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killervibe · 5 years

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Cold Sub Zero Heart Breaker (By Your Own Design)

So, of course, I had this giant big Valentine’s Day fic planned for killervibe that did not go the way I had wanted it to. So here’s my last-minute new fic to fill in for the months of planning I wasted. Oops.

Killervibe fic for Killervibe Valentine’s 2020!

I highly recommend listening to Frozen Heart by The Hawk in Paris. The fic title comes from its lyrics!

Rated: M

Summary: Halfway through his Korean fried chicken, Cisco licked the sauce off his thumb and acknowledged the elephant in the room.

“...Did you get….heartbroken?”

Frost scowled. “No.”

~.~

“Hey.” Cisco dropped a bag of food in Frost’s lap. “Got you something.”

She stared down at it, stunned. “I didn’t order anything.”

“I know.” Cisco shrugged, dragging a chair over.

He pulled out the takeout carton from his own bag, and the two ate silently together, their legs propped up on each other’s seat.

Halfway through his Korean fried chicken, Cisco licked the sauce off his thumb and acknowledged the elephant in the room. “...Did you get….heartbroken?”

Frost scowled. “No.”

Cisco blinked, taken aback. “—No?”

It seemed like it. Cisco wasn’t around Central City last Valentine’s Day, but he had heard the story from the rest. Frost was all over the holiday, dressed up in reds and cutting out paper hearts with crazy glue. He rose his eyebrows at Barry when he'd explained it all, not exactly able to say he’d seen that coming.

Today he’d gotten to witness it with his own eyes. Frost had begged Caitlin for the day, wearing red nail polish and handing out snarky valentines to their friends in Star Labs, humming The Beatles.

Or at least, she was.

In a quick turnaround, Frost had lashed out, tearing down the decorations and audibly gagging at Barry and Iris’ lovey-dovey cuteness.

Ralph tried to approach her a little over an hour ago, only to quickly retreat, telling Cisco her mood was beyond sour.

She had mellowed out after their meta fight, seemingly needing to have gotten her hands dirty, but refused to even talk or hear about anything to do with love. Now she was quiet, sitting at Caitlin’s chair in the Cortex. Sad, almost. It was a new look for her. Cisco had thought something must’ve happened.

“...Are you sure?”

Grant it, Cisco wouldn’t have a clue who Frost would be heartbroken over.

She threw her used napkin behind her.

“You missed the trash,” Cisco pointed out.

“So?”

Cisco swallowed. He had to choose his battles.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

“Fine!” She stood up, already ready to rant. Cisco’s eyes widened, not expecting to be given a front-row seat to a Frost lament. “I’m at Jitters, and they’re doing this 30% strawberry syrup special for all of their drinks. I order the Killer Frost with it—”

“Of course you do.”

“—And as I’m mixing it evenly into the drink, it hits me. It freakin’ hits me!”

Cisco leaned forward, arms resting on his knees. “What does?”

“I have no business participating in this heteronormative commercialized holiday bullshit! Screw February 14th! It’s a sham! Hot garbage!” Her hands misted at her sides. She paced the room. “You know what—Oh my god.” She stopped abruptly, as Cisco tried his best to follow along. “Here I am trying to live a life. Like, I’m fricken’ trying, right? Caity says I’m doing okay but I’d give myself a D on a report card.”

“Oh come on,” Cisco interrupted. “That’s not fair.”

“It is,” she snapped. “Because I realized the most—Ugh, stupid Debbie.”

“Wait.” Cisco frowned. “...Ralph’s mom?”

She nodded, rolling her eyes and threw an ice dagger at the wall. Cisco watched with growing concern, his plastic fork still hanging from his mouth as she closed her eyes and exhaled. She breathed, and the frost receded back into her palms.

“I’m chill,” she said.

“You good?” Cisco squeaked.

“Yeah. I’m good. I’m fine. It’s cool.”

“...Okay.” Cisco smiled at her, a little uncertain. “I’m glad I could help.” He looked down at the rest of his meal and popped the second to the last piece into his mouth. He glanced back at her, noticing the sudden silence on her part, and immediately stopped chewing.

Frost was looking at him. Like, right at him. Intimate eye contact. No break.

Cisco squirmed under her intense scrutiny. “What are you staring at?” There was still chicken in his mouth.

“Let’s have sex.”

Cisco almost choked. He heaved as chicken skin scraped down the wrong tube of his throat, banging his arm against the table as he scrambled for water. “—Why?”

“I want life experiences. Sex is usually an important part of life—”

“—Not for everyone!” he gasped out.

“And I’m trying to have some life experiences and Caity seems to like you so I don’t think she’d be too mad.” She paused, checking him out. “You’re not bad to look at either.”

Cisco has forgotten how to breathe, frozen still like a deer in the headlights.

Frost hesitated for the first time since bringing it up, her confident tone cracking. She wrung her hands, biting her lip. “Also, like. You like me, right? I mean you tolerate me, so.”

“Of course I like you,” he said automatically, a touch incredulous, and it came out softer than the volume in which he was thinking. His brain rebooted. Or maybe his heart. Something integral to his body reacted in defence mode whenever Caitlin had the slightest doubt of his love for her. Frost included. But this was a whole other level, holy frack. Cisco was going to have a heart attack. Like seriously. Those were heart palpitations.

He got up stiffly, excusing himself.

He breached to a quiet beach in Barbados, looked up at the blue sunny sky and screamed. A startled crab scurried away from the sand underneath his running shoes.

Cisco let out a breath, muttering to himself. “Okay. Okay. Okay okay okay okay okay okay okay okay.”

He breached back into the hallway, flicking back the hair from his eyes and casually walked back in, only mildly sweaty. He hoped she couldn’t hear his heart thumping away.

“Heeeey,” he gave her a pathetic wave.

“‘Sup.” She quirked an eyebrow at him. “So are we doing this or not?” She finally picked up her litter, stuffing it into her bra. “Look it doesn’t have to be you. I can ask Norvock. He’s my backup plan—“

“—Hell no!”

She seemed taken aback by his vehemence. “What?”

“You’re not allowed to ask anyone else, okay?” Cisco stepped closer.

“I’m not allowed?”

“Not Chester P. Runk. Not Norvock,” he spat out the name, mouth twisting in distaste. “Or that guy at the candy store you like from across the street.”

His fear was gone, the panic was over. Unexpected? Yes. Nerve-wracking? Oh, definitely. But he was so doing this.

Good lord, Cisco could feel the onset of a migraine at the thought of all the things that could go wrong if she said this to anybody else. What was Frost thinking? Snake eye? Ralph vouched for him last time he last appeared, but he remembered the way he leered at Caitlin in that bar. There’s no telling she’d be treated right.

If Frost wanted sex then by god Cisco was going to give her some good sex and she would not be getting it from any other means. Because Frost’s body was Caitlin’s body, and he could only guess Caitlin was taking a very deep nap to not be awake right now and intervene. So yeah. Screw that.

He jammed his finger at her, raising his voice. “If you’re going to be asking anyone for sex around here on Valentine’s Day, no less, it’s going to be me.”

Frost blinked down at his pokey finger for a moment, dumbfounded as Cisco seethed. She met his steely eyes, a pleased smirk pulling up at her lips. She had no idea how she managed to rile him up this way. She knew he was protective over her, but there was that and then there was this. Killer Frost may be a flirt, but she had no real experience with men. Even then, there was no denying this.

This was the exposure of Cisco’s layered jealousy over Caitlin or herself or both—who the fuck cared. It was amusing.

“So that’s a yes.”

“Yes, that’s a yes,” he shot back. He rolled back his shoulders. “I’ll see you at 8.”

Frost licked her lips. Somehow, Cisco was only a breath away. Their eyes had yet to look at anything else than each other. “Make that 9. I watch Wheel of Fortune.”

“Fine!”

❄️❤️❄️

It’s nine on the dot and Cisco had brought a basket of anything and everything romantic he could get his hands on. Roses, candles, chocolates, strawberries, condoms, wine, his Bluetooth speaker, bubbles, lingerie, breath mints, a mini radiator. Everything.

Frost pawned through the basket and took out the bubbles. “Why?”

Cisco yanked them out of her grasp, stuffing it back into the basket. “Forget those.”

She pulled out the thong. “Was this Kamilla’s?”

“No.”

She shrugged and ripped into the heart candy as he struck a match, setting down flickering flames around the room.

She watched as he scattered the roses around Caitlin’s bed. “Is this necessary?”

Cisco blew a strand of hair out of his eyes. “Do you want the Valentine’s Day experience or not?”

Frost didn’t really have a response to that. After a good amount of setting up the scene to look straight out of a Netflix romance, Cisco queued up a playlist and appraised his work.

“Dim the lights,” Frost said. The candles wouldn’t have much effect otherwise. Cisco did, and it became dark but for the glowing candlelight.

Frost removed her sweatshirt over her head and waited expectantly for Cisco to strip.

He took off his shoes and toyed at the button of his cardigan.

Frost climbed over to where he sat gingerly on the bed, unbuttoning the rest of it when his hands failed to continue. She removed the clothing from down his shoulders, and he shivered when her skin moved over his bare arms.

“Are you okay?” she asked him. It was gentler than he was used to hearing her talk. “How are we starting this?”

Cisco gave her a look. “I’m going to kiss you. We’ll start from there.”

Frost laid down, her silver hair flattening against her pillow as she stared up at the ceiling. “Okay.”

Cisco hooked a leg over her, still maintaining a considerable amount of space between them.

He thought it would be best to ease into it. Some touching, first. It was hard to just jump right in. It was weird how receptive Frost was being. Cisco’s mind floated away, thinking back to this afternoon. What did she mean exactly, when she had said he was not bad to look at. Did she like him, this entire time? It was...Weird. To think about.

Was that what this was? Frost has had her moments. She’s blunt, sarcastic, cold-blooded by nature. But she’s not unfeeling, either. There’s always been something about her motivations that had struck Cisco odd. She thought of things most people didn’t. She followed her gut and didn’t seem too scared to die. Not like the rest of them, at least. But even that was untrue. She was the flightiest of them all, the most explosive and unpredictable. And what was that from, if not from the unrest of her own self? It made Cisco wonder. And what the hell happened with Debbie? Should he even ask?

Frost’s eyes popped open. “If you're just going to hover over me like that can you at least change the playlist?”

Cisco frowned, interrupted from his internal monologue. “Do you not like Michael Bublé?”

She twitched her nose. “Not really.”

He sighed and got up, changing the playlist to an R&B track suggested by Spotify’s romance playlist. “Better?”

“I guess.”

They resumed their positions, Cisco taking the time to drink her in. There were so many ways she resembled Caitlin. Especially with her eyes closed. Caitlin would never wear the bold blue lipstick, but her face was all the same. Kind, soft. Gentle. Beautiful. He thumbed the side of her cheek, lost in reflection, running his finger over her lip. Frost stilled under his touch.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” he murmured, leaning in.

He stopped millimetres from her mouth just as memories of Earth 2 suddenly bombarded his brain. He had prepared himself up to this moment the best he could that he’d be sleeping with Frost. But somehow it had slipped his mind that this was the same woman who could kill with a kiss.

“What?” she mumbled at his stalling.

“Frost…”

“What?”

“Have you ever kissed someone before?”

Her silence was concerning.

He pulled back, alarmed.

She sat up. “Once.” She winced. “When I tried to kill Barry. You threw me off of him.”

To quote John Mulaney, now they didn't have time to unpack all that.

“So you’re saying you cannot say with confidence this won’t kill me.”

“I won’t kill you,” she said. But she was lacking the confidence. Frost swore lightly. “This is ridiculous.” She grabbed his arm and pressed his wrist to her lips. Her mouth was cool, wet. But there was no ice in his veins. She raised an eyebrow as if to say see?

Cisco’s next words died on his tongue, eyes wide as she peppered kisses up to the crook of his elbow, almost aggressively.

He pulled his hand away and inspected it. Yeah, it was cold. The sensation tingled. But it wasn’t that bad.

“If it makes you feel better, you can avoid my mouth. We don’t need to kiss to have sex,” she said wryly. “I’m not a virgin.”

Cisco’s right eye twitched. “—Okay.” Compartmentalize. He frowned at himself. “Didn't you just say…?”

“It was never any good,” she muttered defensively. “Never with anyone who ever cared about me.”

Cisco softened, playing with her hair. He worried he was way over his head. “Then don’t you want to be kissed?”

Frost worried her lip, turning away. “I don’t know. Sure.” She tugged at the hem of his t-shirt, trying to undress him. “If you think it’ll be good.”

“Wait,” Cisco said. Something about this was off. Really off.

“What?” she whined.

He studied her. She stared back like it was just another ordinary spat in the Cortex at Star Labs. Cisco sighed, changing his mind. Frost seemed to be wanting to get over the chatting and move onto the next step already.

“Fine, let’s do this,” he said, and unbuckled his belt, helping Frost out of her t-shirt. He offered to help with her jeans but she waved him off, yanking her skinny light wash by the ankles herself until she was only in her underwear. He rolled over, thinking that this might work out better if Frost felt more in control. She straddled his thighs and reached into her bra to remove the used napkin from their lunch.

Cisco made a face. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that.” He was lucky he could even manage the snark.

It was hard to keep his breathing even. He’d never seen this much of her before, obviously. Her pale skin, her stomach, her creamy thighs. Silvery hair cascading down her back in waves.

She was paler than he’d thought. Her eyes had lost the spooky glow they used to take some years ago, and her voice no longer went two-toned, something Cisco was somewhat thankful for. He couldn’t imagine hearing her words bounce and echo off these walls. It made him uncomfortable, back when Frost first appeared. The overlapping layer, like Caitlin was trapped inside when Frost took over, speaking over her louder, colder, with more command.

Now, Cisco closed his eyes and he heard her voice. She was saying something, but Cisco wasn’t listening, Reevena’s Still Dreaming floating in from his speaker in low pulses. Her hands roamed down his shoulders, and chest as she explored and his goosebumps unsheathed.

He lost himself in the first kiss and grabbed onto her hair. It was kind of better than he’d ever imagined. Caitlin sighed into his mouth, moving closer. Cisco tipped his head back against the backboard, cupping her neck as he drew her to him. Caitlin’s lips and her body and her skin and her perfume tickling his nose. It was better than he’d imagined. It was everything he’d secretly dreamed.

Caitlin.

“UNCLE!” Cisco cried, shimmying out from underneath her. “Oh my god. I’m sorry, but, uncle. Frost. I’m sorry. I can’t.” He reached for his shirt, hastily pulling it back over his head.

Frost ran a hand through her tangled hair. “...Why not?”

She didn’t seem hurt. Confused, maybe.

It was hard for Cisco to explain it because he hadn’t been able to articulate the thought himself properly until only a few seconds ago. But the truth was simple.

He couldn’t do this.

“Look,” Cisco stared at the duvet cover. Ralph Lauren sheets, high thread count. On discount from the last Cyber Monday sale. He knew that because he was beside her when she added it to her cart on the website.

“Dreamy,” he had said with a tease. “You’ll sleep well.” She had laughed at the time. “I think we’re kidding ourselves thinking we’d be getting any actual sleep nowadays.”

This was Caitlin’s bed. Caitlin’s room. Caitlin’s apartment. And he knew Frost was a part of Caitlin. But, when it came to this? It didn’t matter —His heart panged. Frost deserved to be looked at when he said this. “I’ve imagined doing this before. More than once...The rose petals, the music. Valentine’s Day…”

Frost shot out a candle from her fingertips, listening.

“With Caitlin.”

“You do realize we’re basically two sides of the same person.”

“To you, maybe.” Cisco gave her a small, stiff smile. “Except you’re not. Not to me.”

He grabbed her hand. “I love you, Frost. I do. But it’s because I loved her first.” He searched her eyes. “And I have to know. I really need to know.” He bent down and scooped Frost’s red sweater from off the floor, tugging it over her head, mussing her hair. It stuck out all staticy, and Frost glared at his insistence of returning her to a modest state of dress. “Because you seem unsure of this yourself. What do you get out of this? Do you want me? And you never told me for sure, if Caitlin is okay with this. Like really okay with this.”

“She would’ve stopped me by now if she weren’t.”

Cisco tried not to think too hard about that. “And what about you?”

Frost didn’t reply.

“Because I can’t just do this,” he continued. “Have sex with you. If it’s not with her. And I can’t call it making love to you if it’s because you have no better option. This wouldn’t just be some holiday romp for me. And I don’t want you going elsewhere for this. But I think you’ll have to if it’s what you really want.” There was no more saliva in his mouth, but he said his piece.“Just please don’t tell me about it.”

She bunched the covers around her waist, covering her bare legs as she retrieved his basket. She broke into the wine, pouring out a glass silently and handed it to him over the messy sheets. He took the drink silently. Taking a careful sip. It was like she could tell he needed the drink.

“I think you're right,” she confessed after a long time. "It’s not what I really want."

“Oh?”

“I like the idea of Valentine’s Day.” She heaved a big sigh. “I like the concept of having this one great person, that means the world to you. But I like it for other people. It works for them.” Her shoulders drooped. “And I thought—maybe if I threw myself into it...I’d get it. Barry and Iris, Sue and Ralph. Joe and Cecile. There’s just you. And me….” She tilted her head, considering. “Norvock?”

“Please don’t bring Snake Eye into this bedroom.” It was almost a growl.

Frost snorted at the green in his eyes.

“Stop worrying about him. Really there’s just you. And it’s you because—Because it’s what Caitlin feels. And I can feel Caitlin. So I thought maybe...If I tried it, too…”

“Frost.” Cisco squeezed her hand. “It’s okay to not be interested in sex or romance. It’s okay if that’s just not you.”

She sucked in a breath. “I don’t think it is.”

“That’s okay.”

“Okay.”

"Okay."

Reevena crooned on.

Frost began to giggle.

He frowned at her, worried. Insulted? “Um.”

She covered her mouth, turning away to muffle her laughter into the palm of her hand. “I’m sorry,” she managed. “I just— I don’t know what I was thinking. Sex!? Making love!? With you?! Oh my god.” She sobered immediately at the look on his face. “I’m sorry, there’s a reason why I’m laughing. I’m not trying to be mean.”

He smiled at her awkwardly, he wasn’t sure why his heart was breaking. “I promise it’s alright.”

“No, because. I was feeling something. And I was acting on it. But it’s not my attraction.” She met his curious gaze and lowered the wine glass from his lips, putting it on the bedside table so that he’d have her whole attention. “It’s hers.”

Cisco’s mouth parted, but nothing came out. His face felt horrendously warm, and he could tell by Frost’s amusement that he was mad red. “Can I speak to her?”

“Yeah,” she said breezily, pausing for what Cisco could only guess is to talk it over with Caitlin telepathically or however. “I think I’ll be absent for every Valentine’s Day from now on.”

Before he could get another word out, Caitlin was blinking at him. Cisco wanted to very kindly melt into her floorboards. “Uhhhh….Hi.”

She stretched, digging her fingertips into the soft sheets, looking particularly unbothered for finding Cisco cozied up in her bed.

“Hi.” She tucked her brown hair behind her ear, eyeing the rose petals and bubble machine.

He knew it looked bad, but he had to excuse himself before this could continue.

The warm salt air of Barbados greeted him once again. He stood in his haphazardly thrown on cardigan and boxers in front of the stretch of the Caribbean Sea. Cisco assumed the crabs did not take his scream any better than the first time, but it was too dark to tell. The seagulls, however, were displeased, shrieking right back at him.

He breached back into her room, kicking at the overkill rose petals, and shutting down the bubble machine once and for all. “Sorry about that.” His voice was hoarse.

“Wow,” Caitlin said with a growing smile, glossing over his little disappearing act altogether. Maybe she could tell how desperately he needed it. “You did a number in here.”

It took a moment for Cisco to realize. “You were awake this entire time, weren’t you?”

“You’re crazy to think I’d have let this actually happen.”

He climbed back onto the bed, and Caitlin moved to make room. It was already so much better, easier. To be half-dressed and making a fool out of himself. As long as it was with her.

“Why?” He stretched back to lean against the pillows. He was aiming for sexy, but he’d take anything above cute. He winked at her. “Want me for yourself?”

Her eyes raked down his body appreciatively. It was slower, more deliberate than Frost had ever done. “Yes.”

Oh.

“If that’s okay,” she added. A bit shyer.

