#sometimes i wonder if i should have just kept all honorifics as they are and not bother adapting/translating them

[soo-won]

Hi! The fantranslator here, let me explain. It's not so much an error than simply one translation decision among many.

I pay a lot of attention to the way Suwon refers to others as this is very precious to me and reveals a lot about his character, but I admit that when when I need to check how characters refer to each other in the past I use the Viz translation as a reference rather than previous scanlations (except for Zeno->others and the Algira nicknames. For the writing of the names I basically chose what I prefer), hence why I translated Lili-san as just Lili in chapter 261/262. And I admit I honestly forgot Miss Lily was a thing in the scanlation before I was reminded of it a few weeks ago, even if I remembered the switch from Lili-sama to Lili-san in the original.

The thing is, -san as a honorific doesn't always have the same weight and is not used the same way than the more formal way people call each other "Miss" and "Sir" in english. Suwon uses -san (or other formal reference like the specific title and rank of a character) for everyone but Yona and Hak, and his way of speech is always very formal and proper. Like textbook japanese and keigo. This makes the contrast between his speech, the moments when he drops the politeness and his thoughts even more so interesting, but in english it's...hard to keep all of it, because english is pretty poor when it comes to these nuances, and especially the honorifics part.

So I'm super open to discuss this, but to me Sir and Miss feel more redundant? and heavy than what Suwon really sounds like when he says -san in japanese. If I went 100% literal, Suwon would say Sir Yoon, Sir Zeno, Sir Blue Dragon, Miss Meinyan etc but that's not really his "english" voice to me. It can feel a bit like a mouthful. So for a question of coherency I went with just "Lili" and I'm inclined to agree and respect Viz's decision to forget these "-san" in translation (Not all of them it's really case to case of course). Using -san the way Suwon does is much more common and natural in the original language, whereas calling everyone with titles in English feels more atypical. It's also a question of how the other characters speak, like you have to translate and adapt every characters' level of speech in relation to the others around them and suffixes are lost in translation for a lot of characters but just Suwon, so you have to adapt Suwon's level of speech in relation to the others in consequence too.

I say all that but actually I think that Suwon calling everyone Miss and Sir is also very endearing and if someone else or I went with this then I would defend it ahah. I just love every him...So if you prefer Miss Lily, feel free to use it, because in japanese it's still the same Lili-san as before and I don't think it's wrong. I guess it's okay to think of it as like : the original is somewhere in between "Miss" and no honorifics at all, so whatever you choose is neither right or wrong and each version is one of the few options to settle it. I'm so so sorry I made you guys think that Suwon was suddenly more casual with Lili though...

Also if you care about Suwon and honorifics, I still want to emphasize that Suwon uses suffixes for absolutely everyone but Yona and Hak ( and even for Yona it depends). I'd say it's because of how young he was when he met them, and the instant feeling of equality and friendship/companionship that tied them together and nothing else. So if it happened with Lili too I think it would be preceded by an important development in their relationship? Like that would be very very big. Even as a child Suwon refered to Keishuk and Minsu with "-san", this is basically his default and I'd say "casual" for him. So that he refers to Lili as "Lili-san" can be pretty friendly and endearing too imo. Suwon is naturally "polite" like that with everyone I don't think he can help it...

Another example that comes to mind is the way Suwon refers to Keishuk. Most of the time it's Advisor Keishuk for ケイシュク参加(keishuk sanbô) but occasionaly it switches to ケイシュクさん(Keishuk san) like in chapter 256 for the most recent occurence of it. Again here the -san is, in my opinion, a more casual way to refer to Keishuk in that this is how he used to call him ever since he's a child and before becoming King and advisor: it calls back to their long relationship beyond their current ranks. Because of that, Suwon calling him just "Keishuk/Kye-sook" in english feels more natural than "Sir Keishuk". Yet funnily enough if Suwon called him only "Keishuk" in japanese it would feel almost too casual and bold? I say this because this actually happened in the anime, and yeah it just doesn't "feel" like the canon them. So the most important thing to remember here is that languages are absolutely not equivalent and especially not Japanese and English. Some things can only be lost if you prefer good and natural english over literal japanese. Obviously I'm still open to criticism and I'm constantly wavering and wondering how literally I should translate the text, I'm still learning and English isn't my first language so!! I'm super super open to learn and get better. But TDLR...It's still Lili-san and if he calls her Lili in japanese trust me I will scream it everywhere because I love their relationship and it'd be super meaningful.

Idk what the Viz translator and I will do if Suwon ever switches from Lili-san to just Lili ahah but well that's a problem for the future translators that will potentially or not meet this problem lol.

Idk if it's intentional or not but I found it interesting how he started with "Lady" Lily to "Miss" Lily & now only "Lily"

[kabuunderscore]

Had this on my mind whilst I was revisiting the Whole Cake arc and reading up on the wiki on the Charlotte family- (may correct myself the more of it I watch since I'm still only up to the cracker fight right now) Also bit of a TW because I make a few touchy sort of theories, as well as SPOILERS!!!

Since Perospero is the eldest child son, it makes me wonder if he had to sacrifice alot of his childhood taking care of his other siblings? None of the Charlottes grew up with a father figure since Linlin basically dumps each one of her husbands once she gives birth to a new kid, and with the ever growing family there's definitely not much love and personal attention being shared around, so I wouldn't be surprised if Peros felt to take up that role at times?

The thought was born when I read on the wiki how Peros was good with kids, probably comes second nature to him with- once again, being the eldest child.

Right now, Pound is the only confirmed ex-husband of Linlin (I hope we get to meet more in the future, that'd be cool) and those brief interactions between Cracker, Brulee and him keep making me THINK like... It's so sad how much Pound still wants to be part of the family, even to the other children who he's not even related to by blood (adressing Cracker with a cutesy honorific "Cracker-kun", getting excited when at the idea that Linlin may still want something to do with him) Like brother STAYED ON THE ISLAND even after being forbidden from seeing his kids and apparently kept up with the Charlotte family affairs obviously- people don't give the guy the credit he deserves as a dad

Cracker seems to have inherited the whole hatred for father figures/only blood relatives having value mindset from Big Mom, but BRULEE accidentally slips up and calls Pound 'stepdad', which COMPLETELY caught me off gaurd. That read to me like she might have yearned for a father figure of some sort throughout her life? It definitely felt that way.

One thing I found super unnerving was during one of Linlin's hunger pangs in which she kills Moscato in a blind rage, when Jimbe finally calms her down (by the way, whatever happened to the croquembouche the chefs were making at the time as well? I hope it didn't go to waste) When Linlin comes back to herself, Jimbe doesn't attempt to explain what she'd just done- killed her own son.

Her hunger pangs are obviously a reoccuring incident, does nobody tell her about what she'd done when she comes out of it? Is it all swept under the rug each time?? There's obviously a reason why they let her stay unaware- probably to protect her from spiraling?

I'm instantly reminded of when she ate all her friends and mother Caramel at her birthday party. If she were to remember all the things she'd done during a hunger pang, she'd probably shut down or have a breakdown of some kind.

I can't help but feel bad for Linlin sometimes with her almost childish view on alot of things, like her skewed view on what a family should be (which is definitely due to her being basically groomed into becoming a pirate... A dark take but from what I've seen, as well as mother Caramel lowkey trafficking her can you blame me) or how Caesar thinks of her 'dream' as being impossible. She reallly does feel like a confused little girl who wants her mom sometimes.

This is all over the place but I needed to get this off my chest because I've been cooking for DAYS I keep thinking of the funny pirate anime

[thegeminisage]

tng update time. last night we did "heart of glory" and "arsenal of freedom."

heart of glory verdict: REALLY GOOD. i knew going in this was a worf episode but i was NOT expecting the scene at the beginning with geordi! that could have easily been its own episode but it was SO COOL to see how he sees finally - i had been wondering about it.

after watching tholian web i decided it was silly for them to go to that other ship where life support was failing with NO SPACE SUITS. i guess it wouldn't have helped in the event the ship blew up but come on

klingon death ritual a little unsettling at first but actually later i decided it was metal as hell.

worf's dilemma was so good. like in the naked time when he went THAT WORLD IS ALIEN TO ME NOW you can see that he's at odds with both where he came from and where he is now and doesn't feel totally at home in either, which, frankly, is spockcore (honorific). he instantly shot up several spaces in my tng character ranking

and his solution was so good! like, these wackos dont represent what he really wants because they arent Real Klingons theyre extremists or whatever. ik it's a little bit of a copout in some ways but it was kind of nice for him to be able to form his own, third answer to "who's better, humans or klingons." like sometimes the answer is neither are really connecting with me rn im just gonna keep truckin

i will say that there were hints of people doubting worf's loyalties here and him straight up killing that other dude put it all to bed. dont EVER question him again. i'll kill you.

also lowkey racist when that klingon picked the little girl up and everybody went to pieces :/

him promising he was just being polite and didnt want to leave the enterprise lol. everybody stared until he promised TWICE. so true. possibly my fav tng episode so far

arsenal of freedom: NOT that great. not sure why we were watching that one except the lists said to.

i recognized the peddler from other shows, probably b*ffy in this instance. he just has one of those faces

the whole time dr crusher was in the hole i kept waiting for them to huddle for warmth and then they DIDNT. not that i even necessarily wanted to see her demeaned to this level like it would've made me mad but WHY ELSE would you mention she's cold. like i'm also mad that they didn't

also this could've been a tos episode. imagine if bones was in a little hole and spock and kirk had to set his broken arm and unbury him and keep him warm. i know that's just the empath. shut up

kind of dumb of her not to mention she had a leg wound when it was quite literally covered in dirt. girl come on

anyway i liked her acting in this scene. ultimately i've just decided i'm glad they didn't cuddle because this is one of the first times i've seen her as a person and not a Woman(tm). the other time was that other episode where she was nerd out about uh...oh man now i'm mad i can't remember. she was nerding out about some science thing or some famous science person in an episode we watched not too long ago and i liked that too. and then forgot to make a note of it. rip dr crusher :(

ALSO. sorry. if they were getting shot at it was dumb of them to send data alone down into the hole. everybody should have gone into the hole for safety. or data should have pulled picard up so they had an extra phaser. cmon

anyway i liked geordi's thing in this ep. that guy invalidating him was horrible and i'm glad he got to have the last word and also get his moment. GEORDI DESERVES A MOMENT. the ship splitting up is still fucking hilarious to me though. there's so many logical problems with this it makes your head spin

also, once again, there should NOT !!! be children on a starship. insane.

next i am doing "symbiosis" on my own and then tomorrow we're doing "skin of evil" together.

[namism]

rating names with: sanji

➳ category: in-universe · female reader who uses (but not limited to) she/her pronouns

➳ warnings: a little nsfw, minor spoiler warnings for ep 808/ch 844 and below

➳ notes: i can’t stop writing these short posts but an actual sanji fic is coming soon, trust 🫲 for now, check out my second sanji fic here! i forgot to add tags the first time so it doesn’t appear in searches :(

“Mellorine” - 3/10

Used to be a 7/10 but became a 3/10 at best.

“Mellorine” was Sanji’s default pet name for a woman he was infatuated with before you started dating him, so if he were to see a beautiful girl his first instinct was to suck up to her by calling her “Mellorine,” a unique nickname that has frankly become overused.

Back when you were still crushing on him, you would dream to the moon and back for Sanji to call you “Mellorine” because it meant that he found you just as attractive as the many women he had his eyes on; this desire grew the more you kept your feelings to yourself. He would use the nickname on Nami the most which sparked envy within. But it didn’t take long for Sanji to drop it when he found out that you liked him.

Since then, he would reserve the nickname only for you and mix it with the occasional “(Y/N)-swan.”

Sanji kept calling you “Mellorine” until he began calling you other pet names which he thought suited you better. You were (and are) indeed as sweet as mellorine, but he figured he should find other names for you to go by.

And although being addressed as “Mellorine” had made you the happiest person alive, you were starting to feel a little troubled with it.

Sanji would use it as a default nickname so much that it didn’t feel too special anymore—a little selfish, you know, but it was widely used for other girls that the moment Sanji began using it only for you, it made a few heads turn especially from your crew.

“I thought Nami was ‘Mellorine,’” Luffy wondered aloud, prompting everyone to think the same. Nami glared, then punched him across the face.

“Get the hint, will you?!” she yelled.

It felt like a shared nickname with somebody else, and you weren’t a big fan of that. Hence a 3/10. (You decided to give bonus points for creativity.)

Your name - 4/10

Not bad, but Sanji only calls you by your name if he’s being serious and has something to bring up with a negative connotation or if he’s talking to somebody else and has to namedrop you. You seldom hear him call you by just your name nowadays because he would always prefer adding his famous “-swan” or “-chwan” honorifics.

The most recent memory of Sanji calling you by only your name was when you were still a regular at Baratie, back when you barely knew each other. And truth be told, it wasn’t long until he resorted to calling you pet names to charm you.

“(Y/N)-swan” - 6/10

This deserves a 6/10 (can surprisingly be cranked to a 7 if he calls you this in the right times) because it’s cute and fascinating to hear Sanji’s linguistic habits.

Sometimes he says “(Y/N)-chwan” depending on the mood, but either way you appreciate Sanji’s unique honorifics. It's funny in the best way that he has his own pronunciations and endearing at the same time. Sanji puts a lot of emphasis on his tones, especially in the presence of the ‘W’ in “-san” and “-chan,” which is one of the many things you like hearing the most from him.

He prefers to call you with the “-swan” honorific because it reflects exactly what he sees you as: a swan, an animal of grace, beauty, and intricacy, and he likes reminding you of that because he's naturally transparent with his feelings.

He pronounces honorifics the same way for other women but it doesn't bother you at all; Sanji’s honorific usage might have begun as a flirt tactic, but now that he’s in a committed relationship with you, his usage is more likely out of habit.

“Princess” - 8/10

This can also be cranked to a 9 on the proper occasions.

The One Piece universe has prominent royal bloodlines so calling a woman “Princess” nine out of 10 times means that she is indeed a princess. Sanji knows this very well because he was once royalty, hence why he seldom calls you as such. But wishful thinking betrays you and you've come to love being addressed as “Princess” without telling him.

You don't want to be the daughter of a real monarch—especially not in this universe—because royalty means having to deal with external and internal pressures from your kingdom, and that is the last thing you want to experience. But you and the rest of the Straw Hats once had to play pretend as royals from other nations, so when it came to interaction, you were called "Princess (Y/N)" often.

You were raised far from royalty so the closest you ever got to being a real princess was dressing up and letting your imagination handle the rest. Sanji doesn't know about this silly childhood dream because it was never the topic of conversation, and it's a little embarrassing to converse about it with a former royal so you kept it to yourself and never told anyone.

That's pretty much how you developed a secret liking to the term and it merely intensified when Sanji himself called you "Princess" while in disguise. At the time, you were doing your best to ground yourself to reality because Sanji's form of address meant a lot to you. Not only did it feed into your childhood desires, but it also made you feel special that he saw you as someone worth calling a high rank.

However everything then was not real, and only lasted for a few hours until you and your crew rid yourselves from the island and escaped. Once aboard the ship, it was back to your ordinary life as a pirate.

The nickname “Princess” would only resurface when Sanji unknowingly randomizes the nicknames he should call you or when he lets it slip in bed. He won’t realize it because he’d be too concentrated on something else, but he’ll most likely catch on the more you react to it.

In particular, you always soften when he lets the nickname slip up and get pretty clingy soon afterward. Sanji would suspect a thing you have with the nickname and do a few tests to see if he’s right.

And he is, so he begins to call you “Princess” more often just to see how you would react.

“Angel” - 10/10

A perfect 10/10 including its variants, with “pretty angel" and “angel face" being at the top of the list. It arguably becomes dirtier in bed though.

But Sanji uses this a lot as if it’s your name; your crew’s lineup is basically Sanji, the rest of the Straw Hats, and “Angel.” Though if your name is (even something remotely similar to) Angel, Sanji would use a variant so that it doesn’t feel like he’s calling you by just your real name.

He likes casually calling you “Angel” because it’s a reminder that he sees you as one, and also because it’s easy to pronounce and remember. That way, people would easily know that you’re taken and only his, so he wouldn’t have to worry about anyone else stealing you.

Honorable mentions

“Sweet” - Alternatively, “Sweetheart.” It deserves a special mention because it was one of Sanji’s alternatives to “Mellorine” back when he was still getting to know you.

“Honey” - Another honorable mention that can be an alternative to “Mellorine.” Very endearing, and very sweet like honey itself. It was never your favorite, but it did make you smile a couple of times before.

Overall, Sanji’s nicknames for you are more on the sweeter side because he wants you to feel special. He’s open to other nicknames as long as he knows that you feel good about being addressed by it; if you are, then he is more than willing to call you as such to make you happy. If you aren’t, then he’ll gladly stop and apologize.

[wonwoosthetic]

hi!! hope you’re feeling good

so… I know thy you kinda wrote a little bit about this, but can you do something like focusing on how the member took care and comforted minnie, for a few days, after her break up with hanbin?

*It’s ok if you don’t want to since we have the reaction of some of them, I’m just curious about the other, specially coups

Hiii, hope you’re doing good yourself and of course I can and here it is :) Thank you for requesting it!!! ♥️ And thanks for being interested in this series!!🤗🙊

The Aftermath Was Even More Painful || Minnie

K-Pop Masterlist

Requests, asks, and taglist are open! :)

Warnings: none specifically

I sometimes used Korean honorifics in this chapter as I find them quite fitting from time to time. If anyone doesn't like that or has a problem with me using them, please let me know, I don't want it to come across disrespectfully :)

There might come a part two to this or even like a part one, depending on whether or not you guys want it :) this now plays a few days after their break up but if you want I could also write about the day right after the break up. It's kind of hard to fit all thirteen of them in one chapter without it being 10k words long...😅

˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣

It was around lunchtime when S.Coups got out of his room, walked into the living room and found Woozi and Mingyu lying on the floor, watching TV.

"What do you want for lunch? What should we order?" He asked his members as he adjusted the beanie he was wearing.

Woozi shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, don't really care. Order what you're craving."

"Maybe we should ask Minnie what she wants" Mingyu proposed, mentioning the girl neither of them had seen outside of her room within the last three days.

"Have you been able to talk to her?" The leader wondered, sitting down next to the other two men. Mingyu shook his head,

"Nope", and he sighed, "but we could ask her, she has to start talking eventually."

"Has anyone talked to her?" The leader was more than just worried about the girl of the group. The last few days had been harder than he had expected. She didn't get out of the room she was sharing with Joshua unless she had to use the bathroom. The food the boys had been bringing her was left untouched on the floor or on her desk. Every time she even just tried to eat something, it would quickly come back up her throat, making her throw up unwillingly - this or she simply didn't have an appetite. Trying to talk to her also ended rather disappointingly for most of the members. The girl wasn't able to focus on anything else but on the thoughts that kept on running through her mind: what is he doing right now? Is he ok? How is he dealing with all the negative attention that he's getting? Did he already move out of the iKon dorm? So many questions and no one there to answer them. Not only did she not contact Hanbin, but she had also decided to cut her ties with the rest of the members, leaving them, especially Bobby, whom she had known longer than Hanbin, in a lot of worries.

She was heartbroken. No. Even more than that. Minnie felt like one of the biggest sources of her happiness had left her - reading the articles and comments on the internet didn't help either, but she couldn't help it, she had to know what this cruel world had to say about her boyfr-... ex-boyfriend. Most of the comments under the picture she had posted on Instagram were positive and supportive but her eyes and brain could only focus on the hateful ones - calling Minnie a bitch for leaving her boyfriend in the probably hardest time of his life, calling Hanbin a stupid teenager who deserves the punishment that he might receive, saying that Minnie should leave Seventeen, to not drag her members into the shit that she and her ex-boyfriend are in, even though she had nothing to do with his drug alligations. But people don't care about that some of them just simply want to ruin your career and make you feel miserable... and she was slowly letting them win.

Minnie was and had been able to hear her members talk about her throughout the days but she didn't have the energy to call them out for it, so whenever she could, she would listen, like right now.

"Joshua and Wonwoo are the only ones who were for longer than just five minutes in her room", Woozi answered his leader's question.

"And Joshua only because he sleeps in that room", Mingyu pointed out, turning his head upwards to look at the older member, "But I think Myungho also talked to her for quite a bit." To which Woozi nodded,

"Yeah, true. He said that he was reading her old Chinese fairytales that he thought she would like...", he stopped for a second, making the other two look at him, "but most of them end with a happy ending for a couple so he stopped." They nodded, understanding the uncomfortable situation that Minghao had probably been in.

"And Wonwoo? Did he say wh-" speaking of the devil, the mentioned man just walked in, making S.Coups stop talking to the two on the floor as he turned his attention to the tall one standing in the middle of the room, carrying a plastic bag in his hand. "Wonwoo, you've been talking to Minnie?"

"Yeah, why?" he spoke in a quiet voice, knowing that she might be listening again like she had told him she had been doing sometimes.

"She's not talking to a lot of us, Hyung", the 97 Liner of the room said.

The leader was relieved that at least someone was able to break down the brick wall she had been setting up, but it didn't stop him from worrying about her furthermore, "How did you make her talk?"

To which Wonwoo shrugged his shoulders, "I didn't", all of the members turned towards him in confusion, "We don't talk much. I just kinda sit there, and we read. After a while, she sometimes will say something, but it's not a lot."

Seungcheol nodded, "Alright, alright. At least someone's getting to her", suddenly he remembered something, making him grab his head in frustration, "Ah fuck!", everyone's heads turned towards him with worried looks on their faces, "What? What?!" Mingyu worried.

"Today the company is releasing the official statement of him leaving."

"Do you know what they'll write in it?" Wonwoo wanted to know.

"Probably", the older one sighed, "That it was mutual, and for the best for the group or something."

Mingyu jumped up from his position on the floor, "Ya! Are you serious?! They won't even state the real reasons?!"

"They can't because all of Hanbin's allegations are still only allegations! Nothing's been confirmed or denied yet. And YG won't say anything because they don't feel responsible for him anymore..."

"All a bunch of assholes", Mingyu licked his lips in disbelief. Companies can and are cruel.

Wonwoo gulped before speaking up, "I'm gonna-", and pointed to the door, which would lead to the grieving girl, "I'm gonna go."

The leader nodded, "Yeah, you go, and we'll order food. Maybe you can make her eat something."

As soon as Minnie heard the name of her ex-lover leave S.Coups' lips, her throat dried up, and her eyes began to water once again, the same way they had been for a few days. The girl forgot, and getting reminded wasn't a good thing at the moment.

The slight knock on the door didn't make her turn around or try to calm down her tears as she already knew who'd be coming in, and he had been seeing her cry for the past few days anyway.

"Hi", the deep but soft voice spoke as he entered the room, immediately closing the door behind him. He walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge, her back was turned towards him. Out of the plastic bag he had been carrying, Wonwoo took out three books he bought, remembering her talk about wanting to read them a few weeks ago.

"I got you these", he took a quick look at them before placing them in front of her legs so she could see them too, "I think you mentioned them", he didn't think, he knew, "And the guys are ordering some food, maybe you'll want some too." The end of his sentence made the girl shake her head as he had already expected to happen - Wonwoo didn't try to convince her to eat something, not wanting to put her under more pressure than she was left to deal with.

Almost like in routine, he stood back up to walk over to Joshua's bed, lied down and took out the book he had been keeping in his member's nightstand as he had been spending more time in this room as of lately.

Minnie and Wonwoo were just existing next to each other. This was what was happening whenever he decided to enter the room within the last three days - and neither of them minded. The girl was more than thankful for him and his ability to just sit or lay there in silence - he didn't push her to talk, eat or drink, so she was able to enjoy his company. Although she must admit, she does miss Minghao. Because even though his stories on the first day of her heartbreak only made her cry, even more, she misses his presence. She had been missing all of her members' presence, but she didn't know how to confront them about it. On the first day already, each of them tried to talk to her, to which she pushed each of them away with snarky remarks or simply not answering... which she now regrets.

Wonwoo sat there, reading his book in silence, only hearing his own breathing and Minnie's cries - he wanted to hug her, he wanted to hold her tightly until no more tears were leaving her eyes. Nothing stopped him from doing this other than himself. In his mind, it was smarter to just let her be instead of confining her into the tight space of a hug - even though it was exactly what she wanted. Minnie was currently unable to express what she was feeling and what she needed and was instead hoping someone would know what to do, but all of her members were new to this kind of situation and didn't know what to do.

"They're releasing the statement today?" Minnie suddenly asked, shocked by the roughness and quietness of her own voice. The boy on the other bed looked up and put the book aside, "Yeah..." She nodded and turned herself over to look at the older man who was already staring at her with worried eyes. Good two minutes were kept silent as the two of them only starred at each other before the girl spoke up again, "Thank you", she swallowed, "Thank you for being here."

