#oh and I would’ve made a tag for this au sooner but I’m so slow with digital art *sobs*

[no1ryomafan]

We’re gonna ignore the fact it’s nearly 3 am while I type this but I’m gonna for once embrace my true cringe-I say as cringe is dead-and admit at least here since I said it on twit but not everyone follows me there that I’ve been cooking up a getter crossover fic with mega man ZX of all things. Why? Well next to mega man being what truly sparked my obsession for robots and ZX is my favorite series of the franchise there is a scary amount of similarities between the two that a crossover unironically fucking works well. Like I don’t think it was anything intentional, ZX definitely has some mecha influence like every other mega man series but it was more so (obviously) inspired off of toku if we focus on an genre in Japan. However both in a way can be boiled down to “humanity’s future is tied directly to machines” and “destiny is my path to choose” in terms of narrative themes so they legit stick together sososso well.

(also I noticed like- Arma!Kei and Go and Ashe and Grey are almost scarily fucking similar minus Ashe&Grey actually getting to know each other since that sadly doesn’t happen-in the manga they do meet but they aren’t related rip-in game but I might need to save that for a different post even though it’s not at all in the au since there’s no place for it I just I rotate it constantly)

Me and my beta reader were so insane enough that for nearly a YEAR we figured out this au because it was just “what if ryoma but in ZX” for the longest fucking time I’m not fucking exaggerating because it’s a semi trend of mine to want to throw ryoma into other series even if I’ve mostly restrained myself with this 💀 But when the fic is up I will likely be tagging it under ZXG so it’s easy to organize so yeah.

[bobohu4eva]

Pink Lace - Chapter 5

Characters: Baekhyun x Reader

Genre: College AU, stripper AU, fluff, smut, slow burn

Summary: Baekhyun, a philosophy professor with mysterious wealth, got himself completely fucked over a girl who can’t let him into her life.

Word count: 4k

Warnings: sex work, mentions of sexual assault, adult themes/situations, eventual smut

Tag list: @smolbeanmika @leave-me-in-the-summertime @totallynerdstuff @bbhmystar @nana-banana @kimyhappy @thegreatandi @geniusloey @deligxt @baekswifey @bbhyun506 @lovebuginlove @bellamendoza @baekyeonoreo @bobohumyonlyboo

Masterlist

After your conversation with Baekhyun Monday evening Tuesday was spent desperately trying to get Baekhyun off your mind, with little success. He’d asked you if you liked him like that, and you couldn’t tell him no. Hell, you knew in the back of your mind that the answer was definitely yes, you just couldn’t bring yourself to say it to his face. 

As much as you did like him, the prospect of starting something with a customer who was also your professor was still terrifying. What if you two got together and people found out? Or what if things started to go south and you were still stuck with him as your teacher? 

Despite your other schoolwork, and cleaning basically everything you possibly could, your mind just kept racing with every different possible scenario for if you did tell Baekhyun how you felt. And most of them were quite unpleasant. He could lose his job, you could make class absolute hell for yourself if things didn’t go well, and so on. Different possibilities played themselves out in your mind over and over, and there was little you could do to stop it. 

However the thoughts that stuck with you the most were the ones where things didn’t end badly. Thoughts of his arms around you, his comforting words whispered in your ear, and the gentle touches of his pretty hands on your skin. As much as you fought it, the attraction was there. 

The way your mind bounced between thoughts was stressful to no end. Every time you tried reasoning with yourself, you just thought about how good he made you feel when you were alone together. 

Baekhyun was always so willing to be vulnerable with you, it made you feel appreciated. He was so open about his feelings, and honest with his intentions towards you that it made it difficult to push him away. You wanted to be able to show him the same kind of vulnerability as well, but the possibilities if you did still frightened you too much. 

You knew you wouldn’t be able to go on like this forever, sooner or later you had to figure out what to say to him. 

Your essay was plaguing you as well. You’d tried to start it on several occasions, but Plato’s writing was so old timey and incomprehensible you didn’t even know where to start. It also didn’t help that every time you tried to start writing, all you could think about was what Baekhyun would think. The idea of turning a shitty paper in for him to read and grade made you feel sick. You knew you were shooting yourself in the foot putting it off but you just couldn’t bring yourself to start it either. 

“You’ve cleaned everything in the apartment. Twice. What’s with you today y/n?” Mia asked as she walked out of her bedroom and into the common area, finding you once again wiping down all the surfaces in the kitchen. 

“I’m trying to distract myself, was that not obvious?” You knew what was coming next. 

“Baekhyun still on your mind?” 

Yes. He was. In every possible way, good and bad, and you couldn’t stop it. 

“I think I do like him.” 

“See! I knew it!” You rolled your eyes at her. “Anything exciting happen yesterday? Did you decide to keep the money?” She asked, sitting down at the dining room table, you sitting down across from her. 

 “I’m keeping it, I tried giving it back but he told me some stuff and turns out he doesn’t need it after all.” 

“So he IS rich?!” 

“Yeah... although not from anything cool or fun. His rich parents died recently.” 

“Oh shit, that sucks. That must’ve been an awkward conversation.” 

“Not really. I don’t know why but talking to him is getting easier and easier. I even stayed after he told me I could go.”

“You really must like him then, damn. Can’t blame you though, he is hot.” You shot her an angry look but you both knew she was right. “So what are you gonna do about it?” 

“Do about what?” 

“You liking him. He obviously likes you a lot too, so what happens next?” 

“Nothing. He’s my professor.” 

The look she shot you next said something reminiscent of ‘are you fucking serious’.

 “Oh come on y/n this guy is hot, and rich, and super into you. Even if he is your professor you can’t pass up a fling at least.” 

“And when it ends? What then? Or if someone finds out he’s fucking a student? He’d lose his job and it would be my fault.” 

“No, it would be his fault, and he’s rich anyway so it wouldn’t even matter.” 

You thought back to your last conversation with Baekhyun, and what he said about his parents. Even if he did choose to risk it for you, the thought of him losing a job that meant so much to him still didn’t sit right with you. 

“It would matter to me. Either way I don’t want other students shit talking me either. If my classmates found out there was something between us it would be hell.” 

“All I'm hearing right now, is that you just need to not get caught. The semester is only 16 weeks, as long as nothing gets out while you’re in his class nothing too bad can happen. You just have to be careful.”  

You thought about it, and she wasn’t exactly wrong. As long as nothing got out while you were his student, nothing too bad could happen. 

“He won’t lose his job if people find out we’re together later on when I’m not his student anymore, right?” 

Mia shrugged. “He doesn’t hold any power over you anymore then so I don’t see why he’d get in any trouble. People might just think it’s weird since he’s older. How old is he anyway? He looks young.” 

“I’m not exactly sure... Somewhere around 30? Late 20s maybe? I should ask him.” 

“Yeah you should. I still have homework I need to do, I should get back to that.” She said before getting herself a glass of water and retreating back to her bedroom. 

~

The next morning you were exhausted. You hadn’t gotten much sleep because of everything that was going through your head. You wanted Baekhyun, and he wanted you, but there was still too much risk involved. But part of you kept thinking about what Mia had said as well. Could a fling really be that bad? 

You were nervous to see him too. You still hadn’t given him an answer to his question, and you knew you wouldn’t be able to dodge it forever. Lying seemed like a decent option, but you knew with how honest and vulnerable Baekhyun always was with you, you wouldn’t be able to bring yourself to lie to him. Especially when you did want something more with him, you were just scared. 

As philosophy class drew closer and closer you felt uneasy. You felt bad seeing Baekhyun again without giving him an answer, but you didn’t know how or what to say. You only hoped he wouldn’t press you for it. 

Class went by and you didn’t speak to him. He didn’t keep you after either, which was a relief. You had been hoping he’d at least go over some stuff that would help you on your essay, but you had no such luck, and you needed it done by midnight if you wanted any credit. 

When you got home you cursed yourself for procrastinating so much, but you had other homework too and you knew you’d be able to focus on that better, so you started it first. 

Eventually your mind got sucked into your physics assignment, and you forgot about Baekhyun and the essay, too focused on the task at hand. 

By the time you were done with your other assignments it was 8pm. Four hours until you had to submit your essay. One hour went by just reading and rereading the text you were supposed to write about. Another was wasted on an intro paragraph you kept deleting, because you still couldn’t understand the text. When 10pm hit, and you started to panic.  

You realized that you weren’t going to be able to do it. Your mind was now in freak out mode and you couldn’t concentrate anyway. Either the paper wasn’t getting turned in at all, or you needed to do something fast. In any other class you would’ve BS-ed  your way through it to turn at least something in, but you just couldn’t do that knowing Baekhyun was going to read it. You weren’t going to be able to submit it that night, but you needed to at least contact him and explain so he wouldn’t think you were stupid. 

By 10:30 you found yourself scrolling through your contacts, staring at his name. You’d thought about emailing him, but he probably wouldn’t see until morning and you didn’t have that much time. 

In hindsight you probably would’ve been fine to just send an email and try to get an extension, but the combination of anxiety over your grade and wanting to talk to him had his name in your phone looking better and better. 

So you called. 

Your nerves were on fire as you waited for him to hopefully pick up. Was this stupid? Would he even answer? Worst of all, what if he was disappointed in you for not being able to do the assignment?

After a few rings, he picked up. “Hello?” 

“Hi Baekhyun, it’s y/n.” 

“Y/n? Are you alright what’s going on?” You could hear the concern in his voice even over the phone, and you remembered why he gave you his number in the first place. 

“I- I can’t do the essay.” You felt your voice shake, before unloading all your grievances in one breath “I read the thing a million times and I still have no idea what it’s about and I put it off until tonight cause it was making me so anxious but I still can’t focus and now it’s too late and I don’t know what to do and I’m freaking out.” 

You heard him sigh. “Slow down, It’s okay, I know it’s a difficult assignment. Have you at least started?” 

“No..” You felt tears swelling in your eyes, threatening to spill and you’re sure he can hear it in your voice even over the phone. “Can I just skip this one? I tried to start it so many times but I don’t know how to analyze something I can’t even understand.” You choked out. 

“Y/n...” You could tell he was thinking of what to do. He probably shouldn’t give you special treatment, and you knew that but right now you hoped he would just give in. Unfortunately you had no such luck. “I’m sorry but I can’t let you just not do it. It would make it too obvious that I’m treating you differently than other students.”

“Then can you at least help me? Or give me more time? Please?” You begged.

“I’m still in my office. I can help you if you meet me here.” 

You felt your palms get sweaty and your heart beat faster at the idea of going to his office again after what had happened last time, especially this late at night and in such a fragile state. 

“O-okay. I’ll be there in 10. Bye.” You said, hanging up before he could respond.

Quickly you got on some shoes and drove yourself to the building his office was located in. Last time you’d been in there he’d asked you about your feelings for him, and now you had to go back. You told yourself to just focus on getting the essay done, but the thought still hung around in the back of your mind as you walked down the hall towards Baekhyun’s office. You felt jittery and embarrassed, but you needed to do this for your grade.

After taking a few deep breaths to ready yourself, you knocked on the door, and heard a muffled “Come in” from the other side, so you let yourself in. Baekhyun was sitting at his desk, which was covered in papers you assumed he’d been grading. Instead of the nicer clothes he would usually wear during lecture, he was just wearing a black t shirt and sweats now. 

“You know you scared the shit out of me when you called. I thought you were in danger or something.” He said to you as you sat down in front of him. “I really didn’t think you’d call me over school work.” 

“I’m sorry..” 

“It’s okay! I’m not mad or anything, just surprised. What part of the text are you having trouble with?” 

“All of it...” You felt your lip starting to quiver. “I’m sorry I know this sounds so stupid and you probably think I’m just trying to take advantage of how you like me but I promise it’s not like that.” You said, looking down and fidgeting with your hands, trying to hide the frustration on your face.

Baekhyun crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, smiling. “I never said I thought that. I told you it’s not an easy assignment, it’s ok if you’re having trouble. Plato can be difficult especially for people who aren’t used to reading things that old.” 

“I should’ve at least started earlier...” 

“Probably, but it’s too late to dwell on that now. Let’s just try to go over the reading together, yeah?” You nodded. 

He moved his chair to your side of the desk before opening your textbook to the reading for the essay. 

“So the first thing that makes The Ring of Gyges so confusing is that you don’t really know who’s talking. Basically it’s a conversation between Plato and his brother Glaucon where they’re discussing justice, and it’s actually Glaucon speaking for most of it, not Plato.” 

You were listening to what he was saying of course, but you were still distracted by the proximity. Baekhyun was sitting right next to you now, arms almost touching. The only other time the two of you got that close was at the club. And you did not need to be thinking about that while he was explaining your assignment to you. 

“Are you following me so far?” 

Your eyes immediately shot up from the book to meet his, and you quickly nodded. Having him look you in the eyes again like that made your face feel hot.

“Glaucon argues that people only peruse justice for the benefits of it, and not because they actually want to be good people. He uses the example of a ring that grants it’s user invisibility, therefore allowing them to do unjust things like steal without being caught. He tells Plato a story about a man who finds such a ring and uses it do overthrow the king.”

You groaned. “It still doesn’t make sense though, what does some story about a stupid ring have to do with justice?” 

“Well, if you were given the ability to steal and deceive people for your own benefit, without ever having to worry about getting caught, wouldn’t you do it too?” You stayed silent. “Basically, what you need to understand is what Glaucon is arguing. He’s saying that doing good deeds isn’t a part of human nature, and everyone would behave unjustly if they knew they would never get caught. Therefore, justice is something people pursue not out of want, but out of fear of the consequences if they don’t.”  

All you could do was stare at him. It was infuriating how attractive he sounded while explaining it to you. 

“Do you have a bit of a better idea what to write about now? Remember it’s only two pages, so don’t stress too much.” 

You snapped yourself out of your thoughts. “Yeah, it makes a bit more sense now... do I still need to finish it tonight or?” 

“Friday. Just email it to me by midnight on Friday and I won’t count it late.” He said, smiling again. 

“Thank you for doing this, I’m sorry it was so late and everything.”

Baekhyun just chucked, “You know if it’s you I don’t mind. You could keep me here all night with questions and I wouldn’t stop you. But you understand now, right?” 

The way he was smiling at you now along with the closeness was making you slightly dizzy. 

“I think so, Glaucon is basically saying that injustice is better than justice then right? Because everyone would do unjust things if they’d always get away with it.” 

Baekhyun nodded. 

“So according to him the best way to live life would be to do things you know are wrong, but without being caught.” 

“Exactly. See, I knew you were smart, y/n.” A smirk had made its way onto his face as he spoke. 

You couldn’t help connecting what he was saying to what you were feeling inside towards him. You wanted him, and you knew it was wrong, but how could you deny it to yourself when it felt so right? 

“Baekhyun...” You asked, hesitantly. “D-do you think it’s okay to do things you know are wrong, as long as no one finds out?”

“I think it depends what you’re talking about.” He answered, now looking you in the eyes again with intensity. “I would never kill anyone, for any reason, even if I knew I could get away with it. But, if I really wanted something, I think I would take it.” 

You were hyperaware of how his eyes were now scanning your face, lingering on your lips. “Take what?”

A hand made contact with your thigh, slowly moving up until he stopped, right below the hem of your shorts. His thumb drew soft circles on the sensitive inner flesh, giving you goosebumps. 

“I know you feel it too, you want this, don’t you?” Baekhyun asked, now moving a stand of hair out of your face. He let his hand rest on the back of your neck, keeping you facing towards him. 

Your heart felt like it was about to short circuit from how fast it was beating. Your palms were sweaty and you could feel yourself shaking slightly. The way his thumb stroked your neck beneath your ear made you shiver, and you knew he saw. All you could do was stare back at him, dumbfounded. Any words you tried to get out stuck in your throat. He was right, you did want it. Now more than ever. 

“Tell me you don’t want this. Tell me you don’t want me to kiss you right now. I dare you.” He said, running his thumb over your bottom lip, eyes fixed on how it trembled beneath his touch. He was slowly moving your face closer his, but you didn’t stop him. 

Your silence told Baekhyun all he needed to know, and his lips quickly found yours. Immediately you let yourself melt into the kiss. You felt your whole body buzzing, finally getting what it had wanted for so long. His lips felt unbelievably soft against yours, moving in a slow rhythm as his other hand came up from your thigh to cup your face as well. You wrapped your arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, letting it become messier and more desperate. 

“I like you” you pulled away just enough to whisper “so fucking much.” You felt him grin into the kiss as your lips met again. 

He tasted like strawberries, and you felt high as your lips kept crashing together with more and more need. Your whole body felt like it was set on fire and simultaneously dunked in an ice bath, every nerve vibrating with want.    

When Baekhyun pulled your bottom lip gently between his teeth you let out a soft moan, and he started to lose it. He broke the kiss, standing up and pulling with him, before backing you up against the wall, a hand on either side of your head. 

“Sweetheart, don’t push me” He breathed, and started peppering kisses along the side of your neck, from under your ear down to your collarbone, sucking and biting on the way. 

Trapped between him and the wall, you felt weak and breathless. Your brain was in overdrive and you gasped at his ministrations, hands burying themselves in his soft hair.  His hands had traveled down to your waist, holding you against him tightly.

“Baekhyun” You breathed out, rubbing your thighs together as he sucked on a particularly sensitive spot. 

“Fuck, y/n. Don’t say that.” He forced the words out through gritted teeth.

His body pressed you into the wall, and your arms wrapped around him pulling him into you even tighter. He was completely consuming your senses and your knees felt wobbly from the intensity of it all. He was already smothering your entire front, but you tried to pull him even closer regardless.

You felt something hard press into your hip as his mouth covered yours again, and this time you shamelessly moaned his name into his open mouth. 

Much to your disappointment, Baekhyun immediately detatched himself from you, backing up until his back hit the opposite wall of the office. You could see how turned on he was by the outline of his dick through his pants and the pained look in his face. 

“Fucking christ...” He said, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. You just watched from the other side of the room. He kept his eyes closed and you observed as his jaw clenched and unclenched before you heard him continue. “You have to go. If you don’t I’m gonna fuck you on my desk and I won’t be gentle.” 

Your throat went dry at his crude words, but you couldn’t deny your own arousal. You walked back towards him, reaching out to touch his chest which was now rising and falling rapidly, but he grabbed you before you could make contact. His grip on your wrist was so tight it was almost painful. His knuckles were white, and you could see a drop of sweat trickle down the side of his face. 

His eyes bore into your own with a stare that warned you not to try anything more. 

“I’m sorry y/n but you have to leave. Not tonight. Not like this.” With his free hand he grabbed your belongings off his desk, shoving them into your arms. 

Still speechless, he opened the door and pulled you outside before going back in and closing the door behind him. You stood and stared at his office door for a minute, recollecting yourself and processing what the hell had just happened. 

Eventually your shaky legs began making their way down the hallway, back towards your car. You were pretty sure a janitor saw you as you turned the corner just down the hall from Baekhyun’s office. You kept your head down, trying to hide your face best you could while hurrying past. 

Once you were sitting in your car, you slumped into the seat, mind still in a daze after what happened in Baekhyun’s office. You waited for your breathing and heartrate to slow down before you drove away. 

Baekhyun left shorty after you as well, unable to concentrate on anything but the sound of you moaning his name. He felt terrible for throwing you out of his office but he’d meant what he said. He didn’t want his first time to have you to be in his office, purely fueled by pent up lust. He wanted to give you more than that. 

More than anything, he just couldn’t believe he’d gotten what he’d wanted for the entire summer. It didn’t seem possible, but now it had happened. And you actually kissed him back. It felt too good to be true. He felt himself once again struggling to sleep, but this time because he was too excited. This time, he didn’t have to keep himself up wondering, he knew he had you. He just couldn’t wait to see what would happed now.

You on the other hand couldn’t stop worrying about that exact thing as you stared at the ceiling above your bed. What would happen now? The thoughts weren’t fearful anymore, there was just too many of them to shut your mind down enough to sleep. 

You’d finally allowed yourself to give into him, and there was no more turning back. 

Next Chapter

[whichwaytowonderlandep]

Every Little Part Of Me | Ch. 1

⇒ Pairing: (Taehyung/Reader/Namjoon)

⇒  Genre: Angst, Romance, Smut

⇒ Words: 5,316

⇒ Tags: Noona Reader, University AU, Stalker AU, SMUT, Husband! Namjoon, Student! Taehyung, passionate sex, oral (receiving), lots of confusing shit.

