#rip beta matchmaker

[envy-of-the-apple]

“this post makes me wanna write alpha satosugu falling for a beta whos a member of the 'government sponsored omega/alpha matchmaking program' and satosugu keep ignoring all the potential mates for their cute little matchmaker who in turn is oblivious to it all until its a bit too late-“

DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!

I always thought it would be interesting to put the reader as a beta in a fanfic but I never see it 😭 and what op said for them to continuously bite her bc it won’t stick, just aaaahhhh😍

yaaaaaa alpha x beta is a dynamic i do not see a lot (at the same time i dont rlly dabble in omegaverse) and it hurts cuz the dynamic of alpha being super obsessed with a beta but the beta doesn't even notice cuz they cant smell is amazing and an UNTAPPED MARKET

i just rlly like the idea of alpha satosugu scentmarking the beta matchmaker and when the beta's like '????' they go 'oh sorry but we dont have an omega and it hurts but we won't do it again:(((' and the beta reluctantly gives in because what's the harm here, really?

i havent decided to make this dark or not so the idea isnt all that cemented quite yet

[onenettvchannel]

THIS JUST IN: 'Hailey's On It' ends after a historic One Season in Series Finale with a worst cliffhanger end [#K5NewsFMExclusive]

(Written by Marco Ubaldo Diaz / News Reporter of Disney XD News)

OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA -- The final new episode of "Hailey's on It!" concluded with a worst shocking cliffhanger for one (1) historical season as Hailey Alohilani Banks was caught allegedly cheating with her new boyfriend (Mr. Sanjay Singh), during a prom date of Oceanside High School (OHS) in the state of California last Friday night, which was first released online early Saturday morning (May 18th, 2024 at 12mn) on Disney NOW and therefore later that same day on Disney Channel at 8am (Pacific local time).

DWFH-FM 97.7mhz's K5 News FM: Dumaguete got an exclusive scoop that it was due to a new fictitious mobile app called 'SnackMatch' (a derivative version of 'Tinder', owned by Dingles Worldwide Snacks and Tires Corporation [DWSTC]) based from a suggestion by Ms. Genesis. Surprisingly but suddenly, there will be two (2) red flags in the prom date night at OHS as one SoKor-FilAm (South Korean-Filipino-American) named 'Scott Denoga' unexpectedly a victim of 3rd wheel relationship. For Hailey however, suspiciously ends up cheating with Sanjay, after Mr. Denoga invited her as a new boyfriend and en route via Limousine Car to the Oceanside High School for "Totally 80's to the Max" event because of this aforementioned matchmaking app.

For a brief context of what is this show is all about… "Hailey's on It!" is an American animated television series that follows the adventures of 'Hailey Alohilani Banks', who was an ingenious and purposeful young teenage girl in Oceanside, California, United States of America (U.S.A.) that faces different challenges with a positive attitude and quick thinking, free from future robot enemies known as Chaos Bots.

The show is designed to inspire and entertain children with Hailey's problem-solving skills, which can be used to handle unexpected situations with full creativity and confidence. This typically features Hailey facing a new problem in each episode, which she solves by the end, often learning valuable lessons along the way. Its humorous narrative style, vibrant animation as well as engaging fictional lead protagonist characters make it popular among its newly targeted audience for Americans.

In the 30th final new episode called "I Wanna Dance with My Buddy", Hailey's plan to go out with Mr. Denoga on a dance night event and confess her feelings to him gets spoiled when a compatibility app claims they are incompatible with each other, just like Ms. Destiny. But on the dance floor, they do not jive well.

Kristine Sanchez, a locally active social media influencer and the ex-boyfriend of Mr. Denoga, informed him that he has been doing it all wrong in the mobile algorithm survey because he redoes the surveys on the 'SnackMatch' app, and he finds himself compatible with Hailey per the potential match between Butter and Lobster. Excited, he becomes eager to go out with her that night but Hailey had already dated any one of Usher’s fictional back-up dancers or an endorser for the cologne advertisement like Mr. Sanjay Singh whom she just met from 'Botany Camp' where she mentioned him as friends and later becomes her new boyfriend.

Fortunately for Mr. Denoga, he is assuring that the suspected 3rd wheel relationship with a new girlfriend of Mr. Sanjay to be supposedly dating with Hailey is an absolute red flag and hits a major roadblock. Beta urgently reminds Hailey about her duties with the list item #143, but she refuses to let said list, or Beta, be in control of her life. She rips into pieces her confession letter in the advertised flyer and then throws it into the garbage bin.

Sometime later during the prom dating night in the "Totally 80's to the Max" dance event, a scene of a catastrophic future flashes in front of Mr. Denoga as Beta later tells him about the list item Hailey has been hiding from Sanjay, which badly surprises Denoga with a worst cliffhanger end.

It is way undetermined if Hailey ending up having sex with Sanjay throughout the night, and possibly getting married instead of Mr. Denoga at the end of the prom dating night at Oceanside High School in California: "In case I haven't said it lately, thanks for being a great friend. Y'know, I don't think cookies and lobster sound so bad together", Hailey said. Per the end credits at the photo booth, pictures are taken without any problems and everyone goes home for the night, leaving for a 2nd Season abruptedly scrapped by Disney after one season, which never to be animated and greenlighted due to low popularity of the fanbase.

Despite the upcoming scrapped episodes in Season 2, we obtained the exclusives in the episode titles are 'Say Funcle', 'Mean Squirrels', 'Nobody Puts Beta in a Corner', 'Dead Bots Tell No Tales', 'No Money, More Problems', 'Trick or Traitor', 'Night of the Living Pumpkins', 'Diss and Break Up', 'California Schemin', 'Suddenly, Sanjay', 'Cirque du Bro-leil' and 'Dude, Where’s My Cousin?'.

In the follow-up leaked scrapped episode script of 'Say Funcle' involving a 3rd wheel (known as the Love Triangle) or unexpected character developments in the relationships of Hailey Alohilani Banks, Sanjay Singh and Scott Denoga. Introducing a third wheel or exploring themes of cheating could indeed create a dramatic and suspenseful plot twist, leading to a cliffhanger ending that leaves viewers intrigued and eager for the next episode from the Season 1's final episode as a series finale. Such narrative choices can add depth and complexity to the characters and their relationships, making for compelling storytelling in the series.

The scrapped episode in the lost media follows Hailey and her friends dealing with challenges and adventures at Funcle Fest. Hailey hides a unique talent from Mr. Sanjay, but when he discovers it, he appreciates her even more. The said episode also features Beta struggling with a disco protocol and ultimately combusting, leading to a humorous and unexpected ending which the list item was quite censored to the public.

Now, to sum it all up, there are two (2) common red flags that may arise in relationship based from a final new episode of "Hailey's on It": Forced Cheating and a 3rd Wheel. Some of the red flags in relationships that may suggest on both sides including… Love bombing and rushed intimacy very early on; Overt jealousy, possessiveness, or attempts at control; A perfect persona that seems too good to be true; Secrecy or a lack of transparency in actions and communications; Changes in behavior or routine that are unexplained; And emotional distance or a lack of intimacy.

On the other hand in 3rd wheel… Ongoing tension and arguments may indicate that the 3rd person like Mr. Sanjay (the new girlfriend with Hailey) is becoming too involved in the relationship; Emotional distance between partners, where one partner like Mr. Denoga may be sharing more with the third wheel than with their significant other; Secrecy or deception regarding the nature of the relationship; And prioritizing the third wheel over the partner, which can manifest in time spent, emotional investment or decision-making.

The unhealthy relationship couple of 'Scailey' (Hailey Alohilani Banks and Scott Denoga) must seek emergency professional help at Good Therapy San Diego (GTSD) in Oceanside City to explain the unexpected behavior with Mr. Sanjay from the 'SnackMatch' matchmaking app, which can be turned over alone to Mr. Denoga. It is best to maintain open and honest communication with their partner about her feelings and concerns; observing behavior and communication patterns; set clear boundaries and expectations for transparency and fidelity; and invest in the relationship by spending quality time together like Hailey and Denoga, ensuring both partners' needs are met.

The thing is, one whole season of the American cartoon series of "Hailey's on It!" is not enough. Fans of the show wants to give themselves more, but the popularity is losing interest in the fanbase and never to be animated & greenlighted by the Disney Television Animation (DTVA) staff. Although in real life like Scott Denoga, the shipping name between Hailey and Sanjay are now called 'SanLey'. Denoga is at risk by permanently breaking up with her during the prom date night. The 2nd Season may potentially soon in the works for production, except for the leaked episode scripts can be finalized in the final version, which is subject for the last resort approval.

We try to reached out with Dingles Worldwide Snacks and Tires Corporation [DWSTC] (whose the matchmaking developer app of 'SnackMatch') to address its relationship policy issues, but it refused for a comment via E-Mail correspondence on our news team to K5 News FM Dumaguete.

For now, Denoga needs to take time in Season 2 to accept his defeat if its greenlighted by Disney Television Animation, in order to address a list item #143 that needs to be seriously done before Chaos Bots ending up for a mass murderer to avoid these red flag relationships and disasterous events at the end of the prom date night.

SCREENGRAB COURTESY: Disney Television Animation via DisneyNOW VIDEO BACKGROUND PROVIDED BY: Tegna

SOURCE: *https://haileysonit.fandom.com/wiki/I_Wanna_Dance_with_My_Buddy *https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/HaileysOnItS1EP56IWannaDanceWithMyBuddy *https://disneynow.com/shows/haileys-on-it/season-01/episode-30-i-wanna-dance-with-my-buddy/vdka36641651 *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hailey%27s_On_It! *https://thecoastnews.com/new-disney-animated-series-takes-place-in-oceanside/ [Referenced News Article via The Coast News] *https://haileysonit.fandom.com/wiki/Oceanside_High_School *https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Scott_Denoga *https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Genesis *https://www.goodtherapysandiego.com/oceanside-therapists.html *https://desuarchive.org/co/thread/143702889/#q143711342 *https://www.healthyplace.com/relationships/celebrate-love/my-partner-cheat-never-29-red-flags-that-may-suggest-a-cheater [Referenced Editorial Article via Healthy Place] *https://verywellmindset.com/what-are-red-flags-in-a-relationship/ [Referenced Editorial Article via Very Well Mindset] *https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-true-love/202005/six-signs-emotional-cheating [Referenced Editorial Article #1 via Psychology Today] *https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/between-the-sheets/202109/why-people-ignore-red-flags-trouble-in-their-relationships [Referenced Editorial Article #2f via Psychology Today] *https://maplewoodcounseling.com/relationship-red-flags/ [Referenced Editorial Article via Maplewood Counseling] and *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkJzXH3qZZI [Referenced YT VIDEO via Psych2Go]

Always stay informed and entertained with OneNETnews and OneNETtv Channel. Championing in the service of the Filipino, Dumaguete and Negrosanon's News Leader!

-- OneNETnews Online Publication Team

[yeongwonie]

STUPID CUPID! — 37

SYNOPSIS. alone on valentine’s day, you decide to sign up for the student council’s fundraiser: a matchmaking survey, hoping to at least get a few laughs out of the whole ordeal. little do you know, park sunghoon (your archenemy since junior high) has the same idea. but it’s fine! your student body president, kim sunoo, would never tamper with the matching system, right?

note. it’s finally here <///3 i hope u all enjoy (actually no i hope u Don't enjoy. i hope this chapter rips ur hearts out) nd that it lives up to your expectations!! after i dragged this out for so long LMFAO (also i’m sorry in adv) &huge thank u to sai @jungwonize 4 beta reading! ur the best :))

+ please rb if u want to!! it rlly helps w/tumblr’s algorithm :))

⤎ prev | 37 — what you wanted (written; 1.9k) | next ⤍

masterlist

YOU ALMOST WISH YOU’RE SURPRISED, seeing sunghoon leaning against one of the columns of your school’s back gate. instead, all you feel is a pang in your chest, like a lit match burning a hole through your lungs. 

he looks anxious, twisting the handles of a small, brown paper bag in his grasp and biting his lip. you know that he hasn’t seen you yet. 

when sunghoon finally does turn, he scans your various classmates scattered around the sidewalk, obviously searching for someone. you can pinpoint nearly the exact second he spots you from the way his almost hopeful expression drops. his lips part just the slightest, as though he wants to call out to you. his eyes remain locked onto yours intently.

and even though it’s been years since you’ve really known park sunghoon, you can tell the difference between surprise and dread.

“i saw your phone,” he says. your eyebrows draw closer together as you search his expression for some kind of answer to the thousands of questions swirling around your head. you feel dizzy, and a little exhausted. 

“i saw your phone,” he says. your eyebrows draw closer together as you search his expression for some kind of answer to the thousands of questions swirling around your head. you feel dizzy, and a little exhausted. 

“i saw your phone,” he says. your eyebrows draw closer together as you search his expression for some kind of answer to the thousands of questions swirling around your head. you feel dizzy, and a little exhausted. 

“what do you want me to do, sunghoon?” you ask, after a pause. “how am i supposed to react to this?”

sunghoon doesn’t respond; he doesn’t know how to. even you yourself can’t think of anything that he could say that would quiet the ringing in your ears.

all that you can think about is that, for the past few weeks, the person you’ve been excited to text every day, whose messages actually made you audibly giggle sometimes, and who you’d felt so close to in such a ridiculously short amount of time had been park sunghoon. 

“i think now would be a good time for you to tell me whatever it is you’ve been wanting to tell me,” you say, once the silence between the two of you grows unbearably uncomfortable. sunghoon sighs in acceptance, like he’s been waiting for this question for days. 

“okay,” he exhales. “okay.”

sunghoon finally breaks eye contact to look down at his feet. a hand raises to rub at his temples, and suddenly, he looks as nauseous as you feel. 

“god, this sounds so stupid, saying it now,” he says, almost laughing at the situation. “during our last year of junior high, i tore my acl.”

you nearly laugh too, because it’s really ridiculous. you don’t want to believe that all of the pain you’d felt had been because of a sports injury. of all the things you’d expected him to tell you, something like this had never crossed your mind, and yet it makes so much sense. sunghoon continues. 

“i had to quit skating for a year, and i was so scared that when i got back i wouldn’t be able to get back to the level i’d been at,” he says, then purses his lips shut. you don’t blink, searching his face for any more of an explanation. 

“why didn’t you tell me?” you ask, almost pleading him to give you something more. 

there’s another stretch of silence as sunghoon contemplates his next words. more students begin to arrive, filling the stagnant air with scattered conversations. when he speaks again, it’s so quiet that you almost have to strain to hear. 

“i didn’t want to let you down.”

you gape openly at him, unsure if you’d heard correctly. 

“let me down?” you repeat, incredulous. 

“you came to every single one of my performances, and you always told me you wanted to see me become a professional figure skater one day,” he continues. you feel tears pricking the backs of your eyes and a tight feeling forming in the back of your throat. “i was worried i couldn’t live up to that, and i was scared you’d be disappointed in me.”

“i didn’t just support you to see you go pro, you idiot.” you choke out, chuckling slightly in disbelief. “i would have supported you no matter what.”

sunghoon’s eyes widen, and you can nearly see the gears turning in his head. you almost hope he feels a bit stupid, to think that you would’ve cared about something so small as a sports injury, to the point where you would’ve let it ruin your friendship. 

“but you said you wanted me to pursue figure skating,” he says, just above a whisper. you smile sadly at him.

“i wanted you to be happy."

for the nth time, your conversation dwindles into a pause as the both of you process what’s being said. a short distance away, you can hear a few loud voices talking about their plans for valentine’s day. you can’t help but appreciate the irony, as the reminder of the special occasion is like another stab to the chest. you know sunghoon hears it too when he looks down at the bag in his hold, then runs a hand through his hair. 

“i remember,” he begins again. “while i was in the hospital, i kept picturing how you’d react. rehearsing how i would tell you over and over in my head. when i woke up from surgery, you were the first person i thought about.”

sunghoon stops to take a breath, then looks to gauge your reaction to what he’s telling you. when he sees your face, which you’re sure looks as though you’d just watched your childhood pet die, eyes glazed over with tears and lip nearly trembling, he looks up at the overcast sky. you can just barely see that his own eyes have a slight sheen to them as well. 

“i told myself that you’d be disappointed in me, so i just put off telling you. the more time that passed, the harder it got,” sunghoon tells you. “ it seemed easier to just avoid you in the halls than to have to see your face when i told you.”

for the millionth time this morning, you’re left completely speechless. 

“sunghoon, you were my best friend,” you finally say, and feel the tears finally begin to roll down your cheeks. seeing you cry, sunghoon looks pained, to say the least, and he presses his lips into a firm line. 

“you were mine, too.”

“so i just don’t understand why.” your sentence trails off until the two of you are, once more, wordlessly staring at each other. 

“i know.”

frustrated, you exhale sharply and wipe vigorously at the tears carving their path along the sides of your face. you tell yourself to be empathetic, to try to understand what sunghoon had been feeling going through such a career-killing injury alone. still, you can’t understand why he wouldn’t tell you, or how he’d been okay with letting such an important relationship just fade away. 

“I don’t know if i can see you right now,” you tell him, steeling your voice, though it nearly catches in your throat as you speak. the boy in front of you looks taken aback, but not surprised. “i think we should just get over this and forget about each other.”

“i thought things were getting better,” he replies, his statement sounding more like a question. your hands form into fists, and you feel your nails digging small, crescent shapes into your palms. 

“when we didn’t know who the other person was?” you retort, and sunghoon is effectively quieted once again. 

“what about friday?” sunghoon asks, and you remember what had happened in the courtyard, how you’d rested your head on his shoulder and actually felt comfortable, despite years of bickering and trying to push down the little prick of sadness that you felt every time you saw him. 

“you know, it was so easy to talk to you when you were this faceless person,” you change the subject, hands unclenching just the slightest. again, sunghoon looks hopeful, reminiscing on how nice it had been to text every night and feel that same childlike giddiness at your every conversation. you remember how you’d gone to him so often for advice, and how comforting it had been to talk to someone who seemed to understand everything you were feeling so naturally. “i didn’t realize it, but i started relying on you for everything again.”

“so keep relying on me,” he looks determined, posture straightening just the slightest. “i promise i’ll be there for you, this time.”

“but how can i believe that?” your voice breaks, and you do your best to keep yourself from crying any more. “two times now this has ended with us not even being able to talk to each other? how can i just keep trying, expecting a different ending?”

you bite your bottom lip between your teeth as sunghoon watches you, ashamed. he begins to speak, but you continue. 

“half of the time i was venting to you about you,” you seethe, referring to the conversations you’d had over the past three or so weeks. “do you understand how confused i am right now?”

“i’ll be better. i’ll—”

“don’t you see this isn’t working, sunghoon?”

a bell sounds loudly, echoing from inside the school and reaching the two of you even beyond the gate. suddenly, you register that the crowds of students surrounding you and sunghoon have dissipated, all of your classmates having entered their respective classrooms. then, you look at sunghoon again, and any concern you’d had about being tardy to your first period is replaced by sadness. 

“maybe we just don’t work together,” you finish.

your words hang in the air for a few moments, like the sword of damocles strung above sunghoon’s head, waiting to cut to the bone. you’re both crying, now, though you can’t bring yourself to offer him any words of consolation. 

and so, you slowly turn on your heel and begin walking to where sunoo’s waiting in the parking lot. you leave sunghoon behind you, still standing next to the gate and staring helplessly at your back as your figure grows smaller into the distance. when he thinks you’re out of earshot, he lets the sobs overtake his body as he sinks to the floor, shoulders shaking and face buried into his palms. 

it takes every bit of self control you have not to turn around. 

✮✮✮

taglist (OPEN). @linoragi @msxflower @wonzone @vantxx95 @c9tnoos @abdiitcryy @w3bqrl @acciomylove @laiverose @shawkneecaps @jjunis @niorawr @chiyuv @gyusteez @theskzvibe @yeppeudau @atsumuluvbot @renjunvrse @saucytaehyung @cocoabeen @nomniki @ashxxkook @angelicncity @fairybangtan @fadedluvv @haoreo @love-4-keum @solarswonderland @emoworu @revemixer @hrjchive @sushiriki @hseungi @enaus @maeumiluv @blu3ming-hoon @soobin-chois @ifwtyun @sweetjaemss @luviehyck @angelbaby-rose @beomsun @tobiosbbyghorl @junqwonni @jungwonnieee @carayat @iovnyu @cyuuupid @dekusgirl @hobistigma

[mashep23]

Be Quiet

Pairing: Surprise Chris Evans Character x Female!Reader

Word Count: 713

Summary: You may not have volume control but he's definitely more vocal.

⚠️ Warnings: 18+ ONLY. SMUT. NO MINORS. Sneaky public sex, dirty talk, vaginal sex, unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it), creampie.

💥Author's Note: REPOST. I'm so sorry, my original post is no longer up somehow 😭.

Pure smut. Maybe a touch of sweet...if you squint. No plot, even if you squint. Thank you to @river-soul for your invaluable beta work and encouragement, and thanks to @whisperlullaby for your fellow horny hoe thoughts. All mistakes are my own.

Disclaimer: images are not mine.

He has you bent over the back of the couch on your tiptoes, dress rucked up to your waist and panties down by your knees when he finally sinks his cock into you. A loud moan rips from you at the feel of him spearing into you, stretching you. He immediately claps a hand over your mouth as he begins to thrust, leaning low to growl in your ear.

"Fuck, honey. I said we have to be quiet."

You nod, but quickly fail again when he releases your mouth to grip you harder. He angles his hips in a deeper thrust, hitting your sweet spot with each stroke causing you to clutch at the couch, knuckles white, and keen. He presses his mouth to your sweaty temple, panting hotly as he relentlessly drives into you again and again.

"Jesus christ, you feel so fucking good, taking me so well. But you're not doing a very good job of keeping your mouth shut. Do I need to stuff it full to keep you quiet? Huh?"

The thought makes your eyes roll back and your walls clench and flutter around his thick cock and he growls in response.

"Oh, you like that idea, do you? Want my cock down that pretty throat, princess? Bet you'd look so good gazin' up at me with those lips wrapped around my dick. Fuck, you're squeezin' the shit outta me."

He gives you a blessed break from his sinful words to straighten and focus, hips pounding even harder, but it's mere seconds before he's speaking again.

"God. You know what I think, sweetheart? I think you like when I talk to you, tell you everything I wanna do. You fucking love this right now, don't ya honey? Getting fucked in the middle of the day, bent over the couch while everyone is right outside. Shit, your sweet little pussy feels so good, I can tell you're close. Come on baby, come on this cock."

His strokes hit your g-spot relentlessly but it's his filthy mouth that sends you over the edge faster than anything you've ever experienced. You come hard and fast with a loud cry and he follows, hips stilling after he drives deep and holds himself there. The fluttering of your walls around him makes his eyes roll back and a guttural groan leaves his lips as he starts grinding and rocking into you as you both come down from the high.

"Holy shit," he half laughs, and you're both a bit giddy as you giggle a little. "That was fucking intense. You okay, honey?"

He presses kisses along the exposed skin of your shoulders around the straps of your dress as his arms wrap around your waist to help you straighten. You're grinning as you nod and murmur, "yes," because he's already reaching down to pull your panties up your legs and straightening your clothes.

You look over your shoulder at him with a quirked eyebrow and he grins roguishly. "I like the idea of you having a mess of me in your panties while you walk around the party."

Turning to face him, you smirk as you reach for his softening cock and gently tuck it back into his pants. "And I like the idea of you walking around covered in me."

You stretch on your toes to kiss him briefly before turning to leave. "I'll meet you out there," you toss casually over your shoulder with a wink and a grin.

He laughs and nods as he heads toward the patio doors while you dip into the guest bathroom to make sure you don't look like you were just railed at a barbeque. Hair fluffed and lips glossed, you make your way outside to the coolers for a drink. Your friend, the hostess, sidles up next to you, a knowing grin on her face.

"So, I'd say that you hit it off just fine with our handsome, newly single neighbor." She says with barely contained glee that her matchmaking was successful.

Your eyes find him across the yard as you bring the water bottle up to your lips. Your gazes meet and you both smirk. Turning back to her, you wink and agree. "Yeah, I'd say Andy and I hit it off just fine."

[obscureamor]

dear manager

❥ tendou satori x fem! reader

❥ TW// alluded nsfw, nonconsensual touching, slapping, dacryphilia; sexual arousal from seeing tears

» request// “could i please make a request where shirabu or tendou is a yandere for their manager? but then find out they’re already dating someone and they kinda go apeshit. i’m in love with your writing!”

» A/N a-apeshit? this isn’t as apeshit as i wanted to make it lmao, but i still had fun writing it! thank you so much!! <3 also, tendou feat. mr. semisemi because i couldn’t resist.

✧ this is for @seeuonadarknite​ ! thank you for all your help w/ the banner and for beta-reading the fic! <3!!

The sounds of the basket being hit rattled through the gym as volleyballs were being thrown into it. The wheels of the cart squeaked as you rolled it into the storage closet. It was only Tendou and you in the gym. He volunteered to help you clean up after you said you’d handle it so everyone else could go home early. Semi was reluctant to leave you alone with him, for reasons unknown to you, but he couldn’t make that big of a deal. Unless he wanted the whole team to know you two were together. 

Tendou seemed oddly quiet the whole time. He didn’t even sing those jingles he normally did nor did he converse with Ushiwaka, opting to just focus on practicing. 

You placed your bag and phone down on the ground before speaking, voice cutting through the silence, “Is there something on your mind?”

You both stood in the storage closet. The door closed after you, the only light that was coming in was through the gap in the doors. This honestly wasn’t like him. You were so worried. This was, in a way, your teammate and if you couldn’t even help him out with something that was so clearly eating at him then what good were you? 

“Tendou...” you stood in front of him to try and make some sort of eye contact to show that you were here and willing to help. “I’m your manager, which means I care about you guys. If there’s anything I can do, please let me know.”

He was still silent as you finally made eye contact, so you continued on, “This isn’t like you. You didn’t even talk to Ushiwaka today and normally you have a lot to say to him.” You chuckled. “So if you could just—“

“Break up with him.”

Were you hearing him correctly?

“Hm?” 

“Semi. Break up with Semi.”

Your eyes widened. “What? W-We’re not together s-so I don’t—“

“That’s a lie,” he paused and when you didn’t respond he continued, “I saw you two in the hallway. Don’t you think it’s kind of indecent to be groping each other so heavily at school?”

He snickered before stepping closer to you. 

You took a step back. 

