#split controllers like that are incredibly 10/10 for me as someone who's arms and shoulders HURT ALL THE TIME FROM WORK

[strongermonster]

if nothing else, the switch is so good for the ability for me to sit with my hands and arms placed comfortably wherever i want, no matter how shittily i'm sitting

the freedom to torture my body with horrible contortions while gaming and not have to have both hands holding something together absolutely rules

[mediocre-writerr]

you belong with me [cassie howard]

cassie howard x fem reader

requested: Hey! Can I request a f! reader x Cassie Howard fic where the reader is in love with Cassie, but it's like a slow burn happy holidays! xx

key: italics stand for rue’s voiceover! enjoy

*not my gif*

Y/N Y/L/N and Cassie Howard have been best friends since they were little. Y/N was always there for Cassie during her whole childhood. Watching her from the sidelines as her figure skating became more and more incredible. 

“Y/N! When are you gonna get off your lazy bum and join us?” Cassie’s dad asks during one of their many ice skating practice sessions. 

You were taken back by surprise and you looked towards Cassie who was giving you her best pouty lips and eyes, “Oh okay.” 

You strapped on the ice skates that the Howard family bought you for your 10th birthday. A gift you rarely used. But was still grateful for nevertheless. 

Back before your Cassie started getting into ice skating your family was big about hockey. So you knew the in’s and out’s of ice skating, but you weren’t good at doing cool tricks. 

“Y/N, you’re a natural!” Cassie says as you start skating towards her. 

And it’s like she jinxed you or something because you started slipping. Flailing your hands up in the air. But she caught you and the two of you just stared at each other smiling coyly. 

Her lips were inches away from yours. But her dad cleared her throat, looking at the two of you with a small smirk on his face. 

Y/N and Cassie were inseparable, nothing seemed to ever get in between them. Lexi always gave Y/N looks and have conversations where she tried to make her think that it was something more than just a friendship, but she was easy to laugh off or ignore. 

Lexi thought of Y/N as a second sister growing up together and having Y/N be over all the time. So when she saw the way Y/N looked at her older sister she couldn’t help but want to protect her. 

She didn’t want you to get hurt, but how could Cassie ever hurt Y/N?

Y/N loved Cassie more than a friend. There was never a specific moment when Y/N found out she liked Cassie. It was everything about her, all of the moments leading up to since they were young kids.

Much to her disappoint, Cassie’s underlying daddy issues made her attached to boys in more ways than anyone could ever possibly. She fell in love too fast and dare I say it, was too naive. 

Cassie wanted to be loved and never wanted to be alone. She wanted all the boys no matter how stupid, sweet, or mean they were. And that led to many nights of crying in Y/N’s arms about some boy who leaked her nudes or made a sex tape or broke her heart.

“Y/N?” she whispers over the phone, her voice already cracking.

You shot up from laying down on your bed and instantly woke up at the sound of your first love crying, “Hey is everything okay?” 

“No. I can’t. Someone made a sex tape of me and leaked it and I just really need you.” she whispers, trying to get all of the words out. 

“I’ll be there in five.” 

Luckily for the two of you, you didn't live far. And before you knew it you were climbing in her bedroom window. 

She instantly pulled you into a hug and you wrapped your arms around her waist. Placing a hand on the back of her head to pull her close. You started rubbing the back of her head, threading your fingers through her hair. 

“It’s gonna be okay.” I whisper, “I’m here now. You’re gonna be okay.” 

Y/N always protected Cassie. Ever since the first pictures of her nudes were leaked she was there to let her cry. Her first sex tape was leaked, Y/N was there. A boy broke her heart, Y/N was there to pick up the pieces to put her back together.

Y/N hoped that one day she wouldn’t feel this way anymore. Or one day Cassie would realize that she was there all along. But it never happened. And it seemed like it would never happen when Cassie started dating McKay.

Y/N insisted she wasn’t jealous, but she also insisted she wasn’t jealous about all of Cassie’s suitors.

“McKay is a good guy Y/N!” Cassie yells. 

The two of you were having yet another argument. And you weren’t angry at her or at McKay, you were just tired. So fucking tired. 

“What’s wrong, Y/N?” Cassie asked, “This is your third snide comment this week about McKay this week and it’s only 10 am on a Monday!” 

“I’m sorry for being bitter. I’m just tired.” you whisper. 

Lexi gave you a sympathetic smile and look. And you just smiled back softly. 

See you weren’t jealous. That would involve anger and you weren’t angry. You didn’t hate McKay. 

Sure, there were thing that he did that was questionable at best, but he was wasn’t the worst out of all of Cassie’s boyfriends. 

Even though your happiness was slowly dwindling away each time you saw them at a party. Or each time she canceled plans to go hang out with him instead of you. Or each time you saw them kiss. 

Even though all of it was fading away in you. She didn’t deserve to lose anything when she was so happy. So you tried to stay the same for her and not act any differently. 

Lexi had been a good friend to Y/N and did her best to try and pull her out of it. The annual carnival was coming up and it used to be a tradition for the three girls to go together, but Cassie was busy with McKay...again. 

The two of you ran into McKay on the way to the Ferris Wheel. Much to both of your surprise you didn’t find Cassie next to him, “Where’s Cassie?” Lexi asked.

“Oh I don’t know we called it a night a couple hours ago.” he said with a shrug before going back to Nate and Mr. Jacobs.

Both of you looked at each other and immediately knew something was up. Agreeing to split up both of you searched the carnival in chance to find her. 

That’s when you saw her going around the carrousel with Daniel. She was grinding against the pole of the horse. And Daniel looked like he was getting turned on by it.

But there was something about her that was off. She looked high. You were gonna leave, but you decided to wait for the ride to stop. Before ultimately taking her home, you didn’t want some asshole like Daniel to take advantage of her in the state she was in. 

As soon as the ride stopped you hopped the fence that separated the line to get to her. Despite all the yelling from the person who controls the ride you made your way to Cassie.

“Hey Cassie. How about we get you out of here, okay?” you ask.

“Y/N! I didn’t know you were here.” she slurs and you nod smiling.

“I’m right here.” you whisper to her, unbuckling her seatbelt and lifting her off.

Daniel scoffed, “What the fuck Y/L/N?! We were in the middle of something!” he yelled annoyed.

“Not anymore.” you reply. 

You guided her towards the exit, but saw that she was stumbling and it was hard for her to walk. So you did what you thought was best and picked her up bridal style. 

Cassie wrapped her arms around your neck and nestled into your chest, “Can you believe McKay said to people we weren’t dating? We were just chilling. He literally told me that he loved me yesterday.” she says angrily.

“I’m sorry love. You don’t deserve that.” you whisper back as you saw Lexi, Jules, and Rue running towards the two of you.

Lexi looked at her sister frantically, “Is she okay? Do you need help? I can get her for you.

“Lex take a breath,” you whisper and she nods taking a deep breath, “She’s okay, she just looks a little high off of something. But I got her.” 

Lexi nods and we all get into Cassie’s car. Jules and Rue decided to stay at the carnival a little longer, but we thought it was best if we got her home. 

Cassie passed out across your lap as you just ran your fingers through her hair. Staring at the beautiful girl in front of you. 

“I wish she could see that you were always there for her. She needs someone like you in her life.” Lex whispers looking at you through the rearview mirror. 

But the thing is Cassie never noticed. As much as she would hate to agree with me, she took Y/N for granted most of the time. She just assumed that her best friend since basically birth would always be there for her.

She learned that the hard way.

You were more tired than usual as you sat on the couch of McKay’s house. You were at one of his infamous parties seated next to Lexi, Rue, and Jules. 

Lexi and Rue begged you to come and you agreed without hesitation. But then you realized that you would have to see them dancing close to one another, kissing, and just being with each other. 

The other three girls proceeded in conversation, but you were too tired to contribute. So despite all of the loud music and drunk people, you laid your head on Lexi’s shoulder trying your hardest to just shut everything out for a few minutes. 

And you were about to shut everything out when you heard your name being slurred, “Y/N, what’s wrong?” 

You opened your eyes a little, not wanting to leave the comfortable spot you found on Lexi’s shoulder.

“It’s nothing, Cassie, really. I just have a headache.” you whisper, trying your best to smile at her.

“Why are you lying to me?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

Of course she knew when you were lying, 

“Just let it go, please.” you pleaded with her.

You didn’t want all of this to come out now. Not when she was tipsy. Not when all of your friends and a bunch of random strangers were around to hear.

“No Y/N! I can’t! It’s like you’ve been falling into this pit of sadness for I don’t even know how many months now! I just want to know what happened. You’re supposed to trust me. I trust you. So why can’t you trust me?” she whispered sadly.

“3 months.” I whisper simply.

“What?” she asks.

And it was all coming out right now. Despite all your wishes and prayers to not to.

“I’ve been falling into a pit of sadness for three months. Ever since you started falling for McKay.” you whisper and it looks like the wheels are turning in her head, “I can’t trust you because I’m in love with you!” 

You finally yell out, letting all the feelings that you’ve had pent up to finally come out. Lexi squeezed your hand lightly to let you know that she’ll be right here.

“What?” Cassie asks, her mouth open agape as she just stared.

“I always have been! And now it’s too late. I’m not angry with you and I don’t hate McKay. I’m just tired. I’m tired of feeling like I’m just there now when everything goes wrong in your life. When you and McKay fight or when you need someone to pick you up when you’re drunk. I’ve always been there for you and I’m tired of it not being enough.” and with that you got up and you left. 

She didn’t try chasing after you. No one did. They all knew you needed your time and your space to regroup. 

And just like that the non-related conjoined twins were separated. Neither of them talked or hung out. The only time they would see each other is passing in the hallway exchanging small smiles.

It was weird for the both of them. No small study sessions or move nights. Just them alone. 

Cassie didn’t like not having Y/N there, but every time Y/N tried talking to her she would just avoid her.

During the time Y/N was gone she realized that Y/N was right. Lexi gave her a stern talking to. Lexi’s talk was basically her singing that one Taylor Swift song.

You know the one that goes like...

Dreaming about the day where you wake up and find that what you’re looking for has been here the whole time. Then something about short skirts and t-shirts, I don’t fucking know.

And that’s when Cassie knew. Cassie Howard was in love with Y/N Y/L/N.

Then the infamous night happened, where everything came pouring out...literally. It was raining outside. 

Your phone buzzed with a text and your heart stopped at the name that popped up onto your phone. 

With a text that read meet me outside. You looked outside your window and saw the raindrops that stained your window pane. And made out the small figure that is the blonde girl. 

You grabbed a hoodie from your closet before running downstairs and to the middle of the street.

“Cassie! What are you doing? It is pouring!” you yell the hood covering your head.

You stepped closer to her throwing the hoodie you grabbed from your closet over her head. She was standing there wearing nothing, but a long sleeve shirt and jeans. 

“You still care about me?” she asks barely above a whisper voice.

You let out a sigh, “Just because we stopped talking doesn’t mean I stopped caring.” 

Out of nowhere Cassie pulled you closer to her by the waist placing her lips on yours. You didn’t kiss back at first, but it didn’t take you long to kiss her back. Your two lips moving in perfect motion, you only pulled away when you felt like you were gonna pass out.

“I love you. I always have and I’m sorry I took you for granted. And I’m sorry I didn’t see that you were right in front of me all along. I love you. I am so sorry-” she was about to go on, but you cut her off with a quicker kiss.

She smiles into the kiss before pulling away, “I love you so much, but this was very dramatic.” you whisper with a smile that matched Cassie’s.

She giggled lightly before pecking your nose.

[treasure-hwa]

sparkling wine and cake

pairing: seonghwa x g.neutral reader

genre: fluff

synopsis: Seonghwa could not ask for a better way of spending new year's eve.

word count: 1755

author's note: is it good, you ask me. It's better than nothing, I answer. I should have posted it on January 1st, but I didn't, so enjoy it now, 14 days into the new year.

Winter felt way colder and sadder when there was not a cozy place full of cheerful people to spend new year’s eve. The place Seonghwa lived in felt emotionless and chilly, even though the heater was on.

He focused on baking the chocolate cake he decided to bake just so he could distract himself from the sting burning on his chest. Not being able to spend new year’s eve with his family was painful and the man cursed his boss for demanding, in the last minute, he worked on December 30th and the afternoon of the first day of the year. Seonghwa had booked a flight to his hometown, but, due to work, he had to call it off, and booking a flight on new year's eve was impossible.

His friends were also already busy, and Seonghwa didn't want to bother them, so, that night, it would be only him, the chocolate cake and maybe a glass of sparkling wine toasted with the wind the moment the clock hit 00:00.

It's how it's gonna be, he thought to himself while cleaning the kitchen's counter, it will be fine, I can video call my parents later. But when you least expect, things happen, don't they?

Around 10:30pm, the doorbell rang, and Seonghwa, without hurry, went to the door, getting a big surprise when he opened it.

— Hey, happy new year.

— Y/N?

— I know, it's not 2021 yet, but whatever. Can I come in? I brought some… snacks. — You showed him a convenience store white plastic bag you had on your hand.

— Sure, come in. What did you bring? — You shared a quick hug before the boy took the bag from you, taking it to the kitchen.

You left your shoes and coat, full of little white dots of snow, on the specific places and came into the house, sighing when the warm air welcomed you.

— Sparkling wine, Pringles and chocolate. — You sat on the couch, stretching your legs and your red and green striped sock clad feet.

— Nice. Why are you here? Not trying to be rude, of course — He hurried to correct himself in case you misunderstood him.

— I came here to spend new year's eve with you, Hwa, obviously.

— But why? What about your family? — the man questioned, putting the sparkling wine bottle on the refrigerator and taking out the one he already had, pouring the golden liquid on two glasses.

— Split up. My sister is with her boyfriend, my brother with his friends and mom and dad are with their respective new partners.

— I am sorry, I guess. — Seonghwa came to the living room, sat beside you and handed you the glass, pouting and touching your arm gently with his free hand.

— It's okay. — You smiled and, even though it was kind of a broken one, you seemed content enough, more content when you sipped on the sparkling wine. — At least we are together.

He smiled with the ending words, finally realizing he would start 2021 near someone really important to him.

You and the man met on the train station two years ago. The place was crowded and both were moving to the big city because of great job offers, something they couldn't find in their respective hometowns. Everybody was waiting for cabs and, when one stopped in front of you and you opened the car's door, you saw a breathless guy running towards you.

"Please, let me take this one. I am already so late to meet my new landlord."

"Well, me too, but… we can share the cab, what do you think? I go first, then you go."

He agreed, thanked your gentleness and got into the cab, rearranging his luggage on the available space. Two days later, you met at the local bakery and discovered you lived next to each other. The rest was story.

— Is there cake? Your house smells like cake.

— Yep, I’m just waiting for it to cold down.

A moment of silence.

— What are your plans?

— Watching a movie, eating cake and drinking sparkling wine during the whole night, maybe getting a little drunk. — He shrugged his shoulders. — Sounds good or do you want to do anything else?

— Anything sounds good with you, Hwa.

Maybe Seonghwa had melted and his heart lost a beat. If he was totally honest, he would say he has a crush on you, and what had just been said wasn't exactly healthy for his situation.

Giving a shy smile, he turned the TV on and handed you the remote control to choose something worthy enough of watching during that time of the year. A Christmas themed romcom was just starting, so you decided on watching it, focusing completely. Or it seemed like you were: the man was trying so hard not to wrap his arm around you, who wanted to lay your head on his shoulder so bad.

And why don’t they just do it? Because they do not know the other reciprocates their feelings. Dumb? Yes. What if they get rejected and lose the other’s friendship? It is a no no.

You felt like you were building the courage to rest your body on him, but he got up in the wrong moment, asking if you wanted cake, talking about all the process he went to make it. Externally, you smiled and said “sure”. Mentally, you cursed.

When he came back to the living room, his hands were full with two plates of chocolate cake and a bottle of sparkling wine. After helping him, you were again seated beside each other, trying to fill your minds with something other than the warmth the other was giving away, which was proved incredibly hard for him, since he could not not pay attention on her giggles every time the main couple on the TV did something cute, she kept biting her lips to fight the urge to smile wide, and he did the same because she was so cute while watching romance things — there was a reason why he never got tired of watching k-dramas along with her.

— Hwa… Hwa! — he got out of his own in-love trance after hearing the cause of it calling him. — It’s almost midnight already!

— Is it? What time is it?

— Three minutes to midnight. Come with me.

— What? Where?

You smiled and took his hands. It was now or never. I don’t care if he rejects me, I need him to know my feelings, it’s my new year resolution. You opened the glass door that gave way to the balcony and pushed Seonghwa gently on the side grid.

— Y/N, what are you doing?

— Just wait, okay?

He nodded, hugging you and rubbing your back when he saw you shivering because of the cold. Maybe skinship was not that strong on your relationship, however both of you were okay with it, you kind of wished it would happen often, so every time you touched hands or shared a hug felt like you had ascended to heaven. Your heart felt lighter and you could not help your big smile.

— Too cold? — Seonghwa questioned in a low voice, still rubbing your back with his delicate, big hands. — Should we go back inside.

— A little, but no. I have something to say.

From the TV inside the apartment, you heard a commercial initiating the countdown.

“10, 9, 8…”

You took the man’s hands, holding and caressing them like they were made of crystal. He smiled, not thinking too much of it, just appreciating the physical contact his crush was giving him.

Now or never. Now or never. Now or never!

— I like you, Hwa! Please, accept my feelings.

“7, 6, 5…”

He said nothing, too shocked to form words. Nevertheless, you kept going:

— I’m going to kiss you now. You can push me away if you want.

“4, 3…”

— Would never dare. — He breathed out the three words and cupped your face.

“2, 1… Happy new year!”

You took a step forward, gently tugging on his neck so your lips could meet in the most desired kiss in the past months. Your lips fit his plump and pinkish ones perfectly, as it was meant to be. His mouth tasted sweet, both from the cake and the sparkling wine. His hands held your face fearing it was a dream. Fireworks exploded in the sky, as it did in your stomachs.

However, you broke the kiss to hide your face on Seonghwa’s shoulder, and not knowing what happened, he hugged and asked loud enough to be heard:

— What’s wrong? Did I do something you didn’t like?

— I don’t like fireworks. Too loud!

Without wasting more time, he took you back inside and closed the balcony door. Leaving you on the couch, Seonghwa went to the kitchen and got the other bottle of sparkling wine, opening it without making a mess, and the Pringles and chocolate you had brought. He put those things on top of the center table and filled your glasses, proposing a toast in the name of the new year.

— It brought me love already, so I just want peace, health and success for the world.

— Cheers! — You lifted your glass happily, but got scared by another loud firework.

Chuckling, he sat beside you and finally cuddled your body on his.

— No need to be scared, I’m here to protect you now.

— My hero — you joked, sipping your gold alcoholic drink to hide your nervousness. He kissed me because he likes me too, right? He said he would never dare to push me away, so it is reciprocated, right?

Interrupting your thoughts, Seonghwa pecked your lips, cupping your face and pulling away before you could even notice.

— I didn’t say it outside, but I like you too, and if you want the first change of the year… I can be it for you.

Was it really happening?

— Pinch me first. — Giggling, he pinched and kissed your cheek. — Definitely real. I want it.

— Happy new year, Hwa.

— Happy new year, dear.

And this was how they spent the night: drinking sparkling wine and mixing Pringles, chocolate and cake, stealing quick shy salty and sweet pecks from each other. Finally, two lonely hearts met and began to beat in sync.

- [happy new year] -

[tobesobri]

𝓞nly one more chapter to go after this omg!!!! Honestly, I considered giving up on posting this story so many times, but I’m really glad I didn’t because it’s been such an incredible experience thanks to all of you guys! This chapter is my personal favorite out of the entire series so I really hope you guys like it!

If you’d like a preview of Chapter 13 right now, you can join my patreon here! All current proceeds will be donated to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute. Thank you so much for all the love and support with this story ❤️

huge massive thank you to the incredible @youresogolden-h for editing ❤️

CHAPTER TWELVE: SLAVE TO THE WAY YOU MOVE (6.2K)

Harry and Y/N are friends…. with benefits, but not the kinds you’re thinking of.

🥥MASTERLIST 🌃INSPO TAG 🌻ASK TAG 💃PLAYLIST 🛌

When her phone rang the next morning, she didn’t exactly get to it very easily. Not when she tried to roll away from Harry and he groaned, holding onto her even tighter.

“Leave it,” he whispered in a raspy version of his voice, eyes still closed, arm still firmly curled around her waist.

“It’s probably Will,” she reminded him, attempting once again to move away from Harry.

But he just groaned again like he was some kind of possessive dog. She huffed, falling against his chest when he showed no signs of giving up. Which remained true until she dug her hands into his side and tickled him away from her.

“Oi! Stop it!” He whined, finally letting go and pushing her away from him until he rolled over on his side and she was free to answer her phone.

“You cheating fucker,” he mumbled half into his pillow while she sat on the edge of the bed and took care of Will’s call before it went to voicemail.

“Hello?”

“Hey, you're still at Harry’s right?”

“Yeah.” 

“I’m out front. Sorry I didn’t call before I got here, it’s just been hectic.”

She immediately shot up from her spot on his bed and Harry opened his eyes again, turning onto his back to watch her as she raced to retrieve her clothes.

“Oh, um... I was just going to get an uber or something.” She held her phone to her ear with her shoulder as she grabbed her bra and then her dress from Harry’s floor. 

“It’s no big deal. I’m headed back to pick up a few things anyways because I’m going to stay with Sasha the rest of the weekend.”

Y/N had been too lost in her panicking that she forgot why she’d ended up where she did last night in the first place. “Is she alright? Her mom I mean.”

Will sighed through the receiver, “Yeah. She was having chest pains yesterday. They kept her overnight for observation. I just got them home about an hour ago, but I’m literally still in my clothes from last night.”

Y/N glanced over her shoulder at Harry, who stared at her concerned, waiting himself to know what was going on and why it seemed like she was leaving him already.

“Okay, um, I’ll be there in a minute.”

And then Harry shut his eyes tight and wished they could just rewind and go back to sleep.

“He’s waiting outside.” She spoke softly and Harry opened his eyes to her, finding her phone in her hand instead of at her ear.

Harry nodded, knowing she didn’t have any other options. She stared at him for a moment, growing sadder by the second, before she reluctantly took her clothes to his bathroom with her and changed back into them.

When the bathroom door shut behind her, he rolled onto his stomach, pressing his face into his hands because her leaving was not at all in his plans for the morning. He had so much more to say to her, more kisses to give her. 

He didn’t want her to go home and never come back again because, in his experience, saying I love you wasn’t always enough to get someone to stay. 

She crawled onto the bed behind him once she was changed, placing his t-shirt onto his bare shoulder to get his attention. Once he looked at her, she smiled apologetically.

“I’ll be back, I promise.” She leaned down, pressing her lips to his. She pulled away quicker than he would have liked her to and she looked at him almost like she was about to cry when he pouted and reached for more. She hated leaving him like she was, with so many words hanging above them still, but Will left her no choice. 

“Sorry for bailing on you like that.” Will said while he drove in a hurry, breaking the speed limit on every street it took to get back to their building. She couldn’t blame him though.

Shaking her head, she quickly shot him down. “Don’t worry about it.” And she really wished he wouldn’t. After the night she had, she should be thanking him for leaving her at the party. 

“Guess Harry owed you anyways for that one time he got drunk and you let him sleep in your bed.” Will smiled, glancing over at her while she nodded in agreement. Her heart fluttered thinking back to that time and how far she and Harry had come since then. She wondered if he’d liked her back then too, in the same way she had liked him, and just how long she was blind to it. 

Will explained everything that happened with Sasha the rest of the way and she listened quietly, respecting his need to release all the anxious thoughts even though she sometimes found herself getting distracted. It was Harry’s fault, she figured, he’d said he was in love with her, and kissed her when he was sober, and she didn't get the chance to say a single word to him yet.

Y/N and Will split ways when he rushed to his room to pack a bag and she sat on the edge of her bed, waiting until he left again before she called Harry. A text might have sufficed, asking what time she could come back, but she wanted to hear his voice again. Desperately.

Her phone dinged in her hands before she got the chance, however.

(Harry, 10:03 a.m.)

Just got called to a meeting until five. I can pick you up afterwards?

Her shoulders dropped and a frown pulled on her lips. Five o’clock was so far away she had no clue what she was going to do until then. She had no plans for the day besides spending the entire thing with Harry. 

(Y/N, 10:03 a.m.)

Okay.

“I’ll be back tomorrow night.” Will poked his head in her room and she tried to pretend like she didn’t just get the worst news of her entire life. 

She nodded and he hesitated a moment before he left, wanting to ask if she’d be alright by herself in the apartment all weekend, but he refrained. She wasn’t a baby and he needed to stop worrying so much. His lips fell into another apologetic smile just before he took off. She listened to his footsteps and then eventually the front door as he shut it behind him.

Falling back on her bed, she already wished she was in Harry’s again. She still felt his arms around her, his lips on hers, his breath as he said those words. 

When it was nearing five, she was just about ready. Harry had texted that he got out early and was on his way right as she got out of the shower. With her towel wrapped around her, she walked over to her dresser to figure out what to wear and put her focus on that, which calmed her nerves about seeing Harry again.

She dug through her underwear drawer first, realizing she hadn’t done laundry in a while when she only had a couple clean pairs left.  But in her attempts to choose between the bright purple pair with pictures of cats on them or the stripey one with ‘Wednesday’ printed on the back, her eyes fell to something much more appealing at the bottom of her drawer that she hadn’t seen or thought of in a long time. 

She’d never had a need for a nice set of lingerie, not even when she’d bought it just after graduating college. No one was going to see it besides her, but that really hadn’t mattered because it was for her. Picking the lace bra and panty set up in her hands now, it reminded her of when she’d first saw it online and then opened it up in person. When she tried it on and looked at herself in the mirror with all the hope in the world that it would make her see her body differently. It didn’t quite work out that way, however. It wasn’t an instant fix to her problems as she dreamed it would be, but even though she didn’t care for how she looked in it, it still made her feel better about herself, so she hung onto them. 

And she was glad for that because if something were to happen with Harry, she was not doing it in kitty cat undies and a bra she owned since freshman year. 

She had no clue if they would even get to the point of Harry seeing what was underneath her clothes, but just the thought of it made her restless in the passenger seat of his car. Then there was just being in his car at all that had her in a fit of butterflies as well because it was the first time they’d been out in public like this together. They weren’t around friends, not in the comfort of either of their homes anymore and while it used to scare her to potentially be caught with Harry, now she was wishing someone would. It would make telling her roommates, and especially Will, that much easier. 

In order to keep her thoughts and her body under control, she focused on the mundane things instead. Everything she wanted to say to him was going to have to wait until they were at his house because that was the only place she felt comfortable enough to be completely vulnerable with him. 

