#personally think that he’d rather be some creature than a human

[fl3a-bag]

My take on Bills design, based off him being called a Space Demon

He’s just possessin’ a deer skull and a puppet Ford had made him

[hauntedbythefanficsofmypast]

Not so Fake

Masterlist

Tim stationed himself in the third sitting room in the Manor. It was the closest to the kitchen, and furthest from the bedrooms and entrance of the manor. In other words, the perfect hiding spot from his overactive family that have united to try and make Tim rest. The only member that would find him right away would be Alfred, who already left him a cup of tea with a few of his cookies along with one of his laptops.

A note left on top stating that Alfred expected him to actually relax, and spotting the stickers Tim could tell this was his personal laptop. Taking Alfred seriously, Tim booted up YouTube and decided to watch his new favorite, GalacticPhantom, or Danny. He had found the channel a few months ago when one of his search engines caught a mention of Tim Drake and Red Robin being the same person.

The video in question had started off with a very well made video of the camera zooming down from a space view of the Earth to Danny’s home town, through his window and coming to a screeching halt in front of Danny and his friend Wes. The opening was highly impressive to Tim and the twenty-five minute video that followed had Tim wanting to pull his hair out.

Everything Wes said was true, completely true.

Tim was absolutely stunned and terrified because the other teen had managed to fully pull together who Red Robin was without even being in Gotham. The only thing that stopped Tim from calling a meeting about it, was that no one in the comments believed him. Instead Wes was mocked with the tried and true, ‘what do the butts match?’. He ended up watching every video under the playlist, ‘Wes the Detective’ and every single video hit right on the money but absolutely no one believed him. 

Well, no one but his friends it seemed. Tim had a couple theories about it and if it wasn’t for the fact that Wes has his identity clock he’d be staking out the town now. So he chose to stick to the theory that Wes was incredibly smart, but cursed in some way.

However today Danny had posted a new video and Tim could barely wait to watch it. The title was called ‘This thing wont leave me alone.’ and the thumbnail showed a screaming Danny holding a broom with a humanism but clearly not human girl spiderman to his ceiling seemingly hissing at him.

Tim grinned as he pressed play and settled back into the couch to watch. As the intro came to an end it found Danny in the closet of his bedroom speaking into the camera as if he was documenting his last moments.

“Hello everyone and welcome back to my channel.” He whispered softly only stopping at a noise outside the door that sounded like nails scratching against something. “What the—” the chittering of a badger interrupted him to cover his curse. “Today I’m hiding in my closet because this demon thing showed up and won’t leave me alone.” Something being knocked over in the background was heard causing Danny to freeze again. “I am taking my stand though, I have my makeshift weapon and-and I’m gonna face it. In the event that I don’t come out of this alive, Tucker you can have my Doomed character, Sam just ask them out already, Val you can sell all my stuff, and Wes I’m sorry I gaslight everyone in school that one time into thinking you weren’t real.” 

“That was—you Danny, oh you better hope you don’t survive after this!” Wes snapped from behind the camera, his curse being covered by bird chirps, and a second later Tucker’s head popped up from the bottom right screen. 

“You’re focusing on that rather than the fact Danny said that all to the screen like we weren’t even here.” Danny shushed them all dramatically holding his broom in front of him like a weapon.

“It is time. Remember me views, remember me.”

“So—dramatic.” Sam is heard but not shown on camera, soon after Danny is shown bursting out of the closet startling the humanoid creature with white hair and bright neon green eyes. 

Tim assumes the creature is one of their little siblings decked out in a creepy cosplay, a really creepy one that Sam definitely had to have a hand in making.

The girl immediately starts screeching and hissing at Danny who starts screaming back before starting to swat at her with the broom. Only for her to drop on all four and start crawling around to dodge him.

“Why won’t you stay still!!” Danny cried out as he panted slightly out of breath. The girl let out an evil cackle starting to crawl toward him and the others fast as he head began to turn to the point that it was upside down. Everything was silent before Danny began screaming hysterically while hitting the girl with the broom before she managed to jump on him and they began to fight. The video cut off right as the girl got a good hit on his nose, only to come back to Danny back in the closet with a bloody nose.

“You okay man?” Wes asked from behind the camera as Danny just stared dazed ahead. Danny turned to him, eyes unfocused as he stared at the camera.

“Do-do I call an exorcist? Do we have exorcists around us? Bro I have a demon in my house, and my parents who are ghost hunters can’t even detect it. What do I do?”

“Danny, I think she might have broken your Lego space shuttle.” Val was heard and seconds later Danny was shown back outside the closet in a screaming match with her while fist fighting and rolling all over the ground. 

“THAT LEGO SET COST ME FOUR MONTHS ALLOWANCE!!”

“I’M GOING TO MAKE YOU REGRET BREAKING IT!”

“ALL I DID WAS HIT YOU WITH A BROOM!”

The girl seemed to be responding to him in either gibberish, or a language they created. Which only seemed to anger Danny more.

“ENGLISH! SPEAK ENGLISH!!” The girl paused, stopping herself from landing a solid punch to his cheek before grinning at the confused teen.

“No.” Danny seemed stunned before anger took over again and the fight continued.

“You can_____speaking english! You____daughter of a______!!” The feed cut off before returning to Danny who was sitting on the bed of his wrecked room. The girl in question nowhere to be seen as Val cleaned some blood off Danny's cheek with a grin.

“I don’t know where she went, but I know she is still in my house. Tune in next time I find her because she better have some money to pay me back for my lego set. Thanks for stopping to watch this episode of mine and until next time, don’t let the ghosts get ya.”

“That was pretty interesting.” Dick said as he stole a cookie from Tim’s plate. “Are all his videos like that?” Tim didn’t even blink at his brother's sudden appearance as he moved to type out a comment.

“For the most part, ya. He’s a shit poster, his content is just a tun of stuff that is so outrageous and realistic but clearly not real.”

‘That fight gave off peak sibling energy. It’s giving, I’m gonna fight my sibling to the death because of one slight inconvenience.’

Jason hummed as he picked his book back up, dropping down in front of the couch to reread Pride and Prejudice. “Ya he was definitely fighting his little sister. He held back too much and she wasn’t pulling her punches.” 

“Only Drake would spend his time watching pointless videos.” Damien huffed, causing Tim to roll his eyes.

“Awe Dami, you know Tim is on mandatory rest. No work of any kind.” Dick grinned before jumping up, wrapping his arms around Damien and dragging him down onto the couch.

“Richard!! Let me go this instant!!” Damien screamed struggling to get away from his octopus of an older brother.

“No! I need my little brother cuddles and I need them from my Dami! No escape for you now.” Damian kept fighting Dick’s hold for the next twenty-five minutes while Tim put another of Danny’s videos on and rewatched it with Jason and Dick watching as well. The video in question was one where Danny went through a locker with his friends and went back in time to when his school first opened. Jason snorted, commenting on them making everything black and white. Danny meets a seemingly see-through kid named Sidney Poindexter and it ends with the two of them having a dance off.

“Bruce, why the fuck are your kids watching a video of a kid dancing with an Infinite Relams ghost?” Tim paused, staring blankly at his computer screen before turning to look at Bruce and John Constantine. “Wow holy shit, the Infinite Realms rarely interact with us since Luthor let the Anti-Ecto Acts pass. Yet that kid is interacting with one like their friends.”

“You’re saying this shits real?” Jason asked, closing his book looking at the screen more interested.

“Language Master Jason.” Alfred said as he walked in from a tray of tea for everyone.

“Sorry Alfred.” John nodded as he moved closer, eyes trained on Poindexter.

“If it is not real it is still more similar than could be possible. They’ve definitely had interactions with the Realms.”

“Wait, what are the Anti-Ecto Acts?” Tim asked his attention zeroing in on John.

“Well fuck, you don’t know? It affects like all of you, thought for sure you’d know. Shit this is gonna take so long to explain. We’re gonna have to call a JL meeting for this explanation because I’m not doing it twice.”

Of Meetings and Musings

[woundedoves]

How They Would Suck Your Blood: Vampires (Sunday, Dr Ratio x Bottom GN!Reader) Headcanons Part 2 (NSFW) ⟡part 1 ⟡part 3

a/n: sunday my savior

CW: Sunday has guilt about being a vampire, biting, blood, slightly violent thoughts on sunday’s part, slight insecurity in Ratio’s part

Sunday

⟡ Sunday hates himself for what he is, he hates himself for deceiving his planet of who he truly is, not a soft hearted, warm angel with a halo but a disgusting creature; walking among his people as if he doesn’t see them as food as soon as he gets a whiff of their blood. Were it not for Robin, he would have banished himself from Penacony a long time ago.

⟡ Regardless, your relationship with him is complicated to say the least. He’s convinced himself that you’re just another servant that just so happens to have the blood that his taste buds enjoy the most, nothing more nothing less.

⟡ At least, that’s what he tells himself as his fangs pierce your flesh, his length throbbing against the fabric of his underwear as he listens to your silent whimpers, your silent breaths, the way the drug that is you; you in your entirety hits his system, he feels like he’s truly reached the heavens.

⟡ He quickly realises that he doesn’t only enjoy your blood, the way your skin feels against his, the way your hands feel in his, the way your lips quiver when his own get way too close than they should to the lips of a servant. These… urges, let’s say, he’s always had them and yet— when you came into the picture they ramped up by a hundred, as they say.

⟡ He’s ashamed to even admit it to himself, ashamed to even think about it but… it makes him feel cathartic as he sits on his desk, agonisingly long papers sit atop his desk as he taps his fingers against his pen, clicking his tongue as his stressed thoughts wander to you. The way you quiver and squirm when he places his hands on your waist to keep you stable, the way you say ‘master Sunday’ when he goes too far with the feeding, the way your hips rut against his gloved hands when they ghost around your clothed sex; you’re oh so angelic when your neck is covered in your own blood, his fangs claiming you as his the moment they grazed your neck.

⟡ He wants to bite down on your pulse, he wants to tear you apart, he wants to cling onto you, tell you to never let go, he sees the want in your eyes, the desire and the love behind your lingering gaze and your lingering touches and yet he feels too ashamed to ever give the satisfaction of indulging…

⟡ His eyes that he didn’t realise were closed snap open as he hears a crack, he broke his pen in a desperate attempt at gripping it to stabilise his sinful thoughts, he sighs as he looks at the inky streaming down from his gloves as he thinks, ”would it be a sin to bite the apple, when I’ve already been born a sinner?”

Dr. Veritas Ratio

⟡ I don’t think he’d see it either as a bad or a good thing, it’s what he is, rather than lamenting and parading around with self pity, he’s taken the initiative to see the safest ways to feed on humans. The only thing is… he thinks the act of feeding on a person is rather… embarrassing.

⟡ He hates to admit it but he can get pretty desperate and messy, so he appreciates the fact that you don’t tease him when he is feeding on you, he is his most vulnerable self in that moment, he’s basically trusting you with his life. To some vampires human blood and the act of feeding on it is just a normal routine, some do it every day some do it every week and some do it every month, ratio does it every week to keep himself stable; and yet he just can’t adapt to it like others have, it’s so private and so vulnerable for him, you’ve seen him shed a few tears sometimes.

⟡ He feels guilty, no matter how much he tells himself that it’s just what he needs to do to survive now it doesn’t take away the fact that he’s drinking human blood now, his best guess is this sensitivity is because he’s been a vampire for roughly a year and a half now; he’s still adjusting.

⟡ You’ve suggested having sex while he feeds on you, his knee jerk reaction was a surprised, “absolutely not!” Though the more he thought about it, the more sense it kind of made. You’d feel good during the feeding and maybe, just kaybe the pleasure clouding his mind could keep his guilty thoughts at bay?

⟡ He was, admittedly, a bit nervous so you took action when he was in the bathtub, his favourite relaxing space as you let your hands wander down into the water, to his cock. He took a sharp breath as he closed his eyes, opening them when he felt the weight of you on his thighs, tapping his favourite spot to feed on on your neck as his hands snake around your form, pulling you closer and capturing your lips in a deep kiss as you sigh with pleasure. You withdraw from the kiss as you levitate yourself upwards a few inches with the help of the water, both of you moaning softly as you sink down on his dick, feeling his body quiver under you as his hips thrust up sharply.

⟡ You whine in pleasure as he sinks his fangs into your neck after peppering the spot with kisses, his hands kneading your ass as you slowly ride his cock, the pleasure has his mind foggy, his body numb and his cock hard, throbbing inside you as the taste of your blood hits his tongue. He should listen to your advice more often… maybe.

[bitethedevil]

Hello, hope you're having a lovely day ♡ Very important question regarding Raphael science for a Raphael scientist: He has lived for thousands of years, which makes me wonder—does he have exes? What kind of people were they to get his attention to that extent? Or maybe he's not the settling-for-one kind of guy?

Thank youuu! You too <3 And thank you for the ask

Raphael and Love

I’ve made a post about devil’s when it comes to sex and love before. The more human-like a devil is, the more they are able to crave sex and even a selfish form of love. They might not be able to love back, but they can want to be loved and adored.

Cambions are solitary creatures. They are disliked by mortals and devils alike, so they are often lone wolves who in some cases even prefer to stay alone. Raphael is no exception. I’ve said this before and some people are like “but he sees people all the time. And what about Haarlep? What about Hope?”. It doesn’t count in my opinion. He doesn’t see mortals as equals and it’s the same concept as you seeing people at work. You don’t bond with them and there is no connection. Haarlep is essentially a sex slave, so again, they serve a purpose. Hope is more prey than anything else. They are not ‘real’ connections but rather tools. Raphael is a loner.

Since Raphael is pretty human-like for a devil, I’d say he does crave love and adoration, for sure, but specific to him I don’t think he would be caught dead admitting it. Raphael needs no one but Raphael. In my mind it ties to Haarlep’s form too. It might be just as much be due to a feeling of security as it is just pure narcissism.

Let’s do a bit of psychoanalysis here. We don’t know how Raphael has grown up but we know that his mother is likely dead and Mephistopheles is…well…Mephistopheles, so loneliness is no stranger to him. Kids who grow up like that often become self-sufficient, but they also won’t trust others to care for them. I think Raphael is no different (hence Haarlep taking his own form). Also, as a sidenote, people who has had a shitty childhood and upbringing sometimes cling to the past to gain any semblance of control and Haarlep is wearing a younger-looking version of himself. Have fun with that one.

I think that if Raphael was to have a relationship with anyone, it would take a fucked-up power dynamic. He doesn’t trust in others so he would need someone he can control completely, and he would not be caught dead being vulnerable with such a person. When it comes to romantic relationships, he is not the type, I think. When it comes to sex? Oh, for sure. He has fucked plenty and it’s all about power, not love. You see this with the deleted “thousand mistresses thing” and while that seems to refer to Haarlep, I think that’s a later addition. Raphael is not that much of a cringefail loser to make a comment like that if it refers to Haarlep in my mind.

He's a complicated dude. I’ve played around with the idea that he has loved before in fics and stuff, but I think it would take very special circumstances for him to actually do so. His love would also not be what we think of when we think of the concept. His love would be obsessive and toxic and there’s clues to this with Hope. The chase might excite him. He likes people who are puzzles and he likes defiance, but he’s like a dog chasing a car. He’d have no idea what to do with them if he actually succeeded, and if he did, they would once again revert to being tools. Tools that are just there to adore him and for him to control (like with the debtors and all those rules he has in his house). 

[mcdonaldsnumberone]

i just got a vision

kaiser x reader au where kaiser is transformed into a fluffy cat by a curse. reader finds him, takes care of him, and kaiser grows to love reader. at some point, reader kisses cat kaiser on his little forehead and he returns human.

now reader keeps kissing kaiser on the forehead. he thinks it's cute, when reader actually wants to turn him back into a cat

CATBOYSSSS OUGHGHGHGHGH CATBOYSSSSSS !!!!

anyways

LIKE A CAT!

you're finding it hard to deny your attraction to kaiser nowadays. which is only a problem because you're used to him being your pet cat, not a handsome young man who you broke free from a curse with a kiss. surely there's a way to turn him back into a cat?

gender neutral reader

There has to be a way to turn him back.

“Ahahaha! Awwww, darling, do you really like kissing me that much?”

There has to be.

“Do you want me to kiss you too? Is that it?”

You pushed yourself away from the man seated gleefully in front of you, distancing yourself as far as you could from him in the split second warning you had. Kaiser puckered his lips up, and the boy made exaggerated smooching noises towards you before you let out an audible gagging noise.

You should have known it was too good to be true. When a golden-furred cat showed up, abandoned in a cardboard box, outside of your door, you didn’t have the heart to turn it into the shelter where he might be miserable for the rest of his days. Raising a cat would be no cheap nor easy endeavor, but whenever the kitty flashed its wide blue eyes at you or pawed at you endearingly, you had no choice but to lend your heart to the creature.

And you most definitely should have known when the cat was a little too well-behaved in comparison to other cats. You swore up and down to your friends that your cat acted like it could understand you. When you tried to name him, he vehemently clawed at you and hissed down any suggestion you had until you propped open a history book. He then proudly sauntered over, took a few glances at the page before smacking his paw twice on two different words.

Michael Kaiser.

So your cat was named. You were quick to find out how picky he was and how much of an attention-whore your newfound pet was. The moment anything didn’t go his way, he’d yowl and howl at you as if you had personally conspired against him and his entire bloodline, only to be quelled over easily with some yummy treats and you promising him that he could sleep in your bed for the night, rather than the catbed you bought for him. A quick kiss would usually solve most issues you had with him, and Kaiser would melt into your lap and be the happiest feline in the world so long as you lavished your attention onto him.

It was these kisses that would be the key to unlocking your personal nightmare. You weren’t even exactly sure how it happened. One moment you were playing with your pet, wiggling Kaiser’s favorite toy and smothering his face with smooches, and next thing you knew, you were flat on the ground with a full-grown man sitting on top of you.

After a great deal of screaming, some threats to call the police, and hours of explanation followed by even more intense questioning, you were finally able to meet the real Michael Kaiser. The cursed-to-turn-into-a-cat Kaiser. The cursed-until-kissed-on-the-forehead Kaiser. The kiss-has-to-one-of-true-love Kaiser.

He insisted that he was in your debt and became a roommate as equally selfish as the feline partner you had grown used to, and while you wouldn’t mind hosting him, you wondered if there was a way to turn him back. After all, a cat was soooooo much cuter than some man who ate all your food and acted like he owned the place. 

“C’mon,” Kaiser’s voice broke you out of your thoughts. A poised hand cupped your face, and you held your breath as the man drew closer. A pair of golden-blue ombre cat ears twitched atop his head, clearly amused by the flustered reaction he drew out of you. “You’re always showering me with kisses. There’s nothing wrong with me returning the favor, is there?”

“Y-You’ve got the wrong idea!” You spluttered, waving your arms to signal your surrender. “I’m doing uh- uhhhh- a science experiment! Yeah, a science experiment of sorts!”

There was no way you could tell him that you were actively trying to turn him back into a cat. It was clear the man was absolutely smitten with you: constantly draping himself all over you, waking you up by stroking your face and hair, teasing you about how stupid humans were in comparison to cats… You weren’t sure how he’d take it if he found out that you were less keen on having him as a human lover as much as an adorable kittypet. 

Kaiser raised an eyebrow as if he wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t press on any further. “Well, darling, if you’re ever interested in having your favors returned… You only need to say the word.”

He winked at you sweetly, and you cursed yourself for the way your heart skipped a beat. You hated how ridiculously attractive this man was, enough to make your face heat up and your palms sweat. You debated going to a religious leader the first week after he turned into a man, wondering if being attracted to your former-cat-now-hot-ikemen roommate was some kind of sin. Or if it’d make you a furry. You’d spent hours surfing the web for any answers, only to come up with nothing.

But your attraction to him was there nonetheless. You couldn’t tell if Kaiser got careless on purpose or genuinely, having gotten used to life as a cat and all, but there were times he surprised you in the most unconventional ways. He’d rub his cheeks against you possessively, and if you tried to refuse, he’d simply pin you down on the nearest flat surface and affectionately rub his face all over yours until he was satisfied. 

(You later found out that that was how cats marked their territory.)

Sometimes he’d straight up wander around butt naked, and when you’d throw him some clothes and yell at him, he’d only grumble back about how dumb it was to even be clothed in the first place. You ended up having to wrestle him into a t-shirt and sweatpants, which only led to Kaiser misinterpreting that as a form of love-induced play fighting and ended up with him tackling you for half an hour straight.

But the worst of it all had to be how downright handsome he was. Even as a cat, you had to admit he was beautiful. You debated on whether or not you should enter him as a showcat. His golden fur was more like a beautiful lion’s than that of a cat, and his icy blue eyes peered up at you with swirling mischief and unmistakable fondness every time you entered his sight. He knew just what to do in order to tug at your heartstrings, and every time you saw your beloved kitty waiting patiently for you to return by the door, your heart melted.

His gorgeous features were only more accentuated as a human. He was so, so fit, with a body that could put any of the celebrities you ogled at on social media to shame. Every time he stepped out of a shower with barely anything on, all you could do was hide behind your phone and stare awestruck at his toned chest and sculpted abs. The little streams of water that ran down his bare skin did little to keep your head calm, and whenever the young man swept his long hair back, your stomach did somersaults. 

You never knew that Kaiser had a tattoo either, not until he turned human. He teased you relentlessly about it, asking if you liked seeing it and if you were interested in getting a matching one. The blue was a stunning copy of his pretty eyes, and when he was fast asleep, curled up next to you in bed, your fingers itched to trace over all the swirling thorns and stems. Ever since he found out that you had taken such a liking to his tattoo, Kaiser went out of his way to show it off to you whenever he can, just like how he nagged you to constantly brush and smooth out his sleek fur when he was a cat.

“No thanks,” you quickly refused. You squirmed out of his grasp, awkwardly trying to wriggle off of the couch you were sitting on with him. It was a forehead kiss that undid the curse and turned him back into a man. Maybe there was a way for you to reverse the curse reversal. Maybe if you kissed him on the forehead enough, he’d go from being the suave yet irritating man he was back into the cat you’d grown to love. “The last thing I need from you is a kiss.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? If my research about human courtship is correct, kisses usually indicate a romantic interest. And you’ve been doing nothing but kissing me all day, every day.”

Heat rushed to your face again, and you instinctively got defensive. Even if you were harboring a bit of a crush on your pet-roommate-amalgamation, you’d never admit it out loud to someone as conceited as him. “Did you not hear me earlier? I said it was for a science experiment!”

“I’m not convinced at all, darling,” he cooed. Your stomach twisted into a flurry of nerves at his slightly lowered eyes and the seductive batting of his long lashes. He chuckled, bright eyes lighting up like a predator closing in on its helpless prey, and your mouth went dry as he crawled over to where you were sprawled out onto the couch. 