“You need to break up with him.”

“Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious? He’s not good enough for my dear manager.” 

You hated this feeling that you were experiencing. You could feel your grasp on the situation slowly slipping. 

“You don’t know that. That’s not true at all... he’s a really great person. You know this. He’s your—” ‘friend’ you wanted to say but stopped once you saw him grit his teeth. You took a deep breath, trying the best you could to de-escalate the situation. “Tendou... we should really get going. It’s getting late. I’m sure we can talk about this some other time, but for now, we both need to get home and get some rest.” Your voice was wobbly. You felt like you could burst into tears at any moment. 

Truth be told you were always afraid of him, but how could you say something? How would you even bring such a conversation up with your boyfriend? Tendou’s eyes always seemed to linger on you a little longer. His hand on your back would be a little lower, way too low for someone who you weren’t in a relationship with. It seemed like he had a knack for making his presence known to you. He also had a thing for startling you. It would make the team laugh because who knew their little manager was so jumpy? And Semi would always scowl at it, but he couldn’t show too much concern because no one knew about you two or at least you thought no one knew. 

Tendou started smiling. It was an off smile, crooked. Something that made you want to throw up. Something that made you want to crawl into a hole and never come back out. The way he looked at you did nothing to calm you down. It seemed like this was all a joke to him.

“Tendou... you’re— you’re scaring me.”

The way your lower lip trembled and the tears that escaped your eyes made him sigh. Has Semi ever witnessed you in such a pure state? Has he ever seen the pure unadulterated fear in your eyes? At least Satori could say he’s experienced the one thing he hasn’t. 

You didn’t do anything as he walked towards you, only taking steps back until your back met the wall. Your hands shook at your sides. He was so much taller than you and stronger too. If he wanted to overpower you, he could. His cold hands came to rest on your cheeks making you flinch.

“You know I’ve been interested in you way longer than Semisemi has.” The way his eyes drank in your form made you squirm, but his grip on your face was tight. “I honestly think I’m the one who brought his attention to you, so do me a favor and let me do what I want. I think I need payback for playing unintentional matchmaker.”

You placed your hands on his wrists, trying to coax him to let go, “P-Please you don’t need to do this...”

He pressed his lips against yours harshly. It was hungry, almost as if he was going to eat you whole… almost as if he was waiting for this the whole time. One of the hands that were on your face went down to cup your heat, fingers stroking your covered pussy. 

“Why does Semi get to touch my dear manager like this and I can’t?” 

When you tried to retort back Tendou shoved his tongue into your mouth and you did what your reflexes told you to.

You bit him. 

It wasn’t enough to make him bleed but just enough to feel it. Tendou pulled back to stare at you for a minute. His face didn’t give away anything but the sharp look in his eyes told you he was less than pleased. 

“T-Tendou I’m so—”

You were cut off as he lifted his hand swiftly and slapped you across the face, your head snapping to the side. The feeling of the stinging, burning sensation on your skin made the tears fall faster. His hand-rooted into your hair, nails digging deep enough to cut into your scalp as he moved you to look at him. 

“Are you going to do that again?”

When you didn’t respond he gripped your hair tighter. 

“Are you going to do that again?”

“No! No, I’m not! Please I— my hair—!”

His lips were back on yours and now you knew this time to just take it. You sobbed against his mouth, his cold hands moving under your uniform to paw at your tits. Tendou pulled away and his fat tongue started licking at your tears, the stupid grin on his face appearing once again. It made you cringe. You felt disgusting, would Eita even want you after this? 

“You’re making me hard with all this crying,” he groaned against your cheek. 

When he returned to your mouth he sucked on your tongue, the flush of your face, and the way you panted against him made him want to take you to the main attraction. Tendou placed his hands on your shoulders, pushing down. 

“Tendou please...” you shook your head as you pushed at his hands. “I don’t want this... please don’t do this to me!”

He wrestled you onto the floor, straddling your thighs as he ripped through your shirt, the buttons keeping it together flying off. 

Tendou was pulling your bra off, tits meeting the cold air of the storage closet as a noise cut through the air. It’s light reflected onto the ceiling, making the both of your heads snap towards the object. 

Your phone was ringing...

“Eitaaaa σ(≧ε≦σ)♡”

The cute little display picture popped up, making you sob even louder.

[malfoys-demigod]

Third Time’s a Charm - Tim Drake x Reader

A/N: This is set in the YJverse and you’re Batgirl since Barbara is now Oracle

Summary: M’gann and Conner attemp to play matchmaker on you and Tim Drake. 

The weekend at Mount Justice was awfully colorless. No missions, no plans, no fun for everyone. Everyone who had a significant other were lucky enough to spend time with each other, making things seem less lifeless at the Cave. Artemis was teaching Wally to shoot, Dick was constantly flirting with Oracle, Beast boy was out with Perdita, and so on. The rest who didn’t have significant others decided to entertain each other, playing games. 

For M’gann and Conner, being a motherly and fatherly figure, stood beside each other against the kitchen countertop, watching everyone get along with each other, with big heart eyes. That’s until she spotted two certain people alone. 

You were listening to your favorite music on your headphones as you stared at the window, looking at the magnificent view of Happy Harbour. 

Tim on the other hand was just on the couch, watching videos on his laptop while holding a coffee mug on his left hand. 

M’gann, bored out of her mind, noticed something between you and Tim. She whispered to Conner point at you two, “Is it me, or is Tim and Y/N the only people in this cave single?” Conner looked at M’gann disbelief, not realizing that as well. “Oh yeah. I can’t believe I failed to see this. It’s funny how they grew up together in Wayne Manor but barely talk to each other.”

The truth was, you and Tim weren’t exactly close. You both exchanged a couple of words throughout the day, but both of you were are always too focused on either your jobs or yourselves when you had nothing to do. Back at Wayne Manor, Tim spent his time being the best student in Gotham Academy while you spent your time being the best in your extra curriculars, such as being the captain of a varsity. 

Of course M’gann, wanting to play matchmaker, proposed the idea to Conner, “They have potential chemistry together. I say we play matchmaker and bring them together.” Connor looked at his girlfriend with a silly face, “You’re really bored, aren’t you?” 

“Don’t worry, it’ll only take three steps for them to fall for each other.” M’gann said with a mischevious smile. 

--

1. Friday night at the fair 

After M’gann making Tim ride with you in every ride possible, Conner whistles for Tim to look up, “Hey Drake, come over here.” 

Tim walks over with both hands on his pockets, “What’s up Conner?” 

Conner pulls out a wallet from his back pocket and holds 20 dollars in the air. “This should be enough for you to buy yourself some a large cotton candy.” Tim shakes his head and returns the money, “Thanks but I’m alright.” Conner pushes back the money to Tim with a serious look, “I insist. Go. Buy. Youself. Cotton. Candy. Now.” Tim nods, and walks away terrified. 

You just came back from the bathroom after fixing your hair when you saw Tim holding a huge stick of cotton candy. Your eyes widened and you ran quickly to him, jumping up and down. “TIM, can I have a piece? Please, please, please??” 

Tim not caring about the cotton candy gave everything to you. “Uh, you can take the whole thing.” he sheepishly smiled.

“AH THANK YOU!” you bursted with joy. 

“Knock yourself out, Y/L/N.” he scratched the back of his neck and chuckled. 

As you happily savored the taste of the cotton candy, all Tim could see was you and the background lights of the carnival at night. His eyes were focused on you. The way you smiled with a satisfied sound as you ripped small pieces of the cotton candy, piece by piece. This is where he started to take more notice of you. He tried to look away as you took notice of his staring. You smiled and motioned for him to take a piece and he did, just a little so you could have it all. “Thanks, Y/N.”

“No thank you, we wouldn’t have had this if you didn’t have bought it.” you smiled innocently. 

Tim thought, ‘I guess I have to thank Conner for lending me the money.’ 

Then as he looked around for Conner, he failed to find him but luckily saw a carnvial game stand. The particular one where you have to shoot all those plates with one try without missing a single plate. 

He noticed that nobody was lining up for it so he grabbed your hand and ran towards it, causing both of you to blush. 

“Where are we going, Tim?”

“How about I win you a prize?” 

As you both stopped, you saw the booth in front of you. “Tim, you sure you can do this?” 

He scoffed, “Have faith in me, Y/N. I’m getting you the biggest prize they have to offer.”

Thanks to Jason teaching him a few tricks, Tim successfully shot down all the plates with one try, making you gasp in excitement. “Oh my gosh, Tim! What’s the prize! What’s the prize!” you jump up and down. 

The person in charge of the booth handed Tim the biggest stuff animal, coincidentally your favorite animal, and 100 bucks!

As Tim lovingly gave you the stuffed animal, you spotted the 100 bucks, “What are we going to do with the money?” you shot Tim a curious look. 

Tim thought of a brilliant idea. “Would you like to go on a date with me, Y/N?” waving the money. 

“I’d love to, Tim.” you blushed. 

M’gann and Conner were just behind the booth, thanking the person in charge for handing their money to Tim as they knew he’d win. 

“Can’t believe this is happening.” M’gann hugged Conner. “It’s going all so well, Conner!!” 

“Can’t believe he hasn’t gave me back the change for the cotton candy.” he joked. 

--

2. SaturDATE 

Tim’s lunch date was such a Tim thing. He brought you to a coffee shop, but like one of those hipster coffee places where everything looked so colorful and vibrant. 

As you walked in, you gave him a curious look. “I know you’re a coffee guy but I expected the shops you’d visit frequently to be more dark and casual.”

“I wanted a change for today. Besides, this place reminds me of you. Colorful and vibrant.” he smirked. 

This day just got better and better by the minute. The both of you learned so much about each other as you started tackling simple questions to the deepest ones you could get to. 

“I regret learning more about you at such a late age, Tim! Who knew we had so much in common.” you said with doubtfulness. 

Tim sighed, “I totally agree. I could imgaine us right now as best of friends at Wayne Manor, staying up all night, watching movies together, and basically doing everything together.” 

“Believe me, I feel the exact same way. I tried doing these things with Dick, Jay and even Damian but it never felt right.” 

The two of you had so much fun that day that you were there from noon to evening, not even realizing that you both had a big mission the next day. 

It was 10pm and the both of you got voice messages from Dick and Conner saying, “Hey love birds, it’s nice to see you finally bonding but we have a big mission tomorrow. I expect to see you both at the cave in 10 minutes.” 

The both of you checked the clock and laughed at how neither of you knew it was getting SUPER late. “Well, we better get going.” Tim said as he held out his hand for you to stand up from the bean bags you sat on. 

--

3. Sunday madness 

Klarion, the witch boy, posed as Tempest and stole the remaining fragments of the stature, needing to resurrect Tiamat from Aquagirl. He made his escape through a portal, but was followed by Tula. 

Beta Squad, led by Nightwing, arrived on the scene in the Sacred Well of Marduk’s Temple. But Klarion threw the reconstructed statue into the pool which caused a giant water snake to come out. 

Klation blasted the water snake, knocking the tablet of Destiny which was bound to Tiamat ran off with it. Klarion chased after it, leaving the heroes to fight the water-snake form of Tiamat.

The watersnake knocked you out, leaving you unconcsious. Tim saw this and yelled, “Y/N!” He ran towards your body, checking for a heartbeat which he heard, sighing in relief. He stayed with you the whole time from when Aqualad came out from another room, saying the mission ended because the tablet was destroyed and Klarion escaped, to bringing you to the Cave, waiting for you to wake up. 

After a few hours, your eyes started to open slowly. You were about to stand up until someone stopped you. “Hey, it’s okay. Just lay down for awhile, you still have a concussion.” a familiar voice said. 

It was Tim. He smiled and stroked your cheeks with his thumbs. “Why don’t I get you some water?” 

“How about some coffee from that hipster place?” you weakly laughed. 

“I don’t want to be too far from you. I hope my coffee here will do.” he stood up and left the room when M’gann, Conner, and Dick came in. 

“Hey kiddo, how ya feeling?” Dick sat on your bed. 

“Better, especially that my favorite brother is here.” you said with a big smile. Dick playfully looked back hoping Tim wasn’t there to hear that, “You’re lucky Tim didn’t hear that! You would have broken his heart!!!” he whisper shouted. 

M’gann stepped forward, “He wouldn’t have been hurt by that. She sees him as something else, don’t you Y/N.” 

Before you could answer, Tim popped in with 2 mugs of coffee in his hands. “I hope she does because I see her as something else.” You blushed as you took a mug from him and kissed him. “I hope that answers it.” 

Before Tim could kiss you back, Dick pushed Connor and M’gann out, “Let’s give these two some privacy, after all they already have a room.” 

--

Dick crossed his arms and chuckled at M’gann and Conner. “I’m so disappointed in you two.” which made that look at each other with a confused look. 

“How come? The both of us managed to make them fall for each other!” M’gann said. 

Dick jumped in annoyance, “Don’t you see? ‘The both of us?’ YOU SHOULD HAVE LET ME BE PART OF YOUR MATCHMAKING THING! I COULD HAVE HELPED A LOT! IT’S NOT FAIR! I SHOULD HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO MY ADOPTIVE SIBLING’S RELATIONSHIP!” 

Connor patted Dick on the back, “Okay you can plan out their wedding all by yourself. In fact, your whole family can deal with the expenses while we sit back and relax.” 

“FINE.”

[youarejesting]

Curse.7 Scare Tactics

[First] [Masterlist] [Next] Beta: @jamaiskook​ Rating: PG Pairing: Prince!Jin x Reader Genre: fantasy, romance, comedy, drama, mystery, and more good stuff

Summary: A modern-day fairy tale whereby seven young princes born under King Bang’s greed cannot find true love. Unless they break a special spell, called the ‘Bang curse’. In order to break the curse, Prince Seokjin must be loved by a ‘Blue’ blood, by a royal. That seems almost impossible when you have a pig nose. (based off the movie Penelope)

[Story Give Away]

Jin wasn’t particularly excited by today's meet but there was a sense of anticipation unlike any other meet before. There was so much that he was working for. It was not just his own but his brothers’ happiness that was relying on this morning. He unwittingly combed his hair and wore a face mask, only to sit behind the glass and stare at the empty room. 

The girls entered one by one, each as pretty and high end as the last, with their designer clothes and pristine nails and— 

She walked in wearing ripped jeans and worn sneakers, her hair was a mess and her nails slightly bitten from stress. It didn’t appear that she was wearing much makeup, a sight that made him feel like she was more down to earth. It was a bit daunting- she was so beautiful and she must have barely worn anything on her face.

Ignoring the glances she was getting from the other girls, or the way they shifted from the chair as she sat down. She started going on about some new fashion trends and Seokjin could see it. She was a swindler. How could he not notice, for his entire life all he did was see and observe others. And he knew when someone was lying.

When locked away in a proverbial tower, one finds themselves with a lot of time on their hands. Seokjin used that time to read about human behaviour, so he knew a liar when he saw one and you were a damned good one. He had to pull his eyes away from your figure, your presence in the room demanded attention and you were able to ensnare these women in ribbons of lies and with those strings you could easily manipulate them like they were simple marionettes. 

Finally, the girls went quiet, all looking at their phones (including you, albeit with a frown) he was able to open the chat room. You had an older iPhones and it appeared you were having some technical difficulties. He wanted to help and almost did, partly standing before remembering his predicament.

The girls started messaging in the chat room and he was politely replying to their hellos and well wishes. It was honestly no different than any other meet, and yet he was so distracted by this young woman carding her hands through her soft curls and sporadically pacing about the room with her hand extended. 

He knew his brothers would be laughing at how strange this group of young women were behaving. They would watch the meets from one of the many living rooms within the palace. He wished he could be goofing off too, instead of holding the pressure of six other lives in his hands. 

Nothing could distract Seokjin from the sudden dark turn of the conversation. Some were bringing up past rumors and others were spouting rubbish about his mental capacity. He rebutted then, trying to keep his cool until they started accusing him of certain things he was not. 

They were demanding that he show himself and in a fit of rage, he told them he would be there soon.

Seokjin threw his phone onto the couch cushion beside him and stormed across the room toward the side door. To the girls it would appear as just another mirror, but each mirror was somewhere he could observe the young women and get to know them before he showed himself. As the years passed, the only time he used this door was to scare them away and that’s what he planned to do.

Each step he took was heavy like he was making a point to himself. He didn’t need anyone, he didn’t need these superficial women trying to tell him how worthless he was, he already knew that. Seokjin secured the small lever in his hand and pulled it down making the door swing open. Stepping into the middle of the room; each young lady looked up at him, their eyes traveling his form. Some noticed his body first, others his eyes, hair, or smile but they all landed upon his nose. 

He felt that crushing feeling in his chest as their faces turned to disgust and horror, watching them all scramble from their seats, tripping over themselves and each other and screaming as they ran from the palace. He felt a sick sense of satisfaction, a good riddens. Seokjin didn’t need anyone, at least that’s what he thought.

That is, until he realized he lost her. The girl who he thought was different, with her ripped jeans and messy hair. The one who captivated him with her mere presence, maybe she was the same after all. He sighed, reprimanding himself for not behaving as he promised Adora and his brothers he would. He turned his back to the empty room and shuffled back into the adjacent room, stopping only to pick up his phone. 

The trek through the castle was as quiet as always, Seokjin’s wing never had any real visitors, just the occasional cleaner or one of his brothers. He reached the lounge room where his brothers were sitting eating snacks, the television showed the waiting room the young ladies had been. So empty it almost mocked him. 

They each turned to him as he slumped into an armchair, stuffing his face with pink donuts. “I am sorry, they provoked me and my anger got the better of me,” he handed over the phone as evidence and Yoongi took it reading the texts out loud. He continued through Adora’s text as the moderator of the group and Seokjin’s overworked matchmaker. She had a lot to say about what happened.

“Look Adora I am sorry, I can’t take it back now” he remembered texting that as he was storming through the palace. 

“Hello, are you still there?” Yoongi said and Seokjin looked up at his younger brother confused.  “What?” He asked  “Hyung, there is a girl,” Taehyung said and sure enough, lying across the couch was the young woman he couldn’t help admiring earlier. 

“Did she see?” Jin asked, scared.  “Of course she did! You jumped out in front of everyone” Hoseok hissed. “Hurry up and get back in there” they shouted and Seokjin took his phone and ran back, hoping this was it. His chance to be normal, his chance to find love. 

Racing back into the other side of the waiting room she was no longer on the couch but by the mirror touching a delicate candelabra. Your eyes met his and he shied back covering his nose with his hands. She smiled, softly tapping the glass, “are you still there?”

He watched you check the chat room and sigh. He was frozen. He knew he had to text you but what would he say? His eyes widened as you picked up the candelabra. Were you going to smash the glass?

Laughter filled him as he saw you trying to stash the object under your blazer to no avail, he pressed the button on the small mic which allowed him to talk to someone in the next room. “I think it is a bit obvious.”

You jumped, dropping the badly concealed object and you paused in shock. He watched as your lips turned up in a soft smile and looked up, “you must be the prince I have heard so little about” “And you are?” “Y/n, I mean my friends call me that my real name is Suryeon”  “That’s a weird alias” he laughed “you are so strange”

“A lot of people don’t like others because they are different” you said in passing  “So did you see?” He asked  “See what?” You smiled, cheekily “So you didn’t see?” He added a little disappointed “You mean you bursting out through the side door and scaring all the girls away?”

“So you did see?”  “I see a lot of things” “You are talking us round in circles, I just want to know?” “Let me tell you what I want to know. Why did you lock yourself up? I mean wouldn’t it just be better to be like, I am me and if you don’t like it get out.” You said looking into the mirror.

Wide eyes curious and examining everything they came across, he felt bare in front of you, he knew logically you couldn’t see him, but why did it feel like your eyes were looking directly at him? 

“I have tried, but my father has a strong hold and his order is to keep me locked away.” Seokjin cut his rant short, figuring it wouldn’t make a good impression.

“Ah I wouldn’t know about that. I have no parents, not anymore” your smile seemed sad, he watched your hands moving on the other side of the glass. It seemed almost familiar but he couldn't quite place the action. 

“Tell me about yourself” you challenged him with a grin while you walked away from the glass and across the room to the couch. Which you pushed across the wooden floor, definitely scratching the flooring but without a care in the world. You removed your shoes and sat barefoot on the couch and smiled.

“What would you like to know?” He asked a little closed off, ready for you to ask him personal questions about why he was locked away and what was wrong with him. 

“Tell me what’s it like to have brothers”

An hour passed and you had swapped stories of your childhoods. 

“And we would go to the markets in the town and you could make your own candles, you choose a decorative tin and you can make it with whatever scent you want. I love the sweet scents.” Seokjin could imagine it just like in the movie she would be walking in the park music playing in the background. He had to remind himself to listen you your story finding it hard to concentrate when he got lost in your sweet smile.

“One year I made a mistake and got a floral musk one and it haunts me to this day.” He watched as the dazed look in your eye turned sharp and your nose scrunched up in disgust, he thought you were adorable. Unable to stop his fond chuckles that echoed through the next room. 

He hadn’t felt like this before it was warm and he wanted more. Finding himself leaning towards you, but his nose touched the cold hard mirror and he pulled back seeing his revolting features in the reflection of the mirror. “Maybe one day we could make one together. My favourite smell was the buttercream one I made in a little tin with a Strawberry pattern.” 

“The markets sound fun.” Jin sighed, wondering if one day he could see the markets with all the rides and animals and foods and everything. 

“You should go, there are so many fun things to buy and see and try,” the fond smile on your face alone made him jealous that you could go to such a joyous event and he couldn’t even leave the palace. “What about you? What do you buy? I bet you’re secretly an online shopper.”

“Lots of things?” He laughed thinking on his list of purchases and packages that arrive everyday. 

“I think I buy something new everyday”

“What’s the last thing you bought?” You sat up resting your chin on your hand and gazing into the mirror. 

“Don’t laugh!” He warned and you broke into a smile and giggled “hey I mean it you can’t laugh”

“Okay I promise to keep my laughing to a minimum” you pressed your pinky to the glass and he watched it longingly “are you pinky promising too?”

He placed his pinky to the glass and imagined how it would feel to hold your hands properly. “I am now”

“Okay, tell me what did you order online?”

“Bath bombs”

“Bath bombs?” You cackled

“You said you wouldn’t laugh” he laughed along with you, your laughter matching well with his. 

“Your laugh sounds like a window cleaner thing” you commented, and he laughed some more. He had never had so much fun with someone who wasn’t paid or related to him before today. There was a text on both your phones; it was the chat room. 

Adora was saying perhaps he call the meeting a day and you can return another day. “Well I guess I should let you go, you must have more bath bombs to buy. You know, your regular princely duty, give me a review on how it goes. I have a bath and would love to buy a bath bomb, something without glitter” 

“Wait when can I see you next?” Seokjin panicked standing his hands on the glass wanting to stop you. 

“Hmm how about tomorrow?” You asked looking directly at him. It made his heart sore how often you looked directly into his eyes even through the mirror. It’s like you knew where he was. Like you could feel the connection. 

“I will inform the guards and Adora to let you in,” he said, his heart fluttering with the promise of seeing you again. 

You froze in the doorway and ran back opening the door on the writing desk and looking rifling around until you found a small marker. Taking your time to carefully write backwards on the mirror. 

“Call me 0123457689, if you get sick of waiting we can text” you stepped back admiring your writing and waving and scurrying out chaperoned by a guard. This was the first time Jin had seen a woman reluctant to leave his presence before.

He sat stunned at the number and he saved your number into his phone. He wished he had a picture to set as your caller ID as well, but he was unsure if that would be weird to ask for so early in the friendship. 

Seokjin walked to the living room to see the guys smiling up at him, he was embarrassed, his ears turning pink. “He is so cute,” Jimin grinned, grabbing him by the shoulders and giving him an affectionate hug. 

Jimin always gave the best hugs, but rarely gave them to Seokjin; he knew it was because Jimin was mildly scared of Seokjin. Jimin was gentle and cared for anyone and everyone to the point where he would cry if he didn’t help, but that didn’t stop him from subconsciously being aware of his nose. 

Seokjin knew they were all similar; they all loved him but there was a hesitancy towards him and his nose. Taehyung was an exception to this, he admired his hyung and called him handsome every single day supported him in every decision he made. 

Hoseok stole the phone and texted her a ‘hey it’s Jin’ text much to the protest of Seokjin who was furiously scrambling for his phone but it was too late, the message was sent. 

The nerves kicked in, he had a plan and this was not it, he was going to wait until dinner and casually send a message. But this just punched his plans in the face, he stared as three dots appeared. Wiggling in a row. 

He waited and you replied, “Hey Jin it’s Suryeon” he giggled walking out of the room leaving his younger brothers staring after him as he walked back to his room. 

“Did he just ditch us for a girl?” Jungkook asked, his voice just reaching Jin’s ears before he was completely out of earshot.

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Tags: @knjkitten​ @wystfulaster​ @unadulteratedlyunique​ @sungiesangel​ @kpopnonous​ @moccahobi​ @cloud-sitting​ @take-u-2-an0ther-w0r1d​ @bluehairedotakugem​

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[formerprincess]

A tale written with fangs and claws || Chapter 51

Chapters: 51/? Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt Characters: Liam Dunbar, Theo Raeken, Mason Hewitt, Corey Bryant, Nolan (Teen Wolf) Additional Tags: Alpha Liam Dunbar, Slow Build, Friends to Lovers, Dunbar Pack, Bisexual Liam Dunbar, Werewolf Theo Raeken, Alpha Theo Raeken, Canon-Typical Violence, Smut, Mates, Liam and Theo are mates, Top Theo Raeken, Bottom Theo Raeken, Top Liam, Bottom Liam Dunbar Series: Part 1 of Morning Dew Pack

The pack follows the invitation of Brett's and Liam's long lost aunt but not everything is as it appears to be. And then something happens that makes the pack lose the ground under their feet...

Liam arrived at the house and he was extremely happy all seemed quiet. That meant his pack was not currently fighting the hyenas. In his current state of mind, Liam probably would have ripped a hyena or two apart. 

He parked his car in the driveway and walked over to the front door which opened and revealed Theo leaning in the doorframe. The Beta just smiled sadly at his mate and then opened his arms. Liam didn’t need another invitation and just stepped into the embrace. That’s what he needed right now. He was still sad he had to leave Landon behind and he already missed his little one, even though he just had left him behind some hours ago.  “This sucks, hm?” Theo mumbled and stroked over Liam’s back.  Liam hummed affirmatively. “If I see the hyenas I will punch them!” “We will gladly let you punch them. Now come on, you need to eat something after two long drives.” “I’m not hungry,” Liam mumbled stubbornly. He tightened his hold on Theo. That was currently the only thing grounding him.  “Okay, no food then but come inside, maybe drink something or just chat with your pack,” Theo coaxed him gently. He didn’t wait for Liam to answer and just gently pulled Liam inside and into the kitchen. 