“How was your meeting?” She asked after he pulled back onto the streets again and although it was a boring question, it still made her just as nervous, possibly because she knew it was just her stalling until they walked through his front doors.

“Alright,” he mumbled, “would have rather spent the day with you.”

Looking out her window instead of at him, she quickly hid the blush on her cheeks. The lingerie on her skin under her long-sleeve and jeans became all-too apparent again. She needed to calm down, that much she knew, because she didn't even know what Harry wanted yet and she definitely wasn’t doing anything until she’d said what she needed to say. 

She sighed shakily, “Well you can have me for the rest of the weekend.”

He grinned at her words, not sure if she was hiding an innuendo in them or not, but he didn’t risk asking. She was staying, at least until the weekend was over, and that’s all he cared about.

Once they’d reached his house, and she glared at the stupid For Sale sign again, she realized why she hated it so much. It wasn’t just a house to her anymore, it wasn’t some place that made her feel like a stranger. It held her most personal objects and most precious memories. It had become home to her, way more than her apartment ever did.

She placed her things down on the island in the kitchen and it was clear he had hired someone to clean up while he’d been gone. There was no chocolate cake smeared into the countertops and no empty bottles of beer laying around anymore. It was clean again with absolutely no telling if a party had even happened last night. She’d almost forgotten, too, since the only part of last night on her mind was when they’d gone upstairs together.

Watching him pour two glasses of water, it took her right back to their first night together. So much had changed since then. She wasn’t even the same person anymore, she was sure of that. 

Although she was possibly the most nervous she’d ever been, she knew she had to just spit it out. Rip the band-aid off and tell him everything she felt about him. She cleared her throat and hoped for the best.

“I liked you all this time too, you know.” Her confession wasn't nearly up to par with his, but he’d take it anyways. Grinning, he glanced at her sideways while closing the fridge.

“Could’ve fooled me.” He slipped her one of the glasses across the counter, knowing very well that she did, in fact, fool him into thinking otherwise. Until she kissed him this morning and promised she’d be back, he still hadn’t been convinced.

A slew of apologies rested on her face, in her furrowed brows and flared nostrils, “I didn’t think you liked me so it was easier for me to just push you away.”

He leaned onto the counter, facing her but not looking at her. His mind went in all different directions then. First to the time he told Will he thought he’d made his feelings for her obvious and now realized Will had been right. Then, and most prominently, his mind snapped to quite possibly the worst day of his life, or at least since he’d known her. His heart broke all over again when her previous words rang in his head as clear as they had several weeks ago. When she told him she didn’t care if he saw other people. When he cried in the exact same spot he was standing in now because he thought she didn’t have a single feeling for him at all. He never thought she just might be pushing him away in order to protect herself and he felt stupid for not realizing that.

But… hiding her emotions seemed to be Y/N’s specialty.

“You were really good at that… pushing me away.”

She sighed again and all the words in her brain finally just spilled out for him to hear and for the kitchen walls to absorb. “I’m really sorry about that Harry, I think I was just too afraid of you rejecting me… and you never really said anything either so I assumed… But I was heartbroken when I found out what you did in New York, I just,” she paused for a moment to look into his eyes again and the way he looked at her with so much care gave her enough confidence to continue, “I didn’t want you to think I liked you, or that I was jealous, because I didn’t think you would ever feel the same about me.”

Harry remained quiet when it was written all over her face that she still had more to say and all he wanted to do was listen. “But then, um,” she began once more, “then I didn't really want you to like me or for that song to be about me or any of it because I felt like you would be better off with someone else who could be more open with you.” Her next words came out in a whisper, “I just thought it was best to leave you alone.”

He nodded, averting his eyes to where he ran his fingertip over the edge of his glass, figuring out everything he wanted to say first but when he looked at her again, he realized that was part of their problem. Not just saying how they really felt without thinking of the consequences.

He took the two steps needed to stand right in front of her, to be able to reach out and tuck her hair behind her ear and fill his senses with everything he loved about her. Her soft skin when his thumb brushed past her cheek, her coconut-scented shampoo, and especially her eyes that cared about him and trusted him.

“That’s not what was best, I hope you know that.” He began softly and she nodded before he continued. “Also hope you know how sorry I am that it took me so long to say anything to you… but I realized I was falling in love with you after you told me about your past. So when you said you didn’t like relationships, I didn’t want to hurt you so I kept it to myself. But I still foolishly fell for you anyways, didn’t I?” He glanced between her eyes, watching the crinkles appear on the outside of them as she smiled.

“But Y/N?” He started up again and her smile faded when his did too, “There was never anyone else I wanted. I can’t even tell you how sorry I am for making you think that and upsetting you. That was never my intention.”

She hesitated a moment before swiping a few stray strands of hair from his forehead. “It’s okay. I know that now.”

There was still a look of uncertainty in his eyes, like he didn’t deserve to be forgiven and like he still wasn’t sure she was actually going to stay, and he wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t want to.

“I’m not going to leave again, Harry…” she assured, practically reading his mind in a way she had never been able to. “Not unless you want me to of course.” 

He shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips as he grew closer, close enough to press his forehead to hers and swipe his thumb along her cheekbone, “No, I don’t want that. I never wanted that.”

Although he was still smiling, sadness fell over his eyes that he quickly hid by flicking them down to her lips. She had already been in love with the way he looked at her mouth, but if it was even possible, she liked it more now. Now that they weren’t being idiots and wasting time. Now that both of their mouths had said things they’d been meaning to for a long time now.

He glanced back to her yes, all sadness stripped from his face now, “S'alright if I--”

She cut him off, already nodding before he had a chance to ask. She didn’t want him to ask that question ever again. She didn’t want him to worry about being too forward, about hurting her, about crossing a line. There was no line for him to cross. She just wanted him to kiss her without thinking about it.

And he did. It took him another few moments, but his lips were on hers again and it felt just as amazing as it did last night and then again this morning. She hated that she could have been kissing him for a long time now, but she tried not to dwell on her mistakes too heavily. Not when he was kissing her the way he was and all she wanted to focus on was his lips and his tongue and his hands.

His hands that fled from her face moments after she brushed her tongue against his and things took a turn from innocent kissing in his kitchen to needy hands sliding up the back of her shirt and wet moans from his lips when she pressed into him. It helped her confidence knowing his fingertips were inching closer to her bra, the one she was grateful she had on right now.

And then she wrapped her hands around his forearms and backed away before he got any further. But when she saw the look on his face, she wasn’t sure that was the right move. He was absolutely terrified. He pulled his arms from her grasp quickly and put an inch or two of space between them again.

“I’m so sorry.”

Again, she put a halt to his train of thought with a simple gesture. She shook her head and reached her hand up to his face, wrapping it around the back of his neck and pressing her thumb where his dimple should be. 

“Don’t be… just meet me upstairs in ten minutes.” Her voice was soft, but her eyes might as well have been undressing him right there in the middle of his kitchen. Although that would have been nice, she really didn’t want him to see her in her lacy underwear in his fucking kitchen. The lights were too bright for her liking and she never got the chance to warm up to the space as much as she did his bedroom. 

His body eased and then he nodded slowly, never looking away from her while she pulled her hand from his face, grabbed her bag and walked away from him. 

Ten minutes was way too much time to be away from her and he spent the whole spanse of time staring at the clock, wishing it would go faster but also wishing it wouldn’t. He had no idea what she was up to and even though his mind went crazy with all the endless possibilities, he just hoped that whatever it was, she knew what she was doing. 

She squeezed her hands around the arms of his chair when she heard him heading up the stairs. She didn’t move, however, just focused on her breathing as she convinced herself not to run into his bathroom and hide before he made it to her.

Ten minutes was four minutes too long. She sat down and realized that once every piece of her body was set aflame with anticipation. She knew what she wanted, but she still wasn’t sure about him. What if he didn’t want her? 

The events from last night flew past her eyelids. He kissed you because he wanted to, not because he was drunk, she reminded herself. And he kissed you again, moments ago in the kitchen, also not because he was drunk. She thought about his touch on her skin, slowly inching up her back. She thought about his words from last night and they settled her nerves down to a minimum.

That was until he appeared in the doorway to his bedroom.

He sucked in a breath of air seeing her in that familiar spot in the middle of his room. Sitting on her throne and looking out over Los Angeles like she owned it. But it was hardly what he expected when she told him to meet her here. Especially when she didn’t even look at him, just tensed up her shoulders and her grip on the chair when she noticed his presence.

“Everything alright?” He asked and she continued to just stare out the windows, nodding and trying to regain whatever courage she had in order to ask him to do this in the first place.

He furrowed his brows, confused as he walked over to his bedside table and removed his phone and wallet from his back pockets and then each of his rings from his fingers, knowing that whatever she was planning, he didn’t want anything weighing him down. It also gave them both a moment to relax.

Right when he began removing his watch, the last thing on him besides his shirt and jeans, she stood and took a few steps in his direction. He froze and looked at her while she hugged her arms around herself. He realized then that she was wearing a robe which looked an awful lot like one of his. If the lighting was better, he’d be able to make out the stitching on the left breast of his last name and confirm that she had, in fact, slipped into his robe while she made him wait downstairs.

“What are you--?”

He stopped talking, and stopped thinking and probably stopped breathing when she untied the belt around her waist and let both halves of the robe fall open to reveal what she’d been hiding underneath. His watch hit the floor instead of the table. 

He swallowed thickly, not sure how long was too long to stare at her like he currently was with his jaw slightly ajar and his eyes refusing to blink in case he might miss something. 

When he snapped out of it, he walked over to her finally, not giving a single shit about his watch.  He stood in front of her and kept his hands to himself even though it was painful to do so. Instead, his eyes flickered to the embroidery on the silky fabric draped over her shoulders and he grinned, “S’that my robe?” 

It was a dumb question, because of course it was his. It had his name stitched into it. 

“Hope it’s okay that I borrowed it.” She ran her fingers up the hem and made him light-headed. Her matching pink lace underwear was one thing, but the robe was almost too much for him to process.  

He dragged his eyes reluctantly from her breasts, the transparent material showing off more of her than he’d ever seen, and back up to her eyes. “If I say it isn’t, will you take it off?”

She smiled at him and then took one step closer. “Why don’t you,” she began, grabbing his hands and placing them on her bare hips, “take it off yourself?”

Her voice was shaky and even though her actions exuded confidence, he knew her anxiety must be through the roof. He knew her too well. He knew she didn’t like being touched, didn’t like being seen when she wasn’t covered. Didn’t like being open. It soothed his own nerves to know that all of the things she didn’t like became things she did, as long as it was with him. The only thing on his radar now was making her as comfortable as he possibly could.

When she let go of his hands, he kept them there, pulling her in to close the gap she’d left between them until his mouth found hers again. He’d daydreamed through his entire meeting about kissing her the entire rest of the night, but that was no match to the reality of it. Never in his wildest dreams did he expect her to be standing in front of him like she was, putting his hands on her body in a whole new way than ever before.

His fingers slid gently up to her shoulders where he slipped them under the silk until it fell right off her skin and gathered into a pool at her feet. He pulled away for a moment, resting his forehead on hers when she reached for more. He smirked at the way she pouted impatiently. 

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, bringing a hand up to tuck her hair behind her ear and he didn’t give her much of a chance to respond, but the blush on her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes said more than enough. 

Once his lips were on hers again, he backed her up slowly, stepping right on top of his, now irrelevant, robe until they reached the chair. 

She pulled away from him this time and when she spoke next, there wasn’t a stitch of hesitation in her voice, “I want you.”

Swallowing, he nodded in understanding. She knew exactly what she was doing and she wanted him. His hands were back on her hips as he gently coerced her into the chair.

“Sit,” he whispered and she did exactly what he said without a second thought. 

She was back in her chair in front of him, her hands gripping the armrests while she looked up into his eyes eagerly because she had no clue what he was planning but she trusted him to know that whatever it was, he wouldn’t hurt her. He was Harry and he’d never make her do something she didn’t want to. 

He sunk to his knees then and she already felt the pool between her legs before he even touched her. He never took his eyes off of her when he lifted his hands to her knees and slowly slid them apart to fit himself in the middle. He waited for any signs that he should stop, but when she glanced down at his hands that sat idly on her thighs, he figured it was a good time to move them.

“Is this alright?” He asked after he’d hooked his fingers under what little fabric there was of her panties and paused to make sure. When she nodded, he proceeded and began pulling them off. He went slow, almost painfully for her, but she was appreciative of it. If he went much faster she wasn’t sure how she’d respond and ruining everything right now was not on her agenda.

Again, his eyes stayed planted on hers as he tugged the lace over her hips when she adjusted slightly to give him room to do so. They went the rest of the way down her legs with ease until they, too, were on his bedroom floor. Her legs fell back into place around him as he slotted into his previous position. She focused on everything physically here and now as best she could, whether it was the way he looked at her, or the way the fabric of his shirt felt on her knees, the rough texture of his jeans on her calves. Just knowing that it was Harry sitting in front of her like this, while she was this exposed, calmed her right back down. Well, at least, it calmed the nerves, but she still felt the surge of butterflies in her stomach every time he made a slight movement and she could nearly puke with excitement.

“You okay?” He asked quietly, and her eyes bounced from his down to where their bodies connected and then back up and she nodded. It reassured him because even though she had said she wanted him, she had every right to change her mind.

“Let me know if you want me to stop.”

She nodded again, positive that if she opened her mouth to say something nothing would even come out. Her lack of ability to speak made him smile, though, as he slowly descended down her body. 

He kissed her from her collarbone down to her belly, pulling her legs out around his waist so that she slouched in the chair and gave him better access by the time he reached his destination. His hands gripped her thighs tight as he sat back on his knees and let his mouth do the talking.

She tensed up the second he licked the tip of his tongue into her and he immediately backed away staring up at her in shock that he’d already done something to hurt her.

Instead, she finally opened her own mouth, “I’m sorry, I’m fine. I just… didn’t expect… you can keep going.” 

He fell back into place hesitantly, but this time he kissed his way up her inner thigh, making sure to keep at least one eye on her at all times. When he had his tongue on her again, though, she sunk into her seat with a sigh and he wasn’t as worried. 

When he spread her open with both his hands planted on her inner thighs, his tongue explored even more to the point of finally managing a moan out of her. She didn’t give him a whole lot, but he didn’t really need it the way he watched her like a hawk to make absolutely sure she was really okay. 

And she did seem that way, she seemed more than okay, in fact. Everytime he flicked his tongue over just the right spot, her eyes rolled back into her head and so he made mental notes of everything she liked best. Even though she never closed her eyes completely, never looked away from him for more than a second, what she did do was more than enough. Although he normally got off on verbal praise, just the way her body reacted to him seemed to do all the tricks he needed it to. The way she moved against him, the way her eyebrows furrowed and her lips pouted and she sucked in shaky breaths, he didn’t need anything more than that.

What she did next had him moaning, however. She dug her fingernails into his scalp and tugged his curls, leaving him in stinging pain that felt so fucking incredible. It was just another reminder from her that what he was doing was good and that he made her feel good enough to have her hands at the back of his head trying to get more from him. He fidgeted and shifted his weight just to get some relief himself while he looked at her with darkened green eyes and his tongue suddenly picked up the pace.

She gasped and leaned back into the chair, her eyes fluttering shut. He let her do it for a moment until he slowed to a stop and pulled his mouth away just far enough to speak. 

“Open your eyes,” he whispered, catching his breath, and she felt the heat of it on the sensitive bits his tongue had just been getting to know. She, again, did as he asked without question. His voice wasn’t filled with anything but care for her so no matter what he asked, she’d probably do it.

“Don’t stop looking at me, okay?” 

She agreed, nonverbally, before he even considered continuing where he left off. It wasn’t that he needed to see her face, although that had been a huge factor in telling him what he needed to do. It was mostly that he didn’t want her to close her eyes and have a single stitch of an intrusive thought leak into her brain. He didn’t want her to see anything besides him, not the trauma she’d been through or the face of the asshole who had done it. He wanted her to see him; his green eyes, his dimples, his curly brown hair that tickled her skin and framed his sweaty forehead. He wanted her to see that it was him on his hands and knees in front of her and that his touches would not make her hate her body. They wouldn’t betray her or disrespect her. Her body was safe in his hands and he wanted her to see that.

When he knew she was close, he found her hands digging into the cushion below her and slipped his fingers through hers instead, letting her squeeze the life out of them and dig crescent shapes into his skin. By this point, he’d become obsessed with her body, in love with the way it said everything her mouth didn’t. He didn’t need her to say anything, though, he never really did. Just being near her had always been more than enough. The only thing he would need her to say now though, was if she wanted him to stop.

But those words never left her lips and he stopped expecting them to as he watched her face contort with pleasure. He wondered if anyone had ever made her feel as good as he was and it made him sad to think she’d gone so long never being treated the way she deserved. He adjusted again and gave her everything he was capable of.

Her body moved against him like a tidal wave and he’d probably let her drown him if it meant feeling her buck her hips up into his mouth the way she was and he’d most definitely die at the hands of her body if it meant feeling her heels dig into his back for an ounce of mercy. He didn’t give her very much though, mostly because the look on her face told him that if he stopped now, she might actually kill him. 

Even so, he worshiped the fuck out of her in every sense of the word. He never looked away, he watched her mouth as it fell open. He watched her eyebrows as they furrowed. And most importantly, he watched her eyes until she couldn’t take it anymore and they crossed back into her head, while her whole body shivered against him. He felt her coming more than he heard anything about it at first. 

But then she whispered and he completely forgot what he was doing. 

“I love you so much, Harry.”

He blinked, looking up at her so much more in love than he ever had been before. He wanted to kiss her, to hear her say it again ten more times at least. When her hips shifted upwards again, he snapped out of it and scooted closer to her to gain some control while she was losing it, using his forearms on her hips to keep her in place. That had only led her to squeeze his hands tighter than ever before while her thighs got him in a choke hold, but he loved every single second of it, which is why he didn’t take his tongue away from her until she settled down. 

She breathed heavily for a few moments while he watched her come down from her high as he rested his cheek against her thigh and stared up at her, still holding onto her hands and rubbing his thumb across the back of one of them. He heard her words over in his head again and they became his most favorite words ever.

“So you do love me?” He asked quietly, not wanting to miss too much of the sounds of her catching her breath because of what he’d just done to her body.

She laughed and fluttered her eyes shut again. After a moment, she shook her head and changed the subject, “Please don't ever leave this house.”

He chuckled, sending cool air against her core again while he leaned over to kiss her thigh softly, “Whatever you say.”

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[hockeylvr59]

Secret Love Part 11 || Cale Makar

Requested: [ ] yes [x] no

Authors Note: So I really struggled writing Chapter 10...Chapter 11 however...took me like two days. So yeah...uh characters are still in Iceland, Days 3 and 4 sightseeing will be posted following this. As always all posts for this series can be found by searching the tag ‘038’ on my blog. Let me know what you think. 

Gif Credit: @j-compher​

Warnings: cursing, oral sex, smut, unprotected (on birth control but no condom) smut

