into your stomach. As if he noticed, he withdrew his hand like he had touched a hot stove, searing through his biocomponents with ease. But he did nothing to release the intimate gaze he had fixed upon your face.

"Are you sure you're alright, Detective?"

"Yes, very much so. I just..."

"Needed some air" he repeated, LED fading from yellow to blue in an instant. "I understand that the matter of the case can be quite distressing to humans, even experienced ones such as yourself. It is important to take a break when you require it"

Your eyebrow quirked, "Read my file?"

"Of course, I can read files in a matter of seconds. I have read everyone's files that are relevant to the case. Including Lieutenant Anderson's". You didn't know whether his statement put you at ease or caused you more discomfort, but you offered him a gentle smile. Your hands had settled in your lap.

"I wouldn't have expected less from someone as diligent as you, Connor" you remarked.

The compliment was of second nature to you, but Connor was quiet in contemplation. There had been a comforting silence for a moment before a rumble of thunder erupted from the skies. He had stood, smoothly brushing off his blazer before turning to you.

"You should head inside before you catch a cold, Detective", and before you knew it, he had disappeared inside the house.

As you looked back through the darkened doorway, you felt yourself shiver. Hank bore into you with scrutiny.

-

That night, you tossed and turned in bed, wondering if Connor's handprint would be burned, etched into your skin for eternity.

Maybe,

you thought,

that wasn't such a bad thing.

-

[icon-cloud]

Rats, Ghouls and Trikes

This was a prompt given to me by @sister-nyx. and I may have written it in about two hours with a small dinner break and a melatonin dose in between said two hours. I haven't proof read this. But I hope you can look past that and enjoy a small snippet. -A very tired Cloud.

ps-It will be proofed. just not at the moment. Emphasis on the melatonin, sorry.

Update! It has been proofed =3

Includes: Fluff, but also there's hurt

WC: 1,047

Honestly, you would think they would stop trying to lecture him about where he chooses to ride within the corridors. It isn’t as if he was going to listen to them. Who do they think they are trying to get him to stop? Damnit, he is papa. He doesn’t have to listen to any of them! He just chooses to listen to the Imperator. That doesn’t mean he has to listen to even her! He thought huffily as he stood waiting for the Sister to leave the corridor before getting back atop his squeaky tricycle. 

Carefully, he peddled forward. Occasionally looking behind him to make sure the witch hadn’t poked her head back in his direction. Soon he took off and began pedaling as fast as he could on his chosen vehicle. 

Pillars soon seemed to blend into the gray marbled background of the monastery in his attempt to stop thinking, just for a little while. He didn’t often get to do this anymore. Not with all the paperwork that needed signing, or with him needing to help plan the next tour. He just wanted to leave everything behind for a small moment. 

Riding around had always been a form of escapism for him. He remembered being a small child, back when he properly fit on his tricycle, how he would use it as a way to get away from his assigned nurses. All they wanted him to do was be still. Finish his Latin notes, to, “For Lucifers fucking sake! Stop using your left hand.” Followed by a whistle and a sharp pain in his hand. 

They would usually leave him at that point. Let him lick his wounds. Before long, he would run for his little tricycle and pedal as far as he could to the opposite wing without being stopped. He got pretty fast too. 

Disgruntled, Copia frowned. Reminiscing wasn’t what he needed right now. It certainly wasn’t what he wanted to be doing either. So, leaning forward he chose to go faster. Ahead he could see a fork in the hall. He was approaching quickly, closer, closer. He decided to drift to the best of his ability and chose the left hallway.

For one ecstatic second, the wind whipped through his hair, and his heart raced. Copia let out a whoop of joy, before his eyes widened and he realized his folly. He couldn't bring himself to utter a sound as he fell through the air towards the rapidly approaching floor. He had forgotten about the stairs, how foolish of him. 

With nothing to do but brace himself, he closed his eyes, stealing his nerves for what was to occur next. But as the world went black and the only thing he could sense was the wind he so loved. Copia’s thoughts stopped on impact as he went unconscious.

Waking up felt… Wrong.

Waking up was annoying to do, but it didn’t feel like wading through mud. It shouldn’t feel fuzzy, like booting up an old computer, turning on in stages. Copia crinkled his eyebrows in an effort to concentrate before opening his eyes, only to squint as bright light stabbed his eyes. 

Opening his eyes again, more prepared this time. He couldn’t help but groan as he took in his surroundings. Thin mattress, white sheet-walls, headache. Oh how lovely it is to be in the Med wing. To wake up to a glaringly pissed off Aether, what a day. 

Grinning sheepishly, he timidly waved a hand to the ghoul; who huffed before saying, “You have a mild concussion Papa. You’re going to have to stay in your room for a few days before returning to your regular schedule. You also aren’t allowed your computer or TV during this time.”

Frowning, he made a noise of discontent before saying, “I take it the Imperator chose to confine me, eh?”

 Aether looked annoyed before replying, “Yea, let's get you set up and comfortable.”

Pouting slightly, Copia cradled Biscuit to his chest and gently stroked his velvety coat to keep him distracted from the impending loneliness he was doomed to experience for the next few days. He smiled at his senior rat when he began to lightly nibble his fingertips before curling up to nap and decided to sleep as well. 

Gently, he coaxed Biscuit from his hand and onto his bed. Before he also laid down and closed his eyes.

It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep. Soon the small room was filled with gentle snores and small grunts as Copia slept peacefully. Over the small snores, however, you could hear a distant shuffle, and it seemed to grow loader as time passed. What had once been a far off skittering, soon morphed into muffled grunts with the occasional exploitative. 

Soon the large grate located in his room had a pair of dim, glowing eyes. Quietly, a small voice whispered behind the floating eyes, “Fucks sake Dew, is it the right vent? We’ve been in hear almost an hour.” 

Squinting in annoyance he replied, “Yea, it’s the right one. Quiet though, he’s sleeping. Aether said to keep him company and let him rest, stop whinging Swiss.” Grasping the grill securely, he whispered back, “Grab my waist so I don't fall,” and steadily pushed until the metal gave in and the grate came off. 

Grinning, Dew looked back to Swiss’ unimpressed face before he said, “You woke him up, dumbass.” 

Wincing Dew turned around to see a smiling Copia before saying, “Hey, Aether sent us. Want some company? Oh! Is that Biscuit?”

Copia looked fondly at his two ghouls before replying, “Company would be nice, and yes. Biscuit wanted to come out and I didn’t have the heart to say no.”

Smirking lightly, the two ghouls jumped out of the air vent and went to lay by Copia’s side. Where they spent the evening talking. Occasionally they played with the different rats and ultimately the day ended with the rats put away, Swiss gently snoring and Copia nodding off. 

Dew grinned at the other two, enjoying the fact that they seemed content and happy to fall asleep. As gentle breathing filled the room, he couldn’t help leaning into the Papa’s cool, compared to his own, warmth and sighed contentedly before falling asleep himself.

[bobaandasiandramas]

THE TRUTH UNTOLD CH. 13

Pairing: Lee Rang x F. OC

Rating: Mature

Trigger Warnings: Sad Rang

Sorry it's shorter than the last chapter but I hope you still all enjoy it.

Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14

Eun-ji tried everything that Rang and herself could think of to open the box. She threw it, hit it, tried to light it on fire and nothing seemed to work. There was a moment of false hope when the wolf was gently picking at one of the cracks in the wood. A small piece chipped off and a rush of a small memory that shot into her brain. 

It was of a woman and man, both deeply in love as they looked down at a baby. Eun-ji knew in an instant that it was her parents and herself. She felt tears build on her eyes and blinked rapidly to make them go away. She now had faces in place as her family. 

Rang and her each took turns after that trying to pick and pry more tiny pieces off with no success. The oblivion box was getting on the fox's nerves and it added to the stress he was already feeling with his own situation with Ryong. 

The wolf could sense the frustration from the fox and took the box from his hands before directing his attention to her. "Let's take a break and go for a walk." She suggested, lacing her fingers with his and tugging him from the couch. That’s how they ended up outside during the sunny afternoon. Eun-ji held his hand, fingers still laced and with her other hand she held onto his lower arm, resting her head against his upper arm as they walked. 

She tried to enjoy the moments of peace with him. She was able to notice tiny things, like how their steps were in sync or how his scent seemed to intensify any time someone walked past them. The wolf's heart was beating at a regular rate but she was aware of how full it felt. 

Rang tried to rub his headache away and enjoy his time with the wolf, but he was deep in thought between the two conversations he had recently with Ryong and Ui-ong. The sounds of an ambulance’s siren caught his attention as he stopped in his tracks. A second ambulance followed behind, he watched the vehicle speeding by. His gut twisted and he knew it wasn’t anything good. 

“You have two days to bring me Lee Yeon. It’s his body I need.” Ryong stated as he held the Chinese Lantern out to him. 

“Rather than thinking about breaking the deal, think of a way to untangle the mess.” Ui-ong spoke softly. 

“I wonder what’s going on?” Eun-ji questioned as she watched the ambulances drive by. 

“Imugi, that scumbag, what in the world has he done?” Rang mumbled loudly, catching the wolf’s attention. 

“Who is Imugi?” 

Rang looked at her, tightening his jaw as his scent soured a little before speaking in a stiff tone of voice. “Someone I don’t want you tangled with.” 

Eun-ji could sense how serious he was about it. This Imugi was definitely someone that was involved with one of Rang’s many secrets. “Okay.” She gave a soft smile and squeezed his hand tightly twice. She trusted that if he felt she should know then he would tell her. She pulled herself close to him again, nuzzling her cheek into his arm. 

They continued to walk in silence and Eun-ji realized that Rang wasn’t the only one who needed this. Fresh air, sunshine and the thoughts of nothingness. She had given up on ideas for the oblivion box. She would get it open eventually, maybe Yeon or Shin-joo would have an idea that they haven't tried yet. 

They came to a set of stairs and Rang led her down them. He had been as silent as could be since mentioning the Imugi person. Eun-ji could tell there was a lot on his mind and she wished he would share with her so that she could try to ease his turmoil. 

"Rang?" 

"Hm?" 

"You know you can always talk to me about things going on, right? I don't know if it's because you just don't want me to know or if you're still in the mindset that you have to hide this side of you from me."

"I just want to keep you out of it, at least as long as I can."

They reached the bottom of the stairs and she tugged his arm to make him stop in his steps. "Thank you, for everything. You're so kind to me."

"Of course darling." He replied and was thrown off when she pushed him gently against the brick wall next to them before connecting their lips. He responded immediately, wrapping his arms around her on her lower back and moving his mouth against hers. 

They could have gotten lost in each other right there but the wolf pulled back and smiled at him. "Should we head home or go for coffee?" 

Home sounded wonderful to Rang. As he opened his mouth to reply, the sound of a child crying out loudly caught their attention. The fox felt the wolf's grip loosen absentmindedly as she pulled back from him to look around. He was also looking around a little more panicked as he knew the voice was familiar. He grabbed Eun-ji's hand and pulled her toward, leading her to where he could hear the crying. 

“I’m sorry.” The child cried out. 

Rang felt his chest fill with an emotion he couldn’t describe as he started toward the voice, pulling Eun-ji with him. It had to be that boy. The voice sounded so familiar and he just needed to move a little faster. As he was looking around, the small body bumped into him and the fox felt his body relax slightly. “Geomdoong?” He questioned as he looked at the boy taking in his bruised face. 

“Oh, it’s you.” Eun-ji spoke softly as she let go of Rang’s hand and knelt down in front of the boy. The injury to his face made her concerned as she gently grabbed his arms and looked over his exposed skin for other injuries. She noted quickly a crack on his lip that was bleeding and a small cut on his neck. 

Rang watched her closely, the gentleness she used as she checked the child over for more injuries. It wasn’t a time for his heart to skip a beat, but it did. 

“Mister? Lady?” The boy spoke in a whiny tone. 

Another adult rounded the corner, holding a wooden spoon. The man took one look at the boy and started toward them “You brat. Get back here.” The anger in his voice was thick and it made Eun-ji feel like her metaphorical hackles were raised as she stood up, muscles tightening as she braced for an argument or fight.

The boy moved quickly, pressing himself between the fox and wolf, grabbing onto Rang’s legs as he stared at the angry adult advancing toward him. His body trembled more with each step closer that the man took.

“Don’t annoy me. I’ll kill you.” The man spoke harshly. 

Rang looked down at the boy between them. “Who’s this?” 

“My stepdad.” 

Rang looked over to the man emotionlessly, looking him up and down in judgment. A parental figure who is supposed to be protecting the boy but is beating him instead. Rang knew what the child was feeling; betrayal and hopelessness. No wonder the boy lacked simple manners. 

Eun-ji scoffed loudly and glared even more at the man. “Did you do this to him?” She questioned already knowing the answer.

“Mind your business.” The man spat at her before turning his attention to the boy. “Come out. Get over here.” The man demanded stepping forward to grab the boy. 

Eun-ji wrapped her arm protectively around his shoulders, while Rang grabbed the man’s arm, twisting it before tossing him to the side. “Don’t speak to her like that.”

“You choose.” Rang stated as he turned his attention to Geomdoong. “You ask me for help, I’ll make sure you never have to see him again. Or I’ll just go on my way.” 

Eun-ji felt her heart accelerate at his words as she glanced at him in admiration. She remembered what it was like having Rang and Yuri save her. She wanted to do the same for the boy. Her thoughts were short lived as the man approached them again. 

“Hey you. Do you know him? Why are you butting into our family matters?” This time the man was addressing Rang while trying to act tough.

“Quiet. I’m waiting to hear his response.” Rang looked at him boredly.

“What are you? Are you a cop?” The man asked, slightly thrown off at how Rang spoke to him. 

The fox turned his attention to the small child waiting for his instruction on what to do. He watched the boy grab his suit jacket with his two hands as he squeezed the fabric tightly. “So…I…” the boy started. 

“Soo Ho. Answer wisely. Got it?” The man spoke with a sharpness that made the boy flinch.

Eun-ji felt her anger return. The silent threat that was laced in the man’s words. A promised that if the boy, Soo Ho - as she filed the name in her brain, chose the wrong response there would be even more hell to pay than normal.  She watched the boy look up at his stepdad, a shiver running through his tiny body and before she could do anything to shield him from the unnecessary evil that he was forced to live with, the boy clenched his eyes tight, forcing himself to respond. 

“I have to go home.” 

“Okay.” Rang nodded his head and brushed the boy off of his jacket before turning away. 

Eun-ji felt her heart shatter, there was no way Rang would just leave the boy like this. She looked at the boy and then to Rang who was walking away. Quickly, she followed after the fox, words of disagreement tumbling from her mouth. “Rang, please we can’t just leave him.” 

“He made a choice.” Rang didn’t sound happy either. 

Soo Ho started to whine as his stepdad pulled him away and Rang stopped in his tracks. The fox thought for a whole second before turning his attention toward the wolf. “I really hate being violent in front of you.” He stated before pressing his lips to hers quickly and before she could kiss back or respond he was following after the man and boy.  He caught up quickly and grabbed the man by the back of his shirt. “Go to Eun-ji, she will watch you.” Rang spoke loudly to Soo Ho before throwing a fist.

Soo Ho ran as fast as his tiny feet could carry him to the female. His arms wrapped tightly around her legs, his face hidden in her hip as he cried. “I’m sorry.” He sobbed. 

The wolf wrapped her arms around him. “Oh no, you have nothing to be sorry for. Rang will take care of everything okay. Just stay with me.” She whispered to him as she knelt down and cupped his tear soaked face with her hands. She brushed the tears with her thumbs and gave him a gentle smile. “You’re safe now, okay?” 

The boy nodded his head as he sniffled. “Okay.” 

A moment later, Rang came from around the corner and looked the boy over, checking his injuries again. “I have someone who is going to watch you while Eun-ji and I take care of your stepdad.”

Eun-ji was looking him over to make sure he didn't get hurt in the process. There was an increased feeling of attraction and a swelling of pride in her. She processed his words slowly and gave him a confused look when she put together what he said. 

“I called Yuri, she’s with Shin-joo. They said they would watch over Soo Hoo at the house. I have somewhere I can take the asshole over there. I was hoping you’d come with me for the drive.” 

Eun-ji nodded her head. “Yeah, absolutely.” 

“I’m going to make him walk with me, so I want you and Soo Ho to walk together ahead of us. Is that okay with you sweetheart? I’ll still have you both in eye sight.” 

The wolf nodded her head and turned her attention to the boy. “Shall we go Soo Ho? I’ll take you somewhere safe with snacks and a television. Does that sound okay?”

“Okay lady wolf.”

Eun-ji smiled at him before offering her hand. His tiny hand slipped into her own and she gave a gentle squeeze before leading him back toward Rang’s house. The walk wasn’t too long and she made it as fun as she could, talking about what the boy liked to watch. Spider-man was his favorite hero. He enjoyed sweet foods but wasn’t allowed to eat them often. He enjoyed bubble baths and bedtime stories. Every few moments the wolf would glance back and see Rang walking with the stepdad, who looked very much like a zombie. The fox however had a protective gaze over her and the young boy, it gave her butterflies in her stomach all over again. 

Yuri and Shin-Joo were there when Eun-ji returned home with the boy. Rang stayed outside near the car with the stepdad while the wolf would retrieve the keys. The wolf introduced the boy as he hid behind her legs. 

Yuri pursed her lips in disgust as she watched the boy sniffle and wipe his nose with the back of his hand. “Why is it here again?”

Eun-ji dropped her smile, letting her face go emotionless as she looked at her friend. “Yuri, be nice. His name is Soo Ho and he is a guest in the house right now.” She turned her attention to Shin-Joo, who was already sweeping in to greet the boy with a smile. 

“Soo Ho, are you hungry? You look like you could use a good meal.” 

Soo Ho smiled as he nodded his head. 

Eun-ji looked back at Yuri. “Listen, Rang and I have to run an errand, we will be back soon.” She swiped the keys from the table. 

“I hope it’s to find a home for that thin-” the vixen paused as the wolf shot her a glare. “That boy.”

“Just let Shin-Joo take care of him.” 

