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writemywaytoyourheart · 4 years ago

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Onsra- Chapter 37: Where Have All The Flowers Gone

banner created by: @envity ♥️

pairing: vampire!jungkook x female reader (also vamp!tae x ga-in oc & vamp!jimin x yuri oc)

genre: E2L, romance, horror, angst, drama

warnings for this chapter: fluff, some tension between peeps, blood, death, use of guns and knives, kook is struggling, pls don't kill me.

word count: 10.8k

Onsra: ML, Previous

love you ;-;

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“I’d rather do literally anything else but drink that.” Jungkook scowls at the bag of blood in your hands as you roll your eyes at him.

“I know, but you have to…come on.” You shake it at him until he snatches it out of your hands and turns away from you, ripping it open with his teeth and downing it in a matter of seconds. Your chest lightens with relief that he has eaten, and you pat him on the shoulder consolingly.

“Now that it’s over, we can go.” You smile and he grimaces at you, wiping his lips repetitively, the obsessive habit he has making your heart ache a little in your chest. Jungkook leaves to the kitchen to toss the empty bag and say a few words to Jin before coming back and grabbing his hoodie. He pulls it over his head and puts the hood up, effectively covering most of his skin.

You smile as he grabs your hand and tucks it into the front pocket of his hoodie, holding it protectively. “Ok, I’m ready.” He announces cutely. You hold up the book and grin, “Let’s go!”

You two make your way onto the front porch and down the steps, moving toward the forest. You don’t miss the slight grunt of pain Jungkook makes when the sun touches his skin as he tries to adjust his hoodie. You pretend not to notice though, knowing he’ll just get more self-conscious if he knows you saw. So, you ignore the pain in your chest and look around at the little blue birds flying around, relief entering your mind when you finally reach the cover of the trees.

“Ok, race you!” Jungkook suddenly shouts, letting go of your hand and taking off into the forest. You flinch in surprise, then you glare at the back of his head before running, “You’re a cheater and cheaters never win!” You shout angrily, trying not to laugh at how annoying he can be sometimes.

Jungkook’s laugh rings out but he doesn’t slow down, quickly disappearing out of your sight. You sigh and huff out your breath, hoping an asthma attack doesn’t creep up on you. When you make it to the clearing and Jungkook is nowhere in sight, you feel anxiety tugging at your chest.

Where did he go?

“BOO!”

“AHHHH!” You jump back from Jungkook as he leaps out from behind a tree and shouts, laughing hysterically at the look of pure terror on your face. He grabs you before you stumble to the ground, “Got you.” He giggles and you slap his arm, “I swear, you’re such a brat.” You mutter in annoyance. Jungkook smiles smugly, satisfied that he was able to scare you so bad and get such a funny reaction.

You shove his book at him, making him laugh as he grabs it. Then you stomp over to the rock where you two shared your first kiss, plopping yourself on the ground and lying back against it. “Get over here and read to me before I change my mind and go hang out with Seokjin.” You say threateningly.

Jungkook giggles at your behavior, knowing you hate it when he wins all the time. He jogs over and sits down next to you, poking your cheek until you turn to glare at him, “Stop that, what do you want?” You hiss. Jungkook pouts, “I want you to not be mad at me.” You look away, irritated beyond belief that he is so irresistibly adorable even when he annoyed you a minute ago.

“I’m not mad.” You sigh in defeat and smile at him, your heart fluttering when you see his sharp canines as he smiles brightly. “Alright, I’ll read now!”

Adorable little brat.

You turn and lay your head on his lap, ready for him to take his turn in reading his story to you. The book he’s been reading to you is almost finished and you love it so far, just as he promised you would. Jungkook clears his throat and you hear him flipping the pages in the book.

“Where did you fall asleep at?” He asks and you laugh.

“How should I know, if I fell asleep?”

Jungkook chuckles at that, “Ok, what do you last remember?”

“Um, I remember her falling and hurting her ankle…?” You hear him flip a few more pages, then he makes a sound of approval, “Alright, I got it.” Then he starts to read, his voice immediately relaxing you as it whisks you into the little world he’s created with only the beautiful words flowing from his lips.

Time flies by and Jungkook keeps his steady pace as he reads page after page, never tiring.

“She felt her heart race as he stared at her. His gaze slowly shifted to her lips, then-…”

You lift your head in confusion when he stops abruptly. Then you squint at Jungkook, who’s biting his bottom lip as he reads the page silently to himself, his eyes flickering around the page.

“Then, what?” You ask and Jungkook jumps, looking up at you sheepishly. He doesn’t say anything as you laugh at his expression, “Why are you stopping at such an intense part??” You exclaim. Jungkook ducks his head in embarrassment, “I- I feel weird.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know…reading romantic parts out loud is making me feel like a weirdo.”

You burst out laughing and he looks at you, his face almost pained with awkwardness. “Is it a kiss scene?!” You ask excitedly and he nods hesitantly.

“Finally!!” You shout in ecstasy, throwing your arms in the air before snatching the book from him, “Don’t worry Kook, I’ll read this part to myself.” Then you turn, hiding the book from his view as you eagerly scan the words.

Jungkook laughs quietly, knowing how much you love romance as his tummy tickles with butterflies. He’s glad you’re reading this part to yourself though, as much as he is a hopeless romantic himself, reading it aloud to someone else is more awkward than he thought it’d be. A tiny squeal leaves your mouth and he chuckles at how cute you are.

~ ~ ~

“Koo! Flower!” Honey shrieks when you and Jungkook walk through the front door after spending the day in the clearing. Jungkook smiles shyly and crouches enough to scoop her up when she runs into his arms.

“Hi, Honey.” He says gently, letting her pat his cheeks and kiss his forehead. You giggle and come up to kiss her head, “Hi, baby.” You boop her nose and she giggles, then you make your way to the kitchen to help Jin with dinner, leaving Jungkook to Honey. When you turn to look at them again, the sight of him placing her on his hip and asking her questions melts your heart and you feel a horrible urge to cry.

Stop being so emotional, y/n.

You chide yourself in your brain, forcing yourself to look away and go into the kitchen. “Please tell me you need help with dinner.” You say as Seokjin turns to smile at you, setting his knife down.

“I most certainly do, kiddo. Get over here and chop these veggies.” He gestures to the cutting board he was just at and you sigh in relief, wanting something to do to get your mind off certain things. Sooyoung grins at you from her place at the stove as she cooks eggs, her cheeks tinted pink when Jin reaches around her to check on the rice.

You smile back, trying not to squeal and make them awkward around each other. You turn and start cutting the vegetables that Seokjin has placed on the cutting board, making small talk with them as you three work diligently. After a few minutes, you feel a pair of arms wrap around your waist, startling you as you set the knife down and turn your head to see Jungkook smiling at you.

“Kook, you scared me.”

“Again? You’re a scaredy-cat, y/n.” He snickers at you.

You’re about to respond, but then you see Seokjin and Sooyoung exchanging glances with each other, the looks on their faces showing how badly they want to tease you and Jungkook. Your cheeks heat up and you turn around to keep cutting the veggies, “If you’re going to be in the kitchen, then make yourself useful.” You scold Jungkook gently. He frowns, then he kisses the top of your head, “Namjoon hyung wanted to speak with me, so I’m going to go do that. Have fun!” Then he scurries out of the kitchen, leaving you to shake your head at him.

“You and Kook are so cute together.” Sooyoung whispers when she moves next to you, making you embarrassed once again. You smile shyly, “Thanks.” You look over your shoulder to make sure Jin is occupied, then you whisper back. “So are you and Seokjin.”

Sooyoung’s cheeks burst into flames instantly and she splutters bashfully, “H-he doesn’t think of me like that…” You smile at her gently, “Believe me, he does.”

You try to hide your amusement when Sooyoung is so flustered that Jin has to keep coming over to help her with the eggs, making her even more nervous. The two of them compliment each other so perfectly that it seems too good to be true. Jin is always so happy around her and the way she laughs at his jokes makes his face brighten all the time, not to mention the way he positively towers over her; seeming like a soft giant next to her tiny frame that’s always fidgeting nervously.

It really is just too cute.

~ ~ ~

“Hyung? You wanted to talk to me?”

Namjoon looks up at the sound of Jungkook’s voice, closing his book as he smiles at the young vampire. “Yeah, come in Kook.”

Jungkook walks into the study, settling himself in a chair in front of the giant desk that Namjoon sits on the other side of. “Why are we in here?” He asks curiously, noticing the map on the desk in front of the older boy.

Namjoon clears his throat, “Yoongi hyung wants to talk to everyone together at some point for the final plans and preparations, but I wanted to talk to you first.”

Jungkook nods and Namjoon continues, “We’re going to see the Hunters in three days. Yoongi hyung thinks that things are going to start setting off quickly after that. We could be following through with the plan a few days after we meet with them.”

Jungkook’s stomach twists anxiously at this news.

He’s known for so long that it would eventually come to this, but he had never had you in the equation when he thought of it. All he wanted a few months ago was to take his revenge on those that did this to them, but now he has you and the others to think about.

Namjoon sees the way Jungkook fidgets nervously, and all he wants to do is reassure Jungkook that everything will be fine. He isn’t sure how to though, because he doesn’t know how it is going to go at all. But he clears his throat again and speaks up anyway, “We just need to keep our heads on straight and things should be fine. We aren’t stupid, we’ll be well prepared.”

Jungkook nods absentmindedly, “So, what are some of the plans?” He asks, turning his gaze back to his older brother. Namjoon opens a drawer to grab a few papers out, laying them on the desk, “The last time we met, we decided that we would be luring as many vamps as we could to a certain place where we could hopefully have the upper hand if we take them by surprise. Here’s a list of all our weapons, I’ve taken careful inventory.” Namjoon hands Jungkook a paper to glance at, “We were going to decide the place when we meet again. I’m hoping they found as many Hunters that they seemed to think they would. We’re going to need every person we can get.”

Jungkook nods again at that, “And what about the girls?”

Namjoon sighs, “They’ll be staying here, as uncomfortable as I am with it. This is the safest place for them right now. If we end up finding a better hiding spot then we’ll have them go there, but for now, this is all we have.” He sees Jungkook worrying his lip so he adds in, “Seokjin hyung will be staying with them. He isn’t well enough to join us, as mad as he’ll be about that. He can stay with the girls and keep them safe.”

Jungkook feels a little better at that, but not much. When he isn’t with you himself, being able to physically see and touch you to make sure you’re safe, it makes him nervous. “I suppose there’s nothing I can do to change anything, so I guess that’s what we’ll have to do.” Jungkook sighs, making Namjoon smile sadly.

“Hope, Kook. Always have hope.”

~ ~ ~

“Jeon Jungkook, you need a haircut.”

“Pardon?” Jungkook looks at you like you just grew a second head, which you can’t blame him too much for, seeing as he’s very attached to his long hair. You laugh and reach up to run your fingers through his thick locks, “Just a little trim. I won’t cut too much off.”

Jungkook flinches away and puts his hands up in a defensive stance, “What the hell do you mean you won’t cut too much off? You are not touching my hair.” You snort another laugh, “Come on Kook, it’ll feel nice and refreshing to get a little trim!”

“I don’t care about refreshing!” Jungkook backs away putting his hands on his hair protectively. “Why? You don’t like my hair?” He pouts, making you smile at his cute antics. “I love your hair, Koo. I just want to make it look a little less raggedy for you.” You try to reason with him.

Jungkook looks indignant at your choice of words.

“I am not raggedy.”

You sigh, throwing your hands up in the air, “Fine, whatever! I’ll leave it be. And for the record, I never said you were raggedy, just your hair.” Jungkook looks relieved when you decide to back down from cutting his hair. He doesn’t like changes; they make him uneasy.

“Can we go outside?” Jungkook takes your hand and kisses it, wanting to get back on your good side. The weather is a bit cloudy today, the sun not shining much, so it’s perfect for Jungkook to go outdoors without his hoodie. He wants to spend as much time with you as he can since he’ll be leaving to meet the Hunters the day after tomorrow. He knows everything should go smoothly, but he can’t help the pit of worry in his stomach whenever he thinks about it.

“Sure.” Your smile brightens, instantly warming his chest.

When the two of you come in a few hours later laden with flowers, Seokjin comes out from the kitchen and laughs.

“Oh good, our other bouquets are very wilted, it’s time to change them out!” He takes the flowers from you both with a giant smile on his face, then he turns to you. “Y/n, I wanted to ask a favor of you.”

You pull off your shoes, tossing them into the closet before looking at him, “Of course, what do you need?” Jungkook watches the exchange curiously.

Sooyoung walks over and takes the flowers from Jin to put in some water as Jin turns back to you, “Sooyoung said that she heard you offering to cut Kook’s hair earlier. I need a haircut too if you’re willing to give me one!”

You honestly have never cut anyone’s hair in your life, but the hopeful look on Jin’s face makes you agree almost instantly.

“Yeah, I must warn you that I’ve never done it, and Kook didn’t trust me. But I can try!” Jin smiles at your words, making Jungkook scowl in irritation. “Oh, I don’t care what it looks like, it’s just starting to look real messy and it’s bugging me.” Jin’s windshield wiper laugh echoes in the hall and you turn to give Jungkook a smug look. He just rolls his eyes and turns away.

“Well, let’s give it a try!” Jin booms confidently.

~ ~ ~

Jin’s hair turns out a lot better than you thought it would.

In fact, it turns out so much better than you thought it would that you now have a line of eager boys waiting for their turn.

Jimin is currently sitting in the chair in front of you that you set up in the bathroom, his thumbs twiddling mindlessly as you work on his hair. Tae is next in line, bouncing on his feet in excitement. Hoseok is after Tae, and Namjoon is behind him. Yoongi stands idly at the end of the line, pretending he’s just watching but secretly trying to figure out how to ask you to do his when no one is looking.

Jungkook is too busy pouting in his room to see how everyone’s hair is turning out. He’s mad at himself for denying your offer but even more mad that the boys would have jumped at the chance to get a haircut whether he did it or not.

When Yoongi finally gives in and accepts the fact that all the others want to watch him get his hair done, you do his quickly and send him on his way. He has the biggest gummy smile on his face as he looks at his hair in the mirror, liking how much neater it looks already.

“C-can you cut my hair?”

You look up in surprise at the sound of Jungkook’s voice. Setting down the broom and dustpan you were using to clean up all the hair in the bathroom, you give him a small smile. “It’s alright Kook, your hair looks good the way it is. Don’t feel like you have to cut it because everyone else did.”

Jungkook bites his lip, “I know, I just want to try it. Just the ends, though.” He’s quick to make sure you know not to cut it short. You giggle and gesture to the chair still sitting in the middle of the small bathroom, “I promise I’ll only do a little.” Jungkook nods and takes a seat, clasping his hands on his lap nervously.

You take the scissors and walk around to look at his hair from the back, “If it isn’t bothering you at all except the ends then it should be pretty easy.”

“Ok.” Jungkook’s voice sounds small when he answers you. You smile and give the top of his head a quick kiss before getting to work. You only take off a centimeter or two on the ends, the tips a bit broken and ratty looking. The length of his hair doesn’t look any different, much to his relief when you tell him. You move to the front, gently messing with the hair around his face as you try to figure out how to do it.

That’s when you notice Jungkook clenching his eyes shut, his lips pursed tightly.

“Koo? Hey, are you okay? I can stop here.”

“I-it’s not that.” He stutters and you realize what he means.

The dark cloud is back.

His hands start to shake, so you set your scissors down, taking his hands gently in your own. “You’re okay, and you won’t turn.” You whisper softly.

Jungkook gives a small nod, “I- I’m okay, and I won’t turn. P-please stay with me, y/n. I’m scared to be alone.”

“Always, Kookie. I’m always here.”

You sit there for a minute before his hands relax and he opens his eyes slowly. “Sorry, I just-“

“Don’t apologize, Kook. I understand…are you okay?” You brush a strand of hair from his face then you cup his cheek with your hand. Jungkook leans into your touch, craving the warmth your hand gives to his cool skin.

After you finish with his hair, which looks almost the exact same as it did when you started, just a little tamer on the ends, Jungkook smiles approvingly in the mirror. “Thanks, y/n.” You’re about to respond when you see his expression change. He seems to be examining himself, his face dropping the more he looks.

“I never really look at myself.” He whispers, “Now I remember why.”

“Kook-“

“It’s okay.” He looks at you in the mirror, his smile coming back but seeming less genuine. “I’m just saying, that’s all.”

“You’re handsome, so stop looking at yourself like you aren’t.” You huff, not aware of what you just said. When you look back up and see Jungkook smiling shyly and not looking at you, you realize what came out of your mouth.

“Oh, I- uh…”

“Thank you.” Jungkook whispers, taking you by surprise.

Then a warm feeling spreads in your chest, relief that maybe he really believes that you see him as such making you almost giddy. Jungkook turns and wraps his arms around your waist, pulling you closer to him, “You’re beautiful.”

Your cheeks heat up and you look away, laughing it off, “What a pair we are.” You mumble jokingly, smiling when Jungkook giggles.

~ ~ ~

You’re sitting on Jungkook’s bed, watching with a frown as he packs his little satchel with a few things.

“Can’t I come with you?” You ask sadly, already knowing the answer. Jungkook stands up from where he was kneeling on the floor packing, touching your cheeks gently and smiling encouragingly. “The girls need you here, little flower. All we’re going to do is talk, you don’t have to worry about us being in danger, alright?”

He catches your gaze, squinting playfully at you until you give him a small smile, “Alright. Please be careful, Kookie.” He nods, kissing your forehead before pulling you to stand.

“We should get downstairs.” He says reluctantly, not happy about having to leave you either.

“I could take Jimin’s place since he’s staying anyway.” You suggest, following Jungkook out of his room and pouting when you hear him chuckle.

“No, love. I told you, the girls need you here. Honey needs you to keep her company.” He takes your hand, walking down the stairs with you slightly behind him. With Honey added into the argument, you have nothing to say back. The small child is your weakness, and Jungkook knows that.

When you reach the living room and see all the boys minus Jimin ready to head out, you frown again. Jimin is holding Yuri’s hand cutely, talking to Tae and laughing about something that you can’t hear. Seokjin insisted on joining them for meeting the Hunters when he found out he couldn’t join them for the ‘fight’. You don’t know much about this ‘fight’ as they call it, since no one has explained much to you, but the sound of it makes you nervous.

Since Jin wouldn’t take no for an answer when accompanying them, Jimin offered to stay behind with you girls and said someone could fill him in before they leave for the actual attack.

Jungkook gives you a quick kiss on the cheek before following the older boys out, waving and smiling at you reassuringly.

When the blue van is out of sight, you decide to play with Honey to keep yourself occupied while they’re gone. Yoongi told you that they should be back late tonight, if not, then early tomorrow morning. The meeting wasn’t supposed to be long and everyone had preparations to make after it.

So, you swallow the lump in your throat and call Honey over to go and pick flowers with you.

~ ~ ~

“Anyone have any good road trip songs?” Jin calls out, trying to lighten the mood.

He gets a few chuckles, but no one suggests any songs, much to his disappointment. Seokjin looks in his rearview mirror and sees Jungkook in the back, staring out the window with a blank look on his face. Then it looks like he starts to whisper to himself before Jin brings his eyes back to the dirt road ahead, not sure what Jungkook is doing and not knowing how to help him.

The ride only takes two hours before they’re pulling up to an old building that looks a bit like a deserted elementary school. Jin parks the car and looks around, a strange feeling filling everyone’s tummies at the sight of so many cars parked here. A few men are walking into the building as the boys clamber out of the car. One of them waves but none of the boys recognize him as they wave back.

Just a fellow Hunter apparently.

Jungkook has his hood up, covering his pale skin and red eyes. He hisses in pain quietly when the sun touches his hands before he shoves them in the front pocket of his hoodie. Seokjin walks over to Jungkook and puts a hand on his shoulder, “Alright, Kook. The Hunters they met knew that Yoongi and Namjoon were vamps before, so they’re expecting us to be vampires. You won’t have to hide once we get in and the Hunters they met explain things to everyone else.” Jungkook nods, biting his bottom lip absentmindedly.

When they walk into the auditorium in the old school, Jungkook’s stomach turns at the sight of so many Hunters in one place. There has to be at least three hundred, and most of them have guns, some even have sheathed swords hanging at their sides, no doubt made of pure silver. He knows they’re all on the same side, but the thought of a Hunter not realizing he’s a good guy and attacking him makes him walk slower than the rest of the group.

They find some empty seats and sit down as Yoongi says he’s going to find the guys that came up with this and explain things. Jungkook watches him walk away, then he glances around the room. One big man with a bushy mustache and a shiny bald head, glares at Jungkook suspiciously. Jungkook can’t tell if he can see what he’s hiding or not, but the man has definitely already taken a disliking to him.

The young vampire’s attention is drawn to the stage when a tall young man with black hair starts waving his arms in the air as a signal for everyone to quiet down.

“Thank you to everyone that has come today, there are more that will be joining us but aren’t here. I’m just going to get straight to the point. You all know you’re here to help us eradicate the vampires. We found an old church that we’re going to be luring the vampires to-“

“And how are you going to do that?” A voice shouts from the crowd.

The black-haired young man on the stage smiles and nods, “You’ve also heard some rumors about good vampires I’m sure, so I’ll put your minds to rest and answer your question at the same time. There are some people that were changed, but not enough to become unrecognizable. A few of them have agreed to help us by spreading the news of a vampire meeting among the enemy.”

Murmurs move through the crowd and Jungkook feels the need to sink further into his seat. These Hunters don’t sound convinced. The guy on stage waves his arms again before continuing. “I know it’s hard to believe, but it will work. All you need to worry about is showing up and helping us.”

He keeps talking, but Jungkook isn’t paying attention. He’s too focused on not letting the Hunters around him see his appearance, seeing as they’re all getting worked up.

~ ~ ~

“Well, that was…fine.” Seokjin muses when they’re all once again sitting in the car.

Jungkook ended up staying hidden under his hood the entire time, all of them agreeing that that was safest for now. A lot of the Hunters there were angry about the fact that they were allies with a few vamps. They didn’t seem to care that they were once people before being turned.

Mutters of agreements float through the car, but Jungkook stays silent. He just wants to get home to you and pretend like none of this is happening. He knows you’re not going to be happy when you find out that the sneak attack is supposed to happen the day after tomorrow.

It’s a lot sooner than everyone anticipated, and no one is jumping for joy over that fact. Yoongi keeps saying how he’s not pleased, but the sooner things get over with, the happier he’ll be. Jungkook can’t disagree that he wants this over.

But if he’s being honest, he has no idea what’s going to happen to him when it is.

Is he going to have to stay in hiding for the rest of his life?

The thought of living in the shadows and drinking nothing but blood, without you by his side, for the rest of forever, makes him sick. He’s been avoiding thinking about what’s happening to him, but he can tell that his time is running out.

The deep red color of his eyes was the first sign for him that he doesn’t have much longer, and now he can’t be in any sunlight without it feeling like it’s scorching him. The dark cloud is looming over his mind, growing bigger as it waits for its time to strike. And once it does, he knows he’s screwed. Jungkook can feel the control of his emotions slipping away, day by day. He can still feel his love for you constantly, but sometimes he can sense an unwanted and uncalled for anger or resentment creeping into his mind.

That’s when he tries to pull away, afraid to be near you when his emotions are so unpredictable. But he’s done his best in not letting you see that side of him. He wants his last moments with you to be happy, so he pretends everything is okay.

That’s when an idea pops into his head and he smiles to himself, planning on asking Seokjin for help when they get home.