Word Count: 3,819

~~~~~~

If you’d thought day two of your trip had involved a lot of driving, you were in for a rude awakening moving forward.

The morning of your third day in Iceland, you and Cale had slept in until around 8 am before getting up, heading down to breakfast, packing up and then checking out of the hotel. Before leaving Reykjavik, you stopped at a market to stock up on some drinks and snacks, then a gas station for a refill before finally hitting the road heading south.

After about an hour and 40 minute drive, you reached your first stop: Seljalandsfoss Waterfall. This waterfall was the perfect photo op because you could actually walk behind the falls. Taking some sillier but also sweet pictures, you continued on to another waterfall about a half hour away. From there, you stopped for lunch before Cale drove on to Dyrhólaey Nature Reserve.

The nature reserve was home to sea stacks and arches and the view from the upper trail was breathtaking. It had only been three days but already you were certain that Iceland was one of the most beautiful countries in the world.  After taking in the views from above, you headed to the lower trail and onto Reynisfjara beach.

There, black sand stretched in front of you as far as you could see. It was so different than any other beach you’d ever been on but it was honestly really, really cool. As cool as the sand was, the rock formations lining the beach were even cooler. After walking tucked into Cale’s side for a little bit you looked up at the cliffs to your left and immediately started freaking out. Jumping up and down, trying not to squeal, you tugged on Cale’s sleeve as if your previous actions hadn’t already gained his attention.

“What are you freaking out about?” Cale asked, mystified expression on his face.

“Puffins!” You squealed quietly, pure glee on your face. “They’re so cute!” The last thing you wanted to do was disturb the birds, but you were so excited to see them it was impossible to keep completely silent. Of course, you kept your distance, simply admiring them from afar.

Cale didn’t seem to know what to do with your reaction but he let you have your moment watching the birds, his lips pressed against the top of your head. As you headed back down the beach Cale rubbed his thumb against your side.

“I take you to see beautiful geological formations but it’s the birds you’re excited about.” He mused, shaking his head.

“Leave me alone.” You pouted. “You don’t just see puffins anywhere you know.” Lifting your chin, Cale kissed you softly.

“As long as you’re having fun and are excited about something I’m happy.” He insisted, his arm pulling you closer into his side.

It wasn’t a far drive to the village of Vik which Cale informed you was where you were staying for the night. Unlike yesterday where you had been going non-stop, not returning to your hotel until after 11pm, today you were already here and it was only late afternoon.

After checking into your hotel, you dropped off your bags and used the bathroom before heading into the village itself to park and walk around. Stopping into the tourist shop, you browsed around looking specifically at all of the locally made products. Eventually, you spotted a set of glass coasters made from the black sand of the beaches you’d just been on. Across the tops, various local scenes were painted. They were simple but beautiful and your fingers lingered across the tops of them.

“Those are nice.” Cale said, appearing over your shoulder suddenly.

“Yeah they are.” You agreed. Picking up two sets, Cale handed you one.

“We should get them. One for the house, one for my apartment.” Cale declared. “That way we both have something to remind us of this trip.”

“That’s really soft Cale.” You murmured.

“Don’t care.” He replied. Though you continued to look around, there wasn’t anything else that spoke to you as much as the set of coasters did and eventually you headed to the register to purchase them.

Walking around the village you took in how cute and quaint it was. Soon after your stomachs started complaining, you stumbled into a small restaurant. There you and Cale split a pizza with pesto for sauce, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, parma ham, topped with a balsamic glaze and parmesan cheese. It was delicious and you left feeling completely stuffed.

You’d called it an early night back at the hotel, settling for a movie on Netflix as you curled up together in bed. A relaxing evening was exactly what you needed to recharge and be ready to continue on your journey.

++

Day four of your trip started by filling up the gas tank and then embarking on an hour long drive to Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon.

Just before you reached the canyon, you encountered a small turn off which led you to a viewpoint. Climbing out of the car you walked up the pathway until you reached a platform. As far as the eye could see were moss covered rocks and it truly felt like you had stepped onto another planet.

“Are you sure we’re still on planet earth?” You whispered to Cale. Your boyfriend chuckled quietly in response, his hand resting on your hip. It seemed like the more time you spent alone together, not worried about who you saw or who saw you, the more reliant on physical touches each of you became. You’d never felt so comfortable just being with someone and thinking back on the times you’d seen Cale with Sara, you had a feeling the same could be said for him.

With more pictures clogging up your phones, you continued on to the Canyon itself. It was only a two-minute walk to the start of the canyon from the car and the moment you reached it your jaw dropped.

“Cale…” You whispered. You didn’t even have words to describe how beautiful this place was.

“Woah...sweetheart.” Cale’s thumbs brushed against your cheeks as he spoke and it wasn’t until he pulled you into his chest that you realized you were crying. “Shhh..give your brain a minute to process.” Cale assured you. His patience with you seemed neverending as his hands stroked your back until you finally calmed down.

“Sorry…” You mumbled, wiping frantically at your eyes when you finally pulled away.

“Nothing to be sorry about.” Cale insisted. “You’re allowed to be emotionally effected by things. It’s normal. Especially when it’s something as amazing as this.” Cale’s lips pressed gently to your forehead and he dropped his hand from your back to lace your fingers together. “You good to go walk?” He questioned.

It took about 45 minutes to walk all the way up to the top of the canyon and back and you stopped for pictures at various points along the way. You still couldn’t put into words the way this place made you feel; it was all so overwhelming in the best way. As you stood off to the side of the first viewpoint, away from the majority of other tourists, you tugged Cale’s hand until he was close enough you could wrap your arms around his neck.

“Thank you.” You murmured, kissing him lightly. “You always know exactly what I need, you’re always putting me first and taking care of me. It doesn’t go unnoticed, and you don’t know how much I appreciate it. You mean the world to me Cale...I don’t know if I’m quite as good at showing it as you are, but I hope you know that.”

“I do...know that…” Cale responded, kissing you again gently before pulling away, a fondness in his eyes that nearly sent you reeling. Dragging your fingers along his lower back you made up your mind to show him just how important he was to you once you were actually alone.

Back in the car, you munched on some of the snacks you’d brought in lieu of trying to find somewhere to stop for lunch. It took almost two hours to get to your next stop, the Jökulsárlón Iceberg Lagoon.

There, the two of you hopped on a boat tour where you got to taste a piece of 1,000 year old ice as you toured the lagoon. It was incredible to see first hand just how much ice was breaking off of the glacier and it made you more cognizant of the consequences of global climate change.

Right across the highway from the lagoon was Breiðamerkursandur or the diamond beach where fragments of ice wash up after floating from the lagoon out into the ocean. You made Cale climb onto an iceberg so you could take a picture of him and you got some great shots of all of the ice scattered along the shore. Despite the fact that it wasn’t all that cold outside, having been surrounded by ice for the past hour or two left you feeling chilly even if you had dressed in layers.

As you climbed in the car, Cale turned the heat on and you squeezed his knee in thanks. It was just a short drive to your hotel for the night and once you’d checked in, you shed a few layers before heading to the bar for a drink before dinner.

You’d retreated to your room around 6:30pm and Cale hopped in the shower first to clean up. While you waited for him to finish, you dug in your bag trying to decide what to grab for after your own shower. Thinking back to how you had promised yourself you were going to show Cale just how important he was, you unzipped a small compartment where you’d hidden the lingerie you’d bought.

Buying lingerie had been a spur of the moment decision possibly fueled by a few glasses of wine, and the thought of actually wearing it made you nervous. Your sex life with Cale had been fairly tame so far, nothing too out of the box. It had also been completely spontaneous on every occasion. You honestly had no idea how he would react to lingerie and though both sets were fairly tame in comparison to some sets you’d seen online, this was still something new and therefore nerve wracking.

Hearing the shower turn off, you jumped, your heart racing as you grabbed the more modest of the two sets. If you were going to do this, you were going to ease into it. Collecting your cosmetic bag, you hid the lingerie close to your chest.

Slipping into the bathroom as soon as Cale exited, you stripped out of your clothes and stepped into the shower trying not to overthink this. Focusing on shaving your legs and cleaning up served as a bit of a distraction but as you toweled off, your eyes landed back on the lingerie you’d placed on the counter.

You were certain you’d talk yourself out of this if you had to stare at yourself wearing the lingerie in the mirror for too long, so you started with your makeup, doing just a little bit more than you had been lately in order to make yourself feel confident and sexy. Blow drying your hair, you brushed it out before finally reaching for the lace and silk fabric.

Burgundy colored silk sat low on your hips, edged by black lace along both of your thighs. The same black lace covered your chest, ending at the bottom of your ribcage leaving your stomach exposed. It was...sensual but not over the top and when you slid the burgundy silk robe over it, you felt like you might actually be able to pull this off.

Reminding yourself that Cale had nearly lost his shit at the sight of you in a bikini the other night, you took a deep breath before opening the bathroom door and stepping out into the bedroom. Cale was sprawled out on the bed with just a pair of shorts slung low on his hips.

“What do you want to watch tonight?” Cale’s question was asked before he ever looked up at you, but when he did he blinked slowly. “That’s uh...that’s not your usual pajama set…” He murmured.

Blood pounding through your veins, you moved across the room to climb onto the bed beside him. Grabbing the remote from his hand, you turned the tv off before setting the remote aside.

“I was thinking about a different form of entertainment tonight…” You stated, your own voice sounding foreign in your ears. Sliding over Cale’s lap until you were straddling him, your hands ran down along his arms as his eyes did a slow once over of your body. “I think it’s time I take care of you for once.” You husked, raising an eyebrow. Cale hadn’t even seen what was under the robe yet and already he was slack jawed. The power you held over him in that moment sent a rush of adrenaline through you and you slid down the bed, tugging his shorts and boxers down with you.

“You good handsome?” You teased, lightly stroking your fingers over the length of his rapidly hardening dick. Cale couldn’t seem to speak, but he nodded his head and for now that was enough consent. Flicking your tongue along the slit of his cock, you stroked the length of him in your hand until a soft grunt fell from his lips. Only then did you hollow your cheeks, sinking down around him, taking as much of his length as you could down your throat. Bobbing slowly, you felt him twitch and when you pulled back to breathe you ran your tongue along the veins on the underside of his cock.

Following your instincts, plus Cale’s body language and verbal clues, you settled into a rhythm blowing your boyfriend for the first time. You’d seen and felt Cale orgasm enough to know when he was getting close as his body strained beneath you.

“Fuck. Babe. Stop.” Cale gasped, but peeking up at him you knew he didn’t actually want you to stop.

“We’ve got all night handsome...plenty of time for you to recover after coming down my throat.” You murmured before flicking your tongue through his slit again collecting all of his precum. Returning to your efforts, you cupped his balls as you sunk down his length. After just a minute, Cale came with a moan as he spilled down your throat and after swallowing you pulled off of him, sliding your tongue along his skin to clean him up. Cale’s cheeks were flushed as he tried to catch his breath and you slid up his body, settling yourself back over his lap.

“Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?” Cale gasped, his head falling forward to land against your shoulder. Kissing his head, you ran your fingers through his hair waiting for him to become more coherent.

“Just trying to take care of my man.” You hummed. “But if you’re complaining...you don’t have to see what’s under the robe.” As you spoke, you drew his hands up to the tie at your waist, leaving it for him to undo.

The speed at which Cale undid the bow told you that he wasn’t complaining at all and you let him push the robe from your shoulders, his eyes landing on you once more. His cheeks flushed further to match the color of your shorts and his eyes were wider than you’d ever seen them. You let him stare, watching as his tongue ran over his lips leaving them wet and shiny in the dim lighting of the hotel room.

“Fuck…” Cale breathed harshly, drawing out the word. “I must be dreaming right now.” He added. “You’re a fucking dream sweetheart.” Cale’s eyes ran slowly up and down your body like he wanted to memorize every inch. “You bought this for me?”

“I take it you like it?” You assumed, letting out a soft sigh in relief at his reaction.

“What do you think?” Cale grunted, pulling your hips to roll down against his cock which was already hard again.

Laughter bubbled from your chest in reaction and you cupped his cheek as you leaned in to kiss him deeply.

“Good to know lingerie is a hit with you.” You admitted. Cale’s eyes flashed with concern for just a moment before his hand fell to your hips, his thumbs brushing against your bare stomach.

“I don’t know whether I want you to keep this on or take it off.” He declared. Clearly he knew better than he thought he did, because as he spoke his hands slid up your sides, gently gripping the fabric and drawing it up and over your head. Half nude on top of him, Cale’s hands cupped your breasts as he pulled you into a desperate kiss.

“Can’t believe you’re mine…” He mumbled, pulling back. There was something about seeing him like this, flushed red, swollen lips, blissed out from one orgasm already that lit every primal need inside of you. As much as you were his, he was yours and god did you need him inside you.

“Please Cale…” You whimpered, rolling your hips against his.

“Shh…” He soothed, hands gliding across your ass. Sensing that he was going to try and flip you, you kept your weight centered firmly above him.

“I wanna be on top.” You pleaded. “Just need out of these shorts…”

Cale wasn’t responding quickly enough, so you pushed the fabric of your shorts off of your own hips, shifting as little as possible while attempting to kick them off and onto the floor.

“Let me…” You cut off Cale’s statement by raising your hips and lowering yourself onto his dick, a gasp spilling from your throat as you felt him slipping deep inside you.

“Yes…” You hissed, the stretch of your body around him filling you with a warmth and ache that you had missed so much. As you started shallowly leveraging yourself up before dropping back down your eyes met Cale’s deep azure orbs, the look in them heightening your arousal.

“So wet.” Cale eventually groaned. “My girl doesn’t even need foreplay after blowing me to be this soaking wet. Fuck.”

Though one of Cale’s hands fell to your hips, you were the one putting in all of the effort to fuck yourself on his cock.

“You’re so needy...fucking yourself...just using my body for your pleasure. So much for wanting to take care of me tonight.” Sinking down on him again, you purposely tightened your vaginal walls against him, drawing another moan from his chest.

“Hmm...I think me doing all the work...letting you cum inside me while you just lay there is taking pretty good care of you…” You corrected. Your thighs were starting to burn from bouncing on top of him but your orgasm was within arm’s reach and there was no way you were stopping before ensuring you both got to climax.

“My girl is close.” Cale groaned. “Cum for me sweetheart...let me feel that tight heat clamp down on me.”

Cale’s words pushed you over the edge and you sunk down on him in exhaustion as your body shook with your orgasm. Spurts of Cale’s semen filled you from deep inside and you whimpered at the feeling, warm from head to toe. As you collapsed against him, still connected intimately, Cale’s fingers played with the ends of your hair.

“I can’t get enough of you.” Cale whispered a few minutes later, his cock starting to harden inside of you again.

“Again?” You inquired, a little bit in disbelief that his rebound time was this fast.

“Only if you want to.” He assured you. “But I’ll take over, you can relax and enjoy this time.” This time when Cale attempted to roll the two of you over, you went willingly, staring up at him. Before moving, Cale settled your legs up over his shoulders and when he thrust inside of you, you cried out softly at the feeling of him brushing against your g-spot.

“I got you sweetheart...just tell me what you need.” Cale sighed, pleasure lacing his tone.

The sound of your skin smacking together and the squelch of your mixed bodily fluids rang in your ears.

“Talk to me…” You pleaded. “Like before.” You weren’t afraid to admit that hearing Cale dirty talk had pushed you so much closer to orgasm than you would have been otherwise.

“Yeah?” Cale breathed, his cheeks turning bright red again as you nodded. “You feel so good like this sweetheart. You’re even wetter than before. So tight too.” Every movement he made brushed against your g-spot and you couldn’t help the litany of noises that fell from your lips at the feeling.

“You like it when I fuck you like this huh?” He continued. “Your pussy stretches around me so nicely, just welcoming me inside. Do you like being fucked nice and deep like this? Feeling each ridge of me against your walls...feeling me spill deep inside you?” Crying out again, your head tossed back and forth against the pillow, your orgasm creeping up on you quickly.

“You do like feeling me spill inside of you don’t you? That’s why you wanted to stop using condoms. You like being skin to skin with me, feeling me raw you bare. You like being filled with my warm sticky cum, the way it drips out of you if I let it…”

Your vision went black for a moment as your orgasm crashed down on you hard. The muscles in your thighs spasmed painfully, but you barely noticed through the waves of pleasure that rippled through you, leaving you panting. As your body clenched around him again, you felt Cale spill inside of you for the second time tonight.

Carefully he pulled out of you before kissing your lips lightly.

“Be right back.” He declared, disappearing into the bathroom. He returned with a washcloth and after wiping down your thighs, he offered you a hand so that you could go to the bathroom yourself. When you returned to the bedroom, Cale handed you a t-shirt to wear before guiding you under the covers.

“So dirty talk huh…?” He chirped, his nose brushing against the top of your head.

“Shut up and turn the tv on Cale.” You replied, feeling heat flood your cheeks. Chuckling, Cale complied, but as he handed you the remote to pick a show he couldn’t help but get in the last word.

“It’s hot. I enjoyed it.” Shaking your head, you snuggled against him just basking in what was left of the afterglow.

“And for the record...you can always surprise me with lingerie. I’m definitely into that as well.”

Lingerie:

[maggyme13]

The last Mission (11/11)

AN: HERE WE ARE AGAIN for the last time of this story.

First I own you a reason for the long wait: just after the last chapter, both my sister and best friend became pregnant. Call me crazy, but I feared to jinx it if I continued this story. So I waited until both babies were born and a few months old.

So here we are and I hope you like it.

Wordcount: around 1800

Warnings: mention of misscarriage, asshole general, cursing

Masterlist

TLM-Masterlist

Part 10

Plumbs.

It all started with plumbs and a trip to the market. It ended with them sitting in some prison-cell- interrogation-room- thing.

Obviously it was quickly prepared to keep him and if they would get enough energy they would be able to get out easily.

That much they knew.

What they did not know was what had happened to you. With the last time they had seen you was when Bucky had returned from the market and found Captain America in their hideout.

It was then that the soldier had taken over who tried to lead him away from you to later return to in safety.

Unfortunately it would not come to that: after an hours long chase they were caught and locked away.

Then, two days ago they had been moved and were now locked away in Berlin, Germany. If he was able to trust his knowledge and memories.

At one point well armed men had entered the room that held his glass-cell to give him food and water using a tube for him to drink the soup out.

They were treated better than the soldier had ever been by Hydra when he had been locked away. Apart from the occasional food they were left alone with no word ever spoken to them.

It was irritating and antagonizing.

Just like the rest of the time, they were musing about what might have happened to the two of you, when five well armed men entered. He recognized the patches to belong to the German police special force GSG9. They were followed by a General of the United States and some spec ops guarding him.

“Mr Barnes. This Gentleman wants to ask you a few questions.”, one of the police officers spoke and they nodded in understanding.

Doesn´t look like they like the General much.

“Well, you probably wonder why you are here. Well, we arrested you for the attack on the UN that resulted in a few important people deaths; but unfortunately you have an Alibi. Even though I am not trusting the words of your little whore much. But the Germans do-”

Anger started to burn in their veins. His opponent was speaking about you, that meant he must have met you; spoken to you. And they did not like it one bit.

“- Because of that they are thinking about releasing you. I say it is because they feel guilty. Who wouldn´t after not being able to save a baby.”

A Baby? Their eyebrows rose- First in shock, then confusion.

“Well, I would not in this case. The child of a monster can only turn out as one as well. And it is not like anyone would be loving it, right? You are unable to feel positive things and she will only treat it out of fear.”

Until that moment, Bucky and the Soldier had been coexisting inside the body and mind ; now Bucky stepped back on his own and handed his half of the reigns over to the soldier.

With their combined anger the soldier was able to break out of his restrains within seconds. Much to the surprise of the General and his guards.

Just as quick as the soldier had freed himself, his fist connected with the Generals nose breaking it and the surrounding bones upon impact. His security detail regained their bearings to late and were knocked out quicker than they were able to reach for their guns.

With his new goal in the back of his mind, the soldier made his way over the bodies of the detail (stealing their guns on the way) and dragging the generals body behind him. Now he had to find you and become sure about your condition.

Using one of the stolen guns, he shot the lock to his cell open and stepped outside with the general as his shield.

Outside, he was greeted by the German police officers with their guns drawn and pointing at them.

“Drop him and your weapon!”, the leader ordered once. Twice. Three times in total until he did as he was told. With a loud crack the head of the hostage connected with the floor, cutting the tension for a second.

He knew, unlike their American counterparts, German police officers were taught to shoot as a last resort and as long as he wouldn´t shoot at them, they would not do so as well. So he kept his weapon aimed at them.

“Why don��t we calm down and lower our weapons? If you do that we can arrange for you to speak to Ms (y/n). That is what you want, right? But first you need to lower your weapon and let us take you into custody-”

“SHUT UP!”, the soldier growled, “What did he mean you were not able to save a baby?”

He underlined his question with a kick to the knock out general´s gut.

“Sir, we can talk about-”

“Answer my question.”, he demanded again adjusting his weapon. The soldier knew he was skilled enough to kill or injure at least two of the officers before they would be able to kill him. And he hoped they knew so as well and would disregard their training and answer his demands.

“Due to an incredible unfortunate accident Ms (y/n) had a miscarriage. I am deeply sorry.”

Acting on pure instinct and anger, he was about to take the shot, when the sound of naked feet on tiles caught his attention. And there you were. Out of the corners of his eyes he saw you running towards him. Your hair dripping wet and only a towel around your body.

“I was just taking a shower.”, you told him and a short gush of relieve float down his spine. Taking your appearance as a distraction, the police changed their positions, catching the soldiers attention.

Not wanting to lose you as well, he skillfully moved you behind his body to shield you from any bullet that might come their way.

“Sir, please lower you weapon.”, the leader called out again, “Sir, we have proof that you are innocent of the crime they say you committed. Lower your weapon and we can talk about it. No harm will come to you or Ms (y/n).”

“Soldier.”, you hummed, “They treated me well. Made sure I had food and medical care. Can we take their offer? I am getting cold with only the towel and my wet hair… please?”

Slowly he lowered his weapon and swirled it around so he was griping the muzzle before placing it on the floor and kicking it towards the police.

“If you lie. I will kill every single one of you.”, he promised.

“We know. We will lower our weapons now as well. Ms, do you know the way back to the room you were in first?”

You nodded a yes.

“Then please lead the way, we will be following you. Helmholz has already organized a change of clean clothing for you.”

“Come.”, you whispered and did as told, the soldier hesitantly doing so as well.

Back in ´your´ room, you quickly got changed in the offered clothing and took a seat on the bench again while the soldier was pacing the room like a caged lion.

“I am sorry,”, you finally hummed, stopping him dead in his tracks.

“No. We should be sorry. We failed in protecting you. We caused this. We-”

“To be honest, the General you knocked out caused this whole dilemma.”, Tony Stark piped up from the door, “Easy Iron fist, I am here to offer a peace-treaty. You see. We have evidences that you are in fact innocent of placing that bomb. And that you were controlled by Hydra. We believe you know a lot about them and their plans and so on, and on and on. Because of that I want to offer you a deal: the two of you return with me to the USA and stay at the Avengers-compound where you will get treated for any injuries , be it mentally or physically, and be rehabilitated as much as possible. And with the two of you, I don´t mean Mr Split Personality here, but the two people staring at me right now.”

“Thank you but no thank you. I would rather end up in Jail than to live in the same house as the two people who got me into this situation in the first place.”, you growled, having no desire to have to see Captain spangled latex and the black bitch more than needed.

“Understandable. I am sure we can find a solution to that problem. But can I say that at Steven felt horrible and was trying to find you ever since?”

“Doesn´t change the fact that they made me go to that heli-carrier and didn´t allow me to get my ass out of there once they had what they wanted.”

The billionaire had nothing to answer to that.

“She decides.”, the soldier rumbled and you sighted.

“The compound is huge, I am sure I can find an area suiting your demands. FRIDAY, can you check for me?”

“There three apartments that are at the far east and north of the compound that have their own entrances and can be locked off the rest of the compound.”

“Thank you. FRIDAY.”

“My pleasure Boss.”

“Your call Ms. I will personally make sure that neither of the two will bother you. I will even make sure you have a job. You were a secretary before right? I know someone who could need a new one.”

“Fine.”- Back into lock- down I guess. Not that I am already used to it by now. And it really would be best for Bucky, and the soldier as well. Why did I had to take that damn job in the first place. Screw you benefits!

“Awesome. I will get everything ready and we will depart as soon as possible. Why don´t you order food on my tab.” And with that he was gone.

______

Three month had gone by since then and you had started to feel comfortable in the apartment you were living in now. There had been a small , very small funeral for your dead boy, where only the Soldier/ Bucky had been present and Wanda, who turned out to become a wonderful friend of yours.

Once you crossed path with the Black widow and to the surprise of the two of you, you broke her nose with a punch to the face. Both of you were shocked, but you could not see her reaction, because as soon as your fist had connected with her nose, the soldier had taken over control, thrown you over his shoulder and walked away into a different direction than you first had been on. Captain America was different, Wanda had shown you proof that he had really been trying, with an endless number  of sleepless nights to find you, and so you had had decided to at least give him a chance.

Now only time would tell your future and what it brought for you. One thing you new though. I would not be boring.

AN 2.0: 

Thank you all for reading :)

~MaggY

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[anna-something]

I was wondering, if you don't mind! If you could talk a little bit about the Dreamcatcher members and what stands out to you about their personal? styles? From what I gather, it sounds like you have a background? in dance, and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I’m presuming you mean their personal dance styles ?? if so, I’d love to! 

I’ll start off with our main dancer, queen Sua. If I had to pin point one thing about Sua that I love, it’s that she’s unafraid. You can tell when a dancer is scared to hit something *too* much - I can think of many performer’s whom I believe would be 10 times better if they stopped being scared of looking a bit wild/unrestrained. Sua has no problem with this (both on stage and off stage shdgdhsgd). Another tiny aspect I always admire, is her head, shoulder and neck isolation. It’s a pet peeve of mine when someone doesn’t pull down their shoulder blades to properly extend out their posture and neck when they dance. If you rotate your shoulder’s down and away from your ears all your extension lines look sharper and cleaner. Sua being really good at this is important to me as she’s not from a purely ballet/lyrical dance background and instead actually is a commercial and street (our girl did a B-boy comp back in the day) dancer. The training styles are massively different and you can almost always tell by the way someone holds their back but Sua is able to maintain a shoulder positioning that suits both fluid and strong styles, which is hard to do. Her footwork is also ALWAYS amazing. She’s got very quick feet, and something that I think is so utterly *her* is how she adds an extra bounce in each step. She is a wonderfully energetic dancer. I honestly could pin point so many tiny bits of Sua’s dance ability and this could go on forever and ever so I’m gonna leave it here with just one more compliment: her central core control is so good, almost completely isolated from the rest of the body, that all other body parts’ movements are hit with an extra degree of sharpness. (I’d also like to add that Sua’s leg flexibility has been improving over the years of promoting with Dreamcatcher and I’m super hyped to see it)

