#one time his friends did a wellness check (he got too drunk and overslept) and thought he got robbed when they finally broke in

[buccellato]

imagine, if you will: A Knives/Legato/Elendira modern AU but instead of it being a "me and my girlfriend saw you from across the bar and we dig your vibe" kind of ot3, it's more of a "I saw you and your girlfriend from a across the bar and I have some Critiques(tm)"

[blackghostm2o]

Lil stupid story time . Pfft, hahaah. (Plus ramblings about the series itself)

So… My fried and I were trying to watch And “Then there were none” or “10 little Indians” she remember watching a rather new movie about it (probably 2017/2018) but we couldn’t find it neither in Italian nor in English (even tho now that I think about it, at least me, it could have been confused this with “Murder at the Oriental Express” which actually came out in 2017).

And, a bit desperate, I was: “Do you know any actors? We could look up their name and we could search it between their movies.” She clearly didn’t (understandable) and was looking at the cast of the 2015 BBC miniseries and slowly read “Charles Dance”. And I repeated the name and then it clicked, the actor that was Erik in the 1990 miniseries! So I was “CHARLES DANCE!?!? YOOOOO!!! I wanted to see something else in which he was in!” And now I was much more eager to see this version of it, heh.

THIS MINISERIES IS REALLY GOOD THO, you should check it out.

SPOILERS AHEAD (I need to yap about this a lil). BIG YAPPING SESSION, BEWARE.

The miniseries has 3 episodes, each 1 h long.

I haven’t read the novel (my friend did) and the only thing that I know is that everyone dies (I asked her), but not who’s the killer.

I love how right from the start there’s this atmosphere of uneasiness: the place is gloomy, the music is ominous, the guests seem to barely tolerate each other (which is true) and the circumstances of how they where invited are a bit strange. Also really like how you see all the characters slowly going mad (some more than others), abandoning all their nice facades and giving in to their more unpleasant characteristics, also slowly accepting what they did and confessing to it (not everyone obviously, but the endgame people sure do)

Basically the 10 people here are all guilty of something (the 10 lil Indians or soliders) and get killed based on a nursery rhyme, by the same name, tho some actions are more dire than others and the order of the killings are based on that (my friend made me notice that).

The ten little soldiers and how they are killed (not in order):

- Mr and Mrs Rogers: the keepers of the house. He killed a wealthy woman in her sleep (basically pulled a James Sunderland) and his wife didn’t denounce it. The man got slaughtered with an axe (foreshadowed by a long sghot (?) of the axe) (chopped himself in a half”) and the woman killed in her sleep (probably with the pillow) (“overslept himself”)

- General MacArthur: General during WWI. He discovered that his wife had an affair with a good friend of his so he shot him in the head and… Yk… He was counted as a victim of the battlefield. Well… His wife died shortly afterwards, because of the Spanish flu so it was all useless. Gets his head cracked open outside the house. (Stayed in Devon).

- Dr. Armstrong: a doctor who was specialised in female neurosis (how lovely), he obviously was a fucking misogynist. He failed (really badly) a surgery… Probably was too drunk for it? He is shown drinking to alleviate the shaking of his hands, so probably did the same in that occasion. Medical malpractice, yay! I really find it amusing how the was one of the first ones to loose his marbles… He really went crazy and paranoid, didn’t trust Philip and especially Vera (they heated each other’s guts a lot, making jabs at each other right from the start). He was the most fragile of the guests and the most unbalanced, really ironic considering how he treated people with neurosis. Found outside near the coast all wet and with seaweed on him, probably drowned. (“A Red herring swallowed one”)

- Anthony Marston: the first to die. Your average rich young man that could do whatever the fuck he wanted with daddy’s money. Was obsessed with cars (he treated his own like his wife, my god). Always speeding, run over 2 children, says that it was their parents fault, because they have let the children out at night (it was in the countryside and they had some lamps). This mf, who doesn’t feel guilty, only got his license revoked for 6 months, no jail time no nothing… Really annoying mf, used to take “stimulants” (drugs, but our good gentlemen obviously cannot use that rude and unstylish word). Killed with Cyanide (“chocked himself”).

- William Blore: a pig (policeman). As pigs do, he has beaten a criminal to death, he should have let him go, but didn’t do it. One of the last standing ones, he breaks down when left with Philip and Vera and confesses, he also reached the deeper end and was “What if we are all already dead and this is just Hell?”. Him talking about his lil piece of land, gives him some humanity and makes us almost feel bad for him. Stabbed to death (“A bear hugged one”)

- Emily Brent: I’m a bit confused about her character… She’s into those teaching circles, about what a good woman should do and whatnot and had taken a girl “under her wing” to teach her… My confusion comes from here… There’s a scene in which she is sucking the bleeding finger of the girl, so sexual tension… Does that mean the she SA the poor girl and then abandoned her when she wanted to tell everything? Then the girl threw herself under a train… She got stubbed at the neck with a crochet hook (“A bumblebee stung one”)

- Philip Lombard: a mercenary, killed 21 men for some diamonds (your average white colonialist). In his case I was pretty sure that he wasn’t the killer, it would have been too obvious, he is the only one that immediately admits his crime. He is a sick mf for what he has done, but he is in peace with himself, really nonchalant about it. He gets shoot by Vera Claythorne (multiple times), because she didn’t trust him, as I said he was the obvious choice (a gun for hire, man with no morals) and the “only other left” besides her. (“Frizzled up”)

- Vera Claythorne: a secretary. So… The series wants you to believe that she’s the one last standing, there are many shots in which she is seen with a noose (like at the start when she was in the train) or something related (the hook on the ceiling)… So you are like: “Everyone has to die, so she’s killing everyone and then herself.” Tho towards the end Bill gets killed and she is following (not closely) Philip and this throws you off a lil bit: “It couldn’t have been her. Are they just killing each other, because they cannot trust anyone???”. It is shown her true story, how she wanted to kill Cybill so Hugo could get rich and then live a happy life with Vera (what a bitch… Poor child) and this leaves you a bit shocked (a pretty big twist, am I right?), because throughout the whole thing she seems the more guilty ridden of everyone so you don’t expect that shit. She goes to hang herself (obviously). (“He went out and hanged himself”).

NOW THERE’S THE REAL BIG PLOT TWIST! SPOILER!!!

You might say “Hey! What about the 10th person?” LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THAT MF, MY FRIEND.

THE REAL LAST PERSON IS THE JUDGE LAWRENCE WARGRAVE!… (Charles Dance, btw)

This man was a judge and was really well known for the fact that he watched every hanging of the people he sentenced to death, so we are lead to think that this is another sick fuck that enjoys this shit. His crime is convicting a dude (don’t remember his name) who apparently was a serial killer, but the way this is shown and the fact that he refused the hood makes us think that in reality he was innocent. While watching this I wasn’t really convinced by his mannerisms… He was too calm, too collected for that situation, everyone was going mad (even Philip) and it is mentioned that he had cancer (tho HE tells us that he was able to get rid of it)… So I obviously was: “Ok… It has to be him, he doesn’t have anything to loose, probably the cancer will come again and is TOO collected. I don’t trust this mf.” But then HE GETS SHOT TO THE HEAD!!! So obviously we all are: “Oh… So it wasn’t him… He’s dead… Huh.” And you are still left to wonder who is the killer. The thing is , AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS, HE IS NOT DEAD!!!! HE MADE AN ALLIANCE WITH THE DOCTOR (who was too paranoid of the others and already had shown trust to the judge “we are both fine and intelligent men, not like these other people”) TO FAKE HIS DEATH WITH SOME LIVER AND OTHER ORGANS (previously shown missing in the fridge). THE DR CHECKED AND PRONOUNCED HIM DEAD AND EVERYONE BELIEVED HIM. Those 2 met outside at night and Wargrave killed Armstrong…

The scene in which he appears made me loose my shit: we have Vera trying to hang herself and then we hear rustling and THE FUCKING JUDGE OPENS THE DOOR!!!! Then they talk, she is slowly dying of asphyxiation because she lost her balance on the chair and is barely touching it and begging Wargrave to help her and to give the blame to Philip. After calmly sitting next to her he starts listening to her (while watching her dying) and hen explains everything and how that specific hanging (of the serial killer, who, btw, was NOT INNOCENT) made him realise how similar they were, tho the dude killed innocents and he only guilty people. He also says that the cancer was spreading (so he really had nothing to loose). Listens to Vera’s pleads for help in such a cold way, probably used to it and most likely finding her revolting (for what she did and for how quickly she wanted to betray Philip, they had sex the previous night and were being together a lot). He’s also pretty sassy here, because she was asking why and he was “I have a strong sense of duty (he explained previously in the 3rd ep to the remaining people.) I thought that I made that clear.” She was also saying that he couldn’t kill himself because the gun was empty so to help her, then he shows one bullet “You forgot the bullet that killed me” and gets up AND NONCHALANTLY TAKES HER CHAIR AND GOES AWAY AFTER CLOSING THE DOOR.

The last scene is him going to the dining room setting 2 glasses of wine and 2 tissues at the opposite ends of the ramble, cleans the gun and shoots himself and the gun slides to the opposite end of the table. He is smiling.

I loved this miniseries so fucking much, that’s why I’m blabbing about it. Oh, Wargrave’s character is fantastic. This is a very well written story, the tension… The uncertainty… The twists, I should try to read some of Agatha Christie’s novels.

The actors did a good job :)

[vdlest]

More than anything

Characters:

Bucky Barnes x BestFriend!Reader

Summary:

You and Bucky have been best friends since high school. He always asked you for advice whenever he's dating someone, when you say no, he'd say no as well. But one night, you found each other in your room, having sex. Waking up the next day, he's gone. No text, no call, nothing.

Warning:

Mention of smut

The ray of sunshine hits your face, making your eyes flicker. You slowly opened your eyes and felt a little bit of a headache. You soon realized why. You got drunk last night from your happy hour session with your best friend, Bucky. But that's not the only thing that has happened last night, you two shared a moment, sex to be exact. It only processed to you when you looked down and saw that underneath the blanket, you are wearing nothing but your bare skin and the hickeys which were made by Bucky's sinful lips.

You didn't know how it happened, how you two ended up in your bedroom, moaning each other's names. You two were just talking about his latest plan for his mission with Steve and Nat until you opened up about someone asking you out for a date, which is Christian, your new neighbor. He didn't like the idea of you going out with that "too-good-to-be-true-good-boy" because he believes that there's something off with him. He, later on, told you that no one can date you since you're too good for anybody, the next thing he did was he claimed your lips, for he can't resist the temptation of giving it a taste.

Bucky is your best friend since you two were in high school. When he joined the Avengers, he signed you up as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D as well, since he doesn't want you to have a hard time looking for a job that fits you. Thanks to him, you liked your job there, you've done things you never imagine you could do. You two shared a wonderful friendship, from being each other's cheerleader, supporter, even basher, a shoulder to cry on, so on and so forth. When your parents died because of a car accident, he and S.H.I.E.L.D. were the only families you have left.

And now, you can't believe that you and Bucky just crossed a line you two never thought would cross.

You got up from lying down, and rest your back against the headboard, as you continue to process everything that has happened last night. Your hands wander around your neck, your chest, trailing the memories of Bucky's kisses from last night, the way his lips shower your body with his kisses, the way he made you feel good about yourself, about him.

As you shake your head to stop flashbacks from coming back and forth of your mind, you stood up and grabbed your robe on your reading nook, not so far away from your bed. Bucky's not in your room anymore, nowhere to be found even downstairs. You checked your phone, you got no calls or even texts from him, not even a note anywhere in your house.

No signs of him. Just a simple memory of you two having sex last night.

•••

You arrived in S.H.I.E.L.D. later than usual. The first person you saw was Natasha, looks like she came from your floor, searching for you, but when you two bumped into each other, she figured that you are late.

"I overslept," you somehow lied, you somehow told the truth when Nat asked you why you were late. You overslept because of what happened to you and your best friend, who is currently cannot be reached for unknown reasons.

Nat's brows furrowed, giving you a suspicious look, "Overslept?" she doesn't believe your alibi, "Agent Y/L/N, that's the first. Is there something wrong?"

You and Nat are close friends, after all, she was the one who trained you well. Without her, you don't think you'd be alive after your first mission in the field.

You told her you're fine. So the two of you made your way to the conference room, where Steve and Tony are having a semi-argument, semi-discussion about the accords given by the secretary of state. But you just got out of the elevator when Nat completely believed you aren't telling the truth about your alibi.

"Next time," her voice made you stop, feeling her hand over your neck as she playfully covers up something from it, "Hide your hickeys, so I won't find out that you're just making excuses."

Your eyes widened, when she passed by you, she gave you a wink.

Oh, great. Nat knew something miraculous happened to you last night, and it's only a matter of few hours before she asked you who you did it with. Because if you won't, she'll find about it her way, and that's the last thing you want her to do.

Before you entered the conference room, you checked your phone again. Still no sign of Bucky.

Is he avoiding you? Did he just leave you?

Those were the questions going on in your mind, but you refused to believe in them. You know Bucky for a long time, and he will not make you feel bad about anything, most of all, he won't make you feel like you're just a woman he fucked and left afterward. He's not like that.

You entered the conference room and you were surprised to see that Tony and Steve aren't the only people in there aside from Nat. Bucky is there as well.

He's there all this time, and his phone is with him, but you got nothing from him.

"Y/n, good thing you're here," Steve said as he saw you on the glass door. But your eyes aren't with him, and so is your attention. It's with Bucky, waiting for him to glance your way, but he did not. He knew you are there, he knew you just came in, but he continued reading something from the folder he's holding as if he doesn't hear his best friend greeted you, "We were just talking about who should join Tony and Clint in their mission and Canada, and we think you're a perfect fit for it."

You can hear Steve, you can clearly hear him, but you're too puzzled about the behavior of Bucky, your best friend, the guy who just made you cum multiple times last night.

"Y/n," Tony snapped his fingers to get your attention, "Are you here? Or are you already in Canada?" you finally looked at Tony, "Okay, you're here. Good."

Realizing that Bucky is avoiding you, you make your way inside and sat down far away from him. You are pissed. You have no idea why he left you just like that earlier this morning. And now, you are completely puzzled why he's avoiding you like he doesn't know you at all.

You did not bother to look at him again, you just listened to Tony and Steve about you joining the Canada crew for a mission. But half of your mind is still wondering what you did wrong to deserve this kind of treatment, of all people, from your best friend. You knew it has something to do with the fucking sex you did last night, but you clearly did not initiate it. It was him who made the first move, it was him who kissed you first, all you did was to reciprocate what he did first. You wanted it, you liked what happened but him acting like this, makes you start regretting it.

Once Steve and Tony finished briefing you for the Canada thing, you left the conference room, excusing yourself from them. Usually, you'd stay in there with them and have a little conversation with them, but that won't happen today.

You're too pissed, too furious, and most of all, you're too hurt to care.

•••

Five weeks have passed since you, Tony and Clint left for Canada, and tonight is your flight back home. The three of you had to stay that long in Canada to find out how this group of hackers have the power to control the stocks of the country, making them acquire the money of the government. Once you finished them up, Tony did not waste any time in Canada. He told you and Clint that you are heading back home.

You understood why both Tony and Clint are eager to come home immediately, they have someone waiting for them back home. But you? No one.

You did not receive any message nor any calls from Bucky. So you figured, that's the end of your friendship with him. It made you sad and cry for quite a while, that your beautiful friendship with him, ended up just like that. He did not even give the both of you the chance to fix it or do something about it. He just decided to avoid you and cut you off. It's like you didn't have worth in him, despite the long years you two shared.

"Hey," Clint called you, sitting across from you, "Any problem?"

From watching the darkness outside the plane you're riding home, your eyes went to Clint. He and Tony have been noticing that something's off with you for the past weeks that you were with them. They'll ask you, but you'll say you're just fine. Well, they're not stupid to believe your lies. They knew that something's wrong with you and they're having a bit of hunch about it already.

You're about to deny that something's wrong when you heard Tony, who is sitting on the other side of his private plane and wearing his sunglasses on, intervened and cut you off, "Oh come on, don't deny it, Y/L/N. I did not get graduate from the most distinguished university in the world just to believe your lies." he slide his sunglasses against his nose as he tilt his head in your direction, "What? Is this about the vibranium-armed best friend of yours?"

He's not Tony Stark for nothing. Like what he said, he graduated from the most distinguished university in the world, and it was only a matter of time before he figured out what's really bothering you. He knew it has something to do with Bucky since you haven't mentioned him in the five weeks the three of you spent in Canada for a mission. Tony and Clint must've figured it all out when Bucky called them last week and not you. Usually, when Bucky has a concern about the mission or just checking up on the progress of the mission, he'll call you, but not this time. He called Tony, which somehow annoyed and pissed you even more.

"Did you two fight?" Clint asked concernedly.

As much as you want to be honest with them with all the details why you two were not in good terms, you just confirmed that something's not good between you and Bucky. It's not like you are that comfortable to tell Clint and Tony that your best friend is acting like that beacuse you two had sex. You are friends with both Clint and Tony, but you felt that it's not just right to confide in with both of them.

"Something just happened and we're not on good terms," you carefully confirmed. You sighed and moved your eyes in the window again, "But I'm fine. I'm just really tired from this mission, that's all."

You felt Clint tapped your hand and squeezed it, you glanced at him and he smiled at you.

"Whatever you two are having problems with, you guys will be alright. You two have been best friends since high school and I think you guys share a beautiful friendship, which will make it easier to resolve this problem or any problem that you two would face," Clint said in full conviction as if he's very sure that everything's just gonna be alright. Well, you knew it won't, because it has been five weeks and you received nothing from your best friend, not any message, just pure avoidance. "Anyway, Nat called me up before we took off from Canada and she told me Christian passed by the compound, looking for you."

"Seems like someone's getting laid tonight," you heard Tony, annoying you again.

You just gave him a death-defying glare before you moved your eyes and attention back to the window.

Clint's perspective and belief about your friendship with Bucky was what you believed in as well, but not anymore. Right after you woke up that morning, finding yourself alone in the bed where you had sex, and receiving a complete ignorance from him, you stopped believing that your friendship is something worth keeping. He left you and did not say a word about what happened between the two of you, and it somehow hurt you. He knew that he's the only family you got left, him and S.H.I.E.L.D., but still, he left you.

If you only knew that beautiful moment would ruin your friendship with him, and would take away the only family you got, you could've resisted. But no, you liked what happened. You loved that moment you two shared.

Apparently, not for him.

•••

You decided to sleep on the compound for tonight, you are too tired to drive anyway.

Tony and Clint made their way back home. The only ones left in the compound aside from you are Nat, Steve, Wanda, and Dr. Banner. You saw them talking in the kitchen, you wanted to join them but you're not on your usual cheerful self. So you went up to your floor and went inside the room intended for you when you're in the compound.

You're about to enter your passcode in your room when you got a call from Christian. You thought of not answering it but you remembered Clint telling you that Christian came in the compound looking for you, so you accepted it eventually.

"Hey, sorry for calling you this late. I just want to make sure you're fine," he said after you accepted his call. He sounded so concern to you and you are grateful for that, but clearly, you're not needing that concern right now. You need answers and explanations.

You cleared your throat before answering him, "Hi, sorry I wasn't able to reply to your texts, I became busy with my work," you rest your back against the wall beside your door, "Nat told me you passed by the compound. Thank you for your concern, Christian. I really appreciate it."

"Yeah," he chuckled on the other line, almost sounded shy, "I haven't seen you in so long, so I thought something happened to you."

Just when you're about to answer Christian, you heard footsteps behind you. When you stood up properly and turned around, you saw the last person you wanted to see tonight.

He stood in front of you, looking at you wistfully. You thought he wasn't here in the compound, that's why you are very confident to stay for the night in the first place. Nobody told you about him being here.

Christian cleared his throat on the other line, "So can I ask you out?" he asked you, not having the idea what you're going through right now.

"I'm...I'm gonna think about it. I'm sorry, Christian. Can I just call you back tomorrow? I'm just really tired and I want to take a rest now," you said to Christian, since you've been wanting to go inside your room and end your night. But you were also wondering how were you supposed to do that now that Bucky Barnes is in front of you right now. "I'll just give you a call tomorrow, okay?" you told him again.

He agreed about you just calling him tomorrow morning. So when you ended the call, you immediately turned your back and pressed the PIN in your door to open it. You completely ignored Bucky's presence, just like what he did to you for the past five weeks.

"Y/n," when he called your name, you felt goosebumps all over your body. It wasn't the first time he called your name, but after five weeks of complete absence from each other's lives, you can't help but feel like that. "I know I fucked up, I'm sorry."

You can hear him, but you chose to just continue opening your door with your PIN.

"I know I became a complete jerk and I can't express how sorry I am for doing what I did. I just really don't know how to handle the situation we were in. I'm sorry," he continued talking. When you successfully put your PIN in your door's keypad, the door through your room finally opened. You grabbed the duffel bag you got from your trip, but when you're about to enter your room and just completely ignore Bucky, he grabbed your wrist, "Please, talk to me."

When you heard him uttering the word "please" you've had enough. You let go of your duffel bag and faced him, but you didn't face him to talk to him, you faced him and slapped him.

He did not see your slap coming, that's why he was so shocked when you did slap him. His head is still turned when you grabbed your duffel bag again to go inside your room and slammed the door in front of him, but you weren't able to do that because he stopped you, this time using his lips. He kissed you against the door to your room, and his kiss made you remember the night you two shared. But remembering the morning you woke up without him beside you, without receiving any message from him, you pushed him away.

When you pushed him away, he was surprised to see tears running down your cheeks. You did not realize that you are crying, that tears are already in your cheeks.

"You ignored me for five fucking weeks! I waited for you to call me or even message me! I waited for days for you to reach out to me and explain the complete silent treatment you're giving me! But I've had enough, Bucky!" you yelled at him, throwing your duffel bag on his direction but he was able to avoid it, "Did you even know how I felt when I woke up the next day you fucked me without you beside me? Without getting any message or call from you?! I felt that I was just one of the one night stands you had with any other women! I felt like I was just a slut you fucked to satisfy your fucking needs!"

He did not move a bit, he was complete stunned with the words you're telling him, how he made you feel.

"Fuck you, Bucky! I'm not just a woman you fucked, I am your best friend! But that day, that fucking day you left me, you made me feel that I mean nothing to you!" you yelled at him, tears are still running down your cheeks. All your frustrations, all the anger you felt for him, you finally let it out.

"You're not like that to me, for Christ's sake!" he yelled back. He slowly walked towards you as he try to explain himself, "I admit, I became a complete jerk. I left you that morning without saying anything, but I just got scared. I didn't know what to do. That night we shared together, it was completely different from all the one night stand I had with anyone before. That night was the best night of my existence. I did what I did to you that night because that's what I want to do, not because I need someone to satisfy my needs, not because I needed someone to suck my dick and stick it out in their vaginas. But when I woke up the next day, I realized that I crossed the line. I realized that I took advantage of you and that's the last thing I want to happen. I got scared that I might lose you, so I just left."

"And you ignored me for five weeks?" you asked him. You scoffed and shook your head, "You completely shut me out, Bucky. I waited for you to reach out to me and ask me to talk about what we did. I was waiting for you to tell me that we should talk about that beautiful night we shared. But it never happened. You never did."

He nodded, "I know and I'm sorry for doing that."

He walked towards you again, this time he was reaching for your hand. You tried to move it away from him but he still caught it. The touch of his hand, the soft touch of his hand against yours stopped you from moving away.

"Y/N, I needed time to think about what I should do next about us because I know our friendship won't be the same ever again after that night. I thought about what I really feel for you because I am not feeling anything for you, why the hell did I kiss you that night? Why the hell did find myself angry when I found out that your fucking neighbor is trying to ask you out? If I don't feel something for you, why does it hurt seeing you cry because of me? I am afraid to lose you because you're the only one I got, y/n. And losing you would be my greatest downfall," Bucky caresses your hand as he explains himself, "I'm sorry for taking it so long to finally explain these things to you. I'm sorry for being stupid. I'm sorry for being a jerk. And most of all, I'm sorry for hurting you."

You won't deny the fact that you could actually the sincerity in his eyes. He has always been so honest to you, and there was never a time he lied to you.

"I'm sorry," he apologized again, "I don't want to lose you, y/n."

And you don't want to lose him either.

Tears continue to fall from your eyes as you looked down and sobbed, "What the hell took you so long?" you asked him, letting out a sob again after asking him. "Five weeks, Buck. Five weeks of asking myself what did I do wrong to get that kind of treatment from you. Five weeks of asking myself if that's already the end of our friendship. Five weeks of asking myself if I'm gonna lose you just like that," you could hear fears from your voice, and he does too.

Bucky let go of your hand and he soon cupped your face, "Oh, baby, that's not gonna happen," he held your chin and made you looked up to meet his eyes again, "I'm really sorry. I just got scared. But now, I'm more scared of not being with you, I'm more scared of losing you. People could start leaving me, they could stop thanking me for saving the world, they could stop recognizing me, but there's one thing I don't want to lose," he caressed your cheeks, "That's you. I could lose anything, just not you."

Your heart knew he was telling the truth, he is being honest with you. The five weeks of anger you felt for him vanished in thin air after you heard his explanation, and most of all, after you heard him express your importance to his life.

Bucky rested his forehead against yours as both of you closes your eyes.

"I love you."

Hearing the three words he just uttered made you detach your forehead from his, your eyes widened in surprise. He knew you got surprised with his confession, but instead of holding back, he continued expressing his real feelings for you.

"For the long run, I asked myself not to fall for you. I have always believed that you deserve better, and not someone like me, so I settled in being your best friend. But seeing you hurting, and seeing other guys ask you out, tortures me. And don't worry about my confession, I'm not asking for an answer right away," he assured you.

"Thank you, Bucky," you answered him.

That night, you realized you were right. When something happened between you and Bucky, you two crossed the line, you two decided to stop being just best of friends, you both realized and decided that you two wants, needs, and deserves more than that.

-v.dl

[bookstantrash]

A/N: I am so very sorry for not updating for so long. I know I said I’d try to update more frequently while I was on uni break but life happened lmao. Classes are back, but I’ll try not left y’all hanging for so long.

You can check here Pemberley’s Lake, Hooked on You, Smells like petrichor and paper, The Sound of Music and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, part one, two, three, four and five of my Nessian Pride and Prejudice AU.

That being said, I hope y’all enjoy this chapter! We got a little bit of fluff, sprinkles of angst and a lovely plot twist ✨

Bloody Day and Ominous letters

Nesta woke up with the worst headache she had ever had in her entire life. She really should not have drunk as much as she had last night but as she saw her friends and Morrigan having fun that little voice inside her head — usually her mother’s or grandmother's saying Do better, Stop being such a disappointment or Your only purpose is to marry well so forget about love — got louder and louder, judging her company and trying to make her feel ashamed.

But she had had enough. Her grandmother and mother had both passed away already. It was time to bury them for good. So Nesta took the wine bottle from Morrigan and drank half of it in one go, her friends cheering around her. And she had so much fun. Nesta would never have guessed that drinking could be so enjoyable, nothing like those uptight parties where the ladies sipped a lonely glass all night long while the gentleman lost count of theirs. The only downside was her killing headache and the fact that she had overslept, a fact she took notice of once she glanced at the wall clock.

