#plus all the debt i already owe....ugh.....

[mik-mania]

i hate doing this but long story short, my last job stiffed me on my paycheck so i have a whole month of bills that have gone unpaid.

anything helps but i specifically need ~$50 by the 24th or else my car insurance policy cancels.

i have adopts in my ko-fi shop, but if u just want to be kind u can donate to my ko-fi ;w;

im also open to doodling for donations so if u want a doodle lmk as well

(if ur feeling super generous i also need $400 for rent.

doordash has been slow lately and ive used all the adoptables money so far for rent, but every single day is another $10 late fee. i got it down to just 300 but its back up to 400 now because of late fees.)

[imaginethezeldaverse]

Hot Spring Mishap (Yunobo x Reader) - Part 1

I originally started this in an ask but it got so long and I wanted to go another way with it that I decided I wanted to make this a mini series instead. Not sure how many parts yet - probably 2? Definitely will be nsfw later because hello have you seen what I post? Anywho, enjoy. Reader is written female/afab.

This time of year always rendered the hot springs in Eldin rather crowded. You'd been dying for a soak yourself, but found it difficult to get there at a time where it wasn't completely overrun by Gorons or tourists. Being that you lived in Goron City as a merchant made it extra frustrating; it should be easier than it is to get some time to relax! Particularly wound up after your long day, you do your best to try and sprint to the hot springs just a walk away from your home. But to your horror and exasperation, they are, once again full of townsfolk and visitors. "Ugh...I'm never gonna get the opportunity at this rate," you begrudgingly sigh, hanging your head. "Yeahhh, these get pretty crowded, don't they?" sounded a voice behind you. Startled, you whipped your head around to immediately face an axe insignia. You recognized it immediately, belonging to the very Goron who visited you at your shop every day as he handled business in the city. Hand to your chest, you took a deep breath as you looked up to a friendly face, "Oh Yunobo! Whew, you scared me." His hands immediately went up, "I'm sorry! I just heard what you were saying about the hot springs, didn't mean to frighten you." You looked back at the hot springs, disappointed all over again that you haven't been able to sit in one for so long. "Seems like the hot springs have really gained some popularity huh?" you said, trying to hide your disheartened expression. Yunobo hummed in agreement, "But that's why I don't use 'em. The ones higher up on Death Mountain are better." 

Higher on Death Mountain? You didn't know there were hot springs up there! Sensing your confusion, Yunobo explained, "Tourists don't know too much about them, well kept Goron secret, y'know?" and he rubbed at the back of his head, "B-But you've been in the city for quite a while now, I don't mind telling you!" You would come to find that it would take two cart trips up there, but he was right - on the back end of Death Mountain were several smaller hot springs, some even being blocked off by walls of long-cooled magma. What a delight! "Yunobo, thank you for showing me this! I hope it's alright if I come here." He grinned jovially at you, "Everybody in the city knows you well enough by now, you're basically one of us! What's ours is yours." This touched you tremendously. Goron City was very inviting already, but Yunobo had always been exceptionally kind to you. You remembered when you first moved there to start your business - he carried your things for you effortlessly, helped you make connections with people in town and travelers who would escalate your sales, always popped into your shop to check on you as a daily routine. You owed the Goron a great debt - one that he swore never needed repaying. Thanking him, you promised to treat him to sirloin rock roast later this week, your treat. For now, you decided to head home - the knowledge of finally having a place to relax putting you at ease. However, that night you found your sleep restless. Your poor tired body ached for some tension release, making it difficult to rest. All of your thoughts immediately went to the hot springs Yunobo had mentioned earlier that day. Would it really be so bad if you took a dip this late at night?

You gathered what you needed for your late-night soak and headed off to the carts to make your way up Death Mountain. You had to give it to Yunobo, he was a lifesaver. Not a soul in sight up here! Still though, you headed towards the secluded springs - the privacy and quiet sounding heavenly in your mind (plus you weren’t exactly keen on any Gorons catching you naked should that be a potential problem). It was quite steamy in the closed off hot spring, not that you minded. You welcomed the warmth, letting it envelope your body. Just to be sure it wasn’t too hot, you dipped your toes in.

“Ohhhh my goddess” you moaned with joy, the temperature being nothing short of perfect. After fully undressing and carefully keeping your things in the corner of your space, you slowly entered the spring, the soothing heat encasing your body. The shudder that left you was sinful, followed by the tension of your day whisking away at the water’s embrace on you. Your muscles released in your soaking, each minute renewing the vitality you’d had near the beginning of the week. Swimming a bit was your next idea, working out a few kinks in your back and legs as you paddled. A quick intake of breath and you dove under, allowing the spring water to caress your temples and relinquish all the stress your scalp had been holding onto. With you being underwater, the sound of footsteps didn't hit your ears past the surface of the hot spring. You resurfaced with a large splash, your hands weaving into your hair to wring it out as you stretched to your full height. A large gulping sound had your eyes snapping open in its direction. At the entrance to your hot spring was YunoboCo's one and only president, his face as red as a Hylian tomato. It hadn't registered to you why he was so impossibly flushed...until you realized you were completely naked from the navel up, and he was completely without any clothing as well. Your arms immediately wrapped around your body, covering your chest as you tried to avert your eyes,

“Shit! Yunobo, I’m so-"

“I’M SO SORRY!” he screeched, moving to scramble back out of the hot spring entrance. As he did, you took notice of the water that had pooled at his feet from your sudden upheaval. Without thinking your hand shot out to grab his, "YUNOBO, BE CAREF-" You managed to snag his wrist cuff, but not before he was already slipping. The force of your tug and his stumble had him falling clumsily into the hot spring, effectively sloshing you both to the opposite end by the wave of his fall. Back slammed into the magma-cooled rock, you hissed at the impact. Yet almost instantly you lost focus on the pain. Crowding your frame against the edge of the spring was the Goron champion, his arms caging your body between him and the carved rock. Yunobo’s face was contorted in what looked like pain as he collected himself from the fall, while yours was slowly turning crimson. His face was she inches from yours, your chests nearly pressed against one another. Any words or noise you could have possibly made died in your throat with the closeness of his proximity. “Ergh...” Yunbo groaned, shaking his head, trying to rattle himself back to his senses, “I’m incredibly sorry about all this...are you oka-”  Your wide-eyed stare nearly inches from his own paused his sentence. It was then he realized how he had you, confined to the very little amount of space he had created for you. His hands had a grip on the edge of the hot spring, but in stopping himself from careening into you any further, instead he just shoved you into a corner, with his body being the cage. Anyone could walk in at a moment's notice and insinuate just about anything from the way you both looked right now: him with his rigid stature pressed in close and you with your soft eyes wide looking both scared and in utter shock. He absorbed everything at once, and with a shout, immediately jumped backwards. Yunobo backed away from you slowly this time, his entire face the same shade of the red earth that surrounded Death Mountain.  “I-I’m so s-s-sorry” Yunobo stuttered out with a shake, terrified by what just transpired. Surely, you’d think he was despicable after this. He turns on his heel, lifting himself out of the hot spring, snatching up his things and rolling away with a loud “PLEASE FORGIVE MEEEEE”  You stare in stunned silence, your arms still around your body as you watched the hero roll frantically away. There was a heavy flash of guilt in his eyes before that you didn’t like, and it made you feel guilt of your own. He didn’t hurt you...it was an accident. He understood that, right? The remainder of your time at the hot spring is spent in unease, Yunobo was a good friend, seeing him upset at any capacity made you sad.  You would talk to him tomorrow, you decided. 

[mochegato]

Pixie Spy

Chapter 3

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

 Adrien was resting lightly on the hotel couch as he waited for Marinette and Constantine to return from their mission.  It probably would have been wiser to just wait until the morning to check on Marinette but he wanted to be available to leave immediately in case something happened.  Plus he wanted to see Constantine before he went home so he could make sure they all agreed on the next steps.  Which led to his current position in their base of operations, covered in popcorn from an overturned bowl, in front of a table full of caffeinated drinks that hadn’t been as effective as he was hoping, the credits for the latest movie in his movie marathon rolling by on the television, and Plagg snoring loudly atop the overturned bowl.

Their Base of Operations was a penthouse room in Le Grand Paris Hotel next to Chloe’s room.  She had convinced her Daddy she needed to have the extra room so she could have a gym and meditation area nearby. After all, was she really expected to share a gym with other people and their germs?  Did he have no concern for her health at all!  Did he want her to get sick?  And with the whole Hawkmoth situation, she needed to meditate to relieve stress.  Did he really think there was any way she could relax sharing a meditation area with other people!?  Stressed people had trouble focusing in school. Did he want her to fail out of school?  Did he want her to be stressed out and stress eat?  To be sick and unhealthy and uneducated and miserable and get AKUMATIZED?  Again? Is that really what he wanted for his only daughter?  

The speed at which he caved was a personal best for Chloe and will forever be used by the team as a measure of speed, “yeah, that was fast, but not like meditation room fast”.  And if the room she selected just so happened to have a balcony the heroes could use to swing in on and an extra bed they could use to collapse into after a tough fight and gym mats that could be used for sparring and a fully stocked refrigerator and pantry with the snacks the kwamis liked best and soundproofed walls (I mean honestly how was Chloe supposed to be expected to meditate in an unsoundproofed room?), it’s not really anyone else’s concern, now is it.

However, after hours of watching bad movies, the resolve he had earlier in the night of staying up until they returned had waned and he had involuntarily drifted off to sleep.  It was almost sunrise and not long after that was when he would normally wake up for the day. Thankfully, he didn’t have anything scheduled for the day to ‘work on a large project’ with Chloe all day, so he would be able to sleep in and try to catch up.  But as it was, he was running on almost no sleep for about 24 hours, after a full week of late nights and early mornings preparing for tonight, and consequently he was a little out of it.  So perhaps he should be excused for having a very loose grip on reality at the present moment.  

As soon as the portal opened behind his couch, he bolted up sensing the change in pressure more than reacting to any actual sound and immediately collapsed back on the couch when the sudden rush of blood made him dizzy. He blinked heavily as he watched Marinette and Constantine walk through the portal.  He kept his focus on the portal behind them, mesmerized by the shimmering waves it created and still trying to get his hazy brain to focus on the present even after the portal had closed.  He rubbed his eyes and squinted, still not sure if he was dreaming or conscious or if the two were bleeding together.  “Is that… did you bring me a cat?” he asked in an uncertain voice still trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

“A what?” Marinette asked whipping around.  “Oh for God’s sake.  Seriously, cat.  You’re not allowed to eat the kwamis,” she chastised the cat who dutifully ignored her and jumped onto the coffee table in front of Adrien to get a better look at the new kwami he had discovered, knocking over a few of Adrien’s drinks along the way.

Constantine huffed out a single laugh and tossed a cigarette into his mouth as he made his way toward the balcony, “Persistent little bugger. Good luck with that.  I’m going out for a smoke.”

The cat cocked his head to the side and stared at the kwami. He cautiously raised his paw toward him as if to bat at him and started making chirping noises at him.  When Plagg didn’t respond to the chirping, the cat moved a few steps closer to the black cat kwami and tried meowing at him.

“Back off fleabag,” Plagg hissed eyeing the infiltrator hostilely, “there’s already one cat here and I don’t share.”

“Only one?” Tikki asked amused.

“He doesn’t count his isn’t a real cat,” Plagg spluttered out motioning towards Adrien.

“Neither are you,” Adrien pointed out blithely.

Plagg flew into Adrien’s face to glare at him, “Look here you little…”

“Relax Plagg, I’m sending him back now,” Marinette interrupted rolling her eyes.  “Voyage,” she called out picturing the Batcave and moving her arm to create a much smaller, cat sized portal she could push their stowaway through.  She attempted to pick up the cat, but he apparently had other ideas.  He twisted smoothly out of her hands, struggling to stay near the kwami. “Ugh,” Marinette grunted after a few more failed attempts, “Stop being a liquid!” she ordered the cat who continued to ignore her, but still rubbed against her legs on his way past her.  “Tikki, Trixx, can you help out here?” she asked exasperated.

“Sure thing,” Trixx chirped and Trixx and Tikki flew around the cat’s head, gaining his attention.  Once they were sure the cat was paying attention to them and willing to follow their movements, they both flew toward the portal at top speed, splitting up just before going through the portal.  The cat raced after them but wasn’t quick enough to change his direction in time to avoid the portal.  His momentum and Marinette’s well timed push caused him to slide through the portal.  As soon as he was through, Marinette closed the portal, sealing him on the other side.  They may be data thieves, but they were not cat thieves and she was not in the mood to deal with Plagg’s territoriality.

Marinette called off her transformation and collapsed into a large arm chair, letting out a long, tired sigh as she pulled off her shoes and tossed them on the floor.  She rested her head against the back of the chair and closed her eyes, trying to meld with the chair and become one.  She was ready for this night and this mission to be over.  She didn’t even want to check that they got the data, she just wanted to go to sleep and never think about this night or blue eyes ever again. The gala was the past.  It had no place in her future.  Except that after all the information she had so stupidly shared both in the cave and at the gala, to a member of the Batfamily at that, they could definitely expect an immanent visit from the Batfamily and they would have to be prepared for that.

Adrien glanced over at Marinette amused at her exhaustion. He hoped her exhaustion was due to her having fun at the gala.  Maybe she had met someone, at least for the night.  Or maybe she had been able to network a bit.  With the dress she had… his eyes widened as he suddenly noted her dress. That wasn’t what her dress looked like when she had left.  That wasn’t a good sign.  She was in the escape plan version of the dress, the shit-went-to-Hell version of the dress.  It was supposed to be a last resort option.  Well shit… On the bright side, that version of the dress was a lot more appealing and would have gotten more attention, so she might have gotten something out of the night after all.  He shook his head and plastered on a fake smile, “So, how did it go?  Was the mission a success?”

Marinette opened one eye to glare at him, the effect of which he thought was quite impressive considering she was only using one eye, honestly.  “How did it go?” she repeated back to him in a belligerent tone opening both eyes to fully glare at him.  “How did it go?  How do you think it went?” she asked moving her hands up and down over her body indicating her dress.

“It looks like you got to show off that amazing design.  So… any commissions?  Get any phone numbers?  Get the data?” He tried again still with a forced optimism.

“Oh he got the data alright,” her voice was dripping in false sweetness before switching to venom.  “From the batcomputer in the Batcave as he was stealing it from Batman.” She replied intentionally avoiding the commission question because like hell was she going to hand him that win.  

“What?!” Adrien exclaimed in shock.

“Yeah, that was the mission.  Keep eyes on Batman while Constantine stole from him.”

“But you were supposed to keep an eye on the Waynes…”he commented confused.

“Exactly,” she confirmed with an acerbic smile.

“Wait… what!  Bruce Wayne is Batman!!” he jumped up off the couch.

“Yep” she said popping the p.

“Shit,” he ran his hand over his face and collapsed back on the couch.

“That was roughly my response as well but with a lot more hostility and cursing.”

“But, I don’t understand… doesn’t he know Batman? Haven’t they worked together before? Why would we have to go through all of this if it was his friend?” his brain was still waking up and this was a lot to process and clearly his brain was not ready to do so.

“That is an excellent question my young Padawan,” she stood up moving closer to him.

“I’m older than you,” he interrupted with an annoyed look, but Marinette continued on ignoring him.

“And who does Constantine avoid at all costs?”

Adrien thought about it.  They didn’t know Constantine extremely well, but they had managed to get a pretty good feel for him, “Legal authorities, debt collectors, his exes…”

“Exactly,” she interrupted “and since he doesn’t consider Batman a legal authority based on having worked with him before, and he doesn’t owe him money…”

“Oh my God!!  He was screwing Batman!”

“It would seem so,” she nodded picking up one of the drinks on the table and contemplating the benefits of drinking it vs just saying fuck it and going to bed now.

“All that stuff we did?  All that prep work, all that studying, the planning, the stress, the lost sleep, it was all because he wanted to avoid his ex?” Adrien needed clarification on this because they had gone through a lot in the last few weeks, unnecessarily so if that was true.  Why had they allowed Constantine to help them again?

“He wanted to avoid him but get him involved with us.  He figured this little undercover operation would achieve both.”

“Wait, how was you going to the Gala supposed to help?”

“Oh that’s another brilliant part of this clusterfuck of a night.  The whole ‘stay undetected’ proviso was a fake out.  The entire point was to get noticed.  That’s why he sent me instead of you.”

“But, I’m famous so me going would have done that better.” Adrien couldn’t figure out if none of this made sense because his brain was still turned off or if it really didn’t make any sense, but Marinette’s reaction seemed to confirm that it wasn’t just him that was struggling with this.

“He didn’t just want us to get noticed, he wanted one of the bat boys to get invested, and he thought that was more likely if it was me rather than you.  Apparently I look a lot more pathetic than you, so I worked better in his little plan,” she grumbled before smirking at him.  “Personally, I think he vastly underestimated your ability to flirt and apparently the oldest brother is something of a slut so you could have possibly gotten a date out of it or at least a make out session.  You should talk to him about that.”

Adrien stared at her as she ranted, trying to process everything she was telling him.  One phrase caught his attention though, “which one is the oldest one again? Is he the one with the hair and the eyes and the…” he motioned toward his shoulders trying to indicate broad shoulders and firm body, “the gymnast?”

“Yep, that’s the one,” she nodded.

“Shit.” Adrien looked dejected.  But turned back to her with a rakish smile.  “So did his plan work?  Did one of them ‘invest’ in you?”

“Not in me… ugh” she fell onto the couch.  “So, on top of everything else, the brother we thought was dead?  He’s very much alive.  A wonderful fact which Constantine knew and I discovered WHILE I WAS DANCING WITH HIM! I mentioned the Hawkmoth situation to him in a very vague way before I knew who he was, which I would never have done if I’d known who he was, and I would have known if Constantine had fucking TOLD us about him.” She shouted toward the balcony.  

“So…” Adrien prompted her.

“He seemed invested in stopping people getting hurt when I ran out, not in me.” She clarified, though whether she was trying to convince herself or him, she wasn’t sure.

“… you were dancing with him?” Adrien cocked his head to the side and gave her a smirk.  “How closely were you dancing, exactly?”

“It wasn’t… that’s not how… It wasn’t like that. I was using him as a cover to get onto the dancefloor to observe the Waynes.” She floundered, her cheeks starting to turn pink as she forced down the ‘not close e-fucking-nough’ that wanted to break out.

“Don’t let her lie to you like that,” Constantine said coming back into the room.  “She and Jason were getting cozy.”

“You were not there.  We were NOT getting cozy,” she lied through her teeth, pointing a threatening finger towards him.  And they certainly hadn’t been as cozy as she would have liked, so it isn’t really a lie, only kind of a lie.

“How cozy were you getting?  Should I start planning a shovel talk?” Adrien grinned, enjoying every second of this.

Marinette sputtered at him, her blush turning darker, “This is not about my non-existent love life, this is about Constantine’s fucked up sex life. It is about him going though all this so he could avoid having to talk to his ex.  He could have just asked Wayne for the information if he wasn’t so focused on his stupid little lover’s spat.”

“It wasn’t a lover’s spat.” Constantine corrected offended by the suggestion.

“Just a prank on your boyfriend then?” Marinette hissed at him, “at the expense of our time and Parisians’ sanity.”

“He isn’t… we aren’t…  I have never and will never sleep with Batman.  God, of all the vigilantes to suggest… I mean not the worst but not even when drunk and desperate.”

“You’ll screw a shark but not a bat?” Adrien asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Okay, first I didn’t screw a shark, I got screwed by a shark, a lot. There is a difference.  I highly recommend it actually... well maybe not to you two sunshine children… but the loud, blonde one seems like she might be into having fun.”

Adrien made a gagging sound and Marinette turned away quickly, shuddering and closing her eyes against the thought of Chloe and… anything. She didn’t want to think about Chloe doing anything with anyone.  “I think I need to scrub my brain with bleach.”

“Second,” Constantine continued on, pretending he wasn’t enjoying their reaction to his statement, that it wasn’t the exact reaction he was trying to illicit, “ew.  Too much drama involved.  And, I’d still like to know how you found out about that anyway.”

Marinette looked over to Adrien to answer but noticed he was completely lost in thought, probably still trying to think of something to take his mind off of Chloe before glancing over to Plagg.  Plagg looked up from the pillow he had settled on and shrugged, “you smell like fish.”

Adrien cocked his head to the side still deep in thought. “So… does that make him a Furry?”

“What the hell, Adrien!  Is that really the focus here?” Marinette exclaimed hitting him on the shoulder.  She was desperate to stop thinking about Chloe but Constantine doing anything with anyone was not an improvement over that.  On the bright side, she wasn’t thinking about the gala anymore but God, at what cost?

“I mean, sharks don’t have fur so… finny?” he said still looking at nothing while he thought through the implications.  “But furry is a reference to their skin and shark skin is made up of denticles, really tiny scales, so… scaly?  No, that doesn’t sound nice.  ‘Furry’ sounds cute, being into non-mammals should get a cute name too. Yeah, finny is definitely better. But since, a bat is a mammal, sleeping with the bat would’ve made him a furry.  So he’s a finny, not a furry.” He said with a nod, proud of himself for working that out.

Marinette stared at him incredulously and ran a hand over her face, “Never has your scientific experience been more inappropriately utilized.”

“Oh no, you don’t know the conversations Red Cap, Glasses, Skater Girl, Monkey Boy, and he have.  It gets much more inappropriately utilized and quite often.” Plagg said with an evil grin.

“You’re both wrong.  Furry refers to people in costumes meant to evoke an animal.  One really is a shark and the other isn’t trying to actually look like a bat so neither qualify, if we’re getting technical.” Constantine said leaning against the arm chair, arms folded over his chest. “As much as I like to discuss people’s sexual proclivities, is that really what you want to discuss before I leave? No better questions you want to focus on before I go?”

Marinette was almost grateful for him voicing his concern and changing the topic.  Almost. Because she knew his concern wasn’t with staying on topic.  The waste that the last two weeks were stood as testament to that fact.  He didn’t care about wasting time.  He had a point he wanted to make and he wanted their attention for it.  

She wanted to get mad at him.  She wanted to lecture him, but everything about this night was messy and frustrating and aggravating and it was all his fault so he didn’t get a pass even if she knew he was trying to help.  At this point in the night… morning?  God it was so late.  At this point in the morning, she just wanted to drop it and let sleep wash away the night and the memories.  Thankfully, she had Adrien.  And Adrien takes Parisian suffering just as personally as she does.

Adrien looked at Constantine in feigned naïve confusion, “What did you want to focus on?  How you made us unwitting accomplices to stealing from a superhero?  How we are now on the Justice League’s radar as possible villains?  How you lied to us the entire time you’ve been working with us?  How you manipulated us against our express wishes to try to force our hand?  How you ignored all of our expertise and thought out conclusions and instead of talking with us, played games with ours and other Parisians’ lives?  How you wasted our time?  During which time approximately 3 million Parisians died as a result of 8 akuma attacks.  Which one did you want to focus on right now?”

Constantine rolled his eyes and huffed out a breath.  “Dramatic much?  Two weeks and one or two more deaths for someone who has already died a dozen times isn’t going to make much of a difference, but getting Batman involved might.”

“It makes a huge fucking difference to the people going through it.  One more on top of so many others can be enough to cause a break that might take years or decades to recover from, if they ever do, to drive someone irrevocably insane. It makes a difference to the child who lost their innocence because of it.”  Marinette hissed at him, suddenly very much awake.

“You swore to keep the Justice League out of this,” Adrien growled next to her.  “That was the one condition.  We were very clear on our opinion on the matter.  You agreed.  You swore you would abide by our rules.”

“I agreed to abide by the rule.  I never said I agreed with it.  I swore I wouldn’t communicate anything with or to them.  I didn’t,” he said pointing to Marinette, “Spots did.  And us being there did.  I didn’t break anything… I just bent it a bit and if you’re asking me for my opinion…”

“We didn’t,” Marinette snarled.

“…I think that rule needs to be finessed.  An exception made,” Constantine finished ignoring Marinette’s interjection.

“You don’t get to make that decision, you don’t even get a say. This is our city.  You don’t dictate the terms here,” Adrien gave Constantine a dark look, rising from the couch to his full height.  “You’re welcome to give advice.  You’ve certainly had more experience with magic and fighting, but you didn’t do that.  You didn’t offer your opinion or advice.  You manipulated us and the situation to force us to do as you want.  You involved Batman.  That is...”

The rest of Adrien’s rant was interrupted by the sound of Constantine’s phone ringing.  Constantine pulled out his phone and grunted as he saw the caller id, “Bollocks, speak of the Bat and the Bat shall appear.  Took longer than I expected.  He must be slipping or he isn’t worried about you.”

“What are you doing?  Turn your phone off so they can’t track you.”  Marinette ordered hurriedly jumping up when he didn’t immediately turn it off only calming down when he had turned it off.  “And why wouldn’t he be worried about me?  I am very worrisome.”  She defended herself.

“I can attest to that,” Adrien nodded from her side.

She glared at him, then shook her head and cleared her throat, “I mean, good.  We don’t want them to show too much interest.  The less interest the better.  Maybe if we make it hard to find us, they’ll just move on.” She winced as she finished saying it, not even believing it was an option herself.

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen and they’re going to know I’m in Paris.” Constantine scoffed.

“Probably, but they don’t have to know you’re in this room.  Just leave it off until you leave.  And remember you aren’t going to tell Batman anything.” Adrien ordered him pointing his finger towards him and levelling him with a steely look.

“Oh well thank you so much for your permission,” he snarked at him.  “And just to be clear, I’ve been abiding by the no speaking rule… more or less, but this is Batman.  It’s a losing battle.  He’s going to find me and I’m not getting tortured by one of his kids for you. They’re all pain and no pleasure.” He opened his coat to put his phone back in his pocket and discretely sniffed the air between his body and his coat and furrowed his brow.  He looked up and saw the two watching him.  He stood back up nonchalantly.  “And my advice is it’s a good idea for you to talk to him.  He can help.”

“Does Batman have some insight into magic that we don’t?  Or the ability to control his emotions?  Would he respect us and listen to us?  Is he trustworthy?”

“No, God no, that’s laughable, and fuck no.  But what he does have is detective skills and a shit ton of backing money.”

“But we can’t trust him,” Marinette clarified.

“Sweetheart, you trusted me so… your judgement is suspect to begin with.  I would have trusted him before I trusted me.”

“We needed you for your knowledge of magic, the history, the limits, how to wield it, how to manipulate it, where to find more information on it… and how to steal that information.” Marinette conceded the last bit.  “That offset the trust factor.  Batman doesn’t have any of that to offer.”

“I’m just saying…” he sighed quietly, “think about it.  Or one of his kids.  You could let one of his kids come or help you from a distance.  They really are good detectives and you kids really do need a break.  You’ve been doing a good job, but until you find Hawkmoth, this isn’t going to end. You won’t be able to move on.  You could use a good detective for that.  They don’t call them the world’s greatest detective for no reason.” He stopped to consider the title for a minute, “although Tim might actually be better than Bruce and better at controlling his emotions too.

“But your best bet might just be Jason,” he grinned devilishly at Marinette as she fought her blush.  She was not going to blush just at hearing his name.  She had more control than that, damn it.  “It sounds like you’ve gotten his interest in the project already.  He’s a good detective too, some experience with magic, and if he trusts you, you can trust him.  He’ll have trouble with his temper so you’ll have to keep an eye on that, but you won’t find a better fighter.”

“Oh, that sounds like a great combination to have here, amazingly skilled fighter with no capacity for anger management,” Marinette bit at him.  “That’s not Hawkmoth’s ideal candidate or anything.”

“Hard to control though, the best have tried.  Even if Butterfly Man tries, he’s your best bet at resisting it,” he said knowingly.  ���And as tough as he looks, and is, he’d give the skin off his back to help someone in trouble, especially a kid.”

“Isn’t the phrase ‘shirt off his back’?” Adrien asked with a raised brow.

“He’d be more upset about the jacket.  Just consider it.  Maybe the information we got will be enough, but you can use all the allies you can get on your side.  And maybe you could use a new approach, a new perspective.”  Constantine sighed and looked back at the two teens noting the darkening bags under their eyes.  “Now, get some sleep, you look like hell.”

“Personal knowledge?” Adrien quipped at him.

Marinette rolled her eyes, “You better be careful.  If anyone were to hear you now they might think you give the slightest care about someone other than yourself.  What would happen to your reputation then?”  He huffed at her and she smirked back at him.

“I’ll just have to be extra careful to show my true feelings around other people, so nobody gets confused.” He responded.

Marinette hummed in response.  He wasn’t fooling anyone and everyone there knew it.  She sighed and stood up, calling for her transformation.  “Voyage” she said quietly and motioned near Constantine to open a portal to his next destination.

“Let me know when you get it deciphered.  I’m just a voyage away if you need anything.  And if you need someone to talk to… definitely don’t be afraid to think better of calling me,” he said gruffly.  Marinette rolled her eyes at him.  “And think about what I said,” he said looking her in the eyes with a meaningful look.  She nodded in understanding and offered a quiet “Good Night and thank you” to him.  He turned to give a small nod to Adrien before walking through the portal.

“Want to talk about anything?” Adrien asked coming up behind her and bumping her with his shoulder.

Marinette shook her head, “We can talk about everything later.  There isn’t anything you need to know right now.  Let’s just go to sleep.  It’s been a rough night.”

                                                <><><><><> 

“Constantine turned off his phone before I could get his exact location.” Tim called out loudly not bothering to look up from his spot in front of the computer in the Batcave.  He hadn’t left his seat since returning from the gala.  He had barely waited until the limo was stopped before jumping out and reporting immediately to the batcomputer.  Unlike the rest of the family, he hadn’t even bothered to change out of his suit from the gala yet, too focused on trying to glean all the information he could from the breadcrumbs Constantine had left behind.