Mason waited there, Nolan was currently eating an apple. “Welcome back. Is Landon okay?” Mason questioned.  Liam nodded. “He immediately made friends with the other kids so I know he will be fine.” “Are you okay?” Mason continued.  Liam sighed and dropped down in a chair at the table. “I have to, right? There are hyenas we have to take care of.” “It’s still okay to take a little break and allow yourself to breathe,” Nolan chimed in.  Liam just groaned and ran his hand through his hair. “I know.”  Brett stepped into the kitchen. “Hey, you’re back. You okay?” Liam just grumbled. He knew his friends were just worried about him but he wasn’t in the mood to answer the okay question every single time. Brett seemed to understand it because he didn’t pressure and just grabbed himself a banana from the fruit bowl. Liam watched him and Nolan exchange shy smiles but then act like everything was totally normal between them and something inside him snapped.  “That is ridiculous! Nolan, Brett likes you more than just as a friend. Brett, Nolan likes you more than just as a friend. Here are 20 dollars, go and have a coffee date and talk about the feelings you have for each other because we have other problems at hand than your romantic tension.” He pulled the money from his wallet and held it out for Nolan to take. Both men stared at him and the Alpha flashed his eyes. “Go!” “At this point, I would take the money and go,” Theo advised them and Nolan gave Brett a helpless look before he snatched the money from Liam’s hand and both bailed out of the kitchen and into the garage.  Mason raised both eyebrows. “That was matchmaking the Liam way.” “Anybody else needs some life advice? I’m currently in a good mood!” Liam exclaimed grimly. Theo and Mason stared at him, then they shook their heads.  “Good.”

He left the kitchen and stomped back to his and Theo’s room. Theo followed him. “Want to talk about it?” Liam interlaced his fingers in the back of his neck. He stood still for a moment before he sighed deeply. “That was rude of me, I know.” “Nah, maybe it helped these two to get their heads out of their asses. I don’t think they’ll mind, especially not when they actually start dating.”  “It was still uncalled for. I’m usually better than that.” “Liam, you are still human and you had to make a heartbreaking decision. Nobody in this house will hold it against you when you get stressed and grumpy. Don’t be so hard on yourself. We talked about this once, you are allowed to show negative emotions. It makes you much more relatable to us Betas, okay? Because we see that even our strong Alpha has his moments and it’s okay to have them.” He stared at his mate. “Really?” Theo nodded. “Yeah.” Liam fell down on the bed. “I hate the hyenas for making me feel like shit,” he complained and stared at the ceiling.  The bed dipped and Theo joined him. “I get you. But we will overcome this as well, we always do.” 

The couple laid next to each other and stared at their ceiling without saying something for a while.  “Do you think we have yet another bloody fight in front of us?” Liam questioned after a while.  “I don’t know. Those hyenas are obscure and when they’re really as cowardly as Peter described them, I don’t know how they will act. I’d go with the initial plan, to continue with our lives and ignore them and if they show their ugly mugs, we will take action.” “A part of me still hopes we can sit that one out and they are all talk and no action,” Liam confessed.  “Maybe,” Theo murmured. 

Liam rolled on his side and draped one arm over Theo’s stomach. “I’m happy to have you by my side.” Theo raised a hand and gently stroked over Liam’s neck. “You’ll always have me, I’m not leaving your side.” They smiled and Liam moved closer to Theo. “I miss Landon,” he whispered when he put his head on his boyfriend’s chest. “I know, I miss him too. But he will come home soon.” “Mm, I hope so.” 

****** After he and Theo chilled on the bed for a while, Liam had taken the dogs to the garden where he groomed them. Not only did they grow a lot but they also needed some caring so their fur stayed shiny and healthy. Koda wasn’t really a fan of standing still for a while but Liam’s only needed to flash his eyes and he obeyed. Even the dogs had accepted him as the Alpha. Aka, on the other hand, loved to get groomed and wagged his tail happily.  “You are really pretty dogs, you know that. Two pretty good boys,” Liam praised them and fed them both a goodie when he was done. He freed the brush from any dog hair. Doing it outside helped not to have too many dog hair into the house and all over the place. Now he just needed to wash his hands, these dog goodies just smelled awful. The dogs seemed to like them so Liam guessed they were tasty but their smell made him nauseous and he hated it when his hands smelled like it. 

He entered the kitchen when Nolan and Brett came home. “Oh, hey,” he greeted his two Betas while he turned on the faucet at the kitchen sink and scrubbed his hands with smell-dispelling kitchen soap.  “Hey.” Nolan actually blushed.  “Hey, guys, uhm, guess I have to say sorry for being so harsh earlier on. I was just annoyed and you two got the brunt of it. I’m sorry.” “No, it’s actually fine, we needed a push,” Brett actually confessed.  “Oh?” Liam made a curious sound while he grabbed a towel and dried his hands. “So your date had been a success?” “Well, we talked a lot and we decided to go on a second date. We’re not together yet but we came to the conclusion to try dating and see if this works out,” Brett explained.  Nolan took over from him and added: “Right, to see if this works out or if we’re better off as friends. It was a nice evening and we probably would have never talked about it if you had not blurted it out.” “I admit, a part of me was pissed at you for telling my secret at first but then I heard Nolan also had feelings for me and you actually became my best friend.” Brett grinned.  “I’m his best friend.” Mason walked into the kitchen and defended his position in Liam’s life. “You can have my sloppy seconds.” “How generous,” Brett joked and Liam laughed. After he had been so mad when he came home, being surrounded by his pack and the talk with Theo helped him calm down again. There was nothing about the current situation he could change and he knew Landon was safe, so it probably was the best he could make out of this for the time being. 

****** The thing with the hyenas was, they dropped off the radar. The next following days there were no sightings from them, you didn’t hear or smell them, and no pack member felt watched. Liam didn’t know if he should cry or laugh at that. Had they really just left town again after one meeting with Liam and Theo? Had Liam be right and they were all just talk and no action? He didn’t know and he complained loudly about it when Scott called and asked if they were okay. 

“And now they’re gone and we have no idea what to make out of this. What the hell? I mean, really? I don’t want to fight again but this is underwhelming.”  Liam paced back and forth in front of the table in the library. Theo sat in the desk chair, feet propped up on the table and watched him, Corey, Ever, and Mason sat on the couch and listened to what came over the speaker of Liam’s phone on the table.  “I told you they are sneaky. They played mind games with you and you fell for it,” Peter exclaimed and Liam shrieked. “Peter’s here again,” Scott announced and the young Alpha rolled his eyes.  “Yeah, thanks for telling me this before he spoke!” Peter didn’t even listen to Liam’s complaint. “Did you hear me? The hyenas tricked you. You’re not really good at mind games, are you?” Liam glared at the phone and then stuck his tongue out. It coaxed a chuckle from his Second Alpha, his emissary, his consultant, and his shaman.  “So they’re gone, we should assume?” Ever summed up what Peter had said.  “Well, are they still terrorizing you?” Peter retorted.  “No, they’re literally gone, vanquished from the face of the earth,” Corey replied.  “See? I don’t see any use in discussing this any further. Don’t you have other stuff to worry about? Aren’t you in college? Go to the library, read for once, learn something.” “What is this? Daddy Peter’s advice column?” Theo questioned.  “They’re ungrateful. I have better things to do,” Peter informed Scott and they could hear his steps moving away.   “I actually have to go too, Liam, he is my ride. Talk to you soon. Peter, wait!” Scott ended the call while he hurried after his future father-in-law. 

Liam ran both hands through his hair in frustration and paced faster back and forth until Theo grabbed him by the hips and pulled him in his lap.  “Your opinion? Is Peter right, the hyenas just tricked us?” Theo seemingly decided to moderate the discussion.  “It is so lame,” Liam whined. “They follow us for a while and then they act like total assholes but then they leave without a word. Why?” “There is the possibility they did some research and figured out how large your pack really is. You know, an Alpha gets stronger the larger the pack is, so there is a high chance they realized they had bitten off more than they could chew with the Morning Dew Pack and left town with their tails between their legs,” Mason surmised.  “Do you really feel that’s the case from your deepest gut feeling?” Liam asked the Betas.  “Peter said hyenas are not big fighters unless they have to do it. From what we know we had the three guys in the club and the two girls, the guy at the gym and then the two other girls and three guys at the coffee shop. From the appearances of every hyena, they were all different people so the group contained eleven weres,” Theo counted. “Eleven hyenas against the Morning Dew Pack? Please, I bet they bailed the fuck out of town.” “Cowardly little ankle biters.” Corey also agreed with the theory of the hyenas getting scared.  “You said they might be all talk and no action yourself. It seems like you had been right,” Theo told Liam and let his fingertips dance over Liam’s back.  Liam shivered at the nice feeling but shrugged. “I don’t know. I was attuned to a fight and now nothing? This is hard to believe.” “Sometimes even this pack gets lucky. None of us wants to pick a fight when they don’t have to. Those hyenas got scared and left without so much of a fuss. We got lucky,” Ever assured Liam and smiled softly.  He sighed. “Hopefully you’re right. All things point to this, hm?” “Yeah. Stop worrying, Alpha.” Mason smiled at Liam as well and he returned the smile.  “Okay.” “Does that mean you’re bringing Landon back now, Liam?” Corey questioned.  Liam hesitated. Could he bring Landon home now? Was this a smart move? “I don’t think so. Not until I know for sure the hyenas are gone. There is something easier about attending college, sitting in my classes, and knowing Landon is safe. There were so many moments back in Beacon Hills when I wanted to send my parents out of town to keep them safe. That’s how it is when you fight bad supernatural creatures. Until I know for sure, 100% sure, I won’t bring Landon back, he finally decided.  “I understand that.” Mason nodded. “Though it’s still a little bit sad. I miss the little guy.” “Oh boy,” Liam sighed, “I miss him too.”

****** “Here, you can put these in the freezer and these in the pantry.” Liam handed Tim some bags with frozen food and some cans. He just had come home from a shopping trip and enlisted his friends to help him. Brett was also one of the helpers and was currently returning from where he had carried a big sack of potatoes and a smaller sack of onions into the kitchen.  Liam now grabbed the remaining bags and carried them into the kitchen.  “In this bag over there are just things you don’t need to cool, you can sort them into the shelves and the pantry. I will sort the things into the fridge.” With how much he had brought to feed his pack he surely needed help if he didn’t want to spend a good amount of time on it by himself. 

While they put the groceries away, Lori wandered into the kitchen with her laptop in her hands. “Brett, I found aunt Pam over social media. She doesn’t live far from us.” “Really? That’s awesome. Was she happy to hear from us or didn’t you contact her yet?” “No, I sent her a message and she responded. She is very happy we found her again and would like to stay in contact.” Lori clicked away on her computer.  “Who is Pam?” Liam asked curiously.  “Our aunt, our mother’s sister,” Brett explained.  It amazed Liam. “I thought all your family died?” “Our parents did and we couldn’t live with aunt Pam.”Lori sounded sad about this. Liam figured there was a story behind that. “May I ask why you couldn’t live with her?” “Pam was the kind of person who always needed someone else to tell her what to do. First, it was her sister, later on, her boyfriends. She couldn’t live alone and constantly followed what somebody else told her. It drove our mother nuts and when mom and dad died Pam simply wasn’t able to take care of us,” Lori laid out the family history. “But now we live here and Brett and I thought it would be nice to reach out to her. We haven’t met in years. I told her about our new pack.” A little ping sound came from her computer and she oohed. “She replied.” Lori scrolled down to the message and read it. “She also lives with a pack and talked to her Alpha. Her Alpha’s name is Kirsty and they invite our pack to visit them. Can we visit them, Liam?” She typed on her computer. “It’s only a four-hour drive. Please, Liam.” “Meeting aunt Pam again would be cool. Please say yes, Liam,” Brett pleaded alongside his sister.  It wasn’t really a lot to think about. The hyenas still had not shown their faces in town again and the pack had completely resumed their daily tasks and lives so why not? “I can’t think about anything speaking against it. A little time out of town might be good for us.” He nodded. “Tell your aunt we’re gladly following the invite.”

And so the pack found themselves on the road to meet the other pack once the weekend rolled around. Lori and her aunt had messaged a bit back and forth and Pam had told her niece her pack lived after quite a few rules. They were mostly farmers and craftsman and lived all together on one big farmlike area. Therefore the rules made sense, they had to till the fields and take care of the animals to have enough gain to sell and live off it at the same time. Liam imagined it quite rural but nice nonetheless.  When they arrived at the farm, he realized how right he had been. Leading to the houses were large pasturages for horses and cows; when they got out of the car he heard chickens and goats and he saw several fields full of corn and plantations. 

A tiny woman with her brown hair in a long braided ponytail waited for them in front of one of the houses and Liam guessed this had to be Pam. She smiled but the long white dress she wore made her tiny frame look even smaller than she probably was.  “Brett, Lori, so good to see you.” She hugged her nephew and her niece and the family celebrated meeting again after years.  “We missed you, aunt Pam, there is so much we have to catch up on with,” Lori told her and wiped her happy tears away when they broke the embrace.  A boy with brown hair and around the age of Landon opened the door and stepped outside. “Are those Lori and Brett and their pack?” He asked.  Pam turned around. “They are. Come here, Zack, let me introduce you.”  He followed and came closer. “This is my son Zack,” Pam introduced him to his cousins.  “Oh, hi little man, nice to meet you.” Brett smiled at his little cousin.  "He is ten. His father is not with us but that is okay, Kirsty takes great care of us and accepted us in her pack years ago. I am very happy here,” Pam told the pack and went to shake everyone’s hand. The core pack introduced themselves and Theo used it to lean closer to Liam.  “How happy can you really be when you have to underline you are happy?” He whispered. Frankly, Liam had to agree, but he still gave Theo a semi-serious warning look. “Be nice!” “I’m always nice, puppy,” Theo smirked and Liam gave him a quick kiss. 

A lean woman around the age of forty stepped out of the biggest of the houses and marched over. She may be lean but her steps were full of determination. Her posture made sure she was a woman knowing what she wanted and she probably rarely took No for an answer. Her skin was tanned from working outside and her arms were toned. She wore a green-plaid shirt with short sleeves and simple jeans and her brunette hair was put up in a strict ponytail.  “Pam, you should introduce us,” she said and while her tone was calm it was clear she was giving an order. Pam looked guilty.  “I am sorry, of course, I should. This is our Alpha Kirsty. She was the one who allowed me to invite you.” “Because I like to meet new packs.” Kirsty smiled and took the core pack in. “Where is your Alpha?” Liam raised his hand. “I’m the Alpha.”  Her eyebrow twitched and she got an amused look on her face. “You are very young.” “I get that a lot.” Liam played it off. “I am Liam, by the way. Thank you for the invite.” “Nice to meet you, Alpha Liam.” She grasped his hand in a tight grip and shook it.  “Likewise. This is my pack.” Liam introduced the members of his pack but really Kirsty just smiled neutrally and didn’t show any pleasure in meeting them. 

Kirsty pointed to the main house. “You can eat with us, the food is ready.” Again, it was more an order than an invitation but they were all hungry from the long drive and so they eagerly followed her to the house.  Right in front of the door, Pam stopped so suddenly Brett almost crashed into her. Kirsty nodded approvingly and then she stepped into the house as the first one.  “What the hell?” Brett muttered and Pam looked at him.  “The Alpha always steps into a room first. Don’t you know that?” Liam felt every single one of his Betas stare at him and he really could not blame them. That was odd. But other packs, other customs, right? He didn’t know how to deal with it but he also didn’t want to insult the other pack so he followed after Kirsty before the Betas stepped in.  The room was a large dining room with a long table. Kirsty sat at the head of the table and pointed at the seat to her right. “Liam, please sit down.”  He noticed several men and women in the open kitchen. It gave him some cafeteria feeling the way they stood at the stoves and had big pots and pans. “Smells delicious in here,” he complimented.  Kirsty nodded graciously. “My betas know how to cook.” “I love to cook as well. It’s fun to do it for a pack.” Liam laughed softly. “And my Betas enjoy what I dish out.” His friends affirmed but Kirsty stared at him and so did the people of her pack who were not in the kitchen and had also taken a seat at the table.  “You cook for the pack?” Kirsty sounded absolutely taken aback by that. “Yeah.” Liam made it clear he saw no problem with that but he had a suspicion where this was going.  “The Betas should cook for the Alpha, not the other way around. That’s how it should be.” Whoop, there it was. Liam forced a polite smile. “My Betas are my family, not my servants. But I think this is up to every Alpha to decide that for themselves.” Kirsty didn’t reply but snapped her fingers. “It’s time for the food.” And her Betas complied and brought the food to the table before they sat down. It came to no surprise Kirsty was the first one to fill her plate and Liam felt how tense his pack was. They all were on some unknown ground here, their dinners and lunches were far more relaxed since Liam didn’t care who got food first, but now they were guests and had to follow the rules. It didn’t feel good to be the second one to eat after Kirsty prompted him to do so and only then see the Betas dig into their food. 

“Tell me about your pack,” Kirsty requested after a while.  Liam checked the bite he had taken. “Well, I’m the Alpha. Theo here is my mate and also the Headbeta in charge when I’m not there. Then we have Mason, our emissary...” “Your Headbeta in charge?” Kirsty chortled.  “I’m his Headbeta. When he’s not around, I take over as the Alpha,” Theo affirmed.  Kirsty shook her head with a laugh. “There is no such thing as a Heabeta in charge. If an Alpha cannot rule their pack on their own then they are not the right one for the job. Betas are just Betas.” She gave Liam and Theo a patronizing smile. “But you are still so young, you will learn that over time.” “Uh, uh,” Theo said dryly. Liam looked at his boyfriend. Theo’s green eyes watched her in a mixture of anger, resentment, but also the cold assessment he had shown for years. He didn’t like the lady one bit and was currently looking for anything to crack her code, find something he could find to bring her to her knees. Figuratively and if things were going south even literally.  Brett cleared his throat. “So, aunt Pam, tell us about your life.” She shushed him. “The Alphas are talking!” Brett stared at his aunt as if she had personally offended him then he stared into thin air. He hated this as much as Liam did. 

The mood was tense afterward and while Kirsty later allowed her Betas to talk with Liam’s pack, he realized his friends were timid to exchange any information. They likely would all be happy when they were on their way back home. 

When lunch was over Kirsty invited them for a walk around the farm to show what her pack was doing for a living. Liam accepted because he didn’t want to be impolite. Maybe then Brett and Lori could talk to their aunt and get to know their cousin better. That’s why they were here for, after all. Kirsty showed them the stables and where they stored what they needed to feed the animals, showed them that they turned some of the fruits they harvested into jelly, the whole nine yards before she allowed the group to disperse a bit. “Liam, I’d love to have a talk with you from Alpha to Alpha. It is always interesting to interchange things.”  She was right about that one, the first time Liam could whole-heartedly agree with her, so he nodded. “I’d love to.” Great. Come into my office, we can have some homemade tea.” 

She led Liam into the smallest building on the area and Liam realized it was just a shed Kirsty had turned into her office with large shelves full of books and documents, a large desk and two armchairs. Kirsty closed the door after Liam stepped in and smiled politely.  “The tea should be here any minute.” “It’s fine.” Liam didn’t mind the wait. It was still strange how her Betas served her. “You have a very nice office. Didn’t expect it to be that big from the outside.” “Many things can be deceiving,” Kirsty just answered without really answering Liam.  He stepped to one of the big windows. You could see the orchards from here.  “You have an admirable pack,” Kirsty praised.  “Thank you. I am very proud of every single one of my Betas.” Liam smiled. “You have a beautiful view from here.” “I am sure you are proud of your Betas. They will be a good addition to my pack.” If this was a movie scene you probably would have heard a record scratch. Liam felt the hairs in the back of his neck raise up and he slowly turned to face Kirsty. “What do you mean? My Betas are no addition to your pack. We will get into our cars later on and leave again.” She shook her head and raised her chin. “I am not permitting other packs on my territory.” “You invited us!” Liam felt his IED spike up.  “I surely did.” Kirsty’es eyes flashed. “But I never said you could leave again.” He growled and shook his head. “I am not leaving my Betas with you! If you really think that, you’re absolutely delusional!” “I’m not asking you to do it. You will do it. How do you think I gathered that many Betas around me? Surely not because I asked nicely.” “And what did you do to the Alphas?” The moment he asked, Liam already knew the answer.  “I’m sure you already know what happened to them.” She laughed grimly and showed off her fangs.  Liam flashed his own eyes and his claws grew. “You killed every other Alpha. That is disgusting. I just don’t get why you invited us here. Is this your perverted game or what?” “When Pam told me her nephew and her niece were part of a pack with such a young Alpha, I laughed. You are twenty, you are a child! You don’t deserve to be an Alpha! That is ridiculous.” “I am so sick and tired of people constantly attacking me because of my age! You people need to learn not to be so superficial. Anyway, this Alpha here won’t attack you since this is clearly what you want. My mom taught me not to hit women. So I will gather my Betas and we will leave now!! 

Liam brushed past her on his way to the door when she grabbed him and threw him on the floor. With a sullen smile, she towered over him.  “I don’t think you understand. This place here, you will never leave. You don’t have a say in this!” Liam glared at her from his position on the floor. “And you don’t seem to understand how much of a shitty Alpha you are. Your Betas don’t respect or support you, they probably don’t even like you, they just fear you.” He pulled himself together and got up. “And like I said, I am fed up with people thinking they can take advantage of me. You messed with the wrong one, lady.”

The punch came out of nowhere and Liam was kind of mad at himself for neglecting his guard. It sent him stumbling and when he wiped his nose it was bleeding. “Okay, I changed my mind about fighting. My mom said not to hit women but she didn’t say something about psychotic assholes like you. Funny, lately every psychotic asshole I meet is female. I don’t know what that says about you but here we go.” He dodged the next punch and grabbed her arm to twist it. Kirsty snarled and snapped at him. Like Liam himself, he had shifted partially and sported fangs, claws, and fur on her face. When Liam tried to avoid her biting him she used her chance to tackle him to the ground and the Alphas started punching and scratching each other. 

Things crashed from the desk to the floor when they knocked against it while they rolled around on the floor. Kirsty wrapped one hand around Liam’s throat and the tip of her claws dug into the skin while she applied pressure. Liam struggled and tried to reach anything to help him. His fingers brushed a large book and he slowly inched it slower to himself before he could grab it. Hitting Kirsty over the head didn’t help on the first try but the second one did the charm and Liam could kick her off himself and sent her to the ground.  Rubbing his throat Liam came to his feet again and roared. She was strong, given her age and how many Alphas she killed, she was an Alpha herself for so many years, but he still knew he could beat her. Dying today was not an option! 

Before Kirsty even fully came back from getting hit, Liam jumped her and roared into her face. She struggled against his hold and the two crashed against the shelves. Books rained down on them but the fighting werewolves didn’t care. The punches got harder, intended to hurt more and more. Claws ripped clothing apart and at one point Kirsty’s claws sunk into Liam’s side. He gasped out and the bitch used it to headbutt him and get out of his hold. 

It created separation for the two of them and she held her bleeding shoulder. Liam had not realized he had injured her there but he didn’t feel sorry in the slightest. She roared at him and lunged out but Liam stepped aside. His grey t-shirt was soaked with his blood at the point she had inserted her claws into his flesh and his head pounded. He ignored it for now and rather jumped over the table to continue the fight with Kirsty. 

Throwing her over his hip in a judo throw he heard her gasp out in pain and used her momentarily weakness to grab both arms and pull them back. Her muscles strained and joints popped but it restrained her for now. “I give you one last chance to let me and my pack leave! You’re not the first Alpha I fight. It is your decision.” “You are no match for me. Stupid little boy! I will kill you and throw your mortal remains into the pit, just like I did with all the other Alphas before!” Kirsty struggled in his hold.  Liam felt a strange sense of connection to the dead Alphas. He had not known them, he didn’t know how many she had killed, but he mourned them. They had not known what they had gotten themselves into, just like Liam had not known it. He just hoped they had been able to find peace after they had found their demise at her hands.  Kirsty had managed to get one arm free and slammed her elbow between his rips. Liam groaned and let go of her. She twisted around and pressed his face to the floor.  “Told you, I’m stronger,” she crooned. In her mind, she already was the victor.  “Go fuck yourself, devil’s child,” Liam spat out. Then he hissed when she grabbed him by his neck and used all of her strength. If she put more pressure on, she would be able to break Liam’s neck.  “My pack contains your pack until I show up and tell them they’re my Betas now. They have no choice and if anybody riots, I will kill them too.” “My Betas will never accept you as their Alpha.” He saw their faces in front of his eyes. Every single one of them was a source of power for Liam. They were the reason he was the Alpha he was today, they and the people at the lake. They all had been partial in Liam’s development, with their personalities and the love they had to give. They shared this bond with Liam and with each other and this made his pack so strong.  His claws scraped over the wooden floor and then Liam used all of his strength to raise up and shake her off. She stumbled against one of her armchairs. Liam sat up and rubbed his neck. It hurt like a bitch. Any injury from an Alpha would take longer to heal so he already knew this would be painful in the next few days. 

Before Kirsty even managed to get to her feet on her own, Liam dragged her up and slammed her against the wall. Now his claws dug into the skin on her throat and his eyes were blazing. “You think I’m not a real Alpha? You are not a real Alpha because you’re nothing else than a killer! And killers are not accepted by me or my pack!”  He dragged her away from the wall and grabbed her arm. His grip was tight and he felt the bones breaking. Kirsty howled in pain but still struggled and fought against the younger Alpha.  She grabbed a table lamp and Liam barely dodged getting hit over the head. Luckily he managed to grab the lamp and wrench it out of her grip. “You now need tools to fight me? Guess you’re not  as strong as you think.” He shoved her away and she hit the corner of her desk painfully before dropping to the floor. She looked daggers at him. “If you think you’re stronger, then kill me, little boy.” Liam dropped the lamp. “I’m not you,” he corrected her. “You must know that.” She barked out a laugh and wiped away the blood running down her temple. “You are as weak as I thought you are.”  “Call me whatever you want, I can still look at myself in the mirror.” “You won’t have a chance to do that again!”