She had just sat up on her bed —  massaging her temple to ease the tension on her head — when an insistent knocking on her door made her mumble a curse. No doubt it was either Emerie or Gwyn — maybe both of them — waking her up. Those two were quite used to drinking, so it was no surprise to Nesta that they would be up and about very early.

“Would you two stop it?” she said loudly, opening the door wearing only her chemise, probably having ditched her dress during the night while she slept “I have a killer headache and your banging is not helping at all—”

She stopped mid sentence when she came face to face with Georgianam, the young lady’s hand still raised to knock on her door, Cassian right behind her.

“Oh, I apologise Lady Nesta” Georgiana said “We had agreed that we would go on a nice early morning walk today, but when I did not spot Miss Archeron at the breakfast table I got worried.”

“Please do forgive me, Miss Georgiana. I had a bit too much to drink yesterday and ended up oversleeping.” Nesta quickly said, mentally kicking herself for her rudeness “I will be ready for our walk in a minute.”

“Lovely! I will be waiting at the parlor then!”

Nesta closed the door with a sigh. Her morning had not begun the best.

However, it was only while she was brushing her hair that her sleep fogged mind caught up to the fact that Cassian had seen her half asleep wearing nothing but her chemise and with early morning messy bed hair.

She definitely could not be allowed to drink more than two glasses of alcohol if that was how she was going to behave whenever she drank more than deemed proper.

When she arrived at the parlor ten minutes later, she could not help but avoid looking at Cassian.

“Mrs. Potts brought you a little something to eat” Georgiana informed, pouring Nesta tea “And also some headache medicine”

“Please thank her in my instead later, she is too kind to me”

“Oh, it was all my brother’s doing” Georgiana smiled in Cassian's direction, serving herself some cookies “He was the one who asked her to provide not only the medicine but also the food.”

“I appreciate the gesture, my lord.” Nesta hid her blush behind the teacup.

“It was nothing, my lady” was all he answered, refusing to look at her.

That made Nesta’s heart strangely hurt. She could not help but think he had been disgusted by her earlier appearance. Her hair was such a mess and her chemise was all wrinkled from sleep—

Wait. Why did she care so much of what he thought of her? Nesta Archeron was not one to give much attention to others opinion of herself, so why was she getting so worked up when it came to Cassian? Of course, one could not help but notice how he always looked so presentable, with his spotless clothes, hair combed to perfection every single time. She had never seen a gentleman’s hair be so… perfect. She could bet her first edition of her favourite romance that he had awfully handsome bed hair. And that he had a mint breath even when woke up. And that he probably slept shirtless, if the last time she saw him at midnight at his library was any indication of his sleeping attire.

Oh Mother, why was she now thinking about all of that? She waved an imaginary hand to disperse her not so proper thoughts, focusing on the small talk Georgiana was making.

Both Nesta and Cassian kept avoiding each other during their walk, which did not pass by Georgiana without notice, especially given how her brother had made sure to stay two steps behind them, giving the excuse he wanted to give both ladies “privacy to talk comfortably”, something he had never done. Their walk, however, was cut short when Nesta showed signs of being tired and admitted that her headache had not disappeared.

“I assure you it is nothing to fret over” Nesta told a worried Mrs. Potts when they came back “It must be from yesterday’s drinking. There is no need to call a doctor.”

“Nonetheless, I will ask Chef Ramsay to prepare some light food and my special hangover drink” the old headmaid said with a motherly expression.

Thanking Mrs. Potts again, Nesta went to her room to splash some water on her face in hopes of refreshing herself. But a painful jab low on her stomach made her freeze and the blood drain from her face.

~•~

“Just knock on the door, my Lord” Lumière said as he watched Cassian drop his hand once again. The maître d’ had been watching his lord pace in front of the parlor door for what must have been twenty minutes.

“I do not want to bother her. Maybe I should call Mrs. Potts or wait until the other ladies come back” Cassian ran his hand through his hair in distress. Emerie and Balthazar had gone out with Morrigan to visit some possible new business partners — her big circle of connections proving itself to be very useful in helping expand their business — while Azriel and Gwyn had gone to the town, which was helding a small music festival. Georgiana, on the other hand, had received a telegram from a friend who had returned early from their trip abroad, and she had promptly gone to meet them.

“This, dear brother, is your chance to speak to Miss Nesta” she had said before leaving “I do not know what happened to make you both so distant, but you better make amends. I already asked Emerie to design the gown I shall wear at your wedding.”

Cassian had told Georgie to mind her own business and stop being such a busybody, proceeding to stand guard outside the parlor.

“Leave the lord alone” Cogsworth hissed, elbowing Lumiére “Her ladyship has not asked for help so it must mean she is fine and does not wish to be bothered.”

“Nonsense, old friend!! The lady is simply too shy to ask for it and the lord too polite to risk disturbing her” taking a step forward, Lumière knocked on the door.

“What do you think you are doing?!” the major-domo whisper yelled, and Cassian was sure he would have throttled Lumière were it not for the faint voice coming from the other side.

“Please, do come in” Nesta said.

Taking a deep breath, Cassian opened the door, leaving behind Cogsworth and Lumière, who were trying very hard not to start a duel right there.

The first thing he looked for was Nesta.

Nesta, who was rather pale and was clutching a pillow very hard against her stomach.

“Are you alright?” he asked, not knowing whether to sit beside her or just stay standing a few feet away.

“I am” she said, although the deep breath she took had him thinking it was not true “Where are Gwyn and Emerie?”

“Gwyn went to the town festival with Azriel. An Emerie went with Mor and Balthazar to meet prospective business partners.”

“Are you really alright Nesta?” he asked again “You do not seem fine at all if I may say.”

“I assure you I am perfectly fine” Nesta insisted through clenched teeth “Where is Georgiana?”

“At a friend’s house. They returned early from a trip.” Cassian said, a bit annoyed she was asking for his sister when he was right there. It was a stupid jealous feeling, and he was not even more annoyed because he felt glad they got on so well.

“Do you know when any of them will be back?”

“I am afraid I do not know” daring to approach her, Cassian sat beside her on the sofa “But I am here. If there is anything I could do…”

“There is no need to bother yourself. I truly am—”

And that was when Nesta whimpered and clutched her pillow even tighter, doubling over a little bit.

“You are definitely far from fine sweetheart” Cassian said, rubbing her back in hopes of helping her, nevermind proper etiquette.

“It is really nothing. Just—”

“Just what?”

“Lady stuff!!” Nesta finally said, her whole face heating up like a fireplace.

“Oh. Oh! I see. I— I understand” he said, also a little bit flustered “Not that I actually get it but I have also experienced pain and—”

Nesta wished the ground would open up and swallow her. She was used to getting her period, it was a monthly occurrence. Nothing out of the ordinary. However, this time it seemed her body had decided to punish her more than usual. Not only had she gotten a killer headache — made worse by her hangover —  but she was cramping very badly, and they usually were not that bad. That was why she had gone to that walk with Georgiana, even though she was getting mildly uncomfortable soon after they arrived at the garden.

Not that she did not want to miss any Cassian time.

Him going with them had been a bonus.

A surprise, but not a pleasant one.

Maybe just a bit pleasant if she was being honest. Just a tiny tiny bit.

“I will stop talking now” Cassian mumbled, interrupting not for the first time her errant thoughts.

She wanted to die. To tell Cassian — even indirectly —  that she had gotten her period was the most mortifying she had ever experienced.

“I can get Mrs. Potts for you” he tentatively said, restarting the back rubs “She can get you some tea for pain. Or a bag of warm water. You can tell her anything, do not worry.”

Nesta managed to nod her head in agreement, despite her stubborn side that refused to ask for help from the maids or other servants at Pemberley.

Cassian himself went looking for the head maid instead of just ringing for her, assuring her he would be back in less than ten minutes. And he did come back in record time with Mrs. Potts, who gave her tea and pain tonic that she assured Nesta made wonders for stopping cramps. All the while Cassian hovered over Mrs. Potts, unsure of what to do.

“Do you require anything else? Maybe another blanket?” he asked after Mrs. Potts had left. He had made sure to bring back a blanket too and had even tucked her in with extra care “Or more tea? I can ask someone to come and bring fresh hot tea”

Nesta would never have imagined Cassian to be such an overbearing mother hen. He was being extra careful around her and it annoyed her beyond reason.

“Cassian, this happens every month. Has been happening since I was thirteen, alright? Can you please stop?” she snapped.

She regretted her words as soon as she realised how rude she had been and what exactly she had said. However, he was being so overweening. As if she was made of glass or was on her deathbed.

Yet all Cassian did was crack a smile and nudge a chocolate muffin towards her. Nesta had been in such pain and so quiet he had been concerned if Mrs. Potts’ pain tonic would really work. But there she was.

There was the feisty, sharp tongued and quick-witted Nesta he knew.

There was the Nesta he fell in love with.

He barely held his tongue back and risked blutering his feelings right in front of her. Again.

“May I get you a book then? It is a good way to pass the time until your friends are back.”

“Thank you. That would be lovely” Nesta gave him a soft smile, her previous embarrassment having died down a little.

He was gone and back in a record time, and Nesta delusioned herself into thinking he had raced to the library because he did not want to leave her for too long.

“I got the book you were not able to finish last night” Cassian said, handing her Sellyn Drake’s latest romance “And I also took the liberty of getting one of my favourites too. In case you finish this one quickly.”

She thanked him again, curious as to what book was his favourite, what made her even eager to finish her current read.

Turns out Cassian was a fan of epic poems, a fact that — combined with his admission of having read Sellyn Drake’s romances — once again made Nesta view him with new eyes. She had thought he would be more of a war strategy person, all business and serious matters. Yet it seemed that Cassian had a dreamer inside of him.

“How many times have you read this book?” Nesta asked as she turned a yellowed page. The book was old, but she could see it was very loved given its good condition.

“A lot of times. It was my favourite book as a child, and I could not part with it once I moved out of my childhood home” he gave her a smile “It was also my dear companion during long expeditions. I have most of it memorized.”

“I bet you charmed every single lady during your travels with your knowledge, wooing them with beautiful words” she teased, despite the small pang of jealousy in her heart.

You refused his hand and humiliated him, she thought, you have no place to feel jealous. Cassian is a wonderful gentleman, it is expected to have women falling left and right for him, not to say him pursuing them.

“You are actually the first person apart from my family who knows that I read poetry” Cassian admitted “And I also have never met someone that made me want to declare a poem to”

Nesta did not know what to say to that. They were bordering dangerous territory, something that seemed to happen more and more frequently.

And Cassian, seated right beside her, was thinking the same thing. He had allowed himself to get closer to him again, something that yesterday he had vowed to avoid, had tried to do that morning. But to see her in pain, uncomfortable and not talking to him hurt more than those moments in which he could see a life with her. Those moments with Nesta were a double edged sword: he craved and loathed them with the same urgency.

He would kill to have even a single moment with her.

He would die if he had even a single moment with her.

Nesta made him want to be selfish.

Made him want to declare poems to her, maybe even attempt to write her one.

At the moment, he could not help but recall a certain verse of the Epic of Gilgamesh:

What could I offer

the queen of love in return, who lacks nothing at all?

Balm for the body? The food and drink of the gods?

I have nothing to give to her who lacks nothing at all.

You are the door through which the cold gets in.

You are the fire that goes out. You are the pitch

that sticks to the hands of the one who carries the bucket.

You are the house that falls down. You are the shoe

that pinches the foot of the wearer. The ill-made wall

that buckles when time has gone by. The leaky

water skin soaking the water skin carrier.

To Cassian, Nesta was the goddess of love. And he was the one who could not offer her a single thing for she lacked nothing.

“Well, I will not disturb your reading any longer” clearing his throat to break the new tense silence between them, Cassian gestured to the book in her hand “But do feel free to make comments while you read, I would very much like to hear your opinions about it.”

And she did just that. Every passage she found interesting, each line that caught her eye and interpretation she had about a certain phrase, she shared them all with Cassian. Somewhere during their conversation that awkward tension between them disappeared completely, with Cassian letting his arm rest on the back of the couch, getting closer to Nesta. And Nesta somehow ended up getting closer to him too, almost leaning on his side.

It was all very improper. Cassian staying alone with Nesta, so close to each other and acting as a married couple.

But Cassian would let himself be selfish one last time.

One last time before they had to go their separate ways.

~•~

The day would have ended perfectly were it not for the letter that Gwyn brought once she and Azriel had come back.

While Emerie, Balthazar and Mor had arrived late in the evening — with good news of new partnerships being agreed on —  Gwyn and Azriel had come back much later, just when everyone had finished dinner. Nesta had not been too worried, she trusted Azriel to take care of Gwyn and her friend was not bound by the stifling high society etiquette, but she breathed a little easier when they finally arrived.

“Oh Nesta, we passed by the inn we were staying at before and the landlady gave me a letter addressed to you. It seems she had forgotten to send it to us yesterday when our things were brought here.” Gwyn gave her the letter once they had moved to the game room “She apologised deeply for it.”

“I understand, it is a busy season for them.”

“It is a letter from Feyre” Nesta furrowed her brows in confusion as she broke the letter’ seal, which she recognized as being the one representing Feyre’ status as Duchess “She sent one barely a week ago, I wonder what could have happened.”

Nesta had guessed it would be another letter from Feyre asking about how their trip was going, if she had seen beautiful scenarios and bought any souvenir for her youngest sister. Or even a curious inquiry about what she thought of Cassian. Feyre had been quite interested to know if they got along — she had always been a busybody and matchmaker, and since marrying Rhysand had tried time and time again to nonchalantly push her to Cassin. If she ever discovered that Nesta had already been proposed by Cassian — and that she had refused his hand — chaos would befall upon Nesta.

However, as her eyes scanned the lines, Nesta’s assumptions of its contents proved to be far away from reality. She felt her blood run cold, her heart stop beating and fear. So much fear.

“Excuse me” she managed to say, getting up “I need a moment.”

“Nesta, are you alright? What did Feyre say? You are very pale” Gwyn said, her voice full of worry.

“I am fine. Just cramps” she brushed off her friend’s worries. She did not want to make the others notice that something was off with her, she did not want to alarm Gwyn..

Yet as she exited the room she failed to perceive that Cassian had been paying attention to her ever since Gwyn gave her the letter. He was always paying attention to his surroundings, especially when she was around.

He left the room a few moments after her, trying not to raise suspicion to his attitude. He did not know where she had gone — Pemberley was vast and her room was too far away for him to not have caught her faster — but something led him to the small outdoor patio just left from the small gallery he had at Pemberley.

As he got closer and closer there, he heard the sound of someone crying, which made his heart beat faster and a deep fear grow inside him.

He arrived outside to find an unimaginable scene: Nesta crying. Crying as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest.

She was a mess, her careful braided hair coming undone, as if she had ran her hands through it in desperation.

“Nesta… Nes dear, what happened? Is Feyre alright?” Cassian did not care that she most probably left the room to cry in private. He was worried, he needed to be beside her, he needed to help her somehow.

“I— Feyre she—” she was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe, let alone talk, making Cassian’s heart break in a thousand pieces.

“Shh it’s okay sweetheart. I am here Nes” he gently cupped her face, making her look at him “Take deep breaths with me.”

He took a deep breath, holding it in for three seconds before letting it go. He kept doing it until Nesta did the same, slowly calming down.

“Can you talk now? Do you want me to fetch you some water?” Cassian asked, tenderly brushing off her remaining tears.

“No, I— I can talk now” Nesta took another breath “Feyre is alright. It is Elain.”

“Elain? Is she sick? Talk to me Nes, help me understand”

Elain was the picture of the perfect lady in high society. With her numerous suitors, lovely and delicate behaviour — not to mention her singular beauty — it was hard to find someone who did not like her. Given that her hobbies — cooking and gardening — did not pose a threat to her health and well being, Cassian could not understand what would have made Nesta react so strongly. Perhaps Elain had fallen ill, something that rarely happened.

“No. She is not sick” Nesta shook her head “Cauldron, I almost wished she was sick.”

“Elain was…. Elain was kidnapped” she added, her eyes filling with tears again.

“Kidnapped? How?”

That made no sense, who would kidnap Elain? And why?

“She was going to visit Feyre. And when she didn't show up Rhysand went to search for her and—” Nesta started to cry, desperation filling her voice “They found her carriage turned over and hidden near the outskirts of the city. No sign of her at all.”

Cassian was speechless. He could only imagine how Feyre must be feeling after she got the news and hoped Rhysand was doing his everything to help find Elain.

“The coachman was killed and her lady in waiting was rushed to the hospital.” she cried even harder “This is all my fault. I should never have left her. We have no male relatives and Feyre is living too far from our childhood home. I was supposed to take care of her.”

“Nesta, it is not your fault. You could never have guessed something like this could happen.” he looked deep in her eyes, the blue in them even brighter because of her tears “Is there anything I could do to help?”

“I am afraid there isn’t, '' she whispered “I have to go back home. Try to hire an investigator, talk to Feyre and hope Elain is not disgraced by society rumors. Hope she is alive”

Cassian could only nod in agreement and wait for Nesta to recompose herself before they went back inside. Their friends were as horrified and worried about the situation as he and Nesta, and decided to go back right that moment. The staff noticed something was amiss and made sure to ready the carriage in record time.

“Thank you for welcoming you at your home” Nesta said, her complexion a bit better “I can assure you we all had a wonderful time here.”

“It was my pleasure. Have a safe travel and remember that Pemberey is open to you and your friends whenever you want to visit” Cassian helped Nesta get on her carriage one last time, letting go of her hand begrudgingly.

And as Nesta and her friends got farther and farther from Pemberley, as Nesta got farther and farther away from him and took his heart with her, Cassian felt a calm fury settle inside him.

He had some letters to write to some old friends.

•

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[libraryofnesta]

Tied to Ruin

ao3 link

Summary:

Cassian and Nesta were lovers, partners in crime. They did everything together. That is until tragedy strikes, causing Nesta to run away, far from everything she once knew.

Over five years later, Nesta is living life to as full as it can get. It’s not until an incident occurs that drags her into far more than she bargained for.

Notes:

thanks so much for reading. i'm a huge hoe for exes to lovers, so i have like 20 ideas in my head, and this is one of them. It's multichapter. i'm not sure how long this is gonna be, but definitely over ten chapter. this fic has two timelines. One will show them from when they're kids to teens, and one while they're adults. Both will occur at the same time, so things will start to unravel as you read.btw! velaris is gonna be like a super small town in new york. like no one knows about it.

TW: implied domestic violence, nothing graphic.

Chapter 1: lonely beds, different cities

Words, how little they mean

When you're a little too late

I stood right by the tracks

Your face in a locket

Good girls, hopeful they'll be and long they will wait

-

Sad Beautiful Tragic

Taylor Swift

2016, Small Town Velaris

“Please,” she whispers, voice hoarse. Nesta is practically begging at this point, but she has nothing else to relent to. “We can get out of here.” She swallows hard when he doesn’t reply. “We’re still young Cassian, we can still-���

“Nesta.” He says. It's one word, but it makes her pause. He rarely calls her Nesta. It’s always ‘Nes’ or ‘Sweetheart.’

“I can’t.”

Their lives have changed so drastically over the past few weeks. Nesta’s whole childhood is here. Everything she’s ever known. She’s not sure how much more of it she can handle now.

She’s well aware of the tears streaming down her face. Nesta doesn’t know what she can say to convince him, so she says the one thing that she’s been repeating over and over.

“You can…”

Cassian’s face seems to harden. The look he gives her makes her take a step back. He hasn’t looked at her like that in years. “Go ahead and leave Nesta.”, he says, voice rising. “Go live that picture perfect you always wanted. I won’t stop you.”

“Not everyone wants what you do.”

2021 New York, Manhattan

Something about leaving Valkyrians still makes her feel at odds. She’s not as resistant to the sight of blood anymore, and she’s not sure if she can ride a motorcycle as well as she used to. There are still parts that linger though. She still remembers how to throw a punch. A damn good one too. She still feels uneasy when someone walks in the same direction for too long though. It might be the worst part of it all.

Nesta doesn’t do much for fun.  She doesn’t dance as much as she likes. The amount of books she reads has decreased. Her days consist of work and eating, even though she skips more meals than she should. But she’s free. That’s what really matters, doesn’t it?

The muscles in Nesta’s body ache. She just finished a seven hour shift, and got a promotion that pays much better. Nesta wants to celebrate. She wants to talk to someone. It’s been so long since she’s talked to anyone. The fear of someone finding out about her past is lodged so deep in her head it caused her to isolate. The simple way of putting it is she has no friends.

Coworkers are the only source of non-work related conversation she engages in. It’s always small talk too. Just as Nesta is about to fall asleep, she rubs her eyes and forces herself to stay awake. Getting up from the lumpy couch, Nesta walks to her cabinet, grabbing a random mug and pouring wine into it. Once she gets a better look at the mug, she can’t help but scoff.

It’s ironic. Complaining about being lonely. It’s almost like she chose loneliness. She loves the quiet. When she was younger, all she wanted was alone time. She dreads it now. Nesta gets up after finishing her glass.  She’s a bit drowsy, and is way too tired to walk all the way to her room. Instead Nesta walks back over to her couch. She lies horizontally, staring into the abyss until she eventually falls asleep.

She dreams of seeing him that night. It’s a regular occurrence. It’s lessened over the years, but never fully disappeared. The image of him is blurry. It’s not as precise as it used to be. She hates still thinking of him. It doesn’t stop her from reminiscing a little though.

Her being upset makes sense of course. They’d known each other for over ten years, hating one another at first. Eventually, he began to grow on her. Their bickering had become playful, before they once again became estranged.

“Cassian?”

The figure turns around, and he knocks the wind out of her. His hair is out of it’s usual bun.  He gives her that familiar boyish smile, walking towards her and putting an arm on her.

“Missed me Sweetheart?”, he says, ruffling her hair a bit. Nesta scrunches her nose in response.

“You wish.”

He rolls his eyes. “Yeah yeah whatever.” He talks for a while. Nesta’s barely paying attention. It’s just nice to hear his voice again. He asks her what she’s reading, and she replies the same every time. It’s silent after a while. They’ve talked themselves out. It’s a nice silence though. Her favorite silence.

Cassian stares at her for a few seconds, giving her a soft smile and pushing a loose hair behind her ear.

“Come back,” he whispers.

Her breath stutters. “It’s been five years, Cass,” she mutters, breaking eye contact. Her eyes flicker between the ground and his face, gauging his reaction.

He doesn’t stop looking at her.

“I didn’t want to leave,” said Nesta. There’s a lump in her throat.

He scrubs a hand over his face. “Yet here we are.”

“You know why I left.”

Her eyes feel like they’re beginning to water. “I asked you to come with me. You’re the one who didn’t.”

Cassian looks to the side. He looks impassive, yet also emotionless. “You’re the one who ran away, Nesta.”

“I didn’t run away.”

He scoffs in response. “Keep telling yourself that.” Cassian starts walking away. It’s cloudy and has no solid ground or sky. At that moment she remembers where she really is. Nesta stands there, waiting until he fully fades away. It always feels too real.

The dreams always end like that.

Nesta can barely pry her eyes open when she wakes up. She has the next two weeks off. Her boss, Helion, had insisted she take a week or two off, since the bar was under a small renovation. She checks her phone and it reads 12:03. Jesus, she really had overslept.

In all honesty Nesta had no idea what to do with her free time. Maybe she’ll finally finish that book she started months ago. But in reality Nesta knows all she’ll do is go to a bar and let a stranger fuck her into oblivion until she kicks them out or leaves.

By the time Nesta leaves her house it’s around 3:00.  She goes to the coffee shop next door. She orders a coffee and sits in the corner of the room. Nesta somehow feels like the center of attention. It’s an empty shop, but it feels like all eyes on her. The room feels too cold.

The feeling follows her when she goes to the local bookstore. It’s crowded, but the area is quiet. Nesta browses through the shelves, sticking to the romance section. She holds a few books. It’s not until Nesta drops one, people begin to look at her. It makes a loud thump hitting the floor. Several pairs of eyes turn to her. The cover is of a shirtless man too.

Fuck , she thinks, This is embarrassing. Nesta purses her lips, hand curling into a fist as she puts the book back on it’s shelf.

It’s around 5:00 when she takes the train home. Nesta spent the rest of her day at the park, not wanting to stay at home. It doesn’t feel like home as much as she’d like it to though. Finally, Nesta makes it home.

She’s in an empty parking lot. The area she lives in is pretty small.  Nesta knows basically everyone in her apartment complex. It’s a tiny place. She never talks to anyone, but they do acknowledge each other. Barely anyone has a car either, herself included. So it is a bit weird to see an unrecognizable car. It’s odd, but Nesta thinks nothing of it. It’s probably just someone visiting.

Nesta goes into her apartment, before leaving once more to go to the bar that’s the second closest to her apartment. She’s usually working at this time, flirting with customers and taking them home when her shift ends.

The bar is crowded and loud. Lights are flashing, voices yelling, bodies moving. It’s out of her comfort zone. She’s been doing this for years and is still isn’t used to it. She sits on one of the stools where the drinks are served. A girl approaches her. Nesta never approaches anyone. She can’t see clearly in the light. The girl’s hair is brunette, though her roots are dark. Her brown skin illuminates in the flickering light.

“Hey”, she says “I’m Nora” Nora extends her hand to her. Nesta smirks in response, resting her elbow on the counter grasping her hand with the other.

“I’m Mila,” she says. No matter what she does, Nesta will never use her real name. Nora’s eyebrows raise. Nesta can see her lick tongue move as it pushes on her skin.

“Pretty name.”

They talk for around five minutes. It’s all small talk. They drink while they talk. Most of the things she responds with are lies anyways. Nora grasp’s her arm with her hand. “Wanna get out of here?” she asks. Her words are slurred, and Nesta has to restrain herself from flinching.

Something in her head tells her not to let anyone in her house though. Something is wrong, but she can’t put her mind on it. The idea of letting a stranger in her house sends goosebumps across her arms. Before, she’d never question it twice. Now that she thinks of it, doing this practically screams stranger danger. Especially with her past, this person could be anyone. Nesta slowly probes herself from the girl.

“I’ve gotta go”, she says. “Sorry, but there's something I need to do.” The girl doesn't seem to mind, either too drunk to care, or only looking for a one night stand. She nods, before introducing herself to someone else. Nesta feels her chest lighten, exiting the crowded bar to call an uber.

Whenever it’s quiet, she always reminisces.

2006, Small Town Velaris

Nesta wakes up and finds herself stranded. She has no idea where she is. She’s lying in a bed inside a mostly empty room. There’s only a few pieces of furniture, a stool and a drawer. It’s relatively small.  The last thing she remembers is being in a car with her sisters and parents. She hears voices outside of the room yelling.

“You expect me to leave-”

“Her father is-”

“She’s nine what would she-”

“So what if she’s young!”

“-s innocent so what if-”

She hears a loud smack. The silence after is deafening. The voices are quiet after, whispers. Afterwards, Nesta hears footsteps approaching. She scrunches her eyes shut, trying to pretend to be asleep. Nesta hears the door open and close. A hand lays on her forehead. As the person removes it, a calming voice talks. “Are you awake?” Nesta slowly looks at the person, opening only one eye, then another. She sees a woman with black hair and tan skin. Her cheeks are flushed and she has a small smile on her face.