Cisco couldn’t speak. Except he had to. He had so many questions. And the way she was smiling triumphantly at him should be illegal. She held his face in her hands, smoothing out his gobsmacked expression until he smiled at her, helpless but to melt under her touch. The effect, she had. It was dangerous. So dangerous.

“Why?” he said again, his mouth working in contradiction to his brain, that had all but given up on asking. He turned his cheek into her palm.

Caitlin sighed and let him go. “I couldn’t just tell Frost. I had to let her come to her conclusions. And I trusted you. She trusted you. I wasn’t sure how this was going to go down either.” She blushed for the first time that evening, looking away. “And to stop and explain meant I’d have to tell you why she was so confused.”

She meant that she’d been suppressing her feelings for him so hard it leaked. What a fact. Cisco forced his brain to assemble back enough to think properly, setting that tidbit aside for later. “...Is Frost going to be okay?”

Caitlin nodded. “More than. She’s relieved, I think. And glad she discovered this with you. I’ve always suspected she was asexual. With her impulse control, she would’ve gone after someone by now if it weren’t the case.”

"What would've happened, then?"

Caitlin was slow in answer. "I guess we would have had to talk about it. I'm not sure."

“What happened with Debbie?” Cisco couldn't help but ask.

Caitlin made a clueless face, shrugging her shoulders. “Hey,” she said, tapping at his knee. “We can talk about Frost at some other time. It’s Valentine’s Day.”

The music and wine glasses and candles still scattered around had yet to serve as nothing else but a constant reminder to them. “That it is.” Cisco smiled at her. “I actually got you a card.”

“Forget the card,” Caitlin surprised him.

She scooted forward, dragging him upright to drape her arms around him in a hug. But it was intimate and warm, his heart beating against the thick material of Frost’s sweater. Caitlin tangled her hand into his hair, much like he had done with Frost, raking her fingernails gently along his scalp. He tried his best not to get drunk off it.

“Tell me what you told Frost,” she whispered against his neck.

There was a lot of incriminating stuff he’d said. “You’re going to need to be more specific.”

She snuck her hands underneath his sweater, tugging it back over his head. He was sure by now he looked like a wreck.

“Mhm.” She was busy kissing his collar bone. It seemed they wouldn’t be leaving the bed anytime soon. Cisco was pretty okay with that. “Something about loving someone first.”

He laughed, flushed. “Oh, that.”

"Yes, that."

“I love you, Caitlin,” Cisco told her.

She stilled in his arms. Cisco drew back so he could see her face.

“I love you. Caitlin.”

It must’ve been different—Hearing it now compared to when she was under. Because she held her breath, and curled her fingers into his sweater, pressing herself against his chest. He lowered them back down slowly. Caitlin was practically on top of him, soaking him in. The weight was nice. He could get used to this.

“How opposed would you be to making good use of your little sex kit?”

“It’s not a sex kit!” he blurted out with a gasp, scandalized.

Caitlin laughed. Loud and freely, wonderful. Cisco would make a thousand sex kits just to hear the sound again.

“Not opposed,” he promised and made good on it. “Not opposed at all.”

❄️❤️❄️

“Say it again,” he whispered in the morning.

“I love you.”

It was Caitlin’s voice, and her words and it was her lips he kissed thereafter. It was Caitlin’s breath that stuttered against his mouth and Caitlin’s lace bra that Frost had borrowed that ended up on the floor. It was Caitlin’s eyes, watching him adoringly and it was her smile that lit him up. It was her cheek, with pillow lines and it was her laugh he got out of her time and again.

#killervibe #the flash #killervibe valentine 20 #killervibe valentines #tkv fic #holiday fic #comedy and fluff

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misssunflowersandsangria · 5 years

Text

Gifts

Chapter 1: From my Mother

Flowers

“Mommy! What are these called again?” Ino smiled picking up Inojin to look at the flower safely held in his hands.

“These are chrysanthemums.”

“Cr...San...t...mum?” He asked proudly.

“Yes, they mean hope, love, and friendship.”

“They’re pretty! I like the different colors.”

“Me too baby.” She always loved bringing Inojin to the flower shop with her. She was kept busy working for Konoha’s Intelligence Division but she enjoyed her more simple work in the family store.

“What’s this one? With all the pointy stuff?” He asked looking at the green plant sitting on the counter. He reached his hand out to touch the spikes then pulled his hand right back.

“It is called a cactus. Where your Aunt Temari is from it rarely ever rains and so not a lot of plants can grow but they have cactus. A lot of people think that they are plain or don’t like them because they have spines and can poke you. But they can flower and bloom as well. And the cactus flower means warmth and care between a mom and her baby. It also symbolizes the strength to go through really hard things. As you grow up and learn more I always want you to look beyond what something might look like at first glance. Something or someone might be scary or unfamiliar but be brave and open-minded to look and learn about it.” She’d walked through enough minds to know there were shattered broken pieces in everyone. Inojin nodded. His mom was so pretty and smart like daddy always said.

“Yes, mommy. It’s like our family flower, the bush clover, positive love. I’ll be happy and loving like mommy and daddy.” Ino ruffled his hair affectionately her baby was growing up and she was both excited and dreading it at the same time. She wanted him to stay her baby just a little longer.

The rest of the morning she observed him as he dutifully watered the plants taking great care to give the cactus enough. He would so sweetly talk to the plants about how much he liked their colors and encouraged them to grow. He’d greet any customers that came thru. He’d ask them questions about who they might be buying flowers for and provide his recommendations. He’d convinced his Uncle Shikamaru that he needed to buy his Aunt Temari an elaborate bouquet of purple tulips because they meant perfect love and purple was for royalty. Shikadai has just told him that his mom was a princess in Suna.

“So what are you apologizing for?” Ino grinned wrapping up the bouquet.

He just rolled his eyes. “Nothing, I stopped by to say hi. I didn’t think I’d get hustled into buying flowers by a toddler.” She just laughed brightly taking the money from his hand.

“I guess just take it as a deposit for when you inevitably mess up.”

He just sighed rubbing the back of his neck. “Gah...troublesome. Bye, thank you for the recommendation Inojin. I’ll make sure to let your aunt know that you picked them out.”

The two blondes waved with bright smiles.

“You ready to go see daddy?”

“Uhm almost! 5 minutes?” He requested.

“Okay let me start closing up.”

Once she’d finished arranging the counter and wiping down the surfaces her son returned with an array of flowers that his little arms could carry.

“Can I buy these flowers please?”

She smiled down at him amused carefully taking the stems from his arms to begin arranging them.

“Of course baby. Are you buying them for someone special?”

“Yes! She is the best so I picked out the prettiest flowers.”

She nodded with a smile. “Oh, I see. They are beautiful.” He’d run thru and grabbed all different stalks but they were all brightly colored.

She handed him the bouquet taking in exchange a crumpled bill that he’d pulled out of his pocket.

“Daddy gave me money to buy a snack but I’d rather buy these flowers.”

“Well, this girl must be special for you to give up your snack money for.”

On their way home he took great care to keep the bouquet safe and in pristine condition. She wondered who it could be for, and was terrified that her baby had a crush on someone already.

Once they arrived home she began preparing dinner while Inojin went to his room to play.

Ino looked down feeling a tug on her dress.

“Yes, baby?”

From his back, Inojin pulled out a hand-drawn card and the bouquet he’d bought earlier.

“I made you a card and the flowers were for you, Mommy!” He told her with a proud smile. Ino felt tears appear in her eyes while she gathered him into a hug.

“Thank you little one. You didn’t have to do this.”

“I know but some people are worth giving up your snack money for. I love you, mommy.”

She tightened her hold on him even more so. “I love you too baby. You’re the best gift I could ever ask for.” She was so thankful to have such a thoughtful and sweet child. That she’d gifted her child a level of kindness and compassion. She hoped that he’d always look at her so admiringly.

When Sai came home Injojn proudly pointed out to his father the flower bouquet that he’d picked out that was now the centerpiece for their table.

"Daddy! Look what I gave mommy!" He walked over to see the brightly colored bouquet after kissing Ino.

“You did a great job buddy. Did your mommy cry?” He teased her with a smile.

“Of course!” He just laughed and picked him up while Ino rolled her eyes.

“It’s going to be hard to top this.”

“I think that you might need to give me more snack money.” His parents both laughed loudly before proceeding to kiss his cheeks.

“Well if you keep getting uncle Shikamaru to buy flowers I’ll give you a cut.”

“Deal”

Wind

“Mama! Look! I made a fan!”

Temari looked down amused at her son. He had a carefully folded construction paper fan that he was waving around in the air.

“Be careful or you’ll cause a maelstrom.”

“Don’t be silly mama it’s not real.” She just chuckled to herself. Her son was way too smart for his own good.

“My apologies my Little Fawn.”

“When I get older and if I train will I be able to use wind style like you?” She was surprised by the question. Shikadai was a mini Shikamaru, she figured that he’d only want to know how to use shadow jutsu.

“Yes, if you train hard enough you could probably be an even better wind user than me.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.” She just smiled, he was his father's son.

“It is, but you’re smart and capable. I know that you can master both of our jutsu if you really tried.” He nodded looking as though he was contemplating whether the effort it would take would be worth it.

He’d watched both of his parents train in awe at their ability and control over their jutsu. It seemed so effortless. He wanted to believe that he could become that talented too.

“You really think I’ll be able to?” His bright green eyes that reminded her so much of her own looked up at her hopefully.

“Of course. When I met your father he was the laziest shinobi I’d ever met. It made me so mad.”

“Really?” He asked surprised. It seemed like such a far cry from the father that was the Hokage’s adviser and came home late at night.

“Yes, but he learned and pushed himself. Lucky for you, you have my genes so you’re already ahead of where he was.”

He just smiled at her at the thought. “Can I uh see what it feels like.”

“What do you mean?”

“Can you use your wind on me just like a little you know?”

She eyed him carefully. “Why?”

“So that I can know what it's like to fly…”

Her baby was always a curious child. He wanted to know how the world worked. It wasn’t surprising. Temari just smiled, it was such a sweet and innocent request. She’d only really ever used her wind to defend or destroy not for something so childish. Part of her wanted to admonish him for asking her such a silly thing, but that would come soon enough.

“Okay, but this is a one-time thing.”

She didn’t know if she could fulfill that promise seeing how happy he was floating in the wind. He was laughing and smiling begging her to make him go higher that she couldn’t help but indulge him. Life as a shinobi was hard and peace couldn’t be guaranteed. Soon enough it will be up to her son and the new generation of ninja to care for the village and the world. It was a tall order and a heavy weight to put on little shoulders so if she had an opportunity now to make him feel weightless and free that was what she needed to do. Real-life would happen eventually.

She felt Shikamaru’s arms wrap around her waist surprising her. “Having fun?”

She nodded resting her head against his chest. “He’s growing up too fast.” She sighed. She knew that it was bound to happen and there would be so much more growth and exciting milestones, but she knew that she’d miss him being so young and innocent. Shikamaru made hand signs in front of them using his shadow jutsu to wrap around their son.

“Daddy!!!!” He cheered loudly seeing the shadow wrap carefully around him. It deposited him in his mama's arms.

“Thank you, Mama! That was a lot of fun!” He smiled so brightly at her that she felt her heart melt. Her family brought her so much more joy than she thought she could ever experience.

“I had fun too my little Fawn thank you.”

“I’m going to be the best wind, shadow jutsu user that ever existed!” They both knew that if anyone could do it, it would be their child.

“I’m sure you will son,” Shikamaru told him affectionately knowing that his son would surpass him and Temari one day.

Blades

Karui smiled using her katana to block ChouChou’s attack.

“Good job little one. You have some good instincts.” ChouChou grinned at the compliment. She knew that she was becoming better every day.

Her Uncle Omoi had given her a playset of Katanas when he visited last. This was after Karui loudly explained why the toddler shouldn’t have the sharp, deadly set he’d originally tried to give her. She promised that he could give them to her when she was old enough to carry the set. Either way, Karui was thankful for it. She was sure that her daughter would rely on Akimichi Jutsu but she wanted her to develop in kenjutsu as well. Being the female in the InoShikaCho trio meant that she’d had to hold her own. Her daughter would be able to stand on her own feet with her skills.

While they were just playing Karui could tell that her daughter was strong and would be a formidable kunoichi when she grew up. She’d shown improvement daily. There weren’t too many girls that wanted to become ninjas, even less now that there was peace. Her daughter would be at the forefront, leading a generation of kunoichi.

Taking a break Karui fed her a healthy snack while they laid on the grass. She knew her husband's appetite and that her daughter had inherited it, but she still wanted her to eat a balanced meal as much as possible.

“Mommy! Can I see you use your katanas?” Karui was surprised by the request but nodded. Despite it being peacetime she still tried to keep her skills up. Using them so freely felt wonderful. Like reacquainting herself with an old friend. In the Leaf, there weren’t too many Shinobi who handled ninja blades with the proficiency she did.

ChouChou watched her mom with wide, bright eyes. She looked so graceful and beautiful while she wielded her weapons. The blades glittering in the light while her hair flowed freely in waves behind her. She was light on her feet that it looked like she was floating through it. She moved like a dancer. ChouChou couldn’t help but clap when she had finished.

“Mommy! That was amazing!” Karui smiled and kissed her forehead softly.

“Thank you, baby.”

“Do you think that I’ll ever be able to move like that?”

“You’re my daughter so of course, you will. The kunoichi from the Cloud are all powerful warriors. You carry their legacy within you. You have your daddy’s strength and my skills. It’s a strong combination. Right hun?”

ChouChou looked behind surprised to see her dad standing there with a smile.

“Daddy!” ChouChou ran and jumped into her father's arms. He placed an affectionate hand on her head.

“Your Mommy is amazing isn’t she?”

“She really is daddy. It’s no wonder you love her a lot!”

“You’re right my little bug. She’s given us both a lot of gifts. We’re very lucky that she’s ours.” Karui couldn’t help the blush. After so long he still made her feel like a blushing schoolgirl.

Of all the things that the universe could have given her, her husband and daughter would always remain her greatest gifts.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21088739/chapters/50174720

#sai x ino #inojin #shikamaru x temari #shikadai #chouji x karui #chouchou #saiino #shikatema #choukarui #inoshikacho

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temptmeforaspotoflunch · 5 years

Note

Prompt: Aziraphale finds out one of his favorite restaurants is going out of business. Crowley cheers him up.

Admittedly, this one kind of got away from me in terms of length D; so I hope I did a good job with this prompt! I’m sorry it took so long for me to get it out, I can never just sit and write things in one go, usually I type snippets here and there when I feel the urge to write D; Enjoy! :3

The only warning Crowley was afforded was a rather loud gasp emanating from the back room of the bookshop he’d just stepped into. It could have been for anything really. Aziraphale could have bumped his toe on the corner of a table, he could have misfiled a book or two, or maybe he could have been chatting on the telephone and learned a juicy secret.

Seeing as how Aziraphale didn’t really call anyone other than Crowley for things like minimal gossip, Crowley’s mind went to a possibly worse situation involving upstairs and a few unrelenting angels heaven-bent on revenge upon discovery of their execution deception.

He crossed the bookshop in what felt like two strides, practically floating along the floor and into the back room, only to find Aziraphale sitting at his desk, a newspaper in hand and the most horrified look Crowley had ever seen on that angelic face.

“Angel?” Crowley called, slipping into the room as if he hadn’t just had a mini heart attack.

“Oh Crowley!” Aziraphale exclaimed, having only just realized the demon in his bookshop. “It’s just horrible!”

A single brow rose from the tops of Crowley’s sunglasses as he took a seat on the nearby couch. He’d tried to relax, stretching his arms out wide to lay upon the cushions that surrounded him. “What exactly is the problem?” He asked, crossing one outstretched leg over the other.

“This!” With as much dramatic fashion as one could muster, Aziraphale tossed the paper he’d been reading at Crowley and waited, stricken with grief.

Crowley didn’t have to glance too long to notice a small article on the front page, disclaiming that a restaurant, one Crowley knew to be a favourite of Aziraphale’s, was closing. The article didn’t say much as to why, only that the owner was moving on to bigger and better things.

Glancing up and over the top edge of the paper, Crowley had to fight back a small smile and hoped that the paper was doing a good job at hiding any hint of it.

He wasn’t smiling for nefarious reasons really, but instead quite the opposite. The look of utter disappointment on Aziraphale’s face over an issue that was not life threatening and that he was in fact, not in any danger, almost brought a chuckle to Crowley. He thought of how silly he had been only moments before and set the paper down gently next to him.

“Is that all?” He asked, standing and moving towards the doorway leading to the store front.

Aziraphale felt a sudden offense, taken aback by Crowley’s rudeness. “I beg your pardon?” He asked, sitting up straight in his chair.

Nodding his head to gesture towards the doorway, Crowley tucked his hands into his pants pockets and smirked. “Come on, then.”

Aziraphale did not move from his chair. “Crowley, I am rather upset here at the news- and you-you’re not being very kind-I-”

“Angel, move it.” Crowley again gestured with his head for Aziraphale to follow him but instead of waiting for the other to stand, Crowley left the back office and disappeared beyond the threshold.

Having no choice but to follow Crowley and find out what exactly he was up to, Aziraphale stood, straightened his coat along with his vest and walked out into the bookshop.

Night had fallen outside, the day flying by as Aziraphale sat in the back. It was dark outside but inside it was a dimmed wonderland of low lit lights strung about along the bookshelves and the tiny table stands. The air still hung heavy with the smell of old books and history but a dash of something new pierced the atmosphere.

In the middle of all the books and wonderful lights sat a table covered in a pristine white cloth. The top was laden with precious food and beautiful cutlery, sparkling prettily from all the lights surrounding them. A chilled wine sat between two chairs, breathing gently with a mist that ebbed slowly from the bottle top.

The scene was too perfect, too perfect and all too familiar.

Aziraphale’s smile was instantaneous upon discovering the customary layout to the restaurant he had just been reading about in the paper. He could feel himself swoon over such a passionate gesture from Crowley, that it wasn’t much of a surprise to himself that his eyes had begun to suddenly water.

Crowley on the other hand felt, for a moment, that he had messed up in guessing what would be the right thing to cheer his angel up with. He’d been ready to pull a chair out for Aziraphale, his hand resting on the back of one. Now he hesitated and just watched as the other stood, seemingly speechless.

Time had no concrete meaning to the two ethereal beings in the room but Crowley was beginning to itch at how long Aziraphale took to look about the room and at the table and then at Crowley. He seemed so happy, smiling the smile that Crowley always noted as the infectious one, but he saw the unbidden tears glazing over his blue eyes, twinkling in the dim light.

“I-I thought-well-” Crowley sighed. “I figured since-well I mean we are an angel and a demon who can do just about anything and I-”

Aziraphale chuckled, as he always had when Crowley stammered on, and crossed the space between the two to gently lay a hand on the other’s arm. “It’s wonderful, darling. Now we can dine there all the time and not have to call for a table!” He grinned, laughing a bit at his own joke.

Crowley’s shoulders eased as he breathed a sigh of relief but he felt the warmth of Aziraphale’s hand through his coat sleeve and he tensed up once more. Trying his best, which wasn’t that hard in the first place, to convey joy from behind his sunglasses, the corner of Crowley’s lips twitched slightly in a small, nervous smile.

Slowly pulling his hand away, Aziraphale returned the smile. He nodded, thankful, as Crowley pulled the chair out for him. Taking his seat and waiting for Crowley to join him, Aziraphale watched as the other glided over to his own chair, waiting to sit and preparing a bit of the wine that sat between them.

Crowley filled Aziraphale’s glass first and then his own and quietly placed the bottle back in the ice bucket before taking his own seat.

From outside, anyone passing by the bookshop would see through the windows a wonderfully played out scene of a lovely date. It may have well been that between the two as they sat at the table, pure joy written on their faces.

Passersby would see the two enjoying their company and just before the strangers would leave to continue on their path to wherever they were going, may have seen one blonde man reach across the space between the two and remove dark glasses from the other and set them aside to gaze lovingly at the man with the strange snake eyes.