Her next attack Liam had almost expected. She jumped up and went for another tackle. Only this time Liam was faster and sidestepped her but kicked up. His knee collided with her stomach and she huffed loudly. Her claws scratched his tight and the Alphas were back at it again at another brawl. “Bad idea!” Liam growled into her face, voice deeper with the Alpha tone in there. She snapped at him and he snapped back. The longer they fought, the more desperate it became. She wanted to kill Liam and Liam knew he had to put an end to this when he wanted to survive. It meant collecting the remaining power he had left in him, ignore the exhaustion and the pain from his injuries. 

It took one wrong step from Kirsty and then everything happened fastly. Liam pushed her off and threw her against the door. The wood shattered and Kirsty crashed through it outside.  She landed on the ground in the remains of the door and didn’t move for several seconds. When Liam finally stepped over the threshold she twitched but didn’t get up to full height again. His pack came running around the corner, followed by Kirsty’s Betas. Liam looked down at the wounded Alpha on the ground.  “Look at that, you’re on the ground and I’m standing tall. According to your rules, I am supposed to kill you now, right? Because I’m the stronger Alpha.” He snarled. “But I’m not like you. You are nothing more than a killer. I am better than you and I will spare you. I don’t care what happens to you, just know that: My pack will leave and if anyone of your Betas wants to leave as well, you will let them. If I ever hear you’re returning to your terror regime again, I will slash your throat.”  Kirsty stared up at him and slowly nodded. A few members of her pack stepped up.  “We will take care of her,” one man said.  “Don’t kill her. Be better than her,” Liam pleaded and they nodded before they helped Kirsty up and led her away. 

Only when she was gone, Liam allowed himself to lean against the wall and slid down on it to sit on the ground.  “Liam!” Theo was next to him in a flash, Mason not far behind. “You’re bleeding.” Liam grimaced and looked down at the wet patch of his shirt. “Yeah, she sunk her claws in.” Theo gently grasped his face and turned it so Liam looked at him. “This will become a shiner.” He tenderly traced around Liam’s left ear. A tissue came into Liam’s field of vision, courtesy of Sadie, and Theo gently wiped away the blood from Liam’s nose and from a cut over his eye.  “You fought an Alpha!” “She wanted to kill me and add you to her pack. Didn’t take no for an answer. What was I supposed to do?” His Betas nodded. “We were told the same thing. Her Betas said they couldn’t let us interfere and kept us from helping you,” Maya explained.  Tim sniffled. “Liam, can I hug you?” “If you don’t mind getting blood on your shirt,” Liam joked meekly. Tim shook his head, knelt down, and wrapped his arms around Liam.  “I never knew how bad other Alphas can be but I am so happy I have you as an Alpha.” “Yeah,” the other pack members of the core pack agreed.  Lori blinked against her own tears. “I am so sorry. We had no idea this would happen.” “This isn’t your fault. Nobody could know this would happen,” Liam calmed her. Pam suddenly let out a loud sob. “I did. It was her plan all along and she said to invite you. That’s what she always did, lure packs here and then kill the Alpha.” Brett glared at his aunt. “Are you insane? Why did you help her?” “I am sorry. She forced me!” Pam wailed.  “One of my best friends almost died today because you cannot stand your ground! Get a grip, woman!” “Brett!” Liam cut in and slowly got to his feet. Theo didn’t let go of him and wrapped his arm around Liam’s waist. “I’m not dead.” Brett looked at him, eyes full of emotions.” “But you came close to dying today,” he said brokenly. Nolan silently reached out and squeezed Brett’s hand.  Pam whimpered. “I know what I did was wrong but I was so scared of her. Nobody ever managed to defeat her before.” “The question is, do you want to stay here?” Lori asked her aunt.  Pam shrugged. “I don’t know. Where else should I go? I have nothing else than this.” “You have a son and he doesn’t deserve to grow up in such a repressive environment,” Liam reminded her. “But if you want, we have a place we can bring you. The rest of our pack can help you get your own place and maybe a job. But only if you want to come with us.” “You should leave, Pam,” a woman from Pam’s pack said. “We are also leaving, it is better for the children. We have relatives in Florida and we will leave as soon as we can. Think about Zack.” Pam sobbed and Sadie handed her a tissue too. “Zack deserves better. For him, I will try to start a new life somewhere else. I don’t want to live in fear anymore. Can you forgive me, Brett, Lori?” “We are family and family forgives.” Brett shrugged. “And can you forgive me as well?” Pam asked Liam.  “If I didn’t forgive you, I would have not invited you to live with my pack. But if you want to leave with us, you better pack fast. I want to leave this place as soon as possible.”

She nodded and then hurried to gather her things and her son. Quite some Betas packed their things and got ready to leave. Liam could understand that. Kirsty had terrorized them all and with her being defeated, they finally could be free. “You have a car?” Brett questioned when his aunt finally loaded her stuff into a little car.  “It’s mine; old but good. I will follow your cars. Zack, get in.” Her son climbed into his seat and then turned to stare at Liam.  “Thank you for defeating the evil Alpha. She was scary.” Liam chuckled. “You’re welcome.”

****** The initial plan had been to drive straight back to Seattle but now they’d make a detour to the lake. While on the road, Liam phoned Byron and explained what had happened.  “I know I’m continuously bringing new people for you to take care of but that way her son gets a semi-normal life at least. As normal as a werewolf boy can be.”  Byron laughed. “That’s what an Alpha is supposed to do. I’m proud of you. We will happily await your arrival. I know somebody who is very eager to see you.” “Tell Landon Hi and I see him soon.” Liam ended the call and rubbed his temples. “My head hurts.” “You probably have a concussion,” Theo speculated.  “A concussion would heal shortly after it happened.” “You said Kirsty headbutted you. A headbutt from an Alpha surely leaves some damage for a while. You should try to sleep.” “I will be fine.” Liam leaned against the window at the passenger side and watched the road flew by. 

He didn’t mean to but a few minutes later he fell asleep and only woke up shortly before they reached the lake. He rubbed his eyes. “Feeling better?” Theo inquired.  “My headache’s duller,” Liam replied.  Theo kept his eyes on the road but reached over and took Liam’s hand in his. “I felt your emotions spike and your anger but also your fear. I got so scared and then the other wolves said they wouldn’t let us to you and I felt like losing it. I almost punched a guy. I felt your pain.” “I will be fine. In a few days. The wounds will take a while to heal but I will be okay. Don’t worry, okay? I am sorry I scared you.” Theo just kissed the back of Liam’s hand. He didn’t need words to convey his emotions. “There’s the lake!” Mike called out and they all watched their second home appear in front of their eyes.  “This is so beautiful,” Lori mumbled and took some pictures with her phone.  “It is.” Liam was excited to be back and to see Landon. Now that they were here, they could also take him home. The hyenas seemed gone so he saw no problem with finally reuniting. 

They parked in front of Lana’s and Byron’s cabin where Lana, Byron, and Shana already awaited them. “Figured you would look like that after fighting another Alpha,” Shana greeted Liam and hugged him before handing him a tube. “Put these on your injuries and they will heal faster. It’s just some herbals, nothing chemical.” “Thanks.” Liam smiled at her and then hugged Lana and Byron. “I let her live. Was this a smart move?” Liam asked Byron.  Byron hummed. “This is difficult to decide. No matter her motivations, she’s still a living person, and you are not the type of person to randomly kill. She would have deserved it in the grand scheme of things, but from a character-wise point of view I think you did the right thing.” “Thank you.” Liam smiled at the man he came to love like his own grandfather. “Those are Pam and Zack, they belonged to Kirsty’s pack but I’d love to have them here.” Pam shook Byron’s, Lana’s, and Shana’s hands. “It is very nice to meet you. This is my son Zack. Thank you for offering us a place to stay.” “I’m sure you will be a nice addition to our pack. Welcome to the lake and in the Morning Dew Pack.” Shana smiled at her. 

“Liam!” The excited scream came from the lake and Landon was running towards the group. “Liam! Liam! Liam!” He practically catapulted himself at his brother and hugged him tightly. Liam laughed and hugged Landon back.  “Hey, buddy, missed me as much as I missed you?” “I missed you so much! Living here is nice but I missed you!”  Liam smiled and kissed his brother on top of his head. When Landon looked up, he realized his big brother was injured.  “You’re hurt!” “Yeah, I was fighting a bad person.” He didn’t want to worry Landon but his little brother held up his finger, indicating for Liam to wait, and ran into his house. When he returned, he held a pack of bandaids.  “I only found the ones with comic cats on it, I’m sorry.” “It will be fine.” Liam leaned down and let Landon put one bandaid over the cut on his face. When he straightened to his full height, he saw Theo’s amused face and grinned at his mate.  “You are bleeding! Why are you bleeding? How badly are you hurt?” “Landon, I am sure Liam is fine. Alphas can survive that. He is fine,” Lana told the child and Liam nodded.  “Don’t worry, okay?” He knelt down. “But can you do me a favor?” Landon nodded. Liam pointed at Zack. “This is Zack, he and his mother moved here. Can you show him around a little bit?” Landon looked at Zack and Zack pointed at the red shirt Landon wore. “I have the same one in blue.” “That is cool. Want to play with me?” Landon invited him and the two boys ran off. Pam huffed.  “I still can’t comprehend what happened.” “Me neither,” Liam muttered.  She pressed her hands together at the palms. “I still cannot thank you enough. For ending our suffering and for letting me stay with your pack.” “You are Brett’s and Lori’s family and they are my friends. Don’t mention it.” 

****** The pack had helped Pam settle in and when it was done, Liam found himself leaning in the doorframe to Landon’s room and watched him and Zack play. “Zack, your mother wants to see you,” he finally said and the kids looked at him. Zack nodded and then ran out of the room and Liam looked around the room. It didn’t look like a guest room anymore but like a real room a child lived in, with toys and posters and books.  “Look, we made those in school.” Landon showed Liam some drawings made with leaves and flowers.  “Those are really pretty,” Liam praised when he watched the drawings and sat on his brother’s bed.  “And next week we are going to the museum and then we will create other things for the summer fair. And Brandon’s birthday is soon, he invited me.” The young Alpha listened to his brother talk and he smiled. “To be honest, I wanted to take you back with me today but, Landon, do you want to stay here?” He sounded so happy and carefree, Liam had to ask.  Landon stared t him with big eyes. “I like it here. But I also want to stay with you. Can’t you just move here?” Liam chuckled. “No, I also have school and I cannot attend school here.” He ruffled his brother’s hair. “But what do you say to a compromise? You stay here, with your friends and all, and you visit me in Seattle or I come here every weekend...Or is this too hectic? Maybe every two weeks? We visit each other every two weeks at the weekend. What do you say? And when the breaks are happening, we will spend all the time together. Maybe we can even go on vacation together. Does this sound good?” Landon really thought hard about this. “Can I still call you every day?” “I would be sad if you didn’t.” Liam laughed. “Just because you live here and I live in Seattle doesn’t mean we are not in each other’s lives. If something happens, I can be here in a matter of hours. Is this okay with you?” “If we still talk every night then yes.” Landon smiled shyly and Liam pulled him into a hug. “Love you, Laddie.” “Love you too, Liam.”

The brothers continued to talk for a while before it was time for Liam to leave and the brothers said goodbye before Liam left the room. On his way downstairs he met Byron who undoubtedly had heard what the brothers talked about.  “He can stay as long as he wants.” “Thank you.” Liam meant it. He hugged Byron goodbye and then stepped outside the cabin where Theo waited for him.  “Is Landon packing?” The First Beta inquired. Liam shook his head.  “He’s staying here,” he explained, torn between happy and sad.  “What?” Theo was surprised.  “For the first time in his life, Landon has a real father- and mother-figure. He is happy here, has friends, likes what they do in school. He is safe. I can’t take that away from him again. All of us in the core pack, we are young adults, we are not supposed to look after a child. We are college students, none of us has a full-time job that gets paid. How can we be the best decision for raising Landon? He needs structures. Here at the lake, he has them. We will see each other every two weeks on the weekends and during our breaks. That’s what we decided on.” He felt himself getting sadder at the end. It was the right thing but it was still hard. Theo tugged him into a tight embrace. “Just because it is a right decision doesn’t mean it has to be an easy decision. It’s okay to be sad about it.” Liam hiccuped and hugged Theo tightly. “We have to buy a cabin here in the future.” Theo laughed softly. “I’m so on board with that.”

****** Going back to his classes on Monday surely was an experience. Theo had ended up being right, Liam sported a black eye and his cheekbone was swollen. The wound on his side where Kirsty had hurt him looked even nastier and he needed to carry a large bandage above it to let it heal. His throat had been healed the best and was not sporting claw marks anymore but the rest was absolutely visible. Sadie had offered to cover it with makeup but Liam had categorical refused. 

His fellow students stared at him when he entered his classes or walked the hallway and he heard them whispering. At lunch, Theo joined Liam on one of the picnic tables outside and grinned.  “Boy, your appearance makes the rumor mill run wild.” “Really? What are they saying?” Liam had tried to overhear anything. Theo smirked. “Apparently I’m dating someone involved in a bar fight. I have to admit that is quite hot.” “You’re an idiot.” Liam rumpled a napkin and threw it at Theo’s forehead. His boyfriend laughed and then moved to sit next to Liam.  “You look rough and handsome what can I say?” He kissed Liam and every protest the Alpha might have had disappeared.  “I’m sure in a  few days nobody talks about it anymore, Lee.” “Hm, I hope so. They all stare at me, I hate it.” Liam grumbled and leaned against Theo. 

****** “Remind me again, do we have any plans tonight?” Theo questioned while he stopped at a red light. Liam’s car, driven by Mike, stopped behind them. It was one of the rare occasions where the whole pack had no other things to do after class and they all got home together.  “Isaac’s back in town again and coming over but that’s about it,” Liam answered Theo’s question.  “Hm, nice.”  “It’s nice you don’t have to work.” Liam smiled at his boyfriend and Theo smiled back. The stoplight turned to green and he drove again. It took them only a few more minutes and they were home. 

Isaac waited outside the house and he had a very serious look on his face. Liam wondered what this was about.  “I didn’t walk in, I just arrived and it had been like that,” Isaac told the pack after they all got out of the cars and pointed at the front door.  “Why is our front door open?” Ever asked and really, Liam asked himself the same thing.  “Did one of you forget to close it this morning?” But his Betas shook their heads and Liam felt his heart sink into his stomach. He walked to the house and gave the ajar door a push so it opened completely. And then his heart dropped even further. 

The whole interior was trashed. Pictures were ripped off the wall and the frames were broken, glass cracked and everywhere, claw marks littered the walls, parts of the banister were broken out. The core pack gasped when the saw the damage and it got worse the further they walked into the house. Pillows were ripped open and tossed around, the fridge had been opened and everything had been pulled out and thrown everywhere, ketchup dripped from the counters, the doors of the shelves were unhinged. The furniture was either ripped open or broken or both, the mattresses had been pulled from the beds and sliced open, most of their clothing was ripped apart and or drenched in some sort of liquid, mirrors were shattered, wallpapers were torn. Nothing in this house was still in one piece.  “Where are the dogs?” Nolan’s question made them all run outside. They heard howling and whimpering from the garden shed and when Brett opened the locked door, Aka and Koda ran out and barked wildly.  “Thank god they’re okay,” Theo sighed and knelt down to pet the agitated animals. 

Liam looked around. Even the garden had been destroyed, flowers displanted, the hammock ripped apart.  “What the hell happened here?” Tim was close to tears. They all were at this point.  “Who did this?” Mason was shocked.  “We all know who. That’s the hyena’s work,” Theo stated bitterly. “The whole house smells like them. So much for them leaving town.” “But why now? Why did they lay low for such a long time and do this now?” Caden shook his head.  “Because your Alpha is hurt,” Isaac realized quietly, “They knew he is not up to 100% and they used their chance.” “What?” Liam could not believe his ears. “I can still fight.” “But you still have this shiner and the injury,” Isaac argued back.  Liam scoffed. “So it’s because of me again! Wonderful!” No.” Isaac shook his head. “None of this is your fault. You didn’t trash the house, you didn’t tell them to trash the house. You didn’t want another Alpha to kill you. All of this happened without your consent, so this is absolutely not your fault.” Liam balled is hands to fists. His IED was raging and he wanted to destroy something. He was so angry and it made his blood boil. Oh how much he wished a hyena would come his way now.  “So, we’re sweeping up everything and see which things we might can safe. And tomorrow we need to go shopping.” Mason tried to be logical and lay out their next steps.  “Yeah, good idea.” Nolan was on Mason’s side.  It was Corey who first declined. “You don’t understand. Even I can smell it. The whole house reeks of the hyenas. It’s impossible to sleep there.” “Then we have to air the whole house, maybe that helps?” Nolan suggested.  Brett growled and his eyes flashed. “No! Those bastards came to our house and destroyed everything. A pack house is more or less the pack’s den and they violated it. This is a declaration of war!” 

Liam listened to his pack start arguing about it, even though all wolves agreed with each other. Their inner animals really didn’t like it and were raging. “I don’t want to live here anymore,” he suddenly said weakly. Everybody turned to look at him and he raised his head from where he had looked down. Both arms wrapped around himself, he shook his head. “I already made experiences with sleeping in a complete trashed apartment because somebody went beserk in it. You won’t get sleep, none of us, and I don’t want to live in a house anymore knowing strangers came in, walked around, touched everything, and in the end destroyed it. But I don’t want to decide on my own. Hands up if you say you can’t live here anymore.” He raised his hand first. Soon enough all weres of the pack raised their hand and then the humans joined too.  “You can all come with me. My apartment might get a bit crowded but it will do for a while. Long enough so you can figure out where to go from here, what to do,” Isaac immediately offered and Liam gave him a grateful look.  “Gather the few things you want to take with you and maybe - hopefully - are not that trashed. They seemed to have just broken the picture frames but didn’t touch the pictures,” Liam tasked his pack. 

Ignoring the smell and the anger long enough to see through their broken things, Liam was not sure how he managed. Looking everywhere made anger inside him again and he wanted to cry at the same time.  “I never thought it would come to this,” he muttered when he and Theo were done packing their belongings.  “Me neither. This is just plain disgusting and they will pay for it.” “I will hunt them down, I swear,” Liam promised with a dark look on his face.  Theo grabbed his elbow. “I don’t want to stay here any longer. Let’s go.”

They left their room and brought their bags down and into the car just like the rest of their pack. Returning to the house once more to see if they had grabbed any picture or piece of memory they might be able to save, Liam realized the door to the basement was open and slowly walked down the stairs. 

The hyenas had been down here as well and trashed the few things the pack had stored like Christmas decoration. Liam sighed when he looked at the cracked Christmas balls and ornaments. They even trashed the lamp hanging from the naked ceiling, only the broken lightbulb hanging up there still. And there was a smell in here, under the hyena’s smell, Liam couldn’t place. 

“Lee? Everything okay?” Mason has followed Liam.  “Mase, do you smell that?” Liam asked.  “That strange smell? Yeah, even I get that. Is that...” He sniffed and flipped on the light switch. “Maybe if we have light we see what this is.” There came a crackling sound when the broken lightbulb tried to do what it was supposed to do. Liam raised his head and to him, it seemed like the air around the bulb flickered. It dawned to him.  “Mason, that smell is....”  “Gas, I realized it too!”  The best friends turned around and ran up the stairs as fast as they could again. Another crackle behind them and then Liam heard a fire being ignited. The gas had caught the sparks from the broken lamp. The heat became unbearable and then the explosion came. Starting from the center of the basement, it spread out immediately. They rarely made it out of the house when it broke through the ceiling and into the ground floor and then the whole house exploded.  “There is a gas leak!” Mason yelled. Thankfully he and Liam had been the last ones in the house.  And thank god for Ever as well because the minute the windows burst and the whole house fell victim to the explosion, she raised both hands and concentrated all her magic on the house. She could not control the raging fire but she could create a protective shield so the explosion didn’t cause harm to the pack or other houses.  The Betas stood there and watch their home go up in one immense fireball, watched the ceilings burst when the explosion crashed through, watched everything still inside burn to ashes.  Sadie screamed and clasped both hands in front of her mouth, Maya had silent tears streams down her face, and the others didn’t fare any better.  “So much for going back. We can’t,” Mike whispered.  Liam cried as he watched the flames dance in front of their eyes. "We’re essentially homeless now.”

If this was a tv series, it probably would have been the season finale, I realized while writing it. It is longer than any other chapter I have written for this story so far. But I didn't want to put the end at the beginning of another chapter, that didn't feel right. I thought about this for a while but nope. It is good the way it is, storytelling wise.

We finally reached the part I was working towards to for such a long time. Sure, there are still things to come I'm also excited about but this is huge. I feel like it's a turning point in the story. This part is crucial and while I still have things planned for the next chapters and I already know what will happen in most parts (this story always surprises me as I write it and things get added so I never know 100%) I am proud we reached this point. I am basically burning with excitement to show you what's coming next but the next chapters will be a bit slower now due to work. I try not to keep you waiting for too long.

I really hope you don't kill me. If you want will I make it better if I promise you there will be a few more surprises down the line? No deaths!! Nope, no one of the Morning Dew Pack dies!!! That is a promise and I know this is probably something you might be worried about.  If anybody needs one or several tissues, I will provide them. I can't lie I am curious to see what you have to say about this. And if you want to yell at me, might as well do this, I will take it. Share your thoughts with me, guys. ♥

[katie-dub]

The Princess of White Chapel (1/12)

Dr Killian Jones is having a terrible day. He’s got a mission, he’s got a time machine, he’s got … drunk. What could possibly go wrong?

AO3

Rated M for alcohol use, violence, minor character death, frank discussions of depression and grief

This is not a Millian fic, but their relationship is discussed and shown in a positive life, if that's not your bag, no hard feelings!

I’m beyond excited to finally share this story with you all for this year’s @captainswanbigbang! I feel like I’ve had this one sitting in my docs forever (forever, nearly two years, same difference), and I can’t wait to see what you all think.

The amazing @princesse-swan created my banner and has some stunning art to share with you while I’m posting. She’s so freaking talented and is the best cheerleader I could have ever hoped for - I don’t know how I got so lucky as to be paired with you lady! Give her some love, because she deserves all the flailing! You'll find her art for me here!

The fantastic @distant-rose and @ultraluckycatnd were my betas, sounding boards, muses and tireless defenders of the oxford comma. Ladies, I salute you!

I have approximately a million more people to thank for helping me to bring this to life, but to save this turning into an embarrassing, over-long, emotional mess like an ill-advised oscars acceptance speech, I’ll just leave your names here, you know what you did and I love you for it. @mahstatins @killiancygnus @phiralovesloki @icecubelotr44 @sambethe @winterbythesea @justanotherwannabeclassic @welllpthisishappening* @fluffandnonsense @belovedcreation @ladyciaramiggles and the ladies of the hub and the ISB.

*psssst it’s Laura’s birthday today! So this chapter is dedicated to her, and you should all go wish her a fabulous day!

A soft hand wrapping around his waist. A mess of tangled curls tickling his cheek. The scent of spices and sex filling his nose.

He kept his eyes closed, basking in the blissful sensations. Life with his love felt like the most perfect dream - and he wasn’t willing to give it up just yet.

“Killian,” a husky whisper in his ear, “Killian, darling, time to wake up now.” A nose nuzzling against the sensitive spot behind his ear, tickling him and making him twitch. Stubbornly, he squeezed his eyes together ever more tightly.

Sharp teeth biting down on his earlobe finally startled him enough to open his eyes. He turned to glare at Milah, forcing himself to hold her gaze so as not to be distracted by her many assets. She giggled at the look of exaggerated fury on his face, ducking down to his ear to whisper “Oops” before licking where her teeth had been.

Killian groaned as she trailed her lips and her tongue along his jaw, kissing, licking, and sucking as she went. His eyes closed as he revelled in the sensations left in her wake, his breath quickening and his pulse starting to race as she inched ever closer to his lips.

When she finally, torturously slowly, brushed her lips against his, he lost all patience. He growled as he tangled his hands into her hair, capturing her lips in a fierce kiss. He rolled her onto her back and broke away, resting his forehead against hers as he caught his breath.

“You’ll be the death of me, my love,” he murmured, peppering Milah’s face with kisses.

“But what a way to go, aye?” was her teasing reply, the last of her words lost to a gasp as he began to kiss his way down her body.

Killian awoke from his dream, disoriented and disheveled, by the sound of his phone ringing. He fell off the sofa as he scrambled about to stop the incessant noise, knocking his elbow on the coffee table and sending a glass of water flying in the process.

“Bloody hell!”

God, he wanted to be back in that dream, a decade in the past where he was with Milah, in love, their naked bodies entwined. Alone, in pain, and wearing the contents of his drink on his now soggy shirt. This was his reality now.

He spotted the phone and grabbed it, barking “what?” as he stalked towards his kitchen for something to clean up the mess.

“Hi Killian,” Belle answered benignly. She always did have saintly levels of patience with his bullshit. “Just checking if you’re going to make it to book club tonight? We’re discussing Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.” Killian glanced at the clock, 7:35. He was meant to be there… five minutes ago. Fuck. “And before you try fobbing me off by saying that you haven’t read the book and wouldn’t have anything to add anyway, you suggested this one Killian. In fact, you’re meant to be leading the discussion. I believe you said that it’s one of your favourites, a ‘modern classic’?” He could actually hear the air quotes he had no doubt Belle would do if they were together.

“Belle, I’m really sorry, it’s just something important came up.” He glanced at the letter lying on his coffee table, alongside a now nearly empty bottle of rum, his jaw clenching at the sight. “I just can’t tonight.” He winced as he waited for the inevitable backlash. Was she going to get angry? Guilt him with the weight of her crushing disappointment?

“Oh. That’s a shame. I really wanted to introduce you to a friend of mine. Maybe another time.”

Killian made a vaguely noncommittal noise in reply, wanting to rant at her for pushing him towards a new relationship. While Belle was kind enough to be so understanding about him bailing on her yet again, he didn’t feel like he could, but the rage simmered all the same.

“I've got to go, everyone’s waiting. Call me later?”

“Sure, Belle, bye.” Killian hoped he had sounded at least vaguely civil as he jabbed at his phone to end the call. He dropped it next to him as he slumped back against the sofa. Unconsciously, he began to play with the ring on the prosthetic that had replaced his left hand while he fumed silently at Belle’s presumption. When would they all understand that what he had with Milah couldn’t just be replaced? That he didn’t even want to try?