And she meant it. She truly meant it. Where some of the other members rather left her alone to not disturb her, which she wasn't angry at because she knew they were unsure about the whole situation, Wonwoo had been keeping her company since day one of her heartbreak. Both members had always been able to sit next to each other in silence and enjoy the other person's presence and right now, God knows, she needed it.

"It's okay", the boy smiled kindly, standing up to walk over and sit back down on her bed, "You know, the others are really worried... they just", he tried finding the right words, "They just don't want to hurt you more, so they chose to give you some space."

"I know", Minnie sniffled, "I'm not mad at them, I'm very thankful. For all of you... but...", tears started welling up in her eyes again, "I don't know what to do", and then they escaped from her eyes.

Wonwoo got nervous as soon as he saw the girl cry in front of him. It broke his heart but he didn't know how to make them stop. His hand went to her cheek to wipe away the salty water, "You rarely drank anything these past few days, how do you still have enough water in your body to cry?" He tried joking, hoping it will ease the situation - which it did. For the first time in three days, Minnie smiled. It wasn't the big wide smile he was used to seeing, but it was something, even if it was just a small chuckle. The man could feel his heart warm at the sight, knowing that he had made her feel better with his statement and it made him smile as well.

Maybe it wasn't the right time, but he had to know: "Would you maybe talk to Coups? He's been so scared, I mean, we have all been, but you know how he is... but he was way too scared to come in."

Minnie nodded quietly, suddenly feeling bad for what she made her leader feel. He stood up quickly, but not before patting her leg softly, and left the room to get the other man they were talking about.

He found him in the kitchen "Hyung?" The man turned around from the food he was taking out of the plastic bags, "Go in", Wonwoo nodded his head towards the room he had just come out of, "She wants to talk to you." The leader's eyebrow's rose, looking at the younger one in wonder as he only nodded with a kind smile. Seungcheol quickly prepared two plates of food before walking towards the door that had been separating him and the younger girl for the past few days. After knocking, he opened it slowly, poking his head in first. He was happy to see that the blinds were open, letting some light in since he expected her to lay in complete darkness - he made a mental note to thank Joshua for this later.

The girl raised her head to look at who had just entered her room, the sight making her cry immediately, "I'm sorry."

S.Coups quickly put the plates down on her desk and ran over to the bed she was lying in. Not thinking about his actions too much, he wrapped his arms around Minnie, who sat up straight after he had walked in. With comforting circles drawing on her back with his hands, Cheol tried to calm down the cries that were escaping her throat as he felt a wet patch forming on his shoulders. The girl felt truly sorry for causing such concern, she could only imagine what it must be like seeing a person suddenly as broken down as she had been. They spent a good ten minutes in this position, the leader running his hands up and down her back, patting her head every now and then, whispering encouraging words, as she kept on apologizing.

"You have to stop saying sorry", S.Coups spoke up first after the silence, "this is not your fault, and you shouldn't feel like it is."

"But I'm sorry for making you worry, for not eating much or drinking or talking to you guys-", a loud sob escaped from her throat before she could finish her sentence, making the man lean back to hold her face and look at her.

"It's okay, Minnie. I mean, of course, I was worried, but I'm happy to see and hear that you at least talked to someone", he straightened down her hair, "I know, a broken heart must hurt, but you have to know that this is not the end of your love life", he kindly looked at her.

"Then why does it feel like it though?" her eyes were glassy and big.

"Because you loved and suddenly lost him", he sadly had to remind her, "He was a very important part of your life for quite a long time, so him not being there all of a sudden hurts, of course. But you're not even in your mid-twenties yet. You're going to find new people you'll fall in and out of love with. Sometimes it will hurt more, sometimes it will hurt less."

She nodded understandingly at the wise words falling from the lips of her leader.

"But with every heartbreak, you're only getting closer to finding the love of your life", he quoted one of Minnie's comfort TV shows, 'Wizards of Waverly Place', making her chuckle. Similar to Wonwoo, it brought a smile to his face as he felt the girl leaning on his shoulder, being able to feel her laugh.

"I really thought he would be it", she admitted, "I thought my love story was going to end with him..."

"I know", he sighed sadly, "Who knows... maybe things will change." To which she nodded.

"What is the company gonna say today?" She wanted to know as she only knew about the rough draft of the statement.

"I don’t know about the official statement, but probably something along the lines of cutting ties with him and what no and how sorry they are for the fans for the sudden message."

Minnie nodded with a smile turn upside down, thinking about how the company Hanbin brought so much money was just going to let him down like that. She thought about her next statement for a short while before deciding not to keep secrets, "He told me everything."

"What do you mean?" S.Coups wanted to know. The girl's head left his shoulder and she sat straight up to look at him,

"Everything about the allegations. The truth...", she looked down at her hands, "He said, he did it. Not the LSD but he did buy and use weed", she looked up again, "but it was way before we met and there's nothing bad about it, I don't understand. He was under so much pressure and needed something to escape, I-", a hand patted her knee, shutting up her ranting.

"I know, I know", Seungcheol said, "But you know... a lot of people think differently about this", he swallowed, "I'm sorry, by the way. For not coming in sooner. I was so scared to hurt you more and after Myungho told us how much you cried when he read those stories to you, I knew that I couldn't see you like this."

The young girl smiled at him with kind and teary eyes, "It's okay, Coups. I know that you're always there for me." She breathed out loud, "Wow, it feels good to talk again", making both of them smile, Seungcheol patting her hair, "We're always there for you."

"Hoshi was the most scared I've ever seen him", she started telling him, "I've never seen him genuinely scared, but I think he was terrified of me."

"He told us that you not speaking freaked him out and he didn't know what to do so he just sat there."

"Dokyeom and Seungkwan got their sisters on the phone", her story made the leader laugh, "What?", "Yeah, they sat there on Joshua's bed and called their sisters.", "Why?", "They were like: What should I do? Do you want to talk to her? While I was right next to them...", she smiled at the memory from two days ago.

After talking for a short while, Seungcheol stood up and held out his hand for her to take, "You wanna go eat with the others?" She smiled fondly at the man in front of her, "Yep", and took his hand. Each of them took their plate from her desk and exited the room, coming to sight with the rest of their roommates sitting on the floor surrounding the table in front of the TV. Joshua, Wonwoo, Mingyu, Woozi, and DK's heads immediately turned at the sound of the door opening, greeting them with wide smiles.

"She has escaped the cave!" DK shouted, running over to the girl to hug her tightly. Minnie just smiled and hugged him back. There were a lot of emotions going through her body at that moment but she was mostly just happy to be with her members again. Dokyeom took her plate and brought it over to the table, placing it down next to Mingyu's so she could sit there. Right after sitting down, her fellow 97 Liner patted her back in a comforting way, "You're doing well", he assured her as he put an arm around her shoulder, squeezing her, which resulted in her smiling again.

The dormmates ate while keeping up small talk with the TV running in the background - Minnie was mostly listening to the guys talk, smiling to herself as she thought about how lucky she was to have men like them in her life, that no matter how bad in a mood she was, they would never let her down, but be there for her when she needs it and giver her space when she asks for it. She knew that in a few weeks she'd be alright again... or at least better. It hurt and it will hurt for a while, but with her members by her side, she'd be able to overcome the heartache she was still experiencing and possibly find true love again - a love that may have been closer to her than she would have ever known.

Just as everyone was slowly finishing the meals on their plates, Minnie's was still mostly full, but the members knew better than to push her to eat more, they were just happy that she ate something, the front door of their dorm opened, with loud voices filling the flat.

"Where is she?", Jeonghan shouted through the apartment, coming into the living room. The sound of his voice surprised her as she didn't know that as soon as she left her room, messages were sent in their group chat, letting the others know that she was in the living room. As soon as his eyes landed on the small girl sitting on the floor, he ran over to her, crashing down beside her and pulling her into a tight hug. "I missed you my child!" he squeezed her tightly, making her gasp out,

"Please... I need to... breath", but rather than listening to her, the other members joined their older brother, which resulted in them falling to the floor, Jeonghan being their foundation and Minnie on top of him, and the rest fitting themselves on top of her and around her, trying to hold her somehow.

The rest of the week, she didn't leave the apartment much besides going on walks with Jun, and once even with Vernon. But the tour was starting soon and she had to eventually go back to her 'normal' life as an idol - with not only her members but also Carats supporting her as she came to realise during their Ode To You Tour.

˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣

Taglist: @naviercallisto @myballzinyojawz

[creepychan08]

Aone x reader

Today was your first day with your job as a nurse working at a construction site in Miyagi. Despite boarding the early train, you frowned as you see the crowds of people standing, reminding you of a sardines commercial.

'So hot', you thought, wiping the sweat off your brow.

Your eyes scanned the area hoping for some miracle empty seats. It seems heaven answered your prayers when you see one on the far right.

Its weird though. People should have scrambled for that seat after all no one wants to stand on a crowded train but why is it that it still remain vacant?

Before thinking much further about it, you squeeze your way past the crowd towards the seat and tried to find out why.

Your answer soon came when you see a tall, heavy build man sitting alone beside the empty chair. He had a scowl plastered on his face- or maybe that's just his usual expression? And you see people scooting far away from him as possible.

You felt your heart tug at the scene. Somehow, you wondered how it would feel if you were on the shoes of the man. There is no threatening aura surrounding him anyway, just his intimidating stature.

You made your decision.

"Hi, is this seat available?" You asked, smiling kindly at the stranger. He looked at you, a brief flicker of surprise passed in his eyes. He nodded at your question and you thanked him, before sitting down, glad to finally rest your legs.

"My name is Yn. The train sure is packed today, neh?" You said, making small conversation. The man only grunted in response.

Ah, so he's not much of a talker.

But there's something about him that draws you in. Something that makes you feel the need to just talk and be kind to the stranger.

"Its my first today at work. My first job too so its a bit unnerving for me. What about you? Are you going to work too?"

The man regarded you for a bit before nodding. "Yes. My name is Aone"

Your smile widened even more. He's finally talking!

"Well, Aone-san its nice to meet you!" You enthusiastically bowed towards him while sitting and he does the same. You finally reached your stop and you sighed, knowing that your interaction finally ends here.

"Its my stop. Goodluck on your work!"

You took your things and made your way out the train only to see Aone beside you.

"Oh, is your job nearby too?"

Aone only grunted in reply and you continued chatting with him.

Unknowingly to you, Aone looks at you out the corner of his eyes. His heart feels warm and he felt really glad that someone is not scared of him, even taking the time to converse with his serious persona.

You were really pretty too with your friendly smile and short stature, he thinks with a slight blush on his face.

Soon, you reached the project site where you will be working from today onwards and you blinked confused when Aone stopped right beside you just outside the site.

"Wait, don't tell me this is where you work too?!"

Aone blinked in surprise as well before nodding at you.

A wide grin spreads on your face.

"That's pretty cool! Starting from today, I'll work here as a nurse. So if you need anything just drop by anytime!"

A smile slowly made its way to his lips as he agreed and bid you farewell, both of you in going in separate directions.

Timeskip

It has been a few months after that, and your friendship with Aone grew stronger. You sit with him every morning in the train when your shift coincides and sometimes you both eat lunch together.

You got used to his silent demeanor and accepted him for who he is to which Aone is most certainly grateful for. Whenever you find him distressed, you try your best to help him in whatever you can.

And that goes for you as well. Despite his usual silent and brooding personality, Aone is very perceptive of your emotions. He knows just when you are feeling down and in his own way, tries to cheer you up which in a weird way makes your heart flutter in response.

Your coworkers are constantly teasing you with him but you only laughed it off, thinking you're not pretty enough for him plus you're chubby and really short compared to his height of 6'4.

You saw his abs one time accidentally and you almost had a nosebleed. But then and again that serves to remind you that you were far from perfect to be with him.

You slept with a heavy heart that night.

"Yn-san are you okay?"

You blinked and suddenly were brought back to reality. Aone was sitting in front of you with a concern expression on his face.

"Ah, yes I'm good. Sorry I just spaced out for a while" You laughed in embarassment as you glanced at him. His eyes were intense as he gazed at you and suddenly you felt very hopeless in your attraction towards him.

You knew Aone can never look at you the same way you does to him. Deep inside, you already admits how far you've fallen for the man and for a few months you managed to keep it bottled up inside but you don't know why your emotions are suddenly spilling out of control now.

Aone can never be yours. He will only see you as a friend and maybe you'll just end up pining for him for as long as your heart can take. You wanted him to be yours and for him to claim you as his. But despite your cheery personality, you were very much afraid to confess your feelings.

After all, its better to keep it inside and still have his friendship right? You don't know what to do if you did confess and he ended up rejecting you. Your friendship just might end and you'll forever curse yourself for not keeping your mouth shut.

A finger suddenly wipes your tears and you looked at Aone in shock and confusion.

You're crying..?

"I don't like seeing you cry, Yn-san" Aone confessed, his clear eyes conveying hurt at seeing you in this state.

Your heart twisted at his concern and it takes all of you not to rush in his arms and convey your love for him.

The place had long been vacated by people and it was just the two of you.

Soon, embarassment starts creeping in and you curse at yourself for crying in front of him.

Wiping your face clear of any tears, you were surprised when you felt yourself enclosed in a warm embrace.

A gasp escaped your lips and you gazed upwards to see Aone, looking away with a cute blush on his face as he kept you in his embrace. Your heart started beating hard, you're afraid he can feel it but that concern fades away when he began to speak.

"I.. I don't like seeing you cry Yn-san" He repeated his earlier words then continued, "You're very important to me."

By this time, both your faces had prominent blush as you waited for him to finish.

"I have fallen in love with you for these past months that we spend together. Will you give me a chance to properly continue loving you?"

His hopeful eyes gazed into your own with much sincerity that tears started streaming down your face again. You nodded repeatedly, hiding your face against his chest as you tightened your embrace on him.

"Yes, of course Aone-san. I loved you all this time as well and want to continue loving you in the future. Thank you for giving me this chance."

You gave him a teary smile and he reciprocated before kissing your forehead.

"No, I'm the one who's thankful Yn-san. You made me really happy"

Extended ending~

"Now that we're in a relationship, you can call me by my name. No need for honorifics~" You suggested, grinning at the tall man.

"Very well.. Yn" He looked away with a blush as you cheered.

"That sounds better, darling~" You teased, giggling when he turned cherry red.

You happily grin, looking forward to creating more memories with him.

End

Author's note:

Sorry for the long update. I've been busy so much. Anyways lately I've been fangirling over Aone I mean he's so huge and may look scary but is just a big teddy bear.

I read once that his current concern is that no one wants to sit beside him in a train because of his scary appearance and my heart just went awww. I think its best if I write something about him too because I notice he doesn't have much fanfics when I search for it. Hence, the creation of this one!

Anyway, let me know what you think about it! And as always take care!~ :)))

[maaaaaatryoshka0325]

Hurricane - Bang Chan Mafia AU Part 1

Warnings: Violence, language, drugs

A/N: Hey ya’ll, I missed writing these mafia fics so here’s Bang Chan’s :D as for those asking about Inure and AASB, both will be worked on and posted! I have started the next part of both of them, as my motivation is slowly coming back! I can’t wait to be posting more, and I’m BEYOND stoked to be writing a mafia fic again. Here’s the long awaited part 1 of Hurricane!

(Next Part ->)

Your hand stretched out, soft droplets of rain gently splattering in your palm.

Raining again? 

The city was plagued with soft thunderstorms all throughout the week, and you believed the cloud of melancholy that was rumbling in your head may have been caused by it. Your life wasn’t necessarily hard, but it lacked something… It lacked excitement. You got up for work every morning, then went home and cooked dinner, watched some movies, then went to sleep. You were beginning to wonder when this boring little life of yours will have meaning, when it’ll give you a reason to want to get up in the morning.

I’m pathetic. 

A deep sigh left your lips as you grabbed both of your umbrellas, one a soft matte black, and the other a pattern of greens with Totoro on it. A small gift from a friend of yours when you had left town to work in the city. When you had left to “live your dream.” 

A depressed, lonely journalist walking through a rainy city, how ironic. You should’ve been in one of those Kdrama’s, or maybe an 80’s movie. At least your life would have some kind of excitement, some kind of meaning behind it. Hell, you hardly had friends, or even a love interest.

The rain picked up, and so did the wind, causing the rain to move sideways and wet your black cardigan. You stepped under a bus stop for a moment, as you had left for work early that morning. Making a five minute rest stop wouldn’t put a dent in your punctuality. 

You looked down at your phone and scrolled through Instagram, seeing a picture of one of your friends that had been left behind in the small town you had moved too for college. She was smiling happily with her now fiancé, and you felt a little jealousy. She didn’t have to leave town to follow her dreams, she didn’t have to leave anyone behind to find love, she didn’t have to give up her everyday life to be happy. 

The last time you had talked to her though, she had been upset with you. It’s not like it’s your fault really, but she thinks you had forgotten all about her and your other friends. What were you supposed to do though? Drop the job you had gone to school for/have been trying to get for months? She had always talked about the city, why couldn’t she come see you? 

You were interrupted from your thoughts as a man hurried under the bus stop, his dark hair plastered to his forehead. He wore a nice, expensive looking leather jacket, but it had no hood. Your eyes glanced up at his face, and he suddenly looked at you. Your cheeks turned red as he had caught you looking at him, but all he did was give a light chuckle.

“Didn’t even bother to check the weather today.” He said, wiping some of the rain droplets from his brow. “And a car drove by and splashed me.”

“I hate city drivers.” You chuckled. “It’s like they do it on purpose.”

“Oh, he definitely did it on purpose.” He chuckled, flashing a bright grin. “Asshole.”

His smile was pretty, a nice set of white teeth showing past his plump lips. His lips were dark as his teeth chattered, the light, early spring breeze not doing the rain any justice. You felt bad for him, and reached into your bag and handed him the other umbrella. His eyes went down to it, then up to your eyes.

“It’s too cold and raining too hard for you to not have an umbrella.” You said.

“Are you sure?” He asked.

You gave him a polite smile and nodded, watching his hand slowly reach out and grab it. Not only was his smile pretty, but so were his hands. His fingers were nice and slender, but still had a masculine look to them.

“Do you take this route often?” He asked.

“Yeah, I take it every morning to work.” You blurted out.

Idiot, why would you tell him that! 

“Really? I’ll have to come here one morning so I can return this.” He said, raising the umbrella a little.

“It’s not that big of a deal.” You chuckled.

He popped it open and the image of Totoro was clear as day, and you wanted to facepalm so hard. Why the Hell did you give him that one? 

He turned to you, an amused grin across his face. 

“Totoro huh?” He asked with a chuckle.

“I-If you don’t like it you can take the black one.” You said, your cheeks red.

“Nah, I like this one. It’s cute.” He said with a big smile before he started to walk away. 

He turned back to you as he stepped out in the rain, waving to you. “Thanks again, I’ll be sure to give this back!”

You watched him walk away before stepping away from the bus stop yourself and heading towards the building you worked in. As much as you wanted this job, sometimes you felt dread as you saw the building come into view. You never got any of the exciting things to write about, just boring old ads for newspapers, and sometimes you got lucky enough to post the daily comic. How nice it was to see Garfields face while typing. Even with all the overtime and running around you do for your boss and everyone else, you didn’t feel as though they truly appreciated you.

You stepped through the doors and made your way to the break room, a small smile on your face when you saw a cup of iced coffee with a note and your name attached to it. Out of everyone in the building, only one of them truly appreciated you. You both did this thing where you’d get each other coffee here and there, or leave little bags of treats.

“Hey Yujun.” You said as you walked past his cubicle. “Thanks for the coffee.” 

“No problem Y/N, Jihya isn’t in today, so maybe you’ll be able to write something juicy for once.” He said as he gave you a bright smile.

You gave him a thumbs up as you made your way to your cubicle, setting down your bag and your coffee. Jihya was only a position above you, but she constantly acted as though she was the CEO. Which meant, she was a total bitch. 

“Y/N.” Your boss called.

You stood up and bowed as he strolled over to you, a small smile on his face. “Jihya is going to be off for the next few days, so I’ll need you to write this.”

He handed you a small handful of papers and you smiled at him and nodded. “I’ll do my best Mr. Jang.”

Though you never felt like Mr. Jang totally liked you, he was rather kind. He kept everything he said to you short and sweet. You weren’t sure if he was just shy or if he truly didn’t like talking to anyone… Or maybe it was just you.

You set the papers down and looked through it, excitement making your eyes gleam. It was your first real story you’d be writing for, though the situation wasn’t anything to be excited about. The day before, a small bomb went off in a cafe. Though it wasn’t big, there were a few casualties, one being a young child. There had been an uprise in mafia groups and gangs recently, a lot more crime and dangerous activity appearing. You read through the papers, highlighting important parts and a few lines from a few interviews that a few others were able to get. 

Your fingers rapidly glided across your keyboard, your eyes steadily watching the screen as words flowed out of your fingertips. You went over every paragraph multiple times, checking for any spelling or grammar mistakes, your eyes sharp. Lunch came around faster than usual, and honestly, you were close to skipping it. The story and your opportunity to really impress your boss and the company giving you too much excitement. 

“You coming to lunch?” Yujun asked.

“Nah, I’m doing this story.” You said, not taking your eyes off of the screen.

“Y/N, I know you’re excited for this, but you need to get some energy!” He scolded you. “And looking at a screen like that for too long at a time is going to give you a headache.”

You sighed, knowing he was right.

“I know… I just got so wrapped up in the fact that I finally got something!” 

“I know, it’s exciting getting your first big story, but once you get hungry or your head starts hurting, you won’t be able to focus.” He pointed out. “And you need to be on your A game for this one.”

“You’re right.” You said with a smile, standing up and stretching. “I guess I should listen to you.”

“You guess?” He chuckled.

You followed Yujun into the break room, finally feeling grateful for the hour break you got. You had plenty of time to eat and think about what else you wanted to write for the article. You rummaged through your bag for your lunch, and realized you had grabbed the second umbrella after noticing it was raining instead of your lunch.

“Shit.” You cursed under your breath.

“Forget your lunch?” Yujun asked.

“Yeah.” You sighed. “I grabbed my second umbrella instead… Which I, by the way, gave to some stranger on the street since he forgot one.”

“Well, it’s your lucky day.” Yujun said, reaching into his book bag and pulling out a second cup of noodles. “I brought two.”

“It’s like we were destined for each other.” You laughed as he handed you the cup of noodles.

You both sat there eating and you observed Yujun’s face. He was a couple years younger than you, and his face really proved his youth. He looked much younger than he actually was, his large eyes passing him off as a young high schooler. Despite him being a few years younger, you preferred him to not use honorifics with you, considering you were both pretty close. 

“You’re writing about the bomb that went off, right?” Yujun asked.

“Yeah, thank goodness Jihya’s sick.” You said with a smile. “As fucked up as it sounds.”

“Not fucked up, accurate.” Yujun said, an evil little grin on his face.

You laughed as you stuck your chopsticks into your noodles, finally bringing them to your lips and sighing happily. 

“Noodles are the best to have when it’s chilly and rainy.” You said. 

“I agree.” He said muffly, a mouth full of noodles stuffing his cheeks.

You laughed at the way he looked, cheeks puffed out, large innocent eyes bigger than usual. He smiled at you through his stuffed cheeks and chewed, covering his mouth politely as he spoke. 

“How’s the article coming?” He asked.

“So far so good, I’m so immersed in it. It feels so good to be able to get an ACTUAL job.” You said with a smile.

Yujun gave you an all too knowing nod. “It took forever to actually get a good story myself, no one ever believes in us little guys. They always give the good stuff to the seniors.” 

You nodded in agreement, feeling sorry for Yujun. He had been here a year longer than you, and he had just recently gotten his first big story about two months back. 

“What do you have so far?” He asked. 

You reached into your bag and took out a dark purple folder, sliding the paper with the information out. You pointed out everything you’ve highlighted so far, and you realized that this was the perfect opportunity to get help from someone who's worked on stories like this. You explained thoroughly what you had gotten down so far, and how you worded certain areas. Yujun listened carefully, and even took a pen out from his bag and circled certain things you had down to add a word or two, or pointed out a few more things. 

“I’m impressed, this is really good.” Yujun said.

“I still made quite a few mistakes.” You sighed.

Yujun patted your shoulder and gave you a soft smile.

“Listen, this is your first big story. It’s not going to be perfect your first try, and it won’t be your second. We all make small mistakes or tend to leave things out, or we could even use bigger and better words. I still make mistakes, and I made ten times the amount you made on my first try.” Yujun pointed out. 

“Really? You made a lot of mistakes?” You asked.

“Hell yeah, the unfortunate part for me is that Jihya was the one who went over mine, and I got an eraser pegged at my face.” He laughed.