~ ~ ~

“They’re home!” Yuri shouts happily, her head poking out of the curtains in the living room. You jump up from the floor where you were cleaning up a mess that Honey had accidentally made, then you run to the front door and fling it open. Running down the steps, you wait until the blue van is fully parked before hurrying over to it. You’re bouncing on your toes while the boys climb out, saying hello to each of them as they make their way inside.

When Jungkook climbs out, you throw your arms around him and hug him. He laughs and wraps his arms around you, picking you up and carrying you to the front porch where he sets you down and hugs you tightly. “I’m okay.” He keeps repeating it to you, his chest aching when he hears your sniffles.

Jungkook pulls back and brushes your hair out of your face, “Don’t cry, y/n. I’m alright, it was just a meeting.” He hates it when you cry, and he doesn’t know how to help you.

You laugh tearfully, “They’re happy tears, Koo. I just missed you a lot and I’m glad you’re back.” Jungkook smiles, giggling when you peck his lips. “Have you guys eaten yet?” He asks as he takes your hand and leads you back inside. You shake your head, “We were just about to make dinner. None of us were very hungry at all today.”

He nods in understanding, then he laughs when he sees Honey charging for him; her tiny legs pumping quickly under her as she runs full speed ahead into his arms.

When everyone is seated at the dinner table, Namjoon decides to fill everyone in on what happened and what the plan is from now on. He doesn’t hesitate and gets straight to the point.

“We’re going through with the plan the day after tomorrow.”

Your heart sinks to your feet and you feel Jungkook put a comforting hand on your thigh. You try to smile at him but end up just looking away and picking at your food as Namjoon continues.

“There’s an abandoned church we’re meeting at. It’s far from here, so there shouldn’t be much risk of danger for you girls. As we’ve decided, Seokjin hyung will be staying with you and if we don’t find any other safe house before we leave, you’ll be staying here.”

Everyone nods, the plan being pretty clear and easy to understand. You fidget anxiously, hating everything about this. You have no desire whatsoever to be involved in the fight, but you also hate staying home and wondering if your friends are alive as you sit in the safety of the living room.

It’s a terrible feeling.

In bed that night, you force yourself to stay where you are. You have an urge to get up and go to Jungkook, to try and talk out your worries and maybe comfort each other, but you don’t want to disturb him when he needs all the rest he can get.

So, you toss and turn until you fall into a restless sleep, the rest of your night filled with nightmares of cold skin, sharp teeth and blood, blood, blood.

~ ~ ~

“I want to take you out today.” Jungkook says shyly, holding your hand sweetly. Breakfast was a few hours ago and it’s nearing lunchtime, the day flying by while you dwell on tomorrow. You smile at him and nod, “Are we going to read, or pick flowers?” You ask, knowing there really aren’t many options for you two these days.

Jungkook smirks and shakes his head, “Neither. Go and get ready and I’ll tell you when it’s time to go.” Then he jumps up and hurries out of the living room. You watch him in amusement, wondering what on earth he’s planning.

When you walk into your room to get dressed, a soft knock sounds on the door a minute after you close it. You walk back over and open it to see Jin smiling at you, holding something behind his back.

“Hey, y/n. Sorry to bother you, but I have something for you.” He says quickly, looking over his shoulder and down the hall to make sure no one is there. You open the door and let him in, closing it behind him.

“What is it?” You ask curiously, trying to see behind his back.

Seokjin smiles brightly, a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. “Jungkook is planning something really special, and I found this last week. I thought I’d show it to you and see if you wanted to wear it today.” He pulls a pastel yellow sundress out from behind his back and your eyes light up.

“Oh, it’s so pretty! Thank you Jin, where on earth did you find it?” You take the soft dress, holding it close to your chest.

Jin’s grin widens, “I found it in the attic, in an old chest. It might be a bit big, so I got this as well.” He hands you a brown belt, “Jungkook is really excited, and I felt like maybe you’d like to dress up a little since you never get to these days.”

Your eyes well up at how thoughtful the eldest is, and you give him a quick hug. “Thank you so much, I’ll put it on right away. Will you let me know what you think of it?” You ask happily and Jin nods, still smiling.

He leaves the room while you change into the dress, only coming back in when you call him. He walks in to see you standing there shyly, clasping your hands in front of you. The yellow dress is fairly big on you, but the yellow belt keeps it in place. Your off-white socks and messy hair completely contrasting it, but Jin knows Jungkook will love it.

“You look beautiful, y/n.” Jin looks close to tears as you feel yourself blush and mumble a thank you.

“Ok, let’s get you all ready!” Jin snaps out of his emotional state and hurries over to grab a rag, running into the bathroom and wetting it before giving it to you to wipe your face. As you clean your face as best you can, Jin ties your hair back so it doesn’t fall into your face. When he’s all finished, he takes the rag from you and steps back to admire the work you two did.

He claps his hands slowly, a smug smirk on his face. “We’ve done it. You look great!” You keep thanking him over and over again, then you two hang out in your room and talk until Jin goes to see if Jungkook is done with the preparations yet.

When you walk downstairs to see Jungkook waiting by the door with a big basket in his arms, your heart flutters.

He’s taking you on a picnic.

Jungkook’s eyes widen when he sees you, his lips turning up into a smile. You always look so cute to him, but to see that you wanted to dress up today makes his chest ache from how much he loves you.

“Y/n, you look so beautiful.” He says when you reach him, then he reaches over and caresses your cheek lovingly. “You’re so adorable.” His lips are about to tear from how wide he’s smiling, and your cheeks are blazing from the affection he’s showing.

After pulling on your dirty white sneakers, you follow Jungkook out to the porch. He puts his hood up, “Sorry I can’t hold your hand, I have to carry the basket.” He says sheepishly. You shake your head quickly, “It’s alright, I’m carrying the umbrella, so I’ve got my hands full!” You lift the umbrella to show him, making him chuckle.

“Alrighty, let’s go!”

~ ~ ~

Jungkook takes you to a little pond where there are lots of trees, making lots of shade. Then he kneels on the ground and starts setting the picnic up. “I know you were excited about the picnic that day, but you didn’t get to go. I hope this can make up for it.” Jungkook is busily unfolding the blanket for the ground so he doesn’t see you wipe your eyes, trying not to cry from his kind gesture.

“I love it, Koo. Thank you.”

He smiles to himself, pulling out different foods and telling you which ones he made and which ones Seokjin had to help him with.

Jungkook really went all out.

You two spend the next few hours talking and you complimenting Jungkook on his unexpectedly good cooking skills. He just grins and watches you enjoying the food he made.

“We’ll have to cook together sometime.” He suggests, and you eagerly agree, still stuffing your face with the kimbap he made.

A quick walk around the pond using the umbrella is the last thing you do before laying on the blanket in the shade and closing your eyes.

“This is the best picnic I’ve ever been on.” You say happily, your eyes closed as you breathe in the fresh air. Jungkook looks over at you and smiles, “I’m glad.” He lies next to you.

After you play a quick game of naming the shapes of clouds, you look over and see Jungkook leaning up on his elbow and watching you with hearts in his eyes. You giggle and turn so you’re facing him.

“What are you thinking about, Koo?”

“I have something else for you. But I don’t want to give it to you yet.” He mumbles.

“Is it what you were writing in that notebook a while ago?” You ask curiously and his eyes widen in surprise. “How did you know?”

“Just a lucky guess.” You laugh and lay back down. “I don’t want to wait, I want to see it now.” You pout cutely and he laughs, scooting closer to you.

“I promise I will give it to you after I get home tomorrow.”

You’re about to ask why you have to wait until then, but you realize he wants you to know that he will for sure be coming back, so you just nod. “Sounds like a deal, Koo. You better hold up your end.”

Jungkook nods and scoots until he’s leaning over you, “I promise.” He whispers, then he leans down and kisses you gently, pulling away to look at you before going back in for another kiss. You close your eyes and try to imagine that everything is okay and tomorrow doesn’t exist.

When you hear a small sigh leave Jungkook’s lips you open your eyes to see his eyes welled up with tears. You frown and cup his face, “What’s the matter?”

Jungkook looks like he’s about to lie and say he’s fine, but he just flops down next to you and puts his hands over his face, saying nothing. You sit up and lean over him, “Talk to me, please.”

Jungkook’s voice wavers when he speaks, “It just hurts.”

“What hurts?” Now you’re really worried.

“Just-…I’m not me, and I never will be again…it hurts.”

The despair in his voice makes a few tears slip down your cheeks, and you don’t bother wiping them away. He’s just given you a hint to what’s going on with him, and he’s right. It hurts like a bitch.

Jungkook’s time is running out.

~ ~ ~

“We found another safehouse.”

“What? Where?” Seokjin asks, bewildered at the comment Yoongi spews when he comes rushing into the kitchen later that night.

“It’s actually closer to the church, but it’s well hidden and no one can get in.” Yoongi is breathless as the oldest tells him to sit down and explain things to him in a clear way.

Yoongi sits in a chair and takes a few breaths before explaining, “We found an old shack that was rebuilt and completely covered in metal. There aren’t any windows and a bolt is on the door, so it can’t be opened at all from the outside when locked. We think there used to be weapons stored in there, but now it’s empty. It’s only a few miles from the church, but honestly, it’s so much safer in case things were to go badly. Trees cover it completely and no one could find it easily.”

Seokjin’s eyebrows are set in concentration as he thinks deeply on what the best decision would be. Yoongi speaks again when he sees the hesitation. “We could bring all the medical supplies and you and Sooyoung could have things ready in the chance that one of us gets injured.”

Seokjin nods slowly, agreeing that that would be a good thing to have available, but he still looks doubtful. “You’re positive that it’ll be totally safe? I’m not bringing the girls and especially not Honey into a place that could backfire on us.”

“I would bet my life that it’s safer than here,” Yoongi states firmly.

“Ok then, I guess I’ve got some packing to do.”

~ ~ ~

You rub the sleep from your eyes for the umpteenth time since you woke up this morning as Seokjin gives you a sympathetic look, handing you a box full of bandages. You send him a tired smile and turn to head inside the little shack.

When you reach the door, you trip over the threshold and stumble forward. A hand grabs you before you fall, and you look up to see Jungkook looking at you worriedly. He takes the box from your hands and gives you a look, “What’s going on, y/n? Are you alright?”

You nod and rub your eyes again, “I’m fine. I just didn’t get much sleep last night.” Jungkook looks like he wants to reach over and touch you, wrap his arms around you, but he holds back and just sends you an understanding nod before turning to put the box on the table in the middle of the room.

You frown at how cold he’s been since this morning, it seems like he doesn’t want to touch you at all, when all you want is to wrap yourself in his arms and hold on forever. You’re sure it’s because he’s upset about having to leave later today, and he deals with things differently from you. Jungkook tends to pull away these days and you feel the need to cling to him. You need his love to feel stronger.

You blink your eyes rapidly, trying to cover your tears, then you turn away to keep helping Seokjin unpack the car. It goes on like this for another half hour; unpacking and sorting through everything, putting it all away so you can set up the little cots that were in a closet in the shack.

At one point, you overhear Jungkook and Jin fighting outside, somewhere a little way from the house.

You can’t tell what Jin is saying, but your heart breaks when you hear Jungkook shouting, “I don’t want this! I never wanted this! I wish he killed me instead. I’d rather die than keep living like this!” You think Jin says something like, “You don’t mean that.” Before you turn and go back into the shack, hating that there’s nothing you can do to help him.

Once everything is set up for you guys to stay there tonight, you and Jin sit on the floor; exhausted. Jungkook is outside and Namjoon is in the car going over something with Hoseok. Everyone else stayed at the house, finalizing things for later.

Seokjin touches your arm gently and you look up at him, waiting for him to speak. He clears his throat, “I don’t know if this is any of my business, but I saw how Jungkook has been acting.”

You nod, a sad smile gracing your lips as you look down at your hands. Jin sighs, “He’s not happy about tonight. You know he pulls away when he gets upset, I just hope he realizes that it isn’t going to make things better. Are you okay, y/n?” He asks worriedly.

You hesitate before nodding, “I’m just so tired.”

Seokjin nods sadly, knowing that you mean so much more than not sleeping last night. This tired goes too deep to be blamed on lack of sleep, and Jin can see it clearly.

“Things should look up a little after this is over.” He says encouragingly, and you try your best to believe him, but something in the pit of your stomach tells you that he’s wrong.

The ride back home to get everyone else is silent. You sit on the far left of the back seat and Jungkook sits on the far right, looking out the window with a blank expression. You watch him quietly, knowing he’s only two feet away but feeling like you’re miles apart.

You want to ask him to speak with you, but you don’t even know what to say at this point, so you stay silent and stick to messing with your hands and listening to the older boys’ conversation.

~ ~ ~

“You guys ready?” Yoongi looks over everyone crowded in the tiny shack after you’re all gathered there later in the day. Honey watches curiously from one of the cots, not understanding what’s going on or why Hobi has been saying goodbye to her.

“We need to get going if we’re going to get there before the vamps.” Namjoon says, a sad look on his face.

You say your goodbyes to everyone but Jungkook, who’s been sitting on a cot and not speaking for hours. You’re screaming at him on the inside, begging him to at least say goodbye before he leaves. You’re not sure what this day is going to hold, and that makes you sick with fear. When Jungkook is like this, it makes it even worse.

When Jungkook stands up and moves to the door you’re hopeful for a minute that he might be coming to speak with you, but then he passes you by and leaves out the front door, not a single word spoken. Everyone follows the small group outside, waving as they climb into the blue van. You can’t stand to see Jungkook ignore you anymore, so you silently wish him luck and turn to go inside before the car drives away. But before you can get very far, a grip on your arm pulls you back and you feel strong arms encase you gently.

Your heart aches painfully as you turn and bury your face into Jungkook’s chest. He tucks his head in your neck, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He keeps repeating himself, and you’re not even sure if he’s just talking about giving you the cold shoulder today or if there’s something else on his mind.

“You promised to give me my present when you get back. Don’t break your promise.” You cry into his chest, feeling his arms tighten around you as he nods. Jungkook pulls away enough to look at your face, then he leans down and kisses you, pulling away before kissing you again. He keeps pecking your lips until you giggle. Only then does he pull away for the last time and smile at you, “Stay safe, little flower.”

“You too, Koo.”

“I will…I love you.” Jungkook whispers, feeling bad for not saying it earlier. You smile, warming his chest, “I love you, too.”

When Yoongi calls to Jungkook to hurry up, he frowns, then he kisses your lips once more. “See you later, baby.”

You wave to him as he climbs into the car and shuts the door, then you watch the car drive away with a sinking feeling in your stomach, sensing that something is terribly wrong.

~ ~ ~

It’s been a few hours since they left, and you’re sitting in the same spot on the floor, trying to concentrate on the game that you and Honey have been playing. You made little dolls out of pinecones and a few of Jin’s bandages for clothes, and Honey has been having the time of her life, finally being distracted from the fact that Hoseok is gone. The little girl had cried for a good hour when they first left, asking where ‘good boy Hobi’ went.

She’s content now, with her pinecone doll and munching on a carrot that Seokjin gave her. Yuri comes over and takes the make-shift doll out of your hand gently, telling you to go and get some fresh air while she plays with Honey. You get up and step outside, finding Seokjin sitting outside the door, his brows furrowed as he stares into the forest.

You look at the tire tracks from a few hours earlier and bite your bottom lip.

“How far is the church?” You ask suddenly, surprising Jin. He turns and looks at you, “It’s about nine kilometers from here, why?” Then he squints at you in suspicion.

“Y/n, no.” He looks at you in disbelief.

You look back at him, “I feel like something is wrong.”

“You can’t, y/n. It’s going to be dangerous, yes. But there will be a lot of Hunters to fight alongside the boys. There’s nothing that you can do to make it better.” The tone of his voice is firm and full of worry. You nod reluctantly, knowing he’s right.

Jin pats the ground next to him, signaling for you to take a seat. You sit down and will your tears not to overflow.

“They’ll be okay.”

You’re not sure if Seokjin is trying to convince you or himself, but you don’t think it’s working either way.

You sit in silence until Seokjin announces that he’s going inside. You tell him you’re going to be out here for a while, so he agrees to come and check on you in a while if you don’t come in eventually. You look back at the forest, your mind spinning with anxiety. The sky has dark clouds starting to close in and the sun is going to start setting soon.

You wonder how long it’s going to take, and if it’ll be easier or harder than they anticipated. Your brain won’t stop going around in circles. After a while, you stand up and look back at the door. It’s closed and everyone is still inside.

Don’t be stupid, y/n.

You bite your lip, puffing out an anxious breath.

What do I do?

Not whatever you’re thinking, that’s for sure.

Before you even have time to think about it clearly, your feet are taking off, following the tracks of the car as you run as fast as you can.

~ ~ ~

An asthma attack started long ago, but you keep running, willing your legs to go faster and not to give up yet. A few times you slow to a jog, and then to a brisk walk before running again. The tracks of the car were fairly noticeable up until a little while ago, so you’ve just been running in the direction they last pointed, praying that they didn’t make any turns.

By the time your lungs feel like they’re dried up and shriveled and you can barely stand the thought of taking another step, you see the church in the distance, across a giant field. You breathe a sigh of relief and hurry towards it, noting how fast the sun is going down.

Soon this field will be swarmed with vampires.

That thought makes you run faster, tripping over your own two feet as you charge towards the abandoned church.

Please don’t let this be a mistake.

Please, oh please.

When you finally reach the church, you could cry from relief. The old parking lot is empty, of course they wouldn’t be parking their cars here. It’s so deadly silent that the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention. You creep towards the church door, grabbing the handle and pulling on it as hard as you can.

The door creaks open and you slip inside, almost immediately bumping into a hard back. The man you ran into turns around, his eyebrows widening at the sight of you before he smiles. “You’re just on time little lady, the sun’s going down.” When he sees the fear on your face, he furrows his brows, “You’re a Hunter, aren’t you?” He asks.

You quickly nod your head, then your stomach pinches with anxiety at his next words.

“Well, we need to go and hide now. They’ll be here any minute now.”

Fuck.

You didn’t think this through.

Why are you so reckless??

The man leads you into the main part of the church where old and broken pews line up and down the room. As you’re walking down an aisle, you whisper to the man, “Have you seen anyone named Jungkook? Or Yoongi? Maybe Namjoon?”

“Ah, Joon? Yeah He’s in the choir loft.” The man turns and points at a little loft above you at the back of the church. Your heart lifts in your chest, some luck at last!

You thank the man before hurrying towards the back again to find a way up to where the boys must be hiding. You’re impressed at how quiet hundreds of Hunters can be and how well they can hide in here. When you reach the back and see a little stairwell, you run over and start to climb the steps. Just then, the church door bangs open and you here someone laughing loudly, a sneering voice saying something about the irony of the meeting place.

Vampires.

They’re already here.

You lay flat on your stomach so they can’t see you if they turn your way, then you crawl up the stairs as quiet as you can. You reach a small door and slip through it. Right when you walk into the loft, a hand reaches out and grabs your elbow, yanking you into a tiny alcove.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” A voice whispers harshly in your ear.

Jungkook.

The vampire pulls you closer into him, his chest heaving with angry breaths. You can tell he’s pissed, but you don’t know how to explain your reasoning for why you came. Jungkook roughly pushes you behind him so that you’re pinned between him and the wall, then he looks out, checking the area before turning back to you. He’s glaring at you angrily, “I swear y/n, what the fuck are you doing?”

Taehyung’s head pops up from behind a piano that’s a few feet away and he puts a finger to his lips, telling Jungkook to be quiet. Jungkook flips him off, making Tae roll his eyes before ducking behind the piano again.

You put your mouth to Jungkook’s ear and whisper, “I was scared, something felt wrong.” Jungkook doesn’t answer you, too upset that you’re here. He wants to send you back, but he knows it’s too late now. When Namjoon stands up from behind a little pew in the choir loft and signals to Jungkook, the vampire turns to you.

“Don’t move from this spot. Please, just listen to me.” His eyes have softened, and you nod, feeling guilty for becoming a burden in this situation. You just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Jungkook gently pushes you to the ground to sit in the hidden alcove, dragging his fingers through your hair comfortingly before creeping out into the open and following the others to wait by the choir loft door.

Your breath sounds so loud to you in the dead silence. Then it starts getting louder as the vampires must be filling up the church downstairs, sitting in the pews and milling around. After what feels like an eternity, you hear the little door open and the boys leave. Now you’re alone, and terrified.

Why did you come?

It was just stupid worry, nothing serious.

You hate that you made such a rash decision.

Then, as if a bomb suddenly went off, the entire place is in an uproar. Screams pierce the air instantly when the fighting begins, and you push yourself further into the wall. The Hunters really must have taken the vampires by surprise.

You clasp your hands and close your eyes, hoping for it to be over as soon as possible. Jungkook told you that there were hundreds of Hunters, and if the plan worked, most of the vampires should be here, which means hundreds of vampires too.

Please, please, please.

“Y/n?”

Your eyes pop open at the sound of his voice and your head shoots up to see Seungwook standing above you.

What the fuck is he doing here?

“Seungwook, why are you-“

“Y/n, I’m so glad you’re okay.” Seungwook kneels down next to you, smiling broadly. The commotion downstairs hasn’t subsided, but he doesn’t seem to notice it. “So, you decided to join the Hunters? I’m glad. You made the right choice.”

“What-…no, I-“

Then the door to the choir loft bursts open and people start swarming in. Vampires and men, practically clawing at each other at this point, some trying to run and others giving chase. Seungwook drags you to your feet and screams at you to run. Then he turns and starts firing his gun, the noise deafening as he hits every single vampire he aims at without missing a beat.

You take off, pushing through the frantic crowd and running down the stairs, tripping on the last step and sprawling onto the floor. You wince and try to stand up, only to be grabbed by a random Hunter and yanked to your feet.

He pushes you away from him roughly and you start running again, not sure where to go.

“Y/n! Y/n!”

You turn at the sound of Jungkook’s voice, seeing his eyes wide with fear that you’re in the throng of the fight. He’s pushing past men and vampires, struggling to get to you. When he reaches you, he grips your arm harshly, dragging you into the main church hall and sprinting down the aisles of pews, towards a back door.

Jungkook throws the door open and shoves you out into the cold night air, where still more vampires and Hunters fight desperately for their lives. “Come on!” He shouts over the noise of the fighting, still dragging you behind him. You see an old barn up ahead and you can tell that’s where Jungkook is heading.

When you make it inside, there are still more vampires and Hunters; it’s never ending. Jungkook curses loudly, not having much of a choice now but to stay here. He shoves you behind him right when a vampire lunges for you. Jungkook meets him halfway, wrestling with the stocky vampire for a minute before he snaps its neck, then plunges a silver knife into its neck and shoves the limp body to the floor.

Your heart is racing in your chest, not knowing what to do. That’s when you see Seungwook run into the barn, and when he notices Jungkook with you, his gaze turns murderous, making your stomach sink to the floor.

You never really had great plans organized ahead of time. This time; you don’t have to. The second you see Seungwook raise his gun and aim, you know his target is Jungkook.

You know that if that silver bullet hits his heart, he’ll die in under a minute.

You know all of that…and you know what you’re going to do.

Everything slows down, the screams, slashing and clashing of metal on metal, as vampires and humans fight with everything in them, become muted background static. It feels like you’re moving through syrup when you turn your head to see Jungkook’s back facing you; having shoved you behind him to keep you where he knows you’re safe. Your head turns back to the other side, slowly, inch by inch and you see your old friend again. He cocks his gun, shifts a bit to ensure he keeps his record of never missing, clean. His finger pulls the trigger torturously slow. You freeze in your spot, fear planting a seed in your heart and causing you to hesitate.