They needed to track down that girl and figure out how much of a threat she was to them.  She had already proven herself to be a clear and present threat and they needed to establish if she needed to be neutralized.  First priority was Constantine though.  He seemed to be pulling the strings and had broken into the cave for a very specific reason and they needed to know what he knew and why he did it.  That meant figuring out what files he had accessed and where he was hiding.

“Were you able to get a general vicinity before he turned it off?” Dick asked coming up behind him.  Unlike Tim, he and the rest of the family had changed out of their suits and into pajamas before they started the post mortem on their night.

“Of course,” he scoffed at the audacity of the doubt.  “He didn’t turn it off that quickly.  He’s somewhere in Paris.”

“He likely left it on so we would know where to start our search,” Bruce nodded knowingly.  “Did he leave us any messages?  

“Just this note,” Tim motioned toward a section of the screen with a typed message, ‘You need to up your security.  Your move, Bats.”  Bruce sighed and rubbed his temples.

“What did he get?” Jason demanded from his spot leaning against a wall.

“A file on something called a ‘Miraculous’.” Tim responded.

“What the fuck is that?” Jason asked annoyed.  Something had to make sense tonight, just one thing. Sooner or later, something had to make some fucking sense.

“I’m not sure.  There isn’t much here.  Or rather there is a lot here but only a small portion of it is in a known language. The part I can translate says the Miraculous are magic jewels that grant powers that are potentially devastating on a global scale.  The rest is in a language that neither the computer nor I have ever seen.  I’m running translation algorithms but not getting anything... yet” Tim answered distractedly, still trying to read as much as he could as he was talking.  

“It says they wield a lot of power.  The League had plans a couple hundred years ago to try to steal them from something called ‘The Order of the Guardians’ but before they could enact their plan the Order’s compound was destroyed by an unknown force.  The League surmised it was a power of the miraculous.  They found no evidence of survivors or the miraculous.  They were able to gather some texts from the ruins, scans of which is what is in the files, but without the miraculous themselves, it isn’t much good.  There isn’t any translation offered so either we didn’t get that file from them, they weren’t able to translate it, or they gave up on trying to translate it.

Magic.  Mother fucking Hell. There went any hope Jason had of anything making sense.  Nothing ever made sense or went their fucking way when magic was involved.

“Any indication what that has to do with this girl or Paris?” Dick asked.

“None, but if I had to guess, which I do, I would say they are being used in Paris.” Tim responded.

“It isn’t like the League to give up, especially on something that could grant them power on a global scale.” Bruce noted.

“Agreed.  And there would have been reference to a translation here if there was one, so they likely were never able to translate it.” Tim nodded.

“That isn’t a good sign for us.” Jason commented.

“They aren’t me.  I’ll translate it.  Give me a week.” Tim said confidently.

Dick stared at the video of the earlier events in the cave playing on the far side of the screen.  “What do you think the odds are that the portal thing was somehow related to the Miraculous?  She seemed to have to transform to use it.” Dick noted.

Bruce nodded, “Good point.  Tim, go through the information in the files and the video and write up a summary,” Bruce ordered Tim.  Turning to Jason he said, “What do you know about her?

He snorted, oh now they fucking trusted his intuition.  He thought through the night with her.  She hadn’t said too much during the first part of the night, but he was a detective damn it, and a damn good one so he didn’t need words to figure someone out.  She had been fidgeting, she took care of the sexual assaulter quickly and discretely but hadn’t tried to fight Jason when he grabbed her later, she helped cheer up the kid with him, she kept up with his banter, she had a brilliant smile and looked gorgeous when she blushed… that probably isn’t relevant… accurate but not helpful in this particular situation.  She had figured them out after just observing them for a few minutes, she had cursed the hell out of Constantine and was damn sexy doing it, she said people were depending on her, she had somehow arranged a way to change her dress unnoticed with people around and looked hot as hell in both dresses.  It all came together to help form a personality profile in his mind and make the room feel significantly warmer.

“Has Anxiety.  Can protect herself but doesn’t like using violence.  Kind.  Witty.  Creative. Smart, like Tim level smart.  Dick Syndrome, shouldering the blame for everything that happens around her.  Does not like being lied to or manipulated.  Not wealthy.  Don’t think she was invited and she definitely didn’t want to be there.” He listed off.

Tim nodded along with the last part using it to springboard into another way to track her and Constantine, “Likely acquired by someone else who gave it to her, probably Constantine.  But since we would have recognized Constantine’s name and clearly he was trying to go under the radar on this, he asked someone else to get it.” He rolled the chair to the left and focused on a different monitor while starting the search for the list.

“Do we know if anyone asked for a ticket last minute?” Dick asked jumping on Tim’s train of thought.  If they could figure out who Constantine was working with they could ask them questions, get some leads.

“I’ll look through the invitation list and see if anything stands out,” Tim responded.

“This seems like a waste of effort, whoever that is probably doesn’t know anything more than Constantine wanted a ticket,” Jason countered. Why was this the focus?  The more important thing to focus on was what she said about Paris, not how she got in.  

“Whoever it is may be working with them as well and may know something.  It’s worth at least a look,” Dick explained.  “Anything else?”

Jason rolled his eyes, at least it meant they were looking into it and finally taking it seriously.  “She said there has been a supervillain in Paris for the last 5 years. The data Constantine was getting was related to that.  That data was supposed to help them fight the villain.  She said people were counting on her, which makes me think she’s a hero there….” he turned toward the sound of Damian scoffing as he made his way into the cave. “And Alfred likes her better than Demon Spawn.”  Jason smirked turning back towards the rest of the family.

“I will get my katana and gut you.  I only just succeeded in calming Alfred enough to rest.” Damian glared at Jason.  

“Yeah, because he was upset he wasn’t still with her,” Jason snarked quietly, but loudly enough for his words to be heard by everyone in the cave.

Tim chortled from his spot at the computer, “she does seem to have a way with demonic creatures, doesn’t she?  Constantine, Alfred… maybe we should send Demon Spawn to her too. She can tame the Hell Spawn.”  He kept his focus on the computer as he made his comment missing Damian’s face shift from anger to rage.  Jason snickered at the comment, pushing Damian over the edge after all the comments and events of the night.  

Damian jumped up from his chair to rush toward Jason, yelling something about a hussy and sullying.  Honestly, Jason couldn’t make out his exact words.  Tim only glanced back with the briefest of looks before returning to the computer.  Damian attacking Jason was nothing new.  It always ended with them getting separated before any real damage could be done and Jason chastised for defending himself because ‘Damian never meant to actually kill or seriously damage anyone during the attacks.  It was more of a venting session for him’.

Damian lamented that he hadn’t prepared properly for a confrontation as he rushed toward Jason.  He had prepared for bed, like the rest of the family and had left his katana and weapons in his room.  The weapons he used for patrol were on the other side of the cave, too far away to be of use right now.  But he was confident he didn’t need weapons to best Jason.

Damian jumped on the meeting table just at the last moment, using it as leverage to add height to the flying kick he sent towards Jason.  Jason anticipated the kick, Damian had been dumb enough to announce his attack, expecting everyone to react as they normally did.  What he didn’t anticipate, what none of them anticipated, was for Jason to not be in the fucking mood.  This was a long night already and the only good part of it they were belittling and to top it off Damian was attacking him again and no matter how it ended, he was going to get in trouble for it.

Just as Damian’s foot was about to land on Jason’s face he pushed it to the side and twisted, redirecting Damian’s momentum, causing him to crash harmlessly to the floor.  Damian jumped back up and ran at Jason.  He threw a punch to his side just a beat too slowly.  Jason twisted slightly again, just enough for the fist to fly past him then encouraged Damian’s momentum with a slight push of his own causing Damian to slam face first into the ground.  When he stood back up, ready to try again they could hear Dick in the background starting to intercede but Jason was too pissed to listen or to back down peacefully and Damian was still looking for a way to vent his frustration.  

“Stand still you giant oaf,” Damian screamed at Jason, running at him again.  Jason squared up against Damian and punched him in the center of his chest.  Damian went down hard as all the air left his lungs. Before he could take a breath Jason pulled him up by the back of his shirt, bringing Damian’s face close to his own, “how many times do I have to tell you, don’t start a fight you can’t finish, Shorty” he hissed at him before letting him drop.

Dick was next to Damian before he hit the ground checking him to make sure he was okay.  “What the hell, Jason!  Was that really necessary?  He wasn’t trying to hurt you.  You didn’t have to hit him that hard.  He was just letting off steam.”

“Then he should have gone after a practice dummy, not me.  And he should stop acting like a little jealous, elitist bitch.  I don’t understand why you dislike the galas so much, Damian, you’re right on track to be exactly like all those people there.  And for the record, if I’d wanted to hurt him, his sternum would be shattered right now instead of just bruised.”

“How dare you, you dimwitted, boorish, buffoon!” Damian hissed out, still breathing heavily and unable to yell.  “You’re so ready to defend that uncultured streetwalker over your own family.  You have no loyalty and no honor.”

“Way to prove his point, Demon.” Tim muttered from the computer.

“Alright, enough,” Bruce glared at Jason and Damian.  “We don’t have time for this.  Jason and you too Tim, Damian is a kid.  You’re adults.  Stop baiting him.”

“Y’all are going to have to decide if he is a kid or a vigilante assassin because you seem to blur the lines a lot.  Is he a kid or a tool to achieve your vengeance?” Jason seethed at the two older men in the room.

“As amusing as this show is and as much as I would love to hear the answer to that question,” Tim interceded, “let’s bring the focus back to the matter at hand; Constantine exposing us and bring a stranger into the cave.  I started looking for evidence of heroes in Paris and whatever she may have told you, I can’t find any news on any villains or superheroes in Paris or even France.  The only thing I have been able to find is a note on an official Paris city calendar about a Heroes Day to celebrate heroes.  But, it doesn’t specify particular heroes though so it could be everyday heroes or even heroes anywhere on Earth.  And we have to consider the very real possibility that she played Constantine.  If there was anything going on in Paris, let alone for 5 years, we would be able to find something, anything, but there is nothing.”

“Whatever else you want to say about him, Constantine is a good judge of people, when someone is playing an angle and when they are on the level, when that angle is really bad and when it’s just ‘bad’.  He didn’t break in here and leave that message for no reason.  The Miraculous is in play in Paris.  We need to decide what we are going to do about that.” Jason retorted.

“That inept excuse for a hero clearly isn’t doing a proper job of handling it.  We should intervene and handle it for her.  Show her what a hero really looks like.” Damian responded snidely still hunched over a bit.  Jason glared at him.  

“I’ve already taken you down once today, kid,” throwing the term in Damian’s face as a taunt, “I’ll do it again.  And if you believe that, then you also believe there is something going on there.  You’re admitting she was telling the truth.”  Damian scoffed in response and looked away.

“We know almost nothing about the situation in Paris.  The League’s notes said the Miraculous’ power could potentially affect the entire planet.  At the very least, we should gather as much information as we can on it, talk to the heroes there if there are any, see what we can do to help.” Dick suggested calmly.

“Them,” Tim corrected.  “The files indicated there is more than one miraculous.”

“And each one can affect the entire planet?” Bruce asked concerned.

“It is unclear from the data available.” Tim responded.

“Constantine’s phone was definitely in Paris, he left it on so we would know to go there.  He’s too experienced to make that mistake.  It was a clue about what our next step should be.  We should follow it.” Dick observed.

“So we are deciding to do exactly as the deranged dullard wanted us to do and playing into his plans,” Damian muttered from his spot at the table.  After everything that had happened that night they were going to just let him win. “Brilliant plan.”

“There is too much at stake to ignore it.  We follow the leads we have.  So we go plain clothes as reconnaissance, see what we can pick up by being there, but bring the suits so we can meet with the heroes there if we find something.  Dick, you and Damian can stay here and watch over Gotham while we are gone.” Bruce ordered, standing up to end the conversation.

“I’m going too.  Someone has to keep that wench from turning Todd against the rest of us.” Damian responded coldly.

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose.  He was not in the mood to deal with this right now.  There were too many unknowns.  “Fine.  I’ll ask Clark to be on call as backup for you Dick.  The rest of us go to Paris tomorrow.  Use the rest of today to get ready.”

“I’ll make the arrangements, Master Bruce.” Alfred announced from the doorway.

Chapter 4

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[atths--twice]

A Slightly Different Path

Now, I may have already posted this story before, but once again, we can always use more fiction in our lives, right? 😊

I wrote this for a friend who supplied the idea of, what if in The Sixth Extinction, instead of Scully saying, “Maybe as his partner, but not as his doctor,” she had said “but not as his wife.”

I had started to write an Unnatural and Amor Fati story some time ago. They have been tweaked a bit to now fit this idea, and Amor Fati was completely broken down and restructured. I love when that happens, while simultaneously feeling like I want to pull my hair out. 😊

While I believe that All Things was the first time for these two, I find that there is wiggle room, if I supply the wiggle, by looking at it from a different angle. Now, that doesn’t mean I think this story is canon by any means, but if you squint, and imagine it, I think this could possibly work...

Chapter One      1/3

A Bit More Natural 

What if The Unnatural took a slightly different turn? 

The book slammed down onto the desk with a heavy thud. It registered to him, but only insomuch that he realized he had slid down in his chair and needed to readjust his positioning. He looked over the top of the book and saw Scully. He offered her no words as he pulled himself up into a more comfortable position.

He saw her in his peripheral, standing up on the desk and looking up through the basement windows. He paid her no attention, but continued to read the book in front of him.

“Mulder, it is such a gorgeous day outside,” she said with longing. “Do you ever entertain the idea of trying to find life on this planet?”

“I have seen the life on this planet, Scully, and that is exactly why I am looking elsewhere,” he said, as he turned the page in the book. A crinkling sound got his attention, and he looked over to see Scully taking an ice cream from a brown paper bag, opening it, and taking a bite.

“Did you bring enough ice cream to share with the rest of the class?” he asked with disbelief as she seemed to have forgotten about him.

“It's not ice cream,” she said smugly, as though she had bested him. “It's a nonfat tofutti rice dreamsicle.”

“Ugh. Bet the air in my mouth tastes better than that,” he said, with a disgusted face. “You sure know how to live it up, Scully.”

“Oh, you're Mr. Live-it-up,” Scully said as she started to step down off the desk. “Mulder, you're really Mr. “Squeeze every last drop out of this sweet life,” aren’t you?  On this precious Saturday you've got us grabbing life by the testes, stealing reference books from the FBI library in order to go through New Mexico newspaper obituaries for the years 1940 to 1949. And for what joyful purpose?” She stopped speaking and her words amused and aroused him.

“Looking for anomalies, Scully. Do you know how many so-called "flying disc" reports there were in New Mexico in the 1940s?” Ready to tell her, she interrupted him.

“I don't care. Mulder, this is a needle in a haystack. These poor souls have been dead for 50 years. Let them rest in peace. Let sleeping dogs lie,” she said, and he could hear her silent challenge.

“Well, I won't sit idly by as you hurl cliches at me. Preparation is the father of inspiration,” he said, throwing it back at her.

“Necessity is the mother of invention.”

“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”

“Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die,” she said, with a mischievous smile as she took another bite.

“I scream, you scream, we all scream for nonfat tofutti rice dreamsicles,” he said, setting the book down and lunging for the cone. He grabbed her arm and held it as he took a bite.

“No-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!” Scully yelled, with laughter in her voice. “Mulder!” The cone broke and fell onto the page of the book as they tussled with it.

“Mulder!? You cheat,” she said, looking at him with a smile, as she licked the remnants of the dreamsicle off her fingers. “I can't believe that you've been reading about baseball this whole time.”

“Reading the box scores, Scully. You'd like it. It's like the Pythagorean Theorem for jocks. It distills all the chaos and action of any game in the history of all baseball games into one tiny, perfect, rectangular sequence of numbers,” he told her, trying to explain his fascination to her; to share his passion for something he had loved for so long. “I can look at this box and I can recreate exactly what happened on some sunny summer day back in 1947. It's like the numbers talk to me, they comfort me. They tell me that even though lots of things can change, some things do remain the same. It's...

“Boring.”

“Boring? How can you say that? Here, look,” he said, quickly wiping off the book and going back a few pages, to one he had been reading a few minutes ago. “Ah, here it is. Look right here. See the runs, hits, the score. Inning 3 was exceptionally interesting. And it went to extra innings. That’s always exciting. Plus, you know it was more … scrappy back then, so I’m sure some kind of fist fight broke out during the course of the game.” He looked at the box score again and he smiled. He could almost smell the grass and feel the heat of the sun on his skin as he watched the game in his mind.

“So,” Scully said beside him, bringing him back to the present in their air conditioned basement office that smelled of … well, Scully, if he was being honest. He could smell her above anything else, especially standing as close as he was now. “So … I’ve been up and down many flights of stairs, lugging those huge books around, while you’ve been sitting here reading about baseball? Imagining some sunny day as you ate popcorn and watched men hitting balls with sticks? Am I understanding that properly?” Her eyebrows were up and he knew he was in trouble.

“Not the whole time,” he said, and if it was possible, her eyebrows went up higher. “Really, Scully, I was looking for anomalies. I am looking for them.”

“Buuut …” she drawled out.

He sighed and dropped his head. “I was also looking at box scores.”

“While I …” she prompted.

“Carried large and heavy books up and down the stairs,” he said as he looked up at her. She nodded, a smile spreading across her lips before her tongue ran across them. He moaned internally as he watched her, wondering how her lips would taste.

“So,” she said again, stepping away from him and gesturing with her arm for him to walk ahead of her. “You’ve not only made me do most of the work, on a Saturday, in a business suit, but broken up my tofutti rice dreamsicle. You owe me a new one, so let’s do it, Baseball Boy.” She waved her hand again and stared at him, her eyebrows way up. He narrowed his eyes at her and shook his head. She snapped her fingers and pointed, causing him to sigh.

“Fine,” he said, stepping past her and grabbing his jacket off the coat rack. “But we’re getting real ice cream, because that tofutti shit is awful. I think the air in my mouth actually tastes worse now. How do you eat those? Ugh.”

“Well, I didn’t really get to eat much of it as you so kindly wrestled it out of my hand,” she snorted, as they walked out the door and she closed and locked it behind her. He nodded at the janitor and heard her say hello again as they made their way to the stairs.

“Well,” he said, as they then walked to the elevator and he pushed the up button. “I did you a favor then, because that was disgusting and you should never eat it again. Ever.” She smiled at him and once again licked her lips, making him exhale loudly and wish the elevator would hurry the hell up.

Two elevator rides later, they walked into the parking garage and over to his car, with her telling him he was driving and treating her to an afternoon away from the office.

“The whole afternoon? You said ice cream,” he deadpanned, having no intention to go back to the office now that they were outside of it, but not wanting her to know just yet. “Scully, there are still two or three books waiting to be gone through on my desk.” She stopped walking and stared at him. Oh, eyebrows down, no smile.

Backtrack man, backtrack, he thought.

“Fine, Scully. The afternoon is yours, what do you wish to do?” He bowed slightly and she hummed in the affirmative, her heels clicking along the concrete once again. Raising his head, he grinned at her back as she walked to the passenger side and waited for him to unlock the door.

He hurried over and unlocked it, both of them getting inside. Putting on their seatbelts, she looked at him with a smirk. “Ice cream first. You need to begin your payment. I carried four books up and down the stairs. If each book weighed about twenty pounds -”

“Twenty pounds,” he snorted.

“Yeah, twenty pounds,” she insisted as she stared at him, and he looked away with a smile as he shook his head. “That’s eighty pounds total. If you’re going to make it up to me, well, you’re in serious debt right now. So, ice cream first and then we’ll see what else you can do to work off your payment.” He looked at her and she raised one eyebrow, smiling saucily.

He wondered if she would still be smiling if she could read his mind and see the sudden thoughts running wild in there. Naked thoughts, of his fingers trailing across her soft skin as she moaned into his mouth, her tongue wrapped around his.

“Mulder?” she said, a curious look on her face. He cleared his throat and turned on the car, backed up, and put it in drive.

“Ice cream first,” he agreed, hoping the cold treat would lower his temperature. But then she arched her back, sticking out her chest as she adjusted her position. He could picture his face between her breasts as his hands mapped out terrain he never wanted to leave.

Blood, the smell of the sewer, pustules, he thought, turning out of the parking garage and heading to the nearby ice cream shop, trying to calm his racing pulse.

___________________

“I won’t be able to finish all of this, Mulder,” she said, looking at her ice cream skeptically. “No chance. So it looks like your debt still holds.” Lifting her spoon to her mouth, she gave him a look as she took a dainty bite.

“Whatever you don’t eat, I’ll finish, so we’re square,” he said with a wink. She widened her eyes in response, looking at her bowl full of ice cream and then his, shaking her as she did. “You don’t think I can?”

“I don’t think you should,” she said, shaking her head. “You’ll get a stomach ache for sure.”

“Well, then I guess you better eat up,” he said, gesturing with his chin for her to get back to her treat. She sighed and took another bite, bigger than the last. He nodded at her and suddenly she reached up and ran her thumb across his lips. He froze at the feel of her warm fingers on his cool mouth and he stared at her as she looked at his lips.

“You’ve got hot fudge just there,” she told him as she wiped at it and then stuck her finger in her mouth, sucking off the chocolate, humming as she did. His brain short circuited and he forgot to breathe, letting out a large puff of air when he did remember to do so. She looked at him strangely, but said nothing.

Flukemen, Frohike shirtless, aliens ripping themselves from inside a person's body, he repeated over and over in his mind as he felt his jeans tighten, thoughts of that chocolate sauce being used in different ways firing into his synapses. Scully continued to eat her ice cream, oblivious to any of his discomfort.

When he was sure he could function normally, he began to eat his ice cream, the hot fudge cooled and thicker than it had been at first bite. He ate it all, even lifting the bowl and drinking the melted bit at the bottom, much to Scully’s horror. He set the bowl down and wiped his mouth on a napkin.

He glanced at Scully’s bowl and raised his eyebrows. “Do you need me to finish that for you or …” She shook her head and ate the last couple of bites. “Aww, Scully, see? I knew you could do it.” He winked at her again and she rubbed her stomach, grimacing as she did.

“When this inevitably begins to make my stomach hurt, you’re going to hear about it,” she told him, standing up and wiping off her hand. She picked up their trash and disposed of it, walking back to their table.

He stood up and stretched, rubbing his stomach, and grabbed his jacket. They walked outside and he let her lead the way to their next adventure.

They found themselves in a park with an open air art festival and she smiled at Mulder as she raised her eyebrows. He shrugged and they continued inside. Music and food was available as well, but the scent of meat and spices made his stomach turn.

“Best not tell Scully,” he muttered under his breath. She had stopped a few feet from him watching a play some children were performing about the importance of spring.

They were singing and dancing, dressed as flowers and bees. Mulder had no idea what they were saying, his eyes only on Scully. She was smiling and laughing at the antics of the children and suddenly he saw her bleeding to death on his living room floor, the choking stench of blood overpowering. He shook his head and blinked his eyes as she awwwed at something one of the little flowers did on stage.

She’s right there. She’s not bleeding out. Touch her and see, he told himself firmly. Reaching for her elbow, he sighed when it was solid and she smiled at him in question. He shook his head and looked at the children, keeping his fingers on her elbow, needing to keep a hold on her to know for certain.

Applause rang out and he moved his hand to clap along with the crowd. She motioned for them to continue to the art and he nodded. Many different booths were set up, along with portable walls, the art hanging from them.

Children, animals, fruit, sunsets, beach scenes, and many others were depicted in drawings, paintings, and even small sculptures. Scully’s smile was ever present as she looked at everything, but one in particular he noticed she kept returning to and he stopped to watch her look at it.

It was a smallish sized painting of a house, nothing special about it, but a house that seemed to draw her eye. The sky was the golden hour of sunset when the air seemed to shine and make everything beautiful; beachgrass bent over in front of the house, as though the wind was pushing it. A rocking chair sat on the porch, a colorful quilt hanging on the back.

“It’s peaceful, isn’t it?” Scully asked quietly. “It’s like a place where nothing bad could happen. Everyone is probably down at the beach, packing up from their day out in the warm air. The kids are tired and brown from the sun, their hair tousled, feet covered in sand. The adults are wrestling and cursing all the extremely important items they brought with them.” She sighed and smiled softly, staring at the painting.

Mulder could picture everything she described. The voices calling to one another as they walked the path to the house, tired, but the memories of the day sealed in their minds. They would not remember the exhaustion later, only the fun, and the way the sun bounced off the water.

“But what we don’t see,” he added softly, “their grandmother, who doesn’t get around as well as she used to, just left that rocking chair to check on the meal she’s been preparing. A delicious garden salad, fried chicken, and an apple pie for dessert.” She turned to him with a smile and he shrugged. “I mean, why not?” He smiled at her and she nodded, her arm looping through his, to his surprise.

“Mulder, you truly do keep unfolding like a flower,” she teased, and he chuckled softly with a nod.

They kept on, looking at the paintings, separating as they found different things that drew their eye. When they reached the end of the festival, she motioned for them to keep walking and he nodded.

“See, Mulder?” Scully said, taking off her blazer and folding it over her arm. “Isn’t this better than being in that stuffy basement office?” He shrugged and she hit his arm with a shake of her head.

“It’s nice I suppose, not very …”

“Alien?” she joked, and he shrugged again. “Mulder, not everything has to be an anomaly or unexplainable. Can’t you just enjoy a gorgeous spring day?”

“I am,” he said defensively, and she laughed. He extended his arm and she took it again as they walked through the park.

People walked past, children laughing as people picnicked on the grass and on nearby benches. Spying an empty one, she steered them toward the bench and they lay their jackets across the back before they sat down.

“Life is meant to be lived, Mulder, not only read about in a book. No matter how interesting the box scores may be.” She smiled and he leaned back, crossing his arms with his eyebrows raised.

“I never said I wouldn’t enjoy being outside, Scully, just that it tended to lack a certain … paranormal bouquet,” he said, his eyes on hers.

“Mmm-hmm,” she said, smiling at him as she leaned back, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

The warm wind whipped quickly and her hair blew into her face. He reached out before she had a chance and moved it, tucking it behind her ear. Her eyes opened as he did and she stared at him, her expression unreadable. Clearing his throat, he moved his hand and leaned back, his hands in his lap. Her eyes closed again and he watched her relaxing in the warm afternoon sun.

“What do you say to getting some dinner later?” she asked a little while later, both of them companionably silent. Looking at him, she smiled and he nodded. “I’d like to change first though, as being in a work suit is not my favorite thing to wear on a Saturday,” she said, rising from the bench and giving him a look.

“No one said you had to wear a suit,” he told her, standing up with her, grabbing both of their jackets. Giving him another look, he nodded, knowing that not appearing professional would not fly with her. “Okay, we’ll head back and, sure, dinner sounds good.”

Dropping her back at her car, she smiled as she drove away. He decided to go back inside and put away the books they had taken out. No reason to leave them out and hear her complaints about them come Monday.

He smiled as he began to stack the books, grimacing at the ice cream spots on the pages, hoping they would not get called out on them.

“Well, not ice cream,” he laughed, reaching to check the pages when he saw a picture that stopped him in his tracks. “Is that Arthur Dales?” Looking closer, he saw that it was. His head snapped up and made sure no one was around before he ripped the page from the book.

He grabbed his jacket and put the page in his pocket. The books were left on the desk as he walked out the door, Scully’s gasp at him defacing government property almost audible in the empty office. Closing and locking the door, he headed to Arthur’s place, the dinner plans with Scully completely forgotten.

_____________

Hours later, the story Arthur told him still filling him with bittersweet feelings, he stood in the ball field, the shirt from Arthur worn proudly on his back. The machine he rented was set up and Poorboy stood ready to pitch them out for him, a big smile on his face.

“Ten bucks an hour, Mister,” he reminded Mulder as he started to walk toward home plate.

“Sheesh kid, I know. You ain’t cheap,” he said, shaking his head and looking back at Poorboy, who grinned wider.

Walking on, he glanced around but did not see Scully. He had called her, leaving a message with her answering service. He hoped she would get it and decide to come and meet him. After that story, he wanted to share something he loved with her, as she had done with him today.

He knew Scully enjoyed nice things. Her apartment was beautifully decorated and comfortable. She liked art museums and old books, but he was not sure if she had ever hit a baseball just for the fun of it. If she had ever experienced the feeling of contact with the ball as it sailed far into the outfield.

Tonight, he was hoping to share that with her.

“All right, Poorboy,” Mulder called out, his toes digging at home plate, taking a few practice swings. “I’m ready.” A ball was placed in the machine and it shot out, flying quickly toward him. He swung and missed, digging at home plate again.

More balls flew his way and he hit and missed them equally, not caring if he did or not. He found that all he zeroed in on was the anticipation of the ball and the feeling of impact when he hit it with the bat. The sound of it was like beautiful music and he got lost in the melody, thoughts of anything else far from his mind.

“So, uh... I get this message marked "urgent" on my answering service from one Fox Mantle, telling me to come down to the park for a very special, very early or very late birthday present. And, Mulder... I don't see any nicely wrapped presents lying around, so what gives?” He heard Scully saying behind him and he smiled, happy she decided to meet him.

“You've never hit a baseball, have you, Scully?” he asked her, hitting another ball.

“No, I guess I have, uh... found more necessary things to do with my time than... slap a piece of horsehide with a stick,” she said rather condescendingly as he hit a foul ball.

“Get over here, Scully,” he said, turning to look at her over his shoulder. She uncrossed her arms and pushed from the backstop, walking toward him as he held the bat out for her. He stepped behind her, wrapping his arms around her tightly, holding the bat with her as she took it from him.

“This my birthday present, Mulder?” she asked him warily. “You shouldn't have.”

“This ain't cheap. I'm paying that kid ten bucks an hour to shag balls,” he said, close to her ear, gesturing to Poorboy.

