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karespocketboyfriends · 1 month ago

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𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍

Chapter One

A Love and Deepspace Fanfiction (Sylus X OC)

Warnings -> None needed I think?

<- Prologue

An original fan-fiction for Love and Deepspace. I appreciate reblogs but reposting to Tumblr or any other site is not okay with me.

January, 2047

The kinky scene playing out in my head is shattered by my cellphone's alarm, demanding I put the book down and start the day. I'm reluctant to do so, the most enjoyable part of my life is losing myself in a novel, but if I don't work, none of us will get to eat.

I stop the alarm and only allow myself to finish the current chapter, trying desperately not to continue reading as I slip the handmade bookmark I received for Christmas between the pages.

"Later." I promise the book, promise myself, and reach up to place it on the shelf above my head.

I crawl to the edge of my bed and slide the door open, making room for the drawers beneath my bed to open. My room isn't a room, but a large closet my brothers helped me convert into a decent sleeping space. We shoved a daybed in for me to sleep on, the drawers underneath deep enough for me to store my clothes in. Needless to say, I don't have a floor, but hey, at least it's impossible for my room to get messy. My older brothers mounted shelves on the walls to hold other things, though most of the space is taken up by books. It took several weeks to learn how to navigate the small space without smacking my head or limbs off something.

The only decoration I have is the colourful stained glass suncatcher hanging from the light fixture attached to the ceiling. Suncatchers are useless in the N109 Zone, where the sun forgets to shine, but I was drawn to it anyway. Partly because there will always be a part of me that hopes the sun will remember this city one day, and partly because the red dragon flying over the mountains is too beautiful to ignore. I was always well behaved in public as a child, but I vividly remember crying as I begged my parents to buy it for me.

My mother disappeared weeks after I brought my dragon home. My father, slowly falling apart after her loss, walked out on us a few years later. My older brothers and I worked our asses off as teenagers, but still couldn't afford the rent at our old house. Hence how all five of us ended up in this cramped, two bedroom apartment. I volunteered to take the closet - it made more sense for my brothers to share the bedrooms.

I slide the closet's door shut to change, and open it again once I'm done. Throwing a sweater on top of my turtleneck, I carry the clothes I slept in to the bathroom and dump them into my hamper. I don't have room in my closet for it, though I wish I did - I’ve had to smack my brothers upside the head on several occasion's for getting freaked out over a sight of a used bra.

God forbid a woman use a bra to hold her cantaloupes down. I’m sure the sight of those bouncing around would scar them even more.

I walk to the end of the only hallway in the apartment and knock on the door on the right with my knuckles. "Simon! Troy! You up?"

I'm not expecting the door to open, but it does. It's Simon that answers, the more studious of my younger twin brothers. "I'm up."

Evidence shows that he's been up for a while. His dark, shoulder length hair looks brushed out and his clothes don't look like they've been slept in. Like me, he's layered up to withstand the unbearable chill in the apartment.

I tilt my head and scrutinize him. He might be ready, but if he's covering up for Troy... "And your brother?"

Simon flashes his quirky smile and points a thumb over his shoulder. Peeking around his tall, lean frame, I spot their beds. One is empty and freshly made, and the other is still occupied, the blankets pulled all the way up to Troy's head.

Huffing, I barge in and yank the top blanket off. "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty. It's a school day."

"Yeah, I told him." Simon said, sitting on the edge of his own bed. He opened his backpack and started rummaging through it. "He said 'five more minutes' twenty minutes ago."

Troy grumbles and tries to swat me away. "It's Friday."

I raise a brow. "So? I don't care if it's the start of the week or the end of it, you're going."

He twists his head to cut me with a sleepy glare. He's identical to Simon, from his hair to his baby face and his lean build. "You dropped out in your sophomore year and you're doing well. Why are you making us finish?"

My fist curls tighter around the blanket as I blow air out of my nose. "I decided that keeping food in our stomachs was more important at the time. We're in a better position now, so there's no need for you two to quit. Go build a brighter future for yourself, Troy."

I let the blanket go and turn around, heading for the door. I close it behind me, don't linger as Simon starts chewing his twin out the second I'm gone. I make for the kitchen instead.

There's no division between the kitchen and the living room, unless one counts the line where tile meets wood as the invisible divider between the two spaces. The kitchen consists of a mini fridge, an oven, not much counter space and a tiny island that can only seat three people at a time. If we're all eating together, which is rare, two of us would have to eat on the old couch my older brothers found abandoned in an ally a few blocks down.

My stomach sinks when I open the fridge and realize how low we're running on groceries. Things like juice are a luxury, so I grab three water bottles and place them on the island. There are only two eggs left in the carton, only four slices left in the bread box, three apples that are starting to go soft.

I heat the stove top and spare a little bit of butter to grease the bottom of the pan to keep the food from burning. I crack the eggs first, frying them to perfection before transferring them onto a plate to cool. Grabbing remaining slices of bread, I give them all a quick toast.