Now I’ll go down through age order so next up is Jiu. The word I think of first when discussing Jiu’s dance style is ‘refined’. It’s clear she’s trained really really hard and it has payed off phenomenally well. In my opinion, Jiu is one of the cleanest dancers in dreamcatcher - there’s no awkward moments in transition but also, she holds ensemble choreography together really well. There are no awkward body lines when Jiu dances, even in both their strong choreos and their more fluid ones. Jiu is a show dancer, where every move is hit to maximise the aesthetic of the line, of the position. I can’t understate how much of an impressive skill that is and how much it ties in with people describing her as ‘charismatic’. Pulling focus is her thing. Pause on every frame of Jiu dancing and she will look good, no matter what. She’s a dancer you can always trust to look right. 

Siyeon’s best known for her voice (as she should be) but it was weirdly her performance and dance ability that first made me take notice of her upon watching their debut stage (best decision I ever made to check out the new rock girl group lmfao). It’s been pretty much proven that Siyeon’s one of the physically strongest in Dreamcatcher and her dancing *looks* it. It’s almost negligible with dreamcatcher to talk too much about how sharp they are as dancer’s since.. well.. duh.. look at them.. but Siyeon’s got this ability to only a hit a move right at the last second - right at the perfect moment - as hard as she possibly can, when she dances. It’s just intensity from beginning to the end and a lot of that is to do with her physicality (that she doesn’t do any extra working out apart from training as dreamcatcher is truly the cherry on top dghdgbsd). I’ve often seen people reblog my posts of her dancing saying she looks possessed and like,,, they’re not far off. She dances like she *wants* to intimidate you. Side note but Siyeon does seem to have very impressive leg flexibility on her right leg. Combine that with her strength and it makes me think she might have done some kind of martial arts as a kid.

Handong!! Our musical theatre trained ball of talent! She’s actually the person I deem as having had the most ‘traditional’ dance training, as seen by her grand jeté (or split leap) and she’s got the best spotting (following a single point during turns). Click this link and go to 01:19:38 to see what I mean. Handong is the perfect example of how you can *tell* when someone’s had ballet/lyrical training because her back is always more straight than the others. She has by far the best technical extension and with more confidence, I think she’d be able to relax into her movement’s to just get the extra reach I know she has. Her technical (ballet) hands are also gorgeous, I’m always transfixed when she get’s to utilise them. But saying all that, I think Handong is actually at her best when she’s confident enough to showboat dance. So much of dance is believing you’re the best thing on that stage and when Handong is in that mode, you just simply can’t look away from her. Can you get that I want her to be more confident in how good of a dancer she is??? Am I making that clear enough ?? Handong,,,, if you’re out there,,,, you’re so good,, please know that. 

Yoohyeon’s the tallest member of dreamcatcher by quite a bit and being tall and being a dancer isn’t easy (I’m 5ft10, I know this first-hand) and I remember Yoohyeon introducing herself as an awkward tree (lmfao) but she actually is really good at using her body proportions. Being long-limbed means you gotta move quicker to extend properly and she manages it every time. I classify Yoohyeon as a ‘face’ dancer - her body moves it’s best when she’s expressing something, often times using her face. You can really tell that the energy she get’s from other’s is important to her when performing too. A small thing I always notice and adore about Yoohyeon’s dance is her knee is always well aligned with her thighs - a really *really* important part of turn out. It’s visually more appealing and showcases strength but it’s also really good for her health and she’s less likely to injure herself so uh… yey? dhgbsdg. 

Now onto lead dancer Dami! A lot of people don’t click that Dami legit has that title in the group because she (quite rightly) is known for her gravitas on stage when she’s rapping and performing. A huge part of that gravitas? She’s a very VERY clean and sharp dancer. Also let it be known she had a natural talent at spin pole and if anyone knows me they know I’m a pole dancer and pole enthusiast. Skills required for spin pole: incredible core control, good balance and strong arms and legs. Dami’s ticking all the boxes. Being that she has the more masculine aesthetic image in the group, I’m always utterly thrilled to see how she incorporates *who* she is in the way she dances. You can feel completely and utterly how her identity ties in on stage. She called herself the dancing prince for a reason ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Dami’s style is effortless honestly. Like she’s clearly working hard but she doesn’t ever come across she is (which is how all dancer’s want to appear). Do I even need to mention her skill with props too? The dancer’s nightmare is involving props and fucking up but our girl’s cool as a cucumber. 

Finally, we’re at Gahyeon. First things first, I gotta say, she’s a pilates baby and so in turn, she’s extra strong and extra bendy. If you’re unfamiliar with reformer machines (the first contraption) they work by using resistance spring’s on a moving platform. They’re pretty tough. Another link for bendy Gahyeon here and go to 01:18:00. I’m remembering the time she lifted Siyeon on her back from a crouch position in a pair of heeled boots. She’s small but she’s !! mighty!! Her dancing is the most improved in all of dreamcatcher from debut to now (she debuted at what? 17?) She debuted doing all the steps right and synchronised but now she has her own performance style and atmosphere. Gahyeon has said before she’d always wanted to try a ‘sexy’ image in a recent interview so I gotta plug her adult ceremony performance. To do sexy so easily on stage is really tough and I feel like this was a real turning point for her as a stage performer because she’s been so much more confident. I am so ready to see who she’ll grow into even more. Something individual I really wanna point out is her hip flexor rotation ! Of all the girl’s, she and handong had the best fan kick and it also shows in her dancing. 

This got real long but I hope you appreciated my thoughts anon !

[greenygreenland]

Wannabe Chap. 10: Star Wars x Reader

-i'm working on so many different things (reboots of a bunch of old wattpad stories of mine and a bunch of one-shots on my tumblr, which is greenygreenland) -my wattpads are APH_Nordic_Greenland and reallygreenland if you're wondering (check them out please!)

'ɪ ᴄᴀɴ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴀꜱᴋɪɴɢ ᴀɴʏᴏɴᴇ ɪ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ʀᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴ. ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ꜱʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ɪ ɢᴏ? ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴋɴᴏᴡ...' -ꜱʜᴏᴜᴛ ʙᴀʙʏ, ʀʏᴏᴋᴜᴏᴜꜱʜᴏᴋᴜ ꜱʜᴀᴋᴀɪ

(Y/n) had no problem fighting the troopers back in the detention block. She could go all day even with the splitting amount of headaches she seemed to get all the time. Fighting was simple, but putting up with her so-called 'saviours' was harder.

At this point, she'd pay a hundred credits to shut up Han-whatever-his-last-name-was and Luke-wannabe-skywalker telling the former to shut his freaking trap while Princess-I'm-So-Great tried to keep her Gucci boots out of the garbage water. (Y/n) wasn't sure what evoked such strong emotions within her, so she blamed it on being stuck in a literal dump.

"What an incredible smell you discovered! Let's get out of here." shouted Han. He raised his blaster at the door and Luke's eyes widened as he threw out a hand in a 'STOP!' motion. "No wait!"

Of course it was too late--everything always had to be. So the laser bounced off the door and ricocheted around the durasteel walls, going round and round until it hit some poor unsuspecting box in the corner of the cramped room. "Will you forget about it?" cried Luke. "I already tried it, it's magnetically sealed!"

(Y/n) ignited her lightsaber with a huff. "Excuse me, Chewie." He growled in reply and scooted away from the door. As the group argued behind her, (Y/n) stabbed her lightsaber into the thick durasteel. She guided it through the metal, every now and then pausing to rest her tired arms. 

There was a weird shift in the Force. (Y/n) wanted to say it was her imagination, but gut feelings were signs too complex for the mind to fully comprehend, and it was then that she realised a terrifying fact.

They weren't alone. 

"Put that thing away!" shouted the princess. "You're gonna get us killed!"

"Absolutely your Worship." 

"Excuse me." said (Y/n)

"Look, I had everything under control till you led us down here!"

"Guys."

"You know, it's not gonna take 'em long to figure out what happened to us!" 

(Y/n) adjusted her grip on her lightsaber with a sigh. "Guys! There's something..." A low growl erupted from one of the rubbish piles. "...alive in here." she finished. Han turned to her with a roll of his eyes. "That's your imagination, Space Wizard." 

"No, I think (Y/n)'s right." countered Luke. He suddenly jolted in the air with a screech. "Something just moved past my leg!" (Y/n) shivered as Luke pointed to a slimy object swimming past him. "Look!" he cried. "Did you see that?!" (Y/n) gripped her saber so tightly that she thought she'd break it. Han, on the other hand, didn't seem to believe anything he was seeing. "What?!" he demanded. "I don't see it!" (Y/n) concluded that he was perhaps blind to the supernatural. Chewie let out a panicked growl and clawed at the door. 

"Keep it busy so I can cut open this door!" shouted (Y/n). Her sweaty hands didn't help her cause as she held on to her saber for dear life. As each second passed with Luke, Han, and the princess screaming bloody murder, (Y/n) felt like she couldn't breathe--maybe because the walls had begun to move. Wait, move? (Y/n) spared a glance past her shoulder. "Where--where is it?" 

"I think Han scared it." said Luke.

The walls creaked and wobbled eerily. (Y/n) realised it was not her imagination and that yes, the walls were going to squash them if she didn't slice open a hole to sweet safety.

(Y/n) didn't like that thought; nobody liked that thought.

They were going to die in piles of garbage on some base in the middle of who-knows-where all because (Y/n) couldn't slash through the five-inch thick durasteel door. "Come on, come on...." She stared at the half-moon she had created in the door. Almost there. Just a few seconds left. 

"Can't you cut through the door faster?!" shouted Han. (Y/n) forced her lightsaber through the door with so much force that her knuckles turnt white. "I'm trying! I'm trying!"

"Don't just stand there yelling at her!" ordered Leia. "Try and brace the walls with something! We have to give her time!" 

(Y/n) was sweating buckets. The walls were closing in on them and there wasn't enough time. Luke whipped out his comlink again in hopes of contacting someone, but hope seemed so far away. "I think we're going to die." whispered (Y/n).

"Don't say that!" shouted Luke. "3-PO? 3-PO! Come in! 3-PO?!"

Luke eventually gave up on contacting 3-PO and jumped over to help (Y/n) cut through the door. His warm hands over hers was a big help, but not enough.

"One thing's for sure," Han said, "we're all gonna be a lot thinner!" 

(Y/n)'s lightsaber passed through the last of the durasteel, and with a firm Force push, the circle flew into the hall. (Y/n) deactivated her lightsaber. "Go, go, go!" She stood at the door as Luke, Chewie, Han, and the princess jumped through the hole. (Y/n) was the last to emerge, gasping for air that didn't smell like trash and nearly falling on her face with buckling knees. Luke and Han began removing their armour. Once Luke had finished, he sent (Y/n) a concerned look. "Are you okay? You're really pale." 

(Y/n) adjusted her robes and Force-pushed the durasteel cut-out back into its place. Her knees buckled again, but before she collapsed, Luke caught her by the waist and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Thank you."

"No problem."

Leia rounded on everyone with fiery eyes. She motioned for everyone to follow her as she dusted off her dress. "I don't know who you are or where any of you came from, but from here on out, you listen to me." Everyone followed suit after her, mostly because they didn't have a choice. The princess sent Chewie a look of disgust as soon as he caught up to her. "Will someone get this walking carpet out of my way?" She brushed past him as Han and Luke exchanged glances of irritation. The latter whipped out his rod-like comm and held it to his lips.

"3-PO, do you copy?"

"Yes."

"Are you safe?"

"At the moment. We're in the main hanger across the ship." Luke nodded and said, "We're right above you, stand-by." The group paused at a large window overlooking the hanger. A large ship that could fit at least three or four Jedi starfighters stood smack in the middle of the hanger, where bright lights shone overhead as if to display the hunk of junk.

"You came in that thing?" questioned the princess. "You're braver than I thought."

She led the group down the hall and rounded a sharp corner. From the end of the hall, (Y/n) spotted a group of troopers. For some reason, at that exact time, they were incredibly perceptive, and whipped around to rain lasers down on the group. 

"It's them! Blast 'em!"

(Y/n) raised a hand and Force-pushed the troopers into a hall to the left. She slammed her fist down on a control panel and shut the blast doors. Another group appeared and Han ran after them with Chewie by his side. "Get back to the ship!" he screeched. (Y/n) knitted her brows. "What about you? You both will die!" Han continued running down the hall like a raging bantha until he and Chewie were out of sight.

(Y/n) didn't know if that was brave or stupid.

Luke took Leia and (Y/n) by the arms, pulling them along the opposite direction of where Han ran. "Where are we going? Han went right, not left!" He came to a skidding stop at the edge of the hallway, where a bridge should have stood over a never ending abyss of black. Luke stumbled a bit, teetering towards the edge like a bowling ball out of control. (Y/n) seized Luke by the arm as he released the princess. With a firm pull, she hauled him back to safety. "I think we took the wrong turn." he innocently announced. (Y/n) sighed. "Ya think?" 

There was a group of pounding footsteps behind, and before any could raise a single blaster, (Y/n) slammed her hand on a panel. The door slid shut with a firm click, but it didn't lock.

A frown bled onto (Y/n)'s lips. "Right." She whipped out her lightsaber and slashed at the panel until smoke and sparks flew into the air. "Now for this." She eyed the gaping abyss before her, hoping, and praying that no one would fall. It could have gone down for hundreds of yards for all she knew, so if she made any mistakes, it would be game over. 

(Y/n) rubbed her hands together with a focused sigh. She closed her eyes and held out both hands.

"Watch out!" Luke was about to push (Y/n) out of the way, but she focused on the laser flying her way and deflected it back to the level above them. Although it missed the guy's head by centimetres, he wasn't so lucky because Luke and the Princess blasted the heck out of the troopers, rendering them either immobile, dead, or tumbling into the abyss below. They must have realised that they needed reinforcements, because they disappeared back the way they came.

"Princess." (Y/n) stated. She lifted her hands up as if she were moving through water, and with a gentle flick of her hands, levitated the princess to the other side. She landed safely and took cover in the threshold of the door. "Luke, you--" (Y/n) threw a hand to her head with a small yelp. A cold feeling settled into her stomach, and it reminded her so much of...

...of the Chancellor.

But this time? This time it hurt. It wasn't only a chilling, passing feel, but a pain in her very skull like a blast to her head. 

"Is she okay?" shouted Leia from the other side.

Luke was saying something to (Y/n), but she couldn't hear him. There was an insistent ringing in her ears like static when her signal had been lost. She closed her eyes, and then the white and black hallways disappeared.

They morphed into a rounded room of black, where the only light giving way were the stars. A man stepped towards her that she should have recognised, but the presence just didn't sit right with her. He was clad in a black suit of sorts and had a helmet over his head. His breathing was like a child's laugh in a horror movie: unnerving, unnatural, and almost scary. 

(Y/n) wanted to say she knew this man, yet she didn't. Where was the kind, loving face of Anakin Skywalker her best friend?  

"So you live." 

There were two hands on (Y/n)'s shoulders that sucked her out of the room and into reality. "Are you alright?" questioned Luke. "What happened? Are you hurt?" His voice was tender and sweet, but it offered (Y/n) no comfort. 

"You know what? You've done enough saving for today." Luke said, throwing a hand into his stolen belt. He produced a grappling hook and threw it onto one of the beams high in the air. Luke gave the line a tug before wrapping an arm around (Y/n)'s waist. A few troopers appeared, but Luke was quick to shoot them down. 

"You ready?" he kindly questioned. (Y/n) weakly held onto his shoulders as he adjusted his grip on the line. "No." Luke heaved in a deep breath before bravely kicking off the bridge. "Neither was I!" he exclaimed. Much to his relieved surprise, the two landed safely on the other side. Leia took (Y/n) by the arm and helped her over as Luke pulled out his blaster.

They continued running through the halls, and even with both Leia and Luke hanging onto (Y/n)'s limp shoulders, she had trouble keeping up. All she was to them was dead weight, yet for some reason, they kept helping her along.

The group had to maneuver past troopers, through various halls, and past the extremely annoying mouse droids sweeping past. When the group came to the entrance of the docking bay, (Y/n) almost sighed in relief. Hiding in a corner were Chewie and Han, safe from harm and prying eyes.

"What kept you up? And what happened to you?" Han motioned to (Y/n) as Luke adjusted his grip around her shoulders. "We...ran into some bucketheads." (Y/n) weakly answered. 

"Is the ship okay?" questioned Luke. Han shrugged a shoulder. "Seems okay, if we can get to it. I just hope the old man got the tractor beam down." (Y/n) was about to inquire about the tractor beam, but that sharp pain returned in her head tenfold with the presence of Anakin. 

But that couldn't be, she scolded herself. He was on Coruscant, one of the many core planets far away from here. Maybe he was out with a search party this very moment, or maybe he was trying to contact her through all the jammed signals. Whatever presence she felt here couldn't be Anakin's. 

It just wasn't possible.

A group of troopers raced right past the group as if they didn't exist. They continued into the hanger and where (Y/n) felt the presence. Luke and the princess surveyed the area before speed-walking as fast as physically possible towards the sad excuse for a ship.

Han and Chewie kept a look-out, either one at the end of the chain or top. (Y/n) was just at the ramp of the ship before her body went rigid again. Luke must have felt something too, because he faltered and turned to look at where the troopers had gathered.

(Y/n) had never been so confused in her life. Not when Shaak started training her, not when Anakin had first taught her how to pilot, and not when her men first taught her how to make 'good' jokes.

In a hallway only a few hundred yard away stood the man from (Y/n)'s vision along with Obi-wan. No, but that couldn't be right. Obi-wan wasn't an old man, and the guy in the black suit couldn't have been Anakin. They shouldn't be here, and neither should she.

The two looked to be locked in a battle to the death, and as much as (Y/n) tried to deny it, she felt scared. It was hard being confused for a good few hours, but this? Oh, it topped the nonexistant cake with the frosting, decor, and cherry on top.

"Ben?" called Luke. The old man paused for a moment, his bright eyes meeting Luke's before meeting (Y/n)'s. She let out a sort of strangled gasp in bewilderment. That...that was Master Obi-wan Kenobi!

The guy clad in black raised his saber high above his head. Everything after that happened too quickly for (Y/n) to process. Obi-wan disappeared just as the glowing blade connected with his hood, then Luke screamed, and (Y/n) screamed louder. The princess took the lead after that, yanking (Y/n) out of harms way and leading her towards the ship as Luke shot the troops in an anguished frenzy.

Just as (Y/n) made her way up the ramp, the man in black met her gaze, and the words fell from her lips before she could stop them.

"Ani?"

PART 11

[k-popscenxrios]

Didn’t Ask For This Pt 3 (Roommate!JK x OC)

A/N: So I have a whole lot more written in this than I realized so I thought I would make another post!

Summary: “I didn’t know you hated me so much,” he spoke as he grabbed my wrist and once again turned me around to face him, “and quite honestly, I don’t think I’ve done anything horrible enough for you to hate me to the degree that you do.” “You say that like the hate isn’t mutual,” I remarked as he shook his head. There was a bitter smile on his face as he took a deep breath, “I think you are quite honestly one of the worst human beings I’ve had to come in contact with.”

6.9k words | drama ✞ | fluff ♡

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Finale

⇨ Masterlist ⇦ 

Walking into the apartment was incredibly awkward as I was met with Jungkook and Taehyung getting ready to boot up a game on their xBox. It was a game that I had no interest in, of course, and I wasn’t complaining since I was dying to just wall myself up in my room again.

“Hey Ari, how was work?” Taehyung asked as I just rushed through the living room.

“Fine,” I spoke as I walked through the hallway and closed the door to my room very violently. It wasn’t exactly my intention to slam the door, but it happened and I couldn’t do anything to fix it. I knew the slam was going to prompt Taehyung to come back here and try to talk to me…

“Ari?” I heard him knock on my door before opening it slightly, “What’s wrong?”

I sat down on my bed and took a deep breath. I didn’t want to bother Taehyung about the drama that I caused at work, and I certainly didn’t want him to bring Jungkook in here whether it be to apologize or not.

“Nothing. I didn’t mean to slam the door,” I responded as I started to gather a change of clothes, “I’m going to change. You go have fun with your game.”

I looked over at Taehyung as I noticed the worry in his eyes. He didn’t voice anything out loud as he just nodded and slowly began closing the door behind him.

“Okay, tell me about it when you’re ready to, then.”

My door closed as I felt my heart twist in my chest. Taehyung was always the best older brother. He always listened when I needed an ear and he was always standing up for me in school when things would get out of hand. He was thoughtful most of the time, and even when he made selfish decisions, he tried to make it up to me.

I didn’t like the fact that I wasn’t talking Taehyung’s ear off like I would have been if Jungkook weren’t here. Why does that guy have to be such a confusing jerk? One moment he’s just a jerk who loved teasing me, and the next moment he’s throwing real and hurtful insults my way. He was very good at the hurtful insults, and my soft side seemed to always fall apart at what horrible things he’d say to me.

I was not going to just let myself sit in my room and sulk over the fact that Jungkook had been slowly ruining my life in a million different ways, and I felt helpless in being able to stop him.

I just wish we could hate each other in silence. I would much rather never talk to him rather than bickering all day long.

I could hear Jungkook and Taehyung laughing in the living room as I took a deep breath. Why couldn’t Jungkook be tolerable? I would kill to be the one laughing and having fun with my brother…

I feel like such a grade schooler when Jungkook’s around. Why does he bring out such an immature side of me? Does he just know how to push all the wrong buttons?

I took a deep breath and felt sudden confidence and determination hit me. Jungkook and Taehyung had been here less than a week and I was not going to let this misery continue. I was going to force myself around the two of them and try my hardest to have fun.

I might have a huge grudge against Jungkook, but I had to accept the fact that he was a part of my life for the next few months. If I just… pretend to get along with him than maybe that’ll make this summer go by quicker.

I found myself opening my door as I walked slowly into the living room. I may have been determined to come in and try and get along, but the thought still terrified me.

I walked into the living room and sat down on the smaller couch as Jungkook glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes. The two stayed focused on the game to make sure that they didn’t lose, but there was no question that they noticed my sudden and silent appearance.

I got myself in a comfortable position as I laid down the best I could and watched the TV. They were playing a multiplayer shooter, but I couldn’t tell you what game it was.

Taehyung yelled in anger as Jungkook shouted in excitement.

“How did you know I was there?!” Taehyung cried as he turned to Jungkook and knocked him in the shoulder. Jungkook just shrugged and laughed, not saying a word in reply.

“You’re screen cheating,” Taehyung glared as Jungkook just laughed and shook his head.

“Where’s your proof?” he raised his eyebrows as Taehyung just sighed and popped his neck.

“Oh you’re on, Jeon.”

I felt myself smiling at how serious Taehyung looked as the two of them continued on with their game. I may have not been involved, but it was nice to be present. Spending the last few days walled up in my room to be away from Jungkook wasn’t fun in the slightest.

“Gotcha!” Taehyung laughed in excitement as he dropped his controller on the couch and wrapped an arm around Jungkook’s neck, “I can definitely cheat better than you can.”

“Debatable,” Jungkook laughed as I noticed his eyes glance my way for a few seconds. Was I making him uncomfortable? Why does he keep glancing my way? “Should we play something else?”

Taehyung sighed and nodded, “Yeah, This game is only so fun for so long.” He glanced at me as he took the disk out the the console, “Do you want to play Ari?”

“Oh, no,” I shook my head as both boys were looking my way, “I’m fine.”

Jungkook continued eyeing me curiously, and I was holding back a smile. I like how confused he seemed to be at my actions.

“Suit yourself,” Taehyung spoke as he pulled out his selection of games, “Jungkook, did you forget to pack Overwatch?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jungkook grimaced as Taehyung frowned, “I didn’t bring my xBox stuff down here so I didn’t think about putting it in your bag.”

“Well shoot,” he mumbled, “I might just drive up there to get it…”

“Seriously Taehyung?” I laughed as I pulled my phone out to scroll through my feed, “You’d make a four hour drive just for a video game?”

“Overwatch is fun, okay?” Taehyung laughed as I shook my head. He wasn’t actually going to drive and get that game. He would just buy it again before he’d waste his time like that.

…

I got up from the couch to grab a drink as I heard someone get up from the couch and follow me into the tiny hallway of a kitchen. I turned to see Jungkook, and he looked almost uncomfortable. He seemed like he was trying to say something, but he never actually did.

I turned to him and took a deep breath. “Do you want a gatorade? Blue or orange?”

“Orange,” he replied as I pulled one out of the fridge and handed it to him. He hesitated to take it as I just looked at him with a raised brow.

“Did you want two?” I asked as he looked away and just shook his head. He fled the room in silence as I just felt a sense of satisfaction. It felt better to be the bigger person. Bickering was so immature…

I noticed that if I didn’t initiate any arguing then neither did Jungkook. It was hard to accept the fact that I was the problem between the two of us, but that just meant it would be an easy fix. Maybe I should just be indifferent to him from now on. It’s kept him quiet like I was wishing in the first place.

This was the way we could silently hate each other. It was a nice, civil, and mutual hatred.

…

The rest of the night was fairly civil as we all sat around the same dinner table and seemed to get along. I had made some spaghetti for the three of us while the two of them sat in the living room playing one of their games.

The table was mostly silent until Jungkook broke the silence, “Hey Tae, how was your shift today? That was today, right?”

Taehyung nodded as I moved my eyes to him. “I didn’t know you started your new job today!”

“It was pretty awesome, actually. I’m working with one of your old girlfriends from high school, Jennie. She’s still as hot as ever,” Taehyung smirked as I rolled my eyes. Jungkook smiled and leaned toward Taehyung at the mention of Jennie.

“Is she?” he seemed genuinely interested as I found myself growing less and less interested in this conversation. “She’s probably the only ex that I don’t regret dating. I’d date her again, actually.”

“Too bad she dumped your ass,” Taehyung smiled as Jungkook sent him a deadpanned look. Taehyung just cleared his throat before looking down at his food, “Sorry, Kook. I won’t flirt with her or anything.”

Jungkook sighed and shook his head before glancing my way for a split second. I was not about to give any input into this conversation. If I said something, it would spark an argument that would go all night long…

...But at his little glance, I felt myself dying to say something in response. I was having a very hard time keeping my rude comments to myself.

Even Taehyung looked my way before Jungkook finally spoke up in response. “No, you can flirt with her. It’s been a few years and I’m over it. Just don’t go rubbing anything in my face.”

“But really. Tae,” I found myself giving in to my urges. I just couldn’t help it; the opportunity was screaming at me! “Why would you want anyone that this guy has dated? Knowing him, he’d coax them into his bed when you’re not around.”

“I’m not that kind of person,” Jungkook jumped to his own defense. He definitely seemed ready for any insults I spat out because of how fast he had the response out of his mouth.

“For some reason, I can’t really believe that,” I sent him a look of fake confusion, “I wonder what would lead me to doubt you?”

“You really like blowing everything out of proportion, don’t you?” Jungkook creased his eyebrows, a look that made him look slightly angrier that he already seemed to be.

“I have to agree with that statement,” Taehyung chimed in as I snapped my eyes in his direction. He immediately held up his hands and sent me a nervous smile, “But I mean it out of love.”

“Well I can safely say that I don’t.” Jungkook shoved his plate away from himself, “Also, this spaghetti is horrible. The sauce is like water. Didn’t you just get this out of a can? How do you screw up canned spaghetti sauce?”

“I think my spaghetti is fine!” I defended as I looked Taehyung’s way, “Right?” Taehyung stayed quiet as my jaw dropped. The spaghetti tasted fine! What was their problem?!

“I could make better spaghetti in my sleep,” Jungkook added as he moved his plate more into my space across from him, “You can eat the rest of my portion. I can’t stomach any more of this.”

“No, I will not take anything that has touched your mouth in any way. You’re going to eat your food like the rest of us.” I snapped back as Jungkook just stared me down with an intensity that sent chills down my spine.

All I had to do was not say anything and none of this would have happened.

“I’m just gonna heat up some pizza rolls,” Jungkook mumbled as he got up from the table and walked into the kitchen. I looked over at Taehyung and he was looking down at his food sadly.

“Is it really that bad?” I felt my insecurity getting the best of me as Taehyung looked up at me with slightly wide eyes.

“No, no,” he shook his head and reached out to grab my hand and softly run his thumb along the top of it, “It really tastes fine. I just think he’s pissed over your comment.”

“I don’t understand why,” I mumbled so that I was sure he didn’t hear me, “He just seems like the cheating type, whether he’s the one cheating or sleeping with a girl who’s cheating.”

“It’s just a sore subject, Ari,” Taehyung sent me a sad smile, “When it comes to his sex life, just stay quiet about it, okay?”

I felt my face heat up as I looked away from Taehyung, “You make it sound like he’s traumatized or something.”

“Just,” Taehyung took a deep breath and sighed, “Just don’t bring it up, okay?”

I swallowed and looked down at Jungkook’s plate that was only half eaten, “I’m not going to listen to you unless you tell me why.”

Taehyung was silent for several seconds before I looked over at him with curious eyes. His mood had shifted significantly as I noticed his strong discomfort. What exactly happened?

“Tae…” I spoke softly as he squeezed my hand without looking at me.

“I don’t want to tell you just yet. If I promise to tell you when I’m ready, will you stay quiet about it?”

I wanted to refuse his proposal because I do not have any patience when it comes to Jungkook… but something told me this wasn’t just about Jungkook. Judging from Taehyung’s body language and words, this situation also had a lot to do with him.