“Hey, it's not a bad piece of ash, huh?” he teased, and Scully turned to give him a look, one he knew too well. “The bat- talking about the bat.” She turned back slightly and he smiled.

“Now, don't strangle it. You just want to shake hands with it. "Hello, Mr. Bat. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." "Oh, no, no, Ms. Scully. The pleasure's all mine." She laughed his name and he was thrilled by it.

“Okay, now, we want to... we want to go hips before hands, okay?” he said, moving his hand close to her hip, but careful not to touch her. “We want to stride forward and turn. That's all we're thinking about. So, we go hips... before hands, all right?” This time he did touch her hip lightly with his hand, while using his own hips to turn her body the right way.

“Okay,” she agreed.

“One more time,” he said, wanting to see if he could actually get away with being so bold. He touched her hip with more pressure and he would swear on a stack of bibles that he heard her gasp. “Hips... before hands, all right?” Her gasp ringing in his ears and causing his heart to race.

“Yeah,” she agreed again.

“What is it?” he asked, wanting to hear her say it.

“Hips before hands,” she said, and it settled in his memory.

“Right,” he said, very close to her ear. “We're going to wait on the pitch. We're going to keep our eye on the ball. Then, we're just going to make contact. We're not going to think. We're just going to let it fly, Scully, okay?”

“Mm-hmm,” she nodded.

“Ready?”

He tried to readjust their grip on the bat, moving his hands down to how they should be, while also messing around with her. Both of them struggling for the space and he grinned.

“I'm in the middle,” Scully said, and he did it a bit more, loving the feeling of not being them for a moment, but silly and free. She got her hands back between his and he could hear her smile and laugh

“All right, fire away, Poorboy,” he called out and a ball flew their way as they swung at it together. They made contact but it was definitely a foul.

“Ooh! That's good,” he said, hearing her laugh. “All right, what you may find is you concentrate on hitting that little ball... the rest of the world just fades away, all your everyday, nagging concerns-” Scully giggled as they got ready to hit another ball.

“The ticking of your biological clock,” he said, as they landed another hit.

“How you probably couldn't afford that nice, new suede coat on a G-Woman's salary,” he said, letting her know he had noticed her new coat, saying without words that it looked nice on her. Another crack of the bat and he felt that happiness he had earlier, but doubled now that she was there with him.

“How you threw away a promising career in medicine…” he all but whispered into her ear. “To hunt aliens with a crackpot, albeit brilliant, partner.” She turned her head and gave him another patented Scully look.

“Getting into the heart of a global conspiracy. Your obscenely overdue triple-X bill. Oh, I... I'm sorry, Scully. Those last two problems are mine, not yours,” he said, keeping it light as they hit another ball.

“Shut up, Mulder,” she said and he could hear the smile in her voice. “I'm playing baseball.” Another swing and she laughed as they hit the ball. Over and over, they did it, her laughter ringing out in the night air.

His love for baseball had been a part of him most of his life. Now he shared it with her, literally sharing a bat between them as they hit the balls into the middle of the field. He made to step back, giving her a turn on her own, but she gave him another look, and his grip tightened on the bat once again.

So much had happened recently, their lives flipped upside down, but she was there with him, laughing and enjoying herself. The feel of her in his arms made him happier than he had been in a very long time.

When the last ball had been hit and Poorboy put up his empty hands, they laughed as they dropped the bat and stepped apart. She pushed her hair out of her face, wearing a huge smile, as she turned to look at Mulder and then out to Poorboy, who was running around collecting the baseballs.

“We should help him, Mulder,” she said softly, her smile still in place. “He’s a child and that’s a lot of balls.” He grinned at her and she gave him a teasing look as she walked away, her hips swinging more than usual.

Hips before hands indeed, he thought, his eyes unable to look away until she squatted down to pick up a ball.

“Jesus,” he muttered, shaking his head as he started to walk out and gather up the balls.

Back and forth they walked, depositing the balls into the basket. Once it was full, Mulder took out his wallet and handed Poorboy a twenty dollar bill. He looked at it and grinned, taking off at a run. Mulder picked up the basket and pushed the machine toward the backstop.

As they walked to home plate, Scully picked up the bat, smiling at Mulder as she did. They dropped off the machine and the basket of balls at the park office. Walking away, he took the bat from Scully and put his hand out, hoping she would take it. When she did, he smiled and locked their fingers together, his heart pounding.

They arrived at their cars and he let go of her hand to put the bat in the backseat. Turning back around, he crossed his arms and stared at her. She smiled, the one he loved most: all her teeth showing before she licked her lips. Once again, he groaned internally, imagining how they would taste.

Stepping forward, she put her hand on his arm. “Thank you for my present, Mulder,” she whispered. He nodded and stared into her eyes. She smiled again, pushing on his arms, bringing him closer to her height, her lips on his before he had a chance to think.

She stepped back and he leaned toward her, dropping his arms and stared at her. He cupped her face, leaning close to kiss her again, her hands coming up to hold onto his forearms.

Her lips were so soft, their kiss sweet, until she opened her mouth and her tongue licked his lips. He opened his mouth immediately, kissing her deeper, allowing her tongue access to explore. His hands moved to the back of her head and her waist, pulling her closer. She melted into him, holding his shirt as she fell flush against him.

Pulling back for air, she stumbled backward, and with the tight grip on his shirt, she pulled him with her, crashing into the side of her car. He kissed her again, her hands going around his back, holding him close as their tongues learned each other.

“Ohhh …” she breathed when he pulled back, staring at her as his lungs burned with the need for oxygen. “We need… we need to go. We should…” She pushed him from her and nervously smoothed her hair and clothes. “I should go. We…”

She licked her lips and he felt his jeans tighten, no longer wondering how her lips tasted. Peppermint. She tasted of the peppermint tea she drank and he ached for another taste.

“I should go,” she said, and stepped past him, fumbling with her keys.

“Scully, wait. Just…” he pleaded and she looked at him and then around the ballpark.

“We need to go. We, as in both of us,” she said forcefully. “Together.” She smiled and he realized what she was implying. “My place is closer,” she said as she got in the car. Backing up, she nodded with that same big smile, and drove away.

“Holyyyyyy shiiiiiiit,” he breathed. Standing frozen for what felt like an eternity, he took his keys from his pocket, dropped them with a curse, and picked them up again. He drove away, tires screeching as he did, seatbelt unsecured, a smile plastered on his face as he followed her home.

______________

Arriving at her place, she opened the door and, less than a second later, he had her pressed against the closing door; her arms around his neck and his tongue in her mouth.

Peppermint.

She pushed him forward, taking off her jacket when she had the space. It dropped to the floor and she reached for her top, pulling it over her head and dropping it onto the floor. He shook his head at her light pink bra that did nothing to hide her hard nipples.

She reached around to take it off and it dropped to the floor and so did he, on his knees before the goddess Dana Scully, his face pressing into her stomach, his arms around her, sitting under her ass.

“Scully,” he murmured, peppering her stomach with kisses. Looking up, he saw her looking down at him, her chest rising and falling.

“Mulder,” she whispered, arousal but also worry in her eyes. He quickly rose off his knees and kissed her, hoping to waylay any fears.

“Bedroom,” she whispered against his mouth, and grabbed the front of his shirt, bringing him along.

Once in her room, it was as though they had danced this dance thousands of time. They fumbled a bit, shoes and socks providing a giggling problem, and buttons sticking as they tried to hurry to get them open.

But when they came together, flesh to flesh, it was perfect. He leaned over her, kissing her, her tongue sweeter than anything he had ever tasted. Her skin was soft and hot under his fingers, trembling as he touched places that made her moan. He kissed her chest, his mouth worshipping her breasts, paying special attention to the rosy pink nipples begging for his tongue and teeth.

Her stomach jumped as he licked at her abdomen, the muscles clenching beneath his mouth. He felt her fingers gripping his hair and he grinned, knowing she knew where he was headed, the scent of her arousal intoxicating him.

“Mulder,” she gasped as he kissed her pubis, the hair sparse. “Oh, yes, Mulder.” She opened her legs wider, her heels on his back as he licked her and she moaned and gripped his hair tighter. “Please…”

That was the last word he heard her say as he set to work doing just that, pleasing her. Kissing, licking, sucking, he took his cues from her. The way she held his hair, arched into his mouth, and how her legs trembled. He paid attention to it all, learning the way she liked to be loved, the taste of her beyond exquisite.

“Mulderrrrrr!” she cried, holding his hair tightly, her legs closing around him as she came. “Ohhhhh…” He stayed where he was, softly kissing, until she relaxed around him.

When he felt her grip loosen, he kissed her inner thigh, finding a freckle there that he wanted to kiss forever. Following a path up, he kissed her hip bones, belly button, the rosy pink nipples, her neck, and finally her lips.

Her legs wrapped around him, pulling him closer to her, her fingers digging into his arms as he kissed her. He positioned himself at her entrance and pulled back to watch her face as he slid inside of her.

“Oh God, Mulder,” she breathed, and he echoed her words. “Oh… my God…” she said again, staring at him until her eyes rolled back, her legs pulling him even closer to her.  

“Scully… ohhh,” He pulled out and slid back in, the feel of her all around him, enveloping him just as her body was doing.

She clawed at him, his name tumbling from her lips, her body arching into him. He fell forward, his face at her neck, her breasts pressed into his chest as he went faster, unable to take it slow, the feeling too amazing.

“Scully, Jesus, you feel so good,” he moaned and she cried out his name.

“Oh, Christ,” she moaned out in a low voice, the pitch escalating as her hips met his thrusts, crying out his name over and over, their pace hurried as they chased something they had been after for years, the goal finally in sight. He kissed her neck as her cries grew louder, and they crashed over the edge together.

“Ohhhhh Mulder,” she breathed, her chest rising and falling, arms and legs holding him close, their bodies still rocking slowly. “Mmmmmm, my God …” Her hands ran up and down his back, her nails scratching lightly.

“Scully, oh, Scully,” he said, pushing up and looking down at her. Her hair spilled across her pillow, sweat beading upon her forehead. She smiled at him, her hands reaching for his face, pushing his hair back.

“Mulder,” she whispered and he kissed her, rolling them to their sides, keeping them connected. She pulled back and stared at him, her hand on his face once again.  

“Hi,” she whispered, grinning at him as she stroked his face.

“Hi,” he answered with a matching grin, his hand on her hip. Shaking his head, he opened his mouth and closed it, words failing him.

“I know,” she whispered with a nod and a shake of her head, causing him to laugh softly. “For the record, while I had fun tonight, this kind of present is one I enjoy much more. I even got to unwrap it.” He laughed again and moved a little, shifting their bodies. “Mulder…” She stared at him and he nodded.

“I know,” he echoed her words, the humor out of her eyes, the realization of what they had done showing on her face. “Scully, stop those thoughts.” He pushed her hair back and stared at her, shaking his head. “Don’t think right now.”

“Okay,” she whispered, leaning in to kiss him, and move closer. “That was… oh, Mulder.” She nuzzled into his neck and he felt her shake her head.

“A home run?” he teased, hoping to halt whatever she might be thinking. She pulled back and looked at him, a huge grin on her face and then she was laughing, her head falling to his neck.

“Yeah, I’d say it was. And a single as well,” she said, looking at him again. He wiggled his eyebrows and she laughed, shaking her head. Sighing, she snuggled into him again and they were quiet, both thinking about what just happened.

“Scully,” he began, and she stopped him.

“Mulder, let’s just…” she said and he nodded, quiet as he held her, his fingers running softly across her back.

They must have dozed, as he woke some time later on his back, her head on his shoulder. He looked down at her and smiled, not wanting to wake her just yet. He got up carefully to use the bathroom, moving quietly around the room.

Standing in her doorway watching her sleep, he felt worried. Now that daylight would be breaking soon, what if she told him this was a mistake? What if she regretted this evening and wanted to go back to how things were, forgetting this ever happened? He shook his head and quietly collected his clothes, getting dressed quickly, needing time to think.

Driving away, he knew he was being a goddamn coward, but that had been a huge step and the repercussions could be astronomical. He was scared, he would admit that, but only in the confines of his car.

“Jesus Christ, man. Go back,” he muttered, but could not make his body listen.

Stopped at a red light, he hit the steering wheel, angry at himself. Looking around, he saw a bakery opening and made a quick decision. Picking up a half a dozen bagels and a container of cream cheese, he drove back to her apartment, quietly letting himself in with his key.

The cream cheese in the fridge, he set the bagels on the counter. Looking in on her once more, he knew this was the right decision. They needed space to think separately and come to terms with tonight.

Locking the door behind him, he hummed on the way to the car. He knew her, really knew her, and he would give her what she needed.

Well, more so than I did tonight, he thought, the memory of the taste of her kiss, her skin, of her making him grin. Shaking his head, he got in the car, driving home to use the computer and see if he could find the artist of the painting they saw earlier today. He had a new take on the story and he wanted to find it so he could share it with her.

The people in that house were not coming back from a day at the beach. No, they were already home. Lying in bed, sated and happy, the basket of baseballs spilled next to the bat that had been dropped on the floor in their haste to get to the bedroom. Grinning at the thought, he sped up, wanting to get home faster, needing something to occupy his mind.

He knew once she had the painting and heard the updated version of the story, she would accept it with a knowing smile.

Yeah, he thought with a smile and a nod, his foot pressing harder on the gas, this is a home run of an idea..

[minhothebunny]

Detective Lee - Chapter One

Y/N (YUNHEE'S) POV.

I was in a deep sleep when my alarm sounded, filling the once quiet room with an ear-piercing shriek. I slammed my pillow over my ear to block out the noise, but that only seemed to make the alarm grow louder.

"Shut the fuck up already," I groaned, throwing my phone across the room. The alarm continued to ring.

"Shit, I shouldn't have done that. Now I have to get up and turn it off." I let out an inhumane groan as I rolled out of bed and fell onto the floor. "Fuck! That hurt," I stood up and kicked the ground.

"Ow, fuck! Ugh, my foot." I hopped on one foot, holding the aching one, and finally turned my alarm off. "Good fucking riddance," I mumbled, annoyed at how shit my day already was.

I went into the bathroom and took a long, hot shower, not forgetting to brush my teeth before leaving, then got dressed for the day. It's only 11:30 am right now, so I decided to wear an oversized hoodie with shorts hidden under it.

I work at a small, cozy boba café with my friend, Yuta. We met two years ago when I got my job at the café, and he got me accustomed to how things work there. We're the only workers at the café: Yuta works from 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm, and I work from 4:30 pm to midnight.

Even though it's just us at work (plus the owner), I enjoy the serenity because my social anxiety doesn't let me work in crowded places. Because of how close Yuta and I are, work is the only thing I look forward to in my boring life.

I graduated from university with a bachelor's degree in psychology, but I don't work anywhere fancy because I like my job now.

Anyway, I made my way to the kitchen and cooked an omelet with hash browns and bacon. After eating, I placed my plate on the piling stack of dirty dishes and made my way back to my room, where I jumped on my bed, took out my laptop, and rewatched my favorite K-Drama.

Many episodes later, it was time for me to get dressed, so I got into my work uniform and walked my way to work. I'm a broke bitch that's still paying off her school debt, so I don't have a car to drive.

While on my way to work, I bumped into a guy and immediately apologized for not watching where I was going. It looked like he wanted to say more, but I left in a hurry to avoid the awkward situation.

THIRD POV.

Y/N opened the door to the boba café, a dinging sound filling the air.

"Hey, cutie. What can I get for you today?"

"Haha, very funny, Yuta," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Aw, why the long face? Bad morning, again?"

"You don't even want to know," she said, rubbing her face.

"Of course, I do! I'm not letting you have a bad day on my watch,"

Y/N snorted, entering the storage room to put her bag down and get ready for the day.

Y/N's shift was the same as any other day: a few customers come in and order their boba, then leave. Thankfully, very few actually sit down inside the café.

A few orders later, Y/N heard the all too familiar ding, signaling that a customer was here. Y/N fixed her posture and put on the kindest smile she could muster.

"Hello, welcome to District 9! What can I get for you?"

"..."

Y/N looked up from the cash register, confused as to why he wasn't answering. "Oh, it's the guy that always sits here." Y/N doesn't know who he is, just that he comes here every day at her shift, wearing the same clothes and asking the same question each time.

"What do you recommend?"

"O-oh, um, well, I like taro milk tea. You can try that out if you'd like." She said, masking her confusion with a polite smile.

"Well, if you like it, then so do I. One taro milk tea, please."

"One taro milk tea coming right up," Y/N said, ignoring the man's earlier comment.

Yuta prepared the order, calling the man over to get his drink. The man snatched the drink out of Yuta's hands. "The way he treats Yuta is so much different compared to the way he treats me. What's his problem?"

Y/N didn't hold onto the thought too much, quickly forgetting it to focus on the next customer.

Time skip: closing time.

Y/N went back into the storage room to collect her bag, throwing it onto her shoulder. She got out, noticing how the strange man was still there. "Well, shit. I have to talk to him since Yuta's gone. Why doesn't he ever leave? Doesn't he have anything to do?"

"Um, sir. It's closing time; you have to leave," Y/N cleared her throat.

The man wordlessly stood up and left, the same thing he's been doing every single day. Baring no mind to him, Y/N locked the doors to the café, getting back in her comfortable bed being the only thought in her mind. _______________________________ Here it is! The first chapter of Detective Lee! I'm very excited about where this book is gonna go. Bare with me a little bit, though. The first few chapters are gonna be boring af. Think of them as a bit of an introduction to help you get accustomed to the characters. I promise it'll get more exciting soon!

Also, Y/N works on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays because I said so. She's also responsible for closing the café.

What do you think of the strange man Y/N encountered today?

Don't forget to like and comment your thoughts! This chapter took forever to type out because, quite frankly, I got bored of it myself haha. Don't worry, though, the action is coming soon ;)

Thank you so much for reading! -Nina <3

[disneymiraculousefandomsblog]

A Royal Visit

“I've got an idea” Varian stated. “Selena i have an idea that could help us stop Lady Cain and her boys but i need help would you be able to help me?” Varian asked Selena. “ Of course Varian” Selena stated “OK we need to get to my lad located upstairs, Lets go”. Varian stated.They carefully started to walk to the stairs without getting caught or hurt.

“ Varian, Selena, Where are you going?” Rapunzel asked them.

“We are going to my lab to get some supplies to help stop Lady Cain and her gang” Varian said to Rapunzel

“Let me go with you i can help” Rapunzel asked Varian.

“Thanks Princess but i think it be easier to sneak around if it was just Selena and me” Varian said to Rapunzel with half smile.

Varian saw that Rapunzel wanted to help not just sit around while her Fiance did everything.

“Rapunzel just because you don’t have your long magical hair anymore doesn't mean you still can’t fight, you are smart, brave, cleaver, and bold you can do anything if you put your mind to it” Varian told Rapunzel putting his hand on her shoulder.

“Plus Est En Vous,There’s more in you Rapunzel” Varain said with a warm smile.

“You taught me to never give up, Rapunzel i know you can do this” Varian assured her with a smile.

Rapunzel just started at Varian for awhile trying to process what he just told her she pulled Varian into a tight hug. “Thank you Varian” Rapunzel said with a smile. Varian smiled back.

”Be Careful you two” Rapunzel stated to Varian and Selena.

Varian and Selena *Noded*,  Varian and Selena make it to the stairs without being caught and started climbing up.  

“Think Rapunzel Think” She asked herself. Rapunzel started to scan the room to see what she could use to fight with she saw these long Textiles which was just like the long curtains they used for decorations.

“These are as long as my hair was” Rapunzel stated.

“I can use these like i used my hair” Rapunzel said to herself.

“Your Highness's i need you to stay here to stay safe” Rapunzel said to Queen Luisa and King Antonio.

“ I’m going to go help the guards stop Lady Cain and her gang” Rapunzel Stated.

“OK be careful Princess Rapunzel” Queen Luisa said.

Rapunzel grabbed the Textiles and wrapped it around her hands and started swinging it round, She went toward where Eugene and the Guards were and started to join the fight.

“Sunshine what are you doing with that?” Eugene asked Rapunzel.

“I am going to use them to help you defeat Lady Cain and her gang” Rapunzel Stated.

“You really think you can stop me with a piece of cloth?” Lady Cain said with a smirk.

Rapunzel just gave her a stern look, Rapunzel swung the Textiles around to where Lady Cains gang were and made her gang trip and fall on their backs and their weapons fell from their hands. The Gang quickly got their weapons and got right back up and beginning to attack again.

Varian and Selena finally made it to his lab,”OK Varian what exactly are we looking for?” Selena asked,

“I still have some of my alchemy bombs here that could help us” Varian stated.

“You see these balls right here?” Varian asked Selena.

Varian held 6 bombs in his hand they all had different color liquids inside.

“Each bomb does something different whatever bombs they took from my lad these bombs will counteract them” Varian stated. Varian quickly finished grabbing what he needed.

“Lets go” Varian said to Selena.

“Right behind you” Selena stated.

Varian and Selena made their way back down the stairs and to where the fight was taking place, When they arrived they saw Rapunzel Using the Textiles to fight Lady Cain and her Gang. Rapunzel tossed the Textiles at 2 of Lady Cains thugs and wrapped them up in it.

“Rapunzel catch” Varian shouted to Rapunzel.Rapunzel caught it and tossed it at the thugs and a puff of blue smoke came out and the thugs were stuck to the ground. Varian saw the guards fighting the last of Lady Cains gang but they were not doing do well so he ran to where the guards were and tossed 3 Alchemy bombs “Get Back!” Varian warned the guards.

The Guards stepped back and yellow smoke covered the thugs and when the smoke disappeared only half their body’s were encased in yellow amber.

“Isn’t that the amber you accidentally used to encase your father?” Eugene asked Varian.

“Yes but i fixed it to where it only traps half of your body and it wares off within an hour” Varian said to Eugene.

Lady Cain looked around and saw all her gang wrapped up and trapped.

“Wha- how did you get your equipment” Lady Cain asked varian confused.

“We snuck passed you while you were fighting, you might as well give up the Alchemy bombs Lady Cain i can counteract them all” Varian said to Lady Cain.

“This isn’t over Princess Rapunzel i will be back!” Lady Cain Shouted.

She then pulled out one last alchemy bomb that contained green liquid and tossed it on the floor when it exploded there green gas filled the room. Varian didn’t worry to much because it was a normal smoke bomb you would use to make an escape. Once the smoke cleared Lady Cain was already retreating to the door making her escape, when Varian gave Rapunzel a purple bomb.

“Toss this at her it will make her feet get stuck to the floor” Varian instructed Rapunzel.

Rapunzel gave her best shot and tossed it at Lady Cain and the bomb hit the floor and purple smoke covered Lady Cain stopping her in her tracks, when the smoke vanished her feet were stuck to the ground.

“Ugh i was so close!” Lady Cain stated

“ I failed you father again” Lady Cain said with disappointment.

“Is everyone OK?” Rapunzel asked.

“Yes we are fine” Queen Luisa answered

“Guards i want you to escort Lady Cain and her gang to the prison cells” Eugene Commanded

“Yes Captain” The Guards Answered.

“See i told you we would get to the bottom of who really stole the Jewels” Rapunzel said to Selena laying a hand on her shoulder.

“Now all we are missing are the Jewels?” Eugene questioned

“We know where they are, They are in a cart outside of the castle, where they put us after they kidnapped us” Varian stated.

“Nigel i think you owe an apology to the Family of Agave” Rapunzel stated.

“My Humblest Apology's your Highness’s, i was quick to judge and that was very rude and disrespectful of me can you forgive me?” Nigel said.  

“We forgive you, we all make mistakes” Queen Luisa said.

“Thank you your highness” Nigel said giving a bow to Queen Luisa.

Selena went to go give her family a hug she was so relived that everything was over and that they proved her family was innocent. Once they recovered the jewels and placed back in their proper place the Royal Family of Agave was packed and ready to go back to their kingdom.

“Farewell your Highness's” Rapunzel bowed, “I promise the next time you come visit it will be better” Rapunzel stated.

“Thank you for your Help Princess Rapunzel we could’t have been proven innocent without the help of you and your friends we are truly in your debt” Queen Luisa stated while giving a bow to Rapunzel.

“Are you ready Selena” King Antonio said.

“Coming Father” Selena stated.

“Oh Selena wait, i have a present for you” Rapunzel stopped Selena on her way to the carriage.

“Really? You didn’t have too” Selena said.

Rapunzel pulled out a beautiful blue sapphire necklace and put it around Selena’s neck. Selena was in shock and amazed on how beautiful it was.

“This...This is beautiful princess Rapunzel” Selena said with a huge smile on her face.

“So you can always remember us and just know that if you or your family ever need help with anything we will be here to help you” Rapunzel told Selena

“Thank you Princess i will always treasure it” Selena said. She Gave Rapunzel a big tight hug, Rapunzel returned it with a hug and a smile.

Selena walks to where Varian was, “So i guess this is goodbye” Varian Stated.

“No this is just Farewell till the next time we meet” Selena said to Varian.

“Varian if it wasn’t for you convincing your friends that we were innocent i don’t know what would have happened or where my family and i would be if you didn’t stand up for us,Thank you” Selena said to Varian with a smile.

“ It was nothing really let’s just say i have been in your shoes before” Varian said sheepishly to Selena.

Selena just smiled at him, “I have something for you” Selena told Varian.

‘Really, you..you didn’t have too” Varian said sheepishly. Selena pulled out a very beautiful box that was wrapped in blue wrapping paper with a card attached to it and she handed it to Varian.

“Thank you Selena” Varian said. Selena smiled at Varian then she gave Varian a very tight hug, Varian at first was surprised and didn’t know what to do or how to react, Rapunzel has caught him with surprise hugs all the time so he just went with it and returned the hug. Selena let Varian go from the hug and smiled and went to her carriage where her parents were.

The Royal Family waved at Rapunzel and her friends saying Farewell, Varian waved bye to Selena and her Family. Once the Royal Family of Agave left Varian said bye to Rapunzel and Eugene and headed home to be with his dad. Varian Arrived at his house.

“Son How did it go” Quirin asked Varian

“It was great dad very eventful” Varian said with a smile. He didn’t want his dad to know what really happened he would get worried something would happen next time he went to go visit Rapunzel. “Well Ruddiger what a day it has been” Varian said to his pal. “We learned so much today and got to try so many different types of delicious food that we probably won’t try ever again and we even had a little adventure”. Varian Said to his pet Raccoon. Varian took off his bag and started to empty it on the table when he saw the present Selena gave him. Varian started to open it and when he ripped the wrapping off it was a box of Mexican chocolates a different Variety of chocolates, Varian smiled.

 “She knew i love chocolate Ruddiger” Varain said to his pal. He saw the not that was attached and opened it. 

“Varian i hope you liked your gift its not much of a thank you for all you did for my family and me but i remembered how much you love chocolates these are Mexican Chocolates theses are the best chocolates from my kingdom, maybe not as great as Ruddiger’s hot coco though, It was great meeting you Varian and i hope we see each other again soon thank you for being my friend and believing in me when no one else did, Sincerly Selena”. 

Varian smiled when he finished reading the note he honestly didn’t know what to say he blushed a little when he read it. Varian opened the box of Chocolates and once he took the lid off he could smell the chocolates aroma he grabbed a chocolate that was half strawberry/Chocolate and bit it. 

“Wow this is Amazing!” Varian stated. He gave a piece to Ruddiger and the Raccoon ate it and snuggled on Varians lap afterwards. “Lets get some rest buddy” Varian said while scratching Ruddiger’s ear.  

“who knows whats in store for us tomorrow” Varian said with a smile while petting Ruddiger.

The End

And this concludes my Fic, i am really sorry if this chapter was longer than the other ones I was trying to figure out how to end it right lol 😂 but I really hope you all enjoyed reading this. This has only been my 2 time writing a story this long lol so i do apologize if there were some errors. I really appreciate everyone who took the time to read it and share their feedback it made me so happy to know that you guys liked it  and thank you to @dangara2610 for bearing and sticking with me till the end you are AMAZING!!! 