***

Rang brought the stepdad into Ryong’s house, leaving Eun-ji waiting in the car. He didn’t want her coming in but he also didn’t want to leave her alone. The need for her to be nearby was strong and he had her lock the car once he stepped out. 

Rang roughly threw the stepdad on the floor in front of Ryong, who was walking into the room. 

“What’s this?” The old man asked with curiosity. 

“What else? A fresh human.” Rang responded hoping to just get this over with. There was no other way to get rid of Soo Ho’s father figure without upsetting his wolf. It was bad enough he asked her to turn a blind eye on what he was doing now. 

Ryong looked over the human on his floor. “Who is he?” It wasn’t like Rang to bring people to his home. 

“None of your concern. Turn him into a ground cherry for emergency food.”

“Much obliged.” 

Rang wasn’t paying him anymore attention as he was looking around instead. ‘He moved the Chinese lantern tree.’ He noted to himself. 

“Do you want to watch?” 

‘Not really.’ He thought to himself. He looked at the old man boredly. “Are you allowed to show me?” He just wanted to get back to the car. 

"There’s nothing to hide between us." Ryong held up a black Chinese lantern seed, turning it slowly in his hand. "It looks like an ordinary seed, doesn't it? But it traps the body and soul and only Imugi can create it." Ryong placed it in the stepfather's mouth and slowly the seed started to absorb the man until there was nothing but a vibrant orange Chinese lantern in his place. 

Rang couldn't help but watch, crinkling his nose as the scent of rotting flesh stringed his nostrils. He felt no remorse knowing that the boy wouldn't have to face his abuser again. 

Ryong picked up the orange orb and breathed it in immediately, the black dust entering his body. "Oh, he was an evil soul. He was in and out of prison." A sick smile graced his facial features before dropping. "Did you save a little kid?" He opened his eyes with curiosity. 

"I need at least one good deed to defend myself with when I enter the afterlife." He thought of Soo Ho and how defenseless the child was, just as defenseless as his pup. 

The man chuckled at the response. 

***

Eun-ji was sitting in the car, waiting for Rang to return. She could tell he had a lot of his mind. Several times on the ride over she could see him contemplating whether he should bring her back home or not. 

She knew he didn't like her involved with his personal business and while they were both there for Soo Ho, this was different. During the drive she looked in her rear view mirror at the man who was the cause of the small boy's bruises. It made her gut twist to know he hurt someone so small and defenseless. She didn't want to know what Rang was going to do with him, but it seemed warrantied. 

While she had nothing else to do, she decided to text Yuri and Shin-Joo separately to see how it was going. Yuri was the one to respond first, asking if they found somewhere for the boy to go. Eun-ji rolled her eyes in response and she sent a text back. 'He's staying with us. If you don't want to be around him just go home. Shin-Joo will take care of him until I return.'

Shin-Joo responded to her original text with a picture of Soo Ho smiling with a bowl of cereal in front of him. The wolf smiled and saved the picture to her phone. 

She wasn't sure what was the plan with Soo Ho, but she had thoughts of him staying with them. He could help cook in the kitchen, baking would be so much fun and probably messy. She could imagine the flour in his hair already. She'd tell him to clean himself up after and then spend some quality time together with Rang. 

Her eyes widened as she felt her cheeks warm. She was picturing them as a little family. Her heart was racing faster as she realized she didn't hate the thought of that. Would Rang even want that? They just started their relationship not long ago, she really shouldn’t be thinking about a family with him. Even though it felt right, she pushed it from her brain. 

A few minutes later the wolf spotted the fox walking toward the car, reaching over to the driver’s side of the car, she hit the unlock button so he could enter the car when he reached it. She looked him over and noted that he seemed even more upset than when he first went in. 

He got into the car, hands immediately on the steering wheel, while he tried to calm his breathing. He heard the female next to him call his name gently. He couldn’t talk to her yet, not after what Ryong told him inside. He needed to make a phone call first, settle the thoughts in his head. “Phone?” He questioned, not wanting to look away from the dashboard, if he did he might start crying. 

The phone was placed in his hand and he tore his eyes away from the spot he was staring at. He started the car as he looked through his contacts for Yuri, pressing the call button as he drove away. 

"Where do you think he is right now? Has he even called you in concern?"

Ryong's words echoed in his head with each trill of the phone. He didn't have to wait long, as the vixen answered on the second ring, her cheerful voice came over the car's Bluetooth. "Put Shin-Joo on the phone." A moment of silence before the cheerful fox got on the phone. "This is Shin-Joo."

"You know right? Where's Yeon?" Rang questioned immediately. 

"He went to see Ms. Nam." 

"So where?" 

"I'll call you back with an answer."

The phone hung up and the tension was thick in the vehicle. Eun-ji debated on speaking, but chose against it for the moment. She watched Rang closely, he swallowed thickly and his eyes were red with the threat of tears. The wolf looked at his hand on the gear shift and placed hers over his. 

The sudden contact made his flinch but she didn't pull away and he didn't look over at her. He needed a moment. The phone rang out and he answered immediately. It was Shin-Joo letting Rang know that Yeon was with Ji-Ah visiting Talupia. The phone call was cut right after that and the male fox switched the direction he was driving in. 

“Rang,” She spoke quietly. “What happened there?” She questioned as she gave his hand a slight squeeze. 

“Nothing.” He replied, eyes still on the road. 

She knew it was a lie, and it hurt a little that he wouldn’t share with her what was going on. She thought they might be past all the secrets but unfortunately that didn’t seem to be the case. She nodded her head and removed her hand from his. “Okay.” She responded and turned her attention to the window. 

****

Apparently Rang has just missed Yeon and Ji-Ah from leaving Talupia’s and the fox was still lost in his head. Eun-Ji tried again to get him to talk about what happened at the manor, but he just brushed it off. “Do you want me to bring you home?” He questioned instead. She declined not wanting to leave him by himself. So they sat in utter silence, she could tell Rang was thinking over something but she just didn’t know what. 

They were parked on the side of the road for about thirty minutes when Rang’s phone started going off. He answered quickly and a small smile flashed his face. “Yeon?” The smile dropped as fast as it appeared. Leon’s voice was loud enough to hear through the receiver with little effort. The older fox questioned about Chinese Lanterns for the sake of Ji-Ah’s parents. “Is that all you have to say to me?” 

Eun-ji noted the tone of voice he used and frowned as well. She wished she knew what was going on but was trying to put all the pieces she had to put the picture together. 

“I can find out. The CEO values it as much as his own life. Let’s meet tomorrow and talk about it then.” Rang hung up the phone. 

“You’ve been abandoned once again.” The words of Ryong echoed in his head again. 

A gentle hand touched his cheek and he snapped out of his thought. He didn’t realize that a tear had rolled down his face. He tried to hide away but Eun-ji pressed forward, grabbing both sides of his face, making him look right at her. He felt his heart pounding in his chest.

“Please, I want to help, but I can’t if you don’t talk to me.” 

The fox knew he could trust her with everything in that moment. Her heart was reaching out for his and for once he wanted to reach back. So he did. He poured it all out  wave after wave. He told her everything, from slaughtering the entire village so many nights ago to now. He explained the entire deal he had with Ryong and how he couldn't do anything to break it. He knew how horrible he was, he could see that now and he deserved everything that he’s ever gone through. He was a horrible, worthless creature with too much hate in his heart. 

Eun-ji let him speak, the words piling up in her arms as she sorted through them all and settling them in neat piles so they wouldn’t tumble over. Everytime he started a new rant about his life she would start a new section, welcoming it all and making room for more. The tears that would fall endlessly from his eyes were wiped away with her thumbs periodically. It was only when it seemed he had run out of words about how terrible he was, that she decided to speak. 

“Rang, look at me and listen closely.” Her voice was gentle. She watched his teary eyes look at her. “You may have taken paths that were not the best choice to take but you’re not this horrible being that you’re trying to paint yourself to be.” He went to protest but she pressed a finger to his lips to shush him. She knew it was time that all those tiny piles of self hate that he spewed at her were knocked down and filled with love. 

“You have a softness for weak things. You want to be big and bad - but when you see something innocent and helpless you’re the one running in to protect it. You don’t think twice. You just go and rescue it without thinking about the after. But the after is one of the best parts. Because after is when you fiercely protect. You are not all bad, Rang. There is good in you. There is gentleness and love. I’ve seen it - I've experienced it first hand. You saved me when I was so pathetic.”

A sob escaped his lips before he rushed forward and pressed his mouth against hers. He didn’t realize just how much she paid attention to him. He felt sad and loved in the best way he could describe. He felt her lips press back against his and he felt the weight he was carrying start to drift away.  “Thank you, Eun-ji. Thank you for seeing me for more than the horrible and broken creature I have become.” He wanted to tell her so much more, like that she was the reason he was altering his path for a better life. 

****

Eun-ji stood inside the ladies room of the bar, she had excused herself when they arrived. Rang had told her he just wanted to get one drink and he didn’t know she was going to be making a call. 

The phone rang twice before it was answered. “Ah, what is it Wolfie?”

“Yeon, please.” She spoke gently into the receiver. “I need your help, Rang needs your help.” 

“What do you mean pup, what has happened now?” 

Eun-ji spilled everything she could remember about Ryong and the Imugi that Rang had told her about. She could feel herself getting more upset with each word that passed her lips, knowing that Rang had been carrying everything he could on his shoulders. “Ryong only gave him 24 hours to deliver or Rang will die. Please, Yeon, please - we need you.” 

“Okay pup. Calm down. Where are you right now?” 

Rang was sitting at the bar, drink in hand, while he thought about what Talupia had told him earlier that morning. ‘Only the fox’s death can break a deal made by a fox.’ The thoughts alone made him upset, he knew he deserved this but it didn’t mean he wanted it. He wanted new things now, more time and a real chance at living his life. The proper way. 

The wolf slid into the seat next to him, grabbing onto his arm and nuzzling her nose into his shoulder for a moment. “Hey handsome.” 

He greeted her back with a kiss to the back of her hand and a small smile. “Hello darling. Did you want a drink?” He asked. 

“Just a soda is fine with me, I want to get back to Soo-ho soon and make sure he is settling in okay.”

Rang nodded his head. “Sure thing.” He ordered a soda for her from the bartender and the two of them sat in silence. The fox enjoyed the feeling of the wolf resting her head on his upper arm as she sat next to him. Every so often he would press his nose to her hair and breath in her calming scent on orange blossoms and azaleas, sometimes he’d press a kiss to her head instead. Eventually their drinks ran out and Rang decided it was time to head home. “Come wolf, let’s go home.” 

Eun-ji frowned but nodded her head, slipping off her seat and following him toward the exit. That’s when she saw him. Yeon was walking toward them. She was so happy he came and just in time. 

Rang stopped short and looked at his brother. “What are you doing here?” He questioned. 

The older fox came to stand right in front of the younger. He looked at the two of them, nodding gently to Eun-ji before turning his attention solely on Rang. “I’m sorry. I only thought you were one of the hostages. I didn’t think he’d kill everyone.” He lifted a hand to Rang’s face, patting the cheek twice, while he noted the sadness on the younger’s face. “So how about you keep living by my side?” 

Rang felt the tears welling in his eyes as he shook his head. “No matter what I do, I can’t be free of my deal.” 

“There’s a way.” Yeon stated, making Rang’s eyes snap to his with confusion and shock. “Swap places with me and bring me to him just like he wants. We will have to plan it accordingly but it will work.”

Eun-ji smiled at Yeon’s words. “Should I leave you both to it?” 

Rang grabbed her arm. “We will bring you home first.” 

****

Eun-ji stood outside of the building for Rang’s house, waving at Rang and Yeon before stepping into the lobby area. She was excited for Rang to break this deal. He deserved something good, especially after everything he had been going through. She walked over to the elevator and pressed the call button so she could go up to their home and she could check in on Soo-ho. 

A person approached from her right, still behind her, while she was waiting and the feeling of unease fell over her. She didn’t want to look back at the person, but her body was screaming for her to do so. She didn’t want to let them know she was there, but she felt her fingers twitching while she tried to stay calm. 

“Don’t you think it’s time we talked, my pup?” 

She froze, body trembling in fear as she dug her nails into the palms of her hands. She turned slowly on her heel to look at the person standing there and she bit back the gasp that wanted to leave her lungs. 

The Wolf Spirit was standing there, instead of traditional clothing he was wearing more modern ones. “I heard you received your box back and have also received some of your memories back. Kyong has no idea who I am anymore, I see that your Rang took care of that.”

She took a step back. “What do you want?” 

Duong grinned at her. “I want to give you a chance. There has never been a  time that someone has been able to recover their memories like you have, so I’m curious.”

“What chance?” She questioned, her senses on high alert.

“A chance to earn your memories back, I will break the box and restore them all.”

“What’s the catch?” 

“Nothing terrible. Just that you’ll come when I need you. In fact, to prove that I mean my word, I’ll gift you a memory now.” The spirit took a step forward and she took a step back. The elevator opened and she continued to step back as he advanced on her, both of them stepping onto the lift. 

Eun-ji could hear her heartbeat in her ears, she could feel her chest rising and falling rapidly as she found herself trapped in the elevator with Duong. She closed her eyes tightly as he reached out toward her, two fingers pressing to her forehead. 

“Here are two small memories for you, good ones that will show that I’m not truly the bad guy.” 

Eun-ji felt a rushing sensation of adrenaline course through her body, starting at the point where his fingers were all the way down to her toes. Her eyes snapped open wide as visions filled her head. 

***

She was back with Yeon on the mountain, overlooking the villages below. “You’re fond of her. More so than you show.” Eun-ji spoke. 

“What? No I’m not.” Yeon denied as he watched A Eum walk back down the mountain side. 

The wolf giggled at him. “You don’t need to lie to me, or are you trying to fool yourself. I can tell, she’s your mate - you feel it don’t you?”

The fox opened his mouth to protest, fumbling over his words. “I, the thing - I… well….what about you?” He turned the conversation to her. 

“What about me?” 

“Are you trying to fool yourself too? He is your mate, you know.” 

“No, he isn’t. I wish, but he isn’t.” She frowned as she looked at the ground, shuffling the dirt beneath her feet. 

“You’re both still so young, but I can see it. The way you move together in tandem. You’re both so aware of each other without even thinking about it.”

She felt blush rise to her cheeks and she tucked her head down. “Stop it Yeon.” She rubbed her face trying to will the redness away. 

He laughed lightly, like bubbles in the air, and placed a hand on her head, ruffling her hair in the process. “You know I’m right.” 

***

The next memory was earlier than that. Eun-ji was running around in the grass with other wolf pups. The sun was just starting to set, painting the sky with beautiful oranges and purples. Fireflies were starting to rise from the ground, blinking in twinkling lights around the pack’s land. 

“Eun-ji,” a female voice called out. “It’s time for dinner.” 

The female pup pried herself out of the ‘pup-pile’ of her wrestling friends and perked her head up to see her mother standing just outside of their den. “Coming!” She called out as her tiny feet started pounding on the ground as she ran toward her mother.

A loud pounding of feet came from behind her and she dared to look back to see her father chasing after her. She squealed in playful fear as she tried to run faster, but her tiny legs put her at a disadvantage and now sooner than she could think to dodge out of the way, she was scooped up. His hands showed no mercy as one held her while the other danced the fingers like spiders on her sides. Eun-ji howled out in a fit of laughter. “Dad! Stop it!” Tears of laughter filled her eyes as she tried to squirm away. 

***

Both memories were both nothing but short glimpses but she found herself back in the elevator with Duong. There were steady tears falling from her face. 

“I won’t make you decide right away. I’ll give you a few days to decide about my offer.” The elevator dinged as it came to a stop. “Oh, and if you even dare to tell your foxy friends about this little visit - then I’ll wipe their memories of you completely.” 

Eun-ji’s eyes widened at his terms. She snapped her attention to him, watching his step back off the elevator with the doors closing behind him. She wanted to stop him, tell him that she didn’t want that at all, she didn’t want anything from him but the words just wouldn’t come out.

The elevator continued its journey up to her floor. 

[gobiin-z]

Hello again! Sorry for being gone for a little while in terms of posting, had a lot going on in real life and other stuff. Have a few other projects in the works that may get shared here soon, but for now Ghosts 2 Chapter 5 is done. Hope you all enjoy it!! <3

“Reminisce”

June 30th - 15:47

Downtown Caracas, Venezuela

Captain David “Hesh” Walker

It was a long walk back to the helicopter. Mainly because the helicopter had moved to another location to avoid blocking any transport. And because Hesh had gotten tired of dragging his unconscious enemy along and had picked him up, slowing him down as he adjusted to the added weight.

Merrick had eventually caught up with Hesh, and was trying to get an answer about the man Hesh was carrying. Hesh gave him a look, silently declaring that he would not share any information at the time.

“Alright, alright, I’ll leave ya alone now…” Merrick responded.

They strode through the streets and back to the helicopter, catching the occasional strange glance from the locals. As they reached said helicopter, Hesh unceremoniously tossed the unconscious person onto the floor. He radioed back to Kick to tell them it was time to go, restrained the soldier he’d found and then waited for the others.

********

For the most part, the ride back to base was lively. Soldiers were talking to each other, and Merrick had found himself paperwork to complete. He had passed the paper they had found back to Hesh, who was scanning the paper’s contents with a furrowed brow. There had to be something on there, something he had missed when he saw it for the first time. Annoyingly, save a few diagrams and writing that didn’t make an ounce of sense, there was nothing on the sheet. It was like some kind of code, it had to be, the sentences were complete gibberish.

However, between the smudges and crinkles of the paper, was an initial that kept reappearing. LW. Who was that? What was that? What did it mean?

He folded up the paper and shoved it back into his pocket. He had a suspicion on what the initial could stand for, but he wanted to be sure.

The helicopter arrived back at base. One by one, everyone left, leaving Hesh and Merrick in the vehicle. Merrick grabbed the soldier they’d found and went to hop out, but Hesh called out to him.

“Merrick.”

Merrick turned his head to face Hesh.

“What?”

“I’ve…got to go somewhere quickly. Should only be a few hours. You’re in charge until I’m back.”

“On it. …Stay safe.”

Hesh offered a small nod in response, and Merrick hopped off of the helicopter, hostage in tow.