Then the battle is gone, all the blood and terrorized screams come to a pause while different images flash before your eyes:

Jungkook; crying silently on the couch before you find him. He looks up and you see the tear streaks, his deep red eyes reflecting pain and regret. “Jungkook-“ you breathe out before he cuts you off. “Y/n, I don’t want this. Y/n, I want to be a human again. I don’t want to die a monster.”

“Jungkook, you won’t die, and you’re not a monster.”

You blink in shock at the sudden memory as another pushes its way into your mind.

Lying in Jungkook’s bed with him after he refused to drink blood and collapsed. Jungkook’s arms encircle you as he whispers, “I’m too far gone if I don’t do this. For all I know, I’m too far gone anyway.” His voice cracks and you feel a tear slip down your cheek at his words. “But I need to do this, because if I die…I don’t want to die a monster.”

Your vision comes back, but you still hear his voice in your head, ringing and bouncing throughout your mind as the voices of the others join in.

“I don’t want this! I never wanted this! I wish he killed me instead. I would rather die than keep living like this!”

“P-please stay with me, y/n. I’m scared to be alone.”

“The vampire had him for too long, none of his old self is left.”

“I have to believe that he’s still in there somewhere, I have to.”

“When you’re with me. I feel human again.”

“Jungkook turned because he came back to save me, and now he’s worse off than the rest of us. It isn’t fair.”

“I hate everything that I am.”

“I’m not me, and I never will be again. It hurts.”

“Jungkook was always the shy one, but he had the biggest heart.”

“I don’t want to die a monster.”

One last vision clouds your sight as you stand frozen in your place.

The thunder sounds outside the abandoned hospital and your body trembles, fear coursing through you. Jungkook holds you in his lap, hugging you tightly.

“I’ve got you, little flower…don’t worry…don’t be scared, I love you.”

“I don’t want to die a monster...”

You won’t…

I’m not scared anymore, Kookie.

“I love you too, Jungkook.” With those words tumbling from your lips, you throw yourself forward, wrapping your arms around Jungkook’s waist and holding on for dear life.

Sorry Seungwook, not this time.

Before his brain can register why you’ve attached yourself to him so desperately, a loud shot rings out and Jungkook’s stomach lurches when he feels your arms tighten around him.

Jungkook looks down and sees your small hands clutching to the front of his shirt, knuckles white. He stares at them for a moment, shock still coursing through his body, before he turns and catches you when you start to fall.

____________________________________

a/n: ...

tag list: @jjungkook99 @ditttiii @rubinora @xxxanimangxxx @fekitza @nikikookie @karissassirak @jkhey97 @squidyelmosquidbutt @howbizarre @adelina1299 @krystle1990 @your-best-behaviour @lettersforjoon @hopeworld-baseline @elliegrace1999tvd @jeonjungkookismyfuture

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notsosmexy · 4 years ago

Text

Heavens Love || Reggie x reader

Chapter four of ‘Heavens Love’

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 5

A/N: OOooOo we back! Enjoy!

Word count: 3k

Taglist

Wanna be added to the series taglist? Just send an ask!

You walked up to your locker and put your code in. Once you had all your books, someone tapped your shoulder, making you turn around quickly. To your surprise, it was Carrie. She pointed at something not too far away and left. You arched your brow but looked at where she had pointed.

It was Julie, singing in the middle of the hallway, doing some amazing dance. You wanted to stop her, so she didn't embarrass herself. But you couldn't move. You could tell she didn't mind, or she didn't notice. Either way, you stared at her like everyone else. Her eyes were closed and she had a huge smile on her face.

You leaned on your locker with a smirk, when she came to get her books. She gave a small smile and took her headphones out. A boy who you had seen once or twice, tapped her shoulder.

'Are you done?' visible confusion could be seen on her face. You suppressed a laugh. ' Can I have those back?' he pointed towards Julie's back pocket.

'Oh..' she grabbed them and gave them to the guy. She turned on her heels and faced her locker once again. You and Julie were both laughing and you could hear Flynn running up to you both.

'Omg Julie!' she smiled.

'Whats up?'

'Nothing, glad to see you back to your…weirdo self' You laughed

Julie rolled her shoulders and gave a small chuckle 'Thanks?'

Flynn playfully rolled her eyes 'So, how's the band? Still hot? Still talented? Still..dead?'

You put your head in your hands. 'Flynn..' you couldn't help but laugh a little. 'They can't be… undead'

Flynn shrugged her shoulders 'We're undead' you blinked once or twice. What goes on in this kids brain? Is all you could think.

Julie looked between both you and Flynn. 'Anywayssss, Luke and I spent all weekend writing songs… wanna hear some of them?'

'Duh!' you and Flynn both said. Julie nodded her head and you both walked towards the music room. On your way there you saw Carrie form the corner of your eye. You gave a small wave but she didn't seem to notice, instead she was looking at something or someone in front of you. You stopped in your tracks and followed her gaze. Your eyes went big once you realized who she was looking at.

'Could be nothing' you tried to reassure yourself. You ran to the music room, to make sure you didn't miss any of Julie's music playing.

'So this is-'

'I'M HERE!' You shouted while panting a bit. You weren't the greatest at running you had it admit. Flynn smiled and Julie cleared her throat.

'Right, here's the first song them and I wrote.' she sat down at the piano. 'Here's some of the chorus' she started playing and you smiled. It was amazing and had a fun beat to it.

'Wow! I like it! Def Gaga vibes' Flynn stated. You nodded your head to show you agreed. Julie smiled.

'Now um...here's something me and my mom were working on' Your smile faltered a little. She started playing once again and once again, you love it. You could tell Julie worked hard to get it right.

'thats- that's beautiful' You and Flynn said at the same time.

'Now,' Flynn smirked at Julie, changing the subject. 'You have a crush. And this name is Luke.'

'And he's a ghost!' you finished her sentence and Flynn pointed towards you. Julie's mouth fell agape.

'What? No! Luke's a ghost.' she stated, but you knew Flynn wasn't having any of it.

'A cute ghost.' Flynn stated.

Julie scrunched her nose up. 'with a perfect smile.' she finally gave in.

'Ha! We knew it's you said to Julie while Flynn high fives you but missed. You rubbed your shoulder where she accidentally hit you and she gave a quite sorry.

Flynn looked back at Julie, you doing the same. 'Just don't get hurt'

'Obviously you guys have a connection' you added.

'Everyone’s been talking about when you're going to play again' Flynn put her hand on her hip and took out her phone.

'Lucky for youuu…' You waited for Flynn to finish.

'Your marketing team has been way ahead of it.' Flynn smirked and gave a small flick of her hair.

'I… I don't have a marketing team.' Julie gave you both a confused look.

'Yes you do!' you pulled out a flyer from your backpack and Flynn did some jazz hands.

'No wait-'

'it's all over the school!' before Julie could protest again Flynn's phone buzzed. 'Sorry, it already has 66 likes' you. Shook your head with a smile. You and Flynn walked don't, leaving Julie behind. You could hear her telling you guys to wait and you both just laughed.

As you all walked down the hallway to get to your class, you once again saw Carrie. She didn't seem to care that you were walking past. She was busy on her phone, like always, but you could tell something was different.

'Guys, go without me, I gotta do something.' Both girls looked at you but nodded their heads. You waved goodbye and turned around to go see Carrie. She was walking towards the bathroom and you knew this was going to be so awkward.

You walked into the light pink washroom and stood in front of a mirror. You waited a couple of seconds and soon enough Carrie walked out. She gave you a small glare, but it seemed fake.

'Carrie, you don't need to pretend it's just me and you. Nobody else.'

She licked her lips and thought for a moment. She sighed and nodded her head.

‘Hi Y/N’ she mumbled and turned to look at herself in the mirror.

You nodded your head slightly and looked around. ‘So, I uh, I saw you staring at-’

‘Don’t’ Carrie quickly interrupted. ‘Its nothing. I don’t- i don’t like her’ She looked like she was going to cry. ‘Even if I-i did, she’d n-never like me’

You gave her a sad look and opened her arms. She practically ran into them, her arms around your neck. She smelt good, like honey and sugar. Her cold wet tears were hitting the cloth on your shoulder. Every single one slowly crept through the fabric, making your shoulder wet. After a while she let go and stepped back. She gave you a small smile and rubbed her eyes.

‘Sorry’ She sniffed. You shook your head and gave her a small toothy grin.

‘Don’t be… i’m sure she likes you to’ To be honest you had no idea if Flynn did. She’s never been one to talk about who she likes. She’d never even spread Carrie a glance after… the thing happened.

‘Maybe…’ Before either of you could say anything else, the bell rang. You both walked out of the bathroom and went your separate ways. The whole time you were walking to your class, you couldn’t stop thinking about...everything. There was Luke and Julie, Willy and Alex, Flynn and Carrie and You and Reggie. Too many people were falling in love.

****

‘I wasn't in love with the idea at first as well, but it'll be a great way to up our following.’ Julie was watering the plants, while you, Luke and Reggie stood around the piano. Reggie gently put the paper down and nodded his head a bit.

‘Ya, ya! We can play wherever we can and whenever we can’ Reggie stated and a smile had grown on his face.

‘And then, you guys put out a new album!’ You said happily and Reggie snapped his fingers and pointed at Julie.

‘Than release a country album’ You shook your head. ‘That does surprisingly well’ He turned towards you but you keep shaking your head. Julie gave Reggie a look and Luke looked a little disgusted. ‘I shred on the banjo so...’ Reggie shrugged his shoulders and acted like it was no big deal.

‘Then i'll learn how to play the fiddle,’ You said jokingly and Reggie gave you a side hug.

‘And before you know it, we're being inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.’ Luke gazed into the distance. He snapped out of it once Reggie started talking.

‘But one of us isn't there’ you stared at him, half confused, half emmussed. ‘ Because we had a blowout in 2032. My moneys on Alex, he's just to sensitive.’ he shrugged his shoulders and you laughed quietly.

‘Let’s get rehearsing!’ Luke pushed himself off the piano and spun on his heels. You turned around but remembered Alex wasn't there. Julie must have read your mind cause the next thing she said was exactly what you were going to say.

‘Wheres Alex?’

‘We can start without him.. He’ll be back soon’ Luke reassured you all. You leaned against something and watched them all get ready. Reggie gave you a wink and they all started playing. You blushed and looked at the ground for a few seconds.

Once you lifted your head again, you heard a poof and Alex was suddenly through the door.

‘Hey Y/N’ you smiled and gave him a wave.

‘Dude, where have you been?’ Luke stopped playing and let his guitar dangle. ‘We need to practice.’

‘Oh, really?’ Alex looked at Julie, his eyebrows scrunched together. ‘For what?’

Before anyone could answer, the door opened only to reveal Flynn. She was wearing her vibrant pink beanie, her lock necklace and the jean jacket you gave to her last year.

‘Dance news!’ she practically screamed while doing some weird pose. ‘I don't have a date but, I'm so psyched to see you guys perform!’

‘Oh man! We're playing a dance?’ Alex whined and looked at the guys.

‘Course, man’ Luke sat on a red chair. ‘That's how we get a following nowadays’

‘Ya, get with the program Alex’ Julie mocked and Luke playfully scoffed. Flynn looked at you and Julie.

‘What? They guys are here?’ she tutted and flipped her hair casually.’Hey guys!’ she waved in the opposite direction.

‘Other way, sweetie’ you said, giving her a taunting smirk. Oh was all she said and turned to wave at them. All of them waved back, not that she could tell.

‘OK, well, now that Alex has graced us with his presence-’ you cut Luke off.

‘You should start practicing!’ You threw your hands in the air and Julie looked amused. ‘Wanna stick around?’ You turned around and asked Flynn.

‘Im supposed to blow up 500 balloons for the school dance..’ she sighed but smiled. ‘This sounds way more fun though’ you all laughed.

‘Hey Julie!’ Carlos walked into the studio and you heard Luke sigh. ‘Remember those orbs in dad's pictures? I...I think their ghosts.’ You turned to the boys with wide eyes, them doing the same to you.

‘But don't worry!’ He slammed the pictures onto the piano. ‘ This room is...is’ he did a whole 360. ‘This room is clean. I'm not getting the ghost tinglies’ He whispered the last part like it was a secret.

‘Wrong again little dude’ You all gave Reggie an amused look. Suddenly Carlos started yelling.

‘Have no fear! If they come back I will protect you! Because I am the man of this house!’ Carlos stated, looking proud of himself.

‘Isn't dad the man of the house?’ Julie asked.

‘There can be two’ they both chuckled. ‘Dad needs all the help he can get right? Now, according to the internet, salt burns their souls out.’ Everyone turned towards each other with panic written all over their faces. ‘A little sprinkle will keep them from ever coming here’ He threw it everywhere and some landed on Alex.

‘No! Oh! Oh god im…’ he looked at his hands. ‘Im fine. I'm totally fine.’ he raised his head with a proud smile.

‘Oh! Carlos you know who's hungry? Me and...Y/N. Why don't you salt us a path to the kitchen’ You gave Flynn a look and shook your head.

‘No, I need to-’ before you could continue, Carlos took your arm and started dragging you along, while salting a path.

‘Don't worry Y/N you won't miss much!’ Your boyfrie- Reggie yelled behind you.

@tclerateit @sarcasticallywitty15 @killingbxys @calltothewild @well-hes-just-too-cute

#Kenzie Rants 😎#Flarrie #carrie wilson #Flynn Jatp #jatp #Julie and the Phantoms #willex #willie jatp #alex mercer #Reggie Peters #julie molina #Luke Patterson #Reader insert #Heavens love

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okageshadowkingfannovel · 3 years ago

Text

Book 2: Chapter 3

“Finally! I feel as if we’ve been putting this off for weeks!”

This is the farthest Ari’s ever been on the path leading out of Tenel village. The villager that’s usually on guard duty is suspiciously absent. Ari stands on that spot, staring at the path that snakes its way through the forest, meets the bridge crossing the river, and then dissolves into the open fields. He swallows hard, trying to steel himself.

“Wouldn’t you agree, slave?” King Stan prattles on, “I mean, it really feels like we’ve had two or three weeks of solid stalling. So. Much. Wasted. Time.”

Ari rolls his eyes, distracted just for a moment from the yawning unknown laid out before him in the daylight. Placing a hand on the sharpened fruit knife on his belt, he takes a deep breath and begins to walk.

It’s going to be ok, he tells himself, it’s going to be ok. It’s going to be ok. I just have to walk really, really fast. Is that a ticking sound?

Ari pauses and looks around along the ground.

“Just one second, Stan,” says Ari before the evil king can roar at him with impatient rage, “found it!”

The ticking leads him to a small patch of grass where a tiny gear waits. It looks just like the one found behind the Nameless Dwelling and just like that one, it stops ticking the moment Ari touches it.

He hears Stan growling.

“Burning …”

“Alright! Alright! I’m going!” Ari protests as he slips the gear into a pocket where it can join its brother.

The boy can’t help but notice that he’s developing a strange new hobby - gear collecting.

I guess it suits an uncool weirdo like me …

Eventually, Ari finds himself at the bridge. It crosses a small ravine that cuts the border of the field. The river tracing down the middle of it flows with a peaceful ease, not at all reflecting the dangers that lay beyond. The bridge itself seems sturdy and safe. It’s made of thick slabs of pale wood. Nothing about the bridge or the ravine or the river gives Ari the slightest hint of worry.

It’s the grassy expanse on the other side, dotted with trees and bushes and bunches of wild grass and suspicious looking patches of bluish fog, that make his heart race and his skin go grossly clammy.

It’s going to be ok. It’s going to be ok. You have Sta- … you have a fruit knife. That’s something.

In preparation, Ari pulls free the fruit knife and holds it ready. He begins to carefully cross the bridge. The farther he goes and the more things don’t happen, the better he begins to feel. The calming sounds of the water below and birds singing from far off in their trees start to soothe the pounding of his heart. Once he gets to the bridge’s midpoint, he might even dare to call himself relaxed.

See? It’s fine. So far, so good …

As soon as the thought passes through his head, a little white cloud fades into view at the far end of the bridge. It possesses wide, yellow eyes and bobs up and down in that all too familiar, ghostly way.

Of course.

Ari stops and Stanley pops up behind him.

“Oh, here is some low class evil being like the one in the church that I smashed for you.”

“It seems so, Evil King Stan.”

“But slave, you should improve your skills.”

“Improve my … what now?”

“Now, slave, destroy the one there. A true servant of mine should be able to do this easily. Now, go!”

Stan suddenly sinks back down, leaving Ari awkwardly and pathetically alone with nothing but a fruit knife.

Ok … ok … ok ok ok. It’s just one ghost, right? I have the fruit knife and … and maybe I can figure out the whole overdrive thing.

“O-o-verdri-”

Before Ari can say the word, a bone-chilling ‘boo’ pipes up from behind him. He turns to see a red ghost coming up from behind, growling and eying him up like a particularly easy and delicious snack.

Stupidly, Ari brandishes the fruit knife, whipping back and forth between the two ghosts. Even he thinks he looks pathetic as the knife shakes violently in his fear plagued fingers.

“St-Stanley? K-k-k-k-king Stanley … uh …”

Nothing happens. The ghosts continue to approach, forcing Ari into the middle of the most unfortunate sandwich of his life.

“Uh … ok … um, h-hello, guys … girls … um, whatever you are.”

The ghosts say nothing - not even a ‘boo.’

“I’m really sorry. I-I just got a little lost. This is your bridge, isn’t it? It’s a nice bridge. Very sturdy. I’ll just … leave your nice bridge alone so I don’t … um, sully it.”

Unfortunately, neither ghost seems inclined to move aside to let him pass.

Whelp, I guess this is it … not even 5 seconds into the wild and I’m about to be eaten.

He feels the stinky, icy breath of peckish ghost death bearing down upon him, caressing his face and slipping down the back of his neck.

“Wait a minute!”

An angel?

The thought is cliché, but being seconds away from being ghost-food, Ari isn’t expecting to hear female voices from anything on the earthly plane. Quickly following it, there come the heavy sounds of running boots hitting wooden planks. The whole event passes in a blur. A series of swish-swish sounds whirlwind around him and a fast passing body knocks him to the ground.

Dizzily, Ari looks up to find the first ghost fading away into nothing. Looking over his shoulder, he finds a similar fate befalling the second.

“Phew! Recently, there have been so many cruddy ghosts floating around. Are you ok?”

Ari gets up slowly, shaking his head to clear the dizziness. He turns and where there was once a ghost, there now stands a beautiful woman.

He shakes his head a bit more and rubs at his eyes for good measure.

She’s still standing there in a very un-hallucination-like manner, staring at him with increasing concern.

The mysterious woman seems to be in her early twenties. She has a slender, but subtly muscular build. It reminds Ari of a dancer, but cooler. She wears a long military style coat with blue trim, shiny gold fasteners, and epaulets. Heavy, calf high boots explain the footsteps Ari heard earlier. And the thin, wickedly sharp sword in her right hand explains the fate of the ghosts.

“Um … are you ok?”

Her face is gorgeous. She has large yellow brown eyes and a firmly set, heroic countenance. A headband that looks suspiciously like a buckled belt keeps back shoulder length locks of golden honey colored hair. In her non-sword holding hand, she carries a delicate pink parasol, keeping her in a patch of cool looking shade.

“Hello?” she says as she smoothly sheaths her sword.

“Oh! Um … y-yeah. I-I’m ok … thanks to you. That was so coo-”

“Don’t walk around so vulnerable like that! You don’t even have a weapon!”

As if in his own defense, Ari holds up the fruit knife. It takes him just a fraction of a millisecond to realize how stupid the defense is.

“What an optimistic attitude! I can’t believe it! Hold on a sec.”

Before Ari can recover his first impression, she passes by him and crosses the bridge to recover a ridiculously large bag that had been thrown to the grass in her haste. Without dropping the parasol or losing a hint of coolness, she rummages around among the bag’s contents.

“Here we are,” she says, slipping out a sheathed sword.

The mysterious woman runs back up to Ari on the bridge.

“Here, take this!” shes says, shoving the sword into Ari’s hand. “You’ll have much better luck fighting ghosts with this.”

“Um, th-thank you. Are you su-”

“It’s a cheapie, but it’s better than that,” she says, nodding towards the fruit knife. “You know how to use a sword, right?”

“Uh, stab it until it dies?”

Her face looks grim, but still cool. “Good enough, I guess. Just … you know, don’t be a sissy. Got it? Ghosts can smell an easy, fearful meal from a mile away. They’ll be all over you if you don’t toughen up a bit.”

“Right! Thank you! … um, can I have your na-”

“Oh no! It’s already that late! I have to go or he’ll … I gotta go!”

The mysterious woman suddenly takes off running, back from whence she came.

“Good luck, kid!” she calls over her shoulder.

Ari watches until she disappears into the fog and wild grass and trees.

“Damn!”

Ari jumps.

“I didn’t have time to appear! Who was that anyway?!”

“Probably the coolest person I’ve ever met …” he replies wistfully as he looks down at the leftover sword.

Ari returns the fruit knife to its clip and sets to work strapping the sword sheath to his belt.

“You are a pathetic thing, slave. Two lowly beings show up and you cower like a troll!”

“Well, it’s not like I have any powers that will cause things to be consumed by black flames of infinite evil … like somebody I know.”

“On top of that, you were saved by some passing hag!”

“Hag? Are you nuts? She was so cool! Plus, she gave me this!”

With a clumsy flourish, Ari whips out the sword. It’s light enough to be shakily lifted by one arm. The edges seem comfortingly sharp, glinting in the sunlight.

King Stan sighs angrily. “Oh well. Be grateful that my evil hand is merciful to my servants. Seeing how pathetic you are in battle, maybe I’ll render you aid from time to time.”

“Well, that’s good of you … nice knowing my life means so much to you that you may help out.”

“But you must still become stronger! Discipline yourself by making your way to Madril and giving any lower being that crosses your path a good thrashing! We’re going to have issues if you can’t protect yourself. Don’t forget that your shadow houses the great Evil King Stan!”

With that, the great Evil King Stan disappears and Ari’s left alone with nothing but a sword and a ghost infested open field.

Somehow, despite such a disastrous start, Ari doesn’t feel as doomed as he did before. He’s pretty sure it has something to do with the sword clutched in his right hand. Thinking of how cool the mysterious woman was, he slashes the air, enjoying the wind cutting swish noise it makes.

Ok … let’s try this setting out thing one more time.

NOTE: Okage Shadow King is owned by Sony Computer Entertainment and Zener Works. This novelization is purely a fan-work and the writer claims no ownership over the characters, general plot line(s), etc.

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pug-bitch · 5 years ago

Text

That’s not why I’m going (25)

Just them and the stars

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Drake Walker x Amara Suarez

Rating: some foul language, some extremely suggestive, and not one, but 2 VERY steamy scenes, around 60 diamonds each :D This is absolutely NOT appropriate for people under 18.

Word count: about 4,000 (let me know if the ‘keep reading’ cutoff isn’t working well!)

Notes: This picks up pretty much where we left off, during Drake and Amara’s first evening at the cabin, starting with Drake’s POV.

*****

‘No no, let me carry those!’ Drake yells out as he opens the front door.

Amara chuckles and ignores him, still carrying the multiple bottles they had bought on their errand run. They had to get ready for tomorrow’s barbecue with the gang, and they had decided against champagne for once, so they bought a bunch of liquor and mixers, as well as beer for those who preferred it. Drake only had whiskey and coffee in the cabin, and he wanted his guests to have everything they need.