The woman squats down so she’s the same height as the bed Nesta is laying on. “Hi,” the woman whispers, voice solemn and comforting. “My names Aurora,” she says. Nesta squishes her lips together. She’s confused and feels like crying. Nesta doesn’t cry though. She’s pretty sure her eyes water though, because Aurora strokes her hair and whispers, “It’s okay to cry.”

Nesta gasps and shakes her head. “Mommy says I’m not supposed to cry.” Aurora seems to be shocked silent. The silence makes Nesta become aware of everything that is happening. She slowly sits up. Once her feet are off the bed, Nesta quickly sprints to the door, opening it and running out. She has no idea where she’s going.

Suddenly, Nesta is hit with a hard impact, and falls down on her butt. She looks up and sees two boys. They’re both around the same height. They have the same dark hair too, except one is longer than the other. Nesta gets up and brushes off the dust on her leggings.

She notices it then. The leggings. She’s never worn pants before.

It’s also when she notices the juice smeared across one of the boy's shirts. It’s the long haired one’s. He drops the red cup to the ground and makes an angry noise. “That was my favorite shirt.”

Nesta feels sheepish as she whispers a quiet, “Sorry.”

The one with longer hair whispers to the other boy, obviously meaning for her to hear too. “She’s probably not even double digits.” The other boy is quiet, looking at the ground. He seems nervous and shy.

Nesta feels a sense of outrage course through her. She pouts, crossing her arms. “I’m almost ten. I’m nine and a half” The boy crosses his arms too.

“Well I’m ten and a half,” he says.

“Cassian,” Aurora scolds. “Play nice.” She puts a hand on Nesta’s shoulder and bends down. “I need to talk to…” She doesn’t continue.

Nesta turns towards her, and realizes she needs her name. “Nesta,” she says.

Aurora smiles, “That’s a wonderful name.”

Cassian still seems angry. “I think it’s stupid.” Aurora sighs and gets up. “Azriel”, she says to the other boy. He hadn’t talked the whole time, Nesta almost forgot he was there. “Make sure he stays out of trouble. And Cassian, please change your shirt.” The two (stupid) boys walk away. Once they’re from a far enough distance, Aurora looks back down at her. “I have to talk to you about something.”

2021 New York, Manhattan

Nesta walks into her apartment tired and half asleep. Once inside her apartment, she changes into more comfortable clothes, sweatpants and a grey t-shirt.

Nesta’s about to go to bed, until she hears the sound of glass shattering and liquid spilling. She freezes, thinking about the mug of wine she left out.  

No.

Nesta scrambles towards the kitchen and grabs a flashlight from a cabinet, flashing the light to the ground. The mug is shattered to pieces, and she can still see little droplets of wine. The words aren’t visible anymore, letters broken and unreadable.

There’s no way it could’ve fallen on its own. It was in the middle of her counter. Unless...

Suddenly it all makes sense. The unrecognizable car in the parking lot. The uneasy feeling in her stomach. The constant nagging in her head, telling her that something is wrong.

She thinks about calling the police but goes against it. Years in a fucking biker gang taught her better then to trust those scumbags.

She always kept a gun in her house. Just in case. She really hates how no matter what she does. she’ll always be connected to this.

The person inside her apartment most definitely knows where she is. Nesta grabs a broom, sweeping the glass shards into an empty bag. She can fix it later. Tying it up, Nesta leaves it on her counter.

There's a wall blocking the entrance to her bathroom. She walks towards it, opening and closing the door so it seems she went inside. Grabbing her gun from the small drawer, Nesta lays her back against the wall, barely peeking out the wall, but just enough so she can see them as they crawl out from behind her couch.

The figure moves stealthily, back turned towards her. If she weren’t directly staring at it, there would be no way of knowing it was there. The moves look familiar, but she can’t put her mind on it. The moonlight shines on them so she can see the most obvious features. It’s not until the floor creaks the figure turns towards her direction. Nesta turns back to face her bathroom door, hands drawn to tight fists. There’s no way they hadn’t seen her. She moved too slow. Nesta peeks her head out to look again.

It’s not until she sees a familiar pair of scarred hands in the moonlight, it all comes together.

“Azriel Night?”

In dreams

I meet you in warm conversation

We both wake

In lonely beds

In different cities

And time

Is taking its sweet time erasing you

And you've got your demons

And darlin' they all look like me

PSA!! go to ask’s to be added to tag list

[btsmakesmehappy]

Sweet Scent | 4

Genre: Agent au. Colleague au. Mutual pining. Angst with Fluff at the end

Pairing: Agent!Jungkook x Forensic Doctor!reader

Word Count: 10k

Rating: 18+ (M)

Warning: reader feels a little insecure. reader is held on a gun point. (Not too explicit) violence. Guns. Reader and JK are hurt. Angsty with fluffly ending. I think it’s all? (Please tell me if I miss something!)

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | completed

Summary: Why does he always look so nervous in front of you? Is it because of your excessive flirting? But how come you don’t tease him when he looks so incredibly cute every time he blushes?

Series Masterlist: The Company

A/N: Thank you for @arizonapoppy for betareading mine. You’re the best! Also the next part (sequel/drabble) will be posted next year just so the timeline makes more sense. So the next update will be the other member <3 Hope you enjoy!

Send an ASK if you want to be added in the taglist!

A knock on the door made you turn your head in confusion. You’re not expecting anyone right now. It’s almost nine o’clock in the night, and the building should be emptied by now, it’s past the office-hours.

Maybe a new case?

With the thought of that, your smile was beaming. You rose from the chair quickly and walked to the door. It’s the person behind the door that made you thank God that you decided to stay late at the Company.

Jeon Jungkook.

It’s been a month since you saw him in the firing range. You’re hoping to meet him again somewhere in the building, especially the cafeteria (because there is some information that you’d find him there), but you’ve never got the chance. The funniest thing was the other colleagues always found him there, except you. It’s just like destiny didn’t want you to meet him.

You believed in destiny. You believed in the universe.

You believed in the fall-in-love -at-the-first-sight. You believed in there’s sparks when you grazed someone's hand. You believed in the fallen books when you bumped the one in the corner of the street. You believed in the stranger sitting beside you on the plane while you’re travelling.

But unluckily for you, that’s never happened.

Still, you tried to believe in destiny, hoping to get some of it in your life.

After a month sitting in the cafeteria, waiting to bump a certain someone there, you’re getting tired of waiting for destiny. Well, even though you’d met him, would you still call it destiny? Weren’t you forcing it?

Which is why, it’s so weird how the universe just sent him to you that day. The day when you skipped washing your hair for the four days because you overslept and you’d tie it into a bun anyway. The day when your eyebrow pencil suddenly went missing. The day when you ate tomato pasta and dropped it on your shirt, leaving your white shirt with a huge red stain on the chest.

Why should it be that day?

Maybe the universe hated you.

“Y/N, right?”

His voice rang like a church bell, ringing through your ears and shaking your entire body. It’s almost magical that he sounded like an angel, and you longed him.

You couldn’t remember how long you looked at him, as his face turned red and uncomfortable. “He-Hello?” He timidly asked.

You shook your head quickly, “Ah, sorry. What can I do for you?” You opened the door widely as you gestured to him to come inside.

But Jungkook stayed in his spot, outside the doorway. He lowered his head to look at the paper in his hand, refusing to look at your eyes. “I need a report from the Ahn case.”

You crossed your arms over your chest, leaning to the door frame. “About that, I don’t think it will be done by tomorrow. As you know Doctor Lee is still sick, so there’s no one to finalize the report.”

Jungkook bites his lips and sighed. “Yeah, I heard. Can you just- you know what, nevermind. Thank you.”

He bowed to you slightly and walked away. Even his body was that bulky, you could see how tired he was from behind. And somehow it hit a soft spot in your heart.

And maybe, you just wanted to be with him.

“Hey!” You yelled, he turned his back to you in confusion. “Do you want to see the report for a bit?”

Three days.

Three days you rejected every call from Jungkook. Three days you ignored all the knocks at the door from him. Three days you deleted all the messages he sent without even reading them. Three days.

And by Friday, you’re back to work, only because your days off are over. And unfortunately for you, Jungkook knows it too. It’s about time for you two to meet each other. It’s about time for you to stop avoiding him.

So, on that same day, you wake earlier than usual, leaving your apartment earlier than usual, but still go to work as late as you can. You hide at the bakery near the Company, eating a chocolate croissant, drawing it out by pulling it into flakey pieces, procrastinating.

You still can’t meet him yet. You don’t want to.

You walk as fast as you can to the elevator when you arrive at the Company. You look left and right as you tap your foot impatiently, waiting for the elevator. This elevator is taking so long.

“Y/N!”

You tense as you hear your name, looking timidly to the source of the voice. Please don’t be Jungkook, please. And when you look at the man standing behind you, you sigh in relief. “Hey, Jimin. What’s up?”

“How are you doing? Why do you look so pale? See a ghost?” Jimin asks while resting his arm on your shoulder.

You laugh awkwardly. “Ah really? Maybe just from the lack of sleep.”

He looks at you weirdly. “You literally had days off, why did you have a lack of sleep?”

You clear your throat, there is no way you would tell him about what happened and how it bothered your sleep so much. How his best friend and colleague is the reason for your tiredness. “Just some Netflix. Catching some dramas.”

“Really? What drama did you watch?” He asks excitedly.

“Uhh. Itaewon Class?” You let it slip your mouth. You don’t even know what the drama is about, only heard the title from Sehun a week ago.

Jimin looks at you with widened eyes and takes a step backward. “Well, I shouldn’t be too close with you then. I don’t want to be spoiled. I haven’t watched all of the episodes.”

You smile. “Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t.” In the corner of your eyes you can see a familiar man walking to both of you, a man that you want to avoid. Somehow in the middle of a busy lobby, your eyes were still drawn to Jungkook. He still doesn’t see you, which is good news. Checking the elevator, you hiss softly because it is still on the eleventh floor. Too long. “Anyway, I’m gonna have a call first. See you later!” You walk away from Jimin, without spending another glance. You need to get out of there, fast.

You still can’t see him yet.

Lucky for you, you decided to wear sneakers today. At least you can run four flights of stairs without being afraid of sprained ankles.

“Hey Kook!” Jimin calls and waves excitedly. “Overslept?”

Jungkook smiles weakly. “You can say that.” Lie. In fact, he woke up earlier than usual and he went to your apartment, and after two hours of waiting in front of your apartment like a persistent stalker, he finally realized that you’d already left the apartment. But Jimin doesn’t need to know that.

Jimin nods in understanding. “Oh, you know who’s come back to the Company? Y/N! Apparently her days off have ended. Actually, she was here just now.”

“Really?” Jungkook asks with widened eyes. “Where is she now?”

Jungkook’s reaction catches Jimin off-guard. The way Jungkook finally shows some interests in you, makes Jimin happy. “Well.. She said that she’s calling someone. You know, since you can’t have a phone call inside the elevator. But I don’t know where she is.”

Jungkook looks around him, but he still can’t find you. A thought drifts into his head, that you saw him and still didn’t want to meet him. And with that thought, he feels a stab in his heart.

Jungkook, you’re so stupid. You’re drunk stupid.

He wants to hit himself. Oh, he would if he can, especially in front of you. Not that he wants to show off or something, he just wants you to know how terrible and bad he feels about what he’s done. He even swore himself that he won’t get drunk ever again.

You stupid drunk jerk.

Even if you wanted to see him, what should he say? He hasn’t thought about it, and yet he called, messaged, and came to your apartment for three days in desperation.

“Kook?” Jimin asks warily. “Are you okay?”

Jungkook shakes his head. “Ah. yes. I’m okay.”

Jimin sends a mischievous smile to Jungkook. “You want to run after Y/N, don’t you?” he asks as the elevator finally arrives at their floor.

Jungkook looks at his feet and decides to step into the elevator. If she still doesn’t want to see me, there’s no point for me to force her. “Nah. I don’t want to.”

Lie.

How he wants to see you so much. So damn much it’s hurting him.

“Well-well, who’s there?” Sehun turns his chair to see you, still controlling your breath in front of the door. ”Why are you out of breath?”

“Stairs.” You roll your eyes as you wipe the beads of sweat forming on your forehead. You really need to work out sometimes, not just sitting and living a sedentary lifestyle.

He raises one of his eyebrows. “The elevator is broken?”

You shake your head weakly and sit on your chair. “Just need a little exercise.”

Sehun squints at your face and hums, realizing something is not right about you. “How are you? Okay?”

You nod and sigh. “Yeah.” You send him a weak smile. You look at your desk, it’s clean but you can still see the horrible image burned in your mind. It’s kinda hard for you to just delete it from your memory. Besides, it happened less than a week ago.

“Oh, I also finished your report. I was thinking that at least we should send an actual report, even though the investigation fell apart. What do you think?”

“What? I’m sorry. What are we talking about?” you ask, looking lost.

Sehun sends an assuring smile. “This report. We should send it to the agents. Don’t you think?”

You fiddle the corner of your shirt. “Yeah, I think we should.”

“You want to give it to them?” Sehun asks again. You bite your lips, your mind wanders. Seeing your sudden silence, Sehun rises from his seat and taps your shoulder lightly. “Actually, just stay here. I’ll take it to them.”

You watch his back disappearing from your sight. Again, you’re alone in this office. This office, your second home, but you barely feel comfortable sitting here. The scent of coffee you usually make every day is absent, since Sehun never drinks coffee in the office. You only detect the lemon scent from the air refresher in the corner. It’s supposed to be relaxing but instead, it makes your heart beat rapidly.

You feel sad.

Jungkook sighs again at his desk for God knows how many times. And everytime he sighs, it is just getting louder.

It begins to irritate the other agents around him. Especially since they haven’t been assigned to another case yet. To them, The Case of The Young Man in Distress, is their new case, and it somehow excites them.

Hoseok steals a glance at Taehyung and Jimin, sending signals right then and there. After they nod, they roll their chairs closer to Jungkook’s desk. “What’s up with you, Kook?” Hoseok starts.

Jungkook stares at the screen of his laptop, hands continually moving his mouse without any intention. “I’m fine.”

Taehyung snorts. “No, you’re not. Tell us what happened.”

“I’m fineeee.”

The older men share another look between them, they all look so concerned about Jungkook, but what can they do if Jungkook shuts his own mouth, let alone his feelings?

Jimin notices that their office door is open and yells deliberately loud. “Oh. Here’s our favorite forensic doctor!” It makes Jungkook flinch and Jimin sees Jungkook trying to steal a glance at the door and takes a deep sigh. “Our Sehun-ie. What can we do for you?”

“Just delivering some reports.” Sehun looks at the agents crowding Jungkook’s desk and points directly to Jungkook. “What’s wrong with him?” The agents shrug simultaneously.

“We are trying to find out. Wanna join?” Hoseok pulls another chair beside him, tapping the seat, gesturing to him to sit.

Sehun throws the report on the desk. “I want to. But I also need to find out what happened to my staff too.” Sehun turns his back and waves to them over his shoulder. “She looks troubled and unfocussed. Bad day, I think. See you, then.”

With the sudden drop of information, the three of them look at Jungkook’s reaction, who freezes in his seat. Something must have happened with the two of you.

Jimin asks cautiously. “Did something happen with Y/N?”

“Maybe on the day when you went missing after drinking with Yoongi?” Taehyung adds, which makes the older guys look at him questioningly. “Yoongi-hyung told me.”

Jungkook doesn’t answer, instead he sighs and runs his hand through his hair in exasperation. The other agents know that they hit a sore spot. He bites his lips, hesitant to talk to them, but on the other hand, he doesn’t know what to do. Everything he chose seems like a wrong choice. Everything he does seems to push you away even further. “I-I just don’t know what I should do, Hyung.”

Hoseok pats Jungkook’s shoulder softly. “Tell us in detail. We’ll help you.”

And just like that, everything opened in public, well, to his best friends. How his heart feels weird whenever he sees you. How his heart ached when he saw you hurt. How you looked so weak and pained and disappointed when he took you home. How he went to your apartment drunk. How he wanted to apologize to you. How he kissed you drunk and how you pushed him back. How his heart crashed when he saw you cry, sobbing on the floor.

They listen to his story carefully, patting his shoulder several times when he looks like he’s going to burst into tears.

“And now, she doesn’t want to see me. I’ve been trying for three days.”

The silence falls in the room, it is interrupted when Jimin hits Jungkook’s head lightly. “Aigoo, you are an adult now. Stupid, but still, I’m just so proud of how you grew this fast.” Jimin smiles and hugs Jungkook lightly.

Jungkook whines. “Hyung, that’s not the point. What should I do?”

Taehyung suddenly raises his hand in the air. “Wait a minute, if Y/N really likes Jungkook, why did she push him away like that?”

“Well, y’know,” Jimin rolls his eyes, “you didn’t exactly get her permission before you kissed her.”  

Hoseok held his hand up, silencing Jimin and Taehyung. “She might have thought that you just did it out of guilt.” Hoseok says softly. “Or maybe a pity, just a mere responsibility.”

“What?” Jungkook looks at him weirdly.

Hoseok explains further, “You know like a novel, when you hit someone with a car, and he/she lost their ability to walk, so you just decide to be with them? Or remember when you spilled coffee on my report and you decided to write it yourself and also bought me a pair of sneakers?”

“But I didn’t do those things to her out of guilt.” He gulps. “I-I don’t hate her. I don’t even know why I did it.”

Jimin smiles again widely, his eyes turn into crescents. “Are you sure you don’t know? I know that deep down, you know it.”

“Just tell her sincerely then about what you don’t know.” Taehyung smiles and puts his hand on Jungkook’s head, ruffling his hair softly.

Jungkook sighs again. “She doesn’t want to see me.”

“If she really likes you, she’ll come around, Kook.” Hoseok smiles and hugs the younger man. “Now, go find her!”

Jungkook looks at him with widened eyes. “Like, now?”

“Of course, silly. The faster the better.” Jimin laughs. “Go!”

“I don’t know what to say to her, I don’t prepare anything.”

Taehyung looks at Jungkook in disbelief. “What do you want? A teleprompter? Just tell her your feelings, dumbass!”

Weirdly enough, Jungkook rises from his seat and takes off running, leaving his cubicle empty. “I thought you bet that Jungkook won’t end up with her, hyung?” Jimin teases.

Hoseok scratches the back of his neck and smiles. “The moment he told us what happened to him just showed who’s gonna win the bet. And besides, I just want him to be happy.”

Taehyung moves his chair back to his desk. “How about we change our bet to another topic then? We have plenty of subjects to bet about.”

You rack your brain, trying to find a place where you won’t meet Jungkook. And after mentally listing the places, you decided to hide in the infirmary. It’s unused and no one is gonna be there. So you can hide for a moment. Just like when you’re in high school, you fake a stomach ache, just so you can get some sleep or when you forgot to bring your math textbook.

Well, five minutes of sleep are considered a privilege then, as you hear the door opened.

You look from inside a curtain, trying to identify the man who just came in with a cart full of cleaning supplies. Cleaning service? The man quietly sweeps the floor skillfully, and you suddenly feel that you shouldn’t be there, as you’re just gonna disturb his job. Just as you open the curtain harshly, you tilt your head in confusion. “Jin?”

Jin looks at you in surprise, almost dropping the broom on his hand. “Y/N? What are you doing here?”

“Resting,” you say with an awkward smile. “What are you doing here? What’s with the broom and the gloves?”

Jin sighs and turns away from you, continuing to sweep the floor. “Cleaning.”

“Do you do this every day?” It’s just so weird for such an elite agent doing some cleaning in this place. Especially, since the Company also hires a cleaning service.

“No. Just every few days. Since it’s not used, it doesn’t get dirty that fast. I just clean this room when the cleaning service has their day off.” Jin answers lightly as he picks a towel to wipe the surface of the table.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just my hobby,” Jin pauses and looks at the white wall. “or maybe I just hope that she’ll come back. You know right that she hates dust?” He laughs awkwardly. He clears his throat and looks at you warily. “Are-are you still in touch with her?”

“No.” You look at him quietly, somehow you can see his pain from his wide shoulder. It’s been a few years, but Jin is still hung up on her, still missing her. “Are you okay?” you ask cautiously.

Jin scoffs and walks away again, wiping the cabinet this time, “why? Do I look pathetic?”

You shake your head softly. “No. But you look broken-hearted.”

He turns his head to face you, looking into your eyes. “Well, so do you.”

Your jaw clenches, like how he hit your spot correctly. Tears threaten to fall down and you try to stop it by biting your lips. At the moment, you feel weaker and sad. You sigh and look at your feet. “What’s new?” you laugh dryly.

Jin puts away his supplies and removes his gloves as he walks to you, and plops on the bed beside you. “What happened?” he asks.

“I don’t know. I was just thinking that mayb-”

“Alright, I’m gonna stop you right there. You’re not thinking. It’s an assumption.”

You look at him in disbelief. “Wh-what?”

He sighs, “Whatever your problem was, and whoever he was, you’re overthinking this.”

“You don’t even know what the problem is.”

“I don’t. But I believe that you need to talk to him regardless of what the problem is, not talk to your mind, making assumptions. You know, the key to a healthy relationship is communication, and it applies to every relationship. Business, family, or even Love.” Jin sends you a smile. “Just talk to him. The misunderstanding won’t solve itself.”

You sigh again. “What if it doesn’t work? What if it’s not a misunderstanding but a mistake?”

“Then talk a little more. Apologize if you need to. Forgive if you still want to be with him.” Jin stops, and swallows slowly. His voice cracks. “Fight for it, if it is worth fighting for, until you can’t fight anymore. Until you don’t have any regrets.”

You look at him carefully. You’ve never talked to him ever since you worked in the Company, let alone seeing his eyes like this. But now, you can see how he’s deep in pain. And you understand what he talked about. His experience. The thoughts of what he should have done before. The choices he regrets now.

You hop from the bed and walk to the door. “Thank you. I’ll try.” As you walk closer to the door, you turn to face him again. “She must have a reason, Jin. I don’t know what it was, but she would never hurt you.”

“I know.” Jin answers quickly. He darts his eyes away from you so that he can hide his watering eyes, and smiles. “So does Jungkook.”

I know.

You walk out from the elevator, squeezing your body from the others inside. It’s lunch time already, and you’re lucky enough that you can slip into the crowded elevator.

Seventh floor is quiet, but not as deserted as the last time you went there. You look around you, hoping to see a particular person. The one you need to see. The one you miss.

You sigh, heart thumping inside your chest. You’re not gonna lie that you’re nervous, and that’s not because of the thought of seeing Jungkook again. It’s the thought, an assumption, of what he’s gonna say. You’re afraid of hearing his reason, afraid that it’ll break your heart even more.

A little part of you tells you that it’s better this way, and just move on. But you realize, playing hide and seek with him won’t solve any problem. It will just hurt you, or both of you. If you need to move on from him, at least there’s no loose ends. And Jungkook deserves a chance to explain everything to you, in person.

“Y/N?”

You turn your head to the man calling you and sigh disappointedly. “Oh, hey Yoongi.”

Yoongi laughs a little. “Why do you always bump into me when you’re looking for Jungkook?” Yoongi looks more professional since the last time you met him, maybe because he’s sober right now, or because he wears a neat suit instead of his black hoodie.

You smile, feeling embarrassed that you’ve been found out. “How do you know that I’m looking for him?”

He shrugs, “nah, I just feel that there’s something about you two that needs to be finished.”

“Oh. I see.” You divert your gaze from him, “So, where can I find him?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t know. I just came here.” He stretches his pale arms and continues, “y’know, overslept. Actually, maybe Jungkook is in the training room. He usually trains himself when he feels stressed about something.”

Your jaw clenches with the sudden information, forcing yourself to smile once more. “Thank you, I’ll get going then.”

You nod and walk again to the elevator, just the moment it arrives. When you’re inside the elevator, Yoongi yells to you, “He feels bad, Y/N---” You can only hear a snatch from him as the door closes, stopping you from hearing the full sentence.

I know.

You’ve been pacing the corridor for almost fifteen minutes, staring at the men’s locker room door. You perk your head to the door, every time it opens. And every time you do it, you’re left with another disappointment. Not to mention, all of the other male agents stare at a suspicious woman who’s lurking in front of a locker room.

Except one agent.

“Doctor Y/N?”

You’re leaning on the wall while massaging your calves. You squint in order to see the man approaching you better. “Kim Namjoon?”

Namjoon pauses in front of you, sending a warm smile. He’s drying his hair with the towel and his other hand holds a gym bag. “Yes, I don’t think I’ve introduced myself properly to you. Please just call me Namjoon.” He drops his bag to the ground clumsily, making some of his things flow out from the unzippered bag, reaching out his hand to shake yours. “I’m afraid that Jungkook is not here.”

Your eyes widen. “Ho-how do you know that I’m looking for him?”

He laughs and drops to one knee to gather his fallen things. “Just a little guess. A little bird told me that you’ve been working with him, so, yeah, I just thought that it might be a work thing.”

“Have you seen him anywhere then?” you sigh.

“I’m afraid not, Doc. I’ve been in the training room since dawn, haven’t seen him anywhere near here.” Namjoon smiles apologetically as he hangs his bag over his shoulder. “Have you checked the pool? He’s been wanting to practice diving since our last mission in Hawaii.”

You shake your head softly. “I haven’t, I’m gonna check there then. Thank you.”

“Anytime, Doc. You see, Jungkook is sometimes a little hard to talk to, looks distant, shy, and confused, maybe because he joined us at such an early age, but he is a nice guy.” Namjoon laughs again as he walks away from you, leaving you standing alone in the corridor.

I know.

Jungkook walks quickly to your office as soon as the elevator opens on your floor. He still doesn’t know what to say, but he just can’t let you escape him, avoid him again. He will use everything he’s got to at least explain a thing or two to you, and if the universe accedes, maybe he can tell you a little part of his feelings. Or maybe more.

Just one step at a time, Jungkook. You can do this.

It’s weird how he feels more nervous right now than when he goes to a mission. Usually he can just barge through any door without feeling any fear, but right now? He can feel how his heart almost bursts inside his chest. Is that because he doesn’t have his gun with him? Or is it because you are on the other side of the door?

He sighs. He doesn’t know anymore.

Maybe it is because he doesn’t know anything that is going to happen when he opens the door. Maybe it is because his brain can’t work for another plan B if his original plan fails. Maybe it is because it is a do or die for him, sounds a little extreme, but actually this is maybe the last chance for him to let his feelings take control of him.

Mustering all of his courage, he knocks the door and opens it slowly. “Excuse me?”

A chair suddenly rolls from the desk. “Hey JK. What’re you doin’ here?” Sehun asks and looks at him quizzically. “Is there something wrong with the report?”

Jungkook shakes his head rapidly. “That’s not why I’m here.” He swallows dryly. “I’m looking for Y/N..”

“Y/N?” Sehun raises one of his eyebrows. “Funny you asked that. The fact is I haven’t seen her anywhere since I went to your office.”

“Really? Okay then, I’ll just search for her somewhere else.” Jungkook nods politely and walks to the door.

“Why don’t you just call her?” Sehun asks loudly.

Jungkook looks at him, and gives him a weak smile. Sehun doesn’t need to know that you’ve been avoiding Jungkook’s calls, right? “Thank you, I’ll try.”