******

June 30th - 18:35

San Diego, California, USA

With a sigh, Hesh stepped off of the helicopter.

…He was home.

The sunset beat down on him and he shielded his eyes. He trudged through the rubble and foliage that had grown, taking in all that was around him. Despite decades of neglect, the parts of the house that remained were still holding strong. Broken picture frames and shattered windows still covered the floors, and weeds and other plant life had climbed up the walls and on to the remaining ceilings. He made his way through what remained of the house, pushing open the front door and taking in the garden before him.

For the most part, things were broken. The rocky floor had cracked and split; the palm tree had ripped way from the soil and had fallen over; the stairs leading outside had completely fallen apart, and most outside decorations had been reduced to dust and debris.

Surprisingly, although chipped and cracked, the statue near the front of the garden had remained standing. Hesh crossed the garden and went over to the statue. He stared at it for a few seconds, before he turned around and slumped against it, his back sliding down the smooth marble until he hit the floor.

He slowly threw his head back and let it rest against the statue base, gathering his thoughts. After a few moments of silence, he spoke.

“..I don’t know what to do anymore.” He started, “I mean, I don’t want to believe Merrick, I know Logan’s alive….and somewhere, but, at the same time…where is he? We’ve been everywhere since he got captured. I’ve turned over every rock and looked behind every wall trying to find him, for God’s sakes. I just- …I want something good to happen. I need something good to happen. For once.”

He looked around. Like the inside of the house, the outside was overgrown. The path leading up to the house had all but vanished, leaving a grassy hill in its place.

Having temporarily cleared his thoughts, Hesh pushed himself off the floor and stood up.

He went to turn back to the house, but he noticed something that made him stop. From where he was standing, it looked like some kind of piece of paper. He went closer.

As he stepped forward, he could see the object more clearly. It wasn’t a piece of paper, it was the back of a photograph. Reluctantly, Hesh picked up the photo and turned it over.

It was a photo of him and Logan from when they were younger. They were at a carnival of some kind. They looked…happy. For the first time in what felt like a while, Hesh smiled. It was a small smile, but it was genuine. He carefully folded up the photo and put it in his pocket, before walking back through the house to get picked up.

[ficjoelispunk]

Ch 06 - Two rabbits. One shot.

Continuation, you can find it here

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Author's Note: like always, I'm sorry for any grammatical errors, don't give up on me, translating is not easy, but I did my best. Correct me as much as you can. Thanks.

You finally had a decent night's sleep. It was even ridiculous the way your body succumbed after the treatment Javier gave you.

Understanding the Javier Peña effect. He was definitely someone remarkable. The body drawn, muscular, the shoulders outlined, biceps and chest. Large and firm hands. The hair. The face. The smell. The kiss. The sex. You would have sexual memories for a long time, which gave you goosebumps and excited you only with the memory, the tone of voice speaking in your ear, the feeling of Javier's cock filling you like no one had ever filled, the sounds he made as he sank into you.

Jesus. The effect he caused was immoral. You understood your victims. The supplications and the search for an extra moment with him.

Now you didn't know how to proceed. How should you act? Pretend that nothing happened, like before? Let it be something that you deal with only between the four walls of the file room? Was it casual? Starting from Javier Peña's history, it was possible that he would never look at you again.

Unfortunately you work with him in the same sector, in the same room, and he needs you. What made you think about how desperate he should be.

But on the other hand, you also remembered the things he told you while you were overwhelmed by desire and horniness. Including the fact that he wanted you from the first day he saw you, according to his words. But that doesn't mean it's romantically, it could just be another achievement. Which you made it difficult for him for 3 long years.

You needed to go to the pharmacy before starting your day, buy a morning-after pill.

You didn't know how to get around in Medellin, but you knew the basics. Market, pharmacy, and the restaurants you liked. It was the essential.

So you parked a few meters before the usual pharmacy you used to go to. You got out of the car, walked to cross the street, when a black car threw itself in front of you out of nowhere.

You stopped, taking a few steps back, watching without understanding. Two armed men got out of the vehicle coming towards you, you began to have a bad feeling and tried to run but they reached you and held you.

"No, no," you said, "let me go, let me go, get way from me" you started screaming.

But you were in Medellin, and of course no one stopped to help you.

The two men lift you off the ground with ease. You were struggling in the air.

"Cálmate” one of them said.

While they put a bag over his head.

"Tranquilo, tranquilo" another repeated.

You were taken by fear when you were already sitting in the back seat of the vehicle in the middle of these two men.

Your Spanish was terrible, and they spoke Castelhano too, so you didn't understand almost anything.

You were desperate. Why were they taking you? Did they want information? You were just the assistant, it didn't make any sense... Tears flowed over his muffled face under the bag.

You were lost, taken by the feeling that from that point on, surviving was your only choice.

***

It was almost 9 a.m. and Javier hadn't seen you yet. What was bizarre, since at 6:30 a.m. you were already hammering your fingers into the typewriters.

Strangely, he was anxious to meet you. And to know how you would behave after last night. But without seeing you there, the nerves of his face began to pull.

Javier is sure that you have never been late for anything in your life.

"Are you at least listening to what I'm talking about?" Murphy questioned Javier realizing that he was out of focus.

"Yes," Javier replied without looking at him.

"What's going on?" Murphy asks his colleague, sitting at his desk in front of Javier.

He doesn't answer at first. Still staring at your table.

Murphy follows Javier's gaze, and understands.

"Maybe she went to some meeting, or went to Bogotá at the last minute. Why are you worried about the person who gives you the most headache?"

Peña looks at his partner. And he gets up walking to your table.

Murphy is going after it.

Incredibly organized. Completely different from his. He gropes some papers on the table, looking for something that even he doesn't know what it is, opens one of the drawers next door, finds your agenda. It's until today's date.

"Are you crazy?" Murphy is next to him now, "Moving her things, without authorization, this should be at least confidential. If she finds out she will make your life hell for a week"

Peña squeezes her lips in a thin line frowning her eyebrow. Still analyzing your schedule notes. He passes one of his hands over his whiskers.

He knows something isn't right. You were with him last night. You wouldn't have time to go to Bogotá. There wouldn't even be a flight. So soon. There was nothing written down in your agenda that indicated the reason for the disappearance.

Where were you?

Javier left your calendar in the drawer, and reached for his phone, calling the Embassy.

"Agent Peña, I need some information"

"What are you doing?" Murphy whispered in shock.

Peña ignored him.

"I need to know if the Ambassador's assistant has any activity scheduled for today at the embassy"

Murphy threw his hands on his face. Shaking his head.

"Okay. Thank you." He put the phone on the hook.

The eyes are now terrified.

"Something happened," Javier murmured, but to himself than to his partner, he ran down to his table, and took the jacket.

Murphy reaches his partner halfway, holding his arm.

"Where are you going? You went crazy, the girl must be somewhere"

Peña looks firmly at where Murphy's hands have found his arm and pulls for himself.

"I'll be back soon" Peña left.

He went to your dorm, and you weren't there. He was confused, he didn't know if you hadn't come back since the early hours of yesterday, or if you were extremely organized. Because your bed was made, and the objects on your bedside table were impeccably distributed at equal distances.

Javier chose the second option. You were extremely methodical.

He went to the parking lot, your car was not there.

Javier walked to the guardhouse, and asked the guard.

"Did you see a Chevrolet 78 coming out of the base?"

"Yes, she left at 7 a.m. and hasn't come back since then"

Peña put his hands on his waist. Fuck. Where had you gone? Why hadn't you come back yet?

"Did she say where she was going?"

"No, sir."

Fuck!

Javier knew. He felt you weren't safe. Just imagining the things that the sicarians or cartels are capable of doing, his hands closed in a fist so strong that he tasted the meat.

He went straight to Colonel Garrillo's office. He explained the situation.

"If you checked her schedule, she may have taken the morning off," Carrillo suggested.

Peña shook his head.

"No, she never takes time off"

Carrillo laughs, shaking his head.

Javier stiffens.

"Peña, Peña, Peña... you never change, is she an informant?"

Javier uncrosses his leg, and leans in the direction of the Colonel, he would not let his fame slip on you because of him. He wouldn't let them doubt your nature and character.

"She's a good woman. She has been living for this job since she got here. She wouldn't leave without coming back in time for work. I know her. I have a bad feeling."

Carrillo raises his eyebrows.

"Let's wait until after lunch, if she doesn't come back, we'll send searches around the city, okay?"

Javier flaps his fingers on the table at the same moment he nods to the colonel, getting up and leaving the room.

Javier runs his fingers under his jaw. While you're sitting smoking a cigarette on your desk.

Wait.

That's what he needed to do. But every time he looked at your table without you, his stomach tied a knot. Waiting was wasting time.

The phone rang, and he didn't even wait to finish the first call.

"Peña" he introduced himself.

"Agent Peña, this is Don Berna"

Peña's breathing stopped. Don Berna was an accomplice of Judy Moncado, one of the small gangs that were part of the Medellin Cartel.

"I have a proposal that may interest you"

"What a surprise" Peña would not leave the opportunity to be petulant.

Don Berna gave an address of a cafeteria for them to meet.

Peña wasn't late.

The cafeteria was simple, there were few people inside. The background music playing, typical Colombian.

Javier saw Don Berna, he had never seen him in person, only by photos, but it was not difficult to identify.

"¿Que passa, Peña? Waiting for someone else?"

"¿No y tu?" Javier was standing next to the table, with his hands on his waist.

"No. It's not necessary, I have friends everywhere" Don Berna stirred the sugar in his cup of coffee.

Javier tried not to sketch the irony on his face. This was a boring conversation just to intrinsically indicate that he might not be with someone there, but that if something happened to him there, they would know that it had been Javier and this would have consequences.

"Pero, siéntate, sit down so you can taste the best coffee in Medellin." Don Berna raises a tone of voice "Ana Luz, make a coffee for my friend."

Javier sits down.

"Do you have anything but coffee to offer me?" Arms crossed in front of the body.

"Look Agent, I'm not just any informant, and I'm not looking for any reward. No."

"So why are we here?" Javier shrugs his shoulders.

Don Berna leans over the table.

"Agent, you and I are like the snake and the cat. If the snake has the opportunity, it will kill the cat. If the cat has a chance, the snake is mary. But sometimes they both see a very big mouse." He hummed the last word. "And sometimes they both want to eat"

Javier was losing his posture. He began to understand where Don Berna was trying to go. He knew this metaphor was about you. He understood that you were with Don Berna, with his henchmen.

"Where is she?"

"Tranquilo"

Javier uncrossed his legs and leaned over the table approaching Don Berna.

"Where. Is. She?"

Don Berna laughed, pleased to know that you meant something to Javier, after all. That would make things easier. And he leaned against the chair.

"She's fine, don't worry"

Javier wanted to punch this mother's narco son in the face, until he said where you were, but he needed to control himself because your life could be at risk.

"What do you want?" Javier asked.

"I need your help, and your help will be beneficial to me and to you too" he paused torturing the Agent "If you help me, I will return your girl, and you will still be able to make a great apprehension."

"What do you need?"

"I need you to invade a laboratory. I'll give you the location, and you just need to invade it."

Peña frowned. He would never question if it would bring you back to him safe and sound. But he needed to explain it to the others.

"How will this help you?"

"The laboratory was mine, but Pablo took it, and if you seize it, he would have been at a loss."

That's all he needed. He didn't even think much. He just did everything he could as soon as possible.

Peña returned to the base at the Academy as fast as he can. And he started suggesting the operation.

"It's here." He pointed to the image taken from the satellite "let's make an inventory later, so we know what was seized"

"How do you know that?" Murphy asked.

"Through an informant" the hoarse tone of voice.

"Let's go," Carrillo encouraged.

And they left. It would be easy for him to come in and rescue you. That's what he had in mind. And when he rescued you, he would explain later if it were the case the connection between the apprehension and you being precisely in this captivity.

Anyway, the men were positioned, about to invade the house, where the laboratory worked.

It was easy to surrender the team that worked there. The only problem was that you weren't there.

Damn. Fuck!

Javier entered all the rooms of the house, in the attic, in the basement, looked outside, everywhere, and you were not there.

He wanted to run out of there, and stay planted in that cafe until he met Don Berna, and made him say where you were.

But he needed to stay there and finish the operation. Javier ran his hands through his hair, sighing with his eyes closed.

"Your informant is a gold mine," Murphy said, while bringing the cigarette.

"Yes, he's good," Peña smiled, observing the apprehensions.

"You don't look happy," Murphy said.

"I am. I am" Javier patted his partner on the back, rose a cigarette, and walked away.

***

Murphy and Peña returned to the base, in an unpleasant atmosphere.

Murphy had gone out for a "walk" with Colonel Carrillo, and one of Pablo Escobar's sicaries, who was arrested in the invasion of the laboratory and we probably already knew where this had gone. Carrillo had a little disturbing methods.

Javier tried to distract himself from the fact that you were not under his eyes, but being held hostage by drug traffickers in God knows where. Praying silently that you were safe. Because he would kill anyone who had touched you.

He was failing you. He knew that just as it had happened to Helena, it could happen to anyone he got involved with. But he did not imagine that the cartel would extrapolate the limit in this way, kidnapping an American government agent.

***

That day passed. You didn't come back. Javier thought that eventually after Don Berna knew that the attack on the laboratory had been successful he would free you. But that didn't happen.

So Javier added the useful to the pleasant. He reported his kidnapping to the embassy.

Carrillo set up a rescue operation for you. Javier told about the possibility of you being with some cartel, in exchange for information.

Carrillo increased the attacks on all of Pablo's bases, killing every sicario who appeared in front. But days went by and they couldn't find you.

Javier didn't sleep. He listened to all the calls from the wiretaps. He answered all the phone calls. He didn't stop working and looking for any clues that led to you.

He couldn't imagine how you were. There was a whole mobilization even in Bogotá so that the searches were more intense. But there was no sign of you.

"We're going to find her," Murphy said when he realized that Javier was lost in thoughts.

Javier just nodded.

It wasn't fair to you. You didn't deserve it. Why didn't they kidnap him? Or anyone else he had been involved with? But you? His heart squeezed with the idea of where you could be. If you was eating. If with your sharp tongue they would respect you and not hit you. If they could stand it, they wouldn't kill you. If you were still alive. If they hadn't done worse, because depending on what might be happening, maybe death would be better.

He closed his eyes shaking his head.

Carrillo was committed to finding you. But he was also committed to taking the opportunity to embezzle Pablo Escobar.

Messina was called to Bogotá for a conversation with Crosby.

"Do the agents have anything to do with it?" Crosby asked.

"Not that I know of" Messina was impassive.

"If Peña and Murphy are right, they are the only ones the asshole trusts," Crosby talked about the colonel.

"I find it difficult for Colonel Carrillo to forget about her. She is pleasant and competent in all areas, and has helped operations a lot, has played a key role"

"It's exactly what he wants, to keep everyone under his wings, with the guarantee that they are friends and partners, so no one will question the means he has been using, but guess what? People are already starting to question how a department can't find a girl from the United States government who has been missing for 7 days"

Messina was silent.

"If Carrillo wants to walk the streets killing every sicario he finds, God bless him. But our agent needs to be back at the base, and I don't want the attacks to be linked to our agents. They can no longer be together in the operations"

***

Edward, the person in charge of Centra Spike, summoned Javier, Murphy and Carrillo to pass on new information.

"Everything was standing still for those days. But there was a phone call three times on the same night, all in the same neighborhood," he finished explaining.

"They don't control themselves," Murphy smiled.

Javier was turned off. He couldn't deal with this situation anymore. There was no concentration with absolutely nothing in the department. Murphy tried to pass on details of the investigations, but he simply dissociated and could not finalize a line of reasoning.

"Are you dating or something?" Murphy questioned.

"I'm not the type to date..."

"You are on the verge of a nervous breakdown without her here under your supervision," Murphy laughed a little.

"Maybe because if we take longer she may be dead..."

"Do you like her"

Javier didn't answer. He needed to find you. Nothing else crossed his mind. Then he dealt with the feelings. If Pablo and you showed up in front of him today, he would choose you a million times.

With their kidnapping, they were forbidden to leave the base. But Javier received a phone call from Gabriela, a woman he met before you had sex that day in the file room. And sometimes later too.

Gabriela called him to go to her house, which she was missing.

"No puedo bebita, estoy trabajando"

But she insisted. And Javier gave in. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get a little distracted.

"Messina also caught your attention for leaving the base?" Murphy questioned.

"Yes"

Javier would pick up his jacket and an envelope on the table in a hurry.

"Where are you going?"

"Get out. From the base"

Murphy rolled his eyes shaking his head.

It was good that Javier gave in to Gabriela's invitation, although he went with other intentions. Gabriela had contact with a girl who would give information about where Pablo would be, and at what time.

The information was right, Centra Spike's eavesdropping pointed to Pablo's conversation over the phone.

Javier just thought about how difficult everything was without you there, and how your work was different. Things that took them hours, you would take minutes. And how he would like you to be there, to participate in this moment. Never before has there been such a hot track that led to Escobar.

In conjunction with this, Peña's extension rang.

It was Don Berna, with the promise that he would give the address if you were.

Things happened very quickly.

Javier ran to Edward passing the address mentioned by Don Berna, so that he would send the plane to fly over and check some clue.

A few hours later, in the midst of the organizations and eavesdropping for Pablo's operation, Edward called Peña to listen to the recording.

"She's fine, live, just... this son of a bitch hasn't been eating for a few days, but she's fine"

"It's her" Javier's chest squeezed.

Javier hit Edward on the back and ran towards Colonel Carrillo's room. They called a meeting.

In the room were Javier, Carrillo, Messina, Murphy and Trujillo.

Javier reviewed Escobar's two recordings and the call that indicated your captivity.

"The points are close we can kill two rabbits in one shot" Javier was anxious.

"We have to leave now," Carrillo said.

"Yes" Javier has already been heading to the door.

"You two are going to stay here," Messina said calmly to Javier and Murphy.

"Are you kidding me?" Javier exclaimed.

"If Crosby finds out, we can be sent home," she explained.

"Crosby doesn't need to know shit," Murphy said indignantly.