Perhaps if they understood his plans, they wouldn’t push him so hard. He didn’t need a replacement for Milah. He needed to save her. And he would.

So long as time hadn’t run out.

He picked up the letter that had driven him to drink until he passed out when he received it earlier that day. It had been a long time since he had spiralled like that and lost sight of his goal. He re-read the words, still in disbelief, somehow hoping a few hours would have changed their meaning. If it weren’t for the official King’s College London letterhead, he might have thought it was a wind up.

“Dear Dr. Jones,

It is with regret that we must inform you that, in line with the current economic troubles society is facing, we have made the decision to withdraw your funding at the end of the academic year.”

Killian couldn’t read any further. He knew who was behind this move. Bloody Gold, the beast who killed his Milah and took his hand, was still playing games with him. It was one of his favourite things to do: fuck with the man who fucked his wife.

He would never get over how having endless funds could apparently absolve you of any sin. That, combined with powerful allies (a mixture of establishment school friends and power-hungry fools who’d been suckered in by one-sided deals), made him untouchable. He had never even gone to court for his part in the death of his ex-wife and maiming of her lover. Killian’s protests of Gold’s guilt had been taken as merely the ravings of a man crushed by grief.

Everyone had indulged him kindly, until they hadn’t.

The principal and president of King’s College himself had come to Killian to explain how his vendetta against the eminent philanthropist harmed not only his future prospects but threatened his entire faculty’s continued existence. Gold’s generous grants were vital to the university, as he was reminded, and it wouldn’t do to upset the man.

So Killian had chosen to play the long game. Almost as soon as Milah was killed, he had sworn to himself that he would use his research to find a way to save her life. And after months of enduring Gold’s bullying, he had also made it his mission to destroy the man while he did it.

It was so much easier to smile and make nice where necessary when he could picture how he might one day rip Gold’s throat out.

Reductions in funding could be brushed aside as he enhanced his prosthetic so that it moved as fluidly as his remaining hand - and was more deadly than it could ever be. Academic papers that were blocked from publication without justification became but a minor nuisance as he trained to take on Gold’s henchmen. Applications for grants and proposals to present research that were denied were just mild irritations while he worked on the time machine that would bring all his plans to fruition.

Killian scrunched the letter up and threw it into the bin, then dragged his hand through his hair.

The end of the academic year. That was only one month away. He had one month to make his time machine work or 10 years of endless toil - and his only chance to save his love - would have all been for nothing.

He had been without his Milah for longer than he’d been with her now, but he still felt her loss as keenly as the night he lost her. The sound of her voice may be dimming in his memory, but the way she made him feel would never fade, his love for her would never die. At times, he felt as though Gold had reached right into him and ripped his heart from his chest back then. In its place was a black hole that allowed for no love, no joy and certainly no mercy.

Belle, Robin, Will, and the rest had no idea what they were dealing with when they tried to play matchmaker. When they tried to get him out of his shell and having fun. When they tried to make him live his life like a respectable member of society.

Oh, if only they knew.

Killian had always been a man of many vices: drink, gambling, sex. But then Milah had come along. She had changed him, had made him better. He still indulged, but in a socially respectable fashion and not with the crazed air of a man on the brink of destruction. When she died, he could practically feel his friends holding their breath, waiting for the wildfire to ignite. What they didn’t know - couldn’t know - was that he had something else to keep him going now: her rescue and his revenge.

His head felt fuzzy, the hangover from his earlier desperate binge already kicking in. This was why he had abstained. He couldn’t afford to feel like this. Not when Milah needed him.

He closed his eyes and remembered the first time he saw her.

His head was swimming after several hours of shots and pints and god knows what else. Yet, one look at her and everything became clearer. She was sat in a corner, looking lonely and nervous, glancing about furtively. She had looked up from her drink and caught his eye, smiling shyly and quickly looking away. She was stunning.

Then a brute of a man stepped between them.

Killian’s first thought had been sheer irritation at having his view of this goddess blocked. But then he noticed that the man had one hand on her shoulder, his grip harsh.

Killian hadn’t stopped to think before racing over to her. As he moved closer, he could see that his instinct about this man had been right: she looked anxious and annoyed.

He tapped the giant on the shoulder, smiling brightly at him when he turned around.

“Excuse me, would you mind letting go of this lovely lady?” Killian winked at her and was delighted to see a faint blush and a barely suppressed smile cross over her face. “Once you’ve done that, could you go… well, anywhere else?” Definitely not his wittiest line, but Killian was just impressed that he managed to sound clear and confident.

A confused expression crossed over the man’s face and he did indeed let the lady go. “Were you talking to me?”

“I’m sorry, did I talk too fast? You’ve managed to take your hand off the lady, excellent work. 10 out of 10 for that. Now all that’s left is for you to kindly fuck off.”

“And what if I don’t?”

“Well…” Killian tilted his head to the side, as if musing on the question. But then he balled his hand up into a fist, punched the man hard and knocked him to the ground.

He looked up at the woman who had captured his attention. Her eyes were wide with fear and, if he wasn’t mistaken, admiration. She stared at him in shock for a moment before speaking.

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

“He shouldn’t have been touching you without your consent.” All of a sudden Killian panicked; he knew how the situation had looked, but perhaps she hadn’t been a damsel in distress after all? “I mean, you looked very unhappy about him being here, did I get that wrong?”

“No, you were right. But you shouldn’t have done that.”

“Why not?”

“He’s one of my husband’s men sent to bring me home.” She spat out the words, her eyes darting around the room as if checking for others. After a few moments of searching and presumably finding nothing, she seemed to relax.

While Killian did note this odd behaviour, he was more preoccupied by the word “husband”. He felt his face fall. Of course this goddess was unavailable. She looked up at him and grinned wickedly.

“I wasn’t ready to go home anyway. Want to have a drink with me … ?”

“I’m Killian,” he supplied, looking down at her left hand to see a ring stubbornly placed on her finger. “And you’re married.”

“My name’s Milah, actually.”

Killian laughed at that. “It’s lovely to meet you, Milah.”

That had been the start of a dark and dangerous affair that had ultimately led to his Milah’s death. Killian squeezed his eyes together, fighting back tears. Even before her untimely end, he had wondered if his presence in her life was more trouble than it was worth, but she had always reassured him that his love had made her complete. He had certainly felt that way about her - and with her gone, he was broken and could never be whole again.

He needed Milah back, and time was running out. What better time than the present to go back to the past?

He didn’t stop to consider the obvious factors working against him: he was tired, stressed and intoxicated. He was fairly certain that “drunk in charge of a time machine” went against some kind of time traveller rule.

(Probably up there with “don’t change the past”, but he was hardly going to obey that one, was he?)

Then there was the small matter that he hadn’t yet managed a successful test. Most of the time, he would switch the machine on and nothing would happen.

But every now and then, it would glitch and cause odd ripples in the world around him. His educated guess about the strange phenomenon was that the machine was swapping his particles with particles of Killian Jones from alternative universes - pulling pieces of some other him into this one. One time his prosthetic shimmered and mutated into a hook and back again before he could so much as groan at the cliché. Another time, he went colour blind for a few hours. Once his hair mysteriously turned blonde for a week until he could recalibrate the machine.

(He had to wonder at the alternative version of him who thought that was a good look. He assumed in that reality Killian Jones did not have a friend like Will Scarlet, intent on mocking him relentlessly.)

But he was confident that his calculations were all correct now. This time he would manage it.

He grabbed the bag that he had packed long ago with everything he needed to exact his revenge and stumbled down to the tube. The air was oppressive in the underground station thanks to the late July heat as he waited for his train. He swayed, swallowed down a wave of nausea and cursed himself for choosing the hellish heat over cycling to campus as he usually did. Some sensible part of him had realised that he didn’t have the wit needed to cycle through London traffic - and yet that self-preservation instinct wasn’t strong enough to stop him from propelling himself on a dangerous quest.

The dry, hot wind of the approaching train provided some relief even as it burnt his skin. He clambered aboard and settled into an empty seat. He was grateful for the unspoken British rule that one must sit as far away from other living souls as was physically possible and never, upon pain of death, make eye contact with or talk to strangers. And so, he made it to Embankment station without once having to so much as glance at another human, instead ruminating on calculations and probabilities in his head.

The air outside was only marginally more refreshing than that below ground. It didn’t have that stale, recycled quality, but it was thick with humidity and the scent of melting tarmac. He tugged at his collar and loosened yet another button on his shirt. In his rush to leave, he had failed to change out of the shirt he had fallen asleep in and he could smell alcohol and sweat in the fabric. It suddenly felt inauspicious to greet his lost love in such crumpled clothes, but time was against him. He had to press on.

No one stopped him as he made his way into the nearly deserted building. The undergrads were home for the summer, so the halls were stalked only by the professors who finally had time to do their real work, students plugging away at their doctorates and the unlucky few who needed to retake exams using the month before resits to study hard. At this time of night in particular, few were to be seen in the Strand, unless, of course, they were haunting the bars that were littered in and around campus instead of devoting themselves to academia.

Killian Jones had long since accepted that his habits fell far out of the realm of what most considered normal. And to be completely honest? He couldn’t care less.

He finally made his way to his lab, unlocking the door with a buzz of excitement. It was finally happening.

He strode straight to the machine, stashing his bag in the footwell then climbing inside and buckling in.

He took a deep breath, staring blankly at the calendar on the wall in front of him. He had long thought about this moment. He knew exactly when he needed to go to: one week before Milah’s death. Enough time to get to Gold and stop him, but not long enough to risk meeting himself. He hoped anyway.

He paused for a moment, suddenly realising how reckless this was. He hadn’t run any last checks. No one knew what he was doing.

But then he thought of Milah. She deserved this.

He input the coordinates and hit the command to send.

For a long moment, nothing happened.

Then lights began to swirl in front of him, moving fast enough to make him dizzy. He saw a beam of light shooting out from the machine and blasting through a window - that certainly hadn’t happened before. He hoped that was a sign of success, he really didn’t want to have to clean up the mess if it wasn’t. Then, just as suddenly as the light show had started, it stopped. Everything went still.

Had it worked?

Killian cautiously stepped out of the time machine and looked around. He was still in the lab surrounded by his equipment. His eyes flicked to the calendar on the wall. It stubbornly continued to read 2017 and he knew this attempt had failed.

He clenched his jaw in an attempt to keep the tears from his eyes. He’d let Milah down. Again. After all these years, he still couldn’t save her. If this hadn’t worked, he honestly didn’t know if anything would.

“It didn’t work,” he muttered to himself, racking his brain for something, anything, that he had done wrong. He must have miscalculated something, but he had been so sure he had it this time. “Why didn’t it bloody work?” He swept his hand across the nearest counter, sending everything scattering to the floor in his frustration.

His head pounded and his stomach turned, reminding him of how much alcohol he’d consumed. He knew he should stay, should try to understand his mistake for Milah’s sake, but he just couldn’t. His soul was weary with the weight of yet another failure, of carrying the burden of his revenge alone, of the sad and empty existence his life had become.

Tears pricked at his eyes and his chest ached with anger. If only Gold hadn't interfered again, pushing him to act before he was ready... This was all his fault.

No, it's yours, whispered a voice from somewhere deep inside. This is your failure. Why did you ever think that you could achieve the impossible?

The whispers of his inner tormentor grew louder and more cruel, detailing his faults, all the ways he let down those he loved, and showing him that he could never have his happy life back. He had done too much, been too distant, his life was empty because he made it so. The vicious narrative overwhelmed him until he felt physically sick.

He needed to get out of there, so he left, leaving his supplies and the shattered remains of his window scattered across the floor.

[theeeveetamer]

Helloo! Hm, if you don't mind, I have a request for some more of the modern omegaverse? Particularly how Leo and Takumi met, or the scene with good ol protective Ryoma :)

Alright here we go. I know nothing about this is specific to high school, but in my modern Omegaverse I always envisioned Leo and Takumi being high school sweethearts.

I had a lot of fun writing this, so it ended up being really damn long. Like, almost 40 pages. Couple of notes: I know Mikoto isn’t their canon mother but since she has an established relationship with all of the Hoshidan sibs I think she’s easier to write and makes more sense in Omegaverse. I based this on my high school’s class scheduling, which was four classes a semester, 90 minutes per class. We called them blocks but most places have ‘periods’ so they’re referred to as such for simplicity sake. Finally, I’ve arbitrarily decided that America’s drinking age is 18 in this fic because it should be.

Tags: Omegaverse, High School AU, Omega!Takumi, Alpha!Leo, falling in love, Lower Middle Class Leokumis, Mentions of child abuse/alcoholism

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17282396

“Alright are we ready?”

“Yep! On three!”

Takumi slid his finger under the lip of the envelope, and his friends followed suit.

“One… Two… Three!”

They all tore the glue seal, some more elegantly than others. Hinata got impatient half way through and just ripped the envelope down the middle. Oboro’s wasn’t much better, but at least she’d managed to tear it lengthwise like she was supposed to.

They all pulled out their class schedules at the same time and compared.

“Alright I have geometry first thing… Ugh.” He groaned. He liked math as much as the next guy, but that early in the morning?

“Damn, I have it third.” Oboro pointed out. “But we have the same teacher, so we can at least do the homework together.”

“Wait, I thought we were taking that next semester!”

They tried to schedule their class preferences so that they matched up, but that still didn’t guarantee they would get classes together. Hinata always mixed up at least one class and took it in the wrong semester.

“No, Hinata. We were going to take art next semester, remember?”

“Well shit.” He laughed. “You guys’ll still help me, right?”

Takumi rolled his eyes. “Of course.”

“C’mon Takumi, what do you have next?”

It didn’t take them long to hash out the schedules. He was on his own first period, but he and Oboro had gym together fourth period. He and Hinata shared American History during third period, which also meant they had lunch together. They were all taking different language courses anyways, so he knew he’d have at least one class by himself.

With that settled he was scanning his schedule again just to ensure they shared the same teachers.

“Fuck…” He muttered under his breath.

“What is it?”

“I just realized that we have Izana for history.”

“So?”

Hinata was the oldest in his family and Oboro was an only child, so they didn’t have the ‘benefit’ of having older siblings go before them. Sometimes it was nice because he knew which teachers were good, and sometimes it was awful. If he had a quarter for every time a teacher said ‘Oh, Shirasagi? Are you Ryoma’s little brother? Well he was a joy to have in class!’ he’d be loaded.

“Ryoma and Hinoka both had him! They say he likes to play matchmaker with the Omegas in the class. Plus, he assigns a lot of group projects.”

“Ugh, great! You’ll be my partner right?”

“Obviously, dude.” Even though working with Hinata usually resulted in both of them getting distracted and goofing off until last minute, he wouldn’t have it any other way. As long as he got his A he didn’t really care how the project got done.

Though, he was concerned about a little more than just the group projects. There were definitely more Alphas in their school than Omegas, and ever since he’d presented he’d been dealing with dumb ‘matchmaking’ teachers. Heck, they were doing it before he’d even presented! And pretty much every time it happened the Alpha fell head over heels for him, and he absolutely did not reciprocate.

He couldn’t even count the number of calls Mama needed to make to the school about it on both hands. And whatever number that was, he’d probably have to double it to even get close to the number of overstepping Alphas Ryoma beat the shit out of on his behalf. In fact, most Alphas were beginning to treat being seated next to him as a death sentence, which wasn’t exactly doing wonders for his romantic life. The only Alphas in their grade willing to go within fifteen feet of him were Hinata and Oboro.

He tugged anxiously at his collar. Oboro seemed to notice because she finally changed the subject.

“Well, we only have a few weeks left of summer! Let’s not waste it thinking about school!”

“Damn straight!” Hinata agreed.

“Come on, Mama said dinner would be done around six. And hey, she bought a ton of popcorn for movie night!”

_________________

The first day back was always the worst. Farewell to staying up until four am and waking up at noon, hello dragging his ass out of bed at seven am. At least Ryoma was a senior this year, so Mama let him take the car to school. Hinoka took shotgun and he sat in the back with Sakura. She was fiddling with the strap of her messenger bag and biting her lip nervously.

“You look cute today, baby sister.” She really did. He could tell she’d woken up early to do her hair and makeup, and she’d picked out one of her favorite dresses. It was a far cry from his ratty old jeans and tshirt or Hinoka’s athletic shorts and tank top. He hadn’t even bothered to comb his hair out when he woke up, he’d just thrown it in it’s regular ponytail. He almost envied his sisters’ shorter hair.

“T-Thanks! I’m just so n-nervous, you know?”

“You’ll see! High school isn’t so scary!” Hinoka threw over her shoulder from the passenger seat. “Heck, you’ll be sick of it before long!”

“Come on Hinoka. Let her have one day before you make her jaded.” Ryoma chuckled.

“You’ll do great.” He patted her hand. “Let me know if you get lost okay? I can help you walk to class.”

“A-Alright.”

______________

The day went pretty quickly. It was the first day, so most of the teachers were just going over their syllabi and doing some dumb icebreakers so the class could get to know each other. It was mind numbing, but at least he could doodle in his notebooks and just pretend to be paying attention.

He’d been silently dreading third period all day, and all was well until then. He wasn’t sure what he wanted. It would be nice to sit next to Hinata, but if Izana really was a matchmaker then that could make things awkward. Then again, he’d rather things be a little awkward with his best friend than get harassed by some Alpha that needed to learn the definition of ‘boundaries’.

Hinata was already inside the classroom. He waved at Takumi from around the middle of the classroom and motioned to the empty seat beside him. The desks were laid out very strangely: Each row had six desks, and  three columns consisting of two desks pushed together.

“No alphabetical order?”

Hinata shrugged. “He just told us to sit wherever.”

The man in question was currently behind his computer at the front of the room. The bell rang, but he still seemed intent on whatever he was working on. A few minutes of idle chatting later he stood up and stepped to the center of the room.

“Good afternoon everyone. I’ve created a randomized seating chart for you all. Please come sit in your new seat when I call your name.”

They were about ten desks in when the pattern became obvious. Of course every Omega just so happened to be paired with an alpha, despite the sizable portion of Betas in the class. Randomized. Sure.

“… Shirasagi, Takumi!” He squinted his eyes at the paper for a moment. “Weird, I think I had your brother. Or was it a sister?”

“It was both…” He mumbled dejectedly as he took his seat.

“Alright then let’s see… Windmire, Leo!”

Oh gods. Anyone but him.

Their brothers had been feuding since Ryoma’s freshman year, he couldn’t even remember what about. Something about a failed science project that both of them insisted wasn’t their fault. After that it was pretty much silently agreed upon that the Shirasagis would avoid the Windmires, and they would do the same. He’d never personally met Leo, but he’d heard stories. Mainly about how he was a stuck up pretty boy.

And yeah, just looking at him walk across the room he’d believe those rumors. He had a way about him that was hard to miss. He never slouched or shuffled; He strode along like he was above it all. And he was tall. At least six foot or so. Which, Takumi supposed wasn’t all that impressive for Alphas in general, but at fifteen or sixteen most of them were still growing and stood at around five foot eight to five foot ten. That meant he was constantly looking down his nose at everyone else. It was a little intimidating, at five foot six he’d pretty much stopped growing, and he was considered tall for an Omega. Sakura was only five foot two.

The blonde dropped his newly acquired textbook and notebooks down on the desk next to him. They didn’t say a word to each other as Izana finished assigning seats. It seemed like his siblings hadn’t exaggerated: Every Omega in the class was paired off with an Alpha. When that was done he handed out the syllabi and moved back to the front of the class to go over it.

“In this class I believe in learning the value of teamwork! So, you’ll have four group projects. Three due throughout the semester and one final project. Your project partners will be the person you’re sitting next to. No exceptions. These are big projects and will require outside work, so be sure to get your partner’s contact information.”

He heard the Alpha beside him audibly groan. He was, quite frankly, a little offended. Sure he and Hinata goofed off, but he was still a straight A student damn it! Where did this asshole get off?

They suffered silently through the remaining eighty minutes of class until lunch. When the bell rang he reluctantly turned to his seatmate.

“So…” He was loathe to do it, but unfortunately he had to. “We should probably exchange numbers.”

The Alpha rolled his eyes as he pulled out his phone.

“I’m sorry, do you have a problem with me?”

“Just don’t tank my grade. It’s bad enough that I have to associate with a Shirasagi, but an Omega?”

Ah, there it was. The old stereotype that an Omega couldn’t be smart, too. Boy, was this asshole in for a rude awakening.

“Look, I’m not happy about this either.” He growled as he typed his number in. “But I’m not about to get a B just because I’m stuck with you as a partner.”

With the exchange done he collected up his backpack and met up with Hinata, who was waiting by the door for him.

________

“Ugh, can you believe that guy!” He groused, shoving his sandwich into his mouth. Hinata was similarly scarfing down his food, but they were sitting on their own because Oboro had a different lunch.

Between complaining he was also scanning the room for Sakura. She’d texted him that they had the same lunch and he wanted to make sure she wasn’t sitting on her own. He finally caught sight of her – she was kind of hard to miss with the pink hair – sitting a few tables away with her friend Hana and some blonde girl he’d never met. Reasonably assured she was in good hands, he continued his complaining about Leo.

“I mean, the nerve of the guy! Implying that I can’t do work just because I’m an Omega!”

“Yeah, I can’t believe it either.” Hinata added through a mouthful of chips. “I mean, I’m pretty sure I would have failed algebra if it wasn’t for you.”

“Exactly! I mean–” He realized quickly that he probably shouldn’t be insulting his friend’s intelligence just to prove a point. “Sorry, Hinata.”

His friend just waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. Come on, let’s talk about something else.”

He tried to keep his attention off of the blonde Alpha, but he kept catching him out of the corner of his eye and getting infuriated all over again.

__________

The rest of the day was, thankfully, pretty uneventful. He’d almost forgotten all about Leo and his prissy attitude until he got home and he and Sakura were helping Mama with dinner. He and Sakura were chopping up vegetables while she prepared the meats. Hinoka was still at baseball practice and Ryoma was in his room working on his college essays.

“So how was school?”

“Great!” Sakura started excitedly chattering. “Hana and I have a lot of classes together s-so that was good! And I met a r-really nice girl named Elise in first period!”

“That’s great, sweetie! What about you Takumi, did you have fun? Make any new friends?”

He shrugged. “Not really. But there was this one guy in my history class…”

“Oh? You met a boy?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Mama! It’s not like that! He’s… He’s completely insufferable!” He let out a frustrated sigh. “Mister Izana paired us up for every class project, and this dumb Alpha thinks I’m stupid just because I’m an Omega!”

“Oh dear… Well I’m sure it won’t be so bad. Once he gets to know you I’m sure he’ll warm up.”

“I dunno, he’s a Windmire. They’re, like, predisposed to hate us or something!”

“I’m sure he can’t be that bad. You know what I always say, never judge a book by its cover!”

“Yes, Mama.” He rolled his eyes. Of course she didn’t get it. She hadn’t even met Leo, she had no idea how rude he’d been!

He finished up slicing the vegetables and Mama shooed them both out of the kitchen so she could finish cooking. He didn’t have much to do since there wasn’t any homework, so he decided to bum around on his laptop until dinner.

He hadn’t really intended to start cyberstalking Leo, it had just kind of happened. It started when he tried looking up the Alpha’s social media, but the guy was a ghost. None of the Windmires seemed to have any online presence, and the only pictures he found were from what he was guessing were Leo’s friends. He’d just wanted to get a general idea of the guy, but after an hour of coming up blank finding anything became an obsession. How could he not have anything online? It was just so weird!

He finally stopped when Mama called them all down to dinner, and he realized how ridiculous he was being. So what if he couldn’t find any information? Why should he care about this asshole anyways? He shut the laptop and hurried to the dining room.

____________

The first month or so went by without too many problems. He and Leo mostly just ignored each other during class, and once it was over he made a quick escape to lunch with Hinata. They didn’t get the details about their first project until late September. It wasn’t much, just a paper. It was about three pages and due in two weeks, so he wasn’t too worried about it just yet.

He stuck the project requirements into his folder and headed down to lunch. The second he left the room his phone buzzed in his pocket.

We should get started on this project today.

He glanced over his shoulder. Leo was literally standing ten feet away from him. Was he for real?

He pulled his phone back out to respond.

Dude, you’re literally standing right there. You couldn’t talk to me?

He watched as the blonde’s phone buzzed and he typed his response. This was ridiculous, was he really so conceited that he couldn’t even talk to him?

Look who’s talking.

“Ugh!” He stuffed his phone back in his pocket. “Come on Hinata, let’s go.”

All of lunch was a back and forth.

The project isn’t even due until two weeks from now.

I’m not going to fail this class because you wanted to wait until last minute.

Fine! We can start working on it tonight then! Your house or mine?

Better do yours.

Alright, meet me by the exit after school. My brother will drive us.

Gods, what an arrogant asshole! As if waiting a week would kill them! If he were working alone he could get it done in two days! Not to mention the fact that he wanted to start working on it on a Friday night! Sure, Takumi had just planned to stay in and watch movies, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have had plans!

Sakura was already waiting by the door, along with her blonde friend. She waved at him as he approached. “B-Big brother! This is my friend, Elise.”

“Oh, uh, nice to meet you.” Now that he was closer he could see that she was an Omega as well. The heat suppressants could make it hard to tell sometimes, but only Omegas wore collars like that. Hers was made of dyed black leather and it was studded with little purple rhinestones to match her black and purple dress.

“Ta-ku-mi,” She enunciated every syllable in his name carefully. “Did I say it right?”

“Y-Yeah, that’s right.”

“Well it’s nice to meet you too, Takumi!” She beamed up at him. Geez when Sakura said Elise was friendly she wasn’t kidding. They hadn’t known each other five minutes and she was already chattering away like they’d been friends for decades.

Leo turned up a few minutes later. Takumi caught sight of him down the hall, and he seemed confused as he approached.

“Elise? What are you doing here?”

Did they know each other?

“Aw, Leo! Did you make friends too?”

The Alpha side-eyed him and then shook his head. “Absolutely not. We’re just working on a project together. What are you doing?”

“Xander said I could stay over at Sakura’s tonight! We’re gonna get together with Hana and Effie to do girl stuff!”

“Did you ask father too?”

She pouted. “You know how he is.”

“… Alright, but you need to finish your homework beforehand.”

“Yeah, yeah. Camilla already gave me the lecture. Sakura and I are gonna get it all done before dinner.”