“Really?!” You gasped.

“Yup. Bounced right off my nose.” He chuckled. “So you’re pretty lucky you got me to be the one to check it over.”

“Yeah, I guess I am.” You laughed.

You both checked the time and headed back to your cubicles, and you quickly opened your laptop, hurrying to change what Yujun suggested. He had left you quite a few notes as references to what words and phrases you could use while writing the article. Your fingers fired away on the keyboard, your eyes going back and forth between your notes and your laptop. The hours ticked away a lot faster than usual, and you jumped when Yujun came over to your desk.

“Ready to head home?” He asked.

“For once, no.” You chuckled, shaking your head. “I can’t believe it’s 5;30 already.”

“Believe it Toots.” He said with a smile. “You heading out?”

“Ya know what, I think I’m gonna stay a bit longer.” You said. “Try and get some of this done. I need enough time to write it out and thoroughly go through it.”

“I understand, don’t get too caught up in it.” Yujun said. “I did that my first real story, and I lost days of sleep.”

“I’ll try not too.” You said reassuringly. 

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said, waving goodbye to you.

You waved back then hunched closer to your laptop, pulling the papers with the story on it closer so you could highlight key points. You looked through all the papers and found the interviews with key witnesses, taking the important ones and rewriting them and highlighting major points. The persistent tapping of your laptop keyboard filling the empty room.

The hours quickly ticked away, and you were startled by the door to the main office opening. You looked up and saw Mr. Jang looking at you, a little confused,

“What are you still doing here Y/N?” He asked.

“Sorry Mr. Jang, I’m still working on the story you gave me, and I lost track of time. I wasn’t going to stay this long.” You said quickly, shocked to see that it was 8PM.

“It’s no trouble Y/N, I appreciate you staying and devoting yourself to your work.” He said with a kind smile. “But I do need to lock up.”

“Oh, no problem!” You said hurriedly, getting up and closing your laptop, taking your notes and putting them in your bag. “Sorry, I didn’t clock out. I won’t expect overtime.”

“You worked over time, didn’t you?” He asked with a chuckle. “I’m not worried about paying you for overtime, Y/N. Like I said, I appreciate you devoting yourself to your work.”

You bowed to him and he gave you another kind smile before opening the front door for you and locking it. 

“Will you be okay getting home with it being this dark?” He asked.”Do you need a ride?”

“Oh, I should be okay.” You reassured him. “I appreciate that though!”

He gave you a smile and headed to his care, and you smiled as you turned and walked towards your apartment. The smell of the recent rain and early spring put you in an even better mood than before, and you decided that, when you get home, you’ll order out some noodles and continue to go over the papers and continue highlighting and writing down key points and what you’d like to put into your article. You could use your personal laptop and type what you need to, then email it to yourself so you could copy and paste it to what you have. 

You got to the front of the building and went to open the door, and noticed it was locked. Of course, it would be locked. The first time since you moved in it’s locked, and your key to the front had broken. Your landlord, however, had given you a key to the basement, just in case this would happen. 

You groaned as you started to make your way to the back of the building, which was connected to multiple alleyways, and sat right across from the back of a few places. You began to come around the back when you spotted something familiar on the ground. You bent down and picked it up, a scoff leaving your lips. It was your Totoro umbrella, it had been open and just laying on the ground. If he didn’t like it, he shouldn’t have taken it!

You were ripped from your thoughts as you stared down at a dark mark that covered the one side. You stuck your hand towards it and touched it, noticing it was really warm compared to what the rest of the umbrella felt like. You looked down at your hand and noticed it was red.

Is this...Blood?

Your head shot up when you heard voices, and you quickly pressed yourself against the building. The surface colder than usual because of the rain, goosebumps beginning to adorn your skin. You slowly peaked over the side of the building, and noticed four men standing around another, who was on the ground. You noticed one of the men kick the one on the ground as he went to get up, and he grunted as he hit the ground hard. The man who had kicked him lifted him by his shirt, and your breath got caught in your throat.

It was the man from earlier. His leather jacket was gone, the white shirt that had been beneath it stained a dark red on the side of his stomach, and small red drops from the blood from his lip stained the neck of it. You heard the man holding him up say something, and the man from earlier rasped out a response that got him thrown onto the concrete, and a swift kick to the spot that was bleeding heavily. He let out a short wheeze, his hands trembling as he slowly started to get up. The same man kicked him again, knocking him over. He kicked him multiple times until one of the other men pulled him off, two others approaching the one on the ground. 

One held him down while the other stuck a syringe in his neck, making him jerk. They held him down for about two minutes before he went limp, his eyes closing.

“What did you give him?” The one that had been kicking him asked.

“120 Milligrams of Ketamine. It should last about 30 minutes, and when he wakes up, he’ll be too sick to do anything.” The one who had pushed the syringe into his neck said.

“Perfect.” The other responded.

He and two of the other men began to walk away, when he whistled for the one who had administered the drug. “When you hear my signal, come out to the truck, we’re gonna go talk to Boss then we’ll get him in the truck.”

The other nodded as the three walked away. You pressed yourself against the wall between the building and the dumpster. The three men didn’t notice you, and you watched them head away from the small alleyway. You had to think of something, and you had to think fast.

You waited a few minutes before mimicking the man's whistle as best as you could, and the man standing by the one from earlier looked around.

“Already? That was fast.” He said to himself as he began to walk towards you.

You pressed against the wall and held your breath as he passed, waiting until he was completely out of sight before hurrying over to the man on the ground. You dropped down beside him and checked his pulse, feeling it pulsating fast. You quickly got up and unlocked the door to the basement, fumbling with your keys as your hands shook. You quickly unlocked it then hurried over to the man, bending down and wrapping his arm over your shoulder. You quickly dragged him into the doorway, a gasp leaving your lips as you fell, forgetting that the stairs were very steep. You were just able to catch yourself, but cringed when you heard the man fall onto the hard concrete floor of the basement.

“Sorry…” You muttered as you looked down at him, facedown.

He didn’t respond, and you quickly shut and locked the basement door before hurrying back down the stairs. The dim light didn’t do much, so you flashed your phone's flashlight over where he was bleeding on the side of his stomach. A deep gash was showing through the rip in his shirt, and your stomach turned.

“Were you stabbed?” You whispered, though you knew you weren’t going to get an answer.

You quickly took your cardigan off, and gently lifted it enough so you could wrap it around his waist. It was a good thing you liked long cardigans, because you were able to double wrap it and tighten and press the knot to his wound to stop the bleeding.

You kept your hands over the knot, pressing it against his wound for a couple minutes as you thought of what to do. You jumped when you heard the men outside of the door, hearing them yelling and cursing.

“Let’s get you up to my apartment.” You said, gently sticking your hand out and feeling his pulse again.

It had calmed down only slightly, but the feeling of his warm, smooth skin under your hands felt… Weird. You shook off the feeling and gently lifted him, keeping his arm wrapped around your neck as you began to drag him towards the stairs leading up the apartments.

*bonk*

You gasped as you accidentally hit his head off of one of the pipes that stuck out.

“Sorry.” You said softly.

*bonk*

Another pipe, straight to the noggin.

“Sorry!” You apologized again, moving him over.

*BONK*

“OH MY GOD!”

When you finally got him to the last stair, you began to wonder if he would’ve been better off being taken by the other guys. He had gotten quite the beating just from you trying to help him. You opened the door leading out of the basement and began to head towards the elevator to get to your floor.

You were glad that mainly old people lived here, knowing everyone should be asleep and no questions should be asked. You got off of the elevator, your back beginning to hurt from holding his weight and your own.

“Ms. Y/N?”

You froze, slowly turning and making eye contact with Mrs. Boo, one of your neighbors. She looked at you worriedly, glancing at Chan.

“Did something happen?” She asked.

“Oh, uh, my friend here and I went to the bar when I was done work. He got a little too drunk and then a huge bar fight happened.” You said with a reassuring smile.

“Oh! You young people can be so careless!” She said.

“Yeah, you got that right.” You said. “Well I’m gonna get him inside and treat these bruises, have a good night Mrs. Boo!”

“You too, dear.” She said with a smile as she slowly stepped back into her own apartment.

You reached for your keys, slowly losing your grip on him and his head went straight into your door.

“.... God dammit.” You muttered as you unlocked the door.

His body slid forward but you were able to catch him, a huff leaving your lips.

“Aht aht aht, I caught you that time.” You said.

You leaned him sitting up against your wall as you quickly cleared off your kitchen table, finally testing out just how sturdy the fine wood was.

Hauling him up the stairs was a chore, but getting him up on the table after hauling him up multiple flights of stairs was a new challenge. When you finally got him up on the table, turned on all three of the lights in the kitchen/dining room area. You slowly ripped his shirt where the injury was, and you were finally able to get a good look at it.

It was deep and fleshy, but didn’t look life threatening. You noticed his eyes clench, and a heavy breath left his lips.

“Sir? Are you okay?” You asked.

His eyes slowly fluttered open, his breathing labored. His eyes roamed until they landed on you, and he squinted hard.

“Hey, are you okay?” You asked.

His eyes finally focused, and he looked over your face.

“It’s you… From earlier.” He rasped.

“Yeah, I saw what those men were doing to you. You were behind my apartment building.” You told him.

He slowly nodded, a small puff of air leaving his lips.

“I’ll call and ambulance for you.” You said, reaching for your phone.

His hand shot out and grabbed yours, his breathing more harsh.

“No ambulances… No cops.” He rasped..

“Why not? Those men could’ve killed you!” You pointed out.

“Please…” He rasped.

You were silent as you looked him over, bloody and almost pitiful.

“I have a needle and some thread for sewing, I can give you stitches.” You said.

He nodded as you hurried over to the cabinet above your kitchen sink, grabbing the sewing kit. You grabbed some salt, some water, a water bottle, the first aid kit, and the bottle of vodka you’ve had for months.

“I’m gonna disinfect the needle with the vodka okay? I’m gonna pour some salt over the wound to make sure it doesn’t get infected.” You told him. (Salt dehydrates bacteria by pulling the water out of it)

He nodded and kept his eyes closed as you poured some of the vodka onto the needle, gently placing it on a paper towel. You poured some of the sea salt into your hand then pressed it into his wound. His breathing hitched, but he didn’t protest or move, then his whole body relaxed.

“I don’t have anything to numb it.” You said gently. “But I have the vodka and I have a water bottle.”

He nodded as you pressed the cold water bottle against his face, as he had been sweating, and he closed his eyes. You went to see if he wanted some of the vodka, but he turned away from it.

“Just please… Get it done and over with.” He rasped.

You slowly nodded as you put the black thread through the needle and slowly leaned forward, getting a good hold on the skin before pushing it through. His body tense, but he didn’t make a sound or jerk around. You kept glancing at him every time the needle pierced into the wounded skin, until the last part of the thread finally close the wound completely.

“It’s over now.” You said gently, grabbing a rag and gently dabbing at the blood.

He softly nodded, his eyes closed and lips slightly parted as he breathed raggedly. You gently pushed the hair out of his face, cringing at a big bruise on the side of his head from you bumping his head off of every possible pipe in the basement…. And quite possibly for from when you dropped him.

You opened the water bottle and gently lifted his head, pouring a little in his mouth. A small amount of color came back to his face as the water entered his body, and his eyes fluttered open again.

“Thank you.” He said hoarsely.

You nodded as you wiped the sweat off of his chest and face, being as gentle as you can as his eyes closed again. Now that he wasn’t watching you, your eyes lowered to his body.

Oh sweet baby Jesus.

You shook your head and lightly hit it before cleaning up all the bloody paper towels and putting everything back in its place. Most of your apartment was dark, and you guess that’s how you didn’t realize the person standing behind you, until a cold metal was placed against your neck.

Your whole body froze, and you lifted your hands in submission, your knees shaking.

“Who the hell are you?” A man’s voice asked in your ear.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? Since you’re in my apartment?” You asked.

You felt the sharpness of the Metal press harder into your neck, and your whole body began to tremble.

“Hyunjin…” The man on your table rasped. “Stop.”

The man who had the knife to your neck slowly lowered it. He kept a hold on you as he approached the man laying on the table.

“Chan Hyung, what happened?” The man named Hyunjin asked.

Chan? That’s his name?

“Some of Yohyuns men.” Chan rasped. “She saved me.”

You finally got a look at Hyunjin’s face. He was pretty, sharp eyes meeting yours as he kept a hard expression.

“Sorry for the knife to your neck.” He said, before turning back to Chan. “Felix and Jisung are outside, we can bring you home.”

Chan nodded, his eyes opening as they met yours.

“What’s your name?” He asked in a raspy voice.

“Y/N.” You answered.

He gave you a soft smile, and you couldn’t help but ask yourself how anyone could hurt him.

“Thank you, Y/N. I’ll have to repay you someday.” He said.

“Don’t worry about that, worry about getting better.” You said.

Hyunjin gave a small smile of approval and then leaned forward and held Chan up. Chan looked at you again, his honey brown eyes a little brighter as he slightly bowed to you. You held the door for the two of them as Hyunjin held Chan up, and you watched them disappear into the elevator.

When they had gone, you dropped yourself onto your couch, looking at your curling.

“What a crazy night.” You murmured to yourself.

You quickly checked your phone, a sigh of relief leaving your lips when you realzed it was only 9:15. Your favorite noodle place closed at 10, so you had enough time to order and have it delivered.

When the noodles came, you left a pretty nice tip to the delivery driver for delivering right before close, and then you sat at your desk and quickly took your notes out. You stuffed your face with noodles as you read over everything, continuing to highlight what you needed.

Hours ticked on, the clock striking 6 AM a lot faster than you expected. Looks like you weren’t getting any sleep, not that you could sleep anyways. This project was too big, too important, and the events from the night before kept replaying in your head. You had wanted your life to pick up a little bit, but not this much in one day. This was almost too much to ask for.

You finally got up to shower and get ready for work, applying a few layers of concealer to hide the bags that would rat you out to Yujun. He might be able to tell you haven’t slept either way, but you could at least hope you could find a way to hide them.

You quickly organized your notes and papers and packed them up, finally heading out the door. It had rained again, not that you were surprised. The deep puddles nearly enough to swallow your ankles if you were unlucky enough to not pay attention. You were surprised you were able to focus, the project and Chan completely occupying your mind.

“Stay up all night?” Yujun’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts as you entered the building.

“Damn, hardly even looked at me and already caught me.” You chuckled.

He smiled at you and patted your head, his eyes soft.

“You should really rest ya know.” He said. “Rest is a key part to writing good articles.”

“I know, I was just too excited.” You said.

You didn’t want to tell him about the Chan situation, not wanting to worry him. You trusted Yujun a lot, but for some reason other than not wanting to worry him, you found it better not to say anything.

Xx

You sat in your cubicle, fingers clicking away. The day had gone by fast, and everyone had left already. It was a Friday, which meant you all left pretty early. Usually you were out of the office by 2:30-3 the latest, but today, you couldn’t help but be glued to your laptop. You were so close to finishing the article, you could practically already see it, printed in fine lettering. This whole article could completely make or destroy your career, and you were getting more anxious, yet excited, as you slowly got closer to the end.

You only had a few paragraphs left, but you glanced at the clock. It was going on 6, and you knew Mr. Jang wanted to leave soon, as he had always left at 6 instead of 8 on Friday’s.

“Still here again?” He asked.

You turned towards him as he stepped out of his office, a smile on your face.

“I’m almost done… Could you look it over for me? If you have the time?” You asked.

“Of course.” He said with a smile as he walked over.

His eyes scanned your laptop, his fingers lightly hovering over the pad to scroll down or up to read. His eyes were intensely scanning the words, each paragraph being implanted in his brain.

When he finished he pulled away. He looked at you, the same expression his face changing as he smiled.

“I like it. I like it a lot actually. Keep up the good work, I now know what you’re capable of.” He said with a bigger smile. “Big things are going to start coming your way, Y/N.”

You beamed at his praise, a huge smile on your face as you bowed to him.

“Thank you so much Mr. Jang!” You said excitedly.

He walked you out of the office, waving goodbye to you as you turned towards the direction of your apartment. You looked up at the darkening sky, inhaling deeply, a big smile on your face. You began to walk home, stopping in the little convenient store for a few snacks and a quick dinner. You grabbed some of the pork dumplings they had, your stomach rumbling.

You approached the front door to your apartment building, and you sighed in relief when the door opened. Thank god it wasn’t locked again, you don’t need more stress like last night.

You entered the elevator and pressed the button to go up to your floor, when you felt a sudden wave of dread. Something felt off, and you couldn’t tell what it was. You clutched the plastic bag with your snacks in it, and decided to brush it off.

You just got great news about your career, why are you worrying now? Nothing could ruin this moment for you, and you weren’t going to let anything destroy your hope.

You got off of the elevator and walked over to the door, unlocking it and stepping inside. Your whole apartment was dark, and the skin on your neck and back began to crawl as the same eerie feeling began to haunt you. You walked over towards the light switch when a cold metal touched your temple, a soft click filling your ears. Your body shook, your eyes making out a dark figure beside you.

“W-Who are you?” You asked.

“You made the biggest mistake of your life getting involved.” A man’s voice growled. “Unfortunately, it’s costing you your life.”

Your hands shook as tears filled your eyes. “Please don’t… I won’t tell anyone.”

The cold metal pressed against the skin on your temple, a soft chuckle leaving the man’s lips.

“I don’t give a shit who you would’ve told, you were an idiot for saving that man. You took away an opportunity for me, and the only way to pay that back is your life.”

You heard the safety click and closed your eyes tight, your whole body shaking. You heard a weird squelching sound and a choked gasp. The gun fell away from your head and you slowly opened your eyes.

Another man stood over the one that held the gun to your head, and the moonlight illuminated the man. It was the one that had been kicking Chan the night before, a knife was sticking out of his neck, his eyes open and wide.

The other man you didn’t recognize. He wore a black hat and dark clothing, his eyes meeting yours.

“Are you hurt?” He asked.

“N-No…” You whispered shakily.

“Are you Y/N?” He asked.

You nodded and he slowly approached you.

“I was sent here to come get you, and it looks like I got here just in time.” He said. “Come with me.”

You didn’t ask any questions. If your mother was here, she'd scold you for willingly just following a stranger. But he had just saved you, so he can’t be all that bad, right? As you were stepping out the door, you smelled smoke, and quickly turned around. A fire was starting to smoke up the living room, and you went to go towards it when the man stopped you.

“Leave it.” He said, pulling you away with him.

He took you down the emergency stairs so no one would see you, and when you reached the side of the building, you heard the fire alarm blaring.

“Hurry.” The man said lowly.

You followed him to an Escalade, the giant dark truck reflecting the flames that were beginning to burst through your open apartment window. You watched it for a second, your heart shattering.

Everything you had ever worked for was in that apartment. The project, your degree, all the money you had put into making the place feel like home… It was all gone.

“Come on, we can’t stick around.” His voice snapped you out of your thoughts.

You shakily opened the passenger side door and got in, finally getting a good look at your savior. He was short, shorter than most guys. His dark hair hung in his eyes as the hat he had on flattened it even more. He was wearing all black, and the gloves he wore had blood splattered in them.

“I’m Changbin.” He introduced himself.

You wanted to respond, but nothing came out. Your throat was dry from holding your tears back, so you just gave him a stiff nod. Your eyes wandered out the window as a big cloud of back smoke hung in the sky from your apartment building. It began to grow smaller as Changbin drove you away, taking you away from the dream you had chased for so long.

Changbin finally pulled into a massive drive way, the whole thing circling a massive fountain. Your eyes were wide as you looked at the mansion, statues and art carved into the columns sticking out, even in the dark.

“Follow me.” He said.

You slowly stepped out of the truck, and stiffly followed him up the giant stairs. He opened the two giant doors to the mansion, and you stared at the entrance. Another fountain was in the middle of an archway, and two sets of staircases that twirled around sat on each side. The place smelled like gingerbread, and the beautiful white and gold walls were bright, almost blindingly bright.

“Did you retrieve her?” A voice asked as a head popped around the fountain.

“Yes, this is Y/N.” Changbin introduced you.

The younger male smiled at you, his dark eyes sparkling.

“I’m Felix.” He said, beckoning for you to follow. “Come with me, someone wants to see you.” He said, leading you and Changbin through a giant hallway.

You heard more voices as you got closer, and you decided to stay closer to Changbin. Felix opened a giant door and multiple heads turned, but only one caught your attention. It was Chan.

“Y/N.” He called to you, a smile on his face. 

His lips were still cut up, and he had a bruise on his jaw, but his eyes were shining. He stepped towards you, a big smile on his face.

“It’s good to see you.” He said, his smile faltering when he saw your expression. “What’s wrong? Didn’t something happen?”

“One of Yohyun’s men got into her apartment. I got there just in time.” Changbin told him.

“I made the right decision sending you when I did.” Chan said, his expression completely changed.

He looked down at you and stretched his hand out, gently touching your shoulder.

“You’re safe here, okay?” He said.

“W-Whats going on?” You asked.

Chan sighed but gave you a soft smile.

“When you saved me, you ruined plans for them. You see… I’m a very wanted man right now.” He explained. “And I knew they would find out who had saved me, and I knew you’d be in danger.”

“Why would I be in danger for saving you?” You asked.

“Because like I said, I’m a very wanted man.” He said softly. “You stole a… Big bounty from them.”

You were silent as Chan rubbed your shoulder, his warm touch almost comforting.

“What if they look for me again?” You asked.

“We won’t let them hurt you, Y/N.” Chan said. 

“And where will I go?” You asked. “My apartment was on fire… I lost everything…” 

Chan’s eyes were soft as he looked at you, a soft sigh leaving his lips.

“You’re going to uh.. Have to stay here… With the eight of us.” 

[lovelivingmydreams]

A story by heroes and villains

Janus Bullard: Drift away

When you don't let people close, they tend to drift away. Janus seems to struggle to understand that.