Messina got up to talk.

"This is an order"

Javier and Murphy were shocked and paralyzed.

Carrillo looked at them.

"We will be in touch by radio. I'll bring her home." he told Javier.

And he left.

"Jesus!" Javier exclaimed like a sigh. Walking from side to side, running your hands through your hair.

This was the most forceful clue Javier and Steve had from Pablo Escobar. But you Javier thought millions of times, between you and Pablo, he wasn't paying much attention to Pablo. And the mistake started there. He didn't think straight. He didn't analyze it. Javier wanted to act as fast as he could. He just wanted you to come back, alive.

***

What comforted Javier about the operation was that who would be there was Carrillo. Since he couldn't go. That's all.

"We're out in 20 minutes"

Javier listened to Carrillo on the radio. Sitting with his body on the table, so focused on the radio that he didn't notice Murphy walking back and forth behind him. Edward tuning in to the eavesdropping, or the presence of Messina in front of him.

The train left towards the first target. You.

The vehicles made a worm path through the streets of Medellin.

"We are getting closer to the target"

Javier listened. Closing his eyes, with the device stuck to his face.

May she be alive. Please.

Javier wouldn't forgive himself if he couldn't save you.

Carrillo parked, and positioned the men with a view to shooters over other nearby houses and roofs. And also some men who would accompany him for theirs.

"We are in front of the address"

Carrillo wouldn't need to give this information. But he thought of Peña.

They broke down the door, and the shooting started.

You were in a room upstairs, blindfolded, hands and feet tied. Too weak to be able to get up and sit down.

You heard voices, shots and feet running. Something inside you said that this was its end. There were many possibilities. Another cartel invades the place. The sicarios fights with each other. Someone came to pick you up, but honestly, after seven days, you no longer counted on this possibility.

The first three days were acceptable. Nobody hit you. They brought acceptable food, and removed you to go to the bathroom. But on the fourth day some men tried to take advantage of you, drunk and drugged. At that time you were loose without presenting any kind of threat, just blindfolded.

But when the men approached you with dirty intentions, you fought. As if your life depended on it. Because it depended. With nails and teeth. Literally. You ripped a piece of a man's ear. And he scratched his face so deep if another that you were sure he would never be able to look in the mirror without remembering the reason for the scar.

"No" one of them held the arm of the one who pointed the gun at you "No podemos matarla"

Not being able to kill you, it brought you consequences. They couldn't kill you, but they could punish you in other ways. Hitting you. Punches. Kicks. They tied you up. And they wouldn't let you go to the bathroom or eat. You were without a bath, stinky, and peeing for days on yourself. The plate of food always came with a surprise, spit, or insects.

And at that point, you would already rather die than continue in this inhuman situation.

When the door to the room you were in was broken into. You heard steps approaching you, slow.

Colonel Carrillo saw the situation you were in. A girl like you should never have been subjected to this.

"Jesus," he exclaimed.

The radio on, all the time. Peña on the other side, was breathing with difficulty. The chest squeezing.

"Don't touch me," you said, crawling slowly to stay in a corner of the room. But for some reason, the person didn't respect it.

Javier listening to his voice on the radio, managed to relax, he let out the air through his mouth, and supported his head with his hands, still holding the radio close to his forehead.

So you screamed.

"Get out! Don't touch me"

"Shhhh"

"Let go of me, you son of a bitch" you struggled like a fish out of the water using your last energies and strength. "Please"

"It's me, Carrillo, it's okay, I came to get you out of here"

He took off his blindfold, your eyes taking a long time to adapt.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Can you walk?"

You had no reaction. You was afraid it would be a hallucination.

Carrillo put his arms under your back to lift you up.

"She's here," he shouted.

Trujillo entered the room. Frowning. Disturbed by your situation.

"How is she?"

You heard Peña's voice on the radio, from Trujillo.

"Alive"

He answered.

Trujillo's answer did not reassure Javier. He knew. He has seen many captivity. And he was afraid of your situation.

Carrillo realized that you couldn't move, and took you in his lap.

You murmured. With body aches.

"It's okay, I got you, it's going to be fast" Passing the other hand behind your knees.

Javi heard his murmurs. Still with my eyes closed imagining the whole scene as if he were there with you.

It was the most tense and agonizing situation that Messina and Murphy had recorded Javier living. They had never seen Agent Peña that way. Murphy was beginning to measure the seriousness of his friend's case. And he thought if it was Connie in place. His stomach turned. He felt guilty for not having helped his partner more attentively, when his cat was killed, Javier went to the last breath with it.

Murphy walked to Javier and squeezed his partner's shoulder in a reassuring gesture.

"Give her a uniform to wear," Carrilho said.

"Yes sir" Trujillo, fixed a shirt on you.

Your clothes are too torn and dirty.

You don't remember if you were able to sleep in this place. And probably not. When Carrillo put you sitting in the car seat, passing your belt through you, your body seemed to have been taken from under a truck that weighed on you.

"You're safe now, let's take you home, did you hear me?"

You nodded.

Finally managing to breathe.

"Let's get someone else now, rest"

Carrillo ran his hand through his hair. He closed the door. And he got into the front seat next to the driver.

"Target 1 recovered"

Peña opened his eyes. Throwing his head back.

Messina furrowed her forehead at him.

"Sorry," she murmured, now knowing how he should and wanted to be there.

"Let's go to San Juan"

You heard Trujillo's voice on the radio.

"Understood. Be careful, guys"

Now it was Murphy who spoke.

"How is the situation?"

"Everything is quiet. Murphy, tonight you pay for the drink"

It was Tujillo's voice.

You hear Carrillo laughing in the front seat. Too tired to be with your eyes open.

"Don't forget the cigars of the sicarios for me and Peña"

Murphy seemed happy.

"Claro, bonita”

Trujillo was interrupted by the deafening noise of a bomb, which exploded in the car in front of his.

You clung to the seat, watching the vehicle go into the air, and the light yellow of the fire exploding in combustion with air.

"It's on fire!"

Javier and Murphy listened on the radio.

Carillo looked back at you, who had your eyes smashed.

A truck positioned itself at the entrance of the street preventing your passage.

"In reverse," he shouted.

But another truck stopped behind you. You were surrounded.

"It's an ambush"

Trujillo shouted on the radio.

And the shots started.

"Carrillo answers. Carrillo! Trujillo! Do you hear?"

You heard Javier's voice on the radio.

The noise of the automatics would make you more deaf than the bomb. This was the biggest shooting you’ve ever seen.

Javier and Murphy listened to the shooting.

"Damn! Talk to me!"

Murphy turned to Messina

"We need reinforcements"

Javier was leaning over the radio with his eyes closed.

"Carrillo?" He called.

The shots hitting the glasses next to you, breaking them on you. The driver's blood splashed on you after the shot hit the head.

You took your hands to your ears, and bent down in the back seat.

There was another explosion of the car's engine behind you.

You heard Carrillo open the vehicle door. You crawled in the back seat, to reach the pistol in the holster of the agent who was killed in the driver's seat.

You held the pistol, with trembling hands, lowered, so shrunk that you would reduce its size twice.

You listened to the shots, and you wanted to scream because you knew that Carrillo outside the car, there was only one end, he would be killed.

There was one last shot, and then you heard the sound of the body falling to the ground.

Peña had his hand squeezing his eyes.

"Fuck!"

He left the radio room. Walking aimlessly through the base. You had died. That's what he thought. Died.

His eyes were blurred. He was desperate. If they had gone, they could have rescued you and returned to the base while Carrillo went after Pablo.

But on the other hand, Javier began to feel guilty, for the ambush he put all of you. It was his contact. It was his information. And now you were dead. Carrillo was dead.

It was his fault.

You heard a truck move. But I didn't have the courage to get up. You couldn't move. Your body trembled all at the same time it was locked. You didn't know what to do.

The noise of footsteps over the cracked windows, approaching the car where you were. You were hyper conscious listening to everything around you. The fire is cracking. The noise of the metal creaking. And now the steps. Your head moved fast, while you looked for the direction of the origin of the sound.

The silhouette of three men invaded the shadows that the fire made burning in front of you, you could know that they were behind you, at the door where you were leaning. You closed your eyes.

"Mire me" you heard.

And you automatically opened his eyes, obeying through the adrenaline and fear that ran through his veins. But you didn't see anything. It wasn't with you.

"Que me mire!" The voice was familiar. "Le pediste a un niño que me diera esto"

Your heart stopped. Would it be possible?

You tried to move as little as possible, to look through the glass of the door window, above you.

You knew who it was. It was him. It was Pablo Escobar. There in front of you. You stopped breathing.

Your eyes roused when you understood what was going to happen.

Pablo triggered the gun. And he aimed at Carrillo's head.

You put a hand in your mouth, so that you would continue to make the greatest absolute silence possible.

"Te estoy devolviendo" Pablo said. And he shot.

The sound made you jump in fright in the car. You closed your eyes.

"Y esto es para mi primo Gustavo."

And you heard 9 more shots in a row.

There was a silence.

Sound of sirens in the background.

You were lowered, shrunk, with your hand in your mouth, your eyes closed, holding the useless pistol.

You don't know how long you stayed there. You heard little by little closer and closer, the noise of cars approaching. Sirens. People talking and running. But you couldn't move.

Peña ran from car to car, until he got to the last one, seeing dead Carrillo lying on the ground. He walked more slowly. Digesting the image. He knew you were close, you were in the car with Carrillo. And then he saw your head, behind the driver's seat.

He turned around quickly, and hesitated to open the door. Your back fell backwards. He held you.

"Hey hey hey" your body in Javier's arms, he felt your sob, and your whole body tremble, "It's me, I'm here, look at me"

You sank your head into his chest, the smell of the family colony. Only your arms loosened enough from your body to sink your fingers into the flesh of his shoulders.

"I need to see you cariño, look at me" he knelt on the floor. "HELP!" He screamed.

Murphy spotted you both, and ran to call a rescuer.

You used to cry. And you didn't even realize you were crying. It was impossible to control, you couldn't stop. You couldn't open your eyes. You wanted to hide forever. Your knees stuck to your chest.

Javier's hands passed through the side of your cheek.

"Honey, please, I need you to open your eyes," he murmured with his lips leaning against your head.

Javier tried to push you away to check your body, but you were still in the same position you were in the car. Sinking your hands even deeper into his shoulder. He put you on his lap while you were sitting on the floor, and shook you slowly.

Then he reached the gun that was in both hands, which you held firmly in your hand.

"Give to me, babe, I'll take care of it now" you released automatically.

"Are you hurt?" He groed your back, looking at his hands looking for blood. He found it when he squeezed your arm and you whined shrinking more, his hands stained with blood.

He raised your sleeve carefully and saw that it was just a scraping bullet wound.

The rescuer approached you with the stretcher.

Javier shook his head.

"She's not going to lie there," Javier said.

"I need her to lie down so I can examine and check the traumas," the man said.

"Do you have a female rescuer?" Javier looked through the cars while still holding the cupcake you formed on his lap.

The rescuer nodded. Shouting a woman's name.

"Babe, I'll take you to take care of you, okay?" He spoke calmly, the tone of voice hoarse and low. Javier got up, and you squeezed his shoulder even more.

The marks of your nails would be stuck in his flesh, but he didn't care, what mattered was that you were alive. He walked with you to the mobile ambulance.

He sat with you on his lap.

Peña studied you.

You were thinner. Deep eyes. The smaller cheeks. Your right eye was black. Your lips were broken in a cut in the left corner.

They assaulted you.

There were marks on your wrists, probably from where you were tied. Your clothes were torn, and your arms were scratched. Signs that you tried to defend yourself.

They tried to abuse you.

He held your wrist, pulling your hands that closed around his fingers. Javier analyzed, your nails were bloody.

Signs that someone was badly injured. Good. He gave a light kiss on your fingers.

Javier ran his fingers over your hair.

The rescuer approached.

"I need you to open your eyes to me"

You heard it. But you spent so much time blindfolded, and now you were so scared, that it seemed right to continue with your eyes closed.

Peña made a caress by running her fingers over her eyebrows. You wouldn't stop shaking.

He spoke in his favorite tone, his lips rubbing the top of his head.

"Look at me, cariño, please, let's take care of you"

You made an effort. Only and exclusively because you really wanted to see Javier. Look at him. For the most beautiful eyes you've ever seen. Little by little you opened your eyes, trying to adapt to the light.

"That’s it" he kept running his fingers through your eyebrows as if he were trying to calm you down "that's it, you're doing well, babe"

The light bothered you, but you saw his face. You swallowed it dry.

Javier nodded to the rescuer.

You had your face glued to his chest, the perfect fit of your head and the contour of his neck, as if it belonged to that place.

The rescuer passed the light over her eyes to check for trauma. But it's all right.

She lifted the blouse from her arm.

And you didn't look away from Javier's face for a minute. He also looked at you, but sometimes he watched and talked to the rescuer.

She pressed the product to sterilize the place where the bullet scraped you. You shrunk. Pulling the air through your mouth, frowning your face in pain.

"It's okay, it will pass, it's fast, I promise" Javier was attentive to you, always trying to comfort you.

After a long time. You felt your muscles unlocking. And an enormous pain, in your body, his breathing comes out trembling. Little by little, you sat down, Javier finally took you off his lap, and laid you down on the stretcher, where the rescuer made a new evaluation of you.

Javier was lowered at the height of your head, on the stretcher, with his hands on your head. The rescuer put an access on you, for serum. You needed to hydrate yourself.

"Did they touch you?" Javier asked with the saddest eyes you had ever seen him carry.

You shook your head in the negative.

He ran his hand through your hair. Looking at the rescuer, while she finished first aid on you.

"Is she okay? How is she?" He asked the girl.

“She's in shock, some injuries, but nothing serious"

Javier was looking for your eyes, which were glazed lost in nothing, with some persistent tears still running down his face.

"You're fine babe, everything is fine, I'm here with you, everything will be fine..." he spoke as he looked at you, and looked for your soul, which was out of the body.

You could hear Javier, you could feel the weight of his warm and big hand in your arms, the affection he made in your hair, you could smell his cologne, and the noise of the creaking of the leather of his jacket with his movements, but I couldn't feel anything inside you, it was a hollow void, and full of fear.

The noises of the thousands of shots fired by the semi-automatics, still echoing in your head making a big buzz in your ear. The feeling of the hot blood of the driver splashing on you. The sound of the bullet piercing his head. Flashbacks that crossed your mind.

At some point your mouth moved. And Javier moved to get closer to you.

"I heard them..." your voice came out like a murmur, while the rescuer moved your arm.

Your eyes are still glazed in nothing.

"Who did you hear?" Javier sat down now, standing over you, dancing his eyes between your eyes, curious, worried "who did you hear cariño?"

He settled down leaning closer to you, perhaps trying to hear you better, since your voice was nothing more than a murmur.

"I heard Pablo approaching Carrilho..." your eyes watered you felt your nose burn, your chest hurting pulling an erratic breath, your voice faltered, "I heard him trigger the gun, and say that it was for Gustavo" your eyes finally found Javier's, your tears flowed down your face. "It was him"

Javier was silent for a while, swallowed it dry. And finally he held your face. Your purple lip, cracked with the wound.

"Shhhh" he passed his thumb wiping the tears that flowed "It's okay"

"I didn't do anything..." your words came out with the air from your mouth, "I could have saved him, I could have shot Pablo and ended that there" you shook your head frantically, as the tears flowed.

"No, babe, it's okay..." Javier caressed your hair, and pulled your face so that your foreheads were united.

"I didn't do anything, I didn't do fucking..." you were crying, unable to control yourself, pulling your breath desperately.

"Hey! You're safe, babe. That's all that matters, it's okay, breathe for me, okay?" Javier spoke low and low, calmly, he inspired you to imitate his movements.

But you just couldn't get the air into your lungs. Everything was tears, blurry, and pain.

"I don't..." came out between desperate sighs.

Javier looked at the rescuer, and she nodded to Javier, who lifted you a little from the stretcher wrapping you in a tight hug. Caressing the back of your neck, your fingers intertwined between your hair.

"Everything is fine now, I'm here, let's get them, I promise." Javier's hoarse and low voice between your hair.

Gradually his warmth comforted you, and left you damped. His smell, calming you down.

The rescuer showed him on his back, a tranquilizer, and he nodded. Moving away from you enough for the rescuer to reach your arm, to apply it to you.

"No..." you shook your head frantically with your eyes wide.

Javier held your face firmly with his hands on your cheeks.

"It will help, babe, I'll take care of you, trust me" he said looking deep into your eyes, wiping your tears.

Looking at him and the rescuer, you blinked a few times, and ended up giving in, you nodded.

The rescuer applied it to you. And in a few minutes, the buzz in your ear slowly dissipated, your eyes getting heavy.

Javier felt your body giving in. He was laying you back on the stretcher gently.

"It's okay, I'm here" Javier's voice was getting distant.

"Stay with me" you held his arm.

"I'm not going anywhere," he murmured.

Feeling his warm hand wrap your cold fingers, your eyes closed and everything was silent.

Peace.

[callsignbaphomet]

Okay, so I finished all three WIPs so I'll upload them one by one. I'm uploading them in "order" so it makes better sense. These don't have titles because like I've said before I am absolute trash at coming up with titles. As usual TWs are at the top and if I forget any I'm sorry, it's not my intention so kindly let me know if something needs to be tagged.

☆★☆★→Link to google Doc←☆★☆★

In case someone prefers to read it there than here.

Trigger warnings: firearms, weapons, death, drugs/chems, alcohol, sexual themes, sexual content, panic attack.

◃───────────▹◃───────────▹◃───────────▹

“Dagny, vent på meg.” Jelani called out to Dagny as the little night stalker sped up and climbed up on top of a ruined and blown up car and stared off into the distance, her ears were perked up, her body was stiff and her tail was still and alert.

“La oss gå, Dag.” Jelani said as he walked past the vehicle and continued to walk. He was in no mood for games, not when he was operating on less than two hours of sleep and heavily craving another shot of Calmex. The night before was bad, bad enough that he used up the last two Calmex he had left and he wouldn’t be able to get his hands on another batch for another five days. The nightmares were getting worse.

