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charbunnies · 2 years ago

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRIMMY MY GOOD FRIEND GRIMMY you should talk about your unhinged ff7 au

OUHH MIMI MY FRIEND MIMI YOU FOOL. you have opened pandora's box and unleashed the eldritch beast that is my ff7 au. god where do i even start

this is going to end up so long i'm ACTUALLY going to put it under a read more. it's also (mostly) stream of consciousness so sorry if it's a bit disorganized :)

lllllet's see. i'll establish like, baseline weird character relationships because the valentine family is a mess.

here's a family tree to make this more readable LMAO

vincent is the (world's first absent transmasc) father of reno, sephiroth, and aerith. sephiroth is half siblings with reno and aerith but reno and aerith are full siblings. the way that this happens is kind of convoluted because of course it is, nothing with me can ever be easy, but basically: reno eldest brother, sephiroth middle sibling, aerith little sister.

reno is the only one who escaped the vincent experimentation era fucking-up but, yknow, still half ancient. vincent takes lucrecia's place with the mid-pregnancy experimentation thing but like entirely against his will, and also lucrecia is still sephiroth's mother (she and ifalna are both transfem because I SAID SO), so sephiroth's completely unrelated to hojo. but yeah, vincent ended up with jenova cells and monster fuckery and more trauma and it's all fine and good (it's not. sorry vincent)

AERITH ended up especially fucked up, though. not only is she half ancient, she was also born like, YEARS after vincent got fucked up so she's got some of his monster fuckery too (she has a little bunny tail and glowy cat eyes and fangs among other things) and a little bit of jenova cells for good measure. she hears jenova whispers AND the voice of the planet and has learned to deal with that a loooot better than sephiroth did but yknow, still not fun! she hates jenova like crazy <3

reno basically ended up in an orphanage through mysterious circumstances when he was like 2. vincent entrusted him to a friend to look after him for a few weeks while he was out on a mission and came back to find his friend missing and reno with them. oops! so reno grew up in an orphanage in midgar hearing voices and being accidentally gaslit into thinking that the voices of the planet were just his internal monologue. he and rude grew up together in the orphanage and fell in love as they got older :) also when reno meets aerith and talks to her about her ancient stuff (she trusts him a lot) he's like "huh. weird. that sounds like what i have all the time" and she looks at him like he grew another head. he treats her like a little sister long before he knows she's his little sister. they're really close and it makes me wail

as for sephiroth... he's mostly the same, except for having known aerith and ifalna when they were being kept in the shinra labs and having a sibling relationship with aerith when they were both little. he broke ifalna and aerith out of the shinra building when aerith was 7 and she was tormented by having left him behind for the rest of her life until, yknow, *gesturing* they met again. they love each other so much though, even though it's kind of a messy relationship. a really messy relationship

when vincent and aerith meet in shinra manor, he almost immediately recognizes her as his kid (she looks just like ifalna, with vincent's fucked-up-ness) and babies her like crazy in the most vincent-y way. by which i mean lets her hide in his cape and hovers near her and lets her cuddle him despite him not letting hardly anyone else near him. vincent, sephiroth and reno all baby her and she likes it so much (autistic who loves physical affection)

i'm still workshopping whether or not i want ifalna to still be alive, because seb and i have talked about it extensively and i have Feelings about it but also it throws off the timeline a lot so Who Knows! but i'll talk a little about it laaaater :)

i promise this is all important information. it's not really but it's important TO ME. anyway.

this is very close to an everyone lives/no one dies au. zack, aerith and sephiroth all live. as to the circumstances of that, WELL!

zack narrowly survives getting shot a bajillion times because cissnei finds him as he's dying and brings him back to shinra hq just in time for *drum roll* hojo to steal his dying body and stuff him in the drum and keep him in a coma for another two years! cissnei and tifa go on a years-long search for him and come up empty! vincent finds records of him being kept there while sorting through turk documents after advent children (they hired him) and aerith and cloud go break zack out. zack started turning into a mako monster over those last two years from more severe experiments and now he has a big ass tail that he has Mental Trouble about. i will get into him later because ouuhhhhghhghghghg grabs him. chews on him

anyway. aerith lives because she limit breaks when sephiroth stabs her and keeps herself alive. she then proceeds to drag his ass out of the lifestream kicking and screaming by reminding him of their childhood in the shinra labs together and offering to help him. after slapping the shit out of him, of course <3 this was not how i initially intended it to happen HOWEVER mimi and i wrote it so well i felt like i was going to die and therefore i changed it <3

suffice to say, that's why sephiroth lives. aerith rehabilitates him LOL he's extremely fucked up and overprotective of her to the point of practically hissing and spitting when anyone so much as comes within 5 feet of her. he gets over it (somewhat) over time but she has her work cut out for her for real. he's also extremely overprotective of zack but that's later.

i think i need to make a powerpoint about this au actually. that's beside the point. ANYWAY

how long until i start talking about zack, cloud and aerith. not long i think

i will mention genesis first though. they find him around the same time they find zack, stuck in stasis in the basement of the destroyed shinra building, and sephiroth (alongside vincent) goes to get him out. they have some Unfinished Business (by which i mean a bad breakup that destroyed both of them that they REALLY need to resolve) to work through but admittedly they both still love each other and try to work it out. even though. they are both deeply traumatized and socially inept individuals. aerith has to play couples therapist. it's kind of a nightmare and i'm still working out how the hell they end up married but they do! and the remnants are their kids (eventually) :)

oh let me also explain how, like, the ending of ff7 goes because meteor still happens. basically despite the fact that sephiroth gets ripped out of the lifestream and everything, it's after sephiroth gets his hands on the black materia. which means jenova got her hands on the black materia. and essentially in this au jenova just casts meteor her damn self. the final boss then ends up being jenova herself, and midgar ends up destroyed the same way as in the original, but without the plot of advent children afterward because. aerith and sephiroth put together manage to eradicate jenova and therefore. no need for remnants, no geostigma, etc. aerith still summons holy/the lifestream and it eradicates the last of jenova and meteor and everything's (mostly) fine after that.

the two years after that are dedicated to building edge and tying up shinra's thousands of loose ends and trying to restore the area around midgar and just mostly. rebuilding. everyone trying to find or make lives for themselves after everything. i care the most about this part because i enjoy reading about and writing about interpersonal stuff and the struggle of finding a new life in the ashes of an old one and stuff like that. what happens After the hero's journey, yknow.

OKAY. NOW i will allow myself to talk about zack/cloud/aerith because ehhehehhehhe... bisexuals who make me feel insane.

(seb's art refs for them which i stare at lovingly too often <3)

so obviously zack and aerith don't die. which makes everything initially very complicated wrt their relationships with each other and cloud. because zack and aerith were dating prior to zack's disappearance and zack and cloud were like... in the couple of years of pretending like they're just friends and zack openly flirting with cloud and going on dates and stuff and just acting like it's normal bro stuff and it was quickly turning into like, Actual Dating right before nibelheim. (aerith was aware of the fact that zack is poly and is fine with it, no cheating, i hate that and zack would never do that). so both cloud and aerith were in love with zack and didn't know each other at all and cloud forgot all about zack so when they first met they didn't really. have any fucking idea.

and cloud and aerith fell in love because of course they did (wails and wails and wails) and tried to move on for real while zack was "dead". and then cloud remembered. and they had to talk about that LMFAO but it was fine, if anything it just made them closer because it was like "oh. same trauma *handshake*" (despite cloud still having a LOT of mental health issues and only getting worse when he remembered zack and everything that happened with that. he still has a lot of the same problems he has in advent children, just no geostigma and no weird estranged marriage with tifa)

AND THEN. two years after, when aerith and cloud have started building a life together, they find out that zack's NOT dead. that he's actually alive in stasis and he had been right under their noses all this time. and they rush to get him back of course, dropping everything to go break his ass out of the drum, and then... have to figure out the logistics of their relationships all of a sudden. because they were both in love with him. zack was in love with both of them. they have a life set up and zack just woke up after seven years of being in a fucking coma pretty much. so it's. complicated. they settle on just bringing zack into their relationship in general because like. they all still love each other. they intend to work it out.

zack moves in with aerith and cloud in their apartment they set up in edge. he has to take a long period of rehabilitation because 1. mako fucked up, 2. years of muscular atrophy, 3. severe ptsd. he gets like, visibly depressed and has to go to doctors all the time to make sure he's stable and not, yknow, going crazy from mako exposure because, you know, He Has A Tail and they want to monitor him. he has a lot of insecurity issues because he worries he's intruding on aerith and cloud now because they've lived their lives and suddenly he waltzes back in on it (despite the fact that they're both just extremely happy and grateful to have him back at all). he gets better through aerith coaxing him into talking to her and his friendships with tifa and cissnei, but he still has a lot of problems with feeling like a monster and dealing with the trauma of being a child soldier and also being experimented on and losing his formative young adult years (he wakes up and he's twenty fucking five! he was 18!).

he works for tifa at seventh heaven fixing tables and learning bartending from her sometimes. he picks up various skills working with his hands (repairing things, woodworking, metalworking, stuff like that. he makes weird stuff just to have something to do) and also sometimes helps cloud with his delivery service. he helps out at a vehicle repair shop and works on the sds fenrir for cloud when it needs stuff. he has his own motorcycle and he and cissnei go out on rides sometimes and sing bad mid 2000s pop music as loud as they can over the wind. they're best friends btw and mean everything to each other and also to me <3

cloud has his delivery service but isn't so gone-all-the-time about it. he also picks up painting/photography as an outlet and aerith will sit still and let him paint her all the time :) he needs therapy and also to talk about his feelings more so bad but aerith and zack are both like, trying to pry him into talking about it. he's a bit better now that zack's around, but still like, that doesn't solve years of trauma lmfao.

as for aerith, she runs a little flower shop on the ground floor of their apartment building and no one knows how she keeps it so well stocked (cheating with magic <3). she's terrible at cooking, keeps plants everywhere, and loves jokingly ordering her boys around (they'd do it even if she didn't ask). she still wears her ribbon, but she tore it at one point and cloud bought her another ribbon to mend it with, so it's half pink, half green :) cloud and zack keep buying her more ribbons as presents but they sit there collecting dust because she loves her original one so much. wails about them forever and ever

i mentioned earlier that i would talk more about the potential ifalna lives part of this. we talked about her having mostly lost her memory and ending up in cosmo canyon, where she then meets aerith again when the party comes through and regains a lot of her memory over time. she and vincent were married (see: sort of courthouse marriage except it's hardly a legal marriage) prior to her and aerith getting yoinked by shinra so she's like :( "my husband". she joins the party—we discussed her being a dancer/white mage combo type class, so a support party member—and then shortly after, they find vincent in the basement and ifalna's like "MY HUSBAND!!! :)" and aerith is gagging. gentle friendly flower woman ifalna like "this is my husband!" and vincent, scraggly ass ran-over-by-a-car vampire freaklet who sounds like he smokes 10 packs a day standing next to her like "this is my wife" with the smallest smile because he doesn't know how to smile properly. they're cute i like my funny little rarepair

SPEAKING OF RAREPAIR. cissnei/tifa my friends :) the other canon ship in this au. they fall in love while they're spending two years hunting zack down together. lesbian road trip where cissnei tries to get tifa to talk about her problems and accidentally presses the wrong buttons sometimes but then tifa gets scared of ghosts and hides behind cissnei who is smaller and vastly less built than her and cissnei's like "oh. you are so cute". i feel like this is a separate post in and of itself but I Like Them So Much and have been intending to write them for a while

lastly, and on a completely separate note, i wanna talk about cloud and tifa because ouhhh they make me insane.

in my au, they were not even close to friends as kids. they in fact didn't really like each other at all. like, neighbor who kind of annoys you but who you've spoken to a total of like 10 times and not for very long. there wasn't the weird crush thing, cloud just kept to himself and tifa had her little friend group and they were both fine with that.

fast forward to the beginning of ff7 when tifa finds him fucked up at the train station. she looks at him and sees an opportunity: someone else from nibelheim, who can vouch for its prior existence, who can relate to her suffering with trying to cope with shinra covering up what happened to nibelheim. she wants someone who will give her a shoulder to lean on, someone who she can talk to, someone who experienced the same thing as her. but then cloud starts saying things that aren't true, things he shouldn't know, starts casting doubt on her memories of the story of what happened. and so they start fighting. constantly. they fight like cats and dogs and barret has to break them up and scold them like children. tifa gets mad at cloud for telling the wrong story (accuses him of lying A Lot), cloud gets mad at tifa for getting mad at him and because he doesn't understand, and it's just a downward spiral. it gets to the point where they can hardly be in the same room as each other.

it isn't until they go to gongaga that tifa realizes that there's just something Really Wrong with cloud. it's not that he's lying, it's that he genuinely has a memory problem. when he says he doesn't remember zack when the story he's telling is exactly what happened with zack, tifa gets pissed, but then when cloud comes up to talk to her and there is GENUINE confusion in his eyes, she stops being mad at him and instead just pities him. she feels bad for him. and she starts acting like a big sister, protecting him when he gets in hot water. she lets him do whatever, knows he can mostly handle himself, but if he gets into a fight with a guy way bigger than him, she'll step in the way and kick the guy's ass.

by the end of the og ff7 story, they're inseparably close best friends, going from nearly tearing each other to shreds to sleeping on each other's shoulders and saying that as long as they have each other, they'll be okay. it makes me sob for real. it's worse in the "zack and aerith actually die" version of this because it turns into them thinking that the next logical thing is for them to get married because they're the most important people to each other that they have left, but then they grow to hate each other from trying to love each other in a way that isn't right for them. and just end up divorced and miserable. and it makes me extremely sad. i think about it so much. i think about cloud and tifa in my au for too long and i explode

OKAY I THINK THAT'S EVERYTHING... or maybe not everything but a lot of it. most of it. i love this au so much it makes me sooooooooooo insane <3 the weirdest part about it is definitely the valentine family dynamic but you'll just have to accept this about me that i like mashing characters together that shouldn't ever really be in that kind of dynamic and making it fun. my crossover ship days will never truly leave me

if anyone actually reads all of that i hope you like my meowmeows <3 i put all of them in my mouth and chew on them like bubblegum

#this is 3k words of brain spaghetti please enjoy #someday i'll take all this and make it at all organized but not today #grim ff7 au #<- tag so i can find this later #grim.txt

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neko-rogers · 4 years ago

Text

But It’s Better If You Do

Trying to keep your relationship with your professor was easy enough, until you learned that someone had found out about it.

words: 7,424 tags: manipulative!peter, explicit noncon/dubcon elements, degredation, implied overstimulation, blackmailing, kidnapping, college student and professor relationship,

a/n: whew this had a lot of words compared to what i usually write. plus, since im bad at titles, i’ll just use my fav song titles lmao. (ps. erik lehnsherr aka magneto is here and im just glad i could put him in my little fictional world bc im d biggest slut for him)

A complete lie, you just did not want to deal with college fuck boys.

The man in front of the class was practically pouring his heart out into the lecture. The chalkboard was filled with white letterings from left to right, not knowing where to start as you take down notes.

“It is important to keep in mind that bimolecular structure and function are dictated by the properties of the medium in which they are dissolved,” your professor explains while continually pacing from one end to the other among the students seated at the first row.

You decided to seat around the middle to the last row, knowing it was the least obvious way for other students in the class to notice how much you fawn over your Organic Chemistry professor rather than the subject itself.

Honestly you could listen to him talk for hours. All those information he had been discussing would not actually process through your thoughts. You knew that better than anyone.

But who honestly would invalidate your reason? Everyone can probably relate to hating Chemistry, no matter what subcategory it is.

Considering that this was probably one of the most difficult courses you had in your program. You were just thankful and lucky enough you landed on one of the hottest professors amongst the campus.

“Hey what did Professor Lehnsherr say about the problems during synthesis of proteins?” Peter asks.

In spite of being fortunate about everything else about this subject, you were not quite happy about Peter Parker following you around like a lost puppy. Especially during the classes you both have alike.

The boy constantly asks so much questions as if you were the teacher already. In addition, he seemed smart enough to figure things out yet somehow he keeps on bugging you for reassurance.

You did not want to be rude. He has not done anything to completely deserve your rage, however he was definitely getting on your nerves.

Honestly you would not want to be infuriated over his consistent queries, but you were just as distracted as he was, maybe even more. With this, you were looking dumber to him each day.

To anyones pride, it was probably a kick in the stomach. You knew you were not the brightest in this class, but it was best to leave the information to yourself. No need for anyone to point out how mindless you were.

And you really were not. You had other Science subjects you totally excel at. Sadly, Chemistry was just not one of them.

“Well, uh, I don’t think I got that part either.” You look aside where he was seated and awkwardly smiled at him before mentioning an apology, “Sorry, Peter.”

In return, Peter smiled at you and dismissed the question. You were not so sure whether to forget about it or take even the least bit of offense. You felt a little mocked by how easily he did it and innocently he smiled, but maybe you were just overthinking this through.

“It’s fine,” he tells. “I just didn’t get the third bullet, but I’ll try to review it in the textbook when I get home.”

“Oh okay, sure.”

“Speaking about reviewing,” Again, Peter tries to start another discourse.

“I was wondering if you got reviewers for the upcoming text for next week? We all know how difficult Professor Lehnsherr’s exams can get, right?” He lets out a forced chuckle, assuming it could lighten the mood.

As much as he tried to make small talks with you, almost everyday, today you really feel like you did not want to return the favor. Especially after having to bring up the test next week.

“I don’t really make reviewers, I usually just scan the books I have at home.”

Lies. You probably have a box full of index cards and sticky notes in your room.

You tried to use every studying tips every corner of the Internet could give. All those study-life hacks that really did not help much but pile up to your disorganized state of mind.

You fucking tried to study Chemistry. You really did.

“What, you don’t?!” He suddenly exclaims, not realizing the loudness of his voice as it almost caught the attention from people at front. “You seem to be busy all the time though. It’s like I always catch your writing or reading something in class.”

Maybe your mood was just off but it definitely seemed weird for him to say that. Though, you did not want to make something from what he said. It was not worth your time.

“I guess people are not always what they seem to be, yeah?”

Again, Peter gives out that soft chuckle and smile, “Then I guess so. You do make a point.”

He does not argue with you any further.

“Can I at least borrow your Physics book? I only bought Chemistry and Biotech for the semester. Didn’t know they would actually utilize it for once,” he scoffs.

At first you hesitated. You were reviewing for it too, but you already felt bad for being no help whenever he asks a question and often times disregarding him when your mood if off. Plus, you did just make it look like you were not much of a study-freak.

“Okay.”

He instinctively fist pumps the air and looks at you with a wide, grateful grin. “Thank you so much. You’re a lifesaver, Y/N.”

“Don’t mention it.” You grab the book he needs from your bag and hands it to him. He accepts it and places it inside his while also clearing the rest of his things.

Looking at his digital wristwatch wherein he raised his index finger up as if he figured something out of it, he says, “He’s going to dismiss the class in a few minutes. We should get ready for Cell Biology next period.

Oh how you hated it. Were you jumping to conclusions? Or was this boy really trying to be too close with you? Or was he just being nice and informing you to prepare ahead?

God, you did not give Peter Parker the right to cloud up your thoughts like this.

“Thanks,” you say, “but I need to talk to Professor Lehnsherr after class. Have to, uh, consult him about my concept paper that he made us submit last week.”

As he tidies his notebooks up and carelessly shoves it inside his backpack, he immediately looks back at you with a confused expression, “Oh, I can always wait for you–”

“It’s fine, Peter. Thank you though.” Two of your hands were instinctively waving in front of you, a meek gesture for him to stop coddling you or whatever move he had been trying to make at you.

“Are you sure? I–”

And if you were ought to be saved further from lashing out over Peter’s incessant attempts, you finally heard the words any student was longing to hear. “Class dismissed. I’ll see you all on Monday.”

“Eri–err, Professor Lensherr just dismissed the class. Better catch up to him before he heads out,” you hurriedly said. And with a loud slam from your notebook, you quickly shut him out. In addition, you practically shoved every thing in front of you into your bag without sparing a second glance.

One strap of your back was slung over your shoulder as you hurriedly flew down the aisle. Professor Lehnsherr was midway into packing his things before you interrupted and approached him.

“Professor,” you call out. “I have a question. About the paper I handed in last week.”

“Uhuh.” He faintly furrows his eyebrows, trying to hide his already obvious bewilderment. “I forgot which assignment was that, Ms. Y/L/N.”

There were students still exiting in class. So you tried your best to make your conversation with him less suspicious. He was most likely doing the same.

“It was about the Chemistry-proposal thing.” You snapped your fingers a few times as you gathered your train of thought, but realizing it was not going effectively. “Well I just wanted to confirm it since, you know, I was hoping for any feedback from you throughout this week.”

“I’m not sure if I have read it. I’ve certainly been busy this week,” he clarifies. “Nonetheless, we can talk about it later. Thank you for bringing it up. I’ll make sure to follow it up in my schedule, Ms. Y/N.”

Both of you made your way out the door once there were only a minuscule amount of students left in class. You probably had been looking at your professor with gushing stares, but you doubt the other people in the room could notice it. They were farther away from where both of you stood, much less would they be able to hear what the two of your were talking about.

“Oh thank you so much, sir!” You almost cried out and jumped in joy while reaching through the threshold. Moreover, you composed yourself before mumbling out, “I’ll see you later, Eric.”

In which you were certain no one would have heard it besides him.

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　-: ✧ :-゜・．

“I’m sure you’ll get a good grade in the exams, Y/N,” Eric leans back to his seat with a humble smile upon his face.

“Really? I doubt so, there’s a kid in your class that keeps bugging me out to a study date, or whatever you call it,” you sneer. You lick your lips as you finish taking a sip around the wine glass, setting it down and looking back at the man you were having dinner with. “It’s getting very annoying though, he surely knows how to get on my nerves.”

“I’m sure he’s just trying to flirt with you, like any other college boys do.” He optimistically and maturely lays out the options. “It’s pretty normal for anyone to chase someone they are fond of, especially for young adults like you.”

It was a pretty obvious sign that he was trying to let his message reach you.

“Well, I apologize for my standards of men,” you say. “I just want to skip the whole heartbreak in college and character development. All that stuff you usually see in a typical teen romance movie.”

You sigh, looking down and saying, “I already found a man for me. Why would I stoop down for some guy who’s most likely wanting something from me, and dumping me once he got what he wanted.”

“Y/N, I don’t blame you for liking men that’s ten years older than you,” Eric assures. “But I want you to realize that you still have a lot to look forward after graduating

“And I look forward for you too!” You tried to not raise your voice, though having dinner in his house wouldn’t really catch anyones attention. “I can’t wait to finally graduate from second semester and be able to spend more time, publicly, with you.”

“Yes, I understand, honey.” He places his hand over yours as he tries to calm you down. “Like I said, I just want you to make sure that you’ve clearly thought this through.”

Eric adds, “There’s plenty of men out there. I don’t want to take away your opportunity of experiencing something new at such a young age.”

“I’m turning twenty-four! I promise you I’m thinking everything through.” Your voice was much weaker than a few seconds ago. The evident tone of strength fades even with one glance from the man in front of you. You felt yourself shrink in your seat. But you were sure he does not intend to frighten you into compliance.

“Sorry,” you pout. “Didn’t mean to raise my voice.”

“I understand, and I won’t pressure you any more tonight, okay?” He tries to uplift your mood, detecting quickly the shift of the room’s atmosphere. “You deserve a good dinner tonight, like I promised, sweetie.”

His smile made you calmer. It was then that you realized why you were attracted to a man like him even if he was still your teacher.

The way he handles you in any given situation so sensibly. Though it may feels intimidating at first, he consequently tries to override the tone of the conversation which cheers you up.

With one hand, he hold yours and gently draws it towards him at the same moment he leans his head down. Eric presses a kiss against the back of your hand and you butterflies immediately fill inside your stomach. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Every doubt you had entirely disappeared now. If there were hints of you hesitating to continue seeing Eric, they were certainly long gone now.

“Let me drive you home after dinner,” he offers, like the gentleman he is.

Eric always does make sure you get home safe. However, you both agreed that he drops you off at least a block away from your house. Just in case people around your neighborhood might catch you, or worse your parents.

It was not like you were ashamed of your relationship with Eric. Cautious was the term.

You were only a few months in seeing him. Fair enough, he was your second semester professor and the both of you met before that period.

You were not only risking the wrath of your parents once they hear you’re dating an older man, let alone your Chemistry teacher. But you were also putting him at risk if ever his faculty finds out.

Eventually, the two of you pack up and end your conversation. Other than talking about college, the two of you also talk more about yourselves which has progressed you into learning more about each other’s personalities and likes.

He helps you out of his house and into the passenger seat of his car. It had been more than thrice wherein he drove you home, and the familiar scent of leather and the typical Glad air fresheners has clung onto your nose. You strap on your seatbelt on just as he was getting inside the driver’s side.

The ride was not entirely dead silent. Eric made a few more small talks before finally turning a right which was where he usually drops you off. It amazes you how instantly he remembered the way to your home, as you instructed him the first time.

“Thank you for tonight, like always, Eric.”

As always, you made your way out of his car prior to giving him a kiss. You only had to walk straight ahead, glancing at your home which had one dim light illuminating through one window.

Upon entering the house, you figured your parents were already asleep and a hint of the living room lamp was present. Taking the benefit of not having to be interrogated by anyone, you rushed upstairs to your bedroom, turned on the lights, and immediately closed the door behind you with a sigh of relief. A smile was also visible after recalling your night with Eric.

As you made your way towards your bed, a piece of paper lays obvious in the middle of it. Your sheets were flattened and tidied, so you could obviously detect when something is placed on top of it. You have no memory of leaving it early in the morning before you left too.

When picking the paper up, you realized it was a piece of polaroid film. Its back was facing you, having no idea what to expect at the front.

At that point, the smile from your face turned into horror and all the color in you basically drained away.

The picture displayed you and Eric at one dinner night out from a few days ago, you still remember. It could have been anything but malicious, but the way his hand was intertwined with yours as both of you laugh away without worries. It was clear as day, the light shining perfectly at the both of you. Anyone can conclude what was happening in the picture.

You did not know this day would come. The picture was taken from Eric’s home to prevent such things like this from happening. So it puzzled you just as much at it terrified you.

This was definitely someone who had been stalking either one of you. It was not a mere instance like paparazzis who catch celebrities dating on the streets of New York.

Someone definitely have been observing the two of you.

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　-: ✧ :-゜・．

Days have passed, a week almost. Examinations are scheduled for tomorrow.

And you prayed that the picture you received would be the only thing terrorizing your dreams. But you were completely wrong.

From thereon, you started to receive more pictures, specifically one every morning and night, from your past hangouts with Eric. It were simple shots but had the power to completely jeopardize either one of you, mostly him at stake though.

It was obvious that the person behind this was definitely observing the two of you for a while. Probably even during the most earliest weeks when your relationship with him started.

Though it may seem unfair, you did not mention anything about it to Eric. It was enough the he was keeping with you, his job, and himself private – which clearly was not working out so well. You felt like it was your responsibility to handle this situation. You were so sure you did not try to publicize anything and kept it on the low.

Nevertheless, it was out there. Eric had not mentioned anything so you assumed he did not receive a picture like you did.

Currently, you were seated at the farthest row at the back of the room, somewhat near the corner. Physics was your last subject and you could not wait but finally leave.

In addition, you texted Eric that you would not be seeing him until after the exams. It was an easy excuse not to see him, saying that you wanted to focus on studying for it; however, you knew that you would just be busy thinking about the creepy stalker gallery you have been receiving.

“Hey.” Unsurprisingly, a familiar voice whispers next to you which disrupts your heavy train of thoughts. “You finished studying for tomorrow? I’m about to end my review with Chemistry later.”

“Cool.” Probably the one of the most basic replies in the universe. “I haven’t finished studying, I’m kind of dealing with a lot of things recently.”

You made sure to generalize your answer, but enough for him to sympathize and at least give you some space.

“Oh, sorry to hear about that.” Peter frowns. He takes his seat a few desks away from your left, leaving you to continue thinking. You were thankful for his gesture too.

Surprisingly enough the boy barely bothered you for the entire lecture. You were still engrossed on finding out whoever was stalking you, even so dating back to boys you evidently rejected during the first semester – who badmouthed you immediately afterwards. There were not a lot of names, so it was easy to remember who was who.

You traced back to each boy and remembered what they said after you told them you were not ready to enter a relationship – a complete lie, you just did not want to deal with college fuck boys.

Just as you expected from any of them, rumors have spread out about you which was mostly shaming you physically or mentally. Some were milder insults than the other yet at the end of the day you did not care.

“Fuck,” you whisper to yourself. “Who was that boy at Liz’s party.”

Your eyes were sealed shut, recalling a list of names while using your thumb and middle finger to massage your temples. It was getting frustrating and mentally exhausting.

After some time, you had so much word filling in and our of your brain that you were not aware that your own name was being called. Your heart practically skipped a beat after hearing it the first time, assuming that you were being called to recite an answer. But you became content after seeing that it was just Peter, who started tapping your arm to get your attention.

“Huh?” You lightly shake your head before turning your head aside.

“Oh, class was dismissed a few minutes earlier than usual–”

“Don’t forget to answer the assignment regarding thermodynamic concepts found it the book. You’ll hand it in immediately on Wednesday.” The professor addresses the class as they were already carrying their bags and themselves out the room.

You start placing your stationeries inside yours, packing your other things up until it was only a pair of earphones and your phone left in front. Peter stood near the aisle while looking at you just as you were zipping your bag shut.

“Oh shoot, I’m so sorry, Y/N,” he states out of nowhere causing you to furrow your eyebrows at him. “I forgot I still haven’t returned your Physics book I borrowed last week.”

Nodding your head and standing up, you shrug it off. “It’s fine. You can return it tomorrow.”

“Sure, but how will you do your Physics assignment?”

Oh yeah. Your professor literally reminded the class a few seconds ago.

“I think I might be able to do it overnight. How many pages is the task?”

“Eight, or nine I think.” He frowns looking very guilty at you.

“Shit,” you swore. That was a lot of pages than the usual assignments given.

“Yeah, professor said it could help add points if you somehow get a bad grade at the tests.”

“Never mind,” you tried to set his mistake aside. “I’ll try to do it within overnight tomorrow. I can ask for help from my friend tomorrow morning and–”

“Wait! I realized you can stop by my apartment to get it.”

“Oh–er, Peter, I don’t think I have time to–

“It’s just nearby the campus, I promise,” he assures and adds, “it wouldn’t be a hassle, it’s probably on your way home anyway so it won’t make a difference.”

“Uhm.” You were doubtful of him.

However, you did realize that you did not have anything to do after class. You were keeping distance with Eric for the meantime which meant that your schedule was mostly vacant after this.

“Please,” he begs, “I feel so bad for keeping it the whole week. I swear it’s like a few blocks from here.”

“Would it take more than twenty minutes?” You purse your lips, convincing yourself that you would rather force yourself to study at home than spend it at someone’s apartment.

“I only take around ten minutes to walk so,” he answers. “Unless you’re a slow walker, of course.” The tone of his voice seeming to be joking.

Again, he pleads. This kid will not fucking budge.

“Fine,” you blurt out. Though, you realized your sudden-almost lash out moment at the boy that you made sure to reiterate it but slower, “I mean, sure. I can stop by your apartment to pick up my book.”

An awaited smile and sense of agreement washes over you.

Peter then leads the way as you walked behind him, maintaining a short distance so people would not throw out any suspicious looks. Like in every college, everyone knows just how fast gossips formulate and rumors spread.

If you think about it though, it might avert anyone’s suspicion – mainly pertaining to your creepy stalker – with you and your Professor. But you were not prepared for that yet, maybe some time when you can finally think about its consequences through.

True to his word, as the both of you exited the campus, it took a short time before the boy in front of you told that you were about to enter through the entrance to the building of his apartment. You were not so sure if it was really a momentary walk or because you were so focused on thinking and keeping a distance.

At some points he did often look back in case you got lost from following him. Plus, like always, he asked you simple questions either about your day or your subjects to make small talk. In which case, you were barely answering him but definitely progressed compared to when he attempted for previous times during class.

In addition, as the two of you walked down the block, the number of faces you could only assume was in college decreased. Meaning that the glares at you eased up.

“Well, here’s my location.” A loud huff follows as he uses a key to unlock the door for the entrance to the building, “It wasn’t that far, was it?”

“Yeah, I guess it wasn’t that far.” You agree as he holds the door for you and then walks right after you.

As Peter leads you upstairs onto around the fourth level, he proceeds to walk along the corridors. The array of same beige colored doors with small golden indents of unit numbers paraded along it too. Eventually he stops and inserts a key into the lock, twisting it until hearing the unlocking sound.

For a moment you hesitated to follow him. You just wanted your book and you were sure he can give it to you on a shorter span than your walk from campus to here. Was it that troublesome?

Entering his complex, you discovered how minimalistic it looked. To be fair it seemed quite small, the living room instantly greeting you through the entrance and a kitchenette at the side. But since his things were tidied up, it looked roomy.

You instinctively close the door behind you, slightly aware that it did not create a locking sound. Following Peter, you took a few more steps until you stood still at the passageway between his living room and entryway.

“Do you want a drink?” Peter asks.

“No thank you.” You were still trying to subtle. “I just want my Physics book, Peter. Please?”

He looked at you and paused for a split second. You could feel the frown behind the expressionless look. “Yeah. Okay. Sure,” he nods for a few times before turning around and proceeding to a seemingly narrow hallway. “I’ll get it in my room. Be back in a second.”

Your feet faintly paced back and forth, still where you stood a few meters between the entrance and living room. After a few more minutes, Peter emerges carrying the familiar book with one hand.

He approaches you within a few stops but stops in his tracks, leaving a distance from you. “Well uh,” he starts as his chin was tucked.

“I just want to tell you something before I hand you back your book.” He looks up at you with really pleading eyes. During other instances in university, you were definitely familiar with that look. However, this one probably ranked as one of the most downhearted ones.

You did not want to feel regretful for him. Though it definitely feels like you just kicked a puppy.

“Was is it?”

“I love you,” he blurts out as his face goes back from hiding and looking down.

It seemed awkward. You were somewhat expecting it, but you were also hoping that this day would not come – or not at least until you graduate and leave the university.

“Oh.” You honestly did not want to react.

Were you going to say sorry? How about thank you? Would it be better if you said you did not like him back? Or will the best response be that you are already taken?

“Peter, I–”

“Are you really dating Eric?” He shots up with eyes appearing almost teary.

What. The. Fuck.