You gulped when he placed a hand on either side of your head, easily looming over you and casting a shadow onto your form. 

You clenched your eyes shut as Kaiser closed in, and the boy bit down on the tip of your nose playfully. You yelped at the sudden stinging pain, and he laughed haughtily to himself watching you squirm and bat at his chest to no avail.

“Cats don’t like it when their prey doesn't fight back. We’re natural born hunters, you know. Weak prey means it's usually not worth our time. We like it when you struggle a bit, make us fight for our prize…” He traced a finger down your jawline, and you swore your heart was going to give out right there and then. The strict logic in your brain to always keep him at an arm’s distance wavered, and for that split second, Kaiser knew that he had you playing around in the palm of his hand. “And, boy, you’ve done nothing but make me really work for it. Was it fun? Hmmm? Pushing me away when you loved me so shamelessly as a cat?”

“That’s not-!” You knew deep down that your denial would only take you so far. Kaiser was hungry, starved, for your love, and only feeding him crumbs seemed to make him that much more ravenous to take from you. 

“Go ahead. I’m listening,” he purred. “If you can really tell me that you don’t feel the same way as I do, I’ll back off. I’m not interested in forcing someone to love me against their own will.”

You paused, biting your lip. Your gaze wavered, unable to look him straight in the face. The more tenacious part of your mind screamed at you to deny him, to cast him aside as you always had ever since his transformation, but the tightness welling up in your chest told another story. Your hands weakened their grip against his chest, and Kaiser grinned triumphantly to himself as he gobbled up the way you averted your eyes and hung your head.

“See? That’s more like it.” He leaned down, and with his sharp teeth, he nipped at your neck. You cried out once more, and you could feel him smirk into your skin as he lapped over the small bite marks he left you. “You’re so cute when you’re finally being honest.”

“I’ll get you for this, Kaiser, I will!” You swore vehemently. “I’m not going to lose to you like this!”

His fingers ghosted over your lips, and your words died in your throat when he pressed his thumb down your bottom lip. You swallowed thickly, only able to stare up at him as he bridged the gap between the two of you in one swift movement. 

His eyes sparkled like pure diamonds. “You’ve already fallen for me once, darling. It’ll be a piece of cake to make you fall for me again.”

Then he kissed you.

x

[five-rivers]

adequate peace

Phic phight for Lumi!

.

Human language lacked the words to adequately describe the physical appearance of the King of Ghosts.  This was sure to be a temporary deficiency.  When a human lacked the vocabulary to describe something, they either generated new words or stole them.  Still, for the moment, the deficiency persisted.  

A human attempting to describe the Ghost King might, after a struggle, settle on vast.  This, on top of being inadequate, would also be incorrect, a product of human conflating of importance and size. Serpentine might also be chosen, or mustelidine, for the King's relative length and width, although those were largely a matter of perspective.  Some humans might focus instead on individual, more easily grasped, features, such as the hair, which was the color of sunlight falling on snow after being cast through ice, or the eyes, which were the glowing green of uranium glass under blacklight.  Still others might fail to register those at all, and have difficulty perceiving the King in the proper dimensionality, resulting in things like limbs appearing to clip through wall, or even in the King being invisible, imperceptible, but doubtlessly present.  

Those with somewhat greater measure of wisdom might instead attempt to describe the King's regalia.  The cloth cut from dazzling night, clinging to every curve, flowing, diaphanous, silky, folds and layers holding secrets unknown and unknowable.  The crown, a blazing circlet, a corona of light, the sun, eclipsed.  The ring of office, adorned with the skull of a lesser, and therefore conquered, creature.  The staff, like a tower, like a needle, like the slender trunk of a sapling, not fully grown, but rich in potential.  The sword, sharp enough to cut the fabric of spacetime, light enough to hold in one hand, a perfect void, made to divide both what was and what was not.  

Or, to protect themselves and their sanity, a human may choose to focus on the King's surroundings, rather than the King's person.  The throne, which cradled the King’s body, grave, urn, and memorial, bones on an altar, a sacrifice.  The great cathedral of the King’s receiving hall, the branches of which reached up to the cosmos, the roots of which reached down to the shadows of subconscious thought.  They might look out the windows, and gaze upon the kingdom, that great kingdom of the dead, that kingdom which everyone would be a citizen of, soon or late.   

But even those were not comfortable to contemplate.  Not for long.  

It was easier by far to examine, and therefore describe, the King’s mental state.  There was nothing esoteric about it, after all.  

Mental breakdowns were perfectly within human understanding.  

Danny had been crowned only hours ago.  If he’d had a choice, he wouldn’t have been crowned at all, but as Skulker had told him years ago, the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire contained entities with a will of their own.  Danny had been chosen, and they weren’t going to take no for an answer.  

Thus, his current predicament.

As soon as he’d been crowned… as soon as the stupid thing had touched his head…  It was like his body evaporated off of him, and into this.  This thing he could barely understand, but could feel so, so much.  This thing that was him, undeniably and completely, and which was so alien, so divorced from what he understood to be himself, that he couldn’t even begin to think about it.  

He wasn’t bigger.  He wasn’t smaller.  When he counted his limbs, he had the right number.  When he touched his mouth, he had only one.  One mouth, one nose, two eyes, two ears.  Nothing had been removed.  Nothing had been added, except for those infernal crown jewels  That’s what he felt when he checked.  

But he could see forwards and backwards, both down and up.  His lips were closed but he was singing, speaking, babbling, screaming.  He could feel feathers as they brushed against the throne and through the walls of the keep.  Scales scraped against stone.  Stars and nebulae tangled in his horns and antlers.  

He didn’t have any of those.  His skin was intact, fleshy, and pink.  His skin was stretched to infinity, and transparent as glass, galaxies swimming beneath it.  

He couldn’t breathe.  He had to breathe.  He was breathing, but the aurora spilled past his lips with every gasp.  

In his mind’s eye floated the Earth.  A blue pearl against the black.  The Infinite Realms stood out like emeralds on a chain, each one precious.  

He curled in the great cradle of his throne, trying not to feel, trying not to think.  He was not.  He could not. 

Three years since he had really been human, and he’d never expected this.  He’d never dreamed of this.  He’d never wanted this.  

Like this, he couldn’t even pretend to be human.  

He clawed at the Ring and Crown, but even with so much power, what could he do against the very things that granted that power?  They didn’t go away, even when he reached for his living half.  They clung.  They constricted.  They were weights and chains he wanted to cast off.  

“Daniel.”

No, said Danny, although he didn’t know how.  His word echoed.  

“Daniel, you will injure yourself.”

He sobbed.  

“Please, Daniel.”  A cold hand wrapped around his wrist.  It was a hand that was three hands.  Or, rather, three versions of the same hand, layered upon itself and twisted through time.  

“I don’t want this,” said Danny.  

“I know, Daniel.”  Shifting robes tickled the edges of wings that were not there.  A tail curled at the base of the throne, and another hand laid itself against Danny’s knee.  “You are overwhelmed.”

Until Clockwork had said it, Danny hadn’t known it was true.  But there was so much here, and all of it was him.  

“You do not need to stay here,” said Clockwork, gently.  There was kindness there, and a thread of something like possession.  The words came from a well of great experience, deep and dark.  “Look up.  Anywhere you can see, you can go.  Go, and find peace from this.”

“But not forever,” said Danny.  

“Nothing is forever,” said Clockwork.  “But once you find peace from this, you may someday find peace with this.  It is a long road–” here, Clockwork placed a hand on Danny’s cheek, “--but know that time is on your side.”

Danny bit his lower lip, teeth both flat and fanged, and a motion like a nod stirred the inky fabrics of his cerements.  He looked up, and all his eyes were filled with stars. 

[k1ngdom-of-thieves]

May I request gender neutral or female anglerfish reader with Octavinelle so Jade,Floydand Azul?

( they can hunt things twice their size (including eels and octopus)and most of them are actually very small so maybe in their human form they are a lot shorter than the other merfolk, they can make their own light, sharp teeth but also since they are deep sea creatures, the boys wouldn't really know much about them, mostly since they are closer to the surface than the reader). I hope this made sense!!

Thank you so much for giving a little description I would’ve been so lost on where to start. How you enjoy!

Octavinelle + Anglerfish!Reader

Azul Ashengrotto

Azul was surprised to see someone he hadn’t met before with the other merfolk. At first, he thought it was because you grew up closer to the surface and was incredibly shocked when he found that you grew up farther from the surface than he did.

During Beanfest, Azul was a little worried about how you’d deal with the opposing farmers. His jaw almost hit the floor when he saw you throw the farmers into each other with ease.

Showing you to his family was a lot easier than he was expecting. They loved you and really enjoyed hearing about how different your life was compared to theirs.

He’d love if you would want to work in the lounge. Not just because he’d get another worker. Since you’d probably be the most well-adjusted person with him, he’d trust you with a lot more than what he does with others.

“Can I speak with you for a moment? Would you be willing to use your strength to put up some of the new decorations? You’d be compensated, of course.”

Jade Leech

Jade had a feeling you were from somewhere completely different from where he was from. What tipped him off was you saying that you had your own source of light. While the reef he lives in is fairly dark, was still some fragments of light that peeked through.

He always knew you were a special case among the merfolk. When he had the “lucky” opportunity to be your opponent during Beanfest, was able to see first hand how hard you could hit when giving it your all.

He finds your ability to create your own light source to be very interesting as well as amusing. He chuckles to himself when he sees you accidentally spook Azul when he walks around the lounge.

The both of you together have the most unbelievable ability to freak out anyone and everyone that’s in the room with you guys. Azul feared that it might bring down sales but there was a surprisingly good reception behind people being terrified while eating.

“We make a rather terrifying pair, wouldn’t you say? I’m kidding, but I do quite like the idea of being associated with you.”

Floyd Leech

I’m just gonna be honest, Floyd probably doesn’t think it’s that interesting the first time you tell him. He thought it was kinda cool but didn’t put too much thought into it.

That all changed when he saw you take down two spelldrive players on your own during their practice. Now he was running up to you like “Hey lightbulb! That was awesome!” And “You wanna practice with me sometime?”

Be prepared to have him appear at random times just to see if you’ll glow on accident. You probably won’t but he still wants to try anyway.

He loves dragging you along with his deep-sea shenanigans, like bullying Azul and scaring some land dwellers. Rip Ace and Deuce. He’s sure that you’ll fit right in with his family and childhood friends. Well, more than most people would anyway.

“Heyy, nightlight. Feel like taking a dive? Azul said I couldn’t chase the customers so I felt like chasing the fish instead. Wanna join?” he might end up chasing you btw.

[panic-flavored]

I keep imagining some robotnik superior showing up unexpectedly in his lab and being like "🤨...Wait there are three mermai... *stone kills him*

I plan on writing a fic about this eventually, but I've been short on time lately 😭 Long story short, Robotnik moves Stone to an underwater lab he's been building to save him from being un-alived by the government, and at roughly the same time they find out Stone is pregnant. So fortunately the merfamily is totally safe! Here's a blurb from the WIP of that fic, since it probably won't be posted for a while:

---

The words echo off the lifeless conference room walls and rattle around unpleasantly in Robotnik’s brain. They are not words Robotnik wants to hear, and if he’s being honest, some time ago he’d forgotten that he’d ever have to hear them in the first place.

“Doctor?” Commander Walters offers Robotnik an appropriately concerned frown. “Did you hear me?”

Robotnik clears his throat, refocusing. “No, uh- no. I must have spaced out. Say that one more time for me.” He heard him loud and clear, of course, but he wants to pick through it one more time, see if there are any loopholes or contradictions he can take advantage of to be found in the words.

“Oh, sure… I understand, I’m sure you’ve been working around the clock lately.” Commander Walters says. “I said that if you’ve acquired all the data you can from the living specimen, it’s time to turn him over to the autopsy team. It’s still your project of course, so you can be as involved as you’d like to be going forward. But after six months of research, I think it’s safe to say we can–” here, Walters does that annoying rotating motion with both of his pointer fingers, “--wrap it up.”

Robotnik feels a little bit sick. Furious, mostly, but the sour heaviness in his guts is close to making him gag. Has it been six months already? Back then, this plan didn’t bother Robotnik in the slightest. When he first stormed into the biology lab to assert himself as the project leader, he didn’t care how injured and malnourished Stone was - Stone wasn’t Stone back then, he was the ‘specimen’. Robotnik hadn’t chewed out the pitiful scientists over their subpar treatment of Stone because he’d worried about Stone’s safety, it was because they’d compromised the scientific process. There was no sense in researching a living subject if that subject was too weak and sick to move, after all.

Obviously Robotnik’s opinion had changed rather quickly. He’d been told that the ‘merman’ wasn’t intelligent, wasn’t sentient. That he was mindless and violent. Fools. Almost as soon as Robotnik dismissed the rest of the team, it became apparent none of that was true. Stone quickly proved himself to be highly intelligent, learning ASL almost as fast as Robotnik once had. He was complex, loyal, and terribly interesting. He saw the world so differently than anyone Robotnik had ever met. 

This is a very wordy way of saying that Robotnik fell in love, even if he hated framing it in such a simplistic, childish way.

Stone fell first, to be fair. He’d marked Robotnik, he claimed him, they were mates and now Robotnik is hearing another person say that Stone needs to be killed and torn open soon. It all seems so surreal. 

“You can’t just put a time limit on science, Commander,” Robotnik says icily. “Six months is nothing. I haven’t even had ample time to study his metabolic rate yet, it’s vastly different from a humans–” “Six months was your estimation, not mine,” Walters counters. “When you took over the project, that was your projected timeframe.”

Robotnik inwardly kicks himself. He originally gave himself six months to ensure he had a comfortable cushion of time, but he’d been positive four months is all it would take to collect all the necessary data before passing Stone off to another team. 

“Well if it hadn’t taken two months for the creature to fully recover from what those amateurs did to it before I arrived, I would have been done by now!” Robotnik growls. It hadn’t taken two months for Stone to recover, but it seemed a believable amount of time to a person who isn’t personally familiar with how quickly merpeople heal. “Why do you think I’ve been ‘working around the clock’, Commander? Making up for lost time!”

Walters frowns in consideration, rubbing a knuckle thoughtfully against his stubbly chin. “Ah yes, I remember reading about that in your initial reports. I hadn’t considered how much that may have set you back. In that case, I’ll give you another two months to finish your research, Doctor. Does that sound fair?”

It takes Robotnik less than a second to run the numbers, the estimations and impromptu simulations - yes, he could certainly finish his work in two months. Not the work Walters was expecting him to finish, obviously. Something much, much more important. “Two months sounds more than fair, Commander.”

[starlightkun]

❧ word count: 22.3k ❧ warnings: cursing, inaccurate descriptions of constellations bc this is a fantasy world ❧ genre: fluff, mild angst, slow burn, blind date, strangers to idiots friends to lovers, modern magical creatures au, college au, werewolf sungchan, human reader, ft. siren shotaro & various magical neos (and another extra special guest appearance!), same universe as strawberry sunday ❧ extra info: this work is set in the same universe as strawberry sunday but can be read as a standalone! there is no continuing plotline between fics in this universe, they simply take place in the same world/magic system and may have overlapping characters (neos may pop up in more than one work!) ❧ author’s note: so this is technically the spiritual threequel to my two werewolf jeno fics (pupsick + abh) but you still don’t have to read those to understand this one at all! this is absolutely meant to be read by itself! and this one is also very self-indulgent, from the a.c.e song title to werewolf sungchan, i had a very great time on this one, hence the word count. if you guys have even half the fun reading this as i did writing it, you’ll have a blast. enjoy! ❧ sequel

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ explore the strawberry sunday universe more here!

baby i’m your changer, changer, love is not a danger

Reclined on the plush, soft grass of the front lawn of your college with your hands behind your head, you basked in a particularly lovely patch of sunlight. It was January, the very beginning of the year and the semester, meaning that this would normally be a very chilly and unpleasant endeavor. Except you were sandwiched between two dryads. Dryads weren’t in and of themselves extra warm like dragons or werewolves, nor could one dryad on their own change the weather—and would most likely be influenced by it rather than the other way other—but if you got two together, and they were in a good enough mood, they could generate a little bubble of springtime around them. And for some reason, Jaemin and Donghyuck were in exceptionally high spirits today.

You knew the two dryads from Magical Botany Club, which you had joined your freshman year after you’d managed to kill the small cactus that your parents gave you as a housewarming present for your dorm. They were the only ones who didn’t immediately label you a lost cause, and instead saw you as a challenge. Now, your junior year, your apartment was a jungle to rival that of a dryad’s home, and you were even Vice President of the club this year.

After a long, refreshing inhale followed by an even longer exhale, you finally asked, “So what’s got you in such a good mood? It certainly can’t just be finalizing the calendar of club activities this semester.”

Jaemin was club President, and Donghyuck the Secretary/Treasurer, so this little sunbathing session before the start of the semester on Monday was really supposed to be an Executive Board meeting.

“Who, us?” Jaemin replied innocently.

“No, I was talking to the cardinal on Donghyuck’s leg,” you retorted sarcastically, gesturing to said bird that had also settled in to enjoy the cozy rays.

“We’re not planning anything,” Donghyuck said in the same tone as Jaemin.

You propped yourself up on one elbow to look down at your friend properly, narrowing your eyes at him suspiciously. “I just wanted you to share whatever good news you had, I didn’t think you two were planning anything, but now I definitely do. What’s going on?”

“Donghyuck, you idiot!” The other dryad hissed at him.

“What is it? Don’t tell me you and that fairy are going to try to convince your human friend that aliens are real again. Leave that poor guy alone, he’s got enough on his plate just dealing with all of you being real and jerks to him.” You scoffed disapprovingly, remembering when they recounted that story to you at club a couple years ago. You had been tempted to check on Renjun yourself when you spotted him at the library the next day, but you didn’t know him personally, and didn’t think he’d appreciate it in the moment. Especially not since he looked like he was really focused on his work at the time, so you just let him be.

“It’s nothing like that, I swear,” Jaemin promised. “It’s nothing bad at all.”

You sat up all the way to be able to look at both of them at once. “Okay, what is it then?”

Donghyuck sat up too, the cardinal hopping up to his shoulder. “Long story short, we have a friend that we want to set you up with.”

“No thanks, guys.” You shook your head.

“You won’t even let us tell you about him?”

“I’m not really looking for anything right now. Not after my ex—”

Jaemin pushed his phone screen in front of your face then, a picture of a guy on it. It was presumably the friend they wanted to set you up with. He was around your age, tall—if where his head was in comparison to the doorway of this building was to be believed, wearing a black leather jacket. It looked well-worn, though, as if it might not have been his originally, handed down or thrifted at least. And yeah, he was cute, you weren’t blind. But you also knew not to just eat with your eyes, or else you’d get a tummyache.

“Seriously, Jaemin?” You looked at your friend over the phone screen. “You think I’m that shallow? One picture and I’m going to throw everything away?”

“Dude, show her the—” Donghyuck flapped his hand at the other dryad insistently.

“Oh, right, right.” Jaemin nodded as he began swiping and tapping on his phone fervently.

Donghyuck kept talking to you, “Of course we don’t think you’re shallow. We always meant to tell you about him, too. His name’s Jung Sungchan, he goes here, too, he’s a werewolf, he’s really nice, uh… Jaemin? Some help?”

You let out a sound that was a mix between a snort and a scoff. “Yeah, he sounds great.”

“Okay, he’s really more Jaemin’s friend than mine, sorry,” Donghyuck admitted. “Jaemin? What’s taking so long dude?”

“I don’t know! I can’t find it for some reason, I think he deleted it!” Jaemin muttered, his voice panicked. “I’m checking Jeno’s Instagram right now.”

“So Jeno knows him?” You asked. You didn’t know Jaemin’s werewolf roommate as well as you knew the two dryads, but you did know that they were all friends. “Are they in the same pack?”

“No, they actually know each other through Jeno’s… Ha! Found it!” Jaemin yelled out in celebration, flipping his phone around for you to see.

It was another picture, this time of Jeno standing next to the person you now knew to be named Sungchan. They were at what looked like a u-pick strawberry patch, each proudly holding up a large bucket filled to the brim with strawberries. Sungchan was in a white tank top—a brave choice for a strawberry farm—and shorts. Despite the outfit showing off a lot more of him than the last picture, it was his bright, happy grin that caught your eye, and you had to consciously make sure your gaze didn’t linger too long on the picture.

Turning your attention back to your friends, you prompted Jaemin, “Well? Do you know any more about him than he goes to our college and is a nice werewolf that knows Jeno?”

“Right! Yes!” Jaemin sat up straight at attention as you saw Donghyuck do a little fist pump of victory out of the corner of your eye. “He’s tall—”

“I can see that, he’s like almost two heads taller than Jeno; I meant his personality. This isn’t me saying yes, by the way.” You pointed to yourself and Jaemin talking. “This is me gathering data. I wanted to take time for myself after what happened with my ex, remember? I think it might be enough time, but I need a bit more than ‘he’s nice’ to get me out there.”

“Of course, of course. I really appreciate you even considering this for us,” he squeezed your arm for a moment before letting it go. “He’s really smart, Dean’s List every semester, uh, it might take a minute for him to warm up at first, but once he does, he’s funny, and insightful. And he doesn’t have that constant go-go-go energy that werewolves usually do, he’s so much chiller, so if you were worried about that, don’t be.”

“And, sorry, I know he’s your friend, but I have to ask…” You winced. “He’s not one of those werewolf guys that only dates human girls as like… you know… an ego thing?”

Donghyuck snorted, “Oh he’s not, promise.”

Tension you didn’t know you’d been carrying in your shoulders relaxed at that. “Good.”

“We do have to tell you one thing though,” Jaemin grimaced.

“What?”

“This isn’t just a random set-up because we think you guys would be cute—”

“Oh God, what’s wrong with him?”

“Nothing! Nothing!” He rushed to reassure you. “Like, that part is true, we do think you’d be a good match.”

“Let me guess: the ‘but’ that follows that sentence is related to the ‘long story’ that Donghyuck mentioned earlier?”

Jaemin nodded reluctantly. “Yeah… long story long, Sungchan made a deal, and his end of it was letting us set him up with anybody of our choosing.”

“You’re using a date with me to punish him?” You stood up, brushing the grass off your back. “Yeah, hard fucking pass. Thanks, guys, you really know how to make a girl feel special.”

“No, not a punishment!” Jaemin scrambled to get to his feet as well. As you walked off, the air around you turned cold again, marking when you left their bubble of spring. He called after you, “Y/N! I’m sorry! Please!”