As he puts the groceries down on the counter, he catches himself smiling for no reason. This feels right. Just him and Amara, about to make dinner together, and tomorrow their friends are coming over. Drake is excited about hosting, he can’t lie. The thought of cooking for everyone, while Amara bakes a cake, and they all share some drinks and talk about life… it sounds exactly right. But suddenly, he feels self conscious about the place. It’s spotless, sure, but also not as luxurious as what people are used to, except for Amara who didn’t grow up in a mansion. Max has been here, he knows the cabin isn’t big, but hopefully Hana and Olivia are not irked about potentially sharing the master bedroom. Enough, Drake thinks. His friends need to get away and his cabin is nice, remote, and quiet, and that’s all that matters.

‘Want me to make a cocktail?’ Amara asks while putting away the bottles.

Drake nods, ‘That would be awesome. I trust your expertise, so surprise me.’

She laughs, ‘Ha! You didn’t say that the first time we met. You demanded a bottle of whiskey, and didn’t let me tell you about the cocktail of the day.��

He smiles, but butterflies rush to his stomach. Is it because he feels emotional talking about his first encounter with the woman he loves? Or is it because he realizes that he was a jerk to her at first? Probably both. ‘About that…’ he says, rubbing the back of his neck, ‘I hope I wasn’t too much of an asshole when we first met. I realize now that I must have sounded like a grumpy bitch.’

Amara laughs in a way that splits his heart open. She’s mixing a margarita, and putting salt on the rim. ‘I mean, you were a little grumpy. I just thought you were protective of your friend. That’s what you told me, anyway.’

He nods. He remembers saying that, when Amara first inquired about why he was asking so many questions, on the plane. ‘I did say that. But really, if I’m honest, I think I knew I would fall for you. Like, right away.’ He pauses. ‘Well, when I ordered the whiskey, I was just being a jerk. I tended to do that a lot, shutting people out. Hell, I had never really had an authentic conversation with anyone at court before you showed up, and then it was like you’re the Sun. When you’re around, I no longer have to make an effort to socialize. I just do it, and I even enjoy it.’

He stops himself, and looks down at his hands, as he’s taking the fish out of the paper wrapper. He’s waiting for Amara to say something, to make fun of him for being such a weirdo. But she doesn’t.

She puts the margaritas down, walks around the island, comes up behind him, and wraps her arms around his waist. She hugs him silently, he feels her breath on his back, warm and comforting. She mutters, ‘I’m happy you’re letting people in.’

‘Suarez… I’d hug you back, but I smell like fish.’

They both laugh, and Amara plants a kiss on his back before letting him go and finishing up the margaritas. Drake’s phone buzzes. He glances at it, but puts it back down. Maybe now’s not the time.

‘You can answer, you know. I’ll get started on the rice,’ Amara says.

‘Um, it’s my mom. FaceTiming me. I… was debating answering, if you’re up for saying hi? No pressure!’

Amara smiles broadly and nods. ‘Pick up!’

He clicks on the green circle. ‘Hi Mom.’

*****

Amara had always been good with parents. Her friends’ parents, her ex boyfriends’,... Rick’s mom had loved her so much that she still sends her birthday flowers, and emails whenever she sees something on sale that Amara might like. As it turned out, Amara realized she’d loved his mom more that Rick himself, at the end of the day.

Still, she was nervous about Drake’s mom. He always looked sad when talking about her, and Amara knew they didn’t have a great relationship, especially since Bianca had remarried. So, as Drake chatted with her a bit before introducing them, Amara’s heart was doing loops in her chest. When he finally turned to her and said the magic words, ‘Mom, there’s someone I’d like you to meet,’ she readied herself and plastered on her best parent-friendly smile, bracing for the impact.

‘Mom, this is Amara,’ Drake says as he walks towards her to include her in the shot.

‘Well hello there, Amara,’ his mom says, in a friendly tone.

‘Hi, very nice to meet you,’ Amara replies. She wanted to add ‘Mrs. Walker,’ but she didn’t know if she had taken her new husband’s name or not, so she stopped there.

‘I’m Bianca,’ she added, as if she had read her mind and wanted to clarify what she could call her. ‘Where are you from, darlin’?’

Amara started chatting with her organically. Bianca had a kind face and an open smile, but Amara recognized something in her expression, something she saw in herself and in Drake as well: pain, grief, and all their little friends. Bianca was gorgeous, her hair was long and dark, with some gray strands that gave her charm. When she pushed her hair away from her face, Amara noticed that she was wearing a lot of silver jewelry, rings with natural looking stones, and a bunch of bracelets. She gave off a very hippie chic vibe.

‘Honey, it’s a pleasure to meet you, really,’ she said after a few minutes of conversation. ‘What a wonderful surprise! Drake never introduces me to anyone, I was starting to think he was either embarrassed by me, or very antisocial.’

‘Mom…’ Drake mutters.

Amara laughs, ‘It’s neither, Bianca, I can assure you. Drake is an amazing man, and he speaks very highly of his mom.’

Once they hang up, Drake seems to breathe a little more easily.

‘You ok?’ Amara asks.

He nods. ‘Yeah. Like she said, I never introduced her to anyone, so I guess I was a bit nervous.’

She wraps her arms around him. ‘It went well, so you can relax. Your mom is lovely.’

‘Well, you’re lovely. Let’s have those expertly crafted margaritas, shall we?’

They drink and chat while dinner is cooking, and as she gets tipsier, Amara gets a kick out of observing Drake while he prepares all the food. His dedication while putting the salad together makes her smile.

‘What?’ he notices.

‘Nothing. You’re hot when you’re cooking.’

He drops the knife and the radish and kisses her deeply. She runs her hands on his stomach, and under his shirt.

‘How long til the fish is ready?’ she asks breathlessly.

Drake glances at the oven timer without removing his mouth from her neck. ‘Eleven minutes,’ he whispers.

Before she can say anything, he picks her up and seats her on the kitchen island again. She gasps. ‘Wow Mr. Walker… do we have a kitchen fetish on our hands?’

He raises an eyebrow and reaches under her dress. ‘Let’s find out,’ he says. His hand disappears between Amara’s legs and he strokes her through her panties for a few seconds, enough to turn her on. She kisses him again hungrily. Then, before she can realize what’s happening, he slides her panties down and throws them on the floor. He drops to his knees, and spreads her legs open. He starts by kissing her thighs, his lips travelling dangerously close to her core, which is already burning. ‘Mmmm,’ she moans. Soon enough, his mouth is on her pussy lips, teasing them with soft kisses, before parting them open with his tongue. Her moans grow louder as she realizes she doesn’t have to behave. She grabs his hair and strokes it in circles as he licks and kisses her clit. She feels the familiar wave of pleasure build within her, threatening to release.

BEEP BEEP

The oven alarm. Of course the fish would cockblock her. She sighs, disheartened, but Drake does not stop. He lets it ring, visibly determined to make her come, despite the growing threat of a burnt dinner. She relaxes, and soon enough the wave is back. Drake is kissing her deeply down there, moaning as he does so, and his touch, his dedication send her over the edge. ‘Drake!’ she cries out, as her orgasm overwhelms her.

He kisses her more tenderly and slowly emerges from between her legs, smiling. ‘Fuck, that was hot,’ he whispers. He plants a quick kiss on her lips, and turns around to tend to the oven. ‘No harm done,’ he says, taking the fish out, and removing the lid from the rice.

Amara smiles, spent and satisfied, but most importantly, impressed by Drake’s multitasking.

*****

‘Never have I ever… fired a gun!’

Liv rolls her eyes and drinks. ‘This isn’t fair, Domvallier. You’re making me work for it.’

Rashad laughs heartily. Their game of Never Have I Ever had remained very chaste, which Liv didn’t know whether she was grateful for or not.

‘I should probably get going,’ Rashad says after their, probably, tenth shot of vodka. ‘I don’t want to impose.’

‘Wait,’ Liv says a bit too quickly. ‘Let’s watch another episode of the show. Dinner will be over soon, and someone could see you come out.’ Phew, she thinks. She was good at thinking on her feet at least. That was a good excuse, but the truth is, she just enjoyed his company, no more, no less. She’d be alone all day, and now the idea of watching one more episode of Killing Eve with Rashad by her side sounded very appealing. No need to speak even, just having him near, a friendly face, was enough.

But of course she couldn’t just tell him that.

He nods. ‘You’re right. It’s about 9:30, it wouldn’t be discreet to go out now.’

He sits back down, and waits until she puts on another episode. Of course, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if someone saw him here. Nothing had happened, and it was apparent that he came to check on her after today’s ordeal. Plus, now that her reputation was shit, a pathetic noblewoman sleeping with her employee, a rumor of an affair with Lord Domvallier could even make her sound more...selective, which is good. Still, she was in no mood to be the subject of yet another scandal. She’d like to say that she doesn’t care, that she’s too cool for this. But really, she did feel pathetic. Not very dignified.

‘You want another vodka?’ she asks.

He smiles. ‘Yes please.’

She pours two more shots. ‘Thank you for staying. I appreciate it. It’s nice to have someone to chat and drink with.’

‘Ha, you’re welcome. I’m having a good time, for what it’s worth. We don’t hang out often enough, Liv.’

She’d like to come up with a snarky thing to say. Like ‘We hang out more than enough,’ or something along those lines. But right now, she’s tired of putting up this hard exterior. Tired of the walls, nay, the fortress that surrounds her. Sure, it protects her from getting hurt, but look, even with the walls up, people manage to break in. So, maybe just for tonight, she can just be appreciative of the one man who’s by her side.

So, she says, ‘You’re right. I have no idea why we don’t hang out more.’

Rashad shrugs, ‘I’m away on business a lot, so it’s probably on me. Also, you’re terrifying.’

She bursts out laughing, without being able to control herself. ‘Touché.’

Rashad giggles, ‘I mean seriously. Is that a dagger on your nightstand, or are you happy to see me?’

Olivia squints. ‘How would a dagger on my nightstand equate to a boner?’

‘I have no idea, but I just ran with it,’ Rashad laughs.

‘Oh well. I appreciate the effort.’

They sit in silence for a while, as they watch their show. Liv is comfortable, somehow, almost as comfortable as she is when alone with Liam. Actually, maybe more. She has more history with Liam, he knows her well. But her feelings often get in the way of just enjoying the moment with him, even when they’re simply chilling or having a drink. With Rashad, tonight, she doesn’t need any pretenses. She can relax.

‘Damn,’ Rashad whispers, his eyes stuck on the screen, ‘Sandra Oh is so amazing.’

Liv can’t contain a smile.

*****

Liam is relieved that dinner is over. Without Max, Amara, Drake, Hana, and Liv, conversation had been boring. Sure, Kiara is an interesting person, but ever since the competition started, she has her game face on and does not engage in deep conversations with him like she used to.

So, he didn’t offer anyone any after dinner drinks, and retreated to his study, alone, where he poured himself a glass of whiskey. Then two. Then three. He’s starting to see the appeal of hard liquor, when he was always a wine drinker. He’ll have to tell Drake about it.

For the whole evening, he’s been waiting for the other shoe to drop. For someone else to be targeted. But no, nothing happened tonight. Just boredom and a whole lot of yawning. He couldn’t picture himself live the rest of his life with anyone who was at the table tonight. Not Kiara, not Penelope, and certainly not Madeleine. Of course, he knows a Cordonian marriage doesn’t necessarily need to be monogamous, but he strongly believes in companionship. If he can’t marry for love --Amara had made it clear that she’s not interested in him, and Liv...well Liv, he would deal with his feelings later-- then he wants to marry someone he likes. Whose company he enjoys. Someone he can grow old with.

He chugs the rest of his drink. What had happened to him? He’s usually such a lightweight, but now, he seems to be pounding whiskey after whiskey. He pours another. Fuck it, he thinks. Too bad Drake isn’t here to commiserate. What happened to him? Why isn’t Drake reaching out? Why is Liam drinking alone, right now? Did he lose his best friend? He replays the whole beach party in his head. When he crossed a line, when he grabbed Amara and tried to take her to the creek to...for lack of a better word, to fuck her. He pinches the bridge of his nose. Not his finest moment, huh? Drake had been right to call him out on it, after all. Liam could tell he was losing himself in the competition. He’d never been one to give up on a woman when she said she didn’t want to date him; he was partial to sending gifts and flowers until she gave in. But now, in the past few weeks, he truly lost his shit with Amara and just didn’t behave well.

And with Liv… Did he make her feel taken advantage of? No, she was completely on board with having sex with him. It wasn’t the first time, either. Liam is pretty sure he took her virginity, back in the day, when they were 18, but Liv would never admit to it. In the past decade, they probably had sex, what, five, six times? So, it wasn’t a big deal when they had sex before the beach party. Not to Liam, anyways. Just friends, scratching each other’s itch. He chuckles to himself. What a fucked up way of seeing things, he thinks. How unromantic.

‘What’s wrong with me?’ he mutters, before chugging his drink once again.

And boom, another whiskey poured. When he hears a knock on the door, Liam isn’t sure if it really happened, or if he hallucinated it. So, he waits. Another knock. Must be real.

‘Come in,’ he slurs.

‘Hello, Your Highness,’ Madeleine purrs as she opens the door.

Liam almost says ‘Ugh’ out loud, but fortunately, he is not drunk enough to do that. He sits up straight, and clears his throat. ‘Oh, hello, Lady Madeleine. To what do I owe the pleasure?’

She giggles. ‘I just wanted to see you. May I?’

She gestures at the chair opposite him, and he nods. She steps into the room, and sits down. He notices that she’s not wearing much. Not even a dress, but what looks like a slip. Off-white, almost transparent. Her lingerie is very apparent underneath, not that he’s staring.

‘Can I help you?’ he asks, trying to maintain eye contact, which is not easy when the person in front of you appears to have three pairs of eyes.

‘I was just feeling quite lonely, up in my room, and I asked your bodyguard if I may come in and keep you company. He said you’re alone, too…’

She crosses her legs, in a slow, exaggerated way. Did she just watch Basic Instinct? Why is she acting like she’s in an old timey thriller? Liam doesn’t know what to say, so he says nothing.

‘Liam, how come you never asked me on a one-on-one date?’ she asks bluntly, her voice low and sultry.

‘It wasn’t intentional,’ he says, trying to remain neutral. He shouldn’t confront her about the pictures just yet, Regina would not forgive him. ‘I didn’t mean to offend you.’

She gets up, and sits on the corner of his desk. Where did she learn her moves? Liam can’t help but think it all looks fake.

‘It’s ok,’ she coos. ‘I’ll take my share now.’

She reaches across the desk to kiss him, but he pulls away. ‘Wow,’ he can’t help but yelp. ‘What are you doing?’

She clears her throat, and the façade falls. ‘Oh. I thought it would be ok. We both know we’re a great match, and our families are close. This is just bound to happen. Don’t you think?’

She’s business-like again. Liam remembers talking about her with Neville, who is not at all discreet about his...conquests. Vancoeur had bragged about having sex with Madeleine, but also said that it was very mechanical with her, like doing a robot. Liam believes it now, since she’s here in front of him, demanding to have sex with him for what? To seal the deal? That’s not the love or the companionship that he craves. Is it really bound to happen? Is Madeleine his only prospect, now that Liv is walking away from him, and Amara… God, he hopes not.

He takes Madeleine’s hand in his, and plasters on his brightest smile. ‘Lady Madeleine, I think if it’s bound to happen, it will happen. No need to cheapen it with a quickie in the study.’

He sees Madeleine’s eyes flicker for a bit, and he wonders if that how it looks when she’s embarrassed. She nods, silently, and after a long pause, says, ‘As you wish. I better go.’

She gets up and walks away, but turns around before opening the door. ‘Your Highness?’ she says, still purring. ‘You’ll come around. You have to.’

*****

‘Alright, what about most embarrassing story?’

Drake laughs, and shakes his head. ‘Jeez, Suarez, do you not like to keep any mystery?’

Amara takes a sip of her margarita, staring into the distance. ‘Hmmm...no. Go! Most embarrassing story.’

Drake looks at her, so beautiful in the moonlight. They’re sitting on the back porch, in lawn chairs, with their drinks and some chocolates that he’d bought to munch on the last time he’d come to the cabin. He’s so relieved that she accepted to come here, to his lair, where no one can bother them. Just them and the stars.

He takes a deep breath. ‘Ok. When I was 16, I went to the pool with Liam and the gang. I went for a dive, and when I resurfaced, I… I’d lost my swimsuit. But the thing is, I didn’t realize it until I was out of the pool.’

Amara bursts out laughing. ‘Oh my God, poor baby Drake! Whose pool was it?’

Drake takes a sip of his margarita and says, ‘Kiara’s.’

He notices Amara’s face fall right away. ‘Oh.’ she says. ‘She must have been delighted.’

Drake laughs, ‘Come on, it was embarrassing! Not a sexy moment!’

She shrugs, still pouting. He likes to see her jealous, even if she has absolutely no reason to. Maybe Kiara had liked him at some point, but he never had any interest in her. She was way too condescending.

‘Suarez,’ he says, holding out his hand. ‘You know I don’t like Kiara… I was just telling you about my embarrassing story.’

She finally smiles, and takes his hand. ‘Well, with what you’re packing, Walker, it’s not at all embarrassing.’

He kisses her hand. ‘Go. Most embarrassing story.’

She takes a big swig. ‘Well. Mine is the opposite of sexy. I hope you have the stomach for it.’

‘Absolutely.’

‘I was 15, and my brother had taken me to a concert. Maroon 5. I was crazy about them. I was having the time of my life, when the girl standing behind me started laughing hysterically, and tapped my shoulder. She said, and I’ll never forget it,’ she makes an exaggerated air quote gesture, ‘ ‘You have the grossest blood stain on your ass!’’

Amara stares at him intently, and they both burst out laughing. ‘Oh no,’ Drake says, commiserating, ‘what did you do?’

‘Well,’ she replies, overly serious, ‘my amazing brother gave me his hoodie to tie around my waist. Classic move when your period starts during a bad time, but a solid method. I continued rocking out and lusting after Adam Levine, but deep down, my tiny baby soul was crushed.’

He kisses her hand again. He loves this intimacy, the possibility of telling each other everything. ‘Poor Suarez.’

Amara feigns despair, playfully pouting, and pulls Drake close into a kiss. Drake puts his arms around her, as their kiss deepens, and guides her onto his lap. She complies, straddling him. He feels her weight on him, as she lowers herself towards him to kiss him some more. She lets her hands roam all over his body, drawing a low groan from him, only intensifying when she unbuttons his pants, and frees his already hard dick from its cloth prison. She breaks from their kiss and puts her mouth on his length, first kissing it gently, then taking his tip between her lips. Drake moans some more, bucking his hips. ‘Mmmm, Amara, this feels amazing…’

She makes eye contact with him, her mouth still on his cock, and it drives him crazy. He wants her now. He sits up, takes her head in his hands and guides her back to straddle him again. ‘I want you, babe,’ he whispers.

She kisses him and in one swift motion, gets rid of her panties, now naked under her dress. She places herself so his cock is right between her legs, already teasing her entrance. He can’t wait any longer. He puts his tip between her pussy lips, and as she moans against his kiss, pushes himself inside her completely.

They make love slowly, passionately, under the moonlight. They take their time, exploring each other, as all their clothes eventually come off. Drake can’t help but think that this is exactly the bliss, the closeness he needed. He wishes they could stay here forever.

*****

Taglist:

@andy-loves-corgis @drakeandcamilleofvaltoria @jovialyouthmusic @mariahschoices @drakesensworld @thequeenofcronuts @notoriouscs @drakewalkerisreal @nikkis1983 @simsvetements @alesana45 @iplaydrake @emceesynonymroll @lily1999love @drakewalkerwhipped @drakxwalker @drakewalkerrosenberg @drakeswalkers @drakelover78 @carabeth @silviasutton1989 @dcbbw @furiousherringoperatortoad @hollygirl1269 @sirbeepsalot

Thank you for your encouragements, everyone! Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist :)

#that's not why i'm going #drake x amara #drake walker x amara suarez #drake x mc #trr drake #drake walker #drake trr #drake walker trr #drake walker x mc #the royal romance #trr fanfic #choices trr #the royal romance fanfic

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catalinda04 · 6 years ago

Text

Carried Away Chapter 5: Breakfast Confessions

Masterlist

“I’m sorry Sir, but Miss Claussen has asked not to be disturbed. You may leave her a message, and I can assure you it will be delivered first thing in the morning.” The middle-aged woman behind the front desk assured him.

“No, no thank you. No message.” Henry walked away from the desk of the hotel. “How could you be so stupid?” He chastised himself. “You weren’t going to take her to bed tonight. Why did you ask? Now she most assuredly thinks you’re some sex-crazed playboy just out for a good time. You need to make this right. But how can I if she won’t see me?” He argued with himself. “I’ll just have to wait for morning. I’ll wait for her and apologize then.” Pleased with his plan, he went home to take a cold shower, and try not to think about Lucy and her soft lips, and sparkling eyes.

Lucy couldn’t remember crying harder in her life. She needed a friend and she needed one now. Sarah would know what to say.

“Oh, Sarah! I made a mess of things! He wanted me! ME! And instead of just going for it, I ran away. Literally! I RAN away from him! He must think I’m some kind of weirdo, glad that he dodged a bullet there.” She sobbed into the phone.

“Sweetie, it’s ok. I wish I could be there to give you a hug. Now explain. Tell me exactly what happened.” Lucy explained about the dinner and the wine and the dancing in the park, and the kiss that had fried her synapses with its heat and intensity.

“I ruined it! He wanted me! Now I’ve ruined the whole thing. I don’t even have his phone number or know where he lives to explain myself.”

“Honey, I’m sorry. Why don’t you get some sleep, and maybe everything will seem better in the morning. If nothing else, please don’t wallow in this. You’re in London! Go out and see the city, do all of the things you had planned, and try to forget about it.”

“Thank you. I know it’s silly. I only met this guy today, I shouldn't be so messed up over this. I’ll call you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Love you too. Get some sleep.”

Lucy contemplated the pint bottle of vodka she’d purchased earlier in the day. She hoped that by finishing it, she could at least sleep through the night. She finished the bottle and fell into a fitful sleep, full of jumbled dreams, where Superman was flying overhead while Henry laughed at her.

She awoke to a jackhammer in her brain, and a roiling in her stomach. The vodka probably wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had, she decided. After a long shower, a bottle of water, a handful of ibuprofen, and a gallon of concealer she finally felt ready for a day of exploring the city. The first item on her agenda; buy a map of the city. No more getting lost in strange neighborhoods. Only trouble came from that.

She put on her Jackie O. sunglasses to hide the dark circles the concealer didn’t quite cover, stepped out the front door of the hotel, and almost ran right into Henry.

“Good morning. I brought you a cup of tea.” He said handing her a paper to go cup.

“Henry! What are you doing here?” Lucy paled at his appearance.

“I came to apologize. I obviously came on too strong last night. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, I’m sorry. I DID get scared, and I ran away, instead of facing my feelings. Would you like to go get some breakfast, and maybe I can shed some light for you.”

They made small talk as Henry led her to a nearby restaurant. Perusing the menu, she asked, “What does a ‘Full English’ breakfast consist of?”

“A ‘Full English’ is usually fried eggs, sausages, bacon or black pudding, fried veg, beans, and toast.”

“And people say Americans fry too much. How can anyone eat that much fried food this early in the morning.”

“There’s nothing better after a night at the pub.” He smiled. Lucy had planned on skipping breakfast today, but it seemed since seeing Henry, her stomach had forgotten all about the vodka incident.

“I feel like I owe you an explanation.” Lucy started after giving the waitress their orders. “First of all, again, I’m sorry for how I left last night. I really did have a wonderful time, it was probably the best evening I’ve ever spent. Then you...made your...request...and I didn’t know how to handle it.”

“I’m sorry I said it. It was incredibly forward of me to even suggest that we might take things to that level, we’d known each other for less than 12 hours. I didn’t mean to imply that I thought that you were…” And he just trailed off.