After he closes the door, Jungkook walks to the stairwell next to him. With a sigh he sits on one of the stairs. He pulls his phone from his pocket, looking at it like it’s a foreign thing to him. His finger scrolls to the contacts and looks for your name.

There’s no specific thing to describe your name in his contact. And by specific, it means you aren’t saved in his contacts. The only thing that describes you is your phone number, which he memorizes already because of how much time he spent looking at it and how many times he tried to call you in the past few days.

He looks again in his contacts. It’s less than a dozen. The only contacts in his phone are his parents, his brother, and his best friends. That’s it.

He remembers when he received your message for the first time, he almost accidentally deleted it because he received it at the same time he received another spam message. Only God knows what would happen if he deleted it for real. Would you still get hurt? Would you still want to tease him? Would it still be the same?

Or would he still have this growing feeling inside him?

He sighs and then inputs your phone number, but before he dials it, he chooses another option.

Add to new contact.

Name: Y/N

Save?

Saved

Jungkook looks at his newly added contact and finally dials your number, hoping that you would accept it this time. Hoping that somehow his sincere feelings felt through the rings on your phone. Hoping that he can say the right things this time.

And after the seventh rings, the call went through.

Jungkook can finally hear your voice. “Hello, Y/N?” There’s a silence on the other end of the phone for a little while. It begins to make him more nervous. “Y/N?”

“Jungkook?” but it’s not your voice. It’s a familiar voice for him that he hears a lot.

Jungkook looks at the screen, makes sure he got the correct phone number. He furrows his eyebrow, confused at why you didn’t answer your own phone. “Jin-Hyung?”

“Right.” Jin laughs. “Y/N left her phone in the infirmary. She just went out to look for you.”

“Oh.” Jungkook sighs in relief. “Wh-what? She’s looking for me?”

“Yes, kid. God, I don’t know what your problem is to make both of you playing hide and seek in the middle of the day, but yes, she’s looking for you right now. But I don’t really know where she went.”

A little smile plastered on Jungkook’s face, somehow he feels a little happy that you finally decided to give him a chance to explain himself. And with only that fact, he won’t lose this chance. “Thanks Hyung! Talk to you later!”

“Yah-”

Jungkook hangs his phone up, and stands up immediately. But if he just walks around and looks for you in this big building, it is just a waste of time. There’s a fat chance that he won’t meet you at all, and in this crucial time for him, he can’t rely on fate alone.

So, he taps his phone again, scrolling to find a chatting platform that he rarely uses, and looks for a group chat with his best friends, typing quickly and hits the send button. This time he’s gonna rely on his friends.

Jungkook 00.23 PM: Have you seen Y/N?

You open the heavy door to the pool area with an afraid look on your face. What if Jungkook suddenly appears before you? What would you do? What would you say? What if he doesn’t want to see you?

But luckily (or unlucky for you), there’s no one in the pool. Everyone must be taking their lunch time, leaving this place completely empty.

You sigh and walk around, deciding to look at this place a little more. Maybe, just maybe, Jungkook will suddenly pop out of nowhere, hugging you from behind like some of the rom-com movies that you usually watched in your teen years.

A sudden loud bang of a door opening filled the place, making you turn your head abruptly, hoping that the universe finally sends some signals to you. But instead, you just see a man pushing a cleaning supplies cart. You are disappointed.

Why do you even feel disappointed? There’s only a little chance for Jungkook to just walk through the door. You laugh to yourself and shake your head. Maybe I should just call him.

You pat your pants to locate your phone, and a little panic goes through you as you can’t find your phone. Where is it? Did I drop it? You try to remember when the last time you used your phone. You usually don’t behave like this; for you, your phone is one of your most important things. You never walk without a phone as you have everything you need in that mini gadget. Maybe this Jungkook thing is really bothering me.

You turn and walk to the door hurriedly, you need to find your phone back and also Jungkook. You can’t just wait mindlessly in here. Just when your hand reaches the door knob, you sense the cleaning man walking to you.

“Are you Doctor Y/N?”

You look at the man, sending him a polite nod. “Ah yes. Don’t worry, I won’t disturb your job here, I’m going now.” The man looks like he is in his early 30s. You can’t really see his face, since it’s hidden with his blue baseball cap. He wears a blue jumpsuit, a usual uniform for the cleaning service. But why does it look like it’s too big for him?

The man smiles back. “Oh my. That’s fine. Actually I have a package for you.” The man rummages through his cart, searching for something. “From a man, named Jungkook, I think? He’s been searching for you.”

“Jungkook?” ears perk in curiosity.

He smiles again, almost a grin. “Yes.” the man laughs at himself as he pulls a black metal thing from the cart and points it to you. “He’s been searching for you.”

You look at him with widened eyes. A gun. “Wh-what are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing, sweetie?” the man laughs maniacally, the sounds send shivers to your spine, making you step back unconsciously, your back hitting the door. You move your hand behind your back, trying to locate the door knob. “Uh-uh. Do not move. I don’t want to shoot your pretty face.”

Your heart races in fear., “Wh-what do you want from me?”

“The autopsy report, where is it?”

Your jaw drops as your mind wanders to the incident last Sunday, the one that probably will leave some scars on your hands. “Were you the one who trashed my office?”

“That’s right.” The man steps a little closer and pushes the gun closer to your face. “The report. Where do you keep it?”

“I-I don’t know. I don’t have it.” Tears start threatening to fall from your eyes when the man seems unsatisfied with your answer and pulls your hair harshly. “I-I gave it up.”

He pulls your hair again until you meet his eyes. “Don’t fucking lie to me. Or do you want me to start shooting everyone who comes into this room?” He laughs again. “You’re waiting for someone right? What if he suddenly pops in right now, and my hand just slips?”

You widen your eyes and you can see his eyes, and they don’t show that he’s lying. You can see how crazy he is. “I-I think it’s on the seventh floor..”

Just after he hears your answer, he releases your hair. With a sudden lack of grip, your feet give up, making you slump on the ground. “Good choice. Now stand up. We’re going to the seventh floor.”

“Bu-but I just told you. You should let me go.”

He scoffs. “And how would I know if you’re just lying to me? Stand up!” He grips your elbow harshly, forcing you to stand in front of him. You can feel his cold gun on your back, pushing to walk forward. “Don’t do anything funny, or I might shoot others. I only want this to be just the two of us.”

Your lips tremble and your throat goes dry. You wipe your tears and take a deep breath, trying to find your courage and strength to walk. You open the door with a heavy heart, wishing silently that you won’t meet anyone in the corridor and on your way up to the seventh floor.

You walk slowly to the elevator, with the man following behind you with his cart. Whispering right there to remind you that he has a gun. Your stomach twists. You want to run away. Your hands turn into fists, sending a light pain from the still-recovering wounds. Luckily, the pain happens to keep your mind intact, make you stay sane. But still, you can’t think of anything that you can do to save yourself.

Sure, you worked for months in an agent secret service. But that doesn’t mean you can do martial arts or guns. You didn’t receive any of that training. So even in this high-security building, you’re just an ordinary woman. An unlucky one.

Wait. High-security building?

You look left and right cautiously to find CCTV cameras above you, maybe someone will see this?

The man behind you laughs again. “You think I’d sneak here with no preparation? No one in the security room is going to watch this. I’ve taken care of them.”

You choke, your heart quickens. “You.. you. Wha-what? What did you do to them?”

“There’s no need for you to know, sweetie.” He laughs again. ”It’s just gonna make you feel bad.”

You bite your lips, trying your hardest to hold your tears. This man is sick. And just then, the elevator’s door opens.

You swallow dryly and walk inside the elevator. Sighing in relief again because there’s no one inside. You reach your hand shakily, trying to push the seven button on the elevator, but just as the door closes, a hand sneaks in and it opens again.

Your eyes widen with the sight of the man, panting before you. “Jungkook?” Why are you here?

Jungkook still holds open the door with his one hand as he controls his breaths. “We.. We need to talk.”

You steal a glance at the man behind you, who acts like wiping the interior of the elevator. Your hands turn clammy. Maybe Jungkook can help you. Maybe Jungkook can save you. If this is the chance that the universe sends to you, you should take it, right? It is a perfect opportunity for you to lose the man behind you.

But, what if he shoots someone? Or worse, what if he shoots Jungkook?

You take a deep breath, your eyes looking at your feet, afraid of looking at Jungkook’s face. “The-there’s nothing for us to talk about,” you say coldly, pushing his hand away from the door and pushes the close button.

But this time, Jungkook is persistent. He doesn’t want to let you slip away from him. Again. “No.” He reaches out his hand again to block the door from closing. “We have to talk. You need to hear my explanation, at least.”

“I don’t want to!!” You push him away again, this time on his body, until he steps backward from the elevator. You don’t even realize how your hands tremble against his hard chest, how tears fall on your face like a waterfall. “Please... Just leave me alone…”

You step back inside the elevator, pushing the close door button again. But this time, Jungkook lets you.

If this is the last time I can see him….

You lift your head up to take a glance of his face from the closing door. You can’t see him clearly as your eyes filled with tears, and just like that. You sob on the ground of the elevator after the door closes, clenching your chest to tone down the tightening pain you feel.

“Well-well. Such a good girl.” The man behind you claps his hand. “Don’t worry, he’ll forgive you after he knows what happened with you and what you did for him.” He reaches to touch your cheek, which makes you flinch.

“You’re just a sick bastard,” you hiss, glaring to him.

He chuckles at your response and hits your face with his gun. He grabs your chin in his hand tightly, forcing you to see his eyes. “You’re really testing my patience, aren’t you?”

You’re shaking in his hands, a throbbing pain on your forehead also makes it worse. He releases your chin harshly and forces you to stand up as the car approaches the seventh floor. He pushes his gun again harshly on your side, with his other hand holding you close to him. You can feel his nasty breath on your neck.

I’m so going to die.

As the door opens and you walk through, that thought keeps lingering on your mind and it’s growing bigger with each step you take, and you can’t seem to shake it off. You can’t do anything right now, the only thing you can do is cry in silence, hope that at least it can ease your mind for a bit. But it doesn’t.

Why?

Because you don’t fucking know where the report is, exactly.

Jungkook remains speechless, his hands trying to reach for your hands but they escape him, leaving him grabbing the empty air. He only sees you walk back inside the elevator and he’s sure that he sees your tears when your eyes meet him.

He doesn’t understand you at all. Why then did Jin tell him that you want to see him? And why now you don’t want to? His hands turn into fists. He bites his lips harshly in desperation. Where are you going anyway?

No, he can’t just stay here. He needs to chase you. He needs to talk to you. He can’t let you again. He reaches his hand to push the elevator button but he stops midway.

Wait, why is there a cleaning service today?

He furrows his eyebrow, deep in thoughts, trying to remember any details of the cleaning service he saw earlier. He only looks at the cleaning service for a bit, he knows that it is a man, but Jungkook can’t really see his face since he faced the wall. He remembers the man turned his face when the door was closing, and Jungkook can see a bit of his face under the baseball cap. And suddenly his face turns white. He curses quietly and runs to the stairwell, not bothering to take the elevator anymore.

Jungkook grabs his phone from his pocket and scrolls to find Jin’s contact as he runs multiple steps at once. This might be dangerous and he needs his other agents, if what he’s thinking is true. If what he’s been afraid of come into reality.

“Hey, Jungkook-ah. Wha-”

“I saw Baekhyun, hyung. He was in the elevator with Y/N. I think they went to the seventh floor.” He says it quickly, interrupting Jin. Jungkook silently hopes that Jin can hear it perfectly as it is muffled with his pants and breaths.

Jin’s breath hitches on the other side of the phone. “What? Are you sure?”

“I’m not sure, I just saw him at a glance. I’m heading up right now. Tell the others!”

“Alright! Be careful!” Jin says and ends the phone call.

Jungkook puts his phone in his pocket and runs again. He runs, and runs, and runs, ignoring the fact that his lungs start burning in his chest.

Please be okay.

Like a spell, he repeats it over and over again. Like a prayer, he repeats it sincerely in his heart over and over again. Like a song, it is played in his mind over and over again.

I’m not going to let him hurt her again.

Like a vow, he says with all of his life.

He’s going to protect the woman he loves.

The silence in the seventh floor sends an eerie feeling to you, making your heart racing faster. Only God knows where the hell is the others when you need them. You feel the cold gun on your side, pushing harshly against your body. It is one of the things that makes you aware of what you’re doing right now, besides a throbbing pain on your head.

Baekhyun pushes you forward again. “So, where is it?”

You freeze on the spot, your hands getting clammy. You swallow dryly. “I-I’m not sure…”

“You what?” His eyes widen in anger and he shoves your body into a wall, sending a blunt pain to your back. “You dare to lie to me?” His hands somehow move to your neck, strangling it tightly.

You’re struggling to break free from his grip, kicking right and there, using all of your strength to push his hands away. Your chest is burning due to the lack of oxygen. Tears fall from your eyes. You feel weaker the more strongly you fight back and your eyes get blurry. Your consciousness fades along with the slowing of your heart beat.

And suddenly, Baekhyun releases you as he stumbles. You drop to the ground as you struggle to breath as much as you can. You open your eyes slowly, trying to see what’s he doing and there you see he is pushed to the ground by a familiar man.

Jungkook.

Jungkook hits Baekhyun as hard as he can. Baekhyun is perplexed for a second but after he processes what’s happening he starts to fight back. Baekhyun kicks Jungkook in the stomach. The situation turns around as Jungkook is pushed under him. The sound of the fight blares in your ears, trying to wake you up. You wince in pain as you gather all of your strength to stand up. You need to find help.

“Run!” Jungkook yells as he holds Baekhyun’s body tightly.

Baekhyun snarls, using his elbow to hit Jungkook’s nose, pushing him away. Your hands shake as Baekhyun suddenly changes his view to you and charges you, not giving you a chance to run away. Baekhyun pulls his gun from his pocket and points it to you. Your feet freeze as your eyes meet Baekhyun’s. “Bitch.”

Jungkook’s eyes widen at the sight before him and curses himself. He can’t believe that Baekhyun has a gun with him and through his laxity, Jungkook didn’t strip it. Jungkook groans and stands quickly to run to you. Please be okay.

Just as Baekhyun pulls the trigger, Jungkook jumps in front of you. The bullets pierce his right chest and his stomach. His body falls to the ground because of the impact. The blood starts seeping from his body.

Your jaw drops. You’re familiar with the smell of blood. You’re familiar also with the smell of the gunpowder. And when both of them are somehow incorporated in the air, it gives you a brand new smell that’s sickening.

The tears still fall from your eyes as you flop beside Jungkook, hesitantly touching him. Just less than an hour ago, you were dreaming about meeting him in a romantic way, but now this is only tragic.  sharp pain clutches your chest, making it hard for you to breathe again. Your thoughts are only filled with Jungkook but you can’t do anything.

But Jungkook is strong, maybe one of the strongest agents in the Company. So Jungkook sits up and moves you behind him, covering you perfectly.

“Kook…” you whisper in between sobs.

Jungkook keeps you behind him with his arms slightly trembling, gently soothing your skin. “I’m okay. Just stay behind me.” Even the slightest movement of his arms makes his chest hurt even more, but Jungkook hides it in his smile. The only thing in his head is how to make you get out of here safely, and he doesn’t care about the pain. Not when you are his priority.

Jungkook slowly lets go of his hands and stands up. You see how the blood spots are getting bigger and bigger, how it affects his posture as he loses his balance lightly. And after a few deep breaths, he puts on a stance, looking at Baekhyun with furious eyes.

Baekhyun snorts. “You think you can fight me bare-handed?” He still points his gun toward the both of you.

Without answering, Jungkook leaps forward to attack Baekhyun. It leaves Baekhyun caught off guard as he begins to fire the gun carelessly. Still, it grazes Jungkook’s body as he moves closer to him.

Not only that Jungkook is one of the strongest agents in the company, he has a killer kick. It’s the one that made the Company recruit him in the first place. He rarely uses it in his fights because he rarely has a chance to have hand-to-hand combat, and even if he had a chance, he doesn’t need to use it. And if Jungkook decides to use his best skills in this fight, there’s no way for Baekhyun to win. Jungkook begins to kick him again in his stomach and tries to target his hand.

And Baekhyun knows it too. So Jungkook begins to kick him again in his stomach and tries to target his hand. While Baekhyun stumbles, he fires his last bullet.

To your direction.

It’s too late for Jungkook to realize it, to jump again in front of you. As the bullet hits your shoulder, the new pain makes you fall back from the impact. Jungkook curses and turns his body to kick Baekhyun’s hand, sending the gun flying far from them and holding his hand to throw his body, locking him in between his legs, in a way that Baekhyun can’t move.

The doors and elevator open almost at the same time, and the agents barge in to arrest Baekhyun. Finally.

“Y/N!” Hoseok runs to you and shakes your shoulders. “Are you okay?” He helps you slowly sit up, carefully not to touch your wounds.

It’s over now… You sigh in relief, but your eyes turn panic when you see Jungkook’s shirt almost turn to pinkish, a mix of his blood and his sweat. “Kook…” and just as his name falls on your lips, Jungkook stumbles and drops to the ground.

Jimin and Taehyung move quickly to Jungkook to check on him. They look panicky as they move Jungkook’s body to a gurney with the help of paramedics. ”I’m going with him to the hospital.” Jimin says to Hoseok.

Hoseok nods and turns his face to you, his eyes falling on your bloodied shoulder. “Let’s get you to the hospital too.” He holds your elbow softly, helping you stand.

And just like that, everything turns black.

You open your eyes slowly. The harsh lights blind you and you blink as you adjust to it. You are met by the white ceiling above and white curtains all around you. The familiar smell of disinfectant steals into your nose, waking you up even more. You try to move your arms, to help you sit up, but there’s a shooting pain to your right shoulder. “Argh.”

“Yah. Y/N, you can’t move that carelessly!” Jimin yells as he puts his hand behind your back to help you.

You shake your head softly. “I’m okay. Where’s Jungkook?”

“He’s in his room. The surgery went well. Don’t worry.” Jimin says reassuringly and pushes your shoulder lightly to make you stay in the bed.

But you refuse, swinging your legs slowly over the edge of your bed. “I want to see him..” You use your left hand to hold the IV poll. But as your feet land on the floor, your body stumbles. Luckily, Jimin was holding you from falling. “I’m okay, I’m okay…”

Jimin looks at you with worry in his eyes. He holds your elbow tightly. “Y/N, you don’t look so well. Just rest for a bit.”

You shake your head again, tears threatening to fall again. “Please… let me see him just for a bit…”

He sighs. He knows how stubborn you are, and you won’t back down. “Fine. Hold on to me, okay? Tell me if you have any pain.”

Luckily, Jungkook’s room is just a few rooms from yours. Just when you are about to open his door, you hear voices yelling inside.

“Yah! You can’t move!”

“Jungkook-ah! Are you crazy?”

“She’s fine! Just stay in the bed!”

Your eyes widen in panic. You let go of Jimin’s arms and rush forward inside Jungkook’s room. The only thing in your mind is Jungkook, and Jungkook only. You want to make sure he’s okay. You want to see him again.

And your eyes meet his.

The other agents hold him tightly as he tries to walk to the door. He looks pale and pained, there’s bruises in his body. You see the bandages sneaking out from his gown. And it just makes your heart break and relieved at the same time. “Kook?”

His doe eyes look you from head to toe, blinking his teary eyes to see you clearer. “Y/N?”

His voice.

Your favorite one.

The only thing that gives you strength to step forward. The only thing that can make you run. The only thing that can make your heart leap.

And just like that you run to him, run to his embrace, rushing forward clumsily while dragging the IV poll.

Jungkook holds you tightly to his chest, not even caring if you jostle his wounds. He doesn’t even care if he feels the pain, in fact, he is glad he can feel it. So that he knows that this is real. That you are wrapped in his arms, still living and breathing before him.

Jungkook lets your scent and warmth envelop his body and he can feel the relief straight into his heart. He takes your face in his hands, looking at it carefully. He gulps a little when he spots a little wound on your forehead and bruises on your neck. “Are-are you okay?”

You sniff and let your tears fall from your eyes as you nod weakly. “Are you okay? Let’s get you back to your bed.”

“I’m okay,” he giggles but lets you hold him and take him back to the bed. And when you stumble again because of his weight, the other agents hop in to help both of you. Jin and Taehyung hold Jungkook and walk him to his bed while Jimin helps you.

Hoseok smiles at you as he drags a chair next to the bed, “We’re gonna let you talk for a bit, okay? Don’t talk too long, you both need to rest.” He pushes the other agents outside, giving you and Jungkook privacy.

It’s silent again.

But it’s comforting. And you kinda miss it.

It’s funny how just with the presence of Jungkook can stir your heart completely. Just by the presence of him, he can turn your mood around.

You bite your lips and fiddle with your gown. “Thank you for saving me. It must have hurt a lot.”

Jungkook smiles and reaches your face to wipe your tears away. “I’m sorry I didn’t come faster. You must have been frightened.”

And there it breaks you. Jungkook is the one who hurt the most, and yet he is the one who feels sorry. He is in pain, but he still thinks of you. What can you do to deserve to be with this nice man? No, you don’t deserve it all. And it just aches your heart even more. “What are you talking about….” you sob and turn away from him as you try your hard to stop the tears falling from your eyes.

Jungkook reaches your hand softly. “Please don’t turn away from me.. Please?” His other hand moves to pat your head lovingly. “Can we please have that talk now?”

You pout. “No. You need to rest. We can talk about it anytime after you get better.”

“I don’t want to. I have to tell you right now.” He takes a deep sigh. “I’ll go crazy if I keep this any longer.”

“But…”

“I’m sorry for what I did to you in your apartment. I was drunk and made stupid mistakes. I’m sorry.”

You nod quickly. “Yes, I know and I’ve forgiven you. Now, you should have some rest…”

“I didn’t know why I did it, but just so you know, I’ve always wanted to kiss you. I think I felt too rushed, but I didn’t do it just to tease you or make fun of your feelings. It’s jus-”

“Wait, what?” You look at him puzzled and raise one of your eyebrows. “You-you wanted to kiss me?”

He tilts his head at your response. “Yeah?”

“But, why?”

He takes a close look at your face, and swallows dryly. “Because I like you, Y/N.”

There is a pregnant silence as you blink your eyes, processing the sudden bomb of information. “Huh?” You scratch the back of your head confusedly. “You like me? Since when?”

He blushes as he smiles. “I don’t know. It just happened, I guess… Wait, you didn’t know?”

“Duh, this is an expression of a person who knew about it,” you say sarcastically as you point to your face.

Jungkook’s jaw drops. “I really thought I made myself really clear. Even the others knew about it!” He shakes his head in disbelief. “Anyway, I just felt so rushed because you’re gonna leave soon and I thought I’m gonna lose my chance. Also it might be because these feelings are little new for me, so I was a little confused. But I-”

“But I’m still with this Company for another 4 months…”

It’s his turn to process the information and then his face turns red as he lets go of your hand. “I thought… I’m just… hmmm. I’m gonna take my confession back then…”

“No! I won’t let you take it back.” You reach for his hand, holding it tightly. You look at him with a determination in your eyes and smile widely from ear to ear. “Thank you, I’m happy to hear it.”

Jungkook replies with a smile too as he sighs in relief. “But still, I have to say it again properly someday.”

You giggle as you squeeze his hand. “Sure, let’s take this slowly. We have a lot of time.”

You both hold each others’ hands with smiles on your faces. No word exchanged, as you both know how happy you are. How relieved you are to finally hold his warm hand again. How excited you are to guess what will happen to both of you. How ecstatic you are as you feel your heart races inside your chest.

The air freshener sprays in the corner of the room, breaking the silence between both of you. The scent of vanilla disperses in the air. Filling the room with nothing but sweet scent. Usually, you always stay away from the sweet type of smell and stick with anything musky, floral, or maybe just natural ones. But now, this specific type of smell becomes your favorite one. The sweetest scent to remind you about him. The sweetest scent that you can have everyday without feeling sick.

Jungkook coughs awkwardly, “I know, you said to take this slowly. But I just can’t help it…” He looks at you with pinkish cheeks as he squeezes your hand. “Can-can I kiss you?”

You reply with nothing but a smile and nod. You lean in a little so he can be closer to you just for a little bit. And just like that, he takes your face in his hands slowly and connects his lips with yours.

And you can feel it, how your hearts are connecting too.

Go check the other series because *sst... It’s all connected!

Series Masterlist: The Company

Taglist: @kb-bangtanenthusiast @w0lfqu33n @gee-nee @jaienn @nctssidehoe @codeinebelle​ @kali-20 @mygalaxysupernova​ @jeoncookie-bts​ @kookunot​ @1-in-abillion​ @beingbeings​ @enchantingbrowneyedgirl @yiyi4657​ @jinsalpaca​ @giadalin​ @spring2787​ @drmrastraea​ @katbonv​ @fluffyjoons​ @baebyjoonie​

Taglist open!

[wiyodreamz]

𝑽𝒊��𝒊𝒅 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 | 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝑺𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒉𝒘𝒂 [05]

⌜Nari is a college student at Seokhye University. One day she got off on the wrong foot with Seonghwa, throws her coffee on him and curses him out. Later that day she learns about the internship she signed with Hwa Corp. That same day, she learns that the same guy she threw her coffee at, is the CEO of that company! How will things go for Nari if she has a target on her back from that encounter? ⌟ Office AU

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05

Contains: fluff, angst, smut, alcohol drinking, cursing, and more as the story goes on.

Tag list: @seonghwaskitten @reeateez

Warnings: slight cursing, dani making me want to punch her through the screen, seonghwa and yunho being total sweethearts

A/N: the next chapter will be the last chapter of this series

Nari stirred in Seonghwa’s bed as the sunlight from his windows started to peer in from his bedroom. She turned her body to face him, still asleep. She smiled slightly and then looked at his clock on hid bed side table and that smile soon faded.

The time read ‘12:15 P.M.’ She jumped up and ran her hands through her hair.

“Fuck.....” she trailed off silently as Seonghwa stirred in his sleep and then opened his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” He asked as his voice was still full of sleep.

“We overslept Hwa! I was supposed to be out 6 hours ago, before anyone sees me” she said and he rose up instantly.

Nari gathered her clothes as she put them on in a rush. Seonghwa then came out of his closet with a black hoodie and a black bucket hat.

“Put these on, they’re going to be a bit big on you, but no one should really notice you” he said as he handed them to her.

She put on the clothing items he gave her and walked out his room. Once they were outside the gates of his house, a figure popped out from the corner.

“Mr.Park!” Dani said as she appeared. “I came to talk to you at your company, but your assistant said you weren’t here. So I figured out where you lived and drove here” she said and then noticing Nari’s figure in the black clothing. “Oh, and who’s this?”

Seonghwa got in front of Nari and glared down at Dani, crossing his arms “That’s my sister and she doesn’t want anyone seeing her without her makeup on.”

Dani didn’t buy it and rolled her eyes. She pushed Seonghwa out the way off guard and snatched the bucket hat off of her head, revealing Nari.

“Oh look who it is” she said in a mocking tone. “It’s Moon Nari. Now I know how you got the internship, and the others will too.”

“Dani, it’s really isn’t like that! We truly do have feelings for each other!” Nari pleaded as Dani shook her head.

“I told you Nari, you’re going to regret it and I mean it” Dani said and then dropped the hat on the ground, walking away towards her car.