Dagny looked back at Jelani and let out a quiet bark to get his attention. As soon as he turned around to look at her Dagny kept her eyes fixated on him, her body was still and stiff though he noticed her left ear twitched and bent to the side. He sighed and looked to where she’d been staring and as soon as he did Dagny gave a subtle wiggle as if celebrating the fact that Jelani looked in the direction she wanted him to look. Jelani saw nothing, just tall dry grass as far as the eye could see and several miles away were some ruins and half destroyed buildings.

“A’ight.” Jelani walked over to the car and climbed it to see if he was able to see what had gotten such a strong hold of Dagny’s attention. As soon as he was on the roof he knelt beside her and looked in the same direction. “Hva er det, jente?”

With a better vantage point Jelani could see a little further away. About fifty feet away he could make out what looked like three people struggling or fighting, it was hard to tell from that distance. He retrieved a pair of binoculars from his backpack to get a better view of the situation. There were actually four men. Three of them, who appeared to be farmers, were fighting a fourth man. It was hard to tell what the fourth man was, he could’ve been a scavver, a random settler or anyone else really. Jelani looked up to see the position of the sun, it was still early and he was close to Jamaica Plain, a little detour wouldn’t hurt given how early he decided to take off.

“Kom igjen, Dag.”

Jelani and Dagny made their way to the quartet as fast as they could and once they were about twenty feet from the group both of them slowed down and hid amongst the tall grass. Now that he was closer Jelani could see each of their faces clearly, three of them he’d never seen before but the fourth one, the one the farmers were attacking, surprised him. It was that raider that saved Dagny from drowning when he’d been jumped by the Bunker Hill raiders. Jelani knelt as he grabbed his sniper rifle and once he positioned himself he pointed to Dagny with his left index finger and as soon as the little night stalker saw his hand he then brought up the same hand and pointed to one of the farmers, specifically the one holding a wooden bat, with his index and middle finger. Once he was sure Dagny understood her instructions he then held up his middle, index and thumb. While crouching Dagny took a few steps forward and patiently waited for Jelani.

“Get your bitch hands off me!” Angelus yelled as he struggled to break free but the farmer holding him pulled out a switchblade and pressed the tip to his neck.

“En.” Jelani whispered as he took aim. His crosshairs sitting right on the farmer’s left ear. Dagny slowly brought forth her right foot and set it down on the dry ground.

“From now on we ain’t waiting for no goddamn Minutemen. We’ll take care of you scumbags our own damn selves.” The man holding the bat said as he brought it up behind his shoulder and gripped it so hard his knuckles were turning white.

“To.” Jelani inhaled as he carefully wrapped his index finger around the trigger. He made enough contact with it to apply some pressure though not enough to pull it yet.

The other farmers yelled in agreement. Their frustrations were justified and their anger had made a lot of them bolder than even most of the Commonwealth raiders. Something happened in the last year that offset the balance within raider ranks. New groups and gangs were slowly filtering in little by little into the Commonwealth, these gangs were far more aggressive, destructive and far more dangerous than the raiders that had called Boston their home for years now. At first it was nothing the newly reformed Minutemen couldn’t handle, in fact, some of them seemed to enjoy the challenge, especially their new general. However, the Minutemen’s push back only managed to come off as a challenge to these new raiders and before long the Commonwealth was yet again thrust into war. Many people from both sides had been killed and the Minutemen’s numbers were suffering because of it. With the fight against the Brotherhood of Steel and the Railroad once again focusing on fighting the Institute, a new group that had swallowed the Triggermen and were making a play in the metro area of Boston meant the Minutemen were stretched thin and everyday citizens had had enough. Most were arming themselves and taking to killing anyone they suspected of being a raider. Some thought it was about time but others had grown accustomed to the new general’s proposition. She wanted to do things the way the old world did: leave the raiders, thieves, murderers and other less than pleasant people of the Commonwealth in the hands of a force that was dedicated to taking care of those problems and serving up their own brand of justice dependent on the severity of the crime.

“How ‘bout we kill this bitch and put his head on pike, boys? That way his buddies know not to fuck with us.”

“Tre.” Jelani exhaled slowly as the word left his mouth. Once he felt his lungs empty and right before he inhaled again he pulled the trigger. At the same time he pulled the trigger and the .50 bullet flew out of the silenced barrel of Gungnir Dagny took off with such speed and power her hind legs kicked up the dirt from beneath her paws. The bullet pierced the farmer’s head, the entry point being his left ear and before his body could hit the ground Dagny had pounced on the man holding the bat, the man Jelani had pointed to. She snapped her jaws around his throat. With the momentum she’d gathered as she ran she managed to bring him down to the ground where she proceeded to bite down as hard as she could and pulled so hard her claws dug into the man’s flesh. An almost gross orchestra of her vicious snarls and the man’s gurgled screaming filled the air.

The third man had turned to run but Angelus quickly moved to pick up the switchblade the other farmer had pressed against his neck and tossed it as hard as he could. The blade sunk into the back of his head, he was dead by the time he hit the ground. Angelus then turned around and saw a familiar face emerge from the tall grass, he was still tense from the ordeal but as soon as he recognized him the raider relaxed a bit.

Jelani reached into his coat and took out a silenced .22 pistol. He aimed it at the man Dagny was currently mauling and in a serious tone said, “Gi slipp.” As soon as he said it Dagny released the man and walked over to Jelani, she sat right by his feet while he took aim and shot the farmer in the head.

Once the last of the farmers was dealt with both Jelani and Angelus stood still and stared at each other in silence, it wasn’t awkward by any means, it was more like both of them were carefully analyzing the situation they found themselves in.

“Well, this is a surprise.” Angelus broke the silence once he gathered Jelani wasn’t a threat to him, he figured if he was there to kill him he would’ve been the first one he would’ve shot just to make sure he wouldn’t get away. “Didn’t think I’d see you again.”

“You okay?” Jelani asked as he put the .22 away.

“Yeah, yeah. Just…assholes caught me off guard, you know?” He waved off the mercenary’s concerns, mostly out of embarrassment that he’d been jumped by a pack of farmers. Pissed off farmers but farmers nonetheless.

“Where you headed?”

“I was uh…hmm…” Angelus was actually on his way back to Nuka World from Egret Tours, a settlement he’d befriended some time ago, but he wasn’t about to give that information out to just anyone. It was a tumultuous time to be a raider in Boston, even worse if you were a raider from outside of Boston. Angelus was in no hurry to get back to Nuka World so he smiled and said, “Wasn’t actually going anywhere in particular. What about you? You look like you’re getting ready to cause some serious damage.”

“Contract.”

“Not much of a talker are you?” Angelus chuckled as he relaxed a little more.

“Nope.” Jelani looked down at Dagny who happily looked back at him and snapped his fingers while saying, “Kom igjen.” Dagny stood back up and walked beside him as both headed south.

Angelus watched as both of them kept walking to wherever it was that they were heading and stood still. He’d be lying to himself if he said he didn’t wanna stay in the Commonwealth a little longer. Life in Nuka World was beginning to feel stressful with the gangs getting worked up over Colter ignoring everyone’s pleas to expand their territory into the other parks. Plenty of people guessed it was only a matter of time before war broke out between the gangs and while some welcomed it others like Angelus were worried. He had friends in other gangs that he’d rather not kill over some bullshit started by unrest because of Colter’s lazy ass. The less time he spent in Nuka World the lesser the chances of him being involved in an all out war. Now, he could go back to Egret, he was free to come and go as he pleased, but as he looked at the mercenary another idea crawled its way into his head.

“Hey!” Angelus called out and the mercenary and the little night stalker both turned around to look at him as he ran up to them. “Mind if I tag along?”

Jelani jerked his head back as he stared at the raider in confusion, “Why?”

“Well, I’m in no hurry to be anywhere specific and maybe I can help since you helped me with those guys.”

Jelani slightly tilted his head sideways and furrowed his brow as he looked at the raider. He then looked at Dagny who looked up at him and as if she was somehow trying to voice her opinion she let out a yap and wagged her tail while rhythmically stomping her front paws on the ground and panting excitedly. Jelani shrugged as he turned back to the raider and Dagny made her way to greet him.

“Angelus, right?”

“Yeah.” Angelus answered with a pleasantly surprised tone. He doesn’t remember ever introducing himself to him, not now and much less the first time they met. However, the girls that stitched up the mercenary’s injuries did call him by his name so he guessed he picked up on it and remembered. He was honestly impressed. But then again Angelus was really bad at remembering names so someone remembering his name after hearing it once a few weeks back made him smile.

“That’s Dagny.”

Angelus crouched down to pet the little night stalker who happily wagged her tail as Angelus scratched her behind her ears with one hand and rubbed her chest with the other while cooing at her.

“Pretty name for such a pretty girl. Yes, you are.” He gleefully squealed as he continued to pet her, he then looked up at the mercenary and while still petting Dagny said, “What kinda dog is she anyway?”

“Technically she’s not a dog, she’s a night stalker. Most people just refer to her as a dog anyway.”

“Makes sense, I mean she looks a little like a dog and acts like one too. Where’d you get her?”

“New Vegas.”

“Goddamn, you’re a long way from New Vegas. The hell brought you to this dump anyway?” Angelus looked up and saw Jelani’s expression shift ever so slightly. He was still serious but there was something else behind his expression, mostly in his eyes, that Angelus couldn’t quite put his finger on and soon realized he may have asked the wrong question. He quickly stood up and in an attempt to move the conversation to another direction, and still get a little bit of information out of the mercenary, he quickly said, “Okay, so this is Dagny. What about you?”

“Jelani.” He whispered as he lowered his gaze and turned around to continue walking south. Angelus thought it best to stop asking questions for now even though he was tempted to but he knew better.

The three of them made their way south and after almost forty minutes they were nearing a large settlement called Jamaica Plain which peaked Angelus’s curiosity. With how well armed Jelani was he was sure the contract he was fulfilling was a hit so he prepared himself for a fight. However, instead of walking directly into Jamaica Plain Jelani veered off to the west several yards from the settlement and kept walking. Angelus curiously followed behind him. He was about to ask why he was heading in that direction but his question was answered when Jelani began to climb up part of the broken down highway. It was a bit of a steep climb but both of them made it to the highest point of the highway that comfortably overlooked the large settlement. Once in place Jelani put his backpack and sniper rifle down beside him and sat down as he looked over the settlement. He seemed at ease so Angelus figured he’d sit down too. He walked over to Jelani and Dagny and sat close to Jelani and silently looked over the settlement though his eyes would occasionally dart over to the mercenary. He was as easy on the eyes as he remembered him. At one point Angelus looked him up and down and felt the corners of his mouth hike up to form a smile. It wasn’t so much that he was easy on the eyes, he found him exceptionally pretty. From the very moment he first laid eyes on him he couldn’t help but be taken aback, the only reason Angelus helped him was because he was almost instantly smitten or at least that’s what he tells himself just to convince himself he’s at the very least somewhat decent. Had Jelani stayed in Egret that night Angelus had planned to make a move on the mercenary if his head injury permitted. Even now he wanted to make a move but he was sure he’d be turned down while he was yet to finish the contract so Angelus was left with fantasizing and imagining what was hiding under that coat.

“So…” Angelus began as he averted his eyes, “What uh…what are we doing here?”

“Waiting.” Jelani answered as he looked back at Angelus who gave him a look as if waiting for him to elaborate on why they were sitting on a broken highway. He sighed as he came to terms with the fact that his current companion was a lot more talkative than Jelani was comfortable with. He wasn’t angry about that, in fact, he saw it as an opportunity to relearn social skills he’d lost in the few months he’d been in Boston. Since he got there he hardly spoke or socialized with anyone. He had so many fears and so much anxiety and paranoia that it made it hard to even talk to people, even now he was fighting back against the intrusive thoughts he’d been haunted by since the day after his father found him in that basement. He looked down to see Dagny curled up and asleep next to him, he took the little night stalker’s relaxation as a sign that the raider next to him was safe for now so he gathered up his courage, inhaled and indulged the raider’s curiosity. “Ex-Gunner turned Minuteman. Was contacted through a friend who introduced us. Guy abandoned his post and joined the Minutemen so now this Gunner’s looking for some payback.”

“And why are we waiting? Why not just go down there, lure him out and kill ‘im or are we waiting for nighttime to sneak in there and kill ‘im in his sleep?”

“Nah, too much trouble. His shift usually starts at 1400, he patrols the north road where the diner is. That entire road is his until his shift ends at 1900. Take him out once he’s out there.”

“1400? What’s that?”

“Another way of saying 2:00 pm. Twenty-four hour format or as some people say military time. There’s NCR and Enclave with a little bit of Brotherhood of Steel in my family history.” Jelani was hesitant sharing that information and he immediately regretted it though there was nothing he could do about that now. He made a mental note to be more careful going further.

“Wait,” Angelus began to chuckle, “You’re an army brat? Oh, my god, that is hilarious and makes so much sense.”

“How so?”

“The way you took out those two farmers! I never even heard you approach us and that was a clean shot. I’ve never seen shit like that before. Not to mention how well trained your dog is. Also you’re, like, serious all the time.”

“Um, I guess.”

Jelani lowered his gaze and turned to look at the settlement below. He was starting to feel uncomfortable with the way Angelus was staring and smiling, he was well aware that he wasn’t going to hurt him but his mind was wandering to a place he didn’t want to go to, not now that he was feeling relaxed and surprised that he was actually interacting with another person. He focused on a brahmin and watched its movements carefully as he took deep breaths and exhaled as a way to calm himself in order to avoid another panic attack. With every breath he could feel his heart rate slowing down. Surprisingly the preparation he did whenever he was getting ready to make a long range shot on his sniper was exactly what helped him to calm down. Despite the rumors snipers don’t have the ability to stop their heartbeats, however, they can do specific breathing exercises to relax their bodies, slow down their breathing and maintain a type of control over their heartbeats that allows them to pull the trigger at the exact right moment to avoid movement even microscopic ones.

“So where you from?” Angelus asked almost absentmindedly and as soon as he realized what he asked and remembering Jelani’s earlier reaction he sort of flinched.

“Capital Wasteland. Was there till I was around eleven or twelve.”

“Really? Wow, I heard that place was messed the fuck up.” Angelus was surprised his question hadn’t caused any discomfort and was relieved to see Jelani was starting to relax around him.

“It is but then again what place isn’t nowadays. What about you? From your accent I figured maybe from somewhere in the south.”

“Yeah,” Angelus’s face brightened as a huge smile formed on his face. Not many people could make that connection, “from some bum fuck middle of nowhere town in Mississippi. Not a very nice place, full of just mean people, mean critters and a big ass radioactive stinky river full of some foul ass shit that will kill you if you get too close to it. Kind of miss it.”

“Sounds charming.” Jelani chuckled and smiled.

Angelus couldn’t help but stare at him, he was gorgeous and his pale blue eyes seemed to light up when he smiled. Angelus caught himself staring and as he felt his cheeks flare up he looked away and said, “Noticed you have one too, an accent I mean, it sounds weird. Not a bad weird, I mean just weird weird. That wasn’t English that you spoke to your dog earlier was it?”

“No, it wasn’t. Turns out that before the war some family came here and were trapped once the war started. Two hundred years later and I’m the last in that line.”

“Do you know where they were from?”

“Norway.”

“So is that language from where your family’s from?”

“Yeah, they kept passing it down and my dad taught me how to speak, write and read it, Norwegian by the way, before he taught me English so I learned English the same way he was taught.”

“We might have something sort of in common. According to my mom my dad was some caravan trader whose family was actually from Russia, they’d actually made it here some thirty something years before my dad was born. I don’t know what Russians spoke though. Only Russian word I know is my last name: Malakhov. So is it just you and your dad and your dog?”

“It’s just me and Dagny…my dad’s dead.” What Jelani really wanted to say was that his dad was dead because of him but given that he wasn’t ready to come to terms with that he simply left it at that and lowered his gaze as his smile faded and his expression turned somber.

Angelus picked up on the sudden change and he moved closer to Jelani till both of their shoulders were touching. Jelani jumped at the feeling of coming into contact with someone else. His immediate instinct was to pull away but he didn’t, he turned to look at Angelus who had a sympathetic look on his face and in a soft tone said, “My mom’s dead too. She got really sick and just kept getting worse and worse until she died. I later went to live with an old raider turned merc until one day he just didn’t come back home, figured he died out there somewhere. It’s just been me ever since. Hell, I don’t even have a dog.” He pointed at Dagny and then looked back at Jelani.

“Technically…” Jelani started, he waved off the need to safeguard himself by not revealing anything about himself to anyone, “my dad was actually my brother.”

Angelus coughed as he tried his hardest not to laugh so he bit his lips and said in a strained voice, “Oh, sweet pea, you sure you ain’t from the south?”

It took him a few seconds but Jelani started to laugh once he realized that the sentence had come off as a little strange and he needed to elaborate otherwise it would look like his family tree was going in circles. “Ja, pretty sure. What I mean is that my parents died when I was almost two-years-old and my brother who was seventeen at the time took care of me. I honestly don’t remember my parents, sometimes I can sort of remember little details but not enough to form an actual memory of either of them. I think it’s better that way, how are you gonna grieve someone you had no attachment to? So my brother raised me, he’s been the only parent I’ve actually known so I started calling him dad and it just stuck. I used to forget he was my brother and not my actual dad but neither of us cared. Now he’s gone. Irony of it all is we both lost our parents at the same age.”

Jelani was surprised at himself, he revealed a lot more than he had anticipated and it was the first time he thought about Loke without breaking down into hysterics and the first time he spoke about him since he died. He couldn’t explain it but talking to Angelus about it felt like a weight had been lifted off him, ever since Loke died he felt like he was pinned to the ground by a massive boulder that got heavier and heavier as the days passed but talking to him about it alleviated it, or at least some of it. He took a deep breath and let out a nervous sigh, or maybe it was a sigh of relief, he wasn’t sure. Perhaps that sensation was what Loke and the caravan doctor had talked about when they told him he needed to talk to someone about what had happened that night but he hadn’t been ready, he still wasn’t sure if he’d ever be ready to relive that horrible experience that ripped away something from deep inside him.