“It’s not that I was offended, or didn’t want to. I did, oh good lord how I did, it’s just…I can’t believe I’m telling you this…I’ve…um...never…um...well you know.”

“Had a one-night stand?” He suggested.

“Had ANY night stand.” She supplied, not meeting his eyes.

“Oh…OH!” He exclaimed, his eyes going wide as understanding hit him. “But you’re what 26, 27? How does that happen? Is it a religion thing?”

“No, it’s a never had the opportunity thing, and I’m a month shy of 31 thank you very much for reminding me. I wasn’t popular in high school, and in college, I was focused on my studies, then well, guys have never shown an interest in me. Which is why I was so surprised when you actually showed at the coffee shop yesterday.” She explained fidgeting her hands on the table.

Thankfully their food arrived at just that moment, halting Lucy’s rambling and giving them a few moments to take in what had already been said.

After a few minutes of thoughtful eating Henry finally broke the silence. “So what is on our schedule for today?”

“Our? What do you mean our?”

“If you wouldn't mind, I’d like to accompany you around town today.”

“What? Why?” Lucy asked, genuine shock crossing her features.

“Because I’d like to get to know you better. And I’d like to see where this could lead.”

Lucy sat dumbfounded, staring at Henry “You, want to spend the day with me? Even after how I behaved last night, and all that’s been explained over breakfast?”

“Why is that so hard for you to comprehend?”

“Because. No man has ever wanted to...get to know me.”

“Well, then they are supremely daft. Because I’ve thought about nothing but getting to know you since the coffee shop yesterday.” She gaped at him slightly, her brow furrowing in disbelief. “I would like to keep spending time with you while you’re here in London.”

“I’m just planning on doing standard sightseeing, nothing that you’d want to do, I’m sure.”

“I have a few days before we start filming on my latest project. I would like to spend as much of those few days with you as you’ll allow.”

For a few seconds, Lucy couldn’t speak. Had he just said that? he wanted to spend more time with her. Her brain could barely fathom the idea. “Well, I was going to go to the Globe, followed by the Tate and St. Paul’s.”

“Wow, that’s quite a bit for one day.”

“I’m only here for a few days, I want to see as much as I can.”

Henry stood. “Well then, we had better be off, but before we go,” He leaned close when Lucy stood as well. “I want to tell you, my ‘offer’ from last night is on the table, so to speak. But I will leave it up to you to decide if you want to pick it up. There will be no pressure from me” Lucy gaped after him as he left to pay the bill.

Once they were outside, he donned a pair of sunglasses and a hat. “Disguise.” He explained. “It’s not a great one, but it’s better than nothing.”

Lucy and Henry spent the entire day together. Talking, laughing, learning little bits about each other, like her love for Picasso, and his aversion to black olives. Lucy surprised herself. She was normally a very selfie-phobic person, but she found she would take as many selfies as possible as long as Henry was by her side.

That evening, they enjoyed a lovely meal at a little bistro near Leicester Square, before Henry escorted Lucy back to her hotel. When she tried to say goodnight at the front door, he insisted on seeing her to her room.

Her room was at the back of the hotel, through an outdoor courtyard. When they arrived at her door, Lucy unlocked it and turned to say goodnight to Henry.

“Is this your entire room? He asked peering inside. “This may be the smallest hotel room I’ve ever seen.”

“The bathroom is so small that in order to turn around, you have to step out of it.” She laughed, gesturing in, indicating he should have a look.

He stepped into the room and what had once been a small room, seemed positively minuscule. He turned to Lucy. He had planned to say goodnight, give her a simple kiss and be on his way. But the nervous, expectant look on her face nearly undid him. He took the two steps possible to cross the room and framed Lucy’s face in his hands. He lowered his lips to hers, intending to give her a slow, sweet kiss goodnight. She responded with abandon. Wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him in closer. She opened her mouth, and her tongue dueled with his.

He slowly sat down on the bed, pulling Lucy with him. She sat next to him and buried her hands in his hair. Henry turned to lay her down on the bed, her hands slid down his strong back to slide under the hem of his shirt. His hand left her face to slide down her neck, moulding his palm to her breast. Lucy moaned against his mouth.

His hand continued its downward slide to her waist, toying with the hem of her shirt. When his hand slid under to touch the bare skin of her stomach, she started. She put a hand on his chest. “Stop.” She gasped. “We need to stop. I...no. Not yet.” She could barely get the words out around her gasping for breath, sitting up, she left the hand on his chest.

“Yes. Stop. Good idea.” Henry agreed once his brain started working again.

Lucy stood up and pulled Henry with her. “You should go.” She said kissing him again, all but pushing him out of the room. “Good night Henry. Thank you for a wonderful day.” She said, kissing him once more, before shutting the door and falling back onto it.

Henry stood staring at her door. He started back toward the hotel exit before he turned and knocked on Lucy’s door. She answered with a slightly dazed expression on her face.

He grabbed her and kissed her one long, deep, thorough, kiss. Resting his forehead against hers, he breathed heavily. “I’ll go now, but think about this. When we do finally make love. We’re going to set the sheets on fire.” Then he kissed her again for good measure and walked off. As last words went, that was one for the record books.

Chapter 4 Chapter 6

#henry cavill #henry cavill fanfic #fanfic #henry cavill fanfiction #carried away #fan fiction

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sunnysidewrites · 7 years ago

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Enemies to Lovers!Subin

Requested by anon: enemies to lovers au with subin from victon??? thank u!!!

here you go sunflower anon pt 2 LOL!!! YOUR REQUEST BLEW THROUGH THE ROOF SO MANY PPL WANTED THIS WOW STAN TALENT STAN KINGS AKA VICTON!!! WE NEED MORE WRITERS FOR VICTON AND I WILL DO IT MYSELF!!!!!! i also really love other victon writers you guys are the mvps i love u!!!! AND JUST LIKE I PROMISED THIS IS THE 2ND IMAGINE I’M DROPPING TODAY!!!!!! HAPPY READING MY CHILDREN!!!!!

warnings: cUTE BABY SUBIN V V CUTE SUBIN!!!!

wHAT A CONCEPT

THIS IS GONNA BE MY FIRST PUBLISHED VICTON IMAGINE AAAAAAAA

STAN ROOKIE KINGS YALL PLS STOP SLEEPING ON THEM

THIS GOT MORE VOTES THAN I THOUGHT TOO YOU GUYS ARE #WOKE

You’ve always been gr8 at school

You exceed in academics, sports, extracurriculars you are the Full Package

But you might have just met your match when a Jung Subin came into your life

He has literally only been at your school for 3 hours and everyone’s already fawning over him

“Omg did you meet the new kid?? He is sO CUTE AND NICE”

“That subin guy is really nice”

“I wanna keep him in my pocket” LMAO SAME

And he just sounds like a freaking angel

You’re like well i didn’t meet the guy yet so i can’t judge him based off of these

Turns out he’s in your writing class

Writing class is your fav bc it’s your strongest suit and you’re just super confident no one is gonna take your place as #1

Welp hahahah

Subin waltzes in and just kinda does that

likE GDI SUBIN FIRST YOU’RE AN ANGEL AND NOW YOU TAKE MY SPOT SMH

He seems to have a nice smile but,,, when he makes eye contact with you,,,, you could feel the ice

And you’re like this boi doesn’t even know me??? What is his deal???

He knows you’re gonna be his competition bc he has already been informed about you

Well actually your friend was telling him about you but whatever

And he’s like wO WZERZ SHE IS PRETTY AND CUTE BUT MOVE ASIDE HONEY THERE’S A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN

As class resumes after his introduction, you’re like ok whatevz i won’t let this weirdo get in the way of My Happiness™

When you get your assignments back a few classes later, your teacher is all gushing about someone’s work

And you’re like lmao!! I know thank you!!

“What a real piece of work!! Subin have you considered joining our school newspaper?”

aND YOU’RE FLIPPING OUT LIKE W HA T SU B I N????????????

And your classmates are like ooo shhiiiitttttt y/n has been replaced

And yoU’RE LIKE UM EXCUSE U i WILL NoT have my pride destroyed like this

And subin is just smirking like lmao ye that’s right boi i snatched it

And you’re like ??????????? get out u wish honey??????????

And from that point on you’re like this b is gonna go down i am gonna pull out all the sTOPS WA T C H ME

Your teacher and your classmates are just like pl s,,, chill,,,, it’s literally just creative writing,,,,,

You & subin: nO I WANNA BE THE VERY BEST gotta go

“tHIS AIN’T POKEMON IT’S AN ELECTIVE”

You guys are just at each other’s throats and you both try to one-up the other so hard but it always results in the both of you tied

Your teacher is like ok u kno wat

“Class, we’ll be mixing things up a little for this assignment. You’re gonna get into pairs or groups!! And don’t even pick your partners i already have them picked lmao”

You & subin: w HA T

The rest of the class: …….yikes

Your teacher and the rest of the class lowkey ship yall

And ofc,,,, you ended up with the one person you didn’t want,,,,,

“Ugh ok let’s just try to get this over with”

“Fine whatever”

the prompt involves writing a short story where person A and person B meet under the most unlikely circumstances and take a disliking at first sight but they grow closer and actually start falling love

And one partner writes person A’s perspective and the other writes person B’s

And you and subin are like jesus christ

So you’re like ok i’ll do person A then and subin is like sure whatevz

And you guys start brainstorming for the core of the plot

Class ends but you still haven’t gotten too far in brainstorming so you’re like sigh,,, ok well,,, we’re gonna have to meet up outside of school to work on this,,,,, we don’t have much time to work on this in class

And he’s like ugh,,,,, you’re right,,,,,

So you guys plan to meet a local cafe later that week to crank it out

As you’re getting dressed you’re like what should i wear

Would this be too casual

Is this dressing up too much

And you’re like wa i t lmao it’s just subin what am i doing!! :)))

But you’re also like im gonna wear that cute skirt

When you get there, subin has already picked out a table and spread out his things

“Sorry were you waiting that long?”

And he kINDA JUMPS LIKE O JESUS

You’re like why are you so jumpy??? It’s not like you weren’t expecting me to come????

And he’s like it’s no t h in g let’s just get started!!

You just shrug it off and start taking out your materials too

And you’re like ok wait i probably need to buy a drink so that we can stay here for longer do u want anything

And he’s like ya sure get me a mocha frappe or smth

And you’re like w h a t,,,,, i love that drink,,,,,,,

“With whipped cream?”

“yES O M G”

You’re literally bonding over a coffee drink i just???

And you can see his eyes forming into little crescents cause he’s smILING I’M SO SOFT OMG

And your heart is doing some somersaults and you’re like aahahhahsjdffljdljd i’ll be back bye

When you return with both of your drinks he’s like :)))!!!

“Thanks!! So for the part when they meet --”

And you guys spend literally hours and you’re just like ok,,, let’s,,, just take a breather,,,, and get some lunch or smth

And he’s like yea my brain is fried

You guys start packing your things and move to a little restaurant down the block

You & subin: is this,, like,,, a date,,,, wth,,,,

And you guys spend your lunch laughing and making jokes while adding more ideas to your story

You finish your meal and you’re like ok well,,,, i think we practically laid out all the necessary details now we just gotta work on our own part

And he’s like yea,,,, i guess this is where we go,,,,

And you’re both reluctant to leave bc,,, hanging out with the other wasn’t the most horrible thing ever,,,,,

You’re unsure of whether to hug him goodbye or just leave so you hesitate for a second more and just decide to wave him goodbye

And he waVES BACK HOW CUTE SLDFJFJDF

You go home and you’re like ,,,,,,,,,,,,oh my god did that just happen

Subin at home: that really happened wow

You sit yourself down at your desk and you’re ready to go into Writing Mode this assignment is due in a day it’s time to go hAM

And you get so caught up in working that by the time you finish you’re like oMG I NEED TO GO TO BED

You sleep quite soundly that night bc you’re very satisfied with your product

Can’t relate lol :)))

The following day you and subin turn it into your teacher and your teacher is like i hope there were no complications!!!

And you and subin are like nope,,,, it went pretty smoothly actually,,,

Teacher + class: w HA T

“O-oh okay that’s good to hear! Anyways let’s take a quick break before launching into our work today. I’ll read some of these stories out loud!”

When she reaches your story, she pauses as she scans through it

And you and subin are lowkey holding your breath

Her mouth and eyes are a little wide open

She starts reading it and you can see your classmates being sh O OK

And your classmates can already tell who wrote it bc it’s just so obvious

She gets near the end of your short story and it talks about a cafe date

And when she reads person B’s perspective IT ALSO HAS A CAFE D A TE

*eyes emoji*

“His company wasn’t bad. Not bad at all.” -- the last sentence of yours

“She turned around and went on her way, and all I could think about was how many more times I would see that same back walking.” -- the last sentence of his

I AM SHOOK BY THIS FAKE SHORT STORY LMAO

Everyone is just like holy crap pls don’t read the rest of ours we are ashAMED

When class ends, you’re about to leave and go to the parking lot but subin stops you

“Hey,,, so,,,,,”

“So,,,,,”

“Would you,,, wanna have another cafe date,,,,,,,,,,,”

“,,,,,,,,if you want,,,,,,,”

And you’re both so shy and start blushing and giggling a little here and there OSJLFLJDSJL SO CUTE

“Well, your company really isn’t bad at all” you say with a wink

And just like that you turn around, leaving a starstruck Subin

#my post #victon #victon subin #subin #victon imagines #victon scenarios #victon headcanons #victon au #subin imagines #subin scenarios #subin headcanons #subin au #enemies to lovers au #enemies to lovers!subin

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minijenn · 7 years ago

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Universe Falls, Chapter 43, Part 1

God I still can’t believe I decided to split this one up but here we are. And I am HYPE BECAUSE AUGHGHGHGHG FUCK ITS THE BIG ONE KIDS! SOCK OPERA HAS FINALLY COME TO FUCK WITH OUR HEARTS AND MINDS AND SO WITHOUT ANY FURTHER ADO, HERE WE GO!

Previous: http://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/166151506804/universe-falls-chapter-42

Chapter 43: Sock Opera

Part 1

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With all of the recent chaos and upheaval brought on by the invasion and everything that sprung out of it afterwards, it had been quite some time since the Mystery Kids had come together to solve a genuine mystery, Gem, paranormal, or otherwise. But that was about to change as the four of them gathered at the Gravity Falls library, all of them acutely mindful of the momentous task that lay before them. Or rather, mostly mindful.

“Alright, you guys,” Dipper began with firm resolve as they claimed a table near the back of the library to themselves. “Today’s the big day.”

“Big day!” Mabel chimed in with blithe excitement.

“Super big!” Steven added enthusiastically, though his expression fell into confusion a beat later. “Uh… what’s so big about it again?”

“Come on, Steven,” Connie said with a small, good natured chuckle. “We’ve been over this several times today alone!”

“Yeah, well… one more refresher couldn’t hurt, could it?” the young Gem blushed in slight embarrassment over his own apparent obliviousness.

“No, it couldn’t,” Dipper interjected as he carefully lifted the old laptop they had found in the bunker a few weeks ago up for everyone to see. “Soos finally finished fixing up the laptop. If this thing works, we could learn the identity of the author and unravel the greatest mysteries of Gravity Falls, and then some!”

“Oh, that’s right!” Steven face palmed with a small laugh. “The laptop! You know, it’s been so long since that whole bunker thing that I nearly forgot all about it!”

“Same here,” Mabel agreed just as brightly. “But I guess there won’t be any forgetting about this nut if we manage to finally crack it! And I mean that figuratively, since the laptop’s not a nut, it’s a laptop! But you know what I mean.”

“I can’t believe it!” Connie exclaimed zealously. “After all this time, the answers to all of the questions we’ve been asking this entire summer could be sitting right in front of us! This could be our biggest break yet!”

“That’s what I’m counting on,” Dipper nodded fervently as he opened the dented, patched-up laptop up. “Especially since the author seemed to know so much about Gem stuff. Now, there isn’t a whole lot in journal 3 about fusions, but I’m willing to bet he might have kept some research about them here on the laptop, maybe even something about how to split them up. And if he did…”

Steven filled in for where Dipper had left off with a sudden gasp, his eyes lighting up with newfound hope as he gathered what he was implying. “Dipper… you don’t think…?”

“I do,” Dipper nodded with just the hint of an assured smile. After all, from the moment he remembered the laptop the other day, he couldn’t shake the thought that, perhaps, this could finally be the chance to help the blue Gem he had been looking for. And that alone was more than enough to get him to pursue that chance as soon as possible. “I think this laptop could be the key to helping us separate Malachite and save Lapis.”

“Well, then what are we waiting for?!” Mabel grinned eagerly at such good news. “Let’s get this baby going!” To punctuate her point, she held up a popup book she had found about where babies come from, her smile widening as she opened it up to a colorful picture of a baby.

“Then here goes nothing,” Dipper said as he flipped the laptop’s switch on. All four of the kids held their breaths in anticipation for a moment, before simultaneously letting them out in relief as the primitive machine slowly rattled to life. Given its age, the only color its display was capable of showing was green against black as its surprisingly elaborate startup and welcome screens appeared after likely decades of being dormant. “Yes! It works!”

“Oh my gosh, this is so exciting, you guys!” Steven cheered as he pulled Connie and the twins into a sudden, warm embrace. “Here we all are, solving another mystery together! It’s just like the good old days!”

“Uh, by good old days, do mean last week before this whole Gem invasion thing happened?” Connie asked with a tentative smirk of amusement.

“Heh, yeah…” Steven glanced down, his smile fading just a bit. “Still, I have to admit, this is a really nice change of pace from how intense things have been these past few days.”

“It’ll be even better once we find something useful on this-” Dipper was cut off by the laptop itself as it suddenly emitted a sharp warning beep. Confused, the kids glanced over at it again, only to find it flashing with the message “//UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS FORBIDDEN//” before switching over to a password input screen. “Ugh, of course! A password!” Dipper groaned in frustration over this newfound roadblock.

“I guess we should have seen this coming,” Connie mused. “After all, if the author really did kept all of his deepest secrets on the laptop, then it only make sense that he’d take every measure he could to protect them.”

“I wonder what that password could be…” Steven said curiously as he looked over the password screen. “Hm… eight letters, huh? What words have eight letters…? Oh, I know! ‘Password’! Bam, eight letters! Mystery solved!”

A beat of stilted silence passed as Dipper and Connie both looked to Steven incredulously at this suggestion, while Mabel nodded her silent but cheerful agreement over it. “Uh… Steven? That’s… not a very secure password…” Connie noted with a frown.

“…Well, at least it’s easy to remember!” the young Gem pointed out blithely.

“But I seriously doubt it’s the kind of password someone like the author would use,” Dipper remarked dryly as he began flipping through the journal in search of some kind of clue. “I mean, for all we know, the password might not even be a word at all. It could be some kind of code or a series of numbers or literally anything else! Where do we even start?!”

“Don’t worry, bro-bro,” Mabel reassured with a broad grin as she put a supporting hand on her brother’s shoulder. “With you and Connie’s brains, Steven’s enthusiasm, and my laser focus, there is nothing that can distract us from… Do you hear that?”

Ironically enough, everyone’s attention was diverted away from the laptop as the sound of light piano music wafting through the library from nearby. The source of the gentle melody came from a blonde pony-tailed young man who was entertaining a group of spectating small children with a cheery puppet show musical, one that he smoothly yet passionately sang all of the lyrics to. “All my life I’ve been dreamin’ of a love that’s right for me, and now I finally know her name and its… sing it with me kids:”

“Literacy!” the crowd of children chimed in enthusiastically as the boy continued his show, this time speaking through his book and bee puppets.

“I finally understand what all the buzz is about!” the bee puppet quipped. “Reading!”

“Give me some of that honey!” the book puppet exclaimed before the two puppets smashed into each other into something of a “kiss” as the boy laughed warmly at this odd display he was creating.

“Uh… is it really ok for him to be making those puppets, um… kiss like that in front of all those little kids?” Connie asked, somewhat disturbed as her and the others observed the show from afar.

“Yeah, now that you mention it… that is kinda weird…” Steven frowned rather uncomfortably. “I mean, puppets are neat and everything, but maybe he should sorta, I dunno, tone it down? Just a bit?”

“Ugh, who cares?” Dipper rolled his eyes, already tired of this diversion as he turned his attention back to the laptop. “We have way more important things to do right now than watch some weirdo’s dumb puppet show, right, Mabel?” Upon receiving no response from his sister, Dipper did briefly glance away from the laptop and over at her, only to find that she was already completely enamored by the young puppeteer, stars in her eyes as she stared at him, completely lovestruck. To hammer in her newfound crush, she opened up the baby book again, only this time to a popup of a large romantic heart, a huge, infatuated smile spreading across her face. “Oh boy…” Dipper sighed, already knowing exactly where this was going.

“Uh, Mabel?” Steven asked, concerned as he noticed how visibly besotted she was. “Are you ok?”

“Oh, I’m better than ok, Steven,” Mabel sighed contentedly as she continued looking to nothing else but the newest object of her affections as he continued his puppet show afar. “I’m amazing! Just when I was getting over Mermando, of course, that dreamboat shows up at my doorstep!”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about Mermando,” Dipper remarked, completely unenthused as he retrieved a book on codes from the nearby shelf. “Did not care for Mermando.”

“That wouldn’t be because of that little CPR incident, would it, Dipper?” Connie asked with a wry, knowing smirk.

“Pfft, no,” Dipper countered defensively, even if it was clear that he was rather embarrassed by the recollection of it as he sat down again. “Besides, none of that matters right now. We have to get back on track with this laptop! According to this cryptology book, there are approximately 7.2 million eight letter words, so we’re going to have to work together to get through them all. Now, let’s see here…”

Mabel rolled her eyes impatiently as Dipper began to detail his complex password decryption strategy, one that she hardly listened to as she glanced over to the handsome puppeteer on the other side of the library once more. Overwhelmed with excitement over her newfound infatuation, she decided that she might as well act on it as soon as she could, lest he slip away from her like all of her other summer romances had so far. “Steven,” she whispered, discreetly pulling on the young Gem’s arm as her brother continued detailing his plan. “I need you to come with me and be my wingman while I flirt with that cute puppet guy.”

“Ok, but what’s a wingma—whoa!” Before Steven could even finish his question, Mabel whisked him away just as Dipper wrapped up his lengthy explanation.

“Ok, so I’ll type, Connie, you keep track of the words we’ve already tried, and Steven and Mabel, you guys can take turns listing off words from the-” Dipper cut himself off as he looked over to where the pair was sitting, or rather, where they had been sitting. They had both taken off, rushing to the other side of the library with Mabel brazenly leading the way towards her newest crush, leaving only Dipper and Connie behind to continue with their original mission. “Ok, seriously?!” Dipper groaned in frustration at this, knowing that Mabel was wasting their valuable time on mere frivolities. Time that, as far as he was concerned, would be put to much better use in trying to unlock the laptop and the secrets that it contained, especially if such secrets could potentially lead the way to freeing a certain self-imprisoned blue Gem.

Still, for as resolved as Dipper was to reach his goal, Mabel was just as resolved with accomplishing hers. Before they had even made it over to the puppeteer, she had already made sure to fill her “wingman” in on exactly what he was supposed to do and say to help her impress her new crush from afar. Steven agreed, even if he was still rather confused and oblivious as to what this was supposed to accomplish, though Mabel assured him that it would all turn out according to plan as they finished discreetly making their way over to the puppet show, which was just about reaching its conclusion.

“And that’s why we don’t stick our hands in…” the puppeteer trailed his song off as the chorus of kids gathered in front of him joined him.

“Other people’s mouths!”