[mag7dumbies]

Magnificent Seven Series (1998) Pilot major spoilers

So I finally finished watching the Pilot and good lord I had thoughts, and no this is not the first time I’ve watched this episode, I’m just that extra when I watch TV 

(Here we go yet again folks strap in)

(I have mentioned I hate the confederates- garbage humans the lot)

(Also giving birth is better in a squatting position- or at least that’s what I’ve heard)

(Seminoles are actually a very interesting tribe to read about)

“I respect no man’s law but my own” well fuck you too racist bastard (not only that but you need to get a fucking haircut and someone to repair that ratty flag of yours or better yet burn it)

I hate that he is so right cause we still have nut jobs in the south who are in denial that we won the war 

The movie was so much nicer goodness (I mean violence wise it wasn’t as insane as this is)

I hate that the general is not completely bad (he isn’t close to good but he still has morals, which is hard to believe considering what he believes)

(The general is nuttier than an oak tree)

OKAY HOW DARE YOU, I’M NEARLY A TRILLION PERCENT SURE THAT SAND IS SACRED AND YOU JUST FUCKING CHUCK IT WHO RAISED YOU

AND YOU PUT THAT MASK WHERE YOU FOUND IT GODDAMN IT

“I believe I can turn gold into bullets” (what does that even mean)

(Didn’t realize that this whole episode was a week’s worth of stuff huh)

(I love that they included freed slaves just makes me happy)

Lordy boardy here we go

Chris this is not the time for a drink

The duster flaps in the wind- okay we get it Chris is a badass- he was drinking glass, earlier we know

The Marshall is a coward (this reminds me of a fantastic fic I once found that had the Marshall return and Nathan was understandably pissed it was awesome)

He’s wearing an apron- oh Vin you have fallen so far, (I’m glad he has long hair though, in the movie it was pretty short which didn’t really fit cause you know Vin isn’t one for conventions or white men tradition)

Mary, Mary quite contrary-angry I mean angry good lord I love her

(I always pronounce gangrene as gaygrene and its super frustrating cause I’ll try my hardest to say it right but my mouth doesn’t work that way or at least it doesn’t sound right)

Only in the nineties could you say darkie doctors on TV and not be immediately cancelled or there to be some sorta outrage, same thing applies to lynching, you can hang white folks on TV but the minute a black person is having the noose we have problems (which is really good cause there are people still alive that have probably witnessed a lynching of someone who certainly didn’t deserve it)

That son of a bitch, pushing Mary was stupid because not only are you being racist which is a trait no one likes but also being a sexist pig- (you are in for it now)

Uh-oh Vin is pissed that isn’t good for anyone (well Nathan but that isn’t the point)

Do you think Vin gives a damn about being employed- and how did he get the apron off so fast like damn

THE FUCKING NOD

Here he comes the stupidest boy in the Wild West- (I’m gonna punch something I swear)

He’s so little 

Chris nearly shot Jd’s foot off 

“Where’d you come from” where did you go where’d you come from, tall dark stranger and his weird friend

(The saloon bit tickles me to death)

(For some reason it reminds me of Lone Ranger and I don’t know why)

Vin is a fucking sweetheart and I love him

Poor Nathan I hope his throat is okay

Vin do you have to be negative and suicidal in the same swoop seriously

Its Buckaroo time everybody, hell yeah

Then he jumps out a fucking window like a moron, and Chris is just standing there like a he’s too cool for school

(Is it Josiah or ‘osiah, not entirely sure)

And here comes the Ez, ugh he’s about as cute as he can get

“Sorry for the mess” lordy be

(Love Ez’s one-liners)

“I abhor gambling” carefully baby don’t want Maude to hear you and fuck you too you Southern bigot (I know he gets better but still, that language isn’t okay)

What the fuck is he doing with his fancy footwork just leave the saloon for mother’s sake

It’s too early in the morning to deal with Jd just goddammit (I’m gonna make some popcorn and come back to this cause I seriously can’t)

(Okay I’ve calmed down and I am ready for the stupidity)

What did he think was going to happen, of course, you fell off your fucking horse you side saddled that bitch and startled a horse that you don’t even know you’re better than this

(The only thing he can’t do is have a brain cell)

Chris is an asshole

This damn kid

Buck what the hell are, you doing, leave the kiddo be

(I also find it difficult to trust white men)

And here comes the boy and Buck (Jd’s hair is just bad, it’s like Snape’s)

Buck is right about Jd being a prep

“We’ll carve it on his tombstone” brutal Chris just brutal

(Vin is a sweet boy have I said that already cause he is)

Ezra is so good with kids damn

(Ron Perlman’s arms hell yeah)

Ezra nearly died good lord and he just goes with it and pretends he did it on purpose

Here comes Rainey girl I love her

Nathan why you hurt me, and RAINE THIS ISNT THE TIME TO PLAY MATCHMAKER

I love Raine’s dad he’s fantastic

Buck is such a goof I love him

Why is the guy, so raspy what happened

Jd getting punched is my favorite

This is so cringe, and I really like it “I was in prison for not being white” (that is still the case for some people and we all know it)

Buck CHILL THE FUCK OUT 

Vin are you serious, you don’t know Chris and there you are just hanging out and suddenly you’re like hey dude if I die, take my body to Tascosa you will get a huge payday, he didn’t have to do that at all but he’s just that dude I love him too much

(There’s also a really good fic about Josiah and his crows it's great)

Ezra, I’m done with you, good lord just go home

Here we go

Nathan is a gift to all

Buck don’t waste bullets and Josiah go to a hospital, Jd you’re an idiot and nearly died plus Ezra what are you doing go to Nathan, dumbass

Buck spewing truth everywhere

Bruised my ass Ezra just accept help like a normal human being goddamn

Nathan does not take no for an answer and ow I heard that crack in my own arm ouch

Nathan called him out

Josiah, I love you so much, (usually, I really hate missionaries cause they can be extremely intolerant to other religions especially those of Native peoples,) but Josiah tries his best to respect them which is a breath of fresh air

Josiah fainting isn’t helpful I don’t care what the crows, say (he’s a birdbrain)

Poor Jd, I just wanna give him a hug, and dude chill you are being a mess, like drink like a normal person

Buck stop telling people Chris’s past it isn’t appropriate

And I swear we own an old blanket that looks exactly like Josiah’s poncho no joke

“I’m a spiritual man, sometimes I turn to the wrong kind of spirits” I love this line

Ezra stop corrupting the youth, (Ezra is like O’Reilly and I love that characterization)

What debts they can’t be older than 10, Ezra stop, please 

Nathan, I get you love, her -chill, and Jd “I haven’t shot anyone yet” are you kidding me, seriously

“Buck you’re full of crap” “You’re just figuring that out now” (Had I mentioned I love their dynamic cause I really really do)

(I did some research on Laudanum, purely for fun and apparently, it’s basically just a mixture of every opiate available and then some, plus it’s illegal to make for obvious reasons,)

That’s right Ezra you aren’t a coward or at least not completely

(Jd’s story makes me think that maybe MAYBE he was abused as a kid in the stables, not anything too horrific but still bad and I really wanna write about it)

Btw there is a wonderful thing (I think it was posted by 7men not sure though) anyway it says something about Jd used some of the money to take care of his mama before she died, and after there wasn’t enough to go to college but there was enough to go out west) I think about it at least once a month

(The war is over if only some people could get that through their thick heads)

Ezra you sneaky son of a bitch pulling a Chico

Chris is such a badass I mean that must hurt pulling off that handcuff

Round Three

I’m a bad bitch “You can’t kill me”

John Daniel Dunne- are you kidding me, are you trying to make either myself or Buck die because if you are you’re doing a great job (He is so stupid)

Buck, really you could have tackled him or really done anything else- instead you decide to fucking get stabbed by a sword (this is why you only have half a brain cell- I mean God fucking damn it)

Really Jo seriously like thanks for taking a bullet for Buck but really

Watching this episode has taken almost three hours but it’s totally worth it

(This is the worst part ugh it's like a weird zombie movie)

“You were like a son to me” Bitch you nearly shot him with a cannon

Chris thank you I wasn’t sure if that stupid general was gonna bite it or not

Jd cut out the angst you’re gonna hurt yourself 

This old dude is a gift

“Buck, you look awful” kid your hair looks awful don’t let me get started

Nathan, Raine and the kid look like the perfect family and it makes me smile

“Where you going? Get down off that horse” poor Nathan what did he do to deserve the stress of dealing with those idiots like seriously what did he do

The good thing though is I’m pretty sure Josiah got a new poncho which is definitely a win

Raine gets it though she’s just ‘look those white morons are gonna get themselves killed so it’s better if you at least try to save their skins’ I can handle things here

Poor Josiah, he is just as hunched over as he can be, its pitiful  

Okay I’m FINALLY done with this episode, think I may read a little before I get back on the saddle and on to my absolute favorite episode One Day Out West

[casual-romantic]

Reviewing Ieyasu’s MS

So. Ieyasu. Who I see is in the top five characters in Japan again. (There’s a psychological study in that, if anyone has the resources.) I finally finished his MS a few weeks ago, but have been putting off writing my overall impressions because, frankly, I haven’t wanted to.

I collected dozens of screenshots documenting how his character does and doesn’t change throughout the story, but the thought of going through them just to say the same things as before has been disheartening. Rather than talk about abuse and the romantic view it’s given here again, I’m going to start by talking about something I haven’t given much attention to yet: the non-Ieyasu characters.

Character Impressions (spoiler-lite)

Toramatsu I came out of Ieyasu’s MS with a huge appreciation for Toramatsu, who I previously was only vaguely aware existed. He’s strong, sweet, loves MC, communicates, does his best to protect her within his means, isn’t pushy - the list goes on. Toramatsu doesn’t have a bad moment, but he’s especially excellent during the tournament.

I don’t usually like it when people argue “Why would you pick him when you have a nice guy right in front of you?!” because those arguments a) are usually made in bad faith by the “nice guy” in question and b) people love who they love. Being nice doesn’t mean anyone owes you anything. But in this case - MC, why would you pick Ieyasu when Toramatsu is right in front of you?!

Tadakatsu I have never understood Tadakatsu. His entire shtick is that he’s into pain and humiliation, which is just not something I get. However, I thought he was implemented about as well as such a character could be, and I see why some people do find him amusing. I did like the glimpses of his personality we got when pain wasn’t part of the conversation and he seemed like a fairly good guy. I came out of the MS overall tolerating him, which is about as good an outcome as possible, honestly.

Yasumasa I actually feel a little sorry for Yasumasa. He signed up to serve Ieyasu knowing he was a cruel, ruthless person. Then Ieyasu tries to be somewhat less ruthless after MC (literally) slaps a bit of decency into him. No wonder Yasumasa feels betrayed and wants the old Ieyasu back. His actions towards that goal are in perfect keeping with Ieyasu’s personality pre-slapping. So while I don’t like him at all, I really understood his feelings and motivations and have a greater appreciation for his character. Good job, writers! In fact, like Yasumasa, I was disappointed in Ieyasu’s actions regarding him in the end. It just didn’t seem fitting.

Sakai (Tadatsugu) My opinion of Sakai actually went down reading the story. He’s a total enabler, as he admits himself, and he doesn’t do anything more than frown a bit at Ieyasu’s worst excesses. This is even though he’s convinced Ieyasu could be a better person if a woman came along to love him. So you’re gonna leave all the work (and danger) to MC instead of stepping up yourself, old man? No wonder Ieyasu is constantly threatening to pull out his hair. I wanted to pull out his hair.

Mitsunari Okay, okay, he’s only in the story a little, but I love that he shows up again after the prologue and hasn’t forgotten his debt to manju-boy/girl. I can’t say my opinion of him went up because he’s already my favorite and he was just acting in character, but I was delighted every time he got an appearance.

Yukimura His cameo also serves to highlight how great he is. Never have I been less worried about someone held prisoner. Saizo needs to chill, but that’s par for the course for him so I’ve resigned myself to it but I still don’t like it.

So how about that rehabilitation? (spoiler-heavy)

Ugh. I previously stated that I assumed Ieyasu would be rehabilitated by the end of the story, but he only kind of is. Worse, it’s outward rehabilitation. Basically, Ieyasu makes a big show of apologizing to his retainers for cockily leading them into a losing battle, he refuses to kill Yasumasa for having been a traitor (Yasumasa is not impressed), he makes some effort to eat with his retainers and be a bit more jocular, etc. That’s all very nice, BUT...

It’s very sudden, and precipitated by one incident (MC slapping him, which he in turn strangles her nearly to death for). It’s hard to say how well it will stick. Plus, these are all public actions. Behind closed doors, he’s still controlling and abusive.

A very defining moment for me was when MC is accused of betraying Ieyasu. I thought this was the lead up to a very clever trap and Ieyasu didn’t actually suspect her, he just wanted her safe and was going to use her accusation to lure the real betrayer into a false sense of security. Have her “locked away” while she’s really safe in Kyoto. Brilliant! That was not what happened, of course.

No, Ieyasu thought MC really did betray him based on very flimsy evidence, and had the gall to strangle her again! The second he thought MC wasn’t devoted to him, he fell straight back to his old patterns. That is not the mark of rehabilitation. Sure, he stopped strangling her sooner than he did before, let Toramatsu break her out of prison (love that kid), and had ninjas escort her to Kyoto (ninjas Saizo made quick work of, so so much for that), but whatever. His go-to tactic was still physical violence. Not cool. Not cool at all.

Even in the epilogue, he’s still controlling and generally awful. He’s horribly jealous when MC serves food to Hideyoshi, Mitsunari, and Inuchiyo and calls her a cheap whore for it. He refuses to tell her he loves her even as he threatens to kill her if MC ever lets another man kiss her. I sound like a broken record, but that is not romantic. It is abuse.

So was Ieyasu rehabilitated in the end? Not nearly as much as I expected, much to my surprise. But to the writers’ credit, this ending was more realistic than I expected, too. (Not that realistic, but close.)

Beauty and the Beast

Oh hey, how do Ieyasu and MC get together? When he saves her from a pack of wolves in the woods and treats her wounds. Hmmmmm.

Do I recommend reading Ieyasu’s MS?

NO. The only circumstance I would suggest reading his MS is if you’re writing a paper about abuse being presented in a romantic context. I regret reading it myself. While I’m glad I now have the background for making arguments like “Ieyasu is an abusive character,” I don’t like the bad taste the story left in my mouth. It made me not like SLBP as much, and I don’t like Ieyasu’s event stories much now either (previously I’d been surprised by enjoying them, hence starting his MS at all).

His MS combined with the ninja events got me out of the habit of making sure I used all my stamina to train skills/tryst, and even my current run-through of Mitsunari I somehow let three days go by without reading a chapter despite no checkpoint blocking me. Don’t be like me and read a route you hate, kids. Stick to what you like or you might as well stop playing the game altogether.

Overall

The writers of SLBP have an amazing grasp of character and it was on full display throughout the route. All of these characters could very easily be real (even Tadakatsu is pretty fleshed out). Ieyasu is quite fascinating and would be great as a side character or antagonist. If the route had been the same plot but with MC falling in love with Toramatsu, I’d have been all over it. (Talk about rehabilitation, Ieyasu having to get over MC being with Toramatsu would be an amazing plot point and demonstration of real reform.) That said, I don’t think the route was just awful, I think it was dangerous.

As I’ve previously emphasized, reading stories like this primes girls to accept abuse. “Oh, he had a bad childhood.” “But he’s getting better!” “If I don’t give him a chance, I’ll never know what our love could have been like!” No. Don’t fall into the trap. Abuse is not and never will be the prelude to a wonderful romance, and even if you think you’d never let yourself be abused like MC here did, you’d be surprised what a slippery slope it is when you’re primed by society to make excuses for men, by talk shows and self-help books to believe “love takes work,” and by romances to think a happy ending is waiting for you.

Story: Good Characters: Excellent Romance: Absolutely awful

A second post will follow with some screenshots and specific commentary for those who are interested in that sort of thing.

[fairytalefantasia]

Still on hiatus. Still plan on coming back soon.

Things are still sort of settling down. I imagine I’ll be close to getting back on my feet in the next couple weeks and around then, I should feel relaxed enough to write.

In the meantime, though, I have a few feelings I need to get off my chest and I really just need to journal them. There’s not really anything to do about them other than just to get them out, so I’m throwing that under a cut aaaaand thanks for reading my little update and sticking with me. See y’all soon.

So I know that a lot of y’all who know me in the real world know that I’m actually a real hard-ass with thick skin and a stiff upper lip who always tells it like it is with no sugarcoat. And I am this kind of human, but I’m also just super sensitive and soft and a storm of feelings on the inside. I guess it’s fitting I’m a Cancer, because it really fits--tough, hard exterior protecting the soft, buttery delicacy inside. Times like this remind me just how soft I am and ugh. I hate it. 

Without getting too much into it and divulging too much detail, boyfriend and I are in a l o t of debt. Like, a substantial amount. Several thousand dollars. It’s bad, Brenda. Well, now that I’m working, my boyfriend has really like, gotten on my case about making sure that I pay him back what I owe. I get that he’s stressed. I get that most of the debt is his. But he tried to stake a claim on almost 25% of my monthly income without even consulting me first. I asked for how long and he said “for at least the first 18 months.” 

....wait, hold on--18 months?!

So he hasn’t itemized everything he’s qualified as a loan for me yet, but apparently, he hasn’t been helping me out in my time of unemployment just out of the goodness of his heart. I really have NO clue what he thinks I owe him and what he’s just been arbitrarily adding to my tab. So there’s that. Not to mention, I still have my own monthly payments to make towards my own debts. Plus bills. Plus food. 

And I get it, he’s super stressed about money, so I want to try to commit to pulling my weight and easing his mind. I don’t outright agree, but I don’t disagree to his proposition either. Then this happened.

On Friday, he told me his parents have pitched the idea of giving him a loan. It would be a clear loan, with interest, but it would be enough to pay off all his debt and square away everything for him. Awesome, right? So I say “great! That would mean we could focus on just paying my stuff down so I can catch up!” And in my mind, I’m already thinking of everything that would mean: savings, comfort, stability, good credit, and soon, my own car--but he dashes that with a stern “well, I’d still want you to pay me back.”

.....oh. oh okay. 

So....you get to wipe your slate clean and find yourself in a sudden state of NO financial distress whatsoever, other than normal bills.....and you want me, someone who has been unemployed for 9 months, depleted their savings, has no available credit, someone who JUST started working again and has their own things they have to pay towards and will never, EVER be given the same opportunity where my Mommy and Daddy can just swing in and fix things for me, to line your pockets and make sure I don’t get the same chance to dig myself out? okay.

It just hurt my feelings. When he and I first started dating, he was unemployed. Like, he was a total busta and we both acknowledge it. I was working a really cushy job at the time so I paid for everything. I didn’t mind. When I have a couple bucks in my pocket and it’s enough to feed me fancy or feed me and a friend junk, I’m gonna go the junk route every time. If I have it to give, I don’t mind giving. I love it. It makes me feel good to do things for people and just make them smile. And never once, for those first 6 months we dated, I never asked him for a dime back. 

But here he is, clinging more to money than me. Because of his parents, he has never wanted for anything in his life, and if it comes down to it, he will never know what it means to struggle because they can bail him out. Me? When I was unemployment, my parents would regularly ask me for loans. They asked me for loans when the unemployment and savings ran out. I won’t ever get that same kind of opportunity. He’s going to be comfortable one way or another, and he’s literally trying to Scrooge me into a lifestyle that will keep my head just underwater until I’m probably in my 40s. It just really opened my eyes about him and the way he sees me and certain things.

And then this evening, something unrelated happened that ended up giving me some clarity about this whole situation. He called me and told me his parents have tickets to Hamilton next weekend, both Saturday and Sunday. His dad was going to take his brother on Saturday, and his mom thought it might be nice to take my boyfriend with her on Sunday. Boyfriend told her that he has a social engagment, but Erica loves Hamilton and would love to see it. So she said she’d run it by his dad, who is the actual ticket holder. So I’m like, RAD! I CAN ACTUALLY HAVE A REAL SHOT TO SEE THIS GIG! 

welp, about an hour later, his dad texts him. The long and short of it was, ha, no, all four tickets are claimed and if boyfriend wasn’t going, it was never up for debate that someone else would go in his place. He would just keep them. “Dad is just weirdly stingy about some things,” boyfriend said as he shrugged it off. As is his right. They’re his tickets and he can do what he wants with them. I have no delusions of entitlement at all. It would have been difficult to go anyway. But like....dude, you’re already seeing it the night before? Why not share that with people, not just people but FAMILY, who can’t afford to go and would really love to because they love the show? I know I would if it were me. That would be my first thought.

But then it finally occurred to me--this family does not consider generosity a virtue. It isn’t a value for them. They didn’t teach it. They didn’t encourage it. They were so cozy and comfortable in their modest wealth and prosperity that it never occurred to them that it might be nice to share when you can. I know all about sharing and sacrifice. I was forced to share my favorite toys with my baby cousin even when I just wanted a few things for myself. I was forced to sacrifice my childhood so that my mom could have her emotional breakdown. I had to go without things so many people take for granted, like nice toys, nice clothes, trips, and other things growing up because my parents were too busy living their lives for them. It taught me that when I have something special to appreciate it. And if someone else didn’t have the fortune of knowing what that was like, give, and give freely with an open heart. It felt good to do for myself what was never done for me. My boyfriend was never given the same chance to learn this.

It’s not a big deal, in the grand scheme of things. It’s just another thing I know about him now. It was just a hard learned lesson that not everyone values the same principles I do, or sees the joy in giving to others. Not everyone gets satisfaction from just doing something nice that would mean a lot someone when it really wouldn’t hurt them at all. It’s sad, and it hurts my sensitive little heart to see the world this way. I don’t want to have to wake up tomorrow and know that I’m going to have to fortify my armor so that this can’t happen again, and that I can’t just naively assume someone would automatically be programmed to do the same generous and kind things I would do. But that’s life. This is growing up, and as the rose color fades from my vision a little more, I’m just going to have to remember that people aren’t basically kind. It’s a learned concept, and it’s one that a lot of people I love are ignorant to.

[watercolourferns]

I just found out my mum is in HUGE debt in part because my lazy, irresponsible, asshole cousins didn’t pay back what she spent in my aunt’s hospital, medicines, funeral, and cremation. My aunt was sick for YEARS, like, we all knew she wasn’t gonna get better, that it was degenerative. Yet these fuckers spent NO fucking time preparing for it!! I haven’t gone to Mexico’s City and Mexico State for like what? 7 years? Maybe 8 years. My aunt was already sick back then. Guess what my cousins were doing? Bumming on their asses all day long and spending money they didn’t have, on top of stealing from my aunt. My aunt is and was a fucking saint, they should canonise her. The level of patience and love she gave EVERYONE, not just her children, is not human. She was an angel here on earth and wherever she decided to go she’s still an angel, and what did these lazy asses do for her?! NOTHING. They never went beyond elementary school or freshman in junior high, they have never seriously worked ONE day of their fucking lives, the girls got pregnant in junior high freshman to fuckers who don’t support their families... The man is insanely talented, but he’s an idolent  dumbwit who spends money on frivolous things rather than save for his future... And let’s not talk about the slothful fat ass my aunt’s boyfriend is... I’m no one to talk when it comes to education, I didn’t finish college, but at least I don’t sit on my sorry ass all day, asking my mother for money. And guess who’s reated like a sorry, idle ass? Me. And my mum can harp on how she did it all for her aunt but the one who she made a favour to was to my cousins, not my aunt... my other cousins (who are FAR MORE responsible) and my other aunt and uncle were already helping... She could’ve helped without going into debt, and I’m sure she helped more than the others did, because that’s how my mum operates. Plus, and I told her this when she was over there and my cousins overheard me and I’m SO FUCKING PROUD of finally being open about it, SHE’S MY MOTHER NOT HERS AND SHE HAS NO OBLIGATION TOWARDS THEM. They should gotten on their fucking useless feet and worked four jobs, like my mother now has to do, to pay for everything. They are capable, they don’t have mental illnesses, and they aren’t stupid. They are pretty smart, specially my cousin Israel. He’s fucking smart, witty, cunning, and he’s shameless and charismatic, he would’ve been a GREAT street singer, graffiti artist, anything like that, specially over there where there’s more artistic opportunities than in my shitty city. But NOOOOOOOOOO. And you know what’s worse? My mum still doesn’t understand THEY OWE HER. Not my aunt, my aunt is cremated and resting in a pretty urn in someone’s house, I think my other aunt’s house. She doesn’t owe my mum anything, and had she survived she wouldn’t either. IT’S MY COUSINS WHO DO, YET MY MUM STILL DOESN’T SEE IT.

Bunny and I have a policy: you ask for any type of loan? You pay it back. Doesn’t matter how you do it, but you pay it the fuck back!

Know what this fuckers did just recently? Called my mum asking for a loan because one of my second cousins (we call them second nephews here in Mexico) needs a laptop for school. BULLSHIT, the kid needs JACK. We know the public education system because Buns is a teacher, and we told my mum in no uncertain terms: 1) the govt gives the kids very basic laptops, all the way to high school if they are needed, 2) no school EVER asks for laptops if it’s a public school, because they know the kids can barely afford to eat, let alone to have a fucking laptop. Kids are given everything in public schools here: from uniforms complete with shoes, to books, to notebooks, even backpacks... They are not the best quality, but at least kids get that. Some schools even offer free meals to kids!! AND THIS FUCKER ASKS MY MUM FOR MONEY FOR A FUCKING LAPTOP?! Do you know how many years I had to BEG for a fucking laptop to be able to work on my digital art and then to take it to classes because notebooks are a nuisance (I lost the too often, or got them stolen or ripped by bullies)? And this fucker calls and thinks he’s gonna be handed one?! Luckily my mum FINALLY said no to him, I wish I had been there to laugh at his face... 

But yeah... Buns and I talked to my mum for like two hours about it, I’m not ashamed I shouted, cried, raged, etc. Do you have any idea what we could’ve done with that money?! It’s been three years since my aunt has died, and my mum has NOT one penny of that money, NOT ONE. And all her efforts have gone into paying her debt, nothing else. Buns and I buy what we can of food, mum buys what she can of food, we all pitch in to pay certain things, Buns pays certain bills, mum pays others, I stay out of the way as much as I can and never ask for money... But imagine how less stressful it would’ve been if those shiftless imbeciles had had a bit of fucking ethics and said “Auntie, I’m gonna pay you what you spent on my mum. It’s the least I can do after you did so much for her.” And I’m not saying my mum shouldn’t’ve done it selflessly, I’m saying she should be conscious for whom it was done in reality regardless her intentions: it was done for my cousins, they didn’t have to worry and still don’t have to worry about a thing... while my mother drowns in debt... and she still won’t call their bullshit out...

As her son I have a right to, but I don’t because I respect her... But let me be with them fives minutes in a room alone... Please, give me just five minute and they will not just how much of an awful trio of cretins they are... The best thing my mum could’ve done was put the debt on them... 60-70k pesos on their listless shoulders, that would’ve set them right...  And it hurts, because I know she will never acquire that debt for me, and then she turns and says that she doesn’t do that for me because she loves me more than she loves them... I don’t doubt it, but I don’t buy that excuse either...  Ugh... I’m so SO pissed!!!

[osmw1]

Poison-Wielding Fugitive   Chapter 24

“Payment? It’s not like that was a quest or anything.” “We’ve gotta draw a line in the sand. You try tellin’ others that you did all this for free and you’re gonna find yourself in a heap of trouble.”

Oh, okay. I had no choice but to follow along. Arleaf’s father also understands the concerns Veno had.

“At any rate, this village ain’t exactly wealthy... we don’t even have the lump sum for the knowledge you’ve given us. Even if I were to use my store as collateral.” “Umm, you can pay me with whatever you’re comfortable with.” “And as I’ve said already, if I take advantage of you here, you’ll be in deep.” “But…”

That’s true. If we stick out too much, it’d be dangerous for us. We can’t forget that there are still people after us. There are even wanted posters posted in the tavern.

“Father, don’t shout at Yukihisa.”

Arleaf stands up for me. Nice. You’re my breath of fresh air. And she’s been looking up to me ever since the whole Bloodflower thing too. Damn, that feels good. Mm. Whoops. I’ve been subconsciously ogling her. Gotta stay cool and collected.

“… ugh. The whole village—and of course our family—is grateful to you. That’s why we can’t have you work for free. To take advantage of people is the beginning of corruption. So be considerate of us and make your demands. Don’t take us merchants lightly either.”

Arleaf’s dad annoyedly grumbles.

“So… what should I ask for?” “Ah. There’s nothing we can give you that could ever make up for the knowledge you’ve given us. But what we can do is…”

He brings out a sack of coins and puts it on the counter.

“This is the money we’ve collected from selling the cure, plus donations from the villagers. That and you’ll have my Arleaf to make up for the rest that we owe you. Don’t go too crazy on her now. Think of it as a favor for me.” “Huh?”

What did Arleaf’s father say just now?” I got the money part. But I’m not too sure about the next bit. What about Arleaf now?

‘He shall use Arleaf to cover the rest of thy remuneration is what he said. Thou can use her to satisfy thy lust to thy heart’s content. How fortunate for thee.’

Oh, no, no, no, no. Dumbfounded, I look over to Arleaf, who then blushes and casts her gaze downwards. What the hell? You can’t just sell your daughter!

‘Think carefully. Thou may seem like a simpleton, but thou have the knowledge to cure Bloodflower. They must know they can milk thee for other secrets. Hence why he is entrapping thee with his own daughter. It is a dirty trick often used by humans.’

Maybe, but still… What happened to drawing a line?!

‘Perhaps these are separate matters. They likely have the money they owe you. How cunning of them.’

I’ve just refused the proprietress’ offer for her niece. What am I going to do about this?

“Blasts…”

Arleaf’s father frustratedly curses under his breath, while Arleaf’s mother… peeps on us from the door. What is this, some kind of movie? Was Arleaf’s dad ordered by his wife to sell their daughter and so he reluctantly offers her to me?

“Don’t get me wrong, boy! What I meant was don’t go crazy and working her to the bone! Don’t you lay a hand on her!” “Father!” “Uhh, working, like have her help me out to pay off the debt kind of thing?”

Oh, I get it. Yeah. That’s totally what he meant. Man, was I surprised. But it seems like her mom is still pushing for marriage. Still, that could be convenient for me.

What am I saying though? I’m a wanted man. If she’s affiliated with me, she’ll probably be wanted for being an accessory. I can’t marry her. Plus, what’ll happen when Veno learns how to undo the spell? Do I return back to Japan? Or do I stay here in this world forever?

I can’t say so for sure right now. So it wouldn’t be fair to Arleaf.

‘That is surprisingly virtuous of thee. Especially knowing thy… fantasies and delusions of her.’

Shut up, Veno. That’s a whole different thing. Yes, I’ve thought of us adventuring together, but that’s not even close to what you’re suggesting.

“That’s right!”

Arleaf’s dad agrees with an exclamation. It’s convenient for us both, I see. I’ll take the negotiation tactics I’ve learned from working in a black company and use it on him.

“That said, though… I’m an adventurer and I don’t stay anywhere for too long. I wouldn’t want to impose upon Arleaf.” “I-I know you’re an impressive adventurer, Yukihisa! I’m prepared to follow you to the ends of the world. So, please, take me in.” “Mu?”

New party member? Hey, are we getting a new party member? ... is what the gleam in Muu’s eyes seems to mean, but I want to say no.

“Uhh… well, while I’m still here in this village, you’d really help me out…”

“Only for the time being,” is what I implicitly said. Arleaf looks gutted while her dad has a beaming smile on his face. Talk about jealous. Sheesh.

“I’ll follow you wherever you go, Yukihisa, and I’ll prove it to you.”