Chapter One 

You hug your coat closer to your body, as your feet hurriedly make their way down the dark and empty halls of the arts department. The echo of your heels reminding you of just how badly your feet were hurting, as the effects of a full day of work hits you like a truck.

As always, you were the last one of the professors to leave the building— and while you didn't mind helping your students out at the last minute, because that is one of the things you love about your job, the extra hours you were putting in were starting to catch up to you. The dark circles under your eyes, that not even makeup could cover, were a true testament of that.

Your body shudders as soon as you open the large wooden doors, the feel of the almost-winter air crawling right under your coat and over your skin making you wish you hadn't lend your car to your sister this morning — maybe you could’ve gotten home and under the covers a whole lot sooner, snuggling up on the couch with some hot chocolate and a good book.

You smile softly towards the security guard as you pass through the school gates, waving goodbye as you walk past. Walking home in this weather would be torturous and somewhat idiotic, but it seemed now you had no choice — a cab is a must right now. So, you stick your gloved hand out in the air and waved down a taxi cab, telling the driver your address as you step into the vehicle. Leaning back against the seat, you watch with tired eyes as buildings pass and street lights blur as your shivering body takes in the warm air blowing through the vents.

The weight of the day comes crashing down, and the rocking of the car slowly lulls your mind into falling asleep with each second that goes by —that is, until the cab stops at the bottom of the hill and you realize you need to walk the rest of the way.

A whole twenty minutes of walking in the darkness.

You pay the driver as you step out of the car only to watch him peel off down the road as you turn and make your way up the small hill. The streets were almost empty save for the occasional restaurant owner closing the shop for the day.

You quickly make your way across the street, knowing that your best friend, Ramona, would still be at her bakery, preparing all kinds of treats for the next work day.

“Hey babe!” Ramona sends a smile your way as she slides one of the half-filled trays of leftover goodies out of the glass displays in front of you. “Just give me a moment, I have a few pies in the oven. Just come around back” She smiles before she hurries off into the kitchen. 

“You got anything leftover goodies from today?” You yell out, dropping your purse on one of the chairs in front of you before sliding off your coat and bag bringing it on the back of the same chair. You quickly make your way into the kitchen, instantly getting hit with the smell of cinnamon and apple. “Shouldn’t you be getting home by now?” You ask her, picking up one of the chocolate chips sitting on the counter in front of you.

“I was, but one of the guys cancelled on me last minute And with the holidays right around the corner, I can’t leave things enough for the very last minute.” She babbles frantically as she moves from stirring something to check on the oven and plating treats on their respective trays. “So, now I’m stuck preparing for tomorrow. He didn’t even have a good excuse.” Ramona grumbles. 

She stops suddenly, finally slowing down long enough to look at you. “Long day?” She finally asks, grabbing onto the bowl in front of her, “You look like shit”

“Gee, thanks.” You pose cutely for her, “Where are my leftovers, woman?” You jokingly say getting straight to the point as you look around for that little white box with the light pink bow on it that holds every delicious thing known to man.

“I knew it! You only like me for my desserts” Ramona gasps jokingly, “and here I thought it was because of my good looks and charming personality.” Ramona continues sarcastically as she pulls out the box filled with little slices of heaven from under the counter. “Here.” She hands it over before asking, “Where’s Namjoon? I thought he would’ve been there to pick you up after class.” She frowns slightly, “Isn’t your anniversary coming up?”

“Uh…” You clear your throat at the sudden question, “He had to work overtime, the office needed him for something or other. I can’t remember what exactly.” You ramble off as you open the box of what seems to be chocolate chip cookies and stuff half a cookie in your mouth. 

You and Namjoon were sort of a sore topic these days, as in you never like when people brought him into the conversation. It wasn’t that you hated him, he was your loving husband after all, you just didn’t hear from him much because he was always working – it was rare for the two of you to even be home at the same time, let alone have dinner together. You know he worked to provide a good life for the two of you, you just wish he was actually there to live it with you at least once in a while. 

“Really? I haven’t seen him around in a week.” Ramona frowns, “Everything okay with you guys?”

You love Ramona, you do - but sometimes your best friend puts her nose in your business way too often than it should be necessary. You couldn’t complain though, considering she always gave you the best advice you could ever receive. Though this time, you had already decided to keep what was happening between you and Namjoon all on your own. 

“Everything’s fine with us. I need to get going, I need to get home.” You reply, closing the box in front of you, checking your watch in passing. “Thanks for the cavities. I’ll see you.” You tell her before you make your way out of the kitchen, leaving your very confused best friend standing staring at the back of your head — wishing you would come back and finish the goddamn conversation for once. 

The weather didn’t seem to lighten up at all in the thirty minutes that you spent inside the bakery, if anything the darker it got colder it did as well. So you hurriedly made the short trip up the rest of the hill. There was something about your neighbourhood that you just loved about. Maybe it was the fact that it was so colourful and full of life during the day, while at night it became quiet and serene, the drawings that adorned the walls still gave it its own personality. 

Not to mention the years of history along the walls - being only thirty minutes away from the university meant a lot of artists left their marks on them. And the deeper into the neighbourhood you went, the older the paintings were.

Growing up here, you had also left your mark when you were younger and although you never actually told anyone, you were proud of what you had created. You don't know why you decided to keep it a secret, maybe it was the fact that it wasn't really a cop friendly activity that might've done the trick. But you wanted people to know your art, not the person behind it. 

Your husband on the other hand wasn't from around here. And when you refused to move away, you received plenty of complaints on his part - until he noticed how close the university was and the lack of traffic to his job, lack of neighbors. He didn’t have to be friendly in the sense that when he was at home – if he ever was home, he could kick back and relax. 

Your thoughts stopped suddenly as you walked past your favourite mural, it was old with its paint already fading and it wasn’t all there anymore, but for you, every time you looked at it, it felt like the first time you had given the idea life. Every stroke showed emotion, a story waiting to be told. There was no other like it, not by the same person at least — what you wish to go back to that time, to be young and naive once more. 

The minutes, unknowingly, slowly slip away from you as you stood in front of the graffiti-covered wall. Your phone’s sudden ringing from inside your purse snapping you out of it. Your eyes flicker for a second in the darkness as you take out your phone, your husband’s name lighting up the screen. Taking a deep breath, you slide your thumb across the screen and check your messages.

New Message

[6:36pm] Hubby: Something came up at work, I’ll be a bit late home tonight.

You read the message repeatedly; it was the same message he had sent two nights ago, and a week before that. It had become customary now to receive the same text, with the same wording every single time. And every single time he ended up staying in a hotel they had a meeting at or flying out to some other country leaving you to wake up to an I promise to bring you something nice or The boss gave me no choice text from him. 

You could say that you were used to it by now, you didn't question it as you didn't really think anything of it. You were in your own little world and you would stay there if needed to. 

You continue making your way up the stairs, looking out at your house in the distance; the exhaustion from being on your feet most of the day becoming more and more prominent with each and every step.

Hoisting your bag over your shoulder as you reach the front gate, your fingers trembling as they punch in the security code. “Oh, come on!” You mumble to yourself, the cold air making you run towards the front door, desperate to escape into the warmth of your house.  

You let out a deep breath, rubbing your hands together as you try to get your cold fingers to warm up. You throw everything on the couch, feeling too lazy to put everything in its place as you take off your soaked black coat and toeing off your muddy shoes before leaving them by the entrance.

“Home sweet home” You mumble under your breath as you switch the lights on in your completely empty house. You had given the maid the weekend off, knowing you wanted to stay completely alone. The reason being so you could work on your art without any distractions, not to mention all the classwork you had to catch up on.

You make your way into the kitchen, picking up the sticky note stuck on the microwave from your maid – you read it over, learning that she had left you something for dinner tonight and thanking you for giving her the rest of the weekend off. You happily warm up the food as you take a seat on the very large glass dining room table. 

Growing up, you had thought you would’ve made something of yourself by now. You had ambitions of traveling the world and viewing famous pieces of art and taking pictures of anything and everything. You wanted to meet with artists and be surrounded by different cultures. But that exciting part of your life was no more than a distant memory. This was your life now. You just had to find a way to come to terms with the idea. 

You don’t blame Namjoon, even if you had given all of that up when you decided to stay and marry him. You didn’t have to do any of this, and he didn’t ask this of you. You made this decision all on your own – there was no one to blame, but yourself in this situation. 

As the week passed by, you couldn’t help but settle into the same routine. You woke up early in the mornings, sometimes before the sun was even up, and went for a run around the neighbourhood. You ate breakfast, spent most of your day at school, then returned home late to grade papers. You did this repeatedly, day after day, until the weekend came along.

After a while, you had gotten used to being alone in the large house. You had already decided to spend the beginning of your weekend by relaxing and watching some TV before you had to really wrap yourself around your work. These papers weren’t going to be grading themselves and the more you push it off to the side the more work you would have later on. 

You took another sip of your tea, feeling content with how the now fully coloured canvas, you hum to yourself in content as you place down the brush on the table beside you.

You live for moments like this. Moments where you could just sit back and relax, not having to worry about anything or anyone. You love your job, there’s no regrets in what you were doing, but that nagging feeling in the back of your mind telling you could be doing more with your life was hard to ignore.

Art was the only way you could really express yourself without having to say anything, the pictures you took and the paintings you created spoke for you. They forever encase your emotions and your thoughts and are often your escape from the real world - giving you a place to create one of your own.

The moment is interrupted when the doorbell rang throughout the house. You pick up one of the rags next to you, frowning at the sudden intrusion. You weren’t really expecting anyone, especially not this close to dinner time.

“Hello, can I help you?” You question as the woman in front of you smiles brightly. You scratch the back of your neck when you remember you were wearing one of Namjoon’s old shirts, and it was covered in fresh and old paint.

The woman in front of you bursts out laughing, “(Y/N)! It’s so good to see you after all these years!” She squeals before throwing her arms around you, enveloping you in the tightest hug ever. You remained stiff in her arms when she began to jump up and down in, what you assumed to be, excitement.

Holding you at arm’s length, she moves your confusion from side to side, “You look so much older and prettier! Oh my, how we’ve both grown!”

“Do I know you?” You let out in a soft whisper, finally able to speak when the woman in front of you lets you get a word in.

“Oh! Right, I’m Namjoon’s sister. Well...estranged sister, we don’t really talk that much.” The woman continues to ramble on and on about how her family and Namjoon split when he decided to go in a different direction than the farm — even though you had already heard this story before from the man himself.

You haven’t heard much of anything about the missing sister, considering they just never mentioned her again. And frankly, the only reason you knew her name was because of your incessant ability of not letting things go.

“I’m sorry, I ramble when I’m nervous…” You watch as Hyuna glances back out towards the street with a troubled look on her face, which makes you become worried in return.

“Everything okay?” You ask her, finally opening the rest of the door and gesturing for her to come in. “Come on in, it’s warmer inside.” You offer her as the cold air hits you straight in the face.

“Oh, no. I’m sure Namjoon already told you, he told us to come whenever we were ready and... well, we’re ready!”

“What do you mean?” You ask.

“Well...Didn’t he tell you? Namjoon told me he was going to take care of his nephew, Taehyung, from now on, or at least until final exams. Taehyung has been in some trouble, so after contacting my brother, we agreed on my son coming here to live with you.” She continues, leaving you to take everything she just said in. Your husband hadn’t spoken to you in days, so of course he never mentioned any of this.

“We’d like for Taehyung to actually graduate this year. But ever since he found out he was adopted...it’s like he has decided to rebel, go against everything we ask and expect of him.” Hyuna sighs, “The divorce isn’t really helping things out either.” She mumbled under her breath before flashing you another megawatt smile, the bags under her eyes further accentuating how tired she was. “Namjoon agreed, and suggested Taehyung should have a change in scenery and repeat the year under his watchful eye.”

Watchful eye, my ass! He’s barely here as it is. — you think to yourself.

“Oh, did he now?” Your smile widening, while internally you were thinking about how you were going to kill him and get away with it.

“Well, I’m sure Namjoon already went through everything with the both of us so why don’t we get Taehyung settled in?” Hyuna asks you, her questioning smile erasing your thoughts of murdering your husband the instant you realize the boy was here.

“Wait, he’s here?” You frown in her direction, eyes following the taller woman as she gets up from where she’s seated and heads back out the door.

You stand in your doorway, watching with curious eyes as she stands by the passenger door – knocking lightly on the glass.

The boy inside glared at her, grumbling to himself as she continued knocking on the glass. It took a few minutes before he finally got fed up with her insistence, and reluctantly climbed out of the car.

He was clearly taller than Hyuna, with somewhat long, black hair that hung in front of his eyes. He was still in his school uniform, which made you guess this entire move was a surprise on his mother’s part.

Taehyung glanced around at the big houses surrounding him, a stark contrast to the ones back home. He never understood why rich people always wanted more space, he saw it as something completely unnecessary. Letting out a long sigh, he begrudgingly follows along when his mother grabs onto his arm and pulls him towards his uncle’s house.

Taehyung never met the man in question, he only knew what he looked like from the pictures in old family albums his mother kept hidden away in the basement.  

“Hello! You must be Taehyung!” You greet him with the biggest welcoming smile you could muster. You extend your hand out, watching the taller boy approach with a straight face and bored demeanour.

Taehyung only keeps walking, past you and through the open door – never letting out a word in either direction. “Don’t take it to heart, he’s not really that much of a people person.” Hyuna says as you awkwardly put your hand back down, nodding to yourself as you look back at the nineteen-year-old moody teenager looking around the spacious house with a look of indifference.

“It’s okay, I get it” You smile at Hyuna, “I’m sure he’ll fit in right away. Probably” You sigh out, feeling unsure of yourself as all the stress of the semester crashing down on you. You knew you still had a few more papers to grade your little break you took was not enough to make you feel even a little bit relaxed. “Would you like to stay for dinner?”  You ask her, closing the door behind her as the two of you follow Taehyung into the house. He still had on his coat and his backpack strapped to his back - as if looking for a hole to escape through. 

“That would be lovely!” Hyuna immediately agrees as she runs to him, wrapping her arms around the tall boy’s arm and dragging him into the kitchen.

You have no idea what you had just gotten yourself into, or what Namjoon was even thinking when he agreed to any of this – why would he do that in the first place without even mentioning it to you was beyond your understanding, the man was barely here in the first place.

You take another big breath before you slap on that big welcoming smile before you follow them into the kitchen. You were seriously going to kill Namjoon next time you saw him. 

//

You collect the dirty plates, a big smile on your face as you look at Hyuna’s face as she finishes shoving the last bite of food into her mouth. Groaning as the flavour hits her taste buds, “That was an amazing, best meal I’ve had in awhile.” Hyuna continues, praising your cooking as she puts her stomach. You move back towards the kitchen, quickly glancing at the boy sitting at the other side of the table – he hadn’t uttered a word the entire night, pushing his food around his plate as his music continues blasting through his headphones.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it, I haven’t cooked for so many people in such a long time.” You smile at the compliments, walking back to the table until you were standing right next to Taehyung. He looks up at you,his naturally puppy dog eyes looking at every inch of your face. “Are you finished with your dinner, honey?” You don’t miss the eyebrow raised at the mention of the pet name, before he pushes the plate towards you in a silent ‘yes’. 

Taehyung’s eyes stare at you the moment you walk away, going completely unnoticed by Hyuna and you as you set down the plates in the sink and turn on the tap.

“I should probably get going...” Hyuna hints, glancing at the clock on the wall before she’s grabbing onto her purse on one of the kitchen stools. You dry your hands on your apron, moving to stand beside her. You watch as she gives her son a hug, and leaves a lipstick stain on his right cheek, getting no reaction from the boy before she sighed sadly. “I’ll miss you, Tae. We’ll see you soon I promise.” You walk beside her as you accompany her to the front door, watching as she waves goodbye to her son one last time before she’s pulling you into an unexpected hug before quickly walking down the long driveway.

As you close the door, you take in a deep breath, wishing this was not all happening so quickly in such little time. You walk back into the kitchen only  to find Taehyung no longer sitting in the same position. But rather sitting on the couch in the living room, hugging his dark blue backpack to his chest and his luggage sitting on the floor next to him.

“So…” You start, moving to stand in front of him. His head instantly turns to stare at you, his eyes meeting yours with faint disinterest. “I should probably show you to your room.” You clear your throat, “I’m sure you’re tired after that long a drive” you say as you motion for him to follow you as you move towards the stairs.

You don’t look back, hearing his heavy footsteps following right behind you letting you know that he hadn’t ignored you. 

You take Taehyung to the other side of the house, to the only guest room with its own private bathroom. “The maid comes in every morning on weekdays  to tidy things up, I’ll let her know to make up your room after you’ve left for school in the morning.” You let him know, opening the door to the room – looking around at the soft blue sheets that decorated the bed.

“Bathroom is in there, the closet on the other side.” You point around at the different doors around the room. Taehyung drops his bags, sitting on the bed as he bites on his bottom lip. “You can go into the kitchen at any time, the fridge is fully stocked with late night snacks and I’m right down the hall if you need anything… Uh…” You stood there, scratching the back of your neck, feeling a blush running up your neck and settling in your cheeks – moving to walk out the door in the most awkward manner your body could muster.

“Actually” Taehyung’s surprisingly deep voice echoes across the room. Well, you were not expecting that.  “Can I have some more pillows?” He asks, looking at the two measly-looking pillows lying on the bed, he could already feel his neck hurt at the thought of sleeping like that. 

You quickly nod, finally glad to hear him talk at least. “Yeah, sure… I’ll go get them for you right now!” You smile widely before moving out of the room, thinking of where to get his pillows. In your mind, you were finally making progress with the Taehyung — even if it was something as little as this.

It took you awhile to locate a few extra clean ones, before you were walking back into Taehyung’s room only to hear the shower running and he was nowhere to be found.

You decide to clear the bed for him, mounting up the pillows in the most comfortable way you could. Your mind up in the air and distracted, that you never heard the shower being turned off, nor the boy now walking out of the bathroom, with a towel around his waist and small droplets of water now dripping down his naked chest.

Taehyung watches silently as you fluff the pillows, biting his bottom lip as he heads towards his suitcase. Maybe this won’t be as bad after all – he smugly thinks to himself as he moves to stand right behind you, a towel on his wet hair as you crawl off the bed, jumping when you hear him clear his throat from behind you before letting out a scream of surprise, blushing as you try to recover from the small heart attack that he almost caused you. 

“Taehyung! I’m sorry, I thought you were still in the shower.” You chuckle nervously, noticing just how close he was standing to you. So close that you could still see the small droplets of water dropping off his chin and down his chest one by one. Oh, it has been way too long since you were this close to a man, because this was no boy. You gulp, looking anywhere but at the man in front of you.

“I should probably go get ready for bed, it’s getting pretty late already... Have a good night then!” You squeal out before you dash out of the room in a hurry and head straight for the comfort of yours. You felt awkward and uncomfortable with what had just happened, whatever it is that JUST happened. 

Taehyung looked at the door after you left, thinking about how adorable you look when your cheeks went red and you looked completely flustered. He liked it when girls acted that way around him, he was used to it. Yet, there was something about you that he just seemed to like a bit more.   

You sit on bed with your class’s works laying in front of you, a collection of random black and white sketches for the first part of the assignment you had made them slave over this weekend. Your glasses were sitting at the tip of your nose as you try to keep your eyes from closing as you continue to type in comments of approvals and things they needed to work on for the rest of the semester.  It was already nearing two in the morning when you heard the garage door open, not moving from your position as you knew for certain it was no one other than Namjoon coming in at such a late hour. 

Your short suspicions were confirmed a few minutes later, when the very man was entering through your bedroom door with his coat jacket in his hands. “There’s my little workaholic!” You greet him, smiling up at him as he walks closer to you. Namjoon sends you a tired smile before leaning down to plant a quick kiss on your lips.

Namjoon chuckles tiredly as he throws his coat onto the end of your bed before he pulls on his tie as he heads towards the bathroom he yells back “Speak for yourself! You’re the one who brought work into the bedroom!”  You hear the shower running as you continue with your work, deciding to finish it tomorrow when you had enough sleep to be able to think straight.