“Hey, I’m Gabe Benson, ya’ll, good night!” the puppeteer coolly bid his young audience farewell as their parents came to collect them. “Hey, good job today, you guys,” he remarked to the pair of puppets on his hands with a proud smile. “You were late on your cue!” the book puppet accused its partner harshly. “What?!” the bee scoffed before Gabe quieted them both down. “Hey, hey, be good to each other. We’re all stars.”

“Whoa! Oh my gosh, Mabel!” Steven suddenly spoke up rather overtly as him and Mabel still stood apace away from Gabe, just close enough so he could easily overhear them. “You sure do know a whole lot about puppets!”

“Oh you know I do, Steven!” Mabel placed her hands on her hips as she shot him a triumphant wink upon seeing that she had garnished her crush’s attention. “In fact, you might even say I have a passion for them!”

“Oh really?” Gabe interjected at this, looking to Mabel with an intrigued smile. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear your zeal for the fine art of puppetry. Is it true?”

“You could say that,” Mabel shrugged with a nonchalant, flirtatious smirk. “I’m Mabel. Care to know more? I bet you do. You like to learn.”

“I’m Gabe,” the puppeteer introduced himself casually. “Master of puppets. Nice to meet you.”

“Your puppets are really cool,” Steven remarked with a smile. “Mind if I see one for a-”

“No!” Gabe cried, pulling his puppets close to him in a protective embrace. “These puppets are made with the best fabrics and googly eyes available! Only professionals like me can handle them without sullying their perfect forms!”

“Uh…. Ok then…” the young Gem frowned, backing off as he was rather weirded out by such an unexpectedly panicked response.

“You’re amazing with them…” Mabel mused, her tone dreamy as she looked more to Gabe than his puppets.

“Really?” Gabe asked, still clinging onto his puppets carefully. “A lot of people think puppets are dumb, o-or just for kids, or something.”

“Well, I don’t!” Mabel quipped boldly. “I’m puppet crazy! People call me Puppet-Crazy-Mabel!”

“Wait, they do?” Steven asked.

“Yes!” Mabel quickly snapped, her smile ridiculously wide by now in an attempt to keep her ruse up.

“Oh, no way, people used to call me Puppet-Crazy-Gabe!” the puppeteer exclaimed. “So, when’s your next puppet show?”

“My… huh?”

“Well, you can’t truly love puppets if you’re not throwing puppet shows, right?” Gabe asked as though it were obvious.

“O-oh, yeah! I-I mean, I’m totally working on a puppet show!” Mabel professed, hardly even thinking at all about what she was saying. Something that would more than likely come back to bite her before it was all said and done.

“Wait, you are?” Steven questioned, more confused than ever now.

“Yes, I am, Steven!” Mabel replied sharply, her smile so huge now to the point that it almost hurt. “I’ve just been keeping it a secret until now!”

“Ooo, keeping things under wraps, I like it,” Gabe nodded, impressed as he sent her a rather coy look. “Still, you wouldn’t mind sharing a few details with me… would you?”

Mabel couldn’t repress an absolutely lovestruck blush at this, one that she forced away with a small, thoughtless wave of her hand. After all, if a puppet show was what it took to land her that long-awaited summer romance, then she was more than willing to put forth the effort. “There are so many details…” she replied, albeit quite nervously. Still, she was prepared to fabricate whatever she had to for now, in the hopes that it could become a reality that was sure to win her new crush’s heart some way or another. And as far as she was concerned, there was nothing in the world that could stop her from doing just that.

While Mabel and Steven continued chatting the puppeteer up, Dipper and Connie unanimously decided to get started on the laptop without them, though making any real progress took a good deal longer since it was just the two of them working on it. So far, none of the words that Dipper inputted as Connie read them aloud showed any signs of even come close to being correct, but even so they kept going, knowing that they had literally millions of unused possibilities to sift through and so little time in which to do it.

“Ok, so the next word, ironically enough, is ‘password’,” Connie reported, going through the seemingly endless list.

“Seriously?” Dipper asked incredulously before shrugging in defeat. “Eh, it’s worth a try, I guess, considering nothing else has worked yet.” Of course, the moment he typed the literal password in, the laptop beeped in rejection over it once more, just as it had with every other word they had tried thus far. “Called it.”

“Well, Steven might be a little disappointed then…” Connie remarked with a small, bemused grin.

“Disappointed with what?” the young Gem asked as him and Mabel returned to the table as if on cue.

“The password, ironically enough, wasn’t ‘password’.”

“Aw, man!” Steven frowned. “And I thought that was a really good guess too!”

“So, how’d it go with puppet guy?” Dipper asked the pair dully, not really paying too much attention to anything other than the laptop as he continued trying other passwords.

“Dipper…” Mabel began, biting her lip anxiously as she prepared to lay all her cards out on the table at once. “How hard do you think it would be to write and compose a sock puppet rock opera with lights, original music, and live pyrotechnics by Friday?”

Dipper aptly froze upon hearing all this, the laptop buzzing with yet another failed password guess as he looked to his sister in startled disbelief. “What? Mabel, are you serious?!”

“Yeah, she kinda is…” Steven admitted, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. “It’s a long story…”

“I don’t know what happened!” Mabel groaned, pressing back into her seat as she covered her eyes with her sweater sleeve. “I got lost in his eyes and his ponytail and I’m gonna be so embarrassed on Friday if I don’t have anything to show for it, which is why I need both of you guys’ help!” she implored Dipper and Connie. “Steven’s already on board, right, Steven?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess so,” Steven shrugged, though this was really the first he had heard on the matter of him volunteering for this endeavor. “I mean, puppet shows are already a lot of fun to watch, so I’m sure putting one together will be even more fun, especially if we all work on it together!”

“Well… I suppose making a few sock puppets shouldn’t be too hard, right?” Connie asked effectually signing herself onto the project as well.

“A few?” Mabel asked, shaking her head. “Oh, no, no, no! This can’t be just some plain old sideshow puppet show. This is gonna be epic, with huge, elaborate sets and a whole menagerie of puppets acting every single, heartfelt, suspenseful scene out! If I really wanna impress Gabe with this, then we can’t spare any expense, and that includes time.”

“But what about cracking this password?” Dipper interjected, knowing that it was by far a much higher priority than trying to appease his sister’s latest crush. “We have to figure this thing out, especially if it could end up helping us save Lapis!”

“I know, that’s really important to you, Dipper,” Mabel agreed earnestly. “A-and it’s important to me too! But if you help me with this for just a couple of days, then I promise we’ll all pitch in with the password! Please! Pretty please! It’s for love, Dipper!”

Dipper took pause for a moment at this, initially ready to adamantly say no seeing as how this entire puppet show fiasco was likely going to all be for naught anyway. Still, as he looked to the pleading, almost desperate expression on his sister’s face, echoed, albeit less so in Steven and Connie’s expressions, he found that there was really no way he could say no. Even if he largely wanted to. “All right, fine-”

“YES!” Mabel cheered before he even had a chance to finish, pulling him into a tight hug that she soon extended to Steven and Connie as well. “Thank you guys so much! Everyone hear that!” she shouted to the rest of the library. “These three! They’re all the best!”

“The best?” Steven gasped with a delighted smile. “Aw, thanks so much Mabel! You’re the best too!”

“No, you’re the best!” Mabel countered just as cheerfully.

“No, you are!”

“No, you!”

“Ok, guys, shh!” Connie cut in, quite embarrassed over how everyone nearby was staring at their loud, happy display. “We’re still in a library, remember?”

“Not for long!” Mabel hopped out of her seat as she prepared to take her leave. “We gotta go get some socks, and a ton of them!”

“Oh! I think Amethyst has a bunch of old socks in her room that she’d let us borrow!” Steven suggested. “She always keeps stuff like that around, though I’m not really sure why… Still, we should go ask her for some.”

“Then let’s get going,” Dipper said, letting out a small sigh of disappointment as he closed the laptop and headed out after the others. “After all, the sooner we get this whole puppet show over with, the sooner we can all focus our attention on the laptop full time. We’re close to discovering something big here, I can feel it…”

And so the group left the library with two missions in mind now as opposed to just one. And yet, as caught up in both thoughts of password decoding and sock puppeteering as they all were, none of them caught sight of the ominous, triangular shadow that slowly and silently drifted along the wall right behind them, a shadow that had intentions all its own…

Needless to say that, amidst relaxing in the living room, none of the Gems were expecting to see the kids suddenly burst into the temple, Steven and Mabel quite frantically as they rushed in with Dipper and Connie trailing after them much more calmly.

“Hi, guys! Can’t talk! Gotta get craft supplies!” Steven called to his startled guardians as he hurried up to the loft to do just that.

“Amethyst!” Mabel rushed over the purple Gem without hesitation. “Do you have a whole bunch of socks I can borrow? And by borrow, I mean have since I’m gonna glue hair and googly eyes onto them?”

Amethyst only paused for a moment, briefly taken aback by the strangeness of this question before she simply shrugged nonchalantly. “Sure. How many you need?”

“As many as you got!”

“On it,” Amethyst simply complied, hopping off the couch and making her way towards the temple gate.

“You’re not even going to ask what she needs so many socks for?” Pearl asked, raising an eyebrow at this.

“Meh, whatever,” the purple Gem shrugged once more. “I just like to roll with stuff like this, P. Besides, it’s not like I’m ever gonna wear any of them anyway.”

“Well,” Pearl remarked as Amethyst entered the temple. “If she’s not going to ask, then I will. Mabel, what in the world could you possibly need so many socks for? In case you don’t know, Amethyst has hundreds of them in that disaster of a room of hers. And the last time I checked, you only have two feet.”

“Oh, the socks aren’t for my feet, Pearl!” Mabel replied with a small chuckle. “They’re for this huge sock puppet show I plan on producing so I can impress this guy I just met like an hour ago! His name is Gabe and he’s a total hunk who’s totally into puppets, so I figured I might as well give him what he likes, you know?”

“You might want to consider another option,” Garnet spoke up rationally.

“Oh… uh, why? Do you see a future where this turns out… I dunno, badly?” Mabel asked rather hesitantly.

“No, actually,” the Gem leader said, her frown deepening as she realized she actually couldn’t see too many possibilities for this scenario at all. And the few that she could see were all muddled and blurry, a phenomenon that she certainly wasn’t used to and found very odd. Still, she decided to keep this bizarre anomaly to herself, at least for now. “But I do know that trying to win someone’s affections by trying to impress them isn’t always the wisest idea, especially if you want to form a genuine connection with them.”

“Oh, but I already did form a connection with him back at the library when we talked about puppets and I stared at his beautiful ponytail!” Mabel nodded vigorously. “I’m just trying to make that connection with him a little… deeper… if ya know what I mean…”

“And you intend to do that with… socks?” Pearl asked, still quite confused. “I’m not sure if I understand how that’s going to work…”

“Don’t worry, Pearl, you’re not the only one,” Dipper interjected rather dryly, rolling his eyes as Mabel playfully stuck her tongue out at him in retaliation.

“You guys should definitely come see the show on Friday!” Steven exclaimed as he hurried back downstairs with a large box of various art supplies, from glue to glitter and everything in between. “It’s gonna be great! Especially since all four of us are gonna be working on making it happen!”

“Then we’ll be there,” Garnet confirmed with a small smile that was quick to fade. “But just remember, Mabel: going all in for someone you barely know isn’t as important as going all in for someone you do.”

“Uh… ok, thanks?” Mabel frowned, somewhat bewildered by this cryptic advice. Still, she didn’t have much time to ponder over it before Amethyst emerged from the temple, toting a pile of socks that was larger than she was, with several of them falling out of her grip the moment she attempted to pull the load through the temple door. “Oh my gosh, yes! Those are perfect! Steven, help me pick out the best, most puppetey ones!”

“Ok!” the young Gem chuckled, already having fun with this project as him, Mabel, and Amethyst essentially leapt into the massive sock pile, spreading them out even more.

“Oh, for crying out loud, you three!” Pearl huffed in disapproval. “You’re making a mess!”

“I really hope we don’t have to make puppets out of all of those socks…” Connie remarked, her eyes wide with amazement over just how many of them there were. At the same time, however, Dipper turned his attention away from the socks and back towards his overall goal, which was of course, the laptop tucked under his arm.

“Uh, so…” he addressed Garnet and Pearl somewhat hesitantly, knowing how talking to them about things like this usually went. Still, the Gem leader had been there when they had first found the laptop, so he hoped that would make this a little less difficult than something like the journal had been. “Garnet, you remember the laptop we found in the author’s bunker, right?” Garnet simply nodded in response to this, not offering much more of an answer as she silently prompted Dipper to continue. “Well, I’ve been trying to see what’s on it, but all of its information is blocked off with a password. And while you guys apparently didn’t know the author per se… he did know a lot about Gem stuff, so… I was wondering if maybe you guys might have an idea about what it could be?”

“A password?” Pearl asked, curiously looking over the laptop as Dipper opened it up for her to see. “Well, given the author’s apparent comradery with Rose,” the white Gem let out a rather harsh scoff at this before continuing. “I would suggest it possibly being ‘Rose Quartz’, but that has ten letters, not eight.”

“Yo, what if he made the password my name?” Amethyst called, poking her head out of the sock pile. “Ya know, cause I’m so awesome and everything.” Seeing this as a viable possibility given it appropriate number of letters, Dipper input the purple Gem’s name, only for the laptop to reject it, just like everything else. “Aw, boo!” Amethyst jeered upon hearing the machine’s denying beep. “Author guy totally missed out on a great opportunity there.”

“Do you have any guesses, Garnet?” Dipper asked, hoping that the Gem leader’s clairvoyance might provide some much-needed assistance in the matter.

“Hm…” Garnet mused thoughtfully for a moment before shaking her head, her future vision still rather foggy as she tried to find the password with it. “Sorry, but no. Still, that doesn’t mean you should stop looking for it, Dipper. Especially if whatever’s on that laptop can finally provide all of us with some answers.”

“Yes, like who that mysterious author is,” Pearl nodded in firm agreement.

“Or how he was so tight with Rose and not with us,” Amethyst added.

“Huh, you guys are being… surprisingly supportive of this whole laptop thing,” Dipper noted, somewhat taken aback considering how harshly they usually received anything having to do with the author or the journal.

“Well, of course, why wouldn’t we be?” Pearl asked intrinsically. “This whole journal mystery has been baffling us for weeks now! And with the threat from Homeworld is, er… neutralized for the moment, I’d say there’s no better time to solve that mystery than now!”

“Pearl’s right,” Garnet affirmed, rising to stand. “And Dipper,” she continued as she placed a steady hand on his shoulder. “You’re the closest to solving that mystery out of all of us, so keep at it. But like I told you about the journal, be careful; as you saw in the bunker, looking for these kinds of answers can lead to some dangerous places. And those are the kinds of places that you should never let yourself go into alone.”

“Don’t worry, you guys,” Dipper assured all three of the Gems confidently. “Once we unlock this laptop, the truth behind all that stuff will be as good as revealed. Besides, all we really have to do is figure out this password, which should be easy-”

“Yeah! Just as easy as turning all these groady old socks into puppet superstars!” Mabel interrupted as her and Steven hurried for the door, both of them carrying huge armfuls of socks each. “Now come on!” she called to Dipper and Connie, who could both only shrug in acceptance as they followed after them. “We’re burning good puppet-show-preparation daylight!”

As it turned out, the next several days were spent making very good use of puppet-show-preparation daylight as Mabel began building up her puppet show up from a mere concept into a full-fledged script. The moment she finished laying the treatment for her show out, she had gotten to work on the bulk of the project which, by far, was puppet and set production. Mabel had already recruited Dipper, Steven, and Connie to help her in this regard, true, and while they were sufficient enough at stitching tiny clothes onto the socks and drenching them in copious amounts of glitter, she also managed to rope Soos and Wendy into helping out as well. Their base of operations varied between the shack and the temple, and today it was the former as everyone gathered together in the den, socks and art supplies strewn about everywhere as work steadily continued on the quickly approaching puppet show.

“Alright, everyone!” Mabel chimed, gathering the group’s attention as she played a few loud, random notes on the keyboard Soos was letting her borrow for the show. “This is gonna be called Glove Story: A Sock Opera! Steven came up with the Glove Story part, while yours truly thought up the Sock Opera half.”

“Get it?” Steven whispered to Connie with a wide grin. “Glove story? Cause sock puppets are kinda like gloves? It’s a pun!”

“Heh, yeah, I got it, Steven,” Connie chuckled in amusement as she finished off another puppet.

“Just to warn you all, people’s eyes will get wet,” Mabel warned dramatically. “Cause they’ll be crying. From laughter! At how tragic it is!”

“Ugh,” Dipper groaned in annoyance as he struggled to pull a glue-covered puppet off his face. “Yeah, uh, that… that sounds great…” he remarked, quite unenthused, especially as he inadvertently coughed up a few pom poms. Really, if there was one word that could sum up how he felt about Mabel’s puppet show agenda, it was aggravation, aggravation that he had no qualms about showing every chance he got. Though really, his ongoing surliness could easily be attributed to his ever-growing exhaustion. With so much of the past few days devoted to helping prepare for the show, Dipper found that the only time he really had to dedicate to unlocking the laptop was at night, namely when everyone else had long since gone to sleep. Pulling all-nighters really wasn’t anything new for him; after all, over the course of the summer alone he had already had several sleepless nights with the journal serving as his only companion. But never before had he gone without sleep so consistently, as he was going on four nights now without getting any real form of rest as he tried and continually failed to decrypt the laptop’s password. Still, despite the fact that he was wearing himself out with this endeavor, he knew he couldn’t stop now, not when he was so close to finally obtaining not only the answers he had been seeking for so long now, but when he was on the verge of possibly finding a way to helping Lapis. And really, that alone was reason enough to motivate him to keep pushing forward. Even if it was tiring beyond all reason.

“Come on, Dipper,” Wendy encouraged with a broad smirk. “You gotta roll with Mabel’s craziness. It’s what makes life worth living.”

As if to prove that very point, Mabel had already cheerfully launched into a rendition of one of the many songs she had written for her show, a puppet on one hand as she followed along on the keyboard with the other. “Puppet boy, puppet boy, you’re the boy I-”

“Loooove!” everyone else chimed in, seeing as how they all knew the lyrics to every song in the play front and back thanks to Mabel. Of course, in the midst of this brief rehearsal, Stan happened to pass by the den, though he stopped short upon seeing the noisy, haphazard mess of both puppets and people before him.

“Not even gonna ask,” he remarked dry before tersely moving on, leaving the kids to their puppet pandemonium.

After what seemed like countless hours of hard, colorful work, the big day was almost there. The script was written, the sets built, the theatre booked, and the puppets made. Now all that was left was the long-awaited, much-anticipated “sock opera” itself. And seeing as how her possible future romance hinged on the show’s success, Mabel simply couldn’t wait to see all of her arduous efforts finally come together in an epic display that would certainly impress Gabe, if not then some.

“Good night, my babies,” Mabel grinned blithely as she organized her rather extensive puppet collection around her bed as she settled in for the night. She took a moment to grab the puppets she had made of herself and Gabe, her grin widening as she pulled the two of them together in a kiss as she sighed contentedly. “Soon, Gabe Benson… Anyway, you still there, Steven?” she asked, reclaiming her phone as she continued her last-minute collaboration with the young Gem.

“Yeah, and uh, I’ve been looking over the script again…” Steven replied on the other line, his tone quite bewildered. “I’m just a little confused about this part with the killer whale and the fireworks... Are they supposed to be coming out of the whale’s blowhole instead of water, or did I just misread that part?”

“Come on, Steven, I need to stay with me here,” Mabel urged. “The fireworks are the water. Only sparkly and fiery instead of wet and watery! That way everybody can be totally amazed by-”

Mabel was abruptly cut off by a familiar blaring beep, followed by a loud, frustrated groan from Dipper as he glared down at the laptop in front of him. His bed as a mess of notes and papers covered with all of the passwords he had tried thus far, all of which had wielded no results whatsoever. “Ugh! That one was wrong too, Connie!” he exclaimed disparagingly as he conversed with her on the phone. “Just like all the rest of them, what else is new?”

“But we’ve already tried hundreds of words and letter combinations,” Connie mused much more calmly. “Maybe there’s something we’re still not seeing here…”

“Yeah, and I know what that something is: the password,” Dipper remarked dryly.

“Well… we can always work on it some more tomorrow after the puppet show,” Connie said reassuringly. “By then, we’ll have Mabel and Steven back to help us, so maybe that’ll make things easier.”

“Sure, it will…” Dipper deadpanned, glancing over to Mabel as she used one of her puppets to bid Steven farewell. “But in the meantime, I think I better keep working on figuring this password out myself.”

“Don’t stay up all night, Dipper!” Mabel cautioned brightly as him and Connie exchanged goodbyes and ended their call. “Last time you got this sleep-deprived, you tried to eat your own shirt.”

Upon realizing that he was absent-mindedly doing just that, Dipper promptly spat his shirt out, letting out another disgruntled sigh as he looked to the laptop and its empty password screen once more. “Ugh, just a few more tries…”

“Come on, bro-bro,” Mabel rolled her eyes as she sunk down into her covers. “You and I both know that ‘a few more tries’ is gonna turn into a lot more tries.”

“Yeah, well maybe one of those tries will actually be the one,” Dipper muttered dourly as he collected the laptop and a few other supplies together. As already aggravated as he was, he didn’t really spare his still quite cheerful sister another word as he took his leave to head up onto the roof, knowing that he had likely another long sleepless night ahead of him.

It was only as Dipper stepped out into the crisp night air on the roof that he realized the last time he had been up there had just a little over a week ago. Despite everything that had happened since then, that really wasn’t a remarkable amount of time, but what was notable was the fact that the last time he had taken up a perch here on the roof he had done so alongside Lapis. In fact, as he quietly took a seat, he couldn’t help but remember that somber, but hopeful conversation they had on the eve of the disaster that had torn them apart. “You know, if there’s one good thing to come out of any of this…” she had begun, her voice soft and bittersweet as she looked to him, uncertain. “It’s that I got to spend more time with you. I think that’s what I’m going to miss most if… if, well, something happens…”

“Don’t worry,” he had naively assured her, completely blind to what could of and what had indeed happened. “Once all of this blows over—and I know it will—then we’ll have even more time to hang out together. But since we won’t have to about Homeworld invasions or anything like that, then it’ll be even better.”

She offered him a weak smile at this, one that hadn’t reached her eyes, almost as if she had somehow known about what was soon to befall her. “Yeah… even better…”

Except no, things hadn’t gotten even better. They had gotten worse, a fact that Dipper knew all too well. Still, they wouldn’t stay that way for long if he had anything to do about it. Certainly, the laptop would be able to provide him with some inkling about what to do to help the blue Gem. Even if that inkling was just a very small, minute one, it would definitely be better than the nothing he currently had to go on. After all, Lapis had been willing to take a chance for him, a chance that had cost her so very much in the end; which was why Dipper was more than ready to take whatever chance he had to to pay her back in full for such a heavy sacrifice. The only thing he had to do was figure out that elusive password, which, as much as he hated to admit it, was starting to become quite a frustratingly difficult task. With no way of gaging how close he was to finding the right password, he only had his own guesswork to rely on, which was getting him nowhere fast. His steadily growing fatigue certainly wasn’t helping things; if anything, it was only adding onto his increasing aggravation over his own inability to solve this mystery, something that rose once again as he tried another failed password attempt.

“Oh, come on!” Dipper shouted at the laptop, glaring fiercely at it as it emitted its jarring rejecting buzz or what seemed like the thousandth time now. And given all of his previous password guesses, it could have very well been. “Give me a break already! I can’t take that sound anymore! I—hate—you—sound!” he growled, punctuating his anger by carelessly beating against the keyboard, not even caring as said sound blared out as if in defiance each time he did.