Arleaf shows how obstinate and zealous she is. I’m not even that strong or anything!

“Well, uhh… for the time being then, let’s do our best together.” “For sure!”

While it’s true that I’m trying to make a living in this village, more often than not, the quests I do are from you guys anyway… The payment I’ve received for the cure did thicken my wallet quite a bit, so I’ve still got money to stay for a while. The problem is the cost of maintaining our weapons. The crossbow and armor I have equipped are quite the specialty items, so I’d like to think the maintenance on it is on the expensive side. If worse comes to worst, then we’ve gotta find out where we can get new equipment that’s easy to use. And the biggest problem is when I really have to escape, I’ve got to part from Arleaf so that she’s safe too.

“Don’t you even think of laying your hand on my daughter, y’hear?”

Calm down, old man! I never said that I would!

“Hmph. Should be alright then. You’ll find out how scary she can be too, Cohgray.”

Arleaf’s dad muttered smugly, but what does that even mean? Arleaf herself trembles with anger, showing her bloodlust for her father again.

“By the way, Cohgray, you feelin’ peckish at all? Why don’t you stay for dinner?” “… Father, you’re just—” “What? You can’t hide it from him forever. You might as well show him now.” “You’re the worst.” “You can’t back out of this one. This ain’t only for Cohgray, but for you too, Arleaf.”

Umm… I haven’t had a say in this at all. Aren’t you guys getting carried away? I look over to the back of the shop and see Arleaf’s mother visibly sigh. What? I don’t understand at all what’s happening.

“A showcase of our daughter’s finest home cooking. You’re excited too, eh?”

He presses me with a threatening look.

“Oh. Yes.”

For whatever mysterious reason, I guess Arleaf’s family is treating me to dinner tonight.

“Thank you very much for saving my life. I apologize for not having an earlier moment to thank you directly.”

Arleaf’s mother politely bows and greets me before showing me to the back of their store.

“Oh, not at all. I’ve only done what I ought to. How have you been feeling since then?” “I would even say better than before.” “That’s really good to hear. I’m glad the proprietress is feeling better too.”

I break the ice with the proprietress and her huge change.

“I am doing no worse than her for sure, haha.”

Hmm… I don’t think Arleaf’s mom changed nearly as much as the proprietress did. I think she’d be better off not to, actually. She’s swelling up like a balloon… any more would be bad.

“Mu.” “But Mr. Cohgray, it seems you are quite adept at alchemy as well. What a clever boy you have.”

Arleaf’s mom pets Muu as she speaks. With Muu around, I seem so much more skilled at medicine than I actually am. In reality, Muu’s just a weird chemical reaction that I’m using as my adventuring buddy.

“Good grief… my husband and him barking orders sure brings us trouble though. Arleaf, too, for my husband’s sake…”

For your husband’s sake… what? Could you perhaps give me a proper answer?

“Like I said! Keepin’ it a secret won’t do nobody no good. You get it, don’tcha?”

Ah. Arleaf’s mom stares daggers at her husband. What is happening? I thought Arleaf was just cooking for us.

‘They must be scheming to poison thee. Well, not that it would be effective.’

Surely that can’t be it, Veno. Their expressions don’t match up. And Arleaf herself seems to be bothered too. It just seems like her dad’s going nowhere with that.

‘Aye… but something is up. Consider my curiosity piqued.’

Seems like Arleaf’s in the kitchen and caught up in cooking.

“Cohgray, come check over these ingredients here!” “Father!”

While Arleaf is distracted by her dad, I look over the ingredients. Veno’s knowledge kicks in. I’ve been to various taverns and inns for meals since I’ve come to this world. There’s nothing that I wouldn’t know of about.

There’s meat that I’ve cooked with, veggies that I’ve had at the tavern, some regular-looking ingredients, and a loaf of crusty bread. Nothing’s unfamiliar.

Yep. Nothing special about this at all. Seeing that I’ve finished looking, Arleaf’s dad nods at me, clueing me to look at her cooking. While displeased at this situation, she starts cooking as she’s been told. She looks like she knows what she’s doing.

“Goodness… it’s embarrassing how you cling onto your daughter.”

Arleaf’s mom begins to chastise her husband.

“It’s the truth. But don’t go pokin’ the bear.”

Arleaf’s mom lets out a big sigh, seemingly like this is a long-standing problem.

“Let’s do this later instead. So, Mr. Cohgray, where did you learn medicine? Perhaps… you come from a prestigious family?”

As expected, they keep inquisitively prying. They’re essentially handing their daughter off to me, so it’s only fair they’re concerned.

“Umm… I had someone who knows lots about this subject. He taught me everything. I’m just from an average family.”

Not a single word of that was a lie. That’s a life pro-tip I’ve learned from working in that sweatshop. Hide your secrets amongst truths. Like how a job opening would advertise how cozy and spirited the workplace is, you’ve got to make your shortcomings look like your strengths.

While it’s true how the veterans would be all friendly with each other, the newbies often get ostracized and get forced with more work. Create a façade of truths while glossing over what you want hidden. You’ll have more people believe you than you’d think.

As long as there are suckers, there will be people tricking suckers. In this case, the someone who knows lots about this subject is Veno, but I don’t have to say whether or not he’s human. I’ll mislead them to think that I’ve learned all this beforehand, while the truth is that Veno had just been teaching me each step of the process one by one. They don’t need to learn the whole truth. At any rate, I can talk my way out of this. Plus, they’re normal people so this whole thing is a piece of cake.

‘One would say thou possess quite the silver tongue. Thou seem quite excited to cheat them too.”

I want to refute him. Is Japan really better than this world? I can’t say… There might be a sword hanging above my head, but I’m starting to think this isn’t all bad. At any rate, it’s great that I don’t have to work overtime and that I sleep well.

“Is that right? You must have had a great mentor then.” “It’s all thanks to him that we could eradicate this illness…” ‘I would love to give him our thanks then.”

For some reason, I sense Veno all puffed up with pride.

‘How dost thou like mine knowledge now?’

Yeah, yeah. You saved the day, but don’t forget I’ve been dragged into this by you. So, please, be quiet. If they pry any more than this, it’s gonna get a little dicey.

previously: /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ /ch006/ /ch007/ /ch008/ /ch009/ /ch010/ /ch011/ /ch012/ /ch013/ /ch014/ /ch015/ /ch016/ /ch017/ /ch018/ /ch019/ /ch020/ /ch021/ /ch022/ /ch023/ /ch024/ /next/ (full list of translated chapters) (discussion thread on Novel Updates) (please support me on Patreon or Paypal)

[the-fiction-witch]

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 REAL LIFE: COUPLE: TBS X READER RATING: SMUT

MENTIONS OF DRUG USE

Y/N POV:

I dug under my bed looking for my little box I found it opening it up WHAT! its empty! it only filled this up like yesterday so I rush out into my flat 

“LILLY? did you by any chance borrow some of my stash?” I ask her very annoyed

“what? Oh yeah me and luke had a little to make brownies for the party” she explains

“Ugh! buy your dam own”  I yell grabbing my jacket and my purse leaving the flat going down the stairs calling up ace “hey ace, look lilly stole my stuff again where are you?” I ask him

“sorry Y/n fresh out, not got anymore coming in for a week” he explains

“really? fine, anyone else who might have some?” i ask

“well go see thomas he had a shit tone yesterday when i saw him” he tells me

“cheers” I sigh hanging up and rushing back up the stairs all the way to the top floor of the block of flats and knocking on thomas’ door but nothing “THOMAS! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR I KNOW YOUR THERE” I yell

“Bugger off Y/n” he yells back

“Open the door thomas” I sigh

“why? what do you want?” he asks

“just to chat” I lie

“fuck off y/n i’m not got any” he sighs as I heard him unlock the door so I quickly go inside locking the door behind me

“Bull shit thomas, ace said he saw you had a tone yesterday” I sigh going into his living room where he now sat on the sofa 

“I did, I sold Jack some“ he sighs

“no jack doesn’t smoke anymore, plus you dont sell I know you” I sigh

“I did I sold jack some said he was seeing some girl and wanted some, I made the rest into cookies” He explains

“then can I have a cookie” I ask

“I ate them” he laughs

“you made cookies out your whole stash and then ate all off them?” I ask 

“yep” he sighs

“you’d be off your head if you had dont lie to me” I sigh sitting on his sofa with him “Please thomas, Lilly and her boyfriend stole all mine, then make it into brownies which I can assume as I know what she’s like they had one then threw the rest away” I sigh

“then thats your problem” he sighs so I just moved slightly and kicked his coffee table making everything fall out the little secret compartment 

“you fucking liar” I laugh trying to grab it but he got there first 

“fine I have some, but your not having any” he tells me

“why not?” I ask

“get your own” he tells me

“I did then Lilly stole it, Please thomas just one, please” I beg “Im desperate” I beg

“Ugh…fine, money on the table I’ll roll you one” he says beging to roll

“Ohhh…uhhh I dont have any money” I tell him

“then none for you” he laughs

“Oh thomas come on, I dont get paid till next week, Lilly short me on her half of the rent and I had to pay to get my car fixed” I complain

“fine, you owe me it then the day you get paid” he sighs

“I can’t, I’ve got more rent to pay, and food shopping to do, and I need new clothes…”I begin

“well then you cant have it, how many times have we been though this y/n you cant pay me you dont get any” he sighs 

“Oh thomas come on share you frigid bastard!” I yell trying to grab it

“fine, we can share it, but you still owe me” he sighs lighting it up having a smoke off it and collapsing against his sofa blowing the smoke into the air and handing it to me 

“how much?” i ask

“about thirty quid” He sighs 

“fine, eventually” i sigh smoking it and laying back on the sofa too handing it back to him as I blew out the smoke 

“I wont let you forget about it” he laughs “Like last time” he smirked

“Oh shut up that was once” I laugh as he handed it back to me “and it was years ago” I laugh

“I know” he smirks at me….

“Come on one more” i giggle bouncing up and down in thomas’ car we had gone out partying I wasn’t even sure what the day was I think it’s Wednesday? maybe?  dont know, the car was sat up the back of a 24 hour Morrisons car park

“y/n we’ve had four already” he laughs at me “you want another one, we have to open mine” he laughs

“then do it” I giggle lightly hitting him 

“but then you owe me y/n” he smirked at me 

“What I gave you shares on my stash” I sigh

“so what I charge you bloody know that” he laughs at me “you want shares or not?” he asked

“fine” I sigh getting my purse as he rolled but my purse was empty all I had was a Mc-Donalds voucher as he finished rolling “you roll like shit” I laugh

“fuck you, I roll better then you” he laughs “come on cash on the dashboard” he smirks 

“I’m skint, I have free food though” I say putting the voucher on the dashboard

“fuck yeah I am hungry, okay fine, you still owe me twenty though” he laughs “I’ll pay for food when we finish this” he smirks

“TWENTY!” I yell

“shhh! yeah this shit is premium grade” he smirks

“you know ace just puts it in a different bag it’s no different” I laugh

“it is, its better, no money that means no smoke for you” he laughs clearing the excises on his car away and bag in the little bag

“come on thomas please “I beg

“y/n you’ve had four I have no sympathy for ya” he laughs

“but I’m not high enough tommy, I wanna touch the stars” I giggle resting my head on his shoulder 

“then find a way to pay me” he laughs “SHIT!” he quietly yells hiding everything we had away as a police officer just pulled in not to far away from us “we are fucked…” he sighs

“why…it’s not like the car smells of it” i giggle

“yeah but your off your fucking face! and your not hiding it well” he says as we saw the police officer get out his car leaning on the door so I quickly moved my head from his shoulder resting my head on his thigh slightly moving my head every now and again “what are you doing?” he asks

“pretending to suck you off” I giggle

“why?” he asks still keeping and eye on the police officer

“thomas we are sat in a store car park at 3 am there is only two reasons as far as he thinks a boy and girl in a car would be here, A to get high, B to have car sex and as you clearly dont want him to think we are doing A because…well we are, might as well make him think we are here for B” I explain

“how are so so high and still so smart?” he asks

“tolerance thomas” I laugh “at least play a fucking long” I sigh

“right sorry” he laughs as I move my head more pretending I’m sucking him off and I can tells he’s pretending I am too not doing to bad actually I could tell he was imagining a lot as his cock grew in his jeans and I couldn’t help but smirk at him “he’s gone” he sighs in refile but I didn’t move I just giggle undoing his jeans “what are you doing?” he asks in panic

“all that gave me an idea” I giggle sitting up and kissing his neck a little “how far would I have to get you to clear my debts?” I giggle 

“depends how good you are” he smirked so I giggle  getting his cock out his pants taking all of him in my mouth and sucking hard “Uhhh Fuck! yeah yeah your good” he groans his head rolling back against the seat as I continued him moaning and screaming like crazy until he came and I swallowed licking him clean and putting his now soft cock back in his pants and smirking as I sat back up and he got the smoke back out and lit it up smoking some off it and handing it to me

“thanks thomas” I smirk leaning back in my seat having a smoke of it and handing it back to him “come on hurry Up…I’m hungry too, I want nuggets” I giggle “and you can buy me a drink because my mouth tastes like you now” i sigh

“deal” he laughs handing it back to me…

“was I the only one you ever did that for?” he asks as I hand it back to him

“yeah why?” I ask

“just curious, if you went around sucking off every guy for shares” he smirked

“nope just you, and one girl once in college” I laugh

“really?” he laughs giving it back to me “who?” he asks

“veronica leni” I laugh smoking

“Veronica….she was queen of pay with for weed with sex” he laughs

“yep…good girl, small boobs” I laugh

“tiny boobs, she was like a minus A cup” he laughs as I give it back to him

“why did you sleep with her?” I ask

“No…I dont think I did, unless I was off my face when I did it, cause I dont remember I did” he laughs as he smokes

“you where off your whole body when i sucked you off tommy, you didn’t forget that” i laugh taking it back form him and smoking a little more myself

“yeah well, you dont tend to forget the day a police officer shows up when your high, and similarity you don tend to forget the day you best mate sucks your dick in your car” he laughs

“thomas?” i ask 

“yeah?” he asks

“is sucking your dick still a method of payment you accept?” I ask

“I would count dick sucking among the payment options…for you” he smirks

“for me?” I smirk

“yeah, well clearly, when Dylan owes me he does not have that option neither does Jack” he laughs

“what about other girls?” I ask

“not many girls come to me wanting any” he laughs “only you, sometimes Lilly and sometimes Issy” he explains

“do Lilly and issy have that payment option” I giggle

“nope, Lilly doesn’t because…she kinda creeps me out when she’s sober she came around yesterday asking for some, and Issy doesn’t visit often mostly just to show off her new boyfriend anyway” he sighs

“aww poor tommy” I giggle giving him a cuddle as he finishes off the smoke and puts it out “question?” I ask

“go on?” he laughs

“if sucking you off settles my debts? would letting you fuck me mean you owe me some?” I smirk

“I think so why?” he asks so I smirk sitting on his lap and kissing him hard “Okay okay…lets get to bed then” he smirks lifting me up with him and carrying me to his bedroom with us still kissing….

I laid in thomas’ bed both of us naked under the bed sheet both of us smoking “Pleasure doing business with you thomas” I smirk as I smoke

“like wise darling” he smirks back at me “same time next week?” he smirks turning to face me

“yep” I smirk giving him a little kiss but he held my face deepening our kiss till I pull away getting up and getting my clothes on “see ya” I smile giving him another kiss grabbing my smoke and going off back to my flat 

“where were you?” Lilly asked

“somewhere” I smirk

“I can smell it on you where did you get more? ace is sold out, and your skint” she asks

“as your being so dam nosy thomas let me share his okay” I laugh

“thomas doesn’t let anyone share, he makes everyone pay how did you…” she then looks me up and down I can tell she sees the hickey’s on my neck and the very obvious smell of sex on my clothes “YOU SLEPT WITH HIM DIDN’T YOU!” she yells 

“why do you care?” I ask

“cause I need to know these things, you get caught it comes back to the house and to me you know” she yells

“Your just mad you didn’t think off it” I sigh “your just mad If I smoke with him you cant steal it!” I yell

“Ohh fuck off, the only reason you went up there was to try and get a smoke off him” she yells

“so! he knows that! I know that whats the problem?” I ask

“the fact your fucking him for drugs” she yells

“like you dont do that with luke” I sigh

“No I love luke” she says back

“yeah and I…Uh…I dont know how I feel about thomas all I know is he has weed and a fucking good cock so you know what fuck it I’m having both” I smirk grabbing my stuff out my room going out the flat going down the the take away at the bottom of the flats and getting a tone off food and going all the way up knocking on thomas’ door

“knowone home” he yells

“It’s me you idiot let me in” i laugh and he opens the door a bit confused still half naked 

“has it already been a week?” he asked

“no it’s been a hour thomas” I laugh

“Ohh….okay?” he says back

“I kinda lost it at Lilly, can I stay with you?” I ask

“and how would you be paying for rent, water, heat exceptera for you staying here?” he asks

“I brought take out” I smile 

“okay, thats maybe one hour” he laughs

“Uhh I will uhhhh….do your laundry?” I ofer

“your at 24 hours” he shurgs

“when I get paid I’ll go half with you on a bag of premium” I offer

“thats about four days” he shrugs

“Uhh you can fuck me as much as you want? and I’ll suck you off as much as you want?” I offer

“so what like a girlfriend?” he asks and I smirk and nod “your up to the foreseeable future” he laughs “come on” he smirks opening the door more for me

[maruwrites]

The Revolution pt. VI

Summary: Dustin thinks he’s finally gonna have a quiet, normal childhood after the events with the Demodogs and Dart, until a new threat shows up at his house in the form of a 17-year old girl.

Warnings: Cursing, because ofc. Aaaaaangst. Also, abandonment issues, sorry.

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader

Word count: 3.7 k (whoa)

Part I :: Part II :: Part III :: Part IV :: Part V

It had all been too civil. 

In the pursuit of her family, (Y/N) had been laughed at, chased at, and at one point she even had a gun pointed to her head. Sure, that last one happened with one of the man that had helped (Y/N)’s aunt relocate her, and he thought the girl’s insistent knocking was because of a pending debt to some loan sharks, but still. It happened. 

So it wasn’t really surprising to her that she found herself out of breath after screaming at her weeping mother. Both stood awkwardly in the living room, and a few tears threatened to stream down (Y/N)’s face, but she wiped them off quickly. She looked around and took a deep breath, her lips quivering. 

(Y/N) blamed Steve for this.

This is what had happened. 

After eating at the diner, they did go to the arcade, and had a fun time. It was awkward at first, and there were a few setbacks here and there, but (Y/N) was surprised to see that they were actually hanging out just fine. She helped Dustin break Max’s record and didn’t miss the slightly nervous look on his face that was quickly replaced by joy, but said nothing. And Steve was so helpless, he couldn’t even play Galaga (“I’m not a video game guy, I’m more of an action dude”, to which she replied “You’re killing enemy aliens arriving in formation trying to capture your spaceship. It doesn’t get more action than this”. That was a pivotal moment for Dustin, by the way, who liked her even more now). Afterwards, Steve dropped Dustin at his house, and they said their goodbyes. The boy had actually said “I’ll see you” to (Y/N), which was a good thing. She should invite him to spend time with her at the bookstore. Maybe next time.

“So…,” Steve began, trying to fill the silence in the car. He had insisted on driving (Y/N) to her motel so she wouldn’t walk around alone at night. After much discussing, she’d reluctantly agreed. “That was… fun, right?”

(Y/N) let herself smile a bit. “Yeah, it was alright.”

“C'mon, (Y/N)! It was rocky at first, I’ll admit it. But he’s starting to like you.”

“You think so?”

“I know so,” he assured her, looking at the girl next to him for a second before turning back to the street. “Specially when you kept making fun of me.”

“That was fun for the both of us," she laughed. Steve huffed. "You’re not really upset.”

“Nah. You two are bonding, and Dustin’s not mad at me anymore which is… A good thing. I can tell I’ll probably get home and he’s gonna annoy the shit out of me with the walkie, but I won’t complain. For now.” Steve joked and she laughed quietly, letting the silence take over again. “Did you really want to punch me?”

“Yeah,” She said, matter-of-factly. At his feigned surprised, (Y/N) rolled her eyes. “The first time I saw you, you were watching me and judging-”

“I was not!”

“You were! You were just standing there, thinking you’re so cool,” she began,  flailing her arms and making fun of him once more. “Your arms crossed, all serious, with that cool hair. Not saying anything. You were like, trying to figure me out. Which I get, but it doesn’t mean that I liked it.”

“… You think my hair is cool?” Steve grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at her. (Y/N) shot him an exasperated glance and rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything.

Part of the reason she was reluctant to agree to that ride was because he made her uncomfortable. That hadn’t happen a lot of times in (Y/N)’s life. For the most part, she had to fend for herself, be independent. She couldn’t let people dictate how she felt all the time, she didn’t take shit from anyone. So whenever someone made her feel uncomfortable, or less than, she’d just call them out on it, pick a fight or just leave. But this was a different kind of uncomfortable. 

It didn’t take too long for them to reach her motel, which was a relief. It was becoming hard to breathe inside that car. But right as she turned to the back seat to pick up her duffle bag, Steve spoke.

“Do you, um…,” he began as soon as he parked on the parking lot, looking around at the rooms in front of them, and she could tell he was nervous. “I don’t know how to ask you this without sounding like an ass.”

“Maybe don’t ask, then." (Y/N) said, feeling weird. Scared. What was he gonna ask?

"Ugh, just.” He rubbed his face. “This is not a nice motel. I mean, isn’t it dirty and kind of gross?”

(Y/N) sighed, relieved. She could handle that questioning. “Yeah. But it’s my best option.”

“Don’t you think Ms. Henderson would-”

“She already offered," (Y/N) interrupted Steve, giving him a pointed look. "It’s probably not the best idea, with Dustin and everything.”

“Yeah, but-”

“What’s going on, man?,” she asked, her forehead wrinkling. “You know that I can’t push him, that I have to take this slow so that he doesn’t have such a hard time accepting that I… exist." (Y/N) made a face.

"That was before I saw this dump you’ve been staying at for more than a week.” He was concerned, that’s what that was. As soon as he entered the parking lot of the motel, Steve made a grossed-out face. It’s not like he didn’t know about the motel, but actually seeing it made him get the creeps. “Don’t you get scared or whatever?”

(Y/N) scoffed. “This is just a small town. What would I have to be scared of?” Demogorgons. People with telekinesis power. Creepy-ass lab experiments.

“I don’t know,” Steve shrugged, ignoring his thoughts. “But it doesn’t feel… safe.”

“Steve, I can’t exactly rent a place. I don’t have the money, and I didn’t-don’t plan on staying here for too long. Dustin’s house is out of the question. I didn’t know anyone in town, so it’s not like I could crash at someone’s couch.”

“You know me,” Steve quickly added, trying like hell to ignore the gnawing feeling in his chest. The restlessness. “I live in a big house. A lot of guest rooms. Plus, there’s a pool house. You could stay there if you wanted.”

“I don’t know you,” (Y/N) stated simply. “You’re just some guy trying to help me become friends with my estranged mother and half-brother. Which, granted, is a lot. But I don’t really know you.” She felt weird having to explain that to him. Why on Earth would he invite her to his house when they didn’t really know each other? Unless… No, she would ignore the thought that popped in her head. Steve had all the looks of the guys who would actually invite her to his place just for sex, but he didn’t have the personality. Not from what she had witnessed. “Also, wouldn’t your parents think it odd that there’s a girl staying at their house?”

Steve scoffed and looked down at his hands, fiddling with his fingers. He was just some guy helping her. She was right. Why was he so upset at her words? 

“My parents travel around a lot. Plus, even when they’re here, they’re not here. Not very present people, my folks. Remote, I’d call them.” Steve joked, but she could sense the hurt in his words. That was probably why he was friends with Dustin, why her mother had gushed at Steve when they had discussed his friendship with Dustin. Was he looking for a family? Like she was?

“Steve,” She said, after a while. “I appreciate the offer, but I’m fine. It’s fine. I’m not gonna stay in this dump for long, just until I settle things with my family, and then…" (Y/N) bit the inside of her lip and turned around to get her duffle bag. 

"And then…?” Steve encouraged her to finish the sentence, even though he was sure the end of it would upset him.

“Then I’ll leave, go on my way? I don’t know yet." (Y/N) looked at him, and she could see the wheels turning in his mind, but ignored it. "Good night, Steve." 

Steve kept looking at her long after she’d shut his door. He saw her reach for the keys to the room in the front pocket of the bag, he saw her open her door and enter, but what he heard after she walked in her room was a scream. Steve quickly made his way out of his car, hearing (Y/N) yell out a "Get the fuck out of here!”, but didn’t manage to walk two steps before he saw a half-naked man run from her room, holding the pieces of clothing he wasn’t wearing. Steve furrowed his brows and finally reached her room, seeing (Y/N) rub her eyes. 

“What the hell was that?,” he exclaimed. (Y/N) let out a yelp.

“Fuck! Steve! Don’t creep up on a girl like that.”

“You mean, like that dude? (Y/N), what was that?”

“How the fuck would I know? Never seen him before." (Y/N) sighed, looking around her room, disgusted. There’s was no way she was gonna stay there, not after she walked in on that creep lying half-naked on the bed she had been sleeping. She thought maybe she had seen him before, one of the maintenance workers at the motel. "Shit…”

“Okay, this fucking settles it, right? Let’s go pay what you owe and then, we’re going back to my house. Okay?” Steve asked, his facial features soft and concerned. (Y/N) thought she might throw up. 

She sighed. “Okay.”

The ride back to his place had been mostly silent, except when Steve made fun of (Y/N), his voice going up an octave, saying “This is just a small town. What would I have to be scared of?”. (Y/N) snorted and slapped him in the arm. But other than that, they were both silent. 

Steve was a mess. Sure, he didn’t know her, and he was bringing a stranger into his home, and he wasn’t sure she wouldn’t steal him, or kill him in his sleep. He was almost positive she wouldn’t, but, y'know. Although that wasn’t his main concern. He wasn’t even sure what was making him so nervous. He had brought girls to his house before. Well, it was a different situation. Very different. And yet, he couldn’t help but wonder if that wasn’t the very thing (Y/N) was thinking about. She’d just been creeped out by some random dude, maybe she was thinking that Steve would do the same? Play nice, be polite, help her out and then… No, he wouldn’t. He knew he wouldn’t. Did she?

(Y/N)’s mind, on the other hand, was going a million miles per hour. What was she doing? Why did she agree to this? Sure, a creepy dude showed up and she had no idea how he entered her room, but she could’ve gotten another room. Well, that was a stupid idea, if that guy managed to get inside one room, who could say he wouldn’t do it with another one? But also, who could say going to Steve’s house was a better idea? At least the motel was in a more central part of the town. His house, (Y/N) soon realized when he pulled into his driveway, was a more secluded place. Okay, so she was almost sure he wouldn’t try anything, but “almost sure” isn’t good enough, and she had been wrong about people before, so.

“We’re here.” Steve smiled, turned the keys in the ignition. 

(Y/N) took a deep breath and followed him, as he entered the house and showed her around. She was astounded. The house was enormous, she couldn’t possibly be expected to believe only three people lived there. Steve showed her to the kitchen, and she accepted a glass of water. 

“There are guest rooms down here, but you can also stay in the pool house, if you’d like.” Steve offered.

“Um, yeah. I think-yeah. It might be best if I stay in the pool house.” She nervously said.

“Thought so.” Steve bit his lips, nervous. It would make her feel less nervous about all of this, he thought, if she was at least further away from him. On her own, instead of in the same house as his. He took her to the pool house and left her there, going back to the main house for blankets and a towel. 

(Y/N) plopped down on the bed, looking around. This was significantly better than her motel room, and it smelled better too, a scent of pine and lavender filling the entire place. And the bathroom, holy crap, the bathroom. It was squeaky clean, the rose-shaped soaps on top of the shining white porcelain acting more of a decorative feature than something you should actually use. She wouldn’t dare touch those soaps. 

She took a sip of the water, sighed again and stood up, doing the same routine she’d done every day at the motel. The folded clothes went in the dresser, the toiletries were arranged on the bathroom sink, and the books were placed at the bedside table. (Y/N) put the duffle bag in a chair as Steve made his way back.

“So, here are some things you might need.” He put the towel and blankets on top of the bed, and looked at the girl, seeing her give him a small smile. They didn’t say anything while Steve looked around and saw her books, and a few photographs sticking out of them. “Oh, cool, you have-”

“Don’t!" (Y/N) had ran in his direction, stopping in front of him and taking from his hands Joan Didion’s The White Album. Steve eyes went wide, her sudden movements catching him off guard. And then they stayed wide because of the proximity between the two.

Steve knew at that moment he wouldn’t be able to sleep that night. 

He’d never been this close to (Y/N) before and he could see every detail in her face, her soulful eyes, her flushed cheeks, the soft edges of her lips. Her eyes were filled with worry, and her eyebrows just a little bit furrowed. (Y/N) was out of breath and she was standing so close that her breathing was hitting him right on the part of his chest his shirt didn’t cover, and that did it for him. 

He liked her. 

He liked her. 

‘Fuck.’

"These are…,” her word cut through the silence, as she looked at the book in her hands. “Personal. I’m sorry I yelled, that was…" 

Every part of (Y/N)’s mind was telling her to take a step back. 'C'mon, (Y/N). Create some distance.’ But her body would not obey. There was this warmth coming from him, from all of him. She could feel it a little coming from his body, that was fine, (Y/N) could handle that. But she could also see it in his eyes, and that warmth, radiating from his half-closed lids, was killing her. That, she could not handle. So her body finally caught up and she took a step back, her legs hitting the bed.

Steve had not spoken yet. He didn’t know what to say, mainly because he didn’t want to say anything. He just wanted to kiss her and hold her and goddamn it, why her all of people? Why the stubborn, hot-headed, rude girl? 