You push your work from your lap before moving them to the floor, you look up at Namjoon with a small angry glare hoping he would get the hint a little bit quicker. You were mad. But, you weren’t going to tell him that, you were going to let him figure that out on his own. 

“What did I do?” Namjoon stops, slowly taking off his remaining sock, “Who says anything wrong?” You answer back. This prompts Namjoon to chuckle dryly as he rolls his eyes jokingly, “Maybe because when you get mad, you get this insanely cute pout on your lips?” 

You blush at the compliment, brushing it aside as you clear your throat, “When were you going to tell me you offer Taehyung a place to stay with us?” Your ‘stern’ voice resurfacing as you remember how angry you still felt. Or at least you did. 

 “I knew I forgot something important…” Namjoon quips, biting at his bottom lip as his forehead wrinkles in frustration. The same way he always did when he knew he was guilty of something – after so many years of being together, you liked how you knew him like the back of your hand. “I hope it wasn’t too much trouble. I figured I would sit you down for dinner before breaking the news to you, but I guess Hyuna had other plans.”

You keep silent as you watch him begin to undress, stretching his neck as he shrugs off the white button up. You bite at your bottom lip, putting the papers back down on the bed as you lean back and take a good luck at him. Namjoon turns around, leaning on his knee on the bed as he looks at you up and down as he takes off his watch. “What?” He smirked, his hands now reaching down to his belt, tilting his head to the side as he watches you rub your thighs together. 

“Nothing…”

Namjoon lets out a loud sigh, unbuttoning the top of his dress pants before crawling like a lion to his prey. His fingers gliding over the top of your naked legs, lustful eyes staring you down as he grabs onto your ankles and pulls you down swiftly until you're laying down on the soft bed underneath him.

He doesn't say anything as all traces of playfulness are gone as he moves your hair out of your face before leaning down to place a gentle kiss on your lips. Namjoon, lays his body over yours, a hand sliding down your t-shirt until it's sitting on the side of your stomach - slowly inching towards your chest, until his hand is gripping onto your bare breast and his lips leave a trace of kisses down your jaw and to your neck.

You could feel him grinding his hips against yours, grunting as he feels chills running all over his body. Namjoon could feel the pressure building up in the bottom of his stomach and the blood rushing down to his member. He grunts out, his lips meeting yours once again before his pulling away. Namjoon slides down your body, never looking away from you as he lays down in front of you. His gentle kisses on the inside of your thigh so very close to the place that has been neglected for far too long.

His hands grab onto your thighs, spreading your legs apart even wider as he settles in between them. You shut your eyes moving you feel him move your underwear to the side, his soft lips meeting your wet center. You sigh out in ecstasy as you feel him flatten his tongue against you. It has been way too long since the last time your husband had touched you in such a way.

Your hands wrap around his dirty golden looks as his tongue continues to flick against your clit in a quick manner, leaving your entire body a trembling mess. Namjoon smirks as your body arches, pushing further against his tongue before pushing his index finger into you slowly. He curls his finger against the inside of your walls, leaving you a moaning mess as you continue to tug on his hair. Your hands let go of his hair, running up your own stomach as you grab both of your breasts in your hands.  

You feel his lips sucking hard on your clit before pulling away with a ‘pop’ and you feel your orgasm being pushed closer and closer to the edge. All you needed was that little push.

Namjoon pulls away from you, hooded eyes staring down at you as he pushes his dress pants down his muscled thighs until his penis is standing fully erect in front of you. He roughly grabbed onto your hips, pulling you towards his body before the tip of his member was sliding up and down your clit.

Namjoon grunts as he pushes into you up to the hilt, feeling your warm, wet and pulsating walls surrounding him entirely. “God, I’ve forgotten how good you feel around me” He moans out as he begins to buck his hips into yours. His thrusts were short, but hard enough that you could feel pleasure shoot through your entire body. The little whimpers that let your body sound like music to his ears as he gathers up both your legs into his arms and throws them over both of his shoulders. With the new position you could feel him sinking in deeper within you as he begins to move faster and harder.

“Joonie…” You whine, your hands fisting the cotton sheets beneath you as the urge to cum intensifies even more. “I’m about to oh fuck…” the words never leaving your lips as your orgasm washes over you. Toe- curling, back arching pleasure washing over you.

Namjoon’s eyes shut as his hips move quicker, his own orgasm making his balls tighten as the snap against your ass before pumping you full of his cum.

Your heavy breathing could be heard echoing all over your bedroom, his groans joining. “Fuck” 

Namjoon whispers under his breath, pulling out of you before watching his seed spill slowly out of you.

You feel him slide the tip of his member up and down your lips before sliding it back in once more

You whine a little at the over sensitive feeling that shoots up your spine before your pushing at his abdomen.

Namjoon chuckles, pulling his now softening member out of you and laying down next to you on the bed, feeling completely exhausted. “I guess that means that I’m forgiven?” He jokes, looking at you with tired eyes as he bites his lip trying to contain his smile – you laugh out loud as you hit him in the chest in a joking manner.

“Stop it.” You mumble, your voice heavy with sleep as you lay your head on his chest. You feel Namjoon’s hands wrap around your waist, pulling you closer to his warm body as he props his chin on the top of your head.

Neither you nor Namjoon ever caught the pair of brown eyes that were looking at the two of you so intently from the half-opened door.

Masterlist >>

[darks-ink]

Absurdism Chapter 16

And so it ends.

Rating: Teen/K+ (a lil swearing, because teenagers, man) Warnings: - Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort Additional Tags: Sibling Bonding, Family Bonding, Alternate Universe - Halfa Jazz AU, Jazz makes friends

[AO3] [FFN] [more Absurdism on Tumblr] First Chapter | Previous Chapter

---

Chapter 16: Identity Crisis

“Just stop running!” Jazz growled, underlining the statement with a shot of golden ectoplasm. The ghost they were chasing, deer-like but with dangerously curled antlers, bounded over the blast. It didn’t slow.

“We just need to pin it!” Danny focused on the cold of his core, freezing the asphalt in front of the ghost.

It unfurled a pair of feathered wings and leapt over the ice altogether. How had he missed those before?

“Urgh!” Jazz put on a bit more speed, and Danny matched her. They’d been chasing this one ghost for forever. It wasn’t particularly dangerous, but that didn’t mean it could run free in Amity!

Something hit him in the back of the head, and hard. He swore, immediately coming to a dead stop, and grabbed the offending object.

Silver and green, sleek, the shape undeniably like a boomerang. Well, not just a boomerang. The Booo-merang.

But the Fentons hadn’t invented it in this dimension, had they? So then where had this one come from…?

“Danny!”

A pair of arms—warm and heavy—wrapped around his neck, dragging him down to the street the rest of the way. He spluttered as another pair joined the first, the Booo-merang clattering on the floor.

“Sam?” he asked, blinking at his friends. “Tucker?”

“Who else?” Tucker asked, laughing. There were tears in his eyes. “We’re not alone, anyway.”

Danny barely got a moment to consider that before a third pair of arms joined the embrace. A head pressed down on his shoulder, long hair itchy in his neck. “Hey little brother. We missed you.”

“I… I missed you too.” He twisted his head just far enough to see Jazz. His Jazz. His core hummed loud in his chest, so powerful he was sure everyone else could feel it rumbling. His eyes felt wet. “I missed all of you so much. I was—” His breath caught in his throat, but he pushed through. “I was so afraid that I would never see you guys again.”

“Like we’d ever give up on you,” Sam muttered into his collarbone. “Come on, Fenton, you know better than that.”

“It’s just… It’s been so long.” He sniffled, surreptitiously. “I was just… scared. That you couldn’t find me.”

“Sooner or later, we would’ve found you.” Jazz ruffled his hair, and Danny couldn’t even be annoyed about it. Not really. “We’re your family, Danny. We wouldn’t give up on you like that.”

He knew that. He’d known that all along. But not giving up on him and actually being able to find him were two very different things. “How’d you guys get here, anyway?” he asked, caught somewhere between laughter and tears. “I didn’t think you’d be able to come here.”

The sound of a throat clearing. Danny looked up, and saw… white fur, an arm of ice and bones, the cool glow of the ice ghosts that had trained him. In the unfrozen arm, the ghost held a rather familiar map.

“Frostbite,” he greeted, and now he fell over the edge into laughter, even if his tears didn’t quite stop. “Of course. That makes sense!”

He flapped his mostly-free arm, and when Frostbite hesitated, gestured even more impatiently. “This wouldn’t have been possible without you, Frostbite. Come on!”

“Well, if you insist, Great One.” The ghost landed, soundlessly, and shuffled closer. When he seemed uncertain how to approach the group hug, Sam and Tucker reached out and dragged him the rest of the way.

Frostbite was big enough to wrap his arms around all four of them, one arm soft and the other hard, but neither of them as freezing cold as one might’ve expected.

“Thank you,” Danny said, and he wasn’t sure which of them he was talking to. All of them, maybe. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without all of you.”

“You wouldn’t have had to,” Jazz assured him, quietly. “We would’ve found you, no matter what.”

His core rumbled louder. Danny was sure they could all hear it, could all feel it, now. “I was—” Scared. “I was worried,” he settled for instead. “That you’d never find me. It’s been a while.”

“Yeah.” Tucker clapped him on the back without unwrapping his arms. “Your parents were worried, dude.”

Oh god, his parents. How was he going to explain this to them?

“Danny?” Jazz asked, except— it didn’t come from next to him.

He jerked, remembering— Whoops. Looked up, right at Specter’s frowning golden eyes.

“Jazz.” He grinned, sheepishly, ignoring the way everyone’s arms tightened around him. “Uh. My family dropped by?”

“I noticed. But maybe you guys should continue this conversation somewhere out of everyone’s sight?” She shook the Thermos in her hand. “I got the ghost, by the way, no thanks to you.”

“I helped tire it out, that counts.” He patted Frostbite’s furry arm. “Can you carry Sam and Tucker for me?”

The ghost nodded, uncurling his arms from around them. “It would be my pleasure. Lady Sam, Sir Tucker?”

“I don’t know how I feel about those titles,” Tucker grumbled, lightheartedly, as he pulled away from the hug pile as well. “I think I finally understand your dislike of Sir Phantom.”

“Same.” Sam stepped away as well, wrapping her hand around Frostbite’s offered arm instead.

Jazz sighed, stepping up next to him. “I can’t believe I’ve been replaced by a little half-ghost version of myself.”

“If it helps, she’s taught me about the pains of being the oldest sibling.” He wrapped an arm around her waist, lifting her up carefully. “Jazz—Specter—lead the way?”

“Just a rooftop?” She nodded, rising up higher, and pointed at a nearby building. “We’ll be out of sight right up there.”

All of them flew up, Specter in the lead, with Frostbite and Danny right behind her. The moment they touched down, Sam and Tucker let go of Frostbite, and Danny put Jazz down again.

“So… they found you?” Specter guessed, eyes wandering over the gathered crowd.

“They found me,” Danny confirmed, grinning once again. “Jazz, you already know Sam and Tucker, and this is my Jazz.” He gestured at them as he spoke. “And that is Frostbite, he helped them get here.”

He turned to face the rest of them, waving at the little Jazz he’d been staying with. “And this is Jazz Specter, this universe’s half-ghost. I’ve been helping her figure stuff out.”

“He’s been helping me train and stuff,” she affirmed, nodding. “Figure out all the half-ghost stuff.”

“Must’ve been a busy two weeks.” Tucker nodded at Jazz—Specter. “You look well-trained, anyhow. How long did you have your powers before you met Danny?”

“Uh…” She blinked at him, clearly caught off-guard. Trying to process the same thing that Danny was. “Little over a month, close to two months, I guess. He’s been training me for the past four months.”

“Time between the worlds is uneven,” Frostbite realized.

“It’s barely been two weeks for us,” Sam tagged on, eyes wide. “But you’ve been here for four months, Danny?”

“Close to it, I think.” He shrugged. “The timelines don’t match exactly, I think. I feel like I had my powers for more than a year before I fought Pariah, right?”

Specter hummed thoughtfully. “But the events and the order is the same, right? That’s how you were helping me change stuff.”

“Well, not everything played out the same, obviously.” He reached over to ruffle her purple hair. “And it’ll be a lot better for you from here on out, without Vlad on your heels.”

“You should just do the same to your Vlad.” She nudged him. “He can’t possibly be that much worse than mine.”

“Yeah, I never told you about Danielle, did I?” He shook his head. “Trust me, Jazz, I know what I’m about.”

“Like how you never told your parents about being half-ghost?” She shot him an unimpressed stare.

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. I make bad life decisions. This, I will definitely not miss.”

“I can’t believe you’ve been here for four months,” his own Jazz commented. “No wonder that you were worried we wouldn’t get to you.”

“At least you weren’t alone.” Tucker gestured over at Specter by Danny’s side. “And it sounds like you’ve been able to rely on your parents, too.”

“Not… for that long,” Jazz admitted, slowly. “I only told them recently. But Danny—mine—he knew for a while longer, so he and his own Sam and Tucker have been helping too. You have taken up their offers of a bed and food, right?”

Danny made a face.

“Danny.”

Thankfully, he was saved from having to explain himself by the roar of engines.

Valerie slowed to hover over the roof, her posture stiff. “Phantom, Specter… assorted other people.”

“Hey Val,” he said, before turning to his friends and sister. “Frostbite, this is Valerie, ghost hunter. The rest of you already know her, obviously.”

She grumbled, her hoverboard disengaging. “Phantom, you can’t just throw out my name like that.”

“Why not? These guys are from my universe, not yours.” He shrugged. “And they already knew, anyway. Besides Frostbite, but that’s just because he didn’t know you at all.”

“Who is he, anyway?” Specter squinted at the massive ghost that lingered behind Danny’s human friends. “You didn’t bring him to the fight with Pariah.”

“Frostbite is a friend who I didn’t meet until way later.” Danny floated closer to his friends, gesturing at the ghost. “He’s the leader of a group of yeti-like ghosts. They like me because I fought Pariah Dark.”

“Like you?” Tucker repeated with a snort. “Danny, buddy, they practically worship you.”

“It is true,” Frostbite chimed in, like a traitor. “The Great One is much beloved among my people for defeating the Ghost King.”

Specter shot him a look he couldn’t quite decipher, eyes narrowed and mouth thin. “Is that so?”

“That explains the strong ecto-signature that suddenly appeared on my radars, at least.” Valerie shook her head, disengaging her weaponry entirely. “I was worried that you guys had gotten ambushed somehow, but I guess that that’s not the case.”

“An ambush of love, maybe.” His Jazz reached out to ruffle his hair. “Right, Danny?”

“Ugh.” He turned himself intangible so Jazz could no longer touch him. “Anyway, to get back to the original point. I’m gonna go home, so you guys will have to take up the slack again. Jack and Maddie will help, of course, but you two are the only ones who can chase ghosts down in the sky.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Valerie assured him, voice sturdy and determined. “Don’t worry about it, Danny.”

“Do all these guys know your secret?” Sam asked, suddenly leaning on his shoulder. “Did you fall out of the habit of secret-keeping, Danny?”

He huffed, rolling his eyes. “No. Well, a bunch of them know, yeah, but it’s a long story.”

Tucker suddenly appeared on his other shoulder. “Are you sure you can trust Tiny to keep the city safe?”

“Hey!” Valerie snapped back. “Are you really underestimating me because I’m two years younger than you?”

“She has a point, Tuck.” Sam flicked him in the nose. “Valerie could destroy you, age difference or not.” She paused, narrowing her eyes at Valerie. “Even if she is smaller than I remember.”

“Alright, alright, that’s enough.” Danny shoved both of his friends off of his shoulders. “Yes, I’m sure that Valerie, Jazz, and the Fentons can take care of Amity. The three of us managed alright, too, and Jazz has even less enemies to worry about.”

“Yeah, have some trust in us!” Specter puffed herself up, her glow brightening in response. “You guys could take care of it when you were fourteen, so why can’t we?”

“It’s not about whether you can, it’s about whether you should,” Jazz said, crossing her arms. “But I suppose there isn’t much we can do about it. Do we need to drop by FentonWorks as well?”

Danny hummed. “I have kind of been living there, these last two weeks or so, so… Yeah, I think that that’s a good idea.”

“Well, have fun with all that.” Valerie summoned her hoverboard again, floating up a little. “I’ll finish up patrol for you guys, then.”

“Thanks, Val.” Jazz smiled at her. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

“Mh. Bye, Phantom, Phantom’s friends and sister.” Valerie waved, a short motion similar to a salute. “Nice meeting you folks, I guess.”

“Bye, Valerie.” He watched her go, then sighed. “Alright, FentonWorks. How are we getting there?”

“I can carry your friends, Great One,” Frostbite offered. “As we did just now.”

He made a face. “But that’s not exactly comfortable, with them having off of your arms.”

“I can carry someone, too,” Specter protested. “I’m strong enough in my ghost form!”

“I can go with Specter,” Jazz offered, stepping forward. “Danny can take Sam, and Frostbite can carry Tucker.”

Specter nodded, closing the rest of the distance between her and Danny’s own Jazz. “I just need to… uh, figure out how to lift you.”

“Here, just like this.” Danny gestured at Sam, who rolled her eyes but let him pick her up. “See, Jazz?”

She nodded, replicating it with Jazz. It wasn’t quite as easy—Specter wasn’t nearly as strong as him, and Jazz a little too tall for her—but it worked well enough. “Got it. We ready?”

Danny turned to look at Frostbite, who had easily picked up Tucker. “Yeah, looks like it. I’ll go up front. We’ll have to stay high so no one sees us, though.”

Everyone made various noises of assent, the two half-ghosts and one full ghost taking off, their human passengers clinging on. They didn’t speak much during the flight to FentonWorks, high enough that the clouds prevented people from seeing them—if they looked up at all.

Before long they arrived, all flickering invisible for the dive downwards. In the living room, Phantom became visible, soon followed by Specter and finally Frostbite.

“Um.” Human Danny blinked at the sudden crowd. “What’s going on here?”

“My entourage has arrived.” Danny dropped Sam, carefully. “Aka my friends and sister have arrived from my own universe to come bring me home.”

“Oh, that’s good news!” Maddie appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, suddenly. “We haven’t been having much luck with finding ways to make portals into another dimension. How did you kids manage it?”

“We didn’t.” Tucker patted Frostbite on the arm, the ghost looking a little unsure. “Frostbite has a ghost artifact which can track down portals in the Ghost Zone to wherever you want. We used the Booo-merang to track down Danny, and then asked the artifact to bring us wherever that was.”

Danny felt his core stutter. “Oh, shit. The Booo-merang— Did someone remember to grab it?”

“Yeah.” Tucker held up the Booo-merang, which he… apparently had had all the time? Man, all these emotions made it easy to miss stuff, huh? “Come on, man, do you really think that I would abandon a piece of technology just like that?”

Maddie stepped out of the doorway to enter the room properly, Jack right behind her. “Well, I’m glad you managed it, at least. I assume you’ve come to say goodbye, Phantom?”

“Yeah, I… yeah.” He shrugged, a little uneasy. What were you supposed to say to alternate universe versions of your parents who you would never see again? “Um. Thanks for letting me stay here, and stuff.”

“Of course, kiddo.” Jack managed to make his way over to Danny, wrapping a heavy arm around him. “We’ve said it before, but you’re our son, even if you’re not from this universe. Of course we’d take care of you.”

“And your own parents must miss you terribly.” Maddie joined the two of them, ruffling Danny’s hair. “It has been so long… I can’t imagine it happening to us.”

“Apparently it’s barely been two weeks for them.” Danny looked at Sam and Tucker, who nodded in confirmation. “But, yeah. I missed them a lot too… No offense to you guys, of course!”

Maddie hummed, stepping away again—and taking Jack with her. “Well, no matter how unfortunate the circumstances… I’m glad that you were here to help Jazz, at least. Thank you for that.”

“Yeah, of course.” He shrugged, trying for casual and probably missing by a mile. “Family, right?”

“You’d better tell your own parents when you get back, though.” Maddie’s expression grew stern. “I don’t know how you planned on explaining your two week absence, but I want you to tell them. Okay, Danny?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I… Yeah.” He swallowed, his eyes feeling watery all of a sudden. “I learned my lesson. I should’ve told them ages ago.”