So, Elise was Leo’s little sister? He hadn’t really considered the possibility that Sakura’s new friend was a Windmire, but he supposed it made sense. He’d forgotten about the youngest sibling since she was the grade below him and they’d never had classes together or anything.

It was almost cute watching them; It reminded him a lot of his relationship with Sakura. That didn’t mean Leo wasn’t still a complete asshole, but he supposed even assholes had their moments.

Ryoma finally came down the hall, backpack slung over one shoulder and spinning his keys around his finger.

“Who are your friends?”

“We aren’t friends.” He and Leo said it in unison. Ryoma raised and eyebrow, and Sakura giggled.

“W-We’re just working on a project.” He finished lamely.

His brother shrugged his shoulders, but he was glaring daggers at Leo already. It wasn’t angry, more like don’t you dare fuck with my little brother, asshole. Leo shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

“Alright, well let’s get home.”

He’d never really felt self-conscious about his house before. It wasn’t the biggest, and it certainly wasn’t the nicest. He’d known Hinata and Oboro for so long that none of it mattered because… Well it never had before. He didn’t know much about Leo, but this stuck up pretty boy was probably used to nicer stuff.

Mama couldn’t work because she didn’t have an Alpha to sign off on it. Papa made pretty good money, but after he died they had to cut back and make do on the insurance money. They only owned one car since Mama only left to do errands, and she could do those once they got home from school.

Their house was a standard split-level with three bedrooms and a basement. He and Sakura actually shared a room, and Ryoma and Hinoka did the same. Mama took the smallest room and his older siblings had the master bedroom. The basement was a general family room, with a nice but old flat screen TV, an old Nintendo that he’d found for twenty bucks at a neighbor’s garage sale, and a big sectional couch. The upstairs had a much smaller TV and couch that Mama mainly used to watch the news. Or to stop arguments when everyone wanted to watch something at the same time.

The nicest piece of furniture they owned was probably their dining table. Mama had been saving up for a new one for years because the old one was too small for a family of five, and she liked it when they all ate together. Plus, one or more of their friends usually came over for dinner more often than not and she liked entertaining company. It made the small space a little cramped but Mama always made sure it was clean and overall it was pretty cozy.

They all kicked their shoes off, and Takumi tried not to look at their guests faces when they stepped inside. He wasn’t sure if he could stop himself from punching Leo in the face if he got condescending about it.

“Come on. We can work on our project in my room. Sakura, are you and Elise okay in the living room?”

“Y-Yeah no problem!”

It would be a little too cramped in their small space with four people in there. Usually when they did homework they all set up on the dining room table and did it together. But he didn’t want to disturb Ryoma and Sakura since he and Leo would probably be pretty distracting with their talking.

Mama greeted them at the top of the stairs.

“Perfect timing. Ryoma dear can you give me the keys? I need to go grocery shopping.”

“They’re in the key bowl by the door.”

“Great!” She looked over their two guests. “Are you two going to be staying for dinner?”

“Oh, right! Mama this is Leo, and that’s Sakura’s friend Elise.”

“Nice to meet you Missus Shirasagi.” Leo extended a hand for her to shake.

“Please, you can just call me Mikoto.”

“I don’t know how long Leo and I will be working on our project, but Elise will definitely be here for dinner.”

“Alright I’ll buy a little extra then!” That went without saying, though. Mama always bought extra for guests. She grabbed the keys and headed out, and Takumi led Leo down the hall to his room.

“Takumi!” Ryoma called out to him from the living room.

“What?”

“Leave the door open!”

“Ryoma!” He could feel his face heating up. Gods, like he would ever do anything with this guy!

He left the door open anyways, mostly because it was better than having Ryoma randomly barge in and “need something” like he always did if Takumi shut the door.

There wasn’t a whole lot of room to spread out. Most of the space was taken up by two twin beds. Their room was about ten feet wide, and there was about four feet of open space between the beds. They each had their own nightstand, and there was a dresser shoved in the closet. It was a pretty wide closet, but they had to share. Three of the four dresser drawers belonged to him, but two thirds of the closet belonged to Sakura because she owned so many dresses.

All in all, it was pretty obvious what belonged to whom in the room. Sakura had a lot of decor of her namesake: Her lampshade and bedspread both featured cherry blossom patterns, and she had a variety of little bobbles including a little glass cherry blossom tree that Mama made for her by hand. She also had a few canvasses hanging from the walls with several different designs, one of which featured cherry blossoms once again. Most of it wasn’t her choice, it was just what people bought her for birthdays and Christmas. It was a good thing she liked pink.

His side was a little plainer decor-wise. In addition to his bed and nightstand he also had a bookshelf that was overflowing with books on history and philosophy. There were so many that he’d begun stacking them on top of the shelf as well. On top of those books an old Shogi board was perched, just in case any of his siblings ever wanted to play with him again. They had a few other board games on the top shelf of the closet. Sometimes they had game nights on the weekend, but for the most part they went untouched. His bow and a quiverfull of arrows were currently leaning in the space between the nightstands. He didn’t really have anywhere else for it, since his kendo equipment was underneath the bed and there was no more room in the closet.

“Sorry it’s not very big.” He dropped his backpack on his bed and pulled out his laptop. Mama bought them all the same cheap little chromebook one year for Christmas when they were on sale. It wasn’t the best, but it got the job done.

Leo just shrugged and followed suit. His laptop was bigger, but it also looked pretty old. He brought out the charger as well.

“Got an outlet somewhere? The battery on this damn thing is burnt out.”

Once they were finally set up on the floor he pulled the assignment sheet back out of his folder.

“Alright, looks like we have to discuss the fallout after the civil war. Three pages, double spaced, yadda yadda. And a presentation to the class.”

“You haven’t even read the assignment yet?”

“When was I supposed to read it? Izana gave it to us at the end of class, and I wasn’t going to read it over during gym class!”

“Gods I’m going to fail.” The Alpha muttered under his breath.

“Hey!” Takumi growled. “Would you stop treating me like I’m some ditz! I’m trying to get an A too, you know! So just start the damn powerpoint and I’ll start the paper.”

He flipped his textbook open to the relevant chapter and started scanning for information.

The Alpha sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I’m just used to my partners slacking.”

Well of all the things he’d been expecting, he certainly hadn’t seen an apology coming.

“I-It’s fine. Let’s just get this done so I can actually enjoy this weekend.”

They worked for a solid hour, only talking to ensure that their points matched up. He was probably a third of the way done with the rough draft of their paper, and Leo was about half done with the powerpoint when they were interrupted by Elise entering the room.

“Leeeeooo!” She called from the door.

“What is it, Elise?”

“Can you help me with math?”

“Have you done all of the problems you can solve?”

“Yep! And Sakura helped me with some, but there are a couple we can’t get.”

“And you finished your other subjects?”

“Uh huh! We did those first.”

“Alright, I’ll come help you in a few minutes.”

“Okay!” She skipped back down the hall and sat down with Sakura at the dining room table.

Leo shut his laptop and shoved his books back into his backpack.

“I thought you wanted to get this project done?”

The blonde rolled his eyes. He was just now noticing, but had they always been that color? Or was the dim light in his room playing tricks on his eyes? He hadn’t really been paying attention, but he swore he would have remembered such vivid red eyes.

“This is exactly why I start projects when they’re assigned. We don’t have to do it all today.”

He left all of his things on the floor of Takumi’s room and headed back out into the main living area.

Takumi had managed to get all of his homework done in class today. He was pretty bored in geometry, so he usually did the homework as he was taking notes. Plus with ninety minute classes their teacher usually gave them half of that time for homework. His language class usually made it a point not to assign any homework, and their history class assigned the project in lieu of any real homework. So he decided to take his laptop into the living room and start picking out a movie for tonight. Ryoma had disappeared to somewhere, probably over to Saizo’s house to hang out.

He was actually currently stealing his good friend’s netflix, and with October on the horizon most of the queue was horror movies. It was just easier to stay logged in since they usually hung out at his house. Hinata didn’t usually mind, as long as he didn’t hog it or remove things from his list.

Elise and Sakura really only had two math problems they couldn’t get on their own, and once Leo walked them through the first one they didn’t even need help on the second. He got the sense that this was something Leo did a lot, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t impressed by it. Maybe he wasn’t as stuck up as everyone seemed to imply.

“So,” The Alpha finally spoke directly to him. He’d been so focused on his computer that it startled him. “You like horror movies?”

He shuddered at the thought. Horror movies always made his nightmares so much worse. “No, actually. This is my friend’s account. I take it you do?”

“Mhmm. That’s too bad, I know a few good ones you might enjoy.”

“… Nothing too scary?”

“I suppose that depends on your definition of scary.”

“Hmm… Well I don’t do paranormal. Hard no on anything paranormal. I also don’t really like monsters or ghouls or anything like that.”

“Home invasion?”

“Yeah I think I could do that.” If he were being honest he would have said not in a million years, but he also didn’t want to seem like a complete wuss.

He grinned. “I have the perfect movie. Do you want to watch it on my laptop?”

“W-What? You mean, right now?”

He shrugged. “I’m here, and obviously we’ve both already checked out of this project for today. Besides, I don’t want to leave in case Elise needs me for something else.”

Just then he was saved by the bell – or rather, his mother.

“Takumi! Come help me get the groceries in!”

He hopped up and ran to the car, thankful to get out of that conversation. Maybe he wouldn’t have to watch a horror movie after all.

“Would you like some help with those?” Leo asked, indicating the bags she was carrying. She handed them off to him gratefully and he finished getting them into the kitchen. Then Leo helped him bring in the few bags from the car, and they were done in one trip. He tried to help put things away, but Mama shooed him back out into the living room.

Leo was standing by, waiting for him to get done.

“So, how about it?”

“I don’t know if we have time for a movie. Mama when is dinner?”

“Oh don’t worry about it sweetie. There’s plenty of time for a movie.”

Fuck. Looks like he was doing this.

“Alright, sure. Sakura will probably want the basement so she can get ready for her sleepover, so we can watch it in my room.”

With Ryoma out he could finally shut his door. It wasn’t that he wanted to do anything, he just liked having the privacy. Leo set his laptop up on the bed.

“Turn off the lights.”

“W-What?”

“Come on, it’s a horror movie. You have to set the mood!”

He flicked the lights off and sat down. He tried to keep a respectable distance, but it was hard when they were watching on a laptop. They had three or four inches between their shoulders at best.

It was a little weird, if he was being honest. He’d never had an Alpha on his bed unless it was Hinata or Oboro. He hadn’t realized how weirdly intimate it was until he was sitting with the blonde. His heart was racing, though that was probably just from the movie. Though, by the end of it he was actually clinging to Leo’s arm and hiding his face in the sleeve of the blonde’s hoodie.

They were nearing the end of the movie. By now there had been a few tense moments of this woman trying to escape her would-be killer, and a few jump scares to set his nerves on edge. She was trying to crawl back in her window while the killer chased her, and he had to stop himself from shouting go, go, go, go!

The door to his room slammed open and he screamed. Not a yelp or a cry of surprise, he actually yelled out in terror and hid his face behind the Alpha’s shoulder.

“Takumi?” It was just Ryoma. Apparently he hadn’t been as gone as Takumi thought him.

“Gods, Ryoma! You scared the shit out of me!”

“My apologies. I just wanted to know if you needed anything.”

“Yeah! A new damn pair of underwear! Geez Ryoma, can’t I have the door closed for five minutes without you barging in!”

His brother put his hands up in surrender. “Alright, alright. Finish your movie, mother said that dinner will be ready soon.

As soon as he backed out Leo chuckled. “I didn’t think you would be that scared by this movie!”

“I-I wasn’t scared! He just surprised me is all!” He scooted away from Leo and drew his knees up to his chest.

“Of course, obviously.” Leo nodded. “Alright pay attention. We’re almost at the end.”

They very end of the movie was more action packed and didn’t have as many jump scares, so it was a little easier to get through. She managed to fight off her attacker and call the police in the end. And hey, the cat didn’t even die. When the credits started rolling Leo shut his laptop.

“So, what did you think?”

“The entire plot of this movie could have been avoided if this woman just owned a landline.”

“That’s… Exactly what I always say.”

There was an awkward lull in the conversation. After a moment he finally responded again.

“W-We should get to the dining room. Mama is probably waiting for us.”

He reached for the light, but in the dark he didn’t see the stack of books hanging a few inches over the edge of his bookshelf. He accidentally bumped them and brought the entire pile down.

“Shit!” He muttered. He managed to flick the light on. Only five or six books ended up on the ground, and he quickly picked them up and re-stacked them on the shelf.

“The Stranger?” Leo picked the top paperback off the stack and flipped it over.

“Well aren’t you nosy!” He shot back, defensively. Most people that saw his book collection automatically labelled him a huge nerd, including his older siblings.

“I’ve been trying my hardest not to snoop, but it’s kind of hard not to notice when you’re a complete klutz and knock over piles of books. Besides, it’s one of my favorites, I couldn’t help bringing it up.”

“I actually haven’t finished it yet.” He admitted. “Nihilism isn’t really my thing, and I can’t stand the main character!”

“Really? I think it leans more absurdist myself. How far did you get?”

“Uh, I think I was about half way through part one.”

“You should try again. I promise you won’t be disappointed.”

He took the book from the Alpha and tossed it on his nightstand.

“You know, for a pretty boy you’re kind of a dork.”

He was into philosophy and history? What was next? Would Leo tell him that he’s on the school’s chess team?

“I could say the same of you, Takumi.”

Wait, did Leo just call him pretty? Did he just call Leo pretty? To his face? Oh gods, like he needed another reason to go red as a tomato. He hurried past the Alpha and took his seat at the table with the rest of his family and Elise. There were seven places set at the table. Ryoma was sitting on one end, Mama on the other, and Elise, Sakura, and Hinoka on one side. That left two places on the other for he and Leo to sit. He took his usual seat nearest Mama, but Leo hung back a moment. He checked his watch.

“Actually I think it’s time I headed home.”

He wasn’t about to stop Leo, though he was a little disappointed. He’d just found out that they had so much in common, and he’d been kind of hoping that they could chat more.

“Please stay for dinner at least! Sakura was just telling me about how helpful you’ve been, it’s the least I can do.”

He looked conflicted, but he ultimately sat down.

“Thank you, ma’am.”

Mama smiled at him, then leaned over and whispered conspiratorially in his ear.

“Is this the boy you’ve been complaining about? He’s so polite!”

“Mama please!” His face was already red enough from that earlier pretty boy comment.

“So, Leo.” Oh gods. Ryoma was going to do this to him? Tonight? “You’re working on a project with Takumi?”

“That’s right.”

“Uh huh. How’s your GPA?”

“Ryoma…” He muttered under his breath.

“I have a perfect GPA, actually.”

“Good, good… Because, you know, my brother doesn’t waste his time with stupid men.”

“Ryoma!” He growled. Mama patted him on the arm.

“Now come on Ryoma, he’s our guest. There’s no need for this.” Yet. He could hear it in her voice. Gods, had his entire family gone crazy?

The rest of dinner went pretty normally, aside from Ryoma’s incessant what-are-your-intentions-with-my-brother grilling. When it was over he helped Mama clear the table, and Leo excused himself.

“I really must get going.”

“Do you live far? I can drive you home, if you’d like?” Mama called out from the kitchen. She was in the middle of doing the dishes, and Ryoma was helping her dry.

“It’s not far.” He answered quickly. “Really, I’d prefer to walk.”

“Alright. It was nice meeting you!”

Ryoma was just glaring daggers at him over her shoulder. Takumi pushed him toward the stairs and followed him into the entryway.

“Uh, sorry about him.”

Leo just shrugged. “Believe me, I’ve seen worse. Why don’t we get together on Sunday to finish the project?”

“Y-Yeah, sure. Sounds good.”

“I’ll text you.”

He headed out and Takumi shut the door behind him. It was still pretty warm out, but he hoped Leo didn’t have to walk too far. It was starting to get dark, and it looked like it might rain later that night.

All in all he was no longer absolutely dreading seeing Leo again. Hell, he was a completely different person than he usually was in school! He’d even called Mama ‘ma’am’!

He headed back upstairs to see if any more help was needed. Sakura and Elise had long since retreated into the basement to get things set up, and Hana and Effie would probably be there soon.

“Your friend seemed nice.” Mama was just finishing up the dishes and wiping her hands on a nearby towel.

“I don’t like him.” Ryoma slammed a plate down in the cupboard a little harder than usual.

He rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to like him, Ryoma. We’re just doing a class project together. Besides, he hates me anyways.”

It was true. Just because he was polite didn’t mean he liked Takumi. He was probably just minding his manners for once.

“Oh I don’t know about that, sweetie. The two of you seemed to get on just fine.” She had this glint in her eye.

“I told you, Mama, it’s not like that.”

“Good.” Ryoma muttered under his breath.

Gods, what a pain! He loved his brother, but he could be too overprotective sometimes. Heck, he still glared daggers at Hinata, and they’d been friends since they were five!

“I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

He spent the rest of the night watching dumb youtube videos to try and shake the horror movie from his mind.

_____________

Saturday went by pretty uneventfully. He and Hinata went to kendo practice in the morning and then they spent the rest of the day bumming around the park while the weather was still warm. Then later that night Oboro came over for their regular movie night.

Hinata hooked his laptop into the TV and started flicking through the movies. He and Oboro were already sitting on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn between them.

“So how did working on your project with Mister Prissy-pants go yesterday?”

“Actually, not terribly. It was, uh, actually kind of fun.”

Both of his friends stopped what they were doing and looked at him.

“Woah, hold the phone. You had fun. With Leo?”

“I mean… Look, he was still kind of a dick but I don’t know. We have a lot in common, and he was actually really sweet with Mama and his sister.”

Hinata whistled. “Well looks like it’s the end of the world everybody. Oboro, do you still have that zombie invasion action plan we wrote up?”

She shoved him. “Who said it was going to be a zombie invasion?”

“Who said it wasn’t?”

He was thankful that they didn’t push the subject, at least. Mama had been giving him that look ever since and Ryoma kept pulling him aside to have the talk. Just the memory of it made him shudder, and he was glad that Hinoka needed him for something before he could really get into it.

“I know you don’t like them, but can we please watch a horror movie? I know of a really good zombie flick now that you mention it!” Hinata urged.

Zombie movies, strangely enough, didn’t really bother him. Maybe because he knew how unlikely a zombie apocalypse was, and most of the movies were pretty bad anyways.

“Fine. But no more until Halloween!”

He started playing the movie and sat down on the couch next to Oboro. They were only about ten minutes in when he got distracted by a text from Leo.

Hey, sorry but I’m not going to be able to meet tomorrow.

What? Why?

Some family stuff came up. Sorry, we can talk about it more on Monday?

Alright, just don’t go tanking my grade with your slacking.

“Hey!” Oboro snapped her fingers. “Eyes on the screen!”

“Sorry, sorry!” He shut his phone off and set it aside.

He was a little disappointed. Maybe Leo got scared off by his family after all? But still, they could have met up at the library or something. He just hoped his overbearing brother wasn’t about to be the reason he failed a class.

______________

After awhile he started wondering what exactly came up to stop Leo from working on their project. Just three days ago he’d been so insistent that they get the project done immediately, but now he was delaying?

Though, it didn’t take him long to figure out what had happened. He walked into third period, and the first thing he noticed was the blonde in the second row. His left eye was swollen and bruised up. Takumi took his seat and set his backpack down.

“Geez, what happened?”

“Oh this? It’s nothing.” He brushed it off. He didn’t seem interested in talking about it, so he dropped it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t pleasant.

“… Did you want to get the rest of this project done today? I was thinking we could go to the library after school.”

“Yeah, sure. Sound’s good.”

He couldn’t pay attention for the rest of class. He knew it wasn’t any of his business, but he couldn’t help speculating. What the hell happened? Heck, he wouldn’t be at all surprised if Ryoma hunted him down after he left their house. Not that it’d happened, he could think of plenty of people that would want to punch Leo in the face.

______________

They decided to head to the library separately after school. Takumi arrived first. It was a pretty big library, and they’d agreed to meet near the back. There was a section specifically designed for teens to hang around in. There were a few tables, some computers, and a couple of board games, TVs, and even a game console. He didn’t usually come back to this section, but it was the most recognizable one so he’d picked it on a whim.

He was currently sitting at the chess table they had back there. He didn’t really have anything to do until Leo got there, and his phone was running low on battery so he was absentmindedly moving the pieces around.

There wasn’t really anyone else around, so he perked up immediately once Leo came in.

The Alpha nodded at the board. “You play?”

“Oh gods, you are a chess nerd. I knew it.”

Leo shrugged and dropped his backpack on the ground next to his chair. “My father used to play with me when I was a kid.”

“That’s nice.”

“Yeah, it was… Do you want to play a game?”

“Sure, but I’m not that good. I prefer shogi.”

“Show-gee? Is that like chess?”

“Yeah, a bit.”

As it turned out, Leo was quite good. He won pretty easily, and as much as he wanted to let his competitive spirit out he pushed his chair out and moved to one of the tables.

“You don’t want to play another game?”

“Oh believe me, I’m going to kick your ass in the future. But Mama wants me home for dinner so we should probably work on the project.”

They managed to finish up their project over the next two hours of working. He finished the paper, Leo finished the powerpoint, and then they swapped to proof read. He was pretty happy with the work overall, but he did veto some of Leo’s color choices for the slides.

When they were done he packed up his things, and Leo did the same.

“Would you like me to walk you home?”

He didn’t live too far from the library. It was about half way between their high school and his house. All together it would be about a fifteen minute walk from there to his house, but Mama and Ryoma wouldn’t usually let him walk anywhere by himself. They lived in an okay neighborhood, but they definitely bordered on a bad part of town. Another fifteen minutes of walking past his house and there was nothing but ramshackle ranch houses and trailers. He’d originally planned to call up Ryoma or Hinoka to get a ride, but it was a nice day, and if he had Leo with him…

“Are you sure? I can get a ride?”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s on my way.”

“Y-Yeah, sure.”

It would be nice to get some time to talk without his family or school projects getting in the way. He was vaguely aware of the fact that he was actually starting to like Leo. But hey, how couldn’t he? It was like someone reached into his head, pulled out all of his favorite things, and stuffed them into the body of a tall, pretty Alpha. And those eyes? Gods, those piercing, red eyes. It almost wasn’t fair.

He found out that they had even more in common on the walk home. His favorite food was beef stew, which was kind of like a soup. Though it was second only in his heart to tomatoes. Takumi had brought up the subject accidentally, and Leo had begun rambling on about them.

“… And when you bite into them! Gods it’s divine!”

“Woah, hold up. You eat raw tomatoes?”

“Yes, don’t you?”

“No. Actually, I don’t think anyone does.”

“You’re missing out.”

He scrunched up his nose. “Gross.”

Leo gently nudged him as they walked. “Hey, don’t make fun. Someday I’m going to have a garden full of just tomato plants. Then you’ll see.”

Takumi pushed him back, just a little harder. “Don’t be such a weirdo, then!”

Those fifteen minutes almost went by too fast, and before he knew it they were standing at his front door. He didn’t really want to say goodbye, but Ryoma would probably just embarrass the hell out of him, and if he didn’t come home for dinner Mama would be upset.

“So I’ll uh, see you in class tomorrow?”

“Couldn’t miss it if I wanted to.” He answered dryly. It was one of those jokes that wasn’t really a joke, the kind Takumi couldn’t help laughing at.

Leo waited for him to get inside the house before he left.

“Takumi? I thought you were going to call for a ride? You didn’t walk home alone, did you?”

“No Mama, Leo walked with me.”

“Really, he did?”

He rolled his eyes. “He was just being polite. He said it was on his way anyways.”

“Is it?”

He shrugged. He’d just taken Leo’s word for it but he didn’t check to see if the Alpha had turned back the way they came or not.

“I’m going to finish up the rest of my homework. Do you need anything?”

“No I’m fine dear. Dinner in an hour.”

Ryoma and Sakura had long since finished their homework, but Hinoka was still sitting at the dining room table when he put his backpack down. She’d probably just walked home from practice and taken a shower – Mama always made her take a shower before dinner so she didn’t stink up the place.

He loved Hinoka, but he didn’t really get to spend that much time with her. Once she got to high school most of her free time was spent either at practice or hanging out with her teammates. That, and she and Ryoma were quite close. Pretty much anything he shared with her got passed on to his brother, whether he wanted it to be or not. He supposed it made sense, he was far closer to Sakura and they were far closer to each other, but it made it much harder to relate to her.

“So…” She opened up the conversation. “Leo?”

“Oh gods, not you too!”

“Hey, I’m not judging! I think it’s great that you’re getting along! He’s a good kid.”

“He’s sixteen, he’s not a kid. And how would you know what he’s like?”

She shrugged. “Just the impression I got from him at dinner. And sometimes his sister helps out at bake sales and things for the team. She talks about him a lot.”

He did vaguely recall a busty, purple haired Alpha coming by a few times in the past to see Hinoka. She hadn’t been around long enough for him to register the connection, but now that he thought about it he did hear quite a bit about Camilla. Mostly jealous rumors from the girls in his grade, or the guys bemoaning how she only ever seemed to flirt with other girls.

“Well you don’t have to go running to Ryoma. Like I told him, we’re just doing our class projects together.”

“Alright little brother. I believe you.”

_______________

The due date for their first project came and went. They got an A, obviously, and strangely enough Takumi couldn’t wait for the next one. He and Leo worked well together, and it was nice having a project partner that didn’t distract the hell out of him for once.

In the meantime, they started spending more and more time together. In addition to his Saturday movie nights with Hinata and Oboro, he and Leo had a Friday movie night now too. Sometimes they watched them in his room, sometimes the basement. They’d begun switching off between B horror movies and terrible sci-fi flicks. Sometimes they didn’t watch a movie at all, they just played video games or a board game or just talked.

It was a few days before Thanksgiving, so they’d decided to have their movie night after school on that Tuesday instead. Though they’d never gotten around to picking a movie. His computer was lying a few feet away, HDMI cable plugged in and idling on the Netflix home screen.

He was lying down on one end of the couch, knees bent, and Leo was on the other. Their legs were just barely close enough to touch.

“What do you guys do for Thanksgiving?”

“Nothing really.”

“Really? Nothing?”

“Father hates holidays.”

“Your father sounds like a dick.”

The Alpha snorted. “You don’t know the half of it.”