“No,” you mutter. It was not much of an answer to his question. It was more on being quite horrified as your mind started jumping to conclusions.

The amount of things running around your mind right now was immeasurable.

Firstly, anyone could make two and two out of what he said, especially knowing that no one knows it even so around your circle of friends.

Secondly, you should have thought better. Your doubts with Peter should have been grater and you totally underestimated him. However, some part of you prayed that he was just an annoyingly awkward nerd who follows his friends regarding flirting tips.

Lastly, you turned around and ran.

You probably got your way with opening the door and taking two steps out. It was not long before you felt arms wrap around your waist and either side of your arms. You were then lifted and pulled behind while you tried to kick at the air as an escape. Did not work though.

Peter was surprisingly stronger than you thought. He already seemed fairly muscular at class, hiding behind those long sleeved sweaters and flannels.

Eventually the last thing you remember was the image of the door of his apartment open while you get sucked into the room further. Everything went black afterwards.

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　-: ✧ :-゜・．

When you felt that you were slowly restoring to consciousness, you were aware of the pounding at the back of your head and your arms.

��You tried to move your hands, wanting to press against the parts of your body that were aching. But you felt incapacitated as your wriggled your wrists around and felt an unfamiliar sticky fluid enveloping around them.

“Glad you’re awake,” a voice says. “Does your head hurt?”

You tried to open your eyes, the dark lighting of the room not cooperating with your vision. A light from the window and a lamp were the only things that helped you form something out of the void.

From there you saw Peter Parker sitting closely beside you at the edge of the bed.

Hell please let this be a nightmare.

“What–” You groan, “What do you want from me.”

Your mind was building up your anger yet your body says otherwise. You felt exhausted and heavy.

Peter shushed you in a caring manner, “We’ll talk when you feel better. I’ll let you get more rest okay, sweetie?”

“Uhh.”

That was what you could remember the most. If you have awoken for other times in between your sleep, then you surely did not have an idea of it.

When you finally woke up, the level of your grogginess felt little to none already. You looked around and saw that the room was still dark and seemingly still nighttime.

As your head was twisting from side to side, you saw Peter appear from the doorway carrying a translucent cup filled with water in one hand. “Hey, you’re finally awake.”

Instead of replying to him, your wrists writhe beneath the fluid that you are still not familiar of. You could not really look up to get a good view of what it was, but it was wet, sticky, and felt like super glue.

On the other hand, both your legs, ankles, and feet were free. The back of your thighs bounced against the bed as you struggled, but it would not do much since your arms were practically stuck.

“Fuck,” you grumble.

“That won’t help. You’re pretty much stuck there,” he says, Then he takes a seat at the edge of the bed, alike where you remembered him positioned from earlier, “Might as well talk to me until I let you go.”

“Okay then, when will you let me go?” Your voice was calm hoping you could talk your way out of this mess.

“If you behave for me like a good girl, okay?”

Shivers went up your spine as you cringed at his statement.

Immediately, your mood shifts from calm to furious after hearing his disturbing bargain. Then purposely rolling your eyes for him to see. “How the hell will I behave if you’re a creepy stalker! You disgust me!”

Peter hums, displaying a look wherein he seems like he was thinking. You were not sure if it was sarcastic or not, either way it annoyed the hell out of you. “Creepy stalker sounds overstated, it was more on being curious.”

You scoff as well as exclaim, “You sent me photographs of me and Eric at his house! Fucking hell, Peter.”

“Oh yeah that part.” He slyly pouts his lips to the side as he comes to realize what he had done, “I guess it was a bit creepy–” “What do you mean a bit? That was invasion of privacy!”

Despite being trapped, both your hands balled into a fist, feeling very furious at his dense answers. “I was living my own life! I kept my relationships to myself,” you cry out.

“Yes, but you weren’t completely living your life,” he whispers while gently combing his hair through the front of your hair. “You deserve much more than someone who couldn’t proudly tell that you’re his girl. Is he even a man? Do you really enjoy that kind of life, sweetie?”

“We were happy,” you weep. The evident crack on your voice was a signal that you were about to cry though you were not sure if it was because you were held hostage or because you were worried for Eric.

No one would understand your situation with him right now. Especially Peter.

“Trust me you weren’t,” he scoffs. “You deserve so much more, and I can give you that.”

“I’d rather be alone forever than be with you, asshole!” Your voice was inconsistent, clearly affected by how fast Peter’s mood also shifts quickly.

You also figured you were not looking entirely fresh while crumbling beneath him. Drops of tears and sweat were all over your face and neck, both your eyelids felt swollen, and your nose was almost stuffed.

Peter stand from the edge of the bed and advances to his desk from the side. A harsh bang echoed throughout the room as your body twitched out of shock.

“What does that dick have that I don’t?!” He grits his teeth as the curves of his jaw intensifies. A displeased look was written all over his face.

“P-please let me go.”

“I need you to answer, sweetie. We going nowhere unless you answer!” He was never going to let you go if you were not going to cooperate.

Every step he takes closer back to the bed just increases your heart beat further. He had rolled the sleeves of his sweater up to the edge of his elbows and you felt threatened looking at how firm his arms looked.

“Peter, p-please,” you hiccup.

As Peter returns to the edge of the bed, he does not hesitate anymore to keep a distance. His hands hover to either sides over your body and sets the left side of his head on your midriff, laying while also getting a good view of your vulnerable state.

He does not even look life he was struggling to make an effort to keep you down, but you could feel how heavy he was and was barely giving you a chance to move around.

“I can give you so much more, Y/N.” The way his gaze directs at you was definitely one of the creepiest things you have experienced. He had so much emotions yet completely lacked sympathy for your state of mind.

Shutting your eyes, you only cried further. You felt a hand cup one of your cheeks as its thumb wipes away the pouring tears. Like a broken record, you only pleaded more, “Please let me go.”

“I can’t.”

“Why.” You bawled, realizing he has no plans of releasing you anytime soon despite it. “I won’t tell anyone about this, I p-promise.”

“I know that,” he says, “but you’re going to run back to Eric, probably tell him too, right?”

You did not want to answer, merely shaking your head as you resisted a cry from your lips. It was somewhat what you had planned, but now you were just scared shitless.

“You won’t tell anyone but him cause no one knows about it other than you two, right?” He corners your words.

“Eric would lose his job if someone, especially your parents find out, right?” Hell he was correct. He most likely had been stalking you for so long to find out about it.

“You love him so much, you wouldn’t want to hinde

It was terrifying that someone had been learning about you and your life for a while without your awareness.

“Please stop. What do you want... money?” you whimper.

Peter did not seem likes normal college boy; he does not think like one, too, for sure. Anyone with a right mind would not do something like what he did. No one would have the guts to do so.

“I just want you, Y/N. I want to give you what you deserve,” Peter answers as he sits up and leans his face closer to yours. His mouth leaves a small gap from your right ear as he whispers, “Let me make you feel good.”

“No–”

He cuts off your plea with a proposition, “If you let me, I might consider letting you free.”

“You want that, right? Want me to let you go...” His hand combs through the other side of your face, “just let me show you that I can do way better than him.”

Every ounce of your blood was trying not to give in. You were smart, you ought to find a way out of this. However, you realized that it will not be enough. You already struggled so much from the super glue around your wrists and you could not imagine how much more would it take now that Peter was on top of you.

Eventually you stopped struggling and let him be. There was no way out of this than to let him do what he pleases.

You feel his lips press against your ear first and then progresses over your cheek. His grip around your arms loosen after detecting that you stopped struggling beneath him. You could feel him smile on your skin, “That’s it, relax for me. Good girl.”

His hand reaches to undo your pants as his lips drifted on yours to force their way on making out with you. Another hand then presses under your jaw and throat. “P-Peter,” you choke, feeling lightheaded after being unable to breath properly though your mouth until the grip had loosen.

“Sorry, babe.”

He soon descends from your face to your neck and collar region. You were so sure he was leaving marks on you as you felt him suck and nibble against your skin. Like a controlling asshole he was, you expect to see bruises on your skin by tomorrow.

Despite having your hands fastened, he still moves your shirt upwards past your head. It halts and hands loosely around your arms as you emerge topless beneath the boy.

“Fucking beautiful,” Peter compliments your body under his breath.

Although he seemed to have time on his hands, he does not leave a second wasted. He also goes to haul your pants past your legs and ankles. The growing look of impatience on his face says it all.

Peter moves from your side and welcomes himself between your legs. He spreads them out to have enough space for his body and you could not feel more embarrassed than this.

You grit your teeth over each other as you felt him press fingers against your cunt. Instinctively, you clench around nothing as he continues to play with your entrance, making sure you get entirely soaked under his touch.

“You know you shouldn’t hold back. I know you’re loving it so far, your body says otherwise,” he teases before laying on his stomach and moving his head closer to your pussy.

Without a warning, he licks a strip of you making the back of your thighs quake lightly. Peter senses your reaction and continues to do so, using his tongue to play around and poke inside of you until you were slowly giving in without even realizing it.

Just as you thought you were getting used to his actions, he then inserts fingers inside you, feeling your warmth around it as he pushes it in and out.

“Oh,” you moan.

He continues, making sure he also does not leave your bud of nerves behind. The tip of his fingers and tongue alternate on playing against it, making you throw back your head out of pleasure.

“I bet he doesn’t please you like this,” he scoffs.

Eventually, at your vulnerable state, you could already feel yourself closing to an orgasm. Your toes curled as your temples throbbed, sealing your eyes shut as you accepted on giving in.

You bit onto your lower lip, trying to resist a moan. Somewhere inside you, you were still trying to fight back and not let Peter have the satisfaction he had been craving.

“You’re being so tight... Just let it out.” He coaxes and you hate how you did what he told you so.

The extensive grin on his face seemed priceless. He pulled back and you were aware that you seemed exhausted beneath him. You assumed he was done with whatever he wanted to do with you.

But when he started to take off his sweater and unbutton his pants, you realized it was far from over.

As he presents himself just as naked in front of you, he again welcomes himself between your legs. This time you get a better view of him and his muscles and abs. He gets a good view of your body too for sure as his hand reaches to start stroking his dick.

He places one hand on your thigh and pushes it farther to give him more room. Finally, he inserts in inside you and you automatically felt him throbbing between.

There was a growing heat between the both of you, and it only intensified as Peter started to thrust his hips forward and backwards. There was not even a rhythm from him as he moves harder after hearing you softly moan underneath.

The slapping sound echoes through the room that would eventually reek of sex and you felt ashamed that your body was enjoying all of this.

“Ah… ah… ahh… agh….”

“You’re starting to enjoy this, aren’t you?” He brags as one hand was reaching for your breasts while the other holds your thigh up. “Fucking slut.”

Your body and mind were tired and could only hold so much longer. It was not a surprise when your stomach started to churn your the muscles in your thighs were cramping up.

Peter did no help after seeing you starting to wear out. He tried leaning in to make out with you and expect to moan into his mouth. You did for a moment, a combination of both your drools were streaming down from the corner of your mouth.

“We’re making a mess, huh,” he mumbles. “But I know you’re already a dirty fucking girl.”

He proceeds to deprave you with statements, “Can’t believe you’re enjoying my cock better than that old man’s... Such a fucking whore.”

You twist your head aside, trying to hide the fact that you feel like your temperature were burning up. You were so sure he could feel the increasing warmth of your walls either way.

Your eyes were rolling back as you resist arching your back, which was not really a success as the amount of pleasure was overwhelming.

As you writhe beneath him, you felt a hand on your cheek. It pushes your head back onto looking at front and at Peter. “I want you t look at me when you’re going to cum, sweetie,” he orders and you could not do much anyways.

The second time you came was a whole other level. You never felt this with any person you slept with so far, rather not this fast and intense to say. “That’s it, fuck, you’re tighter than I could ever imagine.”

Peter continues until it was his time to cum. The bed continues to move along with his pace and your body was basically abused to his liking.

And even if you were not aware of it, the boy was practically thankful that his agency decided to agree to soundproofing his whole apartment – his motive being for personal reasons, which they did not question any time soon.

You were helpless, you knew that. All you had in mind now was rest. Your eyelids were heavy and your mind was drifting to slumber.

The last thing you remember was Peter moving over your body to come all around your chest like a painter with its paint brush creating a masterpiece from your chest to your core.

“I love you.”

a/n: ily pls leave comments <3

1K notes · View notes

jiminrings · 4 years ago

Note

🧘🏻‍♀️ manifesting (their first) interaction between y/n and stem!koo 🧘🏻‍♀️ like i can't imagine koo talking to her and not knowing his secret lunchbox deliver is right in front of him !!!

cold senior!y/n x stem major!koo masterlist :D

stem!koo is in agony and it’s getting in the way of his academics

maybe.,.,

just mAYBE you should’ve warmed up a little bit more before this goddamn practice match

it doesn’t help too that you’re still a lil bit hungover from last night because seokjin and yoongi iNSISTED to get everyone drunk

they put a beanie on the corner of the tv and each of you had to drink whenever someone appears at the edge of it :’’’)

also didn’t help the fact that yoongi tried to be helpful

shoved his fingers into your mouth in an attempt to get you to puke (so you would feel better in the morning) but in doing so, HE’S the one who puked

and now you were disgusted and therefore unable to p-word

everyone’s lagging in their game today, and with you being the team captain, of cOURSE you had to boost team morale

by boosting team morale u meant moving excessively and grinding extra hard and jostling them much more so they’d do the same

and it’s working!!!!

it’s working and now you feel like passing out :D

your jersey’s soaked and your socks are damp and you want to nestle in the cooler by yourself

fortunately, your coach fINALLY called for a ten-minute break

rip you’re sprawled out in the bleachers

extra rip why is the sun being blocked rn ://

yeah well you dO wear sunscreen and reapply it every two hours, but you didn’t think that it’d be this effective

almost like you can’t see the sun at all

like your eyes are closed and there’s no heat beating down on them

it’s almost as if someone’s i-in... front.......... of you

this is not white chicks??????

that is most definitely nOT terry crews??????

“m-miss y/n?”

you’re still a little bit groggy and it’s taking your eyes awhile to re-focus, unintentionally having a scowl on in the process

“who’s asking?”

you’re gonna scream if it’s another one of those scouts jeez they can ask for you after practice and not during your break!!

“o-oh! i’m uh, jeon jungkook?? sorry, yeah, i don’t know why i sounded unsure. i am jungkook, your junior...?”

....

WAIT WAIT WHAT

you try not to move up abruptly, putting yourself up on your elbows that makes jungkook intimidatingly take a few steps back and give you your distance

you clearly did not expect this

“how may i... help.... you?”

kook is literally shaking in his boots and he’s not even wearing boots

you’re just giving him a blank glance and not to be rude but USUALLY (!!!) he’s used to the other person making conversation and taking it from there

he’s blanking out for a second and it’s only when you tilt your head at him that he snaps out of it

“right!!! we have this statistics assignment?? a-and we need to interview an athlete for it and i was hoping if i could uhm, if i could interview you?”

weird

out of all the athletes in uni, why would jungkook ever come to you??

not that you’re complaining but you didn’t exactly expect that your first interaction with him would be out of necessity

there’s this tense silence that stretches and jungkook still awkwardly has his hands balled nervously and your still on your elbows

“oh. okay. i have eight minutes left of break before i go back to my game.”

he jolts up at that before he’s meticulously pulling things from his backpack rather ungracefully, “no worries!! i can just wait for you after your game.... i-i think?”

cute

you’d find him cuter if only he hadn’t been giving your lunches that you’ve worked hard on

>:(

“yeah? and when’s that deadline of yours?”

jungkook stills as if you’ve just exposed him, sheepishly bowing his head

“tonight. 11:59 pm.”

huh

even more weird

you thought jungkook was an early bird when it comes to these things because he’d literally march to the desk just a day after a task was given

you ponder in thought, abruptly standing to go to your coach

jungkook fREAKS out on his knees

“i’m so sO sorry to have bothered-...”

coach jeong only nods once with a firm line on his lips, dismissing you because he’s figured that the captain cOULD ask favors from him every once in a while

kook stops his apologies when you look at him again, towel on your shoulders

you look bored with him

“i can squeeze you in.”

alright that’s gonna sink in eventually

pls function

one

two

“o-oh! thank you so much!! i-i won’t take long, i promise.”

jungkook wastes no time in setting everything up even if he seems disorganized

he has his pen and paper ready plus his phone to record you

apparently, it’s all just bASIC questions and lmao they truly were

do you eat breakfast everyday? how often do you work out? how often do you get injured in a game??

“lastly, how do you pack your lunchboxes?”

“well-...“ your eyes narrow at the question, tilting your head in confusion

there is absolutely nO way that is still a part of his questionnaire

not unless he knows it’s you in the flesh?????

jungkook’s eyes widen at the same time yours do and your jaw clenches because oh my fucking god did he figure you out

o_O

jungkook sheepishly shakes his head, going immediately into a sad smile before he waves it off

“sorry. i uh, i’m just going through it right now,” he mumbles under his breath, writing something on his paper, “... but really, how do you do it?”

“jungkook.”

he giggles at the way you deadpan eVEN when you were ready at the moment to worm your way out of it, thrusting his pen and paper to your hands

“write your full name and sign, please. y’know, ‘i, blank blank, consent to jeon jungkook’ the basic?”

???

did this mf just say blank OUT LOUD??? TWICE????

you only try to discreetly laugh under your breath when you do so, handing it back with ease unlike him

“i also need a picture for documentation, i-if that’s alright?”

oh uhm

you’re still soaked in sweat????

jungkook must’ve seen your panic as he aids in, handing you a mask and gesturing for the towel to cover up how cLEARLY drenched you are

(but with your jersey showing!!!!!)

this is clearly a lot to take in

your first interaction aND a picture together???

jungkook keeps profusely bowing his head to you, gathering his items neatly before bidding you goodbye

his eyes do a double-take at the notebook, only wanting to make sure that all the details are complete and he wouldn’t have to trouble you later for clarifications

jeon jungkook

he goes rigidly frozen that it makes you tilt your head once again, a shaky sigh on him that he’d only correct later

“n-nothing! i think i just saw this handwriting before, that’s all.”

#drabble nights #jungkook imagine #jungkook oneshot #jungkook drabbles #stem koo

384 notes · View notes

kaistarus · 4 years ago

Text

BitterSweet

Pairing: Itadori YuujiXReader

Words: 2.4K

Summary: How Yuuji makes his way into your life with brights smiles and shitty coffees

A/N: just in time for his b-day :3 i’ve loved this boi since before i even started jjk, so i’m glad I got to finally write for him lol

Masterlist

Bitter.

Bitter-with a hint of vanilla-was what you associated with Itadori Yuuji. His beaming smile at your first tutoring session forever connected with the pungent coffee he offered you.

You stared at the cup skeptically, “what is that?”

“Coffee?” Yuuji answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I thought every college student liked coffee.”

He wasn’t wrong, “but why did you get it?”

“Because you got up so early to help me,” Yuuji’s smile widened as he waved the drink around.

“Well I’m scheduled, so I would have been here whether you signed up or not.” You pointed out, glancing at the clock nearby that read too-early-in-the-morning and gestured for him to hand it over. He looked so pleased with himself that you were sure if he was a dog his tail would be going wild.

That was the only explanation you had for why you didn’t tell Yuuji it was the worst thing you’d ever tasted, hiding your full body cringes when he looked up after digging through his backpack.

“So, what are we doing first?” He asked excitedly, holding a creased notebook with uneven pages and a packed folder with papers hanging out. You stared at it wearily, but unfortunately he was far from the worst case scenario-a folder was huge compared to some you’d run into.

“I guess just give me your last exam and we’ll work from there.”

Yuuji chuckled awkwardly, fingering through the mass of papers in his folder before producing a packet marked heavily in red ink. You sighed at the single digit number at the top with a frowny face beside it.

Looked like you and Itadori Yuuji were going to be spending a lot of time together.

**************

“You’re overthinking it, Yuuji.” You rubbed your temples having spent the last thirty minutes working through the same problem with no success. You were beginning to lose all hope.

“But it doesn’t make any sense,” he groaned, leaning back in his seat. “I’m supposed to figure out the probability of what movies were action movies, but how was she able to watch eighty movies in one week?”

“That isn’t the question.”

“It isn’t possible though!” He jabbed his eraser at the paper. “Did she sleep? I bet this Melissa chick fast forwarded or skipped.”

“Yuuji…”

“Can you go a full week without sleep? If she slept through some, are they part of the eighty?” He gripped his pink locks in frustration. “How do I know which she slept through? Is there a timeline?”

You deadpanned as he scanned the page stressfully like it was holding him hostage with its contents, “I don’t think they provide a timeline, no.”

“Sorry,” Yuuji sighed defeated, slouching forward to rest his chin on the library’s table. “I swear I’m trying.”

You leaned against your palm, eyes softening as he glared at the homework sheet under him. “Don’t apologize,” you slid the sheet from under his chin. “You’re my favorite session after all.”

“I am?” He perked up.

You rolled your eyes while circling a segment of the first word problem. “You can just make up wild backstories for each person. Melissa doesn’t have to sleep and can absorb movies abnormally fast or something.”

Yuuji blinked several times as his lips curved into a smile. “What about the guy who owns over four-hundred chickens?”

You forced down your own smile and shrugged, “he’s just lonely.”

Yuuji laughed, continuing down the page while spewing out ridiculous stories for the unfortunate names in the Stats problems. Your heart beat firm in your chest at how excited he was now while scanning the page. The ticking clock above you felt like a curse the closer it got to the end of your session.

You guessed you didn’t hate the mornings anymore if they were with him.

*************************

You tapped your pencil’s eraser impatiently on the booth's table. The smell of brewing dark roast drifting through the small cafe accompanied by the combined noises of workers preparing early risers beverages kept you from dozing off where you sat. Finally, after what felt like forever-probably a few minutes-Yuuji slid into the booth across from you and placed a mug in front of you.

“I can buy my own coffee, Yuuji.” You took the mug wearily, eyes darting around the near empty cafe you’d decided to meet at this week to ‘spice things up’ in his words. “People might get the wrong idea.”

“I didn’t think you cared about that stuff,” he said with a teasing smile that you returned with a half-assed glare. “It’s my payment for making me smarter.”

“I already get paid,” you pouted at the drink in your hands. “And you’re already smart. I just help you understand it.”

He didn’t respond and you glanced over, confused at his slack jaw expression.

“Oh,” he started shuffling through his backpack and you swore his cheeks were dusted pink. “Yeah, that-uh-makes sense.”

“Right,” you raised a brow at the weird response, but decided it wasn’t worth pursuing. There wasn’t enough time in the world to question every random thing Yuuji did.

“What’s on the schedule today boss?”

“Your exam’s tomorrow,” you said, pulling some sheets from your own backpack. “I printed your practice exam since I’m guessing you didn’t know it existed.”

“Hey,” he pouted. “I didn’t, but still...”

You snorted, sliding the packet across the table. “Just do the ones you can and I’ll help with the rest.”

He saluted you, unnecessarily scribbling his name across the top before getting to work-his tongue poking out adorably while his eyes scanned the words intensely. You felt your chest filling with an unfamiliar warmth as you watched him work and your hand drifted subconsciously toward the mug next to you.

You coughed, unprepared for the harsh flavor, only wiping the grimace off your face when Yuuji peered upward with an innocent head tilt. Your heart squeezed when you locked eyes too long with his dark hazel before a soft smile filtered onto his lips. You quickly dropped your stare, hoping that if you avoided looking at him you could avoid the weird feeling emotion rolling in your stomach as well.

***************

You slouched up the library's stairwell, pushing through the second story’s double doors that led to your usual reserved tutoring table. The school really needed to push back your start time-seven in the morning was way too early for any college student to effectively teach or learn anything. The only person ridiculous enough to continuously sign-up for this time was-

You gripped your backpack straps as strong arms wrapped themselves around your midsection, picking you off the ground without warning. An unwanted frightened squeal left your lips before you recognized Yuuji’s laughter behind you and you relaxed as much as you could with him spinning you around in a library half-full of people.

“What are you doing?” You glared at him over your shoulder, cheeks warm from embarrassment at the scene he was causing.

“I got a C!”

You blinked several times before prying his arms off you, “are you serious?”

“Yeah,” he slid his backpack off, digging around before offering you a crumpled up packet with a seventy-four and a smiley written on top. You stared at it with a growing smile and without thinking too much you wrapped your arms around his neck.

“Yuuji, this is amazing!”

“I know,” he laughed, encircling your waist awkwardly given your backpack. “My roommate didn’t believe me. She’s doing my dishes for a week thanks to you.”

You weren’t sure you felt good about that after seeing his level of disorganization, but you smiled back anyway. “I’m so proud of you.”

Which was true. Your chest was swollen near bursting with pride for him and he’d only gotten a C. You told yourself it was because of your own skills as a tutor, but had you ever been this excited for someone?

“Hey, we should celebrate.” Yuuji stuffed the exam back into his bag. “Do you wanna-”

“Can you guys quiet down?” a guy with four crushed energy drink cans and food wrappers laying haphazardly around him asked. “I can’t focus and I just wanna go home, dude.”

“Sorry,” you whispered as warmth crept up your neck, turning Yuuji toward the exit as he stared at the guy in amazement. “We’ll leave you alone.”

“How long have you been here?” Yuuji asked in awe.

“Twenty-five… No, maybe eight...” The guy narrowed his eyes at the clock. “Time’s an illusion man.”

Yuuji nodded, impressed, shooting the guy a thumbs up as you pushed him toward the doors. Once in the stairwell you shot him a bright smile, “celebrate?”

He nodded excitedly. “We can get coffee!”

You turned away quickly to cover your panic, “or maybe anything else?”

Yuuji hummed, “I guess change can be nice.”

Your heart did a bizarre skip at the soft look in his eyes and you hurriedly started down the stairs without him. You spent more time that morning brushing off each reaction to Yuuji than enjoying your time with him. When everything was done you started thinking that you were having a hard time kidding even yourself.

**************

You and Yuuji had been working in silence for the past twenty minutes-the longest he’d gone without needing help since he’d signed up for tutoring. It was a great sign that for some reason had your stomach knotting uncomfortably.

“You’re doing really good,” you complimented, admiring the delighted smile he gave you.

“Yeah, I used what you said about note taking for lecture.” He showed you his notes that were beyond chaotic, but apparently worked for him. “I actually understand what’s going on now.”

“That’s great,” you looked down at your Chem problems and attempted to keep your tone light. “You probably won’t need tutoring soon if this-.”

You heard his pencil snap and looked up to find him staring holes through his paper. He seemed tense as he pressed his pencil roughly against the notebook and you wondered what word problem would’ve caused that reaction.

“Are you stuck? Do you want me to-”

“I like you.”

You paused mid-reach for his textbook and locked eyes with him, his cheeks flaring up a dark pink. You opened and closed your mouth several times before mumbling out a weak, “what?”

“And I don’t want you to tutor me,” he looked frustrated with himself when you tilted your head at his contradictory statements. “I mean, I do, but not always. I just want to spend time with you and not talk about Stats because I hate Stats, but I really like you.”

That weird feeling was back. The one where your chest felt tight and your heart was beating too quickly and your stomach sort of felt like you might throw up, but all in a good way and that made everything weirder. It was a lot and not enough and that made you nervous.

“I don’t know, Yuuji.” You lied.

“That’s okay,” he smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “No pressure. I just sprung it on you, so I don’t blame you.”

You nodded, watching him dig around his bag for a second pencil while grumbling about organizing that you knew would never happen. Your heart ached in your chest as you watched him continue working casually, playing off whatever happened.

...but you weren’t sure you could do the same.

************

This was a terrible idea.

You swung your legs, perched atop a railing across from a building that Yuuji was currently taking his midterm. It didn’t matter how you got that information-accessing his schedule with the few perks your job gave you-all that mattered was you had five minutes to figure out what you were going to say to him.

This wouldn’t even be an issue if he hadn’t skipped tutoring a few days ago. You weren’t sure if he thought you hated him or if he was regretting confessing to you, but either way you needed to talk to him before your window closed.

If only any of the speeches you could think of weren’t absolutely humiliating. Three minutes now? That should be enough time for you to at least get the beginning-

“(Y/N)?”

Your head whipped to the side so fast you're sure you got whiplash, dumbfounded that Yuuji was standing there with his head cocked to the side.

“You finished early,” you said, face warming at his growing confusion. “Not that I would know that.”

“Right.” He gave you a once-over. “Whatcha doing here?”

“Uh,” your nose crinkled while searching for a reasonable excuse. You sighed when you came up empty. “You skipped tutoring.”

Yuuji’s eyebrow rose and he waved his hands around. “I accidentally slept through it.” Then you noticed the gears started turning in his head and you began shrinking in on yourself. “You came here because I skipped a lesson?”

“Well, I wasn’t sure if you were going to keep skipping,” you avoided his eyes, chewing on the inside of your cheek. “It’s a bad habit.”

He knew you were full of shit. You could tell by the way he was forcing down a smirk when you stared at your feet. This would obviously be going so much better if you had those three minutes to prepare.

“Thanks for checking in,” he smiled, fishing around in his pocket and holding out his phone. “We should probably exchange numbers so you don’t have to go through all this trouble next time.”

You eyed the phone and rolled your eyes, “makes sense.”

He looked overjoyed when you took it from his hands. Your heart felt like it would pound out of your rib cage while he watched you create your contact, your fingers shaking slightly under the pressure.

“As an apology, I should probably take you to get food too.”

You paused, looking up at his hopeful gaze before nodding shyly. “That seems fair.”

The smile that overtook his face was probably the largest you’d ever seen and your heart nearly exploded when he grabbed your hand, pulling you away from the building. You probably should have seen this coming the moment you began looking forward to your morning shifts with him. As he dragged you down the street you found yourself not caring where he took you-you knew you’d be happy as long as he was with you.

#itadori yuuji #itadori yuji x reader #itadori yuji fluff #yuji x reader #itadori yuuji x reader #jjk #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen #itadori x y/n

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ruewrites · 4 years ago

Note

Asmo likes the use of the pact right? So far I’ve never seen solomon use it besides the time he summoned him once. I was thinking maybe you had enough ideas to write something about it 👀 maybe a 5+1 things (like “times Solomon used his pact with asmo”) or something if you’re up for it? I love your writing by the way I can’t wiat for chp 9!

5 Times Solomon Used His Pact With Asmo

AO3

Ship: Solomon/Asmo

Word Count: 2663

Warnings: None

A/N: Hi Anon! I hope you like this! I’m sorry it took me so long (this is also my first time doing a 5+1 fic), I wanted to getting it out sooner. I hope you liked WBT! Thank you so much for your request!

Asmo had always enjoyed the feeling that coursed through him due to their pact. Solomon’s magic sent a tingling sensation up his spine and a warmth all throughout his body, and Solomon’s power. Well… His power was more than addictive. His Solomon was one of the most, if not the most, powerful sorcerers humanity had ever seen. He wasn’t called the wise one for nothing, and knowing how revered Solomon was caused pride to swell within Asmo’s chest. Now every now and again they’d use their pact for less professional situations, but regardless Asmo loved it.

However, sometimes Asmo was a bit surprised when Solomon put their pact to work.

“Solomooon.”

Solomon’s head perked at the sound of Asmo’s whines. He couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face as his boyfriend’s disgruntled form trudged through the underbrush. A few tiny scratches bloomed on his porcelain skin, his hair was messed up, and twigs and mud clung to his clothing. Ah, perhaps he should have warned him, but Solomon’s excitement had gotten the better of him.

“This is awful. There’s so many bugs! Why couldn’t that little plant you need be in a garden? Or maybe a nice little field of flowers?” he huffed, “Why does it have to be here in this revolting mess?”

A chuckle escaped Solomon as he went over to help Asmo maneuver through the unkempt path. Well, it wasn’t much of a path really, more like underbrush that had been crushed by something else before them. Asmo still didn’t seem too happy, but at least he was wearing closed toed shoes. Powerful demon or not, Solomon didn’t want Asmo hurting himself.

“I think it’s rather enchanting,” Solomon said, looking around them, “It’s untouched and full of secrets just waiting to be unlocked, as well as the herb I’m looking for.”

“Well, you should replant it back home. Where it’s easier to get to when you find it!” Asmo let out a screech as he slipped down into a puddle of mud below him. He blinked a few times and looked down at himself. Then his surprise started to morph. A screech echoed through the forest, scaring a few birds from their perches. “I’m covered in mud. This is disgusting! Solomon why do you even need this stupid herb? I wanna go home!”

Something clicked in the deep recesses of Asmo’s mind snapping his head towards Solomon mid rant, and a shudder ran through his spine. Oh the tiny little tugs from their pact always felt nice, especially when he could feel Solomon’s power coursing through his veins.

Solomon was eye level with him now, “As soon as we find what I’m looking for, I promise you can have the nicest, warmest bath and soak for as long as you’d like.”

Asmo hesitated for a moment, “And bubbles?”

“All the bubbles your little heart could desire.”

“The nice kind.”

“If that’s what you’d like.”

“And hot tea from that cafe I like.”

Solomon nodded.

Finally, after a moment of thinking it over, Asmo smiled and stood up. “Alright then! Let’s go find that little plant! And when we do, you’d better take some home to pot.”

**********

“Solomon how do you live like this?” Asmo huffed, putting yet another book in a pile, “Everything is so disorganized!” Mountains of different books and scrolls surrounded them.They’d barely made a dent in their work and Asmo was trying his best to stay on task. Well, at least things looked better than when Solomon had initially summoned him, but even that wasn’t saying much.

“Well it was organized,” Solomon started, “Then I needed to do my research and look for specific information and well-” He gestured to the room around them. He hadn’t meant for everything to get this scattered, but he’d also needed multiple books open at once. Sure he could have just marked the pages he wanted and used one or two books at a time, but how productive was that. Plus it was a notification from Asmo on his DDD saying he wanted to do something that caused him to lose focus in the first place. So why not use their pact to ‘hang out’ a little? He’d indulge Asmo after they finished, but for now they had a task to finish.

He heard Asmo flop over with a soft thud, a groan leaving his lips. “Solomon this is going to take forever! Why do you have to have so many books? Where do you even manage to fit them all?”

“Sometimes the pursuit of knowledge requires sacrifice Asmo, and sometimes that sacrifice is space.” Solomon lifted his head to peer at Asmo behind the stack of books. He was lying on his back, book over his face, and silent.

Slowly, and being careful to maneuver around the stacks of books, Solomon made his way over to Asmo and sat down with him, picking up the book on his face. Asmo made eye contact with him and crossed his arms. Solomon smiled and looked at the spine before placing it in the correct pile. “You know, it’s going to be harder to organize when your face is buried in a book.”