Seonghwa then went to hold Nari’s trembling body, as tears were threatening to spill from her eyes. “Shh, it’s okay, it’s okay! She’s just bluffing, Dani doesn’t really do as she threatens, trust me.”

Nari trusted him, but she will soon regret listening to his words, despite him trying to cheer her up.

The paid internships don’t really start, until a week after graduations. So Seonghwa just wants the others to focus on exams and graduation.

Nari walked down towards the courtyard of the school. It’s been months since she’s actually been in class than having the lecture recorded and emailed to her. As she was walking in, people were pointing and whispering things at her.

She was confused on why people were whispering about her. She walked inside the school and Yunho immediately spotted her and grabbed her arms.

“You really need to see this” he said as dragged her over towards the crowd.

“Looks like our guest has officially arrived” Dani said as the other students turned towards her, some angry with her. “So how does it feel to steal a spot for someone who was more fit for the job?”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about” Nari said nervously, as her hands started to sweat.

“I mean you did spread your legs to get that spot right?” She asked accusingly as she started walking towards Nari slowly. “No wonder Mr.Park liked you. You guys probably planned to make it look like you hated each other in the first place, right?”

“What you’re saying is all wrong! I told you we really do have feelings for each other! I didn’t use him!” Nari said as tears were welling up in her eyes. “You just like to spread rumors on anything you see.”

“Because you Moon Nari, I lost a perfectly good opportunity, you bitch” Kim Ara, a girl who was going up for the internship interjected with a glare. “We can’t have nothing nice because of girls like you!”

Before tears were about to fall on her face, she tried to leave the crowd, but people stopped her from doing so.

“Oh look she’s going to go cry since we figured out what she was doing.”

“She’s just a fucking crybaby!”

“She’s really going to ruin the name of this school.”

“Let’s see if the principal lets her graduate once he figures out what she’s done.”

Nari finally gained enough power to push the people away, with tears falling down her face. She ran away and noticed Sunji far away from the crowd, watching what happened.

“Nari! Wait up!” Yunho called out as he ran after his friend.

After a few minutes of running, he finally caught up to her and turned her around.

“What do you want Yunho?” She asked as she wiped her eyes from the tears.

“Nari-ah, are you really dating him?” He asked.

“What if I am? Are you going to shame me like those others, because of the lies Dani is spreading?” She asked as she sobbed. “If you are. Leave me alone!”

Yunho pulled her into a hug. He felt Nari relaxed in his hug. “Nari you know me. I’ll never shame you in anything. You are my best friend and I’ll be damned if anything happens to you. You really love him and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Nari just sobbed into his chest. “I just want to go home. Please take me home.”

Yunho just nodded and led Nari towards his car. He drove in front of her apartment and she immediately rushed out the car and went inside the apartment and was planning on not coming out for days

Seonghwa was worried about Nari. He’s been trying to call her, but it kept going to voicemail. He assumed she was too busy studying for her exams, but she would check her phone for any missed calls or texts. He didn’t want to barge over there, so he called Yunho.

“Yunho. I’m worried about Nari. She hasn’t been returning my texts or calls. Is she busy studying for exams?” He asked into the phone as he was signing some papers.

“About that. Dani wasn’t bluffing and told the whole school some lies about Nari saying that she seduced you into giving her the paid internship. And if Nari shows her face here at school, she will be ridiculed to the point where it will get physical. Luckily it didn’t get physical a few days ago” Yunho explained.

Seonghwa’s grip on his pen tightened. The look on his face could kill anyone. Seonghwa also blamed himself on telling Nari not to worry.

“Where is she now?”

“She’s been stuck in her apartment. She hasn’t come out for anything, but I do sneak over there and place meals on her doorsteps if she hasn’t eaten” Yunho said. “But it’s going to be over for her once the principal overhears about it.”

“I’ll go over there once I finish my job here. You should probably go study or go to class if you have one” Seonghwa said and then hung up.

Seonghwa was going help Nari anyway she can and clear up her name, even if that means getting his hands dirty.

“Yah! Kang Sunji! Come back here!” Yunho said angrily chasing after the girl.

“W-what do you want Yunho?” Sunji asked frightened by his tone.

“Why don’t you say anything about Dani? I know you have stuff against her that can clear Nari’s name!” He asked angrily. “You can actually help her.”

“I’m just scared. Dani has some stuff against my family which can hurt my future. It’s already bad since she uses me for information” she said as she tightened the grip on her bag.

“You really going to cower in fear, while Nari might not even have a future?! The word already got out to the principal and the board and they’re thinking of not letting her graduate and expelling her for ruining the schools ‘name’. She might not even have a future if you don’t speak up” he said angrily. “But oh I forgot. You have to protect your future while another ones get ruined.”

Yunho stormed off and left a stunned Sunji. She never thought about it like that. If she kept the truth in, it would greatly affect Nari. But if she does, she can help Nari.

“What should I do?!” She said to herself as she bit her fingernails nervously.

Seonghwa made it towards Nari’s apartment. He knocked on the door, hoping she would answer. Five minutes passed and she hasn’t answered the door. He took the liberty to push in her code and went inside her apartment.

He walked inside and saw the meals Yunho brought to her, uneaten. It looks like she hasn’t left for days, since her curtains were closed. He opened her curtains slightly and made his way into her room.

Seonghwa walked in and saw Nari wrapped in her blankets, while staring at the blank wall. She turned over and saw Seonghwa in her door way.

“What are you doing here? Haven’t you ruined my life enough?” She asked in a hateful tone which hurt him.

He sat on the other side of the bed. “I came here to check on you. Yunho has been worried for you, I have been worried for you. I’ve been wondering if you ate, drunk water, or went outside.”

“Well I’ve done none of those things. Now thanks to those lies, my future might be in jeopardy. I regret letting you kiss me at that party! I regret falling in love with-“

She was cut off with a kiss by him. She responded to the kiss instantly. He felt tears coming from her, wetting his face. He leaned away from her and saw her puffy eyes that shown she’s been crying a lot.

“I don’t regret falling in love with you” he said with a smile as he wiped away her tears. “What have those people been saying to you?”

Nari got up from her spot and went to her laptop and handed it to him. He scrolled through multiple emails from people bullying her and even as far as death threats. He took a USB from his pocket and put it in her computer.

“What are you doing?” She asked curiously.

“Just something your other graduates are going to regret” he said and then finished with the USB, taking it out of the computer.

Just then, he received a text and pulled out his phone from his pocket.

From Unknown [2:15 P.M]: Hello Mr.Park Seonghwa, I’m Principal Han from Seokhye University. Can you please come to my office at 8 AM sharp? I would like to talk to you about a relationship between you and a student enrolled here? Thank you.

“Who is it?” She asked.

“It’s your principal, but don’t worry I got everything covered” he said with a smile. “Now let me make you something. You must be starving.”

It was the next day and Seonghwa walked into the school. People instantly recognized him and started whispering, but he didn’t mind. He was going to get justice for Nari.

He walked inside the office and the principal noticed him.

“Hello Mr.Park. Please have a seat” Mr.Han said as Seonghwa took a seat. “I would like to discuss the relationship between student Moon Nari and you.”

“What is there to discuss?” Seonghwa asked as he crossed his arms and Mr.Han looked offended by that question.

“W-what’s wrong?! What she did was basically cheating. That internship should’ve went to a student who actually deserved it and not some girl who sleeps around to get ahead” Mr.Han said angrily. “I was being nice and inviting you here to break up with her, before I go through the process of expelling her. Besides your age gap is too big!”

It was Seonghwa’s turn to get angry. “I hope you know those students are sending her mean comments and death threats to her email! She did not sleep around to get the internship, she worked hard to get it than the person who’s spreading these rumors! And now you’re expelling her without looking into the rumors? You’re basically going off of lies! Besides our age gap isn’t that huge, she’s 24 and I’m 28!”

“And who is responsible for these rumors that you say aren’t true?” Mr.Han asked.

“Jung Dani” he said and then gave Mr.Han the USB. “You probably want to look at this since your students are, ‘oh so innocent’!” Seonghwa said.

Mr.Han plugged in the USB and his eyes immediately widened at the comments. He didn’t think it got that bad, he just thought it was just some small bullying and whispering. Not actually sending death threats and threatening of coming to her house or other things.

“B-but these could be-“ Seonghwa cut him off.

“If you let them graduate hook free, I will expose these to the media and they won’t have to worry about their future, because it’ll already be ruined by me, especially Jung Dani. I will also expose you as well and you won’t have a big freshmen class in the fall” Seonghwa said in a threatening tone. “And you can repay Nari by letting her graduate and not letting her take her exams, her knowledge can back her up. I’ll be leaving now since you’ve wasted my time.”

Seonghwa left out the office with a big smile on his face, he knew threatening Mr.Han with bad exposure will get Nari the justice she deserves.

Dani was now crowded by a group of people, hoping to her more lies about Nari.

“Dani-ah? Did she really do that to you?” A classmate asked.

“Yeah, but I heard she’s getting expelled so karma is hitting right back at her” Dani said in a smug tone. They heard the sounds of shoes angrily heading towards them. Dani looked and saw Sunji and Yunho.

“Oh looks it’s Sunji! Tell them more things about Nari’s real attitude” she said.

“No” Sunji stated.

Dani was shocked, she stood up and tried to intimidate Sunji. “Did you just say no to me?! You know what I can do right?”

“Cut the bullshit Dani! You’re not innocent, Nari is innocent. The first day we tried for internships, you tried to ruin her reputation! But those people didn’t pay no mind because they hate people just like you! You said Nari slept with Mr.Park just so she could get it, don’t act like you also didn’t plan to do that also. You were going to do way worse and you’re mad that he fell in love with Nari. Just admit it Dani. You’re jealous of Nari and all of her success, aren’t you?” Sunji said in a smug tone.

Whispers started to form around Dani. She was seething in anger, she didn’t plan for that to happen today, before she could get a hit on Sunji, people crowded her.

“So, you were spreading lies? Wow I can’t believe I believed you. I should’ve known you can manipulate people into believing anything” another classmate said in a disappointed tone. “I wish I could take back those emails I sent to Nari.”

Classmates now started to curse at Dani. Yunho grabbed Sunji’s hands and led her away from the classmates who are now angry at Dani.

“You did great, Nari is going to be really grateful of you” he said with a smile. “Now let’s go before any chaos happens.”

A few days later, after all the chaos. Dani couldn’t graduate and got expelled the next day after everything was exposed. All the other classmates, except Sunji and Yunho, had received punishments. Nari was able to go to school without any obstacles, and people soon started apologizing to her.

Graduation was only a few days away and things were going crazy. But Nari was happy that her life is going back to normal like it should’ve been.

“Are you ready to graduate?” Seonghwa asked.

“Hmm I’m not sure. I’m not really that ready to step out in the real world” she said as she twirled her pencil around her fingers.

“Don’t worry, you can move in with me after graduation” he said.

“Are you sure?” She asked and he nodded.

“Yep” he said and then pulled something out of his pockets. “Here”

He slid the extra pair of keys across the table. It was the key to his house. She took the keys gratefully and smiled at him. “Thank you for helping me through this mess.”

“You’re welcome” he said with a smile. “Let’s go get you home, you have to prepare for graduation.”

[spacecakes20]

Begin Again

(Chapter 5)

Chapter 6: Sebastian, Band Practice

Sebastian had taken a smoke break outside of the Stardrop Saloon. It was a lot colder at night in spring. The cool nights were the most enjoyable for him; like the crisp air did a good job of clearing his head. It also helped calm his nerves, especially when he needed a break from social interactions. He loved his friends, he did, but he always felt so drained by the end of their outings. Taking a long drag of his cigarette, he released the smoke with a slow exhale.

     Friday nights were usually spent with Sam and Abigail at the saloon. It was the same almost every week; almost routine. This night, however, was different from the trio’s usual gatherings. Sam had invited the new farmer. Sebastian wasn’t sure how to feel about that, but he didn’t object to it either. She seemed nice enough, and the two didn’t give off the best first impression. Perhaps this could help them redeem themselves. He wasn’t expecting her to show up early. Wasn’t mentally prepared to be alone with her. He didn’t know what to talk about, and he didn’t want to just sit there in awkward silence. So, he did what he knew how; offered to play pool with her. He wasn’t sure if she was lying when she said she’d never played before. There was no way she was a novice. Sure, she still lost, but it was the closest he’d come to losing in a long while. Perhaps it was beginner’s luck. Or maybe she was a quick learner. Ether way, he was slightly impressed.

      Sebastian was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of a door opening. He didn’t look up to see who it is. It was probably Shane or Pam calling it a night and heading home, probably shit-face drunk. It was late, and those two were usually the last ones to go.

      “Oh, I wasn’t expecting you to still be out here.” That voice didn’t belong to Pam or Shane. Looking up, he saw it was a very sober Luna.

      “Yeah,” Sebastian answered dryly. “Just needed a smoke.”

      She nodded, “Well, it’s getting late, so…” She trailed off.

      “I’ll walk you home.” He said, not thinking about the words coming out of his mouth.

      Luna looked taken aback, “No, you don’t have to.” She was fidgeting with her hands, not quite looking at him, “I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”

      Sebastian had flicked his cigarette butt to the ground, crushing it with his foot, “It’s fine.” He shrugged, “There’s a short cut through your farm to my house.”

      She lifted her eyebrows at that realization, “Well… if that’s the case.”

      The two began their walk together, only the sounds of crickets filling the ambiance of the night. Sebastian was never one for conversation; with new people especially. With Sam or Abigail, he’d usually let the two of them do the talking. Thankfully, he didn’t have to start the conversation; Luna had cleared her throat before giving him a look.

      “So, I was right?”

      That only just confused him, “About…?” He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, and she looked downright smug.

      “You did go easy on me.” She said, “You played completely different with Sam than you did with me.”

      “I mean…” He rubbed the nape of his neck, “You still lost.”

      She simply hummed, face never changing, “But you’re not denying it this time.”

      The two were coming up to the bus stop, which meant they were close to their destination. “I can neither confirm nor deny.” He said dryly, humoring her.

      They finally made it to her farmhouse, the two standing at the foot of Luna’s stairs. Looking around the land, it was still a mess of trees, rocks, and weeds. However, there was a clear plot of crops located near one of the closest lakes. In the dark of night, he couldn’t quite make out what kind of crops they were. This was probably his first time on the property since Luna moved in. He used to use the back path as a handy shortcut on the way home all the time when the place was vacant. He, Abigail, and Sam would even hang around the property to smoke weed, easily out of sight of their nosy parents. It felt a little odd standing on the farm grounds now, knowing someone now lived there.

       “Soooo…” Luna eyed Sebastian with curiosity, “Where’s this short cut of yours?”

       He pointed toward the back-way headed north with his thumb, “Just take the back path till it leads you to an opening with a house surrounded by mountains. It’s pretty hard to miss.”

       Luna stared at him blankly, as though she was working through the information in her head. “Isn’t that… Robin’s place?” She tilted her head in confusion. The gesture was kind of cute.

       “Yeah?” He sounded equally as confused before he realized who he was talking to, “You didn’t know? Robin’s my mom.” Come to think about it, he can’t recall if he’d ever been upstairs when Luna visited. He was sure he did that intentionally. He was trying to avoid her not too long ago after all.

       “Oh!" She seemed surprised, "You’re Robin’s kid?” 

       Sebastian chuckled, but it sounded almost bitter, “I know. We don’t really look alike.” Wouldn’t be the first time he’d heard it. “Are you adopted?” Or, “Do you take after your father?” Were normally the follow-up questions. He braced himself for the inevitable.  

       “Oh no, that’s not it.” Luna tried to reassure him, catching him by surprise, “It’s just…” She bit her lip. She seemed to do that a lot. Perhaps she did it when she was thinking her next statement through. Finally, she said, “When Robin said she had a son, I thought he’d be a teen. I wasn’t excepting both of her kids to be adults. She still looks so young.”

       Sebastian stared for a minute, processing what she just said. That was a first he’d heard that one. It was a bit refreshing, honestly. “Oh,” He responded flatly. Then, with a bit more mirth he said, “I’ll tell her you said that.”

       Wait, “both of her kids”? So, she had already met Maru. That wasn’t too surprising. Maru was excited after hearing about the new farmer moving into town. He wouldn’t be surprised if she was one of the first townspeople to introduce themselves. Maru had always been the more outgoing and extroverted of the two siblings. She always made socializing look so easy. She and Luna would probably get along much better; it wasn’t too hard to picture.

       “I had fun tonight.” Luna’s voice brought Sebastian back to the forefront of reality. She tried to bite back a yawn but to no avail. She looked at him, looking almost embarrassed, “I should get going.” She gave him a small wave before making her way up the stairs. Before she made her way into her house, however, she turned to him with a smile. It was one of her smiles that made her eyes sparkle, “Good night.” She said simply.

       “Yeah,” He said back, stuffing his hands into his hoodie pocket, “G’night.”

       He watched her disappear into her house, a light she turned on shining brightly through the window. He wordlessly made his way through the unlit trail, slowly making his way back home.

                                                           ...

There was a buzz that sounded far away. Sebastian paid it no mind at first, the cozy embrace of sleep keeping him comforted. The buzz had stopped, but only for a moment. This time it sounded louder; almost closer. With a groan, Sebastian opened his eyes, vision still blurry from the remnants of sleep. Looking around, he realized the buzzing was his phone. He picked it up, only to be blinded by the vividly colored screen. He had to blink a few times before his vision adjusted to the light and came into focus. Four missed calls and 24 different text messages. Great. Scrolling through his phone, all but one of the texts seemed to be from Sam. His missed calls were also all from his overzealous blond friend.

        The first text started simply: You still on for band practice? Perhaps because Sebastian didn’t answer for an hour, the ones after that became a bit more obnoxious.  

        Sam: Seb? U up yet?

        Sam: Hello?

        Sam: Hello?

        Sam: Hey!

        Sam: Seb?

        Sam: Wake up sleeping beauty!

        Sam: We haven’t practiced in forever!

        Sam: Call me!

        Sam: R u ded?

        The texts just continued in an endless stream of meaningless blabber. Surly his friend must have been board. Rolling his eyes at Sam’s ridiculous impatience, he checked his other message. It was from his latest client, asking for updates on his newest project. Shit, he’d almost forgotten about that. It was due in just a few days. Going back to his text from Sam, he decided his impatient friend could stand to wait just a little bit longer. After one long stretch, he got out of bed and headed straight to the bathroom. After relieving himself, he brushed his teeth and took a shower. Getting dressed in his usual dark attire, he finally shot Sam a text.

        Sebastian: Stop spamming me -_-

        He pocketed his phone without a second glance and made his way up the stairs. At the top, looking to his right he notices his stepdad, Demetrius, wasn’t present in his lab. To his right, his mother also wasn’t attending the front counter. Perfect! He swiftly made his way into the kitchen. No Maru in sight ether. So far so good. He went straight to the coffee maker, pouring his favorite blend along with some water, and turned the machine on. It felt nice to have the house to himself. There was no one there to berate him for sleeping in too late or ask him a million questions before he even had his morning (but really afternoon) coffee. His peace couldn’t last forever, though. He felt his phone buzz again, and he inwardly groaned.

        Sam: Omg!

        Sam: Ur alive!

        Sam: Praise Yoba!

        Sebastian rolled his eyes at his friend’s dramatics and placed his phone on the counter. He poured himself a cup of coffee and took a few sips. He saw his phone buzz to life again, but this time with an incoming call. He didn’t even have to check the name to know it was Sam. With a flick of his finger, he answered.

        “Seb!” Sam yelled on the other line, making Sebastian wince. It was much too early for all this noise. Okay, it was two in the afternoon, but still.

        “What Sam,” Sebastian answered as calmly as he could manage.

        “Did you forget? It’s Saturday!” Sam sounded exasperated, making Sebastian feel a little guilty.

        “I overslept.” He said.

        Sam sighed on the other line. After a beat, he sounded more chipper, “Okay, listen! I’ve got some news!”         

        “Uh-huh.” Sebastian took a long sip of his coffee.

        “But I’m not telling you until you show up for practice though! ‘Kay?”

        “Sam…” Sebastian’s voice had a bit of a warning edge to it. “I’ve got a deadline coming up.”

        “Please!” Sam sounded distraught, “It’s really good news! I promise I won’t ever ask you for anything ever again!”

        Sebastian sighed, a ping of guilt stabbing his chest. This would be the second Saturday in a row where he skipped out on band practice with Sam. Coincidentally, it was also because he was working too close to a deadline. He did need to get his work done, but he would feel even more guilty about leaving Sam hanging for the second week in a row. Guess he’d just have to pull an all-nighter. Again.

        “Fine.” Sebastian sighed out, defeated. He almost didn’t hear the whoop, on the other end.

        “I knew you loved me!” Sam said.

        “I wouldn’t go that far.” Sebastian rolled his eyes at his friend’s antics. He was grateful Sam wasn’t there to see his ghost of a smile.

        “Alright!” Sam ignored him, “I’ll see you when you get here! Bye!” He hung up the phone without waiting for Sebastian’s response. He sighed to himself. His friends never seemed to understand that he had a job that was just as demanding as any other. Sebastian would never call if he knew his friend Sam was on the clock or visit Abigail if she was in the middle of her online classes. He just wished his friends would do the same.

        Just then, he heard some mumbling and giggles, the sound growing closer to the kitchen with each footstep. Sebastian looked up from his steaming cup of joe and was surprised to see Abigail, of all people, with his younger sister Maru in tow. They didn’t notice him right away, the two of them laughing at some unheard joke, before looking up in his direction. The two girls looked surprised to see him standing in his own kitchen.

        “Oh, hey Seb,” Abigail said with a wave. She sounded off, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on why. Did she look… nervous?

        “Um… Hey.” He waved dumbly, unsure of what to do with himself. “What are you doing here?”

        Abigail, if possible, went paler than usual. Her sea-blue eyes darted to Maru’s amber-brown ones, as though looking for an answer to his simple question. Maru was the one to speak up, “Oh, Abby just wanted to see one of my latest inventions.” She said simply, “It’s just a prototype now, but she wouldn’t stop asking me about it.”

        “Yup.” Abigail agreed, a bit too quickly actually.

        “And the time just got away from us sooo…”

        “We decided to grab lunch!” Abigail finished for Maru.

        “Oh-kaaay…” Sebastian wasn’t sure how to respond. It was a little unusual to see Abigail at his house, not there to see him. He didn’t even know she and Maru were even friends. He placed his unfinished coffee mug on the counter, grabbed his phone, and stuffed it into his pants pocket. “Well, I won’t keep you two.” He said on the way out of the kitchen, “I should get going.” He gestured to the coffee maker with his thumb, “There’s some coffee left if you want some.” And with that, he made his way out of the kitchen. He’d ask Abigail about this later, but for now, he needed to go see what all the fuss was about with his buddy Sam.

(Chapter 7)

[krreader]

under the same roof.

pairing: a.c.e x reader (platonic with hints of flirting) fandom: a.c.e warnings: language genre: fluff word count: 2.3k+

summary: your new neighbors were quite loud.. but it wasn’t until later that you found out why.

a/n: SO, as I’ve said this morning, this is going to be a little project of mine that will help both me and - hopefully - you guys. I want to write for underrated groups as well, but I unfortunately rarely get any requests for them and because I feel like the reason for that is because not a lot of people know about them, this is my solution. little, short stories that will hopefully get you kind of interested in the group. for starters, here is a.c.e, a group I’ve been listening to NON-STOP lately. the gifs are made from their most recent mv that you can find here, the entire group is filled with talent and if you have the time, please check them out and show them some love. I hope you enjoy this story and are looking forward to this project ♥ (ps: don’t worry, I won’t suddenly stop posting bts stuff or something like that lol, there will be another bts one - or about a single member of the group - tomorrow)

This apartment was everything you ever dreamed to have.

Sure, it wasn't necessarily the biggest with its 1.5 rooms plus bathroom, but it was enough for you and your needs.

And it wasn’t just the apartment itself, it was the area you were living that was definitely a lot better than where you had originally thought you'd end up with.

You had been looking for months, but all the apartments that were shown to you were in areas that you didn't feel comfortable in or the apartments were so run-down that you were afraid something would break upon touching it.

So you decided to invest a little more, but get something that you'd genuinely love coming back to at night.

And this was it.

If it.. weren't for the noisy neighbors that seemed to sing whenever they were at home.

The first day after getting your keys was fine, but maybe that was because after unpacking the first few boxes you had been so dead that you fell into your bed and fell asleep right away and didn’t hear anything else after that.

But on the second day you started hearing them. They were men.. more than one, probably even more than two, laughing, singing, screaming. And it was only then that you realized you maybe should have asked the landlord about the neighbors and about whether or not the walls were thin.

“If they're too loud you should just ask them to be quiet,” a friend of yours had come over after about a week of you staying in that apartment. She brought food and wine for you to celebrate your new place.

“I don't know, it could be worse I guess,” you shrugged, “I quite like their singing, actually..”

“Yeah,” she chuckled, “Imagine them having girls over.. that would be worse.”

You both started giggling at the thought of that.. and because maybe you've both had a little bit too much wine. But you didn't suddenly become deaf. The moment you heard them again, you were both immediately quiet, you pointing at the wall and looking at your friend with that: “I told you!” expression.

“You know what, this is the perfect opportunity,” she gulped down her last bit of wine in one go, then got up and pulled you to your feet as well, “You haven't introduced yourself yet, right?”

“Wh..- What? No, I don't want to! Not now!”

“Come on, don't be rude, you've living next to them for a week and you haven’t even said hello yet. You should at least know what the men look like that keep you up at night,” she laughed, probably thinking about something completely different as she just dragged you along despite your prostest.

She cleared her voice, then knocked on the door, making you think that she might want to talk to them as well..

..but nope.

The moment she pulled back her hand, she ran back into your apartment like a child, completely ignoring your: “No, don't!”.

You should have known that she’d pull a stunt like this. She was drunk and she thought this was funny and maybe she even wanted to give you a little push to talk to new men, but this wasn’t it, sis. You weren’t in a good condition to meet new neighbors, they’d think you’re super weird knocking at their door in the middle of the night, wearing sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt.

“Open the door!” you hissed.

“I did,” a man chuckled.

Oh god, this was so humiliating.. even more so when you saw that, no, this wasn’t a guy in his late forties who gave up on life, but a very handsome young man that looked like he was in his prime.

"Uhm,” you started to fidget with your hands, “Hello.”

“Hi,” he laughed once again.

God. That's all you could think of. God.

But standing there like you were now, just staring at him, wasn’t a good idea either. You might as well introduce yourself.

“I'm.. (Y/N),” you cleared your voice, trying to be more confident as you slowly approached him, “I just moved into the apartment next to you. Well.. technically a week ago.”

“Ah, we thought someone new moved in.. I’m Jun.. nice to meet you, (Y/N).”

“Oh, we have a new neighbor?” another head peaked around the corner, smiling when he saw you, “It's nice to meet you! I’m Yuchan!”

“Nice.. to meet you too,” you smiled, “I’m (Y/N).”

And before you could say anything else, another man joined, but he just smiled at you and waved a little.

“So.. there’s three of you and I heard you sing quite a lot so.. are you guys a.. trio then?”

“There’s two more, actually, but they’re out having dinner right now.”

“Oh, wow.. so you’re an actual band, then?