You didn’t want to go back to your empty apartment yet though, so you found yourself meandering into a familiar storefront. Jasmine & Pearls, a boba tea shop just around the corner from your college campus. There was only one customer ahead of you in line, and you stared blankly at the menu just to look at something. You weren’t feeling very adventurous today, so you’d probably get your regular go-to order. After the customer before you had been helped, you shuffled up to the counter, messing with your phone case to pull your punch card out of the back of it.

“Hey, Y/N!” Shotaro, the siren working behind the counter today, greeted you cheerily.

The iridescent pink scales under the tip of his button nose and apples of his cheeks shimmered in the fluorescent lights, making him look like he had a perpetual hint of rosy blush across his skin. That, and his cherubic smile could almost make you forget what those scales and his flashing silvery eyes really meant—he was a siren, could lure you to your death if he so wanted to. Obviously, he didn’t want to, had no reason to, and that would literally be a murder charge nowadays, but you nevertheless found it fascinating that such a being was just here serving you boba tea.

A few months ago, you realized that you came here probably too often once all the workers knew your name, but by then it was too late. It was just too convenient, delicious, and pleasant of an atmosphere for you to feel ashamed enough to stop coming.

“Hi, Shotaro.” You smiled back at him. “Just a regular honey milk tea with boba, please. No charms today.”

“On it!” He accepted both your punch card and credit card from you. After handing them back, he spun around to make your drink, and you went to go wait for it at the bartop at the other end.

Curious, and with nothing better to do in that moment, you pulled up Jeno’s Instagram on your phone. From the main grid on his account, all you could see was pictures either with or of his partner. Cute. Then you finally saw one of them at a strawberry patch, Jeno in the same outfit as the picture Jaemin had shown you before. You clicked on that one, and sure enough it was a whole set of photos. You swiped through to find the one of him and Sungchan holding the buckets of strawberries. And Sungchan was tagged.

You looked up at Shotaro. The customer ahead of you still hadn’t gotten their drink. You checked the notifications on your phone. Nothing new to reply to. Well, here it goes. You clicked on his account.

And he was private. Well, good for him. Internet privacy.

You went back to Jeno’s Instagram to check if Sungchan had maybe appeared in any more posts. You just wanted to see if you could glean anything more about him.

You finally found him again in what looked like a big group trip to Cape Solaria at the end of last summer. There were probably fifteen people here at least. He popped up in a few different shots, playing beach sports with Jeno and some other guys that you didn’t recognize; joining in on throwing some poor small guy—who you presumed to be a witch, judging by the ritual tattoos he was covered in from neck to ankle—into the ocean; and sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows with Jaemin and Renjun. And in every single one, Sungchan had such a genuine, pure, joyful smile. Like he was fully enjoying the moment and the people with him. Yeah, maybe you were projecting, but... surely it wouldn’t hurt to give it at least one chance?

“Y/N? Hello?” Shotaro was calling for you from the counter, shaking a drink that was presumably yours.

You snapped your head up, sheepishly turning your phone off and stuffing it away in your pocket. The other customer was nowhere to be seen; it was just you and the siren.

“Sorry, sorry.” You rushed up to accept the cup.

“It’s alright, you seemed like you were in the zone.”

You grabbed a straw, punching it out from the plastic wrapping. “In the zone of a little cyberstalking, as much as I hate to admit.”

“No shame here, we all do it. Who was it? Can I see?” He grinned mischievously.

“No,” you said flatly, stabbing your straw through the top of the drink. “My friends want to set me up.”

“Want to? Sounds like you haven’t said yes.”

“Perceptive.” You took your first sip.

“But you were cyberstalking them... So, you’re considering?”

“Ugh, I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Why not? Human lives are short.”

“Right. Thanks for that reminder.”

The bell above the front door rang then, announcing the entrance of another customer.

“Always here to help,” Shotaro patted your forearm before walking back to the register to greet the newcomer.

Two weeks later and you were nervously double-checking the name of the restaurant and the time that Jeno had sent you. Yep, this was it, and you weren’t weirdly early. You couldn’t believe how strange this felt, going on a date again. Comparing your outfit to the casual café as you walked in, you felt only a little better that you weren’t overdressed or underdressed either.

Your eyes scanned the building for Sungchan. You’d done enough cyberstalking on your own time in addition to the photos that your friends kept showing you to hype you up that you were certain you’d recognize him easily. It looked like you’d gotten here first. It was seat-yourself, so you might as well grab a table for the two of you.

You’d just come to a stop in front of a little two-seater and took your purse off to hang off the back of your chair.

“Y/N?” A voice came from behind you, accompanied by a gentle tap on your shoulder.

You spun around, immediately face-to-chest with someone. Looking up, you did, in fact, recognize the face of Jung Sungchan. He was admittedly cuter in real life than in the multitude of pictures that Jaemin and Donghyuck had continued to show you in preparation for the date. You didn’t want to know what they’d been doing to prepare Sungchan.

“Hi, Sungchan?” You still phrased it like a question, watching as the man’s features relaxed into an easy smile of recognition.

“Yes, hello.” He raised his arms up slightly at the same time that you did, and you realized that the both of you were now presumably having the same internal debate about if you were supposed to hug your blind first date hello as a greeting.

Ultimately, the two of you did go in for an awkward short hug, and you let out a nervous chuckle, feeling the warmth radiating off of him in the brief contact. You immediately looked down at the table, “Uhm, should we sit?”

“Of course, yeah.”

And as the two of you sat down on opposite sides, you looked up from your fidgeting fingers to your date’s face, not expecting his brow to be furrowed as if he were troubled by something, his gaze affixed on you.

You shifted in your seat uncomfortably. “Is everything okay?”

“You’re not wearing any perfume...” He commented, and you let out a minuscule sigh of relief. That’s all it was, he was just a bit put off that you hadn’t put on a perfume like one might’ve normally done for a date. A detail that he would’ve of course picked up as a werewolf.

“Not that I expect any brownie points for this, but I uh, I didn’t want to overwhelm your nose, in case there were any smells you’re particularly sensitive to,” you explained, picking up the menu that was already sitting on the table.

“You did your research.”

“Oh, I’ve dated a couple werewolves before, actually.”

“Really? You got a type or something?” As soon as the word were out of Sungchan’s mouth, he went to take them back, seeming surprised even at himself, “Sorry, that was—”

“No, no, I get it,” you cut off his apology, your tone reassuring. You knew that there were people who had a disturbing preference for werewolves, so you could understand why you dating now three werewolves might initially look a little suspicious. “Uh, I went to a kind of small high school. Private school. There were a couple of packs in my area that sent like all of their kids there, so my graduating class ended up being like 75% werewolves. It was just kind of statistics, I guess.”

“Oh, okay. Sorry about that, again,” Sungchan apologized once more, relaxing in his seat a bit more as he actually started to peruse his own menu.

“Anyway, that’s not a great first date topic.” You forced out a light-hearted chuckle.

“What’s not?”

“Past relationships? I think that’s third or fourth at least, don’t you?”

“Mm, yeah, of course. Sorry.”

Desperate to redirect the conversation to a much lighter, neutral one, you asked, “So what’s your major, Sungchan?”

“Earth Sciences.”

“Geology or Climatology track?”

He perked up at this. “Meteorology and Climatology.”

“And what made you want to study that?”

“Well, at first I thought I wanted to study astrophysics, but it was too much math and too little actual space. But I really liked my Intro to Weather class I took my first semester to cover a random credit so I switched to that and it stuck.”

“Wait, was it a morning Monday-Wednesday-Friday with Professor- Professor...” Suddenly, the memory struck you. “Oh! Hwang? Fall semester three years ago?”

“Yes, I believe so...” He answered, head tilting with intrigue.

“I think I had it too!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! I took it to get that Science credit as well.”

“I’m sorry to say that I don’t remember you at all.”

“It’s okay, I don’t remember you either,” you laughed, just amazed at the coincidence. “It was a big auditorium.”

Sungchan must have figured out what he wanted, as he set down his menu and leaned his elbows on the table to give you his full attention. “So what are you studying?”

“I’m an Interdisciplinary Major,” you told him happily, thrilled that the conversation was going much more smoothly now. “I was a bit indecisive, too. Except I couldn’t find one thing that stuck like you did. So I chose two: Sociology and Magical Creatures Studies.”

His eyes dropped from yours as he scoffed under his breath, sitting back in his seat.

And there went your pleasant conversation again.

“What was that?” You asked tersely.

“I didn’t say anything.” He shook his head like he was trying to clear the unpleasant tone from the conversation, but you weren’t going to let him go that easily.

“No, but clearly you have an opinion. So go ahead.”

“Not really, I was just wondering if you’ve even dated anyone that wasn’t a werewolf.”

You crossed your arms over your chest. “You think my major is just me cruising for a new boyfriend or something? Very expensive and essay-intensive compared to dating apps.”

“I didn’t mean it like that, Y/N,” Sungchan held his hands up, looking back up at you again. His features turned apologetic. “I just… I don’t know, I’m sorry.”

“So were you going to actually ask me that if I didn’t confront you, or were you just going to make assumptions?”

“That really was rude of me,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “But, I mean… how do you ask someone something like that without coming off as a bit rude?”

“I suggest phrasing it like a genuine question instead of an accusation.”

“Right.” He took a second as if to compose himself, then asked, his tone much more conservational, “So, you said you dated a couple werewolves in high school. Uh, have you dated anyone else since coming to college, then? Before this?”

You did your best to return your own voice and manner to civility as well. “Dates here and there, but as for serious relationships, just one, I dated a human guy briefly.”

“And why did you break up? If you don’t mind telling me. I get it if it’s too personal.”

“It’s fine. He cheated on me.”

“So you’re of course looking for loyalty. Like, you know, a dog.” Sungchan fired back spitefully.

“Okay, I think we’re done here, Sungchan,” you declared, putting both your hands on the table to prepare yourself to stand.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry,” he rushed to try to apologize for the umpteenth time that night, but you’d heard plenty by now.

“No, it’s fine, really,” you assured him, still moving to get up out of your chair and grab your purse. “You’ve obviously had some bad experiences in the past, none of which I’m privy to. It’s not fair to you to constantly be suspicious that your date has ulterior motives for being with you. But it’s also not fair to me to have to constantly defend myself either.”

He was quiet at that.

You continued, “We both deserve to be able to relax and have fun, and that’s clearly just not going to be able to happen. It’s okay, sometimes things just don’t work out. So, I’m going to go, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.”

And with that, you turned around and left the café.

The ringing of the bell above the door of Jasmine & Pearls barely registered in the back of your mind as you lumbered right up to the cash register the next day.

“Good afternoon, Y/N!” Shotaro greeted you cheerily.

“Hi, Shotaro...” You couldn’t muster up anything close to his level of enthusiasm, letting out a sigh. “Same old, same old, please.”

“Uh oh. Sounds like the date didn’t go so well?” He surmised, ringing you up then starting on your order.

“No, it didn’t,” you leaned against the counter to keep talking to him. “Barely lasted ten minutes.”

“That’s rough. You end it or did he?”

“I did. It was for the best but still... I thought I was going to really like this guy.” Based off nothing but social media posts and word of mouth from friends, but you really were hopeful. You’d had a good feeling, and had trusted Jeno, Jaemin, and Donghyuck. And it blew up in your face.

Note to self, never fucking trust those three again.

“Don’t feel too bad, Y/N. Seems like it’s going around.”

“What do you mean?”

“My roommate’s date last night was a bust too.”

“We should make a club,” you chuckled cynically.

“Or I can set you up?” The siren offered hopefully.

“Thanks, but I’m good. I said I was going to take some time to focus on myself after my last relationship, and I meant that. Last night was me testing the waters, and I fucking drowned.”

“That special, huh? Or, I guess not, in the end.”

“Well, at least now I know, you know? No ‘what if’s to mess with.”

Shotaro enthusiastically slammed your drink down in front of you. “Hell yeah, Y/N. A clear head.”

“Exactly.” You pulled the cup over to you.

He put the packaged straw down on top emphatically. “Fuck that guy.”

“Bit extreme, Shotaro, but I appreciate the sentiment,” you grinned, hitting the straw against the counter to pop it out from the plastic wrapping.

“You’re coming to our Valentine’s Day event next month though, right?” Your friend asked, pointing to the poster taped to the wall advertising the event. The evening of February 13th at the boba shop, with a special themed drinks menu and activities to do.

“Of course. Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Great!” He beamed at you.

“Anyway, I’ve got to go, and you’ve got more customers. See you.” You took your drink with you towards the exit that a whole gaggle of high schoolers had just come through, waving to the siren over your shoulder.

“Bye, Y/N!”

Pulling open the door of Jasmine & Pearls some weeks later, you were immediately greeted by an array of red, pink, and white. The entire store had been redecorated for the event. A short stage was set up against the far wall of the dining area, a small photobooth in another corner, and a station where you could learn to make an origami heart, if the pictures on the instructions taped to the wall above it were anything to guess off. The shop was already bustling and buzzing with energy, filled with couples and groups of friends. All in all, it looked like it was shaping up to be a successful night for them.

You got into possibly the longest line you could remember having waited in at Jasmine & Pearls in a while—you’d learned the rush times and had become a pro at avoiding them in order to get your boba fix as quick as possible—and continued looking around with a smile on your face.

Unfortunately, you were flying this one solo. Your friends were all either working or studying tonight, and you weren’t going to flake after already promising Shotaro just because you couldn’t find someone to come with you. But you could have plenty of fun by yourself. And, you didn’t make any promise to stay the whole night. You’d stay just to finish your drink and maybe make an origami heart or two, depending on how good you were at them.

Finally, it was your turn to order, and you walked up to the register already with a big smile on your face.

Shotaro was manning the register while another employee fulfilled the orders. Your friend’s face lit up immediately. “Y/N! You made it!”

“I told you I would. Did you doubt me?” You questioned in mock offense.

“Not for a second,” he declared. Pointing to the little standee menu that was on the counter, he asked, “So what’ll you have? I recommend one of our specials for the occasion, obviously.”

You looked over the three new drink options that were advertised as for tonight’s event only. One in particular caught your eye, strawberry milk tea with heart-shaped brown sugar tapioca pearls, and an added feel-good charm. “That Lovebug sounds good.”

“Perfect! I knew you’d get that one! Coming right up!” He rang you up, but only took your credit card from your hand. “Sorry, no regular punch cards tonight. Instead, every purchase of a drink comes with a special event-only punch card.”

“Oh?” You raised your eyebrows as he handed you a small pink card with four circles on it, one already punched out with a heart-shaped hole punch.

“Yep! If you complete all the activities we have tonight, you can redeem it for a free drink! You’ve already gotten a punch for purchasing a drink, then we’ve got the photobooth—” he pointed to the large box. “Just bring your photo strips up here, and I’ll punch the card for you. And the origami, same thing. They don’t have to be professional, as long as you tried, just show them to me, and I’ll give you another punch. And then my boss, Baekhyun, is going to be hosting Valentine’s Bingo in like ten, fifteen minutes. He’ll punch everyone’s cards who participates.” He gestured to the stage, where you now saw a man starting to mess with a microphone and small table. “Don’t worry, you can play single.”

“Huh. Sounds good to me.” You tucked the card into your pocket. “Thanks, Shotaro.”

“Your drink will be out in a second!”

When you finally heard your name being called out by the other employee, you walked up and took the cup from him gratefully. It was another siren, who you weren’t nearly as familiar with as Shotaro, but you still offered Yuta a smile as you accepted the drink.

You looked at the heart-shaped boba at the bottom of the cup fondly. “Cute. Thanks, Yuta.”

“Of course! Now enjoy the ambiance.” Yuta shooed you away with a smirk.

You saluted him casually. “Heard.”

Meandering around the store, you took in the kitschy decorations in various heart, Cupid, rose, and arrow shapes all around. Despite your own striking out in the romance department as of late, you couldn’t find yourself wanting to muster up any morosity for the atmosphere. It was too endearing, and you were someone who just loved love. And maybe the feel-good charm in the boba pearls was doing its job pretty well.

Legally, Jasmine & Pearls couldn’t sell any charms that had effects as strong as alcohol, drugs, or hexes, or they’d need special licenses for that, but the little charms and enchantments available in some of their boba options could influence one’s mood for a short amount of time. Feel-good, tranquility, energy, focus, that kind of stuff.

A lot of the tables had been pushed to one side to make room for the stage, so you took your drink to the bar seating that was against a window, keeping your eye on the figure on stage. As he was readjusting the microphone, you caught a flash of scales under his skin, realizing that he too was a siren, and suddenly the employment choices felt a bit more intentional than coincidental.

Red and pink heart-shaped confetti had been sprinkled along the bartop, and you brushed some of it aside to be able to set your cup down. You were humming along to the love song playing over the speakers as you scrolled on your phone when you swore you heard your name. Straightening up a little, you listened carefully for it again.

“Y/N?” Someone gently tapped on your shoulder this time.

You turned around atop the stool you’d been sitting on, not prepared for who was behind you. Jung Sungchan was standing there, hands stuffed in the pockets of his worn black leather jacket. Honestly, you hadn’t thought much about him since your date five or six weeks ago. Your focus had been on school— with this being your junior year, you had a lot to get together in order to be ready to apply for grad schools, Botany Club, still going to work, and keeping up with friends around all this somehow. One failed date that wasn’t even in your top five worst dates hadn’t really been keeping you up at night. And yet somehow here he was.

You were sure that the surprise was evident on your face, and you probably left just too long of pause hanging in the air before you finally said something. “Oh, Sungchan, hi.”

“I thought that was you. Hey.” He offered a friendly smile.

“How are you?”

“I’m—” He was cut off by a distant shout of his name that only got closer.

“Hey! Sungchan!” It was Shotaro, the siren approaching with a prepared drink and straw, shoving them in the werewolf’s hand. “Dude, you can’t just walk away from the counter like that while we’re making your drink, then I have to come chase you down when you don’t hear your name.”

Sungchan accepted it from the employee guiltily. “Sorry, Shotaro.”

“Anyway! I’m glad you two have met.” Shotaro beamed at the pair of you, throwing an arm around Sungchan’s neck. “Y/N, this is my roommate I was talking about, Jung Sungchan. Sungchan, this is Y/L/N Y/N, she’s a regular here and goes to our college.”

Your eyes widened minutely in alarm as you suddenly connected way too many dots. Oh god, Shotaro’s roommate had an awful date, Sungchan is Shotaro’s roommate, you and Sungchan had gone on a date that night, the very same date you had also complained to Shotaro about. And who knows what terrible things Sungchan might have told the siren about the date, about you. After all, you had been the one to walk out on him.

You felt like you were going to puke as Shotaro gave Sungchan a sharp slap on the shoulder, winked at you behind his roommate’s back, and walked back to his station behind the counter.

After a heavy, long, awkward pause, Sungchan finally spoke up. “So… what did you get?”

“Oh, uhm… the Lovebug. What about you?”

“Me too, same. Lovebug.”

Another pause as you watched Sungchan open his straw and poke it through the plastic seal covering the top of the drink.

“So are we going to address the elephant in the room?” You decided to just get it over with.

“Which one? I feel like we have a whole herd at this point.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Okay, fair. I meant Shotaro. I’ll be the first to admit that I confided in him after our—I’m sorry to say but—disaster of a date.”

“That’s a generous assessment, actually.” Sungchan agreed. “And I told him about it too. I mean, we live together, it was hard for him not to notice when I came back home less than an hour after I left.”

“Ah, yeah…”

“I didn’t say anything bad about you, by the way. I told him it went horribly, because I ruined it, of course, but you were perfectly lovely. Truly way more level-headed than I deserved.”

“Oh, no, Sungchan,” you tried to reassure him. “Really, like I said before— Sometimes things just don’t work out.”

“I know. But still, I treated you awfully, and I am really, really sorry about that.”

“Thank you.”

A crackling came from the speakers up front, snapping your attention back to the man on stage. Baekhyun had gotten the microphone connected, and you saw Shotaro darting from the stage to his spot at the register as his boss called for everyone’s attention. “Hello? Hello? Great, this is working.”

He flashed a dazzling smile to the small crowd. “Hi, if you don’t know me, I’m Byun Baekhyun, I own Jasmine & Pearls here. If you’re in line, don’t panic, we’re not starting quite yet. I just wanted to thank everybody for coming out here tonight, this is honestly a much better turnout than we had expected. I, of course, also want to thank my two incredible employees, Shotaro and Yuta, for working tonight too.”

The two sirens behind the counter both waved as they got a round of applause, then everyone’s eyes were back on Baekhyun.

“We’re going to be starting Valentine’s Bingo in about five minutes or so. I just want everyone to know that you will need a partner for this. So if you came out here by yourself, find another single person out there and you know… get talking.” He grinned, and you swore his gaze lingered on you and Sungchan for a millisecond too long to be coincidental. “Okay, awesome, I’ll be back up here in five to get it started.”

Your eyes flashed over to your friend that was working, remembering exactly when he told you that you could play the game by yourself, and now suddenly you needed a partner. Shotaro was contentedly ringing up a customer’s order, though, seemingly not even paying you nor Sungchan any mind.

“So, uh, want to partner up? For the bingo?” Sungchan asked, then rushed to tack on, “Unless you’re waiting for somebody?”

“I’m not waiting for anybody,” you smiled, gesturing to the stool beside you for him to sit down.

“How have things been with you?”

“Good, they’ve been pretty good. Just a lot of school and Bot Club.”

“Bot Club?”

“Magical Botany Club. I’m the Vice President this year.”

“Oh, cool. So that’s how you know Jaemin, then.”

“Yeah, yeah. Him and Lee Donghyuck, we’re all on the board together.”

“How’d you get into it?”

“Because I sucked at gardening,” you admitted with a laugh. “My freshman year, my parents gave me this cactus to have in my dorm, and I killed the thing somehow. They can survive in deserts and the most extreme climates in the world, and it perished in my dorm room. I joined Bot Club hoping for some tips, and everyone just immediately thought I was beyond help. Jaemin and Hyuck were the only ones who actually took the time to help me. And it took a lot of time.”

Sungchan was smiling too, genuinely. “You must have grown to really like it, to stick around after getting your cactus caretaking tips.”

“Yeah, I do.” You nodded. “What about you? How’s school been for you?”

He grimaced a little. “Could be better, honestly.”

“Oh no? Why? What’s wrong?” You frowned.

Before Sungchan could answer, another person had approached the two of you. It was Baekhyun, a stack of square bingo cards in one hand and box of markers in the other. His silver eyes seemed to glitter in the lights as he smiled at you, his opalescent scales refracting a whole rainbow of colors where they sat just under his skin along his cheekbones, bridge of his nose, and forehead.

“Hi!” He greeted the two of you cheerfully. “Are you two together?”