Simon and Troy appear just as I set two plates on the island, each one containing a fried egg sandwich and an apple. They thank me in unison as they slide into the stools, digging in as I place two bottles of water within their reach. I'd like to offer them juice, but that's a luxury.

"Are you working today?" Simon asks as I reach into the overhead cupboard for a bowl and a box of granola.

"Yup." I reply, popping the 'P' as I pour less than half what the bowl will hold. "It's shipment day, so I'll be staying late to pick up some extra hours."

I internally cringe as I empty the last of the milk into the bowl. Tossing the empty carton into the garbage, I fish a spoon from the drawer and take up the empty seat next to Troy. He's managed to get himself ready quickly, but it seems almost too quick. Should I ask him if he brushed his teeth?

"What the hell is that?" Troy asks, gesturing to my cereal with his chin.

"It's breakfast." I scoop the first bite into my mouth.

"That's it?" Simon asks, peering around is twin to look at me.

I nod while I chew. "It's okay, I'm not that hungry. Drew and Mateo are probably gonna want to eat something when they finally drag their asses through the door."

"You piss me off, you know that?" Troy says, but there isn't a hint of malice in his voice as he rips his sandwich in two and hands the unbitten half to me.

Without a word, Simon gets up to grab a knife and slice his apple. He places half of it on the table before me and gives me a look that screams 'don't argue'.

I sigh, but smile at gratefully at the two. No one says another word after that, too busy eating to hold a conversation.

I finish before they do, hurrying to dump my dirty dishes in the sink. I reach into my back pocket and pull out two ten dollar bills, handing one to each brother. "Here, lunch money."

Troy pushes my hand away. "I'll just beat someone up for it."

"Troy." I scold, narrowing my eyes into the harshest glare I can muster. "We don't take from people if we can provide for ourselves."

Troy looks from me, to Simon, to our surroundings, then back to me. "Provide for ourselves. Right."

He gets up, grabs his backpack from the floor, and stalks out the door into the dark, poorly kept public hallway of the building. Desperate, I turn to the other.

Simon sighs and takes the money. "I can't promise we'll use it."

He too, takes his leave, but not before kissing me on the cheek first. Leaning against the island, I watch him go, sighing as the front door closes behind him. It opens again immediately, two taller, older versions of Simon and Troy with cropped hair entering.

"And where the hell have you two been all night?" I ask, noting the scratches and bruises marking their faces.

Mateo rolls his eyes and waves me off as he walks past, heading for the room he shares with his twin. "It's too early for your nagging, Evie."

I close my eyes and take a deep breath to steady myself as the door slams. "If he brakes those hinges-"

"I'll fix them." Drew says, dropping into the stool Simon used just minutes earlier. He folds his arms on the island and drops his head on them. "Things didn't go well."

"I can see that. Wanna tell me what you two were up to?"

I may be the middle child, the only daughter and non-twin my parents had, but I certainly don't feel like the middle child. Simon and Troy were only six when Mom disappeared and Dad began to spiral, so I, at twelve years old, started looking after my younger brothers as a parent should have. Drew and Mateo were sixteen then, and though Dad was starting to fade, they at least managed to finish high school before Dad walked out and took his income with him.

I always hoped, still do, that they'll change their course in life. That one day, they'll stop sneaking around at night doing God knows what for income and find something stable. My job just barely keeps us afloat, and if they were to find something secure, we would be so much better off.

I have no idea what they're doing, or why they're choosing it, because they refuse to talk to me about it. All I know is that there's a sixty-forty chance of them returning with some kind of profit, leaning forty. The sixty is the possibility of us losing money over whatever it is they're doing.

At first I thought they were gambling, but they swear up and down it's not. I know them well enough to know when they're lying, and they aren't about this. I also considered some kind of fight club they had to pay their way into, but again, they said no.

"No, not really." Drew stands up and tucks the stool in. "I'm going to bed."

"Can you at least make a grocery run today?" I stop him before he can get too far. "We're seriously running low."

He sighs and runs a hand over his practically bald head. "Yeah, okay. We can do that."

"Thank you." I glance at the clock mounted on the wall. "I'm going to work. I'll be home late this time."

Drew hums tiredly and leans over to kiss the top of my head. "We appreciate you, Evie, even Mateo. I'll kick him in the balls for you."

I slap his chest. "Don't do that. I want as many nieces and nephews in my future as possible."

There are several key things one must know in order to survive living in the N109 Zone. The first is to try and avoid going anywhere alone, even if you know the area like the back of your hand. If you absolutely have to, you haul ass there and back, avoid lingering in places where you could be noticed.

I've mastered the art of getting to and from the bookstore I work at alone, the number of close calls I've had I can count on one hand. They've all been mild, and only twice I've been robbed and, thankfully, left alone after. Most of the time my brothers would pair up and meet me at the end of the day so I wouldn't be walking alone so late, but that isn't an option this time. Drew and Mateo are out 'working' and I don't dare ask Simon and Troy to leave the apartment this late into the night.