Did Jungkook hurt Taehyung somehow? Maybe he slept with a girl Taehyung liked?

I felt myself sighing and nodding. I couldn’t believe that I was giving in, but Taehyung made it really hard to be persistent.

“Alright,” I nodded in agreement as Taehyung sighed and sent me a smile.

“Thanks, Ari,” he released my hand and picked up his fork, “Honestly, I really like this spaghetti. I feel like it would be restaurant grade if we both tried to make the sauce from scratch next time.”

I felt a smile form on my face as I bit my lip excitedly. Any chance I get to spend with Taehyung I would gladly take. He’s the only person who’s kept me sane all these years.

“I would really like that,” I nodded as we both went back to eating the food in front of us. Only seconds later, Jungkook walked back into the living room/ dining room hybrid and to my surprise, he actually came back to sit at the table with us. Everyone was incredibly silent as we all ate the food in front of us.

I held back the urge to glare at Jungkook over the whole spaghetti issue, and he pretended like I wasn’t even at the table any more.

“Jungkook, where is it that you’re working?” Taehyung broke the silence as I felt my stomach drop to my feet. “I don’t think you ever told me.”

“Oh,” He looked up and I noticed a hint of a smirk on his face, “I started at the movie theater today.”

I looked over at Taehyung as he processed what Jungkook had just said. At first he was nodding in understanding, and it wasn’t long before his eyes widened a comical amount.

“Of all places, you’re working at the movie theater?” He sounded almost upset, but I knew better than to think that. Taehyung hasn’t gotten angry at Jungkook the entirety of their stay, so why would this make him mad?

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” I commented as Jungkook sighed. He still didn’t look my way, and I could tell he was trying his best to ignore me.

“They’re the only place that called me back,” Jungkook defended, but Taehyung didn’t like his answer.

“But why did you apply to the theater? I told you not to,” Taehyung started to get upset and I couldn’t help but feel very confused. Why was this the line that Taehyung had set? He can insult me in my own home and fill my fridge with all kinds of junk, but the minute he works the same job as me, it’s crossing a line? Am I missing something?

“I couldn’t remember where you said she worked, so I ended up applying anyway. It didn’t occur to me until last night when I asked you where she works.” Jungkook explained, but Taehyung wasn’t having it. He rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand, and I could tell he was trying to calm himself down.

“Ari, could you give us a minute?”

I felt my eyes widen as I looked at Taehyung. He had a scarily serious look on his face as I reached out to grab my plate.

“Uh, sure…” I picked up my plate and slid out of my seat, “I’ll just go eat in my room…”

Of course I was definitely going to eavesdrop on their conversation from the end of the hallway. I ran and sat my plate down on my bed before going into the hallway and leaning against the wall to make myself comfortable.

“What the hell are you doing?” Taehyung asked as Jungkook was quick to respond.

“Look Taehyung, I know this looks bad but I swear that I didn’t realize your sister worked there when I applied. I don’t want you to get any wrong ideas-”

“Jungkook, I want you to look at me right now and tell me that you aren’t trying to make any moves on my sister.”

“You know damn well I’m not-”

“Jungkook, I know you. I know how you are around girls you like and don’t like, and I hate that I can’t figure it out when it comes to Ari. I’d rather you hate her than have any feelings for her.”

“Tae, I swear I don’t like your sister. She’s an insufferable bitch, but she’s a whole lot of fun to tease.”

“So there’s no underlying feelings behind the teasing?” Taehyung sounded relieved as I felt myself right alongside him. Jungkook liking me? That was hysterical! It must have been delusion that made Taehyung see anything other than hate from that guy.

“There isn’t. I won’t touch your sister, okay? I may have done some scummy things to you in the past, but I wouldn’t dare touch your family.”

“You did sleep with my cousin two years ago.”

Which cousin?! Now I was dying to ask, but I wasn’t supposed to be hearing this conversation… My curiosity is going to kill me… Either that or I’ll end up blowing my cover by asking Taehyung later on when Jungkook isn’t around.

“...Sorry. I forgot about that.”

“I wish I could forget, but it’s kinda hard when I heard the two of you doing it.”

Oh my God! That would have scarred me for life if I had heard anything like that.

“I know I’ve been a terrible friend, Taehyung. You don’t need to remind me.”

“I just want to make sure that you realize how much you owe me.” Judging from the soft laughs I heard from the two of them, Taehyung’s last words were more of a joke than anything.

I heard chairs being moved as I was quick to rush into my room and swing the door to be slightly cracked. I grabbed my plate of food and ate as much of it as I could to make it look like I had been eating this whole time. I also scrambled for the remote while battling some noodles into my mouth, and I was quick to turn the TV on and open the Netflix app. I didn’t pay for cable, so Netflix was pretty much all I had to watch.

“Ari?” Taehyung knocked on my door a few times as I hurried to start an episode of one of the shows I was rewatching. I swallowed the large bite of noodles and reached for the water bottle I had thankfully left there from the night before.

“Hmm?” I responded as I took a few sips to help the food safely go down.

Taehyung pushed the door open as I looked his way. He stepped inside and then closed the door behind him. He leaned against the door as I looked at him curiously.

“I’m sorry. I’ve forced Jungkook in your life against your will, and now because of me, you not only have to see him at home, but at work as well.” he started with apologies, but I didn’t want them. I wasn’t upset at Taehyung… I could never be truly upset with him. I spend so little time with him anymore, and I can’t waste any of that time wallowing in distaste for him.

“Don’t apologize to me. I don’t need any apologies from you,” I shook my head as his eyebrows creased.

“Well you’re not getting any from Jungkook, so you might as well take mine,” he sadly smiled before walking to sit on the edge of my bed, “I could try to get him a job where I just started so that he’ll be working with me instead of you?”

“Don’t do that,” I shook my head and put my plate of food on the dresser beside me, “I wouldn’t want you risking the job you just got because of me. Jungkook’s a pretty lousy employee.”

Taehyung laughed and shook his head, “He’s really not. If he were that bad, he wouldn’t have been promoted to assistant manager at his last job.”

“Well he’s lousy where I work. He tried to order me around all day and even threatened to go to my boss just because he didn’t like something I told him to do,” I explained as Taehyung smiled and shook his head, “There was another new hire that I trained today as well, and the poor guy had to deal with us bickering back and forth all day. Though, he thinks Jungkook and I are ex’s, and thanks to Jungkook, he’s entertaining the idea.”

Taehyung’s demeanor completely changed yet again at my words as I felt myself regretting telling him those details. I could have left those out and everything would be fine.

“So he’s letting everyone that you work with believe that the two of you used to date?” he asked as I reluctantly nodded. I thought that Taehyung was done with this scary, protective older brother attitude, but here I am forcing it out again.

“W-Well, my friend Chaeyoung knows the truth… so it isn’t everyone,” I mumbled, but I knew my words weren’t helping anything, “Look, Taehyung, you don’t need to worry about me. I can defend myself against his asshole nature.”

At my words, a smile broke into Taehyung’s features. I was more than relieved to see him relaxing more. I didn’t like the scary atmosphere that he was just carrying.

“I love you, Ari,” he wrapped an arm around my shoulders as I leaned my head on his shoulder.

“I love you, too, Tae,” I closed my eyes as I just sat in Taehyung’s arms for several seconds. He placed a soft kiss on the top of my head as I sighed and smiled.

Taehyung pulled away from me and stood up from my bed, “I’m gonna hit the shower before bed, so I’ll see you in the morning.”

I nodded and slightly waved him out before grabbing my food that was getting really cold, “Goodnight, Tae.”

“Goodnight,” he opened the door and turned to me one more time, poking his head through the door that he was about to pull closed. “Also, the cousin was Hyomin.”

My eyes slightly widened in confusion before my cheeks heated up. He sent me a wink before closing the door, leaving me in silence. He was a lot more intuitive than I gave him credit for.

::

The next morning was incredibly silent as none of us said anything to each other. I didn’t have to work until 6:00 tonight, and unfortunately for both Jungkook and I, he had the same shift as me. To make everything even better, Taehyung had a morning shift, so he was getting ready to leave in the next few minutes. This would be the first time Jungkook and I were alone while at home…

It’s not like we couldn’t stay walled up in our rooms all day, but the thought of trying to avoid him was so exhausting. I’d rather have it out with him all day, honestly.

“Please don’t kill each other today,” Taehyung called as he was on his way out the door. I rolled my eyes and waved his way.

“No promises,” I smiled as he disappeared behind the door. I turned around after Taehyung left and was met with a wet-haired Jungkook. He was wearing his usual lounge outfit, a white t-shirt and sweatpants, and he was still trying to dry his hair with one of my towels when I spotted him.

His eyes met mine, only to break away a few seconds later. I noticed his eyes shamelessly run up and down my body as I felt my face heat up. Why was he checking me out?

“You should probably wear more clothes. You’ve gotta remember, you live with two guys.” He nonchalantly spoke as my jaw dropped.

“What, are you trying to say that you’re tempted to make a move on me?” I raised an eyebrow, “Because I thought you found me revolting.”

“I do,” he scoffed and threw the wet towel he was using at me, “Which is why you need more clothes on. I don’t want to see that much of you.”

I felt my face turn red, and I couldn’t tell if it was out of anger or embarrassment.

“Be careful, Jeon, insult me one more time and I’ll strip down to my underwear and walk around like that all day.” I threw the towel back at him as his eyes widened. I noticed him stiffen as I felt my confusion written all over my face. His face started to flush as he tightened his grip on the towel I had thrown his way only seconds ago.

He turned in one fluid motion as he grumbled and stormed off into his room. “Please don’t bother me,” He spoke before slightly slamming the door behind him. I felt my curiosity get the best of me as I walked toward the door. Why’d he run off so quickly? We were literally mid-argument!

I couldn’t hear anything except for shuffling as I took a deep breath and shrugged it off. It’s not like I wanted to argue with him, so why was I being so curious?

I pushed myself away from the door and walked toward the bathroom slowly, still keeping my eye on the door to his room. Maybe it was best for me to not figure out what made him so eager to run off.

I stepped into the bathroom that he had just finished using as I decided now would be a good time for a shower. It should help get the last few moments out of my head…

I turned the water on to the shower and took a deep breath and started stripping down. I started playing my last words to him through my mind, and the more I thought on them, the more embarrassed I became. Did I really threaten him by saying I would walk around practically naked?

I was just asking for a horndog like himself to jump me for something meaningless. Why did I say that? Now I’ve put thoughts in his head that I would kill him for having thought of on his own.

I shook my head and turned around to look at myself in the mirror. There’s nothing wrong with the way I look… why was Jungkook so offended at my shorts and tank top? And it wasn’t like I wasn’t wearing a bra under my tank top!

“Stop thinking about it,” I mumbled to myself before finally stripping the rest of my clothes off and hopping into the shower to wash away all the thoughts that I wanted out of my head.

…

I opened the door to the bathroom after getting ready for the day, and I slightly jumped when I spotted Jungkook standing in the hallway. He was mid-step when he paused to look my way. I felt the tension hanging in the air as I took a deep breath and looked away. I walked out of the bathroom and started searching for what I could eat for lunch.

Jungkook walked past the kitchen and I heard him plop down on one of the couches in the living room. He turned on the TV and I could hear the sound of the Wii menu music coming from the TV.

I walked out of the kitchen and poked my head into the living room, jumping when Jungkook’s eyes met mine.

“Where you wanting to play?” His eyebrows raised as I felt skepticism take over my thoughts. Why did he decide to play the Wii over his xBox games?

“I’m just surprised is all,” I mumbled before rushing back into the kitchen to continue with my food hunt. If he was trying some cheap tactics to play some cruel trick on me, I wasn’t about to just walk into it.

I grabbed one of my salad trays that I had picked up from Walmart several days before. I like fresh salad much better, of course, but I was too lazy to make it myself.

I took the tray with me to the dining table as I took a deep breath. I needed to try my best to ignore Jungkook’s existence, but hearing the Wii Sports theme coming from the TV was making it very hard for me.

How did he know I really liked playing Wii Sports?

I continued to watched him from the corner of my eye as he started a solo game of bowling. I couldn’t help but remember what Taehyung had said about Jungkook being really good at bowling in real life. Surely I’d still be able to beat him at Wii Sports bowling… I’ve been undefeated among all my friends and family.

Jungkook looked my way every once in a while; and every time, he caught me staring. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was any good or not!

“If you want to play, just say so,” Jungkook slightly smirked as I took a deep breath and angrily shoveled some lettuce into my mouth. I didn’t justify him with a response as he just looked back at the TV and continued smiling.

“Yes!” He cheered as I snapped my head in the direction of the TV. He had gotten a strike on his second frame. He didn’t waste any time to look my way, catching my interested and surprised look. The smirk once more appeared as I glared at him and stood up from the table, leaving my salad to be forgotten. It really wasn’t that good, anyway.

“Put me in,” I spoke as Jungkook just laughed and quit his game so that I could play.

“What has you so worked up over this game?” He asked as I made sure to stand as far from him as the Wii sensor would allow me to.

“I just want to prove that I can beat you,” I responded before glancing at Jungkook from the corner of my eye. He was watching me carefully as I sighed and turned on my Wii Remote.

“I don’t know about that,” Jungkook remarked with an amused smile. I just ignored him and finished selecting my mii with the bowling pro status. “Oh, you’ve played this so much that you’re a bowling pro?”

“Do you have a problem with that?” I raised my eyebrows and looked over at him, “Taehyung used to play this with me all the time, so I’m a bowling pro and he’s a tennis pro.”

Jungkook looked back to the TV as we started the game. He was the first one to go as I made sure to watch how he bowled. Not only did he have the perfect stance even for just playing a video game, but he lucked out on getting a strike on his first frame.

“Good luck,” Jungkook winked at me as I scoffed. He’s just trying to start off strong to make me think I don’t have a chance. Well, he’s not going to best me.

“I don’t need it,” I spoke as I swung the remote, watching the virtual ball on the screen. I felt a satisfied smile appear on my face as I also knocked every single pin down. “Looks like you’ve got yourself some competition.”

Jungkook’s eyes slightly narrowed for a few seconds before a smile broke through, “Right back at you.”

…

I swallowed nervously as I looked at the last frame. Jungkook had just finished his last frame with a score of 207. In order for me to beat his score, I would have to get at least two strikes and hit at least 7 pins on the very last frame. I could feel my nerves taking over me as I realized my undefeated record was seriously on the line. No one had come this close to beating me.

Granted, I didn’t play a very good game this time… I’m normally getting 220-250 when I would play with Taehyung…

I held my breath and took my first shot…

Strike!

I took a deep breath as I felt Jungkook’s eyes studying me. I tried not to let him get to me as I glared at the screen. I focused completely in on the TV and swung the Wii remote, glaring daggers at the TV screen.

…

…

9?!

“No!” I cried as Jungkook started laughing. This wasn’t funny! I lost! Even if I hit that last pin, he still got 4 more points than me!

Did I really just lose? I just lost to Jeon Jungkook?

I finished out the game with a spare, but I still lost. Jungkook actually beat me…

“You’re not that bad,” he spoke, but I refused to look his way. I was getting more and more upset over this stupid situation. Why did it upset me so much that he beat me at a video game?

“Yeah, whatever,” I mumbled as I struggled to get the safety band of the Wiimote off my wrist. When it finally slid off, I dropped the controller on the couch and turned around to grab my salad.

“You don’t want to rematch?” He asked. I could tell that he was so proud of himself based on his tone. I didn’t want to be in this room with him any longer.

“And lose again? No thanks.” I snapped.

“So you already know that I’d beat you again?”

I spun around and glared at Jungkook, and he just looked as smug as ever.

“I mean, why wouldn’t you feel that way? I do get an average score of 240 when I go bowling for real. I’d just beat you over and over.” he crossed his arms across his chest as I just stood there and glared at him.

We stood in mutual silence as Jungkook eyed me carefully. I couldn’t figure out if I wanted to run at him and punch him in the gut or just walk away and pretend that he never said anything to me…

“You know what? Fine,” I spoke as I walked back over to Jungkook. This time, I stood as close to the middle of the TV as possible, which is also near where Jungkook was standing. He slightly stiffened at my sudden boldness.

“If you stand any closer to me, I’ll end up hitting you when it’s my turn to bowl,” Jungkook mumbled as I rolled my eyes.

“Fine, then we’ll take turns standing here. Who ever is up to bowl will stand in the middle.” I looked over at him and slightly jumped at how close we were. I looked away and took a step away from him, sitting on the couch to wait for my turn.

…

The game finished out with Jungkook at 221 and my final score was…

“230 baby!” I cheered as Jungkook stayed silent. I turned to him and smirked, placing both my hands on my hips. “Suck on that, Jeon.”

“Don’t get such a big head,” Jungkook grumbled as I continued to smile in satisfactory, “You did lose the first game.”

“I don’t care because in this game I scored higher than the both of us did on the last game. My score even trumps your winning score!” I bit my lip to try and contain some of my excitement. This was a double win in my book.

“Let’s see how you do in actual bowling, then,” Jungkook remarked as I laughed and shook my head.

“I never claimed to be good at real bowling,” I took the Wiimote off of my wrist again and placed it on the coffee table, “I’ve actually never bowled in real life.”

Jungkook stayed silent as I sat down on the couch and turned the Wii off. I looked up at him after he stood still for a little too long, and he just looked down at me. He suddenly plopped down on the couch next to me as I took a deep breath at his close proximity. His cologne was almost suffocating me, and I tried to ignore how much I liked it. I’ll have to sneak through his stuff to see what smell it is, because I would love to have my future boyfriend smell this good…

“Taehyung and I are taking you bowling before this week is over,” he stated with a serious look on his face, “It’s a crime that a bowling pro on Wii Sports hasn’t actually been bowling.”

“It’s not that big a deal,” I looked away from him as his cologne was all I was thinking about. He must have put too much on… But if he did, then why’d I have to get so close to him to smell it? Regardless, I really like the smell…

“You could bring a few friends. It could be fun,” He slightly nudged my elbow with his as I took a deep breath. This was weird. This felt weird in every sense. Jungkook and I weren’t just having a civil conversation, but we were sitting suffocatingly close to each other? What has the world come to?

“I don’t know,” I shook my head, but I found myself liking the idea. I could bring Chaeyoung and maybe even Yoongi…

“Think about it,” he looked my way as I found myself looking in his direction. I don’t know why I felt the need to look at him, because the second our eyes met, I felt my stomach churn. The smell of his cologne once more overtook me as I found myself growing addicted to the smell.

“Maybe it doesn’t sound so bad…” I mumbled as Jungkook smiled and reached up. He placed a hand on my head as I felt my eyes widen and my heart leapt into my throat. What was he doing?!

His hand knocked my head away from his before he stood up and walked in the direction of the kitchen. “You were getting way too close to me.”

“Excuse me? You’re the one who sat down next to me!” I defended myself as I stood up and followed behind him, “I didn’t get any closer to you than you got to me.”

“Oh please,” Jungkook shook his head and opened the fridge, “You were about pressed up against me for some reason.”

“That reason is because you sat down very close to me!” I continued to defend. Jungkook was being ridiculous by trying to pretend like I was the reason that we were that close.

“Why would I do that? I don’t even like standing next to you, so why would I sit next to you? You’re the one who scooted closer to me.”

I stomped up to Jungkook and grabbed his shirt by the back of his shirt collar. He spun around and closed the fridge to glare at me, but even his glare didn’t make me back down.

“Why are you lying? There’s no point in lying to me about something we were both there for.” I glared, intentionally getting up in his face, “The only time I’d get this close to you is if I was mad at you for blatantly lying.”

I tried to ignore how good he smells as he just glared back at me, pushing me away by my shoulders.

“I’m not going to argue with you when I know I’m right,” he spoke, turning back around to continue rummaging through the fridge.

“You’re such a liar,” I mumbled as I gave up. I wasn’t getting anywhere with him, so I might as well leave it where it is.

“I don’t understand why you have to call me a liar when you’re the one lying.”

I took a deep breath and just ignored his words. It was about time for me to keep away from him until I’m forced to be around him later tonight. If I have to spend all day around him, I might lose my mind.

::

A/N: Kinda an awkward end but I’m literally falling asleep while writing this. What you see is what you get!

⇨ Masterlist ⇦

[katcadecascade]

A Wolf 359/The Bright Sessions/Time Bombs crossover oneshot

Title: Patient #15-C-10

Summary:  Session 1 with Tatiana Sobrero, an unexpected walk-in and implied to never come back. Much like an old friend, she saw the advertisement for the 'strange and unusual' and thought it was perfect for her. Plus, plans for New Year's Eve, a fake name if you wish, and a split personality named Bob.

When Joan took a small detour to her main office to collect her stash of expensive wine, she didn’t expect someone to knock on the door the moment she stepped in. Honestly, she jumped, key in hand ready to defend herself from anyone as dangerous as Damien.

Instead standing right outside the half open door is a tall woman, her knuckles still against the door and staring back at Joan with the same wide eyed surprise.

She slowly raised both her hands in surrender but her tall stature and large biceps point the obvious on who can over power the other. The woman schools the tension out of her face and in a soft and careful tone says, “Hi, is this the therapy for the strange and unusual?”

“Oh, yes it is,” Joan, key still in hand, lets the woman enter the room. “I wasn’t expecting anyone today.”

“Uh yeah, my bad,” she said and has the decency to look a little bit embarrassed but there’s more regret and hesitance in her voice. “I thought I’d at least ask for a walk-in before I psych myself out.” Before Joan could prompt for more of an explanation, the woman blurted, “I really don’t want therapy but after everything that happened to me, I know I need it. And like, your ad said ‘strange and unusual’ and that is just perfect for me!”

Jovial cheer aside, there’s a pain and darkness in her eyes. Joan knows there’s a big story there.

Like any good therapist Joan pockets her key and holds out her hand, “If so then I am Dr. Bright. We can do a quick session now before you ‘psyched’ out if you want.”

Shaking hands, the woman says, “I’m Tatiana Sobrero and yeah, now wouldn’t be a bad time.”

Joan got her office ready, asked Tatiana if she minded to be recorded, she froze up and said ‘hard pass’ and set the recorder aside.

“I think this may be one time thing,” Tatiana said, observing the room like it was a second nature to know her surroundings and find all the threats.

“Are you just visiting town?”

Nodding, she quirked up her lips into a smirk, “I’m doing an interview and tagging along with a bomb squad tonight.”

That’s not quite the strange or unusual Joan expected. “On New Year’s Eve?” That is the main reason why she’s even here right now, to bring back the wine to celebrate with Sam.

Tatiana shrugged, “One of them is a, um, an acquaintance of mine. Just gonna check up on him.”

“I see. Is shadowing a bomb squad part of the reason why you think you need therapy?”

“No but,” Tatiana hesitated with a laugh, “yeah let’s just get into how strange and unusual I am.” She rubbed her palms on her knees and looks to Joan with the most focused eyes, “A very long story short, I got some sort of split personality that gave me incredible healing recovery. They’re name is Bob.”

“Bob,” Joan repeated neutrally. She let herself smile only after Tatiana grinned.

“I didn’t name them.” There’s a hint of sadness as Tatiana explained, “My friend did.”

“So, tell me about Bob and your healing abilities.”

Tatiana slowly chooses her words, “I got serious hurt and almost died but suddenly I popped right back up with my brain rebooting. I was reliving an old memory.” She took a deep breath to refocus, “And when I was A-Okay, Bob came out of nowhere. They only took over me a handful of times.” She even counted on her fingers, “The first time was to, I don’t know, make their selves known and talk to my friend. Actually that’s it. All of their… surfacing was only to my friend.”

“Why do you think that? Is this friend important to you or to Bob?” Joan took in how very hesitant Tatiana is with explaining her story. It was better to be patience, there’s a lot of distrust radiating off of her. She’s more willing to talk about the split personality rather than further explain her healing capabilities. It’s probably for the best since she has to risk her life for it to kick in.

Finally Tatiana pursed an answer with a soft smile and bafflement, “Music, Bob liked the music from my friend’s radio. And they choose my friend to learn from. At one point, my friend,” again there was hesitance.

“You can say a fake name if you wish,” Joan offered, sensing a protective nature from her.

She tilted her head, side to side, debating for only three seconds and decided, “Zach.”

“Zach,” she repeated, “He caught Bob’s attention.”

“Right, yes, at one point Zach got the bright,” Joan instantly noticed a slight giggle from Tatiana on her pun, “idea to intentionally hurt himself to summon up Bob.” There’s a hard edge to her voice, nostrils flaring. “It worked and Bob got super mad at him. Then when I was back in control, I was super, super mad at him.”

She calmed down, wilted more like it, and stared off into space.

Joan asked, “Does Zach need therapy?”

A cold laugh is her response, “Yeah probably because not too long ago, Zach got hurt really bad, like amnesia bad. Around the same time, Bob got hurt too and ever since then, I thought Bob was really gone, but nope.”

“Bob came back to check on Zach to see for their selves,” Joan guessed correctly.

“It was a long while between Zach getting help and me visiting him in person. The moment I stepped into the room, Bob took over. It was brief. All Bob said was ‘You don’t remember me?’ and ‘I’m sadden and sorry’.”

While Tatiana was busy staring at her hands, Joan had to ask some questions.

“How are you able to differentiate yourself and Bob?”

“Um, it’s not an out of body or mind experience, I’m still there. Like I’m sudden in a passenger seat and I can only observe Bob driving my body.”

It wasn’t the same reasons but it was the same metaphor Sam used to describe Mark time traveling them. Joan can work with this.

“Are you unable to feel what Bob’s feeling?”

Biting her lip, Tatiana took her time to really think. “Vaguely but it was always my own emotions. Like Bob was reading me and was learning my emotions to understand that they were also sad. Also, I’m only able feel them when they make their presence known.”

“Learning something appears to be Bob’s main trigger, aside from Zach. Has Bob ever appeared before you met Zach or at least before your adulthood?”

Tatiana blinked and clicked her tongue, “That is something I literally cannot answer. But to the best of my understanding, they genuinely care about him.”

“And how is he doing?”

“Eh,” she began, “possibly has an identity crisis with the whole amnesia thing and him now being a completely different person. Oh right!” Tatiana clapped her hands happily, “The look on everyone’s faces when Bob came back was hilarious. Especially with Doug since he didn’t know that my hands and eyes glow right before Bob takes over.”

Her laugher filled Joan’s office and Joan ignored Tatiana’s small slip up.

So far keeping this session off the record has been a great idea. Who knows what the AM would do with someone with practically resurrecting self-healing along with glowing body parts and a curious split personality.

Once her giddiness died down Joan had one last thing to say, “I don’t think you’re here for advice to coexist with Bob. From the sounds of it, they’re the least of your problems. You implied a lot of traumatic experiences involving friends. For you, peaceful times equal unguarded people and so you’re checking up on your friends.” Tatiana has a harden expression, not angry but more annoyed and impressed by Joan. “When Bob came out of dormancy and took control, you felt like the past is going to repeat.”

“All the disasters that my friends and I faced,” Tatiana said lowly, sad and, as she hugged her arms, probably scared, “it was all because some people wanted to learn from Bob.”

“Learn what?” Tatiana pressed her lips together and shrugged again. Joan asked carefully. “Bob doesn’t have your memories?”

“Oh they do,” she said casually, annoyed. “It’s just that they have their own ways of thinking, beyond my comprehension but did their best to teach it to,” she clicked her tongue, “Zach.”

Joan rubbed her chin, “The last time Bob came, when checking on Zach, were they sad about him forgetting their lessons?”

“I think, well, I know the information was important,” she admitted, “but that wasn’t their priority when they checked in. They probably learned from my emotions to feel grief over the Zach they met.”

If she just first started this session with just talking about her atypical healing abilities and near death experiences, Joan may had have a better understanding.

Instead, the more Tatiana explains about Bob, the less Joan is sure. The split personality having its own identity, yes that makes sense, having certain information blocked from Tatiana, yes that too, but her knowing that none of the information originated from Tatiana is a lot more puzzling.

Bob sounded a lot like an entity rather than a personality disorder.

Joan stopped that train of thought, the less she knew, the less aware the AM will be of Tatiana Sobrero.

“Tatiana, there will be things out of your control that you can’t fault yourself. Also being paranoid about the future can be one of those things.” It looked like she hit the nail as Tatiana nodded. “As for being prepared, checking with your friends is a good plan to ease your mind.” Joan remembered and admitted, “Although, I am a bit wary about your bomb squad friend.”

That got a proud smile from her patient, “I’m not.” She finally relaxed her shoulders, “I think I got everything I need from this. Thanks Dr. Bright.”

A glance from the clock told them that the sun starting to sink, turning blue skies to orange and pink. One last handshake and a promise to be careful had Tatiana Sobrero walking out the door.