"Um… I think I better, y'know… Get some sleep," (Y/N) spoke softly, gesturing at the bed behind her and giving him a tight-lipped smile.

"Right!,” Steve practically screamed, he wasn’t able to modulate his voice anymore. All of it, how to speak, what words to use, forgotten. (Y/N) jumped a bit at his words, and he sighed. “Sorry, uh- Yeah, yeah. I’m gonna go too. Sorry about the…,” he pointed at the book in her hands and saw that she was gripping with a lot more force than necessary.

“It’s fine.”

There was a moment of silence where Steve’s feet were glued to the carpet.

“Um, good night, (Y/N),” he said, still.

“Good night, Steve. Thanks for letting me stay.”

Steve bit his lips and scratched his neck, making his way to the door. Before he shut it, he mumbled a “No problem.” without looking at her. (Y/N) plopped down on the bed again and took a deep breath. It felt like she hadn’t breathed in a really long time. 

(Y/N) tried to understand what had just happened and she couldn’t, for the life of her, figure it out. She knew what attraction felt like, obviously. She’d felt a few times in her life, and acted on it too. But for some reason, this felt more than that. More than- 

'No. Deny it. Bury it. Ignore it. Whatever you have to do, don’t think about it,’ she thought, throwing the book aside and diving her head in the pillow. (Y/N) stood up, took a shower, changed into a baggy t-shirt, and tucked herself inside the covers, her mind racing too much to fall asleep, so she opened the very book Steve had grabbed and read the first sentence.

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”

So (Y/N) hadn’t slept at all the night before, not a wink. 

She had tossed and turned and at one point, it was close to 3 am., she went to the window and noticed that the light was on on the bedroom looking out the pool. (Y/N) sighed and went back to bed.

Her anxiety was at an all-time high, she was tired and honestly, she just wanted to scream all of these feelings away. Feelings of inadequacy, of abandonment, of whatever it was that stupid thing in the pit of the stomach whenever she looked at Steve’s stupid face. 

When she’d called Claudia in the morning, as promised, and her mother told her to visit her that day, she embraced that opportunity with open arms. All of those feelings had been replaced by anger, and though she was sure she’d regret it later, (Y/N) knew exactly what she was going to do now that some time had passed and she was gonna talk to Claudia alone, without Dustin. The boy was a major inconvenience and everything about him threw her off her game, but now he was at school… Now, Claudia was going to listen to everything she had to say.

So she arrived at the Henderson house, duffle bag on her shoulders, and Claudia answered the door cheerily, cleaning her hands on her apron. She gave the girl some room to enter and (Y/N) let the bag fall on the floor as soon as she went inside. Claudia jumped from the noise it made and looked at her daughter. She could see it, the anger in her eyes.

“So, (Y/N)… I’m actually making lunch right now, nothing too fancy, just-”

“What happened?" (Y/N) asked, through gritted teeth. 

"What happened? I don’t understand, I-”

“Why… would you… throw me out?!" (Y/N)’s voice was louder now. "Like trash?! Is that what I am to you? Just something you can get rid of?”

It came to her, right then. As it always did when she always feeling down, as it always did when she’d let it. The rush of thoughts, each carrying its own unbearable weight. 

Abandoned as a baby.

Never adopted.

Went from foster home to foster home, and she used the word “home” loosely.

Never truly made friends.

Never had a family.

I had a family, she had to remember herself after the last one. I have a family, but they hate me, they chose not to be here, they don’t want me. They’ve never even met me and they already know I’m no good. I’m damaged and I don’t deserve a family. That’s why they’re not here. Because I don’t deserve them.

“What? No! I never wanted to get rid of you, never. I loved you-I love you, sweetie.” Claudia croaked, tears prickling in her eyes, and gulped.

“Don’t call me sweetie! You have no right to call me sweetie." (Y/N)’s tone was heartbreaking. 

"I was so happy when you showed up here, (Y/N), I-so, so happy. You have no idea.” Claudia sobbed. “I finally, finally-after 17 years, I was finally able to sleep at night. You have never once, not for a day, left my thoughts. When I would tuck Dustin in for the night when he was little, I would think about you and who was tucking you in-"”

"No one, that’s who was tucking me in." (Y/N) barked, avoiding her mother’s eyes.

Claudia sighed. "When Dustin was sick, I would think about you, and whether you were healthy. When he had friends over, I’d think what it would be like to have a bunch of little girls for a sleepover. When he does his homework in the kitchen, I always, always picture two people doing their homework in the kitchen. You’re always there, you’re always in my mind. And when you came here, I… For the first time, I knew where you were, and I was just-I am happy.”

“That makes one of us." (Y/N) hissed. 

She blamed Steve for this. If he hadn’t shown up, things would’ve turn out differently. If he hadn’t offered his place, she would’ve been able to sleep at night and she wouldn’t be a mess, like she was. Maybe she would’ve been more calm and collected, like she was when she’d met her dad. Okay, maybe she wasn’t. (Y/N) had been ready to yell at him for abandoning her, but the fact he didn’t even know she existed made her stop. And the grudge she held towards her mother got even bigger.

And it was in that moment of silence that they heard the keys in the door.

Dustin walked in with a smile on his face, and he even smiled larger when he’d seen (Y/N). She would not forget that. But it took him a split second to see that something was wrong. His mother was crying, weeping. The woman who took care of him when he was sick, the mostly aloof but definitely loving woman, his mother. He knew this had been a mistake, this girl. Right when he was starting to warm up to her. But now, she was making his mother cry. He would not accept that.

"Dustin, what are you-" (Y/N) started, but was quickly interrupted.

"Get out.” Dustin fumed.

“Dustin…” 

“Get the fuck out of my house! I don’t want to see you here, you don’t belong here!”

@moltars​ @sociallyimpairedme​ @hufflepeople @bitchinmouthbreather@hanasamara @lexannani @uncle-jjezzy @phantomjs @eudokimia @winchestertardis @ninja-stiles @ladyrenegade @im-a-stranger-thing

[general-du-vallon]

the last one of @c-b-strike​‘s prompts, I’ll just have to get some more :) Porthos has a secret admirer who writes him nice letters and lovely poetry. There are shenanigans to figure out who on earth it is. Hint: it’s Athos. [posting properly this time I’m such a dumb ass]

Porthos gets a fair amount of post, which is unusual in this day and age but between GP and other doctorly stuff, uni stuff, trying to get his name changed on everything stuff, he gets a bunch of letters. He’s got a knack of telling what’s in the envelope and most of the time he’ll just confirm he knows and chuck it on the pile in the wire basket he keeps on the kitchen counter for it all. This one is different. It’s not the handwritten envelope, stuff from the GP often comes like that. Nor is it the fancy script, contrary to stereotype his doctor has a very nice hand. Nor is it the lack of return address, he asked years and years ago that his GP office send stuff anonymized and they’ve never stopped. No, what makes this one different is that it’s in a lilac envelope and is sealed. A proper old fashioned wax seal. With an imprint of lips. It says S.W.A.L.K underneath in the same fancy hand. Porthos sits at the breakfast table and stares at it.

“What’s that, baby?” his mum says, coming in already dressed for work, yawning. She’s in court today so he’s made her coffee in a carry-out mug and a bacon butty in a greaseproof-paper bag to take with her. She spots it and smiles, kissing his hair on her way through. “You’re good to me, Porthos.”

“I dunno,” Porthos says. “I mean I know I’m good to you, you deserve to have people be good to you, I dunno what this is though.”

“Is Aramis up and out, or abed till two?” Marie-Cessette says.

She’s lived with them for the past four years, moving in after a rough patch when she’d just needed a week or two to get back to her feet. Porthos has since converted what used to be a conservatory into a bedroom and ensuit bathroom and kitchenette for her, her old bedroom now a livingroom. He has effectively persuaded her to stay forever. She’s had no choice but to get used to Aramis’s frankly very weird sleeping habits. Porthos shrugs, still examining his letter. He doesn’t want to break the seal that seems like bad luck.

“What’s swalk?” he asks his mum, instead. “Is it, like, post office code?”

“Haven’t you read Going Postal, baby?” Marie Cessette asks, tutting at him.

“When I was about thirteen. Why?” Porthos says, running through various Terry Pratchetts before he thinks he’s got the right one, looking for... “Oh, sealed with a loving kiss.”

“There’s a Terry for everything,” Marie Cessette says.

She kisses his hair again on her way out, talking to Aramis briefly in the hallway as she leaves.

“Am I late?” Porthos asks when Aramis zombies his way in, hair a nest.

“No. Coffee? Anne called, gotta take Lou to school,” Aramis says, making for the coffee machine. He lets out a distressed sound, finding no coffee there. Porthos holds up his mug (mostly full) and Aramis comes to guzzle that, slumping at the table. “You think you can call Athos about the coffee machine today?”

“He’s coming over for breakfast, sometime. Whenever he wakes up,” Porthos says.

“Academics. Tch. Why are you always up so early, if you can sleep for hours like Athos does?”

“I teach, he doesn’t. I write better in the morning, if he tried to write in the morning it’d probably end in some kind of pencil related injury, he’s worse than you are,” Porthos says, running his thumb over the letter seal.

“What’s it?” Aramis says, taking the letter from Porthos’s grip. “Hmm, cool. Advert I guess?”

He snatches up the knife Porthos was using for butter and slides it under the seal.

“No!” Porthos says, snatching it back. “It’s mine, it’s illegal to open someone else’s post! You broke it!”

Aramis picks up the seal and flicks it over his knuckles, then flips it to Porthos with a shrug. It’s intact, all one piece. Porthos sets it on the table by his plate and pulls out a sheet of paper. A bunch of pressed flowers tumble out with it, which makes him smile. He picks one up.

“Porthos, what is the letter? I’m going to stab you with a butter knife,” Aramis says, impatient as always.

Porthos looks at the letter, flushes dark and, just for the sake of it, refuses to tell Aramis a single thing. He gathers up his seal and the flowers and the letter and takes it all back to his bedroom, ignoring Aramis’s indignant cries of distress and his knocking when he follows Porthos up. Porthos slides the bolt across with a grin and sits on the bed. Being able to blush on command is the best skill he ever learnt. He opens the sheet of paper again. Last time he noticed it was a poem but not much more, this time he reads it. In neat, small letters, each carefully and painstakingly written out (Porthos can see faint, pencil lines left delineating little boxes for each letter) it says:

Roses are red, violets are blue, I’ve never met anyone

Quite like you. Share my breath, take my hand,

You’ve always been my dearest friend,

Beautiful grace.

Whoever wrote the letter seems to have given up there. Porthos can see pencil marks where things have been erased, but can’t make anything out. He stares at the paper, then turns it over. There’s no signature, not even a ‘from your secret admirer’. He checks the envelope: it’s clearly marked for him. He got a secret admirer letter once, in year nine, but it had just been from Flea who felt bad he hadn’t got any valentines. Their school did a thing where you could send an anonymous rose and she’d had a whole bouquet and he’d had none. He recognised her handwriting on the note, but he never told her he knew. Or that he had received a rose, after school, given to him shyly by Jamie McNab who he played football with and who also sometimes snuck into the LGBT club things. They’d dated for a whole week. Other than that, though, most of his partners haven’t really gone in for romantic gestures. d’Artagnan, his current date-friend-person, sometimes sends him heart emojis and always buys him cake wherever they go (and when there’s going to be no cake d’Artagnan usually brings home bakes along, sometimes from his wife. d’Artagnan bakes better than Constance, though Porthos will never say so). That’s sort of romantic. Not anonymized poetry romantic, though. If that’s even what this is. Porthos has a look at the envelope again and then reads the poem. The doorbell goes and Porthos wanders down, leaving the paper and envelope on the bed.

“Hey, Athos,” Porthos says, embracing the grouchy man standing on his doorstep, engulfing him. When he emerges from Porthos’s arms he looks a tiny bit less grouchy.

“Ugh,” Athos says. “Hungover.”

Porthos heads for the kitchen to make coffee on the stovetop. Athos grumbles after him, a long string of complaints (too light, too hot, where’s Aramis? I’m cold, hug me again, why aren’t you hugging me?) trailing after him. Porthos pauses to hug Athos and then sits on the countertop. Athos stands beside him, eyes half closed.

“Good night at least?” Porthos asks.

“Ish,” Athos says. “Some of my undergrad students showed up.”

Porthos gives a dramatic shudder and presses a hand over his heart in horror. Athos shoves him off the counter for it. Porthos sits at the table and watches while Athos first downs far-too-hot coffee and then pokes his head in with the coffee machine and prods about a bit.

“Why don’t you pull it out from under the cupboards?” Porthos asks, curiosity getting the better of him.

Athos straightens and bangs his head, curses at Porthos, then pulls the machine out muttering something then eventually admitting to not thinking of it. Porthos has seen Athos do amazing things, build everything from a little boat with a wind up ‘motor’ out of debris on the beach all the way to, well, the conservatory extension on the house. He teaches architecture but he’s done engineering stuff, mechanics, set design, carpentry. He’s been at the uni for three years, which is the longest Porthos has known him stick to a job.

“What’ve you done to this, babe?” Athos mutters, not really paying attention. He only calls Porthos ‘babe’ when he’s distracted.

“Dunno, blame Aramis or Mum. I usually just do it in the cafetiere or the fancy stove one,” Porthos says.

“Your mother is never to blame.”

“Aramis, then.”

“Mm. That sounds true.”

“You’ll never guess what I got in the post this morning,” Porthos says, and tells Athos about the letter.

Athos bumps his head again and swears. Creatively. In four languages.

“Uh, it was definitely posted, huh? Stamp and all?” Athos asks.

“Yeah,” Porthos says. He hadn’t looked close but he noticed the stamp. “Why?”

“Oh, nothing. Just, I had one once,” Athos says, vaguely, going back to the coffee machine. “Why aren’t you grading or something?”

“Papers are boring,” Porthos points out. “Besides, I want you to help me solve this mystery.”

Athos does not help. That’s ok, though, he’s got to finish fixing the coffee machine or pay the gambling debt he owes Porthos from the last teachers’ poker night, so Porthos has a captive audience for his thoughts. Athos manages to get his fingers slammed in a cupboard or something.

“So, Netflix and chill tomorrow?” Porthos says, when he’s done going through possibilities (not many).

“I’ve told you, that really doesn’t mean watching TV with ice cream,” Athos says. “And, no, I have a date with my sofa, we shall become one. I’m done, this should work now I’m gonna test it I want a cappuccino.”

Porthos gets the little coffee pod thing from the drawer his Mum keeps them in (he knows better than to steal Aramis’s coffee, last time he did that Aramis threatened to cut his fingers off. He was very convincing). When he gets close enough, to pass over the coffee, Athos wraps an arm around him and kisses his cheek.

“What’s this for?” Porthos asks, leaning into the hug.

“I’m affectionate sometimes,” Athos says, defensive. Then he grimaces. “Plus I may not be the most with it, today. I thought you were going in for a hug.”

“I was handing you coffee. This is nice, though,” Porthos says.

He can’t help laughing and Athos prods him in the ribs and wriggles away, making his drink and stalking off to the livingroom Porthos and Aramis share.

**

The next letter is ee cummings. Porthos lies on his bed the evening it arrives and presses it to his chest, shutting his eyes. He knows the poem, knows the words. Like they’re soaked through into him.

in the rain-

darkness, the sunset

being sheathed i sit and

think of you

the holy

city which is your face

your little cheeks the streets

of smiles

your eyes half-

thrush

half-angel and your drowsy

lips where float flowers of kiss

and

there is the sweet shy pirouette

your hair

and then

your dancesong

soul. rarely-beloved

a single star is

uttered,and i

think

   of you

There’s a post-script taking issue with ‘rarely-beloved’. Porthos is pretty sure that’s not what ee cummings meant but he appreciates the ‘always beloved, really’ all the same. He’s not sure why but he hasn’t told anyone about these, not since telling Athos about the first one. Aramis asked questions but gave over when Porthos admitted it was an advert and he’d been winding Aramis up. Aramis had been on his way to church with Marie-Cessette at the time and in response he’d just said he’d pray for Porthos’s soul. Porthos rings Athos, now.

“Have I mentioned how much I like ee cummings recently?” Porthos says, as greeting.

“Nn,” Athos says.

“Are you hungover still, from the day before yesterday?” Porthos asks, laughing. It’s Sunday, he hasn’t seen Athos since Friday night when he’d had to literally carry him from the taxi to the bedroom after karaoke night. “You drink too much.”

“I’m a fish,” Athos says. “cummings?”

“Another anonymous note,” Porthos says, and reads it out, taking his time and making it all musical the way ee cummings does on the recordings.

“Oh fuck,” Athos says.

“What? It’s nice,” Porthos says. “I think it’s someone who knows me.”

“Because of ee cummings? Christ, Porthos, that’s such a cliche poet for love poems,” Athos says.

“Yeah, but I really like him,” Porthos says.

“No shit, I never would’ve guessed, you never ever mention him,” Athos says.

“You’re in a right mood. I was gonna invite you to Netflix and chill, I have Ben and Jerries, but I’m gonna invite my Mum instead,” Porthos says.

He hangs up before Athos can tell him, yet again, that he’s using that phrase wrong. His Mum is quite happy to watch the new Ghostbusters and eat ice cream with him, just like when he was a kid only now there are women in it. She didn’t know Leslie Jones was in it and when she comes on screen his mum cheers. Then spends most of the rest of the films letting Porthos know just how attractive she finds ‘Leslie’. Porthos is a little unsure how to feel about agreeing with that. They both enjoy watching Chris Hemsworth, too, one of, Porthos is sure, approximately three men in the world his mum finds attractive.

“You feeling alright, baby?” she asks him, over the credits.

“Mm? Yeah?”

“You’re very quiet, tonight,” she says. “You’ve never been quiet.”

Porthos’s mind flashes back to the time his Mum came charging down to the kitchen in a rage for him having a party after she’d said no parties, when she was right upstairs, and then been incredibly miffed to find it was just Porthos and Flea there. He was never the quietest, that’s true enough.

“Just thinking about poetry,” he says.

“You should do some writing again,” She says. “You write beautiful things.”

“Mum,” Porthos groans, slumping down into her sofa. “I don’t write poetry. I was an angsty teenager when I did.”

“Poetry is very cool,” she says.

“I teach it, I know this,” Porthos says. “Oh, I was teaching a class on Maya Angelou Friday. I know you love her.”

“I do. Are you taking your Athos out to dinner tomorrow? Has he asked you on a date yet?”

“Mum!”

Porthos goes upstairs and shuts his bedroom door. He can still hear her laughing.

(He can’t hold it against her, she got a call from a client today, he knows it’s a sad case, laughter is good).

**

The third letter ends up in his intray at work, no stamp. No one can tell him how it got there. He doesn’t ask too extensively because he doesn’t really want to draw attention to the fact that he’s receiving love poetry. He’s beginning to be a little uncertain about it. Romantic things in real life feel a tiny bit creepy. Or, another possibility that has crossed his mind, something a young person might do. God he hopes it’s not one of his students. He puts up his ‘in a meeting’ sign and flips the lock on his door and then opens the letter, spreading the paper on his desk.

The arch of your step blazes, you shine, burnishing gold.

I will press my cheek to your cheek, skin against skin,

Hold close to me I will bear the weight of you, joy with

the feel of you, of your heart beating against my palm.

Every moment soars, I soar with you, you are unquenchable,

Bright catch in my heart sheer blue skies.

I touch my lips to hold your smile to mine, your love

Against my breast I hold you there, hold you. Cannot

Hold you.

Porthos carefully folds the paper and tucks it into his pocket. He can see a shadow at the door, behind the comic he has up to block the window. He’s about to go let the student in when an acerbic grumble comes and then a thump on the door.

“Porthos, let me in, are you wanking in there?”

Porthos leaps up and throws the door open, ready to drag Athos in and chew him out for saying that in front of a student, but the only other person out there is Treville, busy having hysterics. Porthos scowls at both of them. Athos looks up at him, unblinking, his eyes look red. Porthos gestures him in and points him to the chair in the corner then turns to Treville, now catching his breath.

“It wasn’t that funny,” Porthos says. Treville’s his head of department but he dated Porthos’s mother once (he assures Porthos that has nothing to do with Porthos being hired here) and Porthos has known him for decades. “What do you need?”

“Nothing,” Treville says. “I was stopping by for a chat but it can wait, seeing as you’re... busy.”

Treville breezes away, cackling to himself. Porthos heads back into his office and shuts the door, leaving the ‘in a meeting’ sign up. He’s in a meeting with Athos. A meeting about why Athos’s eyes are red.

“Are you drunk?” Porthos asks.

“No.”

“Hungover?”

“No.”

“Should I be worried that I genuinely have to ask those questions in the middle of a work-day?”

“No. It’s not a problem.”

“So.”

“Would you believe hayfever?” Athos says, giving a hopeful little smile. Porthos doesn’t answer, he’s not going to bother with that. Athos drops the smile and looks at his hands, frowning. “My head of department observed my teaching this morning. The seminar didn’t go very well.”

“Oh, ok,” Porthos says. Athos usually cries after being observed, that’s ok then. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not even in the slightest.”

“Ok, let’s talk about my thing, then. I’m still getting poetry in the post, unsigned. What if it’s one of my students?”

“It’s a juvenile thing, to send anonymous poetry,” Athos says, surprisingly biting. “It’s a bit pathetic if it is a grown man. Or woman. Or… enby.”

“I dunno,” Porthos says, a little taken aback by the anger in Athos’s voice.

“Truly, what kind of adult does that? It’s pitiful. Is it even good poetry? Not that it makes a difference.”

Athos has a lot more to say, ugly things pouring out of his mouth until he’s breathless, arms around himself, choking on sobs. Porthos gapes at him for long moments before shaking off the surprise and going over to soak up Athos’s tears. It’s like grief pouring out of him into Porthos’s sweater, one arm still tight over his chest the other clinging around Porthos’s waist. Porthos cries, too, helpless, having no idea why Athos is so distraught.

“It’ll be ok, it’ll be alright,” Porthos says, rocking Athos, arms around him. “I’ve got you, I’m here. We’ll be ok. We’ll be ok.”

Athos nods, shuddering. Porthos sniffs and wipes at his face, looking around for tissues. There’s a box on his desk but he doesn’t want to let go of Athos.

“It was quite a nice poem,” he whispers, instead.

“I don’t want to know,” Athos says, shivering but crying less now.

“Can I read it to you?”

“If you must.”

Porthos takes it from his pocket, unfolding it carefully, and read it out. Athos goes quiet against him, under Porthos’s hand, and sighs when Porthos is done reading.

“You make it beautiful,” Athos says.

“What do you mean?” Porthos asks.

“When you read it, it’s beautiful. I’m sorry I came in here and fell to pieces, I’m sorry I was rude.”

“That’s ok. I’m not sensitive about the odd poetry letters,” Porthos says. “Is it bad that… I quite like them. I like being thought of. I don’t know who’s sending them.”

“Would it change things?”

“I don’t know. Are you ok?”

“I’m ok.”

“We’re ok, yeah? Yes?”

Athos nods and sits up, letting Porthos go get the tissues. Porthos kneels beside him, worried by the rush of uncontainable emotion. Things going wrong and being observed when things are going wrong is stressful but that felt like it had been building a while. Porthos decides to be more insistent about Netflix and chill, in the future. Maybe he’ll take Athos to dinner. Ice cream, TV, and proper meals. That’s what Athos needs. And possibly less coffee and alcohol but that’s fairly a given with Athos.

**

The next letter comes soon, dropped in the letter box while he’s at work, a page torn out of a lined pad this time but the writing no less careful and neat. No more familiar. No more telling. Porthos reads the poem written on the scrap sat in the back garden.

I think I was searching for treasures or stones

in the clearest of pools

when your face …

when your face,

like the moon in a well

where I might wish …

might well wish

for the iced fire of your kiss;

only on water my lips, where your face …

where your face was reflected, lovely,

not really there when I turned

to look behind at the emptying air …

the emptying air.

Sadness settles over Porthos’s shoulders with the closing of the poem. Carol Ann Duffy, he’d know her anywhere. He can remember listening to the radio, an interview with Jackie Kay, and being astounded that she and Carol Ann Duffy were both queer. Lying on his bedroom floor, nineteen, and being struck dumb by it. He thinks of Her and Late Love by Jackie Kay, two he’s read often. Love poetry is so longing.

He’s still sat out there, staring at his love poem, when his mum gets back and comes to ask if he’s planning on making dinner. Which means he is to cook for her, so long as he doesn’t mind. He doesn’t. He puts in his headphones and calls Athos. There’s no reply so he sends a text and puts on the radio while he cooks. Athos still hasn’t texted back by the time dinner’s ready, or by the time he heads up to bed. He sends another text before falling asleep, though it’s not unusual for Athos to not text back so he doesn’t worry. When the morning passes without a reply he’s a little confused, and when Athos leaves the staff room as Porthos enters, as if seeing him coming, not even pausing to say hello, misgivings set in. By the next morning he is one hundred percent certain that Athos is giving him the silent treatment.

“What kind of grown ass man,” Porthos rants, to d’Artagnan, “gives his best friend the silent treatment? I don’t even know what I did.”

“Doesn’t seem right,” d’Artagnan agrees. He’s had a glass of wine and he doesn’t drink much so he’s now tipsy. He scooted around to Porthos’s side of the table and has laid his head on Porthos’s shoulder, knitted their fingers together. He’s not very interested in Porthos’s dilemma. “Damn shame.”

“You’re not even listening,” Porthos says.

“I’m sorry,” d’Artagnan says, tipping his head back on Porthos’s shoulder to look up at him then pressing a kiss to his neck. “I’m a little drunk. I can tell you’re not very happy, maybe I can cheer you up.”

“No thanks,” Porthos says, sighing.

He wouldn’t mind something… to be held, some kind of physical intimacy, but with d’Artagnan that usually comes with sex, which isn’t on Porthos’s agenda tonight. d’Artagnan sits up, yawning, and suggests they get the bill. It’s not d’Artagnan’s fault. When Porthos started dating him, Porthos made it clear that he didn’t want that kind of relationship. He didn’t want to be anyone’s emotional support, didn’t want that kind of intimacy, didn’t want that from anyone. He can’t now just expect it all to change because his best mate’s being a dick. He drives d’Artagnan home and goes to sit on the sofa in his mum’s living-room and watch TV with her.

“What sort of mothering are you after, Porthos? I’m tired,” she says.

“None,” Porthos assures.

Untruthfully. His mother’s a wonderful, amazing woman, she brought him up on her own and gave him all the love in the world. She’s always made Porthos feel like he’s the best thing to happen to her, made him feel intelligent and special and beautiful. But she’d also had her own life, her own things going on. He hadn’t always got what he needed from her. She hadn’t always had the time or inclination or patience to give him hugs, listen to his stories, give him attention. She’d made sure he had people in his life beside her, love from other people. He never lacked. She just hasn’t always mothered him, as much as she’d tried to be a mother she was getting her PhD, going to do law exams and working in a solicitors’ office until she could afford to become a barrister, working for various causes, meeting people. He remembers fondly her whirlwind romance with Anette, who had plenty of time for Porthos and motherhood. Marie-Cessette breaks into his thoughts with a sigh, arms coming around him and pulling him close, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

“I’m sorry,” She says. “What happened, baby? I’m here.”

“Athos being childish, he’s not talking to me or something I don’t know,” Porthos says. “Bit tired.”

She tuts and assures him everything will be fine, then switches the TV to the news and carries on eating crisps, one arm around Porthos. He sits with her for a while, letting his eyes go heavy and the comfort of her closeness soothe him toward sleep. She gently chastises him for scheming to fall asleep on her sofa and reminds him that she can no longer carry him to bed. He goes up, bumping into Aramis on the stairs. Aramis embraces him absently, phone held to his ear talking to someone. He pauses, letting Porthos go and taking him in, frowning. Porthos waves him away and carries on to bed. He sleeps well and wakes up refreshed.

*

In the morning there’s another letter, stamped and everything. Porthos examines it, it has a seal again, a heart this time, and SWALK written across underneath. There’s something different, though. Porthos looks again, frowning, and thinks back. This one, he decides, has a stamp but also has been stamped. The others just had a stamp. No wavy black ink lines, no round post-office sign, nothing. They were probably not posted.

“Ether clever, or a little bit daft,” Porthos says. “Or both. What a waste of a good stamp.”

He’s sitting in his and Aramis’s livingroom, on his own, Brooklyn 99 on the TV but on low, he’s rewatching series three on Netflix and he’s seen it often before. He carefully removes the seal, keeping it to put with the other, and draws out the paper. It’s thin, this time, almost tissue, and there are love-heart candies that spill out with it. They all just say ‘love’ on them. He eats one while he reads.

To hold your hand on a sunny day,

Like our fingers are dipped in the sunshine,

Warmth thick across your broad shoulders,

Lighting your cheek and eyes and the beauty

That you bring everywhere you go.

You bring colour when you pass, riots

Of flowers bloom in your wake you make

Me see so much sheer beauty, you are beauty.

Pitch-perfect, rich toned, every note in place,

The music winds down, and I

Oh, I miss you. I cannot touch you, my hand

Is cold from where I am not touching you.

The heat between your shoulder blades and the way

Your shirt draws the lines of your body, I

Can’t reach out.

I am dust, you bring my earth rain and teach me

Growing things and your sunshine blooms me.

Beneath you I am blossom, breathed into wind.

But I miss you, I cannot hold you, I am

Un-courage.

Courage holds your bones strong where I shatter,

Your eyes bright with everything that matters,

Words come brave and bright and you stand,

I see you tall and unwavered, against the setting

Sun. Warrior, battle-hearted, strung with

The roar of the sea.

Porthos frowns. Then he folds the paper. This one is right. He doesn’t give up, he is like the sea. He doesn’t back down. Nor does he let people get away with being arseholes to him. Besides which, he knows exactly who calls him ‘battle-hearted’. What a stupid phrase.