“Oh, uh, yes,” Sungchan nodded, reaching out to grab your bingo sheet and marker before the store owner flitted off to the next pair of customers.

He set them down on the counter in between the two of you, but your focus was still on your conversation.

“So what’s wrong, Sungchan?” You asked, taking another sip of your drink.

“I mean, it’s just been a bit stressful is all,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “One of my professors asked me to do research with him, and then I took an SI position with another professor too, on top of all my classes. Just kind of got a lot on my plate.”

“Oh, okay. But that sounds like a great opportunity, at least. Your professor asking you to do research with him.”

“It is, it’s some seriously cool stuff.”

“What’s—”

Baekhyun clearing his throat into the microphone from the front cut you off, and you gave the werewolf an apologetic look.

“Sorry. But I do want to hear about it later, Sungchan,” you squeezed his arm before turning around to face the stage.

“Alright, we’re going to be getting started then.”

As Baekhyun kicked off the first round of bingo, you found yourself tapping the marker against the bingo card as you sat there. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Sungchan awkwardly leaning over as he tried to look at the sheet too, and you realized you’d been hogging it.

“Oh, sorry, here,” you moved the sheet more into the middle, at the same time that you scooted your stool over towards him to lessen the gap between you. “Is that better?”

Sungchan’s shoulder was just behind yours as he looked over you at both the card and the stage. “Yeah, yeah, thanks.”

“Did you want to mark them off? Sorry, I just grabbed it without thinking.” You offered the permanent marker out to him.

“No, it’s all yours.” He shook his head, then tapped his finger to the middle spot. “But you did forget the Free Space.”

“Oh, shit, thanks.” You crossed it off with an X.

Baekhyun called out number after number, and you and Sungchan worked together to search the small card for them.

You clicked your tongue as you couldn’t find the one the shop owner had just called out, and were about to pick your cup back up to take another sip of your drink, when Sungchan spoke up happily.

“Found it!”

“Oh, where?” You hovered the marker over the card, scanning the little letters and numbers.

“Right there.” He’d pointed, but his hand was gone too fast, and you lost it again.

“Wait, where?”

“Right…” he reached over to wrap his own hand around yours that was holding the marker, and dragged it over to the correct square. You giggled as he guided your hand to draw a messy X like you were a toddler learning to write your letters for the first time. “…There.” He finished, letting go of your hand.

“Ahh, okay,” you nodded slowly. “I see… I’m illiterate.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to say it.”

“Hey!”

Sungchan laughed as you gave a half-hearted smack against his chest, and you couldn’t help but smile too. After all, it was your self-deprecating joke first.

He patted your back, apologizing through his chuckles, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“Apology taken under consideration.”

“Oof, I don’t like the sound of that. Anything I can do to better my chances here?”

“Hmm,” you hummed, pretending to think as you tapped the capped end of the marker against your bottom lip.

Sungchan watched you, his elbow resting on the bartop and his cheek in his hand. The only thing separating you two was the bingo sheet, the game which you weren’t even focused on anymore. Your back was entirely turned to the stage now, gaze set only on the werewolf next to you.

Just as you’d parted your lips to make your proposal, you happened to hear Baekhyun announce the next number.

“O13!” The siren’s voice carried well through the speakers. “O13!”

You let your eyes flick down, immediately catching on that open square on your card. And it completed the row. You marked it off, a giddy grin spreading across your face as you went to elbow Sungchan. “Look!”

“Oh damn! Nice!” He raised his hand, as did you, as he called out. “Bingo! We got bingo!”

Baekhyun’s features lit up as he stopped his progress of reaching for the next bingo ball. He practically purred into the microphone, “Well, well, seems like we’ve got our first bingo. If one of you could read it out so I can double-check it, then we’ll see about getting you two your prizes.”

Sungchan called out your five spaces, and Baekhyun nodded with each one, the room erupting into applause when he declared that you two had won that round.

“Alright, come up here so I can give you your prizes and punch your tickets.” The siren waved you up.

You looked to Sungchan expectantly, and he gestured for you to go up ahead of him. Instead, feeling a bit uneasy with the entire café’s eyes on you, you latched onto his forearm and dragged him up right alongside you.

“So you each are getting a gift card to the shop—” He handed you two small cards, then turned around, where Yuta had appeared with a couple more items. Baekhyun then handed each of you a denim baseball cap that had the logo of the shop on the front in lilac purple thread. “And Jasmine & Pearls embroidered hats. Thank you so much for coming here and playing.”

You accepted both prizes from him, feeling over the embroidery on the cap with your finger.

“And if you’d give me your event punch cards, I’ll go ahead and give you your punches now, since you unfortunately, won’t be allowed to play to win again. Fairness and all that.”

You and Sungchan handed over your punch cards, and the siren gave each of you another heart-shaped punch before giving them back.

“Now, we will be playing two more rounds, so don’t worry if you didn’t win this time,” he announced to the rest of the crowd as you and Sungchan headed back to your seats. “I’ll hand out brand new cards to everybody, and we’ll restart. Y/N and Sungchan, you’re free to play again for fun, if you’d like. You just can’t play for profit.”

Sungchan looked over at you in a silent question, and you shook your head. You were happy to play and win just the one time. After all, with everybody else still occupied, this would be the perfect time to do the other activities with little to no lines or crowding.

“No thank you, we’re bingo-ed out for tonight,” Sungchan called out, and the host nodded graciously.

“Very well. Everybody else hold tight while I come around to distribute new cards.”

As the two of you finally sat back down at your seats and looked over your prizes, you realized that you had never introduced yourself to Baekhyun. Not when he had passed out the cards, nor when he was giving you your prizes. But he knew your names. You snapped your head up towards the counter suspiciously again, but Shotaro was once again minding his business, cleaning out one of the machines.

Sungchan was readjusting the sizing of his hat, then finally pulled it on, offering you a lopsided grin. “What do you think?”

“Looks good on you.” You tapped the brim of it, feeling a familiar airiness in your chest, one that you hadn’t felt in some time. “You wear baseball caps a lot?”

“For sure, so I’ll get good use out of this.”

“Wear them for fashion or do you play a lot of sports?”

“Oh, uh, both, I guess? I like how they look, and I usually wear them when I’m out playing whatever to keep the Sun off my face, yeah.”

The pictures from Jeno’s Instagram of Sungchan on their trip to Cape Solaria suddenly came to mind, and you diverted your eyes down to the gift card in your hand as your skin started getting warmer and warmer. At this rate, he was going to be able to hear your heartbeat picking up the pace and the idea of that in and of itself was embarrassing enough to make it gain even more speed.

“So…” Sungchan inhaled, and you looked up with both your eyebrows raised.

Admittedly, you’d completely forgotten where the two of you were in your previous conversation. “Hm?”

“Do you want to finish the other two punches together?” He asked. “I know they’re not partner things, but we’re both here, and everyone else is busy doing bingo, so it’s probably the best time to do them and—”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” You grinned at him, standing up off your stool. “I’d love to, Sungchan. Besides, you’re still supposed to tell me about your research, remember?”

His features lit up as he followed you over to the origami station. “Right, right! Are you sure you want to hear about it, though? It’s on climate change and how it affects human disease, it’s a little doomsday-ish.”

“Ah, perfect for the holiday.” You pointed to the giant paper cut-out of a cartoon Cupid hanging above your heads, then reached for your first square of red paper. “I’m sure, go for it.”

“Okay, cool,” he beamed at you, grabbing a piece of patterned pink paper.

As Sungchan walked you through all the intricacies and machinations of the topic that his research with his professor was on, you were genuinely happy at how much you understood. He didn’t mind slowing down to answer your questions, or explain concepts that you didn’t know already. And you two could have an actual conversation tangential to the topic, because you had taken a Magical Conservation class just last semester that dealt directly with how climate change was affecting a lot of magical creatures, such as sirens who typically lived in and around glaciers that were now losing much of their native habitats due to the lack of year-round sea ice at the poles. And all the while, you both tried your damndest to make an origami heart.

“Okay, what the fuck?!” Sungchan huffed, cutting himself off in the middle of a thought about disease vectors. He smacked his crumpled piece of paper that looked nothing like a heart onto the table. “I’ve taken engineering classes, how am I getting bested by a primary school arts and crafts project?”

“It’s not a—”

“It literally says ages 8 and up on the instructions.”

You pressed your lips together in a line. “Ah. So it does.”

Yours didn’t look much better. It seemed as though you were both getting bested by a project meant for children.

“Well, Shotaro did say we just had to show him we tried and we’d get the punch,” you reminded him.

“No, no, I can get this,” he shook his head, grabbing a fresh sheet. “I just need to focus, and not talk while I do it. You’re too much of a distraction.”

“My apologies, I’ll be quiet this time,” you chuckled, covering your mouth with your hand as you leaned against the table to watch him try again.

He made every fold with precision, but you found that you weren’t really watching him fold so much as you were watching him. His brow was set in concentration, a small crease emerging in the knit of his brows, his eyes narrowed slightly, and the very tip of his tongue poking out from between his lips. It was cute, adorable, endearing, everything in the thesaurus, and you could’ve sat there and watched him fold origami hearts all night if he wanted to, punch card and free drink be damned.

Sungchan stood up straight, his features relaxing into a proud grin as he held his completed piece up for you to see. It was definitely a heart this time, a simple baby pink color, and you were amazed at how straight the lines were.

“Nice, Sungchan!” You praised him. “That’s what those engineering classes were for, huh?”

“I wasn’t going to let some project for ages 8 and up that Shotaro picked out get the best of me!” He declared, and you could practically see his chest puffing out with pride. “I’m not going to give him the satisfaction.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “So that’s what this was? Fragile STEM major ego?”

He narrowed his eyes at you. “Isn’t sociology a science?”

“I think you’re the first hard science major to ever say that.”

“It ends in -ology.”

“So do phrenology and astrology.”

“Fair. But seriously, is it not?”

“It is. But usually, you engineering and whatnot majors don’t like to consider us ‘soft sciences’ like sociology and anthropology and psychology to be ‘real sciences,’ whatever the hell that means.”

“Ohh, yeah… I’ve got better shit to do than tell a scientist that they’re not a scientist.”

“Like make children’s crafts.”

“Exactly.” He gave you another smile brighter than the Sun.

You nodded firmly. “A much better use of your time. Now, are you ready to take these to Shotaro?”

“Yeah, let’s go!”

As the two of you walked up to the counter, you continued your earlier conversation, “And I will remind you that I’m actually an Interdisciplinary major, and also study MCS. Both of which are considered humanities, a label that I wear with pride, even more so than the ‘soft science’ one.”

A smile tugged at the corner of Sungchan’s mouth as he looked down at you. “Noted.”

Shotaro was standing at the register, hands folded over each other and a smug smile on his face as he watched the two of you approach together. “Well, hey, guys! Congrats on your win!”

“Thanks, Shotaro.” You smiled back, holding your paper heart out to him. “We did the origami too.”

Sungchan held his up too, and you could see the proud look on his face as he did so.

“His is a lot better than mine,” you admitted as the siren took just a second to appraise them. Seeing the two side-by-side, yours was a bit misshapen, folds across parts that were supposed to be flat from you having to undo and redo parts over and over again.

“That’s okay! You guys just had to try,” Shotaro reminded you, picking up the hole punch. “Punch cards please?”

With just one punch left, you and Sungchan headed over to the photobooth in the corner. It was set up so that you didn’t have to pay for any of the films. Sungchan climbed in first, and you watched nervously where his head almost hit the top of the entrance.

“Goddamn this thing is tiny,” he observed as soon as he had poked his head in past the curtain.

“Is it small or are you a giant?” You asked pointedly.

Sungchan had fully entered the photobooth then, and retorted back, “Get in here and find out.”

As you parted the curtain and put just your first foot in, you immediately realized how cramped the two of you were going to be. “Okay, maybe a bit of both.”

“Uh-huh.”

Sungchan was already sat on the bench, and pressed himself as far back into the corner as he could to give you enough space to sit next to him. Your leg was squished in next to his, and his arm ended up around your shoulders. He was warm, as expected for a werewolf, whose body temperatures all ran naturally higher than humans.

As he shifted his shoulders and arm to settle around you, he double-checked, “Sorry, is this alright? It’s tight in here—”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine,” you turned your head to give him a smile, but were instead caught off-guard by just how close his face was to yours. If either one of you shifted forward right now, you would hit noses. Your breath hitched in your throat as you made eye contact with him. Oh, he could definitely hear your heartbeat in the tiny space afforded by the photobooth, surely as clear as you could hear it thudding in your own ears. God, you’d always thought he was cute, but something about being so close, and the lights in here hitting the angles of his face just right, he was striking, handsome. You curled your hands into fists in the material of your pants, not trusting yourself not to grab him and do something too wildly out of pocket.

The screen played a short melody at you, knocking you from your trance, and you turned your focus back to your task.

Pressing a couple buttons on the touchscreen, you looked between the height of the camera and Sungchan, squinting. “Is your head even going to show in frame?”

Sungchan swallowed, then cleared his throat before he spoke, as if his mouth had gone dry. “Guess we’ll find out after.”

“Alright, it’s a four-cut.” You announced after skimming the easy illustrated instructions. “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” He gave you a thumbs up.

“Okay. 1, 2, 3.” You pressed the start button before sitting back in your seat against him again.

You smiled and held up a peace sign for the first one, and in the split second of the flash going off, you heard the werewolf next to you curse under his breath, “Fuck! That’s bright—” accompanied by the feeling of him flinching back, and immediately followed by a distinct thud.

Turning around as much as the space could allow for, you saw Sungchan curled in on himself, his eyes squinted shut presumably both in pain from the flash and from where he had just smacked the back of his head against the wall of the photobooth, judging by the hand he was cradling it with.

“Ooh! Sungchan, are you alright?” You asked through giggles, unable to get over the comical thunk! sound that his head had made.

Another flash went off, startling him into hitting his head again with another bonk! and this time you couldn’t help but burst out into full-bodied laughter, turning back toward the camera to not laugh directly in the poor guy’s face. You could barely see the third and fourth flashes because your eyes were squeezed shut as you laughed, running out of air and having to prop yourself up with a hand on Sungchan’s knee to not keel over.

Finally, you started sobering up enough to squint your eyes back open, and through your tears, you saw Sungchan smiling down at you as well.

“Alright, I don’t know if it was that funny…” he sighed, still holding his head.

“I’m-I’m sorry,” you tried to apologize through your wheezes. “It was the sound, and the two in a row, it was just too much for me. I’m not laughing at your pain, I promise. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m alright. Thanks.” He reassured you, dropping his hand from his head and resting it on the one that you still had on his knee. “I… I really like your laugh.”

Your hand suddenly tingled. “Oh. Thank you…”

After a beat, he shifted his gaze from yours. “So where do the films print out at?”

“Uh, on the outside of the booth. Should be two, one for each of us.” You said quickly, getting up to exit the booth and put some space between the two of you again.

Sungchan followed you out, and you easily found the dispenser, where there were in fact two film strips. He grabbed them for you, looking over them first. A smile spread across his face as he continued holding them, and you started getting antsy the longer that you hadn’t seen them.

“What, are they that bad?” You asked with a light chuckle.

“What?” He snapped his focus up to you.

“You’ve been smiling at them for an awful long time. Did I blink or something?” You joked, knowing very well that you were laughing for half of them.

He sucked in air through his teeth, shaking his head regretfully. “Yeah, I think for your own sake, I should keep both of these. I mean, I look great but—”

“Sungchan, let me see!” You reached for them, but he yanked his hand back from you at the last second.

You lunged for them again, but he once again kept them just out of your reach, a sly grin on his lips. The next time you tried to grab them, he held them above his head, and he most unfortunately had a significant height advantage over you.

You were already in his personal space from grabbing for them before, practically chest-to-chest (well, really chest-to-face), and now had to crane your neck straight up to look at them. With a huff, out of breath, heart racing for more than one reason now, you weakly pulled on his shoulders as you pouted, “Sungchan, please!”

“Here, I warned you.” He said melodramatically, handing you one copy of the film strips.

You eagerly held it in both hands, scanning over the four pictures on it. The first one was normal, it looked like Sungchan had taken your lead and both of you were smiling and throwing up peace signs. The second one was where everything went to chaos. Sungchan was wincing in pain in the corner, holding his head, as you had the back of your head to the camera, one hand reaching uncertainly towards him. In the third, you were turned back towards the camera, a little blurry as you laughed, and Sungchan was squinting one eye open to look at you. And in the last one, you were still laughing, leaning on Sungchan for support as there was nothing but simple joy on your face; and Sungchan’s features had relaxed out of pain as he gazed down at you with a fond smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Not as wide as yours was, but no less dim.

“These are so cute! You liar!” You elbowed Sungchan in the side.

“You didn’t let me finish. I look great, but you look radiant.”

“Good save.” You joked, but couldn’t suppress the smitten grin that wormed its way across your face. “And I’m keeping mine.”

Sungchan reached into the pocket of his jacket then, pulling out his pristine, baby pink origami heart from earlier. He held it out to you. “I-I wanted you to have this, too.”

“Aw, Sungchan…” You accepted the paper heart from him.

“Feel free to throw it out when you get home, I get it.”

“Hey, stop that.” You pinched his forearm where the sleeve of his jacket had fallen down. “Don’t do something sweet and then immediately take all the sincerity away by covering it with a layer of self-deprecation. If you’re going to be a sweetheart, own up to it or don’t do it at all.”

He rubbed at the back of his neck, and you could see a flush creeping up from his collar to his cheeks. “You’re right. I wanted to give you that, sans trash can.”

You were beaming, tucking it into the inner pocket of your jacket and patting it. “Thank you, Sungchan. I’d offer you mine, but I think it really should go in the trash.”

“Look who’s not taking her own advice, hm?”

“Alright, if you want it,” you sighed, taking your own lumpy attempt at the origami heart out of your pocket and handing it over to him.

Sungchan plucked it from your fingers smugly. “Thank you.”

“I expect you to be buried with that now, by the way.”

“I’ll be sure to write it in my will.”

The two of you were still chuckling as you walked up to the counter again, your film strips and punch cards in hand to show them to Shotaro. Your siren friend reviewed the pictures with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“You guys are so cute,” he commented so very subtly. “But uh, what happened here, Sungchan? Did you hit your head on something? How did you manage that one?”

As you covered your mouth to hide your giggles at the memory of the double bonk! resurfacing, Sungchan took his film strip back from his roommate. “Alright, are you going to give us the punches or not?”

Shotaro punched the final heart-shaped holes into both your cards. “And with that you’ve completed all the punches! Unfortunately, you can’t redeem the free drink tonight, but by all means, you are more than welcome to stay and hang out some more. We’ve got extended hours tonight, so you can keep doing the activities if you like, or just, you know… stay and chat or something.”

“Right, thanks, Shotaro.” Sungchan led you away with a hand on your back.

You ended up back at your original seat that you had sat at for the bingo game. The game finished while you were in the photobooth, the other patrons now milling around the shop again. Some were sitting, sipping on their drinks and enjoying each other’s company, others at the origami stations, others lining up at the photobooth, and still others back at the register ordering again. You looked down at the film strip in your hands before tucking it away safely with Sungchan’s origami heart. Looking around, you saw that Baekhyun was making rounds now that he was done hosting bingo, greeting customers and having conversations with everyone he stopped to talk to.

You didn’t want to leave yet, to have this night be over, to have your time with Sungchan be done. At least not without knowing if you’d see him again. This had been fun, really fun, and you wanted to see him again. Every bad first impression of him you’d gotten from your date had been wiped away.

“Hey, Y/N?”

You snapped your focus back over to him at the sound of his voice, trepid and unsure. You offered him a reassuring smile as you replied, “Yeah, Sungchan?”

He had taken his hat off, and was messing with the seam along the bottom band nervously. “I know I already said this, but I really am sorry for everything I said to you before. I was so incredibly wrong about you.”

“And I’ve already said thank you, so I suppose I’ll say I forgive you this time.” You squeezed his forearm. “So would you stop apologizing now?”

“I know we can’t start over completely, but…”

“Yes?” Your voice pitched up hopefully, your heart soaring along with it.

“Friends?”

Splat. Your heart plummeted back down with tremendous velocity.

It took all your willpower to keep your face from showing the disappointment you’d felt, and even then, you were sure it still fell minutely. You slapped on a rehearsed, customer service smile for him, too shocked that you’d apparently misread everything so badly to do much more than go through a script of what you should say. “Yeah, sure. Friends.”

Sungchan beamed at you, another heart-stopping, adorable, lopsided grin that now made your chest squeeze painfully. “Okay, great! Thank you, seriously!”

You threw open the door to Jasmine & Pearls the next morning so violently that it swung back the other way and rang the bell twice.

“Shotaro.”

The siren perked up to greet you. “Oh, Y/N! Back to redeem that free drink already, huh?”

“Sungchan here?” Your eyes flicked around the shop warily. You couldn’t see him, but now that you knew that the two of them were roommates, you had to be more careful.

“Oh, I see.” Your friend grinned, crossing his arms over his chest. “No, you just missed him, actually, he had class, popped in on his way to campus.”

“Thank god,” you groaned, collapsing into a stool near the pick-up counter, face in your arms.

“Uh, I’m going to make you a drink. Your usual?”

“Sure…” You mumbled, the sound even more muffled by your arms.

As Shotaro prepared the drink, he picked your conversation back up. “Now, what happened? You two looked like you were having a lot of fun last night. Not to pat myself on the back too hard.”

You lifted your head up just enough to rest your cheek on your arms so your friend could hear you when you spoke. “Did he tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“Remember that awful date I went on last month?”

“Vaguely.”

“And Sungchan went on a bad date the same night.”

“Yeah. Did he do some kind of ‘all cards on the table’ confessional with you to try to scare you off?” Shotaro sighed, tossing his hand towel over his shoulder and putting his hands on his hips. “Listen, don’t worry, I know he says he ruined his date that night, but really he’s a big puppy—don’t tell him I said that, he’ll tear my throat out.” He paused, as if realizing what he had just said. “And don’t worry about that ‘tear my throat out’ thing either, I swear he’s super sweet. Honestly, something must have been wrong with that girl, he’s not—”

“It was me.” You cut him off bluntly.

“Huh?”

“Sungchan and I were each other’s terrible date that night.”

The siren slapped a hand over his face with a groan. “Oh my god, what did he do?”

“Now you think he did something? Two seconds ago, you swore there was ‘something wrong with that girl.’” You raised your eyebrows.

“Yeah, but I know you, Y/N. Him saying he fucked up and made you walk out? I can believe that.”

“We don’t have time to unpack all of that, but thanks, I guess.” You settled your cheek in your hand instead. “Anyway, it was all a mismatch at the time. He had his reasons, and I had mine, and I left. I didn’t harbor any ill will towards him, nor had I even thought about him until last night.”