If anyone else is interested in seeing any prompts written by me, my ask box is open! Or if you just want to chat about Good Omens/Ineffable Husbands stuff, that’d be cool too! :3

#ineffable husbands #good omens #writing #snippet #prompt #good omens prompt #ineffable husbands prompt #ineffable husbands ask #aziraphale #crowley

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strangermask · 5 years

Text

Children of the Red Ninja: Chapter 1, the story begins

I have recently learned that there are sensitive topics that I have ignored, so I have added a keep reading to let those who come across this have a choice

Warning: Involves forced marriage, mentions of teen pregnancy and some spoilers of the Ninjago show pilots.

This is an alternate universe, everything written here is to be accepted as apart of the story

Kai was getting ready to marry his girlfriend, Heather. Why was he getting married at thirteen? Her father was forcing him to. She forced Kai to do...the thing that makes babies. She ended up pregnant with twins. Kai didn’t want to get married, he didn’t want to be with this girl anymore. “Why me?” Kai whispered to himself.

He got to the pedestals and waited for the ceremony to begin.

Heather came in her white wedding gown. Her wavy hair was a beautiful blonde. Her eyes were like emeralds that shimmered in the light. Her skin an amazing silky tan. She was a beauty, and a dark personality hid behind all of that. She WAS a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The two took their vows, and the after-party started. There were only a few good things out of this: Kai didn’t have to live with Heather and her family, he can still live with Nya, and Heather would rarely see him.

Then comes the list of bad things. Kai would still see Heather even if it was rare. He might not even be able to get in contact with his kids, or Heather will just drop them off with him. He knew he was way too young to be a father and get married. He never wanted to do any of this, but Heather had a way to pull his strings.

All that he can do is hope, pray and wait.

Nine months later...

It was the second night of summer. Kai, now fourteen, was trying to make a sword. But it failed miserably. Nya giggled.

“You need to be patient,” Nya said.

“Being patient is hard for me.” Kai sighed as he threw the sword away.

There was a knock on the door, and Kai went to answer. He was shocked to see Heather holding a box. There was crying coming from it.

“H-Heather?” Kai stuttered.

Heather shoved the box in Kai’s arms.

“They're your problem now. Good luck with the brats Kai.” Heather said then walked away.

Kai stood confused. What was Heather talking about? He looked in the box to see two crying babies wrapped in red blankets and a bunch of papers. He pulled one of the papers out to see two birth certificates that almost said the same thing.

Hello! My name is ____________.

I am a boy.

My mommy is Heather Covett.

My daddy is Kai Smith.

My blood type is AB-.

I was born on June 2nd, 20XX at 9:32/9:33 PM.

I am going to live with my daddy at the Four Weapons Blacksmith.

Kai froze. They were his kids. Heather never told him anything about how the pregnancy was going after the wedding. She left him at his house after the honeymoon. The two looked at Kai, starting to calm down.

The first baby had dark brown hair, bright olive skin, and freckles were smeared across his face. The second baby had light brown hair, dark olive skin, and spots on his skin. They both had yellow eyes. Kai’s heart melt.

“Hey there little ones,” Kai said softly, “I’m your daddy, Kai. I’m going to take care of you both from now on.”

Kai brought the box in, and Nya looked at him curiously.

“Who was it?” Nya asked.

“Do you remember Heather?”

“Yeah, what about her?”

“Well... She had twins that belong to me, and she left them with me. So...you’re an aunt now.”

Nya was shocked.

Kai put the box down and picked his sons up.

“Is that them?” Nya asked.

“Yep, they are your nephews.”

Nya came over to see the new family members. They looked at the stranger, feeling scared. Both the twins started to cry again.

“What’s wrong?”

“I-I don’t know!”

Kai started to panic.

“Maybe they’ll stop crying if you sing.”

Kai bit his lip. It was worth a shot.

(Made up lullaby by me)

When the days have gone by,

And the stars shine bright,

Know that I love you.

In the coldest hour,

In the desert tower,

I’ll always protect you.

I will be there,

To find you.

In the nightly scares,

I’ll help you through.

Will you remember

My embrace?

In the cold December

I will put you in a warm place.

Close your eyes

And you will find

Me next to you.

The children fell fast asleep.

“I think it worked.” Nya whispered.

“Yeah, I think so too.” Kai spoke softly.

“What are you gonna name them?”

Kai thought for a moment.

“Aaron Golden Smith and Lucian Silver Smith.”

As time went by, Kai has learned that raising kids on your own was not at all easy. Especially at a young age. Nya tried her best to help. But no matter how difficult it was, Kai’s love for Aaron and Lucian would not stop.

When Aaron said his first word, he pointed at Kai and said “Mama”. Lucian afterward pointed at Kai and called him “Dada”. Kai was in tears and hugged his little angels. Nya found it weird that both her nephews called Kai two different parent names, and he rolled with it.

Aaron’s first steps were very special to Kai too. Aaron surprised Kai when the boy held onto the couch and started to take a few steps. Kai was excited, and he asked Aaron to walk to Mommy (He is officially known as mom or dad). Aaron reached his mom, and he picked his little angel up, spinning him around. Nya just watched as her brother started to act like a kid in a candy store.

Lucian had help walking. Kai would help Lucian walk, but he wasn’t too pressured. When he did walk, Kai was so happy that day.

Kai also learned a few lessons from raising his two boys. He learned that patience was a major key to raising a kid. That patience helped him be a better blacksmith. He became more mature and responsible, and he learned some new skills.

It was also stressful for him. There were a few paperwork for him to do. While he is doing better at smithing, it was hard to maintain work. Also, he had to take care of his family and household. He had a lot to balance on his shoulders.

It’s been two years since Aaron and Lucian were brought into Kai’s life. Heather was still married to him, and she got pregnant again with a baby boy. How much Kai hoped she would finally get into parenthood after the baby was born.

It was in the middle of autumn. Kai was smithing a sword, and he was successful in the end.

“Looks like raising kids made you a better blacksmith.” Nya grinned.

“Oh haha.” Kai rolled his eyes. He put the sword up, and someone tugged on Kai’s leg.

“Daddy, thewe a person.” Aaron said.

Kai looked to saw an old man with a long beard wearing white robes and a straw hat.

“Hmm... All of your metal is slow and heavy. Useless in the art of stealth.” The man looked around, “All tools for a samurai, but none for a ninja?”

Kai was confused.

“Ninja? Sorry sir, but you’re won’t be able to find a ninja here.” Kai said.

“Wats ‘ninja’?” Lucian asked.

“A ninja is kind of like a samurai. But instead of heavy armor and weapons, they’re more sneaky and silent and know more fighting styles.”

The man looked at Aaron and Lucian.

“Children?” The man tilts his head.

“Yes. They are my sons.”

The man looked around again.

“Is there something specific you’re looking for?” Kai asked.

“Hmm... I thought I would find something special here.” The man said.

“If you’re looking for something special, I can show you-”

“Daddy, the man diswappear.” Aaron said.

Kai looked where the old man was standing, only to see no one there.

“That’s strange...”

“Daddy, can we pway?”

Kai nodded and took his sons outside. They started to play for a few minutes until dark clouds appeared. Skeletons started to come to the village. Three of them were talking, but Kai couldn’t understand. He did know that danger was coming.

“Aaron, Lucian, get inside.” Kai said.

“Daddy, who awe they?” Lucian started to feel scared.

“I don’t know, but it’s not safe for you right now. Please go inside petals.”

Aaron and Lucian nodded and went inside as Nya came out.

“What’s going on?” Nya asked. “We got company,” Kai said as he put armor on. One of the skeletons yelled attack and villagers were running. “Stay here and take care of the boys.”

Kai ordered. Kai started to fight the skeleton warriors. One of them bit his foot, and he kicked it to two more. He saw Nya sneaked attack two skeletons.

“I thought I said to stay inside!” “And let you have all the fun?” Nya ask.

“You left Aaron and Lucian alone! What if someone kidnaps or hurts them!?” “Oh...right.”

Meanwhile, Aaron and Lucian were hiding while two skeletons were arguing. One of them knocked down something and saw a piece of paper.

“The map!” They both shouted.

Lucian was scared and Aaron was confused. Why were skeletons after a piece of paper? The two sneaked past the skeletons to their mom.

“Daddy!” Aaron shouted. “Aaron! Lucian! What are you-” “Skewetons awe twaking paper!”

Kai noticed the two skeletons running out of the shop. Before Kai did anything, he was knocked back.

“DADDY!” Lucian cried as he and Aaron ran to Kai. Kai looked up to see a four-armed skeleton holding four weapons.

“You’re a ‘daddy’?” The skeleton laughed, “I’ll make sure you and the children die.”

Kai pulled Aaron and Lucian in and shield them as the skeleton raised a sword. He was knocked back by a mini golden tornado that shouted: “Ninja go!”. Kai, Aaron, and Lucian looked at the tornado, and it disappeared. In its placement was the old man from earlier.

“Sensei Wu,” The skeleton growled, “Your spinjitzu looks rusty.”

“Nothing like bone to sharpen its edge, Samukai.” The man responded.

The skeleton looked at the boys. Above them was a water tower. He destroyed one of the supporting legs, and the tower started to timber at the boys. The man saved the three from the tower by turning into a tornado again. The skeleton retreated back to a skull truck. He looked at the man.

“Lord Garmadon says take the girl!” He shouted.

The man gasped.

“Lord Garmadon?”

One of the skeletons crackles as he launches a claw at Nya. It grabbed her and took her away.

“NYA!” Kai yelled.

He watched as the army took his sister away. Aaron and Lucian started to cry as he hugged Kai.

“They took her away...” Kai said sadden.

He felt something bonk his head.

“I told you, useless.” The man said.

“WHY DOES THAT MATTER!? THEY TOOK MY SISTER! Why couldn’t you have saved her with-with your-”

“Spinjitzu.”

“Yes, that!”

Kai got up.

“I’m going after her.” Kai said.

“Where they go, a mortal cannot,” The man spoke, “That was Samukai, King of the Underworld. And if it’s true that he’s carrying orders for Lord Garmadon, then I fear things are worse than I ever thought.”

“What are you talking about? Who is Garmadon? Why did they steal some paper? And why did they take my sister?”

“That paper is more important than you think.” The man told Kai the story of the Ninjago and the First Spinjitzu Master. Along with why the paper was important.

“You’re the younger brother? So you came here to look for the map?”

“I came here for something greater. You.”

Kai tilts his head.

“Me?”

“My brother cannot enter the realm. It’s obvious he struck a deal with Samukai. If he collects all four weapons, even I won’t be able to stop him again. But you, you have the fire inside. I will train you to harness it. Use it. To become a Spinjitzu Master.”

Kai looked at his sons.

“I am flattered,” Kai looked at the man, “But I’m just a blacksmith. I’m not special, and I don’t do well with other people’s rivalry. I have to save my sister.”

“If you want to save your sister, you have to control the fire in you.”

Kai thought about it. The man said he can help Kai, but what fire was in him? What about Aaron and Lucian? Kai wasn’t going to leave his sons here and risk them getting kidnapped too.

Kai came to a decision.

“I’ll go, but on one condition.”

“What might that be?”

“You let my sons come too. I’m not going to abandon them here.”

“...Alright, they can come.”

The next day...

Aaron was sitting on Kai’s shoulders and Lucian was being carried by Kai as he followed Wu up the mountain. Kai was extremely tired. They reached a monastery, and Wu opened the door. There was an empty stone field in front of them.

“So...What are we doing at a monastery?” Kai panted.

“This is where you will train.” Wu answered.

He clicked on a dragon statue, and a button appeared. He pushed the button. Training equipment started to appear in front of them.

“Woah!” Aaron said. Kai let Aaron and Lucian down. Aaron ran to a training pole and climbed on it.

“Aaron, be careful.” Kai said.

The training pole started to descend.

“Oh dear.” Wu said worriedly.

Kai ran and removed Aaron from the pole. Kai got shot up in the air the moment Aaron got onto the ground. Kai was sent flying, knocking into a dragon symbol. He fell to the ground clutching his stomach.

“That took a lot of air out of me.” Kai groaned.

The twins ran to Kai.

“I sowwy Mommy!” Aaron said as he began to cry.

“It’s okay cinnamon.”

“Now that you know that, we can begin,” Wu said. “Complete the training course before I finished my tea. Then we will see if you’re ready.”

Wu walked to a teapot, poured some tea, and drank it. “Today you failed. Tomorrow you will try again.” Wu said.

“Bwut tat not-”

“Patience young one.” Wu interrupted Aaron.

Wu closed the doors, leaving Kai, Aaron, and Lucian outside.

For the next few days, Kai trained and trained. But Wu's expectations were never fulfilled. Aaron and Lucian cheers on their mom. Kai, meanwhile, doesn’t know how he’s going to do this.

Finally, one day, Kai is determined to pass. He knocks the tea out of Wu’s hand as he was about to drink it. When he looked around, he couldn’t find Kai.

“Was that one sugar? Or two?” Someone said.

Wu looked up to see Kai holding a cup of tea. Wu smiled. Kai was ready.

“So, am I going to learn Spinjitzu now?” Kai asked.

“You already have,” Wu stood up, “Your final test comes tomorrow. My advice to get some sleep.”

(I said I already have a fic for single dad Kai by @ninjaheadcanons so here it is. I’m probably going to do an alternate version where Kai is already a ninja, but for now, we’re starting back in the pilots)

(Hope you guys enjoy)

#ninjago #kai smith #wu #nya #oc #au #yay #warning

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rueitae · 5 years

Text

Roommates in Disguise - Chapter 5

Read on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19901668/chapters/47292058

Next time, @fallen-angel-nightshade gets deep into the plot.

Beta by the wonderful @whyamistillhungry

Art by the phenomenal @mybluelionlancylance

Look at it! https://mybluelionlancylance.tumblr.com/post/186452499757/this-is-art-for-the-plance-mini-bang

~~~~~

Lance had every intention of waking up early - but he was so comfortable. His stomach growled in delight as the scent of maple hit his nostrils. The sound of sizzling bacon and the humming of the kitchen fan reached his ears, completing the perfect background noise to doze in bed... Wait. His kitchen fan was broken.

Lance jumped up with alarm and yelled in surprise as his back hit the floor. The sleeping bag he’d slept in hung mockingly from his legs. “Are you okay?” Katie asked, peeking out from behind the partition between the kitchen and living room. It all came back to him. “Yeah, s-sorry,” he said, more embarrassed than anything. “Only thing hurt is my pride.” Katie nodded. “Good. Then you’ll be able to enjoy breakfast.” She popped back into the kitchen. “I’m almost done with the bacon, but help yourself to the eggs and toast.” Lance slowly made his way to the tiny table and gazed upon the feast. Saliva pooled up in his mouth at the sights and smells. Two plates with forks and glasses of orange juice were already arranged, filled with buttered toast, scrambled eggs, and hashbrowns. Wait, when had he gone grocery shopping? “Where did you get all this? I know I didn’t have it in my fridge.” “Good news,” Katie responded, stirring into his only frying pan. “The police contacted me early this morning. I got to go back to the house and grab a few things. Breakfast is on me, it's the least I can do.” Lance smiled back, sitting down and shoveling some eggs into his mouth. His taste buds exploded and he moaned in delirium. “This is delicious.” When was the last time he’d been able to make eggs? Tears welled up in his eyes. “Thank you.” Katie finished her cooking and brought the pan over to serve them both. “I had to fix your kitchen fan, too, but honestly you’re doing me a favor. I’d fix your whole apartment if you let me.” “Really?” Lance said, hopeful. Katie had said she was majoring in robotics, but the fact that she would improve his quality of life was a gift. Between school and hero work, he didn’t have the money or the time to do it himself. He might be in love. He sat back and listed off the problems with the apartment, using his fingers as visual aides. “Because the faucet in the bathroom is leaky. And the bathtub doesn’t drain well, and the water pressure has been weird since I moved in. Most of the light bulbs don’t work even though I bought brand new ones last month,” he continued, finding himself getting more annoyed as he went on. “The disposal doesn’t work — “ “It does now,” Katie interrupted. “ — the freezer spits out ice rando — wait you fixed that already too?” Katie nodded, her face amused but not right out laughing. It was far more sympathetic. “I’m surprised Icebound hasn’t offered to help. He seems like the kind of guy who would want the best for his best friend. Lance slowed down chewing his latest bite of toast. His heart beat rapidly. He hadn’t foreseen this. He swallowed hard. “I asked him not to,” Lance finally settled on. He shoved some egg into his mouth, hoping she would take the hint of being done with that part of the conversation. “I see...” Katie said. She took a sip of orange juice. “Look, Lance, I could fix everything here for you, but it’s a bit ridiculous. It’s all broken, and you’re still in a terrible part of town. That can’t be worth it even this close to the university.” “I don’t mind it,” Lance retorted. Being in a crime-ridden area allowed him to use his powers for the most good. Katie looked him dead in the eye, and Lance found himself captivated. There was something eerily familiar with her determined gaze that gave him pause. “Move in with me,” she said bluntly. Lance spit out his eggs. “What?!” “I’m serious,” she continued as he wiped his egg-spattered face with a paper towel. “I have a whole house to myself. Plenty of bedrooms and it’s close to public transit.” Her eyes softened. “You saved my life, Lance. I can get back to searching for my family again.” An uneasy feeling swirled in his gut. The bus, the nicer place, rent-free… it sounded way too good to be true. Cute girls didn’t just ask him to move i--

Cute was the word now???

“Look, that’s really nice of you, Katie, but don’t you think it would be a little... weird?” he managed. “Any weirder than our city having actual superheroes?” Katie sighed, possibly a bit more dramatic than necessary. “Lance, after Pidge I would honestly feel safer if there was someone else in the house. You know my circumstances, you’re a nice guy,” she smirks, “even kind of cute.” Heat rose to Lance’s cheeks. Why would she use that word? “And you helped me this far. Please?” Well, Lance hadn’t considered Pidge coming back. The more he thought about it, the more likely he realized it was. Katie probably knew too much, and Pidge would be after Lance either way. This arrangement would protect both of them, or at least keep the safety in numbers. But... he wasn’t sure if he could keep Icebound a secret from Katie. In time, he’d have to trust her with his secret. The thought of that thrilled him; to have someone to confide his real life with. Katie fidgeted when he didn’t respond. “I accidentally saw the newspaper clipping in your room. And what happened to your family,” she confessed. “I can’t help but think they’d just want you as safe as possible.” Lance’s heart broke and he set his fork on the table, eyes downcast. Even after two years, the pain - the guilt - was still felt just as fresh. Sometimes he wondered if they were looking out for him, or if they blamed him for not being able to control his powers.

“It’s fine. I forgot I had it out,” he said evenly.

Katie’s fingers drummed next to her plate, teeth biting at her bottom lip in thought. “It’s… okay to miss them,” she encouraged. “I know what it’s like.” “I do miss them. A lot,” he stressed. His mom’s hugs, his dad’s laughter, his sibling’s harmless teasing all ran through his mind like a slideshow. “I know they wouldn’t want me to sulk, but at the same time...” He locked eyes with Katie with renewed resolve. “Let me help you find your family. If I’m moving in with you, I want to help out however I can.”

If there was a chance he could reunite Katie with her family, he would take it. There was no need for both of them to suffer forever. Katie’s eyes twinkled and her smile grew wider. Lance’s heart fluttered. This girl might be the doom of him. “I was hoping you’d say that,” she said. “You like video games?”

Lance smirked, “I know a great arcade right around the corner.”

~~~~~

Lance felt confident as he moved his character over the last hurdle in the video game. He kept his thumb pressed over the Power Save feature on the controller, making sure Loose Lips Lucy’s special attack was fully charged and ready for the moment Katie’s character got too close. Lucy crouched behind several crates, a favorite hiding spot that no first time opponent had ever found. Lance licked his lips in anticipation. It was his preferred strategy and was looking forward to showing off. Lance glanced at the timer. Thirty seconds left in the round, and when Lance would win off points accumulated instead of K.O. Until his controller buzzed, sending him into astonished confusion, and Lucy’s cartoonish blood was splattered across the screen. A giant K.O. Game Over flashed across his screen. “What?!” Lance exclaimed, looking for Katie. “How did you —?” His strategy was perfect, he used it for Icebound’s stakeouts for crying out loud! Katie leaned over from across him, smirking righteously. “Not a very subtle hiding spot.” “There is no way you found me,” Lance pouted. “You cheated.” “The consoles are back to back, there’s no way I could have seen you. Face it, you’ve met your match.” The smug look on her face threatened to melt his icy power core with how mad he was. Saving her from Pidge was one thing, but all bets were off when it came to video games.