They all hesitated. For a second you thought you had said something wrong, but then Jun started to smile and nod, but he didn't say anything else.

“Are we too loud?” Yuchan asked.

Should you lie? They were a band after all, so you could understand them singing.. and you liked it when they did.. but..-

“Well, it's fine throughout the day, but.. after midnight maybe..-”

“Sorry,” Jun immediately bowed, “We'll be more considerate from now on.”

“No, no, no, don't be formal with me, please,” you laughed and shook your head, “It's all good, really. I just thought I’d let you know.”

Before it could get awkward, your friend 'came to the rescue' – as she later called it – by opening the door again and saying: “What are you doing out there? The food's getting cold.”

And as you walked back inside your apartment, smiling at the three one last time, Donghun shoved his hands inside the pockets of his pants and grinned.

“So.. I’m going to say it first.. she’s super gorgeous.”

The other two boys just chuckled, shoving their fellow member back inside their own four walls.

That was the night you first met A.C.E.. without even knowing that they were A.C.E.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry,” you quickly rushed to the table all your friends were already waiting at, “I overslept.”

“Yeah, we already heard about the handsome, noisy neighbors that are the cause of your messed up sleep schedule,” a friend of yours laughed, “We assumed they were the reason.”

“Or maybe one of them decided to personally introduce himself to you last night?” another one said, making all of them giggle.

You just shook your head, but with a smile, “I worked late last night and.. well, it is true, they were being pretty loud again, so it was kind of hard to fall asleep at first.. but I think one of them is a vocalist. He has.. such a beautiful voice. It lulled me to sleep in the end.”

“How many did you say there were again?”

“Five. I met all of them at this point.. very nice guys, actually. And from what I can hear, really talented. They should be stars in my opinion.”

She narrowed her eyes at you, “Did you ever consider that they might be an idol group? And that maybe.. they’re already part of the industry?”

For some reason, none of them, not even you, thought about that before. 

Why? 

Because making it in the kpop industry was fucking hard.

“Oh my god, you're living in one of the nicest areas in Seoul! She's right, they could be idols!”

And then they all suddenly started talking over the other, bombarding you with both questions, as well as theories of who they could be and all you could do was stare and.. get confused by it all.

Until you interrupted them.

“Guys,” you put up your hands, “I'm glad you're all so interested in my neighbors, but I don't know anything about them except for their names and that they like to order take-away at night. If they’re an idol group, I unfortunately don’t know who they are.”

For a moment they just looked at you.. and then they continued, completely ignoring what you just said.

You weren’t able to answer deeply personal questions, because, again, you barely knew the guys.

At one point your head just fell back against the wall behind you, closing your eyes as you let them talk and talk and talk..

What you thought would be a nice brunch date with your girlfriends ended up in them making conspiracy theories and you leaving early, alone, despite protests, because they all suddenly wanted to personally meet your new neighbors.

You were so ready for your bed, Netflix and not seeing or talking to anybody else today.

But of course that wasn't on the menu.

Of course you ran into the topic of today.

Or at least one of them.

“Oh, hey,” Byeongkwan entered the elevator one floor above the one you got on with a gym bag over his shoulder and a football under his arm.

“Oh.. you play?”

“Not as much as I'd like to,” he chuckled, “Don't have a lot of free time anymore.”

You were just about to reply when you got a message from one of your friends that you had met earlier. You were thinking about ignoring it at first, but then you saw a picture that made you look a little closer at the phone screen.

A picture that included the same man that was standing next to you right now, no doubt.

“Okay, I narrowed it down. There's only so many boy groups with only five members. Do you recognize any of them?”

“Holy shit,” your eyes widened.

Byeongkwan looked a little taken aback, you immediately apologizing, but then he just laughed.

“It's fine. Good news, I hope?”

Good news? Good news that you were – now confirmed – living next to an idol group? An active one? One that seemed to be doing kind of well, actually?

What kind of news even were that?

None that you were expecting, that's for sure.

Before Byeongkwan could peak, you quickly shoved your phone back into your pocket, bowed and then rushed out of the elevator and into your apartment with only a quick goodbye.

“Wasn’t that.. our neighbor?” Sehyoon furrowed his eyebrows, having just disposed of the trash, so he had seen you rush away from his band member without any context.

“She was fine a moment ago.. I don't know what happened,” the younger member shrugged.

“Maybe she imagined you naked and then realized it wasn't a nice thought,” Byeongkwan gently hit his members chest, both of them laughing as they walked back into their own apartment.

And while they were laughing, you were starting to panic, which you didn't want to because.. so what that you were living next to them? That shouldn't change anything, right? Why was that a big deal to you all of a sudden when you didn’t even know who they were five minutes ago?

Yeah, you could now say: 'I'm living next to idols', but that wouldn't be a good idea, or conversations like the one you had today with your girlfriends would be more frequent and you were not looking forward to that. Then people would start to get very nosy, would show up here not because of you, but because of them and you didn't want that.

This was their space, maybe the only place where they could feel normal, at home and fully safe.

No, you shouldn't do anything differently than before and you shouldn't feel any different towards them. You should treat them the same as before, should be as respectful as before and not let it show that you knew who they were..

They were people. Just like you.

But.. very talented people.

And you couldn’t help yourself but to turn on YouTube instead of Netflix tonight and look for their music.

And the moment the song started playing and you heard them sing, you smiled.. because you heard this before.. ever since you moved in, they’ve been singing this song. 

They were working so hard, even in their free time, something that you could definitely confirm. But even if you weren’t living next to them and didn’t hear them practice all day long, it was clear from their dance videos and their performances.

They poured everything they had into their careers.

With a bit more digging, you found out that they maybe weren’t as big as some other artists or groups, but they still had a very loyal fanbase. And.. a really nice one from what you could see, that wasn’t always a given, unfortunately.

However, you never responded to your friend about what group it was. Whenever they’d ask, you’d answer that you didn’t know. Whenever they wanted to meet them, you said no.

Because there was no way you’d make them uncomfortable in any way, shape or form.

These boys were genuinely nice to you whenever you ran into them in the hallway, because you were nice and respectful towards them. These boys were practicing freely at home, because they knew nobody would record them and put it online. These boys were carefree here.. and you wouldn’t change that.

It was only a few months later that the topic of them being an idol group came up between you.

“Going to work?” you asked when you locked your door and saw all of them walking to the elevator.

“Yep. You too?”

“Yeah.. quite early, though, right?”

“We uh.. have a show tonight, actually,” Donghun was very careful with his words, but his members smiled encouragingly, “If you watch it.. cheer for us?”

And all you did was smile and reply: “Of course I will. You will do great.”

[vampirebitestigmata]

Accidentally Hurt by a Friend for the @badthingshappenbingo​

Daredevil fic, post season 3.

Matt doesn’t want to tell his friends he’s hurt and gets hurt worse because of it.

Matt had a supremely shitty night. He had shitty nights often, how can you not when you get into multiple fights with criminals in the span of just a few hours before returning home to three hours of sleep tops? That kind of night was typical for him, however, so they were much easier to deal with. If his shitty night consisted of just cuts and bruises, it was a miracle as far as he was concerned. Easy patrols like that are what drive him to go to mass every week, hoping for more (that, and the heavy stares he can feel deep in his soul from Maggie when he misses a week).

The previous night started as just your average shitty time, a few punches that would leave some bruises, but none to his face, and just one small cut from a very drunk man with a knife that wouldn’t even need stitches. In fact, it was looking to be one of the best days Daredevil had had in quite a long time. Naturally, since this was Matt Murdock and his horrible luck, absolutely everything went wrong in what should’ve been the last leg of his patrol through the kitchen. 

He was just two short minutes from his home, he could see his roof and was almost there when he heard a child screeching in the alley below him. Matt had to ignore many things in his life. If he didn’t overlook or bypass a majority of the issues he could hear when he really listened, he’d be running around in his suit all day and probably wouldn’t have even lasted a week, so no matter how wrong it felt he should’ve kept going.

Matt had made a promise to Foggy and Karen to be more careful about Daredeviling and when that promise fell through not even a week later, he promised he’d at least come to work on time and not visibly injured beyond explanation. If Matt didn’t keep going, there was a chance he’d get no sleep and his work performance would suffer, and while Matt did not want to do that for both the sake of and the fear of his coworkers, Matt also saw that this could be something simple. Just lead the child to his mother and he gets home to a glorious five hours of sleep before work. Matt decided to be an optimist just this once and help the kid. 

Six hours later, Matt managed to reunite the boy with his fathers. His fathers who did not live in Hell’s Kitchen. HIs fathers who did not live near the Kitchen. His fathers who were nigh impossible to find and scandalised when Matt brought them their young son to their hotel, who had spent the last few hours with Maggie as he followed the boys instructions to what he believed was his home. Matt took a wrong turn and found himself in the middle of a drug den, where he got the crap beat out of him. Eventually, Matt was able to call the police to collect the dealers, but not before getting hurt much more than he was willing to admit to Foggy. 

He was an hour late and had no time to sleep, so he simply bandaged all of his wounds and stuffed his first aid kit into his briefcase to fix himself up at work. He quickly called Foggy, claiming he’d overslept and would be at their new office in just a few minutes. 

“I promise I will get you both coffee and pastries from the good cafe down the street at lunch if you both let me get to work without question.” Matt knew the best way to enter the office and avoid confrontation now, all it took was a bit of bribery.

Karen hummed lightly in consideration, most likely giving him a once over before deciding. Just as Matt heard her start to answer, Foggy chimed in from his office.

“No way, Man.” The other man pushed aside the curtain currently serving as his office door until they could afford a proper one. “I know you think bribing us is going to work everytime, but the last time you overslept was when you were dead for months, so what really happened?” Foggy and Matt grew closer than they had been since college over the past few months at Nelson, Murdock, and Page, which was amazing and something Matt considered impossible not too long ago, the only downside being Foggy was able to find out all of his tricks quickly again and was good at shutting him down. 

“Overslept? Matt, really, I’m gonna be honest, this would’ve fooled me a while ago, but you refuse to be even two minutes late any more and barely get enough rest. You did not oversleep.” Karen stood up from her previous perch on a desk they had gotten from Foggy’s uncle and set in the center of the room and moved to get a closer look at Matt, trying to find any injuries. Thankfully he’d wrapped all his wounds well enough that none had bled through yet, but he needed to go, seeing as it would not last. 

Matt smiled at Karen in the same charming way he always did. “There were some… special allowances made to my no sleeping rules.” He wiggled his eyebrows at his coworkers. 

“Who was it?” Foggy did not believe him, that much was clear from the tone of his voice alone, which was good, since Matt couldn’t pay much attention to anything but the pain he was feeling and sensing if any blood was seeping its way into his clothes.

“I am pretty sure you shouldn’t ask that. We’re coworkers, Fogs. This is not professional discussion.” Matt tried to go to his office, sweeping with his cane as he went and tapping on Karen’s ankles when she didn’t move.

“Maybe not, but we just have to say we're not open now to ask unprofessionally.” Matt just smiled and shook his head once more, continuing to tap on her leg lightly until she let him by a moment later. 

Matt was eternally grateful for the lack of windows in to back space of a butchers shop they called an office, because that meant Foggy and Karen couldn’t see him with his shirt off stitching up the cuts on his torso (and he thanked God, Mary, and every saint he could think of that they didn’t see his with his pants down to sew the cuts on his legs). He’d cleaned all the cuts before bandaging them at home and he smelled no infection yet, so there was no alcohol on the floors for his friends to find. Matt thought he was home free a quarter of the way threw the last cut, a stab wound on his shoulder. It was going to hurt like hell to move that arm for a while, but he’d be fine and his makeshift family would be none the wiser. 

“Hey, Matt,” Foggy called from the center space connecting the three offices. Matt dropped the needle to let it lay on his arm as he put on his shirt at record speed, leaving only the top button undone and forgoing his tie completely, moving his hands to the papers on his desk just as Foggy pushed open his door. 

“Foggy?” Matt stalled his hands over one line of text and turned his head innocently to the doorway. 

Foggy pulled the chair across from Matt closer to the desk to sit and then scoffed. 

“Mr. Murdock, I will have you know that casual Friday takes place on Fridays in this office, ties are a requirement all other days of the week. Failure to comply will result in firing.” Foggy was fiddling with a pen he’d probably forgotten to set down as he spoke, and he poked it toward Matt playfully at the end of his sentence. 

Matt released a scoff of his own and replied, “Mr. Nelson, we all know Ms. Page is the only one allowed to make personnel changes in this office. On the topic, however, I do seem to remember someone having very long, unprofessional hair in this business not too long ago.” Matt tried his damnedest not to lean over and ease the pain of the wound on his stomach like he wanted and mostly succeeded in making his movement look like a lean toward the other man. 

“Wow, buddy, a joke about my precious lost hair? I’m hurt!” Foggy sat up straighter and pressed a hand to his chest before shaking his head. “Anyway, I’m going down to the precinct to meet a client, you in?” 

Foggy was just asking as a formality, Matt always wanted to come help and double check the honesty of their clients. Matt was fucked the minute Foggy asked, since he couldn’t say no or yes without consequences. 

Matt leaned back, ignoring his body's protests, and shook his head. “No thanks, I’ll sit this one out. I have a lot of paperwork over another case and it’s not gonna do itself.”

The moment he finished speaking, Matt could feel Foggy’s withering stare on him, searching for signs of injury or hangover, which had been the only things to stop him from taking on more work now that he could to lower the burden on his partners. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” 

Matt huffed out a small awkward laugh. “I kinda spilled coffee on my pants and don’t want to show off the stain.” 

Foggy stared at him a moment longer before chuckling himself. “Lead with that next time, pal. Alright, I’ll see you wh-” 

Matt had almost forgotten about the pen Foggy held, tuning out that part of his body language to focus on more pressing details. He was joltingly reminded of the object when Foggy went to poke him in the shoulder with it. Foggy grew up in a family that liked to rough house and put too much force into things like playful taps sometimes. It wouldn’t have been that big a deal if he hadn’t just poked his pen into Matt’s stab wound. 

The injured man gasped loudly and grabbed his injury tightly, hissing through his teeth when his hand made contact. 

“Fuck!” He was going to have to put his jacket back on. There was blood on his shirt now and his hand as well. Matt hunched over to lessen his other pains and squeezed tightly on his arm, feeling the needle poke at his skin.

“Holy shit, Matt! Are you okay?” Foggy stood up and leaned closer to Matt. He pried the other man’s hand off the wound and cursed at the blood. “I’m sorry, man. You said you were okay, though. Oh, shit. Here, take off your shirt so I can see-” Foggy reached towards Matt’s shirt collar to help him get it off without pain, but Matt jumped back in his seat and swatted at his friend out of habit, grimacing at the sharp spikes of pain it caused across his torso. 

“I’m fine, Fog. Just need to finish stitching that up and I’m all good. Don’t you have a client to meet?” 

Foggy steamrolled right past his attempts at distraction, “I can see a cut on your chest from here, Murdock. Let me see what’s wrong before you decide it all okay.” He made another move towards Matt’s collar, and Matt used his less injured arm to hold his hand still. 

“What about the client, Foggy? You’re always complaining that we don’t make enough money and we have to have clients for money.”

The two continued their struggle, Foggy using his two uninjured arms to his advantage to open buttons in a way very reminiscent of their college days when one would be too drunk to do anything and the other would help them get undressed and into bed. 

“Karen, can you call the local precinct and tell them I’m gonna be delayed,” the blond called over his shoulder, trying to keep partially turned toward Matt as they struggled. 

“Sure, why?” Karen popped her head into Matt’s office and gasped at the visible bruises on the parts of Matt’s torso Foggy had freed from the shirt. 

Karen went into Foggy’s office to make the call before returning with the first aid kit she kept in her purse. When she returned, Foggy had won the battle and was looking at the bloody, partially stitched cut on Matt’s shoulder. Said man was slouched back in his chair, almost pouting as his companions inspected his handy work.

“Karen, do you have any alcohol to clean this with?” 

As soon as Karen passed off a bottle of some type of alcohol, Matt resigned himself to spending the next twenty minutes observing as his two close friends tried to figure out how to do proper stitches with him as a test dummy.

[flowerpowell]

The Boy Next Door (Colt x MC / Logan x MC ???)

PART ELEVEN

A/N: I dont even know why I’m putting Logan x MC in the title at this point lol. Anyway, I thought I needed a break from writing this but I got so many sweet af messages from some of you that I wanted to continue it. Thank you so much! I’d love to hear your feedback cause it motives me to write more! Characters belong to Pixelberry.

Rating: PG-18 (nothing explicit but just in case)

Word count: 1375

Tagging: @brightpinkpeppercorn @lovehugsandcandy @desiree-0816 @walkerduchess @liamzigmichael4ever @emceesynonymroll @emichelle @hellomynameisdevi @client-327 @badchoicesposts @blackcatkita @pixel-thirsty @drakeismyweakness @donutsgirl36 @miss-raleigh-carrera @i-bloody-love-drake-walker @lovemychoices @mrskaneko 

“We... what?”

“Never had sex. Slept together. Hooked up. Fu--”

“Hold up,” Ellie stopped him, “hold up.”

Ellie walked over to Colt’s bed and sat down, trying to calm down. She took a few deep breaths while Colt was studying her.

“When I asked you about that night, you said I enjoyed myself,” she blushed at the memory. “You said I was good as for a first-timer. You made me believe we did sleep together. You lied!”

“I lied,” he nodded and Ellie wanted to punch him.

“But... why?” She was confused. She didn’t understand. Nothing made sense. Nothing.

“Ellie... just drop it, okay? I lied, I’m bad person blah blah blah. You’re not pregnant with my child so go celebrate.” He opened the door for her to leave.

“No.”

“What?” He turned to her confused.

“I’m not leaving this room until you explain why you lied.”

“Ellie...” Colt ran his hand through his hair.

“I’m listening.”

“I just,” he sighed, “I know it didn’t mean anything to you and I knew you got back with Logan right away. You seemed like you didn’t care so I wanted to hurt you the way it hurt me. Your indifference, I mean. So I made you believe we did it, just so you could regret it and feel awful. I know it was immature but I didn’t want to be the only one who felt bad,” he shrugged and turned away from her as if ashamed of his own confession. “It’s stupid. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not stupid,” Ellie got up and slowly approached him. “I-I understand. I actually thought you didn’t care. When I woke up alone and you were gone I thought you left me... again.”

“I never,” he turned to her only to take a step back when he realized how close they were, “I never left you. I just... I needed to think. I’ve seen you and Logan, how you act around each other, how you always wrap your arms around him, how he kisses your forehead. I wanted that too. But I know I couldn’t have it. And when I saw you and Logan kissing... I knew I wouldn’t ever have it. That’s just the way it is.”

“Colt... I thought you regretted it and that’s why you left.”

“I didn’t... I thought you regretted it.”

“I didn’t.” Her confession must have surprised him because his eyes widened as he turned to lock his eyes with hers. She chuckled. “I regretted doing it because I was mad at Logan. But I didn’t regret doing it with you. If that makes sense.”

He sat quiet as if thinking about what she said before she broke the silence again.

“Colt? What exactly happened then? If we hadn’t done it... why was I naked in your bed?” She asked when she realized something. Colt Kaneko saw me naked. Oh my gosh.

“We kissed,” he shrugged, “you tried to kiss me everywhere possible. Before we made it onto my bed, you already ripped all of your clothes and you took off mine.”

“You let me undress you??? Why didn’t you stop me??” She asked trying to cover her extremely red cheeks.

“Why would I? It was entertaining.”

Well, that’s embarrassing.

“So why exactly we didn’t...?”

“You weren’t completely sober, you know? And besides, at some point, you started crying. And I just couldn’t. I’m not a monster,” he added quietly. “So I just tried to calm you down as you cried yourself to sleep. And that’s the whole story.”

I don’t know what’s worse... The fact that Colt saw me naked or the fact that I was too drunk to remember him naked.

“Colt, I am so, so sorry, I... I can find a new apartement and move out and gosh, I can’t even, I--” She started hyperventilating. I dragged Colt to his bedroom. I ripped my clothes off. I undressed Colt. When we were making out I started crying like a baby. That’s it. I’m moving to Alaska. Or Australia. Or Cordonia. No one ever heard of Cordonia, I’ll be safe there.

“Hey, Ellie, Ellie. It’s okay. You were drunk and missing Logan, s’all good.”

“No I-- I don’t know... I just... Logan and I and then you and I--”she mumbled.

“Ellie. It’s okay. Nothing happened.”

“Everything happened,” she was almost crying. “Colt, do you have feelings for me?”

Gosh, woman, when will you stop embarrassing yourself. I wonder how much the tickets to Cordonia are...

“Ellie...”

“I just... I don’t know, sometimes I feel like you like me and then sometimes you’re a jerk again and I don’t know.”

“I don’t hate you, okay?” he turned his face away from her.

“But do you like me?”

Stoooop, Ellie, stooooop for crying out loud!!!

Cordonia sounds more and more amazing with every second!

“I don’t have any feelings. Not just for you, I mean, I don’t have any feelings. I don’t know how to like someone and how to care for someone. So there’s your answer. Take it or leave it.”

“But...”

Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!!!

“I’ll take it,” she gulped before extending her hand for him to shake. “Friends again?”

“Geez, if you make us wear friendship bracelets I’m kicking you out,” he rolled his eyes and shook her hand. She shoved him playfully and he laughed.

She felt so much better. She wasn’t pregnant, she never slept with Colt so she still could experience her first time and Colt and her were on good terms again.