Masterlist

When sophomore year started, Janus had few comforts in their lives. One, Virgil and uncle Lo and their parents. Their constant pillars of support and comfort. And two, they were really good at languages. Which boosted their confidence quite a bit. They breezed through the curriculum for Spanish of last year and studied the rest of the material in their free time, because learning it was fun to them. They already knew French, and by the time finals rolled around they got to take a special test that had effectively gotten them a free period where their language elective should be for the rest of high school. The school prided themselves on adjusting the curriculum to the level of the students. And the best performing students even got to go on a weeklong trip after finals were over. The rest of the school had showcase week. Which meant that all the clubs and electives got to show off their stuff. Janus was not particularly interested in the showcase. He didn’t participate in anything and he knew no one who would be showing anything. So he chose to go on the trip. Virgil didn’t come along despite qualifying. He didn’t want to leave his dad by himself for that long. It was very sweet really. Janus would have argued against it, but it occurred to them that maybe if they were away from Virgil for a bit, then the feelings would calm down and they could just come out and get back to normal without Virgil having to learn that they ever were attracted to him in the first place. It didn’t work. They missed Virgil a lot, to start with. Missing makes the heart grow fonder indeed. It really drove home for him how much he couldn’t stand to lose his friend. On top of that the guys that were with them on the trip were… not the best company to keep. It all started out well. Virgil had made him a special shirt to congratulate him with passing his advanced Language exams. It was a black shirt with a yellow print. A minimalistic open snake mouth on their chest with ‘hiss hiss’ above it. Scales scattered along the left side to match their marks. They loved it. It was a reference to Remus’ old nickname for them. ‘Snakeface’. From anyone else it would have been an insult. But Remus meant it as a complement. Their travel companions, from schools all over the city thought it looked bad ass. It was a great ice breaker if nothing else when they wore it on the first day. That didn’t last long though. On the second night they were talking with the other guys in the boys dormitory. One mentioned a cousin of theirs came out not too long ago. “And his folks actually let him stay. My parents cut ties right away. Can’t believe I used to play ball with a twink.” Janus just barely managed to hide how the word hit them. The other guys agreed and, as much as they hated it, so did they. To say that that was the last time they were confronted with the fact that if these guys were to get to know the real them, they’d make their week hell, would be a lie. And as they heard slurs and jokes about the LGBTQ+ community tossed around as if it was nothing, they started to wonder. Would their parents be okay with it? They thought they would. They’d never seemed to be against the community. They recalled hearing their mother gush about the cute pride stuff they’d spotted in the mall a few times. But accepting that other people were queer and accepting that their son was sometimes more like a daughter and also gay and aromantic… That was something entirely different. And Virgil? Saying you don’t care and actually having to live with the knowledge that your best friend was… broken… What kind of freak were they even that they couldn’t pick a gender? Why couldn’t they fall in love like normal teens? Virgil’d had plenty of crushes already. He’d admitted he hadn’t even told them about all of them! So clearly it wasn’t that hard. Except for them. Because they had to be messed up in every way possible. The way they looked, the way they felt, what they were… When they got home Virgil was at their bedroom door almost within ten minutes of them putting their bag down. “You’re back!” he grinned, excited to see them again. “Tell me everything! Was it worth it letting me die of boredom?” he teased, throwing an arm over their shoulder in a sort of sideways hug. Janus flinched away from Virgil’s proximity. Being close to him made them want to be closer. But still not in the way Virgil might understand. If they just kept him on arm’s length, then things would be ok… Right? Virgil let them go. It didn’t look like he found it odd that Janus wanted distance. Janus tried to remember last time he’d initiated a hug or anything of the sort… With anyone… Maybe they had been a little more distant lately as it was. Good, then it wouldn’t be too obvious if they pushed a little more. They had to. To protect Virgil, to keep him in their life. No one could know. They couldn’t risk it. “It was cool. Saw lots of awesome stuff. The guys were dumb though. Guess no one can replace you,” they smiled carefully. “Aw, J. You’re such a sap,” Virgil teased with a playful punch to the arm. Was that bad? Did straight guys say stuff like that to their friends? Were they being obvious? “Shut up,” he retorted with a push. Not mean. Just playful. That was still okay right? “Movie night?” Virgil suggested, holding up his bag with his part of their collection. Janus hesitated. They needed time. “I’m beat. Maybe some other time,” they shrugged. Virgil nodded. “Okay. See you later J!” And just like that Virgil was out the door. They let themselves fall onto their bed. They had to figure themselves out. Again. Summer passed and Janus found a system that worked for them. It wasn’t great, but it would have to do. They had bought a few cute tops they enjoyed on Janice days. So they wore those when they were needed underneath a baggy hoodie or something else that would hide it. If there was a chance of them needing to take off said ‘cover item’ they’d wear a shirt that was too big like the band shirt. In addition they made sure to act plenty masculine on those days. They hated that part the most. But it was needed. When it came to Virgil, since their problem was just physical all they had to do was make sure they weren’t too close. Which was easier said and done. Hugs and pats on the back and the like used to reassure them so much and now they were a risk. Even if they never acted on the thoughts when they appeared, Virgil might notice. So they had a plan. Not the best plan. But to keep Virgil with them. To keep them both safe. They would do it. First day of school came around and Janice found themself alone at the bus stop. Which was odd. Virgil wasn’t usually late… Maybe he accidently took a bus too early again. Was that going to be a first day tradition? Janice couldn’t be too upset by that. It was just so typically Virgil, and they already looked forward to teasing him about it later. What wasn’t typically Virgil however was him not texting Janice to let them know his mix up. Maybe he hadn’t realized he was early yet? Janice wondered if they should ask Virgil where he was… Better not. They’d see Virgil soon enough. And he’d probably feel bad if they made too big a deal out of it. Again, typical for Virgil, making everything his fault or responsibility somehow. When they got to school though, Virgil was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t in their homeroom either. Which Janice wouldn’t have found too odd. There was always a chance of homeroom getting switched around. But then the teacher handed them two schedules. One for themself and one for Virgil. Virgil was late? Was he sick? Janice looked at the schedules. They shared their first two classes and then they had language electives. Which meant Janice would have a free period while Virgil should be in Spanish. They promised themself to call if Virgil hadn’t shown up by then. Two hours late was a reasonable time to get worried right? They checked their phone as they walked to science class and took a seat. Virgil hadn’t texted at all. Was he ill? Should they text anyway? “Mr. Johnson. You may take a seat next to Mr. Bullard. Class will commence soon.” Janice, mentally cringing at the male honorific, glanced at the kid that just entered. Ugh, they remembered him. He’d had a locker not too far from his last year. He always got in their way, the amount of times he’d bumped into them was infuriating. And now he was about to take Virgil’s seat. But not if they could help it. “Ma’am, I was actually saving this seat for…” “No one. This is my class and I say Mr. Johnson sits next to you.” Janice was taken aback. Most teachers at least heard them out if he asked something. And in almost every case he got what he needed even if he didn’t always get what he wanted. This one didn’t even want to listen though. They glared at the boy… Carlton, if they remembered correctly, as he took the seat next to them. The boy shrunk away, he was trembling… Janice supposed they had been pretty rude to him last year. Not that they cared. It just would make being desk mates very annoying. Janice didn’t waste time on wanting others to like them.

“It’s your lucky day Mr. Castile,” the teacher said dryly the second the bell rang. No… Janice looked up, there he was. The school’s golden boy. He looked slightly out of breath, and smiled sheepishly. “Apologies miss,” he replied as he looked around, probably looking for an empty seat. For a moment his eyes found Janice and he was clearly about as happy as they were with Janice being here on the seat right behind the only empty bench. Janice had an extra reason to be upset though. Castile would be sitting next to Virgil. He took the seat next to the window, right in front of Janice. Janice’s thoughts were racing. How were they supposed to function with that idiot around? They hadn’t had to interact with him too often last year. And when they did Janice had made sure he knew that they saw right through the knight in shining armor act he put up for the rest of the school. He only acted like that to impress their classmates. He was in theatre. He lived for the praise. “I hope you like where you are sitting… Ah, so glad you could join us Mr. Anker.” Janice tensed up when they saw the way Castile’s head snapped up, a bright smile on their face. It was such a genuine reaction… Why though? He had enough friends. Why was Virgil so important that he seemed genuinely happy to see him? “Take your seat and spare me your excuses,” the teacher snapped when Virgil opened his mouth to speak. “I was just telling the class that these are your seats for the rest of the year. So I hope you like your neighbor, they are your new lab partner.” Virgil’s face fell and he looked around. His make up was gone and he looked a mess, but other than that he seemed fine. Janice would have to ask him what had happened this morning later. To their annoyance, Virgil’s gaze didn’t even make it to their seat. Once he spotted the empty seat next to Castile, he too, lit up. Why? What did Castile have that was so special? Other than a pretty face? They watched Castile wave at Virgil, getting rewarded with a smile from their best friend.

“Man, talk about a lucky break,” Virgil said as he sat down. That hurt. Didn’t he want to sit with them? They tried to calm themselves. Virgil had simply not noticed them. He wouldn’t have said that if he knew they were in this class too. “I agree,” Castile grinned. That smug piece of… He knew they were here. He was taunting them! Class started, and Janice managed to ignore the pair in front of them. They even calmed down. Found themselves a little amused at their neighbor’s not so subtle glances at the desk in front of them. They’d spotted the pride flag stitched in their assigned lab partner’s pencil case. Maybe they should lay off a little. Poor kid had a crush on Roman Castile. He had enough to deal with. But then the experiment started. They divided the work so Johnson wouldn’t have to talk with them too much. they did their best to focus on their part of the assignment. But it proved difficult. Virgil and Roman were doing every step together and they were having fun. They talked and joked with familiarity that told Janice that somehow, Castile had managed to weasel his way into Virgil’s life, despite their efforts to chase him away. Sure they’d overheard from conversations in the hallways that Virgil was still standing up to bullies and that the Hispanic teen had joined him on occasion. But had that really been all it took? Suddenly Virgil got up, bringing a paper to the front. Damn, they had to focus. They managed to block out their surroundings for a good while. Until Virgil’s laugh pulled them out. He was looking very comfortable, sitting there with the enemy.

“Only you can pull of talking like a Shakespeare character,” Virgil grinned. “Well, only you can pull off dressing like a dark knight and still looking like a lost kitten,” Castile shot back. Janice tensed. How dare he ridicule their best friend like that? Virgil gave Roman a shove. “You take that back!” he demanded “I am dark and mysterious and intimidating!” Janice had to interfere, before Virgil got himself in trouble. they took an empty page from their notebook, crushed it in their fist and tossed it against Castile’s head. Both boys turned to look at them. Their attention was on Castile though. “What gives Bullard?” he hissed. No, it wasn’t attractive when he got that serious and intense look in his eyes. He was annoying and a danger. He was going to hurt Virgil. Or take him away and then hurt him. “You take Smellington next time. Virgil is sitting with me.” It was a good solution. Castile would be unable to resist being a knight in shining armor, so Janice acted as if they were the big bad Johnson had to be saved from. Carlton got to sit next to his crush, and Janice and Virgil could sit together. Like they should have been. Everyone happy. “Excuse me? His name is Carlton.” Just as Janice suspected. There was the hero complex. “And you don’t get to say where I sit J. I’m fine sitting with Roman. Besides you heard the teacher. No switching seats.” That… What? Virgil wanted to sit there? And he was offended that Janice tried to help? “We always sit together!” they reminded him. They were a team right? Them against the world? They’d have each other’s back no matter what… Right? Virgil’s jaw set. “Exactly. The world won’t end because I’m Roman’s lab partner J.” Where was all this coming from? What had Castile been poisoning his mind with? “Am I interrupting?” Janice looked up to the teacher. She still didn’t look like she was in the mood to listen to Janice. But they had to try. “Mr. Bullard,” once again, that stung. “I don’t have you and Mr. Jonson’s assignment yet, which means you can’t be talking with anyone else besides each other right now.” Oh, she really wasn’t in the mood to listen. Against better judgement, Janice gave her their most charming smile. If they knew that they were being perfectly reasonable, people usually followed along with their way of thinking. “Ma’am, I can’t work with him. Virgil and I never had a problem in projects, can’t we…” “No.” Janice nearly flinched at the finality of that word. But the teacher wasn’t done yet. “I put Mr. Jonson next to you because you are much too dependent on Mr. Anker’s presence.” She’d done it on purpose? And dependent? What did she mean? They weren’t that… Had it been so obvious to outsiders? Did she know? “You won’t always be able to hide behind him Mr. Bullard. You better learn that now.” They hadn’t! They’d stopped hiding in middle school. They’d been trying to be the shield! “And if I see any more problems here then all that’ll change is that Mr. Castile and Mr. Anker will be moved to the front of the class so you can’t distract them anymore. Is that understood?” She had it all wrong. She didn’t understand. But Janice knew they couldn’t do anything about it. So they nodded and returned their attention to their assignment.

They finished up the last of their notes when Virgil laughed again. “Charming huh? You certainly have a high opinion of yourself.” Janice’s jaw clenched. They agreed, but Virgil’s tone was too playful. Like it was when he was teasing them. “Oh, my knight, why must you hurt me so?” Castile objected dramatically. Janice did their best to block out the rest of the conversation and focus on finishing the assignment with Johnson. Whatever was said between Castile and Virgil after that, it had him pretty excited.

He dragged Janice to the bathroom where he started to apply foundation and a two second version of his usual eyeshadow. “Where were you?” Janice asked on their way there. Virgil bit his lip. “Dad was home late yesterday and forgot to tell me…” he told them. Oh, now Janice understood. Virgil was the kind of guy who saw you fall and worried if you’d broken something while rushing you to the nurse no matter what you said. He worried a lot. He was a lot like uncle Lo in that way. His father not being his punctual self without warning must’ve been very stressful. “And you didn’t go to bed until you were sure he was safe and sound,” Janice nodded in understanding. “Yeah… I must’ve forgotten to set my alarm or something.” At this point they’d arrived in the bathroom and Virgil took out his foundation and started fixing up his appearance. Needlessly in Janice’s opinion, but they had bigger things to worry about.

“Listen, I’m sorry for being so snappy earlier. I know you worry about me and stuff but Roman is really not as bad as you think. He even invited us to sit with him and his friends during lunch!” he announced excitedly as he put away his make-up. “Then you'll see for yourself…” Lunch with Roman Castile and all his friends? All people who could discover their secrets? One slip up on a Janice day, one lingering look towards Virgil or Castile and they were out.

And being around not one, but two guys they found attractive… they couldn't bear it.

“Absolutely not!” they objected in a panic. “Jan, it’s just lunch,” Virgil argued gently. “If it’s not fun then we can bail on them any time. You are the one who’s so obsessed with our spot on the social ladder. What do we have to lose?” He made good points. And part of Janice wanted the protection a group like that offered. But Virgil didn't have the full picture. Janice cast their eyes to the heavens trying to hide the conflict within, to play off how worried and scared they felt. “I don’t expect you to understand this Virgil. But the offer wasn’t for us. Castile wants something from you. And he’ll have his friends be nice to me around you to get it.”

Virgil was clearly not impressed. “I know I’m not exactly mister sunshine, but that’s overly dramatic and pessimistic. Roman is cool. Like, genuinely. And if you gave him a chance…” “Oh please Virgil! You are not this naïve!” Janice exclaimed. Harsh in their desperation to finish the conversation.

“Why do you want his friendship so badly that you blind yourself like this?” Weren't they enough? What did they do wrong? “He can have anything from anyone he wants! Why would he want to be around some awkward outcasts?” Why did he insist on pursuing the only person Janus cared about at school? “Except to make himself look good? What end does that serve? Everything anyone ever does serves some selfish end Virgil. Even the most noble of deeds are ultimately out of desire to be seen as good.” Just because Janus hadn’t figured out what Roman Castile had to gain from talking to them, didn’t mean that there wasn’t some end goal. “Except for you of course, you only have my best interest at heart!?” Virgil’s statement caught them of guard. He had a point. Part of this was their fear of being alone, being found out and rejected. But it was also for Virgil's own good. They needed Virgil to understand that. To believe them. And so they did something they had been avoiding. They got close. Stepped right into Virgil's personal space. If they wanted, and Virgil hadn’t hidden them behind his foundation, they could’ve counted the freckles on Virgil’s cheeks. But now was no time for those observations. They had to get through to him. No matter what. “You are my only friend Virgil. Of course I want to protect you, even from yourself. Don’t let Roman’s flowery words and cute pet names get to you.” Kitten, knight. The nerve of that guy. “I give him a week before he gets bored of you. And I don’t want to see you hurt by that.” That last part was the most sincere he'd been about how he felt towards Virgil in what felt like forever.

All fight left Virgil’s frame and he nodded. Janice relaxed and led the way to their first CPR training. They made sure to wait for Virgil when he left Spanish. Virgil was quiet all day. He got like that sometimes after a disagreement. Janice tried to give him space. They had been a little harsh. And after Virgil had a rough night already. They knew he needed comfort and support on those days. No wonder he’d gravitated towards Castile this morning. All that positive energy probably drew Virgil in like a moth to a flame. Janice should have been more understanding. Maybe they could have a movie night next weekend. With V's favorite snacks and movies.

They’d make it up to him. And then they could get back to something somewhat normal.

It worked. Virgil seemed in better spirits after they suggested the weekend plans. Janus paid closer attention and ensured that Virgil wouldn't fall for Castile's tricks though.

They stuck together like always. Janus had started chatting with native Spanish speakers, learning more regional words and slang. They were also learning ASL. Virgil laughed when they explained the name signs they made up for him, uncle Lo and their parents.

Things were going well. Until Halloween came around. Virgil loved Halloween. He didn’t show it off at school, considering he put the least possible effort in his school costume the past two years, but when at home, he was a master. Janus had enjoyed watching him and uncle Lo dazzle the trick or treaters. They’d considered asking Virgil to give them a spook up as well, but that would mean close proximity for extended periods of time. And they couldn’t handle that. This year Janus had drawn some scales on their face and assembled a dragon costume. They’d even gotten crafty with the wings. Using a pair of children’s fairy wings as a base. Virgil had complemented them, which had made them feel pretty good about themselves. Virgil was texting with his dad that morning. Apparently he had a thing coming up that weekend and was rather nervous. Janus was happy to hear that their honorary uncle had exciting things happen in his life. They didn’t pry for more information though. Surely Virgil would’ve shared more if there was more to know. And then Castile had walked in. Looking ridiculously handsome even if he was trying to look like a crazed dark prince. Redish circles under his eyes, run out make up. As if he’d recently cried a river. His costume was dark and slightly torn and crumpled. And still he looked good. He made a big show of his entrance and made a tour around the classroom before climbing on his desk and continuing his tale of conquest. Janus, not immune to the boy’s massive charisma, made sure to glare at him so that if the prince would happen to glance their direction he wouldn’t give anything away. Glaring at the dark prince wasn’t hard, considering he also had his neighbor’s attention. Virgil was enjoying the show.

And apparently Castile noticed. He made a grand gesture towards Virgil. “And you, my coldhearted friend, may rule at my side!” Janus’ eyes narrowed. Was this the thing? Was Roman looking for a second in command? It was a good picture they supposed. The nickname ‘Knight’ suddenly made a lot of sense. It would fit. They both stood against the bullies, no doubt earning them both a good image in the public eye. If they were considered a team all the time, Roman’s spot on the social ladder would get even more secure. Was that it? “Is that a fact?” Virgil chuckled, pulling Janus out of his thoughts. Was he… Was he seriously going along with it? “Of course!” Janus hated how excited Castile seemed. “You, dear count, are the only other of noble lineage! No one else is worthy of a throne!” “But ruling sounds like a lot of work,” Virgil whined. Janus held their breath… But the laughter that followed… Wasn’t bad. Castile immediately rolled with Virgil’s contribution. “Then you may feast on my enemies!” To Janus’ great relief, the teacher entered in that moment. Their nerves couldn’t take much more than that. On the way to CPR Janus tried to get Virgil back with his feet on the ground. “You were lucky, but that could have gone so wrong!” they exclaimed. Virgil, surprised them however. “Roman and I are lab partners, and we’re going to talk,” Virgil reminded them. They knew that. But they got on fine with minimal communication with their neighbor. And Virgil had been doing fine too… Or… Well, maybe he hadn’t been happy about it… “And sometimes we’re going to have fun doing so. You have zero right to tell me who I can and can’t spend time with. I’m not your pet.” That hit Janus hard… Was that… Had they been acting that badly? Maybe they’d been too clingy. Overcompensating for the physical distance they’d forced themselves to maintain? They let Virgil walk to Spanish alone and spent their free hour thinking things through. Maybe they were a tad controlling… And Virgil talking to Castile a little during science might not be the end of the world… They could try to live with that right? When they saw Castile drag Virgil to his table during lunch they could barely breathe. Virgil looked so happy about it too. Had they been too late to make adjustments? Was this their life now? The very nightmare they’d tried to prevent? But then, Virgil and Roman made a bow and Virgil walked back to Janus. People watched him walk by the way Janus had seen them do with popular kids. They admired him? Was… Had Virgil become a popular kid without either of them realizing? “Talk about putting yourself on blast! What were you thinking?” they snapped, still reeling with emotions. “Yolo,” Virgil shrugged. And ‘cool’ was the only term Janus could come up with to describe the way he held himself right now. “No one says that anymore,” Janus pointed out, as if to convince themself that Virgil wasn’t that kind of cool. “It’s what I was thinking.” Or maybe he was… Janus tried not to bother Virgil about who he chose to hang out with after that day. It wasn’t easy though. Virgil and Castile were almost flirty with each other and Janus found that very distracting. Add that to everything else that frustrated them and you better hope you didn’t cross Janus on a Janice day after a bad night. They picked a lot of fights. Partly to prove themselves as a cis. Partly to vent these frustrations on something other than Castile. Speaking off. It was nearly always him or Virgil or both who stopped the fight. Roman would stare them down until they left. Virgil would tell them off and drag them away if need be. Both were… possibly… another reason why they picked a fight. Negative attention was still attention after all. On a particular bad day, a senior decided to pick on them. And they were not having it.

Castile and Virgil put a stop to that one. But the principal called them to their office anyway. “He started it,” Janice insisted. They were sitting in the office for a couple of minutes now, with the Principal just looking at them expectantly. “Oh? How’s that?” Janice gestured to their face. They’d gotten good at ignoring the jabs the past few years. Knowing that they couldn’t do anything against an upper classman and having bigger things to worry about. But today… Today it had just been too much. “It’s not the first time you got into a fight Janus. We want to help. But you have to let us. What is bothering you? Really. Why are you so angry?”

Oh, where to start? Janice just shrugged, not comfortable opening that can of worms in front of this adult. They wouldn’t understand. Janus heard they’d been vocal about their sexuality and gender since middle school. All they would do was tell them to just come out already. The principal sighed. “We’ll have to inform your parents of this Janus…” “No you don’t,” Janice stated. He wasn’t even scared. Stokes was a reasonable person. “Why’s that?” They wondered. “I didn’t hit him. And he didn’t hit me. No one got hurt. What’s the point of calling my parents? My grades are good, I never skip. So I don’t let people walk over me… Is that so bad?” they explained. Stokes frowned, but then relaxed. “Fine. But at least consider going to the school counselor. At least once. There are systems here to help you. You just have to ask.” Yeah, they’d get right on that. “Tanks Mx. Stokes,” they muttered as they left. A few weeks later Janus was looking over elective courses with Virgil. Janus had been careful about selecting courses for them. They could pick two courses each year. One every semester. First year, Virgil had made a deep dive into some articles about how messed up the education system was and how useless the curriculum was. So Janus suggested Personal Finances and Home economics. Which was basically the: ‘how to adult’ elective packet. This year they’d picked CPR, which Virgil had enjoyed a lot and Philosophy. They’d suggested it out of personal interest. They’d known it might not be Virgil’s cup of tea, but to their pleasant surprise Virgil had agreed. “Sociology would be a good choice,” Janus suggested, testing the waters. They really hoped Virgil would be okay with it. It seemed very interesting. Virgil only made a vague sound of acknowledgement though. Well, there were other interesting subjects… “I was thinking to take an art elective,” he told Janus after a few moments. Janus was surprised. Virgil never cared about electives before. And art? “Why?” “Because I’d like to actually learn some techniques? I dunno. They say to pick something that fits our interests. I’m interested in art.” Janus had no idea where the annoyed tone came from. Sure Virgil drew and he was good. But… To make it your elective? Virgil knew that those choices would affect their chances at getting accepted into college right? Especially for the next two years. “But we can’t do anything with that in college,” they reminded him, just in case. “I suppose it’s a decent extracurricular,” they admitted, wanting to find a compromise. But saying that reminded them. They should probably pick some good ones for the next two years as well. They looked good on application forms.

“But…” Virgil objected interrupting Janus’ musings on the pro and cons of joining a sports team. “I really want to do art. The new teacher is a pretty awesome artist I’ve been kind of following for a while. This might be my only chance to learn from him.” The arts program was heavily volunteer based, which allowed the school to offer many different electives and even more extracurricular. The teachers largely donated their time and switched around semester to semester. If this artist was indeed someone of note, they might be gone after Christmas. So on some level Janus understood. But why would Virgil need to spend a perfectly good elective on something he was already good at? He could probably teach the class himself. “Don’t be dramatic V. It’s not like you can make a career out of drawings,” they pointed out dismissively. Maybe they were a little crass. But Virgil couldn’t afford to live in a fantasy. Art was personal and showing it gave other people a weapon against you. And Janus really felt they should start picking electives based more on what they wanted their career to be. Janus was thinking journalist or lawyer for themselves. They weren’t sure what Virgil would pick. Last time they’d talked about such things was… Back when they still thought they were cis and straight. And they’d been joking about going into hero business. Daydreaming about opening a specialized store or becoming heroes themselves. But maybe Virgil would be a lawyer too. He’d probably like defending the little guy in the courtroom. He was already doing that in the hallways. Or some other function in law enforcement. Janus couldn’t imagine Virgil not trying to make the world a better place. “It makes me happy,” Virgil pointed out, though barely audible. Good, he was realizing there was no point to that class. “A career isn’t about what makes you happy, it’s about what gets you ahead in life.” And with that, Janus returned their attention to the electives. Not aware of the mistake they’d just made.

Mistakes

@cirishere @hestianerd1​ @moonlightshow00​ @naturallyunstablegamer​ @alias290​ @meowthefluffy​ @frida0043​ @angelic-cali​ @selenechris​ @theblackveilinreverse​

[straight-to-the-pain]

Our Guest

This is a continuation of the storyline where Sam accidentally kidnaps rescues a conditioned pet whumpee. I recommend reading Part 1 and Part 2 first so this makes a little more sense. TW: implied/referenced conditioning, torture and dehumanisation, very mildly implied/referenced non-con (but it’s really a lot more subtext than explicit, and I’m not planning to make it more so) 

Tag list (I’m just tagging the people who expressed an interest in seeing a continuation, but I’ll add or remove people as requested): @comfy-whumpee (thank you so much for helping me name Theo), @fallingstormphoenix, @theladyoffangorn, @haro-whumps, @comfortforthepain :) 

“So, what did Control say?” John asks, putting away his first aid kit. The boy is asleep now, and he’s glad that his guest is finally getting some much needed rest. Glad, too, that he gets a chance to discuss matters with Sam. 

“Just asked me if I got what they asked for,” comes the reply. “They didn’t mention the surprise captive at all, and I decided that it was best to not give more details than they asked for.” 