He’d been wondering for awhile. Leo never talked about his family, or at least he didn’t talk about his dad. Over the past few months he’d been slowly piecing some things together, but the picture was still frustratingly incomplete.

“… Hey Leo?”

“Yeah?”

“You remember that black eye you had a few months ago?”

“What about it?”

“… How did you get it?”

He immediately regretted asking. Leo sat up, and Takumi mirrored him.

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

Leo just shrugged. “Why bother hiding it? My father isn’t exactly the most even tempered guy. He kind of flipped his lid when Elise came home that Saturday morning. Kept ranting about how she was whoring around with Alphas – I guess he smelled your siblings on her. I tried to stop him from throwing her out.”

“Oh… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It is what it is.”

Takumi scooted closer to him. He didn’t really know what to say, so he did what he always did when one of his siblings was upset. He hugged him. The Alpha seemed surprised, but he didn’t pull away.

Leo smelled nice. Like a forest on a sunny, warm day. Like dirt and grass and… honeysuckle? It was a lot to take in at once. And he was so warm and his skin was so soft…

Footsteps pounded down the stairs, and he pushed the Alpha away quickly just before Ryoma could see them. Leo scooted back quickly and he turned to his computer screen so Ryoma wouldn’t suspect anything.

“Are you two doing okay down here?”

“Get out of here, Ryoma! Mama told you not to bug us!”

He was trying to hide his blushing face from his brother, but it was a losing battle. He might have been mistaken, but he thought he saw a small tint to Leo’s cheeks too.

“As long as the two of you are… getting along.” He gave Leo the I hope you aren’t fucking around down here look before he went back upstairs. Gods, he was only fifteen, why did Ryoma not trust him to keep his hormones in check?

“A-Anyways… Do you want to spend Thanksgiving here? I’m sure Mama won’t mind, she always makes too much food.”

“You don’t have to be nice to me just because of my father.”

“It’s not because of that! I would have invited you, anyways. Geez, who doesn’t have a holiday celebration?”

“… I’ll think about it. And thanks for the offer.”

______________

He’d been friends with Hinata and Oboro for a long time. They were both Alphas, but he’d never felt anything special for them. He’d never gotten butterflies in his stomach thinking about them, and he’d never spent hours going through his closet to find the right outfit before he saw them. But here he was, Thanksgiving morning, doing exactly that.

He tried to justify it. Well we’ve never had guests before. At least, no guests that weren’t Hinata, Oboro, or one of his siblings’ friends.

But then wasn’t Leo just one of his friends, too?

Mama was okay with him coming over, just like he knew she would be. Ryoma was less than thrilled, something about how he was “too young to be dating”. Whatever, he’d get over it. He and Leo weren’t even dating. He wasn’t even sure if the Alpha liked him.

He pulled at least five things out of the closet and laid them over the bed. He was staring at them hopelessly when Sakura came into the room. She was already dressed for the day in an oversized orange sweater-dress and some plain black leggings. She even had a pair of matching orange slippers and a matching headband and gods he’d never envied girls for having so many cute clothing options, but he was right now.

“A-Are you trying to look good for Leo?”

“Help.”

He’d never in a million years admit to crushing on someone to his older siblings, but Sakura was different.

“J-Just be yourself! I’m s-sure he likes you just the way you are!”

“Yeah, but I still want to look nice! But I also don’t want to look like I’m trying to look nice, you know?” He’d been wearing sweatpants and plain v-neck t-shirts the last couple of times they’d hung out. He couldn’t help himself, it’d been Friday! That was his comfy day!

“A-Alright, let me see what I can do.” She giggled.

It wasn’t too far off what he’d normally wear, in the end. She pulled out one of his usual black v-necks and a pair of jeans, but she also managed to dig out an old button down that he was pretty sure he’d gotten as a hand-me-down from Ryoma. The sleeves were a little long, so he just rolled them up to the elbows and left the front unbuttoned.

The only accessory he really owned an extensive collection of was hair ribbons. Mama usually bought him the same thing for every birthday or Christmas: A book and a hair ribbon. He loved both, so he wasn’t complaining. Sakura found a plain orange one to match the Thanksgiving theme and he quickly tied his hair up with it.

With that all sorted, they spent most of the rest of the day cooking with Mama while Ryoma and Hinoka cleaned up. They didn’t really do the traditional American thanksgiving, instead Mama tried to cook everyone’s favorite foods. There was almost always miso soup for him, salmon for Ryoma, and pickled vegetables for Hinoka along with rice, duck, a salad, and some stir-fried vegetables. She also made tea, and Sakura’s favorite mochi for dessert.

It was a pretty big task to cook it all, and they always had a ton of leftovers. Mama joked that she was glad they were finally old enough to help her out, since she used to do all of it by herself.

Hinoka popped her head in around four o’clock.

“How many places should we set?”

“Hmm… I think we’ll be having nine?”

“Nine? Who all is coming?”

“Well there’s the five of us, Leo and Elise makes seven… And since they’re coming I told them to just invite their whole family, so Xander and Camilla makes nine.”

He heard Ryoma groan from the living room. “You invited Xander?”

“Well I wasn’t going to invite everyone but Xander! That would be rude, Ryoma!” She yelled back.

He’d considered inviting Oboro and Hinata as well, but Oboro was travelling to visit family this year and Hinata’s parents were inviting over some relatives so he had to be at home. Plus, he’d avoided having Leo meet his friends thus far. Not that he was embarrassed of them or anything, he just wasn’t sure how well they’d all get along.

Everyone arrived around five, and he ran down to get the door before Ryoma could jump at it. Only Camilla, Leo, and Elise were at the door, and the eldest was holding a bottle of something. It was lightly snowing outside, so he ushered them in quickly.

“Thank you so much for inviting us, dear!” She handed over the bottle.

“Yeah, no problem. Make yourselves at home.” He hung their coats up on the nearby coat rack. Camilla and Elise ran upstairs, but Leo hung back with him.

He pulled the bottle out of the bag to get a better look at it.

“Sake? Where did you guys even get this?” As far as he knew, none of them were of age. Well, Xander might be eighteen, but he wasn’t there.

“Father won’t miss one bottle. He doesn’t even like sake, it’s just been sitting around the house.”

He shrugged. Mama sometimes drank sake, and usually she would let them have a taste around the holidays. He just put it on the kitchen counter and started getting down the serving dishes for the food. Camilla wandered in a few minutes later.

“Is there anything at all I can help with?”

He’d never seen an Alpha offer to help with kitchen stuff, but there was a first time for everything. Ryoma and Hinoka would usually help out, but only if directly asked.

“Oh don’t worry about it. You’re a guest! Besides, we’re almost done here. Just go take a seat, dinner will be in a few minutes.”

He caught a few snippets of conversation as he and Sakura carried dishes out to the table. Mainly Hinoka and Camilla discussing what the baseball season would look like come spring. Ryoma occasionally added to the conversation, but overall it was nothing he was too interested in. Elise must have been in the bathroom, and Leo was boredly sitting at the table. It didn’t take long to get everything on the table, so when it was all ready he took his usual seat next to Leo.

“Won’t Xander be joining us?”

“I’m afraid he had to work, actually.” Camilla answered. Mama took the empty plate away and he, Leo, and Hinoka all shifted over a little to make things even. He ended up sitting directly across from Sakura, Leo was in front of Elise, and Hinoka was facing Camilla.

“This all looks wonderful ma’am! I hope you had some help!” Camilla added as they began passing things around the table.

“Yes, Takumi and Sakura are quite the little chefs now!” She laughed. “I remember when they were little they tried to help cook and they nearly burnt the house down! Little Takumi came sprinting down the hall, hair singed to drag me out of bed… And what do I find in the kitchen? Ryoma and Hinoka standing over a smoking pan and Sakura crying in the corner!”

They all laughed about it now, but he remembered that year all too well. That was the year Papa died. He was maybe five? Mama didn’t get out of bed for weeks unless it was to take care of them, and little seven year old Ryoma thought it might help cheer her up if they cooked for her. Of course they were kids so none of them knew how to cook. It got her out of bed, though. It was easy to laugh at in retrospect, but at the time it had probably shocked her back into being alive and a mother.

But it wasn’t really the time for such discussions, so he laughed along.

“Mama kept the knives out of reach and I wanted to make soup. So I just dumped whole vegetables into a pot of water. Didn’t even turn the stove on. I thought her head was going to explode!”

“Kids just do the strangest things, don’t they?” Camilla added. Though, wasn’t she still a kid herself? “When we were little Elise wanted to play princesses, and unfortunately poor Leo was the only one around at the time. Elise dressed them both up in mother’s clothes and used up every last bit of her makeup! By the end they both looked like something straight out of a clown horror movie!”

“Oh? Is that where the love of headbands stems from?” He teased, nudging Leo’s foot under the table. The Alpha scoffed.

“Coming from the guy with a collection of hair ribbons.”

“Hey, don’t knock ‘em. Do you even know how hard it is to use scrunchies when you have all of this hair?”

“Why not just cut it?”

He mock-gasped. “Blasphemy.”

Leo kicked him playfully under the table, and he laughed.

Thankfully, it ended up being a very bearable holiday. Ryoma didn’t spend half of dinner re-grilling Leo like he usually did when the Alpha came over, and his brother even seemed to get along with Camilla. Plus, after dinner they all went down to the basement to watch dumb holiday movies. It was a pretty big couch, but with eight people was still a squeeze. So, naturally in the interest of making space he had to get as close to Leo as possible.

He wasn’t on top of him or anything, but he was practically glued to his side. They also didn’t have too many blankets in the basement, so he and Leo had to share. About half way through the movie the overwhelming scent of honeysuckle and grass and Leo was starting to get to his head, and he was getting antsy. They didn’t normally sit this close when they were alone, and his Alpha scent was doing very weird things to his hormones.

He started fidgeting with his hands, scratching his nails down the leg of his jeans or tapping his fingers. Leo tapped the back of his hand with his knuckles. He froze, and once he was still the Alpha grabbed his hand and laced their fingers together under the blanket.

He was at a complete loss for words. At no point did Leo’s eyes leave the screen, but he did squeeze his hand when Takumi looked over at him from the corner of his eye. He felt like he was about to explode. Leo was holding his hand. He could have died happy then and there.

When they left he was on top of the moon. Maybe Leo did like him back. He was so giddy he could barely get to sleep.

________________

He was hopeful when he returned to school the following week, but the Alpha didn’t seem keen on acknowledging that anything had happened. He didn’t bring it up, and it certainly didn’t happen again. Even when they were completely alone in his basement.

He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting to happen after Thanksgiving, but it certainly wasn’t nothing. They finished their last two projects together, and they kept their regular Friday night hangouts, but nothing happened.

Tomorrow was their last day before the end of the semester. He and Sakura were already in their pajamas and ready for bed, but they weren’t sleeping just yet. He was lying face down with his head buried in the pillow, and she was sitting on the end of his bed with him.

“I don’t know Sakura, maybe I’m an idiot. I thought he liked me.”

“Maybe he does? I m-mean, he did hold your hand.”

“But that was a month ago! Why hasn’t he done anything else? I thought he’d ask me out or try to kiss me or something, but he’s acting like nothing happened!”

“W-Why don’t you ask him out then?”

“Are you crazy? What if he said no? Gods it’d be so embarrassing!”

“Maybe he’s j-just waiting until the end of the semester?”

He looked up from his pillow. She had a look to her that immediately set something off in his head.

“Sakura… Do you know something?”

She giggled. It wouldn’t be unusual… She was friends with Leo’s little sister, and Elise was becoming notorious for being a bit of a blabber mouth. Sakura got up and scurried back to her bed.

“C-Come on, it’s late. Worry about it t-tomorrow.”

It didn’t make him feel better, but it did give him a little hope.

___________

He waited anxiously for third period. It was the last day of classes before winter break, so most teachers didn’t have anything for them to do. He had his Geometry final in the morning, but that was about it. He hadn’t even bothered studying because even if he completely failed he’d still be getting an A in the class. Third period they were just doing presentations for their final projects, and he and Leo had already presented theirs.

Leo leaned over to him when he sat down in class.

“Hey… Can you wait for me after school? I want to ask you something.”

His heart was already pounding, but now it was doing double time.

“O-Okay.”

The rest of the day couldn’t go by fast enough. He barely even touched his lunch, and Hinata spent the entire time teasing him about his “future boyfriend”. He didn’t want to get his hopes up too high. For all he knew Leo wanted to talk about something completely unrelated.

When the end of the day came he anxiously waited by the exit for Leo. Ryoma still had to drive them home, but he hoped that his brother wouldn’t show up and kill the moment until after Leo had asked him whatever he was going to ask him.

The Alpha was with one of his friends, the white-haired one with the eyepatch. They looked like they were debating something, and eventually Leo gave an exasperated sigh. His friend apparently got his way, at least if his giddy look was any indication. The other Alpha sniggered and pushed the blonde his way.

“Hey, Leo!” He tried to be casual, but his excitement was bleeding through in his voice.

“Hey, uh… Look this is going to sound stupid, but Niles wanted me to ask…”

“Uh huh?”

“I was just wondering…”

“Yeah?” He tried not to get his hopes up, but damn were his hopes up.

Leo sighed.

“How much would it be?”

“For what?”

“For you to blow me in the bathroom.”

He had no words. He just gaped at the Alpha for a minute, and finally stuttered out an “Excuse me?”

Ryoma was less calm about it. He’d apparently been coming down the hall behind Leo, and unfortunately for the blonde Alpha he’d heard the whole thing. His backpack thunked to the ground behind him. Leo’s eyes widened as Ryoma grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around.

“What makes you think that you can talk to my brother like that?”

“W-Woah, hey hold on-”

But he didn’t get to finish his sentence. Ryoma punched him straight in the mouth. Leo recoiled, then bolted in the opposite direction. His brother tried to run after him, but Takumi grabbed him by the arm.

“Ryoma no!”

“You’re just going to let him disrespect you like that? I know you like him, but come on Takumi!”

“He’s not worth it. You only have one semester left until graduation, do you really want to get suspended or worse?”

That seemed to level his head. He took a deep breath, then picked his backpack up off of the floor.

“Come on. We’d better get home before I change my mind.”

The drive home was a quiet one. As soon as they were home he dropped his backpack in the entryway.

“Hey how was school?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” He called over his shoulder and ran up to his room. Mama tried to follow him, but he slammed the door and curled up in bed.

What an asshole! Just when he’d started actually liking Leo, he goes and acts like every other Alpha! Was that all he was to these people? A set of fucking holes? They had so much in common, they’d had so much fun together over the past few months, but all he cared about was getting his knot swallowed? Fuck it, he was never talking to another Alpha ever again. They could all shove it, for what he cared. He’d just die alone.

He’d just resigned himself to wallowing in self-pity when there was a soft knock on the door.

“Not now, Mama.”

She came in anyways and sat down on the end of his bed.

“Ryoma told me what happened. Do you want to talk about it?”

He sat up and let her wrap an arm around his shoulders. He buried his face in her shirt and just let the tears loose.

“I thought he r-really liked me! I’m s-such an idiot!”

“Shh, it’s okay baby. There’ll be other Alphas.”

“They’re all the same! They’re just looking for somewhere to stick their dicks!”

“You’re still young. There’ll be other Alphas. I didn’t meet your father until I was in my twenties.”

“Yeah, but Papa wasn’t awful!”

She let him cry it out, until his chest hurt and his eyes were dry and he was sniffling and hiccuping. It probably took a good three hours, but she didn’t leave his side. She just held him and waited. Only once he’d cried himself dry did she speak up again.

“Why don’t I take you all out for dinner?”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Consider it a reward for your good grades?”

“We haven’t even gotten our report cards back.”

“But I know you all did wonderfully. Come on, it’ll be fun. You can have all the miso soup you want!”

“… Alright. Thanks, Mama.”

He blew his nose and washed his face off. His eyes were still a little red and puffy still, but he grabbed his coat anyways.

Everyone else was already ready to go. Ryoma must have filled them in too because Sakura ran over and gave him a hug as soon as he got to the living room.

They almost always went to the same restaurant when they went out for dinner. It was a little Japanese place on the other side of town. Mama liked to go there sometimes because that was where she and Papa met when she used to waitress there. The food was pretty good, and they ran special all-you-can-eat sushi deals so they could get a lot for pretty cheap. Plus, Mama got a discount.

Everyone tried their best to keep it light. He ate about five bowls of miso soup, and by the end of it he was feeling a lot better. He even managed to smile at a few of Hinoka’s dumb jokes.

By the time they were done it was snowing pretty hard outside, and it took them awhile to get home in the blizzard. It was already pitch black outside, but when they pulled up to the house there was someone sitting clearly on their front stoop. He caught a flash of blonde hair as their lights went past, and he heard Ryoma swear from the front seat.

“That bastard!”

Mama pushed him inside the house as soon as they were in the garage. Takumi tried to follow her, but she stopped him.

“Just go talk to him, sweetheart.”

“But Mama–”

“I understand, just ask if he wants a ride home. I’d send your brother to do it but…”

He rolled his eyes and pulled his scarf over his nose. Leo stood up when he saw him come out of the garage. His lip was busted and bloody, and he was shivering but otherwise he seemed fine. He brushed off a fine dusting of snow from his shoulders.

“Takumi I–”

“Don’t.”

“Look, I understand if you don’t want to talk to me, and after I say this I’ll leave if you want me to.”

“Fine. What are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Why would you say that to me in the first place?”

“It was just a stupid dare. I was going to apologize afterwards, but your brother kind of decked me and I wanted to avoid being beaten to a bloody pulp.”

He shook his head. “You don’t get it! It isn’t funny! Do you know how many times I’ve had Alphas seriously say that kind of stuff to me?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that you would be so hurt by it, I thought it would just be a dumb, harmless joke. There’s no excuse, and all I can do is apologize.”

He was shivering like crazy now, and his cheeks and nose were bright red. He must have been standing out there for awhile if he was in such a shape. He knew Alphas ran a little warmer, but Leo’s coat wasn’t very thick to begin with and he didn’t have a hat, gloves, or scarf.

He let out an exasperated sigh and grabbed the Alpha by the wrist.

“You’re going to freeze to death out here, come on.”

He dragged him into the house. Ryoma was already waiting for them in the foyer.

“What is he doing here?”

“Don’t start, Ryoma.”

Takumi pulled him into his room and swapped Leo’s coat out for one of his thick wool blankets. He tossed his own coat and scarf aside and sat down next to the Alpha on the bed.

“… Thank you.”

“You looked so pathetic out there.”

Leo chuckled. “I must have just missed you, I’ve been waiting for an hour.”

An hour? It must have been ten below out there!

He bumped him with his shoulder. “You’re an idiot. Why didn’t you just text me?”

“Because I felt like an ass, and my father took my phone away when he saw the split lip.”

“Still, it could have waited until tomorrow. You could have frozen to death.”

“But I didn’t.”

“No, I guess you didn’t.”

Leo shivered under the blanket. He pulled one half of the oversized blanket over his shoulder and scooted closer. Leo’s skin was cold to the touch, and now that they were in the light he could see his lips had been turning a bit blue. His blonde hair was dripping as the snow melted off of it, but he rested his head on Leo’s wet shoulder anyways.

“Takumi?”

“Yeah?”

“I wanted to ask you something, too. I mean, I meant to ask you something after I completed Niles’s stupid dare.”

His heart was beating out of his chest. “What was it?”

“I wanted to know if you would go out with me? I mean, the theater is doing some showings of old documentaries and I thought you might want to go with me… But I understand if you don’t want to, after all of this.”

“Y-You mean like… On a date?”

“Well… Yes, that was the intention?”

He’d been waiting for this for months now. And, in spite of the events of the day he was still ecstatic.

“… Swear you’ll never talk to me like that again?”

“For as long as I live.”

Leo didn’t hesitate in his response. So, neither did he.

“Alright, but you’re on probation. And you’re buying the popcorn to make it up to me.”

“Of course, I am a gentleman after all.”

“A gentleman that asks Omegas to choke on his dick?”

“Not all Omegas, just the ones I like.”

He laughed in spite of himself.

“Well, good luck getting Ryoma to like you after that one.”

“Baby steps, Takumi. Baby steps.”

[carodrugficrecs]

Chapters: 5/5 Fandom: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers Characters: Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Alexander Pierce, Brock Rumlow, Peggy Carter, Sharon Carter (Marvel), Original Male Character - Father Elliot, Abraham Erskine, assorted extras and shit Additional Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Omega Verse, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dialogue borrowed from CA:TWS, a fuckton of fight scenes, a fuckton of the word fuck, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes Feels, Protective Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers Feels, Alpha Bucky Barnes, Omega Steve Rogers, Roman Catholicism, Heavy Themes, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Flashbacks, not the PTSD kind, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Depression, Steve needs professional help and a hug, Touch-Starved, Sam Wilson is a Gift, BAMF Natasha Romanov, Natasha is bad at matchmaking, She tries, Bucky appears as a figment of Steve's imagination, and in reality, Rape/Non-con Elements, Suicidal Thoughts, sex and grief are major themes in this story, the angst is heavy with this fic, be warned, Prostitution, Project Insight (Marvel), Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, by that i mean this is not smut centered, this is angst centered, Depressive Content, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Propaganda, Steve Rogers is Not a Virgin, Mpreg, is discussed and shown to exist, there's a sex scene at the end that's too sad for it to be smutty, the rating is for violence and depressive content, yes steve's depressed ass required an M rating, bc - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug Series: Part 1 of intertwined, Part 1 of the same story; told different ways Summary:

In the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth. And then God made humans. Some he made Alpha, some Beta, some Omega. There were some that he made for each other. Some were born to gravitate to one another, their hands made to hold, their hearts to love. Sometimes it wasn’t always easy, some loved and lost, or lost before they could love. Some were nudged towards each other as infants and ripped away as soon as adults realized they were two halves of one whole. Some lives are so intertwined, that if one died, it would be too cruel to not let them both go.

Whatever God had made, it wasn’t what the world had taken it to be. In 2011, the frozen body of Captain America was found in the depths of the Arctic, hauled out and thawed. The world waited with baited breath for their favorite hero to smile in thanks for having been saved. The world waited. And waited. Captain America never thanked them. Steve Rogers, who would have rathered stayed dead, cursed them.

In 1945, just a few months after the death of Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers drove the Valkyrie into the ice without a second thought because it was the end of the line. Not because he was a brave Alpha, but because he was a grieving Omega.

[supersoldierslover]

Two Nights Stand Part 10 ( Final part)

Summary: (Modern Au) After a bad breakup, your roommate insists that you need to a one night stand to end your dry spell. Following her advice, you have a bad one night stand with Bucky Barnes, but what happened when you are forced to spend time with him?

Paring: Bucky x Reader

Words: 1895

Warnings: This is vaguely inspired by a movie of the same name. Fluffy loads of fluffy.

A/n: Thanks to @drinkfantasy for being my beta.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

Credits to the gifs owners

You wake up with the sound of people talking, their voices aren’t familiar and you can’t recognize what they are saying but they seem happy. They sure are laughing a lot. You move around still in bed, feeling a strong pair of arms around your waist holding you in place.

When you open your eyes, you see Bucky sleeping beside you with a content smile on his lips. There is no doubt that the last 24 four hours were chaotic, for a moment you felt like you were feeling insane but now it all feels natural.

You gently trace your fingers on Bucky’s jawline, if the last 24 hours were emotional to you, you can’t imagine how it was to him. “Should we wake them up?” You hear a woman asking from outside the room, you hope that the person who she is talking to says no. You are not ready to face anybody, especially after your behavior yesterday. Why did you have to be so awkward?

“Let them rest, they deserve.” A man replies at last and you feel very thankful for him right now. “Ok, but only because they could be naked in there… do you know if they've solved whatever was happening between them?” The woman questions again, she sounds more worried than curious.

“No" The man answers. "But they slept in the same room. This is a good sign, right?” You hide your face on Bucky’s neck, you don’t want to leave this bedroom ever. Here you were safe and happy especially after the conversation you two had yesterday.

“Bucky…” He doesn’t let you finish “Look, this is up to you. I can’t and won’t force you to do anything, but if this was up to me we would go to bed right now. When we wake up, we would have breakfast with my roommates and they would probably tell you embarrassing stories about me. Then I'd drive you home, but not before giving you a goodbye kiss, exchanging phones and inviting you for dinner. However, like I said, this is up to you. So what's going to be?”

Your heart stopped for a moment, you didn't want to say goodbye to him and you can’t. You took a deep breath, looking for the right words “I… would like that very much. Bucky, I am so sorry for what I said before. It wasn’t right to be so cruel, using what happened with Natasha and the baby against you… “

He didn't let you finish, instead he pulled you onto his chest for a hug. “You were tired, confused and hurt. I understand where it was coming from, I know that you didn’t want to hurt me.” You look up staring at his blue eyes, he was a good man “Still, I'm sorry, just because I was hurt doesn’t mean that I have to hurt you too.”

“Don’t worry about it, do you want to go bed?” You nod, there was nothing you wanted more. “Yes, I think I should apologize to your roommates, they must think I'm insane.” He laughs, taking you to bed “They already think that. You like me!" He says playful, laying on the bed he pulls you closer to him.

“Yeah, I do.” You say reassuring him about your feelings.

“Good morning, sweetheart.” Bucky says smiling at you, pulling you on top of him “Morning, Steve and Peggy are always this loud in the morning?” You ask still hiding your face on his chest “They are way worse, they are just behaving now because you are here.”

You two fall in a comfortable silence, his hands explore your back while yours play with his hair. You two exchange a few kisses, trying to prolong this moment as much as you two can. “Do we really have to get up?” He asks, it is like he is reading your thoughts.

“I think we do, I'm starting to get hungry and we… I have to face them.” You get up, fixing your hair in the mirror “You look great, now let’s go rip off the band-aid.” He places his hand on the small of your back, leading you to the living room.

Steve and Peggy on the couch drinking some coffee, they look so in love and comfortable with each other. When Peggy sees you two, she leaves Steve’s arms getting up. “Hey you two, we made coffee and Steve went out and bought some bagels. We weren’t formally introduced, I'm Peggy.” You introduce yourself to her as she hugs you. You are glad for her she making you feel really welcomed.

 “Thank you, Peggy. Please, don’t scare her.” Bucky says before you can say anything “Of course not, I just want to know if she is feeling better.”  You nod, you really are. “Yes, thank you for asking and I'm so sorry about yesterday.” She smiles at you “Don’t worry about it, being 24 hours locked up with Barnes must leave anyone a little insane.”