It was on. “You haven’t even seen a fraction of what I can do. Best two out of three. On the ice planet,” he challenged. Katie grinned. “Challenge accepted, Lance. That’s my favorite map.” Lance’s anger proved fleeting. His blood pumped with excitement that he couldn’t remember, for once not fighting for his life or for others, a stupid grin refusing to come off his face. But before either could insert their tokens, a loud thud resounded off the side paneling. Lance looked down and let out a gasp. The owner of the arcade himself was on the ground and moaning in pain. The previously bustling center floor stood still, the crowd parting only for a large Galra Enforcer moving their way. Lance gulped as he recognized Throk of the Specials Division. Lance knelt by the downed man. “Hey, Rolo, dude, you okay?” he said, taking his hand and helping him up. “Don’t get yourself involved in this one, Kid, it isn’t worth it,” Rolo whispered quickly. “I already rang the police.” “Isn’t this pathetic, receiving help from a child,” Throk said condescendingly. The Galra man directed a cruel grin at both Lance and Rolo. Lance kept his gaze on the switchblade that Throk was currently flipping in and out threateningly. This situation would not end well if he couldn’t transform. Lance stepped forward and balled his fists at his sides, offering the most serious stare he had. “I’m not sure why you’re bothering Rolo and Nyma, but it’s not cool. You’ve got at least twenty witnesses. The police are not going to side with you, even if you are Galra.” Galra Corp was able to get away with a lot in the city in terms of politics and industry. Most employees were not like Throk, but those who worked security felt they were entitled to anything they wanted. Lance growled. With Pidge on the loose, dealing with corrupt Galra security - Throk had been on the receiving end of Icebound’s punches before - was the last thing he needed to deal with. “Please, Galra Corp owns the police.” Throk held the switchblade with an outstretched arm, pointed at Lance. “Tell the man to open his cash register, Little Hero,” he sneered. “I would not want anyone to get hurt.” Lance braced himself but did not back down though Throk’s words were soaked in sarcasm. Nerves tightened and his body prepared for the blow. None came. In a flash Throk was down on the ground, writhing in pain. He screamed. “Get them off! Get them off!” “You can stay there until the police get here,” Katie said calmly, as if she were discussing a cloudless day. Lance turned to find her still in front of her game, holding a small open jar. “Maybe you’ll think twice about doing whatever you want.” Lance took a closer look at Throk and he saw them. Tiny robots the size of ladybugs crawling over the aggressor’s skin. He turned to her in awe, grinning now that the threat had passed.”Robotics huh? Pretty cool.” Katie’s eyes grew wide. “Lance, look out!” Lance turned in time to see a frenzied Throk race towards him, bringing the blade back to strike. Dropping to his knees on instinct, he dodged the blow and scurried through Throk’s legs. Now having the advantage of being behind, Lance stood and, putting a bit of his powers into it, delivered a punch to Throk’s face just as the Galra was beginning to turn around.

Throk landed face down in front of Katie. She squatted and clicked the inside of her mouth, calling the microbots back inside the jar.

Just like Pidge calling in her tiny robots. Lance shivered. He supposed he’d best get used to more similarities; who knew how many inventions Pidge had stolen from Katie.

She whispered into Throk’s ear, but Lance hadn’t the time to ponder over what she might have said to him. He was too busy blushing over a kiss on the cheek from Rolo’s co-owner.

“You’re sweet, Lance,” Nyma told him, a bemused smile on her face, “but I really prefer you stay alive. You’re one of our frequent customers.”

Nyma didn’t mean anything by the kiss, he knew that, but the churning in his stomach was more from the warmth in his cheeks.

“I’m trying,” he said sheepishly. Now that the fight was over and adrenaline faded, Lance was more embarrassed than anything. Thankfully the crowds were already shrugging it off and going back to their various games.

“You pack a pretty good punch,” Katie said as she walked up to him. Her roundabout compliment and guarded smile sent his heart pounding in a way he couldn’t quite explain.

“Must have gotten lucky,” Lance shrugged as casually as he could manage. Everyone dug the cool guy attitude, surely Katie would too. “Dad always told me I had a good arm for baseball,” he bragged.

Katie raised an eyebrow, but her smile remained. “Lucky for us then.”

“And you with your robots,” Lance pointed out. “That was amazing.”

Katie grinned smugly, and that familiar feeling of delight washed over Lance again. “Final projects are supposed to be spectacular. It’s no big deal. We make a pretty good team.”

“If you two think that, try Beezer’s challenge on Defenders of the Universe,” Rolo suggested.

“The first person shooter?” Katie inquired, head tilted slightly to the side.

“Didn’t you get that over a year ago?” Lance asked, raising an eyebrow. “No one’s beat it yet?”

The game was notorious among gaming circles to be extremely challenging, even now after being available to the public for years. It was ideally played with five, and had no solo mode, so two player was the hardest difficulty.

“Not yet,” Nyma said. “Why don’t you two give it a shot while the blood is still pumping. It’ll be on us; a thanks for taking care of that goon.”

Lance looked to Katie and she gazed back. Her amber eyes shone like the sun and Lance couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth curling up in perfect sync with her’s.