*

“Athos de la Fere you coward!” he roars, bursting into Athos’s office.

He’s built up a good head of steam on his way in and now he’s ready for battle. Athos looks startled, eyes very wide, gaping up at Porthos. The student he’s got with him looks even more shocked. Bugger.

“Doctor Vallon,” Athos says. “Good of you to drop by. However, you have interru-”

“Yes, I can see,” Porthos says, turning to the student. “Sorry about that. Athos, you better find me when you’re done.”

“I better had,” Athos agrees.

Porthos nods firmly and leaves for his own office. He has a class to teach, he gathers his things and turns up early, setting up with the white board and projector. He has two back to back and then a meeting and when he returns to his office, Athos is there, the visitor chair drawn up to the desk so he can mark papers, a huge mug of coffee at his elbow.

“Hello,” Athos says, looking up. “Are you done with the dramatics?”

“Me?” Porthos says, outraged. “You!” Porthos can’t quite say it, he’s not sure he believes it. “You stopped talking to me, avoided me. What the hell? You’re an adult. You can’t punish me with refusing to respond. And- ”

“I know,” Athos says, holding up a hand and getting a word in edgewise. “The internet informed me. I hadn’t actually meant to give you the silent treatment. I have anxiety.”

“Athos!”

“I projected thoughts onto you and thought I was making myself as little nuisance as possible.”

“Right.”

“I’m sorry. It’s a reason, not an excuse. Not ‘I was right because of this’ but ‘it was me, not you’. I love you. I wouldn’t hurt you on purpose for the world, Porthos,” Athos says, very earnest.

“I didn’t eat enough food, I was hungry and tired,” Porthos says, grudgingly.

“Just … in general?” Athos asks, frowning.

“I was emotional.”

“Oh. Sorry. I brought you a chocolate bar to apologize but I sat on it and it melted. It was a bit gross.”

Porthos laughs, forgiving Athos easily in the end. He looks so bewildered and helpless about the chocolate bar. Porthos perches on the edge of his desk and huffs, shaking his head.

“You’re something else, de la Fere. What am I gonna do with you? All that poetry, my god. I’m right here, just talk to me for heaven’s sake,” Porthos says, too fond of Athos to be anything except awfully warm about it.

Athos turns around and tries to leave the office. All he manages is to walk into the door because he’s not looking where he’s going and Porthos closed it. Porthos goes to grab him and make sure he hasn’t hurt himself then hug him, laughing. Athos pushing his face against Porthos’s shoulder and his arms come up around Porthos’s back to hold onto his shirt there and probably wrinkle it.

“I am inept,” Athos says.

“Completely. In every lovely way,” Porthos assures. “Fuck me am I glad it were you and not someone creepy.”

“I am creepy.”

“Not really.”

“I was… So drunk. I forgot I sent it, that first time, until you said. I put a stamp on and just slid it in your door on my drunken meander home. I meant to sign it, I think,” Athos says. “Then, I guess I liked the idea.”

“You write terrible poetry,” Porthos says, admiringly, stroking Athos’s hair. “I adore it. I really like them.”

Athos nods, laughing a little. He huffs again, sighing, leaning into Porthos.

“I really do love you,” Athos whispers. “I can’t seem to help myself, you just engulf my entire life and all my thoughts.”

“I bloom you,” Porthos says, comfortably, incredibly pleased with himself. “Turn you all blossoms. Sounds so sexy, gonna tremble you all apart till you’re just petals, darling.”

Athos finally removes his face from Porthos’s jumper and breathes in, closing his eyes, lips against Porthos’s cheek and beard and then against his lips, careful, questioning. He thinks ‘yes’ and then Athos asks and Porthos says it aloud, and Athos’s lips are back, mouth against Porthos’s.

[happy-meo]

Masquerade IV: The Dark Side (Jin x Reader x Tae) Part 2

While love may bring out the best in us, it could also bring out the worst.

** If you haven’t read them already, please read the following BEFORE starting this story: Silver Spoon, Masquerade I, Masquerade II, Masquerade III, Masquerade 3.1 & 3.2 drabbles **

Summary: You were never lucky in love. Through disastrous dates, consistent unrequited crushes, and broken relationships, you’ve constantly been searching for someone to give you genuine love and romance. And through it all, one person had remained your constant shoulder to lean on. Although you had never seen his face, he had given you a sense of confidence and a place of comfort in Club Masquerade. The more times you’ve failed in love though, the more you realized that may be no one would ever choose you. However, one fateful encounter, thanks to your dog, made you want to hope one more time. Did fate bring you to the one who would finally end your streak of being broken-hearted? Or had the right guy been with you all along?

Jin x Reader x Tae (ft. previous Masquerade characters, Silver Spoon characters, & Got7 Jackson) Fluff, Smut, Angst, Romance Host Au, Cook!Jin, Vet!Tae, Bartender!Tae

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 (Finale)

A/N: Sorry for the unexpected hiatus! Work has been really killing me --_--’ But I’m excited to FINALLY share with you the next part of Masquerade IV! Thank you for being so patient and wonderful <3 Enjoy!!

          You lay a hand on the door, internally willing yourself to push it open. If you stepped inside, you would be able to speak to the very man who had been stuck in your mind once again. But what would you even say?

           You retracted your hand and looked down at your clothes. Your cheeks warmed, recalling that you probably weren't looking your best. After all, you had just had sex and had been in a rush getting dressed so you didn't get charged extra for going over the hour time limit. You definitely didn't want to look easy or sloppy. You had already ruined your first impression by whining over a pastry. Your second impression needed to be a bit more memorable and impressive.

           "Jungkook. Isn't that Miss Puppy?" Tae nudged and gestured out the window, where you were obviously having a very intense conversation with yourself.

           Jungkook glanced over and chuckled. "Yeah, that's her alright. You want me to invite her in?"

           Tae giggled, "Nah, I can do it."

           You gasped as you spotted Taehyung coming towards the door, and immediately, your legs sprinted from the place out of fear and surprise. Whining and whimpering, you hurried all the way to the subway station, kicking and scolding yourself for being a lame coward. Once you secured a seat, you slumped down and exhaled. He surely wouldn't think so highly of you now.

           "How embarrassing." You covered your face. "Why didn't I just say hi or wave? Ugh. Why did I have to panic?"

           You pointed to your legs. "You guys, it's your fault for dragging me away. Did I tell you to do that?"

           You heard a little chuckle from a few of the strangers overhearing your odd comment. Biting your lip, you shrunk into your jacket, doubly embarrassed now.

           Jungkook burst into laughter as he witnessed the entire scene.

           "Tae, you scared her away!" he teased. "I should've gone to bring her in."

           Tae stood in place, dumbfounded at your quick escape. He combed his hair and giggled. "She's funny. Did she get shy seeing someone she knows see her attempting to go into a Burlesque Club?"

           Jungkook smirked and elbowed his friend. "OR she got shocked that a rich heir and an attractive vet she knows are both bartenders and waiters at a Burlesque Club?"

           "Ah." Tae grinned. "Possibly."

           "Dark Angel works with her, and she overheard Miss Puppy mentioning that she went to visit you with her dog for a check-up, but you were in surgery." Jungkook's lips curled up. "How cruel. You invited her to come visit the vet with her dog, but you couldn't even see her."

           "Is that so?" Tae ruffled Jungkook's hair and picked up his empty tray. "Seems like I should take a little break from surgery. I've been neglecting my beloved clients."

           Jungkook eyed him playfully. Tae simply smacked his butt and gestured for him to tend to a table.

           "Don't slack off just 'cause you're my close friend, Jungkook." He grinned as he walked back to the bar.

           "Oh...why am I here?" You mumbled as you paced back and forth in the waiting room of the animal hospital. "What am I doing?"

           After your shameful escape the other day, you were determined to redeem yourself and so you decided to visit the animal hospital, in hopes of running into Taehyung once more. You made a silent vow to have a decent conversation with him this time. No more accidents and no more running away.

           You ruined the chance fate gave you that one night, so this was your punishment. You needed to take initiative. With a firm exhale, you walked to the front desk to write down your name on the waiting list.

           "It'll be a few minutes until the next available doctor can see you and your pet. Please have a seat." The secretary kindly smiled and gestured to the seats.

           "Um...I was hoping maybe to be seen by Dr. Kim..."

           The nurse's lips curled up, probably seeing through your ulterior motive. "Unfortunately, he's the head surgeon so he doesn't often do general check-ups. If your dog needed a procedure, I can schedule --"

           "No, no. It's okay." You gushed, slightly disappointed. "So he never takes general check up clients anymore?"

           "Very rarely." the nurse replied. "Would you still like to keep your appointment?"

           Your smile faltered. "I um...you said it'll take a few minutes until our turn?"

           "Yes, ma'am."

           "Sure. I'll keep it."

           "Well in that case, I can see her now."

           Both you and the nurse gasped and spun around at the familiar voice.

           "Dr. Kim!" the nurse stood up and bowed. "Good morning!"

           "Mornin'." He saluted suavely to the nurse and grabbed the folder with your name on it.

           Your heart fluttered as he pushed his glasses up and grinned at you.

           "Let's go then, Miss Puppy." He gestured to an empty check-up room with his head.

           You nodded eagerly and followed behind him closely, bright-eyed and flushed. He stopped abruptly in front of the door, causing you to slightly bump into his back. You hurried to distance yourself, flustered. He spun around and squinted his eyes. You averted your gaze shyly. What was he doing?

           "Miss Puppy..." he started.

           "Y-y-yes?" You stammered.

           "Aren't you forgetting something important?" he chuckled.

           "Hm?" You blinked.

           He pointed, and you followed his finger, which was directed at your dog, lying down obediently in the waiting room. Shutting your eyes and wincing, you rushed over to grab your pet.

           You were off to a fantastic start.

           "I thought you had surgery to attend to Dr. Kim." the nurse spoke. "Shall I give you more clients to see?"

           "No." Tae smiled. "She'll be my only client today. I just had a few minutes to spare before going into the procedure."

           Your heart practically melted as he caught your eye and raised his eye brows playfully before stepping into the room. Tightly hugging your dog, you scurried inside as well, carefully shutting the door behind you.

           It was silent for a few long agonizing seconds.

           You were rummaging through your mind for conversation starters, but you had blanked out. All you could do was hug your dog and gape at Tae's sharp profile from the center of the room.  

           "So you ran away from me and you were about to run from your dog?" Tae teased as he continued to flip through your dog's files from his previous vet.

           You blushed. "I-I was just surprised..."

           Tae shrugged. "I figured. It's not a place my clients think I'd work in. But I have a debt to pay."

           You gasped. "Someone's after you??"

           Tae tried to fight back a smile at how you mistook his statement. "You could say that."

           "How much do you owe?"

           Tae beckoned you to come closer. Intrigued, you stepped forward. He leaned down and whispered, sending shivers down your spine. "It's a life sentence."

           Your eyes widened then you spotted his amused expression. Your cheeks warmed, realizing he was pulling your leg.

           "That's not funny Dr. Kim." You pouted.

           He chuckled as he gestured for you to place your dog down on the table. "Think of it as revenge for embarrassing me in front of Jungkook yesterday."

           You hummed. "Fair enough."

           "And you can call me Tae. Dr. Kim sounds stuffy." He stated as he started assessing your pet diligently.

           "I think it sounds cool." You said dreamily then you hurriedly covered your mouth, realizing you had said that out loud. "Oh my gosh."

           Tae grinned playfully, "It's my job to cater to my clients then. You can call me whichever you prefer."

           You bit your lip to shut yourself up.

           "So I heard you work with Jungkook's girlfriend." Tae looked into your pet's mouth.

           You blinked, surprised that he and Jungkook had talked about you before. "Uh yes. I've been working with that company for years."

           "Oh really?" Tae smiled. "You think Jungkook's girlfriend is fitting in alright?"

           "She's very sweet. Very smart...and funny in her own way. I'd say she really has great potential."

           "Are you close?" He held out his hand and your dog immediately placed it obediently on his palm.

           "Um we're co-workers, but we don't really work too often together. The two heads of the branch have taken her under their wing really. They're very fond of her."

           Tae snorted. "Oh those two."

           "Do you know them?" You perked up.

           "You could say that. Plus we have a mutual friend." He patted your dog's head.

           "Ah yes, Mr. Jeon." You nodded in understanding.

           "Yep." He stood up and took his gloves off. "Well, everything looks good with your doggy. You take care of him extremely well I must say."

           "Thank you." You smiled warmly.

           "Well, I have to get to the surgery room now. Thanks for stopping by!" he grinned. "And don't be shy to visit the Burlesque Club too. Free drink on me."

           "I'll be there!" You shouted a little too eagerly, taking Tae aback slightly.

           You hurriedly covered your face. "I mean I'll be there if I have time!"

           You attempted to scurry out of the room, but Tae laughed and grabbed your arm before you got too far out the door. Your body tensed and you began imagining all sorts of scenarios. Was he going to spin you around and kiss you passionately? Was he going to pull you into a hug at how adorable he thought you were?

           "Miss Puppy." he called.

           You shyly turned your head. He tilted his head to the side, gesturing to your puppy tamely sitting on the table, waiting for you with his tongue out, tail wagging.

           "If you do this a third time, I might have to file a lawsuit against you for pet abandonment." He teased.

           You winced, unsure whether you were disappointed, excited, or ashamed. You made a split second decision that it was all of the above. Disappointed in that it was a failed fantasy, excited that he had initiated physical contact, and ashamed at all of the above and the fact that you looked like a complete airhead to him now. Hurriedly, you lovingly grabbed your dog and bowed towards Tae.

           "Thank you so much Dr. Kim...Tae." You blubbered.

           "Come again." he smiled and waved.

           Then at the speed of light, you zipped out of there.

           Tae found himself laughing as he watched your frantic figure darting out of the hospital with your head down and face full of evident embarrassment. You were definitely intriguing.

           "Hyung."

           Jin hummed as he placed his weights on the bar before sitting up to look at Jungkook in front of him.

           "Ah. Nice of you to make it. I thought you'd ditch me for your girlfriend once again." Jin combed his sweaty hair back.

           "Me? Ditch you? Never." Jungkook teased as he smacked Jin's shoulder.

           Jin glared at the younger then lay back down. "Then put in another plate and spot me."

           "Yes sir." Jungkook saluted and did so.

           "How're things?" Jin breathed.

           "Good." Jungkook smiled. "Though my parents are trying to set me up with someone."

           "Why can't you just tell them you have a girlfriend?" Jin asked.

           "I did. But they won't believe me. Cause you know..." Jungkook sighed.

           "You would always run from them?" Jin chuckled.

           "Yeah."

           "Well can't you just take your girlfriend to their house and introduce them officially?"

           "But haven't you seen the dramas? My parents are trying to pair me off with a rich heiress, what if they chuck money at her or splash water on her face. OR sabotage her family??" Jungkook panicked.

           Jin warmly smiled at Jungkook. "Well, I'm sure she wouldn't just take it and fight back. You've seen that in dramas too."

           "Yeah, well my girlfriend said just to appease them and my parents agreed to an ultimatum." Jungkook groaned. "And I'm supposed to meet their choice at the big corporation party this weekend."

           "Ah that's why you've been so busy?" Jin huffed as he continued his reps.

           "Yeah, I've been trying to figure out exactly what to do. I have to like legitly try so my parents are convinced it just didn't work out, even if I gave it my best shot."

           "Isn't that weird?" Jin asked.

           "What?"

           "Well, how do people know they click right away, you know?" Jin pumped the bar before talking again. "Like how do people think meeting ONCE guarantees you know the person enough to know if you like them or not?"

           "Okay, well I have a girlfriend so I'm not looking to know someone else to like them." Jungkook snorted. "But I get what you mean. Sadly, it's a tradition of the rich to marry off their children like business deals. Merger of families usually means merger of the companies and merger of their wealth."

           Jin sighed. "Well I'm glad not all of you rich folk have that mentality."

           Jungkook chuckled. "It's definitely difficult to change old mentalities. Luckily, Chairman Min's grandson and his fiancee opened the doors towards acceptance slightly."

           Jin grinned. "Min Yoongi."

           "Yeah, you know of him?"

           Jin chuckled as he sat up. "He's sort of my brother-in-law."

           Jungkook's eyes widened. "WHAT?"

           "Did I forget to mention that?" Jin smirked as he walked to another machine.

           "What? What? What?" Jungkook hurried after him. "Farm Girl is your sister??!"

           "Yeah. Who do you think she inherited her good looks from?" Jin posed confidently.

           Jungkook rolled his eyes. "I was just about to say I don't see the resemblance at all. You're just so..."

           "Handsome?" Jin playfully commented.

           "Carefree to put it nicely." Jungkook grinned.

           "What would it be if you put it not nicely?" Jin raised an eyebrow.

           "Immature." Jungkook pressed.

           Jin glared at him.

           The younger laughed as he took to the machine beside Jin. "I interned under her at her branch, but I was a pain in the ass so they sent me to Jimin."

           "So not much has changed, huh? You're still a pain in the ass." Jin snorted. "Are you sure you're actually going to have a hard time at this blind date?"

           Jungkook shoved Jin lightly. "I can't believe you're related to Farm Girl, and soon to be in-laws with Yoongi. We're practically family then!"

           Jin scoffed and mumbled. "In more ways than one."

           "Hm?"

           "I said just don't run." Jin stated.

           Jungkook exhaled. "No, I don't plan to. This is for my future. I have to open up the way for my girlfriend to be accepted properly."

           "Aww, you're growing up." Jin sniffled.

           "Well how's that customer you have a soft spot for? Is she still around?" Jungkook changed topics.

           "Yeah, still around." Jin smiled fondly. "She's doing a lot better. Though she hasn't really gone on any dates as of late, so maybe that's why."

           "Well, holidays are coming up. I'm sure she'll get whirled into cuffing season." Jungkook shrugged.

           "Cuffing...season?" Jin tilted his head.

           Jungkook raised an eyebrow. "You've never heard of that term?"

           "No." Jin shook his head.

           "Oh I forgot. You're old." Jungkook grinned mischievously.

           "WHAT WAS THAT?" Jin raised his voice angrily as Jungkook giggled.

           "Cuffing season refers to how the holidays make people feel some certain type of way. Like people always want to be in a relationship or have someone special for the holidays, so they're more like to go on dates in search of someone to 'cuff' onto." Jungkook took a sip of his water. "But usually relationships based on this mentality don't really last."

           "Interesting." Jin hummed. "So like people feel pressure to be coupled up during the holiday and that's what drives some people to jump into a relationship?"

           "I mean I guess it's not ONLY during holidays. I'm sure there's always a pressure to be coupled...especially if all your friends are." Jungkook's lips curled up, clearly taking a jab at Jin's status. But Jin was too deep into his thoughts to realize the underlying implication.

           He was worried about you. You wouldn't get swept up in this nonsense and get heartbroken again right? He frowned, not enjoying the idea of you going back to dating and getting hurt. Maybe he should tell you about this concept of "cuffing" and advise you not to see anyone.

           He shook his head frantically. Why was he thinking like that? You were his client. Yes, being a Consoler always blurred the lines between professional and personal, but if you wanted to go out there and date again, he shouldn't stop you. He didn't have a right. All he could do was be there for you in the aftermath, as he always had.

           "When are you going to stop by Burlesque Club to visit me?" Jungkook pouted.

           Jin chuckled. "One of these days. You know I have a lot of jobs."

           "Other private clients?" Jungkook wiggled his eyes teasingly. "Is that why you don't come out with us on the weekend?"

           Jin rolled his eyes. "Shut up, and let's work out."

           "Yeah, you've got to catch up, hyung." Jungkook teased.  

           You yawned as you waltzed into the cafe for the caffeine you needed to get through the day. Holidays were always stressful at the company. Everyone was trying to finish up the end of the year projects, especially before the big company party happening on the weekend. Nobody wanted things hanging over their heads and getting in the way of their fun, including you.

           "Can I have a hot chocolate with those little marshmallows please?"

           Your eyes widened at the familiar voice in front of you.

           "Tae, I always tell you we don't have marshmallows."

           You subtly leaned to the side and your heart sank as you spotted Jimin's girlfriend at the counter, as beautiful as ever. Lowering your head, you debated whether to step out of line or not. It was too cruel to be seen near her so early in the morning.

           "But you should. I'm going to talk to the owner of the franchise." Tae pulled out his cell phone.

           Receptionist snorted. "Please, like you have her number."

           "And if I do?" Tae raised an eyebrow.

           "How about you ask the other customers you're holding up if they want marshmallows to be part of the menu?"

           "I will." Tae spun around and you gasped, not making your escape fast enough.

           You blinked at each other, in surprise.

           "Miss Puppy!" he beamed.

           You scrambled to pull your scarf up to hide your bare face. "H-hi...Tae."

           Receptionist peeked over and smiled. "Oh. You work with Jimin. He's been working you guys to the bone I heard. Getting an espresso?"

           You nodded. "Yes please."

           Tae patted your head. "Add her espresso on my tab."

           "Sure thing." Receptionist waved nonchalantly and went off to make the drinks.

           "Don't forget the marshmallows! I know you have them!" Tae called out.

           Receptionist rolled her eyes.

           Tae turned back to you happily. "You come here too?"

           "Um sometimes...when I really need the kick." You timidly answered. "How about you?"

           "They make the best hot chocolate in town." he hummed. "So I come when I have the craving."

           "You don't have early surgery today?" You asked.

           "I have some students coming today to observe a surgery so I had to schedule it a little later." He ruffled his hair and cheered. "So I got to sleep in!"

           "You're sure energetic." You mused.

           He grinned widely. "And you're crabby cause of Jimin. Shall I scold him for you?"

           You blushed and retracted further into your scarf.

           "I'll do the scolding." Receptionist teased. "Your drinks."

           Tae lifted his lid and cackled, spotting marshmallows floating around as he requested. "I knew you had them."

           You smiled at how he was so excited about such a simple thing.

           "Well it's the least I can do." Her lips curled up warmly.

           You glanced between the two of them, wondering what their relationship was since they seemed oddly close. But you kept quiet, taking a sip of your drink to muffle down the question on the tip of your tongue.

           "I'll catch you later. Don't be late again." Tae knocked on the counter. "Tell Jimin to finish the deed faster."

           You choked and began coughing violently at his comment.

           "Tae!" Receptionist laughed. "Help your girl out."

           You gasped and waved your hands, trying to emulate a reply that denied you being "his girl", but you were quite preoccupied with your coughing fit.

           "I will. I will." Tae chuckled as he rubbed your back and led you to where the napkins were. "Sorry about that."

           You shook your head as you composed yourself. "My drink just went down the wrong pipe. It's not your fault."

           He grinned. "Did you drive here?"

           "Oh no." You blushed. "I take the subway so I walked here."

           "What? In this cold?" Tae blinked.

           You smiled meekly.

           He glanced at his watch. "I still have time to kill. I'll drive you to work. Come on."

           Your eyes bulged out of its sockets. Had you heard right? But Tae was already making his way to the door unfazed before you could refuse or clarify his offer.

           "I-it's okay, Tae. You don't need to. I mean, you don't have to. I um..." You tried your best to find an excuse.

           He looked at you amused.

           "You already paid for my drink...I couldn't accept a free ride too..." You mumbled.

           "Who said it was free?" Tae winked playfully. "I'm keeping a tab of things you owe me, including that pastry I gave you when we first met."

           You bit your lip to stifle an excited scream as you followed him to his car.

           It was an awkwardly silent car ride, on your part at least. Tae was simply humming to the classical music he was playing. Was he even nervous at all? At a stop light, he felt around for his drink, but before you could say anything, he took a sip of your espresso. He gagged and whined, and you couldn't help but laugh at his facial expressions.

           "Oh my gosh. Ew." he winced.

           "Sorry..." You grabbed your cup from his hand and gave him his correct drink.

           He shook his head as he sipped his hot chocolate and exhaled. "Much better."

           "Not a coffee fan?"

           "Not too much." he scrunched his face.

           You held your espresso close to your chest. If you drank this now, it would be an indirect kiss. Would he be creeped out? But what if you didn't take a sip, would he think you were a germophobe? You stared outside in hidden turmoil, not noticing that you had soon arrived in front of your office before you made a decision.

           Tae parked and the sound of him unbuckling his seatbelt brought you back to your senses.

           You panicked. Was he going to open the door for you? Was he going to walk you in? Why were things moving so fast? You stayed still to wait for his chivalrous action, but it never came. Instead, he stood in front of the door giving you a puzzled expression. Turning red, you scrambled out hurriedly.

           "Oh?"

           You looked up upon hearing the familiar voice, just in time to see Tae run over and pick the person up in tight hug.

           "GOOD MORNINGGG!" He beamed as he spun her around.

           "Oh goodness." Dark Angel chuckled. "Put me down, Tae. This is my workplace."

           "I know." he grinned. "Not like you'll get in trouble. Jungkook didn't take you to work?"

           "Nah. Your boyfriend had an early morning shift. He wasn't a happy camper." Dark Angel teased, then her eyes found their way to you, still standing by Tae's car. She raised an eyebrow questioningly at Tae.

           "We ran into each other at the cafe. I had time before the students watch me so I figured I'd take her here and see if I could catch you."

           Oh. You felt yourself deflate at the ulterior motive. He just wanted to say hi to Jungkook's girlfriend.

           Dark Angel seemed to take a note of your changed expression and went on to clarify. "Well I'm glad you had some time to kill. You've been too busy to visit your precious cousin lately."

           You perked up. "Cousin?"

           Dark Angel's lips curled up and patted Tae's cheek. "You should really clarify these things, Tae. People might misunderstand I'm cheating on Jungkook."

           Tae giggled.

           "Do you want to walk in together, Y/N?" Dark Angel gestured.

           You inhaled sharply and nodded. "Sure!"

           Bowing to Tae, you thanked him for the ride shyly. "I'll make sure to pay you back for my growing tab."

           Tae grinned. "I look forward to it."

           Dark Angel smirked knowingly and waved nonchalantly to her cousin. "I'll come by your place this weekend to pick up my dress."

           "I hung it up already so it's ready for you." Tae nodded. "Jungkook won't know what hit him."

           "Shh..." Dark Angel smirked as she shushed him slyly.

           "Have a good day at work Miss Puppy! Don't let my cousin bully you!"

           "I never bully!" she retorted.

           You took one last glance at Tae laughing and waving at the both of you before making your way into the office. You surely didn't need your espresso anymore. The butterflies and jitters you were feeling were enough to get you through the day energetically.

           If Dark Angel knew of your obvious interest in her cousin or had any questions about why you two were together, she didn't mention anything at all. She was always so calm and collected. Although you were older than her, you always felt that she presented herself as much more mature. You were envious.

           "I hope you have a good day." She bowed and went to her cubicle as per usual.

           "Y-you too." You replied, still a little surprised that she and Tae were related. Your mind flashed back to Tae's questions about whether Jungkook's girlfriend was fitting in the other day, and you smiled warmly. You could tell he really cared about her. Thankfully you had said all positive things about her.

           Inhaling deeply, you brightly approached your desk, ready for the day. You felt quite accomplished already.

           Jin was lounging around in his Masquerade Room, playing a game on his phone.

           "No. Yes! Yes! That's right! Aha! Take that!" he cackled.

           "Wow, and here I thought you were practicing your sex noises." Receptionist snorted as she stepped into the room.

           "And there's this thing called knocking." Jin raised an eyebrow.

           "Your favorite client is here a little early, so get ready." Receptionist shook her head.

           Jin shrugged and pulled down his mask, but continued playing. "Send her in."

           Receptionist sighed.

           Soon enough, you waltzed into the room.

           "Hold on. Let me finish this game okay?" Jin moved his fingers quickly.

           Much used to this about him already, you sat beside him and watched him playing comfortably.

           "That's right! Take this! Mario gooooo!" he yelled. "No, no, no! Ahhhhh!"

           You giggled at his expressive motions and his vibrant voice.

           He sighed, defeated, chucking his phone somewhere to give you his undivided attention. You outstretched your arms, knowing he was upset about losing, and he nuzzled into your neck, embracing you.

           "Bowser is stupid." he whined.

           "Truly stupid." You patted his back.

           He exhaled, "Well what brings you here a little early? Is everything okay?"

           "Mmm...I think I want to get back into dating..." You hummed.

           Jin felt himself tense instinctively, recalling his and Jungkook's "cuffing season" discussion. "Oh? Why?"

           "I'm not sure. I just feel like maybe I should give it another chance you know?" You hesitated. "But then a part of me also doesn't want to go through that hell again."

           Jin sensed the anguish in your voice. You had come to vent and you had come for reassurance. He knew you too well. Unlatching himself from your arms, he grabbed your hands.

           "Tell me what you're thinking." he smiled warmly.

           You frowned. "I mean okay, let's say I do go back to dating. Will he like the real me? Will he be someone I like? What if he's creepy? What if he drinks too much? What if he gambles too much? What if he's too career-oriented and won't have time for me? What if he has a history of cheating? I'm terrified of going into the unknown again, Jin. There are all these open-ended questions and mysteries of getting to know someone. And as you know I've had my fair share of getting to know others. And there is always potential for them to turn against you, potential to reject you even though you embrace their faults. It's hard for them to return the sentiment. What if he just wants my body? What if he has ulterior motives? What if he's just looking for something casual? What happens if he sees me and runs away? Or what if I scare them off again? What if--"

           Jin leaned in and kissed you deeply to stop your panic. You melted into his plush lips and let him calm you down. He cupped your face and gazed at you tenderly.

           "Be more confident in who you are. Take it from someone who knows you well. It's not hard to love someone like you. Anybody who can't see that isn't worth your time."

           "You think so?" You whispered.

           "I know so. You're beautiful. Not everyone can accept and adapt to people's flaws like you do. You have so much love to give. It amazes me every day. You're genuine, real. If you want to go back to the dating game, I'll wholeheartedly support you. I will always be here for you through everything." He squeezed your hand. "But promise me something?"