Shotaro snorted, placing your finished drink in front of you. “Oh, well, can’t say the same for him.”

“What?”

“Whatever he did, he felt terrible about it. He kept talking about how he wanted to apologize to you, but he didn’t think you’d want to see him.”

You blinked at him. “Seriously?”

“I just thought it was like when you accidentally say ‘you too’ when the waiter tells you to enjoy your food and then you can’t stop thinking about that interaction for the next six months.”

Remembering the gist of your very short conversation from your one and only date with Sungchan, you shook your head. “No, not quite.”

“But it seems like you two made up last night, right?” Shotaro asked, head tilted.

“Yes, last night was so much fun. It’s what our first date should have been. We got to talk, and get to know each other, and joke, and laugh, and maybe flirt a little bit; and he’s funny, and smart, and a lot of fun...” You explained, trailing off pitifully at the end.

“So what’s the catch?”

“Well, I don’t know why I thought that at the end of the night, when he said,” you dropped your voice to mimic Sungchan, “‘I know we can’t start over completely, but—’ I don’t know why I thought that was going to be followed up by him asking me out, but it wasn’t.”

The siren’s jaw dropped. “It wasn’t?”

“Nope. Friends...” You said with weak enthusiasm, giving him two thumbs-up and a feigned smile as if you were being held at gunpoint.

“Ooh, Y/N...” Shotaro grimaced.

You dropped your head into your hands in defeat. “And somehow I feel even stupider than I did leaving that date.”

“I’m going to ask him what the hell he’s thinking.”

“No the fuck you’re not!”

“Y/N—”

“I told you this in confidence, Osaki Shotaro, not so you could you blab how pathetic I am right back to him!”

“But I just did that with him to you.” He pointed out innocently. “Seems a bit unfair.”

“Thanks for just agreeing with me on the pathetic part.”

“Well—”

“You’re not helping!”

“I’m trying!” He threw his hands up in exasperation. With a sigh, he came up to lean against the counter, voice turning sympathetic once more. “Look, Sungchan probably just thinks that you would want nothing to do with him romantically after he ruined it so stupendously last time. So he doesn’t even want to put you in the awkward position of rejecting him again— or, he at least thinks you would reject him again.”

“You really think so?” You asked quietly, watching a bead of water run down the side of your cup.

“Best I can come up with.”

And all the hope in your chest puttered out like a limp, half-filled balloon. “So that was a guess.”

“I’m a siren, not a mindreader, sorry.”

“Ugh, I’ve got to go. Thanks, Shotaro. For the boba. You were useless otherwise.”

“Bye!” Your friend waved to you cheerily.

Being friends with Sungchan was pretty easy, actually. You already had a lot of the same friends (it was sort of weird that you hadn’t met before that date, you realized), and as long as somebody else was there, it was easy to ignore the ever-present, ever-growing crushing pain in your chest whenever you were with him. You didn’t like that it was like this, you hated being that person pining over one of their friends who had explicitly said that they just wanted to be friends. You’d tried to get yourself to feel like this about other guys—the cute phoenix in your Criminology class, or the funny gryphon that you were partnered up with for a project in your Introduction to Interdisciplinary class. But it was useless, your thoughts always came back Sungchan. And you weren’t friends with him in hopes that one day it would be different, either; you really didn’t want to be that friend. You were just enjoying Jung Sungchan, in whatever capacity you got him in.

And right now, that was a rather tenacious study buddy. When you’d off-handedly mentioned an upcoming test that you hadn’t studied for yet, he immediately made you compare schedules so that the two of you could do a study session before it. So now you were reviewing flash cards of some key concepts as Sungchan was hunched over a notebook of his own. Working on his research with his professor, you were pretty certain. He switched between his computer and handwritten notes so frequently that you weren’t sure how he kept it all straight, and all the numbers and Greek letters and letter letters made your head swim trying to decipher it. As long as it all made sense to him.

It all mostly made sense to you when he would explain it to you, if you were actually listening to the words he was saying and not just thinking about how nice his voice sounded, or how pretty he looked that day. Your brain was truly rotting from the inside out.

And you two were alone. You didn’t know if he had invited any of your other friends and they couldn’t make it or if this was a “just us” thing. That was something that he did that always made it so hard for you to keep your rule of never hoping for more. Sometimes you two would hang out and invite Shotaro and Jaemin and Jeno and Jeno’s girlfriend and maybe even some more of their friends that you weren’t as familiar with; and sometimes when you’d ask if you should invite anybody, Sungchan would reply with a shoulder shrug and a casual non-explanation that this should be a “just us” thing. You could never delineate what made an activity worthy of a group invite or a “just us” thing.

You stared at your screen with immense focus. Not on what was on the screen, your thoughts had long drifted from dryad folk tales and were now in an endless rumination on what the hell a “just us” thing was. You’d been to group study sessions and study sessions with just Sungchan. Group movie nights and movie nights alone with Sungchan—those were an especially bittersweet kind of awful, as he liked to share blankets. Group dinners and dinners with just the two of you. So what made something a “just us” activity? What was the—

Something in your periphery caught your attention, and snapped you out of your pensive thoughts that you’d been stewing in. It was a small, white, origami heart being pushed up from the bottom corner of your computer screen. You took it, smiling at Sungchan across the table from you, who sat up straight now that he no longer had to reach so far to deliver it to you.

Upon second glance, it looked like the heart was made out of notebook paper from his spiral notebook with notes on it in blue ink. You squinted to make out some of It in his messy scrawl, but gave up after reading just a portion of a complicated, technical word.

“Thanks, Sungchan.” You ran your fingertip along the crisp edge of the paper heart.

This had been one habit he’d picked up since the Valentine’s Day event at Jasmine & Pearls, he now made origami hearts whenever his fingers grew restless and he had access to a suitable piece of paper that could be torn to size if needed. You were usually the target of receiving them and now had a steadily growing collection in a small jar on your coffee table. You didn’t have it in you to throw them away.

“Something wrong, Y/N?” Sungchan asked. He had presumably noted the intense way you’d been staring at your screen the moments prior. “Or is the material just that bad for your test?”

“Ehh…” You sighed, rolling your neck out. “Just tired. Ready for the semester to be over, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Is this made of your notes, by the way?” You held up the origami heart.

“Stuff I had to rip out and redo, I messed it up.”

You then stood up to crack your back, groaning at the cathartic cracking sounds that came with it. “God, I think my spine needs to be folded up like that origami, holy shit.”

“Fix your posture,” Sungchan snorted. “You sit like a little shrimp using a computer.”

Your jaw dropped as you put a hand to your chest, unsure of whether to laugh or be offended. Ultimately, you keeled over with laughter, having to plop back down in your desk chair—hunched over—to catch your breath again. Sungchan was watching you with a fond smile, reclined back in his chair with some not very great posture himself.

“A shrimp?”

“A little shrimp,” he corrected you. “A cute little shrimp using her little computer and fucking up her back in the process.”

“Alright, it’s not my fault you’re literally a tree. Anybody is a little shrimp compared to the man who almost broke a photobooth because he was too tall for it,” you teased him back through the fresh squeezing of your chest at him calling you ‘cute,’ even if it was followed by the words ‘little shrimp.’

“You’re never letting me live that one down, huh?”

“Never. I’ll be telling that story at your funeral, where you’ll be buried with my mangled origami heart, remember?”

“You’re banking on the fact that you’re going to outlive me in this scenario.”

“Right, my bad. Werewolves are the hardier species, so obviously you’ll outlive me.”

“Well, statistically—”

“Statistics say nothing about the power of spite, Sungchan. I will outlive you out of spite, so that I can tell that story at your funeral. And if not, I will have a backup recording of me telling that story, and in my will, have orders that it be played at your funeral.”

“You’re going to put it in your will to make sure you have the last word in case I outlive you? Which, statistically, I will.”

“Yes.”

The two of you held your defiant eye contact for another moment before you burst out in coordinated laughter, all tension fizzling out.

“I do expect that fucked-up origami heart to go down with you, though,” you pointed at him through your laughs, still only half-serious.

“Only if one of the hundreds I’ve given you by now makes it down with you,” he nodded, holding his pinky finger out.

You linked yours with it. “Deal.”

“Deal.”

As you walked out of the library together after you’d finally determined that your studying was over, Sungchan checked his watch.

“You doing anything else tonight?” He asked.

“Nothing in particular.” You shrugged. “Eating dinner. Sleeping. Why?”

“Want to come over?”

“Is Shotaro going to be home?”

“He’s closing at the shop today I think.”

You bit the inside of your cheek. Apparently sensing your hesitation, Sungchan nudged your side as he teased, “What? Am I not fun enough for you? You need Shotaro there to convince you to come over, too?”

“Yeah, you’re such a snoozefest, Sungchan,” you wrinkled your nose, elbowing him back. “Taro’s the only thing that keeps me from falling asleep every time I’m over at your place.”

“You hurt me, Y/N.”

With a melodramatic sigh, you relented, “I suppose I’ll make an exception. But I will nap where I see fit if you bore me too much.”

“I’ll take my victories where I can get them.”

At Shotaro and Sungchan’s place, you followed Sungchan into his bedroom. Normally, if Shotaro were home, the three of you would all hang out in their living room. But it was just you and Sungchan.

He toed his shoes off and flopped onto his bed face-first, spread-eagle.

“Oh, and who were we worried about taking a nap?” You scoffed, taking his desk chair. He had a gridded whiteboard above his desk that was mostly taken up by a to-do list of upcoming deadlines. But a small area labeled “Notes” by the company who made it was dedicated to pictures instead: the film strip of you two from Valentine’s Day at Jasmine & Pearls hung there by a magnet in the shape of a hurricane, a picture from the group trip to Cape Solaria from last summer under a tornado, and another of a younger Sungchan and Shotaro (early high school if you had to guess) at an arcade pinned by a tsunami.

Your friend rolled over onto his back. “I’m not napping, just basking.”

“Basking? In what?”

“Being done with today.”

“Have a bad day?”

“Just long. Had a long week, long semester, long three years.”

“Mm, felt that,” you agreed, knocking your own shoes off and folding your legs up in the desk chair.

The two of you were quiet for a while, and you would’ve thought that Sungchan had actually fallen asleep, if you couldn’t see that his eyes were open as he apparently just stared at the ceiling, his chest rising and falling with even breaths. You let the silence remain, content to just rest your arms on the back of the chair with your chin atop them, and look at him.

“Y/N?” He finally spoke, his voice soft.

“Yeah?”

Sungchan’s head lolled so he could look over at you, his warm brown eyes focused on your face. He had an unreadable expression on his features; not one of sadness, or pain, or really much of anything. It was like he didn’t even know what he was feeling. “Have you gone on a date? Since... you know, the one we went on?”

You blinked. You weren’t sure what exactly you were expecting him to say, but it wasn’t that. After a moment, you shook your head. “No, I haven’t. Have you?”

The corner of his lip twitched, but from your positions, you couldn’t tell if it was pulling towards a smile or a frown. “No.”

Another beat of silence. You continued staring at each other.

“Do you want to?” He asked, his voice so unnaturally devoid of intonation that you once again couldn’t glean the purpose of this discussion.

“What?” The word tumbled out of your mouth fast, defensively.

“I-I mean, are you going to? Like, is there anybody...?”

You looked at him, taking a good few seconds before you answered. He at least seemed nervous now, stuttering, his eyes flitting between you and the ceiling fan.

“No.” You answered plainly. No qualifying statements: any attempts at expounding would just land you in trouble. “You?”

“No...” He echoed. “You would tell me, right? If you were?”

This felt like a trap. Not from Sungchan, you knew he wasn’t like that, but from the Universe, somehow. And no matter what you did, you were going to fall into the spike pit.

“Yeah, Sungchan, of course.” You mustered up your well-practiced casual smile. “Always need approval from the counsel of friends for that kind of stuff.”

He did smile at that—not a full one with teeth, and it didn’t reach his eyes—but he smiled and nodded. “Good. Got to make sure they’re not a weirdo. You know there’s all kinds of magical creatures who will just date human women for the ego trip in bed, right?”

“I did know that,” you chuckled. “But thanks for looking out for me.”

“Always am, Y/N. And I always will be.”

Rocking back and forth from your heels to your toes nervously, you kept your eyes trained on the apartment door in front of you. Sungchan knocked on it. Your actions were stopped by your friend grabbing your arm and pulling you back down to flat feet.

“Y/N, I told you it’s going to be fine, seriously. They’re your friends, too,” he reminded you for probably the twelfth time that day.

When he’d randomly texted you earlier that morning asking if you wanted to go to Jeno’s birthday party with him tonight, you were very hesitant to accept. Mostly because you hadn’t received an invite from the birthday wolf himself. But after some more pestering from Sungchan, you gave in. Maybe if you didn’t have such a weak heart, you would’ve been firmer on your no. But instead, here you were, having signed your name under Sungchan’s on the birthday card the two of you bought on your way over, a gift card tucked inside with enough money pre-loaded on it to cover a nice meal for Jeno and his girlfriend.

“Then why didn’t he—” Your whispered question was cut off by the door swinging open, the bright smile of Lee Jeno greeting you.

“Hey guys, come on in!” The werewolf opened the door even wider, not seeming surprised at all to see you there next to Sungchan. He gave the both of you hugs after closing the door behind you.

You patted his back in the hug, offering a sheepish smile, “Hey, Jeno, Happy Birthday. Sorry to just show up. Sungchan insisted it was fine…”

“Oh, don’t worry about it! Everyone knows if we’re inviting Sungchan that we’re inviting you, too. It’s cool.” He said brightly. “You want something to drink?”

Trying not to get stuck on that little information bomb he’d dropped so casually, you looked around the fairly packed apartment, recognizing most everyone who was there, including a couple people by the drinks table. “You know, I see Jaemin and Donghyuck over by the drinks, I’ll go get it myself. Thank you, though, and Happy Birthday again.”

Jeno perked up in a different direction as if he’d heard his name being called—which he very well could’ve with his superior hearing—and he took off, disappearing into the kitchen. You’d been to Jeno and Jaemin’s place a few times before, mostly to hang out with Jaemin over the time that you’d known the dryad from Bot Club, and more recently, a couple times for group hangouts since Jaemin, Jeno, Jeno’s girlfriend, and Sungchan were all friends.

“I’m going to get some food,” Sungchan nodded towards the same direction Jeno had gone in. “Want anything?”

You stood on your tiptoes, unable to discern any of the options they had available, other than the fact there would be a lot of it to feed the werewolf guests. “Just get extra of whatever you think I’ll like, I’m not very hungry right now.”

“On it.”

While he went to do that, you made your way across the living room to the two dryads you had spotted earlier, both standing by the drinks table.

“Hey…” You said, still feeling awkward despite Jeno’s easy acceptance of you.

“Y/N! Hey!” Donghyuck greeted you cheerily.

“You made it!” Jaemin gave you a one-armed hug.

“Sounds like you were expecting me then?”

“Well, yeah.” Donghyuck said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world (which was bewildering to you, considering you didn’t even know you were coming until this afternoon).

The two dryads exchanged a look.

“I mean, Sungchan was coming, so…” Jaemin shrugged.

Donghyuck peered around the party. “Speaking of, where’d your wolfboy go?”

“He went to get some food. And he’s not. my. wolfboy, you little shit.” You glared at him. “And don’t call him a wolfboy either, you know he doesn’t like to be called stuff like that. Call Jeno ‘puppy’ or whatever all you want but leave Sungchan out of it.”

“I thought he didn’t like dog terms, but wolf terms he was fine with, since he is a werewolf.” Jaemin said.

“Yeah.” Donghyuck nodded.

You put your hands on your hips with a frank sigh, “As if wolfboy isn’t also diminutive and meant to—”

“Woah, abort, abort, Y/N’s going into Renjun-mode.”

Jaemin looked over at the other dryad regretfully. “Worse than Renjun-mode, this isn’t just educational.”

“You two are so obnoxious, I’m going to stage a coup in Bot Club one of these days,” you declared with a scoff.

“Hey...” Another voice entered the conversation from over your shoulder, and you looked up to see Sungchan stepping in between you and Donghyuck, a plate loaded up with food in his hand.

“Speak of the wolf and he shall appear.” Donghyuck had a wicked grin on his face. You were amazed sometimes that he wasn’t a fairy.

“What were you guys talking about? Y/N didn’t look happy.”

“It was nothing, Sungchan, don’t worry about it.” You tried to reassure him, sending pointed stares at each of the dryads with you.

Donghyuck was apparently not going to let up, though. “Hey, Sungchan, you down to do a little thought experiment with me?”

“Thought experiment?” The werewolf echoed.

“Yeah, just real quick. I ask you a hypothetical question, you give me a hypothetical answer. Just for fun.”

“A thought experiment with Donghyuck. Sounds thrilling, sure.” Sungchan agreed humorously, popping a piece of food in his mouth.

“So, if someone were to call you dog-like terms—which we know you’re not cool with and would never do—who would you most be okay with doing that?”

The werewolf narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Why would anybody do that?”

“It’s a thought experiment, Sungchan, come on. Play in this space with me!” Donghyuck whined, shaking the other man’s shoulder.

“Let’s rephrase then,” Jaemin joined in, a mischievous glint in his eye. You looked around to make sure Chenle wasn’t secretly listening in or something, because this surely had to be the work of your fairy prince acquaintance. You spotted the fairy very engaged in his conversation with his dragon roommate Jisung and a few other people. It seemed like the two dryads really were just deciding to be the absolute worst all on their own.

“Narrower scope. Would you be okay with, for example, Y/N calling you stuff like that?”

“Why would she do that?” Sungchan asked, confused.

“Yeah, why would I do that?” You asked, angry. They were clearly trying to get at something specific, make him admit something.

Jaemin offered an example, “Well, you know, Jeno’s girlfriend calls him ‘pup’ as a term of endearment.”

“And why would I do that?!” You repeated, feeling your stomach drop to the floor at how exactly he stressed those words.

“We’re getting off-topic here, it’s all hypothetical, remember?” It was amazingly Donghyuck who sort of saved you. “We know Y/N would never do it. But like… if she did, for some reason unbeknownst to us, what would you do? Would you be okay with it?”

Sungchan’s brow was furrowed as he seemed to genuinely contemplate this while he ate another bite of food. You, meanwhile, were plotting how best to kill two dryads. You knew enough from Bot Club, maybe a super-strong version of the magical weed spray you used would work... Were dryads more plant or more person?

“Well…” The werewolf finally began his answer, seeming to choose each word carefully. “Since I know Y/N, I know that if she were, in this batshit, hypothetical scenario, to do that, that she wouldn’t mean it in a derogatory way. So I guess I’d be more okay with her doing it than other people. Definitely more than you two weirdos who are posing this thought experiment that isn’t fun at all.”

“Thank you, Sungchan.” Donghyuck grinned at him, then turned to Jaemin. “I thought that was very fun and enlightening. What about you, Jaemin?”

Jaemin nodded thoughtfully. “I had a great time. Y/N?”

“You guys are so fucking annoying.” You groaned, grabbing a piece of food from Sungchan’s plate. “Leave me out of your thought experiments next time, please.”

The spring semester ended not long after Jeno’s birthday party, and you very thankfully didn’t have to take any summer classes, freeing up a lot of spare time for you. Sungchan, on the other hand, had to take a couple courses in order to make sure he would graduate on time. While you jokingly whined and complained when he told you about it, you were secretly relieved to have extra reasons to avoid him. As terrible as that sounded.

This afternoon, while he was in class, you had gone down to the river with Shotaro and Yuta, who miraculously both had a day off work at the same time. You didn’t even realize Jasmine & Pearls had enough employees to let the both of them take the same day off.

You were sat in your pop-up chair on the small beachy area, pulling your phone from your bag to check it while the two sirens continued lazing about in the waist-deep water. There was a text from Sungchan from a few minutes ago, and as you opened it up to read it, you realized that he was just sending you a funny picture he’d found somewhere online.

[you: aren’t you supposed to be focusing on class right now?]

“Sungchan?” Shotaro called out to you knowingly.

“What?” You yelled back, holding a hand up to shadow your face from the sun. Looking around your chair, you grabbed your baseball cap that you’d won in Valentine’s Bingo, pulling that on now that you were out of the water.

“You’ve got this little smile on your face that you only get when Sungchan texts you.”

“No I do not.”

Yuta stood up from where he had been floating on his back, shaking the water out of his hair as he asked you with a smirk, “So you don’t have a text from Sungchan on your phone screen right now?”

Your phone buzzed then, a welcome excuse to not have to answer that.

[sungchan: allegedly]

[you: i don’t want you whining to me when you fail that class]

You clicked your phone off, showing them the blank screen. “Nope, nothing on my screen.”

“You’re such a liar,” Yuta sighed, saying it as if it were as simple of a fact as the sky being blue or the grass being green. He trudged through the water up the shore until he could join you, plopping down in his chair next to yours. They had both kept their legs this afternoon instead of bringing out their tails, and he kicked his apart as he got comfortable.

Shotaro jogged up from the water too, grabbing the cooler and rooting around in it for a second. After securing the other half of his sandwich from the lunch that you all had eaten earlier, he sat down next to Yuta, taking a big bite from it.

You took Yuta’s lead and settled back in your chair, closing your eyes and just enjoying the warmth of the late afternoon Sun.

“He talks about you all the time, by the way.” Shotaro cut into your peace and quiet. If you had something within arm’s reach other than your metal reusable water bottle, you would’ve thrown it at him.

“Shotaro...” You groaned, rolling your eyes. You didn’t even need to ask who he was talking about.

“Seriously! ‘Y/N and I did this today.’ ‘Don’t wait up for me, I’m going to the movies with Y/N.’ ‘Y/N told me this funny story today.’ ‘Did you know such and such about this or that? Y/N’s so smart.’” He admittedly did a pretty good Sungchan impression. You would’ve laughed at it in any other context, but instead you were just annoyed.

“Yeah, well, we’re friends. We hang out, and do things together. He’s going to be talking about me,” you snapped. “He talks about you a bunch too. Because you guys, you know, live together. He also talks about his professors, and Jeno, and—”

“But it’s not the same.”

“Really?”

“Really.” He insisted.

Shotaro clearly wasn’t going to let up, so you momentarily engaged this line of thinking, hoping you could squash it. “What’s so different, then?”