There was no need for words. They were going to beat that game.

~~~~~

“Did you see that last move?!” Lance rambled, jogging ahead of Katie and turning to face her as they walked - backwards in his case - out of the arcade. “I backflipped into the mob, hit three bulls eyes upside down - then my gun morphed into a sword!!!” He said excitedly. What a rush that had been - unlocking a secret feature, not even professional gamers knew about.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this elated and relaxed, hero problems forgotten for the moment.

“I know!” Katie squealed back, animatedly jumping and bringing her fists to her chest. Her smile matched his own, stretched wide and looked as if it could fall off. “I can’t believe the game let you use it before you could even see what it was! And the finishing blow - I will never get over that mech letting us dual wield those swords. The arms actually responded independently for us! How cool is that?!”

“The absolute coolest!” Lance agreed. He snorted - he was going to use that line for Icebound’s next battle. He stopped at the corner. One way would take him back to his apartment, the other to Katie’s house. “Too bad about the final boss though, we almost had him. I bet next time we wipe the floor.”

The briefest of frowns crossed her face, almost as if the idea hadn’t sunk in. “Next time?” Katie inquired.

“Well sure. I mean, if you want to.” Suddenly the hot cheeks were back and he avoided her face. “We do make a pretty good team and… I had a lot of fun today. Best in a long time,” he said honestly.

“I had a lot of fun, too,” she said, taking his hand, a warm smile back on her face. “Thank you, Lance.” Without warning, she leaned up on her toes and brushed his cheek with her lips. “Seriously. No matter what happens, I want you to know that.”

Despite the ominous tone to her statement, Lance hung on the kiss. Although friendly, after their chemistry at the arcade and willingness to help each other - and especially moving in together - he seriously doubted they could just stay as friends. He’d only just met Katie, but he felt like he’d known her for years.

Lance took a deep breath. He could afford to have fun, but first and foremost he needed to remind himself that he did this for their mutual protection from Pidge.

He forced his smile back at her. “Noted.” He looked around the corner. “Your place is this way right?”

Katie nodded. “I need to prepare for you moving in, and you need to pack. I think we’ll be fine separately for one night.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small wad of green. “Here,” she said, placing it in his hands. “A thank you for now.”

Lance opened his hands and let out a slight gasp at the amount of money he held. “I can’t take this,” he said and reached out to give it back to her.

“No, keep it,” Katie insisted, pushing his hands away. “We’ll be living together, so you can use it to buy groceries or something.”

Only at her additional prompting did he place it in his own pocket. She was placing a lot of trust in him, the least he could do was return it and take it with grace. If he could find it within himself to do that, it would make his duty as a hero less unbearable.

“Okay,” he finally said.

Katie’s lip wobbled. “Thanks again for today. I’m looking forward to hanging out with you a lot more. It reminded me of better days with my brother.”

Lance knew that feeling. So he offered what always helped him, a hug. It began with wrapping an arm around her shoulder. When she wrapped her arms around his waist, he held his tightly around her shoulders. “We both miss our families. I promised I’d help. You don’t have to do it alone anymore.”

“Why are you so concerned about helping me? I’m practically a stranger. It’s not your problem,” she sniffled.

Because it was a hero’s duty. Because he sympathized. Because he was in the right place at the right time.

“Because it's the right thing to do. Fate must have brought us together for a reason.”

Katie was silent for a long moment, then took a deep breath, voice no longer cracking. “You’re a good person, Lance. I can see why your best friend is a hero.”

Lance scoffed. “My best friend is an engineer who lives across the country.”

Katie blinked, crying suddenly stopped but eyes filled with tears and confusion. “Icebound is an engineer?”

Quiznak.

“Oh! No! My other best friend!” Lance said, backpedaling. He needed to get out of here before he incriminated himself further. He couldn’t tell Katie now and put her in even more danger. “Since Hunk is so far away, I can’t hang out with him much. Heh, I guess it's not too different from hanging out with a superhero. I don’t see him as much as I’d like either.”

The lie came off a little more easily than Lance would have liked, and it had the desired effect. Katie seemed to buy it.

“Well, you’ve got me to hang out with now. I’m looking forward to playing video games and showing you all my robots.”

“Perfect!” Lance said spritely. “Well, I’d better get packing. You good to walk home?” He bit his lip - he really should walk her home at the very least. His father would have scolded him.

“I’ll be fine, I’d rather you get packing. I’ll feel a lot safer once you’re all moved in.”

They exchanged a wave and Lance turned to walk back to his apartment. Guilt churned in his stomach. Would Pidge use this opportunity to strike? Had she been watching them all day?

Lance turned his walk into a jog.

#plance #pidgance #voltron legendary defender #rueitae #my writing #vld fanfic

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shurisneakers · 6 years

Text

espresso [6]

Summary: In which your best friend’s brother begins to set you up on dates when you mention that you haven’t been in a relationship in years, but things don’t go as expected.

Warning: swearing, near panic attacks, angst (?)

A/N: this is my entry for the exuberant @odinhson‘s writing challenge thank you to @samingtonwilson for beta-ing this for me

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <333

Previous part- Part 5 || Espresso Masterlist

Becca: binch

Becca: if i don’t get my nourishment i will Wilt and Die

Becca: if i get out of this bed rn i will literally Cry

Becca: pls get me a coffee kind sir,,, i will be gr8ful

You: um

You: i’ll get it later ok lov u

Becca: wtf why

You: im going to meet fucky at the library

You: *bucky

Becca: youre going to meet my brother again?

You: yes he said he was studying there anyway so I could go meet him there

You: why

Becca: nothing it’s just

You: it’s just?

Becca: nvm it’s nothing go see that smelly bitch biscuit

Becca: but get me the drugs when u come back

_____________

The library was fairly populated for seven in the morning. And, though everyone looked like they could use at least a week’s worth of sleep, they trudged on.

Walking through the aisles, you let your fingers run over the spines of every book, relishing in the feel of their old leather under your touch. It didn’t take log before you found Bucky in the classics section, his back leaning against one of the bookshelves as he scanned the ones in front of him.

“Looking for something specific?” you asked quietly, making him snap his head towards you. He gave you a tired smile before reverting to his original state.

“The Catcher in the Rye. I wanted to borrow it again,” he sounded distant, like his mind was preoccupied.

“Again? You’ve read it more than once?”

“Three times,” he answered, eyes lighting up as he reached forward and grabbed an old, worn out book with a tearing paper cover. His fingers dusted it gently before he opened to the last page, his eyes skimming over the words.

“It’s your favourite book?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite book, to be honest.” He flipped it, examining the cover from back to front. “Just the most memorable one. It sorta stuck with me throughout.”

“Why?” you asked curiously, watching as he flipped through the pages, seemingly searching for something within the lines.

“Don’t ask, it’s just gonna come off as pretentious as shit,” he chuckled, shking his head bemusedly, but you could detect a hint of something else behind his words. Bucky loved writing. He loved words. This book obviously meant a lot to him.

“I don’t know who hurt you Bucky Barnes, but I’d sure as fuck want to know why you love that book so much.” You heard a hush on the other side of the bookshelf, making you peep through the shelves only to catch the disapproving glare of the librarian who apparently caught you using unparliamentarily language.

“No one’s hurt me, it’s just-“ he paused to scratch the back of his neck awkwardly, letting his hand linger there. “I didn’t think anybody would care.”

“Oh.” You nudged his foot with yours, making him look at you in surprise. “Well, I care, so go ahead.”

He eyes never left yours and you could see a faint blush spread across his cheeks. Cute ass motherfucker.

Wait-

“Um, I guess it’s kinda because– the thing is– see, I–“ his mouth was moving at a speed much swifter than his brain, you could see it. It was like he had so much to say, almost too much. You gave him an encouraging smile as he took a deep breath to calm himself down before beginning again.

“I’ve read it three times. Every single time it means something different to me, you know? It’s like the words are familiar but everything’s changed,” he tried to convey what he was thinking, but it was clearly something hard to talk about because Bucky rarely ever ran out of words.

“‘Don’t ever tell anyone anything, if you do you start missing everybody.’,” he recited from memory finally showing you the page he stopped on. You shuffled closer to him, leaning on his shoulder to get a better look at the book in his hand. “It’s really hard for me to let others in. Everything becomes too intimate and when they decide to pack up and leave because they can’t handle my shit, it just—it hurts. It’s one of my favorite quotes.”

“It’s beautiful,” you said softly, as he looked at you for a few seconds in silence, not making an attempt to say anything.

“Right, so-“ he cleared his throat, pulling away to put the book back where it belonged. “His name’s Loki. He’s slightly difficult at first, but all he needs is just a little love and attention and he’s good to go.”

“Are we talking about a succulent or a person?” You remained where you were, feeling strangely lightheaded. Bucky glanced at the big clock overhead before returning to you.

“You’ll see.” He winked, shifting from one foot to another. “Now go! I have an hour to spend with calculus and you are going to be late for your first class.”

“You got a shift at the coffee shop today? I could come see you after,” you asked, facing him while walking backwards, your feet moving automatically.

“Not tonight, fam. I’m busy,” he said, looking down just for a second.

“Whatcha up to, barista boy? You got a hot date?” you teased him lightly, shoving your fists into your pockets, delaying your exit.

“I do, actually,” he fired back, making you freeze in your tracks.

“You’re going on a date?” you asked incredulously, your eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

“Yeah. Met an old friend of mine last week and we’re going out tonight.” He shrugged, giving you a half smile.

“Oh shits.” Well, that was new. It had been ages since Bucky had gone out with someone. “Use protection, ya nasty. Don’t want any mini versions of you running around.”

“Yeah, totally. We’re gonna go grab something to eat and fuck behind the church in my pickup truck.” He rolled his eyes, laughing to himself as you snorted.

“You’ve always been a huge part of the Jesus fandom,” you called out, grimacing when you heard the librarian hiss a ‘Quiet!’ at you again.

“Have fun, James. I’ll catch you later.” You shoved your hands further into your pockets, turning around and jogging out before he could get another word in.

_____________

You didn’t expect the goth version of Sabrina the Teenage Witch at the entrance of your building that evening, sporting a look of disdain with a hint of boredom, gracefully covered up with a smile. He was dressed to the nines in all black, which matched his dark hair and starkly contrasted his fair, almost too pale skin.

“You’re Y/N, I presume?” you could hear the remnants of an accent that wasn’t common to your area. He sounded tired but it looked like he was making an effort, so you weren’t completely put off.

You nodded, giving him a small smile. “Loki, right?”

“That’s me. Did James tell you where we’re going tonight?”

“Bucky doesn’t take the effort to tell me anything useful, so I’m pretty uninformed.” You followed him as he walked towards the gate of the compound, his fingers toying with the hem of his sweatshirt.

“That’s weird because I swear he asked me for everything ranging from my birth certificate to my social security number. He wouldn’t even give me your dorm address without it,” he said drily, his smile actually making him look really nice.

“Oh, wow.”

“Yeah, so there’s that carnival or a fair or something that’s come up. I figured we could go check it out.” He gestured to his car.

“Sounds fun.” You offered him a helpful smile, accepting his invitation without much hesitation. Maybe a distraction was exactly what you needed.

_____________

The whole fair was illuminated with lights from the different stalls and you could smell the calories in the air as kids ran around with cotton candy and popcorn and funnel cakes. The ratting of the roller coaster tracks and peals of laughter subconsciously made your heart lift and a grin settled on your face.

“What do you want to do first?” you asked loudly, trying to speak over the crowd.

“I don’t know. It’s so noisy. I wish everyone would just shut up.” He scrunched up his nose in disdain, leaving you to stare at him.

“How about grabbing something to eat first? I’m starving,” you suggested, earning a nod from him as you both made your way down to where most of the food stalls were.

Churros, funnel cake, caramel apples, popcorn and just about everything deep fried was put on display and it smelled pretty fucking great.

“D’you want to try out the hypertension or diabetes on a stick?” you laughed, eyeing everything separately.

“Uh—“ he paused, flinching. “I think I’m good.”

“Not even cotton candy?”

“Definitely not.” He shook his head, eyebrows crinkled in disgust.

“Well, okay, man.” You shrugged, not letting his preferences stop you from going ahead and buying the first thing that caught your eye and had your mouth watering.

He followed you silently through the entire process, only passing an occasional comment on how greasy it was or how unhealthy it was. You took it as a personal challenge to count how many times he nearly gagged.

“Rides or stalls?” You could already predict the kind of night you were in for and at this point you were too tired to not have fun with it.

“Rides, I suppose. We’re too old for the stalls.” He clicked his tongue, putting his hands into the pockets of his skinny jeans, staring disapprovingly at you.

“Oh, you are so right. Papa forbade me from playing games lest I fall victim to pride and immaturity. So pleased that throwing balls into holes is age restricted.” You threw some more popcorn into your mouth, feeling his stare burn into your face as you looked at him without any emotion.

“Didn’t you grow out of them after you turned, I don’t know, fifteen? How old are you?”

“You’re absolutely correct. We should hit the rides soon. I may not last fifteen minutes more. I’m practically decomposing as we speak.” You grinned at him making your way to the roller coaster, leaving him to match your pace.

“Roller coasters?” He called after you, rushing to catch up.

“Yes. Do you not like them?”

If this somehow greasier Tommy Wiseau said anything worse, you swore you literally would tear-

“I just think they’re too jumpy. And erratic. And noisy.”

You spun around wildly to face him, mouth dropping open. “What exactly did you expect from a fair, Lucky?”

“Loki.”

“Gesundheit. Have you ever been to a fair before or-“

You were just about to launch into a large rant when someone’s grip on your shoulder cut you off.

“Mario? What are you doing here?” The all-too-familiar voice made you instantly calm down as your best friend’s brother, your lord and savior, stepped near one of the most annoying people you could have met.

Which would be met with a more enthusiastic response had it not been for the presence of a girl with the most curly red hair accompanying him. She had her arm around his waist whilst his was secured around her shoulders and you immediately felt your words die down in your throat.

“Ah, James. We were just on our date.” He narrowed his eyes at you and you rolled yours at him, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Hey, man. I thought you were taking her to that restaurant down the road?” he questioned as the girl with him sent you a smile. Of course she’d have dimples.

“Thor told me this would better fit her,” Loki replied wearily.

“Wait a minute- you know Thor?”

“Know him?” Loki scoffed. “He’s my brother.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Given, we’re adopted siblings but I have to put up with his nonsense regardless.”

“Oh my fucking God, you’re the bitchy drama goth brother Thor talks about.”

“Bitchy drama goth— you’re lucky you got set up with me and not our sister.”

“I guess this date went super well?” Bucky piped up before you both clawed each other’s throats out.

“Simply wonderful.”

“Great.” He smiled awkwardly, before seemingly remembering who he had with him. “Oh shits, yeah—this is Dolores. Dot. Doll. I don’t know-“

“Dot is fine.” She smiled again, extending her hand in a shake. She had a flower tucked into her ear, matching the colour of her long skirt. Of course she did.

“This is Y/N, my sister’s best friend and that’s Loki,” Bucky introduced live-action Merida to you, as she gracefully replied with a small nod.

“You guys done?” Dot asked, switching her gaze between Loki and you.

“Yup, just finished. Loki was about to drop me off at my place. How about you?” You ignored your date altogether, instead focusing on how relaxed Bucky looked, none of his usual creases to be seen on his face. You liked it.

“I think we’ll hang around for a bit more. What do you say?” She looked up at him and Bucky nodded, a soft smile taking over his face.

“Sounds good to me. Text me when you get home, okay?” he reminded you, suddenly meeting your gaze. Your eyebrows furrowed at the intensity with which he was looking at you, but you gave him a thumbs up, agreeing.

“See ya tomorrow, Mario. Get home safe, please?” He waved one more time, as did Dolores, before they both made their way into the crowd, but not before Bucky threw you one more glance over his shoulder.

“Are you this hostile with every person your friends date or only James?” Loki sniggered from besides you, earning a sharp glare.

“One more word from you Severus and I will buy the oiliest piece of funnel cake and shove it down your throat.

But his words didn’t go over your head. You knew exactly what he was talking about and apparently it was so glaringly obvious that even others could see it.

Yikes.

Part 7

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #mcu fic #bucky fic #bucky barnes fic #bucky fluff #bucky barnes fluff #bucky angst #bucky barnes angst #college!bucky #college!au #college!bucky x reader #kumis5kchallenge

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bleedingcoffee42 · 6 years

Text

Eureka AU- Part 8

My weekend mini-nano is coming to an end, what a ride. 16k words on a make-it-up-as-i-go fic. Fun as hell, wish I could do this every day. But for now, outta writing time. Fear not, I’ll finish this week but I’ll sure as shit leave it for now as a cliffhanger.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

xxxxxxxxxx

Roy sat by Riza's side after Knox relocated her to Al's lab under much protest, however the medical equipment was easier to move than Al's. Roy went over all the theories and data about a dozen times and eventually gave the green light on Project Hawk's Eye. He told Knox he would be the one to inject the syringe full of nanites into her IV, that was not going to be on the doctor if this all went wrong.

If he lost her, he didn't really care about the repercussions of everything coming down on him. He'd stave it off as long as he could in order to go after Raven and root out his accomplices in this theft of relics and trail of murder, but he had no misconceptions about it all catching up to him. He'd step down from the head of the facility first, have someone appointed to take his place that had it's best interests in mind, and spend his money and limited freedom on hunting everyone down. He prayed it don't come to that.

“We're ready.” Al said. “I injected a few into myself to test it and they are operating as they should.”

“What the fuck Al?” Ed gasped.

“Like you weren't going to do the same thing.” Al mumbled.

“I'm not the genius who can control the little bastards!”

“Which is exactly why I had to do it.” Al replied. “They're my creation, I can't ask someone to test out what I create if I am not willing to do so myself. Especially not Hawkeye.”

Ed walked over with the syringe and handed it to Mustang. He almost didn't want to let go of it, scared it would be the cause of her demise. Scared because if it didn't kill her, the lack of another option would.

“It's OK Ed.” Roy said and took the syringe over to the IV line and paused as he took the cap off the needle. He looked over at Riza and bit his lip. Not the kind of shot she expected to be in danger of dying from, he was certain of that. So he stopped costing more time and injected it slowly so there was no chance of clumping the microscopic robots anywhere. Then, syringe empty, he retracted it and put the cap back on and set it down to wait; Wait and watch her vitals for a spike to tell him this was the wrong answer.

“Ok, I have data.”

Roy looked over to Al. “And?”

“I've sent them on a mission to disperse and target anything with their similar profile. I already have data coming back.” Al said and put it up on the screen for everyone to see. “Well the good news is it's biological and not nanotech.”

Roy took a deep breath. The Elrics were great at mentioning things after the fact.

“Money can't buy you, Al.” Ed said appreciatively. “You're the only one this good.”

Marcoh waved his hand at the screen. “Can you send this information to my tablet?”

“Already on it's way.” Al said. “I have them targeting and following the virus. That way we don't waste time when you give me the modifications.”

Roy sat down beside Riza and held her hand again. No change was good news at this stage and he could feel Knox hovering and waiting for something to happen. Marcoh was scribbling loudly on some paper, preferring to work out things the 'old school' way instead of taking advantage of all the technological advances around him. Roy wanted to help, wanted to be able to use his knowledge and education for something but he couldn't help here. All he could do was physically be here and comfort his wife in a way he hoped she could feel, perhaps there was something to that joke of theirs about using him for his body after all.

He turned his attention to thinking about how much Riza had changed his life. They got off on the wrong foot and they continued to meet in the middle on everything, mainly because she wouldn't get out of his way. She blocked him every time and forced him to compromise. The resolution always produced good results and finally he came to her with a peace offering of dinner. The town needed her, she was someone he had grown to respect and in a few months of fighting with her he had to admit he looked forward to her barging into his office telling him off.

He never expected her to say 'yes'. It was just his charismatic womanizing facade coming out and trying to charm her, but she had said 'yes' in the most hostile and satisfied way possible that made him question if he had in fact been played. He owed her dinner for all the times she had to spend time off duty cleaning up his scientist's mistakes. It better be expensive too. He countered the best he could, saying and expensive dinner require proper attire and a dress uniform wasn't going to cut it. And her smile, god she smiled like she was the Queen of Hearts and he was about to get decapitated. At that moment he sat back in his chair and realized that it might not be so horrible to lose this chess match of theirs after all.

When she did show up for that promised dinner at his house, insisting on picking him up because he was a terrible driver who never paid his reckless driving tickets, he opened the door to the most amazing sight he had ever laid eyes on. Riza Hawkeye stood on his doorstep like an angel, setting sun behind her with a glow of the glory of God radiating in the background. A long gown that looked like it was made for her and probably was. She had made friends in Eureka, certainly someone like Alex Armstrong had told her he would make her the perfect dress to stop Roy's fucking heart as soon as he laid eyes on it.

And that it did. However it was less the dress and more the woman wearing it. Something about how she owned that presence and could be wrapped in satin and lace and not lose herself in any of it. There was more to her than he gave her credit for, more than the hard ass Lieutenant who became their disciplinarian Sheriff. More than the soldier who was quick to order everyone around when the situation went to hell. More that he desperately wanted to find out about. It was more than she bargained for because she was not expecting him to be the one cooking her dinner at his house.

Checkmate.

It didn't phase her, she entered his house as if it was a royal palace and not a suburban home. He had his best tux on, carefully planned and cooked four courses and dessert and served them all by candlelight in his dining room. There was no hostility as they both silently agreed to a truce for the night. They talked about work, since that was always the adventure of the week, and accidents they could now laugh about.

And she had the most incredible laugh.

Night turned into morning as they relaxed on the couch and dared to show each other their personal side. Her caring for the men of her command, how much she missed being in the field because of this special assignment and how much she was actually enjoying being the Sheriff of this small town. The people were special, she liked having someone to protect. He admitted he wanted to do anything to keep this town safe, to keep the people free to work and funded to do so. Something he never openly admitted to anyone. She eventually said it was getting too late and it was time to leave, he asked her to stay. To his surprise, she accepted his offer.

He wondered why she accepted any offers of his, especially the first one to take the job as Sheriff of Eureka.

Now he couldn't help but wonder if she was deliberately sent here by her commander to get her away from her men. Exiled because she had seen too much and had too much integrity to just forget it happened. There was no reason that a qualified officer like herself would be sent here to the middle of nowhere to babysit scientist unless she was someone who could be counted on to be in his pocket. She'd never be that, not for Raven. Exiled until he had a chance to figure out how to erase the evidence of his actions.

But Roy had been the one to pick her from a field of candidates. That was what bothered him, Raven had to know what he was looking for in a choice for Sheriff. He had to rig the choices so there was only one option. Roy wanted to drive down to the Hotel right now and beat the truth out of him, beat the life out of him. Ensure he didn't get away with this.

“I have it.” Marcoh announced. He walked over to Al's computer and said, “Bring up the diagram. I'll show you want to rearrange. Then you can program them to eat the other virus.”

“They're robots.” Al replied. “They don't eat.”

“They just ate several billion dollars worth of military super soldier contact lens.” Ed reminded him. “Just let them tear it apart.”

“And lose their form? They're currently bonded as a virus. You want me to release them and let them float in the bloodstream? They're too tiny.” Al replied.