John agrees. It would do no good for the boy to be questioned, which is inevitably what their employers would want. He doubts that he could know anything truly useful. Best to just make him as comfortable as they can without pressing him with questions. Besides, John is all too familiar with the style of questioning their organisation would try to pursue, and they would not wish that upon anyone, especially not someone already as hurt as their new guest. 

“Alright, I think that’s for the best.” He sighs, running a hand through his hair in thought. “I think we have to get him checked out in a hospital. His wrist needs to be properly set if it is to have any chance of healing well.” He takes out a small notebook and flips through until he finds the number he’s looking for. “Here, call Leanne. She’s a friend of Alice. Works at the hospital. She’ll help us. Tell her we need her to take a look at someone and we’ll be with her soon. She won’t ask any questions.”

It would be so easy to just call the police and make them sort out this mess, but John knows better than that. They can’t risk exposing all the work they’ve done, the operation that they’re running. Whoever the man they’re looking into really is, he’s done a lot more than torture some innocent soul, and his criminal connections will lead them to even more valuable targets. They can’t sabotage that by involving some local cops in something that’s far above their pay grade. 

“Alright, I’ll do that then,” Sam replies, not quite able to meet their friend’s eye. There’s shame in their expression, the remorse of causing more damage without even meaning to. “I really am sorry. I wish I hadn’t…” It’s not John they should be apologising to, but maybe he’s the only one who can understand, who can absolve them of some of their guilt. 

“I wasn’t even thinking. It was just instinct.” The boy had reached up to them in such an intimate way, a gesture that had only ever meant danger, a threat to the very fibre of their being, and there was no room to think, only the pure panic of touch and a sharp twist of his wrist. 

“It happened. You can’t take that back, but you can work on making things better,” John replies, reasonable as ever, and Sam feels some of the tension gripping them melt away. “The first step is to pick up that phone and get our guest the care he needs.” That they can do, so they force all other thoughts out of their mind, shoving any memories that try to cloud their judgement away, and they dial the number. 

~

The boy wakes to pain and the weight of someone sitting next to them. He’s on a soft surface, and the first thought in his mind is that it’s his Master, back for more, but when he opens his eyes, he sees the face of the man who took him. John, he reminds himself. That’s what he was instructed to call him, and he’s careful not to forget. 

“Hey, how are you doing?” John’s voice is soft, and he looks concerned, though the boy can’t imagine why. After all, it was his colleague who had delivered punishment, and he had suffered the consequences as quietly and obediently as he could. He has learnt his lesson and he desperately wants it to be known that he won’t be making the same mistake again. 

“Good, John,” he replies, and he isn't lying. The pain has slowly crept back into his consciousness, and he feels the throbbing in his wrist, and the less insistent ache in his ankle, but he can cope with it. There’s a distant ache of bruises, some fresher, some fading, but he doesn’t remember a time without the background noise of pain. He’s comfortable though, and he’s been allowed to rest, and he wants John to know just how grateful he is. 

“Glad to hear it,” John smiles slightly, though it doesn’t reach his eyes. “We’re going to take you to a doctor, a good friend of mine, just so she can set your wrist and check you over. You’re going to be okay, I promise.” 

“Thank you, John.” He can’t remember the last time he’s seen a proper doctor, but it makes sense that his new owners would want him to be checked out. He hopes they don’t find anything that would make him unwanted. He so desperately hopes that they keep him, but he fears that asking such a question will only anger them. 

John sighs slightly, shaking his head. “Please, there’s no need to call me John every time. There’s no need to call me anything special, alright? I’m not in charge of you. I’m just a friend.” 

‘If John’s not in charge, then who is?’ the boy wonders, but he doesn’t dare ask. He’s been introduced to his Master’s friends before, made to serve them and please them just as he was meant to please his Master, but John doesn’t seem to want anything of the sort from him. ‘Why was I taken if not to be used?’ he wonders. Maybe this isn’t about him at all. Maybe he is just a pawn, being used against his Master. 

“I understand,” he responds, cringing slightly at the lack of honorifics. He can’t help but expect a punishment for lack of respect, but John just smiles and nods, and he lets himself relax just a fraction. 

“So you know who I am, but I still have no idea what to call you,” John begins. “What’s your name?” 

His name… His Master didn’t like to use it, preferring to just refer to him as his toy or his pet, and he’s worked hard to shove it away into the darkest corners of his mind. After all, a wretched traitor like him didn’t deserve a proper name. But he couldn’t make himself forget it, a part of him holding onto the word like a last little fragment of who he used to be. 

“Theo,” he murmurs, almost too quietly to be heard, like he’s sharing a forbidden secret. “People used to call me Theo.” He can’t remember the last time he’s said it out loud. Flashes of memory invade his mind. ‘My name is Theo, and I’m not your goddamn pet,’ he had yelled once, a long time ago, and then there was pain, so much pain that it hurts to think of it. He never wants to feel so much pain again. 

“Theo. That’s a nice name.” John says his name like it’s a gift, and it’s been so long since Theo heard it spoken like that, so softly and with so much care that he worries he might start crying. But crying isn’t allowed, so he swallows the lump in his throat and blinks back the tears threatening to spill over. “Tell me, Theo, how did you end up in that place?” 

It’s such an earnest question, that Theo can’t help but answer, not even pausing to wonder if it’s a trick. He takes a deep breath and starts talking. “I… I was sixteen when I first joined the gang. I thought it would be fun, that I’d get to earn some money. My friends were already involved and they kept telling me how great it was. I guess I didn’t have much else to do. 

“I never… never really knew my parents but the people there, they felt like family.” He pauses a little, looking up at John, unsure if he should continue. His voice is scratchy from disuse and he’s hardly answering the question, but John looks interested, so he goes on. 

“They gave me so much and I… I messed up so badly. It was just a little at first, just a few bags of coke, a few bills here and there, but nobody ever noticed and I guess I got brave.” He actually laughs slightly at that, at the vague notion of having ever possessed a thing like bravery. How stupid it was to think he could have got away with it. To think that he deserved to go unpunished. “I guess I got stupid too. Took too much and got caught.” 

“They told me that I had to… repay my debt and that I belong - belonged - to them now,” he corrects himself. “And then there was… well I was given to my Master. I did odd jobs for him sometimes, passed along messages, took care of his guests. He liked me to… please him. Said I was his stress relief.” He wants to say that he would offer that to John too, anything to be taken care of, to be protected. He doesn’t want to go back to the gang and it’s not like anyone else would want him. He doesn’t have any real skills, doesn’t have any real friends. 

“It’s okay. You don’t have to talk about him, not unless you want to,” John cuts in gently, reaching out a hand to gently brush over Theo’s cropped hair. Theo leans into the touch, even though he’s not sure he’s deserved it, but he can’t help it. John’s hands are so soft and so tender, he thinks he would do anything for him to keep petting his hair like this. “Sometimes we make bad choices that lead us to bad places, but there’s always a way out.” 

“I deserved it,” he interjects. He knows he shouldn’t interrupt but he has to make sure John understands. He isn’t someone who should be given pity. He still hasn’t repaid his debt. “I made so many mistakes, I-” 

“No, you didn’t,” John cuts through his stream of panic. “Nobody deserves to be hurt like that.” He says it with so much conviction that a part of Theo really wants to believe it too. He wishes he could let it. 

“What… what do you want from me?” he finally blurts out. It’s the question he’s been thinking since Sam dragged him out that window. He has no idea what the answer will be, but however bad it is, he knows he would rather know now than find out later. It doesn’t matter what it is. He’ll do it. “I can do whatever you want,” he adds in a hurry. “I can do chores, I can please you however you’d like. You can hurt me, if it pleases you,” he continues, though he’s not sure John would get any enjoyment out of that. Sam maybe… “Please, let me stay. I’ll do anything. Please don’t… don’t sell me.” 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. You can stay here as long as you want. You’re our guest and we don’t need anything in return, okay?” He continues to pet Theo’s hair as he tells him this, and it’s the most reassuring thing he’s heard in years. He wants to take a snapshot of the feeling, to treasure it forever in some hidden corner of his heart. 

“When you’re ready, we might need to ask you some questions about the people who kept you, so we can make sure they get what they deserve for what they’ve done to you,” he adds, but Theo knows it’s not a threat towards him. John seems to really hate his former Master, and if that’s how he feels, Theo can try to hate him too, for John. 

“But for now, we just want to get you checked out and make sure you’re okay. Will you let us take you to the hospital?” He tilts his head and Theo realises that he really could say no, and John would listen. Theo nods. 

[yukirayu]

I haven’t extensively watched all the episodes of The Untamed (on Netflix, that is). I’m sure that right now, there are some who are wondering and worrying about the quality of the subtitles this time around, and I can at least assure you that the most of the names of the places and characters’ weapons aren’t changed to anything silly, Bichen remains as Bichen, Suibian remains as Suibian, and Buyetian is translated to the Nightless City instead of Nevernight (Yi City was changed though, as explained below). Also, there’s definitely no sight of the word “childe” anywhere and the translations use “master” or “young master” instead for gongzi, so that’s a big relief!

Still there are some translation errors that I observed when I took a peek at some of the episodes, and I’ll list them here (basically I just copy-pasted them from my Twitter) just to warn you in advance:

Shijie is translated to Yanli. A-Jie (Sis) became Yanli too.

Jiujiu is translated to Jiang Cheng. Similarly, Xiao-shushu became simply Jin Guangyao.

When anyone's called "name-xiong", the subtitle says only the name (e.g. Wei-xiong becomes just Wei; there’s not even a Brother or Bro). Sometimes it’s translated to the full name, but not as often. 

Despite using Hanguang-Jun instead of "Light-Bearing Lord", Zewu-Jun instead of "Brilliance Overgrowth Lord", and Lianfang-Zun instead of “Hidden Fragrance Lord”, they still use "Red Blade Master" instead of Chifeng-Zun for Nie Mingjue. Sandu Shengshou is also kept as “Thrice Bane Master”. 

San-ge became Guangyao, Er-ge became Xichen, and Da-ge became either Mingjue (if it’s Nie Huaisang) or Nie Mingjue (if it’s Lan Xichen or Jin Guangyao).  

The lack of the "A-" in the nicknames (e.g. A-Xian to Xian). Although when Jiang Cheng is referred to as "A-Cheng", the subtitles use his full name instead. This also happens if the nickname is said with the suffix “-er” instead. 

A-Qing’s name became simply Jing. Not even A-Jing. 

There are times when someone is called “Name-gege”, the subtitles just use the complete name. For example, Xian-gege is read as Wei Wuxian. But in the scene where a drunk Lan Wangji said “Wei-gege”, it’s translated to the more accurate “Brother Wei”.

Qianbei is translated to "Master" instead of "Senior".

They may or may not be using the literal translation, but when Lan Wangji and Xichen call Lan Qiren "Shufu" the subs use "Great Master" and not "Uncle". 

When Lan Wangji calls his older brother Xiongzhang (which many translators have said is a formal way of calling their elder brother), the subtitles translate it to either Xichen or Zewu-Jun instead.

The subtitles call Fairy a “wonder dog” instead of “spiritual dog”. And the donkey is called Apple instead of Little Apple despite the fact that his name in pinyin is Xiao Pingguo, which literally means “little apple”. 

Yi City became “Coffin Town”. 

The name of the song “Inquiry” became “Association with Spirits”. 

In Episode 37, Wen Ning’s name is misspelled to Win Ning a few times. 

The subtitles uses WeTV’s translation of “Frostwork” for Shuanghua, Xiao Xingchen’s sword; “Snow Flick” for Song Lan’s sword, Fuxue; and “Looming Disaster” or “The Looming Disaster” for Xue Yang’s sword, Jiangzai. 

It took me a while to notice that they didn’t keep the names of Lan Xichen’s weapons Shuoyue and Liebing as is either. They used either WeTV or Viki’s translations of “Crescent” and “Ice Crevice”, respectively. 

There’s the inconsistency of the terms “Yin Iron” and “Stygian Tiger Amulet”, even though in pinyin the terms translate to “yintie” and “yinhufu”, and both have the same character for yin. It would be better if they use simply either simply “Yin” or “Stygian” without randomly interchanging the term. 

The Spirit Attraction Flag became the Stygian Lure Flag. Granted, this one also has the word “yin” in it, but I still should point this out. 

This one might be a nitpick, but Baixue Temple (where Song Lan came from) is translated to Snow White Temple instead of White Snow temple. Sometimes arrangement is important, since someone might get the wrong idea that Disney crossed over into Chinese dramas. 

For some reason, in Episode 23, when Jin Guangshan mentions Jiang Fengmian, despite clearly saying “Fengmian-xiong” I read “Fengmian Jiang” in the subtitles.

This is more of a grammatical error, but Zidian is always referred to as “the Zidian”, which is really weird since the other names aren’t referred to in such a way. Wei Wuxian’s title of the “Yiling Patriarch” gets the opposite treatment (e.g. “Is Yiling Patriarch back?” as opposed to “Is the Yiling Patriarch back?”) 

There’s the recurring example when Jiang Cheng snaps and asks Lan Jingyi, “How do you know Wei is not really dead?!” This existed in the Youtube and the WeTV subtitles since months ago, and this wasn’t rectified to either “Wei Wuxian” or a plain “he” (since Jiang Cheng didn’t really mention Wei Wuxian’s name). 

Even though Wei Wuxian calls Jiang Fengmian "Jiang-shushu", the subtitles have him say Clan Leader Jiang even though it's actually supposed to be Uncle Jiang".

In case you found it to be as cringey as I did, in Episode 7, Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan's engagement is repeatedly referred to as a troth. It's not wrong, but it gives off the same feeling as using "childe" did.

This list might be updated in the future if I notice anything else. Again, this is just to warn those with worries about the translations. Overall, when it comes to grammar, it improved over WeTV’s subtitles for sure. But some terminologies or honorifics are, as you can see, still butchered.

NOTE: If you have a Netflix account, you can file complaints about this, since when Netflix gets enough complaints they will address the issue.

[sluggybasson107]

The Christmas Gift

Digimon

Pairing: (Gen) Ken and Yamato

8041 Words

Warnings: None

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. All Digimon related content belongs to Akiyoshi Hongo and Toei Animation

Summary: As Christmas comes closer, the Chosen Children decide to do Secret Santa this year. Both Yamato and Ken learn two things. One, there’s always more to a gift than it seems. And two, friends can come from places you least expect it.

A/N: Wow, this is my first Digimon fanfic! I was a little uncertain about posting it, but I thought it would be a fun read! It was written for NaNoWriMo2020. The only thing I want to mention is that I did not use honorifics only to make it easier for me.

Hope you enjoy it!

Part One

Ken

Winter was here. The cool breeze was soft and cold, carrying fluffy snowflakes to the ground. The sunset creates an atmosphere of a warm, fuzzy evening. The sidewalk is moist with the snow on the ground. Parts were a mixture of snow and water. Mush? It sure feels like it. Kids were outside together, building snowmen and snow angels. Adults chatted, holding containers of lattes and coffee which gave them warmth. I thought that I could enjoy a silent, peaceful walk. And it was for the most part, except for-

“Ken, are you even listening?” Daisuke asked, with annoyance in his tone. He looked at me with a glare, waiting for an answer that he knew well.

“Um, I’m sorry Daisuke, I zoned out.” A blush crept on my face. “I want to hear what you said. Do you mind if you repeat it?” Daisuke’s face became soft, forgetting about the little incident. He started to repeat what he said.

“Well, I was thinking that all the Chosen Children should do a Secret Santa this year. December is starting in a few days. And this way, we don’t need to worry about getting everyone a gift.” He paused, then he frowned. “I thought it was a good idea, but apparently to you, it wasn’t that important for you to listen to!”

“Look, I didn’t mean too! It happens sometimes!” I proclaimed. Daisuke grinned at my response.

We stopped in front of his apartment building. I pushed open the lobby door. “What do you think about it? You feel like it’ll be fun?” I felt his eyes on me, waiting for an answer. 

Is Secret Santa a good idea? There is so much that I don’t know about the other Chosen Children. Even after we defeated BelialVamdemon, I felt distant with some of the Chosen Children, especially the older six. What if I got one of them? This whole thing could end up embarrassing me in front of everyone.

“Earth to Ken! Are you there?” Daisuke was waving his hand in front of my face. “You’re daydreaming again. If you are going to do this all night, then what’s the point of you coming over?” Daisuke’s teasing tone said otherwise.

“I need to think.” A grin grew on my face as we entered the elevator. “Besides, who’s going to help you with your homework?”

Daisuke pressed his floor number. Then he started to tap his head with one hand and put the other on his chin, exaggerating a thinking expression. “I could ask my sister. She loves to help me!” Daisuke deadpanned. We both looked at each other, then burst out laughing as we left the elevator. “Seriously though, what do you think about it?” He opened the door to his apartment for me.

“We’ll worry about that later. We need to focus on your homework for now.” Daisuke groaned in response. After a quick hello from his parents, we walked inside his room. Daisuke dropped his bag on the ground, and we sat down to work.

Daisuke was looking down at the math problem, his face covered with concentration. He was struggling with finding the median and interquartile range. I’ve been helping him understand how to figure it out. I agreed that if he got this problem correct, we could take a break.

“Daisuke, it’s been five minutes. I need an answer.” I poked him with a pencil. Daisuke sighed, then repositioned himself. He continued to stare at the piece of paper with concentration, not giving me an answer.

Suddenly, his eyes widened and he snapped his head up. “Thirty-four! Both are thirty-four!” A grin grew on his face as he saw my nod of approval. “I did it, Ken!” He got up and did a little dance, pointing to the sky. I couldn't help but feel happy for him too. I neatened up his papers as Daisuke headed for the door. “Come on, Mom should be done with dinner.” As we walked out of the room, the smell of soba hit me in the face. My stomach made quiet grumbling noises in response. I glanced at the clock. It’s already six? That explains a lot.

I pulled out a chair next to Daisuke as his mother came over with dinner. Soon after, Jun and her father joined us at the table. Everyone started to dig in after they were ready. I brought my chopsticks holding soba to my mouth. Once I had one bite, I wanted more. I looked around and saw that everyone thought the same. Except for an exchange or two, everyone was too busy stuffing food in their mouth.

Daisuke took a break from slurping his noodles. “Wow, this is great Mom! Those cooking lessons are paying off, aren't they?” Jun nodded in agreement.

I stopped eating, resting my chopsticks on the bowl. “It was delicious, Mrs. Motomiya. I’m impressed.”

His mother beamed from all the compliments. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it! It took a lot of work to put the right amount of salt and flour in it.”

Everyone seemed to finish up their soba because Daisuke’s family left the table. Daisuke turned to me. “Did you make up your mind? About my idea?”

Great. I sighed as I was bracing myself for backlash because of my answer. “I’m too scared,” I stated. Daisuke’s face filled with confusion. He waited for me to expand more. He must have thought that it was a dumb response. I don’t blame him.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine Ken. You won’t be the only one who gets assigned someone that they are not close to.” Daisuke’s face went dark and he started to shudder. “What if I get Mimi? Or worse, Jyou?” I laughed in response, feeling better about the idea. I suddenly felt Daisuke’s hand on my shoulder. “You can be honest with me Ken. If you don’t want to, I’ll drop the subject.” Daisuke gave me his famous smile as he spoke.

“No. I'll do it. I want to get to know everyone better.” I said with a burst of courage. “Besides, I’m dying to see what you get for your person.” I grinned. But secretly, I felt that this will go bad.

Yamato

Taichi is always happy after school. Always. But Taichi was way too cheerful today. The way he bounced over and sat next to me on the bench was a dead giveaway. He must have been holding in some ‘exciting’ news. He kept on glancing at me as we waited for Sora. It was starting to annoy me.

It was one of those rare days where Sora, Taichi, and I had no activities after school. I ignored Taichi as I watched the school entrance. Well, I tried.

“Can you please stop staring at me like a weirdo?” I snapped at Taichi. A smile grew on his face because he had my attention.

“What do you mean? I’m not staring at you!” He put on an innocent face. “It’s only in your imagination Yamato!” I tried moving away from him, but he leaned on me in such an exaggerated way. He had all of his weight resting on the left part of my body. Most people passing by were probably thinking that he was trying to snuggle with me, which was not the case.

As Sora walked out of the school entrance and headed towards us, I slipped off of the bench, making Taichi fall off the bench and yelled a high pitch scream.

“Yamato! I’m gonna get you back for that!” Taichi got up from the ground and headed towards me, with revenge in his eyes. Before I could react, he grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled his hand back for a punch.

Smack!

I suddenly saw Taichi fly from my vision, and Sora replaced him. “What are you doing!” Sora yelled.

“What am I doing? You should ask your boyfriend! He made me fall on the ground!” Taichi countered, having an over dramatic look on his face.

“It was probably for a good reason!” Sora glared at Taichi, and he returned it. Sora offered her hand to Taichi and he took it. She then pulled him up. Her attention shifted to me. “Yamato, are you okay? Did Taichi hurt you anywhere?” She looked me over.

“Sora, this is only Taichi we’re talking about. He’s as dangerous as a puppy.” I said with a smirk. Taichi was about to retort, but Sora stood between us.

“Okay boys, settle down. We need to start heading home.” Sora walked away from us, and not wanting to get on Sora’s bad side, Taichi and I followed quietly.

After some awkward silence between us as we headed to our homes, Taichi suddenly lit up with the same energy as before.

“I forgot! Did any of you guys hear from Daisuke recently?” Taichi’s face was etched. Sora was baffled as she glanced at me. We both shook our head no. His smile grew. “Well, Daisuke came up with the spectacular idea of doing Secret Santa! Doesn’t that sound fun!” Taichi ran ahead as he turned our way, walking backwards. “The anticipation of figuring out who your Secret Santa is! Getting the perfect gift for your assigned person!” Taichi added many hand movements along with his reasoning. “I thought it was a great idea. What do you guys think?”

Sora had a soft smile on her face. “That sounds wonderful. I’m sure everyone will agree. Right, Yamato?” Both of them stared at me, waiting for me to agree. But I didn’t feel like this was a good idea.

“Uh, maybe I’ll sit out.” frowns immediately replaced their smiles. “You guys can do it though!”

Taichi went up to me and hugged my arm. “Come on Yamato! What’s the worst that can happen? It’s just for fun!” Taichi’s face was pleading. I shook him off of my arm.

“No Taichi.” Both of them looked at me, waiting for me to break and say yes. Both plodded and frowned.

“Yamato, I want to participate. You can’t expect me to do it alone, without my boyfriend?” Sora complained, with a pout.

“I’m sorry, but it’s no. And that’s final.” Taichi and Sora stopped walking and looked at me, giving me puppy eyes. I wanted them to be happy, but I do not want to participate in Secret Santa. No way.

But the way they looked at me in such a sad way. This was one of my closest friend and girlfriend crying out loud. I can’t say no.

Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say-

“I’ll do it.” 

They both cheered and did a high five.

Date: December 3rd, 2004

From: Miyako

To: Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Koshirou, Mimi, Jyou, Takeru, Hikari, Daisuke, Iori, Ken

Subject: Secret Santa

Hello everyone!

I don’t know if all of you heard, but Daisuke came up with the idea yesterday of doing Secret Santa this year! I asked my siblings to mix up all of your names and send you an email of your assigned person. You should get them tomorrow if everything goes right!

We’re planning on exchanging gifts on the 23rd of December, so be ready then!

Please email me today if you do not want to participle (but please take part in it!)

See you later~

Miyako ♡

Ken

“What are you doing with your friends Ken?” Mom asked as she turned off the television. 

“We’re doing a Secret Santa this year.” I informed her while I helped her collect the dishes from the dinner table, “They’re announcing the person we got tonight.” Mom grabbed the plates out of my hand and placed them in the sink.

“That sounds fun! Who’s announcing the names?” I grabbed my schoolbag, checking through all my homework to see if I completed it all.

“The Inoue siblings are!” Wormmon announced, waddling towards us. “Not including Miyako of course.”

Mom glanced at a nearby clock and frowned. “You would think that they would have told you already. It’s getting late.”

Right as she said that, I received an email on my D-Terminal. Both Wormmon and Mom walked over, wanting to know who it’s from. I grabbed it and saw the messenger.

“They announced it.” I looked away, not wanting to see who I got. What if it was someone bad? Even if I know the person well, what if they don’t like what I get them? I should have never agreed to this. 

I shoved the D-Terminal to my mother. “You read it.” 

She grabbed the D-Terminal, and she let Wormmon see. 

“‘Congratulations! You got Ishida Yamato as your assigned person! Hopefully, he’ll like your gift!’ Signed, Chizuru, Momoe, and Mantarou.” Mom read out loud. She furrowed her eyebrows. “Who’s that?”

“He’s part of the older Chosen Children. He was the one who helped out in Mexico with me, Ken, and Gabumon!” Wormmon elucidated. Then they started to go back and forth, talking about Yamato.