“He’ll find just any reason to bring you up, for one. We’re grocery shopping? ‘Oh, Y/N likes this flavor.’ ‘We should pick this up for when Y/N comes over.’ ‘Shotaro don’t get that, Y/N doesn’t like it.’” His impression turned more high-pitched and whining. “We’re watching TV? ‘This reminds me of when Y/N and I did this...’ ‘I bet Y/N would love this show, we should watch it the next time she comes over.’ ‘Y/N has a shirt just like that character.’ We’re hanging out with other people? ‘Hey Sungchan, what uh, what are you giggling at on your phone over there?’” He first kept his normal tone of voice, then switched into his over-the-top fake-Sungchan. “‘Oh, Y/N just texted me something funny. But it’s an inside joke, so you guys wouldn’t get it, sorry.’ ‘Man, I wish Y/N could’ve come, sucks she had to work.’”

“Are you done?” You asked tersely, unamused.

“I could go on ad nauseum—”

“One could argue you already have.”

Yuta snickered.

“—but let’s call it there.”

“Thank God.”

Shotaro wasn’t done with his spiel yet, though. “I have had multiple friends, when he’ll first bring you around somewhere, quietly ask me if you’re Sungchan’s girlfriend and they like, missed when you two started dating.”

“I get it, I get it.” You said firmly, bringing a hand up to rub your face.

“Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Y/N, you’re an MCS major, I’m sure you’ve heard about what can happen to werewolves if there’s something discordant in their lives that isn’t alleviated?”

“You think he’s going to get pupsick because he’s allegedly got a crush on me?” You sputtered out in disbelief, your voice caught between a chuckle and a scoff at how absurd that sounded to you.

“It happened to Jeno.”

“Yeah, but he’s Jeno. With all due respect and no intention to kinkshame, he probably lets his girlfriend put a collar on him.”

Yuta shot up as he cackled, slapping his knee and coughing. He scrambled to grab his water bottle, taking a couple sips as he struggled to catch his breath.

Shotaro pushed on like you hadn’t said anything, “Now, I don’t want to have to put up with a pupsick Jung Sungchan, do you? That sounds awful. For me, obviously, since I live with him.”

“Shotaro, you are half-right about one thing.”

“And what’s that?” He asked smugly.

“I am kind of an MCS major. So I also know that Sungchan isn’t overly touchy with me, he hasn’t given me anything of his that smells like him, he doesn’t feed me, or do any other pre-mating behaviors that are ingrained in werewolves.” You ticked them each off on your fingers. “Look, I hate stereotyping you guys by your species. But if he’s apparently so down bad that he can’t help but talk about me every waking second of the day, wouldn’t at least one of these things that are literally instinctual to him have happened?”

Shotaro raised an eyebrow. “You do know that he’s half-werewolf, right?”

“What?” You blinked at him.

“Yeah, his mom’s a werewolf, and his dad’s a human.”

You’d had an MCS class on the Effects of Modern Integration, which had a unit specifically on the subject of cross-species offspring. Some species could have offspring together while others couldn’t, it depended both on genetic similarity and compatibility of their magic. With humans having no magic, that left only genetic similarity as a factor, making them a lot more compatible for producing such cross-species offspring. Werewolves and humans were one of the more common pairings to have such offspring, as they had one of the most extensive histories of living together.

Sungchan’s behavior on your first and only date immediately sprung to mind. His hesitance around humans dating werewolves just because they’re werewolves. “Are they...?”

“Happily married. They helped us move into our apartment last year.” Shotaro apparently knew exactly where your question was going. “But yeah, Sungchan’s half-human. As best I can tell, he’s kind of like a super-zen werewolf. Able to control everything a lot better than full werewolves because all of the wolf instincts and stuff aren’t as powerful.”

“He still shifts?” Despite the estimated number of half-werewolves being greater than the confirmed population of sphinxes, unicorns, and phoenixes combined, there was little actually known about them academically. It was all word of mouth, as no large-scale study had been able to be done on them. They were apparently reluctant to come forward and make themselves known to researchers. And their friends.

“Yeah, every full moon. Which I think is why he really just considers himself a werewolf.”

“I didn’t know,” you admitted, biting the inside of your cheek as you were still absorbing this information.

“Anyway, he can probably control whatever pre-mating instincts he does have a lot better than full werewolves!”

“And he’s probably doing that because he knows that you know what pre-mating behaviors look like and thinks you would get weirded out.” Yuta suggested, finally entering the conversation instead of just letting you two go back and forth over him. “Since you’re kind of an MCS major.”

“Exactly!”

You pursed your lips, an uneasiness creeping up on you about the whole situation. “I don’t know guys…”

“You said he doesn’t feed you?” Yuta questioned thoughtfully.

“No, he doesn’t. And you two are around us plenty, have either of you ever seen him try to?” You asked pointedly.

“No, but what Shotaro was saying about grocery shopping. He always buys your favorite foods, flavors he knows you likes, even makes Shotaro put stuff back that he knows you think are unappetizing.”

“I’ve never asked him to do anything like that.”

“And yet he does. Now, overly touchy is subjective. Does he—”

“No, we’re not doing this.” You cut him off, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Doing what?”

“Dissecting mine and Sungchan’s friendship and putting it up on a conspiracy board. I’m not playing. And if that’s all you guys are going to do, then I’m leaving.”

Shotaro jumped in, “Y/N, why can’t you even consider that—”

“Because he already asked to be friends and I said yes,” you said angrily, feeling your blood finally reach its boiling point. “I knew what I was getting myself into, and having you guys trying to convince me that it’s something that he already said it’s not, isn’t fucking helping.”

They were both quiet for a beat, and you clenched your jaw. You couldn’t keep sitting right now, you had to go somewhere, do something. If you stayed here, somebody’s feelings were going to get hurt. You stood up, stuffing all of your things haphazardly back into your bag. “Actually, fuck it, I’m leaving anyway.”

“Y/N, we didn’t mean to—”

“I know, you think you’re trying to help or whatever the fuck. But just drop it, okay?” You shoved your feet back in your shoes and slung your bag over your shoulder. “I need to go or I’m going to end up saying something nasty that I don’t really mean and regret it. I’ll see you guys later.”

And with that, you took off, leaving the chair you had borrowed from Yuta on the shore. You took your baseball cap back off to mess with your damp hair as you speedwalked down the city sidewalks. All the angry energy from wanting to just go off on your friends was still coursing through you, and despite Yuta having to pick you up and drive you the couple miles or so to the river, you figured that you might as well walk the whole way back home to blow off steam.

A little more than halfway home, your phone buzzed in your hand with a call, and you glanced at it intending to just send it to voicemail. But it was Sungchan. You stared down at it as you waited to cross a street, an unsure thumb hovering over your screen.

Glancing between your phone and the crosswalk signal, it changed to walk, and you rushed to cross. The call went to voicemail.

Just a few seconds later, your phone lit up with the missed call, a voicemail, then a text from him. You sighed, clicking on the voicemail first.

“Hey, Y/N,” Sungchan’s voice came through clearly. It sounded like he was outside, probably on campus and fresh out of class, if you had to guess by the time. “It’s Sungchan. Obviously. Uh, anyway, I just got out of class, wanted to see if you maybe wanted to come over? I know you’re supposed to be with Shotaro and Yuta, but Shotaro just texted me and said—well, it’s kind of a long story. Just let me know if you can come over, and I’ll tell you when you get here, okay? I’m headed back to my place right now. Okay, bye.”

Shotaro.

Still fucking meddling after you asked him to drop it. If you were less than halfway back from the river, you’d turn around and throttle him.

You checked the text from Sungchan.

[sungchan: hey! i’m out of class. are you busy?]

[you: i can be over in twenty. is that okay?]

You shifted uncomfortably as you stood in front of the front door to Shotaro and Sungchan’s apartment. Your hair wasn’t as damp thanks to your long walk in the hot Sun, and your skin was dry, but you still held yourself as you stared down the center of the white door. You hadn’t knocked yet. You didn’t want to know what Shotaro had told Sungchan, having already convinced yourself that it was everything. That you were about to walk into Friendzoning 2: Electric Boogaloo, this time with Letting Y/N Down Easy. It made your stomach churn, your chest squeeze like a vice around your heart, and your head feel like it had been cast in lead.

You shifted your weight between your feet on the welcome mat, trying to muster up the strength to just knock on the fucking door, when it swung open.

Sungchan was in a pair of dark sweatpants and a dark red t-shirt from your school’s astronomy club—dated for fall two years ago. He offered you a familiar smile, stepping back from the doorway to make room for you. “Hey, I thought I heard you. Come in.”

“Hey. And thanks.” You nodded, slipping by him into his apartment.

Wordlessly, he started leading the way further back towards his room. You longingly looked at the wide-open space of the living room as you disappeared down the hallway. In his bedroom, you saw his desk taken up by his laptop and a spread of notebooks and papers. His bookbag was in his desk chair.

“Sorry, I know that’s your usual spot, but I was doing some homework.” Sungchan had noticed where your gaze was focused. He patted the foot of his bed as he went to sit down against the headboard. “Come on, you can sit with me for once.”

You swallowed and nodded, stepping back out of your shoes and setting your bag down. Climbing onto the end of his bed, you sat with your legs criss-crossed, fidgeting with your fingers in your lap.

“So why did Shotaro text you?” You decided to just go straight into it. No small talk or pleasantries about his class or what homework he was working on. “What’d he say?”

“He told me that he told you that I’m half-werewolf,” Sungchan said bluntly. “I figured I owed you a bit more of an explanation.”

Oh. Well that wasn’t what you were expecting at all.

“You really don’t owe me anything, Sungchan,” you shook your head, your eyes trained on his comforter. “You don’t have to explain who you are to me if you don’t want to.”

“I want to.”

It was a touching sentiment, but it felt like a hot knife right in your gut. He wanted to because he cared about you as a friend. Not in the same way that you cared about him.

You could only manage a soft, “Okay…”

“It’s not some big secret, really. I’m not ashamed of my dad or anything. I love him, he’s a cool guy.” Sungchan started, and you felt like that first part was more to reassure you that it was okay for you to know. He was pointing to a picture that you’d seen a countless number of times before, hanging next to the mirror above his dresser. It was of him at his high school graduation, flanked on either side by his parents, proud, beaming smiles on all of their faces. You’d always assumed they were both werewolves when you’d looked at that picture, and only ever noticed that Sungchan got his smile from his mom, and his nose from his dad. The height difference between his mom and dad never really registered to you, as Sungchan towered over both of them, but now you did see that his mom was almost a head taller than his dad. Not a trait intrinsic to either species, just more of a trend.

But then, his tone turned a little more pensive, “I just... don’t tell people at first because I get a whole slew of questions, from the mundane stuff like ‘How was it growing up with one werewolf parent and one human parent?’ Which like... I don’t know, it was like growing up with two parents? To the people who think that I’m some oddity and therefore they can just ask me completely unprompted about what my dick looks like. And then at the end of it, it doesn’t really matter anyway. I’m just some dumb mutt to them, no matter how you look at it.”

“Sungchan—” His name came out of your mouth instinctually, pained, as you could only imagine what he had experienced to ever be able to call himself that, even cynically as he was doing now.

“It’s okay. I don’t really care about those kinds of people.” He reassured you, offering a small smile. “That’s why I don’t waste my time on them anymore. I just say I’m a werewolf, and eventually they’ll find out more if they need to.”

“I’m sorry, that Shotaro just—”

“Y/N, it’s fine, seriously. I’m okay with you knowing. I know you’re not going to be weird about it. And Shotaro knew that too; I’m sure however it came up in conversation, it made sense for him to tell you.”

You thought about the context of when Shotaro revealed Sungchan’s lineage, wincing minutely. “Okay. Thanks.”

“You can ask me questions, I don’t mind since it’s you.” He then added teasingly, “Come on, Miss Magical Creatures Studies, I know you want to…”

“Not because I think you’re some oddity to be studied, but because I care and I want to understand more about you…” You prefaced your question. “Shotaro said that you still shift every full moon. Are your shifts any different than full werewolves?”

“From what I can tell watching other wolves shift, it’s not as painful, for one. So, bonus!” He said the last word with mock excitement. “The shift itself doesn’t last as long. And some wolves, especially younger ones who are going through their first shifts, tend to get kind of moodier in the days leading up to the full moon. I never got that. Just, everything is kind of… less for me.”

“Everything?” You asked, brows furrowed with confusion.

“My senses are more heightened than a human’s but less than the average werewolf, when I’m not shifted.”

“Ah.”

“And I probably wouldn’t fare great in a werewolf arm wrestling championship,” he tacked on lightheartedly.

“Damn, I had you signed up in one for this weekend,” you joked, clicking your tongue in the back of your throat in fake disappointment. “Put money down and everything.”

He played along, “Well, I guess I can still try for you.”

You smiled to yourself, then looked up at him as you took a deep breath. Whether or not you two were here because you cared about each other in different ways, you at least still cared about each other. And you’d be an idiot to throw out that kind of connection. You’d have to suck it up, hunker down, and connect with him on his terms.

“Thanks for being so open about this with me, Sungchan. I know it wasn’t your choice to tell me, and I know you already said it wasn’t a secret either. But still, I feel... very grateful that you would want to share any part of yourself like this with me.” You tried to pick your words carefully, to convey as much genuine emotion as you could without veering too far into romantic territory. You could still easily picture yourself saying something like this to Jaemin, or Shotaro. Maybe not Donghyuck, though.

“Ah, what’s that?” Sungchan squeezed his eyes shut, a bashful smile coming to his face.

“What’s what?” You asked with a breathy chuckle, feigning offense. “Am I not allowed a moment of sincerity?”

“No, you’re not.” He said it in an overly joking tone, so you knew that he wasn’t actually upset with you.

“And why not?” You mimicked his tone.

He sighed, teasing falling from his voice as he fully leaned back against his headboard, seeming to take you in for a few seconds before answering. “Not if you’re going to be looking at me like that when you’re being all sincere.”

“Like what?”

“Never mind.”

“No, no sir. You do not get to start an avenue of conversation like that and not finish it,” you pointed at him accusingly. “What am I looking at you like?”

The werewolf held your gaze steadily as he said, “Like you want something more.”

You felt your stomach drop as you rushed to get up from his bed, putting even more distance between the two of you. “I’m sorry, Sungchan. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

He knew, he knew, he knew.

“Y/N, don’t get me wrong, please.” Sungchan stood up after you, grasping your hand before you could run out on instinct. His grip was loose so that you could leave if you wanted, but the presence was enough to let you know that he still wanted you there, to listen to him. His hand was warm as it held yours, but it burned like you’d grabbed red-hot metal. “I-I think you’re one of the most incredible, smart, fantastic people I’ve ever met. And I’m so grateful that you gave me a second chance.”

“But you don’t like me like that. Yeah, I can see where this is going.” You shook him off, searching the floor for your bag and shoes. This was going to be embarrassing, putting sneakers back on after getting rejected like that.

“No, I do.”

Sungchan’s words stopped you in your tracks, and you slowly turned back around to face him again. Your heart was a drum banging in your ears, you couldn’t trust that they weren’t all—your heart and your ears—playing tricks on you.

“You… what?” You were dumbfounded, staring up at him with a mixture of disbelief and thinly-veiled suspicion. You’d spent far too long convincing yourself that he just liked you as a friend to throw it all out over three words.

“I was going to ask you on another date, that night at the boba shop, I really was,” he explained. “But I realized just how lovely and wonderful you were. And I thought that you didn’t deserve... all the hatred that would come with it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I love my parents, but growing up I got to see firsthand just the worst sorts of people… The things that my parents would be called, that I would get called, by other humans and other werewolves. It’s gotten a lot better, but I mean, Jeno’s girlfriend got called a knotslut at the park out of nowhere. And you don’t deserve to have that be your life.”

You narrowed your eyes up at him. “You think you’re not worth it?”

It was his turn to be thrown off-guard. “What?”

“You think that you, and being with you, aren’t worth it?” You reiterated.

“I wasn’t really thinking of it like that,” he admitted, scratching the back of his head.

“Do you think that? That you’re not worth it?”

“Well now that you say it like that, no, I don’t think that.” He frowned thoughtfully, his brow set with determination.

“And, I know you didn’t mean it like this, Sungchan, but you took the choice away from me. For a very sweet reason, I acknowledge that. But you didn’t give me a say in the matter. Imagine how that makes me feel.” You sighed, watching guilt flicker across his face. “I’m not going to pretend like I know at all what it was like for you growing up. Or what it’s like now. But I can tell you that I want this, that I want you. I want to be there for you, just like I know you’d be there for me if something ever did happen.”

“Of course I would be,” he declared.

Taking a step closer to him, you tentatively let a familiar airiness return to your chest, chasing out the painful squeeze that had been suffocating you since February. “See? We’ll have each other, Sungchan. Someone calling me something won’t matter as long as you’ll be there with me afterwards. You don’t have to prevent everything bad ever from happening, just hold my hand afterwards until it’s all better, okay?”

“Okay,” he nodded resolutely. “I can do that.”

“And I’ll do the same for you. Deal?” You held your pinky finger out to him.

He hooked his with yours. “Deal.”

Sungchan lowered your connected hands, and you watched curiously as he unlinked his pinky, only to turn your hand over with both of his and trace gentle circles into the palm of your hand with his pointer finger.

“Y/N?” He murmured.

You snapped your focus back up to his face at the sound of his voice, trepid and unsure. He was still gazing down at your hands as you replied, “Yes?”

“I know we really can’t start over completely now, but…”

“If you say ‘friends’ right now, even as a joke, I’m going to kill you with my bare hands, half-werewolf strength be damned.” You whispered through gritted teeth.

He sputtered out a chuckle, shaking his head fondly and the circles on your palm never slowing. “No, no, I wouldn’t do that to you. That would be a terrible joke.”

“Good.”

“I was going to ask...” He inhaled shakily, finally drawing his eyes up to yours. “If we could try that date again?”

A smile pulled at the corners of your mouth, and you nodded quickly. “Yeah, Sungchan. I’d love that.”

Sungchan beamed at you, a heart-stopping, adorable, lopsided grin that now made your chest flutter with hope. “Okay! Thank you, thank you!”

You couldn’t help but giggle at his enthusiasm. “You’re welcome.”

Leaping to your feet at the knock that just came from your front door, you ran to answer it. You threw the door open, abuzz with excitement.

It was just about a week later, and you and Sungchan were finally trying that date again. You’d actually seen him once in the intermittent days, at a previously scheduled group movie night at Jeno and Jaemin’s place. The two of you were all knowing smiles and questionably accidental bumps and brushes of skin under the blanket that you shared that night.

But tonight Sungchan was in your hallway, smiling nervously down at you. “Hi.”

“Hi, Sungchan.” You fidgeted with your shirt. He had specifically told you to dress casually and comfortable, but you still felt weirdly underdressed, even seeing that he was in a t-shirt and jeans himself.

“These are for you,” he said quietly, bringing out a bouquet of flowers from behind his back.

As you accepted them from him, you immediately realized that they were made of paper, intricately folded tulips, lilies, and roses of all colors. You couldn’t help but let out a small gasp, thinking about how much time it must have taken him. “An origami bouquet. Oh, Sungchan…”

“I figured you had plenty of hearts by now…” He said as he flushed from his neck upwards.

“They’re beautiful.” You got on your tiptoes, putting a hand on his shoulder to steady yourself as you pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek. “Thank you.”

His cheeks were bright pink as you turned around to set them down inside, then looked back to him expectantly. The werewolf led the way out to the parking lot, except you didn’t see his car anywhere around. There was a familiar old blue pickup truck, however, which he was walking towards.

“Your car in the shop or something?” You asked curiously. “Why are you driving Yuta’s truck?”

“Utility.” He answered cryptically, opening the passenger door for you.

“What does that mean?” You questioned with a chuckle, scooting into the middle of the bench seat.

You’d gotten your seatbelt situated by the time Sungchan had walked around and opened the driver’s side. He didn’t seem to have been expecting you to be in the middle, pausing for a second, and looking around flustered as he climbed into the truck too.

“It’s a surprise, like I said,” he muttered, fastening his own seatbelt and starting the truck.

Sungchan drove with one hand on the wheel, the other on his leg next to yours. You drummed your fingers on your own knee contemplatively.

“Sungchan?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I hold your hand?”

“Wh— Yeah, of course.” He laughed shakily as you laced your fingers with his. “You don’t need to ask me about stuff like that.”

“Well you’re so tense right now that I was afraid that if I just grabbed your hand, you might freak and crash the car.”

He cringed. “So you can tell?”

“Yeah, I can tell.” You patted his arm with your other hand. “What’s got you so wound up? It’s just me.”

“Well, yeah, it’s you,” he repeated. “I’ve already messed up so many times with you. I don’t want to fuck up again.”

You contemplated this for a second, watching the passing streetlights. “Think about it like this: Could you possibly fuck up again worse than our first date?”

“I hope not.”

“Then you’re already off to a great start.”

“Y/N, I think you need higher standards,” he said without an ounce of humor or joking in his tone.

You couldn’t help but burst into laughter at that. “Sungchan, you made me an entire origami bouquet and organized a whole night out to surprise me. I think my standards are pretty okay.”

“Alright, but you’ve got to promise that this is my last chance. Like, three strikes and I’m out. Seriously, if I was some other guy, I would’ve told you to throw me to the curb a long time ago.”

You looked over at him incredulously. “Are you seriously advocating against yourself right now? Is this some kind of reverse psychology flirting technique that I’ve never heard of?”

“No, I’m just not going to stop being a good friend because you’re on a date with me. I told you I would always look out for you, and I meant it, even if it’s not in my best interest.”

Nodding with a raised eyebrow, you decided to take his advice at face value. “Okay, your input is noted as part of the council of friends’ round table on my new guy.”

You saw a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. “Good.”

“So, did you tell Shotaro what we were doing?” You asked, curious now that the topic of friends had been brought up.

“I told him we were hanging out.”

“Did you tell him it was a date?”

“No. Did you?”

“If I did, do you think you would have gotten out of your apartment unscathed?” You snorted.

“Fair point.”

The car ride passed with mostly idle chitchat, until he made a turn away from the city center, off onto a back road that you were unfamiliar with. The buildings gave way to trees, the streetlights being replaced only with moonlight and the headlights of the truck or any lone car that you would pass occasionally. A while later, the asphalt became a dirt road, the trees around you getting thicker and thicker. You looked around in interest as he slowed the truck to a stop in a clearing.

“We’re here?” You asked, looking over at him. Your eyes had long adjusted to the nighttime, and you could clearly make out his features.

“We’re here,” he confirmed with a nod, turning the vehicle off.

Sungchan climbed out, helping you down with a hand, and you immediately knew why he’d had both of you dress casually. You were in the middle of the woods, being led to the back of the truck by the hand by your date. He opened the tailgate, and let go of your hand to hop up into the empty bed.

“Wait there,” he requested, now well and good towering over you.

You nodded.

He retrieved a large duffel bag from the truck bed, and you looked curiously at everything he brought out of it. Pillow after pillow, blanket after blanket. The truck bed soon looked like a bed bed, and Sungchan came back over to plop down on the tailgate, toeing his shoes off and setting them aside at the end. He gestured to the bedding with little fanfare.