“Strangle the virus then.” Ed said.

“Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.” Roy said, quoting Sun Tzu. Everyone went silent, he must have sounded authoritative even if he felt lost. “Make your nanites more attractive to the virus than the cells it's attacking. Make it look like the original Xerses virus instead of the watered down immunity in her system. Let them latch on to the nanites so we can tell the robots to leave her body and take the virus with them. Riza can't be the battlefield, she's put up enough of a fight on her own. Let's draw the enemy out.”

#fic #royai #eureka au

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sweetlysilent · 7 years

Text

Figment (Ch. Two)

Requested By: Nobody

Pairing: Richie Tozier x Reader

Warnings: Traumatic Memories, Fear, Swearing, Symptoms of Anxiety, Mention of Pennywise, etc.

Summary:

When is a door not a door? Most people tend to always overthink the question, over processing what the answer could be, when in reality it’s right in front of your face. When it’s ajar. This is a riddle that is constantly in the back of your mind.

Just like your greatest fear, it lurks between the space of the door, showing it’s form like a shadow, always creeping behind you. But you convince yourself it’s just a figment of your imagination, that it’s all in your head, that you’re just seeing things. But, what happens when the Loser’s Club end up seeing it too?

A/N: So, I don’t know how many people enjoy this lil blurb mini series but I really like it so I’m going to continue writing it bc it makes me happy. If you like it too then by all means go ahead and read it and if you don’t then don’t read it :)) I post other content too.

Also, I’m not really sure how I feel about this chapter?? Like it kind of explains things, yet helps start off chapter three?? I don’t know, let me know what you think! Also, this is the third time I’ve written this chapter so bear with me lol

This isn’t exactly based off the movie or the book, I’m just kind of free handing it and I might use bits and pieces from the movie, but besides that I’m basically just flowing with it. Another thing, feel free to send a comment in my ask or below on what you thought of this part! I’d love to see everyone’s reactions, it helps keep me motivated.

Also, comment below or send me an ask if you’d like to be tagged!

“Y/N, this is the third time I’ve seen you this week, is everything okay?” Your therapist Dr. Martin questioned, looking at you with a concerned expression.

The answer to his question was simple, no. No you weren’t okay, you hadn’t been sleeping, each time you tried to get any sleep you’d have recurring nightmares of a boy in a yellow raincoat, sometimes he was human, other times he wasn’t; and to add on top of that, you’d been avoiding the Losers ever since the incident, too embarrassed and afraid you’d cause issues within their circle.

“I-I.. Uh.. No..” You whispered, your foot tapping the ground anxiously as you bit your thumb nail.

Dr. Martin nodded slowly, writing down what you said in his notebook, you’d been seeing Dr. Martin before you had even moved to Derry. He was the one that helped you get rid of the red balloon before.

“Alright Y/N, lets take this one step at a time shall we?” Dr. Martin gave a reassuring smile, nodding at you to start talking, of course when you were ready to.

“It happened two weeks ago, we had just moved to Derry, a-and it was here.” You paused, your lip starting to tremble just at the thought of the red balloon, the clown.

Dr. Martin instantly noticed how you were reacting, your body language spoke it all.

“It’s okay Y/N, take your time, you don’t need to rush.” He spoke calmly, trying to get you to relax a bit.

“The r-red balloon.. It was at the sign.. With the c-clown. But I told myself that I was just hallucinating, because when I blinked it was gone. So I thought I was okay, but then that night before my first day of school.. I couldn’t sleep the entire night..” You explained, words flying out of your mouth before you even had a chance to process what you were saying.

“Do you know why you were having a hard time falling asleep?” Dr. Martin questioned, watching your body posture slump slightly in the chair.

“A-All I could see was the clown, a-and I couldn’t get it out of my head, it was just there.” You spoke quietly, your eyes slowly zoning in and out.

“Alright.. What happened after that? How was your first day of school?” Dr. Martin asked, as he wrote down little notes here and there.

“I got lost. I felt like shit. I looked like shit. I thought that would’ve kept people away, but it didn’t, and that’s how I met the Losers Club.” You smiled slightly at the name, but it vanished just as quick as it appeared.

Dr. Martin nodded, writing down this new information before motioning for you to continue on.

“I was really skeptical of them at first, Richie, one of the boys in the group, had asked me to go somewhere with them. Of course I responded saying that they could potentially be kidnappers because they were strangers.” You explained, the day replaying in your head as if it was yesterday.

“Bill, one of the other guys in the group convinced me to go with them, so I did, I rode on his bike with him, and then out of nowhere it just felt… too good? If that makes any sense?” You glanced up at him, as he was quickly jotting down almost everything you were saying.

“Anyways, that’s when it happened, w-when I started to believe it wasn’t real. I remember freaking out, Stan, also one of the boys in the group figured out I was having a panic attack.” You kept on rambling, your eyes flicking back and forth from the desk to the floor.

“Once they had calmed me down a bit, that’s when I saw it, t-the red balloon, it was just floating down the street!” You exclaimed, running your fingers through your hair anxiously.

“Did they see this balloon too?” Dr. Martin questioned, glancing up at you as your eyes started watering a bit as you shook your head no.

“I was the only one who saw that balloon, they thought I was crazy, hell I think I am crazy.” You whispered, a tear slipping down your cheek as Dr. Martin continued jotting down notes.

“Have you seen this ‘Losers Club’ since that day?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at you as you bit your lip slightly, before shaking your head no once again.

Dr. Martin nodded, continuing to write down a few more things before setting his pen down, and taking a deep breath.

“Alright, so this is what I’m going to propose to you Y/N.” He started, crossing his hands on his desk as you sat up a bit in your chair.

“You are suffering from not only anxiety, but sleep deprivation, now, sleep deprivation could possibly be the reason you start to believe you’re hallucinating. It can cause affects on the brain, and can become pretty serious in certain situations, like yours for example.” Dr. Martin explained, looking over his notes before looking back at you as you listened quietly.

“Now, for your friends, I think the best option there is for you to talk to them about what you’re seeing, they might not believe you however, so you have to expect that.” He continued on, reading over his notes once more, before flipping the page.

“I also decided to check back a month to see what you were experiencing then, it seems to me that one month ago your memory was pretty foggy, has it gotten worse or better?” He questioned, picking his pen back up once again.

“I-I don’t really know.. I think it’s gotten better.. But I still can’t remember much of those certain days.” You shrugged, watching as he wrote down what you said.

He nodded, looking over his notes one final time before shutting his notebook.

“I’m going to prescribe you sleeping pills, that way you can catch up on all the sleep you’ve been missing, I believe it could really help you.” Dr. Martin spoke as he wrote down the prescription, before ripping it off and handing it to you.

You then thanked him before leaving the room, giving the paper to your mom who in return gave you a sad look, she had no idea what was going on with you, and it broke your heart.

Later that day you got your prescription for your sleeping pills, it was crazy that this was the only way you could go to sleep, but whatever worked right?

“Okay I’m just going to come out and say it since nobody else is, Y/N’s been avoiding us, it’s obvious, we all know it.” Richie stated bluntly, getting a few nods in response.

“They look like they haven’t gotten sleep for weeks, I’m actually really worried.” Beverly spoke up, her hand pressed against her cheek.

“I-I tried t-t-talking to Y/N at s-s-school, but they ig-ignored me.” Bill admitted, looking down at his feet sadly.

“But the question is why? What is Y/N hiding from us?” Eddie chimed in, looking at the rest of the group.

“Maybe Y/N’s simply embarrassed from what happened, I mean we weren’t exactly the most understanding people in the situation.” Mike suggested, shrugging his shoulders slightly. “Just a thought.” He quickly spoke after.

“All I know is I want answers.” Stan stood up, pacing back and forth slightly. “The Y/N that we met that day after school is not the one we see now, something clearly is happening, and as their new friends, it’s our job to find out what it is.” Stan spoke while looking at his friends, a determined expression on his face.

“And how do you expect we get them? Y/N’s been avoiding us for weeks now.” Ben chimed in, glancing around the room. “It’s not like they’re just going to talk to us if we walk up to them.” Ben added on, looking at Stan curiously.

“Isn’t obvious you dipshit, we’re going to trap Y/N.” Richie rolled his eyes, whacking the back of Ben’s head, earning a glare in response.

Everyone around the room nodded at the idea, ready to finally get some answers.

“Let the games begin!” Richie shouted in a deep voice, earning a few eye rolls and annoyed groans as he fist pumped the air.

You weren’t ready for what was about to happen, and neither were they.

Tags: @the-crime-fighting-spider @f-b-a-w-t-f-t-2 @mishamgos @winter-fire-and-january-embers @hey-its-bean

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midnightghostwriter · 7 years

Text

ghost of you - taehyung

↬ summary: even after what feels like an eternity, you still can’t let taehyung go, and neither can he seem to leave you.

↬ genre: angst / ghost au

↬ pairing: taehyung x reader

↬ word count: 1.6k

other chapters: jimin

a/n: here’s a mini series i started a while back (two years ago rip) that i thought would be appropriate given the start of the spooky season! i have one more pre-written, and will be trying to finish out scenarios for the other boys as well~ this au was originally inspired by the bts i need u m/v

also i recommend you listen to this song with this chapter if you really feel like angst xD

The train car hummed beneath you as it sped through the inky black world outside. Low chatter of the other few occupants filled the air, like flies buzzing in your ear. Overwhelmed, you stuffed your earbuds into your ears, which helped muffle the noise somewhat. Tired fingers hovered of your phone as you tried to decide what song to play.

As you tapped your phone case in thought, your fingers brushed the keychain attached and you stopped. Pinching it between your thumb and index, you lifted the small gacha toy and its attached companion, turning them over. One had belonged to your sometimes lover Taehyung, who had a childish penchant for things like toys and games. He had won the matching charms in a silly machine at the mall during one of your dates. Though you had scoffed and rolled your eyes at his request for you to both use them, you attached it to your phone case to shut him up.

You fought down the tears that wanted to spring to your eyes, because god forbid you started smearing your mascara and makeup on a public train. But you couldn't stop the memory of him from bringing a sharp pain to your heart. You hadn't been the best girlfriend, if the term could even be used to define you. You had barely tolerated Tae's naturally childish and open personality because he was willing to spoil you so long as you followed his whims from time to time. Most nights when he texted you or asked you to come over or something, you were nowhere to be found. He had been nothing but good to you, and you had snubbed him time and again. The pain he must have felt in trying to hold onto you even when you continued to hurt him was something you couldn't imagine.

The last night you saw him was still as fresh in your mind as if it had happened two days ago instead of two months. You had never been the most loyal lover, especially since you weren't very interested in keeping Taehyung happy. He was just someone fun to be with every now and again. So you had played the field a few times, trying and failing to ease your boredom with other guys. One of them hadn't gotten the message that it was a one time deal, and came to confront you. Things turned violent, and you fought valiantly but it was clear you were on the losing side this time.

Out of nowhere, Tae had shown up, taking a wicked swing at your attacker. You watched with shock as the two men fought. Taehyung grabbed a nearby bottle, smashed it and came at the other guy with it. Drunk as the other male was, he didn't stand a chance, receiving several vicious stabs to the stomach with Tae's makeshift weapon. You knew now that you should have stayed, should have thanked him even, but you were too startled, and instead fled the scene, leaving Tae on his own. It was the last time you saw him alive, covered in blood and looking just as surprised at himself as you were.

You had received the call from Jin the next day. Taehyung had been apparently unable to live with the guilt behind his deed, and jumped off a rig on the pier. Despite the paramedics' best efforts to save his body once recovered from the waters, he had died almost instantly. "...He’s gone, (y/n).”

The other members of Tae's groups hadn't exactly gotten along with you, since the older ones in particular were wise to what was happening, but they still knew what you had meant to him. Though they didn't do much to comfort you, they gave you some of his old things and offered minimal consolation at the funeral. Then they, like him, had left you alone with the ghost of the boy you should have loved, and treated better.

The endless days blurred into weeks full of regret. Getting a chance to look through Taehyung's things had given you all the evidence you needed to win a court case about his love for you. Pictures, ticket stubs; anything and everything from your time together was collected in his room, cherished in safe places. As if the overwhelming number of things had been a catalyst, your heart broke and you realized that if you had looked past his childish behavior, you could have loved him. Maybe a small part of you had. But you were too afraid to accept that someone like him could love you so fully and purely, so you tried every self-destructive thing to push him away. Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could you have been so stupid?

It was these thoughts that came again to you as you stared emptily at the phone charms in your hand, blurred by the tears rising in your eyes. You sniffed, dabbing at your eyes with your sleeve. You'd shed enough tears over this, and they wouldn't help anything now, or ever. With a small shake of your head to try and clear it, you returned to your quest for a song to fill the silence that let you think too much.

"Can't Let You Go is a pretty good one, I think." You jumped a bit, startled by the sudden voice next to you. At the same time, a thread of recognition wove its way down your spine, leaving chills of fear and confusion crawling beneath your skin. Slowly, you lifted your eyes from your lap to the speaker and swallowed a scream.

Kim Taehyung sat in the seat next to you, his signature rectangle smile shining at you. Inexplicably your mind had gone more blank than a fresh sheet of paper, the entire language center of your brain shutting down instantaneously. You blinked rapidly as if that could erase the image you were seeing before you, but he remained.

"T-Tae?" He gently lifted your shaking hand, patting it as some small gesture of comfort. All it succeeded in doing was making you about twenty times more confused. "H-how...?" He laughed a bit.

"I came to see you." The words didn’t exactly answer your question and simply served to bring another to mind, a question you weren't sure you wanted an answer to, but before you could stop yourself, it slipped past your lips.

"From where?" He laughed again, but this time it was more tense. The hand not holding yours ruffled your hair.

"Aish jagi, that's a complicated question. Makes my brain hurt. Let's talk about something else." The words were so casual but they made you feel strange. Something was off, wasn't right, you knew, but you couldn't say what. Silence stretched between you as you struggled to understand the hunch sitting heavily in your brain and he played with your fingers.

"Tae, why did you come to see me?" His eyes met yours, curious. "Why wouldn't I?" Your lips pressed into a line. This wasn't something you wanted to spell out, but...

"I mean... When we were together, I wasn't kind to you. I didn't treat you like you deserved. I was mean, and I-I," your voice broke a bit as you struggled to get the next words out. "I cheated on you, Tae. A lot. I was a horrible girlfriend. Why would you want to come see me?" He set your hand down, smoothing your fingers across your thigh. You could tell he was thinking of how to reply. When he looked at you again, his face was unusually serious.

"Because I love you." Your mouth popped open to argue, but he covered it with one hand. The small childish gesture sent a pang to your heart. It was so very like him. "You're right, you did a lot of awful stuff. It hurt me a lot, and sometimes I wondered why I stayed. But I loved you, jagiya. I still do. And part of being in love is staying with someone through thick and thin." His gaze fell on the phone charms you still held and he grinned. "You kept them!"

"Yeah..." There wasn't much more you felt you could say on the matter. He lifted the one that had been his, pointing to it.

"Just like this charm, I will always be with you. Through everything you face from now on, I won't let you be alone. Okay?" You nodded mutely and he scooped you into a tight hug. As if you were afraid to touch him, you put your hands lightly on his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Taehyung ah." The choked whisper was muffled by his jacket, the same one he'd worn the night he died. "I'm so sorry I was so horrible to you. You deserved better. I should have been better to you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Your stream of apologies broke off as you started sobbing helplessly into his shirt. His arms tightened around you, clutching you even closer as he stroked your hair.

"I forgive you, (y/n) ah."

The train car slammed to a stop and you jolted forward, catching yourself by slapping your palms onto the empty seat next to you. With a start you sat upright, looking around the quiet compartent. There was absolutely no sign that Taehyung had been there, or that any of your fellow passengers had seen what just happened. Slowly you leaned back into your seat, your heart heavy as Junho's words filled your ears where Taehyung's gentle murmurs of comfort had been.

But sometimes, when I hold onto the past memories and cry That means that I can't let you go, let you go From my heart I can't let you go I can't let you go

#hallyuwritersnet #bts scenario #bangtan boys scenarios #bangtan sonyeondan scenario #taehyung scenario #bts angst #taehyung angst #v scenario #v angst #ghost au #angst #s: ghost of you #not rated

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dreamscript · 8 years

Text

The Fires Within: Ch. 6

a hellhound au twist on this request

He’s saved you. Now it’s your chance to save him. (If only things were so easy.)

7.5k words, yoongi/reader, hellhound au, action: violence, gore near end.

A week. Yoongi’s been in critical care for a week. And now:

“Well,” the medic says, looking fixedly at his clipboard. “Most of his external injuries have been healed--surprisingly, or rather, unsurprisingly based off of the information you gave us, he did not sustain any burns at all. It seems his hellhound form automatically healed and prevented burns.”

“What about his internal injuries?” you ask anxiously.

“Well, there are a few bruises we’ve left for him to heal by himself--it won’t do to completely walk his body through the whole healing process for every little thing; it totally weakens you since the body will soon become much too reliant on artificial healing.”

You nod. “What about his bones? I heard he broke quite a few, somehow.”

The medic scratches his head, scans the clipboard. “No, not really actually. Just his left leg, but we’ve binded it and applied a salve--it just arrived yesterday from Piltover, actually--that should quicken the process. But…”

“But?”

“I don’t know an easy way to say this…”

“Then just say it.”

The medic sighs and finally turns to look at you. “Yoongi--he’s...in a coma. We don’t know when he’ll wake up.”

If he’ll wake up.

You feel your mouth go dry, the moisture straight up evaporating as you let the words sink in. The medic, who’s probably had to deliver all sorts of bad, devastating news throughout his career, looks especially sympathetic, but it doesn’t really help. At this point you can’t even think straight, the medic’s words echoing endlessly in your mind.

You think about that night. Night flowers blooming. Monsters running amok. Running into a grumpy looking guy while lost. Asking for directions. You wonder how different your life would be right now if you hadn’t bothered with him, just left him be. If he left you be.

“I’m busy, but I’ll try my best to help you. What are you looking for?”

Memories flash and fade and the present is a hazy mess you’d like to escape from.

“It seems as if during his time as a hellhound, a great amount of his energy was used up which has resulted in heavy exhaustion and energy debt, resulting in his current state…” The medic is talking again, choosing to ignore your stunned silence. You can’t really hear him and he doesn’t seem to care that you aren’t really listening.

“Why do you look like that?”

“Like what?”

“You know,” you say. “Like, you sort of, I don’t know, regret every word you say, all the time.”

His eyes were wide open in surprise then.

“...in fact, so much energy is estimated to have been used, we highly suspect that the hound absorbed some energy from its surroundings, possibly the others who assisted in your fight…”

“So what I was saying earlier–you don’t want to be here?”

“No, it’s just–” He pauses, thinks. “It’s just a lot of work. Would be nice to kinda, like, get away some time, you know? A vacation is always nice.”

What you would give to be on a vacation right now, right then, anywhere away from him. Then maybe you wouldn’t have gotten this close.

“...of course, a full-scale study has yet to be conducted on the hellhound as such beings are especially rare, and to see one tied to a human is even more phenomenal…”

A winged monster flies from darkness and screeches, hitting a tree and causing you to lose your grip. You fall.

He grunts, but manages to hold out; carefully, he sets you on your feet.

“See? Caught you.”

Your heart was pounding.

“...is there anything else, besides what was written in the report you and Hyunwoo gave us, that you know, that may aid us? We’ve searched his body but haven’t found any sort of marking or seal...”

“I don’t really care about the money,” he says, slowly. “You can have all of it, for all I care.”

So maybe the reason why he wanted to go alone so badly was to get away. He must’ve known, now that you think about it. He didn’t want to involve you. And yet you did. And this happened.

A sigh. “I know it’s hard, but hopefully with our best medics on his case, we will get it resolved soon.”

The first time you saw the seal on his skin was during pre-t. The sunlight was shining through the tiny changing room window. You got curious and asked about it.

As soon as the words leave your lips, he stiffens, his mouth changing from a slight smile to a thin, flat, line. He doesn’t say a word, and turns away.

It has always been such a sensitive topic with him, it seems. Why did he not tell anyone? Did he always plan to shoulder the pain alone?

“In the meantime, we plan to move him downstairs to life support…”

“Why not? Aren’t we friends–”

“No, we’re not.”

“...I could show the room, if you’d like. Please, follow me…”

Memories swirl and run in on each other.

“Are you scared?” you ask. You gaze up at him and he turns away. “It’s okay if you are.”

“Sort of.”

He sighs and relaxes against you.

You don’t even look at the medic, don’t even listen to his words anymore, as you make a mad dash out of the room. Running down the hall, you make sure to give yourself a few pinches on the thigh, an anguished slap on the cheek just to double check none of this is a dream before you completely lose it.

You’ve never loathed the feeling of pain so much.

It stings, your leg, your cheek. There’s a lump in your throat and your vision is starting to get blurry, kinda shitty, and there’s this god awful feeling deep down that tries to cripple your lungs and feet and break your soul. You push it down as you run past the receptionist, past a group of shifters. You have no idea where you’re going until you stop and almost run into the big wooden doors.

The pre-training “track.” Of course. It’d typically be the least sentimental of all places, conjuring memories of creaking limbs, burning lungs, sweat-soaked clothes. Shaky hands that grip slippery weapons and bleary eyes that wearily scan a target. But of course there are the snarky comments, the mini-competitions. Yoongi handing you water and wiping sweat off his brow. Jihun yelling and you laughing.

Groaning, you finally give in and collapse onto your knees, hands pressed firmly into the soil. Cold, hard earth. Teardrops fall and hit the scrubby grass as you shake and shiver and sob.

“What the fuck,” you cry, voice squeaky, cracking at the edges. “Why didn’t you--didn’t you say anything? We coul-could’ve done something, you idiot. You’re such an idiot, Yoongi, what the fuck. You’re a total asshole, always shoving me off and being a-a-butt! About everything! Leaving me on the day of the mission and taking all of our things! You’re such-such an-an asshole! And--and, I-I don’t get why I even like you anyways! You’re such a jerk with a stick up his ass who always has to go out and self-sacrifice because he can’t face his own damn fears about himself. Yourself!”

At this point, you’ve leaned back, hands hanging at your sides, kneeling. Tears are streaming down your face. “I--I hate you, you know that? I hate you I hate you I hate you, I hate you for all those times you made my heart flutter, all those times you made me blush, all those times you opened up to me and all those times you went out of your way to help. I hate all those times because they only made me like you more and more and now--” you heave a breath and your body shudders “--now that you’re like this, all because you wanted to protect me, wanted to protect the village, it hurts so so much.”

A wind blows by and it nips at your skin, causing goosebumps to form. Although you feel too tired, too drained, you convince yourself to tug on the jacket that you didn’t realize you’d been clutching. You note with a bitter taste in your mouth that it’s the same one you’d been wearing the night of the attack.

It hugs your body and keeps out the cold, warming your skin but not your soul. Another gust of wind comes by, stronger, and you finally decide to get up and start walking back to your room, eager to collapse onto the bed and stop feeling. Tiredly, you shove your hands into the pockets and feel a soft crinkle. There’s a piece of paper.

Fisting the sheet in one hand, you take it out and unfold it. It’s the sketch of the seal. You’d almost forgotten it--again. In fact, you don’t think you even included it into the report…