As for Joan, she grabbed her wine from under the office desk and headed out, ready for the New Year.

Thanks for reading!

[hypeathon]

RWBY - Volume 6, Chapter 12 Production Analysis

Previous Volume 6 Production Analysis Posts:

Chapters one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, & eleven

“Defining” would probably be the best way to describe a lot of the moments in this episode, as both plot lines had practically as much to highlight and analyze as the last chapter. Let’s break down all the whys and hows through the production.

Opening the episode is some interesting motion capture with the Atlessian soldiers. Although mo-cap in RWBY is nothing new and there was probably some touch-up through key animation, it’s strange in terms of how noticeable it felt. Then again, they’re faces are hardly shown so all there is to read are the body gestures, hence why it probably felt more obvious than usual. Not really a good or bad thing, just an observation. Skipping ahead a bit, as Oscar explains a blind spot to the others, we see some more of dust cannon fire effects, likely ice dust since the same blue-colored smoke effects are there. At this point, there’s not much particularly new to say about the type of effect so much as how it looks viewed from another angle. This actually helps give a bit more to analyze as to how the effect is constructed when fired. It seems that at least in this case, given the shapes of parts of the the cannon fire as it dissipates, there may be a bit more of 2-D effects than presumed. There’s also a blue-filter effect layered through composting somewhere within the effect of the cannon fire that increases width at first and then thins out.

There will be more to speak in terms of effects, but there are a couple of side notes to quickly mention. First is just the way Ruby climbs up the cliff side. It’s a small moment and a little funny-looking given the circumstances, but it’s also great little animation considering that it may not have been mo-capped at all. First she squats a bit more as she pulls Crescent Rose, then she makes a great leaping pose when climbing up and once her weapon pierces through the cliffs, her body suddenly drops as she holds on. From then on, it’s rinse and repeat and combined with the way her weapon bends as she pulls and swings it and how her cape flaps as follow-through animation as she settles in a squatting position and the gesture feels more convincing. Considering that there’s definitely a wrong way to pull and swing a tool akin to a giant scythe, there’s something to appreciate about the whole sequence as an animation enthusiast. And speaking of Ruby’s weapon, Crescent Rose, that’s the other side note. It’s easy to forget, but despite it’s size during scythe mode, when viewed from the front or back, it’s relatively thin, which helps somewhat to remind the viewer how a 17-year-old girl can easily carry something so seemingly-massive.

Skipping ahead a bit, we have Ruby getting into position to fire at the missile carrier. Seeing a close-up of a bullet fired has been done a few times before, both in RWBY and even in RWBY Chibi. The way the effect is done tends to vary slightly in each occasion and here, there’s no trail until after the bullet ricochets against the missile carrier. Similar to the mo-capped movement of the Atlessian soldiers though, this is just a neutral observation. That said, what’s more interesting is what comes after. When Cordovin preps up a lightning dust blast, we get a close-up shot of Ruby with her pupils gleaming while viewing the lightning. This trick was likely from the compositing team, but ever since it was revealed back at RTX Austin 2018 that lead compositor for volume 6, Penelope Nederlander and Amanda Gotera both came up with the electricity effect flowing around Hazel’s arms during volume 5, I’ve felt especially curious to learn which ideas for effects have come from who. Though this is a question that may not have an answer any time soon, assuming there will be one at all. On another note, although I’ve talked extensively about the lightning dust cannon fire in the chapter 10 production analysis and this effect is more or less the same, I’ve neglected to mention the way it fires. Whereas the earth dust fires in split-second bursts, ice dust fires more like a beam with a poofy smoke effect and wind dust fires being shaped and timed to draw a combination of the earlier two dusts, lightning dust fires starting with a brief electrical spiral and then follows with a flash and then a laser expanding in size with a series of electric rings surrounding it. The overall blast itself actually lingers the longest in comparison and constantly emits an array of electrical stream effects that reach and extend to the airship, its controls and Maria’s specs for at least several seconds. This just goes to show how much thought is considered as to keeping the timing of each dust cannon fire consistent.

Next up is the scene where the airship crashed. Right before cutting to it, we get an off-screen bird transformation from Qrow and though there was nothing wrong with it being animated, it shows how the idea of having Qrow transition from his human form to his bird form can be trickier to make the idea feel more seamless rather than the other way around. Once getting to the crash site itself, we get what is essential a damaged model of the ship as part of the environment as oppose to it being its own model. This is actually now as good of a time as any to mention something that I’m a bit upset for not spotting sooner. Since chapter 10, the staff credits included a vehicle designer within the art department named Scott Zenteno. As one would guess, this position refers to him designing vehicles for the show which upon reflection, there have not been much of between volumes 4 and 5 outside of the design for the average Mistral airship and the ship Blake took to Menagerie. Now what being a vehicle designer for volume 6 means for Scott is not just limited to designing the airship the gang steal since he apparently also designed Cordovin’s mech suit. Just a quick acknowledgement to make about a rather late entry in the ever-growing production staff.

As Cordovin approaches the crash site, we get a sequence of Ruby attempting to face her while Qrow tries to stop her. At least most of this sequence was confirmed to have been animated by Hannah Novotny via her Tumblr account through the tags underneath her reblog that say “my shots, except the last one”. Having spoken of her before, her animations here are a bit more nuanced and some of the tells I’ve mentioned about how she does character acting seems to be lacking. Although with Qrow, the way his eyebrows greatly raises and then slightly lowers as he is slightly taken aback in response to seeing Ruby’s stern face and the way his mouth slightly opens is an indication of small anticipatory action that I’ve used to describe Hannah’s animations before. The same observation can be referred to the next shot when Ruby slightly raises her head while saying, “I need you...”, and then firmly lowers her head when saying, “...to trust me”. Moving on to the next sequence, we get Ruby’s defiance against Cordovin accompanied with some very abundant, emotional character acting out of her in a couple of shots. After learning that Alyssa Lisiecki animated much of Jaune’s meeting with the Red-Haired Woman a few episodes back who I initially assumed to be Asha Bishi, I’ve been careful not to conflate the two and their animation styles. However, since it was confirmed that Asha animated a much later scene in the episode, it is somewhat safe to assume that this was Alyssa. In the shots that focus on Ruby there is a combination of the glimmer in her eyes, the the mouth movements, way her head shifts, and the way her shoulders raise and lower respond accordingly to each part of what she says to help further make it clear at which points is she feeling defiant, frustrated and stern. It’s the kind of character acting one would see in animators who excel at that kind of thing in anime such as Shinji Suetomi, Toshiyuki Tsuru, Akira Hamaguchi, Masayuki Nonaka, Yuki Hayashi, Masami Mori & Masashi Kudo, the character designer for Bleach.

Once Cordovin prepares to fire, Ruby zips into the barrel of the cannon with a whip-like animation akin to when Joel Mann animated Ruby in the volume 4 character short. As Ruby mounts her weapon and aims at the dust, she dons a very wide stance with her posture down, then bounces herself back up a bit and then back down again to prep herself. Assuming that it was Alyssa who did the previous sequence, it may have extended to here as well. Whether it was her or someone else though, Ruby this entire episode has been granted with character acting that greatly reminds the viewer who Ruby is in action. She then breathes in to signify how crucial it is that she times her move just right and as she fires and escapes, we get an amazing assortment of rock and ice suddenly forming, explosions, lightning, debris, steam, and bursting air/water. It’s so absurdly incredible that one would wonder how difficult thing of a thing it was to pull all that off. The bursts towards the bottom, possibly done via compositing, emits a transparent effect akin to seeing through streams of rushing water. The explosion effects are very similar to the ones from when Ruby maneuvered around all the missiles in the last chapter. Then there’s the earth and ice sprouting which convincingly creates small debris. It’s one hell of a spectacle. Finally, we get Ruby falling down the sky unconsciously and having her left arm and leg be limp enough to effectively be lifted a bit along with her body rotating while coming into contact with each of Weiss’s glyphs helps sell how much her stunt took out of her.

Once all is said and done with that part of the episode, we’re out of the conclusion of one fight and into settling another one that starts with some more character acting. As mentioned previously, it is pleasing to see how the facial expressions coming from Adam unmasked helps compliment Garret Hunter’s vocal performance, making it much more convincing (*note: that footage has audio). That’s not to say Garret was never improving over the course of the show until now, but since this is the final scene featuring his character as he currently is, what Adam says, how his lines are delivered and what his eyes and mouth emote makes what he says and does feel more engaging. Of course, it helps that Arryn Zech and Barbara Dunkelman equally put forth convincing performances as well, but more on that later. Also, side note, in case it was not made clear by now to some viewers, the ending credits displays Adam’s unmasked design (likely drawn by lead concept artist, Erin Winn) with the branding mark clearly stating “SDC”, short for Schnee Dust Company and not “600″ like some reactors initially thought.

What comes next is the final conflict between these characters and within the first ten seconds is a very interesting observation. I previously pointed out how the first 10 seconds of the fight sequence were very similar to snippets of the fight between Naruto, Sasuke & Momoshiki in Boruto, episode 65 which that specific part was animated by Weilin Zhang. It’s not confirmed whether this was an intentional nod or not, but if it is, then I can’t help but suspect Kevin Harger once again provided the storyboards. The reason for this is back during RTX Austin 2018, Kevin was a panelist for the Just the Fights panel hosted by Torrian Crawford and each panelist was to present a fight sequence they were fond of, be it their own or someone else’s. Considering Kim Newman was the one who provided clips of episode 65 of Boruto, expressing how some parts excited her while other parts made her cry, Kevin was made aware of the episode by at least that point, if not sooner and might’ve used it as partial inspiration. Of course, I could be reaching at the end of the day but if that’s the case, then Blake and Yang vs Adam plays a light homage while still having each of the characters consistently fight in their own respective ways.

At the very least, what is clear is the animation team behind the fight consisting of assistant lead animator, Melanie Stern, Matt Drury, John Yang, Megan Pellino, Joe Vick, Vito Ferber & Asha Bishi at the end. This is mostly the same team as the last episode and having to proceed with things back-to-back, as exciting as it probably was for them, must have been equally exhausting. The fruits of their labor definitely shows though, starting with the double-teaming effort on Blake and Yang’s part who I presume Melanie did, though at this point, it’s not totally clear. What’s probably so great about this portion is that the camera is positioned at dynamic angles that help to draw the viewer’s eye to where each character is in a given moment. In one shot, when Yang exits the shot from the front, Blake appears from the side. When Blake kicks Adam, Yang in the next shot is positioning herself to attack. When Adam recovers, we see where both Blake and Yang are positioned at a given shot. Once Blake gets a kick in and then dodges Adam’s strike, Yang steps in and after she gets a few hits on Adam, Blake appears again after Yang is off-screen. Even the moment where Adam deflects Blake’s gambol shroud has a long shot of Yang in the middle which cuts to a close-up of her being alert only to have her appear two shots later to grab the weapon. This is similar to what I mentioned liking about the train fight sequences in the chapter one production analysis. There is a smooth transition between characters in a given space that the fight feels more interconnected and it’s something that certain storyboard artists/animators in anime incorporate into fights.

Skipping ahead slightly to right before Adam and Yang’s portion of the conflict, we get another small character acting moment that once again displays the synergy between Garrett’s acting and Adam’s facial expressions. This also extends a bit to when Adam remains on the offensive when he lashes out at Yang who just quietly observes Blake climbing up. This segment also seems to have said character acting mo-capped, though obviously polished with key animation by whoever animated this segment. We then get a couple of strikes from him, including his buzz-saw trick (there’s audio within the footage) from the last episode which according to sound designer/engineer, Philip Spann, is supposedly based off of the foley sound of skill and power saws running using a tremolo effect. Adam of course being as charged as he is, comes equipped with red-accented lightning and forming a black silhouette while in mid-air and when he strikes down, Yang herself gets a near-black silhouette for a split-second. Once Adam sends another blast at Yang, we get the attack viewed from Yang’s back accompanied with some wavy blur compositing  and more realistic-looking smoke effects. An interesting touch is that when the smoke appears, we get one brief yellow lightning and then a bit of red lightning afterward.

Then comes the big part. Despite being unsure prior, it’s very safe to say judging by the very dynamic poses and great anticipatory action that John Yang without a doubt animated Yang’s “gotcha” punch. There’s obviously a lot to talk about this moment in general, the first being how he has Yang’s fingers smear to convincingly present the wind-up which leads to the next cut of Yang pulling Adam’s sword towards her, thus creating a bigger wind-up and then the effects of her punch with a bright trail to show the arc of it which follows with a couple of seconds of slow-motion. Then it gets to the next cut where sparks, ring effects and another trail effect shows to add to the sense of impact right before Adam is flown away. That’s all just one thing about the moment to talk about for the record. There’s also the effect of Yang’s semblance itself, a first since the production staff migrated to using Autodesk Maya and 3DS Max. Up until now, the hair on Yang’s semblance simply had a quick burst of fire and energy and the rest was just a matter of keeping her eyes red and having her fight more aggressively. Even the idea of Yang’s semblance according to Miles in the volume 1 blu-ray director’s audio commentary was initially meant as a bit of a running gag for her character:

Miles: “So this was um... A bunch of people were like "Does her hair give her power, what's goin' on with her hair?" Honestly, it's just because we thought it'd be funny. It, she's Goldilocks!”

Kerry: “She takes care of herself.”

Miles: “She takes care, and. And a bunch of people were like "Oh, this, this self-confident girl like why does she care what other people think about her?" She doesn't care what other people think, but her hair is something that she takes care of and she really likes it and they're screwing it up.”

Monty: “Yeah.”  

Somewhere along the line though, the trait was presented more earnestly and in this specific case, the effects are much different. Instead of being a brief burst, the fire-like glow coats over her hair and does so consistently and it features small fire sparks emitting off of her hair. Complimenting it of course is a burning sound effect as Philip Spann describes it that unsurprisingly took inspiration from the Dragon Ball franchise. Finally, there’s the voice acting. At the risk of being frank, Barbara Dunkelman who otherwise provides great acting in dialogue scenes, was lacking in expressing shouts and grunts when fighting. In anime dubs, voice actors in action-oriented scenes often put forth a sense of build-up in a yell which can vary from actor-to-actor, from scene-to-scene depending on the context of the direction. Even Christopher Niosi who has only been consistently voice acting for a few years as of this post has worked on roles that required such a vocal delivery. Sometimes voice actors have their shouts and grunts change depending on what the character goes through over the course of the story, such as how Johnny Yong Bosch once explained how he had his character from Bleach, Ichigo yell differently between the beginning and the end of the Soul Society arc. In comparison,  whenever Barbara shouted as Yang before, there generally was more of a strain. Granted, Barbara is not a voice actress first and foremost, but she has dipped into more voice acting on occasion through characters like Cosmos in Fairy Tail. That and her type of yells have been a consistent thing since the beginning of RWBY. This is why it was a very pleasant surprise how much of a difference was made when her shout had more of that kind of build-up to it, to the point where if one didn’t know any better that it could have come from a different voice. Then again, it sounds similar to how Barbara sounded when Yang performs her astral finish in Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle, which as a fighting game, how a character shouts or grunts can affect a gamer’s playing experience. It is possible that by that point, Barbara was getting a better grasp of how to handle such vocal delivery. It also helps how much the yell aligned with the timing of the wind-up for the animation.

After the punch, it is shown how Yang’s semblance dissipates which releases the flame coating off of her hair. Staying on the subject of her semblances, there has been some consistent confusion on when one’s aura shimmers and when it breaks. Philip Spann once again provides insight from an audio perspective about the matter, stating how canon sounds do exist for both characters and that aura breaks in particular have a bass drop effect. While it is difficult to tell if that’s what happened with Adam, it’s definitely clear that this was what happened with Yang. Skipping ahead, we get Blake climbing back up with a surprise attack which then leads to one cut after another of Adam and Blake noticing the Gambol shroud and Adam first lunging after it with Blake to soon follow, which between the timing that displays “show, don’t tell” and the sound effect of Adam kicking the pieces as he’s knocked back should’ve made it clear that one intended to go for the kill first and the other quickly reacted as a result with Yang to follow. Speaking of which, there is an interesting touch where in the shot where as Blake is about to strike, a glistening effect is shown on the tip of the Gambol Shroud piece she has. What follows is another interesting bit where the blood spreads around where Adam gets stabbed, though it’s unclear whether this was at all done in compositing or something else. Adam’s slow walk and fall was all actually animated by Matt Drury which was quite fascinating considering how much of a fan of the character he was. This does however serve as a reminder that he and the other people involved with each segment of the fight are animators and not just “fight choreographers”, meaning that they can be equally capable at character acting. To cap off the death, Philip Spann once more gives sound design insight stating that despite not having any influence over the script, he did try to give an explicit bone-crack sound as he hit the rock. Finally, we get the aftermath where Blake breaks down and this was the part Asha Bishi animated. There are cues in the scene that make it evident it came from here, the most obvious tell being the way Blake’s arms and hands harshly shaking and her hands clenching as she drops to the ground she felt about what she did which followed with her abdomen strongly inhaling and exhaling as she cries in front of Yang who readily consoles her. What adds to the scene is the long shot of the two in front of the waterfall which carries over the framing from the end of the last chapter where just their hands were in front of the cliff to now having the both of them in front of it.

Ending the episode is not much, as it simply is a setup for the finale episode. Though we do get a small funny bit with the communication device, an amusing,  flabbergasted expression from Cordovin and a good gulp from one of the soldiers in response to witnessing the Leviathan Grimm. This penultimate episode did not have as much going on as the previous one but due to the moments themselves being bigger in terms of both presentation and production, there was just as much, if not more to break down. As the finale comes, there’s something interesting to mention about updates regarding the production itself or rather lack thereof. Usually by now, certain members of the Crwby like lead animators or one of the producers would mention when a certain phase of production would wrap-up. Back in volume 5, then co-lead animator, Joel Mann confirmed on January 9th, 2018 that the animation stage ended before the finale premiered on the 20th. For volume 4, Joel confirmed that animation was done on January 26th, 2017 before its finale on February 4th. Before that, Gray Haddock mentioned how volume 3′s animation ended on January 23rd, 2016 while that finale premiered on the 13th of February.

Usually, there is a 2-3 week period where the main production phase is ending before post-production needs to be finished. However, no mention came from anyone this time. The closest we got to anything remotely resembling a confirmation was Kerry talking about doing some super casual, relaxing things on January 19th (which he very much deserved), which at least implies whatever production that involved him overseeing and approving as the director was likely done. It’s not clear this lack of sharing the status of the production was due to simply forgetting or if it was a personal choice or if the fact Gen:Lock was around the corner that all attention was directed towards that instead. It’s hard to say but I’m not really worried about what that could mean for the finale episode. That said, Neath Oum, the voice of Lie Ren, did once again state that whatever big moment coming in these last batch of episodes didn’t even occur yet. What could that mean for the finale? We all would just have to hold out butts until then.  

[xsparklingravenx]

Shadow Mine 4

Title: Shadow Mine

Fandom: Detroit: Become Human

Characters: Hank, Connor, Gavin

Rating: T

Word Count: 4,862 

Summary: Connor and Hank arrive at the crime scene, only to find Gavin Reed already investigating. As personalities clash and information is revealed, Connor realises that there may be more to this scene than meets the eye. With the pieces lining up for a potential tragedy, he'll have to act fast to make sure that no one is hurt, and keep himself out of danger in the meantime.

AO3

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10

The drive to the crime scene was a quiet, tense thing.

The truth was, Connor enjoyed driving. Most cars nowadays were self sufficient in that they could drive themselves and make their own decisions, but Hank still drove an old fashioned manual thing that had probably been built in the 2020’s. While Hank’s shoulder was recovering, Connor had been given control temporary ownership of the vehicle, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to give it up when Hank recovered. There was a sense of freedom in being in control of a giant, metal, moving contraption, and Connor had to admit; he did feel a bit of thrill when he drove it slightly too fast.

He didn’t feel thrilled right now. In fact, he was mostly driving on auto-pilot, his processing power mostly focused on his thoughts for the case. Was this stress? Was he stressed? Ridiculous. It was ridiculous. The RK800 model didn’t get stressed. The RK800 model was meant for delicate situations that required the utmost calm, it was Cyberlife’s most advanced prototype, it was—

Another car pulled out too quickly in front of him, and he barely hit the breaks in time. “Woah, what the fuck was that, Connor?” Hank snapped. It was the first thing he’d said since they’d left the drive. “You trying to cause a goddamn accident?”

Connor shook his head. “No. No, I wasn’t.”

“Sure about that? You’re too quiet. Don’t tell me you’re still upset because you couldn’t figure this case out with literally the bare minimum.”

“I’m not. Upset, I mean. I’m not upset.” Connor stared straight ahead at the road. He’d slipped back into his older self for a moment then, thinking of himself as an it instead of a he, as a machine instead of a deviant. If anything that only proved that he was stressed. If his hands hadn’t been on the wheel, he would have covered his face in embarrassment. All these very human feelings, and he didn’t know how to compute a single one of them.

“You know, Connor,” Hank said. “I’ve noticed something about you.”

Connor wasn’t sure if he liked the tone Hank was using. It was a little bit concerned, but there was irritation there too. He started monitoring Hank’s stress levels (mid-to-high) and in the background, he calculated the likelihood of him liking whatever came out of Hank’s mouth next.

Low. Nearly in the single digits low.

“You’re the worst fucking liar I’ve ever met.” Hank continued. “And I’ve had to interrogate some real idiots.”

As always, Connor’s statistical data had been spot on. “What? I haven’t lied to you.”

“And there it is again.” Hank laughed, a genuinely amused sound. “You know what a tell is? Of course you do. You interrogate people, you look for them yourself. Well, guess what Connor, you really must be human, ‘cause your tell is as fucking obvious as a doped up chicken.”

Connor didn’t know quite how to respond to that. He felt so entirely scrambled that he was certain some of his wires had to be crossed somewhere. “I see.” is all he managed, before he asked, “So what is my tell then?”

“Your LED flashes red for a second before you say it, you idiot.”

Connor winced. That was indeed obvious. “I see.” he said again. “That’s…interesting to know.”

“Anyway,” Hank said, “now you know I can read you like a book, dial it back on the crap. Stop beating yourself up over what you don’t know. I’m not those dipshits at Cyberlife, I don’t care if you can or can’t piece something together with scraps. You don’t have to impress me, Connor, I’m not going to switch you off and leave you somewhere if you don’t perform.

Connor drove the rest of the way there in stunned silence. Before, he’d always worked under the threat of deactivation if he didn’t complete his work to standard. So was that it? Was that the reason behind why he felt so knotted inside? Was it because he felt like he had already failed somewhere along the way? He thought of Hank being shot in a room while he was so far away, he thought of the promise he’d made to Clara, and wondered if Hank was right, if Hank had managed to figure it out before Connor had even started making connections.

Was it that he was scared of botching his mission directives?

The crime had occurred in an underground parking lot. When Connor pulled up, he was immediately greeted with the sight of Gavin talking with a man his scans identified as one Martin Decker, the dead android’s human partner. “For fuck’s sake,” Hank muttered under his breath as Connor killed the engine. “The hell is that asshole doing here? I thought Fowler was sending us specifically.”

Apparently not content with asking rhetorical questions, Hank threw the car door open with his good arm and went marching up towards Gavin immediately. Connor took a moment to canvas the scene, checking where the forensics team were already placing their markers and where the android’s body was, before deciding to follow. He too was interested in why Gavin had shown up. He’d already been out once this morning, but then again, so had Connor, and that hadn’t stopped the Captain requesting his presence either.

Gavin saw them over Decker’s shoulder, his expression turning sour as they approached. To his credit, though, he stayed professional. He finished his conversation with Decker, who looked distraught, before walking past him to meet them halfway.

“What the hell,” he said to them, his voice more a growl than anything else, “are you doing here?”

“Funny, was about to ask you the same fucking question.” Hank replied. “Fowler called me, said he needed the best on this case.”

“That motherfucker. He pulled me into the office when I got back and said the same crap.” Gavin’s eyes flicked between the two of them before finally settling on Hank. “What a joke this is. Send your plastic toy on his way to the dead android over there, and I’ll tell you what I got out of the cop.”

“Subtle as a fucking freight train, aren’t we Gavin?” Hank shot back. “Use some goddamn tact, I’m pretty sure from the look on Decker’s face that he valued his partner, so tone your down your bullshit on this.”

Gavin crossed his arms. Connor stepped out in front of Hank, tired of the back-and-forth-arguing that was getting them nowhere fast. “Detective, it would be beneficial to all of us if I heard what was said as well. I need more information if I am to accurately work through this case, so please, feel free to share what you’ve heard anytime soon. We’re both waiting.”

Gavin looked like he wanted to argue the point, but Connor had already determined that the likelihood of him doing so was incredibly low. The man was a detective; despite his argumentative nature and his inherent dislike of androids, it still took a great level of skill and dedication to reach his rank. He wouldn’t compromise an investigation, Connor knew, out of straight up pettiness.

“You don’t know when to stop pushing, do you? Swear to God, you pieces of junk are more trouble than you’re worth.” Gavin clicked his tongue. “Decker and his partner, the PC200, he called him Zack, were out on patrol when they heard reports of an injured android, a female AX400, in the area. The two of them apparently split, the PC200 checking down here while Decker surveyed the perimeter. They hadn’t been apart long when Decker heard gunshots, three of them. By the time he got here, the PC200 had shut down and it was over.”

He laughed at the end of his recap, a bitter sound. Connor couldn’t identify the emotion behind it. “Looks like our cop-killer friend is getting sloppy already, only two victims in. Plenty of people saw it to call it in, which is why Decker and his partner responded to the call. Least we know it’s a female android now. Really narrows it down.”

“I thought Fowler said that the cause of the shut down was because the AX400 tore out the victim’s power-pump-part-thing.” Hank pointed out. Connor resisted the urge to tell him the correct name, knowing he would forget it immediately anyway. “Why the hell would there have been gunshots?”

Gavin jerked his thumb towards Zack’s body. “Yeah, the pump was cause of death. Doesn’t mean that the AX400 didn’t pull the same shit that it pulled with Glennister this morning. Three shots, one to the leg, two to the chest. We’ve got one sick piece of plastic on our hands.”

Gavin’s voice was beginning to grate on Connor’s audio processors. Time to leave. “I’m going to go and analyse the scene, Hank.” he said, heading towards where Zack’s body had been left. Yellow markers pinpointed pools of thirium and the torn out pump regulator, but other than that, there didn’t seem to be a great deal of evidence to go around.

He shifted uncomfortably as he got to the body. It felt like someone was staring at him, but when he turned around to check back on Gavin and Hank, both of them were caught up in a heated debate. Nothing. Must have just been nothing, a blip in his sensors, something to do with deviancy that he didn’t understand.

Kneeling down to Zack’s body, Connor let his eyes pick out what would be necessary to the investigation. As Gavin had said, three gunshot wounds became immediately obvious; one to the upper right leg, destroying much of the inner workings, and two to the chest. As before with Glennister, he’d been shot in the leg first. The shots to the chest had followed afterwards. He analysed further. One bullet had entered from behind, the same as the initial one. The final shot had been fired from the front.