“And you know there are better ways of using our pact.”

“Oh? So you would have helped me out of the goodness of your heart then?”

Asmo let out a huff before sitting back up and grabbing another book, grumbling something quietly under his breath. “I thought we’d go clubbing or something, not organizing books,” he frowned, looking rather unamused.

A low hum left Solomon as he nodded, eyes slowly drifting over towards his bookshelf. With a snap of his fingers, one of the piles flew into neat organized rows on the shelf. Organizing the books still required him to know which books were where, but he could put them on the shelves once they were already organized into nice neat piles. Without another word, he then plucked Asmo’s DDD from the floor much to the demon’s protest.

“Hey!”

“Shhh.”

Solomon tapped on the device for a few minutes before snapping a picture. “See? Look how wonderful you look with this backdrop,” he said, bending over to show Asmo, “So, even if you don’t think of this as fun, as least you still look lovely right?”

Asmo took his DDD and tilted his head from side to side. He furrowed his brow and bit his lip, “Well, I do look good. Can you take more?”

“Of course! When do I ever forget to reward you for a job well done?”

**********

Asmo looked nice. Incredibly nice. He was practically glowing in the dim lights of the club. But right now, Solomon needed complete focus. Well, maybe he didn’t, but he wanted to make sure he looked professional. They were sitting in a dingy, little, isolated corner. Asmo’s eyes kept slinking over to the bar, and tiny shudders would overtake him every now and again as Solomon’s power ran through him. It was so hard to behave in this atmosphere, the only thing keeping him in place was the pact. But Solomon would make it worth it, he always made it worth it.

“They’re here,” Solomon said under his breath, eyes shifting towards the doorway where two figured stepped through the doorway and looked in thor direction. He glanced back towards Asmo and nodded, “You know what to do.”

“Well! Looks like ya brought a pretty little companion with ya,” the first man chuckled, nodding towards Asmo. Asmo leaned forward on the table and batted his lashes slowly up at their guests.

“I promised we’d go out,” Solomon smiled, “Since I was coming here anyways, I figured I could kill two birds with one stone. Now. Do you have what I came here for?”

The first nodded to his partner with a smirk. Carefully, the other reached into his pocket and put a small box on the table. With nimble fingers, Solomon slowly opened the box. A soft blue light gently coated a small piece of their corner. The little stone inside was exactly what Solomon needed, it would make his latest spell extremely successful.

“Now, our money-”

“Oh Solomon!” Asmo squealed, cutting off the man on the other side of the table, “You didn’t tell me it would be so pretty! It’s gorgeous!” His head turned to the two men on the other side of the table. Everything was in motion now, and Solomon had to stop himself from smiling. Oh it was such a wonderful thing that not everyone in the human realm knew of Asmodeus, especially those who didn’t deal in magic.

Asmo’s eyes were sparkling as he leaned over the table. “Why don’t you just give it to us? I know it’ll be safe in my Solomon’s hands. I promise!”

The man let out a guffaw and shook his head. “Ah, now that’s cute. Listen, I don’t know why you guys want this weird ass rock, but I ain’t about to give away something this nice for-”

Solomon couldn’t help but smile as he watched the man’s eyes meet with Asmo’s. That was when he knew this was a done deal. As Asmo worked his silver tongue, Solomon slipped the gemstone into his pocket. One thing was for sure, Solomon wasn’t going to have to pay the full price for their little exchange.

**********

Asmo was radiating with power. Solomon swore he could see his eyes glowing. Not to mention Asmo seemed to really be getting a high off of Solomon’s power. Sure Solomon noticed the little shudder that ran through him or the occasional flutter of his wings whenever he used their pact, but this amount seemed to consume all of him. His hips swayed in a rather cocky manner as he circled the aggressor, wings flared, and sharp teeth glinting. Solomon swore that he and Asmo were in unison with each other, their breathing and heartbeats synced up.

Hands on his hips, Asmo turned his head to the side ever so slightly and cocked an eyebrow at Solomon. He was asking for permission. Not that he needed it, Asmo could very well start whenever he wanted. But this was a game. They were playing with the giant beasty in front of them, it’s claws bared and teeth gleaming. It’s fur was raised and bristled, eyes alive with bloodlust. Oh it was exciting.

Solomon lifted his hand ever so slightly, and Asmo moved. The beast tried to swat at the demon who quickly jumped out of the way.

When he landed he turned back to look at Solomon. “Oh darling, stop teasing,” he purred, “Let me have it.”

“Oh? You say I’m teasing?” Solomon chuckled, nearly avoiding the beast’s thrashing tail.

“You always tease me. You’re so mean to me you know-”

“Do I now? Well, perhaps if you ask me nicely-”

“Please Solomon?”

They locked eyes once more and Solomon saw a shudder of anticipation wrack Asmo’s body. Slowly, he brought his fingers together and snapped. Asmo’s wings immediately flared out, his aura completely took over the space they were in. Solomon found himself completely in awe of Asmo as he turned back towards the beast and leapt into combat.

As Solomon watched as Asmo slashed and thrashed, cutting and tearing his way through their opponent, he couldn’t help but look forward to the aftermath. When Asmo came down from the high, when his eyes were soft and completely blissed out and he wanted nothing more than to lay in the crop of Solomon’s arm with the laziest smile on his face. In the meantime, he would wait in the shadow just in case Asmo needed him. He doubted it, but he stayed all the same.

**********.

Solomon’s arms tightened around Asmo as soon as he felt him move. He knew it was morning. He could picture the bright sunlight seeping in through his window without opening his eyes. His face became buried in Asmo’s back as his demon whined and tried to squirm out of his arms.

“Solomon,” he yawned, “I have to get ready.”

Solomon’s silver hair tickled the back of Asmo’s neck as he shook his head. Cold fingers slipped beneath Asmo’s shirt where warm skin awaited him. He heard Asmo let out a tiny yelp at the contact as he tried to squirm out of his arms. Asmo kept him warm at night and was a rather nice initiative when it came to getting away from his research and slipping into bed at night. He didn’t want to let him go, he wanted to keep him in bed for another hour or two. He wanted to keep Asmo in his arms until the need for his morning caffeine fix inevitably called to him.

He’d never been a morning person and never understood how Asmo could get up so early.

“Solomon,” Asmo tried to sit up, only to be dragged back down to bed. A sigh escaped him and he struggled to prop himself up on his elbow and craned his neck to look at Solomon, “Darling, I’ve already stayed ten minuted past my alarm.”

“You’re not going anywhere today,” Solomon yawned, his voice barely audible due to his mumbling.

“Dear-”

“Stay.”

Asmo gasped as the familiar tingle of Solomon’s magic trickled through him. It was weaker than normal. Instead of the strong sensation that usually coursed through him, this one felt more like a whisper or a gentle caress. However, it was not any less addictive.

Slowly, he relaxed back down where slow kisses awaited him. As Solomon’s arms tightened around him, Asmo closed his eyes once more. “You owe me,” he murmured, although he wasn’t entirely sure he would hold Solomon to that. His human seemed so content, Asmo couldn’t help but wonder if he entirely meant to use their pact.

**********

It was a quiet day. Birds chirped outside, leaves shuddered in the wind, and the sun bathed the world in her soft glow. The smell of coffee bathed the living room as it drifted from the kitchen. Solomon sat himself next to Asmo, mug in hand. Then his eyes started to wonder. It was hard not to admire Asmo. He was wonderful, more than wonderful. Slowly, Solomon became lost in the silence, in the beauty of the moment. Of course Asmo looked stunning bathed in the soft glow of the Devildom’s moon, but there was a different type of beauty when it came to the earth’s sunlight.

Asmo shuddered and looked towards Solomon. A lazy smile stretched across his face. It was a wonderful feeling, Solomon’s magic.

“Yes?”

Solomon blinked, finally seeming to come out of his daze. “What?” he asked, his mind not fully caught up with him yet.

Asmo laughed. It was light and lilting and a wonderful thing to hear ringing throughout the house. “I can feel you dear. If you’re going to use our pact, I would appreciate you giving me the order instead of teetering on the edge,” he said. He winked at Solomon before going to get another cup of coffee.

Blushing ever so slightly, Solomon quickly got up to follow after him. Asmo was smirking by the time Solomon turned him around. He was pushed up against the counter ever so slightly, faces inches apart, the tug of Solomon’s magic becoming undeniable.

This was a request, one which Asmo was more than happy to oblige once their lips connected. “You can just kiss me you know instead of just standing there,” he chuckled once they parted, “I can feel your longing you know.”

“What can I say? It’s so easy to get lost in you,” Solomon murmured, leaning forward once more. When they connected, Solomon’s magic prickled across Asmo’s skin. Asmo ‘s hands tightened around Solomon’s neck, and he wasn’t entirely sure if he was getting drunk off of his magic or his lips. But in the end, it didn’t really matter which it was.

#asmodeus x solomon #obey me solomon #obey me asmodeus #solodeus #asmosolo #soloasmo #obey me #ruewrites #5+1 things #5+1 fic #5+1 #anon #request #anon request

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wtf-yoongi · 4 years ago

Text

Stage lights. ‹‹part III of III››

pairing | jungkook x reader

summary | you visit jungkook on tour for the first time

genre/warnings | high levels of fluff + relatively new relationship + warning: features jk being extremely tired in between sets + but it’s ok because you look after him afterwards and now my heart is clenching

words | about 7k total (part III is 2,565)

✨ read part I here ✨

☁️ read part II here ☁️

note | kinda belongs in the same universe as this one, but can be read separately. i got carried away and wrote this huge thing, so i decided to separate it into three parts *laughs* kinda sad this is over and totally devastated by jk’s last words let me warn ya

When the show’s all over, things feel completely different. The messy room is even messier – but no one really cares at this point, collecting items at a much slower pace. People are talking more loudly now, laughing more freely, knowing that the work is done and that it was yet another successful night.

You leave your worries in a box in the back of your mind, although you can still hear Jungkook’s words echoing inside your head every now and then. When you look at him now, it’s almost impossible to think that this is the same person that left the stage mid-concert like that – even after having performed the rest of it. He looks a little worn out, yes, but happy and satisfied. Everyone has recovered from the intense final act, changed into more comfortable clothes, put on hats and beanies to cover some of the weirdly sticky hair – and positively look like any other person in the world after a day at work.

With the tension gone from the room, you feel much more comfortable now – not like you belong, but like you fit in enough. The same goes for when you move from the messy room to another one filled with tables, Jungkook taking your hand on your way there and telling you all they serve is Korean food, playfully adding that you could only eat rice if you wanted.

He was joking, of course.

Even if things could get weird – and you predicted them to – they really don’t. Jungkook leads you to a table that sits six and the seat next to you, that you would expect to remain empty, is soon taken by a smiling Hae. Namjoon sits in front of you and all of a sudden the table is full.

Conversation flows as easily as possible when two languages are being spoken and not all people can fully understand both – and it warms your heart to see everyone at least try for your sake. Jin even stood up at one point to do an impersonation of an annoying American interviewer and you felt the need to apologize for the whole country in between laughs and red cheeks.

When everyone is done eating and drinking, you stand up again, moving back to the messy room for long enough to pick up your personal belongings. Jungkook said you would be taking a van back to the hotel downtown and you nod as you feel him take your hand again to walk through the halls you came in earlier in the day. A few moments before stepping foot outside, though, he lets go abruptly.

You don’t mean to look at him like that, but you do it anyway. From the concerned look on his face, you must appear surprised and hurt in equal parts.

“Sorry, bad habit,” he apologizes, but doesn’t take your hand back. “I can’t really be seen with anyone, so I don’t usually… Even when there’s no one around…”

“Oh…” You nod and your expression changes again. “I get it. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, there’s really nothing…”

“You’ll have to teach me these things, you now? Let me know when I have to do or stop doing something,” you say, now noticing how close you two are and taking a few steps away from Jungkook. “Do we have to keep a safe distance? I’m not being ironic, really, I’m just asking,” you add as you see his face fall.

He snorts, moving a little bit more awkwardly and brushing a hair strand out of his face. “Kinda, yeah.”

“It’s really ok, I don’t mind taking a few precautions,” you reassure him, turning your body and taking a few steps backwards so he can see you better. You point at the black baseball cap on your head and smile.

He smiles back at your words and doesn’t say anything even after you pile up in the van along with other people, opting for just taking your hand again and squeezing it tightly.

The ride back to the city is silent, conversation between everyone dying down the further away you are from the stadium. It seems, you think, exhaustion finally hits. You feel it too, eyes heavy as the adrenaline and nervousness from it all aren’t running through your veins anymore. You raise your eyes just enough to see Jungkook staring outside with dreamy and tired ones, ready to rest your head on his shoulder and nap until you get to your destination.

When your eyes open again, the van has stopped and Jungkook is slowly running his left hand through your hair to wake you up.

“We’re here,” he says slowly and you straighten your body to see people are lazily leaving the van. He laughs lightly. “Can’t believe you didn’t wake up with the screaming outside. I had to close the curtains.”

You’re in what seems to be the back of the building now and your brain finally tells you there’s noise going on, a not-so-distant high-pitched cheering. It gets very loud, then it calms down again, and you notice another van pulling up next to yours.

“Sorry,” you apologize out of habit and Jungkook shakes his head lightly, nudging you to move towards the door with a small smile on his face.

You fix the crooked cap on top of your head and blink a few times to wake up a little better, finally getting up to leave. Outside, you can only see a reduced number of staff members and you assume this hotel really isn’t for everyone – much less the number of people you saw working earlier in the day.

When outside, you wait for Jungkook and follow him into the backdoor. There’s a tiny elevator only a few steps into the building and people are waiting to go up in groups of three or four. It takes a while, but you eventually find yourself in a long corridor, dragging your feet through the carpeted floor.

“Tired?” Jungkook asks, stopping in front of a door and touching the key card to the lock.

“Don’t think I can say that after today,” you admit with a scoff. “And it’s still early in New York, I shouldn’t be this sleepy.”

“How early?”

“Google says there’s a six-hour difference,” you say, entering the room after Jungkook and immediately moving to relieve your shoulders from the weight of your backpack. “So, yeah, still early.”

When you look around the room, it looks lived in, but not nearly as disorganized as you expected it to be. You know Jungkook has slept here already and it seems like room service wasn’t allowed. The bed is still kind of messy, but in a comfortable and inviting way – the way freshly made hotel beds never are.

Next to his open suitcase, you see yours, though – and that’s how you know at least someone has access to this room with the exception of Jungkook himself. It is pressed to the wall perfectly and you notice there’s a foreign, fancy paper bag sitting on top.

“What is this?” You ask, turning back to Jungkook, who’s placing his jacket inside the closet. “This isn’t mine.”

“It isn’t from me, sorry to disappoint,” he smirks. “Open up, let’s see what’s inside.”

You slowly walk towards your suitcase, taking the bag with one hand to open it up with the other. When you look inside, you see a box of fancy pastries and a note.

“It’s from Hae,” you say and turn the note around to read the small message written in delicate handwriting. You laugh lightly. “Oh, you’re going to love this.”

“What? What does it say?” He asks from inside the bathroom. His voice is now muffled from brushing his teeth and you can’t help but laugh even more.

“Here’s what she wrote. Her words, ok?” You warn before continuing. “I hope it’s ok I’m writing you this. You’re American, you make friends quickly, right? It was great meeting you today and I can see why Jungkook won’t stop talking about you sometimes. He will never admit to doing this, though. Hope you have a great stay with us. XOXO Hae. P.s.: I’ve always wanted to write XOXO to someone. And then she finishes with a smiley face. How cute is that?”

“I love that you find it cute when she throws me under the bus like that,” he says, taking a towel to pat his lips dry. “I’m going to have a serious conversation with her.”

“But there’s food.” You show him the light colored box.

“She’s good, isn’t she? Diplomatic Hae.”

“She is. She brought me coffee before the show,” you say with a smile. “You told her I like macchiatos.”

“She asked me what kind of coffee you liked. I told you, she’s nice,” he shrugs. “You want to take a shower first?”

“Nah, you can go,” you say, putting the fancy bag on top of a side table. “I still have to open my suitcase, get my stuff and all…”

“Ok.”

From the corner of your eye you can see Jungkook reaching for the door in order to close it, but stopping midway for some reason. He widens his eyes a little, taking steps in the direction of his own suitcase.

“I have to grab some things,” he says with a weak laugh, lowering his body to reach for what looks like a pair of shorts and something else you can’t quite figure out. “Not on my own today, can’t walk around naked, can I?”

You take advantage of the fact that he can only see your side profile to simply shrug, not giving him the satisfaction of a reaction from his words.

Thank God he can’t properly see your face.

When you open the bathroom door again, you feel relaxed – every muscle in your body a little bit too loose to function correctly. You put your head out to see Jungkook sitting in the middle of the bed, his legs spread out to both sides, with his big iPad in hand – you know he’s exhausted, but you also know him well enough. He will refuse to fall asleep while you’re not there with him.

“Hair dryer?”

“Oh…” He moves slowly, getting up again and reaching for it inside a random drawer. “There you go.”

“I thought you would blow dry yours.”

“I was going to, but too lazy,” he admits with a small smile. “It’s ok, it doesn’t matter.”

“I’ll do it for you if you want me to,” you offer. “Come on.”

“You should just do yours, I…”

“Come on…”

You grab Jungkook by the hand, making him sit on the bed again and looking for the nearest power outlet.

“Let me baby you just for a little bit, ok?” You smile fondly at him, leaning in to lightly kiss his lips for the first time in hours. When you do it, you definitely feel like you should kiss more often. Much more often.

“If this is about today, I already told you I…”

“It isn’t about today,” you interrupt delicately, still holding his face close. “I have a feeling nothing I say will make you work in a more… Balanced way. Am I wrong? You don’t even need to say anything, I know I’m not.”

Jungkook laughs and his shoulders tense a little bit. “Yeah, people have mentioned this to me.”

“Well, if I’m not the only one… Maybe you should start considering it?” You half-ask, turning the hair dryer on. “Wow, this is surprisingly quiet. You own a fancy one, huh?”

You move your left hand through his hair calmly and Jungkook closes his eyes, his stance relaxing almost immediately. While you’re there, you also take the opportunity to brush your hand against his ears and neck a few times and you feel like he could fall asleep right there if it wasn’t for the low, but still a little annoying, hair dryer sound.

When you turn it off, you move your fingers to mess with his long bangs. “I noticed earlier your hair looks more healthy and fluffy.”

“The part that was bleached before grew out,” he answers lowly, his eyes still closed. “Do you like it like this?”

“Yeah, sure. Do you?”

“I like that it is easier to make it look decent,” he laughs quietly and finally opens his eyes. “Do you want me to blow-dry your hair?”

“Oh, no, you should go to bed, I’ll just…”

“Come on,” he repeats your words from minutes before. “Let me baby you a little too.”

Jungkook doesn’t stand up to blow-dry your hair, deciding to just stay seated and pull you down close to him. You have your back to him now and he’s careful to not miss any section, moving from side to side thoroughly. Having him play with your hair also relaxes your mind even further and a few more minutes pass before you’re turning back to him.

“It’s ok,” you take the tool from his hands to turn it off. “You don’t have to blow-dry it 100%, it’s going to take too long.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, we’re both tired, let’s just go to sleep.”

You don’t have to say it twice. As you place the hair dryer next to the bed somewhere, not even bothering to stand up again to take it back to it’s original place, Jungkook is already turning around on the bed and pulling you by the hand to lay next to him.

“I already said this, but thanks for coming,” he inhales deeply, snuggling into your side as you’re both trying to make yourselves comfortable. “I know it’s hard, but… If you can, you should come more often.”

“You should go to New York more often too,” you say and your voice becomes quieter when the next words leave your lips. “I miss you all the time.”

Jungkook smiles warmly at you and brings one of your hands closer to him. “I will. It’s my turn now anyway,” he assures you and leaves a kiss on your wrist. “And I miss you all the time, too. Actually, I bet I miss you more.”

“How can you know that?”

“Because I do.”

“Oh, so you just got to that conclusion inside your little head?” You chuckle, bringing the hand that is already closer to him to trace his face. Even now, exhausted and ready to pass out, you don’t think Jungkook glows any less.

“Exactly.”

A few moments pass and you feel yourself begin to give in to sleep. The room is completely quiet now with the exception of your light breathing and legs moving to fit in a little better. Jungkook’s body is warm just like the last time you were like this and you wish, from the bottom of your heart, to always sleep by his side for as long as you’re alive.

All of a sudden, you hear his voice again.

“Are you still awake?” He asks, voice not above a whisper. When you open your eyes, Jungkook is staring longingly at you and it takes a second for you to catch your breath.

You nod with the tiniest of smiles, reaching out to touch the arm that is lazily draped across your waist. “Yeah, is there anything wrong?”

“No, not wrong, but… I think I’m in love with you.”

Read more ›› masterlist

#jeon jungkook #jungkook imagine #jungkook fluff #jungkook scenarios #jungkook x you #jeon jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook x you #jungkook x reader #jungkook one shot #jungkook fanfic #bts fluff #bts imagines #bts scenarios #bts fanfic

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masjestickingdom · 4 years ago

Text

My Little Secret (Part 2)

Pairing: NCT Jaehyun x reader

Genre: Angst

Summary: So you made a promise to yourself that you would get over your feelings for your sister’s husband. Except you can’t.

Note: This is part 2 of My Little Secret! If you haven’t read the first part, please check it out here. And if anyone wants to drop anything in the suggestion box, please do so. I’m open to any ideas, seriously, so don’t feel embarrassed--you can send it anonymously.

____________________________________________________________________________

Nothing about that night felt right. Your dress was too tight. The curling iron was nowhere to be found. Half of the jewelry you owned were tangled. Worst of all, you were sweating bullets from walking back and forth from your room to your small office, rapping to your boss, who was also your friend, on the phone.

“What? I was never given that file,” you would repeat when your friend asked you to look something up.

It was only half past seven and all you wanted to do was to go back in time and take back your statement, “I’ll go.” It was stupid of you to agree to go to some charity event to meet a guy when you strongly despised social settings, which was odd because your work required you to socialize all the time.

With one of the most important business meetings ahead of you in a week’s time, Jia was freaking out over how disorganized everything was.

“Jesse,” she whined, calling out your name for the hundredth time in the last ten minutes. “I swear I gave you the file.”

“Maybe I left it at the office,” you said, rushing to slip on your heels. “I’ll be there as soon as the fundraising event is over.”

Once you made it out of the building, the cold breeze of the dark autumn night ran past you, and you instantly regretted not bringing out with you a light coat. You hissed under your breath as you made your way over to your car, which you parked across the street for some reason you couldn’t recall.

“I just had to park it at the farthest corner,” you murmured while your friend kept babbling on about some random dude on the street (and sometimes you wondered how Jia got the position of marketing manager with her tendency to chatter whenever she was anxious). “Hey, I need to get going, so call me when you need something else, okay?” you told your buzzing friend, hoping to free your mind of work for the next couple of hours.

The ride to your sister’s house was peaceful. The street lamps and office lights lit up the navy night sky and, subsequently, your mood. Every passing street had people strolling on the sidewalks, some with families, others with friends, and some alone. With your window rolled down, you listened to the sound of the wind and the delightful screams of children running around. But your peace ended quickly: before you knew it, you were standing in front of an all-too-familiar brown door, across the mowed lawn, with your fingers drumming lightly against your bare thighs.

“Please get me through this night” you whispered to an invisible force before the door flew open with a friendly face.

“Jesse!” your sister excitedly greeted, immediately welcoming you with a warm hug.

“Hi, Janet,” you said, trying to return her enthusiasm. “How’s the stomach pain?”

In a hushed tone, she replied, “Honestly, I’m just using that as an excuse not to call our nanny. I’ve got the feeling that she has her eyes on Jaehyun.”

“Oh, really?” you reacted weakly as you pulled away from her embrace. “That’s a shame.”

That did not at all throw your mind into chaos. Not at all. Your sister quickly changed the subject as she scanned you from head to toe and wiggled her eyebrows. “Well someone cleaned up nicely.”

You simply shrugged, letting yourself in the house. Everything was in the same place, still as boring as ever. The only new additions were the two humans who were approaching you with wide smiles.

“Jesse, long time no see,” Mark and Doyoung said with wide arms, to which you decided to hug both of them simultaneously.

The two black-haired beauties had known you since they moved in, which wasn’t a long time ago, but the three of you clicked. You loved music and had always fantasized about becoming a music producer when you were younger. Mark and Doyoung were living the dream, and you couldn’t wait for big things to happen for them.

While you were catching up with them, your nephew Jaehyung made his appearance out of the hallway with his adorable hands partially wrapped around his father’s, the man you secretly loved.

“Auntie!” your nephew shouted, willingly letting go of his father’s hand as he dashed towards you at full speed.

By instinct, you bent down to receive the speeding little boy who almost toppled you over.

“I’m starting to get the feeling that he loves her more than he loves us,” Mark said to Doyoung in a not-so-quiet manner.

“Well, I’m a blood relative,” you told your same-aged friend, lifting Jaehyung up from his feet and letting him join you and your sight of the world at your freakish height. “Isn’t that right, LJ?”

“Auntie is always right,” your nephew sweetly responded, to which Mark and Doyoung dramatically gasped.

“I don’t mean to break you two apart,” your crush spoke, “But we have to get going if we don’t want to be late.”

Thankfully, you were able to shoot a calm smile at Jaehyun, greeting him very briefly before handing the sweet little boy in your arms to his mother, all without making a fool of yourself. Jaehyun was absolutely gorgeous. With his slick-backed hair and dark blue suit that complemented his eyes, you could just run your fingers along his beautifully placed--

No, you couldn’t. You had to physically refrain yourself from acting out your fantasies by forcefully turning your back to him, and you lowly hummed to a pop song, hoping your amoral thoughts would wash away. However, the fact that the other two called the back seats, leaving you at the shotgun with Jaehyun by your side, forced you to swallow the rising guilt inching near your throat. To your luck, Jia had called you and whisked you into the world of your comfort zone, which was funnily what you were sick of: work.

...

“There is no way you actually got him to get back with his ex.”

You were just about to text back your secretary regarding something Jia requested to have when Mark pulled out the vacant seat next to you and said what he said.

“You actually got Jungwoo to leave the event to talk to her,” the dumbfounded boy said, shaking his head in disbelief.

That’s right. You somehow managed to encourage Jungwoo, the guy your sister and Jaehyun set you up with, to get back together with his ex-girlfriend. There was nothing wrong with Jungwoo; in fact, he was the perfect gentleman you would have dreamed of having in your younger years. He was stunning--physically, facially, and personality-wise. He was funny and considerate. He had a soft, melodious voice that you swore you heard on the radio. He even shared your weird preference of music. But there was one thing: he was the perfect gentleman, except he wasn’t Jaehyun. The amazing skills you had to convince someone, someone as fine as Jungwoo, to leave you for someone else astonished Mark.

“You must be a beast when you negotiate,” he murmured while you typed away on your phone.

“Believe me, I had no intentions of shooing him away,” you told him. “He just mentioned that he got out of a long-term relationship, so I asked him a few questions. I swear that’s all I did.”

Your same-aged friend snorted. “Yeah, yeah.” When you continued to text your secretary, he added, “You should really get off your phone and interact with others.”

You simply hummed and Mark, in response, swiftly snatched your phone and tucked it away, far from your tech-deprived hands.

“What do you think you’re doing?” you questioned your smirking friend, your eyebrows deeply furrowed.

“Getting you to mingle.”

“You’re gonna get me fired,” you huffed frustratedly.

“Mark almost got me fired,” you heard your other mischievous friend say. “It was one of the worst days of my life.”

“I should get ready for that anytime soon then,” you said, rolling your eyes.

“Get ready for what?” another familiar voice spoke.

The apple of your eye joined the table, sitting across your seat. Suddenly, the table seemed longer than it was, stretching for miles and miles. You quietly let out a sigh and decided to look around your surroundings, eyes gliding over the mass of people conversing. In the midst of your scanning process, Doyoung and Mark abandoned their seats to get more drinks. Without you noticing, Jaehyun managed to scoot down to you, stealing Mark’s seat.

“Is there anyone here who catches your eye?”

Startled at the proximity of his voice and suddenly uncomfortable, you began tapping your feet to the rhythm of the background chatter. You didn’t dare look at him in the eye; you didn’t want to face his genuine curiosity--it would destroy you. Instead, you picked up your glass of wine ever so slightly, swirled it around, and answered with a plain “no”.

“I’m sorry that you and Jungwoo didn’t work out,” Jaehyun said with pity filling his voice.

“Well,” you began in an effort to keep the conversation rolling instead of childishly letting your emo-side take over, “I’m 30, and I seem to be wedded to my work. I’ll be alright.”

“Work does seem to like you a lot,” the beautiful man joked. “But you don’t seem to hate it.”

You offered a small smile. “I’m over it with people constantly calling me, but, yeah, I don’t hate it.”

When a moment of silence passed, you deemed it fitting to finally take a sip from your drink. But it was then when Jaehyun thought it was appropriate to say, “Janet seems to think that you’re a work-a-holic.” Now that was a label you had never thought applied to you. A work-a-holic? You? Impossible. What was wrong with simply liking to bow down to fear?

“I guess I need to fill up that loneliness,” you said lightly, setting your glass down. “Gotta have something, you know?”

Jaehyun dismissed your half-hearted comment. “You do know that she’s concerned out of love.”

You simply nodded and added, “Gotta love her too,” earning you a knowing look. “Okay, being my brother-in-law doesn’t mean you get to scold me too.”

A low feeling of heartache stirred in you as the conversation carried out. If this basic conversation about your life had you killing inside, how could you face three weeks worth of the same thing with him in two weeks time? Answer: you couldn’t.

“You know, if you keep working like that, you won’t have time to date.”

“I’ll just date my work then,” you replied sarcastically. “No one needs a human significant other to fulfill their satisfaction.”

For once, you looked at Jaehyun straight into his eyes. Those deep brown orbs of his spoke of genuine curiosity. You were right: they destroyed you. You forced yourself to avert your gaze back to the crowd before you.

“Come on, why don’t you give yourself a break?” he asked, leaning closer to you due to the sudden increase in background noise.

His natural honey-scented self was overpowered by the soft lavender-scented perfume you saw Jia spray on him earlier. It was the perfume you had gotten them for their four-year wedding anniversary, with the card, “Don’t worry: it’s gender-neutral.”

“Okay, I really don’t want my brother-in-law giving me advice about my love life,” you grimaced bitterly while trying not to breathe through your nose. “It’s weird.”

“Then take it as a friend.”

A new wave of the aromatic scent reached your nose as you sharply inhaled at the words that left Jaehyun’s lips. Friends? Friends? Since when were you and Jaehyun friends? Sure, you guys talked, but it was only because of his relationship with your sister. If you hadn’t met him through your sister, you were sure that you wouldn’t have had the guts to approach him yourself. Being friends with your brother-in-law was not something you had in mind, not especially since you were in love with him--not that you were planning on making a move on him. In fact, you wanted to do nothing with him.

But if you were friends, then wouldn’t that be the first step to getting over him?

Thankfully, a fellow co-worker of Jaehyun’s saved you from your train of thought, informing Jaehyun that their boss was looking for him. Before he could leave, though, Jaehyun patted your shoulders and sent you a comforting smile. You watched him go farther away from you as he interacted with his boss whose face instantly brightened. Smooth talker. Sociable. Look at me, sitting and moping as if there’s no tomorrow, you thought bitterly, tasting your wine for the first time.

And that was how you spent the night--sitting by yourself, worrying your phone would be broken from the number of calls Jia would have made, and watching the man you loved mingle with others like the loveable man he was. You were officially pathetic.

When the time came to leave, you were more than ready to sprint out the doors and claim freedom. Instead, your boss called and the cold wind slapped your face.

“Jia, I got the file,” you said to your friend, pushing your company’s tall glass doors open and waving the thick file in your hands even though she couldn’t see you. “Yeah, I told Sophie to leave it at my desk. Don’t worry, I’ve got things covered, alright?”

Before Jia could say anything else, you stepped onto the pavement when you heard someone call out your name. Once you saw who it was, you greeted that person with a bright smile. That man could liven up your day with his mere presence.

“Johnny!” you exclaimed, reciprocating the tall man’s lively tone. As you initiated a hug, you asked him, “You’ve been here the whole time?”

“Yeah, my boss pulled me back,” Johnny said grimly. “What’s with the file?”

“Oh, this? It’s just something Jia was freaking out about.”

Your considerate co-worker sent you a sympathetic smile. “Couldn’t get Sophie to get it to your place, huh?”

To that, you shrugged and said, “It’s not that bad. It’s just weird having people peeking into my house.”

Talking to Johnny was like meeting your long time friend. He was a breath of fresh air, asking you about things that had nothing to do with your love life. You admired the way he could easily change topics without seeming too sudden and appreciated his quick wit. Unfortunately, the fruitful conversation didn’t last long, and you two parted ways, Johnny taking a cab while you jogged across the street to reach Jaehyun’s black, family-friendly SUV.

“Hey, who was that?” Doyoung said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows in a manner you thought was silly.

“A coworker,” you replied emotionlessly, hoping Jia would stop texting you.

“He was checking you out,” Mark blatantly remarked.

You stopped typing momentarily and shot a glance at his direction. You meant to give him a menacing glare, but you were caught off guard by Jaehyun’s arm resting behind your headrest. You cleared your throat once you realized that he was backing up the car from the parking lot.

“He’s just a friendly person.”

Sick of Jia’s constant demands--you still loved her--and the horrible night full of pain, you rested your elbow comfortably against the window and rubbed your temple. You were not going to be able to sleep that night with that splitting headache, especially with Mark and Doyoung teasing you.

“Come on guys, give her some privacy with her love life,” Jaehyun defended you as he removed his arm from your seat. “I think she’s had enough tonight.”

You offered Jaehyun a weak but warm smile. “Thank you.”

He, in return, gave a cheeky one. “Hey, do you know the song that goes, ‘Jesse and Johnny sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-’”

“-I-N-G!” - Doyoung Mark chimed enthusiastically.

Sinking into your seat, you grumbled, “I’m really babysitting four children next month, aren’t I?”

And the way back to the house of torture was filled with laughter and childish rhymes while all you wished to do was jump out of the car and end your misery. Oh, but you had no idea that the three weeks that awaited you made that night seem like nothing in comparison. Nothing you could do would prepare you for hell.

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louloubarnes-99 · 4 years ago

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Darcy the Librarian part 1

Darcy x Steve x Bucky nsfw (eventually! omg)

this is 7k 🥰✨

“Casey, I’ve read this sentence six times.”