           "What?" You stared into his eyes.

           "Don't fall for someone who doesn't deserve you. You are valuable. You are precious." he firmly stated. "Even if you're not confident in yourself, trust me that you are worth loving. I want you to find someone worth all your love."

           You grabbed Jin's shirt and latched your lips onto his hungrily. Jin always made you feel so loved, and it was addictingly heart-warming. Hurriedly, you worked the buttons of his shirt so you could feel the expanse of his broad chest against your hands.

           Jin pushed you down onto couch and straddled you, kissing you passionately. His rough actions surprised you, but you welcomed it. You raised your hips up needily, and you tugged at his waistband.

           Jin couldn't help but think about you doing this with other guys, and it made his blood boil. His natural instincts kicked in and soon enough, he was on top of you, making marks on your neck.

           "Jin..." You moaned, causing his heart to lurch forward.

           "Are you sure you want this?" he whispered, nervous about his own actions. He usually was composed and collected, but something raw was brewing inside him. He couldn't hold back. He prayed you would stop him, but when he looked into your eyes. He knew neither of you wanted to stop whatever it was that was starting.

           You nodded. "I need you."

           You weren't sure what had gotten into Jin, but you could feel something different in the way he touched you, a sort of possessiveness. Was it part of his hosting techniques? But it made you warm; it made you feel wanted and desired. It had been so long since someone wanted to keep you all to themselves. And that's what Jin was making you feel. You couldn't get enough. This is what you wanted. You wanted someone to want only you. You wanted someone that was only yours too.

           "Jin, I want you." You pleaded.

           He gulped, but he obliged, stepping away from you to finish undressing.

           You stood up, smiling, remembering when you first had gotten intimate with Jin. How much of a mess you were, how nervous and how much fumbling you did. He had gently guided you through it all; he had accepted you, flaws and all. Deep down, you had always wished he had felt something more towards you. You slipped out of your jeans and walked towards his fully bare body. Grabbing his hands, you placed them at the hem of your shirt. Knowingly, he tugged your shirt off of you, now leaving you only in your lingerie.

           Immediately, you two closed the space between your bodies. Lips locked; hands roaming through all the vast expanse of heated skin.

           His hands unclipped your bra and you allowed him to pull it off of you. Soon enough, his mouth closed around your breast as he massaged the other. You gripped at his hair, pulling him deeper into you. Your need was throbbing violently, and you underwear was soaked through. His hands pressed viciously against your waist, as if he too was trying to maintain some sort of sanity. But you wanted insanity right now. You wanted both of you, for once, to not be so cautious, so controlled, so careful.

           Boldly, you grabbed Jin's hand and had him cup at your core, making him feel how wet you were. He groaned as he stroked you, knowing he had caused you to unravel.

           "Take me, Jin." You stated.

           And that was all he needed to crack.

           He pulled your underwear roughly and dug his digits into you without warning. You gasped and moaned, your head reeling at his fast pace.

           "Oh shit. Things are getting steamy in there. What the fuck?" Jackson gasped.

           "Holy crap. Go Jin." Jungkook popped a chip into his mouth.

           "I told you guys not to watch the monitor." Receptionist scolded heartlessly, too engrossed in watching as well.

           "I thought I'd find something cheesy to make fun of, but this is hella intense." Jackson blinked.

           "Free porn. I'm not complaining." Jungkook grinned as he and Jackson high-fived.

           "Jin. Jin. I need you in me." You begged, well-aware you were a mess already.

           "I want more." He whispered, traveling down your body, peppering kisses at every inch.

           Your breath hitched as his fingers were soon replaced by his tongue.

           "JIN!" You screamed in pleasure. "I'm so close. Please."

           "You taste so good." he swirled his tongue, not paying attention to your begging. He wanted to make you feel the best you've ever felt. He wanted to be the one to do that for you.

           His tongue pushed into you and you gripped the edge of the couch as you came; your body twitching from its intensity as he continued to eat you out through your high. You exhaled, catching your breath, amazed.

           Jin smiled and sat back, satisfied.

           But you weren't.

           "May I?" You got on your knees in front of him.

           His eyes widened. "I-it's okay! You don't have to--"

           His head rolled back as you captured his length inside your mouth.

           "Oh my--" he hissed.

           "OH SHIT! SHE WENT DOWN!" Jackson screamed as he and Jungkook jumped up excitedly.

           "Shhh! You're scaring the other customers. They're not supposed to know we check in on them." Receptionist warned. "Jungkook, what're you even doing here?"

           "I'm waiting for my shift next door. Figured I'd stop by and get entertainment here." Jungkook smirked. "See how The Wang is doing as the next in line to inherit the title. But this is ten times better."

           Receptionist rolled her eyes.

           "I'm close." Jin whined as he caressed your hair out of your face as you continued to bob up and down his cock.

           You pulled out a condom from your purse, and rolled it onto him.

           "What --"

           You sat down before he could finish his question. Both of you sighing into the feeling.

           "Crap." Jin placed his forehead on yours. "You feel so good."

           You kissed him tenderly. "This is amazing."

           He hummed as you two began to move, hips smacking into each other. At first languidly then sloppily as the need became greater, until you were both coming undone.

           The both of you collapsed on top of each other, breathing heavily. Needless to say something shifted between the both of you with this encounter, but neither of you were sure what it was. It shocked the pair of you so much that you both remained silent as you got dressed, deep in your own thoughts.

           "Will you walk me out?" You smiled endearingly as you grabbed Jin's hand.

           His lips curled up. "Of course."

           Hand-in-hand you two walked out to the entrance.

           Jin tried to ignore the obviously cheesy grins of Jungkook, Jackson, and Receptionist as the two of you passed by.

           "Get home safely." he stated.

           You patted Jin's chest and stared at him. "Thank you so much. For the advice...and for what happened after."

           Jin nodded as he leaned down to place a chaste kiss on your lips. You giggled out loud, not at all embarrassed that he witnessed your giddiness.

           "See you." You bit your lip.

           "Bye bye." Jin waved.

           Courageously, you kissed his cheek and hurried outside shyly, feeling incredibly lighter than when you entered.

           As soon as you disappeared, Jin turned around and glared at the three.

           "You were watching weren't you? That's why you're all looking at me like that!" he pointed.

           "We bow down to you." Jungkook and Jackson bowed deeply.

           "Shall we call you BIG Jin now?" Jackson grinned.

           "Come here you brats!" He ran after them as the two playfully scurried away.

           "Oh boy." Receptionist shook her head, amused. "Will we have another graduation soon?"

           Jin sighed as he pulled a white mask over his face. In a fit of desire to be different, he stuck a pink sticker on the side. He hated being uniform.

           "I heard this company party we're hosting is full of rich people." He heard his co-workers stating. "That means they'll tip us bigger! Jackpot!"

           He yawned. He hadn't been able to sleep well. What had happened with you left him unsettled and confused. What had possessed him to act that way?

           Shrugging it off, he grabbed an appetizer tray and stepped outside. Only to almost crash into someone.

           "Oh sorry--" he stopped short, recognizing the person in front of him.

           "Jin." The person swiped an appetizer from his tray. "Fancy seeing you here."

           "Crumbs?" he gawked. "What're you doing here?"

           "Long story." She shrugged as she stuffed a few more in her mouth. "Did you cook this?"

           "No." Jin chuckled. "I'm only a waiter."

           "Shame." She hummed.

           "Are you here with someone?" Jin glanced around.

           "I guess you could say that."

           He squinted at her curiously. "Can you just answer me seriously?"

           "Nope." She shrugged as she reached for another, but Jin slapped her hand.

           "No more for you then."

           She huffed. "Treating your customers so rudely."

           Jin glared at her then something caught his eye, and he groaned.

           "Oh man."

           He immediately recognized the all too familiar Red, Black, Silver, and Gold Masks mingling around. He chuckled, wondering how careless they were to re-use their masks. But suddenly, his body turned cold as he also spotted your mask amongst the crowd.

           "You okay?" Crumbs questioned.

           "I'm not sure yet." he sighed. "But work's work."

           "Fighting." Crumbs nodded. "I'm going to go hide so I don't have to socialize too much."

           "Fighting." Jin cheered her on understandably.

           Jin marched around, trying his best to keep an eye on where you and all of his friends were, in order to avoid any encounters. But when he spotted you approaching Jungkook, his curiosity got the best of him. Were you making moves on someone who was taken? Was Jungkook flirting with other people when his sister wasn't around? He told himself he was just being a protective older brother and moved closer to eavesdrop.

           On the other hand, you were relieved to spot a familiar face and so you hurried to approach Jungkook.

           "Um...uh Mr. Jeon?" You tugged at his suit.

           He blinked and turned around. "Yes?"

           "It's me." You pulled down your mask shyly.

           "Miss Puppy!" Jungkook called out.

           You blushed and nodded. "I'm happy you remember me."

           "Of course. My friend, Tae, mentions you here and there." Jungkook smiled.

           "Oh does he?" Your lips curled up.

           Then Jungkook froze. "Wait. Did my parents talk to you?"

           "Oh." You looked around curiously, wondering why he was asking such an odd question. "Yeah, they did."

           "Oh. Um..." Jungkook scratched his head. "Would you like to dance then?"

           You were flustered, not expecting this outcome at all.

           You stammered, "M-m-me? D-d-dance? Oh no...I'm not very--"

           Jungkook smiled warmly and grabbed your hand, pulling you close. "I'll lead. Don't worry."

           Your body was shaking a little out of nervousness, but after a few seconds of swaying, you felt more at ease with his proximity.  

           "Do you come to these often?" Jungkook asked.

           "Not so much. I get a little nervous and shy. But I've been trying to get out there."

           "Same here." Jungkook separated slightly so he could take a good look at you then gasped slightly.

           "What? Mr. Jeon? Is there something on my face?" You flustered at his reaction.

           He shook his head frantically then pulled you into his chest, in panic. Your heart was beating rapidly. Were you about to be involved in a love triangle? No, you couldn't do this. Dark Angel was Tae's cousin and Jungkook's girlfriend. It would get too messy.

           "What in the world? Jeon Jungkook." Jin hissed from afar. "How dare you take another woman in your arms?"

           "Jealous?" Crumbs smirked, munching on a piece of bread.

           Jin glanced over at her then back to you and Jungkook. "Gimme a piece."

           "What?!" Crumbs growled as he snatched a piece of her bread and chucked it at Jungkook's head.

           "Shit." Jin dove behind a column.

           "Yes, very smooth, very mature. Bravo." Crumbs snorted as she walked away, finishing her snack.

           Just when you were about to push yourself off of Jungkook, he immediately let go and stepped back.

           "Mr. Jeon?" You looked at him, puzzled.

           "Oh my gosh." He hurriedly covered his face. "I-I'm so sorry. I don't think this'll work out."

           "Wait, what? We were just dancing?" You blinked.

           "I- uh- I know my parents arranged you to meet with me, but um yeah, I --" Jungkook bowed. "I have to check something real quick."

           "What? Your parents?" You tilted your head. "They never arranged for us to meet. All they said was hi to me earlier...." You responded meekly as he sprinted off behind the column.

           "You!" Jungkook pounced.

           "Ahhhh!" Jin spazzed out and screamed loudly.

           "It IS you! Hyung!" Jungkook beamed. "What're you doing here?"

           "I don't know who you're talking about." Jin averted his eyes and attempted to walk away, hoping he could escape.

           "Oh please. You threw a piece of bread at me." Jungkook snorted.

           "I didn't."

           "Yes, you did."

           "No, I didn't."

           "Yes, you did."

           "I'm not doing this right now, Jeon Jungkook!"

           "Ha! It IS you, Jin!"

           "Shhh!" Jin covered his mouth. "I'm working right now."

           "A hotel waiter. Hott." Jungkook smirked. "You didn't use your Club mask."

           "Well, this is my other place of work." Jin looked around. "We have to wear the standard white masks."

           "But you still added a hint of pink on yours." Jungkook tapped on the small pink sticker on the side of his mask.

           Jin frowned.

           "You know your client is here." He smirked.

           "I do. I don't appreciate you googly eye-ing her when you have a girlfriend." Jin hissed.

           "Somebody's jealous." Jungkook teased and started poking his hyung.

           "No! Stop! I'm ticklish, remember?" Jin began wiggling his body and fighting back laughter.  He strongly grabbed onto Jungkook's hands, trying to stop him.

           "Jungkook?"

           Jin and Jungkook froze.

           "Hi, mom." Jungkook grinned weakly as he slowly let go of Jin's hands.

           His mom eyed the two of them worriedly. Jin coughed and bowed, making his escape swiftly.

           Jin smiled fondly as he watched his sister’s and Jungkook’s romantic reunion, stealing everyone's attention. Part of him was happy for them, but a part of him was also jealous, wanting what they had. He shook his head and sighed, his eyes wandering over to his other sister and Yoongi. His younger siblings were always three steps ahead of him, but he loved watching over them and how they blossomed and flourished nonetheless.

           To entertain himself, he continued to eavesdrop subtly as his sister and Jungkook danced and talked. Then he met eyes with Leo from across the room and he beckoned him over.

           "Master Jin." Leo appeared beside him in a flash.

           "I want you to relay a message to Jungkook for me." he grinned.

           Jin cackled as Leo managed to scare Jungkook away from his sister's side.

           "What a wimp." Jin slipped beside her, snorting.

           Dark Angel grabbed a drink from the tray he was holding. "Says the one who used Leo to do his dirty deed?"

           "You know as well as I do that Jungkook is too strong." Jin frowned. "I just evened the playing field."

           "So you're in Club Masquerade, hm?" She smirked.

           Jin looked around, his eyes threatening to pop out of its sockets. "What?! Who? Me? Noooo!"

           She glanced at him amused. "My dear brother. You forget that I'm the genius in our family."

           Jin averted his eyes, hoping that would make him less guilty.

           "Jungkook said he knew you from somewhere, and seeing as I, his girlfriend know usually where he frequents his time, and I, your little sister, know that you aren't a police officer or someone who worked at our company, narrowed it down to you working at Club Masquerade." She snatched another drink and handed it to Jin, who chugged it blankly. "And your reaction confirmed it."

           Jin turned red.

           "I won't tell if you don't." She whispered.

           Jin sighed and held out his pinky. "If I go down, I'm taking you with me."

           "Of course." She smirked and locked pinkies to seal the pact. "But wow, I'm so proud of you. I thought you were wasting your age and beauty, but here you are getting a lot more action than I thought."

           "Ahhh!" Jin covered his ears and walked away, yelling intermittently to drown out any further comments from her, which earned him odd looks from the people he passed.

           You exhaled as you melted into your chair. You were taking a break from dancing with your co-workers and simply enjoying the music. Surprisingly, you were having a lot of fun. For once, you pushed your worries away.

           "You want to dance?" A random guy suddenly approached you.

           You immediately recognized him as the one harassing other female workers on the dance floor.

           "No thank you." You shook your head timidly.

           "Why not? Have a little fun with me." He leaned down close to you, and you winced at his proximity.

           "Yo, lover boy." Crumbs tugged at Jin's sleeve.

           "I don't have anymore food for you, Crumbs. Sorry." Jin snorted.

           "No. Your girl needs saving." she pointed. "That guy's been feeling up every single girl that's here. What're you going to do?"

           Jin frowned. "What can I do? I'm just a waiter...he's rich."

           Crumbs smacked his back violently.

           "Ow! What the heck?"

           "Man up, Kim Seokjin!" she hissed. "It's not about whether you like her or not or even your status. Being harassed isn't a good feeling for anyone!"

           Jin straightened up firmly. "You're right."

           Crumbs smiled. "There you go."

           He ruffled her hair and marched towards you. He quickened his pace as he saw the guy touching your leg, and you trying to scramble away without causing a scene. Everyone else was on the dance floor and was unaware of what was happening. With his brows furrowed, Jin grabbed a champagne glass and dumped the contents of it over the man's head.

           You gasped, and scrambled behind this masked waiter instinctively, relieved.

           "What the hell?" the guy yelled.

           People close by noticed the wild intervention.

           "Oh I'm sorry." Jin smirked as he put down the glass. "I was just making sure to cleanse those dirty intentions of yours."

           "We were just having fun, right?" the man grinned. "No need for you to rudely step in."

           You clutched Jin's suit and retreated into his back. Jin stepped over to fully shield you from this man.

           "It doesn't look like she was having much fun." Jin stated firmly.

           "I saw him trying to feel her up when she said no." Crumbs stepped forward.

           "He felt me up too!" Another worker called out. Soon, a few more jumped in to confirm his behaviors.

           "I'll have you fired for mistreating your guests!" the man yelled. "This is ridiculous. I make more than you do in a month. Do you know who I am? You can't do this to me."

           "You're clearly in the wrong here." Crumbs defended. "Stop flaunting your money like it does you any good."

           "Crumbs. It's okay." Jin worried and held his hand up. "Don't get involved."

           "But --" she frowned.

           "Give me your name. I want you out of this hotel. Actually, --" the man pulled out his wallet and chucked cash at Jin's face. "--here I'll pay you to get out of my sight."

           You gasped at the rude behavior, feeling apologetic for this man who had saved you. You stared at his shoulders, wondering why they looked so familiar, why his presence was so warm and comforting.

           "Well, if we're talking about money." A familiar voice drawled, causing everyone to tense up. Min Yoongi snorted and grabbed some of the cash off the floor and proceeded to wipe it on the man's face. "I think I can triple that and have you kicked out of my company. As far as I know, we don't raise pigs."

           "That's offensive to pigs." Jin whispered, and you fought back a giggle at his comment. It was hardly the time.

           "CEO Min...I'm being framed! How could you trust this waiter?" the man pointed. "He's ... he's no one!"

           Yoongi scoffed. "He's working hard to do what he needs to, and despite risking his job to protect an innocent girl from an asshole like you, he still acted bravely. And what? You sit here and demean the working class and throw your money at his face?"

           The man faltered and averted his gaze. "No...yes...I'm sorry CEO. I just --"

           Yoongi grinned then snarled. "Get out."

           The man scrambled away as everyone applauded.

           Yoongi patted Jin's shoulder knowingly, and hurried to distract everyone from the scene and back to the party.

           "Are you okay?" Jin turned to you worriedly.

           You nodded and smiled. "Thank you."

           "Good." he exhaled.

           You stared at him. "Have we met before?"

           Jin averted his eyes. "N-no..."

           "I'm usually not this comfortable around new people." you chuckled. "But I hid behind you so easily... I'm sorry you had to go through that for me."

           "No, I'm sorry on the behalf of the male pigs like that guy."

           Your lips curled up. "I thought that was offensive to the pigs."

           Jin chuckled. "You heard that?"

           "I didn't think someone could crack a joke in such a tense scene." You giggled.

           "It wasn't a joke though?" Jin blinked.

           You paused then the two of you laughed.

           "Well I have to get back to...work..." Jin smiled.

           "Oh right. I guess I should um get back to the party..." You blushed. "Thank you again."

           "Anytime." Jin grinned then flustered. "I mean, not that I hope it happens to you again, but it was my pleasure...oh that doesn't sound good either...you're welcome."

           You studied him, intrigued, then hurried to the dance floor giddily.

           Jin exhaled and felt himself melt as he watched you.

           Then he noticed someone on the floor picking up the money.

           "Crumbs. What're you doing?" He raised an eyebrow.

           "For the store." She shrugged as she stuffed it into her purse.

           "That's stealing." He shook his head.

           "No, he gave it to you, rather rudely, but it was still a consented transaction." Crumbs pointed out. "But you're too proud to pick it up even though you really want to, so I'm doing it for you."

           Jin exhaled and knelt down beside her. "You're in a dress, silly. You shouldn't be bending down like that."

           Crumbs glanced at him and chuckled. "I'm flattered you're conscious of me bending over."

           Jin rolled his eyes as he handed her the cash. "Buy good ingredients with this."

           Crumbs grinned. "You know it."

           As the night went on, Jin kept stealing glances over at you, feeling his heart racing at how you were enjoying yourself.  Every time he caught you smiling, laughing, being silly, he felt himself being drawn to you. It wasn't new. He had seen you doing all these things before, making all these expressions with him. What was going on now? The more he felt these unknown emotions stirring inside him, the more he worried about what they could mean. He needed to talk to someone about all this. Someone who knew his position well.

           "Long time no see, Jin." Hoseok embraced him warmly. "How are you?"

           "Honestly, pretty good, but kind of troubled." Jin sighed.

           "What's going on? How can I help?" Hoseok waved a waiter down. "Let's order before you start. Food always makes you feel better."

           Jin chuckled and agreed.

           After they ordered, Jin began to confess his odd feelings of possessiveness for you, his client, and recounted that one session that felt completely different than the others before. How he would find himself thinking about you a lot more often, how he would smile when he would remember something you had said, and all the like.

           Hoseok smiled warmly and listened attentively until Jin finished.

           "Sounds like you like her a lot, hyung."

           "What?" Jin was taken aback at Hoseok's simple comment.

           "And not just as a client. You like her romantically." Hoseok stated.

           "What??" Jin blinked.

           "It's not uncommon Jin, especially with a Consoler. You know a lot more personal things about her than most hosts do with their clients. It's normal to feel a connection. Plus it sounds like every time you two meet at Masquerade, it's like a date." Hoseok slid the appetizers over closer to Jin. "I think you should define the relationship and take a step forward. Ask her out to date in the 'real world'."

           Jin felt a little overwhelmed with the realization. "But she's a client..."

           Hoseok chuckled, "There are no rules against dating your client outside of work, if they consent to it. And of course, if you both agree to revealing your identities. It's a risk to take, much like anyone else out there. People date strangers all the time. People date online, risking a possibility that the person's profile picture isn't actually them." He pointed his fork at Jin. "But bottom line is, you need to show her your feelings are more than just bound by your job and obligation now. Before someone else does."

           "Holy shit!" Jungkook sat up in his bed.

           "What is it?" Dark Angel was startled at his sudden movement.

           "Babe..." Jungkook's eyes widened as the realization dawned on him.

           "Okay, you're scaring me Kooks. What's going on?"

           Jungkook stared at her in shock and horror.

           "Your cousin and brother are interested in the same girl."

           Dark Angel shut her book in surprise.

           "WHAT??!"

.

.

.

PART 3 

[estherroberts]

and nothing ever does begin like nothing ever ends

chapter one: war 

fandom: ars paradoxica, his dark materials

words: 1508

rating: T

characters: anthony partridge, penny wise, patty fitzroy, chet whickman

read on ao3 

series masterpost

October 15, 1941

“fuck.” anthony looks down at his work, looks up at astoria. “jesus jumping jacks on a jester, fuck, astoria, look at this!”

the quail hops her way over to peer down at the lines and lines of equations that cover anthony’s desk. “holy ballsack.”

“my sentiments exactly.”

“that’s the entire continent right there, isn’t it.”

“if— if the german electorate got nippon to attack hispania nova, everyone has to jump in. that’s what an alliance means.”

“fucking shit on a pancake. the LAST war started because everyone had to be so honorable and now look, so much for learning from history.”

anthony sighs. he’s tempted to crumple up all his work and throw it into the trash with the might of a thousand suns. he knows new denmark doesn’t want to be involved in another european war, he knows no one will listen to anything he says when the continentalist mentality runs so strong here. “we gotta tell someone.”

“no. we can’t. we can’t we can’t we can’t, anthony, we’ll get fired, we’ll, we’ll be the boy who cried wolf, the laughing stock of the town. we can’t say it. what if it’s wrong? what if we’re wrong?” she flutters her wings and hops around the desk.

“it’s. not.”

astoria stops moving and looks back at anthony. “i know. that’s why it’s so scary.”

he picks her up and brings her to his chest, kissing her head. “the magisterium has been getting away with some truly horrible things over in europe. if they’re gonna bring the war to us, we should be prepared for it. and we should make sure the other countries are too.”

“it shouldn’t be just us, though.”

“i know. but we figured it out. so we have to tell the world. or at least one guy in a position of power and influence.”

“fine.”

December 8, 1941

“an attack on our allies is an attack on us! an attack. on our allies. is an attack. on us. when the nippons dive bombed san diego, they dive bombed an entire continental allyship. citizens of this nation, the entire republic of texas, we are at war, alongside our sister nations, because we cannot let hispania nova face the terrors of battle alone."

penny finishes cleaning the counter and glances over at the radio. her only customers are two older men, one with a greyhound daemon and one with a goose. they are debating the radio broadcast, and she's listening intently, though she busies herself with rolling silverware into napkin bundles.

"well, he's not wrong, we did swear we'd go to war for any of the continental countries."

"it's just, our president wouldn't bring us into this war if we couldn't profit from it, y’know? so i'm trying to figure out what's in it for us." the one with the hound leans forward in his seat, his daemon perking up her ears.

"hispania nova gets men, money, and weapons. we get zilch. then, when the war's over, they owe us a shitton.”

"yeah but the other countries are jumpin’ in, they're gonna be a helluva lot of debt after this."

"the only reason they can fight back is because they have the might of four other nations to back them the fuck up—“ the one with the goose daemon turns to penny. "apologies."

she waves them off, but brings her bucket of silverware to the back of the restaurant. “dax?”

fiodaxion, her black and blue butterfly daemon, flicks one of his antenna on her ear. “penny?”

“wanna join the army?”

he laughs nervously, almost like he can’t tell if she’s joking.

“seriously.” she unloads the rolled silverware into a larger basket filled with more of the same. “all the fighting, all the glory…”

“we can’t,” dax sighs and flicks his tongue out at her.

“why, cuz i’m a girl? how backwards of you.”

“i mean… do you think they would really let us? and what about the pay?”

“probably not as good as restaurant tips. plus they might throw me in a bomb factory, and i just can’t see myself doing well there.”

“right.” he flutters around the room and pushes to the limits of their range to check on their customers. “need anything boys?”

“nope!”

“no, thank you!”

dax flies back and gives penny what she knows to be his disappointed look. “i bet miles jones is going to enlist.”

“ugh. fuck that guy.” penny bounces up and down on her toes and reaches out her finger for her daemon to land on. “i guess we can see what war effort stuff we can do from home?”

“i guess.”

“and if they open the draft to girls?”

“then we can join.”

September 20, 1941

patty, decked out in faux fur, gold jewelry, and long manicured nails, dunks a calamari into the sauce in front of her. while she’s chewing, she looks over to her daemon and addresses them. “so yesterday i was out with some of the girls, and they introduced this new lady, right? and she was asking about you and so i said, 'they’re at home, no big deal,' and she was like, 'what, do you have more than one daemon? and how are you so far away?'” she pops another piece into her mouth and continues, “and i was like, ‘well, i’m not a witch or anything but we have a really big range,’ of course, cuz you know we were at the cafe just next door, and she was like, ‘ohh, well i guess that makes sense, what does he look like?’ and i rolled my eyes, and i was like, ‘maria’s a fucking underwater volcanic tube worm! they don’t have a fucking gender! what the fuck is wrong with you?’ and she was, of course, really upset because how could she know that people have plant daemons and fuck me backwards, but god, you’re not even a plant, right?”

I DON’T KNOW IF I’M A PLANT. I THINK MOST BODILY FUNCTIONS OF A TUBE WORM ARE CONTROLLED BY BACTERIA. ANYWAY, SHE SOUNDS LIKE A BITCH.

“i’m bringing you with me next time.” she narrows her eyes at the gigantic heated tank. “even if it is a pain in the ass.”

ARE YOU CALLING ME A PAIN IN THE ASS?

“oh, never, darling, i wouldn’t dream of it. just transporting you is tricky, and people get a little freaked out when you,” she taps her head, “y’know, talk.”

OH, FOR FUCK’S SAKE, PATTY.

she glances at the clock on the wall and flicks on the radio. “time to tune into to whatever fresh hell the magisterium is responsible for today.”

I DON’T REALLY WANT TO LISTEN TODAY. WHAT IF ANOTHER COUNTRY GOT INVADED?

“it’s life, maria. it’s our job to know what they’re doing over there. and maybe figure out someway to help.” patty kicks her feet onto the table and finishes the last of her calamari. “ooh! maybe we could find a husband and get into some secret government shit!”

YOU REALLY THINK IT’S THAT EASY? a thousand bubbles rapidly fly to the top of the tank. HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU’LL MARRY SOMEONE WHO WORKS FOR THE GOVERNMENT? OR THAT HIS JOB WILL BE SECRET? HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH THIS SHIT?

she shrugs. “i have a couple of avenues to explore.”

WERE YOU READING GEORGE FITZROY'S MAIL AGAIN?

“maybe.”

October 28, 1943

“and until that day, we stand guard. we are determined that their plan for world conquest shall stop, here and now. we are determined that they shall never again use peaceful industries for warlike purposes. we are determined that the vicious magisterium cycle of: war, phony peace, war, phony peace, war, phony peace, shall once and for all time, come to an end. that is your job in the war against the german electorate.”

as the projector clicks off, chet turns to arethusa and rolls his eyes. “i think i’d rather sit in an anbaric chair than hear the phrase ‘phony peace’ again.”

“hey now. you signed up to defend this country.” the german shepard gets up, walks in a circle, and settles again at his feet. “least you could do is sit through a good ole fashioned motivational picture show.”

“they need better writers.”

anderson, on the bench next to him, nods and chuckles. “it’s really not us they need to worry about. we’re already here to fight.”

“fight— or swab the deck another thirty-two times.”

chet’s fellow sailor nods again and gets up, his seagull daemon stretching her wings. “speaking of which…”

“see ya.”

“see ya.”

arethusa rests her head on chet’s knee. “don’t be so negative. project rainbow starts tomorrow.”

“ah yes, the mysterious project of which no one on the ship is allowed to know anything about and in which we must all take part.”

she tilts her head from side to side and he sighs.

“i’m kidding, thuse, i’m really looking forward to it. i’m hoping we can find out a little bit more about it.

“me too.”