Life’s pretty cool.

~~~~

Life’s awful.

Ellie was running to her class, almost late because Logan didn’t wake her up. He always kissed her goodbye and Ellie knew it was time to get up. Not today, though. He was long gone when she rolled out of bed and realized she should have got up half an hour earlier.

Even though Ellie’s sickness was pretty much gone, which only proved how much stress affected her, she still felt sick when Logan was nearby. She really needed to tell him soon.

But soon wasn’t today.

On the other hand, her relations with Colt were better than ever. They joked together, watched movies together when Logan worked, and Colt even smiled at her once or twice.

Ok, maybe life isn’t THAT awful.

She was almost out of breath when she ran into the university hall and collided with someone. One of the professors, she assumed.

“Oof, I’m so sorry!” she kneeled down to collect the papers that fell out of the professor’s hand.

“It’s okay, you probably have classes with Prof. Ashton, he hates latecommers,” the woman smiled warmly at her.

So not all professors are bad here! Huh.

“I actually do! I overslept a little,” she admitted and the woman nodded.

“I understand. I’m actually late too and it’s my first day working here. If you show me where’s the dean’s office I promise I’ll write Mr Ashton a note saying it was my fault you were late,” she winked at her. Ellie laughed.

“I’d appreciate that! Where did you work before?” she asked when they were walking down the stairs to the dean’s office.

“At Cambridge, in England. But I graduated from here actually. This is my hometown and I’m so happy to be back.”

“Cambridge? Wow, my boyfriend wants me to go to London with him and Cambridge was on my list of universities I could transfer to.”

“Really? I have many friends there, if you’re interested I could help you with teh paperwork.”

Ellie looked at the woman wondering whether it would be too inappropriate to hug her in the middle of the hall. She was the best professor Ellie ever met and she started wondering if she would ever have classes with her.

I hope yes.

“My name is Ellie Wheeler, by the way. And you’re...?”

I need check what classes she has so maybe I could take hers instead of Ashton’s. This guy is a freak.

“Oh right! Sorry, I’m professor Annya Kaneko.”

[peach-mangos]

Thinking of You

☾ byun baekhyun/do kyungsoo ☾ holiday fluff/fluff/misunderstandings/mutual pining/getting together ☾ .911k ☾ can also read here

Baekhyun’s stomach was in a knot, his heart beat faster with each step he took. He was buzzing with nerves and the closer he got to Kyungsoo’s apartment, the more he regretted the whole thing.

Perhaps, he thought, this was a huge mistake .

It didn’t matter now anyways, he was already there.

He knocked on Kyungsoo’s front door and immediately regretted doing so. His stomach dropped to his bum, and the sudden urge to hurl overtook him. Should’ve stayed home he thinks.

On the other side of the door, a series of knocks startle Kyungsoo awake. He sits up in his couch, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawns, stretching out like a napping cat.

Patting down his couch, searching for his phone, he finds it tucked beneath a couch cushion and checks the time.

4:30 pm.

His eyes widen when he realizes he’s actually slept for two hours rather than the ‘planned’ half hour.

The initial knocks on his door that had woken him up come back and he turns to look in their direction with a confused frown on his face. He isn’t expecting anyone, and he has no missed calls or unanswered text from any of his friends.

As he racks his brain for answers as to who it might be, he makes his way to the door, scratching his head. He throws the door open and slightly gasps.

“I—hey, hi” Baekhyun greets awkwardly as soon as the door in front of him swings open, he was seconds from walking away. He watches as Kyungsoo’s mouth parts slightly in a cute surprised little ‘o’ shape, his cheeks flushed and hair sleep ruffled.

“Baekhyun” the surprise in Kyungsoo’s voice is evident as well as on his face.

“I’m sorry—did I wake you?” Baekhyun frowns feeling guilty.

“It’s okay, really, don’t worry. I actually overslept” Kyungsoo chuckles rubbing the back of his neck. “What’s up? Want to come in?”

Baekhyun hesitates before shaking his head.

“No, I—it’s okay. Actually I just wanted to swing by before I headed home for the holidays and give you this” he shyly hands Kyungsoo a small gift wrapped up penguin patterned wrapping paper. Kyungsoo smiles fondly, happily taking Baekhyun’s gift. “Did some shopping with Dae a few weeks back—anyways I saw it and thought of you” he confesses, cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “I know you’re upset with me still, but I wanted you to have it”

“Upset? I—Baekhyunnie, I’m not upset with you” Kyungsoo tells him.

“I mean it’s okay, I—well, you’ve been avoiding me since Chanyeol’s birthday party, so I figured”

“Baek”

“It’s okay Soo, we don’t—we don’t have to talk about it” Baekhyun assure him, shrugging and tucking his hands into his coat’s pockets.

“I—what? Baek, I’m—fuck, listen I’m sorry” because yeah, Baekhyun did have a point. Kyungsoo had been avoiding him for the past few weeks. In his defense, Kyungsoo was just incredibly embarrassed. They had both been very drunk, very drunk that night and well ig he was honest—Kyungsoo hadn’t remembered the incident right away. The memory kind of came slamming back to him when Jongdae mentioned Baekhyun the following day in passing, and Kyungsoo had been scared to face him since.

“Can we just forget about the whole thing?” Baekhyun asks, “we can pretend it never happened, if that’s what you want. The last thing I want is for you to feel uncomfortable around me, Soo. And I understand if you need time and distance, that’s okay too—I just wanted to know if there was any way we could go back to normal, because I miss you” he finishes in a rush.

Kyungsoo catches the way Baekhyun bites his lips nervously and starts to back away as if prepared to bolt without giving Kyungsoo the chance to say anything.

So before Baekhyun could run out on him, Kyungsoo took ahold of his wrist and pulled him back.

“Baekhyunnie, I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you” Kyungsoo apologizes, “I didn’t mean to make you think I was upset with you or that I felt uncomfortable around you, if anything, I feel the most comfortable whenever I’m around you. It’s one of the main reasons I like you so much” Kyungsoo confesses.

“You like me?” Baekhyun asks in awe stepping closer to Kyungsoo.

“Yeah—like a whole lot actually, and yeah I’ve been avoiding you because of what happened the night of Yeol’s birthday—I was so drunk, and I was so embarrassed. I’m sorry I just threw myself at you like that god ” Kyungsoo cringes at the memory. “But I’ve also been pretty busy at work, the holidays get hectic in the office, lots of companies and clients come to us for Holiday inspired collections and products—anyways, if you want to forget the whole thing we can—”

However Kyungsoo is unable to finish that sentence because Baekhyun pulls him in for a surprising but soft gentle kiss.

“Don’t think I’d be able to forget about it even if I tried—which I have, but it’s literally all I’ve been able to think of for the past month” Baekhyun confesses, eyes fluttering open.

“Oh” is all Kyungsoo is able to respond, half dazed.

“Yeah, oh”

“I—so you like me too?” Kyungsoo asks, Baekhyun’s kiss is telling enough.

“That answer your question?” he asks, Kyungsoo in turn nods pulling Baekhyun back in for a much more heated kiss.

[fortisfiliae]

Against The Odds - Part 4 [James Potter x reader]

Prompt: College AU ❃ Jocks are disgusting. Too good looking, too aware of it, too drunk and too dumb. Or so you thought.

Find the previous parts on my Masterlist linked in my bio! If you need to zoom in on the texts just click on the picture to do so. 

Warnings: alcohol, a bit of angst, mentions of death

Word count: 3.1k

Part 4 - Why not?

Friday:

James hadn’t answered your text from earlier, which made you second guess your choice to sleep at his place. Worried thoughts ran up and down your mind all day. Had you said something wrong? Was he disappointed that nothing more than a kiss had happened? Was he mad because you had left without waking him?

Men. And they say girls are complicated. Jeez.

It was hard to concentrate while checking your phone for new messages every other minute and up until your last class of the day, which you shared with Remus, you were sure something was wrong.

“Hey, Y/N,” Remus said as he sat down next to you.

“Oh hi,” you replied and smiled. Apparently not convincingly enough, because he raised his eyebrows at you.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s nothing.”

“Come on, you said I had to tell you stuff about my life, now it’s your turn.” He nudged your shoulder.

“Fine.” You exhaled a breathy laugh. “Well, actually, everything is fine. I um… I went to James’ yesterday.”

His eyes went wide. “Really? When, how, why?”

“Louise, my roommate, had her boyfriend over and things got a bit out of hand, so I had to leave and, since you were occupied with someone else,” you shot him a mischievous grin, “I texted James and he picked me up.”

Remus’ expression was a mix of surprise and shock. “I… Wow, that was fast.”

“Remus!”

“I’m joking. Go on.”

“Well, he took me to the frat and showed me his room. He has a nice room, you know?”

“I’m well aware.”

“He was… Sweet.” You looked down to the table and felt your cheeks blushing at the thought.

“Oh no. You had sex and now you regret it because it went too fast and you don’t want to see him again, don’t you. God, why-”

“Remus!” you whisper shouted and looked over your shoulder to check if anyone was listening. “It’s nothing like that. We… kissed. That’s all.”

“But you wanted more and now you’re sad?”

“No! It was nice.”

“Then why are you looking like that?” he asked and tilted his head.

“Well, I overslept and had to run to get to my first class in time. I didn’t wake him but sent him a text and he hasn’t answered.”

Remus looked dumbfounded. “That’s it?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Oh, thank god.”

“What?”

“I thought something bad happened. Don’t worry about him not texting you back, he does that to me and Sirius all the time. I’m sure he’s still very much into you.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, he’s…” Remus cleared his throat. “I think he’s just a little busy today, that’s all.”

“Fine, you know him better.”

Remus chuckled to himself and shook his head lightly. “Acts all shy and then sleeps at James’ place. You’re tougher than you look.”

You scoffed. “And you’re more judgemental than I thought.”

“I’m joking, Y/N. Sorry.” He still couldn’t help but laugh quietly.

English class went by faster than the ones before. You didn’t bother to check your phone as much. Partly because you believed Remus and also because you didn’t want him to mock you any more.

“What are you doing tonight?” he asked after the lecture was over.

“No plans yet,” you said as you packed your stuff.

“You want to come to the bar with us?”

“Who’s us?”

“Sirius, James and I.”

Well. That could be awkward as hell. But Remus probably was right and you shouldn’t worry too much about James not texting you.

“Um, okay. Yeah sure.”

“Great. I think we’ll be there at 9.30.”

“Sounds good. And um, could you maybe… Check if the coast is clear for me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Could you ask James, subtly, if he’s mad or anything? And if he is please tell me, so I won’t make it all awkward by showing up.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll text you later, okay?”

“Thank you, Remus. See you then.”

The evening came quicker than you had anticipated. It was 9 pm already when you still hadn’t decided what to wear, with your hair wet and a towel on your head. Louise was nowhere to be seen all day. She was probably in her right mind again and completely embarrassed about what she had done yesterday. You hoped that she wouldn’t be at the bar since the frat guys claimed it their second home and anywhere her boyfriend was, she wasn’t far.

Your phone rang when you pulled a black top out of your closet, not sure if it was the right thing to pick.

Alright. Showtime!

You took an Uber to the bar, got out of the car and looked into one of the windows before you entered. It was already pretty packed in there. Typical Friday night. When you walked in and didn’t see the three guys right away, you let your gaze wander over the mass. A lot of guys and not so many girls. This could get interesting. Some dudes turned their heads your way when you walked past them and you heard them mumbling something to each other. How they could already be drunk at this time was one of the many things you would never understand.

You finally found your friends at the end of the room, on a table in the corner. Sirius and Remus were sitting next to each other with their backs facing you as you walked towards them. James sat on the opposing side, already watching you with a smirk on his lips. He had his arm on the headrest of the small couch already. How convenient.

“Hi,” you said as you sat down next to him, wondering if you should greet him in some special way. A kiss? On the cheek, or on the mouth? Should you just hug him, or do nothing at all?

James made that decision for you when he leaned closer and pressed a kiss on your temple.

“Hi darling,” he whispered into your ear and made your heart race with two words only.

Sirius raised his cup to you, smiling cockily before he took a sip and Remus raised his eyebrows, mouthing silently “Told you.”

“Sorry I’m late, guys. How are you all?” you asked and tried to cover your reddened face with your hands.

“We’re good,” James said and motioned for the waitress to come over. “We’ve just talked about… Things.”

“Things?” you asked.

The waitress arrived before he could have answered, took the order and wrote down one glass of Bacardi and Coke for you, as well as a round of shots for Sirius.

“Oh actually,” Sirius said when the waitress was about to turn around. “Make that eight shots.”

You all looked at him as he smiled smugly. “What? I’ve had my Law test today. No way I want to remember any of that.”

After the drinks had come and you had downed the first round of shots, talking felt a bit easier. The guys made dumb jokes and Sirius started asking you things about yourself. First, it seemed quite nice that he was interested in getting to know you, but after a while, it felt like he was cross-examining you.

“So when did you and Remus meet then?” he asked and looked into his cup.

“Um, I think in English class in Sophomore year. Remus?”

“Sounds about right, yes,” he answered. “We got paired up quite often and then found out that we’re quite similar.”

“I see,” Sirius said. “And do you have any other friends on campus, or…?”

What was he on about?

“I guess… not?” you answered shiftlessly.

“Sirius, enough,” James said and Remus pushed his elbow into Sirius’ side.

“Alright, sorry,” Sirius sighed and got up. “I’m gonna get another drink.”

You watched him walk over to the bar and turned your head back to the other two guys. It didn’t seem like Sirius liked you one bit.

“I have a feeling he doesn’t trust me,” you said and sipped on your drink.

“Y/N, no. It’s not like that,” Remus said.

You felt James hand on your shoulder, but before he could say anything, the thought struck you like a lightning. “He is jealous, isn’t he?”

“No, he -”

“I have to tell him not to worry. I… I’ll be back in a bit,” you said as got up and went over to where Sirius was waiting for his drink.

You ordered another one as well and turned over to look at him from the side.

He still looked straight ahead, then down to the wooden plate. He had noticed you were standing next to him, you were sure about that.

You cleared your throat. Still no reaction. Well then.

“Sirius?”

He sighed but turned his head towards you. “Yes?”

“I… I don’t know what gave you the impression that Remus and I… I’m not even sure how to say it. But there’s no need to be jealous or anything.”

The barkeeper served him his drink and he chuckled lowly before drinking. “I’m not jealous, Y/N.”

“Oh. What is it then? I got a feeling you don’t like me.”

“It’s not that either,” he said and looked back down into the glass.

Mother… Why was he so vague?

“I’m protective,” he began after a while. “I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but I want to make sure my friends are safe. Especially Rem.”

You frowned and motioned at yourself. “Do I look like a threat to you?”

“You don’t. But there were things happening… Which probably wouldn’t cross your mind in your wildest dreams. So I want to make sure we're surrounded by trustworthy people.”

He seemed calm but still didn’t take his eyes off you as he downed the rest of his drink.

“Has something happened to Remus?” you asked.

He shook his head lightly. “He has to tell you himself. If he trusts you enough, that is. I can’t make that decision for him.”

What the actual hell was going on? The barkeeper put your drink on the counter and you took it without looking away from Sirius.

“Alright.”

“It’s nothing personal, Y/N. I promise,” Sirius said and motioned for you to follow him back to your table.

As you went there, still wondering what all of this meant, you sat down to see the worried looks on both of their faces.

“So…” Sirius said. “I heard you worked at the blood drive this week, Y/N. How did that go?”

He offered you another shot and smiled. This time it looked genuine and as if that was his strange way of apologizing.

A couple of hours later, and primarily a couple of shots later, James started telling some of his football stories and pointed to all the guys around the room that had something to do with it.

“We got this new coach a few months ago. Completely different technique, I’m telling you. We were all sceptical at first, but his way really seems to work.”

You felt his hand on your thigh and with that, your head snapped up to look at him. James acted as if nothing had happened and kept on talking about their new training methods while his thumb drew all sorts of patterns on your leg.

“You should come and watch us train sometime.”

“Yeah, why not?” It was meant to sound nonchalant but your voice went up a tad too high on that last word.

Remus rolled his eyes at you and Sirius grinned as he leant over and said something you couldn’t hear.

You narrowed your eyes and got closer to James, whispering into his ear. “Stop being cocky.”

“Stop reacting like that then.”

You clicked your tongue.

“That just motivates me, darling.”

You stood up and cleared your throat. “I’m gonna go get another round. This one’s on me.”

Your head was aching the next morning, your pulse thumping heavily against your temples and your limbs were sore. You turned around, released a quiet whine and felt something tickling your nose. When you opened your eyes you saw a strand of curly hair. James. Again? Shit.

You sat up straight, which made your head hurt even more and looked down at yourself. Fully closed still. That was a good sign, wasn’t it?

“Morning,” James slowly said as he turned around. He looked exactly how you felt. Icky and drained, with bags under his eyes. But somehow, God knows why, he still looked good.

“Morning,” you replied and lay back down. “What happened yesterday?”

“I… Don’t really remember either,” he said and laughed. “I think the bar closed around four and they threw us out.”

“Too many shots,” you whimpered.

“Exactly.” He sat up with an effort and crawled off the bed slowly.

Some memories came back. Remus had booked an Uber for the four of you and him and Sirius got out first. When you had arrived at the frat, James had asked you if you wanted to come over. You hadn’t answered but had just leant in to kiss him.

“Here.”

His voice brought you back to reality and you caught yourself grinning like a fool. James offered you a bottle of water, which you gratefully took, and plopped back down onto the bed.

You gulped down a few sips as he turned on the TV and switched through the channels. A few more chunks of memory seemed to return while you massaged your temples. The two of you had left the Uber and had stumbled upstairs, had made your way to his room, all noisy and drunk. You had almost entered someone else's room on accident before James had stopped you, which had resulted in another fit of laughter.

You had practically fallen onto the bed, still giggling and talking a bunch of baloney, while James had gone to the bathroom. When he had returned, he must have found you fast asleep, still in your clothes and sprawled over the bed.

And that’s where you were still. Now next to him and half awake, while he was trying to find something to watch.

“James?” you asked.

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you something?” You turned over to face him.

“Sure.”

“Why didn’t you answer my text yesterday?”

“Oh um,” he sat up a bit. “I must have forgotten, sorry.”

“Oh. I thought something was wrong, but…”

“No, no. I just wasn’t home all day.”

“Football?”

“No. I uh. Was visiting my Mom.”

His Mom? That’s sweet.

“Do your parents live nearby?”

He played with the bottle cap between his fingers. “She’s in the hospital at the moment.”

“Oh. Oh no, I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay. They called me and said that she was not doing so well yesterday, but I think she’ll be fine.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

He looked up from the bottle, then back down and sighed. “Tuberculosis.”

Shit.

“James, I’m so sorry,” you said and tried to find any more words to say.

“Thanks,” he replied and you could tell his smile was forced. “It’s not been so easy lately, you know. Dad passed a year ago, now Mom’s sick.”

“I had no idea,” you muttered.

“You couldn’t know,” he said. “It’s fine, I’m sure she’s gonna be fine. Can we… Can we change the subject?”

“Uh, yeah sure,” you said and grabbed the remote, then moved closer to him. “I’m great at finding the best movies on Netflix. Did you know?”

“I bet,” he grinned.

Although the movie was good, you couldn’t help but think of that picture in James’ nightstand you had seen the day before. Those were probably his parents. Your heart ached for him and you felt so arrogant for only thinking about yourself when he hadn’t texted you back. You just wouldn’t have thought that there could be any sort of problem in the life of the golden boy. How stupid of you. All you had done until now was assuming things about him until he had proved you wrong. Why he would even put up with you was the real question.

You took his hand and ran your index around the outside edges of all his fingers, making him smile softly. Then you pressed your palm against his and felt the warmth of it spreading through your hand. His hand was bigger than yours, so he bent his fingers and touched the tips of yours with them.

“Your hands are so big,” you chuckled.

“And you are small.”

“In general?”

“Yeah,” he said and laughed quietly.

With that same warm feeling on your palm and in your stomach, and the quiet sounds of the TV in the background, you fell back asleep.

It was past 5 pm when you figured you finally had to leave and go to your own dorm once again. Your hangover was almost gone and you hadn’t heard anyone walking or talking outside of James’ room in a while, which meant you probably wouldn’t have to see anyone if you were quick.

“You sure you don’t want me to drive you home?” James asked. “I’m sober again, I swear.”

“No, no. Thanks, but I need to walk for a bit. Trust me.”

“Okay then,” he said, walked over and held your face before he put a kiss on your forehead. “See you soon?”

“Very soon,” you answered before you opened the door with a smile. “Bye James.”

Downstairs was relatively peaceful. You heard the TV rambling from the living room, but other than that it was quiet. You had just taken the last step on the stairs when the front door opened and a blonde guy entered the house. He looked unfamiliar and a bit confused.

“Hey,” you said incidentally, as you walked by.

“Hello,” he replied. “Sorry, are you here often?”

You stopped and turned around. “Um, only recently. Are you looking for someone?”

“No, I’m sure I’ll find my way around. What’s your name by the way?”

“I’m Y/N.”

He offered his hand for you to shake. “Nice to meet you. I’m Peter. Peter Pettigrew.”

Feedback & comments are always highly appreciated. Let me know if you want to be tagged/untagged :)

Permanent tags: @geeksareunique @ren-ela @marauderskeeper @way-obsessed5 @oreofrappiewithblueberry @draqcnheartstrinq @dogfatherpads @obscurilicious @maralisa124 @theseuscmander @siriuslyimmoony @theboywhocriedlupin @igotmadskills @diggorysghost @jamcspotters @thisismysecrethappyplace @vulpecula-minor @snarledblack @swellwriting @fandomtravels @heartbeats-wildly @maraudersmyloves @clockworkherondale

Against The Odds tags: @sly-vixen-up2nogood @axielle-suson @igotmadskills @harrypotterimmaginaa @yourhufflepufftrash @eastcoasthaven @tired-eyes-fairylights @reducto-bitch @portkeys-and-prose @i-padfootblack-things @the-apple-princess @anuxsidhu @siriuswitches @katbernoulli

[thehobbitse]

Fanfic: Obsessions (Jake Peralta X OFC)

You can read it on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17951162/chapters/42394373

Author’s note: Hii, sorry for the short chapter, I wanna skip to the ~interesting~ parts soon ;3 Also, I know it's cliché, but I'll name the chapters after songs. This is Daylight-Coldplay, is about the realization that you love someone (in this case she likes the person because it's too soon to love etc).

Chapter 2- Daylight

As soon as I got home, I ran to the shower, the water would help to clear my thoughts. Since I was young I loved to take a shower, I turned on the radio and problems disappeared. It's a shame that when we grow up, problems grow too, and it takes more than running water to solve them. It also did not help that I put "Greatest Hits- Britney Spears" (because ‘My loneliness is killing meee’)

What would I do the next morning? Should I talk to him? Ignore it? Oh if I had a close friend to ask for advice. As soon as I fell on the bed, I fell asleep, too tired to continue torturing myself.

The next morning I got up earlier than usual, if I got there early I would not run the risk of having to walk past Jake's desk and say good morning. I decided to ignore him and try to act normal until things got really back to normal. I took my usual coffee and milk, put the most imperceptible neutral-colored clothes I could find and ran to the bus stop near my building. I came some minutes early and used this extra time to pick a playlist. I love these little things, listening to music on the bus (or in the bath, or cooking, or cleaning the house or in any possible situation) made me happy. I would always get into these overly thinking moments, my mind certainly flies easily.

I arrived early, even earlier than Amy. Actually most people came later, probably because of yesterday's party. Rosa arrived at the usual time and I could tell she was happy because this time she actually greeted me. I really admired her, her strong will, her style. I had what I like to call a “friendship crush” on her.

The more the minutes passed, the more I became anxious, my hands were sweaty, each time the elevator doors opened, my heart skipped a bit. I was so tense that I did not even realize that Rosa was calling me.

"Moretti, are you alright?"

I turned to her with a loose smile "Yes, why?"

"You're kneading those files" well, I have this mania of when I'm thinking too much and I’m anxious, I squeeze everything I have in my hands without noticing.

"Yeah, I ... ah ... I need to go to the bathroom" I got up as fast as I could to avoid further comments.

Arriving in the bathroom I washed my hands and my face to try to calm myself down. ‘Breath in, breath out’ I mentally repeated to myself. I was going to make a ponytail when I spoted a purple bruise on the righ side of my neck, almost on the back. ‘Shit it must have been hidden behind my hair’

‘Shit shit shit shit’ I didn’t have anything to cover that up, as I looked the hickey, my mind started to wander again, to think about last night and all the things I felt when I was in Jake’s apartment. The way we kissed and the manner he touched me, and oh God, how I wanted to go to the end and see what he would do, but I didn’t, there are so many things that could (and certainly would!) go wrong. But I had to admit: he knew how to Kiss. “I shouldn’t be thinking about that”

“About what?” I heard Gina’s lazy voice comming from behind one of the bathroom boxes. Oh crap, did I say it out loud? And why didn’t I check if the bathroom was empty?

I soon let my hair down to cover the hickey, with luck she didn’t see it “About what I’m gonna have for lunch, it’s too soon yet”

She came closer to me with a threatening look “You have a secret, and I know all the secrets around here” she changed her look in a second and washed her hands

“No, I don’t. Now excuse me”

I left the bathroom and went to the living room, I know Gina is quite ‘dangerous’ and I had to keep the secret really secret. I heard that drinking water helps to calm the anxiety, so I went to the living room, while pouring water into a mug I heard footsteps and voices, I was with my back facing the door

“Man, I told you that woman was inocent” phew, it was Terry

“I shoudn’t have bet 20 dollars, her taste for fast food deceived me” maybe I was lucky because that was Charles....until he completed “Jake, what do you think?”

In fact I was lucky to be facing the sink because as soon as I heard that Jake was there, I spit some water. I turned myself to face them. “Hi there” I said with a very forced smile

Fun fact: I never saw anyone so hungover like Jake: he had deep circles under his eyes, his hair was matted and his clothes rumpled as if he had overslept and came to work in a hurry and I never saw him before with a grumpy expression like the one he wore that day

“Careful there” said Boyle with a playful smile. I passed some water in my mug to carry it back to my desk.

“Good morning Sargent, Charles, Jake” I said while leaving the room, my stare low because I wasn’t able to look him in the eyes without feeling shame.

The rest of the day followed quiet, I watched the people from behind my computer, Amy was shinning with joy, showing off her big engagement ring, I heard Charles complaining about having trouble to find a girlfriend, Jake was incredibly silent, Gina was bragging about something she achieved on twitter. Sargent Jeffords showed us some pictures of her little girls (precisely 56 photos of them sleeping). I thought things were going back to normal really easily. That’s when my look met with Jake’s and we instantly lowered our eyes, my face burning with embarrassment. Was he looking at me purposely? Hm maybe it was my imagination.

I lifted my head as if nothing had happened, grabbed my cellphone to (pretend to) check the messages and raised my eyes once again, he wasn’t at his desk anymore.

Rosa got up from her chair and muttered a direct command “Follow me”, she led me into the copier room and closed the door “You need to talk to him”

“With whom?” I asked, it was impossibe for her to know-

“With Jake, it’s weird and you are colleagues, it may affect your work” shit shit shit, how does she know? “You took him home last night, you’re barely talking to each other and you have a hickey” she responded as if she read my mind and crossed her arms

I immediatly placed my hand on top of the hickey, widening my eyes “Nothing happened. I mean. Kinda. But I stopped it because he was so drunk and I didn’t want to be just a backup girl cus’ I know he likes Amy” I realized I shouldn’t have said the last part “Oops, that wasn’t supposed to come out”

“Don’t worry, everyone knows that except Amy. Talk to him” she told me sternly and headed to the doo

“...Rosa” I pleaded raising my eyebrows like a puppy face, she appeared to be touched by it -but because of what she said next. Rosa doesn’t show any emotion unless she wants to-

“Jake is a nice guy, he’ll understand. You don’t have to be afraid, Gina and Charles used to make out, and now they’re fine”

“What are you suggesting?” I asked, did she meant that me and Jake could.....? Well it didn’t matter because she just raised an eyebrown and gave me a smirk while lefting the room

I waited ‘till the end of our shift, I wanted to talk to Jake alone. As he waited for the elevator, I looked nervously to Rosa and she returned with a nod to where Jake was and gave me a look that meant ‘I will drag you to him if necessary’. There was no other way, and she was right, this situation could harm our work. So I grabbed my purse and headed to the elevator too.

The problem is that I wanted to be alone with him to spare more awkward situations and Scully was heading to the elevator too. I looked at Rosa again and she understood what was happening.

“Hey Scully” she called him and as soon as he turned himself, she was already near him and she punched his stomach “The next time you eat my stuff it will be worse than a punch”

I didn’t know she would do THAT, but it worked and as the doors were closing I heard Scully saying between coughs “But it was Hitchcock”

‘Well, now I’m here’ I thought, ‘How do I say it?”, I was so nervous and my hands were sweaty again, I thought so much about it that I didn’t realised the time I lost when the doors opened again. He just gave me a short ‘Bye’ and headed to the parking lot (the exit I take is different because I don’t have a car, you know). ‘Now or never, but maybe tomorrow’ I was about to leave when I remembered something: my first Kiss. Why? Well because I was so nervous, but I liked the boy and waited too long since I always wanted to make these things with people I really liked. I gave a second though and gained courage to do it. And I never regretted it