“All done!”

You hopped up next to him, pulling your shoes off as well and putting them away next to his. Looking at him with a knowing smirk, you nodded to the fact that the two of you were still sitting up. “Now what, Sung?”

“Ah, you’re going to make me spell it out?” He rubbed the back of his neck, ducking his head awkwardly.

“No,” you laughed. “I’m not.”

He took that as his cue to lay down first, leaving an open space right beside him. You settled into his side with no hesitation, resting your head on his chest as he pulled a final fluffy blanket over the two of you. Being a half-werewolf, Sungchan was pretty warm, but you were grateful for the extra comfort anyway.

Up above you two was a gorgeous expanse of a night sky. A waxing gibbous glowed down at you, stars twinkling and winking in and out at irregular intervals.

“It’s so peaceful…” He murmured quietly, shifting under you, still settling in.

“I don’t know, it’s kind of scary out here…”

Sungchan moved to sit up slightly, looking down at you with concern. “Really? You think so?”

“Yeah, what if there’s wolves?”

“Oh my god you’re so annoying,” he groaned, even as he readjusted his arms to hold you closer.

You, meanwhile, were giggling maniacally at your incredible joke, hiding your face in his shirt as you tried to recover. “You mean I’m the funniest person you know.”

“In your dreams.”

Looking back up at the sky, you pointed to a random speck of light. “Do you know what star that is?”

“Which one?” Sungchan asked, craning his head to try to get in your line of sight.

“I don’t know, any of them.” You dropped your hand back down to his front. “You’re in astronomy club, tell me about them, you big Earth Science nerd. Which I say with great affection and fondness.”

“Okay, so you see the Moon?”

“That’s not a star. I do know that.”

He chuckled, which you felt underneath your cheek. “I figured as much. So, starting at the Moon, if you go due North—” he pointed, and you tried your best to follow the path of his index finger. “The first and brightest star you can see. See it?”

“Yep!” You nodded, seeing the exact star he was talking about.

“Then go the right, just a little, there’s a pair of twin stars, see them?”

“Mm… mhm! Yes!”

“Okay, down, and over to the right some more, we’re tracing out the top of a head, then we’re going back up, there’s another pair of twin stars, you see?”

You squinted, losing the top of the head he was talking about, but finally found the second set of twin stars he’d mentioned. “Yeah, found them!”

“Cool. Straight down from that pair, we’re going to find one, two, then over to the left to get the chin, over and up to get the other cheek, and up to round out the head.”

You nodded, vaguely able to picture what he was talking about. “Okay… so whose head was that?”

“Oh, I get to teach Miss MCS Major something!” Sungchan teased.

“Interdisciplinary major…” You reminded him under your breath.

“So that was Lykos, the great wolf in the sky. As in, lycanthropy.”

“Back when scientists thought werewolves were humans with an affliction that could be passed on to other humans. The quote ‘condition’ they were diagnosed with was lycanthropy.” You easily pulled a basic definition of it from class. “Of course we know now that’s not true. Like witches, werewolves are an entirely different species, not just a variety of human. And there’s never been any credible account of a werewolf turning a human into a werewolf.”

“Why is it that humans just think everything is also a human, even when it very clearly is not?”

“Well, if I were to give us humans benefit of the doubt? Uh, to relate to it? Empathy? Recognition of yourself in the other? I mean, it’s better than labeling everything a monster and hunting it down. Which, we also did a bit of.”

“Us monsters did plenty hunting of you guys, too.”

“You say as if you’re not also half-human.”

“Hey,” he frowned down at you suspiciously. “Are you recognizing yourself in the other with me right now? I think we should really save that for the second date—”

“Oh, shut up!” You gave his front a smack as you let out an indignant scoff.

Sungchan was kicking his legs under the blanket as he laughed from his stomach, and when you looked up at him, you saw his eyes squeezed shut tight as he cackled. You watched him with a smitten smile, unable to even pretend to be annoyed for any longer as his guffaws petered out to chuckles then to giggles until he eventually sobered up, and settled his gaze with a heart-stopping grin on you.

The two of you were quiet for a moment, just looking at each other, then he broke the eye contact, turning his eyes back up to the stars. “Uhm— I didn’t finish telling you about Lykos.”

You settled back into your spot, and with your ear to his chest, you could hear that his heartbeat was faster than it’d been before. You wondered if he was thinking the same thing about yours in that moment.

“So, Lykos,” Sungchan picked up where he’d left off before. “You can easily find him by starting at the moon to find his left ear. According to werewolf stories, Lykos was the very first werewolf that we’re all descended from. Because he was so great and powerful, once he passed, his soul ascended to be in the stars to watch over all of his descendants.”

“Wow…” You looked at the stars harder, willing Lykos’ shape to be a little more visible to you than before.

“In astronomy, though, the two twin stars that make up his left ear are called LK 1C04 and LK 2C04. They’re both red giants.”

“Are they going to explode any time soon?”

“Stars are kind of always exploding,” he explained enthusiastically. “They’re perpetually combusting and performing nuclear fusion. Well, most stars, if they haven’t run out of fuel yet.”

“What about when they run out of fuel then?”

“Depends on how big they are. LK 1C04 and 2C04 are both red giants, so when they run out of fuel, they’ll turn into white dwarves. So instead of being a burning ball of gas, they’ll just be emitting a very faint light from the remaining energy leftover from their previous nuclear fusion reactions that they can no longer perform.”

“So they don’t get to go out with a bang.”

“No, not really.” Sungchan pointed up at the sky again. “Okay, you remember Lykos’ chin?”

“Yes…”

“So that’s actually the end of the tail of a squirrel, according to some dryad traditions, or a gecko in some human ones.”

Sungchan sketched out the next constellation for you, then relayed the accompanying folk tale. Some scientific factoids would be interspersed too, and you loved hearing the enthusiasm in his voice as he told you about something he was very clearly interested in. And at some point, with his legs tangled up in yours, your hand curled around his waist, your cheek pressed against his chest, his hand casually rubbing up and down your back underneath your top as he still spoke so eagerly, you found your attention slipping away from black holes and how legends of ancient wyvern society said this or that about some other constellation. You were suddenly grabbing him by the collar with two hands and yanking him over to look at you.

“Y/N?” He asked, absolute bewilderment in his features.

“Jung Sungchan, I’m going to say this once, and please don’t take this the wrong way,” you murmured, holding eye contact with him very seriously. “You’re very attractive when you talk about things that you’re passionate about, and if you don’t kiss me right now I think I’m going to explode.”

Sungchan didn’t need to be told twice, reaching up to cup your cheek. Despite your rather blunt and unromantic request, he still tenderly guided your lips to his. Your eyes fluttered shut as you melted into the kiss, the grip you had on his collar relaxing. His mouth was soft as he moved it ever so slightly against yours. His thumb stroked over your cheekbone, the hand on your back pulling you even closer to him. One of your hands grabbed his waist to anchor yourself down to something on Earth.

It ended all too soon for your liking, though. You were pretty sure you could kiss Jung Sungchan forever. He pressed one more quick kiss to the corner of your mouth before leaning back to drink you in.

“You’re so beautiful…” he murmured, stroking your cheek again.

“Sung?” You whispered.

“Hm?”

“Do you want to kiss me again?”

He nodded, and you leaned forward to bump your nose against his. A giddy smile spread across your face.

“Good. Me too.”

sequel :･ﾟ✧｡･:･*

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[howlsofbloodhounds]

Killer purrs when he take care of others.

LET ME COOK WAIT!

He knows that other beings fear him; humans, monsters, no one in their right mind would let their guard down around a being like Killer (someone with an indecipherable soul).

However, there are creatures who submit to his hands, who accept his most delicate caress - even though these same creatures are aware of his volatile personality, knowing that Killer can tear them to shreds and step on their remains as if they were nothing.

But they persist in remaining in his arms, welcoming Killer's rare affection in their most vulnerable state.

And Killer, fascinated by, perhaps, this naivety, does not contain the light purr that resonates through his vertebrae.

Ooh that’s both interesting and kinda cute. I’d imagine he’d be both fascinated and curious about this, and would instinctively want to test how far this trust—naviety, I suppose—would go.

Would they stay even if he makes them cry, makes them bleed, makes them shake and tremble. Makes them afraid. Perhaps even breaks some limbs here and there. Would they stay if he tells them he still thinks they’re beautiful.

Of course, if he ever actually acts on these urges depends. Perhaps he’s enjoying taking care of something rather than destroying it all the time—perhaps knowing that they know that he could (and one day will, someday somehow, he thinks it’s inevitable) and is choosing not to is enough.

Although, if he’s still with Nightmare and if he thinks it comes more from naivety than trust in him—the ‘naive’ belief that he’s somewhere deep down a “good person” or a person at all—there may even be an element of amusement and perhaps even contempt, as if looking down on that person even as he takes care of them. Kinda like with Swap.

{ @qin-qin16 }

[mixtape-racha]

angel with a shotgun - k.th

part of the aria birthday series ˖°🦇ִ ࣪𖤐 (will eventually get a part 2)

words: 1k // warnings: light angst, established relationship, supernatural au, werewolf!reader

some would say kang taehyun was a villain. a scoundrel, a thief. others would say he was a bad omen. but their opinions didn’t matter - not to him anyway. the only person whose opinion meant anything was yours.

you and taehyun had been together for a little over a year, and you’d never had anything but a good word to say about him. he was your angel, your light in the dark, and your escape when home seemed too suffocating.

to you, finding taehyun when you did was nothing short of a miracle. he seemed to have made his way into your life when you needed him the most, and you’d rather be burned alive at the stake before letting him go.

finding love as a…. creature of your predicament was difficult enough. while supernatural beings were far from hidden to the human world, most still saw you as a threat. or worse, a disease to be washed out. so yeah, as a werewolf, love and relationships weren’t something your life was given in abundance.

at first, you thought taehyun was just… different. a human who wasn’t afraid, or eager to trap you. nor was he on the opposite end of the spectrum - he wasn’t one who fetishized supernatural beings, saw them as a toy to use and keep as simply a sexualized pet. and it was nice to be with someone who had no ulterior motive. a breath of fresh air.

until it wasn’t - he’d been acting strange. canceling dates last minute, never staying over when he promised to. its like he was hiding a whole part of himself from you, and it frightened you. gave you ample reason to put those protective walls back up, and disconnect yourself from romance once again.

but the worst part was how much it hurt. you truly thought taehyun was different, would be better than anyone you’d attempted to bare yourself to before. that's why after a few days of moping when he canceled yet another date, you’d decided enough was enough. if he truly wanted you, he’d need to reciprocate your energy. and if not… well, he could at least have the balls to tell you to your face.

it was creeping towards 4 in the morning on a saturday when your late night drive dragged you outside taehyun’s apartment building. you assumed it was your subconscious telling you to get answers, and you knew you had to do it eventually, so why not now? you knew he was at home and awake - the light of his balcony was on, and you could see the shadows on the tv playing.

the elevator ride up to the fifth floor filled you with dread - brain working overtime to give you visions of all the worst case scenarios that could play out. even as you approached his door and raised your fist to knock, your heart was fluttering at an alarming speed.

you knocked gently, fully aware that he had neighbors that wouldn’t appreciate being disturbed at such an unsociable hour, and tried to calm yourself before taehyun saw you in such a state.

but when the door swung open and he realized you were standing on his doorstep, he looked more surprised than you could have imagined.

“y/n? what are you doing here? … why are you out alone at this time?!”

he was quick to drag you into the apartment, the door swinging closed behind you. you cringed as it slammed, pulling your arm from taehyun’s grip as you grappled with how to go about your feelings next.

“expecting someone else? you of all people know i’m more than okay being outside alone at night, tae.”

his expression softened at your words, and it was hard to deny the butterflies you felt when he visibly relaxed and took your hands in his.

“what’s going on, hmm? talk to me.”

“i think you need to do the talking, really,” you half-smiled with a slight shrug of the shoulders. “you’ve been acting so… weird lately. did… do you wanna break up or something?”

taehyun’s eyes widened and he shook his head fast, the shock and confusion evident on his features.

“no! no, of course i don’t! why would you think that?”

you sighed, pushing away from him once more to pace across his apartment hallway.

“why? maybe because you’ve been so distant! i feel like i’m the only one putting any effort in, like you don’t want me as much as i want you.”

he lead you into the living room, gesturing for you to sit on the couch so he could explain himself, and you were more than eager to listen. anything to get answers to all the questions running through your mind lately - to put your doubts at rest.

“i’m..” he sighed, hands rubbing at his temples as he tried to formulate the words he wanted to convey. “i don’t want to mess this up, okay? i’ve been… i’ve been trying to learn more about werewolf culture. about– about your courting ways, how to track when you’re going to go into heat, what you can’t do and what will make your inner wolf happy. i want to be good to you, and i don’t want to do something wrong.”

and oh, how your heart ached at the pleading expression on his face, as if he was begging you to forgive him. when in fact, there was nothing to forgive. he had actually achieved a great step - he had officially done more for you than anyone ever had before, and you could cry with how grateful you were.

“tae.. that’s– you’re amazing. i’m so sorry for overreacting.” your eyes welled with tears and he rushed to wipe them away before they could fall, cradling your head to his chest - his heartbeat instantly calming you.

“don’t be silly, you have nothing to be sorry for, yeah? now.. since you’re here, and its so late, why don’t we head to bed?”

god, you couldn’t think of anything better.

taglist: @pretty-racha @demetrisscarf @bangtancultsposts @watariisbestboy @yevene @zuzuhasablog @popesfirstluv @zuzuhasablog @hearts4tubatu

[arya-skywalker]

Fae and Fate (Renegade Nell fic)

Summary: A look into Billy Blind’s mind leading up to his decision to introduce himself, and a slight variation on the scene itself.

Notes: Dipping my toes into the fandom with a little character study thing. Some canon dialogue, some lines tweaked or added. Technically more canon adjacent with the main difference being that Billy is slightly less stupid and slightly more fae, but events continue in roughly the same way.

AO3 link

Billy Blind knew two things: that humans were fragile but wonderful creatures, and that he had magic they didn’t. His powers came from light, from laughter and love, from all that was good and right. He could imbue a chosen human with strength and agility beyond their wildest dreams— but only for protection, never for personal gain. He could change his size and appearance, become invisible or intangible at will. He could see brief glimpses into the future— warnings of approaching danger or a sense that someone would do great things— but his past was lost to him.

Sometimes he’d hear a whisper of song, a long-forgotten tune that tugged at his heartstrings and filled him with longing. Something beyond mortal senses, something that was no longer his. Mushroom circles reminded him of a home he could scarcely remember; a doorway locked and barred, unable to be seen but there all the same.

When Billy first set eyes on Nell Jackson, he knew with every fiber of his being that fate had brought them together for a reason. She would be his human, his chosen vessel, his connection to the mortal realm. She was strong, stronger than she knew— not only in body, but in heart and spirit and mind. She stood up for herself and others.

It didn’t take long for Billy to realize she was maddeningly unpredictable as well. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, no, it kept things exciting! But still, it meant he had to adapt. He couldn’t make a proper deal, no, she jumped straight into danger before he could consider saying a word, and well now he had to protect her, didn’t he? So he did. That time, and the next, and the next, and blimey did she end up in danger rather often!

~*~

Billy watched from a distance as Nell returned home. She should be safe now, theoretically, but he still didn’t want to leave her. There was more to the story, their tale was not yet complete.

He learned that she had family, two younger sisters and a father. Everyone in town suspected she had died in the war with her husband. If Billy hadn’t intervened, she likely would have. Wars were terrible things. The local lord’s son had been wreaking havoc on her home town— which meant she wasn’t safe here after all and she still needed Billy’s protection. All the more reason to stay, at least a little while longer.

Billy respectfully did not watch as Nell went through her wardrobe transformation, but still he kept an ear out just in case. The sisters were catching up with each other; the subject moved to Nell’s late husband.

“I do miss him a bit. Except I don’t think he’s left me, even if he is dead,” Nell said. “It’s like today, I got held up by these highwaymen. And one of them hit me. And it’s like… I don’t know, something happens to me inside and… you should see me. I’m untouchable.”

Oh no. No, no, no! That wasn’t what he meant! Billy didn’t even know her late husband— or if he did he couldn’t remember. Perhaps the man’s death had somehow drawn Billy to her, but even if so, they weren’t the same person. Billy most certainly was no ghost, he was a fairy. Keeping up this ruse would be a lie. That wasn’t right.

He had to tell her the truth, somehow. When the time was right.

~*~

Billy watched as Nell made a fool of herself, wincing as that lord’s son threw her around like a sack of potatoes. But there were rules. She started it. She could stand to take a few punches. She had to learn a lesson in caution; throwing herself recklessly into danger expecting him to save her wouldn’t do. He wouldn’t always bail her out of situations she willingly got herself into. His powers were a special gift, not something to be wasted on petty quarrels.

There was a limit.

If her life was threatened, he could step in. If the lives of those she cared about were threatened, he could step in. If she was in danger of permanent injury, he could step in.

The whip was danger enough. One lash he let slip, seeing it would barely graze her cheek.

Then he shrunk into a speck of light and dove into her, filling her lungs and veins with his power. It was invigorating, disorienting, fulfilling. Time slowed around them. He felt her every move, her every emotion. They were one.

Her righteous fury filled him as his powers fueled her. A dangerous thing, that. But she got her revenge, and he protected her.

As soon as it was clear she and her family were safe, he withdrew and flew off, giving her some space and taking some time to think.

~*~

Now, the question was how? How could he reveal himself and get her to listen to a word he said?

He could try passing as a human. A simple glamor. The right size and shape as a normal man, nothing out of the ordinary. Say how he wanted to help, ask her opinion on magic, ease her into the reveal. That sort of thing.

But then again she had a habit of attacking anyone who frightened her or even looked at her the wrong way. That might be an issue.

He could try writing a note, explaining everything in detail and leaving no room for misinterpretation.

Except he knew she couldn’t read, and anyone who did read it would think it madness. Humans generally had difficulty believing in anything magical in nature, which was the whole problem to begin with.

Or he could just show up as himself and hope for the best. Put precautions in place so she wouldn’t hurt herself trying to fight him. Sometimes the simplest solution was most effective.

Right. Billy had to reveal himself. It had gone on long enough. He waited until they were alone in the middle of the night, less likely to be overheard.

“Nell. Nelly,” he whispered. When she barely acknowledged him, he shouted, “Nelly Jackson!” There, finally she moved!

“D-don’t scream,” he warned, then internally kicked himself. That was a foolish thing to start with. But he continued, “You need to look up.”

She opened her eyes, scanning the room, until finally she looked straight at him, eyes wide in shock. She saw him! Good. This was good.

“Oh, I’ve been racking my brains trying to figure out the best way to introduce myself without giving you a shock, Nelly Jackson,” Billy said. “Frankly, there isn’t one! Of course, it isn’t absolutely necessary that I should introduce myself.”

He stood on the beam, doing his best to appear more confident. “But in your case, I had a sneaking suspicion it might crop up sooner rather than later.” He flew towards her, slowly and cautiously.

Of course she immediately drew a pistol on him. Luckily he had prepared for that.

“So three things. One, I’m on your side. Two, that is not loaded.” He pointed to the gun. “And three, it won’t have any effect on me even if it was, for I am non-corporeal!” He did a little bow for effect.

“What do you mean you’re on my side?” Nell demanded. She didn’t lower the gun.

Clearly, words weren’t enough. Billy sighed. “Look at me,” he said, making sure she made eye contact before diving in and briefly sharing his powers. Just long enough for her to feel and acknowledge it, assuage her fears.

Then he flew out again and did a flip in midair. “I protect you!”

Nell stared at him, still wary, still holding the gun. “Why?”

“Because you are a very special person, Nell Jackson, and we will do great things together,” he said, believing every word and hoping she would too.

“You don’t know a damn thing about me.”

“I do, actually,” Billy countered. “I’ve been watching you. And I have the gift of foresight, a strong intuition and an excellent judge of character.”

Nell scoffed. “Watching me, have you?”

“A bit hard to protect you if I’m not around, yeah? I know you have a good heart, you’re brave, you stand up for the right things. Those are all good signs.”

“I didn’t ask you to protect me.”

“No, you didn’t. But you like it, don’t you? The power. I heard you boasting about being untouchable— and that’s not entirely true.”

Ah, there, now he truly had her attention! She wavered, more curious than wary now. Good. “Feels untouchable, that power,” she said. “There some catch?”

Billy nodded. “The more immediate point is this: I can only protect you, Nelly Jackson. I will not take part in random acts of violence.” He landed on the pistol and walked across it.

She frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Like earlier this evening,” Billy clarified.

“What? He’s a bully! He’s an arrogant lout, and he hurts people,” Nell protested.

“Be that as it may, he didn’t start anything. You did.”

“No, he was gonna!”

Billy shook his head. “Ain’t the point. It was an unnecessary risk, egging him on like that. You knew he’d lash out, and you expected me to enhance your abilities. You can’t rely on it, Nelly. My powers are a gift. I chose to give them to you, and I can choose when not to.”

“No, wait. You mean you let him whoop me about and you could have stopped it?!”

“I did stop it.”

“Not sooner!” Nell shouted. “Like when he was grinding my face in the mud!”

A knock on the door interrupted them. Thank goodness! Something to distract her from her anger. This was not going to plan. Not at all.

Nell glanced at the door, then back at him. “Who sent you? Where are you from? Look at you. What are you dressed as?”

That was a lot of questions. Most of which he hadn’t the foggiest clue of. And that last one was just plain insulting. He liked his clothes, thank you very much.

Before he could reply, the knock continued. Nell shot him a warning look and a “wait right there” and went to answer it. After a few steps, she paused and glanced back at him. “What’s your name? I mean, do you got one?”

It was time to give his name, to complete the bond and give himself fully. This was his best chance, a way to save this mess of a conversation. He took a breath and smiled.

“Yeah. Billy. Billy Blind. It’s truly a pleasure to meet you, Nell Jackson, and I look forward to what we can achieve together.” There, done! He felt a warmth in his chest as the bond sealed. He was her fairy, and she was his human. It was all official now, even if they took a roundabout route to get there.

“I’ll catch you later.” With a wink and a clap, he turned into a spark and flew off before she could ask any further questions.

[loftylockjaw]

TIMING: Current LOCATION: The woods PARTIES: Wyatt (@loftylockjaw) & Mateo (@fearhims3lf) SUMMARY: Just some dudes bonding over explosions. CONTENT WARNINGS: Gun use

—

BANG!