Darcy pulled the earphones out and gave the younger woman her full attention. The poor thing was shrugging helplessly, her hand covering the mouthpiece of the landline receiver.

“It’s Ned, I’m sorry –”

Darcy took the phone, swapping seats with her, putting the phone to her ear as she tried to remedy the situation.

“Hello, Ned? It’s Darcy.”

The man on the other end was already yelling, sounding frustrated.

“Hello? Can I – Am I calling the foot doctor? Hello?”

“Ned! I don’t think you can hear me! It’s Darcy. Hello? Ned?”

“Darcy?”

“Yes, it’s Darcy,” she half-yelled, giving Casey a thumbs-up. “You’ve got an appointment with us tomorrow at 11. We’ll see you then!”

“Eleven?” Ned repeated. “Okay. I’ll see ya.”

Darcy hung up and she let out a low sigh, swapping seats with Casey again. She glanced at the clock, then at the screen in front of her. It was mid-morning at the podiatry clinic, both of the receptionists on duty running steadily through the routine. Darcy had been writing another letter to be sent out for auditing purposes, and if it was her working alone she’d be doing them in her sleep. She’d had plenty of dreams of her writing reports and doing work that was piling up and up. Today she was training Casey, reviewing what she’d already written, listening to the Dictaphone, her boss’ voice in her ear.

“Please confirm Ned’s appointment, Casey. The right-click, yeah…”

Casey sat back, giving a little smile when she was done. She was beginning to remember everything, and Darcy could remember that distinct relief. That Thank God something’s finally going right kind of feeling. She didn’t want to burst her bubble, but she found several errors in the letter Casey had typed out.

“No, it’s hyperkeratosis,” she said, picking up her pencil and crossing out the spelling mistake. She tried not to see Casey’s face fall. “And onychauxic.”

She handed it back to Casey, standing up.

“All good. Just fix those and we’ll send it off. I’m going on my break.”

She patted Casey’s shoulder and stepped away, walking down the corridor to the break room, seeing Patrick sitting at the table with his sandwich in his hands.

“Hey,” he mumbled, mouth full. “She doing okay?”

Darcy made a so-so movement with her hand. She hoped he’d keep that to himself, since Casey was his wife’s little cousin. Patrick was the podiatrist, and probably the best boss Darcy had ever had. He was at least one of the friendliest ones she’d had, pulling out the chair beside him for her to sit down with her yoghurt she retrieved from the fridge.

“She’s fine,” she amended, pulling up the chair as she sat down, the legs scraping across the linoleum. “You can tell Linda she’s doing a great job.”

Patrick gave a little chuckle, shaking his head. “I swear, I won’t bring another one like her in again, I like you too much.”

“Well, maybe not so much when I abandon you at 5.30.”

She was referring to what she’d already reminded him of twice that day. She needed to leave a little early tonight because Ian asked her to that morning when she jumped out of bed. Her boyfriend didn’t ask her to do that often, to come home early, unless it was a special occasion. She had already read into it enough to start thinking about engagement announcements. She didn’t want to call her mother but she knew she’d be the first one of her family to know. She hoped Ian didn’t cry too much, because Darcy knew she would when he got down on one knee. She always liked hearing how other people got together, even when people said “oh we met online”. She wanted to ask what exactly drew people to one another.

She took a spoonful of her yogurt and shoved it into her mouth, smirking at Patrick.

“How’d you and Linda meet?”

“Group of friends, mutual friends at a bar,” he murmured, looking away. He blinked. “Christ. I think about that time, all the uncertainty, and now…”

He’d been married several years. Darcy didn’t necessarily like Linda very much, since she was perpetually condescending and always acted like work was what kept Patrick from her, and therefore Darcy was in part to blame, but she thought Patrick seemed happy with her.

Also he’d paid for her boob job last year, not that they ever spoke about it, but Darcy more than noticed those things when she was at his fortieth birthday party last year.

“I feel like we’ve been married longer than we’ve known each other,” he murmured. “I know that doesn’t make sense.”

“I get it,” Darcy said, ducking her head, smiling. “Me and Ian met seven years ago, and I can’t remember life without him. I don’t remember how I used to feel. It’s so weird.”

Patrick nodded, finishing his next mouthful.

“I was a kid when I met him,” she added, rolling her eyes. “How’d you propose?”

“Didn’t really, sort of decided it together,” Patrick murmured. “I didn’t get down on one knee, it was after – uh…”

Darcy watched his face change, his cheeks flushing, and she began to chuckle.

“Yeah, we were both in a really good mood, you could say.”

“Right,” Darcy said, laughing. “Good to know.”

They lapsed into silence and Patrick nodded, chewing. He finished the rest of his food and balled up the plastic wrapping to throw away, checking his watch.

“I better get back.”

“Yeah,” Darcy said. “I’ll be right out.”

He paused at the sink after he washed his hands, drying them on the towel that hung over the oven handle.

“Hey, congratulations, when it does happen,” he said, and Darcy looked up.

He was smiling at her and she returned it, feeling a familiar warmth in her stomach.

“Thanks, Pat,” she murmured.

He left her there and she watched him leave. Unable to truly be professional, her eyes fell to his rear as he went out the door. He wore forty well. She knew his schedule, she knew what he ate for the most part, and she knew that he worked out. If she met him on the street, she’d think he was some kind of sports psychologist or physical therapist if he told her he was a doctor. His clientele was mostly elderly people, the majority of them diabetic, and feet was the last thing that came to mind where Patrick was concerned.

Darcy’s best friend Jane had the pleasure of meeting him once last year, grinning at him like she couldn’t stop herself, and ever since then he was Hot Doctor, or Hot Boss when she and Darcy spoke on the phone.

He was very handsome, and very kind to Darcy, considering how much shit she put him through for the first six months she was there. The office manager had quit, the archives were a mess, and Darcy wasn’t going to put up with it. She drew a line in the sand and fixed so much, and made sure it wouldn’t be so disorganized ever again. It had happened soon after she finished her library studies diploma, and she’d been hoping to use her new qualification somewhere else, but she still got to flex her diligent cataloging skills from time to time.

She returned to the front desk five minutes later, after sending Jane a text:

I think Ian is proposing tonight

She couldn’t keep the thrill from coursing through her, grabbing her bag from under the desk with her phone. She smiled at Casey.

The waiting room had an elderly couple waiting, the Needlers, who both rose their hands to wave goodbye to her as she slipped out down the corridor.

She stuck her head in Patrick’s office, seeing him throw out a plastic sheet, preparing for the next client. She knocked on the doorframe and he spun around.

“You’re gone?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I have my phone in case, y’know… something blows up. Or if Casey blows something up.”

“Have a good night,” he said, and she smiled. “I’ll have a beer in your honor.”

She laughed, turning away and walked out, her stomach flipping. On the drive over, she tried to keep herself calm, but she kept bopping along to the songs on the radio. She kept watching the people in the street. She saw a couple with their toddler in a stroller with a dog on a leash.

She could picture it. A few years ago she’d have rolled her eyes at such a suggestion – her, as a married woman with a kid? But now she’d settled into the podiatrist clinic, she could feel things were stable enough. It wasn’t so crazy. People fell in love all the time, and stayed together...

She pulled up at the apartment block, switching off the car, taking a few deep breaths. She got out and walked up, seeing kids playing in the street.

She paused in the hallway, taking out her deodorant to spritz as subtly as she could. It was August, and her A/C was still broken – she was saving up – and she didn’t want any memory of the proposal to be tainted by her body odor. She stuck the can back in her bag and unlocked the front door, stepping inside and looking around.

“Hi!”

She was tempted to yell out “honey, I’m home” but she was so excited she blurted out the first thing that came to mind, and Ian appeared a few seconds later, his hands in his pockets as she moved down the hallway.

She moved to kiss him on the cheek and he took out a hand, touching her arm.

“I got here as quick as possible. Patrick wasn’t too swamped, thank fuck…”

She gave a little laugh, taking his hand in hers, their fingers twining together. He walked with her in silence, until they reached the living room, and he promptly let her go, gesturing to the person sitting on the couch.

“Darcy, you remember Amy.”

Amy was a petite blonde woman, her hair so light it was almost white. She wore a pastel pink dress, looking like she’d come straight from a garden party. Darcy tried to place her and finally did – she was a friend of theirs through Ian’s sister. She flashed a wide smile, and Darcy watched as Ian moved to sit beside Amy.

“Hi,” Darcy said, shaking her head a little to right herself, trying not to feel the disappointment begin to settle in. She’d completely mistaken this occasion. It was unusual that he didn’t tell her it was Amy coming over. She felt like she’d be better prepared.

She froze as Ian’s hand slipped down to rest on Amy’s thigh, squeezing it.

“Could you sit down, Darce?”

“What’s going on?” she said, staring at his hand. She looked at Amy, seeing her smile falter.

Ian turned his head to look at Amy.

“Darling, could you get her a glass of water?”

Amy nodded, standing up. Darcy gaped after her. She knew where the glasses were in her apartment.

“I was hoping we’d talk about it like adults,” Ian said, his voice soft.

She snapped her eyes to meet his.

“I appreciate you getting here quickly tonight.”

Amy returned with a glass of water, handing it to Darcy. She held it, staring at Ian and Amy on the couch.

“Sit down.”

“I don’t want to take this sitting down,” Darcy blurted. “Whatever this is.”

“I’m moving out,” Ian said, his tone changing. He was edging toward defensive. “I thought it was better that way. I’m moving into Amy’s place.”

She woke up this morning with a completely different person. At least, it felt that way. Darcy could feel she’d gone into shock, unable to feel much at all as he went on in his English lilt.

“I’ll come by when you’re at work, to take my things. We started packing this afternoon.”

Darcy studied Amy’s hand resting in her lap, her nails squared off and clean.

“How long has this been happening?”

Ian stopped mid-sentence, something about an internet bill that Darcy had tuned out. He blinked, clearing his throat.

“Uh, I suppose about eighteen months.”

She let out a breath, looking down at the glass in her hand.

“Okay.”

“I know it’s hard to hear –”

“You don’t know how it feels to hear this,” Darcy said, looking up again, staring him down. “You have no idea.”

She hadn’t been cheated on before. She’d seen her mother go through it.

“Those trips, the ones to California?” she asked, looking at Amy.

The blonde nodded. “Yes.”

“Well,” Darcy murmured, finally putting the glass to her lips to drink, unblinking. “That makes sense.”

He had a West Coast franchise she knew nothing about. She let out a harsh little chuckle, only because it was the only other thing she could do instead of crying. She felt her eyes prickle.

“We’ll go,” Ian said, glancing at Amy.

In that moment, Darcy truly hated them both. She wasn’t sure who she’d attack first if there were no repercussions. Ian would be harder to overpower, since he had the reach of a basketball player. Attacking Amy would be satisfying if she managed to make her scream. She looked elf-like in her features, except for the ample cleavage she had partially hidden beneath her dress.

He was her type, then. Little and curved in all the right places. Except she seemed to be daintier than Darcy ever could be, moving off the couch gracefully, moving into the corridor.

Ian lingered, and Darcy clutched the glass a little tighter, glaring at him.

“Darcy, I know it’s not right –”

“It’s not,” Darcy bit out.

“- but I wanted to be honest.”

Why couldn’t he have broken up with her months ago, years ago? She thought of the last time they had sex and it had another dimension to it – he’d teared up at the time, and she thought he was in one of his rare overwhelmed moments. At the time, she’d comforted him, thinking he’d be embarrassed by being overcome with love.

He’d been crying because he felt guilty.

“So when you came inside me the other night –”

Ian’s eyes widened slightly and she hoped Amy heard every word.

“- you didn’t think that was the ideal time to be honest?”

“Darcy –”

“Whatever, you’re in love. You don’t want anyone to think you’re an asshole,” she muttered, scowling at him. “But are an asshole, Ian. You’re an asshole.”

He drew back, his jaw set. He let out a sigh.

“Fine, I’m gone.”

“Go,” she snapped, and she turned away, doing her best to suppress the sob that bubbled up.

When she heard the front door shut and she knew she was alone, she let out a gasp, the echoing quiet of the apartment haunting her. She put down the water and sunk to the floor, putting her face in her hands.

She spent the night looking back on seven years, wondering when he decided to betray her. She tried to think of a moment that was the catalyst. Was it when they moved in together? Eighteen months ago she was at the podiatrist clinic. Ian was working for the investment firm.

She remembered they told each other they were soulmates. She’d never been closer to someone in her entire life.

He’d hardly spoken to Amy the night they met her. It was his sister’s engagement party and she was a random stranger in the background, someone Darcy had never thought she should note. Ian was her person, and she was his.

Amy?

She hardly slept, crying and fuming, rolling around, so alone. She wanted a time machine. She wanted ignorance. She wanted to find the moment when he switched. She still wanted him, despite how confused and furious she felt.

How had she not seen this coming? Had he hinted at it, ever? Had he laid clues somewhere for her to find? She’d never suspected it. He was always such a dork, he had no ability to flirt with anyone but her in his clumsy, awkward way.

She dragged herself down to the clinic and opened up for the morning, feeling puffy-eyed and exhausted. She heard Patrick come in and walk up behind her like he did every day, and she thought of what to say, every option sounding so humiliating and stupid.

“Hi,” she murmured, unable to force the smile. “Your files are there for the morning.”

Her voice was rough and she cleared her throat. She kept her eyes on the screen, pulling up the emails. She began scrolling and heard Patrick pick up the stack of files.

“Bit of a rush today?”

“Yeah,” she replied, nodding. She was thankful that he wasn’t asking her anything personal. He sounded subdued.

She turned around, seeing him search her face and she smiled, a little one that didn’t reach her eyes.

“Ned Campbell will probably run late. His daughter’s meant to pick him up and she’s in Buffalo.”

“I’ll try to work around it,” Patrick replied, and he gave a little smile of his own. “Get yourself a coffee, okay?”

“Yeah, I’m on it,” she said, standing up fast, walking out before he could say anything else.

She covered her mouth as she waited for the coffee to pour through the machine. She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue when she returned to her desk, hearing the first clients come in.

“Shelly, hi,” she called to the little old lady. “You didn’t bring Buffy!”

Buffy was her dog. Shelly waved at Darcy, shaking her head.

“Too hot in the car. And on the pavement, too…”

“Right, that’s a good call,” Darcy said.

She was able to lapse into the role soon enough, except every half an hour or so she’d come back to the realization that last night was not a dream and she’d blink up at the ceiling. It was harder when Casey came in, fifteen minutes late, her smile dropping when she saw no ring on Darcy’s finger.

“Bummer,” she said. “I brought you prosecco.”

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that,” Darcy said, waving her off. “We… we broke up, actually.”

Casey’s eyes bulged and she scooted closer to Darcy, her mouth falling open.

“No! Why? What happened?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Darcy said, and she went back to the paperwork in the pile next to her, scanning the text. “We need to work on this letter together.”

She took her lunch break later than usual, but she wasn’t able to avoid Patrick, since Casey passed on the bad news. His eyes were trained on her as she slipped into the chair next to him.

“Are you alright, Darcy?” he asked, his voice quiet.

“I don’t need to go home,” she murmured.

She opened her yogurt and scooped some out, taking a mouthful. It tasted too sweet. In truth, she wanted a stiff drink, but this would have to do for now. She realized she hadn’t answered his question.

“I’ll be okay,” she added.

“Are you sure?” Patrick asked, and he looked toward the doorway. “We could manage, if you want to go…”

“I’ll stay,” she said, patting his hand on the table. “I might even stay back, there’s shit to do.”

Her cursing always made him smile at her and he didn’t disappoint. They ate in silence, until Darcy heard Casey calling for her, sounding out of sorts.

The rest of the afternoon flew by, and Darcy sent Casey home, telling her she’d do the end of day banking and paperwork. Casey gave her a little sympathetic hug that made Darcy want to shove her away, but instead she patted her shoulder twice before they drew apart.

“You know, if you need someone to talk to, I’m always here,” Casey whispered. “I’m the one all my girlfriends talk to.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks,” Darcy murmured, trying her best to grin and bear it.

Casey held up the little bottle of prosecco, enough for two drinks, handing it to Darcy.

“Thanks,” Darcy said again.

When she was finally alone she let her head fall onto the desk, hitting it there a couple times, sighing when she sat up again. She grabbed the prosecco, twisting it open and put it to her lips, taking a long gulp. She added up the cash in the till, taking sips from the little bottle, moving steadily through the work.

“Hey, Darce?”

Patrick was calling to her from down the corridor and she stopped midway through shutting down her computer.

“Yeah?”

He didn’t answer and she frowned, ducking down to grab her belongings, snatching her prosecco before trudging down the corridor, stepping into his office.

Patrick was sitting back in his chair, a beer open, his sleeves pushed down to his elbows. His eyes fell to Darcy’s bottle and he smirked.

“Glad to see I’m not the only one who can drink on the job,” he murmured.

“Yeah.”

She walked in, throwing her bag on the floor as she sat in the special chair, putting her bottle to her lips again. Technically, neither of them were working.

“How long will you stay back?” she asked, Patrick’s back to her once more as he opened his emails up again, scrolling down.

He gave a little shrug. “I dunno. Don’t really want to go.”

He clicked off, turning again, and Darcy watched him move closer, looking at her sneakers. She’d replaced her kitten heels with them, since no-one was meant to be impressed by her after 5PM, at least no clients.

She nodded, thinking of having to drag herself back to the empty apartment, to see the photos on the shelves and the two sets of everything all over the place. Ian had left his toothbrush in his hurry yesterday, and that morning she’d contemplated scrubbing the toilet bowl with it and not telling him.

“I don’t wanna go home,” she whispered.

Patrick got up and Darcy stared at him, sitting back in the chair as he moved toward her, his hand coming up…

“Darcy –”

“What’re you doing?” she cut in, and she felt his hand touching her face, tracing her cheekbone.

He’d never come this close to her before. She’d given him a hug before, like at his birthday party, but this felt like something beyond a platonic touch. He was watching her, licking his lips nervously.

“We could maybe – I thought, I-I…”

“Patrick,” she whispered, and he lowered his face to meet hers, pulling her into an embrace.

She felt his lips brush against her neck and she went still.

“Patrick. Pat. Honey –”

“God, I want you,” he breathed, and he drew back, searching her face. “I think you and Ian breaking up was a sign, for me to finally do something…”

“What are you talking about? Since when?” Darcy said, her eyes widening.

“Since always,” he said, and he kissed her, a peck on the lips.

Darcy’s face felt hot and she felt like she couldn’t breathe, her heart racing as he kissed her again, deeper, his tongue pressing into her mouth as he moaned.

“I love you,” he breathed, pulling back, and Darcy shook her head.

“You don’t love me,” she whispered.

“Yes, I do,” he said, and he kissed her neck, moving down.

Darcy kept still as his hand went under her skirt, reaching between her thighs, and she was pulled back the second his fingers brushed the seam of her, over the crotch of her underwear.

“I have to go,” she yelped, and she pushed him against his chest, stumbling off the chair and grabbing her bag from the floor.

“Darcy, can we talk about this?” he said, and she shook her head. He was sitting on the floor, reality catching up with him, too. “Oh, fuck…”

He passed a hand over his face and Darcy closed her eyes to steady herself.

“I won’t come in tomorrow,” she said, and he nodded.

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” he said, and she nodded, just trying to get out the door, inching toward it. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”

“Please don’t,” Darcy breathed, and she ducked out, feeling the blood rushing in her ears as she fled, the door slamming behind her.

She got to her car and slammed the door shut, breathing heavily as she tried to understand what the fuck had just happened. And she felt, beneath it all, that she was turned on.

“Oh, God,” she gasped, putting her face in her hands, letting her face rest on the steering wheel.

She tried to think of what to do, her mind going to that office, picturing racing back in and confronting Patrick by climbing on top of him and kissing him. The last 24 hours had been hell, and she might be lonely enough to do that – but she knew, not even deep down, that she’d hate herself for it. He was married, for fuck’s sake.

“Oh, God,” she said again with a groan.

She shoved the keys in the ignition and took off down the street, flipping through the channels on her radio until she found a song she knew.

She began to sob as she sat at the traffic lights, Angel Of The Morning unable to drown her out. A woman stared as she crossed the road, since Darcy made such a racket. She cranked up the speakers louder, her car shuddering with the bass.

She bought a frozen pizza and a giant family-sized Caesar salad, before stopping by the liquor store, where she grabbed two cold 40s and retreated to her apartment. She drank and ate while she watched Love Actually and cat videos, growing more miserable the drunker she got.

She fumbled for her phone the following morning, her head throbbing with the hangover headache she sustained, and she saw Jane was FaceTiming her as she squinted down blearily at her phone.

“Hey – what the fuck, what happened to you?”

“I guess the radio silence could, um, be a red flag,” Darcy mumbled, rubbing her eyes. She didn’t remember taking her makeup off, so there was a high chance that she was resembling a raccoon.

Jane looked good, the sun in her hair, her brow furrowed with concern.

“Uh, Ian left me. And my boss tried to hook up with me,” Darcy said, and Jane’s eyes bulged.

“Oh, Darcy. Darcy –”

“I don’t want the –” Darcy waved around, the movement a terrible idea in her condition. “- fuss. I’m fine. I drank too much last night, but I’ve got the day off.”

Thinking about having to make herself go back tomorrow had her filled with dread so sudden and shame-filled that she shut her eyes, groaning.

“You should get another job.”

“Yeah, probably,” she muttered. “But where? I don’t have any references.”

“Put me down.”

“I can’t keep doing that. I helped you out one summer. I need Patrick…”

Jane’s lips were pressed together in a thin, grim line. Darcy hated that she tended to only hear about her problems, never good news. She hoped she’d be telling her she was going to be her Maid of Honor. That hopeful, pleasant little world felt so far away. Darcy sighed.

“I’ll ask around. Some places are trying to hire new librarians for the new school year. They’re going back soon.”

“Right,” Darcy said, but she didn’t think much would come from it.

She was a qualified technician with limited experience. She didn’t know the right people, and she knew it was all about networking. She learned that far too late, which was how she ended up at Patrick’s office instead of in a library.

“Seriously, I’ll check for you. Ian left…?”

“He did, he went to stay with his girlfriend.”

“What?” Jane snapped, appalled. “Since when would he -? That fucking weasel –”

“It’s Amy, his sister’s friend. Go on Instagram, she’s got tits out to –”

Darcy gestured holding two heavy things in her hands, shrugging.

“Well, they’re out like mine…”

“You can’t stay there,” Jane said. “It’s full of Ian.”

Darcy picked up the remnants of her Old English 800 that sat by her bed and took a swig, making a face. She tried to remember last night and only could get snapshots of things.

“Darcy?”

“Yeah. Just – moving? A new job? I don’t wanna do that again…”

Jane went quiet and Darcy felt a wave of dread like yesterday, her eyes misting. She’d known Jane longer than she’d known Ian. She wondered if she’d be able to tell her what she was like before he came around.

“Darcy, it’s going to be okay.”

“Yeah, well,” Darcy whispered, her voice thin. “It’s gonna have to be.”

She nursed the hangover, cleaned up the mess of the leftover pizza, the empty salad carton, and the empty bottles. She did laundry, threw things into boxes, and tore up pictures.

By the late afternoon, she sent an email through to Casey, informing her that she was taking tomorrow off as well. She tried to not think about the clinic falling to pieces without her there.

She changed by the hour. She’d be destructive and throwing Ian’s belongings around, ripping up mementos while playing loud music through the TV, and then she’d be wracked with sobs and wishing he was there to hold her.

She looked at the classifieds and tried to find somewhere to go – she wasn’t sure how desperate the situation was when she didn’t have a job to go back to, not if she wasn’t going to show up again on Monday. It felt less likely with each hour that passed on that Friday.

She called up landlords the Saturday, feeling wretched, since the last time she didn’t have to do this alone. She’d had Ian, and the process was shared. She wished she had someone to bear that weight with her, but she knew she had no choice. She had a fleeting moment of clarity – she should move out and sleep in her car! Then she reeled at the thought of being that alone and vulnerable in the world.

She found a listing an hour away from her and took the plunge, calling the number. In the rush, she asked to see the place as soon as possible. The owner sounded friendly enough, maybe a little surprised that she was insisting on seeing the advertised piece of shit.

“How much is the bond?” Darcy asked, within a few minutes of being there.

The owner was a middle-aged woman named Maureen, who for whatever reason didn’t seem bothered by the stifling heat that was affecting Darcy. She was sweating through her shirt, dripping down her bare legs.

“It’ll be about eleven-hundred,” replied Maureen. She frowned. “Do you mind me asking what the rush is, hon?”

“I’m not fleeing, like, a bounty hunter or something,” Darcy said, and Maureen didn’t laugh. “I, uh, ended a relationship.”

She got a few texts that morning from Ian, asking when he could come over to get more of his things. She’d told him she’d be out for a few hours, when in truth she’d packed up most of her things when she could sleep last night and had shoved them all into her car, ready to escape the apartment as soon as possible. She’d even taken the key off of her chain and left it on the table.

“Can I move in today?”

“Sure,” Maureen said. “You got cash?”

“I can go get some.”

Darcy departed, came back ten minutes later and Maureen handed her the keys, giving her a shrewd look when she was done counting the notes Darcy laid in her unturned palm. She signed the tenancy agreement, handing it back to Maureen, waiting for the signal that everything was okay.

She rose her fingers to give Maureen a cautious peace sign, a little smile forming.

“Yeah? We good? Awesome.”

She only cried later that night, nursing her beer as she heard the echoes off life outside the walls.

She got a phone call on the Monday, when she’d been expecting Patrick chasing after her, only to find an unknown number on the display.

“Hello?” she said when she picked up, shifting to sit up on her elbows.

She’d slept on the floor in her sleeping bag. She hadn’t bought a mattress yet. She was close to asking for money from her mother, who had only been told the bare minimum about the breakup with Ian.

“Hi, am I speaking to Darcy Lewis?”

She didn’t recognize the voice. It wasn’t Patrick’s wife as far as she could discern, and she cleared her throat.

“Uh, yeah. This is she.”

“Great, I was wondering if you could come in for a meeting. My name is Maria Hill, I work at Sacred Heart –”

“I’m sorry?”

“Doctor Foster passed on your resume, and we’re hoping to find someone to help us with the library at our school. Is this a bad time?”

Darcy began to crawl out of the sleeping bag as fast as possible, looking around, before taking the phone away from her ear to see the time. It was after 10AM and she wondered if it was that obvious she’d been sleeping.

“This is a great time, Maria, thank you for calling me,” Darcy said, frantically snatching her bra from the floor, looking around for her pants. “I would love to meet.”

“Is today too soon, or -?”

“I can-I can do today,” Darcy said. “Whereabouts?”

Maria gave her the address and Darcy made a vague affirming sound, pretending she knew exactly where it was. She walked over to her laptop on the kitchen bench and flipped it open, Googling the name of the school as Maria confirmed a time.

“See you then.”

“Yes, I’m looking forward to it,” Darcy replied, promptly hanging up and scrolling through the search results.

A “rich tradition, with Christian values”, the website read. The children on the homepage wore navy and yellow uniforms.

“What the fuck,” Darcy muttered, making a face.

She pulled up at the school’s front parking lot, stepping out in her pencil skirt, hoping she hadn’t sweated through the sharp blazer she wore on top of her silk blouse.

She shoved her feet into her kitten heels and grabbed her handbag, looking around.

It was a quiet street, which was understandable for the time of year. No-one would be around, except maybe maintenance staff, and Darcy’s car was the only one parked there. She felt her phone buzz and she checked it, seeing Ian texting her back:

What the fuck????

He must have found her key, and the note that told him the lease was his problem to solve. She turned off her phone, shoving it back into her bag as she took a deep breath, walking up the front steps.

She knocked, trying to peer into the stained-glass window in the door. It was trying to see through a piece of boiled candy and she stood back, glancing over her shoulder. There was loud, distant banging sound that made her jump and Darcy went rigid, eyes wide.

The door burst open and she startled again, the sweat on her brow dripping down.

A woman with a short brown ponytail met her eye, offering her hand.

“Darcy?”

“Yeah,” she replied, taking her hand to shake. “Maria?”

“Yes,” she said. “You find everything okay?”

“Yeah, am I – can I park here?”

“You probably could get a spot in the teachers’ one around the back, but we use both during the summer anyway. Follow me.”

Darcy nodded, watching as Maria turned her back and walked inside. The front hallway was dimly lit, and Darcy was hit with the scent of paint and dust. She saw a large painting of Mary holding baby Jesus and tried not to react to it, her eyes swivelling over the walls as they walked down the hall into a larger corridor.

“Classrooms,” Maria said, gesturing. “Kindergarten down here and then first grade. I’ll take you in somewhere here…”

“I kinda heard a loud, uh, ruckus earlier?” Darcy said, and Maria glanced at her, her brow lifting, and she smirked.

“A ruckus?” she repeated.

“Was that not an appropriate word –?”

There was a second bang, much louder, unadulterated by the school’s walls. Darcy flinched, while Maria only glanced toward the sound, vaguely interested.

“That’s Mr. Barnes, he’s moving things around,” she murmured. She smirked again. “He’s the ruckus.”

She pushed open a door marked 1R and Darcy followed her. She was met with a couple dozen tiny desks, all of them lowered, with tiny chairs, sitting in a horseshoe shape. There were posters for the alphabet and numbers on the walls, along with a painting of Jesus above the clock, his eyes fixed on Darcy as she moved to copy Maria, who was grabbing a regular-sized chair from the front of the classroom.

“I was sent your resume at a pretty good time, all things considered,” she said, and Darcy nodded, looking away from spooky Jesus, only to see a photograph of the Pope waving at her on the whiteboard.

Maria didn’t seem to notice how distracted Darcy was.

“Our situation has changed a lot in the last semester, even in the last couple of months,” she said, placing her hands in her lap. “Our library is in dire need of organization, re-organization. We’d want our students to have a better library environment in this new school year.”

Darcy bit her lip.

“I’m – I’m a technician, I’m not a librarian,” she said. “I can’t teach.”

She wasn’t selling herself at all. She figured the unconventional style of this interview had thrown her off-balance. There was another distant bang but she didn’t jump that time, instead staring at Maria, waiting for her reply.

“We had needed to juggle our staff after our librarian left quite suddenly in May,” Maria said. “Other teachers are stepping up, but our collection is in dire need of help. From what I heard from your references –”

“Y-You spoke to Doctor -?”

“Yes, I spoke to Doctor Foster and Doctor Chandler,” Maria said, flipping open the file she had, showing what Darcy recognised as a copy of her resume. “They both said you were a remarkable young woman.”

Darcy’s brows lifted, especially since Doctor Chandler was Patrick.

“Really? What did the podiatrist say, specifically?”

“Basically that I’d be a moron if I didn’t hire you immediately,” Maria said, another smirk forming. She shut the file, glancing out the window. Her eyes swung back to meet Darcy’s. “I’m not the principal. I’m the deputy. To make a long story short, Miss Lewis, we’re in a pretty messy situation as a school. The kids are back in less than three weeks and the library looks like a pipe bomb went off in it.”

Darcy blinked. “Right.”

“I would be taking you on as a technician, not a teacher.”

“I don’t know if I’m… I didn’t apply for a job here, I don’t remember anything being advertised –”

“Your name popped up in my network,” Maria said, and she stood up suddenly.

There was another bang.

Darcy mirrored her, smoothing her skirt down, hoping she hadn’t left a sweat patch on the chair. Maria didn’t seem interested, instead moved to walk out, pausing when she took hold of the doorknob.

“I’m not going to sugar-coat it. It’s a big job, and you wouldn’t have a lot of time if you were aiming to finish it enough for kids to use the library on the first day back.”

Darcy nodded. “Right.”

“I have other people to see as well. We didn’t advertise for this role but word of mouth tends to work better than any recruiting website.”

Darcy nodded again. She didn’t think she’d get this job. A better qualified person, maybe a teacher librarian looking for a change, would get it. She departed from the classroom, slipping into the corridor. Maria took her hand and shook it.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll be heading toward that ruckus you heard earlier,” Maria said, and Darcy nodded, feeling her face flush.

“Good to meet you,” Darcy said.

She stopped walking and watched Maria walk down another hallway and out of sight, another bang ringing out in the distance, and then a couple yells. It sounded like Maria was investigating, muffled yells going back and forth, and Darcy gave a little sigh, adjusting her bag on her shoulder before she moved back the way they came through.

She stopped at the Mary painting, leaning forward to see the tiny brushstrokes on the blue gown she was swathed in, along with the tiniest text beneath.

Sister Siobhan O’Keefe, 1908

“Holy shit,” she whispered, stepping back. “Go Siobhan…”

She walked outside, the sun in her eyes, and she got in her car, putting her keys in the ignition. She turned them, but the car remained silent.

At that moment, another car pulled up, parking several spaces away from her, and she felt her cheeks flush again with embarrassment. Her car had been idling the other day when she was in traffic but she hadn’t taken any notice, of fucking course, because she was on her way home the day Ian told her about Amy.

Her battery was dead. She waited for the person in their car to get out, hearing their door shut. She tried again in vain, closing her eyes.

“Please…”

She couldn’t afford a tow truck. She gnawed at her lip, feeling the bullets of sweat glide down her back as she tried to shove down the growing anxiety. She had money for a bus ticket, at least…

She glanced over at the car and saw a man standing there wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, watching her.

“Fuck me,” she said under her breath, because he was cute as hell.

Blonde with blue eyes, muscular and tall like a football player. He frowned, signalling her to lower her window. Darcy shook her head hastily, opening her door.

“My battery’s dead,” she called, feeling like her face was on fire.

“I thought so,” he said, and she nodded, flashing an awkward smile.

He went to his trunk and held up a jumper cable and Darcy blinked.

“You want help? Unless you wanna call someone –”

“No, please, I mean, thank you –”

She motioned for him to come closer. He walked over, leaning down, and Darcy wiped some sweat from her face.

“I just – I was in there before, I don’t want – I mean, I already fucked up the job interview, I don’t want this to end in mortification.”

The man’s eyebrows lifted. “Really? Interview?”

“Yeah, you work here?”

“Yeah,” he said, and he gestured to her hand resting on the keys in the ignition. “One more time, see what happens.”

She tried again, but nothing happened. She let out a sigh.

“Yeah, I’ll need that jumper cable.”

“Just a sec,” he said, moving back.

Darcy watched as he moved the car closer until it was facing hers, and he slipped out again to pop the hood, which was when Darcy decided she needed to move out of the front seat and try to pretend she knew what was happening.