The N109 Zone is always dark and dangerous, but at night, it's even more so. Simon and Troy would still brave it to meet me, and to avoid that, I lied. Texted them to say Luke and Kieran were walking me home.

Luckily, they don't know that I haven't heard from the eccentric twins in several days.

Every click of my ankle boots against the cobblestone sidewalk makes me cringe. It's so loud in the silence that blankets the street, anyone hiding in the nearby shadows would hear me coming and be given an opportunity to prepare an ambush.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live in a place like Linkon City, where people could walk in the dark with headphones blasting at full volume because they feel safe enough to do so.

The ringing of my cellphone makes me jump, and I quickly slam my back against the nearest wall to cover my blind spot. Another survival rule: always be alert of your surroundings, and if you find something to be distracted by, make sure your back is guarded.

I really hope nothing will come blasting through the wall at me.

"Speak of the devils." I mutter to myself, bringing the phone to my ear. "Hi, you two."

"Hey, Little V!" Luke exclaims, despite the fact I'm six years older than him. He and his twin are the same age as Simon and Troy, and over the past few months, have come to feel like two more little brothers. "So, listen, Kieran and I need you to meet us somewhere. I'll drop a pin."

"Right now?" I pull the phone back briefly to check the time. It's almost ten. "It's a little late for that, don't you think?"

"It's important." It's Kieran's voice that comes through this time. "You're the only one who can do this."

I sigh softly, thinking of the steamy book still waiting on the shelf at home. "Okay, I'll be there soon."

I hang up and check the location they sent. It's a park not too far from here, the map claiming it's only a ten minute walk from where I'm standing. I can probably make it in seven if I walk quickly.

The lamp posts do a good job of keeping the park lit. There isn't a soul in sight as I make my way to the swing set, no sign of the prank loving twins that summoned me here for one thing or another.

I take a seat on one of the swings and hold my crossbody purse close. I fish out my phone, about to text them that I've arrived, when a red mist suddenly explodes from the darkness. My chest constricts so tightly it's painful, heart leaping into my throat as a cry of alarm rips through my vocal cords.

A fair skinned hand wraps around my wrist and yanks me from the swing. I stumble on my feet, crashing into a broad chest so hard it feels like I hit concrete. My phone falls, tumbling across the wood chips that cover the playground.

Head snapping up, the first thing I see is a pair of bright red eyes staring down at me. Then I see a nose, full lips, a sharp jaw, silver hair that looks like silk. It's a man.

A very handsome one at that.

The attractiveness of the stranger makes me pause, but it only lasts a moment. Very quickly does my brain kick me back into high gear, reminding me of the danger I'm potentially in.

"Let me go!" I shout, trying to break free.

His grip on my wrist tightens, his other hand coming up to wrap around my jaw. He forces my gaze on him, his expression cold and unreadable. "Look at me."

Everything in my peripherals goes hazy as his right eye glows an even brighter crimson. My mind is suddenly ripped in two, a massive chasm opening right down the middle, separating my thoughts from my imagination.

On the side of my imagination, I see an untouched valley sprawling with red and white flowers, golden light of dawn touching the hills while a pearl pink sky extends far beyond the mountains. I've never been there before, it certainly doesn't exist here, where plants can't grow, and yet this scene being conjured strikes me with a sense of homesickness.

On the side of my thoughts, I can hear my own, distorted voice. 'Enough with the chaos. Live in peace. Stay close to those you love'. Over and over again, my own voice repeats this mantra. It echoes in the confines of my heart, almost makes its way to my tongue.

The trance I'm trapped in suddenly shatters, the real world crashing back into my consciousness so abruptly I can't help but gasp.

"Boss!" Luke and Kieran's voices suddenly reach my ears. In the corner of my vision, I can make out their masked figures, but I can't tear my eyes from the man in front of me.

He stares at me for a long minute, the look on his face stone, even colder than before. It's as if in this short time, he's decided he hates me. Even when he finally lets go and steps back, resentment lingers in his eyes. "She's useless to me."

My knees begin to shake, and it quickly turns into full body trembles as I take a step back. Two. On the third, I twist and run, ignoring the twins' shouts for me. Even though my life doesn't seem to be in danger, I run for it, almost stumbling over myself several times. I run from the feel of his massive hands on my skin, run from a voice so deep it's already sunken into my bones.

I don't stop until I'm well over a block from the park. Grabbing one of the street lights, I hold onto it as I fight to regain my breath. At some point during my run, I started holding it and listening for any clues that I was being following.

When my breathing starts to even out, I stand up straight and look around. I don't see the twins or that man anywhere, but it doesn't mean they aren't looking in the shadows. I have half a mind to call Luke and Kieran and demand answers-

Shit, I dropped my phone, and I am not going back to pick it up.

A missing phone quickly becomes the least of my worries when a gunshot disturbs the quiet.

Masterlist

Chapter Two ->

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#love and deepspace #l&ds #lads #lnds #l&ds sylus #lads sylus #lnds sylus #x oc

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