Angelus stayed quiet for a few minutes and just watched Jelani. He couldn’t put his finger on it but he thought there was something else that he wasn’t telling him. His tone and words felt genuine yet he could tell there was something he was holding back but he didn’t dare to push the subject matter, not now that he was getting him to open up to him. He went from one word answers to full blown sentences and didn’t wanna scare him into shutting down again so he did what he knew best and decided to distract him.

“So, Jay, have you heard about the Jamaica Plain treasure controversy yet?”

“I’m sorry, the what?” Jelani turned and gave Angelus the most confused expression he could muster. That sentence was one of the most ridiculous ones he’d heard since he reached Boston.

“Oh, sugar, you’re gonna love this. For a very long time there was a rumor that there were riches hidden in Jamaica Plain. What was it? No one knew, some people said it was a building full of caps, some people said there was a secret hidden vault around the place. Other people said that before the war people hid powerful weapons somewhere down there and some said that there was gold. I don’t know what the blue hell gold is but it got some people’s underwear in a tussle.”

“Wait, who started that rumor?”

“Hush your pretty lips. Now, there were some people that thought it was all bullshit and said it was probably a trap to lure morons to their deaths. About three years ago when the Minutemen picked back up there was a group of settlers who came to JP and well, settled! That got everyone up in arms, you had raiders trying to find the treasure, had Gunners, Triggermen, farmers, mercs, ghouls, humans, Diamond City folks left their little safety nest for goodness’s sake! And those bitches are too scared to go anywhere! Everyone came down here to fight the settlers and claim the treasure. Sure as the sun sets there was a mini type of war with hundreds of people searching every fuckin’ building for the treasure or at the very least clues. Now, you see that building down there? The one with the blown up statue in front of it?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“Okay, so everyone was looking everywhere except for that one. This farmer goes in and looks all over the place, another one sneaks in and people start to notice and soon everyone is running for that building and they’re trashing the place looking for the treasure. Someone finds a door to a basement and they manage to break it down and now you got hundreds of people trying to make their way in. Supposedly there were hundreds of traps everywhere and people start dyin’ or getting injured but they push on anyway ‘cause they figured that the traps mean they’re getting close. So after fighting through traps, hacking security systems, fighting off crazed robots and each other they finally make it the treasure.”

“It was real?” Jelani asked with a dubious tone and expression.

“I shit you not the treasure was a room full of some old world junk put up on display as if it was the greatest fuckin’ thing since unguarded caps. There were hair brushes, some clothing items, junk, a pretty much useless terminal and the most “useful” item there was a wooden bat. Someone even left a holotape that had an inventory of all the “treasure” and someone actually wrote a goddamn speech talkin’ ‘bout how these were special items that people back then used and shit. Well, shitfire, we still use them! Sort of!”

“I legitimately hate it here…” Jelani replied with a monotone voice and an incredulous look on his face as he blinked at Angelus as if somehow trying to make sense of the entire thing. “I’m almost afraid to ask what the fuck happened after they found that shit.”

“Nothing. Nothing happened. Everyone just quietly left the building and went wherever the fuck they came from. The wounded were tended to in the settlement and the dead were buried and everyone went home. Soon as word got out about what happened everyone denied being there, hundreds of jackasses and all of ‘em deny ever being anywhere near Jamaica Plain. Everyone that participated outright denies they were ever even here looking for that shit. Honestly? I think it’s pretty fuckin’ funny. Motherfuckers back then had a nasty sense of humor for sure.”

“What the hell is wrong with everyone here?”

“Oh!” Angelus excitedly said as he playfully hit Jelani’s arm as he remembered yet another story he picked up while in Egret. “Have you heard of the haunted quarry yet?”

“That’s it, I’m getting the fuck out of this fucking place.”

“It’s true! Or…at least they say it’s true. Pack of Minutemen had gone in to clear out the raiders that were in that quarry but supposedly the raider leading that group lost her mind and killed all the other raiders. The terminals were full of really weird entries about voices, visions, quakes and something about the light. Only one of those Minutemen came back and he ain’t been right since. He’s up in Sanctuary ‘cause he didn’t wanna live anywhere near that quarry. To this day he says there’s something ancient and super evil living down there. I forgot the name of the quarry…something sun or maybe dumb itch?”

Jelani’s eyes widened in horror as the two words sounded eerily similar to the name of a building with a less than spectacular reputation back in the Capital. He’d only heard stories and every time he asked Loke about it Loke would quickly change the subject. For a few seconds he couldn’t remember the name but repeating the two words Angelus said in his head instantly made him remember so he turned to Angelus and in an almost deadpan tone said, “You mean Dunwich?”

“That’s the fucker’s name!” Angelus said in an excited tone but then quickly turned serious. “How did you know?”

“Uh…back in the Capital there was this old building people talked about with that exact name. It was weird, every time us kids would bring it up all the grown ups would just change the subject and if we kept pushing they’d just tell us to drop it. There was this old man that lived in the area and he used to talk about it if we brought him beer. According to him, that building was sitting on some gateway or something. Apparently a lot of people that went in either died or came back wrong and there was something about some vault dweller and a book.”

“Ew, that’s…a pretty creepy coincidence.”

“I kinda wanna see this quarry.”

“Well, you’re shit out of luck, sugar. Minutemen have that thing locked down.”

“Hva i helvete? Why?”

“That was kind of a recent development and it’s up for debate as to whether it was to keep the curious out to avoid people getting hurt or lost in the quarry but a lot of us think it has something to do with the Children of Atom. Something kind of weird is happening within their ranks. A lot of ‘em have been turning up dead by their own members. A lot of them are relocating to the Glowing Sea and the few that are left have stopped being really hostile and have turned reclusive. I think they’re up to something.”

“Those quacks are always up to something. There was a lady in Bunker Hill that was keeping track of ‘em and said they’re all avoiding the coastline. Apparently there’s something in the water that they don’t like.”

“Don’t blame ‘em. Probably Ol’ Peg.”

“Oh, that is not real.”

“Lemme know when you have some free time and I’ll take you to Salem. Something…interesting…happened there four years ago.”

“A’ight, but it better be as interesting as you’re making it out to be.” Jelani teased playfully as he pointed at Angelus and smiled. He then reached over to his backpack and retrieved some binoculars as it was close to his target’s shift and he wanted to be ready.

“Promise. And if it turns out to be a dud I have a pretty good idea of how we could salvage the day.”

Confused and a little weirded out by the way he said it Jelani turned to look at Angelus who had a particularly mischievous smile on his face. It didn’t feel malicious but the implication, which Jelani picked up on, sent a cold shiver up and down his spine. He honestly didn’t know what to say so he gave him a forced smile that quickly left his lips and turned to focus on the job at hand.

On the other hand Angelus didn’t pick up on Jelani’s uneasiness and chucked his lack of a response to getting ready for the target. He moved closer to Jelani and watched him eagerly as Jelani scoped the area below them for the target. He wanted to say something but he didn’t want to distract him and cost him whatever caps were promised for the ex-Gunner. His eyes slowly darted from his face, down to his shoulders, his back, hips and down his legs.

“What?”

“Nothing!” Startled by Jelani’s question he looked up to see Jelani looking at him and somewhat frowning at him as if he’d caught him red handed in what he was doing. He thanked whatever was out there that he couldn’t hear all the shit he was thinking as he traced his body with his eyes. “See him yet?” Angelus misdirected the conversation to avoid the awkwardness from building further.

“Not yet.”

“And how do you know what he looks like? I mean, I never really thought about how mercs know what their targets look like.”

“Descriptions for the most part. Very few people have access to working cameras and they give the target’s picture if they’re able to get a shot of them. Even dealt with one very pissed off caravan guard who had a recorder and showed me video of the target. Some old world stuff still works if you manage to fix it. Sure, the quality isn’t what it used to be but it gets the job done.”

“Yeah, old merc I used to live with had a wrist watch that, according to him, his great grandfather found after he traveled east. Managed to fix it and passed it down. Of course, knowing him he stole it and fabricated the story to go along with the watch. Guy was a bit of a compulsive liar, it was hard to get the truth out of him if you didn’t know him. I still have the darn thing but it doesn’t work anymore, somebody told me the gears got stuck or something like that.”

“I actually know of someone that can help with that. Some old caravan merchant I worked for for a few weeks has a contact that can fix literally anything. Pretty sure he can tackle a simple watch.” Jelani said as he lowered the binoculars and looked at Angelus who was smiling at him.

“Really? That’d be great! Can’t tell time for shit but it’d be nice to have the thing working again.”

“It ain’t hard, I can show you.” Jelani stopped mid sentence as he slightly jerked his head back. He seemed pretty upfront about making plans with this raider he barely knew, he couldn’t take back what was already said so he decided to reel it back a bit. “If you want.”

“Sure.” Angelus replied as his eyes softened as he looked back at him.

Both of them stared at each other for a few seconds. Angelus was slowly inching closer and closer and as soon as Jelani noticed he loudly cleared his throat and said, “Guy should be out on patrol soon.” He looked into the binoculars once more and began to search the area for his target.

Angelus kept staring at him and smiling as he said, “Is it 2:00 already?”

“Yeap,” While still looking through the binoculars Jelani pointed forward as the target left one of the buildings close to the old church, “and there he is.”

Jelani handed the binoculars to Angelus and directed him to where the target was. As Angelus watched him make his way to his designated area Jelani looked at Angelus. At first he was listening to what he was saying but the more he looked at him the more his voice faded away as he looked at him. His eyes traced over his sharp jawline, then his neck and throat, his arms, his chest and stomach until his eyes settled on his thighs. A thought crossed his mind, one he didn’t think he would have ever again but as his eyes trailed up his thighs towards his crotch Jelani shook his head and turned to look at the target. Panic was starting to rise within him so he focused on the task at hand as to avoid yet another panic attack.

“You okay?” Angelus asked as soon as he looked at Jelani.

“Ja, I’m fine.”

“So what now?”

Jelani didn’t answer. He grabbed his sniper rifle and while still keeping an eye on the target he laid down on his stomach while aiming the silenced rifle towards the target. Once he was comfortable he inhaled, held the air in his lungs for a few seconds and then exhaled. This was something he always did right before taking a shot but now he was doing it to calm himself as well. There were a lot of caps riding on this job and he didn’t want to screw it up over a panic attack from staring at the man sitting next to him. He continued to breathe in the same manner as he looked through the scope, one of his fingers was carefully coiled around the trigger while he adjusted the scope with his other hand.

Angelus watched in awe at the intricate and almost ritualistic manner in which Jelani prepared himself. He wasn’t exactly good with guns, all he knew was to aim and pull the trigger in the hopes that the bullet would hit whatever he wanted dead or injured. For most of his life he was the type to rush down his victims and beat them to death with a crowbar, any blunt object he could get his hands on or a gun that was out of ammo. His strengths mostly lied in hand to hand combat which he was pretty good at. He knew his strengths and weaknesses and used that knowledge to his advantage. However, he had a huge admiration for people who could handle rifles and bigger weapons especially sniper rifles. He watched carefully as Jelani made very subtle adjustments in his position as the target moved. He kept looking at him and couldn’t help but smile as he looked at Jelani lying on the ground flat on his stomach with his legs spread open. The temptation to reach out was getting to him so he turned to look at the target through the binoculars Jelani had handed him while occasionally looking at Jelani with the corner of his eye.

Jelani had managed to calm himself down and was tracing the target’s movement. He lazily walked from what he assumed was his home towards the diner from the backroad of the huge settlement. Once Jelani adjusted to his speed he managed to keep his crosshairs on the target’s temple. The backroad was empty now that the guard patrolling the area had turned to patrol the adjacent road. Now was the right time to take his shot as it would take a few minutes for people to notice the body giving him and Angelus plenty of time to get a head start to leave the area. The target was now about thirty feet from reaching the diner road where plenty of people were. He’d been able to keep up with the target’s speed and height, as he did he calculated the speed of the wind and the humidity in the air to come up with the best time and angle to fire so the bullet could hit the target.

Jelani inhaled as he moved the crosshairs a few inches in front of his target’s head, at the same time he tightened his grip on the trigger. He exhaled as he blinked once and as soon as the last bit of oxygen left his lungs he pulled the trigger, the recoil from the anti-material sniper rifle made his entire body shake. But as soon as Jelani regained control he looked through the scope to confirm the kill. The ex-Gunner’s lifeless body hit the ground as half of his face was gone and turned to a bloody sludge on the asphalt.

“Goddamn, Haakonson!” Angelus cried out in awe as he kept staring at the body and the blown out head on the ex-Gunner.

“Keep quiet and move!” Jelani said as he folded the bipod on the rifle and flung the carry sling over himself so that the sniper could be carried easily and his hands were free. He grabbed his backpack and took out the silenced .22 and as soon as he had it he put the backpack on his back and nodded to Dagny who quickly got on her feet and stuck close to him.

Angelus quickly put the binoculars in Jelani’s backpack and ran next to him. He wasn’t sure why they had to run but he obeyed. Both of them made their way down the broken highway and as soon as they reached the ground they ran as fast as they could.

The day before Jelani had scouted the area for the best exit route. He’d come up with three different escape routes that depended on different outcomes. He didn't have time to think of the others, since they hadn't been caught and it seemed like the body hadn't been found yet he focused on the one route he had for his current situation. Jamaica Plain was a massive settlement and escaping the reach of the settlers would prove a challenge if anything went wrong. Worst part was that University Point was a few yards away, it was a sort of sister settlement founded after Jamaica Plain faced an overpopulation problem before it expanded.

Jelani ran north, as he had planned, making sure to steer clear of University Point and sticking to staying under the highway that was between both settlements. The three of them ran as fast and as quietly as possible but as they neared University Point they were startled when the unmistakable sound of an alarm siren went off. Jelani stopped in the middle of some shrubs and got low to the ground. Out of instinct he grabbed Angelus' hand and pulled him down as he watched the guards at University Point scramble to look in the direction of Jamaica Plain. They still hadn't been spotted but Jelani was watchful in case the guards noticed them.

“They found a body with his head blown off in Jamaica!” One of the guards yelled at another guard.

From the front gate of University Point a group of armed and armored guards ran as fast as they could towards the settlement. The boys saw they were running in their direction and out of panic Angelus motioned to move but Jelani squeezed his hand. Angelus looked at him with panic in his eyes but the young mercenary quietly shook his head. Angelus looked up and saw the guards running past them, they never even noticed them hiding in the shrubs. When he could no longer hear the guards' footsteps Jelani stood back up, still holding Angelus’ hand, and ran west occasionally looking back in case they were spotted but they managed to make a clean getaway.

They stuck to the south of the nearby Boston Military Checkpoint and avoided Big John’s Salvage as it had been overrun by raiders after the pack of Super Mutants that had taken it over were killed off. Jelani wanted to move as fast as he could, the checkpoint was usually full of Minutemen and while they were constantly at war with the Minutemen he wanted to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. The area south of Boston was always dangerous but it was even more dangerous now than it was four years ago thanks to raiders and Gunners expanding their reach. Jelani, Angelus and Dagny carefully made their way towards Shaw High School though Angelus was nervous. Everyone knew the Gunners had expanded their territory beyond the Gunner Plaza. It took them well over half a year but the Gunners took over Fallon’s Department Store, West Roxbury Station, and the Milton General Hospital for themselves as their numbers increased over the last two years with raiders and ex-Brotherhood of Steel soldiers joining their ranks once the Brotherhood was defeated. The old high school had been turned into a warehouse of sorts after it was taken back from the Super Mutants who’d set up a trap to lure in unsuspecting victims with a recorded message. Angelus was nervous about the direction they were headed to but he didn’t question it, he just followed Jelani and Dagny.

Once the high school was in sight Jelani deviated to the broken down building across from the school. It barely had any real cover and felt exposed but Jelani walked to the back of the building and sat down on a chair looking across the way towards the entrance to the high school and lit a cigarette.

“C’mon. We might be here for a while.” Jelani said as he nodded to the chair next to him.

Angelus walked over to the chair next to him and sat down. Jelani offered a cigarette which Angelus was more than happy to take and stared at the scenery before them. He was still nervous about the area they were in but seeing Jelani so relaxed and calm was indication enough that nothing would happen. Even if something did happen he just witnessed him make one of the cleanest kills and smoothest escapes he had ever seen in his life. He was already impressed with him but the way he calmly handled the situation made a huge impression on Angelus and given the life he’s lived so far he’s not that easy to impress.

“What are we waiting for this time?” Angelus asked.

“Gunner that hired me said that as soon as the job was done to wait for him here. Said I didn’t need to bring back evidence; he’d know when the target would be taken care of. Not really sure how but hey, easier for me. Guy’s supposed to be in the school today and as soon as he finds out he’ll come over with the caps.”

“Thought Gunners didn’t hire outsiders to handle their own shit.”

“Well, usually they don’t from what I’ve seen. Guy wasted no time in threatening me if I said anything. He didn’t want his superiors to catch wind of a recruit he recommended turning into a Minuteman so he got in contact with a contact of mine.”

“I gotta admit, that shit was impressive. I mean, the way you handled yourself? I woulda been shot dead had you not squeezed my hand. The way you handle your sniper is crazy. I can barely hold a gun right and you’re out here blowing skulls in half. How long have you been at that?”

“Oh…like…eleven years now. My dad let me handle the damn thing since I was seven-years-old. I used to joke that I wasn’t raised, I was trained.”

“Hey, better than most of us. Your dad tried to prepare you for everything out here. You’re out here earning caps on your own, killing people from a mile away and making some of the smoothest and cleanest escapes I’ve ever seen. You know what my dumb ass was doing at eighteen? I was in the back of bars blowing guys’ backs out and getting drunk as shit and probably high as shit too.”

“I guess.” Jelani chuckled, however his smile faded as soon as he saw the front door to the school open and from the building emerged a rather rogued and miserable looking man dressed in Gunner attire. He looked around before making his way to the broken down building where Jelani and Angelus were waiting.

As soon as the man approached them his expression turned even more sour than it already was as he stared at Angelus and then at Jelani. Dagny quickly stood up, she quickly made her way towards Jelani and stood in front of him and as soon as the man saw her he took a step back though his expression remained the same.

“I thought you worked alone, Haakonson.”