She’d only been in this situation once before with Ian and he took over. She’d taken that for granted, not knowing something as basic as this. She knew how to change a tyre, too, but she didn’t think it was something she should do, necessarily.

He seemed to be doing fine without her pretending to supervise him, and Darcy watched him attach the cables, moving back and forth between the two cars.

Her car sprang to life after he told her to give it another try, and she let out a laugh, so relieved.

“God, thank you so much,” she said, and he smiled at her.

“Anyone else woulda done it,” he said, and Darcy kept smiling.

She was fucking lucky he showed up when he did. He went to his trunk to get out a carton of books and rose a hand in a short wave.

“Thank you!” she called from her window, pulling her seatbelt on.

He walked up to the front door and disappeared inside as Darcy drove off.

#darcy lewis x steve rogers x bucky barnes #darcy lewis #steve rogers x reader #darcy lewis x steve rogers #darcy lewis x bucky barnes #wintershieldshock #fanfiction

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fictionalpeoplecompleteme · 4 years ago

Note

I’m a bisexual girl and I’m in love with Julie so I was wondering if maybe u could write one where the reader thought she was straight but slowly realizes she’s bi and in love with Julie, reader comes out to parents and when they don’t accept she runs to Julie and they kiss and it’s kinda angsty but then BAM fluff

Title: Valid

Request: Yes / No

Word Count: 3234 (!!)

Warnings: homophobia !!, probs not well written angst omg

(A/N): not me saying im back and not being back i hate myself. yall, there’s no schedule i just post whenever im like, active and thats a really bad habbit that i should NOT keep doing istg. also au where the band never died, but theyre never mentioned. anyways ty ty TY to the sweetie who asked for this ! i literally squealed when i read this request. not this being 3k words umm help

You had your moments. Those weird moments where you didn’t know what you were feeling, especially to the person you were feeling those emotions to. Like this one time where it was a normal day watching Disney Channel and eating pizza (basically living the dream) and then a new movie popped up. “Teen Beach Movie” was the film, and let me tell you, when you saw Butchy AND Lela wearing leather, let’s just say you were confused why felt his way for both of them... it wasn’t right.

No, of course it was right ! You had these feelings for both genders, and your feelings were valid, so why wasn’t it right? Well, it was a simple answer.

Your parents.

Of course, they didn’t down right say they hated the lgbtg+ community. Although they might as well have downright said that they did, because with the things they say,

“Why do they get a whole MONTH of pride?”

“Ugh, the gays are making it EVERYTHING about them.”

“Do they have to do that in public? Couldn’t they have waited until they got home?”

“Why would they put that in tv?! The kids are gonna watch that and think that they’re gay!”

Obviously you heard their views, and when you started to realize you somewhat fit in their hate demographic, you “decided” that you weren’t going to. And that’s how it has been for a long time.

RIIINNGG

Ugh, another school day.

“Kill me now.”

You got up your very comfortable bed, and did your daily routine. After you were finished with that and dinner, you were dropped off at the infamous Los Feliz High School. You were then greeted by your best friend, Octavia.

“Hey bestiee.” you joked.

“Hey rat.” Octavia said with the same energy.

“So, did you finally finish atla last night?” you asked.

“Of course! To have a chance to see my husbands is a chance I’ll always take. Even started watching tlok! Mako does looks scrumptious not gonna lie.” she said, doing that weird tucking her hair behind her ear and having a look of thirst on her face. Its the fact that she basically always does that for me.

“Not you finishing atla AND starting tlok the very same night. I don’t think that’s normal.” you said shaking your head.

“Lets just say that if I get diagnosed with insomnia, don’t be surprised.”

“I don’t think anyone would be.” you said while the both of you are putting your supplies in our locker.

“ANYWAYS, I’m sorry for you getting moved to Mr. G’s class. I know he can be very mean.” Octavia said sympathetically.

And it’s all true. Mr. G is basically known for being modern day Snape, favorites and all (especially to the popular kids). Considering you were fresh meat to his class, you were not looking forward to the inevitable insults.

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I can NOT stand the fact that I wasn’t even in his class in the first place, thinking I was safe, and then I got moved!” you yelled.

“I know, I know.” she said while putting her hands on your shoulder. “(y/n), if he even BREATHES in your direction, just tell me and I swear the next time I see him its on sight.” Octavia said with a very stern look on her face. “Honestly I can’t believe that the principle wouldn’t fire him, he has enough complaints for at least a suspension.”

“O, what would I do without you? And besides, don’t blame her. She genuinely tried to fire him. But I heard that he lawyered up to the point where he was basically untouchable.” you said.

“We lost.” “We truly did.”

Right after that conversation, the bell rang.

“Good luck (y/n)! I love you !!” said Octavia while going to her 1st period class.

“I love you too!” you yelled back.

Oh lord. Please please make this class bearable.

You walked to the door, and took a deep breath. As you went inside, not one second went by as you already got a taste of his scrutiny.

“Well well, if it isn’t the newbie! (y/n) (y/l/n). Just pick an empty seat as that’ll be the only way you’ll get someone to sit next to you.” he chuckled

You wanted to die right then and there.

And it got worse as the whole class seemed to find that insult funny, considering that they all laughed.

“O m gosh, Mr G. That was your best one yet!” said Carrie. Of course she had something to say. Not one situation where she kept her mouth shut and yelled her commentary to everyone in the room.

You shuffled your way to the back of the class, to find an empty seat next to this girl. She looked familiar, but not to the point where you knew her name. Though you wished you had. She looked quite.. pretty. With her amazing hair, and her beautiful eyes. Not to mention her face in general..

NO !

No. Of course you had these thoughts of her, she’s just naturally pretty, anyone would’ve thought that. You then put your backpack behind the seat and proceeded to sit down next to her. A few moments passed of you sitting next to the girl, until she said,

“Sorry about that. Mr G. can be very mean sometimes to everyone, -not that that’s okay!” she stuttered. “It’s just, don’t take it personally.”

“Er- thanks.”

“I’m Julie by the way! What’s your name?”

“I’m (y/n).”

“Nice you (y/n)! With each other, I promise you, we can get through his class.”

You smile at her. And Julie smiled back. of course she had to be nice too!

“Well Ms. (y/n), Ms. Molina, talking in my class? I’m not even mad, just surprised! Ms. (y/n) actually found someone to talk to!” said Mr. G.

Aaand of course, he has something to say again.

“I’m surprised she has anything to say at all, considering the amount of times you had already talked down to her. Just simply leave her alone.” said Julie with assert.

You were shocked to say the least. And it showed to, having a look of disbelief all over your face.

“Um, wel- uh, Ms. Molina, keep that mouth closed, if you don’t want to spend your lunch in detention.” said Mr G.

You were honestly very glad that she stood up for you in that moment. A little too glad, because in that time, the feelings started to flood in.

Of course, why wouldn’t it! She was just simply nice to you and you had already developed whole feelings for her! But was it exactly bad? Sure, your parents deemed that it already was, but that didn’t mean that you had to. This is who you were, a human being with valid feelings, and there was nothing wrong with that. So with this whole situation, you said with a big smile,

“Thank you.”

Hey, you never said you were good at speaking with other people. But I don’t think it mattered to Julie, because she had returned your smile, and in that moment you realized you can find yourself deeper in love.

The two of you really had bonded during class time. Sure, you can say that you both flirted but you were never really good at figuring that out, even when you were flirting with boys (it had always been Octavia’s job to figure that out.) But considering the things she said to you.

“I love your hair!”

“You have very nice hands.”

“Your eyes are a beautiful shade of (y/e/c).”

After class, you both knew that you liked, liked each other. But that's where the hard part came in, actually confessing. To be totally honest, you could barely manage confessing to a boy, imagine with Julie? Although you were happy to know that Julie had already thought about this, because when you both walked out the door, she took your hand and guided you to the music room, where the both of you were alone.

Both of you were facing each other. You could tell she was nervous, cause she was playing with her hands, and didn’t seem to try to make eye contact with you.

“(y/n), I know we just met this class,” she said, both chuckling, “but would you like to get coffee with me sometime?”

Oh boy, she actually asked you out! Don’t get you wrong, you were happy! In spite the fact that you had your parents to worry about. So with that, knowing all that was at risk, you still said with full confidence,

“I would love to.”

Julie gave you the biggest smile you had yet to see. She moved a strand of hair out of your face and then proceeded to hold your hands.

“It’s a date! How about at 4 after school?” she said.

“The perfect time.”

After exchanging numbers, you both felt ecstatic, the both of you just left the room with the biggest grin. You couldn’t believe that you had gotten a date with Julie! Now I know that you’re gonna say that you should’ve told Julie about your situation with your parents, but she looked so happy that you couldn’t possibly have ruined the moment with that.

After that amazing moment, you had managed to spot Octavia in the hallway. You walked up to her like you normally would, though this time you had a scared expression. You had never come out before. Though you thought the possibility of keeping this from your parents, this wasn’t something you could keep from her. So walking up to her, you just blurted out the truth, without a second thought.

“Hey! How was Mr-.”

“I’m bi!”

She seemed stunned after a second, but only a second as she bursted out laughing out of nowhere.

“Um-”

“Oh my gosh, the way that was the way you came out to me! It’s the disorganization for me.” said Octavia, while wiping her tears away.

“Wait-, you don’t care?” you asked confused.

“Do you want me to be bothered or something?” she asked in a more sarcastic tone.

“Well no- it's just- I don’t know, I was just scared I guess.”

“Listen,” she said sternly while again putting her hands on your shoulders as a way to comfort you. “I will love you no matter who you love. Understand?”

“And I you. The problem is my parents. I know what they think of people like me, and it’s not good. How am I going to survive this ughh.”

“They’re your parents, I’m sure it’ll be a shock to them, but if they truly love you, they’ll accept you.”

“Thank you Octavia, what will do without you?”

“Hey, that’s what I’m here for.”

After you finally finished your classes, you nervously went to the front of the school to wait for your mom to pick you up. You felt so nauseous, to the point where you were sure that you were going to throw up right there. After waiting for 5 minutes, your mom pulled up. You got in the car and you felt so nervous that you were just silent the whole car ride. Your mom for sure took notice.

“Hey sweetie, you’re alright?” said your mom.

“Yeah, I just don’t feel so well.”

“Oh, are you alright? Did you eat something bad maybe?”

“Yeah, probably something during lunch.”

And after that the conversation fully stopped as your mom noticed you were not in the mood to talk.

You finally got home and you felt even worse than before. You dreaded this moment, and just felt like passing out. As you got inside, you quickly went inside your room, not bothering to say hi to your dad. You put your stuff on the ground and just started to really think about this.

They’re my parents! Like Octavia said, they should still accept me, I’m their child. And if they don’t? They have to, right?

Right?

You finally built up the courage to go outside your room and go to the kitchen, where both of you parents were.

“Mom, dad? I need to tell you something.” you said, basically shaking.

“Sure, what is it sweetie?” said your dad.

And without a second thought, you just blurt it out?

“I’m bi!”

It was dead silent. And that scared you.

The part that truly scared you? Hearing the words that you had been dreading to hear.

“You’re pranking me, right?” you dad chuckled, as if it was a joke.

That’s when you started to get a little irritated. You knew how your parents were, so this reaction was inevitable. So considering all the preparation, you still got mad.

“Why would this be a prank?!” you said with an “attitude” (that’s what your parents would say at least, although you were just simply defending yourself).

“Honey, as much I love you, this isn’t natural.” said your mother with a normal tone, which you could argue was just as scary as an angry tone.

“If you actually loved me, you would accept me as I am!” you said, starting to actually get aggrieved.

“Don’t yell at your mother like that!” said your father, who actually stood up from his chair.

“I wouldn’t need to be yelling, if you would actually accept me for who I am, not all this!”

“LISTEN, I’m sure this is just a phase. You either change your ways or you are no longer considered my daughter! No daughter of mine would feel such a disgusting thing!” your father yelled.

That’s when you lost it, you knew that no matter what you did, they would never change their way. That’s why you just let it out, because they would never change their way, so why not just let it all out?

“You know what?! I’m going to leave! I rather be homeless than to live in a house with you two! My two parents who don’t even accept me, WHO DON’T MAKE ME FEEL LOVED OR VALIDATED!” you yelled.

At that point you were shaking and crying. With the anger that you were feeling inside you didn’t even think to get any clothes or basic necessities, you just grabbed your phone and just ran out with your parents yelling your name. But you didn’t care, you were not going back there, that’s for sure.

After that horrible fight, you went to a park that was near your house. You went inside a private bathroom that was thankfully unoccupied, cause if it wasn’t, you were pretty sure that you would’ve broken down right then and there. Once you had gone in there, you surprisingly didn’t cry. You just held it in, and really thought about your situation. You realized that it was pretty stupid of you that you didn’t get your belongings and then left the house. Oh! And that you were pretty much homeless.

After a good thinking session, you did the most sensical thing you could do in that situation.

You called Julie.

Now I know what you’re thinking! ‘Why Julie, why didn’t you call Octavia instead?’. Well it was pretty simple, you just desperately wanted to see Julie. You pressed on her contact, not really knowing what was coming with it. What if she thought you were weird? What if she laughed at you? What if she felt weirded out with you and then blocked your number? What if-

“Hello?”

“Julie?” You sounded pretty distraught, so it wasn’t surprising when she sounded concerned herself once she heard your voice.

“Hey, is everything alright?”

“Julie, this might sound really weird, but something really bad happened and you were the only person I could think to call! If you’re busy I’m sorry I won’t-”

“Hey! I’m sure everything’s going to be fine. Where are you?”

You took a deep breath, you were just thankful she didn’t block you right then and there. “I’m at the park in (street name).”

“Okay, just stay right there and I’ll come and get you.”

When the call ended, you walked out of the bathroom and sat on swings, waiting for Julie. After you waited, for what seemed an eternity, you saw her.

Julie.

She spotted you in the swings, and gave you the sweetest smile. She walked closer to you and stretched out her hands, which you took. After just staring at each other, she gave you the biggest hug, which (not gonna lie) you just really needed. Much to your disappointment, she let go of you, she swung an arm around you, and started walking to her house. The both of you didn’t say anything, but you guys didn’t need to, the peaceful silence was nice.

The both of you then arrived at her house. That’s when you started to panic, you weren’t looking forward to bother her family.

“Are you sure we can go in the house?” you asked

She gave you a chuckle, “I think we can go to my house.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to bother any-”

“Hey.” She proceeded to grab your hands and then moved to cup your face. “Everything’s going to be okay, my dad and brother aren’t home, and even if they were, you would absolutely be greeted with open arms.” she said,

You both went inside the house and then inside Julie’s room. She motioned to sit on her bed and you did. She sat next to you and then held your hand, intertwining with each other.

“It’s okay, you can talk to me.”

You took a deep breath, and just let all your feelings out. “It’s just my parents were never really supporting of the lgbtq community, so it was stupid of me to actually think they would have any other different reaction. And the fact that they would react like that? To say such cruel things? I just..- I don’t know, is it wrong for me to feel bad?”

“They’re your family, of course you would have this sensation of feeling bad. But I just want you to know that they’re in the wrong, not you. Any sane person would think that, everyone just wants to be accepted. Just know this,” she said while leaning closer, your hands still intertwined. “you are valid, so many people love you no matter who you love.” she said while moving a strand of hair out of your face.

You continued to smile, but looked into Julie’s eyes with so much adore. And the best part was, she was looking at you the exact same way.

Without a second thought, you decided to just go for it. You kissed her. The kiss was passionate, and sweet. Julie then gave soft kisses to you cheeks and knuckles, murmuring comforting words such as “it’s okay” “you’re alright” “i’m here”.

After pulling away you both looked at each other, and then you offered your favorite pastime.

“Can we go to sleep? I just wanna sleep the stress away.”

Julie chuckled and then agreed. You both got into a position of Julie laying down while your head rested on her chess, and her holding you. While you were half asleep, you said those three words,

“I love you.”

You were half asleep, so you didn’t understand the severity of the action, but before you fully drifted, you heard these words coming out of her mouth.

“I love you too.”

Taglist (link in bio!)

@noncannonships @mandiscadelinha @yoyokzzz @twist3dtinkerbell

#julie and the phantoms #jatp #julie molina #julie molina x reader #julie molina x oc #julie molina imagine #netflix #jatp imagine

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of-faunsandyellowflowers · 4 years ago

Text

Tw: long fucking post.

Sorry to keep bringing up autism but

Man..... and you dont have to read this. That's fine. I dont have anyone in my life to talk to about this so, tumblr is my space to vent 🤷‍♀️

I know I've lived with this since I was a kid, but just reading more, learning more....I finally understand why I do things the way I do. Newly diagnosed autism reaaallllyyyy was like an aha moment for me lol. And it's not just my PTSD, anxiety or anything like that...its just how my brain is. I'm starting to realize when stuff happens and why....

Yesterday, I was doing ok. I went to the store (I have a routine of going nearly at the exact same time every day) because I needed some groceries. Some days I have to have headphones because of loud noise. I hate going into regular check out lanes cuz I dont like when ppl ask me stuff. I freeze. Sometimes I'll make an odd comment that the cashier will just find odd.

Anyway, I got home and all of a sudden everything was just brighter than it usually is, louder than it usually is and nothing could block it out. I was really itchy, and could barely move. I've already got a hard time even attempting to tune shit out, I HEAR everything, SMELL everything....etc. But, when you get into meltdown mode....everything is worse.

Then I couldn't talk. My dad kept saying something to me, and I tried to open my mouth to speak but I couldnt. I put my headphones on because if I have music playing normally I can somewhat calm down and cant hear anything else but that...and it's nice to only hear one thing. This happens so often and what I once thought was just a panic attack....its not. My panic attacks arent like that.

I went upstairs....and that's when my normal 'coping' kicked in. I've just learned that my habits of 'comfort' are in fact stimming.

The things I tend to do mostly without noticing I'm doing it, some more so with meltdowns:

Blink rapidly

Twitch my nose rapidly

Move my foot up and down like I'm rocking my knee

Pick out my hair in search for these little curly hairs that grow on my head obsessively

Feel the softness of my foot from my other foot and repeatedly petting my foot with my other foot

Pet soft things

Pace. Alot.

Sway. Rock back and forth. Especially in lines.

Color by number books.....I get obsessed over them

Twiddle my thumbs, fingers,

Obsessively scratch parts of my skin

Staring, especially at walls while rocking

Biting the skin around my fingernails, or clipping the skin with fingernail clippers

Repeatedly cussing or speaking to myself

Whistle

I remember as a kid, doing all these things, in response to too much stimulation, or change in things.

I CONSTANTLY had meltdowns, shutdowns, and full on rage as a kid and would have meltdowns often. I dont have them as much now...but they are there.

Shut downs after really any social exchange for longer than a certain amount of time. I can no longer speak even if I tried.

Refusal to eat certain foods because the texture was bad, and eating the same foods over and over again, every day for months.

Loud abrupt noises????? I think the fuck NOT

Being touched. At all. Especially without my permission. I hate hugs.

Having attachments to more animals than ppl, and learning about said animals to an 'obssessive' degree.

Cant wear clothes with tags, or things that arent soft because my skin is so sensitive and it's too much (that's also to do with my fibromyalgia but it's just gotten worse since fibro)

I like to call my brain the monkey brain. It never fucking shuts up. Ever. It just swings from one thought to the next.

Do you ever go to work and actively dont go to the parties or speak to anyone st work because you know if you do you'll spout out something that no one really needed to hear? I stay away from people in life because of that. Or because they will be too loud, and I'd rather just go home and read.

Telling people things they had no desire to learn and being blunt about it is a specialty of mine that I dont seem to realize upsets ppl until they actively tell me they are upset.

Not being able to know what someones feeling unless I empathetically tune into it

Cracking jokes at inappropriate times. Laughing at inappropriate times.

Always noticing details of things and making analysis of why those things are there and trying to understand the context of it

Seeing patterns in EVERYTHING.

thinking any human on the planet who is nice to me MUST like me more than friends because that's what ppl do when they like you from what I was taught

Terrible at body language, many facial expressions, cant grasp any hints on someones intentions unless they tell me

Being told I have RBF because I dont show a lot of emotions

Told I'm extra sensitive and weird ALL the time.

Cant keep a lot of friends for too long because they find me weird

The only thing I know how to talk about is myself, or things that I'm interested in/anger me/make me feel a certain way. I also cant relate to experiences unless I myself have had it happen...

Forgetting things all the god damn time and not knowing where to put things because if I put something somewhere I'll 1. Forget about it and 2. It's not in the right 'spot' and needs to be 'perfect'. I'm a disorganized mess and if anyone helps me I freak out because I dont eant my things touched, everything has to be done a certain way.

Special interests that I'm so obsessed with....like baking, archeology, history...

I know I'm forgetting more things....just learning that this is me. This is my life, this is how I've always thought, and that's ok.

I may be the sensitive, weird, over the top person that no one 'understands'..but this is me.

I'm autistic, and that's what makes me special in a neurotypical world.

#actuallyautistic #autism #autistic #vent post #neurodiverse #stimming #actually autistic #sensory overload #spectrum #tactile stimming #audio stimming #visual stimming #movement stimming

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argylemikewheeler · 5 years ago

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|| i saw this post and just had the idea of will freaking out at mike for being tall-- but of course that’s not really what it’s about. just something short and sweet (literally) for you || ao3

It’s in the grocery store that Will just snaps at him. Will’s going shopping for his mom after school. It’s no big thing; Will enjoys the time alone. Except of course, it’s the last day before spring break and Mike’s skipped the last day of school and driven up to see him. Mike’s an extra set of hands to help brings bags into the house, and he’s not too bad of a driver to man the cart.

When Mike pulls up to the house-- just as Will’s grabbing his bag and getting to Jonathan’s car-- he looks so different. His hair is just a little shorter-- cropped and kept, just how Ted likes it, but with Karen’s kind influence of letting him be, Ted, come on. The main thing, at least to Will, is that he’s taller. The man is taller. Will feels his neck crack as he tilts back, just a little. He didn’t shrink, but when Mike runs up to him, he swears he did.

When Will is silent and stares at him for a while, Mike replies that he’s six-foot-two. Which is fine. It’s fine. It’s just that Will is five-foot-six still. But whatever. It’s fine.

Will kind of forgets about it-- forgets about how his new friends call him small. not short but small; how his new doctor is worried he’s stunted from all his “medical trauma” and is trying to talk his mother into having him take steroids; how he secretly likes being the same height because he knows his mom can’t afford buying both him and El new clothes; how he hates that the first thing people notice between him and Mike isn’t even that they’re two men since Will’s short enough to match people’s perception of what “normal” couples look like. Will just forgets about it. And for a while it’s nice.

Mike doesn’t know jack shit about vegetables and Will teaches him how to pick fruit that is just the right amount of unripe so it will last longer in the fridge. Mike pushes the cart and nods, at least pretending he’s enjoying the lesson. It’s 1988 and Mike places his hand on Will’s back when he stands and stares at the wall of soup cans, trying to read prices and brands quickly. It’s 1988 and Will doesn’t even watch how he says “Michael”. It’s a nice outing until they get to the cereal aisle.

It is nearly cleaned out, all the extra boxes up on the top shelf in disorganized storage stacks. Will groans and steps up onto the bottom shelf, his hand straining as he feels around for a box of something. His ribs are pressed to the middle shelf and he tries to keep from swearing. There’s an older lady with two young kids that’s been watching them since they arrived in the aisle-- Mike’s hand gently finding Will’s-- and Will doesn’t want to give her any ammunition to start shouting.

“Would you like some help, Will?” Mike laughs and grabs him under the arms. He hoists Will nearly like he’s weightless, helping him step down to the floor again.

Will sighs. “Yes.”

“What do you want?” Before Will can answer, Mike is sliding box after box down and placing them on the shelves in front of Will’s eye line. “I’ve got ‘em all.”

“I just needed the Cheerios, thanks.” Will grumbles, taking the box and tossing it into the cart. He pushes the cart and they leave the woman’s stare. He feels tense all over again. He forgets to keep forgetting about it-- about everything-- for a moment.

“How do you do this without me.” Mike is simply trying to tease him-- be verbally affectionate when his hands can only jostle his shoulders. “I need to think about moving up here you don’t have to struggle every time you just want to buy something--”

“Shut up, Mike.”

“W--What? What did I say? Was it that you’re short? Because... Will, we know this. It’s my favorite thing about you, you know that.”

“I don’t really want to hear it right now.” Will isn’t aware he’s clenching his teeth until he hears himself speak. “Being small is kind of not my favorite.”

“Oh, but-- It’s fun! You fit right under my arm and you don’t really need to steal as much of the blankets when we sleep--”

“Mike.” Will tries to drop out from under Mike’s arm: he placed it around his shoulders to demonstrate his point. Will is suddenly very aware that they’re two men, even if from every other angle no one seems to notice because he’s... a full eight inches shorter than Mike. It doesn’t feel great to be able to excuse homophobia because he’s as short as a girl. “Mike, please shut up.”

“What?” He’s sincere, but he’s still very confused. He still thinks it’s about being short. He doesn’t move his arm. “OH, well, actually I do hate the whole you-get-to-steal-my-clothes-thing. But if those are the reparations--”

“Would you just shut up, Tall Boy!” Will snaps, twisting around to face Mike. They’re in the middle of the baby section, where no one would be likely to stumble into them.

“T-Tall Boy?” Mike laughs, but he’s still trying to figure out that Will’s genuinely upset. “I-- What? What happened? Did I say something?”

“Yes! Stop talking about how short I am. I hate it.” Will doesn’t know why but he chokes up a little. He pretends he needs to be looking at plastic sippy cups. They look so out of place when the older lady and her children come strolling past. “I hate remembering I’m short.”

“Remembering.” Mike repeats. “Do you... forget?”

“El grew four inches in like... two months.”

“Okay...”

“Mom had to buy her new skirts and jeans because they got too short, too fast. It was the middle of winter and her ankles were so chapped-- She worked another two shift to pay for it.” Will’s breathing is choppy and it’s so stupid. Mike is silent, but because he’s listening, which is still weird for Will to think about.

“Okay. So short is good. You’ve got all your clothes and you’ve got all mine if you need it. And I’m sure Steve’s got more stuff that’s up your alley. It’s okay. Will, it’s okay. I won’t let you go cold.” Mike places his hands on Will’s shoulders, his thumbs brush against his neck.

“They say I’m small at school.” Will pushes through. “Small. You know what else is small? Babies are small. Mistakes are small. OH and you know what is usually small? Girls. Girls are small-- except my sister. Who’s giant--”

“She’s only like... five-nine.”

“Mike.”

“Sorry, literal perspective I see is not the point here.” He nods. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s just-- People don’t think you’re gay sometimes.” Will realizes this doesn’t make sense to anyone but him.

“Uh. That’s... I’m not sure that’s our fault.”

“Well, see, it’s my fault. From a distance, I look like your girlfriend. Not a very, short short man.”

“Well, that’s not your fault. People are blind and weird and straight. That’s not-- You’re not a girl, Will. You definitely aren’t a girl nor look like one or act like one or-- You just aren’t. Being short is not a fault!”

Will sighs and leans into Mike’s hand. “You’re supposed to say that. You’re my boyfriend.”

“I could complain-- would you like me to?” Mike says with a smile. His eyebrows are still furrowed though: he’s upset. “I hate that you can fit comfortably on any bed we share. I hate that... You sometimes can buy kids’ shirts? Because they’re always cooler. Like, you have one you bought as a painting smock that has a freakin shark on it and I gotta say... Men’s clothes, not as cool! I’m less cool as my art school boyfriend because I got tall too quick. Dude, that sucks. I want to be cool like you!”

Will is definitely crying, but he doesn’t acknowledge it. He laughs and smiles. He hopes it makes up for his sniffling. “You think I’m cool?”

“Yeah! My cool, short boyfriend. He’s awesome and he’s super nice because he... worries about the socio-political meaning of him being short. Like. He’s so smart. So smart.”

“He’s the only one who knows what the hell a mango is in your relationship.” Will says, wiping his eyes.

“Yeah! Concentrated intelligence!” Mike reaches for Will’s underarms again. He catches Will’s smile before jokingly hoisting him an inch off the ground. “He’s better because of-- everything, but right now let’s say it’s because he’s not a six-foot-two monster who hits his head on every door frame in his house.”

“Oh my god-- is that what that bump is from?” Will hiccups, laughter nearly scaring him. “Oh, Michael, you poor.... tall thing.”

They laugh in the baby aisle until Will’s face is less red and puffy. As they walk, Mike makes jokes about the weird names of food brands. He offers to get Will things on all shelves, just being a helpful partner rather than a shopping giraffe. He repeats Will’s name every time he speaks to him and someone is in earshot. Will smiles and each time calls him a sappier and sweeter version of “Michael”. Will finishes shopping and feels rather accomplished as they pack the car up.

He forgets about everything again for a while. Everything but Mike. Well, Mike, but more importantly how he makes him feel: so happy, so listened to, so short. And it’s all okay. It’s nothing. Just one small thing in a short life full of so many wonderful, loving things.

#byeler #byler #mike wheeler x will byers #stranger things writing #this could have a trans reading bc ya know *i* wrote this but like take it however you want #just something i wrote during my essay break #prompts

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gingerpeachtae · 5 years ago

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Concentric [15]

masterlist

Words: 13.3k 😅

Genres: fantasy!AU, angst, fluff, enemies to lovers, eventual smut (?)

Warnings: some brief smexi and violent blurbs (death)

Summary: You had been ready for the end of the semester. You had been ready to spend time away from your best friend, Jimin, and finally move on from the feelings you harbored. Yet, after your friend was forced to reveal a secret, you found yourself in a new world that was chock full of magic, war, and wonder. So, here you were, basically thrown into your own fantasy novel, with your best friend on one side, and six male warriors on the other.

A/N: I would like to thank the song Different by Woodz for helping me power through this long ass update. Thank you everyone for waiting so patiently!!! Engoy! 💙

“You need to raise your elbow.”

Arms straining against the draw-weight, you struggled a bit to comply, but you managed to lift your elbow just an inch higher.

“Okay, better, but now you’re leaning forward.” Jungkook critiqued as he peered at you.

Sighing, you relaxed your draw and allowed your arms to drop. Holding your bow in one hand and the arrow in the other, you began to shake your limbs out and roll your shoulders; trying to loosen up and get rid of the tension in your body. Though it was a little difficult to accomplish when a certain someone was right there.

Does he have to stand so close?

“Try again.”

Think about the target, not him.

Nodding, you nocked the arrow before inhaling and raising your bow. Breathing slowly and steadily, you took aim and waited for Jungkook’s assessment. Though as you waited, you did your best to ignore his distracting presence. You focused your eyes on the target carved in to the tree. Not the simultaneously cute, hot, and concentrated look on his handsome face. You listened to the chatter of birds and the whoosh of wind through the leaves. Not the song he hummed in an alluring voice as he inspected your form and circled around to your back. You breathed in the fragrance of damp earth and soggy wood caused by last night’s rain. Not the intoxicating and comforting scent of steel and florets that followed his body like candle smoke

Nope, definitely not focusing on any of those.

A warm touch under your elbow made you flinch.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He murmured as he adjusted your arm to his liking. “There. Much better.”

You swallowed hard and let him manipulate you as he pleased. You weren’t even paying attention to the way he maneuvered your form. All you could think of was that he was right behind you.

Right.

Behind.

You.

Oh my-fuck-okay. This is fine. Everything’s fine.

He moved his other hand down to your tummy, stepping closer to you to balance himself as he did so. Pressing against your belly slightly, he forced your spine to straighten. The action caused your back to brush against his chest and your lungs to harshly suck in air.

“Keep your posture or your back will hate you.”

This is not fine. This is not fine. Holy fuck. Everything is most definitely not fine!

The early morning chill in your bones began evaporating as his body heat enveloped you, but despite the warmth now flowing into you, goosebumps started to develop along your skin. Originating at the source of his contact, you felt them follow the tingles surging through you and you shivered at their sensations. Overwhelmed by his proximity, you didn’t know what to do. Your entire body was frozen. Your entire self was burning.

“You good? You just stiffened all of the sudden.” Jungkook noted as he felt your body tense beneath his hands.

Your eyes widened and you thanked the gods of Illain that he couldn’t see them expand in panic. Hastily, you released the bowstring and the arrow thumped into the tree just shy of the center of the target. As soon as the arrow hit, you stepped forward and away from Jungkook. Immediately, you missed his warmth. At the same time, you felt like you could breathe again.

Pivoting to face the male, you saw him smiling proudly at your shot.

“I’m good. Totally good. Fantastic you could say, as you can see.” You gestured to the arrow before bringing your hand to rub up and down the arm that held the bow.

Jungkook’s smile morphed int a smirk as he turned his eyes to you and crossed his arms. “I wouldn’t say fantastic… but it’s pretty great, I’ll give you that.”

You felt the corner of your mouth upturn slightly at his praise and you looked down to hide the delicate grin.

You heard him chuckle lightly. “Let’s do it again.”

Only if you help agai-wait no. NO. No closeness. No touchy. Get some distance.

Lifting your head to look at him, you didn’t make any moves to step forward as you raked your brain for alternative things to do. Your obvious hesitation made him raise an eyebrow at you. Pursing your lips, you shifted your gaze to the tress beside him as you pleaded with your chickpea brain to come up with something. Anything. But when you still didn’t move or say a word, his eyes narrowed, and he took a step toward you.

As he advanced, you lurched backward; desperate to keep space between you as you suddenly exclaimed, “Meditation!”

Jungkook stopped and looked at you in both a curious and confused manner. “Medi…tation…?”

“Oh, uh… yes! Meditation!” You rapidly nodded and went ahead and sat on the ground. “I feel a little disorganized today mentally, so I think it would be more beneficial.”

Not to mention it’ll keep you away because you’re the reason my mind is a fucking mess.

“O-Okay?” He blinked at your strange behavior.

“Great!” You laid back and rested your hands on your stomach while closing your eyes. “Now sit your ass down and don’t move and don’t say anything.”

You heard him huff and move before plopping down. Of course, right next to you.

Can he not!? Ugh, okay, whatever. Just focus on your breathing and ignore him.

It seemed like several minutes went by of trying to imagine a lotus flower expanding and collapsing in your mind to time your breaths to. Those minutes, which in actuality were probably only mere seconds, were constantly interrupted by the feeling of being watched. It started weighing down on you, making it damn near impossible to conjure that imaginary lotus flower.

A few more minutes seconds went by, and that feeling grew heavier and heavier. Finally, you opened your lids ever so slightly and peeked a Jungkook.

Who was staring straight at you with soft, peridot eyes.

Spasming internally, you sat up and smacked his arm, which startled him. “Meditating doesn’t mean watching me like a creeper!”