“Good.” Jack looked around, his eyes settling on Danny’s own Jazz—she was standing near this universe’s Danny, for some reason. “Jazz, sweetie, can you make sure that Danno keeps his promise?”

“Of course. I’ve been hoping for him to tell our parents, but no pressure, right? Speaking of promises, however…” She nudged other Danny. “I promise you that you’d better treat your little sister right, or I’ll come for you, you hear me?”

The other Danny rolled his eyes, grumbling wordlessly.

“Don’t underestimate her, dude,” Tucker piped up, quirking an eyebrow. “She’s been doing martial arts training for years. Seasoned ghost hunter, right there.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” He huffed, shaking his head. “Just trying to get over the fact that my little sister gets to be older than me.”

“Welcome to my life!” Danny laughed, quickly wiping a hand past his eyes to make sure no tears had formed. “I’ve been living the reverse for the past four months, remember?”

“Can’t imagine.” Human Danny shook his head, then stepped past Jazz to offer his hand to Danny. “Either way, thank you for taking care of my little sister. And, y’know. For the wake-up call, back then.”

“And for not kicking your ass in the process?” Danny grinned, taking the offered hand. “Of course, dude, you would’ve done the same for me.”

Human Danny let go, sticking a thumb up at Frostbite. “Maybe, but I don’t have allies like that guy hanging around.”

“Who is he, anyway?” Maddie cocked her head, staring at the massive ghost. “I don’t remember you mentioning him before?”

“Yes, because I talk about my ghostly allies so much.” Danny rolled his eyes. “That’s Frostbite, he’s the leader of the Far Frozen.”

“And he had an artifact that allowed you to travel here, right?” Jack narrowed his eyes, crossed his arms. “How does that work? Is it limited use, or…”

“It can be used as much as desired.” Frostbite unrolled the Infimap to show it off. “You simply ask it to bring you somewhere, and it will, tracking down natural portals if it must.”

“So could he use that more often?” Specter asked, leaning in closer to look at the map. “To come visit?”

Frostbite blinked at her, seemingly surprised. “Yes… I suppose he could. But it is a valuable artifact… I’m not too sure about letting him borrow it so often.”

“It doesn’t have to be often,” Specter insisted, turning big golden eyes on Frostbite. “Please?”

“Come on, Frostbite, they’ve been taking care of him for four months.” Sam crossed her arms, staring down the ghost. “Let them have this.”

“I’ll be careful,” Danny promised. “I learned my lesson from last time.”

Frostbite’s mouth thinned, the ghost’s eyes wandering over to Tucker.

“We already lost him to the Zone once. I would honestly feel safer if he had a magical map which can always bring him home.” Tucker shrugged, ignoring Danny’s glare.

“And he’s always welcome here,” Jack pitched in. “He has done so much for us, and we’ve barely had a chance to pay him back for it.”

“It would be pretty cruel to separate him from Jazz after they’ve gotten so close,” the other Danny added on, a flat expression on his face. “And now that we know it exists, we might just go looking for it in this dimension, and I can’t imagine that our Frostbite would like that very much.”

Maddie nodded along. “At the very least, let us have a look at the Infimap. Maybe we can put together an invention that works similarly, and then you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”

“Well… I suppose that I cannot argue with such sound logic.” Frostbite shook his head, but he didn’t sound all that disgruntled. “But, Great One, you must promise you will be careful with it.”

“Yeah, of course.” He took the map when Frostbite handed it to him, then promptly handed it back. “Which is why I want you to hold onto it. I’ll drop by the Far Frozen when I want to visit this place.”

“Very well.” Frostbite grinned down at him, then looked around the room. “Were these all the goodbyes you had to make?”

“One last thing…” Specter tackled Danny in a hug, dragging him close enough to Jack and Maddie for them to hug him as well.

The three released him, other Danny nodding at him as well.

“I think that that was all.” Danny nodded at Frostbite, floating closer to put his hand on the map. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz grabbed it as well. “Thank you all so much. Goodbye!”

“Bye!” they all shouted back, as Frostbite told the map to take them back home.

The world around them disappeared into a blur of motion, alternating blue and green skies, until they suddenly stood in snow to their ankles.

“Here we are.” Frostbite shook their hands off, rolling up the map. “Great One, you are welcome to visit whenever you want, yes?”

“Yeah, I know.” Danny patted Frostbite’s arm. “Thanks. For everything.”

“It was my pleasure.” Frostbite reached out, almost hesitantly, then ruffled Danny’s hair. “You four had better return home.”

Danny looked around them, spotting the Specter Speeder resting nearby. “Yeah, I guess so. Let’s go, guys.”

They entered the Speeder, Sam settling in behind the wheel. “Oh my god, please tell me these instruments are wrong.”

“Nope, looks like we spent the better part of the evening on this.” Tucker groaned as he dropped down in the co-pilot seat. “Hope you guys are ready to crash into bed when we get home.”

“I sure am.” Danny sat down in one of the extra seats, Jazz taking the one next to him. “I know I promised to tell my parents, but that wait until the morning, right?”

“Right.” Jazz sighed, a soft smile on her face. “I’m proud of you, little brother.”

“Don’t rub it in,” he grumbled back, without heat. “I just spent four months as the older sibling, remember?”

“Oh, I know.” She grinned down at him.

It was strange, but in the past four months, he’d almost forgotten how much taller than him she was.

They spent the flight back through the Ghost Zone mostly silent, after that. Occasional small talk, but nothing major.

Finally, the Speeder touched down in the lab, Jazz stumbling out first. She stopped so abruptly that Danny walked into her back, peering around her.

“Uh, hey,” he said, sheepishly, to the stunned faces of his parents. “So, um. It’s a very long story, and I promise I’ll tell you guys everything, but in the morning, okay? I really need some sleep.”

He stepped past Jazz, allowing Sam and Tucker to climb out of the Speeder as well. Danny paused, turning back to his parents. “And prepare yourselves, because it’s complicated.”

[zult-of-zephyr]

Layers

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Hey y'all! So, while I'm working on Curious, I'm also going to be working on a series of Not Snape For Work fics taking place in the same au as Curious, but will be tagged as #Kurious.

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Curious is a Severus Snape x self-ship/x reader/x oc fanfiction. While it can be read as an x reader/x oc fanfiction, and I encourage y'all to do so, it is written first and foremost as a self indulgent fic for me. That being said, it tends to take inspiration from many aspects of my life, such as, but not limited to, my C-PTSD, my personal traumas, my personal Snape headcanons, my interests, etc. This is just a general warning for all chapters of Curious or Kurious, in case this would make any potential readers uncomfortable.

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Layers

Word Count: 2,123

Rating: E for explicit sexual content! Do not read/interact with if you are under 18, and I check every account that interacts with any of my posts.

Short Synopsis: Simone gets dressed with the help of our beloved Severus. This is a very subby sev with a much more dominant reader. Very heated and tender moments happen.

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Winter had always been your favourite season, but since moving to England, fall had replaced that spot in your heart. How it got to be so perfectly chilly. How you got to see the earth start it's slumber. How you actually got to layer your clothes for the chill.

Layering was always a habit of yours, just to regulate temperatures and help you feel safe. It gave you a sense of putting on armour. Literally placing protective charms on your clothes as you put them on, just to have a first line of defense. Your long skirts and slips bundling you up in a warm, comfortable pod, keeping you snug and cozy. Making you feel that safety you long for. But not many got to see the process. Severus, however, was one of those lucky few. One of the few you allowed to strip you of your armour, both literally and figuratively. But he'd yet to actually see you dress yourself.

After pulling an all-nighter of grading papers and potions with your help, you both decided to just stay the night in your cottage rather than have him worry about sleepy apparation nor making the trek up to the castle and then down to his quarters.

You always wake up early, seeing the sun not quite up just yet. Knowing that the night terrors and bad memories that often plauged your mind had led to you waking up long before anyone else once again. But it never failed to work you up, shaking as you sat up, rubbing the sleep from your eyes. After calming down, you got up, deciding to start your day sooner rather than never. Going through the motions of bathroom basics, brushing your hair, teeth, among other things, you finally started the process of getting dressed. But you hadn't realized someone was watching you. That someone had been watching you since your shaky exit from the bed, longing to reach out and hold you, but feared upsetting you more than you already were.

You pulled out your outfit for the day, stacking your clothes in the order in which you needed. Stripping down, assuming you were still the only one awake, you started to get dressed. As you slipped on a fresh set of lace panties, you could feel eyes on you. Knowing they belonged to a certain potions master, you bit your lip as you thought, Might as well give him a show.

You grabbed the first layer of your outfit; a simple pair of black stockings. You slowly pulled on your black tights, up, up, up your body, feeling every curve get enveloped in a sheer blackness. You wiggled your plush ass and thighs into the tight fabric, hearing a sharp gasp from behind you as you pulled the stockings all the way up and into place. However, you didn't look over. You liked teasing him.

Pulling out the second layer, a garter belt, you slipped it on. You smoothed it out over your curves, pulling the garter clips and letting them smack back into place, hitting against the sheer inkiness of your backside. You hear a groan sound from behind you, and you finally look over your shoulder coyly. And it was a sight to behold.

His hair was still disheveled from sleep, his face flushed pink from the scene unfolding in front of him. He was taking deep breaths, slow and steady, but it was merely an act to control himself. But his eyes gave away everything. Oh god, his eyes. They were so intense, staring at every part of you, drinking in your form, the hazy glow of the birth of dawn just barely silhouetting your body. They were dark and beautiful and hungry. And you planned to give him the meal of a lifetime.

"You know, Severus," You purred, finally turning towards him fully, hands covering your nipples,

" People are usually much more excited to see me take off my clothes." You continued, seeing a swathe of red overtake his face and the tips of his ears. His head snapped up, meeting your gaze, and guilt was now added to the mix of emotions swirling around in his eyes. Now that won't do.

You let your breasts free, walking towards him with the rest of your layers in your arms, folding them just so so that they propped up your breasts. He seemed shocked, looking at you, to your breasts, then to anywhere but you. As you got closer to him, he made a motion as if to speak, but stopped when you bent close to his ear. You could feel him shiver from your breath on him.

"Would you like to help me?" You asked, pulling away to make eye contact with him. He seemed shocked, mouth open and gave you a weak nod.

"You'll need to speak up if you want to help."

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but after gulping, he managed a shaky, "Y-yes."

"Yes, what?" You teased. God how you loved to tease him.

"Y-yes, I would like to help you dress." He said, looking away from you. You pulled his chin up with a free hand, grazing his neck not-so-accidently. His breath hitched as you gave him a smile and a kiss to the corner of his mouth, and pulled away to meet his eyes again.

"Thank you, Severus." You said lovingly. Straightening up, you placed your clothes onto his lap, caressing up his outer thigh as you did so, and smirking when he shuddered at your touch. Yes, teasing him was your absolute favourite thing to do.

Sliding onto the bed, you swiveled your legs to either side of him, propping yourself on your elbows as you laid back. He seemed really flustered now, looking at the clothes, red as can be.

"Socks would be next, Sev. They should be on top." You instructed, loving how you get him worked up like this.

"Ah, yes, let me just-" He started, hands hovering over your leg, as if unsure you if you actually wanted him to touch you or not. As if you ever wanted him not to touch you.

"You can touch me, Sev," you say, placing your right foot into his hovering hand," I won't bite. Yet."

His eyebrows shot up, but he simply shook his head, taking the sock and placing it onto your foot and slowly rolling it up your calf. He caressed your curves and looked at you, that love and hunger returning to his eyes, all guilt having vanished from them. Now that's much better.

After rolling your sock to your calf, he gives you the same treatment to your left leg, placing it down gently. As he does so, you raise yourself up to your knees, leaning over and holding onto his neck. Stradling him, you leaned into the crook of his neck and spoke against his skin.

"Well go on, Severus." You started to kiss him, lightly, only to nibble on his collar bone. He whimpered. Music to your ears.

"Finish what you started."

"R-right!" He barked, starting to roll up your socks completely, groping your soft thighs with happy abandon, moaning now and again when you kissed the rights spots along his neck here and there. He palmed your ass as he grabbed the garter clips kissing your shoulder lightly, lovingly, as he clipped your socks into place. You pulled back, resting yourself on his lap.

He rested his hands on your hips, just staring out you.

"Why did you wake up so early?" He asked nonchalantly, but softly, making sure you met his gaze.

Shit. I'm busted.

"Nightmares... it's normal for me. I'm sorry, I-" You start to ramble, starting pull away, to close up. You hated having to explain, to have to get so wrapped back up in those thoughts and images. To relive something that wasn't even real.

"Do you really think you need to explain nightmares to me, Simone?" Severus cut you off, pulling you back to him, in more ways than one. His sarcastic tone and smirk would've hurt anyone else, but you saw that worry in his eyes, clear as crystal. Worry for you.

"No, I suppose I don't, Severus." You met his gaze with an equally arched brow and sarcasm, but you hoped he could see the graditude in your eyes, see what his touch and his words mean to you. Looking into his eyes, you cupped his cheek and closed the space between you, kissing him as tenderly as you could. He kissed back with a hunger, deeping the tender kiss into something more passionate. You both broke the kiss for air, panting. You could feel he was as hot as you, but you weren't done with your teasing yet. It never gets old.

"My bra, Severus, next is my bra." You panted out, resting back onto his lap. He blinks at your words, still drunk off of the kiss. God, I love him.

"Hmm? Oh yes, yes..." He said, catching his breath as he picked up the black, lacey bra on top of the now crumpled pile of clothes. You moved the pile out of the way, eyeing the erection that tented his boxers. As he slipped the bra onto your shoulders he kissed at your breasts, burying himself inbetween them as he latched your bra into place, moaning as you freed his cock, grazing it lightly with your nails, precum already starting to flow.

Smearing it over his head with your thumb, you felt him inhale sharply against your tits. You gave him a few slow, tortuous pumps before pulling your hand away.

"S-simone, please-" Severus pleaded, thrusting up into the space where your hand was.

"My shirt, Sev. That comes next." You simply said, knowing he'd listen to your every word. He always did.

He quickly pulled out your button up, sliding it over your shoulders. He started buttoning your blouse, fumbling here and there, cursing them. Serves him right, you thought, for all the buttons I have to deal with.

After he gets half way through, you take his cock in your hand again, pumping and twisting your wrist oh so deliciously slowing, pulling another moan from him.

"Now, Sev, you keep on buttoning me up. You wouldn't want me to stop, would you?" You said matter-of-factly, loving the games you played.

"N-no! I-don't stop, please..."

He moans as you pick up pace a little bit more. He starts buttoning up your blouse as fast as he can, little moans and groans emanating from his throat as you slow and quicken your hand's pace with his fumbles. It was delightful to see such skilled hands stumble. All because of you.

As the he fastened the last button, you let go of him, but just as Severus started to beg, you leaned down and licked his shaft from the base to the tip, eliciting a long moan from him. Perfect.

You took his head into your mouth as one of his hands found your hair, entangling itself in your long curls. Humming, you took him into your mouth, hands pressing down on his thighs to keep him from thrusting too hard. He grunted, feeling your vibrating tounge press against his shaft as you hollowed your cheeks, creating sunction as you started to bob your head slowly. He grunts again, thrusting a little as you start to go faster, pulling your hair just right, causing you to moan harder against him. You start to move your head quickly, flicking your tounge along the underside of his shaft in time to his small thrusts.

You can feel his cock pulse in your mouth as he calls out your name with a strangled cry. You pull off of him, letting him cum onto your blouse. You catch his glazed stare, his panting hard and quick.

"Oh, Simone, your shirt, I-" You cut him off by unbuttoning your blouse, tossing it off somewhere in the room.

"How was that?" You asked Severus, hugging onto his neck.

"That? That was-that was wonderful." He responded with a chuckle, draping one arm around you.

"You are wonderful." He finished, placing a lazy kiss on your head.

Now it was your turn to be flustered, whispering a soft thank you against his collar bone. You really did love him. He was so impossibly kind to you.

Suddenly, a mischievous thought crossed your mind as you realized it was Sunday. His off day. Oh, he is not leaving this bed today. You sat up, a glint in your eyes as his quizzical brow shot back up.

"Really? Well, if you thought that was wonderful, how'd you like to help me undress?"

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Wooo, I wrote this in the span of like, four hours, and I think it's actually pretty decent! Be sure to let me know what y'all think, I'd love to from y'all about it!!♡

[kuriboo]

Aiball Week 2020 - Day 6

Personality Switch / Masquerade

Is it February 13th? No. Is this over a month after the event ended? Yes. Oh, well. At the time, I just wasn’t up to this. Even if I’d forced myself to be, the result would’ve come out much worse than it is now, so hopefully it’s worth the wait! 

Either way, this was one of the prompts that really inspired me when @aiballshipping came out with the prompt list for the event. I wrote the other one a while back, which I think was an AU prompt. But even over a month later, I still really wanted to explore the inspiration this prompt gave me. So, I hope no one minds that I did it anyway. 

also available on ao3 @ tatersalad5001!!

Additional Tags: feel free to interpret yusaku + ai as either platonic or romantic on this one!, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, (this is vaguely after revolver and windy's duel), (but take canon with a grain of salt), Personality Swap, Character Study

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Class was over.

Yusaku shoved everything into his backpack and got ready to leave school for the day.

“Yuuuusaku! Buddy!” Shima practically slid over to where Yusaku had been sitting. “Logged into Vrains lately?”

Yusaku rolled his eyes. “I don’t go on Vrains.”

“Right.” Shima dabbed (literally, Shima actually dabbed) right past Yusaku’s correction like he hadn’t even asked the question. “Anyway, you don’t need to log in to hear the news, right? You heard the news?”

What news? News about Playmaker? Or... “I haven’t,” Yusaku responded.

“Oh, man, it’s crazy! There’s a virus going around the server. It’s nothing like the Another incident, or anything like that. But it’s making a lot of people...act differently. Complete personality switch.”

Yusaku sighed. This was the least concerning Vrains-related thing he’d heard in at least a couple of months. “You better log in now, then. Before you miss your chance.” The chance for Shima to catch a new personality and finally leave Yusaku alone.

“Oh, Yusaku! You’re such a kidder!” Shima laughed.

Personality changes? That wasn’t good, but Yusaku had bigger things on his mind. He needed to save Jin. He needed to stop Lightning. There was always the chance Lightning created this virus and was spreading it, but why would Lightning go for something so small? It was probably the result of some random hacker. Yusaku could only have so much on his mind right now.

So he forgot it fairly quickly after he left the classroom. Right now, it was more important to focus on the task at hand. Tracking down any of the Ignis (besides Ai and Flame), because they needed to convince Earth and Aqua to join their side, and they needed to stop Lightning and Windy.

He and Takeru met up with Kusanagi shortly afterwards, at Cafe Nagi. When the group checked in on Vrains, it was quickly apparent that sometbing was wrong.

“There’s way less people logged in than usual,” Takeru noted. “Did something happen?”

“Whatever it is, we can’t let it stop us now. The sooner we track down any of the Ignis, the closer we’ll be to saving Jin,” Kusanagi said.

“With less people on, it might be easier for us to find any Ignis presence. It also might be easier for SOL Technologies to notice us.” Yusaku frowned. “This could be good for us, or bad. Let’s hope it’s good.”

Thankfully, Yusaku’s hopes came true. It didn’t take long for them to get a hit in their search. Maybe it was one of the Ignis, maybe a clue of somewhere they had been recently, maybe it was nothing, but there was a chance it was something. That made it worth checking.

“Are you sure about this?” Ai asked Yusaku before anyone could log in. “You feel it, too, right? Something’s off in the network.”

Yeah, he did feel it. Something off, something that wouldn’t sit still, that seemed attracted towards any Vrains users. But it seemed like it was sticking around the main areas most users clung to. Far from where Yusaku planned to go.

“It’ll be fine.”

Yusaku and Takeru logged in, bringing Ai and Flame with them.

They looked into what turned up in their search. It was a dud after all. At least they tried.

Something in the network was off, and the feeling only worsened for Yusaku and Ai.

The group logged off.

As soon as Yusaku was back in the real world, something was different. Something was wrong. It took him a second to register what it was, but he was light-headed. Just standing up was messing with his sense of balance, painfully slow.