“I do. He’s one of my contacts; told him to meet me here.”

“Fine. Here’s the caps.” The man reached into his jacket and pulled out a cigarette cartoon, the unmistakable sound of caps crashing together jingled within it. “There’s a little gratitude bump in there too for being discreet about it.”

“Thanks.”

“Oh, and an acquaintance of mine might reach out to your contact in two to three weeks depending on some circumstances. We’ve kind of got some Minutemen problems at the moment, I suggest you steer clear of the area around Corvega. Might get a little intense.”

“Will do.” Jelani replied and made a mental note of the information to pass along to Varg as soon as he was able to contact him.

The Gunner turned around and walked back to the high school where he was stationed for the day and as soon as the doors closed behind him Jelani turned to Angelus and the three of them carefully made their way out of the area.

As they walked on Jelani noticed it was getting late and Angelus was still with him. Normally he wouldn’t care what time it was, he never brought anyone back home with him, the only person to know where he was currently living was Varg because the bunker was originally found by him and since he had no need of it he handed the keys to Jelani. However, Jelani admitted he had a pleasant time with the raider and part of him felt bad about leaving him out to dry at sun down. If the wasteland was dangerous during the day, it was worse at night and he didn’t want Angelus to find himself in the middle of a dangerous situation by himself. As nervous as it made him, Jelani offered for Angelus to stay the night as he wasn’t sure how far off he was from the area they were in. He could’ve offered to go with him but he learned years ago that traveling lonely roads at night by yourself was a bad idea and more often than not a fatal one.

As they approached the bunker, which was at the base of a relay tower Dagny barked excitedly and ran ahead of them. Angelus watched as the little night stalker sniffed around the area and after circling the outside and the main door she sat down by the door and looked in their direction as she wagged her tail.

“Checking for intruders.”

“What?” Angelus replied in a confused tone as he then looked at Jelani who was smiling at him. He’d noticed he was staring at Dagny as she checked the perimeter and answered his question before he asked it.

“She’s checking the area in case there’s any intruders around.” Jelani realized how it made him sound paranoid so he turned to look ahead of him. Before there was a chance for Angelus to ask a follow up question he shrugged and said, “Eh, just in case.”

Angelus didn’t think anything of it, in fact, he thought it was down right brilliant. Big John’s Salvage was teeming with rowdy raiders from the southern parts outside of Boston, to the south were the Gunners that had expanded their territories, Fairline Hill Estates was taken over by some rather disturbed Children of Atom, Jelani was surrounded by all sorts of nasty groups and the least he could do to keep himself safe was use his dog to scope the area and not get a surprise ambush. However, the truth was a little less ideal. Ever since the assault Jelani was paranoid that any of his attackers would’ve found him and snuck into the bunker or someone else with the same type of intention was waiting around the corner to jump him so to keep him from becoming too paranoid he taught Dagny to check the bunker for unfamiliar scents that lingered. So far, the bunker has never been broken into. Angelus was gonna ask a question but when he turned to look at Jelani he saw he had a bit of a solemn look on his face so he dropped it, he was still curious but he figured he could ask it later when Jelani seemed a little more at ease.

They made it to the bunker and once inside Angelus looked around to see a security gate with a heavy security door in the corner of the ten by fifteen bunker. Inside the security gate was a lone console. On the other corner was an elevator though he noticed the panel was ripped out and he wondered how it was supposed to work without it. His question was answered when Jelani reached into his jacket and took out an old rusty key and opened the door. He quickly got on the console and after a few seconds Angelus was startled by the sound of the elevator door creaking open.

“Go on, I’ll be there in a second. Just gotta lock up.” Jelani said as he fiddled with the console.

Angelus walked over to the elevator and waited inside, behind him was Dagny who sat at his feet and looked up at him as her tail wagged. Angelus smiled wide as the strange little dog looked at him. He always loved dogs and to see one, or one that looked like one, acting so friendly towards was pleasant. When he heard Jelani locking up the gate he looked up and saw a large panel on the inside wall of the elevator, there were over a dozen buttons and he wondered how many floors the bunker had beneath it. After Jelani locked up the security gate and the main door he made his way into the elevator where Angelus watched him press four different buttons, the last one he pressed twice in quick succession. After that the elevator began to descend.

After a few minutes the doors opened to reveal a short stretch of concrete and pipes lit up by red light bulbs along the roof of the hallway. At the end was a heavy metallic door. Jelani and Dagny left the elevator and walked down the intimidating looking hallway and Angelus followed close by. Less than a minute later they got to the door and next to it was a keycard reader which Jelani used to slide a keycard he had in his jacket and as soon as a small light lit up in a brilliant green color the heavy metallic door opened. 

Angelus watched Jelani turn right as soon as he walked past the door. He set his backpack down in front of a shelf that was full to capacity in old but readable books, the top of the shelf had five small pots with plants growing out of them. Once he set down his backpack Jelani kept walking towards a door past the shelf, it was small enough for Angelus to assume it was some sort of closet or storage area and seeing as how he walked in there with his sniper rifle and handgun but came back out without them he figured he was right. In front of the shelf was a black sofa, on the floor in front of it was a square black rug and pushed up against the wall next to the sofa was a small black couch. Next to the shelf was a small mattress, it was small enough to have once belonged to a baby or a toddler. On the mattress was a familiar toy, it was the blue teddy bear that one of his friends had given Dagny the day Angelus ran into Jelani for the first time. He couldn’t help but smile as he remembered that day. The way Jelani hugged Dagny when Angelus gave her back to him safe and sound was the most endearing thing he’d ever seen. Jelani was bleeding from the back of his head and all he did was worry about his dog who was soaking wet but otherwise unscathed. Angelus continued to look around. Next to the small couch was a door and further down was a very short hall and at the end of it was a drawer. He then turned to his left and saw a small but fully furnished and functioning kitchen. On one wall were several cabinets and at the base of those cabinets were two very clean bowls, one full of water and the other was currently empty. Dagny was currently drinking some water out of her bowl. In front of the bowls was a small table with two chairs facing each other and next to the table was a wall with a door. Given its position he guessed it could’ve been a pantry.

He then looked forward and saw a longer hallway, though not as long as the one they crossed to get to the actual bunker itself, on the walls in front of each other were two doors and at the end of the hall was a shelf full of trinkets and items. curiosity to get a closer look at the items was overwhelming but he’d do so later. Overall the bunker was small but cozy. The thing that stuck out to him the most was how clean and sterile everything looked. The kitchen was spotless and nothing was out of place, the cabinets, sink, fridge, counter and stove were clean. The kitchen table was clean and the chairs were actually perpendicular to each other and he’d dare even say they were perfectly aligned. The sofa and the small couch, the rug and even the small mattress, which he figured was Dagny’s bed, were so clean they looked brand new. He couldn’t see a single spot on them and whatever wear and tear they had were meticulously taken care of. Just like the kitchen table and the chairs these items were also perfectly aligned and he took notice of all the doors being closed. Not only was the bunker squeaky clean but everything was neatly put away and in its place. The place looked cleaner and better organized than that one working vault near Diamond City.

“How did you find this place?” Angelus asked as he continued to look around.

“Varg. Said he bumped into this place some twenty odd years after the bombs fell. Cleared it and has maintained it ever since. Let me stay here for as long as I want.”

“I take it Varg’s a ghoul?”

“Yeah, he is. He’s one of the pack of ghouls that lives in that massive ship to the south of Boston near Poseidon Energy.”

“I’ve heard of it but I haven’t seen it.” Angelus said as he moved over to the shelf full of books. He couldn’t read but books still fascinated him nonetheless. He looked at the letters along the spines of the books and wondered what they said, wondered what the books were about, and wondered if they were fun. Judging by the full shelf Jelani seemed to enjoy them. An idea crept into his head as he reached out and touched them along the spine and hoped he was correct in his assumption, otherwise his idea would be in vain and admittedly a little embarrassing.

“You read?” Jelani asked as he made his way into the kitchen.

“No. I actually can’t read.” Angelus responded truthfully and for the first time in his life he felt shame over the fact that he couldn’t read. It was funny, he never gave it a second thought but standing in front of that shelf and looking at the books and then looking back at Jelani a few things about him made sense. He wasn’t just smart he was what he and other raiders called “smart smart”, usually book smart people were easily taken advantage of or barely lasted out in the wastes by themselves but Jelani was proof that it wasn’t always the case. He was smart, highly trained, capable of surviving even on his own, obviously more than prepared for most anything that could come his way and as Angelus turned to look at him he admitted he was easy to look at too, certainly soft on the eyes, especially his face. He could easily sit around all day tracing his facial features with his eyes and not get bored.

“From the look of this shelf I’m guessing you do?”

“Oh, ja, that's pretty much all I do in my spare time. Every time I find a new one I haven’t read I take it or buy it or trade for it. Merchant I worked for some time ago stops every so often when she gets books in her inventory and I add ‘em to the list. If I know I’ll be gone for a while I leave a few caps hidden at the entrance and she leaves the books.” Jelani smiled at the end as he remembered his last interaction with the old merchant. She was a very sweet old thing that he grew fond of. She had a habit of finding and hoarding books just for him and thanks to her his collection grew more and more over time and he was thankful for it. On really bad days he often looked for any excuse not to lock himself in his room and put the barrel of a gun in his mouth and pull the trigger and as trivial as it may seem to others he sometimes told himself that if he went through with it he would be abandoning Dagny, wouldn’t see the old merchant again, and would not feel the thrill and joy of sitting on the sofa late at night as Dagny sat on his lap and he enjoyed a book he hadn’t read before.

“Speaking of which, that’s your half.” He said as he walked towards the table, he reached out and grabbed a small bag and tossed it to Angelus who caught it and looked at it in confusion. He then looked at the table and saw the cigarette carton that the Gunner had hidden the caps in.

“Half? But…why? I didn’t do anything.”

“Kept me company.” Jelani shrugged.

“That is nothing compared to what you did. You did all the work.”

“Hey, if those guards would’ve found us I wouldn’t have made it out by myself.”

“I highly doubt that, sweet pea. You look more than capable of handling some lowly Minutemen knockoffs.”

“Kan være…but either way, you were there with me and you didn’t have to.”

“Didn’t have to but, thanks, sweet pea.” Angelus said as he put the small bag of caps in his back pocket. He then walked up to the table as Jelani opened the door in the kitchen and turned on a light. Angelus could see several boxes, bottles and cans. His initial guess was correct, it was the pantry. He saw him come back out with several items, among them was a can of dog food and as soon as Dagny saw it she rushed over to sit by her bowls and patiently waited for her food.

Jelani laughed as he saw her and after setting down the items he grabbed a knife and opened the can of dog food and carefully poured the contents into the bowl. Once he stood back up he nodded towards the food and Dagny began to eat her meal. He chuckled once again and under his breath he muttered, “Flink pike.”

He then turned to Angelus and asked, “You hungry?”

“Enough to steal Dagny’s food.”

“A’ight, give me a few minutes. You okay with brahmin?”

“Absolutely! As bloody as you can, sweet pea.”

“Hyggelig!” Jelani exclaimed as he laughed.

Preparing dinner took about thirty minutes and as soon as it was done both boys sat down to eat. Angelus mostly poked at the vegetables while Jelani insisted it was a good idea to eat them and not feed them to Dagny. Aside from frowning at the vegetables and biting into them while making faces, Angelus kept regaling him with more stories about the Commonwealth. Some were as ridiculous as the Jamaica Plain one, others were more serious and others seemed more like exaggerated rumors that were made up. Every time Jelani laughed and smiled Angelus could feel little flutters in his chest and his cheeks lit up as he looked at him. There was something in the way he laughed that made Angelus feel like he did when he was a kid holding hands with a boy he liked, there was no denying it any more, he was falling for him and hard. The more he heard him talk the more he wanted to reach across the table and kiss him as deeply as he could though he restrained himself somehow. After they finished their meal Angelus volunteered to clean up while Jelani took a shower. The temptation to follow him into the bathroom almost felt like some type of test but once again he restrained himself. When Jelani was done he sat on the sofa and played a little with Dagny while Angelus took a shower. He really appreciated the fact that the bunker had a comfortable setup along with working pipes and plumbing, it was hard to find something like it in Nuka World. He may be a raider but he was very partial to being as clean as possible especially that night.

Once Angelus was done he sat on the sofa next to Dagny who was asleep next to Jelani with her head on his lap as Jelani absentmindedly caressed the back of her neck with his thumb. As much as he enjoyed playing with the small night stalker she was currently in his way. Regardless he sat down on the sofa and gently scratched her back. He looked down at Dagny and couldn’t help but smile. She was sweet, highly intelligent, loving and best of all there was nothing else like her in all of Boston.

“You really like dogs, don’t you?” Jelani broke the silence as he looked at Angelus and smiled.

“Yeah.” Angelus replied and as he did he looked up at Jelani and followed that up with, “Among other things.”

Angelus kept staring at Jelani. It hadn’t been till now that Jelani noticed his eyes were a shade of light gray, he hadn’t noticed before or at least looked at his face long enough to register his eye color. He was starting to feel some pressure build up the more Angelus kept looking at him and lightly smiling so in order to break it he said, “Huh, hadn’t noticed you have gray eyes.”

“Yeah, yours are pretty though.” Angelus said as he placed his right arm on the backrest of the sofa and leaned his head on his shoulder as he continued to look at him.

“Oh, please. It’s the second most common color.”

“Really?”

“Ja, blue’s the second most common eye color. Not sure why people make such a fuss about it, it’s just a lack of melanin in the iris. Yours though, that’s really rare.”

“What does melanin mean? And how do you know all this?”

“It’s what determines hair, eye, and skin color on people and animals. When my dad and I left DC we spent a week waiting out a storm in a university and I practically lived in the library for that whole week. Went through a lot of books which were mostly from the science department. After the storm let up I took as many as I could and over time traded them for ones I hadn’t read yet.”

“Fair but yours has my favorite color so I’m a little attached. That and they’re just really pale, they look a little weird.” Angelus moved closer to Jelani to get a better look at his eyes. He was being genuine, blue was his favorite color and the first thing that stuck out to him as soon as he saw him were his eyes.

“Weird?” Jelani questioned. He noticed Angelus was getting closer and part of him was nervous about someone else being that close to him. He figured he wanted to get a closer look at his eyes and even if that was all that he intended he still felt a little uncomfortable, he moved a little back and as soon as he moved Dagny got up from the sofa and made her way to her bed. Jelani didn’t fault her, she had a long day and was probably exhausted but she’d been acting as a sort of wall between him and Angelus and now that she moved he felt exposed.

“I didn’t mean that in a bad way. You know…I never thanked you for helping me out with those farmers.”

“Oh, you’re welcome.” Jelani said as he smiled as he looked at Dagny who was asleep on her bed.

Without warning or hesitation from the raider’s part Angelus jumped at the opportunity and grabbed Jelani by the chin, turned him towards him and kissed him. Jelani froze in place as what was happening was slowly registering in his head and as soon as he felt Angelus’ hand move up to his cheek he began to tremble. He shut his eyes out of nervousness as he felt Angelus’ thumb gently caressing his cheek and felt as he pulled him closer to him, as he did Jelani stiffened his body which only made Angelus move closer to him while he continued to kiss him. He could feel himself tremble a lot more to the point where his hands, that were pressed against the sides of his body, were starting to shake. He felt his heart beating faster and more intensely and his joints locking up making his body very stiff, he could hear his breathing intensify and it all accumulated in a single loud gasp as soon as he felt Angelus’ tongue slowly rub against his.

“You okay?” Angelus asked as he backed up a little and looked at Jelani who partially opened his eyes to see what he was doing.

No, he wasn’t okay. He was everything but okay, he really did not want to be doing what he was currently doing or better said what he thought he was being forced to do but he was afraid to tell him to stop. Jelani lowered his gaze out of fear and nodded as he said in a low whisper, “You just caught me off guard.”

“You sure?”

Instead of asking him to stop or arguing against it Jelani leaned forward and returned the kiss. He told himself that if he was the one to continue he’d be the one choosing to go through with it and it wouldn’t be the same as the night of the assault because in his head it made more sense to willingly go through with it even if he didn’t want to. It was irrational and illogical but somehow it made sense to him.

They kissed for a while and even though Jelani was starting to relax a little he was still stiff, nervous and forcing himself not to cry. Angelus completely misread Jelani’s reactions to being nervous due to lack of experience and he wasn’t wrong about that but his reaction was also due to something else he couldn’t possibly imagine. As they continued to kiss Angelus carefully pulled Jelani closer to him and then slowly and gently pushed him down so that he was laying on his back on the sofa and he was hovering over him. He placed one hand on his neck gently caressing him and used the other to slightly lift up Jelani’s shirt. He fumbled a little but eventually he found his belt and undid it, he then moved his other hand to undo his pants all the while still kissing him though much more intensely than before.

Jelani was starting to notice what was happening and he let out a barely audible whimper as he kissed him back using more tongue than he was before. He was starting to get nervous again but he was still too afraid to speak up so he countered it by trying to convince himself that this time he wanted this to happen. As soon as he felt Angelus pull his pants down his entire body went stiff and his eyes went wide, feelings and memories, sounds and sensations from that night flooded his mind all the while he was trying his hardest to contain his emotions though they were teetering on the border. As Angelus pulled on his pants he kissed him along the jaw, his neck and went further down, Jelani remained frozen in place until he felt his breath between his legs and his fear intensified. Angelus gently grabbed him with one hand and dragged his tongue along the shaft which caused Jelani to sit up.

“No, wait! Wait! Angelus, wait!” Jelani cried out as he looked at Angelus who propelled himself up to look back at him.

“You okay?” He asked as he looked at him. He seemed breathless and wired like he was afraid instead of aroused.

“Wait…uh…just do whatever you want but not that. Please?” Jelani pleaded as he looked intently at him, hoping and practically praying to no one that Angelus would at least avoid that particular activity. He knew he wouldn’t be able to keep himself intact if he did what he was about to do and the last thing he wanted was to have a meltdown in front of him since he didn’t know if he would stop if he asked him to. Being assaulted again was one thing but being forced to beg and be ignored would’ve sent him somewhere he wasn’t sure he’d ever come back from.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard a guy say no to that…are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“Yeah, I just–I’ve never…” Jelani lowered his gaze. Part of him felt like he was lying, that he could no longer make that claim, not after what was done to him.