I headed into the bathroom and took out my toothbrush and toothpaste. Is he a good person or a bad person to get? I know he’s into music. I could ask Takeru or Sora his favorite band of his at the moment and get him some merchandise for them, but would that seem too generic? His first reaction to that would be that I put little thought into it. He’s just too hard to read. I guess it could be worse. Maybe I can get him some cooking utensils, or a new guitar strap. I spat out the remaining toothpaste in my mouth. Wouldn’t he want something that he can be emotionally attached to, instead of some gear?

“Ken?” Wormmon grabbed onto my leg. “You okay, you’ve left the water running for a while.” I snapped back into reality and turned the faucet off. There was suddenly a knock on the door frame. I glanced over to see Mom with her hand extended out towards me with the D-Terminal.

A soft smile grew on her face. “Here,” I took the D-Terminal. I realized that there was some money with it. “you can use this to get him something.”

“You don’t need to do that! Mom, I have some money.” I tried to hand her back the bills, but she shook her head.

“It’s fine. I want you to use it all. Goodnight Ken.” Before I could protest, she headed out of the bathroom. Wormmon headed for my room and motioned to follow.

“Are you glad you got Yamato?” Wormmon climbed up the ladder leading to my bed.

I shut the door and took off my shirt and pants. “I don’t know,” I responded. I slid on my pajamas.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Wormmon looked down at me, leaning on the pole surrounding the bed.

I sighed while climbing up the ladder. “I don’t know how he’ll react to my gift.”

“He’ll love it Ken, no matter how bad it is.” I pulled the covers over us.

“I hope so Wormmon.”

Yamato

Since when did it get this cold? I know it’s past dinner time, but the temperature dropped tremendously. There was barely anyone on the sidewalks. Not that I thought there would be.

I crossed the last road as I approached the apartments. Walking inside the lobby was like being in summer. I took off my guitar case and jacket as I nodded to the attendant and headed towards my room.

I unlocked and opened the door. “Dad, I’m home!” I announced. I flicked on the lights. Was he home? I dropped my stuff inside my room. “Dad?”

I guess he was working overnight again. Then I’ll have to prepare his lunch tomorrow. What’s something that we haven't had in a while?

My phone starts to ring. 

“Hello?” I spoke into the receiver.

“Hi, Yamato! Have you checked your inbox lately?” Sora’s voice came from the phone.

“No, I haven't. Did they announce the names?” I wedged my phone between my shoulder and neck as I started to gather ingredients to make yakiniku. 

“They did!” Sora informed me. I pulled up my recent emails. “Who’d you get?”

“I’m not going to tell you Sora!” A laugh was heard from the other side. “I’m checking right no-”

Congrats! You have been chosen to be Ichijouji Ken’s Secret Santa! Have fun getting him a gift!

From, Chizuru, Momoe, and Mantarou

Ken was my person.

I dropped my soy sauce on the floor.

Part Two

Ken

I faced the entrance to a clothing store. Yes, the boy genius Ichijouji Ken can’t seem to figure out what Yamato would like for Christmas, so he resorted to clothes. You might think that he knows exactly what he’s looking for, but he doesn't have a clue.

I took a deep breath as I entered the store with the sixty dollars that my mother gave me.

“Welcome! Do you need help finding anything?” A store employee said, greeting me as I walked into the clothes store.

“No, I’m fine.” I walked away before they could ask me anything more. What does Yamato wear? Every single time I’ve seen him, he’s wearing black. I guess I can get him some black clothes, but wouldn’t that seem like a plain gift? Are there black clothes that pop out more? 

I walked up to the cashier who was folding some clothes. “Hello. Do you have any clothes for men that are black?” 

The woman looked up with a smile. “Can you get a little more descriptive? There are too many clothes that are black here.”

“Uh, shirts or jackets for men that are edgy?” Is that what Yamato’s into?

The store clerk smirked at me. “I see. You’re into that style of clothing.”

My face went red as a cut watermelon. “No, it’s for a friend. He seems to wear clothes that are black a lot,” I sighed. “But I can’t tell what he exactly wants.”

Her face turned sympathetic as she put away the clothes that she folded. “Maybe you try looking at this.” She went in the back and came out with a bunch of coats.

I picked up the top one. It was a dark grey leather jacket with a fuzzy inside. It seemed decent, but would Yamato like it? I looked at the next few, but none of them stuck out to me.

“Do none of them seem good?” The clerk started to grab the clothes that I set aside.

“I don’t think he’ll like any of them.” I glanced around the store, but nothing seemed good enough for him.

“Well, I can look at more dark colored shirts and jackets if you give me his shirt size.” She stood there, waiting for an answer. I didn’t know his shirt size! I felt my face go back to a dark red.

“Um, well…” I trailed off. She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know his size. For anything.”

The store clerk broke out in a laugh. I couldn’t help but laugh along at my ignorance. “I’m afraid I can’t help you much then. Maybe you could visit later.” 

“I’ll do that. Thank you.” She gave me a friendly wave and smiled as she went in the other direction. 

I felt that I failed as I walked out of the store. What was I thinking, going to a clothing store unprepared like that? All I learned from that was that this was going to be arduous.

Yamato

“Yamato? What’s the matter?” Takeru’s voice came through the phone.

I sat on the couch. “What’s been popular with boys your age.”

“Um, what do you mean by that?”

I thought about my word choice. I can’t give away that I want ideas for Secret Santa. “What new games or toys or whatever has been popular with the kids in your grade?” Why do I have to sound so obvious?

Takeru’s side went silent. Did he make the connection that I have Ken?

“Well, there is something.” I heard Takeru boot up his computer.

“I’ve-I mean, other boys have been wanting this new game that came out a week ago.” My phone got a notification. “I sent you the name by email. You can look at that. I gotta go, bye!” He hung up before I could respond.

I checked the game’s name and I typed it into our computer. The game seemed to be different from your average game. It at least seemed interesting. Maybe Ken would like it. I decided to look into it more. I read the description of the game.

And saw what this particular game contained.

Let’s just say, I yelped as I closed the tab as quickly as possible.

“You know, you used to complain about me leaving piles of stuff out in the open. Now, look at you.” Dad came inside the apartment to me being surrounded by magazines.

“This is a one-time thing, Dad.” I flipped the page of the magazine I had in my hand to see some soccer gear that was being advertised.

He walked over and peered at my magazines. “What are these for anyway?”

“I’m looking for a gift for Ken. We’re doing a Secret Santa this year.”

“Is Ken that intelligent kid? Wouldn’t he want something that has to do with school?” He headed for the fridge and took out last night’s meal.

I shut the magazine and sighed. “Dad, no kid wants a textbook for Christmas. Even smart ones.” I started to think of the possibility of getting Ken a textbook for Secret Santa. If I did that, everyone would laugh at me. And Ken would be there disappointed in me. I can’t do that.

“Well, what does he like to do in his free time? You can’t think too much about it.” Dad patted my shoulder. “You’re his friend. You can do this.”

“We haven't talked much since we went to Mexico. I don’t know if I can say I’m his friend.”

“Then use this opportunity to become his friend.” Dad headed into his room, leaving me at the table alone. I started to clean up my pile of magazines until I saw one contain news about the new manga that got released, and that’s when it hit me. A book! How come I didn’t think of that? I darted to the computer as I looked up new books for adolescents.

I finally felt like I was on to something.

Ken

I sat in front of my computer, typing all sorts of things in the search engine. From ‘best gifts to give to teens 2004’ to ‘mom Christmas ideas for boys’

If anyone saw me do this, I would be dead.

“Ken, you’ve been typing for more than an hour, you must have found something for him.” Wormmon hunched over the computer top, blocking my view of the screen.

“Nothing seems to be good enough.” I pushed myself away from my desk and crossed my arms. “What would Yamato like?

“Well, Yamato loves to perform. He spends loads of time on gigs. What’s something that you can get him for that?” Wormmon crawled off of the computer and jumped on my lap.

“It’s not like I could buy him a new guitar.”

“Then get him something he can have while performing.” Something while performing? I can’t get him a new outfit for concerts, I learned that the hard way. I can’t get him any gear because that could be way too expensive. What could he use on stage? It can’t be too noticeable. Then an idea came to me. I scooted my chair to the computer then searched up ‘Teen-Age Wolves Japanese band concert’ and images of Yamato’s band came up. It took a glance at Yamato’s hand for me to realize that my new idea can work.

Yamato

Deep breaths Yamato, deep breaths. You’re just going to go inside a school. You do this every day, what’s the worst that could happen? I pushed open the school doors. It’s not like you are going to be arrested. Hopefully.

The male at the window looked at me and motioned me to come over. “Hello! What are you here for?”

“I was wondering if I could look at the books Ichijouji Ken checked out recently.” I felt my cheeks turn into a cherry as I spoke. “I need him to get a gift for Christmas, and I thought he would like a book. But I don’t know what he reads.” I knew this was a horrible idea. I don't know how I’m going to live with this.

Everyone in the room stared at me. “You’re kidding me, right?” The male started to laugh, and everyone joined in. “You don’t even go here!”

“I know it’s such a weird request, but if you could at least have the librarian say what types of books he enjoys, I’ll leave without any trouble.” The people in the office shared a look, and one of them shrugged. The man turned around to face me.

“If the librarian allows it and you give me your name, then we could.” The man smirked at me. “The story behind this is way too absurd to ignore.”

Relief flooded through me. “Thank you so much. I’m Ishida Yamato. I attend Odaiba Middle School.”

“Ishida Yamato? The singer from ‘Teen-Age Wolves’?” A woman in the office spoke.

I nodded. “Yes. You know us?”

“Yes, my daughter loves your band! Do you mind if you...” The woman held out a piece of paper with a faint blush. I grabbed it and looked at her with an eyebrow raised. “To Yutsuko.” I finished the message and gave it back. “Thank you, she’ll love it.”

“Ichijouji Ken? Let me see.” The librarian typed in his name into the computer. “Oh! I know exactly what he loves to read!” The librarian got up from her desk and grabbed two books. She placed them in front of me. I’ve never heard of these titles before.

“He loves these books?” I asked, examining the top book.

“He does! He’s already read those two though.” The librarian paused, thinking. “The third and final book comes out in a week. He’s super excited about it. The school is going to get a copy, but I don’t know when we can because the books are flying off the shelves. The series is popular at the moment. If you want me to, I can find different books that he likes.”

“No, this is perfect!” I blurted. People in the library stared at me with disapproval. “Thank you so much,” I whispered.

The librarian nodded. “He’ll love it.”

Ken

I gripped my piece of paper with vice as the car pulled to a stop. My mother in the driver seat unbuckled her seatbelt and I followed.

“You ready?” She gave me a reassuring smile. I nodded as I opened the car door.

We walked into the jewelry store and the cashier greeted us. I felt the weight of the sixty dollars in my pocket as I walked up to him.

“Hello! Do you need help with anything?” The employee asked with a smile.

“Could I make an order for a custom necklace?” I passed the piece of paper to him, and he nodded.

“It could be done.” He grabbed some sheets of paper. “Here are your options.” There were different designs on the paper for custom necklaces. They all looked great, but the one on the third row stood out to me the most. 

I looked at Mom. “You think the third one looks good?” She nodded. I looked back at the employee. “The third one please.”

We gave him the information that was required. At the end of the transaction, he told us the price. “Okay, that’ll be eighty-five dollars and sixty cents.” I froze. That’s more than what I had!

“Here.” My mother pulled out some bills and the man accepted. Before I could protest, she took the receipt and dragged me out of there. What was she doing?

Right when we entered the car, I shouted at her. “Mom! Why’d you paid for that? Eighty dollars is way too much!”

She smiled at me. “Yamato will love it.”

“I know that! But that’s going too far!” I put the sixty dollars I was planning on spending in her purse. “Nobody pays that much for Secret Santa. Let’s go back and cancel the order.” Before I could leave, she spoke.

“It’s just that,” she sighed. “I’ve never seen you so excited.” My face turned red. “You’ve been trying so hard to get a gift for him. You don’t want that to be wasted, do you?”

I shook my head.

“I’m glad that’s settled then.” She pulled out of our parking spot before I could stop her.

Yamato

Right when I went home, I went to the author’s website. She’s doing a signing near here. It also comes with her new book for free. If I could get her to sign a copy to Ken, he’ll love it! I clicked on the signing information page and was greeted with a disheartening sight.

Seventy dollars? Seventy dollars is the price to go and meet her? I know the librarian said that the series was super popular, but really? That’s when I checked the book preordering, and there was none left to preorder! I felt the opportunity for a good gift slip from my hands. There were only twelve more days to get Ken a gift. The signing was in five days. I groaned as I put in the information to pay for signing. 

This better be worth it.

Taichi

“Hey, Sora! Yamato!” I ran up to the couple, who were walking to a lunch table with food. I was also holding a tray of food that seemed indigestible.

“Hey, Taichi!” Sora gave me her smile as we sat down at a table. “What’s up?” I had to ask the question that has been burning in my mind.

“How are you guys doing with Secret Santa? There are only ten days until the twenty-fourth.” I asked. I stabbed my fork into the mystery meat. I didn’t know who Sora and Yamato got, but I bet they’re easier than Mimi.

“Great! I got everything I needed, and all I need is to package it up!” Sora said. She looked at her boyfriend. “How about you Yamato?”

All Yamato did was stare in the distance with his facing giving off an I want to murder look. You could feel the negative energy coming from him. He didn’t respond to her.

“Hey Yamato, you doin’ okay?” I poked him with the bottom of my fork.  

He didn’t budge.

All I and Sora could do was look away awkwardly and continue eating.

Yamato

I handed my ticket to the employee at the door. They looked at it and handed it back to me, giving me a nod of approval. I walked inside to see a crowd of people waiting in a line. I joined in. It felt like the line moved every ten minutes. It must have been two hours until I was able to see the author at her table signing books. I impatiently tapped my foot as each person got their book signed.

When it was my turn, an employee had me go up to the author.

She gave me a friendly smile as she got a copy of her new book and opened it. “Hello! Who’s the book for?” She asked.

“Ichijouji Ken,” I answered. I suddenly felt many eyes in the room look at me. Maybe I should have just said Ken instead of his full name.

Her eyes narrowed. “You sure don’t look like him. You related?”

A blush formed on my face. “No, I’m his friend. We’re doing a Secret Santa, and I wanted to get him a copy of your book.”

Everyone in the room seemed to stop staring. The author gave me a grin. “This seems to be a little overboard for a Secret Santa.” She joked.

I did an awkward laugh. “I know he would like it. He talks about your books all the time.” The author finished her message in the book, then she handed it to me.

“That makes me so happy to hear that. Tell him I appreciate it.” I nodded as I was ushered out of the way for the next person. I left the building and headed home in the cold. I only checked the message that the author left after I stepped foot into our apartment. As I read it, a grin grew on my face.

He’ll love it.

Part Three

Ken

I walked up to the Inoue’s door and knocked. I felt the weight of the box inside the paper bag that I held. I kept on reassuring myself that he would like it. I took a deep breath as the door to the apartment was opened.

“Ken!” Miyako hugged me by the neck. “So glad you came!” She moved away and held open the door for me. “Taichi and Daisuke were just about to see who could stuff the most marshmallows in their mouths!” She ran ahead, taking my hidden gift with her. I looked under the tree to see a bunch of trashy bags. It seemed that everyone followed the rule of keeping your gift a secret by hiding it inside a bag.

I took in the surroundings as I wandered inside the Inoue apartment. Taichi and Daisuke were both stuffing marshmallows in their mouths, Jyou was trying to prevent them from choking, Koshirou and Iori were playing cards, Miyako and Mimi were admiring the Christmas tree while gossiping, Takeru and Hikari were frosting cookies, and Sora and Yamato were watching the current events unfold on the couch.

I felt my cheeks go pink as I saw Yamato. What if he doesn’t like it? Is it as good as I thought it was? I thought of the many ways this could go wrong. I shuddered. He’ll never like it. He’s not gonna like-

“Uwwaagghh!” I suddenly saw Daisuke, teary-eyed, spit out all the marshmallows in his mouth. “I give up!” Daisuke dabbed his mouth with a napkin.

Taichi spat out the marshmallows in his mouth into the trash. He pumped his fist upward. “Aw yeah! What did you expect was going to win?”

Hikari spoke up. “Not going to lie, but I thought Daisuke was going to win big brother.” 

“Same here,” Koshirou added. Everyone nodded in agreement. Taichi faked a look of betrayal.

Then Chizuru entered the room. “Well, are we going to start or what?” Chizuru asked. Momoe and Mantarou with a camera followed. “You all go into Miyako’s room, and we’ll remove the gifts out of their bags. We’ll call you in when we’re ready.” We all went into Miayko’s room. It was awkward as everyone sat around waiting for the Miyako’s siblings to prepare the gifts

“Mimi, do you think your assigned person will like their gift?” Sora asked.

Mimi winked at her. “I’m sure they’ll love it.” Everyone laughed in response and I chuckled. How can she be so confident?

Miyako turned to me. “Ken, do you think the person you were assigned will like your gift?”

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. Will Yamato like it? I felt my whole body go red and my eyes start to water. “I don’t know,” I whispered. I gripped my pants.

I felt someone’s hand go on mine. I looked up to see Sora in front of me. “I’m sure they’ll like it, Ken. Just have faith in yourself.” Everyone was staring, so I only nodded in response.

“Everyone come out! We’re ready!” Momoe hollered. Everyone got up and headed back. Mantarou started to record us walking inside. All the gifts, from big to small, were laid out under the tree.

We all sat in a circle as Chizuru and Momoe handed out our gifts for everyone.

“I think Daisuke should go first since he came up with the idea. Then, everyone to his left can go after.” Iori proclaimed. Everyone agreed. That’s when I noticed that I was on Daisuke’s right. I was going to go last! I couldn’t help but wonder what my gift held.

Daisuke ripped open his wrapping paper and took a look at the gift. “Oh my gosh! I love love love love love love it!” Daisuke turned it around, revealing a few soccer posters with his favorite players on it. “Thank you Secret Santa!” He called out, holding his posters in the air.

Next was Koshirou. He took a long, good stare at his wrapped box, then he unwrapped it. His face filled with delight as he saw what it was. “A computer cleaning kit! Thank you so much!” Everyone shared an of course he would love that look.

Then, it was Yamato.

I felt my body heat up as he picked it up. Then, he slowly unwrapped the gift. Everyone shared a glance when Yamato revealed a jewelry-like box. He slowly lifted the cover of the box.

His face was covered with awe as he gently held the necklace in his hand. His mouth was left open. Everyone ‘oohed’ and ‘awed’ as they looked at his gift. It was a necklace that was Yamato’s name. If you turned it around, it had a song lyric inscribed on the back. “Yamato Ishida. ‘I’ll even walk on the edge of a knife’” Yamato read. He gently touched the inscribed words before putting it around his neck. A smile formed on his face. “I love it so much. I don’t even know what to say.” His face went pink with embarrassment. “Thank you so much.” The way he reacted was better than I imagined. I couldn’t help but grin. He loved it!

After that, everyone went through the gifts. After Yamato, Jyou got a mug that read ‘World's Best Dad’, Miyako got a shirt that read ‘Bingo’ on it, Takeru also got a shirt that read ‘I Love Hats’, Iori got a new kendo bag, Mimi got high-quality makeup pallets, Taichi got some deodorant (everyone laughed at that one), Sora got a flower show ticket that started in February, and Hikari got a brand new collar for Miko.

It was finally my turn.

Everyone’s eyes were on me as I took my gift out of a Christmas themed bag. Right when I saw it, I almost dropped it. “No. Way.” My excitement grew so much. It was a book from my favorite author! I wanted to get a copy, but it was sold out! “I don’t know what to say! I love it! Thank you” I traced the spine with my finger. I wanted to head home and start to read it right away!

“There’s a note!” Koshirou pointed out. I looked at the piece of paper lying on the ground.

“It says ‘Look inside, there’s a surprise!’ on it.” I read out to the group. I put down the note as I opened the cover of the book.

I gasped as I saw what was on the page. A signed copy! “This can’t be real! Those signings were super expensive!” I exclaimed.

“Read it out loud!” Sora requested. I then started to read the message.

“‘To Ken Ichijouji. I feel honored to be writing to one of the smartest kids in Japan! Your friend went all the way to Tokyo and waited in line for three hours just for me to say Merry Christmas to you. That’s when you know you have a true friend standing by you. They told me how much you love to read my series, which makes me so happy! I hope you have an amazing Christmas and an amazing time reading this!’ Then her signature follows.” I almost went to tears. I couldn’t believe they went through all this effort for a silly game! “Thank you to whoever is my Secret Santa.”

“Okay, now that’s done, we revealed who was your Secret Santa. When we say go, point to the person who you were assigned.” Mantarou announced. Who did mine? Who would have gone through the effort to get me a signed copy of my favorite book series? Daisuke? No, he wouldn’t get me a book. Koshirou? I don’t think he would have had the courage to talk to the author and get the book signed. “Three,” I turned to Yamato, who made eye contact with me and looked away in a bashful way. That’s when it clicked. “Two,” I looked down at my book and smiled to myself. “One...”

“Go!”

I pointed to Yamato, who had a surprised face as he saw me pointing at him. I gave him a shy smile, and I returned it. The room suddenly was filled with laughter as I looked around and saw…

Everyone got each other? Mimi and Taichi, Jyou and Daisuke, Iori and Sora, Koshirou and Hikari, and Takeru and Miyako were pointing to each other.

“Was this done on purpose? Why’d you guys do that?” Miyako asked. Everyone quieted down to hear the answer.

“We thought it would be fun if everyone got each other. That way, it felt like more of an exchange.” Momoe explained. Miyako just huffed in response.

Everyone started to mingle then, talking about their gifts to their Secret Santas.

I grabbed my present and admired it. I couldn’t believe that Yamato, a Chosen Child that I don’t have the best relationship with, gave me this. I stood up. I wanted to find Yamato, but he wasn’t in the room. Where was he? I asked around, but it seemed like nobody knew.

“I saw him exit the apartment. At the moment, I didn’t think much about it.” Chizuru informed me. “I don’t know where he would have gone, though.”

Why’d he leave? I opened their door and walked into the hallway with my book. That’s when I saw the floor number for the elevator go upwards. The roof? I clicked the up arrow and waited for the elevator to go on my floor. When it did, I entered it and sent it upwards.

The doors shuffled open as I walked onto the roof. The cool breeze felt nice as it hit my face. That’s when I saw Yamato leaning on the fence surrounding the edge. He was facing the other way.

“Yamato?”

He didn’t answer.

I walked up to him and leaned on the fence next to him. He turned to face me with a soft smile. “I love the view up here. With the stars and the city lights.” He said. He then pulled out the necklace. “This is the best gift I’ve ever received Ken.” We both blushed. “Besides my harmonica and guitar.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

The breeze picked up, grabbing onto my sweater. You could hear people below talk and sing about Christmas. Snow fell from the sky, covering the city with white. I was tempted to stick my tongue out and catch one. It was a beautiful sight.

“Uh, thank you so much, Yamato.” I sputtered out. “I didn’t expect you to get me this book.” He gave me a confused look. I realized what I said then. He must have taken it the wrong way. “Not that I didn’t like it! I love it!” Somehow, my blush became a darker shade. “I’m sorry.”

That’s when Yamato turned and faced the city. “To be honest, I freaked out when I saw your name. I didn’t know what you liked.” A smile formed on his face. “Because I’m so smart,” he said with sarcasm. “I went to your school to see what books you read in the library.”

What? My eyebrows raised with shock. “You’re serious? They must have rejected you!”

“No, they actually let me ask your librarian what you love to read! I was thinking I was going to get rejected.” He threw his hands up. “But school, out of all the places, let me in!”

I grinned. “I had a similar experience! I also panicked. I went to a store to get you black leather clothes.” He whipped his head around to face me with shock on his face. “The thing is that I didn’t know your clothing size! You could tell that employee thought I was so dumb.” We both laughed.

“I’m glad you didn’t do that.” He grinned. “Sora always teased me that I wore ‘edgy’ and ‘emo’ clothes. If you gave me those, she would never let me alone.” His face suddenly lit up. “I also forgot. At the signing of the book, the author wanted to let you know that she was extremely grateful that you support her.”

“Wow, I don’t know what to say.” Did she really think that? That’s when I remembered that I was still known in Japan. I’ve tried to disappear from the news and the internet, but it seems like people recognize me.

“Yet again, she also said that the Secret Santa gift was super dumb. You could hear it in her voice.” Yamato joked, imitating her voice. It was really impressive, especially since he has such a low voice.

Then, he laughed. I couldn’t help but join in. I never knew how fun it could be to talk with Yamato. I looked down at my book. I finally understood why he was well-liked.