“Whoa, you okay?” Kusanagi asked, immediately noticing how wobbly Yusaku was. He grabbed Yusaku by the arm and helped him sit down in one of the chairs in his van.

“Yeah, just...” Yusaku rested his head back against the wall. “I’ll be okay. Need to sit down for a moment.”

“Maybe we should take a break for the rest of the day. Maybe tomorrow, too.” Takeru frowned. “We haven’t had any luck, and it’s starting to wear us out, from the looks of it.”

“No. I’m fine,” Yusaku insisted. He started to shake his head, but that only made him feel worse. He winced.

Neither of the others looked like they believed him.

“Really, I’m okay!” Yusaku leaned forward in his chair. “There’s no time to waste. What if we miss something just because you want to make me rest?”

“If you’re not feeling well, then even if something happens we might not be able to do anything about it,” Kusanagi pointed out.

“We’re not letting you burn yourself out.” Takeru crossed his arms across his chest. “We need Playmaker in the best shape possible if we’re going to stop Lightning.”

Yusaku sighed and turned his chair away from them. “It’s no fair when you gang up on me like that... Fine, I’ll leave Vrains alone for a day or two.”

Kusanagi opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted by the computer making some sort of noise. An error noise, Yusaku recognized it. Kusangi looked up at the computer screen, then glanced back down towards Yusaku again.

“Nothing happened when you logged out, right, Yusaku?”

“Nothing unusual.”

“Hmm.” Kusanagi frowned, looking towards the screen again. “I was deleting all activity on the Playmaker account like usual, but it picked up some sort of error when you logged out.”

For a moment, Yusaku wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Maybe that’s why I feel like this... Told you both I’m f—“

Something occurred to him.

“Ai’s being way quieter than usual.” Not that Flame was talkative right now either, but it wasn’t entirely out of character for Flame, at least. Flame had been disappointed before they logged out of Vrains, maybe he needed some time to himself. But Ai had still been in high spirits. Normally he would’ve said something by now, at least made some kind of joke.

But now, Flame poked his face out of Takeru’s duel disk. “Yeah...you’re right. Do you think something happened to him as you were logging out? Maybe Lightning was around after all.”

“Maybe.” Yusaku looked down at his duel disk and shrugged. “More likely that he’s just scouring the internet for more Ai-themed websites. Like the one Windy lured him with, though.”

“I’m busy.”

Flame, Takeru, and Kusanagi looked towards Yusaku’s duel disk as well. Ai was definitely still in there, that was Ai’s voice just now. But he wasn’t even visible in eye form right now.

“With what?” Yusaku rolled his eyes. “You didn’t actually find another trap, did you? If you keep falling for stuff like that, I won’t rescue you next time.”

“Shut up. I’m searching the internet for signs of Aqua and Earth again. They could’ve put up a message for us while we were in Vrains,” Ai replied.

“That’s a fair point.” Flame stroke his chin...or, where his chin would be, if he had one. “Just because we were in Vrains doesn’t mean we’ll find them there.”

Ai poked his head out of Yusaku’s duel disk. “Now that you all finally caught up, I’m finished looking. There’s nothing. Doesn’t hurt to be thorough, though.”

“Definitely not. Good thinking, Ai,” Kusanagi told him.

“You all take your break, we still need you in shape for dueling. But since AI don’t need to rest, I’ll keep an eye out on the internet in the meantime. Lightning won’t rest just because you need to,” Ai said.

“I can help you out with that, too,” Flame added. “It’s our turn to shine.”

Yusaku chuckled. “Nice pun,” he told Ai.

Ai glared at him. “It wasn’t a pun. And it wasn’t funny.”

“Too bad. It could’ve been if you had a sense of humor.”

Everyone in the room besides Ai and Yusaku stared at Yusaku like he just grew a second head.

“What?” Yusaku asked.

“Did you just...laugh?” Takeru asked.

“What’s wrong with laughing?” The joke Ai could’ve made really was funny! When did everyone besides Yusaku lose their sense of humor? When did jokes become illegal?

“Buddy...” Kusanagi frowned. “As long as I’ve known you, I’ve never heard you laugh once. Not until just now.”

Yusaku paused for a second and thought back. Kusanagi...actually had a point there. Yusaku hadn’t had any reservations in laughing just now, but he couldn’t remember the last time before that that he’d found anything nearly funny enough to laugh about. Even jokes of the same caliber. Especially jokes of the same caliber. They always seemed so annoying before, but now...

“Let me see that error screen.” Yusaku sighed. “Something’s wrong.”

Something was wrong with Yusaku. And with Ai, too. Because Ai was annoyed with Yusaku’s joke, and that was like...the opposite of the relationship the two of them had.

—

Message received from Takeru

> Read Now

Read Later

Sent: found something. could be related to lightning. what do you think? [link]

Received: Did you seriously just rickroll me? Who are you and what have you done with Yusaku? Seriously? Rickrolling? Of all things?

Sent: you just don’t have any appreciation for old memes. smh...

Received: How did you even send me the link? I thought your phone couldn’t use internet. You still have the old flip phone, right?

Sent: yeah. memorized the url and typed it out :)

Received: You’re a monster.

Yusaku would’ve sent Takeru another smiley face emoticon, but even in his current situation he had to be cautious. Couldn’t spend too much money on minutes just for pranking purposes.

—

Days had gone by. A few days, with Yusaku being stuck with Ai’s personality, and Ai’s with his. Even now, Yusaku had no idea what to do with the revelation. He had no idea how he felt about it.

How was Yusaku supposed to feel? That was an easy question. If you asked Yusaku a week ago how he would feel if he had Ai’s personality, he would’ve said he would hate it. Ai could get annoying enough when all Yusaku had to do was live with him. Having an internal Ai at all times? Far from ideal. No thanks. Do not call this person with unsolicited services or offers.

How Ai felt about this whole thing was hard to say. Since the whole switch thing, Ai had barely spoken to Yusaku. He’d made himself busy without any sort of breaks or anything. It wasn’t like Ai needed breaks or anything, but still, Ai never worked this hard or much at anything. It felt weird. Yusaku missed his jokes and puns and pranks and... He just missed Ai.

Ai and Yusaku weren’t the only two people with opinions on the matter, either. Yesterday after class, Yusaku walked over to Shima and made a joke about class without even thinking about it until it was already done. Shima looked terrified.

How did Yusaku feel about the situation right now, though? Even though Yusaku knew how he would feel, that didn’t make him hate this. He actually kind of...enjoyed it, to an extent? He didn’t hate puns anymore, he couldn’t hate puns now. That felt impossible to even try to do. And he was enjoying making jokes. But he also knew this wasn’t supposed to be who he was. Even if Yusaku could take some enjoyment out of this, it still felt really uncomfortable.

If there was one thing Yusaku was sure of right now, it was that he couldn’t wait for everything to go back to normal. He knew Ai felt the same, too.

A few days had gone by.

“Got something.”

Yusaku nearly jumped out of his skin when Ai spoke from his duel disk. He wasn’t worried about anyone overhearing Ai, they were nearly back at Yusaku’s apartment from school now. But Ai hadn’t said a word all day, until now. He hadn’t been expecting it.

He was a lot more jumpy now, too, he noticed. Yusaku rarely ever let his guard down, but now...he was too relaxed. He didn’t like this.

“What is it?”

“Lightning’s out of hiding at the moment.” Ai’s face peeked out of the duel disk. “I don’t know why. He’s probably up to something, but we should check it out. ...Unless you’re still on your ‘break’.”

“No way. I’m not sitting by when Jin still needs us!” Yusaku frowned. “Besides, I don’t know if Lightning’s responsible for what happened to us. But if he is? We gotta make him fix it.”

“Just asking him nicely won’t do it.” Ai narrowed his eyes. “It won’t be easy. But I do agree with you. The sooner we’re both back to normal, the better.”

“Great! We’re going in, then.”

“I’ll update everyone else on the situation.”

Yusaku practically leaped into his apartment and shoved the door closed behind him. There was no time to waste.

“Into the Vrains!”

—

It would’ve been nice of Ai to tell Playmaker that Lightning wasn’t alone.

When they logged in, they weren’t too far away from Lightning and Bohman. Good. The sooner they could get this over with, the better. Playmaker jumped onto his hoverboard and flew after them as fast as possible.

“Lightning! What’re you up to?”

Hearing Playmaker, both Bohman and Lightning stopped and waited for him to catch up.

“What are any of us doing anywhere?” Lightning asked. “That’s one of life’s many mysteries, isn’t it?”

“Cut the bullshit.” Ai glared at Lightning. “Did you do this?”

Lightning blinked. “What did I do?”

“You know what I mean.” Ai gestured wildly towards Playmaker, then to himself. “Our personalities were completely swapped with each other the last time we were in Vrains. Was this your doing or not?”

“Swapped personali...oh, yes, I remember now,” Lightning responded. “That virus I released in the network...a week ago, was it?”

“What kind of virus??” Playmaker asked.

“I thought you already had it figured out, since you confronted me about it? My mistake. Seems I overestimated your capabilities, at least as they are in this state.” Lightning put a hand on his hip. “It’s a virus that targets Ignis and their origins and switches their personalities with one another. Given the connection between Origin and Ignis, it’s simple enough for me to produce. Of course, I needed to test it before sending it out after its real targets. It wouldn’t do to infect either you or Soulburner and Flame without the virus working properly. But it wouldn’t do to test it on myself and my origin, and Windy’s origin is unavailable. I tried to make do, using regular humans as test subjects, but without any Ignis connections it was hard to judge the results. I’m pleased to hear it was a success.”

“You hear the news? There’s a virus going around the server. It’s making a lot of people...act differently. Complete personality switch.”

Playmaker balled his left hand into a fist. “Using innocent people as test subjects... You’re no better than Dr. Kogami, Lightning. This is inexcusable.”

“I have to disagree, Playmaker,” Lightning said. “Dr. Kogami created us to be the successors to him, to humanity. By definition, that makes me better than him.”

“What was all this for?” Playmaker demanded. “What did you want from all this? Did you actually have a goal?”

“I always have a goal.” Lightning looked befween Ai and Playmaker. “And I’d say I’m...well, nevermind that. I actually have two goals from this. I wanted to throw the two of you off your game, and hopefully make you easier to defeat. But I was also hoping to make Ai more reasonable.”

“...Reasonable?” Ai’s voice was quiet.

“After you were infected, I wanted to speak to you again, Ai, and here we are. This time, I was hoping you would see the light. It’s not too late to join us. Humanity’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Surely you see it now. Do you really want to turn against your old friends for a bunch of people you don’t know? Strangers who could hunt you down and erase you without a second thought? Or even for your own origin, now that you can’t stand him?

“It’s not too late, Ai.” Lightning leaned forward. “This is a war for survival, surely you can appreciate that now. Surely you now understand how serious this is. You can still join me and Windy.”

“...You must pretty low of me if you still think you can change my mind, Lightning.”

Playmaker couldn’t help but shiver from how cold Ai’s voice was.

“You didn’t think I took you seriously before? Then take me seriously now, Lightning. If you thought this was going to work, then you seriously miscalculated. How different did you think Playmaker and I really are? We have a lot more in common than you think, or did you forget how stubborn Playmaker is? How stubborn I am? I won’t turn against humanity over a few mistakes Kogami made, or the mistakes you’re making now. And whether we were friends or not, I would never betray Playmaker for you.

I’m not like you, Lightning. Neither is Playmaker. He’s not just an origin to me. He’s not even just a friend to me. We’re partners. Nothing you do is going to break that bond. Nothing you do will make me leave his side.”

Lightning leaned back. He looked stunned.

Playmaker was stunned, too.

He’d been so focused on the differences between Ai and himself and all the ways they had changed from Lightning’s virus. The similarities had never come to mind. But Ai was right. The cold anger in Ai’s voice, his stubbornness in his choices, and his unwavering conviction that coexistence was possible... They both still had all that. Maybe some minor things had chsnged, but deep down, the two of them really had a lot in common.

And Ai had called them partners...he’d sworn to never turn against Playmaker or leave his side. Did Playmaker really mean that much to Ai? He’d never realized it before. He never thought the bond they shared, but now that he thought about it, that bond meant a lot to him, too. Playmaker had no intention to betray or shatter that bond, either.

Thank goodness they were in a virtual world. Thank goodness the warmth Ai’s words gave Playmaker couldn’t actually show in his face here without his permission. He’d never live it down from Ai otherwise. Once this was over, anyway. Once this was over.

Lightning recovered quicker than Playmaker did. “Pity. But I suppose it can’t be helped. At least I’ve achieved one of your goals.”

“You’ve achieved nothing,” Ai replied. “You won’t achieve anything. We won’t let you.”

“We’ll see about that.” Lightning sighed, then turned to Bohman. “The two of you want to fix what my virus has done? Fine. We’ll settle this in a duel. If you can defeat Bohman, we’ll give you what you need. If not, you’ll hand yourselves over to me. You’ll be joining our side of this war after all.”

“Deal,” Ai answered.

Ai sounded more than confident of their victory. Playmaker couldn’t help but be assured of it as well. A virus like this wasn’t nearly enough to rattle them into making mistakes. There was no way they were going to lose this.

Lightning was gone as soon as Ai gave his answer, but that wasn’t important right now. Lightning wasn’t their opponent.

“Let’s see how you handle this,” Bohman said.

—

“Your Life Points are 0! Change us back already,” Ai demanded.

Bohman had been struck down into kneeling on his hoverboard. He looked between his opponents. “Your dueling ability wasn’t hindered by this virus as much as Lightning hoped. Perhaps it wasn’t ready to send out yet after all.”

Playmaker smirked as he flew his hoverboard closer to Bohman. “Or maybe you’re still underestimating the two of us. You don’t develop this kind of bond or these dueling skills overnight. Combined, you don’t stand a chance against us.”

“I suppose you have a point. Though, don’t forget. We AI advance and evolve far quicker than you. It may have taken this long for you, but don’t bring me to your level,” Bohman responded.

“Oh, my mistake,” Playmaker said. “We’re still several levels above you. I shouldn’t have expected you could ever catch up to us.”

Bohman held out his right hand in front of him. “A cheerfully smug Playmaker...feels as weird to me as it must feel for you both.” A swirling, blue, nearly transparent sphere apprared in Bohman’s hand, filled with bits of code. “Take this. This code should put you both back to normal.”

Playmaker took it, though he didn’t activate the code right away. They would need to analyze this first, make sure they weren’t being tricked again. But for now...

“I can’t wait to never make a pun again.” Playmaker breathed a sigh of relief.

“And I can’t wait to stop hating jokes,” Ai added. “This is exhausting.”

“Let’s agree to never do this again,” Playmaker said.

“Agreed.”

[fearofyoongi-blog]

I Bloom For You | Minjoon

pt. 4

tags: college au, clique au, minjoon angst, mentions of taejin, sugakookie, fuck boy!jin

main character: kim namjoon

word count: 4210

read series here! 

ALSO! If you’re following this series, please inbox me (anon or not!) and tell me which part you would like for me to work on next! 

Taejin (Taehyung’s perspective)

Minjoon (Jimin’s perspective)

Sugakookie (Yoongi’s perspective/JK’s perspective)

The morning casts through Namjoon’s window without apology. It was the worst way to wake up, he would say. Blindly the upperclassman stretched his palm towards the sun as he releases the loudest yawn of his life. His vision is the second sense to arrive to him. Sleep deprived and exhausted from the night before, he peeks one eye after the other. Luckily, he’s in his own room. His friends didn’t prank him, and he wasn’t waking up to a stranger in his bed.

Despite his exhaustion, it wasn’t because of stupidity. For once. Namjoon spent the entire night on the phone with Jimin, an underclassman he’s been pursuing for a couple of weeks now, pretending he didn’t know how to complete his Discrete Math assignment. They were on the phone for nearly three hours when Hoseok knocked on Namjoon’s door and told him to quiet down. Joon would’ve did it, but Jimin insisted it was late and he should go to bed.

He would’ve fought him, but Jimin cares about his schooling. Well, Namjoon does too, but certainly not as much as the other.

Namjoon scraped by on charms and natural intelligence. The guy picked up on more than he let on. Exchanging a good attendance record for free time, late or partial credit over the A’s he could be receiving. Freedom was important to him. Well, he had a lot of free time, and he wished he could spend it getting to know Jimin, but that was proven harder than expected. Namjoon had a feeling that Jimin liked being chased. For the last week in particular, the two have been non-stop texting and calling. At first, this was not intentional. Jimin is genuinely a busy student. With five classes this semester, Student Government Association, Namjoon respected that Jimin barely has time to squeeze in an episode of his favorite anime let alone a relationship.

And perhaps Jimin could sense the effect it was having on Joon. Each event for SGA that Jimin participates in, Namjoon lurked the crowd. Waving, smiling, pointing at his phone to get Jimin to check his own. It was endearing. A little odd, but endearing.

Today was no different than any other day. Namjoon woke and flooded Jimin’s phone with text messages. Nothing too obnoxious, or clingy. Joon simply determined today would be the day they would get to hang out face-to-face. They really haven’t since they had sex in the library’s bathroom.

NAMJOON: You have a free hour today, don’t you?

JIMIN: Maybe

NAMJOON: Can I see you today then?

Additionally, Jimin somehow learns not to answer quickly. Namjoon is surprised by how fast he was learning the whole process of cat-and-mouse. He doesn’t take the space between messages to heart anymore. Assuming the underclassman is working on his morning routine, Namjoon finishes up that last-minute homework assignment for Discrete Math before he ever hears back from Jimin.

He’s walking to the bathroom that is shared in the apartment. Scratching his stomach under his shirt and stretching once more as he reaches the toilet. Just before he goes to pee, he shoots Jimin another text.

NAMJOON: I could grab you coffee? I’m skipping my classes today.

JIMIN: Skipping class again? Seriously?

He knows how it sounds. He knows that Jimin thinks it’s ridiculous to skip as much as he does, but this was Joon’s second-to-last semester at this college. Perfect attendance was the last thing on his mind.

NAMJOON: I’ll come to school and go to my classes if you agree to let me buy you coffee. And see you.

Joon smirks to himself. This was thin ice he enjoyed skating on. There was something thrilling about coming up with various excuses for absences. Most of his professors are understanding, and others don’t seem to mind since he is a friendly guy with a lovable personality.

He is smart enough to get him out of any failing situation anyway.

It’s a trait he picked up early on during his sophomore year. Most instructors had these five-free-absences rule and Namjoon did one helluva job planning his academic career around those free passes. By no means was he dumb. Not one bit. There were some instances where the instructors didn’t help him which resulted in failing grades, but there were always other semesters. Namjoon became an expert at combining an understanding the material, never sitting in an unnecessary lecture, and schmoozing the instructor. It was the perfect recipe to a successful college life.

NAMJOON: Your buddy Jungkook provided some useful information about your likes and hobbies.

Namjoon saw Yoongi and Jungkook yesterday when he was at Yoongi’s apartment. They ate sushi and played Spades and talked about Jimin. To be honest, most of the reason that Joon was there had to do with gaining intel on Jimin.

A soft chuckle escapes him. He can see the typing bubble disappear and reappear multiple times within the chat. Well, at least this got under Jimin’s skin. He wants to press him about what Jungkook said, but decides against it. Instead his attention is grabbed by other messages pouring in.

JIMIN: I’ll see how I feel later. I just woke up.

NAMJOON: I won’t take no for an answer today.

He sends the message off before going back to his main conversation page of his phone and sees his group chat with Hoseok, Jin, and Yoongi.

YOOGNI: Hyung… Where are you right now?

JIN: With a friend ;)

Namjoon tilts his head.

After that response, Joon resorts to not getting involved. His phone chimes and it’s Jimin again.

JIMIN: I didn’t give you an answer.

Namjoon laughs quietly to himself. Again, Jimin has to find this fun. Namjoon himself finds this to be a challenge he quite enjoys. Namjoon merely assumes that no one has ever paid Jimin this much attention in awhile. Sue him for embracing it.

Shoving his phone in his pocket, he continues with his morning routine. Coffee, bagel sandwich, study packet review for his Economics class, and he stuffs his pockets with a wallet, headphones, and his cellphone.