Given his palpable frustration, Dipper decided to give himself just a brief mental break, knowing that there was absolutely no time at all for a physical one. In something of an attempt to restore his taxed resolve, he found himself pulling out one of the several photos him and Lapis had taken during their painfully brief time together out of his jacket. A small, sad sigh escaped him as he took in their shared, bright, cheerful expressions, captured in a moment of peace and levity that they had both taken for granted as it had happened. As much as Dipper hoped that the laptop could finally provide some much-needed answers about the journal, the author, and Gravity Falls itself, he would be perfectly content to wait on those answers if it got him just a little closer to freeing the blue Gem instead. Which was exactly why he was being so adamant and persistent with this self-imposed mission, to the point that he was denying himself necessities as important as even sleep. He wouldn’t rest, he couldn’t rest until he saved her, just as she had saved him. “Don’t worry, Lapis…” Dipper muttered to the photo, sighing solemnly once more as he put it away. “I’ll figure something out…” He paused, letting out a long, tired yawn as he looked to the laptop and its almost goading password screen again rather bitterly. “Maybe Connie was right…” he noted to himself thoughtfully. “What if I am just missing something? There has to be some kind of shortcut or clue… Who would know about secret codes…?”

Almost as soon as he had voiced this question, Dipper instantly noticed an abrupt breeze start to pick up, one that quickly turned into a full on, admittedly ominous gale as it whipped through the trees. Somewhat unsettled by this, he pulled his jacket tighter around his shoulders as he securely grabbed the laptop and braced himself against the sudden chill, only to realize that the light of the full moon in the skies ahead of him was starting to change as well. Slowly, a long, slitted line began to draw itself over the moon, splitting it cleanly in half as a series of initially transparent, glowing blocks began to gravitate towards it out of seemingly nowhere. Dipper gasped, alarmed by this bewildering phenomenon as he leapt to his feet, taking a nervous step back as he stared towards the moon with wide eyes, only for it to stare right back at him. The bright blocks continued stacking against the moon, forming a distinct triangular shape as the winds picked up to near hurricane levels. And then, as they finally all joined together in a bright, practically blinding flash of light, the world bled of color instantly, turning into a full, frozen greyscale scape as cause of all this strangeness finally made his appearance:

Bill Cipher.

“I THINK I KNOW A GUY!” he proclaimed boldly, his distinctively pitchy voice echoing harshly throughout the colorless woods. In light of this completely unexpected, unprecedented encounter, Dipper was effectively stunned into frozen silence as he stood in the dream demon’s massive triangular shadow. Still, Bill hardly seemed to notice or care as he drew in closer, his manner just as casual as ever as he circled the dumbfounded human before him. “Well, well, well. I gotta admit, you’re awfully persistent, Pine Tree. Hats off to you!” At this, Bill took his top hat off and tipped it, the entire world seeming to abruptly tilt along with it.

Dipper let out a startled gasp as he struggled to maintain his footing on the roof as it slipped sideways, though fortunately it leveled itself once more moments later. As it did, he was quick to regain his composure for the sake of putting on an air of brazen defiance to the crafty dream demon, remembering well how much trouble he had caused during his last appearance. “You again!” he exclaimed crossly, holding the laptop a bit tighter as Bill calmly glided past him. “What do you think you’re doing here?!”

“Oh, just checking in,” Bill shrugged coyly. “Did ya miss me? Admit it, you missed me.”

“Hardly,” Dipper scoffed, rolling his eyes. “You worked with Gideon! You tried to destroy my uncle’s mind! Oh, and not to mention that you constantly terrorized all of us while we were trying to save him, what with you stealing Steven’s gem and shooting a whole straight through my chest. Need I go on?”

“Geez, it was just a job, kid!” the dream demon countered defensively. “No hard feelings! Besides, since then, I’ve been keeping an EYE on you!” At this, Bill instantly shot up to a massive size, his voice ominously deepening and his eye turning pitch black as he peered at Dipper piercingly. “And even if you are a bit rough around the edges, I must say I’m impressed!”

“Y-you are?” Dipper asked, unsure of what to make of that. After all, he really didn’t see anything particularly good about garnishing the interest of a being like Bill Cipher, especially given the countless warnings the journal gave against him.

“Sure am!” Bill agreed brightly. “In fact, you deserve a prize! Here, have a head that’s always screaming!” With a mere snap of the dream demon’s fingers, a disembodied head appeared, one that, sure enough, was crying out in shrill, endless agony as it fell onto the roof. Dipper gasped in fearful disgust as he flinched away from it, only for the head to begin to peel itself away layer by layer, from skin, to muscle, to bone, before it disappeared entirely as Bill simply laughed in sadistic amusement all the while.

“Augh! What’s wrong with you?!” Dipper exclaimed at this, appalled by such a twisted, demented display.

“Ain’t that the question of the millennia!” Bill chuckled carelessly as he floated down to take a seat on the edge of the roof. “But the point is, I like you, kid! And I couldn’t help but notice that you’ve been having a hard time with that crusty old laptop there, so how’s about you let me give you a hint, huh? I only ask for a small FAVOR in return.” As the dream demon said this, both his hand and his eye lit up with an unnatural strain of blue fire, his manner still incredibly casual, even despite the immediately harsh rejection his offer received.

“Are you kidding me? I’d never do a favor for you!” Dipper exclaimed adamantly, unable to believe that the dream demon would even have the gall to propose something so outlandish. “Don’t forget who defeated you last time!”

“Right, you ‘defeated’ me,” Bill rolled his eye as he disappeared into the roof, only to come rising up out of it behind Dipper just a second later. “Still, seems to me like you’re passing up a great deal like this pretty quickly, Pine Tree. Kinda ironic when you think about how Water Wings didn’t hesitate to take up Stripes’ deal to save you…”

Dipper was completely caught off guard by this, especially as his picture of him and Lapis came flying out of his pocket to hover over the dream demon’s hand. “Hey! Give that back!” he protested, reaching for the photo only for Bill to teasingly pull it out of his reach.

“Whoa, hold your awkward, pre-pubescent horses for a sec, kid, and think about this,” the demon contested coolly. “Do you really think you’re getting anywhere by making all those shots in the dark about that password? You think you’re not just wasting your time out here while Water Wings has a non-stop, all-out brawl with Stripes at the bottom of that lake just so she can keep you ‘safe’?”

“S-stop,” Dipper muttered, his hands clenched tightly at his sides as he tried to block out what Bill was saying, even if he knew it was all true. But of course, the dream demon simply ignored him and kept going with his sly, almost cruel form of manipulation.

“Wouldn’t it just be so much easier to get just a little help, to get just a tiny bit closer?” Bill kept the photo positioned right above Dipper as he talked, deceptively close but still so far out of his reach, much like the blue Gem herself was at the moment. “Wouldn’t that make whatever small thing I want from you worth it just to bail her out?”

“Stop,” Dipper said a bit firmer this time, sending the dream demon a fierce warning glare as he tried to remind himself that he wasn’t going to take this deal, he wasn’t going to give Bill what he wanted, whatever that was. Still, that didn’t mean his appeal wasn’t starting to become the least bit tantalizing.

“After all,” Bill continued callously, clearly taking pleasure in how uncomfortable his truthful words were making Dipper. “Water Wings sure thought it was worth it to bail you out, didn’t she?”

“Stop!” Dipper finally shouted, unable to take any more of this, lest he actually give in under the pressure. A beat of heavy silence passed as he stared the dream demon down, his heated anger cooling just a bit, even if it was still very much on the surface as he offered a firm, but surprisingly tranquil response. “I don’t need your help.”

“Oh, suuuuure you don’t!” Bill deadpanned, rolling his eye once more. “After all, you already have Shooting Star and Rosebud to help you out with this, so why would you need me? Oh, but wait! They’re busy with that little puppet show of theirs, aren’t they? Oh, well, you can always ask those Crystal Chumps for help, right? I’m sure Fuse Box, Half-Baked, and Bird Brain know all there is to know about that laptop, almost is if they didn’t mysteriously lose all their memories on that journal of yours!”

Dipper stilled at this, hating the fact that, once again, the dream demon was right on the mark with such claims. With Steven, Mabel, and even Connie still distracted by the play and the Gems as clueless about who the author could be as they were, he was really the only one who could put the time and effort into this mystery that it truly deserved. And, so far, trying to tackle it completely on his own had gotten him absolutely nowhere at all. Still, to accept help from Bill, of all sources, would definitely be asking for trouble, trouble that, after all of the disasters of the recent invasion and its brutal aftermath, Dipper certainly didn’t need right now. “I said,” he began again, squaring his shoulders as he glared at the demon unrelentingly. “I don’t need your help!”

“Eh, well, then have it your way,” Bill shrugged, seemingly unconcerned by this refusal. “But if you ever change your mind, I’ll be here for you, ready to make a deal!” To punctuate his point, a slot machine appeared on his flat surface, all three wheels stopping right on the pine tree symbol. “You know, now that I’ve brought it up, maybe I’ll go pay your pal Water Wings a visit down at the bottom of the lake and let her know all about how her precious little Pine Tree doesn’t care enough about her to lend her a hand! I bet that would a lot of fun!”

“W-wha—no!” Dipper exclaimed, his calm manner all but gone at the idea of the dream demon tormenting the blue Gem. As if she wasn’t being tormented enough by being fused with Jasper alone. “Leave Lapis alone!”

“Boy, you sure are easy to rile up, Pine Tree.” Bill laughed twistedly, finally letting the picture fall back into Dipper’s hands. “It’s hilarious, almost as funny as you thinking you can guess that password on your own! Oh, speaking of hilarious, wanna hear my impression of you in about three seconds?” At this, the demon let out a loud, fearful scream, one that Dipper ended up inadvertently echoing only seconds later as he found himself abruptly pulled back into reality. Bill was fortunately, finally gone and color had returned to the world as the skies filled in with the breaking of dawn, a calming sight after the still, lifeless void he had just been in.

Still, Dipper was hardly relieved by any of this as he let out a tight, somewhat shaken breath, unable to deny that he was deeply unsettled by his bizarre, unnerving encounter with the dream demon. While he was still completely resolved to accomplish his goal without accepting any sort of help from him, Dipper still couldn’t help but wonder what Bill could possibly have to gain by offering to assist him with the laptop? What was the demon really after? Why had he decided to make a sudden reappearance now, of all times? And while Dipper didn’t really even want to entertain the thought, what would Bill have even asked of him if he had for some inane reason agreed to collaborate with him?

All the same, he was quick to shake such inconceivable thoughts from his mind as he steadily regained his composure. As he had told Bill himself, he didn’t need his help. Theoretically, he didn’t need anyone’s help, though he still hoped that Mabel, Steven, and Connie would be provide him with a much less dangerous, more reliable kind than whatever kind of assistance the demon had planned on offering. Still, Dipper was certain that he could do this; he could crack the laptop’s password, he could learn all of its likely many secrets, he could discover who and where the author was, and most of all he could save Lapis. And he could do it all without having to make some kind of unknown, ill-conceived deal with Bill Cipher.

Or at least he hoped he could.

“Hey! I’m puppet Stan!” Mabel quipped as she blithely waved the paper bag puppet she had made of her uncle in his face at the breakfast table. Needless to say that her excitement was running as high as her energy was in anticipation of her sock opera that afternoon, which she was confident would be more than enough to make Gabe fall head over heels for her, just as she had already fallen for him.

“Still ignoring this,” Stan remarked, deadpanned as ever as he took a sip of his coffee, not even paying the puppet any mind as Mabel continued playfully parading it about. No more than a second later, however, a succinct knock on the door sounded out, followed by Steven and Connie’s entrance right after.

“Today’s the big day!” Steven exclaimed cheerfully as he bounded into the kitchen to greet Mabel. “Who’s ready to put on the best puppet show ever?!”

“I am!” Mabel proclaimed, hopping to her feet and bringing several puppets along with her. “But of course, I can’t do it without you guys, which is why I’m super glad you got here early! Thanks so much!”

Unable to contain her elation, she pulled them both into a sudden tight hug, one that Steven readily reciprocated, even if Connie was surprised but amused by it. “Heh, you’re welcome, Mabel,” she chuckled as the hug disbanded, though a look of concern filled her features a moment later. “So is Dipper up yet? Last night he sounded like he was starting to get really frustrated with this whole laptop thing.”

“Frustrated is kind of an understatement…” Dipper remarked dryly as he walked in, letting out a long, exhausted yawn as he did so.

“Yeesh, bag check for Dipper’s eyes!” Stan joked upon noticing how visibly tired his nephew was, letting out a sardonic laugh that no one else joined in on. “Oh come on, nobody?”

“Whoa, Dipper, you look so tired!” Steven exclaimed, both surprised and worried. “And by that I mean even more tired than you usually look, because you usually do look at least a little tired all the time, no offense.”

Of course, Dipper was largely too exhausted to really make much sense of what the young Gem had just said, which was why the most he could do was stare at him blankly for a beat. “…What?”

“Dipper, I told you to get some sleep last night!” Mabel scolded with a fretful frown. “Here, wake up with some Mabel juice!” she held up a pitcher of bright pink liquid with glitter and various small toys floating around in it. “It has plastic dinosaurs in it!”

“Is that stuff even… drinkable?” Connie asked, concerned by this presentation.

“Hardly,” Stan remarked, cringing. “It’s like if coffee and nightmares had a baby.”

“I… think I’ll pass,” Dipper shook his head, his manner suddenly turning serious as he briefly glanced between Stan and the others. “Uh, can I talk to you guys in the living room for a second?”

Steven, Mabel, and Connie all nodded in agreement to this, Stan hardly paying them any mind as they slipped away into the other room. As soon as he was sure they were out of the conman’s earshot, Dipper turned to face them, keeping his voice low as he really didn’t want too many others finding out about what had happened the previous night. “Guys, listen,” he began tersely and anxiously. “Last night I had a dream with Bill in it.”

“Bill?” Connie asked as Steven and Mabel let out a shared surprised gasp, both of them remembering well their first and last encounter with the dream demon. “Wait, isn’t he that triangle guy you guys told me about? The one you fought inside Mr. Pines’ mind?”

“Y-yeah…” Steven nodded somewhat fearfully. “He was really scary. When we were in there, he took my gem and then he made these really mean versions of the Gems appear and say that I wasn’t one of them! B-but still, I thought we beat him last time; what did he want in your dream, Dipper?”

“He said he’d give me the code to the laptop if I gave him something,” Dipper explained, scoffing as he crossed his arms. “Like I’d actually trust Bill, right?”

“Well, don’t worry, bro-bro!” Mabel assured, throwing an arm over his shoulder. “Today’s the day the Mystery Kids are back in action! We’ll all be free to help you crack that code just as soon as I hand off my puppet stuff to my production crew.”

“Production crew?” Dipper asked, almost too afraid to find out what his sister had in mind for this one. Though he was quick to find out just a few minutes later as Candy and Grenda eagerly showed up outside, both of them bright-eyed and covered in socks as Mabel and Steven both happily greeted them.

“We read the script,” Candy reported, adjusting her glasses. “Very emotional.”

“I cried like eight times!” Grenda exclaimed boisterously.

“Well, hopefully the audience will too once they see the emotional passion I’ve poured into this show!” Mabel grinned proudly.

“Oh! Maybe we should hand tissues out to people at the door!” Steven suggested. “That way they’ll all have something to try into!”

“Oh, good idea, Steven!” Mabel nodded in agreement. “See, this is why I named you my co-producer! Because you’re always think of everything!”

“Aw, well I don’t know about everything,” the young Gem blushed in slight embarrassment. “But I try.”

The conversation was soon cut off, however, as none other than Gabe himself pulled up to the group on his roller skates, both of his hands still covered with his puppets from the previous day as he offered a cool greeting. “Hey, ladies.”

“Gabe!” Mabel exclaimed with a delighted gasp as she ran over to him. “What are you doing here?”

“I was just blading by,” Gabe shrugged casually as he removed his helmet and shook his hair out. “Helps me dry out my ponytail after a shower.”

“Hubbity-hubbity,” Grenda remarked, eyes wide with amazement at the sight of the puppeteer. “What a hottie!”

“Maeibeur'i hante Gaeibeu'eul humchyeohagetda…” Candy muttered in envious Korean, making her affections towards Gabe quite clear as well.

“Ok, am I the only one who doesn’t get what the big deal about that guy is?” Connie whispered to Steven and Dipper, far from impressed.

“Believe me, you’re not,” Dipper remarked, crossing his arms as he rolled his eyes in exasperation.

“It’s so great to see you!” Mabel quipped to Gabe with a wide, charming grin. “I was just working on the world’s greatest puppet show! It has puppets!”

“Your passion is so refreshing, Mabel,” Gabe complimented. “Unlike the girl from last night’s puppet show. Single-stitch on one puppet, cross-stitch on the other? I was like ‘uh-uh’!”

“Cross… huh?” Mabel frowned, not having the faintest idea about what he was talking about.

“Naturally, I couldn’t afford to associate with such an obvious puppet novice, so I deleted her off my cell phone contacts list.”

“Oh! Uh, naturally!” Mabel laughed, trying to play her confusion off, even though her worry was starting to grow in light of this.

“But I know you won’t let me down, Mabel,” Gabe smiled smoothly. “Based on what you said the other day, you must be a puppet expert.”

Mabel froze at this, partially regretting the complete and utter lies she had fed him at the library, lies that had led to the formation of a puppet show that she now feared wouldn’t actually be enough to impress him. Which, considering how gorgeous and charming she found him to be, was quite an unbearable thought.

“You know, Gabe, you look pretty sweaty,” Grenda spoke up with an eager grin. “You should really take your shirt off. Right? Aren’t we all thinking that?”

A beat of awkward silence passed at this, though it wasn’t long before Gabe put his helmet back on and prepared to take his leave. “Later, ladies!” he called as he began to skate off. “See you tonight, Mabel.”

“Y-yeah!” Mabel shouted after him with a forced laugh. “S-see you… t-tonight!” The instant the puppeteer was out of earshot, she spun around to face her motley crew, her eyes wide in absolute panic as she realized just how severe the situation had gotten. “Augh! We gotta up our game, girls! Did you hear that thing he said about the stitches?!”

“Don’t worry, Mabel! Your crew can handle it!” Grenda assured, though she was quick to contradict herself by accidentally ripping the arms off of the puppet she was holding. “…Oops.”

“How many eyes does a face have again?” Candy asked as she held up a puppet she had glued countless googly eyes to.

“Ok,” Steven spoke up, having pulled his ukulele out as he strummed along with several of the complex melodies him and Mabel had written for the show. “So I think I just about have this song memori-” He cut himself off as one of his ukulele strings suddenly snapped at the exact wrong moment, leaving the instrument completely unusable for the time being. “Oh… Well, uh, I guess the ukulele accompaniment is out then, huh?”

Mabel’s jaw dropped in horrified shock over just how much suddenly seemed to be going wrong all at once. Yet still, things got even worse as the mountain of sets and supplies Soos and Wendy were trying to securely tie on top of Stan’s car suddenly fell loose, the bulk of it coming crashing down on top of the handyman, essentially burying him in a scattered mess of props and puppets.

“Ah!” Mabel gasped in apt alarm, realizing that her time to pull all of this together was running dangerously short. “Ok, I’m back on fabrication! Someone get me my lint roller, STAT!”

“Whoa, hold on!” Dipper interjected, grabbing her as she ran past him. “I thought you said you were going to help me!”

“Dipper! This sock crisis just bumped up to code argyle!” Mabel protested hotly. “The laptop can wait!”

“It can wait?” Dipper scoffed in disbelief at how she was simply putting him off yet again. “Mabel, do you seriously think that your random crush of the week is more important than uncovering the mysteries of this town? You’re obsessed!”

“I’m obsessed?” Mabel countered just as adamantly. “Look at you! You haven’t slept all week! You look like a vampire, and not the hot kind!”

“Guys, come on!” Steven finally cut in as he noticed the quickly building tension between the twins. “Don’t fight! Both the laptop and the puppet show are really important, so we should-”

“Uh, no, Steven,” Dipper cut him off, sending a cross glare Mabel’s way all the while. “The laptop is important, yeah, but this dumb puppet show thing isn’t. I don’t get why you’re going so crazy on this anyway, Mabel. I know how you are; you’ll be into this guy for a week, maybe two, and then you’ll get bored with him and move onto someone else. You’re putting all this time and energy into something that won’t even matter in the long run!”

“It does too matter!” Mabel protested, clearly offended by such a spiteful accusation. “It matters to me! Why can’t you understand that?! Oh yeah, I know why, it’s because you’ve been burying your head into that stupid old laptop all week! Don’t you think it’s time to give it a rest already? Just wait and see, your body’s gonna end up quitting on you if you don’t give it some sleep!”

“I don’t need sleep!” Dipper argued fiercely. “What I need is to figure out this password! And this laptop isn’t stupid! For all we know, it could end up helping us figure out a way to finally save Lapis! Which, in case you’ve forgotten, is way more important than any pointless puppet show is!”

“I-I haven’t forgotten that!” Mabel shook her head. “But that’s just it, Dipper, you don’t know if that laptop will even be able to help Lapis at all. You could be doing all this work for nothing and you wouldn’t even know until you’ve wasted so much time and energy on it that you have nothing left at all!”

“I’m not wasting time! You are, Mabel! Why can’t this puppet show thing just wait?!”

“W-well, why can’t your laptop thing just wait?!”

“Because I’m doing it to help Lapis! Which, like I said, is the most important thing right now!”

“No, it’s not!”

A sharp gasp escaped both of the twins the moment Mabel said this, though she was clearly more horrified by allowing it to slip by as she covered her mouth in immediate regret, knowing that she had crossed the line. For a moment, all Dipper could do was stare at his sister in appalled disbelief over what she had just implied, and even Steven and Connie looked to her in apt surprise for her immense tactlessness. Still, despite her already heavy remorse for what she had just inadvertently said, Mabel still made a meager, hesitant attempt to make things right. “D-Dipper… I… I didn’t mean-”

“No,” Dipper cut her off, both his expression and his tone ice cold. “You know what? Fine. I’ll do it on my own. It’s not like it’ll be any different from how it’s been anyway.”

“Oh, Dipper, wait!” Steven urged earnestly, still wanting for there to be peace between the twins, even if such a thing seemed largely impossible now. “You don’t have to do this by yourself!”

“Yeah,” Connie agreed with a small, reassuring smile. “We’ll all help you just as soon as-”

Dipper put up a hand to interrupt her, his shoulders rigid as he turned to leave. “Like I said, its fine. I can handle this by myself. You guys just keep working on the puppet show. I’m sure it’ll be just as over the top and gaudy as everything else you do is, Mabel.”

Mabel couldn’t even find it in her to be angry over such a callous remark as she instead watched Dipper head inside the shack in guilty silence. She understood well and good exactly why he was so insistent on unlocking the laptop, as well as what end he hoped it could possibly lead to, which was an end that she truly wanted to see herself. And yet in the moment, despite how bad she felt for what she had said, she knew that she couldn’t completely admit that he was right; after all, she had put far too much time and work into this show now to simply curtail everything right before its opening. Still, that didn’t mean that she didn’t want to at the very least try and make peace with her brother in light of the uncalled for slight she had made against both him and the blue Gem.

“Steven?” she hesitantly spoke up, gathering the concerned young Gem’s attention. “I, uh… c-could you maybe go talk to Dipper for me? You know, tell him I’m sorry for, um… well, for what just happened?”

“Sure, but… why can’t you go talk to him yourself?” Steven asked, rather confused.