You look up and see the second tower, lights from various rooms leaking out into the night sky in a vibrant orange color. Perhaps you could pay someone a visit.

It’d be better than lying in your bed moping for something that couldn’t be changed, anyways.

Namjoon looks more than surprised to see you at his door. He looks almost overwhelmed. Or maybe that’s just because of your appearance: puffy face, red eyes, still-wet cheeks. Hair that’s probably a mess and eyes that reflect a broken heart and soul.

Wordlessly, he steps aside and lets you in. He quietly closes the door before gently taking your wrist and guiding you to his bed, where he sits you down. He then pulls up one of his armchairs directly in front of you and asks if you’d like some tea.

You shake your head. At that, he frowns, and gets up anyways, returning with a cup of water in his hand.

“Drink it,” he says, pressing the mug into your hand. “It’ll help. I promise.”

So you do, both hands cupping the ceramic, letting the water ease down your throat thick with emotion, washing everything down for the moment. And so you do feel better, and more calmed down, and less of a mess of fury and love and hate and sadness.

“So,” he says, tentatively. He eyes you carefully, as if a single word may cause you to go crashing down again. “Yoongi?”

You nod blankly. You feel utterly tired, a dried husk of a human. “Yeah, he’s--”

“I know.”

You wonder if the others know. Probably all of them by now. A message was sent out to his friends upon the official report release, and you’re pretty sure all of them are hurrying back from their missions now.

Namjoon gently sets a hand on your shoulder. “It’s hard on all of us, but at this point, the most we can do is have faith in him and hope that he’ll come to.”

You bite your lip and then sigh. “Y-Yeah. I don’t know, I just, I just feel kinda stupid right now.” Namjoon gives you an incredulous look, one laced with worry. “It’s like, he’s not even dead, he’s alive, well, in a vegetative state, but he’s still alive you know? And here I am, worrying and crying my eyes out and--”

“______,” Namjoon interrupts. He grips your shoulder tighter. “It’s not stupid at all.”

“But--”

He shakes his head.

Your bottom lip trembles slightly and fuck you know that you’re going to break again. Namjoon senses it too, as he gently pushes you down onto the bed.

“Rest,” he says, voice a hush. “All that crying is sure to make you exhausted.”

You open your mouth to protest, but are quick to realize that he’s right; fatigue wears down your limbs, the lure of sleep settles heavily on your eyelids. You settle into the bed and drift off.

The official scrutinizes your sketch, passes it down the table. He looks up at you, you standing in front of the conference table, alone, back straight, hands stiffly at your sides. The other members of the board examine the sketch or doze off, the sunlight streaming through the tall gothic windows.

“So this is what you believe to be the seal on Yoongi? From the medical report, I remember that they did not find any such thing on his body.”

You bite the inside of your cheek. Had they really not? “It was right on his lower abdomen, sir.”

“Lower abdomen, hm?” He examines the sketch and passes it onto the woman sitting next to him. “It must’ve been hard to miss if it was there.”

“An interesting seal,” the woman observes. “I haven’t seen something of this type since the last Rune War, and that was eons ago, back when--”

“Then, perhaps,” a hybrid suggests, its primly groomed lynx ears twitching and its wide eyes glimmering, “it is the type of seal that only appears under certain lighting, or to certain races and magical types?” You don’t miss how it draws out the ‘s’ sounds and flicks out its tongue every once in a while, running the pink tip daintily over its sharp canines.

“An interesting proposition,” someone observes.

“Unfortunately,” the head of the board says, “It is something that we will have to explore at a later time.”

“What?”

You could care less about maintaining your composure in the face of the League’s revered board. They just--they just--

“We are very sorry about this, but with the start of the season, we are currently rather short of resources and members to form an investigative unit--”

“But this could save him!” you cry, pointing a shaking finger at your sketch. “Whatever the hell it is, we could figure something out and undo his curse and--”

“Miss, we have heard and listened to your plea,” another person cuts in. “We are not abandoning Yoonji--”

“Yoongi,” you bite out, none to politely.

“--Yoongi entirely,” he says, completely unfazed. “We are simply postponing his case until a later time, when we can amass our best resources in order to solve his case. We trust that you understand our reasoning and accept our decision?” He raises an eyebrow at you expectantly and you’ve never seen or heard anything so goddamn infuriating.

You stand there, grinding your teeth and clenching your fists in anger. What the hell do you say? No, I don’t, because you’re all a bunch of hoebags sitting on your fat asses while the rest of us go out and solve all the problems that you’re too lazy to--Nope, nope, that would definitely not help your situation. You take a deep breath.

“Perhaps,” one member of the council pipes up, “If Miss _______ is so passionate about it, she could form her own team and begin research herself? It would certainly speed up the process when our own unit gets onto his case.”

Bless them.

The council members seem to think on it for a moment. A few hushed whispers are exchanged before everything falls silent.

“Very well,” the head says, turning to look at you. His dark silhouetted form against the sinking sun seems to leer at you. “But do not expect any help from us until the unit is formed. We maintain the right to demand any information shared with us at any given moment regarding this investigation. Are we clear?”

You gnaw at your lip to prevent an indescribably disdainful sound escaping your lips. Instead, you force yourself to give a polite bow.

“Yes.”

The members regard you for moment. And then there’s a fluttering noise as your sketch suddenly appears before you, the worn paper making crinkling noises as it floats into your outstretched palms.

“You are dismissed.”

Namjoon almost--almost--steps on your foot and breaks your toe. Thankfully, you manage to jerk your leg back just as he stumbles backwards. With your free hand, you reach out to study him. His back collides with the golden railing of the balcony. Down below, summoners and mages and assassins and every sort of creature in between rush in and out, climbing up and down the League’s impressive multi-storied library.

“Sorr--Oh?” He turns and blinks at you. “Hi there, _______. How are you?” He’s grinning, a cordial smile gracing his features. However, the worried look in his eyes doesn’t escape you. Why would he--oh. Yoongi. Coma. Breakdown. Crying. Lots and lots of screaming and tears. You realize that you’d forgotten to thank him for that night you’d broken down, three days ago.

“Oh--um, I’m fine. Now,” you answer. “Thanks for asking. And thanks for uh, you know. Being there.” You give an awkward grin, unable to fully express your gratitude in words. Namjoon simply smiles wider and dips his head ever so slightly, an acknowledgement that he knows, that he understands.

“Ah, no problem. So,” he says, eyeing the two large, rather hefty texts you’ve tucked under one arm. “What brings you here?”

“Oh, um.” You look at the texts, then back at him, then the texts, then him. He quirks an eyebrow. You sigh. “To put it in one word: Yoongi.”

“Ah.”

It’s amazing how much Namjoon seems to understand. You’re starting to think he’s some sort of pseudo-mind reader, or something. A psychic. In any case, it makes it a lot easier, not having to voice everything out loud.

“Yeah. Board decided to postpone his case, so I kind of, well, took it up instead.”

He hums. “You know,” he says. You tilt your head to the side. “The rest of them just got back today. They were so exhausted, as soon as they got back they immediately collapsed.” He huffs. “Young people. I don’t even want to imagine how hard they pushed themselves to get back here so fast.” You laugh lightly. “In any case,” Namjoon says, “I’m pretty sure they’d be more than willing to help.”

Your smile widens. “Really? That’d be so--that’d be fantastic! Where are they? I need to talk to them now, it’s going to take a while to fill them in on everything--”

Namjoon laughs. “They’re still resting,” he says. “But in the meantime, we can get started on this case. You got anything to go off on yet, or should we start searching? Oh, and don’t worry about briefing me on the situation. I read the mission reports.”

“But, how--”

He winks. “I know people. Now, should we continue scouring the library for texts or--”

“Um, well, there’s always this sketch. Come to think of it--you’re pretty talented with the runes and seals and shit, right?”

You fish out your sketch and dangle it in front of his face. He grins.

“I’m not just talented,” he drawls. “I practically invented the modern sealing system. And devised much of the modern runic syntax, too, but that’s for another time. Now, let’s head back to my place and look this over?” He takes your sketch and waves it front of your face.

“That’d be great.”

When Namjoon said that all the guys had come back and immediately fell asleep, exhausted, you didn’t expect them all to crash at his place. Either way, they must’ve been terribly tired to be able to sleep, well, in their current arrangements. Taehyung, Hoseok, and Jungkook somehow managed to dogpile on each other, their faces squished into the soft cushions of the sofa. From the looks of it, Jimin didn’t even manage to make it to anywhere plausible to sleep in; he’s passed out, facedown, lying flat on the carpet.

“Where’s Jin?” you ask, carefully avoiding stepping on Jimin’s leg. Namjoon guides you to his desk and pulls out a chair across from you as you take a seat. He lights a candle and chuckles.

“He was the first one back and immediately claimed my bed. Even took the time to lock the door to the bedroom to make sure none of the others tried to get in and share with him.”

“How...wonderfully supportive.”

“Never seen anything like him.” He places your drawing onto the table and runs a hand over it, attempting to smooth out the crinkles. “Alright, let’s take a look at this. Did the council say anything?”

You shrug. “A hybrid said that it was probably like, one of those seals that can only be seen by certain people, or under certain, or some shit. I had no idea you could even do that.”

“It’s an ancient practice,” Namjoon says, looking over the seal. “But it definitely is a possibility. Very few people know about it nowadays; that was a lot more popular way back during the day of the--which war was it? I don’t remember, but it was one of the rune wars. Most of the practitioners were wiped out in the process, as well as the texts that taught that technique.”

“Oh.” A pause. “You don’t suppose…?”

He shakes his head. “No, I don’t think Yoongi realized that only certain people could see it.”

“Wait, so--”

“Yeah. This is that type of seal. The shape of it--it has to be.”

You nod and pretend you understand his deductions. “Okay, well, now that we got that down, what else could this seal say?”

You don’t miss the glimmer in Namjoon’s eye. “A lot. They’re practically books, if you know where to look and what to look for.”

“O-Oh?”

“Mhm. For example, this part, right here--” he points at a small, rectangular shape with curls. “--if this is drawn correctly, if you’d seen it right, then this refers to oral tradition.”

You raise an eyebrow. Maybe you didn’t draw it correctly. “Oral tradition? Isn’t that for telling stories, or something?”

He frowns and purses his lips together. “Yes, but like--” he sighs. “Okay, so essentially, this symbol is kind of like a switch controller thing.”

“Switch controller thing.” Your eyebrow remains raised.

“Y-yes. ‘Oral tradition’ in this context refers to talking about the seal. So if he tells anyone about the seal and the conditions surrounding it, this--” he gestures at the symbol again “--gets activated, and if I remember correctly, it would release the seal.”

“That’s...crazy. No wonder…”

Namjoon nods. “Agreed. A bit of overkill, if you ask me. Anyways, this other one--” he moves his hand to point at another intricately, seemingly innocuous symbol “--is similar. It’s also a switch controller ‘thing.’ Same thing happens, though--” he pauses, scratches his head “--this produces a different effect.”

“Huh?”

He chuckles. “So essentially, depending on the other components of the seal, the releasing effect can be temporary or, well, everlasting.” He studies your hand-drawn seal again, eyes flicking across the paper. “And for this particular seal, the effect is pretty permanent. So the hellhound’s permanently outta the bag if he falls in love.”

“Oh.” You frown at the paper. Love? Of all things. It sounds like a classic romance novel. Sappy. Cheesy. Anything Yoongi isn’t, so-- “Maybe I drew this wrong?” you suggest. Even so, you’re pretty sure you did draw it right.

“I’d get a mind reader to check your memories for you,” Namjoon says. “If you want, I can ask Tae’s girlfriend?”

“She’s a mind reader?” You’ve met her once, sort of. “Forgive me if I’m being a bit stereotypical, but aren’t mind readers like, normally really kind of--cold? Conceited? She--she’s like the opposite--”

“She works in the health sector,” Namjoon explains hastily. “She helps with mental health and recovery. And no, you’re not being really stereotypical. They are like that, most of them.”

“Ah, okay then. When do you suggest I meet with her? She’s probably really busy right now, I bet.”

“She’ll always make time for her friends. I’ll go write her a note right now.” He gets up smoothly and pads off, leaving you to stare drowsily at the sketch. The candle’s flame flickers and dances playfully, casting a soft, comforting glow on the table…

It’s warm…

You feel your eyes droop shut as you bring your head down to rest on the table.

You wake up to a lot of shouting, shaking, and cursing.

“Dude, when will you quit it? She’s probably super tired--”

“But she’s been sleeping for forever! Too much sleep is bad for you, you know!”

“SHH! YOU’RE GOING TO WAKE HER UP!”

Tentatively, you crack an eye open. At first, through the sleepy, blurry haze, all you can discern are three blobby...things, hovering over you. The closest blobby thing moves, and then gasps. You blink and feebly move your hand upwards to rub at your eyes.

“LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE DONE! YOU WOKE HER UP!” Taehyung. The closest (and loudest) blobby thing is Taehyung.

“Are you kidding me? You were literally the loudest of all,” Jin says, knocking him upside the head. Taehyung grunts but otherwise remains unfazed.

“Good morning,” Jimin chirps. “How are you feeling? Sorry for waking you.”

“Morning,” you croak, wincing at your voice. “I’m...okay. It’s...okay. What time is it?” Your stomach growls and you realize that you’re starving.

“It’s 8:09,” Taehyung supplies eagerly. “Some of us were thinking of letting you get some more rest, but apparently others had a different ide--ow!” He rubs the top of his head tenderly. Hoseok retracts his fist.

“Don’t mind the kid.”

You manage a half-hearted chuckle. He really didn’t need to say that; at the moment, you’re too preoccupied with not trying to starve to really listen to them talk. “Uh,” you rasp. “Food?”

“Ah,” Jin says, immediately understanding. “We were going to go ahead and get breakfast. Some of the others already went down, actually. Would you like to come with? We could wait for you to get ready.”

“That would be fantastic,” you manage, propping yourself up on stiff limbs. You note that you’re currently sprawled on the sofa that Hoseok, Jungkook, and Taehyung had dogpiled onto. You’ll have to worry about how you ended up here and why later. Right now, food takes precedence. “I’ll be quick.”

You hobble/stumble/trip/fall your way to the bathroom. Shove the door open with your shoulder and shiver as your feet step on cold tile. Turning towards the sink, you grin upon noting that someone had taken the time to lay out a new toothbrush for you on the counter.

Over breakfast you relay the entire incident up until last night to the guys. You tell them everything about the mission, how Yoongi was acting strangely, and then the whole hellhound thing, and then the seal on his abdomen. Of course, you leave out the minor details, those intimate moments shared just between the two of you. Namjoon chimed in at the end to provide more detail on the seal itself.

After resting for a few days and getting on the case, rather than feeling utterly helpless and broken, there’s a strong determination and will that’s risen in the melancholy of your heart. Of course, Yoongi’s current condition and uncertain future is still definitely a sore spot, but you no longer break down upon thinking about it, or any of the events leading up to it. On the contrary, his comatose state only makes you even more motivated to solve his case.

“Damn, really?” Jungkook thirstily gulps down his orange juice and then almost immediately shoves a mini waffle into his mouth. “Thas’ cwazy.”

“No shit it was and still is,” you agree, daintily cutting your waffle. As starving as you are, you have manners. And pride. Unlike Jungkook, apparently. The way he eats is completely feral, almost primitive and animalistic.

“Hellhound, huh,” Jin says. “Interesting. I wonder how the bodies looked when--”

“Jin,” Hoseok says, with that “I’m done with your shit” tone. “Not now.”

“Right, yeah, sorry.”

You take a bite out of your syrup-soaked waffle, savoring every bite. Pure bliss. What were you before this waffle? Is this what true happiness feels like? How did you come so far without this? Who knows. You eagerly cut another piece and shove it into your mouth.

“And to think he couldn’t even tell us about it,” Jimin muses. “That’s just plain mean. Who the hell placed the damned thing on him anyways?”

You shrug. “Who the hell knows? In any case, once I find out, you can bet that I will fucking throttle them for it.”

“Then you can count us all in on that one,” Hoseok comments. Jungkook nods eagerly whilst trying to chew his food, jaw working overtime.

“By the way, do you think we could visit him? We didn’t get to since we were so exhausted.”

“We can go right after breakfast,” Namjoon answers smoothly, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “I believe they should be allowing visitors in at that time.”

“Great, so it’s settled then. Let’s hurry up and finish, y’all.”

The atmosphere is solemn as, one by one, everyone files into the room. Even Taehyung is still and silent for once, not fidgeting or laughing or screaming. He stares forlornly at Yoongi’s vulnerable, broken body, stretched out on the hospitable bed and still as a corpse.

Jungkook instinctively reaches for his pulse, feeling the lifeblood pump through the veins and beat against his thumb. He lets his wrist drop.

It’s relatively silent, aside for a few hushed whispers and the whirring and humming of the machines, but it’s suffocating. There’s this underlying tension that only builds and builds with each second, and everyone knows that it’s there. No one directly addresses it, but it’s clear in the strained expressions, and finally, finally, someone snaps.

“Tch.” Jimin clenches his fists tightly. “Why? WHY? That’s not fair, that you had to end up like this! Why did you had to have that in you? Why?”

Taehyung puts a hand on Jimin’s shoulder. “Calm down. We’re all as angry as you are, but it’s not going to help just yelling--”

“I agree with Jimin though,” Hoseok interrupts loudly, tone is firm and unwavering. “This whole situation is straight up stupid.” He crosses his arms and fixes you with an especially intimidating look. You grit your teeth and stare him down. “Well? You found anything on his condition yet? You were there, weren’t you?”

Before you can open your mouth to speak, Namjoon steps in. “______ and I were deciphering the seal on Yoongi’s body while the rest of you were resting. She was just going to have her memories checked by Taehyung’s girlfriend later this afternoon.”

“Tch. Fine.” Hoseok still looks kinda mad. You notice Jimin’s shaking. Swiftly, Hoseok takes his leave. Silently, the others follow.

Before he leaves, Namjoon pauses at the door. “Don’t worry about them. They’re just feeling kinda… high strung. It’s almost surreal, and it’s really hard on them to accept the situation.” You can only nod. “Anyways, the mind reader’s office is on the second floor, room 212B. She’ll be expecting you in a few hours.” You nod again. He leaves.

Taehyung’s girlfriend gives you a brief once over and quirks an eyebrow, noting your sullen demeanor. She says nothing, however, and instead gestures to the elongated hospital bed before her.

“Get comfortable,” she instructs, snapping on a pair of gloves. “You’re probably going to be lying there for a while.”

“How long is this procedure going to take?”

You watch as she carefully arranges the tray of tools to her side. “Anywhere from one to five hours,” she says. “But I’ll say two hours, just because the whole incident was only a few days long, so it shouldn’t be so hard to sift through all your memories, even with the trauma you’ve gone through.”

“Ah.”

She places a papery blanket on you. “Now, I’m going to have my assistant--” she makes a hand gesture and her assistant, which appears to be some cat-imp-thing, immediately appears by her side, perched precariously on her shoulder “--put you under a sleeping spell. While that happens, I will connect our minds and delve into your memories. Any questions? Concerns?”

“Nope.”

“Alright, if that’s it, then we’ll get started.”

Her assistant immediately appears before you, locking you into its gaze. You stare into its eyes, completely entranced by the hypnotic gaze it gives you…

The last thing you register before falling asleep is the feel of a gloved hand gripping your scalp.

You wake up and attempt to blink away the brightness from the lights. It doesn’t help much, so you finally decide to sit up.

“So I see that you’re awake,” a familiar voice murmurs. “How ya feeling? Mind a bit hazy? Eyes still a bit droopy? Memories still intact?” Taehyung’s girlfriend gives you a wry smile. Her assistant meows and hops onto the ground, landing softly before padding out the door. She rolls her eyes and turns back to her clipboard, pen scribbling furiously.

“I feel fine,” you say, feeling the top of your ahead. “Aside from a little drowsiness, that is. But that’s whatever. What about the memory? Did you…?

“So you do seem to be fine. And clearly have your priorities in order, I see.” She grins, not looking up at you.

“Ah, yeah…”

“I’m just about finished with writing up your report. I was going to tell you after I finished, but well, since you asked,” she says, stilling her pen for a moment. She fixes you with an indescribably gaze. “It’s a legit, 100% true memory,” she confirms. “Aside from the minor details of the background and lay of the room, the actual memory of that seal is correct. I corroborated it with your drawing and, well, they’re identical.”

You frown and look at the ink and paper seal on the table next to you. “Are you sure?”

She nods, affirmative. “So, knowing this, what’s the next step on your agenda?”

“That--” you stop and realize that you actually aren’t sure. You confirmed all the signs that Namjoon pointed out but…now what? “I’ll have to report it to the others, and then we’ll figure out what to do from there.”

She raises a brow that tells you she knows you have zero idea what to do. “Well, if you don’t mind, I’d also like to be part of this ‘save Yoongi’ group. Although we don’t interact very often, I still consider him to be my friend.”

“Of course!” you say. “We’re actually having a meeting tonight. Though…” you look down. Jimin and Hoseok seemed pretty pissy today.

“Lemme guess, someone snapped,” she says, finally setting her pen down. She takes one look at your expression and laughs. “They’re a dumb lot, all of them. They really don’t mean it, trust me. They’re probably going to be all over you, apologizing and begging for forgiveness tonight.” She sets her clipboard down and gets up from her chair. “They care a lot for him, so it’s understandable.”

“Yeah,” you say. “I’d probably be like that too, honestly. So are you coming tonight?”

“Absolutely. I may be a little late, though, with my shifts. But expect me there!”

Yoongi doesn’t know where he is. Hell, he doesn’t know how he even got here. The last thing he remembers is...is...someplace in the mountains. Trees. Dry, cracked ground. He scuffs his shoe on the concrete of the sidewalk. The street is empty, which is surprising, because wherever this is… it seems to be a large city…

Cities don’t sleep at night, right? Sure, there are countless lights, but shouldn’t there also be cars? And people? If anything, there should be people inside the 24/7 shops. He considers going inside one of the EZ Marts and yelling out loud, just to see if there’s anyone there to hear him.

And then he hears it.

A deep, growling sound that haunts the sleeping city; Yoongi scowls, immediately summons his blades. It’s coming. Whatever the hell it is, it’s coming, again. This would make the second? Third? Time this night. In the back of his mind, he wonders if that’s why no one’s around.

Yoongi’s stabbed his blade into the beast before he can even properly think. It snarls and its eyes gleam red. He battles it, and by god it’s strong. Which is both strange and alarming because the last two times Yoongi’s battled it, he’d made sure to permanently cripple it. And yet it moves with startling ease.

It snarls and breathes fire and he can’t help but think of hellhounds. But this is definitely not a hellhound. He knows what they look like.

This--it actually doesn’t even look like a hound. It looks like some reptilic lion, if anything. He dodges and narrows his eyes. Now it looks like a black tiger with three--no, five heads. And now--oh. It takes Yoongi a few seconds to realize that this thing is changing forms with every second, thrashing and snarling and swiping.

Yoongi stabs it clean through the chest, twists his blade, then tugs it out. It collapses to the ground. Satisfied, Yoongi tilts his blade to clean it...only to be surprised to see the beast rise back up again, jumping backward and switching forms midair. It lands a few feet away from him and snarls.

Again. It lunges.

Blood sprays in the air, and Yoongi fights and fights, until he isn’t sure if the blood covering him is his own or the monster’s or some sick mix of both. It’s probably both, but he can’t think straight. He feels as if every cell in his body hurts and he isn’t sure if it’s from over exhaustion or wounds or something else…

Just as it transforms into ferocious bear, Yoongi manages to land a devastating attack, first plunging a blade and then a hand into its chest. He grimaces as he rips out the still-beating heart, squeezing it till it bursts and stops bleeding. The whole thing is disgusting, but by now Yoongi’s learned not to take any chances with this thing. As it moans pitifully, he takes the chance to cleanly slice its head off.

It collapses to the ground.

For a moment, everything is quiet save for his labored breathing. He’s defeated it, finally. Now, he just needs to figure out--

There’s this sick sliding noise of flesh sliding on blood sliding on asphalt. He watches with horror as the head slides across the road and neatly reattaches itself to the body, and the hole where the heart is immediately fills back in.

The beast--now transformed into something even more sinister-looking--arches its back and lets loose a feral scream.

No. No. This can’t be real. He’s faced strange, over-powered things before, but something like this…? Unheard of. He’s clearly ripped its heart out, cut off its head...so why the hell is it still alive? How the hell do its body parts just...grow back like that? As far as he knows, nothing in existence should be able to do this. So, it has to be a dream. It’s far too sophisticated to be an illusion.

The beast gets back up on its legs and faces him again, snarls.