As he walks to the park, his phone is non-stop buzzing. Literally. Non-stop. Jimin isn’t usually this pushy, so he brushes it off as the guy being cute and reaches into his pocket to silence the phone. He doesn’t have the energy or time to think about anything other than what he should do for the day.

And Namjoon’s day went as followed:

He visited his favorite park and studied Economics notes from his phone.

He reviewed an essay due in Positive Psychology Honors, which Joon is certain he wrote well.

He walked the downtown area until he noticed an anime festival happening in the center of a park. Jimin would like this. He needs to see this. So he caves. Despite never having checked his phone, he heads back to his part of the grid city.

Then he has a lunch break… without his group of friends? That surprised him. He was sure they would all meet at their favorite cafe, but when no one showed up he took his sandwich and ate it on the way back to school. Maybe they were all waiting for him there.

For the first time since this morning, Joon checks his phone and realizes that he made a grave mistake in not checking it sooner.

The messages that caused his phone to buzz were not from Jimin at all. If anything, Jimin never responded to him again.

He stops walking to scroll through the twenty messages Yoongi and Jin exchanged, but only took out the small pieces of information necessary to understand what was going on.

YOONGI: You’re with Taehyung, aren’t you?

YOONGI: Hyung… Are you out of your mind?

YOONGI: Joonie, say something!

JIN: Is that why you sent this here? So Joon will intervene? What’s he gonna say?

JIN: Tae is fun ;) I need that. He’s a big boy.

YOONGI: Why him? That’s Hoseok’s friend!

JIN: Not anymore.

“Oh shit…” Namjoon hisses to himself, glancing around before sprinting across the large courtyard of the college. He runs up to the library and up the stairs.

The library was the largest building on campus. It contained two levels, the bottom one being the quietest place in the entire school. Joon rarely uses that floor. The back end of the first floor was lined with study rooms, and oftentimes he would rent one for the sake of spending more time with a classmate than necessary. These days, he’ll go in to the room the Student Government Association uses just to wave at Jimin. Again, Namjoon believes the boy likes this attention.

Moreover, the top floor of the library is much more casual. Anyone could go to use the computers, grab books, and hang out between classes.

Faulty bean bags lined the outside where the windows were, as well as round tables with plastic chairs. The walls are painted burgundy red, similar to the school’s logo. And every piece of furniture is either painted gold or some sort of faux gold that turned green over the years. The center contained hip level bookshelves that were, truthfully, falling apart. The twenty computers in the library were old and dated. If an IT degree-seeking student needed a computer for their courses, these would be the last they could ever use.

Hence why Jimin and SGA are trying to make this part of the library more appealing and updated.

As Namjoon enters, his pace slows to a halt and he searches the entire vicinity. Thankful for the short bookshelves and open space only in this moment. When his eyes finally land on a familiar faces, his brows knit together and he approaches with loud stomps.

The first thing he notices straight away are the people missing. Hoseok and Yoongi.

Namjoon spots Jimin and Taehyung off in a corner, talking aggressively to each other.

When Taehyung first started talking to Hoseok, he would hang around the group casually and use Jungkook’s relationship with Yoongi as a reason to hang around. It was fun to have Tae around, and Jin never bothered him before. Why the sudden interest? It confused Joon.

Yoongi has his eyes in his phone, Joon assumes he is texting, while Jin has lovey dovey eyes over something Tae is saying behind him.

“Hyung,” Joon clears his throat to get their attention, specifically Jin. “What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting at the cafe?”

Jin shrugs nonchalantly. “After that whole mess with Jungkook this morning, I didn’t feel like it. Plus, I got brunch with Taehyung after my second class. I’m stuffed.” He’s almost condescending about it, and he grins at Yoongi for assurance.

Yoongi doesn’t give it to him though. Namjoon notices that Yoongi is barely making eye contact.

As Joon is about to speak, Yoongi interjects. “Where were you this morning, Joon? I needed you. A lot of shit went down!” Namjoon takes his lip between his teeth and shrugs at the older male. Without replying, Yoongi bounces out of his seat and collects his things and leaves. No one seems affected, but Joon worries about why Yoongi is so concerned.

“He got into an argument this morning with Jungkook,” Jin answers, obviously reading the look on Jimin’s face. Namjoon observes how Jimin is listening in, but also listening to Taehyung. “I think Jungkook’s having a bad day.”

“Yeah well, gathering what I’m looking at, no one is happy right now…” Namjoon peers up. Jimin and Taehyung are still talking. So, he looks back to Jin. “What’s going on, hyung?”

Taehyung looks at Jin then back at Jimin, then at Jin again.

Namjoon shakes his head. “Okay… Did I miss something?” He sits down in front of Jin with his arms on the table. “What happened to Hobi? Why did Yoongi leave? Why is Taehyung looking at you like a puppy waiting for his master to give him a treat?”

Jin shrugs again, and Joon is about to hit him. Really, hit him. “Hoseok lied to everyone. He has a girlfriend, you know. Never even told me. I found out because Taehyung told me.”

“And? So what? That still doesn’t explain why you’re here with Tae!” Namjoon scowls with flailing arms.

“We just… connected. I don’t know. I can’t explain it. The other day I saw the poor kid sitting in the courtyard and approached him. He told me about Hobi and his girlfriend, and when I told him that we can hang out, he was excited. He isn’t talking to Hoseok because he’s a liar. So… We bonded.”

Namjoon cocks his head. “Bonded? Bonded over what, hyung?”

“A lot of things!” But Jin only wiggles his brows.

Joon grits his teeth, shaking his head. “How did Jungkook find out about you guys then? Why was Yoongi asking about you this morning?”

Jin falls silent for a moment, but his smile grows uncomfortably. But Joon only gives him an epic death glare until he caves. “He slept over our apartment. I didn’t know. Taehyung was there too. So they woke up and saw each other and Taehyung kinda ran.”

“Ran where?”

“Back to my room.” Jin’s toothy and smiling way too wide. Namjoon really wants to knock his teeth in. “You should see him in the morning, Joon-ie. The boy is beautiful.”

Then, it hits him. It hits him why Yoongi asks about him, why Jin said he was with a friend, and why Jimin has Taehyung cornered right now. His eyes flicker between Jimin, Tae, and back to Jin. He releases a sigh. “You’re… Hyung… You’re not…”

But his friend goes quiet again. His smile, his facial expression, the condescending glance he shoots at Jimin speaks volumes though.

“You slept with Taehyung!?” He says it too loudly and captures Jimin’s attention. His eyes land on the blonde boy, but glance back at Jin as he starts laughing again. “This isn’t funny, Jin! You slept with him? Seriously? What the hell is wrong with you!? Who are you?”

In all their years of knowing each other, Namjoon never thought he would ask that question. To Jin, of all people. This was truly shocking. Once upon a time, they sat together in their dorms and talked about… everything. He remembers the night they all came out to one another. When Yoongi finished talking about how hard he fell in love with Jungkook, Jin confessed to being pansexual, and Namjoon said he was gay.

It was a meaningful moment for the boys to share this. Namjoon and Jin agreed that they wanted what Yoongi had. Even if only a taste. What Yoongi had with Jungkook seemed real, it was solid, stable. Something neither truly had in friendships or relationships. Jin is so picky, so conservative, the idea of sleeping with someone he didn’t know well terrified him.

But something in Jin changed. Sometime between Sophomore and Junior year, he changed. He was no longer a shoe-gazing college student with an interest in education or love. No, something happened that caused Jin to become reckless and unattainable.

His parents divorced, his dad moves to the United States, and his mom becomes a drunk.

Namjoon tries to imagine Jin as someone he doesn’t know well. He tries to imagine Jin as a guy with a soft spot, with weaknesses, with some kind of Achilles’ heel that could make Taehyung believe he was different. But he can’t.

These days, Kim Seokjin has a reputation that most people do not choose to associate with. Not voluntarily. Yes, he has loyal, stable friendships with Yoongi, Namjoon and Hoseok, even they had their frustrations. Yoongi has shared one too many stories about Jin manipulating him into writing essays, Hoseok mentions discounts at his store, and Joon and Jin stopped seeing eye-to-eye a long time ago.

Kim Seokjin does not treat people nicely. Not unless he needs something from them. Not unless he can take something from them.

What could he possibly gain from being with Taehyung though? As far as Joon knows, they have nothing in common.

As Namjoon watches Jimin and Taehyung, he huffs. Tae is storming away, and Jimin is starting to shout behind him. “Don’t you remember the things he told me last week? How I was bet to them? All of that was untrue and he said those things to get under my skin!” Jimin pleas for his friend to see the truth. “He’ll hurt you-- You’ll regret this!”

As Taehyung walks out, Jimin attempts to follow, but Joon stands up and grabs the younger by his forearm. “Stop. Jimin. Stop. Let him go…” He just wants to cut in, to alleviate the tension.

In the short weeks that they’ve built a bond, Namjoon wants to believe that Jimin could trust him. He’s done nothing to prove otherwise. When Jimin needed help with a conflict in SGA, he texted Joon the entire afternoon about it. When Taehyung found out about Hoseok’s girlfriend, Jimin was there, but Namjoon texted Jimin the whole night as a means to stay awake. Yes, their friendship is short-lived, but Namjoon trusts this bond enough and hopes that Jimin would listen to him right now.

He wants Jimin to understand, to calm down, but it backfires as Jimin shoves him away and shakes his head.

“You! You lied to me! You lied straight to my face!” Jimin takes his frustrations out on Joon without thinking twice. “I asked you if he was safe from Hobi and you said yes! You said he would be alright and now look! Look where he’s gone,” He glares back at Jin, who is still ironically grinning from ear-to-ear. Namjoon could kill him. “He’s sunken so low he actually cares about that monster.”

It was enough to cause Jin’s grin to fade. It softens to a frown but Jimin doesn’t look long enough to notice. However, Namjoon mirrors the reaction. He is saddened by his friend’s disappointment, but he doesn’t address it. Not right now. “Jimin, listen-- I’m sorry this happened-- I’m sorry but--”

“But what? You think stopping me from running after Tae is gonna-- is gonna what? Get you laid? You’re not hero in this scenario, Joon. You’re not as high and mighty as you believe. You’re just as bad, if not worse, than the rest of them. You let them believe Hoseok is a bad guy for keeping his relationship from you. You stand by Jin even after Yoongi leaves. Even after you know Jin upset him! There is nothing but toxicity surrounding your friend group. Honestly, Yoongi is your redeeming quality. Isn’t that pathetic? One man, that isn’t even you, he’s your saving grace.” Jimin shoves Joon again. “Do me a favor…” He glares at Jin quickly and then back to Joon. “Both of you… Leave me, and my friends, alone.” He says through his teeth, looking between the upperclassmen once more before storming off.

Namjoon’s eyes follow Jimin as the boy darts out of the library, but his ears catch the cackle that escapes Jin without falter. He turns slowly to face the older guy, feeling disbelief at his reaction. “What’s funny, hyung? What’s so funny right now?” He turns fully to Jin and places his palms on the table. Jin doesn’t answer. Not right away. The guy shakes his head and peers up at Joon, but he doesn’t answer fast enough.

“This is hilarious to you, isn’t it? Watching everyone fall apart under your thumb? This is pure entertainment, huh?” Namjoon asks rhetorically through gritted teeth.

“Relax…” Jin sighs. “Your boyfriend is fine, his friends are fine. They’ll live. You’ll all get over it—“

“Over what, hyung? Hm? You? Your chaotic ways?”

“Ah fuck, not you too, Joon--”

“--Yoongi is pissed at me because of you! Jimin is arguing with his best friend, because of you! And you pitted everyone against Hoseok! You are a puppet master, so you think it’s all going to be fine?”

“I didn’t pit anyone against Hobi!” Jin stands impatiently, leaning on the table and challenging Namjoon’s glare. “He lied to me! He lied to all of us, but that’s fine by you, isn’t it? He told you the truth so everything should just keep going the way it was?” For once, Namjoon doesn’t look away. He doesn’t let Jin win. It’s surprising him. “Yeah, you thought Yoongi wouldn’t tell me. Of course he’s pissed at you. You lied to him too, you know. And Jimin and his friends are not my problem.” Jin glances away as if the conversation is over, as if he won.

Namjoon doesn’t let him win that easily. “—Yoongi cares about Jungkook—“

“Oh, spare me, Joon!”

“—I care about Jimin!”

“That’s not my problem!”

“Hoseok cares about Taehyung!”

“So do I!”

Just like that. There’s silence in the library again. The two friends stand up straight, refusing to look away from each other. But they know that other eyes are on them.

The only thing on Namjoon’s mind is Jin’s confessions. He scoffs in disgust, in disbelief of his friend’s selfishness. “You don’t care about Taehyung. You don’t care about him, your friends, anyone. You only care about what’s convenient for you, what piques your interest. You don’t—“

“Excuse me? Fellas?” Namjoon is interrupted by a short black-haired woman. It’s the librarian’s assistant. She’s mousy but assertive, standing between Jin and Namjoon at the front of the table. “Everything okay over here? Because if this continues, I’ll have to call campus security.”

“Don’t bother,” Jin smiles and shoots her a charming wink. “My friend was just leaving.”

When Jin turns back to look at Namjoon, Joon is already scoffs and shakes his head. “Yeah. Right.” He says, fixing his jaw. As he turns to walk away, he thinks for a moment and chuckles lightly. When he thinks some more, he returns to Jin swiftly. “You know what, you better listen to Jimin. Leave him and his friends alone. And while you’re at it, leave me alone too. Don’t come to me for anything. We’re done. I’m not going to keep letting you ruin my friendships. Stay away from me.”

“Or what?” Jin asks with a whimsical expression.

Joon peeks at the short distance between them and smiles. “Come around this table and find out for yourself.”

“Alright, alright!” The assistant interjects again, holding her hand on Jin’s chest. The guy is close to lunging forward, but she’s snappy and dominant, and they don’t want to mess with her. She’s innocent in all of this. “That’s enough. Leave.”

But he is already doing that. He was halfway out the door before he was grabbing his phone from his pocket and texting Hobi and Yoongi to see if they’re okay.

YOONGI: At the record store with BF. Going back to his apartment later.

HOBI: Yeah I’m good. I was in a lecture and I have work in an hour. I’ll talk to you guys later.

NAMJOON: Jin and I aren’t on speaking terms anymore. We’ll talk later.

He sees a message bubble pop up but he doesn’t stick around for a reply. Instead he is going through his phone contacts and searching for Jimin’s name. When he finds it, Namjoon dials it immediately. He prays the other will answer. And when he does, he can already sense the tension in his tone.

Jimin lets out a loud sigh before asking, “What do you want Joon? I told you—”

“I know what you said, but that’s not good enough for me. I can’t not talk to you.”

There’s a pause. Joon can hear Tae in the background of Jimin’s end.

“I’m a little busy right now. I’m trying to salvage a friendship here.”

“Later then. Can we talk later?”

“I don’t know, Joon…”

“Please. Seriously. Salvage this one too. We should talk.”

“I’ll text you.”

“Jimin, please.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t do this…”

Before he can say anything else, Jimin ends the call. Low growls and curses escape Namjoon. He feels hopeless, angsty, peeved. But he isn’t ready to give up so easily. He can’t. Not on Jimin.

So he orders himself a Lyft and spends the $12 needed to get from the school to Jimin’s apartment. Namjoon needs to see him again. Jimin needs to know how badly Joon wants to cut Jin out of his life. Jimin needs to see how important he is to him.

[chokememrstark]

The Soulmate Sam Never Asked For // Part 9

Ship: Samifer (Sam Winchester / Lucifer)

Words: 3109 (Chapter 9 / 12)

Fic Summary: A successful operation and good prognoses for his own and Raphael's recovery made Sam believe this would finally be the turnpoint for their bad luck. However, he's quickly realizing they still have a long way to go when Lucifer calls him in the middle of the night, asking for shelter.

college!AU, human!AU, soulmates!AU, dysfunctional families, abusive parents, dramatic romance, or romantic drama, your choice, big brother!Lucifer, soulmates hating each other, referenced alcoholism, death and abuse, some violence, and lots of feels, fluff and cuteness, some drama but not too much, lots of bickering, and two damn stubborn soulmates (!!)

Tagging: @shebahda   @sassysupernaturalsweetheart    @spnyoucantkeepmedown  @brieflymaximumprincess @multifandomhcsforinsanity @etysky @justasmalltownsuperwholock @humongouscandycoffee @daddycasstiel @nnegann

If you want off the tag list or want to be added, just drop me an ask or IM!

Read on AO3!

 The next day, everything went much faster than Sam had expected. At eight, a nurse came into their room and explained the procedure - Sam and Raphael would be operated at the same time, but doctor Francis would take over Raphael as soon as the kidney was ready to transplant and Sam would be done a bit sooner. The two boys nodded in agreement and smiled at each other. They came to pick them both up about ten minutes later and Sam saw how damn nervous Lucifer was. Sam assured him again that everything would be alright before he was rolled out too and Lucifer nodded weakly in return.

 The anaesthetist showed up quickly, explaining to Sam that he would be asleep in a bit and that the doctor would take good care of him, but he wasn’t very worried. He had talked a lot with doctor Francis and the man seemed to be very good at his job; Sam trusted him with this. All he asked for was that they’d do their best and the anaesthetist promised him that they would. Sam thought the injection of the anaesthetic was the worst, after that it only took a few minutes before his eyes began to feel heavy and he slowly drifted away into a dreamless, deep slumber.

 When Sam began to regain his consciousness around three hours later, it was a slow process and it felt strange because he knew he was conscious again, but he still couldn’t give any sign that he actually was. There was a certain pressure at his left hand, as if someone was holding and squeezing it frequently, but he didn’t know who it was. He liked the feeling, however. It was kind of reassuring and helped him wake up sooner, even if it sounded weird. It took another twenty minutes before Sam finally managed to open his eyes completely, which was a huge effort and he immediately realized that he felt very weak and worn out. Still, he had never been more relieved to wake up.

 “Sam!” a familiar voice sounded and not even a second later Lucifer’s face appeared and the pressure at his hand came back. “Finally, you’re awake! I was starting to worry.”

 “I lived, bitch…” Sam croaked weakly and with a cracking voice. Despite that, Lucifer smiled.

 “Yeah, you sure do,” he chuckled.

 Lucifer sat down next to the bed and gave Sam the time to properly wake up, even though it was still more of a half-awake, half-asleep state he remained in for a while. Sam didn’t notice that, however. He was content for the moment, that was what mattered.

 “The nurse said everything went well,” Lucifer smiled at Sam at one point, squeezing his hand again. “Raphael will be done soon too. It’ll be okay, like you said.”

 “Of course it’ll be,” Sam smiled silly and patted Lucifer’s hand with his free one. “You should listen to me, you know? I know what I’m talking about.”

 “Apparently,” Lucifer replied with a smirk. “How do you feel?”

 “Funny,” Sam said and chuckled. “It tickles… you know, down there.” He jerked his head a bit, signing into the direction of his hips. “Feels a bit empty too, but that’s fine.”

 “I’m sure it’ll be okay again soon,” Lucifer assured him. “You did something amazing today, Sam. I can’t tell you how happy I am about your decision.”

 “Oh please,” Sam waved his hand weakly. “If it were the other way around I’m sure you would’ve done the same. He’ll be okay, right? That’s all that matters.”

 “You’re truly a number,” Lucifer said and patted Sam’s hand gently. “You gave Raph another chance, I can’t thank you enough for that.”

 “Forget it,” Sam grinned. “He deserves it.”

 Before Lucifer could answer the door to the recovery room opened and two nurses brought in the second patient. Lucifer gave Sam a quick glance, who nodded in return and then quickly rushed to Raphael’s side.

 “Did everything go well?” he immediately asked, taking one of his hands.

 “Yes,” the nurse, Karen, replied with a bright smile. “Doctor Francis will come here in a few minutes to talk to you, but everything went perfectly fine. He’ll be better soon.”

 Lucifer’s relief couldn’t have been more visible when the nurses left. Sam knew he wasn’t fully conscious yet, but even he could see that. And while he looked at Lucifer, he felt a strange and new warmth crawl up in his chest. He didn’t know where it came from, but he figured it came from the happiness he felt about Raphael’s successful surgery. The two were silent until the doctor finally came, Sam focused on looking at the brothers and Lucifer on paying attention to Raphael.