He just laughed and shrugged as he made a remark about how he couldn’t help himself. Apparently, you had just looked too adorable all relaxed and breathing slowly while your body occasionally twitched.

All the air in your lungs magically vanished as your jaw dropped.

A-Adorable? Why does he have to say stuff like that!?

His smile doubled at your dumbfounded and shocked appearance. “You going to continue…?”

Cute smile. Cute face. I wanna smoosh in my hands. I wanna-okay, nope nope nope. This isn’t working. Time to abort.

“You know what? I feel way better already. I feel so organized. Like I got shelves in my head type of organized and-” You gasped, though it was a little too aggressive to possibly sound legit and scrambled to your feet. “Oh my goodness, I just remembered I promised Tae I’d help him catch a… a duck! I promised him I’d help catch a duck this morning. So, um, I gotta leave… to go catch a… duck…”

Bending down, you quickly snatched up your bow as a baffled, yet intrigued, Jungkook probed, “Why does Tae want a duck?”

“Uh… he, uh, said he wanted it for dinner and Jin said he’d cook it fi he got one?”

You jogged over to where your quiver was resting against the base of a tree and picked it up by the strap. You stilled briefly as you realized almost a third of your arrows were implanted in various trees, but you ultimately decided you didn’t necessarily need them.

“Duck is pretty tasty…” Jungkook muttered to himself before snapping back to attention. “Hey, wait, we aren’t done with training yet!”

That was true. You probably still had a good twenty-five minutes left in the session, but you didn’t think twice about ditching early as you sped-walked out of there. All you could think of was getting away from Jungkook’s cute, stupid face and his cute, stupid remarks that didn’t mean what you wanted them to mean. Said male, taken aback by your rapid departure, simply stared at your retreating back.

As you finally put some distance between you and Jungkook you head him shout after you. “Where the Illai’s name are you going to find a duck in the middle of the forest!?”

As the sun reached its highest point later that same day, you found yourself firmly slapping a hand over Tae’s mouth. You had just told him about your possible feelings toward his brother that may or may not be developing into a full-blown crush. At first, he pouted, thinking you were teasing him and dangling his “ship” in front of his face. As weird as that sounded, you didn’t crack a smile or even giggle. This was some serious shit, dammit. Once he realized you weren’t joking around, the Saeni gradually started hyperventilating and buzzing in excitement. Which led you to your current position: hand smacked over his mouth to conceal any squeal that threatened to escape. His blue eyes locked with yours and you sighed at the utter elation swimming in them.

He pushed your arm away, freeing his mouth, and whisper-yelled, “You’re serious!? Oh my goddess, yes yes yes!”

Although he wasn’t being very loud, your eyes still darted around to check if anyone was listening. “Can you keep it down?”

Your eyes continued to frantically sweep over the other Saeni, but when you realized none of them had heard, you released some of the tension in your body. As you let out your relieved exhale, your gaze fell on the burgundy head that was walking alongside your best friend. Smiling, you raised a hand and let your fingertips brush against the quiver strap crossing your chest.

You were all gearing up to leave, just double-checking to make sure you had all your things. It had been about forty minutes since you dipped from training, and Namjoon wanted to roll out within the next five. Satisfied all your belongings were safely tucked away, you zipped up your backpack and rose from your crouch while continuing to explain to Tae how frustrating it was when books change their covers halfway through a series.

“Like you have the first two books with the original cover and out of nowhere they just change to a new edition for the third book! So, you either have to deal with mismatched covers or spend the money to replace the first two books! Ugh! It gives me a headache.”

“Is it really that big of a deal?” Tae inquired as he adjusted his headband. “I mean, you’re still reading the same story, right?”

“Yes, it’s a big deal! A huge deal! And don’t even get me started on when they change the cover to the movie poster.” You fake gagged at the thought, causing Tae to giggle.

“What’s a movi-”

He was interrupted by someone clearing their throat and you looked over your shoulder to see Jungkook standing there with one of his hands behind his back.

“Hey, Kookie! What’s up?” Tae asked while you just smiled at the green-eyed male and tried to ignore your quickening heartbeat.

Bringing his visible hand up to rub the back of his neck, he said, “H-Here,” while removing his other hand from behind his back and thrusting it toward you.

In his grasp was a bundle of arrows.

All the ones you had left behind this morning.

You moved your eyes from the arrows to his face and saw that he was still rubbing his neck while avoiding looking at you. Smiling to yourself, you thanked him before gently grabbing the arrows and tucking them into their rightful home.

“Hey!”

You beamed yourself out of the memory and back to reality at the sound of Tae excitedly addressing someone. Focusing your eyes back on your surroundings, you registered that both Yoongi and Hobi were now walking with you. He must have called them over while you were lost in your thoughts.

“Guess what, hyungs!?”

Hold up. Guess what!? Oh hell no. He better not be talking about what I think he’s talking about. I swear if he is…

“Tae…” You warned the Saeni as you carefully walked down an incline.

Dismissing you, he joyously leaned in close to the two older Saeni and whispered, “She has a crush on Kookie!”

“Tae!”

As Hobi gasped at the news, Yoongi glanced between you and his practically vibrating brother. “Am I supposed to act surprised or…?”

“Excuse me?” You scoffed at the magic user’s dry tone.

“Please, it’s quite obvious, Y/N.” He rolled his petal pink eyes and squatted underneath a fallen tree before smirking. “Looks like you got over Chim pretty fast though.”

“Whoa, you liked Chim?” Hobi covered his mouth in astonishment as he braced one hand on the same tree and leapt over it.

While you and Tae ducked and shuffled below it, his question made you groan.

For fuck’s sake, is it Expose Y/N Day?

“Does Chim even know?” Tae poked you.

“Know what?” You asked in an exasperated tone and almost releasing a hysterical chuckle. “That I thought I was in love with him or that I possibly like his brother now?”

“Oh my goddess, you were in love with Chim!?”

“Girl, you like him. Stop dancing around it. And no Hobi, she thought she was.”

You gave the magic user a pointed glare while angrily waving your arm around your head to ward off a pesky bug that kept bothering you. “I don’t think you have any room to talk, Mr. Sparkle Hands.”

His eyes briefly glanced at Hobi before narrowing at you menacingly. You gulped when you saw his hand twitch and a couple of mint-blue sparks fell the forest floor. Laughing nervously, you tiptoed your way to Hobi’s other side, effectively putting him between you and Yoongi like a shield.

The white-haired Saeni sighed contently and wrapped an arm around your shoulders, murmuring wistfully about young love as Tae elaborated on whether your best friend knew of your current crush.

You mumbled back that he didn’t.

“Well, why not?” Tae asked with an innocent tilt of his head. “I’m not complaining, but isn’t it sort of odd you told me before him?”

Yoongi rapped his knuckles on an adolescent tree he was passing while he snickered. “She’s probably too embarrassed to.”

“I am not!” You protested as Hobi frowned and told the magic user not to be mean.

The mint-haired Saeni just looked you up and down. “Mhmm. Sure.”

You released an offended noise and stepped out from underneath Hobi’s arm to glare at Yoongi.

“I’ll do it right now.” You raised a confident brow at him before yelling, “Slim Jim! Get your ass over here!”

Your smug expression steadily fell, though, as your best friend said a quick goodbye to Jungkook and jogged back to meet you.

Am I really about to tell my old crush about my new crush? I mean, he didn’t know he was my crush and maybe he wasn’t even an actual crush when I think about it now, but he is my best friend. He should know. But it’s still a bit weird an-

You jumped as Jimin tackled you into a big hug.

“What’s up, squirt?”

“Squirt?” You laughed a little too loud and a little too long. “That’s new! Ha ha! When did you come up with that one? It’s kinda too ‘Finding Nemo’ if you ask me, but I mean, you do you, you know? New nicknames… man, aren’t they jus…”

To the side, you saw Yoongi giving you an “I told you so” look, so you let your words trail off into silence. Jimin gave you a majorly confused face as you laughed to distract both him and you from your nerves, but you took a deep breath and managed to look him straight in the eye.

“Okay, so, um… I knda sort of maybe, uh… like somone?”

Jimin grinned at you, his eyes squishing closed. “Kookie, right? You guys would be cute together.”

Your jaw dropped and you tripped over a tree root.

“Why are you so shocked?” He asked with a laugh as he nudged you. “I’m your best friend, doofus. I’ve known you for so long and you’ve never looked at someone the way you look at him.”

You looked down at your hands and began toying with your fingers.

“I probably looked at you like that, you just never noticed…” You muttered under your breath, forgetting that his hearing now matched his brothers.

“Wait, what?”

You immediately stopped walking and stiffened. Oh, fuck.

You shot your head up and your wide eyes met his, but no sound came out of your mouth. You just parted and closed your lips repeatedly, not knowing what to do or say. As you desperately tried to figure out what you should do, you saw the others step back slightly and look away.

“You… you liked me?”

“Wow, I think I dropped my, uh, dignity back there so I’m just gonna go spend the rest of my life looking for it a-”

“Y/N…”

“-nd never show my face to anyone ever again. See ya!” With a panicked salute, you swiveled around and went to go find a ditch to lay down in for the remainder of eternity.

He stopped you by gently grabbing your wrist and saying your name desperately. “Y/N…”

Letting out a defeated sigh, you turned back to him. “Fine… yes, I liked you. Er, I thought I did. I’m honestly not quite sure what I really felt for you anymore.”

“Shit, Y/N, I… I’m so sorry. I didn’t know, and fuck, I would go out with all those girls right in front of you and…” He released your wrist to run a hand through his hair. “Fuck. I’m such a-I didn’t-holy shit.”

You sent him a soft grin and pushed his shoulder playfully. “Of course you didn’t know. I know you didn’t because I made sure you didn’t. And you don’t need to apologize. Besides, like I said, I’ve moved on from your sorry ass.”

“Yeah, for my own brother.” Jimin teased you but his smile quickly fell, and he continued with a strained voice. “I just… fuck, I feel like the biggest asshole. I literally just talked about knowing you for so long and I didn’t even… I didn’t even realize I was hurting you.”

Both his hands went to his hair and he tugged on it stressfully.

“Hey hey hey.” You detangled his fingers from his apricot locks and held his hands. “It’s okay. I’m good. You’re good. We’re good. I swear.”

You dropped his hands and then held your arms out with a hesitant smile, hoping that he still felt comfortable around you. To your relief, he immediately entered your embrace and held you tightly. You clung to each other for several seconds until, with one last squeeze, you stepped back. You saw he was lightly beaming at you and he reached out to ruffle your hair.

Seeing that your “private” moment was over, the others joined once more and began teasing you for how awkward that whole conversation was. You mildly shoved a laughing Yoongi away, but you were giggling as well because they weren’t wrong.

Awkward? Absolutely. But I feel… better?

“What are you guys talking about?” A new voice popped up. “You’re making me feel left out.”

Your giggles faded as you noticed Jungkook standing on the outskirts of your little gossip group, a pout evident on his face.

Your eyes bugged out. “N-Nothing! Nothing at all!”

Tae’s eyes, on the other hand, brightened and he began saying, “Actually, we were talking about-”

“Oh, just stupid stuff like, uh… if we prefer waffles or pancakes and our favorite sex positions!” You hastily spoke over the grey-haired Saeni, but as soon as your words left your mouth you wanted to mentally smack yourself to oblivion.

Favorite sex positions? Really, Y/N? REALLY!?

Jungkook coughed while the other three males did their best to contain their snorts and snickers.

Jimin’s face suddenly turned a little evil and you swallowed hard, just dreading his next statement and praying it wouldn’t be too detrimental to your soul.

“You came just in time, Kook. Y/N was just about to share hers.”

WHAT!?

You forced out a threatening laugh before saying through your gritted teeth, “But I already went, remember?”

You glared daggers at your so-called best friend.

He better not…

“I forget what you said,” Yoongi spoke up.

You blinked several times and raised your brows in incredulity.

Tae joined in. “Me too. I mean, there were just so many.”

You choked on your own spit and began hacking up a lung to try to clear your airway.

“Plus, I’m sure Kookie’s curious,” Hobi concluded.

You stumbled over your feet as your eyes expanded to comical proportions. After regaining your balance, you looked at the Saeni in absolute betrayal.

Sputtering, you began to deny their words. As you firmly protested how you only had one favorite position, thank you very much, you realized you were not helping your situation. At all. The three boys were wheezing and barely containing their outbursts. With a fed-up huff, you stomped over to Jungkook and as you passed his stiff form and strangely blank face, you grabbed his hand and dragged him after you. You were abandoning these disloyal hooligans right now and you sure as heck were not leaving Jungkook with them. Who knows what they would tell him!?

Probably that I basically have a big, fat crush on him and that it freaking hurts how I know he’ll never feel the same way about me.

Fuck, that’s so pathetic.

Tae, wanting to make his stupid ship a reality, would probably be the one to blurt it out. Curse his damn blabber mouth and his inability to keep a fucking secret. You undoubtedly trusted the blue-eyed male with your life… but you didn’t trust him with this. Not after he went ahead and spilled to Yoongi and Hobi not even five minutes later.

As a result, you were taking Jungkook with you.

They’re all traitors. Every single one of them. They can roast like marshmallows in the bonfires of hell for all I care now.

“Goodbye, everyone.” You called over your shoulder as you gave them a crisp middle finger without looking back. “I’ll remember you all in therapy!”

They all finally let out their rambunctious laughter as you marched away and towed the burgundy-haired Saeni behind you. Though, in your complete mortification and desire to get away, you didn’t register the fact that Jungkook hadn’t made a single peep during the entire exchange.

A little while later you were hopping from rock to rock as you crossed a shallow, but wide creek. Sure, your shoes were waterproof, so you could have just trudged through the tinkling water like everyone else, but it was more enjoyable this way. Plus, ten minutes ago, Jimin yelled out that he thought his father’s draeva was really close. The energy he was receiving from it had started palpitating and growing even stronger. Because of that, you were going to have as much fun as possible before shit got real again.

You peeked to your left to where Jungkook was making his way through the water beside you. You jolted as you realized he was already looking at you and right as you met his peridot gaze, you instantly returned your sight to the rocks in front of you. You did your best to keep your focus on the stones, but all you could feel were his eyes lingering on you now that you were aware of it. Huffing a bit, you tiptoed to the next available footing and wobbled slightly as the slab tilted under your weight. After steadying yourself, you leapt to the next rock, and the next, and the next. But as you landed on the last one, holding your breath for a second as you edged around the algae sludge covering it, you frowned as you saw a giant gap between you and the nearest rock. You narrowed your eyes at the distance, mentally trying to calculate if you would be able to jump that far when you heard a low chuckle next to you.

“I don’t think you can make that, little human.”

His voice held a tremendous teasing lilt; something that made you even more determined to successfully cross the distance. You wanted to prove him wrong. You could definitely make it. One hundred percent. Ten feet had nothing on you.

“Pffft. Of course I can, just watch me.” You shifted your feet and bent your knees a bit, readying your muscles as you zeroed in on your destination.

Your resolve strengthened as you saw Jungkook cross his arms with an expectant look gracing his face, as if he was waiting for you to fail. With a deep breath, you brought your weight back as you swung your arms behind you. Then, with a tiny, defiant grunt, you threw your weight forward and propelled your body through the air.

Well, you would have.

If your shoe hadn’t slipped on the slimy algae.

Your grunt quickly changed into a surprised screech as you felt yourself go down and not forward. You fell straight into the water with one leg splayed out, a knee tucked underneath you, a hand palming the sandy and pebble-ridden creek bottom, and a forearm somewhat bracing yourself. Of course, since you caught yourself partially on your forearm, half your face was also dunked below the surface.

You shoved yourself up, sputtering as you spat water out of your mouth and pushed your half-wet hair out of your face. As your eyes and ears were cleared of creek water, the first that and sound that met you was Jungkook doubled over from laughter. He kept alternating between pointing at you and clapping his hands as he tried his damned hardest to form words but would lose himself to hysterics every time he took in your now soggy state. His nose was scrunching up, his head thrown back, and the tips of his pointy ears were turning red from the sheer force of his laughter.

Sulking, you raised yourself to both knees and inspected your palm as Jungkook’s boisterous sounds continued to fill the atmosphere. Glad to see that you hadn’t cut your hand, you glared up at the Saeni before looking back down at the water.

“You can stop laughing now, geez,” you mumbled in pout.

But the boy just kept at it. Between his cackles, he made sure to point out how he had “told you” you wouldn’t be able to make it. As if your embarrassment and water-logged self didn’t make that clear enough for you.

He’s such a little shit.

You splashed your hand through the creek, catapulting water at the green-eyed male. It hit him at his upper legs and lower torso, slightly dampening the fabric. Instantly, Jungkook stopped laughing and stared at you with a blank face. You lifted an eyebrow and stared back, your stubbornness and pettiness rising to the surface. A few seconds of your impromptu staring match went by, then Jungkook’s eyes grew devious while he stepped closer to you. Before you could even blink, he placed his hands on your shoulders and shoved.

With a curse, you immediately lost your balance and fell backwards until you landed on your ass. You whimpered as the water seeped into your clothes and completely drenched the rest of your body. Glowering up at the male, you wanted to throw a tantrum at the smirk plastered to his face.

“Don’t start something you can’t finish, sweetheart.” He winked, and with one last chuckle, began making his way across the creek once more.

You smacked the water with your fists before bringing your dripping self to your feet. “GET BACK HERE, YOU INSUFFERABLE COCONUT!”

He just laughed at your outburst and kept walking, so you took off after him. When he heard your feet stomping through the water, he started running away with a grin on his face. You chased after him, screaming obscenities, but you couldn’t help but start laughing too. You probably looked like an idiotic fool to all the other Saeni who were watching your antics unfold.

Jungkook reached the opposite side of the creek and sprinted away into the trees. He must have been “jogging,” though, because you were right on his heels. You both crashed through the forest, yelling and taunting each other. Momentarily, you lost sight of the Saeni through the thick greenery but continued running after him in the direction you believed he went. When you broke through a cluster of leaves, you saw him standing still with his back to you. Snickering, you snuck up to him as quietly as you could and was about to jump on his back… but you stopped. You had finally looked beyond his shoulders, albeit just for a moment, but the scene made your steps falter.

“Whoa.”

In front of you was a slightly crumpled, but mostly intact, stone construction tucked between the trees. The parts that were still solid were innately carved, so it looked like it must have been something important back in the day. Random trees were growing up and out of the sections of the collapsed stonework, their roots stretching over the structure like lacework. Vines crept over the entire thing as well, and little white flowers were bursting along the climbing plants. Their scent drifted over to you, and you inhaled their floral sweetness. The familiarity of the smell made you think it might be wild honeysuckle. At the center of the building, a detailed spire rose toward the sky. It wasn’t a skinny, needle-esque tower, but rather it was a fat and almost cone-shaped thing that extended to a round point at the top. The carvings were delicate and intricate, and icicles of stonework spiraled around it, creating an interesting contrast to the upward direction of the spire.

As you absorbed the old, yet exceptionally beautiful structure before you in awe, Jungkook let out a breath and whispered, “Juufa.”

It turned out the building was an ancient temple dedicated to Juufa, the god of harmony. Jungkook was in the process of explaining that when the rest of the Saeni caught up with you. All their eyes went wide and they each fell into silent awe as they saw it.

Jungkook continued murmuring to you, “It’s rare to see a temple for the harmony.”

“Huh? Why?”

“It’s said that he doesn’t like to be worshipped because it’s distracting. He prefers to keep to himself and just focus on his duties.” He gestured to the slightly dilapidated structure. “Because of that, most who had temples for Juufa ended up heading his desire and allowing nature to retake them.”

That… is very unconventional of a god. I like him already.

As you continued gawking at the impressive sight before you, you saw Jimin run a hand through his apricot locks and inspect the area in your peripherals. He shuddered suddenly and locked his eyes on one spot to the right of the temple. Following his gaze, it led you to a gathering of trees displayed in a bright beam of sunlight.

“That’s it…” he whispered, making you gasp.

Oh my gosh, is his father’s draeva over there!? Talk about nice real estate.

As if in a trance, Jimin began walking over and you all trailed after him. Along the way, Yoongi silently waved his sparkling hands at you to magically dry you and your clothes off. You sent him a small nod in thanks, pleased to no longer be cold and dripping. As you neared the trees, you could see that Jimin was moving toward the one with the thickest trunk. You didn’t know what type of tree it was, but it was tall and sturdy with a vast network of limbs stretching up and out.

“That’s it,” he whispered again while stepping into sun patch.

You and the other Saeni stopped about ten feet away and spread out in a sloppy semi-circle as Jimin kept advancing.

You held your breath as your best friend hesitantly approached the tree. Slowly, he lifted his hand and placed it against the trunk. But nothing happened.

“Find his handprint,” Jiae suggested with a smile as her lilac hair fluttered in the wind.

Jimin nodded and began stalking around the tree, looking around the trunk and up into the limbs.

“I think I see it,” he said as he began climbing.

As he ascended, you tilted your head toward Tae and asked, “What’s gonna happen when he unlocks the secret?”

He shook his head, causing his feather earring to jingle against his other piercings, and replied that he had no idea.

Blowing out a raspberry, you returned your eyes to Jimin, who exclaimed that he found his father’s mark.

One again, you held your breath and leaned forward in anticipation. Jungkook, though, went to stand underneath his brother. Probably in case the half-Saeni fell from whatever was about to occur.

A crisp breeze ruffled the leaves and Jimin’s hair, and you saw the branch he was leaning against sway in the air. And after taking a deep breath to steel himself, Jimin gently allowed his hand to rest against the bark, in the place you assumed his father’s handprint was located.

And yet, nothing happened.

Jimin’s brows furrowed and he removed his hand before placing it back.

Still, nothing happened.

All of you on the ground pursed your lips and looked at each other in befuddlement before returning your eyes to the apricot head who was now repeatedly slamming his hand into the tree. You blinked at him while he began huffing and puffing in frustration.

Geez, Slim Jim. It’s a tree, not a frozen computer.

“Why-” Slam. “-won’t-” Slam. “-you-” Slam. “-work!?” Slam.

He really emphasized the last one by grinding and smooshing his hand into the bark.

“Uh, maybe give it a moment Chim.” Namjoon called up to him.

You snorted to yourself before adding, “Yeah, maybe it’s just thinking!”

Jimin took his hand off and let out an aggravated noise while pushing his hair back. “It’s not working!”

Tae then proposed that maybe he had the wrong draeva. Yoongi, Jin, and Mingi voiced their agreement and Hobi even started inspecting other trees nearby. As both Jimin and Jiae argued that it was definitely the right one, you sat down with a sigh and rested your chin on your palm. Jungkook saw you and gave you a lopsided smile while rolling his eyes playfully at everyone else.

You grinned back at him but hoped he couldn’t see the heat rising to your cheeks due to how handsome he looked standing in the sunlight. Looking away from him, you leaned back on your hands as you let the Saeni figure out the issue at hand. This wasn’t your area of expertise, so you were just going to sit back and offer occasional moral support.

And that’s exactly what you did and have been doing for the past thirty minutes or so.

“You can do it Jimin! Anything is possible is you just believe,” you shouted at your best friend in a sweet voice while sending him two encouraging thumbs up.

He just groaned and tugged on his hair for the umpteenth time.

Shrugging, you went back to drawing in the dirt with a stick. You would throw out another great, motivational quote in maybe… two minutes?

I feel like that kid in a group project who shows up to meetings and offers their opinion but doesn’t actually do anything.

Another fifteen minutes and numerous uplifting sayings went by and it was safe to say that you were bored out of your mind. Throwing your stick aside, you stood up and wiped your bum off before clearing your throat to gain the attention of the Saeni.

“Welp, as invigorating as this is, I’m gonna go explore the temple.” You went to pivot on your feet but paused and sheepishly looked at Namjoon. “Oh, um, is that allowed? Like am I not supposed to go in there since I’m not Saeni?”

The leader of the kiela contemplated for a moment before showing off his dimpled smile and waving you on. “Ah, no, it should be fine.”

You clapped your hands together in satisfaction. “Fantastic… well, scream if you figure it out or need me!”

You fully swiveled around and began strutting off toward the entrance of the semi-collapsed structure, eager to see it up close and what it looked like on the inside.

“Y/N!”

You stopped your leg in midair and pursed your lips as you looked over your shoulder. “Damn, ya’ll need me already?”

Jungkook jogged over to you, the top of his burgundy hair bouncing slightly. The corner of your lip quirked up at the sight, but you quickly forced your mouth back to a neutral position.

“No, I just, um, I-I’ll come with you. You know, since it’ll be dark, and you might not be able to see.”

You placed your foot down, teetering a bit since it landed partially in a hole in the ground, and rolled your eyes. “There you go yet again with that superior senses bullshit. But sure, fine, whatever, come on. At least I can push you in front of me if there’s booby traps.”

His steps slowed down, and he furrowed his brows. “Why would there be something to trap your boobs?”

You heard Jimin snort while he continued scrutinizing the draeva.

“Ya! Refer to them respectfully as breasts, you sprout!” Jin hollored.

“Personally, that’s worse because it makes me feel like a chicken,” Jiae replied to the eldest before meeting your pained eyes. “What about you, Y/N?”

I can never win, can I?

You closed your eyes and sighed in defeat as you pressed your fingers onto your lids. “Just… forget it. Let’s go, Coco.”

I’m totally sacrificing him if I have to.

By the time you and Jungkook emerged from the temple, the sun was starting to descend in the horizon. You breathed in the sweet air of Illain and the honeysuckle, happy to no longer be inhaling the dusty stuffiness from the depths of the temple.

The innards of the structure had been just as beautifully broken as the outside. Ornate sculptures and detailed artwork filled the passageways and rooms, and you had eagerly explored the many corridors with Jungkook by your side. Luckily, you had been able to see a majority of it due to the numerous tiny windows carved into the walls and ceilings. It hadn’t provided the best light, but it had been enough to make do.

In some parts of the temple, the halls were completely collapsed in, or tree roots and thick honeysuckle vines blocked the way like a filigree wall. But there had been no booby traps, much to your dismay. As terrifying as they would have been, it was would have been a little exciting. And with Jungkook with you, you knew nothing bad would have happened.

Your favorite part was probably the room on the highest floor that was filled with hundreds of tiny bells strung on chains hanging from the ceiling. Sure, there had been the slightly creepy, but very detailed painting on the back wall depicting a female clawing out a male’s heart with her hand. The female had a sun hovering above her head and a sad look to her face while the male had a crescent moon floating above his painfully contorted face. But as gruesome as the picture was, it was strangely beautiful and alluring. Maybe the underlying concept of female empowerment made you cheer internally. You didn’t really know for sure.

You had admired the image underneath the singing bells for a couple minutes until Jungkook came to stand next to you. You remembered him frowning as he stared at it. When you asked him what that look was for, he had explained that the sun was the symbol for Illai. He didn’t understand why the artwork showed her killing someone. She was a kind and benevolent goddess. Someone who brought life, not death. You had pondered his words, before shrugging and suggesting that maybe it was just a metaphor for the morning sun “killing” nighttime.

Whatever it was, you still liked it.

Skipping over a bundle of roots in front of the temple entryway, you saw that everyone except for Jimin, Jiae, and Chungha were sitting in a small circle around a fire. Hobi was picking at the dirt under his nails with one of his blades and Yoongi was curled up next to him with his eyes closed. Tae and Mingi were throwing a rock back and forth through the flames, and Jin and Namjoon were speaking quietly to each other as the former nudged the fire with a stick. You and Jungkook made your way over to them, and as you approached, they ceased their respective activities (minus Yoongi) and greeted you both.

After sending everyone a tiny wave, you sat down beside Tae. Jungkook followed suit, sitting down beside you and resting his forearms on his knees.

“Seeing as Jimin isn’t here, I’m guessing he still hasn’t had any luck?”

Namjoon sighed and ran a hand down his face. “Nope. Nothing’s working.”

“Well… that’s not good.”

“You could say that again.” Jin snorted as he poked the edge of the fire.

Doing so made a plume of smoke rise from the embers and a sudden draft of wind sent it directly into Mingi, who began coughing and waving hand in front of his face.

While the guard combatted the smoke, Tae flopped to his back and whined about how bored he was.

Hearing the archer’s complaint, Hobi sheathed his blade and offered playing a game of keumbak, making Tae perk up in interest.

“What’s that?” You asked Jungkook in a whisper while Namjoon began protesting Hobi’s suggestion.

“Basically, you spin a knife and whoever it lands on has to stand against a tree and let everyone else throw a knife at him.” Your eyes widened in fear but Jungkook kept going. “Whoever’s knife gets closest without hitting the person wins and they don’t partake in sequential rounds. You keep going until someone either loses or gets hit. Oh, and you get bonus points of style and throw difficulty.”

What kind of fatal, wack- ass game is this?

You gulped and wondered how you could get yourself out of playing. You weren’t too keen on having knives thrown at you today. Or throwing them at your friends and possibly hurting them. Seeing your freaked-out expression, Jungkook chuckled but voiced that he didn’t think keumbak was a good idea.

Hobi huffed and inquired what Jungkook would deem a better game to play. The burgundy head nudged you, silently telling you to say something.

“Uh… what about Truth or Dare?”

Tae gasped excitedly. “Oh, Chim’s had us play that before! It was fun!”

“Wait, what’s Truth or Dare?” Mingi questioned with curious hazel eyes.

As you explained the basic rules to the guard, you saw Hobi gently shake Yoongi awake. The magic user cursed and went to shout at who woke him up but stopped when he saw it was the white-haired Saeni. Smiling softly because of them, you asked if everyone was okay with playing.

Almost everyone nodded, but Mingi quickly asked one more question. “What if someone doesn’t want to answer or do the dare?”

“Uhhh…”

“If they want to be a little bitch, they have to take something off. Shirt first, though,” Yoongi groggily said as he sat up with Hobi’s help.

Oh, that’s a good one. I’ll get a nice, free show of all these attractive guys and it’s pretty harmless too since-WAIT. No, that means Jungkook might take stuff off. Oh fuck, I don’t think I can handle that. Though I kinda really want him to… but it won’t help my situation… but he has such a good body… fuck what am I going to do!?

You bit your lip as everyone murmured their agreement to his rule. After contemplating and telling yourself not to be a weenie, you agreed as well, which caused Yoongi to smirk in your direction.

Hobi, you better get your guy under control before I sit on him!

Tae began bouncing up and down, asking who was going to go first. You all looked at each other, wondering the same thing until you made a decision.

“Papa Jin! Why don’t you go since you’re the oldest?”

The raven-haired Saeni placed a hand over his heart. “It would truly be my honor, little scorja.”

Everyone fell quiet as you waited for Jin to pick out his victim.

“Mingi!” He suddenly shouted, causing Namjoon to jump in surprise next to him. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” Mingi responded without pause.

“What do you think of my cooking?”

Oh my fucking god, he’s fucking dead if he doesn’t answer this to Jin’s liking.

The hazel-eyed male shrugged. “Eh, it’s pretty good. Could honestly use some more heat in my opinion, but I can understand that ingredients are a bit… limited right now.”

You gaped at Mingi’s bold words then peeked at Jin to see his reaction. The eldest just laughed loudly but briefly before humming in response.

Frick. That’s sort of terrifying.

“Alright, um… Hoseok, truth or dare?”

The kiela’s spy danced his hand over his tucked away blades and after a few seconds of thinking he replied, “Dare.”

Mingi looked into the fire as if searching for inspiration, then suddenly snapped his fingers and announced, “Choose someone in the group to spank you.”

You brought a hand up to cover your mouth as you saw Hobi’s eyes flicker to Yoongi for a split-second before blurting out, “Kookie!”

You couldn’t conceal your laughter anymore, though, when a look of pure regret overtook his features afterwards.

Jungkook stood up with an evil glint in his eyes while cracking his knuckles, and you heard Namjoon whisper his sorrows for Hobi’s ass. You watched Jungkook rub his hands together as Hobi reluctantly got to his feet, turned around, and braced his hands on his knees. You could literally see the apprehension, fear, and tension coursing through him, making you laugh again.

But your laughter died when a powerful, loud smack reverberated into the air.

Ho-Holy shit. He just flat-out destroyed Hobi’s ass.

Said Saeni collapsed to the ground, clutching his butt cheeks as Jungkook breathed out easily and returned to his seat. The green-eyed male caught your look of horror and assured you that he didn’t actually hit him that hard.

“Hyung is just being dramatic.”

“I don’t know Coco. That looked fucking rough to me.”

His eyes darkened and he leaned in closer to murmur, “If that’s your version of rough, you don’t want to see mine.”

Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck.

His intense gaze bore into you for a couple more moments before he pulled back and reset his expression, leaving you gawking at him. Not to mention, a little turned on too.

What the hell is he doing to me?

You did your best to ignore Jungkook and the dirty thoughts he caused you to have as Hobi finally settled down and let his light brown eyes pass over the group. He paused on Tae, who straightened at the possibility of it being his turn.

“Tae, truth or-”

“Truth!”

You grinned and shook your head fondly at his eagerness. Looking back at Hobi, you saw him exchange a silent conversation with Yoongi and nod subtly. The spy’s eyes flashed with mischief and you pursed your lips together as you wondered what that was all about.

Hobi cleared his throat before folding his hands together and addressing Tae. “You and Y/N are really close… would you ever consider dating her?”

You let out a confused hum as your eyebrows shot up. On the opposite side of the fire, Namjoon and Jin mentioned their agreement that the two of us did get along very well at his question.

What the? Why would he ask that? He knows Tae and I are just friends.

Beside you, you heard Jungkook’s breathing slow down and you glanced at him. He looked entirely normal, well, except for how he was sending a piercing glare at his blue-eyed brother.

Tae, giving a relaxed shake of his head, denied he would date you and then blew a kiss your way.

You stuck our tongue out at him but sent him a kiss back while giggling.

“Okay, now I get to pick!” Tae proclaimed while showcasing his boxy grin. “Joon hyung!”

“Dare,” the yellow-eyed Saeni said with a sigh.

Tae thought long and hard, then began searching the ground before picking something up and holding it proudly above his head. “You must wear this as a mustache until your next turn!”

It was a twig.

You all silently shook with laughter as Namjoon trudged over to grab the twig and position it above his top lip. He had to pucker a bit to make sure it didn’t fall, and you had to admit that he looked but insanely cute and extremely funny.

As he sat down slowly to make sure the twig didn’t become dislodged, he caught Jungkook’s eye.

“Dare,” Jungkook said immediately.

“Of course. Um…” Namjoon’s yellow eyes darted around, looking for inspiration. “Aish, I’m bad at this stuff. Um… jump over the fire? While holding my mace over your head?”