Like he’d done in the alleyway, Connor crafted his models in his mindscape, stick-like figures of Zack and the AX400, and began working out their movements. Zack entered the parking lot, sharp movements. Gun drawn? No. Androids belonging to the police force were allowed to carry weapons now, but their usage of them was still severely restricted. Zack would not have drawn his weapon unless the situation had seemed absolutely dire at the first look. Gun not drawn. Zack was unarmed.

If the situation hadn’t looked bad at first glance, that meant the suspect must have hidden. Connor already knew the AX400 was good at staying out of sight; she had managed to get the jump on Glennister and hide from Clara when she’d come down the alley. There were plenty of cars around to hide behind.

Back to the reconstruction. Where had she been hiding? Easy answer. He placed her model behind the car that was next to Zack’s dead body. The model of Zack approached warily, and then turned his back. AX400 moved out from the car. First round fired.

Upper right leg damaged. Error warnings would have popped up in Zack’s vision. Compromised? Not yet. Zack could still see, still react. Upper right leg went offline. Zack was disadvantaged, would not have been able to fight back effectively. He would have been able to reach for his gun, though. Why wouldn’t he have reached for his gun?

No. He had reached for the gun. Desperately. That was why the AX400 had fired again from behind instead of waiting to walk around to his front. Second shot hit. Zack fell forward on his knees. Damage significant, error warnings would have compromised effectiveness. Connor remembered being shot in the back at Stratford Tower when he’d chosen to rescue Hank. Though he had shut down nearly instantly, he could still recall the moment those bullets had struck, the way his vision had filled with innumerable warnings, the way he hadn’t been able to see or hear or do anything over the top of them.

Those few seconds before he had died had felt like an eternity. He had not yet been deviant, not yet really felt emotion, but there had been something there in that moment. He didn’t remember it well now, couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but he knew he never wanted to experience it again.

He was getting distracted. Back to the reconstruction. The AX400 had approached the same way she had done with Glennister, walked around to the front of Zack and fired again. There was a forty seven second gap between the two shots to the chest cavity. The second shot had not killed Zack, though. No. He’d still been alive.

Connor knew what came next. His model of the AX400 knelt down, and without missing a beat, she tore Zack’s thirium pump regulator from his chest and threw it aside.

Zack shut down twenty five seconds later.

Reconstruction complete. Connor backed out of it quickly and stood again. It had not been a quick death. It had been drawn out and it had been brutal and it had been cruel. As he stared down at Zack’s body, he found his thoughts catching, like they were caught on a loop.

How could one android have done this to another? The deviant in Stratford Tower had torn out Connor’s pump in desperation, not out of cruelty. He could understand that, he understood desperation. What had happened to Zack, on the other hand, was beyond his comprehension. What would drive an android to be so merciless towards her own kind?

The uncomfortable feeling of being watched returned, dragging him from his thoughts. When he looked around, though, no one was looking his way. Something was off. Something wasn’t right. Something was—

Realisation hit him like a punch to his own thirium pump. He turned quickly on the spot. “Detective,” he said, addressing Gavin. “Did you and the other investigators make sure the area was clear?”

“What?” Gavin’s conversation with Hank finished abruptly. “Of course it’s clear. You see anything in here?”

“No, I don’t think you understand.” Connor said, his tone rising with urgency. “Did Officer Decker say that he saw the AX400 on his way in here? Has anyone seen the AX400 leaving this area, or were the only eyewitness reports from before the time of the incident?”

Silence. Gavin didn’t seem to know the answer, so Connor took matters into his own hands. Scanning the area, he started running through his probabilities as he looked at each of the cars.

If he was right, the AX400 was still here.

Connor’s processors were the most advanced Cyberlife had to offer, and it showed in his results. He moved past the cars with practiced ease as he searched for the one that would be the perfect hiding spot, the exact one where he would choose to hide if he was in her position. She was armed. She was dangerous. But, judging by her previous two kills, she also had a specific style, and it was one that she seemed like she wanted to keep to.

If that was correct, then his probability of being shot was very low. If that was correct, then the probability of any of them being shot was very low.

“Connor!” Hank hissed from across the parking lot. “What the hell are you playing at?”

“I’m solving this case, Lieutenant.” Connor said, adopting Hank’s title in an attempt to keep the situation light. Humans appreciated that. Connor appreciated it too, now. Too much severity made for tension, and tension made way for mistakes. “You know me. I never fail my mission.”

He made it to the car that he believed her to be hiding behind. It was a sleek thing, aerodynamic, new model, something produced recently. Another car was parked in front of it, hiding it from view, and all that was behind it was a gap and then the wall. It was the perfect hiding space for a criminal, android or not. Connor stepped alongside it carefully, his steps quiet and slow.

“Connor,” Hank said again. “What the fuck are you doing now? Our killer’s not going to be here, she would have scarpered ages ago.”

Pausing as he went to look behind the car, he took the moment to make sure he was absolutely ready. He needed all of his attention on the matter at hand. On three, he thought. One. Two.

Someone shot out from behind before he was ready.  

The AX400. In one swift movement she was on her feet and barrelling into him with the kind of speed only something non-human could possess. Connor’s processors worked fast, especially when compared to a human brain, but the AX400 was an android too, could process nearly as fast as he could. Caught off guard, still in analysis mode and not prepared for a fight, Connor had no time to react. Her momentum sent him crashing to the floor, the impact jarring his systems momentarily.

“Shit!” he heard Hank shout. Chaos, suddenly, movement and sound all indistinguishable as Connor pulled himself back together. The AX400 leapt over the other cars and bolted for the exit, throwing one of the forensics men she crashed into across the floor. “Someone go after her! Now!”

Connor pushed himself to his feet, but Gavin had already set off after her. No chance. He had absolutely no chance. Humans ran out of breath. Humans had limited stamina. Androids were not plagued by either fact. “I’m going!” Connor called to Hank, and without waiting for a response, he took off after her too.

The parking lot the incident had taken place in was only a short way off from a busy road where shops and parked cars lined the streets on either side. As Connor skidded around a corner that would take him to the most populated area, he was reminded of another chase he’d had with an AX400, Kara, which had ended with the two of them on a highway and Connor only missing being struck by a car by mere millimetres. He couldn’t afford to take that kind of risk here, not when he was no longer being backed up by Cyberlife. If he died here, it would be as a human’s death was; final.

Gavin was on the other side of the street, but his progress was being hindered by the crowds. Connor managed to catch a brief reading of the AX400 further up, but the volume of people was making it difficult to pinpoint. He couldn’t waste time. If he could get in front of the other android, he could intercept her further up, minimise risk to the people around and to himself.

Probability of success was low, 23%, but he had to try. Hank had often gambled on percentages lower and had come away a winner, and Connor had ways of improving his chances.

He ran. Expertly, he weaved in and around the other civilians, predicting their movements in advance so he could plot his route. Left, right, run straight, duck beneath. His analysis went far enough ahead that his movements were all but a set of pre-recorded commands that he could follow through. He was catching up with Gavin. Probability rose. 31% chance of success. 33%. 36%. 40%.

He was just starting to think that he had it when the android did something he hadn’t managed to predict at all. As Connor made it level with Gavin on the other side of the street, she turned suddenly, darting out into the middle of the road and amongst the incoming traffic. Car horns filled the air, but she was sprinting amongst the cars as if she didn’t fear being struck.

Gavin’s eyes followed her into the road. Connor knew what was about to happen before Gavin even changed direction. “Don’t do it, Gavin!” he shouted, but his voice was drowned out by the roaring of cars as they passed him by.

There were too many cars parked along Gavin’s side of street for him to see be able to see the incoming danger, and there wasn’t a crossing until further up. He was running out blind. Why would he run out blind like that? No time to speculate. There was a car coming that would hit Gavin straight on if he made it out into the road.

Connor only had seconds before something terrible happened.

It wasn’t that time moved slower when Connor was running numbers in his head; it was that his processors worked so fast that time didn’t particularly matter. Two options, thousands of potential outcomes. If Connor ran for the AX400, his chances of catching her remained at 40%. He could possibly end this case here and now. It would all be over.

On the other hand, if he didn’t somehow stop Gavin from being hit by the oncoming car, his chances of survival were poor, only a mere 8%. The number had come from Connor’s analysis of the speed, the model of car, and matching those two facts to previous accidents involving the same factors. It was a grim number. Too low. Even if Gavin did survive, the injuries would be catastrophic.

Back to the decision. If Connor caught the suspect now, he could save any her potential future targets, but Gavin would likely be killed. If Connor saved Gavin instead, she would get away and would likely kill again.

But even if he did choose to pursue her, his chance of catching her was still low to begin with. He ran another calculation, worked out another probability; his chances of saving Gavin if he intercepted at the right trajectory and speed? High. 87%.

Chance of getting killed in the process?

Equally as high.

Connor had never paid attention to that number before. It hadn’t mattered when he’s had infinite bodies to be backed up into. The mission always came first. It had to, when Cyberlife was involved.

But now? Connor didn’t want to die. He’d experienced too little of this new world to just shut down now. He had a mission to still complete, another case with Hank to figure out, he had a life to live.

That was the deviant in him thinking. It pained him, but it was true. As much as he wanted to live, he knew that he couldn’t just stand by and let Gavin die. It would haunt him. If he let selfishness win out over everything else and didn’t intervene, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself.

87% chance of death? Hank had gambled on higher and still lost. Probability wasn’t a sure thing. It was a chance, and one Connor had to take.

A decision made in a fraction of a second, one he would have to accept no matter the cost. Connor ran out into the road, going straight for Gavin. Car horns were loud, angry noises in his audio processors. The thought struck him that they might be the last things he ever heard.

Gavin was in arm’s reach. The screech of breaks told him that the self driving car he’d run out in front of had identified the danger, but Connor knew they would not be enough. He had seconds, if that.

He would need to put everything he had behind pushing Gavin back. Too little strength could get Gavin out of the way, but would leave Connor in the road to be struck down. He needed to clear them both of the car. Failure was not an option.

With his momentum and trajectory decided, he threw himself at Gavin, all of his weight behind it. Gavin’s eyes went wide as the force threw him back, letting out a grunt as the blow took all the wind out of him. They both went back and down, slamming into the pavement. Connor’s systems froze on him briefly on impact. Humans and androids alike gasped and moved away at the commotion.

Distantly, Connor heard the car pass behind them as everything came back online in him again. Alive. He was alive. They both were.

He rolled off of Gavin and stared up at the sky, and heard the other man struggle to catch his breath beside him. He was fine, Connor’s secondary sensors told him, not seriously injured. He’d succeeded. He’d done what he’d set out to do.

“What the—” Gavin began. He was trying to get to his feet and failing at it. Connor understood on some level; he didn’t want to stand up and probably couldn’t even if he did. The AX400 would be long gone by now anyway, there would be no point in giving chase. “What the fuck just happened?”

Connor sat up, straightening his tie. The action helped ground him. “I think I just saved your life, Detective.” Connor replied. “People usually say thank you.”

Gavin did not say thank you, but that was probably more because he had nearly just been killed and was still recovering from how hard Connor had struck him. He was very pale now. Maybe that was a result of his near death experience. Human reactions differed from person to person.

As he continued to checked over Gavin, his audio processors picked up some kind of fuss that was disconnected from the people around him. Familiar. It was very familiar. Someone was shouting his name. Oh yes. Someone was indeed shouting his name. Obviously the rest of the investigation team had caught up with them, and he had no doubt they’d all witnessed his reckless act.

Hank came storming through the crowd and hauled Connor to his feet with his one good arm. Connor allowed him, not having it in him to resist. “I’m okay,” he began.. “I know what you’re going to say, and I’m only going to ask that you save the lecture for later when I’m functioning at a higher—”

Hank pulled him into a crushing, one armed hug. Connor stopped speaking, surprised and confused. It would have jarred his injured shoulder. There was no way that the action wouldn’t have caused him significant pain.

“You suicidal fucking lunatic!” Hank hissed. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“I needed to decide between chasing the suspect and rescuing Detective Reed. It proved more pressing to—”

“You know what? Don’t answer that question. Jesus fucking Christ Connor, I thought you were going to die out there, you know how close that car came to hitting you?”

Connor did in fact know, but decided to leave out the matter of his 87% probability rate. “I’m okay, Hank.” he said. “I let the suspect escape though.”

“You think I give a damn about that? You scared the hell out of me!” he let Connor go and grabbed him by his shoulder instead. “Fucking hell, Connor, you’re going to kill me. Don’t go throwing yourself out into danger, you hear me?”

“I hear you.” Connor said. It wasn’t a lie, his audio processors were working just fine. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause you any distress. I just had to do what was right. Do you think it was the right decision?”

Hank looked at Gavin, who had managed to get himself sitting at least. He sighed. “Yeah, kid. Yeah, I think it was, even if I don’t agree with you putting yourself in shit for it. Christ.” He called over to the rest of the team. “Get someone the hell out here, ambulance or someone, I don’t care, Gavin looks like he’s about to keel over and I don’t need more shit on my goddamn plate. Connor, if you think you can get there without throwing yourself into another fucking road, please go and get the car. We’re going to need to head back and debrief this all to Fowler. Absolute joy.”

Connor was about to leave, when he heard Gavin rasp, “Wait.”

He stopped in his tracks, turning to look down at him where he still lay. “Yes, Detective?”

“I—” Gavin coughed. It looked like Connor had hit him harder than he’d anticipated. “Shit. Don’t think this changes anything, it doesn’t, but I’m not stupid. I owe you for that, you just saved my life.” he paused, his eyebrows creasing. “Why’d you do it?”

Connor frowned. “Because it was the right thing to do.”

Gavin laughed, a hoarse sound. “Right thing to do. Right fucking… I can’t believe this. Get the hell out of here, Connor, Hank gave you an order and I’m sick of seeing your plastic face.”

Connor glanced towards Hank, looking to share his surprise, but the other man was already surveying the area, looking for any sign of the AX400. Was this a personal victory? He wasn’t sure. Gavin’s tone didn’t have any of the usual poison to it, but it was difficult to ascertain whether or not that was because of what had just happened.

I owe you for that. It had to mean something, whatever the case was.

“It wasn’t an order,” Connor pointed out as he turned away to leave. “It was a request. I do listen to those from time to time, when they’re reasonable.”

Gavin didn’t reply.

[my-sweet-pea]

Can I request sweet pea x reader where somehow the reader gets hurt and he freaks out (either he is told about her gettin hurt or see’s her getting hurt?)

Okay, here is my attempt! Sorry if it wasn’t quite what you wanted. Feel free to leave feedback in the comments or in a message.Words: 3,774Warning: some swearing, shooting

I took a swig of my beer as I leaned against the wall. My boyfriend Sweet Pea was engaged in a very competitive game of pool with his best friend, Fangs. I loved watching the two of them interact when they were both trying their hardest to win.

Sweet Pea was holding onto a narrow lead, but Fangs was pushing right back. Their particular style of trash talk was incredibly sharp and funny. Other patrons of the Whyte Wyrm had been watching the game since it began as well.

Sweet Pea missed a shot and the small crowd let out a loud ooooooo. Fangs smirked and proceeded to clean up the table. Just before his final shot, he blew a kiss to Sweet Pea mockingly. Fangs officially won, and the bar erupted. Bets were settled amid groans and whoops.

Sweet Pea punched Fangs in the arm while he was performing some elaborate victory bow. I could see the amusement in his eyes as he turned and instantly found me in the crowd. I raised my eyebrows at him and stuck out my tongue. Sweet Pea glared and bounded across the bar, dodging the good-natured ribbing from his friends.

“Well, hello there,” I said with a smile. “I usually only talk to pool champions but I guess you seem cool enough.”

Sweet Pea growled at me and grabbed my hips with his huge hands. There was a glimmer of amusement in his dark brown eyes. The deep chocolate color wrapped me in warmth and I could feel the familiar sensation of falling into their depths. His gorgeous shiny black tresses were tumbling across his forehead. I reached out and ran my fingers through the hair falling into his face.

“Do you want to know why I lost?”

I pretended to think about it. “Was it because Fangs was better than you?”

Sweet Pea leaned down to me and shook his head. He whispered into my ear, his warm breath whispering across my cheek, “I saw how hot you looked over here, leaning against the wall like some kind of model, and I missed my last shot thinking about what I’d like to do to your body.”

I gasped, pushing against his chest in pretend outrage. “Why, I never! You scoundrel!”

I dissolved into a fit of giggles. Sweet Pea leaned down and captured my lips with his. When he pulled back after a glorious moment, I wrapped my hands around the back of his neck.

“You looked pretty hot yourself. I love seeing you bent over the pool table.” I wiggled my eyebrows at him outrageously.

He laughed, showering my face with little kisses. Based on his reputation, many people were surprised to see how ready Sweet Pea was to publically display his affection. I personally felt like he just couldn’t control himself sometimes. I know that I definitely couldn’t when I was around him. Of course, there was also the occasional time that he would feel the need to show everyone that I was all his.

I heard a snicker from behind us. We turned to see Fangs smirking at us.

“Looks like poor little Sweet Pea needs to be comforted ‘cause he lost so bad.” Fangs took a long drag from his drink.

“Shove it, Fangs,” I said with loving smile, gently punching Fangs in the shoulder.

Sweet Pea leaned his elbow on Fangs’ shoulder, pressing down on the shorter boy with most of his weight. “Sure, bud, just tell yourself that I lost ‘so bad’. I don’t think that you can count a single crappy shot towards the end of the game as a crushing defeat.”

Fangs laughed, trying to fight his way out from under Sweet Pea’s arm. While they bickered and pushed each other, I watched them with a smile. I loved these two boys, each in different ways, but I had grown up with them and I couldn’t imagine a world in which they weren’t best friends.

Suddenly I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw that Betty Cooper was calling. We had met through our boyfriends; she was dating Jughead Jones, and when he finally joined the Serpents, she started to get to know some of us despite Jughead’s rather insulting doubts.

“Hey Betty! What’s up?”

“Hey, sorry for calling so late, but I was wondering if you could come help me? I’m at my house and I’m trying to decode a message that someone left at Jughead’s trailer. Neither Jughead nor I can make any sense of it, and Juggie mentioned that you were pretty good at things like this?”

I was surprised. Jughead didn’t really want Betty getting to know his world, and he had been very reluctant to introduce us to her when she was around. Now he was mentioning me and getting Betty to invite me over to her house? On the Northside?

“Um well yeah, I can definitely take a shot. Want me to head over right now?” I finally responded.

Betty let out a heavy breath in relief. “Yes please, it is rather….time sensitive, from what I can tell.”

I squinted in confusion. If they couldn’t decode it, how did they know it was time sensitive?

“Okaaay yeah I’m just at the Wyrm, so let me see if someone can give me a ride.”

“Oh, Jughead will come get you!” I could hear Jughead saying something in the background. Betty quietly responded to him before returning to our conversation. “Yeah, he’ll be there in about 10 minutes. Thank you soooo much for your help.”

We said our goodbyes and hung up. I was frowning as I tried to figure out what exactly was going on. Sweet Pea turned to me and saw my concerned expression.

“What’s going on, babe?” Sweet Pea asked as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in tight to his chest.

“Jughead’s Betty just called me? She said she needs my help with some kind of….coded message? And the weirdest part is that Jughead was the one who suggested that I take a crack at it.”

Sweet Pea frowned as he played with my hair. “That’s super weird. He’s always freaking out if we talk to her about even the most basic things.”

Fangs crossed his arms over his chest, cocking his head to the side while he considered it. “I mean, I think out of the Serpents, he might be most okay if you’re the one who gets to know Betty. You always talk about what is and is not safe or morally justifiable, and he obviously cares a lot about that kind of shit. Plus you are good at codes and puzzles and stuff.”

“Yeah, I guess. I dunno. They just seem to be kinda freaked about this weird message Jughead received,” I said with a sigh and a shrug.

I turned to Sweet Pea and snuggled into his broad chest. The soft flannel he wore was warm against my cheek.

“Jughead is gonna come pick me up in a couple minutes because they want it solved, like, now.”

Sweet Pea looked surprised. I don’t think I had ever been really alone with Jughead before. Despite the fact that we got along and we had even had some good conversations in the past, Jughead and Sweet Pea had a weird relationship. They respected each other now, and they would die for each other, but there was still a shadow between them that had yet to dissipate. I know that Sweet Pea didn’t care if I was alone with Jughead or even if we became good friends, but Jughead seemed to try to make sure that we were always in a public place whenever we talked. I sometimes wondered if Jughead was just a little bit scared of what Sweet Pea would do if he suspected Jughead was up to something untoward. I found it rather ridiculous considering the trust that Sweet Pea and I had for each other and the fact that anyone with a brain could see how much Jughead loved Betty. I had originally thought he was just uncomfortable around me as a person, but we always had good conversations and talked about a lot of different subjects, so I felt like that wouldn’t be the case anymore. I was starting to consider us friends.

Sweet Pea nodded. “Okay, but just make sure you wear a helmet on his bike. I don’t know if I fully trust his driving abilities yet.”

I giggled and reached up for a kiss. “Just for you, Sweets.”

We kissed slowly, languidly, while Fangs rolled his eyes.

“I swear, you two lovebirds walk a fine line between being adorable or disgusting.”

Sweets pulled back and glared at Fangs. “You know we’re adorable. Don’t even try to deny it.”

I laughed, loving how silly Sweet Pea acted when it came to me. He would rather die than be called adorable by anyone, and it was still amazing to me that he didn’t mind when it came to our relationship.

I checked the time, realizing I needed to head outside if I wanted to meet Jughead.

“I gotta go, Sweets. I’ll see you tonight.” I gave him one more kiss before disengaging from his strong arms. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said with a soft smile reserved for me.

“Bye, Fangs. Love you too.” I gave him a kiss on the cheek, leaving him to grumble about how I made him look soft in front of all his friends.

I headed for the door of the Wyrm, saying bye and goodnight to my friends as I walked past them. When I reached the outdoors, the chilly fall air seeped into my bones. I pulled my leather Serpents jacket tighter around my chest and tucked my hands into my pockets. I leaned against the light pole in the parking area, waiting for Jughead to arrive.

After about a minute in the cold, I was considering waiting inside. Maybe Jughead got distracted before he left Betty’s. Or maybe Betty lived a lot further than I realized. All I knew is that she lived on the Northside.

I was checking the time again when I realized I wasn’t alone. I raised my eyes, sliding into a defensive stance automatically. I was astonished to see a boy I knew from school walking towards me. As far as I knew, he had just recently joined the Ghoulies. I felt my lip curl with scorn.

“What do you want, Ghoulie? Don’t you know this is Serpent territory?” I sneered at him.

The boy raised a hand. I noticed that his arm was shaking in the split second before I realized he was holding a gun. Time seemed to move in slow motion as I raised my eyes to face.

He was staring at me with a blank expression on his face. “He didn’t solve it.”

“Who didn’t solve what?” I asked in a croaking voice. My throat felt like it was full of sand.

Could I disarm him? Could I get away? Could I scream for help?

“They said that this was just a test to see whether the Serpent Prince was truly worthy of the Southside. But he failed. So now we need to show the Serpents that failure has consequences.”

I noticed that his arm was no longer shaking.

I knew that he was going to shoot me; it wasn’t a question of if anymore, but a question of how soon.

“Do you mean Jughead? What do the Ghoulies want with Jughead?” I said cautiously, eyeing his face.

“That isn’t for you to know.”

And then it happened.

I saw his finger tighten around the gun and I tried to drop to the side. The explosion of the gun rang through my head, drowning out every noise and every thought. I felt the pain rip through my right shoulder. The heat and the agony shredded outward from my arm, radiating through my body. I hit the ground and froze, assessing the situation.

The Ghoulie took off as soon as he pulled the trigger. I saw him pounding down the pavement until a person in a bright red car pulled out of a nearby alley and popped the passenger door for him. They peeled off down the street.

I took a deep breath and tried to stand up. The sound of the gunshot was still ringing through my brain.

I saw light spill onto the pavement in front of me. Someone had opened the door of the Wyrm. I heard pounding footsteps and yelling over the roar in my head. I couldn’t stand up. I was feeling light-headed, and I was starting to feel scared. I grabbed my shoulder, trying to stop the bleeding.

I rolled over, clutching my arm and breathing heavily. Suddenly, I saw Sweet Pea’s face flash before my eyes.

“Sweets,” I tried to say. I don’t know if I was successful.

I saw his mouth moving. He was trying to say something but I couldn’t understand over the roaring in my ears. His terrified face was the last thing I saw before I passed out.

The first thing I noticed when I came to was a steady beeping. I opened my eyes slowly, blinking into the light. My head felt somehow heavy and also full of cotton balls at the same time. I tried to focus.

I was in a hospital room. The steady beep of my heart rate monitor increased slightly as I looked around in concern.

I saw Sweets sitting on a chair beside my bed, slumped with his chin against his chest. He must be sleeping. I tried to reach for him, stopping as a searing pain shot through my right side. I groaned, remembering the events of the shooting. I tried to look at my shoulder but it was covered in a million bandages.

“Princess!” Sweet Pea cried, standing up quickly. He rushed to me and held my face. “How are you feeling? Do you need anything? Should I get the doctor?” he demanded in a rush.

“My shoulder and my head hurt but that’s about it. I don’t think you need to get the doctor.”

I felt tears threatening to spill as I stared into his eyes. Sweet Pea looked terrible. There were heavy bags under his eyes and his hair was in a complete disarray. His eyes held a look of near panic as he studied my face.

“Okay. Okay, yeah,” he said in a voice I had never heard from him before.

He sat down again, running his fingers through my hair over and over. He stared at me as if he couldn’t believe I was right there in front of him.

“Sweets, I’m okay. It was just my shoulder. It’s embarrassing that I even passed out at all.”

I reached out and stilled his hands, smiling up at him gently.

“Yeah, you’re okay, but what if they hadn’t shot your shoulder? What if you weren’t okay?” He looked at me with pain in his eyes. “I can’t lose you.”

I squeezed his fingers and nodded. “I know. I get terrified every time you’re in a fight. I get it. I couldn’t handle losing you either.”

Sweet Pea seemed to be calming down slightly. He ran his hands over my hair, my face, my hands just trying to reassure himself that I was there and I was safe.

After a couple of minutes, I felt like I could ask the question that had been burning in my mind since I opened my eyes.

“Did you catch the Ghoulie?”

Sweets’ eyes slide downward. “Yeah, we got 'em. Fangs and Tall Boy handled things.” His eyes widened and he looked up, slightly guilty. “Actually, I was supposed to go get everyone from the waiting room the second you woke up. I’ll be right back.”

He stood and stared at me for a couple of seconds before turning and rushing towards the waiting room.

I understood Sweet Pea’s terror. Every time I cleaned him up after a fight, I felt that rush of relief when I realized his injuries were minor. If any injury looked slightly bad, I had to stop jumping to worst case scenarios in my head. I loved him so much and I couldn’t stand to see him hurt, but I also couldn’t handle the idea of being without him.

The door to my room opened and a couple nurses walked in with a doctor. They checked me out and declared that I was doing well. I had lost a lot of blood on the scene due to the location of the bullet, but there didn’t seem to be permanent nerve damage, and they had been able to extract the bullet.

As they were leaving, I saw my friends push through the door. I smiled, relieved to see all of them there.

“There’s my girl! Look at you sitting there like a badass,” Toni Topaz, my closest girl friend, said with a grin. She rushed over and gave me a half hug. “What, you missed me so much last night that you went and got shot so you could see me?”

I laughed lightly, trying not to disturb my shoulder. “Yes, that was exactly what happened.”

Fangs moved towards me and fist bumped my good hand.

“You scared the shit outta me, girlie. I aged 25 years tonight.”

I made a twisted face and stuck out my tongue. “Well, I’m sorry I inconvenienced you so much. Maybe you’ll have better luck with the ladies with your newfound grey hair.”

“His luck couldn’t possibly get worse,” chimed in Toni.