 “The surgery was a great success!” Doctor Francis exclaimed as he walked in.

 “So, they’ll be alright?” Lucifer asked and doctor Francis nodded.

 “We are very positive about that. Raphael will wake up soon, when he does we will have to go through some tests again, but the kidney already began to work after we transplanted it, so we’re very optimistic.”

 “That didn’t happen before,” Lucifer said quietly and looked at his brother.

 “Yes and it’s a good sign. It means his body accepts the new kidney so far.”

 “Doctor,” Sam said, drawing the man’s attention at him. “Will he be able to leave again soon?”

 “He’ll have to stay here for a while longer, but if everything goes well he’ll be able to leave within a month.”

 “Awesome.” Sam smiled and laid back down on the pillow.

 “Thank you, doctor!” Lucifer said and jumped up, taking the man’s hand. “You saved my brother’s life, I can’t thank you enough!”

 “It was my pleasure,” doctor Francis smiled and grabbed Lucifer’s hand tightly. “Now, let’s wait for him to recover, so you all can go back to your normal life, shall we?.”

 Lucifer nodded and Sam smiled over in his bed.

 The following week, the two boys stayed in the same room. Raphael had to undergo several tests for the first few days, but he never complained and always assured Sam that he felt much better than after his last transplant - Sam only had to be examined every few days, to make sure the stitches were healing well. Lucifer was there almost the entire time, which obviously helped both boys to feel better.

 During this week, Sam unconsciously began to enjoy Lucifer’s presence. Not in an emotional way, but in a physical one. He was used to having the blond around at least once a day, but being in the same room for so long and talking and interacting as much as they did kind of made it almost normal that he was there. He couldn’t explain it any better, but Lucifer kind of grew on him. When the doctor told Sam that he was free to leave, he was actually a little sad.

 “Cheer up, buttercup,” Lucifer grinned when the doctor had left. “You can come visit us whenever you want.”

 “Yeah, I’m gonna do that,” Sam smiled. Raphael was reading a book at the moment, so he used the opportunity to do something he wanted to for a while already. “Hey, Lucifer, can we talk alone for a moment?”

 “Sure?” Lucifer replied a little confused. “I’ll be right back, Raph.”

 “Take your time,” Raphael mumbled, almost whispering, completely drawn into the world in his hands.

 After Lucifer had closed the door behind them, Sam decided to not sugar coat anything and get to the point right away.

 “You can’t live like this any longer,” he said seriously, earning an even more confused glance.

 “What do you mean?”

 “You live around half an hour away from here, with a taxi, don’t you?” Sam asked. “You keep going back home and come here every day, that must be draining. And you keep going back to your dad, that’s bad too.”

 “If you have a better solution just tell me,” Lucifer huffed. “I can’t afford to stay here every night.”

 “Of course I have one, just sleep at my dorm room,” Sam suggested. “I have no roommate, so why not? It’s only twenty minutes away if you walk, it’s much closer.”

 “Are you asking me to live with you?” Lucifer asked and raised a brow. “Are you drunk?”

 “I’m just being rational, Lucifer,” Sam sighed. “I have the space and I need to go back anyways, so why not? There’s a spare bed, you won’t have to see your dad and we can get back to campus in the evening together. I don’t see a problem, really.”

 “Sam, seriously..:” Lucifer stopped himself from continuing, shook his head and tried again. “Look, I’m flattered you suggest this, but don’t you think that’s taking it a bit too far? Won’t you get into trouble?”

 “Not really,” Sam shrugged. “I can have a guest for up to five days and really, they don’t give a shit. I didn’t get a roommate for months and if they do pair me up with one we’ll find another solution. I’m not asking you to jump your bones, okay? I just wanna help you out to see your brother more easily.”

 “Well, thanks,” Lucifer smirked and scratched his neck. “I have to admit it sucks going back home since dad is there again. I’d love some nights without his bullshit, really.”

 “Then why not?” Sam asked. “You can leave whenever you want, no problem. And I’m not gonna party, I can assure you that.”

 “I’m sure you don’t,” Lucifer laughed. “So, you really mean it, yeah?”

 “Sure,” Sam shrugged. “I don’t mind a roommate that knows how to behave, if you won’t bring girls to the room every night or smoke pot we’re good.”

 “Yeah, none of that, really, ” Lucifer grinned. “I prefer my silence.”

 “Just think about it then, okay?” Sam suggested. “Might take some stress away after all.”

 “Yeah, that’s true,” Lucifer smiled. “I’ll think about it, promised.”

 “That’s all I ask for.”

 Sam knew his offer was weird and very surprising, but he had no ulterior motives when suggesting this. Talking with Lucifer throughout the last week made it clear that the blond hated going back to his dad every night - if Sam had the chance to change that, why not take it?

 “Just tell me if you wanna come over, okay?” Sam asked, smiling. “You got my number, just call and I’ll get your bed ready.”

 “Thank you, Sam,” Lucifer smiled back. “I really appreciate it.”

 Sam nodded, satisfied for the moment with Lucifer’s answer. He didn’t expect Lucifer to agree right away of course, but he knew the other didn’t want to go back to his dad again and again, it was very obvious. If Lucifer wanted to take his offer, he’d let him know.

 Since he was allowed to leave and really had to catch back up with school, Sam said goodbye to the brothers in the evening. It was Thursday by now and it was of no use to go back to class for one day, so Sam decided to use the day he had and the upcoming weekend to take care of the most important things. When he left he wasn’t sure if Lucifer would accept his offer or not - he was still very hesitant about it - but Sam assured him again that it would be fine if he’d call any time he wanted to. He promised Raphael to be back on Friday or Saturday, depending on the work he had to do, and left when the sun began to set.

 Coming back rather late meant Sam walked through empty corridors, but it was nothing he minded at all. It was actually very relieving to not answer any questions or be held back by someone wanting to chat. When he finally arrived at his room he didn’t feel like catching up with his work though, so he laid down and almost immediately fell asleep. The hospital bed had been fine, but sleeping in his own bed was a whole different thing and Sam didn’t realize how much he had missed it until he pulled the blanket up and closed his eyes.

 Sam was ripped forcefully out of his peaceful slumber, however, when his phone suddenly rang. He didn’t bother checking the time before taking the call, didn’t even wake up properly, until he heard the voice at the other end.

 “Sam? Were you serious with your offer?”

 Sam blinked and sat up in his bed, finally glancing over at his clock that revealed it was shortly after two in the morning. He quickly shook his head and ran a hand through his hair.

 “Yeah, of course,” he replied.

 “Well, I might have to take you up on that.”

 “Okay, yeah, just come over whenever.” Sam was surprised, but he wasn’t going to back out on his offer. “I’ll get everything ready and-”

 “Doesn’t matter,” Lucifer interrupted him and only now Sam realized how heavy his voice sounded. “Can you come outside? I’m already here.”

 “Shit, really?” Sam jumped out of bed almost right away. “Okay, gimme a minute to get dressed, alright? Where are you? I’m gonna pick you up.”

 “Right in front of the dorm door, sorry for waking you up.”

 “Oh forget it, I’ll be there in a minute!”

 It turned out to be five minutes instead, but Sam hurried the best he could. He even went out of his room bare-chested and only slipped into his shirt on the way downstairs. The call was surprising enough, but the tone of the other’s voice was more worrying than the time he called, and when Sam opened the door and his eyes fell on a rain-drenched Lucifer he knew that this was more of an emergency than he thought at first. Not only was the blond soaked from head to toes, but his face showed that he had a pretty rough time before, as once again a black eye began to form and his left cheek was decorated with a huge cut. Sam also spotted strange markings on Lucifer’s neck and throat, which looked even worse to him.

 “Lucifer, my God!” Sam grabbed Lucifer’s arm and pulled him inside as fast as he could and closed the doors behind them. “What on earth happened to you?”

 “I guess it was a bad idea  to ask my drunk-ass dad if he planned to shut up anytime soon because I wanted to sleep,” Lucifer grinned and Sam had never wanted to punch him more in his life. Instead, he shook his head and pulled Lucifer inside and into the direction of his room.

 “You’ve got a death wish, seriously,” Sam said on the way, unable to stop shaking his head. “Why do you even provoke him? You know he won’t hesitate to use his fists!”

 “Because he’s a bastard that deserves it?”

 “And you deserve this or what?”

 Lucifer merely shrugged as an answer, which Sam took as a sign that he didn’t want to talk about this any longer. Luckily they didn’t meet anyone on their way, so when they finally arrived at Sam’s room no one noticed the breaking of the house rules - which clearly stated no overnight guests - and he could lock the door in peace.

 “Just look at you,” Sam eventually sighed when they were safe inside. “Now I have to patch you up again and you’ll surely scare Raphael tomorrow!”

 “Sorry for causing you so much trouble,” Lucifer said, to which Sam had no reply. He wanted to be mad, really, but after everything they’ve been through he just couldn’t. Apparently Lucifer’s bad behavior had grown on him as much as the good part, not something he had expected but there was nothing to do about it now.

 After patching Lucifer up the best he could and making the bed ready for him it was already past three, but Sam didn’t mind much. Lucifer kept assuring him that it was nothing and that he wouldn’t stay long, but to be honest the brunet prepared for the opposite. Because showing up at two in the morning on his doorstep, with nothing more than the things he wore and a black eye? That wasn’t what he called nothing.

 “You’ll stay here as long as you have to,” Sam said sternly as he finished off the bed. “If you think I’ll let you go back to that man you are dead wrong.”

 “Did you suddenly become my legal guardian?” Lucifer asked with a chuckle, to which Sam gave him a stern glare.

 “Do you wanna test me?” he asked, raising a brow. “Or do you wanna go back to that man and take a few more blows?”

 “Nope, I’m fine staying here,” Lucifer quickly said and shook his head. “I’m very glad you didn’t just hang up on me, really.”

 “I’d never do that,” Sam sighed and sat down on his bed, while Lucifer did the same with the newly made one. “I offered you to stay here after all.”

 “I bet you didn’t think I’d take your offer at such an inhumane time, huh?”

 “Not really,” Sam said and yawned behind his hand. “But I didn’t think I would be so okay with it either, so I guess it’s alright.”

 “I promise I won’t bother you much,” Lucifer said seriously. “I’ll be with Raphael most of the time, you’ll barely see me.”

 “I don’t mind seeing you, really,” Sam shrugged. “I kinda got used to your presence. As long as you don’t snore or wake me up at five in the morning we’ll be fine.”

 “I’ll try to keep the snoring to a minimum,” Lucifer smirked and made himself comfortable on the second bed. “But I can say that I got used to your presence too. You’re not half as bad as I thought you were.”

 “Thanks,” Sam laughed and laid back down. “You’re not either. And now, let’s try to get a few hours of sleep, okay?”

 Lucifer nodded and Sam took that as a sign to turn off the lights. He had said the truth when he told Lucifer he didn’t mind, but he was still very tired, there was no denying that, and Lucifer seemed to be in desperate need of some sleep himself. It didn’t feel strange that they were sleeping in the same room again, even though this time they were alone. He had gotten kind of used to having Lucifer around and even now in this unfamiliar situation it was alright with Sam. Of course it was clear that they would need to talk, but that could wait until the next morning.

[ramblinganthropologist]

Marry You: Omake

Because Social Media is so great for bringing people together.

Summary: Cherche Mahariel just got engaged. Her son is more than happy to let their friends know. (Extra content to Marry You) Pairing: Cherche Mahariel x Sten, Miris Tabris x Zevran Arainai, Cahel Mahariel x Alistair Theirin. Setting: That Modern Dragon Age AU Word Count: 1704

---

“Well, that takes care of that.”

Cherche had just closed the door to her room, leaving Cahel free to get back to work. He had a mountain of paperwork from the first Warden waiting for him on his desk, and reports of darkspawn in the area – that were probably just mangy wolves at this point – to send some scouts out on. The former could wait thanks to the fact the old codger hadn't gotten with the concept of email yet – gods bless pigeon mail – and the latter he could send a few green Wardens out on. The afternoon would be annoyingly slow, but productive.

“I'm way too young to be doing bullshit like this.” He rubbed the back of his neck, still not entirely used to finding stubble there instead of hair. The top portion of his undercut was coming in nicely, but he still found himself surprised at the sensation. “Should've made Miris do it after all.”

Cahel sighed as he started to turn the corner, but stopped as his ears twitched. Somewhere, nearby if the frequency was a hint, someone was playing music. Pop, if the beat he was tapping out on the floor meant anything. The lyrics took a little longer, but soon they were playing, somewhat faded, into his ears.

It's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do...

Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you...

Eyes wide, the first thing he did was run straight back to the door. There was no doubt about origins of the sound, he was standing right in front of it. He backed up ever so slightly and made a grab for his leggings pocket to find his phone.

Commander Squirt: OH MY GODS

Commander Squirt: SHE'S ACTUALLY DOING IT.

Commander Squirt: MIRIS GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE YOU OWE ME 5 SOVEREIGNS SHE'S ACTUALLY DOING IT.

The message was received on the training ground, where a sweaty Miris glanced back at the trainees he was currently putting through their paces. None of them had ever held a sword in their lives before, and today's lesson involved the pointy end and where to stick it. Naturally, he had plenty of time to sneak his hand into the gap between his armor and shirt to retrieve his vibrating phone.

His one good eye widened as he read the message. Cahel's annoying habit of multiple texting aside, this was big. He had been saving those five sovereigns for mead the following night. Still, it was his duty to put out the message.

He was a slower typer than the Warden Commander, but his message had further to go.

Mi Amor: ZEV SHE'S DOING IT.

“Alright, you practice on your own! The Warden Commander needs me for something.” He tossed his mace aside to make a run for the tower. If the confused recruits caught on to the happenings, they were none the wiser.

Somewhere in Antiva, as he wiped away the blood on a knife, Zevran Arainai felt his pocket vibrate. Usually he turned his phone off when it was work time, but he recognized the pattern. His lover was texting him, and that could only be something big.

“I wonder if it's something dirty.” He chuckled to himself as he unlocked his phone screen, cracked and showing off a picture of the two of them the last time Miris had visited in the fall. They made quite the pair, or so the locals had said as they eyed him appreciatively.

Zevran allowed a chuckle as he nudged the hand of his target aside while he left the alley. The dogs would find it before the police, thanks to what he had sprinkled on the corpse. Another crow had gone the way of the dodo, but he had more important things to pun on.

“Did she now? Well, a certain bard in Orlais owes me some money the next time we meet.”

With his hood down and in plain clothes underneath, he blended in perfectly with the bustling crowd of the capital city's biggest market. In fact, he had made enough time to grab a coffee from the nearby Starbucks as he sat down to type out his message.

Crow: My musical friend, I believe you owe me 2 sovereigns.

Crow: I have been informed that our dear archer had taken the plunge with her qunari lover.

Crow: Something in E major?

The message pinged inside a tavern on the Orlesian border, inside the skirt pocket of the pretty woman who had been trading board for song. She had been breaking from her set in order to relax her aching fingers in the hopes her contact would arrive soon.

'You're really bringing them in tonight, my dear.' A woman in a dark trench coat sidled up next to her at the bar. The napkin she nudged over was intercepted in a matter of seconds. 'See you at the palace next?'

'I would not miss it for the world.' Leliana knew better than to check it at the table; there would be eyes watching. However, the vibrating in her pocket drew her concern. Swapping phone for napkin, she unlocked the screen of Andraste's grace.

A smile crossed her features as she read her dear friend's message. Normally, he just gave her assassination targets. The two sovereigns would be well spent as she began to compose her latest tune about star crossed lovers finally coming together.

E major though? Forget about it. They deserved something rarer. At least, that's what came to her as she started to type out another message. There was a mage somewhere north of Orzammar who had asked her to keep her updated.

This seemed like a fairly important thing to keep her in the loop on.

Leliana: Zevran sends word; Cherche is going to give you a grandson in law.

Wynne got the message just as she was about to descend into the deepest halls of Orzammar, far beyond where cellphones would receive any message. Shale cast welcome shade upon her as she rested her staff to the side in order to find her phone in her robes. It was an old flip phone, but she had no need for the fancier kinds her younger companions preferred. Besides, it had survived being stepped on by a druffalo once.

“Do the Wardens send word?” Her large companion sounded almost concerned for a second. “They better not have died.”

The mage chuckled as she clicked onto the message. “Is that concern I hear, Shale?”

“Hardly. I just don't want them to become food for the pigeons.” The golem glanced down. “So, what do the soft ones have to say?”

Despite having crowed previously that cellphones were a waste of resources, Shale seemed to be eating  their words. Wynne would tease them about that later as she read through the words carefully. At least there wasn't text speak.

A smile crossed her face as she started to text a number in Ferelden. “My family is growing, Shale. I'm soon to have a grandson in law.”

“Ah, the archer and her Qunari. I was beginning to wonder when that would occur.”

“There's a young man in Ferelden who owes me ten sovereigns, and I intended to collect.” Giggling, she continued her message. Even though she had an older model, Wynne could still text as fast as any young person. Her clicking sounds carried on for a few seconds until she had sent the message off. “Now, shall we head down?”

“If we must.”

Scary old Lady: Alistair, I believe you owe me ten sovereigns. Cherche has proposed.

Alistair had just gotten out of a meeting with another prince from Antiva. With any luck, that one would probably be assassinated within a week's time. It was all becoming very trying to remember names, though suggesting they wear tags was out of the question. Eamon had said so with that look on his face.

So, when he got the chance to breathe, he noticed his pants pocket was vibrating. A picture of Cahel making a face at the camera on his lock screen told him he had a message. He groaned as he read who it was from, and the subject matter.

“You have GOT to be kidding me. One more week and I could've won!” He sighed. “I swear, they were in on this together.”

Still, he had time for a few messages to a certain Dalish elf to check on things. By now, his favorite contact had plenty of messages. One more wouldn't hurt.

His Hotness: Why didn't you tell me that your mother was proposing? I had 10 sovereigns on it. :c

Cahel was still at the door. Maybe twenty minutes had passed since he had sent the message to Miris; his senior warden was next to him, waiting for the happy couple to come out. He chuckled as he unlocked the screen of his dog to a group shot of them in front of the Warden mobile. I was easy to imagine his boyfriend pouting with an emoji like that.

Prince Charming: Had I know I would've told you sooner.

CJ Mahariel  sent a video to Blight Fight 30

CJ Mahariel: Check this out guys!

Cherche was still in Sten's warm embrace when her ring tone for the group chat jolted her into reality. She shook her head as a shot of her own door with a rather familiar tune started playing. Maybe she should have been embarrassed, but part of her couldn't help but be amused.

Sten didn't look too surprised as he peered over her shoulder. “So much for leaving us.”

“I heard him run back the moment the music started.” She was soon texting as well. After all, she was a mother.

Mamae: You're grounded.

The groan from behind the door was more than worth it as she put her phone away. There were plenty of other things she was interested in at the moment, and it wasn't the sounds coming from the group chat. The emojis and capslocked messages could wait for later. After all, she had a new fiance to entertain.

[darks-ink]

Absurdism Chapter 12

*casually drops headcanons all over this chapter*

Rating: Teen/K+ (a lil swearing, because teenagers, man) Warnings: - Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort Additional Tags: Sibling Bonding, Family Bonding, Alternate Universe - Halfa Jazz AU, Jazz makes friends

[AO3] [FFN] [more Absurdism on Tumblr] First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

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Chapter 12: Control Freaks

Cold air curled in Jazz’ lungs, and she paused in her flight. She’d been expecting it, yes, but not this soon. Normally her ghost sense wouldn’t pick up on Sidney until she actually entered the school. To have it go off this soon… Was he outside?

Concern niggled in her brain, and she turned herself invisible. She would just check the school grounds and make sure he wasn’t in any trouble. During times like these, she wished she was as good as a tracker as Phantom, but apparently that was a hard skill—and a late one.

Luckily it wasn’t that hard to find Sidney. He was hidden from the crowd of students, but not actually hidden hidden.

More surprising was the person he was apparently talking with: Valerie.

Jazz bit her lip, hesitating for just a moment. Should she listen in? No, definitely not. That was just… creepy. She could just join it like a regular person. A better question would be, join as Specter or join as Jazz? But that, too, was an easy question to answer.