“’Cause he’s probably in no mood to listen to me right now…” Mabel frowned, glancing down apprehensively. “But maybe he’ll hear you out instead! In fact, Steven, you have my full permission to utilize Stepper if that’s what you need to do to get him out of this salty mood of his.”

“Mabel, for some reason I feel like Steven forcing Dipper to fuse with him isn’t really going to solve this problem…” Connie remarked rather dubiously.

“Oh, sure, it will,” Mabel assured with a wave of her hand as she prepared herself to continue working on fixing the kinks in her show. “After all, it worked last time he got all obsessy like this, so why wouldn’t it work again?”

“Uh, well… I-I’ll see what I can do,” Steven assured, largely agreeing to go in Mabel’s stead for the sake of making peace between her and Dipper more than anything else. “I’ll be back in a bit!”

“Ok, good luck,” Mabel waved him off absently, distracted by fixing a tattered puppet as Connie, Candy, and Grenda lent a hand in helping her reorganize her supplies. At the same time, Steven turned to follow after Dipper inside the shack, more than eager to help foster reconciliation, though completely unaware of the much more serious, daunting task that he’d actually spend the afternoon doing.

A rather bitter scowl rested on Dipper’s face as he continued typing away at the laptop up in the attic, unable to let go of what Mabel had said just a few minutes ago. The fact that she had even so much as dared to imply that her silly puppet show was more important than rescuing Lapis practically infuriated him, to the point that he hadn’t even been able to properly show his anger with her at the moment for such a remark. And even if she hadn’t fully meant it like that, her refusal to help him with the laptop alone was more than enough to show Dipper where he currently stood with Mabel on this, and it was certainly not on the same side.

“Passwords… passwords…” Dipper muttered to himself, still seething with annoyance with each new failed entry. “Mabel—is—useless…” He paused for a moment, only to let out a very long, very exhausted yawn as he tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes. With each passing hour, he was finding that trying to stay awake and active was becoming more and more of a challenge, a challenge that he knew he couldn’t very well overcome forever. But all the same he had to stay awake, he had to keep at it with the laptop until its password was finally found and its secrets were finally uncovered. To remind himself of this resolve, he had decided to all of the photos he had of him and Lapis on hand, largely out of his lingering frustration over how Bill had used one of them to taunt him last night. The small stack of pictures currently rested right beside the laptop, and while Dipper had hoped that they would fill him with a renewed sense of motivation, the only thing they really did give him at the moment was doubt. He had been working for so long and so hard now at trying to crack that password, and all he had to show for it were heavy bags under his eyes and a severe irritation with his sister.

And really, there was still a pretty good chance that Mabel could be right, as much as he hated to entertain the thought; even if he did manage to unlock the laptop, there was always a chance that its information would be completely useless in helping Lapis out of her current dire plight. He could very well set himself on a fool’s errand, one that might end up meaning nothing at all when everything was said and done. And if that really did happen, what then? He’d be right back to square one, with no leads, no hints, no clues at all about how to rescue the blue Gem.

Perhaps trying to save her was a longshot in general. After all, she had locked herself inside of an intense, monstrous fusion born of nothing but the sheerest hatred and spite, with said fusion itself being literally chained to the lakebed beep below. And really, as much as Dipper wanted to save her, he was just one person, a kid at that, who painfully lacked the strength, resources, or even the information needed to even come close to dealing with something like this. The truth was that, when it came right down to it, he had no idea about what to do to fix this. And to Dipper, that fact as almost as bad as the reality of Lapis being trapped in the first place.

As caught up in his steadily increasing worry as he was, he hardly even noticed as his hands gradually slipped away from the laptop, his head leaning against the side of the window alcove as his eyes began to gradually drift shut. With his lack of sleep finally catching up to him, it took a mere matter of seconds for him to nod off, though his brief bout of sleep was anything but restful when he opened his eyes and found himself standing on the lake shore, of all places.

Needless to say that, upon seeing the shore surrounding him alight with green fire once again, Dipper was completely taken aback, though nothing could have prepared him for the sight of the familiar figure that stood only a few feet in front of him. “L-Lapis!” he exclaimed, awash in both relief and disbelief as he instantly rushed forward to her. He stopped dead in his tracks, however, as the blue Gem abruptly snapped a partial glance back at him, her expression cold and her gaze piercing as she spoke in a low, almost hollow tone.

“Dipper…” she began, her expression unchanging, even if her voice carried just the smallest hint of hurt betrayal in it. “Why…? Why haven’t you saved me yet?”

“I-I… I’m trying!” Dipper protested, flinching at her icy stare. “I really am, Lapis, you have to believe me! It’s just… taking longer than I thought it would…”

“The only reason I stayed here on this miserable planet was because of you,” Lapis’ shoulders seemed to tense as she said this, a certain harshness entering her tone. “And look at where that’s gotten me. I’m trapped here with… with her, and you won’t even do anything to help me!”

“N-no!” Dipper shook his head, not even noticing the tears starting to well up in his eyes at such a brutal accusation. “L-Lapis, you don’t understand! I’ve been doing everything I can and working really hard to help-”

“You’ve been working for nothing,” Lapis sighed sorrowfully as she finally looked away from him. “You can’t help me. No one can.” Without so much as sparing another glance back at him, the blue Gem began to step forward into the lake, only offering him one final, bitter, hopeless farewell as she steadily walked deeper into her watery prison. “Goodbye, Dipper...”

“Lapis, w-wait!” Dipper shouted in a sudden panic, desperate not to lose her again as he ran into the water after her. “Please! Don’t go!” By now, the blue Gem was already quite deep in the water, but Dipper didn’t care. He was going to get to her, he was going to help her, no matter what he had to do. “I can figure out some way to save you, I know I can, I just need more-”

He was sharply cut off as a huge, momentous slash rippled throughout the lake the moment Lapis fully submerged herself. Dipper was knocked back quite a bit by this, giving him no time to react to the imposing Gem who had risen up from the depths to take Lapis’ place.

“Well, well…” Jasper smirked haughtily, her eyes wild with a lust for vengeance as she towered over the small, frightened human before her. “If it isn’t Lazuli’s precious little pet human…” Needless to say that upon being face to face with the fearsome orange Gem once more, Dipper’s flight instinct instantly kicked in as he tried to scramble to his feet and flee. However, Jasper easily stopped him before he could get anyway, grabbing him by his vest and hoisting him up by the front of his shirt, her twisted grin deepening as she watched his futile attempts to struggle against her firm hold. “Trying to run away, hm? Just like she did…”

“L-let me go!” Dipper contested desperately, still thrashing about in the orange Gem’s grip as he was well aware of how incredibly violent she was, especially towards humans.

“Why should I?” Jasper scowled, glaring at him with nothing less than absolute ire. “After all, you’re the reason why she has us both trapped down here! Why every second of our existence together is nothing but a fight neither of us can ever win! And for what? Just so she could keep you safe? What a waste!”

The orange Gem scoffed as she finally let Dipper fall out of her grasp, though she was quick to restrain him before he could slip away by pinning him to the ground with a heavy foot pressed against his chest. “Do you really think you’ll ever be able to ‘save’ her? Because if you do, then that makes you the stupidest human I’ve ever met, and believe me, I’ve met plenty of your kind. You’ll never be able to split us up and free her, and do you know why?” In an act of mere cruelty alone, Jasper pressed her foot down harder, to the point that Dipper essentially had to struggle to even breathe, much less escape as the orange Gem continued, her tone dripping with clear hatred. “Because you’re just a weak, pathetic, little human. That’s all you’ve ever been and that’s all you’ll ever be. You’re not strong enough or smart enough to even come close. You-” Jasper cut herself off as she finally stepped away from him, walking backwards towards the water as a sinister grin spread across her features, the gemstone that was her nose illuminating her face ominously. “Are-” Her voice rose as she prepared to submerge herself, just like Lapis had, though not before finishing off her vicious string of insults. “Nothing!”

As Jasper plunged herself into the darkened depths, Dipper only had time to let out a terrified gasp as a much more massive, monstrous figure pulled herself out of the lake after her: Malachite. The fusion leered high over him, all four of her eyes glaring down at him relentlessly as she raised one of her huge fists up with the intent of crushing him right where he stood. And seeing as how Dipper was far too stunned, distraught, and most of all, guilty to even so much as think about moving, he simply braced himself for what would be an incredibly painful impact. An impact that amazingly never came as he was ripped out of one nightmare—

And dropped right into the middle of another.

“Wakey, wakey, Pine Tree! Time’s ticking away! Not that I care, seeing as how time’s just one big, elaborate hoax anyway!” the shrill, grating voice of none other than Bill Cipher himself was what ended up snapping Dipper awake from the rather horrific dream he had just had. It took him a moment to calm himself down from the rush of intense emotions he had received from it and regather his bearings, and once he did, the first two things he noticed was that the attic was now completely devoid of color altogether, and that the dream demon was casually hovering just a few feet away. “Yeesh, took you long enough to wake up from that little catnap of yours! Still, I gotta say, that little nightmare you just had cracked me up! Stripes may be just as boring as all those other space rocks out there, but the way she scared the daylights out of you split all three of my sides! Ha! What a riot!”

Upon hearing this continued callousness, all of Dipper’s frightened surprise at Bill’s second unexpected appearance was replaced with all of his former bitter aggregation, largely since the dream demon and his incessant prodding and goading was the last thing he needed at the moment. “Ugh, give it a rest already!” he exclaimed crossly, hating just how constantly calm and composed Bill always seemed to be, even in the face of outright rejection. “I already told you I don’t want your help! Why can’t you just take a hint and leave me alone?!”

“Because you won’t take a hint, kid,” Bill countered easily. “Though you might want to, seeing as how you’re on a bit of a tight schedule now.”

“What do you…” Dipper trailed off as he looked over to the laptop again, only to see something that made him gasp in apt alarm. The password screen had been replaced with a warning red message, one that read: “Too many failed entries. Initiate data erase in five minutes”, accompanied by a steadily ticking countdown, one that was getting smaller and smaller with each passing second. “W-what?! No!” Dipper exclaimed in newfound panic as he gripped the laptop tightly, reeling with what this potential erasure could mean. “I’m about to lose everything?! I only have one more try?!”

“Well, well, well…” Bill spoke up in smug satisfaction, floating to the other side of the room. “Someone’s suddenly looking a lot more desperate…”

“Stay out of this!” Dipper snapped, refocusing on the laptop as he tried to force his exhausted mind to come up with something, anything that could work in this moment of truth. And yet, despite the fact that this guess would be all or nothing, he only drew a complete and absolute blank as the countdown continued winding down, reminding him of just how quickly this one lone chance he had was slipping away from him.

“You know…” Bill interjected coyly upon noticing Dipper’s nervous hesitance to make that final guess. “I can help you, kid. You just need to hear out my demands!”

Dipper flinched at this, quickly looking between the laptop and the dream demon and disdainfully realizing that Bill had him exactly where he wanted him: distressed, clueless, and without any other options left to speak of. Of course, his first instinct was to harshly tell the demon off once more, to adamantly refuse to make any sort of deal or contract with him for the sake of solving this mystery on his own. And yet… that didn’t really seem like a luxury he could afford anymore, especially as the laptop steadily continued ticking down. Dipper was all too painfully aware that this laptop was the sole possible lead he had, not just to discovering the author’s identity, but to saving Lapis from her watery prison. Could he bear to let that only lead, that one small but still bright chance, be wiped away forever, all because he refused to swallow his pride and take a chance, no matter how risky and detrimental that chance might be?

“Ugh, what crazy thing do you want anyway?” Dipper finally asked, making sure to keep his guard up. After all, Bill was an absolute wild card, one that couldn’t possibly be genuinely trusted under any means. Still, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t at least offer some form of assistance, for the right price. “To eat my soul? To rip out my teeth? Are you gonna replace my eyes with baby heads or something?”

“Yeesh, kid, relax,” Bill remarked with a hint of amusement in his tone. “All I want is a puppet!”

“A puppet?” Dipper repeated with a confused frown at this surprisingly simple request. “What are you playing at?”

“Everyone loves puppets!” Bill exclaimed brightly before pointing over to the mass pile of sock puppets Mabel had accumulated over the past several days. “And it looks to me like you’ve got a surplus on your hands here! Just one of them isn’t too much to ask for, is it?”

Dipper raised an incredulous eyebrow, still not following the demon’s bizarre logic, or lack thereof. “But what are you going to do with a-”

“Dipper!” the conversation was abruptly interrupted by a sudden knock on the attic door, followed by Steven calling out along with it. “Are you in there?”

“S-Steven!” Dipper gasped in surprise at this unexpected near-intrusion. “Uh… Y-yeah, I’m in here! Give me just a second!”

“Oh, uh, ok,” Steven consented with a frown as he stood on the other side of the door. “It’s just that Mabel wanted me to come up here and check on you. She seemed kinda upset about what happened earlier…”

“Uh hu, y-yeah, sure,” Dipper replied absently, frantically looking to the laptop again as its timer only showed that he had about three minutes left before the dreaded data erase. “Like I said, I’ll be out in just a second!”

Still, as distracted as he was with both Steven and the laptop, Dipper failed to notice Bill himself seize up just the slightest bit over Steven’s unforeseen arrival, his eye widening first before twitching red with a years’ old fury. “Ugh! Darn Rosebud, always sticking his gem in places where it doesn’t belong! Just like his rockheaded mom used to do! Well, not this time, ‘Quartzy’…” The demon petulantly grumbled to himself for a moment, though he was quick to collect himself, calmly readjusting his bowtie as he rushed to regather Dipper’s split attention. “So, Pine Tree, before we were so rudely interrupted, where were we? Oh, that’s right! You were gonna hand over a puppet while I give you a clue about that laptop! So chop, chop, time’s a-wasting!”

“I-I don’t know, man…” Dipper hesitated, taking a brief anxious glance towards the door in the hopes that Steven couldn’t overhear any of this. “Mabel worked really hard on those puppets… I don’t know how she’d feel about me just giving any of them away…”

“How ‘she’d’ feel?” Bill reiterated with a callous scoff. “That’s what you care about right now, when you’re about to everything you’ve worked so hard for? Wow, kid, you really need to get your priorities straight. Seems to me like one little puppet is a small price to pay to learn all the secrets of the universe!”

“Dipper?” Steven knocked on the door once again, growing somewhat concerned by the wait. “I-is everything ok in there?’

“Yeah, Steven, everything’s fine!” Dipper called back, growing somewhat annoyed by the young Gem’s persistence. Still, he didn’t dare open the door, not with the laptop nearly out of time and the only one who could possibly salvage it giving him an ultimatum like this.

“Besides,” Bill continued, refusing to let the young Gem steal his thunder. “What’s your sister done for you lately? How many times have you sacrificed for her, huh?” The demon glided down to Dipper’s level, several retrospective images of such sacrifices flashed across his flat surface. “And when has she ever returned the favor…?”

As much as Dipper hated to come anywhere close to admitting it, Bill certainly did have a point with that line of reasoning. So many times, not just in this summer alone but throughout their entire lives, it always seemed like he was the one giving what he wanted up for Mabel’s sake, and never the other way around. For the longest time now, he had always just accepted that as how things were: Mabel always got what she wanted while Dipper rarely ever did. That was just how it worked. But now, with stakes higher than they had ever been before, he was starting to finally realize just how incredibly unfair that was. Why should her puppet show go off without a hitch while his laptop plan fell through completely? Why should she get to impress her frivolous crush while his hopes and aspirations were erased altogether? Why should she always get to win while he always had to lose?

Bill could tell that his crafty manipulation was working perfectly as Dipper stole a glance out the nearby window, his expression darkening as he spotted Mabel out in the yard, still blithely planning her puppet show without a care in the world. But even so, the dream demon decided to take his appeal just a step further, knowing that he had the windup, he just had to go for the pitch. “But you know who has sacrificed pretty much everything for you?” he began, hands held behind his back as his tone remained smooth and level but conniving all the same.

“Don’t-” Dipper muttered morosely, not wanting to hear this agonizing argument again, but even so Bill callously continued.

“Ding! That’s right! Water Wings!” he remarked effervescently, almost teasingly. “After only a week or so of hanging out with you, she was willing to trap herself at the bottom of a lake with a big ol’ brute like Stripes for the rest of eternity! It’s so sweet that I would gag if I actually had a stomach or a mouth! But the point is, she’s locked down there, having just a grand old time duking it out with Stripes and her spending every waking moment in an endless sea of misery and torment, and its all—your—fault!”

“I… I know…” Dipper sighed in defeat, unable to even think of any arguments to this because there were none. Lapis had pulled herself and Jasper into that lake for one reason and one reason alone: to protect him. He had been carrying the guilt from that on his shoulders from the moment she first disappeared into the depths, and ever since it had only grown heavier and heavier, to the point that it had finally become more than he could bear. In fact, as he glanced over to the stack of pictures of them once more, he was so weighed down by that guilt that he didn’t even hear Steven pound on the door for him once more.

“Dipper! I-is someone else in there with you?!” the young Gem exclaimed, his worry rapidly growing. “I thought I heard another voice talking in there!” And it was true, though Steven really couldn’t make out whose voice it was or what they were saying. It couldn’t have been Mabel or Connie, seeing as how they were still outside, and it didn’t sound like Stan, Soos, or Wendy. Rather, there was an ethereal but still rather familiar quality to it, one that set Steven on edge for reasons he really couldn’t explain but ones that brought fear to nearly every fiber of his being all the same.

“A single puppet in exchange for saving one of the only beings in the universe who really listens to you and understands you,” Bill remarked, ignoring the young Gem outside completely now, just as Dipper was. “Sounds like the fairest price you’re gonna get, Pine Tree. Unless you don’t want to ever see Water Wings again and wouldn’t mind if she slept with the fishes until the Earth inevitably burns up someday way after you’re dead and gone! Either way, kid” The dream demon paused, offering his hand out as it lit up with a burst of blue flame. “It’s all up to you.”

That was by far the most correct thing the demon had said thus far and Dipper knew it. It was all up to him. The laptop and its secrets, Lapis’ long-awaited freedom, both of those things rested entirely in his hands now. They both rested on a fine line of finally being in his reach to being lost entirely. The deciding factor was his choice and his choice alone. And, with only thirty short seconds left on the countdown, it was a choice he had to make far too fast.

A puppet for a password. On the surface, it seemed deceptively simple, and in many ways it was. Giving Bill what he wanted would be so easy, so easy in fact that Dipper was admittedly surprised that he was even thinking twice about it. After all, Lapis had given up everything, her form, her freedom, every part of herself, just to ensure his safety. How could he possibly hold back something as wildly pointless in the grand scheme of things has a mere puppet while she struggled and suffered and sacrificed all for his sake? How could he even begin to claim that he cared about her, that she was one of his dearest friends, if he didn’t go through with this, if he didn’t cross this line and make this deal, no matter how it might turn out in the end? When it really came right down to it, he had no choice, not really. Because much like Lapis had known what to do to when Jasper had presented her with a hopeless ultimatum, as Bill offered him a relatively much more hopeful one, Dipper knew what he had to do as well.

Still, before he could even reach his hand up, he was distracted once more by Steven’s almost desperate pounding on the door. “Dipper, come on!” the young Gem cried, his unknown fear starting to overwhelm him as he pushed against the door hard, not noticing as its hinges started to bend against the pressure he was putting on it. “S-something’s wrong! Open the door, please!”

Dipper turned briefly, ready to give the young Gem another brief reassurance, though Bill cut him off before he could. “Tick, tock, kid!” the dream demon reminded, his eye now a steadily rotating clock as his hand continued burning blue. “Rosebud can wait; but you and I both know that Water Wings can’t…”

With the laptop at only ten seconds now, Dipper squared his shoulders, taking just the smallest glance towards the photos once more as he affirmed his resolve. Maybe it was desperation, maybe it was guilt, or maybe it was his own complete and utter exhaustion, but he was going to do this, as absolutely insane and nonsensical as it was. But he had to; for Lapis. “Just one puppet?” he asked, taking in a deep breath as he finally reached his hand up to shake the demon’s, the slightest sense that there was no turning back now coming along with it. “Fine! It’s a deal.”

The very instant their joined hands went down in a solidifying shake of this deal, the attic door came crashing down, Steven falling along with it. The young Gem didn’t have a chance to be surprised at his own strength as his shock was completely reserved for the unbelievable sight in front of him. After all, the last thing he had ever expected to see was Dipper shaking hands with Bill Cipher, with their aforementioned hands both alight with the heatless blue fire that told of a newly-formed agreement. “D-Dipper…” Steven barely breathed in horrified bewilderment, his eyes wide as he absently pulled himself to his feet. “W-what’s-”

“Steven! I-I can explain!” Dipper tried to rationalize, though Bill gleefully cut him off before he had that chance.

“Glad you could join us, Rosebud!” he greeted mirthfully, an edge of twisted triumph in tone over the fact that the young Gem could do nothing to impede his plans now. “You’re just in time to see me pick out my puppet Pine Tree here promised me! Now let’s see here… Eenie, meenie, minie…” He trailed off, his eye turning a dark shade of warning red as he looked back to Dipper. “YOU!”

“Wha-” Dipper cut himself off with a sharp gasp, a painful tug suddenly rippling throughout his entire body. It only seemed to intensify as the abrupt pull soon turned into an agonizing tear, almost as if something was reaching deep inside of his very being for something, its vicious, greedy search seeming to ensnare violate him completely. And once it found that something it had been looking for, it violently ripped it right out of him, until he could no longer feel anything at all.

“Dipper!” Steven’s absolutely terrified cry was what first tipped Dipper off to the fact that something was gravely wrong. Though as he opened his eyes only to look down and see what was, without a doubt, his own body lying prone and seemingly unconscious against the alcove several feet below him, then there was simply no denying that things had taken a horrific turn for the worst.

“W-what’s going on?!” Dipper exclaimed with an aptly shocked gasp as he looked down at himself as opposed to his now seemingly unoccupied body. His alarm only grew as reached to touch his now apparently transparent form, only for it to pass right through it, confirming that he was indeed somehow both intangible and incorporeal. “What is this?! What did you do to my body?!”

Only now did Dipper realize that Bill, whom he correctly assumed was responsible for all this, was nowhere to be found. Though he soon received an answer as the dream demon’s demented, chilling laughter began to ring out across the attic, and, strangely and frighteningly enough, it was coming out of his mouth, of all places.

Not having the faintest idea about what was going on but immensely concerned and afraid all the same, Steven hurried over to Dipper’s manically laughing body, only to be roughly shoved to the ground as Bill started to pull his newly-stolen body up to stand. When is eyes opened, both Steven and Dipper gasped in shared appalment to see that they were now only long yellow slits against a bright, almost glowing yellow, a further sign that the demon had claimed this vessel as his own.

Bill said nothing at first, but instead only laughed twistedly as he grabbed the nearby laptop, its countdown finally hitting zero as he did. At the same time, he also made sure to grab the photos of Dipper and Lapis sitting right next to it, though he brought the laptop down first, tossing it to the ground hard and cackling wildly as he stomped on it, breaking it into nothing more than scattered bits and burnt out circuits. To add insult to injury, the demon then proceeded to cheerfully rip all of the photos into small, unrecognizable scraps that he let fall onto the laptop’s ruined remains. It was clear from his sickening snickers alone that Bill was taking sadistic delight in seeing the absolutely distraught look on Dipper’s immaterial face as he realized all at once that he had just lost everything: the laptop, its secrets, the pictures, the chance to help Lapis, and now, even his own body. “Sorry, kid!” the demon grinned remorselessly, relishing in his triumph as both reeled in terror over the nightmarish twist that had just unfolded, one that had just changed everything in one horrific instant. “But you’re my puppet now!”

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