Jungkook once again rose to his feet while scoffing. “This will be too easy, hyung.”

“Easy!? That thing weighs a ton!” You said bewildered at his unconcerned tone.

“Nah, it’s basically nothing for him, just watch,” Tae told you as he cradled his face between his palms.

You knew how strong Jungkook was, but you were still a little skeptical it would be nothing. But your doubts were quickly proven wrong as Namjoon held his heavy weapon out to Jungkook, who grabbed it with one hand without so much as a grunt. The green-eyed male shifted so the mace was in both his hands then easily hefted it over his head and leapt over the fire. Landing softly, he rolled his eyes and returned the weapon to its owner as you gawked at how nonchalant he was acting.

“See?” Tae addressed you while your shocked gaze followed Jungkook. “Nothing.”

You inhaled deeply through your nose, still trying to wrap your head around how Jungkook just did that without even a gasp as the male sat back down and smirked at you.

“Sweetheart, it’s your turn.”

To what? Get lugged over your head like sack of rice?

Oh, no… the game.

“Um…”

What will bring the least amount of damage? Probably a dare, so I shouldn’t pick truth.

Without meaning to, you said “truth” out loud and you blanched at your mistake. “Wait, no! I mean-”

His smirk transformed into a grin, but not one that settled your nerves. “Nope. Sorry, but you already said it, it’s locked it.”

Shit. Stupid stupid stupid.

Jungkook shifted closer to you, making your breath hitch.

“You never did say what your favorite sex position was, so now’s the time.”

All the air in your lungs disappeared as you stared at him, wondering if he was being serious as Yoongi, Hobi, and Tae erupted into rowdy laughter. The remaining Saeni had looked at you two in complete confusion, obviously not understanding where the question came from.

I am not telling him that!

“Come on, sweetheart, I’m waiting.” He teased as his cocky expression expanded. “It’s either tell me or take the shirt off.”

You usually didn’t give a shit about being shirtless in front of anyone. Like, if you still had a bra on, then what did it matter? But for some reason, you found yourself not wanting to remove your shirt.

Fucking hell, I guess I have to then…

You closed your eyes and hid yourself behind your hadns before mumbling, “Doggystyle.”

You didn’t bother speaking up because you knew all of them would be able to hear you clear as day. The three laughing Saeni grew even more unruly at your answer, so you buried your head in your arms to hide your flushing face. You stayed that way, refusing to lift your head, until they calmed down. Then, you raised your head, and against your better judgement, allowed yourself to glance at Jungkook. You stilled as you realized he was staring at you. Not doing anything. Not saying anything. Just staring. With a clenched jaw and hazy green eyes.

It made you uneasy… in a good way.

Stop it! He’s probably staring because he thinks that was a vanilla answer, not because he’s imagining fucking you like you want him to. Ah, shit… don’t think of him fucking into you from behind.

But, of course, your mind didn’t want to listen to reason. Thoughts of the strong male wrecking you, no, ruining you from behind began invading your head. You imagined the symphony of grunts, whimpers, and slapping of skin on skin. The way he would command your body to his pleasure. Hoe utterly rough he would handle you.

Stop it! Um… wrinkly, old balls! Smudging your nail polish! Eating bad Mexican food! Bad things! Yucky things!

With a shaky breath, you squeezed your hands into fists and averted your eyes. Taking another deep breath, you collected yourself and continued the game as you tried not to focus on the weight of Jungkook’s eyes still boring into your profile.

The sun had almost gone to sleep for the day, just a small sliver of light was still visible in the distance. You trained your eyes on the colorful sunset, observing as the pastels slowly darkened into the night sky. You smiled at its beauty while listening to the crackling of the fire. You were so transfixed, you didn’t even realize Yoongi had been calling your name until Tae waved a hand in front of your eyes. Jumping a bit, you brought your attention back to the game that was still going strong.

Not a whole lot has happened, besides Namjoon attempting a full split (he did not succeed and was still complaining about a pulled groin), Tae admitting that he was the person who lost Hobi’s favorite dagger a year ago (the spy once again lived up to his NSFW outfit with the bloodcurdling glower he sent Tae’s way), Jin being dared to let you cook one meal entirely by yourself (the male took one look at you before yanking his shirt over his head), and other dumb, reckless, and funny things.

Blinking rapidly, you met Yoongi’s eyes and sighed internally when you saw the playfulness lurking behind them.

Not wanting to even consider the type of shit he would have you reveal if you picked truth, you ultimately decided to go with dare for this round.

He glanced at Tae and Hobi, which made your palms sweat, before looking straight into your eyes. “Mingi’s lap seems a little lonely over there, so you have to sit on it until your next turn.”

Oh… that’s not that bad. I thought it would be giving Jungkook a lap dance or something. Whew.

Meeting Mingi’s hazel gaze, you shrugged at each other, then heaved yourself to your feet and walked over to the guard, who stretched his legs out in front of him.

“Hello, my good sir.” You greeted him verbally with a laugh before gently easing yourself down onto his lap.

“Hell there, Y/N.” Mingi laughed too while leaning back on his hands to balance himself.

Once you were positioned successfully and somewhat comfortably on the male’s lap, you looked over to give Yoongi a “so what?” face, but found his gaze focused somewhere else. He snickered to Hobi and had a knowing smile teasing his lips. Furrowing your brows, you turned to see what he was looking at.

Jungkook.

The burgundy head was glaring into the fire. His entire body was stiff, his hand edging down toward his dagger, and you could see his chest rising and falling heavily with his breaths. After looking at him in concern for a few seconds, he lifted his head to look directly at you with heated eyes. You were taken back by how aggravated he appeared, but before you could say anything, he brought his eyes back to the fire.

The heck is his problem?

“You good, Kook?” You heard Yoongi ask in a not-so-innocent tone.

The youngest member of the kiela didn’t respond, but you saw his jaw shift in annoyance.

Well, he obviously doesn’t want to disclose what his problem is, so looks like I’ll ask when his panties aren’t in a twist.

And so, the game continued, though you kept sneaking glances at Jungkook as others answered their truths or completed their dares. Not once did he meet your eyes. And he only really moved or spoke when he had to.

You had to admit it was bothering you.

Then, it was your turn once more and Jin asked you if you regret coming to Illain. When Jin concluded his question, Jungkook finally brought his eyes back to you. As if he actually wanted to hear your answer. You flinched a bit when you thought you saw a flash of worry appear on his face, but it was gone so quickly you weren’t sure if it had even been there to begin with. By now, the sunlight was completely gone and only the fire and moon provided light so it could have just been the flickering orange flames playing tricks on you.

Tearing your gaze away from Jungkook’s face, you addressed Jin and truthfully told him that you were really happy to be in the new world. That you were glad to have met everyone and now call them your friends.

All the Saeni smiled at your answer, even Jungkook’s mouth tilted up slightly, and they were grateful you felt that way even though the journey had been quite crazy and violent.

You beamed back at everyone and with a pat to Mingi’s knee, rose from his lap and trudged back to your original spot. Through, as you left the guard behind and walked past the fire, you shivered at how chilly it had gotten. Without realizing it, Mingi had been keeping you toasty and your backside was already missing it.

As you squatted then let your butt fall to the cool ground, you wiggled your fingers at Tae. But when the breeze picked up, you shivered and wrapped your arms around your middle.

Noting your state, Jungkook sighed and shifted a it before leaning over to poke your thigh. “C’mere.”

Peeking over at him, you saw he was inviting you to sit between his legs.

Well, looks like someone is finally over his random temper tantrum.

As confused as you were regarding his attitude, you couldn’t help but be tempted by his offer. It would be so warm and cozy. Not to mention, you would be close to him. Like really close.

Your decision was ultimately made by another cold gust of air attacking your body. With a nod, you crawled over to Jungkook and positioned yourself between his legs. You hummed as his body immediately protected you from the wind and his warmth fought off the chill. Settling into your new spot, you gasped when his hands found purchase at your waist and he dragged you backwards into his chest. Then, he hugged you close and placed his chin on the junction of your shoulder and neck. Flinching a bit as his hot breath hit your bare skin, you forced yourself to relax and ease against him although you were screaming on the inside. His intoxicating scent began floating around you as you rested your hands on his arms and leaned into him.

“Better?” He murmured against your neck.

You nodded and whispered a thanks while your heart threatened to leap out of your chest.

Satisfied you were warm, he then reminded you that you needed to ask someone truth or dare.

“Oh, r-right…” You caught Yoongi and Hobi smiling slyly at you and you narrowed your eyes at them. “Hobi.”

The white-haired male clapped his hands together and said, “I choose dare, little scorja.”

Careful not to bump into Jungkook, you tilted your head to the side and gauged the distance between him and Yoongi versus him and Namjoon and chortled when you saw what you were hoping for. “I dare you to hold hands with the person closest to you for the remainder of the game. You can only let go if you or the other person need to do so for a dare.”

Both his and Yoongi’s eyes widened comically as they looked between them and realized they would have to hold hands. There was no fighting it either because their hips were basically touching from how close they sat to each other. It was your turn to snicker at their expressions and how they started fidgeting. Slowly and without looking at each other, they intertwined their hands as a faint blush dusted both their cheeks. Cooing internally, you smirked and basked in their cuteness.

The game went on after that. Mingi took his shirt off because he refused to steal a piece of rubble from the temple (you had to admit that he had a very nice body, but it was nothing compared to the one holding you), Tae ate a weird looking bug (he gagged and you thought he was going to lose it, but he made you proud by holding on and swallowing the creature), and Namjoon confessed he broke their instructor’s prized sword during their trainee days (apparently, the instructor had loved the weapon dearly and cried for weeks when he found the blade shattered one day).

Then, Jin asked Jungkook who he would have sex with if he could choose anyone in the world. Your heart spasmed at the questioned and you held your breath while waiting for Jungkook’s answer.

Fuck, you wanted him to say it was you. But you knew he wouldn’t. It would probably be some girl he’s trained with or someone he’s seen in passing that caught his eye. Your ears were filled with the snapping of burning wood as the male stayed silent and debated his answer. Sadness cascaded into you as you realized he was most likely thinking of all the beautiful Saeni he’s encountered in his lifetime; filtering them out until one gorgeous, sexy female remained.

As your chest tightened and you fought to keep your face impassive, Jungkook suddenly removed his arms from around you. Preparing yourself to hear some other girl’s name, you inhaled sharply when his arms snuck around you and pulled you against him once more. With a jolt, you realized…

He.

Took.

Off.

His.

Shirt.

And was no holding you against his bare chest. You felt heat flood to your face, and you tried to control your breathing as he dropped his chin onto your shoulder again. Peeking to the sides, you saw Tae squeezing his lips together while looking at you with wide blue eyes and waggling brows. On the other side, Hobi and Yoongi, hands still waffled, were chuckling at you quietly. Namjoon and Jin, bless their oblivious hearts, didn’t seem to notice your internal screeching. The final Saeni just raised a single eyebrow amusedly at you.

Humming contently and adjusting his grip on you so that you were tucked even further against him, Jungkook called out Yoongi’s name to proceed with the game.

And yet again, you all continued playing. You were surprised everyone was still participating, but you figured it was because there really wasn’t anything better to do while waiting for Jimin to unlock the draeva.

You had your turn again, which included Mingi asking how you met Jimin and why you tagged along to Illain. You fondly retold the story of a little Jimin trying to scare you with a spider and you consequently punching him with your tiny fist. Then, you shrugged and explained how he was your best friend and there was no way you were going to let him go on an adventure like this alone.

Jungkook laughed in your ear as you spoke and when you finished, he whispered, “Such a feisty little human.”

You shivered at his breath dancing along your skin but managed to retort in a teasing tone, “Such an annoying little shit.”

Then, you asked Tae about what eye color he wished he could change to (he firmly said he wouldn’t change it because he likes his blue), and he won’t on to challenge Namjoon to a dare. You sort of zoned out after that, leaning your head back onto Jungkook’s shoulder and looking up at the twinkling stars. The smoke from the fire swirled up and partially obstructed your view, but the white-grey wisps just added to the enchanting sight above you.

You inhaled the sweet air and scene of flowers and metal, listened to the sound of rustling leaves and crackling fire, absorbed the soft vibrations of Jungkook’s heartbeat, and sighed up at the sky. “It’s so pretty.”

You felt Jungkook’s head shift and he softly agreed, “Yeah… really pretty.”

The abrupt shout of Jungkook’s name by Hobi brought your eyes back to the Saeni and you saw him draw a knife out to play with.

The male behind you let out a groan and he mumbled,” For Exia’s sake, this game never ends.”

“Truth or dare?” Hobi asked his youngest brother as he twirled his knife in his hand.

Jungkook chose dare, making Hobi smile at his blade.

“I dare you to kiss one of the females here.”

You felt Jungkook stiffen just as you did at Hobi’s words. The older Saeni winked at you subtly and your mind began losing it.

All the various possibilities ran through your head, but you knew all of them would suck. Sure, you wanted Jungkook to kiss you, but… not if it was because he had to. Not if it didn’t mean anything to him. And if he didn’t kiss you then he would kiss Jiae or Chungha. You swallowed as you thought of his lips against someone else’s. Biting your bottom lip, you looked down.

And if he refuses the dare and takes something off, then he’s still rejecting me. Fuck, Hobi… what were you thinking?

“Hurry up, Kook!” Namjoon joked. “We don’t have all night.”

Jungkook grumbled while removing his arms from your middle and standing up, allowing the heat that cocooned you to slowly evaporate. With a smirk directed at nobody in particular, he began walking off into the trees toward the three people not a part of your game. Leaving you cold and alone.

Tucking in your knees, you nodded to yourself and wrapped your own arms around your body as Tae, Yoongi, and Hobi all looked at you in concern. Even Mingi frowned in your direction.

Of course, he’s gonna kiss one of the other girls. Probably Chungha since Jiae is with Jimin. And I’m not surprised he didn’t take off something. His competitive ego had already been wounded when he took his shirt off earlier.

You sniffled and blinked a few times as you scolded yourself for getting upset.

“Y-Y/N…” Hobi quietly said in a pained voice. “I… I didn’t think he-”

You sighed pitifully and looked over to the Saeni and forced a smile. “There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

“Little scorja…?” Tae reached out and gently placed a hand on your shoulder.

“What?” You asked and laughed in a weak manner. “He can do whatever he wants.”

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” Jin inquired, not understanding what was happening.

Not understanding that disappointment was crashing you over and filling your heart.

Before you could answer, Jungkook came strutting back to the group with a smug expression on his face. You averted your eyes while the three Saeni who knew of your crush glared at him.

The burgundy-haired male stopped, questioning why they were looking at him like that when he completed the dare. But they said nothing to explain, not wanting you to feel any worse.

“Who?” asked Namjoon.

Jungkook cleared his throat before walking around the fire. “Ch-Chungha.”

You sucked in a breath as he sat down behind you and caged you in with his legs again.

The audacity of this fucker!

But you couldn’t bring yourself to stay mad. You were just… sad and hurt and wondering why you always had to like the guys that never showed a speck on interest in you. Maybe you were cursed. Or maybe you were subconsciously addicted to the ache it caused in your heart.

Jungkook didn’t wrap his arms around you again, thankfully. Instead, he leaned back on his hands. Fuck, all you wanted to do was get away from him and let Tae hold you. But you couldn’t. It would look weird and suspicious if you got up and left his leggy embrace now, so you just sat there in discomfort. Shrinking yourself as much as possible, you tried to allow only the barest amounts of your body to touch him.

Unaware of the heaviness inside your chest and the small feeling crowding in your mind, Jungkook smack his lips together once before calling Tae’s name to continue the shitty game.

The next morning you were finishing up your training session with fatigued energy. You had barely slept a wink last night. Not with Jungkook sleeping peacefully next to you as if he hadn’t just stomped your heart into a pulpy mess. After tossing and turning for several hours and resisting the urge to look at the snoozing burgundy head beside you, you had given up and just stared at the stars and moon blankly.

You had remained that way, basically motionless and letting your feelings eat away at you, until you somehow fell asleep. When Tae woke you up a couple hours later, he informed you that Jungkook asked Yoongi to train you today since he wanted to get some of his own training in with the kiela. You had breathed out a relieved sigh and nodded since that meant you didn’t have to look at or deal with Jungkook until later.

But that didn’t mean you were entirely focused or particularly spritely during training.

Fortunately, Yoongi seemed to understand and didn’t berate you for your poor performance. You were also grateful he didn’t ask how you were doing since you weren’t in the mood to talk about it. Instead, he just did his best to distract you with training and keep your mind preoccupied for a short while.

He even ended the session a bit early, telling you to go wash up in the creek and try to get some rest before Jimin began tackling the draeva again. With a tiny, tired smile, you thanked him and dropped your bow and quiver off with the rest of your stuff before grabbing the towel you had stuffed in your backpack. Throwing it over your shoulder, you made your way through the foliage toward the creek.

Muttering to yourself about dumb boys and dumb feelings, you brushed past the small, leafy limbs and shuffled through the shrubs. The sound of soft rapids began to reach your ears and you groaned in pleasure at the thought of cleaning the dirt off your skin.

The calming sound of flowing water grew louder and louder, and you smiled to yourself as you ducked under and around the last set of branches before the creek beach. Though it turned into a frown as you saw a shirtless Jungkook bending down to retrieve his shirt from a rock.

One morning… is one morning without him too much to ask?

You stilled as he straightened, showcasing the hard ridges of his muscular back as well as the rings of his draeva mark. Water dripped off the wet strands of his hair, beaded on his skin, and trailed down the curve of his spine. Your eyes followed the drops’ descent to his slim waist until they reached the waistband of his pants, but then your eyes went even further and snuck a look at his round, firm booty. Continuing down, you took in the bulging outline of his thighs and the-

Oh shit, he’s turning around! Act casual!

You went to move your hands behind your back, then brought them to your front, then clasped them together, then tried crossing them all in a span of a second. None of them felt normal so you just awkwardly hung them at your sides as your eyes went wide with panic and he fully turned around.

Your plan had been to gruff out a simple hello and walk past him.

Unsurprisingly, that all flew out the goddamn window as soon as you were presented with the snack that was Jeon Jungkook’s abdominal muscles. You swallowed hard as you tried to peel your eyes away from his lean torso and his drool-worthy v line.

You finally managed to bring your gaze up to his face and mentally cursed when you saw him smirking at you.

“Like what you see, sweetheart?”

The nickname made you blood boil and you made your eyes harden while anchoring your arms across your chest.

“For Exia’s sake, are you mad at me or something?” He rolled his green eyes and went to tug his shirt n over his head but paused and suddenly looked at you seriously. “Did hyung do something to you at training?”

“Mr. Sparkle Hands?” You scoffed and began marching forward. “No. He didn’t do anything.”

He pulled his shirt on all the way. “Okay, well why are you so grouchy?”

Now just a couple of feet away from the male, you raised your hand and poked him forcefully. “I am not grouchy. Or mad. Why would I be mad? There’s nothing to be mad about.”

He frowned at you jabbing your finger into him. “Alright, so you’re definitely mad, and I presume at me, but wha-” He stopped as he realized something, then chuckled and smirked again. “Oh my goddess, don’t tell me you’re jealous.”

I want to punch him so fucking badly in his perfect fucking face.

“Why the hell would I be jealous?” You lifted your chin and did your best to not give away your actual feelings.

Yes. I’m fucking jealous. And hurt. And embarrassed. And a whole lot of other shit.

He stepped closer to you and lowly said, “Because I said I kissed Chungha last night.”

You unwillingly winced slightly, and you moved away from him as your eyes began to sting.

Inhaling, you looked past him at the flowing creek. “So?”

Maybe if you just ignored him, he would leave and let you mask your tears with creek water in peace.

“Sweetheart.”

Just ignore him and he’ll leave.

“Look at me.”

Ignore him and he’ll leave. Ignore him and he’ll leave. Ignore him and he’ll leave.

“Please.”

You still didn’t, so he took matters into his own hands. Literally.

Reaching out, he grabbed your chin and forced you to face him. He no longer had that cocky grin on his face, but was looking at you with soft, worried eyes.

You stared at him, tired and borderline limp. You didn’t have the energy to fight him anymore.

Gently, he tucked some of your hair behind your ear with his free hand before holding the side of your face. His thumb caressed your cheek and you let him. You shouldn’t have, but you did.

“I didn’t kiss her.” He gazed at you with sincerity.

Huh?

Seeing your confusion, he continued. “I only said I did. I didn’t want hyungs thinking I bitched out again, so I took off my sock, put my shoe back on, and walked back. That’s it.”

I’m sorry, WHAT!?

You shoved him away, yelling and cursing his ridiculous, unbelievable ego. He looked at you in shock as you put your palms against his firm chest and pushed him again. And again. And again.

This motherfucker hurts me and now tells me that pain was because his fucking ego was too sensitive to not do a dare!?

“You’re the biggest, most annoying, frustrating, immature… jackass I’ve ever met in my life! AND I’VE MET A LOT OF JACKASSES!”

As you barely controlled yourself not to wring the living daylights out of him, you noticed his head jerk to the side suddenly. His silver earrings flashed in the morning light. Then, he had the nerve to shush you.

Maybe, a nice, early morning strangulation won’t be a bad way to start the day.

Fuming, you clenched your hands and was about to start going off again, but he whipped his head back to you in alarm and quickly smacked a hand over your mouth while gripping your upper arm in his other. You struggled against him and proceeded to scream vulgarities at him through his palm.

“Y/N. Shut. Up,” he whispered in a dark, serious tone.

And shut up you did. You glared at him with mad, yet perplexed eyes as you breathed heavily into his hand.

He held your gaze as his head tilted to the side once more. As if he was listening for something.

Out of the corner of your eyes, you saw something shine brightly and briefly and you yelped as Jungkook forcefully yanked you down to the ground. You hit the rocky beach with a harsh grunt and above your heads, you glimpsed a decently sized dagger fly though the air where your bodies had just been. You strained your neck to follow its path and watched as it clattered against a lone rock and ricocheted out of sight.

What the fuck!?

Next, came a small party of three unknown Saeni charging through the trees at you from the opposite side of the creek. Cursing, Jungkook rolled into a crouch while throwing a rock at one of them. The projectile hit the male dead in the face, causing him to fall to the side. Instinctively, you also rose to a crouch and reached over your shoulder for an arrow but froze when you remembered you left your bow and quiver at camp.

Shit.

You picked up a rock too, and readied to throw it, but realized it was completely unnecessary. Jungkook had already snapped the neck of the first Saeni who reached him, his teeth gritted in anger as he did so. As the now dead female collapsed, he snatched up the knife at her waist and spun once before throwing it at the final opponent. The blade rotated once in the air and embedded itself into the skull of its target.

Whistling at his display of abilities, you tossed the rock aside and fully stood. “Are they-”

He nodded. “Draikensu.”

Double shit.

He leaned down to wrench out the blade from the Saeni’s face, blood erupting out and drenching the draikensu’s head once it was removed. With a clenched jaw, he made his way over to the male he had hit with a rock, but before Jungkook was able to reach him, more draikensu began pouring out from the tree line across from you.

“Oh, fuck. Run!” He swiveled and began coming back to you as he yelled. “Go! Go! Go!”

With a curse, you turned and began sprinting.

The two of you crashed through the forest. Branches whipping against your face, thorns scratching against your skin and clothes, and frenzied energy thrumming through your veins. Jungkook was behind you, urging you to move faster as arrows began thumping into trees and whistling past your heads. Sucking in air, you did just that. You ran and ran and ran. Away from the draikensu. Toward camp and your weapons. Into the rising sun and what you were sure would be a bloody, death-bringing day.

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nomimits7 · 5 years ago

Text

Undecided Chapter 6

Title: Undecided Pt 6

Genre: Investigation, murder, masked behavior.

Warnings: murder, psychotic behavior, might be triggering.

Members: detective OT7 x Forensic scientist Reader

Note: Red words/Phrases are just add-ins to help with the storyline… If they confuse you, feel free to ask!

Summary: Moving overseas for a once in a lifetime job offer was one of the scariest things Y/N ever did. That was until she got stuck in a twisted investigation of random murders, all with one link but no leads. Closing in on the culprit(s) Y/N doesn’t realize the danger she’s getting into. With no family or friends, can Y/N dare to trust those seven closest to her with her life?

Chapter 5

A/N: And here she is !! Chapter 6 let's go!

•♡•

Deception: The act of hiding the truth, especially to get an advantage

•♡•

“Please move in with us doll, let us keep you safe”

It’s been roughly six days since you arrived. You only managed to talk to Lusia for 30 minutes before you had to hang up again. Luckily, he assured you he’ll tell your parents that you send them love and so. It’s weird, isn’t it? He specifically asked you to call him first instead of your parents. You wanted to speak to them so bad, tell them what you have experienced thus far, but there hasn’t even been time to send a simple text message to them. You were contemplating if calling them was even a good idea, to begin with. Especially now that the case was at a complete standstill. Besides, Lusia said he’ll tell them you have called.

You’ll seek guidance from one of the boys, maybe they’ll be able to suggest what would be the best thing to do. You were even contemplating if you should tell them about your dream or not. But not now, now you had to stay focused on packing all your belongings as fast as possible. A few more hours of waiting on an answer to your inward battle won’t do any harm. Luckily for you, Taehyung decided to give everyone a rest from the case. He kind of ordered all the boys to help you pack to get you as far away from danger, as fast as possible. In other words, you all technically had the entire day off, even if you have to move and settle in.

Surprisingly, none of the others complained when Tae gave the orders. Everyone seemed to agree without hesitation! It was weird how fast and eager they wanted to help you move, at least you liked to think that way. You even went as far as to ask Jimin why they were so… compliant.

“The faster you move in, Y/N. The faster we all can relax and the more time we have, to do anything BUT work! Just remember, we hardly get days off so, enjoy while you can.” He simply responded

It did make sense. In this line of work, they barely get any time for themselves. Especially since this case started. So, without further due, you hustled to finish your packing so you could make the most of this day. You were on your way to the dining room when two hushed voices caught your attention. Stopping at the kitchen door, you quickly recognized the voices as Hoseok and Jungkook’s.

You were just about to make your presence known when you were stopped by Hoseok’s words.

“-We already processed Namjoon’s scene. I don’t get it, we were supposed to have done Jin-hyungs scene before his. We were all there, so why-“

“Y/N? Why are you standing there? Come help me load these boxes. Have you packed your clothes already?” Yoongi’s voice suddenly called from across the hall, breaking the conversation you were listening to.

Something about what you heard felt off. What were they referring to? Scenes? Brushing it off as nothing you quickly made your way over to Yoongi to help him load some of your boxes.

•♡•

The move went quickly with the help of all the boys. It only took two trips to move all your belongings and some of the furniture, since it wasn’t that much to begin with. Their home, being as spacious as it was, was just what you have always imagined for yourself. Big, brightly lit rooms, a huge kitchen, dining room and lounging area to match. What more could one possibly want? Your room was situated at the back of the home. It was the biggest guest room you have ever seen. Like Namjoon said ‘You're protected here. If anyone wants to get to you, they’ll have to pass all seven of us first’

Their home screamed safety. It was a total contrast to the world you worked in. It was bright, calming and open. It allowed you to let go of all worries and just… ‘live’.

You knew deep down in your heart you were safe. Nothing would happen to you as long as you’re with them. Besides, your family, right?

“Y/N? Are you all settled in? I do hope the room isn’t too disappointing” Jungkook asked as he peeked into your door. A shy smile on his face as he nervously waited for your answer. His whole body screamed relaxation as he awkwardly stood in your doorway. He was sporting a pair of black shorts, accompanied by a rather large white T-shirt. His hair was ruffled, and his feet were bare. He sure as hell was one of a kind, being able to look shy one second and intimidating the very next…

“Disappointing? What? No, no it does not disappoint, trust me. It’s actually everything I could ever wish for! Thank you” you quickly said. Looking down as an unexpected shyness took a hold of you.

“Ah, that’s good to hear! We were worried you didn’t like the room or the house. Oh, and we’re not that disorganized or messy like at the office! We’ll be sure to clean up after ourselves and so, so no need to worry about that.” Jungkook added as he rubbed the back of his neck. Nerves still clear as day present in his whole demeanor.

“What? Oh, my word no Jungkookie! Haha, there’s no need for that! You clearly haven’t known me long. I’m like one of the messiest people you can find! Especially in the space I’m supposed to relax. Just because I’m a girl, doesn’t mean I’m all that neat. Don’t stress about it okay? And I know the rest of the boys put you up to this small interrogation session, so you can tell them exactly this ‘stop picking on Kookie! And everything is just perfect!’ Now go, so I can finish unpacking the last box. I’ll be there in just a sec” As soon as you called him Kookie his face changed. He went from ‘shy-baby-boy’ to a cat that just got milk so fast it nearly gave you whiplash.

With that, he left. Sure, living with seven men may not have been in your life plan, but hey at least you could tease them now. Your plan of action was simple… Give them the same treatment they have been giving you. Nicknames, yes, that’s where you’ll start. It clearly influenced Jungkook. Although he didn’t exactly look flustered, he looked more… pleased?

With your ridiculous plan, you just knew would fail, you quickly finish up the last of the boxes. You changed into something a bit more comfortable before heading out to find the rest of the boys.

Today’s going to be a wonderful day…

•♡•

It’s a beautiful spring day. Your father’s in the garden busy tending to the flowers, your mother’s in the kitchen baking to her heart's content. They’re happy, yet restless. It’s been five days and eleven hours since you left the safety of their home. Five days and eleven hours since they heard you laugh or play your music loudly in your room. Five days and eleven hours since they said goodbye to their baby.

You’ve always been that child, never afraid to try something new or go somewhere unknown. That’s why it hadn’t come as a surprise when you told them you applied for a job overseas. They silently knew you would leave them for something bigger than them. Yes, they knew but it wasn’t like you to not get in touch with them for more than two days. One phone call, that’s all they need to know you’re okay, happy even. As much as they want to be the first to call, they can’t. Since you went halfway around the world, your old mobile number had to change

‘Don’t worry mom! I’ll call you as soon as I can. I promise, okay? Now take care of Dad and Lusai for me. They need a strong woman to keep them inline’ You said just before walking through the first security checkpoint at the airport.

They’re worried. Very worried. They knew you would be to busy to call them immediately, yet they still hoped for something, anything.

“Aunt Lacy? Uncle Max? I just received a letter from Y/N!” Lusai shouted as he barged into the house, nearly knocking over the blue vase full of umbrellas right next to the front door.

With those words hanging in the air both your parents dropped everything they were doing. Freshly baked cookies scattered around the kitchen counter as your mother dropped the pan. Newly planted daisies were brutally stabbed with the small garden shovel as your father jumped up from his sitting position. Both your parents hurried into the living room, eyes wide and hearts full of hope. Finally, even if it wasn’t normal for you to send them letters, at least it was some form of communication. They were sure there was a reason behind the letter, maybe you wanted to make it as personal as possible. This letter would be framed and hanged in the foyer.

Dear Mom and Dad.

I am so sorry for the lack of communication. I sort of got the job and had been very busy with work. I do have some bad news, the case I’m working on is a serial killer case. I know it’s a big case for the first one, but these men really needed my help. The killer has taken a liking in me, so I had to relocate to a new place which I can’t discuss. Don’t worry, I’m safe. That’s also why I couldn’t call you. This guy is smart and if he knew your location, I would never forgive myself. I will talk to you soon, but as long as he walks free, I have to keep my distance.

Send all my love to Lusai. I miss him. I miss you guys so, so much. I love you

Xoxo

Y/N

“Oh my, my poor baby” Lacy said as tears streamed down her face.

“Now, now my love. She’s a strong girl. We’ll write back to her telling her we miss her and that she needs to stay safe.” Max said as he took his wife in his arms.

“Hang on, this means we can’t really communicate with her until she makes the first call? That sucks. I wanted to hear her voice again.” Lusai said, frown in place as he stared daggers at the letter.

“It’s okay son. She’ll come back. You know she will. Besides she gave her heart to you.” Lacy said smiling. It’s true, you were in love with Lusai once, but that feeling slowly faded with the years, yet you never had the heart to break his. So, you lied to him and, apparently your parents too.

Lusai only smiled as he looked down at the letter again. His heart filled with sadness as he took in each stroke of the pe-

“This isn’t Y/N’s handwriting. She doesn’t write this neat, even if she really tries.” Lusai said as he studied the letter further.

Before Lusai could get a better look, there was a loud banging at the front door. A beat went by as all three of them froze. An uneasy feeling settled around the room. A feeling one should never ignore.

“I’ll get it,” Lusai said turning towards the front door. Upon opening it, Lusai came face to face with the end of a gun barrel. Lusai immediately paled at the sight, he’s never been fond of those things. He always complained when you would drag him to the shooting range for practice. Unlike Lusai, you wanted to learn how to use them properly.

“Hello, pretty boy,” the man behind the gun said. A smirk slowly forming on his face.

“Mind if my boys and I come inside? We have a message to deliver”

•♡•

“So, what do you guys want to do for the rest of the day?” you asked as you entered the lounge. All the boys were there, either sleeping or playing on their phones.

“What about a day at home? We could watch some movies. There’s this new horror movie we wanted to watch, and the newest Marvel movie should be available to stream.” Jimin said from his position on the couch.

“A day lazing around at home sounds like heaven!” you said with a little too much enthusiasm as you took a seat between Namjoon and Hoseok.

“Great! I’ll go get some snacks for us” Seokjin said as he got up and went to the kitchen. This is exactly what you need to get your mind off things. Jungkook, Jimin and Taehyung quickly got into a rather heated discussion on what movie should be first. Yoongi was still snoring away on the one couch previously occupied by Seokjin. Hoseok and Namjoon silently scooted closer to you, effectively pinning you to your spot.

“So, Y/N. Have you spoken to your parents yet?” Namjoon asked.

His attempt at small talk warmed your heart even if the question kind of caught you off guard. He watched you curiously as you stared at him, completely lost in thought. His brown eyes help a secret message that you didn’t quite get. His flawless features were illuminated by the light streaming in from a world beyond the windows. A world you gladly weren’t apart of today.

“Y/N?” Namjoon said as he raised his eyebrows. A small smile appearing on his face when you slightly jumped at his voice. His dimples made its grand appearance as his smile widened and your cheeks reddened.

“I’m sorry. I- uh, I haven’t spoken to them since I left, no” You said, slightly embarrassed at being caught taking his very beautiful face in.

“Wait, you haven’t told your parents you got the job?” Hoseok suddenly said next to you. His face was a mix of concern and shock.