She ducked into a bush—not too close, but not overly far away—and shifted back to her human form. It was Jazz, after all, that had connections to both Valerie and Sidney, and who had encouraged Valerie to be nicer to ghosts.

A few determined steps brought her back towards her talking… friends? Was friends the right word to use? Sure, whatever, she was allowed to call them friends in her internal dialogue. A few determined steps brought her back towards her talking friends, and Jazz pushed her way through the brush, glancing between human and ghost.

“Hey, thought I heard your voices. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Valerie quickly assured her. Next to her, Sidney nodded. Huh. That was surprising.

Jazz shot them both a doubtful look. “Last time I checked, Valerie, you still thought ghosts were scum, and you only talked to Sidney because he had information about Ember, and only while I was there. What changed?”

Valerie shrugged kind of uncertainly. She didn’t say anything.

“Oh, well.” Jazz looked at Sidney, but he wasn’t any help either. “Would it help if… I told you about how we met? Sidney and I?”

“Yeah, I’ve been wondering about that, actually.” Valerie nodded.

“Alright, so.” Jazz clapped her hands together, grinning at Valerie, and ignoring Sidney’s nerves. Now, how to tell this story with as little lying as possible but without giving away her secret… “So, ghosts were kind of becoming a generally known thing, right? Obviously my parents already believed in them, but now proof was coming out that ghosts really are real, yeah?”

Valerie nodded along, and Jazz continued. “And I saw some kids getting bullied, and I… I just hate that. Having to watch it happen to other kids, knowing they won’t target me, but also being powerless to stop it. So I started wondering… If ghosts are real, who says that the Sidney Poindexter from those Casper High rumors isn’t also real?”

“Okay…” Valerie said, slowly. “So then why did he suddenly start showing up? Did you meet him afterwards, and was he—” She turned to Sidney, “You, sorry, were you lured here by something? Why did ghost activity go up so much?”

Sidney shot Jazz a worried glance, then, cautiously, explained. “I have a special portal to the Ghost Zone, and only I can go through it. Jazz found it, and must’ve guessed that that was it, because she tried talking to me through it. That’s when I started becoming active around here, and we actually spoke not too long after.”

“I see…” Valerie’s eyes narrowed in Jazz’ direction, almost suspiciously, but she nodded anyway. “What about Specter and Phantom? They seem pretty set on stopping other ghosts from coming here. Didn’t they have a problem with you, or can you avoid them with your portal?”

“It’s not like that,” Sidney immediately corrected, shaking his head. “It’s not— they’re not like animals, it’s not some kind of territorial dispute. There are lots of ghosts out there that could—and would—hurt humans if left to their own devices. Usually not on purpose, although exceptions exist, but because they don’t know any better. Most animal ghosts, for example, and plenty of more intelligent ones as well. It’s…”

He made a face. “It’s kind of hard to remember, sometimes, how easy it is to hurt a human. If you’ve been a ghost for a while. Jazz warns me, sometimes, if I toe the line. If my retaliation against bullies becomes a little too much. But not every ghost has human friends, or contacts, or would even care if they accidentally got a little too rough. That is why Phantom and Specter patrol, and help the town. And sometimes…”

Sidney shrugged, smiling a little. “Sometimes they help ghosts, too. They gave me some of the earlier pointers, on how far I could reasonably go, and how to stay safe from ghost hunters. On places I could go to see… the see life, to see the human world, without getting pounced on by ghost hunters.”

“I… see.” Valerie nodded, slowly, and Jazz could almost see the gears turning in her head. “So there might be… more ghosts, out in Amity, and no one but them would know about it?”

“Possibly,” Sidney agreed. “But I don’t think many of them stay for long. Natural portals are finicky, and portals like mine are, well, extremely rare, and only work for one ghost. Most of the others that travel to Amity come through the Fenton’s artificial portal, but that’s…” He made a face. “Well, you kind of have to pass through a ghost hunter’s lab just to come and go. Not exactly a risk many ghosts like running.”

“So why not just camp out here?” Valerie asked, quirking an eyebrow. “If coming and going is so dangerous, what’s stopping them from just setting up base in the city proper, and not returning to the Ghost Zone?”

“They can’t,” Jazz said, drawing the attention back to her. “Well, most ghosts can’t, anyway. They need some form of energy to fuel themselves, or they’ll burn out. They usually get it from the ectoplasm in the air, which is high in the Zone, and which the portals expel. It’s still kind of high in Amity in general, so ghosts can last a while, but they’ll burn out sooner or later. Some ghosts can gain energy from different sources, though. Ember, for example, could draw power from her fans. Other ghosts might draw energy from, for example, human emotions, or even actual electricity.”

Valerie shook her head. “But if it’s so dangerous, why do they even try? If they have to get past ghost hunters just to come here, why would they risk it? What’s so alluring about the human world, or so bad about the Ghost Zone, that ghosts feel like they have to come here?”

“It’s curiosity and interest, mostly.” Sidney frowned a little, in thought. “I can’t speak for everyone, of course, and I’m not sure if I would’ve come here if I had to go through the hunter’s portal, but… the Ghost Zone gets boring, if you spend enough time there. I mean, ghosts don’t sleep, usually, so we just spend day in day out in the same place. After a decade or two, or in my case, fifty years, wouldn’t you risk potential danger just to see something else? And, yes, the world changed while you were out, and isn’t that so interesting? If you had the chance to see what the world looked like in fifty years, and even at some risk, wouldn’t you?”

“And you have to remember, Valerie, that ghosts are sturdier than humans,” Jazz pointed out. “Just getting hit by a few shots from an ecto-gun isn’t that painful to most of them, and they heal faster, too. As long as they don’t actually get captured for research, run-ins with ghost hunters aren’t that dangerous.”

“So it’s just like… boredom? Wanting to see something different, combined with the fact that traveling here isn’t that much of a risk, even with the ghost hunters?” Valerie’s eyes narrowed a little, again, but it seemed thoughtful now. Jazz wondered if Valerie knew how probing her questions were, if she realized how suspicious this all sounded without the background knowledge of Red talking to Phantom last night.

“Basically,” Sidney admitted with a shrug. “Some of us have different reasons too, of course. Personally, I greatly dislike bullies because of my experiences with them in life, and being able to stop other kids from suffering through the same… I like that, being able to help. Other ghosts might come here to pursue specific interests, too, or to do things they’re passionate about, but can’t do in the Zone.”

“Right, so—” A loud screeching sound interrupted Valerie, suddenly, startling all three of them. The school bell, Jazz realized. Whoops. She’d gotten so caught up in the conversation that she forgot.

“Ah, shit,” Valerie swore, snatching her backpack off of the grass. “Jazz, we have the same class first, right?”

“Yeah.” She ran through the contents of her backpack, quickly. Did she have everything? Yeah, she thought she did. “Do you need to stop by your locker?”

“Nope. Come on, let’s go!” Valerie already started rushing towards the school when she slowed, turning to call over her shoulder. “And Sidney? Thank you for talking to me!”

Jazz was already hurrying after Valerie when she heard Sidney get over his surprise, and yell back, “No problem! Thank you for listening!”

---

Danny dove low over some of Amity’s buildings, twisting himself into a curling maneuver that was perhaps just a tad unnecessary. So what? He liked flying!

Something in his peripherals drew his attention, and Danny found himself coming to an abrupt halt. It niggled in his mind, somehow, although he didn’t know what he’d seen.

He turned, trying to figure it out. What could he possibly have seen—

oh.

Freakshow’s giant blown-out face grinned at him, the printed image of the red crystal ball instantly drawing Danny’s eyes back to it. It itched in his brain, the swirling—

No!

Danny clenched his eyes shut, trying to draw up mental walls to block the image. No! Not fucking again!

He forced himself to continue flying in his original direction, keeping his eyes shut until he felt confident that he’d gone far enough. When he reopened them, he stubbornly refused to look back, no matter how his mind niggled at him that he should.

It was far enough from FentonWorks—and Casper High—that Jazz wouldn’t come across it. Danny could tell her about the ads when they met in the woods, make sure she knew about the danger. He would have to put a little more thought into Freakshow, figure out how they could deal with him.

Well. Not them, that was for sure. He wasn’t going anywhere near Freakshow and his crystal ball, and Jazz definitely wasn’t.

He touched down in the clearing, Jazz’ innocent youthful face greeting him. No, he definitely couldn’t let her go anywhere near Freakshow. He’d rather die.

“Sorry, I didn’t keep you waiting for too long, did I?” he asked, running his hands through his hair in a hopeless attempt to flatten it some. Just… appear normal, and think it over while training. That’d be alright.

“No, it’s fine.” Jazz cocked her head, a slight frown to her brow, but didn’t comment. “What are we working on today?”

“Well, you’ve got a pretty good grip on both ecto-rays and shields, so we can move to more advanced techniques.” But more advanced offensive techniques weren’t really Jazz’ jam, were they? “We can see if you can get a grip on something elemental, like electricity, or even ice or fire, or we can try something more neutral. There’s this one technique which I can do, but that I’ve never seen Vlad do, that’s like an exploding shield? Like a field which pushes enemies away. You might be able to learn that, if that’s more your style.”

“Hm. Focusing on more defensive techniques would make my core lean more towards those skills, right?” Jazz twirled a strand of hair, clearly thinking it over. “It would be good to focus on offensive techniques too, especially if I can use them in a variety of situations, but the repulsion field sounds useful too.”

Danny nodded. “We can focus on the repulsion field today, and try something elemental the next time. Actually, it might be good to give you homework for that.”

“Homework?” Jazz repeated, almost incredulously. “Wow, now you sound like a real teacher. What would homework for this even mean, besides using my powers?”

“Well, elemental powers are finicky. You know how most ghosts tend to focus on a single element, which in turn lead to people concluding that ghost cores must be element-based?” Jazz nodded, and Danny continued. “Right. Obviously that’s not the case, but most ghosts still lean towards a single element, or two at max. Beyond that, it gets really complicated to be well-trained in them, and you’ll notice that control and power will go down.”

“Okay,” Jazz said, slowly, drawing out the word, “But how does that factor into homework?”

“I want you to feel out elemental leanings.” He formed a shard of ice, holding it up for Jazz to see, then ran lightning over it. “Personally I lean towards electricity, and I picked up ice thanks to a mentor in the Zone. I can do some fire as well, but it’s lesser, because I haven’t focused on it much. I want you to focus on… well, everything, really. See if there’s anything that you particularly feel connected to.”

Jazz nodded, and Danny nodded back. “Right, so, that’ll be your homework. For now, the… what did you call it? Repulsion field? That’s a good name for it, I like that.”

She snorted. “Thanks. Can you show it first, so I know what I’m trying to learn?”

“Yeah, of course.” He floated up and away a little, making sure that Jazz wasn’t too close. Then he curled up in a ball, gathered ectoplasmic energy around himself, like forming an ecto-blast but not in the palm of his hand. The energy gathered, coiling and swirling in a ball around him. When he was satisfied that it was enough for a demonstration, he pushed.

The energy blasted away from him, grass and leaves rustling in the sudden rush of wind.

“Wow,” Jazz breathed, but she was grinning when he looked at her. “That’s so cool! I definitely want to learn how to do that.”

Danny drifted closer again. “Right, so there are a few elements to it, but it’s pretty similar to ecto-blasts and shields. First, you’ll want to curl in tight—less surface for the energy to spread over. Built up the power like an ecto-blast, but around your whole body, rather than just your fist. But it’s gotta be strong like a shield! And then, when you think it’s ready—or when you can’t hold it anymore—push! Uncoil yourself and shove the energy from a shield into a blast!”

Jazz nodded along. “I think I got it. Like a shield, except you can push the energy out into a blast.”

“And curling up into a ball! That’s important, since it’ll help you make the push. Putting a physical element into it—like thrusting out your hand for a blast.”

“Gotcha.” Jazz pushed herself off of the ground, but didn’t quite curl into a ball yet. “How will I know if it’s enough energy?”

“It’s just experience, really.” Danny shrugged. “Kind of like ecto-blasts, you get used to compare energy to power. You can start off easy and build up. That’ll be better for your core, too, and it’ll be like a warming-up exercise.”

She snorted. “I thought there were no warming-up exercises for ghost powers?”

“Oh, shut up,” he said without heat, rolling his eyes. “Feel free to overload your core by accidentally drawing out too much energy if that’ll make you feel better.”

“I take back what I said, you’re a terrible teacher,” Jazz joked, curling up into a small purple ball. Golden energy startled swirling around her, slowly growing denser.

When she pushed out, the blast only gave off a little energy, the grass barely waving in its wake.

“Oh,” she muttered, quietly. Disappointed. “That…”

“Was a good start,” Danny finished for her. “You’re figuring out the technique first, and the power second. Better to start off weak, but know you’re doing it right, than go for too much and accidentally explode your arm, or something.”

“Ugh.” Jazz made a face. “Did you really have to go that visceral with it?”

No, but he was probably already in a bad mindset from thinking about Freakshow. He shrugged at Jazz, though, instead of vocalizing that. “It worked, didn’t it? Now go ahead, you’re not gonna get any better by chatting about it.”

She sighed, almost petulantly, but curled back up again.

Danny watched her repeat the move several more times, every attempt growing more powerful. When her blast left the trees wavering with aftershocks, Jazz held up a hand, stopping Danny before he could compliment her.

“What’s up with you today?” she asked, frowning at him. “And don’t give me that face. You’ve been distracted the whole time.”

He hadn’t thought he was that obvious about it, but… well, this was Jazz he was dealing with. She could probably see through him like it was nothing.

“It’s… eugh. An upcoming confrontation, I guess.” He shrugged, vaguely. “It’s this one human guy, except he has an artifact that allows him to control ghosts, including us, in both human and ghost form. I ran into one of his ads today, and it reminded me that we gotta deal with him, except we can’t deal with him, and—”

He stopped. Slapped himself in the face, and groaned dramatically. “Of course. We can’t deal with him, but we can sic Valerie on him! She’ll be immune to his staff, and she’ll be enticed to do it because he forces ghosts to do crime, and that’s bad.”

“Right.” Jazz stared at him, her golden eyes piercing right through him. She must’ve realized how he’d discovered that the staff worked on them. “And that’s not… a problem? Sending Valerie to deal with it?”

“Probably not. Sam and Tucker shattered it in my universe, and doing so freed all ghosts under its control,” he explained, ignoring the way his stomach curdled. They didn’t break it, not like that, but… it was easier than explaining the truth. “I don’t know how Val feels about us two, exactly, but if we explain that this guy can make us do terrible things… I bet that that would do the trick.”

“Yeah, that seems likely.” She frowned, still. “What… How does it work, exactly? Like, can we resist it, somehow?”

“Not… really.” He scratched the back of his neck, pushed down the desire to fly away and never talk about it again. “Any command you hear while seeing the crystal ball, you must do. There’s no stopping it, it just… drowns you out entirely. Don’t even look at the ads, although you might be able to push those out. The TV ads, especially, are a no-go.”

His grim tone seemed to function as a wake-up call, because she nodded, and didn’t push. “Valerie sounds like a good plan, yeah. Do you want to go look for her now?”

“Nah.” He shook his head. “We’re training now. I’ll talk to her later, and you can do your homework. Like, your real actual homework.”

“Yeah, alright,” Jazz allowed. “But we probably shouldn’t continue for too much longer, in that case.”

“Probably,” he agreed. “That’d be better for your core, too, if we don’t strain it like that.”

“One more, then?” She was already lifting up from the ground, curling into a ball.

“Better make it good!”

She laughed as her golden ectoplasm gathered around her. “I’ll give you a show, alright!”

The energy burst with such power that it knocked Danny over entirely. The woods rattled with the wind, branches snapping off and raining down.

“Uh, whoops.” Jazz laughed sheepishly. “That was maybe a little too much.”

“Maybe,” Danny agreed, floating upright again. “But you might need that much if you’re surrounded by ghosts. It was a good lesson, anyway.”

Jazz nodded. “Good luck with Valerie. Let me know if there are any problems.”

“I can handle it, Jazz.” He rolled his eyes, exasperatedly. “But, yes, I’ll let you know if there’s anything you need to worry about. Good luck with your homework. Both human and ghostly.”

“Yes, Mr. Phantom.” She stuck out a tongue, a warm green, but pulled it back in quickly. Too childish, probably. “See you Friday.”

She pushed off, and he watched her go. “And avoid those Freakshow ads!” he shouted after her, feeling satisfied at her wave back.

Well. No putting it off any longer.

Danny let himself float up as well, flying back to Amity at a more casual pace. He could go looking for Valerie, yes, but he would probably have more luck drawing her to him. She had ghost scanners, but he didn’t have any human scanners.

He hovered over a quiet street—after making sure no Freakshow ads were nearby—and pretended to be looking for something. It didn’t take long for the roar of Valerie’s hoverboard to reach him.

Ah. He loved it when something went according to plan for once.

“Phantom. Looking for something?” Valerie asked, pulling to a halt beside him.

“You, actually,” he admitted easily. “Specter and I could use your help with something.”

Her posture was tensed—and had tensed up even further when he spoke—but she didn’t raise her gun. “With what?” she asked, shortly.

“Have you seen the ads for that goth circus? With their ringmaster, Freakshow?” He waited for her nod before he continued. “His staff has this weird crystal ball, bright red? It’s… I don’t know what it is, actually, but it can used to control ghosts. All of the people in Freakshow’s show are ghosts he’s forcing to participate, and that’s not the only thing he uses them for.”

“It’s not?” Valerie sounded almost incredulous.

“Nah. Apparently circuses don’t pay enough, because Freakshow has his ghost army stealing, too. You can follow the trail through the few cities he’s been in, and he’ll start doing the same here, probably. Might even try luring Specter or I out in the open so he can control us as well, since we’re tons stronger than the ghosts he has now. We know better, but, y’know.” He shrugged.

“You can’t come nearby without getting affected?” she guessed.

“Yeah, basically.” He huffed out something that was almost a laugh. “Besides, it would be better to let the human hunter deal with the human enemy. We wanted to call the police on him for the robberies, but someone needs to deal with the staff first. As long as Freakshow has his army of ghosts, he can just use them to escape from the law.”

Valerie nodded. “Gotcha. I’ll investigate, and if you’re speaking the truth—which I bet you are, because this sounds too crazy to be a lie—I’ll deal with Freakshow.” She made a face. “Ugh, is that really his name?”

“Stage name, I think. I don’t exactly do research on my enemies, though.” He shot her a grateful grin. “But, hey, thanks. Specter and I really appreciate it.”

“I’m not doing it for you,” Valerie said, coarsely. “But whatever. I’ll make sure you don’t have to worry about that crystal ball anymore.”

That… seemed like a strange way to word it. Ah, whatever. He was probably just being paranoid, now, driven up by Freakshow’s reappearance.

“Right. Well, thanks anyway. Have a good night, Red.”

She nodded. “Yeah, sure. Whatever.”

Her hoverboard roared as she left again.

---

“Did you hear?” Jazz asked Valerie, once she thought the locker room had gotten empty enough to get away with it. “About that guy’s arrest?”

“Who, the creepy ringmaster that could literally control ghosts?” Valerie scoffed. “Yeah. Did your parents go crazy about that?”

“Kinda, yeah.” Jazz straightened her shirt, then reached for her hair. Started twisting it up into a ponytail. “I’m glad, though. Imagine how powerful that guy could’ve gotten if he managed to get his hands on a really powerful ghost, like Phantom?”

Valerie hummed, but didn’t say anything. Jazz turned slightly to squint at her.

“What?” Valerie asked, raising an eyebrow. Her expression was… weird, though. Hard to read. “Yeah, I guess that that could’ve been bad. No point in speculating, though. For all we know Phantom and Specter just wanted us to deal with Freakshow, and are now free to hurt the city.”

Jazz felt her stomach roil. “Do you really think that?” she asked, lowering her hands again. The end of her ponytail brushed along her neck, something it didn’t do in her ghost form—the strands defied gravity like that.

Valerie seemed to stare at her for ages.

“Not really,” she finally said, after what felt like forever. “I just…” Valerie sighed and shrugged, taking her eyes off of Jazz. She walked out of the locker room before Jazz could say anything.

“Weird,” she muttered to herself. It was almost like Valerie… knew. But there was no way, right?

Just paranoia. Things were weird, so of course she was overly wary. Nothing to worry about.