“Thank you. For everything.” Yamato said, gripping onto his necklace. “But I think we should head inside.” I forget that there was a party going on. How much time has passed? We both headed into the elevator and headed into Miyako’s apartment.

When we opened the door, everyone was hanging out.

“Where did you two run off to?” Taichi asked, who was playing cards with Jyou, Miyako, Koshioru, and Takeru. “We’ve been waiting for you two.”

Yamato shrugged. “The roof.”

Well, I’m glad that you two came down now. We’re about to start caroling!” Daisuke announced, holding bells. He passed them to me. He went around, giving the Chosen Children bells and sheets of paper with song lyrics.

“We’re now able to see if the famous Ichijouji can sing!” Mimi exclaimed, doing over dramatic gestures. “He’s going to start us off doing a solo in Jingle Bells!”

“I didn’t know about this! I’m not ready!” I protested. “I’m a horrible singer!” Nobody was buying it. I don’t want to sing! Especially in front of everyone.

That’s when Yamato spoke up. “Ken and I will both sing.” He smiled at me. “Besides, what’s the point of caroling if you’re doing it alone!” He grabbed the paper handed out to everyone.

That’s when I realized that I was going to be leaving tonight with something that I never knew I had.

Something that I never knew I needed.

Epilogue

Yamato

The crowd screamed as I went on stage. The flashing lights blinded me, but I was used to it. I looked at Takashi, Yutaka, and Akira. They nodded at me, saying that they were ready.

I grabbed the microphone. “You ready?” I asked. The crowd responded in screams. I waved, telling them to quiet down. “We have a treat for you all. For the first time, we’re going to be performing our two new songs. The first is Tobira (Door), then after Hitoribocchi no Seesaw (Alone On The Seesaw)!” They got louder as I positioned myself and my guitar.

I looked out into the crowd. I found the Chosen Children sitting in front of the stage. I gave Sora a smile, which she returned. I looked at Gabumon, who did a thumbs up.

Then, there was Ken, sitting by all the Chosen Children and their partners. He was bookmarking his new book. He already got through a fourth of the book. He peered at my neck and saw the necklace that he gave me. I grabbed onto it, made eye contact with him, and smiled at him. I gave the signal to my bandmates to start up the music. I didn’t know how everyone would react to the two new songs, but I decided to perform it.

Besides, it’s not fun to restrain yourself. It’s better to take the risk and walk on the edge of a knife.

[tisfan]

Flying My Way

Title: Flying my Way Written by: @tisfan Card: 3023 Square: S2 - AU: Star Wars Rating: teen Triggers/warnings: Tags: star wars au, spice runners, hutts, mechanic!Tony, flirting Created for: @tonystarkbingo Word count: 1484 

Pralla the Hutt was typical of her species; fat, slug-like, and an unappetizing shade of purple with green splotches that made her look rather like some fruit gone soft and rotten.

Tony hadn’t even realized Pralla was female until she spoke, and not even then, until the translator droid started yammering. As a point of honor, most Hutts spoke exclusively Huttese, even if they understood many languages. It was frequently the only such point.

Besides, the talk-droid made the Hutt look important. 

“The magnificent Pralla the Hutt gives you greetings, star captain,” the droid said, “and she hopes you will enjoy your stay at her palace. Make yourself comfortable, and she will be delighted to discuss business with you in the morning.”

She wasn’t, thank the Maker, talking to Tony.

Tony wasn’t the star captain. He wasn’t even a crewman on the ship. He was, in fact, a hired mechanic, brought in specifically to work on the specialized divan that Pralla used to move around her palace. Tony’s father had designed the thing, and been richly rewarded for it. But Hutts lived a lot longer than humans, so here was Tony, hoping he could fix it.

Because the Hutts did not like being disappointed. And there might have been that small incident with some damages in a bar fight -- totally not his fault, the other guy was cheating at Sabaac, and Tony did not like a cheater. He’d thrown Justin Hammer through a window. But it was Pralla’s casino, and she might still have been offended.

In either case, he needed to fix the divan. It was his only hope.

The space captain gave Pralla a quick bow, graceful and somehow sarcastic, like the Hutt didn’t deserve the respect she was demanding, but in such a flowing manner that Tony was pretty sure Pralla didn’t realize he was mocking her.

I like you already, Tony thought, watching him go, wearing all black and walking like people had damned well get out of his way. Tony wondered what ship he was flying. And why. And what cargo he was taking on.

And reminded himself that curiosity about a gangster’s business was likely to get him into trouble.

The line of petitioners moved forward, and Tony moved with it.

Finally, it was his turn. He presented his gifts and his best wishes, and allowed that he would be delighted to assist in the manner of mechanical difficulties with the repulsor tech that kept the divan floating.

“Her most excellent beauty, Pralla the Hutt, welcomes such a brilliant mind to her palace, and hopes you will be pleased to join the festivities this evening. She entreats you will stay behind as petitions are dismissed, to look over your father’s work.”

“Yeah, that’d be great,” Tony said, trusting the talk-droid to add all the accustomed flattery and honorifics. Since the talk-droids were the ones who bore the first brunt of disapproval from the Hutt, he was pretty sure the droid was doing its best.

When the room cleared of everyone except her magnificent slugness and the talk-droid, Tony was beckoned forward. Obviously, it was very difficult for the Hutt to move off the divan. At least Tony had thought ahead and brought his portable lifts. “If it won’t trouble you too much, I’ll just slide these under here--” Tony was already moving “--and take a look at what the problem is.”

The problem was a squashed Klatooine paddy frog -- honestly, the Hutts ate the most disgusting things, which was only made more revolting by the terrible liquor they drank. Perhaps Tony should feel grateful, since the Hutts ate things that most civilized races wouldn’t touch, and therefore rid the galaxy of it.

Didn’t matter. Pralla needed a maid, not a mechanic. But Tony could fix it, quick enough. Consider his debt to the Hutts paid, and then get the kriff back to his shop before anyone could say anything. Pack his stuff onto a couple of veractyls and make for the jungle. Get as far away as possible. Because paying off a debt with the Hutts was almost as dangerous as getting into debt in the first place.

Hutts collected power and favors; and there was nothing they liked better than to reel back in a sure winner.

Staying overnight, drinking Pralla’s wine, partying with the gangsters; Tony could almost guarantee he’d do something stupid, and end up owing the Hutts. And this time, more than was fixable with a bucket and a scraper.

Maybe he could dodge the party entirely. Go see what ships were in the Hutt’s hangar bays. Looking at new ships could distract him from drinking and playing cards, at least. Maybe he could even find a ship looking to leave the planet and needed a good mechanic.

There was an idea. Ships. Off world. Find a new life somewhere away from this stinking swamp.

He carefully lowered the divan to the floor. “There you go, your magnificence,” Tony said. “Go ahead, give her a test ride, see how she holds up.”

Pralla’s talkdroid expressed the Hutt to be pleased, and Tony let another droid take him out of the throne room. “You mind if I duck into the hanger a bit, there, Shiny?”

Tony didn’t know if the droid had an objection. He wasn’t listening. He walked away from the beeping mechanical, gazing around.

One Radiant VII, blue with yellow accents. Hideous, but a good workhorse of a ship. It could use a new landing gear. A few more bumps and hard landings, and that baby wasn’t getting off the ground again. But the ship didn’t really speak to him -- it had modified weapons that had been badly installed -- and the crew was almost entirely Gand, which meant Tony would probably need an atmo suit to live on their ship.

Two non-standard light freighters, and then--

“Holy hell, that’s beautiful,” Tony said, stopping dead to stare at the gleaming ship.

“Thanks,” the star captain Tony had seen earlier said. “She’s my pride and joy. The Winter Soldier. A HDR-32 Dynamic. With modifications.”

“Of course,” Tony said. “You… uh… looking for crew? I’m a top-rated mechanic. Starships as well as weapons and droids.”

“My name’s Captain Barnes,” the man said, offering a-- cyber arm. “Why don’t you come aboard, and we can talk about it?”

“Sure thing, Droideka.” Tony nodded before he remembered that this was the man who was captain of a starship and who worked for a Hutt, and who might not appreciate Tony’s sense of humor about nicknames. Too late now, and while he didn’t exactly brace to get shot, he noted a certain amount of tension in his shoulders.

“Most of my crew’s not currently here, taking advantage of the Hutt’s hospitality and doing some trade,” Barnes said. “But I’ve got a co-pilot, a gunner, a reclamation expert, a drop-trooper, and Peitro.”

“What’s his job?”

“He doesn’t have one, he’s the boss,” Barnes said. “We’re here at his word.”

“Yeah? So, sounds like you could use a mechanic,” Tony said. A reclamation expert was smuggler code for salvage. Usually illegal salvage. People who wouldn’t ask too many questions. “And I want to get off the planet. So--”

“Sure,” Barnes said. “We’ll do a test trip, we’re headed to Taris, and then a restock at Nar Shadda. If it doesn’t appeal, you can probably get on another freighter from Nar Shadda, and we’ll part ways.”

“Sounds good,” Tony agreed, not missing the sharp look that Barnes shot him. “We can discuss pay after I look at your ship.”

“You in trouble with the Hutts?” Barnes surmised.

“Not. Yet,” Tony said. “But I don’t hold out hopes for my chances, unless I get out of sight, and hopefully out of mind.”

“Well, we have trouble onboard already, so you’ll fit right in. Come on, I’ll show you your bunk.”

“You could show me yours,” Tony suggested, because his mouth just did that sometimes, whenever he was looking at someone who was attractive and just a little bit dangerous.

“I only cohabitate with people who can dance, and drink, and still fly a starship,” Barnes said. 

Tony’s eyebrow went up, because he was pretty sure Barnes was actually flirting with him. Which was… nice.

“I’ll buy the first round,” Tony offered. 

Barnes grinned. “In case you’re flying solo after dancing, this is your bunk--” he jerked a thumb at a fairly standard rack. “--and that one, at the end of the tube? That one’s mine.”

Tony stuck his head in through the hatch, just to be an ass. “Oh, that’s a nice bed. I definitely want to be sleeping in that.”

“Come on, then,” Barnes said. “Let’s see you put your money where your mouth is.”

“It’s a bargain, Captain,” Tony said, offering his hand.

“You can call me Bucky,” he said. “I only make people call me Captain when they’re under me.”

[staylovehearts]

Headline: Dating Scandal - New celebrity couple?

Han Jisung x Reader

Word Count ~ 2.5k

Summary: “And how are you supposed to defend what sometimes you are not even sure of yourself?”

Tags: Idol x Producer, kinda, well Jisung is like a solo rapper artist, y/n is a producer/ low key singer, also they are secretly dating, whoops, warning for insecurities and self-doubt, but I promise it’s all fluffy

"Are you really sure about this?", you ask, for maybe the tenth time already in the past hour. Jisung is spinning around in his office chair next to you but halts the movement to look at you and roll his eyes.

"You know, with how often you are asking I'm starting to believe that you want to back out after all", he laughs but upon noticing your grief expression he stops and pushes his chair closer to yours so that he can grab one of your hands with both of his and give it a little squeeze. "Hey, we don't have to do this if you are uncomfortable. We can still stop the whole project. I would totally understand if you don't want to do this after all."

And that is exactly the part that is killing you so much. Jisung is so sweet about all of this. So understanding and loving and absolutely perfect. You don't deserve him. You don't deserve being with someone as wonderful as him at all. And yet here he is, squeezing your hand tight and reassuring you and being overall the sweetest person you have ever met. He made it near impossible for you not to fall in love when you first met. And he didn't even do much. All he did was be himself. But when you're Han Jisung that is probably already more than enough.

When you first met he was a rising star, rapper and idol, good at dancing as well and always funny and charming on variety shows. He'd pull funny faces for the camera and cutely whine over punishments just to turn around and spit several syllables of fire per second into the microphone. A reverse charm is what the suit-clad people in the pr department call it, but you think that does not quite fit right. Jisung is just a natural with the camera and the audience because he is just the same with ordinary people. He is nice to everyone he meets. Makes polite conversation and laughs about stupid jokes. Also, he's ambitious enough to make it in this dog eat dog world. You were eager to work with him and pretty much agreed on the spot when the project was proposed to you. Producing a track for his upcoming album. An amazing way to get your name out there. But an even better way to get to know your idol up close and personal. Actually, you were just curious at first. Eager to find out the dark secret behind the honey boy rapper with the sunshine personality. You wanted to know how everybody's darling acted with no cameras about. Because he seemed just to perfect to be true. Well, truth is, that Han Jisung is just that. Too good to be true. And way too good for you.

You fell for him on the spot but you tried to not let it show. Continued work as usual. Went to meetings, pitched in ideas, made beats and changed them according to feedback. Just the same way you'd work with any other client. Well, except that usually you are not that stuff. Usually you don't insist on using honorifics and being formal and never before have you turned down a client inviting you for dinner after a day of work. You tried to put distance between Jisung and you, but despite you playing the stone-hard professional he remained his sweet, charming self.

Months after you actually started dating Jisung told you, that he was actually intimidated by you at first. But he fell for you eventually. After you sent him the final guide audio with your voice in it. The one he liked so much that he called you in the middle of the night only to ask if you were down with him using samples of your voice for harmonies and stuff like that. You said yes. And that would not be the last crazy idea you agreed on.

"Hey, you're kind of zoning out there, is everything alright?", Jisung asks, pulling you back into here and now. The end of the latest crazy idea. You quickly shake your head and then immediately nod because you are not sure what to answer. A deep sigh escapes your mouth.

"I just got lost in thought a little", you admit. You have been doing a lot of thinking the past few days. Weeks. Months. Basically, you have been racking your mind non-stop since meeting Jisung. And he always seems so carefree that you don't want to drag him down with all of it. Another sigh. "I'm just a little... anxious I guess. That's all. I mean you are so popular and you have all these crazy female fans that are obsessed with you because, let's be honest, why wouldn't they be? What if they'll hate me? What if the press tears us apart? What if this hurts your career?"

It's a risky move. A stupid move. But once again you found yourself agreeing to produce an album together the second Jisung placed a notebook with some handwritten lyrics scribbled in it onto your desk. You did not even read through the song entirely, the chicken scratch handwriting sometimes hard to comprehend, when you had the baseline for a beat in your head that would work great with that. Agreeing to do the album together was one thing. But agreeing to open up about you dating as part of the promotions was an entirely different thing. And yet all it took was one puppy eye look from Jisung for you to agree to it. Right now he is puffing up his already chubby looking cheeks even more and rolling his dark brown eyes like a child that is frustrated by an adult not grasping a concept that is so simple and straightforward when looked at with innocent eyes.

"If they say anything mean about you I'll make sure to defend you. You know that I am really grateful for my fans, but they don't own me and I don't owe them anything. I'm an adult and I can date whoever I want. And it's not like the press isn't constantly trying to dig up dirt on me either way. Do you remember two weeks ago when they made up these crazy rumours about me and some actress that I shook hands with like once at the set of some drama where I did a small cameo? I think us being official is actually going to help because then they can't make shit up anymore", he huffs, visibly annoyed. Not with you of course. Never with you. Although sometimes you wish he would be frustrated with how indecisive you are. How unsure and moody you can become. Sometimes you want him to get upset with you because you think that's what you deserve. But Jisung never gets mad. Not at you. Towards you, he is always so sweet and compassionate and understanding. And that makes it so much harder to convince yourself that it's actually alright for you to be with him.

It was easier when no one else knew. Of course, you were already nervous when the whole thing started, constantly stressed about paparazzi catching you with your new celebrity boyfriend. Even though technically you belong in the industry as well, have even worked there for longer than Jisung has been in the spotlight now. But you have always been a more behind-the-scenes kind of person. You may appear in some interview every once in a while but for the most part, you are just a name on the credit list. Prod. by. That is where you belong. The occasional feature maybe. A SoundCloud link on your personal twitter. A few dedicated hardcore fans that like the tracks you make. But you are by far no big name. You are not in the public eye like Jisung is. Yet, it's not unusual for dating within the industry to happen. Artist and managers, stylists and producers, artists and other artists even. And the agency you and Jisung are currently under is a very lenient one when it comes to dating and giving you leeway for your private life. As long as it does not damage the image of the company what you do is pretty much up to you.

But for the sake of not wanting to cause a scandal so early in Jisung's career, you still kept your relationship pretty much a secret from everyone. Of course, the people working with you know. As well as some close friends and family members. But you never really thought about going public with it. You were just fine with busy schedules that rarely allowed for secret alone time and hastily arranged dates in the middle of the night. Empty family dinners past midnight with grumpy waiters that ask no question as long as you tip them enough and overly crowded coffee shops where there is too much business to pay attention to two more people with masks covering half of their faces. A piece of cheesecake for Jisung and a piece of chocolate cake for you. Because you don't care too much for either and since you are sharing he gets to take a bite from both of his favourite cakes.

But going public with the relationships mean that other people are going to judge you. And how are you supposed to defend what sometimes you are not even sure of yourself?

"Hey, I can see those gears turning, tell me what you're thinking about", Jisung hums softly. One of his hands reaching up to gently cup your face and tilt your head up a little, forcing you to make eye contact so he can give you the concerned puppy look. Big round eyes filled with worry. You let out another deep sigh.

"I'm just really not sure about the whole thing. About us." The second the words leave your mouth you already know that you could have worded that differently. Should have worded that differently. It's all wrong. You always mess everything up. Jisung looks hurt and you are flailing around your free hand as if you could catch the words midair and stuff them back down your throat to unsay them. "Not like that! I love being with you. I want to be with you. It's just... sometimes I don't feel like I actually deserve it. And I'm not sure if I can take it when your obsessed fans start attacking me for stealing you away from them when I don't even believe that I should be with you sometimes. You could do so much better. You're so sweet and talented and hard-working and just... ugh, you're so perfect it's almost irritating. What do I have to offer that could compare to that? I'm just... me."

"Hey, don't say it like that", Jisung sounds mad. For the first time, he actually seems to be upset with you. The sudden change of his expression and his raised voice actually makes you flinch back a little and he immediately softens again. "You know that I like you for being you, right? You are really amazing. Even before we started working together I always liked your music. I was actually following your SoundCloud, did I ever tell you that? And then I got to work with you and I was so excited about it because I've always admired you and when we met you were so cool and you put so much effort into our project. And I had the stupidest crush on you pretty much from day one but after you sent me that vocal guide it was completely over for me. I still have that by the way. I like to listen to it sometimes when we are both to busy to really spend time together. You're an amazing producer and probably work even harder than I do. You've put so much effort into our first album together and when you sent me that final mix I knew that it was the best thing we've ever made. I'm so proud of this album. And I'm really proud of you and I want to show you off to the whole world. But if it makes you uncomfortable we can just pull the project. You are what's most important to me."

After the whole rant – or should you call it a scolding? – you remain silent for a moment, not quite sure how to handle your emotions properly. You are somewhere between hiding your face and squealing and actually bursting into tears right on the spot. But neither seems like a proper reaction at the moment so you just sit there stunned and confused. The longer the silence drags on the more Jisung seems to become embarrassed by his own outburst and dramatic declaration of love. Just now he was saying all this super cheesy stuff with a super serious face, acting all cool and tough but now his face is mirroring the blush that is spreading on your cheeks. You can't help wanting to tease him when he looks like that.

"So, you followed my Soundcloud? Could it be that you were the fanboy all along?", you chuckle. Jisung rolls his eyes but secretly he seems to be glad that he has got you to smile again. You will have to talk this whole thing over again with him later. But right now you two are expected to go live in a couple of minutes to promote a new album. And announce a relationship.

"Oh shut up", Jisung scowls, but there is still a hint of a smile on his face. You smile back at him. "So, we have a live stream in five minutes. Are you ready?"

You nod your head without saying a word. You're ready for it now.

Jisung has just turned on the live stream but you can already see the numbers of viewers rising, surpassing hundreds within just a few seconds. The chat at the side of the screen is blowing up with comments and while Jisung is smiling and waving into the camera you anxiously read through the stream of words. It's almost too much to keep track off, comments just keep flying by, an endless stream of words and heart emojis, but every once in a while you manage to lock onto something and read it before it disappears again. Oppa, I love you! someone comments, for some reason the whole sentence is in English, including the very not English word Oppa. A bunch of viewers are just spamming hearts or trying to get attention with comments like Say hi to Brazil pls. But the comment that you see appearing most is some variation of who is that??? Jisung must have noticed it as well, he's chuckling a little to himself while he is scanning the comments.

"Oh, you want to know who this is?", Jisung looks over at you with a wide smile before he turns back to grin into the camera, a stream of comments and hearts flooding the side of the screen. His natural charm amplified with the live audience happy to interact with him. "This is my partner. We have some really exciting news for you!"

[gamerwoo]

San: My Baby

Anonymous asked: Is there any way you could write a scenario or a fic or whatever for dating San from ateez? Where you’re older and sometimes it’s clear but also sometimes he acts older and tries to protect you/show off? Idk I’m rambling but I love your writing and I know that if anyone could write something I’d love from this prompt, it’s you

Characters: San x female reader (featuring Wonwoo)

Genre/warnings: idol au, honestly just a lot of fluff

Word count: 1,533

Summary: They say age is just a number, but San really does make it obvious that he’s younger than you. But there are occasions where the roles are reversed and San decides he has to look out for you instead.

a/n: I was gonna make it gender neutral but you specifically wanted the reader to be older and honorifics are a thing and yeah I’m sorry if you wanted this written differently dkjfhkds 

“Sannie, it’s time to wake up.”

“San, you need to have real lunch, not chips.”

“San, don’t do that, you’ll hurt yourself.”

“San, get off of Mingi.”

Sometimes, you were amazed by how obvious it was that you were older than San. Yeosang often teased you by asking if you were his girlfriend or his mother, but you liked looking out for San. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have agreed to be his girlfriend in the first place. 

San was pretty childish about half the time. He loved to goof off and laugh and smile, and he knew that most of his immature antics made you laugh, too. The thing he always wanted to do was make you laugh, anyway. So you adored him how he was.

Even if getting him out of bed in the morning was a task and a half.

“Say good morning to Shiber, too,” he insisted in his gravely, sleepy voice as he rolled over to face you, holding his plushy in his hands.

You sighed even though he did this almost every morning you got to wake up beside him.

“Good morning, Shiber,” you said before pressing a kiss to the dog’s nose.

“Noona, what about me?” he whined.

You leaned in and gave your boyfriend a quick kiss as well, one of his arms draping over you before he suddenly rolled on top of you, effectively pinning you beneath him.

“Alright,” he yawned, “five more minutes.”

“No, San,” you groaned, trying to push him off with no luck, “now!”

“Four more minutes.”

“Sannie, you’re gonna be late!”

“Three more minutes.”

“How fast will I get you to zero more minutes?” you sighed.

San paused before replying, “Eight more minutes.”

His face nuzzled into the crook of your neck as you groaned louder, just letting yourself go limp underneath him. You swore, trying to get San up to do schedules was about as easy as waking up a child for school -- it just wouldn’t happen on time. 

But if any of the members came looking for San and they found you in this position, you wouldn’t hear the end of it.

If staff came looking for him...

Oh god.

“Choi San, you get up right now!” you huffed, managing to push him off now that he wasn’t trying to stay on top of you.

San let out a surprised yelp as he almost rolled off the bed and onto the floor.

You crawled off the bed and went around to pull San up. He whined as he got to his feet, rubbing one eye sleepily as you started to drag him out of the room.

“You need to get to the studio to get into wardrobe and stuff,” you told him. “You have another stage this morning, remember?”

“Yeah, but sleep is more important, noona,” he insisted, trailing behind you as you walked him through the dorms by his hand.

“If you hurry it up, I can make you a quick breakfast before you leave,” you promised.

That had San racing ahead of you to the kitchen like the excited puppy he was. You chuckled, shaking your head as you went to join him.

Seonghwa was in the kitchen making cereal for himself as San sat at the table. You went to the fridge to grab ingredients for pancakes while San watched, bouncing in his seat.

“Wow, this must be a new record,” Seonghwa chuckled, noting how early you’d gotten San out of bed. “Good job, _____.”

“It’s only because the baby wanted breakfast,” you chuckled, putting the ingredients on the counter before you started to heat a pan on the stove.

“I’m not a baby!” San huffed from the table, but the pout he gave you was very baby-like.

“You are a baby,” you nodded as you began mixing together the pancake batter, “my baby.”

To that, San couldn’t help but smile proudly, showing off his dimples.

-

San stood behind you in the dressing room, his arms wrapped around your waist with his chin resting on your shoulder. Clinging to you was the only way that he would stay put and not go bugging the members or the staff. You really were the only thing that could keep him somewhat calm.

“Can I have some water?” Yunho spoke up above the soft chatter of both the group and the staff.

“Me too!” Jongho raised his hand.

“And me,” Yeosang added.