Talking to Jake was the right thing to do and maybe it wouldn’t be so hard ‘Jake is a nice guy’ Rosa’s voice played in my head. So I turned around and ran to the parking lot, I had this good fortune because he was almost getting into his car.

“Jake!” I yelled, now coming closer to where he was “Ca...can we talk? About yesterday”  He stopped beside his car, I felt like he was relieved somehow. ‘Now I’m here......................What do I say????’

“Aaahn I’m...sorry(?)” It came out sounding more as a question than a statement

“Hey, you don’t have to feel bad about anything, it’s your right to say no and-“ he started to say. Wait, did he think I didn’t want to make out with him even if I rubbed my hips and moaned and ohmygodthememories, he was so sweet to think that way, my heart melted. Jake was truly a nice guy.

“Jake it’s not that I didn’t want to....” I cocked my eyebrows as to indicate that I refered to the words I was too shy to say. He frowned and then relaxed his face, the processes of understanding what I was saying going through his visage. It was so cute. I continued “The reason I did not go ahead it’s because first: you were so drunk I didn’t feel it was right.... and second because...” I trailed off

“What?” he asked coming closer, interested in what I had to say

“Because I know you like Amy, and if I’m gonna do these things I wanna be sure the person is thinking about me in the moment” I burtled and as I registered what I just said, blood rushed to my cheeks.

He appeared torn for a moment, then he said “Look, that’s okay... let’s just forget it”

I gave him a semi smile and nodded with my head “See ya’ tomorrow”

That night Ihad trouble falling asleep, something was bothering me. A thought came to me and I slipped my hand under my pants waistband ‘We can’t do it but nobody said anything about thinking it’. And for Lord’s sake, that nigh I slept very well.

[studentville-struggles]

Yes Coach // Part 2

So I find it pretty funny watching the freshers drool over our coaches and wondered if it was possible for a non creepy coach-player relationship to exist and just started writing this… let me know if this is trash or not and if you’re interested in further parts.

Part 2 - Lost Words: 1,275

Having tried to appear somewhat alive (and not drunk) on the walk to training, you arrived somewhat less flustered than you were when you left the house. However, that didn’t last long as Katie noticed you arriving and a smug grin appeared on her face almost immediately.

“Wipe that grin off your face.” “Now that’s not a nice way to talk to your mother.” Oh, the joys of sports team ‘families’. “Last night not put you in a good mood?”   “I hate you.”   “Ouch. Are you still drunk?”   “Maybe...”  

Obviously, some of the other girls found this hilarious and were asking if you’d had a messy night to which the response was “is there any other type of night out?” but all in all you weren’t questioned too hard.

“Where is Will?” Head coach Drew does not look impressed that Will is late.   “No idea Drew, no idea.” Luke replied, chuckling to himself and having a look around the group at who had turned up to training.

Will did eventually arrive, only ten minutes after the session had started, which was quite impressive to be fair.  

“Nice of you to show up Will, good night last night?” Will looks a little mortified, but covers it up pretty quickly. “Sorry Drew, I overslept this morning, won’t happen again.” You were almost disappointed that he said that, you’d happily ride that fine man again, the sex was pretty incredible. Unfortunately, you couldn’t do anything or show any emotion without serious questions being asked.

“Forwards with Luke again! Backs with Will! I’ll float between the two. GO!”  

Not only was Will a coach at your club, he was the backs coach, and unsurprisingly, you are a back. Yay.  

Two hours later and you effectively managed to have zero contact with Will, just doing the exercises he set out, listening to his coaching. There were a few ‘yeah’ and ‘I want’s’ for passing the ball to one another but that was as far as your communicating went that day. Just like normal, with a little awkwardness thrown in there.  

As you were packing up your stuff, you heard Katie shouting your name. “Debrief lunch, union café, when do you want to meet.”   “How’s two? I just need to go home and shower off this mud.”   “Now why do you two need a debrief lunch?” Luke butted in with some humour in his voice. Panicking you looks up at his grinning face, eyes briefly making contacts with Wills, who was stood a little way behind Luke, talking to Drew.   “We have one after every night out.” You eventually managed to get out “It’s good to go over all the gossip you know.” Katie added, knowing it would make you blush and uncomfortable. “Oh I know.” Luke said with a knowing smile before wandering off to join Will and Drew. 

 Lunch was, interesting. Katie was almost over-excited that you and Will went home together – even if she did watch the events of the night fall into place for that to happen. Apparently, Luke and Katie had found it hilarious that you and Will had gone from barely speaking ever to having the best time laughing and dancing in the club you were at. The most notable events of the evening being the very platonic dancing, followed by a bar visit, followed by very not platonic actions. Merely an hour after Luke and Katie had gawped at the fact you two were very much getting off they waved you off to head to your house. The night wasn’t quite the same after that, very calm, none of the other social drama they saw could quite compare.  

After her stories of the night before, came yours. Well the stories of things you could remember, Katie could generally confirm or elaborate on some of them. You ended with what happened after she phoned you that morning.

“So do you think it will happen again?” Katie asked the question you too had been wondering. “I don’t know. We said we ‘wouldn’t be mad’ if it did happen again, but then it was pretty easy to pretend like nothing had happened, even if it was a little awkward. It would be risky to keep going there.”   “True, maybe not the best idea.”

And it didn’t happen again. Except when it did, two weeks later.  

Somehow you had lost all of the rugby girls on the social. It was a Wednesday night and so all of the sports teams were out, the club was packed of people in weird and wonderful costumes. Somehow, you ended up right in the middle, looking around for someone in the same costume as you, when you locked eyes. Will eventually managed to make his way to you, asking if you were okay. After telling him your predicament, he looked around and confirmed, none of the rugby girls were nearby.

Realising that no one was there to see the two of you, Will placed an arm around your waist, drunkenly trying to look into your eyes checking you wanted what he did. You placed your arms around his neck and pulled him down so your lips could meet in what was a passionate (drunken) kiss. Sometime later – it could have been seconds, could’ve been minutes, your drunken mind was never good at timings – Will had you pressed up against a pillar, hips pressed together, not quite able to grind on one another with how drunk you were, kissing as though your life depended on it. Breaking apart, gasping for air, Will leaned in to talk to you over the loud music.

“How about that extra session then?” His hands still holding you as close to him as possible.   “What do you say, coach? Think I need some one on one time with you?” You smirked, feeling the way he tensed up listening to your response. His hands on the back of your neck, and waist pulling you even closer, if that was even possible; lips attacking your neck with a small grumble slipping from him. His lips found the sensitive spots on your neck, it drew a moan from you, the sound just loud enough for him to hear. That sound seemed to flick a switch in him. He crashed his lips back against yours with a new sense of urgency. Pulling apart, he asked the question that would change things from a drunken kiss into a lot more.

“Your place or mine?” The way his body was pressed against yours meant you could feel every way his body was responding to your kiss, only increasing your want for him in that moment. “Wherever is closest”, you breathed out, “don’t want to wait.” “Yours.” Immediately he pulled you through the crowd towards the exit.

Miraculously you didn’t pass a single member of your rugby team on the way to exit, passing through two of the club’s rooms. The only thing you weren��t expecting, however, was to see Luke loitering by the exit talking to a friend of his.  

“Being the gentleman, walking one of our girl’s home, ey Will?” Why does he have to be like this? “Of course, got to make sure they’re okay.” Will replied with a slight slur, flipping Luke off as he did.

What should have been a short walk to your house ended up taking many times longer as neither of you could stop trying to kiss and walk, hands all over each other. Having finally made it home, your room's door was barely shut before clothes started being dropped all over the floor.  

As you would soon learn, ‘coach’ was a title Will quite enjoyed.

Part 1 / Masterlist

[billyhargrovefanfiction]

Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth |  Billy Hargrove x OFC

CHAPTER TWO

Andie gets to school when second period is just starting. She walks into the classroom and sees Rich and Sam already sitting in their usual seats. She takes a deep breath and walks up to them. ‘Hey.’ She mumbles shyly. ‘Hey Andie, where were you first period?’ Sam asks her. He doesn’t sound angry. Andie takes a seat. ‘I overslept.’ She answers cautiously. ‘Are you okay?’ Rich asks her. ‘Yeah, I’m fine, bit of a headache and some bruises and scratches from the fight,’ she points at the scratches on her face. She is wearing a scarf to hide a hideous hickey on her neck. They don’t need to know about that. She shows her hand, which is bruised and cut from the punching and the falling. ‘But I’m fine,’ She adds. ‘What happened with Billy?’ Rich asks. ‘Nothing.’ Andie answers quickly. Rich frowns. She can’t talk about Billy right now, too many confusing feelings, so she turns to Sam. ‘Is Lisa okay?’ Sam sighs. He sounds frustrated. ‘She’s certainly more beaten up than you are.’ ‘I’m so sorry, Sam. I really didn’t mean for it to get so out of hand, but she did start it.’ ‘I know. I obviously shouldn’t have put you guys in the same room. But she’s okay, really.’ Andie sighs in relieve. Not because Lisa is okay. She just really doesn’t want a fight with Sam. Andie looks at the door just as Billy enters the classroom. He has a big bruise next to his eye. She looks away. ‘Do you guys want to go to the movies after school?’ She asks. Sam looks at her sheepishly, ‘I’m hanging out with Lisa. I could bring her?’ Andie gives him a look. ‘You are the funniest man alive. how about you, Rich?’ ‘I have basketball practice.’ He says. ‘You guys are no fun.’ Rich laughs. ‘Last night was enough fun for the rest of the year, thank you very much’ He says. ‘You could hang out at basketball practice? I’m benched most of the time anyway.’ Andie sighs. ‘Why not.’ The teacher walks in and class starts.

Andie sits down on the gym’s stand. She actually quite enjoys basketball. She gives Rich a wave when he walks onto the court. He waves back but has a worried look on his face. Right behind him Billy enters the court. Of course, Andie thinks to herself. He’s wearing a tank-top and the usual basketball shorts. Their eyes meet, but he shows no emotion. ‘Okay boys, today we have Billy joining us, say hi.’ Nobody says hi. ‘Run a few laps, warm yourselves up, in ten minutes we’re starting.’ Everyone starts running. Andie decides now is a good time to try and sort out her Billy-feelings. She just doesn’t know where to start. The facts: In the video-store he acted like a dick. Last night they made-out, like, heavily. Who started it? She can’t remember. It ended weird, that’s for sure, but Andie isn’t sure exactly how they left things. Is he mad at her? Is she mad at him? Are they fine? Were they ever? She touches the bruises on her arm from him grabbing her. She feels like she should be mad at him, but she just isn’t. They were both very drunk and she did elbow him in the face. This is not helping. She sighs and leans back. She follows Billy with her eyes. He is running his laps effortlessly. She has never been much of an athlete, especially not after a night of heavy drinking, but he is obviously made for this. ‘Okay shirts with Steve, skin with Frank. Billy take your shirt off, you’re with Frank. Jim and Richard, you’re benched.’ Rich turns to Andie and throws his hands up. She laughs. Rich isn’t really a great athlete either, his dad made him join the team. He has played exactly three games in two years of being on the team. He throws his shirt back on and runs up a couple steps to sit next to Andie. She pats him on the back. ‘Good walk.’ ‘Don’t get too comfortable, Richard, I’m going to rotate players.’ The coach yells after him. Rich gives him a thumbs up and the coach rolls his eyes. ‘Alright Billy, let’s see what you’ve got.’ Billy takes off his shirt and they start the game. He’s good. He’s actually really good. Rich is staring at Andie, but she pretends not to notice. After a few minutes it gets annoying and she gives up. ‘Okay, go ahead.’ She says reluctantly. ‘What happened last night with Billy.’ Rich asks her like it’s a statement. Andie sighs. ‘He tried to calm me down, after the fight… We made-out a bit and that’s all.’ She says dryly. Rich scoffs. ‘Come on, Andie, he was heavily strung-out, and you were completely freaked when you came out of the bathroom. Something must have happened.’ ‘He was high?’ Andie mumbles. ‘Were you really that drunk? He was completely coked-up.’ She frowns. ‘Well, it doesn’t matter anyway, we had a heated make-out session and he grabbed my arm a little weirdly but it’s not a big deal.’ ‘How do you mean weirdly?’ ‘, like he was amped-up, so the coke kind of explains that.’ Andie says, more to herself than too Rich. Meanwhile Billy is scoring left and right. He plays very aggressively and it’s fun to watch. Andie discovers the odd sensation of feeling kind of bad for Steve. He’s getting crushed. ‘Andie, just…’ Rich starts, but he gets interrupted. ‘Okay, Richard, you’re in for Steve.’ The coach yells. He gets up. Andie grabs his arm ‘Really, Rich, don’t worry about me. If something else had happened I would talk to you guys about it. I promise.’ He sighs. ‘Alright, fine. I’m just worried about you, you know that right?’ He says. Andie smiles at him and nods. She lets him go and he walks down to the court. Andie sees Steve walking out with Nancy. She remembers the punch thing from last night. Poor Nancy, having to deal with that jock-douche. When they were kids Nancy and Andie were good friends, but their friendship watered down when they got into High School. They didn’t have a lot of classes together and just kind of drifted apart. Maybe I should ask her to hang out sometime. She focusses back on the team but honestly, it’s too painful to look at. Billy is single-handedly annihilating Rich’s team. She grabs the book that’s in her bag and starts reading, but she keeps peeking at Billy’s sweaty body. She can’t help herself. It’s a really nice view.

After the game, just as Andie walks out of the gym, Billy comes after her and stops her. He has his shirt and gym-bag in his hand and is clinging on to them for dear life. He looks extremely uncomfortable. It’s a weird look for someone who’s usually so confident. He hands her her terminator sunglasses. ‘You should watch your stuff.’ He mumbles. He sounds out of breath and his chest is glistening from sweat. Andie smiles inadvertently. ‘Oh, yeah, I was looking for those.’ That’s a lie, she didn’t even know she had forgotten them. ‘Thanks for hanging on to them.’ He shifts his weight. ‘Yeah, well, don’t get you panties in a twist, I thought they were mine.’ He says, also lying. There’s an awkward silence. He runs his hand through his hair. ‘Well, that’s all’ He mumbles as he turns back around. He looks irresistible. So why resist? Andie decides. She grabs his arm and he immediately turn back around. She quickly lets him go. ‘Eh… I… Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to go see a movie.’ She says in one breath. Billy frowns. He doesn’t answer. ‘I was going to go with my friends, but… they were busy I guess.’ He still doesn’t say anything. ‘And eh… Have you seen Nightmare on Elm Street? Because… eh… I haven’t’ She really doesn’t have anything else. He looks like he’s thinking. She raises her eyebrows in question. God, it’s not a difficult question. He sighs. ‘You know what, I don’t really do the whole dinner-and-a-movie date thing.’ He bites his lip. ‘So… No, I don’t think so.’ He adds. He sets his bag down and throws his shirt back on. Andie watches him, a confused look on her face. He grabs his bag, mumbles a short ‘Yeah…’ to himself and walks to the exit. That was weird. Andie shakes her head. Alright, whatever. She walks into the hall to her locker when she sees Steve trying to get his open. It’s not opening, and he proceeds to punch it in anger. This is probably about Nancy. His locker is one away from Andie’s and nobody else is in the hall. She debates whether to just ignore him or say something. ‘Open up you piece of garbage.’ He says to his locker, but it still won’t open, and he punches it again. Andie sighs and walks up to him. ‘You okay, Steve?’ She asks him reluctantly. He makes a frustrated noise and gestures toward his locker. ‘The thing wont open.’ Andie nods understandingly. ‘Maybe you should try a gentler approach.’ She suggests. ‘Here, check this out,’ She walks up to her own locker and puts a hand on it. ‘My dearest locker, please accept my offering of the following numbers and present to me your glorious realm.’ She says to it and she puts in the combination. She pulls on the lock. It doesn’t open. She frowns. ‘Well, that’s just rude.’ She mumbles. Steve laughs. ‘Thanks, dude, I see now my past mistakes.’ Andie laughs. Steve’s face drops again, and he sighs. ‘Seriously though, are you okay?’ Andie asks. ‘Yeah… I just…’ Steve starts. He sighs again. ‘I guess me and my girlfriend just broke up.’ ‘Oh, man, sorry about that. That sucks.’ Andie says. ‘Yeah, it does.’ He answers softly. They both try their lockers again and both open this time. They grab their books. ‘I just broke up with someone too actually.’ Andie says. She had almost forgotten about it with all that happened. ‘I’m not too broken up about it though. To be honest, he was a dick.’ ‘I guess that’s what Nancy is feeling too.’ Steve mumbles. Andie closes her locker and looks at him. ‘No, Steve my guy was cheating on his girlfriend with me. You’re not so bad.’ Steve closes his locker too and they start walking toward the exit together. ‘What do you know? I mean, how do you know I wasn’t cheating on Nancy too?’ Steve asks her. Andie shrugs. ‘I don’t, but you seem like a nice guy. I mean you’re a tool but more centered around shampoos and lotions and ball sports.’ He laughs. ‘Pretty accurate, I guess.’ He says, shrugging. ‘What was your name again?’ He asks as they walk out to the parking lot. Andie sees Billy leaning on the hood of his car. He sees them and gets an angry expression on his face. Andie frowns. ‘Hello?’ Steve asks. ‘Sorry, what?’ Andie says, keeping her eyes on Billy as they slowly get closer to him. ‘Your name?’ Steve repeats. ‘Andie,’ she mumbles. Billy scoffs audibly and crosses his arms. Did he just scoff at me? Steve frowns and follows her gaze to an angry Billy looking at them. ‘What’s up with him?’ He asks. Billy pushes himself off the hood. ‘You work fast, sweetheart.’ Billy yells at Andie loudly. Andie stops walking. Now it’s her turn to look angry. Steve stops too, a confused look on his face. ‘Are you really doing this right now, Billy? Did you not just reject me?’ She yells back at him. Steve raises his eyebrows. ‘You asked him out?’ He asks Andie. Billy rolls his eyes. ‘I’m just saying you’re fast.’ He yells. They’re standing about 50 feet apart, neither of them showing any intention of moving closer. ‘This is a weird interaction.’ Steve mumbles. ‘Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m just being nice. He was basically crying in the hallway.’ She yells at Billy, gesturing to Steve. Steve frowns ‘Oh, come on, I was not.’ ‘So you offered him some consolation pussy?’ Billy yells. Steve’s eyes get big. Andie scoffs. ‘How DARE you!’ She screams. ‘Not cool, man!’ Steve yells. Billy points at Steve aggressively. ‘STAY out of this, Harrington.’ ‘Why don’t YOU stay out of this Billy! Go home!’ Andie yells. ‘What is happening…’ Steve says to himself. ‘You try telling me what to do again, bitch!’ He yells at her. That’s when Andie runs up to him. ‘Oh shit…’ Steve mumbles and he runs after her. Billy leans back on his car again. Andie get’s right up in his face. ‘What did you call me?’ She whispers, her voice trembling in anger. ‘I don’t like people telling me what to do, you’d be a good girl to remember that.’ He hisses. She punches him straight in the jaw. He flinches, but then he starts laughing. ‘Ah yeah, that’s just how I like it honey. Why don’t you try that again.’ He says, still laughing. She goes to punch him in the nose, but Steve pulls her back. ‘Just leave him, Andie, he has some serious anger management issues.’ Steve says to Andie. ‘That makes two of us,’ She hisses through her teeth. But she listens to Steve and starts walking away. ‘Oh come on, honey. That’s the second time this week you’re holding out on me!’ Billy yells after her. Andie bites her lip. ‘Fuck it, she can skate home.’ Billy mumbles and he gets in his car. ‘What on earth was all that.’ Steve asks Andie as they watch Billy drive away, tires screeching. Andie sighs. ‘I don’t know, man, that guy is complicated.’ Steve chuckles. ‘Yeah, no shit, he’s insane. You should stay away from him Andie, seriously.’ He says to her, a serious look on his face. Andie chuckles. ‘I don’t like people telling me what to do, be a good girl and remember that.’ She says imitating Billy’s husky voice. Steve laughs. ‘See you around, Andie. Good luck with that situation’ He says gesturing towards where Billy took off. Andie laughs, ‘Yeah, good luck with yours.’

When Andie turns the corner to her street she sees Billy’s car sitting in the drive-way. ‘No. fucking. way.’ She says out loud. She runs up to the car. He’s not in it. She looks around, but she doesn’t see him. That’s when she sees her mom’s car is in the garage. She cautiously walks up to the door and opens it. She’s immediately greeted by a sea of laughter coming from Billy and her mom. What on earth? She walks into the kitchen. Her mother is sitting on a stool and Billy is leaning on the kitchen counter. They both look at her. Billy smirking and her mother with an annoyed look. ‘Oh, hi.’ Her mother says. ‘What the fuck are you doing here.’ Andie says to Billy, shooting lasers with her eyes. ‘Come now Andie, be nice to this lovely young man. He just came by to talk.’ Her mother says to her while staring at Billy. She’s nearly drooling. ‘Give us a minute, mother.’ Andie says to her. She doesn’t move. Andie rolls her eyes. ‘Don’t worry Lois, we just need a second to talk, I can handle her angry.’ He says in a low voice, winking at her. Andie scoffs. ‘Alright then.’ Lois says reluctantly, she walks out of the room like she’s walking a catwalk. Andie rolls her eyes and turns to Billy. ‘What…’ She starts, but he interrupts her. ‘Do you still want to go to the movies?’ He grabs a grape from the fruit bowl and throws it in his mouth. Andie blinks. ‘I… What?’ She asks stuttering. ‘The movies, you asked me to go?’ He says, like it’s common sense. Andie doesn’t even know what to say. ‘You still want to go right?’ He asks her, chewing on another grape. She scoffs. ‘No! What? How can you possibly think I still want to go after what just happened?’ She says. She’s not even angry at him right now. Just confused. Billy rolls his eyes. ‘Oh that? Come on, kid.’ ‘You called me a bitch. That’s not cool, Billy. I punched you in the face. How…’ He interrupts her again. ‘I guess that makes us even then, right? Come on Andie, you can handle some bad words and I can take a punch, we’re perfect for each other. Let’s go out.’ She walks up to the kitchen table and sits down on a chair. She’s so confused. ‘You are so confusing… half an hour ago you said you don’t go on movie dates.’ ‘Dinner-and-a-movie dates. Yeah, no, but I haven’t been on one in a while so why not.’ He says like it’s self-explanatory. Andie shakes her head in confusion. ‘And then you were yelling at me?’ He sighs and walks to the kitchen table grabbing the chair across from her. He leans on his elbows and speaks softly, like he’s telling a secret. ‘Look, I changed my mind and I was waiting for you to come out so I could tell you that, and then you came out with Steve and well… I don’t like the guy, okay, just come out with me.’ Her time to sigh again. ‘Billy, I don’t think I can handle all this.’ She gestures at him with her hands. He leans in a little closer. ‘I’m sorry okay, I’m sorry.’ He says. ‘Look, Billy, it’s okay. Okay? But…’ ‘No, no. No but, just, I like you. Come out with me. We don’t have to go see a movie let’s just get some ice-cream and I’ll take you right back home. It doesn’t even have to be today. How about Saturday?’ He says like it’s the hardest thing he’s ever done. She grunts. ‘I know I’m a dick okay, just ice-cream.’ She grunts a little louder. She looks at him. He smiles at her. ‘Fine, Billy, let’s get some damned ice-cream on Saturday.’ She says finally, throwing her hands up in despair. He leans back. ‘Alright, great!’ Andie sighs. She’s not sure if it’s a great idea, but whatever. It’s just ice-cream. ‘So, you never told me what you and that girl were fighting about last night.’ ‘You never asked.’ He rolls his eyes. ‘I’m asking now.’ Jesus, mood swings much? ‘Well, me and Sam have been friends since we were little and Lisa, Sam’s girlfriend, is jealous of that.’ Andie explains. ‘Ah. Is she right to be?’ Andie frowns. ‘No. She isn’t. We’re just friends’, she states. ‘How long are those two together?’ He asks. She crosses her arms and leans back. ‘Why are you interrogating me on this?’ She asks. Billy let’s out a chuckle. ‘I’m not, I’m just showing an interest. People do that, you know. And, by the way, I did get an elbow in the face over it so I feel like I’m involved.’ He points at the bruise on his face. ‘Yeah sorry about that.’ Andie mumbles. He smiles ‘Don’t sweat it, like I said, I can take a punch. Answer my question.’ ‘Right, eh, they’ve been together for about a year or so?’ Andie says. Billy thinks for a second. ‘So why did she attack you now?’ Andie signs ‘I don’t know man, I guess -in her mind- I wasn’t really a threat before because I was seeing John.’ ‘Who’s John?’ He asks, his voice dropping an octave. Oh God. ‘Eh, he’s this guy I was kind of seeing but last week I found out he has a girlfriend, so we’re done now.’ Billy nods slowly. This suddenly feels like a therapy session. ‘And how does that make you feel?’ Yep, this is therapy. Andie chuckles. ‘Fine, I guess. I’m still kind of angry at him but I didn’t love him, or even really like him, so I’m fine really.’ He’s thinking. ‘Do you need a notepad to write this all down?’ She adds. He chuckles. ‘Alright, I get it, I’m gone.’ He gets up and starts to walk out. Andie follows him to the door and opens it for him. ‘Bye.’ He says, smirking at her. This is awkward. ‘Bye.’ Andie answers. He doesn’t move. She raises her eyebrows. His hand moves up. She swallows. He grabs her scarf and pulls it down revealing the hickey he left on her throat. He lets out another chuckle. He gives her a kiss on the corner of her mouth and walks out. She moves her hand to her lips and follows him with her eyes. Well, he’s certainly not boring, she thinks, and she closes the door.

Thursday comes around and after school Rich, Sam and Andie are sitting on the ground in an alley next to the school gym. They are passing a joint around. ‘I’m not saying it’s some big conspiracy, I just don’t understand why anyone would be stupid enough to just go into the woods, bringing nothing. It’s just too dumb. He’s not a dumb kid.’ Sam says, sounding frustrated. They are talking about Will Byers who got lost in the woods last year. ‘If the kid says that’s what happened, that’s what happened, Sam, why would he lie?’ Rich asks him. Andie sighs. They’d had this conversation a thousand times before. Sam was obsessed with it. ‘I don’t know but when he had just disappeared everyone was like, he can’t have run away because all of his things are still at home and stuff. And now everyone is like, oh yea he just went into the woods, like now it suddenly makes all the sense in the world. I’m telling you, the kid is too smart to do something like that’ Rich rolls his eyes. ‘You keep saying that, how would you even know that, you don’t know him.’ ‘He gave him piano lessons when he was younger, Rich, he told you this a million times.’ Andie says, bored out of her mind. She takes another hit and passes the joint to Sam, who does the same. The discussion continues for a few more minutes until Sam has to go home. Rich and Andie talk some more about a big test they have on Monday and then Rich takes off too. Andie stays in the alley for a little longer. Her mom’s sister is visiting today which means her mother will be pretending to care about Andie. She’s not up for that today. Maybe she should just go eat at a diner, she considers. Would she have to call home? She’s pretty sure her mother will just come up with an excuse for her. She closes her eyes. It’s nice out today, kind of cold, but Andie likes it cold. ‘Andie Mann.’ She hears an angry voice call out. Fuck. She opens her eyes seeing Miss Janet right in front of her, arms crossed. She doesn’t say anything, she just looks at Andie. It looks like she wants her to say something, but Andie doesn’t know what to say. Maybe she thinks it’s just a cigarette? Andie takes the joint out of her mouth and smiles sheepishly. Smooth. ‘What are you waiting for, Mann, get up.’ The teacher says impatiently. Andie drops the joint on the ground and gets up. ‘Let’s go.’ Miss Janet adds. Andie frowns. ‘Where are we going?’ She asks genuinely confused. ‘The principal’s office, Mann, let’s go.’ Shit. They walk into school and through the hall to the principal’s office. When they get to the principal’s secretary’s desk sitting on the bench is none other than Billy Hargrove. He doesn’t look up but keeps staring in front of him with a look on his face like he could murder someone. Andie chuckles. ‘Is this funny to you, Mann?’ Miss Janet bites at her. ‘Nope, ma’am.’ Andie says as she sits down next to Billy. The secretary isn’t there so Janet walks into the principal’s office. ‘You okay there, buddy?’ Andie asks Billy. He doesn’t respond. Andie chuckles again nervously. Miss Janet comes back out. ‘Stay here. He’ll be right with you.’ She says and she walks out. Silence. Then Billy grunts angrily. Andie frowns. He looks really pissed. ‘What happened?’ She tries again. He huffs. ‘What happened? I moved to this piece of shit garbage town. That’s what happened.’ Alright… Andie decides to just leave him alone. Except Billy keeps making angry noises and Andie is kind of giggly so she’s having a hard time not laughing at him. This keeps going for a bit until Billy gets up and starts walking around the room impatiently. ‘Why is that asshole making us wait. There’s like five people in this school, what could he possibly be doing.’ He looks so cute when he’s angry. Andie snorts loudly trying to keep from laughing at him. He finally looks at her. ‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’ He asks. ‘You know what he’s probably doing?’ Andie asks him trying so hard not to laugh. He stops pacing and is studying her face. ‘Jacking off.’ Andie answers her own question and she bursts out laughing. He frowns. ‘Are you high?’ He asks her. Andie nods her head, and she leans forward still laughing her ass off. He chuckles, but quickly goes back to being angry. She keeps laughing. Billy rolls his eyes. ‘Okay, it wasn’t that funny Andie, calm down.’ He says. She stops laughing. ‘You calm down.’ She mumbles at him. ‘What the hell is taking so long.’ Billy repeats and he starts pacing again. ‘Relax, Billy.’ ‘Fuck you.’ He shoots back immediately. Andie raises her eyebrows. Andie decides she should probably get him to calm down or he’ll probably get into some deep shit with the principal. Billy walks up to the secretary’s desk and knocks some papers on the floor mumbling ‘Oops.’ Andie rolls her eyes. What a child. She thinks for a second but realizes quickly that she knows exactly what to do. She gets up. A stoned Andie is a no-bullshit Andie. ‘Come here, Billy.’ She says. Billy shoots her a look. Andie sighs. She walks up to him and grabs the collar of his jacket with both hands. Billy frowns. Andie kisses him. The heat they felt before is back immediately. He kisses her back. One of his arms wraps around her, stroking her back with his hand. The other hand grabs her behind the head deepening the kiss, his tongue messaging hers. It’s a very passionate kiss, just like the one they shared at the party. Billy moves his hands, grabbing her ass. She moans, and he lifts her up setting her on the secretary’s desk. Andie smiles into the kiss and grabs his waist pulling him against her. He lays his hands on her knees and moves them up to her thighs. They break their kiss for a moment to catch their breath. Billy moves back in and bites her lip softly. They continue their kiss. Suddenly a voice comes from principal’s offices. ‘God help me.’ They break their kiss, and both look towards the voice to see the principal standing in the doorway.

CHAPTER THREE PART ONE