The can used as a makeshift target several yards away flung with the force of a bullet. It was the farthest distance Mateo had been able to accurately shoot with his pistol. He closed one eye and inhaled, shooting three more times as he exhaled. Two out of the three cans flew away, and he sucked his teeth with disappointment. If he couldn’t hit still targets, how’d he expect to hit ones that were moving? Rolling his eyes at himself, Mateo mentally reassured himself that he was fine. 

There were several dozen pieces of metal on the ground proving that a few missed shots were inevitable. He held onto that, removing the clip from the gun and checking the chamber to ensure no bullet was left inside. When Mateo was satisfied with his gun cleanup, he picked up his pack and began his march to pick up his trash. An asshole he may be, but he did not litter. He wouldn’t be part of that particular problem, and just as he was halfway through with the errand, there was the telltale sound of footsteps nearby. Only, they weren’t just footsteps. Each thump crunched several branches at once, as if the size of its foot was an indication of the source being a creature rather than a person. 

“Come on.” Mateo groaned, irritated at himself for thinking that any day in that stupid town could be normal. With a huff, he reclipped his gun and pulled the chamber back, readying himself to shoot, but when he finally saw what was coming, he shrank with widened eyes.

“I’m gonna need bigger bullets.”

—

Most people heard gunshots in the woods and made sure to stay well away, especially if they didn’t happen to be in the midst of a hunting reserve. Despite this, Wyatt strode boldly forward, thinking about a meal rather than the stupidity of this particular decision. The sound was distant for now, and before it became a danger to his comparatively fragile human body, the lamia stripped out of his clothes and left them hanging over the branches of a nearby tree—it was a spot he often chose if he didn’t happen to have his modified backpack with him. The shift was swift and relatively painless, unlike that of lesser shifters, his crocodilian body bursting forth from the smaller human one that contained it with decades of practiced ease. The massive lamia rocked forward onto all fours and began his lumbering march through the trees, closer and closer to the sound. It stopped eventually, but he’d already locked on to his target. Golden eyes watched for a moment from the trees before he moved to meet the person in the small clearing, long alligator jaws parting in what you could call a toothy grin. 

“Or maybe just save me trouble and don’t waste them on me at all?” he suggested languidly, rising up onto his hind feet. It was only then, once he was done talking and moving about that he noticed that the thump of his footsteps hadn’t stopped… even though he had? What the—

Another creature, one he thought for a moment might be another fucking lamia, came bursting out of the underbrush. “Whoa, hey! I got dibs here, pal!” Wyatt snarled, reeling back and out of the way of the other reptilian beast as it charged at them. Upon closer inspection, he was pretty sure it wasn’t a lamia, but he didn’t know what the fuck it was either. “Okay, new plan—shoot that guy.” It was turning on them again, beady gaze dancing between the stranger and Wyatt, sizing them up. 

—

A voice called out to him, unfamiliar yet demanding. As if the stranger had known Mateo far longer than a brief moment in passing, a flash that could hardly be registered as any real greeting. Especially when a reptilian creature was telling him to shoot another reptilian creature. The other one was just a hell of a lot bigger, and charging way too fast for Mateo to get a proper shot on it. 

“Fuck!” A large tail rammed into the mare, sending him careening away from the rest of his bullets. He maintained a firm grip all the way until his body  stopped rolling at the treeline. Mateo groaned, barely managing to push himself out of the way when the beast tried to crash into him again. It broke several branches and left jagged trails from its claws in the earth. Mateo knew he’d be a goner if any of its grubby talons latched onto him, so he aimed and pulled the trigger four times in quick succession. Each landed, but the caliber was nowhere near big enough to cause actual damage. 

Of fucking course!

Mateo rushed to his feet and booked it toward the talking alligator thing. He figured that his chances with that thing were better than with the nonverbal asshole struggling to find his way out of the shrub. It helped a lot that the reptile dude was much closer to Mateo’s size. The caliber he had in his gun would definitely do a bigger number on it. “Okay,” He skidded to a halt just a few feet away from the creature. Distance was his best friend at that point. “I shot the thing, and it did nothing. What the fuck do I do now? You should probably, I don’t know, go flirt with it or something.” Mateo shrugged, “You two seem to have a lot in common.”

—

Wyatt narrowed his yellow eyes at the man, taking offense at the comment. Unless that thing was a lamia, it's be a hard fucking pass. “Ain't in the habit of boinking the wildlife, mon frère,” he hissed. He was annoyed that his hunt had been interrupted, that what was supposed to be his dinner was now something he was going to be inadvertently protecting because he had to fight off this damn… whatever it was. 

Still, maybe it was a lamia, and just had yet to play its hand. Wyatt had done the same, after all, especially in the pursuit of food. Hoping that this was the case and that they could at least agree to split the presumed human in half, Wyatt rounded on the creature and charged at it. It mirrored his attack, leaping forward, mouth splayed open in one hell of a weird display. Wyatt tucked his maw down against his chest and headbutted the creature full-bore, knocking it to the ground and allowing him the opportunity to pin it there, using his weight to hold it in place. 

“Hey! Hey, look at me when I'm fuckin’ talkin’ to you, godzilla!” He was struggling to meet the creature's gaze, but when their eyes finally locked, he saw no reflection of higher thought. Just hunger. Ugh. 

His next bite was too slow, and the scaled creature threw Wyatt off of it, sending him skidding through the underbrush in much the same way that the human had. “Okay, now it's personal,” he grumbled as he picked himself up out of the dirt, rolling a shoulder that had clipped a tree trunk as he was thrown. His gaze flicked to the other target of this thing’s ire, teeth bared in a grimace. “Don't suppose you got any tricks up those sleeves of yours?” It wasn't fair that he always had to do all the work.

—

As much as Mateo enjoyed the Godzilla movies and all the creature features where gigantic monsters fought each other, it was a completely different scenario in person. Not to mention, whoever the reptile dude was, he was certainly a lot smaller than the thing he was attempting to fight. He was practically thrown away, like he was just some rag doll with no real weight or threat. The urge to disappear was high. 

Mateo grumbled, looking up at the sun and wishing it were the moon instead. At least that way he could go home for a much bigger gun. Maybe get that bazooka he’s been wanting to use. Or maybe just disappear outright and leave whatever the man was to deal with what wanted to eat him. For all he knew, toothy and toothier both wanted to chomp on him. With a groan, he rubbed at his face, discontent with the problem in front of him and he ran over to take aim. Taking the thing’s sight might give them an edge, right? That was Mateo’s hope. 

BANG!

A shot rang out, and a roar followed soon after while blood coated over the thing’s eye. He shot once more, missing the other eye complete due to the monster’s thrashing and crying. Mateo sucked his teeth, holstering his gun and patting his pockets for something special. Finding it, he smiled. No, he grinned, whistling to get the friendlier creature’s attention. 

“Hey, how do you feel about explosions?”

—

Wyatt was content to watch for a moment as the stranger took aim again and shot the fucking beast right in its stupid fucking eye, letting out an approving hiss and standing a bit straighter, with renewed confidence. 

Explosions? “Uh, I feel fuckin’ great about explosions, mon frère. Why, you got some dynamite on that skinny ass of yours?” He sounded excited, even as the creature charged at him again. The creature, not knowing where the pain in its head had come from but hearing the alligator making a loud racket, was decidedly less excited by this news, but also probably didn’t understand what was being said. 

This time, Wyatt was ready. This time he didn’t have to worry about sparing a fellow lamia an embarrassing defeat, and so did not hold back. All the fights he’d been in, all sixteen years of battle after battle after battle, earning himself one more day of life on this good, green earth, gave him plenty of edge over whatever this monster was. If he could not beat it by size alone (which was shocking, honestly: Wyatt was used to being the biggest bitch in the ring), then the rest of his skills would have to do. He leaped up into the air as it came for him, coming back down atop its back and crunching those powerful jaws down around its neck. He bit as hard as he could, wrenching from side to side, trying to crack a vertebrae or two. For a moment, his gaze met that of the (presumed) human. Throw it, he encouraged with a pointed stare, confident in his ability to get away before whatever it was blasted them both to kingdom come.

—

Man, if it wouldn’t expose a bigger can of worms, Mateo would’ve recorded the amazing fight. How often did people get to see that kind of action, real and up close? It would kill on YouTube, go viral even. TikTok would have a fucking field day with the airtime the smaller reptile had, and people would die from the beautiful crunching asmr. Ugh. Having witnessed the whole thing himself would have to do instead, but first Mateo had a bone to pick. 

“My ass ain’t skinny. It’s proportionate and round.” He huffed, mostly humorously. Time was of the essence, but having been an asshole his entire life, it was easy for Mateo to prolong his duty a little longer. If not for the sake of getting an unnecessary compliment out of the reptilian jowls sinking into dollar store Godzilla. Mateo didn’t even care if he understood what the dude’s stare meant. He went ahead and pulled out two grenades from his vest pocket, but did nothing more than hold them in the air teasingly.

“Say my ass is round, and then I’ll throw them.” He clicked his tongue. “And make sure his mouth is open for at least one of ‘em.”

—

Rolling his yellow eyes, Wyatt bit down harder on the beast’s neck, feeling a satisfying crack beneath his teeth. It wasn’t enough on its own, of course—might not have even been a break. Maybe he was just giving this fuckin’ thing its first chiropractic adjustment. 

“Kinna go’ aye ‘outh hull!” he shouted back, around the mouthful of… whatever this was. But the request tickled Wyatt’s peculiar sense of humor. Fishing for compliments during a dangerous situation? It’s something he would do, too. So he’d play along. His clawed back feet hooked into the creature on either side of its neck, near the underside where the tissue was softer, and clawed hands reached forward for its head. He had to let go with his own jaws to reach, grabbing at the thing’s snout and pulling back as hard as he could. It reared onto its hind legs, mouth agape, hissing and spitting and trying to shake the shifter off of its back. 

“Your ass is great!” Wyatt bellowed with a laugh. “Perfect and perky! Now throw the fuckin’ grenade!” He waited until he saw it soaring through the air at them, and praying that this man had good aim, watched it disappear behind the monster’s head as he held its mouth open. Hoping that it’d swallowed it but knowing he was too short on time to check, Wyatt released his grip and scrambled to the ground, bounding away from the thing as it took a brief moment to recover from whatever the hell had just happened to it. 

—

Mateo grinned, satisfaction dripping from his laughter as he released the safety and the clip on one of the grenades. He chucked it as hard as he could, excited at how agape the monster’s mouth was. It was wide enough to accept another treat, so without another moment of hesitation, Mateo chucked the other one with a cheery sound of exertion. The explosives landed in the creature’s mouth, one after the other, and guessing how big the chunks might be once they detonated, the mare quickly took a few steps back. 

“Get the hell outta there!” He cupped his hands around his mouth, “You got like five seconds!” Which actually wasn’t a lot of time. Forget what people said about time slowing down when shit got real. Five seconds were just a tiny instant that could make or break any time-constrained task. More than once, Mateo had witnessed timing go wrong. Luckily for both of them though, everything went according to plan. 

BOOM! And then another BOOM! shortly after. All that was left was a carcass with a blown off head. Well, among other things. 

Flesh and blood tore through the air, and Mateo couldn’t help falling over in a heap of laughter. Not even the ringing filling his ears couldn’t ruin the fun he was having. No matter how irritating it was. “You know,” He arched a brow, propping himself up on the ground by his elbows, “Wasn’t expecting to dp a beasty today, but that’s probably the most metal thing I’ll do for a while.”

—

Wyatt gave a great whoop! as the creature exploded, sending its bits flying all around the little clearing in the woods. For a moment, he forgot how tired he was, how despondent and helpless he felt in the face of the shit he’d done wrong and fucked up and the possibility that none of this was real. 

If this was a dream, at least it was a fuckin’ sick one. 

“I ain’t never blown somethin’ up before!” he hollered with a laugh. “Usually more about rippin’ it to shreds with my teeth! That was awesome.” He gave the stranger another look, deciding that he didn’t need to eat this one after all. The blown up fucker would do just fine. “And lookie there! You cut up n’ seared my dinner for me. Mighty kind.” Standing to his full height, he stomped over to the man, holding out a massive, clawed hand that would take two of the stranger’s to grip. “Lockjaw," he offered with a chuff, "if you ever find yourself at the Pit and want a good show.” In spite of everything, he still loved what he did, still craved the thrill of the fight. “I was gonna eat you, but don’t see much point in it now.” It wasn’t a threat so much as a poorly thought out statement of fact. The lamia was very good at putting his own foot in his mouth. 

—

Holy shit. 

At Wyatt’s height, it took nearly bending backwards to keep eye contact with the guy. Mateo couldn’t help but scoff with disbelief, and it quickly rolled into laughter. “Well, I don’t think I would’ve tasted very good.” He took the giant’s scaley hand and curled his fingers into a fist, holding on for just an extra moment. “I’m what you call…undead. The ‘made out of nightmares’ kind.” With some focus, Mateo urged sleep to weigh on Wyatt, but he quickly retracted his hands before he could make the poor guy pass out on the ground. 

“But hey,” Reaching into the breast pocket of his vest, Mateo produced one more grenade. “As a thank you for not eating me, and because you popped your explosion cherry,” He opened Wyatt’s giant hand and placed the grenade in it, “Here’s something to remember me by.”

—

Made out of nightmares? What did that mean? He thought, of course, of his own issues with sleep, how plagued his dreams were by terrifying things that had no right terrorizing him the way they did… but maybe it was just an expression. Figure of speech. Undead could be scary, he guessed. Caleb certainly wasn’t, but Caleb probably wasn’t your average zombie… and who knew how many other kinds of undead people there were? He only knew about zombies and vampires, and was slow to assume that that was the whole of it. He was learning, impossible as that might sound, to never presume he had the whole picture in front of him. 

So yeah. Probably a figure of speech. Except he was suddenly feeling tired, very tired, and his eyes closed for the briefest of moments. Desperate as his body was for rest, he actually did nod off, just for a second, but it was long enough to send a spectral crow screeching right toward him. The beast gave a start, snapping awake again and shaking his head, trying to brush it off as he refocused himself on Mateo. Something was being pressed into his hand—another grenade. Despite the way his heart raced, the gator managed a thick laugh. “Most excellent,” he chuckled. “I’ll be sure to let you know what I use it for!”

[wickedsrest-rp]

Name: Pedro Vázquez Species: Human (Non-powered) Occupation: Park Ranger Age: 30 Years Old Played By: Kitty Face Claim: Sean Teale

"Shut up, I’m not a Boy Scout."

Ever since he was tiny, Pedro was definitely a nature kid. He enjoyed exploring caves and climbing trees, and he had a collection of cool rocks that his mom helped him paint. His drawings involved a lot of green pencil, and/or random animals he’d either seen or imagined. In this kind of place, where birds can have human teeth, the line often blurred between those two things.

It wasn’t surprising that he enjoyed biology class as he got older, taking an eclectic mix of science and art courses, and eventually joining the Wildlife Ecology programme at UMWR - where he tagged along with cryptid searches despite being absolutely terrified about actually finding one. He didn’t want to look like a loser or anything.

His willingness to go in search of creatures in spite of his fear didn’t go unnoticed - and alongside his family name, that secured him a State Park internship. He didn’t think that was going to be his career even though his mom’s side of the family had been doing it since forever. It was always really clear it was his own decision whether to take it up, or go do something more mundane elsewhere.

Pedro’s creativity made him thrive in that environment, which was something he hadn’t quite expected. It involved more entertainer skills than he’d thought, because people remembered safety measures a lot better with a fun rhyme or a really bad pun.

The problem with working in a dangerous place for years was that you couldn’t be on your guard all the time. It was literally impossible. All it took was the combination of complacency and momentary inattention, and he found himself joining the ranks of those who’d lost their lives to the woods - or their contents.

That was, until he found it again. He doesn’t know - nor does he want to know - the details, but his mom paid someone to bring him back. She said she wasn’t going to outlive her only son, no matter the cost. Pedro refused to listen to any more explanation. Someone else had to die for him to live, he understood that much, but had no desire to find out who. He’s working on the mixed feelings he has about it all. Parents would do anything to save their kids, sure, and he gets that - but that doesn’t automatically make it okay.

Not knowing the details was his choice, and he stood by it, but that came with its consequences. The person who resurrected him could be literally anyone. He could cross paths with them any time of day and not even know about it - or maybe he would know about it in some kind of weird mystical way. They were probably evil, because you would have to be to be some kind of resurrecter-for-hire - or at least someone with way weaker of an ethical code than him. He would rather that didn’t rub off on him.

It was normal to feel lost and distant after being…re-alived, right? There’s something missing - or something off, he isn’t sure what. Maybe there’s something that’s not even him at all left over. Maybe he’s secretly evil and he doesn’t know it yet. As far as everyone else is concerned, he went missing and now he’s back. That’s how he wants to keep things. He must be overthinking this.

Except, life is never quite that simple. Try explaining to your friends who know your pain tolerance is practically zero that you somehow decided to get a creepy looking tattoo? Okay, that one can be blamed on bad life choices after a drink or several - and people are kind of willing to believe that about him. A little light bullying from colleagues is definitely better than the alternative.

But the scars are harder to cover up. Especially now it’s coming up to summertime and he doesn’t have any non-suspicious reasoning to avoid swimming and sunbathing. He has been pretty lucky so far, if you can call it that, that he seems to run colder than he used to. Maybe he’s imagining that, but people have been wondering how he can tolerate wearing a sweater on long hikes as the weather gets warmer.

For all his creativity, he isn’t good at excuses. He can’t keep them straight. Maybe if he told them the truth but made it sound like a joke? Or, he could have technically been in hospital and had it be touch-and-go for a while. They look like he went a few rounds with a clawed thing and lost, which is basically what did happen, but that in combination with the weird tattoo? Someone would put two and two together. Especially in his line of work, where the improbable was practically mundane.

Character Facts:

Personality: Good-natured, empathetic, kind, creative, fearful, uncertain, naive, daydreamer

Pedro is that person who pulls out a guitar to play Wonderwall, despite the fact that absolutely nobody likes it. He is enjoying himself, and it wards off wildlife and eldritch beings.

He likes puns entirely too much, the kind of wordplay that results in audible groans. This also means he’s part of the team that comes up with cautionary rhymes for the visitors to remember.

Prior to his untimely death, he was a Park Ranger - not necessarily a very good one, but his family have consistently served over centuries. He liked the stories, and working in the outdoors, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Pedro is bilingual (English and Spanish).

[yeehawbvby]

Damn i really didn't think about ever spiraling back into my pokémon hyperfixation like this, at least not this deep, but your posts are birthing blorbos to haunt my every waking moment. So. *cocks gun* i need some uhhh milo headcanons for a uhh friend (the friend is me being down bad for him) (obviously joking pls there's only a watergun involved) (your pokemon stuff literally inspires me ty)

*takes out a mini-water gun and shoots it into ur mouth* I am here to quench your thirst (get it?? Because water. And thirst for Milo. and. . Sorruy)

Hello hi I finally did this omg I am so sorry it took literally MONTHS but here we are!!!!

I did my best, not very confident in my characterization of Milo by any means, and most of these are silly, but I hope I did him justice :’)

- I told you this in DMs already but I’ll put it out there for everyone else to enjoy: Milo voiceclaim BLAST‼️ (doing this on mobile so I can’t link from a time stamp atm but I think he starts talking around 30 seconds in?)

- Milo isn’t a gamer. But. If he ever got into a DnD campaign somehow (I feel like he’d prefer tabletop > video games if anything?) he would absolutely 100% be a druid

- Spent a while internally debating his race class. I think maybe he’d stick with human, tbh, or maybe a halfling

- If he wasn’t a farmer, I could see him still working closely with pokemon beyond just being a gym leader. Like maybe he’d have a gig at a pokemon center

- OR. Or!! maybe he’d work in a battle café as a pastry chef?

- Or maybe I’m projecting, because the thought of baker!Milo is so cute to me ckejvoskckd

- Clothes headcanons.. hmm…. Lots of sweaters? Those sweaters that have a Very Pointless zipper that goes down to the, like, mid-upper chest area before stopping?? Yeah?

- Omg wait this guy KNITS

- He totally gives out scarves and mittens and beanies that he made as a (platonic) love language

- If and when things are romantic then you’ll get sweaters and blankets too, alongside everything else

- I don’t think he’d eat meat! I don’t think he would be vegan necessarily, but I can’t see Milo being the type to eat the creatures he exists so closely with

- So maybe a vegetarian, or at least the type that eats meat sometimes but avoids it for the most part

- I wanna imagine that he meshes well with anyone he meets. Bro is a pure people person

- When it comes to romance, I think he’d be very surprisingly confident

- He’s a sweet cinnamon roll but he’s not shy by any means!!

- I think he’d be pretty up-front too. If he likes you, you’ll know. Hell, maybe he’d say it outright one day while you’re just hanging out, doing something super mundane

- Milo’s definitely a gentleman. Lets you walk inside the sidewalk rather than on the street side. Opens doors for you. Walks you to your door (maybe with a cheeky smooch?) after a date night

- He’s a ditto that’s gotten REAL good at acting btw. I mean look at that cute happy little face— You hear something?

[theredpharaoah]

I think Mercer sees the Sarentu as his disobedient children. He cares for them in his own sort of psychopathic way. His mental breakdown is some part of him realizing that the people his mind considers “family” hate him. And this realization might have lead him to start questioning whether he was right all along. He knows he’s gonna die and at some level he accepts that, because he knows he’ll never have the love of the Sarentu or even be liked by them. And he’s an all or nothing type of person, so he’d rather die than not have it all. He’s essentially in a Tywin Lannister sort of situation. Mercer’s a very lonely man. Alma is a little different. I think Alma has the love of the Sarentu, but they don’t like her. It’s impossible for them not to see her as a mother-figure as she’s fulfilled that role for them since they were taken. And we know that our character was literally an infant or toddler when that occurred. She’s also spent more time in her avatar than in her human body. I’d bet that when they think of her they see her Avatar form and not her human one. It’s kind of impossible for a creature not to latch on and attach to the safest and most stable thing in their environment - Alma. But they’ve grown and learned that she was abusive in her own way - whether that be due to bowing to her delusions of not knowing what would happen and what was happening, and/or her bowing to Mercer.

I will say that I do think Alma did a lot in trying to right her wrong and paying her penance. I don’t think they should’ve killed her Avatar. I think they should’ve had Eywa Jake Sully her, and have her become even more aggressive in taking down the RDA. Her taking the blast for Nor and the Sarentu should’ve kind of been where the whole Alma story ended. I feel like going to Tap Con 1 was useless and dumb because we already knew that the RDA had massacred the clan. And I feel like Alma should’ve told them the part she played in their kidnapping way earlier. I also thought they were teasing a begrudging romance between So’Lek and Alma but then they killed her avatar so…