Since the staff were all busy making sure the group was ready for their stage, they asked you to go get some water. You were more than happy to do so. You had free roam when it came to being backstage because there weren’t any fans around to see you and wonder who you were with and what you were doing -- your relationship still had to be kept a secret to the public but since you were an idol under the same company, it wasn’t odd for you to be backstage at a music show -- you could easily help out and give the staff a hand.

You pried your boyfriend’s hands away from you so you could step away.

“I’ll be right back,” you promised before sternly saying, “Behave yourself while I’m gone.”

Of course, by the time you walked to the door, he was already yelling with Mingi.

You made your way down the hall to the table where they kept snacks and beverages, grabbing waters in your arms until you felt a presence beside you. Like usual, you kept to yourself and just did what you had to do as quickly as possible, but then the person spoke to you.

“Hello,” a deep voice greeted you.

You turned to look at the smiling face of Wonwoo from Seventeen. You knew of him -- everybody knew of Seventeen -- but you had never met him before.

“Hello,” you said with a polite bow.

“You’re _____, right?” he asked, somehow looking both smug and shy at the same time. “I’m a big fan of yours.”

“Aw, thank you!” you smiled, a soft blush coming to your cheeks because a senior thought you were good. “I think Seventeen is pretty great, too!”

“Are you performing? I’d love to see your performance.”

“No, I’m just here to cheer on Ateez.”

“Oh. Well, maybe I could catch a performance of yours sometime?”

Since you were gone for so long and the staff were starting to get annoyed with San, they sent him off to find you. So you were unaware that he was standing a few feet behind you, watching the scene in front of him. He felt jealousy bubbling inside him seeing the way Wonwoo looked at you, and he especially didn’t like that Wonwoo was trying to ask if he could see you again.

You opened your mouth to reply, but it wasn’t your voice that you heard.

“Hello,” your boyfriend’s familiar voice said from beside you. You looked up at him in surprise as he straightened up from his bow and put an arm around your waist and looked down at you. “I see you’re making friends on your little water trip.”

“Are you one of the Ateez members?” Wonwoo asked with a polite smile. “You’re lucky to have a cheerleader with you.”

“Well, I’d hoped she’d be cheering for us,” San chuckled, “she’s my girlfriend.”

You saw realization in Wonwoo’s eyes as that sentence sunk in. It made San smirk slightly, gripping your waist a little tighter. You, however, didn’t think much of it. Not a lot of people knew you were dating San even though you were pretty open about it around other idols. Instead, you were more worried about if San had snuck out of the dressing room or not.

“Sannie, why’re you--”

“Ah, don’t worry about it, baby,” he quickly shushed you, speaking to you how you’d probably speak to him normally. You suddenly felt like the younger one between the two of you the way he spoke to you almost like he was speaking to a child that was going to talk back to him. “Do you need help carrying those waters? Here, give them to me.”

“But I can carry them,” you said softly as San took them from your hands anyway.

He bowed to Wonwoo and told him to do well on stage before he gestured with his head for you to follow him, “C’mon, _____ -- we should get back before they wonder where we went.”

“O-okay,” you nodded, looking back and Wonwoo and bowing as a goodbye before rushing to catch up with your boyfriend. When you were far enough away from Wonwoo, you frowned slightly. “What was that? Where did you come from?”

“He was flirting with you,” San stated, keeping his eyes looking straight ahead.

“He was not!”

“Baby, you’re just oblivious.”

You let out a small huff, “I am not!”

He chuckled, playfully rolling his eyes before he looked down at you, “Well, whether he was flirting or not, I wanted him to know that the amazing little ‘cheerleader’ is my baby.”

To that, you couldn’t help but blush and smile a bit before going back into the dressing room.

[ddaengyoonmin]

Faerie Realm- 11

Pairing: Jungkook x reader, Taehyung x reader, Jimin x reader, Namjoon x Reader, Jin x Reader  eventual Ot7 x reader in later chapters

Genre: fluff, angst, smut in previous and later chapters (next chapter is gonna be smuttyyy)

Theme: Based kinda on sword art online a lot of similar ideas and themes kinda combining the idea of them trapped in the game, but the world is closer to ALFheim online

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of blood and fighting,

Word count: 2k

Next -> Chapter 12

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——————————————————————————

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.  Your body somehow felt ice cold but every inch of your skin was burning at the same time.

You kept your hands out sending the glowing yellow waves of your healing spell his way in hopes that somehow it would help.  But knowing that your actions were useless.

You felt like you were going to throw up.  You wanted to look away but you couldn’t.  You hadn’t had enough time with him, and the time you did have you messed up, you really fucked it all up.  You had caused him so much pain, and now he was going to die with both his body and heart broken.

“NO!” Taehyung shouted out, a look of pure horror on his face as he ran towards Jungkook.

Jungkook’s eyes fluttered open, watching the killing blow come towards him. He whispered something that you couldn’t hear as he stared up at the monster above him.

Suddenly, and much to your shock and confusion it halted.  It’s arm stalled and hovered mere inches from his face.

The beast’s face was contorted in a pained expression, growling but unmoving.  

You hadn’t stopped your healing spell despite the fact that it hadn’t been helping much, but strangely now his HP was going up twice as fast as it had been before.

Your heart was beating so fast you could barely hear anything, but there were some mumbled shouts coming from behind you.

Without stopping your hands from your work, you turned around to see Jimin behind you, shaking with hands out and directed at the beast.   

He must’ve stopped it with a beast taming spell.  It all seemed surreal.  Everything that had previously been in slow motion now seemed to be moving at double speed.  Too fast for you to process anything that was currently happening.

Taehyung quickly stepped in and pulled Jungkook away from the beast, dragging him towards you and towards...wait…

You now noticed two strangers behind you.  One had his hands outstretched towards Jungkook and it seemed he was casting the same spell that you were.  

Once Taehyung and Jungkook had reached you, you ran to him and dropped to your knees, putting your hands on his chest and continuing your spell.

Jungkook still had blood all over him but it was slowly fading, and his cuts and gashes were disappearing as the spells continued.

Tears were running down your face, falling and hitting his chest.  

“Jungkook…” you muttered.

He reached a weak hand up, softly touching the side of your face, his expression was gentle as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“For a moment there” he coughed out “I thought I’d never see you again”

At that your tears seemed to have taken control of you, your whole body convulsing with every sob.

“Yeah me too” you sobbed “I almost lost you Jungkook”

He pulled you down onto him, bringing your head to his now healed chest, holding you tightly to him.  

“I’m okay now. We’re okay now” he whispered.  

Taehyung knelt down and put a hand on Jungkook's shoulder. “Not to ruin your guys’ moment here, but Jungkook buddy...I’m so fucking glad you’re okay”

You pulled back from Jungkook with a small smile growing on your face.

“Let me get in there too” Taehyung chuckled and leaned down, taking your place as you stood up and let him go to him, hugging Jungkook and bringing him up into a sitting position now that he was mostly healed.

You now turned to Jimin who was a few steps behind you.

“I made him leave...that monster thing.  Namjoon, Jin and those two strangers just chased after it though, so it won’t be coming back” he muttered, shuffling his feet nervously.

You wanted to run over and hug him, to pet him on the head and praise him like you used to, but you weren’t sure you should. You settled for putting a hand on his shoulder for a moment.

“Thank you Jimin.  He would’ve died without you. You saved him”

Jimin shrugged.  “I would’ve done it for any of you.  You’ve saved me before.”

He looked like he wanted to say more but he was holding back.  He was biting at his lip nervously and slightly shook his head.  

“I’m gonna go make sure Joon and Jin don’t need any extra help.  You should stay here with Jungkook yeah?” he glanced at you one last time before flying off to his brothers.

You wished that things with him weren’t so weird.  If you could take everything back and make it all how it was before you would.  Jimin loved you, he’d told you that, but you didn’t love him and you weren’t sure how to act now.  You didn’t want to lead him on, but you wanted so badly to be able to pet those cute ears on top of his sandy colored hair again and tell him that you forgive him for everything, and that you were just as much at fault for everything that happened.

You made your way back over to Jungkook who was now standing next to Taehyung.  

As you approached him, he took quick steps towards you as well.

Suddenly pulling you in to him with both hands clutching the sides of your face, you felt your lips touch his.

You could feel hundreds of emotions in that kiss.  His soft lips gently pressing into yours as you melted into him.  Your hands wrapping around his waist as you leaned into him.  

He pulled back from the kiss for a moment, “Let's be okay now.  It’s too risky in here, life’s too short for me to need time to get over everything.  If I would’ve…” He choked, tears starting to form in his eyes “If I would’ve died, I-”

You cut him off, pulling him back into the kiss, passionately and lovingly moving against him.

“I know Kook.  I know” you whispered breathily through your kisses.

“I love you” he murmured softly, brushing a hand through your long blue hair.

“I love you too” you returned, stopping the kiss to snuggle your head into his chest.

At that moment Namjoon, Jin, Jimin and two unknown players came bumbling back through the treeline loudly.

“WE GOT THE FUCKER!” Jin shouted out excitedly, his bright and sparkling white wings fluttering excitedly.  “Namjoon got the final hit and leveled up instantly from it, that shit was intense”

Namjoon nodded “I got a badass bow from it too.  I’d never seen this when I was in the beta version of the game, look!” he grinned, holding out a golden bow with both arms.  It was beautiful with ornate flower and vine patterns etched into it, he seemed quite proud.

“And look!” he continued, going to his screen and pressing a button to pull out an arrow, nocking it, and drawing it back while facing the treeline.  As he did this the tip of the arrow burst into a small flame and he let it loose.  It flew through the air, hitting a tree and causing a large explosive fire.

Your group let out a series of oohs and aahs.  

“Nice one man.” Taehyung nodded with an impressed expression laid on his face. “So, uh.  Who…?” he gestured towards the two strangers that you’d almost forgotten about.

You now remembered one of them standing near you helping during the horrific moment with the monster.  That must’ve been the blue haired one, another water fairy.  He had blue wings like your own and his hair was the same shade of blue.  He was wearing a shiny blue jacked with a white shirt underneath and skinny white pants. The other boy had white hair, glowing red wings and clothing similar to Namjoon though he was a lot shoulder than Joon.  He must be another fire fairy you assumed. The water fairy had a large smile on his face and seemed to just have an all around sunny disposition.  The fire fairy seemed to be quite the polar opposite, his expression blank and darker, he stood stiffly and nervously.  What an interesting duo, you thought.  

“I’m Hoseok!” the water fairy chirped, “Nice to meet ya!” extending a hand out to Taehyung

“You told him your real name idiot” the fire fairy rolled his eyes.

“Ah Hyung, I told you it doesn’t matter anymore” he giggled

“Hyung? So is that your name?” You guessed towards the fire fairy.

The whole group broke out in laughter even your own team-mates.

You were thoroughly confused.

“I told you we didn’t need honorifics here” The Fire fairy groaned

“Honestly that's odd that it didn’t translate that time one for you. Unless it did.  But then you probably wouldn’t have assumed that was his name. Damn, It’s hard to tell with this thing sometimes.” Namjoon spoke

“I am completely confused right now” you looked at all of them. Like they all knew some weird thing that you didn’t know.

Jungkook belly laughed at you.  You didn’t like feeling stupid like this.

“Whaaat!” you whined “I don’t get it”

“Princess here never read the manual or looked up anything on the game before diving in” Jungkook chuckled

“Bold.” Namjoon laughed in return.

You were growing more and more frustrated.

“Can someone just explain” you grumbled, trying to ignore their amused expressions.

“Y/N where are you from?” Taehyung asked.

“Huh?” your brow scrunched as you were growing even further confused, wondering why that was relevant.  “I’m from (insert y/n’s country)”

The group nodded.

“I thought so!” Jin exclaimed “Called it!”

You turned to Jungkook, “Please help me out here, I’m going crazy not knowing what you’re talking about”

They all chuckled again.

“We’re from Korea, we’ve been speaking Korean this whole time.”

That was a slight shock to you, you had assumed they were from your own country or at least one that spoke english frequently too.  

“Wait, so you don’t know english?” you stared at them mouth agape “How have we been able to understand each other ?”

Namjoon spoke up “Well, I know english, but I’ve been speaking Korean since I know it best.  It's one of the fascinating things about this game.  It translates whatever language you are speaking to the other person and makes it into one that they can understand. So to us, you’ve been speaking Korean this whole time”

Your jaw dropped.  “Thats crazy! But wait...that means if I knew you out in the real world” you turned to Jungkook “You wouldn’t be able to understand me...or me you?” you frowned

Jungkook winced “Well, I know a tiny bit english” he put a hand on your shoulder and whispered in your ear “I actual travel to your country a lot out there in the real world.  So one day we’re gonna get to go on a real date, don’t worry. We’ll make it work” he winked at you, causing a slight blush to rise into your cheeks.

“So hyung, that word you heard me use, which apparently isn’t translating right now for some odd reason, is one of the terms of respect we use towards men that are older than us” Hoseok added in to the conversation. “Apparently Yoongi thinks it’s strange to use here in the game since there are so many foreigners here, but I feel weird not saying it!” he whined

Yoongi groaned loudly “And now you used my real name too, Hobi I swear I’m gonna beat your ass if you don’t start listening to me”

Hoseok just chucked and tossed an arm around Yoongi’s shoulders “Don’t worry he loves me” he winked at you all “This is just how he shows his love”

You giggled at that.  You liked these two.

It was odd to you though that this whole time you’d assumed that Jungkook and all of your friends here were from where you were, it was actually pretty disappointing to you.

“So I guess we’ll have to take turns visiting each other out there” you turned to Jungkook, “Yeah, we’ll make it work” you beamed up at him.  

He smiled and kissed you on the top of your head softly.  

“If we can make it through this game, we can make it through anything love”

[tiaragqueen]

Benefit Of The Doubt: Chapter 1

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[Edited]

“You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. For you, my babe, I'll give my everything. You will always be always be my queen, and I'll love girl. I'll love you endlessly.” - Obsession [Consoul Trainin]

Unknown [07.30 pm]: This is the first time I’ve seen you wearing a dress, and I can’t say that I’m disappointed.

 Seen.

 Unknown [07.55 pm]: They say that red is a sexy color and they’re right. That color really brings out your beautiful eyes.

 Seen.

 Unknown [08.15 pm]: I’m so glad I have the chance to see what perfection is. It is a shame that I’m unable to see it from up close.

 Seen.

 Unknown [08.43 pm]: Nonetheless, the day shall come when you wear that dress for me only.

 Seen.

 Unknown [11.28 pm]: Those disgusting men were ogling at you. Should I get rid of them all?

 Seen.

 Unknown [11.33 pm]: Smart girl. I’m happy that you told them off. I wonder what other things can those luscious lips do...

 Seen.

 Unknown [12.17 am]: Aw... Did those heels hurt your legs, baby? Poor you. Don’t worry, baby, I’ll buy better ones for you. Just name the brand and I’ll have them delivered straight to your house. It doesn’t matter if they’re expensive.

 Seen.

 Unknown [12.20 am]: Your happiness is more important to me.

 Seen.

 You’d never seen a more hypocritical text in your entire life. Did they think you were happy being stalked like this? Did they think you were flattered by their attention? Did they think you wanted this?

 No, you didn’t. You weren’t some kind of a thirsty attention seeker. But, of course, they were too fucking blind to see the truth.

 Then again, what did you expect from a stalker anyway? It wasn’t as if they would just drop everything and leave you alone like any normal, sane person out there. They were delusional. They thought that by showering you with love and attention, then you would be grateful and thus, increasing their chance of ‘wooing’ you.

 Like hell.

 And how the fuck did they know your address? Sure, you’d never received any type of gift sent here before, but how would you know that they wouldn’t do that sometime in the future?

 Or worse, visiting you in person?

 Well, that would be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you would see your stalker and possibly recognize them, if you knew them beforehand. It was actually a scary thought, but it was better than having a stranger fell head over heels to you. While you weren’t a true believer in ‘love at first sight’, it wasn’t something so far-fetched in this world. If such a thing didn’t exist, then why would some people write love at first sight stories?

 And on the other hand, you wouldn’t know what they would do once they meet you. To actually breathe in the same air as you. There was always a probability of them kidnapping you, or raping you. Or even both. It would be naïve to consider a more mannered way they would ‘greet’ you since they were most likely mental anyway.

 At least, that was what you thought.

 Sighing, you locked your phone and put it on the nightstand. Maybe you shouldn't have to check those messages in the first place. They were giving you a headache now, and the day hadn’t even started yet.

 You ripped the covers from your bare legs and stumbled into the bathroom. Bleary-eyed, you stopped in front of the mirror to inspect your appearance. It was disheveled and had people see the state you were in, they would be convinced you were an escapee from a mental hospital. [h/c] locks jutted out in every direction, reminiscent to Medusa's hair. Makeup smeared over your tired face, and the fake eyelashes weighed down your already drowsy lids. Your breath was smelly, despite not consuming any alcohol last night. The red halter dress that your friends forced you to wear felt constricting, particularly around the chest area.

 Was it possible to gain weight overnight?

 Shaking your head, you shuffled through your morning routine and took extra care in cleaning the makeup. There were already a few acnes formed on your face, small enough for a powder to hide them well. You weren’t necessarily in the mood to put on another makeup, but you couldn’t risk angering your boss. Sure, he was nice – actually nicer than your last one – yet it didn’t mean you could take advantage of his kindness.

 Taeyeon had warned you, during your first day, that Kim Namjoon was rather strict with the rules. An employee once went home with a beet red face after he fired them in front of their co-workers due to some obscure reason. It might be common in the workplace, but the shame wasn’t something that you’d like to experience for the second time. Suffice to say, you strived to avoid his anger by working as hard as you could. This occupation paid you more than your previous job, and you would be damned to let it go.

 Breakfast didn’t feel very fulfilling despite it being the same menu you had every day; a peanut buttered sandwich and a glass of hot tea. Although you kept forcing yourself to not overthink and just stay in the present, this stalking occurrence had taken a huge space inside your brain. The cheery chirping of the birds outside became white noise to you like millions of questions muffled your hearing. You were beginning to get frustrated because none of them didn’t make any sense nor did they provide an answer.

 Thus, in order to clear your mind, you decided to hail a cab instead. You usually took a train or bus, but today you weren’t too keen on being around people. Their hushed chatters could worsen your already bad mood, therefore a change in scenery might be all you needed.

 A beep shattered the peaceful silence that you desired after reading those intrusive messages. Fishing your phone out of your bag, you turned on the device and found that your senior had texted you.

 Taeyeon [07.15 am]: Don’t forget my shift, okay? :)

 Oh, yes. You forgot about the promise that you’d made to cover her shift because she was feeling under the weather. Why did you agree, anyway?

 Right, because you pitied her. It wasn’t like you could say no to her, either. She’d done a lot for you to make sure you were comfortable with your new job. It would be rude if you reject her plea, not to mention unappreciative.

 Well, had you knew your stalker would strike again, then you would surely decline.

 People were right. You could be too selfless for your own good sometimes.

 You [07.17 am]: Yeah, sure. Don’t forget to drink your medicine and eat lots of healthy food.

 Taeyeon [07.20 am]: Thx! <3 You’re so considerate, I owe ya!

 A small smile graced your once frowning face. Well, maybe being too selfless wasn’t too bad if people could acknowledge and appreciate your assistance. However small it might be. The feeling of being able to help those in need was something indescribable, yet gratifying nonetheless.

 “Morning, [Name]!”

 A tall man, with a baby face that never failed to make you secretly gushed at its cuteness every time you saw him, waved from his desk. Chanyeol was the second senior who immediately befriended you after Taeyeon. His cheerful yet easy-going aura lowered your guard almost instantly, and you were glad that you met someone like him in such a fast-paced environment. It was hard for you to talk to new people, as you usually chose to analyze the surroundings first so you could get a grasp on the do's and don’ts.

 Nodding, you shot him a rather coy smile. “Good morning, Chanyeol-seonbae.”

 The said man grinned, satisfied with the more relaxed honorific. He’d told you that ‘ssi’ made him sound older than he actually was – despite the fact that he was a good few years older than you – and insisted on either dropping it or use a more ‘casual’ term like ‘oppa’. You remembered Taeyeon had slapped him with a folder and suggested ‘seonbae’ instead. Her suggestion was appreciated because a much as you wanted to shorten the emotional distance with him, ‘oppa’ was too lax and... intimate for you to use to a senior. Especially to someone you just met.

 “Where’s Taeyeon?” he asked. Leaning against your desk, Chanyeol watched you put down your bag and turned on the PC.

 “Ill,” you replied as you inserted the password on to the computer. “She texted me two days ago, said that she’s not feeling well. She wanted me to cover her shift.”

 “And…?” He raised a brow and tapped his forearm, waiting for your next response.

 You shrugged nonchalantly. “I agreed, of course.”

 “Aish, you.” Chanyeol reached out to muss your hair, a habit that appeared whenever he was displeased at something you did. However, your fast reflex allowed you to avoid his ‘destroying’ hand. “You’re still new in here, and yet you’re already covering someone’s shift? Talk about workaholic.”

 “It’s just a one-time thing, Seonbae.” You didn’t know whether you were defending your bruised ego or Taeyeon. Most likely both. “And I’m not exactly new, either.”

 “Of course you are! You’ve been here for, like, six months.”

 “That’s still considered long, though…”

 “Nope, unless you’ve worked for a year. Less than that, you’re still a newbie.” He grinned playfully as he leaned forward to pinch your cheeks. “My beloved junior~”

 You rolled your eyes, secretly basking on his brotherly affection. His teasing attitude was what probably you looked forward the most every day. Well, aside from the gossip and newest rumors Taeyeon always managed to get from other employees both inside and outside your department. You liked to listen to those pieces of presumably false information, although you didn’t care enough to dig further.

 “Is that true?” A deep voice inquired, startling you both.

 Chanyeol instinctively bowed to Namjoon while you straightened up. Namjoon dismissed him, muttering an order to return his desk. Chanyeol obeyed without another word and left after giving you one last nod. You returned the gesture and averted your gaze to Namjoon who patiently waited for your reply.

 “Um... What is true, if I may ask?” you asked, unsure of what he’d questioned.

 “About Taeyeon’s absence.”

 “O-oh,” you nodded repeatedly to show your understanding. “Yes, that’s true. I… I can show you the message if you want, Sir.”

 Namjoon lifted a hand to dismiss your offer. “No need. I just want to confirm it myself since she hasn’t texted me yet.”

 Pointy finger drew invisible circles against the grey desk as you subtly avoided his intense stare. “Maybe she forgot. I’m sure she’ll text you… eventually.” you mumbled the last part.

 “I sure hope so,” Namjoon closed his eyes and hummed. It was the kind of sound people made to indicate they were thinking about something, and somehow you had a feeling that it wouldn’t be pleasant. “It won’t be good if she loses her job,” he peered through his eyelashes, trying to gauge your reaction from the rhetorical question. “… Right?”

 You froze, eyes wide. Did you hear it correctly? Or were your ears playing tricks on you? There was no way he would fire Taeyeon just because she forgot to text him, right? Well, you supposed it was understandable. But still, it was just a simple mistake and besides, the clock hadn’t even strike eight yet. There was simply no need for such a drastic measure.

 “Um, uh, I…”

 “I’m kidding.” Namjoon suddenly chuckled. You released a breath you didn’t know you were holding, unaware of the mischievous grin he donned. “She actually texted me last night.”

 You weren’t sure if you should smile or click your tongue at his – frankly speaking – a cruel joke. However, for the sake of politeness, you chose the former.

 “That’s not why I’m here, to be honest.” He cleared his throat, still silently observing you through his peripheral vision. “I have a lunch meeting this afternoon, and I want you to come with me.”

 It wasn’t a request, nor was it an invitation. It was an order; one that you had to obey as his employee. Still, it didn’t make it sound any less confusing.

 “But… why?”

 “Why what?”

 You frowned, contemplating over the million reasons as to why he would ask you to come with him instead of his personal assistant. Because, what? You were just an ordinary worker. “You have Lee Chaerin-ssi, Sir. So why-?”

 “She’s busy,” he cut you off without batting an eyelash. “Unless you have some objections…?”

 “Oh, no, no. Of course not! I, uh…” you tittered, scratching your hair in both nervousness and confusion. “Of course I’d love to come with you, Sir! I was just, um… making sure there’s no mistake. Yeah, that’s it.”

 Namjoon blinked slowly, face betraying no emotion whatsoever. You hated that kind of expression, because what if he chewed you out due to your hesitation? Thankfully, he smiled before you could fall into another overthinking state.

 “That’s great. I shall come back later.” He reached forward and patted you on the back. “Now, finish your work.”

 You nodded, smiling through your discomfort of having his hand lingered a bit too long behind you. “Yes, Sir.”