I saw Betty Cooper standing beside Jughead, gripping his hand tightly. She had tear stains down her cheeks and her eyes were red. When she felt my gaze, she pulled Jughead closer to my bed.

“I am so sorry. I feel responsible for this,” she said in a rush, looking guilty.

Jughead shook her hand. “It’s not your fault, Betts. I’m the one who wanted to call her. And the Ghoulies are the ones who shot her.”

He turned to me and grabbed my good hand with his free one. “I am so sorry I got you involved in this. I didn’t know who had sent the message or what it said, so I had no idea that they were going to hurt anyone if I asked for help.”

“Hey, relax,” I said, shaking my head. “The kid who shot me was probably doing it as some initiation thing anyway. The contents of the message might not have even mattered.”

Jughead frowned, looking unconvinced.

Sweet Pea spoke up from behind them. “I think the assholes that Tall Boy caught were more worried about sticking it to the Serpents than whether you actually decoding their little puzzle. They were high and barely even knew what was going on.”

I turned to Sweet Pea now. It sounded like he had more knowledge about the shooter than he had let on.

“What happened to them?” I asked sternly. I knew the Serpents and their specific brand of justice, but I hoped that they hadn’t let Sweet Pea dish out any of that justice so quickly after I’d been shot.

Sweet Pea shuffled his feet and Fangs coughed. No one was ready to give me an answer, it seemed.

“Fangs. What happened,” I demanded, no longer asking.

He looked just over my shoulder instead of making eye contact.

“Well, I mean, the boys all took off in every direction to try to chase down the shooter, and we found those Ghoulies in their souped-up car. Tall Boy brought ‘em back and we….questioned them. About why they shot you.” He rubbed the back of his neck, everyone watching him with a sullen expression. “They said that they were testing Jughead and his ability to lead the Serpents. And if he couldn’t even solve a riddle, he didn’t deserve to lead, so they were letting him know that this was…a consequence of his poor leadership abilities.”

Everyone was silent for a moment. I could feel Jughead’s eyes on me.

“Well, that’s just bullshit. Send a riddle to someone and expect them to solve it without any help? A good leader asks for help when necessary.” I turned to Jughead and smiled softly at him. “Those idiots were just drugged up macho boys who wanted to shoot someone.”

Sweet Pea stepped forward and kisses my cheek. “We know, babe. Don’t stress about it. We took real good care of them.”

My eyes widened. “Sweets, you didn’t-“

“No, no, I just got in a good punch or two after you got out of surgery. Tall Boy wouldn’t let me do more than that.”

Fangs snorted in response to that. “More like he showed up at the Wyrm and it took 4 of us to hold Pea back so that Tall Boy could get those lowlifes out of there.” Fangs saw my expression and quickly continued, “But yeah, he did technically only punch each of them a couple of times.”

I shuddered in relief, reaching quickly for his hand. I knew what Sweet Pea was capable of if he fell into a blind rage, and I didn’t want Sweet Pea to be haunted by the consequences if he had killed the Ghoulies.

Jughead and Toni started talking about something, but I wasn’t able to pay attention. I could feel myself fading. My head was pounding and I felt exhausted. Everyone seemed to notice and quickly said their goodbyes and get-wells. Soon it was just me and Sweet Pea again.

He leaned onto the bed as much as he could considering his size. He wrapped his arms around me, careful not to shake my shoulder. He kept staring at me like he thought I might disappear.

“I’m okay. I’m not going anywhere,” I reassured him over and over again.

Sweet Pea dropped a heavy kiss on my forehead. “I’m not leaving your side for at least a week,” he declared.

I smiled and curled into him. I didn’t doubt it one bit.

[screamxqueenx94]

She's Been Enrolled (Part 1)

It was a quiet ride in the cab. Layla was staring out the window, thinking about those people she hurt when she discovered she was a mutant. Just like the people she saw on TV 10 years ago. Wondering why, of all times, why was it just 3 days ago that she discovered her powers?

Why is it NOW that people were scared of her? Before, they bullied her, threw her in dumpsters, breaking her arms in lockers, pushing her through glass trophy cases, even attacking her on her walk home everyday. Everyday, she was being hurt, earning a new scar.

Yet, she couldn't help but feel guilt hurting people who once locked her in the supply closet at her University just the month before. Even though people hurt her, she couldn't seem to retaliate against them. She was always different, but not like this. She just wants to fit in somewhere. Somewhere she'll be accepted for being herself. Somewhere she won't have to always have to run to safety.

Xavier's School For The Gifted is claimed to be that school for her. She's never been so nervous in her life. She can feel her entire body shake, her stomach turned into knots, her hands clam up. All she can think about is the worst case scenario. Unusual for her "glass half full" look on life. Her knees bouncing and hands rubbing together.

Her mother can see her nerves are getting the best of her. She takes her daughter's hand and smiles at her a comforting smile. Making sure her baby girl doesn't see that she's scared too. If she's accepted, this will be the first time in 23 years that they will ever have been apart from each other. They were each other's best friends. All they ever had was each other, now they'll be without each other.

The cab finally pulls up to the school. Layla and her mother get out. Layla puts her backpack over her shoulders while her mother puts her purse over her shoulder and gives Layla her suitcase. They walk up to the school. Layla's stomach gets tighter, her heart pounds even louder. She can feel the lump in her throat getting bigger and harder to swallow down.

They walk into the school. It's alive with kids and teens walking through the halls, talking and laughing. Something all too familiar to Layla, usually being the butt of the joke.

As they get closer to the giant staircase in the center of the view. A tall, young man with brown hair and glasses walks down the staircase and shakes hands with Layla's mother.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Hemmings, I'm Hank McCoy.I'm a teacher here at this school. Professor Xavier is expecting you." he introduced with a friendly smile and stretched out his arm to lead to Professor Xavier.

He was outside, giving his lesson for the day. As he seen Hank followed by Layla and her mother just a few feet away. He dissmissed his class and approached them. He shook Mrs. Hemmings' hand. Then he turned his attention to Layla, smiling kindly.

"You must be Layla. Your mother told me all about you over the phone. She says you caused an Earthquake after being assaulted by a group of boys at your University." He said surprised.

"I--I didn't mean to. I-- I don't even know how it happened..." Layla replied shyly. Charles smiled and chuckled.

"We never know how it happens, all we ever know is that we caused it. Unfortantely, I had to teach myself how to control it. That's one of the reasons I turned this place into a school. So that other young mutants had a chance to learn control and learn how far they can reach into their powers." he continued. "Another reason was so they had a place to go where they can be accepted and not be shamed for something they were born with. To help them understand that it's not their fault."

He gave the ladies a tour, then ended up back outside. Charles, Hank and Mrs. Hemmings were talking. As they spoke, Layla walked the garden area and came to a tree that had been split in half. Very much dead. She felt sadness as she looked at it. She walked around the tree, feeling sympathy for it, she sits on her knees in front of it and starts to touch the root of the tree that was sticking out of the ground. She touched it to show she felt sorrow, but what happened no one had expected.

The tree started to get life back into it. It formed back together and looked the way it did before Cyclops had ripped through it just a month before. She backs up in awe, while everyone who was close enough to see watched in utter shock. Hank notices and points up as Professor follows what Hank was pointing at as Mrs. Hemmings watches in suprise. The tree was like new. Not even a mark signifying that it was once damaged. The adults come up next to Layla, still staring in amazement.

"I didn't know you could do that too." Mrs. Hemmings stated without breaking view of the tree.

"Me either..." Layla replied, trailing off as she stayed in shock of what she did.

Charles faces Layla. He smiles and chuckles at her.

"You know, only a month ago, I enrolled a student in my school for being able to destroy that tree just by removing his eyewear. He destroyed my favorite tree and I enrolled him. Can you believe it?" He paused for a moment. " So, if I enroll someone for destroying my tree, I'm definitely going to enroll someone who fixed it just by barely touching it." Mrs. Hemmings smiled and hugged Layla, jumping up and down. Layla was stuck in a state of shock.

"Hank, why don't you take Miss Hemmings' bag and show her to her room." Hank nods and picks up Layla's bag and leads her to her room. As they walk up the steps, Hank speaks; "That was incredible. I never met anyone with your abilities before." He paused and thought aloud. "I wonder if you can do that with animals..... Or even people." Layla could see the wheels in Hank's head turning....

To Be Continued.....

I hope you like it guys :) I'll put up Part 2 next week.

[ignitesparksforever]

Pilot: Part One (s01e01)

Hello Reader, 

I have been thinking of doing my own rewrite of the series for a while now. With a lot encouragement by my lovely friend @huntertales. She is incredibly  talented. I love her so much. 

Here I am starting writing my own rewrite of the series. Before you go ahead read, I have planned out what is going to happen through your adventures in the series. 

Do let me know if you would be tagged for this series rewrite. I am super anxious about doing this since there are wonderful talented writers who have done their own rewrites doing justice more than mine. 

I hope you enjoy the ride. 

Pairing: Eventually Dean X Reader

Word Count: 2,377

Episode 1: Pilot

[ Prologue ]

22 Years Ago: November 1, 1983

“Thank you so much for babysitting her,” Your mother, Lydia thanked Mary for taking care of you last minute notice.

Lydia was worried about you, especially since you had been behaving weirdly for the past week. You have been scared to be in your bedroom and continues to wake up in the middle of the night clearly frighten. All of that disappeared when her eyes landed on you, sleeping peacefully next to the Winchesters’ oldest son, Dean.

“Despite her being two years younger than Dean, she can keep up with him. I have no clue where all that energy comes from,” John laughed, remembering the two kids running around the house.  

Your father, Derek chuckled at the thought of screaming kids running around, having fun. He knelt down to pick you up from the ground, only for you to immediately wake up and turn to bite your fathers’ arm. When you noticed it was your father, you let him go.

“Sorry.” Slowly, guilt flashed across your face and you looked down at your lap guilty of your actions.

“It's okay, sweetheart. How about we go for ice cream?” Your father suggested, rubbing the place where you bit him.

You shook your head and looked up, tears streaming down your big, puffy cheeks. An overwhelming and uncomfortably dark feeling settled all over your little two-year-old body. It was as if there was a dark presence in the room. “No! Something bad will happen.”

"Sweetheart, what do you mean?" Your father placed a hand on your shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. The show, don’t tell. Actions speak louder than words. So saying that he squeezed your shoulder comfortingly implies he was trying to comfort you.

"Someone bad."

Mary looked over to your mother, worried about you before gently taking her arm and pulling her toward the kitchen. Your mother leaned against the counter and inhaled deeply before speaking.

“She says there is a yellow-eyed bad man in her bedroom at night, trying to get her.”

Mary gives your mother a worried look, “You don’t mean..”

Lydia nodded in confirmation, already knowing what Mary was trying to say. “Derek and I have found sulfur in her bedroom window over the past week. We tried everything, but he keeps coming in. I don’t know what he wants from my girl. You have to be careful, Mary. He might come after your boys”

Mary closed her eyes and sighed in defeat. Your mother knew about the deal Mary had to do with the yellow-eyed demon in order to have John alive. The deal was Mary had to give him access to her home in 10 years as in exchange for John to come back to her alive.  

Meanwhile, your father finally convinced you to go home and say goodbye to the Winchesters’. You quickly kissed Dean on the forehead, who was still sleeping peacefully, before running over to hug John.

Both mothers’ returned from the kitchen as you walked over to give a tight hug to Mary and whisper, “Be careful.”

No one knew this would be the last time you would see Mary alive; which will send the family into a dangerous path.

~~❀~~ 

November 2nd, 1983

The moonlight peeked through your cracked, open window, where a mans’ shadow stood at the end of the bed with a malicious smile.

You furrowed your eyebrows at the smell of rotten eggs and the overwhelming sensation of uncomfortable. Slowly waking up and opening your eyes only to land on the yellow eyes glowing in the dark of your room. You clutched onto your blanket and squeezed your eyes shut, murmuring, “Go away.”

Remembering what John had told you; They are just dreams, they are not real. You have the control to make to all those scary things to go away.

Hoping the monster went away, only to hear its’ footsteps making the floor underneath creak within every step.  “This isn't a dream, sweetheart.”

Panicked, you glanced up to see the man that had been visiting you for the past week, as tears crept up in your innocent eyes in fear.

“I am going to take you to your new home,” the monster said, reaching out to you.  You rolled off the other side of the bed in your haste to avoid him. You could hear your fathers’ car engine coming up the driveway. You built up the courage to say, “N-No.”

All of the sudden, you heard running footsteps on the stairs and someone trying to open the door.  “Y/N! Are you in there?! Is he in there?” Your father yelled from the other side of the door, making the yellow-eyed man glare at you lightly.

“You told your parents about me when I specifically said don’t do so.” Walking around your bed to reach for you again. You backed up into the corner, silently crying and hugging yourself. Your father banged on the door, begging for response and in the process, waking up your mother and your stepbrother from their own sleep.

When you felt the man grab onto your shirt, out of instinct you screamed, making your bedroom window shatter instantly. You shut your eyes, covering your ears as you heard your door burst open with a loud roar.

You kept your eyes closed, frozen with fear and hearing things crashing around the room as the room was filled with groans of pain and roars.  You could smell something was burning, as well feel the heat within the room. You were terrified to open your eyes or move a muscle, until you felt a blanket thrown on top of you, covering you up completely. You opened your eyes to see orange light through the blanket, before getting picked up from the ground.

You felt whoever was holding you close to their chest. Heard what it seems like glass being stepped on as the heat in the room was increased at a rapid rate. You started to struggle to breathe due to the smell of burning wood in the air.

You felt being pressed close to their chest to the point you could hear their heart beating rapidly fast. The cold wind of the night hits you full force as your stomach drops due to the leap someone took.

The full force wind vanishes from hitting your little body. Your feet soon met the cement meaning you were outside.

The blanket gets taken off you as your innocent eyes landed on your mother. She was crying before she dropped to her knees. She held your face in her hands and pulling you into a hug.

“You are safe.”

You felt another hand pat down your hair, and you, lifted your head to see your father covered in ash. He knelt down to hug the both of you, before letting your stepbrother join into the hug.

Your eyes glance over to your home to see the fire spreading throughout the house.

The fire and paramedic sirens could be heard all throughout the neighborhood.

Ever since this happened, your innocence and knowledge about the world were ripped away from you. You could never look at the world the same, knowing monsters do exist who lurks in the dark.

~~❀~~ 

Present:  October 30, 2005

The cold winds blowing against your face as your hair rides wildly underneath your helmet. The night lighting posts shine upon your helmet vision glass driving through the streets.

Soon slowing down upon seeing your destination; pulling up your motorcycle through the drive-thru and turning off the engine. Taking off your helmet and getting off the motorcycle, before running your hand through your hair and shaking it a bit.

Sighing in relief. You start to walk towards the house steps and taking out your keys to unlock the front door only to find it slightly open.

You knew your stepbrother and his girlfriend are away to celebrate their anniversary, meaning no one should be in the house especially at this hour of the night.

Readjusting your grip on your helmet and using your boot to push the door open to take a quick look around. You tried to be steady as possible and look around to see nothing out of the ordinary. Until you hear the floor creaking behind you, swirl around and swing your helmet upwards hitting the intruder by the chin making them stumble back. Taking their arm to twist it behind their back, before pushing them against the nearest wall.

“Who send you?!” You growled tighten your grip.

“Feisty as I remember.” A familiar voice with the sarcasm.

You blinked a few times before recognition dawned on your face.

“What the hell! Dean.” Instantly let go of his arm and step back to reach for the light switch to see the idiot smile innocently at you. Making you roll your eyes at him, and turn around to put down your helmet on the tablet, before making your way to the kitchen to open the fridge to over to grab a beer for Dean.

Kick the fridge door close to turn around to find Dean looking down at your body and called him out holding out the beer. “Cowboy, eyes up here.”

Dean fakes a cough and retraces his eyes up to your eyes, grabbing the beer from your hands immediately. You chuckled at the embarrassed idiot in front of you.

“Why are you here?” You asked, crossing your arms over your chest.

“I can’t come and visit without a reason. Why are you dressing a nurse costume? Anyways.” Dean replies with a smirk on his face.

“Well. You actually call to check on me a week ago. And this.” You started pointing at your nurse costume. “This was a bet from a college friend of mines to accompany her to a Halloween costume party.”

You stared at Dean who is drinking the beer you have given him. “Split it out, what is your reason for being here?”                                                                                                                                                                                              Glancing over at Dean daring him to say foolish excuse, to only quickly ask.  “Have you talked to Sam lately? I have been trying to get a hold of him.”

You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. You knew the brothers weren’t exactly on good terms with each other since Sam wanted to have a normal life as Dean chose the family business to hunt and help people. You tried to stay out of foolish feud that had been dragging out for so long between them

“Y/N, please.” Dean desperately wants an answer from you since you have been quiet. You knew he rarely pleads unless it was serious.

“I just talked to him a few hours ago on my break shift - Did something happened?” You asked, knowing it has to be more than Dean is letting on.

“What about dad?” You could see the worry in his green eyes,

“John? Well, I talked to him a few weeks ago. Did something happened?” You asked out of curiosity.

Dean puts the beer down on the table and runs his hand through his hair. “This is the longest it's been since anyone has heard from him. Anyways, thanks, Y/N for the beer.” He turns around to head out.

“Dean, wait.” You said, making him stop in his tracks and turn his head to you. “I can’t let you go off like this - I am going with you.”

“Y/N. No. You have a life here. I am not going to drag you back into this life.” Dean said to only make you laugh.

“Dean, I haven’t fully gotten out of the hunting life. I have been doing small cases every chance I get. Ever since I have gotten my doctor’s degree, I have been snitching up hunters under my brother's clinic roof. I don’t have anything that is holding me back from going with you.” You said, before adding “I will end up following you if you don’t let me.”

Your [eye color] stared back at his green eyes to only make him sigh in defeat. “Hurry up, before I change my mind. I will wait for you in the car.”

Your lips immediately stretch into a smile, before pecking his cheek and ran up the stairs to your room. Stripping down from your nurse costume, and dress up in more comfortable clothes.

You open your closet and throw the duffel to your bed as you start throwing random clothes along with personal items into it. Making sure you have put on your laptop with your charger. 

Zipping the duffel bag and tossing the strap over your shoulder, as you slipped into a pair of shoes and the leather jacket that you got from your father.

You ran downstairs with the duffel bag almost failing in the process. You turn off the lights along throwing away the beer from the table. Grabbing your cell phone with your house keys, as you looked around the house.

You closed the door until you remember the bag of candy you stole from the party and left it on the porch. Immediately looking over to see it missing on the spot where you left it and look up to see Dean munching on your stole candy. “Dean!”

Running over to the Impala to take the bag of candy from his hands, and mumbles. “Mine.” You give your duffel bag to Dean as an exchange of the bag of candy. You walk over the other side and climb in from the passenger side. Settling the bag of candy in the middle and grabbed one to eat, as Dean climbs in to look at you and shakes his head as he turns on the car.

You pushed the bag of candy to Dean meaning he can take some. “So do you have any leads?”

“I will tell you, once we get Sam.” Dean smiles at you, making you roll your eyes in exchange.

You just hope John Winchester is alive and get contact with one of his sons hopefully. You cared about John and look up at him as a second father figure, ever since your biological father went MIA after your mother’s death. He was the one who took you and your brother without any hesitation.

Next: Part Two

Tags: @dontfuckthevanguard

[cherrynika]

It’s nice to see Alex again though he usually avoids former partners. It’s simply been long enough since their breakup that no trace of awkwardness is felt, simply a sense of familiarity. He’s more or less the same, having decided to keep the facial hair Jipyeong had always hated. It’s as sleazy-looking in real life as it is in the instagram photos he pretends he’s not scrolling through. That’s a pointless exercise that makes him wonder if he’d be more successful if he had chosen to stay in San Francisco, or if he’d still be the same person but with shittier fashion sense. It does, however, answer many questions that he’d like to ask (have you neutered Tim Tam yet, yes), prefer not to (are you married, 2 girlfriends and what was probably a sugar baby later, the answer is no), and never wondered (Crossfit is indeed life-changing; hot yoga gives you 10 more IQ points!).

Alex is cordial and professional at the Sandbox, offering Jipyeong nothing but a handshake before they sit down to grade the baby startups. But he lingers conspicuously in the meeting room after all the other judges leave. Jipyeong fingers a piece of his hair that’s come loose despite the pomade and waits.

“You look fluffier. Fatter.” Of course Alex’s first words are about his weight.

“I started eating rice again. I hated low-carb.”

“Rice or tteokbokki?” Alex smiles. “Anyway, it’s not a bad change. Let’s go to Gotgan. I have a reservation for 7pm.”

“You made a reservation for two?” Alex has always been overly confident, but that’s his charm.

“If you say no, I’ll ask Dongchun.”

Jipyeong considers him, looking almost exactly the way he did when Ms Yoon first introduced them 5 years ago. She’s always been able to look right into him and see what he wanted. As much as he respects her, he’s never wanted to tell her that her matchmaking attempt worked. Nothing he does today will have the tiniest effect on the future. All that’s in the past. All that’s waiting for him are Yeongsil and his big silent bed. So he gathers his notes into his satchel and fishes out the keys.

“Let’s take my car.”

“Let’s take the subway. It’s not far and we’ll probably get drunk.”

__

They stay sober. While getting drunk is fun, Jipyeong’s most regrettable moments (bar one that has surfaced intermittently for the last fifteen years) have all occurred when he was intoxicated (crying at a class KTV when Mrs Choi’s favourite song came on, dancing to Wonder Girls in front of a girlfriend’s parents). Staying sober is for the best.

Alex makes some noises about heading back to his hotel room. They both know he doesn’t mean it.

“I want to show you my new place,” Jipyeong says when they’re halfway there. He’s forgotten how private the sidewalks can be at night, cars on one side, the river on the other, blanketed in the dark. “It’s bigger than the one I had before I went to America.” Waves of headlights wash over them, illuminating Alex’s face before dipping them back into darkness. Everyone is rushing somewhere that only they think is important.

“I’d be surprised if apartments could be any smaller.”

“They’re always getting smaller.” Jipyeong jostles against him to avoid a woman on a bicycle. Alex puts his arm around him and doesn’t let go. In San Francisco this is what couples do. In Seoul they’re just old friends. Skinship, being a mentor, being a sunbae--these are all great excuses for what Jipyeong really wants to do. Even through two shirts and a lined blazer his body wants Alex’s body.

They walk in silence though the lobby, past the doorman whose chief qualification is knowing when not to look and float skywards in the lift.

--

“We have to take our shoes off, I just want you to know. You can leave them over there. Yeongsil, lights please.” The lights flicker on, Yeongsil is clearly having a good day.

“You know, I don’t let people wear shoes in my house either… That’s not Alexa.”

“It’s Yeongsil, it’s an AI speaker. It’s one of Ms Yoon’s more promising startups. It’s… more interesting than Alexa.” Jipyeong says, taking off his jacket and leaving it on the table. “It told me you were coming last week.”

“No, no, I told you that I was coming.”

“Yeah, but before I got your email. He tells fortunes too and he told me someone from my past was coming.”

“Everyday you meet someone from your past. And you shouldn’t let it listen to everything you do. It’s going to get hacked.”

“Astrology is in, everyone is going to love that feature,” Jipyeong shrugs. “Nothing I do here is worth any money, they can just hack my bank accounts.”

“You’re not paranoid enough for someone who works in tech.” Alex says, as he almost fondles Yeongsil.

“I’m actually trying to reduce my paranoia.” Jipyeong takes Yeongsil from Alex and stuffs him under the jacket. “Does that make you feel better?”

“No.” Alex continues to touch the other things in his apartment without permission. “Is every photo here of yourself? I know you don’t have family photos but that’s so vain. You should’ve kept some of the gang at 2STO or at least something to remind you of me.”

“The internet is filled with pictures of you. Anyway I still have the Grandpa Rudin you lent me, it’s more useful.”

“Did you really finish it?”

“I just wanted to know why everyone complains about it.”

“Well, now you know I guess. If you liked it don’t tell me.” Alex has moved on to the cardboard sign that proclaims Jipyeong the 2001 winner of the Inter High Schools Investment Competition brushing a finger over the scratch mark Tim Tam made on it before Jipyeong decided it would be safer in his closet. “I like the lamps. Are you into art now?”

“The seller had it staged, I just decided to buy it the way it was. I think it looks very cohesive.”

“So that’s why it looks like no one lives here. It’s like you don’t have any stuff.”

“No, I have the plants and I keep the EXO and Apink merch in the walk-in closet, it’s too personal to have it out here.”

“Red Velvet is better. I wish it weren’t so bloody creepy to be an uncle fan.”

Alex is still the only man with whom he can talk about Eunji and Kyungsoo and not feel dirty. He’s stumbled upon Dongchun’s Twitter (which is, in his own defense, a fascinating read) and knows too much about his deep love for TWICE. There is something a little unsettling about ajusshi fans, even if he is one himself.

“I think there’s something more interesting we can do here.” he takes the sign and puts it back on the top shelf. “I haven’t been laid in 6 months. I’m going to burst.”

“Couldn’t you have picked someone up at a nightclub?” Alex is smiling in such a familiar way; they both know this old dance.

“They’re full of university students.” Jipyeong says while helping Alex out of his jacket, which surprisingly, is only GAP. “You smell like metal.”

“It’s Sartorial, remember? From Penhaligon’s? It’s got that magnesium note.”

“You still haven’t finished it?” Jipyeong bought it as a gift while in London for him. It was so long ago, almost like a dream. He’s had dreams, whenever he’s been alone for too long, of undressing another person, but he can never remember what happens afterwards. The dream-person’s shirt has no smell, no trace of sweat. He slips Alex’s shirt off his shoulders. No undershirt as expected.

“Nope. I bought another bottle. It’s different from all the other man-perfumes. It doesn’t just smell like tonka bean.” He slips a finger over Jipyeong’s mouth, smearing his summer lip balm before dipping inside and scratching his gums lightly with a fingernail. “Your mouth is as lovely as you are horrible. Have you learned anything since we split up?”

“Test me,” Jipyeong says.

The only light in the bedroom is light pollution from the city below. It’s still more than enough to see by, despite the fact that Jipyeong’s night vision has gone to shit from more than a decade spent staring at a computer screen.

[this part not written yet]

--

He dozes off without meaning to and wakes up to the sound of engines. Alex is playing F1. He must have gone through his closet and found the playstation Jipyeong has been trying and failing to quit.

“You’ve got some very impressive beard burn on your jaw. ” Alex says as he overtakes Rosberg. He’s chosen the Singapore circuit. Onscreen the city is cloaked in darkness, the only thing that exists is a winding silver road and cars driving nowhere at 300 miles an hour.

He leans over and takes the controller from Alex, crashing into a Ferrari before spinning out into the barriers. “Are you bragging?”

“No, I’m just being honest.”

It’s a strange mirror of their early days when he would wake up to Alex on a coding binge, the clacking of the keyboard starting and stopping with his thoughts, the weak light of his laptop throwing huge shadows on the wall.

Jipyeong rolls forward on his belly; he wants to see Alex properly. “What do you like about Samsan Tech?”

“I like their engineering. Dosan’s incredibly talented. Their CODA algorithm builds on existing knowledge, and is an improvement on it.”

“And that’s your professional opinion?”

“What else would it be based on?” Alex fixes him with a look.

“Well. People say that you can’t be emotional as an investor. But how can it not be emotional?”

“Jipyeong. I’m excited in the way that I am when I see something beautiful. I wish you could see it too. I still can’t believe you’ve gotten so old without learning to read code.”

“I can code.”

“I don’t mean using OCaml to code a model.”

“There’s only so many hours in a day.” He rolls over and watches the dead light from the screen play across the ceiling. “I can always ask an expert.”

“I’m going back to America after Demo Day, you know. As fun as it would be to stay here and pretend we don’t know each other I have a job I have to get back to.”

“I meant other experts.”

“There are none like me.”

“Well. Talking to you is more fun.” He tangles his fingers with Alex.

“You’re not still posting loss porn on Wallstreetbets are you?”

“I just did. Lost fifty thousand on Apple puts.”

“You’re going to end up living in a corndog stand again.”

“Actually, I won’t. I didn’t tell you yet but I found her last month. She’s in a food truck now. So there’s nowhere I would go.”

“Can I meet her?” Alex perks up. He’s always loved a good story. “I want to know what you were like as a kid.”