“Tell me about it.” You say in a playful tone, making Bucky roll his eyes “I'm incredible and the best person to be stuck with in a snowstorm. Everybody knows it!” You laugh, hugging him by the waist. “You were unbearable in the first hour, I was seriously considering being locked in the bathroom until I could go home.”

“I'm glad you didn’t.” He says kissing your forehead. “Yeah, me too.” You give him a peck on the lips “You two are too cute, it's sickening.” Peggy says, making you laugh “Let them be young, they're not an old couple like us, sweetheart.” Steve defends you both, making Bucky smiles.

You stare into his blue eyes, you see happiness and hope.  His expression looks so different from 24 hours ago. “Let’s eat something before they start planning our engagement party.” "It's all done already, buddy.” Steve shouts right before you two get to the kitchen.

When you are alone with Bucky again, you and Bucky fall into a strange dynamic. You two are silent for most of the time, with him watching your moves. It is not uncomfortable but you wonder what is going on in his brain right now.

Maybe he has doubts about what you two talked about or maybe he expects you to back out of this and run away. But you are not going to run away, you are in peace, you know what you two are and that you two are going to try having a relationship outside of these walls.

After you are done eating, you start gathering your things. You can’t believe that is time to say goodbye already, you say your goodbyes to Peggy and Steve and they insist that you should come back again soon. Steve even whispers in your ear that he hopes to see you at his wedding, you don’t know what impression you did on him but it must have been a good one.

“You don’t have to take me home, I can call an uber if you want.” You say as Bucky opens the front door for you, you don’t want to bother him and he must have things to do. “I don’t mind, and if I remember correctly I promised you a ride home.”

You smile as he leads you to the car and opens the door for you. You give him your address, it is a short 20 minutes ride without traffic and after the snow storm, there were not a lot of people in the streets right now.

“Do you believe in fate, destiny or even luck?” Bucky asks taking you away from your thoughts, this is an odd question. One that you have never really stopped to think about, you start to play with your hair thinking about the best way to answer this.

 “I don’t know, Bucky. I don’t think I believe in luck. Luck for me is all about probability, right? And fate or destiny… maybe? Why do you ask?”

He shrugs looking outside his window. “We met by chance, you could have ended up with any other guy on that website and you stayed with me because of the storm.”  For a moment you wonder what could have happened if you had ended up with any other guy and if you would be in the same situation that you are now with Bucky.

You doubt. You and Bucky bonded in a way that you don’t think you could do with anybody else. “So are you saying that the snowflakes are our little matchmakers?” You tease him, you are still trying to understand where he is going with this.

“Kind off, I think this is fate.” He says sheepishly, you look at him and he is blushing. Your heart warms “No, not fate but destiny. I don’t know if I believed in this stuff but if we have to name so it must be destiny.”

“Why?” He asks feeling confused, you laugh because you don’t have any idea how to explain this “Once I read in a book that fate is what happens with doomed people. Fate is for when bad things happens. However, destiny is for lucky people and when good things happen. Be stuck with you is destiny.”

He kisses the palm of your hand, he was indeed a really sweet man when you get to know him. “So destiny it is.” For the rest of the drive, his hand is on your thigh making small circles on it, in short, 10 minutes he is parking in front of your building.

“I don’t know how to say goodbye to you.” He says without moving of his seat, you take his hand squeezing it a bit. “You're not saying goodbye to me, you're still gonna see me. He pulls you into a gentle and sweet kiss making you moan.

This is not a goodbye, he has your phone number and you two already agreed to go to a proper date in the next couple of days. This was the begging of something new, you break the kiss pulling out for air. “I should get in. I feel like we're going to keep kissing until we both freeze to death in my door steps.” You don’t think that this is the worst way to go. 

You open the car door and he walks you through your front door. Before he can say goodbye you kiss him one more time. “Call me or text if you want to talk.” You say hugging him. “I will and I'll probably send you funny selfies. You know, so you won't forget how I look like.”

“As if this is possible. Did you forget all the great sex we had? You are unforgettable... Goodbye, Jaime.” You say playful, he smiles at you kissing your forehead one last before he enters in the car going away,

 You watch as he drives away, you can’t stop smiling you feel so happy right now. When you get in your apartment you see Wanda on the couch drinking hot chocolate “Look who is here!” She says standing up from the couch to hug you “Are you ok? How was your day? Did you enjoy yourself? Tell me everything.”

You nod “Calm down, I will tell you everything. Now give me some hot chocolate because it's a long story.”

Epilogue 

I can’t believe this series is already over, Did you like this part? Would you guys like an epilog? If anyone wants to be added to my tag list just let me know

[ao3feed-stucky]

intertwined

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2EZEvs9

by moonythejedi394

In the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth. And then God made humans. Some he made Alpha, some Beta, some Omega. There were some that he made for each other. Some were born to gravitate to one another, their hands made to hold, their hearts to love. Sometimes it wasn’t always easy, some loved and lost, or lost before they could love. Some were nudged towards each other as infants and ripped away as soon as adults realized they were two halves of one whole. Some lives are so intertwined, that if one died, it would be too cruel to not let them both go.

Whatever God had made, it wasn’t what the world had taken it to be. In 2011, the frozen body of Captain America was found in the depths of the Arctic, hauled out and thawed. The world waited with baited breath for their favorite hero to smile in thanks for having been saved. The world waited. And waited. Captain America never thanked them. Steve Rogers, who would have rathered stayed dead, cursed them.

In 1945, just a few months after the death of Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers drove the Valkyrie into the ice without a second thought because it was the end of the line. Not because he was a brave Alpha, but because he was a grieving Omega.

Words: 6951, Chapters: 1/5, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of intertwined

Fandoms: Captain America - All Media Types

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: M/M

Characters: Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Alexander Pierce, Brock Rumlow, Peggy Carter, Sharon Carter (Marvel), Original Male Character - Father Elliot, Abraham Erskine, assorted extras and shit

Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers

Additional Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Omega Verse, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dialogue borrowed from CA:TWS, a fuckton of fight scenes, a fuckton of the word fuck, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes Feels, Protective Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers Feels, Alpha Bucky Barnes, Omega Steve Rogers, Roman Catholicism, Heavy Themes, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, diet smut, Flashbacks, not the PTSD kind, actually yes the PTSD kind as well, speaking of, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Depression, Steve needs professional help and a hug, Touch-Starved, Sam Wilson is a Gift, BAMF Natasha Romanov, Natasha is bad at matchmaking, She tries, Bucky appears as a figment of Steve's imagination, and in reality, Rape/Non-con Elements, Suicidal Thoughts, sex and grief are major themes in this story

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2EZEvs9

[thesevenseraphs]

Bungie Weekly Update - 8/10/17

This week at Bungie, we’re gearing up for the last mile on the road to launch.

This is real life. For years, we’ve been dreaming about the next adventure you’d take with us in the world of Destiny. For months, we’ve been talking about it. In a matter of weeks, it begins.

These weeks will be fierce. Some of us have a travel schedule that will keep us up in the air longer than a blind Nova Bomb. We have final preparations to make for your arrival. We’re planning an epic celebration. You are the guests of honor. The Red Legion are the party crashers.

The air in our studio is crackling with energy. What excites us as we play final builds of the game at home is that we’ve held so many surprises back for you to experience on your own journey. Today, we’ll pull back the curtain and tell you a little bit about how the things you do know have changed since the Beta.

To Fight. To Crush. To Conquer.

Even if you were able to eliminate every last enemy of humanity from the solar system. There would still be other Guardians who would want to kick your ass.

Whenever you engage your fellow players in the Destiny arena, like you did in the Destiny 2 console Beta, our designers are studying you. They know when you play, how you win, why you lose, and what you have to say about it. They use all that knowledge (in concert with our own playtest war stories) to update an experience that is in flux until we rip it from their talons and press it onto a disc – or a download server.

All of this has happened before. And it will all happen again in the Destiny 2 PC Beta that starts with early access on August 28. Last week, we suggested that the new Beta build will include some changes. Let’s tell you more about the evolutions.

Crucible Design Lead Lars Bakken has some information on how you’ll meet new people in the PC Beta.

Lars: During the console Beta, we learned a lot from the players who entered the Crucible. Some of these learnings will be on display in the PC Beta. Our core goals haven’t changed. We still want to serve all players who love the thrill of competition with fair and fun matches. We have, however, done a bit of work under the hood. One of our goals for Destiny 2 has been to create two different ways to challenge yourself against other players. From this point forward, to allow for more varied experiences between the playlists, matchmaking for Quickplay and Competitive will be tuned separately. Along with some other changes to the rule sets for specific game types, these are the moods we want to cultivate in the new Crucible.

Quickplay

Matchmaking times will be shorter, with less emphasis on Skill. This is the fastest route to a game, but you may face opponents outside of your comfort zone. The winning score in Control has been extended from 75 to 100 to allow for more time to play and use your abilities. Because too many matches were shorter than we expected (some Guardians weren’t even able charge their Super) we’ve extended the trigger for the Mercy rule so it will come into play less often.

Competitive

Matchmaking takes more time to introduce you to players that are closer to you in skill with a good connection. These matchmaking settings may take longer, but we feel that the quality of the gameplay experience will be worth the wait. We have also made improvements to the way we calculate your skill in Countdown to better reflect how you’ll perform against your opponents.

We always use an element of your skill rating when we match you with opponents or teammates, whether in a pre-made Fireteam or going in solo. In all cases, the average rating of the team is taken into account when looking for matches. As always, we’ll be eager to hear from you all about how this feels.

Sandbox Designer Josh Hamrick has notes on how to survive when you come under fire in the PC Beta.

Josh: First, Sandbox would like to give big thanks to everyone who played in the D2 console Beta! I can happily say that a lot of issues you all encountered are things we were tracking. I can even happilyerly say that, because of your hard work and dedication to making D2 awesome, there were a few things you reported that have now been fixed. Seriously, THANK YOU. With the PC Beta coming up, we’ll have another chance to sample the mayhem. This will be an opportunity for you to experience a few tweaks that have been made that will help make for a more enjoyable D2 experience all around. Here’s a list of the major adjustments in the PC Beta.

FIXED: Infinite Super Glitch

Infinite Supers are all well and good until someone loses an eye.

FIXED: Warlock Glide Glitch

This bug was awesome… So awesome it hurt us a little bit to kill it. Thanks to those in the console Beta who helped us track this down.

FIXED: Infinite Grenades Glitch

Another issue found with the help of our friends in the console Beta. (Thank you!)

FIXED: Warlocks now have the same Melee Range as all other classes

With the exception of where perks directly increase their range, Warlocks will punch like the rest of us. Our PC friends will get a chance to experience a world with consistent base melee ranges. So will the rest of you, when the game launches.

TWEAKED: Globally reduced the time it takes to charge your Super

This was a big change that came directly from your feedback during the console beta. We agree it was taking a bit too long to cook up a Super.

TWEAKED: Increased Grenade Damage in PvE

Increased damage helps Grenades feel as powerful as they should facing hordes of alien combatants and, more specifically, makes the longer cooldowns more palatable. We want abilities to be slightly more rare, but worth it. In the console Beta, the “worth it” part wasn’t quite there yet.

TWEAKED: Increased Power Ammo drops in PvE

This is something we had felt internally and have been slowly tuning up over the last several weeks. The PC beta has been updated with our new values and will provide much more heavy ammo in PvE than what was found before. Heavy ammo can also be directly farmed from all Yellow Bar Combatants. Go big, Guardians!

We know you’ll be doing everything in your power to discover shenanigans. Sandbox is optimistic that, with these big changes to the build, the PC Beta will be several steps closer to the game you will find in your hands in (less than) a month from now. We will be playing and watching right alongside you all, ready to document additional issues that you might find along the way. Happy hunting!

Eyes up, Guardians. Even if you’re not equipped with the exotic gadgetry you’ll need to jump into the Destiny 2 PC Beta, you’ll still experience the new state of the Crucible and the Sandbox in the version of the game that we ship to your console on September 6. Like its predecessor, Destiny 2 will adapt and evolve as you play it. We hope you will as well! 

Your Final Trial

Tomorrow will kick off the final Trials of Osiris in the Destiny 1 Crucible. If you think you have what it takes to claim the ultimate victory, pack your bags for one more trip to the Lighthouse. Many of you are probably wondering what the final map will be. We’re going to maintain the ritual of the Friday morning surprise. We’ll announce the map at 10 AM Pacific tomorrow when Trials goes live one last time.

The Right Stuff

The Destiny Operation Center and Destiny Player Support teams are the ones on the front lines of the live game making sure you have the best experience possible. This is their report.

Destiny 2 PC Security: Third-party App CompatibilityLast week, we published an article to prepare players for third party app features that may not be compatible with Destiny 2 on PC. While third party applications will not fully lose functionality during Destiny 2 PC gameplay, features that attempted to insert code into the game will not be compatible. The following are answers to the most frequently asked questions in the #Help forum:

Will these security measures only impact third party applications during the Destiny 2 PC Beta?

No, this will apply to both the Destiny 2 PC Beta and full Destiny 2 PC release on October 24.

How will players monitor FPS performance during gameplay?

Destiny 2 on PC will include an in-game FPS counter.

How will players be able to monitor hardware performance?

Hardware performance monitors will be able to function alongside Destiny 2 PC, but any form of overlay functionality will be restricted.

Will Destiny 2 on PC include a frame rate target option?

Yes, Destiny 2 on PC will include the ability to specify a frame rate upper-limit (via a config file).

Are third-party streaming and communications applications completely broken by this security feature?

No. Players may stream Destiny 2 PC using supported modes within the streaming software (e.g. OBS, XSplit, etc). Communication applications such as Discord and Mumble will work normally except for the overlay of their UI in the game.

Why are streaming, capture or overlay applications being impacted by these security measures?

The methods that some third-party applications use to add features (inserting code into the game client) are the same as some of the methods hackers and cheaters use to disrupt the experience of other players. As a part of our security efforts, we have designed Destiny 2 for PC to resist all attempts from external applications to insert code into the game client.

It is a high priority for us to ensure that Destiny 2 is a safe and fair experience for all players, on all platforms.  We remain committed to creating a positive and fair in-game experience in all of our products, and believe that this is a necessary measure in bringing you a great gaming experience in Destiny 2 on PC.

We will continue to update this Help content with additional questions and answers through the Destiny 2 PC Beta later this month, and Destiny 2 PC launch on October 24.

Bungie.net Account Recovery

Bungie.net will soon receive an update to support a form of Account Recovery. If a player has lost access to a Bungie.net account through the account linking process, we will offer a means of recovering and re-linking the original Bungie.net profile to desired credentials. This feature will not provide a means of recovering deleted Destiny characters. Players may view our deleted character policy here. Additional information concerning Bungie.net Account Recovery will become available in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to @BungieHelp for future announcements.

[honaker-98]

This Week at Bungie - Aug. 8, 2017

This week at Bungie, we’re gearing up for the last mile on the road to launch.

This is real life. For years, we’ve been dreaming about the next adventure you’d take with us in the world of Destiny. For months, we’ve been talking about it. In a matter of weeks, it begins.

These weeks will be fierce. Some of us have a travel schedule that will keep us up in the air longer than a blind Nova Bomb. We have final preparations to make for your arrival. We’re planning an epic celebration. You are the guests of honor. The Red Legion are the party crashers.

The air in our studio is crackling with energy. What excites us as we play final builds of the game at home is that we’ve held so many surprises back for you to experience on your own journey. Today, we’ll pull back the curtain and tell you a little bit about how the things you do know have changed since the Beta.

To Fight. To Crush. To Conquer.

Even if you were able to eliminate every last enemy of humanity from the solar system. There would still be other Guardians who would want to kick your ass.

Whenever you engage your fellow players in the Destiny arena, like you did in the Destiny 2 console Beta, our designers are studying you. They know when you play, how you win, why you lose, and what you have to say about it. They use all that knowledge (in concert with our own playtest war stories) to update an experience that is in flux until we rip it from their talons and press it onto a disc – or a download server.

All of this has happened before. And it will all happen again in the Destiny 2 PC Beta that starts with early access on August 28.

Last week, we suggested that the new Beta build will include some changes. Let’s tell you more about the evolutions.

Crucible Design Lead Lars Bakken has some information on how you’ll meet new people in the PC Beta.

Lars: During the console Beta, we learned a lot from the players who entered the Crucible. Some of these learnings will be on display in the PC Beta. Our core goals haven’t changed. We still want to serve all players who love the thrill of competition with fair and fun matches. We have, however, done a bit of work under the hood. One of our goals for Destiny 2 has been to create two different ways to challenge yourself against other players. From this point forward, to allow for more varied experiences between the playlists, matchmaking for Quickplay and Competitive will be tuned separately. Along with some other changes to the rule sets for specific game types, these are the moods we want to cultivate in the new Crucible.

Quickplay

Matchmaking times will be shorter, with less emphasis on Skill. This is the fastest route to a game, but you may face opponents outside of your comfort zone. The winning score in Control has been extended from 75 to 100 to allow for more time to play and use your abilities. Because too many matches were shorter than we expected (some Guardians weren’t even able charge their Super) we’ve extended the trigger for the Mercy rule so it will come into play less often.

Competitive

Matchmaking takes more time to introduce you to players that are closer to you in skill with a good connection. These matchmaking settings may take longer, but we feel that the quality of the gameplay experience will be worth the wait. We have also made improvements to the way we calculate your skill in Countdown to better reflect how you’ll perform against your opponents.

We always use an element of your skill rating when we match you with opponents or teammates, whether in a pre-made Fireteam or going in solo. In all cases, the average rating of the team is taken into account when looking for matches. As always, we’ll be eager to hear from you all about how this feels.

Sandbox Designer Josh Hamrick has notes on how to survive when you come under fire in the PC Beta.

Josh: First, Sandbox would like to give big thanks to everyone who played in the D2 console Beta! I can happily say that a lot of issues you all encountered are things we were tracking. I can even happilyerly say that, because of your hard work and dedication to making D2 awesome, there were a few things you reported that have now been fixed. Seriously, THANK YOU. With the PC Beta coming up, we’ll have another chance to sample the mayhem. This will be an opportunity for you to experience a few tweaks that have been made that will help make for a more enjoyable D2 experience all around. Here’s a list of the major adjustments in the PC Beta.

FIXED: Infinite Super Glitch

Infinite Supers are all well and good until someone loses an eye.

FIXED: Warlock Glide Glitch

This bug was awesome… So awesome it hurt us a little bit to kill it. Thanks to those in the console Beta who helped us track this down.

FIXED: Infinite Grenades Glitch

Another issue found with the help of our friends in the console Beta. (Thank you!)

FIXED: Warlocks now have the same Melee Range as all other classes

With the exception of where perks directly increase their range, Warlocks will punch like the rest of us. Our PC friends will get a chance to experience a world with consistent base melee ranges. So will the rest of you, when the game launches.

TWEAKED: Globally reduced the time it takes to charge your Super

This was a big change that came directly from your feedback during the console beta. We agree it was taking a bit too long to cook up a Super.

TWEAKED: Increased Grenade Damage in PvE

Increased damage helps Grenades feel as powerful as they should facing hordes of alien combatants and, more specifically, makes the longer cooldowns more palatable. We want abilities to be slightly more rare, but worth it. In the console Beta, the “worth it” part wasn’t quite there yet.

TWEAKED: Increased Power Ammo drops in PvE

This is something we had felt internally and have been slowly tuning up over the last several weeks. The PC beta has been updated with our new values and will provide much more heavy ammo in PvE than what was found before. Heavy ammo can also be directly farmed from all Yellow Bar Combatants. Go big, Guardians!

We know you’ll be doing everything in your power to discover shenanigans. Sandbox is optimistic that, with these big changes to the build, the PC Beta will be several steps closer to the game you will find in your hands in (less than) a month from now. We will be playing and watching right alongside you all, ready to document additional issues that you might find along the way. Happy hunting!

Eyes up, Guardians. Even if you’re not equipped with the exotic gadgetry you’ll need to jump into the Destiny 2 PC Beta, you’ll still experience the new state of the Crucible and the Sandbox in the version of the game that we ship to your console on September 6. Like its predecessor, Destiny 2 will adapt and evolve as you play it. We hope you will as well!

Your Final Trial

Tomorrow will kick off the final Trials of Osiris in the Destiny 1 Crucible. If you think you have what it takes to claim the ultimate victory, pack your bags for one more trip to the Lighthouse. Many of you are probably wondering what the final map will be. We’re going to maintain the ritual of the Friday morning surprise. We’ll announce the map at 10 AM Pacific tomorrow when Trials goes live one last time.

The Right Stuff

The Destiny Operation Center and Destiny Player Support teams are the ones on the front lines of the live game making sure you have the best experience possible.

This is their report.

Destiny 2 PC Security: Third-party App CompatibilityLast week, we published an article to prepare players for third party app features that may not be compatible with Destiny 2 on PC. While third party applications will not fully lose functionality during Destiny 2 PC gameplay, features that attempted to insert code into the game will not be compatible. The following are answers to the most frequently asked questions in the #Help forum:

Will these security measures only impact third party applications during the Destiny 2 PC Beta?

No, this will apply to both the Destiny 2 PC Beta and full Destiny 2 PC release on October 24.

How will players monitor FPS performance during gameplay?

Destiny 2 on PC will include an in-game FPS counter.

How will players be able to monitor hardware performance?

Hardware performance monitors will be able to function alongside Destiny 2 PC, but any form of overlay functionality will be restricted.

Will Destiny 2 on PC include a frame rate target option?

Yes, Destiny 2 on PC will include the ability to specify a frame rate upper-limit (via a config file).

Are third-party streaming and communications applications completely broken by this security feature?

No. Players may stream Destiny 2 PC using supported modes within the streaming software (e.g. OBS, XSplit, etc). Communication applications such as Discord and Mumble will work normally except for the overlay of their UI in the game.

Why are streaming, capture or overlay applications being impacted by these security measures?

The methods that some third-party applications use to add features (inserting code into the game client) are the same as some of the methods hackers and cheaters use to disrupt the experience of other players. As a part of our security efforts, we have designed Destiny 2 for PC to resist all attempts from external applications to insert code into the game client.

It is a high priority for us to ensure that Destiny 2 is a safe and fair experience for all players, on all platforms.  We remain committed to creating a positive and fair in-game experience in all of our products, and believe that this is a necessary measure in bringing you a great gaming experience in Destiny 2 on PC.

We will continue to update this Help content with additional questions and answers through the Destiny 2 PC Beta later this month, and Destiny 2 PC launch on October 24.

Bungie.net Account RecoveryBungie.net will soon receive an update to support a form of Account Recovery. If a player has lost access to a Bungie.net account through the account linking process, we will offer a means of recovering and re-linking the original Bungie.net profile to desired credentials. This feature will not provide a means of recovering deleted Destiny characters. Players may view our deleted character policy here. Additional information concerning Bungie.net Account Recovery will become available in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to @BungieHelp for future announcements.

A Time to Kill

[commoncorps3]

fic recs

i wanted to make a fic rec list just because and also some of my favorite fics do not get the attention they deserve ok i love them

also im lazy and probably wont write out descriptions sorry

hogwarts au:

champion of the cup, victor of the heart [sfw] - main: victuuri, otayuri; side: milasara, emickey, leoji, seungchuchu; mentioned: isabellajj, marinako, the nishigoris

charm* [sfw] - main: victuuri; side: leoji, seungchuchu, emickey, milasara (love this one a lot)

Expomise [sfw] - main: victuuri

vampires/other supernatural creatures au:

**Mismatched** [future nsfw] - main: victuuri, plinami; side: phichris; mentioned: leoji (also soulmate au and some alpha/beta/omega dynamics but it’s because werewolves and they’re sort of a large part of the plot so if you really don’t like omegaverse even if there’s wolves then don’t bother) (viktor, yuri, and chris are vampires, yuuri and minami are werewolves, phichit is a psychic water spirit thing he’s great) (big fav i fucking live for this fic you have no idea)

Slumber [future nsfw] - main: victuuri (also soulmate au) (viktor is a vampire, yuuri is a human)

Bloodied Ice [future nsfw] - main: victuuri; side: otayuri (viktor is a vampire, yuuri is a vampire hunter, yuri is human, otabek is a vampire vampire hunter?? i think?? he’s only appeared once so far so im judging by the tags on the fic)

Resurge [nsfw] - main: victuuri; side: phileoji, milasara, isabellajj, emickey; future: otayuri (heavy alpha/beta/omega dynamics but they’re also demons so idk if that changes anything but still. also even tho im usually not a big fan of it this fic has mpreg. also soulmate au.) (all of them are demons in the human world)

historical au:

the death of a bachelor* [sfw] - main: victuuri (also mafia au) (this fic is so great ahhhh)

The Turning-Point [mostly sfw, hints at nsfw but only a little]- main: emickey, leojj (it sounds random but in this fic, leojj is the sweetest); side: anyageorgi; mentioned: victuuri (past; might appear more in the future but viktor is dead so rip), isabellajj (past) (definitely needs more attention)

Country Matters* [sfw] - main: pliroy, emickey; side: victuuri, isabellamila, isabellajj (one-sided/past? i guess? he’s gay but they’re married and isabella stills loves him and wants him to be happy so she and the others play matchmaker) (needs more attention too)

omegaverse:

over and over* [sfw] - main: victuuri (super cute and fluffy, a good starter for people not used to omegaverse imo)

Precocious [sfw] - main: victuuri; side: liliayakov

Neighbors [sfw] - main: victuuri; side: pliroy, seungchuchu

Yutopia* [nsfw] - main: victuuri (really good and really popular one)

Love on Ice* [nsfw] - main: victuuri (viktor and yuuri start a pair skating career and it’s great)

misc:

Breaking the Wall** [nsfw-ish/future nsfw] - main: pliroy; mentioned: victuuri (i fucking ADORE this fic it’s fantastic) (normal universe, just a little bit in the future)

bird in the hand [sfw] - main: victuuri (fucking office au and i love it a lot even tho there’s not many chapters)

Hot For Teacher [sfw] - main: victuuri (au where viktor is yuri’s adoptive dad and yuuri is yuri’s former teacher. pretty great fic so far)

The Silence Between The Lines [sfw] - main: pliroy (soulmate au)

Bad Moon Rising [nsfw-ish] - main: pliroy (post-apocalypse au. there’s only one chapter so far but it’s really good and seems promising)

(this is my rec list as of 3-18-17 so i might take some away or add some or make a new post in the future but who knows)