“No, I haven’t. Why? Is something wrong?” You asked a bit confused at his sudden change in mood. At this question, the whole room went quiet. Even the youngsters stopped fighting as they all stared at you.

“Y/N,” Seokjin said from the doorway, frown evident on his face. “It’s been like, what? Five days and you still haven’t spoken to them? You're going to call them, right now” His firm voice made you jump slightly.

“Okay, okay. Jeez, I don’t see why you all are so upset over this. It’s not like I haven’t called anyone, I’ve spoken to Lusia a few days ago.” You said, pout firmly in place on your face.

“Who the hell is Lusia?” Jungkook blurted from his position next to Taehyung.

“Oh, he’s a childhood friend. He told me to call him before I call my parents. I don’t know why though.” You said as you suddenly saw the strangeness of the whole situation. Before you could analyze anything further another voice pulled your attention away.

“Okay, clearly you're missing the point here. So, let me help you. They are your parents, right? If I were them, I would be sick with worry if my daughter went to a strange country, for a job interview and she decided to go radio silent for five days without so much as a ‘Hi, I’m safe’. You’re not being fair Y/N.” Yoongi suddenly said from the couch across the room.

His words left a feeling of guilt behind. He was right after all. You’re being selfish and it's not fair towards your parents if you keep on acting as if you barely have time for a simple call. Come to think of it, why did you delay speaking to them? Was it because you knew it would break their hearts if you had to tell them you’re not returning home soon? Maybe it was because for the first time in your existence you felt… alive?

“Okay, I’ll call them” You stated as you attempted to get up but the two stone pillars you were seated next to made it impossible. With one stern look from Hoseok, you halted all attempts of escape. Why? You do not know.

“Oh no, you're making the call right here missy and you're putting them on speaker. We would like to introduce ourselves and ensure them of your safety.” Taehyung suddenly said.

Well, this was indeed a sudden turn of events. You blankly stared at each member expecting one of them to show signs that this was some sort of prank, yet none budged. Reluctantly you pulled out your mobile and proceeded to dial your parents.

After a short while of ringing, someone picked up on the other end. The voice that greeted you on the other end sends chills down your spine.

“Hello Y/N, so nice of you to call. I would have given the phone to your parents but their a little tied up.” The voice was deep with a playful edge to it. Even if you heard the attempt the caller made at hiding their identity, you knew exactly who you were talking to.

“Lusia“You stated with a firm voice.

“Now, now. I only wanted to deliver a message to you and your parents. I owe someone money for this, so I do hope you listen carefully. You know me Y/N, right? So, here’s what I want. 6 Million in 5 hours or I’m going to have to start selling body parts” Lusia said, smirk evident in his voice.

“What? Cat got your tongue. Call me back when you have the money. I know you’re loaded with it. So, don’t try anything with me. You owe me after the stunt you pulled” With a final click the call ended leaving you in a room of seven silent men.

Fantastic. You knew the past would catch up to you, but you did what you had to do to keep your parents safe.

Chapter 7

A/N; Hope you liked it! I’m thinking of making the taglist permanent... thoughts?

Taglist: @loonyginger @hani-bun @sugashaye @alomarce @loisje123 @chim-possible @imfor-everdrivinginpuddles @exprimidordefresas @speakyourselfloveyourself @autumnboo126 @3amthoughtsvented @thetrxshbx @michiluvddr @purecelestialpower @ur-honey-child @dulce-whirlpool @moonlightnightingalesworld @loudfriendtacocookie @mysteriousanna @diorluvs @misseoulite @mina9235 @crajishie

#undecided nomimits #undecided #ot7 x reader #bts x reader #bts #z investigators

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fernwehbookworm · 5 years ago

Text

Second Heart

The Past beats inside me like a Second Heart- John Banville, The Sea

A soft beeping invaded Lena's conciseness, her headache pulsing with it each time. Through a haze she groggily opened her eyes, becoming away of someone touching her. No, tucking in a blanket? Lena blinks a couple more times and her headache seems to spike harshly behind her eyes.

"Ugh, fuck…" she mumbles and tries to lift her hand to her temple but it's tugged short by something in her arm. An IV. Her sluggish mind was starting to put prices together as the harsh smell of sterilization fills her nostrils.

"Lena!" The blonde woman cries from where she just tucked a colorful, warm blanket under Lena's left leg. She reaches out towards Lena but seems to hesitate, just a moment, before pushing the call button for the Doctor. She must be the nurse checking on her. But for wha- "Ah!" Lena uses her fee hand this to grab the side of her head and squeeze her eyes shut. Don't cry. Don't you fucking cry. Luthors don't show weakness. Lena can just picture the disappointed look Lillian would give her right now. That helps her push the pain back, back behind the mask she always wears.

The blonde woman was watching her intently. The blue eyes staring into her in such a way that Lena was sure that she would burn her soul with the heat of it. Lena turns away and takes in the room. A blanket and pillow are neatly folded on the comfortable looking couch in the large hospital room. A laptop sits open with file folders and notebooks splayed out around it on the coffee table. That's not a good sign. The only person who could be here for her would be Lillian and she wouldn't be happy about being called to Metropolis in the middle of the move. This isn't good for our stocks, she can hear Lillian almost sneer. But not quite, she's too proper for a real sneer. Lena is pulled from her thoughts by she doctor entering.

"Well-" she glances at the blonde woman, she shakes her head just slightly. It's a weird interaction but Lena lets nothing show on her face. "Ms. Luthor. Welcome back to the land of the living. You had us worried there for a bit."

"I-" Lena is cut off by her own rough voice. It feels very unused and sore. She casts about for some water, which the blonde is already pouring. Lena nods as she hands it to her and takes a couple of sips.

"I am not sure what is happening right now, Doctor..."

"Doctor Natu. First, I have just a couple questions and I have to check you over. Then you can ask me questions."

Lena sighs, "Very well."

The doctor begins by asking her name.

"Lena Kiran Luthor."

"Age?"

"Twenty-four,"

"What city are we in?"

"Metropolis."

"Who is the current president?"

"President Baker."

"What year is it?"

"2019, seriously are we done yet?" Lena is getting exasperated with the questions and poking and prodding and that stupid little light that the woman is shining in her eyes. The blonde woman had excused herself when the Doctor started.

"Yes, I think so. From what I can tell, you are on your way to being completely healed."

"Doctor Natu, I suggest you start giving me some answers before I sue this hospital into giving me someone who can," Lena says sternly, but still without much emotion.

"May I sit?" She asks, gesturing to the chair next to the bed. Lena nods slightly.

"This is going to be very hard to hear Lena." Lena swallows at the use of her first name, it's to lessen the blow of whatever is coming.

"You suffered a very serious head trauma. From what we can gather, your airplane was shot from the sky, blowing a hole in the plane," the doctor is speaking softly and evenly so as not to frighten her. "You only lived because Supergirl caught you immediately, but as you were basically vacuumed out of the plane by the air pressure, the back of your head caught on the opening. Your brain began to swell from the impact and put you into a coma."

"Supergirl… wait. What plane? How long have I been out? The only plane I was going to get on was the Venture, and I had to pull out last minute."

"You've only been 'out' for six days. But due to the brain swelling, it seems you have lost a great deal of memory." The doctor says softly, picking each word with care.

"How much?" Lena whispers.

"Right now, the year is 2024. You are twenty-nine and currently living in National City, where you moved and rebranded L-Corp five years ago."

"Five…" Lena trails off and looks out the large windows at the unfamiliar skyline. How could she have lost five years of memories?

"Where's my mother? I need to speak to her." Lena almost snaps the question at the poor doctor. Surely she must have been alerted to Lena waking up.

"To the best of my knowledge, some FBI black site after her third escape attempt from the maximum-security prison."

"Nonsense. Who else would be here?" Lena gestures to the pile of stuff on the coffee table. Though now that she looks at it, it's a rather disorganized pile. One with colorful sticky notes and pens and she can see a small Pride flag stuck to the top corner of the back that faces her.

"Well, that's another big thing you seem to be missing because it happened in the past five years. That would be your wife's laptop."

"My wife!?" Lena exclaims, immediately regretting it as her headache rises with her voice. Lena clamps her eyes shut against the pain. The door bursts open at Lena's raised voice and the blonde enters the room again. Her wife enters the room again.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Concerned drips from her voice and fire burns in her eyes as she realizes the source of Lena's outburst must be the doctor.

"I was just informing Lena of her situation. She's missing about five years of time, she referred to the Venture before it exploded."

The woman seems to deflate and sadness floods her features. It makes Lena's heart hurt in an unexpected way. "So before she met me." The woman says softly.

"I'm afraid so. I would like to keep Lena just a few more days. Although the swelling has gone completely down, I would like to monitor her to see if any of her memory returns or if there was further brain damage that we weren't able to assess while she was unconscious. Physical Therapy will start tomorrow morning. Maybe try to tell her some of the major events from after she can remember. It may jog the rest of it. I'll be back to check in before I leave." Doctor Natu stands to leave.

Lena's wife holds out her hand for the doctor to shake.

"Thank you. For everything. For coming when I called. It really means a lot to me."

Doctor Natu smiles softly, "After what you did last year, how could I not? We all owe you big." The blonde woman nods and returns the smile. It's an odd moment before the doctor leaves the room and the blonde woman takes a deep breath before turning to Lena.

"If you would like to sleep, we can talk later." She says in a small voice, it's very unsure of itself and it feels odd coming from the woman. Like Lena knows she shouldn't feel this distant from her.

Lena looks into those bright blue eyes and tries to remember something, anything.

"I would like to know my wife's name if it's not too much?" And Lena knows those are the right words to say because that life is magical to her years. The woman's shoulders relax and she takes the seat the doctor vacated moments before. The woman's hand hovers over Lena's but she pulls back when she sees Lena pull away slightly.

"Right. Guess that would be a good thing to know. Seeing as you don't even remember meeting me. Man, I had always wished I had been cooler when we first met and I actually get a do-over and I'm just ramb-" she pauses at Lena's raised eyebrow before taking a deep breath. "Right. Sorry. Hi, I'm Kara Danvers. Well, now its Danvers-Luthor." The woman, Kara, sticks out a timid hand towards Lena. Lena hesitates before taking.

"Lena Luthor, though I'm guessing it's Danvers-Luthor."

Kara grins, eyes squinting in the corner as she nods. Lena's heart flutters a bit at the sight. This woman was pulling down all the walls Lena had built to protect herself. Or she already had and Lena's body was just remembering more than her brain did. It made her uncomfortable and she tried to shut it down. Kara noticed the change right away and looked at Lena with such deep concern it speared straight through her.

"I'm sorry. I should let you sleep a bit. It's only a little before nine in the morning. I need to make some phone calls anyway. I'll be just outside your door so just call out if you need anything." Kara stands and makes sure the water cup is full and in easy reach, as well as the television remote and the remote attached to the bed for her to call the nurses station. Kara shuts the blinds without being asked and turns out the light on her way. All small gestures that are so foreign to Lena that she spends the entirety of Kara's quick movements in silence until she's out the door.

It sure doesn't help the headache to think about but she is getting drowsy and the pain is numbing from the doctor adjusting her pain meds during the examination. Lena sinks back into the pillow as numbness begins to trickle in much faster now that she is no longer distracted. Sleep is easy to sink into then as the chemicals in her bloodstream do their work.

Lena sits, writing across endless documents as she travels as quickly as she can home. She's eager, that's for sure. It bubbles in her chest as the plane soars across the sky. She really is trying to focus but something keeps pulling her attention. Lena instead gets up to make herself a drink at the mini bar, it's still at least an hour until the descent and the minutes were ticking by too slowly.

She just had to go to London this past week. Of course, it was yesterday that the news came in, instead of in three days. But Lena had left early to be home when…

The sudden explosion knocks her from her feet and she hits the side of the plane as it leeches to the side. Then she's being thrown to the back as her ears pop and the plane begins to fall. Another explosion and the back of the plane is rent open and all Lena can see is the black sky as she rushes towards it. Suddenly her head explodes in pain as she hits the ceiling and a blur of red and blue fills her vision.

Lena wakes with a shout and breathing heavy. The heart monitor is going crazy and then Kara is pushing into the room, eyes wide looking for the source of distress. When she sees Lena alone and takes in her frazzled, sweaty appearance, she relaxes again. She moves to sit next to Lena and stops short of reaching out again. Faintly, it registers how hard this must be for the woman.

"It's okay. You're safe. It was just a dream. Doctor Natu said it may happen because you are still trying to process everything that happened."

Lena gulps at the air and clutches the sheets. Slowly she gets her breathing back under control and smooths her hair back from her face. Before she can even ask, Kara is holding out a hair tie for her to use.

Lena plucks it from her fingers, "Thanks." She murmurs as she scrapes the oily mess back. She really needs a shower. Lena settles back against the raised bed and tries to relax.

"What time is it?" She asks.

"Almost one. I'll page the nurse to bring you food. Dr. Natu instructed them to let you sleep." Which Kara does immediately after.

"You and the Doctor seemed close. What happened last year?"

"Nothing important right now. She's a friend of my cousin. They needed help with this group thing last minute." Lena raises an eyebrow but lets it go when the nurse deposits a tray of bland food in front of her.

"Sorry dear, we have to keep it simple and ease you back onto solid food. Tomorrow there should be some more fruit though."

Lena saved her sneer for when the nurse leaves. Still, she speers the mushy vegetables on her fork and takes a bite out of the buttered bread. Kara refills her water before taking a seat next to her. Kara is obviously actively looking anywhere but Lena.

"So," Lena starts, trying to figure out how to navigate this situation. Nothing in her Luthor training prepared her for losing her memory only to find out she is married and 'out' of the closet publicly. Also that your mother is in jail alongside your crazy brother and you have moved cities and-

"What do you do for a living? That's a lot of files." Lena gestures with her fork, trying to get a hold of her spiraling thoughts.

"Well, I'm a senior reporter for CatCo."

Lena nearly chokes on her carrot. She swallows and takes a sip of water."I married a reporter? How did that happen?"

"Well actually, I wasn't one when we met. But you kind of gave me the courage to do it."

“I did that?”

“Yeah, you did. It was probably the start of everything for us.”

Lena chews thoughtfully for a few minutes. This woman was nothing like she would have considered dating before. She was open and honest in a way Lena wasn’t used to. It also made her want to slam her walls up and not trust a word out of her mouth. What if this was all a crazy ruse by her insane brother and she wasn’t really married to this beautiful blonde woman. She could only play along to find out.

“Tell me about it then. Maybe it will help jog my memory.”

“Well, it was right after the Venture explosion, the Supers saved the plane from going down. While trying to figure out what caused it, they discovered the only empty seat was...umm… well, yours.”

“So of course the Luthor had to be the culprit.”

“It was suspicious at first, so they asked my cousin to interview you and since I was kind of at a loss of what to do with my life, he invited me along.”

“Who’s your cousin? Anyone I know?”

Kara laughs slightly and Lena realizes how silly of a question that is. She probably knew Kara’s family pretty well at this point.

“Right, I mean, five years ago. Did I know him then?”

“I’d say yes. Clark Kent, he’s my cousin.”

“Crap. A family of reporters? What was I thinking?” Lena only half teases.

“Trust me, it's not the only thing crazy about our relationship, but I’ll tell you more, later. Anyway, Clark brought me along and you were so strong and confidant. Golly, I could barely get a word out.”

Golly? Was she for real?

“Anyway, even Clark was convinced you didn’t do it then. After that, they found evidence that the bomb was planted directly under what would have been your seat. As we investigated the accident you had two more assassination attempts and… Supergirl saved you both times. And actual on the second one, your would-be assassin, had my sister at Gunpoint and you saved her. You were scared but this fire burned in your eyes like nothing I had ever seen before. All you wanted was to do good in the world but your brother was trying to have you killed.” Kara stares at Lena with an intensity that only her Luthor training keeps her from squirming.

“Clark published an article after it was all said and done. It gave you and L-Corp good press that you needed and Clark apologized for not believing you.”

Lena snorts.

“It's true, you said ‘If I can make a believer out of Clark Kent, there’s hope yet.’ Then you turned to me and asked why my name wasn’t on the by-line. I told you I wasn’t a reporter and all you said was ‘Well, you could have fooled me.’ That was it. I just knew if you believed in me, then I could do it. Which is crazy considering I had just met you. But nothing about our story is very normal.”

Kara sits back and fiddles with her glasses a bit, trying to find a way to keep going. THings with Lena hadn’t been this awkward since… well since ever. At least, in the beginning, they had so much to talk about, Kara was able to scale her wall because of the trials they went through together. Now here Kara was, at the finish line of a marathon and Lena had been transported back to the beginning.

“I think… yeah, I think I brought it with me. The article I mean. You saved it way back when and the doctor thought familiar things may help. Hold on.” Kara stands up to fast, almost knocking the chair over with a blush. Lena smiles softly before she even realizes it. This has to be real, because the way her body reacts to Kara, that couldn’t be faked. Her heart flutters with a bit of joy at her clumsiness and her lips smile as if they have done it a thousand times before. Kara Begins shifting through piles of things and it honestly amazes Lena how Kara has very much taken over the hospital room in a week's time. She has to believe Kara was basically living here at this point. She obviously had been working from here.

“Aha!” Kara exclaims, pulling out a small looking photo album from the bottom of a precarious stack of books and papers.

“You pasted it into the front of this photo album. You said it's what started our friendship so a few years ago when we assembled these things, you put it in our ‘Friend.’ album. It's the year before we finally admitted our feelings for one another. Alex likes to call it our Clueless Gay’s’ Year. Because we were so clueless.” Kara excitedly hurries back to her chair to hand the album to Lena. “Hopefully this helps. Go on. The article is in the front, and feel free to look at the pictures too.”

Lena scrutinizes Kara’s eager face before carefully opening the cover. She reads the article, but the words don’t mean much to her. It comes like a muggy memory. The bright white of her new office, Kara in a pink that matches the blush on her cheeks as she fiddles with her glasses. Lena had watched her carefully because she had trust issues, but she instantly thought that she wanted to make Kara smile like that again. She remembers feeling her stomach erupt in butterflies that she barely managed to hide by turning away and walking to her desk.

“I hope this isn’t the last time we talk.” Lena murmurs to herself.

“I hope not either.” Kara gives her almost the same smile as her memory. “You remembered.”

“A little. You were cute. You were wearing that pink blazer. And you kept avoiding my eye contact. It was cute.”

“You made me nervous, not in a ‘Luthor’ sort of way, like you used to accuse everyone of, but in the ‘Oh my Ra-gosh, I think I like women.’ Then it was a roller coaster of my sister coming out to me and working through all of that. And I didn’t want to steal her thunder, plus what if you didn’t like me, or if you were straight and then Jack came back and then Mike and-”

“Jack? Jack Spheer? Why did he come back?”

Kara gets all sad then. Lena can already guess what bad news is coming.

“He thought he cracked his nanotechnology. But really he created a deadly swarm out of himself that his CFO was controlling. When I found out I told you and you went to confront him. In the end, it was either save Jack or save… Supergirl. She had tried to come rescue you. You chose her. Because you are always sacrificing yourself for the good of everyone else. It’s one of the things that made me fall in love with you.”

“He’s… dead?”

Kara nods and Lena sits back against her pillows to take in the information. This time the memory slams into her. Jack in pain on the ground, her fist throbbing from punching the evil woman, Supergirl being suffocated by the swarm that the woman was controlling. She knew, even if she let Supergirl die, her chances of saving Jack were slim. He wasn’t really him anymore. He had sacrificed himself for science and lost. She hits the kill switch.

Lena inhales a deep breath and comes back to the present. Kara’s eyes ask the question and Lena just nods. Instead of looking at her wife, she flips the page and skims a mix of faces, some she knows and some she doesn't. Her and Kara among them along with a smattering of others. Alex, she remembers. She recognizes James Olsen too, but from her time in Metropolis.

“Great, more press.” She grumbles.

“Ah, yeah. You and James dated briefly.”

Lena visibly cringes and almost throws the book away from her.

“That’s how I felt. You admitted later that it was because of our poor communication skills. I encouraged you to go for it, along with the rest of our friends. At the time I was dealing with the heartbreak of losing someone I cared about and then having them show back up in my life. I was also suppressing a lot of feelings for you. You said it felt like we were growing apart and it was a way to stay closer to me. We both made poor decisions.”

“Why are you being so vague?”

Kara chews on her bottom lip as Lena slowly flips through the pages. The plastic protecting the pictures crinkles under her touch. She and Kara spent a lot of time together, and when they weren't looking at the camera, they were looking at each other with so much love that it almost sickened Lena, if it didn’t make her stomach flutter. She flips to the last page with a picture of her and Alex hugging Kara tightly from both sides.

A glass of whiskey set down hard cracks the frame and anger builds in Lena’s chest like a hot beast that she had chained down but now it was free. She snapped the book shut and shoves it back at the blonde woman. Kara recoils at the heat blazing in the green eyes that she hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Crap.”

“Yeah ‘Crap’”

“Lee please-”

“You lied to me! For so fucking long. And you continued lying to me just now! You’ve been lying since I woke up! ‘Oh Lena, Supergirl saved you.’ ‘Oh, Lena I helped with the investigation but you had to choose between Jack and Supergirl.’” Lena mocks her and folds arms over her chest, cringing slightly as her headache throbs with her yelling.

“Rao, I want to have this fight again. I know. I was selfish and I didn’t tell you. I told myself it was to protect you but then it became protecting myself. I was selfish because Supergirl tainted all my relationships and I didn’t want that to happen with you. So be mad. I hope that you can remember how hard we fought to get back to each other. If you can’t then I will fight all over again, because I will always fight for you Lena Luthor. Supergirl may be this city’s hero, but you are mine. You have saved me over and over again, even when you hated me, you saved me.”

Lena averts her gaze, fury still broiling in her chest. She doesn't remember everything, but this she does. She remembers Lex showing her everything before she killed him. She remembers walking into the game night with a bottle of wine, suppressing the urge to throw it at Kara. The lies stacked up and the hate simmering just below the surface. For the first time, she understood her brother’s madness and that made her hate Kara all the more.

Kara sighs and stands up. “I’m not leaving you. Shouldn’t knowing that you’re my wife give you an idea that we get past this?”

Lena remains silent and looks out the window. Kara sighs and goes back to her files. Eventually, Lena turns on the television as Kara types on her laptop. Lena can feel the tension she put between them, but until she remembers the solution to their fight, she is stuck with these feelings and these memories. Kara leaves to take a phone call and at some point, the nurse brings dinner for Lena. Kara returns with a turkey wrap for herself, apologizing that Lena can't have anything more appetizing and Lena studiously ignored her. Lena gets lost in her thoughts, searching the muddled corridors of her brain as she tries to remember anything. Suddenly the light of the bathroom clicks on and Lena is aware of how dark the room is and what it is approaching eleven o’clock. Kara returns with her pajamas on and folds down the couch to sleep on. Lena rolls over and clicks of the TV. The silence is intense and Lena and feels it settling over her like a suffocating weight.

“I love you, Lena. Even if we have to start over again, I will. I swore to you I would always be here, even if it was yourself you were afraid of. I will always protect you.” Kara whispers into the dark.

Lena falls asleep shortly after, dreaming of Kara’s arm around her as she tries so hard to hold herself together. Jack was dead and she had a strange mix of sadness and joy at Kara’s reassuring presence. Kara. Steady as a rock. Lena could let herself fall apart because Kara was there to build her back up. Kara was there when she fell apart on the balcony after Lex escaped. “You are not weak.” Kara had practically growled in her ear. That’s when Lena knew she was in love with her best friend. Not just a crush or loneliness that overtook her late at night. She was in Love.

Lena wakes slowly to the darkroom with tears damp on her cheeks. She felt so sad and angry because even on that balcony, Kara should have told her. Lena told Kara everything but Kara still didn’t tell her. Instead, she had to find out from the brother who had tried to have her killed multiple times. The brother she still tried to save, just to have him betray her again. Lena hears it then, the soft murmuring and slowly sits up to see Kara standing by the window, phone pressed to her ear. The moonlight illuminates the room and gives it a silvery-blue glow. Kara hasn’t noticed that she's awake so Lena lays back down.

“It’s just hard Alex. I know she's having nightmares. Her heart is thundering in her chest but I can’t hold her like I usually do…. Because, she's not my wife, not in her head. In her head right now she's just finding out about Supergirl and we are fighting again.... I’m hoping she remembers, the memories are coming, just slowly….. No, I can't tell her yet. It wouldn't mean anything to her.... Well yes, she'll be crushed of she remembers. No, when. When she remembers…. Yeah, I’ll let you know when we have a more definite release time. She has some physical therapy in the morning and they want to make sure she can stomach more solid foods…. I love you too, Alex. Goodnight.”

Lena tries to keep her breathing even because it's clear Kara doesn't she is awake. Soon she hears the quiet sobs of Kara crying. It breaks Lena’s heart and just as she is about to sit up she hears a siren in the distance. Then more. With a whoosh, the door opens and shuts and Kara is gone. Off to save people because she couldn’t save her wife. Lena cries herself back to sleep before Kara gets back.

The next day is tense. Lena still can’t bring herself to forgive Kara even though all her body wants is to be wrapped in her arms. Small moments keep coming back to her at the most unexpected times. Just flashes of the past five years and nothing in a particular order. Sam moving with her to National City, a date with James (cringe), a date with Kara (her cheeks hurt from smiling), helping save Sam from Reign, adopting a puppy from the shelter and Kara naming him Krypto after her lost home. Happy and sad intermingled as she went through three hours of painful stretching and walking in the physical therapy room with a very beautiful doctor that made Lena have to remind herself that she was married. She wasn’t the single woman that had woken up yesterday. It was easier now as the memories started to fall into place in her mind. But she also so clearly remembered the anger she felt for months as Kara had continued to lie to her about supergirl. It was so strong and she had no idea how her past self had gotten over it.

Kara was a steady presence throughout the whole day. She kept her distance though, trying to give Lena room to not feel pressured. But Lena kept catching Kara watching her. Making sure she was okay and not in pain. When the therapy was over and Lena had kept down a solid breakfast and lunch, the doctor said she was free to go. But go where? She had thought.

“Kara?”

“Yeah, ba-” Kara pauses and clears her throat. “Yeah, Lena?” Kara continues packing up her files and laptop before packing the duffle with their clothes in it. She had made sure Lena was in her, what she assumes was ‘her’, own pajamas and had her own blanket for her stay. Kara keeps busy but Lena knows she is very aware of everything Lena does.

“Where do we live?”

Kara pauses her work and gives Lena a soft smile. “A three-level condo at the top of a building you own. Well, I guess we own, you know the whole ‘what’s mine is yours’ marriage thing. Anyway, the rest is rent-controlled for L-Corp Employees.”

Lena remembers the big floor to ceiling windows that looked over the city, walking distance to the visible L-Corp building so she and her employees could either walk or ride to work, or even carpool, as one of her green initiatives for the company. Lena nods slowly and Kara can tell she remembered something. Maybe all this would take is gentle reminders here and there for Lena’s memory to come back. Getting her home would help also, at least that’s what the doctor said.

By three o'clock Lena s being rolled to the entrance in a wheelchair as Kara pulls the car upfront. Cameras flash at the entrance but Kara had hired a private security team to hold them back. Lena is glad she was able to at least put on jeans and one of Kara’s old sweatshirts instead of the pajamas. Kara pulls up in a car that looks remarkably similar to one Lena had drawn up last year, no wait, six years ago? Before she took over LexCorp. She had a suspicion it was her design which meant it was entirely electric and it made her happy to see something she had dreamed up had become a reality. There was probably much more but she was still reconciling memories to reality.

Kara helped her into the car with as little touching as possible while ignoring the shouted questions of the press. Kara had informed her earlier that Jess, her former assistant, now interim CEO and part-owner of L-Corp, had already made a statement that Lena had lost her memory due to the head injury but was quickly recovering both physically and mentally. She announced that Lena would be taking a temporary leave of absence but with full intentions of returning in two months time. Lena was relieved to know she hadn't just dreamed of promoting her loyal friend and confidant.

Kara drove her to a semi-familiar building and quietly led her up the elevator. She pressed the highest number and held her thumb to the button while it scanned her thumbprint and the light turned green. "Extra security," Kara mumbled. The elevator let out to a hallway with a single door. Kara input a password on the keypad and then placed her hand on a scanner beside the door and it also turned green. Lena remembers having it installed after a crazy stalker of Kara's had broken into their apartment and waited for them to get home. He wanted to take Kara’s brain for himself, or something just as crazy. Too bad he didn’t count on dealing with Supergirl and a Luthor.

Kara opens the door and ushers Lena in. Kara was watching Lena carefully and could see how that trip from the car as wearing on her. Kara planned to get Lena in bed straight away and make her favorite tea. She helps Lena to the couch while she takes their bags to the bedroom and unpacks. Lena looks around and takes in the space.

Memory after memory begins to trickle in as she takes in the pictures on the walls and the knick-knacks tucked between books on the shelves. The blanket Eliza made for them on the couch. The toy chest Alex made during her woodworking phase two years ago. The toy chest? Why did they need a toy chest?

Lena’s world crashes down on her then. She picks up the soft blue blanket and sees the little Danvers-Luthor stitched into it next to a green rattle. Lena runs her fingers over Eliza’s neat stitching and tears are already rolling down her cheeks. She remembers now.

She and Kara had tried the DEO’s experimental technology to use Kara’s DNA to merge with hers to create a child but it was still too early, even with Lena’s brain helping it was too expensive to keep trying after several failed attempts. They talked about an anonymous donor but Kara couldn’t carry the child and if Lena was honest, she didn’t want to have a baby with anyone but Kara. That left adoption. It also led to fights. Lena and Kara had such different experiences in their own lives. Lena was convinced it wouldn’t go well. In the end, Kara convinced her it was Lena’s chance to do better and Kara’s chance to share the love she was given.

After a year of waiting and paperwork and background checks, they just had to wait for a child to be matched with them. But that could take any time from three days to three months. Lena couldn’t cancel her trip to Hong Kong. The Opening of the L-Corp office there had been planned for three years. It seemed safe enough to just go for a week. Until Lena got a call on her third day from Kara that the Social worker was going to be coming in two days with a potential match. Lena immediately canceled her meetings and had the tech crew get her plane ready. It was self-flying and solar-powered, she just wanted it powered up by the time she got to the airfield. She smiled now at the time she and Kara flew to Katznia to confront Lex on an earlier model. It had taken a long time to get over but the lengths Lena went to protect Kara was comical.

But what happened to the one-year-old that had lost its parents in a car crash? What happened to that little brown-haired, blue-eyed baby girl? A sob racks Lena’s chest because now she remembers everything. She crushes the blanket to her chest and hunches over her knees.

She remembers the fights and the makeups. The 'I love you’s' and flowers and forehead kisses. The tension had built after the Supergirl confrontation to the point that they had a screaming match but then suddenly Kara was kissing her and Lena was pulling that stupid cape off. Right there in her office at three in the morning.

Lena was on her way home, almost there, when her plane was shot out of the sky and Kara was there to protect her, just like she always was.

Kara rushed in at the sound of Lena’s crying, taking in the blue blanket in her white-knuckled grasp. Suddenly Kara is cooing in her ear and her strong arms pull Lena back together from where she was breaking in half with her heart. They lost another child. Another chance at a family.

“Shhh… my love. It's okay. It’s okay. Madison went to another loving family. Oh, Lee. We will get another chance. This isn't the end. So many children out there need love” Kara continues reassuring her until Lena can manage to even out her breathing.

“What happened?”

“They didn’t have the funding to wait to place her, and with you, in the hospital, we couldn’t prove to be a suitable home. The woman understood and told me to call her when we were ready again. We won’t have to start over.”

“But I wasn’t here! How did you even handle this on your own?”

Kara cringes. She handled it about as well as Lena was. She fell down right in the entryway, clutching the blanket as the Social Worker carried the baby away. She sobbed until she lost track of time and cried because she should have been at the hospital for her wife. Instead of saying all that she swallows.

“I cried. But I had you to worry about. You are my priority, Lena.”

Lena nestles into Kara, exhausted and just wanting to sleep. Kara’s warm hands rub up and down her arm as Lena cries softly.

“So I take it you’re not mad at me anymore?” Kara asks. Lena laughs wetly and rubs under her nose and her cheeks.

“No. No, I remembered everything.”

“Everything?” Kara teases, Lena elbows her softly.

“Yes, everything. But can I have some tea? This has been a rough forty-eight hours. And my head still hurts.”

Kara laughs a real laugh that is music to Lena’s ears.

“Yeah tell me about it. Come on. I got pretty far ahead on work over the past couple of days, so I took the next two weeks off. Just you and me. And several pints of ice cream to cry this out.” Kara moves to stand up, Lena grips her arm and holds her down. Kara’s forehead crinkles in the very way Lena missed. It felt like she had relieved the past five years and that this huge gulf had separated her from today and just two weeks ago when she had left on her trip.

“I love you. So much. Even when I didn’t know you, you kept all of our memories safe and brought me back to you. You kept all of your vows to me and made me love you even when I was angry. I know this was a setback, and it's going to be hard. You, Kara Danvers-Luthor, are my hero.”

“I will always protect you.”

They sat like that for a few minutes before curiosity overcame Lena.

“What happened to whoever shot my plane?”

“They may or may not have spent the night in the DEO sensory deprivation chamber. Not the goon that was hired but the rival CEO. Frank Chang, I think? The American born son of the former CEO in Hong Kong that you were competing with. Alex dealt with him after that. I was a little too angry to pay much attention other than taking him on the scariest flight of his life.” Lena chuckles at her wife's antics.

“And how were you there? When the plane exploded?”

“I was too amped up so I thought I’d fly along and make sure you got home safe. I just got distracted by…” Kara trails off.

“By what?” Lena arches an eyebrow.

“By what I wanted to do to you as soon as the plane landed.” Kara blushes and Lena thinks its cute, even after all these years. “I was really excited and… umm… well… a bit horny after so long without you.

Its Lena’s turn to laugh out loud and Kara delights in it. “Soon, my love. Soon. You can give me an idea once I’ve been cleared by the doctor. For now, take me to bed and cuddle me?” Lena asks.

“As you wish,” Kara smirks.

“Rao, You watched it again didn’t you?” Lena asks

“Well, how else am I supposed to protest that stupid remake?” Kara exclaims. Lena just rolls her eyes as Kara sweeps her into a bridal style carry with ease.

“All right Dread Pirate. Just don’t let the Rodents of Unusual Size get me.”

“As you wish.”

#supergirl #supercorp #fanfiction #memory loss #married #kara danvers #lena luthor #angst #Happy Ending #OneShots

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