“Never?” Angelus picked up on what Jelani was trying to say, his behavior aligned with what he had just said and he felt a bit awkward for moving as fast as he did. Angelus lifted Jelani’s face with his hand and as their eyes met he gave him a warm smile and said, “It’s okay if you’re not ready, sweet pea.”

He wasn't sure if he was or if he wasn't but the fact that Angelus backed off without Jelani really asking him to stop made him feel strange, it was hard to describe, he felt alleviated, nervous, confident and somewhat aroused all at once. He’d be lying if he said he wasn't interested in him but all the noise in his head took even the most innocent of thoughts and twisted them making them all about that night. Quite frankly he was tired of it. Despite the fact that he hadn’t planned on having any other company aside from Dagny that day he actually enjoyed having Angelus with him. He enjoyed the conversations they had before he took out that ex-Gunner turned Minuteman. He enjoyed the walk from the high school to the bunker and he certainly enjoyed having him around the bunker. Before he kissed him Jelani hadn't felt like he was in any danger and even after he kissed him he didn't really feel like he was in danger, it felt like his traumas were bleeding all over him yet again and ruined what would have otherwise been a pleasant experience, one that made him nervous, but pleasant nonetheless.

Jelani made up his mind and acted on his impulse before his head could catch up and ruin the moment again. With both hands he reached out, grabbed Angelus by the shirt and pulled him into a kiss, a bit clumsily at first as he was internally trembling yet again. He was still nervous so he was a bit stiff but he was far more enthusiastic now than he was before. Once he felt more comfortable he himself laid down on his back all the while still grabbing onto Angelus’ shirt which prompted the raider to lie on top of him. They continued to kiss as both pressed their bodies together; Jelani then wrapped both arms around Angelus’ neck.

“Are you sure you're okay with this? You really don't have to if you're not ready, sweet pea.” Angelus asked between kisses.

As a response Jelani finished pulling off his pants and pushed them off the sofa all while still keeping his arms wrapped around Angelus' neck and kissing him. Angelus placed a hand on Jelani’s thigh and used the other to remove his shirt but as soon as Jelani noticed he pulled down on the shirt.

“Don't.” He said between kisses.

“Okay.” Angelus replied as he let go of Jelani’s shirt. He lifted that same hand up to his mouth and inserted both his index and middle finger in his mouth. After a few seconds he began to kiss him again, deeper and a little more intensely this time. He moved his hand down and with the other spread Jelani's legs open a bit more. As he continued to kiss him he couldn't help but smile a little when he heard Jelani moan as he teased him with his fingers. He slowly circled his hole while occasionally pushing in the tip of one of his fingers but pulling the tip back out. The teasing only caused Jelani to moan louder in his mouth and when Angelus figured he had enough he carefully shoved his middle finger inside him. Angelus was slow and steady at first but he sped up when Jelani began to kiss him in an almost desperate manner. After a while Angelus pulled out and as he positioned himself better he kept both his middle finger, ring finger and index finger together and pushed all three inside Jelani who gasped which caused Angelus to go a little faster. He kept increasing speed and going deeper the more he became aroused due to Jelani's reactions.

Angelus kept going and eventually moved his head down and licked along Jelani's neck and given how much more and louder Jelani was moaning when he kissed along his neck he zeroed in on his neck while he went harder and deeper inside him. At some point Angelus moved his free hand and grabbed Jelani by the hip to pin him down to go faster and as deep as he could.

Jelani opened his eyes wide as he felt a hand on his hip and suddenly he was flooded by memories of that night. He began to hyperventilate as he felt like his entire right side was on fire, he began to tremble as he remembered details both small and big of that night. He swore he could hear their voices, their grunting, the noises they made when each had their turn with him. He could swear he could suddenly smell whiskey and he couldn't help but start crying. He wanted to scream but found he was breathless and all he could do was gasp as he kept being bombarded by those awful memories that seemed to still haunt him.

“Please…” He managed to whisper and when he noticed Angelus didn't stop he couldn't help but cry a little more.

“What, hon? Harder?” Angelus confused his pleading for him to go harder, so he did, not knowing that wasn't why Jelani said what he said.

“Stop! Please stop! Please!” Jelani managed to cry out almost hysterically.

Angelus immediately stopped and looked up to see Jelani crying with a look of sheer terror on his face. Confused but above all concerned he very carefully pulled out and said, “I didn't hurt you, did I? Are you okay, sweetheart?”

Jelani didn't answer. He remained frozen underneath Angelus while hyperventilating and looking directly at him. As soon as Angelus realized that something was wrong he backed away while keeping his eye on him and staying as still as possible, mostly as a reaction to his own confusion. He didn’t know if he had hurt him or did something that he wasn’t ready for though he was taken aback by his reaction. He looked him over and saw Jelani was frozen on the spot. He’d shuffled away from Angelus and was staring at him with his eyes wide open and was hyperventilating while staying as still as possible, he then noticed he was grasping the sofa hard.

“Sweet pea? Are you okay?”

After a few minutes of watching Jelani remain frozen in place Angelus got up and went to the kitchen to grab a bottle of clean water. He washed his hands in the sink and rushed back with the water and sat down as he reached his hand out and gently placed it on Jelani’s cheek. As soon as Jelani felt his hand he let out a loud yelp and backed away from his hand, Angelus frowned but he quickly realized that it was most likely a bad idea to touch him at the moment. His concern for him grew due to his reaction.

“It’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you.” Angelus whispered as he looked at him and brought the bottle of water closer to him. He wasn’t entirely sure if water would help him, it was a knee jerk reaction. He’d seen so many people get water to people that were hurt or scared so many times he unconsciously incorporated it into his response to injury or fear. “Relax, sweet pea, it’s okay. It’s okay, you’re okay. Nothing bad’s gonna happen. Have some water, it’ll help.”

Angelus grew worried when Jelani didn’t react to anything he was doing or saying and he wondered what he’d said or done to cause this. He felt he may have pushed him too far, maybe he wasn’t as ready as he thought he was even though he insisted and the thought of being responsible for Jelani's current state made him sick to his stomach with guilt but he wanted to focus on making him feel better.

“Please, baby, talk to me. What’s going on?” Angelus insisted, his tone was growing desperate enough for him to have noticed himself. “I can't help you if I don't know what's wrong.”

Jelani made a sound as if he was trying to form a word though it got caught in his throat, he began to gasp as if somehow struggling to calm himself, breathe and talk at the same time all while scared out of his mind. Angelus stopped for a moment to look over Jelani and realized that he was panicking, he’d seen that before, it was a long time ago but he remembered seeing it. The water could help but he looked around for a blanket or a big jacket or a coat, anything that he could wrap him with. The bunker was spacious but it wasn’t large either, he could see the kitchen, the closet that he saw was full of weapons, ammo and other items that weren’t related to what he was looking for. He knew where the bathroom was so he walked over to it after he told Jelani that he was going to find a blanket. He wanted to communicate with him as clearly as possible to prevent further panicking and to establish some form of understanding so that he could focus on something instead of panicking. He went to the bathroom but didn’t find what he was looking for. Once he was back in the hall he noticed a door on the opposite wall and figured he could check it out. He opened the door and walked in, the room was dark so he felt around the wall for the switch and as soon as he found it he flipped it.

It was the bedroom and just like the rest of the bunker everything was clean, perfectly aligned and perfectly set up. The bed was made up so well that he couldn’t find a single wrinkle. At the sight of it Angelus scoffed and laughed.

“Army brat…” He chuckled as he went over to the bed and grabbed the blanket. It was almost a shame to ruin the bed but there were more pressing matters at hand than to lament a perfectly made up bed. He rolled up the blanket and tucked it under his arm to free up his hands. He figured he’d bring over some pillows as well so he could get him as comfortable as possible. There were several pillows so he grabbed as many as he could carry. When he lifted one of them he dropped everything he was carrying when he was startled by the sight of blood underneath one of the pillows and a switchblade neatly tucked underneath it. The blood on the knife and the pillow as well as on the bed was dry though it didn’t look like it had been there for too long as it still had that bright red hue to it. He looked at the pillow and was worried as it was a lot of blood, he couldn’t possibly imagine what could’ve happened nor did he want to sit there and ponder about it as he needed to get the blanket and pillows back to Jelani though he made a mental note about it to ask him later. He put the bloody pillow back exactly how he found it and put two of them back alongside it almost as if trying to feign that he hadn’t looked through the bed long enough to have found the blood and the knife to spare Jelani knowing he found it.

Angelus rushed back to the sofa and found Jelani hadn’t moved at all, he was upset but he focused on the task at hand.

“Okay, sweetheart. Let’s just try to get you warm and comfy.” Angelus wrapped the blanket around Jelani, after that he placed a pillow between his head and the backrest of the sofa and tucked another behind his back.

“Can you hear me?”

Jelani didn’t answer but he looked directly at Angelus and even though it wasn’t an answer Angelus smiled as at least he wasn’t looking through him which meant he was responsive.

“Do you wanna stay here?”

This time Jelani nodded and it seemed like he stopped crying though he was still breathing heavily and Angelus wanted to focus on that. “Okay, sweet pea. Do you want some water?” Jelani nodded again and Angelus opened the bottle and handed it to him and watched as he took little sips from it and smiled as he watched him.

After a few minutes Jelani set the bottle down and sighed as he looked down to look at it, his breathing was almost back to normal. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry, sweetheart. I shouldn’t have pushed you.”

“Nei, you didn’t. I wanted to but…” Jelani began to cry again.

Angelus got up and carefully pushed him forward so that he could sit behind him and hug him from behind. To his surprise Jelani grabbed on to him and just cried. Angelus rested his head on his and kept reassuring him that he was safe and that it was all right all while still wondering what happened to him to have made him have a panic attack but more importantly what could have triggered it so that he could avoid it in the future. He replayed what they did in his head and nothing stuck out to him. After some time passed Angelus heard a very faint and subtle hum coming from Jelani and as he looked down he noticed he’d fallen asleep in his arms and a very big and admittedly goofy smile formed on his face as he whispered to himself, “Oh, no…he’s adorable.”

It was around noon that Jelani was woken up by Dagny when she climbed up on the sofa and yipped at him to get his attention and when that didn’t work she began to lick his face until she woke him up. Seeing her snout so close to his face startled him a little but as soon as he sat up and got his bearings he got up and looked through his backpack for a watch he always carried and saw the time. He slept for almost twelve hours. He stood back up and realized that he’d actually slept through the entire night and as far back as he can try to remember he didn’t wake up from a nightmare or a night terror, he hadn’t drunk any alcohol or taken any chems. He was almost worried, ever since the assault he’d have a nightmare every time he fell asleep for more than three hours but last night he slept fine, he even felt rested. For the first time in months he felt like he had a good night’s sleep.

“Malakhov?” Jelani called out to Angelus but he got no response.

Jelani looked around and didn’t see him so he figured he must have been in the bathroom so he walked over and knocked on the door but there was no answer. He knocked again and again was met with silence. He opened the door only to find the bathroom was empty, after he closed the door he went into his bedroom and saw it was empty as well. He walked back to the sofa and stood in the middle of the bunker and realized he was all alone and for the first time in months it left a sinking feeling within him. When he came to terms that he was alone he turned to the kitchen to get Dagny something to eat as he figured she must have been starving he noticed some items on the kitchen table and frowned. He was one hundred percent sure he’d cleaned up everything in the kitchen after he and Angelus ate dinner the night before so he went over to it to take care of it but as he got close he noticed what it was.

On the table was a plate of food, cold by now, a fork next to it, a bottle of clean water and a holotape recorder with a holotape labeled in faded black ink “Launch Codes” sitting on it. Jelani recognized both items as both were in the bunker when he first moved in. He sighed deeply and put the holotape into the recorder and hit play and after a few seconds of static Angelus’ voice came on.

“Hi! I’m sorry I left without saying anything but I didn’t wanna wake you up. Hope you don’t mind but I took another shower and made us some breakfast. Now, I ain’t the best cook but I hope it’s okay. Oh! And I fed Dagny this morning so you don’t have to worry about feedin’ her whenever you wake up. Let’s see…um…I’m gonna be out of Boston for about a week and when I get back we can take that li’l trip to Salem and see some weird shit. I promise, it’s worth it. And…listen…I don’t know what happened to you at some point in your life but I am so sorry that I triggered that panic attack. I don’t know how it happened but I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to do that to you. You know, I may talk a lot but I’m pretty good at listening too so if you need to talk to someone I’m all ears. Anyway, I had a good time with ya and yeah, I’ll see you in a week, sweet pea.”

Jelani shuddered as he tried his hardest to keep himself from crying but by the end of the recording he was sobbing as he wrapped his arms around himself. There were so many thoughts racing across his mind at the moment and he felt emotionally overwhelmed and ashamed of his panic attack the night before. Angelus actually felt good and so did he and for once he managed to keep his fears in check but it seemed like being grabbed a certain way and in certain areas was too much for him. For reasons unknown even to him he wanted to tell him that his panic was sparked by him grabbing his hip but the more he thought about it the stupider it sounded and he felt embarrassed by it. He couldn’t understand why but he missed him already and part of him felt like if he knew where Angelus was headed he would’ve run after him just to be near him and it both confused and scared him. He was never one to be dependent on another person but he wanted to be with him at that very moment and the fact that he wasn’t there and would have to wait a week to see him again felt rancid. He rewinded the holotape as he laid his upper body on the table and played it again just to hear his voice.

[pebbleswritessometimes]

This and readers the one on the leash

Writers block is kicking my ass, babe 🥹

This is definitely not one I’m super proud of but practice makes progress :)

Hope this is okay 😘💍

“Always”

Warnings: none really, maybe a pushy man at the end?

“I only want you,” she often assured you, and of course you knew she was telling the truth. Still, you couldn’t help the jealousy bubbling it’s way out any time someone looked in her direction.

Larissa often joked she may need to buy you a leash, and not the fun kind. “I- I am not that bad!” You cried, in an attempt to defend yourself. “You threaten to fight anyone who dares to even look in my direction. We’re attending a gala tonight, dear, people are going to look at us,” she chuckled as she finished applying her makeup. Pushing yourself up, you sat on the bathroom counter top and pouted. “It’s okay for them to talk to you but when they look at you like they want to devour you whole, that’s when I want to destroy them,” you finished with a cheeky smile. She hummed as she hung her robe in the linen closet. Smirking as she walked past you and out of the door, you could just barely hear her say, “well, maybe if you behave…I’ll let you destroy me later,” with a squeak you hopped off the counter and finished getting dressed.

When you two arrived at the venue, you could already tell that both of you would be socially exhausted by the end of it. The decor was absolutely stunning. There was a plush carpet for the attendees to enter on, a large sculpture that was carefully carved out of ice, and a custom art piece for Nevermore Academy. Arm in arm, you and Larissa strolled into the event.

“Larissa! It’s been so long, you look phenomenal,” a tall woman with raven black hair down to her waist, sultrily greeted your partner. Your grip on Larissa had tightened as she interacted with the other woman. Narrowing your eyes as you watched the woman, whose name you learned was Morticia, get closer. “Morticia, this is my partner, Y/N. I wouldn’t be as accomplished as I am, without them,” she spoke full of pride. You stuck your hand out to greet the woman. She was beautiful, that was undeniable, but nothing compares to your wife. Larissa had told you all about her past with Morticia when her daughter, Wednesday, had been newly enrolled. You trusted her, that you were certain of, but Morticia had a certain glint in her eyes when she looked at Larissa. As she left to greet other party goers, you attempted to follow behind her. Taking a step forward, you felt your coat being held in place. Trying once more to push forward, you finally looked to your wife, who had a firm grasp on you. “Uh uh, pretty one. Stay with me,” she smirked as she pulled you back and grabbed your hand. You huffed and rolled your eyes as Larissa just chuckled at your antics.

The remainder of the evening went smoothly and you even enjoyed your time a bit. That was, until the very end. A large man in a very obviously expensive suit and pair of leather boots, walked over with his head held high. “Good evening, ladies,” he smoothed his beard and flashed what you’re sure he thought was a look that would make any woman melt instantly. “No,” was all you said before moving between Larissa and the car door. “Ah, the little lady is feisty, I like it,” he laughed, looking up at Larissa who you could tell was getting uncomfortable. You looked around to check your surrounding just in case you lost your shit,”I’m not a lady, and that one,” pointing towards your wife,” is taken. She’s married. You may leave,” you sneered. You opened the door and ushered your wife into the vehicle, you could sense the concern in her eyes and quickly tapped her arm to reassure her, “Go ahead and start the car, baby.”

Shutting the door, you made your way back to the man. Crinkling your nose, removing your coat, and making some scary eye contact, the man slowly took a step back. “I’m sorry, I thought I said she was taken? Maybe I forgot to mention that. Hm, well,” you cracked your knuckles and slightly tilted your head, as you waited for him to respond. Your gaze remained glued to his, even as your wife rolled the window down,”Y/N, he’s not worth it. Please, get in. Let’s just go,” you didn’t budge. “Thats right, Lady. Get ahold of your fucking animal,” he barked, still looking a little on edge.

“You’re right, Rissa, he’s not. But, you are,” narrowing your eyes, you planted your foot behind you and bent your knees, readying to make this man regret even breathing in her direction. “What the fuck-“ the man furrowed his brows and spoke before being cut off by another woman. “Matthew! They’re all asking for you inside! Hurry up!” She shouted across the lot. You eyed him down as he backed away and sped over to the entrance. Brought back to reality by Larissa calling your name again, you finally grabbed your coat, and got into the car.

“I’m sorry, Larissa. Maybe you should buy me that leash, huh?” You tried to joke, looking up at her with a guilty pout. She smiled, focusing on the road, but occasionally glancing your way, “You wouldn’t be able to protect me like that while on a leash, now would you?” She smirked, “You we’re ready to fight a man three times your size, and all for me?” You rubbed circles along the back of her free hand, as you chuckled.

“Thank you for loving me so much, Y/N”

“Always.”