This has to be a nightmare…he just...needs to wake up…

But you don’t feel pain in your dreams...right? Or maybe it’s just his own mind playing a sick joke on him, making it seem as if he’s feeling pain. Yoongi weakly stabs a blade straight through the monster’s face, unsurprised when it doesn’t do much and the wound begins to heal immediately, as if it didn’t happen at all.

He dodges a few swipes but also gets hit by a few, and he’s pretty sure his body is a torn, tattered mess but...it isn’t? He’s bleeding, though, but he’s very much intact. It’s pure torture to struggle and hold on, though. Yoongi grunts and uses the last bit of his energy to shadow flash from the alleyway and next to another building. He isn’t sure how far away he got, but it’s away from the beast and that’s what matters.

Now he just...needs to find out where he is...get backup...figure out what the hell that thing is...

He slumps against a sooty wall, panting heavily. His legs wobble and wobble and wobble until they finally give out beneath him. Yoongi collapses to the ground and lands with a thump. He lifts his head and looks up at the sky. Despite the city air and light pollution, he can see a lot of stars. More than he should, actually. But he isn’t complaining, because this may just be the last time he’d be able to see the stars…

“Yoongi? Hello? You’re not dead out there, right buddy?” Yoongi jolts upon hearing someone call for him. He senses others, all talking and whispering and calling his name.

“You’re sure he’s here, right?”

“Yeah, okay? His presence is strong, but it’s a shame that his scent isn’t. Damn rain.”

Yoongi frowns. He’s literally bleeding out and for some reason his scent isn’t strong? And rain? It wasn’t raining at all, how the hell--

He looks down.

He isn’t bleeding. In fact, there’s not a speck of blood on him, and his clothes are perfectly intact. What the fuck?

He’s also kind of wet. At first he thought it was the blood and sweat, but now with the mention of rain…

He feels the ground. It’s--wet. Now that he thinks about it, the air smells musky, fresh. The signature after-rain smell. When the hell…?

“Yoongi? The hell are you sitting out here for? Taking a smoke?”

Yoongi turns to look, eyes widening immediately upon seeing Hoseok’s grinning face. He immediately gets up to his feet--bothered by the lack of fatigue he experiences--and walks over. Why the hell…?

“Hoseok? Namjoon? Jimin?” He turns. “Jin, too?” The situation is actually perfect, though. They’d be able to explain the situation to him. So far, he only knows three things:

What he experienced before was definitely not an illusion, or a dream, or whatever. He was hurt and bleeding and on the brink of death and now he isn’t.

This is also probably not an illusion, or dream, or whatever. Hopefully. He’d like to think his friends are actually here for him.

That beast-monster-thing should not, cannot possibly exist. And yet it does. What the fuck is going on?

“Hey, you’re forgetting about us!”

Yoongi whirls around again to be met with the faces of Taehyung and Jungkook. They smile at him, youthful faces almost glowing.

“W-What? Why are you guys here? Where are we, by the way? I just came to in this dark alley and--”

“What’s this? Is this Yoongi trying to be funny?” Jimin claps a hand over Yoongi’s shoulder and laughs heartily. “Clueless Yoongi is funny, alright. I’ll give it to you.”

“Wait what--no, but--”

“Geez, second day and already slacking on the job? Where’d you go, by the way? We were all having a grand jolly time eating until Jungkook noted that you were sure as hell taking a damn long time in the bathroom. The hell happened? Had explosive diarrhea and had to clean it up?” Hoseok snickers.

Yoongi brushes aside the comments. They’re so utterly strange, but he’ll have to deal with them later. Right now, there’s something even more important at hand:

“No--wait, guys, there’s a beast that’s been attacking--”

“Ah, that?” Namjoon eyes him curiously. “Yes. We know. Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been acting strangely.”

“Forget about me, the beast--”

“Yes, yes, we know,” Jin says lazily. “We already tracked down our target, dude. Don’t get hasty and rush into it head on. Didn’t we all agree to gather intel on it before proceeding with eliminating it?” He stops to throw Taehyung a sidelong glare. “Unless someone has been slacking on their job to restrain said beast?”

“W-What?!” Taehyung looks both surprised and offended.

“I can vouch for him,” Jungkook offers. “He actually laid a crapton of traps all over the city. This place is littered with explosives and all sorts of monster-catching traps.”

“Wait, guys,” Yoongi protests. “Regarding that, the damn thing attacked me multiple times; unless there are multiple beasts--which doesn’t quite seem to be the case--this thing has ridiculous regenerative powers.”

This seems to finally catch their attention. “Interesting,” Hoseok says. Then yawns. “Well, let’s take this back to our room and discuss it, yeah?”

Sighing, Yoongi nods and follows them down the street. As he surveys the group before him, his friends, those closest to his heart, he can’t help but feel as if he’s forgetting something…

Or someone...

The first thing that happens once you enter Namjoon’s room is Jimin gripping your shoulder while Hoseok shoves his hands deep into his pockets. They both stare you down and for a second you think they’re going to give you some half-assed lecture.

“We--I have something to say.” Hoseok gives you The Look. You return his Look. Like hell you’re going to let an emotionally unstable fun-loving time traveler in a pissy mood because their best friend is in a coma intimidate you.

“...”

“We’re sorry,” Jimin says. He elbows Hoseok who grumbles but nods in agreement. He droops his head and you feel kinda bad for him.

“We shouldn’t have snapped at you like that,” Hoseok whispers to the ground. You consider teasing him and making him yell it out loud, but you take pity on him. Stupid people and their stupid pride.

“We were just really, kind of, high strung on the whole situation. I mean, we knew yeah, but just seeing him lying there lifeless just kinda--” Jimin looks off to the side and winces. His grip on your shoulder loosens and his hand slides off, slowly.

“It’s okay.”

They look at you with forlorn eyes.

“I understand,” you continue, taking a deep breath. It’s then are you suddenly aware of the (once again) suffocating atmosphere of the room. Taehyung’s sitting on the sofa, clearly eavesdropping while pretending to read a magazine. It’s upside down. He could at least try to make it believable. Jin’s leaning against the sofa across from him, looking at, well, a wall, seemingly bored.

“Anyways, on a lighter note,” you say, walking past the guys to take a seat next to Jin. You point at Taehyung and he looks up, pretending to have casually stopped reading just in time to hear what you have to say. Iconic. “His girlfriend also volunteered to join in on this...operation. She says she’s going to come in a bit late, though.”

“Really? She is? That’s so great!” Namjoon practically skips into the room, followed by Jungkook, who’s got his face stuffed with fried dough.

“Hwhy?” He manages.

“Because, you see--”

“Because they used to study runes and seals together,” Taehyung says, effectively cutting Namjoon off. “I met her through him, actually. But that’s fantastic that she’s coming! She’s actually done some work in undoing seals and curses before she finally decided to transfer to her current position.”

“Yeah, I was going to add that unlike the rest of us who usually perform the curses and ‘sich, she’s the only one who actually has experience with undoing them,” Namjoon supplies. He plops down onto one of the rolling footrest things. Jungkook looks disgruntled as he settles down onto the carpet.

“Oh right, you went to have your memory checked, right? How did that go?”

“Ah, right. She said it was real. ‘100% legit’ apparently.”

“Quoting me already, I see.”

Startled, you flinch. Taehyung’s girlfriend grins at you--when the hell did she get there? You could’ve sworn the space in front of you was empty. Does she also have teleportation abilities?

“Reverse Summoning seal,” Namjoon says smoothly. She grins at your confused look. Taehyung makes some happy puppy noise and eagerly welcomes her into his arms.

“I drew one onto Namjoon’s floor back when we used to be study buddies,” she explains. “So then it would save me the time and effort of actually physically walking over here. I just perform a hand seal and, well, boom. Basically like teleportation.”

“Ah.” You’ll have to ask her or Namjoon to teach you to do that later; it’d be more than convenient to have one drawn onto your bedroom floor for practically the same purposes.

“It’s a lot harder than it actually looks. Not everyone can perform this kinda magic,” Namjoon says, effectively crushing your hopes and dreams. Well, so much for that. You could still give it a shot, though, but that would be for a later time.

“Okay, okay,” Hoseok says, waving his hands in the air. “We’ve dawdled enough. Back to the main topic.”

“Right,” she says. “What were you guys talking about?”

“Nothing much,” Jin mumbles. “Just said some stuff and then she said you’d confirmed her memories of the seal were real. So everything we’ve deduced about it is correct.”

“And what have you deduced…?”

“That it can only be seen by certain people, holds a goddamned hellhound, will release and or weaken if the host falls in love or speaks of it, and that’s about it besides the normal seal properties.”

“Um, well actually…” Namjoon rubs the back of his head sheepishly. Suddenly, all eyes are on him.

“Yeah? Whatsit’? Did--”

“Well, I kinda sorta found something. Was waiting for everyone to be gathered before I said it. Anyways, it’s nothing exactly about the seal, kind of, but when I was doing some research on this topic I found out that it weakens during the blood moon.”

“Blood moon?”

“Yeah. As its name implies, the moon turns a ruddy shade of red, almost as if dyed in blood. It’s a phenomenon that happens every ten years or so, and occurs in a tetrad.”

A red moon…The night if the attack...what color was the moon? All you can remember is fire and screams and death…

“Turns out,” Namjoon says, “the first blood moon of this decade’s tetrad occurred the night of the attack.”

For a second, all breath leaves you. Holy shit.

Somehow, you manage to form words with your thickening tongue. “And this...weakening of the seal...it occurs every time the blood moon shines?”

Namjoon nods grimly.

Hoseok starts. “Then when’s the next one? You said it occurs in a tetrad, right? We just gotta solve this thing before it happens again…”

“It’s next month,” Namjoon says. “We’ve got time, but not a lot of it. And yes, Hoseok, you’re right; we gotta get this cleared before then because, in his current state, Yoongi doesn’t even need to break the seal rules of falling in love and shit; his body’s so weak that once the seal itself weakens, the hellhound can just go ahead and break through.”

Taehyung’s girlfriend makes a huffing sound, resting her chin on one palm, thinking.

“But, well, that kinda just brings us to the whole ‘well now what?’ dilemma. Again. We’ve kinda sorta understood his seal, but how the hell’s that supposed to help us? Help him? Is there a way to undo this curse?”

The room falls silent. Even Namjoon, brainiac and seal expert extraordinaire, looks out of options. He stares dejectedly at the ground.

Finally, Taehyung’s girlfriend sighs.

“Babe…?” Taehyung’s words settle at the tip of his tongue while the rest of the room waits with bated breath. “Do you…?”

“Well, there is a way,” she says, looking uncomfortable. “I mean, I don’t know if it’ll work in this case, but I’ve seen and studied a few similar cases where it’s worked, and since we don’t really have any other options, we may as well give it a shot…”

“What is it?”

“We--I go into his mind, search his memories. Sometimes the beast worms into its host’s mind and finds residence there, and if I can clean the corrupted memories and efficiently, well, delete the hellhound from his mind, then he should be fine. I mean, it’s a lot easier said than done, especially since the monsters tend to get kinda smart and will spread themselves all over, hiding in the crevices and cracks of the host’s memories. But--”

“No, you can’t,” Taehyung says, hand gripping her shoulder. “It’s too dangerous, and I don’t want you to risk it. There are no guarantees that you’ll make it back. No matter how talented and amazing you are, this operation is so delicate that there’s a high chance that you’ll get lost in his mind.”

“I know, but we don’t have a choice, do we?” she says, giving him a pleading look. The rest of the group looks equally uncomfortable. “This may be our only chance to save him, and I’m the only one who can perform the operation--”

“Can you send others into his mind? Like, you initiate and guide the operation as a third party, but someone else goes in?”

“Yes,” she says, hesitantly. “But while it relieves me of any possible danger, the actual person inside is in an even more risky situation, since the connection is considerably weakened. One wrong step could possibly lead to, well, getting lost forever. You’d be just as comatose as Yoongi is right now.”

At that, you wince. She winces too upon realizing her comment. “Sorry,” she says.

You wave her off. “It’s okay. In any case, I’ll do it. I’ll venture into his mind.”

The whole room seems shocked. Hoseok’s mouth is wide open in an almost comical manner.

“What, no! That’s way too dangerous, it’s not worth--”

“YES IT IS!” you yell, suddenly. More silence. “Yes it is,” you repeat. “Yoongi--he’s your friend, isn’t he? To me, going through all this danger to save him, even if there’s a little chance, I’m willing to take it on.” You look at the mind reader straight in the eye. “I’m doing it.”

“No, I will.”

Everyone turns to look at Jimin, who rests an elbow on his knee. “It’s just as she says: Yoongi’s my friend, and if this is what it takes to save him, this is what it takes. Let me do it instead. You can only take one person, right?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Well, we can’t have those two hogging the spotlight now can we? Yoongi and I go way back, so I’d say I probably have a better chance of navigating his memories. I’ll do it.” Hoseok leans back, crosses his arms, and smirks.

“Nah, I will.”

“No, guys,” you protest. “Part of the reason why he’s in such a state is because of me, therefore it should be my responsibility--”

“It’s okay, I’ll do it.”

“Hah! If there’s anyone who knows Yoongi, then it’s me! I’ll do it! I’ll risk it!”

Soon enough, the room is a loud chorus of people bickering, people fighting, people willing to put their lives on the line for their friend.

“SHUT IT!” Taehyung’s girlfriend yells, exasperated. Immediately, the room falls silent. “It’s true that I can only use one person. It is also true that simply knowing someone doesn’t necessarily give you a significant advantage. It’s more about knowing their mind, how they think, their fears and burdens. Each of us is different, so it’s always so hard to fully understand each other.”

She turn to look at you. “In any case, none of you guys have seen him at his most vulnerable, his worst, except for her.” She points at you. “So I’m deciding on ______. Are you up for it?”

You nod, firmly. “Just tell me what to do.”

UPDATE TAG LIST: @babydanixox

a/n: as i predicted, today was fun. i ate four cupcakes and went to my favorite museum. hope yours was good as well.

#networkbangtan #btswriters #yoongi scenarios #bts scenarios #bts fanfiction #yoongi scenario #bts scenario #bts #yoongi #the fires within #hellhound au #runeterra au #gore #writing #action #x: trying not to fail life

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careergrowthblog · 7 years

Text

Teachers describe their worst injury at work

For some reason, when I ask a question about people’s worst experiences I get far more clear answers to the question, alongside complaints about that I have a sinister agenda and demands that teachers be silent.

My latest question was:

What’s the worst injury you’ve suffered while working as a teacher?

I’ve had fewer complaints about this one, although somebody did sarcastically ask why I didn’t ask for people’s best injury. I’ve ignored the many responses where people discussed damage that was only to their pride, credibility or dreams. I haven’t included discussion of mental health as that’s been covered in previous posts. Also most (but not all) of the people telling me about their paper cuts have been left out. As ever, I followed up the more suspicious ones, but may still have been fooled. The thread can be found here.

I shot myself in the arm… though it wasn’t with a firearm. With the top of an exploding 2 L[itre] bottle. Lab coat had the bloodstains to prove it. I was utterly, utterly mind-bendingly stupid and learned a very great deal in about a third of a second

30 mini whiteboards fell out of cupboard onto my head – 1 at a time – 4 hrs in A&E and head glued back together – very painful … my fault for not putting them away properly

Caught a ring on a door handle and it cut into my finger so deeply it needed to be cut off by a mechanic at the garage across the road.

Paper cut… on my eyeball. Child did it by accident. It was horrific! Needed anaesthetic drops for a few days.

Basketball hit me full in the mouth…whilst I had a whistle in it…lost two teeth. The cost of getting them replaced was the real shock of the whole ordeal. My savings took as much damage as my mouth did.

Last Friday of this half-term – college laptop trolly rolled into my 2 biggest toes on left foot. Same foot as plantar fasciitis & Achilles tendinitis issues. I didn’t use the ‘f’ word as student was with me.

Hypermobility + a few months of sitting on tiny children’s chairs caused lower-back go into semi-permanent spasm. Had to ask for adult chair Policy was for child-centred classrooms with no adult desk or chairs- teachers to be ‘working with group or individuals at all times’ Was told ‘If we give a teacher a chair, the problem with that is that they will sit down and not get up from it’ So, the ideal was for T[eacher] to stand or kneel near a table, or sit on a child’s chair, or sit on the floor.

As new H[ead]T[eacher], went to U[pper]K[ey]S[tage]2 Xmas party, vaulted over bench to leave hall and removed 4 square inches of skin from bald head on door frame. Was away at a meeting with the L.A. the next day, by the evening local rumours were that I was in hospital with head injuries

1) Staple in my finger. 2) Banged my knee a few times.3) Catching my arm on door handles.4) Heart attack.5) Trapping my finger in a drawer.

1) got tangled in cables like a giant fly in a spider web 2) slipped down a muddy slope in front of the entire school while on bus duty. Massive bruising and huge embarrassment both times. Although a kind Year 11 helped me up out of the mud & didn’t laugh while the other 1499 students pissed themselves.

nearly lost my left hand in a horrendous accident on school trip! 10 ops later it’s as good as it will be. there’s the proof. …had hold of the seat in front as the coach rolled and then slid down m6… window broke…. Had to have it stitched into my stomach for 4 weeks for a flap to cover I know even I gulped when the doc suggested it! I was a ‘little teapot for a month. it was a nightmare!! They needed the blood vessels to join… 9 hour op too! I should add the NUT were fab … Their solicitor was superb

Slipped a disc lifting student into water ambulance during school trip to Venice. Contracted TB (possibly not at school, but sounds good).

I was hit by falling scaffolding once.

Grade 3 tear of gastrocnemius. Happened on sports day. Exactly coincided with pistol to start 100 m[e]t[re]s. I thought I had been shot. True story.

Broke a burette off in my thumb last year and severed a nerve. Still no feeling in it.

Definitely a student moving chair onto foot whilst sat on it

Concussion- could see children messing around for TA & glared at them-ch[ildre]n stopped- missed footing on last 5 steps…cue pratfall/f[ore]w[ar]d roll

Exhausted by overworking and unreasonable demands, I completely missed a step and fell down stairs. Thought “Didn’t get a degree for this”.

Pulled my back celebrating a spectacular comeback by the Y[ear] 8 football team was coaching back in the day. Took 3 month’s chiropractic to sort.

Missed a step covered in a drift of leaves & fell full length.Usual hilarity from students tempered by fact that I was 8 months pregnant.

Broke a finger attempting to stop a rugby ball from hitting a spectator. Still hit her, but on the back rather than on the head.

Crashed my motorcycle on the way to school. Still got in. My form saw the blood on my leg. Got ambulance. Came back from hospital to teach.

Ruptured my thigh muscle taking a penalty against a year 7 on lunch duty. Went top corner though so not all bad [this was from my former form tutor, but I’m assuming I’m not implicated as it was “1st year” not “year 7” back then]

Prolapsed disk when the caretaker used the wrong polish on the floor turning it into a skating rink!

Husband snapped achilles tendon, teaching football on astros…

Temporarily blinded as lid came off the copydex mid shake. Shouted “Shit!” loudly which shocked kids more than my eyes covered in glue.

Spine surgery from writing too many schemes of work without good back support. I took on a dept[artment] in 2nd y[ea]r of career, managed all of SLT and there was nothing. Had an op in 2009 and learned a lot about life in that year!

Accidental broken toe. Me vs. heavy box of music stands. Helpful child said ‘you can swear if you like miss – looked like it hurt’. It did.

I scraped my shin and badly injured my pride falling-off a chair balanced on a table, as I put up a display… as a class quietly worked… and I dislocated my knee in a Staff Vs Parents hockey match.

Almost broke fingers and arm, grassboarding down a slope on y[ea]r 7 activity holiday session!

being bitten. Also having a chair leg land on my foot (sandals

Molten jelly baby flew out of boiling tube onto my hand during open evening demo. I kept smiling

Sort of injury, kidney stones from not drinking enough water during school day. Agony for 2 days. Now I know opioids REALLY work.

slipped on a wet corridor and broke a finger pride also suffered considerable injury. After year 11 stopped convulsing with laughter following my very slapstick slip they did show great concern and sympathy

Sewed through my finger on a sewing machine whilst helping Year 11. Just about managed not to bleed on her coursework!

Ice skating lesson with a school group in 1988 & stuck the rear right boot spike through my left boot. Stab wound & 2 broken bones in foot!

Fractured my arm after falling off a ladder putting Christmas dec[oration]s up or scalded my foot after dropping an urn of hot water.

Electric shocks from various electricity experiments, and falling over and hurting my thumb.

Ran a ski trip to Italy and chair lift bar fell on my head, lots of blood and was taken down the slope in the blood-wagon. Tried to walk through a swing door which was normally well oiled, unfortunately this time it wasn’t and I went head first into the glass!

Stitches in a finger due to a stubborn classroom locker. Expletives were used. Entire Year 4 class were shocked. Hospital swiftly attended.

cracked patella jumping rope with 3rd graders

Mild concussion. Projector screen fell from roof hit me on head.

A bruised backside when I slipped on ice taking Tutor group to Xmas carol service. They kindly picked me up.

Slipped a disc standing up from my chair whilst teaching a PSHE lesson. Needed [other teachers] to carry me away from class!!

Fell off a table whilst putting up a display. Did my knee good and proper

I stapled my finger when putting up a display. Ive also caught thousands of colds (but that’s illness not injury).

My funniest injury at sch[ool]: stapled my fingers together whilst holding a stapler & teaching.

Electric shock off a whiteboard…it certainly made me jump!!

Torn my knee ligaments jumping on a trampoline

During my PGCE I dislocated my shoulder from stopping a pass in a lunchtime basketball game.

Fractured my humerus, two ribs and cut my eyebrow… I fell

Trapped arm in a door while restraining a student (Special needs School) [went to] A&E

Regularly I have bruises mid thigh from walking into tables

I slipped in the dining hall on a sausage and did a strange somersault, a plate crashed to the floor bounced up & and sliced open my cheek

Tripped up stairs on the way to a lesson, laptop went flying, smashed my head on the handrail, knocked myself out, in front of students

Punched in the temple by a y[ear] 8 boy. Headbutted (didn’t connect) by an angry y[ear] 11. Wallet nicked by a y[ear] 11 that I had spent hours supporting.

Lice, scabies and flea bites. All in a days work. Oh yes. And a tub of black powder paint with no lid, fell off a shelf on my head. Scary sight.

Torn [anterior cruciate ligament] in right knee whilst separating two Year 9 boys fighting!

Once thought it good idea to remove OHP bulb immediately after it blew. Fingerprints returned after a few months

I ripped a muscle in my lower back moving a filing cabinet. Had waited for the site agent for 5 days and got tired of waiting. won’t make the mistake again, will just wait nicely!

Bumped into a table (fixed to the floor). Bruise on my thigh is about 10 cm long, 5 cm high. Done this almost every month, for 20 y[ears].

Broke a tooth on school pitta bread…

Dropped a recycling bin on my foot and lost a toenail.

Got slapped around the face and then kicked twice one morning.

Burnt most of my hand when I didn’t use a long enough fuse for a flash powder demonstration

I fell off my bike in front of the main entrance, causing moderate but prolonged reputational damage.

Put a staple through my finger while putting up a display.

Badly cut knee and ripped suit after attempting to show Y[ear] 6 boys,playing football on the playground, ‘how it’s done’.

Took an “accidentally released” rounders bat to the gentleman’s area. If I wasn’t the recipient it would have been funny.

Partially tore ligaments while mucking about being a wolf in the playground

Tripped on cracked car park tarmac, burst knee wide open. Lots of stitches

I broke my foot at 7am at school on a dodgy paving slab and then walked around on it for the rest of the day before getting an X-ray. I also once dropped molten hot sulfur on my hand while doing a demo,had to teach the rest of my lesson with my hand in a bowl of cold water

Fell 2 steps walking down unlit stairs and twisted ankle. Had an xray and 2 days off work.

Cut my finger open whilst shutting a toilet door I spotted was ajar. Kid in my class provided me with loo roll from his bag that he kept there with a torch in case he needed to go for a poo in the dark! Not sure which event was the weirdest.

Fell off a chair doing a display- Huge bruise black on arm…despite just saying to students always use a chair for its intended purpose!

I broke my ankle in the middle of one of my [physical education] classes.

Broke bone in coccyx. Also got pneumonia from sewage has when basement flooded. Illness rather than injury really.

My eye got cut from a student’s nail when playing basketball with them. Lost a high % of peripheral vision in my right eye.

I’ve suffered a cut lip when a child I was sitting next to shot his hand up a little enthusiastically. Still think he did it on purpose

There have been a couple of reasonably serious injuries in the staff-sixth form football. Not to me though.

Banging my head – It’s not easy being a giant.

[From a school business manager] There was the time I was walking along a corridor & a teacher opened an outward opening door & pole-axed me. They were mortified..

Got punched by a parent, but wasn’t injured, and in retrospect she was probably in the right. Who was I to tell her son to tuck in his shirt?

Shut the filing cabinet in my classroom and trapped my nipple in it. No idea how I managed that..

Teachers describe their worst injury at work published first on http://ift.tt/2uVElOo

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